Lundi, Cargolux a confirme l'intention de Jason Holt de quitter son poste de vice-president au sein du comite executif. Claude Zehren assurera l'interim. Lundi, Richard Forson a officiellement ete nomme nouveau PDG de Cargolux: il assure ainsi la succession de l'allemand Dirk Reich qui avait lui-meme, decide de liberer son poste. Media Release Cargolux appoints new EVP Flight Operations Luxembourg, 1 August 2016 Cargolux Airlines International S.A. has appointed Claude Zehren Interim EVP and Nominated Person Flight Operations. Mr. Zehren takes over all duties from Jason Holt with immediate effect. Claude Zehren has been with Cargolux for 18 years and his wealth of experience, not only as a pilot, but also as a member of the management structure, is a valuable asset for Flight Operations and for Cargolux. It is my pleasure to welcome Claude Zehren in his new position and as part of the new ExCom team, Mr. Forson states. Having worked with him closely throughout the last couple of years, I am convinced that he will be an excellent addition to the Cargolux leadership team. Media Release Cargolux Executive Vice-President moves on Luxembourg, 1 August 2016 Jason Holt, Executive Vice President for Flight Operations, has decided to move on to a new opportunity. Jason joined Cargolux last year from the UKs leading low cost carrier easyJet where he ran the Gatwick Division and then led their Operational Strategy & Transformation business changes. In the short time he has been with us, Jason has played a significant role in the development of Cargolux and has made invaluable contributions to our organization. This included, following the departure of the then incumbent, assuming responsibility for its Global Logistics Division, covering the airlines network (including Luxembourg), whilst retaining his responsibilities as EVP Flight Operations. Incoming CEO, Richard Forson states that, Jason has made a major contribution to the airline by bringing his experience and talent to bear on the airline, including playing a major role in achieving the CWA agreement with our unions in December 2015. On behalf of my ExCom colleagues, I thank him for all the hard work, dedication and initiatives he has given us and wish him all the best for his future. We will miss him. Jason states that it's been a fast and furious year learning new skills in aviations most demanding sector. It has been a pleasure to be with Cargolux and I look forward to hearing of their positive transition under the new CEO and management team who now pick up the baton ahead of this years forthcoming high season. - , , , . 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . 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. In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The number of pregnant women in the United States infected with Zika virus is suddenly tripling, due to a change in how the government is counting cases. In a change announced Friday, May 20, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will count all women who tested positive, regardless of whether they had suffered symptoms. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) The tombstone of US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan is seen in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Fellow Republicans are joining the rising chorus of criticism of Donald Trump for his disparagement of the bereaved parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was awarded a Bronze Star after he was killed in 2004 in Iraq. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close In this May 16, 2106 file-pool photo, Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the U.N.-brokered presidency council, attends a news conference in Vienna, Austria. The U.S. launched multiple airstrikes against Islamic State militants Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, opening a new, more persistent front against the group at the request of the UN-backed Libyan government, Libyan and U.S. officials said. Serraj, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte. No U.S. ground forces will be deployed, he said. (Leonhard Foeger/Pool Photo via AP, File) Border Security Force (BSF) troopers foiled an intrusion attempt from the Pakistani side in Punjab's Ferozepur sector and killed one intruder, officials said on Monday. The intrusion attempt was made on Sunday evening. BSF officials said five intruders were detected moving suspiciously close to Border Out Post (BOP) Kassoke in Hussainiwala sector, 280 km from Chandigarh. When they were challenged, they fired at the BSF troopers. In the counter offensive, one intruder was killed while the others escaped. The body of the unidentified man, believed to be a Pakistani, was recovered from beyond the border fence and handed over to the Punjab Police. The BSF is on high alert along Punjab's 553-km long international border with Pakistan since last year. Terrorists had intruded in Gurdaspur district in July last year and carried out an attack in Dinanagar town close to the India-Pakistan border. Sushma Swaraj has been sleepless in capital. The minister of external affairs was woken up at 2:45 on Monday morning by workers in Jeddah, according to sources. It is estimated that close to 10,000 Indian workers have been laid off due to the economic slowdown in the Gulf. With practically no money to go backcompanies have held back their salariesthe workers are facing a food crisis, according to the tweets of Swaraj. Sources claim the situation is fluid. The minister of state for external affairs V.K. Singh will reach Jeddah on Tuesday to assess the situation of Indian workers. The ministry is considering bringing back to India those who want to return. The newly appointed minister M.J. Akbar is coordinating with Saudi authorities to arrange exit visas. In the past few days, the Indian consulate has been on a mission to feed. The Indian community has also stepped in. Swaraj tweeted appealing to the communities to come forward and help their brothers and sisters."There is nothing mightier than collective will of Indian nation,'' she tweeted. So far over 15,000 kgs of food have been distributed. The situation is dire. Indian workers in Riyadh have not been paid salaries. But they are getting rations. However, workers employed by Saudi Oger Company have had no rations since July 25. They have been accommodated in five camps at Jeddah, Mecca and Taif and food rations have been provided. There are 30,000 Indians living in Saudi Arabia. On the recent visit to the country, Prime Minister Modi had met workers to understand their problems. While the looming economic crisis has been affecting workers for a while now, it is only over the weekend that the extent of the problem surfaced. With more political parties losing their national party recognition, the Election Commission may come out with less rigorous norms In India's multi-party democracy, the recognition as a national party by the Election Commission of India (ECI) entitles the party to get many benefits. The arrival of regional parties in the states and the prospect of certain national parties like Congress losing their national party status have forced the Election Commission to have a re-look at its definition of a national or state party. What is a national party? The Election Commission grants the status of national party to a registered political party if it satisfies at least one of the three conditions: it wins 2 per cent or more of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three states, or if it bags 6 per cent of the valid votes polled in any four states, or if the party is recognised as a state party in at least four states. Which parties will lose? Once a political party is recognised by the Election Commission, the status as a national party is subject to revision according to the latest Lok Sabha election result. Out of the six political parties that contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the National Congress Party (NCP) may lose this national party tag. Mayawati's BSP failed to get a single seat in the last general election, though it got 4.1 per cent of the total votes polled. The NCP won six Lok Sabha seats, four from Maharashtra, and bagged 1.6 per cent votes. The CPI got a single seat with less than 1 per cent vote-share. These parties will continue to be recognised as national parties only if the Election Commission revises the norms for a national party. Advantages of a national party One of the the major advantages of having a national party status is that the party candidates can contest an election on the same symbol throughout the country. The candidates have a better chance of winning since the symbol is familiar to a large number of illiterate voters. Moreover, the party can avail free time slots for campaigning granted by Prasar Bharati on its national channels. Candidates of a recognised national or state party need only one proposer for nomination while 10 proposers are required to sign for an unrecognised party or an independent candidate. Two sets of electoral rolls are provided free of cost to the candidate of a national party. A national party candidate can use the services of up to 40 star campaigners whose expenses are not added to the election expense accounts of the individual candidate. An unrecognised party has less campaign power as it is allowed only half the number of such star campaigners. Changes suggested by the ECI As the once powerful parties at the national scene are declining, the trend of parties losing their national and state recognition, is likely to continue. So the Election Commission thinks it is necessary to have a new perspective on recognition of political parties. The Commission considers it is fair to revise the national party status after two consecutive polls instead of the current system of doing it after every general election. Home Minister Rajnath Singh's first visit to Islamabad for the SAARC Interior ministers meet on August 4 could well be a much toned down visit even as the proposed visit comes under impending threat from JuD chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Singh is slated to fly to Islamabad for only a day on August 4 by a special aircraft and possibly return the same day, top officials told THE WEEK. It's a clear indication that Singh was not inclined to enjoy hospitality by staying overnight in Islamabad at a time when ties are strained between the two countries . Singh is not being accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval nor the intelligence Bureau chief . Officers including Home Secretary and other officials of the MHA and MEA will be participating in the meeting. The Home Secretary will leave for Islamabad on August 3 while a joint secretary in-charge of international treaties has already left for Islamabad on Monday. On the agenda is liberalisation of the visa regime for businessmen, journalists, sportsmen among others belonging to SAARC nations, SAARC visa exemption scheme which covers dignitaries, government officials, participants of SAARC meetings . The move comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve, when he took oath in the presence of his counterparts from SAARC nations in 2014, to ease travel restrictions for people living in the SAARC countries . The SAARC home ministers meet will also take up trafficking of women and children and promotion of child welfare in South Asia through an extensive session on discussing the report prepared at the fifth meeting of the regional task force. There is no fixed schedule in the agenda for a bilateral talk between India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the SAARC meet . If at all the two home ministers meet, it will be a chance meeting as no scheduled meeting is being planned, top sources said . Almost after a decade, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday will visit Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to give more teeth to partys poll campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Thousands of party workers and Congress supporters are expected to take part in her 6-km long road show. During her eight hours stay in Varanasi, she is expected to take on the prime minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had kicked off Congress poll campaign in Lucknow a few days ago. Sonia is likely to visit famous Vishwanath temple for darshan in the evening. She visited Varanasi last time about a decade ago along with then home minister Shivraj Patil after Sankatmochan temple attack in which 20 people were killed. According to senior Congress leader and chairman of partys communication department Satyadev Tripathi, the Congress president will land at Babatpur airport around 11 am and will lead a procession of 10,000 bikers from the airport to circuit house. From 1 PM to 3 PM, Sonia will lead a road show, which will begin from circuit house and will culminate at late Congress leader Kamlapati Tripathis memorial, where she will address the public. The Congress president is likely to garland statues of Sardar Patel, Mahatama Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Several senior leaders like the partys state president Raj Babbar, chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and in-charge of UP affairs Gulam Nabi Azad will accompany her during the road show. The Congress president during her public address is expected to focus on the lack of development' in prime ministers constituency. She is also likely to highlight 'failure' of Modi's much hyped 'clean Ganga' project. Plight of rivers in Varanasi may also figure in her speech. Congress poll strategist Pashant Kishore and various senior leaders were toiling hard to make Sonia's road show a grand success. The New York Post sparked off an outrage on social media after it published fully nude photos of Melania Trump, the potential first lady of the United States, in its front page for the second time. In its Sunday late edition, the Post published a sensational picture in which a nude Melania was seen being held suggestively by another naked woman, who is also nuzzling the potential first lady's neck. Their nipples were covered by black straps. In the first photograph on Sunday, Melania, wife of Republican candidate Donald Trump, was seen completely nude with stars covering her nipples and her one hand resting between her legs. The all-caps headline read: The Ogle Office. Youve never seen a potential First Lady like this! said the caption at the bottom of the picture. These photos were taken in 1996 and published first in Max, a now defunct French magazine. Interestingly, New York Post had endorsed Trump for president in April. Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania, Trump told the Post in a statement. The real estate tycoon married Melania in 2005. However, the pictures have triggered an online outrage with several people accusing the the paper of misogyny. Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the Home Minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath, who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement in Lahore. "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3. Saeed, who is carrying a $10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML-N government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis." Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing. The Pakistani government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference, he said. "Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing the 'Azadi Kashmir March' on Sunday evening. He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir for the past 23 days and the Valley had turned into a 'volcano for India that could explode any time'. "It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said. Dr. Oded Gaz was once a member of the Bar Ilan University staff however, he was dismissed after the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Supreme Beis Din placed him in nidui after he refused to give his wife a get. Not too long thereafter he vanished, evading authorities and succeeding in leaving the country despite a travel ban against him. It is reported that Gaz was found and taken into custody in Antwerp Belgium last week. The arrest was made based on an international arrest warrant againsy him which relates to criminal activity and not his refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce. Israeli authorities have already filed an extrication request, which relates to his criminal activities and not the refusal to give a get. His illegal actions include using a forged passport to flee Israel and bypass a travel ban imposed by the court. Investigators have established he left Israel using anothers identity and that is why he name was not flagged with border police as he left Israel. After he was found to be in Belgium, the State Prosecutors Office International Unit issued the warrant to have Belgium authorities take him into custody and it was carried out on Thursday, 22 Tammuz. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 25 Tammuz, at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, addressed a number of issues. Among them the shortage of qualified high-tech workers in Israel, turning to the chareidi and Arab communities to join this growing field. In his statement Mr. Netanyahu stated, Today the Cabinet will discuss a proposed decision to aid in the continued growth of the high-tech sector in Israel. The demand is enormous and the supply of workers is small. We are using various means to increase the supply of trained high-tech workers. We have turned to populations that have not been involved in high-tech until now, such as the chareidim and of course our Arab citizens. We are also trying various means to train our young people, also in mathematics, computer and science studies this will take time. In the meantime, we are interested in assisting the absorption of a limited number of expert workers, who could help in passing the standardized exams in order to ease the absorption of workers with unique know-how. Today, the Cabinet will make it possible for their spouses to stay in Israel and work here legally. This is what is being done in the Silicon Valley in the United States, and this is giving them considerable strength and, of course, it doubles employment for the local population in the United States. We will do this here as well. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) While Bayit Yehudi party officials continue to insist the Security Cabinet during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 failed to address Hamas terror tunnels, Likud is firing back, accusing the dati leumi party of lying to deface PM Netanyahus party. It was Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett who spoke out to the media during the counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza, and was scorned publicly by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for openly criticizing the government during a military operation. PM Netanyahu openly threatened to oust Bennett from the government if he repeats the offense in the future. Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid came to Bennetts side, attesting to the fact the cabinet never spoke about the tunnel threat. Minister (Likud) Yuval Steinitz tells a different story however, insisting there were at least a dozen meetings in which the tunnel threats were discussed. PM Netanyahus Bureau released a message concurring, that the tunnels were discussed and statements to the contrary are not accurate. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Kulanu party leader Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon discussed a number of cabinet rotations during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, 25 Tammuz. Rotations approved will go into effect following the Knessets summer recess. The rotation appears to include giving Kahlon and Welfare Minister (Likud) Chaim Katz additional authority, including matters addressing labor and employment, which are currently under the sovereignty of the Economy Ministry. The two ministers have basically absorbed the authorities of the Economy Ministry. Deputy Minister-without-Portfolio (Likud) Yaron Mazuz will Deputy Environmental Protection Minister. Kahlon agreed to return control of the Environmental Affairs Ministry to Likud and it will be held by Zeev Elkin, joining his other cabinet duties as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. PM Netanyahu will maintain control over the Foreign Ministry. Despite reports that Housing Minister (Kulanu) Yoav Galant was defecting to Likud, this is not happening at present and Galant remains in the post which was promised to Kulanu and which he is unwilling to give up. It appears Galant hoped to move to Likud due to the breaking down of relations with Kahlon. He hoped to take the vacant Defense Ministry slot following Moshe Yaalon stepping down, being he is a retired major-general, but the Prime Minister has given that senior portfolio to Avigdor Lieberman to bring Yisrael Beitenu into the coalition. Hence, for the time being, Galant remains in Kulanu in the same post. Officials in Kulanu deny tensions between Galant and party leader Moshe Kahlon, insisting the two maintain a harmonious relationship with one another. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The latest deaths of black people at the hands of police led Jaime Sunwoo to undertake something she had always struggled with a conversation with her parents about race. After two much-publicized deaths in July, the 23-year-old Korean-American from Brooklyn showed her parents a crowd-sourced letter initiated by Asian-Americans specifically to urge others in their community to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Translated into Korean, the letter led to an unusual moment when Sunwoos mother talked about our intentions for the movement and what we want to achieve, her daughter said. Sunwoo, who said her family did not discuss racial issues when she was growing up, said she had never articulated the ideas so coherently and all at once as the letter did. That letter and similar versions in other languages have been circulating in an effort to enlist Asians, Hispanics and other minorities in the movement and to cast light on connections between different minority groups. A system that doesnt value black lives cannot value Asian-American or Asian lives either, said Jenn Fang, who writes about issues including Asian-American activism at the Reappropriate blog. From the beginning, Black Lives Matter supporters have included protesters and activists of all races. In this latest campaign, minority supporters are turning to the people closest to them, trying to convince them that the movement is their fight too. In fighting for their own rights, black activists have led the movement for opportunities not just for themselves, but for us as well, an English-language version of the letter says. Black people have been beaten, jailed, even killed fighting for many of the rights that Asian-Americans enjoy today. We owe them so much in return. We are all fighting against the same unfair system that prefers we compete against each other. Karla Monterroso, an advocate for increasing black and Latino representation in the technology field, helped write a letter in Spanish and English aimed at Hispanic communities. The Spanish letter references the deaths of Anthony Nunez, Melissa Ventura, Pedro Villanueva and Alex Nieto, who were all killed in interactions with police. Their deaths did not receive as much attention as those of some black men whose deadly encounters with officers were caught on video, such as Alton Sterling, who died July 5 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile, who was killed the following day in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. For Latinos, not being able to get their stories told around this leaves the black community alone in a struggle that is really shared, she said. Latinos and blacks have very, very intricate and interwoven issues that can almost be spoken to in the same sentence with regards to the criminal justice system, said Maximo Anguiano, an activist in San Antonio, Texas, who has written about the need for Latinos to speak out against police misconduct. Translating the letter into many languages helps bridge a gap between generations, Fang said, because members of an immigrant generation and those who were born and raised in the United States often understand the political world differently. How do we talk about our issues of politics and culture and just being different from our parents when we dont have the language to communicate in a way that both sides would really like to be able to do? she said. Its really about finding a common language so that we can actually talk about anti-blackness and racial justice. She pointed to the controversy around the case of Peter Liang, a Chinese-American officer convicted in February in the shooting of Akai Gurley, a black man killed by a ricocheting bullet in a dark public-housing stairwell in New York City. Several thousand mostly Chinese-Americans rallied around the country to support Liang, saying he was being scapegoated for white officers who killed black men. Other Asian-Americans demonstrated against that stance, saying Liangs supporters were taking on the wrong fight by supporting an officer who killed an innocent man. Some of the disconnect between the two sides happened because they were organizing in different ways and in different languages, Fang said. We werent really talking at all until we met in the streets, she said. Some multiracial people have found comfort in the widening of the movement. I think both Asian communities and Latin communities really need to recognize there are black people who exist in their communities already, said Gian-Luca Matsuda. The 29-year-old was born in Brazil to a Japanese-Brazilian father and an Afro-Puerto Rican mother. The activism behind the letter is a different approach than going to rallies or marches, said Ray Deng, also 29, whose parents are immigrants from China. Its about immigrants and their children being willing to engage in tough conversations about race with the people closest to them. We have to speak in our own communities, he said. When its the responsibility of the already disenfranchised group to be the change theres something wrong with that. (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 citys 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 didnt 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. Until more information becomes available, were 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. Were not making any correlation. We just dont 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 nights 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 DeGuzmans wife 13 years ago that he survived the stabbing. DeGuzman received the departments 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 Thursdays shooting, Zimmerman said Saturday. An Anaheim, California, man who identified himself as Cassanis 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 didnt identify herself further and hung up. (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, 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 Departments decision. Navajo Nation Council members unanimously supported a resolution requesting for a federal investigation, so we wholeheartedly support the USDOJs 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, its unclear the dimensions of the investigation. Whether or not that includes looking into Austin Shipleys conduct and determining whether or not hes criminally liable for the killing of Loreal Tsingine, thats something were 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. Its 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 officers gun as he tried to arrest her. Her relatives have filed a $10.5 million notice of claim against the city, saying Shipley violated Tsingines 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 Tsingines husband and $8.5 million for her 8-year-old daughter. Shipley is on paid administrative leave while the Mesa Police Department conducts an internal affairs investigation. (AP) Thousands rallied in the German city of Cologne on Sunday to denounce the failed July 15 coup in Turkey and show support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A heavy police presence protected demonstrators. The rally came amid tensions among Turks following the coup attempt and concern in Germany over the scale of the Turkish governments subsequent crackdown on those it says are linked to a U.S.-based cleric it blames for the coup attempt. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied the claims. Police said some 20,000 people gathered in wet weather Sunday afternoon at the riverside rally, across the Rhine from downtown Cologne. Many waved Turkish flags. Germany is home to roughly 3 million people with Turkish roots. Organizers at the rally played the Turkish and German national anthems and held a minute of silence for the people killed in the attempted coup. The slogan of the demonstration was Yes to democracy. No to the coup. Police put 2,700 officers in place to prevent any trouble. Four much smaller counter-protests took place elsewhere in the city, including one by a far-right German group that was kept well away from the Turkish rally. Some demonstrators came from outside Germany, such as French-Turkish protester Aziz Sahin, who said he came from Paris just to support democracy. A regional court imposed the condition that no messages from speakers elsewhere such as politicians in Turkey could be shown on a video screen at the rally. Germanys highest court rejected a complaint against that ban on Saturday night. Erdogans spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said ruling prevented the president from sending a message to the rally, and called for a satisfactory explanation from German officials. Later Sunday, organizers read a message from Erdogan thanking people with Turkish roots in Germany for their moral support during the coup attempt, the German news agency dpa reported. He said today Turkey is stronger than it ever was before July 15. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of the rally that there is no place in Germany for anyone or group to bring domestic political tensions from Turkey to us in Germany. (AP) The government has announced it remains committed to eliminating discrimination against Israels Ethiopian Jewish community. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week officially accepted the report prepared by the team on eradicating racism against Israelis of Ethiopian origin. PM Netanyahu on Sunday evening 25 Tammuz received the report from Justice Ministry Director-General Amy Palmor, who headed the team on eradicating racism against Israelis of Ethiopian origin the conclusions and recommendations of the team on eradicating racism against Israelis of Ethiopian origin. The inter-ministerial team was established by the Prime Minister in the framework a decision by the special ministerial committee on advancing the integration into Israeli society of Israelis of Ethiopian origin, which he chairs. The ministerial team will convene tomorrow in order to discuss the report and it is anticipated approve its recommendations. The Prime Minister stated, I am not prepared to tolerate racism in our state. I am not prepared for people to be tripped up by the color of their skin. This is terrible. We, on the ministerial committee, have heard heart-rending and hair-raising stories and we started to take action against racism even beforehand. But now, in the wake of this report, which is part of our decisions, we will take further steps and I am pleased that there are people, men and women, who are determined to uproot this phenomenon from our lives. This befits neither our country, our citizens nor our people. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) [COMMUNICATED CONTENT] There are many fascinating stories of the yeshuos of those who were zoche to daven at the kever of the great tzadik and mekubal Reb Amram Ben Diwan in Morocco. His kever has become a place of pilgrimage for all Moroccan Jews. Each year on Lag BaOmer, thousands of Jews come to Wazan to make the pilgrimage to the tzion of the tzadik. Numerous miracles are said to have occurred there: Incurable illnesses have been healed, the blind have regained their sight,, the mute have found their voice, the paralyzed have returned home on their own, and infertile women have had children after having prayed there. They tell that a French military sergeant had a son who remained paralyzed after a serious illness. This sergeant had a Jewish friend that advised him to take his son to the tomb of Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan in Wazan. At first, the sergeant was skeptical and refused, but then later promised that if a miracle were to happen and his son would be healed, he would build a road with his own money in order to facilitate access to the tomb of the Tzaddik. The miracle occurred: As soon as his son approached the kever of Rabbi Amram, he was healed. The happy father kept his promise and constructed a road that leads to the tomb of Rabbi Amram. Yet another story comes from a couple in Monsey, NY who were not zoche to have a child for 15 years. They were told to go and daven by the kever of Reb Amram. After finishing the entire tehillim at the kever, the husband heard the sound of a baby crying. Nobody else in the vicinity heard this wondrous sound. Nine months later this couple had a child. One anonymous source tells the following stunning story: I was zoche to hear this story from the father and I actually held this miracle baby in my arms. After hearing this story, I called two friends who were having a challenging time with shidduchim. I told them we need to book tickets and go daven by this great tzadiks tomb. We booked and headed out to Morocco. En route we decided to spend Shabbos in Gibraltar. We ate our Shabbos meals by the president of the Community Mr. Solomon Levy. He told us about his nephew who was crippled from birth. The parents of the boy decided to go to the tzion of Reb Amram. After praying, .they went for a walk and left the boy in his wheelchair to continue praying by the Tzadik. The boy prayed a little then drifted off into a slumber. In his dream a man with a white beard appeared. He said, What are you doing in a cemetery? You are a Kohen. You must leave at once. The boy replied, I cant walk. How can I leave? Reb Amram replied, Just pick yourself up and walk out. The boy awoke and, miraculously, he used his own two feet to wobble out of the kever. He continued with physical therapy and today is walking like a normal person. After shabbos, we traveled from Gibraltar to Morocco. We prayed and recited the full tehillim by the Kever. We stayed a few days and toured Fez, then returned to the US. The following Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, I made a Lechaim and got engaged. The following two weeks, one after another, my two friends got engaged. On a recent trip to Israel, after praying by Kever Rochel an Israeli looking man asked me for a ride into Jerusalem. As we were riding in the car, wanting to make light conversation, I asked his name. He said, My name is Amram Biton. Stunned, I asked if he was from Moroccan descent and if he ever had heard of Reb Amram Ben Diwan. He turned to me in awe and said, I am named after him. My mother was childless for many years and made the journey to his kever. She promised the Tzadik that if she had a baby, she would name him Amram. I am that baby. These stories are truly beyond the scope of our imagination. Reb Amram of Diwans yartzeit is coming up this Tu BAv and people from all over the world are traveling to his kever to daven. E & S tours is planning a special journey for those who would like to Daven by this great Tzadik on his Yartziet. The tour is being subsidized to ensure anyone who wants can join this historic journey. Dont miss this opportunity to be poel yeshouas for yourself or your loved ones. Click here for details. Paraphrasing Michael Caine from the film The Italian Job, Boris Johnson was told by one of his shocked aides, 'you were only meant to blow the b****y doors off,' as the Brexit result unfolded. As the international business community surveys the wreckage from this larger than anticipated explosion, sentiments around the world are settling in ways that will shape this country's economic future profoundly. What the international business scene thinks of the UK after Brexit matters. This country is more globally connected than just about any other major economy. Overseas reaction: The future of Britain's business relationships is up in the air after Brexit Even more importantly, the UK has had the lion's share of foreign direct investment coming into Europe for many years. A combination of the English language, Britain's global connectedness, as well as easy access to markets and talent in Europe, all helped to sell the country to overseas businesses. That has all been thrown in the air. Business leaders also hate uncertainty and the prospect of years of wrangling about the terms of exit fills them with horror. Rather than simply waiting, reactions are now starting to take shape. While there are similarities globally, some regional differences are also apparent. In China and East Asia generally, there is a huge cultural preference for stability and cohesion. Gurek Bains: 'Business leaders hate uncertainty' The first reaction from Chinese leaders after the vote was to call for a spirit of calmness and tranquility in Europe. The business leaders in that part of the world also tend to move together and be strongly influenced by strategic guidance from their political leaders. Initial soundings suggest that the country has moved from being the much-preferred destination for East Asian investment to being dropped like a hot potato. The Singapore bank UOB was first out of the starting blocks, when a day after the vote it froze lending for London property. Richard Branson was reportedly taken back when meeting a group of Chinese business leaders by their near unanimous view that the UK was no longer a place they would consider investing in at all. The only silver lining is that Chinese consumers, who love British prestige brands and who are ever on the look out for a good bargain, have reportedly been swooping up Burberry bags, Scotch whisky and even Bentleys with greater enthusiasm, following the collapse of the pound. Across the pond in the US, the culture of positivity, adaptability to change, as well as emotional and historical connection to the UK is leading to a slightly different reaction. US executives are worried by Brexit, but inclined to look as hard for opportunities as at potential risks in the current environment. Silver lining: Chinese consumers snapped up heritage brands like Bentley as the pound fell Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, stated after the vote, 'Goldman Sachs has a long history of adapting to change'. This typifies the sentiment of many American leaders. This preparedness to grasp change, however, cuts both ways. Expect American banks and other companies to move parts of their operations to Europe or Scotland, pretty quickly if this is seen to be in their interests. Expect also for American businesses to be on the front foot in acquiring cheap British assets. In spite of what Obama said, British businesses are also likely to find a warm welcome as they pivot more towards the US. In India, the reaction is likely to be more complex. Indian business leaders are used to ambiguity, keeping their options open and navigating all kinds of bureaucratic and political uncertainty. In addition, both language and history means that there is a residue of warmth towards the UK. Indian leaders will feel their way through the situation. India's glacial bureaucracy has also been engaged in a 10-year 'discussion' with the EU around a trade deal, which, to no one's surprise, has progressed at a snail's pace. Some Indian business leaders are calling for the government to conclude a deal quickly with the UK, should it leave the single market. In Europe, the reaction of business leaders is more deeply felt. The UK's attitude to the EU was largely transactional. For many on the continent, the EU, despite its flaws, is seen as fundamental to preserving harmony, peace and democracy. To many, the UK's decision looks short-sighted. Many EU business leaders will be quietly pleased to see the UK suffer and are emotionally likely to pivot away from the country in their business decision-making. Despite these differences, which represent both opportunities and threats, one of the great attractions of the UK for international businesses from everywhere was the country's reputation for openness, legal transparency, and political stability. That vase has now been cracked and our political leaders will need to move quickly and assuredly to prevent it shattering all over the floor with consequent severe impact on our economic prospects. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie Multiple Democratic candidates are vying to fill the state Assembly seat in southeast Queens left vacant since Barbara Clark died in February. The September primary will determine the Democratic nominee in the race to decide who represents District 33, which Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Queens Village, Hollis and Bellerose. Clark, who was a strong advocate for education and a fixture on the Queens political scene, held the seat from 1987 until she died. Brian Block has held the position of Community Board 13 chairman since 2009 and was previously the boards executive secretary and a member of the Cambria Heights Civic Association. Sabine French is a community advocate, the vice President of the Haitian American Political Action Committee of New York and a campaigner for the Democratic Party in New York state elections. Leroy Gadsden is the president of the Jamaica branch of the NAACP and has worked to fight police misconduct and school closures. He announced his candidacy in May at a news conference where he answered questions from community members. During his tenure, he helped train legal observers to monitor polling sites with high minority voting populations and helped foster voter registration and turnout organizations. Roy Paul, a board member for the Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults and a founder of the Southeast Queens Young Democrats, said that he did consider running for the seat until others suggested he try. He said he could hunt down necessary resources for struggling district schools. You cant expect people to do that with legislation alone. You need someone who can go out and be proactive and get the resources that Albany says do not exist, he said. Well have to do a needs assessment of all of our schools, and lack of technological resources is at the top of our list. Clyde Vanel, who ran against Clark as an independent in the 2012 Democratic primary and general election, and said he entered the race into the ring to attract jobs to the district, envisioning a Silicon Jamaica that would bring tech companies to the downtown area. (Companies) want places that have an urban feel but not an urban center, and downtown Jamaica has that potential, he said, noting that the improved business opportunities could help spur homeownership. One of the biggest problems in the city and country is the next generation cant afford to buy and live in the neighborhoods where they grew up. Nantasha Williams, who is currently the chief of staff to Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson (D-Brooklyn), said that lowering the high foreclosure rate in southeast Queens was an important issue for her campaign. She hoped to inspire public participation through her candidacy and advocacy. Public participation is so bad and government doesnt take it upon itself to increase public participation, and thats wrong, she said. You cant really do anything else if you dont have people engaged. The Democratic primary will be held on Sept. 13 and the winner of the primary may face a potential general election challenge in November. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By the Greater Astoria Historical Society In conjunction with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, the Times/Ledger newspaper presents noteworthy events in the boroughs history On July 20, 1917, the first train ran between 57th Street in Manhattan to Ditmars Boulevard in Queens. The trip over the bridge took eight minutes. It carried only city officials and Chamber of Commerce members and made no stops. Its progress was a triumph as both bridge pedestrians and track workers cheered as it made its way along the 20-minute trip. The Queens Chamber of Commerce, which played an active role in the line, touted the success of the fifth link between Queens and the rest of New York City (the others were the Queensboro Bridge, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Steinway subway tubes, and the Hell Gate Bridge). They recalled that when the project seemed stalled because of a lack of railroad ties, they dispatched an agent who found cars filled with ties outside of St Louis. It seemed the war effort had fouled the rail network. After straightening out the mess, the agent sent the train to New York. On Monday, July 23, 1917 after riders were waiting nearly a decade for service, the line opened and immediately drew criticism from the community. The first train from Ditmars Boulevard unexpectedly stopped at Bridge Plaza where sleepy passengers were ordered off. Staring in disbelief, they watched as the dispatcher sent the three cars clattering over the Queensboro Bridge with no passengers! Returning from Queensboro Plaza, passengers got angry when they had to wait a half hour to get back to Ditmars. Later that evening, their woes increased then they discovered the Ditmars line, like the rest of the Second Avenue system, virtually shut down at midnight. The following day, on Tuesday, the 24th, the first impressions of the new elevated line were in. Headlines were negative: Astorians object vociferously to Bridge Plaza Station, and New el service inadequate, crush at Plaza. It seemed that the morning rush, spread over several hours, was not the true test for the system. The evening commute, between 5:30 p.m and 6:30 p.m., proved to be the busiest hour, and thousands descended on the elevated station. The problem got worse when careless Manhattanites, used to having all Second Avenue locals to themselves as a Harlem-bound train, did not understand that it shared the same track with a new local, bound for Astoria. Thousands of bewildered commuters were milling around Bridge Plaza on the first day looking for service returning them back to Manhattan. Adding to the confusion, a steady stream of Astorians poured out of subway cars from Hunters Point and Grand Central. Trains on the bridge from the Second Avenue el were backed up, unable to even reach Bridge Plaza in the confusion. Extra guards were called on to physically shove the crowds into packed cars. Reports from Grand Central Station, which was supposed to enjoy a drop in traffic, showed the subway platforms were as crowded as before. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Bill Parry Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to move 16- and 17-year-olds out of Rikers Island and into a facility in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The plan calls for the city to upgrade the Horizon Juvenile Center as well as the Crossroads Juvenile Center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which would hold the citys 14- and 15-year-old detainees. For almost a century, 16- and 17-year-olds have been misplaced in an adult jail on Rikers Island. Its high time we delivered on the improvements and reforms our youngest detainees need, de Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said. Moving these teens into a state-of-the-art facility will provide them with the programming and space they need to get on the right track to more productive futures. This investment in improved facilities will save millions in the long run while curbing the cycle of violence. A 2015 settlement with the Department of Justice on Rikers Island reforms called on the city to seek an alternative location to house inmates under 18, although it stopped short of requiring it. In an e-mail to supporters, de Blasio wrote the fact is kids dont belong on Rikers Island and the reality is they never have. Were taking steps to right this wrong. The cost of the plan is expected to be around $300 million and take four years for the public approval process and renovations to be completed. The Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, chaired by former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Joseph Lippman, endorsed the plan July 21. The announcement of plans to remove adolescents from Rikers Island youth who never should have been detained at a facility built for adults is extremely welcome news, Lippman said. Much, much more needs to be done, and audacious, effective, fearless solutions will be necessary to reform a jail network that is a manifestation of a criminal justice system that has failed to measure up to our highest ideals and failed generations of New Yorkers. De Blasio will now work on a different plan. One to replace his police commissioner Bill Bratton. The 68-year-old Bratton announced said he will step down by the end of next year. He had previously mentioned he would not stay on if de Blasio won a second term in office. If things are going well, theres never a good time to leave when things are going well, but theres a right time and whether in your personal life, professional life, thats something in my life Ive tried to do, is find the right time and cause minimum restructuring if possible, Bratton said. De Blasio said the commissioner is doing a great job and he called the announcement premature. Hes made clear that hes not going to stay into a second term, he said. I absolutely respect that, especially after all hes done for the city over the years and thats all there is to say at this point. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York City public schools would no longer suspend students in kindergarten up to second grade, and touted several other initiatives that he said would promote school safety and end the practice of punitive school discipline policies that disparately burden children of color. De Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and Department of Education Chancellor Carmen Farina lauded what they said was a continued decline in school suspensions and crime, but the initiatives drew a surprising rebuke from the United Federation of Teachers. Students feel safest when lines of responsibility and rules are crystal clear. Todays reforms ensure that school environments are safe and structured, de Blasio said. The reforms also empower educators and families with more data and greater clarity on school safety policies. Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), the Education Committee chair, lauded the new regulations. A ban on K-2 suspensions is a giant step forward for our public schools, Dromm said. These recommendations rightly embrace a restorative justice approach to discipline and will vastly improve school learning environments across the city. The new approaches are based on recommendations from a task force established in 2015 to investigate issues of public school safety and disciplinary measures, and the reforms are scheduled to unfold during the coming year. In addition to the discontinuing of K-2 suspensions, the recommendations would minimize the carry-over of suspension between school years, allocate $15 million annually to fund mental health services at 50 schools during the next three years, work towards removing metal detectors and scanners in school and increase transparency of data. Phase two of the mayors plan will bring the implementation of a clear protocol in regards to school scanners that will help the NYPD and the DOE to better assess how and where this equipment can be used to further enhance school safety, Bratton said. It will also make public for the first time data on handcuffing, which will show that these restraining devices are largely used when arrests are made. UFT President Michael Mulgrew stressed that discontinuing suspensions could lead to unexpected consequences for teachers and students in a letter he posted on the UFT site after the announcement. The reality is that many schools are unable or unwilling to comply with current regulations because the Department of Education has failed to provide the needed training, support, funds and leadership, he wrote. It is easy to ban suspensions. It is much harder to do the real work so suspensions are no longer necessary. Mulgrew noted that DOE disciplinary policies currently in place were often not followed, including training teachers in de-escalation disciplinary situations. Mulgew also said tthe Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act, which required schools to have a room and staff for crisis intervention, was not in place in many schools. Mulgrew contended the drop in suspensions may have stemmed from a concern on the part of school administrators that they would be reprimanded if their suspension rates remained level from years before. Jermiah Ketteridge, the CEO of Families for Excellent Schools, decried the mayors assertions that crime had dropped in city schools. Chancellor Farina and Commissioner Bratton may paint a rosy picture of decreased crime in schools, but the facts still remain weapons recoveries are up 26 percent, violent incidents are up 23 percent and thousands of students lack relief from bullying, harassment and abuse, he said in a statement. Families for Excellent Schools advocates for charter schools and has been a frequent critic of the de Blasio administrations education policies. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams FLUSHINGPolice were seeking information about a gunfight that broke out between a driver and bicyclist in Flushing earlier this month. The incident took place on 137th Street and 32nd Avenue on July 12 at about 10:25 p.m., police said. The driver of a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee shot at a bicyclist, who then shot back twice as the jeep drove away, according to police. No injuries were reported in the incident, NYPD said. Police have released a video of the incident and the man seen shooting at the Jeep is described as black, last seen wearing long shorts, a long-sleeve shirt and sneakers. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime\s siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city. Russia\s defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. "As far as we know from the information we\ve had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad\s government last September. It brought the total number of members of the Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of Islamist and jihadist forces including the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its status as Al-Qaeda\s Syrian affiliate. In neighbouring Aleppo province, the Fateh al-Sham Front and allied Islamist rebel groups were fighting fierce battles on Monday against regime troops on the outskirts of Aleppo city. The clashes are part of an assault launched Sunday to try to ease a government siege of the rebel-held east of the city. The Observatory said the rebels had advanced overnight south and southwest of Aleppo, but reported ongoing fighting, as well as government air strikes on the battlefield and rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Once Syria\s economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, cutting the sole supply route in and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. The primary goal of the rebel assault is to seize the Ramussa neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Aleppo. "The road that runs through Ramussa is the main supply route for regime forces going to the areas they control in western Aleppo," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. It is also used by civilians to move in and out of government-controlled districts of Aleppo. Taking a detour from the north of the city would be too dangerous, he added. Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham said on Twitter it was involved in fierce clashes near Ramussa and advancing towards the route. State news agency SANA said rebel rocket and sniper fire near Ramussa on Monday killed four people, including three women. The Observatory put the toll at six dead, including three women and a child. SANA said people were using the route as usual, but residents of western Aleppo expressed fears that the assault could cut them off. "If the militants break the siege, they will besiege us and cut the Khanasser route, which is the only artery we have," said Hossam Qassab, a 32-year-old pharmacist. A Syrian security source acknowledged the assault but said it had been repelled by government forces. The encirclement of eastern Aleppo has raised fears of starvation for remaining residents, who have reported food shortages and spiralling prices since the government siege began on July 17. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels wishing to leave. On Saturday, Moscow and Syrian official media reported dozens of civilians had fled via these corridors, but residents and rebels on the ground dismissed the reports as "lies". Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, advanced inside the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij on Monday, the Observatory reported. The SDF hold approximately 40 percent of the town, and are fighting to take it with support from the US-led coalition against IS. SOURCE: AFP These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them environment Here's what to know as the annual dove hunting season approaches SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Dozens of historic photographs document the early years of Graham and the other communities in Young County at the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Photographs depicting the growth of Young County are featured at the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center on the square in Graham, including the construction of the dam on the Brazos River that created Possum Kingdom Lake in 1939. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS In the art gallery area of the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center, oil paintings by Kaye Franklin are on display. The OPOMAC opened in 2002 with several exhibits of the Western heritage of Young County and historic photographs. The building is a Texas Historic Landmark and served as Graham's main post office from 1936 until 1992. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS The Old Post Office Museum and Art Center in Graham features Young County history and many works of fine art. The building was Graham's main post office from 1936 to 1992. The government sold it to the city and citizens came together to renovate it into a museum and art center that opened in 2002. Related Photos GALLERY: Old Post Office Museum and Art Center By John Ingle of the Times Record News When most people think of a museum, they think of relics of days gone by lining shelves, and walls and display cases inside a structure that often has some sort of significance itself. A house, a pioneer era saloon, an old county jail and a former firehouse are just a few edifices groups of citizens or individuals have transformed into historical repositories remind residents of their forebears. Still others are housed in modern structures or buildings refurbished by big-city consultants to bring a sophisticated flare to their premises. The Old Post Office Museum and Art Center in Graham in Young County is one such receptacle, housing items and stories dating to the county's founding in 1856. Like many museums in the United States, the narrative of Young County begins with Native Americans and pioneers looking for a new beginning, often resulting in conflict. Marlene Edwards, executive director of OPOMAC, said Western heritage was the focal point of displays in the early days of the museum when it opened in October 2002. "It has evolved ... because we really didn't have a lot of things connected to that," she said. "We had the normal things, the brands, the saddles; things like that." FDR's New Deal Tragedy often breeds triumph as men and women persevere in the face of adversity. Economic collapse struck the U.S. in October 1929 when the stock market crashed, sending the country into a financial downward spiral that would put millions out of work and countless numbers of families out on the streets or into shantytowns often called Hoovervilles. The election of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt brought the New Deal, which would initiate socially liberal programs aiming to bring America's poor out of the doldrums of the Great Depression. One such program was the Works Progress Administration later renamed the Work Projects Administration to put millions of unemployed people to work on public buildings and roadways. Post offices were some of the facilities on the list for construction, and Graham, was one of many towns in rural America selected to have a new, permanent site for mail. Ground was broken in October 1935 on the $60,000 project, and the more than 8,000-square-feet post office opened in May 1936. "Graham had had several post offices before that," Edwards said. "Of course, it'd be in a general store or a bank or something to that effect. It was never actually a post office by itself until they built this building, and then it became the United States Post Office." Local oilman Spencer Boyd Street was the first full-time postmaster when the post office opened, and the USPS would operate out of the building for the next 56 years until a new facility was built and opened at the intersection of U.S. Highway 380 and Tennessee. Artists were commissioned during another wave of social programs during the Second New Deal to paint murals in the new public buildings. Alexandre Hogue, a member of a group of artists in the 1930s and 1940s called the Dallas Nine, was selected to paint the mural "Oil Fields of Graham." "They told him they wanted something (to do with) industry here, something that was going on," Edwards said. "Of course, the oil fields had come in 1919-1921. "After it was painted and several of the citizens saw it, they got a little upset that the Streets were in it but not the Grahams, so they had to come back and put Col. (E.S.) Graham in it. He was added at a later date before other people saw it ..." Push to preserve history The old post office building, which was still owned by the USPS when it closed in 1992, didn't sit long before a group of Graham residents decided the city should step in and purchase it. Four women led the charge, including Susan Henson, the wife of then-Mayor Ed Henson; Louise Witkowski, a daughter of the first postmaster; Marjorie Kirtley, wife of Postmaster Burton Kirtley, who was the last in that position at the old post office; and arts and museum supporter Barbara Antle. The contingent convinced city leaders to purchase the building in 1993, and a board was appointed in 1995. Its first order of business was to get a restoration architect to help find out what to do with the building, whether citizens wanted a museum or arts center. A survey of the public was mounted. "One of the gentlemen that was on the board was much in favor of it being an art center rather than a museum," Edwards said. "And it came back 50/50 almost, so ... they decided to turn it into both." The Houston-based architect came up with a couple of designs, but was told to make sure the integrity of the building was maintained. The building, for the most part, remains as it did in 1992, when the USPS closed it down. The spaces where post office boxes once were are now display cases with glass. The window where postal workers stood also remains. Edwards, who has been the executive director for about 12 years, said it wasn't long before people started making donations to the museum, most of them items handed down through the years odds and ends family descendants didn't want anymore but certainly didn't want to throw away. "It took probably a year to two years to go through everything and decide what they wanted to use," she said. "I think as time went on, people began to realize that this (museum) was going to be a reality, so they started bringing in things such as the saddles and some of the things that were (relevant) to what they wanted to do here." The museum officially opened for business on Oct. 2, 2002, to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association, which began under an oak tree in Graham in 1877 as an organization to ward off cattle rustlers. Amassing collections Like in most of North Texas, ranching and agriculture were major economic drivers in Young County in its early days, with cattle the bigger of the two. The nearby Loving Ranch is just one of many that operated in the area and are still in operation today. A display of branding irons shows the marks cattlemen used to signify which beef was theirs. Rancher J.C. Loving documented the varied proprietary stamps burned on cattle in a book dated 1884. A tally sheet is also on display that shows a cattle and brand count on June 21, 1880, when C.L. Carter was having 398 head taken to market or possibly Fort Sumner, New Mexico, along the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Another 191 head owned by T.J. Atkinson was also to be part of the drive. A collection of horse bits from Phillip Pinnell hang in one section of the museum, and an ornate collection of spurs, also belonging to Pinnell, have been a popular temporary display. A stock saddle made by Price Brothers and used by the M.K. Graham family is also exhibited, along with saddles from the Spivey and Corbet families. As in other communities in this area, oil and natural gas production has played an important role in Young County. While there isn't much on display commemorating the industry, there is a model wooden oil derrick that is steam operated. A remarkable display in OPOMAC includes reproduced photographs of buildings in Young County communities dating back to the 19th century. Familiar places include Graham, Olney, Newcastle, Loving and Fort Belknap. Some lesser known but just as fascinating photos come from Boggy Valley, Cribb Station, Tankersly, Bunger and Lone Knob, just to name a few. Boots and hats from heralded cowboy stuntman Dean Smith's collection are displayed, including extravagant, handmade Justin boots and cowboy hats from John Wayne, Tom Mix and Dale Robertson. Trick rider Jerry Ann Portwood Taylor memorabilia is also on display. Flair for the arts The responsibility for providing a rotating art displays and collections rests squarely on the shoulders of assistant director and curator Jim Overcash, who has been with OPOMAC for about five years. Edwards said she was the only employee of the OPOMAC until Overcash arrived and began putting his curating talents to work creating high-class and professional showcases. Overcash said art exhibits were rotating every month in the main gallery when he first began working at OPOMAC. He said it felt like by the time they had gotten one up and running, it would be time to take it back down and get ready for the next. But even with the difficulty of keeping up with the schedule, it guarantees something is always new for returning guests. "With an arts center, you're always coming in to find something new that wasn't here," Overcash said. "It's an ever-changing exhibit because of the art, which that was kind of a smart move ... to make it (the old post office) both. It's harder to maintain, but it gives you the opportunity of changing things so ... it keeps drawing people back." Kaye Franklin's "Impressions of Light and Color" impressionist acrylics and oils are on exhibit in the main gallery through Sept. 2. An exhibit following that, he said, will stay up for about three months and highlight Old West cowboys and famous women of the day. The exhibits range from paintings to photography to sculptures. The museum's annual competitive exhibit, the juried Texas Spirit Art Show, has 175-200 entries from the 48 continental U.S. states. The Lake Country Art Show at the gallery is also a popular event. Parting gifts Another trove of treasured history or trinkets to commemorate a visit to OPOMAC can be found in the gift store. Book by local and Texas authors recounting the history of the plains from the original Native Americans who long inhabited the area to its modern communities. Books are also available for children at first-grade and junior-high levels. Also in the gift shop are pieces of fine arts, handmade jewelry, photographs pottery and more. For more on the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center, visit www.opomac.net. SHARE Contributed graphic The ride share company, TRIDE, has expressed interest in coming to Wichita Falls. The city council will discuss the possibility of allowing ride-share programs in the city at their meeting Tuesday. By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News Discussion of ride-hailing businesses and some new city ordinances are among items on the Wichita Falls City Council agenda for Tuesday. Among the ordinances being considered are two regarding vehicles for hire. Option 1 would entail regulation of the industry including fingerprinting of drivers in a service such as Uber, in which someone needing transportation uses a smartphone app to summon someone who provides a ride in a private vehicle. Option 2 would authorize the ride-hailing industry without regulation. At least one ride-booking company, TRIDE, has expressed interest in coming to Wichita Falls. The council will also take action on: An ordinance closing and abandoning an alley and tract of land near Tyler Street. Floral Heights United Methodist Church has expressed interest in building a food pantry in this location. An ordinance authorizing the general election Nov. 8 for election of mayor, and council positions for districts 3, 4, and 5. An ordinance to accept $120,556 from the Department of State Health Services for the special revenue fund for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. The funding is an annual allowance and will be used for personnel, travel and other expenses involved in promoting preparedness activities. An ordinance accepting $109,388.30 in Texas Department of Transportation funds for the Comprehensive Selective Traffic Enforcement Program for the 2017 fiscal year. The STEP program will focus enforcement on occupant protection, speed and intersection traffic. Code of ordinance changes will be discussed by the council including: Environmental code: Possible addition of regulations for private property owners to require maintenance of fencing. Building and building regulations, Residential Water Code: Requirement that residents have running potable water. The council will also consider: Spending an additional $40,000 for the Sheppard Air Force Base Perimeter Security and Transportation Project. During demolition of a structure near the base, asbestos was detected, which will require proper handling. Approval of an action plan for Community Development Block Grant funds totaling $1,115,824 and Home Investment Partnership funds totaling $267,205, and reallocation of $120,000 in CDBG funds. Authorization of agreement for a joint election Nov. 8 with Wichita County. The election will also include Wichita Falls Independent School District and City View ISD. Authorization of a bid and contract totaling $171,416 to Bowles Construction Co. for Phase 2 of the annual sewer budget utility improvements project. Authorization of an advanced funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation for the Hike and Bike Trail (Circle Trail) from the Wichita Bluff area to Loop 11. Expenditure for the Wichita Falls Police Department of $91,675.86 from the Federal Forfeiture and State Seized Fund Accounts for purchasing equipment not included in the 2015-2016 budget. Waiver of the rental fee for the mobile stage for a food truck event Oct. 8 for the Lions Club. Authorization for the city manager to submit an application requesting use of a jet engine for a static display at the Wichita Falls Regional Airport. University of Texas file photo Fifty years ago today, Charles Whitman opened fire from the top of the University of Texas tower in Austin, killing 14 people and wounding 31 others. By Jason Walker, Special to the Times Record News On a Thursday in late July, Ramiro Martinez woke before dawn to keep the same appointment he's kept nearly every decade for the past 50 years meeting reporters at the University of Texas's most famous building a place where he met eye to eye with a killer a half century ago on this date. "I have never had a nightmare," he said. "I have to emphasize that. But it's just, 'What else could I have done? What could we have done to have lessened the number of people that were injured or killed?'" At 79, the former Texas Ranger carries a cane most days, but his memory is as sharp as ever. He remembers everything that happened Aug. 1, 1966, the day a 25-year-old mechanical engineering student named Charles Whitman locked himself inside the clock tower and began shooting at the crowds below. Back then, Martinez had been with the Austin Police Department five years and was at home with his wife and daughters when he got the call. By the time he arrived on campus, the shooting had been going on for an hour. There were bodies on the mall and people left bleeding behind what little cover they could find. Police sharpshooters had taken up positions in adjacent buildings and begun firing back, but it did no good. Whitman had all the advantages. Martinez decided the only way to stop him was to get inside the tower. "I wanted to get in there because I know where the elevators are, I need to go there and assist because I figured there should have been some policemen in there already." The first chance he had, he made a run for it zigzagging his way across the open mall to the west side door. He took an elevator to the 27th floor, the last stop before a flight of stairs that leads to the observation deck. "I figured that I was coming to assist an assault squad that had come from the police department. And it wasn't here." What he found instead were two police officers and an armed civilian named Allen Crum. None of them had a plan except to walk out onto the deck and meet the gunman face to face. "I started going up when Allen Crum says, 'Where you going?' And I said, 'I'm going up to get the sniper.' And he said, 'No you're not going alone, I'm going with you; we'll do it service style: You cover me and I'll cover you.'" Whitman was not on the south side deck when Martinez pushed open the door and stepped out. Gunfire from the mall had driven him to the northeast corner where he'd begun shooting through the rainspouts onto Guadalupe Street. Martinez left Crum to guard the south side deck while he and Officer Houston McCoy made their way to the north. Crum fired a shot into the wall along the southwest corner, either by accident or because he saw something that spooked him. It might have been the most important shot fired all day. When Martinez and McCoy rounded the northeast corner, Whitman was on the west side deck facing the direction of fire. It gave them the chance they needed. Both men opened fire and didn't stop until their guns were empty. When the smoke cleared, Charles Whitman was dead and the rampage that had lasted 96 minutes was finally over. Below the tower, 14 people were dead and 31 were wounded. One of the wounded died later of complications. There have been questions over the years about which officer fired the fatal shot questions that don't mean much to Ramiro Martinez. "I don't care who gets credit for the projectile that killed him. There was a mission to be accomplished and we accomplished it together. It's immaterial who fired the fatal shot." What he does care about is why it took so long for police officers to get inside. By the time the shooting stopped, 16 people were dead and 33 wounded. It was the day that changed the way police respond to active shooters and the way Martinez sees things when he closes his eyes at night. "I do not sleep well at night because it's like a little worm, every time there's a shooting somewhere, or something comes up, my mind at two o'clock in the morning starts activating and I start thinking again about this day. I wake up at night and I can hear the chimes. And I wonder, 'Who are they chiming for? The survivors? Or the people that might have survived if the proper action had been taken?'" Jason Walker, a former Wichitan, is a photojournalist in Austin. Historic guns came to Wichita Falls After the University of Texas tower shootings on Aug. 1, 1966, a judge allowed sniper Charles Whitmans family to sell the guns he carried to the top of the tower three rifles, three pistols and a shotgun to pay off his debts. Bobbie Burns, a Wichita Falls oilman and gun collector, bought the weapons for $1,500. After Burns death in 1974, they were sold again and have changed hands several times since. One of the rifles drew some criticism when it was placed on public exhibit at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C. Ramiro Martinez, a retired Austin police officer and Texas Ranger who encountered and shot Whitman on the tower, once told the Dallas Morning News, The dadgum thing should be put in a smelter and done away with. End of story. Graham B. Purcell Federal Building By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News The state of Texas and other plaintiffs locked in a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its guidance on transgender bathroom rights may soon withdraw victorious from the case, the Texas Attorney General's Office said. In May, the U.S. government issued guidance to school districts nationwide, directing them to make bathrooms available to transgender students based on their gender identity and not their biological sex. The directive implied that noncompliance could be met with the loss of federal funding to schools. The Texas Attorney General's Office, joined by 14 states, school districts and individuals, sued several federal agencies, arguing the Obama administration had overstepped its bound by threatening to cut off federal funds. Last week, the U.S. government filed a brief in a Wichita Falls federal court arguing the plaintiffs' case was unfounded its guidance is not legally binding, and therefore it can't stop the flow of federal money to schools. If that's true, Texas and its co-plaintiffs may have won their case in the first months of what looked to be a drawn-out, expensive legal battle with the federal government. In a prepared statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the Times Record News he would consider withdrawing from the suit, assuming U.S. attorneys are willing to repeat in open court what they wrote in their brief. "If the federal agencies are willing to admit in court that they do not plan on ever enforcing this unlawful 'guidance' against anyone and that their guidance has absolutely no legal effect, then we are more than happy to declare victory and withdraw our suit," Paxton wrote. "This is precisely why we asked a court to declare the guidance invalid." It was a rare comment, as the office generally does not speak to the media about pending cases. In another lawsuit, the U.S. government has sued the state of North Carolina for passing a law that requires residents to use the bathroom matching their biological sex, gender identity notwithstanding. Paxton wrote that the Obama administration can't "have it both ways" suing North Carolina in one court but telling plaintiffs in another court that it has no legal power to enforce its guidance. Presently before the court is a state motion for an injunction against the federal government. No deadlines have yet been set for the ruling on that motion, which, if granted, could bring the entire case to a close. Gary Cunningham and Rhonda Birdwell SHARE By Times Record News Two area teachers have been named Region 9 teachers of the year. Gary Cunningham, a welding teacher at Carrigan Career Center in Wichita Falls, has been named the Region 9 Secondary Teacher of the Year and Rhonda Birdwell, an elementary teacher at John Hardin Elementary in Burkburnett ISD has been named the Region 9 Elementary Teacher of the Year. The regional winners will be honored at an awards ceremony and luncheon in October in Austin. Both winners have been submitted to the state for the semifinalists judging, according to a release from Region 9. Two panels of judges one for elementary and another for secondary will meet in Austin to review the written applications of the semifinalists and select three finalists for Elementary Teacher of the Year and three for Secondary Teacher of the Year. The final judging is scheduled for October 13,. The six finalists will be invited to Austin to be interviewed by a panel of judges composed of representatives of educational administrator associations, a member of the State Board of Education and previous Texas Teachers of the Year. The panel will choose the two state winners and designate one to represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year Contest. Please contact Debbie Cummings, Coordinator, Teacher of the Year Program at Region 9 at for more information. Schenectady theater offers summer camp Schenectady Theater for Children is offering a two-week summer camp for kids ages 8 to 14 interested in acting. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, through Friday, Sept. 2, at Viaport Rotterdam, formerly Rotterdam Square Mall, located at 93 W. Campbell Road in Schenectady. The cost is $300 per camper. Topics covered will include how to operate stage lighting, scenery and sound equipment. Campers will also perform ''A Little Grimm," an original adaptation of several fairy tale classics with a modern twist. Young actors will be able to express themselves creatively as they explore the magical world of talking animals, candy houses and the "Real Housewives of Billie Goats' Gruff." For information, call Criss Macaione at 312-6883 or email QMOGM@aol.com. Richard Vine to discuss 'SoHo Sins' "Art, Crime and SoHo Sins" is the title of a lecture to be presented by author Richard Vine from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Jack Shainman Gallery, located at 25 Broad St. in Kinderhook. The event complete with a champagne and wine reception, lecture and book signing highlights the release of Vine's debut novel. "SoHo Sins" offers an intimate tour of the world of downtown 1990s New York and explores contemporary issues like artistic value, friendship and the limits of loyalty, sexual fidelity, exploitation and religious faith. Vine is the managing editor of Art in America. Admission is $25 at the door, cash or check only. To register in advance for $20, call 758-8130 or email ktc@ktcassoc.com. Staff report Castleton-on-Hudson In 2014, Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino touted the soon-to-be redeveloped former Fort Orange Paper Co. as an example of the county's successful efforts at economic revitalization. But more than two years later, the dilapidated buildings still sit silent, the developers unable to secure money to pay for a new proposed $250 million paper factory. The county, which owns the 102-acre site, had a contract to sell it for $600,000 to MiniMill Technologies, an India-based company that said it ran paper-product mills in New York state. But it turned out MiniMill had never built a factory, and could not secure financing to make the project happen. There is another party who subsequently expressed interest, but it has been about a year and there have not been any formal plans submitted. Rensselaer County Attorney Stephen Pechenik said he would not reveal the interested party's identity until such a project is finalized. The blighted factory is hidden from most eyes on a side road off of Route 9J just south of the village's downtown. The property, used for industrial purposes since 1858, is connected to the Hudson River by the Moordener Kill and has nearby rail access. Most recent operations at the factory involved the making of cereal boxes and other consumer packaging out of recycled paper. Buildings had housed a printing area, glue department, oil shed and something called a polymer blending lab, according to state Department of Environmental Conservation records. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did an emergency removal of contaminants after the factory closed in 2000, more remediation will be needed including the removal of underground storage tanks and liquids left in trenches and pits, and assessing an area that had a former mercury spill. While marketing such a property can be difficult, the county attorney said the site has a steam co-generation plant next door and some other infrastructure is already in place. "This is such a sweet deal," Pechenik said. "This property is just ripe for a paper mill." The EPA put a $3.5 million lien on the property after it did its remediation. But Pechenik said the federal government has agreed to split county proceeds from any sale to satisfy the lien. In 2013, MiniMill Technologies was the first real buyer who had expressed interest in the former factory since the county took it for back taxes in the early 2000s. MiniMill provided Rensselaer County officials a tour of a mill it was running in Syracuse, and had a brownfield cleanup plan approved by the DEC to remove asbestos that is still in the buildings, in addition to other cleanup. But the company could never provide proof that it had proper financial backing, Pechenik said. MiniMill's actual presence in the U.S. is hard to determine. While MiniMill has a website, it does not list any factories it is involved with. A telephone number provided for an office in East Syracuse disconnects shortly after a voicemail plays for the company. In 2015, just as its Fort Orange proposal was falling through, the company expressed an interest in buying a closed paper mill in Maine, according to media reports. That project never materialized either. Castleton-on-Hudson village trustee Gina Giuliano said she pitched redevelopment of the Fort Orange Paper Co. in the village's application for the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative awards. The site, which could employ 80 to 100 people in its current configuration, would provide much needed jobs to an area that is also struggling with rundown rental housing. "It would be really terrific to do something with it," Giuliano said. "It's one of our biggest assets." Village officials are also waiting to see if a Connecticut-based health food operation will buy the former IBT Hamilton Printing building which is across Route 9J from the Fort Orange site. lstanforth@timesunion.com 518-454-5697 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Amsterdam A nearly weeklong sewage leak spilled half a million gallons of sewage into the North Chuctanunda Creek, which feeds into the Mohawk River, the Department of Environmental Conservation said Monday. Before the city bypassed the pipeline over the weekend, about 70,000 gallons of untreated waste sewage leaked into the creek each day, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "The bypass is in place right now, which is literally redirecting the sewage around the leak area and that's giving the city the chance to dig the pipes up and replace them," Seggos said. The pipes were about 100 years old, he said. "Amsterdam, like many cities in upstate New York, has very old pipes and of course these pipes run past their useful life," he said. The leak, which began July 25, poses no threat to drinking water, according to the DEC. Seggos said the DEC made sure all municipalities that draw from the Mohawk River "sufficiently treat" their drinking water. Seggos, who visited the site of the leak on Monday, said Sunday and Monday's rain helped wash out the creek and relieved much of the sewage smell. The state is considering potential ways to help Amsterdam fund repairs, according to a release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. The DEC issued a notice of violation to Amsterdam earlier this year for failing to adequately report previous overflows, the statement said. Amsterdam applied for a $5 million grant from the state Water Grant program to deal with its crumbling infrastructure, but even that money would not go toward the most recent leak, which is expected to cost the city more than $100,000. It will now need to replace 600 feet of pipe with high-grade plastic pipes and reconstruct two manholes. "We can't run a bypass forever, we've got to replace the pipe," Mayor Michael Villa said. He said he and the city engineer are hoping there is no leak farther up the line. "It's like piecing a puzzle together," Villa said. nburroughs@timesunion.com 518-454-5012 @Nickatnews WEST LEBANON - Speed merchants looking to shake down cars and sharpen reflexes gathered Saturday at Lebanon Valley Dragway for an open test and tune. The test sessions are open to all vehicles on most Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and again on most Wednesday nights starting at 5 p.m. EDINBURG Divers working on a rainy Sunday found the body of a missing 18-year-old beneath the waters of Sacandaga Lake. The search for Sean Craig of Amsterdam began Saturday night after his unoccupied boat was found circling the lake, police said. Divers used sonar to find his body 25 feet below the water, and about 400 feet west of the IGO Inn Restaurant, Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo said.The body was removed from the water around 5 p.m. The death is believed to be accidental, the sheriff's office said, but an autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause of death. Zurlo said he hoped the discovery brings some level of closure to the family. The search was conducted by members of the Sheriff's Dive Team, the New York State Police Dive Team, and the Corinth Fire Department rescue divers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump officially securing their parties' presidential nominations over the last two weeks, for the first time in 72 years, both major party candidates call themselves New Yorkers. The last time two Empire State residents battled it out for the presidency was in 1944 when the Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt faced off against Republican Thomas Dewey, a former governor of New York. Both Roosevelt and Dewey came from Dutchess County, the only example of both major party candidates hailing from a single county. Dewey, who was born in Michigan, was lured to the East Coast by the power and prestige of 1940s New York. "New York was the place to be," presidential historian and author Richard Norton Smith said. "It was a place where the movers and shakers wanted to be ... If you were the governor of New York, you were automatically assumed to occupy the second-hardest job in America and assumed to be a potential presidential candidate." As governor, Dewey paved the way for the state Thruway and university system. His downfall proved to be likability: While Roosevelt showed optimism and congeniality, Dewey remained rigid and impersonal, historians said. "He ran a very good race but was always regarded as kind of stiff, an unbending or unfriendly fellow, and that hurt him," said Bruce Dearstyne, a professor and former historian at the state Office of State History and the State Archives. Dearstyne said optimism usually correlates with success in presidential elections, especially today, when the public seems doubtful of the U.S. political system. In some ways, the 2016 presidential race mirrors the events of 1944. Like Roosevelt, Clinton has spent much of her life in the public eye and faces the risk of overexposure, Smith said. Compared to the 62-year-old Roosevelt, Dewey remained a fresh, youthful candidate at age 42. "You could certainly say Dewey was a celebrity before he was presidential candidate." Smith said. "It was not something he set out to be. He was a gangbuster. "He was seen as a very unorthodox candidate and someone who was impossibly young," he said. "He broke a lot of rules." In 1940, Roosevelt and fellow New Yorker Wendell Willkie also battled for the presidency. Willkie, like Trump, was not only a businessman and political outsider but also a former Democrat. Willkie ran another unsuccessful campaign for the presidency in 1944. Two New Yorkers also ran against each other in 1904, when Democrat Alton B. Parker challenged incumbent Republican Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt won another term overwhelmingly. The prominence of New Yorkers on the national stage can be seen throughout the country's history. Since 1900, New Yorkers have been on 16 of the 30 national ballots as presidential or vice presidential candidates, Dearstyne said. "New York was such an incredibly important and powerful state," said David Woolner, senior fellow and resident historian at the Roosevelt Institute. "It represented the focal point of the United States in some ways even more than Washington." Smith said New York's history as a laboratory for ideas and policies gave the state a reputation of strength, but the progressive nature of New York politics also created a divide between the East and the West coasts during the '40s. "It was a profoundly different country," said Smith. "The East had wielded influence a cultural influence and demographic influence." At the time, two thirds of the population lived East of the Mississippi River, Smith said. It is fairly common today for politicians to pick up and move to a desired state or district, but 70 years ago, great pride came with personal geography. Trump was born and raised in New York City. Clinton, a Chicago native, moved to Chappaqua, Westchester County, to run for the Senate in 2000. According to Smith, the Midwest and New York viewed each other as foreign lands. Today, those stereotypes persist. Sen. Ted Cruz, a former Republican presidential candidate, criticized "New York values" earlier this year on the campaign trail. Being a lifelong New Yorker, Dearstyne was quick to dismiss those negative assumptions. "New York is all about resilience," he said. "Knock us down, and we'll get up." mkilgallen@timesunion.com 518-454-5305 @michaelakilg This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Cohoes A city councilman here last month had his car vandalized with blue paint in what turned out to be the first of two such incidents in Van Schaick Island in July. The vandal hadn't even drawn anything coherent on his car, 6th Ward Councilman Randy Koniowka said. It was just a blue streak on the driver's side of the vehicle, running from his car to the next one. "You wake up, you want to get to work, but your car's filled with paint, you're not happy," Randy Koniowka, 6th Ward Councilman, said. At least 12 vehicles as well as park equipment were tagged with inappropriate graffiti by the vandals, who have not yet been caught, Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse said. The two incidents were on separate sides of the island. The first incident occurred early July 19. The vandals used blue paint in their spree, Koniowka said. His car was tagged, but he doubts the vandals were targeting him. The second incident occurred early July 28. This time, the vandals used red paint, Koniowka said. "Do I think it's a punk kid doing it? Yeah, I do," Morse said. "I hope it's not a grown-up writing those things on our parks." Koniowka said he was able to buff the paint off his car over the course of a day. "I guess they don't make spray paint as good as they used to," Koniowka said. Morse said a local business, Mendoza's Body Shop, had been helping residents clear the graffiti from their cars. He asked residents to be vigilant. "Somebody's doing something they're not supposed to do here," Morse said. "We'll find them and catch them, and I promise you they'll pay for everything they did." jlawrence@timesunion.com 518-454-5467 @jplawrence3 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Saratoga Springs Area startup founders are preparing for a high-profile visitor: Later this month, entrepreneur and investor Paul Singh will drive his silver RV into Saratoga Springs. Singh, who has founded or co-founded five companies, will come to the Spa City on Thursday, Aug. 18, as part of a North American tour of technology startups. During the tour, which has, to date, brought him to more than 20 cities, he has answered questions from founders and invested in businesses on average, he said, one company per week. Singh's visit presents an unusual opportunity for local founders to expand their networks. As investors rarely venture beyond startup hubs like New York City and Silicon Valley, they said, the August visit will introduce a connected and influential voice to Capital Region businesses. "We have outside money coming here, and that's great," said Peter Dean, CEO of RenderTribe, a digital marketing firm for young companies. The visit, Dean said, will get investors "to start thinking about us more anything helps." Singh said in an interview that his visits so far have introduced him to "sharp, intelligent and hungry" founders who often "don't know how good they are." His investments, he said, average around $100,000, "little bets" on companies. He declined to say how many companies he has invested in from the tour, citing companies' desire for privacy, but he estimated that it is about one company per city. Private investors have also accompanied him to several cities on the route, he said. "Talent is now equally distributed around the country there are smart and ambitious people everywhere," Singh said. "But what is not is access to capital and access to functional expertise." Nationally, startups in cities that integrate with local universities and institutions and have reasonable costs of living have high potential to compete, incubator and seed fund 1776 said in a 2016 report, Innovation That Matters. Saratoga Springs' "pipeline for talent" through universities and a "great quality of life" make the city attractive for startups, said Clarke Foley, Mad Glory director of operations, said. "I think there's a trade-off that companies in this area make," he said. "The detriment is, it's not totally typical to see a ton of startup tech companies hit it big here, compared to Silicon Valley." Singh's stop in Saratoga Springs rounds out an upstate New York circuit with presentations in Utica and Syracuse. He will discuss angel investing and the regional "ecosystem" for startups in Saratoga Springs on Aug. 18, and he will choose six web-based startups to meet with him on Aug. 19. "Every entrepreneur I know is signing up," said Chris Thompson, founder and CEO of Workorder.es, a ticketing software for tenants, landlords and property managers. "We're all working to get one of those six slots, to be able to present." Kris Walker, president and co-founder of Odd Networks, said he hopes to talk to Singh about a new product through which customers can create their own content channel for devices like Roku or Apple TV. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Walker said the region has few venture capital funds or individual investors, a challenge because investors like to get to know their business teams. "If you're in San Francisco or New York City or Boston, you run into your investors on a weekly basis," he said. "Here, you go down to New York and you meet with a few customers and investors. The rest of it is online communication." This, Singh said, drove him to make the trip. Businesses outside of traditional hubs "don't have the visibility that some of their peers have," he said. "I'm not lowering the bar by any means," he said. "That's the thing that kills me. I'm finding the same stuff you would have been finding in the Valley." Singh's visit will culminate in a mixer for founders and investors at Harvey's Restaurant and Bar, which Foley said allows for more casual networking. Development can stall, Foley said, when companies try to raise money beyond a few hundred thousand dollars. "We can expose the ecosystem that already exists to more people," he said. lellis@timesunion.com 518-454-5018 @lindsayaellis It was impossible to look at Andrew Cuomo delivering a pretty good unity speech at the Democratic National Convention and not wonder how he felt about it all, the circumstances of the speech and his own situation back home casting a pall over his future prospects. This could not have been what he had expected, had hoped for, even a few years ago when national ambitions were still high. Here he was instead speaking with passion to a milling, distracted convention crowd chattering away well before prime time. This was quite a departure from being able to carefully control all aspects of his political speeches as he does here at home. Gov. Mario Cuomo's speech 32 years ago at the national convention in San Francisco, known as a "tale of two cities," has defined progressive Democrats ever since. "My father was the keynote speaker for this nation's better angels, and he was beautiful," observed Andrew, a rewrite of a line he used in eulogizing his father at the funeral. But those who hoped we might see some of Mario's soaring rhetoric in Andrew's speech Thursday were expecting too much. Mario was a poet and a philosopher. Andrew is not. The takeaway from Andrew's address, aimed at the national audience but, I'm guessing, not the hometown one, is that New York is the progressive capital of the world, and that "our progressive government is working in New York." Andrew Cuomo was proclaiming his credentials, just in case he survives the looming scandals back home. Casting himself as the leader of the progressive pack is bizarre though, and would get an argument from many of us. It was only a few short winters ago the Occupy Albany tents were set up across from the Capital in Academy Park, trying to shake loose the hold of Wall Street and big money donors on state government. Andrew Cuomo was governor, and no one, but no one, would have accused him of being a progressive at that point. He was fighting on behalf of tax breaks for millionaires, and behaving generally as any conservative Republican would. But, sure, times change. And if Zephyr Teachout's strong primary challenge from the left was anything, it was a wake-up call. She took upstate, and Cuomo has been scrambling ever since to get back where he belongs. But what of this so-called progressive line-up of accomplishments? How real is it? Well, that depends on where you live and who you are and how you define progressive, which is a loose concept. Mario Cuomo had his two cities, rich and poor. Andrew Cuomo governs two states, roughly upstate and down, but not entirely; more deeply urban versus other. It's no secret that if upstate stood alone, Cuomo would not be our governor. New York's $15 minimum wage applies to downstate, not upstate. In fact, it would be unfair to small business upstate if that were not so. Yet Cuomo claims it as one of his statewide scalps. Marriage equality and efforts on behalf of the gay and LGBT community are indeed accomplishments, although New York was not the first state to enact either. So the governor has a right to claim the progressive mantle for these only partially. Not for the first time, he overstates what he has gotten done. Another example is the SAFE Act. It is now being cast by the governor as a huge progressive win that's made all the difference for New York. It did bring back a ban on assault-style weapons, that's true. Which of itself, as FBI statistics routinely show, has remarkably little influence on gun violence. But what has been conveniently forgotten by the governor is that New York already had among the strongest and most effective gun control laws in the country before the SAFE Act. And the dictatorial way he imposed the SAFE Act backfired and arguably had a chilling effect on national gun control efforts at the time that subsequently went nowhere. Fracking is another rewrite of history. It is simply not true that Cuomo was an advocate of a ban on fracking, which he did eventually impose. He famously refused to take a side publicly, although word leaked out from within that he was inclined to allow fracking if certain political resistance could be overcome. But a dramatic downturn in the economic return on fracking, and bad news in geological reports about the quality and quantity of methane deposits in New York, made banning it an easy if unexpected decision. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. In this, Cuomo became a progressive by accident. When he says progressive government is working in New York, I wonder what he means. Looking back through Mario's inspiring speech, it seems to me a progressive government takes care of those who can't take care of themselves, who look to government to protect them. And so we have the abysmal situation in Hoosick Falls, as perfect a situation as I can think of for demanding a progressive view. But not for the first time, Andrew Cuomo sends mixed messages. On the one hand, the governor proclaimed the afflicted area a state superfund site and began a process of officially labeling the chemistry as toxic. No other governor has done that. Yet at the same time, it is his Health Department that was conspicuously unhelpful, even obstructionist, when residents all but begged for help during the early going of the crisis. On balance, short of a merit badge for sure. flebrun@timesunion.com 518-454-5453 THE ISSUE: Congress passes a law that could limit information on food packaging. THE STAKES: Consumers should know whether foods contain ingredients they're concerned about. More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse The question of whether genetically modified ingredients in our food are harmful is still a topic of scientific exploration, but that isn't stopping Congress from trying to preemptively clamp down on consumer awareness. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are used to produce many commercially available foods, and typically involve plants altered by using genetic engineering techniques. For example, the DNA of plants can be modified to make them more resistant to disease, drought and pests. Some genetic changes can increase the nutrients in the vegetables or the crop yields. Some scientists and consumers fear the long-term consumption of foods containing GMOs may be harmful to our health. While there's so far been no definitive proof, it is an question of ongoing scientific study. In the meantime, consumer advocates have urged food manufacturers to state on their packaging whenever their products contain GMOs. Some producers boast their foods contain no GMOs to appeal to buyers for whom that's a concern. Some states are weighing legislation to require such information on food packaging. Last month, Vermont became the first state to require certain products containing genetically modified ingredients to carry labels saying so. Enforcement won't start until next year. Worried that consumers won't buy GMO-labeled products, the supermarket industry and some agribusinesses are challenging the requirement in court. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. It's no surprise that Congress, whose leaders in some cases deny accepted science on such matters as global warming, has now stepped in, seeking to limit how much consumers can know about GMOs in their food. A bill passed by both the House and Senate would block states from issuing their own labeling laws, and direct the secretary of agriculture to require food manufacturers to label their products in one of three ways. The options include a QR code that would give the buyer no information at all on the package; consumers would have to scan the code with a smartphone to link to the information online. The bill also limits the GMO labeling requirement to the primary or secondary ingredients in food, and would not cover things like meat from livestock raised on GMO grain. The bill gained bipartisan support, with Democrats from large agricultural states joining Republicans. Commendably, New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, along with Reps. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, and Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, opposed it. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, unfortunately, helped it pass. With GMO study still under way, it's unconscionable for Congress to take a move so hostile to consumer choice and disclosure. President Barack Obama should veto this bill and let more research be done on GMOs. Legislation should be guided by science, not the lack of it. Good Customer Support Skills Stay with Workers for a Lifetime In a perfect world, companies would treat their most valued resource their customers with nothing short of worship. They would permit only their most skilled and seasoned employees to interface with customers, and they would tailor their support processes around customers wants and needs, no matter how expensive the endeavor. Alas, we dont live in a perfect world. Working on the front lines of customer support is a stressful job, and most people who do it hope to get out of it someday. In addition, giving customers whatever they want whenever they want will quickly erode profit margins, and leave the business exposed to high costs they cant possibly sustain. For these reasons, the customer support function is often staffed by workers relatively low on the totem pole, according to a recent article by Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking Inc. writing for QSR magazine. Less experienced workers are disproportionately represented in frontline service roles because these roles are often the lower-tier positions, he wrote. In fact, most organizations seeking to scale their operations in any significant way tend to put a young (and therefore relatively inexpensive) workforce out front. The alternative to staffing customer support centers with expensive high-level workers is to ensure that the relatively inexperienced customer support workers that do take customer calls are properly managed, trained and scheduled. Harried workers with too much on their plate will never learn the kind of hard skills and soft skills that they need to succeed. One of the best ways to help younger, less experienced workers do the job to the companys standards is by helping them connect with their coworkers and their customers. The customer on the other end of the phone isnt a transaction; its a real person having a problemjust like everyone does sometimes. By learning to help the customer as conveniently and thoroughly as possible, younger contact center agents can gain skills that will last them throughout their careers, even if those careers take them outside the contact center. Teach younger Millennials and inexperienced workers that every single customer-service interaction is an opportunity to practice and fine-tune this valuable skill, wrote Tulgan. Remind them that every customer has his or her own sphere of influence and authority. Every customer is worth impressing. Impressive people are impressed by those are themselves positive, motivated, polite, focused on the task at hand, and willing to go the extra mile. The skills learned in the contact center will translate to other job functions, including time management and managing customer (or coworker) expectations. Tulgan suggests that these two factors are among the most critical for success, both in lower-tier customer service jobs and in all other jobs across the company. When it comes to saying words out loud to customers, dont guess, dont hope, and dont exaggerate, he wrote. That means if its going to be 10 minutes, employees should not say it will only be a couple of minutes. Rather, they should say it will be at least 10 minutes. Sometimes the best thing to say is, I dont know. Let me find out for you. Managers who are supported by good workforce management solutions, including call center scheduling tools, will be better able to help younger workers manage their time, manage their calls and manage customer expectations, so contact centers can offer the best possible experience without endangering the bottom line. Edited by Alicia Young [August 01, 2016] Blank Rome Welcomes New Partner in New York Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Ira L. Herman has joined the Firm as a Partner in the Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy group. Mr. Herman joins Blank Rome from Thompson & Knight LLP, where his practice focused on distressed public debt issues, insolvency matters involving upstream and midstream oil and gas companies, and distressed M&A, in addition to traditional bankruptcy and insolvency matters. Admitted to practice in New York and Texas, Mr. Herman is based in the Firm's New York office, which recently added more than 10 attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro, as well as insurance coverage partner Lisa M. Campisi, and commercial litigator Samuel D. Levy. "The recent additions of a number of attorneys in our New York office have expanded our capabilities in a variety of areas that are of great importance to our clients, and we are thrilled to welcome Ira as we continue to grow," said Alan J. Hoffman, Chaiman and Managing Partner. "Ira is an accomplished and well-respected attorney with significant experience representing constituencies in all types of domestic and cross-border bankruptcy and insolvency matters, making him an excellent addition to our well-established Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy team." Mr. Herman regularly advises lenders and other clients on the management of bankruptcy risk in their transactions; indenture trustees regarding defaulted public debt issues; and lenders regarding restructuring and bankruptcy, including distressed M&A transactions and inter-creditor issues. Additionally, he provides services on the debtors' side, counseling financially distressed entities and their management on restructuring challenges pertaining to corporate governance issues, and litigating corporate governance matters, such as breach of duty in good faith and dealing. As a court appointed mediator, Mr. Herman has been able to facilitate the resolution of controversies involving U.S. and non-U.S. parties concerning bankruptcy and commercial law issues. "Over the past decade, Ira has developed significant experience representing creditors, debtors, mineral rights owners, upstream and midstream companies, and other industry participants in oil and gas bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings in New York, Texas, and Delaware," said Regina Stango Kelbon, Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy Practice Group Co-Chair. "Having an attorney based on the East Coast with this type of experience supplements our practice in a unique way and will be of great benefit to our clients." In addition to his work counseling lenders and debtors in his restructuring and bankruptcy practice, Mr. Herman provides counsel to for-profit and not-for-profit entities concerning data privacy and cybersecurity issues. Furthermore, Mr. Herman is deeply committed to pro bono and community service, participating in many organizations that provide aid to New York residents. For example, Mr. Herman serves as Chair of the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project Steering Committee, an initiative launched by Legal Services for the City of New York. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Courts and Legislation within the Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization Committee of the New York City Bar. Mr. Herman has also served as a judge for the American Bankruptcy Institute Bankruptcy Law Student Writing Competition. "I am excited to join Blank Rome at a time when the Firm is experiencing such impressive strategic growth," Mr. Herman said. "The Firm's geographic reach, robust practices, and solid relationships provide me with an excellent opportunity to continue to grow my practice. I'm particularly looking forward to building on my work in the oil and gas space, and collaborating with my colleagues across the Firm in a variety of areas, including financial services, real estate, and energy regulatory, to better serve our clients." Mr. Herman received his J.D. cum laude with distinction from Boston University School of Law, and his B.A. in Political Science cum laude from Yeshiva University. About Blank Rome LLP Founded in 1946, Blank Rome is an Am Law 100 firm with 14 offices and over 600 attorneys throughout the United States and in Shanghai who represent businesses and organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-up entities around the globe. With a strong focus on the key industry sectors of energy, maritime and transportation, real estate, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, chemical, gaming, technology, and manufacturing, Blank Rome advises its clients on a full spectrum of legal matters involving litigation; M&A and securities; finance, business restructuring, and bankruptcy; cybersecurity and data privacy; environment and mass torts; government contracts; insurance coverage; intellectual property; labor and employment; international trade; matrimonial and family law; political law; tax and benefits; and white collar defense and investigations. The Firm also represents pro bono clients in a wide variety of cases and matters. Blank Rome is annually ranked and recognized for its leading middle-market corporate, M&A, real estate, and finance practices, to name a few, and is internationally acclaimed for its global maritime practice and capabilities. For more information, please visit www.blankrome.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005911/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Central Orthodontic Clinic: Revolution in Orthodontics Accomplished with KILBON KILBON, so-called next-generation orthodontics has recently become the hottest issue as it is very innovative to correct severe dentoalveolar protrusion and hyperdivergent face at the same time, which are very demanding and difficult to treat only with regular orthodontics, without surgical methods. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005583/en/ Central Orthodontic Clinic invented an innovative orthodontic appliance for the severe dentoalveolar protrusion with hyperdivergent face. (Photo: Business Wire) It has been known that treating severe dentoalveolar protrusion and hyperdivergent face at the same time with the general method is xtremely challenging. Correcting these conditions needs to relocate a considerable number of teeth, and the existing orthodontic appliances with limited structures often cause the jiggling effect-unnecessary tooth movement. In other words, the orthodontic correction of the dentoalveolar protrusion with hyperdivergent face is not so easy because of the high risk to the tooth root. Until now, those who are concerned about their protruded lips often caused by severe dentoalveolar protrusion have been recommended to have surgeries such as two jaw surgery, and those surgeries- often conducted under general anesthesia -are not easily applicable for every person due to the high risk. By contrast, KILBON allows to correct the severe dentoalveolar protrusion without surgical methods. KILBON is individually customized for each patient, is designed to minimize jiggling effect, and reduces the tooth root damage; yet, it is possible to move teeth further than regular orthodontics. Furthermore, KILBON is also effective for other problems such as gummy smile and retruded chin. KILBON took the center stage in the world and drew the interests of orthodontic specialists around the world by proving its effect on treating the patients with hyperdivergent face and the dentoalveolar bone protrusion on Head & Face Medicine June and publishing the thesis about the result of KILBON orthodontics on KJO. "KILBON appliance is so effective that it does something that orthodontist has been trying to do for years."-said professor Gerald Nelson who served as a clinical director of the orthodontic department at UCSF School of Dentistry and a clinical editor for AJODO. KILBON-invented by CENTRAL orthodontic clinic in South Korea-has been introduced to many nations including the U.S. and China with high praise, and the Central orthodontic clinic contributes to the innovative technologies in cooperation with the orthodontic departments at Saint Louis University and at UCSF School of Dentistry. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005583/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Concordia University-Portland Expands Nursing Program With a nationwide nursing shortage expected to hit critical levels over the next decade, Concordia University-Portland is stepping up to significantly expand its nursing degree programs and facilities for students. Concordia University's College of Health & Human Services is offering a new, accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) degree program, building upon the university's decade-long track record of graduating caring and competent nurses with a heart for service. The 16-month ABSN degree is designed to be accessible for students continuing their education or shifting careers. The program combines online coursework with hands-on experience and clinical rotations at top health care facilities. There will be three start dates each year, with the first scheduled for January 2017. "As the demand for nurses increases in our community, Concordia is committed to providing the latest and most advanced educational options for students," says Dr. Sarah Sweitzer, Dean of Concordia University's College of Health and Human Sevices. "Concordia's Accelerated BSN allows students to earn the same quality degree in a concentrated timeframe, so graduates can serve the community as soon as possible." Portland's health care sector is strong and growing, with the demand for nurses higher than ever, in part due to the rapidly aging baby boomer population, as well as recently expanded access to care under health care reform. According to recent labor trend reports, health care is leading the growth and, within the sector, nurses are in highest demand. The average salary for BSN-educated RNs is $83,800, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, ranking Oregon as the fourth highest paying state for registered nurses in the country. To learn more, visit accleratednursing.CU-portland.edu or call 866.892.5321. ABOUT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY Concordia University-Portland is Oregon's largest private, nonprofit university. Located in northeast Portland, Ore., Concordia is Lutheran, liberal arts, with a mission of preparing leaders for the transformation of society. Founded in 1905, Concordia Portland serves approximately 7,400 students on its campuses and online, through its College of Education, College of Health & Human Services, College of Theology, Arts, & Sciences, School of Management, and Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho. For more about Concordia University, visit www.cu-portland.edu and www.concordialaw.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005258/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] DONG Energy Praises Massachusetts for Strong Commitment to Offshore Wind DONG Energy, the world leader in offshore wind development, construction and operation, praised the Massachusetts State Legislature today for adopting a comprehensive energy bill that includes a requirement that utilities contract for 1600MW of offshore wind power. "The adoption of this legislation is a landmark moment for Massachusetts' clean energy future and a victory for the Commonwealth's residents and businesses," said Thomas Brostrm, General Manager of North America, DONG Energy Wind Power. "This bill will allow the creation of a viable offshore wind energy industry here in Massachusetts, delivering cost effective clean energy, helping the state reduce greenhouse gas emissions." The world leader in offshore wind, DONG Energy made its first foray into North America last year by securing a lease area located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard that was designated and approved by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Brostrm added, "DONG Energy looks forward to the opportunity to bring clean, renewable offshore wind energy to the U.S. With this legislation, Massachusetts shows clear leadership in setting out a strong ambition for offshore wind. The offshore wind industry has the potential to create thousands of local jobs up and down the East Coast, and Massachusetts' has positioned itself to be the leader in making the industry a reality. Additionally, this creates the right environment for competition between the developers allowing the best value for ratepayers for any offshore wind contracts awarded." DONG Energy is committed to delivery of a utility-scale wind farm with an installed capacity of up to 1000MW, enough to power over 500,000 Massachusetts homes. Based on DONG Energy's experience, the company expects a project of this dimension to create an estimated 1,000 new jobs in Massachusetts during construction and approximately 100 new jobs in the state to support the operational life of the offshore wind farm. While there are several more steps in the regulatory process before construction can begin, a dedicated commitment for offshore wind is a critical step in th process. DONG Energy's Massachusetts project, branded as 'Bay State Wind,' offers the Commonwealth an opportunity to bring clean, home-grown, renewable energy to the state's residents and businesses, while reducing carbon emissions and advancing the state's greenhouse gas reduction goals and Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements. Massachusetts has some of the best offshore wind conditions in the world. A third of the potential offshore wind resources in the U.S. are located on the East Coast, which has similar site conditions to successful existing DONG Energy offshore wind projects in the UK, Denmark and Germany. With world-class wind speeds and ideal water depths of between 130-165 feet, Massachusetts will be able to garner the economic benefits and supply chain development of being the first mover to site utility scale offshore wind energy on the East Coast of the United States. DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe. The company has built more than one quarter of the total offshore wind capacity in the market and currently has 19 projects under operation totaling more than (3GW) with another (3GW) under construction. On August 1, 2016, the Massachusetts State Legislature formally adopted a comprehensive energy bill that included provisions that utilities enter into long-term contracts to purchase both offshore wind and hydro power. This is the first legislation of its kind that includes a specific carve out for offshore wind at a scale necessary to create a viable market in the United States. The bill is designed to address the state's growing energy needs through increased efficiency measures, grid modernization and a dedicated shift to cleaner, renewable sources of energy. About DONG Energy: DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe, headquartered in Denmark. Around 6,700 ambitious employees are engaged in exploring and producing oil and gas, developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms and power stations, and providing energy to residential and business customers on a daily basis. Group revenue was DKK 71bn (USD 10.6bn) in 2015. For further information, see www.dongenergy.com About DONG Energy Massachusetts' Project: Bay State Wind is DONG Energy's first project in the U.S. As Bay State Wind, DONG Energy is proposing the construction and operation of a utility scale offshore windfarm off the southern coast of Martha's Vineyard. On April 7, 2015, the Company secured newly assigned project development rights to an ocean area south of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts that was made available for lease by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ("BOEM") in a competitive solicitation. With water depths between 130-165 feet, this site sits approximately 15 nautical miles from the nearest landmass, Bay State Wind is proposing to use that site to build a utility scale offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of up to 1000MW. About DONG Energy's New Jersey Project: Ocean Wind is DONG Energy's second U.S. Project. The New Jersey competitive lease auction was the U.S.' ninth competitive lease sale for renewable energy in federal waters for potential offshore wind energy development. Prior to the New Jersey competitive lease auction, the Department of Interior's BOEM had awarded nine commercial offshore wind leases, including seven through the competitive lease sale process (two in an area offshore Rhode Island-Massachusetts, another two offshore Massachusetts, two offshore Maryland and one offshore Virginia). These lease sales have generated about $14.5 million in winning bids for more than 700,000 acres in federal waters. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160731005068/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 31, 2016] L&T Technology Services Limited Establishes Dublin Engineering Center of Excellence for Digital Engineering L&T Technology Services Limited, a leading global pure play ER&D services company, today announced the opening of its new Engineering Center of Excellence in Dublin, Ohio, marking a milestone in the company's commitment to strengthening its offerings and supporting OEMs and U.S. customers through its innovative product design and manufacturing engineering capabilities. The CoE would also serve as a key hub for supporting the Smart Cities initiative with focus on connected vehicle-to-vehicle communications, electric self-driving shuttles and autonomous vehicles. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160731005032/en/ L to R: Mr Greg Peterson, Mayor, City of Dublin, Mr Amit Chadha, Chief Sales Officer and Whole Time Director, L&T Technology Services Limited and Mr Frank Paluch, President, Honda (News - Alert) R&D Americas, Inc formally launch the Dublin Engineering Center of Excellence with a ribbon cutting ceremony (Photo: Business Wire) The Center was inaugurated by Mr Greg Peterson, Mayor of City of Dublin, in the presence of top industry officials and prominent representatives from the government and academia. The 50-seater Center of Excellence is L&T Technology Services Limited's seventh delivery center in the United States. "On behalf of the city of Dublin, we welcome L&T Technology Services Limited to our city. Through its focus on automotive technologies, the center will propel our local economy into the next era of growth, delivering quality services, expanding workforce, and supporting major automotive organizations in the region through innovative engineering processes," said Mr. Greg Peterson, Mayor of City of Dublin. "This Center of Excellence is a testament to L&T Technology Services Limited's commitment to continued innovation, service offerings and economies we serve in," said Mr. Amit Chadha, Chief Sales Officer and Whole Time Director at L&T Technology Services Limited. "Through this investment, we will leverage our engineering expertise and deliver differentiated value to our customers," Mr Chadha said. Ms Carla Bailo, Assistant Vice President at The Ohio State University, said, "Ohio State has been at the forefront of evolving a transformational roadmap for Intelligent Transportation System for Columbus and this partnership with L&T Technology Services Limited will create new internship and job opportunities for our engineering and management students on specific Smart City initiatives including product development, engineering and smart manufacturing projects." On the occasion, L&T Technology Services Limited also hosted a thought leaderhip discussion that dwelled on the "Opportunities of Public Private Partnerships in engineering a Smart City". Notable participants included Ms Carla Bailo, AVP, Ohio State University, Mr Doug McCollough, CIO of City of Dublin, Mr Mike Wiseman, Chief Engineer, Honda, Mr Amit Chadha, Chief Sales Officer and Whole Time Director, L&T Technology Services Limited and Mr Alind Saxena, EVP & Transportation Business Head, L&T Technology Services Limited. The discussion, moderated by Mr. Saxena of L&T, dwelled on a 2020 vision for Columbus, Ohio, the role of the government, Academia, Private companies and citizens in creating Smart Cities and the key challenges and road ahead. As of March 31, 2016, L&T Technology Services Limited had more than 200 employees operating out of its onshore delivery center's in the US and more than 8,000 engineers from nine nationalities serving over 200 customers, including more than 50 Fortune 500 customers globally. About Larsen & Toubro: Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services with USD 16 billion in revenue. It operates in over 30 countries worldwide. A strong, customer-focused approach and the constant quest for top-class quality have enabled L&T to attain and sustain leadership in its major lines of business for over seven decades. About L&T Technology Services Limited: L&T Technology Services Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited with a focus on Engineering R&D Services servicing customers including a number of Fortune 500 companies globally. We provide ER&D services to manufacturing, technology and process engineering companies, to help them develop and build products, processes and infrastructure required to deliver products and services to their end customers. We offer design and development solutions throughout the entire product development chain across various Industry verticals such as industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industry. The company also offers services and solutions in the areas of mechanical and manufacturing engineering services, embedded systems, software engineering and process engineering. For "new" technologies, we provide solutions and services in the areas of product life cycle management, engineering analytics, power electronics, M2M connectivity and the Internet-of-Things (IoT). With a multi-disciplinary vertical industry expertise and multi-domain presence, we help clients achieve an advantage through value engineering of existing products, processes and services. Headquartered in India, L&T Technology Services Limited has 9,406 employees, 12 global delivery centers in India and overseas, 27 sales offices in India, North America Europe, the Middle East and Asia and 31 labs in India as of March 31, 2016. For additional information about L&T Technology Services log on to www.lntTechservices.com. L&T Technology Services Limited is proposing, subject to, receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to make an initial public offering of its Equity Shares and has filed the draft red herring prospectus with SEBI (the "DRHP"). The DRHP is available on the websites of SEBI and BRLMs at www.sebi.gov.in, http://investmentbank.kotak.com, www.dspml.com, www.jmfl.com and www.sbicaps.com, respectively. Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and for details relating to the same, see "Risk Factors" beginning on page 20 of the DRHP. Potential investors should not rely on the DRHP filed with the SEBI for making any investment decision. These materials are not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). These materials are not an offer of securities for sale into the United States, Canada or Japan. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration. No public offering of securities is being made in the United States. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160731005032/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] New Medicare Advantage Plans Coming to Iowa and Illinois Many Medicare-eligible residents in Iowa and Illinois will have greater choice when selecting their Medicare health insurance coverage this fall. Pending regulatory approval, HealthPartners UnityPoint Health will offer Medicare Advantage plans beginning October 15 - the start of Medicare's open enrollment period. The plans will be available to consumers in select counties in Iowa and western Illinois. A campaign launches today that will introduce HealthPartners UnityPoint Health to consumers and create awareness for Medicare Advantage plans. The campaign runs through Medicare's open enrollment period - October 15 through December 7 - which is when people eligible for Medicare can review and change their plans. "There are benefits to having health care and medical insurance all in one place. This is why we've brought together the trusted care of UnityPoint Health, with the proven benefit coverage of HealthPartners," explained Troy Caraway, UniyPoint Health senior vice president of the insurance division. "And, our Medicare Advantage plans will further simplify care." Medicare Advantage plans offer affordability, convenience and simplicity. They combine medical benefits and prescription drug coverage into one plan. Other Medicare plans are often sold separately, which means consumers may need to use as many as three different plans to cover all of their health care needs. Medicare Advantage plans also typically have lower out-of-pocket costs. "If you receive care at UnityPoint Health and are eligible for Medicare, a HealthPartners UnityPoint Health Medicare Advantage plan is a great option for you," said Caraway. "Our plans will make it easier for people to get the care they need," said Andrea Walsh, HealthPartners executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "There is less paperwork and more affordable choices through Medicare Advantage." The Medicare Advantage plans will be available starting Oct. 15, 2016 for coverage Jan. 1, 2017. Full product and premium details will be available Oct. 1, 2016. Individuals eligible for Medicare in 2017 can enroll anytime during their initial enrollment period. About HealthPartners UnityPoint Health HealthPartners UnityPoint Health is driven to improve the health and well-being of those we serve. Launched in 2015, the company combines the award-winning health plan financing and administration of HealthPartners with UnityPoint Health's extensive provider network and care system. Together, HealthPartners UnityPoint Health offers high-quality, affordable care plus coverage in Iowa and western Illinois. To learn more, visit www.HealthPartnersUnityPointHealth.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005449/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Praesidian Capital Europe Invests 8.0 Million of First Lien Debt in EMC Advisory Services Ltd. Praesidian Capital Europe ("Praesidian"), a leading provider of senior and subordinated debt and growth capital in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, announced today its 8.0 million investment of first lien debt in EMC (News - Alert) Advisory Services Limited ("EMCAS" or the "Company"), a leading claims management business in the UK. The funds support the July 2016 buyout of the Company by incumbent management team James Scarth and Richard Hopwood and the realisation of their growth plan through increased investment in the Company's leading operational platform as well as providing funds for acquisitions. EMCAS, headquartered in Exeter, Devon, provides services to consumers who are unaware, or unwilling, to claim redress for losses suffered as a result of malpractice by institutions when selling and providing financial products and services. The Company provides claims services across a broad spectrum of financial products including payment protection insurance, mortgage endowments, packaged bank accounts, savings and investments, and pensions. James Scarth, Joint-MD, commented, "Acquiring EMCAS is a unique opportunity for Richard and me to implement our growth plan and expand the business in the UK. Praesidian's capital and investment background will help us further our mission to provide diversified services and to serve more consumers who have been affected by malpractice." Christian Heidl, Partner of Praesidian Capital Europe, added, "EMCAS is a leader in its sector with systems and processes in place to take advantage of a changing market. We are excited to partner with a strong management team that can drive change and growth for the Company in years to come." According to Jason Drattell, Founder of Praesidian Capital, "We are pleased to welcome EMCAS to our portfolio of companies. EMCAS is Praesidian Capital Europe's eighth investment in the Fund, and we are excited about the opportunity to provide support for this business going forward." About EMC Advisory Limited Headquartered in Exeter and established over 10 years ago, EMCAS is a leading claims management company ("CMC") providing services to consumers who are unaware, or unwilling, to claim redress for losses suffered as a result of malpractice by institutions when selling and providing financial products and services. The range of services cover financial products including payment protection insurance, mortgage endowments, packaged bank accounts, savings and investments, and pensions. The Company operates from four sites in Devon and Somerset and currently employs 227 staff. The Company is a founding member of the Professional Financial Claims Association. About Praesidian Capital Europe Praesidian Capital Europe is an innovative private investment firm focused on providing senior and subordinated debt along with growth capital to established lower middle market businesses in the United Kingdom, Germany, and selectively in Northern Europe. Established in 2013 and based in London, Praesidian Capital Europe invests in private small and mid-sized companies, often in connection with management buyouts, recapitalizations, or refinancings. Praesidian Capital manages nearly $1 billion in committed capital through various funds. For more information, visit www.praesidian.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005465/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Proskauer Continues Global Private Equity Real Estate Growth with Addition of Vikki McKay in London International law firm Proskauer has announced today the arrival of Vikki McKay as a partner in the Firm's Private Equity Real Estate Group in London. Ms. McKay's practice focuses on UK and cross-border investments in the real estate sector for private equity firms, large international companies and ultra-high net worth offshore individuals. She advises across a broad range of real estate investment classes, including logistics, office and leisure assets. Her move to the Firm follows the recent addition of Private Equity Real Estate partner Joanne Owen in June, with whom Ms. McKay worked closely with at her prior firm. "It's been a busy time since I joined Proskauer earlier this summer," said Joanne Owen, partner with Proskauer in its Private Equity Real Estate Group. "I'm delighted to reunite with Vikki, whose skillset complements our group, making her an invaluable asset to our clients." Ms. McKay has represented a wide variety of clients, including representing a leading private equity firm in an acquisition that is considered one of the most geographically dverse logistics portfolios sold in Europe. She has also counseled pharmaceutical and international mining clients, among others, in various real estate matters. "We are thrilled to welcome Vikki to our growing London office," said Mary Kuusisto, head of Proskauer's London office. "Her extensive experience within the private equity and real estate markets will further strengthen our bench of talent." Proskauer regularly represents clients on some of the most complex and sophisticated transactions within the private equity real estate market. Most recently, they worked with longtime client AccorHotels in its purchase of Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), the Toronto-based parent company to the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel brands for $2.7 billion. Additional headline transactions include: advising an international sovereign wealth fund buyer in the acquisition of The London Hotel in New York City; advising PT Property Holdings LLC in connection with its purchase of The Point Resort, a Relais & Chateaux luxury property; and representing Hong Kong-listed Magnificent Real Estate on its recent acquisition of Travelodge London Kings Cross Hotel. Ms. McKay's move highlights the Firm's strategic growth in London. In addition to the recent arrivals of both Joanne Owen and special real estate counsel Ben Taylor, other high-profile additions include M&A partners Steven Davis, Matt Rees and James Howe; Bruno Bertrand-Delfau, a leader in private equity secondary transactions; finance partner Alex Griffith; and tax partner Robert Gaut. Ms. McKay received her undergraduate law degree with honors from Birmingham University and her graduate degree from Nottingham Law School. She joins the Firm from DLA Piper. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005208/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] San Joaquin Council of Governments Signs SaaS Agreement for Tyler Technologies' New World ERP Solution Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) has signed a software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) agreement with the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) in Stockton, California, for Tyler's New World enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The agreement includes licenses, hosting services, related professional services and support. A joint powers authority composed of San Joaquin County and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, Manteca, Tracy, Ripon, Escalon, and Lathrop, SJCOG provides a forum for regional decision making on issues such as growth, transportation, environmental management, housing, open space, air quality, fiscal management and economic development. SJCOG wanted to replace a legacy system with a current, comprehensive and long-term business solution for financial management, human resources and payroll functionalities. Leaders also wanted technology to improve internal and reporting processes, realize operational efficiencies and enhance data access. After a competitive review, SJCOG selected core New World ERP applications, including financial management, human resources and payroll management and employee self-service. These solutions will drive efficiency with updated processes and improved timeliness, accuracy and consistency of data. SJCOG chose the SaaS model of solution delivery so its IT staff are freer to focus on other projects. "Internal financial processes within a special district like ours requires nuanced solutions only a few technology providers can deliver," said Steve Dial, deputy executive dirctor and chief financial officer, San Joaquin Council of Governments. "Tyler Technologies' (News - Alert) New World ERP solution can handle our agency's workflow and project management complexities, and support intergovernmental coordination with other regional, state and federal agencies." Within the SJCOG, the cities of Manteca and Lathrop also use Tyler's New World ERP solution. Nationwide, New World ERP provides financial offerings to more than 35 special districts. "Special authorities and districts that collaborate with multiple jurisdictions can benefit significantly by working with proven solutions like Tyler's New World ERP, which is now offered as a cloud-based solution," said Andy Teed, president of Tyler's Enterprise Group. "This means that through Tyler's hosted services, the SJCOG - and other jurisdictions selecting SaaS arrangements - can minimize risk, reduce in-house IT support time, and benefit from Tyler's secure enterprise-class data centers and built-in disaster recovery. Tyler's solution was developed ideally for special authorities and districts like SJCOG, and they will be supported by staff who are knowledgeable of their products, lending even greater value to them." San Joaquin County has approximately 700,000 residents and is about 80 miles east of San Francisco. The New World ERP solution became part of Tyler's enterprise financial systems product suite via Tyler's acquisition of New World Systems Corporation in 2015. About Tyler Technologies, Inc. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) is a leading provider of end-to-end information management solutions and services for local governments. Tyler partners with clients to empower the public sector - cities, counties, schools and other government entities - to become more efficient, more accessible and more responsive to the needs of their constituents. Tyler's client base includes more than 14,000 local government offices in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and other international locations. In 2016, Forbes ranked Tyler on their "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list, and it has also named Tyler one of "America's Best Small Companies" eight times. The company has been included six times on the Barron's 400 Index, a measure of the most promising companies in America. More information about Tyler Technologies, headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at www.tylertech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005084/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Sendik's Food Markets and ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis Celebrate the Donation of a Half Million Dollars over 10 Years ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis (ABCD), the nation's leading one-to-one breast cancer patient support organization, today announced that a total of a half million dollars has been given by Sendik's Food Markets. This milestone was reached after Sendik's presented its 2016 donation of $113,500, the company's largest annual gift to ABCD to date. For the last 10 years, Balistreri owned & operated Sendik's Food Markets has sponsored innovative fundraising campaigns that involves Sendik's employees, the community and corporate giving. This year, the Sendik's team created a three month charitable promotion from February through April. The program began with information and sales of the Sendik's Real Food Magazine for $1.99, with all proceeds going to ABCD. Also in February, Sendik's shoppers who donated $1 at the register were thanked with chocolate hearts. In March, Sendik's shoppers rounded up their total at the cash register to benefit ABCD. In April, funds were raised through Sendik's donation of $1 with each purchase of selected ice creams, and the sales of an ABCD key chain generated additional funds. "We are honored to support ABCD as a charity partner," said Margaret Harris, Sendik's family co-owner. "With the help of our amazing Sendik's associates and our extremely generous customers, we have been able to give over half a million dollars to a homegrown Wisconsin charity that is committed t helping the families in our community during their breast cancer journey." According to ABCD Executive Director Ginny Finn, the organization is honored to have a community leader like Sendik's support its cause. "Sendik's creativity and commitment to supporting ABCD's mission positively impacts breast cancer patients at times when they need it most. They are truly a corporate and community role model for companies nationwide," said Ms. Finn. Based in Milwaukee, ABCD provides free, personalized, one-to-one support to all those affected by breast cancer - patients, families and friends. Trained and professionally supported volunteer survivors and co-survivors help those dealing with breast cancer, from the newly diagnosed to those in treatment and every point afterwards. Funds raised from Sendik's programs go toward funding ABCD's distinctive, free peer support efforts, including its Helpline, signature Mentor Match service and Mentor Survivorship support activities. While science searches for a future cure, ABCD complements the work of healthcare providers now by serving as a reliable, accessible, highly personalized and important resource for breast cancer survivorship support About Sendik's: Since 1926, the Balistreri family has been serving the greater Milwaukee community by combining quality food products with exceptional customer service and is known throughout the region as the trusted, local grocer. Their goal is to provide the best grocery shopping experience, period. Currently, Sendik's operates 13 stores throughout Southeastern Wisconsin, including Brookfield (Lilly Road), Elm Grove, Franklin, Germantown, Grafton, Greenfield, Hartland, Mequon, New Berlin, Wauwatosa, West Bend and Whitefish Bay, and a Sendik's Fresh2GO store in Bayside. Learn more at sendiks.com. About ABCD: Founded in 1999 by Emmy award-winning journalist Melodie Wilson Oldenburg, ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis' signature service is one-to-one mentoring - providing free, personalized one-to-one support to breast cancer patients, their families and friends. Matches are personalized based on similar diagnoses, treatment plans and life circumstances. Having professionally trained nearly 1,000 Mentors, ABCD's truly personalized support is accessible from anywhere in the world. Free, one-to-one support is available from diagnosis through treatment and every point afterwards. For more information, visit www.abcdbreastcancersupport.org View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801006040/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] "Share the Good" Provides Unique Opportunities for Regions Bank to Serve Those who Serve Others Regions Bank on Monday announced the launch of Share the Good, an annual program that encourages local Regions offices to identity volunteer service opportunities in which the bank and its associates can make a positive difference. In some cases, Share the GoodSM activities are organized entirely by Regions associates. In other instances, Regions works with nonprofits to support ongoing community service programs. In every instance, Share the Good is about unique ways the people of Regions Bank, who live and work in more than a dozen states, can show appreciation and support. This year, throughout the month of August, several Share the Good activities will focus on serving the men and women who are dedicated to serving our communities themselves. For example, in Rome, Ga., Regions will participate in "Bankers United for First Responders," an event in which law enforcement, fire-rescue personnel and 911 operators will be provided breakfast and lunch by Regions associates and their colleagues throughout the city. In the Indianapolis area, Regions is organizing "Honoring our Heroes" events to recognize and thank police and fire-rescue personnel, as well as members of the military, veterans, teachers, and personnnel who work for local nonprofits. Regions associates in Indiana will also show appreciation for the state's farmers, who are essential to the Indiana economy and the nation's food supply. In Round Rock, Texas, Regions and local police and fire-rescue personnel wll deliver backpacks, filled with supplies, to students at area schools. This particular initiative is becoming an annual outreach and helps connect students in a positive manner with the men and women who are dedicated to protecting and serving their city. Those are only a few examples. Regions offices throughout the South, Midwest and Texas are working on even more ways to give back. "Regions associates are in the community providing volunteer support year-round, and Share the Good gives us a particularly meaningful opportunity to come together and identify new and creative ways we can make a difference," said Rick Swagler, head of External Affairs for Regions Bank. "The program is now in its seventh year, and over time, we've built relationships with service organizations, school districts, police departments and other nonprofits. They know they can count on us to work hand-in-hand with them in support of the communities we call home. We'll work to build on those relationships, and develop new ones, as we continue to 'Share the Good' this year." Last August, Regions associates participated in over 350 Share the Good activities. In addition to comprehensive service activities, Share the Good also includes clothing donations, random acts of kindness and community gifts. Volunteerism is encouraged among Regions associates as part of the company's ongoing commitment to community service. As a further example, each year, Regions provides each of its associates a paid day off to volunteer in his or her community. Regions' commitment to social responsibility is detailed in the company's annual Social Responsibility Report, which is available in the Community Engagement Section of Regions.com. About Regions Financial Corporation Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), with $126 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, mortgage, and insurance products and services. Regions serves customers across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates approximately 1,600 banking offices and 2,000 ATMs. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005248/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Trend Micro Partners with INTERPOL in Arrest of Nigerian Cybercriminal Leader Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704), a global leader in security software and solutions, today announced its collaboration in the arrest of the head of an international criminal network suspected of stealing more than $60 million through business email compromise (BEC) scams and CEO fraud. The arrest is the result of a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission utilizing Trend Micro (News - Alert) research to identify and arrest the culprit. "Trend Micro is a strong proponent of public-private partnerships in the constant battle against cybercriminals," said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer for Trend Micro. "We have a collective adversary in those who mean to do harm via technology, and we at Trend Micro do all we can to support law enforcement in apprehending and prosecuting these attackers. This is another milestone for the cybersecurity community working together." The Nigerian national is believed to be the leader of a 40-person network across Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa that provides malware and carries out attacks. He is also suspected of colluding with money launderers in China, Europe and the U.S. who provided illicit bank account details in which stolen money was housed. "Arrests like this are made possible by partnerships between members of the security community which come together with the common goal of making the internet a safer place," said Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation. "BEC scams are particularly difficult to combat due to their complexity, which is why public-private sector cooperation is essential." Trend Micro is a strategic partner supporting INTERPOL and its member countries with knowledge, resources and strategies to fight global cybercrime through its Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore. About Trend Micro Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cyber security solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. All our products work together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster protection. With more than 5,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world's most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables users to enjoy their digital lives safely. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005234/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 31, 2016] Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Market Worth 5.56 Billion USD by 2021 PUNE, India, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Market by Grade (Optical and General Purpose), Form (Extruded, Cast Acrylic, Pellets, and Beads), and Application (Signs & Displays, Construction, Automotive, Lighting Fixtures and Electronics) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size is projected to reach USD 5.56 Billion by 2021, registering a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 84 market data Tables and 53 Figures spread through 149 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/polymethyl-methacrylate-pmma-market-715.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The increased demand of plastics with high strength, durability, chemical and UV resistance, and high light transmission among others are some factors that are driving the PMMA market. Signs & displays is the largest application The signs & display segment accounts for the largest share of the PMMA market. This is due to the favorable properties such as high strength, durability, resistance to chemicals and weathering, and ease of processing, which makes them suitable for making instruction boards, advertising boards, display boards, and signage. Electronics is the fastest-growing segment of the PMMA market. Increasing growth in this sector has paved the demand of PMMA for various applications such as appliances parts, LED/LCD screens, laptop & mobile phone screen, touch screens, and cover panels. PMMA beads are expected to witness the highest growth PMMA in beads form is expected to witness the fastest growth in the PMMA market during the forecast period. Their demand is increasing due to the increasing demand for various high-performance plastics. PMMA beads are preferred in the industry, as they are used to enhance the various properties of thermoplastics such as UV resistance, toughness (impact modifiers), optical properties, and chemical rsistance. Thermoplastics made from PMMA are suitable for automotive, construction, lighting, electronics, and other application. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=715 Asia-Pacific is the largest PMMA market Asia-Pacific dominated the global PMMA Market in 2015. The demand of PMMA in the Asia-Pacific region is mainly driven by the rising demand for high quality plastics from end-use industries. Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest-growing market for PMMA, in terms of value. This high growth is because of the increased demand from the automotive and electronics segments in the region. Moreover, the growing infrastructural development is increasing the demand of PMMA in the region. Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd (Japan), Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd (Japan), and Chi Mei Corporation (Taiwan) are some of the major players in the global PMMA market. Browse Related Reports: Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) Adhesive Market by Material Type (Composites, Metals, Plastics, and Others), by Application (Commercial Vehicle, Marine, Wind Energy, General Assembly, and Others), & by Region - Global Forecasts to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/methyl-methacrylate-adhesives-market-74536936.html Acrylic Resin Market by Type (Methacrylates, Acrylates & Hybrids), Solvency, Property (Thermoplastic & Thermosetting) & Application (Paints & Coatings, Construction, Industrial & Commercial, Paper & Paperboard, Textiles & Fibers & Adhesives) - Trends & Forecast to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/acrylic-resin-market-246195771.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Cradlepoint Partners with Midis Group to Enable Rapid Growth in Central and Eastern Europe WARSAW, Poland, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband, announced today that it is expanding its presence in Central and Eastern Europe. Partnering with Midis Group, a pioneer in operations management, Cradlepoint is entering Poland and the Czech Republic to gain further market reach. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160603/375346 ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT networking. Cradlepoint's regional sales teams in Central and Eastern Europe are the next step in continuing the accelerated growth that Cradlepoint has achieved over the past year. George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "We are at an exciting time in Cradlepoint's geographic expansion. Central and Eastern Europe have seen a migration to high-speed mobile networks enabling our unparalleled cloud-based solutions across market verticals. "Establishing in-region support for our channel partners will provide local knowledge, expertise and experience to deliver our sales programmes and will be key to the continued success of our customers." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "Cradlepoint's partnership with Midis Group will drive our growth in Centra and Eastern Europe and strengthen our distribution channels. Midis Group will be working as a direct extension of our existing sales and marketing resources and will continue our strategy of building a highly experienced team to implement innovation that provides new areas of opportunity for channel partnerships to meet the needs of our joint customers." Husni Hammoud, General Manager, Emerging Markets, said: "Cradlepoint's technology solutions are world-class and ideal in markets such as retail, hospitality, public sector and transportation. Midis Group is well positioned to work as Cradlepoint's partner in Central and Eastern Europe with decades of operational expertise that will facilitate rapid growth." About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedized M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organizations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and 25 of the largest U.S. cities-rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint network solutions as the foundation for innovative managed service offerings. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with development centers in Silicon Valley and Kelowna, Canada, and offices in the UK, Australia and Japan. Cradlepoint EMEA, Hubert Da Costa Tel: +44-(0)1753-70-10-41 [email protected] http://pl.cradlepoint.com http://cz.cradlepoint.com About Midis Group Midis Group is a privately-owned group of IT companies with over 4,500 employees in sales, technical support and operations. Its mission is 'to be a high-integrity partner, providing world-class technology brands and solutions into emerging markets and focusing on customer satisfaction'. Midis Group, Husni Hammoud Tel: +48-22-206-9834 [email protected] http://www.midisgroup.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Bizerba and CMS Technology Announce Alliance NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bizerba and CMS Technology have announced a partnership to provide antimicrobial solutions to the protein industry. This alliance builds on Bizerba's safety and consumables focus while leveraging the technology and delivery systems developed by CMS Technology. "This partnership further expands our ability to service customers with a breadth of consumable products used to enhance food safety," said Robert Slykhuis, President and CEO of Bizerba North America. "We are excited about what CMS' offerings can bring customers in the food space." "Bizerba's presence and established service at meat and poultry processing locations will allow us to provide a high level of customer focus," said John Meccia, President and CEO of CMS Technology. "CMS is intent on bringing innovative antimicrobial approaches to help food processors continue to improve food safety for consumers." The Bizerba and CMS Technology antimicrobial alliance builds on the current partnership Bizerba has created with Henkel Corporation in delivering packaging adhesives and solutions to this same industry and customers. For further information on the Bizerba Henkel alliance please reference the 2015 press release, http://www.bizerba.com/en_us/news/newsroom/news_1568896.html. About Bizerba Bizerba offers its customers in industry, trade, and logistics; a globally uniquesolutions portfolio of hardware and software around the central value "weight". This portfolio includes products and solutions related to slicing, processing, weighing, cashing, checking, commissioning and labeling. Bizerba's complete portfolio spans a wide range of services from consulting and technical support to labels and consumables and leasing. Since 1866 Bizerba has made a significant contribution to the developments in the area of slicing and weighing technology and today is represented in 120 countries. The customer base includes globally operating companies in trade and industry as well as commercial and institutional foodservice including full-service restaurants and fast food sandwich shops, retailers, bakeries and butcheries. Family owned and headquartered in Balingen, Baden Wuerttemberg for five generations, with sales, service and production facilities located in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, China and USA and around 3,700 employees, Bizerba continues its history of unmatched innovation. About Henkel Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas: Adhesive Technologies, Beauty Care and Laundry & Home Care. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as LOCTITE, TECHNOMELT, Persil and Schwarzkopf. Henkel employs about 50,000 people and reported sales of $21.8 billion and adjusted operating profit of $3.4 billion in fiscal 2014. Henkel's preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. To learn more about Henkel's innovative adhesive products for packaging visit www.henkel-adhesives.com/packaging. About CMS Technology CMS Technology is a specialty chemical company focused on the development and delivery of innovative, antimicrobial solutions for food, packaging and material applications. CMS technologies achieve the food safety standards needed to protect the global customer. For more information, visit www.CMSTechnology.com. Media Contact: Deb DeFago-Turso 908.432.1288 | [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bizerba-and-cms-technology-announce-alliance-300306645.html SOURCE CMS Technology [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] IDI, Inc. and Fluent, LLC to Present at Industry Events in August 2016 IDI, Inc. (NYSE MKT:IDI), a data and analytics company, and Fluent, LLC, an industry leader in people-based digital marketing and customer acquisition, today announced that they will be presenting at five industry events in August 2016: Affiliate Summit East, CampaignTech Chicago, Future of Email - Boston, World Investigators Conference, and Future of Email - Minneapolis. Affiliate Summit East Fluent's Senior Vice President of Sales, Daryl Colwell, will host an "Ask the Experts" roundtable discussion session titled, "Adopt Strategies for Marketing to People, Not Pixels," on Monday, August 1, 2016 at 5:00pm ET at the Marriott Marquis in New York, NY. The Affiliate Summit East 2016 Agenda is packed with sessions that will help better understand the evolving landscape of performance marketing. For further information, please visit: http://affiliatesummit.com/events/ase16-main/. CampaignTech Chicago Fluent's GM of Political and Advocacy Solutions, Jeff Pavelcsyk, will give a presentation titled, "Election 2016 Marketing Techniques," on Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 12:15pm CT at Venue Six10 in Chicago, IL. CampaignTech puts the spotlight on the newest digital strategies, tactics, marketing tools, and ground-breaking technologies for this campaign cycle and beyond. From political campaigns, to issue advocacy and grassroots mobilization, technology has revolutionized how battles are fought and won. For further information, please visit http://campaigntechchicago.com/. Future of Email - Boston Fluent's Senior Vice President of Sales, Daryl Colwell, will participate on a panel discussion on identity and the future of email, which will be held on Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 4:30pm ET at Ned Devine's in Boston, MA. Learn about the latest technologies, cutting-edge campaign strategies, and can't-miss tactics you can use to transform email in 2016 and beyond. The industry's most influential trailblazers, thought leaders, and technologies will converge for one evening of jam-packed information to help you bring your email marketing program into the future. For further information, please visit http://thefutureofemail.com/boston/. World Investigators Conference IDI's Chief Executive Officer, Derek Dubner, will give a presentation titled "The Evolution of Data Fusion," on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 1:30pm CT at La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa in Montgomery, Texas. The World Investigators Conference only takes place every 5-6 years and has a reputation of attracting the largest group of private investigators from around the world. For further information, please visit: http://2016wic.com/. Future of Email - Minneapolis Fluent's Senior Vice President of Sales, Daryl Colwell, will participate on a panel discussion on identity and the future of email, which will be held on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 4:30pm CT at the Muse Event Center in Minneapolis, MN. Learn about the latest technologies, cutting-edge campaign strategies, and can't-miss tactics you can use to transform email in 2016 and beyond. The industry's most influential trailblazers, thought leaders, and technologies will converge for one evening of jam-packed information to help you bring your email marketing program into the future. For further information, please visit http://thefutureofemail.com/minneapolis/. About IDI, Inc. At IDI, we believe that time is your most valuable asset. Through powerful analytics, we transform data into intelligence, in a fast and efficient manner, so that our clients can spend their time on what matters most - running their organizations with confidence. Through leading-edge, proprietary technology and a massive data repository, our data and analytical solutions harness the power of data fusion, uncovering the relevance of disparate data points and converting them into comprehensive and insightful views of people, businesses, assets and their interrelationships. We empower clients across markets and industries to better execute all aspects of their business, from managing risk, conducting investigations, identifying fraud and abuse, and collecting debts, to identifying and acquiring new customers. At IDI, we are dedicated to making the world a safer place, to reducing the cost of doing business, and to enhancing the consumer experience. About Fluent, LLC Fluent, LLC, an IDI company (NYSE MKT: IDI), is an industry leader in people-based digital marketing and customer acquisition, serving over 500 leading consumer brands and direct marketers. Leveraging a massive reservoir of proprietary audience data, as well as millions of real-time survey interactions with consumers every day, Fluent enables advertisers to more effectively target and acquire their most valuable customers, with precision, at a massive scale. The company's headquarters is in New York City, with satellite offices in Washington, DC and Detroit. For more information, visit http://www.fluentco.com/. RELATED LINKS: http://www.ididata.com and http://www.fluentco.com FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), which statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipate," "believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar meaning. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on our expectations as of the date of this press release and speak only as of the date of this press release and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC (News - Alert) filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005386/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Billaway Brings Tom Haley Onboard to Fill CMO Post NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Billaway announced the addition of Tom Haley, formerly of American Express, where he built, launched and operationalized Plenti, the first coalition loyalty program in the U.S., serving partners such as AT&T, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Hulu, Macy's, Nationwide and Rite Aid. Tom will serve as Chief Marketing Officer at Billaway and be responsible for global brand development, offer strategy, client marketing, insights & analytics as well as product launch, PR and social strategies. Tom previously held marketing roles at Linkable Networks, a successful card-linked offers start up. Pior to that, Tom managed CRM and Rewards programs for large retailers such as Staples and Ahold. The Billaway Global platform enables retailers and brands to convert consumer's everyday necessities into free petrol, mobile airtime and mobile data across multiple countries, thereby driving new customer acquisition, retention and up-sell/cross-sell strategies. The company is based in New York City with operations in the UK, Indonesia and France. For more information, go to www.billawayglobal.com Contact: Thomas Haley Email 617-272-0336 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/billaway-brings-tom-haley-onboard-to-fill-cmo-post-300306221.html SOURCE Billaway Global [August 01, 2016] PR Newswire Provides Checklist for Choosing the Right Press Release Service NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Company news releases can contain vital information and, at times, may need to be distributed quickly and efficiently. Before sending a release, however, it's imperative to choose the right release distribution provider in order to ensure the service meets all business goals and expectations. PR Newswire's checklist, Ten Questions to Ask Your Press Release Service before Sending Your Release provides 10 important questions to ask any release distribution provider to ensure confidence and trust in the partnership. This checklist provides: Top questions to ask account managers while a release is being drafted; and The best answers to those questions. The right press release service canhelp reach target audiences, provide guidance and show a picture of press release performance. To see what questions to ask news distribution services download the checklist here: Ten Questions to Ask Your Press Release Service before Sending Your Release About PR Newswire PR Newswire, a Cision company, is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms and distribution that marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers leverage to engage key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry over 60 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to- end solutions to produce, optimize and target content -- and then distribute and measure results. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire powers the stories of organizations around the world. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. Cision is a leading global media intelligence company, serving the complete workflow of today's communication professionals. Media Contact: Victoria Harres Vice President, Strategic Communications & Content [email protected] 201-360-6882 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394457 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160621/381858LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pr-newswire-provides-checklist-for-choosing-the-right-press-release-service-300306892.html SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Dawn and Port of LA Celebrate International Bird Rescue's Devotion to Marine Wildlife with 45th Anniversary Celebration This year marks a milestone for Dawn's wildlife partner, International Bird Rescue (Bird Rescue) - it has been 45 years since the oil spill that led directly to the creation of Bird Rescue. In January 1971, two oil tankers collided in foggy conditions near the Golden Gate Bridge. The ruptured tankers spilled at least 800,000 gallons of crude oil, affecting 7,000 birds. Volunteers collected nearly 4,300 of them and brought them to makeshift rescue centers, but only about 300 birds were successfully rehabilitated and released. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005909/en/ Dawn and members of the San Pedro, Calif. community come together to celebrate International Bird Rescue's 45 years of oiled bird rehabilitation. (Photo: Business Wire) Following the spill, Bird Rescue was officially hatched in April of 1971 at Berkeley's Aquatic Park. Since then, it has led oiled bird rescue efforts in over 220 oil spills in more than a dozen countries. "From an environmental tragedy 45 years ago, Bird Rescue was born to deliver on the promise of mitigating the human impact on seabirds and other aquatic species through response, rehabilitation, and research," said JD Bergeron, Executive Director, International Bird Rescue. "Our work these past four decades would not have been achieved without the support of our volunteers, the San Pedro community and Dawn." Dawn joined Bird Rescue at their San Pedro, Calif. facility this weekend where community guests got a behind-the-scenes look at the impactful and profound work happening at the wildlife rescue center. The anniversary celebration also featured guest speaker and photographer Joel Sartore, who photographed oiled wildlife during the Deepwater Horizon spill for National Geographic. "International Bird Rescue is such an admirable, vital organization and I am so happy I could celebrate with them and Dawn today," said Sartore. "While I was photographing oiled wildlife during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I saw firsthand how much work the Bird Rescue team and volunteers do to save thousands of marine birds each year. I applaud Bird Rescue's hard work and conservation efforts over the past 45 years - it's absolutely critical that we get people to care about wildlife and the environment." In their 45th year, Bird Rescue continues to bring excellence in marine bird response and rehabilitation, as well as a renewed focus on research, education, and outreach, especially to children, the next generation of wildlife and nature stewards. "Dawn is honored to celebrate International Bird Rescue's 45th anniversary, and especially the volunteers and community who make wildlife rescue possible," said Chris Laird, North America Dish Care Brand Director, P&G. "We're proud that for over 40 years, Dawn has been supporting wildlife rescue rehabilitation centers with its product to clean animals affected by oil pollution." DAWN HELPS SAVE WILDLIFE Independent studies have proven Dawn Dish Soap to be the most effective dishwashing detergent for cleaning oiled animals, heralded because it removes tough grease while being gentle on animals' delicate skin and feathers. As such, Dawn is the only dishwashing brand trusted by wildlife rescue experts for decades. Since 2006, Dawn has donated more than 100,000 bottles of dishwashing liquid and financial support to its wildlife partners, International Bird Rescue and The Marine Mammal Center. These donations have helped these organizations clean more than 75,000 marine animals in the United States. To join Dawn in supporting marine wildlife, consumers can visit bird-rescue.org. For more information about the Dawn family of products, visit www.dawn-dish.com. ABOUT PROCTER & GAMBLE P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Fairy, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Lenor, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, SK-II, Tide, Vicks, and Whisper. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands. ABOUT INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE For 45 years, International Bird Rescue has been a global leader in responding to man-made disasters affecting wildlife, such as oil spills and marine debris. In addition to a fully-equipped emergency response center in Alaska, Bird Rescue runs two world-class wildlife centers in California which care for more than 5,000 animals each year, including pelicans, herons, shorebirds, and other aquatic species. This is made possible by over 60,000 volunteer hours kindly provided by a diverse group of retirees, nurses, veterinary students, and others. To date, their response teams have led rescue efforts in more than 200 spills across six continents. Visit www.Bird-Rescue.org to learn more. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005909/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 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. 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. Weve long been fans of Perths local music scene. We believe its one of the most underrated in the country, but something big is about to put it on the map and were not talking about Tame Impala. Gyroscope drummer Rob Nassif is launching a new small-cap venue that he hopes will not only give young, up-and-coming bands a place to play, but will create a buzzing scene of fresh talent in the heart of Perth. As The Music reports, in addition to serving as sticks man for Gyroscope, Nassif also owns and operates Hen House Rehearsal Studios and in his own words, knows a thing or two about looking after bands and creating a cool environment. Hen House Live is set to open in September. The new venue will be able to fit 100 punters and will be situated in the newly remodelled, 400-capacity Badlands Bar in Northbridge, which has previously hosted Karnivool, King Gizzard, and more. Hopefully we can make Hen House Live and Badlands a real music hub here in Perth where bands can be playing shows and hang out late. We want to make that the centre of the Perth music community, Nassif told The Music. Nassif wants to foster the same sense of community at Hen House Live as he has at his studios, which have served as rehearsal space for bands like Tired Lion, who recently took on Glastonbury in the UK. The news comes just weeks after the announcement of Stompbox, a new facility set to open in Osborne Park early next year, which will include a live music space, big air foam pit, a sport climbing area, a recording studio, and more. Care for a rebuttal, Wil Wagner? A frequent visitor to Australian shores, Michael Franti has announce he and his band Spearhead will be returning Down Under this September for two very special East Coast performances. Franti and his band will be bringing their uplifting, life-affirming sounds to The Croxton in Melbourne on Wednesday, 28th September and the Metro Theatre in Sydney on Thursday, 29th September. Having travelled Down Under for numerous Bluesfests and many headline shows, Michael Franti isnt a stranger to our country and will no doubt delight his Aussie fan base again. Right now is a very challenging time for people, for our nation and the planet, says Franti, a past recipient of Global Exchanges Domestic Human Rights Award. But I really believe that music can help fight war and violence and hatred. The world needs that more than ever now, so my intention with this album [Junes Soulrocker] was to make music that could bring people together. MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES Wednesday, 28th September 2016 The Croxton, Melbourne Tickets: Bluesfest Thursday, 29th September 2016 Metro Theatre, Sydney Tickets: Ticketek KANSAS CITY DEMOCRATIC PARTY FAITHFUL ALIGNING THEMSELVES WITH HILLARY CLINTON CONFRONT DISAPPOINTMENT AMID THE UPCOMING PRIMARY!!! JaxCo Chair Crystal Has Poisoned A Local Candidate With 'Girl Power' And Hillary Advocacy That Won't Work In Eastern Jack Pat Contreras Claims Kansas City Democratic Party Elite Support To His Detriment Way, Way Down Ballot The Hillary Lovers Confront Even More Neighborhood Opposition Kansas City Democratic Party candidates who focused on LOCAL CONNECTIONS TO NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITIES will find much more enthusiastic support Quick bit of insight confirmed by our pollster and politico friends as it applies to Kansas City primary contenders and the party that dominates local politics . . .Like it or not . . .During the primary the Bernie campaign featured most of the Kansas City excitement, had the better rally and the much cooler Midtown campaign office . . .Meanwhile . . . Hillary supporters might have earned some reinforcement of their mediocrity online but very few achievements in the real world . . .A few examples . . .Combative online chatter and dirty campaigning against fellow Democratic Party denizens have characterized the career of Crystal Williams and this primary has finally a made her destructive presence in the local discourse obvious to everyone who might get annoyed with this blog but realizes theamount of cash this lady is costing the party. Like it or not, polling suggests Crystal's Hillary-induced-manic support will lead to anloss tomorrow night.Depending on how much I feel like conceding a point to you white people . . . We might get into this later. Suffice it say . . . This Democratic Party noob has put a lot of misplaced faith in the leaders of the Kansas City Democratic Party and even the most die-hard denizen of local Democracy knows that'sa good idea.The lower the stakes, the more vicious the fighting and there are a few neighborhood contests where Hillary Clinton allegiance could harm Kansas City candidates . . . Insiders know what I'm talking about and we're using this post to throw up as proof after all the dust is settled.In the final analysis and given that the upcoming Presidential contest in November is most certainly a choice betwixt the lesser of two evils according to just about everybody -- what we'll see confirmed tomorrow night and ouranalysis contends . . .than so many cynical social media politicos who tout their allegiance to Hillary Clinton despite her resoundingly negative perception by so many voters in Kansas City and throughout the nation.You decide . . . Constantin Caratheodory, who was born in Germany, is often referred to as the Greek genius who helped Einstein with the math of the Relativity Theory It is widely accepted that during ancient times Greeks played an important role in the development of mathematics. Although most modern day Greek mathematicians are not as famous as Pythagoras, Archimedes or Euclid, their contribution to mathematics is still considered important. Dr. Anastasios Panagiotelis, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University in Australia has been scheduled to give a lecture about the life and achievements of two great Greek mathematicians of the 20th century. The lecture will take place at the Greek Center, on Thursday, August 4, 2016, as part of the seminars on Greek History and Culture offered by the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria. The first mathematician to be discussed is Constantin Caratheodory, who was born in Germany, where he spent most of his academic career. Furthermore, he was also Founding Dean of the short-lived Ionian University of Smyrna during the early 1920s. The second is Nicholas Metropoulis, who was born in Chicago in 1915. He worked on the Manhattan Project and was instrumental in developing some of the worlds first digital computers. Mathematicians connected to their roots through math and science, which are continuous and a vital presence in Greek history and culture. Dr. Anastasios Panagiotelis was born in Sydney and studied at Sydney University. After completing his doctorate in 2009, he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and carried out a postdoctoral research in the Department of Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich. His research includes the development and application of statistical and mathematical models for problems in business and economy. Much of his research uses the Metropolis algorithm. 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 In its latest study on the economic sentiment in Greece, the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOVE) documented a minor improved in June, coupled with a further decline in consumer trust. Specifically the Economic Sentiment Index grew 90.0 in July, from 89.7 in June and 82.1 in July 2015. This improvement has been attributed to the growing expectations in tourism and hotels. On the contrary, IOVEs study indicates that consumer trust has further declined. At present issues that might affect the ESI such as the Brexit, international developments and taxes in Greece have not yet had a major effect on the expectations of Greek households and businesses. 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 Turkey can have no role in the Republic of Cyprus after a solution to the Cyprus problem, Nicosia has stated following the Turkish Cypriot insistence on the guarantee issue Turkey can have no role in the Republic of Cyprus after a solution to the Cyprus problem, Nicosia has stated following the Turkish Cypriot insistence on the guarantee issue. Government spokesperson Nikos Christodoulides said on Monday that the goal of the negotiations to settle the Cyprus problem is to end the occupation and have Turkey leave the island. On Radio Protos Proti Ekpompi, Christodoulides mentioned the meeting that was held on Friday between President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, in which the two discussed the issues of security and territory. Christodoulides added that all six chapters of the Cyprus discussions are important for the Greek Cypriot side, but the security and territory chapters will be the deciding factor into how the process continues. He said that at Fridays meeting there was a general exchange of opinions, without any other substantial agreement, aside from the general opinions. Regarding the territory issue, the government spokesperson said that before a discussion can start on the maps and the names, the criteria must be discussed, which will be aid the solution of the property issue. He added that they will discuss criteria for specific maps after that issue is solved. Christodoulides mentioned that the property issue cannot be closed on without an agreement on the territory issue. He also added that if a decision was agreed between both sides then it would aid the studies of the IMF and the World Bank. Concerning the studies, Christodoulides said that these are not related to the property issue but rather to the general sustainability of the issue following a solution of the Cyprus problem. Importance of the National Council Christodoulides said that the meeting of the National Council, which happened on Saturday, was to inform the political party leaders of the intensified phase of negotiations in July. He added that the meeting had been constructive and productive, despite the disagreement on certain issues. No documents were given to the parties, he said, adding that they can go to the Presidential Palace to review the documents, and formulate new ideas and recommendations for the next meeting after the summer holidays. On the substance of the negotiations, Christodoulides said that President Anastasiades is ready to hear the opinions of the parties. Christodoulides said that the National Council has always functioned as an advisory body towards all the Presidents of the Republic. Regarding the confidentiality issue, Christodoulides mentioned that there is no way to secure the confidentiality, which is why each member must hold themselves responsible. President Anastasiades wants the body to function more than any other member, and that is why he has accepted many of the recommendations of the parties, Christodoulides said. Asked what would happen if DIKO and EDEK decided to not take part in the National Council, Christodoulides said that the National Council would continue to function with all parties interested in taking part. He added that such a development would be wrong and the hope is that they would not come to such a decision. 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 26 people charged with storming into the Church of St. Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki and interrupting Sunday services appeared before the single Misdemeanour Court, Monday morning. Earlier the prosecutor had laid charges of abusive behaviour during religious worship and contempt. The 26 were members of anti-authoritarian groups protesting against the evacuation of refugees and migrants from abandoned buildings in Thessaloniki and included 19 women and 7 men, 17 of whom are Greek nationals and the rest from Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Morocco and Britain. Members of anti-authoritarian groups organised protests in solidarity of the arrested outside the court. Meanwhile, opposition party New Democracy (ND) criticised ruling SYRIZA for failing to condemn the interruption of the Church services. Their (governments) unacceptable silence is the resounding confirmation of the ideological-partisan tolerance for the raid of anti-authoritarian members during the Holy Liturgy at the Metropolis of Thessaloniki on Sunday, the announcement underlined. New Democracy had condemned the recent attacks against SYRIZA offices by members the wider anarchist movement. 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 Following interventions by Greek American leaders, both political platforms approved at the Republican and the Democratic Conventions references to the Cyprus issue Following interventions by Greek American leaders, both political platforms approved at the Republican and the Democratic Conventions references to the Cyprus issue, although the drafts sent to the Conventions did not include such references. Congressman Gus Bilirakis form Florida played a crucial role in the Republican Party, raising the issue successfully with the Platform Committee. The 2016 Platform approved at the Convention in Cleveland Ohio states the following: We applaud the ongoing reconciliation in Northern Ireland and hope that its success might be replicated in Cyprus. In the Democratic Party the interventions by former US Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and HALCs Executive Director Endy Zemenides were crucial in convincing the Platform Committee members to include Cyprus in the platform on the last day of the Convention. The Greek American Community had reacted when it was made known that Cyprus had not been included in the platform at the Committee meeting in Orlando. Greek American weekly newspaper Greek News in a front page article before the Democratic Convention said it will be a paradox if Hillary Clinton selects Admiral Stavridis a Greek American as her Vice President while Cyprus wont be included in the 2016 Democratic Platform. The passage that was finally included is a repetition of the 2008 Democratic Platform: We will seek to strengthen our strategic partnership with Turkey while pushing for reforms, end the division of Cyprus, and continue to support a close relationship with states that seek to strengthen their ties to NATO and Europe, such as Georgia and Ukraine. Source: CNA 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 Egypt-based Paradigm Invest Financial Consultation plans to conclude three new deals in the food and healthcare sectors, a report said. The deals include an acquisition deal, with the goal of exiting or increasing capital in order to finance expansions, Hussein Abdel Haleem, managing partner of Paradigm was quoted as saying in the Daily News Egypt report. There are two deals in the food industry sector, he added. The first deal, worth more than EGP 1 billion ($112 million) is owned by Egyptian investors and is an acquisition arranged by a group of Arab investors, he noted. The second deal involves an Egyptian dairy company. The deal will include increasing the companys capital with the aim of expanding production lines, in order to benefit from the high demand on the food industry, including dairy and cheese, Abdel Haleem added. The third deal aims to develop the equipment of a hospital in the local market by increasing its capital by EGP 150 million. This will also be carried out by Arab investors. Euromoney Kuwait Conference 2016, being organised by Euromoney Conferences, taking place on September 27, will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing the Kuwaiti economy in an era of global uncertainty. The organiser is working with some of Kuwaits most important banks, financial institutions and law firms to put together an engaging and compelling day of discussions. Gulf Bank, Alghanim Industries and the Kuwait Banking Association will participate as lead sponsors, while co-sponsors include Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, ASAR - Al Ruwayeh & Partners and Boubyan Bank. In 2016, Kuwait has announced significant reforms designed to balance the national economy and diversify the nations sources of income. These reforms include plans to boost non-oil revenues and reduce public spending, as well as financial sector reforms, changes to the public sectors role in the economy, and incentives to empower citizens to launch their own businesses. New and familiar speakers will address the main theme of Meeting the Challenge of Financial Innovation and Reform, discussing Kuwaits fiscal, monetary and economic diversification strategy. Topics include digitisation, innovation and the future of Kuwaiti business, finance and governance. There is a strong underlying theme in the programme to also explore the role of Kuwait in the international financial system. To review these issues, the Kuwait Conference will include a new session on harnessing the power of private capital. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain-based Steelmark Mideast has signed a distribution agreement with Saketh Exim, a leading Indian manufacturer of pipe support systems, pipe hangers and anti-vibration systems, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. To read further, please visit GDNonline. Iranian transportation companies will be exempted from tolls on Azeri roads for three years based on Azerbaijan's new tax regulations, aimed at developing the transportation sector between the two countries, said a report. Mohsen Pakaein, Iran's ambassador to Azerbaijan, stated that that until recently Iranian trucks used to pay the highest toll ($320) in Azerbaijan but the new exemption rule will add to the lure of transit of goods to Russia via Iran and Azerbaijan, reported Iran Daily News, citing IRNA. Pakaein added a railway connection is also to be launched this fall to transport passengers from Nakhichevan in Azerbaijan to the holy city of Mashhad in eastern Iran and vice versa. The diplomat further expressed satisfaction over the regular flights launched by ATA Airlines, an Iranian airline, from Tehran to Baku and Tabriz. He said this would help promote tourism between the two nations. Pakaein added other air links connecting Mashhad to Baku and Shiraz to Baku will become operational this fall. The Iranian ambassador said that Tehran and Baku have also agreed on a joint venture to build a railway line connecting Iran's northern provincial capital city of Rasht to Astara to facilitate export of goods to Azerbaijan, added the report. Bahrains Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) held discussions with related government and private entities on the launch of the English (.bh) and the Arabic domain name project, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. To read further, please visit GDNonline. Iraq's oil exports from its southern ports rose to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in July, up from 3.175 million bpd in June, as the Opec nation increased crude production, two Iraqi oil officials said on Monday. Output at the Luhais field, operated by state-run South Oil Company, increased by 10,000 bpd to 90,000 bpd in July, according to a company official. Fields operated by foreign companies in southern Iraq also contributed to the July increase, he said. The southern region produces most of the Opec member's crude oil. The northern Kurdish regional government exports about 500,000 bpd through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, on the Mediterranean, but that is done independent of the central government in Baghdad which oversees crude sales from the south. Iraqi officials and oil analysts expect further growth in the country's exports this year, although at a slower rate than in 2015 when it was the fastest source of Opec supply growth. Iraq last year boosted production by more than 500,000 bpd, despite spending cuts by companies working at the southern fields and conflict with Islamic State militants. This year, Iran has provided the biggest rise in supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as it recovers from Western sanctions. The July output increase in Iraq comes despite a pipeline leak that shipping and trade sources said prompted a brief suspension of loadings at two of the southern terminals. The Iraqi oil ministry said on July 11 the leak was repaired. - Reuters Libya's state oil company said it welcomed the "unconditional" reopening of blockaded oil ports following a deal between the UN-backed government and an armed force which controls key facilities, saying it would begin work to restart exports from the terminals. The agreement could be a major step in reviving Libya's crippled oil output. It had been questioned by National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman Mustafa Sanalla, who had warned against rewarding groups that shut down production and complained that the NOC lacked funds for its own operating budget. In a statement sent to journalists, the NOC said the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) had released money that would allow it to increase production by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) within two weeks. The NOC said it aims to gradually increase output to 900,000 bpd by the end of the year. Political disputes, conflict and security threats have slashed Libya's oil production to less than a quarter of the 1.6 mbpd the Opec member was producing in 2011, before the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi and sent the country into political turmoil. Any recovery in production is expected to be gradual because of extensive damage to infrastructure, and continuing instability. Details of the deal between the GNA and the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) to reopen the eastern ports of Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina, have not been made public, but the GNA said they included an unspecified amount for PFG salaries. The statement from the NOC said Mousa Alkouni, a member of the GNA's leadership or Presidential Council, had assured Sanalla that the ports would be reopened "without conditions". "I am pleased the Presidential Council agrees that we cannot reward individuals who hold Libya's oil hostage," Sanalla said. "There can be no backroom deals if we are to build trust. Any past salary payments to the Petroleum Facilities Guards need to be transparent, properly authorised and documented." He said the NOC would begin working with the Presidential Council and Libya's eastern parliament so that exports from the blockaded ports could recommence. "The NOC will immediately start technical works, and open discussions with our international oil company partners to indemnify the NOC from liability. We need the tribes in the oil producing areas to join our commitment to let Libya's oil flow freely." Sanalla also called on groups preventing oil production elsewhere in Libya to let it resume, including some 470,000 bpd shut in from the Elephant and Sharara fields in the south-west. "There are costs for them, too. Shortages of electricity, fuel, food and medicines in their regions are the direct result of their blockades," he said. After arriving in Tripoli in March, the GNA has been gradually trying to establish its authority and unify factions that set up rival parliaments and governments in Tripoli and eastern Libya in 2014. But hardliners in the east, where most of Libya's oil production is based, have prevented the parliament there from formally endorsing the GNA and have sought to export oil independently through a rival NOC in Benghazi. The NOC in Tripoli said at the start of July that it had agreed terms for reunifying the corporation, though in recent days the chief of staff of armed forces allied to the eastern government threatened to target oil tankers that entered Libyan waters without permission from the NOC in Benghazi. -- Reuters The Gulf Hotels Group, a leading hospitality chain in Bahrain, has opened its first marketing office in China, located in Shanghai. Following the recent launch of the new tourism campaign 'Ours. Yours' by Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority, which aims to develop the kingdom's tourism sector, Bahrains leading home-grown hotel group is aiming to attract more Chinese tourists by co-operating with China travel agencies and conference organizers, as well as launching joint marketing initiatives which will highlight the diverse tourist attractions in the kingdom. The new office will make it easier for Chinese tourists and conference organisers to plan a trip or an event in Bahrain. In upcoming months, Gulf Hotels Group plans to launch several promotions and initiatives in China through a variety of workshops that will introduce what Bahrain has to offer, focusing on cultural tourism and the history of Bahrain, but also promoting modern day events such as Formula 1. Group representatives will also participate in events and tourism exhibitions aimed at increasing incentive travel, conferences and meetings in the kingdom. Announcing the opening of the Shanghai office, Aqeel Raees, chief executive officer and Board Member at the Gulf Hotels Group said: Chinese tourism is rapidly expanding and will have a major impact in the global tourism market. We are aiming to tap into this market and attract more visitors from the worlds most populated nation and to achieve this, the Group appointed Stella Zho as sales manager at our Shanghai office. Zho is currently in Bahrain visiting many of Bahrains attractions, learning about the history of the Island and the history of Gulf Hotels Group, and visiting the Groups properties which include the Gulf Hotel, the K Hotel in Juffair, the Asdal Gulf Inn in Seef and the Gulf Residence Amwaj." Raees added: The Group will further expand the Gulf Hotels meeting room inventory, adding to the current supply of 29 venues and believes that the far-east Mice sector is set to expand, which our China office aims to capitalise on. Additionally the Gulf Hotels leisure options have been expanded with the addition of a 2,500-sq-m state-of-the-art spa offering separate mens and ladies floors, VIP treatment suites, Hammam, experience showers, steam rooms, Jacuzzis, relaxation rooms and a variety of wellness treatments. The new spa will complement the Gulf Hotels already extensive leisure features which include a lagoon style swimming pool set in a tropical surrounding with waterfalls and mature palms. Finally, Chinese visitors are bound to be impressed with the Gulf Hotels array of dining venues which gives them the opportunity to experience Lebanese, Iranian, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Indian and Fusion cuisine in addition to traditional Bahraini dishes and of course, award winning Chinese food." - TradeArabia News Service An Iraqi Airways plane carrying 230 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Kuwait on Sunday after one of its two engines failed, the company said in a statement. The incident happened on a Boeing 767 that was heading to New Delhi, it said, adding that the plane landed safely. The company plans to send an Airbus A321 to Kuwait to allow the passengers to resume their trip, it said. - Reuters Oman Air and Saudi Arabian Airlines have signed a codeshare agreement covering services between Muscat and four destinations in Saudi Arabia. Effective from June 29, customers were able to book flights through either airline for services between Muscat and Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, or Medina. Oman Air operates double-daily flights between Muscat and Riyadh, double-daily flights between Muscat and Jeddah, up to two flights per day between Muscat and Dammam and daily flights between Muscat and Medina. The airline deploys Boeing 737s on services to Riyadh, Dammam and Medina, whilst B737s, Airbus 300s, and Boeing 787 Dreamliners are deployed on services to Jeddah. Saudi Arabian Airlines operates regular flights throughout the week from Riyadh, Jeddah, and Medina to Muscat, using Airbus 320 aircraft. Aboudy Nasser, senior vice president Network and Revenue Management, at Oman Air said: I am delighted to announce that Oman Air and Saudi Arabian Airlines have signed a codeshare agreement which covers flights between Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, and four destinations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This new partnership will deliver even greater choice and convenience for customers of both airlines. Not only can tickets be simply booked via travel agents, www.omanair.com or www.saudiairlines.com, but customers of both airline can now access two complementary networks of exciting international destinations. Furthermore, Saudi Arabian Airlines shares Oman Airs commitment to the highest standards of hospitality, service and onboard product, ensuring a consistently enjoyable passenger experience for all. It is a pleasure to be working alongside Saudi Arabian Airlines and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership. Khalid A. Albassam, vice president Network & Revenue Management at Saudi Arabian Airlines, added: We are proud to be working in partnership with Oman Air, as a result of this codeshare agreement. There is a natural synergy between the national carriers of our respective countries and customers are sure to appreciate the increased choice and convenience that this codeshare offers." In addition to beautiful and fascinating domestic destinations, both Saudi Arabian Airlines and Oman Air offer access to very significant international networks, which will delight business and leisure travellers alike. - TradeArabia News Service On the venue of WORLD TOURISM AND TRAVEL AWARDS ceremony for 2016, H.E. Dr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism of Kingdom of Cambodia had announced an ambitious program to revamp and give a new impetus to the country tourism brand. (TRAVPR.COM) BELGIUM - July 29th, 2016 - Taking the benefit of the 2016 WORLD TOURISM AWARDS international stage where Cambodia was crowned as WORLD BEST TOURIST DESTINATION FOR 2016 and singled out as FAVORITE CULTURAL DESTINATION, Minister of Tourism of Cambodia, Dr. Thong Khon outlined a new marketing and presentation strategy for the Kingdom. The strategy aims at taking advantage of the tourism as a large global industry that is expanding rapidly in developing countries. The market share of tourism in developing countries is also increasing significantly and developing countries now account for two-thirds of long-haul destinations according to the World Bank. The all encompasing plan was presented to H.E. Academician HUN SEN, Prime Minister of Cambodia in attendance being members of Royal Parliament of Cambodia, Royal Government and with the exceptional presence on the venue of the highes representatives ofWorld Tourism Institutions-European Council on Tourism and Trade President, Professor Dr. Anton Caragea European Tourism Academy Director-Academician Mircea Constantinescu and European Council on Tourism and Trade high ranking delegates: Pavel Avramoiu, Ioan Matei, ECTT Chairman -Mihai Prundianu. This is the full text of the Minister Thong Khon plan to overhaul the tourism industry of Cambodia: Today, on behalf of leaders and officials of the Ministry of Tourism, and all distinguished participants of the ceremony and on my own behalf, we would like to proudly express our great pleasure and honor to Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia for taking his tight schedule with a mission to serve the country and people to highly preside over the auspicious Awarding Ceremony of Cambodia-World Best Tourist Destination for 2016, and Favorite Cultural Destination for 2016 Awards, in conjunction with the Official Launching of the first Best Hospitality Contest Movement. I would like to thanks Samdech, Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, Deputy Prime Ministers, Senior Ministers, Ministers, Distinguished National and International Guests for participating in the meaningful awarding ceremony at this time. Seizing this opportunity, I would like to voice my special thanks to the European Council on Tourism and Trade and Dr. Anton Caragea, as the President for awarding Cambodia the Awards of World Best Tourist Destination for 2016 and Favorite Cultural Destination for 2016 and to the European Tourism Academy for unanimously electing Samdech Techo Prime Minister as an Honorary Member of the European Tourism Academy. Stemming from the Win-Win Policy of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Cambodia has enjoyed full peace, development in all sectors, particularly tourism has grown considerably over the last decade. The tourism sector, which is considered as the green gold is a sector sustaining socio-economic growth, creating jobs, and alleviating poverty of the people, and playing an important role as on-site exports, contributing to supporting the regional integration. Apparently, in 2015, we achieved a growth rate of 6.1% with arrival of international tourists of about 4.8 million and bringing revenue of more than US $ 3,000 million, and increasing employment opportunities for about 620 thousand people into the economy. Following the forecasts for 2020, international tourist arrivals are expected to rise to about 7 million people and bringing the total revenue of approximately US $ 5,000 million, creating job opportunities for nearly 1 million people. The subsequent boom of Cambodian tourism cannot be cut off from the countrys attractiveness as a tourist destination at regional and global levels. Obviously, in 2015, the world-class trip advisor (Tripadvisor Travelers Choice) (Chosen based on voting by travelers on its website) has considered the Kingdom of Cambodia as the worlds most attractive tourist destination (World Award Winners 2014- 2015). Particularly, Angkor Wat Temple was ranked first in both Asia and the world as the most attractive one amongst the other 25 national identification marking tourist destinations in the world (Landmarks Award), and Siem Reap City was ranked first in Asia and second in the world as the most attractive tourist destination (Destination in the World). In 2016, Tripadvisor has also chosen the Siem Reap Province as the best Tourist Destination in Asia and selected Angkor Wat Temple as the Asias most attractive national identification marking tourist site (The Best Landmark in Asia). Especially, for Cambodian tourism, today it is a great honor for Cambodia being unanimously elected as the World Best Tourist Destination for 2016 by the European Council on Tourism and Trade. I have a great honor to respectfully report to Samdech Techo Prime Minister that the European Council on Tourism and Trade has the mission to promote tourism, investment and exchange of experiences and knowledge relevant to the tourism sector, particularly cultural tourism of Europe and the rest of the world. To support its activities, the Council created the award of World Best Tourist Destination yearly to promote the tourism sector in the countries who are qualified enough (with evaluations based on key indicators of potential natural and cultural tourism and direction as the policy of the candidate country). Since 2007, there were countries awarded the awards in the Africa and Asia (including the Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirate, the Peoples Republic of Laos in 2013 and the Republic of Zimbabwe in 2014). In general, after receiving the awards, the destination countries usually received significant tourism growth of European tourists. For 2016, the Board of the European Council on Tourism and Trade reviewed and discussed the 29 candidates countries for the award-winning candidate of World Best Tourist Destination for 2016 and decided unanimously to elect: 1. Cambodia-World Best Tourist Destination for 2016 2. Cambodia-Favorite Cultural Destination for 2016 Cambodia has been chosen as a winner for 2016, which is based on the wonders of Cambodia (Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder), where is filled with the World Heritage of both tangible heritage (including Angkor Wat Temple and Preah Vihear Temple as the World Heritage) and intangible assets as the abundant natural potential (including mangrove forest preserved and conserved areas, and Ramsar areas) and natural smile and greeting of Cambodian people, along with the development of all sectors in Cambodia, under the brilliant and sound leadership of Samdech Techo Prime Minister, and especially the development of Cambodian tourism based on the proper policy and strategy, namely the commitments to sustainable and inclusive tourism development (Sustainability and Inclusiveness). The election of Samdech Techo Prime Minister as an Honorary Member of the European Tourism Academy is the most recognition of leadership perspective value of Samdech Techo in preserving and conserving the Cambodian cultural heritage and in encouraging Cambodian tourism development through ensuring the peace, political stability, Cambodian socio-economic development with significant progress for the nation of Cambodia. I would like to kindly inform the whole participants that in order to achieve the longterm vision and perspective for the development of Cambodian tourism, in particular as the tourist destination with sustainability, responsibility, and world-class attractiveness, the Royal Government set out the Law on Tourism. National Policy on Tourism, Tourism Development Strategic Plan 2012-2020. Under the spirit of the Law on Tourism and Tourism Development Strategic Plan 2012-2020, the Ministry of Tourism as the Cambodian Royal Governments wing has launched the Tourism Reform Plan 2015-2018 by focusing on the priority angles: (1). Strengthening the tourism industry, One Service, One Standard (2). Improving tourism promotion and attractive and creative tourism product development (By setting out Cambodian Tourism Marketing Strategy 2016-2020) (3). Improving human resource development in tourism sector One Staff, One Skill (4). Encouraging the use of information technology in tourism sector (E-tourism). In addition, we have the contest movement of Clean City, Clean Resort, Good Service, Best Hospitality as the core to encourage and increase the effective implementation of the tourism development strategic plan, as well as tourism reform plan through launching the Clean City Contest Movement in 2011, and Eco-business Contest Movement in tourism sector in 2015. Particularly, today, with the high approval of the Royal Government, through the letter No.516 SCHN.PK dated May 30, 2016, for allowing for the preparation of the Best Hospitality Contest Movement and transforming the contest to the National Agenda by inspiring the citizens, officials, private sector, youth and development partners to join together in order to improve the service and hospitality better for contributing to the promotion of all tourist destinations in the Kingdom of Cambodia as the tourist destination with attractiveness, warmth, and providing memorable experiences for tourists with natural smile and greetings of Cambodian people. - Highly Respectful Samdech Techo Prime Minister! - Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, Ladies and Gentlemen! In order to make the Best Hospitality Contest Movement sustainable and widespread throughout the country and becoming the national agenda, all stakeholders (Public private youth citizens) must join together to further promote the attractiveness of Cambodian tourism, as well as enhance the prestige of Cambodia Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder, namely the Ministry of Tourism and the National Committee for Clean City Assessment have prepared 4 documents for supporting the contest movement and developed an online voting assessment system (www.cambodiabesthospitality.org). which allows the citizens and tourists to provide online comments (through linking to QR-Code): Service and Hospitality Provided by Tour Operators and Officials at International Checkpoints for Tourists, etc. In celebration of the award of Cambodia-World Best Tourist Destination and the launching of the Best Hospitality Contest Movement, the Ministry of Tourism and the National Committee for Clean City Assessment plan to launch various important tourism programs (in addition to programs and campaigns at present) as follow: Continuing the promotional campaign Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder and the contest movement of Clean City, Clean Resort, Good Service, Bes Hospitality. In collaboration with the relevant ministerial-institutions, the Ministry of Tourism will create a permanent tourism program under the name of Cambodia-My Second Home for welcoming the long-stay tourists and senior tourists and plans to cooperate with the Union of Youth Federation of Cambodia and relevant institutions to develop a program of Cambodia: My Homeland under the slogan of Everyone can go, which is the national program and contributes to pushing for a permanent program and encouraging the staffs, employees, employers, students, and youth to possibly arranging their trips at least 1 time per year, and a program of Cambodian Students-Tourism Ambassadors to be aimed at increasing more voluntary tourism activities in Cambodia. 3. In order to increase the benefits of this award, the Ministry of Tourism plans to set up an Annual Photo Contest Program for tourist visiting Cambodia under the Secret Trail of Cambodia Program, which can be the tourists selfie photo or tourist destination photo contest in order to attract and promote the online promotion on Facebook, which is a digital marketing and promotion and to encourage to further love and conserve our natural and cultural heritage. Moreover, the Ministry of Tourism will launch the Tourism Mobile App soon. 4. To support the Best Hospitality Contest Movement, while this movement is dependent on the involvement of people People-Based Approach, the Ministry of Tourism will create a training and best hospitality supporting program, named as My Service, Your Smile by encouraging all relevant stakeholders, including public institutions and private sector to make cooperation and develop the Best Hospitality training programs for officials, youth, and their staffs, who interact directly with customers and tourists (including beers and wedding ceremony supporting staffs.. etc.). Meanwhile, to make this program successful, it requires the support and sponsors from the relevant stakeholders, private vocational training schools for the preparation of this training course. 5. In order to ensure the principle of transparency, the provision of services with honesty, not fraudulent to clients and visitors, the Ministry of Tourism encourages local tourism businesses, relevant institutions, and private sector to set up a Code of Ethics for managing its employees to ensure the provision of professional and honest services. So far, the Ministry of Tourism has set up the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for tour guides and already established a system of monitoring the implementation of this professional, and will continue to inspire and help other areas to set up this Code of Ethics. - Highly Respectful Samdech Techo Prime Minister! - Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, Ladies and Gentlemen! I have a great honor to respectfully inform that this celebration was attended by the relevant competent authorities, ministries and institutions, tour operators, youth, national and international organizations, and embassies with a total of 1,000 people. I would like to seize this opportunity, on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, to express my profound gratitude to Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia for usually paying high attention to leading and encouraging Cambodian tourism development with sustainability and responsibility, especially supporting the contest movement of Clean City, Clean Resort, Good Service, Best Hospitality. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, I would like to deeply thank H.E. Dr. Prof. Anton Caragea, President of the European Council on Tourism and Trade, and his colleagues for awarding the awards of Cambodia-World Best Tourist Destination for 2016, and Cambodia-Favorite Cultural Destination for 2016, and the European Tourism Academy through Dr. MIRCEA CONSIANTINEESCO, President of the European Tourism Academy for unanimously electing Samdech Techo Prime Minister as an Honorary Member of the European Tourism Academy. We strongly believe that in the name of an honorary member of the European Tourism Academy, Cambodian tourism will be well-developed and more European tourists will make their visits to Cambodia, benefiting the socio-economic development in a sustainable manner. Last but not least, on behalf of the entire ceremony, and myself, I would like to respectfully wish Samdech Techo Prime Minister and Lok Chumteavs Kittipritbandit and their families healthy, wisdom, and strength in order to lead and develop Cambodia towards prosperity and happiness for the people. Finally, May I wish Samdech, Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, Ladies and Gentlemen the four gems of Buddhist Blessings: Longevity, Nobility, Health, and Strength. Thank You! ### An innovative fund has been created by Travellanda to help young companies succeed in the online travel industry by providing essential finance and expert business support. (TRAVPR.COM) LONDON - July 29th, 2016 - The Travellanda Business Support Fund was initiated to assist new and existing business, within the travel sector that would like help with the transition from a traditional offline business to a modern online business. There is a huge demand for businesses to offer services through digital channels. However, many young companies without the skills and experience, can find it to be a daunting process. It is becoming increasingly more challenging for younger travel companies to succeed. Technology is moving at tremendous speeds, so startups and new businesses often find it difficult to know where to start. It can also become very costly to develop new systems. Travellanda, at its heart is a travel technology company. It has been developing its own systems since its inception in 2011. It therefore, decided to create this new fund to help non-technical businesses get online. The support fund is designed to help startups and new businesses by providing financial support of up to US$100,000 to help their company grow. In addition, Travellanda will provide expert business support and advice on how they can achieve their goals. Travellanda say that they will help provide full training on how to run an online travel business, it will also provide the technology and consultation on whatever the company needs. Travellanda Head of Online, Arzu Sutcu, said: Our tagline is Believing in Partnerships and thats exactly why we decided to start this programme. We have the expertise and means to help others, so we thought it would be great to give something back. In this economic climate, it is increasingly more important for businesses to collaborate with each other. We just want to keep the travel industry pumping for the smaller players and as a result, provide a lot more choices to the end customer. And that, should be the focus. You can find out more information and how to apply for the Travellanda Business Fund on their website. ---ends--- About Travellanda Ltd.: As a leading B2B Accommodation Wholesaler, Travellanda is the travel industrys fastest growing company. Through cutting edge technology, it provides highly competitive wholesale rates on an inventory of over 200,000 hotels worldwide, plus extensive accommodation and services for groups visiting UK, Ireland, Turkey and Thailand. Using the Travellanda Online Reservation system, XML Connectivity or White label, travel agencies, tour operators, B2B online systems and OTAs have access to a wide range of hotels. Travellandas head office is in London and has local offices in Bangkok, Istanbul, plus representatives in over 10 countries Contact: marketing@travellanda.com +44 (0) 203 384 5410 ### A pioneer in the travel club industry, Global Connections Inc., celebrates its twentieth anniversary. (TRAVPR.COM) USA - July 28th, 2016 - Global Connections Inc. (GCI), a pioneer in the travel club industry is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. In addition to its core business as the travel club fulfillment and service provider of Global Discovery Vacations, GCI develops and manages resorts and vacation condominium properties. Based in Overland Park, KS, GCI offers its members robust leisure benefits to satisfy varying vacation experiences and recreational activities. Tom Lyons, President and CEO, officially opened the privately held company on July 19, 1996 with a singular mission: to give families the opportunity to take affordable vacations. GCI is particularly well positioned in that its umbrella includes its own portfolio of five resorts further ensuring vacation options for its 75,000+ active members. Over the years, GCI has fine-tuned its travel club services. As the number of travelers grew so did demand for resort locations and vacationing options. In 2004, GCI purchased its first resort, Sea Shells Beach Club, and turned a failing hotel into a thriving condominium resort location. Since that time, Global Connections has developed or rejuvenated five resort properties as well as owning numerous individual condominiums located in resort areas throughout the U.S. for use within the travel club. Additionally, GCI has expanded its cruise program offering its members the opportunity to vacation on the cruise line of their choice as well as themed cruises specific to the Global Discovery Vacation members. Global Connections owns properties in some of the most desirable resort destinations in the country. Today Global Connections owns and operates Beso Del Sol (Huntington Beach, CA), Beso Del Sol Resort (Dunedin, FL), Sea Shells Beach Club (Daytona Beach, FL), White Oak Lodge and Resort (Gatlinburg, TN) and Lodge by The Blue (Breckenridge, CO). Its property management division works with resorts all over the continental United States and Hawaii as well as leasing vacation condominiums in Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. With each resort development and management contract, the GCI travel club product has been masterfully designed to provide affordable vacation options and leisure benefits for its members. This natural progression resulted in the creation of one of the leading travel clubs in the industryGlobal Discovery Vacations. Today the company employs over 150 professionals at its corporate office in Overland Park, KS and three member fulfillment and property management offices in Clearwater, FL, Orlando, FL and Myrtle Beach, SC. Global Connections' travel club Global Discovery Vacations is marketed and sold through independent sales distributorships located in cities across the United States. About Global Connections, Inc. Global Connections, Inc. is based in Overland Park, KS, opening in 1996 as a travel club fulfillment and service provider. Considered a leader in the travel club industry, GCI offers the members of its Global Discovery Vacations club program a wide variety of leisure benefits and vacation options at more than 700 North American resorts. GCI is the developer and owner of resorts in California, Florida, Tennessee and Colorado as well as owning and leasing numerous resort condominium units throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. For more information about GCI visit exploregci.com About Global Discovery Vacations Global Discovery Vacations is a respected membership based travel club offering its members access to condominium accommodations, cruise and tour vacations, a full service travel agency, a concierge program, and other leisure benefits. For more information about Global Discovery Vacations visit globaldiscoveryvacations.com Contact: Melanie Gring at 561-417-7559 Media: Georgi Bohrod 619-255-1661 ### Whoever said, lightning never strikes twice, never visited Lake Maracaibo, located on the eastern side of Venezuela. First mentioned in La Dragontea by the Spanish poet Lope de Vega, the meteorological phenomenon known as Catatumbo lightning has captivated sailors for centuries, garnering its title as the Lighthouse of Catatumbo. The powerful bolts of thunder strike at a rate of 28 times a minute for up to 10 hours at a time. There were a few months in 2010 when the lightning disappeared, but since then it has continued to appear at least 300 days a year. Lake Maracaibo is surrounded by the Andes, the Perija Mountains and Meridas Cordillera, which spill cold air down into the valley to meet with warm trade winds coming in from the Caribbean. The mixture condenses into powerful thunderclouds, which release lightning strikes from five kilometers in the sky. Two Spanish attacks have been thwarted by the storm, one by Sir Francis Drake in 1595 (described in La Dragontea) and another in 1823 during the Venezuelan War of Independence. Both times the storm revealed ships before they could launch a surprise attack on the mainland, though today Lake Maracaibo welcomes thousands of visitors who are entranced by the lightnings beauty. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. After writing From the straw bale wrap to the lime plaster finishes, this cottage is as green as it gets there was a huge pushback from commenters who complained about the use of wood for heating. "...as green as it gets"? I would like to respectfully disagree. It's unfortunate that "renewable" is now equated with "clean", "green", "healthy", and "good-for-the-planet".Yes, wood is renewable, but burning it as fuel has none of these positive attributes. And that was the one respectfully disagreeing. TreeHugger has never been in the renewable is green camp, complaining forever about biofuels and yes, biomass heating. But this is different. It is an issue we have looked at in TreeHugger before, asking Is burning wood for heat really green?, where I concluded that it really isnt. Yet lots of very green people do, including Alex Wilson, founder of BuildingGreen, who knows more about the subject than anyone I know. So lets look at the issue in terms of this particular house. Stone's Throw Design Leading online marketplace, Snapdeal has increased its assortment from 12 million products to over 35 million in the past one year to provide more choice to consumers. Vishal Chadha, senior vice-president, Market Development at Snapdeal, says customer choice and experience coupled with enthusiasm among SMEs towards growing their businesses by tapping new markets, is contributing to the current boom in e-commerce. Q: How is Snapdeal making online commerce an attractive shopping option? A: Consumer expectations are evolving at a fast pace and today the consumers perception of value has evolved beyond discounts. To provide more choice to our customers, we have increased our assortment from 12 million to more than 35 million products in the past one year. Realising that customers would prefer to go only to one app for all their consumption needs, we have partnered with Zomato, UrbanClap, Cleartrip, RedBus and BookMyShow to offer a single-point access to the widest range of services, for its users. These initiatives are coupled with our focused efforts to strengthen our delivery model, making it more efficient. Q: What is Snapdeals customer base and which categories are witnessing the maximum traffic? A: Fashion drives the most traffic on Snapdeal followed by electronics and general merchandise. Being the first adopters of marketplace model in India, we pioneered many new categories on e-commerce such as automobiles, homes, etc. online. These categories have also seen phenomenal growth, as Indians become more and more comfortable with online shopping. Another new category that is witnessing very high demand is daily needs (FMCG). Q: What are the challenges faced by SMBs to get online and how Snapdeal is addressing the same to help sellers grow their business online? A: Snapdeal is an e-commerce marketplace, with over 3 lakh sellers transacting and connecting with millions of customers on a daily basis. Traditionally in India, SMBs relied on intuition-based business decisions when it came to inventory management and pricing. However, we built a team of dedicated SD Advisers last year, who enable our sellers to make data-driven decisions on assortment and inventory management. Many SMBs found it burdensome to manage shipping of orders, packaging etc., which led us to introduce the SD+ service. SD+ allows sellers to stock their inventory at our fulfilment centres and relieves them of operational hassles. Q: What are the initiatives that Snapdeal is taking to result in better rating of the sellers? A: Snapdeal recently unveiled a simpler framework of dos and donts for them. The self-serve platform helps sellers resolve their queries easily and together with the simplified policies, this is expected to enable the sellers to avoid the imposition of penalties due to ignorance or complexity. Q: How does the advent of online marketplaces benefit the SME sector? A: Snapdeal released a study in October 2015 in partnership with KPMG titled Impact of e-commerce on SMEs in India which found that with a mere investment of Rs 3,000 on an average, SMEs can successfully enter into the e-commerce space. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 1 Even after repeated orders and advisories against serving junk food, private and government schools in the city continue to sell the same to students. Hotdogs, patties, burgers, samosas, noodles, pizzas, pastas, chips, brownies and aerated drinks you name it and the school canteens have it. I love the burger that we get in my school canteen. I eat it twice a week, says Simranjot, a student of Class IX, adding that if the school canteens stop selling junk food, the canteen will have to be shut down. Our mothers anyway feed us healthy food such as fruits, juices and salads; so there would be no point in buying these from the canteen, says his friend Aryan, also a student of Class IX. Sharda Sharma, mother of two school-going children, says, The Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) must follow up on its order on junk food ban. If proper checks are conducted and penalty imposed, Im sure the unhealthy practice by schools will end. But it is not easy, many may argue. We had once asked the canteen contractor to stop selling colas, chips, patties and samosas. This was followed by a backlash from students who insisted that the canteen should serve these. Parents complained, too. We had to tell the canteen staff to start selling the food items again in view of the demand, said a government schoolteacher, requesting anonymity. Dharam Pal, a school canteen contractor, told Chandigarh Tribune that on an average, 100 samosas and patties each, 30-40 brownies and 70-80 soft drinks were sold by him every day. Ram Kumar, another canteen contractor, said in the lunch hour itself, all his food was sold off the shelves. If the ban is imposed, I will lose all business and will have to look for other means to survive. Parentspeak "Banning junk food in schools is a welcome step, but ironically by opening franchisees of fast food chains on the school campus, many private schools in the city are promoting junk food. This is a serious matter where the Education Department and the Estate Office must intervene and enforce the ban in letter and spirit." - Nitin Goyal, parent and president of the chandigarh parents association "It is a very good initiative taken by the CBSE, the NCPCR and now by the CCPCR. Children are quickly attracted to junk food although it affects their health. A large number of children are used to buying unhealthy eatables from the school canteen. If the schools stop offering junk food, the children will have to eat healthy food." - Kavita, parent Schools view "As it is an advisory, it must be discussed with the school council and their views along with those of the parents must be taken. The matter is fluid. Most parents send similar meals from home, so what is the answer?" - HS Mamik, president, independent schools association "The advisory is a welcome move as directives like this monitor the activities of schools to ensure that the students get nothing but the best." - Dr Niyati Chitkara, chitkara International School Officialspeak "The CBSE had issued a circular in January this year to all its affiliated schools with detailed measures to curb the availability of junk food in school canteens and replace it with healthy alternatives. But that was an advisory just like the one issued by the CCPCR. What action can be taken against the schools that are selling junk food in their canteens?" - RJ Khanderao, regional officer, CBSE "Schools and parents need to understand that growing children need proper nutrition for their holistic development. Schools can play an important role in creating awareness among parents about the need for giving healthy food to children. We intend to conduct inspections in schools and if the practice of selling junk food is found to be rampant, we will recommend to the CBSE to take steps to ensure it does not continue." - Devi Sirohi, chairperson, CCPCR "We will ensure proper compliance with the advisory in the city schools." Rubinderjit Singh Brar, director, school education Jayshree Sengupta TALKING of economic reforms, agricultural marketing is an area that needs rapid reforms because it remains highly inefficient. India is a country of small producers with an average landholding of 1.6 hectares. Most small and marginal farmers are not in a position to hold on to their produce for better price realisation or deal with big buyers on an equal footing. It is therefore important to empower small farmers by aggregation. Different organisations have been formed to achieve such aggregation of small producers. There are many self-help groups, farmers associations and markets, as well as cooperative marketing societies. All these have not had equal success because of lack of support which should have come from the state governments and financial institutions. Farmers organisations to be successful should be supported through technical, managerial and financial help, at least in the initial stages. Instead, small traders have taken over the place of farmers in many farmers markets. The small farmer is unable to realise fair prices because of the number of costs which he/she encounters while trying to sell the produce. The government has been concerned about the vulnerability of farmers and hence enacted various regulations to make marketing more transparent. Unfortunately, some of these restrictive Acts are now posing as big stumbling blocks to the smooth functioning of agricultural marketing. The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act applies to all states and it is illegal to sell or buy produce outside the market place (market yard) notified by the market committee. Today, the APMC is not able to protect the interests of farmers. These have emerged as some sort of government- sponsored monopolies in the supply of marketing services. The APMC system makes farmers vulnerable to traders and marketing agents price manipulations. Traders also delay payment to farmers for weeks/months and it makes it difficult for farmers to prove their income to get loans from banks. The price setting mechanism is not transparent and market information is not easily available to farmers. They often have to travel long distances to the market. In addition, the mandi staff is usually ill-equipped and untrained to help in the smooth functioning of the markets. Often, traders and commission agents and labourers organise themselves in strong associations and create barriers to entry for new functionaries. The licensing system under the APMC has also created an entry barrier to new traders/buyers. Also, there are multi-point levy of market fees. Market fee, which by definition is the charge for the services provided by the market committee, is not ploughed back. It varies from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent. All this has created a chain of intermediaries and the produce has to pass through a long channel involving several intermediaries and transactions. The farmer, however, is paid after deducting labour charges for unloading and cleaning, mandi tax and brokerage commissions. Commission agents in the market provide an essential service to both buyers and sellers. The charges vary from 1 to 2.5 per cent for foodgrains and 4 to 8 per cent in the case of fruits and vegetables. Since a number of sellers are unorganised and competing with each other, the produce is often sold below the MSP. There are three-four stages before the produce reaches the retail stage. There is a lot of inefficiency at the retail level and prices are hiked as a result. A study by the Global Agricultural System of Fruit and Vegetable supply in four Metro cities found the supply chain of agri-products to have a large number of intermediaries. In the fruits and vegetables supply chain, there were five-six intermediaries between primary producers and consumers. The total mark up in the chain was found to be up to 60 to 75 per cent. As a result, the primary producers received only 20 to 25 per cent of the consumer price. Also, multiple handling by different intermediaries resulted in huge wastage of 15 to 25 per cent of the value. It is important to reduce the risks faced by small farmers and include them in the value chain and facilitate their integration in the wider economy. It is also important to encourage private and public investment in storage and cold chains specifically aimed at the preservation of horticultural products. The APMCs have been reformed, albeit slowly. A model APMC has been laid out that has scope for alternative marketing channels, better price discovery and transparency and newer institutional arrangements. There is provision for contract farming also. The idea of a new single market National Agricultural Market (NAM) was mooted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Union Budget 2016-17. In the NAM, the farmer can sell his/ her produce to any part of India through spot commodity exchanges. The NAM could promote a single licensing system across the implementing states and also have a single-point levy or market fee. The online portal will enable buyers to transfer funds to the farmers account and the APMC concerned accounts after the delivery of the produce by the buyer has been ensured. The model for the NAM has been the Rashtriya-e-market service initiative by the Karnataka Government Agricultural Marketing Board, in a joint venture with the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, in 2014. This joint venture has integrated 55 out of the 155 principal APMCs into a single licensing system and accommodated many farmers and traders in the electronic auctioning of pulses. But for the NAM to succeed at the national level, infrastructure development in rural areas is required. There has to be greater harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce and there has to be quality testing facilities in every market to enable informed bidding by buyers. Currently, only 7 per cent of the total quantity sold by farmers is graded before sale. The electronic trading portal of the NAM has already been initiated with the intention of connecting more than 500 AMPCs across the country. Till now, only 20 commodities have been identified for common tradable parameters. This magic transformation from primitive mandis to electronic trading will take time. First the infrastructure for electronic trading in rural India has to be laid out. The Essential Commodities Act, which restricts the movement of produce from one state to another, will also have to be amended if the NAM is to function in future. Two Canadian companies have reached a $2.5 million settlement with a Manitoba teen who is disabled for life because he consumed ground beef tainted with E. coli in July 2004.Court documents say the boy was two-and-a-half years old when his mother fed him the meat, which she bought at Superstore on McPhillips Street in Winnipeg.The boy was admitted to Children's Hospital, where his kidneys failed before he received a transplant. A stroke caused him to develop severe cognitive impairment, a seizure disorder and cerebral palsy in his arms and legs, leaving him in a wheelchair.Court documents indicate the boy's lawyers investigated the source of the E. coli and confirmed it was present in the meat the boy ate by identifying a Health Canada Hazard Alert for ground beef at Superstore. The alert was issued on Aug. 6, 2004.The boy, who is 14 now, is expected to live until age 27, according to medical experts the lawyers consulted with leading up to the settlement.When the child was released from hospital, his mother struggled to care for him. She voluntarily placed him in the care of Child and Family Services before his guardianship was transferred to Metis Child and Family Services in 2011, court documents say.In 2009, the boy's paternal grandmother and her husband took him in. Since then, they've physically struggled to meet his demands: He needs to be fed through a tube, cleaned, diapered and lifted multiple times a day.In June 2014, Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Lori Spivak approved the multimillion-dollar settlement.It is between Westfair Foods Ltd. (The Real Canadian Superstore), XL Foods Inc., which processed the ground beef, the boy and Metis Child and Family Services.Almost half of the money $1.3 million is expected to be put into a trust fund for the teen. The rest will go toward costs associated with caring for him, including the purchase of a house with adequate accommodations. The rape of a minor and her mother in front of their family in Bulandshahr district of UP immediately brings to mind similar horrors that we as a society have repeatedly felt helpless in preventing. The horrific violation of the Delhi paramedic in 2012, the alleged assaults on women in Murthal this year, or Bulandshahr now, are ugly milestones of a crumbling social order. Each such incident shames us as a civilised society and mocks at our pretence of lawful governance. These particular incidents are a direct reflection on the law and order situation of an area or state. Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party government in particular has not been known for striking fear in the hearts of criminals. With many known criminals virtually co-opted in the ruling dispensation, it is not surprising that gangs pick their victims with a brazenness that can only come from the confidence that they will not be caught. Even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav seemed to act tough on the Bulandshahr police, the investigators were doing a shoddy job on the spot, failing even to secure the crime scene. The post-crime clamour in public often revolves around the particular case and how it is handled. That, however, provides a cover for the government, which deserves to be hauled over the coals for allowing, if not encouraging, the police to turn a blind eye to gangs and mafias the massive Mathura land grab was nothing but that. Nonetheless, we as a society will be failing in our duty if all blame is heaped on the government of the day alone. It was humans who committed the horribly inhuman act, in absolute cold blood with no personal motivation. This depravity is indicative of a much larger failure. Just as the system education, economy, job opportunities, police failed, the civil society and families too have failed to look inwards and introspect how such monsters got nurtured. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Tribune News Service Karnal, August 1 Two factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today protested against the Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana here. A faction led by Rattan Mann sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar through Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Brar, while the other group led by Sewa Singh Arya chalked out future strategy against the scheme. Members of the BKU (Mann) gathered near the Mini-Secretariat and took out a procession. Rattan Mann said that it was an anti-farmer scheme and should be taken back with immediate effect. He said: Farmers are against the forcible imposition of any scheme. The automatic deduction of premium from their saving or loan accounts after every six months is totally wrong. Moreover, no receipt or policy paper would be given to the farmers. The crop damage should be assessed as per acre and not at the village level, he demanded. He maintained that the government should let the farmers decide whether they wanted the insurance scheme or not. The state government is working as an agent of private insurance companies and we would protest across the state till the decision is revoked, Mann said. Meanwhile, members of the BKU (Sewa Singh Arya) group decided to hold a kisan panchayat here tomorrow. After the panchayat, they would protest to highlight the plight of the farmers and hand over a memorandum to the DC against the scheme, said Sewa Singh Arya. Arya said it was a conspiracy to loot money from the farmers. The loss should be assessed at the acre-level. If the government wants to help the farmers then the single acre should be considered as a unit, he demanded. Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Gurgaon, August 1 After taking an aerial survey of Gurgaon and neighboring areas to understand the reason for flash floods on July 28, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today ordered mass demolition of encroachments drains and stormwater drains. I dont care who has encroached on drains and since when. Go ahead and remove all encroachments. The police will provide full support, he reportedly told HUDA and Deputy Commissioner TL Satyapraksh at a meeting here. He pulled up HUDA officials for the delay in sanctioning de-silting of drains in spite of being intimated by the administration in February, and asked the Forest Department to complete all check dams in two months. Dont just concentrate on long-term planning. Be prepared for such emergencies, he reportedly told officials during the meeting. Khattar, who along with the DC and local leaders, took two rounds of the city in a chopper. He later said he could clearly see what went wrong. He blamed blocked Nazafgarh drain, faulty planning and construction of an expressway, and encroachments on Badshahpur drain for waterlogging. Waterlogging at Hero Honda Chowk is a long-pending problem. The lackadaisical planning at the time of constructing the NH 8 is responsible for the mess. Badshahpur drain is heavily encroached upon there is no way for water to flow. Nevertheless, the Municipal Corporation is finding solution to jams and waterlogging, the Chief Minister said. He considered blocked Nazafgarh drain as a key reason for the mess. Delhi built a dam on the drain. But there is no dam on drain in Haryana, leading to waterlogging in adjacent areas and put pressure on other drains. He informed officials at the meeting that the state would write to Central Minister Venkaiah Naidu, seeking a solution to the blocked Nazafgarh drain. Before going for the meeting, he gave a mix of factors for the July 28 mess. Two heavy vehicles broke down that day, blocking the Gurgaon-Delhi expressway. Rains were more than expected and kanwarias were on road. Airport taxis had ended their strike. I am not making any excuse. Things could have been managed better. But for one bad day, dont call years of administrative and police excellence of Gurgaon a failure. We need to work on short-term planning and will do so, Khattar said. Meanwhile, state Congress president Ashok Tanwar criticised the CM for taking an aerial survey. Is Gurgaon flooded that cars cant move? People faced chaos on roads and he is flying in the air. His visit is a mere eyewash, he said. No traffic snarls Traffic snarls were not witnessed during peak hours in Gurgaon on Monday. At several junctures along the expressway, six cops were deployed. This meant several police stations had thin staff, highlighting staff crunch in police force. Of 4,823 sanctioned posts, 3,833 are filled. More than 300 cops are meant to man lakhs of cars. The police-public ratio is 1:1,200 while it stands at 1:557 in Delhi, 1:984 in Noida and 1:720 in Faridabad. Tribune News Service Yamunanagar, August 1 Heavy rainfall in upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh has led to a sudden rise in the water level of Yamuna river. Over 1.59 lakh cusecs of water flowed through the Hathnikund Barrage, the highest during the rainy season, today. The administration has asked the residents, living in the vicinity of Yamuna, Som, Pathrala and other rivers, to be vigilant. Source said the water level was 45,796 cusecs at 10 am and it was recorded 1.59 lakh at 12 noon, but receded after 1 pm. Besides Yamuna, a rise in the water level of seasonal rivulets Somb Nadi and Pathrala river was also witnessed. However, there was no report of loss of life and property from anywhere. Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia said he had asked the officers and employees on flood risk management duty to keep a watch on flood-prone areas. He said the administration had made the arrangements related to flood protection. Phulia said: We have alerted the Yamunanagar residents and informed the Deputy Commissioners of Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat districts about the rise in water level of Yamuna. After the sudden rise in water level, eight farm labours were stranded in the river near the districts Mandewala village on July, 27 and they were airlifted by the Army. Our Correspondent Nurpur, August 1 The Fisheries Department today lifted the ban on fishing in the Pong Dam reservoir. The restrictions were imposed following the onset of breeding season two months ago. The reservoir fish will now be available in markets. Sprawling 24,000 hectares, the man-made water body is 42 km long and 19 km broad. Last fiscal, it had produced 415 tonnes of fish. As per information, 15 fisheries societies comprising 2,496 fishermen have been issued fish catching licenses. The department had imposed the fishing ban in all rivers and khuds during the breeding season. The reservoir has been producing rahu, mahasheer, mali, singhara, kulbansh and rogal. Singhara fish fetch the maximum price. Gurcharan Singh, director, Fisheries Department, said the department had targeted to put 70 lakh fish seed in the Pong reservoir by October 31 to enhance production. So far, 57 lakh seeds have been put into the water body. For BPL families, the Government of India had enhanced the annual financial relief during the fish breeding season from Rs 1,800 to Rs 3,000 per month. The state government has written to the Union Government to lift the restrictions, he added. Vijay Arora Shimla, August 1 In a major embarrassment to the government, the High Court today restrained the state from taking any action on the notification issued by it for taking over the Raghunath temple in Kullu. The court today stayed the operation and execution of the notice issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, on July 26, requesting Maheshwar Singh to hand over all temple properties to the chairman of the Raghunath Temple Trust, Sultanpur, Kullu. A division bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice CB Barowalia passed the interim order on a petition filed by the Himachal Lokhit Party president and chief kardar (caretaker) of the temple, Maheshwar Singh, challenging the decision of the government. The court issued the matter for further hearing on August 11. Maheshwar contended in his petition that the temple of Lord Raghunath was built and established by Lt Raja Jagat Singh and was a private property. It was contended that the state could not take over the property by issuing a notification and without following the principle of natural justice. 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 Himachal Pradesh Religious and Charitable Endowment Act without proper inquiry and giving an opportunity to the petitioners. He contended that the affairs of the temple were being managed by his family since its establishment. It was alleged that no complaint of mismanagement against the petitioner and his family was ever filed. The Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, had submitted a report to the government on June 15, 2016, regarding the false representation and complaints of mismanagement. It was alleged that the petitioner was never given any notice by the Deputy Commissioner before undertaking the inquiry. Following the issuance of the notification by the government on the temple takeover earlier this week, the Deputy Commissioner, on July 26, had given seven days time to Maheshwar to hand over the records of the temple located in Sultanpur Palace. Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, August 1 At least 35 persons, including 25 police and paramilitary personnel, were injured in the fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in different parts of the Valley today, amid restrictions and shutdown. Curfew was strictly enforced in the downtown areas falling under the five police stations in Srinagar and Anantnag town of south Kashmir while restrictions were in force across the Valley to maintain law and order situation on the 24th day of the unrest. Fresh clashes were reported from different areas in Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian areas of south Kashmir, Ganderbal in central Kashmir and Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of north Kashmir. The police said 25 police and paramilitary personnel, including a Company Commander of the CRPF, were injured in different incidents and clashes that were reported from at least 15 places. The CRPF official received injury on his face. The situation throughout Kashmir remained under control although 15 incidents of stone-throwing were reported across the Valley, a police spokesman said. Adopting a new form of agitation during the past few days in south Kashmir, the protesters have been taking out car and motorbike rallies without any confrontation with the security forces. Such rallies were taken out in different areas of all four districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir today. A youth received burns on his face, arms and legs, after a teargas shell landed in the yard of his house when he was standing in the Harnag locality in Anantnag today. Local residents said there was no stone-throwing going on in the vicinity. There were also unconfirmed reports about a clash in the Qazigund area of Anantnag district in which one civilian and three CRPF men were injured. At least five persons received firearm injuries when security personnel opened fire to quell demonstrators in the Kalaroos area of Kupwara district. Two of the injured were shifted to Handwara Sub-District Hospital, sources said. The major towns of Kupwara district continued under strict restrictions as heavy deployment of security forces was made in the vulnerable areas. Clashes were also reported from the Khanpora locality of Baramulla town and other areas, including Sopore town, Rangi and Haigam villages, in the district. Five persons were injured in these incidents. Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service Jammu, August 1 The decision of the state Cabinet to recommend Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Pahari-speaking people has opened a new Pandoras box in the already political surcharged J&K. The reason being the Gujjars, who have this status since 1991, smell a deep-rooted conspiracy allegedly being hatched by the Kashmiri ruling elite to deprive them of their constitutional rights. Leaders of other weaker sections have also observed that the Cabinets recommendation was nothing but a blatant attempt to dilute the ST status to snatch rights from the deserving tribal communities of the state. It is a sinister design of the Kashmiri-centric Pahari leaders to deprive the genuine tribal communities of their constitutional and legal rights, observed Choudhary Shah Mohammad, an eminent lawyer and prominent Gujjar leader. As Pahari-speaking people have been mounting pressure on the government to grant them the ST status, the Cabinet, in its meeting on July 28, had considered and approved the submission of the report of the Committee of Experts constituted to study the Socio-Economic Status and Common Ethnic Characteristics of Pahari-speaking People in Jammu and Kashmir to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the grant of ST status to the Pahari-speaking people of the state. Dr Javed Rahi, secretary, Tribal Foundation, questioned the credibility and credentials of the Expert Committee. There is not even a single political scientist and economist in the Committee of Experts then how come this panel can study socio-economic conditions of the Pahari people?, questioned Dr Rahi, adding that there was no reason to give a serious thought to its recommendations. Observing that Cabinets recommendation was nothing but a ploy to create a hurdle in the socio-economic growth of Gujjars and Bakerwals of the state, advocate Shah Mohammad argued that it was difficult to identify Paharis. The ST status is being granted to the tribe as a community but there is no such tribe like Paharis. Most of the people, who are projecting themselves as Paharis, are upper caste Muslim Rajputs, who had small kingdoms before 1947, he said. It is ironical that the J&K Backward Classes Commission, headed by Justice IK Kotwal, had turned down the demand of Paharis to get the backward class status. How come a community, whose claims of getting the backward classes status was rejected now is claiming the ST status?, he asked while recalling that the then state Cabinet in its meeting on February 17, 2000, had also turned down the status for Pahari-speaking people. The state unit of All India Confederation of SC/ST/OBC Organisations has also condemned the decision. Manika Ahuja Gory visuals of blackened lungs, a wafer-thin Mukesh battling cancer thanks to the deadly cigarette smoke, with graphic letters shouting out loud Smoking Kills. Rings a bell? Anti-smoking ad campaigns need no prodding, they flash in the beginning of the movie, during the interval, and every time the actor readies for a puff! More than the movie-enthusiasts, however, the forced commercials irked filmmakers, with many complaining that the statutory warnings kill the mood and experience of watching a film. Last year, the Film and Television Producers Guild of India had urged the government to relook into these anti-smoking warnings in the interest of their films smooth flow. Heeding the constant demand, the Shyam Benegal Committee has recently presented a set of recommendations, wherein Benegal has, "Suggested that the 'No Smoking' disclaimer shouldn't come in between the film; it has to be there either before the movie starts or after it ends. We have also recommended keeping it as a runner, without causing much disturbance in the film." Well, seems like soon enough, your movies narrative will run unobstructed from anti-smoking inserts, but come to think of it, when one happily tolerated out- and-out commercial advertisements during the film, whats the harm in amassing some well-meaning disclaimers? For a cause The stubbing out of anti-smoking inserts is uncalled for. As it is, these scrolls make a blink-it-and-you-miss-it sort of appearance on the screen. They do not cause any sort of visual obstruction anyway. Awareness alone can curb bad habits. - Jaspreet Singh Benipal, LL.B student, PU Ban smoking scenes There is no point in beating about the bush. I do not think the passage of these recommendations would solve any purpose. Our attention should be directed at having these smoking scenes banned, instead. - Ridhima Gupta, MBA student, UIAMS No harm Remember that ad where a young girl looks at her father with concern as the duo stumble across an anti-smoking advertisement on their TV set? The father vows to quit his puff, there and then. That is the impact these disclaimers hold. - Pratibha Bhaskar, Department of English pass-out, PU Forced commercials People head to cinema halls with an aim of spending quality time with friends and family. What one gets instead are messages galore. I completely understand that these well-meaning advertisements are governments way of showing concern for the masses, but why disrupt our movie-watching experience? - Harpuneet Kaur, painter New Delhi, August 1 The AAP government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that the Chinese manja would be banned soon as it is conscious of injuries caused by the kite-flying thread made of nylon. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was informed that the Delhi government was in the process of issuing a notification for banning Chinese manja and only allowing kite-flying with a cotton thread or natural fibre free from any metallic or glass components. A draft notification imposing complete ban on sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese manja and any other kite-flying thread that is sharp or made sharp such as by being laced with the glass, metal or other sharp objects in Delhi and allowing kite-flying only with a cotton thread/natural fibre, free from any metallic/glass components was prepared by the Environment Ministry of the Delhi government and vetted by the Delhi governments Law Department. The proposed draft notification is under process from the competent authority, the Delhi government said in their affidavit. The AAP governments response came in the backdrop of the courts notice issued to it on a plea seeking prohibition on the manufacture, sale, use and purchase of Chinese manja, alleging that it is razor sharp and had caused several deaths across the country as it is capable of cutting human flesh. The petitioner, Zulfiqar Hussain, has alleged in his plea that earlier the victims of the synthetic thread were birds, but now humans are also under threat and referred to the recent death of a 28-year-old man in East Delhi whose throat got slit allegedly by such a thread while he was riding a motorbike. PTI Ahmedabad, August 1 Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday offered to quit the position in a resignation letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party citing her advancing age, as Dalit protests in the state threatened to hurt the standing of the ruling party. Patel first announced her intention on Facebook on Monday evening. "There has been a tradition in the party for sometime that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retire from the post. I will turn 75 in November," the state's first woman chief minister, who succeeded Narendra Modi on May 22, 2014, said in her post. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," Patel said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she said. She also said the party would need a new face for the party in the upcoming assembly elections. The practice of leaders retiring from public positions was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was at the helm of the state. BJP national president Amit Shah confirmed he had received Patel's resignation, but said the decision would be taken by the partys Parliamentary Board. Anandiben Patelji has worked efficiently as the first woman chief minister of Gujarat and has carried forward Prime Minister Modi's Vikas Yatra to new heights. She feels that the new chief minister should be given adequate time for Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January, BJP President Amit Shah said. BJPs Parliamentary Board will meet on Tuesday to decide on Patels successor. Patel had been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 until she took over the states helm in 2014, after Modi became Prime Minister. Assembly elections are due in the state in 2017. The post-Modi BJP in Gujarat is likely to face challenges. Patel has had a challenging tenure. First, she faced the violent Patel agitation in August 2015 that killed 10 people. Then, BJP fared poorly in the rural civic body elections in December 2015, allowing rival Congress to make strides at its cost. More recently, ongoing protests by Dalits against an attack on members of the community in the state by some right-wing vigilantes once again sparked debates of growing intolerance under Prime Minister Modi's rule. Dalits in the state are protesting against an incident in which four men of the traditionally underprivileged community were beaten by cow vigilantes in Gujarats Una for having a skinned cow. The men say the animal was dead. Agencies Our Correspondent Jaipur, August 1 The Border Security Force arrested a Pakistani national on Monday while he was illegally trying to cross over into India through the Zero Line along the international border in Bikaner. The 40-year-old intruder was found to be deaf and mute and was found carrying a DVD and 794 Pakistani rupees. . He was then handed over to police in Bikaner. BSF has asked its headquarters to pass on information about the mans arrest to Pakistan embassy. Jaipur/Lucknow August 1 The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday exposed Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with the brutal gang-rape of a woman and her daughter in Bulandshahr district, saying the crucial POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act was missing from the FIR, which was a clear flouting of the law. NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam said the polices attitude towards the incident showed its apathy. The whole case depends on the FIR. When a minor girl has been gang-raped, there should have been POCSO. From NCW, we are clear that this is police apathy and callousness. They are trying to cover up the matter. There is a huge difference between what they are saying in front of the media and what they are actually doing, she said. Read: Bulandshahr rape: NCW summons doctor for ill-treating minor She said the 15 people were neither arrested nor detained, adding that only eight people were detained and the family had identified three. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Kumaramangalam said when the inquiry team of the NCW was going to Noida to the victims place, the police took the family to Bulandshahr and their phones were forcibly switched off. When our team reached Bulandshahr, they were not allowed to meet for an hour. When our team said that you cannot stop us from meeting them, at least not legally, they were allowed to meet. The team got to know that the girl has high fever and she did not eat anything since morning and she was not given any medicine, she added. She said when DGP Javeed Ahmed arrived, instead of meeting the victims, he was given Guard of Honour first. After that, he (DGP) went to see the site and at last he came and met the victims and gave them two cheques for Rs 50,000 each and told them that the Chief Minister is very much worried in this case and assured of justice, she added. Kumaramangalam said investigating officer Bhanwar Pal came and asked whether the victims are sitting in the police station. May be due to elections next year, he (Bhanwar Pal) is trying to cover up the issue. The victims family asked us whether we will do their counsellingwe said yes. We will send our team with a doctor and a trained clinical counsellor, she added. At least three people were arrested earlier on Monday in connection with the case. Rakesh, Savesh and Jawar Singh have been arrested in Bulandshahr gang-rape and loot case, Meerut DIG Lakshmi Singh said. In wake of the incident, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday directed the station heads related to the incident to be suspended. As per sources, Bulandshahrs SSP, CO and inspector have been suspended. Three accused were identified on Sunday by the victims. DGP Javeed Ahmed said there were three women at the spot, adding that one among them was an elderly woman. The incident took place on Friday night when a 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were allegedly gang-raped by a group of robbers in Bulandshahr district. The victims were on their way from Noida to Shahjahanpur with the other family members when their vehicle was stopped near a cycle repairing shop in Dostpur village on NH-9, which connects Noida and Bulandshahr. Meanwhile, opposition parties demanded the resignation of CM Akhilesh Yadav over the incident. Former chief minister and BSP president Mayawati demanded a personal explanation from Yadav on whether he would be able to restore the lost honour of the victims. There is complete lawlessness in the state for the past four years and the Chief Minister has failed not only to spruce up the law-enforcement machinery but also to protect women, she said. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar said the Bulandshahr incident was another blot on UP that showed there was jungle raj in the state. Agencies New Delhi, August 1 Downplaying LeT founder Hafiz Saeeds threat, the government on Monday said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would visit Pakistan this week to attend the SAARC Home Ministers conference as scheduled. The SAARC meeting is a multilateral meeting. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or having a separate meeting with (the) Pakistani Home Minister, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters here. He was responding to questions about threats made by JuD chief Saeed over the Home Ministers visit. Saeed warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if Singh arrived in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. I want to ask the Pakistani government, will it add insult to injury to Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris, Saeed said in a statement. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack said, If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris. PTI Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 1 Downplaying the threat posed by LeT founder leader Hafiz Saeed, the government today said Home Minister Rajnath Singhs scheduled Pakistan visit this week was on and that he would attend the SAARC Home Ministers conference. Talking to reporters Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, The SAARC meeting is a multilateral meeting. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or having a separate meeting with (the) Pakistani Home Minister. Rijiju was responding to queries about reported threats by Lashkar chief Saeed as regards Rajnaths visit to Pakistan this week. Saeed is reported to have warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if Rajnath arrived in Islamabad. I want to ask the Pakistani government will it not add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath, who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris, Saeed said in a statement. Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and also the founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), said, If Rajnath comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD will hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris killers, but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris. Mumbai, August 1 Fire broke out at a building on an industrial premises in suburban Goregaon in the wee hours of Monday, a fire official said. No one was reported hurt so far. The fire brigade control room got a call about the blaze at around 5.54 am. Five fire tenders, four water tankers along with a team of over 15 fire brigade personnel were rushed to the site to control the blaze, the official said. More details are awaited. PTI Panaji: Apart from police deployed for security duties, the Goa exchequer bore expenses of Rs 500 for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's first visit to the state on May 22, the government told the Assembly on Monday. This amount was spent on a bouquet presented to the AAP convener. In a reply to a question by Nuvem MLA Francisco Pacheco, Protocol Minister Dilip Parulekar said 82 police personnel were deputed for Kejriwals security during his May visit. IANS New Delhi, August 1 Opposition voiced concerns over the growing attacks on Dalits and minorities in Lok Sabha on Monday and demanded stern action against cow vigilante groups that have been targeting them. Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay who raised the issue during Zero Hour underlined the need for action against such acts. Communist Party of India (Marxist)s PK Biju asked Parliament to take note of the attacks as Dalit organsations in Gujarat continue to protest. Youngsters join IS Congresss Rajeev Satav said Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad chiefs statement that 100 young men from the Marathwada region were in touch with the Islamic State was alarming. He said this was all the more so as two youths from Parbhani, who had plans to set off explosions at Aurangabad and Nagpur, were arrested recently. PTI Legal Correspondent New Delhi, August 1 The Supreme Court on Monday directed six former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh to vacate their official bungalows in Lucknow in two months and pay rent at market rate for the period falling under unauthorised occupation. The affected ex-CMs are Union Home Minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and Congress leaders ND Tiwari and Ram Naresh Yadav. A three-member Bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave delivered the judgment on a PIL by UP-based NGO Lok Prahari challenging the rules framed by the authorities for allotting bungalows to former CMs for life in violation of the UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981. Under the 1981 Act, CMs were supposed to vacate their official residences in 15 days after demitting office, while the rules framed in 1997 allowed them to retain the bungalows for life. Any rule framed in violation of the Act was bad in law, the apex court held while quashing the 1997 rules. The SC clarified that ex-CMs could not be equated with former Presidents and Vice-Presidents who were allotted government accommodation for their life or with the ex-Prime Ministers who were entitled to official bungalows for 10 years. No other constitutional functionaries such as Governors, chief justices, or union ministers were allowed to enjoy government accommodation post-retirement or two bungalows (one in their home state and another at the place of their present office), the Bench noted. The Bench, which included Justices NV Ramana and R Banumathi, also rejected the states contention that it had to allot the bungalows as most of the ex-CMs were getting Z-plus security. Since the security was being provided by the Centre, giving accommodation was its responsibility, the apex court said. R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, August 1 The Supreme Court today refused to entertain an appeal against the clean chit given to BJP president Amit Shah in the killing of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh in an alleged encounter with the Gujarat Police in 2005. Shah was the states Home Minister then. A Bench of Justices SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea by social activist Harsh Mander, observing that the petitioner had no locus standi as he was not an aggrieved party. A trial court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in the case for lack of evidence to frame charges. While the CBI had chosen not to challenge the ruling, the victims brother, Rubabuddin Sheikh, had withdrawn his appeal from the Bombay High Court. Mander approached the HC challenging the trial court order, but the HC refused to entertain it, questioning his locus standi, prompting him to come to the apex court. Arguing for Mander, senior advocate Kapil Sibal cited several apex court judgments to contend that the HC was supposed to have taken suo motu cognisance of Shahs discharge and initiated proceedings in public interest or it should have at least heard Mander, instead of rejecting his petition at the admission stage. Shahs senior counsel Harish Salve, however, said the prosecution was the master of litigation in criminal cases and allowing third party interventions citing public interest was fraught with the risk of malicious prosecutions against influential people. Accepting this plea, the Bench said the case would have taken an entirely different colour if Rubabuddin had wanted to pursue it. It was not inclined to go into the plea of a person who was not even remotely connected with it, it said. Nevertheless, Sibal persisted with his plea, contending that public must get a feeling that nobody was above law. The Bench accepted this view, but said Manders plea was rejected. R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, August 1 The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain an appeal against the clean chit given to BJP president Amit Shah in the killing of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh in an alleged encounter with Gujarat Police in 2005. Shah was the states Home Minister then. A Bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea by social activist Harsh Mander, observing that the petitioner had no locus standi in the case as he was not an aggrieved party. A trial court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in the case for lack of evidence to frame charges against him. While the CBI had chosen not to challenge this ruling, the victims brother, Rubabuddin Sheikh, had withdrawn his appeal in the Bombay High Court. At this stage, Mander approached the HC challenging the trial court order, but the HC refused to entertain it, questioning his locus standi and thereby prompting him to come to the apex court. Arguing for Mander, senior advocate Kapil Sibal cited several apex court judgments to contend that the HC was supposed to have taken suo motu cognisance of Shahs discharge and initiated proceedings in public interest or it should have at least heard Mander instead of rejecting his petition at the admission stage. Shahs senior counsel Harish Salve, however, said the prosecution was the master of litigation in criminal cases and allowing third-party interventions citing public interest was fraught with the risk of malicious prosecutions against influential people. Accepting this plea, the Bench said the case would have taken an entirely different colour if Rubabuddin had wanted to pursue it. It was not inclined to go into the plea of a person who was not even remotely connected with it, it explained. Nevertheless, Sibal persisted with his plea, contending that public must get a feeling that nobody was above law. The Bench accepted this view, but said Manders plea was rejected. Lucknow, August 1 Three people suspected to have gangraped a woman and her teenage daughter in Uttar Pradeshs Bulandshahr were sent to judicial custody on Monday, as pressure grew on Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to arrest the remaining suspects. "The trio have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a Bulandshahr court," IG (Law and Order) Hare Ram Sharma told reporters on Monday. Police found gold and Rs 5,500 cash that belonged to the victims with the suspected, the officer said. The three Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) were arrested on Sunday and a dozen more detained for crime in a massive hunt the state police undertook to track down a gang of bandits suspected to have been behind the highway crime. Police are on the lookout for eight more suspects. Governor Ram Naik condemned the incident and said the state government needed to act immediately to prevent such cases. "This is not the first incident...Cases like these have been taking place at different places. There is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said. Pressure Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav faced the heat as opposition parties called for his resignation for what they call growing lawlessness in a state that heads for elections next year. In Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Yadavs ruling Samajwadi Party of misrule in the state. BJP leader Bhola Singh a Parliamentarian from Bulandshahr accused the SP of shielding criminals. "The police are not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The chief minister should resign," he said. BSP supremo Mayawati also demanded Yadavs resignation on moral grounds. "The SP government and its head must tell the people if they can return the modesty of women in such a painful and heinous crime," she told reporters in Delhi. Summons The National Commission for Women (NCW) summoned a doctor who examined the minor victim after he was accused of ill-treating her and asking "awkward" questions. The commission also criticised the police for not including sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in its FIR of the crime. "The FIR in the case did not have sections of the POSCO Act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumarmangalam said. Some dacoits gangraped a 35-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter at gunpoint after dragging them out of their car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 on Friday. The incident sparked outrage across the country. Agencies Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 1 Three Punjabis are allegedly stuck in Libya and their families have accused their employers of holding them hostage, torturing them and not providing them food and medication. Sarbjit Singh (25) of Latala village, Titu Bansal (60) of Bowani village and Malkiat Singh (26) of Ghaloti all from Ludhiana district were welders. They had left for Libya on April 28. They were allegedly not paid salary since their joining in an oil services company. Their distraught families have alleged that not only the passports of the three were seized by officials of the company, but they were also being deprived of food and medication. The families and the International Human Rights Organisation have sought the intervention of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for the immediate rescue of the three. The company officials had also seized their mobile phones, alleged Manpreet Kaur and Kuldip Kaur, wives of Malkiat Singh and Sarbjit Singh, respectively. We came to know about their predicament through a friend of one of their colleagues on WhatsApp. They are not being allowed to talk to us. They managed to establish contact with the help of their colleague, who updates about them whenever he finds an opportunity to do so, said Manpreet. Gurdip Singh, son of Bansal, said his father was a diabetes patient, but he was not being given any medication. Bhupinder Kaur, mother of Sarbjit Singh, said, If we would have known that our sons were going to meet such a fate, we would not have allowed them to go. Manpreet and Kuldip said their husbands had gone to Libya with the help of a travel agent. Everything remained fine and as per the plan. There was no problem in reaching there and they were engaged by an oil company. The trouble started when they started demanding their salaries. When they insisted, they were taken hostages. Their mobile phones and passports were snatched and they were beaten repeatedly by company officials, alleged Kuldip. Jaspreet Singh Sidhu, president of the International Human Rights Organisation, said he had taken up the matter with the office of the Union External Affairs Minister. We have sought immediate release of the three as their lives are in danger, said Sidhu. He said he had received videos of the three being treated badly by company officials. Ludhiana, July 31 Former MP Jagmeet Brar fired another salvo at PPCCchief Capt Amarinder Singh. Addressing a meeting here, Brar alleged that the former CM was embroiled in hawala transaction of Rs 861 crore. He alleged that some financial transactions were made via Amarinder Singh and his familys bank accounts to places such as Pakistan, Dubai and Europe. TNS Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 1 Four unidentified miscreants looted Rs 15 lakh at gunpoint from a branch of Punjab National Bank at Kochhar Market today afternoon. The robbers also fired a gunshot into the air to scare the bank staff. There was no security guard outside the bank. Five bank employees and a customer were in the bank at the time of incident. The robbers had their faces covered. According to the police, the accused robbed the bank within three minutes. Employees informed the police after the accused left the bank. Senior police officials, including Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh, reached the spot. It was negligence on part of the bank that it had not hired any security guard. Even the bank staff did not switched on the electronic alarm. One of robbers had .32-bore country-made pistol, while others had sharp-edged weapons. Their movement inside and outside the bank has been captured in CCTV cameras, said Aulakh. According to eyewitnesses, one of the robbers was wearing a turban and others were clean-shaven. They had covered their faces with handkerchiefs. The robbers came on two motorcycles, which they had parked in the street next to the bank building. Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 1 There will be no crop insurance under the Pradhan Manti Fasal Bima Yojana in Punjab this year. The last date for the states to enrol under this yojana is tomorrow. However, the state government is not inclined to adopt it. Reason: it does not suit the farmers of the state. The plan, which has been rejected by the state due to what it describes as non-suitability factor, is a politically significant programme of the Modi government. Taking the plea that the yojana is not acceptable to the state in its existing form, the Centre was approached to make amendments to it. CM Parkash Singh Badal had personally taken up the matter with the PM. Officials of the state also held meetings with their counterparts in the Union Agriculture Ministry. However, the Centre refused to concede to the points raised by the state. Only an assurance was given by the Centre was that it would improve the parameters of the scheme in due course. Financial Commissioner (Dev) NS Kalsi said, We again wrote to the Centre last week to address the issues raised by us. But there is no response so far. He said that the insurance scheme in its existing format was not suitable for farmers of the state. Owing to this reason, we asked for amendments to it, he added. As an alternative to the scheme, the state had proposed the creation of a crop compensation fund of the premium, which was to be about Rs 250 crore per annum supposed to be paid by the Centre for crop insurance in the state. However, the Centre did not yield to this plea of the state. The state government had offered to contribute an equal amount to the compensation fund. The state had urged that farmers should be asked to give Rs 100 per acre only while remaining amount of premium should be paid by the Centre and a part of it by the state government. In the existing format, farmers will have to pay Rs 420 per annum for wheat and paddy crops and much more for cash crops such as cotton, sugarcane and vegetables. Other major issue, on which the Centre did not agree, was that the calculation of the damage to the crops should be made taking into count the production of the crop concerned previous year and not on the basis of the average of past seven years. Another was raising the indemnity cover to 95 per cent also to cover the damage caused to the crops by pest and insect attack under the scheme. In fact, most of the damage to the cotton crop was caused by an insect attack last year. The state had to pay Rs 644 crore as compensation to farmers on this count. Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, August 1 Yoga has been made mandatory for jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) during training as well as service tenure. This was announced by Director General of the BSF KK Sharma here today at Patanjali Yogpeeth. The paramilitary wing has been guarding the countrys western and eastern borders since 1965. The BSF DG was in Patanjali Yogpeeth to attend the conclusion of a 10-day yoga training camp for 2,000 BSF personnel who will now train jawans in their units. Talking to TNS on the sidelines of the yoga camp, Sharma said the 45-minute routine physical training (PT) exercises conducted by the BSF would now be replaced with yoga. Instead of 45 minutes PT capsule, jawans will now undergo yoga asanas. Its a healthy ancient art which has immense mental and physical benefits. Its a scientific method which enhances immunity, brings in flexibility and prepares the practitioner for tougher tasks. Its the best alternative for PT and will make jawans much stronger, said Sharma. The DG further stated that Acharya Balakrishans book on learning yoga would also be introduced in the BSF so that jawans got insight about simple yoga asanas and related information. Yog guru Swami Ramdev lauded the BSF DGs initiative, saying soon yoga would make an entry into other paramilitary wings and Indian Armed Forces daily routine too. The BSF, which is the first wall of defence, is allowing its personnel to get trained in yoga but now it will be on a daily basis at their units for which we have trained 2,000 BSF personnel in yoga. They will further train other personnel and, if need be, our yoga experts will again provide services, stated Swami Ramdev. BSF DG Sharma had offered a cheque for Rs 11 lakh to Patanjali Yogpeeth as part of yoga training expenses of 2,000 jawans, but Swami Ramdev refused to accept it. He further added 10 lakh to it and donated Rs 21 lakh for the BSF Welfare Fund. Ajay Ramola Tribune News Service Mussoorie, August 1 Village women in the hill districts are demanding a ban on the sale of liquor on the pattern of Bihar. The unending anger against the sale of liquor was witnessed as women belonging to various self-help groups accompanied by local public representatives in large numbers gheraoed the police chowki at Nagni and raised slogans in support of their demand to ban liquor. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister demanded to ban the sale of liquor in their area. The women from Jadhdhar Gaon, Sabli, Baagi, Plas, Kataldi, Bhatusain, Kataldi villages took out a procession and reached the Nagni Chowki, raised slogans and sat on a days dharna. Ratna Devi of Sabli village said, If father consumes liquor, it is the family who suffers and sleep without food at night. Rajni Devi, president of the women self-help group, said the business of illegal liquor was flourishing right under the nose of the police at Nagni but the they had turned a blind eye. The women alleged that the liquor was being sold at Nagni and Khadi under the patronage of police officials. Mamata Devi, a social activist of the area, said due to high consumption of liquor by men in the region, the cases of domestic violence, murder, road accident and brawl among villagers had become an order of the day. The protesting women demanded from the Chief Minister to put a ban on the consumption of liquor during marriages. They also demanded a ban on playing of late night music in marriages and other parties. The women opposed the availability of liquor to widows of the servicemen in the area and demanded cash instead in the form of pension for the same amount. They demanded from all political parties to promise a complete ban on the liquor sale in the state in their election manifesto. Vijay Jardhari, Roshni Devi and Vijaypal Rana took part in the protest. Beirut/moscow, August 1 A Russian military helicopter was shot down in Syrias Idlib province on Monday, killing all five people on board, in the biggest officially acknowledged loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria. Images on social media purportedly taken at the scene of the crash showed a dead body stripped of clothing being dragged through the dirt near the wreckage. Russian identity documents purportedly taken from the helicopter could also be seen. Russias defence ministry said the Mi-8 military transport helicopter had been shot down after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo as it made its way back to Russia's main air base in the western province of Latakia. As far as we know from the information that has reached the defence ministry, those on board died, they died heroically, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. The helicopter came down near the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, roughly mid-way between Aleppo and the Russian air force base at Khmeimim, near the Mediterranean coast. No group has claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter. Islamic State fighters are not active in the area, but there are other Islamist rebel groups there, as well as moderates backed by the US and its allies. That raises the prospect which could cause a major diplomatic incident of the helicopter having been brought down by a US-supplied weapon. The US has equipped some rebel groups with TOW anti-tank missiles, which can also be used against helicopters. Russia's military has since September last year been supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war. Moscow said last week it was opening humanitarian corridors for civilans to leave the rebel-held areas. However, aid groups have expressed scepticism, saying Russian aircraft are bombing the city and causing civilian casualties. Russian denies targeting civilians. Reuters Beijing, August 1 China will not tolerate "unwanted accusations" about its investments in Britain, a country that cannot risk driving away other Chinese investors as it looks for post-Brexit trade deals, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Monday. British Prime Minister Theresa May was concerned about the security implications of a planned Chinese investment in the Hinkley Point nuclear plant and intervened 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 concern that Britain's approach to infrastructure deals, energy supply and foreign investment may be changing. China General Nuclear Power Corp, which would hold a stake of about a third in the project, said on Saturday it respected the decision of the new British government to take the time needed to familiarise itself with the programme. Xinhua, in an English-language commentary, said China understood and respected Britain's requirement for more time to think about the deal. "However, what China cannot understand is the 'suspicious approach' that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement," it said. The project will create thousands of jobs and create much needed energy following the closure of coal-fired power plants, Xinhua added, dismissing fears China would put "back-doors" into the project. "For a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out," it said. "If history offers any guide, many China-targeted suspicions have been boiled down to diffidence and distortion. China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation." Such commentaries are not government statements, but offer a reflection of official thinking. Xinhua said people might think Britain was trying to erect a wall of protectionism. This "will surely stain its credibility as an open economy and might deter possible investors from China and other parts of the world in the future", it added. 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. Reuters Beijing, August 1 Chinas leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an international court ruling against Beijings claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the US. China refused to participate in the case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It denounced the emphatic July 12 ruling in favour of the Philippines as a farce that had no legal basis and part of an anti-China plot cooked up in Washington. The ruling has been followed in China by a wave of nationalist sentiment, scattered protests and strongly worded editorials in state media. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) So far, Beijing has not shown any sign of wanting to take stronger action. Instead, it has called for a peaceful resolution through talks at the same time as promising to defend Chinese territory. But some elements within Chinas increasingly confident military are pushing for a stronger potentially armed response aimed at the US and its regional allies, according to interviews with four sources with close military and leadership ties. The Peoples Liberation Army is ready, one source with ties to the military told Reuters. We should go in and give them a bloody nose like Deng Xiaoping did to Vietnam in 1979, the source said, referring to Chinas brief invasion of Vietnam to punish Hanoi for forcing Beijings ally the Khmer Rouge from power in Cambodia. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. President Xi Jinping has assiduously courted and thoroughly cemented his leadership over the PLA and faces no serious challenges to his command. While he is overseeing sweeping military reforms to improve the PLAs ability to win wars, he has said China needs a stable external environment as it deals with its own development issues, including a slowing economy. And few people expect any significant move ahead of Xis hosting of a G20 summit in September. But the hardened response to The Hague ruling from some elements of the military increases the risk that any provocative or inadvertent incidents in the South China Sea could escalate into a more serious clash. Military hardened Another source with ties to the leadership described the mood in the PLA as hawkish. The United States will do what it has to do. We will do what we have to do, the source said. The entire military side has been hardened. It was a huge loss of face, he said, declining further comment. Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, asked whether the PLA was pushing for a stronger response, repeated that the armed forces would resolutely defend Chinas territory and maritime rights, and peace and stability, while dealing with any threats or challenges. Retired military officers and army-linked academics have pushed home a strongly martial message. The Chinese military will step up and fight hard and China will never submit to any country on matters of sovereignty, Liang Fang, a Professor at the military-run National Defence University, wrote on his Weibo microblog about the ruling. It is not clear exactly what steps military hardliners are considering. Much attention has been focused around the potential establishment of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the South China Sea, which would require international aircraft to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. Other options floated by those linked to the PLA include putting missiles on bombers patrolling the South China Sea capable of hitting targets in the Philippines or Vietnam. Yue Gang, a retired colonel, said Chinas announcement promising regular air patrols over the region showed it was seeking to deny the US air superiority afforded by aircraft carriers. China should be confident enough to provoke an incident and drive the US out, he added. China is not intimidated by US carriers and is brave enough to touch off an inadvertent confrontation, Yue wrote on his Weibo account. Chinas military build-up in the region looks set to quicken regardless of any action. We must make preparations for a long-term fight and take this as a turning point in our South China Sea military strategy, Li Jinming of the South China Sea Institute at Chinas Xiamen University wrote in the Chinese academic journal Southeast Asian Studies. Wary of clash Despite the sabre rattling, there have been no firm military moves that could cause an escalation of tensions. Diplomats and sources said the Chinese leadership was well aware of the dangers of a clash. Theyre on the back foot. Theyre very worried by the international reaction, said one senior Beijing-based diplomat, citing conversations with Chinese officials. They are genuine about wanting to get talks back on track. The leadership will have to think long and hard about where to go next. Within Chinas armed forces there is a recognition that China would come off worst in a face-off with the US. Our navy cannot take on the Americans. We do not have that level of technology yet. The only people who would suffer would be ordinary Chinese, said the source with ties to the military. Those voices appeared to have the upper hand for now, the source said, pointing to a realisation that the 1979 border war with Vietnam did not go as well for China as the propaganda machine would like people to believe. Even setting up an ADIZ, like the one Beijing set up over the East China Sea in 2013 to anger from the US, Japan and others, would be difficult to enforce given the distance from the mainland. China has repeatedly said it has the right to set up an ADIZ but that the decision depends on the level of threat it faces. A second source with leadership ties put it bluntly: War is unlikely. But we will continue to conduct military exercises, the source said. (We) expect US naval vessels to continue to come, and miscalculation cannot be ruled out. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has stressed the importance of dialogue, saying it now was the time to return things to the right track and to turn the page on the ruling. The US has responded positively to these overtures, sending US National Security Adviser Susan Rice to China this week with a call for calm. Washington is also using quiet diplomacy to persuade other regional players not to move aggressively to capitalise on the ruling. China has been angered by US freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, but its forces have responded only by shadowing US vessels and warning them, showing Chinas unwillingness to goad the US military unnecessarily, according to Western and Asian diplomats. China is also wary of any incident overshadowing the G20 summit in Hangzhou in September, the highlight of this years diplomatic calendar for Xi when he will be host to the leaders of most of the worlds economically most powerful countries, the sources said. The Beijing-based diplomat said it was more likely China would choose the period between the end of the G20 and the US presidential election in November to make any move. But that is a misjudgement if China thinks the US will just sit back and do nothing, the diplomat said. Reuters Cleveland Heights, Ohio, August 1 US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump on Sunday of scapegoating the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq, after the Republican nominee took issue with remarks the soldiers father made at the Democratic National Convention. Trump, in an ABC interview that aired on Sunday, questioned why Ghazala Khan, mother of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, stood quietly by her husband, Khizr Khan, as he took the stage at last weeks Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Trump suggested the mother might not have been allowed to speak. Speaking at a church service, Clinton said Trump had been insulting to a family who had sacrificed so much. She also used the episode to contrast her own religious faith with that of Trump, who has spoken of religion on the campaign trail infrequently. I dont begrudge anyone of any other faith or of no faith at all, but I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability, Clinton said in remarks at the Imani Temple Ministries, an African-American church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Its just not how I was raised, thats not how I was taught in my church, said Clinton, who grew up as a Methodist. Tim Kaine and I are people of faith, she said, referring to her vice presidential running mate, who is a Catholic. Top Republican lawmakers House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also condemned Trumps remarks in separate statements, although they did not mention their presidential candidate by name. Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example, Ryan said. His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honoured. Period. he said. Earlier on Sunday, Ghazala Khan took up her own defence in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying her husband had asked her in advance whether she would want to speak at the convention but that she had decided she would be unable to do so on stage because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son. Donald Trump said that maybe I wasnt allowed to say anything. That is not true, she wrote. When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. In a statement issued on Sunday evening by the Trump campaign, Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, said that he and the Republican nominee believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero that his family, like other families of fallen soldiers, should be cherished by every American. But Pence added that Captain Khan had died defending the country against terrorism and that Trumps policies would reduce the likelihood that other families would face the kind of heartbreak the Khans had. Khizr Khan, a US citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim, spoke about his war hero son at the Democratic convention and took issue with Trumps call for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States. Khizr Khan invited the Republican nominee to read the US Constitution and visit the graves of American soldiers from many backgrounds at Arlington National Cemetery. In the interview aired on Sunday morning on ABCs This Week, Trump cast doubt on why Khans wife did not speak. She was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably, maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, Trump said. Trump on Sunday tweeted that Khans son had died 12 years ago: Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our leaders to eradicate it! Trump also tweeted that he had been viciously attacked by Khan at the convention. Am I not allowed to respond? he asked. The candidate also tried to change the subject to the war itself: Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! On Twitter, Republican strategist Ana Navarro called Trumps comments about the Khans gross and labeled him a jerk. Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, said he sympathizes with the Khan family but that their loss is not the issue at hand. The issue really is radical Islamic jihad and the risk to the American homeland, he said on CBS, defending Trumps proposal to suspend immigration from some geographic regions. Reuters Seoul, August 1 North Koreas first and only law firm, Hay, Kalb & Associates, will suspend operations, the firms principal said in a statement on Monday, as the country grows increasingly isolated. The firm is a joint venture between the North Korean state and British-French citizen Michael Hay, who has represented foreign clients in the capital, Pyongyang, for 12 years. Hay said he had made the decision based on business and geopolitical principles. This decision has been taken only after lengthy and thorough deliberation and an examination of the continuing deterioration of inter-regional relations pertaining to the Korean peninsula, Hay said in a statement. It is not unreasonable to assume that no meaningful change or indicator of change in relations shall occur, if at all, until well after the United States Presidential Inauguration, on January 20, 2017, the statement said. North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to a new UN Security Council resolution in March that tightened sanctions against Pyongyang. The majority of Hays clients are foreign investors, many of whom have been negatively affected by the sanctions, Hay told Reuters. Sanctions are hurting legitimate foreign investors. There still is no credible, consistent evidence I see of DPRK companies hurting, Hay said. DPRK stands for Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the Norths official title. Very few foreigners live or work in North Korea. Those who do are usually members of the diplomatic or NGO community, although a small group of foreign investors have maintained a quiet and steady presence inside the country. The suspension takes effect from midnight on Monday, Hay said, with an official suspension scheduled for Aug. 14, the firms 12-year anniversary. Hay, who bills his firm as the only one in North Korea, said he will still maintain an office in Pyongyang. North Korea has more than 8,000 law graduates, according to an official 2008 census, half of whom are based in Pyongyang. Most are employed by the state. Reuters Kabul, August 1 A powerful Taliban truck bomb struck a hotel for foreigners in Kabul today, triggering a seven-hour gun-and-bomb assault that highlighted the deteriorating security situation in a capital still reeling from its deadliest attack in 15 years. The guests and staff of Northgate hotel were unharmed but one policeman was killed after the bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility close to Kabul airport. The compound housing foreign contractors was previously attacked in July 2013. Earlier this month, the Islamic State group claimed twin bombings that left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital, the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer wall of the hotel, said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt. Three Taliban fighters, including the truck bomber, were killed, Rahimi said. Afghan commandos set up a tight security cordon around Northgate as erratic grenade explosions and gunfire rocked the area after the attack began around 1.30am local time (0230 IST). A local TV station cited a source inside the facility as saying that all staff and guests, including 11 foreigners, hunkered down in safe rooms all through the night. It added that NATO special forces had overseen the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave that had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the massive truck bombing, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off. AFP Washington, August 1 Donald Trumps comments against father of a slain Pakistani-origin American Muslim soldier appears to have shaken the US presidential race as his own party leaders came out openly against the gaffe-prone Republican presidential nominee. While House Speaker Paul Ryan said a religious test for entering the US is not reflective of the countrys fundamental values, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the reality TV stars remarks were disrespectful in targetting a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for the country. Ryan hailed Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004, and said Americas greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it. As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it, he said in a statement. Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honoured. Period, he said. Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted: Theres only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honour and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family. Kasich was joined by Bush on Twitter in slamming Trump. This is so incredibly disrespectful of a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for our country, said Bush, who badly lost the Republican primary to Trump. In an interview to CNN, Senator Jeff Session who was among the first few top Republican leaders to endorse Trump said that he rejects and is disappointed over the remarks made by the billionaire from New York against Khan. The 70-year-old real estate tycoon sparked controversy last week when he lashed out at Humayuns father Khizr Khan over his speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in which he was highly critical of Trump and said that the billionaire has sacrificed nothing for the country. A day later, Trump hit back, saying he created thousands of jobs and questioned whether his wife was even allowed to speak, triggering a national outrage following which he later called Humayun a hero. He, however, continued to criticise Khizr, drawing a flood of criticism yesterday. Many criticised him both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered the remarks racist and anti- Muslim, especially because they came from someone who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! Trump tweeted, even as his running mate came to his rescue giving another set of clarification. Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American, Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said as the national outrage over Trumps comment refused to die down. PTI CHICAGO: The state of Florida has identified 10 more local cases of Zika virus and has asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to send in experts to help with its investigation of the outbreak. Over 1,600 cases of Zika have been reported in the US, most of them brought by travellers from elsewhere. The CDC is expected to issue a notice to women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to avoid unnecessary travel to the impacted area that is just north of downtown Miami, Florida Governor Rick Scott said. agencies Turkey admits crackdown may be unfair Istanbul: Turkey admitted on Monday there may have been some unfair treatment in its post-coup crackdown as it voiced anger with Germany for barring President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a rally in Cologne. Retaliating after a military attempt to unseat him, Erdogan has launched a purge that has seen tens of thousands people suspended from their jobs and almost 19,000 detained. Apparently responding to widening international alarm about the crackdown, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitted there may have been some unfair treatment in the state sector. AFP GoChinas Didi acquires Uber in $35 bn deal Beijing: Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi will take over Uber's China business, in a deal worth $35 billion as the US car-hailing firm gave in after fierce competition from its rival in the world's second largest economy. Uber will take a 5.89 per cent stake in Didi. Didi did not disclose the stake it will take in Uber. Uber China's on-demand mobility (ODM) service will continue to operate independently. The deal follows China's legalistion of ODM services. Ubers founder Travis Kalanick and Didi founder Cheng Wei will sit on each other's company boards. PTI Downing Street cat fight turns ugly London: A cat fight for control over Britain's corridors of political power turned brutal on Monday with 10 Downing Street's chief mouser coming to blows with its Foreign Office feline neighbour. Larry, the Prime Ministers residence No 10 Downing Street's mouse-catcher, has never really got on with Foreign Office neighbour Palmerston but on Monday morning the two so-called 'chief mousers' had to be physically separated by political photographer Steve Back. PTI 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. The cast of Cold Feet have reunited in the trailer for the UK dramas revival. James Nesbitt, Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris, John Thomson, and Fay Ripley are back, 13 years after their series last appeared. The new eight-part series by creator Mike Bullen rejoins the characters as they continue to find their way in life. This feels like the right time to revisit these characters, as they tip-toe through the minefield of middle age. Theyre 50, but still feel 30, apart from on the morning after the night before, when they really feel their age. Theyve still got lots of life to look forward to, though theyre not necessarily the years one looks forward to! said Bullen. An Australian broadcaster is yet to be confirmed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXfcq1vzpE Fresh from acknowledging that her call to ban Muslim immigration was a complex issue that cannot be fully discussed on a simple TV segment, Sonia Kruger has attracted headlines once again for comments during Todays Mixed Grill segment. Discussing a scholarship program for LGBTI high school students, she said the program should be based on skills not sexuality. The $7000 scholarship from the Australian Business and Community Network Scholarship Foundation is awarded to Year 10 student who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex. The scholarship application form, which must be filled out by the school principal, has questions about gender and sexual orientation including a prefer not to say option. Kruger questioned whether the scholarship was reverse discrimination. I dont think it should have anything to do with the awarding of a scholarship, Kruger said. I think scholarships should be given on merit. Co-host David Campbell said one scholarship was no big deal given other scholarships are awarded to socially-disadvantaged and skilled students. Kids sexuality nowadays is different now to even when we were in high school, he said. There are tonnes of other scholarships that are set aside for kids who are supremely talented. Chris Pycroft from the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby told News Corp, The research shows that the significant majority of these high school students do experience abuse because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The impacts of homophobia, discrimination, harassment is often not considered and the implications are not often realised. SameSame reports the scholarship foundations application guide discloses that a targeted scholarship for a student identifying as LGBTI is being offered in addition to its regular scholarships. Last week Karl Stefanovic apologised for comments offensive to the Transgender community. Lifeline 13 11 14 Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36 Switchboard 1800 184 527 Total Spending: $227,412,247 June Spending: $7,527,042 Total Vote Count: 12,797,701 Sen. Bernie Sanders' "political revolution" made it much further in the race than anyone ever expected. Though the Vermont independent's grassroots campaign spent almost $230 million in the race against Hillary Clinton, it wasn't enough to overcome his deficit in the delegate count. Consular Service Department has written letters to Akkord Tour travel company and Providna insurance company telling the businesses to take all possible measures to protect the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens after a Ukrainian bus crashed in Norway, the Consular Department of the MFA has posted on Facebook. "We address you to urgently help return the victims to Ukraine, assist the relatives of a dead tourist with transportation of the body of the deceased to Ukraine, to fulfill other obligations stipulated by insurance contracts. Consular services are provided with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine and the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine," the letter has said. Earlier, Ukrinform reported that a tourist bus with Ukrainian nationals crashed in Norway on July 30. The bus carried 41 people who are all Ukrainian nationals. One Ukrainian tourist died, and 20 other tourists were hospitalized. tl Russian-backed militants launched 85 attacks on positions of Ukraines Armed Forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, over the past day, of which 37 attacks were recorded in Donetsk area, 35 attacks in Mariupol area, and 13 in Luhansk area, the ATO headquarters press center reports. In particular, in Donetsk area, the enemy attacked Ukrainian troops, using 152mm and 122mm heavy artillery. Also, militants used mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns to shell the Ukrainian positions in Opytne, Avdiivka, Zaitseve and Pisky. The situation remained tense in Mayorsk, Kamianka and Troitske. In Mariupol area, the enemy used mortars of different calibers to shell Shyrokyno and Marinka. Ukrainian servicemen in Krasnohorivka came under 82mm mortar and small arm fire. In addition, militants used armored personnel carriers to shell Vodiane and Starohnativka. Furthermore, enemy snipers were recorded near Marinka, Starohnativka, and Novotroitske. In Luhansk area, the enemy used 82mm mortars and grenade launchers to shell the Ukrainian positions near Novotoshkovska, Novozvanivka, and Krymske. Also, grenade launchers were used near Novoaleksandrivka, Stanitsa Luhanska, and Popasna. iy One Ukrainian soldier was killed and six servicemen were wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours. Presidential Administration spokesman for ATO issues Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. One Ukrainian soldier was killed, six were wounded in the ATO zone in the last day. We express our condolences to the relatives of the fallen serviceman, Lysenko said. In addition, Lysenko informed about losses among Russian-backed militants: three were killed, ten were wounded. iy An accident at a Russian plant producing raw materials for liquefied natural gas has caused 30 percent shortage in the Ukrainian market for liquefied natural gas. This, in turn, led to higher prices, deputy director and expert of a Kyiv consulting company has told Ukrinform. "The factors that caused the price surge are almost over. It was caused by lack of supplies to the market that reached 30 percent of the total demand. The root cause is an accident at a Russian plant that produces large amounts of raw materials for manufacturing liquefied natural gas. It was later delivered to Ukraine and Belarus that is also among our suppliers," said the expert. He noted that Ukraine was the only victim of circumstances since the gas hortage has not spread to Eastern Europe. As a note, todays price of liquefied natural gas at Ukrainian filling stations averages UAH 10.26 per a liter. tl In Nova Odesa town, the Mykolaiv region, 310 pigs have been removed and burned in connection with African swine fever disease, the State Emergencies Service in the Mykolayiv region has told Ukrinform. "A total of 310 pigs were seized and burned due to African swine disease in Nova Odesa. Currently, work is ongoing to liquidate the results of the emergency situation. Local authorities, veterinarians, emergency staff, representatives of law enforcement agency are working at the scene," the report has said. An extensive information campaign was organized among the population about the perils of African swine fever and measures of biological protection for private farms owned by citizens, enterprises that are engaged in raising pigs. Earlier, Ukrinform reported that virus of African swine fever was confirmed in Nova Odesa farms. This incident is classified as an emergency of natural character. tl According to the Republican candidate for US President, Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin has no relation to the events in eastern Ukraine. He said this in an interview on ABC TV Channel. He [President Putin] is not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down," Trump said. He also said that the Republican platform regarding the issue of the Ukrainian-Russian policy should be eased. Trump also said that the conflict in Ukraine took place under Barack Obamas Administration, and noted that America needs stronger ties with Russia. A reminder that earlier Trump stated that he will consider the question of recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, if he is elected president. iy PLATTSMOUTH A Plattsmouth man admitted Monday morning that he had driven near town with drug residue in his car late last year. Joseph M. Hofler, 29, pled guilty to one Class IV felony charge of possession of controlled substance-methamphetamine during an appearance in Cass County District Court. The state agreed to dismiss a similar charge in a separate case in exchange for the guilty plea. There was no agreement regarding sentencing. Deputy County Attorney Steven Sunde told the court a Cass County Sheriffs Office deputy stopped Hofler near the intersection of Highway 75 and Webster Boulevard at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 16. The trooper saw that Hoflers license plate was obstructed and noticed his car was moving in a slightly erratic manner. Sunde said the trooper conducted a background check and learned both Hofler and his female passenger had active arrest warrants. Authorities then searched the vehicle after arresting both people on the warrants. Sunde said they discovered several drug paraphernalia items and items that appeared to have drug residue on them. Authorities sent a spoon found in the car to the Nebraska State Patrols crime lab for analysis. Crime lab workers determined the white substance found on the spoon was methamphetamine. Hofler remains free on bond. Sentencing will take place Oct. 3. Statements by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump that the people of Crimea prefer to be with Russia instead of Ukraine go beyond the scope of a political campaign, according to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The official U.S. presidential candidate [Donald Trump] issues a challenge to values of the free world, civilized order and international law. This can hardly be called ignorance. This is a crime of moral and civilized principles, Yatsenyuk wrote on Facebook. According to the former prime minister, Trump should advice with representatives of the Republican Party who understand the meaning of freedom, international law and free world: "I am sure that many of them [representatives of the Republican Party] dissociate themselves from Trump's words and realize their danger." We cannot allow any verbal, political or practical reckless plans undermine our common values, paving the way to aggressors, dictators and terrorists. What Donald Trump says about Crimea today may concern any other part of the world in Europe, Asia, and America tomorrow, Yatsenyuk said. iy A young family of five killed Sunday in western Nebraska were headed from their home in Minnesota to Colorado, to learn to be missionaries. But Jamison and Kathryne Pals had even bigger travel plans. The 29-year-olds and their three children all under the age of 3 eventually planned to serve in Japan, though they knew the task would not be easy. It is highly unlikely that we will face open persecution or overt rejection; it is, however, very likely that our message will be received with unbelief or apathy, they wrote in their blog earlier this year. The family died after their van was struck by a semi in a construction zone on Interstate 80 just before 11:30 a.m. Sunday near Brule, or about 285 miles west of Lincoln. Six others were injured in the crash, including three who were flown to hospitals in Colorado. The semi driver, 53-year-old Tony Weekly of Baker, Florida, was arrested and jailed on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide. State Patrol troopers investigating the crash say Weeklys westbound semi rear-ended the familys van, pushing it into three other cars. The semi and the van became covered in flames. Jamison and Kathryne Pals and their children, Ezra, 3, Violet, almost 2, and Calvin, 2 months, were pronounced dead at the scene. They had been on their way to WorldVenture in Colorado, to continue their missionary training; they had also spent nearly two weeks there earlier this year, they wrote on their blog. Well be here for another week attending WorldVentures annual conference. During this past week though, we completed our Pre-Departure Training exciting because it means were getting closer to, you know, departing. They used their blog For the Joy of Japan primarily to share their vision for their ministry. But last week, they posted updates on their children. Their littlest one, Calvin, wasnt so little anymore. Hes already well over 14 pounds. He loves to eat, smile and baby talk. Their daughter Violet can normally be found talking on your cell phone with her Grandpa and Grandma or putting your chapstick on her babies. And their oldest, Ezra, wanted to be a worker guy. And we think he will be a good one. Before Sunday, a decade had passed since the last time five people had died in a single crash in Nebraska, according to the state Office of Highway Safety. The state has kept data on multiple fatality crashes since 1972, and since that year, 11 crashes have each claimed five people. (The state didnt record any crashes killing six, seven or eight people.) The deadliest crash in Nebraska since 1972 occurred in 1976, when a bus in Stratton was struck by a train, killing nine most of them children on their way to Sunday school. College brings a lot of novel experiences for students. Before sending them on their new journey, parents need to prepare their teens on what they can expect. Money management is one important lesson that they will need to learn before going away from home. According to U.S. News, parents should make time to start an open discussion with their kids about their personal finance. This is important because students need to be made aware that financial mistakes that they make in college could have dire repercussions that may follow them until adulthood. "There's a sit-down conversation that needs to happen," founder and CEO of College Advising Corps Nicole Hurd said. College Advising Corps is a nonprofit program that guides low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students to and through college. Brad Barnett, senior associate director of the office of financial aid and scholarships at James Madison University, advised that parents should have already worked up to this discussion slowly. It means that parents should be open to their kids about budgeting, saving and spending even while they're young. The publication shared four money management tips for college students that parents can discuss with their kids. These tips should help facilitate a conversation about finance. 1. "You need to track paperwork." College students should already know how to organize their documents, track deadlines and check their mail regularly. This way, they can stay on top of everything that involves their studies. 2. "You don't need to keep up with the campus Joneses." There will be a variety of people from different backgrounds, culturally and economically. Students should be objectively aware of their own status and not fall into the trap of peer pressure by keeping up with big spenders. 3. "Student loan refund checks are not free money." Those who borrow for college and get disbursements for expenses like books, among other things, need to know that it's not free money. They are expected to budget it and spend it on things that matter. Parents also need to explain how credit cards work. 4. "It's OK to make mistakes." No one perfects money management immediately. Allow college students to make mistakes but be there for them to guide and steer them again in the right direction. Check out Forbes' list of the 5 best apps that can help college students save money. A college-going culture is what the nine schools in Pierce County Washington got into as they gather together to collaborate. This is amidst the usual norm of schools in one community competing against one another in order to attain higher public recognition and population of enrollment. The collaboration is composed of five community technical colleges namely two Pierce College campuses, Tacoma Community College, Clover Park Technical College, Bates Technical College, two private colleges such as University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University and two public institutions namely the University of Washington Tacoma and Evergreen State College. John Hickey, Puget Sound associate vice president for business services and Community Engagement Executive Director said that this historical collaboration does not have any other reason behind but to provide the right education match for Pierce County youth. Karl Smith, UW Tacoma associate vice chancellor, and chief admissions officer sees this effort as a form market increase through market share wherein everyone will benefit as more and more students will be interested in attending their institutions. John Welch, Puget Sound Educational Service District superintendent believes that there is underrepresentation of students' populations that is why there is a need for this collaboration to prepare strategies that will be available for those who will need them, The Inside Higher Ed reported. Principals of the mentioned schools admit that this collaboration is not limited to meetings alone but something more outside of them. Through their sharing of thoughts, they begun to materialize even greater things needed to combat concerns in the education domain. Jared Bilkre, Rugby principal sees that the collaboration between people from the same industry has a big advantage. Through one another's' experiences, each of them learned which technique will work for them and which one will not. Collaboration instead of competition benefits not only the students but school officials as well. It is stepping out from their comfort zones and joining together to bring in what they can contribute to accomplishing bigger tasks such as the college-going culture development, The Pierce County Tribune reported. Watch this video of a short preview on Pierce County demographics. A memorial is being dedicated to the victims who died in the August 1, 1966 mass shooting. It will be officially delegated during August 1, 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of of the killing at the University of Texas in Austin Texas. A stone memorial is set for the 17 victims that died. Reuters has it that a sniper was perched on the university tower that left a number of people dead. For the first time, in fifty years, the school holds an official memorial for the tragic event. Currently, Republican law makers are citing new law that will allow more guns in places like public universities. The lawmakers say the "campus carry" law, which goes into effect August 1, could prevent another mass shooting. The safety and security of the people in school had sparked a debate over the use of guns. Many called the law a "wrong-headed approach." The campus carry law allows those over 21 with a concealed handgun permit to take guns into classrooms and several parts of the campus. This includes students and staff. On August 1, the university unveiled a stone monument to remember the event. Gregory Fenves, the university administration president in 2008 says "A lot has changed as a society and for institutions since then. We understand the healing process, and closure. He goes on to explain that the lesson learned is that everyone needs to deal with the trauma and support the survivors. "Recognize those who were killed," he said. Texas is one of the nine states that allow people to carry concealed weapons. Diana Mendoza, a graduate of the same university in 2015 said that she is opposed to the campus carry law. She explained that it will bring more violence than prevent it. Do you agree with the campus carry law? Sound off in the comments section below. Check out the gun laws this 2016. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Cohen versus Trump and Low versus Trump. These are the two class action lawsuits fired at Donald Trump and his real estate school. The two lawsuits center around allegations that Trump University defrauded its students by using misleading marketing practices and engaging in aggressive sales tactics The actions will most likely proceed to trial in San Diego Federal court. According to KPBS, the judge owning the case, Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, said that he will likely deny Trump's motion to dismiss the Cohen versus Trump case. The Cohen suit alleges that Donald Trump knew that the university was a fraudulent medium. It was defrauding its customers or students but chose to go forward with the program anyway. It also indicated that the program used the word "university" and it did not handpick its mentors. In this case, Cohen alleges that Donald Trump has engaged in racketeering which violates the federal RICO act. The fraud brought to light the marketing arm of the school which indicated a misconduct. Furthermore, the defense states that the RICO violation should not be pinned on Trump. Trump University was an American for-profit school that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. However, after several lawsuits within that time, the company became defunct. The business started with Michael Sexton. Sexton created a business plan for a real estate training program and presented it to Trump. Initially, he wanted to use Trump's name as a brand. Instead, Trump decided he wanted to be principal owner. In 2010, Trump University closed its doors. They have stopped producing newspaper advertising, free presentations, and three-day seminars, and more. In total, there are three lawsuits filed against Trump University. All three range from false claims to racketeering. Check out Ellen Degeneres' comercial for Trump U. Formerly Kaplan College, Brightwood College opens its doors to those interested in their education program. The school is described to be a system of for-profit college in the United States. Currently owned and operated by the Education Corporation of America, the brand focuses on a variety of programs. "Choose your path, Change your future" is Brightwood's theme. Brightwood promises students that their programs provide the career training need to raise your standard of living. Employment is not just the main focus after graduation. A career in the specific program is highly encouraged by Brightwood. In addition, professional education and licensure are also being provided. College certification exams prepare students for what lies ahead in their profession. Professional credentials in engineering, architecture, clean energy tech and real estate are already on hand in Brightwood College. Campus locations include Nevada, Indiana, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, Texas and Tennessee. There are also several other programs that can suit your passion aside from engineering and architecture or real estate. There are several courses for Allied Health, Business, Continuing Education, Criminal Justice Studies, Legal Studies, Information Technology, Nursing and Trades are available. Brightwood promises to provide the training you need to become involved and accomplished in your chosen field and profession. The school prides itself with real world training and professional skill building. Armed with Institutional and campus accreditation, Brightwood states "The success of our students is our greatest success. Because when our students succeed, we've completed the job we set out to do: empower the courageous, and enable real and relevant change." One student exclaimed that she "...loves this school because they treat you like family and everyone gets to know each other. There are problems that are found at every school but its worth it in the end." Do you think Brightwood is your choice? Check out the video below and tell us what you think of the college. Published: August 01, 2016 South African Internship is Like Living Shark Week Victoria Piechnik 18 teared up a bit the first time she saw a great white shark on one of the Oceans Research boats, a shark that found its way there after Piechnik chummed the water and wrestled it with a bait rope. She wasnt scared though instead she was living out a childhood dream.Ive wanted to see one ever since I was young, said Piechnik, a marine sciencebiology major. It seriously feels like Im living shark week.Piechnik is an intern with Oceans Research, which pairs students with marine biologists to assist with their research in southern Africa on a wide variety of marine life, including great white sharks. Piechnik performs research in an aquarium as well as at sea, collecting data that is used to advise various industries, including the government, on real-time issues in marine conservation, according to Oceans Research.Piechnik has been assisting several doctoral students in their field research, including tagging and tracking movement of great whites.We go out on the boat, chum the water, bait rope the sharks in to get their dorsal fin out of the water and photo ID them, she said. This research helps us establish the population of the area in Mossel Bay, which sharks are here during which season. With that we can educate the swimmers and surfers when to avoid certain parts of the water with high shark populations to ensure humans and sharks can coexist peacefully.Piechnik performed predator/prey research of great whites near Seal Island by towing a decoy at different times of the day and recording when breaches or prey kills occurred. She also has surveyed seals at the island, has tracked dolphins and whales by land, recording the size and coordinates of the pods, and has examined benthic sharks, such as pajama sharks and smooth hound sharks, at the aquarium by researching their movement in response to prey.Easy to say we were always really busy, said Piechnik, of Greenport, NY.She found out about the internship from previous participant Jenna Burgess 17. In addition, fellow Spartan Anna Ferreira 17 is an intern this summer with Piechnik. On her weekends off, they have traveled around South Africa, including to Schotia, a game reserve where they went on safari and learned about the animals from an up-close perspective.Academically this internship really helped me decide what career path I want to pursue. I've gained so much experience doing field research and data collection that I didn't have previously, she said. Initially before coming here I thought I just wanted to pursue research, but it steered me in the direction of either pursuing a career as a professor to be able to educate others about science or going to vet school and to be able to make a difference helping animals. Personally, this entire experience helped me grow so much as an individual.Have a story idea? Contact Jamie Pilarczyk, Web Writer 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. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Officer accidentally shoots himself near Ventura gun show A state corrections officer accidentally shot himself in the leg in the Ventura County Fairgrounds parking lot on Saturday after attending a gun show. File image SHARE By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star Port Hueneme police were investigating a shooting that happened early Sunday morning. Police said they received several calls of gunshots being heard around the Port Hueneme Pier about 2:39 a.m. One caller reported a man down in the area, police said. Police responded and saw numerous people leaving the area around the pier, they said. However, police said they were unable to find a gunshot victim or a crime scene. Police were contacted again some hours later and were told that a shooting victim had been taken by some friends to the Ventura County Medical Center. Police said that person had been shot in the leg and had non-life-threatening injuries. Police were asking anyone with information on the shooting to call Detective Frank Torpey at 805-986-6615 or email him at ftorpey@cityofporthueneme.org KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Feral cats congregate at the wall bordering the Port of Hueneme on Monday. Some local residents are complaining that the cat population is now exceeding the ideal number to keep down the rat population. Officials are asking residents to stop bringing the animals food and water. SHARE KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR An ear tip is clipped on feral cats that have been captured, spayed or neutered and released back to where they were found in Port Hueneme. Emerging around dusk daily, the cats feed on both rodents and food brought for them by locals. Some residents complain that the feline population is now too high. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Feral cats socialize at the wall bordering the Port of Hueneme on Monday. Some local residents are complaining that the cat population is now exceeding the ideal number to keep down the rat population. Officials are asking residents to stop bringing the animals food and water regularly. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR A spayed or neutered cat enjoys the cover of a utility box at the wall bordering the Port of Hueneme on Monday. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR A young feral cat stays inside the wall of the Port of Hueneme on Monday. By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star Cats have hung around the Port of Hueneme for as long as anyone can remember. And because rats do too a persistent problem at all ports the cats can be helpful. But from time to time the feral feline population gets out of control, and that's when the fur flies. People who live near the port said at a recent Port Hueneme City Council meeting that residents are feeding the expanding population of cats between the port and the city's west side. Jeremiah Blackburn said that during his evening walks at the beach he sees piles of empty cat food cans. He worries the animals can spread diseases and parasites to other pets. When the population spiraled out of control in 2012, animal rescue groups stepped in. But the person who spearheaded the trapping and spaying, neutering and vaccination of the cats has since died, according to Port of Hueneme Chief Operations Officer John Demers. He said he has been unable to find a rescue group to help this time around; he said they cite a lack of resources. Rats are a persistent problem at all ports, but Demers said that while the cats help keep the rodent population under control, "that is a coincidental benefit." "It's not a program at the port," he said. "There's a limit to how many cats can safely live here. We would like to do something to keep (the population) under control. We've talked to the city about it, to form a partnership to manage the problem." Interim City Manager Carmen Nichols said the best way residents can help with the problem is to stop feeding the cats. "These cats are going to impact the costs to the city," she said. "I would advise our residents not to feed the cats. Feeding the cats is drawing more cats. Let the partnership between the city and the harbor take care of the problem." Ventura County Animal Services Deputy Director Donna Gillespie said the Port Hueneme cats are part of a "managed colony." She said she was not aware that the colony was once again out of control. For awhile, the cats were being trapped by volunteers from Greyfoot Cat Rescue and Sanctuary and Cats Cradle Rescue, Gillespie said. The animals were taken to the county shelter in Camarillo, where they were spayed or neutered and vaccinated. An ear was also clipped so the cats could be identified more easily, then the healthy animals were released. "Once a colony is spayed and neutered other cats won't come in," Gillespie explained. "It's kind of like a barrier. But the cats must constantly be trapped, spayed and neutered. And it takes somebody to be on top of managing the colony. "It sounds like this colony is not being managed," she added. "We need to try to get together a coalition of people who will go out and do the trapping." Gillespie said that while Ventura County Animal Control does not provide cat-trapping services, once the cats are caught, Animal Control offers the sterilization procedures. "I know passionate cat trappers who make it a project to get the animals. If (a colony) gets out of control you're stuck with a million little babies," she said, adding that Port Hueneme doesn't attract natural predators, such as coyotes, which can also keep the population under control. Port Hueneme Mayor Doug Breeze asked for the public's help. "I do ask the people who are leaving cat food on the promenade leading to the lighthouse to please stop it," he said. "It causes litter, attracts more cats, causes an unhealthy condition and hampers our efforts to contain the situation. If people are concerned about the cats in the area, maybe they could volunteer to catch the cats and have them neutered." RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Air Force Master Sgt. Justin Glenn (from right) is greeted by his daughters, Reagan and Kennedy, on Sunday night. Glenn arrived from Qatar, where he spent the last six months, and went to Sky Zone in Ventura to surprise his family. SHARE RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Air Force Master Sgt. Justin Glenn (right) greets his wife, Andrea Glenn, with a kiss Sunday at Sky Zone trampoline park in Ventura. Justin Glenn arrived from Qatar, where he spent the last six months on deployment, and went to Sky Zone to surprise his family. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Air Force Master Sgt. Justin Glenn (from left) greets his daughters Reagan and Kennedy, and his wife, Andrea Glenn, on Sunday in the foam pit at Sky Zone in Ventura. Glenn arrived from Qatar, where he spent the last six months on deployment, and went to Sky Zone to surprise his family. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Air Force Master Sgt. Justin Glenn hugs his wife after surprising her with his homecoming Sunday night. Glenn arrived from Qatar, where he spent the last six months, and went to Sky Zone trampoline park in Ventura, where he greeted his family. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Air Force Master Sgt. Justin Glenn (middle) hugs his daughters, Reagan (left) and Kennedy on Sunday after his surprise homecoming. Glenn, who spent the last six months in Qatar, came to Sky Zone trampoline park in Ventura, where he greeted his family. By Alicia Doyle Special To The Star When Andrea Glenn took her two young daughters to Sky Zone on Sunday, she never expected the surprise that awaited them in the foam pit at the trampoline park in Ventura. Since January, she has brought her girls to Sky Zone frequently while her husband, Justin Glenn, has been deployed in Qatar as a master sergeant with the Air Force. On Sunday, moments before his family walked into the doors at Sky Zone, Justin Glenn hid inside the foam pit to wait for his wife and two daughters Kennedy, 3 and Reagan, 2. As soon as the girls jumped into the pit, Glenn popped out to their surprise. "Daddy!" exclaimed Kennedy, who ran into her father's arms. Andrea Glenn, 33, beamed with a smile as tears ran down her face. "I had no idea we come here all the time, we were here yesterday," she said. "I'm a little in shock right now. I'm so excited I'm just overjoyed." While he was deployed, Justin Glenn and his mother-in-law, Belle Guerrero, planned for the surprise homecoming at Sky Zone. "We started this back in May," said Glenn, 34. "My wife is always so good about surprising me and doing big things for me, so I feel like it's finally my chance to get one over on her." Her sister, Pamela Lopez, also helped with the homecoming. His wife and daughters have played at the Ventura Sky Zone since its grand opening in January. "We chose Sky Zone because they come here all the time," Glenn said. "We live in RiverPark just down the road so they're here once or twice a week, so it was a common area that I knew they would go to." "We had to figure out a good plan to getting her down here," said Lopez, of Camarillo, who took a suggestion from her boyfriend, Daniel Bumgarner. "He said to just tell her she won tickets to Sky Zone so we'll just say she got free tickets." Guerrero, of Camarillo, kept the surprise a secret even from her husband, Mike Davis. "I told my husband last night because he would tell everybody," Guerrero said Sunday. "They've been missing their daddy a lot they're very close to daddy," Davis said. "Daddy's been gone for six months and they don't understand where daddy went. They know daddy went into the military but that's all they know." Marissa Willey, manager of events and business development at Sky Zone, was also in on the surprise. "Justin and Belle reached out to us a few months ago," said Willey, of Oxnard. "The theory behind Sky Zone is that we don't want to just be a business within the community. We want to be part of the community and doing things like this." "How could you say no?" Willey added. "He's been overseas fighting for our country, how could you ever say no to that?" Chef, restaurateur, New York Times Best-Selling author and Emmy Award-winning TV host Guy Fieri is proud to announce his first Las Vegas restaurant, Guy Fieris Vegas Kitchen & Bar, to premiere center Strip at The Quad Resort & Casino in late April. The restaurant will offer guests a taste of Fieris signature cuisine featuring bold flavors and unique twists on traditional dishes. Opening a restaurant in Las Vegas has been a great dream of mine and being in the heart of the Strip makes this restaurant that much more special, said Fieri. Most people come to Las Vegas with one goal to have a good time and I get the chance to offer really delicious, creative and funky food at the epi-center of fun; I see it as the perfect match. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night dining, Guy Fieris Vegas Kitchen & Bar will feature a delicious blend of casual foods including an extensive variety of burgers, wings, tacos, small bites and shareable food items. Guy Fieri brings a fresh perspective to the Las Vegas dining scene, said Regional President and General Manager, Eileen Moore. Fieris deep roots with UNLV and the local community expand the unique culinary experience to a Strip-side location full of energy, fun, and a carefully orchestrated food and drink menu. Fieris signature Vegas Fries, a tribute to his college days at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) will be featured with a local spin on the favorite. The sidewinder cut fries are carefully tossed in buffalo seasoning and wing sauce, topped with shaved blue cheese, celery, carrots, and accompanied by the blue-sabi dipping sauce. Other items include Guys Fireball Wings a unique rendition of the traditional wings into the lollipop cut chicken wings. The brined, twice cooked and seasoned wings are tossed in buffalo-style sauce, and spiked with a blast of Fireball Whiskey for an extra kick of flavor. Taking the simple freshness of a Mexican street taco and blending it with the exotic zest of a Vietnamese sandwich creates the signature Bahn Mi Tacos. Crispy baguette taco shells, firecracker pulled pork, fresh cilantro, pickled carrots, shaved jalapenos and sweet chili mayo come together with a spicy Sriracha dip to create the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. The restaurants extensive drink menu will feature 16 craft beers, four wines on draft, in addition to the extensive Sonoma County wine selection and a frozen tap system shot bar that will create a one-of-a kind experience for guests. Instead of having shots strained or mixed with ice, which then run the risk of getting diluted, the frozen tap system bar will dispense eight different shots straight out of iced dispensers. Through Guys travels, his understanding of what people love has created a new level of flavor, filled with diverse ingredients that will elevate the casual dining scene in Las Vegas, said Regional Vice President of Food and Beverage, Jeffrey Frederick. Just like a great DJ mashes music genres to bring excitement to the ear, Fieris cuisine mashup of regional specialties creates mind-blowing flavors for the palate. The two-level 10,000-square foot space will feature a large outdoor patio and dining area to seat 185 patrons who will be able to enjoy the panoramic views of the Las Vegas Strip. The cooking space will encompass a metal, tile, and wood theme that closely resembles Fieris kitchen at home. Guy Fieris Vegas Kitchen & Bar will feature an open design with wood and steel elements along with repurposed materials. Fieris tattoos will be incorporated as part of the design elements throughout the restaurant and bar, and memorabilia from his alma mater, UNLV will be featured throughout the venue. The restaurant is adjacent to the popular Carnaval Court and The Quads main entrance. On Saturday, July 30, actor Jonathan Bennett was spotted attending the matinee performance of Mat Franco Magic Reinvented Nightly at The LINQ Hotel & Casino (Photo credit: Courtesy of Mat Franco Magic Reinvented Nightly). Following the performance, Bennett went backstage to meet with Franco and to share his enjoyment of the show. Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas will kick off the 2016 summer games with an opening ceremonies viewing party beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5 (Photo credit: Gabe Ginsberg). As the torch makes its last stop in Rio de Janeiro, Beer Park will honor each country by serving up a complimentary Budweiser Signature draft beer to guests wearing their favorite countrys apparel. For those looking to try a variety of beers and cocktails, the venue offers more than 100 beers, 36 of which are on tap, as well as cocktails and wine on draft. Photo credit: Peter Harasty. Beer Park will show the opening ceremonies on dozens of high-definition televisions throughout the rooftop bar and grill. Guests can also dive into tailgate-style fare with an array of signature menu items including the chile verde nachos, topped with montejo braised pork, Hatch green chiles, cheese sauce, baked beans, herb crema and cotija cheese; the popular breakfast burger complete with fried egg, hash browns, thick cut bacon, cheddar cheese and hot sauce aioli; or the Shock Top bratwurst with Shock Top infused caramelized onions, sauerkraut and spicy grain mustard. Star of Peepshow and Hollys World, Holly Madison held book signing event at Sugar Factory inside Paris Las Vegas on Saturday for her recently released book, The Showgirl Next Door: Holly Madisons Las Vegas (Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna) . Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. As you can see from the photos, there was tremendous interest in this event from both the media and Hollys fans. So in addition to our previous coverage, were publishing these new photos of the book signing by Retna photographer Scott Harrison. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Holly posed for pictures, signed autographs and graciously accepted congratulatory gifts from her loving fans. She wore a dress by Sue Wong and Christian Louboutin high heels during her day at the sweetest spot on the Strip. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna. Click here to order Hollys new book from Amazon.com: The Showgirl Next Door: Holly Madisons Las Vegas . The contenders include Thailands SCG, Japans Taiheiyo Cement Corporation, and Vietnams largest cement maker Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem). They have all expressed their interest in buying the stakes of Holcim Vietnam, a member of multinational cement maker LafargeHolcim Group. LafargeHolcim Group has launched a mandatory tender offer for the acquisition of the remaining shares of Holcim Vietnam, in which the group holds a 65 per cent stake, and the rest held by Vicem. Though the exact timing is yet to be settled, it is expected to release the potential tender this week. According to a VIRs source, the price offering was $450 million. But according to Viet Capital Securities, the offer price will likely be higher, thus making it more likely that the successful buyer is a foreign enterprise. For SCG, this deal fits in with its strategy to acquire a whole or part of another cement plant in Vietnam. SCGs president and chief executive officer Roongrote Rangsiyopash was quoted by Nikkei Asian Review as saying that a joint venture or merger with an existing plant would be the best way for the group to expand its presence in the Vietnamese market, after its original entry to the market through the acquisition of Buu Long Industry & Investment Joint Stock Company in 2013. Meanwhile, Japans Taiheiyo Cement Corporation, which is a stakeholder of Nghi Son Cement Corporation, did not release a comment on a potential acquisition. Vicems chairman of the board Luong Quang Khai confirmed that Vicem had not made a detailed offer, but it was weighing its options for the future. The deal depended on the price set by LafargeHolcim Group, and on Vicem and its consultants valuation of the company and its growth prospects. In Vietnam, LafargeHolcim has five cement plants and eight ready mixed concrete plants, with an annual capacity of six million tonnes of cement and one million cubic metres of concrete per year, overtaking Nghi Son Cement Corporation and Phuc Son Cement Company as the largest foreign-invested cement producing company in Vietnam. Nguyen Hoang Cau, secretary general of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) method would the most effective form for restructuring in the cement sector, as companies in this sector were currently facing great challenges. Although LafargeHolcim Vietnam is a very large entity, in other respects this case is similar to other companies that are considering restructuring. According to StoxPlus, the investment cost to establish a new cement factory in Vietnam is around $170-180 per tonne. Meanwhile, valuation per tonne of recent M&A deals in the sector is much lower at $105 per tonne. Valutation per tonne of significant M&A deals in Vietnams cement sector However, the valuation per tonne looks to be rising, thanks to the good performance of the domestic market and the decrease in raw materials, especially coal. As such, the acquisition of LafargeHolcim Vietnam looks to be a good opportunity for investors who have long-term interests in Vietnams cement industry to penetrate the local market. The decision was announced at a recent working session with the leaders of Long An. The reason for choosing Phuoc Vinh Dong commune was its proximity to 500kV line and the traffic infrastructures suitability for importing coal. The project will be developed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The plant is expected to start operation by 2020, with an output capacity of 1,320 megawatts. Pham Van Ranh, Chairman of the Long An Peoples Committee, said that the province appreciated the groups investment plan, however, it wants to ensure the priority of the environment above all. Thus, the investor has to apply modern technologies to power its manufacturing to avoiding environmental pollution. Founded in 1973 in Seoul , Daewoo E&C is a leading global player in construction engineering. In the field of power trading, Daewoo E&C has implemented 50 conventional thermal power stations, gas-fired plants, and tidal, hydroelectric, and nuclear power plants, with a total capacity of 30,000MW across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East . This year, numerous foreign enterprises came to Vietnam seeking investment opportunities and signing cooperation deals. Notably, in February, Thai Outgrow Energy Consult visited the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to seek a cooperation deal in the power sector. The company wants to build a thermal power plant fired by municipal solid waste. Outgrow Energy Consults power plant investment have a total capacity of around 1,000MW, all gained from renewable resources like wind, solar power, geothermal energy, and solid waste. In March, the Thua Thien-Hue Peoples Committee and Thai Banpu Public Company Limited (Banpu) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 1,200MW thermal power plant in Phong Dien district. In early July, Thai EGAT International Co., Ltd. proposed the authorities to accelerate the evaluation of Quang Ngai thermal power plants pre-feasibility study, so that the investor can complete other procedures earlier. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade , Vietnam needs to secure an additional 36,000MW generated from thermal power plants by 2020, to ensure the nations power security. The growing demand for power supply is encouraging more and more foreign power companies to invest in Vietnam . This year, the Vietnamese energy sector is expected to be the next driver for foreign direct investment (FDI) growth in the country. Industry insiders predicted that the FDI commitment level in this sector would touch a record high of $4-$5 billion in 2016. According to PetroVietnams report, in the first six months of 2016 BSR earned a consolidated revenue of VND35.2 trillion ($1.6 billion) and a consolidated net profit of VND939 billion ($42 million). The parent company alone earned a net profit of VND995.1 billion ($44.6 million). BSR earned this profit while constantly complaining about difficulty in selling its products. The prices of Dung Quats products are calculated as the sum of similar imported products price and the applicable tariff rate. When the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement was signed, Vietnam halved the import tariff on South Korean gasoline, to 10 per cent, effective since December 20, 2015. Meanwhile, Dung Quats products are still subject to an import tax of 20 per cent. According to PetroVietnam and BSRs earlier claims, this disparity forced a number of their local consumers to switch to imported sources. The new tariffs are the reason most customers decreased, cancelled or delayed taking over their orders since March, even though BSR attempted to provide incentives, such as extending payment deadline or decreasing other fees. Still, BSR claims that since the beginning of the year the refinery has been operating nonstop at 103-105 per cent of its designed capacity. In the first half, the company produced 3.4 million tonnes of products in total and sold 3.3 million tonnes, submitting VND6.1 trillion ($273 million) to the state budget. In 2015, BSR also made a hefty profit. PVNs report said that in 2015 BSRs consolidated revenue was VND94.4 trillion ($4.23 billion), while the parent companys revenue was VND94.1 trillion ($4.2 billion). BSRs consolidated net profit was VND5.7 billion ($255,600), while PetroVietnam recorded VND5.86 billion ($262,700). Return on equity was 20.6 per cent. An economist said that the refinery has been enjoying a lot of preferential treatment from the government since it was built. Whenever there is a policy affecting it, the refinery refuses to improve governance and decrease production costs to decrease the price of its products. Instead, it asks for more preferential treatment, he said. BSR currently enjoys 10 per cent CIT for 30 years and gets to retain part of the tariff used to calculate the price of its products. In May, BSR asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to allow Dung Quat to calculate and decide the selling price on its own and refused the tariff rebate. The provincial authorities have carried out an investigation to verify a series of environmental violations allegedly committed by Chin Well Fasteners. For the moment, no conclusions are forthcoming, thus we can not comment on the incident, said Mai Van Nhon, deputy director of the Dong Nai Industrial Zones Management Authority (DIZA). Previously, Dong Nais police co-operated with the provinces Department of Natural Resources and Environment in unannounced inspection, whereby they detected that the company discharged untreated wastewater into the environment. In addition, the company was found to have illegally buried approximately 200 tonnes of harmful waste mud. Along with Chin Well Fastenerss violations, local resident also complained that their daily life was affected by environmental pollution caused by Hung Nghiep Formosas industrial park subdivision. Notably, in 2001, Hung Nghiep Formosa rented 200 hectares of ground in Nhon Trach 3 IP to establish an industrial park subdivision. The company built a spinning and textile factory, a coal-fired thermal power plant, and other infrastructural units to attract investment projects, one of which is Chin Well Fastenerss factory. According to local residents, they can not use groundwater resources since the facilities in the subivision came into operation. In addition, the areas flora is dwindling due to smoke discharge from the industrial park subdivision. DIZA, in collaboration with provincial authorities, scrutinised the wastewater treatment systems of factories in DIZA in general and the industrial park subdivision in particular. However, there is no evidence against Hung Nghiep Formosa, Nhon stated. Established in June 2005 with the investment capital of $80 million, Chin Well Fasteners Vietnam, a subsidiary of Chin Well Fasteners Co., Sdn., Bhd., manufactures screws, nuts, bolts, threaded parts, rivets, and special cold form parts. The company currently has over 600 employees. Its products are exported to the US, Europe, and South East Asia. A poster showing cabin crew from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is displayed during a prayer at a school in Petaling Jaya AFP/Mohd Rasfan As the underwater hunt far off Australia's west coast draws to a close without any sign of the plane, there has been speculation the flight's final resting place may be outside the current search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysia Airlines jet was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The first debris linked to MH370 -- a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part known as a flaperon -- washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a year ago. But it has remained in the hands of French investigators, leaving questions unanswered on how the airliner entered the ocean. "We have also seen some analysis from the French that suggests that it's a possibility that (the flaperon) was in a deployed state," Peter Foley, the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB)'s head of MH370 search operations, told Channel Nine late Sunday. A deployed state, which means the flaperon was extended for landing, could suggest that someone was at the controls -- the "rogue pilot" theory -- when the aircraft entered the water. Investigators have considered all scenarios, but alternative possibilities could potentially have debris fields three times the current search zone, ATSB's former chief Martin Dolan told AFP in March. The current area was defined under the "most likely" scenario that no-one was at the controls and the plane ran out of fuel. But Foley told the commercial broadcaster that if the pilot was still in control of the plane or control-ditched the aircraft, it could potentially have had an extended range of flight. A team of Italian scientists said last month the debris zone may be a further 500 kilometres (310 miles) north. Foley said he was hopeful the wing part found off Tanzania, which is in Canberra for analysis and was confirmed by Australia on Friday to be "highly likely" from MH370, could reveal how the plane crashed. "We are looking to see whether or not we can work out whether that flap was extended at the end of flight... it suggests a different end-of-flight scenario," he said. The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments, where most of the passengers were from, have agreed that when the target area is fully searched, expected around December, they will pull the plug unless "credible new information" emerges. As Switzerland and Vietnam will celebrate 45 years of diplomatic relations this year, how would you evaluate their trading and investment relationship to date? Switzerland and Vietnam established diplomatic relations on October 11, 1971. Over the last number of decades bilateral relations have continuously intensified, focusing on trade and investment, development co-operation, and tourism. Notably, trade flows in both directions have been increasing every year. In 2015, the trade volume between Switzerland and Vietnam amounted to CHF1.473 billion ($1.5 billion), with a trade deficit for Switzerland of CHF481 million ($498 million). The three major categories of Swiss products exported to Vietnam are pharmaceuticals (around 40 per cent), machinery (around 30 per cent), and optical and medical instruments (7 per cent of the total export volume). Exports from Vietnam to Switzerland include electronic products and machines, textiles and footwear, seafood and organically produced agricultural products, coffee, rubber, pepper and ceramic amenities. These examples are proof of the diversified relations between the two countries, which the Swiss Embassy is determined to further develop and promote. How many companies from Switzerland are operating in Vietnam currently? Switzerland is one of the worlds most competitive and internationally integrated economies. It is the fourth-largest foreign investor from Europe in Vietnam with the accumulated investment capital of over $2 billion, and is providing employment for more than 15,000 people. Swiss companies in Vietnam generate a wide range of products and services: industrial machinery; civil engineering, construction and architectural design, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and chemicals; electronics and IT equipment, as well as shipping and trading services. Additionally, more and more highly specialised small- and medium-sized companies are now interested in choosing Vietnam as a production base, with the number of these investments doubling in recent years. Many well-known Swiss companies have been investing in Vietnam for a long time companies like Holcim, Nestle, Schindler, ABB, and Syngenta have gained a renown here as dependable investors. There are approximately 100 Swiss companies operating in Vietnam under different entities: 100 per cent capital from Swiss firms, private joint ventures, and joint businesses between the state and private sector. In addition, Vietnamese students have flocked to some of the well-known Swiss universities specialising in tourism and finance here. Swiss investment in Vietnam has continued along a steady trajectory to hit an accumulated capital of $2 billion How important is the Vietnamese market to Swiss enterprises? Vietnam is an important market for Switzerland because the Vietnamese economy is growing at an impressive speed. Its shift from a centrally-planned to a market economy has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world into a lower middle-income one. This track record is reflected in the economic relations between Switzerland and Vietnam. Vietnam has rapidly become an important destination for Swiss products and investments. It is therefore not surprising that even more companies are looking for opportunities in Vietnam. With its improving business environment and increasing purchasing power, as well as the burgeoning industry here, Vietnam has the potential to become an even more important market for the Swiss economy. Which sectors hold the most potential for Swiss investors in Vietnam? We are growing very strongly in terms of food manufacturing technology, pharmaceutical and medicines, as well as in machinery and equipment. Since Vietnam wants to move up in the value chain in order to produce better machines and goods, it has been importing hi-tech machinery from Switzerland. Others sectors with a lot of potential for growth include bio-tech, green energy, and leaner and cleaner production lines. Vietnam is aiming to reach its industrialisation goals by 2020. However, in order to reach them, good quality investment is crucial. After 45 years of building our relationship, do you think there is still room to ramp up our investment? How can we improve upon our investment in Vietnam? Yes, I think certainly there is room for development. In general, we are seeing a hugely improved business climate as a result of initiatives spearheaded by the Vietnamese government, but we have to ensure that the business environment is strong enough for the private sector. We know that the administrative procedures for businesses have been reduced and streamlined a lot over recent times, but it needs to be as efficient as possible. I also think certain transaction charges should be reduced to ensure a safe and efficient business environment for all sectors. Other things which must be improved include the copyright and legal system. These will make your business environment more competitive, thus encouraging foreign investors to establish a presence here or to expand their existing investment projects. Among the Swiss companies investing in Vietnam, Nestle stands out as a success story to be emulated. What is your assessment of Nestles activities in Vietnam? Nestle is one of the first Swiss companies to enter Vietnam. It is now the biggest investor from Switzerland to Vietnam with the investment capital of more than $520 million. Nestle is a good example of a company that offers products tailored to local tastes by taking into account the local environment. The company has been here for many years, and its investment has been growing all the time through new factories, using more local labour, and more products intended for both the local and international markets. I have recently had the opportunity to take part in the ground breaking ceremony for a new Milo factory in the north. For me, this activity demonstrated the companys enlarged investment strategy in Vietnam. This is a prime example of how a big company can invest successfully in Vietnam. We are very proud of it because Nestle epitomises the Swiss business values of quality and trustworthiness, ability, high quality products, and appeal for a wide range of consumers. Nestles factories in Vietnam are the most modern in the world with advanced production lines, fully automated systems, sterilised production lines, and state-of-the-art facilities. Another impressive quality is that Nestle combines all the factors that make a responsible and successful company: safety, quality, and diversified products. They also invest heavily in improving the skills of their workers, as they are keenly aware that the most important access point to advanced technology is through people. Another thing I also appreciated is the enthusiasm shown from the people working in Nestles factories. It is like a big family where all people understand each other and are devoted to the ideal of responsibility within the company. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, re-elected by the National Assembly, promised to improve administrative procedures After being re-elected by the National Assembly last week, the prime minister promised that he and the entire government would do their best to build an upright and development-friendly government. The government and the prime minister seriously listen to the ideas of people and enterprises. [...] A more favourable business climate must be created, with strong reform of administrative procedures. All obstructions must be removed in favour of enterprises, especially those in the private sector, he stressed. Expecting Phucs pledge to be translated into action, Raymond Mallon, a senior economist with over 20 years of experience on Vietnams economy, told VIR that private firms wished to see a level playing field in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has increasingly stressed the importance of promoting free competition to improve competitiveness and productivity growth, Mallon said. Free and equitable competition can only be achieved if government agencies responsible for sectoral policy making and regulation have no vested interests in commercial activities. According to him, private firms, especially small-and medium-sized ones, continue to be disadvantaged by administrative complexity and a lack of transparency in administrative decisions, as well as by high logistics and transport costs, and the generally high costs of business transactions because of weaknesses in contact enforcement and property right protection. Further streamlining of administrative procedures and a move to transparent systems of e-government will be critically important in this regard, Mallon said. Over the past few years, industry insiders said that Vietnam was exercising some improper policies in attracting foreign direct investment, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were operating ineffectively, and there were unattractive policies for private firms. In the time to come, we will have to improve this situation, with an effort to combine SOEs and private firms in a united economy, Phuc stressed. According to Mallon, the recent resolutions 19 and 35 reflect a strong vision and commitment by the new government to address these and other key challenges facing Vietnamese enterprises. Sustained efforts will be needed to realise the targets specified in these resolutions, but if successful, the potential impact on the development of Vietnamese enterprises, and on the general economic development, could be very substantial. The prime minister also cited high public debts, debt payment pressure, and settlement of banks bad debts as major national challenges. According to the Central Institute for Economic Management, Vietnams debts have been skyrocketing. Specifically, the governments direct debts soared from $8.44 billion in 2013 to $13.46 billion last year. If government-guaranteed debts and localities debts are included, Vietnams debt service will be much higher, at an expected $19 billion for 2015. Labour productivity and efficiency of investment should be major driving forces of quick and sustainable development. But damaging the environment must never be the cost of development, Phuc said. Apart from Phuc, the National Assembly last week also re-elected State President Tran Dai Quang to remain in his existing position. Earlier, the legislature re-voted Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to continue her leadership position. The newly-elected leaders will remain in office until 2020. This has been the second time in 2016 that the legislature elects new key cabinet personnel. After the 12th National Party Congress in January this year, Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected to be General Secretary of the Communist Party for a second term. After that Vietnam saw some key leadership positions vacant due to changes in top personnel. Thus in April, the legislature elected Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Prime Minister, Ngan as National Assembly Chairwoman, and Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang as State President. However, under the Law on National Assembly Organisation, the first session of any five-year National Assembly term must conduct the election of the new leadership of the National Assembly and the government. As the worlds leaders in footwear production, Vietnam and India can deepen their co-operation in this field-Photo Le Toan In mid-July, 41 firms under Indias Council for Leather Exports (CLE) paid a working visit to Ho Chi Minh City to research the market and find partners. Last year, 20 Indian delegations came to Vietnam to scout for investment opportunities focusing on a wide range of sectors such as energy, agriculture, support industries, footwear, and garments, according to Smita Pant, consul general of India. A growing number of Indian firms are seeing Vietnam as an appealing investment destination with the arrival of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), signed early this year and expected to take effect in 2018, Pant said. CLEs chairman M. Rafeeque Ahmed said that India was the second largest global producer of footwear, with an annual output of over 2.2 billion pairs, while Vietnam was the fourth largest footwear producer worldwide. Thus, Vietnamese and Indian companies should join forces to enhance competitiveness in the international market, especially high-end and self-designed products that can yield more value-added benefits than outsourcing. He also called for Vietnamese footwear firms to invest in manufacturing facilities in India to cater to the large local Indian market, which is estimated to reach $6.5 billion this year and expected to hit $12 billion by 2020. As Indian investors are flocking to Vietnam, Bank of India has opened its first branch in Vietnam with a capital volume of $15 million. This move is expected to increase the two countries trade activities and facilitate investors entry to the Vietnamese market. This bank opened its representative office in Ho Chi Minh City in 2003 and received a foreign bank license in 2015, to become the first Indian bank to commence operation in Vietnam. The opening of a Ho Chi Minh City branch will cater to the needs of exporters and importers of Vietnam and India. It also plays a pivotal role in achieving the bilateral trade target of $15 billion, set by the leaders of both countries, by 2020, said Shri Melwyn Rego, the banks managing director. The bank branch will support Indian firms presently investing in Vietnam. For example, Indias Tata Power is speeding up procedures to implement the Long Phu 2 coal-fired power plant in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang. If the $2.1 billion project becomes a reality, India will become one of the biggest investors in Vietnam, Pant noted. India is one of the top 10 trading partners for Vietnam, which is ranked 24th amongst Indias trading partners. The two nations bilateral trade has seen continuous growth over the past few years. According to the Indian governments data, trade volume between the two nations exceeded $9 billion in the financial year of 2014-2015, achieving the target of $7 billion well in advance of 2015. Indian businesses have invested over $1.1 billion in more than 100 projects in Vietnam. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pictured in Las Vegas on Jul 19, 2016. (AFP/John Gurzinski) Trump, her Republican rival in the race for the White House, responded defiantly, saying that he had "no relationship" with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and had never met nor spoken to him by phone, but that "if our country got along with Russia, that would be a great thing." US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on Jul 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AFP/Jim Watson) He said in an ABC interview that he was not about to disavow it if Putin praised him as a "genius" (some Russian speakers say "colourful" was a better translation of the word). But perhaps further fanning controversy, Trump added that as president he would at least consider acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014 in the face of widespread international condemnation. "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia," Trump said. He said, however, that he was not involved in Republicans' softening of their platform language to remove a call to provide Ukraine with lethal weaponry. The dispute over Russia is part of a broader disagreement over US engagement abroad, as Trump argues that a weakened America must retrench and demand greater contributions from its allies, while Clinton asserts that decades-old US commitments to foreign partners must be maintained. BACKLASH OVER EMAILS Clinton, in her comments, was responding on "Fox News Sunday" to allegations of Russian involvement in leaks of Democratic Party emails that embarrassed her on the eve of the just-ended Democratic national convention. As that convention was underway, Trump urged Russia to find and release several thousand emails that disappeared from Clinton's private server while she was secretary of state. "Russia, if you're listening," Trump said then, "I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will be mightily rewarded by our press." That call, of a sort nearly unprecedented in US presidential politics, drew sharp rebukes from Democrats and some Republicans. US cybersecurity experts said it raised questions about whether Russia had attempted to influence the American campaign in Trump's favour. Leaked emails published by WikiLeaks revealed the distrust of some key Democratic leaders of Bernie Sanders, Clinton's former rival for the Democratic nod. Trump's seeming encouragement of Russian hacking, Clinton told Fox, "raises issues about Russian influence in our election." "And for Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election, I think, raises national security issues." 'NOT TEMPERAMENTALLY FIT' When an interviewer noted that Trump had claimed he was being sarcastic, Clinton replied: "If you take the encouragement that Russians hack into email accounts, if you take his quite excessive praise for Putin, his absolute allegiance to a lot of Russian wish-list foreign policy issues," it suggests that "he is not temperamentally fit to be president and commander-in-chief." Trump had earlier unnerved NATO member nations by questioning the long absolute US commitment to defend any member of the Atlantic alliance should it be attacked by Russia. In an interview with The New York Times just before the Republican convention, Trump said that if Russia attacked NATO member nations he would decide whether to come to their assistance only if he decided that they had "fulfilled their obligations to us." Trump has also said he might withdraw US troops from European and Asian countries if they failed to pay more for American protection. "We are going to take care of this country first," he told The Times, "before we worry about everyone else in the world." A rowboat carries tourists along a canal in Dong Thap Provinces Xeo Quyt Tourist Area In Xeo Quyt Tourist Area, guests can feel a fresh atmosphere brought by lotus and water-lily lakes, which are also home to lots of fish. A simple yet unique dish of the countryside is steamed rice compressed in lotus leaves and served with sesame and salt. In the former revolutionary base, visitors can see bomb shelters, bunkers, meeting rooms and bomb craters. Though they have to do a lot of walking in Xeo Quyt Tourist Area, they may feel comfortable thanks to many big shade trees and fresh air from small canals snaking through the area. Fauna and flora also make Xeo Quyt attractive to visitors. The place is now home to seven species of fauna, 73 species of fish, 91 species of birds, 22 species of reptiles and seven amphibians, and 170 plant species. Instead of walking back to the entrance of the area, tourists can take a 20-minute rowboat ride through cajeput forests to get back to the starting point. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS Khizr Khan, father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan and his wife, Ghazala, appear at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday filed lawsuits against opposition leader Sam Rainsy and a senator in his party over statements that allegedly implicated the premier in the murder of prominent government critic Kem Ley earlier this month. According to the lawsuit filed at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court this week, Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile abroad, wrote on his Facebook page on July 10 that the fatal shooting of Kem Ley today is another terrorist act organized by the authorities. Hun Sen also filed a case against Thakk Lany, a Cambodia National Rescue Party senator, after she allegedly made a statement saying that she did not know what Hun Sen is thinking its not as if Kem Ley was shot accidentally. She is alleged to have made the remarks during a public forum in Ratanakkiri province on Friday. Hun Sens lawyer is arguing that the remarks were defamatory and impacted upon the prime ministers honor and dignity and were intended to fuel public anger. He requested the court impose a symbolic fine of 100 riel (about 2 cents) in each case. Local media broadcast on Saturday a video of Lany apparently making the remarks, which could not be independently verified. Kem Ley was a political analyst. He mentioned Global Witness previously. He mentioned the aspect of Hun Sen and his children committing corruption, she said, referring to a recent report by the transparency watchdog that suggested Hun Sens family had abused their position to enrich themselves. Lany could not be reached for comment. On Sunday she told local media that she had not made the accusation against Hun Sen. Rainsy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. In July, he was sentenced for defaming Heng Samrin, president of the National Assembly, and went into exile after an arrest warrant was issued for another defamation case, which could have seen him spend two years in jail. A U.S. federal court has ordered four seafood companies, including two American importers, to respond to a complaint made by seven Cambodian laborers allegedly exploited while working in Thailands seafood industry. Failing to comply with the order would result in a judgement favoring the plaintiffs, Judge John F. Walter warned in a standing order issued in late June. A law firm representing the five male and two female plaintiffs on June 15 filed a complaint against U.S. companies Rubicon Resources and Wales & Co. Universe, and Thai seafood companies Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd. and S.S. Frozen Food Co. Ltd. The seven Cambodians, were recruited from their rural villages by a local recruiting agency to work for Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd between 2010 and 2012 and became victims of human trafficking, forced labor, involuntary servitude, and peonage, according to lawyers at the firm Cohen Milstein, which specializes in human rights and class action cases and is representing the Cambodian workers. As of late July, the two U.S. companies had not responded to the complaint, despite a deadline passing last week. When contacted by VOA Khmer, a woman who picked up the phone at California-based Rubicon Resources said the company had no comment on that. The woman declined to give her name and refused even to confirm whether the company was aware of the complaint. According to court documents published online, a summons was served to Rubicon Resources on June 28. The firms chief finance officer, Harry Kraushaar, is recorded as having received the document. Rubicon Resources, based out of Culver City, was created by a group of seafood companies for the purpose of marketing and distributing seafood products in the U.S. According to Bloomberg, it sells a variety of products including fish, shrimps, egg rolls, and red curry. Wales & Co. Universe Ltd. is incorporated in Thailand, but is registered to conduct business in California. It sells frozen seafood, Asian food and Sushi. A summons was received by Sean Caraway on June 28, the court papers show. The summons and the complaint were also translated into Thai and delivered to the two Thai companies. S.S. Frozen Food Co., Ltd. was served on July 12, with a K Warin signing off on the delivery list. The company is based in southern Thailands Songkla province. Phatthana Seafood was served on July 11. VOA Khmers efforts to contact the two Thai companies by email and phone were unsuccessful. If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint, wrote court clerk Kiry Gray in a summons dated June 24. The two Thai companies have until early August to respond. Keo Ratha, one of the plaintiffs, spent three months working for Phatthana Seafood in Songkla from late 2011 to early 2012. The way they mistreated us was beyond words, Keo Ratha told VOA Khmer in an interview. We encountered this at places where we slept and ate. And our spending was not balanced with our income. These are the problems. The workers shelters would flood during rains, he said, adding that workers would sometimes be kept up all night draining the water from their quarters, before working long hours the next day. The company promised to pay between $300 and $500 per month, but Keo Ratha said he got just over $100 a month, much of which he had to spend on food and accommodation. Four years after returning home, Keo Ratha said, he still owes more than $1,000 on loans he took out to travel to Thailand for the job. Shocking levels of exploitation in Thailands seafood industry has been exposed by journalists and human rights advocates in recent years. The industry benefits from the copious supply of cheap labor that comes to Thailand mostly from Cambodia and Myanmar. Thai government officials and police officers have been implicated in human trafficking, according to reports by the U.S. government, human rights organizations and media. Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen Milstein, told VOA Khmer that the defendants were aware of the abuses that went on in their factories or supply chains. For one, the company on site knew because the men [and women] complained and wanted to go home, she said. Two, there were so many reports and investigations over time by United States State Department, by Human Rights Watch, where we have 15 pages of evidence of all these investigation that highlighting the problem in this industry. One of the things that we think we will be able to prove is that the U.S. companies in the U.S. should have known that people are being trafficked, Fryszman added. In the complaint, the victims demand damages due to loss of work opportunities, assets and education. The plaintiffs desperately need the money and desperately need a recovery, said Fryszman. And its important to set up precedent quickly for all the other people that are still in terrible conditions and are still working at these shrimp sheds. Moeun Tola, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, said there had been little improvement in working conditions for Cambodian laborers in Thailand. There are still a lot of problems related to exploitation of their wages and overtime work forced against their will, said Moeun Tola. And recruitment agencies from Cambodia do not take responsibility for their accommodation and food while they wait for placement. For Cambodian workers, seeking justice at home is impossible. Instead, with the help of advocates in America, they are going after the companies selling the products of their labor in the United States. What I really want is that the company that buys the products should look at every aspects of their suppliers, because it was not only me who was exploited, there are a lot of fishermen at sea who are suffering more exploitation than those on land, said Keo Ratha. There should be restrictions on that so that abuses on people both on land and at sea can be stopped. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday warned the United States against interfering in Cambodias internal affairs and lauded his governments efforts to bring peace following Khmer Rouge rule. Praising the countrys development since the end of the long-running civil war in the 1990s, he compared this apparent success story to the conflicts that have engulfed the Middle East in recent years, blaming U.S. interventionism. Please look at the Middle East after there was foreign interference especially in Libya, Syria, Egypt and Iraq as Saddam Hussein was toppled by the U.S., Hun Sen said. Now has Iraq had peace? No. Each day, hundreds of people die. And now even Donald Trump, the candidate for the Republican Party, also claimed that it was a mistake to topple Saddam Hussein by killing him. Trump said earlier this month that he had been against the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led forces and that former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi was toppled because of U.S. pressure. Ou Virak, president of the Future Forum think tank, said Hun Sen was afraid they [the United States] might do the same thing to remove the strongman from Cambodia. Sok Eysan, ruling Cambodian Peoples Party spokesman, said foreign intervention, including the United Nations role in Cambodia, was not in the interests of the countrys concerned. Our history also proved that UNTAC came to Cambodia and spent more than $2 billion, [but] ended up with nothing. Only we Cambodians talking to each other can bring peace. A business delegation representing major U.S. companies visited Cambodia last week for two days of discussions where they met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior government officials to discuss the challenges and opportunities of investing in the country. The group was led by William G. Lafferrandre, vice president of Asia Pacific with ConocoPhillips and included members of the U.S.-Asean Business Council. Lafferandre said during a meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh that included representatives of Coca Cola, Ford, General Electric, Herbalife, Procter & Gamble, RMA and Visa, that U.S. investors were committed to expanding investment in all sectors of Cambodias economy. Lina Lim, a Coca-Cola spokesperson, said the businesses could raise concerns over the investment climate with the government. We can raise to the government what are our needs and how the government can help to attract investors from abroad to open business in these sectors. Lim added that more could be done to stimulate local suppliers. We still lack local suppliers. To solve this problem, it requires us, other private sector actors and the government to meet and discuss what resources are short and who in Cambodia can work on that area. The Coca-Cola Company employs 900 people in Cambodia, almost all of whom are Cambodians. Data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia shows there was about $22.3 billion of private investment in Cambodia between 2011 and 2015. Forty-five percent of that investment went into infrastructure development while about 35 percent went into industry. Nay Chhiv Chhun, general manager of Herbalife Cambodia, said Cambodia had great potential to attract more foreign investment. It takes a while to establish infrastructure and build the right team of employees and, in our case, independent members. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the country will continue to grow at about 7 percent in 2016. Each Asean country is at a different level of development. Cambodia is our eighth market in the Asean region, but one where we see growth and a good demand for our quality nutrition products. Seng Voeung, general manager of Ford Cambodia, said he had briefed the council members about how changing competition was creating new challenges. We talked about the limitation of imports of thrift cars by limiting its year or set tax because in Asean countries, they dont let thrift cars be imported. We also came across several problems of tax raises by the government recently. Despite the tax hikes, he said Ford Cambodia was seeing higher growth rates compared to other subsidiaries in the region. The U.S. Business Mission 2016 seeks to strengthen ties between the government of Cambodia and private U.S. companies operating in Cambodia through increasing private sector engagement during policy making processes and understanding the challenges and opportunities facing Cambodia following the formation of the Asean Economic Community. It also seeks to support the government of Cambodia to realize better governance and transparency while building effort in the fields of human resource development, corporate social responsibility, the training of small- and medium-sized enterprises, youth leadership and cultural exchange programs. [Editors Note: Keith Richburg is the director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. He spent more than two decades as a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post covering Africa, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, making his first visit to Cambodia in 1986, during a stint when he was based in Manila. As a reporter, Richburg extensively covered both the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including attending the first ASEAN summit after Cambodias accession to the bloc in 1999. In a recent interview by phone, VOA Khmers Sopheak Hoeun asked the veteran journalist about the lessons Southeast Asian nations could learn from Britains momentous decision to leave the E.U. in a referendum on June 23. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.] From your experience of covering both Europe and Asia, what are your thoughts about Brexit? Well the interesting thing is when I covered the European Union, I always thought that there was what I called a deficit of democracy. There seemed to be a lack of buy-in or a lack of support from average people for this constant move in the E.U. towards more integration or towards giving up more sovereignty from the nations, and putting more power in the hands of this super-national organization in Brussels, the European Union. And when I was in Southeast Asia the first time, from 1986 until 1990, and even in Southeast Asia the second time I was there from 1995 until 2000, and I covered the expansion of the ASEAN, when they included the new membersVietnam, Cambodia, Laos and MyanmarI was always thinking that ASEAN moved way too slowly compared to the European Union. That basically ASEAN was more of a talking shop. They just talked a lot and didnt do a lot because they believe that everything has to be done by consensus of all the members of ASEAN, that things would not get done quickly. What I came to learn after being in Europe and going back and looking again at the situation was: Maybe the Asians had it right in a sense, because I think without rushing for political integration, without giving up sovereignty, possibly made it a little bit easier for people to agree to the principles of ASEAN. I think one of the mistakes that the European Union made was rushing ahead and forcing countries to give up more and more of their sovereignty, without actually first making sure the people of the countries agreed to that. The very slow-going approach of ASEAN has been criticized. They are not able to make any decisions quickly. A lot of issues like the plight of the Rohingyathe ethnic minority from Myanmarcannot get addressed quickly in a forum like ASEAN, where one country, being Myanmar, can veto discussion of any issue. On the other hand, the Europeans, I think, rushed into this kind of situation where they were forcing countries to kind of give up a lot of their sovereignty before the people in those countries were really ready to. I think thats was actually part of the issue that happened in the Brexit. A lot of people in Britain didnt like being told what to do by Brussels. They never voted to give up their sovereignty. They never voted for the right of other Europeans to move into the United Kingdom, so they always felt a bit resentful of having to comply with these rules from Brussels. Do you think that kind of resentment would be felt by some of the richer ASEAN members? I think it could be felt by some of the richer countries if they found that ASEAN was trying to force them to adopt policies that they did not want to adopt. If, for example, the richer country, say Singapore, was suddenly being forced to take in free movement of people, to take in all kinds of people from Indonesia or the Philippines which they werent ready to take in, then a richer country like Singaporeor even Malaysia perhaps, or Thailandmight feel a little resentful, saying, Why do we have to take in all of these people who are unemployed from Indonesia or the Philippines or Myanmar? So I think by not having some of these policies like free movement of people, ASEAN is actually making itself a little bit stronger than the European Union. So, yes, I think you could find that resentment, but I think its not happening yet because ASEAN doesnt have this kind of borderless community that the European Union has. At the moment the flow of labor has been mainly an outflow from Cambodia to other countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Is there a risk of the flow of labor being imbalanced in ASEAN? It could become that way. I mean what happens now, as I understand it, is that people are flowing there now from Cambodia or Myanmar to some of these other countries like Thailand because they need the labor. They need labor for construction, they need labor for other things. But its not an open flow like it was in the European Union. In the European Union system, anybody within the E.U. could move from one country to another country, and thats what the British voters were actually rebelling against: this idea that anybody could move anywhere. And the British people, the voters who voted for Brexit, were actually saying that they wanted the right to determine who could live in their country, and they couldnt. They had to take in anybody from the European Union, which meant that sometimes they had to turn down someone from the United States or Australiawho might be someone they needed because that person has an advanced degree or some skills that they neededbecause they were obliged to take people from the European Union. I think one of the things that Im seeing in ASEAN now, as theyre going to ASEAN as a common economic zone, is to try to open up the movement of people for skilled workers. That means an accountant or a banker or someone with special computer skills from the Philippines might be able to move and work in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. So, they keep it a lot more restricted in ASEAN at the moment. But, I think as long as these countries do have a shortage of laborThailand is one, Singapore obviously being a smaller country than othersthey are willing to take in a lot more people. But when the project that the laborers are working on has finished, the laborers have to go back home, and so I think thats one of the key differences at the moment. So, I think thats one of the lessons that ASEAN might be able to take from the European Union is that immigration and control of your borders is something that countries don't like to give up. They want to be able to control who comes in and how long they can stay. In Cambodia, where the number of skilled workers is not that high, do you think ASEAN integration could become a challenge for the economy? It could, actually, yes. Thats something to think about. If all the skilled laborers, for example, decided to leave, a country like Cambodia could face a lot of problems. So, Cambodia is going to always see the outflow of skilled labor or workers who want to go work elsewhere because the wages might be higher somewhere else. The other lesson that we can take from the European Union is that people are going to move where labor is needed, where jobs are more readily available and where benefits are higher. A lot of people were moving from around the European Union to Britain because Britain offered good healthcare, good unemployment benefits. And so you could see the situation where a lot of people would be leaving Cambodia and moving into a place like Thailandif they think they can get a better life thereor even Singapore, which would be overwhelmed. But the other problem on the other side would be in Cambodia because they are facing a shortage of skilled labor, be it workers or be it the intelligentsia, the people that are going to keep the economy running, the people who are going to keep the computers running. You don't want all those people to leave, and so thats why this kind of movement of labor within Southeast Asia is a bigger problem. I guess the biggest problem is that the disparity in incomes and economies between the countries in ASEAN is a lot greater than within Europe. The disparity of income between Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, between those countries which are very poor and the wealthier countries, like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore is great. And so thats why you might have this huge problem there. Thats why a country like Cambodia might really suffer if you ever open the borders entirely. So, in your opinion, what should Cambodia do? What they are doing now is actually quite smart. They are positioning themselves as an alternative to China because wages have grown so high in China now, and costs of doing business in China are growing so high that a lot of businesses decided that they can do, for example, textile manufacturing cheaper in Cambodia. A lot of small electronics manufacturing can be done cheaper out of Cambodia than out of China. So, I think by keeping wages low and by advertising itself to the world, you know, as a cheaper alternative to China, that Cambodia can prosper a little bit. So, thats one thing that Cambodia is doing very well, and youre starting to see a lot of companies relocate their factories from China, from southern China to Cambodia. I think the other thing Cambodia needs to do, though, is really try to clamp down and get a handle on the corruption problem, because people like to do business in a place where they know that they don't have to pay a lot of money in bribes. And what about Cambodias human capital? I think the human capital actually is quite good in Cambodia. I think the people are very hard-workers and theyre very smart. They can do very well, thats why they are taking so much business out of China, and people are starting to realize that they can actually have their garments or electronic parts for their television sets or radios made in Cambodia, because the quality of labor is actually very, very high there. The problem has been because of Cambodias history as a poor country, people have not had much education. The next generation will be a lot more educated than the current generation. Its getting better and better every year, but its going to take a little bit more time. Cambodia is kind of at the bottom rung now of the countries in ASEANalong with probably Laos, and maybe Myanmarbut theyve got to really invest in their education system to get people up to that next level. In ASEAN, who do you think could be the one to do a Brexit? The first one that try to leave? Well, thats a good question, actually. I hate to speculate. I would say probably that might be a country like Singapore, which might see itself more attuned, more linked to Western countries. Its a major financial center. The population is very educated there. If you had a free flow of labor, they would be just overwhelmed by their neighbors, which are much larger in terms of population. They might be the first one to think that they might not be getting so much out of ASEAN as they were giving to ASEAN. But I think ASEAN is not like the E.U. Theyve adopted a policy that all the members have to agree, that they have to have this consensus. I think itd be a lot easier for ASEAN to hang together as a group. Authorities in Afghanistan have declared a far eastern border district free of Islamic State militants, saying security forces killed nearly 300 IS militants during a month-long offensive. Provincial governor Salim Khan Kundozi made the announcement Monday during a visit to the Kot district in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. Top military commanders accompanied him. Afghan security forces are now moving into neighboring districts "to flush out Daesh terrorists from there," Kundozi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Syrian-based terrorist organization. Authorities removed all IS-related symbols from the district and raised Afghanistan's national flag. But despite official assurances, residents say they fear IS militants may return to the area, and want the government to deploy effective security measures to prevent them. Kabul attack Afghan authorities, meanwhile, say that at least one police officer was killed and four others wounded when a group of Taliban militants staged a coordinated assault early Monday on a Kabul hotel frequented by foreigners. An Interior Ministry statement says that, first, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed truck to breach the perimeter wall of the Northgate Hotel at around 1:30 a.m. Three gunmen then stormed the facility and started shooting. Residents in the Afghan capital say the blast shook the city. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the attack left a large number of people dead. But the Islamist insurgency often exaggerates casualty numbers in such attacks. Afghan security forces waited until dawn before engaging the attackers and killing them in a gunfight that last several hours. Separately, fighting raged Monday between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in northern and southern parts of Afghanistan. The Taliban assaulted the Nad Ali district in restive Helmand province a day earlier. Local officials say at least 20 policemen and soldiers have died in the fighting. Authorities in Nigeria have arrested the alleged leader of an email scamming network that conned people out of tens of millions of dollars. Police organization INTERPOL and Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Monday that the man, a 40-year-old Nigerian national identified only as "Mike," was arrested in a joint operation in Port Harcourt in June. The organizations say "Mike" headed a criminal network of at least 40 people across Nigeria, South Africa and Malaysia that carried out the scams, and also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the United States who provided bank accounts for the cash flow. The network allegedly compromised the email accounts of small and medium-sized companies in at least eight countries and sent messages to the companies' employees and business associates, asking them to transfer money. The scams netted more than $60 million from hundreds of victims. In one case, a target was tricked into paying $15.4 million. The suspect and another person arrested, identified only as a 38-year-old, face charges of hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretenses. Both are currently free on bail as the investigation continues. Crews continued to battle a massive wildfire near Californias Big Sur area that is threatening thousands of homes and has forced hundreds of evacuations. While cooler weather gave firefighters a break as they battled a 10-day-old blaze on the coast, a newer fire northeast of Fresno damaged some of the 400 homes that were evacuated just outside the Sierra National Forest. The combination of steep, mountainous landscape and extremely hot, dry conditions have hampered efforts to quell the so-called Soberanes Fire, which erupted on July 22 just south of the picturesque oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling the blaze that has already destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings. It has grown to more than 160 square kilometers, about the size of the city of San Francisco. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, firefighters have nearly surrounded a 168-square-kilometer blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. The fire was 93 percent contained Sunday, 10 days after it broke out. With nearly 20,000 people detained and arrests continuing, there is rising concern the crackdown in Turkey after the July 15 failed coup is expanding to government critics and opponents, especially in the media. Twenty-nine journalists have been imprisoned since the coup, and arrest warrants have been issued for dozens more. Journalist Cafer Solgun, who worked for one of the more than 100 media outlets closed in the crackdown, struggles to understand why people like him are targeted. It was the coup plotters who were blinded with madness to bomb the Turkish parliament and attempt to seize power. But what relation can me, Cafer Solgun, and dozens of other journalists like me have to do with it? Gulen denies charges President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists all those being targeted are connected to the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of using a secretive network of followers to carry out the coup attempt. Turkish authorities argue Gulen used his large network of national and local media outlets to support the military take over bid. Gulen denies all charges of involvement. And the motives of the crackdown are being increasingly questioned. WATCH - Muslim Cleric Gulen Denies Erdogan Claims of Coup Involvement Nina Ornianova of New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says the scale and scope of arrests, in particular in the media, leads to worrying conclusions. It goes far beyond what is necessary to preserve the security of the state. It seems like Mr. Erdogan and the AKP government, have being using this failed putsch to cleanse the media, state, and cleanse the country of dissenting voices. Ruling by decree Such accusations are strongly denied by Ankara who say only media establishments and journalists are linked to Gulen have been targeted. Observers say that claim is broadly true with prominent mainstream media critical of the president being so far unaffected. But Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas on Sunday criticized the detentions of pro-Kurdish and left-wing journalists. Turkeys Western allies, too, are voicing concern. These concerns have been angrily dismissed by President Erdogan, who said those critical of the crackdown are siding with the coup plotters. Ayse Sozen Usluer, Erdogan's foreign relations chief, defends the arrests and detentions, comparing the situation to that in the United States after the September 11th, 2001 terrorists attacks. After 9/11, I ask you, in Guantanamo were the people suspects or were they in prison in Guantanamo after the judiciary processes? They were suspects,' he said. "That's why these are the precautions being taken in Turkey at the moment. President Erdogan has granted himself emergency powers allowing him to rule by decree. Analysts say fears continue to grow that the crackdown could turn into a witch hunt against all critics. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has rejected fresh demands from the opposition that elections be held and President Joseph Kabila step down by December 20 of this year. Addressing his supporters in Kinshasa on Sunday, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi reportedly said it would be high treason if Kabila did not launch the electoral process by September. I think it is not ignorance but irresponsibility because President Kabila is not in charge of organizing election. According Congolese law, it is the electoral commission that organizes elections, and the electoral commission has already announced that there is no way to organize election before the end of this year because the electoral census has started and will not end before 10 months, information minister Lambert Mende told VOA. The 83-year-old veteran opposition leader Tshisekedi returned last week to Democratic Republic of Congo after spending two years abroad for medical reasons. Sunday's rally reportedly drew tens of thousands of supporters. Opposition parties claim President Kabilia just wants to stay in power The opposition has repeatedly accused President Kabila of working to push off elections to stay in office after his second mandate expires in December, something the government denies citing logistical challenges with the vote. The Constitutional Court has already said that if there is no election organized within that period as the constitution said, the incumbent president must remain in office until the elections are organized, Mende said. Some Kabila supporters have begun calling for a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term. The government has been urging the opposition to join the African Union-sponsored national dialogue intended to discuss the electoral process after the delay. That is why we say that a consensus is necessary so that we may have a peaceful electoral process, Mende said. Opposition claims AU facilitator favors Kabila But Martin Fayulu, a member of the opposition coalition and leader of the Commitment for Citizenship and Development party, told VOA just last week that the opposition will not participate in any dialogue with President Kabila because the African Union facilitator, former Togolese Prime Minister Edem Kodjo, is biased. Instead, Fayulu said the opposition will participate in dialogue under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2277 which calls for discussions that respect the DRC constitution. A U.S. electronics technician with the Federal Bureau of Investigation has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the Chinese government. Kun Shan Chun, who was born in China and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, admitted in federal court Monday in New York City to giving sensitive information to China. The Justice Department said that information included an FBI organizational chart, the identity and travel plans of an FBI agent, and photos Chun took of documents displayed in a restricted area of the FBI related to surveillance. Chun, 46, faces up to 27 months in prison. He was released on bail Monday and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2. The Justice Department said Chun has worked for the FBI since 1997 and was given a top secret security clearance in 1998, which enabled him to access sensitive information. Prosecutors accuse Chun of passing classified information to the Chinese from 2011 to 2016 through a printer manufacturing company in China that one of Chun's parents had invested in. They say the company, Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd., paid for part of Chun's international travel to China. Chun was initially charged in March for making false statements to the FBI to hide his contact with the Chinese company. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control warned pregnant women Monday not to travel to an area in the southeastern state of Florida where new cases of Zika virus infections have been identified. Florida officials have discovered ten more cases of the Zika virus, increasing the total there to 14 and prompting Governor Rick Scott to ask for federal help to fight the spread of the virus. A team is being deployed by the CDC in short order so that we will be able to work with Governor Scotts team on the ground in South Florida, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Monday. Scott said all known cases of Zika in Florida were caused locally by mosquitos. State health officials believe the spread of the Zika virus is limited to a square mile area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown Miami. The area is rapidly gentrifying and has numerous construction sites where standing water can collect and serve as a breeding area for mosquitos. In addition to the travel warning aimed at pregnant women, the CDC said pregnant women in the Miami area should make every effort to avoid mosquito bites. Officials identified six of the new cases by conducting door-to-door community surveys. On Friday, officials announced four cases of the Zika virus, believed to be the first cases contracted from mosquitos within the 50 U.S. states. More than 1,650 people in the mainland U.S. have contracted the virus in recent months, nearly all while traveling in other countries. U.S. officials have said they do not expect broad outbreaks like those in Brazil and in some other Latin American countries. Aggressive mosquito control efforts in Florida were announced on Friday but the CDC said mosquito control efforts are not working as well as expected. Health officials have reminded the public that most people with Zika don't know they are sick and that infection during pregnancy can cause babies to develop birth defects. GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabet's life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a novel field of medicine called bioelectronics. Verily Life Sciences, known as Google's life sciences unit until last year, and Britain's biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million pounds ($715 million) over seven years to Galvani Bioelectronics, they said on Monday. The new company, owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, will be based at GSK's Stevenage research center north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. It is GSK's second notable investment in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union in June. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million pounds on drug manufacturing. Galvani will develop miniaturized, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. GSK believes chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma could be treated using these tiny devices, which consist of a electronic collar that wraps around nerves. Kris Famm, GSK's head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said the first bioelectronic medicines using these implants to stimulate nerves could be submitted for regulatory approval by around 2023. "We have had really promising results in animal tests, where we've shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism, and now we are bringing that work into the clinic," he told Reuters. "Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years." GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in a paper in the journal Nature three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. Verily already has several other medical projects in the works, including the development of a smart contact lens in partnership with the Swiss drugmaker Novartis that has an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. Grain of rice Famm said the first generation of implants coming to market would be around the size of a medical pill but the aim eventually was to make them as small or smaller than a grain of rice, using the latest advances in nanotechnology. Patients will be treated with keyhole surgery and the hope is that bioelectronic medicine could provide a one-off treatment, potentially lasting decades. Major challenges including making the devices ultra low-power so that they function reliably deep inside the body. The idea of treating serious disease with electrical impulses is not completely new. Large-scale electrical devices have been used for years as heart pacemakers and, more recently, deep brain stimulation has been applied to treat Parkinson's disease and severe depression, while EnteroMedics last year won U.S. approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite. Galvani, however, is taking electrical interventions to the micro level, using tiny implants to coax insulin from cells to treat diabetes, for example, or correct muscle imbalances in lung diseases. Galvani will initially employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians. The company will be chaired by Moncef Slaoui, GSK's vaccines head, who pioneered the drugmaker's drive into the bioelectronics field. Slaoui is retiring from GSK next March but will continue to steer Galvani after that date, a spokesman said. Galvani will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements, following the model of the group's majority-owned ViiV Healthcare business, which sells HIV medicines. The Islamic State (IS) is inciting supporters to mount more attacks on Christians just days after two of the terror groups sympathizers slit the throat of an 85-year-old French priest as he was celebrating Mass a killing French officials fear was a deliberate tactic to provoke a Christian backlash in France against Muslims. The latest issue of IS's online magazine Dabiq, widely read by supporters and sympathizers, focuses on the theme of Break the Cross. In a series of interviews, foreign fighters who have converted from Christianity are used as mouthpieces to urge supporters in the West to destroy arrogant Christian disbelievers. They exhort Muslims to pray for Allah's curse to be upon the liars. Pope singled out as target Pope Francis, as well as Orthodox and Coptic church leaders, is among those singled as targets in the 15th issue of Dabiq, released Sunday. IS propagandists mock the Pope, saying the Pontiff only condemned the mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando because he comes from long line of boy rapists. The Catholic Church condemned forthrightly the Orlando terror attack in June, in which gunman Omar Mateen who had pledged allegiance to IS, killed 49 people and wounded another 53. After the slaughter the Church issued a statement, saying: The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred. Fighter Abu Sad al-Trinidadi, a former Christian from Trinidad and Tobago, references recent terror attacks in the West and urges supporters in a Dabiq interview to follow the example of the lions in France and Belgium, the example of the blessed couple in California, and the examples of the knights in Orlando and Nice. He tells IS supporters in the West that they have the ability to terrify the disbelievers in their own homes and make their streets run with their blood. He adds Christians are legitimate targets due to their mere disbelief, adding, for this reason, amongst others, the Islamic State leadership emphasized the importance not to differentiate between disbelieving soldiers and their so-called civilians. Twilight zone This is not the first time IS has exhorted followers to target Christians in the West or threaten to destroy Christianity. In February 2015, the terror group released a shocking five-minute video documenting the barbaric mass execution of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shoreline of Libya. In the video a militant spokesman points northward after the killings, saying: We will conquer Rome by Allahs permission. And the terror group has targeted and terrorized Christians in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq with rapes, abductions, forced conversions, desecration of churches and forced evictions. In 2014 Pope Francis warned, In Syria, another war is thriving in the shadow of the civil warthe war against the church. But the redoubled focus on Western Christianity now, analysts say, is powered by a highly dangerous, macabre logic. They warn that IS strategists are aiming to provoke an overreaction by Western governments and enraged citizens, hoping to drive young Muslims into their arms and away from what the jihadists call the "gray zone." The "gray zone" was defined in a January 2015 issue of Dabiq as a twilight area occupied by most Muslims between good and evil, the Caliphate and the Infidel. Last November, in the wake of the Paris attacks anthropologist Scott Atran told VOA that IS is seeking to provoke deeper divisions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe, forcing the latter to overreact as the terror becomes ever wilder and more extreme, thereby leaving the former with no choice but to join the jihadist camp. And to exacerbate antagonism toward Muslims in Europe, the more outrageous the targets, the more likely the terror will provoke Western governments to overreact or fuel the rise of populist nationalist parties or prompt revenge attacks. Church attack The murder last week of Fr. Jacques Hamel in the Norman village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen differed from previous IS attacks in France. They targeted people and places that symbolized freedom of speech, Western liberalism, the ideals of the French Revolution, and Jews. Some analysts see the killing of Fr. Hamel as as the first act of war on European soil against Christianity by IS. French officials were already alarmed before the release of Dabiq at the prospect of IS attacks causing a war against communities. Last week, a French official told VOA that one of the highest priorities of the Elysee Palace is to prevent a clash between Muslims and Christians. By noon Monday, Ghazala Khan and her husband had been making the rounds of TV outlets around Washington for six hours, talking about their son, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq 12 years, one month, and 24 days ago and about their virtual showdown over the internet and airwaves against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. It had been a long day already, and she was quick to tear up when talking about her son. "He always brought people together. ... he told me 'Mom, give love and you receive love,'" she said Monday in an interview with VOA, alongside her husband. It had been four days of non-stop media attention for the couple, since they stood together on the Democratic National Committee stage last Thursday, a photo of Captain Humayun S. M. Khan on the screen behind them. Ghazala Khan said nothing as her husband spoke to the arena about the death of their 27-year-old son, who was killed in a car bombing in Iraq in 2004. She said she couldn't bring herself to speak, not with his photo up. Not in front of thousands of people, when describing him still brought her to tears. Humayun was electric; everyone who touched him agreed, she said. His positivity could literally be felt. WATCH : Khizir and Ghazala Khan Talk to VOA "His passing sheds light on the capacity of human beings to be beyond 'us and them'," his father, Khizr Khan, explained in VOA's studio. "He was responsible for lots of human beings. Inside, there were hundreds of soldiers; outside, there were approximately 300 Muslim Iraqis locals that were coming into the camp. When the terrorist came, he extended his hand. He ordered his men to hit the ground. He had the option to hit the ground himself. ... He took 10 steps toward the oncoming danger. "That is the message of Islam; that is the message of peace," he added. "Looking out for other. ... not killing them." 'Thank you for immigrating' Since Khizr Khan, a Muslim-American who emigrated from Pakistan, spoke critically of Trump at the DNC, politicians from both parties have scrambled to respond as the Republican nominee struck back, comparing their sacrifice as a Gold Star Family to his as a businessman. Arizona Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam in the 1960s and the losing Republican presidential candidate in 2008, rebuked Trump for disparaging the couple. McCain, himself dismissed a year ago by Trump for being captured as a prisoner of war, said that the 2016 Republican nominee "has suggested that the likes" of the Khans' son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service." Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement," McCain said. "I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." Trump continued to denounce the elder Khan on Monday, saying on Twitter, "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice!" McCain, who has offered a tepid endorsement of Trump but not campaigned for him, said that while Republicans have picked Trump as their nominee, "it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." "Lastly, I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: Thank you for immigrating to America," McCain said. "We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right: Your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation and he will never be forgotten." Shouldering the burden In the interview with VOA, Khizr Khan said the family knew taking the stage in Philadelphia would be difficult. "Before participating in the convention, as a family we sat down and we talked about it. 'Should we do that, as Muslims?' And we decided that whatever the burden that would come, we would be together," he said. "We would bear it." Late Sunday, Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, said he and Trump believe that the younger Khan is a hero and families like his "should be cherished by every American." Pence moved quickly in his statement to criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, for "disastrous decisions" that he said allowed Islamic State to overrun "a once stable Middle East." While members of Congress, Pence and Clinton voted in 2002 to authorize the Iraq War; Obama was an Illinois state senator at that time. The Pence statement said Trump's plans to bar immigrants from countries "compromised by terrorism," rebuilding the U.S. military and defeating Islamic State will prevent other American families from going through the same thing as the Khans. Khizr Khan described Trump on Sunday as "totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country." At the Democratic convention, Khan, joined on stage by his wife, said Trump disrespects Muslims and other minorities, as well as women, judges and Republican leaders. He questioned if Trump had ever read the U.S. Constitution, and said the businessman has sacrificed nothing. Trump responded to the comments Sunday in an interview on ABC News, suggesting that his sacrifices were comparable to the death of the Khans son. "I think I have 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. I've done I've had tremendous success." When asked Sunday about the speech, Trump questioned why Ghazala Khan stood by her husband and did not speak. "She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say," he said. The soldier's mother did not speak during the convention appearance and later wrote that she was unable to, "Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain." Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has declared that his expansive political network would not support Donald Trump, questioning whether the Republican presidential nominee believes in free markets. During an exclusive gathering with some of the nation's most powerful Republican donors Sunday, the 80-year-old conservative icon also dismissed as "a blood libel'' any suggestion he might support Democrat Hillary Clinton. "At this point I can't support either candidate, but I'm certainly not going to support Hillary,'' Koch told hundreds of donors gathered for a weekend retreat in a luxury hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. With Election Day just three months away, Koch and his chief lieutenants openly refused to support the Republican presidential nominee, focusing their tremendous resources instead on helping the GOP win competitive Senate contests in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Details on Koch's decision emerged Sunday, the second day of a three-day gathering for donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners a network of education, policy and political entities that aims to promote a smaller, less intrusive government. The ambitious Koch network has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to influence politics and public policy over the last decade. The network planned to invest heavily in the 2016 presidential contest, but sharply changed its course after Trump became the Republican standard-bearer. The decision was welcomed by many of the 400 donors who attended the weekend retreat, even though "a reasonably significant'' number of attendees wanted the Koch network to support Trump, said Chris Wright, a Colorado-based energy entrepreneur. "Terrible and truly awful are the two choices,'' Wright said, suggesting that even if he voted for Trump in November and that's not decided he wouldn't go any further. "We're not going to give any money to support Donald Trump,'' Wright explained. Timothy Busch, a California-based donor, said he'd vote for Trump but do nothing more on his behalf. "He doesn't have enough civility and he's not a man of humility,'' Busch charged, citing specific complaints about Trump's positions on immigration and trade. Charles and David Koch have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but usually in private. A few of reporters, including one from The Associated Press, were invited to attend some of the forums. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any donors without their permission. Koch addressed the presidential contest in a general way on Sunday when reporters were present, but went further during a closed-door meeting later in the day. He outlined two primary criteria for deciding whether to support a candidate, Wright said: whether the candidate would "believes in and will fight for free markets'' and whether he or she has a viable chance to win. Both Clinton and Trump failed the first test, Wright said. With reporters on hand, Koch described his first priority as "to preserve the country's financial future and to eliminate corporate welfare.'' "Since it appears that neither presidential candidate is likely to support us in these efforts,'' he said, "we're focused on maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will.'' Trump has been embraced by many Republican voters, but David and Charles Koch have deep policy differences. The libertarian-leaning Koch brothers oppose Trump's position on immigration, trade, minimum wage and criminal justice reform, among others. The day before, Trump thumbed his nose at the Koch gathering from Twitter. "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch,'' the New York billionaire tweeted. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!'' The weekend's agenda featured a series of policy discussions and appearances from at least three governors, four senators and four members of the House of Representatives, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Asked about the Koch decision not to endorse Trump, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said, "I certainly respect their point of view on this.'' "I don't endorse everything about him. I certainly don't endorse everything he says,'' Walker told The Associated Press during a brief interview. But "In the end, choosing between the two, I still believe that any Republican including Donald Trump is better than Hillary.'' Koch has put the network's budget at roughly $750 million through the end of 2016. A significant portion was supposed to be directed at electing a Republican to the White House. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida. "To address the current political crisis, our first objective is to stop the worst federal policies regardless of who is the next president,'' Koch said. "We've got to remember that Republican presidents advance a lot of bad policies, just like Democrats do.'' The site of the worst mass shooting in the United States plans to reopen as a memorial to the people who died there. The Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 were killed and 53 injured in a terrorist attack in June made the announcement via social media Sunday. In the announcement, the One Pulse Foundation said the goal was to "provide financial assistance to the victims" and to "contribute to the creation of a permanent memorial." No opening date was given. On June 12, Omar Mateen entered the gay club and opened fire. He was later killed by police. Anyone wishing to donate funds to the foundation can do so on its website. The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) warns that 77 million babies deprived of mothers milk within the first crucial hours after birth are at great risk of dying within a month. To mark World Breastfeeding Week (August 1 to 7), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are calling for newborns to be breastfed exclusively for six months. UNICEF says newborns should be breastfed within the first hour of life. This provides them with the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother that protects them from disease and death. UNICEF reports the longer breastfeeding is delayed, the higher the risk of death in the first month of life. It warns delaying breastfeeding by 24 or more hours after birth increases that risk to 80 percent. On the other hand, it notes more than 800,000 lives would be saved if all babies were fed nothing but mothers milk from the moment they were born until six months of age. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization says this message is slow in getting through. WHO spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib, said new mothers are not receiving the support and encouragement they need to breast feed their babies. The slogan this year is breastfeed anywhere, any time because it is also, as I said, the role of society to make this possible for mothers who want to breast feed. This being said, yes, it is an old problem. We have always been advocating for more breastfeeding because we are convinced of the benefit of breastfeeding. It is really the ideal food for infants, said Chaib. For example, she said, breastfeeding protects children against many common illnesses. Breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight or obese and less prone to diabetes later in life. Chaib told VOA that inappropriate marketing of infant formula continues to undermine efforts to get women to breastfeed their babies. We are not against them producing this kind of milk. What we are against is the fact that they promote it as if it is the same value that the milk of the mother. It is a lie. It is not the same, said Chaib. Progress in getting more newborns breastfed within the first hour of life has been slow over the past 15 years. Surveys show in sub-Saharan Africa, where under-five mortality rates are the highest in the world, early breastfeeding rates have remained unchanged. New security laws went into effect Monday in Malaysia. Critics say the new measures give Prime Minister Najib Razak sweeping emergency powers which could be used to trample on human rights. The new law enables Najib to suspend civil liberties whenever he believes there is a security threat. Josef Benedict, Amnesty International's deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific, said "the government now has spurned checks and assumed potentially abusive power." The United Nations human rights regional office said it was "gravely concerned" that the laws may encourage human rights violations and lead to "unjust restrictions" on free speech and assembly. The new legislation was passed as the prime minister is embroiled in a corruption scandal. Critics see the new laws as a way for Najib to hold on to power. The prime minister has been under fire since revelations surfaced that he received about $700 million in his private bank accounts that appeared to have come from the state-owned investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad or 1MDB. Najib has denied all accusations of wrongdoing, insisting the money was a political donation from someone in the Middle East whom he has refused to identify. In the largest initiative of its kind by the U.S. Justice Department's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, authorities in the United Sates have initiated measures to seize more than $1 billion worth of luxury real estate, artworks, jewelry and even rights to a Hollywood movie that authorities allege were obtained with assets stolen from the 1MDB fund, which Najib founded in 2009 and now is owned by the finance ministry that the prime minister controls. A spokesman for the prime minister has said the government will cooperate with any international probes. "As the prime minister has always maintained, if any wrongdoing is proven, the law will be enforced without exception." The court filing alleges funds were laundered through bank accounts in the United States, as well as Luxembourg, Singapore and Switzerland. The suits claims the stolen funds were used to buy penthouses, mansions, artworks and a private jet, as well as for hiring musicians and celebrities to attend parties. Besides Malaysia and the United States other governments have been investigating 1MDB, including Singapore and Switzerland. A Nigerian commission has found that the army killed 348 people from a minority Shiite Muslim sect last December and has called for the prosecution of those involved. "The Nigerian army used excessive force," said the judicial inquiry in its report, published Monday. It said troops that took part in the three-day military raid on the northern city of Zaria should be identified "with a view to prosecuting them." The Nigerian army raided the headquarters of Shiite Muslim leader Ibraheem Zakzaky in December, sparking three days of clashes in the area. One soldier was also killed in the violence. Zakzaky was injured in the raid and has been in detention since then. The army accused Zakzaky's movement of attempting to kill Nigeria's army chief. Zakzaky's group was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The commission report expressed concern that Zakzaky's group may receive support from Iran, as well as Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah. The inquiry said it received thousands of documents and more than 80 witness testimonies during the course of the investigation. The majority of Nigeria's Muslims are Sunni and live in the north. The southern part of the country is largely Christian. Nigeria's new president, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, has promised to root out human rights violations by soldiers. The fate of an 18-year-old North Korean defector who sought asylum inside South Koreas consulate in Hong Kong last month is still up in the air, although human rights groups hope that Chinas recent non-cooperative stance with Pyongyang may eventually facilitate his freedom. It is also in their hope that China can find ways to address the plight of hundreds of thousands of North Korean migrants living illegally in China, who have become easy targets of exploitation. The teenage defector is believed to be Jong-yol Ri a three-time silver medalist of the International Mathematical Olympiad, the South China Morning Post reported. Math whiz Ri was one of six students from North Korea, accompanied by two teachers, who went to Hong Kong to attend this years international math competition. He was allegedly last seen at the events closing ceremony on July 15 and believed to have successfully made it into the citys South Korean consulate to take refuge. The math whizs personal safety is temporarily guaranteed as consulates, considered foreign territories, are off-limit to authorities in Hong Kong or Beijing. But given Chinas past track record of cooperating with the authoritarian regime in North Korea, human rights groups are concerned Ri is still at risk of being sent back home. Amnesty International is quite concerned because just like what we know about North Koreans, who arrive in China. They always stand the risk of being forcefully repatriated, its East Asia researcher Arnold Fang said. So, its important for us to state that everyone, including North Koreans, have the right to seek asylum, Fang added. As a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, China should never repatriate the teenage defector or anyone else seeking refugee status, especially those who, once repatriated, may suffer torture, death penalties or other forms of human rights violations, the Hong Kong-based activist argued. But the reality is that, in lieu of a legal system to determine refugee status, China has often helped North Korea bring home financially-disadvantaged migrant workers unless they take refuge at foreign consulates or have valid passports or travel documents. Silver lining In Ris case, even if he has valid travel documents to exit Hong Kong, diplomatic negotiations are still required between the Chinese and South Korea governments to finalize if he will next be allowed to travel to Seoul via a third country as several past precedents have established. As recently as this April, Beijing seemed to have adopted a neutral stance in the escape of 13 North Korean workers from a state-run restaurant in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo. We believe that he will be safe. But the Chinese government has had experience in stalling the handling of such cases, where North Korean defectors sought asylum at foreign consulates in China, said Owen Lau, co-founder of Hong Kong-based North Korean Defectors Concern. Such negotiations may take up to two to three years, during which time, the teenage defector will be forced to stay inside the South Korean consulate, he said. And even if Ri is eventually set free, Lau is concerned that his family may either be put behind bars or forced to work with Pyongyang authorities by making TV appearance to accuse the South of abducting their son so as not to embarrass the Kim Jong-un regime. Bargaining chip? China, nevertheless, is once again caught in between the two Korean governments. It has recently lashed out Seouls cooperation with the U.S. to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. That has worried some as they suspect if China may now use Ris release as a bargaining chip in its talks with Seoul. But others rejected the possibility of political consideration in defection cases. There have established past examples, which were resolved on a case-by-case basis. So, I dont think any diplomatic confrontation will be triggered, said Lu Chao, a professor with Liaoning Social Science Academy. Official statistics show that nearly 30,000 defectors now live freely in South Korea although most have a difficult time making a living there with the number of defectors picking up since early this year. But what is equally concerning is the plight of North Korea migrant workers living illegally in China, who are estimated to have a population of 100,000 to 200,000 people and often forced into slavery, prostitution or exploitation, both Lau and Fang said. Migrant workers plight In most cases, China is considered both a land of opportunities and a transit country where North Koreans make their escape into a third country or South Korea. Some North Koreans actually make use of the human trafficking system in order to leave their country. So, I think there must be some element of exploitation even though it may not happen to everyone, Fang said. Fang urged China to either recognize the refugee status of some migrant workers, or legalize their working status, in order to end rampant human trafficking and to minimize the exploitation on socially- and financially-disadvantage North Koreans. A top opposition figure has quit South Sudan's unity government and declared the death of the peace deal aimed at ending the country's civil war. Lam Akol said in a statement Monday that President Salva Kiir has repeatedly violated last year's peace agreement and dealt it a "final blow" with his actions since the first week in July, when fighting between government and opposition forces in the capital, Juba, killed at least 300 people. In an interview with VOA's South Sudan in Focus program, Akol blamed Kiir forces for provoking the clashes, adding that without security for opposition leaders, there can be no peace deal. "I went into the cabinet to implement the peace agreement," he said. "If the peace agreement has died, I have no moral justification to continue in that government." There was no immediate comment from President Kiir, and it was not clear if other opposition leaders agreed with Akol that the peace deal is dead. Akol also cited Kiir's removal of opposition chief Riek Machar as the country's first vice president. Machar has been in hiding since the clashes in Juba, citing safety concerns. "If you don't have the first vice president, then who is your next partner in the peace agreement?" said Akol. New Opposition Movement? In his statement, Akol said opponents of President Kiir should "organize outside Juba." When asked by VOA if that means he is planning a new rebellion, Akol demurred, saying he wants to hold consultations. South Sudan's Transitional Government of National Unity was formed in April, nine months after Kiir and Machar signed the peace deal under heavy international pressure in Addis Ababa. Akol, 66, was minister of agriculture and a member of the commission that monitored implementation of the agreement. He said he is resigning both of those positions and his role as chairman of the Democratic Change Party and the National Alliance of opposition groups. South Sudan has known conflict for more than half of its five-year history as an independent nation. The war began in December 2013, a few months after Kiir fired Machar as his deputy. In many places, the fighting degenerated into ethnic violence pitting Kiir's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer tribe. Tens of thousands have died, and more than two million South Sudanese have been driven from their homes. The South Sudanese government and opposition have blamed each other for starting last month's renewed violence in Juba. Akol said Monday that he has evidence the violence was planned in advance but said "it will not be useful to discuss it publicly." John Tanza of VOA's South Sudan in Focus program contributed to this report. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday his government would pursue peace talks with communist guerrillas despite an initial setback when he withdrew a cease-fire order after the rebels killed a militiaman in an attack. Duterte also announced he would release a top rebel couple, Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, from detention in another move to bolster the resumption of peace negotiations scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. It's always a rocky road. There is no negotiation that comes easy to us, especially given the turmoil of our country,'' Duterte said in a speech before swearing in new officials at the presidential palace. We are hoping that we could just talk, maybe we did not understand each other. And so, the best way is really to talk again and find out whether it is reachable or beyond our reach,'' he said. Duterte declared a cease-fire on July 25, but withdrew it five days later after the rebels killed a militiaman in a landmine attack in southern Davao del Norte province and failed to declare their own truce by Saturday. The president held a Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss how his government would pursue talks with the communist insurgents and two groups of Muslim rebels in the country's south, while excluding the brutal Abu Sayyaf extremist group. The Maoist guerrillas said in a statement Sunday that they still fully back the resumption of long-stalled talks and were willing to declare a unilateral cease-fire simultaneously with the government when the talks resume. Duterte withdrew his truce order before the guerrillas could announce their own cease-fire Saturday, the rebels said, adding it was quite capricious'' for the president to have imposed such ultimatums of a few hours or several days for the Communist Party of the Philippines to act in accordance with his whims.'' It is advisable for [Duterte] to exercise a little more prudence and display more measured temperament ... in order to avoid such impulsive acts as imposing ultimatums by the hour on a conflict that has spanned nearly fifty years,'' the rebels said. Following the lifting of the government cease-fire, army troops and police killed a New People's Army rebel in a clash Monday with up 20 guerrillas who were reportedly extorting money from villagers in Malimono town in southeastern Surigao del Norte province, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said. Duterte suggested Monday that he was open to declaring a new government cease-fire with communist insurgents. 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. A suicide bomb attack on a hotel compound in Afghanistan's capital ended Monday with the deaths of one policeman and all three attackers. Kabul's police chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi said one suicide bomber died when he blew up his explosives-laden truck Monday morning outside the security wall of the Northgate Hotel, just east of the Kabul airport. The Northgate houses foreign contractors, including Americans. Police say the explosion was felt throughout Kabul and knocked out power across much of the city. Rahimi said two other attackers tried to enter the hotel, but police fired on them, forcing them to take shelter in a nearby compound. The attackers were killed in an ensuing battle that lasted for several hours. One police officer was killed and three others wounded in the exchange of fire. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. A Republic of Congo opposition party has called for the unconditional release of political prisoners and easing of arbitrary arrests. The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy's statement issued overnight Sunday follows a similar request last week by Amnesty International. Gen. Jean Marie Michel Mokoko, an independent candidate in the March presidential elections, is under provisional house detention. Paulin Makaya, president of the opposition United Party for Congo, was sentenced last week to two years in prison for inciting public disorder and insurrection. Makaya was detained after participating in an October protest of a referendum allowing the country's longtime president to seek another term. The referendum ultimately passed. President Denis Sassou N'Guesso, in power for more than 30 years, was re-elected in March. A Russian military helicopter was shot down Monday in northwestern Syria, killing all five people on board. Russia's defense ministry said the transport helicopter was hit as it returned from delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo, and that the dead included two officers and three crew members. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defense ministry, those in the helicopter died," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "They died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimize victims on the ground." Russian forces have been conducting airstrikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government since September of last year. The conflict between Assad's forces and rebels who want him out of power has been going on since March 2011 when peaceful protests spiraled into a civil war that includes multiple rebel groups as well as Islamic State militants battling for territory. The Syrian government said Sunday it is ready to resume U.N.-sponsored peace talks with the opposition in Geneva at the end of August without preconditions or "external influence." Several previous rounds of U.N. talks have broken apart as the violence persisted and the major question of whether Assad would step down remained unresolved. The United States and other Western powers have insisted Assad must leave as part of any peace deal, while his allies, chiefly Russia, have rejected that position. A battle between Taliban gunmen and Afghan security forces raged through the night at a guesthouse and logistics facility used by foreign contractors in Kabul. Police said a powerful truck bomb exploded at the gates of Northgate Hotel about 0130 local time on August 1 and militants stormed into the compound. As dawn broke on August 1, gunfire and occasional explosions still could be heard coming from the Northgate Hotel, a heavily guarded compound to the east of Kabul's international airport that is fortified with blast walls and watchtowers. Roads in the neighborhood were blocked off by Afghan security forces and columns of vehicles with Afghan troops and police were deployed in the area. Afghan media reported that forces from NATO's Resolute Force mission also were involved in what correspondents described as a "clearing operation." Correspondents also reported hearing the sound of rocket-propelled grenades being launched and exploding within the vast compound. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the truck bomb cleared the way for Taliban fighters to enter the compound with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles. Afghan officials did not immediately release complete casualty figures. But the BBC reports that Kabul police confirmed at least one policeman was killed and another injured by gunfire. The Taliban, which is known to exaggerate casualties caused by its attacks, claimed that more than 100 foreigners had been killed and wounded -- calling them "American invaders." In addition to housing foreign guests, the Northgate Hotel is a logistics facility that provides support services to foreign military and civilian contractors in Afghanistan. In 2013, the Northgate Hotel was granted diplomatic status, allowing it to continue using private foreign security companies rather than the Afghan Interior Ministrys Afghan Public Protection Force. A similar Taliban attack against the Northgate Hotel in July 2013 -- a truck bomb followed by a gun battle -- killed nine people, including four Nepalese and one Briton. The latest attack comes about a week after the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people. It also follows an attack in June on a convoy of Nepalese security contractors who worked for the Canadian Embassy and other attacks against foreigners in Kabul -- including a suicide attack in January at Camp Baron, a camp used by foreign contractors. With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, Tolo TV, and BBC Two men belonging to the Hazara community, a Shiite minority group, were gunned down Monday as they returned home from a fruit market in Quetta, Pakistan. Ghulam Nabi and Muhammad Nabi were both residents of Alamdar road, an area dominated by the Hazara population. The community has long been a target of sectarian Sunni militants. Their distinct facial features make them easily recognizable among the local population, and therefore an easier target for those looking to kill Shi'ites. The Jamaatul Ahrar group of Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for this attack. The Hazaras in Quetta are related to the Hazara community in Afghanistan that was targeted last month in an attack in Kabul that killed more than 80 people. Islamic State had taken responsibility for that attack. Members of the Quetta Hazara community demonstrated against that attack and held a candle light vigil for the victims. In Pakistan, attacks on Hazaras have been ongoing for many years. The violence peaked in 2013 when more than 230 people were killed in various attacks throughout the year, according to a list prepared by Shi'ite community leaders in Quetta. In January of 2013, more than 100 people were killed in two separate bomb blasts on Alamdar road, the same area where Mondays victims lived. In another attack a couple of years ago, militants stopped a local bus near Quetta, forced only the Hazara commuters off the bus, lined them up and shot them. A member of South Africas opposition Democratic Alliance said President Jacob Zumas rhetoric ahead of Wednesdays municipal elections is a sign of desperation -that the once mighty African National Congress [ANC] may be losing ground to the opposition in terms of popularity. President Zuma on Sunday admonished South Africans to vote for the ANC so that the party will continue to improve their lives. The ANC controls a majority of the countrys 278 cities, but a new opinion poll shows the ANC is threatened in Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Port Elizabeth. Sheila Camerer, a former South African ambassador and a member of the Democratic Alliance party said this time around, many South Africans will not listen to President Zuma because they feel their lives have not been improved under years of ANC rule. The statistics and opinion polls indicate that the ANC will have an uphill battle to hold on to three big metros in this country, namely Port Elizabeth, called Nelson Mandela Bay, or Pretoria, which is called Tshwane, and Johannesburg where the Democratic Alliance is polling ahead of the ANC in two of them and level pegging in Johannesburg with the ANC, she said. Camerer accused President Zuma of using all kinds of peculiar rhetoric to urge people to vote for the ANC. He said yesterday that the ancestors will come back to hunt everybody if they didnt vote for the ANC, which is ridiculous. Hes also using a number of racist remarks in his urging for people to vote, she said. President Zuma defended the ANC at a Johannesburg rally on Sunday saying, "The ANC wants an end to all forms of corruption and will diligently pursue all those who are corrupt." Zuma also said the opposition Democratic Alliance is a party that only cares for black people on the eve of an election. He said, "No white party can run this country." President Zumas second term ends in 2019 and he is not eligible to run for president again. He also been plagued by allegations of corruption, and some say Wednesdays municipal elections could be seen as a referendum on Zumas rule. Camerer said this time around, some black South Africans are feeling disillusioned because they feel their lives have not improved greatly under nearly 22 years of ANC rule. The reason why they are not going to heed his call is that a majority of people that hes appealing to feel that their lives havent been improved at all. And the only big city where one can say without contradiction that things have improved is the Western Cape and Cape Town which is controlled by the Democratic Alliance, Camerer said. But Zuma insisted Sunday that, "The ANC will ensure that all Local Municipalities, District Municipalities and Metropolitan cities achieve unqualified audits and spend their budgets on what has been approved in councils." However Camerer said things are looking good for the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties as the Wednesday vote approaches. And there is a serious chance that power can be taken away from the ANC in at least two of those metros, possibly or even probably in a coalition between opposition parties, Camerer said. Like many South Africans, 26-year-old academic researcher Rudolf Du Plessis previously supported the ruling African National Congress. But as local elections loom Wednesday, he, like many South Africans, is leaning toward the opposition. The ANC, which has dominated every national election since it came to power in 1994, is slowly but surely losing its luster amid numerous corruption scandals and widespread outrage over persistent inequalities. And so, many voters, like Du Plessis, say they might switch sides in the election as 60,000 candidates vie for some 9,000 spots. I just think that South Africa needs a stronger opposition party, he said. I mean, its just better for politics. Its better to have some competition, and some sort of monopolistic political system isnt really conducive to anything good. But the opposition Democratic Alliance has much bigger goals. Not since 1994 has this city stood on the brink of such monumental change, said the partys Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Herman Mashaba. The race for Johannesburg is neck and neck, and the overwhelming momentum behind the DA is encouraging we are confident we can win. Mashaba may be a bit optimistic. While the latest Ipsos poll predicts that the ANC will lose support in the economic hub of Johannesburg, neither party is predicted to take the City of Gold outright. The poll predicts that the ANC will clinch 31 percent; the DA, 36 percent. Demographic shift But the shift away from the ANC is playing out in a demographic the party once considered its stronghold: the poor and disadvantaged. In Johannesburg's poverty-stricken area of Eldorado Park, 32-year-old DA activist Stacia Matthews said her grandmother is a staunch supporter of the party that Nelson Mandela brought to power. But she isnt. The ANC has done nothing for me, she said. Even the ANC has done nothing for my granny. Shes still living in her old house, she doesnt have lights (electricity). And for me to be part of ANC, theres no reason. Thats why I moved to DA. Her local representative, Peter Rafferty, grew up in this impoverished area, and says the community still feels ignored by the ANC and that corruption has delayed the long-promised changes. The DA has made this a pillar of their platform. I think one of the things that we are fundamentally proud of is that we will give them a corruption-free government, he said during a campaign stop. The ANC still has widespread support, in particular among black South Africans, who credit the party for ending the racist apartheid system. ANC, we know what it has done for us, right, said 25-year-old financial adviser Paul Teboho. We also know, or we can predict, what it will do for us. But with other parties, Im not quite sure whether I can vote for them or not. The ANC has lost voters to the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, a relatively new party which appeals to youth. The opposition parties have pounded the ANC over a barrage of corruption scandals this year, even calling for Zumas impeachment. Unlike the ANC, which President Jacob Zuma has said will rule until until Jesus comes back, the DA says it will take it one election at a time. Zumas second and final term ends in 2019. Were the only party that says, just give us this one chance to show you that this is what we can deliver, Rafferty said. If we dont deliver in the first five years, then dont vote for us. Taiwan's president has for the first time, formally apologized to the country's indigenous people for centuries of suffering. Tsai Ing-wen said Monday, "I apologize to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, to give our deepest apology over the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years." She said "We need to look at history seriously and speak out the truth" as a way to "step forward." The president said a justice and historical justice commission will be established to review past indignities. Tsai spoke at a ceremony at the presidential office building on Taiwan's official aboriginal people's day. Representatives from the island's 16 officially recognized native tribes attended the event in Taipei, the capital. The indigenous community of Taiwan is a marginalized group with many living in poverty and suffering a high rate of unemployment. Taiwan was inhabited by a variety of tribes for thousands of years before Dutch colonizers began importing Chinese laborers in the 17th century. The mother of a leading activist against the military junta in Thailand was charged on Monday with insulting the country's monarchy in a one-word Facebook post. Patnaree Chankij was brought to a military court in Bangkok after the country's attorney general decided to press charges despite police saying earlier that they would not pursue a case against the 40-year-old woman. According to her lawyer, Patnaree was charged with violating Thailand's royal insult laws for writing the word "ja" - which means "yeah" in Thai in response to a private Facebook message critical of the royals. She was released on bail. "The court accepted the case from the attorney general and freed Patnaree on bail," said Anon Numpa, her lawyer. Under Article 112 of the criminal code, anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent" faces up to 15 years in prison. The case has drawn international criticism since May, when police first issued an arrest warrant for Patnaree and charged her with defaming the monarchy. The police subsequently said they would drop the charges. The United States and several rights organizations, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, condemned Patnaree's arrest and the charges brought against her. The State Department in May said it created a "climate of intimidation". The junta has clamped down on dissent ahead of a referendum next week on whether to accept a military-backed constitution that critics say is designed to enshrine military power. Patnaree's son, Sirawith Seritwat, is a student activist with the New Democracy Movement and Resistant Citizen, groups that the authorities have regularly targeted because of their activities, including handing out leaflets urging people to reject the draft constitution. During its two-year rule, the military government has taken a hardline stance against perceived royal insults and has handed down record sentences. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who also heads of the junta, has said he would show zero-tolerance to insults of the monarchy. For more than a decade, Thailand has been bitterly divided between rival camps, one led by former populist premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a 2006 coup, the other dominated by the royalist and military establishment who accuse Thaksin of corruption and nepotism, charges he denies. National anxiety over the frail health of 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej has compounded the political tensions. Thais mostly see the king as a unifying force and celebrated the 70th year of his reign in June. Up to 50 million eligible Thai voters are set to decide the future of the countrys latest draft constitution, seen as crucial to the military governments roadmap to fresh general elections. But the outcome remains shrouded in uncertainty as surveys while indicating support also find 60 percent of voters undecided ahead of the August 7 ballot. The military, in power since 2014, has kept a tight hold over debate on the draft, arresting dozens of no campaigners, often students, together with raids on some media offices. Allegations have arisen that the new charter would see cuts in public health services all denied by the government. In recent weeks, the military cleared the way for discussion of the charter on a state funded television station, Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS). The military government has urged people to go to the polls, but analysts say few voters are likely to have read the 279 clause charter before saying 'yes' or 'no.' Gothom Arya, a former election commission member and university lecturer, says people have insufficient information about the charter given the limited debate and the arrests of those campaigning for a no vote. You can say that they threaten the people who try to campaign. What kind of freedom of expression when you cannot say No and you cannot campaign for your opinion, Arya told VOA. The arrests of at least 86 'no' campaigners has led the United Nations' expert on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, to condemn the moves, saying the government should allow rigorous debate on the constitution. The military has used laws supporting the referendum to criminalize the 'no' campaigners with fines and imprisonment of up to 10 years. The draft charter, if passed, would strengthen the influence by the military in the next parliament. Proposed tighter controls over the election of politicians in a 500 member House of Representatives and a 250 member appointed senate including key military leaders over a five year transition period have all raised criticisms. A joint sitting of both houses would elect the new prime minister and not the largest party in the House. Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of the Democrat Party and former senator, says the tough stance taken by the military may trigger a public backlash. Increasingly, this method of repressing freedom of debate from the beginning and only allowing limited debate on television limited to three to four people only to talk about the draft constitution at all, will bring about a backlash against the regime and that people will eventually be turned off ever from participating at all in fact, Kraisak told VOA. How can you vote yes or no when you dont know what youre voting for in a sense that nobody knows the content of this draft constitution? he said. The Democrat Party, Thailands oldest party, rejected supporting the draft charter. Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the new constitution would not end to the political conflicts that have affected the country during the past decade as the people would have little role to play in the country's administration. The Pheu Thai Party, backed by deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, also has called on voters to reject the draft. Thaksins sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, stepped down as prime minister shortly before the military's 2014 coup. Samarn Lertwongrath, a senior figure in the Pheu Thai Party, says party surveys point to a close outcome on August 7, and he says he is suspicious of the military. The referendum according to our polls is very close. So I think to predict the result with our very cunning military men like this, they can cheat everything. So we wait and see, what can we do? [But] its very close, Samarn told VOA. Thailand has faced years of political conflict and protests largely between the rural and working class supporters of Thaksin, and the urban middle class and other elites, including the Democrat Party. Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist and adviser to the government, believes the public is supportive of the constitution, and cautious after years of political turbulence. The mood of the general public, excluding some keen political activists and other observers, has shifted from the very important document to something like stability, continuity, progress and certainly elections, most people are expecting next year, there should be a general election and return of parliamentary democracy, Panitan said. Analysts say the military desires to remain influential in guiding the country through an anticipated royal succession, as revered Thai King Bhumipol Adulyadej is in poor health. Economist Supavud Saichaeu said this transition is reflected in the militarys aim to maintain influence in the next parliament. There is a sense, if you really think about it, that the government is doing a lockdown of Thailand. That nothing is allowed to move, to change, to wiggle because of this twilight years, Supavud said. Meechai Ruchupan, a veteran lawyer who chaired the constitution drafting committee, has called on voters to support the charter, warning of political turbulence if it is rejected. The military says if voters say no, they may press for elections using the existing interim constitution. Over 10,000 police officers will be deployed on the day of the referendum. The election commission has printed more than 54 million cards for registered voters to cast their ballot. Turkish forces detained 11 soldiers Monday who are suspected of attacking a hotel where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staying during an attempted coup in mid-July. The captures were made near the resort town of Marmaris, and followed the detention last week of several other soldiers accused of targeting Erdogan. The president had been vacationing in Marmaris on July 15 when the attempt to overthrow his government began and has said he left his hotel shortly before a group of soldiers attacked. Monday's captures are the latest in a crackdown against those who allegedly played a role in the attempted coup. Sunday, the government dismissed nearly 1,400 military personnel, including Erdogan's top military adviser, as the president also brought the country's armed forces under civilian rule. More than 50,000 people have now lost their jobs across the country and more than 18,000 have been detained in connection with the coup attempt, which the government has blamed on Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is an Erdogan opponent who has lived in the United States for nearly two decades and has denied any connection in the uprising. Turkey has demanded the U.S. extradite the 75-year-old Gulen and sent documents on his alleged involvement in the failed coup to U.S. officials. The top U.S. military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, is visiting Turkey Monday as part of a trip to assess the battle against the Islamic State group. The U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the militants has been using Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey for about a year after getting approval from Erdogan. The Turkish government Monday also summoned Germany's charge d'affaires after a German court ruling prevented Erdogan from addressing by video a rally in the city of Cologne Sunday that drew tens of thousands of his supporters. An Erdogan spokesman called the ruling a violation of free expression. The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, the Pentagon said Monday. The strikes were conducted in the Islamic State stronghold of Sirte at the request of the U.N.-backed Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), according to U.S. and Libyan officials. The Pentagon says the president authorized the strikes in support of GNA-affiliated forces after they were recommended by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joe Dunford. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Monday one strike hit an IS tank that had directly challenged GNA-aligned forces and indiscriminately targeted civilians in the area. Another strike hit two IS vehicles. Goal to deny IS safe haven U.S. strikes will continue to target Islamic State forces in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance and to help deny IS a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the U.S. and its allies, the Pentagon announced in a statement Monday. "We want to strike at ISIL anywhere it rears its head," Cook said, using an acronym for Islamic State. WATCH: Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook on US airstrikes The militant group has been trying to expand in Sirte for more than a year. U.S. Africa Command's Deputy for Military Operations, Vice Admiral Michael Franken, told VOA in an interview at Africom headquarters in Stuttgart last December that if Raqqa [Syria] is the nucleus, the nearest thing to the divided nucleus is probably Sirte. Fighter numbers reduced Pentagon press secretary Cook praised the progress made by the GNA-affiliated forces in Sirte, saying that IS fighter numbers have been reduced from thousands in the city to less than 1,000. "We hope these airstrikes can be conducted over a short amount of time and that their forces forces will be able to move even faster in terms of removing ISIL from that area," Cook said. Monday's strikes mark the third American attack on IS in Libya since November, but the previous two had targeted high-value IS targets and were not requested by the GNA. In February, U.S. warplanes attacked an IS training camp in western Libya that was near the border with Tunisia, killing dozens of terrorist recruits. Defense officials in Washington said the airstrike most likely killed senior Islamic State figure Noureddine Chouchane. A U.S. airstrike last November in the city of Derna killed Abul Nabil, the head of the Islamic State militant group in Libya, according to the Pentagon. U.S. political surveys are showing that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has regained her edge over Republican contender Donald Trump in the aftermath of last week's Democratic convention where she and a raft of other speakers attacked his credentials to be the American leader. Trump, a real estate tycoon seeking elected office for the first time, enjoyed a similar bump in polling against Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, after the Republican convention two weeks ago with its barrage of taunts against her. But now that both of the quadrennial conventions are over, CBS News said Clinton leads Trump 46 percent to 39, similar to her 43-37 lead in mid-June. The television network's poll in the days after Trump claimed the Republican nomination more than a week ago showed the race tied at 42 apiece. CBS also said its latest survey shows that voters continue to hold unfavorable views of both Clinton and Trump, although both of their standings were somewhat improved after their respective conventions. Voters now hold a 36 percent to 50 percent favorable-unfavorable view of Clinton, while Trump is at 31-52. A CNN-ORC poll released later Monday had Clinton holding an even larger lead of 52 percent to 43 percent following the Democratic National Convention. The television network's poll after the Republican convention had Trump ahead 48-45. The CNN poll also found that Clinton's convention appears to have raised the percentage of Americans who think her policies will move the country in the right direction - from 43 percent before either convention to 48 percent now. In another post-conventions survey, Public Policy Polling showed a 46-41 Clinton lead in polling that included two other presidential candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson, with 6 percent support, and the Green Party's Jill Stein at 2 percent. "It looks like the Republican and Democratic convention bounces have cancelled each other out and basically left the race where it was a month ago, said Dean Debnam, Public Policy Polling's president. A third pollster, Gallup, said Americans are almost evenly divided on how they view Clinton's Democratic Party after its convention, with 44 percent feeling favorably about it and 42 percent less favorably. But Gallup said a separate survey taken in the immediate aftermath of the Republican convention showed that only 35 percent of Americans had a more favorable view of the party, compared to 52 percent viewing it less favorably. Around two dozen supporters of a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer and three activists charged with subversion protested outside a northern city court Monday amid widespread concerns that authorities were holding their trials in secret. Flanked by Western diplomats, the supporters gathered outside the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court calling for information to be disclosed about the four, whose mid-July indictments were the latest move by authorities waging a massive crackdown on legal activism over the past year. Supporters included the wife of Gou Hongguo, one of the activists who was indicted with subversion and thought to be standing trial Monday, together with Zhou Shifeng, the head of a law firm at the center of the crackdown. Several hundred people nationwide have been questioned, with some of them detained and arrested, in the crackdown begun in July last year that has sent a chill through China's legal system. Nearly two dozen of them remain in detention and face charges, the most serious of which includes subversion of state power, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. An overseas Chinese news site and activist groups that track the prosecutions of Chinese rights activists had reported rumors that Zhou, Gou and two others might be put on trial on Monday. Court officials reached by phone said they had no information on the cases. There were no visible signs of a trial in progress aside from the heavy presence of plainclothes security officers outside the courthouse. Wives of lawyers and activists who have been ensnared in the crackdown staged a small demonstration next to diplomats from the United States, Britain and six other Western countries that have publicly denounced Beijing's crackdown. Fan Lili, the wife of Gou, the activist, fell to the ground in tears following a confrontation with a plainclothes police officer while dozens of security agents who blanketed the street watched, filming with smartphones and video cameras. "My son is 16 months old now and he has never even met his father. How can you be like this? Let him come home,'' Fan said. "All I'm here for today is to ask whether they are holding his hearing and why did they beat me?'' Fan Lili, the wife of imprisoned activist Gou Hongguo, lies on the ground in tears following an interaction with a plainclothed police officer outside the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Tianjin, China on Aug. 1, 2016. Local officials later persuaded the family members, supporters and diplomats to move from the courthouse gate. Family members say they have not been permitted to visit the jailed lawyers and activists since they were taken away more than a year ago. Chinese authorities, they say, have also refused to identify the legal counsel they have appointed to represent the defendants instead of the lawyers appointed by their families. Chinese state media have previously accused some of the lawyers and activists of disrupting social order by organizing protests and stirring up trouble for personal gain. Rights groups say the activists are being targeted for organizing protests and social media campaigns to raise awareness of legal rights and hot-button social issues. Chen Guiqin, a professor from central Hunan province and the wife of detained lawyer Xie Yang, traveled seven hours by train hoping to get a sense of what she could expect for her husband when he goes on trial as expected. Jiang Tianyong, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer, said the level of secrecy was rarely seen. In the past, high-profile dissidents such as the writer Liu Xiaobo had family-appointed lawyers and relatives present at his trial. Jiang said that the disappearances, presumably into police custody, of at least two of the would-be defendants' wives as they were headed to Tianjin on Sunday were strong indications that a trial was under way. "This is unprecedented...a completely secret operation,'' said Jiang. "From beginning to end, it's a black box.'' BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say they have detained a 20-year-old man on his way to join the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria. Kyrgyzstan's Border Guarding Service said on August 1 that the man from the southern region of Batken was detained at the Osh airport while trying to leave the city for the Russian city of St. Petersburg. It said the man, whose identity was not disclosed, had confessed he was planning to travel to Turkey and then Syria, where he wanted to join the IS militants. Kyrgyz authorities said in June that several Kyrgyz nationals, who allegedly had fought alongside militants in Syria and Iraq, had been arrested after returning to Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek says a total of more than 500 Kyrgyz citizens have joined the IS group in both Syria and Iraq. The 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship Presidential Summit kicked off in Washington,D.C., earlier today with Zimbabweans making a mark for themselves at the event. Almost 1,000 young african leaders from 49 countries converged at the Omnishoreham hotel and call to order by the U.S. Assistant secretary of state of educational and cultural affairs Evan Ryan immediately set the room abuzz. While speaking during the Congressional Forum on investing in the next generation of Africa, panelist Natasha Kimani from Kenya, drew an applause from Zimbabweans in the crowd after mentioning of Pastor Evan Mawarires #Thisflag movement. Speaking on the power of social media like Twitter, Kimani said movements like #Thisflag has pushed the narrative for change. Africa has one of the largest Twitter users and Africans have Twitter to change policy, to influence government. You have seen recently in South Africa Fees must fall, in Zimbabwe about the flag (cheers). Young people are the voice of Africa right now, and what is happening our governments are listening to us, whether or not they want to, said Kimani. Responding to an audience question from a Togolese fellow on a young American leaders exchange program, U.S. Congressman Chris Coons commended Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwas recent initiative to send young American leaders to African countries. I will give a great deal of credit to Strive Masiyiwa, the founder of Econet ... And he has recruited a number of other very compelling and successful business leaders and they have just launched this summer, recently launched an America business fellows program to bring recent graduates of some of the most prominent business schools to spend six months as interns in African capitals, working for African businesses, said Coon. In breakout sessions tagged The idea storm: fellows ignite talks, a number of Zimbabweans including Golden Maunganidze, journalism lecturer and editor of community newspaper Tellzim, spoke on ways to ignite Africa. Speaking in his session, Maunganidze said African voices needed to be amplified, a task he has been taking through his initiative of a community newspaper. Zimbabwean fellow Tiara Gendi, an advocate of the LGBTQ community, said his experience in the United States has been enlightening. Because the attitude that I came here with, the way that I conducted my work back home, I was really hammering on trying to change peoples attitudes towards the way they view LGBTI people. Gendi said after the six weeks, he has learned new approaches and found support from people who generally may not have focused on issues within LGBTQ communities. Faith Ndlovu, who works for the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, said she is expecting more to come for the remainder of the program this week. Im feeling very much excited, Im feeling very much rejuvenated. Its been inspiring to be here with colleagues and peers from 49 other African countries, said Ndlovu. The fellows will remain in Washington D.C. Until Thursday leading to a town hall meeting with United States President Barack Obama scheduled for Wednesday. Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association general secretary, Victor Matemadanda, was arrested today at the Harare Magistrates Court where his organizations national spokesperson Douglas Mahiya was being arraigned on charges of insulting or undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe. Matemadanda was arrested by heavily-armed police details as he walked out of the courtroom where Mahiyas case was being heard. Police officers whisked him away to some offices at the court building while ordering all the people, mainly war veterans and civil society activists who were getting out of the courtroom, to leave the place. At the entrance of the court building, some war veterans and civil society activists sang revolutionary songs in solidarity with Matemadanda and Mahiya while some were crying. The police details then used the prisoners entrance at the back of the court-building to exit with Matemadanda and sped off as the singing former freedom fighters were approaching the vehicle that was used by the police to whisk Matemandanda away. Matemadandas attorney, Beatrice Mtetwa, told Studio 7 by phone from Harare Central Police Station that her client was being held at the station but no formal charges had been levelled against her client. Francis Nhando, another top war veteran, was also arrested today. There were no details of his whereabouts. He is linked to a damning communique issued by war veterans last week, which condemned President Mugabe for running down Zimbabwe. At the same time, magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe granted Mahiya a $300 bail and ordered him to report twice per week at Harare Central Police Stations Law and Order Division until the matter was finalized. Mahiya is being accused of insulting or undermining Mr. Mugabe through a communique issued by the war veterans body last month calling on the head of state to address key issues affecting ordinary Zimbabweans. After the magistrate delivered his ruling, state counsel Tapiwa Kasema applied for the suspension of magistrate Chikwekwes ruling for 48 hours pending an appeal of the judgement by the state. But this was opposed by Mahiyas attorney, Harrison Nkomo, who argued that the judges decision could not be suspended without giving concrete reasons or without the prosecutor general filing a formal application. The magistrate agreed with the defense and ordered Mahiyas immediate release. Nkomo welcomed the magistrates decision. Nkomo gave notice in court that at the next remand on the 12th of August, the defense would be applying for Mahiyas refusal of further remand saying the state papers in their current form do not disclose an offence. Meanwhile, war veterans chairperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, who was also at the courts, criticized the arrest of former freedom fighters. Also at the courts was former vice president and leader of the Zimbabwe People First party, Joice Mujuru, who echoed Mutsvangwas sentiments. Several human rights activists and politicians, including one of MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirais deputies, Nelson Chamisa, attended the court session today. Zanu PF is set to allocate residential stands for its party supporters on Saturday while former Vice President Joice Mujurus party, Zimbabwe People First, will be holding a rally at Gadzema Grounds, Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West province. Zanu PF is also planning to hold a rally on the same day near Gadzema Grounds. Zimbabwe People First supporters say this is a recipe for political violence. Zimbabwe People First or ZimPF provincial chairperson, Marian Chombo, told Studio 7 that the allocation of stands to poor Zanu PF youth and the holding of a rally on the same day and near the venue of Joice Mujurus party rally wont stop them from campaigning in Mashonaland West province. She said Zanu PFs proposals to hold their rally only 200 meters away from the Zimbabwe People First rally on Saturday may result in clashes between the two parties. Mrs. Chombo said it is surprising that Zanu PF wants to allocate stands to local youth, who wont be able to build houses due to lack of funds. Mrs. Chombo, who was once married to Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, accused her former husband of allegedly grabbing land in most urban areas in the same manner his party is now doing in Chinhoyi, Harare and other cities. Mr. Chombo was not reachable for comment. ZimPF Chinhoyi youth leader Prosper Gavanga, a former Zanu PF member, said it is clear that Chombo and Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere want to hoodwink the youth like what they did in 2013 general elections when he was the campaign manager of Zanu PF Chinhoyi losing candidate, Phillip Chiyangwa. Gavanga said they were promised stands but all that has not yet been fulfilled by the ruling party. Chiyangwa confirmed that they promised youth stands but they have not been delivered because Chinhoyi Council has not serviced them. Zanu PF Chinhoyi youth leader, Tapiwa Chitate, said they are going ahead with their plans of giving youth residential stands at a farm in Chinhoyi and holding a rally on Saturday. But Chinhoyi mayor, Test Michaels, professed ignorance over the stands saying he heard that it was discussed at the weekend during a Zanu PF meeting. Political analysts say Zanu PFs move is designed to disturb its opponents at a time the ruling party is failing to explain some of its proposed policies to revive the economy outlined in the run up to the 2013 general elections. Some women in Masvingo province have expressed dismay over the Ministry of Healths move to withhold birth records of newly-born kids in an attempt to force mothers to pay maternity fees of up to almost $85 per child delivery. They say some parents end up having difficulties in enrolling their children at school due to lack of proper birth records. Some of the women said the situation has been worsened by crippling cash shortages in Zimbabwe. Sophia Mutandwa of Mucheke suburb said the government is violating the rights of mothers, who are supposed to have access to health as stipulated in Zimbabwes constitution. As women we are facing difficulties to access health, especially in maternity. We cant afford the user fees and we are having cash shortages so we dont have the money but hospitals demand cash, this is also leading to other mothers to give birth at home. Women pay maternity fees of about $83 at Masvingo General Hospital, the provinces referral health institution. Most women say the fee is too high and government should revise it as it has always promised women free maternity services in public health institutions. Another local woman, Tsitsi Ngamera, said the government should stop withholding kids birth records if mothers fail to pay maternity fees. This is a very bad practice. We want government to stop this as early as possible. The ministry must not charge us money or withhold the birth records because it is an entry point for my child to get a birth certificate and ID so that practice must be stopped. Other women are detained at public health institutions after giving birth if they fail to pay maternity fees. Joyce Mhungu, local chairperson of Womens Coalition in Zimbabwe, demanded that central government should intervene to stop all these practices. As the Womens Coalition we are not happy as women are being detained for failing to pay the user fees. The fees are very high and most women cannot afford the fees. We want to urge government to scrap the fees so that women can give birth freely. A local health expect, David Gomba, said the practice by the health institution was illegal. The practice is a violation of the constitutionally-provided rights to affordable and accessible basic health in terms of Chapter 3, Section 29 of the constitution With holding of birth records is blatantly illegal as it withdraws the right to a birth certificate as provided for in Section 35.3 on the same chapter. It is ironic as it is being done by public health institutions which should be on the forefront of complying with some provisions of the constitution. Section 29 of the constitution stipulates that the state must take all practical measures to ensure the provision of basic, accessible and adequate health services throughout Zimbabwe. It also clearly stipulates that the state must take appropriate, fair and reasonable measures to ensure that no person is refused emergency medical treatment at any health institution. Masvingo Provincial Medical Director, Dr. Amedus Shamhu, said he has not received such reports in his office and promised to investigate the matter. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. Your first look at the #DocumentaryNow! campaign classic, The Bunker.https://t.co/uRgd7DOv8U IFC (@IFC) July 31, 2016 With Hillary Clinton running as the official Democratic presidential nominee, now is the perfect time for Fred Armisen and Bill Hader to parody 1993s inside look at the first Clinton presidential candidates campaign, The War Room. Of course, where the original doc revealed how James Carville and George Stephanopoulos handled various scandals and spun Clintons platform, Hader and Armisen in Documentary Now!s The Bunker are oblivious to how the campaign message This Sunday Is Governor Lesters Birthday Lets Hope Its His Last might sound ominous. Hader, playing a Southern, Carville-inspired character, is more concerned about getting spooky children to sing on the ad than anything else. Helen Mirren, as the series host, introduces the spoof and brings the gravitas expected of her as a Dame of the British Empire and, more important, as a member of the Fast and Furious fam. The series returns to IFC September 14 at 10 p.m. Geekologie has shut down. Thank you to everybody. Now go be happy. You wanna play roulette? Go to Atlantic City where the odds are better, John tells Naz in court, just before hes about to take a plea deal constructed by Alison, his slick, manipulative new lawyer. In The Art of War, Alison negotiates Nazs charges down from murder and sexual assault to manslaughter. With a plea, he will serve a flat 15-year sentence. The district attorneys office wants the case to be over and done with. Alison wants a quick, easy victory to tout in front of the press. Even Freddy, the Rikers inmate looking over Nazs shoulder, advises him to accept the offer. Take the deal, they all keep telling Naz, who finds his options dwindling and his life expectancy shortening by the day. But John doesnt tell Naz to take the plea out of self-interest, but rather out of sheer empathy for his awful situation. Unless you fuck it up in there, 15 years is 12 years. Twelve years, you still have a chance of walking out of there a human being, he says, approaching him like the kid he is. When Naz worries that the world will see his plea as an admission that he killed Andrea, John tells him gently that it will only mean he doesnt trust 12 idiots on a jury to get it right. Its a powerful expression of kindness in a series that doesnt dole it out too often, but despite Johns pleading, Naz has ideas of his own. He knows he didnt kill Andrea, and hes not going to accept a guilty plea just because its easier for everyone else. They dont believe hes innocent, but Naz does, and thats more than enough of a reason to take the case to trial. The second half of The Art of War focuses on the excellent drama that pits Naz against his legal council and his own self-doubt, but before series co-creator Richard Price injects some energy into the script, the episode appears to be the weakest so far, primarily because of Nazs prison story line. In short, Naz gets close to another inmate (Ashley Thomas), who takes it upon himself to teach him the ropes of the joint. Respect is all people got in here, he tells Naz, explaining how to walk, talk, and live in an institution beset on all sides by danger Everything is a weapon, Get some meat on your bones, Dont look people in the eye, and so on. Meanwhile, Freddy keeps trying to persuade Naz into accepting his protection, and gives him a blue jumpsuit instead of an orange one when he goes in front of the judge, so he doesnt look like a violent offender. Why does Freddy like Naz so much? Youre like a care package for my brain, he tells him, expressing admiration for his intellect and naive compassion. Yet, the prison material feels like such well-worn territory that even Price cant quite save it. Last week, he and co-creator Steven Zaillian focused almost entirely on atmosphere and mechanics of the institution the milieu of visiting hours, the various stages of enclosure, the ways prisoners vie for better food by claiming theyre Muslim but here, Price and director James Marsh (Man on Wire, The Theory of Everything) simply follow the hierarchy of Rikers. Its much less compelling and much more rote than last weeks episode, and the dynamism of The Art of the War dips every time it cuts back to Naz. Plus, Price telegraphs many of the story beats, particularly with the new inmates background and his allegiance with (and eventual betrayal of) Naz. The ending in particular Naz finally accepting Freddys protection reads like an obvious turn of events that was drawn out for two entire episodes in an attempt to goose the drama. Although the prison story line isnt quite up to snuff, everything else fires on all cylinders. The Night Of subtly starts moving the pieces as it heads into its back half, bringing characters like Chandra into the foreground after teasing her involvement last week and maintaining a tone of devastation in the background. After John loses interest in his usual clientele, he starts snooping around a rehab center and strikes up a deal with an employee to get him patient records. He later shows these to Chandra, who reluctantly accepts them and realizes Johns worth in the process unlike Alison, who mocks him in court in front of a judge. (John, that was uncalled for, Helen tells him sympathetically.) While Chandra observes the proceedings, she realizes two things: (1) The limitations of Alisons expertise, given her eagerness to win over the press and her unwillingness to go to trial, and (2) Theres more to Nazs case than meets the eye. Amara Karan (who played Rita in Wes Andersons The Darjeeling Limited) wonderfully conveys this shift with sympathetic looks and curious facial movements, demonstrating that some of the best acting in The Night Of requires silence and listening. Its Chandra who ultimately convinces Naz not to take the plea. Alison pushes her to see Naz before they go in front of the judge, so as to make him feel comfortable, but Chandra doesnt make Naz feel comfortable because of her race. Instead, its because she talks to him like a human being. She explains to him that trials cost a lot of money, so its in everyones best interest that he accept the deal. But she also looks him straight in the eye and says that the only reason to take the deal would be if he killed Andrea. If he didnt, he shouldnt take it. Plain and simple. Thats what Naz takes into the courtroom when Helen interrogates him about the night in question. After she runs through a litany of questions, she finally asks, Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? to which Naz, filmed in an intimate straight-ahead close-up, meekly affirms. But when Helen actually asks Naz to describe the night in question, he flashes back to a series of out-of-focus images in his head beads hanging from the ceiling, the mooses head, a staircase and ultimately tells the truth about what he remembers. Alison reams him out in the jail cell for screwing himself over, then hands primary duties over to Chandra a calculated move since she wont receive the blame for the trial and tells Nazs parents that she can no longer work for free. Though the walls may be closing in on Naz, hes no longer a bystander in his own life. Hes taken control of his fate by refusing to back down to legal pressure. (And by accepting Freddys protection.) He acts like someone who knows his own actions and is unwilling to compromise his memory and beliefs. Theres pride in believing your own innocence, something Naz hasnt felt since he got pinched. This joint full of so many I didnt do it motherfuckers, theyre falling from the rafters, his faux-friend sneers, but Naz knows hes different. And now, he can only hope that the few people remaining in his corner can convince those 12 idiots to believe the same. They hold his life in their hands. Crimes and Misdemeanors: Bryan Fuller and Michael Green discuss American Gods at TCA. Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Starzs adaptation of Neil Gaimans American Gods is led by co-showrunners and executive producers Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, who met back in the day working on Heroes. Theyre cognizant of the ardent fan base (themselves included) eagerly anticipating the fantasylike series, which, like the book, will explore Americans obsession with the old gods (as in Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, an incarnation of Norse god Odin) and the new (i.e. the handheld device youre probably reading this on right now). Green and Fuller joined journalists at the shows Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday in Beverly Hills to answer questions about the series. Here are a few things we learned. Casting will be a mixture of both famous and not-so-famous actors. Kristin Chenoweth, for one, will star as the goddess Easter. Sometimes well try for a bigger name and realize there are so many great actors like Yetide Badaki [who plays Bilquis, the Queen of Sheba] or Bruce Langley [who plays the cryptically named Technical Boy], who we got out of the audition process, Fuller said. It really is about the flavor of the piece and having enough stars in their roles so that they are additive and not distractive. They were very deliberate about casting people of color. Ricky Whittle had to audition 16 times to play the lead, Shadow Moon. He still hasnt forgiven us, said Fuller. But in terms of casting a minority, it was never a question of doing otherwise for us, said Fuller. In order to be true to the book, you had to cast somebody who is not white were not color-blind casting. Were actually very consciously aware of the color in the cast and the ethnic specificity because the book is so specific. There have been times where a character has been described as having very dark skin and we make a suggestion to Neil and [he said] the characters absolutely Indian. Dane Cook is killing it as Robbie, Shadow Moons best bro. Hes really fun, said Green. How do you get someone who can be a really entertaining dick? We did go through a casting processing for that but when his name came up, it was hard to see it in a different way. Gillian Anderson was totally down to play Media, the personification of TV. Shes a massive Neil Gaiman fan, said Fuller, who worked with Anderson on Hannibal. Theyve become friends out of this process. I think Gillian knows that if theres anything Im doing and shes even remotely interested, the doors wide open because I think shes a fantastic actor and continually surprises us. The show wont be as much of a sausage party as the book. When we first started talking about what the book would become in its adaptation we were both synchronized so much immediately in terms of seizing on specific characters that were going to be fleshing out in the world because, in the novel, its very much a sausage party, said Fuller. Its about two guys on a road trip, and there are fantastic female characters in the piece. He said there is an entire episode told from Laura Moons (Emily Browning) point of view, and that contrary to the way shes seen in the book, Bilquis is a full fleshed-out character with an arc thats just as exciting as any of the other conversations. Neil Gaiman is very involved. The punctuation in this novel can be a guideline because things can happen in between it, said Green. Literally every time we come to him and say, what if this happens between this and this, he says thank you, I love it, and we start pitching on it. Religion is featured in an inclusive way, said Green. [Appearing at Comic-Con] did start the conversation that when people say religion, the next step is to be divisive, he said. What makes American Gods such a beloved and lasting piece of literature is that it manages to discuss religion in an inclusive way that invites all. There is pressure to get it right. This project, in addition to being the dream project, is the one that Ive heard dont fuck it up more than any other time, said Green. We get different levels of dont fuck it up its a constant process of rising to the challenge. Riz Ahmed as Naz in The Night Of. Photo: HBO Last night, the eight-episode HBO crime procedural The Night Of officially reached its halfway point. Yet it appears were no closer to knowing who actually killed Andrea Cornish than John Turturros John Stone is to curing his eczema-afflicted feet. Confirming that Naz (Riz Ahmed) did not murder Andrea, the enigmatic young woman with whom he spent a life-altering, drug-hazy evening, is only part of what this limited series is about. But as The Night Of continues to peer into various dysfunctional corners of Americas flawed judicial system, certainly the key question it must address is this: If Naz, who discovered Andreas stabbed, lifeless body but doesnt remember killing her, is not responsible for her death, then who is? The impatient may be inclined to seek answers to that question from an outside source: Criminal Justice, the five-part 2008 BBC series that inspired The Night Of and can be viewed in full on Hulu. Watching it in tandem with the HBO drama reveals the many ways that The Night Of creators, Richard Price and Steven Zaillian, expanded on and added further nuance to its narrative. But given the similarities between the two plots, the British original may also provide some hints about how the murder mystery in the American version will be resolved. (Note: some major Criminal Justice spoilers will follow.) The crimes at the heart of both shows unfold in pretty much the same way: A college-aged man borrows the cab normally driven by his father and unwittingly picks up a female passenger. She asks to go to the nearest beach, so the man Ben, played by Ben Whishaw, in the BBC version, Naz in the U.S. adaptation obliges. They hang out, then head back to her place, where they take drugs, drink, play a semi-bloody game of Five Finger Fillet, then have sex, at which point, Ben/Naz returns to the kitchen and passes out at the table. When he awakens, he goes back upstairs to retrieve his things and say good-bye to his companion, named Melanie in the BBC iteration, at which point he discovers shes been stabbed to death. He panics and flees the scene in the taxi, committing a traffic violation that results in his being pulled over by police and, eventually, arrested in connection with the murder. In both cases, the alleged perpetrator an asthma sufferer who uses an inhaler at the scene of the crime seems more like a victim of horrifying circumstance than a killer. Of course, we dont know that for a fact. But in Criminal Justice, it is much easier to take that as fact because of the way Ben is portrayed. As played by Whishaw, hes a lanky, jittery, emotional kid who is completely undone by the crime and his time in prison, a jail thats unpleasant but still less gritty and intimidating than the Rikers Island shown to us in The Night Of. There are certainly hints that Ben may not be the pure innocent he seems to be; we eventually learn that hes been dishonest with his parents about dropping out of university. Its also implied that, as a boy, he may have lied to his mom about his involvement in the death of the family cat, which, in contrast with The Night Of, counts as the only moment that a feline plays a significant role in the series. But Ben breaks down so many times post-arrest that, even in an altered state, its hard to imagine a guy this fragile committing such an atrocious act of violence. Another detail thats worth mentioning: The crime in The Night Of is depicted in a much more grisly manner than the one in Criminal Justice, which takes the form of a stab wound to the chest and involves a hell of a lot less blood sprayed all over the walls. That difference certainly speaks to American premium cables tendency toward gratuitous, sexualized violence. But the brutality of The Night Of murder also implies that it would be tough for Naz to be guilty of committing it without remembering any of the details. Criminal Justice is certainly interested in shining a light on the corruption and unethical behavior that compromises everyone in the British judicial process, from sleazy solicitor Ralph Stone (Con ONeill), who, for the record, does have eczema on his feet, although the show doesnt make nearly as much of it as The Night Of does, to detectives like Harry Box (Bill Paterson), who compromise the rights of the accused while seemingly acting with kindness. But this mini-series is much more focused on Bens experience than anyone elses. Glimpses into the private lives of the various people involved tangentially in whats happening, from Bens parents to the barristers trying the case, are rare and brief. With only five episodes in which to tell a complicated legal story, the canvas of Criminal Justice is much more contained and its desire to solicit empathy for Ben is much more clear. BIG SPOILER HERE, SO LOOK AWAY IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW. When the verdict in the case and the identity of the murderer are revealed in the final episode Ben is found guilty by a jury, but later exonerated when another man is revealed as the killer it comes out in such a swift dump of information that the viewer is still left with a lot of questions about the specifics of what happened to Melanie the night she died. At least in terms of approach, I doubt The Night Of will conclude in a similar fashion. Specificity has been such a hallmark of the show seriously, did you ever think you would learn this much about dealing with eczema from a Sunday-night HBO scripted series? that I fully expect Price, Zaillian, and the rest of the creators to explain things more fully. I also am convinced that our initial suspicions about Naz will be confirmed: He didnt do it. In that very first episode, The Night Of shows us what happened from Nazs perspective. Ever since, just like an attorney, its been trying to introduce reasonable doubt. Like Ben, Naz has shown fear and feelings of panic since hes been accused. But Riz Ahmed with those deeply set, deliberately unreadable eyes of his imbues Naz with a reserve of strength and an ambiguity that make him much more of a gray character than Ben was in Criminal Justice. In last nights episode, we can already start to see how prison life is forcing Naz to reveal a backbone and, possibly, a dark side. The more he fits in with the inmates, the more Naz starts to seem like someone who might actually belong in jail, an idea conveyed by his now former attorney, Alison Crowe, when she tells a judge, If we instead would like to see a young man with no criminal record turned into a criminal, then lets have him sit at Rikers as long as the slow wheels of justice take. Again: We have never seen Naz commit a crime. But The Night Of is painstakingly creating a picture of him that fits the criminal profile, which makes it easier to think maybe he really did commit murder. While The Night Of most often invites us to have sympathy for Naz, it also encourages us to understand those responsible for putting him behind bars, to a much greater extent than Criminal Justice does. In the British series, for example, Box is much more of a stock character, the typical blunt arrogant cop who shouldnt be questioned. As played by Bill Camp in the HBO series, though, hes harder to pin down. Hes stubborn, yes, and a little arrogant, but the kindness he displays seems much more genuine. That, too, introduces reasonable doubt: If you think the guy accusing Naz is a decent man, youre more likely to doubt Nazs innocence even though that first episode should have told you all you need to know. But the most intriguing difference between Criminal Justice and The Night Of is the fact that Naz is a Pakistani-American. Race was an issue in Criminal Justice: Ben, a white man, is accused of killing a black woman. But in The Night Of, its an issue that colors all preconceived notions about the accused. As the news over the last couple of days has once again sadly emphasized, Islamic-Americans are often viewed in this country with a contemptible level of skepticism and hate. By making the accused the son of Pakistani immigrants, Zaillian and Price are essentially forcing the audience to confront their own prejudice and decide whether they can look at Naz the same way they would look at a young man like Ben if he were in this same situation. Because even though he may not be as easily shaken as Ben, Naz is, in many other ways, a young man just like Ben. Thats another reason why I think Naz didnt kill Andrea; to give the show, and television in general, such a prominent Pakistani-American character and then reveal him to be a murderer would be extremely disappointing. I would be surprised if Zaillian and Price do that. The Night Of isnt a show about shocking plot twists (he really was the killer all along!), its a drama about how systems of all kinds legal, education, medical fail people. The scariest thing about this series, which is also the scariest thing about Criminal Justice, may not be that an innocent man can be accused of murder, but that an innocent person with great promise can easily turn into something else when society forces him into its darkest, least forgiving corners. Few shows take advantage of the streaming era like BoJack Horseman. The Netflix series is rightly celebrated for its depiction of mental illness and its complex worldview, but in a fundamental way, its driven from moment to moment by some of the greatest blink-and-youll-miss-em sight gags on TV. The BoJack team stuffs dozens and dozens of these visual jokes into each episode, making it the ideal show to watch, and rewatch, with frequent pausing in between. Much like the shows love of puns, theres an art to all that visual humor. Some jokes smack the audience in the face; some hide in the background; some come without any explanation, just because theyre good goofs. Vulture asked BoJack lead designer Lisa Hanawalt to share some of her favorite sight gags, and she kindly obliged. Fight Club is a good and important movie. In the second seasons Hank After Dark, Diane Nyugen gets pulled into a media controversy about Hank Hippopotamus, a talk-show host who remains wildly popular despite grave accusations against him. (The story line calls to mind Bill Cosby and David Letterman.) Dianes criticism soon draws the attention of Titpuncher, a trashy mens-rights site thats briefly shown onscreen. We could just have little scribbles to show for text, but with every background, if we have the opportunity to write something funny in there and add a joke, why not? Hanawalt says. She wrote most of the text, supervising director Mike Hollingsworth added the jokes on the side, and showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksberg came up with the Fight Club kicker. It was just so perfect, she says. Brian Botfly, TV Critic In the second seasons Still Broken, Herb Kazzaz is shown clipping a review panning Horsin Around. Hanawalt wrote the text, and says it was inspired by a real critic: Theres actually a particular reviewer who I dont like I wont say his name but he had written some articles about female comedians that I found really sexist. Hell call something hack, but then use the worst puns ever in his reviews. That is a direct parody of him. It was like a petty jab at him. Oh, and botflies? Horses hate them. How to Share In the third season, were introduced to a couples therapist named Dr. Janet, who has a particularly counterintuitive poster on her wall. I dont know if other people find it as funny as I do, but its parodying the idea of having a list of steps for something thats so emotional, Hanawalt says. Also, that a list like that would instruct you to bottle up your feelings, then unbottle them, then rebottle them thats funny to me. Its a little bit off. I like wordplay like that. The Starbucks Menu In the extended flashback to 2007 that anchors The BoJack Horseman Show, Diane works at a Starbucks selling everything from gentlemans syrup to milk bombs. Its as wonderfully silly as BoJack gets. Raphael was just like, Lisa, write some of your hilarious nonsense. So I just ran with it. My favorite menu item is two potatoes in quotation marks. I dont know what that is, she says. Pacific Ocean City Fish Out of Water is an almost totally wordless episode, unlike anything BoJack had ever done, which meant even more opportunities for Hanawalt. I had a lot of fun with the character designs in that episode because I was trying to pack as many underwater creatures in there as possible. It was really last-minute, and I was like, Come on, we need at least one rainbow parrotfish! Its one of my favorite kinds of fish. Her favorite sight gags from the episode include this parody of a George Bellows painting: The jellyfish who hangs out with BoJack in the lounge: Shes only there for a second, but shes really pretty. And a Disney deep cut to end all Disney deep cuts: Theres an ad for a restaurant called Le Poisson Le Poisson Hee Hee Hee its a line from The Little Mermaid. Princess Carolyn In the latest season, eagle-eyed watchers might notice that Princess Carolyn stocked up her office bookshelf with some new reading material, including Purrsepolis, Me Meow Pretty One Day, and Purrity. So, is Princess Carolyn a fan of Jonathan Franzen? Yes and no. He has a problem with cats, doesnt he? Its complicated. I think she enjoys his fiction, but she doesnt like him as a person, Hanawalt says. Maybe Im projecting. Back at her apartment, Princess Carolyn has an equally fitting collection of movie posters When Tabby Met Snappy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and one that doesnt quite fit: Theres a poster for Junior. Its not a pun, and its not explained why its there, she says. To me, thats just the funniest joke. I dont think its a great movie or anything. Its not one you would normally pay an homage to, so I think thats so funny. Maybe she worked on it? Who knows. Ben Chunch Im weirdly obsessed with Martha Stewarts pony, Ben Chunch, so I designed a character for him, she says. You can see him in the background his sweater is embroidered with his name. And if thats not enough Chunch for you, check out the podcast Hanawalt co-hosts hes a frequent subject. Rounded Corners Prep In season threes BoJack Kills, BoJack attends an elementary schools all-inclusive non-denominational winter day pageant in hopes of pandering to Academy voters. I gave the designer a list of words I wanted on there, like clean eating, paleo, allergy tolerance, species neutrality kind of like the stuff youd find in a Silver Lake elementary school, Hanawalt says. I was like, Can the word paleo be inside of a rocket? The Oscars BoJack regularly skewers Hollywood culture, so its no surprise that season three makes joke after joke at the expense of the Oscars. For Its You, Hanawalt riffed on real Academy posters to make the point just a bit sharper. Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Now fully satisfied with having turned around his career from romantic-comedy star to Oscar winner, Matthew McConaughey has set his sights on his most ambitious role yet: bourbon salesperson. Already a master of the weird car commercial, the actor has signed a contract with Gruppo Campari to serve as the creative director of Wild Turkey. In his new role, McConaughey will write, direct, and star in commercials for the 161-year-old bourbon brand, appear in an online documentary, and help determine how bottles are photographed for ads. Clearly floored by McConaugheys Texas bona fides, Campari which owns the bourbon brand says that not only is a McConaughey-branded whiskey a possibility but that itll consult him when developing new Wild Turkey products. No word yet on whether McConaughey will bring his friend (and noted culinary icon) Guy Fieri into the fold at any point, though. For his part, McConaughey says he is super in touch with what millennials want and has even, in a major scientific breakthrough, discovered that they have a unique sixth sense that allows them to smell solicitation. Hes planning a full-on reintroduction for the brand and promises there will be no mustachioed mixologists involved. Together, Campari executives and McConaughey hope to reinvigorate the brand, which the actor and company see as a little dusty. In other words, all parties involved probably hope to belatedly cash in on the cache enjoyed by prestige bourbons like Pappy Van Winkle. Last year, the largest band on Earth, Rockin1,000, performed Learn to Fly with all 1,000 of its members in the hopes that the Foo Fighters would find the stunt cool enough that theyd come play Cesena, Italy. It worked! Sadly, they cant aspire to the same outcome with David Bowie, but that didnt stop them from giving the Starman an out-of-this-world send-off. Over the weekend, at Cesenas Orogel Stadium, Rockin1000 covered Rebel Rebel in the greatest and guaranteed loudest Bowie sing-along since Brixton turned out in droves to pay tribute to their hometown legend. (They also covered the White Stripes Seven Nation Army.) The bands leader, Fabio Zaffagnini, ended the tribute with words Bowie lived by: Stick together. No more conflict. And play rock and roll! A roundup of Capitol and state government news items of interest for Monday, Aug. 1, 2016: NO DIRECT ZIKA THREAT: Branstad said while the state is taking the Zika virus seriously, he thinks the mosquito-borne virus, which has spread from South America and is now showing up in Florida, is not a direct threat to Iowans. We do need to take the Zika virus seriously. Our Department of Public Health is keeping us informed, Branstad said Monday. We dont think there is a direct threat from mosquitos in Iowa today. Floridas governor on Monday requested emergency federal assistance after 10 new cases were reported there, according to the Miami Herald. The cases in Florida are believed to be the first in which the disease was transmitted by a mosquito in the U.S. Previous cases of infection in the U.S. were found in people who had traveled to high-impact regions in South and Central America. LAWSUIT SETTLED: The State Appeal Board voted 3-0 Monday to approve a $950,000 judgment to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought against the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City. Family members of Rollin Hoffert alleged in the wrongful death claim filed in Johnson County District Court that pertinent information was not given to the stroke team and failure to recognize signs and symptoms of a stroke which led to the ultimate demise of Hoffert, according to board documents. Under the agreement, Hofferts estate would receive $450,000 from the states general fund and the University of Iowa Physicians organization would pay $500,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to the Iowa Attorney Generals Office. ARTS SUMMIT: About 300 of Iowas cultural art leaders, professionals and advocates are slated to gather Friday for this years day-long Iowa Arts Summit in Des Moines. Gov. Terry Branstad said the annual event is important because it celebrates Iowas creative energy and its impact on the states cultural legacy. The 2016 Iowa Arts Summit is set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines and offers breakout sessions, presentations, and insights from Iowas most creative minds about transforming communities through the arts. Standard registration is $50 per person and $35 for artists and students. More information and registration is available at www.iowaculture.gov or 515-281-5111. MASON CITY | A Mason City man was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison Monday for sexually assaulting a woman. Michael Eugene Carter, 41, filed a written guilty plea in Cerro Gordo District Court in May for the felony sexual abuse charge. Police say Carter performed a sex act on the woman without her consent shortly after 1 a.m. April 13 in Mason City. Court documents indicate Carter was also given a special sentence, meaning the parole board will determine if he should be released on parole or placed in a work release program after completing his prison sentence. He is also required to register as a sex offender. A $1,000 fine was suspended. Ashley Miller Local residents and law enforcement officials say tension between police and the communities they serve has for the most part not been seen in Waco. We havent seen this in Waco, so I cant speak for Waco, but tensions around the country continue to be centered around the unwarranted killings of African-American, mostly men, but some women as well, by some police officers, Waco NAACP President Peaches Henry said. There seems to be no consequences in some of these killings, and I believe that that is where a lot of the tension is. In Waco, officers say a transparent approach and engagement with community members have kept tensions at bay. I think we do have a level of communication in Waco. It is not perfect, but what communication is? community activist Louise Henderson said. There are always going to be some things that could have been said differently or some misunderstandings, but at least people are talking, saying, This is a problem and how can we all fix it before something explodes? That is what makes our area different. Henderson organized a justice forum at Greater New Light Baptist Church last week to discuss recent news about police interaction and how to better resolve issues. Civic leaders, community organizers and about 70 people met and asked panelists questions about local policing efforts and national tension. Waco police Officer Chris Sharpless said he understands police mistrust but said relationships in Waco differ from the highly publicized divide between police and the public. I just love getting out, talking to kids and helping people, said Sharpless, a nine-year Waco police veteran. There are people who, when you come to their yard, they are not happy to see you at their home, but Id say the vast majority of residents are receptive to police. So you have to be sensitive to the communitys needs and let them know what you can do to help them. As it pushes for criminal justice reform, the Waco NAACP has a good relationship with the local police department a relationship that started before recent national tragedies, Henry said in a letter posted to the groups website. Instead of demonizing law enforcement or Black Lives Matter, there needs to be a conversation about criminal justice reform in this country, Henry wrote. Henry outlines five demands, including an acknowledgement by law enforcement of bad actors in the ranks and a willingness to punish them to the extent of the law; a shift from militaristic to community policing in black neighborhoods; implementation of citizen review boards with subpoena power; use of body cameras; and passage of a federal anti-profiling law. When listing the call for a shift to community policing, Henry notes interim Waco Police Chief Frank Gentsch served as an officer in East Waco for many years and knows many of the residents from that time. Gentsch said many local residents are open to community interactions with police, and that officials, including police administrators, often visit community meetings and are proactive in addressing difficult issues. We try to be involved with not only enforcing the law but in providing solutions to our communities problems, Gentsch said. Our goal is to be active and to be active in as many ways as we can to make Waco a better place to live, work and play, and I think . . . many of our area departments share that goal. He assumed leadership of the Waco Police Department after Chief Brent Stroman announced his retirement in June. Gentsch said mistakes are made in every profession, but Waco police are quick to take action to correct errors. The Waco Police Departments Professional Standards and Conduct Unit assigned 87 investigations in 2015. The investigations resulted in 37 oral reprimands, 20 written reprimands and six suspensions without pay or indefinite suspensions, which amount to firings. The rest of the investigations resulted in no action against police personnel. Smaller communities Smaller communities outside Waco also have worked to be accessible to residents, Hewitt Police Chief Jim Devlin said. Community policing is the community and police department coming together to solve problems in the community, Devlin said. It entails a lot of stuff like community engagement and having a community that can have an open dialogue with law enforcement, and for us, I dont think its just a police department definition. Community policing involves the entire city. Lorena Police Chief Tom Dickson said open conversation and being visible in the community is vital for smaller departments. There are about 10 percent of the population that is always going to disagree with you, no matter what, and there is 10 percent that is going to support you no matter what, Dickson said. Then there is 80 percent of people that generally support the police, but they want accountability in law enforcement. It is that percentage of people that we will show that police are here to support and protect them at all times, no matter what. The divide between police and citizens of color has deep roots in United States history, said Yost Zakhary, Woodway public safety director. I do understand that communities are hurting right now. I understand, particularly the African-American community, Zakhary said. There is a long history, even going back to the Emancipation Proclamation, of how they have been hurt. A 2015 Associated Press poll found that 81 percent of black Americans think police are too quick to use deadly force, compared to 33 percent of white Americans. A third of black respondents said they trust police to work in the best interest of the community less than half the percentage of white respondents, according to the poll. Woodway Officer Chere Lawson said she routinely patrols in public places in an effort to make herself more visible. Residents often speak with her about community issues, Lawson said. As a police officer, its just all about being able to talk to people, not feeling intimidated by officers, trying to have an impact and letting them know we are not out against them, Lawson said. I feel like I can make an impact, and if I can make one kid smile or make one person have a better day by just letting them know that I am here for them, it makes a big difference. Northeast Riverside Neighborhood Association President Jeanette Bell met with a handful of residents from the neighborhood about two weeks ago to discuss neighborhood concerns. Police accountability is important, and so is the respect between officers and residents, Bell said. We are never going to be perfect as citizens or perfect as police, but I do think there is a level of respect here. But we do need to work on growing it and making it better, Bell said. WAHOO Weather permitting, work is scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 8 on north U.S. Highway 77 in Wahoo from North Broadway Street to the Nebraska Highway 92 and Nebraska Highway 109 junction, according to the Nebraska Department of Roads. Oldcastle Materials Midwest Co., DBA Omni Engineering of Omaha, has been awarded the $714,109 contract. Work on this 1.6-mile project includes pavement repair, milling and an asphalt overlay. During construction, daily lane closures controlled with flaggers and a pilot vehicle will be required from dawn to dusk. Motorists can expect delays and are encouraged to seek alternate routes. Daily closures to some of the urban intersections within the town of Wahoo that intersect Highway 77 may also be required. The highway improvement project is anticipated to be completed in the fall. The Department of Roads project manager is Bob Traudt of Lincoln. Motorists are urged to use caution when driving through construction zones and along alternate routes. MASON CITY Mason City will play host to city officials from all over the state Tuesday through Thursday at the 30th annual Iowa Downtown Conference. The conference is sponsored by the Iowa Economic Development Authority in partnership with Main Street Mason City and Visit Mason City. Those attending will participate in workshops and will have the opportunity to tour many attractions in Mason City while they are here. Most of the workshops will be at Reunion Hall in The Music Man Square. Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will attend the opening session Wednesday morning at First United Methodist Church, which will be headed by Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer also will speak. The keynote speaker will be Liz Nead, a motivational speaker who recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Among workshop topics are downtown development basic training, the role of women in business, building a strong public/private partnership, reclaiming downtown and downtown revitalization. I cant stay home. I move the worlds cargo, declared Rudy Moreno of Los Angeles/Long Beach ILWU longshore Local 13. His words were later memorialized in The Dispatcher, the unions newspaper, in the January 2021 issue dedicated to Moreno and other members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union who had already lost their lives [] A memorial gathering to celebrate his life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Lindstrom Funeral Home in Riceville. A scattering ceremony will take place at Wayne Cemetery in rural McIntyre following the service at the funeral home. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., through its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes high-performance coatings systems in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Transportation Coatings. The company offers water and solvent-borne products and systems to repair damaged vehicles for independent body shops, multi-shop operators, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) dealership body shops. It also provides functional and decorative liquid, and powder coatings used in various industrial applications, including architectural cladding and fittings, automotive coatings, general industrial, job coaters, energy solutions, HVAC, appliances, industrial wood, coil, and oil and gas pipelines; and coatings for building materials, cabinet, wood and luxury vinyl flooring, and furniture market under the Voltatex, AquaEC, Durapon, Hydropon, UNRIVALED, Tufcote, and Ceranamel for liquid coatings; and Alesta, Nap-Gard, Abcite, Teodur, and Plascoat brands for powder coatings. In addition, the company develops and supplies electrocoat, primer, the basecoat, and clearcoat products for OEMs of light and commercial vehicles; and coatings systems for various commercial applications, including HDT, bus, and rail under the Imron, Imron Elite, Centari, Rival, Corlar epoxy undercoats, and AquaEC brands. It also sells its product under the Audurra, Challenger, Chemophan, ColorNet, Cromax, Cromax Mosaic, Durapon 70, Duxone, Harmonized Coating Technologies, Imron ExcelPro, Lutophen, Nason, Spies Hecker, Standox, Stollaquid, Syntopal, Syrox, Raptor, U-POL, and Vermeera brand names. The company was formerly known as Axalta Coating Systems Bermuda Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. in August 2014. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bar Harbor Bankshares operates as the holding company for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust that provides commercial, lending, retail, and wealth management banking services. It accepts various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans, such as multi-family, commercial construction and land development, and other commercial real estate classes; commercial and industrial loans, including loans to commercial and agricultural businesses, and tax exempt entities; residential real estate loans consists of mortgages for 1-4 family housing; and consumer loans comprises home equity loans, lines of credit, auto, and other installment lending. In addition, it provides life insurance, annuity, and retirement products, as well as financial planning services; and third-party investment and insurance services. Further, the company offers trust and estate administration, wealth advisory, and investment management services to individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and municipalities; and 401K plan, financial, estate and charitable planning, investment management, family office, municipal, and tax services. It operates 53 locations across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. CLARION The Wright County Board of Supervisors took an initial step Monday to approve an economic development agreement with Prestage Farms. About 80 people including multiple members of the Prestage family attended the two-hour public meeting in a full courtroom to discuss the proposed development agreement, which the board supported 3-0. On Monday, about 30 people spoke publicly. Two-thirds of the 17 Wright County speakers argued in favor of the project. Six of eight speakers from bordering counties spoke in favor of the plant. Four of five speakers from outside counties opposed construction. Opponents expressed concerns over wages, wastewater and environmental issues. Why arent we calling the shots here? said Wright County resident Kristi Frohling. Prestage is desperate to locate in Iowa, anywhere that will put up with them. Proponents cited economic benefits from the plants construction and operation. We dont have the opportunity to attract the Microsofts or the Googles, said Humboldt City Councilman Jim Vermeer. This is the (economy) that we have. A public hearing on a proposed urban renewal plan a way a county or town uses financing to renovate an area is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Monday, Aug. 8. The board will take a final vote on the economic development agreement during its 9:30 a.m. meeting Aug. 22. Those hearings will be in Wright County Courthouses second-floor courtroom and will follow rules the supervisors passed previously, including limiting each persons comments to two minutes and giving speaking priority to Wright County residents. Last month, the board approved a zoning change from agricultural to industrial that would allow the company to construct its proposed facility 5 miles south of Eagle Grove. The proposed development agreement calls for construction to be completed by March 31, 2019, with the plant employing 922 full-time workers by Jan. 1, 2020. The lowest-paid workers will begin at more than $37,000 annually plus benefits, Prestage officials previously said. Average annual pay is expected to be more than $47,000. A second phase would add at least 850 additional full-time jobs, according to the agreement, which stipulates the company must then employ at least 1,772 full-time workers through Dec. 30, 2030, to be eligible for incentives. If employment stipulations are met, the agreement says Wright County will give 10 years of annual property tax rebates to Prestage, not to exceed $8 million. No additional taxpayer money is involved, Wright County Economic Development Director Bryce Davis told the Globe Gazette, since the rebates will be from taxes Prestage will pay. The county will also resurface and improve portions of roads near the site, Highway 17 and County Road C-56, at its expense. The agreement indicates the county plans to apply for state funding for the road projects. Prestage announced last month it would seek to locate a 650,000-square-foot plant near Highway 17 and 320th Street, about 5 miles south of Eagle Grove. 1 hour ago Musk in control of Twitter but where will he go from here? Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. The question now is what the billionaire Tesla CEO will actually do with the social media platform. Musk ousted three top Twitter executives on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the deal who said he was in charge. Read Article National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans and leases, such as working capital loans, equipment loans, lender finance loans, food and agriculture loans, government and non-profit loans, owner occupied commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans and leases; non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans consisting of loans on commercial properties, such as office buildings, warehouse/distribution buildings, multi-family, hospitality, and retail buildings; small business administration loans to support manufacturers, distributors, and service providers; term loans, line of credits, and real estate secured loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer loans. In addition, it offers treasury management solutions comprising online and mobile banking, commercial credit card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, and fraud prevention services, as well as other auxiliary services, including account reconciliation, collections, repurchase accounts, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. As of January 20, 2022, the company operated through a network of 81 banking centers located in Colorado, the greater Kansas City region, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas. It also operates 121 ATMs. The company was formerly known as NBH Holdings Corp. and changed its name to National Bank Holdings Corporation in March 2012. National Bank Holdings Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Within 11 hours of Four Corners exposing the chronic and abhorrent abuse of children at the hands of their jailers, Malcolm Turnbull rightly announced a royal commission into the matter. We now know that the royal commission will be conducted jointly with the Northern Territory government. This involvement is obviously troubling: the culpability of the Northern Territory government is so manifest that any leadership role within the royal commission is an insult to the victims. When six detainees were kept in windowless solitary confinement for weeks before being tear-gassed, the NT government obfuscated the facts in order to justify their actions. When reports of Dylan Voller being hooded and strapped to a chair for close to two hours became public knowledge in October last year, the abuse became impossible to ignore and impossible to lie about. Instead, the Northern Territory government legislated to condone it. To do a great right, do a little wrong. The Northern Territory government has already perpetrated a great wrong. When stories of horrific abuse within Northern Territory youth detention centres began to emerge years ago stories of children being assaulted in their cells and forcibly stripped naked the NT government chose to ignore them. Dylan Voller being manhandled by staff at the Darwin facility. Credit:ABC Four Corners One thing that the Northern Territory government needs to answer for is the creation of a political atmosphere in which this kind of abuse became normalised. Come election time, politicians (from both sides, I should add) engaged in a despicable law and order auction. Politicians competed to demonise youth delinquency and to drive a singular focus upon being as merciless as possible, with promises of tougher sentences, police powers and bail laws. It is the gutless politics of fear. Leaders in the community should know that youth crime is caused by complex socio-economic factors, and cannot be fixed by myopic retribution. Hooded and strapped to his chair, Dylan is the faceless symbol of all the other children who are victims of this tough-on-crime rhetoric. Once you start using individual lives as bargaining chips for political gain and talking about throwing criminals into a "big concrete hole" then the treatment of Dylan becomes inevitable. The guards who brutalise these kids have taken their cues from the politicians; treating children like animals is the logical endpoint of talking about children like animals. As such, all politicians who promote zero-tolerance attitudes to juvenile crime are, to some extent, morally culpable for Dylan's treatment. On the legal side of things, the royal commission needs to urgently examine the ability for youth detainees to bring legal action against abuse. Northern Territory civil law sets a 28-day limitation period on bringing most actions for intentional wrongdoing such as assault, battery, and false imprisonment. To give some idea of how unfairly short that limitation period, everywhere else in Australia the limitation is either three years or six years. This limitation period needs to be lengthened in the NT so that victims of abuse can pursue compensation; and at the same time, Northern Territory Corrections needs to make it easier for youth detainees to access lawyers, and make complaints against the system. Like all injustices, this one has a disproportionate impact on a minority group: 95 per cent of youth detainees in the Northern Territory are Indigenous. The royal commission needs to look into the structural disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians societally and, as a result, within the legal system and the relationship between this and the maltreatment of young Indigenous detainees. With no specific mention of Indigenous issues in the terms of reference, there needs to be some discretion to allow the Commissioner to look further into this line of inquiry. MASON CITY Something clicked for Jenna Lovik when she first got behind the camera. For years she had been an actress during more than a dozen productions at the Stebens Childrens Theatre. But she found a new creative outlet when invited to take a film class there. As soon as I got behind the camera I was like, this is fun, this is what I want to do, she said. Loviks current project is a 40-minute film titled Ambidextrous. Its based on a 33-page script by her friend and high school classmate, Randy Davenport. The plot is a homage to classic 1930s horror films where a man named Phillip Handel mysteriously shows up on a farmers doorstep looking for work. His secret the ability to use both hands makes him a social outcast and he struggles to hide it from the farmers daughter Ekaterina, as he falls in love with her. The use of character-driven comedy stood out to her as she encouraged Davenport to write his script, she said. Lovik, 17, hopes to screen the film at the Iowa Independent Film Festival this September. She relies on a number of Canon cameras to shoot her films and uses friends from Stebens as her actors. If they mess up Im not too hard on them, because that can be really stressful. As a person that does theater I know that its really stressful to have a director yell at you, she said. I like to have a fun environment, but I also like to keep it professional that Im the director, they are the actors, Lovik said. I dont want it to feel like they can talk back to me just because we are friends, because it is a set. I think that filmmaking used to be very kind of hierarchical, she said. You used to have access to a lot of expensive equipment and microphones and good cameras and all these different lenses and all of it. Now, you dont need to be sponsored by a production company to make a good film, she said. You can get your friends and a camera and get some weird light bulbs and just make a weird plot. As a filmmaker, Lovik has gotten much of her inspiration from movie effects makeup on YouTube, where she uploads her short films for distribution. It was kind of opening a new door just realizing I could do whatever I wanted with film and I didnt have any set boundaries, she said. Her interest in film grew out of that childhood spent at Stebens where young performers are often nurtured and gain valuable behind-the-scenes experience in productions. In 2013, she took up Stebens Director Tom Ballmers offer to attend a meeting through Stebens and the Iowa Independent Film Festival geared toward teaching the basics to young filmmakers. Shes got a great eye for the dramatic, shes got a great flair, Ballmer said. She reminds me of Penny Marshall. Shes got a work ethic in her and a great creative eye. Those qualities will drive her toward success, he said. Lovik plans to attend Columbia College in Chicago after she graduates from Mason City High School, to study film directing. I think its very easy to want to be in theater or the movies, Ballmer said. Successful filmmakers have to be hard-working, and also have a lot of chutzpah. Lovik says she worries that she wont be taken seriously because of her age, or that people wont think she has a professional set environment. I would tell people to judge me on the merits of my work rather than me as a person, she said. It shouldnt matter what Im like. It shouldnt matter who the director is. Almost 85 per cent of LGBTIQ Australians remain opposed to a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, with a majority against a nationwide vote even if it means no change to the law under the Coalition government. A survey of 5500 LGBTIQ people in late July, considered the largest of its kind, found opposition to a plebiscite among men and women, all age groups and in every state and territory. When asked whether they supported or opposed a plebiscite on marriage equality, 84.7 per cent of participants said they were opposed, with 71.5 per cent strongly opposed. Just 9.9 per cent supported a plebiscite, including 6.5 per cent who strongly supported it, while 5.4 per cent were undecided. The Turnbull government moved quickly to replace Brian Martin on Monday, naming Indigenous advocate Mick Gooda and retired Queensland judge Margaret White to head the royal commission into the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system. Mr Martin stepped down just days after being named to head the commission amid concerns about conflicts of interest and criticism of the selection process from Indigenous leaders and justice advocates. Who are the new royal commissioners? Mick Gooda Former Supreme Court judge Brian Martin has resigned as the head of the royal commission into the NT juvenile detention just days after being appointed. His replacements have been announced as former Queensland Supreme Court judge Margaret White and, following calls for an Indigenous co-commissioner, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda. Citing the need for public and stakeholder confidence in the joint Commonwealth-NT inquiry, Mr Martin said that criticisms of him had been "disingenuous" and ill-informed. "However, notwithstanding the nature of the commentary, it has become apparent that, rightly or wrongly, in this role I would not have the full confidence of sections of the Indigenous community which has a vital interest in this inquiry," he told media in Canberra. Lee Mcdonald grew up with a nagging suspicion that something was slightly amiss with her family. She bore no resemblance to her parents and looked nothing like her younger brother. It wasn't until she was 33 she found out why. After obtaining a copy of her birth certificate for a job, she discovered the man she had known as her father for the past three decades was no relation. Yearning: Lee Mcdonald spent decades trying to find her father. Credit:Janie Barrett "It was a shock," she said. "There was this unfamiliar name on my birth certificate, certainly not the name of the man I believed to be my father. It was a shock but there was a part of me that wasn't that surprised. I always felt that something wasn't quite right." The chance discovery triggered a quest for information about her biological father, but her mother was reluctant to reveal much detail. The Taliban have launched an attack on a Kabul hotel for foreign workers and military personnel, with "dozens" of casualties. The Islamist group often exaggerates the extent of the attacks it launches against Afghan government and foreign security targets. Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, which is east of Kabul's main international airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the city, immediately after the attack. The attack began when a truck bomb exploded in front of the Northgate hotel early on Monday morning. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy On 28 July 2016, the WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, joined the High-Level Dialogue Session at the WCO Sub-regional Workshop on Integrity for the Pacific. The event was held at the Regional Training Centre in Suva, Fiji, under the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Co-operation Fund (CCF/Japan) and attended by some 45 high-level officials representing WCO Member administrations in the Pacific sub-region and non-WCO Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) Member administrations. Secretary General Mikuriya and the Director General of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD), Mr. Dato Sri Khazali bin Hj Ahmad, joined the Session as resource speakers. In his keynote address to open the Session, Secretary General Mikuriya elaborated on the fact that Customs had been candid in discussing integrity issues for many years, leading to the development of the Arusha Declaration. Problems could not be countered unless their underlying nature and causes were recognized. Several prominent causes of integrity problems were linked to high tariff rates and complex Customs procedures. In this respect, the Secretary General touched upon the importance of using ICT tools and human resource management techniques, as well as the need for engagement by officials both at top management and operational levels. He also encouraged a whole-of- government approach. The RMCD Director General spoke about his Administrations experiences in addressing integrity issues through the introduction of a set of targeted measures. Participants took advantage of the attendance of the WCO Secretary General and RMCD Director General to conduct a fruitful and interactive dialogue with them. WCO Secretary General Mr. Kunio Mikuriya attended the official launching ceremony of the WCO Asia/Pacific (A/P) Vice-Chairs Office, held on 28 July 2016 in Suva, Fiji, alongside the Honorable Mr. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fijian Minister of Economy, and Mr. Dato Sri Khazali bin Hj Ahmad, Director General of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) and former A/P Regional Vice-Chair. Other guests included members of the Fiji-based diplomatic corps and participants in the WCO Sub-regional Workshop on Integrity. In his opening address, Mr. Visvanath Das, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority (FRCA) and Comptroller of Customs, in his capacity as the new A/P Vice-Chair, expressed his appreciation and said it was an honour for the FRCA to take up this role for the next 2 years, Fiji being the first WCO Member in the Pacific sub-region to be entrusted with this responsibility. He also reaffirmed his determination to continue to foster close communication and coordination among the Member administrations in the A/P Region with a view to addressing the challenges faced by Customs and raising the profile of the Region within the international Customs community. In his speech, the WCO Secretary General took the opportunity to express his thanks to the RMCD Director General for his accomplishments during Malaysias 2-year tenure as A/P Vice-Chair in terms of communication and good coordination among the A/P Member administrations, and expressed his confidence in the successful takeover of this role by the FRCA. The Secretary General highlighted the imperative need for connectivity among all relevant stakeholders, including between Customs administrations, through the use of pertinent technology. He also touched upon the Sub-regional Workshop on Integrity, stressing that human resource development is key to fighting corruption. Given Fijis important role within the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) and its geographical location, he expressed the hope that Fijis role as the new A/P Vice-Chair would lead to more OCO Members joining the WCO. The RMCD Director General welcomed the FRCA to the role of Vice-Chair and offered his support and future collaboration, wishing the Authority all the best in this undertaking. The Minister of Economy welcomed the WCO Secretary General, the RMCD Director General and all the other guests, and confirmed his political support for the FRCAs role as A/P Vice-Chair for the next 2 years. The Minister called for the further enhancement of international cooperation and collaboration through the exchange of information and experiences, as well as capacity building support from the WCO Secretariat and the regional WCO Member administrations. The Minister also made reference to the Integrity Workshop, and reiterated the importance of integrity for uplifting the regions economic growth and securing borders against the threats posed by transnational organized crime and terrorism. The ceremony concluded with the unfolding of the A/P regional flag, which had been officially handed over by the RMCD to the FRCA at the A/P regional consultation session held in the margins of the recent WCO 127th/128th Council Sessions at WCO Headquarters in Brussels, and the unveiling of the plaque of the A/P Regional Vice-Chair. At the invitation of the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO), the WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, and the Head of the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) Asia/Pacific (A/P), Mr. Kazunari Igarashi, visited the OCO Secretariat in Suva, Fiji on 28 July 2016. Mr. Seve Paeniu, Head of the OCO Secretariat, and his colleagues extended a warm welcome to the WCO representatives. Secretary General Mikuriya took the floor to express his Organizations appreciation for the OCO Secretariats continued partnership with the WCO in capacity building delivery activities and for its support with the outreach of WCO instruments and tools in the Pacific sub-region. In particular, he welcomed this weeks collaboration to hold back-to-back Sub-Regional Workshops on the Single Window and on Integrity, made possible by the excellent logistical coordination between the OCO and the ROCB A/P. Mr. Paeniu took the opportunity to give a briefing on the OCOs policy and priorities, describing ways forward for future collaboration based on a Memorandum of Understanding. Both the WCO Secretary General and the Head of the OCO Secretariat reaffirmed their ongoing consultation and looked forward to future cooperation benefiting Customs administrations in the Pacific sub-region. Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High 69F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Thundershowers overnight following a period of rain early. Low near 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. FORT POLK -- Nearly 100 New York Army National Guard Soldiers from Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery, based in Bronx, N.Y., deployed their cannons and munitions from New York to the fight at the Armys Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana, July 27, 2016. Theres nothing like feeling the power of the howitzer - your adrenaline is up and you can feel it vibrate through your whole body exclaimed Spc. Jose Cordero, a radio operator for Bravo Batterys Gun 8. You know you have to respect it. As the RTO, Cordero communicates with the battalion command or fire direction and transmits the target lists, and fire plans to the observer. The highlight of the training here was the live fire, Cordero enthused. The artillery battery joins more than 200 Soldiers of the 1-258th Field Artillery from Jamaica and Newburgh, N.Y. as part of JRTC rotation 16-08, supporting the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in Syracuse, N.Y., leading Task Force Hunter. The Soldiers, who refer to themselves as the Bronx Boys, are battling the environment, the summer heat and a trained opposing force in an exercise that brings as much realism as possible to troops. The battery came with M119 lightweight towed howitzers that provide direct and indirect fire support to the brigade elements deployed here for training in combined arms operations. According to Sgt. Erik Paredes, a M119 gunner assigned to Bravo Battery, Gun 8, the M119 fires 105mm ammunition that includes high explosive rounds, high explosive rocket assisted shells, illuminating star shells and white phosphorous smoke cartridges. The M119 fires on high trajectories at low velocities and can be easily moved and rapidly deployed in the field to deliver optimum fire power with less combat weight. With a lower silhouette it is primarily towed by a Humvee or air dropped by parachute and also sling carried under a CH-47 Chinook or UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, Paredes explained. The Joint Training Center affords combat training in a realistic environment which features a well-trained opposing force, civilian role-players on the battlefield, high-tech systems which monitor the action and effects of all weapons and observer-controllers to evaluate unit actions. Paredes noted the challenges when faced with an aggressive opposing force, knowing that the artillery batteries are a valued target. Theyve kept us on the move here we keep moving our position, digging in and setting up camouflage netting to stay concealed from the enemy, its the only way to keep alive, Paredes said. We are running 24-hour operations, so most of us are awake at night because thats when youre vulnerable to attack. We use rest cycles to make sure weve functional when needed, explained Paredes. Bottom line is we support the front line infantry, we need to tough it out and be ready when they call for fires. When Gun 8 isnt on the move, setting up or providing fire support they are focusing on team building. This is great because we get to apply our training and use the skills we learned over the years, but even more so is sharing with each other. There is no boundaries on knowledge, Paredes exclaimed. Team building is more than a benefit for the artillery crews, it is a necessity. All the forces at JRTC wear a laser harness for the force on force training. With the force on force training, any number of artillery Soldiers can become casualties and removed from the fight. We are cross training all of our team positions. No one is limited to just their own job, each Soldier is learning the skills at the next level to build proficiency and confidence. Anyone of us could be taken out or thrown into taking on additional responsibilities, if something happens to one of our team. Its our job as leaders to make sure each one of us is prepared if that happens, Paredes enthused. JRTC gives a realism to the fight a sense of urgency and seeing helicopters, cavalry and infantry all in the same place really sets the mindset of battle. You see how things come together, especially what we bring to the fight, explained 1st Lt. Vadim Yegorov, a fire direction officer for Bravo Battery. Were learning a lot. It takes a lot of multi-tasking to stay in front of the enemy and be able to attack, especially with the challenges of the hot weather, working around the clock, lack of showers, food and sleep, Yegorov said. Were making do by being creative and adapting and taking it one day at a time. A significant part of the exercise is the professional observers and trainers who watch over the training to identify shortfalls and provide feedback and guidance. These guys have come a long way since theyve been here. They went from setting up the first time in an unfamiliar terrain in 10 hours to 30 minutes. Its all about repetition which isnt something they can do with only 39 days of training a year in the National Guard, explained Sgt. 1st Class James Howard, an observer-controller/trainer assigned to Task Force Fires, JRTC Operations Group. The goal of the entire exercise is to make the unit better, Howard said, and to bring back lessons to help the batteries plan for future training. Gun 8 and Bravo Battery have been doing that throughout, he said. They are listening to guidance and suggestions and you can see that their taking in what they learn from the Fire Direction Center, Howard said. Search of Mayfield home snares alleged meth trafficker and two others By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 01, 2016 | 04:27 PM | CARBONDALE, IL A few more details have emerged about the shooting of a Carbondale Police Officer late Sunday night, but the suspects involved are still at large.At a press conference Monday afternoon, Carbondale Police Chief Jeff Grubbs said the officer's name is not being released at this time, but he did confirm that the officer is 26-years-old and has been on the force since 2013. Grubbs said the officer is in serious, but stable condition at a Saint Louis area hospital.Grubbs said two black males are believed to have been involved in the shooting, and possibly others. The suspects' vehicle, a Tan Pontiac Grand Prix was found abandoned and burned in Williamson County, and has been taken into evidence. Grubbs urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact law enforcement. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the suspects."We know that there are individuals out there who have information about what occurred just before midnight last night, and we want those individuals to come forward." Grubbs said.Illinois State Police Captain William Sons said ISP is working diligently to help apprehend the suspects involved.Anyone with information about this incident is being asked to contact Carbondale Police at 618-457-3200, or Carbondale/SIU Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 618-549-2677. On the Net: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 01, 2016 | CARBONDALE, IL By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 01, 2016 | 05:29 AM | CARBONDALE, IL A Carbondale Police officer was shot late Sunday night, and the suspect is still on the loose. According to the Carbondale Police Department, just after 11:30 pm, officers of the Carbondale Police Department were on patrol in the 700 block of North Robert A. Stalls Street when they determined gunshots were being fired. Police say while driving toward the source of the gunshots, officers saw a tan, four-door vehicle driving away from the area at a high rate of speed. The officers attempted to stop the vehicle and a pursuit was initiated. During the pursuit, a suspect fired several gunshots at the pursuing officers from the fleeing vehicle, striking the police car and one of the police officers which ended the pursuit. No shots were fired by Carbondale Police officers, according to the department. The officer was immediately taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale where he was initially treated for a gunshot wound. The officers condition is reported to be serious by the police department, and he has been transported to a St. Louis area hospital for additional treatment. The investigation into the incident is being led by the Illinois State Police which is standard Carbondale Police Department procedure in incidents concerning an Officer Involved Shooting. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the City of Carbondale Police Department at (618) 457-3200. You may also call the Carbondale/SIU Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (618) 549-COPS (2677). 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. Schalke 04 have all but confirmed that Leroy Sane is on the very cusp of completing his long-mooted transfer to Man City. The Bundesliga side revealed that the nippy little forward has not travelled to Austria with the rest of the squad for a pre-season training camp and has instead made his way to Manchester to undergo his City medical. Leroy #Sane is currently in Manchester and will not be travelling with #Schalke to the training camp. #s04 pic.twitter.com/Jz0Mrlv5vO FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) August 1, 2016 Lo and behold, Sane was spotted leaving a city centre hotel this very morn Images of Sane leaving the Radisson in Manchester this morning. pic.twitter.com/ivxDXCxY9I City Watch (@City_Watch) August 1, 2016 It would appear that ts only a matter of time now before Sane becomes Pep Guardiolas fifth signing of the summer. The fee being bandied around is a lofty 31million (rising to 46.5million) which is an awful lot for a 20-year-old with just 47 Bundesliga appearances under his belt. As ever, however, City are paying the potential premium here, with Sane, while still a little raw and unrefined, already showing that he is capable of moments of great skill, technique and endeavour. In all honesty, hes probably got a far better chance of morphing into the player City thought they were signing when they blew 50million on Raheem Sterling. Weve been through this before defining how government works in the simplest of terms. As State Sen. Amanda Ragan explained to a group of senior citizens last year, it boils down to, How and how much? How are we going to get something done and how much is it going to cost? I have referred many times in this space to the late Cerro Gordo County supervisor and legislator Roger Broers, who said the secret to government is convincing people you are doing something for them not to them. And Roger Bang, the former mayor and councilman in Mason City, who said you need the votes (on the council) to get things done. If you have them, theres no problem; if you dont, you need to go get them. Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate for vice president, is one of 31 Americans who have been a mayor, a governor and a senator. He said in a recent CSPAN interview that serving in local government was the best training anyone could get for a future in politics. Kaine said he learned three lessons while in local government (as mayor of Richmond, Virginia) that have served him well as he moved on with his career. We should think about these lessons and how they might apply to local governments in North Iowa. First, said Kaine, city positions are nonpartisan. Nobody cares whether youre a Republican or Democrat. What they care about is results. Secondly, words arent important unless they lead to results. Politicians may think their speeches are a means to an end but the public is more interested in the end. They will remember what happened long after they have forgotten what was said. The third lesson from local politics is the importance of accessibility. In Mason City, Clear Lake and most other North Iowa communities, council members are available by phone, by email, by text, at meetings and just by running into them by chance at the hardware store or grocery. How many of us have encountered a city official while shopping at one of our local stores? Kaine said when he was mayor of Richmond, a woman rear-ended his pickup truck. When police arrived and started taking down information, the woman realized she had slammed into the mayor. And she immediately started talking to him about a local zoning issue. Art Wolover, a council member 10 years ago who was an anesthesiologist at the hospital, said a man about to be put under for some surgery recognized him. He bolted up out of his prone position on the operating table and began spouting off about a housing issue. You can make people happier or madder in local office than in any other office, Kaine told the CSPAN interviewer. Kaine didnt mention it, probably because he has been out of local government for quite some time, but social media has changed the landscape of serving in local government. Citizens can use Facebook and other forms of social media to mount campaigns for or against one thing or another. Weve seen that happen in North Iowa. But social media can also be used to bully public officials and spread lies and rumors under the guise of freedom of speech without the first thought toward accountability for what they are writing. It happens so often in local politics in North Iowa that you begin to wonder why anyone would want to run for public office. Morley Safer, the late CBS journalist most famous for his work on 60 Minutes, was once asked what his opinion was of citizen journalists. He said, I wouldnt trust them any more than I would trust a citizen surgeon. Neither should you. Winona Friday 10:05 a.m. $300 in cash was reported missing from a residence on the 500 block of East Fourth Street. 10:57 a.m. Courtney Diane Easterling, 30, Chatfield, Minn., was cited for shoplifting at Fleet Farm. 4:05 p.m. A chair was reported missing from a garage on the 550 block of West Howard Street. 4:37 p.m. Graffiti was spray-painted on a garage on the 750 block of West Howard Street. Saturday 6:19 p.m. A green Mongoose bicycle was reported missing from a residence on the 300 block of West Belleview Street. 6:46 p.m. Charges of third-degree drunken driving, no proof of insurance, and no Minnesota driver's license were referred against Larry Steven Rebich, 63, Arcadia, Wis., after a traffic stop near Hwy. 61 and Parks Avenue. His blood-alcohol content was 0.14 percent. 7:47 p.m. An air conditioning unit was damaged at a business on the 100 block of Market Street. 8:46 p.m. A wallet was reported missing from a vehicle parked near Galewski Drive and Theurer Boulevard. Sunday 11:51 a.m. A window on a pickup topper was broken on the 400 block of Stueben Street. 12:32 p.m. A bike lock was cut, but the bike was not taken from a rack at Menards. 3:36 p.m. Fishing tackle valued at $3,000 was reported missing from a boat at Dick's Marine. 8:43 p.m. Charges of third-degree drunken driving were referred against Ron James Anderson, 38, Rochester, Minn., after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a second motorcycle at West Fifth and Huff streets. No one was injured. Winona County Friday 12:08 p.m. Deputies and Goodview Police served a search warrant at a residence in Lake Village. Drug paraphernalia with trace amounts of methamphetamine were found. Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and child endangerment/children in the presence of a controlled substance were referred agasints Courtney Nicole Williams, 28, Goodview. Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) were referred against Andrew Hansen Andersen III, 26, Winona. A Baraboo native has written a movie script for the first time, and chose for her topic well, the first time. Kara Hakanson is raising money to produce fifteen, a coming-of-age comedy. The independent short delivers a realistic and comedic story of a girl losing her virginity. Like the experience itself, the script is real and funny and awkward. In addition to writing the film, Hakanson will act in it and serve as producer. Shooting is set to begin Aug. 22. An online fundraising drive seeks to raise $16,500. I have to wear so many hats, she said. To L.A. and back Hakanson graduated from Baraboo High School in 2011 and attended the University of Minnesota, where she planned to study journalism. But she found herself disillusioned with her studies, and wistful for her days acting back home at the Al. Ringling Theatre. She dropped out of college to pursue film, serving an internship with a Twin Cities film festival and working on student television projects. In time Hakanson felt if she was serious about an acting career, she needed to head for Los Angeles. I just decided, I need to move out to L.A., she said. I didnt know if I was going to come back or not. The aspiring actress couch-hopped with friends of friends at first, and ended up staying out west for a year-and-a-half. In that time, she learned acting is a tough racket, especially for an average looking woman. Hakanson quickly tired of reading for the role of the lead characters best friend or the girl next door. Eating cereal for dinner every night was no picnic, either. I was really tired of having $20 in my checking account all the time, she said. Seeds of inspiration Hakanson was dismayed by the types of roles available to women in Hollywood. She followed advice of people inside the industry, who told her to write roles for herself. Last April, Hakanson started writing fifteen, a process that took a year. I came back with that attitude and that drive, she said. This was a story I needed to get out. Last October she returned to the University of Minnesota, where shes studying film and laying the groundwork for producing her movie. Hakanson also holds down two part-time jobs. This can prove challenging, as she has learned being an independent filmmaker is itself a full-time job. Its one thing to dream about being an actor or a filmmaker, but its another thing to do it, Hakanson said. You really, really, really have to love it if you do it. Getting feedback Hakanson handed her script to many people, inside the film industry and out, over the past year. They praised her for creating a unique and realistic take on the loss of innocence, told from a female perspective. People laugh, which is good, she said. So far, fifteen has raised 15 percent of its goal, with less than a week to go for the online fundraising drive. Hakanson has approached many contacts for donations, including her high school teachers. You really become appreciative of other people, of their help, she said. She hopes fifteen will help launch a career that will allow her to write scripts that provide a healthy representation of women. She vows to hire women in her film crews. Im hoping this film will get out to as many people as possible, Hakanson said. She also hopes to prove artists dont have to leave the Midwest to make movies. People who want to move out to L.A.: You might not have to, Hakanson said. Just to let you know. As I prepare to leave Mason City, where I was born over 76 years ago, for Ashburn, Virginia, to live near our son, I have to get something off my chest. There is a word that should be banned from the English language and that word is free. Nothing, but absolutely nothing, in this life is truly free. It is true that person A might not pay for a good or service and consider it free, but person B is paying for that good or service 100 percent of the time. We talk about free public education. For those who pay property taxes, they find a large bill each year for both the Mason City School District and NIACC. The people who eat at Community Kitchen need that meal badly and cannot pay for it. The only reason they receive it, though, is that other generous people are paying for the food. We are in the midst of a presidential election where the word free is being used right and left. Again, some less-fortunate people need help and may not be able to pay, but please, do not refer to what they get as free. Thank goodness we have people who are more fortunate and willing to provide their money so that others will not have to pay for clothes, a meal or an education. But those are not free. There, it is off my chest and I can leave my childhood home happy that I spoke my mind for the last time. I do appreciate the Globe publishing a few of my thoughts over the past 12 years. I seriously doubt that my new newspaper, The Washington Post, will be so gracious. Jack Hood, Mason City 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 6:07 a.m. Friday and 2:36 a.m. Monday police responded to 115 calls East Cook Street: Police on Friday at 9:49 a.m. encountered Jonathan Paula, 29, of Portage, who was arrested and cited for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia and K.C. Briggs, 23, of Portage, who was cited for the same and bail jumping. Interstate-39 and Highway 16: Police on Friday at 5:38 p.m. responded to a traffic accident where Megan Gilbertson, 20, of Marshfield had turned onto the Highway 16 off-ramp, then turned into the ditch and rolled the vehicle. The vehicle was towed. Marshfield was cited for inattentive driving. Cattail Lodge: Police on Saturday at 12:29 p.m. responded to a report of a fraudulently cashed check, where Andre Parker, 37, of Portage, was given a municipal citation for theft. Washington Street: Police on Sunday at 3:56 p.m. responded to a domestic disturbance where a Portage man was accused of throwing a slow cooker and an iPad at a TV. The man was arrested and charged for domestic criminal damage to property and domestic disorderly conduct. Kwik Trip South: Police on Sunday at 11:16 p.m. were on scene where an argument began between three men who had been part of the carnival staff at the Columbia County Fair. Paul Paquette, 36, of New York, and Colt Stephens, 27, of Illinois, were arrested for disorderly conduct. West Cook Street: Police on Monday at 12:20 a.m. arrested Jack Schonenberger, 57, of Portage, who was charged with felony bail jumping in relation to a no-drink court order, later registering .01 with a preliminary breath test. Christoffer Zilliacus has informed the Chairman of the Board that he resigns from his position in Attendos Board of Directors. Christoffer Zilliacus is a Director at IK Investment Partners and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2013, at first as a deputy member and from 2015 as a regular board member. The reason behind Zilliacus resignation is time constraints. The change is effective immediately. Attendo AB (publ) For further information, please contact: Ingalill Ostman, Head of Investor Relations Attendo Phone: +46 708 67 42 12 E-mail: Ingalill.ostman@attendo.com Stefan Svanstrom, Communications Director Attendo Phone: +46 708 67 38 07 E-mail: stefan.svanstrom@attendo.com ___________________________________________________________ Attendo - the leading care and healthcare company in the Nordics Attendo is the leading private provider of publicly financed care and healthcare services in the Nordic region. The company was founded in 1985 and was first to provide outsourced care for older people in Sweden. In addition to care for older people, Attendo provides care for people with disabilities, individuals and families, and, in Finland, healthcare and dental care. Attendo has 19 000 employees and is locally anchored with over 500 operations in more than 200 municipalities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. www.attendo.com FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twenty high school seniors from schools across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America jump-started their college experience and learned the business of chemistry at the sixth annual BASF Science Academy. The two-week summer science program, developed by BASF Corporation, is held at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in Madison, New Jersey. Working in teams, students use BASF chemistry to formulate their own personal care products and develop a go-to-market plan and strategy. At the end of their two weeks, students present their product to a panel of BASF executives and FDU academic leaders. The Academy is a wonderful opportunity to expose bright young minds to the wonders of chemistry and business in a college setting, said Robin Rotenberg, Vice President of Corporate Communications for BASF in North America. Its rewarding to see how such a diverse group of teenagers grow together in a dynamic learning environment. Once they return to their schools and local communities, our hope is that they will share what they have learned and inspire other students to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering or math. Following the curriculum theme, From Molecules to Marketplace, students gain invaluable hands-on experience in college chemistry labs while developing a marketing strategy to link their product to the consumer. Students also experience chemistry in action by visiting BASF Research and Development labs in Tarrytown, NY and meeting with cosmetic chemists and subject matter experts. Through exposure to real world chemistry, students observe how the fundamental building blocks of many every day products are comprised of chemistry. The partnership between business and academia is a successful model for helping students understand the practical applications of what they learn, said Dr. Brian Olechnowski, Program Director at FDU. I am excited to be a part of the experiences and progress the students make during the intensive two week program. Students graduate from the program with two transferable college credits to encourage their pursuit in a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) field. In addition, FDU offers Science Academy alumni $5,000 scholarships if they choose to attend FDU in the fall of 2017. When my team and I started to work together to create our body lotion, thats when I started learning the most from the students around me, said Karla Paola Bonilla, Science Academy participant from Mexico City, Mexico. I enjoyed meeting so many students with diverse backgrounds while at the Science Academy. I was surprised to see the quality of chemistry labs we were working in and the exposure to possible career paths in chemistry and business. My dream job is to be at the front of discovery and new innovations or think of a new take on older ideas, said Jason Yang, Science Academy participant from Katy, TX. I learned that the most important way to advance chemistry is through sustainability. I think the combination of business and chemistry is vital because at the end of the day, you can do as much chemistry as you want, but you need funding and a business plan to put your chemistry in the marketplace. Several Science Academy alumni have returned to BASF through the summer hire internship program and the Professional Development Program (PDP). Most notably, Science Academy class of 2011 alumni, Kevin Chao, joined BASF as a full-time PDP. Kevin will begin working for BASF in Beaumont, TX in September. BASF is a company that focuses on personal development from a young age, which is evident from their programs such as Science Academy, said Kevin Chao, Science Academy alumni Class of 2011. My personal growth from the Science Academy and the PDP internship programs have prepared me for a full time job with BASF as a chemical engineer. Graduates of the 2016 Science Academy are listed below: Virginia Behmer, Elyria High School, OH Jacob Bice, Geneva Community High School, IL Karla Paola Bonilla Gomez, Colegio Indoamericano, Mexico Alexander Chen, Whippany Park High School, NJ Lara Dmitruchina, Roosevelt High School, MI Winston Hung, West Brook High School, TX Joelle Kim, Grissom High School, AL Nicole LeJeune, East Ascension High School, LA Breanna Lima, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, ON, Canada Danielle Matz, Seneca Valley Senior High School, PA Anthony Nepomuceno, Bradley-Bourbonnais High School, IL Jacob Pate, Columbia High School, TX Adithya Ramaswami, Anthony Wayne High School, OH Anna Reed, Morris Knolls High School, NJ Ana Paula Reyna Maldonado, Bilingue Vista Hermosa, Guatemala Cody Sasser, Port Neches Groves High School, TX Alana Tillery, Kings Fork High School, VA Jiayuan Wang, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, VA Jason Yang, The Kinkaid School, TX Claire Zou, Randolph High School, NJ See what the 2016 Science Academy students had to say about the program: https://youtu.be/yRWmMgmcPCc For press photos, please click on the following link: https://www.basf.com/press-photos/us/en/photos/2016/08/08-01-16_scienceacademygroup.jpg Suggested caption: Graduates of the 2016 BASF Science Academy explore connections between business and advanced science at Farleigh Dickinson University. Pictured in the front row, from left: Cody Sasser, Port Neches Groves High School, Texas; Nicole LeJeune, East Ascension High School, Louisiana; Ana Paula Reyna, Bilingue Vista Hermosa, Guatemala; Anthony Nepomuceno, Bradley-Bourbonnais High School, Illinois; Karla Paola Bonilla, Colegio Indoamericano, Mexico; Breanna Lima, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, Ontario; Jason Yang, The Kinkaid School, Texas. Middle Row from left: Claire Zou, Randolph High School, New Jersey; Danielle Matz, Seneca Valley Senior High School, Pennsylvania; Joelle Kim, Grissom High School, Alabama; Alana Tillery, Kings Fork High School, Virginia; Virginia Behmer, Elyria High School, Ohio; Lara Dmitruchina, Roosevelt High School, Michigan. Back row from left: Jacob Bice, Geneva Community High School, Illinois; Jacob Pate, Columbia High School, Texas, Winston Hung, West Brook High School, Texas; Anna Reed, Morris Knolls High School, New Jersey; Alexander Chen, Whippany Park High School, New Jersey; Adithya Ramaswami, Anthony Wayne High School, Ohio; Jiayuan Wang, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Virginia. About Fairleigh Dickinson University Devoted to the preparation of world citizens through global education, Fairleigh Dickinson is New Jersey's largest private university and features more than 100 liberal arts and professional degree programs, two international campuses, dozens of partnerships with internationally renowned institutions and special programs and status within the United Nations. For more information, go to www.fdu.edu. About BASF BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has nearly 17,500 employees in North America, and had sales of $17.4 billion in 2015. For more information about BASFs North American operations, visit www.basf.us. At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than 70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information at www.basf.com. 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 UKIAH, Calif., Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mendo Lake Credit Union has been providing quality financial services to residents of Mendocino and Lake county since 1959. The credit unions vision is to empower both individual and community prosperity to assist in making Lake and Mendocino counties great places to work. With that in mind, Mendo Lake Credit Union is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with Golden State Wealth Management to expand the financial services available to credit union members. Golden State Wealth Management is a team of well-established local financial advisors providing comprehensive investment strategies and retirement planning. Together, Mendo Lake Credit Union and Golden State Wealth Management will be bringing expanded financial opportunities to the residents of Mendocino and Lake counties. Members in all branches will enjoy complimentary meetings with a registered financial advisor who will help them further their financial plan and define their financial goals. Golden State Wealth Management advisors provide a range of services, including: equity investments, business retirement accounts, estate planning, life insurance, financial planning, and more. "Mendo Lake Credit Union is excited to announce our partnership with Golden State Wealth Management, said Richard Cooper, CEO of Mendo Lake Credit Union. We look forward to them providing our members with investment opportunities, comprehensive asset management, and the added benefits of retirement and estate planning." Golden State Wealth Management was organized in Mendocino County in 2005, and is a Registered Investment Advisor offering comprehensive investment strategies based on timely, unbiased research and industry-leading technology. With founding partners that bring over 50 years of financial experience, they are dedicated to addressing the financial planning needs of individuals, businesses and families across the nation. Golden State Wealth Management is aligned with LPL Financial, the nations largest independent broker-dealer*, to provide comprehensive tools and research necessary in todays complex markets. Daniel Catone, President of Golden State Wealth Management commented, As a member of Mendo Lake Credit Union and a resident of Mendocino county, I am thrilled to provide our community with the services that our financial advisors offer. My hope is that this partnership brings further financial freedom and prosperity to Mendocino and Lake counties. Wealth manager Jim Goetz will be serving the Ukiah, Clearlake, and Lakeport branches. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Jim has been serving the financial needs of the residents of Mendocino and Lake counties for over 8 years. Wealth manager Bradley Gardner will be serving the Fort Bragg credit union branch. Brad has been a financial advisor for over 15 years and is a founding partner of Golden State Wealth Management. Brad was born and raised in Northern California. Credit Union members can schedule an appointment by contacting their local branch. For more information, visit www.MLCU.org and www.GoldenStateWM.com/MLCU. 707-621-6249 www.GoldenStateWM.com *As reported in Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2016, based on total revenue. The Financial Consultants of Golden State Wealth Management are registered representatives with, and securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Insurance products offered through LPL Financial or its licensed affiliates. The investment products sold through LPL Financial are not insured Mendo Lake Credit Union deposits and are not NCUA insured. These products are not obligations of the Mendo Lake Credit Union and are not endorsed, recommended or guaranteed by Mendo Lake Credit Union or any government agency. The value of the investment may fluctuate, the return on the investment is not guaranteed, and loss of principal is possible. LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz., Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- State Bank Corp. (OTCQB:SBAZ), the holding company for Mohave State Bank, today announced that it completed the acquisition of Country Bank, which was merged with and into Mohave State Bank on July 31, 2016. As of the closing date, the combined company has 9 branches and approximately $560 million in total assets, and is the largest community bank headquartered in Arizona. We are pleased to announce the completion of the merger and to welcome Country Banks shareholders, customers and employees to Mohave State Bank, stated Brian M. Riley, President and Chief Executive Officer of State Bank Corp. and Mohave State Bank. This is a strategic combination and we are excited to bring together two well respected community banks with similar philosophies and cultures. Riley continued, This expands our geographic footprint into Yavapai County with Country Banks branches in Prescott, Prescott Valley and Cottonwood. We continue to be focused on building the premier community banking franchise in Arizona, and we believe, with this combination, the bank will be even better positioned to grow, serve our customers and create strong returns for our shareholders. We expect the merger to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and significantly increase our return on equity. D.A. Davidson & Co. served as financial advisor and issued a fairness opinion to State Bank Corp. and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP served as legal counsel to State Bank Corp. Vining Sparks served as financial advisor and issued a fairness opinion to Country Bank and Lindquist & Vennum LLP served as legal counsel to Country Bank. Election of Directors In connection with the merger, the State Bank Corp. board of directors appointed Benjamin Andre and M.P. Brut Brutinel to both the State Bank Corp. and Mohave State Banks Board of Directors. Mr. Brutinel started his banking career in 1957 and served as the President/CEO of Bank of Prescott, County Bank, and Country Bank. Mr. Andre served on the Board of Directors of Country Bank since its inception in 2003 after a career in the hardware supply business. About State Bank Corp. State Bank Corp., headquartered in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, is the parent company of Mohave State Bank, the largest locally-owned bank in Mohave County. Mohave State Bank is a full-service bank providing deposit and loan products, and convenient on-line banking to individuals, businesses and professionals. The Bank was established in October 1991, and the holding company was formed in 2004. The Bank has nine full-service branches: two in Lake Havasu City, two in Kingman, two in Prescott, one in Prescott City, one in Cottonwood and one in Bullhead City, Arizona. The Company is traded over-the-counter with ticker SBAZ. For further information, please visit the web site: www.mohavestbank.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of Country Bank, including future financial and operating results. State Bank Corp. intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in these provisions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. State Bank Corp. cautions you therefore against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of State Bank Corp. to integrate the Country Bank business or fully realize cost savings and other benefits of the acquisition. The two are said to be happier than ever following a brief split Its been reported that Gigi Hadid had recently moved into Zayn Maliks home in California. A source leaked the information to the Sunday Mirror, saying: Zayn and Gigi have moved in together in LA and hes busy furnishing and buying paintings to change it up and make it more of a couples pad. They cherish every moment together and make sure theyre never apart for longer than 10 days so it made sense for her to move in officially. The two also share 21-year-old Hadids New York apartment when traveling to the east coast. The insider said they are very happily together following a brief breakup. Zayn prefers a quiet night with Gigi than showbiz parties so its important she feels comfortable. He appreciates her so much more after her support when he had to pull out of the Capital FM Summertime Ball with anxiety. Zayn sees how much Gigi is there for him. Theyre mutually passionately in love, the source stated. He also explained the reason behind the couples brief split, touching upon personal problems in Maliks life. Things are back to normal with them. They got through a rough patch that Zayn was facing personally and it started to put a dark cloud on their relationship. Gigi was there for him when he needed her the most and that brought them closer than ever. Meanwhile, Malik had previously revealed he loves Hadid because of her intelligence and maturity rather than her looks, adding: Shes super intelligent. I think thats why it works so well. And we do the same type of job so we get that with each other. Programming president Casey Bloys confirmed the popular shows fate The massively popular HBO fantasy series is set to end after season eight, president of programming Casey Bloys confirmed. The show, however, may see a spin-off in the future. Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter: Yes, I think [the showrunners, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff] have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do. If I could get them to do more, I would take 10 seasons but we want to take their lead with what they could do and what the best version of the show is. The spin-off, while potentially popular among fans, will only debut if it makes sense creatively. Bloys added: Weve talked about it. Its not something Im opposed to but it has to make sense creatively. Im not sure the guys can wrap their heads around it when they are about to start production. Were open to it; the guys arent opposed to it but theres no concrete plans right now. The series seventh season has been confirmed to consist of seven episodes as opposed to the typical 10-episode run. The episode number for season eight has not yet been confirmed, though producers are aiming for the series to end with roughly 75 in total. Game of Thrones, which has received numerous Emmy nominations and accolades, is one of the most followed television shows of the last decade. Its sixth season received an average of 25 million in total viewers, making it the most-watched series on HBO. Season seven is expected by summer 2017, with the series finale to air the following year. Scientists found an unexpected purpose for the spines on the backs of the newly discovered ant species, which have been named after the dragons in the "Game of Thrones" series Two new species of spiny ant have been discovered, and, since the scientists who found it are Game of Thrones fans, they knew that the ants resembled creatures from the series and have named them after Daenerys Targaryens dragons: Pheidole drogon and Pheidole viserion. The ants have revealed surprising information as to the purpose of the spines that poke up from their backs, a secret revealed in a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE last Wednesday. Study author Dr. Eli Sarnat told the Christian Science Monitor that it has commonly been assumed that the spikes on spiny ants are for defense, making it difficult for predators to swallow them. Sarnat had a different idea though. Worker ants fall into two categories: major and minor workers. Most average ants are minor workers, but the major workers have huge heads, and Sarnat thought perhaps the spines had something to do with extra muscles that would support those giant heads. The team used tiny CT scans, known as micro CT, to look at the internal structure of the bodies of the ants and made a three-dimensional model. The scans revealed that there was indeed extra muscle tissue in the shoulder spines of the major workers, who have the larger heads, but not in the minor workers. According to Providence College biologist James Waters (not involved in the study), The micro CT scanning enabled the authors to test a controversial new idea that the incredible shapes of the spikes on these ants have evolved for biomechanical support of their behaviors. He said perhaps this technology could help researchers examine evolutionary relationships between many other creatures based on the function of their anatomy, not just their form. The new ants have spines which are more complex and elaborate than any other of the 15,000 an species worldwide. Evan Economo, another member of the research team, said that they routinely find new species of ant in tropical regions such as New Guinea, which is teeming with unknown creatures, but that does not mean this finding is insignificant. According to Waters, scientists estimate that only a small fraction of Earths different life forms have been discovered, and every new species identified is a huge benefit to humanity. Natural history is all about understanding who our neighbors are, what theyre doing, and how everything fits together, its an incredibly important set of questions, and its something we can all do just by taking a look at the ants, birds, and the great diversity of life crawling on the sidewalk or living in our backyards. Image credit: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology The Roaring Lion fire began the afternoon of July 31 and is growing rapidly in hot temperatures with high winds The Roaring Lion fire is presently burning 3,505 acres 5 miles southwest of Hamilton, Mont. The fire started yesterday afternoon and the cause is still unknown. According to officials with the Bitterroot National Forest, at least 500 homes have been evacuated. There are 105 firefighters working the fire at this time, aided by five helicopters which spent yesterday afternoon dropping buckets of water on the blaze. A tanker dropped multiple loads of retardants. Inciweb, the official Incident Information System, says there are three Hot Shot crews on the fire, with multiple engines and water tenders pulled from every rural fire station in the Bitterroot area. A Type 1 Incident Management Team will arrive today. I have fire departments from Florence all the way to Sula that responded to assist today, as well as Missoula County has stepped up and theyve back-filled our stations. Theyve sent engines down to put engines into our stations for any other calls that weve had. Great outpouring of support from within the fire service as well as law enforcement, Hamilton Fire Chief Brad Mohn said. Firefighters are using caution due to propane tanks exploding near structures. Bulldozer and hand crews were able to create containment lines in much of the East side of the fire last night, and also put out multiple spot fires near residences. Cooler conditions expected today are providing hopes that the fire crews will have a chance to regroup. By early Monday the temperatures had dropped nearly 40 degrees from Sunday afternoon, and humidity has increased. However, that will keep the smoke low this morning, making visibility challenging for the aircraft fighting the fire. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. Linda Patricia Thompson By: Chan Yuan (Scroll down for video) Most people who rob a bank do so out of desperation and the need to support themselves and their families. However, one transgender woman told police that she robbed a bank because she wanted to go back to prison. 59-year-old Linda Patricia Thompson walked into the U.S. Bank in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a cardboard sign and demanded cash. After getting the money, Thompson, who is homeless, threw some in the air. She then walked outside and handed cash to strangers. Thompson then sat down on the sidewalk, and waited for police to pick her up and take her back to prison. Thompson, who was recently released from prison in Oregon, said that she did not want to go free. However, the prison refused her request to extend her stay, so she robbed the bank to go back to prison. During her last stint in prison, Thompson was featured in a documentary on the struggles of a transgender prisoner. Her proudest moment was when she castrated herself and flushed her private parts down the toilet in front of prison guards. After doing so, she received hormonal treatment and was transferred to a prison for transgender people. hogann wrote: Political Analyst: Because our city is a border city, illegal immigration is an important issue in the current race for mayor. Of the two candidates for mayor, one supports a plan that would attempt to deport the citys 9,000 illegal immigrants and the other does not. Surveys consistently show that about 60% of the citys residents are opposed to the plan, while about 35% are in support of the plan. Therefore, the candidate who does not support the plan will win the election for mayor. All of the following statements weaken the analysts argument, EXCEPT: (A) In the city at issue, most voters make their voting decisions based on the candidates positions on abortion. (B) Of the 35% of residents who support the plan, some are willing to consider alternate plans for addressing illegal immigration. (C) Many of the residents who oppose the plan are not registered voters. (D) The candidate who supports the plan is the incumbent mayor, and has been elected to four consecutive terms despite taking controversial positions on many important issues. (E) Just under 30% of the citys residents are illegal immigrants who cannot vote. OFFICIAL EXPLANATION (B) CORRECT The analyst argues that the mayoral candidate who opposes the deportation plan will win the governors race because 60% of city residents also oppose the plan. The analyst assumes that a majority of residents will vote for this candidate based on his position on unauthorized immigration. Any statement that calls this assumption into question will weaken the argument. You are looking for the one statement that does NOT call this assumption into question.(A) This statement calls into question the assumption that voters will cast their ballots based on the unauthorized immigration issue. Therefore, this statement weakens the analyst's argument.. This does not weaken the argument. In fact, if some of those who support the plan are willing to reconsider, they may ultimately oppose the original plan and decide to vote for the candidate who is also in opposition. If anything, this would help justify the analyst's claim that the candidate who opposes the plan will win the election.(C) This statement calls into question the assumption that a majority of residents will vote for the candidate who opposes the plan. If many of these residents are not registered voters, they will not be able to vote, regardless of their position on the immigration issue. This weakens the argument.(D) This calls into question the assumption that the residents will vote based on the unauthorized immigration issue. This statement shows that voters have a history of voting for the incumbent despite his controversial position on important issues. It is possible that the voters will again vote for the incumbent, even if he has taken an unpopular position on the unauthorized immigration issue. This weakens the argument.(E) If just under 30% of the residents are unauthorized immigrants, it is likely that many of the 60% in opposition to the plan are actually unauthorized immigrants themselves. If these individuals cant vote, it is less likely that the candidate who opposes the plan will win._________________ Emergency Services Attend Incident at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct This article is old - Published: Sunday, Jul 31st, 2016 Emergency services attended an incident at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct earlier this evening. Shortly before 6:30pm this evening there were several reports of emergency services activity in the area with witnesses stating that North Wales Police, Welsh Ambulance Service and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service were at the scene. One person told us that the aqueduct was also cordoned off by police. A spokesperson for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they were assisting North Wales Police at an incident at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and they were called to the scene at 6:27pm. One crew from Llangollen and a water incident unit from Ruthin are currently in attendance. There are no further details available. Tue, 10/26 (11:30am ET): MBA Essays - Talking About Your Past and Making Your Reader Excited About Your Future Demonstrations and marches were held in Australian cities last Saturday to protest against the horrific abuses being committed against boys, mostly indigenous, in Northern Territory (NT) juvenile detention centres. Almost 2,000 people rallied in Melbourne, with around 500 in Sydney. Protests also occurred in Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra, Perth and some regional centres. Workers, students and professional people voiced shock and outrage at vulnerable children as young as 10 being assaulted, stripped naked, tear-gassed, hooded and strapped and kept in tiny, foul isolation cells for up to 17 days at a time. The images, and interviews with some of the victims, were screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Four Corners program last Monday night. Placards on the rallies included Stop the torture! Where is justice? and Children are precious. There was widespread hostility toward the move by the federal and NT governments to convene a joint royal commission, headed by a former NT chief justice, in order to whitewash the abuses and protect the governments and officials responsible. But the rally organisers, from a group called Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR), channeled the deeply-felt anger and disgust into divisive black nationalism, blaming whites for the brutality. The speakers depicted the violence as a purely racial issue, covering over the class issues. In reality, the cruelty on display in the NT facilities is simply the most severe expression of the increasingly repressive measures being perpetrated across the country against youth and working class people as economic and social conditions deteriorate. While indigenous youth are far more likely to be incarcerated, that is because they are among the most oppressed layers of the working class, along with refugees and immigrant families. While speakers condemned the Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the NT Country Liberal Party government of Chief Minister Adam Giles, there was silence on the role of successive Labor governments, which have presided over the soaring prison incarceration rates and worsening levels of indigenous imprisonment during the past quarter century. At the Sydney rally, speakers from pseudo-left groups played a key role in this political diversion, while hiding their party affiliations. They also promoted the Greens, a capitalist party that has become a pivotal part of the political establishment over the same period. In Sydney, the first speaker, Jenny Munro, a veteran Aboriginal activist, set the tone. We need to understand the deep north and deep west of this country, she said. The racism in the [Northern] Territory and in the west is in your face every day. She called for an ongoing war we have to fight with rednecks. Munro declared: Its a racist system, its inherently oppressive to Aboriginal people. Munro was followed by WARs Ken Canning, who likewise framed the issue entirely as one confronting only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Canning, who was a lead Senate candidate for the pseudo-left Socialist Alliance at the July 2 federal election, demanded that all institutions holding our children be investigated immediately. Canning attributed the torture of the boys in the NT to a racist government, even though NT Chief Minister Giles, a vehement exponent of law and order politics, is himself Aboriginal. At the same time, Canning implied that non-indigenous people were to blame, declaring: This country has to wake up to itself. David Shoebridge, a Greens member of the New South Wales state parliament, was given the platform in order to boost illusions that a royal commission could recommend changes that would prevent violent abuses. Shoebridge claimed that none of the torture conditions seen in the NT would have been possible if the recommendations of the 1991 royal commission into black deaths in custody had been implemented. In reality, that royal commission, established by the Hawke Labor government, served to defuse a growing working-class movement against the killings by police and prison guards, ensure that no prosecutions took place and strengthen the powers of the authorities, while adding a layer of indigenous officials and advisers to the police, prisons and courts. The Greens MP described the abuses in the NT as institutional failings, as if they were aberrations in an otherwise healthy and legitimate criminal justice system. At that point, Shoebridge hastily ended his remarks, amid calls came from the audience of what are you going to do about it? Paddy Gibson, a member of Solidarity, another pseudo-left group, called for the implementation of the 1997 Bring the Children Home report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which recommended token official apologies and reparations for the decades-long removal of indigenous children from their families. We need to make that a reality, he declared. To achieve this goal, Gibson demagogically proposed a future march to shut down the city and set the children free. In Melbourne, speakers advocating black nationalism included Les Thomas, a member of the pseudo-left Socialist Alternative, who was introduced as a supporter of the stolen generations of Aboriginal children removed from their families. Ive been organising in the last 18 months with SOS Blak Australia in defence of communities, he said. Ive grown up fighting racism in different forms from a young age. Thomas promoted the slogan black lives matter, which is being used in the US to depict the mounting numbers of police shootings of working class people as solely a question of race. He said: The solutions need to go way beyond any recommendation put up by a hand-picked panel and hand-picked judge and team of non-Aboriginal people. We cannot afford any more to have any non-Aboriginal people holding positions of power over Aboriginal people. This line dovetails with the elevation of a privileged layer of indigenous bureaucrats and business owners, personified by the likes of Adam Giles, into positions of power. It opposes the necessity for the only kind of struggle that can end the state violencea unified struggle by the working class, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, in Australia and internationally for the overturn of the capitalist profit system and the reorganisation of society along socialist lines. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton continued her bid for support from right-wing elements disaffected with her Republican opponent Donald Trump, giving her first post-convention interview to Fox News, the semi-official cable network of the Republican right. Her campaign kept up its criticism of Trump from a right-wing, patriotic standpoint with a series of Clinton surrogates attacking Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief and suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was intervening in the US election on his behalf. (See Democratic Partys anti-Putin rhetoric prepares escalation of Syrian War.) Clintons one-on-one interview Sunday with Chris Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, was her first appearance on the right-wing cable network since she declared her candidacy more than 15 months ago. Fox has waged a furious campaign against Clinton over that period, centered on allegations that she was responsible for the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, at the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, and claims that her use of a private email server while secretary of state had compromised US national security. Significantly, however, Sundays interview by Wallace began with a question on Democratic Party claims that Russian intelligence agencies had hacked into the computer system of the Democratic National Committee and released emails from DNC officials showing that they had collaborated with the Clinton campaign to undermine her main challenger for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Do you think that Vladimir Putin wants to defeat you or see you defeated and Donald Trump elected president? Wallace asked. Clinton replied, We know that Russian intelligence services, which is part of the Russian government, which is under the firm control of Vladimir Putin, hacked into the DNC. And we know that he arranged for a lot of those emails to be released. No serious evidence has actually been presented in support of the allegation that the Russian government is responsible for the theft and leaking of the DNC emails, and not a shred of evidence has been put forward to back the claims of a Trump-Putin alliance. These charges have been widely promoted by the New York Times to create a political climate in which Clinton can attack Trump from the right, presenting herself as an advocate of a more belligerent and militarist policy towards Russia. Clinton continued, And we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin, whether its saying that NATO wouldnt come to the rescue of allies if they were invaded, talking about removing sanctions from Russian officials after they were imposed by the United States and Europe together because of Russias aggressiveness in Crimea and Ukraine. She added, in truly McCarthyite fashion, for Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues. Clinton went on to outline a generally right-wing perspective on economic and social policy, rebuffing suggestions from Wallace that she was offering more government programs and more spending, more entitlements, more taxes. She answered no, no, no to these claims, adding that her so-called jobs program, based on infrastructure spending (along lines already backed by the current Republican Congress) was going to be public/private sector. I mean, Im looking for ways to start an infrastructure bank, seed it with federal dollars, but bring in private investors who want to make those commitments. In a subsequent panel discussion, Julie Pace of the Associated Press reported that the Clinton campaign was seeking to line up prominent Republicans and retired military figures who would vouch for the Democratic candidate to Republican voters. The Democrats strategy was to portray Clinton as a steady hand on foreign policy, a steady hand on commander-in-chief, someone who understands military threats, threats from abroad, that could be what leads some of these people to line up behind her. This is combined with an effort to present Trump as an unpatriotic critic of the US military, initially based on his comments at campaign rallies and at the Republican convention that the US military was a disaster. The criticism of Trump as insufficiently pro-military was expanded to a full-scale media barrage over Trumps crudely racist and anti-Muslim comments about the family of Humayun Khan, a US Army captain who was one of the first Muslim-American soldiers killed in the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Khizr Khan, the soldiers father, an immigrant from Pakistan and a lawyer in the Washington, DC area, spoke at the Democratic National Convention on its final day, as one of a series of speakers chosen to portray Trump as unfit to play the role of commander-in-chief for US imperialism. Khan denounced Trumps frequent anti-Muslim slurs and his call for a complete ban on Muslim immigration, which would have prevented his own family from moving to the United States in 1980 and thus deprived the US military of the services of his son in the Iraq war 24 years later. Trump responded in character to Khans convention appearance in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News recorded Friday for broadcast Sunday morning. He directly attacked the family, noting that Ghazala Khan, the young soldiers mother, who appeared at the Democratic convention side-by-side with her husband in traditional Muslim garb, had nothing to say. Trump continued: She probablymaybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that. The clear insinuation of this slur was that Mrs. Khan had been forbidden to speak by her husband or was otherwise barred by her Islamic faith from speaking publicly because of her sex. The truth was that Ghazala Khan has high blood pressure and does not speak in public about her sons death, as she explained in a statement to the press this weekend. The Khan-Trump controversy was the main subject of discussion on the Sunday television interview programs, with NBC, ABC and CNN all airing interviews with Khizr Khan, while Trump himself, his campaign manager Paul Manafort and a leading surrogate, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, were all grilled on the issue. Much of the media punditry consisted of declarations that Trump had crossed the line by publicly smearing a Gold Star mother (the mothers of US soldiers killed in action may join the Gold Star Mothers Club, a congressionally chartered patriotic support group). The effect of this line of criticism was to transform Trumps anti-Muslim smear into an attack on the military and allow the Democrats to wrap themselves in the flag, which is Clintons apparent strategy for the final 100 days of the presidential campaign. Even more reactionary was the appearance of retired Gen. John Allen on the same program that broadcast Trumps comments about Ghazala Khan. Allen was a major speaker at the Democratic National Conventiona highly unusual role for a retired Marine Corps general and former commander of US forces in Afghanistan. He gave the main indictment of Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief during the Thursday night session of the convention, in the same group of speakers that included Khizr Khan, in the hours leading up to Hillary Clintons acceptance speech. Allen appeared on ABC Sunday to respond to Trumps criticism of him as a failed commander in the US war against ISIS. (After retirement, Allen was a presidential envoy in the Middle East, coordinating the US-led coalition now at war with Islamic State forces in both Iraq and Syria.) Allen declared that Trump had no credibility on military policy, since he had never been to either Afghanistan or Iraq. He went on to denounce Trumps criticism of the Obama administration as though it was an attack on the US military. Hes called it a disaster, Allen said. He says our military cant win anymore. Thats a direct insult to every single man and woman whos wearing the uniform today. The retired general continued that a President Trump would order US soldiers to engage in war crimes: Hes talked about needing to torture. Hes talked about needing to murder the families of alleged terrorists. Hes talked about carpet-bombing ISIL. Who do you think is going to be carpet-bombed when all that occurs? Its going to be innocent families. No one should conclude from this that General Allen is genuinely outraged at the prospect of US forces carrying out torture, murder and the carpet-bombing of innocent people. Such practices have gone on every day in US-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. What concerns him is Trumps pledge to proclaim such methods as the official policy of the US governmenta declaration sure to spark even greater resistance to US forces in the Middle East, as well as politically undermining US allies. More significantand ominouswas Allens response when Stephanopoulos asked him what US military officers would do in response to an order from a President Trump enshrining torture and carpet-bombing as US policy. The retired general declared, Thats a great question, George. And I think we would be facing a civil-military crisis, the like of which weve not seen in this country before. He went on to repeat the phrase civil-military crisis three more times, expressing the hope that a quiet conversation might dissuade President Trump from issuing such orders, while leaving unstated, but open, the possibility of outright military defiance. Allens comments are truly extraordinary. They give expression to the increasing tendency on the part of the American military to free itself from civilian authority. While presented in this case as the military balking at illegal orders to commit war crimes, the far more likely scenario is one in which the military brass demands that its nominal civilian overseers drop any restrictions on the unlimited use of military violence against its enemies. Leading Labour Party figures involved in the right-wing coup against party leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Daily Telegraph this weekend they plan to organise a semi-split if he wins the September leadership contest. The coup involves the vast bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), which precipitated the leadership contest by first attempting to force Corbyn to resign by resignations from his Shadow Cabinet. Some 172 Labour MPs then voted against Corbyn in a no-confidence motion, with Corbyn winning the support of just 40. Corbyn has mass support among the partys members, however, with polls showing he stands to defeat the PLPs unity challenger for the leadership, Owen Smith, by more than 20 percentage points. Smith was put forward as the clean skin by the Blairite coup plotters since their previous choice, Angela Eagle, was too tarnished by her support for Blairs greatest crime, the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Conservative-supporting Telegraph states, Senior Labour rebels are so convinced that Jeremy Corbyn will win the leadership contest that they are planning to elect their own leader and launch a legal challenge for the partys name. The newspaper continues, The move would see them create their own shadow cabinet and even elect a leader within Parliament. ... They would also approach John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, and argue that having more MPs than Mr Corbyn means they should be named the official opposition. The Telegraph quotes a senior moderate MP stating, Essentially, the majority of MPs will formally set up their own grouping under an alternative Labour banner. It is not a were off to set up a new party, it is a this is our party, were not leaving but our current situation is intolerable. The MP strongly hinted that Smith, who is seeking to portray himself to be as radical as Jeremy in an attempt to win at least some backing, is only a stalking horse. The Parliamentary Labour Party would elect a leader which may or may not be Owen [Smith]. Other candidates could come into the frame at that point, said the MP. A major fear of the right wing is that if they carry out a formal split now ahead of the September result they could lose any right to be called the Labour Party and to secure its assets. The MP told the Telegraph that if Corbyn defeats Smith there would be a series of graduated responses that could eventually see the coup group legally apply still to be called Labour. Labours last available accounts in 2014 show the partys annual income at nearly 40 million, including 6.5 million in government grants, 3.5 million in commercial income and tangible assets of 6 million. As a result of the right wing forcing more than 100,000 Labour members to pay 25 to vote in the current leadership contest, the partys coffers have grown by another 4.5 million. Another MP revealed talk of backbench Labourite MPs being placed in direct competition with Mr Corbyns shadow ministers, creating a party within a party with independent policy positions and a whipping operation. What is being referred to as a planned semi-split by the Telegraph is proof that a de-facto split is already in place. The Blairites know it is not possible for them to remove Corbyn via a democratic vote of the partys membership. Based on his stated opposition to austerity, militarism and war the vast majority of the partys more than half a million members and supporters endorse Corbyn. Since he became leader, more than 300,000 people have joined the party. More than 184,000 joined in just two days as the coup got underway immediately after the referendum vote for the UK to leave the European Union. Last weekend Corbyn spoke to sold out events called in support of his leadership campaign, with thousands of people attending in the cities of Hull and Leeds. Hull saw 3,000 attending. In Leeds, people queued down the street to get into the Royal Armouries meeting hall venue with 1,000 unable to enter due to it reaching its 2,000 capacity. In contrast, Smith addressed a few dozen on a patch of land in front of an ice cream van in Liverpool. With virtually no support within the Labour membership and wider population, the coup plotters are playing to their strength by preparing to remove Corbyn through various parliamentary manoeuvres and legal means. However, these plans depend above all on the fact that Corbyn, his main ally Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and their supporters, have done nothing to seriously challenge the right wing. Every significant move Corbyn has made as leader has been to oppose any struggle against the right, in defiance of the strivings of those who elected him last September to do so. He set the course of his tenure in office immediately after his election by naming a shadow cabinet prominently featuring various Blairite warmongers, including Hilary Benn as his foreign secretary. The nadir of Corbyns betrayal of his mandate was his authorisation of a free vote last December by Labour MPs, meaning they would not be censured or disciplined for supporting the bombing of Syria. In the event, 66 of the Blairites backed military action. At every stage, he has insisted on party unity with the right wing. In response to the Telegraph article, Corbyn described the revelations as fairly bizarre and called on the Blairites to Think on and think again. McDonnell said all candidates must commit to respecting the outcome of this election and called on Smith, the front man for the coup plotters, 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. On Sunday, McDonnell made further pleas for unity saying, If Owen truly wants to unite our party like Jeremy Corbyn does, then he needs to denounce those who are plotting to divide it. He added, Owen Smith therefore needs to immediately distance himself from those people saying they want a split, which is causing huge damage to our party at this time. Anything short of this will make him the disunity candidate. In an article this week, pseudo-left Socialist Workers Party leader Alex Callinicos sought to underplay the coup, which is backed by the UK and US intelligence agencies, by describing its ringleaders as useless. He continued, the [L]abour right have seen their power in the party drain away, and havent an idea to their name. Their only real weapon is to split Labour, which will probably mean their own eclipse. Following such a split, Callinicos urged Corbyn and his allies to make a reality of their promise to turn Labour into a social movement. The real lesson of Corbyns period as party leader is that his absolute refusal to mobilise the mass support he enjoys against the right wing is evidence of his overarching loyalty to the Labour and trade union bureaucracy, of which he is a left-talking representative. Corbyn seeks, at all costs, to tie the working class to the Labour Party, which, regardless of who is its current leader, is a pro-capitalist and pro-war party. As he stated in Leeds Saturday, Theres no alternative, theres no other party. We are the Labour party, and Im very proud to be the leader of the Labour Party. Should a split occur in the Labour Party, despite Corbyns appeals, any movement he leads based on his watered-down reformist prescriptions would prove no more effective in defending the working class and opposing capitalism than he has been as Labour leader. The issue is not the transformation of Labour into a social movement, but for the working class to adopt a genuinely socialist and internationalist programme, which the Socialist Equality Party alone fights for. On July 22, Illinois-based Deere & Co., the largest agricultural machinery company in the world, announced the laying off of approximately 120 production employees at its John Deere Harvester Works plant in East Moline, Illinois. The layoffs, which will go into effect September 6, are the response by Deeres corporate board to a slump in revenue. They are the third round of US layoffs this year. In March, Deere announced the laying off of approximately 125 employees at two factories in Iowa. In February Deere slashed approximately 80 employees from its Davenport Works factory and 20 from its Dubuque factory again both in Iowa. Presently, there are approximately 2000 workers laid off as Deere has been trimming its workforce over the past two years to cut costs. More workers will likely be laid off as Deeres revenue is projected to continue to decline as a result of the global economic crisis and the decline in commodity prices. Deere has forecasted an overall nine percent decline in sales and expects a net income of $1.2 billion for 2016. Deeres net income has seen a downfall from previous years: net income in 2013 was $3.537 billion, in 2014 it was $3.162 billion and in 2015 it plummeted to $1.94 billion. In May, Deere reported that its net income for its second quarter was $495.4 million, compared to $690.5 million the same period last year. Net income for the first six months of the year was $749.8 million compared to $1.077 billion to the previous year. Deeres international net sales and revenues dropped by four percent to $7.875 billion for its second quarter and fell eight percent to $13 billion for the first six months. Its equipment sales also saw a sharp drop, with Deere reporting its net sales for its equipment operations sinking to $7.107 billion for the quarter and $11.876 billion for the first six months, compared with $7.399 billion and $13.004 billion for the same time last year. Samuel Allen, Deeres chairman and chief executive officer, commented, John Deeres second-quarter performance reflected the continuing impact of the downturn in the global farm economy and further weakness in the construction equipment sector. In the face of challenging market conditions, Deere's businesses benefited from the sound execution of operating plans, the strength of a broad product portfolio and our success creating a more flexible cost structure. The United Auto Workers joined management in imposing a more flexible cost structure in the sellout contract of 2015, which was rammed through against the opposition of rank-and-file workers. The UAW gave Deere the green light to eliminate as many jobs as possible while maximizing production, shifting health care costs onto workers and essentially maintaining a years long freeze in real wages. This has ensured that Allen and Deeres corporate board and investors continue to reap millions. As contract negotiations began last year, UAW President Dennis Williams made clear his commitment to follow the ruthless cost-cutting campaign of Deeres corporate board. This process of bargaining is not new to any of us, Williams said, adding, we have negotiated contracts at John Deere before. Over the years, we have gone through many changes and sacrifices. This was echoed by UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, who said, We are committed to work as hard as we can to get an agreement in which our members can be proud of, the company can feel good about and our customers can continue to reap the benefits of UAW-made quality products. Indeed, the UAW is working on behalf of Deere to ensure that it continues to prosper and feel good by making workers pay for every hit to Deeres profits. Every major reduction in pay, in benefits, in hours made in response to decline in profits has become a permanent feature for Deeres workers. In 1997, the UAW collaborated with Deere to implement a two-tier wage system that mandated workers hired on or after October 1, 1997 would receive a large cut in pay compared to those hired before. At the time, the UAW argued it was a necessary to sacrifice for workers to make to maintain the companys competitiveness as company profits slumped. Since then, the hated two-tier system, which was then imposed by the UAW at the Detroit Three auto companies, has been continued in every contract, regardless of how well Deere has been doing. In 2015, when UAW and Deere negotiated the latest contract, which continued the two-tier system, Deere posted net revenue of $1.94 billion. Commenting in its 2015 annual report, Deere said, Net income was down 39% to $1.94 billion but still represented the sixth-highest total in company history. WSWS correspondents interviewed workers, professional people and young people at the rallies called in Sydney and Melbourne last Saturday to protest against the brutal abuse of boys in Northern Territory (NT) juvenile detention facilities. They expressed disgust at the revelations broadcast last Monday on the Four Corners program and hostility to the Turnbull governments proposed royal commission, saying it was another official coverup. In Sydney, sisters Kaliah and Jayde, both students, said they felt horrified and ashamed by the treatment inflicted on the children in the juvenile prisons. I didnt know things were this bad, Kaliah said. I had tears in my eyes today. Jayde said: We need to build communities, and not prisons. Its not the fault of these kids. We need to rehabilitate, not torture. They need to feel safe and be nurtured. They come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Whats happened to them is built into our society Its also a class issuethis violence is directed against all the vulnerable people. Kaliah added: We live in a materialist world. You walk down the streets with huge upmarket stores and theres homeless people sitting under the signs. This is an issue that really hurts us. How can rich people go out and spend $500 on something like a luxury watch when theres people sitting there, or starving and dying? Jayde commented: Capitalism has broken our society. Capitalism says that classes dont exist. Yes they do! You walk down the street and you see homeless people within five minutes, on the ground, in the cold. Class is here, its real The gap is becoming bigger and bigger, and the middle class is getting abolished. Its now the lower class and the upper class. The gap is not just a racist gap, its a class gap, and its ridiculous. I cant believe that this is happening in the 21st century. Things are getting worse over the years, not better. We cant just protest, we have to live this every day. In Melbourne, Miguel said: It is inhuman when young men were tortured. It is a very big problem that kids and teenagers are being tortured. When they finish their time in jail they still have social problems. It is like in my country Chilemany teenagers are in jails. They suffer in those places. There is no rehabilitation. Its just punishment In Chile there is a big polemic. Many kids died in these centres, there was sexual violence, every kind of violence. Over 10-15 years about 200 kids died in these centres. Its like the way the system treats non-productive people, but does not create proper jobs for them. Sarah said: I have just moved from Alice Springs where I was involved in campaigns again the NT police-military intervention into Aboriginal communities, the police measures against Aboriginal people and the draconian measures again Aboriginal people in the town camps. The situation in Alice Springs is terrible. Children are being removed from their families because of poverty, the government is cutting youth services, legal services and family services, which means kids have nothing to do. If they do have problems at home they find it really hard to cope at school. There are weekly tragedies where kids are dying at 12 years old from inhaling or sniffing of inhalants. All these tragedies are normalised. While the images on Four Corners are really shocking, it actually wasnt a surprise for all the people in the NT. The intervention has being going on since 2007 and it has had a devastating impact on peoples lives It intrudes in every aspect of Aboriginal peoples liveseven going to the shops and having to use the basics card. Massive amounts are being injected into child protective services to remove children and then families are fighting to get their kids back. I think it is important that people can speak out but the proposed royal commission is not independent. It is the NT government investigating itself The only thing that the NT government is shocked about is that they were caught out. Anne said: This is not new, the abuse of indigenous people in prison, their over-representation there. It has been going on since I was a child, and Im 61 now. They talked about deaths in custody, about the stolen generation Black deaths in custody are still happening, Ive not heard of any substantial changes or improvements in that area. It concerns mesocial justice and human rights generally. Its like offshore detention of refugees. I used to vote Labor but I dont like their treatment of asylum seekers. They turn a blind eye to inequity in our own country. Peg and Des had witnessed police assaults on indigenous youth. Peg said: The royal commission is just a bandaid over a festering sore When we lived in Brisbane, we often saw police attacking Aboriginal youth in our own street. We would go outside and tell them to stop. They would tell us to go inside and shut the door. It is endemic in the systemthe government turns a blind eye to it. Who puts the youth in the detention centres? Its the police force and the justice system. Such a high percentage of Aboriginal people are in the detention system. It is another form of genocide in a way. Anita, a university language and learning adviser, said: After watching Four Corners I could not express in words what I saw and I had to come today. I am a middle class white Australian and I thought I had to do something I am really concerned about the Turnbull government and the appointment of the royal commissioner from the NT. The NT government should have nothing to do with that at allit is responsible. This has happened under Labor governments too I think we need to stand together with Aboriginal people in solidarity. We can never really understand Aboriginal peoples predicament but I do think it emanates from a working class position. Fairlie said: Im disgusted in all tiers of government who in 2009 said they would invest in the early years for Aboriginal children to close the gap As an early childhood teacher, I know investing in early years saves money for governments on correctional services and other welfare services later in life. They know it too. I want to know why theyve reneged on the investment in early years. Why are they building prisons for the future and cutting childcare services? You dont have to delve very deep to find there are reports all over the country of that sort of stuff going on in juvenile detention centres. Im here. Im passionate. Its time for change. New Zealands Maori nationalist political parties, Mana and the Maori Party, have begun discussions over co-operating in the 2017 general election. A similar manoeuvre was briefly entertained before the 2014 election, but was sidelined after Mana merged with Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcoms pro-business Internet Party to form Internet-Mana. The talks are driven by ambitions within both parties for a more direct role in government, whichever major party wins the next election. The two parties are not at the moment proposing to merge, but to work together. Neither party would have any compunction in imposing the next stage of the austerity agenda demanded by big business. Maori Party leader Marama Fox told Waatea News on July 21 the two parties had similar policies and didnt want to be taking pot shots at each other. Interviewed alongside Mana Party leader Hone Harawira in a Daily Blog broadcast on June 22, Fox declared that the Maori Party, which is a coalition partner in the current conservative National Party-led government, should be the party of choice to represent Maori in any government. We will work with whoever forms the government, she said. If I can work with National, I can work with anybody. In the same interview, Harawira noted that the Maori Party had voted for all of Nationals austerity budgets, but insisted the two parties could still work together. He emphasised the importance of a deal between the two to avoid competing in the seven Maori electorates, in order to oust sitting Labour Party MPs. What is needed, he said, is a conscious and powerful [Maori] voice in parliament. Leading up to the Mana Partys annual general meeting last weekend, Harawira said the party is set to make a comeback after its dismal showing in 2014. Harawira will again contest the northern Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau, which he lost to Labour in 2014 by more than 1,000 votes. Bankrolled by the millionaire Dotcom, the Internet-Mana alliance was roundly rejected by the population and received a dismal 1.4 percent of the national vote. Harawira claimed Mana would again formulate policies around child poverty and housing the homeless in 2017. The policies that Mana was pushing last time have become even more needed this time, he said. Mana and the Maori Party both present themselves as an independent voice for Maori, who make up 15 percent of the population, but who overwhelmingly remain among the most impoverished and oppressed sections of the working class. In reality, both parties represent a privileged layer of Maori entrepreneurs, business operators, lawyers and academics that has been created over the past 30 years, largely through multi-million dollar Treaty of Waitangi payouts. This elite layer has utilised the reactionary nostrums of identity politics and nationalism to divide the working class on racial lines. Maori workers, once among the most militant sections of New Zealands industrial workforce, have been turned toward tribal identification and demands for Tino Rangatiratanga, i.e. Maori self-determination or racially-established indigenous rights under capitalism. Maori businesses, which control some $NZ40 billion in assets, have emerged as key beneficiaries of the deepening exploitation of workers of all races. On the Daily B log, Fox and Harawira defended Maori capitalism, depicting it as potentially more progressive than Pakeha [white] capitalism. Both parties use the slogan of Maori sovereignty to demand a greater portion for Maori capitalists of the surplus value extracted from the working class as a whole. The Maori Party was formed in 2004 following a split with the then Labour government, which opposed tribal property claims to the foreshore and seabed. It is thoroughly discredited in the working class for its craven support of successive National-led governments. The Maori Party has been instrumental in imposing Nationals cutbacks to health and education, the destruction of thousands of public sector jobs and an increase in the regressive Goods and Services Tax. The party has been reduced from five seats in 2008, when it struck its deal with National, to just two after the last election. Under conditions of deepening social crisis, including in his own electorate, Harawira split from the Maori Party in 2011 to found Mana as a new political trap for alienated sections of workers and youth. While Harawira had voted for all Nationals anti-working class policies over the previous two years, he demagogically declared the Maori Party had betrayed the people who put it in power. Manas false posturing as left-wing and pro-poor has been consistently boosted by the pseudo-left groupsthe International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Fightback and Socialist Aotearoa. Each formally affiliated with Mana and supported the alliance with the Internet Party, campaigning for Internet-Mana at the 2014 elections. These middle-class organisations fraudulently portray Manas racial identity politics as progressive and seek to integrate themselves into the political establishment. Following the Obama administrations announcement of its pivot against China, Mana joined Labour, the anti-immigrant NZ First Party and the Greens in seeking to whip up anti-Chinese xenophobia and scapegoating Chinese people for the countrys housing crisis and unemployment. Protests against the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the US-led anti-China trade deal, in Auckland in February heavily promoted Maori nationalism and appear to have played a role in bringing about the rapprochement between the two parties. Both advanced the same nationalist objections to the TPP, denouncing the agreement as an attack on New Zealands sovereignty and Maori rights under the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, while also warning it could harm Maori business interests. Underscoring its pro-capitalist program, the Maori Party last week voted to install Tukoroirangi Morgan as its new chairman. Between 1996 and 1999 Morgan was a NZ First Party MP. After losing his seat he joined the corporate leadership of the Tainui tribes business arm, as chairman, overseeing more than $1 billion in assets and investments. He is currently an advisor to the Maori king, the principal figurehead of the Tainui tribe, whose inherited position dates from pre-European times. Morgan immediately declared that he wants the Maori Party to become more assertive in its relationship with government and proposed to begin by looking at immigration levels. He said Mana and the Maori Party could work together to take Maori seats off Labour and hold the balance of power. I make no secret about it; thats the agenda, Morgan told the Politik blog. Neither of the pseudo-left groups that remain affiliated with ManaSocialist Aotearoa and Fightbackhas said a word about its embrace of this government ally. Nor has the ISO. It formally ended its four-year alliance with Mana after the 2014 election, while making clear it had no differences with Manas politics and would be proud to work alongside Mana in the future. On Friday evening, the New York Times published a lead story under the headline, Russian Spies Said to Hack Systems Used in Clintons Run, alleging that hackers associated with the Russian government infiltrated computer systems linked with the campaign of Hillary Clinton. This inflammatory piece was the latest in a series of articles and columns that have appeared over the past several days in the Times and other news outlets claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin is involved in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. Fridays report, like those that have preceded it, contained not a single fact to support the explosive allegations made in its headline. It is not until the end of the article that the reader learns that all of its claims are based on the statements of a source that insists on remaining anonymous. There is no reason to believe that this so-called source has provided the Times with any information to back up his or her claims. No one knows who this person is, assuming he or she even exists, or whether this information was not made up out of the whole cloth by the Times. Earlier last week, the Times declared that American intelligence agencies had high confidence that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, based on similar statements from unnamed, anonymous sources. The DNC emails were released by WikiLeaks. This campaign fits the classic definition of an amalgam: a series of disconnected assertions about unsubstantiated events usually for the purpose of framing up a targeted party or parties. The ongoing campaign to present the release by WikiLeaks of documents showing widespread election fraud by the DNC is aimed at attacking the candidacy of Donald Trump from the right by portraying him, in the words of Times columnist Paul Krugman, as a Siberian candidate beholden to Putin. It is bad enough that the Times is seeking to whip up anti-Russian sentiment for the purposes of swaying the results of an election, but its campaign is even more sinister. The Times, and the section of the ruling class for which it speaks, is seeking to exploit the supercharged electoral environment to instigate popular hostility to Russia, which in turn is aimed at providing a broader popular base for full-sale American intervention in the Middle East. The ongoing anti-Putin propaganda campaign comes in the aftermath of a number of developments that have sharpened US tensions with Russia. First, last months attempted military coup in Turkey, which clearly had American backing, was thwarted by 11th hour intelligence provided to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by Russia. In the weeks leading up to the coup, Erdogan had made a rapprochement with the Putin government, going so far as to apologize on June 27 for the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber last November and declaring Russia a friend and strategic partner. Simultaneously with its overtures toward Russia, Turkey has backed off from its support for rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, many of whom were affiliated with the Islamic State. Turkey has been cracking down on some of the transit of foreign fighters who are flowing into as well as out of Turkey, John Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, complained to Yahoo News two days after Erdogans apology to Russia. The closure of Turkey as an avenue for Islamist fighters to flow into Syria, together with ongoing Russian operations against ISIS forces and US-backed rebels, has led to a series of reversals for the CIAs Islamist proxy forces in Syria. Aleppo, Syrias largest city, is on the verge of being cleared of ISIS/rebel forces by the Syrian government. In 2013, the Obama administration decided to pull back from its threat to intervene more directly in Syria in the face of divisions within the ruling class and overwhelming popular opposition to the instigation of yet another war. Now, however, the entire CIA-sponsored insurgency is facing comprehensive defeat without a rapid and massive escalation of American military involvement. This would be a major political setback for American efforts to dominate the Middle East. As the Times put it last week, The fall of eastern Aleppo to government forces would be a major turning point in the war and would solidify Russias place as the most prominent foreign power involved in the conflict. It is to be noted that in recent days the US media has been trumpeting the imminent fall of Aleppo as a human rights disaster, while saying virtually nothing about recent American bombings in nearby cities that have resulted in the loss of hundreds of civilian lives. The Democratic Party platform includes a bitter denunciation of Russia, which it accuses of propping up the Assad regime in Syria, which is so brutally attacking its own citizens. The platform declares that a Clinton administration will not hesitate to stand up to Russian aggression. This is the sort of rhetoric that was associated with the the extreme right-wing Goldwater faction of the Republican Party at the height of the Cold War. It is now being used by the Democratic Party, and this must be viewed as an indication that its policy makers are planning a major escalation of US military operations. In the lexicon of American politics, there is something known as an October surprise: the deliberate provocation of a foreign policy crisis to rally the population around the flag, galvanize public support for military intervention and ensure the victory of the candidate favored by the party in power. There may be in these events the making of an October surprise, or perhaps one that takes place in September or even August. Even as the issue of war has been kept deliberately in the background of the 2016 elections, hardly mentioned at the conventions of either party, the escalating and increasingly virulent denunciations of Russia make it clear that the stage is being set for an escalation of direct military involvement in Syria, possibly resulting in a war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power. The Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit (PSG, Socialist Equality Party) is standing a statewide list and constituency candidates in Wedding, Tempelhof-Schoneberg and Friedrichshain for the Berlin Senate (state legislature) election on September 18. Our campaign is aimed at all those who are not prepared to accept the return of German militarism, the growth of poverty and the rise of the far right. We are combining the fight against war with the struggle against social inequality, rearmament and xenophobia, and advocate a socialist alternative to capitalism. Against the growth of nationalism and the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), we counterpose internationalism in the interests of the working class. We fight for the global unity of all workers, regardless of race, nationality, color or religion. We are building an international anti-war movement, and, as the German section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), work closely with our sister parties around the world. The Berlin election is taking place in a situation of exceptional crisis. The world resembles a powder keg, with one financial crisis following another. The European Union is disintegrating. The facade of democracy is crumbling, as states of emergency prevail in France and Turkey. The crisis of capitalism is throwing up right-wing and fascistic figuresDonald Trump in the US, Marine Le Pen in France, Norbert Hofer in Austria and the AfD in Germany, all spreading the poison of nationalism and xenophobia. All the specters of the past have returned: economic crisis, mass poverty, dictatorship and preparations for war. It was long considered unthinkable that Germanyof all countrieswould once again boast of its military power and lay claim to being hegemon of Europe and a world power. Now, the old megalomania, which twice plunged Europe and the world into the abyss, is back. Military spending is being stepped up. The number of German military missions abroad is increasing. The Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) are being used worldwide to guarantee the unhindered use of land, air and sea as the new White Paper on Security Policy declares. Everyone in Germany knows where this leads: to war crimes and mass murder. In Berlin, it is impossible to walk a step without being reminded of the terrible consequences of Germanys last grab for world power, as described by historian Fritz Fischer, who exposed the continuity of German military policy from the Kaiser in WWI, to Hitler in WWII. The walls of many of the capitals buildings are still riddled with bullet and shrapnel holes. Thousands of memorial cobblestones recall the mass deportation of Berlins Jews during the Second World War. Despite all this, Germanys elites are determined to turn Berlin into the capital of militarism once again. A veritable war conspiracy is unfolding in the Chancellery, the foreign and defence ministries, the political parties, think tanks, foundations and in the media. At Berlins premier academic institution, Humboldt University, professors are busy playing down the crimes of German imperialism in both the First and Second World Wars. The establishment parties have been brought into line. All of them defend the interests of the billionaires, while their programs are virtually interchangeable. Any of these parties could form a coalition with any other. The PSG opposes this political cartel. We are not seeking a place in a coalition government. We do not appeal to the reason and desire for peace of the ruling class, but to the readiness of working people and youth to fight. Our aim is not the reform of capitalism, but its abolition. The crisis of capitalism is unleashing major class struggles. Our election campaign is aimed at winning workers and youth to an international socialist program and preparing them for revolution. Only the intervention of millions of people into political events can put an end to the irresponsible policies of social cuts and military rearmament. In the past, Berlin was not only the capital of militarism and Nazi terror, it was also the center of the socialist movement and revolutionary struggle. Here, 100 years ago, socialist leader Karl Liebknecht called on workers to take up the fight against the mass slaughter of the First World War. Given the return of mass poverty, militarism and war, the working class must draw upon its socialist traditions. In this situation, the construction of the PSG is a matter of great urgency. It is not enough to be angry about the social crisis and those politically responsible for it. It is high time to build a socialist counter-movement. Our election campaign is focused on three demands: Stop the war conspiracy! As long as capitalism exists, wars are inevitable. These words of Karl Liebknecht are being vindicated again today. Not since the Second World War has the world stood so close to nuclear inferno. The US and its European allies have reduced much of the Middle East and North Africa to ruins and forced millions to flee. In Eastern Europe, NATO is organizing a massive military deployment against Russia, a nuclear power. In Africa, a new struggle between the imperialist powers for resources and spheres of influence is underway. In Asia, under the rubric of its Pivot to Asia, the US is preparing for war against China. In the fight for the re-division of the world and the hunt for raw materials and markets, Germanys ruling elites want to ensure that they are not left empty handed. At the beginning of 2014, the German government announced an end to military restraint. Since then, its military interventions have proceeded ever more rapidly. The Bundeswehr is now at the forefront of NATOs deployment against Russia, and in the wars in the Middle East and Africa. While wages and social spending are falling, military spending is increasing. The military budget is to be almost doubled, from 1.2 to 2 percent of gross domestic product. In the future, an additional 130 billion will be spent on weapons and a sophisticated cyber army, with 13,500 soldiers involved. These objectives are supported by all the parliamentary parties--the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Left Party. In 1998, the Greens abandoned their pacifist program in order to enter into the federal government and have since become the leading political advocates of war. The Left Party is now preparing to follow the same path. To this end, Bodo Ramelow, its state premier in Thuringia emphasized in the weekly newspaper Der Spiegel, We are not pacifists. And, in an interview this summer, the Left Partys parliamentary leader Sahra Wagenknecht assured broadcaster ZDF, Of course, Germany will not leave NATO once we join a government. The PSG is the only party that uncompromisingly rejects militarism and war. We are for the dissolution of the Bundeswehr and all the intelligence agencies. We reject all imperialist alliances and military blocs. We are for the dissolution of NATO and the European Union, and fight instead for the United Socialist States of Europe. In the struggle against American and German militarism, our ally is the American and international working class. A new anti-war movement can only be successful if it is international, based on the working class and combines the fight against war with the struggle against capitalism. Put an end to poverty and social inequality! We reject the implementation of austerity measures to save the banks and to finance war and militarism. They serve only to enrich the financial aristocracy while bankrupting the welfare state. For decades, social inequality has been growing. In Germany, one of the richest countries in the world, more than 12 million people live in poverty. Children have been particularly hard hit. As a result of the Agenda 2010 welfare and labour reforms, introduced by the SPD-Green Party government, 8 million people now work under precarious conditions. By 2030, one in two new pensioners will receive only a pittance, despite a lifetime of work. The employers associations are already calling for the retirement age to be raised to 73. In contrast, a tiny minority lives in the lap of luxury. These parasites have been enriched immeasurably at the expense of the majority. Income from corporate-owned assets has increased by more than 30 percent in the past 15 years. Meanwhile, one-third of all private assets are owned by just 1 percent of the population. In contrast, the poorest 30 percent own nothing, or are in debt. The situation is particularly dramatic in Berlin. Germanys capital of poverty (Tagesspiegel) heads the table for child poverty; the income of public service workers is 10 percent lower than the national average; one-third of jobs in the public sector have been destroyed in recent years; the number of temporary workers has increased by almost 120 percent. The grotesque growth of social inequality is testimony to the bankruptcy of the capitalist system. The fairytale of the social market economy, supposedly creating social justice and prosperity for all, has long been dispelled. The gigantic fortunes of billionaires have resulted not from growing prosperity, but from social redistribution and speculation. In 2008, it was such criminal speculation that drove the global economy to the brink of disaster. Since then, nothing has been resolved. The bursting of the next bubble is inevitable. As with a terminal cancer patient, the point has long passed where a cure is possible. The capitalists know only one means of defending their billions: increased exploitation, cuts in social spending, the selling off of state property and war. Capitalism cannot be reformed. It must be abolished and replaced with a socialist society. Without wresting control of the economy away from the financial aristocracy, not a single social problem can be solved. Not a man, not a woman and not a cent for militarism and war! Instead of austerity measures to rescue the banks--expropriate the banks and transfer them into public ownership under democratic control. The vast resources now being squandered to enrich a tiny minority must be utilized to provide high-quality jobs for all, develop infrastructure, improve education and social services, and lift the cultural level of society as a whole. Defend democratic rights! Militarism and social inequality cannot be reconciled with democracy. In the 1930s, Germanys elites reacted to the global economic crisis by handing power to Hitler. Now, they are once again preparing emergency measures and dictatorship. Their pretext is the fight against terrorism. But terrorist attacks themselves are a result of the policy of war. Al Qaeda and Islamic State were built up by the Western intelligence agencies against unpopular regimes and were only able to spread as a result of the wars in Iraq and Syria. The real target of increased state powers is the working class. These powers are being used to intimidate and repress opposition. The ruling class is alarmed by the worldwide rise in labor disputes, and anticipates fierce opposition to its policies of militarism and war. Preparations for emergency measures and dictatorship are well advanced. A gigantic surveillance apparatus has arisen, based upon the anti-terrorism laws. The police and intelligence agencies work closely together, and the Bundeswehr is preparing to use them domestically, even though the constitution prohibits both. In Berlin, state Interior Minister Frank Henkel (CDU) is conducting a rigorous law-and-order campaign. The attack on democratic rights is most evident in the despicable witch-hunting of refugees. The right to asylum has been mutilated beyond recognition. Desperate people fleeing the wars in the Middle East and Africa are being mistreated, herded into prison camps and deported. Hundreds are drowning in the Mediterranean every month. The smear campaign against Muslims, fueled by all the official parties and leading media outlets, calls to mind the Jew-baiting of the Nazis. It fulfills the same purpose. It is meant to divide the working class, and is grist to the mill of the AfD. The PSG defends all democratic rights and the right to asylum. The attacks on refugees are aimed against all workers. That is why it is necessary to develop a common struggle of all workers in Germanyindigenous and migrantagainst capitalism and war. We are for the dissolution of all the intelligence agencies and their monitoring apparatus. Real democracy is only possible if the big corporations and banks can no longer dictate society and social inequality is overcome. Workers need their own party The deeper the divisions in society, the closer the establishment parties close ranks. They are all partners in a veritable conspiracy to enforce the policies of war and social attacks. The SPD is quite rightly hated. Built by workers in the past, and still claiming to defend social and democratic gains, it does the opposite. SPD Chancellor Schroders Agenda 2010 has plunged millions of working families into utter hardship and misery. Today, when the SPD talks about reforms, it means imposing cuts in wages and social spending to increase profits, police state powers and militarism. The same is true of the Left Party. It has demonstrated this during its 10 years in coalition with the SPD in Berlin. No other state government in Germany has carried out such massive cuts in wages and benefits, while signing guarantees worth billions for the bankrupt Berliner Bankgesellschaft. The Left Party has turned Berlin into the capital of poverty. In Greece, its sister party, Syriza, has ruined the lives of millions with its brutal austerity program. The Berlin election is seen as a trial run in laying the foundations for an SPD-Left Party-Green coalition at the federal level, a so-called red-red-green government. Such an administration would not represent progress. In 1998, the SPD and Greens formed a coalition, which sent the Bundeswehr on foreign combat missions for the first time since World War Two, and cut wages and benefits. Now this alliance is to be revitalized using the Left Party in order to impose the next round of social cuts and pave the way for further German militarism. Together, the right-wing policies of the SPD and the Left Party have facilitated the rise of the AfD. This ultra-right party is only able to present itself as a social opposition because of the absence of an opposition from the left. It exploits anger and disappointment with the broken campaign promises of the SPD and the Left Party for its own reactionary purposes. Marine Le Pen in France and Donald Trump in the US function in a similar manner. Those who want to fight the AfD must break with the SPD and the Left Party. To intervene independently in political events, workers need their own party. That is why the construction of the Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit is crucial. Our strength is based on the historical tradition that we embody, and the principles that we represent. As a section of the ICFI, we stand in the traditions of Marxismthe original SPD of August Bebel, Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht, the Russian Revolution and the Left Opposition of Leon Trotsky against Stalinism. Support the election campaign of the PSG! Our election campaign in Berlin is part of the struggle to build an international movement against war and capitalism. We are organizing public meetings with representatives of the ICFI in Europe and the US to discuss our program. We will explain what socialism really is and the lessons to be drawn from Stalinism and the dissolution of the former East Germany and the Soviet Union. We call on everyone to support our campaign. Take part in the active struggle for socialism! This campaign is not just about votes, it is about building a socialist party that fights against war and capitalism. There are many ways that you can participate. Distribute our election material. Organize a meeting in your area. Make the campaign known among your friends and colleagues. Donate to the PSG, so that we can conduct the most ambitious campaign possible. To all those fighting for their jobs and their standard of living; to all young people to whom capitalism offers no future, and who do not want to die in new wars, we say: This is your campaign! Get involved today! Find out how you can support the campaign by visiting our website gleichheit.de. Is it nobler to stay true to a dish's centuries-old recipe, or ditch the history books and add your own twist? Where does one draw the line between authenticity and experimentation? This week's food events will help you find your own path thanks to classic Jamaican jerk chicken, new vegetarian twists on Spanish cuisine, and, of course, New York pizza. (via Keygroup) Beginning this Monday, the Landmarc at the Time Warner Center is launching a late-night menu that will last all summer long. Whether you're famished after putting in long hours at the office or in need of a post-happy hour snack, they've got you covered. The selection includes Fried Artichokes, Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs, and spicy Pommes Diablo and aioli. They'll also be serving up craft beers and a specialty nighttime cocktail, the Team Specialty Libation. Also on Monday, Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy will be taking over Huertas' pixto board and replacing the usual carnivorous bites with animal-friendly treats. Cohen's take on pinxtosmeat-heavy Basque snacksfeatures Zucchini Takoyaki, Carrot Sliders, and Tomato Tarts, so if you're looking for a healthy and genre-bending way to start the week, this is it. Huertas will continue to serve their traditional menu for those who want to mix their vegetarian snacks with traditional Spanish fare like Pulpo (grilled octopus with peppers and tomatoes) and Albondigas (pork meatballs in Spanish pepper sauce). There are hundreds of pizza joints in Brooklyn, from dollar utility slices to fine Neapolitan pies, but what separates the imitators from the originators? On Thursday, head to the Brooklyn Historical Society to find out. Pizza historian Scott Wiener, who has the best job in the world, will lead a panel of Brooklyn's top pizza-makers as they discuss authenticity, tradition, and the perception of everyone's favorite cheesy snack amidst the contemporary food landscape. Purchase tickets here. Award-winning chef Michael Psilakis' Caribbean Jerk & Reggae Fest kicks off this Thursday at The Hall Brooklyn. Live reggae bands will be playing sets beginning at 7:00 p.m., but plan on arriving earlier than thatdoors open at 6:00, and happy hour, featuring half-off beer, tropical cocktails, and sangria starts immediately. A $37 all-inclusive ticket gets you a Caribbean Jerk Platter that includes jerk chicken legs, Jamaicain hot pepper shrimp, rice and peas, plantains, and cabbage, but there are plenty of other menu options as well. If you're looking for something more, try a few island classics like Oxtail Stew and Beef Patties. Purchase tickets here. In a damning judgment, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce ruled Friday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) broke the law and manufactured a terrorism plot as part of a months-long entrapment operation that ended in a Vancouver-area couple being arrested and ultimately sentenced to life in prison. John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were arrested July 1, 2013 and accused of planting bombs on the grounds of the British Columbia legislature in Victoria. But Justice Bruce found that the couple would never have taken any action had it not been for the active encouragement and coercion of undercover RCMP officers. This was not a situation in which the police were attempting to disrupt an ongoing criminal enterprise, declared Bruce in her 210-page judgment. Rather, the offences committed by the defendants were brought about by the police and would not have occurred without their involvement. By any measure, this was a clear case of police-manufactured crime. Undercover officers posing as Islamist extremists, befriended the isolated couple, who were recent converts to Islam, and encouraged them to act on statements they had made decrying the killing of Muslims in US-led wars and threatening to wage jihad and die as martyrs for Islam. Subsequently, the police suggested and facilitated the legislature bomb plot, removing obstacles that the police themselves acknowledged Nuttall and Korody would not have been able to overcome alone, and going so far as threaten them when they appeared reluctant to proceed. Justice Bruce found that Operation Souvenir, which involved over 240 RCMP officers and cost $900,000 in overtime hours alone, breached the Criminal Code and tarnished the administration of justice. Calling police claims Nuttall and Korody constituted a grave threat to public safety quite farcical, Justice Bruce wrote, I find that the RCMP knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity by providing money and other services to the defendants that helped and made easier the terrorist activities. The spectre of the defendants serving life sentences for a crime that the police manufactured, exploiting their vulnerabilities, by instilling fear that they would be killed if they backed out is offensive to our concept of fundamental justice. The Crown has announced it will appeal Justice Bruces ruling. Despite Bruce issuing a stay on proceedings, with the life imprisonment sentences for both being quashed, Nuttall and Korody were brutally rearrested within a few hours. They appeared before a provincial court judge Friday afternoon and were compelled to sign peace bonds, a draconian power at the disposal of the state to restrict the activities of so-called terrorist suspects even if they have not been convicted of a crime. Nuttall and Korody will be restricted from certain areas, including the legislature grounds, synagogues and Jewish cultural centers, are not allowed to visit certain internet sites, and must regularly report to a bail officer. In comments to the press, Crown lawyer Peter Eccles claimed Justice Bruces decision would undermine the polices ability to pursue terrorism suspects and sought to link Nuttal and Korody to the recent horrific attacks carried out by lone perpetrators in Germany and France, even though the court had just ruled that there was no evidence to support the suggestion that the couple intended to carry out an attack. He declared, As weve seen even in the last six weeks, lone participants are undeniably the greatest challenge law enforcement faces. Such scare-mongering neglects to mention the fact that the individuals who have carried out such attacks have frequently been disorientated, alienated and sometimes radicalized by the aggressive policies of war abroad and repression of refugees and attacks on democratic rights at home. The states power to use peace bonds was expanded dramatically under Bill C-51. This sweeping police-state law was rushed through parliament by the previous Conservative government with the backing of the then-opposition Liberals in the wake of attacks on armed forces personnel in Ottawa and St. Jean-sur-Richelieu in October 2014 that killed two people. In fulfillment of an election pledge, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has pledged to make cosmetic changes to the legislation, including implementing a parliamentary oversight committee, but intends to leave the peace-bond system untouched. Nuttall and Korodys conviction as terrorists was itself an important element in the right-wing, anti-democratic campaign whipped up by the political elite and media last year to justify ramming Bill C-51 through parliament without any serious public debate. More broadly, the constant invocation of the threat of terrorism has been exploited to accustom the population to a drastic assault on their basic democratic rights, as well as to legitimize Canadas expanded involvement in military operations in the Middle East in alliance with the United States. The Liberal government upholds the key provisions of Bill C-51, including the right of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to actively disrupt vaguely defined threats to public security, the right of the police to detain terrorist suspects for up to seven days without charge, a new criminal offence of promoting terrorism in general, and a catch-all ban on terrorist propaganda that could be used to clamp down on social and political opposition to the government. The fate that befell Nuttall and Korody makes clear the dangers faced by working people from authorities wielding such unchecked powers. The couple, who lived in a basement apartment in a Vancouver suburb, were extremely socially isolated and recovering drug addicts. They rarely left their home, and were described by the judge as naive, childlike and gullible. Even police briefing notes presented at the original trial acknowledged Nuttall was possibly developmentally delayed. Marilyn Sandford, Nuttalls attorney, pointed out that her client suggested a number of outlandish ideas for attacks, including hijacking a nuclear submarine and firing rockets across the border at Seattle. When the couple showed signs of refusing to go through with the legislature attack, they confronted threats from the undercover officers, including warnings they would be killed. They were also induced with offers of jobs and help in an elaborate escape plan. Finally, when a new primary investigator was appointed to the case a week before the alleged plot was to take place, he had the couple removed from their home to get rid of distractions. Vaz Kassam explained to the court that other officers were frustrated because the pair were not preparing for the attack as planned. The police decided they had to aggressively engineer the plan for Nuttall and Korody and make them think it was their own, Bruce noted. Maureen Smith, Nuttalls mother, said the pair would require counseling to recover from the ordeal they had experienced over the past three years. The media immediately sought to portray the vast undercover sting, which the National Post admitted was ordered at senior levels, as simply an error or bungled operation. The Post commented in its article, It took one clear-headed judge to see through the stupidity and explain to the public the true facts of this policing and prosecutorial affront. In reality, the methods employed against Nuttall and Korody are standard practice for the security and intelligence apparatus in Canada, which functions in close collaboration with its partner organizations in the United States. In a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published in 2014, the organization noted a worrying trend in Canada of discriminatory investigations, often targeting particularly vulnerable individuals (including people with intellectual and mental disabilities and the indigent), in which the governmentoften acting through informants is actively involved in developing the plot, persuading and sometimes pressuring the target to participate, and providing the resources to carry it out. HRW also issued a specific warning related to the prosecution of Nuttall and Korody. Andrea Prasow, HRWs deputy director in Washington, compared the proceedings in BC to the US governments determined efforts to entrap vulnerable individuals in concocted terrorism plots in the aftermath of 9/11. What weve seen allegations of [in BC] are at least similar practices to what weve seen in the US, she commented last June following the original convictions. In the so-called VIA Rail terror plot, an undercover FBI agent and other security officials used an elaborate entrapment scheme to implicate Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser in a plan to derail a passenger train traveling between Toronto and New York. The agent repeatedly refused to answer questions in court, citing the secrecy of his work, and the media was banned from the courtroom and prohibited from reporting his two weeks of testimony. Even though two psychiatrists ruled that Esseghaier was mentally unfit for the sentencing process, declaring him potentially schizophrenic, the judge ignored pleas from his lawyers to consider delaying sentencing and placing him in a hospital for treatment. Esseghaier and Jaser were sentenced to life in prison last September. Relations between Ankara and Washington are deteriorating rapidly following the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, which the Turkish government believes was supported by the Obama administration. In a series of stunning statements on Friday, delivered from the bombed-out ruins of a police base in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan directly accused the US government of backing the coup. Erdogan denounced statements by top US military and intelligence officials attending a security conference in Aspen, Colorado who criticized him for launching a purge of the Turkish army in the aftermath of the coup. US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper rebuked Erdogan for arresting Turkish military officers close to Washington. Many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested, he fumed. Theres no question this is going to set back and make more difficult cooperation with the Turks. Gen. Joseph Votel, the chief of the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, warned that the purge was something to be very, very concerned about because it could harm the campaign against the Islamic State (IS) militia in Syria. NATO Supreme Commander General Curtis Scaparrotti declared, Some of the officers that we have our relationships with in Turkey are now either detained, in some cases retired as a result of the coup. Weve got some work to do there. Erdogan angrily charged Votel with supporting the coup, saying, The US general stands on the coup plotters side with his words. He disclosed himself via his statements Is it up to you to decide on this? Who are you? Instead of thanking the state for repelling the coup attempt, you stand with the coup plotters. Referring to the US-based Turkish Islamist Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of organizing the coup, Erdogan said: The coup plotter is in your country. You are nurturing him there. Its out in the open. He added, 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. The Turkish president attacked US and European ruling circles for expressing concern that escalating arrests of army officers would harm Turkeys future. He pledged to continue the crackdown in the army. What are their concerns? he asked. They are concerned about the suspensions, detentions, arrests and the like and the increase in them. Are they going to increase? If the people are guilty, they will. The statements by both Erdogan and the US officials underscore the drastic deterioration in relations between Washington and Ankara that had already occurred prior to the coup. Far from welcoming Erdogans survival, Washington is attacking a government that narrowly survived a coup attempt that claimed over 270 lives and nearly led to Erdogans assassination. The coup has exposed the explosive tensions growing behind the scenes within the NATO alliance, of which Turkey is a member state. The attempted putsch took place against the backdrop of a warming of relations between Turkey and Russia that cuts across US policy in the Middle East, in particular, US plans to undermine Russian influence by orchestrating the overthrow of Moscows sole surviving Arab ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish government recklessly shot down a Russian jet involved in fighting US-backed rebels in Syria. In the aftermath of that incident in November of last year, Turkey has become increasingly concerned that the Syrian war is strengthening the position of separatist Kurdish forces. Under those conditions, Ankara intitated a broad shift in its foreign policy this spring. It signaled that it might cease backing the Syrian war, which it had agreed to support shortly after Washington launched it five years ago. After the ouster of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in May, his replacement, Binali Yldrm, proposed to bring Turkish foreign policy back to the good old days. He said he intended to increase the number of friends and reduce the number of enemies. In June, Erdogan sent Moscow a letter calling Russia a friend and a strategic partner. The letter stated, according to the Kremlin, We never had a desire or a deliberate intention to down an aircraft belonging to Russia. Coincidentally or otherwise, Davutoglu has made statements indicating that he gave the shoot-down order in Novemberthough he later retracted themand the pilot who shot down the Russian warplane in November flew a rebel F-16 fighter over Ankara during the failed coup. On July 13, two days before the coup, Yldrm even included Syria in the list of countries with which Turkey intended to improve ties. He said, I am sure that we will return ties with Syria to normal. We need it. We normalized our relations with Israel and Russia. Im sure we will go back to normal relations with Syria as well. Since 2001, US imperialism has laid waste to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria in order to install pro-US puppet regimes, crush Russian influence and dominate the Middle East. It takes little imagination to recognize that powerful sections of the American bourgeoisie, which historically backed three successful coups in Turkey (1960, 1971 and 1980), might have at least tolerated last months coup attempt in order to cut off developing ties between Russia and Turkey. The US foreign policy establishment is, moreover, deeply disturbed by the policies Erdogan outlined after the coup, indicating that he was considering an alliance with Russia and Iran. In a telephone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a few days after the coup, Erdogan said that Turkey is now even more determined to work hand-in-hand with Iran and Russia to resolve regional issues and strengthen our efforts to return peace and stability to the region. Erdogan is now scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on August 9. US officials in Aspen insisted that such alliances were unacceptable to Washington. Clapper accused Moscow of trying to drive a wedge between Turkey and the West, specifically Turkey and NATO. As for Scaparrotti, he declared, We will watch closely how this relationship develops. I would be concerned if they were departing from the values that are the bedrock of the Washington Treaty [which founded NATO]the rule of law. Under these conditions, US claims that Washington had no advance warning of the coup are simply not credible. Turkeys Incirlik Air Base, which hosts more than 5,000 American soldiers and is the main base for the US-led bombing campaign against Syria and Iraq, was the organizing center of the putsch. Pro-coup fighter jets flew in and out of Incirlik as the coup unfolded. Shortly after the coup failed, the base commander, General Bekir Ercan Van, was arrested along with other pro-coup soldiers at the base. Given that Incirlik is the site of dozens of US nuclear weapons, no credibility can be given to claims that US intelligence was unaware that a coup against Erdogan was being organized from there. Were that truly the case, it would represent a CIA intelligence breakdown of stunning proportions. It is now being reported that Ankara received warning of the coup and Erdogan escaped assassination only because of reports from Russian forces that US-linked assassins were on the way to kill him. Russian forces at the nearby Khmeimim airbase in Syria reportedly intercepted coded radio signals containing information about preparations for a coup and shared them with the Turkish government. Erdogan left a hotel in Marmaris only minutes before 25 rebel soldiers descended on the hotel and began shooting. Ultimately, hundreds were killed and thousands wounded as rebel army units bombed the Turkish parliament and attacked pro-Erdogan protesters and loyal military and police units. A pro-coup officer captured by the Turkish government, Lieutenant Colonel Murat Bolat, told the conservative Yeni Savak newspaper that his unit was designated to detain and possibly murder Erdogan after receiving precise information on Erdogan's location from US sources. A person in the meeting, whom I guess was an officer from the Special Forces, said, Nobody will be allowed to rescue the president from our hands, he said, indicating that this meant Erdogan was to be shot after he was captured if the forces who had arrested him faced any counterattack. Yeni Safak also identified US General John F. Campbell as the man behind the failed coup. According to the newspaper, the former commander of the Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces in Afghanistan worked with a team of 80 CIA operatives, distributing $2 billion to pro-US and pro-Gulen elements in the Turkish military to prepare the coup. On July 28, Naomi Spencer, the Socialist Equality Partys candidate for West Virginia House District 16, filed petitions with the Secretary of States office in Charleston. Spencer submitted more than 600 signatureswell over double the number required to get on the ballot. The state will review the petitions over the next several weeks before determining whether the SEPs candidate is eligible for the election. Over the past month and a half, SEP campaigners have spoken to thousands of people in state House District 16an area encompassing most of the city of Huntington, eastern Cabell County, and northern Lincoln County. The campaign has been run entirely on a volunteer basis. The response to the campaign was overwhelmingly positive, both from residents and those unable to sign from nearby towns in Kentucky and Ohio. Across all generations, occupations, and walks of life, the working class has been radicalized by the economic crisis, endless wars, and attacks on democratic rights, said Naomi Spencer. The petitioning process revealed this clearly here in West Virginia, a state routinely slandered as hopelessly backward. People are moving to the left, and they are looking for an alternative to the Democratic and Republican Parties. We have seen this anecdotally, as well as statistically, in our efforts, Spencer noted. The oldest person to sign our petitions was born in 1914. The youngest was born in July of 1998. We have gained the support of self-described conservatives, liberals, independents, and have met more than a few people who considered themselves socialists. Students, unemployed, retirees, industrial workers, teachers, health care professionals, call center workers, retail and hospitality employees, and many others have expressed their support for this campaign and the SEPs presidential ticket. The program advanced by the Partys presidential and vice presidential candidates Jerry White and Niles Niemuth is being welcomed by thousands of workers and youth in this area. We are excited to fight for socialist consciousness, for internationalism and political independence among the population. Clement remarked: Over the course of the six-week petition campaign, we did not encounter any of the other six Democratic and Republican candidates who are also vying for the districts three seats. This is not surprising, actually. To the extent that these candidates campaign at all, it is in appeals to the local business community and civic organizations, not the districts thousands of workers, students, and youth. Moreover, these vetted candidates of the bourgeoisie are not required to collect the hundreds of signatures we received through our campaign, Clement said. Given the level of disgust with the two big business parties that we encountered, it is questionable whether the Democratic and Republican candidates could even meet the undemocratic requirements we were forced to fulfill. The workers and youth we spoke to in the campaign largely welcomed our focus on the major political issues of the day: the fight against war, the defense of democratic rights, the political independence of the working class, and internationalism and socialism. It was striking that no one would stop you and ask, Yes, but what does that have to do with District 16? I think the response by workers, youth and retirees shows a changing of attitude within the mass mood generally, noted Euan. At the surface, it is evident there is immense frustration over politics as a whole. While this is significant, it can also pose a roadblock. However, workers are beginning to see the difference between the politics of the officialdom and our politics. There is, above all, a growing interest in a socialist program to solve the burning questions we face today. When we explained who we were and what we stood for, even if people didnt quite understand yet, even if they didnt agree with us entirely, they deeply respected our efforts. It seemed evident that we stood out from all other political tendencies. We have principles. We have a worked out program. We are earnest in our appeals to the oppressed masses. Phyllis campaigned over the July 4 holiday weekend. One of the most important things I found was the class conscious response, she said. I met workers in their homes, their cars and on the streets. There was support for an independent socialist candidate. Many residents have been involved in recovery efforts after the devastating floods that hit the state in June. SEP campaigners have sought to draw out the class issues, particularly social inequality and the priorities of the capitalist class, revealed in the disaster. When campaigners spoke to a man whose sister had lost everything in the flood, Phyllis noted, the petitions were being passed around and signed by his adult children. One of them said, capitalism sucks under her breath. I believe that is the general sentiment, Phyllis added. We tapped into this with a progressive program that challenged the pro-war, pro-capitalist candidates of Clinton and Trump. On July 23, campaigners gathered signatures during the annual boat race on the Ohio River, the Huntington Classic Regatta. Henry, part of the campaign team that day, noted, We met Trump supporters, Sanders supporters, Clinton supporters, and people who were disillusioned with capitalist electoral politics, and had decided not to vote at all. I was most surprised by the support we received by Trump supporters, he said. The big business media, and specifically the identity politics industry, has worked hard to paint Trump supporters as a rabble of racist xenophobes. This goes double for the workers of West Virginia, who have been maligned for decades as backward, racist brutes. Some Trump supporters no doubt hold backward sentiments, but the ones we spoke to agreed with proposals for a massive public works program, and an end to the wars overseas. I had long suspected that the majority of the working class Trump supporters, many of which likely experienced a barbaric decline in their living standards after the crash of 08, support him despite his racist and xenophobic rhetoric, not because of it. Henry stated, the experience demonstrated that there is a strong sense of basic democratic principles in working class populations. Some people signed the petition without even asking details; they simply believed that anyone should be able to run for office. It showed that there is mass disaffection with the status quo. Trump, Sanders, and Clinton supporters all seemed a little less than enthused about their candidates. The working class is ready for fundamental change. In the months leading up to the November 8 election, SEP campaigners are planning public meetings, mass leafleting and canvassing initiatives in the area. We encourage supporters to get involved in the campaign. Contact us today at SEP2016.com. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today John Waters in NYC, 2014. (Getty) Its remarkable how, nearly fifty years after developing his own brand of rude and twisted comedy, John Waters still manages to shock. Even as his spiritual progeniesJackass and Sacha Baron Cohen, for examplehave escalated his censor-testing gags involving bodily fluids, offbeat fetishes, and verbal vulgarity, one can pick up Pink Flamingos and still wince and turn away while laughing hysterically. Though it became trickier to talk producers into funding his jolly perversions, the writer/director/editor/author/actor can be most fittingly described as the best kind of huckster. Even at seventy years old, Waters charm and passion for storytelling resonates as loudly as his outfits or pencilled mustache. In person, his energy never wanes. That energy is present in Multiple Maniacs, his 1970 feature that never received a proper release. It not only cements his free-spirited raunch, but also introduces drag icon Divine in a performance that helps you forgive the films messiness. Thanks to Janus Films and Criterion Collection, the film will not only get a proper home video release (complete with the earlier Mondo Trasho), but will receive a limited run at IFC Center beginning on August 5th, with Waters himself introducing and answering questions on opening day. In the meantime, please enjoy our brief conversation with the Pope of Trash himself. You must be excited by this new restoration. (laughs) Im startled by it! I find it incredibly wonderfully ironic that Janus Films is releasing it with Criterion, two of the classiest art distributors that I grew up with. Yes, its exciting to see something you did so long ago come out again and still not look really old school. I think it still has a punch. I saw it with an audience at the Provincetown Film Festival and it seemed to work better than it did back then! It screened a couple years ago at Lincoln Center, right? Yes, but that was before it was restored. That was the last 16mm print and it was full of splices and rips and it barely made it through the projector. This looks completely different. Its 1:66 ratio and the dirt and splice marks are gone. You can hear it! I could hear and see things I didnt remember, like from Paul Swift who really does mumble part, because he was so stoned and couldnt remember his lines. Divines apartment in the movie was my house. I could now look at the film and say, Ooh! I still have that, I still have that. I have recurring dreams that I still live in that apartment. It still looks exactly the same from outside. Its a rooming house now. I never wanted it to look bad, I just didnt know any better. If were gonna re-release it, why not make it look as new as you can. I still think parts of it are long, but I didnt change the content of it in any way. There are even still the little pregnant pauses at the beginning of some shots. It is filmed with single-system magnetic film, which was what the news used before video cameras. The sound is recorded right on the film as you shoot, but the sound frame is 24 frames ahead of the picture, and theres no negative, so every time you cut you have to overlap one second of the scene before. How long did shooting last? I dont know, because we never shot it all in a row. It was shot whenever I could get the money. It may have taken nine days, ten days. There were whole days shot on my silent camera that you had to wind up, when we were outside, when we shot the rosary job, the Stations of the Cross. Thats what we shot Mondo Trasho with. This was the first movie where we could talk, because the movies before were all just music. You made good use of limited locations. Like the giant lobster scene, where was that? That was my apartment! Petes Bar, that was the actual bar where Edith [Massey] worked, and the church exterior was different from where the inside was, and Ive never told where it was. The end, where everyones running, was in Fells Point. We didnt ask, we just pulled over on a Sunday morning, people joined in. You can see every time we come around theres new people. They came out of their house and started running. Every time theyd come around the corner the blind man got back in the shot. It was such bad continuity that it become sort of a running joke. I figured use what you got. Get a laugh when you dont expect it. Its a great scene. Its a cross between A Hard Days Night, The Battle of Algiers and Godzilla. Despite the fact that everyone should be scared, everyone really looks happy to be in that scene. (laughs) Right. Well, they shouldve been! There was no safety people there. Everyone kept falling down. We were always afraid to get busted, because on Mondo Trasho we were arrested for conspiracy to commit indecent exposure. I was always looking over my shoulder to see when cops might show up. I noticed a postcard on the wall in your apartment with a lobster on it, so it gives a little foreshadowing to the giant lobster later on. Is there? Ill have to remember that. I think it was because we would go to Provincetown in the summer and take LSD a lot, and there was always these postcards of lobsters in the sky, and thats where it came from. Hallucinations on vacation and lobster dinners, that's where it came from. What did you take into making that movie from Mondo Trasho, and what did you take into your next film? I never went to film school. What I learned was from the film lab guys and the teenster types that i would rent the cameras from that probably took them illegally out of the TV station where they worked. With Mondo Trasho, I think it was a ninety minutes that shouldve been forty. In Multiple Maniacs, I learned what worked and what didnt in humor. There were certainly scenes that were wrong in there, but you have to rememberthese was in the years of Warhol movies and LAvventura. Slowness was in style. At the same time, I got my lessons from Herschell Gordon Lewis. Multiple Maniacs was a ripoff of Two Thousand Maniacs!, and I interviewed him in my book Shock Value. I was learning about what you can put in the movie that isnt illegal. The rosary job outraged the censors, but they couldnt cut it! That led to Pink Flamingos and eating dog shit for the exact same reasons, that it was ridiculous, who would ever copy it? At the same time, it was transgressive, a political act against the tyranny of good taste that I was raised with. But Im glad I was, because I wouldve never known what rules to break. I wasnt in total rebellion; Im a weird gay version of my father. I believe in those rules! I dont believe you should wear white after Labor Day, I do believe that you deserve to die. Howd this partnership with Janus begin? I think Kim from Criterion, if Im correct, came to the screening at Lincoln Center, so the very fact that anyone was even talking about it again was enough. She called me and I let her knew all the issues and we made it happen. I was in high school going to see at Goucher College near where I lived, they had a Bergman retrospective. People ask me today what my influences wereBergman was my influence! When he was shown in Baltimore movie theaters, they cut off a lot of the dialogue and just left the tits in, so theyd play at the nudist camp theaters. Monika was renamed Monikas Hot Summer. The other movies that made me crazy were Brink of Life and all the early Bergmans because they had puke scenes in them! Id never seen puke in a movie! Hes the real King of Puke, not me! I even have a headline when I went to Sweden for a film festival, and I said that. When I came home, the newspaper headlines, all blown up said, Im not the King of Puke! Bergman is! And I still have that on my bulletin board in Baltimore. Thats a keeper! Januss rerelease of Multiple Maniacs seems in line with the latest wave of companies putting out old porn on Blu-Ray. To me, the old porn and exploitation is the only outlaw cinema left! I guess you can say Spring Breakers kinda was, I think Tangerine was, but there are so few movies that are made to be that anymore. Im familiar with the old movies that youre talking about. I paid to see them. You had to! First you saw womens asses, then tits, then vaginas, then mens asses, then dicks, then fucking, and cunnilingus and fellatio. That was the order of the legal battles and how they fell. So I had to sit through endless volleyball games just to see a male ass for years! All that is important, and I think Something Weird Video has been doing that forever, and i think it is a very important genre, because it led me to believe that I could make exploitation movies for art theatres. To this day, weve always done the best with my worst taste in educated, rich neighborhoods. I tried drive-ins and grindhouses, but it does not work. The contentdid that come out of what you thought was missing in other movies? I always have narrative in all my movies, and that was a lot of dialogue they had to remember! The freak show came from my love for freak shows as a kid, and certainly the movie Freaks, and how the word freak, in the sixties, was used as a compliment. I was a yippie, I was making a movie to outrage hippies and make them laugh. It was the same thing as if you were today to make fun of politically-correct values. I believe that my films have always been politically correct, except with some animal things. It became a punk movie, but punk hadnt happened yet. If there was any overt political message, its that the lust for violence comes from both those perpetrating it and those trying to defend it. In that period, it was when political groups were turning violent, when peace and love wasnt really working. Even today, unfortunately, violence does work in politics sometimes and if you have the least power, thats the only way you can fight. Believe me, I was not that intellectual while making the film. Because now the means are getting easier to come by, I hope people can take from this movie is that they can go out and do it themselves. They make them on their cell phones! Its no different. I made it on a camera that is a fucking lot heavier. Its a lot easier and I think kids still do. Making Multiple Maniacs was no different than a kid going out today making a film with their friends. They were all my friends. They were especially a little more extreme, but they werent like that in real life. Everybodys playing a part. We just went for it. We were an insane group of people that just did political actions. BAINBRIDGE, GA (WTXL) - Around 20 arrests were made Monday morning when Bainbridge Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies joined forces for "Operation 'Crack' Down." According a Facebook post BPS, Georgia State Patrol, and Department of Community Supervision worked together to "get persons wanted for drug related parole and probation violations off the streets of Bainbridge." Within a couple of hours, approximately 20 individuals had been located and arrested. BPS is working on processing the arrests. WAKULLA COUNTY, FL (WTXL) - Today, the Wakulla County Board of Commissioners are expected to discuss the Foley pipeline. According to a Facebook post by Commissioner Howard Kessler, the Foley pipe "will dump 40 million gallons of toxic fluids into the Gulf of Mexico daily." Kessler wants the board to sign a resolution opposing the pipeline. Kessler also says that the Buckeye/Foley Celluloses discharge is responsible for "black goo" on Wakulla county beaches. Foley Cellulose Mill is based at the 36 mile long Fenholloway River near Perry, FL. The company plans to improve Fenholloway river water quality by building a pipeline. The primary reason for piping the discharge downstream is to move treated waste from the freshwater section of the river to the tidal portion of the river. The meeting is set to start at 5 p.m. at the county commission chambers on 29 Arran Road. Read the full resolution below: RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF WAKULLA COUNTY OPPOSING THE PERMITTING AND MOVING OF THE PROPOSED BUCKEYE/FOLEY CELLULOSE PLANT EFFLUENT DISCHARGE PIPELINE CLOSER TO THE GULF OF MEXICO WHEREAS, we are all stewards of our natural resources; WHEREAS, it is vital to our well-being that we protect the water quality of our shared water bodies and the health of our seagrasses; and WHEREAS, Buckeye/Foley Cellulose Florida has economically and environmentally viable alternatives to their plan to move their effluent pipeline closer to the Gulf waters; and WHEREAS, Buckeye/Foley Cellulose is listed in the top five industrial polluters in the nation; and WHEREAS, that effluent pipe will deliver pollutants to our Gulf waters; and WHEREAS, the Gulf of Mexico is presently under siege and additional unnecessary pollution is unwise and dangerous to the overall health of the Gulf; and WHEREAS, Wakulla County will likely suffer economic and additional environmental damage from Buckeye/Foley Celluloses proposed pipeline; and WHEREAS, The Gulf fisheries are critical to the economy of Wakulla county; and WHEREAS, The Board has listened to expert testimony that the first fish that may be adversely effected by moving effluent discharge pipe closer to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico will be the scallops, clams and oysters; and WHEREAS, Buckeye/Foley Celluloses discharge has been pointed to as a cause of a large dieoff of grass beds in the Gulf; and WHEREAS, Evidence points to Buckeye/Foley Celluloses discharge as the source of the black goo that landed off the beaches of Wakulla County; and WHEREAS, Wakulla County has a fledgling oyster farming industry and those oysters are dependent on non-polluted Gulf waters; and WHEREAS, Wakulla County commercial fishermen are struggling with several adverse conditions already; and WHEREAS, Wakulla Countys sport fishing and tourist industry is dependent on clean Gulf waters; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Wakulla County Board of County Commissioners, is opposed to the permitting and moving of the proposed Buckeye/Foley Cellulose Plant effluent discharge pipeline closer to the Gulf of Mexico. PASSED AND ADOPTED this first day of August, 2016. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF WAKULLA COUNTY, FLORIDA To read more about the pipeline from the company's website, click here. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, left, and Charley Mulvey, right, shake hands at the Yakima County Democrats office in Yakima, Wash., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray visited the office as part of their Get Out The Vote tour. (SOFIA JARAMILLO/Yakima Herald-Republic) Update below Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake has filed a complaint against the cop who slammed him against a gate when he tried to defuse a confrontation over the weekend. Blake said he was at a family event in the Gouverneur Morris Houses in Claremont on Sunday afternoon when he saw a woman in handcuffs. He told the New York Times that he walked over to the officers to talk over the situation, then heard an argument behind him. As he rushed toward the dispute, between an officer and a man and a woman, another cop grabbed him, lifted him off the ground, and slammed him against a gate, according to Blake and the NYPD. "The tensions were rising," the freshman legislator told the Daily News. "I ran over to calm the situation down. The officer decided to bear-hug me. He grabbed me and pinned me to the gate behind me." Police claim that Blake grabbed the shoulder of the officer who was arguing with the two civilians. Blake told reporters that he doesn't recall doing that, but if he had, he told the Times, "in the heat of the second, that didnt justify what happened." Police reps said that the officers were responding to a dispute between neighbors, and that the officer who went UFC on Blake sensed "a possible threat to the sergeant." A senior officer on the scene recognized Blake after he'd been picked up and ordered the cop holding him to let him go. According to Blake, the captain apologized, but said, "if the situation presented itself, he would do the same thing again." Blake is African-American and the officer who laid hands on him is, he said, Hispanic. Blake believes race definitely influenced the officer's decision to go from 0 to 100 with him, he told the Times. "I can appreciate from the officers perspective that if they perceive someone is a threat to their fellow officer, regardless of race, they would act out in some way," he said. "But I do believe that the level of response was far heightened because Im a black manno question." "Its difficult going back to the community and trying to [bring] peace and understanding between the community and the police when your community is seeing what's happening even to elected officials, Blake said at a press conference today outside One Police Plaza, adding, You dont understand what its like to be an elected official, who is well known in the neighborhood and for police not to recognize you." "The only reason this situation did not get worse is because I am a recognizable elected official and fortunately at that moment two other officers recognized who I was," Blake said. A police spokesperson said in a statement, "The NYPD has been made aware of Mr. Blakes allegations and will be conducting a review of the incident. Any complaints regarding this incident will be thoroughly investigated." Blake said that Mayor Bill de Blasio has called him to apologize. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, on the other hand, told reporters, "There will be no apology forthcoming from me, but well see where the investigation goes." This isn't the first time an African-American official has been roughly handled by NYPD cops. In 2012, cops shoved Councilman Jumaane Williams and hit him with a baton as he tried to observe an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Zuccotti Park. The year prior, officers briefly cuffed Williams and Kirsten John Foy, at the time an aide to then-public advocate Bill de Blasio, after they tried to pass through a security checkpoint at the West Indian Day Parade with the appropriate credentials. For a brief period of time after the parade incident, NYPD officials maintained that one of the two had punched an officer. No charges were ever filed. Some rank-and-file black NYPD officers have also complained of being subjected to racial profiling while off-duty. They described baseless stops, rough treatment, and having guns pulled on them by fellow officers. Update 4:25 p.m.: In a statement, NYCLU director Donna Lieberman connected the treatment of Blake to Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito's recent unilateral decision to shelve a pair of police reform bills with broad Council support just before they were set to be voted on. The bills, known together as the Right to Know Act, would require officers to get recorded or signed consent before searching people's homes or cars when they lack a warrant or probable cause, to report quarterly on such searches, and to identify themselves by name and explain their reasons for stops. For stops that didn't end in arrest, they would have to hand out cards including contact information for the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Lieberman's statement: The Range 12 fire east of Moxee has scorched 60,000 acres of desert grassland and shows no signs of stopping, fueled by ongoing winds and high You are the owner of this article. MOXEE, Wash. - State Route 241 has been reopened after being shut down for several days because of the Range 12 fire burning east of Moxee, th Chief Dominic Rizzi Jr. said Thursday that the Yakima Police Department would be left in good hands if he is successful in applying to become If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Two people have been hospitalized in serious condition following a police-involved shooting in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens on Monday afternoon, according to the FDNY. An NYPD official has tweeted that there are no fatalities. A video from the scene, shared by a tipster, captures the sound of one gun shot followed by a scream. Before the shot rings out, the person taking the video passes over police officers staking out a residential building on 66th Street near Hull Avenue. "Oh he got his gun out!" the person says of one cop. And then, "Oh they all go their guns out, man." A woman approaches the open door of the building, calls in "Lisa?", and enters. Soon after she exits, holding what appears to be a baby, the shot rings out. Police sources told NBC that one civilian was shot in the midst of a "struggle with police over a gun" after cops responded to a call about an alleged robbery. According to the source, a woman called in a report about an intruder in her home. Police encountered the alleged robber, and a chase ensued. First responders discovered the victims near the intersection of 66th Street and Hull Avenue at 1:55 p.m., and transported both to Elmhurst Hospital in serious condition. Police sources told DNAInfo that one of the victims, a woman, sustained a serious head injury. It wasn't immediately clear if the injury was from a gunshot. The second, a man, was reportedly shot in the groin. The NYPD declined to comment on the shooting ahead of a briefing scheduled for later this afternoon. We will update with any additional information. [Update 5:00]: This piece has been updated to include a longer version of the video. As a young girl, Ruth Lawrence was considered the brainiest child in Britain, and was even ranked among the worlds ten smartest peopletogether with Stephen Hawking and chess grandmasters Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. For the past 20 years, though, Lawrence has been living a relatively modest life out of the spotlight, as an ultra-Orthodox Mathematics professor at Hebrew University. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Her early years were filled with unbelievable accomplishments and a tight-knit, almost claustrophobic relationship with her father, Harry. At age ten, she became the youngest person ever to gain entry into the prestigious Oxford University. She would go on to complete her degree within two years and become the only Math student in her year to receive a top grade. She finished her PhD at Oxford at age 18, and at age 19 took on her first academic position, as a junior professor at Harvard University. Lawrence speaking to her students X During her time at Oxford, Ruths father would chaperone and join her in lectures. Considered inseparable, he received a great deal of criticism for his constant presence and very hands-on method of nurturing his daughters rare level of aptitude. The senior Lawrence seemed to always have a vested interest in his daughters education, and when she was five he quit his job to home school her. Harry had previously tried hot-housing another one of his children, attempting to cultivate his older daughter, Sarah, into a genius as well. However, his first wife refused to allow it and eventually she and Harry divorced. He then married Ruths mother, Sylvia, who was more inclined toward his highly focused methods of developing intelligence. Ruths younger sister, Rebecca, has said that their father had also attempted to shape her into a prodigy, but since she had initially shown an inclination toward the piano, it was their mother who was tasked with developing her musical talents. Ruths father joined her when she decided to move to the United States, and following his divorce from her mother, the father and daughter jointly purchased a house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where at the time Ruth had been teaching. Their alternative familial setting ended, though, when Ruth decided to move to Jerusalem and marry a fellow math professor. These days, Ruth is a mother of four and is still teaching at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In a departure from her secular upbringing, she has become an observant Jew, covering her hair and reportedly refusing to allow men into her house when her husband it out. While her career has not turned her into the second coming of Albert Einstein, as was predicted during her Oxford days, she is still considered an exceptional mathematician. Ruth has stated in the past that she would never put her own children through the strict teaching methods her father had imposed on her and her sister Rebecca, which included a ban on playing with friends their own age so as not to clutter their minds with trivial conversation and pointless playing. When asked about such methods, Harry doubled down, saying that The idea that it's a time to mess around and do whatever they like is absolutely wrong. He added that childhoods not a time to be playing around, but a time to be developing. The bond between father and daughter appears to have been substantially loosened after Ruth moved to Israel. Harry said that he does not see Ruth or her children very often, and he has not visited her in Israel since her wedding, 18 years ago. He sees his daughter Rebecca even less. Harry admitted to missing Ruth, but explained that girls grow up and they become women. They marry and have children. This is all natural and normal. He remains at Ann Arbor, living in the house they had bought together. BEIJING - China's defence minister met the head of Afghanistan's army, thanking him for Kabul's support in fighting what Beijing says is an extremist group that seeks to split off its western region of Xinjiang. China has long been concerned that instability in Afghanistan will spill over into violence-prone Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, where hundreds have died in recent years in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist extremists. The United States and the United Nations have listed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist group, though some experts have questioned its cohesiveness and say China's policies in Xinjiang have contributed to unrest. ISIS released a video on Sunday urging those loyal to the terrorist group to commit acts of terror in Russia. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "Listen Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes ... Oh Brothers, carry out jihad and kill and fight them," said a masked man, seen in the video driving a car in the desert while yelling and wagging his finger. ISIS terrorists The video (which includes subtitles) shows footage of armed men attacking armored vehicles and tents and collecting arms in the desert. "Breaking into a barrack of the Rejectionist military on the international road south Akashat," the subtitles read. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the video, but the link to the footage was published on a Telegram messaging account used by ISIS. While it is yet clear why Russia has become an apparent target for ISIS, Russia and the US have been talking about boosting military and intelligence cooperation against ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria. There has been a string of deadly attacks claimed by ISIS in Europe over the past few weeks: just last week, assailants loyal to ISIS forced an elderly Catholic priest in a French church to his knees before slitting his throat. Since the mass killing in Nice on July 14, there have been four incidents in Germany, including the most recent suicide bombing at a concert in Ansbach. The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) carried out a joint operation with the Commando Brigade's Duvdevan Unit Sunday night, against manufacturers and weapons merchants in the Samaria region. Among others, several lathe workshops used to produce weaponry were discovered. A central figure in the Palestinian security network who is also a key weapons manufacturer in Nablus was arrested during the operation. Security prisoners imprisoned in Israel are beginning a hunger strike after family visitations have been curtailed. They receive familial visits via an outside, non-Israeli organization which gets the families onto busses from Gaza and the West Bank and takes them to prisons inside of Israel. The organization has decided to cut the amount of trips down to one a month as opposed to once every two weeks. The prisoners have complained to the Palestinian Authority and will strike until the problem is resolved. After a tender providing the prime minister with his own plane was recently decided upon, the plan to purchase and prepare the designated plane has been set into motion. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A used airplane will be bought by the government and fitted with VIP features along with special additions, such as a secure communications system and defense features that will allow the prime minister to fly over more security-sensitive regions. The Netanyahus preparing to board an El Al plane from Kenya to Rwanda (Photo: Kobi Gideon, Israeli GPO) The Obamas aboard US Air Force 1 (Photo: AP) The planes acquisition was approved two years ago, in addition to approving plans for erecting the new prime ministers residence at a cost of NIS 650 million. Israeli heads of state have in the past relied on Boeing 707 planes for their travels. However, this tradition was discontinued due to the planes becoming outdated and their high fuel consumption. The head of Israel's National Security Council, Yaakov Nagel, left early Monday morning for Washington DC in an attempt to wrap up negotiations over the 10-year defense aid deal. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The trip is a sign of the strained relations between Washington and Jerusalem. Israel's defense establishment is expected to receive less than what Prime Minister Netanyahu promised them. It appears that Netanyahu's attempt to pressure the Obama administration using the US Congress has backfired. Obama and Netanayhu (Photo: Reuters) The US aid agreement to Israel is renewed every ten years, and the negotiations for the new agreementset to come into effect in 2018have caused a political earthquake that shook DC. At the height of the drama, Netanyahu had to tell the White House that he is distancing himself from some of Israel's biggest advocates in the Senate. For the Americans, the story is a bit different. During the administration's campaign to push the Iran nuclear agreement through Congress, Obama promised the Democratic senators that if they vote in favor of the nuclear agreement, he in turn will help Israel. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, acting on advice he received from Republicans in Congress, decided to fly to Washington to give a speech against the wishes of the White House, in which he fiercely criticized the administration's policy on Iran. The White House didn't forget and didnt forgive Netanyahu. As a result of the negotiations over military defense, the two sides mutually agreed that all of the additional anti-missile defense funding that the US Congress has allocated over the years would be included in the 10-year agreement. This brings the aid figure to approximately $3.7 billion a year. And while Netanyahu claimed that he would able to get the number up to at least $4 billion, receiving over $40 billion over 10 years, the White House has clarified that this won't happen. Regardless, Netanyahu decided to draw out the negotiaions in the belief that Obama will fold because of the upcoming elections and the nearing end of his term. Various people, including Vice President Biden, have warned Netanyahu that he is risking failure, but Netanyahu is standing his ground. The struggle reached its climax on April 25, when 83 out of the 100 US Senators signed a document supporting an increase in military aid to the Jewish state. "Due to the dramatic rise in security challenges which Israel is dealing with, we are willing to support an agreement to increase aid, and provide Israel with the necessary resources to defend itself and maintain its qualitative edge," the letter said. The White House was furious. The Senators' letter was immediately and publicly rejected, leading Netanyahu's office to send a surprising, secret message to the administration, claiming that the Senators' letter was done at their own initiative, and the Israelis didnt know anything about it. US made F-35 being tested before going to Israel (Photo: Caulun Belcher images) The White House demanded the leaders of the initiative, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chris Coons, to declare they acted of their own volition, without the knowledge of the Israeli government. I tried in vain to see if such a statement was released. But what really happened only those involvedthe Senators, the Jewish lobby, the Israeli ambassador and the Prime Minister's Officeknow. The Obama administration then demanded that Israel not make any additional aid requests for the next decade. While Netanyahu instructed his negotiation team to refuse this caveat, the White House insisted. The White House also wanted all of the aid to go to the purchases of US-made weapons, causing the Israelis to retort that this would be the death knell for the Israeli defense industry, and that tens of thousands of Israeli workers would lose their jobs. The Obama administration therefore agreed to acquiesce to the Israeli request for the first five years of the agreement, but after that, the amount of money to be transferred to Israeli security manufacturing would be gradually reduced to zeroexcept for joint US-Israeli projects. The US Congress offered to give Israel an additional $600 million for anti-missile defense in 2017. This angered the US administration, and Netanyahu promised not to make any more requests during fiscal year 2017. The Israeli prime minister said in a statement that "Israel places great importance on the capacity and the certainty of the US military aid package." Netanyahu has finally accepted the conditions that he rejected just a year ago. Signing the agreement will finally end the Israeli-American dispute over the Iran nuclear agreement one that cost Israel NIS 11 billion in preparations for the off-chance of an Israeli strike against Tehran, led to a serious confrontation with the US administration, caused a rift within the US Jewish community, and distanced Israel from the US Democratic Party. And now, Israel also lost the chance of getting an increase in aid funds something which was promised to Israel when the battle over the Iran deal began. The Israeli military says security forces have arrested a "major weapons dealer" who is a member of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank. The military says it arrested Mahayub Borhan Rashad Knaza in the West Bank city of Nablus early on Monday and confiscated weapons manufacturing equipment. Recent Israeli raids have seized weapons, shuttered arms-making factories and arrested weapons dealers as part of a crackdown meant to quell a spate of Palestinian attacks. The military says seven weapons-manufacturing machines were seized this year in the Nablus area. A month after the attack on the international airport in Istanbul, and two weeks after the attempted coup in Turkey, the statistics of Israeli travelers to that country have come in. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter . After Turkey was almost completely removed from the list of Israeli vacation spots for 2016, and after hope that the reconciliation agreement would see more Israelis travel to Turkey, the numbers show that not only are Israeli travelers staying away, they're even avoiding flying on connecting flights through the country. According to data obtained by the website Smartair, there have been almost no connecting flights via Turkey registered by travelers originating in Israel over the past several weeks. Turkish Airlines (Photo: AFP) However, in all of 2015 and the first half of 2016, Turkey was the leading destination for connecting flights between Israel to the entire rest of the world. In all, there have been a 65 percent reduction in travelers compared to 2015 and the first half of 2016. These are exceptional figures, especially when one considers that there was little to no effect on the number of people connecting through Istanbul even during the height of the impasse between Jerusalem and Ankara. This is even in spite of the low price and amount of comfort on Turkish Airlines flights, considered to be one of the best airlines in the world. Smartair also noted that there has been no decrease in the amount of Israelis flying to France or Germany two other locations which have been hit by terror attacks. Actually, the opposite is true there has actually been a rise in the number of Israelis flying to Berlin. There has even been a rise in the number of people flying to Munich, despite the terror attack there. More than 100,000 students on Monday have linked their hands to form human chains in Bangladesh to protest two attacks last month by suspected Islamist militants. The students are from hundreds of colleges and universities in Dhaka and other cities, and took part in Monday's protest as part of a campaign to create awareness about the rise of Islamic extremism in the country. The protest came after suspected Islamist militants killed 20 people, including 17 foreigners, in an attack on a popular restaurant in Dhaka a month ago. That was followed by an attack on an Eid congregation in central Bangladesh that left three people dead. While ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, Bangladesh authorities have blamed the banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh. Alert levels warning citizens all around Europe to be wary of terror attacks are still high. Dutch news stations reported on Monday that a man was arrested on a bus travelling on a highway towards Amsterdam's Schipol airport waving a pistol and shouting that he has a bomb. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Meanwhile, unusual pictures coming out of France show soldiers strapped with semi-automatic rifles patrolling the beaches due to a warning of an attack on sunbathers. A French soldier stands guard at the beach (Photo: AP) French soldiers patrolling the beach (Photo: MCT) Beachgoers in Cannes are no longer allowed to bring large bags to the beach due to security concerns. Cannes Mayor David Lisnard said that the restrictions prevent people from bringing bags to the beach which might be filled with explosive material, and explained that the move is designed to make the police's jobs easier. French soldiers patrolling the beach in France (Photo: MCT) Is this the new European normal? (Photo: MCT) Meanwhile, Pope Francis has called on Europeans to keep from generalizing all Muslims based on the actions of a few. He said that Europe shouldn't view Islam as a religion of terror, and claimed that doing so is unfair and unjust. He made his comments on his way back to the Vatican from Poland, a trip which began the day after a Catholic priest was slaughtered by ISIS militants in Normandy, France. Additionally, ISIS released a video on Sunday urging those loyal to the terrorist group to commit acts of terror in Russia. "Listen Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes ... Oh Brothers, carry out jihad and kill and fight them," said a masked man, seen in the video driving a car in the desert while yelling and wagging his finger. It used to whistle and rumble in the Israeli days of yore. But soon, 65 years after it stopped working, the Jezreel Valley Railway will open up again. Accompanied by three women who remember when the train regularly ran, Yedioth Ahronoth was able to experience the new train's first run in over six decades. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter First built by the Ottoman Sultan at the turn of the 20th century, the train went from Haifa and went all the way to Damascus. Its history is interwoven with the history of pre-state Israel. "The next stop is Kfar Yehoshua. Please make sure you take your belongings from the train," says the announcement after leaving Haifa towards Beit She'an. In the carriage sits Ariela (Rilka) Monet, 90, from Balfouria; Tzipora Karshi, 83, from Kfar Baruch; and Zehava Katz, 82, from Kibbutz Gvat. View from the Jezreel Valley Railroad (Photo: Netivei Israel) They remember back in the old days that when the train would go up a hill, it would slow down to a walking pace, and the girls would jump barefoot on an off the moving train. "It's a shame our grandkids will never get to experience that," the women said. "It feels like we did that yesterday," Rilka said longingly. Yet when the train reached its maximum speed of 100 miles per hour, she can only hang on to her memories from days gone by. It's definitely not the sputtering whistlepot of the past, as nostalgic as that is. This train is galloping while the three women are reminiscing on days past; days when women would take a break from working in the fields or in the cow sheds or in the kitchens, take out their finest dresses which they brought with them from Russia and eastern Europe, and get on the train to go out in Haifa. Despite the fact that the train only had wooden benches and wasn't air conditioned, they would get on full of joy and excitement. Testing the Jezreel Valley Railroad (Photo: Sharon Tzur) Two additional stops are expected to be added one in the Haifa suburb of Nesher, and another within Haifa itself. Travelers on the railroad will be exposed to views of the green Jezreel Valley, Mt. Tabor, and Mt. Gilboa. View from the Jezreel Valley Railroad (Photo: Netivei Israel) The train will officially begin operating on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot on October 16th. Transportation minister Yisrael Katz has decided that the trips will be free from October 16th to November 4th. At the end of the trial period, the public can anticipate two trains an hour in both directions. There will also be freight being pulled along the rails, with goods coming into the Port of Haifa getting loaded onto the freight train, and the train travelling to Beit Shean where the goods will be unloaded and shipped to Jordan, and from there on to other Arab countries. CEO of Netivei Israel National Transport Inc Nisim Peretz explained that work on the track was completed quickly. Over 900 feet of track was laid down every day, 26 bridges were built including one which is almost three and a half miles long. They also built three underground tunnels for the train to pass through. Farmers were also taken into account, with crossings for farmers to cross from one side of the track to the other. The entire project cost about $1 billion. A high voltage power line collapsed at around 3:30pm on Monday causing a massive buildup of traffic across Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan as traffic lights ceased to work in various locations in the cities. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Several minutes elapsed before authorities were alerted about the about the heavy traffic buildups in the central cities. The malfunction was fixed by 5:30pm and all traffic lights began to operate as usual. Cars broght to a complete standstill as traffic lights stop working (: , , ) X During the two hours of the power failure, The Tel Aviv municipal authority reported that traffic lights in no less than 30 junctures in the city were experiencing a failure which was said to be caused by a malfunction in the electric power station. Photo: Oren Rice The electrical company originally said that it had succeeded in solving the problem in a number of areas but that various traffic lights dotted throughout the area were still not functioning. Traffic builds up in Tel Aviv (Photo: Elad Tavuri) The areas which saw the heaviest traffic standstills were in Namir street heading north as well as at Abba Hillel Junction and Bialik in Ramat Gan. A number of other popular neighborhoods throughout the central cities were also affected by the power collapse. The police were forced to direct traffic at the junctions and asked the public to be patient and to pay attention to police instructions. The Defense Ministry officially unveiled the most well-shielded and first wheeled new 'Eitan' armored personnel carrier (APC) on Monday which will be added to active duty use alongside the IDF's Namer ("Leopard") APCs, mainly used by the Golani brigade. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The new APC will be equipped with an active interception defense system capable of intercepting incoming anti-tank missilessimilar to the Trophy system already used by some IDF tanks. Despite this addition, the the 35-ton beast is expected to cost around half that of its predecesor, which costs approximately $3 million. The new Eitan APC. (Photo: Ministry of Defense) seven Golani fighters were killed by an anti-tank missile fired at their APC in the Gaza Strip. The Eitan is said to be faster and more agile than the heavy Namer APC, and is able to reach speeds of 90 KPH with a 750 horsepower engine. It is also intended to be less reliant on trucks for its transportation (heavy IDF armored vehicles are usually transferred large distances by special trucks, in order to save fuel, as the armored vehicles' engines are less fuel-efficient. -ed). The Namer APC. Better shielded, but heavier, slower, and more expensive. (Photo: Avihu Shapira) The plans for a wheeled APC were initially born in the IDF prior to Protective Edge, but they were fast-tracked in thw wake of the occurrences of the 2014 Gaza operation. Moreover, its became concerned that ground forces, during a possible third war in Lebanon, would be forced to maneuver through hostile territory in obsolete armored vehicles. Despite hopes that the Eitan will be better suited to avert similar catastrophies which beset the IDF in 2014, the Defense Ministry did not shy away from admittng that wheels, rather than tracks, represented a disadvantage if actually struck by an enemy missile. "The built-in disadvantage to a wheeled vehicle is its (diminished) ability to be protected in the battlefield, even though we've shielded the Eitan as much as possible," the defense ministry said in a statement. The first Eitan APCs will undergo shielding experiments and operational tests after which the IDF will decide on the scope of the new armored vehicle's use. The Russian army suffered its deadliest blow in northern Syria on Monday since the beginning of its involvement in the civil war after a transport helicopter was shot down by rebel forces, killing all five crew members on board. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The helicopter was on its way back to the Russian Hemeimeem air base in the Latakia port city after completing a humanitarian mission. Russian plane shot out of the sky by Syrianebel forces X Rebel forces uploaded pictures of the incinerated helicopter and the remains of the bodies of the crew. Photos were also uploaded showing the identity documents of the crew. Russian helicopter burns in northern Syria The Russian defense ministry has said that the helicopter was shot down, in all likelihood, by an anti-aircraft weapon from the ground. This is not the first time that a Russian flight has been shot down. Al-Jazeera news network reported that with the shooting down of the helicopter, the total number of Russians killed had now reached 19 since the Russians entered the Syrian carnage. This was the fifth incident in which a Russian flight has been decimated in the war-torn state. The area in which the helicopter was brought down was controlled by ISIS terrorists indicating that the fire was carried out by other rebel organizations. Photo: Reuters Photo: Reuters Photo: Reuters Photo: Reuters Photo: Reuters On Sunday, ISIS uploaded a video calling for Jihad to be waged against Russia. On the Youtube video, which continues for nine minutes, a masked man in seen waving his finger and shouting: Listen Putin. We will get to Russia and will kill you in your homes. Brothers, wage Jihad, kill them and fight them. Moreover, excerpts of recordings from the desert were uploaded showing armed activists attacking armored vehicles and tents and collecting weapons. It is not yet possible to verify the origins or authenticity of the clip. However, it was published on a telegram account used by the terror organization. The United States launched multiple airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Libya on Monday, opening a new, more persistent front against the group. The fresh strikes came at the request of the United Nations-backed Libyan government, US officials said. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Fayez Serraj, the head of Libya's UN-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean in northern Libya. No US ground forces will be deployed, he said. The precision strikes, which targeted an Islamic State tank and its vehicles, come amid growing concerns about the group's increased threat to Europe and its ability to inspire attacks across the region, even though its numbers have been steadily decreased because of attacks from local forces and allied international troops. "The presidency council, as the general army commander, has made a request for direct US support to carry out specific airstrikes," Serraj said. "The first strikes started today in positions in Sirte, causing major casualties." The strikes mark the start of a more intense American role in the fight against ISIS in Libya, as the US steps in to assist the fragile, UN-backed government. Indeed, they were the first strikes by the US on the group in Libya since February. Obama's authorization for action in Sirte includes strikes, intelligence and surveillance, but not ground operations, according to a White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the strikes and requested anonymity. Serraj said his government is joining the coalition against ISIS, adding: "This is the time for the international community to live up to its promises to the Libyan people." ISIS in Libya. Increased airstrikes by US forces. Serraj also noted that the strikes will not go beyond Sirte and its surroundings. He said that any other foreign intervention is not allowed without coordination. His warning comes after several French commandos were killed fighting Islamic State militants. US, French, British and Italian special operations forces and military experts have been assisting Libyan troops fighting ISIS militants in eastern and western Libya. In a statement, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said President Barack Obama authorized the strikes following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces," said Cook, using another name for the Islamic State group. US officials earlier this year estimated there were as many as 6,000 Islamic State insurgents in Libya, including some who have abandoned Syria. But in recent months, officials say, their numbers in Libya have dropped and the group is weakening there under pressure from local militias and the UN-brokered government. Just last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Islamic State fighters in Libya are facing the "distinct possibility" of defeat in their last stronghold. And Dunford estimated in mid-July that there were only a few hundred militants still inside Sirte, which the group has used as a headquarters. "I don't think there is any doubt that the Islamic State in Libya is weaker than it was some months ago," said Dunford, adding, that "They've suffered significant casualties in and around the Benghazi area." Without mentioning any future US military plans in Libya, Dunford said that "whatever actions we conduct," aside from those meant to eliminate an ISIS threat to the US homeland, "are going to be in conjunction with" the UN-backed government of national accord. Gen. Joseph Dunford. "(ISIS have) suffered significant casualties." (Photo: Reuters) In February, American F-15E fighter-bombers struck an Islamic State training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border, killing more than 40. Libya slid into chaos after the ouster and killing of dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The power and security vacuum left the country a breeding ground for militias, and militants including the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda affiliates. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes. The UN brokered a deal in December, which tried to mend the rift by creating a presidency council and a unity government. The deal envisions a transitional period of up to two years, followed by a vote on a draft constitution and then presidential or parliamentary elections. Libya's pro-government militias mainly from the western city of Misrata have been waging an offensive against the Islamic State group in Sirte since May, but it has recently stalled. This Account has been suspended. The June edition of the Housing Industry Associations (HIA) New Home Sales report shows sales experienced a monthly increase of just over 8% during June. According to the HIA, the sale of new detached homes jumped 7.2% in June, while the multi-unit sector saw an increase of 11.5% over the month. The June increase in new multi-unit sales continued the recovery in the sector after it also saw a 4.9% increase in June. During June, detached house sales increased in all five mainland states with the largest increases occurring in Queensland (+14.9%) and WA (+9.1%). Detached house sales increased by 7.5% in NSW, 3.7% in South Australia, and 2.2% in Victoria. Source: HIA While June was a strong month for new home sales, HIA chief economist Harley Dale said the industry is still predicting an orderly decline over the near future. The overall trend is still one of modest decline for New Home Sales, but a bounce of 8.2% in June 2016 highlights the resilience of the national new home building sector, Dr Dale said. The overall profile of HIA New Home Sales is signaling an orderly correction to national new home construction in the short term, as are other leading housing indicators, he said. Though the slowdown in the construction industry is not predicted to be a sharp one, Dr Dale said it will play out differently across the country. Below the national surface, the large geographical divergences between state housing markets have been a prominent feature of the current cycle that will continue, he said. Comparing the June quarter this year to the same period last year, detached house sales are down very sharply in South Australia (-21.4%) and in Western Australia (-27.5 %), yet sales are up by 17.0% in Victoria and by 7.1% in Queensland. New South Wales rounds off the detached house coverage provided by the New Home Sales report and sales are down by 7.3% on an annual basis. According to CoreLogics July Home Value Index, combined capital city dwelling prices increased 0.8% over the month, with the median capital city dwelling price now sitting at $570,000. The July improvement now means capital city dwelling prices have increased 6.1% in the year to July 2016, which is the slowest rate of annual growth recorded since the year to September 2013. It is also well below the peak annual growth rate of 11.1% recorded over the year to October 2015. CoreLogic research head said the apparent slow down in price growth will likleky be welcomed, however housing affordability is likely to still be a concern for many. The recent moderation in the rate of capital gains should be viewed as a positive sign that growth in dwelling values may be returning to more sustainable levels, Lawless said. However, the growth trend rate is still tracking considerably faster than income growth resulting in a deterioration of housing affordability, he said. The July Index gives bragging rights back to Sydney, with CoreLogics figures showing its median dwelling price now sits at $775,000 after growing 5.6% in the three months to July and 9.1% year-on-year. Melbourne was the next best performer, with its median dwelling price improving by 3.5% in the July quarter and 7.5% year-on-year to $585,000. While their annual rates of growth are still solid, both Sydney and Melbournes are still below well below their peak annual growth rates of 18.4% in the 12 months to July 2015 for Sydney and 14.2% in the year to September 2015 for Melbourne. Hobart also saw strong growth in the year to July, with its median dwelling value up 6.2% to $327,800. In Brisbane, the median dwelling price of $477,500 went backwards in the July quarter, but was up 3.9% year-on-year, while Adelaide ($417,500) saw growth of 4.8% in the year to July. Canberras median dwelling priced inched 2.9% higher over the year to $561,000. The July index shows Perth ($490,000) and Darwin ($497,500) are continuing to struggle, with the two markets seeing monthly, quarterly and yearly falls in their median dwelling values. Source: CoreLogic RP Data While the majority of markets are still seeing prices rise, Lawless said there are some signs power is shifting to buyers. The average selling time is pushing higher, with capital city dwellings now averaging 47 days to sell compared with 42 days a year ago, with total dwelling sales in the three months to July 17.9% lower than the corresponding period 12 months ago. As homes take longer to sell, vendors are starting to apply larger discounts to their asking prices, Lawless said. Potentially, as buyers gain some leverage in the market and vendors become more flexible in their pricing expectations, this will assist in alleviating price pressures from the hottest markets such as Sydney and Melbourne, he said. While growth has cooled somewhat, the fact it remains in positive territory has had further impact on rental yields. The latest growth in dwelling values comes at a time when rental conditions remain soft. Capital city rents were down again over the month to be 0.6% lower over the past twelve months, Lawless said. The recent fall in weekly rents has pushed capital city rental yields to a new historic low of 3.3% with Melbourne now recording the lowest gross yield for houses at 2.8%, while Sydney now shows the lowest yield profile for units, averaging 3.9%. Dobra, k. Szczecina 900 m2 40 miejsc parkingowych Atut: Dodatkowe dochody z paczkomatow InPostu, a juz niedugo i z myjni samoobsugowej. Tradycyjny zakup nieruchomosci, mozliwosc wykupienia uzytkowania wieczystego. A sense of community runs through Jenifer Gurskys life. It guided her back to Montana after she left for overseas mission work. Her appreciation for community helped illuminate her path that took her to the University of Montana, the state Legislature and now to nonprofit organizations. Today shes a program officer for local community foundations at the Montana Community Foundation, an organization whose website said its work with donors, charitable organizations, cities and towns plays a critical role in both philanthropic and community development. We are part of our community, and I am responsible to that place, the people, where I am, said Gursky. None of those accomplishments that can be externally recognized have been solely because of me. It happened because a community said Hey, will you take this position and I will help you in these four ways, so none of that is independently achieved. She doesnt view herself as unique and said she sees commonalities with her peers in the nonprofit sector, those whom she served with in the state Legislature and others who are part of the Montana Community Foundation. Theyre all rolling up their sleeves and truly making a place where Montanans want to be, where Montanans want to stay, where theyre ready for tomorrow, Gursky said. And she was quick to say she believes her colleagues are more deserving of praise than she is. Some of what has prepared her for lifes challenges came from her parents, who were middle-school teachers in Ronan and taught her You do the best you can because that will set you up for the world. You have finite resources to work with in the world and you better make the best of it, she added of their guidance. Find opportunities in what youve been handed and just make the best of it, she said. This outlook has sustained her during mission work, as a non-traditional college student, who returned to the classroom later in life, and then in the nonprofit sector. Often, Im working in a scarcity of resources, and you always make the best of it. You make the biggest impact, she said. Despite the non-linear path that she followed in life, she never harbored doubts about returning to Montana and its sense of community. Her application to attend the University of Montana came while on a mission to Cambodia. Her entrance into the state Legislature came after running for the student Senate at the University of Montana and then becoming president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana. I got a taste of what behind the scenes navigation looked like and how you could effect change, she said. Conversations with others, who had much greater political capital and influence, helped her to decide on a run for the house district she would win. Gursky was part of the 2013 Legislature and represented Missoula House District 98. The experience helped reaffirm her appreciation for Montana and its people. She left the Legislature when she moved from Missoula to Helena, where she became Helena Food Shares development director. Since then, she has become part of the Montana Community Foundation where she assists communities in determining their long-term visions and identifying partners to help them realize those goals. Hers is a job that takes her across Montana, where she helps people better serve their communities. We have a million people and are the fourth largest state in the union. And I think the sense of community we feel even though we live hours away from each other is matched by no other state or place that Ive ever visited, Gursky said. So I think that theres a sense of belonging and ownership here, she added. Its this sense of place Montanans have that has guided her career path where she helps communities despite their perceived scarcity of resources -- a challenge with which shes familiar. Gursky describes herself as a fierce independent who wants to live in community. I am fiercely independent but only thrive when living in community, like we need each other, she said. I guess that makes me a typical Montanan. Health News Ann Arbor, Michigan - Researchers have revealed the molecular structure of a protein produced by the Zika virus that is thought to be involved in the virus's reproduction and its interaction with a host's immune system. The results provide scientists around the globe with new information about the NS1 protein's role in Zika virus infections, and expands scientists' understanding of the flavivirus family, which also includes dengue, West Nile and yellow fever. The study was led by the University of Michigan and done in collaboration with Purdue University. "Having the structure of the full-length Zika NS1 provides new information that can help guide the design of a potential vaccine or antiviral drugs," said senior author Janet Smith, director of the Center for Structural Biology at the U-M Life Sciences Institute, where her lab is located, and professor of biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School. "Researchers are still working to understand precisely how Zika and other flaviviruses interact with an infected person's immune system," she said. "Having these atomic-level details can help scientists to ask better questions and to design more thoughtful experiments as we continue to learn new information." The findings were published online July 25 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. Earlier this year, scientists in China published a partial structure. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been around for decades, but recently grew into an international health emergency following its association with severe birth defects and with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and its rapid spread in Central and South America. There is currently no treatment or vaccine, though several companies have announced plans to try to develop one. "Despite its similarity to other related viruses, we found the Zika NS1 structure had a few important differences," said W. Clay Brown, scientific director of the Center for Structural Biology's high-throughput protein lab and co-first author of the study. The new 3-D structure, which was obtained using X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy, revealed that the outer surface of the Zika NS1 protein has substantially different electrical-charge properties than those of other flavivirusesindicating it may interact differently with the members of an infected person's immune system. This study was also the first to capture the molecular structure of flexible loops on the wing domains of the protein, which had been hidden from view in previous studies. "From NS1 structure studies in dengue, it was thought this loop flipped up, but our study in Zika virus shows it flips down from the wings," said co-author Richard Kuhn, professor of biological sciences at Purdue and director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease. "This is very important because it indicates an interaction with the cellular membrane of the host and a possible mechanism by which NS1 carries out its multiple functions. "Seeing this difference provides new insights that help us better understand the NS1 protein," said Kuhn, who was a member of the research team that first determined the structure of the Zika virus. "Understanding its structure and functions help us identify targets for inhibitors to block important viral processes and treat infection." The team also looked at changes in the genetic sequence of the Zika NS1 protein over time, noted David L. Akey, a research scientist in Smith's lab and the study's other lead author. "Just as the common cold and flu viruses change over time, Zika virus changed during its spread around the world so that NS1 in Brazilian infections looks different to the immune system than its African ancestor," Akey said. The NS1 (nonstructural protein 1) protein plays several roles in viral infections. Inside infected cells, it is essential to making new copies of the virus to infect additional cells. Infected cells also secrete NS1 packets into the patient's blood stream, where higher levels have been associated with more severe illness. The cross-shaped protein has two distinct surfaces. The inner surface is "greasy" and is believed to interact with cell membranes, while the outer surface, once secreted into the blood, can interact with the patient's immune system. Even without the virus present, the secreted version of some NS1 proteins can create vascular bleeding, such as is seen in severe dengue infections. In 2014, many of the same team members participated in the first study to isolate and map the NS1 protein from dengue and West Nile viruses, which appeared in the journal Science. "Isolating the protein in order to study it has been a challenge for researchers," Smith said at the time. "Once we discovered how to do that, it crystallized beautifully." Jamie Konwerski, Jeffrey Tarrasch and Georgios Skiniotis from LSI were also authors of the paper. X-ray crystallography data was collected at the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. The electronic microscopy was conducted by the Skiniotis lab at LSI. Support for the research was provided by Smith's Margaret J. Hunter Collegiate Professorship and the U-M Life Sciences Institute. The X-ray beamlines at Argonne National Laboratory are supported by the National Institute of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Cancer Institute. Latest News Austin, Texas - Variations in the ability of sand particles kicked into the atmosphere from deserts in the Middle East to absorb heat can change the intensity of the Indian Summer Monsoon, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin. The research was published July 28 in Scientific Reports, an open access journal from the publishers of Nature. The Indian monsoon is a period of intense rainfall that more than a billion people rely on to bring rains to farmland. The results of the study could help improve monsoon prediction models, which usually use a constant value for sand particles heat-absorbing ability. Because the absorbing ability varies greatly with region and time, assigning a constant heat-absorbing ability for the particles tends to underestimate the impact that absorbed heat can have on the monsoon system, the authors said. 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 Austins Jackson School of Geosciences. He collaborated with Zong-Liang Yang, a professor in the Jackson Schools 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 that are 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. The researchers found that mineral dust that originates in the Middle East can strengthen the Indian Summer Monsoon by heating the atmosphere above the Iranian Plateau and the Arabian Sea. But the dusts 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. The heating ability of dust aerosols largely determines how the monsoon responds to dust, Jin said. The researchers examined the impact of mineral dust on monsoon strength by creating seven high-resolution computer simulations that varied the heat absorption of the mineral dust. The Indian Summer Monsoon accounts for up to 80 percent of the annual rainfall in the Indian subcontinent. Increasing the strength of the monsoon can lead to flooding that can cause massive losses in life and crops. Jin said that for climate models to accurately capture monsoon behavior, they must account for the variability in mineral dusts 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, Jin said. This study addresses the necessity for developing a new method to represent dust heating in climate models. While this study focused on mineral dusts heat-absorption abilities, Jin said he is planning future research on how the dust particles can influence climate by changing cloud formation and behavior. Dust particles have been shown to be efficient ice nuclei, which may influence the monsoon by changing clouds properties, Jin said. 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 dustmonsoon interactions, Yang said. The study was funded by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and the Jackson School of Geosciences. Pennsylvania: Hillary Clinton took a bus tour across the US "rust belt" region this weekend in a quest to win over white, working class voters who tend to support populist Republican Donald Trump. With her husband ex-president Bill Clinton in tow, the former first lady, top diplomat, ex-senator and now Democratic presidential candidate took her seat on a blue bus that meandered over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio. Here on this green and hilly landscape steel mills have been closing since the late 1970s, and many factories have shuttered since the 1990s. The 2008-2009 recession further aggravated despair, and the following economic recovery has produced only a fraction of jobs that pay as much as the lost industrial ones. "I understand that there are people who feel like the economy is not working well for them," Clinton said at a rally in Harrisburg on Friday. "But I understand that. Because I`m not satisfied with the status quo, are you?" she asked, joined by Bill Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine. If elected, Clinton promises to implement what she says is the biggest jobs program since World War II, focused on manufacturing and infrastructure. Nevertheless "there`s a lot of mistrust of Hillary Clinton, and it comes from Bill," who signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said John Russo, a labor expert from the region currently at Georgetown University. "The working class has been pretty angry on trade issues given the many manufacturing-related jobs that have been lost because of NAFTA," Russo said. Few anticipated the massive loss of US manufacturing jobs -- mostly to lower waged Mexico -- after Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law in December 1993. In time many of those same jobs moved to even lower wage countries in Asia. US manufacturing jobs continued to hemorrhage in the following years. In Pittsburgh, a historic steel city that has largely shifted to being a medical and educational center, Clinton slammed Trump for doing nothing for working class Americans. She even quipped that his Trump brand ties are made in China. "So Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. He can start by actually making things in America again," Clinton said at a rally in Johnstown.Trump has broken with the Republican Party`s age-old free-market orthodoxy and gone protectionist, cashing in politically on this region`s malaise over lost industrial jobs. Trump blames the losses on Bill Clinton and his trade deals, and claims that it will be the same under Hillary Clinton. Ohio and Pennsylvania are key "swing states" in November`s presidential race. Winning one or the other, or both, could be crucial to a Republican or Democratic White House victory. By increasing white voter turnout, Trump could counter Clinton`s lead in large cities like Philadelphia or Cleveland, where African-American voters who tend to vote Democratic are concentrated. Near Pittsburgh, which Hillary Clinton visited Saturday, lies Monessen, population 7,500 -- a shadow of what the town was when two huge steel plants were open there, employing some 22,000 people. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy made the trip in this Democratic stronghold to praise its industrial strength. In June, it was Donald Trump`s turn -- and he came to declare "US economic independence" in a vitriolic speech decrying globalization. "We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our country. This alone will create massive numbers of jobs," Trump said. From his office overlooking the Monongahela River, Monessen Mayor Louis Mavrakis, 79, tries to stay positive as he mentions that some 400 vacant homes set to be razed. Mavrakis is a Democrat who has never voted Republican. But he refused to say whether he would vote for Trump in November. "I`m disgusted with both sides, with our government with the way they give the foreign countries that hate us," Mavrakis said. "You`re giving them billions of dollars, and they hate us, and you can`t even take care of your own people? That`s stupidity." According to Mavrakis "there`s a revolution going on in this country right now, and these idiots in Washington, DC don`t even know it." Mavrakis predicted that Trump "is going to get more Democrat votes than any other Republican president that ever ran, just from this area right here." ico/mdl/ch Nili: Surrounded by male advisors and condescending "mansplainers", Masooma Muradi holds her own against a deep underswell of sexism in a society unaccustomed to women exercising authority. Breaking new ground as Afghanistan's only female governor, Muradi's ascent to the top post in remote Daikundi province is a remarkable feat in Afghanistan, where stubborn patriarchal traditions are at odds with progressive ideas about a woman's place in the world. But barely a year after President Ashraf Ghani appointed Muradi, her job hangs by a thread, with growing calls for her ouster from religious conservatives and opponents. It highlights the travails of being the only woman in an overwhelmingly male preserve. "People claim to be open-minded but many cannot bear having a woman in this position," Muradi, 37, told AFP, sinking into an overstuffed sofa in her office in the capital Nili, decorated with faux sunflowers and a large portrait of a pouting child. "I won't allow men to hush me up -- society is not used to that from a woman," she added. Barely five feet tall, Muradi's diminutive frame and soft demeanour belies her steely instinct for survival. The mother-of-two was handpicked by Ghani in Kabul to lead Daikundi, a mosaic of rolling hills and boulder-strewn ridges in central Afghanistan, hemmed in by insurgency-wracked provinces. But protests erupted even before she arrived in Daikundi, with political opponents -- almost all men -- pillorying her lack of governance experience. Muradi has since managed to hold on to the job, but the resentment was palpable when she recently stepped out in Nili with AFP, trailed by Kalashnikov-toting guards. "Useless," one man barked as she passed by. "Maybe she should be a governor just for women," another growled. Women have made giant strides since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, but they are still so absent from public life that the social media hashtag #WhereAreTheWomen has gained traction in Afghanistan. "The attitudes throughout Afghanistan still are such that not everyone is ready to be governed by a woman," said Douglas Keh, Afghanistan country director at the United Nations Development Programme. Patna: A Bihar court on Monday granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in the toppers` scam, a government lawyer said. A special juvenile court here granted her bail after hearing a petition. Earlier, the court had denied her bail twice. Ruby had pleaded that she should be granted bail as she is a minor. Last month, she was shifted from Beur jail to a remand home after the court accepted Ruby`s age on the basis of her matriculation certificate that states her date of birth to be November 15, 1998. Ruby had topped this year`s Class 12 examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) in humanities stream. She got into trouble after after a sting by a TV news channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects. Class 12 science stream topper Saurabh Shreshtha was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic science questions about his subjects. The sting suggested that the `toppers` might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their top ranks. Both Ruby and Saurabh belonged to V.R. College in Vaishali district. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police then lodged an FIR against Ruby, Saurabh and two other exam 'toppers'. New Delhi: Two men have been detained after a 16-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted, murdered and set afire in her home in east Delhi. According to Delhi Police, the victim was found dead in her home on Thursday. Preliminary inquiry into the incident suggest that it was a suicide, police said. An autopsy later however confirmed the murder. A friend of the victim, who helped identify the accused, has claimed she was also sexually assaulted by the two suspects. Police have registered two separate cases against the men. Ahmedabad/New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Assembly Elections in the state, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday offered to resign, saying it was time for new leadership to take over. In a Facebook post written in the Gujarati language, Patel called upon the BJP leadership to "relieve" her from her present responsibilities in keeping with the "party's laudable tradition of leaders who turn 75 vacating their posts. Patel, who took charge as Gujarat`s first woman chief minister on May 22, 2014, after Narendra Modi took charge as the Prime Minister, could be appointed as a Governor. Notably, during Patel's over two-year-old tenure, the BJP for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat has faced multiple challenges including defeat in rural areas in the civic polls, a powerful agitation by Patel community for OBC quota and the ongoing Dalit unrest over the flogging incident after the skinning of a dead cow in Una. BJP president Amit Shah said the party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the replacement for Patel, who will turn 75 on November 21. "She has requested the party to relieve her of her post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah told PTI in Delhi. Anandiben Patel's resignation gave the BJP's opponents a chance to take postshots at the party. Patel took to Facebook to request the party leadership to relieve her of the post though speculation has been rife for quite some time that she is on the way out. Elections are due in later part of 2017. An unwritten age bar of 75 has been set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP leaders to hold positions in state and central governments. A minister in the BJP government since 1998, Patel succeeded Modi as Chief Minister on May 22, 2014. "For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November," Patel said in the Facebook post. "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," she said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she added. The move by Patel came a day after thousands of Dalits converged here yesterday and took out a rally where they were called upon to "send a strong message" to the Gujarat government ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls. Elections in the state are due in the later part of 2017. Here is her Facebook post: Soon after Patel went public with her offer to quit, Shah said she wanted her replacement to get adequate time to prepare for Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in January 2017 and the Assembly polls later next year. He said Patel had twice offered to resign and also broached the issue in the party's National Executive meet in June and wrote to him again this morning. Referring to reasons, including that she will turn 75 in November, cited by her to quit, he said she has set a "good" precedent. "She has requested the party to relieve her of the post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah said. "She has said that if a new person has to be brought in, then he should get time. Gujarat elections have to take place and there is also Vibrant Gujarat summit, which has been a long tradition, to be held in January. She said if Vibrant Gujarat has to happen in January, then new person should get the opportunity now," he said. Asked about the replacement for Patel, he said the parliamentary board will decide on the new chief minister. The Dalit uprising after the Una trashing incident had also dented the image of party. Congress and other opposition parties has unleashed a nationwide attack on the BJP and its dispensations at the state and the centre over the issue. Patel had faced an upset with BJP faring badly in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015 and the opposition Congress making gains at the cost of the saffron rival. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. It has become an unwritten convention in BJP that those turning 75 have to quit the posts they are holding, which saw Najma Heptulla quitting the Union Cabinet after she was reportedly sounded to do so on attaining the age bar. Earlier, a couple of ministers in Madhya Pradesh including BJP veteran Babubal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the state cabinet by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to age bar. In 2014, when the Modi government came to power, the age limit had apparently come in the way of ministerial berths for old guards like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha. Sinha had in the past remarked that BJP has "declared brain dead on May 26, 2014" its leaders above the age of 75. (With Agency inputs) Ahmedabad: The civil hospital here on Monday discharged the four Dalit youths who were being treated after they were beaten up by cow vigilantes, but reversed the decision as the community members protested. "Upon learning that hospital is forcing these youths to go home, several Dalit leaders rushed....Though doctors claimed all four were fine and could go home, we found none of them was in the condition to even walk. One of them was vomiting," said Jignesh Mevani, a Dalit leader. Ashok Sarvaiya, Vashram Sarvaiya, Bechar Servaiya and Ramesh Servaiya, all residents of Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil of Gir-Somnath district, were beaten up by some cow vigilantes when they were skinning a dead cow on July 11. "We registered a strong protest, after which the hospital authorities said they were ready to keep the four youths till they recover completely," said Mevani. On July 25, these four youths were discharged from Rajkot hospital as doctors said their condition had improved. But they were rushed to the civil hospital here next day after developing serious complications. "First, they were forcefully discharged by Rajkot civil hospital despite knowing they were not keeping well. Now, Ahmedabad civil hospital meted out same treatment. We suspect authorities are doing this due to political pressure," alleged Mevani. However, hospital superintendent MM Prabhakar defended the decision to discharge the youths. "They have received 21 days of treatment at various hospitals till now. This is enough time for such patients to recover. We did various tests such as CAT scan, MRI, blood test and x-ray. All the tests (results) were normal," he said. "We decided to discharge them based on these reports and doctors' observations. However, some people made an issue and asked us to keep them for some more days. We accepted the demand. Otherwise these patients are doing well and can go home," Prabhakar said. Gurgaon: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday undertook an aerial survey of Gurugram after heavy rainfall triggered water-logging and traffic jams in the city two days back. CM Khattar had said his visit to Gurgaon will be to get a first hand information on the problem of waterlogging and traffic jams which he attributed to various factors including overflowing of Badshahpur drain. On Friday, heavy rains and subsequent waterlogging had crippled several parts of the city leaving thousands of people stranded for hours. Schools were also ordered to remain shut by the district administration in the wake of water-logging in several parts of the city. CM Khattar had called an emergency meeting in Chandigarh to tackle the ongoing traffic jam and waterlogging problem. He had also said that there was complete coordination between the Police and Civil administration. Chandigarh: The Kasol village in Himachal Pradesh is a favourite destination for Israeli tourists visiting the country, it has emerged. After receiving a mandatory military training, which is hard and exhausting, in their country, they like to visit this village for a well-deserved vacation, the bhaskar.com reported. On visiting the place, it feels like an Israeli village, as most of them speak only in the Hebrew language. The Indian men are banned from the village. And if men from outside occasionally dropped in, the villagers won't give them shelter. The locals said the ban on Indian men is due to rampant eve-teasing of tourists living there. That is why the Israeli tourists, mainly women, are very fond of the place, they said. The Israelis believe that their fellow nationals discovered the village some 10 decades ago. The tourists can get a room to stay there for just Rs 300 per day. However cyber cafes, run by the locals, are a booming business in the village and becoming a major economic activity. Dhaka: Bangladesh has alerted Indian security agencies that the mastermind of the deadly Dhaka cafe terror attack may have fled to India, amid a nationwide manhunt to track down the Bangladeshi-Canadian, police chief said today. "We have alerted the Indian security agencies against his (Tamim Chowdhury's) possible escape to India to evade the arrest," Bangladesh Police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque told PTI. He said a massive manhunt is underway to track down Bangladeshi-Canadian Chowdhury as he is suspected to be the mastermind of the recent terrorist attacks in the country. Hoque said during his recent New Delhi visit accompanying Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, he alerted the chiefs of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and CBI against Chowdhury and "Indian security agencies are looking for him as well". "Chowdhury could be the key-operative of (Syria-based) IS in Bangladesh," he said, but quickly added that no proof of IS link to the recent terror attacks were found so far, reiterating the government's stance on the issue. A newspaper earlier reported that Chowdhury appeared as the leader and main financier of a reorganised Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) while Bangladesh earlier attributed the two attacks to the outfit. Hoque, however, said a reconstituted JMB, which he preferred to call 'neo-JMB', was identifying them as ISIS operatives in Bangladesh. A senior officer at the police headquarters supplemented Hoque, saying the new outfit, mostly led by close relatives of the original outfit, adopted a revised philosophy for the outfit three years ago which was inclined to that of IS. Independent security analysts earlier said JMB or neo-JMB was inclined to IS while another banned outfit called Ansarullah Bangla Team was ideologically linked to al-Qaeda. The police chief''s comments came days after Bangladesh identified Chowdhury as the mastermind of the July 1 terrorist attack on a Dhaka cafe. Police earlier this week said a security raid on a terror hideout last week provided them the clue to detect him as the architect of the recent Islamist assaults adding that he returned home from Canada three years ago. A police officer familiar with the investigation earlier said evidence gathered from the scene of the July 26 overnight security raid at Dhaka?s Kalyanpur area, when nine presumed militants were killed, led police to identify Chowdhury, believed to be in his mid 30s. The July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan restaurant left 22 people including an Indian girl and two police officers dead, while the July 6 assault on an Eid congregation at northern Sholakia killed 2 policemen and a woman. The family members of the five militants, who were shot dead in a gunfight with security forces at the Artisan, have not come forward to claim their bodies. Chandigarh : Border Security Force (BSF) troopers foiled an intrusion attempt from the Pakistani side in Punjab`s Ferozepur sector and killed one intruder, officials said on Monday. The intrusion attempt was made on Sunday evening and one intruder was killed in the counter offensive by troopers in the Border Out Post (BOP) Kassoke in Hussainiwala sector, 280 km from here. The body of the unidentified intruder, believed to be a Pakistani, was recovered from beyond the border fence and handed over to the Punjab Police. BSF officials said that five intruders were detected moving suspiciously close to the border fence. When they were challenged, they fired at the BSF troopers. In the counter offensive, one intruder was killed while the others escaped. The BSF is on high alert along Punjab`s 553-km long international border with Pakistan since last year. Terrorists had intruded in Gurdaspur district in July last year and carried out an attack in Dinanagar town close to the India-Pakistan border. Bulandshahr: In Uttar Pradesh, it seems even if you dial 100 number during the crisis to seek help from police, it won't help at all! According to the uncle of the Bulandshahr rape victim, after the horrific incident took place, the victims had dialled 100 number to seek police help but the number was busy. "When they (victims) called 100, it was busy at first and then no one picked up," the rape victim's uncle said. "They (victims) then contacted a relative in Noida and after some time, the local police station called on their phone. And, then the cop on the other side of the line repeatedly asked questions instead of helping them," he added. I even abused the cop out of frustration, he said revealing about the experience. Uttar Pradesh Police has claimed to have held three of the accused involved in the brutal gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on gunpoint on Friday night after dragging the family out of a car near Bulandshahr, even as the Samajwadi Party government came under intense flak over the incident. Delhi: China itself has violated the consensus arrived at the 2010 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference by transferring nuclear reactors to Pakistan, as per a media report. The Times of India reported that this was observed by Arms Control Association, one of leading authorities on nuclear weapons and disarmament, in its latest report assessing progress on non-proliferation. Pakistan is not under IAEA safeguards. The Daily said that the report says that China's 2013 deal for the Chasma-3 reactor in Pakistan contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference. The report was quoted as follows - China's 2013 deal for the Chasma-3 reactor in Pakistan contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which "reaffirms that new supply arrangements" for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept "IAEA full-scope safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons". Pakistan fails on both the counts. "Despite progress on its export controls China continues to supply Pakistan with nuclear power reactors, despite objections that the sale of the reactors did not receive a consensus exemption from the NSG. Pakistan, which is neither an NPT member nor under full-scope IAEA safeguards, is therefore ineligible to receive such assistance under NSG rules," the report by Arms Control Association is further quoted as saying. At the same time, the report accuses China of not keeping its commitment of not helping any country in the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which was important in Beijing's application for membership of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). India is now become a member of MTCR. However, China's application remains blocked. "Beijing voluntarily follows the MTCR's export control guidelines. However, China has not adopted the full annex, which includes a common list of controlled items. A 2016 State Department compliance report on arms control found that Chinese entities continue to supply missile technologies to countries of concern," TOI quoted the report as saying. Meanwhile, India has pointed out that China had created 'procedural hurdles' for India in getting membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China`s objections is mainly over India not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India has been seeking membership of NSG to enable it to trade in and export nuclear technology. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The NSG works under the principle of unanimity. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: A defiant AAP MP Bhagwant Mann on Monday told a committee set up to probe his Parliament House videography issue that he has not breached the security, which members said was a contradiction as he has already tendered an unconditional apology for his act to the Speaker. Mann was grilled by the committee for nearly one-and-a- half hours during which he maintained that he has not breached the security of the high-security complex. He is learnt to have reiterated his demand that the ambit of the panel is extended to summon the Prime Minister for "inviting" ISI personnel to the Pathankot airbase in the aftermath of a terror strike there in January. "In a way, he was not repenting... He asked for more time and said he cannot appear tomorrow. We have asked him on August 3 now," said a panel member. Last week, in a five-page letter, Mann had refused to tender an unqualified apology and had demanded that the prime minister too be summoned before the committee. Since the committee has to submit its report on August 3 to the Lok Sabha Speaker, it may seek an extension. "We were mandated to find out whether Mann has breached security and if he has, the action which needed to be taken. The other task is to recommend how such breaches can be prevented in the future. But so far we have not touched upon this aspect as we have concentrated on Mann. We may need more time now," said another member. At the meeting today, several members were "cut up" as Mann's response was considered as "contradictory and confusing". Members pointed out to him that while he wants the panel to be wound up as he has not committed a breach, on the other hand, he wants its ambit to include the Prime Minister. While most members want the panel to recommend "stringent action", others want him to have his final say on Wednesday before taking a final call. In the nearly 12-minute video, apparently shot on July 21, Mann gives a running commentary as his vehicle crosses security barricades and enters Parliament. "I'll today show you something you would not have seen earlier," he says. Mann then enters a room where questions to be taken up inside Parliament are being sorted and describes the process. Mann alleged the committee made him wait for 30 to 45 minutes before starting the questioning. He said panel member and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi asked him which countries did he visit recently. "Kirit Somaiya asked me to tender an unconditional apology and edit the response, dropping the reference to the Prime Minister and ISI." "I asked them what was the need for setting up a committee when I had already issued an unconditional apology. The committee's job is not to suggest to edit my response, but to accept it and take action," Mann said. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Pakistan on Thursday despite open threats from terror outfits like Jamaat-ud-Dawaah and Hizbul Mujahideen. Media reports quoting government sources also confirmed that Rajnath Singh will not hold any bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the SARC meet. "India not reconsidering Rajnath Singh's visit. The Home Minister is not heading for a bilateral event. He is heading there for multilateral event,'' Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said. While referring to the open warnings issued by JuD and Hizbul, Rijiju said, ''It is up to Pakistan to provide security to Rajnath Ji. This shows (threats by Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin) how terrorists operate openly in Pakistan." Rajnath Singh's Islamabad visit comes amid a heightened tension between the two nuclear power neighbours following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir last month. Wani's killing triggered a massive protest in the Valley and resulted in deaths of over 45 people. Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", JuD chief Hafiz Saeed had warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the Home Minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement. "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," the statement added. Jammu: India and China on Monday agreed to maintain peace on the border as ceremonial Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) on the occasion of People`s Liberation Army (PLA) Day were held on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir`s Ladakh region, an Indian Army official said. The meetings were held at Chinese BPM Hut in Moldo Garrison and at Ten Wen Den at Daulat Beg Oldie in Chushul sector. "The delegations at Moldo were led by Brigadier Navneet Kumar from the Indian side and Senior Colonel Fan Jun from the Chinese side," Colonel SD Goswami, spokesman of Army`s Udhampur headquartered Northern Command told IANS here. At Ten Wen Den, the garrisons were led by Colonel BS Uppal from the Indian side and Colonel Song Zhou Li from the Chinese side. "The ceremonial border personnel meetings were marked by saluting the national flag of China by both the delegation members. "This was followed by the ceremonial address by the delegation leaders which comprised of exchange of greetings, wishes and vote of thanks and reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border. "Thereafter, a cultural programme showcasing vibrant Chinese culture and traditional grandeur was organised. "At both the locations, the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment, and parted amidst feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). "Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC," said Goswami. New Delhi: Firebrand BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has now jumped into the defence of Union Minister Manohar Parrikar who is under Opposition's line of fire for allegedly taking a jibe at Bollywood actor Aamir Khan in context of intolerance debate. Parrikar had recently taken a veiled jibe at Khan who had earlier expressed a "sense of alarm" over "growing intolerance in country." "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, but I have to love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it," Parrikar had said. A day after his remarks caused a flutter, Parrikar had on Sunday clarified that he did not target any specific person but is against overall 'unrest'. Parrikar also said that he was not opposed to the 'freedom of expression, but feels that country is supreme.' Coming out in his defence, Swamy tweeted this morning, ''Why so much hu ha about Parrikar's statement on Aamir? If Aamir is ignorant that to love janma bhoomi is unconditional then he needs a teacher.'' Why so much hu ha about Parrikar's statement on Amir? If Amir is ignorant that to love janma bhoomi is unconditional then he needs a teacher Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) August 1, 2016 Swamy's remarks came after Opposition parties hit out at Parrikar for raking up the issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also attacked Parrikar and RSS over his jibe at actor Aamir Khan for remarks on intolerance, telling them bluntly "hate is the preserve of the coward and it never wins". The opposition party accused BJP and RSS of a "concerted conspiracy" to hound Dalits, minorities, writers, actors and whoever dissents against the Narendra Modi government. "RSS & Parrikarji want to teach everyone a lesson. Here's a lesson for you: hate is the preserve of the coward and it never wins," the Congress vice president said on micro-blogging site Twitter. In November last year, the "PK" actor had joined the chorus of intelligentsia against growing intolerance, saying he has been "alarmed" by a number of incidences and his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should probably leave the country. New Delhi: From next year, admission to medical and dental courses across the country will be done through a single common entrance test, with Parliament on Monday approving two significant bills providing for putting NEET in place. The government said the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is designed to curb corruption by bringing in transparency, checking multiplicity of exams and to stop the exploitation of students in counselling. Under the new system, exams to private colleges will also be conducted under NEET, Health Minister JP Nadda said, responding to contention by some members that it will benefit private institutions. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, approved by the Lok Sabha earlier, were passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote. Most of the parties supported the government move to have NEET except AIADMK which opposed it and staged a walkout, arguing that it will affect rural students who do not study CBSE syllabus. Replying to a debate on these bills, Nadda said, "National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is intended to check multiplicity of exams...To bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop the exploitation of students during counselling." Earlier students would have to travel long distances to appear for several medical entrance examinations but the new legislation will bring this to an end, he said. Responding to apprehensions expressed by some members, particularly from Tamil Nadu where reservation is up to 85 percent, he clarified, "We are not going to touch the state quota...We will give the name, ranking, domicile and percentile...Now it is for the state governemnts to decide and give extra marks...And give admissions to reserved categories." Nadda said the exam will be held on the basis of the syllabus of NCERT and the under-graduate exam will be taken up by CBSE and post-graduation by the national board of examination. "In the syllabus, we bring parity. Concerns of the state governments will be addressed ...We will do standardisation of syllabus so that rural students can also be taken care of," he said. "Tests will also be conducted in regional languages," Nadda said, responding to apprehensions over the issue. He said the Health Ministry has written to all the states seeking details about the number of students who appeared in local languages in the last three years so that the Centre can make plans accordingly. The NEET is intended to be introduced from the academic year 2017-18. The Bills seek to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and the Dentists Act, 1948 and replace the Ordinances that were promulgated by the government to circumvent the Supreme Court order for implementation of NEET examination this session itself. Nadda, while replying to a host of issues raised by members, said when it comes to medical education, quality will not be compromised and quantity will be increased. The Health Minister also said efforts are being made to make the process transparent and a step in this direction is that names of the students will be declared, from among whom counselling will be done. The Centre, which will conduct the NEET exam, will provide a national list and a state list and it is for states to decide on priorities they want to assign to rural students etc, he said. With regard to fees of private colleges in a state, the decisions would be taken by a committee headed by a retired judge, he said. Two resolutions, disapproving the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 and another disapproving Demtist (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 moved by Congress member T Subbarami Reddy were negated. To a query by Jairam Ramesh (Congress), Nadda said, "I would like to assure Ramesh that this government is not going to succumb to any vested interest". Nadda said foolproof arrangements will be put in place under the proposed law and that the government will consult all parties. The move for NEET was initiated by previous government and the present dispensation and a Supreme Court order has asked the government to quash it, he said. "Government went in review and in April, the Supreme Court withdrew its order permitting to carry NEET but on May 9 one PIL was filed. On May 1, All India Preliminary Medical Test (AIPMT) was conducted," he said and added that AIPMT stood as NEET 1 while NEET 2 would be conducted on July 24 and results would be declared on August 17. All barring Tamil Nadu accepted that NEET will be implemented, he said and added this has been done for undergraduates for 2016-17. To a query about the urgency to promulgate Ordinance for the bills, Nadda said Parliament was not in session. He rejected the contention of some members that the step was initiated under MCI pressure, saying, "deliberations are being done. We are not under any pressure. We will do the right thing." New Delhi: Janata Dal (United) MP Ali Anwar, Monday, gave adjournment motion notice over the difficulty being faced Bihari workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Anwar also gave adjournment motion notice, under rule 267 in Rajya Sabha, over the killing of 11 labourers in Pune. Nine labourers were killed and four others injured when the slab of an under-construction 14-storied building collapsed in Pune last Friday. The situation in Saudi Arabia is also grim as nearly 10,000 Indian workers, who were laid off recently, were reportedly on the brink of starvation. After the issue came to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's notice, nearly 16,000 kilograms of food to them. New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh will on Tuesday visit Saudi Arabia to start the process of bringing back 10,000 Indian workers rendered jobless in the Gulf. Writing on Twitter, Singh on Monday night said that Indian citizens anywhere in the world are our priority. We will employ all resources 2ensure tht our countrymen in Saudi get adequate supplies. Our citizens anywhere in the world are our priority. Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) August 1, 2016 On Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha that she is personally monitoring the situation on hourly basis and that food is being provided to the Indians at five camps set up by the Indian mission there. The economic slowdown in the Gulf Cooperation Council region following the fall in global crude oil prices has affected over 10,000 Indians, mostly working in the construction sector with factories shut down and workers laid off. "The situation is a fluid and dynamic one," sources here said on Monday. "A total of approximately 10,000 Indian workers have been affected by the economic slowdown in the Gulf. The impact, however, varies from company to company," they said. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to sources, 3,172 Indian workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have not been paid their salaries for several months but were getting regular rations. Indian workers, numbering 2,450, belonging to Saudi Oger, a major Saudi construction company based in Jeddah, are housed in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. Sushma Swaraj instructed the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah to urgently provide food assistance to them. The consulate, along with Indian community members, provided 15,475 kg of foodstuff besides cooking ingredients and 1,850 readymade food packets to these workers on Saturday. (With IANS inputs) New Delhi: In what is likely to aggravate trouble for the controversial Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik, a report prepared by the security agencies has now claimed that he allegedly inspired as many as 55 terror accused, who were arrested from across the country over the past decade. The list was prepared by the security agencies on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs to explore whether any legal action can be initiated against controversial televangelist for spreading hatred among communities and supporting anti-national activities. Those mentioned in the report have been either influenced by or believed to have regularly watched Naiks speeches, said an Indian Express report. The list contains the names of those arrested for terror-related activities from as far back as 2005 to those made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) earlier this year. Most of those arrested by the NIA and other agencies are said to be affiliated to groups such as the SIMI, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Indian Mujahideen and the Islamic State (IS). The name of Feroze Deshmukh, a former Islamic Research Foundation employee who was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for his alleged role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, also features in the list. Several others named in the list are - Qateel Ahmed Siddiqui, an Indian Mujahideen member who was murdered inside Yerwada prison in Pune in June 2012, Biju Saleem, a former sub-inspector with the hi-tech cell of the Kerala Police and alleged SIMI sympathiser, alleged IS online recruiter Afsha Jabeen, who was arrested in September 2015 on deportation from the UAE, Mudabbir Sheikh, Mohammed Obaidullah Khan, Abu Anas and Mohammed Nafees Khan, who were arrested in raids across the country by the NIA in January for floating a local IS-affiliate named Junood-ul Khalifa-e-Hind, and alleged Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives Asadullah Ali and Rafique Islam arrested during the Burdwan blast probe. Meanwhile, security agencies are also closely following up the details of four criminal cases registered against Naik in the past, besides investigations into recent FIRs against the controversial Islamic scholar. Its an exhaustive exercise involving a large team, which is carefully poring over all of Naiks speeches, and looking at the activities at Naiks Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai, and the Mumbai and Chennai branches of the Islamic International School run by him. In addition, all past instances in which terror accused have claimed during interrogation that they were influenced by Naik, or would attend Naiks speeches or listen to them on the Internet, have been compiled. A list of 55 such accused has been drawn up, a source was quoted as saying in the report. Srinagar: One militant was killed on Monday as army foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir, in third such incident within a week. "An infiltration bid was foiled in Naugam sector this morning. One militant has been killed in the operation which was going on till reports last came in," an army official said. This is the third infiltration bid foiled in the Naugam sector in the past six days. Four militants were killed and one was apprehended in an anti-infiltration operation on July 26, followed by another operation on July 30, in which two militants and two soldiers were killed. Srinagar: Normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir for the 24th consecutive day today as curfew continued in some parts while restrictions were in effect in rest of the Valley to maintain law and order. Curfew remained in force in five police station areas of the city and Anantnag town. Restrictions on assembly of four or more persons continued in entire Kashmir, a police official said. "Curfew is in place only in five police station areas of Srinagar city -- Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal and Maharajgunj," he said. Normal life remained disrupted for the 24th consecutive day due to the strike call given by separatists against civilian deaths during the protests which erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8. Shops, schools, colleges, business establishments and private offices remained closed while public transport remained off the roads in the Valley which is reeling under the violence that has left 49 persons dead and over 5,600 persons injured. Mobile internet services continued to remain snapped in the entire Valley where the postpaid mobile telephony services have been restored across all networks. The incoming facility on prepaid connections was also restored, but the outgoing calls are barred on such numbers. The separatist camp has extended the shutdown call in Kashmir till August 5, calling for a march to Hazratbal shrine on Friday. Mysuru: A low intensity explosion rocked a court premises here on Monday causing panic among lawyers and litigants and leaving at least two persons injured. The explosion with "bomb blast-like" sound occurred in the toilet located behind the court building, eyewitnesses said. Windowpanes were shattered due to the intensity of the explosion, police said, adding the two persons received minor injuries. Senior police officials who rushed to the court cordoned off the area and pressed dog and bomb detection squads into service. They said the cause of the blast is being investigated. State Home Minister G Parameshwara, who was here today to pay last respects to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Rakesh who died in Belgium on Sunday, visited the spot with DGP Omprakash. "I have seen the place, it has happened in the toilet. Due to the impact, wall and doors have been damaged. No injuries have happened, samples are being collected. FSL (Forensics Sciences Lab) team is here and are collecting samples. After that investigation will happen," he said. Asked if there were any similarities to earlier explosions or any kind of suspicion, he said, "Nothing can be said now itself; let the investigation happen and let them find out about the materials used and the purpose." The Minister said though it was a low intensity blast, its impact was big because walls, doors and windowpanes have been damaged. To a question about any intentions behind the blast as a large number of people and prominent personalities were in Mysuru to pay last respects to Rakesh Siddaramaiah, he said "I can't say anything; I don't want to speculate." He said police would be taking all required preventive and security measures. Mumbai: Days after social activist Anna Hazare demanded liquor prohibition in Maharashtra, the state government ruled out a blanket ban but said it may adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern of disallowing sale of country liquor. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who had followed up the issue of banning alcohol in his home district Chandrapur, said liquor sale generates around Rs 13,000 crore revenue and the government is not considering banning it in any other part of the state. "If there is specific demand for liquor prohibition from a certain district, we will consider it. However, we are not considering a complete prohibition as of now," he said. Mungantiwar said aspects like Excise revenue, economics of the sugar industry, health issues involved with alcohol consumption and pressure from the NGOs and activists like Hazare need to be considered before taking any decision over the issue. "We get a revenue of around Rs 13,000 crore every year from sale of alcohol. Officials say that if we adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern and ban country liquor we may increase revenue," he said. Tamil Nadu has banned country liquor and replaced it with a cheaper version of foreign liquor branded by the state. All liquor shops are owned by the government which generates a total revenue of around Rs 23,000 crore, the minister said. Hazare had recently met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and submitted a letter demanding liquor prohibition in Maharashtra. He blamed alcoholism as one of the major causes for the brutal rape of a minor in Kopardi, Ahmednagar. NCP MLC Prakash Gajbhiye too had demanded prohibition of countrymade and foreign liquor in the state. "If Bihar could decide on banning alcohol thereby suffering Rs 3,000 crore loss, why can't a progressive state like Maharashtra do it as well. Maharashtra ranks 3rd in number of crimes in the country and it is due to alcoholism," he had said. Mumbai: In an attempt to end the controversy over his government's stand on the formation of a separate Vidarbha state, Maharashta Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Monday, said that the state government is considering no such proposal. Speaking in the state assembly, Fadnavis said, "There's no such proposal (for a separate Vidarbha state). Carving out small states is a subject handled by the Centre." The CM's statement came amid noisy protests by the Opposition, within and outside the Lower House, over the issue. BJPs ally Shiv Sena, which is vehemently opposed to any such move, also joined in condemning the proponents of a separate Vidarbha. Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar asked Fadnavis to clarify stand on creation of a separate Vidarbha state. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil alleged theres fixing between Sena and BJP over Vidarbha. The Assembly was adjourned for the day after noisy scenes by Opposition legislators over the separate Vidarbha issue, which had disrupted the House proceedings on Friday too. Shiv Sena MLAs held a protest outside the Assembly building, opposing demand for separate Vidarbha state. "Maharashtra should remain united," shouted the Sena legislators on the stairs of the main entrance of Vidhan Bhawan. They displayed a banner depicting BJP MP Nana Patole as "shekhchilli" (a comic character). Patole had last week moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha, seeking formation of a Vidarbha state. Vikhe Patil said Maharashtra was formed after the sacrifice of 105 martyrs in Samyukt Maharashtra movement. "BJP has insulted people of Maharashtra by making and backing demand for separate Vidarbha," the Congress leader said. Washington: In a bid to save the Earth from future catastrophic events, NASA is launching a probe to study a near-Earth asteroid that could crash into the planet late in the next century. The asteroid, named Bennu, can indeed strike us and and cause massive destruction after being dislodged by a gravitational pull, although experts say it has a one in 2,700 chances of hitting the Earth. Bennu, which crosses Earths orbit once every six years and has gotten ever closer since it was discovered in 1999, is set to pass between the moon and our planet in 2135. The OSIRIS-REx Mission, headed by NASA and the University of Arizona, plan to launch an unmanned spacecraft on September 8 in the efforts to reach Bennu in August 2018. OSIRIS-REx will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas V 411 rocket during a 34-day launch period starting September 8. According to Dante Lauretta, professor of planetary science at University of Arizona and the principal investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission, "don't run out and buy asteroid insurance" yet. OSIRIS-REx will orbit the Sun for a year and then use Earth's gravitational field to assist it on its way to Bennu. And, in August 2018, OSIRIS-REx's approach to Bennu will begin. It will use an array of small rocket thrusters to match the velocity of Bennu and rendezvous with the asteroid. The spacecraft will begin a detailed survey of Bennu two months after slowing to encounter Bennu. "The process will last over a year, and, as part of it, OSIRIS-REx will map potential sample sites," said information available on asteroidmission.org. After the selection of the final site, the spacecraft will briefly touch the surface of Bennu to retrieve a sample. The sampling arm will make contact with the surface of Bennu for about five seconds, during which it will release a burst of nitrogen gas. The procedure will cause rocks and surface material to be stirred up and captured in the sampler head. "In March 2021, the window for departure from the asteroid will open and OSIRIS-REx will begin its return journey to Earth, arriving two and a half years later in September 2023," the website said. The sample return capsule will separate from the spacecraft and enter the Earth's atmosphere. For two years after the sample return, the science team will catalogue the sample and conduct the analysis needed to meet the mission science goals. NASA will preserve at least 75 per cent of the sample at NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston for further research by scientists worldwide, including future generations of scientists. Bennu - measuring about 500 meters across - travels around the sun at an average speed of 63,000mph is identified as a potential Earth impactor and its impact would be similar to setting off 3 billion tonnes of explosives, say scientists. It is listed on the Sentry Risk Table with the third highest rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale. (With IANS inputs) Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution that the Madras High Court be renamed as Tamil Nadu High Court and not as High Court of Chennai as proposed by the Centre, with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa knocking on the Modi government's doors with the proposal. Jayalalithaa moved the resolution in the AIADMK dominated state Assembly which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, and others, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. Within hours of the Assembly adopting the resolution, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating, "based on overwhelming public opinion in Tamil Nadu, the proposed change of name (of the High Court) was debated in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly." "After a detailed discussion, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution (today), to call upon the Government of India to move necessary amendments to the Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha so as to rename the High Court of Madras as the High Court of Tamil Nadu," she said in the letter. The Chief Minister recalled that the Centre had introduced 'The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in Lok Sabha last month to rename the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Jayalalithaa also appended a text of the resolution to Modi and sought "Government of India to take immediate action" on the basis of it. The English version of the resolution (which was tabled in Tamil in the Assembly) said the House had in 1967 passed a resolution seeking to rename the then Madras state as Tamil Nadu, which was duly done by way of a Central law in 1968. Madras City was renamed as Chennai in 1996 by an Act and accordingly, Chennai denotes only the city of Chennai, the resolution read. "As the High Court, presently known as the High Court of Madras, has a bench functioning at Madurai, it would not be appropriate to name the High Court which has jurisdiction over the whole of Tamil Nadu as the High Court of Chennai; and hence it is befitting that the High Court which is presently called the High Court of Madras be renamed as the High Court of Tamil Nadu," it said. "This House calls upon the Government of India to move necessary amendments to the Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha so as to change the name of the High Court of Madras as the High Court of Tamil Nadu instead of High Court of Chennai," it said. Hathras: In a big embarrassment for the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, a bus carrying passengers was looted by armed robbers on National Highway-91 within 48 hours of the brutal gang-rape of a young woman and her daughter by a group of criminals near Bulandshahr bypass. According to reports, there were more than 25 passengers in the bus when it was attacked by the armed robbers while it was on its way to Etah on Sunday. The robbers boarded the bus from Aligarh as passengers and were equipped with sharp weapons. They robbed the passengers near Pulrai village, Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Ajay Pal said. The incident happened near Sikandra Rau Police Station around 10.30 pm near Pulari Village. The crime spot is hardly 2 kms away from the police outpost. After looting the passengers, robbers fled from the scene of the crime. The police, however, took around 10 to 11 minutes to reach the spot and later took five suspects in custody. It is being speculated that accused involved in the robbery are locals and were carrying illegal fire arms. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhlesh Yadav had on Sunday ordered a very strict highway patrolling after the Bulandshahr gang-rape case. Noida: The Noida-based girl, who was gang-raped near Bulandshahr, was trained in martial arts and confronted the accused courageously early Saturday morning, said a report on Monday. Last week, around six bandits waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged a woman and her daughter, including the 13-year-old girl, to a nearby field and raped them while tying up the men accompanying them with ropes and robbed them at gunpoint. Navbharat Times has quoted the father of the 13-year-old victim as saying that his daughter was well trained in martial arts and gave a good fight to the accused for nearly half-an-hour. When the accused failed to control the girl, the men threatened to shoot her father and brother. In a bid to ensure her loved one's safety, the girl gave in. The issue has created a furore across the country and exposed the deteriorating law and order in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, the UP Police has claimed to arrest three accused and said that they were identified by the victims. New Delhi: The National Commission of Women on Monday summoned a doctor who conducted medical examination of the 13-year-old victim in the Bulandshahr gangrape case for allegedly ill-treating her and asking 'awkward' questions. The NCW also slammed the police for not including sections of POCSO Act in the FIR. NCW Chairperson Kumarmangalam said that the family had told the NCW team, which met the victims in Bulandshahr, that when the girl was taken for a medical examination, 'she was abused by the doctor, who asked her a number of awkward questions and berated her'. The FIR in the case did not have sections of POCSO act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer, she said. Despite being pointed out, the police is yet to include sections of POCSO act in the FIR, she said. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh told reporters POCSO Act has not yet been added in the FIR. Kumarmangalam said the NCW members were counselling the victims, as they were traumatised and had not been offered any such assistance by the UP Police. Both the minor girl and her mother are severely traumatised. The police has not offered them any counselling, either clinical or psychiatric. The gangrape occurred when the victims car was stopped on NH 91 by a group of dacoits when they were on their way to Shahjahanpur on Friday night. The women were dragged to a nearby field and gangraped while the family was robbed at gunpoint. Lucknow: Despite efforts to make police more sensitive, the cops in Samajawadi Party-run Uttar Pradesh continue to harass common man and ignore his problems. In a shocking incident, which was caught on camera, the Section House Officer (SHO) of Mohanlalganj Police Station in Uttar Pradesh humiliated a man who had came to get his complaint registered and instead forced him give a leg massage. After the shocking video of the incident went viral, SHO Ram Yagya Yadav was suspended. According to reports, the incident took place on Friday when a man went to the police station for some help and wanted to lodge a complaint over some personal issue, which is not yet clear. Instead of helping the man, the SHO humiliated and asked him to massage his feet. The man who was taken aback by the SHO's strange diktat was forced give him a foot massage. In the video, the SHO is seen talking to someone over cell phone in his official uniform while sitting on a chair while he is being given a foot massage by the victim. The matter was taken to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Lucknow, Manzil Saini, who also ordered a departmental inquiry against the SHO before suspending hm. Here is the video of the shocking incident. Noida: The traumatised family of a woman and her 13-year-old daughter, who were gang-raped on the Delhi-Kanpur highway early Saturday morning, on Monday urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to hand over the accused to them. The incident which took place near Bulandshahr has shocked the nation. Talking to Aaj Tak, the husband of the victim said her wife and daughter should be permitted to kill the accused. I appeal to the government and the judiciary to hand over the accused to us, and permit my daughter and wife to shoot them in public, else we all would consume poison and die, said the man. Meanwhile, Navbharat Times has quoted the 13-year-old victim's uncle as saying that an example needs to be set in this case so that such heinous incidents are not repeated. If your mother and daughter are beaten up and gang-raped, then its trauma can be understood only by the family, he said. The UP Police has claimed to arrest three accused and said that they were identified by the victims. Muzaffarnagar: Two kawad pilgrims were electrocuted and three severely injured after a high tension wire fell on their tractor trolly in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. The incident occured while they were returning from Haridwar to offer sacred Ganga water at Shiva temple on Sunday. Deepak (35) and Rinu (22) died on the spot while the injured were admitted to a local hospital. In an another incident, a 35-year-old farmer was electrocuted after he came in contact with a live wire in a field. Lucknow: Opposition parties on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the gang rape of a Noida-based mother and daughter near Bulandshahr and also asked him to own up moral responsibility of the heinous crime. Former Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati demanded a "personal explanation" from Akhilesh Yadav on whether "he would be able to return to lost honour of the victims". Around six armed men stopped the family car on the Delhi-Kanpur highway early Saturday morning, according to the FIR registered later on Saturday. The armed men dragged the members to nearby fields and proceeded to rape the teenager and her 35-year-old mother. The other members of the family were tied up, the FIR added. "There is complete lawlessness in the state for the last four years and the chief minister has not only failed to spruce up the law enforcement machinery but has also failed to protect the women in the state," she said. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Raj Babbar said the Bulandshahr incident was yet another blot on UP and sadly showed that there was `jungleraaj` in the state, be it illegal mining, sale and manufacture of illicit liquor, land grabbing, dacoity, rapes. "It is complete chaos under the watch of the chief minister," he said. District president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Bulandshahr Rajiv Chowdhary said the crime was so heinous that Akhilesh Yadav should go beyond suspension of a few officials here and there and should rather quit himself. Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said by merely talking of expressways and better highways, the chief minister was fooling the people and himself too as they were of no use when people travelling on them were unsafe. "It is yet another sad day in UP. What is more worrying is the fact that neither the women helpline nor the 100 number of the police responded when the victims were calling them in distress" the BJP leader said. National Womens Commission has also trashed the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state and a member said that in "Akhilesh rule, the compensation of a lost honour was Rs 1 lakh". The panel, which sent a fact finding team to Bulandshahr on Sunday also questioned the lethargy of the police in reacting to the crime. A member of NWC said that the police was non-cooperative and did not allow them to speak to the victims. Meanwhile, UP police have claimed to arrest three accused and said that they were identified by the victims. A 300-member task forced was set up on Sunday to arrest the attackers. e chief minister has also suspended the Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishan, SP (City) Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer Himanshu Gaurav, SHO Ramsen Singh and four other officials for dereliction of duty. Varanasi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple after leading a roadshow organised by the party here on Tuesday. The party's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election, Sheila Dikshit, said this at a press conference here today, adding that UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pramod Tiwari, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Zafar Ali, Sanjay Singh, Rana Goswami, Rajesh Mishra, Ajay Rai, Rajeshpati Tripathi etc. will take part in it. The roadshow will begin from Kachahari at 12 noon after party leaders garland the statue of BR Ambedkar and will cover a distance of around eight kilometers in three hours. It will conclude at Englishiyaline where Sonia is expected to deliver a short speech and garland the statue of former Union Minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Kamlapati Tripathi. Maintaining that the roadshow is a part of the party's '27 saal, UP Behaal' campaign, Dikshit launched an attack on the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state for the recent Bulandshahr gang-rape incident. "Law and order in the state under the SP has worsened and the recent incident of Bulandshahr was highly condemnable," she said, adding that the Congress wants to rid the state of "SP, BSP and BJP misrule of the last 27 years" and put it on the path towards development. Replying to a query, Dikshit, who claimed herself to be a "UP wallah", said her age was not an issue till the time she had the "will to work in public interest". "I became the Delhi Chief Minister at the age of 60. Even then, people used to talk about my age but I served for almost 15 years." "I will be fortunate to get a chance to serve my own state, Uttar Pradesh. I will put in my best efforts for its betterment. I am 78 but my age is not an issue till the time I am willing to work," she said. Dikshit claimed the development of Uttar Pradesh was visible 27 years ago when the Congress was in power in the state but subsequent governments led by the SP, BSP and BJP "misruled by playing out religion and caste-based politics". Lamenting the lack of job opportunities for the youth in the state, she claimed that her party would change the scenario by setting up industries if voted to power. Newly-appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Babbar claimed the party was confident of forming the government in the state in 2017. Defending Dikshit's selection as the party's chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, he attacked the BJP saying, "The Congress gives respect to its elder members, unlike another party that sidelines them." Moscow: A 12-year-old boy has died in an anthrax outbreak in remote far northern Russia while dozens have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection, the region`s governor said Monday. The Yamalo-Nenetsky region, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) northeast of Moscow, has been under quarantine for a week after the deadly bacterium infected at least nine nomadic reindeer herders and their animals. "I`ve been told of the death of a boy in our hospital. I have no words to express my feelings," Governor Dmitry Kobylkin said. It was the first outbreak of anthrax since 1941 in the sparsely populated region, which authorities blamed on a heatwave that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer corpse. "The infection showed its cunning. Returning after 75 years, it took away a child`s life," said Kobylkin. A total of 72 people, 41 of them children, have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection in the main city of Salekhard. So far nine have tested positive for anthrax, including the boy who died, the regional authorities said Monday. More than 2,300 reindeer have been killed in the outbreak in the region where more than 250,000 of the animals roam, the authorities said. The authorities said they were carrying out vaccinations of people and reindeer and giving those who visited the quarantine area antibacterial medicines. The infection was identified on June 25 after numerous deaths among reindeer, the sanitary medicine service for the region said Monday. Russia`s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova visited the region last week, saying the site of the infection had been "isolated" and the region had enough vaccines and antibiotics. Popova said that there had been no cases of anthrax in the region among people or animals since 1941 and it had been considered formally free of the infection since 1968. The regional authorities linked the outbreak to unusually hot weather, with more than a month of temperatures up to 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that melted the permafrost and activated the deadly spores. "The anthrax spores lay in wait in the permafrost for more than a century," said the agriculture watchdog agency. Anthrax does not spread directly from one infected human or animal to another, but is spread through spores. Humans can contract anthrax from handling diseased animals or eating infected meat. The potentially lethal bacterium exists naturally in the soil and commonly infects livestock which ingest or inhale its spores while grazing. Washington: A New York FBI employee pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Monday to acting as a Chinese agent in the US, officials said. Kun Shan Chun, 46, who is known as "Joey Chun", was charged with four counts of providing false statements about his contact with foreign nationals. In a complaint, the FBI alleged that Chun travelled to Europe and met with those foreign nationals without telling the agency, as he was required to do, NBC News reported. "Americans who act as unauthorised foreign agents commit a federal offence that betrays our nation and threatens our security," said Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "And when the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," Bharara added. In the complaint, the FBI said that it introduced Chun to an undercover agent in February 2015. He allegedly told the agent that he would send the US technology to a company in China and as per the complaint, "indicated that his Chinese associates deal with the Chinese government and probably have some government people". According to NBC News, Chun allegedly told the FBI that his access to sensitive US government information could be valuable and that China would be willing to pay for it. In return, the complaint said, Chun allegedly "expected a cut of any payment" for that information. Chun was not charged with actually passing along sensitive US information to the Chinese. The FBI said Chun had top secret security clearance since approximately 1998. Paris: An official at the Paris prosecutor's office says that a man has been detained and handed preliminary terrorism charges for posing in a photo with the Nice truck attacker. Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said the 36-year-old man was placed in custody today for "criminal terrorist association," after authorities found the photo of him with driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in front of the truck used to carry out the attack. Authorities suspect him of ties to Bouhlel, who drove the truck down a busy pedestrian walkway on Bastille Day before being shot dead by police. The man is the sixth person detained over the heinous attack that killed 84 people last month. France continues to be on high alert after the killing of an 85-year-old priest by two jihadi attackers last week. Marseille: A passenger ferry docked in the southern French port of Marseille was evacuated after an explosion was felt on board, with authorities investigating if it was caused by an old wartime bomb. France has been on high alert following the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice which killed 84 and the jihadist murder of a priest last week. All the passengers had already disembarked after their voyage from Corsica and the blast did not cause any damage to the ship or dock, officials said. "The Jean Nicoli of the shipping company Corsica Linea had completed its disembarking operations after coming from Porto Vecchio when what appears to be an underwater explosion shook the ship," the Marseille port authority said in a statement. "The ship's captain immediately implemented security procedures and suspended the operation of embarking passengers for the next destination of Porto Torres in Sardinia," it said. Marseille deputy prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni confirmed to AFP that the explosion "very fortunately was without any consequences, neither to property nor person". The port authority said only crew members were on board at the time and all were immediately evacuated. "I was in the cabin, and there was noise: 'boom'," and "It went 'boom' and we felt like something moving up and down," two maintenance workers said. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the explosion. The magistrate had initially said it appeared to be caused by an old explosive device on the seabed. Dives conducted during the afternoon however did not seem to support this hypothesis, according to a source familiar with the incident. "There was something, for sure, but what?" said the source. The prosecutor said today night: "It is still too early to say what it is or what it is not," while noting that they had not ruled out it being caused by an old bomb. Marseille police commissioner Laurent Nunez said "security measures" had been taken, including inspections of other quays, following the incident. After "removing any doubts" he allowed the ship to depart today night for Sardinia, its original destination. Libreville: Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba has warned of possible unrest during the August 27 election which he said was the "strategy" of the opposition challenging his eligibility to seek a second seven-year term. "It is to be feared, because it is the opposition's strategy for many years," Bongo said in an interview with the weekly "Jeune Afrique" published yesterday which asked him if he feared "abuses and even violence" after the vote. The opposition "has started to heat things up by announcing that the election will not be transparent, that we will steal victory," the president said. Bongo described as "nonsense" the arguments of critics who have opposed his re-election on the grounds that he was a Nigerian who was adopted in the 1960s by his father, long-ruling former president Ali Bongo, and was therefore ineligible as a foreigner under the constitution. "If they come to this kind of argument - challenging my eligibility, my birth and other nonsense - this proves that they recognise that my record is good (...) They fear an honest campaign, programme against programme, and obviously prefer slander," he said. Gabon's constitutional court last week rejected appeals lodged by three opponents against his candidacy. The representative of the EU election observation mission on Thursday called on politicians to "do everything" to "avoid any violence or any form of provocation" with tensions high ahead of the presidential polls. As the elections approach, the security forces have had a greater presence in the capital Libreville, with road checkpoints at night. Assessing his seven-year term, the president regretted "not having maintained the pace of reforms", particularly to diversify the economy of the oil-producing west African country. "I was talking one day with President Obama on the difficulty of reform, the pitfalls ... He replied: "In that situation, the best advice I can give you is to speed up, step on the gas", this is what we will do." Bongo was elected for a first term in a disputed 2009 vote following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had steered Gabon from 1967 and was described by critics as a corrupt despot. This rule saw the country tap its new found oil wealth that led to a per capita income four times that of most sub-Saharan African nations. However most of it has not trickled down to ordinary people. Critics accuse the Bongo family of usurping the country's riches and stifling democracy. Austin: A gunman killed a woman and seriously wounded three others in Austin early on Sunday when he shot into a crowd leaving nightclubs in the Texas capital`s downtown area, police said. The gunman opened fire at about 2:15 am local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. Police in a statement late on Sunday said they were seeking to find a 24-year-old man named Endicott McCray on a felony arrest warrant in connection with the shooting. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. "It was a very chaotic scene," Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The gunman killed a woman in her 20s and wounded three other women, who were transported to a local hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Mike Benavides told reporters. The shooting in the Texas state capital follows several recent major acts of gun violence in the United States. On June 12, a gunman who sympathized with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. On July 7, a US military veteran shot and killed five police officers in Dallas in the deadliest day for US law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Just over a week later another gunman killed three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The attackers in all three incidents were killed by police. Austin, whose downtown area is known for its lively music scene, has a population of more than 900,000. Washington: An Indian company is among 12 global innovators who will receive millions in funding from the US and its partners for their promising ideas to save lives at birth in developing countries. Bempu Health Private Limited has been recognised for developing the APNEBOOT, a boot-shaped foot monitor that alerts healthcare providers while stimulating the baby to prevent potential health ramifications during an apnea event, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said. Preterm babies often suffer from apneas, temporary cessation of breathing. In low-resource settings where nurses are few, these apneas can often go unnoticed or detected late, which could lead to irreversible injury to the newborn. After fierce competition, 12 of the world's most promising ideas to save lives at birth in developing countries have edged out nearly 650 other applicants, securing millions in new funding to develop and refine their innovations, it said. The 12 global innovators would receive USD 3.4 million in funding from Saving Lives at Birth which is aimed to accelerate innovations that prevent maternal, newborn deaths and stillbirth in the hardest to reach regions of the world. The announcement was made last week at the sixth annual DevelopmentXChange here, an event that has served as the premier launching pad for global entrepreneurs to develop transformational solutions for maternal and newborn survival, and prevention of stillbirth, with the goal of making them accessible to the poorest, most remote communities in the world. Some other awardees included Yale University for validating PremieBreathe, a low-cost breathing aid for infants suffering from respiratory distress, Monash University from Australia for facilitating rapid adoption of inhaled oxytocin by providing an evidence base and strategy for effective and efficient implementation. Save the Children Federation from the US received the award for validating a point-of-care device that measures and interprets key vital signs among young infants and children to improve the quality of pneumonia case management and serious bacterial infections at community and health facility levels. The Saving Lives at Birth partnership, launched in 2011, includes the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), the U.K's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). It is a global call for groundbreaking, scalable solutions to end infant and maternal mortality around the time of birth. London: A paranoid schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a commuter in a London Underground station in an Islamic State-inspired attack was sentenced to life behind bars on Monday. Somali-born Muhaydin Mire, 30, said during the rampage that he was doing it "for my Syrian brothers", while a bystander shouted at him "You ain`t no Muslim, bruv" -- a phrase that went viral online. Mire attacked random stranger Lyle Zimmerman with a rusty knife as the 56-year-old musician walked through Leytonstone Tube station in east London on December 5. Zimmerman suffered serious injuries but recovered well after the attack. Last month a jury convicted Mire of attempted murder. He was sent Monday to begin his sentence at the top-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he was already being detained for treatment. Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before he can possibly be considered eligible for release. At the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London, judge Nicholas Hilliard said he accepted that Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack. But he said he was also in no doubt that Mire was motivated by the conflict in Syria. "Because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here," said Hilliard, the recorder of London.Hilliard said he was sure that the "extremely serious violence" was intended "to intimidate at least a section of the public" in order to advance a "religious and extremist cause... namely Islamic extremism". "This was an attempt to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact," he said. Hilliard said had the knife blade not broken from the handle, "it is hard to see that Mr Zimmerman would have survived the attack". Mire forced Zimmerman to the ground and repeatedly kicked his head before trying to cut his throat. He also lashed out at other passers-by before police shot him with electric stun guns. Mire pleaded guilty to attempting to wound four other Tube passengers. He was sentenced to two years` imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently with his life sentence. Mire`s mobile phone contained a graph showing US and coalition air strikes on the Islamic State jihadist group and images of IS hostages before they were executed by having their throats cut. The out-of-work minicab driver also had images of Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was murdered by Islamic extremists in a beheading attempt in southeast London.Mire has battled mental illness for years and suffered his first psychotic episode in 2006, the court heard. A month before the Leytonstone station attack, doctors referred him to the mental health services, saying he had paranoid delusions that he was being followed by the security services. His family were due to send him back to Somalia the day after the attack. Mire, wearing a white T-shirt and a blue tracksuit top, showed no emotion throughout the sentencing. "London is a safer place with Mire behind bars," said Commander Dean Haydon, of the police Counter Terrorism Command. "Whilst Mire was not accused of terrorist offences it would appear from comments he made at the time of the attack and the content he had downloaded on his phone that he may have been inspired by terrorist propaganda." He said police were working tirelessly at "stopping people getting drawn into terrorism and violent extremism in all forms as well as prosecuting, disrupting and deterring extremists". Rome: The Italian coastguard said the bodies of five migrants were recovered from the Mediterranean, while more than 6,500 people had been rescued off Libya since Thursday. In one operation by the Italian navy vessel Vega, "five migrants were picked up out of the sea, three people were resuscitated and two were already dead," the coastguard said on its Twitter account yesterday. The German aid group Jugend Rettet added that its ship Iuventa had taken part in the same operation to save 130 people packed onto a rubber dinghy that was taking on water, and had also recovered two bodies. A fifth body was found aboard a fishing boat from which some 470 migrants were rescued by the Italian navy and the Malta-based aid group MOAS. Yesterday's rescue missions off the Libyan coast brought 1,100 migrants and refugees to safety overall, bringing the total to 6,530 since Thursday, said the Italian coastguard which coordinates the operations. According to the latest figures from the UN's refugee agency earlier this week, more than 89,000 people, most from sub-Saharan Africa, have arrived in Italy by sea since the start of the year in search of a better life in Europe. The tally is comparable to the total of 93,000 recorded for the January-July period last year. More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing, an increase of more than 50 percent compared to the same period in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Rio: Lego, the worlds biggest toymaker, has developed a large model of Rio de Janeiro city to celebrate the host of the 2016 Olympic Games, set to open in a few days. The model is the largest ever made for Latin America by the group and took 50 Lego builders some 2,500 hours altogether to create over one year, according to Lego master model builder Paul Chrzan. "Three different countries were involved in creating all of the icons that are seen here, Chrzan said, gesturing to the structure. "We did create 25 different icons of Rio - they are all visible here," he added. The miniature city features the Olympic rings, stadiums and iconic sites in Rio, all made from just under one million colourful plastic bricks. "The really crazy thing about this is there are 10 different scales going on. If we did it in one scale the stadium would be that big," Chrzan said, using his hand to indicate the stadium would be very small. "So, it`s everything that we could fit into the city, in a 5 meter by 6 meter (yard) space." The structure is composed of roughly 953,000 pieces of Lego, according to Chrzan. Lego, in partnership with the Danish government, created the model as a legacy gift to Rio de Janeiro. Male: The Maldives brushed off warnings from Western governments on Monday that a new defamation bill risked undermining basic freedoms on the troubled honeymoon islands, accusing its critics of hypocrisy. After a joint statement from Western missions urging President Abdulla Yameen`s administration to "return to the path of democracy", the government countered that the same countries had their own legislation which limited freedom of expression. "The Joint Statement seeks to advance a notion of freedom of expression that is in fact restricted in four out of the five countries which are signatories to the statement," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "These countries have criminalised defamation and have enacted such statutes. Similarly, 23 out of the 28 member states of the EU also have criminalised defamation." The reaction came after the United States led calls on Yameen to withdraw the bill, saying it gave authorities the power to impose severe penalties on people seeking to exercise basic human rights. "The defamation bill that has been introduced in the Maldivian Parliament risks being, if passed, a serious setback for freedom of speech in the Maldives," said the statement issued by the US embassy. "It will allow severe penalties to be imposed on those who wish to exercise their democratic rights and freedoms, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." The missive was supported by the Sri Lanka-based diplomatic missions of Britain, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, and the European Union, which have responsibility for the Maldives. Australia too issued a similar statement. The Maldivian statement said the bill, if approved, would be referred to an all-party panel for further review before becoming law. "The government, as it has consistently reiterated, welcomes the opportunity to engage with its international partners," it said. "However, it does expect those partners to be constructive and responsible in their actions." Maldivian police arrested 16 journalists in April for protesting against the bill, which seeks to criminalise defamation and proposes heavy fines and jail terms for offenders. Independent media institutions fear it could be used to stifle freedom of speech on the islands, whose pristine seas and white sandy beaches are a popular draw for wealthy Western tourists. The Indian Ocean archipelago adopted multiparty democracy in 2008 after three decades of autocratic rule by Yameen`s half brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. But it has been gripped by turmoil since its first democratically-elected leader Mohamed Nasheed was toppled in 2012. Nasheed, whose jailing last year on terror charges has been widely criticised by the West, has since secured political asylum in Britain after travelling there for medical treatment while on prison leave. Aboard the Papal Plane: Pope Francis said there were "doubts" over the case being made against Vatican finance chief George Pell, Australia's most senior Roman Catholic, for alleged child abuse. "There are doubts. 'In dubio pro reo'," he yesterday said using a Latin expression meaning that a defendant may not be convicted by the court when doubts about his or her guilt remain. "We must avoid a media verdict, a verdict based on gossip," he told journalists aboard the papal plane during the return trip from Poland, where he had headlined a Catholic youth festival. Explosive allegations emerged against the Australian cardinal last week with two men now in their 40s saying Pell had groped them during the 1970s. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation which aired their claims also alleged Pell was naked in front of three young boys, believed to be aged eight to 10, in a Torquay surf club changing room in summer 1986-87. Pell, 75, has denied the allegations and suggested there was a conspiracy against him. The allegations come just months after Pell admitted he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in Victoria in the 1970s, while giving evidence to a national inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse. He was accused of historic sex abuse claims when he was the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney in 2002, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing. Pell was ordained in Rome in 1966 before returning to Australia in 1971 and rising to become the nation's top Catholic official. He left for the Vatican in 2014 after being hand-picked by Pope Francis to make the Church's finances more transparent, although his powers were reined in earlier this month. Aboard the papal plane: Pope Francis refused to equate Islam with violence on Sunday, saying Catholics could be just as deadly and warning Europe was pushing its young to terrorism. "I don`t think it is right to equate Islam with violence," he told journalists during his return from a trip to Poland. Francis defended his decision not to name Islam when condemning the brutal jihadist murder of a Catholic priest in France in the latest of a string of recent attacks in Europe claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. "In almost every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. We have them too." "If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother in law, and these are baptised Catholics." The pontiff was speaking after Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the murder of the priest, whose throat was slit at the altar of his church. In an echo of remarks made during his five-day trip to Poland for a Catholic youth festival, Francis said religion was not the driving force behind the violence. "You can kill with the tongue as well as the knife," he said, in an apparent reference to a rise in populist parties fuelling racism and xenophobia. He said Europe should look closer to home, saying "terrorism... grows where the God of money is put first" and "where there are no other options". "How many of our European young have we left empty of ideals, with no work, so they turn to drugs, to alcohol, and sign up with fundamentalist groups?" he asked. Kabul: A powerful Taliban truck bomb struck a guesthouse housing foreigners in Kabul early Monday, officials said, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the bombing, which was felt across the city. "A truck packed with explosives struck the entrance of Northgate guesthouse," a security source told AFP, without offering any further details. Northgate, close to the US-run Bagram air base north of Kabul, houses foreign contractors and is a heavily guarded compound with blast walls and watchtowers. The guesthouse, which was cordoned off by security officials, was not immediately reachable by telephone. The Taliban said the truck bomb at a guest house belonging to "American invaders" paved the way for their fighters to enter the facility with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. The insurgents claimed that more than 100 people were killed and wounded in the attack. The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate battlefield claims. Tremors from the powerful explosion, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. The attack comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended earlier this month. The attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. That assault was claimed by the Islamic State group, which is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf. Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes have since ramped up an offensive against IS jihadists in their eastern stronghold of Nangarhar. The latest attack highlights growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which has resulted in large civilian casualties. The UN last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as the conflict escalates. Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded -- a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. Monday`s assault illustrates the report`s finding that suicide bombings and complex attacks are now hurting more civilians than roadside bombs. Beirut: Shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians in southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo over the last 24 hours, a monitor said. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, yesterday said those killed "included six children and eight women" in two government-controlled neighbourhoods of divided Aleppo. He said dozens of people were also wounded. The city's southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the regime's own access route into the rest of the northern province. Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods. It said nine people - among them three children - were killed on Monday and 11 people died in the attacks on Sunday. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that morphed into a brutal civil war. Beirut: Syrian rebel fighters launched on Sunday a major assault on government-held southwestern parts of Aleppo in the first major drive to regain ground after major losses last week when the army and its allies tightened its siege of opposition-held parts of the northern city. A rebel military command centre that includes the newly formed group Islamist Jabhat Fatah al Sham, the former al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front and Ahrar al Sham said they had taken over army positions in the southwestern government-held parts of the city in the first few hours of launching the battle to break the siege imposed on rebel-held areas. The Syrian army confirmed on state media that rebels had waged an offensive but said its fighters pushed back insurgents from an airforce artillery base and denied insurgents had captured the Hikma school. A quarter of a million civilians still live in Aleppo`s opposition-controlled eastern neighbourhoods, effectively under siege since the army aided by Iranian backed militias cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July. The army, backed by allied militia forces and air strikes from Syrian and Russian jets, had taken last week significant ground on the northern edge of the city, around the Castello road which leads out of Aleppo and north towards Turkey. The army and pro-government forced took full control of the Bani Zeid district, on the southern side of the Castello road and was amassing troops to make new inroads into the rebel-held areas. The U.K. Observatory for Human Rights said the assault was by far the biggest military campaign waged by the insurgents against government forces assisted by foreign mainly Iranian-backed militias in Aleppo since the escalation in fighting in recent months. The monitor which tracks violence across Syria said the airforce intensified their bombing of rebel positions in Hay al Rashdein, Bustan al Qasr and other quarters in the city. Jets also bombed rebel-held Khan Touman in the southern countryside of Aleppo. Aleppo, Syria`s biggest city before the outbreak of the conflict five years ago, has been divided between government forces and rebels since the summer of 2012. Seizing control would be the biggest victory for Syrian President Bashar al-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. 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. Gilgit: Anger is rising in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmiri (PoK) over both Pakistan and China exploiting their resources in a reckless manner for selfish economic gain. The residents are strongly opposing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it has failed to provide any tangible benefits to them. China is investing over 40 billion dollars for its ambitious 3,000-km-long economic corridor that will link western China to southern Pakistan through a network of roads, railway lines and pipelines. The project is being touted as bringing about a spectacular socio-economic change in the region, but alienated residents currently feel that both China and Pakistan are past masters in lies and deceit, as before firming up the project, all stakeholders were not consulted. "People want that at least they should be informed about the project, be taken into confidence so that they get to know what all benefits they will get from this project. We fear that this should not happen as if we sit idle and only count the number of trucks coming from China side and not benefit even a bit," said Abdul Rehman Bukhari. Pakistan, which suffers from a huge power crisis, draws its electricity mostly from Gilgit-Baltistan, but ironically none of the power projects have presence in the region - thus depriving Gilgit of potential royalties. Activists and locals have raised concerns that CPEC project will create a huge ecological imbalance. Locals are dejected as presence of Chinese workers in the region has left them without jobs. The CPEC is being seen as a sheer attempt to exploit the resource-rich region. "They are constructing 60 economic zones as per the CPEC project, but none of these zones exist in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmiri. The CPEC will pass through these areas, but they are only constructing an army headquarter in Diamer for the security of the corridor. But out of $40 million to be spent on the project, there is no investment in Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK," said Mohd Naeem Khan, leader of the Kashmir National Party. China has its economic interest in disputed Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK region. It is engaged in construction, ranging from dams and highways to ports. There is a growing resentment among locals over China's presence in the region. To fulfill the requirements of the project, the government and the army are forcibly acquiring the ancestral land of the locals in Gilgit-Baltistan. Senge H Sering, director, Gilgit-Baltistan National Congress, said, "When Pakistan Army was constructing Karakoram highway along with China, no compensation was given to affected people. No lose assessment was made. Now, the land acquirement for the CPEC project is being done forcibly. The ancestral land of the people cannot be acquired without paying them compensation and earning their consent. But, the Gilgit-Baltistan government and Pakistan Army are forcibly acquiring the ancestral land of the people." In an effort to provide legal cover to the multi-billion dollar Chinese investments, Pakistan is even considering elevating the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan. However, the local population is completely against it. Gilgit-Baltistan region was illegally acquired by Pakistan in 1947. Since then the beleaguered region has suffered badly as the administration has failed miserably to provide basic facilities to the local population. Moscow: A Russian military helicopter was shot down in Syria`s rebel-held Idlib province on Monday killing all five people on board, in the biggest officially acknowledged loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria. Images on social media purportedly taken at the scene of the crash showed a dead body stripped of clothing being dragged through the dirt near the wreckage. Russian identity documents purportedly taken from the helicopter could also be seen. Russia`s defence ministry said the Mi-8 military transport helicopter had been shot down after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo as it made its way back to Russia`s main air base in the western province of Latakia. "As far as we know from the information that has reached the defence ministry, those on board died, they died heroically," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. The helicopter came down near the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, roughly mid-way between Aleppo and the Russian air force base at Khmeimim, near the Mediterranean coast. U.S.-BACKED REBELS No group has claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter. Islamic State fighters are not active in the area, but there are other Islamist rebel groups there, as well as moderates backed by the United States and its allies. That raises the prospect -- which could cause a major diplomatic incident -- of the helicopter having been brought down by a U.S.-supplied weapon. The United States has equipped some rebel groups with TOW anti-tank missiles, which can also be used against helicopters. Russia`s military has since September last year been supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria`s five-year-old civil war. In Aleppo, around 40 km (25 miles) north-east of the crash site, rebel groups are under siege from government forces backed by Russian air support. Rebel groups are staging an offensive to try to break the siege. Moscow said last week it was opening humanitarian corridors for civilans to leave the rebel-held areas, and for fighters to give up their arms. However, rebel activists and aid groups have expressed scepticism, saying Russian aircraft are bombing the city and causing civilian casualties. U.S. officials have suggested the plan may be an attempt to depopulate the city so that the Syrian army can seize it. Russian denies targeting civilians. Despite persistent Western accusations that Moscow is abetting Assad in a brutal crackdown on his own people, Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented the Syrian operation as a success in the fight against Islamist terrorism. Seoul: Seoul prosecutors on Monday accused North Korea of hacking into the email accounts of dozens of South Korean government officials this year, the latest in the series of suspected cyber attacks by Pyongyang. Investigations showed a "suspected North Korea-operated group" attempted to hack into the emails of 90 people -- including officials at the foreign, defence and unification ministries -- from January to June, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said in a statement. "The passwords of 56 accounts were stolen," the statement said. The hackers set up 27 phishing sites in January posing as popular portals like Google and South Korea`s Naver, as well as government and university websites, to steal the passwords. The prosecutors said the malicious codes used in the latest attack were the same as the ones used by North Korea in previous attacks on the South. An investigation is still ongoing to see if any confidential information may have been leaked. The latest cyber attack comes just days after South Korean police said the North stole the personal data of over 10 million customers at South Korean online shopping mall Interpark. Interpark was unaware about the attack until July 11, when it was blackmailed with threats to publicise the leaked data unless the company paid three billion won (US$2.7 million). The National Police Agency said the North`s main spy agency -- the Reconnaissance General Bureau -- had organised the hack in a bid to earn hard currency. Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have been running high since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile tests. The provocations have put North Korea under the toughest sanctions yet from the United Nations as well as mounting individual sanctions by countries like the US, South Korea and Japan. Seoul has in recent years blamed the North's hackers for a series of cyber attacks on military institutions, banks, state agencies, TV broadcasters, media websites and a nuclear power plant. The North operates an army of more than 1,000 hackers who stage hacking or cyber attacks targeting Seoul`s major institutions or key officials, according to the South`s spy agency. Chicago: Texas has become the eighth US state to allow guns on campuses, a controversial decision that comes on the 50th anniversary of a deadly sniper rampage at a university. The law, which was passed last year, from yesterday requires public universities in Texas to permit concealed weapons in campus buildings, although schools can impose limits on where guns are allowed. At the University of Texas at Austin, where a mass shooting in 1966 claimed 14 lives, the institution's president Gregory Fenves said the emotionally charged issue would likely be little noticed on campus. "We have a very safe campus," Fenves said, "And I think that will continue." Texas joins seven other states which also allow concealed guns on university campuses, including Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Eighteen states specifically ban the practice. Critics of the law include three UT Austin professors who have sued, claiming their free speech rights would be violated, because students with guns would create a fearful atmosphere and stifle the open expression of ideas. In an opinion piece published last week in The Dallas Morning News, Seema Yasmin, who teaches at a public university in Dallas, echoed that theme. "I'm not scared of guns. I'm scared of this combination: term exam stress, undiagnosed mental illness and the ability to carry guns in university buildings," Yasmin wrote. Proponents argue that allowing concealed weapons on campuses makes students and teachers safer, because any potential shooting attacks can be halted more quickly by armed citizens. As the new law went into effect, UT Austin dedicated a new sculpture on its campus grounds for the victims of the 1966 massacre. The stone block sculpture is etched with the names of all 17 people killed by gunman Charles Whitman: the 14 killed on campus, his mother and wife whom he killed earlier in the day, and one more campus victim who would die of his wounds years later. Whitman, a former military sharpshooter, climbed the university's clock tower building and shot for more than 90 minutes before being killed. "This massacre... Occurred before terms like mass shooting," said Lloyd Doggett, a Texas congressman who 50 years ago was a student at UT Austin. "Now, such gun violence has become all too commonplace." Some of the shooting's survivors attended the ceremony, including Claire Wilson James, who lost her unborn child when she was wounded. Istanbul: Turkey has arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hotel during the night of the failed coup, the deputy prime minister said on Monday. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. "Eleven of them were captured in Ula," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a press conference after a cabinet meeting, referring to a town near Marmaris. He said one soldier was still at large. Erdogan earlier said his swift escape had saved him from being killed or taken hostage. An Interior Ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a "death squad" and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers. The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. "There was an exchange of fire during the operation," the official added. "Drones and helicopters were used to pinpoint the location." Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed. News Mesosphere Embraces Big Data for 'Container 2.0' Era Mesosphere today announced several partnerships with Big Data vendors to bring their wares to its open source DC/OS distributed operating system and advance the possibilities of container technology in the new era of "Container 2.0." Based on the Apache Mesos distributed systems kernel, Mesosphere's DC/OS is described by the company as the easiest way to run Big Data and related technologies, such as Apache Spark, Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, microservices and containers. It was open sourced by the company in April. Specifically, Mesosphere's description of DC/OS reads: "It enables the management of multiple machines as if they were a single computer. It automates resource management, schedules process placement, facilitates inter-process communication, and simplifies the installation and management of distributed services. Its included Web interface and available command-line interface (CLI) facilitate remote management and monitoring of the cluster and its services." Today, the company announced agreements with Confluent, DataStax and Lightbend, which are all bringing their Big Data technologies to the DC/OS platform. Mesosphere framed the agreements within the larger context of advancing what's possible in the world of container technology, heading toward its vision of "Container 2.0." "At its simplest, Container 2.0 is the ability to run (and orchestrate) both stateless and stateful services on the same set of resources," Mesosphere exec Florian Leibert said in a blog post today. "This is how modern applications should be built and operated if we want to use them to their full potential for curing diseases, solving business problems or delivering the next great consumer experience. If we can't finally -- and completely -- knock down the siloes between applications and infrastructure, then the core components of modern applications -- efficient code deployment on containers and powerful data processing and analytics -- will only be as good as the networks between them." [Click on image for larger view.] The Confluent/DataStax Partnerships (source: Mesosphere) That "powerful data processing and analytics" functionality is coming to DC/OS via the new partnerships. The high-throughput distributed messaging system, Kafka, comes from the Confluent Platform, used for streaming data. "Built for scale and reliability, it solves the very real problem of running of building and running real time data applications," said fellow Mesosphere exec Keith Chambers in his own blog post today. The large-scale distributed database, Cassandra, comes with DataStax Enterprise (DSE). Chambers said it "builds on Apache Cassandra to enable developers to build innovative real time Web, mobile and Internet of Things [IoT] applications with unprecedented performance, scale and availability." Developers can now install those two Big Data offerings on DC/OS with a single click in the DC/OS Universe package repository, said Chambers, who also noted the inclusion of Spark, the popular data processing framework that's shaking up the Hadoop ecosystem, with the Lightbend partnership. "Today, we also expanded our support partnership with Lightbend around its Reactive Platform and Apache Spark, the data-processing and analytics power of which are a major part of modern, data-driven enterprise applications," Chambers said. "In fact, Spark, Cassandra and Kafka are a common and powerful collection for real-time data pipelines. Commercial subscriptions for Confluent Platform, DataStax Enterprise and Lightbend Reactive Platform, as well as Enterprise DC/OS, are available from their respective companies." Along with the new Confluent, DataStax and Lightbend offerings available on DC/OS Universe, other technologies provided include Jenkins, Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), DataDog and many others. "The support of partners like these -- and the successes we've already had with them -- is proof that the world is heading toward Container 2.0, and that DC/OS is already there," Leibert said. "Innovative companies are well down the road toward modern containerized and data-driven applications, and now they're looking for the right software to brings those apps from the lab and into production. They know the power of Mesos, Cassandra, Kafka and Spark, and now they're taking it to the next level with Mesosphere, DataStax, Confluent and Lightbend." YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh says Azerbaijan made 35 ceasefire violations in Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. The Ministrys announcement reads: Overnight July 31-August 1 the Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime for 35 times by firing more than 200 shots from various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions in Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Defense Army forces refrained from taking counter measures and continued confidently fulfilling their military tasks. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The conditions for the detained gunmen in the Prisoners Hospital were significantly improved, Pavel Manukyans and his son Arams defender Inesa Petrosyan and Ashot Petrosyans and Hovhannes Harutyunyans lawyer Arayik Papikyan said to journalists. After numerous alarms and the urgent appeal to the ECHR, the detainees are provided with separate rooms, hospital beds, and starting from July 31 an hour duty has been set by the Erebouni medical centers doctors, Armenpress reports, Petrosyan said. The lawyer said Pavel Manukyan needs urgent surgeries. Pavel Manukyan continues the hunger-strike. The lawyer said he is going to appeal to the Court of Appeal for Pavel Manukyans and his son Arams precautionary measure. Lawyer Arayik Papikyan said Ashot Petrosyan and Hovhannes Harutyunyan may also undergo surgeries. Papikyan also assumed Arayik Khandoyans defense. Khandoyan has not been charged yet. The defender said investigative operations are expected to be conducted on August 1. The defender has managed to hold a separate private meeting with the defendant in the night of July 31. In the morning of July 17 gunmen stormed a Police HQ in Yerevan and took hostages demanding the release of Zhirayr Sefilyan, who was imprisoned a month ago, charged with illegal possession, transportation and acquirement of weapons and ammunition. Police Colonel Artur Vanoyan has been killed by the gunmen during the ambush. Colonel Aram Hovhannisyan, Lt. Colonel Hrach Khosteghyan, Corporal Gagik Mkrtchyan received gunshot wounds. The hostages were released within a week, but on July 27 the gunmen took hostage the paramedics who came to show medical assistance to the wounded in Police station. On July 30 a police officer Yuri Tepanosyan has been killed by sniper fire from the seized police precinct. On July 31 the gunmen laid down the weapons and surrendered. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Pope Francis on July 31 said he won't label Islam as "terrorist" because that would be unfair and not true, reports Fox News. Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him home after a pilgrimage to Poland, the day after extremists slit the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a French church, asked him why he never uses the world "Islam" to describe terrorism or other violence. While in Poland, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the "devastating wave" of terrorism in many part of the world. When asked why he didn't describe the priest's murder and other attacks as Islamic terrorism, Francis replied he won't do that because "it's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true." "I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group." "I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law," Francis said, in apparent reference to crime news in predominantly Catholic Italy. "And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence." "In Islam, not all are violent, not all the Catholics are violent. It's like a fruit salad, everything's in there. Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: "I know how they think, they are looking for peace." As for ISIS, he said, the Islamic State group "presents itself with a violent identity card, but that's not Islam." Francis spoke on the day when Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass to Sunday Mass in a show of interfaith solidarity following a string of extremist attacks threatening to sharpen religious divides across Europe. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Three gunmen, who have received gunshot wounds, were taken to Erebouni medical center from the Police precinct in the evening of July 31, Armenpress reports, the Healthcare Ministry informs. On July 31 a policeman with gunshot wounds has been transferred to Erebouni medical center. On July 29 as a result of the incident in Khorenatsi Street and Sari Tagh, 5 injured people were discharged from medical centers of Yerevan. At this moment, 17 people, from which 3 are policemen, and 2 are journalists, continue receiving treatment in hospitals. Overall, as a result of the July 17 events, 25 people are still in hospitals, 6 of which are policemen, 2 are journalists, and 3 are gunmen. 5 people receive treatment in intensive care unit, the Ministrys statement says. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The Human Rights Defenders representatives are conducting visits to the Detention centers of the Police to see Varujhan Avetisyan, Arayik Khandoyan, Artur Soghomonyan, Garnik Hovakimyan and other detainees, to get acquinated with the conditions of their detention, as well as to observe the provision of rights, Armenpress was informed by the Ombudsmans office. At this moment they are visiting the Prisoners Hospital to see Pavel Manukyan and other members of the group. The visit also aims to examine the conditions of their detention and the organization of the medical assistance. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, while on an official visit to Tbilisi, held a meeting with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze on August 1, press service of the Armenian MFA informed Armenpress. Mikheil Janelidze said the Armenian Foreign Ministers visit to Georgia is a significant event which enables to continue the dialogue over issues of mutual interest. Edward Nalbandian expressed gratitude for the invitation and the warm reception and said Armenia attaches importance to the development of relations with Georgia in all possible sectors. The sides discussed wide range of issues related to Armenia-Georgia bilateral agenda. They underscored the importance of rich legal framework including more than 80 agreements which gives an opportunity to develop the mutual cooperation in different sectors. The Minister said with satisfaction the mutual visits and the productive cooperation between the two states continue. Issues related to holding regular consultations between the MFAs of Armenia and Georgia, improving the legal framework, the cooperation in international structures, easing the transport facilitation, energy cooperation, cultural cooperation, contacts at decentralized level were discussed. At the meeting the sides exchanged views on the preservation of the cultural heritage. They also talked about the works of the inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. They highlighted the need of taking steps aimed at further developing the inter-parliamentary ties. Armenian and Georgian FMs also discussed international and regional urgent issues. Armenian FM presented Armenias and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs efforts aimed at moving forward the negotiation process for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. After the meeting the two Foreign Ministers delivered a joint press conference. Within the framework of the visit, Edward Nalbandian laid a wreath at the Heroes Square in Tbilisi. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. One of the most seriously wounded of the July 17 firefight and Police precinct ambush is the police officer who sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen. The Healthcare Ministry told ARMENPRESS the officer is under intensive care in the reanimation unit of Heratsi hospital. The officer sustained serious damage to the liver, intestines, diaphragm and lungs. His condition was very serious during past days. The condition of the officer deteriorated in the morning. The officer received a second surgery today. Doctors say his condition is serious. The officer is breathing via a respiratory device. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on August 1 the USD exchange rate was 476.38 AMD which is an increase of 0.25 drams compared to the previous day. Armenpress reports that the Euro increased by 3.23 drams forming 532.21 drams. British pound rose by 0.05 drams forming 627.49 drams, Russian ruble increased by 0.08 drams reaching to 7.19 drams on August 1. The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 306.93 AMD, gold-20,554.03 AMD, and platinum-17,506.15 AMD. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The Prosecutor General of Armenia has requested from the National Security Service on August 1 the criminal case on Article 219, paragraph 3, point 1 and Article 235, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code. At the instruction of the Prosecutor General the case was sent to the Special Investigations Service for a full, comprehensive and objective investigation. A joint task force of the NSS, Investigative Committee and the Special Investigations Service will be formed. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Unilateral compromises wont happen in the path of the Nagorno Karabakh issue settlement. This is ruled out. Nagorno Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan. It is excluded, President Serzh Sargsyan announced at a meeting with representatives of various segments of the society. I am talking about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and the so called surrender of lands. Perhaps there have been innumerable public announcement on our clear stance personally by me, the President said. Once again the President ruled out the possibility of a unilateral compromise. I have really dedicated my entire conscious life to this issue. And I have always been ready to sacrifice not only any position, but also my life for achieving an acceptable option for my people. This was like this yesterday, and this is how it is today: and it will be the same tomorrow. I will underscore by summing up, as a state, we got out of this challenge even stronger. And we are more intended today to move our agenda of positive changes forwards even more accelerated. And we will talk more detailed about this soon, the President said. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. We will not allow anyone to ruin the foundations of our state. Issues wont be solved in Armenia by weapons and violence, President Serzh Sargsyan announced at a meeting with representatives of the authorities, clergy and society. Yerevan isnt Beirut or Aleppo. Let no one attempt to import the solutions of the Cold War era of the previous century to Armenia from the Middle East. Let those who dont understand this study the history of Lebanons civil war or the consequences of the ongoing Syrian civil war and make conclusions. I am grateful to all those political figures who indeed displayed themselves as political-state figures and by understanding all of this, voiced about the unacceptable nature of the happenings from the very first day. They, unlike the short-sighted, very well understand where the limits of political competition ends and where the Security of the Motherland begins. Sharp situations often act as a litmus: by pointing out the mature for the public and history and separating the short-sighted and opportunistic, the President said. He thanked the eminent of our culture, public figures, the real intellectuals, who understood well that by publicly condemning the unacceptable, by conveying a sobering speech to the gunmen, they really contribute to the solution of the problem without blood, really point out the path of salvation for these people. Sadly, the ones who encouraged ungrounded, by clearly realizing that they contribute to the destruction of the gunmen, couldnt hold back their accumulated rage and profusely poured it in, only to create chaos, for perhaps the stirs to surface the dirt. This is disgusting. Thank God healthy reason dominates in our country. One clear truth dominated in Armenia, which, seemed like shouldnt have been subject of doubt in the first place. And this truth is in the area of values, our perception of the world, our kind, our heritage. Anyone can dislike the authorities, can dislike the government, dislike the President and can be against the ongoing policy, but disliking is not at all grounds for the one solving issues with weapons. Leaderships will come and go, the encouragement of terrorism will stay like cancer and spread, will annihilate everything created by our people. This should be feared, this should be eradicated. Ladies and gentleman, dear youth, encouraging terrorism is a deadly sin. For any reason, even the most grounded reason, stay away from this horror. Say no to terrorism and any manifestation of it, wherever it takes place. Say no for our country, our people, our generations and our Motherland. Say no to this cancer. Repulse it far away. Very far away, the President said. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenian authorities took all possible measures to avoid human losses, President Sargsyan announced at a meeting with representatives of the society, leadership and clergy. In this regard I first of all thank the representatives of law enforcement agencies for their work. Equanimity and generosity are indicators of self-consciousness of professionalism and strength. You fully displayed this. I am grateful for your literate work. I am grateful to those who gave the Hippocratic Oath, for their admirable behavior, I bow to their professionalism, for the courage of their spirit. I thank our General, hero of Nagorno Karabakh Vitaly Balasanyan, who became a symbol of reason these days, the President said. According to Serzh Sargsyan, the unacceptable situation ended, however the complete resolve is still up ahead. According to him, first of all a detailed investigation must be carried out, a thorough and impartial investigation, open trial. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions in the face of law and law only. The President underscored any other manifestations wont happen, any attempt of personal vengeance will be thwarted by the force of law. All proceedings in Armenia will take place exclusively in accordance to the Constitution and Laws. It is time to make conclusions. The complete analysis of these events will require a long time. However one thing is obvious: the process of fundamental changes in the political and public life in Armenia must be accelerated. First of all we have to eliminate the devastating mindset of solving issues through violence. We no longer have the right to tolerate even the tendency of solving issues through weapons, the next one can be devastating for our country. The previous two weeks, and our losses of that time are unacceptable: starting from human, social, value losses, to the huge blow which our economy suffered. Not a single country of the world has the right to afford such thing. Moreover Armenia didnt have this right. Henceforth we wont allow anyone to take our country hostage, the President added. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. At the end of the siege of police headquarters in Yerevan, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic today sought reassurance from the foreign minister of Armenia that journalists rights and safety during times of civil unrest would be protected. Mijatovic wrote to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian indicating that the Government should implement practical steps to ensure restraint on the part of law enforcement representatives toward members of the media and suggested steps should be taken by the authorities to guarantee that the press is not targeted by the police or thugs. The police should be protecting journalists and members of the media. In her letter, Mijatovic mentioned the names of reporters who were victims of the July 29 clashes. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Police spokesman Ashot Aharonyan has posted a footage on Facebook regarding the sniper who opened fire on July 30 from the seized police precinct. Several all wise experts of Photoshop speculate the authenticity of the published photo of the sniper. I am posting this footage especially for them, Aharonyan wrote. A sniper has killed Police officer Yuri Tepanosyan on July 30 from the seized police precinct. When Times-Union Editor Frank Denton sued the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund over breaking the law by meeting secretly to negotiate pension benefits, the fund and the city blew nearly half a million dollars fighting the case before finally losing. Then Curtis Lee, a retired lawyer, had to sue the fund over its unwillingness to comply with his open records request, and the fund blew another half million on that. All told, the pension fund has spent nearly $2M of taxpayer money, first by breaking the law, then by refusing to admit wrongdoing and instead fighting all the way to the highest court that will hear its cases, before (inevitably) losing and having to pay its opponents' legal fees. A year after his first suit was filed, Lee joined the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County and sued the city and the pension fund after discovering that the entities had, just like in the Denton case in 2013, met illegally when they hammered out over the course of several years what had become known as the 30-year agreement. That single battle will cost taxpayers close to $1 million after the city pays approximately $255,000 sometime later this year to attorney Bob Dees, who represented Lee and the Concerned Taxpayers. Dees, who took the case mostly pro bono, has already been awarded $331,800 by the pension fund. The fund spent $313,137 defending itself. Then in 2014, Lee and his attorney sued the pension fund for again withholding public records. The pension fund, which at the time had been heavily criticized for excessive legal bills, chose to use the city's Office of General Counsel to defend its actions. In the end, Lee was given the records as Dees' firm, Milam Howard Nicandri Dees & Gillam, was paid about $43,000. Open government lawsuits against city, pension fund cost taxpayers more than $2 million [Eileen Kelley/Florida Times-Union] (via Naked Capitalism) Trend Watch Top 7 Campus Technology Stories in July From online learning to facial recognition, here's what was trending on our website last month. 1) Half of Online Students Would Not Opt for Live Courses New research into the demographics of online college students found 50 percent of them would probably not choose to attend classes on a physical campus. 2) An Innovation Center Built for Flexibility and Transparency Clemson University's Watt Family Innovation Center is a state-of-the-art, tech-infused facility devoted to interactive learning and inter-disciplinary collaboration. 3) Using Kinect Sensors and Facial Recognition in the Classroom A Carnegie Mellon project is experimenting with inexpensive sensors and facial recognition technology to help improve instruction. 4) Blackboard Releases "Ultra Experience" The world's largest education tech-focused company has updated its flagship learning management system with two new ways to work with it. 5) 7 Universities Receive Grants to Implement Adaptive Learning at Scale Seven public research universities are embarking on a three-year project focused on improving undergraduate education through personalized learning and adaptive courseware. 6) How to Design Standards-Based Online Courses Two universities share how the Quality Matters rubric informs their online course design and improves the learning experience for students. 7) Mobile in and Out of the Classroom A history professor at the University of Texas at Arlington is improving class performance by encouraging the use of mobile devices. Mark Cuban , the billionaire investor who has relentlessly trolled Donald Trump on social media for months, has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton in her bid for president. Cuban made the move official on Saturday evening during a Clinton campaign swing through Pittsburgh, in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. At the event, Cuban did what he's done best for the better part of the last year: Take rhetorical aim at the GOP's presidential nominee. He opened the Pittsburgh rally for Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine with a greeting for Trumpin Russian. The billionaire's backing of Clinton is hardly surprising, given his outspoken criticism of Trump. Cuban has repeatedly blasted the GOP nominee, questioning everything from his net worth to his business acumen . Several months ago, Cuban was approached by dissident Republicans to mount an independent bid against Trump, but rejected the offer. "Leadership is not yelling and screaming and intimidating," Cuban said. "You know what we call a person like that in Pittsburgh? A jagoff!" For the uninitiated, Wikipedia says a jagoff "is an American English derogatory slang term ... meaning a person who is stupid or inept." In an interview with CNN after the rally, Cuban said he thought Trump had gone "bat**** crazy," adding, ""I am ready to vote for a true leader, I am ready to vote for the American Dream. I am ready to tell the world that I am here to endorse Hillary Clinton." Cuban first revealed his support for Clinton on Friday evening, in an exchange on Twitter with one of his followers. The investor then made the news official at his appearance in Pittsburgh. Former president Bill Clinton, who thanked him publicly for the "ringing endorsement." Clinton and Kaine are on a three-day tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio, after she became the first woman to accept a major U.S. political party's presidential nomination, at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. Story continues - Reuters and AP contributed to this report. Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a judge. More From CNBC Forces loyal to the Yemeni government are battling Al-Qaeda fighters who have exploited years of conflict to expand their presence in the impoverished country (AFP Photo/SALEH AL-OBEIDI) Kuwait City (AFP) - Yemen's government delegation to peace talks left Kuwait on Monday after the rebel side rejected a draft peace plan proposed by the United Nations, its representatives said. "We now leave Kuwait... but are not quitting the consultations and not ending them before August 7," said the delegation head, Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi. UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed set August 7 as the date for winding up the talks that began April but have failed to achieve any breakthrough towards ending Yemen's conflict. "We will return any minute... if the other side agrees to sign" the UN proposal, which was accepted by the government but rejected by the rebels, Mikhlafi told reporters at Kuwait airport. Government delegation spokesman Mohammed al-Emrani earlier told AFP: "We are leaving today after having completed our part in the talks. "The ball is now in the rebels' court." The delegation was returning to Riyadh, where it is based, after informing the UN envoy that it was ready to sign the proposed peace plan, Emrani said. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he has received a letter from the government delegation agreeing to a "draft peace agreement proposed by the United Nations to resolve the conflict in Yemen". "The departure of the government of Yemen delegation from Kuwait is not a departure from the peace talks," the envoy said in a statement. He said he will hold intensive talks with the Huthis and their allies. The Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalists, rejected the peace plan on Sunday, saying it was incomplete. "The other party now has the key to make the talks fail or succeed... If they agree to the plan, our delegation will return," Emrani said. Mikhlafi lashed out at the rebels for rejecting the peace plan. "This Huthi-Saleh alliance will never accept any peace deal that does not legitimise their coup," Mikhlafi said. Story continues The government delegation's decision to leave host country Kuwait came after a meeting with the UN envoy. The government delegation had been due to quit negotiations and leave Kuwait on Saturday but cancelled the decision after Ould Cheikh Ahmed presented the draft peace plan. According to the government, the draft plan calls for the rebels to withdraw from the capital Sanaa and two major cities, hand over heavy arms and return state institutions they seized in September 2014. - Rebels want unity govt first - The rebels said that first a national unity government must be formed and a new consensus president appointed to oversee the transition. Yemen, home to what the United States sees as Al-Qaeda's deadliest franchise, descended into chaos after the 2012 ouster of longtime strongman Saleh. Security deteriorated further after the Huthis swept into Sanaa and pushed south, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee into exile in March last year. The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since then, when a Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign in support of Hadi. On Monday, shelling from Yemen killed four people in the Jazan border region of Saudi Arabia, authorities in the kingdom said. SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Town and Country Financial Corporation (OTC Pink:TWCF) reported second-quarter operating income of $1.2 million, or $0.42 per share, a 45% increase from $831 thousand, or $0.30 per share in the second-quarter of 2015. The current quarters reported earnings were impacted by data processing conversion and other acquisition expenses related to recent bank and branch acquisitions. These one-time costs totaled $451 thousand after-tax, compared with no non-operating items of income or expense reported in the year-ago quarter. Reported net income including non-operating items was $754 thousand and net income available to common shareholders was $0.27 per share, compared with $0.29 per share in the year-ago period net of the dividend paid on preferred stock. President and Chief Executive Officer, Micah R. Bartlett commented, Town and Country delivered a strong second quarter performance, both financially and operationally. On June 17, we completed the acquisition and data processing conversion of the Fairview Heights, Illinois branch from Centrue Bank. And, one week later, we completed the data processing conversion of Premier Bank that was acquired on February 29, 2016. These events have greatly expanded our company, and we are tremendously proud of the accomplishments and hard work of team members who throughout this process kept the needs of the customer front and center. Operating income for the first-half of 2016 was $2.1 million, or $0.73 per share, compared with $1.6 million, or $0.56 per share in the first-half of 2016. First-half 2016 results were impacted by acquisition and conversion costs that totaled $601 thousand and security gains of $15 thousand, both after-tax. Reported net income including non-operating items was $1.5 million and net income available to common shareholders was $0.52 per share in the first-half of 2016 compared with $1.5 million and $0.55 per share in the first-half of 2015. Bartlett added, With key acquisitions completed during the first-half of this year, we are looking forward to the second-half and continuing to deepen relationships with our existing and new customers. We are proud to say that we are one small business helping other small businesses and individuals improve their financial well-being. Discussion of Second Quarter Results Net revenue was $7.9 million, an increase of 35.7% compared with $5.8 million in 2015. Net interest income was up 34.2% over the year-ago quarter based on 6.9% average organic loan growth and the recent acquisitions. Non-interest income, excluding security gains, was $2.6 million and up $735 thousand from the prior year due to a 23.2% increase in mortgage originations, the first-quarter bank acquisition, and other account fees that were up 12.3%. The tax equivalent net interest margin was 3.27% in the current quarter compared with 3.38% in the year-ago. The year-over-year change was primarily due to significant cash invested throughout the second-quarter resulting from the first-quarter bank acquisition. Noninterest expense was $6.7 million, an increase of $2.3 million over the prior years second-quarter. Merger and conversion related costs totaled $740 thousand in the current quarter. Noninterest expense, adjusted to exclude these costs, was up $1.5 million, or 34.8%, primarily due to the acquisitions and secondarily due to costs that supported the substantial year-over-year increase in mortgage originations. The provision for loan loss was $339 thousand compared to $215 thousand in the second-quarter of 2015. Net charge offs were $29 thousand, or 0.01% of average loans compared with net recoveries of $18 thousand in the prior years quarter. Loans that were past due 30 days or more, including non-accrual loans, totaled 1.45% of loans outstanding at June 30, 2016 compared with 1.67% at December 31, 2015. The allowance for loan loss was 1.02% of total loans, excluding loans held for sale. When excluding purchased loans, the allowance is 1.20% compared with 1.18% at the prior year-end. There is no allowance for loans associated with the bank and branch acquisitions, as those purchased loans were recorded at their fair value. At June 30, 2016, total assets were $739 million and total net loans were $472 million compared with $520 million and $365 million, respectively, at December 31, 2015. Total deposits were $583 million and common equity capital was $45 million. The reported book value was $15.90 per common share compared with $15.59 per share at December 31, 2015. Town and Country Financial Corporation is considered a small bank holding company and therefore Basel III capital standards do not apply. Town and Country Banks capital levels remained strong in the quarter under the Basel III transitional standardized approach with common equity tier 1 capital of $59 million, or 10.78%, and total regulatory capital of $64 million, or 11.72%, both stated as a percentage of risk-weighted assets. The parent holding company reported an investment in Town and Country Bank of $69.3 million at June 30, 2016, compared with $51.0 million at the end of 2015. Borrowings were $14.0 million and trust preferred securities were $14.5 million, as compared with no borrowed debt and trust preferred securities of $11.5 million at year-end, both changes a result of the acquisition. The Board of Directors declared a $0.03 per share quarterly cash dividend payable on September 15, 2016 to stockholders of record September 1, 2016. Town and Country Financial Corporation is the parent holding company for Town and Country Bank and Town and Country Banc Mortgage Services, Inc. with offices in Buffalo, Decatur, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Mt. Zion, Springfield, Waverly, White Hall and Quincy, that latter operating under the name of Peoples Prosperity Bank. Town and Country Financial Corporation shares are quoted under the symbol TWCF. NEW YORK, Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MusicDish*China announced that Canadian-Portuguese rock band Menage and UK-based electro-pop duo Ooberfuse will be on the lineup for the inaugural edition of MTA (Music, Technology and Art) Festival. The two-day event produced by video streaming platform Yema Live will take place on September 3-4 at Sky Desert, 90 kilometers outside Beijing city. MTA FESTIVAL Location: Sky Desert, Zhangjiakou, China Stage: YEMA Supernova Stage Schedule: * Menage - September 3 * Ooberfuse - September 4 https://www.facebook.com/mtafestival/ Menage and Ooberfuse will be joined More than 50 artists from the US, UK, Israel and a handful of other countries fill out the program, which is heavy on live, clubby electronic music. Confirmed artists as of this writing include Hackney drum n bass band Rudimental, British rapper and producer Example, British-Norwegian progressive house producer Alan Walker, and fresh-faced, Los Angeles-based soul crooner Alina Baraz. Ooberfuse is equally at home performing to an audience of 2 million in Madrid, to hundreds in one of Rio de Janeiros notorious favelas, or in front of the House of Lords in the UK. In addition to touring the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Canada, Philippines and Iraq, they have graced the stage of some of Britains most prestigious venues including the O2 in Greenwich, Leicester Square Theatre, Bush Hall and Trafalgar Square. Support for Ooberfuse has come from various credible music tastemakers such as Paul Oakenfold, Sister Bliss (Faithless), Ministry of Sound, BBC Introducings Tom Robinson, Amazing Radios Jim Gellatly and DJ Mag. Learn more about Ooberfuse: http://www.ooberfuse.com 2013 and 2014 saw a huge success for Menage in North America as the band toured both the US & Canada sharing stages with such bands as Stone Temple Pilots and Billy Talent. Songs hit playlists on the famous KROQ and were used on "Degrassi" on BBC 2 in the UK. The year continued to get better when Menage won best rock song of the year in the International Portuguese Music Awards with their new single "Our Time is Now," out now. With mixer David Bottrill (Muse, Placebo, Peter Gabriel) and mastering engineer Ted Jensen (Radiohead, Bjork, Sigur Ros) on their side, this brother/sister, dual fronted band is ready to spread the music that inspires on an international level. Learn more about Menage: http://www.menagetheband.com Launched by MusicDish LLC in 2010, MusicDish*China has been providing a growing roster of foreign acts marketing, digital music distribution and social media promotion in China. With a focus on the live music scene, it has booked its artists to several festivals such as OCT-LOFT, Taihu Music, UNITY Festival and SOTX as well as events like Beijing Music Day, Shanghai Formula 1 and HitFM Live Series. Through its branded channels and partners in mainland China, MusicDish has been introducing a growing and eclectic catalogue of Western music to the world's largest music market. Learn more about MusicDish*China: http://china.musicdish.com ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Aug. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Santa Fe Gold Corporation (OTCBB:SFEG) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Tomas Laws as CEO of the company. Mr. Laws is a mining analyst knowledgeable in metallurgy and minerology with over 40 years of experience in the mining industry. Mr. Laws mining career began in working a Placer Gold operation in Alaska. He then joined Phelps Dodge Corporation, at the time the worlds largest copper company. His role was a Metals Accounting Specialist and Cost Analyst at the Hidalgo Smelter located in Playas, New Mexico. He later moved to the Tyrone Mine in Tyrone, New Mexico. Eventually, Mr. Laws returned to the Hidalgo Smelter in Playas, New Mexico as controller. Mr. Laws was then appointed to oversee costs and budget accounting at Chino Mines. He progressed to become a transaction specialist at Kennecott Mining. There he helped facilitate the Phelps Dodge Corporation purchase of Chino mines and related companies. After the transaction, Mr. Laws assumed accounting implementation and operational control of the Chino and Kennecott acquisitions for Phelps Dodge Corporation, now part of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., one of the World's largest Copper & Gold Miners. Mr. Laws is intimately familiar with mining operations in the Southwestern United States and in particular the Arizona and New Mexico environs. With a large client base in New Mexico, Mr. Laws has worked with a number of mining companies, right up to the present, helping them to evaluate materials, economic utility and the most effective processing methods, looking to develop and optimize their mining output. His extensive area knowledge, broad experience and understanding of the local mineralogy in the mining districts of the Southwest, combined with his many years with Phelps Dodge and Kennecott, gives him a unique perspective on where the most coveted and valuable opportunities are known to exist and specialized knowledge of both large and small projects in the region, with special access and rights to some sizable ore deposits, infrastructure and mines in the area. I am delighted to be taking on Santa Fe Gold and look forward to resuming mining operations in the near term future, Mr. Laws recently stated. The company is currently pursuing a number of strategic objectives to enable the rebuilding of shareholder value. We very much appreciate the shareholder support to date and are totally committed to making Santa Fe Gold a success. The forthcoming announcements will come as the company executes on its business plan and the restart of mining operations, providing for the possibility for production to commence quite soon with some attractive prospects under consideration. Mr. Laws also added, Santa Fe Gold Corp has a bright future ahead as the current environment is increasingly positive for metals markets. ABOUT SANTA FE GOLD Santa Fe Gold is a U.S. based mining and exploration enterprise and is currently reviewing a number of attractive opportunities that should enable the resumption of mining and production operations in the nearer term. For information please visit: www.santafegoldcorp.com As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ A new study provides a dramatic answer to the question nagging potential college students: Is college worth it? The short answer is yes, according to a study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. For the first time in U.S. history, people with college degrees make up a larger portion of the workforce than those with high school diplomas, the report found. And the recovery from the 2007-09 recession has barely made a dent in bringing back the jobs people with high school diplomas used to count on for decent pay and benefits. Although the economy has created 11.6 million new jobs since the recession, 11.5 million have gone to workers with at least some education beyond high school, said Anthony Carnevale, director of the center and author of the study done with Tamara Jayasundera and Artem Gullish. In addition, workers with some postsecondary education have captured the vast majority of the good jobs, the researchers said. They define "good" jobs as those that are full time, pay more than $53,000 a year and provide benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans. Workers with bachelor's degrees, or higher, now make up 36 percent of the workforce. The workers with high school diplomas are less than 34 percent of the workforce. That's down 5 percentage points from 2007, when the economy began to crash. Of the 7.2 million jobs lost in the recession, about 5.6 million of the jobs that vanished had been held by people with high school diplomas or less. And they have recovered only 1 percent of those jobs over the past six years, the researchers note. Only 80,000 jobs held by workers with high school diplomas or less have been added since the recession. There has been "no growth of well-paying jobs with benefits" for the group that didn't go beyond high school, Carnevale said. The result has been an increasingly divided country, with "college haves and college have-nots," he said. The people with college degrees have incomes that have averaged 80 percent more than high school graduates over a lifetime. The nation still is feeling the hangover from the recession. The economy still is missing 6 million jobs that would have been created if the recession hadn't occurred, he said, and construction employment is still 1.6 million jobs short of its 2007 level, while manufacturing has 1 million fewer jobs. Construction and manufacturing in the past have provided some of the best jobs for workers at lower education levels. But Carnevale does not see the current job and income divide as a short-term issue resulting from the rough years set in motion by the recession. While the recession sped up job losses in industries such as manufacturing, Carnevale has traced the erosion of opportunity for people without college degrees to the 1980s. Many jobs require more elaborate skills than they once did. For example, he said a person with a high school diploma used to make a fine auto mechanic if he had good mechanical skills. Now, computers are key to operating cars, so mechanics need electronic skills as well. The same applies to the factory floor. The growth in jobs now is in health care, consulting, business, education, government and financial services. Those industries accounted for 28 percent of the workforce in 1947, and now account for 46 percent, the researchers noted. Yet, old-style service jobs such as clerical work have been cut sharply because computers now make it possible for managers to do their own typing and take on responsibilities once done by clerical staff. Carnevale said critics of college did not seem to realize that people with high school diplomas or less had unemployment rates about 22 percent. Also workers who had graduated from college lost about $5,000 a year in wages compared to $6,000 for those with no college. Now, Carnevale said, income data make it clear that "if you don't go to college, you will do a lot worse." But while true on average, people evaluating future education need to see choices as more complex than simply going to college or not going to college. Beyond going to college, the choice of majors and careers is also critical to outcomes, he said. People who major in the humanities, early childhood education or psychology have a 30 to 40 percent chance of not making any more than high school graduates, he said. Yet, if college graduates in the humanities get master's degrees, they raise their pay. Meanwhile, engineers do better with bachelor's degrees than master's degrees. Thirty percent of people with two-year associate degrees make more than college graduates, and those with certificates in heating and ventilation and computers do especially well. The study notes that the number of jobs for workers with associate degrees or some college has increased by 47 percent since 1989, to 43.5 million from 30 million. Meanwhile, jobs for people with bachelor's degrees or higher has doubled, to 54.2 million from 26 million. Yet, jobs for workers with high school diplomas or less declined by 13 percent over the same period, with a loss of 7.3 million jobs. PHILADELPHIA -- Donald Trump never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like -- until now. He has dabbled in, among other things, the notion that President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya, that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered and that Ted Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination. But on one topic, Trump is conspicuously incurious: the suggestion that he is complicit in a plan by Vladimir Putin to influence the U.S. election. Consider how Trump might react to the following fact pattern if the candidate involved weren't "Donald Trump" but -- let's pick a name at random here -- "Hillary Clinton": The candidate's real estate empire, unable to borrow from most U.S. banks, gets capital from Russian sources. Such transfers couldn't occur without Putin's blessing. The candidate's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has worked extensively for pro-Putin oligarchs. One of the candidate's foreign policy advisers, Michael Flynn, was filmed sitting with Putin at a Moscow banquet celebrating a Russian propaganda network. Another adviser, Carter Page, has close ties to Gazprom, the Russian energy company under Putin's thumb. One of the only interferences the campaign made in the Republican platform was to remove language calling for "providing lethal defensive weapons" to Ukraine in its fight against Russian-backed separatists. The candidate cast doubt on the utility of NATO and said he might not come to the aid of Baltic members of the alliance attacked by Russia. Putin has aimed to destabilize rival powers by supporting extremist parties in several European countries. His state news outlets have been heavily supportive of the candidate. The Russian ambassador to the United States attended a campaign speech by the candidate, and Putin described the candidate as "talented." The candidate said he was honored. Russian intelligence hacked the Democratic National Committee and, experts say, handed the emails to WikiLeaks for release on the eve of the Democratic convention. If the Clinton campaign were so extensively interwoven with Putin's Russia, it's a safe bet that Trump would be demanding that Clinton release her tax returns to prove that she's not beholden to Putin -- just as he demanded that Obama release his birth certificate. He would also very likely float allegations masquerading as questions by using the phrases "a lot of people have said" or "I'm hearing," or "there's something we don't know about." But Trump, I'm hearing, won't be doing that in this case. So let's help him. The following are all phrases Trump has used to float conspiracy theories -- but this time applied to his Putin ties -- combined with wild Trump-style speculation. A lot of people have said Putin is trying to get Trump elected so he can blackmail the American president. Somebody told me Trump would completely go out of business if Putin took back all the Russian money he let Trump have. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I just heard Trump's airplane would be grounded immediately. Manafort helping the oligarchs? Flynn having dinner with Putin? Page getting money from Gazprom? No coincidence! Now it's coming out that Putin wants to destabilize America. There's something fishy about the whole thing. And why did Trump propose changing NATO and Ukraine policy in ways that would benefit Putin? Obviously some people think it's evil intentions. I think it's incompetence. Regardless, a lot of people think it's evil intentions. I don't bring up the possibility that Trump has already been bribed or blackmailed by Putin because I don't know enough to really discuss it. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely bribery and blackmail. I don't do that because I don't think it's fair. I'm hearing it's a big topic, the question of whether Trump is guilty of treason. I'm not sure. I mean, let people make their own determination. Trump never denied that Putin was his patron. He cannot give us his tax returns. He didn't pay his taxes, or, if he did, there's something in those returns that is very bad for him. Now, somebody told me -- and I have no idea whether this is bad for him or not, but perhaps it would be -- that he owes billions to Putin. Somebody said, 'Maybe that's the reason he doesn't want to show his returns.' I don't think so. I just don't think he paid his taxes. Why is Trump so emphatic about not talking about his Putin connections? He gets it better than anybody understands. There's something going on. There's something we don't know about. I don't know. All I know is what's on the Internet. Wow! QAP Claims Bombing Aimed at Fourth Military Zone Commander in Aden, Attacks on Houthis Time to Be All Eyes and Ears When it Comes to Protective Eyewear Proper eyewear starts with making sure the PPE fits the task at hand. This often requires employers to conduct a workplace hazard assessment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 2,000 workplace-related eye injuries in the United States each day. This amounts to more than 730,000 on-the-job eye injuries every year, with more than 36,000 resulting in time off from work. The annual price tag for these injuries hovers around $300 million annually. In addition, many eye injuries, like other workplace injuries, are never reported for a variety of reasons. So, if anything, these statistics underreport the urgency of the situation. And we need to add one more statistic for consideration. While the number of injuries per day can vary depending on the source, virtually all sources agree that 90 percent of these eye injuries could be prevented if the worker wears the proper protective eye gear. If nearly all of these accidents could be prevented and so many workers experience eye injuries every day, the question most of us have is why. Why are these workers not wearing protective eyewear? The reasons can vary. But, based on our own questioning of workers in a variety of industries, from cleaning to construction, one of the most common reasons workers offer for not wearing eye protection is that they simply do not like the way the eyewear looks. Fortunately, this and many other reasons why workers resist wearing protective eyewear can be easily addressed and overcome. Goggle History While many manufacturers do not like to refer to their vision protection as "goggles," it remains the term many workers use. It is believed that a couple of hundred years ago, native tribes in Alaska, using carved wood and cords, were the first to develop a type of goggle to help prevent snow blindness. However, goggles really came into their own early in the 20th century, when drivers of uncovered cars began wearing "motoring goggles." Soon thereafter, aviators started wearing goggles as well, to protect their eyes from strong wind and flying debris while flying. This article originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of Occupational Health & Safety. While many of us have a million and one complaints to air about everything and anything related to Singapore, from why we may not like car-lite Singapore to confusing government initiatives on car ownership, there are still reasons why Singaporeans should count our blessings. With Singapore's 51st birthday coming up real soon, perhaps all of us should just calm down a little and take some time to appreciate what with have, instead of focusing our energy on bad vibes and negativities. Here, we at GET.com have rounded up 6 pieces of Singapore's heritage that all of us should be proud of. Obviously, this list isn't exhaustive. 6 Bits Of Singapore's Heritage We All Should Be Proud Of 1. Food What can I say but TGIF? In this case, F stands for food. True blue Singaporeans will always have a soft spot for local dishes and hawker food no matter how much we enjoy eating at fancy restaurants, atas restaurants or nibbling on dainty teatime treats for afternoon tea. Even if you're living in a pineapple under the sea, you would have heard somewhere that two hawker stalls in our sunny island have recently received the coveted 1-star Michelin rating in Singapore's first Michelin Guide. These two hawker stalls have incredibly long queues, so venture there at your own risk. I'll just wait for the hype to die down a little before making a trip there to satisfy the closet glutton in me. Most Singaporeans who've been abroad for a while miss local food like chicken rice, bak chor mee, roti prata and more. Our food scene sure is an illustrious and dynamic one, thanks to how diverse Singapore really is. 2. The Mighty Red Passport Are you on the same page as me that travel is possibly the only thing you spend on that makes you richer? No Singaporean in his or her right mind will complain about the kind of conveniences our mighty passport affords us. The prized little red book is essentially our ticket to the world, sans a ton of hassle associated with troublesome visa applications. Just in case you're eager to learn something new today, here are 8 countries that Singaporeans probably don't know they require visas to enter. Story continues And since we're on the topic of travel, here are 11 tips and tricks to getting cheap flights in Singapore and 6 hacks to finding cheap hotels for your holiday that anyone who has a smaller travel budget should know. 3. Singlish Admit it lah, Singlish is a super Singaporean trait that all, if not most, of us can identify with effortlessly. It transcends race and religion, and has the ability to unite Singaporeans in its own magical way. Simply put, Singlish is part of our national identity. Regardless of whether you're for or against Singlish, you still have to embrace the fact that Singlish is a huge part of what makes us, us. Although we use Singlish every single day, I'm sure there are some people who refuse to concede that Singlish is an important part of our culture. For those who are curious, here are 4 things some Singaporeans complain about Singlish but secretly love. Have a read to find out my take on Singlish and why it's awesome the way it is, despite how vital proper English is in Singapore. 4. National Stadium Back in the days when Singapore was undergoing a massive transformation and development, the National Stadium was one of the most archetypal buildings in Singapore in 1973. It was the venue where a myriad of events such as the 1983 and 1993 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and annual NDPs took place. Fast forward to 2016, this year's NDP will be returning to the bigger and better National Stadium which opened about two years ago, after the previous 10 NDPs had been held at The Float @ Marina Bay. Just for the fun of it, here are 7 interesting things about our National Stadium you probably didn't know. And if you're very psyched about the upcoming National Day, here are 7 things Singaporeans can look forward to this National Day, and 3 things you should pay attention to this National Day. 5. Changi Airport How can this list be complete without mentioning our illustrious Changi Airport that's won the accolade of being the world's best airport 4 times in a row? Most of us visit the airport a couple of times a year, but did you know that in 2015, Changi Airport handled a smashing record of 55.4 million passengers? No matter whether you reckon that other international airports overseas are better than our very own airport, you can't deny the crucial role Changi Airport plays in being the premier gateway to the vast globe. After all, you can jet set to more than 320 cities all over the world via Changi Airport! Here are the 6 most secret attractions you never knew existed at Changi Airport. I'm pretty sure this guide will come in handy the next time you're travelling. 6. Multiracialism Although the majority of Singaporeans are Chinese, Singapore is fundamentally a make-up of distinct races. As cliche as it may sound, Singapore is where we're socialized to respect differences whether it be race, language, or religion. We're taught to tolerate, if not embrace. That said, I couldn't be more elated to learn that multiracialism is very real here in Singapore. In case you haven't been keeping up with local news, an off-duty police officer assisted an elderly man who fell from his bicycle and was bleeding. This man wasn't alone, though. People of different races came together to help the injured old man. What do you think? Share your comments with us below! GET.com Singapore is Singapore's lifestyle and personal finance website. We help you GET more for your money - food, travel, home loans, credit cards, shopping - everything! Like GET.com on Facebook and sign up to get the HOTTEST stories delivered to your inbox! For serious stuff, you can compare home loans, personal loans and credit cards at GET.com. Our free GETdeals App helps you get the best credit card discounts near you for dining, shopping, lifestyle and more. Download it today! Other Articles You May Like From GET.com And reclaimed city off Singapore triggers ecology fears. The plunge in oil prices is catching up with Singapores three largest banks. On Thursday, Swiber Holdings Ltd., a small Singapore company that provides construction services for international oil and gas projects, said it filed a petition to liquidate its operations, after facing payment demands from creditors at a time when its business was under pressure. DBS Group Holdings Ltd., one of the largest lenders to Swiber, said it only expects to recover about half of the S$700 million ($518 million) it loaned to the firm and its units. Read more here. Swiber Holdings Ltd., the Singapore-based offshore oil and gas services group, said it is dropping liquidation plans and intends to restructure its business following talks with the companys major financial creditor. Swiber plans to operate under so-called judicial management, according to a statement to the Singapore exchange Friday. The arrangement would allow the company to continue operating under court supervision while attempting to turn around the business. Find out more here. A planned multi-billion-dollar new city near Singapore is attracting interest from investors with promises of luxury living but there are questions over its future owing to China's economic woes and warnings of environmental catastrophe. Forest City, a $42 billion futuristic "eco-city" of high-rises and waterfront villas, will sit on four man-made islands on the Malaysian side of the Johor Strait just an hour from Singapore. Read more here. More From Singapore Business Review Turkey summoned a senior German diplomat on Monday, a day after a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president who was not permitted to address the crowd by video link. Turkish officials were also to meet with the top US military commander in the first direct talks since a failed coup on July 15, with Washington under pressure from Ankara to extradite the alleged mastermind, Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. The coup aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has since launched a sweeping nationwide purge of suspected Gulen supporters, dismissing tens of thousands from their jobs and detaining almost 19,000 people. The crackdown has sparked international alarm, with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitting there may have been some unfair treatment in the dismissals. "There must definitely be some among them who were subjected to unfair procedures," he said in comments published by state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday. "We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not." - German rally - In Germany, home to Turkey's largest diaspora, tens of thousands of Erdogan supporters rallied in Cologne on Sunday to demonstrate their opposition to the coup in an event held under tight security. Hours before the demonstration, Germany's constitutional court rejected an application to show via video link live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, over fears they could work up the crowd. The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the move unacceptable and a "violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly". A spokeswoman for the German embassy told AFP that the charge d'affaires had "been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT)" on Monday over the rally. But Berlin played down the incident, saying such "invitations" were nothing out of the ordinary. "In the day-to-day dealings between countries, it is a daily event -- normal for a representative of a country to be called in to the foreign ministry of his host country," German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told journalists. The tension comes as ties between Germany and Turkey were already strained over the German parliament's decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces. - Tensions with Washington - Also on Monday, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was to meet with Yildirim and Turkish chief of staff General Hulusi Akar. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been aggravated by the foiled putsch, with some Turkish officials even alleging that Washington could have had a hand in the plot. The suggestion has been firmly denied by top US officials. Turkey is now requesting the extradition of Gulen -- who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 -- from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania. "We do not want (the US) to be in a position that will make us question our friendship," Yildirim said. "If they keep on dragging (their) feet on the Gulen issue... then things will take a different course, because events of July 15 are crystal clear." After a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters that Washington would have to chose between support for a "terrorist chief" and the citizens of Turkey. Last week, Erdogan lashed out at the top US general in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, after he expressed concerns about the future of military relations between the two allies in the wake of the putsch. Meanwhile Turkey on Monday said it had arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on Erdogan's hotel during the night of the coup, Kurtulmus said. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. Just one soldier from the attack group now remains at large, Kurtulmus added. Thailand's military rulers Monday said a rice subsidy scheme by the government it ousted cost the state more than $8 billion, adding former leader Yingluck Shinawatra should be personally sued for the loss. Yingluck, Thailand's first female premier, was booted from office by a court days before army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in May 2014. The rice scheme was a major catalyst in months of debilitating protests that led to the military takeover. She has since been retroactively impeached over the scheme and is currently undergoing a separate criminal negligence trial which could see her jailed for up to ten years. Now the junta says it will push a civil damages case against her and some key former ministers. "A fact-finding committee panel... has found that the damage cost of rice pledging scheme was 286.6 billion baht ($8.2 billion)," Panada Disakul, a minister to the Prime Minister's Office, told reporters, the first time a hard figure has been given for the losses. Yingluck, whose older brother Thaksin Shinawatra was booted out as premier by a 2006 coup, is accused of failing to halt rampant corruption in the multi-billion dollar subsidy. She is expected to appear in court on Friday to begin laying out her defence in the ongoing criminal trial. The scheme offered farmers nearly double the market rate for their crop, pumping billions of dollars into the Shinawatras' key support base in the country's northeastern rice bowl. But the programme was panned by critics as financially ruinous and a naked attempt at vote-buying by the Shinawatra clan. The former premier denies wrongdoing and says the scheme was a genuine attempt to help rice farmers, mainly in the poor, populous and long-neglected north and northeast. But the policy led to a 40 percent fall in Thai rice exports after the government hoarded rice in a bungled attempt to push up its global price to fund the policy. That led to massive stockpiles as markets turned away from the Thai grain, costing the country its title as the world's top rice exporter. Story continues Yingluck says the case against her is a politically motivated attack on her family who are loved among rice farmers. The Shinawatra's electoral dominance over the past decade has rattled Thailand's Bangkok-based elite. The siblings are the figureheads of Thailand's democracy movement, which has floundered for nearly a century under an arch-royalist elite desperate to retain power. Fearful of a political comeback, the junta has tried to tangle Yingluck in legal rulings. Economists have also accused the junta of adopting some of the Shinawatras more populist fiscal policies, including paying above market rates for rubber amid a global price slump. Published July 06, 2016 | Updated April 1, 2019 The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Alongside the bulletin, we have released a security update to Nexus devices through an over-the-air (OTA) update. The Nexus firmware images have also been released to the Google Developer site. Security patch levels of July 05, 2016 or later address all applicable issues in this bulletin. Refer to the documentation to learn how to check the security patch level. Partners were notified about the issues described in the bulletin on June 06, 2016 or earlier. Where applicable, source code patches for these issues have been released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository. This bulletin also includes links to patches outside of AOSP. The most severe of these issues is a Critical security vulnerability that could enable remote code execution on an affected device through multiple methods such as email, web browsing, and MMS when processing media files. The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are disabled for development purposes or if successfully bypassed. We have had no reports of active customer exploitation or abuse of these newly reported issues. Refer to the Android and Google service mitigations section for details on the Android security platform protections and service protections such as SafetyNet, which improve the security of the Android platform. We encourage all customers to accept these updates to their devices. Announcements This bulletin defines two security patch level strings to provide Android partners with the flexibility to move more quickly to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices. See Common questions and answers for additional information: 2016-07-01 : Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2016-07-01 are addressed. 2016-07-05 : Complete security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2016-07-01 and 2016-07-05 are addressed. Supported Nexus devices will be receiving a single OTA update with the July 05, 2016 security patch level. Android and Google service mitigations This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android security platform and service protections such as SafetyNet. These capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be successfully exploited on Android. Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible. The Android Security team actively monitors for abuse with Verify Apps and SafetyNet, which are designed to warn users about Potentially Harmful Applications. Verify Apps is enabled by default on devices with Google Mobile Services, and is especially important for users who install applications from outside of Google Play. Device rooting tools are prohibited within Google Play, but Verify Apps warns users when they attempt to install a detected rooting applicationno matter where it comes from. Additionally, Verify Apps attempts to identify and block installation of known malicious applications that exploit a privilege escalation vulnerability. If such an application has already been installed, Verify Apps will notify the user and attempt to remove the detected application. As appropriate, Google Hangouts and Messenger applications do not automatically pass media to processes such as Mediaserver. Acknowledgements We would like to thank these researchers for their contributions: 2016-07-01 security patch levelSecurity vulnerability details In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2016-07-01 patch level. There is a description of the issue, a severity rationale, and a table with the CVE, associated references, severity, updated Nexus devices, updated AOSP versions (where applicable), and date reported. When available, we will link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver A remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver could enable an attacker using a specially crafted file to cause memory corruption during media file and data processing. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of remote code execution within the context of the Mediaserver process. The Mediaserver process has access to audio and video streams, as well as access to privileges that third-party apps could not normally access. The affected functionality is provided as a core part of the operating system and there are multiple applications that allow it to be reached with remote content, most notably MMS and browser playback of media. Remote code execution vulnerability in OpenSSL & BoringSSL A remote code execution vulnerability in OpenSSL and BoringSSL could enable an attacker using a specially crafted file to cause memory corruption during file and data processing. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of remote code execution within the context of an affected process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-2108 A-28175332 Critical All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 May 3, 2016 Remote code execution vulnerability in Bluetooth A remote code execution vulnerability in Bluetooth could allow a proximal attacker to execute arbitrary code during the pairing process. This issue is rated as High due to the possibility of remote code execution during the initialization of a Bluetooth device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3744 A-27930580 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Mar 30, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in libpng An elevation of privilege vulnerability in libpng could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of an elevated system application. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to gain local access to elevated capabilities, such as Signature or SignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to a third-party application. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3751 A-23265085 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Dec 3, 2015 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of an elevated system application. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to gain local access to elevated capabilities, such as Signature or SignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to a third-party application. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3745 A-28173666 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 10, 2016 CVE-2016-3746 A-27890802 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Mar 27, 2016 CVE-2016-3747 A-27903498 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Mar 28, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in sockets An elevation of privilege vulnerability in sockets could enable a local malicious application to access system calls outside of its permissions level. This issue is rated as High because it could permit a bypass of security measures in place to increase the difficulty of attackers exploiting the platform. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3748 A-28171804 High All Nexus 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 13, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in LockSettingsService An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the LockSettingsService could enable a malicious application to reset the screen lock password without authorization from the user. This issue is rated as High because it is a local bypass of user interaction requirements for any developer or security settings modifications. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3749 A-28163930 High All Nexus 6.0, 6.0.1 Google internal Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Framework APIs An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Parcels Framework APIs could enable a local malicious application to bypass operating system protections that isolate application data from other applications. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to gain access to data that the application does not have access to. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3750 A-28395952 High All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Dec 16, 2015 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in ChooserTarget service An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the ChooserTarget service could enable a local malicious application to execute code in the context of another application. This issue is rated High because it could be used to access Activities belonging to another application without permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3752 A-28384423 High All Nexus 6.0, 6.0.1 Google internal Information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver An information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver could enable a remote attacker to access protected data normally only accessible to locally installed apps that request permission. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to access data without permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3753 A-27210135 High None* 4.4.4 Feb 15, 2016 * Supported Nexus devices that have installed all available updates are not affected by this vulnerability. Information disclosure vulnerability in OpenSSL An information disclosure vulnerability in OpenSSL could enable a remote attacker to access protected data normally only accessible to locally installed apps that request permission. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to access data without permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-2107 A-28550804 High None* 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1 April 13, 2016 * Supported Nexus devices that have installed all available updates are not affected by this vulnerability. Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver A denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver could enable an attacker to use a specially crafted file to cause a device hang or reboot. This issue is rated as High due to the possibility of a temporary remote denial of service. Denial of service vulnerability in libc A denial of service vulnerability in libc could enable an attacker to use a specially crafted file to cause a device hang or reboot. This issue is rated as High due to the possibility of remote denial of service. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3818 A-28740702 [2] High None* 4.4.4 Google internal * Supported Nexus devices that have installed all available updates are not affected by this vulnerability. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in lsof An elevation of privilege vulnerability in lsof could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code that could lead to a permanent device compromise. This issue is rated as Moderate because it requires uncommon manual steps. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3757 A-28175237 Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 11, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in DexClassLoader An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the DexClassLoader could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. This issue is rated as Moderate because it requires uncommon manual steps. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3758 A-27840771 Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Google internal Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Framework APIs An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Framework APIs could enable a local malicious application to request backup permissions and intercept all backup data. This issue is rated as Moderate because it requires specific permissions to bypass operating system protections that isolate application data from other applications. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3759 A-28406080 Moderate All Nexus 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Google internal Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Bluetooth An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Bluetooth component could enable a local attacker to add an authenticated Bluetooth device that persists for the primary user. This issue is rated as Moderate because it could be used to gain elevated capabilities without explicit user permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3760 A-27410683 [2] [3] Moderate All Nexus 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Feb 29, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NFC An elevation of privilege vulnerability in NFC could enable a local malicious background application to access information from a foreground application. This issue is rated as Moderate because it could be used to gain elevated capabilities without explicit user permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3761 A-28300969 Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 20, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in sockets An elevation of privilege vulnerability in sockets could enable a local malicious application to gain access to certain uncommon socket types possibly leading to arbitrary code execution within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Moderate because it could permit a bypass of security measures in place to increase the difficulty of attackers exploiting the platform. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3762 A-28612709 Moderate All Nexus 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 21, 2016 Information disclosure vulnerability in Proxy Auto-Config An information disclosure vulnerability in the Proxy Auto-Config component could allow an application to access sensitive information. This issue is rated Moderate because it could be used to access data without permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3763 A-27593919 Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Mar 10, 2016 Information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver An information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver could allow a local malicious application to access sensitive information. This issue is rated as Moderate because it could be used to access data without permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3764 A-28377502 Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 25, 2016 CVE-2016-3765 A-28168413 Moderate All Nexus 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 8, 2016 Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver A denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver could enable an attacker to use a specially crafted file to cause a device hang or reboot. This issue is rated as Moderate due to the possibility of remote denial of service. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Updated AOSP versions Date reported CVE-2016-3766 A-28471206 [2] Moderate All Nexus 4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 Apr 29, 2016 2016-07-05 security patch levelVulnerability details In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2016-07-05 patch level. There is a description of the issue, a severity rationale, and a table with the CVE, associated references, severity, updated Nexus devices, updated AOSP versions (where applicable), and date reported. When available, we will link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm GPU driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm GPU driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-2503 A-28084795* QC-CR1006067 Critical Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Apr 5, 2016 CVE-2016-2067 A-28305757 QC-CR988993 Critical Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P Apr 20, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3767 A-28169363* M-ALPS02689526 Critical Android One Apr 6, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm performance component An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm performance component could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3768 A-28172137* QC-CR1010644 Critical Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013) Apr 9, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA video driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA video driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3769 A-28376656* N-CVE20163769 Critical Nexus 9 Apr 18, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek drivers (Device specific) An elevation of privilege vulnerability in multiple MediaTek drivers could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3770 A-28346752* M-ALPS02703102 Critical Android One Apr 22, 2016 CVE-2016-3771 A-29007611* M-ALPS02703102 Critical Android One Apr 22, 2016 CVE-2016-3772 A-29008188* M-ALPS02703102 Critical Android One Apr 22, 2016 CVE-2016-3773 A-29008363* M-ALPS02703102 Critical Android One Apr 22, 2016 CVE-2016-3774 A-29008609* M-ALPS02703102 Critical Android One Apr 22, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the kernel file system could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3775 A-28588279* Critical Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P and Nexus Player, Pixel C May 4, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in USB driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the USB driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2015-8816 A-28712303* Critical Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C May 4, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm components The table below contains security vulnerabilities affecting Qualcomm components including the bootloader, camera driver, character driver, networking, sound driver and video driver. The most severe of these issues is rated as Critical due to possibility of arbitrary code execution leading to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. CVE References Severity* Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2014-9795 A-28820720 QC-CR681957 [2] Critical Nexus 5 Aug 8, 2014 CVE-2014-9794 A-28821172 QC-CR646385 Critical Nexus 7 (2013) Aug 8, 2014 CVE-2015-8892 A-28822807 QC-CR902998 Critical Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Dec 30, 2015 CVE-2014-9781 A-28410333 QC-CR556471 High Nexus 7 (2013) Feb 6, 2014 CVE-2014-9786 A-28557260 QC-CR545979 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9788 A-28573112 QC-CR548872 High Nexus 5 Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9779 A-28598347 QC-CR548679 High Nexus 5 Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9780 A-28602014 QC-CR542222 High Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9789 A-28749392 QC-CR556425 High Nexus 5 Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9793 A-28821253 QC-CR580567 High Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 13, 2014 CVE-2014-9782 A-28431531 QC-CR511349 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9783 A-28441831 QC-CR511382 [2] High Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9785 A-28469042 QC-CR545747 High Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9787 A-28571496 QC-CR545764 High Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9784 A-28442449 QC-CR585147 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Apr 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9777 A-28598501 QC-CR563654 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Apr 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9778 A-28598515 QC-CR563694 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Apr 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9790 A-28769136 QC-CR545716 [2] High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Apr 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9792 A-28769399 QC-CR550606 High Nexus 5 Apr 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9797 A-28821090 QC-CR674071 High Nexus 5 Jul 3, 2014 CVE-2014-9791 A-28803396 QC-CR659364 High Nexus 7 (2013) Aug 29, 2014 CVE-2014-9796 A-28820722 QC-CR684756 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Sep 30, 2014 CVE-2014-9800 A-28822150 QC-CR692478 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Oct 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9799 A-28821731 QC-CR691916 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Oct 31, 2014 CVE-2014-9801 A-28822060 QC-CR705078 High Nexus 5 Nov 28, 2014 CVE-2014-9802 A-28821965 QC-CR705108 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Dec 31, 2014 CVE-2015-8891 A-28842418 QC-CR813930 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) May 29, 2015 CVE-2015-8888 A-28822465 QC-CR813933 High Nexus 5 Jun 30, 2015 CVE-2015-8889 A-28822677 QC-CR804067 High Nexus 6P Jun 30, 2015 CVE-2015-8890 A-28822878 QC-CR823461 High Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Aug 19, 2015 * The severity rating for these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm USB driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm USB driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-2502 A-27657963 QC-CR997044 High Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Mar 11, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3792 A-27725204 QC-CR561022 High Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 17, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm camera driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm camera driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-2501 A-27890772* QC-CR1001092 High Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013) Mar 27, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA camera driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA camera driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3793 A-28026625* N-CVE20163793 High Nexus 9 Apr 5, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek power driver An elevation of privilege in the MediaTek power driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3795 A-28085222* M-ALPS02677244 High Android One Apr 7, 2016 CVE-2016-3796 A-29008443* M-ALPS02677244 High Android One Apr 7, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3797 A-28085680* QC-CR1001450 High Nexus 5X Apr 7, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek hardware sensor driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek hardware sensor driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3798 A-28174490* M-ALPS02703105 High Android One Apr 11, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek video driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek video driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3799 A-28175025* M-ALPS02693738 High Android One Apr 11, 2016 CVE-2016-3800 A-28175027* M-ALPS02693739 High Android One Apr 11, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek GPS driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek GPS driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3801 A-28174914* M-ALPS02688853 High Android One Apr 11, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the kernel file system could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3802 A-28271368* High Nexus 9 Apr 19, 2016 CVE-2016-3803 A-28588434* High Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P May 4, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek power management driver An elevation of privilege in the MediaTek power management driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3804 A-28332766* M-ALPS02694410 High Android One Apr 20, 2016 CVE-2016-3805 A-28333002* M-ALPS02694412 High Android One Apr 21, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek display driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek display driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3806 A-28402341* M-ALPS02715341 High Android One Apr 26, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in serial peripheral interface driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the serial peripheral interface driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3807 A-28402196* High Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Apr 26, 2016 CVE-2016-3808 A-28430009* High Pixel C Apr 26, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm sound driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm sound driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High severity because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-2068 A-28470967 QC-CR1006609 High Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P Apr 28, 2016 Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the kernel could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2014-9803 A-28557020 Upstream kernel High Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P Google internal Information disclosure vulnerability in networking component An information disclosure vulnerability in the networking component could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to access sensitive data without explicit user permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3809 A-27532522* High All Nexus Mar 5, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the MediaTek Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to access sensitive data without explicit user permission. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3810 A-28175522* M-ALPS02694389 High Android One Apr 12, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel video driver An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the kernel video driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3811 A-28447556* Moderate Nexus 9 Google internal * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek video codec driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the MediaTek video codec driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3812 A-28174833* M-ALPS02688832 Moderate Android One Apr 11, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm USB driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the Qualcomm USB driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3813 A-28172322* QC-CR1010222 Moderate Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P Apr 11, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in NVIDIA camera driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the NVIDIA camera driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3814 A-28193342* N-CVE20163814 Moderate Nexus 9 Apr 14, 2016 CVE-2016-3815 A-28522274* N-CVE20163815 Moderate Nexus 9 May 1, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek display driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the MediaTek display driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-3816 A-28402240* Moderate Android One Apr 26, 2016 * The patch for this issue is not publicly available. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site. Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel teletype driver An information disclosure vulnerability in the teletype driver could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2016-0723 A-28409131 Upstream kernel Moderate Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C Apr 26, 2016 Denial of service vulnerability in Qualcomm bootloader A denial of service vulnerability in the Qualcomm bootloader could enable a local malicious application to cause a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. CVE References Severity Updated Nexus devices Date reported CVE-2014-9798 A-28821448 QC-CR681965 Moderate Nexus 5 Oct 31, 2014 CVE-2015-8893 A-28822690 QC-CR822275 Moderate Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) Aug 19, 2015 Common questions and answers This section answers common questions that may occur after reading this bulletin. 1. How do I determine if my device is updated to address these issues? Security Patch Levels of 2016-07-01 or later address all issues associated with the 2016-7-01 security patch string level. Security Patch Levels of 2016-07-05 or later address all issues associated with the 2016-07-05 security patch string level. Refer to the help center for instructions on how to check the security patch level. Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string level to: [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2016-07-01] or [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2016-07-05]. 2. Why does this bulletin have two security patch level strings? This bulletin has two security patch level strings in order to provide Android partners with the flexibility to move more quickly to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices. Android partners are encouraged to fix all issues in this bulletin and use the latest security patch level string. Devices that use the security patch level of July 5, 2016 or newer must include all applicable patches in this (and previous) security bulletins. Devices that use the July 1, 2016 security patch level must include all issues associated with that security patch level, as well as fixes for all issues reported in previous security bulletins. Devices that use July 1, 2016 security patch level may also include a subset of fixes associated with the July 5, 2016 security patch level. 3. How do I determine which Nexus devices are affected by each issue? In the 2016-07-01 and 2016-07-05 security vulnerability details sections, each table has an Updated Nexus devices column that covers the range of affected Nexus devices updated for each issue. This column has a few options: All Nexus devices : If an issue affects all Nexus devices, the table will have All Nexus in the Updated Nexus devices column. All Nexus encapsulates the following supported devices: Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, Android One, Nexus Player, and Pixel C. : If an issue affects all Nexus devices, the table will have All Nexus in the Updated Nexus devices column. All Nexus encapsulates the following supported devices: Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, Android One, Nexus Player, and Pixel C. Some Nexus devices : If an issue doesnt affect all Nexus devices, the affected Nexus devices are listed in the Updated Nexus devices column. : If an issue doesnt affect all Nexus devices, the affected Nexus devices are listed in the Updated Nexus devices column. No Nexus devices: If no Nexus devices are affected by the issue, the table will have None in the Updated Nexus devices column. 4. What do the entries in the references column map to? Entries under the References column of the vulnerability details table may contain a prefix identifying the organization to which the reference value belongs. These prefixes map as follows: Prefix Reference A- Android bug ID QC- Qualcomm reference number M- MediaTek reference number N- NVIDIA reference number Revisions The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out Policy Bill for State Seal of STEM at California Senate Following in the footsteps of two other states, California is the next state to consider a bill that would award students pursuing STEM subjects with an official seal on their diploma. California high school students with high achievement in STEM subjects (science, engineering, math and technology) may soon receive a State Seal of STEM with their diplomas and transcripts, pending approval from the Senate. Assembly Bill 2072 (AB-2072) is slated for the Senate to review in the new session, which begins today. The bills sponsor Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang (Republican) said that the seal is part of an effort to encourage more students to learn STEM subjects, according to EdSource. We, as a state, should be doing all we can to keep students interested in these areas and encourage them to do well, said Chang. Providing students with a symbol of their accomplishments can benefit not only their personal drive and their self-esteem but also overall marketability. In order to receive the STEM seal, students would have to complete four year-long courses in mathematics and four year-long courses in science, earning an average 3.0 GPA or higher. Student must also meet at least one of the following requirements: Score a 3 or higher on an Advanced Placement exam in a science subject and math subject; Score 600 or higher on the math section of the SAT; Score a 4 or higher on an International Baccalaureate exam in science and math; Receive a B-grade or higher on both a college-level science course and a math course, taken through concurrent/dual enrollment at a community college; or Score at the highest level on the 11th grade Smarter Balanced math and English tests. The House of Representatives passed AB-2072 unanimously (77-0) earlier this year. If approved by the Senate, California would join Virginia and Arizona in offering STEM seals to graduating high school students. AB-2072 can be viewed on the California Legislature site. The Italian banking system is deeply troubled, according to the European Banking Authoritys latest stress-test results. The results revealed the weakest systems include Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany, in line with Morningstar equity analysts ratings of poor, fair, and fair, some of the lowest ratings among the banking systems covered. Italian bank Monti dei Paschi di Siena was actually shown to be insolvent, with a negative fully loaded common equity Tier 1 ratio at the end of 2018 under the adverse scenario. The bank announced that it has raised a conditional 5 billion from a consortium of banks, including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, BAML, Santander, and Citigroup. UK Banking System Appears Weak The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BARC) demonstrated common equity Tier 1 ratios of 8.1% and 7.3%, respectively, versus 15.5% and 11.4% starting points; these were some of the larger deltas among the banks tested. Lloyds (LLOY) ended up with a ratio just above 10%, which we consider good. While none of the banks are likely to raise capital in the near term, the results do not inspire confidence, as a Brexit scenario was not included. The Bank of England indicated the EBA stress-test results will be taken into account when it publishes its own stress-test results for U.K. banks later this year. Broadly, the prospects appear even dimmer for substantial increases in capital returns for the banks. German Banks Also Affected Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank also appear weak relative to the overall European banking system, with adverse results of 7.8% and 7.4%, indicating the difficult competitive environment faced by German banks. Deutsche Bank was affected by the European Banking Authoritys inclusion of conduct risk for the first time, and this factor reduced its ratio by 220 basis points, versus its starting point of 13.2%. We still expect Deutsche Bank to eventually have to raise about 5 billion in capital. The decline for Commerzbank was also concerning, considering the bank just disclosed that its common equity Tier 1 ratio declined to 11.5% in the second quarter from 12% in the first quarter, owing to higher pension liabilities, higher volumes of risk-weighted assets, and wider spreads of Italian debt, the bank holds more than 10 billion in Italian debt, indicating the broader risks of the Italian banking system to the rest of the European Union. This grief-stricken dog has sat outside the hospital where his owner died eight months ago, unaware that their reunion will never happen. The adorable pooch, named Negao, refuses to budge from outside the Ruth Cardoso Hospital in Santa Catarina, Brazil, since the end of last year. His owner, said to be a homeless man, was rushed there suffering from what turned out to be a fatal infection and Negao watched him stretchered inside. Loyal: Negao has sat outside the hospital for eight months (Facebook/Regiao Noticias) Showing fierce loyalty, the pup has sat outside ever since, not knowing that his owner will never walk back out the doors where he was wheeled in. Staff at the hospital say that Negao takes an interest in every ambulance that arrives, desperately looking to see if his owner is on board. The dog has been given food and drink during his tragic vigil but attempts to have him adopted only saw him run away - straight back to the hospital grounds. Mans best friend: Hospital staff say the dog will always be cared for as long as he stays there (Facebook/Regiao Noticias) A local animal charity now keep a close eye on Negao, giving him regular check-ups and taking him out for walks. Hospital officials insist he will always be looked after, with one telling G1: As long as he remains here, we will give all the care, warmth and love he needs. Top pic: Facebook/Regiao Noticias Ares Management is reportedly seeking to raise more than $45bn for its latest batch of funds. Statement of the Armenian Council of America The Armenian Council of America strongly condemns the violent actions perpetrated by the Armenian police and unidentified gangs in civilian clothes not only against Armenian Citizens exercising their right to freedom of speech and assembly, but also journalists engaged in their professional work. This unprecedented level of police brutality against peaceful and unarmed protesters is more fitting to a repressive regime rather than a democratic country We demand that the Armenian police immediately cease all illegal activities against the citizens and urge the authorities to launch an investigation into the actions of those who gave the orders and executed the crackdown on the unarmed protesters. Furthermore, the Armenian Council of America urges the State Department to suspend any cooperation with or assistance to the Police of the Republic of Armenia until such time when the Armenian authorities hold those officials and senior police officers who were, either directly or indirectly, responsible for such deplorable acts by their subordinates. As a US based Armenian organization that strives to see our ancestral homeland become a beacon of democracy in the region, we expect the Armenian Government and all its branches to respect the basic human rights of its citizenry and uphold the tenets of universal principles of democracy. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the violence used by police against journalists while dispersing a demonstration in Yerevan on the evening of 29 July. At least 12 journalists were injured. Plainclothes police armed with batons and steel bars hit three reporters with the Armenian service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty who were clearly identified and who were filming the events. Reporters and cameramen with A1+, CivilNet, Arachin Lratvakan, Panorama.am, Lragir.am and the Russian TV channel Life were injured by smoke and stun grenades fired by the police. Two journalists with state-owned Armenia TV were hit by individuals in civilian dress who also smashed their camera and microphone. Several journalists had to be hospitalized with burns and other injuries. Clearly identified journalists carrying cameras were deliberately targeted, said Johann Bihr, the head of RSFs Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. Some continued to be beaten after promising to stop filming. Such behaviour must be punished so that it does not recur. We urge the authorities to end the impunity for police violence against journalists and to give the police clear instructions not to do it again. The police have promised to conduct an investigation in order to shed light on what happened. Last year, 21 journalists were the victims of abuses in similar circumstances but only one investigation was carried out into all the various individual cases and no one was ever charged. Incidents of this kind often recur in Armenia. The demonstration on 29 July was in support of a group of hostage-takers who had seized a police station in Yerevan. According to a health ministry communique, 73 people were injured, including police officers. Armenia is ranked 74th out of 180 countries in RSFs 2016 World Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the violence used by police against journalists while dispersing a demonstration in Yerevan on the evening of 29 July. At least 12 journalists were injured. Plainclothes police armed with batons and steel bars hit three reporterswith the Armenian service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty who were clearly identified and who were filming the events. Reporters and cameramen with A1+, CivilNet, Arachin Lratvakan, Panorama.am, Lragir.amand the Russian TV channel Life were injured by smoke and stun grenades fired by the police. Two journalists with state-owned Armenia TV were hit by individuals in civilian dress who also smashed their camera and microphone. Several journalists had to be hospitalized with burns and other injuries. Clearly identified journalists carrying cameras were deliberately targeted, said Johann Bihr, the head of RSFs Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. Some continued to be beaten after promising to stop filming. Such behaviour must be punished so that it does not recur. We urge the authorities to end the impunity for police violence against journalists and to give the police clear instructions not to do it again. The police have promised to conduct an investigation in order to shed light on what happened. Last year, 21 journalists were the victims of abuses in similar circumstances but only one investigation was carried out into all the various individual cases and no one was ever charged. Incidents of this kind often recur in Armenia. The demonstration on 29 July was in support of a group of hostage-takers who had seized a police station in Yerevan. According to a health ministry communique, 73 people were injured, including police officers. Armenia is ranked 74th out of 180 countries in RSFs 2016 World Press Freedom Index. Modified On Aug 02, 2016 06:13 PM By Raunak for Honda New Accord The upcoming Honda Accord in India will be similarly specced as the Thailand version. After the introduction of the Asian-spec hybrid version of the facelifted ninth generation Accord a few months back, Honda has officially launched it in the Thailand market recently. The hybrid version starts at 1,659,000 baht (approximately Rs 31.83 lakh) in Thailand. It is expected of Honda to re-launch the Accord soon in the Indian market. With the midlife update of the ninth generation Accord, Honda has updated the hybrid powertrain of the vehicle internationally. The hybrid version comes with a 2.0-litre Atkinson Cycle i-VTEC four-cylinder engine, coupled with two electric motors, an E-CVT transmission, and a 1.3 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The powertrain puts out close to 215PS and returns an overall fuel efficiency of 23.8kmpl with carbon emissions of 99 gram/km. Honda promises a solely electric top speed of 120kmph. The Accords all-electric top speed and efficiency both are more than the popular Toyota Camry Hybrids, the Accords primary competitor in India. Besides the hybrid, Honda Cars India will also launch the non-hybrid, naturally aspirated version of the Accord. This version went on sale in the Thailand market earlier this year and was also on display at the 2016 Indian Auto Expo. The 2,356cc motor puts out 176PS of power and 225Nm of max torque and will be mated to a CVT transmission. Recommended Read: Honda Accord: What To Expect Published On Aug 01, 2016 06:07 PM By Alshaar In a bid to seek independence from using Google Maps for its services, taxi-hailing company Uber has recently announced a major expansion of its internal mapping programme. Ubers head of mapping, former Google Maps exec Brian McClendon, described the initiative as a doubling down on our investment in mapping, with the amount to be invested reportedly rising up to Rs 3338.32 crore ($500 million). McClendon announced that Ubers own mapping carssimilar to those used by Googlewill expand this summer from the US to Mexico, and after that to other countries, including emerging markets like India. Uber, like other such services, relies on a mix of mapping technology and data from sources like Google to help its drivers navigate. However, as the company points out, this generic data is superfluous (ocean topography) and thus inadequate for specific pickups and drops. Uber and Google have had a bit of history between them, with Googles Ventures arm even being an early investor in the former. But priorities have changed over the course of time and the current bone of contention is the independent development of self-driven cars by both the giants. Should the two end up direct competitors in that spacesay, if both of them were to launch networks of autonomous taxisdependency on Googles maps would amount to a significant vulnerability for Uber. In India the third-biggest market for the company though, Uber faces stiff competition from Mumbai-based car aggregator Ola. Despite a reported $500 million investment in India so far this year, Uber has still not managed to race ahead of its local rival. However, after its recent tie-up with Chinese tech giant Didi Chuxing, Uber is expected to be able to concentrate its resources and efforts better in India. In July 2015, the company's founder Travis Kalanick had even committed to a Rs 6,700 crore (approx.) investment in the country, claiming it to bear the potential to surpass the likes of the US or China. The NCUA issued eight prohibition notices to criminals during the month of July, including Sean Jelen, former CEO of Valor FCU in Scranton, Pa., which has made national headlines. These people are prohibited from participating in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution. Jelen, 33, embezzled $718,000 to pay for credit card bills, college tuition, his spouses birthday party and a golf tournament sponsorship from the $231 million credit union. In addition to a fraud charge, he was also charged with attempted fraud for creating a forged severance contract before he was fired by the board of directors in August 2015 for another $1.1 million. In addition, Jacqueline Ray, a former employee of Ochsner Clinic Federal Credit Union in New Orleans, consented to the issuance of a prohibition order and agreed to comply with all of its terms to settle and resolve the NCUA boards claims against her. The 30-year president/CEO of the failed Louisiana credit union, created fake loans and coded those accounts so no statements would be generated, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in New Orleans to stealing more than $1 million. Summer Eckley Scholars Develop Research Skills Eckley Scholar Martha Aguirre '17 (right) discusses her progress with her mentor, Professor Irv Epstein. Aug. 1, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. How are students and teachers in two different countries resisting the privatization of public education? What new methods will be developed to help stroke patients in their rehabilitation? Can research on men as perpetrators of sexual violence help administrators understand how to reduce incidents on college campuses? These and other questions are being investigated this summer by five Illinois Wesleyan University students who were selected as Eckley Scholars. The Robert S. and Nell B. Eckley Scholars and Artists Program was established by President Emeritus Eckley and his wife, Nell. The endowment provides a stipend of $4,000 for each scholar to spend the summer on campus conducting research under the mentorship of a faculty member. Established shortly before President Eckley passed away in 2012, the program is designed to develop and deepen a students creative and research competencies. The financial aid I get from the Eckley award is making a massive difference in my life, said recipient Paige Buschman 17. I put myself through school, and having a secure income this summer, while simultaneously gaining skills that will prepare me for work I plan to do in the future, has impacted my life in a way I cannot explain. Following are brief descriptions of the scholars projects: Martha Aguirre 17 Martha Aguirre 17 While studying abroad in Chile, Martha Aguirre 17 witnessed students protesting inequalities in their education system. High school and university students united to fight for their educational rights, said Aguirre, who is majoring in secondary education and Hispanic Studies. I was inspired that students were so aware of the inequality of the education system. During her time in Chile, Aguirre noticed that some of the same problems Chile experienced also plagued the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), where Aguirre had received her education. The differences, she noticed, laid in who was doing the protesting. In Chicago, she noted, the resistance has largely come from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), while in Chile, it was students who were protesting privatization in mass numbers. Guided by Irv Epstein, who is Ben and Susan Rhodes Endowed Professor in Peace and Social Justice in addition to Chair of Educational Studies, Aguirre is researching the ways teachers and students in two different countries are resisting privatization of public education, which generally means contracting out to the private, for-profit sector jobs and responsibilities of the public sector (school vouchers and charter schools, for example). In her research, Aguirre said she has most enjoyed interviewing teachers and students in both locations and bringing to light their voices and struggles. Students are capable of producing huge changes if they recognize their capabilities and their potential, she said. After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan, Aguirre hopes to become a CPS teacher. I want to give back to the schools like those I attended, she said. I hope to receive an endorsement in ESL/Bilingual education and teach newcomer immigrant students. Boryana Borisova 17 Boryana Borisova 17 As a 6-year-old immigrant from Bulgaria, Boryana Borisova 17 was introduced to Western culture through childrens books. Now as a young adult and International Studies major at Illinois Wesleyan, Borisova is revisiting childrens literature for her Eckley research project. Through a comparative analysis between the original English text of A.A. Milnes Winnie-the-Pooh and its retelling by Russian childrens writer and poet Boris Zakhoder, Borisova questions the subversive nature of Zakhoders text. Adult readers looked upon his retelling as a manual of resistance to ideological pressures from the socialist state, said Borisova. This anti-totalitarian message overshadowed the value of this text for childrens readership. While paying attention to the politics of Zakhoders text, my research will restore its merit for the younger audience by analyzing its place within the body of Soviet childrens literature. Borisova will also expand her analysis to the realm of visual culture, comparing the Walt Disney Productions film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) with the work of the Russian animator Fyodor Khitruk in the early 1970s. She said she was inspired to apply for the Eckley award because of her academic advisor, Isaac Funk Professor of German and Russian Marina Balina. Her piercing insight and creativity introduced me to a new realm of Soviet childrens literature, Borisova said of Balina. She has challenged me to bring forth an independent study of merit. Following graduation from Illinois Wesleyan, Borisova plans to apply to graduate school for programs in library and information science. My mission of promoting books by foreign authors and exposing American youth to the globalized world of cultures began this summer as an Eckley Scholar, she said. Paige Buschman 17 Paige Buschman 17 Earlier this year, the sexual assault conviction and subsequent sentencing of ex-Stanford University student Brock Turner brought attention once again to the realities of reporting and punishing sexual assault. While experts and activists laud colleges who have advocated for affirmative consent standards and launched bystander intervention training, research by Paige Buschman 17 adds to a growing body of research suggesting studying perpetrators rather than victims helps administrators understand how to reduce incidents of sexual assault. My study focuses on socialization processes, specifically of men, around issues of sexual assault and how those processes manifest themselves in institutions of higher education, said Buschman, a sociology major who is mentored by Associate Professor of Sociology Meghan Burke. In researching the history of feminism and masculinity in the United States, we have really come so far, but we have much further to go, she said. We need to do a better job, as a society and as a campus, of teaching boys what sexual assault is and not to do it. There is not enough emphasis in mens upbringing on respecting women and their boundaries. Instead, we teach them to prove their masculinity in ways that are damaging to themselves and to their partners. After graduation from Illinois Wesleyan, Buschman plans to attend graduate school to enter higher education administration. Ultimately, I would like to work in a womens center or another kind of diversity center on a college campus. Shannon Maloney 18 Shannon Maloney 18 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability, and some 95 percent of stroke survivors have some upper-limb dysfunction in routine daily activities. Stroke patients tend to rely heavily on compensatory strategies such as picking up a ball with their arm or with a couple of their fingers instead of implementing the whole hand, said Shannon Maloney 18, a psychology and business administration double major. Through a comparative study utilizing mice performing two different reaching tasks, Maloney hopes to discover a task that promotes behavior that closely parallels true recovery. She said true recovery signifies actions that mirror the behaviors patients exhibit pre-stroke. Currently in this field of knowledge, there are limited reaching tasks used for stroke rehabilitation, said Maloney, who is guided by Assistant Professor of Psychology Abigail Kerr. Maloney said that in her first year at Illinois Wesleyan, she took the course Brain Injury and Recovery with Kerr. In the course Maloney learned what happens to the brain when patients are subjected to the rabies virus or receive multiple head injuries. By the end of the semester, I was captivated by the field of knowledge called neuropsychology, Maloney recalled. I started working in Dr. Kerrs lab to acquire more hands-on experience in the field. She said the opportunity to conduct research, made possible by the Eckley award, has helped her define her career aspirations, which currently include graduate school. Zach Silver 18 Zach Silver 18 The sound of barking dogs is music to the ears of Zach Silver. More specifically, Silver is investigating the degree to which domesticated dogs pay attention to changes in the size of the sound of a bark, and whether the dog attends more or less to various sounds. The psychology and music double major said his project combines many of the empirical methods hes learned from his advisors and mentors, Assistant Professor of Music Joseph Plazak and Assistant Professor of Psychology Ellen Furlong. In music cognition, researchers have learned a great deal about the way that humans perceive the size of sounds, said Silver. In the field of comparative cognition, researchers have discovered a plethora of information about the way that non-human animals experience the world. By increasing our understanding of how non-human animals perceive and respond to sound, we can better understand our own hearing systems and our responses to sounds. The Eckley project has had emotional benefits for him as well, Silver said. I always look forward to coming into the dog scientists lab, he said. Being around dogs always seems to have a positive impact on my day. After graduation from Illinois Wesleyan, Silver hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, continuing to investigate the way humans and non-human animals hear and perceive sound. Conducting research as an undergraduate is one of Illinois Wesleyans unique experiential learning opportunities. Approximately two-thirds of Illinois Wesleyan students conduct research, working alongside faculty in research or collaborating with them on students own designs, artwork, musical compositions or other works of fine art. Editor's note: Ever since President Muhammadu Buhari came into power he launched a massive anti-corruption campaign. Speaking on several occasions the president vowed to prosecute public funds looters. Joseph Agbenla in an open letter to the president commends Buhari's administration in tackling corruption but draws his attention to the need for deeper investigation. Your Excellency, Mr. President, while I have nothing but commendation for the courageous steps your administration is taking to confront the corruption virus ravaging the moral fabric of Nigeria. I, however, most respectfully wish to draw attention to the urgent need for a deeper investigation beyond the current flurry of arrests and prosecution of suspected corrupt politicians and erstwhile public officials into exactly how we, as a nation, steadily edged ourselves into the lethal clutches of this scourge. To effectively do this, and thus evolve a realistic solution, we have to examine critically when, where and how we deviated from the path of probity. Sir, after a personal evaluation of the countrys gradually worsening circumstances over the years, I am constrained to conclude that the present mire in which have found ourselves owes largely to the significant changes, nay, convolutions, our constitution and governance policies have been subjected to, ostensibly for less than altruistic intentions. Nigeria gains independence from Britain 1960 Upon independence in 1960, Nigeria inherited from Britain the Parliamentary system of government. It may not have been a perfect system which is, anyway? but with the benefit of hindsight we must concede that it was better suited to good governance in the countrys circumstances as a multi-ethnic society. And while it had worked almost seamlessly for centuries in the United Kingdom, which, like Nigeria, is a multi-peopled society, what was needed to smoothen out the imperfection creases in Nigeria was a sustained commitment to improving it to suit our development goals. READ ALSO: Opinion: Nigeria's much needed unity The first assault on that system, which was largely not acknowledged with regret then, came via the January 15, 1966 coup by the countrys military, which suspended the Constitution and promptly imposed a unitary system of government. The central government literally became overlords and the states, vassals. Both the 1967-1970 civil war and the multiple coups de tat in the country contributed immensely to the decline in probity by public officials and Nigerians generally. The desperation by the populace for improved existence after the devastation of the civil saw morals relegated to the background; just as each military coup was accompanied by mass purging of public officials. With insecurity of tenure, the inclination to steal while in office heightened. The final straw that broke our probity backbone, in my opinion, was the Presidential system of government the military crafted for the country. Virtually a winners-take-all system, the lucre in public office made it irresistible to many, who were prepared to break the bank to attain or retain it. Representation, having become restricted to the moneyed, became poor. Thus, while in the First Republic debate was robust though sometimes raucous in Parliament on salient issues on national development, the Second Republic saw a legislature that, by virtue of the operation of an alien Presidential system, was remarkably deficient in service delivery in comparison. To worsen matters, the 1999 Constitution, on which the current civilian dispensation is pegged, was fashioned by a Military that initially intended to have its Top Gun at the head of government. Coupled by a system that is heavily themed in money, it would amount to living in a fools paradise to expect any cogent commitment to service from public officers. And with the constitution bugged with landmines which require a legislature imbued with unity of purpose to amend, the country seems consigned to perpetual mediocrity if we do not act fast. The ongoing display of shamelessness in the National Assembly is ample evidence of a system gone wrong. While it took a mere three years of the First Republic to achieve the monumental creation of the Mid-West as the fourth region in the country in 1963, the current legislature is not minded to close ranks on any issue other than that which offers the promise of multiplying their already-bumper incomes. President Muhammadu Buhari's fight against corruption Your Excellency, are we going to allow the nation to be continually hobbled by a faulty system? Me thinks your administration is making giant strides in the anti-corruption war. But there is a yearning need to go deeper in our search for deliverance. The viral corruption in which grip the country is enmeshed is but a mere manifestation of the problem; the root cause is the operation of an unsuitable system of government. Change the system, and we can begin to see positive reversals. A honest evaluation of the various governments the country has had since independence reveals that the most significant political and socio-economic infrastructural development experienced so far in Nigeria was during the First Republic. Not only was there a strong opposition that was able to stand up to the ruling party, policies were well-articulated and debated before enactment into law, and the method of turning up representatives to Parliament was such that continued membership of such hallowed Houses depended on sterling performance by the incumbents. It is pertinent to add that the Presidential system came in with corruption in terms of lobby and pressure groups. READ ALSO: Opinion: The truth is that APC government has failed Mr. President Sir, it is my considered opinion that you should capitalise on the current widespread enthusiasm being expressed for a review of the constitution by putting in top gear, plans for a REFERENDUM in which Nigerians would decide what system of government the country would adopt. Should we continue with the Presidential system of government or go back to the Parliamentary system? Beyond that, Nigerians should determine whether the country reverts to the old regional government system, which proved to be economically viable, or continue to plod on with the present system that has led us into a cul-de-sac, with a majority of the states unable to fulfil the most basic of duties such as paying salaries to staff? Prudence and probity in public office must be entrenched if we are to build a Nigeria that our descendants would be proud of. You are laying a commendable foundation, but I dare say that the task demands in-depth analyses and vigilance for sustenance of such values. Your Excellency, the teeming youth are restless, and are looking up to your government to fashion for them a brighter future. You can not afford to fail; the consequences are too dire. God bless our amiable President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR; God bless Nigeria. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Naij.com Opinion page! Source: Legit.ng - Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders accused northerners of plotting to islamise the country - The group also alleged there were plans to kill vibrant youths from the Niger Delta - The militants claim northerners want to own the oil in Niger Delta A militant group, Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders (NDRC) has alleged that the north has an agenda to Islamise the entire country. Vanguard reports that W O I Izon-Ebi who is the spokesperson of the group in a statement issued on Monday, August 1 said northerners were using greedy political elites to push their agenda. Their first step is to use few of our greedy political elites. The second plan is to frame distinguished leaders with frivolous charges. The third one is to incite crisis for the military to come into the Niger Delta with the sole purpose to kill all the vibrant and brave youths of the region that are mouth piece and leaders of tomorrow. READ ALSO: Ijaw people flee Lagos after ROPC threat To further expose their Islamic agenda to own our oil and enslave us, they have gone further to absorb more than 250,000 civilian JTF into the Nigerian Army and even boasting to absorb more into the military and paramilitary force. File photo of militants As if that is not enough, they are offering the Boko Haram Amnesty with the sole aim to invade the Niger Delta in the name of fighting militants. The drafting of Special Forces to the Niger Delta is not a threat to the people Niger Delta, because before this time we have known the Islamisation plot of recruiting Saudi Mercenaries, absorbing civilian JTF, and recruiting of Boko Haram members to form a special force to invade the Niger Delta. Niger Deltans have suffered in the hands of the Nigerian government through their divide and rule tactics and few criminal minded elites to impoverish the people. This is why from 1957 when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri till date, there is nothing to show as an oil producing region. All we see is suffering, hunger, poverty, gas flaring, and degradation. Now, their ploy is to cause disunity in the Niger Delta in order to go on with their exploration and exploitation. All what we see now in the Niger delta is disunity, witch-hunting, tribal sentiment, poverty, which they are using in order to achieve their purpose. These things are done deliberately to disorganize the people of the Niger Delta to enable them continue with oil exploration. Even in political appointments, they try to use it to create disunity among the people. Example, in the NDDC, if truly they meant well for the region, there will not be any need for agitation, an Isoko man is from Delta state, why are the Itsekiri people protesting, in Ondo, the same thing, Akwa Ibom the same thing, Abia the same thing. NDRC declared: They are now using our resources to acquire weapons and fighters to enslave us in this 21st century. We are very sad with our brothers that use Niger Delta struggle to enrich themselves and at the same time being used by the northerners to achieve their aim of exploiting the oil. They feel that they have settled some few charlatans and criminals that call themselves ex-militants, using them to hijack the struggle that our distinguished sons and fathers stood for. Isaac Adaka Boro never took sides against his people or enriched himself, Ken Saro-Wiwa laid his life for this same course, Government Epkomupolo aka Tompolo, the prince of Ijaw deity (Egbesu), initiated the one and only Nigerian Maritime University, NMU. The spirit and courage, fearlessness, bravery is motivating us to put a stop to this planned Islamic agenda against the Niger Delta. Just as we are asking our fathers why did allow their age mates from the north to put Niger Delta in this pathetic condition, we shall not allow our children to ask us the same question. If the government is truly sincere about solving the Niger Delta crisis, they should discuss with our distinguished elders. The proposed release of Henry Okah, Charles Okah, and Nnamdi Kanu and others is a well come development to build the dialogue process. READ ALSO: Militants credit GEJ with cancellation of Niger Delta Republic The group however rejected the idea of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta leading the dialogue between militants and the federal government. MEND should stop embarrassing our distinguished leaders from the region because Niger Deltans knows that MEND has been disbanded, granted amnesty and settled with pipeline contract. When we checked Government Tompolo, GOC, Empkomupolo is declared wanted by the EFCC, Alhaji Asari is in support of the cause, Ateke Tom is peacefully in his community with his philanthropic gesture and spirit to see the well-being of his people earning the title of a first class chief in his kingdom. Henry Okah is in jail, Charles Okah is in jail. So who is speaking for MEND now? Can they honorably unmask themselves, if they are truly fighting for the well-being of the region, or is it a ploy to connive with the federal government to eliminate our bravest youths? It said. Source: Legit.ng - Pastor Adeboye has cautioned RCCG pastors to be clean shaven at all times - He urged elders to be the guiding light to the youths - The cleric said youths are young and look up to the elders for direction Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has cautioned elders to be good examples to the youths. According to him, any elderly person who cannot show the noble journey for the youths in terms of dressing is not worthy to be described as an elder, Vanguard reports. Pastor Adeboye READ ALSO: "Praying for death of killers is anti-Christ" - Adeboye speaks The youths dont respect an elder that looks like them. You are supposed to be their guiding light after they have fooled around, the cleric stated. He frowned at pastors growing beards in the name of new fashion, Vanguard reports. I dont want to see any of my pastors looking like fellows from the training camps of Al-Qaeda, Adeboye said. He explained that pastors should be clean shaven at all times and must not in any way grow beards that will portray them as persons of different persuasion. READ ALSO: Prominent men of God pray against bad leadership The man of God condemned tribalism in the church, saying no pastor has the churchs blessing to impose Yoruba songs as part of the church service in other parts of the country, emphasizing the need for pastors in other parts of the country to encourage the locals to sing and rejoice in their local dialects. Adeboye warned RCCG pastors to refrain from arranging marriages among brethren in the church, just as he advised youths not to marry outside the church. Source: Legit.ng Oh Sonia Kruger. Pls stop. STAHHHHPPPP. After last weeks shitstorm when the television host stated Australia should deny immigration to Muslim people, Kruger has now moved on and decided to set her conservative sights on LGBTQIA youth. On this mornings Today, the hosts discussed the Australian Business and Community Network Scholarship Foundation (ABCN) offering a specific scholarship to students who identify within the LGBTQIA community. Yknow, one of those excellent and common scholarships that assists someone from a disadvantaged group receive the same education as someone from a privileged background. The scholarship seeks to help LGBTQIA students who need mentoring, assistance with study resources and/or help with financial hardships, is valued at $7000 over 3 years. But nope Sonia, who appears to have succumbed to the all-too-typical yet wholly devastating disease that causes people to become more and more conservative as they get older, says that the scholarship is reverse discrimination. She said it found it odd that the scholarship application, which is not at all compulsory and completely the students choice, asks them about their sexual preferences. Luckily, David Campbell was once again to Sonias left to provide the logical counterpoint to her blinkered point of view: Kids sexuality nowadays is different now to even when we were in high school he said, before pointing out that there was a huge range of open scholarships, so one specifically for LGBTQIA students is hardly a big deal. I dont think it should have anything to do with the awarding of a scholarship. I thinks scholarships should be given on merit, said Kruger in response. Ah yes, the classic merit argument. Its one of the oldest in the book, and anyone who says Sonias POV is new and refreshing is as incorrect as she is misguided. Heres your answer, Sonia yes, it would be absolutely lovely to live in a world where everyone was on equal footing and could then be judged on merit. It really and truly would. But we do not live in that world. In the modern day of 2016, people from oppressed minorities that possess the merit and are equally qualified are often overlooked anyway, just because of the colour of their skin, their sexuality, or their gender. The merit system only works when equality exists. Seeing as we do not have true equality, we need fairness, not sameness. SAMENESS > FAIRNESS Source/Photo: Today. McBains Cooper has secured a LEED EBOM Gold certification for the headquarters building of Oriflame, the Swedish cosmetics company, in Athens. McBains Cooper was appointed by the buildings owner, Grivalia Real Estate Investment Company, to provide a packaged solution of sustainability consultancy services, including LEED EBOM certification advice, energy modelling [] If you want to save on your monthly electric bill and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions at the same time, you might buy a new, energy-efficient refrigerator. Or water heater. Or clothes dryer. But if you can only replace one of these, which will give you the biggest payback? You could try to figure that out by comparing the energy-use labels from your existing appliances with those of the models you might purchase -- if you still have your old labels. Even then, the numbers may differ significantly from your actual usage, depending on factors such as age, condition, and your local climate. But soon, there could be a much easier way to figure out exactly how much power is being used by every appliance, lighting fixture, and device in your home, with pinpoint accuracy and at low cost, thanks to devices and software developed by researchers at MIT. The team's findings, developed over several years of intensive research, are described in a series of papers, including one published this week in the IEEE Sensors Journal, in a paper by MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Steven Leeb and recent graduates David Lawrence MEng '16 and John Donnal PhD '16. Another paper from the team, which also includes as co-author James Paris PhD '13, is still in press. While many groups have worked on developing devices to monitor electricity use, the new MIT system has some key advantages over other approaches. First, it involves no complex installation: No wires need to be disconnected, and the placement of the postage-stamp-sized sensors over the incoming power line does not require any particular precision -- the system is designed to be self-calibrating. Second, because it samples data very quickly, the sensors can pick up enough detailed information about spikes and patterns in the voltage and current that the system can, thanks to dedicated software, tell the difference between every different kind of light, motor, and other device in the home and show exactly which ones go on and off, at what times. Own your own data Perhaps most significantly, the system is designed so that all of the detailed information stays right inside the user's own home, eliminating concerns about privacy that potential users may have when considering power-monitoring systems. The detailed analysis, including the potential for specialized analysis based on an individual user's specific needs or interests, can be provided by customized apps that can be developed using the MIT team's system. advertisement Tests of the system have showed its potential to save energy and greenhouse emissions -- and even to improve safety. One installation at a military base used for training exercises revealed that large tents were being heated all day during winter months, even though they were unoccupied for most of the daytime hours -- a significant waste of money and fuel (which, in a combat setting, could be an important logistical concern). Another test installation, in a home, found an anomalous voltage pattern that revealed a wiring flaw that caused some copper plumbing pipes to carry a potentially dangerous live voltage. "For a long time, the premise has been that if we could get access to better information [about energy use], we would be able to create some significant savings," Leeb says. He and his students have been tackling the problem for more than 10 years and bit by bit have found ways to circumvent the daunting problems involved in achieving this basic task. First was the ability to monitor changes in voltage and current without cutting the main incoming power line to a home or business (an expensive process requiring a licensed electrician) or plugging every appliance into a special monitoring device. Other groups have attempted to use wireless sensors to pick up the very faint magnetic and electric fields near a wire, but such systems have required a complex alignment process since the fields in some places can cancel each other out. The MIT team solved the problem by using an array of five sensors, each slightly offset from the others, and a calibration system that tracks the readings from each sensor and figures out which one is positioned to give the strongest signal. Interpreting the data flow The next trick was in figuring out how to analyze the reams of data flowing in from the high-speed sensors, in order to tease out which bits correspond to current and voltage, and how that information could be used to identify "signatures" of specific appliances. This is possible because every motor or device has distinctive characteristics as to exactly how fast and how much the voltage varies, or spikes, at the moment the device switches on, or as it operates. After extensive testing in the lab, in homes, at the Fort Devens Army base outside Boston, and aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Spencer, the team was able to develop a catalog of such signatures, to identify each kind of electrical load. And finally, given the prodigious amount of raw data generated by the system, the team had to figure out how to extract the useful information and display it in a way that would make it easy for people to make decisions about energy investments. They developed an interface that allows users to "zoom in" on specific time segments, revealing enough data to tell when a refrigerator turns on or off, or goes into its defrost cycle, or how often a water heater is switching on and off during the day. "A bunch of major players have gotten into, and out of, this field," says Leeb, including giants like Google and Microsoft. But now, he says, the MIT team has solved the key issues and come up with a practical and very powerful system. One of the major insights they had was that keeping most of the data within the home and sending only small subsets out into the cloud for processing solved two problems at once: It eliminated the privacy concerns of using such a system, and it eliminated the huge bandwidth and data transmission costs that would be required if the raw data was sent to a central facility. Once the system is developed into a commercial product, Leeb says, it should cost only about $25 to $30 per home. "We're trying to lower the barriers to installation," says co-author John Donnal, and this noncontact sensor is simple enough for most home users to install on their own. "It just goes on with a zip tie," he says. The research was supported in part by the Grainger Foundation, the Office of Naval Research Neptune program, the MIT Skoltech Initiative, and the MIT and Masdar Institute Cooperative Program. Onlookers took (and tweeted) photographs of the incident, but it's unclear whether anyone tried to get the man to bring the child back over the fence. The scene has a bitter taste of recent events. In May, a toddler climbed into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. Zoo officials shot and killed a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe as a precaution to save the child's life. Zoo enclosures have evolved to be more naturalistic, compared to the metal cages where zoo animals were once confined. Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Orphaned Deer Runs Back To The Wild With Her Best Friend "If we look back 40 or 50 years, you'd go to zoos and see animals behind bars. You'd see them in a way that they're imprisoned, truly imprisoned, which means they're protected and people are protected," Ron L. Kagan, executive director and chief executive officer of The Detroit Zoo, a leading institution for animal welfare, told The Dodo after Harambe's death. Old image of a lion and lioness in a metal cage at the London Zoo | New York Public Library As zoos learned more about what animals actually need, Kagan said, things began to change. Zoos opted for more natural, immersive exhibits that would help animals live more like they would in the wild. But these increasingly natural exhibits, which are more accessible than a jail cell, depend on human beings staying responsible for themselves around the enclosures - so that people and animals are safe. "When there's an intention to go into an enclosure, it's almost impossible to prevent that," Kagan said, citing a number of suicide attempts, most recently in Chile, where a man threw himself into a lion's enclosure, and zookeepers killed two lions to save him. In this case at the Dublin Zoo, both the child and the rhinos came out unscathed - this time. Nothing quite stirs us from our sleep like the plaintive cry of a puppy in the night. She's in the crate. You're in the bed. Why can't you be together? It's a question many puppy owners have grappled with - and many have surrendered to - since puppies were invented. The answer? In a word, resist. Letting your puppy forgo the crate for your bed too early in life deprives her of one of the most underrated teachers in life: space. "When I talk to my clients about it I always tell them, if your bed was set up in the middle of an empty Walmart, you wouldn't feel comfortable," Jackie Cameron, a professional trainer and executive director at No-Kill Kern Dog Rescue in California, tells The Dodo. "There's too much room. You're always going to feel insecure about how big the space is. "When you have the four walls of your room, it gives you security and you can sleep comfortably at night. It's the same way for dogs." Of course, a crate isn't a magical box where you can keep your puppy indefinitely. During the day, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recommends stints of no longer than three to four hours for puppies under 6 months old, with plenty of exercise and socialization in between. Dodo Shows Comeback Kids Family Stops At Nothing To Help Their Great Dane Run At night, puppies can hold in their pee a little longer, but HSUS recommends keeping the crate close to your bed because you will likely have to make a pee run at least once in the night. (You can find more details about age and recommended crate time here.) At just a few months old, they can't control their bodily functions for much longer than that. Besides, as beneficial as crates can be, they shouldn't be associated with exile. Crates should be seen as positive places - a resting pad between romps. And a place to develop their own sense of self. This browser does not support the video tag. RAY PREVO / YOUTUBE If a puppy grows up without his own personal space, like a kennel, he may grow up fused to his owner - as in waking up the second you wake up, not knowing what to do with himself when you're not there and with a general neediness that may become downright exhausting. "We want to teach our dogs to make good choices in life and using the kennel can help them," Cameron explains. "When we wake up in the morning, if our dogs are in bed with us, they have a tendency to get excited. They're up and they're immediately in motion. "If they're in a kennel, they might wake up, but because they're in a kennel, they have to wait calmly until we go and let them out. It changes the way that a dog begins the day." Marley's Mutts But the crying at night. Sad puppy. MUST ... RELEASE ... puppy. Every puppy is going to cry in a crate. At least for a little while. But prolonged crying may be a sign that you didn't deck out your puppy's crate - with blankets, teddies, you know, the good things in puppy life. Flickr/Adore62 And even more importantly, you may not have put your puppy in the right state of mind before you put her in there - as in tire her out, comfort her and make the crate seem like a welcome respite. The crate should be a positive experience. A puppy-only clubhouse. A time to relax. If they don't get that time alone, puppies can quickly develop destructive tendencies, Cameron says. Or their energy levels may skyrocket at all the wrong times. "It's because they're waking up in the wrong state of mind. If we take away the space for them to build up that energy, they have no choice but to stay at a lower energy level," Cameron adds. And self-regulating their energy levels - knowing the right time to turn it on and off - is crucial to raising a balanced dog. "It's very important that puppies have their own space," Liz Kover, outreach and education director for Miracle Muttsin California, tells The Dodo. "It creates independence." Kover agrees with most of us though: Resistance can be torture. "People will try to crate train a puppy," she tells The Dodo. "But the puppy's crying. People feel bad for the puppy. They bring the puppy in the bed with them." And yes, it feels good. Really good. But without their own space, puppies lose their sense of self. Everything becomes about you. And woe to you and your home if you happen to leave your dog alone. There is, however, a way you can bend the rules a little - to at least get in your cuddle time, which is vital to puppy and human alike. "What I would do is I'd have the puppy in the crate overnight and then wake up early in the morning and then take the puppy out to go potty," Kover says. "And then snuggle with the puppy in the bed. So you still have that snuggle time. Because that's important, too." There are a few other reasons why puppies should get used to a crate early on. For one thing, there's safety. "You need to use caution that you don't roll over and squish them because they are so tiny," Sonja Olson, an emergency clinician at BluePearl Veterinary Partners, tells The Dodo. That goes mainly for small dog breeds. But bigger breeds have their own issues with human beds. "Be forewarned," Olson says. "Once you have opened that door, they will assume that for the rest of their lives, the bed will be their space, too." The crate door doesn't have to stay locked. "Once the dog understands that they can be in their own space, that they don't have to be right next to you all the time, you can invite them into your bed," Cameron says.And sharing your bed with a dog or three - while leaving the crate door open - becomes more a question of how much you enjoy it. "If you're not squeamish about a few germs and you don't mind a little dog hair on your pillow, it's really a personal preference," Olson says. And there are a lot of solid reasons why you should let a dog into your bed - including potential health benefits, like improving your sleep. Women who got their periods after age 12 and menopause after age 50 had higher odds of living to 90 than those who didnt, study shows Later period, longer lifespan? Women who start menstruation and menopause later in life are more likely to live to 90, a new study finds. Published this month in the journal Menopause, the research finds women who got their periods at 12 years of age or older and experienced menopause either naturally or surgically at 50 or older had higher odds of hitting that nonagenarian mark. The study, conducted by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, involved more than 16,000 ethnically-diverse women. Brain changes in kids with autism, ADHD, OCD A team of Toronto researchers has found common brain changes in children with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD.) The MRI-based study from the American Journal of Psychiatry involved brain imaging in 200 kids with autism, ADHD, OCD or no diagnosis. In the children with any of the three conditions being studied, the team found impairments in the white matter in the main tract connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain when compared to healthy children. Vitamin D a brain booster Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin plays a big role in maintaining healthy bones and muscles. But what about brain health? Duke-NUS Medical School and Duke University researchers measured the baseline Vitamin D levels of more than 1,000 elderly people in China and assessed their cognitive abilities over two years. The study found low Vitamin D levels are associated with cognitive decline reinforcing similar findings from earlier studies from Europe and North America. More proof being active matters A study of middle-aged men spanning nearly half a century reveals that having a low exercise capacity is second only to smoking when it comes to someones risk of death. The 45-year research from the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology hammers home the benefits of being physically active. Low physical capacity is a greater risk for death than high blood pressure or high cholesterol, said lead author Dr. Per Ladenvall, a researcher in the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, in a release. SHARE: VANCOUVERPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is no stranger to Vancouvers Pride parade, having taken part in the annual celebration for the past several years. But this year he set a milestone for the 38-year-old event by becoming the first sitting prime minister to participate in the march. Trudeau and his family waved to cheering crowds as they led the procession along the sunny, rainbow-laden streets of the citys downtown on Sunday. The prime minister paused along the route to shake hands and snap selfies with enthusiastic spectators. What an incredible pleasure it is to be back here in Vancouver, he said moments before the parade set off. We celebrate the great diversity that is such a strength of our country. We celebrate community. We celebrate family. And all these things together means were going to have a great Pride. He began the parade alongside his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, and his three children, the youngest of whom appeared oblivious to the noisy revelry as he slept in a stroller pushed by the prime minister. On July 3, Trudeau also became the first incumbent prime minister to take part in Torontos Pride parade. The revellers in Toronto, some decked out in rainbow gear and outlandish costumes, gave the prime minister a boisterous reception, posing for selfies with him and chanting his name as he passed by. Trudeau, however, downplayed his appearance at Torontos parade as no big deal, noting hed been attending Pride parades for years. Official numbers have yet to be released for the Vancouver parade, but organizers estimated the celebration would attract more than half a million spectators. The event drew some controversy when the activist group Black Lives Matter called for the Vancouver police to withdraw from the parade, saying allowing officers to participate on a float was insulting to protesters who made Pride celebrations possible. The call came just weeks after the Toronto chapter of the group temporarily stopped the countrys largest Pride parade and issued a series of demands including more funding and better representation for minority communities during Pride events, and a ban on police floats in future parades. The Vancouver group said on Monday that the citys police department, which ultimately took part in the parade, did reach out to them to listen to their concerns. Read more about: SHARE: A train rolled into Downsview Station just before midnight Sunday, filled with the thump of drums, the recitation of poetry, and the joy of hundreds of people celebrating Emancipation Day. The TTC provided the Freedom Train a Line 1 subway train for the festivities Sunday night and people of all ages and ethnicities showed up at Union Station to commemorate the day the British Empire abolished slavery Aug. 1, 1834. The train was pretty packed. All the seats were taken, said Itah Sadu of A Different Booklist a bookstore which, along with the Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride committee, arranged the event. After listening to speeches and opening remarks, attendees boarded the train at 11:40 p.m., and rode north for about 20 minutes. Riders sang traditional freedom songs This Little Light of Mine and By the Rivers of Babylon drummed, listened to speeches and poetry, and ended up at Downsview Station around midnight. A couple even exchanged wedding vows at Union Station before the train departed which, to Sadu, was rather symbolic. We know and we remember that prior to slavery, we had the joy of family, Sadu said. While on the Underground Railroad, she said, its quite likely families found and lost each other. Other Emancipation Day commemorations were held over the weekend. Toronto Caribbean Carnival takes its roots from celebrations held in the Caribbean after emancipation and other Simcoe Day events also make reference to it. But Sadu thought people might want to celebrate more than just the historic day. I think people wanted to recognize that . . . people like Harriet Tubman were emancipators, Sadu said, referring to the escaped American slave who led hundreds to freedom in Canada. Among the attendees Sunday was Cecil Roach, co-ordinating superintendent with the York Regional District School Board. I came with family to show respect to all the people whose shoulders we stand on, those who fought, said Roach. Canada has a history of slavery and a history of being a haven for those escaping slavery from America, said Roach. Sundays event also gave people children especially a new perspective on riding the subway, Sadu said. Theyre seeing the train as something theyve actually experienced in another way . . . It challenges them to be imaginative, Sadu said. People attended from and as far away Sarnia and Windsor. The annual Freedom Train Ride on the TTC is an important event for our city, and an occasion not to be missed, said TTC Chair Josh Colle. SHARE: Women who were secretly filmed by a Toronto Public Health supervisor in his office and the union representing public service workers say the city didnt do enough to support them in the workplace. After Robert Coughlin, 69, was reported by a whistleblower, he was investigated, then fired by the city and charged by Toronto police last year with several counts of voyeurism and trespassing. He pleaded guilty this May to surreptitiously making visual recordings of women for a sexual purpose between January 2008 and July 2015. According to victims, Coughlin hid cameras under his desk, in his backpack and used his cellphone to record women who were called into his office. Coughlin, whose role did not require him to interact with the public, made $106,338.86 in 2014, according to the provincial salary disclosure list. Interviews with victims and internal emails obtained by the Star show that in the aftermath of Coughlins arrest, delayed communication from city management and a request for victims to help with office cleanup contributed to a disturbing work environment where fear and rumours circulated for weeks. I think they wanted to shove it under the rug and pretend it didnt happen, said one victim who spoke with the Star and whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban. The city hasnt really done much in my opinion. The city says Toronto Public Health which is tasked with the health and well-being of residents went above and beyond to support the women. Spokesperson Jackie DeSouza said in an email that public health took the matter very seriously and acted immediately in the best interest of our employees. She outlined a series of communications sent between management and staff in the aftermath of the charges. Victims said that adding insult to injury, several staff members including some victims were asked to help clean out Coughlins office ahead of a new supervisor taking over. One victim who spoke to the Star said cameras that had not been removed were discovered by staff. Another said she understood items that possibly aided in filming were found, like a tripod made from pencils. The union says they werent alerted to that request until after the office was cleaned, but CUPE Local 79 president Tim Maguire said they would have raised it with the city as a health and safety concern that could have further traumatized workers. In November 2015, manager for planning and performance Luli Gjeka sent an email, obtained by the Star, to a group of staff and asked for help sorting work-related files from Coughlins office. Can you please dedicate a few hours this week to assist in sorting out files that are stored in (performance management) Supervisors office? the email read. Gjeka said that the sorting could take place in a meeting room in the building and asked it be completed in a few days. Two days later, director for performance and standards Debra Williams sent an email responding to concerns raised by staff members. In the email Williams wrote that staff cleaned out the files and that they did it in Coughlins office where some had been victimized. Despite the boardroom being suggested for sorting, Williams wrote those who volunteered to go through program documents did this in the office of the former supervisor and that managers only became aware of that after the sorting had started. Williams wrote to reassure that the team was a priority and that previously only management had access to the locked office. The emails also said that despite management sweeping the office for any of Coughlins remaining personal belongings or private personnel information, some items were missed. We acknowledge that despite our best efforts to ensure that only program related documents remained for review, some improperly filed information, not related to projects, was unknowingly included in program related folders, Williams wrote. A separate email suggested those materials included items like resumes. In a separate email, Gjeka apologized, saying: While I am sorry that this happened and I understand your concern, I wanted you to know that I take seriously the issue of privacy of staff info and I take all reasonable precautions in my day-to-day work to protect it. DeSouza said staff were asked to help with sorting work-related files to ensure workflow continuity. Gaps in communication with staff also lead to unease in the workplace, the union said. It took a week after Coughlin was arrested Aug. 6, 2015 for now retired chief medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown to write to employees in a department-wide email alerting them to the charges. I realize this is a difficult time for many staff at TPH and appreciate your professionalism and support for one another in this situation, he wrote in an email obtained by the Star. McKeown also included the phone number for the police officer in charge and an employee assistance hotline. Toronto police didnt publicize the arrest. The service does frequently put out news releases related to voyeurism charges, asking for help from the public. In this case, police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said, the investigator had no reason to believe at the time that there were additional victims or that any new information was required in order to further their investigation, so a decision was made to not issue a news release. DeSouza said that a day after Coughlins arrest, his immediate team was informed about the situation by management and offered support and time off, if needed. She said staff was given updates when available or when it was appropriate do to so, given the police investigation was ongoing at the time. Eighteen days after Coughlin was arrested, McKeown sent a follow-up email citing ongoing concerns and questions. One of those concerns was that when police swept a downtown public health office, officers searched the washrooms which employees saw happen but were not updated about. No cameras were found, McKeown wrote in his Aug. 24 email. He also clarified that Coughlin was no longer employed and not allowed to be in the building. McKeown also announced that three weeks after the arrest, management would be holding an informal town hall for staff to address their concerns and questions, which was held Aug. 27. Maguire, the union president, told the Star that while some of the basic protocols were in place including an immediate investigation once allegations were brought forward management could have more proactively involved the union to ensure employees felt supported. The washroom issue was a prime example, he said. Because of that lapse, the police were searching for other cameras in the workplace and people didnt know what was going on and so rumours started going about, he said. I think the women that were victims here were justifiably traumatized. Despite the city offering counselling services, the women who spoke with the Star said it wasnt enough. One woman told the Star the informal town hall was followed by a day of counsellors being available in a room on the same floor as management, which made some uncomfortable coming forward. She said others have maxed out the allowed number of days off. Were all just supposed to silently endure this, said the woman, whose identity is also protected by a publication ban. How would that be enough? The first woman, who no longer works at public health, said the city never contacted her, but friends alerted her to the charges. A detective, who she said was respectful, contacted her only to take her statement. I didnt get any support from anybody, the woman said. Its kind of like you fend for yourself. DeSouza said it is very difficult for the city to determine what our duty would be to a former employee when we dont have any details on when she left, where specifically she worked, etc. SHARE: A 22-year-old man was rushed to hospital after shots were fired into a car in Scarborough on Sunday afternoon. Paramedics arrived to Danforth Ave. and Main St. just after 4:30 p.m. where the 22-year-old was found in a white sedan with gun shot wounds to the arm and leg. The sedan had more than five bullet holes said witnesses. Police were also investigating a scene at Denton and Byng Aves. where shell casings were found. The two shootings may be related said police. SHARE: WASHINGTONThere is an elephant in the election. It was tiptoed around for a full year by Republicans and Democrats and the media alike. And then, on Wednesday, Michael Bloomberg hoisted it onto the stage of the Democratic National Convention. His plea for Hillary Clinton: Lets elect a sane, competent person. The compliment barely disguised an extraordinary allegation. The billionaire former mayor of New York City was suggesting that Donald Trump is not sane himself. Bloombergs remark was a sign of a quiet shift over the last month in the mainstream discussion of the Republican presidential nominee. Once unmentionable, questions about Trumps mental health have started to bubble into respectable American forums as he has inched closer to the nuclear codes of the worlds mightiest military while behaving stranger than ever. Its a delicate thing to ask, but the fate of humankind is at stake. Is Donald Trump OK? Donald Trump is not of sound mind, conservative Stephen Hayes wrote two weeks ago in the Weekly Standard. Have we stopped to appreciate how crazy Donald Trump has gotten recently? liberal Ezra Klein wrote last week on Vox. He appears haunted by multiple personality disorders, conservative David Brooks wrote last week in the New York Times. We can gloss over it, laugh about it, analyze it, but Donald Trump is not a well man, Stuart Stevens, chief strategist to Mitt Romneys 2012 campaign, wrote last week on Twitter. Stevens, the most prominent political figure to persistently broach the subject, conceded that he is no doctor or psychiatrist. But he said in an interview that the available evidence leads to two possible conclusions: either Trump has a substance abuse problem, which appears unlikely, or there is something definitely off about him. At best, this is a very damaged person, Stevens said. And theres probably something more serious going on. Trumps campaign vehemently disagrees. Im sure you saw Mr. Trumps medical report released in December of last year, which described him as perhaps the healthiest individual to ever be elected President (paraphrasing) I refer you to that, spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email. But that brief report explicitly addressed only physical matters like blood pressure, not mental health. And its extreme grandiosity, unprecedented in a campaign medical report, was precisely the kind of eyebrower-raiser that has caused apprehension about his stability. He boasts of his own unparalleled magnificence. He creates and promotes wild conspiracy theories. He tells easily disprovable lies. He fails to finish sentences before he gets distracted by unrelated thoughts. He appears to fly into a wounded rage at mild criticism. His conduct this summer has been even more erratic than his conduct before. At a rally early last month, Trump became distracted and then angered by a mosquito. At a rally on Thursday, he ranted about his desire to hit Bloomberg. When a fire marshal stopped letting people into a rally on Friday, Trump baselessly accused him of being a Clinton agent. Trump is crazy. And you cant fix crazy, Kevin Sheekey, a Bloomberg adviser, told The New York Times on Thursday. The armchair pathologizing, and breezy use of the C-word, has upset disabled people and their advocates. David Perry, a disability rights journalist, said that the casual association of behaviour we find objectionable or erratic with mental illness spreads stigma. Hes a liar, hes a bigot, he makes bad decisions, hes erratic and unpredictable. Thats what we need to know. Do we need to then extend a diagnosis to go along with that, to make it really objectionable? Perry said. It hasnt really worked in eroding Trumps popularity, but it certainly makes people who actually have these conditions feel very uncomfortable feel that the message is: If you have a mental health condition, you are not fit to be president. And frankly, I suspect weve had lots of presidents with mental health conditions, and well probably have lots more. Abraham Lincoln lived with depression. Each of Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy took a cocktail of anxiety medication. Aides to Lyndon B. Johnson, who experienced severe mood swings, were so concerned about his mental state that they consulted psychiatrists. U.S. psychiatrists are now prohibited by their professional association from publicly assessing public figures. The most common amateur diagnosis of Trump is narcissistic personality disorder, a condition characterized by an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others, and a fragile self-esteem thats vulnerable to the slightest criticism, the Mayo Clinic said. Dan McAdams, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, would not diagnose Trump with any ailment, and he said most people running for high office must have a healthy dose of narcissism. But he added: It does seem to be the case that hes kind of off the map. Putting his name on everything, talking about himself all the time: this is beyond the pale, said McAdams, who conducted a detailed personality assessment of Trump for the Atlantic. I dont want to argue that its a clinical condition but if theres a continuum, in terms of narcissistic personality characteristics within a relatively normal population, hes really way off on the extreme end. Scott Lilienfeld, a psychology professor at Emory University, co-conducted a study of narcissism in the 42 presidents up to George W. Bush. High levels of the grandiose variety of narcissism, he found, have been associated with superior crisis management, public persuasiveness and overall success but also with abuse of power, ethics scandals and impeachment resolutions. Its the Goldilocks principle: there appears to be a presidential sweet spot, Lilienfeld said, between helpful narcissism and damaging narcissism. While he would not specifically discuss Trump other than to say he is almost certainly sane I dont think hes out of touch with reality, I think he knows what hes doing, he probably doesnt hear voices or have delusional thinking he suggested that voters ask themselves a question. Is this individuals narcissism so high that it might be at the upper end of the curve where its no longer just healthy self-confidence, which is probably good to some degree, or is it at the point where it could really cause problems? Read more about: SHARE: As worldwide pressure grows to fight offshore tax evasion, new statistics obtained by the Star show the Canadian government has convicted only 49 people and levied just $13.4 million in fines for what it calls offshore activity since 2010. These numbers are far lower than in comparable countries and show the Canada Revenue Agency recovers only a tiny fraction of the estimated $6 to $7.8 billion in taxes Canada loses to offshore tax havens each year. Experts say the new data reflects the Canada Revenue Agencys inability to unravel the complex offshore structures that allow wealthy individuals to avoid paying tax. These numbers probably reflect a lack of resources at the CRA because there certainly hasnt been a decrease in tax evasion, said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness. The biggest tax evaders are doing it offshore. Thats what weve been saying for years and thats where they should be concentrating their efforts. Between 2010 and 2015, 662 people were convicted for tax evasion or tax fraud overall, but only 49 had money and other assets located offshore, according to documents provided to the Star. Despite representing only 7 per cent of convictions, these tax cheats evaded, on average, three times more tax, received fines three times as large and were sentenced to jail terms three times as long as domestic tax dodgers. Even with these numbers, its difficult to get a clear picture of how seriously the government pursues offshore tax cheats because the CRA appears to employ an overly broad definition of offshore that includes cases with any link to a foreign country. Outside of the CRA, the term is generally understood to refer specifically to the use of tax havens, experts say. The CRA is defining offshore very broadly, said Howlett. The fact that some of these convictions have nothing to do with tax havens is consistent with what weve been hearing from CRA staff. The Panama Papers leak has detailed how the use of shell companies in tax havens deprives public tax coffers of billions of dollars each year. While other governments have devoted significant resources to cracking down on bank secrecy and offshore tax schemes, Canadas efforts appear to have paled in comparison. Australias Project Wickenby has collected more than $600 million from cheats using tax havens since 2006. The U.K. has recouped more than 2 billion ($3.5 billion) from offshore tax evasion since 2010. In contrast, Canada has only handed out fines totalling $13.4 million since 2010 less than half the $35.7 million in taxes the cheats were caught evading. This doesnt make any sense, said tax lawyer Jonathan Garbutt. The law states that the minimum fine for tax evasion must be 50 per cent of the amount of tax owing. And judges often fine 75 or 100 per cent. The CRA did not respond to questions about the unusually low fines. Over the last five years, the CRA overall number of tax evasion convictions has dropped by more than half, but the number of offshore convictions has remained fairly stable. Critics say this reflects the layoffs of about 300 tax auditors after the Conservative government imposed a two-year budget freeze in 2014. But agency spokesperson David Walters said it is due to a change in emphasis at the CRA, to strengthen our ability to criminally prosecute those who commit tax crimes, targeting the most egregious offenders. The number of convictions has decreased since the changes were implemented, however other metrics confirm that the strategic shift is working, particularly in relation to offshore convictions, as evidenced by an increase in jail sentences and court fines, Walters wrote in an email. Because court records are public information, the Star requested the names of the convicted offshore tax evaders through Access to Information legislation. The documents released by the CRA, show 31 separate convictions for tax evasion with an offshore component. Its too early to measure whether these new efforts have paid dividends, but critics question the way the CRA categorizes a case as offshore. One conviction listed on the CRAs list of offshore tax cheats is Vaughan tax preparer Doreen Tennina. In 2013, she was found guilty of tax fraud for claiming more than $58 million in fake carrying charges and charitable donations on tax returns for her clients. Tenninas tax scheme didnt have any reported offshore elements. Her only international links were two properties she owned in Spain. This is where she fled during her trial in 2011. Two years later, she was arrested in the Canary Islands before being extradited back to Canada last year. She is now serving a 10-year prison sentence. The CRA considers her an offshore tax cheat. Theyre confusing offshore with overseas or cross-border, said Nicholas Shaxson, an investigative journalist and author of two books on tax havens and international tax evasion. The term offshore, Shaxson says, refers specifically to the use of tax havens, where secrecy makes it difficult for authorities to follow transfers of cash through opaque shell companies and trusts. Theyre talking about overseas and theyre trying to conflate it with offshore, but offshore is a very particular aspect of international finance and the two should not be confused. Of the 31 cases revealed to the Star, the CRA provided names to just 13 cases involves 19 people. Of these only six had an identifiable connection to offshore tax havens. The rest of the case names and all of the case numbers were redacted, making it impossible to determine the identity of the unnamed offshore tax cheats. The CRA keeps these tax cheats identities secret because the link to offshore activity in their cases is only evident in confidential tax filings and not a part of the public court record, Walters said. But legal experts disagree. This is 100 per cent in the public domain, said tax lawyer Garbutt. I do not know how or why the court record would not include details of how and where the taxes were evaded. The CRA regularly publishes the names of domestic tax cheats on its website. Despite tough talk in recent years of cracking down on offshore tax avoidance, Canada remains an international laggard. When the previous Conservative government announced $30 million to combat international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance in 2013, the measures brought in as part of the crack down were decades behind the times. For example, the requirement for banks to report all international transfers of $10,000 or more, introduced in January 2015, has existed in the U.S. since 1970. Since its election last October, the Liberal government has devoted more attention to the abuse of offshore tax havens, pledging to investigate the particularities of each tax haven in order to better tailor enforcement efforts. The Isle of Man, where $130 million was stashed by high-net worth individuals in a scheme designed by the accounting firm KPMG, was the first jurisdiction to be targeted by the CRA. Garbutt doubts that the CRA still has the expertise to take on these complex projects after losing so many auditors to layoffs. They gutted the international department, he said. Read more about: SHARE: RIO DE JANEIRO Brazilian police said Sunday they rescued the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone from two men on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. According to police, 67-year-old Aparecida Schunck, who had been held since Friday last week, was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulos anti-kidnapping division. Schunck is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, married to Ecclestone since 2012. Sao Paulo, Brazils largest city and the centre of commerce, for decades has had problems with people being kidnapped and held for ransom, but a dedicated police task force has reduced the crime drastically over the last 15 years. The incident came just ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Authorities say they will be deploying 85,000 troops and soldiers during the Aug. 5-21 competition. Read more about: SHARE: FALLUJAH, IRAQIraqs counterterrorism forces, known as the Golden Division, were once so loathed that they were nicknamed the Dirty Division. They were accused of running secret prisons and carrying out extrajudicial killings. Some lawmakers called for them to be disbanded. But the countrys war against Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has restored the reputation of the elite forces, which have spearheaded nearly every major fight against the militants in Iraq. Their commanders have become battlefield celebrities, while popular songs praise the troops prowess. The force of about 10,000 men is a small bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre legacy of American efforts to rebuild Iraqs military in the 13 years since the invasion. U.S. officials say it is their most reliable partner in fighting Daesh on the ground, while the Iraqi army struggles with corruption and mismanagement. But with hundreds of casualties over the past two and a half years and few breaks for the men from the grinding war, Iraq may slowly be degrading its best weapon to fight the militants. Were carrying the rest of them, but weve got used to it, Col. Arkan Fadhil said with a shrug as he called in airstrikes from U.S.-led coalition jets in Fallujah a few days before the city was retaken last month. Its been from the beginning of the war until now. The first Iraqi to graduate from the U.S. Army Ranger school, Fadhil speaks English with an American twang picked up during a total of two years and eight months training in the U.S. Fadhil has seen many of the countrys battles. Weve fought everywhere, he said. As Daesh made its first sweeping advances, a group of counterterrorism troops held on for months in the face of hundreds of car bombs during a fierce siege on Iraqs largest oil refinery. Last year, the Golden Division led the battle to retake Ramadi, sweeping east to west as federal police forces struggled to progress. They headed operations for Hit and Rutba, and scrapped for villages along the Euphrates River. Most recently, here in Fallujah, Golden Division commandos were the first to break through defence lines set up two and a half years ago in the city, the first in Iraq under the control of Daesh. Backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, their signature black Humvees raced through neighbourhoods where the militants had planted deadly roadside bombs and built networks of tunnels. They are lead sled dog, said Lt. Gen. Mick Bednarek, who headed the U.S. training effort in Iraq between 2013 and 2015. The units were formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion when officials realized that forces who could work closely with the United States would be needed as insurgency grew. They were modelled on American Special Operations troops, and drawn from across Iraqs ethnic and religious groups, including Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. With their U.S.-supplied weapons and training, there is little to distinguish them from their American counterparts. From the outset the Golden Division was viewed with suspicion because it was formed under the direct command of the prime ministers office, not the ministries of the defence or of the interior. Accusations grew that then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was using the forces to eliminate his rivals. They hated us, Fadhil said of the divisions reputation before the fight against Daesh. We had no restrictions on any kind of target. Now people have a lot more respect for us rather than fear. As one of their convoys drove through Sunni areas on the outskirts of Ramadi after it was retaken at the end of the year, children threw sweets at their cars and crowded around to snap pictures. A Sunni local official in the convoy remarked that two years earlier, people would have shut their doors and hidden in their homes. Their transformation over the past two years has been amazing, said David Witty, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and a former adviser to the Iraqi counterterrorism force. They went from being on the verge of being disbanded or absorbed to being the darlings of Iraq. The fact that the units were kept separate from Iraqs traditional security structure in the end may have saved them. The Golden Division managed to insulate itself largely from the corruption that gnawed through the foundations of the Iraqi army and flourished elsewhere. Meanwhile, the counterterrorism units received concentrated and continuous training from a small contingent of U.S. troops that stayed behind after American forces pulled out in 2011. Commanders say that the accusations levelled at them in the past were politically motivated, but American trainers put a special emphasis on human rights in an effort to keep the force beyond reproach, Bednarek said. Theres no questions there were quite a lot of allegations there . . . death squads for Maliki and all that, he said. We said to them, you are under scrutiny, there will be a lot of people who will try to throw you under the bus, so to speak. The Golden Division remained cohesive even as Daesh propelled Iraq into crisis in 2014 and the Iraqi military collapsed despite more than $20 billion spent by the U.S. to rebuild it. Maliki soon departed, and this put an end to the accusations that the soldiers essentially acted as his private army. The force is now the most professional technically capable force that the government of Iraq has at its disposal, Bednarek said. But the Golden Division was not created for its new role. We used to have missions for selective, high-value targets, small-team operations, Fadhil said. Weve never done operations of this kind of magnitude, three or four battalions. The weight of running a ground war is putting a strain on the division. Even as their fighters were in the thick of the Fallujah fight, some had to be called back to Ramadi to recapture areas on the outskirts of the city that they had secured months ago. Police and tribal fighters had lost control of the ground once more. Theres a weakness in the army and other forces which has increased the pressure on us, said Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi, the divisions field commander for the operation, recalling the early days of battle as he walked through the streets of one the first areas to be recaptured. Now, when we are advancing, we have to leave lots of gaps. We didnt have time to search every house, every tunnel, he said, gesturing down a street lined with cinder block houses. There should be a force coming in after us. He stopped to receive co-ordinates for a strike over a walkie-talkie. With a pop, a bullet flew into the leg of a soldier standing next to him who was jotting the locations down in a notebook. Sniper! someone shouted as the men took cover behind a small building. A Humvee screeched over, bundled up the injured officer and rushed him off. As I told you, we couldnt clear all the houses, Obeidi remarked. Later he said the round was more likely a stray bullet, but his point still stood. Shiite militias arrived in Fallujah to assist after neighbourhoods were cleared of militants. But using Shiite militias in population centres that are largely Sunni has its sensitivities. They were ordered out earlier this month after houses were burned, leaving some Golden Division units still the holding ground. Still, the forces are under less strain than before, Obeidi said. Their worst days were during the first days of Iraqs war against Daesh in Ramadi, he said. After a militant assault in January 2014, they engaged in a bloody tug-of-war before finally losing their hold on the city a year and a half later. We were overwhelmed, he said. Before the war, the men would do seven days on an operation, seven days of training and seven days off. Now thats changed to two weeks on and a week on leave, but the intensity of the fight means that doesnt always happen. Fadhil once did 118 days straight in Ramadi. The men dont expect much of a pause now that Fallujah is behind them. There are more battles to fight in Anbar province, while other Golden Division units have already begun operations south of Mosul. Their front line role has made for heavy losses. The battalion Fadhil commands had 240 men in December 2013. Now it has just 190, even after replacements were sent in for many of those killed. Other units have lost more men, he said. They are hard to replace. You cant mass produce special-operations guys, Fadhil said. That day a Golden Division Humvee was hit by a SPG-9 recoilless rifle. The men were from Fadhils old unit, but he doesnt know who has died. I dont have their names yet, he said, returning attention to his cluster of walkie-talkies. Weve lost so many. Read more about: SHARE: Republican Sen. John McCain, Ariz., who has shied away from criticizing Donald Trump even after the GOP presidential nominee questioned his military service last year, sharply criticized Trump Monday for his handling of criticism from the parents of a Muslim Army captain who was killed in Iraq in 2004. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service, McCain said in a lengthy statement issued by his Senate campaign Monday morning. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. The 2008 GOP presidential nominee praised Capt. Humayun Khan for his valour and sacrifice, and thanked his parents, who spoke against Trump at the Democratic National Convention last week, for emigrating to the United States. Were a better country because of you, he said. McCains response is among the strongest from any major Republican leader to Trumps remarks, which included questioning why Capt. Khans mother, Ghazala Khan, did not speak when she appeared alongside her husband, Khizr, last week. Other GOP leadersincluding House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.defended the Khans without mentioning Trump. Trump last year questioned whether McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent five-and-half years as a North Vietnamese prisoner, was indeed a war hero. I like people who werent captured, he said. But McCain, who is locked in a difficult re-election campaign, largely brushed off the attack and has repeatedly pledged to support the GOP presidential nominee. In responding to the Khan controversy Monday, he went farther than Ryan or McConnell, but he stopped well short of fully denouncing Trump and withdrawing his implicit endorsement. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent, he wrote. Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Read more about: SHARE: At 10:03 p.m. on July 24th, first-time surrogate Sherri-Lyn Cranston, 29, took to Facebook to type three little words sure to raise the heartbeat of any expectant woman: My water broke! Two weeks prior, Cranston had been discussing her impending due date with 25 other surrogates at a weekend retreat in rural southwestern Ontario. With baby bumps decorated in intricate Indian henna designs and many of the women sporting flower crowns as they wandered through the surrounding woodland chatting about their jobs, surrogate pregnancies and their own families, the grounds were humming with earth mother vibes. Onlookers might think the women had known each other for years. But their relationships developed online where these self-dubbed surro sisters forge deep emotional bonds, rooted in the service they provide to parents in need of children. We share our lives with one another, says three-time surrogate Jennifer Robichaud, 35. We all come together for one another. Its a sisterhood that no one will understand unless you are a surrogate. This is truly one of the best things I have done with my life. These new-found friends share remarkable intimacy spanning the extremes of human emotion. From moments of spontaneous exhilaration when pregnancies or births are announced, to the devastation of learning that children they agreed to carry for others have been lost to miscarriage. The depth of their bond is evidenced in their responses to posts, like Cranstons. Immediately after her babys coming bulletin goes up online, the congratulatory messages flood in as the news reaches dozens of surrogates spread across six time zones. Woohooo!!!! Wishing a speedy and safe delivery!!! writes one surrogate from just outside Ottawa. Ooooh exciting!!! Keeping you all in my thoughts tonight, writes another, moments later, from Victoria. The reaction and outpouring of support is indicative of the tone of the forum. At any time of day, if a question or anxiety comes up, you have so many ears that will listen and offer advice and experience, reflects Cranston two days after giving birth. I had one of my close surrogate friends come visit me in the hospital after delivering (this) surrobabe. For every event in the surrogates pregnancy, her sisters show up in force: armed with advice, support and living by an unwritten code to leave no surrogate behind. And, when a new member may be in doubt about navigating the ups and downs of synthetic pregnancies, plumbing problems and carrying babies for strangers, the sisterhood sticks to their motto: nothing is too much information. The Breakdown I understand my (intended parents) are very eager to get started, no doubt . . . But . . . they dont consult in me before booking things, and I just feel they are very pushy . . . I feel trapped . . . They have already paid for some tests . . . I feel like I owe them this child now . . . I hate this feeling . . . Seven Laville already has three children under the age of 5. But, inspired by a friend who pursued surrogacy, the 25-year-old married Montreal woman decided to offer up her body to a couple who wanted a child they couldnt have on their own. Ive had three very easy pregnancies. I love being pregnant. It just seemed appealing to me. Then, according to Laville, things started going wrong. For privacy reasons, the Star cannot be given the intended parents names and therefore could not contact them for comment to independently confirm this account. The (intended parents) started phoning me four or five times a day, she says. They would always hassle me to get appointments moved up. Her doctors suggested she begin no sooner than nine months after her last child, who is only five months old. (That) didnt please the intended parents, according to Laville. They wanted sooner. So without my consent they changed doctors and clinics, the new clinic being one hour farther for me to travel. RELATED: How Canada is becoming a key player in global surrogacy Canadian surrogates and their extraordinary altruism Laville went to one appointment with a new doctor who made the same suggestion to hold off for a few months before being impregnated. Again, she says the intended parents told her they would find another doctor to avoid the wait. I suddenly realized they did not have my best interest or health in mind, she says. My husband reflected on all this and decided he is not supportive of this any longer. He felt it was too soon and the couple were too insistent, it just didnt feel right. When Laville posted her experience to the chat forum, surrogates had her back. I would be upset, said one response. I think if youre already feeling betrayed by them it might be best to seek another couple . . . Dont feel forced to stay. Another advised: My darling, if they are that pushy now they will only get worse. Trust me, you dont want to end up having intended parents like that. Put your foot down . . . You have to talk to these people every day for a year. Laville told the parents she was pulling out last week. At first, she says they tried to change her mind. She declined. Laville says they then wanted to be reimbursed, which she was, in no position to do with three kids and on maternity leave. Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, who owns the surrogacy agency Surrogacy in Canada Online that Laville used, says such disputes are rare. (Intended parents) have to take these risks, she says. There are no penalties to the surrogate as she has every right to terminate or withdraw at any time. Laville says the experience has scared her from trying surrogacy again. I will not retry. I am frightened now. The Joys This is the happy face of a surrogate who just saw the most beautiful uterus shes ever seen! Alongside that note, last week, Ottawa surrogate Shell Patton posted a selfie image to her group of Facebook sisters featuring a broad smile. Her test results showed her body is ready to undergo a second surrogacy. The 31-year-old mother of two aged 8 and 6 gave birth to twins last year for a same-sex couple in Atlantic Canada who needed her help. Shes planning to do it again for the same couple. With the positive test results, her embryo transfer will now take place in early August, she says. Surrogacy has become a regular part of her life. Before helping the same-sex couple shes now working with, Patton tried to help another couple in Montreal. After two unsuccessful embryo transfers, the couple decided to adopt instead. The Facebook surrogacy group she monitors was a place of connection during her first surrogacy. Shes back again now. We followed each others journey until the end, she says. I have a girl from work who is in the group . . . I do have her to confide in and hopefully be pregnant with. Pattons husband of 11 years is also supportive of her ongoing commitment to having babies for others, she says. Her parents were cold to the idea at first, but have gradually come around. Her in-laws, however, have largely ignored her surrogacy. They are less than thrilled, she says. Theres no support there . . . But I have amazing (intended parents) and a patient husband. And my kids . . . My daughter has been my biggest cheerleader. She would rub my belly and sing to them . . . And she was always happy to explain to people that her mommy is so awesome, she is helping two boys have a baby. For Patton, surrogacys rewards transcend the monetary. I do not believe in being paid to do it. In countries with commercial surrogacy, such as the U.S., surrogates can earn tens of thousands of dollars for their services, creating a system in which only the wealthy can afford to have a child, Patton says. Thats not fair. The average person cant afford all the treatments plus a $25,000 fee. The Heartbreak Heartbroken to say the least. The babies have decided not to grow and they have no heartbeat. I am to stop all meds and miscarriage . . . anyone who has gone threw this can you please tell me what to expect. It is every mothers worst fear. Only for Terrilyn Meehan, a Newfoundland surrogate and mother of four, news of her miscarriage of twins two weeks ago brought tragedy for two families. Its not just the fact that I lost them, its letting down their parents as well, Meehan says of the heterosexual Toronto couple who entrusted her to deliver their child. The moms that come to surrogates already went through this pain of loss I cant imagine. Its a sad but unavoidable reality of the surrogacy industry. Despite the advanced science, the economic investment of hopeful parents and the goodwill of surrogates, from time to time, it just doesnt work When that happens, the sisterhood shows up in force to rally for the hurting surrogate whose devastation is palpable even thousands of miles away and through a computer screen. Oh no . . . so sorry to hear this, came one in a steady string of sympathetic responses to Meehan on the surrogates Facebook page. We are all here for you. Another wrote: Thinking of you and your (intended parents). Make sure to reach out to us whenever you need, and know youre not alone. Sally Rhodes-Heinrich says theres no shortage of fellowship among the women when things go wrong. Intended parents typically send flowers to their surrogate. If the loss is late term we often visit with the surrogate or bring meals over as a group. On top of the emotional and physical trauma is a surrogates added guilt. I have one parents heartbreak burned into my head for the rest of my life, when we had a failed transfer, recalls Jennifer Robichaud. I was so devastated. In my head all I could hear was you failed, you failed them. This is what some surrogates go through on a journey: they dont blame the IVF treatment, they dont blame the embryos, they blame themselves. Even if we do everything right, sometimes, things just dont work out and thats no ones fault. I can totally relate, one surrogate told Meehan in one of the comment threads. For me it was guilt, I felt mega guilt. As the messages of support flowed in, Meehan seemed to find some peace in the community of shared experience: I totally feel guilty but I know I did everything I could . . . The next few days will be hard but I am truly thankful that I have all you awesome ladies to lean on. After some thoughtful reflection, shes decided to try again eventually. Putting myself back out there. Really scared and nervous this time. And, like anyone who has ever taken a hard knock in life, Meehan turns to her family in times like this. Her posted pledge to continue on the surrogacy path ended with a simple plea: Any tips ladies?? Within minutes the group was alight with full-throated calls of support, advice and encouragement from her sisters. SHARE: MOSCOWA Russian transport helicopter was shot down in opposition rebel territory in northern Syria on Monday and all five crew and officers on board were killed, the Kremlin said, in the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its entrance into Syrias civil war. The Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province while returning to the Russian airbase on Syrias coast after delivering humanitarian goods to the city of Aleppo, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. The helicopter had three crew members and two officers deployed with the Russian centre at the Hemeimeem airbase on the Syrian coast. From what we know from information provided by the Defence Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman told journalists. The ministry statement released earlier said their fate was still unknown. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russians died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Idlib province has a strong presence of fighters both for the al-Qaida branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and other groups fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assads forces. The Nusra Front announced last week that it was changing its name and relinquishing ties with al-Qaida in an attempt to undermine a potential U.S. and Russian air campaign against its fighters. The group is part of a coalition of insurgent groups called Jaish al-Fateh, or Army of Conquest, which has captured most of Idlib. Videos uploaded online by Syrian opposition activists show the burning wreckage of a Russian helicopter in footage seemingly taken in the first few moments after the helicopter crashed. In one video, a rocket pod can be seen next to the wreckage. People standing nearby are seen taking cellphone photos and shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great in Arabic. The helicopter appears to have broken up as it crashed, its tail can be seen lying separately from the aircrafts body in flames. In other videos, the body of one purported Russian soldier is seen being dragged by the legs while an unidentified person stands on the body of another soldier, also purportedly Russian. Mondays helicopter downing was the deadliest for the Russians since Moscow began carrying out airstrikes in Syria in support of Assads forces last September. In July, two Russian airmen were killed in the central Homs province when their Mi-25 helicopter was shot down by what the Defence Ministry said were Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, fighters. An Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed near Homs in April, killing both crew members, but the Russian military said there was no evidence it came under fire. A Russian warplane was shot down by a Turkey along the Syrian border in November, and one of the two pilots was shot and killed from the ground after ejecting. Earlier on Monday, a Syrian military official said that government forces repelled an attack by insurgents that was an attempt to break the siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo. The development came a day after Syrian rebels launched the offensive to break up the governments siege of eastern, rebel-held part of the city. The UN estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. The U.N.s special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. Opposition activists said intense fighting was still ongoing in Aleppo on Monday. The Syrian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, did not elaborate. Read more about: SHARE: Regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election, Canada could face something it hasnt seen in decades: an America no longer committed to free trade. Antipathy to trade and investment deals is now a real part of the American election campaign. It may determine the outcome of Novembers vote. This isnt just a story of grumpy, old, white guys who hate foreigners. It is a story of people who have been left out and who, not irrationally, blame free trade for their predicament. In the U.S., there are a lot of them. The rust-belt states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania alone count for 54 of the 270 electoral college votes that either Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton or her Republican rival, Donald Trump, need to win. All three states went to the Democrats in the last presidential contest. This time, they may not. Both Trump and Clinton understand the changed politics of this contest. Trumps opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed him to clinch the Republican nomination. Clintons more recent conversion from globalization fan to critic was an attempt to appeal to the struggling, blue-collar working class. Trump has promised to either renegotiate NAFTA or rip it up. He has also attacked the as-yet unratified Trans Pacific Partnership deal among 12 nations (including Canada). Clinton has focused her criticisms on the TPP. But under pressure from the left-wing of her Democratic party, she has also promised to review existing deals like NAFTA to ensure they provide enough jobs for Americans. Do Trump and Clinton mean it when they attack free trade? Maybe not. Politicians have prevaricated before. In the 1992 presidential contest, Democrat Bill Clinton promised to negotiate NAFTA side deals on labour and the environment. Technically, he kept his word, but the side deals were meaningless. In 2008, Barack Obama, another Democrat, campaigned for the presidency on a promise to renegotiate NAFTA. He didnt deliver. Whats different this time is that opposition to free trade and globalization is gaining traction. It is no longer limited to protestors and black bloc anarchists. Mainstream economists, such as Paul Krugman, who could usually be counted on to support free trade, now acknowledge that its benefits may be slight and its rewards unfairly distributed. A recent Angus Reid poll calculated that only 25 per cent of Canadians think NAFTA beneficial, while one-third want it renegotiated. All of this comes at a time when the Canadian political and business elites have fully signed onto globalization. The Liberals, who made opposition to a Canada-U.S. free trade deal the defining issue of the 1988 election, are now, under Justin Trudeau, ardent supporters of both NAFTA and the as yet unratified Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union. The New Democrats have dropped their blanket opposition to free trade and now take a more nuanced view (they support a 2015 deal with South Korea, oppose the TPP and wont say where they stand on CETA). While the parties may quibble over some deals, there is no longer any organized parliamentary opposition to NAFTA. It is taken for granted that trade with the U.S. must be the centrepiece of the Canadian economy. The perceived need to keep Washington mollified and the border wide open affects virtually everything Ottawa does. It is back of mind whenever Canada contemplates sending troops abroad whether to Afghanistan, northern Iraq or the Baltic states. We have reconfigured the country around free trade with the U.S. So what do we do if the winner of Novembers U.S. presidential vote insists on renegotiating or reviewing NAFTA? The main target may be Mexico, the pacts third partner. But Americans will not be sympathetic to U.S. manufacturers that set up shop in Canada either. Canadian politicians may hope Trump and Clinton are fibbing when they take anti-trade positions. But what if they are not? More to the point, what if domestic American politics around trade make a rethinking of NAFTA inevitable? In 1988, free trade was promoted as the cutting edge of modernity. Opponents were called Luddites and accused of living in the past. Now the past has become present again. We shall see what happens after November. But the signs indicate this particular era of free trade orthodoxy is coming to an end. Thomas Walkom's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: SHARE: They are trying to transform Myanmar into a Muslim state, says Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk dubbed by Time as the The Face of Buddhist Terror. Human rights activists claim Wirathu and his group, called 969, are the main forces behind riots that have killed scores and displaced thousands of Rohingya (a million strong ethnic Muslim minority living among more than 50 million Buddhists) since 2012. Disturbingly, evidence suggests his hate movement has significant support in the country and even the acquiescence of the government. In fact, decades before Wirathu, described by some as the Buddhist Bin Laden, came on the scene, various state policies existed singling out the Rohingya. The Canadian government may be finally forced to take a serious look. A few weeks ago, a Parliamentary Subcommittee on International Human Rights issued a report titled Sentenced to a Slow Demise highlighting the plight of these stateless persons. Among the 12 recommendations are: Reassess the effectiveness of economic sanctions against the military, demand that authorities repeal discriminatory laws, restore full citizenship and rights to the minority, and calling on the government to end its complacency and allow humanitarian groups access. Global and Canadian reaction appears to be too little, but hopefully not too late. Some attribute the hesitation on disbelief about the religious identity of the perpetrators. In the reckoning of religious extremism Hindu nationalists, Muslim militants, fundamentalist Christians, ultra-Orthodox Jews Buddhism has largely escaped trial, notes Time. But as the cover story went on to state, Every religion can be twisted into a destructive force poisoned by ideas that are antithetical to its foundations. Now its Buddhisms turn. As with most violence attributed to religious causes, the nuances of political and social influences are mostly minimized. In any event, whatever the impetus, their victims are real. Earlier this month, the European Parliament became the latest international body to highlight what it termed as the brutal repression and systematic persecution of this group. The Resolution also noted that the Rohingya are one of the worlds most persecuted minorities. The U.S. State Department also downgraded Burma to Tier 3 (lowest) on its annual Trafficking in Persons report. In a 2015 report, the International State Crime Initiative at the University of London alleged the Rohingya were facing the final stages of state-sponsored genocide. While most shy away from the term genocide, rights groups, include Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations have suggested the pogroms may amount to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. While debate rages about whether they are indigenous or migrants from Bangladesh, the undisputed fact is that they have lived in Burma for hundreds of years. Indeed, a British survey confirmed a population of 58,255 in just the state of Arakan (now Rakhine) dating back to 1891. Repressive government initiatives (forced labour, sexual assault, two child policy, etc.) and hate from fellow countrymen have had serious consequences. An Association of Southeast Asian Nations-linked human rights group noted in 2015, The long-standing persecution of Rohingya has led to the highest outflow of asylum seekers by sea [in the region] since the U.S. war in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Matthew Smith, executive director of human rights group Fortify Rights, says 150,000 live in internal displacement camps, while 500,000 asylum seekers live in squalor in Bangladesh, with little to no help from the already strapped Dhaka government. As if to assist the efforts of Wirathu and those of his ilk to single out victims, Burma banned its officials from using the name Rohingya, insisting that they be called people who believe in Islam. Months after democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi won the countrys first national elections, calls to end the mistreatment of the Rohingya fall on deaf ears. In fact, the Nobel Laureate herself refuses to use the name Rohingya. More disturbingly, her own prejudices were revealed when, after a heated interview with BBC reporter, Mishal Husain, she was reportedly heard angrily saying, No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim. Burma should be about more than democratization, it should also be about ensuring protection, fairness, and justice for all its people. Its high time for donors to leverage their aid, and for the broader global community to pressure the Suu Kyi government to end repression. The subcommittee report calls on our government to submit a formal response within 120 days. Ottawa must do better and demand that Burma respect international law end its complicity and punish those responsible. Faisal Kutty is counsel to KSM Law, an associate professor at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana and an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. @faisalkutty. SHARE: If women and children in war-torn countries cant trust United Nations peacekeepers to protect them from sexual exploitation and rape, who can they turn to? That is a question that is becoming all too relevant as disturbing reports pile up about UN peacekeepers sexually exploiting those they are sent to protect, ignoring sexual assaults by other soldiers or not being held accountable for their offences when they return home. Last week, two unfolding events one in South Sudan, the other in Canada - illustrated just how toothless the UNs declarations of zero tolerance are in preventing and punishing sexual violence and exploitation. The UN and member countries sending peacekeepers to war-torn countries must act, not just talk, to deter rape and exploitation. First is the horrifying story of women and girls being raped just outside a United Nations camp in Juba, South Sudan, where they had sought refuge. At least two died from their injuries after gang rapes. In one instance reported by The Associated Press two armed South Sudanese soldiers dragged away a woman who was only a few hundred metres from the UN camp while at least 30 peacekeepers from Nepalese and Chinese battalions looked on. A UN mission spokeswoman has not disputed that the rapes outside the compound took place. Second is the disgraceful story of two members of the Surete du Quebec accused of sex-related breaches while working as UN peacekeepers in Haiti. Both officers were excused from internal hearings, despite a UN decree that countries must hold their own personnel accountable, because they retired before the force had a chance to fully investigate. We are not making this up. As CBC News reported last week, the SQ had a hearing scheduled for July 12 for one sergeant under investigation, but he left the force a month earlier. A second SQ sergeant had even been placed on administrative duty with a paid suspension until his retirement in April 2015. His hearing was never scheduled. This action by the SQ explicitly contravenes the UNs direction to peacekeeper-providing countries that they must hold their personnel accountable. The SQs failure is a blight on Canadas proud record of peacekeeping. Its not the first time peacekeepers in Haiti have had to hang their heads. A 2015 draft UN report said peacekeepers engaged in transactional sex with more than 225 Haitian women who needed food and medicine. Last year a Canadian police officer serving on a peacekeeping mission in that country was given a token nine-day suspension for sexual exploitation. In 2015, former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps was asked by the UN to investigate a scandal involving French peacekeepers in the Central African Republic after soldiers reportedly demanded sex from young children in return for food. The list, sadly, goes on. Sexual misconduct by soldiers wearing the blue helmets of the UN ones that should stand for peace, safety and security must be forcefully punished if it is to be discouraged. Serious accusations of sexual violence must be fully investigated. And the training of peacekeepers must make it absolutely clear they are responsible for protecting vulnerable women and children from sexual assault by outside forces and will be punished for ignoring attacks. Here at home, Ottawa must take the lead in ensuring that no Canadian peacekeeper accused of sexual exploitation escapes full investigation, and no one guilty of sexual violence escapes justice. Read more about: SHARE: Legendary management guru Peter F. Drucker once wrote: "The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question." When Verizon (VZ) announced in late July that it would purchase the core assets of Yahoo! (YHOO) for $4.8 billion, pundits from Silicon Valley to Wall Street scratched their heads and asked: Why on Earth would a healthy telecommunications giant spend billions of dollars on a faded Internet company? They're puzzled anew by Verizon's announcement Monday morning that it would purchase FleetMatics Group (FLTX) for $2.4 billion. What the heck does Verizon want with a fleet management company? These are the wrong questions. The right questions are: Why is Verizon making forays beyond its core business of telecommunications? And how can investors profit from this strategic repositioning? Below, we explain why Verizon's surprising acquisitions make the stock a smart buying opportunity now. We also show you a groundbreaking but simple investment method that reaps market-thumping profits in bull and bear markets. Coming on the heels of its purchase of Yahoo!, Verizon announced Monday before the markets opened that it had purchased Ireland-based FleetMatics, a leading international provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) products and solutions for small- and medium-sized transportation businesses. Yahoo gives Verizon an entry into new digital advertising platforms; FleetMatics allows Verizon to tap the booming field of fleet and mobile workforce management. FleetMatics' Web-based solutions provide fleet operators with real-time data on vehicle location, fuel usage, speed and mileage, helping to reduce operating costs and boost revenue. It's a capability that meshes with Verizon's wireless network and gives the telecom a new category of customers. As for Yahoo!, Verizon emerged the winner in a protracted bidding war for the Internet company's core assets, beating out rival telecom AT&T. Yahoo! was an early entrant during the Wild West days of the Internet in the late 1990s. As a founder of Web 1.0, Yahoo became a household name and synonymous with search engines and digital communications. But how the mighty have fallen. Yahoo is now perceived as a technological dinosaur, a "has been" that is woefully behind larger rivals such as Alphabet's Google. Again, it raises the question: What does Verizon see in this ghost of a company? Through its far-sighted move to buy Yahoo!, Verizon is rethinking the digital universe. The telecom is building up a powerful digital portfolio, by integrating Yahoo!'s core business with AOL, which Verizon bought in 2015 for $4.4 billion. Although Yahoo!'s management has struggled to monetize its business, the company's core assets remain highly valuable. They include email and messaging services, advertising technology and online content sites, along with other products and services. With Yahoo! in its arsenal, Verizon will now have the technological and marketing firepower to battle the "big boys" such as Google and Facebook. Alphabet and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. See how Cramer rates the stock here. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL or FB? Learn more now. Verizon is envisioning a future when its most valuable customer isn't a father signing up the wife and kids for a family cellphone plan at the local Verizon store, but instead a corporation that wants to reach those customers through advertising and is willing to pay Verizon for the privilege. During the late 1990s, Yahoo! was one of the top independent Internet companies, considered a trailblazer with both free email and search services. Yahoo! also showed staying power during the dot-com crash in 2000, when the Nasdaq stock index plummeted from 5000 to 2000. At its apogee in 2000, Yahoo! had a market cap of $125 billion; today it's a mere $36.2 billion. The company lost its competitive edge when Google and Facebook burst onto the scene. Before Verizon stepped up to the plate with its winning bid, rumors had been flying for months that Yahoo! would get gobbled up. Through its "game changing" purchase of floundering Yahoo!, telecom giant Verizon can now build a massive digital video advertising platform. Inklings of this strategic pivot started to emerge when Verizon bought AOL last year, as well as several other advertising-related firms, including a large piece of Microsoft's advertising technology business. Verizon isn't just looking for new profit opportunities by purchasing Yahoo! and FleetMatics. With a market cap of $223.61 billion, the telecom behemoth also is trying to stay nimble in the face of rapid change. After years of fast growth, conventional global mobile telecommunications is slowing as the Internet transforms the way people communicate and share information. The smartphone revolution is losing momentum; telecoms need to find new growth drivers. Hence Verizon's twin purchases of FleetMatics and Yahoo. In the quickly evolving technology space, competition is Darwinian. Only the fittest and most adaptable survive. Just as adopting cloud computing has saved legacy giants such as Oracle and IBM, online advertising and forays into new fields such as digital fleet management will help maintain the relevancy and profits of the major telecoms. Verizon's shares trade at a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 15.6, which is cheap vs. the trailing P/E of 24.9 for the telecommunications industry. The time to buy shares of Verizon is now, before Wall Street and the technological cognoscenti realize the true magnitude of Verizon's bold and surprising moves. How many times have you heard someone on CNBC say, "I actually think the economy is fine here in the United States. Buy stocks!"? If you're like many Americans, you've probably heard it more than once. But just because they're saying it, doesn't make it true. Because I can tell you with absolute certainty it's not. America is in deep trouble. And the crisis looming on the horizon has the potential to make 2008-2009 look like child's play. The window to protect yourself is rapidly closing. I'll show you how here. John Persinos is an editorial manager and investment analyst at Investing Daily. At the time of publication, Persinos owned stock in Verizon. He's also a regular commentator on the financial television show "Small Cap Nation." Follow him on Twitter. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Whiting Petroleum (WLL) are plunging by 11.53% to $6.52 in early-afternoon trading on Monday, reflecting a drop in oil prices. Crude oil (WTI) is down 2.96% to $40.37 per barrel and Brent crude is falling 2.85% to $42.29 per barrel. The decrease in oil prices is a result of ongoing concerns about the oil glut, Reuters reports. "Reuters data shows yet another increase in OPEC production, helped by production hikes in Nigeria and Iraq," Eugen Weinberg of Commerzbank told Reuters. "There is also data pointing to yet another increase in the rig count in the U.S." Last week, Whiting Petroleum reported an adjusted loss of 70 cents per share and revenue of $339.6 million for the 2016 second quarter. Analysts were looking for the company to report a loss of 30 cents per share and revenue of $403.76 million. Whiting Petroleum is a Denver-based oil and gas company. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings team rates WHITING PETROLEUM CORP as a Sell with a ratings score of D. This is driven by a number of negative factors, which the team believes should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. You can view the full analysis from the report here: WLL WLL data by YCharts NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Williams Cos. (WMB) reported weaker-than-anticipated earnings for the 2016 second quarter after Monday's closing bell. The Tulsa, OK-based energy infrastructure company posted adjusted earnings of 19 cents per share, below analysts' estimates of 22 cents per share. Williams said it had "strong" cash flow from operations in the past quarter with $146 million in income from continuing operations. Williams also reduced its quarterly dividend to 20 cents per share for the third quarter, down from 64 cents per share previously. The new dividend will allow Williams to reinvest $1.3 billion into its limited partnership with Williams Partners (WPZ). The company hopes to complete the sale of its Canadian operations in the third quarter for more than $1 billion. "Early in 2016 we embarked on several actions, including cost reduction initiatives, to address the realities of slower growth in key supply areas," CEO Alan Armstrong said in a statement. "We executed quickly on these actions and are already realizing the benefits of these efforts in the current quarter and expect additional traction in subsequent quarters," he added. By the close of the second quarter, the company was in turmoil following a failed deal with Energy Transfer Equity (ETE). Energy Transfer walked away from the $38 billion proposed acquisition of Williams Cos. at the end of June after its lawyers were unable to deliver the required tax opinion. Following the failed deal, six of Williams 13-member board resigned, including its chairman, when they were unable to oust Armstrong on grounds that he would not be able to lead Williams as a standalone company. Shares of Williams are rising 3.86% to $23.40 in after-hours trading on Monday. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "hold" with a ratings score of C-. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. However, TheStreet Ratings finds weaknesses including deteriorating net income, generally higher debt management risk and disappointing return on equity. You can view the full analysis from the report here: WMB Its been 50 years since shots rang out across the University of Texas at Austin. Heres how the shooting unfolded and why it set a precedent on gun violence in America. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) Its been 50 years since shots rang out across the University of Texas at Austin. Heres how the shooting unfolded and why it set a precedent on gun violence in America. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) The modern era of mass shootings began here on a searing summer day in 1966. Just before noon, from high atop the University of Texas Tower, an ex-Marine sharpshooter named Charles Whitman leveled his rifle over the railing, peered through his scope and shot a pregnant student in the belly. He hit her boyfriend in the neck. He shot a teenager in the mouth. Blasting at victims 500 yards away, the 25-year-old engineering student fired at will for 20 minutes the time it took for students and residents to fetch their own high-powered rifles and shoot back, helping an unprepared and outgunned police force. Some worked alone, taking position on roofs or behind bushes. Others partnered with Austin police officers, whose handguns and shotguns could not reach Whitman nearly 300 feet above. Officers even raced to gun stores to get ammo for the civilians, who were told to shoot to kill. These guys were pretty good shots, said Bill Helmer, then a graduate student who witnessed the mayhem. There was a lot of lead flying up there at him. On Monday, survivors will attend the unveiling of a memorial on the 50th anniversary of Whitmans rampage, which left 17 dead and more than 30 wounded. That same day, Texas becomes the nations eighth state to allow students to brings guns onto university campuses and, in some cases, into classrooms and dorms. Longtime Austin newscaster Neal Spelce walks through the University of Texas at Austin tower, narrating the sequence of the 1966 mass shooting. Spelce broadcast live as the shooting was in progress from the south side of the tower. (Ilana Panich-Linsman/For The Washington Post) The extraordinary timing of the new law, which permits only concealed weapons, distresses gun-control supporters and survivors of Whitmans attack. Gun rights advocates are delighted. In their push to expand campus-carry laws across the country, they have cited the impromptu cavalry that took on Whitman as evidence that armed law-abiding citizens are the best defense against mass shooters. The upshot of the Whitman story is that these armed students and citizens kept human carnage to a minimum, David Codrea, a prominent gun rights advocate, wrote last year in a post on Ammoland.com. Guns preserved the peace and kept people safe. Republican state Sen. Brian Birdwell, who wrote the law, said that the date was not intentionally tied to the Whitman anniversary. Though Texas laws typically go into effect on Sept. 1, most Texas universities start in mid-August and needed the law in place sooner, he explained in a statement. By having it start earlier, the law will be fully implemented before the fall semester begins, UT President Gregory L. Fenves said in an interview. We are dealing with the implementation of the law and the anniversary as separate issues. I dont see them as linked. Alan Friedman, who started teaching English at UT in 1964, certainly does. He considers it a calculated attempt by gun rights advocates to overshadow the anniversary. Friedman, now 77 and still teaching, remembers being terrified as Whitman landed shots near his office, but also afterward when he encountered a student in the hallway carrying a rifle. The student had apparently just been outside shooting at Whitman and said he needed to check on his grade. It was unbelievable, Friedman said. Campus concealed-carry supporters see Mondays convergence as a fortuitous coincidence. A Texas Department of Public Safety patrolman looks through the scope on his rifle at the observation deck on the University of Texas Tower where a sniper, identified as Charles Whitman, was shooting people in a wild noon hour spree. (Bettmann Archive) Liberal critics deplore that the new law takes effect on the anniversary of the gun-related Texas Tower massacre, David Clemens, a Monterey Peninsula College professor, wrote last month in a National Review blog post, but the timing couldnt be more appropriate. The resistance demonstrated that day should be admired, not discouraged, he maintained. Those Longhorns had the right idea back in 1966, Clemens wrote. If shooting starts, shoot back. A massacres impact The Texas Tower is 307 feet tall. It was built in 1937 with Indiana limestone, according to a history on UTs website, and serves as the Universitys most distinguishing landmark and as a symbol of academic excellence and personal opportunity. There is no mention of Charles Whitman. Administrators have struggled for decades over how to publicly acknowledge that day. Tour guides for prospective students and their parents do not mention the rampage unless they are asked. The only reminders are a few bullet holes in the towers limestone from rounds fired from below. Most of the holes have been plastered over. And many of UTs 50,000 students walk by the tower every day with no idea what happened there. Much of the nation has forgotten the attack, too, though its legacy has been profound. Police historians say the shooting was a catalyst for departments around the country to create SWAT teams. The headline on the cover of Time magazine, The Psychotic & Society, started a debate about mental illness and mass shooters that continues today. But the acceleration of mass shootings represents its most enduring and disturbing impact. Grant Duwe, a criminologist and author of Mass Murder in the United States, said that in the 50 years before Whitmans attack, there were 25 mass public shootings, defined as the killing of four or more people in a public place without a connection to drug deals, gang disputes or other underlying criminal motive. After: 149 and counting. The UT Austin shooting was the bellwether for the unprecedented rise in mass public shootings in the last half-century, Duwe said. Some researchers think mass shootings are contagious. A few months after Whitmans rampage, an 18-year-old man in Arizona named Robert Smith shot five people to death, saying in a note that he was inspired by Whitman. It is, Duwe writes in his book, one of the clearest examples of the copycat or contagion effect. In the five decades since the UT Tower shooting, students have become some of the most prolific mass shooters. In 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked classmates at Columbine High School, killing 13 and wounding 23. In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech. Last year, Chris Harper Mercer killed nine at Umpqua Community College. The national campus-carry movement took shape after Virginia Tech, with the formation of a group called Students for Concealed Carry. The group argues that so-called good guys with guns can save lives by confronting gunmen and taking them down rhetoric that was echoed by National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre after 20 first-graders were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Campus police simply cannot be dispatched in time to stop a madman from taking innocent lives, Students for Concealed Carry says on its website. Only the people at the scene when the shooting starts the potential victims have the potential to stop such a shooting rampage before it turns into a bloodbath. In Texas, concealed-carry legislation signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush in 1995 did not prohibit permit holders from carrying weapons on college campuses, but taking guns inside buildings was illegal. Pro-gun legislators had been trying to change that for more than a decade. They failed in 2009, 2011 and 2013 the Texas legislature convenes every other year amid fierce opposition from university presidents, but tried again last year. Campus carry passed, though private universities were allowed to opt out, and each public school could decide where guns will be allowed. At UT, guns will be allowed in classrooms and in common areas of dorms but not dorm rooms. Guns were already prohibited at sporting events. Professors with their own offices can ban students from bringing guns to meetings, but those who share offices cannot. A group of UT professors has filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that the law violates their academic freedom. They contend they will have to censor themselves on controversial topics such as religion and politics so they do not get shot. Students opposed to the law have similar concerns. In studying the issue, UT officials contacted schools in states where campus carry has become legal but found little evidence of violence as a result, according to a report issued last year. As a professor, I understand the deep concerns raised by so many, Fenves wrote in a letter to the university community. However, as president, I have an obligation to uphold the law. How many students will carry guns on campus is anyones guess. It is unclear how many of the states 850,000 concealed handgun permit holders are college students. But because the minimum age for a permit is 21, Texas lawmakers have said the number of guns on campus is likely to be low. To opponents including survivors of Whitmans attack that doesnt matter. At a Texas House committee hearing on campus carry in 2013, Claire Wilson James explained her opposition by telling the story of what happened to her on that hot August day in 1966. Reporters furiously typed notes on their computers as she spoke. James was 18 and eight months pregnant when she was hit by Whitmans first round. The pain was so sharp she thought she had stepped on an electrical wire, she told legislators. Then I thought it was an invasion from outer space. I thought the war in Vietnam had finally come to the United States. James had been walking across the campus with Thomas Eckman, her 18-year-old boyfriend. Whitman shot him in the neck. They collapsed next to each other, bleeding onto the steaming pavement. Eckman quickly died. A young woman named Rita Starpattern raced over, dodging gunfire, and lay down next to James, trying to keep her conscious as the towers chimes rang every 15 minutes. Finally, after about 90 minutes, a fellow student, John Fox, was able to rescue James. She lost her baby (a boy) and the ability to become pregnant again. She said she has never forgotten the sensation of her bloody body being seared by the scalding pavement. And she has never believed that more guns would have helped her then or now, especially on the campus where her life almost ended. I just feel, she told the legislators, that a campus is a sacred place. Just taken my mothers life Charlie. That was what everyone called Whitman. He grew up with two brothers in Lake Worth, Fla., an altar boy with a sharp mind and an outwardly happy-looking family. But his father, who sold plumbing supplies, was emotionally and physically abusive. I did on many occasions beat my wife, but I loved her, his father, also named Charles, said two decades later in a Time-Life book on mass murderers. I have to admit it, because of my temper, I knocked her around. After graduating high school in 1959, Whitman joined the Marine Corps, becoming an expert sharpshooter. He served two years and was stationed at Guantanamo Bay. He then entered the Marine college scholarship program, enrolling at the University of Texas, where he met his future wife, Kathy Leissner, an education major. One day, chatting with a buddy in an off-campus dorm, Whitman looked at the tower in the center of campus and made a comment in passing: A person could stand off an army from atop of it before they got him. He unraveled slowly. His grades were poor, so in 1963 the Marines ordered him back to active duty. He returned to UT in 1965, suffering from depression, blaming it on his fathers abuse of his mother. She had left her husband, moving to Austin. In March 1966, Whitman visited a school psychiatrist. He spoke of violent fantasies. He mentioned that he had been thinking about climbing the campus tower to shoot people with a deer rifle. The psychiatrist was not overly concerned. There was something about him, he wrote in his report, that suggested and expressed the all-American boy. Just after midnight on Aug. 1, Whitman killed his mother first, bashing her in the head and stabbing her in the heart. He washed his hands and wrote a note on a yellow legal pad: To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mothers life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now. And if there is no life after, I have relieved her of her suffering here on Earth. Then he killed his wife, stabbing her five times. I love her dearly, he wrote in another note, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationaly [sic] pinpoint any specific reason for doing this. I dont know whether it is selfishness, or if I dont want her to have to face the embarrassment my actions would surely cause her. Those who investigated the shooting cited these notes as proof that Whitman knew exactly what he was doing that day. But in other notes, Whitman said he had been suffering from headaches and that his brain should be examined to find out why he had violent thoughts. An autopsy found a brain tumor in an area connected to emotion and aggression. Psychiatrists, neurologists and criminologists have been debating the meaning of this finding ever since. Some say the tumor could explain his actions. Others point to his deteriorating life, his repeated mentions of shooting from the tower, and the calm way he carried out the attack as evidence he was a calculating killer. A few hours after killing his wife, Whitman went on a shopping spree at Sears and Chucks Gun Shop, buying rifles and so much ammunition more than 700 rounds that he rented a dolly to wheel it all onto campus in a foot locker. Around 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 1, he walked to the tower and took an elevator up to the 26th floor. He killed a receptionist with the butt of a rifle. He shot and killed two people on a tour. Then he walked out on the observation deck, set up his rifle and scanned the campus for his first victim. He had his pick of targets. He chose the pregnant one. The shot could be heard across campus. A professor reached for his phone. Hello, this is Michael Hall at the history department on the university campus, he said in a recording of the calls to police. Yes, sir, the police operator said. Theres just been a gunshot on the main plaza outside the main building, and at least one person wounded. Well have an officer come by right away, the operator said. More calls. Hi, this is the Department of English at the university, the caller said. Someone is shooting from the tower. Can you send someone right away? Neal Spelce, a 30-year-old reporter at KTBC in Austin, heard the commotion on a police scanner. He ran out to the stations mobile broadcasting vehicle a red station wagon called Red Rover and raced to campus. He parked about 200 yards from the tower, within Whitmans view. Spelce stayed low. Shots whizzed by over his head. Its like a battle scene, he said on the air. Theres a shot, and another shot, and another shot. There is a myth about Spelces reporting, that he told listeners to get their deer rifles and help police. The truth: They thought of it on their own. At first, the good Samaritans just wanted to drop their rifles off at the police station. Yall need a scope? I got a .280 with a scope I can let you all have, one man told the police operator. I got a couple deer rifles here if you need them, another said. Im just gonna say it once: Ive got a European model 9mm that will tear him all to hell, a caller declared. The operator politely turned down all the offers, saying officers were procuring powerful rifles for themselves. Later, officers said they borrowed weapons from gun stores, went home to grab their own or found students who offered them. Houston McCoy, one of the first officers to respond, quickly realized that police were outgunned. In a letter nearly 20 years later, McCoy described his attempts to assemble a counterattack. Find a student with a high-powered scoped rifle in his apartment a few blocks away, drive him to get it, drive to a nearby hardware store and procure some ammunition for the rifle and drive to a building just south of the tower and mall, McCoy wrote. McCoy thought there was more than one sniper. He told the student he was going to the tower. He asks what if he should get a beed on one of the snipers, McCoy wrote, and I tell him to shoot the [expletive] out of him. Nobody is sure how many citizens fired at the tower that day maybe a dozen, maybe two dozen. One was firing from a barbecue joint not far from campus, a caller reported. James Damon, a graduate student, raced home for his rifle and set up on the roof of the academic center. He thought he could get him, recalled his son, Lamar Damon. Whitman was just up there firing away. With a police detective at his side, Damon who died in 2012 fired repeatedly at the tower, hoping a shot would hit Whitman and end the siege. He never connected. Neither did the other shooters. Their legacy is complicated. He had to take cover Ramiro Martinez, an Austin officer, was cooking lunch when he saw reports of the shooting on TV. He called in and was sent to the campus to help direct traffic. When he arrived, he could hear return fire being aimed at the tower. Like other officers, he was armed only with a pistol. He hails the men who shot alongside the police. I think what they did was beneficial, Martinez, now retired, said in an interview. At first, he had the run of the place. He felt free. He could find his targets and shoot without any sense of danger. Now, when people started shooting at him, he had to take cover. Instead of leaning over the railing, he had to lie on the floor and aim through small drain spouts. That reduced the number of targets he could hit, Martinez said. Otherwise, he would have shot a lot more people. Those who have studied the attack agree. The return fire was largely successful in pinning Whitman down, Gary Lavergne, a UT admissions officer, wrote in A Sniper in the Tower, a 1997 history widely cited by mass shooting experts. Nearly all of the dead and wounded were hit during the first 20 minutes before the citizen cavalry arrived. Through a series of tunnels, officers were able to access the tower elevators. What happened next was chaos. Arriving at the top of the tower, officers found the receptionist and two others on a tour killed by Whitman before he went out to the observation deck. Martinez was there. So was a University Co-op employee named Allen Crum, armed with a rifle given to him by an officer. Martinez thought he was an off-duty officer. After learning he was not, Martinez deputized him on the spot. They went out on the observation deck to confront Whitman. McCoy, with his shotgun, quickly followed. A problem became apparent immediately: There was no way to tell the civilians to stop firing. The officers had to worry not just about Whitman but also about being shot from below. Ducking the gunfire, Martinez, with his pistol out, rounded a corner and spotted Whitman sitting with his back to a wall. Martinez fired at him, emptying his pistol. McCoy fired his shotgun twice, hitting Whitman in the head. Martinez grabbed McCoys gun and shot Whitman once more. After 96 minutes, the rampage was over. Spelce delivered the news: The sniper is dead. A ghost in the tower But the violence he unleashed lives on. Many still hear the shots and feel the terror, Lavergne wrote at the end of his book. In some ways, Charles Whitman inhabits the Tower. And he always will, peering through his rifle scope at a world he transformed. Theres Claire Wilson James, who lost her baby and her boyfriend that day. I guess this is the end, she told herself as she lay wounded on the ground. She spent months recovering physically and years recovering mentally, she said in an interview. She struggled through therapy, became a teacher, married twice, and adopted a boy from Ethiopia, who is now six years older than Whitman was then. Shes 68 and content. Still, she said,You think about how you could have had a different life. Theres Monika McCoy, 45, the daughter of one of the police officers who killed Whitman. In 2007, she reunited the officers, survivors and witnesses who faced Whitman that August day. When I saw my dad hug Claires neck, she said, her thought trailing off. Oh, my gosh. After Houston McCoy died in 2012, she became an Austin police officer, patrolling her fathers old beat. And theres Friedman, the English professor, still teaching literature classes. Hes been around long enough to witness a remarkable change in the response to an active shooter situation. In 2010, a student ran through campus firing a gun in the air. He eventually killed himself in the library. Shortly after, Friedman saw SWAT officers running by his office dressed for war bulletproof vests, helmets, big guns. They were doing their job, what they were trained to do, Friedman said. He did not see any students with deer rifles. Gloria DeHaven, a pert actress who debuted at 11 in Charlie Chaplins silent-movie masterpiece Modern Times, sang and danced her way through musicals starring Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, and bestowed on Frank Sinatra his first onscreen kiss, died July 30 in Las Vegas. She was 91. The cause was complications from a stroke, said a daughter, Faith Fincher-Finkelstein. Ms. DeHaven had moved to Las Vegas in 2003 after years in Beverly Hills, Calif., and New York. Ms. DeHaven was the daughter of vaudevillians and enjoyed a long career propelled by her warm singing voice and fetching looks. Her forte was romantic musical comedy Technicolor fare in which her golden red hair glistened for the camera but she seldom had dazzling solo showcase numbers that might have boosted her to higher echelons of stardom. She remained a solid journeyman performer who held her own opposite charismatic entertainers such as Judy Garland, Van Johnson, Mickey Rooney, Red Skelton, Donald OConnor and Lucille Ball. Ms. DeHaven was still in her teens when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hollywoods most prestigious studio, began grooming her for featured roles in lavishly produced musicals such as Thousands Cheer starring Kelly and Best Foot Forward (both 1943) with Ball and June Allyson. Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven and Phil Silvers in 1944. (AP) She subsequently worked on MGM pictures such as Two Girls and a Sailor with Johnson and Allyson and Broadway Rhythm (both 1944) with George Murphy, and she bussed Sinatra that year in Step Lively, loosely based on the Marx Brothers romp Room Service. Ms. DeHaven was relegated to secondary roles in finer MGM fare, including Summer Stock (1950), in which she played Garlands stage-struck sister. Ms. DeHaven earned higher billing at rival studios 20th Century Fox and Universal International but in increasingly undistinguished pictures, among them Yes Sir, Thats My Baby (1949) with OConnor, Ill Get By (1950) with June Haver and William Lundigan, Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953) with Lundigan and Mitzi Gaynor, and So This Is Paris (1954), the last a misguided attempt to plant Tony Curtis in a musical. Ms. DeHavens career dwindled as the musical faded in popularity. She transitioned to stage and television work, proving adaptable to dramatic anthology shows (Robert Montgomery Presents), westerns (The Rifleman, Wagon Train) and series including Quincy M.E., Fantasy Island, B.J. and the Bear and Murder, She Wrote. Ms. DeHaven played a rotten-to-the-core schemer in the soap opera As the World Turns in the late 1960s and years later popped up as a trailer-park denizen in another soap, Ryans Hope. She gamely sent up the genre on the Norman Lear-produced Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77) as a bisexual CB radio aficionado named Annie Tippytoes Wylie. Her final movie role was as Jack Lemmons love interest in Out to Sea (1997), a tepid cruise ship comedy co-starring Walter Matthau. If you dont stretch yourself in this business, youre dead, Ms. DeHaven told the Los Angeles Times in 1984. She quipped of her sheer endurance in an unforgiving profession such as show business, As Ingrid Bergman once said, There are only two things you need in life to be successful: good health and a bad memory. Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born in Los Angeles on July 23, 1925, the youngest of three children of Carter DeHaven and the former Flora Parker. Her parents divorced, and she was raised by her mother, whom she portrayed in the 1950 MGM musical Three Little Words. In that biopic of Tin Pan Alley songwriters Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Skelton), Ms. DeHaven sang the standard Whos Sorry Now? Ms. DeHavens father was working as an assistant director on Modern Times (1936), Chaplins final silent comedy feature film, when she made an auspicious visit to the set one day. Chaplin unexpectedly needed two girls to play the young, waterfront urchin sisters of star Paulette Goddard. All we had to do was wear tattered clothes, eat bananas and do big takes, Ms. DeHaven later told the Toronto Star. I thought, If this is show business, count me in! In her teens, she sang with the Bob Crosby and Jan Savitt big bands before signing an MGM contract. Her nonmusical MGM films included The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), an entry in the popular William Powell-Myrna Loy detective series, and The Doctor and the Girl (1949) as the desperate sister of physician Glenn Ford. Her marriages to actor John Payne, Martin Kimmell and Richard Fincher whom she twice wed ended in divorce. Survivors include two children from her first husband, Kathleen Payne of Marina del Rey, Calif., and Tom Payne of Daly City, Calif.; two children from her third husband, Faith Fincher-Finkelstein of Summerlin, Nev., and Harry Fincher of North Las Vegas; and three grandchildren. Her brother, Carter DeHaven Jr., a noted figure in film production, died in 1979. In addition to her television work, she appeared in the short-lived Broadway musical Seventh Heaven (1955) opposite Ricardo Montalban, and long toured in a nightclub act, at times sharing a bill with Sammy Davis Jr. She once quipped that she had two chances not to be in this business: slim and none. I was born in a stage trunk and thats all I really knew. Early education across the United States is a mishmash of day care, Head Start and preschool programs with a wide range of quality and effectiveness. But a federally sponsored program in 20 states has been effective at giving those states a way to assess and quantify early-childhood education options and make that information available to parents, educators and legislators, according to a study the U.S. Education Department plans to release Monday. The report looks at data from the 20 states that received more than $1 billion in federal aid to make quality education accessible to high-needs preschool children those from low-income families or those in need of special assistance, including children with disabilities or developmental delays. The funding, the study says, has rapidly improved the quality of learning for the students while simultaneously enrolling a significant number of new students in top-tier programs. [The link between early childhood education and PISA scores] It also has allowed health screenings for thousands of preschoolers to help identify and treat medical and developmental issues earlier, including ones that might have affected their ability to learn. The individual and collective progress of the 20 Early Learning Challenge States is changing the early childhood landscape for the better, Linda Smith, deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development at the Administration for Children and Families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. It is exciting to watch these states make meaningful improvements as they tackle common and state-specific challenges and share lessons learned. States taking part in the program have created Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement Systems that evaluate the individual day-care and preschool programs and create a measurement system so that parents can have more information when choosing a school for their children. Nearly 267,000 children with high needs are now enrolled in the highest-quality state preschool programs, according to the report. Thats a 263 percent increase since the grants were first issued. Numerous studies have shown that children who receive a high-quality early education are more likely to succeed economically and socially. It is particularly a boon to high-needs students, giving them a leg up in future educational achievement. Because of historic investments from the Obama Administration, states and cities, more children particularly those who have been historically underserved now have access to high-quality early learning, Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said in a statement. We must continue our collective work so that all children have the foundation they need to thrive in school and beyond. King plans to travel to Denver on Monday and to Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday to meet with local and state officials about how to make such opportunities available to all students. [How twisted early childhood education has become from a child development expert] Colorado and Delaware are among the 20 states that received more than $1 billion in federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants to bolster the quality of early learning education and to make it more widely available. The grants, authorized by Congress in 2011, are jointly administered by the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. States have used their allocations in a variety of ways to address early-childhood education needs. California community colleges and universities created shared coursework to help lower the cost of attaining a bachelors degree in early-childhood education, a move that gave students an incentive to pursue a career in the field. Colorado began a statewide program of credentials and degrees for early childhood professionals. And Delaware created a new state agency dedicated exclusively to early childhood learning. President Obamas proposed 2017 budget includes $75 billion over 10 years for Preschool for All, a program that would provide universal high-quality preschool for all 4-year-olds from moderate and low-income families. Plaster walls inside 2318 18th St. NW, in the Adams Morgan section of the District, reveal graffiti from a time when the building was home to an artists co-op that provided a venue for punk bands.) (John Kelly/The Washington Post) A few months ago, local filmmaker James Schneider was walking in Adams Morgan when he saw that workers were renovating 2318 18th St. NW. Schneider walked up the metal stairs to the first-floor entrance and talked his way inside. The interior drywall had been removed, revealing plaster-covered brick walls. Schneider was amazed to see that the long-hidden plaster had been daubed with prehistoric paintings of bison, horses and aurochs. No, just kidding. But the newly revealed images are sort of the Lascaux cave paintings of the D.C. punk music scene. The walls are covered with graffiti from the townhouses time as an artist cooperative known as Madams Organ, a hot, sweaty incubator that in 1979 and 1980 helped birth the citys hardcore punk movement. The graffiti includes the names of such bands as the Bad Brains, Trenchmouth, the Penetrators, the Slickee Boys, the Teen Idles, the Nurses, Tru Fax & the Insaniacs a veritable whos who of early D.C. punk. When I saw the actual list of bands, I nearly fell off the ladder, because for me this was sort of the El Dorado of graffiti in there, Schneider said. Schneider had a feeling the graffiti would be there. For several years, hes been working with Paul Bishow on Punk the Capital, a documentary that focuses on the Madams Organ scene. Bishow attended shows at Madams Organ, capturing them on Super 8 movie film. [Washingtons punk rock past, captured by a filmmaker who was there for it all] Madams Organ was founded in the early 1970s as a co-op by students from the Corcoran School of Art. It soon became a yippie hangout and performance space, a place of experimentation of all forms. Schneider wasnt around for that scene hes in his 40s but many of the graying punks he interviewed for the film had strong memories of Madams Organ. There was sweat just dripping off of everywhere, probably, he said. People talk about the contact high from pot smoke, cigarette smoke. Everything went on in that building at Madams Organ. It wasnt a place that said no to the kids or to any other activity. It was really a free space like we dont see so much of these days. Or, as Nurses bassist Howard Wuelfing put it in the book Dance of Days, by Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins: Madams Organ was creepy, smelly and badly run. Everyone was always pissed off at how bad the sound was. And yet, as Wuelfing admitted, Madams Organ gave a lot of bands a reason to form in the first place, just because it was a place to play. There werent many of those at the time. It wasnt just punk bands that performed at Madams Organ, which should not be confused with the bar and nightclub across the street. At least as chronicled by the Magic Markered roll call of names on one wall, rockabilly Tex Rubinowitz and the Bad Boys played there. So did surf revivalists the Insect Surfers, the poppier Nightman and a synthesizer player named Rupert, who performed wearing chain mail. Other graffiti includes Freedom is the recognition of a necessity and, in blue spray paint, Energize your boots. There are also some naughty words. Schneider returned with a conservator to see what it would take to remove the plaster. He was told it would be expensive and time-consuming. The plaster was troweled directly onto the brick walls, making removal difficult. But Schneider said Punk the Capital should be completed this winter. Music buffs will then get a chance to experience Madams Organ. I stopped by 2318 18th St. last week. The contractors were awaiting city inspectors. They told me that they hadnt heard of any of the bands, but they seemed amused by some of the names and tickled that theyd uncovered a bit of history. Though the plaster wont be removed, it wont be harmed either, they said. Commercial construction requires that walls be built out from the brick, meaning the space will be framed in, the graffiti sealed up safely. The space most recently was a hair salon. It will become Insomnia Cookies, a bakery that delivers cookies till 3 a.m. Fittingly, it will sit above Wash Hydro, a store in the basement that sells marijuana-growing equipment. Munchies and munchies-eradication in one convenient spot. During my visit, I snapped a bunch of photos, then went two doors down the street to Smash, a record store specializing in punk and alternative LPs, CDs and clothing. I pulled out my digital camera and showed the pictures to Kohei Urakami, the stores 22-year-old clerk. Thats archival, he said, impressed. That should be preserved or documented. In a way, it is. The best documents are the songs. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. BLOOD DONATIONS BLOOD DRIVES Friday 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, 801 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Leesburg town offices, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 801 Balls Bluff Rd., Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Aug. 8, noon-5 p.m., Village at Leesburg, 1614 Village Market Blvd., Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Aug. 10, 4-8 p.m., in front of Alamo Drafthouse, 20575 Easthampton Plaza, Ashburn, 866-256-6372; Aug. 16, 3-7 p.m., Rust Library, 380 Old Waterford Rd., Leesburg, 866-256-6372; Aug. 19, 1:30-6 p.m., St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St., Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Aug. 20, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Leesburg Public Safety Center, 65 Plaza St., Leesburg, 800-733-2767 INOVA BLOOD DONOR CENTER Mondays noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fridays 6 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. Dulles Town Center, 45745 Nokes Blvd., Sterling. 866-256-6372 or inova.org/donateblood. FIRST AID FIRST AID/ADULT, INFANT AND CHILD CPR/AED Fauquier Hospital Medical Office Building, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Call for schedule. 540-316-3588. Registration required. HEARING DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER Technical assistance through the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and presentations to businesses, civic groups and schools. Third Tuesdays 2-5 p.m., Workplace, 205 Keith St., Warrenton. Call for an appointment, 800-648-6324; TDD, 540-373-5890. Free. FREE HEARING TESTS Age 18 and older. Mondays-Thursdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. 703-858-7620. Registration required. HEARING LOSS, TINNITUS AND MENIERES SYNDROME SUPPORT For all ages, including parents of children with hearing loss. First Fridays at 2 p.m., Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2906. NORTHERN VIRGINIA RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING Age 18 and older, second Tuesdays 10 a.m., Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400. HEARING LOSS OUTREACH Free referrals. Fourth Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Loudoun County Workforce Center, 102 Heritage Way, Leesburg; third Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Free appointments: 703-430-2906 or nvrcloudoun@aol.com . MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE SURVIVORS Provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice. 703-771-9020. CRISISLINK Suicide and crisis intervention. The organization provides community education, has a volunteer crisis response team and offers CareRing, a daily telephone outreach program for the elderly and disabled. 703-527-6016, volunteer@crisislink.org or crisislink.org. PIEDMONT CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS Serves Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Support group, education classes and events for people living with mental illness and their family members. First Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, 500 Hospital Dr., Sycamore Room A, Warrenton. 571-426-8213. NORTHERN VIRGINIA CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS A support group, classes and programs for people living with mental illness and their family members. naminorthernvirginia.org. PREGNANCY, PARENTING ADOPTIVE FAMILY PRESERVATION Adoptive families discuss common experiences; registration required. Third Tuesdays 12_2 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd. Call 703-941-9008, Ext. 23, or email jmellario@umfs.org. BIRTHRIGHT OF LOUDOUN COUNTY Free pregnancy tests, baby clothing, transportation and support throughout pregnancy, 823 S. King St., Leesburg. 703-777-7272. BOND BETWEEN US A nonprofit organization that offers support to birth parents when children have been placed for adoption. Fourth Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Call for location. 703-771-7844. BREAST-FEEDING SUPPORT Mondays 9:30-10:30 a.m., Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. DAD SUPPORT New and expectant fathers share ideas. First Tuesdays 7 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. 703-858-6360. FOR THE CHILDRENS SAKE A group for separating or divorcing parents to share advice. Four-hour session weekly. Information : 703-391-8599 or fitsfoundation.org. LA LECHE LEAGUE Mother-to-mother support and breast-feeding information. 10 a.m. second Wednesdays in Warrenton, 540-351-6103. Third Fridays 10:15-11:45 a.m., call for location, 703-444-7386. Second Fridays 10:15 a.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., 703-431-3852; Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Panera Bread, 43670 Greenway Corp. Dr., Ashburn, email lllashburn@gmail.com. Third Fridays 10:15 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 46833 Harry F. Byrd. Hwy., Sterling, 540-338-4637. LOUDOUN FATHERHOOD PROGRAM Fathers discuss the joys and challenges of being a parent. Meets every other Saturday for two hours for four months; sponsored by Northern Virginia Family Service. 571-748-2796. Free. . LOUDOUN NURTURING PARENTING PROGRAM Positive parenting techniques; children attend with parents. Registration required. Call 703-771-3973, Ext. 27, or email nurturingprogram@lcsj.org . Free. MOTHERNET/HEALTHY FAMILIES LOUDOUN Program links first-time parents with medical, social and educational resources to give children a socially and physically healthy start in life. Family support workers meet with participants in homes. English-Spanish translation provided. 703-444-4477, Ext. 217 , or inmed.org. NEW MOTHERS SUPPORT Wednesdays 9:30-11:30 a.m. Inova Loudoun Medical Pavilion, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg, main entrance. Babies welcome. 703-858-6360. YOUNG PARENT SERVICES Support for teenage parents. Loudoun County Department of Family Social Services, 52 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg. Call for times. 703-771-5375. ONLINE CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION PROGRAM Inova Loudoun Hospitals Web-based program uses animation, videos and interactive activities to guide users through the basics of childbirth, breastfeeding and caring for newborns. 703-858-6360. thebirthinginn.org/classes. PARENTING ALONE GROUP For parents of school-age children who have lost a spouse or partner to cancer. Second Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-698-2536 or email jennifer.eckert@inova.org . PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH SUPPORT Childbirth Solutions Resource Center, 8393 W. Main St., Marshall. 571-344-0438. SENIORS EXERCUSE EQUIPMENT: Weights, treadmills, bikes and a cardio-glide. Instruction provided. Age 55 and older. Weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. FITNESS FOR PEOPLE 55 AND OLDER Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 1-1:45 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400. $36, 12-visit card. EYE CARE LensCrafters staff members will clean glasses and make minor repairs. Second Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2397. Free. ree. INOVA LOUDOUN MOBILE VAN Blood pressure checks. Second and fourth Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling, 571-258-3280; first Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. LAUGHING YOGA FOR SENIORS I mprove flexibility and balance. Thursdays 9:30-10 :30 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. LOUDOUN ADULT DAY CENTERS For seniors with physical limitations or memory loss, a safe and social environment, therapeutic activities, individualized care and respite for caregivers. Limited transportation. Sliding-scale fees. Weekdays in Leesburg, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 703-771-5334; Purcellville, 571-258-3402; and Ashburn-Sterling, 571-258-3232. SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Senior Center at Cascades. First and third Wednesdays 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Sign up in the Leesburg Senior Center lobby. Second and fourth Thursdays 11 a.m.-noon and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Carver Center. First and third Mondays, 12:30-5 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 703-737-8741. Free. ZUMBA: For people 55 and older who are learning Zumba for the first time, or those who prefer a lower-impact version. The fitness program combines Latin and international music with dance.Thursdays 11 a.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. $12. TAI CHI Stretching and strengthening movements. Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free. ZUMBA GOLD CLASS Age 55 and older. Wear rubber-soled shoes and comfortable clothing; bring water and a towel. Tuesdays 11 a.m., Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m. Senior Center of Leesburg, 102 North St. NW, Leesburg. 703-737-8039. $24 per month. SUPPORT GROUPS AL-ANON SERVICE CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA A volunteer is available 24 hours with information for spouses, family members and friends of problem drinkers. 703-534-4357 or 877-339-8350. Mondays 8 p.m. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 125 W. Washington St., Middleburg, 540-554-2747; Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 877-339-8350; Fridays 8:30 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, 6507 Main St., The Plains, 800-344-2666; Tuesdays 12:15 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, Route 29 N., 540-347-7448; Tuesdays 7 p.m. and Saturdays 8:30 p.m. Warrenton Presbyterian Church, 91 Main St., 800-344-2666. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Various meeting times and locations in Loudoun County. 800-208-8649 or 703-876-6166. nvintergroup.org. ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT For those who care for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Fourth Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m. The Villa at Suffield Meadows, 6735 Suffield Lane, Warrenton. 540-316-3800. ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVERS SUPPORT For those caring for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Second Mondays 7-8:30 p.m. Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-430-9229. galileeumc.org. ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT Emotional, educational and social support for family members and friends of people with the disease. Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. Call 703-771-5407 or email lesley.katz@loudoun.gov. ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 540-903-6831 or alz.org. ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. Spring Arbor Assisted Living, 237 Fairview St. NW, Leesburg. 540-338-6520. ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Wednesdays 4 p.m. Leesburg Adult Day Center, 16501 Meadowview Ct., Leesburg. 703-771-5334. TALK ABOUT CURING AUTISM A nonprofit organization educating and supporting families affected by autism. tacanow.org. AUTOIMMUNE SUPPORT Last Thursdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jackson Building, 209 Gibson St., Leesburg. Email autoimmunesupport@hotmail.com . BEREAVED PARENT SUPPORT One-on-one counseling is available. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv. BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT For those experiencing loss because of the death of a loved one. Age 18 and older. Third Mondays 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-957-1800. BREAST CANCER SUPPORT Fourth Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Tower, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-0588. BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those with new diagnoses or starting treatment. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those who have finished treatment, have had a recurrence or metastatic breast cancer. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Free. BREAST CANCER SUPPORT ASSISTANCE FUND Loudoun County residents who have received a diagnosis or have undergone treatment in the past 12 months are eligible to apply for financial assistance. Areas included are wigs, bras, puffs and prostheses, mammograms and medical bills, food and help with utilities, rent or mortgage, and transportation costs. The Pink Assistance Fund has been established by the Loudoun Breast Health Network. lbhn.org. CANCER SUPPORT Oncology nurses, social workers and spiritual care providers offer education and support to patients, families and caregivers. Second Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2273. CANCER SUPPORT Life with Cancer, for patients, family members and friends. Second Thursdays 7 p.m. Ashburn Presbyterian Church, Room 202, 20962 Ashburn Rd. 703-729-2012. ashburnpresbyterian.org. CAREGIVER SUPPORT AND RESOURCE GROUP Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-noon (no meeting first Wednesdays), Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv. CARING FOR AGING PARENTS Support group. Confidential. Fourth Wednesdays 7:30 p.m., Family Focus Counseling Service, 20-B John Marshall St., Warrenton. 540-349-4537. CHADD PARENTS SUPPORT For parents of children with ADD/ADHD. Fourth Sundays 3 p.m. KinderCare, 44051 Ashburn Village Shopping Plaza. chadd.nova loudoun@gmail. com . CHRONIC ILLNESS SUPPORT Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 a.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministries, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv. COFFEE AND CONVERSATION: Support for those discouraged because of illness, bereavement, caregiving or a loved one in the military. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS For parents who have experienced the death of a child. First Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg. 540-882-9707. CREATING AND CONNECTING Two-hour art therapy and relaxation workshop for cancer patients. Every other month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-858-8850. DEPRESSION BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCE OF WESTERN LOUDOUN Saturdays 3 p.m. Purcellville Library, 220 E. Main St., Carruthers Room. Call 703-431-7160 or email kathy@dbsanca.org. DROP-IN GRIEF SUPPORT For those coping with a death. Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. St. Davids Episcopal Church, 43600 Russell Branch Pkwy., Ashburn. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-597-1781. FAMILIES OVERCOMING DRUG ADDICTION SUPPORT First and third Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-9221 or email myfodafamily@gmail.com. GRIEFSHARE Open to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one. Tuesdays from 7-8:30 p.m. Purcellville Baptist Church, 601 Yaxley Dr., Purcellville. Call 540-338-0918 or email caring@purbap.org . Workbook, $15. GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER YOUTH AND PARENT SUPPORT A group in partnership with Metro DC PFLAG. Fourth Sundays 4-6 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 22135 Davis Dr., Sterling. 703-328-6518. GRIEFSHARE Nondenominational seminar and support group. Tuesdays 7:30-9 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free. GRIEF SUPPORT Sponsored by Hospice Support of Fauquier County. Individual counseling available. First and third Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m. Hospice Support Office, 42 N. Fifth St., Warrenton. Registration required. Call 540-347-5922 or email hospicesupport@verizon.net. GRIEF SUPPORT Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. HOSPICE SUPPORT Free medical-equipment loan facility for Fauquier County residents. Especially needed are donations of wheelchairs, bedside commodes, rolling walkers, electric hospital beds, shower benches and chairs, adult diapers, lift chairs, Ensure and hospital bed mattresses. 540-347-5922. LOOK GOOD, FEEL BETTER For women undergoing or emerging from cancer treatment. Every other month, 6:45 to 9 p.m. ,Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-776-2820. Free. LOUDOUN CHADD SUPPORT Led by Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Leesburg Town Hall, lower-level conference room, 25 W. Market St. 703-669-2445. LOUDOUN INTERGROUP OF OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS Fellowship and support. For locations and times, call 571-420-2012. oa.org. LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Fourth Sundays 2-4 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Conference Room A and B, Leesburg. Go to natcaplyme.org or email loudounlymeadvocates@gmail.com. LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, 6398 Lee Hwy. Access Road, Warrenton. 540-347-7265 or email lymeinfauquier@gmail.com. LYME DISEASE SUPPORT First Tuesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Email charphealy@yahoo.com. MADD LOUDOUN VICTIM SUPPORT For those who have been affected by drunken driving. Third Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. 210 Wirt St., Leesburg. 540-338-6491. MAN-TO-MAN CANCER SUPPORT Sponsored by Loudoun Cancer Care Center, for prostate cancer patients and their families. Second Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Call 703-858-8857 or email karen.archer@inova.org. MENDED HEARTS Northern Virginia chapter, for heart surgery patients and families and friends of heart disease patients. Third Saturdays 11 a.m., Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (Patient Information Lounge) . 703-924-6244 or mendedhearts200.org. MENOPAUSE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 6:30-9 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (second floor, Patient Education Room). 703-858-8060. MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-2826. MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Last Sundays 2-4 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. 703-771-4256. NAR-ANON FAMILY SUPPORT For those affected by loved ones with addiction. Meaningful Mondays, 7-8 p.m., Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-203-9792; Wisdom Wednesdays 7-8 p.m., St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct., Purcellville, 703-606-7125; Serenity Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. Leesburg Presbyterian Church, 207 W. Market St., Leesburg, 703-606-7125. PARKINSON'S SUPPORT Open to anyone with Parkinson's disease, family members and caregivers. First Tuesdays 1:30-3 p.m. Call for Ashburn location. 571-442-8851. POST-PARTUM SUPPORT Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Cornwall Campus, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. 703-909-9877. Email lamckeough@gmail.com. Registration required. REACH TO RECOVERY Home visit program for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. Temporary prostheses, exercise instruction and encouragement. 703-938-5550. SEXUAL ASSAULT AND INCEST SURVIVORS GROUP COUNSELING Services provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice and the Loudoun Abused Womens Shelter are free and confidential. 703-771-9020. SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS EMPOWERMENT SUPPORT Sponsored by Sexual Assault Victims Volunteer Initiative. Child care available with 48-hours notice. Mondays; call for times and locations. 540-349-7720. SPIRITUAL SUPPORT GROUP For cancer patients, family members and friends. Third Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8850. STROKE SURVIVORS AND CAREGIVERS SUPPORT Second Wednesdays 11 a.m.-noon, Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second floor, Patient Education Room. 703-858-6667 or robynthomson@inova.org. SUICIDE COUNSELING Third Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Leesburg Town Office, Conference Room 2, lower level, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg. 703-587-1618 or survivorsofsuicidelossleesburg@gmail.com. WOMENS SUPPORT Sponsored by Services to Abused Families. Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Confidential location. 540-825-8876. WIDOW AND WIDOWER SUPPORT Third Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. WOMENS CANCER SUPPORT Woman to Woman, first Wednesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Registration required. 703-858-8850. MISCELLANEOUS BRAIN TRAUMA SURVIVORS BROWN BAG LUNCH For survivors and caregivers, first Tuesdays, noon-1:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second-floor Patient Education Room. Call 703-737-3150 or email jberg@braininjurysvcs.org. Free. CANCER RESOURCE, EDUCATION AND WELLNESS (CREW) Monday 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. For information, call Richard Shrout at 540-316-2273. Free. CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENINGS For ages 2-5. Children may not be kindergarten-age-eligible. Sponsored by the Loudoun County public schools Child Find Center. 571-252 - 2180. CHOLESTEROL SCREENINGS Weekdays 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Fauquier Health LIFE Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2640. Registration required. $35. EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES Loudoun residents who are in need can receive a free three-day supply of groceries. Supplies are distributed Mondays through Saturdays by Loudoun Interfaith Relief. 703-777-5911. interfaithrelief.org. FAUQUIER FREE WALK-IN MEDICAL CLINIC Patients must call Thursdays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. to register for the clinic, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Patients are also seen by appointment Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fauquier and Rappahannock residents only. Bring proof of address for the first visit. Patients cannot have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. Information: 540-347-0394 Tuesdays or Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. FAUQUIER HOSPITAL BISTRO SENIOR SUPPER CLUB Nutritious meals and fellowship for people 55 and older. Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro on the Hill, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $5.49. HEROES (Hometown Enabling Relationships, Opportunities and Empowerment through Support) is a program for military families. A trained volunteer provides support to military members and their families, from pre-deployment up to two years post-deployment. Assistance includes financial help, job placement, family care and mental health services. heroescare.org or email caring@purbap.org . LOUDOUN CARES INFORMATION AND REFERRAL HELPLINE Call for help in finding resources for county residents who are dealing with rent eviction, utility cut-offs, needed health care, employment and more. 703-669-4636. MOTOR SKILL SCREENINGS Birth to 21 months. First Thursdays, Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. Call for an appointment. 703-858-7620. Free. NORTHERN VIRGINIA LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN Call for help in resolving complaints related to long-term-care facilities. 703-324-5861. ROAD TO RECOVERY, for cancer patients who need rides to appointments. 410-781-6909. Email jen.burdette@cancer.org. Free. SAFE SITTER CLASSES, For girls and boys ages 11-14. First Saturdays except for holiday weekends. 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riveerside Pkwy., Leesburg. To receive a Safe Sitter Certificate, students must pass practical and written tests on babysitting concepts and handling an emergency. Take a lunch from home or buy lunch in the cafeteria. $70, includes handbook and snacks during the day. Registration required. Call 703-858-8818 or email charlene.martin@inova.org. SEVEN LOAVES FOOD PANTRY Individuals and families can receive a three-day supply of food, distributed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10 a.m.-noon. 540-687-3489 or sevenloavesmiddleburg.org. TREE OF LIFE FOOD PANTRY Serving western Loudoun County. Food is delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays. 703-554-3595. Compiled by Sandy Mauck TO SUBMIT AN ITEM Email: ldliving@washpost.com Fax: 703-777-8437 Mail: Health Calendar, The Washington Post, 104 Dry Mill Rd. SW, Suite 101, Leesburg, Va. 20175 Joe Montano, a close aide to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and a prominent activist in the Washington areas Filipino American community, died July 25, 2016 at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 47. (National Federation of Filipino American Associations) Joe Montano, a close aide to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and a prominent activist in the Washington areas Filipino American community, died July 25 at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 47. His parents said he had hypertension and died of an apparent heart attack. Before joining Kaines staff, Mr. Montano was active in Democratic Party politics and Filipino American causes. In addition to working for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Virginia, he served as national vice chairman of the Filipino Civil Rights Advocates group and executive director of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). In 2009, Kaine, then Virginia governor, appointed Mr. Montano to the Virginia Asian Advisory Board. As NaFFAA executive director from 2000 to 2002, Mr. Montano coordinated the organizations Fil-Am Vote campaign, a nationwide voter mobilization effort focused on outreach to Filipino American communities and college campuses. The son of a Filipino immigrant who served in the U.S. Navy, he also worked to obtain U.S. benefits for Filipino veterans who fought for the Americans during World War II, when the Philippines was a U.S. possession. Speaking to Virginia delegates at the Democratic National Convention, Kaine paid tribute to Mr. Montanos organizing skills. He cited a recent visit the two made to a Muslim community center and mosque in Sterling, Va., an event Kaine described as a classic Joe Montano production pulling together the beautiful strands of the Virginia rainbow. Jose Monge Montano Jr. was born at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., (now Joint Base Andrews) on Aug. 24, 1968, and grew up in Norfolk, Va. He worked as a community organizer and at the student union of George Washington University before receiving a bachelors degree in political science from GWU in 2000. Survivors include his parents, retired Navy petty officer first class Jose Montano and Loreto Montano of Norfolk; a sister; and a brother. (Photos: Montgomery County Police/Carlos Hernandez-Sanez, 18, left, and Edras Vasquez, 20, were accused of attacking two transgender females in Montgomery County on Monday. ) Two transgender females were punched and kicked inside a 7-Eleven store near downtown Wheaton early Monday, according to arrest warrants filed against two men who were quickly apprehended and charged with hate crimes. The suspects Edras Vasquez, 20, and Carlos Hernandez-Sanez, 18 were being held in the Montgomery County jail on respective bonds of $125,000 and $65,000. They allegedly used derogatory terms just before the assault and then shoved one victim against a window with enough force to crack it, according to police. Both victims a 36-year-old from Rockville, and a 44-year-old from Fort Washington, Md. received minor injuries. According to police accounts, it was about 2:30 a.m. Monday when the victims pulled up to the 7-Eleven along Amherst Avenue about four blocks northeast of the corner of Georgia Avenue and University Boulevard West. After they walked in, they were confronted by the two suspects. Both suspects began a verbal confrontation in Spanish, using disparaging sexual-orientation-based epithets, police said in a news release. One of the victims took out her cellphone and began recording the incident. Vasquez took notice of this, and threw his cup of noodles onto both victims, police wrote in arrest warrants. Both suspects grabbed for the cell phone and began punching and kicking the victims, police said. The two suspects fled the store, toward Blueridge Avenue. After a police broadcast of their descriptions, a patrol officer spotted them nearby. The victims were able to identify them as the attackers, according to arrest records. Police have not found the stolen cellphone, according to court records. The damage to the store window was estimated at $2,000. Vasquez was charged with robbery, two counts of second-degree assault, malicious destruction of property valued and two counts of harassment of a person based on race/religion/sexual orientation. Hernandez-Sanez was charged with robbery, second-degree assault, malicious destruction of property and one count of harassment of a person based on race/religion/sexual orientation. Both men reside in Maryland. Court records do not indicate whether they have retained attorneys. A fire that broke out at a a two-story home in the 12000 block on Lofting Court in Bowie, Md. on July 31 killed a woman living there. (Paul Hawkins/Prince George's County Fire Dept.) A fire that broke out at a a two-story home in the 12000 block on Lofting Court in Bowie, Md. on July 31 killed a woman living there. (Paul Hawkins/Prince George's County Fire Dept.) A Bowie woman is dead after a fire consumed her home and hoarding conditions made it difficult for rescuers to search the house and put out the flames. Firefighters were called to a two-story home in the 12000 block on Lofting Court in Bowie at about 7 p.m. Sunday for the report of a fire, according to officials from the Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department. When rescuers arrived, flames were shooting out of the homes garage and climbing up the second story of the house, said Mark Brady, a spokesman for the department. Firefighters went into the burning home, but they encountered hoarding conditions, officials said. The conditions made it totally unsafe for us to try to put out the fire or search the home, Brady said. The fire became so intense that firefighters had to be evacuated from the home, the fire department said. Authorities had to call additional units to help extinguish the fire and clear the scene. [Ballistic vests? Survival-skill classes? After firefighters death, a department reflects on safety.] Firefighters searched the house as best as they could twice without finding the occupant that was unaccounted for, the department said in a statement. Firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour and 15 minutes before putting it out. Afterward, investigators entered the home and found a womans body. Brady said investigators are waiting for the medical examiner to complete an autopsy before the woman, who is in her 60s, can be identified. Neighbors didnt really know her, and we tried to find her relatives, but we havent been able to reach her family, Brady said. The blaze caused about $200,000 worth of damage, Brady said. The cause of the fire also remains under investigation. One firefighter cut his hand at the scene and was treated and at a hospital before being released, officials said. While the conditions in the home made it difficult for firefighters to go inside and rescue the woman trapped in the flames, its unclear whether those conditions impeded the womans exit. Unfortunately, the only person who can tell us is gone, Brady said. Well never hear exactly what happened. Ingmar Guandique, center, accused of killing Washington intern Chandra Levy, is escorted from the Violent Crimes Unit in Washington by detectives Tom Williams, left, and Emilio Martinez in April 2009. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) Ingmar Guandique, the man previously charged with the 2001 slaying of federal intern Chandra Levy, was released from D.C. jail Saturday and placed in the custody of immigration officials after prosecutors dismissed charges against him in the 15-year-old case. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday that Guandique was in the agencys custody and that he is awaiting a hearing in immigration court. Guandique was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador at the time he was charged in Levys death. In 2002, Levys skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek Park in Washington. Guandique was found to be a suspect in Levys killing due to the fact that he had admitted attacking two women in the same park around the time of Levys disappearance. Due to his previous criminal convictions, he is considered a threat to public safety, and ICE intends to maintain him in custody, agency spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said in a statement. [Secret recordings lead to prosecutors dismissing charges in Levy murder case] Levy was a 24-year-old intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared May 1, 2001. The interns disappearance and killing captured national attention when it was revealed that she had had an affair with then-Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Calif.), who was married and 30 years her senior. Police initially focused on Condit as a suspect but later cleared him. In 2010, during a trial, Guandique was found guilty of killing Levy after a star witness in the trial, Guandiques cellmate, Armando Morales, told authorities that Guandique admitted to him that he had killed Levy. But last year, Guandique was granted a new trial after attorneys discovered that Morales was not truthful in his testimony. Last week, prosecutors dropped their new case against Guandique after they discovered additional evidence that Morales may have told additional lies during his testimony, which would have further damaged his credibility if the case had gone to trial. A man was found dead in the city of Hyattsville on Saturday morning, police said. About 10:00 a.m., authorities were called to the 3100 block of Oliver Street to investigate a report of an unresponsive male on the ground, Prince Georges County police said in a statement. When they arrived, officers found 20-year-old Brandon Eduardo Sorto of 29th Avenue in Hyattsville with trauma to his body, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said. Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call the Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or go to pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online. A Maryland man was found shot dead on a Prince Georges County road on Saturday, police said. About 10:40 p.m., officers with the Bowie Police Department responded to the 15700 block of Evrest Drive to check on a man lying in the road, Prince Georges County police said in a statement. There, officers found 44-year-old Cleve Monnity of Kinmount Road in Lanham with gunshot wounds to the body, the statement said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they do not believe the shooting was random, and it remains under investigation. Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or go to pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online. A 19-year-old woman who was killed in a Southeast Washington apartment early Saturday was shot in the head by her boyfriend as she held their 2-month-old infant in her lap, according to D.C. police. The woman, Anaiona Gaston, had been engaged in a deep conversation with her boyfriend, Malik Fields, the victims mother and police said. Fields, 21, was arrested that morning and charged with second-degree murder. Police said they found a 9mm handgun in his pocket. Fields told police that the two were joking around and that he thought the weapon was unloaded when he pulled the trigger, according to the arrest affidavit. He said Gaston first made a motion with her hand and pretended to shoot him. He then picked up his gun and fired, he said. The shooting occurred in a 10th-floor apartment in the 2300 block of Good Hope Road SE. Fieldss grandmother also lives there and was sleeping at the time of the 3:50 a.m. shooting. A D.C. Superior Court judge ordered Fields detained until a preliminary hearing Aug. 15. Fieldss relatives could not be reached, and his attorney did not return a call seeking comment. Gastons mother, Queen Afi Gaston, 41, runs a nonprofit advocacy group for domestic-violence victims and has counseled women and men in prison and spoken at retreats and on the Internet. [Young woman fatally shot Saturday in one of three homicides] Queen Afi Gaston said her daughter often accompanied her to help raise awareness. She said her daughter was in love with Fields, but that demands and mistakes on both sides strained the relationship. She said she knew of no prior physical abuse. Gaston said her daughter had graduated from a Prince Georges County high school and wanted to be a radiologist. She expressed her sorrow on Facebook, describing her daughter Lil Smiley Nana as the LOVE of my life. In one note, she wrote, She was my counselor, my besti, the best baby girl in the world . . . Im still waiting on you to turn the key & walk in the door one more time. Police said in the affidavit that Anaiona Gaston was in the apartment when Fields came home early Saturday. According to the affidavit, Fields told police that he removed the clip from his handgun and ejected one round from the chamber. According to the affidavit, Fields said he and Gaston began to play by making gun motions at each other. Fields told police that Gaston shaped her hand to resemble a gun, pointed at him and said pop, pop. Fields said that he then pointed his gun at her and said pop, pop, not expecting the weapon to fire. Police said Gaston was struck in the left side of her forehead as she sat cross-legged on the bed. Fields told police that he jumped up when the gun fired and shot another round into a wall. Police said Fieldss grandmother came into the room as Fields dressed, picked up his gun and left. He was arrested on Good Hope Road about a block from the apartment complex. Gaston was pronounced dead at the scene. Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie, pictured in 2014, is among the GOP candidates facing criticism from Democrats for not denouncing Donald Trumps attacks on the Muslim couple who lost their soldier son in Iraq. (Cliff Owen/AP) The escalating conflict between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Khans, the Muslim couple whose son died fighting in the Iraq War, has spilled into politics in Virginia, home to the Khan family. Two Republican politicians Ed Gillespie, who is running for governor in 2017, and U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock, who is seeking election to a second-term in November issued statements praising Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 fending off a suicide bomber, and his parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan. [McCain, VFW condemn Trump over attacks on Khan family] But their statements stopped short of criticizing Trump for his attacks on the couple in the days following their forceful condemnation of the presidential contender at the Democratic National Convention. And that drew fire from their Democratic rivals. Any candidate for governor should stand up to a bully when he attacks a Virginia military family, Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the only declared Democratic candidate for governor, said in a statement. Our troops show courage every day and this is not a time for politicians to hide or keep quiet. Gillespie posted a statement on Facebook on Sunday saying hes deeply saddened by the Khan familys pain of losing their son. Gillespie said he and his wife are praying for Dr. and Mrs. Khan today in sorrow and appreciation for their sacrifice, and thanking God that we live in a country that produces men like their son. The statement did not mention Trump. Through a spokesman, Gillespie declined to explain why. Democrats are desperate to make next yearss governors race about Donald Trump, but its not, said spokesman Chris Leavitt. When Ed runs for governor next year, he will be running on his own ideas and campaigning in his own words. In a state that is home to the worlds largest naval base and one of the nations largest veteran populations, military voters and their families hold sway in Virginia politics. Trumps unusual foray into a fight with a grieving military family prompted repudiation from military groups. Both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called out Trump on Monday. But Trumps Virginia campaign chairman, Corey A. Stewart, who is also seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination, said Trumps words were misconstrued by Democrats exploiting the family for political gain. The Democrats have really, in a very disgraceful way, tried to put this poor grieving family in the middle of a nasty political situation, said Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Like Gillespie, another Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, praised Khan but did not directly criticize Trump in response to questions from The Washington Post. Our military men and women and their families answer a calling that is higher than politics, and we must honor that by condemning attempts to politicize and especially to criticize sacrifices military families make, Wittman said in a statement. Emily Bolton, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Democratic Party, responded, This is arguably the most reprehensible thing Donald Trump could have said. Its imperative that Republicans up and down the ballot, especially in Virginia, set an example and be leaders on this issue by condemning Donald Trump. On Monday morning, Trump criticized Khizr Khan on Twitter for viciously attacking him and continuing to do so on multiple television appearances. He previously suggested that Ghazala Khans silence during her husbands convention speech was because, as a Muslim woman, she wasnt allowed to speak. [Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice.] Asked about Trumps role in prolonging the conflict, Stewart suggested the businessman and the family should meet to resolve their differences and recognize what they have in common. He admires and respects the sacrifice they made, and I think that would be a good idea for them to talk in private, said Stewart. In the closely watched 10th Congressional District in Northern Virginia, incumbent Comstock was one of the first state Republicans to comment on the Khan controversy by praising the fallen soldiers service. We are a greater country because men like Captain Khan still choose to serve our country and volunteer and sacrifice for the security and safety of us all, Comstock wrote in an early Sunday morning Facebook post with photos of Khan in uniform and his grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Her Democratic opponent, LuAnn Bennett, on Monday said condolences were not enough. [Comstocks Democratic opponent tries to tie her to Trump] Despite all their family has given to our country, my opponent refused to renounce Trumps attacks on their character, Bennett posted on Facebook. With this refusal, my opponent failed the basic test of leadership. When asked about this by The Post, a spokesman for Comstock emailed a statement that condemned Trumps remarks but did not mention him by name. Since last fall I have made clear on numerous occasions that I find these kinds of statements and comments repugnant, Comstock said in the statement. She has not endorsed Trump and has made reaching out to minorities, including Muslims, a mainstay of her campaign. In December, she called Trumps plan to bar Muslims from immigrating to the United States unconstitutional and un-American. In the contest for an open seat representing the 5th Congressional district where the Khans live, Democratic candidate Jane Dittmar called on her opponent, state Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., to join McCain and other Republicans in denouncing Trump. Garrett, an Army veteran, said he honored Khans sacrifice, but did not directly address Trumps dispute with the family. An aerial illustration of a proposed development to replace the old Robinson Terminal North site along Alexandria's waterfront. (City of Alexandria) The hotel-residential-retail project intended to replace the old Robinson Terminal North property along Alexandrias Potomac River waterfront will be delayed, developers said, because of its failure to snag a trophy-flag hotel and the rising cost of construction. CityInterests Inc. and Rooney Properties, owners of the 3.2-acre property at Union and Oronoco Streets, plan to move forward with environmental tests but demolition and construction are on hold, they wrote in a statement to the city. The project, which was approved 10 months ago after years of noisy public debate, was to be the third major redevelopment on the Old Town waterfront, intended to anchor its north end. Along with two other projects to the south, it was supposed to bring in enough tax money to help pay for amenities such as an extensive park and flood control. Were disappointed this part of the waterfront plan wont be going forward as planned, said Mark Jinks, Alexandrias city manager. Well have to look at and understand the economics and work with the developer and the community to see . . . what viable alternatives there are. The delay probably will negatively impact our revenue stream for the rest of the waterfront, Jinks said. It would probably postpone rather than kill future improvements for the eight-block-long park, he said. [Alexandria approves waterfront project in north Old Town] The citys hotly contested waterfront plan, which took years to resolve partly because of multiple lawsuits, first passed in January 2012, then was approved again 14 months later. The City Council in 2014 adopted a $120 million landscape design and project plan created by Olin Studios. The Old Dominion Boat Club, which accepted a $5 million buyout offer from the city for its clubhouse and parking lot at the foot of King Street, is moving a few hundred feet south to the site of the now-demolished Beachcomber restaurant. It is expected to complete construction next August, and its old home will become part of a new civic square, which the city has already funded. Work on Carr Hospitalitys Hotel Indigo, a boutique hotel at 220 S. Union St., and Robinson Landing, a residential and retail project on the site of the old Robinson Terminal South warehouse owned by developer EYA, is underway. The city is working on design and engineering plans for a flood mitigation project along the shoreline. The Robinson Terminal North project ran into opposition from some residents who didnt want the traffic that a hotel and restaurants would bring and thought the five-story structure was too tall. Some objected to initial modern designs by the Hickok Cole Architects, but the City Council easily approved the final design in October 2015. The construction delay is partly because of economics, Jinks said. This is a very expensive site to redevelop, he said. The water table is right there at the river. The design was very high-end . . . and the market isnt there for that high-level hotel. Construction prices have not come down for labor, concrete or steel and a whole lot more equity is needed for projects. The site also includes a large and deteriorated pier that the city had required to be transformed into a public park something that added to expenses, Jinks said. Kenneth Wire, the attorney for the developers, told the city that he will appear at a waterfront commission meeting in September with more information. The joint venture just finalized the purchase of the 3.2-acre property last month from Graham Holdings, which retained the property ownership after the old Washington Post Co. was split up three years ago. The terminal had been used for decades as warehouses to store newsprint, among other products. Charlotte Hall, chairman of the citys waterfront commission, said Monday that the delay is perhaps a blessing, because residents were concerned about all this development at one time. Im still hopeful and optimistic Ill be concerned in two to three months if we dont see some progress. Stephanie Landrum, president and chief executive of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, called the Robinson Terminal North project ambitious and complicated . . . that is an important piece of the waterfront plan. Then-Virginia Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine takes aim while shooting skeet in Hardy, Va., before a news conference Aug. 26, 2005. Kaine stressed his outdoors lifestyle and support for the Second Amendment. (Kyle Green/The Roanoke Times via AP) At his national introduction as Hillary Clintons vice-presidential running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine suggested that he has done what few swing-state Democrats have dared: taken on the National Rifle Association. I know the NRA, he said. Theyre headquartered in my state, in Virginia. They campaigned against me in every statewide race that Ive ever run, but Ive never lost. . . . I dont mind powerful groups campaigning against me. That just is like an extra cup of coffee to me. But as Kaine hits the campaign trail and makes gun control a central Democratic theme in the 2016 race for the White House, his relationship with the nations most powerful gun lobby is more nuanced than the kind of High Noon faceoff he suggested. In more than two decades as a political figure in Virginia, a Southern state with a strong gun tradition and historically lenient firearm regulation, Kaine has pivoted on guns, in style and substance, depending on the political climate, the office he sought and particular events. He has been an urban mayor determined to reduce gun deaths. And he has been a statewide candidate who embraced the Second Amendment and promised not to tighten gun laws. He has become quiet on the issue at times, and played offense at other moments. As he served in different political roles, in a changing Virginia, Kaine has tailored his stance as the politics surrounding guns have evolved. A spokeswoman for Kaine declined to comment for this article. His current push for more regulation reflects new calculations by Democrats that after years of mass shootings, they can campaign on gun control and win. Back before you had these mass shootings that seem to happen every month, running on gun control did not put you in a strong position in a Southern state, said Wayne Turnage, who served as chief of staff when Kaine was governor. I dont think theres any question the national appetite has shifted. Republicans seem just as convinced that, after recent episodes of civil unrest and terrorism at home, Americans who are feeling the need to protect themselves will revolt against any move to roll back gun rights. The Second Amendment is on the ballot in November, said Jennifer Baker, an NRA spokeswoman. Kaine will be a willing partner in dismantling the Second Amendment, she added. Both sides are betting big. The NRA has vowed to raise up to $75 million for 2016 almost twice what it spent in 2008. Gun-control groups founded by former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) and former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) also plan to spend millions in battleground states, including Virginia. 1 of 57 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The Clinton-Kaine ticket hits the campaign trail View Photos Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, are on a three-day bus tour through the Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Caption Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Nov. 9, 2016 Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. When Kaine entered politics in Richmond in 1994, first as a city council member and then as mayor, the city was in the throes of a crack cocaine epidemic and had the second-highest homicide rate in the country. His support for gun control was popular. Yet he stirred controversy in the spring of 2000 when he spent about $7,000 to send eight busloads of Richmonders to the Million Mom March, a gun-control rally in Washington. Amid criticism that he had used public money for a political cause, Kaine eventually agreed to raise private donations to reimburse the city. Still, he stood firm on gun control. There is no issue in the city that is more important than gun violence, he said at the time. I cant think of an issue Id rather be aligned with than this. The next year, when Kaine was running for lieutenant governor, he needed to convince rural Virginia voters that he wasnt too liberal. He rebranded himself as an outdoorsman who supports the Second Amendment and appreciates guns used for sport. He had camo-style bumper stickers printed. And he played up his role in helping to insert language in the state constitution that guarantees Virginians the right to hunt and fish. In 2005, when Kaine ran for governor, his website simply declared: Tim Kaine strongly supports the Second Amendment. As the next governor of Virginia, he will not propose any new gun laws. He went skeet shooting with Sportsmen for Kaine. He enlisted a rural sheriff to vouch for him in a radio spot. [From the archives: Kaine woos gun vote, drawing Kilgores ire] To his Republican opponent in that race, Kaines position didnt ring true. To hear him say it during the governors race, he was pro-Second Amendment, no restrictions, said former state attorney general Jerry Kilgore, who lost to Kaine. Thats not been his life in public policy. Ive said all along: He will say anything an audience wants to hear. Larry Roberts, who became chief counsel to then-Gov. Kaine, said the 2005 campaign strategy did not rely on the rural vote so much as on the states fast-growing, moderate suburbs. Even so, Kaine had to tread lightly on guns, he said. Our view was, we needed to win over suburban voters, he said. Theyre sort of mixed on gun control, even in that time. Clearly, you could not easily win in Virginia if you took the posture of a New York or California candidate on gun control. That would just not have worked in 2005. Roberts also said Kaines appeal to rural Virginia stressed religious faith more than guns. Im conservative on issues of personal responsibility, Kaine said in a radio ad at the time. As a former Christian missionary, faith is central to my life. I oppose gay marriage. I support restrictions on abortion no public funding and parental consent and Ive worked to pass a state law banning partial-birth abortion. Today, Kaine supports same-sex marriage. He remains personally opposed to abortion, but says he supports the right of women to terminate their pregnancies. Kaine has always believed in the right to bear arms, but with limits that made no sense to accentuate in 2005 Virginia because he was already considered too progressive, Turnage said. He was not willing to add more bricks to that side of the scale, he said. Then came Virginia Tech. On April 16, 2007, not two years into Kaines term as governor, the college became the scene of what was then the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Thirty-three people died, including the shooter. As any leader does, he said, Its time to act, Turnage said. He moved his position that you have to more practically interpret the meaning of the Second Amendment against the needs of society. In the aftermath of the carnage, a Washington Post poll found that 58 percent of Virginians favored stronger gun control. Kaine walked away from the pledge he had made as a candidate. He pushed unsuccessfully for a new state law that would require background checks on sales at gun shows. The bill drew fierce opposition from the NRA, which argued that the restriction would not have stopped the massacre at Virginia Tech because the shooter had bought his two semiautomatic handguns from licensed dealers. The bill died in committee. But Kaine had success on another front addressing a loophole that had allowed the shooter to buy a gun even though a judge had declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years earlier. He worked with then-Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican, to craft an executive order fixing that loophole. It later won bipartisan support in the legislature. At Kaines urging, the General Assembly also provided more money for mental-health services and reformed its civil commitment procedures. In an interview with The Post last week, McDonnell praised Kaine for focusing on the mental-health piece. I really admired him . . . for not making a political issue out of guns, but really looking at what we could do to really make a difference, he said. By the time Kaine sought election to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Virginia was undergoing some profound demographic shifts that reset old assumptions. Rural regions had turned hostile toward Democrats, but Northern Virginia had grown more blue, more developed and more voter-rich. Kaine concluded that he could win without rural Virginia, as Barack Obama had in 2008. Yet he steered clear of gun issues in his race against former governor George Allen, a Republican and vocal gun rights advocate with an A rating from the NRA. While Allen played up guns on his campaign website, the F-rated Kaine, perhaps sobered by his loss in the legislature, was relatively quiet. In the end, like the president on the top of the ticket, Kaine took Virginia but purely on the strength of its cities and suburbs. [Convention shows how Democrats have learned to love gun control] A year after Kaines Senate victory, Terry McAuliffe became the first Virginia Democrat to trumpet his F rating from the NRA and win the governorship. In the Senate, Kaine has voted for a series of gun-control bills, including those intended to ban semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines. In June, he joined a Senate filibuster to force action on other gun-control bills. Speaking on the floor, he traced his concern about guns to the killing of a Richmond family during his earliest days in politics. I got a call as a city council member, and I raced to the scene, and it was chaos, Kaine said. And that has begun a 22-year experience of being too intimate with this problem. That funeral of the family in the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, with 3,000 people and six little white coffins at the front of the room, is something that I will never, ever forget. Those on the other side of the gun debate see a classic bait-and-switch. Hes very adept at knowing what to say and how to portray himself when hes [running], Allen said. And then when he is elected, the positions are not consistent. Others see a politician adapting to changing circumstances. Hes going to flaunt his F rating, and hes probably going to sound more like he did as mayor than he did as governor, said Bob Holsworth, a political analyst in Richmond. You could say theres a change in emphasis. Crews continued to battle a massive wildfire near Californias Big Sur that is threatening thousands of homes as another one broke out in Fresno County and quickly spread, prompting the evacuation of 300 homes near dry, rolling hills. The fatal blaze north of Big Sur grew overnight to 59 square miles, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Sunday. The wildfire has destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings and is threatening 2,000 more structures. It was 15 percent contained Sunday morning. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling the wildfire that killed a bulldozer operator working the fire line. The blaze, about the size of San Francisco, has also scared away tourists who are canceling bookings after fire officials warned that crews probably will be battling a wildfire raging in steep, forested ridges just to the north for another month. In central California, a fast-moving fire forced people to evacuate at least 300 homes in the path of the Fresno County blaze being fueled by hundreds of dead trees. Residents of the rural area surrounded by rolling hills told reporters that they scrambled to evacuate with their animals as the wind-driven blaze swept through dry slopes. The 1,000-acre wildfire started Saturday afternoon off Gooseberry Lane and Morgan Canyon, south of the town of Prather. The blaze was 5 percent contained Sunday morning, Cal Fire said. The fire is burning in an area with many dead trees, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. We watched it explode coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, Dana Bays told KFSN-TV. Highway 168, closed from Millerton Road to Auberry Road in Prather, reopened Sunday, Fresno County sheriffs officials said. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, crews had nearly surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. That fire was 93 percent contained Sunday, nine days after it broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest, officials said. Authorities have not determined the cause. Most adults have between 10 and 40 moles. Some people, especially those with lighter skin, have many more. These small clusters of pigment-producing skin cells may change in size and appearance over the years; in rare instances, a mole becomes a melanoma, the most potentially deadly skin cancer. If youre like most people, you dont examine your moles or have a doctor check them periodically to see whether changes may signal a possible cancer. In fact, a survey of 476 people published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology found that only 25 percent reported checking their skin monthly; 17 percent reported that they did it just once a year. That may be due, in part, to confusion over how effective regular skin checks are. So should you or a dermatologist check your skin? If so, how often? Heres what you need to know about changing moles and the risk of skin cancer: How moles change over time Common moles are those were born with or develop until about age 40. They can change or even disappear over the years, and they very rarely become malignant. But according to the National Cancer Institute, having 50 or more moles puts a person at higher risk of melanoma although research published in JAMA Dermatology has called that into question. Moles that are called atypical often appear during puberty, but they can pop up throughout life. Theyre considered benign but may have some features of melanoma, such as irregular borders. Most atypical moles dont become melanomas, but they are more likely than common moles to become cancerous. Having five or more atypical moles is linked to a higher-than-normal risk of thick, or more advanced, melanoma. (Many melanomas start as pigmented moles, but the two more common skin cancers, basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, dont. They arise on their own from normal skin.) The mechanism behind a moles change from benign to cancerous may be genetic in some cases. And although melanoma can occur in areas that are usually shielded from sunlight, ultraviolet radiation seems to be a significant factor. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Boris C. Bastian, a professor of dermatology and pathology at the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues found that a mole exposed to UV radiation (like that from the sun or tanning beds) can mutate, triggering the abnormally rapid cell division that characterizes cancer. Skin checks: Pros and cons While it might seems as if it would make sense to have a doctor check your skin for skin cancers, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent expert panel that advises the government on screening tests, concluded in 2009 that there was insufficient evidence to recommend for or against regular skin checks by physicians. In July, the task force reaffirmed that conclusion, saying that there still is not clear evidence that regular professional skin exams saves lives by identifying cancers early. But that doesnt mean that you should avoid those exams, says Jessica Krant, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and a member of Consumer Reports medical advisory board. For one thing, the task force didnt look at people at high risk of skin cancers. And it looked only at exams from primary-care providers, not dermatologists. Moreover, catching melanomas early is key: Unnoticed, the cancers can grow and spread quickly. A melanoma the size of a dime has a 50 percent chance of having spread, says Darrell S. Rigel, a skin cancer expert at the NYU School of Medicine. For those reasons, many experts and organizations such as the American Academy of Dermatology recommend that you regularly do skin self-checks and have screenings by a physician to monitor moles. Exactly how often you should do that is unclear, and depends in part on your chance of developing the disease. People at high risk should probably see a physician, preferably a dermatologist, at least once a year, Krant says. Key risk factors include a history of sunburns, fair skin, light eyes, red or blonde hair, a family history of melanoma or a personal history of basal cell or squamous cell cancer. (Screenings can also help pinpoint the latter two skin cancers, which are more common but not as deadly as melanoma.) People at very high risk or with a history of melanoma should be screened even more often. Self-checks are also important. Krant recommends a monthly or every-other-month schedule. (A study in the journal Archives of Dermatology found that 44 percent of melanomas were discovered by patients.) If you spot new moles or are unsure whether a moles changes may be meaningful, see a dermatologist. Sometimes, a melanoma may not resemble others in shape, color or size, says Scott W. Fosko, chair of dermatology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. For example, he says, the amelanotic melanoma has little to no color. Copyright 2016. Consumers Union of United States Inc. One of Adam Summerss scans shows the South American Thoracocharax stellatus, or spotfin hatchetfish, with color added by computer to highlight the structure of the bones. (Adam Summers/University of Washington via AP) University of Washington biology professor Adam Summers no longer relies on CT scanners at hospitals to visualize the inner structures of stingrays and other fish. Last fall, he installed a small computed tomography, or CT, scanner at the universitys Friday Harbor Laboratories and launched an ambitious project to scan and digitize more than 25,000 types of fish. The idea is to have one clearinghouse of CT scan data freely available to researchers anywhere to analyze the morphology, or structure, of particular species. So far, he and others have digitized images of more than 500 species from museum collections around the globe. He plans to add thousands more and has invited other scientists to use the CT scanner, or add their own scans to the open-access database. We have folks coming from all over the world to use this machine, said Summers, who advised Pixar on how fish move for its hit animated films Finding Nemo and Finding Dory and is dubbed fabulous fish guy on the credits for Nemo. A scan of the Xeneretmus Triacanthus species of fish, also known as the Bluespotted Poacher, is shown with color added by computer to enhance the rendering of the structure of the bones. (Adam Summers/University of Washington via AP) Like hospital scanners, Summerss device takes X-ray images from various angles and combines them to create three-dimensional images of the fish. With each CT scan he posted to the Open Science Framework, a sharing website, people would ask him, What are you going to scan next? He would respond: I want to scan them all. I want to scan all fish. Then he developed techniques, such as scanning multiple specimens, that put the goal within reach, he said, and suddenly a project that easily could have taken 50 years boiled down to just a few years. It wasnt just a joke anymore. We could actually say it and have a hope of actually getting every fish scanned, he said. Scans typically cost $500 to $2,000 each, but Summerss project provides free access to the images. Summers recalled how as a graduate student 17 years ago he bribed a technician with Snickers bars to scan large stingrays in a hospital CT scanner. At the time, he said, he wanted to know how an animal with a skeleton composed of cartilage could do such a crazy thing as crush hard prey, such as snails and mussels. The medical CT scan helped offer an answer: The stingray had mineralized tissue in its cartilage. So began his fascination with CT scans as a way to uncover other puzzles: Whats the structure of a stingrays wing? How does one scale in an armored fish overlap with another, and what are the implications for movement? A scan of the Lopholiparis Flerxi species of fish, also known as the Hardhead Snailfish, is shown. (Adam Summers/University of Washington via AP) Summers is also known for his fish photographs stunning images that have been stained with red and blue dyes to highlight cartilage and bone which have been shown at the Seattle Aquarium. Malorie Hayes, a graduate student at Auburn University, took Summers up on his offer to use the scanner after hearing him talk about the project at a recent conference. Soon, shell fly to the lab to scan more than 200 species of African barbs, a small freshwater fish. Such fish are rare and difficult to obtain, she said. CT scans offer a nondestructive way to study those bones. Instead of having to cut them open, I can visualize the skeletons, she said. There are lots of questions that can be answered just by looking at their skeletons. Im a doctor, so prescribing medicine comes easy. Its what Ive learned to do throughout my training. And its usually what patients expect when they come to me with a complaint. But when medicines cause more harm than good, it may be time to de-prescribe. And that can be problematic. Earlier this year, a frail 75-year-old man limped into my office in Boston. A few months prior, hed practically jogged to the clinic, boasting of how he could run the two miles from his house without stopping. We chatted at the time about how he was training for a 5K race. You should train with me! he proposed. Although I was half his age, I politely told him that I was in no shape for that. [Nearly 60 percent of Americans the highest ever are taking prescription drugs] Shortly after that visit, he had fallen while getting up from a chair and badly sprained his knee. Ever since, hed been forced to walk with a cane and was confined to the first floor of his home because he couldnt walk upstairs. I couldnt believe how weak he looked compared with the last time I had seen him. His medication list revealed the likely culprit behind his fall: He was taking at least 14 medications, including three to lower his blood pressure. Earlier in his life, three blood pressure medications probably served a purpose, reducing his risk of having a heart attack or stroke. But now, as age reduced the ability of his blood vessels to constrict appropriately, these medications were causing his blood pressure to plummet when he stood up. This dangerously lowered the blood flow to his brain as he rose, which may have caused him to fall. I think we need to get rid of one of your blood pressure meds, I said, expecting the fear of a future fall to convince him to agree with me. [The days of freely prescribed painkillers are ending. Heres whats next.] His response was surprising: Doc, weve worked too hard to get my blood pressure down. Im not going to start that all over again just because of one fall. He then proceeded to go through each of his medications, including one for diabetes he had been taking for more than 35 years, describing when it was prescribed and why he needed it. Cant you just give me a script to prevent falling? He was just one of many older patients of mine with long medication lists. According to a 2008 study, more than half of older Americans take five or more medications. Its easy to imagine how such lengthy medication lists arise. When a patient comes in with a problem, doctors often respond with a medication intended to fix that problem. Thats usually the right thing to do. The patient with heartburn may deserve an acid-suppressing medicine. The patient with high cholesterol should be treated with a cholesterol-lowering agent. And for my patient, at one point in his life, he had needed three medicines to bring his blood pressure to its target range. [On medication? These supplements can be dangerous.] Theres also a truth that physicians fail to acknowledge: When patients expect treatment, we are more likely to prescribe a drug whether a medication is needed or not. Multiple studies have suggested that for patients with symptoms of a cold, those who expect antibiotics are more likely to leave their doctors office with a prescription than those who dont. This line of thinking creates a problem, even when a prescription is warranted. Many conditions, including heartburn and high cholesterol, dont last forever; they are a result of temporary stress or a reversible behavior. But as patients bounce from doctor to doctor, we physicians hesitate to step on another doctors toes by discontinuing a medication. Electronic health records, where renewing a prescription requires literally one click rather than asking a patient why the medication was started, only perpetuate this problem. This fragmentation creates a system where every doctor is responsible for prescribing drugs but nobody is responsible for de-prescribing. This wouldnt be a problem if these medications caused no harm. But, as medication lists grow, so does the list of side effects. [The tension between drug treatment and abstinence] Another patient who had transferred her care to me had struggled for years with dementia. To control her memory loss, a neurologist had prescribed a cholinesterase inhibitor. She came to the emergency room several months later complaining of difficulty controlling her urine a classic side effect of the drug. (Nearly 100,000 emergency room visits a year among people older than 65 are caused by side effects of medications, according to a 2011 study.) But instead of changing or removing the medication that was causing the problem, she wanted immediate treatment. What started was a prescription cascade: A doctor gave medications to control her urinary incontinence. One of those drugs caused her blood pressure to drop dangerously low, which led her to be treated with another medicine. When she arrived in my office for the first time, it was hard to tell which medications were causing her problems and which were helping her. We are still in the process of figuring it out. Physicians and patients, like the one described above, feel good about using a medication to treat a side effect. But it may be better to stop using the medicine that caused the problem in the first place. In a 15-minute visit, doctors often prescribe without thinking of the consequences of a long-term medicine. This may be the fault of medical training, which emphasizes prescribing rather than de-prescribing. The University of Louisville School of Medicine attempted to reverse this trend by developing a comprehensive online resource, named the Polypharmacy Initiative, for both patients and doctors to anticipate problems with new medicines. Other tools evidence-based prognosis calculators, for example, can help doctors determine whether medicines with long-term benefits but sometimes unpleasant side effects are worth it for a patient with a short-term life span. Changes in physicians prescribing behavior can succeed only if patients, too, are willing to come off of medicines when they are no longer useful. This requires a dramatic shift in thinking, especially in an era where pharmaceutical companies advertise allergy medications, cholesterol-lowering pills and blood thinners as wonderful solutions without a definitive endpoint. One way to create this shift in thinking could be through direct-to-consumer awareness campaigns for de-prescribing. Just as awareness campaigns suggest talking to your doctor about heart disease and smoking, a similar campaign could be geared toward asking your doctor to de-prescribe. After his fall, it was hard for my 75-year-old patient to walk away without a prescription. It was even harder to discuss the possibility of stopping two of his blood pressure medicines. Eventually, he agreed to stop one. He has had no falls since then, and weve kept his blood pressure in an appropriate range. At his request, we discontinued two other medications one for cholesterol and one for headaches which at his age were no longer warranted. I hope to continue doing this with more patients. With enough education and public awareness, doctors and patients alike can realize that stopping a medicine often brings more benefit than prescribing another. health-science@washpost.com Parikh is a resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. Follow him on Twitter @ravi_b_parikh. Florida Mother, 2 children fatally shot in home A mother and two of her teenage children were dead following a shooting early Sunday at a home in a neighborhood in South Florida. Authorities have not released much information about the incident, including whether they know who the shooter might be or whether they have made arrests in the case. The Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement that officers responded shortly before 4 a.m. to reports of gunshots being fired in a neighborhood in southwest Miami-Dade County. When they arrived, police found four people with apparent gunshot wounds. The Miami Herald quoted family members who said the shots were fired after Takeeya Fulton, a 39-year-old mother of six, got into an argument with the father of three of her children. Fulton and her daughter Nuckeria Harris, 19, were shot and died at the home. Two of Fultons sons were also shot and airlifted to a hospital. Corey Bishop Jr., 17, later died at the hospital. Another boy, a 12-year-old, was in stable condition, police said. Associated Press New Jersey Officer with wifes body in trunk kills himself A former police officer killed himself Saturday night after a highway chase with state police, who later discovered the body of the officers wife in the trunk of the mans vehicle. Franklin Osgood, 61, a former police officer in Providence, R.I., was pronounced dead about 11:30 p.m. at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. His wife, Mary Jo Osgood, was pronounced dead at the scene about two hours later. Providence police said at a news conference Sunday that they received a call from Osgoods daughter Saturday saying that her father was missing and distraught. He had last been seen Friday morning. At some point, Osgood called his daughter and told her that he had harmed her mother, Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements told reporters. Troopers found Osgood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when they approached the car. Mary Jo Osgoods body was discovered in the trunk. Clements said that Osgood retired from the force in 2007. He said Osgood and his wife had four children. Associated Press Police policy may have been violated: Chicagos police superintendent said video he has viewed of a fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old last week suggests that officers may have violated department policy. Eddie Johnsons comments to reporters Sunday came after he relieved a third officer of police powers Saturday. Two other officers faced similar action Friday. Johnson declined to say what specific policy may have been violated. Autopsy results showed that Paul ONeal died of a gunshot wound in the back. The action against the officers within days of the shooting and Johnsons comments indicate that police are moving more swiftly to scrutinize officer-involved shootings. The release of video showing a police officer fatally shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times prompted protests last year. It led to the firing of Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Johnson replaced him. University identifies student killed at party: The University of Washington identified one of the three people fatally shot at a party of young adults in an upscale neighborhood as a student. In a statement, the school said that Anna Bui died in the shooting early Saturday at a house in the Seattle suburb of Mukilteo. She had been enrolled at the universitys campus in Bothell. The school also identified the alleged shooter as another student. State troopers said they pulled over and arrested the fleeing 19-year-old suspect on an interstate more than 100 miles away. Associated Press At some point there is going to be a terrorist diaspora out of Syria like weve never seen before. Not all of the Islamic State killers are going to die on the battlefield. FBI Director James Comey, July 27, 2016 A French teen slits the throat of an elderly priest in France. Islamic State claims credit. A truck driver barrels over hundreds of men, women and children celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. Islamic State claims credit. Gunmen rampage through a nightclub in Orlando, and a health center in San Bernardino, bombs explode at airports in Brussels and Istanbul, a car bomb in Baghdad kills more than 180, a suicide bomber in Ansbach, Germany, wounds 15 ... The stomach-churning headlines come in rapid-fire bursts now. Behind them all, the same terror inspiration: Islamic State. Chilling thought: On Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey said the worst could be yet to come when the U.S. and its allies crush Islamic State in its self-anointed caliphate in Iraq and Syria. When, not if. The defeat of Islamic State could disperse hundreds of fighters to the West, including the U.S., Comey says. The scale of the potential threat is an order of magnitude greater than anything weve seen before. Is Comey suggesting that America and its allies go easy on Islamic State to prevent the dispersal of defeated terrorists? Not at all. Its logical to expect that Islamic State will ramp up attacks as it loses territory to a U.S.-led coalition. But Islamic State wont be appeased or contained if its enemies back off. It wont hesitate to inspire and launch more terror attacks against the U.S. and its allies. Islamic State would use any respite to grow stronger, to threaten more of Iraq and Syria, to spur even greater conflict in the Middle East. Thats why America and its allies must squeeze harder on Islamic State. Help Iraqi forces and other allies capture the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, Islamic States de facto capital, and Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city. Some encouraging developments: NATO is muscling up its anti-terrorism forces, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg writes in The Wall Street Journal. That includes training more Iraqi officers and providing logistical, strategic and intelligence support across the region to fight Islamic State. On Thursday came reports that the U.S. is poring over a huge trove of intelligence about Islamic State fighters who have trekked into Syria and Iraq and, in some cases, returned home. That could help Western security forces blunt some future attacks, whether in Europe, America or elsewhere. After the truck rampage in France, the U.S. and Russia agreed to cooperate militarily to end the Syrian civil war. Well see if that is more than a diplomatic feint by Russian President Vladimir Putin: Is he serious about ramping up the fight against Islamic State? Putin has reason to help crush Islamic State after terrorists bombed a Russian jetliner out of the sky last year. He knows, too, that the terrorist suicide bombers who attacked the Istanbul airport in June reportedly came from Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The U.S. coalition has a better shot at prevailing over Islamic State with Russian help, or at least without Russian interference. Islamic State gains its credibility by battlefield successes, by the territory its fighters hold, the numbers of people they terrorize, the brutality they inflict on the weak and innocent. If the U.S. and its allies extinguish Islamic State, the terror inspiration flickers out. A terrorist diaspora is a terrible possibility to contemplate. But far worse is a rising Islamic State, inspiring more savagery against civilians across the West. Comey calls violence directed or inspired by Islamic State the greatest threat to the physical safety of Americans today. That may be an exaggeration particularly to people in some of Chicagos violence-wracked neighborhoods. But imagine how much greater the threat if Islamic State thrives, expands its vicious reach. If a terrorist diaspora is the price of victory, then lets make it as small as possible and as soon as possible. SYRIA 5 killed as Russian helicopter is shot down A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down Monday amid fierce fighting around the northern city of Aleppo, killing all five people aboard in the deadliest incident for the Russian military since it became embroiled in Syrias civil war 10 months ago. Meanwhile, the Syrian army, under Russian air cover, fought to repel a rebel attempt to break the governments siege of Aleppo, killing more than 800 fighters, according to the Russian military. The Mi-8 was downed in Idlib province while returning to Khmeimim air base on Syrias coast after delivering humanitarian goods to Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Idlib has a strong presence of fighters from both the former al-Qaeda branch in Syria and other groups fighting Assads forces. On Monday, Russian Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi announced that the Syrian army had fended off a massive attack intended to break the governments blockade of the rebel-held part of Aleppo. The offensive involved about 5,000 militants, Rudskoi said, adding that the rebels lost more than 800 fighters. Associated Press IRAN Khamenei says nuclear deal has helped no one Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Monday that the Iranian people have not seen any benefit from the nuclear deal with world powers, state media reported. Khamenei was quoted as saying, Werent the supposed sanctions lifted to change the life of the people? Is any tangible effect seen in peoples life after six months? He said the sanctions were supposed to be lifted swiftly. But now the issue of a gradual lifting of the sanctions has been raised, he said. Why? Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the United States has continued to thwart Irans economic relations with other countries despite the deal. The accord, which went into effect in January, limited Irans nuclear program in return for lifting some sanctions. Iran has complained that it has fulfilled its end of the deal while all the agreed-upon sanctions have not yet been lifted. Tehran is struggling to attract large-scale foreign investment, and many multinational companies remain fearful of U.S. prosecution or fines for doing business with Iran. The U.S. government still maintains some unilateral sanctions on Iran. Associated Press London Underground attacker sentenced to life: A taxi driver inspired by the Islamic State militant group who tried to behead a London Underground passenger has been sent to a high-security mental hospital to begin a life sentence. Somali-born Muhiddin Mire targeted strangers at the Leytonstone Underground station in London on Dec. 5. The court ruled that Mire had been motivated by events in Syria, even though he was diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offense. Sri Lankans protest war-crimes probe: Tens of thousands of supporters of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa marched to Sri Lankas capital to accuse the government of betrayal for agreeing with the United Nations to investigate allegations of war crimes during the countrys civil war. They also accused the government of wanting to divide the country by granting more powers to ethnic minority Tamils. The protest was the largest show of strength by former strongman Rajapaksa since he lost a reelection bid last year. According to a U.N. report, about 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the war. Spains top court again blocks Catalan breakaway moves: Spains top court has acted to block an attempt by pro-independence parties in Catalonia to move ahead with their secession plans in defiance of a previous ruling. The Constitutional Court announced that it has suspended a Catalan Parliament resolution, passed last week, that set out a road map to independence. The five-month suspension is the first step toward possible fines and legal proceedings against members of the Barcelona-based legislative body. From news services THE NUMBER of inmates in jails and prisons nationally has been dropping for nearly a decade, mainly owing to lower crime rates. Thats the good news. The bad news is that the number of mentally ill people in many detention facilities local jails, especially has been soaring, forcing the institutions into the role of treatment centers, for which they are unprepared. A typical case, in many ways, is the Montgomery County jail. Its average daily inmate count has dropped by a third so far this decade; at the same time, the raw number needing immediate mental-health services has doubled, to more than 2,100 annually. More than a fifth of all inmates now suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression or other serious illnesses. Mindful of the strain on the jail, and the futility of locking up mentally ill people who commit relatively minor crimes, the county is moving swiftly to establish mental-health courts. Its an excellent idea; in other localities around the country and in Maryland, similar courts have cut recidivism rates by at least 20 percent and enhanced quality of treatment along with chances of recovery. The idea, similar to existing drug courts, is to divert qualified defendants charged with nonviolent crimes trespassing, vandalism, shoplifting, theft, public disorderliness or drunkenness from jail to supervised treatment regimens. Designated local judges would still oversee individual cases, and prosecutors and defense attorneys would have to assent. Rather than incarceration, defendants would be assigned programs designed to treat their illnesses, with mental-health counselors substituting for jail guards. Criminal charges would typically be suspended as long as defendants stuck to prescribed medication and counseling, among other conditions. The courts, still awaiting a final decision on county funding, would not be a panacea for a decades-long policy of deinstitutionalization that has left states and localities woefully short of hospital beds and other facilities for the mentally ill. (In Maryland, for instance, more than 80 percent of state psychiatric beds have been eliminated since 1982.) As a pilot program in Montgomery, expectations for the initial impact of the mental-health courts are modest perhaps 200 defendants would be enrolled and spared incarceration in the first year and half, starting this fall. Still, in concert with similar-minded programs, including one targeted at easing the way back into the community for soon-to-be-released mentally ill inmates, these courts represent an enlightened and humane step forward in criminal justice. As a means of reducing recidivism, the 300 similar courts already up and running across the country have also proved cost-effective. Credit in Montgomery goes to the countys top prosecutor, John McCarthy, and former County Council member Phil Andrews, who led a task force at Mr. McCarthys behest that turned discussion of mental-health courts into an actionable plan. The chief judges of the countys district and circuit courts, Eugene Wolfe and John W. Debelius III, respectively, were also instrumental. With luck, the fledgling courts expected to launch this fall will become permanent. The dire results of President Obamas experiment in downsizing U.S. leadership are obvious overseas, but theres a damaging consequence at home that gets less attention: The mistake builds on itself. It is the opposite of self-correcting. As the United States withdraws from the world, in other words, the world grows messier and uglier and that only confirms for many Americans that any involvement is foolish and futile. This feedback loop fuels the kind of isolationism weve seen this year from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. It helps explain why there was little talk about foreign policy, beyond chest-thumping about defeating the Islamic State, at the conventions. It will make Hillary Clintons job that much harder if she is elected and seeks public and congressional support for a more traditional U.S. leadership role. The Democratic platform adopted last week boasts that the United States is stronger abroad and safer at home because of [Obamas] principled leadership. As evidence, Obama in his convention speech cited bringing U.S. troops home, killing Osama bin Laden, the nuclear deal with Iran, the opening to Cuba and the global treaty on climate change. These are genuine accomplishments, even if some are more prospective than proven. But it would be hard for any fair-minded observer to say the world is in better shape today than it was eight years ago. Iraq, which was unified and mostly peaceful in 2009, is in flames again, and Syria is in even worse shape. The Islamic State has achieved what al-Qaeda never could, controlling territory from which it launches destabilizing attacks in France, Belgium and elsewhere. It is establishing outposts in Afghanistan, Northern Africa and beyond. Chaos in the Middle East has spun off millions of refugees who have proved so traumatizing to Europe that the continents great accomplishment of the past half-century, political union, is in jeopardy. In a stunning violation of post-World War II norms, one European country has invaded and occupied part of another, and no one expects Crimea or eastern Ukraine to be restored anytime soon. Meanwhile, democracy is in retreat. Repression has intensified inside Russia and China, and both countries are spreading their models of intolerant authoritarianism. Formerly democratic allies such as Turkey and Thailand are moving or have moved into the camp of dictatorships. U.S. engagement has not moderated Irans support for terrorism or Cubas squelching of dissent. North Koreas nuclear weapons program is advancing. Obama is no isolationist, and of course this isnt all his fault. But his policies of retrenchment contributed: ending the U.S. presence in Iraq, standing aside as Syria dissolved, failing to enforce the red line he had drawn, abandoning Libya after overthrowing its dictator, tamping down U.S. support for democracy and human rights in many parts of the world. Rather than make the case to the American people that U.S. leadership is in their longtime interest, he reassured them that it was safe to pivot to nation-building at home. As Syria descended into a humanitarian catastrophe unlike any since Rwanda, the president justified inaction by insisting with increasing vehemence on Americas inability to influence overseas events for the better. Ironically, perhaps, even while bad-mouthing U.S. capacity, Obama toward the end of his presidency reversed course to some extent, much as Jimmy Carter did toward the end of his term after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Obama sent thousands of U.S. troops back to Iraq and gave up on his plan to pull all troops out of Afghanistan. But he has not accompanied action with rhetoric; he insists the troops in Iraq are not in combat, and he does not lay out a strategic case to explain his reversal to the American people. Given Trumps ignorant bombast, his dismissal of allies and admiration for dictators, a focus on Obama may seem beside the point. Obama, like Clinton, and like Mike Pence for that matter, is within the bounds of Americas postwar foreign-policy consensus, which has always accommodated debate about the proper level of U.S. activity overseas and the proper balance between idealism and realism. Trump is well outside the bounds of that consensus. But even if Trump is defeated, its far from clear that Clinton will be able to restore U.S. leadership, both because the world will be in worse shape than it might have been and because the consensus for leadership will have eroded. History may show Obamas retrenchment to have been one more dip in the traditional Cold War cycle between assertiveness and retreat or the beginning of a longer turning inward that could end up making the world a far more dangerous place. Read more from Fred Hiatts archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Vanita Gupta is head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Now we can go with the full bill. That was a North Carolina legislators promise, just hours after the Supreme Courts 2013 decision invalidating powerful protections against discriminatory voting rules. Out went the modest proposal. In came a bill designed to shrink the electorate. The legislature passed a law targeting specific practices including same-day registration and early voting that had helped drive recent surges in minority voter turnout. The law was aimed directly at the ways that communities of color participated in the electoral process. It took three years, but on Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit struck down the North Carolina law. The court wrote that the law target[s] African Americans with almost surgical precision and found that, because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history. Not long ago, we could stop laws like this before they took effect. But the Supreme Courts 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down a core part of the Voting Rights Act. The act used to require jurisdictions with the most troubling histories of discrimination to run new voting rules by the Justice Department or a federal court before those rules could be implemented. Shelby County nullified the way jurisdictions were chosen for this review process, leaving no pre-clearance at all. Discriminatory laws can now take effect without federal clearance. This problem extends far beyond North Carolina, as Sammie Louise Bates discovered firsthand. She moved to Texas and wanted to vote in her new state, but under the strict requirements of Texass voter ID law, she didnt have the documents she needed. Neither did more than half a million other Texans. Bates an elderly African American woman lived on a fixed income of $321 per month, and the birth certificate she needed to get a Texas ID cost $42. As she testified, I had to put the $42 where it was doing the most good . . . because we couldnt eat the birth certificate . . . and we couldnt pay rent with the birth certificate. Fourteen federal judges judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents have agreed that the law violates the Voting Rights Act. But it was only two weeks ago, after a decision by the full 5th Circuit, that Texas was required to break down this barrier. As North Carolina and Texas highlight, it can take years to litigate these cases. We can challenge the laws in court, but elections dont stop in the meantime. And its much harder to detect subtle local problems in the first place. For the first time in half a century, the United States will elect a president without the full safeguards of the Voting Rights Act in place. The Supreme Court invited Congress to enact new legislation to address the impact of Shelby County. It is well past time for Congress to take up the invitation to restore the Voting Rights Act to its full strength. In the meantime, we at the Justice Department will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect eligible voters wherever and whenever we can. And as recent court decisions demonstrate, we continue to see results. Beyond North Carolina and Texas, in the past week alone, courts have pushed back on voting rules in Louisiana and, pressed by private plaintiffs, in Kansas and Wisconsin , as well. And there has also been progress outside court. Around the country, the Justice Department continues to take action to prevent states from unlawfully purging their voting rolls and to ensure that eligible voters can register and get their ballots with the ease the law guarantees. Voting transcends partisanship. It makes no difference to the Justice Department which candidate a voter elects or which party he or she supports. We work to protect the integrity of the electoral process so that every eligible voter can cast a ballot. Of course, we need rules to structure the way we vote. But those rules must comply with federal law and treat all voters fairly. The Founders in Philadelphia, activists at Seneca Falls, N.Y., and marchers in Selma, Ala., all recognized the profound power of the franchise. When we allow discrimination to infect our elections, we disrespect the sacrifices of those who came before us and threaten the progress they achieved. But when we protect the rights of our fellow voters to make their choices, whatever they may be and whomever they may be for, we do our part to build our more perfect union. That means Congress needs to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. State legislatures need to remove unjustified voting rules. Poll workers need to oversee fair elections. And eligible Americans need to vote. As we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act this week, all of us need to do our part to defend and strengthen our democracy. Self-government doesnt happen by chance. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL candidate Bernie Sanders electrified crowds with his promise of free state college and university tuition, its 10-year, $750 billion cost to be paid for in part by a federal tax on financial trading. So popular was the idea among primary voters that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, after first attacking the Sanders plan (correctly) as an unfocused subsidy that would benefit many well-to-do families, has had to incorporate Sandersian rhetoric into the party platform and offer a free-tuition plan of her own, albeit one limited to families making $125,000 per year or less most of them living well above the poverty line. Hers would cost $350 billion over 10 years. Improving on the Sanders plan, Ms. Clinton also adds measures to keep college costs down and increase accountability for student outcomes. And on this issue, as on so many others, Republican nominee Donald Trump has offered nothing but vague assurances. But what if the Democratic nominees plan overcommits scarce resources to a problem that, while real, is not as bad as she and Mr. Sanders say? Despite rhetoric about crushing student debt, 44 percent of students at two- and four-year institutions do not borrow at all, and of those who do, 59 percent borrow less than $20,000. The average undergraduate loan burden in 2015 was $17,900. (The average new car loan, according to Experian: $30,000.) The students whom Democratic plans would aid most state-school undergrads are generally among the least indebted already. Our source for this data is a comprehensive new report on student borrowing issued by President Obamas economic advisers. It concludes that debt distress mainly afflicts certain categories of students (those in graduate school or for-profit undergraduate schools). Otherwise, the typical amount of debt owed . . . remains modest, given the median $1 million lifetime income advantagethat college grads can expect to realize. Society has a stake in a well-educated populace, so society should contribute to producing one, as it already does through direct grants, federal loans and in-state tuition subsidies. It is also true, as the large earnings premium suggests, that the benefits from such investment in human capital accrue to individuals who possess it. So it is not unreasonable to ask them to share the cost. What about Ms. Clintons claim that higher student debt is holding our economy back? Well, the White House report says it does not appear to have substantially altered macroeconomic performance. Why not? Only about 2 percent of households in 2014 had student debt exceeding $50,000. And three-quarters of those incurred it pursuing law, medical and other advanced degrees that confer extra-high future earnings. The two Democratic candidates, the White House report and we agree that high student debt can have dramatic negative consequences in individual cases. Better policies can and should address those, with any necessary costs falling on taxpayers best able to shoulder the burden. Yet even assuming Congress will approve higher taxes on the rich, there will be many competing demands, national-debt reduction included, on the extra revenue. The Obama administration has already implemented several student debt reforms targeted at those most in need, and it has proposed others. Such focused fixes should be what policymakers turn to when, or if, politicking ends and governance resumes. The hostility toward Wall Street remains so great that both political parties say, in their platforms, that theyd like to break up Americas biggest banks. But before engaging in this drastic economic surgery, its worth examining whether Dodd-Frank is working. Recall that the law, named after its congressional sponsors, former senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and former representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), overhauled the financial system to make it more panic proof. Is it? The answer may surprise. The Obama administrations position is clear: We can say without question that Wall Street reform has made our financial system safer and sounder, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said recently on the sixth anniversary of the laws signing. Up to a point, this is true. Banks are required to have more capital than before the 2008-09 financial crisis, which creates a larger buffer against losses. Capital typically but not always consists of shareholders investments in banks. In 2016, the ratio of the biggest bank-holding companies common stock to risk-weighted assets (loans, securities) was 12.2 percent, more than double its level in early 2009, the Federal Reserve says. This means that banks can better survive severe economic shocks deep recessions or speculative excesses. Since 2009, the Fed regularly subjects major banks to a computer-driven stress test. It simulates a deep slump and examines how banks would fare. In the latest stress test, unemployment was assumed to double to 10 percent, the stock market to lose half its value, and the economys output to drop nearly 8 percent, larger than the decline in the Great Recession. Under these conditions, estimated bank losses were huge: $385 billion, says the Fed. Borrowers defaulted; bonds lost value. Still, sufficient capital remained that all 33 bank holding companies those with assets exceeding $50 billion, representing about four-fifths of the banking sector continued to meet regulatory capital requirements. The capital ratio dropped from 12.3 percent to 8.4 percent. But that was well above the 4.5 percent required minimum (for large banks, the minimum can be higher). This is good news. The essence of the 2008-09 financial crisis was a panic among large depositors (hedge funds, pension funds, corporations) a bank run. They withdrew their money from banks, because they didnt know whether the banks were solvent. If banks capital cushions had been larger, these fears might have been allayed and the withdrawals limited. In reality, the outflows threatened a second Great Depression, as banks cut lending and dumped bonds to meet depositor demands. What averted another depression was the quick response of the Federal Reserve, which acting in its role as lender of last resort supplied trillions of dollars of credit to banks and other financial institutions to offset the loss of private credit. Without these infusions, who knows what would have happened. Now, the bad news. In Dodd-Frank, Congress makes it much harder for the Fed to act as lender of last resort, says Hal Scott, a professor at Harvard Law School and a respected expert on financial regulation, in his book Connectedness and Contagion: Protecting the Financial System from Panics. The consequences, Scott says, could be catastrophic. A U.S. depression would pose challenges to our political system,and could spread abroad and undermine the United States global role. During the financial crisis, the Fed relied on section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. This provision gave the Fed wide discretion in making loans when unusual and exigent circumstances prevailed. Now, Dodd-Frank has imposed restrictions on 13(3). As Scott shows, these include: The treasury secretary must approve all nonbank loans, there can be no nonbank programs for a single borrower, collateral requirements are toughened and loans must be disclosed within a year. Some of these may be sensible alone; together, they create an obstacle course for crisis lending. Scott estimates that $7 trillion is potentially vulnerable to panicky investor runs. Breaking up the big banks is no solution if, say, the investor run strikes money-market mutual funds. There is a real issue here. The Fed has enormous powers; democratically elected officials think they should exercise some control over those powers. But a financial crisis a panic is by its very nature a rapidly moving and usually unpredicted event. (If anticipated, it could likely be defused.) Unless the crisis is dealt with decisively, it could become a monster that cannot be contained. The verdict on Dodd-Frank is mixed. One goal was to improve short-term financial stability. That has been achieved. The other goal was political: to handcuff those who engineered the financial bailout, which though necessary was immensely unpopular. That explains why Congress restricted the Fed. Ironically, legislation designed to protect us from financial panic may make some future panic more likely. Read more from Robert Samuelsons archive. Regarding the July 29 editorial Unions halt a smart plan in Montgomery County: I am a professional arbitrator. I support neither the unions nor Montgomery County. The editorial board placed great stock in the 80 percent outright victories for the unions. Honest neutral parties, be they judges or arbitrators, call them as they see them. Would a 50-50 split on victories have been more satisfactory? One might rightly wonder whether the neutrals were, Solomon-like (with no reference to the merits), simply splitting the baby. If the arbitrators were concerned about the risk of being blackballed by the unions, why would they not be equally, and equally improperly, worried about the countys similar response? The editorial board referred to an irony that resides in the countys apparent unwillingness to exercise its power to limitlessly reject and reshape an arbitration decision it doesnt like. That is not ironic; it is the problem. If reform is in order if the countys advocacy at arbitration has been unsatisfactory it should come with better cases. If the arbitrator is misguided or worse, the county should get a different one the next time. And, if an opinion is repugnant, the elected representatives should discard it and not suggest that its the arbitrators who are selling out. Richard I. Bloch, Washington People have been leaving flowers and visiting the grave of Capt. Humayun Khan at Arlington Cemetery/ (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Across the Potomac River from Washingtons great monuments, Jake Dowell and his family came to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to visit his grandfathers grave. But he also wanted to pay his respects to a soldier he had never met and whose name he had learned only in the past week: Army Capt. Humayun Khan. Khans parents and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have been in a heated confrontation for days, after Khans father, Khizr, forcefully spoke out against Trump at the Democratic National Convention last week. Khan and his wife, Ghazala, continued to do so on television over the weekend, and a chorus of Republicans, Democrats and military veterans rushed to the couples defense after Trump criticized them. Humayun Khan was killed in 2004 by a car bomb in Baqubah, Iraq. The captain was inspecting a guard post when he spotted a taxi speeding toward him. Khan yelled for people to hit the ground, and he ran toward the taxi. Its driver detonated a bomb before it could hit the post or a nearby mess hall, where hundreds of soldiers were eating breakfast. Khan was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Those awards are etched onto Khans white granite headstone, along with a crescent moon and star, signifying his Muslim faith. He was born on Sept. 9, 1976. He died on June 8, 2004. He was 27. [Khizr Khans loss: A grieving father of a soldier struggles to understand] Jake Dowell, 17, of Chicago is overcome with emotion after visiting the grave of Capt. Humayun Khan at Arlington Cemetery on Monday. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) The political fight swirling around Khans parents and Trump which has dominated the presidential race in recent days seems far removed from Section 60 of the cemetery, where row after row of white headstones stand in long grass and in air heavy with humidity on the first day of August. Most of the soldiers in the row where Khan was laid to rest also died in Iraq in 2004; their headstones are inscribed with crosses, Stars of David, medals of valor and dates of death far too close to their dates of birth. Two bouquets of fresh flowers lay next to the headstone of a man who would have been 32 Monday. A stream of supporters, including the Dowells, have been coming to honor Khan over the past few days. Two white orchid petals sit atop his headstone. A bouquet of red carnations leans against it. There are pink and yellow roses and a small U.S. flag. Inside a plastic bag, a white envelope is addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Khan, along with a small card reading, Do small things with great love, emblazoned with a drawing of a sparrow. Then, from the solitude, emerged a reminder of all that was happening on television sets and Twitter: A caravan of cars pulled up, and a horde of photographers and camera operators walked toward Khans grave, led by a cemetery representative. [Republicans denounce Trump as confrontation with Muslim parents escalates] The Dowells Jake, 17; his father, Tony, 50; and 19-year-old sister, Hannah, all from Chicago cooled off at a water pump before heading to Khans grave. I just wanted to see and pay my respects to an American hero, Jake Dowell said. He was moved by Khans story a representation of what it means to be an American, he said. He said he believes that Khan lived the American Dream and was willing to sacrifice his life so that others can live it as well. Khizr Khan delivers a speech with his wife Ghazala Khan standing next to him at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last week. An image of their fallen son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, is shown on a video screen behind them. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Standing by the water pump, Tony Dowell began to tear up as he looked around at the rows and rows of graves. They had their lives and stories, he said, his voice quavering. Its just a very emotional place. [John McCain, VFW condemn Trump over attacks on Khan family] The family started to walk down the road toward Khans grave. They are Hillary Clinton supporters and vehemently disagree with many of Trumps proposals, including his call to ban Muslims from the United States. Hannah Dowell looked around and said that everyone whose graves she saw had given so much. You hear Trump, she said. He hasnt sacrificed anything for this country. And I wanted to pay my respects to an American hero who sacrificed so much. But the visit wasnt about the election. There is nothing political about paying your respects to an American hero, Jake Dowell said, a sentiment his father quoted on Twitter after the visit. As they walked toward the grave, reporters and cameras still surrounded it. Sally Schwartz, 65, and her mother, Harriet Schwartz, 85, stood before the grave. Harriet leaned on a black cane. We thought wed pay our respects, Sally Schwartz said as the women walked away. Jake Dowell walked up to the headstone. He stared at it for some time. He exhaled. He walked away, wiping his eyes. Im very overwhelmed, he said. Its a power that cant be described in words, almost. Dan Lamothe contributed to this report. Thirteen years after billionaire industrialist Charles Koch gathered a small group of his fellow libertarian donors in a Chicago hotel to discuss how to promote their economic theories, the network he launched is one of the countrys most potent political forces, with 1,600 staffers across 38 states. But Kochs refusal to harness his singular operation in support of the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has put him at odds with some of his wealthiest peers and forced the network to defend its relevance at the time of its greatest reach. That tension rippled behind the scenes this weekend as about 400 donors met in Colorado Springs at a luxury resort encircling a man-made lake where white swans paddled in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Between panels extolling free speech and conservative policy victories on the state level, Koch and his top deputies heard out donors worried about the networks decision to sit on the sidelines. I told him that it was very important that Hillary Clinton not get elected, said Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota media mogul who said his biggest concern is how she would reshape the Supreme Court. Kochs decision not to embrace Trump threatens to alienate some heavyweight network backers who have rallied to the nominees side in recent months mega- donors such as Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks, Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm and New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer, none of whom attended this weekends conclave. Charles and David Koch have historically been hated by Democrats and loved by Republicans. But regardless of which party you support, there's almost no question that the Koch Brothers have made money off of you. (Jeff Simon,Daron Taylor/The Washington Post) A lot of donors are saying, Why are we spending money on Senate candidates and not trying to beat Hillary? said one well-connected Republican familiar with the views of major-party financiers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Network officials sought to defuse some of the frustration by announcing that Koch-backed groups would feature the Democratic presidential nominee, Clinton, in Senate campaign ads, tying her policy stances to those of Democratic contenders in battlegrounds states such as Ohio. And on Sunday, Koch made his most forceful rejection yet of the possibility that he would personally support Clinton in this years presidential race, calling such an idea a blood libel. But he reiterated that he would not get behind Trump, whose rhetoric about immigrants and Muslims has appalled the 80-year-old chief executive of Koch Industries. [Charles Koch wont back Trump but calls the idea that he would support Clinton blood libel] Later, in a closed session for donors in one of the Broadmoor resorts rose-colored villas, Koch and senior network officials detailed their reasons for staying out of the presidential contest. The 700 major contributors who support the organization were divided over the GOP nominee, they told attendees, and they think the network will have a greater influence by focusing on Senate races instead of splitting its resources. But their main argument came down to credibility: If the network lent its weight to bolster Trump, who does not share the organizations positions on such core issues as free trade and limited government, how could it deny similar support to any other Republican in the future? The reaction was supportive, according to multiple people in the room. I think they made a very good case, Hubbard said. Tim Busch, chief executive of an upscale hotel chain in California, said that although he is personally supporting Trump because of his antiabortion stance, he understood the reasoning. They cant support him because hes contrary to what theyre about, Busch said. Im sure there are people who are dissatisfied. But youve got to make decisions based on your principles. Still, some Republicans allied with Trump argue that he is being held to a different standard than the presidential nominee in the 2012 election, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who was accepted grudgingly by many on the right and got robust backing from the Koch operation. In 2012, many donors, and certainly conservative voters, were unhappy with Romney but were told, We cant have Obama, said GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser who is close to the Mercers. Where is that argument now? Mr. Trump has a number of donors within the Koch network that support him, and we welcome more of them in our campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton and her anti-free-market policies, she added. [Koch political network plans to invoke Hillary Clinton in Senate ads] Koch officials acknowledged that some donors are unhappy but said the organization was going to remain focused on candidates who share its free-market principles. Our network brings together hundreds of members with an aligned vision and values to advance a free and open society, said Mark Holden, chairman of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the networks funding arm. Not surprisingly in a group this large, filled with passionate people with strong opinions on various issues and strategies, sometimes partners disagree. And on occasion, they decide to support additional activities outside of our network. The friction comes in the throes of an election in which the Koch operation was aiming to have its largest influence yet. After years of investing millions in a massive voter database and a permanent ground force across the country, the network could boast of helping Republicans sweep statehouses and secure congressional victories in 2010 and 2014. But this year, its array of nonprofit advocacy groups was poised for something even bigger: to succeed for the first time in getting its favored candidate into the White House. Instead, the Koch operation scaled back its plans. After originally aiming to spend $889 million in the 2016 cycle, the network is now on track to invest $750 million, with roughly a third $250 million financing the policy and political campaigns of groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Partners Action Fund, Concerned Veterans for America, the Libre Initiative and Generation Opportunity, officials said. Koch spent the weekend stressing that politics is just a piece of what the network finances in its efforts to spread free-market principles. I recognize reluctantly that politics needs to be a piece of this strategy, but weve got to keep in mind, just one piece, he told donors Saturday night as they sipped wine and cocktails in a ballroom. If we just focus on politics, were going to continue to lose, were going to continue to deteriorate, Koch said, drawing scattered applause from the audience. [Charles Koch warns politicians are offering frightening answers to improve society] On Sunday, Koch laid out the immediate political priorities: electing like-minded candidates to Congress and cultivating conservative leaders at the state level. So far, the network is active in six competitive Senate races, on its way to spending $42 million on paid ads in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. To address the current political crisis, our first objective is to stop the worst federal policies, regardless of who is the next president, Koch said. And weve got to remember that Republican presidents advance a lot of bad policies, just like Democrats. A select group of top Republican elected officials were on hand for the gathering, including Sens. John Cornyn (Tex.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Tim Scott (S.C.); Reps. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), Mike Coffman (Colo.) and Mike Pompeo (Kan.); and Govs. Matt Bevin (Ky.), Doug Ducey (Ariz.) and Scott Walker (Wis.). House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) addressed the group Monday. The Washington Post and other news outlets were invited to cover portions of the weekends events, on the condition that they did not name donors in attendance without their permission. At least 300 major donors who had each committed at least $100,000 annually to support the networks political, policy and educational efforts participated in the weekend events. A hundred other potential contributors also attended. Longtime donor Frayda Levin, who serves on the board of Americans for Prosperity, said she was not worried that the network would falter if major donors leave over the decision not to support Trump. What happens in any network is people come and go, she said. Youve got to remember: We have come from 2008, where Obama won and they had both houses of Congress. You know how devastated the network was emotionally? That was much harder. People backed away. Its true of any movement. It ebbs and flows. Donald Trump is headed to Wisconsin, where some of the state's Republican officials have been distancing themselves from politically charged comments he made about the parents of a soldier killed in action. The Republican presidential nominee plans to hold a rally in Green Bay on Friday, his first Wisconsin stop since the state's April primary. It comes a week after Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, campaigned in Republican-heavy Waukesha. But the Wisconsin stop also comes as Republicans in the state who have supported Trump once again find themselves backing away from comments he made. Wisconsin may yet play prominent role in already wild presidential election The state is not currently a battleground state, but post-convention reactions to candidates could drive strategy. Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because they are Muslim. Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who are both Republicans who have endorsed Trump, said on Sunday that criticizing the family of a fallen soldier should be off limits. "I don't care what they say. You'll never hear me question anything about a Gold Star family," Walker said. "I've gone to too many funerals, met too many families. What they've sacrificed is just unbelievable." Ryan issued a statement defending the Khan family without mentioning Trump. "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice," Ryan said. "Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honored. Period." It's been an uneasy alliance for both Ryan and Walker with Trump. They were both late to endorse him Walker backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Wisconsin's primary and they have also previously criticized Trump over comments he's made questioning the fairness of a judge because of his Hispanic heritage and his proposal to temporary ban Muslims from entering the country. But Walker and Ryan, along with Sen. Ron Johnson, all appeared at the national convention two weeks ago and gave full-throated endorsements of Trump. Walker also appeared at the Pence rally in Wisconsin last week. Johnson, who is locked in a tight re-election contest with Democrat Russ Feingold, issued a statement Monday praising the Khan family but not mentioning Trump -- a move the Feingold campaign criticized. "Captain Humayun Khan and all the Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country deserve our deepest respect and gratitude," Johnson said. "I will always work to serve our nation's service members and veterans, and honor those who gave their lives to defend our freedoms." The statement stopped short of calling on Trump to retract his comments, as Johnson did in June. Then, Johnson was responding to the controversy over Trump's assertion that a federal judge could not fairly preside over a court case involving Trump because of the judge's Mexican heritage. Johnson's campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment or whether he'd be joining Trump in Green Bay. Ryan's campaign spokesman, Zack Roday, said Ryan had events in his southeastern Wisconsin congressional district and would not be there. Walker's campaign spokesman, Joe Fadness, had no immediate comment on whether Walker would join Trump in Green Bay. While Walker has endorsed Trump, they have not appeared on the same stage together since the Republican presidential debates last year when they were running against one another in the GOP primary. Wisconsin State Journal reporter Mark Sommerhauser contributed to this report. A bipartisan constellation of decorated combat veterans, members of Congress and family members of slain soldiers admonished Donald Trump on Monday for criticizing the Muslim American parents of an Army officer killed in Iraq, threatening to undermine Trumps support among core Republican voters. The condemnations by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and dozens of veterans and family members of those killed in the line of duty served as the most forceful rebuke yet of the moguls comments and his anti-Muslim rhetoric. The critiques lobbed at Trump on Monday were the latest turns in a bitter exchange that has dominated the presidential race since the close of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday in Philadelphia. It threatens to hurt Trumps standing among voters he has been aggressively pursuing: those who arent fans of Democrat Hillary Clinton and who hold doubts about her record on national security. The standoff has also frayed Trumps already delicate alliance with GOP leaders. [Weve never been challenged this way: Military support groups demand respect for Khan family] Trump did not address the controversy directly during a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday afternoon. But he signaled on Twitter earlier in the day that he was not backing down from his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, was killed by a car bomber in Iraq in 2004. Trump said Khizr Khan had no right to assail him as he did in a speech at the Democratic convention Thursday. Both Republicans and Democrats are publicly responding to the row between GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and Khizr Khan. Khan's son was killed while serving in Iraq. Here's what politicians from both parties said. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post) McCain, a respected figure on national security issues in the Republican Party, issued a written statement sternly reprimanding Trump. In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents, said McCain, who was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. [GOP dismay grows as Trump stands his ground] McCain, who has tangled with Trump before, most notably after Trump said last year that McCain was not a war hero because he had been captured, added: While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Aside from McCain, a bipartisan coalition of veterans, family members of military personnel killed in the line of duty, a veteran serving in Congress and an ex-diplomat sent a letter to Trump calling his criticism of the Khans an affront to each of them. It also called for him to apologize. Your statements are unacceptable, especially from someone seeking to serve as Commander in Chief, the letter said. The Khans sacrifice has earned them the right to ask hard questions of those seeking elected office. [Humayun Khans grave becomes a shrine in the wake of his fathers speech] 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These Republicans refuse to vote for Donald Trump View Photos And theyll tell you why. Caption And theyll tell you why. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell General Powell said at a meeting of the Long Island Association that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton, a spokeswoman confirmed Oct. 25. Powell added in an interview that he picked Clinton because I think shes qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The list of signatories includes highly decorated combat veterans including Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer, who was a supporter of Sen. Ted Cruzs presidential campaign. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who served in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer, is also on the list. Organizers said they plan to add many more signatures by opening up the letter online for broader national participation. Brian Duffy, the recently elected commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, released a statement saying that the organization will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression. Duffy added that there are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. While Trump pledged to take good care of veterans at his campaign stop in Columbus, he steered clear of the firestorm over his comments about the Khans. Attendees had their own opinions on the matter. Josh Smith, 53, of Keystone Heights, Fla., said that he served in the Navy for 20 years and that he did not find Trumps comments about the Khans to be distasteful. It was bad that their son died, but to put that man on stage to say all those things was ridiculous, he said. Smith said that when Trump responded to the Khans remarks, he was just making a comment back to someone who attacked him. He wasnt being offensive. Larry Robinson, 71, of Columbus, who said he served in the Army during the Vietnam War, believes that Trump has a lot of empathy for veterans. On Twitter on Monday morning, Trump lashed out again at Khizr Khan and the media. He argued that radical Islamic terrorism, not Khan, should be the focus of the exchange just minutes after slamming Khan. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same Nice! Trump said in his initial tweet. Khizr and Ghazala Khan participated in a round of television interviews Monday in which they slammed Trump. This candidate amazes me his ignorance, Khizr Khan said on NBCs Today show. He can get up and malign the entire nation the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges. And yet, a private citizen in this political process, in his candidacy for the stewardship for this country I cannot say what I feel? That proves the point: He has not read the Constitution of this country. Ghazala Khan, who teared up during at least one TV interview, rejected Trumps suggestion during an interview with ABC News that she may not have been allowed to speak during her convention appearance. She stood at her husbands side as he spoke. [In Trump clash with Khans, new hints of cultural and political rift] It doesnt have to do anything with my religion, she said on Today. She wrote in a Washington Post op-ed over the weekend that she is still experiencing raw emotions about her sons death and could not bring herself to speak at the convention. Clinton has said that the Khan family paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Ahead of her rally in Omaha, the controversy was a top-of-mind issue. Were both grandmothers; we both think its terrible, said Jan Gleason, 79, as she stood with a friend waiting for Clinton to arrive. Its just a person who served and died for our country. He made fun of his mother, added Sharon Heck, 72. Its just sad. Speaking to the Disabled American Veterans annual convention in Atlanta, President Obama did not mention Khans parents or their speech. But he said he had asked to be introduced at the Democratic convention last week by Sharon Belkofer, whose son was killed in combat. And he called on Americans to support those who have lost loved ones to war. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them, Obama said. Some Trump allies fought back hard Monday against the criticism the mogul has faced over his remarks about the Khans. Corey Lewandowski, Trumps former campaign manager, argued that the Khans son would still be alive if Trump had been president. Their son is a hero. And every person who has ever died fighting for our country and their families are heroes, Lewandowski said on CNN, which employs him as a paid contributor. The difference is, weve got 7,000 soldiers who died, $6 trillion wasted in wars overseas, and if Donald Trump was the president, we would never have had, and Captain Khan would be alive today. Trump regularly casts himself as an early critic of the Iraq War. The Posts Fact Checker found that there is no sign that Trump opposed the invasion or was vocal about it prior to the invasion. Lewandowski was fired by Trump in June. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said McCains response to Trump was probably motivated by the longtime senators anxiety over his reelection race in Arizona. I think youre hearing a guy whos worried about whether he can be reelected in Arizona, Giuliani said in an interview with The Post. John wouldnt be saying this if he were running two years from now. Hed just keep his mouth shut. James Waters, a former George W. Bush administration White House aide and Navy SEAL, was among the 40 who signed the bipartisan letter to Trump. He is a Republican, but he is not voting for his partys nominee. I think this situation speaks quite well to Trumps blatant lack of fitness for office, Waters said. Kathy Lynn Gray in Columbus; Greg Jaffe in Atlanta; Katie Zezima, Dan Lamothe and Robert Costa in Washington; and Abby Phillip in Omaha contributed to this report. President Obama greets audience members after his remarks to the annual national convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) President Obama on Monday criticized Republican nominee Donald Trump for disparaging the American military as weak and defended his administrations efforts to rebuild a Department of Veterans Affairs weighed down by recent scandals. I am pretty tired of people trash talking Americas military and troops. Lets get some facts straight. . . . Obama said. We have the most capable fighting force in history, and we are going to keep it that way. Obamas speech to the Disabled American Veterans 95th annual convention came amid growing condemnation of Trump for his suggestion that the mother of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq, was not allowed to speak during her husbands remarks at the Democratic National Convention. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say, Trump said of Ghazala Khan, the mother of the slain soldier. Obama did not mention Trump by name but pilloried him for praising Saddam Hussein for killing terrorists, saying the late Iraqi leaders brutality must be condemned, never praised. He condemned Trumps suggestion that the NATO alliance was irrelevant, saying that the United States would never respond to Russian aggression by turning our back to our allies in Europe. Obama did not mention Khans parents or their speech but said he had asked to be introduced at the Democratic convention last week by Sharon Belkofer, whose son was killed in combat. And he called on Americans to support Americans who had lost loved ones to war. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them, Obama said. The president left much of the most pointed criticism of Trumps remarks about the Khan family to Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who called on Trump to apologize to the parents of the slain soldier. While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us, McCain said. Obama devoted much of his speech to touting his administrations efforts to fix Veterans Affairs, which has been overwhelmed by scandals and the surging demand generated by 15 years of war and an aging veteran population. To hide their shortcomings, VA officials for years had altered records to hide long waiting times that prevented many veterans from receiving care. The effort to conceal long waiting times, which Obama called inexcusable, resulted in the resignation of Obamas first VA secretary, Eric. K Shinseki, in 2014. Veterans groups have praised VA Secretary Robert McDonald, who took over from Shinseki, even as they have raised questions about the presidents commitment to fixing VA. Like so many presidents before him, he came in saying I am going to fix the VA and hes leaving without the VA fixed, said Paul Rieckhoff, the chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in an interview earlier this year. Most of all, the trust has been broken. The VA brand is devastated. Obama described the nations commitment to veterans as a sacred covenant and conceded that the nation, including his administration, has struggled to uphold it. But he pointed to signs of progress during his presidency, including an 85 percent increase in VAs budget since 2009, a 47 percent drop in veteran homelessness since 2010 and a 90 percent cut to the disability-claims backlog. He said his administration had made it easier for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder to get treatment by adding doctors, counselors and money for research. And he talked about the work that must still be done. When 20 veterans a day are taking their own lives, that is a national tragedy, Obama said. We have to do better. Muslim American Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, offered Republican candidate Donald Trump his copy of the Constitution during a speech at the Democratic convention. (The Washington Post) Muslim American Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, offered Republican candidate Donald Trump his copy of the Constitution during a speech at the Democratic convention. (The Washington Post) Donald Trump faced mounting criticism from leaders of his own party Sunday as a confrontation between the Republican nominee and the Muslim American parents of a soldier killed in Iraq continued to consume the presidential race. Khizr and Ghazala Khan denounced Trump in ever more forceful terms, asserting that Trumps temperament and lack of empathy rendered him unfit for office, while Trump claimed that Khizr Khan viciously attacked him while speaking at the Democratic National Convention last week. Khizr Khan also repeated his call for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to repudiate Trump, saying they have a moral obligation to speak out against their partys standard-bearer. In separate statements, Ryan and McConnell expressed support for the Khans and reiterated their opposition to Trumps proposed ban on Muslims, but neither mentioned Trump by name and neither abandoned his support for the Republican nominee. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had no such buffer. In a strongly worded statement Monday, the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee took direct aim at Trump. Both Republicans and Democrats are publicly responding to the speech that Khizr Khan gave at the Democratic convention. Khan's son was killed while serving in Iraq. Here's what politicians from both parties said. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post) In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents, wrote McCain. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. [McCain blasts Trump: Khan criticism does not represent GOP] The clash between the Khans and Trump has largely taken over the presidential race following both major party conventions and with 99 days before Election Day. Whether the fight with the Khans will ultimately hurt Trump among voters remains an open question. Some of Trumps more controversial remarks, such as his attacks on a disabled reporter and a U.S.-born judge of Mexican descent, seem to have initially registered only to fade somewhat quickly. For instance, Trump was roughly tied with Democrat Hillary Clinton in an average of polls before his saying that Judge Gonzalo Curiels Mexican heritage made him unfit to rule in a lawsuit involving Trump. In the ensuing weeks, Trump fell behind Clinton by a few points, but he regained his standing not long afterward. Its also possible that the controversy could help Trump, at least among those considering supporting him, if voters begin to see it as another example of elite-driven political correctness by the media and political establishment. [In clash between Trump and the Khans, new signs of a cultural and political divide] 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These Republicans refuse to vote for Donald Trump View Photos And theyll tell you why. Caption And theyll tell you why. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell General Powell said at a meeting of the Long Island Association that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton, a spokeswoman confirmed Oct. 25. Powell added in an interview that he picked Clinton because I think shes qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. On Sunday, Khizr Khan said Trump disrespected his wife by insinuating that she wasnt allowed to speak at the convention because of the familys Muslim faith, and he called on Republican leaders and voters to reject the GOP nominee. I implore those patriotic Americans that would probably vote for Donald Trump in November, I appeal to them, not to vote for hatred, not to vote for fearmongering, Khan said on NBCs Meet the Press. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Ghazala Khan directly responded to Trump, saying that she was too distraught to speak at the convention and could barely control her emotions while walking on stage. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart, she wrote, using a term for the parents of fallen members of the military. [Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice.] Trump and his campaign, meanwhile, sought to redirect the focus to the origins of the Iraq War and fears about Islamic terrorism. Trump first tweeted that Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our leaders to eradicate it! And then: I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! When pressed on CNN about what terrorism has to do with the Khan family, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign is trying to talk about a broader issue. But Trump hammered away against Khan. In a tweet Monday, Trump wrote: Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice! Trumps vice-presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, whose son is in the Marines, said Capt. Humayun Khan died defending his country in the war on terror. He blamed Clinton and President Obama who was an Illinois state senator when Khan died for allowing the Middle East to be overrun by the Islamic State. Pence said proposals such as Trumps plan to bar immigrants from certain countries will help reduce military deaths. Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American, Pence said. Late Sunday, Trump supporters, including longtime adviser Roger Stone, circulated unsubstantiated accusations from an anti-Islam website about Khizr Khan. Stone tweeted a link to a post that, among other things, accuses Khan of being a Muslim Brotherhood agent who wants to advance sharia law. Both Khans forcefully denounced terrorism Sunday, and Ghazala Khan said Trump is ignorant when it comes to understanding Muslims. If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion, she wrote. Khan also wrote that Trump doesnt know what the word sacrifice means after the real- estate mogul said his hard work as a businessman and his employment of tens of thousands of people were sacrifices, in response to Khizr Khans charge at the convention that Trump had sacrificed nothing. [Khizr Khans loss: A grieving father of a soldier struggles to understand] Some of Trumps supporters agreed. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), whose husband is a military veteran, said, I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage [the Khans] and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who lost to Trump in the Republican presidential primary, lashed out at the businessman for suggesting that Ghazala Khan was not permitted to speak by her husband. This is so incredibly disrespectful of a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for our country, Bush tweeted Sunday evening. Speaking at a church in Cleveland on the third day of a post-convention bus tour, Clinton said Khizr Khan stood before his country to tell the story of his son, Capt. Khan, who was killed by a suicide car bomb at age 27, and was denigrated by Trump. Mr. Khan, she said, pausing, paid the ultimate sacrifice in his family, didnt he? And what has he heard from Donald Trump? Nothing but insults, degrading comments about Muslims, a total misunderstanding of what made our country great. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who urged Republicans to walk away from Trump after the Curiel episode, said the Republican nominees attack on the Khans is unprecedented. This is going to a place where weve never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen. There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics that you dont do like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier, even if they criticize you, Graham said. If youre going to be leader of the free world, you have to be able to accept criticism. Mr. Trump cant. Mike Coffman, a veteran and Republican congressman from Colorado who has not endorsed his partys nominee, said in a statement: Having served in Iraq, Im deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war. A campaign spokeswoman for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is locked in a tight re-election battle and has only tepidly supported Trump, said Portman does not agree with the Republican nominee and called Khan a hero. This was not the first time Trump has made controversial comments about the U.S. military. Trump said that the nations armed forces are a disaster during a debate, in response to a question about military spending. He said McCain, a former prisoner of war, was not a war hero because he was captured. And he has been attacking retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who spoke at the Democratic convention, for failing to defeat the Islamic State. Trump also drew criticism Sunday when he appeared to be unfamiliar with Russias actions regarding Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Hes not going into Ukraine, okay, Trump said on ABCs This Week of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hes not gonna go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. Trump then appeared to contradict himself when George Stephanopoulos, host of ABCs This Week, responded that hes already there, isnt he? Okay, well, hes there in a certain way, Mr. Trump replied. Trumps comments were notable following his urging of the Russian government to meddle in the presidential election by finding tens of thousands of Clintons emails. U.S. officials said there is strong evidence Russia was involved in a hack of emails and voice mails at the Democratic National Committee. In a statement, Jake Sullivan, the chief policy adviser for Clintons campaign, said that this is scary stuff. What is he talking about? Sullivan wrote. Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that? What else doesnt he know? Anne Gearan in Cleveland and David A. Fahrenthold, Sean Sullivan and Michelle Ye Hee Lee in Washington contributed to this report. President Obama will use a visit from the prime minister of Singapore on Tuesday to launch a final public campaign for a landmark Asia-Pacific trade accord, but proponents are losing hope that the deal can survive the strong anti-trade rancor among fellow Democrats. Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton forcefully reiterated her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership at the Democratic National Convention last week, a move intended to quell unrest among party liberals but an outcome that White House allies saw as a setback for the administration. Administration officials said Obama intends to reassure Singapores Lee Hsien Loong during a White House meeting that Congress will ratify the TPP before the president leaves office in January. But that is looking increasingly less likely. The White House is eyeing what is expected to be a brief lame-duck session of Congress after the Nov. 8 elections as the final window, and even then the politics will be fraught. Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called chances for the deal pretty slim this year. [McAuliffe fuels new distrust of Clinton over her position on trade] With time running out, Obama on Monday reaffirmed his commitment to the 12-nation deal and declared that he remains optimistic that Congress will ultimately support it. I know that the politics around trade can be very difficult, especially in an election year, Obama said in a written interview with the Straits Times of Singapore. Acknowledging the changes wrought by globalization for American workers, the president added: The answer isnt to turn inward and embrace protectionism. We cant just walk away from trade. In a global economy where our economies and supply chains are deeply integrated, its not even possible. In an interview with The Washington Post, Lee said the demise of the TPP would amount to unmitigated bad news for the United States. He suggested the nations prestige and leadership in Asia is at stake given Chinas growing influence in the region. The question is what America will do in that landscape, Lee said. One big thing you have done is TPP. ... Now if you say, No, we dont believe in such trade agreements anymore, everyone around the region will have to recalculate. Obamas campaign for the TPP over the next few months, including making the case on a trip to Asia in September, will put him squarely at odds with Clinton. Her campaign moved last week to squelch a furor over remarks from a surrogate, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who suggested Clinton would drop her opposition to the deal after the election. Clinton supported the TPP while serving as secretary of state in Obamas first term. [New VP pick Kaine getting in line in opposition to Pacific trade deal] I can be definitive. She is against it before the election and after the election, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said last week. The unambiguous denunciation alarmed proponents who had hoped that Clintons move to the left on trade during a hard-fought primary campaign against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont would soften during the general election. Instead, Clinton has reaffirmed her opposition as she moves to consolidate Sanderss supporters and protect against attacks from Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has bucked GOP orthodoxy on trade and also opposes the TPP. The administration outwardly remains optimistic, said Miriam Sapiro, who served as the acting U.S. trade representative in 2013. But I sense more realism is creeping in. My view is that its getting harder each day. White House aides suggested the widespread anti-TPP rhetoric at the Democratic convention did not reflect the partys overall views on trade. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll in July found that 60 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans support free trade and believe opening foreign markets is good for the U.S. economy. [Trump is upending the free-trade debate in both parties] Administration officials also have said the small but important Democratic coalition in Congress that helped pass a bill last summer granting Obama greater trade powers remains committed to the TPP. But the White House has struggled to convince the public of the economic benefits of the trade pact, which is composed of nations that make up 36 percent of the worlds gross domestic product, including Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The sprawling pact addresses tariff reductions for agriculture and automobiles, as well as intellectual-property rights for movies and pharmaceutical drugs, the free flow of information on the Internet, wildlife conservation, online commerce and dispute settlement practices for multinational corporations. A study by the U.S. International Trade Commission said the TPP would have a marginal impact on the U.S. economy, adding $43 billion in 15 years and creating an estimated 128,000 jobs. Obamas meeting with Lee, which will feature a White House state dinner, offers an opportunity for the president to tout the geopolitical benefits of the TPP. Singapore, a tiny island nation, is a Southeast Asian hub with an economy largely built around free trade. [Fact Checker: Elizabeth Warrens claim about industry influence in TPP] Singapore was one of four countries with New Zealand, Chile and Brunei that began talks in 2005 for a regional free-trade pact that ultimately grew into the TPP. Obama announced in 2011, during an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Hawaii, that his administration would take a leading role in the accord. The White House has said the trade deal offers a bulwark against China, which is pitching its own regional trade pact in Asia. U.S. officials said the Chinese proposal does not address labor, environmental and human rights protections that are included in the TPP. In an address in Singapore in November 2012, Clinton predicted the TPP would help raise working standards and create better jobs. In the interview, Lee said Clintons reversal would put her in a difficult bind if she wants to revisit the pact as president. A position taken in an election cannot be lightly unspoken, he said. Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the trade accord is a crucial strategic initiative to build partnerships in Asia that could reduce conflicts and maintain national security. In an interview, Mullen added that if lawmakers fail to ratify the deal, it could be another decade before the United States musters the political will to get it done. The TPP involves parts of the world that Ive said for a decade are at the center of the economic universe for the 21st century, Mullen said. But Democratic opponents of the TPP, including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), have characterized the accord as a boon for corporations at the expense of American workers. Scores of Sanders supporters carried anti-TPP signs inside Wells Fargo Center during the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last week. Maybe someone in the White House saw it coming, but many people who have followed this closely are surprised by how explicit the anti-TPP sentiment has been, said David Adelman, a proponent of the pact and partner in the law firm Reed Smith who served as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore from 2010 to 2013. People are still talking about the lame-duck session, Adelman said. But the politics on the presidential campaign trail would seem to make it very difficult for there to be enough votes. Theres so much heat, much more than anyone predicted. South African leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party supporters cheer and dance during the party closing rally campaign ahead of the municipal elections at Peter Mokaba stadium on July 31 in Polokwane, South Africa. (Mujahid Safodien/AFP/Getty Images) Mish Hlophe walked through Johannesburgs densely packed Alexandra township one recent morning, stopping to urge people to vote. The neighborhood was once home to Nelson Mandela, South Africas anti-apartheid hero and leader of the African National Congress, and for years Hlophe and other local residents backed the party. But now the tavern owner is an opposition candidate in local elections on Wednesday, one of a growing number of voters disillusioned with the ANC. I was very active in the ANC, but they lost it, said Hlophe, 52, who is running for ward councillor, similar to a city council member. The party has for years promised a better life for South Africans, he said, but nothing is changing. Theyve lost touch with the people. More than 26 million South Africans have registered to vote in this weeks elections, which are among the most closely watched since the ANC came to power in the nations first free vote in 1994. Though many voters remain loyal to the ANC, the balloting may signal growing discontent over yawning inequality, 26 percent unemployment, and a string of high-profile government scandals. Young South Africans have emerged as an especially unpredictable group. Nearly half of the electorate has reached voting age since 1994, according to the London-based Africa Research Institute. Many of them dont have the same ties to the ANC as their parents did. A man passes an African National Congress political poster in the township of Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Aug. 1, 2016. (Schalk Van Zuydam/AP) Hlophes party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has been adept at tapping into young South Africans concerns about jobs and corruption. The three-year-old party, known for its far-left rhetoric and its members uniforms of red jumpsuits and Che Guevara-style berets, has been running its first municipal-level campaign this year on the promise of being South Africas last hope. When a young Mandela lived in Alexandra in the 1940s as a law clerk, the township was nicknamed Dark City because of its lack of electricity. Today theres power, but residents say its too expensive. Theyre frustrated that they cant find jobs and are crowded into shacks, with sewage running outside in open gutters. My parents vote for the ANC, said Lesedi Mlotshwa, a 22-year-old resident, perusing a flier from the EFF. So did he in the last national elections in 2014, but now he is considering a switch. Were young, so were thinking about change. [South Africa is still struggling to fulfill Mandelas hopes and dreams] The ANC won more than 62 percent of the vote in 2014, and observers say it still has significant support. Many voters rely on the partys patronage networks in rural areas, and some South Africans feel the opposition does not offer a credible alternative. Nevertheless, recent polls suggest that the ANC may be defeated in a few key municipalities: Johannesburg, the countrys economic hub; Tshwane, which includes Pretoria, the countrys administrative capital; and Nelson Mandela Bay, a traditional ANC stronghold. Those cities are game changers, said Mcebisi Ndletyana, an associate professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg. Any loss of ground, he said, would signal that the ANC is increasingly driven toward the periphery, deepening the countrys rural-urban divide . The ANCs stiffest competition is likely to come from the Democratic Alliance, a liberal-centrist party that already governs Cape Town. But the EFF is expected to peel away votes, too, setting up a highly competitive national election in 2019. The ANC has achieved some important advances while in power. The life expectancy of South Africans has increased by more than eight years in the past decade, thanks in part to the governments establishment of the worlds largest HIV treatment program. Access to water and electricity has improved, and poverty has dropped. But for some, things are looking gloomy in the Rainbow Nation. Protests are common in areas with poor access to water, power and sanitation, and President Jacob Zumas approval rating among city-dwellers plunged from 33 percent in March 2015 to 21 percent in February, according to a poll by market research firm TNS. In March, the nations highest court ruled that Zuma failed to uphold the constitution by not repaying taxpayer money spent on upgrades to his private estate, Nkandla. That judgment sparked widespread calls for him to step down. So far, the party leadership has stood behind Zuma, saying it is confident that it has voters support because of its record on development. Nobody cannot see what the ANC is doing, Zuma told SABC News, the public broadcaster, at a rally Friday in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. We are doing things that were never done by anyone before. [Deaths of two black farmers prompts a racial reckoning in South Africa] The EFF, led by firebrand Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader, has been especially aggressive in criticizing the government. Since the scandal over Zumas estate, it has refused to recognize the presidents legitimacy. In April, Malema warned that if the ANC responds violently to peaceful protests, we will run out of patience very soon, and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun. Critics say that kind of rhetoric runs contrary to the nations democratic values and that the partys policies pose a dire threat to an economy that is already on shaky ground. But some analysts say the party is unlikely to attract a broad following. There is a deep love affair between the EFF and the media, said Steven Friedman, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg. Its good theater and its good copy. Recent polls indicate that the party is set to win just under 9 percent of the vote in Johannesburg, compared with nearly 36 percent for the Democratic Alliance and 32 percent for the ANC. But the competition may give the ANC a wake-up call. At an election rally in Tembisa, a township about an hours drive from Johannesburg, Thomas Sephesu hoisted his 6-year-old daughter onto his shoulders to catch a glimpse of Malema speaking to a crowd. Sephesu, 39, used to vote for the ANC but grew tired of what he called the partys games. We need a strong opposition that will make them shake a little bit, he said. If we could get all the youth to vote today, the EFF would win. Whoever they support, South Africas youth can have influence only if they show up. In the last national elections, just one-third of 18- and 19-year-olds registered to vote, compared with two-thirds of people between the ages of 20 and 29, a figure that reflects dissatisfaction with the countrys political system, said Lauren Tracey, a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies, a think tank. There is hype around the idea that [the youth] are going to go out and vote, but that may not be the case, Tracey said. Its a concern going forward if young people are not happy and are questioning the effectiveness of elections. Read more How a quiet, wonky lawyer became South Africas corruption-buster South Africas gold industry, like its economy, is crumbling It had been 26 years since Id seen South Africa. How it changed and hadnt. Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The exterior of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the FBI, is seen on Thursday August 20, 2015, in Washington, D.C. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) A longtime FBI employee with top-secret clearances pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of China and providing officials in that country with sensitive information, prosecutors announced Monday. Kun Shan Chun was secretly arrested in March and held on charges of lying repeatedly about his contacts in China, who lavished him with prostitutes, cash and expensive hotel rooms, according to the criminal complaint. Chun, 46, who was born in China and is also known as Joey, faces up to 10 years in prison. His lawyer, Jonathan Marvinny, said in an email: Today Joey Chun accepted responsibility for some mistakes in judgment that he deeply regrets. The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm. He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life. Prosecutors accused Chun, who joined the FBI in 1997, of failing to disclose that he had contact with a Chinese national during an overseas trip, among other violations. Kun Shan Chun violated our nations trust by exploiting his official . . . position to provide restricted and sensitive FBI information to the Chinese Government, Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, who heads the Justice Departments national security division, said in a statement. Authorities said Chun also did not tell the FBI about a business venture with a Chinese technology company called Kolion, according to the complaint. Since at least 2006, the FBI said, Chun performed research and consulted on behalf of the company in exchange for benefits that included foreign travel. According to Kolions website, the company makes toner cartridges for copiers and printers. During that period, the FBI said, Chun was also in contact with an individual affiliated with the Chinese government. Its not clear why the FBI started to investigate Chun, who was required to answer questions in 2012 as part of a routine review to determine if he should maintain his security clearances. He had access to sensitive and classified material in his job as an electronic technician in the FBIs Manhattan field office. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Marvinny said, they agreed to drop the charges of lying on his FBI questionnaire if Chun pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the Chinese government. The FBI, which is in charge of domestic counterintelligence, has taken aggressive steps to thwart Chinese espionage. The bureau has also seen a sharp spike in the number of economic espionage cases, most stemming from China and Russia. According to prosecutors, Chun downloaded an FBI organizational chart from his work computer in 2013 and provided the document, without names, to the Chinese. In January 2015, he took photographs of documents in a restricted area at the field office that summarized details about multiple surveillance technologies used by the FBI. He later gave that information to a Chinese official, authorities say. The FBI apparently became suspicious enough of Chun to mount an undercover operation in February 2015. The FBIs undercover agent told Chun that he worked as an independent contractor for the Pentagon. During a meeting in New York later that year, Chun told the agent that his associates in China provided paid prostitutes and had given his parents money. His parents apparently had stock in Kolion, too, and owned property in China. Chun told the undercover agent that Kolion was backed by the Chinese government. The criminal complaint says Chuns parents had urged him to work for these Chinese associates because of their investment in Kolion. According to the complaint, Chun believed that his parents had told people in China that he worked for the U.S. government. He said that when he visited China, the associates gave him a place to live and . . . a hotel. On one occasion, during a trip to Europe, Chun offered to introduce the undercover agents to his contacts in China, prosecutors said. In July 2015, the agent traveled to Hungary, where he met with Chun twice. During one meeting, authorities say, Chun told the agent that he knew firsthand that the Chinese government was involved in recruiting people who could assist it. In exchange, the government was willing to provide immigration benefits and other compensation, the complaint said. The undercover agent said he had access to sensitive government information. Chun responded that his Chinese associates would be interested if that was the case. In another meeting that was recorded in New York in October 2015, Chun said he had tried to make contact with a Chinese government official to facilitate the passage of sensitive information from the undercover agent. Chun said he didnt care if the FBI fired him but was concerned about whether the bureau had evidence of him associating with a foreign contact and failing to report it. I lied, I reported certain people [but] not everybody, he said, according to the complaint. Read more: FBI probes suspected breach of another Democratic organization by Russian hackers How a modest contract for applied research morphed into the CIAs brutal interrogation program They took too damn long: Inside the police response to the Orlando shooting Police forensics investigators work on June 12 at the scene of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) When Omar Mateen finished pumping bullets into dozens of people sprawled on the dance floor inside the Pulse nightclub on June 12, he walked toward the bathrooms, where many patrons had hidden. It was just minutes after Orlando police were called about the gunfire, and law enforcement officers began descending on the club. Four of them entered the building through one patio, while six others shot out a window to get inside. Among the 10 officers who went into Pulse, some had powerful military-style rifles and one had a shield. At least two had tactical experience. Police fired at Mateen when he popped his head out of one of the bathrooms. The shooter was outgunned and outnumbered. But then, police decided not to pursue him. This account, based on interviews with law enforcement officials and witnesses, as well as public records, provides the most complete picture yet of the law enforcement response and Mateens movements inside the club on the night of the attack. The new details raise questions about how police and fire agencies responded to what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and how the attack turned into a hostage standoff that lasted nearly three hours. The decision not to follow Mateen into the bathroom proved critical. Because Mateen was not subdued or killed sooner, wounded victims remained trapped inside the bathroom for hours, pleading for the police to rescue them. Emergency medical personnel did not enter the club to treat victims, because it was deemed too dangerous. And during the final standoff, in which police initially failed to breach the club wall and struggled to make entry, Mateen apparently shot more people, according to witnesses. At least five people who were alive in the bathrooms when the standoff began ultimately died at the club, witnesses and relatives said. Three of these people Deonka Deidra Drayton, Eddie Justice and Alejandro Barrios Martinez sent text messages from inside the clubs bathrooms and were later among the dead. [Graphic: The lives lost in Orlando] Witnesses in the womens bathroom said Mateen killed at least three people during the final moments of the standoff, opening fire as SWAT officers were moving to breach the walls. They took too damn long for me, said Tiara Parker, 21, who was inside the bathroom. If they had moved faster, they would have gotten us out of there and everybody could have possibly lived. In a lengthy interview, Orlando Police Chief John Mina defended the actions of officers inside the club and the rationale for not ending the attack sooner. The reason police did not pursue the shooter immediately, Mina said, was that Mateen stopped shooting after he entered the bathroom and he had hostages. He went from an active shooter to a barricaded gunman, Mina said. If he had continued shooting, our officers would have went in there. How Orlando police responded will be studied closely as other departments across the country try to prepare their officers for the next mass shooting. The Justice Department, at the Orlando Police Departments request, is reviewing the law enforcement response. Similar reviews have been launched after other attacks at movie theaters, schools and government installations. The examination of how authorities responded to the Pulse shooting will join a grim catalogue of assessments that have sought to learn lessons from attacks in Aurora, Colo., at the Washington Navy Yard and at Virginia Tech. In each of those mass shootings, officials found that they could do things better the next time. The highest priority is to eliminate the threat, said Dan Oates, who was the police chief in Aurora when a gunman opened fire in a movie theater, killing 12 and injuring scores more. Oates declined to comment on the Orlando shooting and the response there. He added: If the best information is the shooter is on the fourth floor, you get to the fourth floor. If you run into the bad guy, you better be ready to deal with it. Crucial minutes The bloodshed at Pulse unfolded in a matter of minutes. At 2:02 a.m., Mateen entered the club with his semiautomatic rifle at the ready and started shooting immediately, according to The Washington Posts timeline constructed from interviews and public records. He fired repeatedly in the main room of the club, then moved toward the back room, continuing to shoot. Clubgoers went running for hiding places and exits, jumping over the bodies of those already hit. Some played dead. Mateen was able to move around the space quickly. Not including an outdoor patio, the club covers less than 5,000 square feet. Moments later, he returned to the main room. He fired at wounded people lying on the dance floor and reloaded his magazine. Then he returned to the back room, shooting victims again. For a third time, he walked into the main room, changing magazines and firing at more people. At 2:07 a.m., he headed to the restrooms and continued to shoot. Angel Santiago described running directly into one of the bathrooms with a friend after the shooting started. Santiago estimated that there were about 15 to 20 people in there. Mateen entered shortly after and started shooting. Parker said that when Mateen entered the womens room, his rifle jammed, so he used his handgun. By 2:10 a.m., at least 10 officers had entered the club. The first moments were filled with confusion as the police made their way through the dark club. One who entered through the east patio said he heard shots, while another said he didnt hear any. A group of six officers, including Officer Brandon Cornwell, had entered the club by busting out a window. Cornwell said Mateen was actively shooting. Orlando officer Michael Ragsdale later said in his narrative to police that as he entered the back bar area from the patio, he saw two other officers shooting down a hallway. At that time I could not see what they were shooting at, he said. 1 of 38 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The scene in Orlando after a gunman opened fire at a nightclub View Photos Officials say at least 49 people were killed and dozens were injured in the shooting. Caption Officials say at least 49 people were killed and dozens were injured in the shooting. June 12, 2016 An injured person is carried out of Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Steven Fernandez/Associated Press Wait 1 second to continue. There seemed to be a lull in gunfire, Mina said, and then Mateen apparently began shooting again, revealing to officers his location in the club. Mina said he thinks that officers shot at Mateen about 2:17 a.m., the same time that emergency dispatchers received some of the last reports of gunfire. It was not clear whether Mateen fired at police during this encounter. Mina said that once Mateen was barricaded in the bathroom, the shooting stopped, so police decided to hold their positions. If there had been additional shots, [police] would have heard, Mina said. They were literally feet from the bathroom. By almost 2:18 a.m., police seemed to have control of the clubs main room, according to publicly released documents and interviews. For the next three hours, though, a terrifying scene unfolded in the womens restroom as clubgoers, some of them suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, were trapped with Mateen. One victim, 18-year-old Akyra Murray, Parkers cousin, described losing feeling in her arm. Murray, who managed to call 911 from the bathroom, later told a dispatcher at 2:36 a.m. that she was losing her eyesight and feeling in her body. [It was just complete chaos: Orlando survivors on the struggle to stay alive] In another exchange, a caller said people are bleeding out in the bathroom. At 2:35 a.m., another caller described everyone in the bathroom groaning in pain. At 2:39 a.m., Justice texted his mother: I am gonna die. Meanwhile, Mateen was making contact with 911 and police. In a 2:35 a.m. call to an emergency dispatcher, he said he was the shooter in Orlando and pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. In three other calls scattered over the next hour, each lasting between three and 16 minutes, Mateen talked with police negotiators. He said there was a vehicle outside the club with bombs and that he had a vest the kind they used in France. In the next few days, youre going to see more of this type of action going on, he said to a negotiator. While he was holed up in the bathroom, Mateen searched online on his phone for mentions of the shooting, according to law enforcement officials. Police continued trying to free people from the club. At 4:21 a.m., officers pulled out an air-conditioning unit from a dressing-room window to let victims evacuate. Mina said eight people who had been hiding inside were saved. As victims escaped through the window, they told officers that Mateen said he would put bomb vests on four people within 15 minutes. Once they learned this, police decided they had to make a move, despite the potential consequences. At 5:02 a.m., the Orlando police SWAT team and a hazardous- device team from the Orange County Sheriffs Office began breaching a wall of the club. They tried to use explosives to bring down a bathroom wall so they could enter and rescue victims, but that didnt work. Police forensic investigators work at examine a wall at the nightclub on June 12. (Jim Young/Reuters) The failed attempt probably signaled to Mateen that police were coming. Minutes passed as officers continued trying to ram an opening into the club. During that time, witnesses said, Mateen started killing people inside the bathroom. We were already at great risk, but . . . they made it worse, Parker said. They put us at more risk. Parker said she saw Mateen kill at least two people, possibly a third, in the womens bathroom. Based on photos of the victims that were published after the shooting, she identified two of the people as Deonka Drayton and Tevin Eugene Crosby. Patience Carter, a survivor who said she fled and hid in a bathroom stall with Parker, said that when police ordered people away from the wall as they prepared to breach, Mateen appeared to shoot several more people. [How did I walk away alive? The Orlando shooting through a survivors eyes.] Using a BearCat armored vehicle, authorities punched a hole between the two bathrooms, but they had picked the wrong spot. In a third attempt to get in, the tactical personnel created another hole in the mens room and survivors started streaming out. Mateen emerged from one of the openings and fired at the SWAT team. Parker said the fusillade was so intense she could feel the heat from the bullets flying past her. I was getting burned up by the bullets bouncing from everywhere, Parker said At 5:14 a.m., police radio communications indicated that shots were fired. One minute later, those radio calls said that police had shot at Mateen and he was down. When it was over, Mateen was dead. So was Murray, the 18-year-old who had called 911 saying she was losing feeling in her body. She was among the dozen or so dead in the bathrooms. Officials found no explosives or suicide vests. Mina said 15 hostages held in one bathroom were freed and three to five escaped from the other. Clubgoers at the Parliament House in Orlando embrace on June 19 during a moment of silence at the approximate time one week before that the shooting began at the Pulse nightclub. (David Goldman/AP) How to stop an active shooter In the aftermath of the shooting, law enforcement officials defended their actions. A. Lee Bentley III, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, has said that the officers responding should not be second-guessed. Mina said this was not a typical active-shooter situation. If Mateen had been in the open, he said, the officers would have shot at or arrested him. Instead, Mateen was already in the bathroom when he was first spotted. Officers followed their training in responding to active-shooter incidents, Mina said. Police say that during the standoff, they were continuously taking victims out of the club from the main room and bringing them outside to get medical help. [A Marines military training helped him save dozens from Orlando gunman] Paramedics responding to the shooting, however, never came within 100 yards of the building during the attack and standoff that followed. They were not equipped to handle an active shooter, according to Orlando Fire Department District Chief Bryan Davis, who served as incident commander that night. Mina said that if this had been a college campus or mall, emergency fire and rescue personnel would have come into the building. But this was a relatively small building that police cleared quickly. There wasnt a need for paramedics to enter the building, he said. Officers were easily able to get people to aid. Omar Mateen showed no signs of remorse in phone calls with police during an hours-long standoff at the Pulse nightclub, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said in an interview with The Washington Post on June 13. (Gillian Brockell,McKenna Ewen/The Washington Post) After other shooting attacks in places such as Aurora and Colorados Columbine High School, officials and experts have emphasized the importance of pursuing the attacker or attackers as quickly as possible. In light of experience from multiple victim shooting incidents in the past two decades, widely accepted police strategy is to attempt to quickly neutralize an active shooter go to the shooter, and do not wait for special teams or special equipment or a large force for attack, concluded an independent report analyzing the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting at the citys request. The longer the perpetrator is left to shoot, the more people may be killed or injured. The Orlando police posted on their website last December after two attackers who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. that they had held regular training for active-shooter situations since 2000. [Orlando gunman was homegrown extremist radicalized online, Obama says] Since law enforcements focus is always to contain and stop an active shooter, in 2014, OPD modified its training to integrate the Orlando Fire Department, the statement said. In this new training, which was taught in scenario-based exercises starting last spring and summer, rescue personnel respond to what we call warm zones (where contact with the shooter or shooters is not likely to occur) so they can quickly enter, locate, treat, and evacuate casualties. Authorities are continuing to investigate the handling of the shooting. Mina said officials do not know how many of the victims who were alive during the prolonged standoff later died in the bathrooms or how many had survivable gunshot wounds. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the officers who discharged their weapons; the agency declined to say specifically when during the event any of them fired shots, saying such information would be released when the investigation concludes. During the initial encounters with Mateen and at the end of the three-hour standoff that followed, authorities say, 14 officers fired their weapons. Orlando police say 11 of their officers fired, seven of them SWAT team members who fired at the end of the confrontation, killing Mateen. Three Orange County sheriffs deputies also fired. Mina said he did not know whether law enforcement had inadvertently killed any of the clubgoers. Chris Voss, a former FBI SWAT team member and hostage negotiator, said that the decision not to follow Mateen into the bathroom was a gamble but one that was understandable. Cops are paid to take risks but not stupid risks, he said. This is not military combat where there are acceptable casualties on both sides. Law enforcement doesnt have that conversation. No casualties are acceptable. Voss said that buying time increases the likelihood of a successful assault and can often save more lives. The rule for law enforcement, he said, is, Dont make things worse. We dont want cops to be cowboys, Voss said. I see cops going down and things being worse. Play the odds and step back. Mina said that there will be lessons learned but that his officers did the best they could with the information they had at the time. I have no regrets in the decisions that my officers and commanders on the ground made, and I have no regret with the decision I made, either, he said. Julie Tate contributed to this report. Correction: Victim Deonka Draytons last name was rendered incorrectly as Drake in an earlier version of this report. Read more: Troubled. Quiet. Macho. Angry. The volatile life of the Orlando shooter. What the Orlando gunman told the police The history of the AR-15, the weapon that had a hand in the Orlando shooting First Lady Michelle Obama may have single-handedly saved the first day of the Democratic National Convention, with a speech that was ardent in its support for nominee Hillary Clinton, deft in its zingers at opponent Donald Trump whom Obama never addressed by name and warm in its appeal to the better nature of voters everywhere. Of Monday nights speeches, Obamas came the closest to charting a path for Democrats, emphasizing the need for leadership that is stable, steady and mature, and that takes the awesome power of the presidency seriously. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you cant make snap decisions, she said. You cant have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose lifes work shows our children that we dont chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed. That is a message both parties should take to heart.Whether a candidate comes from the right or left side of the political spectrum, those elements should be immutable. Meanwhile, Trump spent the evening tweeting nonsense about Elizabeth Warrens cheekbones, again addressing her as Pocahontas, and intimating, without a shred of evidence, that he knew secrets about Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. It must pain intelligent Republicans to have to defend a nominee who treats his candidacy like a new toy bow and arrow, to be aimed at whomever displeases him. Hillary Clinton has yet to close the deal with her own party, let alone the American public. Bernie Sanders did his part Monday night, with a powerful speech that gave a full-throated endorsement of his former rival a distinct contrast with the tantrum thrown by Sen. Ted Cruz at last weeks convention, in which Cruz pointedly refused to support Trump after being given a prime speaking spot. ... It is hoped that from this point on, with nominations locked in, Clinton and Trump will apply themselves to a serious discussion of the problems facing this nation, with some details on how they would accomplish their goals. Both candidates owe voters that much. At last, Chinas ride share war may be over. The victor: Didi Chuxing, Chinas biggest ride-hailing service. The vanquished: Uber China, the local arm of the U.S. firm. In a dramatic end to a brutal, years-long battle, Uber will swap its China business for a 20 percent stake in its erstwhile rival, reportedly creating a $35 billion company. Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which will continue to operate as an independent service, the Chinese company confirmed in a statement released on Monday. The news will likely be welcomed by investors who have watched both firms bleed cash in twin bids to gain ground in the massive Chinese market. It will also mark the end of Ubers high-profile push into the China. [The main reason Apple just invested $1 billion in Chinas Didi Chuxing] The company started operating here in 2013 and has expanded aggressively since, with Uber China quickly becoming the firms largest market. As the competition intensified, both companies spent big, subsidizing drivers and rides to keep prices low and customers loyal. Travis Kalanick, Ubers chief executive officer, has said Uber was losing $1 billion a year here, but called his strategy sustainable. Clearly, it was not. In the end, Uber proved unable to beat out the cash-rich local champion. Didi recently made global headlines after receiving a $1 billion investment from Apple, followed by $7 billion in a subsequent round of fundraising. Didi is backed by China's big tech firms and is partnered by Lyft, an Uber rival. A 2016 report by CNIT Research, a Chinese market-research firm, found that Didi was taking about 85 percent of ride orders, compared to Ubers less than 8 percent market share. In an as-yet-published blog post seen by Bloomberg, Kalanick explained the decision to call a truce. As an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart, he wrote. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term, he added. Didi may find its prospects are good. The Chinese government just last week moved to clarify the legal standing of ride sharing, saying it will legalize the billion-dollar industry by Nov. 1. Despite the billion-dollar stakes, companies like Uber and Didi were previously operating in a legal gray zone, with drivers in some areas facing penalties, even arrest, and others operating freely. Gu Jinglu in Beijing contributed to this report. Read more: Apples big bet on China is also a bet on driverless cars Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world 25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago 25 years ago: First site goes live on World Wide Web On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first-ever web site, marking the public debut of the World Wide Web. The site included links to instructions for creating ones own web site. Berners-Lee developed and distributed the first web browser software and called it WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus to avoid confusing it with the network itself). Berners-Lee developed and implemented the concept of the World Wide Web while working at CERN nuclear laboratories near Geneva, Switzerland. The Internet existed prior to this, using protocols such as telnet and newsgroups. Berners-Lee published a summary of the World Wide Web on the newsgroup alt.hypertext, simultaneously hosting his web site. The core hyperlink technology was invented by Berners-Lee. Hyperlinks and hypertext markup language, or html, allow connecting to sites all over the world using complex universal resource locators (URLs), with a simple click of the mouse. Berners-Lees web site was published at the URL info.cern.ch. It was designed to provide Internet enthusiasts with the ability to add their own content to the World Wide Web. Berners-Lees conception was to provide mass access to information hosted on sites all over the world without restricting it to just computer scientists. [top] 50 years ago: Army mutiny in Nigeria On August 1, 1966, rebellious army detachments forced the handing of power to the army of chief of staff following the successful kidnapping and execution of Nigerian chief of state General Johnson T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi. Ironsi, a member of the Ibo tribe, had taken power after a bloody military coup on January 15, 1966. The latest mutiny was sparked when Ironsi declared the abolition of the federal system under which the country was divided into regions, dominated by locally based tribal groups. At least 300 people were killed in fighting motivated by tribal divisions in the northern region after Ironsi made the announcement. Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon, a veteran of the imperialist-led military intervention in the former Belgian Congo, declared himself chief of state following the abduction of Ironsi. A member of a small northern tribe, he vowed to reverse the policies of his former commander. Ironsis policies were opposed by leaders of the Hausa tribe in the north and the Yorubas in the west, who feared domination by the Ibos. The new government in Lagos was immediately challenged by the military governor of the Ibo-dominated eastern region, who claimed that only northerners had been consulted. He charged that Gowon planned to dissolve the Nigerian federation into tribally-based states and order all southerners and northerners back to their respective home regions. Gowon announced the release of six political prisoners, all from the western region, including Chief Obafemi Wolowa, leader of the banned Opposition Action Group. The threat of a tribally based civil war in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, exposed again the complete inability of the bourgeoisie of the oppressed former colonial countries to solve the most basic democratic questions. [top] 75 years ago: Roosevelt extends Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union On August 2, 1941 the Democratic administration in Washington headed by President Rosevelt extended the policy of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union. The policy officially known as An act to promote the Defence of the United States, was initially enacted in March 1941 to provide food, oil and military assistance to allies of the US, i.e., the UK, Free French forces and China. Initially at least Roosevelt was constrained by the US Neutrality Acts which limited sales of arms to cash and carry purchases by belligerents, but the Democrat president declared large amounts of US weapons and ammunition surplus and authorized their shipment to the UK. By August 1941 with Operation Barbarossa in full swing, the German army was advancing ever deeper into the Soviet Union. The Red Army was hampered by Stalins betrayal of revolutionary struggles worldwide, by the Great Terror in the USSR and accompanying purges of the Red Army leadership, and by Stalins refusal to believe Hitler would invade the Soviet Union and the subsequent lack of preparations against a Nazi invasion. Roosevelt was concerned that without military assistance the Soviet Union might capitulate swiftly and thereby grant Hitler control over the bulk of the Eurasian land mass. Such an outcome would have been disastrous to the interests of British imperialism, especially in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. Roosevelt wished to dismantle the British Empire so US capital could penetrate such territories freely, but he did not wish for Britains empire to fall under the control instead of German imperialism. Conquest of the USSR would also have allowed Hitler to link up directly with his ally, Imperial Japan, then bogged down in a land war in China, but already preparing to challenge the US imperialism directly in the Pacific. Roosevelts terms of Lend-Lease to the British government had astonished them in their harshness. The US demanded an audit of all British assets, and insisted that there could be no subsidy until all foreign exchanges and gold reserves had first been used up. A US navy warship was sent to Cape Town to take the last British gold stockpiles there. British-owned companies located in the US, Courtaulds, Shell and Lever, had to be sold off at discount prices and then resold at great profit. On July 28 a close confident of Roosevelts, Harry Hopkins, arrived in Moscow to ascertain what the Soviet Union required to continue resisting Operation Barbarossa and ultimately how Roosevelt could best leverage these needs into advantages for the United States. On his return to Washington Hopkins told Roosevelt that regardless of the pessimistic reports emanating from the US military attache in Moscow, the Red Army would not collapse and would fight on. [top] 100 years ago: American socialist leader Tom Mooney indicted On August 2, 1916, a San Francisco jury indicted five prominent socialist leaders of the working class, including Tom Mooney, on dubious charges stemming from the Preparedness Day bombing on July 22. Along with Mooney, his wife Rena, Warren Billings, Israel Weinberg and Edward Nolan were also indicted. Mooney was a well-known trade unionist and socialist who had been active in the San Francisco area for years, coming into conflict with the employers, their security agencies, the police and the local union bureaucracy. In 1908, he had travelled with the Red Special, the campaign train of socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, as a speaker and fundraiser. He had been involved in numbers of workers struggles, including the 1913 San Francisco shoe workers strike, in which the revolutionary-syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) played a prominent role. The Preparedness Day Parade had been organized by the Chamber of Commerce as a militaristic display of support for American entry into World War One. It was opposed by the Socialist Party, the IWW and even the conservative AFL labor councils in the Bay Area. A bomb exploded in the parade, killing 10 onlookers and wounding 40 more. The attack touched off a wave of lynch-mob hysteria, consciously whipped up by the corporate press and business interests, including a sinister Law and Order Committee. The five defendants were rounded up because of their radical views. Before the parade, Mooney had been warned of the plans of agent provocateurs. He had moved resolutions through a number of unions warning of their activities. The prosecution sought to manufacture evidence and round up witnesses to testify against Mooney and the other defendants. The five defendants were described in one account as a weird procession composed of a prostitute, two syphilitics, a psychopathic liar and a woman suffering from spiritualistic hallucinations. Mooney and Billings were both found guilty. Mooney was sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life in prison after protests around the world, including large demonstrations by workers in Russia. He served 22 years before being pardoned in 1939. [top] Kanye WEst Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Saatchi & Saatchi chairman and Publicis Groupe head coach Kevin Roberts has been placed on leave following controversial remarks he made about gender diversity in advertising. Speaking to Business Insider, he had said in his view the debate over gender diversity was over and that he doesn't spend "any time" on the issue at his company. 2. European video ad tech company Teads has raised $47 million in debt financing. It plans to use the funds to expand further into Asia and acquire smaller ad tech firms. 3. The author of a new Silicon Valley tell-all book said outsiders consistently get two things wrong about Mark Zuckerberg. "Chaos Monkeys" author Antonio Garcia Martinez said he's nothing like the "sneaky, loser, little dipsh--" portrayed in "The Social Network" and he truly believes in his mission. 4. Disney's Maker Studios is laying off "about 30" staff, Deadline first reported. The multi-channel network is home to talent like PewDiePie and the Epic Rap Battles YouTube channel. 5. The story of how human "punching bag" Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan, is leading an unlikely second act at Google. He spoke to Business Insider about his new role, leading Google's fledgling entrepreneurship program. 6. Kanye West wants Apple to buy Tidal. The rapper has asked Tim Cook, Tidal investor Jay Z, Apple Music execs Jimmy Iovine and Larry Jackson, Drake, and music mogul Scooter Braun for a meeting. 7. AdExchanger takes a look at the next steps for Opera Mediaworks. Opera Mediaworks, Opera TV, and Opera's apps and games are about to be spun off into an independent company following the $600 million deal from a Chinese consortium to buy the company's consumer-facing business, which includes its browser. 8. Uber China is merging with Didi Chuxing in a $35 billion mega merger. Under the terms of the deal, Didi will make a $1 billion investment in Uber global at a $68 billion valuation, while Uber China's investors will own 20% of the merged Chinese company. Story continues 9. Turner Entertainment chief creative officer Kevin Reilly said the company's experiment with reducing ad loads have produced "very good results." Commercial viewing is higher and the company is seeing a "nice ratings lift," Variety reports. 10. US advertising agency trade body The 4A's has rejected the recommendations laid out in the Association of National Advertisers report on transparency between media agencies and clients. The 4A's said the recommendations in the Ebiquity report were "not consistent" with what many agencies say their clients are asking for in their service agreements. NOW WATCH: We asked a Navy SEAL what he ate during training, and his answer shocked us More From Business Insider From Cosmopolitan Hours before 14-year-old Katelyn Zimmerman was hit and killed by a drunk driver while on her bike near home in Florida, she happened to tell her family she wanted to become an organ donor, ABC 11 reports. The day she died, Albert Jeffries, a 14-year-old in Vermont born with dilated cardiomyopathy, received her heart. Katelyn's grandmother recently found "Al-J"'s story on his mother's Facebook, the two families had an incredibly emotional meeting this week. "He gets to do what Katelyn can't do, live on, do a kid thing, be a kid," Katelyn's father Shawn Zimmerman told the station. Katelyn's younger brother Dylan was also killed by the drunk driver that day. Both Zimmerman and Al-J wept as Zimmerman listened to his daughter's heart beating in Al-J's chest. Al-J's mother Tina Turner said: "We could not stop crying. We could not stop hugging. We could not stop thanking them for everything. A thank you is just not enough, it's just not enough for what they've done for my family." Her son had spent most of his life in and out of the hospital - the heart transplant made him healthier than he'd ever been before, and he told his donor's family that in a letter he'd written on his own. Watch the families meeting in the videos above. Follow Tess on Twitter. From Cosmopolitan No matter how careful you are with your birth control method, it's only human to wonder every now and again if it's actually working. But you don't have to pee on a stick or call your ob-gyn every time you get a random wave of nausea or a strong burrito craving. (Again: Those things are only human.) Instead, look for these early symptoms of pregnancy to determine whether you actually need to take a pregnancy test - or to test your patience by waiting for your next period to arrive. 1. You're nauseous. Pregnancy causes certain hormone levels (human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG) to rise really quickly, explains Maria Sophocles, board-certified gynecologist and medical director of Women's Health Care, a private practice in Princeton, New Jersey, and a mother of four who's delivered more than 8,000 babies. These particular hormones affect digestion and make it harder for your stomach to keep food down. Unfortunately, the morning part of morning sickness is actually a myth - the kind of nausea linked to pregnancy can last all day, beginning no sooner than four weeks after your last period began. The good news for women who actually want to be pregnant: Nausea is sign of a normal, healthy pregnancy. (Miscarriages can occur when hCG levels stop rising - so a suddenly settled stomach could warrant a call to your doctor.) 2. You're ridiculously exhausted. When you're pregnant, your body is basically taking on a second full-time job of growing a human inside of you - as you can imagine, that requires a whole lot of energy. So early on in pregnancy, you might experience fatigue. "It's like you get up in the morning and by 10 a.m., you just want to be sleeping," says Dr. Sophocles. "It's overwhelmingly different from anything you've experienced before." 3. Your 34B breasts are now a *~34D~*. If your breasts suddenly balloon - and this could be your only symptom in addition to missing your period - you very well could be pregnant. Your breasts will feel a little fuller than they do right before you get your period and may be slightly more sensitive for more than a few days. The longer this lasts, the more likely you are to be pregnant. Story continues 4. You experience a mini, early period. Also known as spotting, a light period that lasts for a couple of days (or more) could be a confusing sign you're pregnant. That's because five to 10 days after your egg and his sperm rendezvous in your fallopian tube, the fertilized egg burrows into the lining of your uterus. This could lead to light bleeding that makes you think you've got your period. Not everyone who's pregnant will spot. But everyone who is pregnant will miss their next scheduled period after spotting. So look out for the combo: spotting and a cycle that's mysteriously absent. 5. Your areolae have changed colors. When you're pregnant, hormones sometimes darken or widen the skin that surrounds your nipples - and it can happen within the first month of pregnancy. 6. You develop a dark vertical line below your belly button. Known as the linea nigra, hormones could trigger this skin change, which may accompany darkening of the areolas super early in your pregnancy. (Lots of people attribute the linea alba to skin stretching - but it can actually precede a noticeable baby belly. 7. Your cheeks sort of darken. Also knows as the "mask of pregnancy," cheek darkening can be triggered by - you guessed it - the hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy. While this usually happens later on in the pregnancy, it can sometimes kick in on the early side. (If the idea of your skin changing freaks you out more than the prospect of pregnancy, relax: This usually goes away on its own. And if it doesn't, laser treatment can easily erase it after you give birth.) 8. You have the world's weirdest food cravings. One way Dr. Sophocles knew she was pregnant? She developed a strange and specific craving for an egg-white omelet with pesto and blue cheese - a fairly random combo by any count. Experts don't entirely understand why pregnant women experience food cravings. But anecdotally, Dr. Sophocles says pregnant women report them often - even early on. 9. You develop insane food aversions. Pregnancy can heighten your sense of smell to the point where you might vomit if your partner opens up a jar of a mayo - something that never offended you in the slightest. "They're so real," Dr. Sophocles says of food aversions. They can happen as few as four weeks into your pregnancy. 10. You develop some serious cramps. Menstrual-type cramping happens but your period doesn't? It's probably time to pee on that stick. While some women feel cramping daily throughout their pregnancies, others feel it only once. (Note for women who are hoping to get pregnant and stay that way: Severe cramping followed by spotting could be an early sign of miscarriage, so definitely call your health care provider if this sounds familiar.) 11. Your sex drive has seriously disappeared. In the first trimester of pregnancy, you're likely to feel exhaustion and nausea, which can suck the desire to have sex right out of you. While this has nothing to with hormone levels so far as researchers can tell, your sex drive can return by the second trimester when you're feeling less sick, and wane again toward the end of the third trimester when moving becomes cumbersome. 12. Your weight hasn't changed in the slightest. While many women think you gain weight consistently throughout a pregnancy, that's not the case: Weight gain is almost never the first sign of pregnancy, Dr. Sophocles says. 13. You could literally eat a cow right now. Because pregnancy hormones throw off your digestive system and make it difficult to keep food down, while your body craves calories to fuel the effort it takes to grow a baby, newly pregnant women can be hungry all the time. 14. Your vision is a little blurry. While Dr. Sophocles warns that this side effect is fairly rare, some women say their vision changes for the worse when they become pregnant. If things get fuzzy and your period is late, you'd be smart to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis. Correction: A previous version of this article said the dark vertical line below the belly button is called the linea alba. It is actually called the linea nigra. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter and Instagram. NextShark Jahrah, who only has a first name as customary in Indonesia, went out to collect rubber on Sunday morning in the forest in Jambi Province on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The search parties only found success a day later, on Monday, when they discovered a 22-foot-long (6.7-meters-long) python with a bulging stomach resting in the woods. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then, Anto, the local villages chief, said. The Dreyfus Corporation a segment of BNY Mellon was founded in 1951 and currently has $257.5 billion of assets under management allocated across a wide range of equity and fixed-income mutual funds. Established in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton, BNY Mellon currently has nearly $1.7 trillion assets under management invested throughout the globe. It provides services including investment management, investment services and wealth management across 35 countries. Below we share with you 4 top-rated Dreyfus mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of Dreyfus funds and view their Zacks Rank and past performance. Dreyfus Mid Cap Growth F FRSPX seeks growth of capital by investing in mid-cap companies with strong growth potential. FRSPX invests a majority of its assets in shares of companies which fall within the range of the Russell Midcap Growth Index. FRSPX focuses on investing in both domestic and foreign companies. The Dreyfus Mid Cap Growth F has a year-to-date return of 5.6%. FRSPX has an expense ratio of 1.14% compared to the category average of 1.30%. Dreyfus Global Stock A DGLAX invests a large portion of its assets in equity securities. DGLAX invests in companies situated in the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong and Western Europe. DGLAX may invest in companies with different market-caps. DGLAX seeks total return. The Dreyfus Global Stock A fund has a year-to-date return of 6.7%. As of June 2016, DGLAX held 57 issues with 2.44% of its assets invested in C.R. Bard Inc. Dreyfus California AMT-Free Municipal Bond Z DRCAX seeks growth of income and capital. DRCAX invests more than 80% of its assets in municipal debt securities that are investment grade rated. DRCAX may also invest a large chunk of its assets in securities that are expected to provide income free from federal income tax. The Dreyfus California AMT-Free Municipal Bond Z is a non-diversified fund and has a year-to-date return of 4.4%. Story continues DRCAX has an expense ratio of 0.71 compared to the category average of 0.76%. Dreyfus Natural Resources A DNLAX invests a lions share of its assets in companies from the natural resources sector. DNLAX seeks capital appreciation over the long run. DNLAX generally invests in both growth and value stocks. DNLAX not only invests in domestic companies but also in foreign companies. The Dreyfus Natural Resources A fund is a non-diversified fund and has a year-to-date return of 16.3%. Robin Wehbe is one of fund managers of DNLAX since 2009. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all Dreyfus mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of Dreyfus funds. About Zacks Mutual Fund Rank By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward. Pick the best mutual funds with the Zacks Rank. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (DGLAX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (FRSPX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (DNLAX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (DRCAX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Fashion retailer Zara recently faced allegations that the brand had stolen and reproduced the work of at least 20 independent designers and artists. Although large companies knocking off indie artists is far from a new thing, it was designer and illustrator Tuesday Bassen who brought widespread attention to the issue when she posted Zaras dismissive response to allegations that it had copied several of her designs. She posted side-by-side images of four nearly identical designs, writing, Over the past year, @zara has been copying my artwork I had my lawyer contact Zara and they literally said I have no base because Im an indie artist and theyre a major corporation and that not enough people even know about me for it to matter. A photo posted by Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) on Jul 19, 2016 at 5:57pm PDT While an investigation is ongoing, according to Zaras parent company Inditex, the site ShopArtTheft.com, created by designer Adam J. Kurtz following the blow-up, shows the scale of the problem. On the site you can compare the originals to the Zara products. Photo: ShopArtTheft.com Many of the independent artists who allegedly had their designs copied sell their products online and have devoted followings. You can support the creativity and hard work of these independent designers by purchasing goods directly from them, such as the original Girls pin by Tuesday Bassen. Here are five independent artists you can support instead of Zara. ADAMJK Who he is: Adam J. Kurtz is a graphic designer with a background in advertising and media. His ADAMJK brand focuses on gift shop style souvenir items, like balloons, pencils, and keychains, but with a quirky twist like party balloons that say, Sorry I am such an a**hole. While Adam is lucky enough to be a profitable, full-time artist, he still hustles. I work full-time small-business hours, aka all the time, through weekends and late nights. This has been my full-time day job for over a year, and even when Im on vacation, its for work, taking meetings and doing pop-up shops. Story continues He created ShopArtTheft.com as a resource guide and call to action. In response to having his work imitated, he says, When you share your own personal artwork, it is a part of who you are. My actual style is very simple. The art is about the larger connection and messages. Referring to his Thank You bag design, he says, We all know that those bags exist. For me it was more about taking a minute to stop and think about how wonderful that ubiquitous statement actually is. Zara could have made their own Thank You bag art instead of tracing mine, and then this wouldnt be happening. Best Buys: The Bottled Up Feelings enamel pin , the Verified pin for social media climbers, and 1 Page at a Time: A Daily Creative Companion, an adorable (and helpful!) diary/creativity guide. Get Adams original Thank You bag design here. Protect your art, your brand, and dont be afraid to speak up, he says. A photo posted by BIG BUD PRESS (@bigbudpress) on Jul 18, 2016 at 7:11pm PDT Who they are: A Florida-based brand launched in 2015, Big Bud Press features apparel, accessories, and stickers in an array of bright colors with mod design elements. Zara allegedly copied its Why enamel pin and Planet pin. Best Buys: For the beauty lover: the compact and lipstick lapel pins. The latter come in black, pink, or red. A photo posted by Coucou Suzette (@coucousuzette) on Jul 2, 2016 at 9:02am PDT Who they are: Coucou Suzette is a kitsch and quirky accessories brand with a Girl Power spirit, according to Juliette, an artist and musician who runs the brand from Paris. She got started when she posted a boob ring shed made just for fun to her Instagram and her followers clamored to buy it. From there, she started turning her illustrations into pins, patches, jewelry, and socks. It is honestly so much work, she says. I have less time to see my friends. I think about my brand all the time, and Im never really on vacation since I m alone dealing with everything. But I love it! So satisfying to make whatever I imagine come true. Best Buys: Some of her bestsellers include the Love Pin, which is also one of the items copied by several fast-fashion chains) and her Glittery Eye Socks. Food lovers may also need the burger pin. While she finds Zaras alleged use of her design unbearable, she plans to keep creating. My friends keep telling me: If my designs are copied, it means they worth it. A photo posted by SARA M. LYONS (@saramlyons) on Jun 16, 2016 at 6:51pm PDT Who she is: The green-haired illustrator has been making the weird and witchy palatable since 2014. Her most iconic image is her adorable Whatever Forever design, which you can get as a print, pin, or patch. Shes actually had the illustration ripped off more than once, including allegedly by Zara. A photo posted by SARA M. LYONS (@saramlyons) on Jul 21, 2016 at 7:40am PDT Best Buys: Make sure you get the original Whatever Forever pin from her website, in either white or brown. (Can we also interest you in a sparkly pink witchs hat?) You can get Lyonss distinctive art prints at Society6. Who she is: An illustrator, designer, and shop owner in Los Angeles, Robin sells pins, patches, keychains, and prints inspired by aliens, animals, food, and pop culture. She went full-time and opened her online shop last November. Like many of the other small-business owners, she says she works pretty much all the time. I work nights, weekends, and vacations. Since opening a shop, I have to invest a lot into my business, and I am constantly balancing every aspect of my work. I really really love it, but it can definitely be overwhelming at times. She feels incredibly frustrated and saddened by the allegations against Zara. A different company owned by the same parent company sold a nearly identical version of her Feeling Myself design. Best Buys: Anything X-Files or pizza-related! Despite the disappointment in seeing your hard work ripped off by a giant retailer, Eisenberg isnt letting the whole thing get her down. If anything, it motivates me to work even harder and make my brand and business even stronger. I refuse to let a big company make me feel small, she says. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Among a host of valuation metrics that are at disposal, Price-to-Sales is useful in narrowing down the list of undervalued stocks. While Price-to-Earnings is the first ratio to cross ones mind when using valuation metrics, Price-to-Sales helps to determine the value of stocks that are suffering losses or are in the early cycle of development, generating meager or no profits. Though a loss-making company with a negative Price-to-Earnings ratio falls out of investors favor, its Price-to-Sales could indicate the hidden strength in its business. This underrated ratio is also used to identify recovery situations or ensure that a company's growth is not overvalued. Price-to-Sales is often preferred to Price-to-Earnings, as companies and managements can fiddle with their earnings using various accounting measures. However, sales are harder to manipulate and are relatively reliable. A stocks Price-to-Sales ratio reflects how much investors are paying for each dollar of revenues generated by the company. If the Price-to-Sales ratio is 1, it means that investors are paying $1 for every $1 of revenues generated by the company. So it goes without saying that a stock with Price-to-Sales below 1 is a good bargain, as investors need to pay less than a dollar for a dollars worth. Also, a stock with a lower Price-to-Sales ratio is more suitable for investment versus a stock with a high Price-to-Sales ratio. However, one should keep in mind that a company with high debt and low Price-to-Sales is not an ideal choice. The high debt level will have to be paid off at some point, leading to further share issuance and a rise in market cap and ultimately a higher Price-to-Sales ratio. In any case, the Price-to-Sales ratio used in isolation cant do the trick. One should also analyze other ratios like Price/Earnings, Price/Book, Debt/Equity before arriving at any investment decision. Screening Parameters Price to Sales less than Median Price to Sales for its Industry: The lower the Price-to-Sales ratio, the better. Price to Earnings using F(1) estimate less than Median Price to Earnings for its Industry: The lower, the better. Price to Book (common Equity) less than Median Price to Book for its Industry: This is another parameter to ensure the value feature of a stock. Debt to Equity (Most Recent) less than Median Debt to Equity for its Industry: A company with less debt should have a stable Price-to-Sales ratio. Current Price greater than or equal to $5: They must all be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher. Zacks Rank less than or equal to #2: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) stocks are known to outperform irrespective of the market environment. Value Style Score equal to A: Our research shows that stocks with a Value Style Score of A or B when combined a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 offer the best opportunities in the value investing space. Here are five of the eight stocks that qualified the screening: Omega Protein Corporation OME based in Houston, TX is a nutritional product company and a leading integrated provider of specialty oils and specialty protein products. This Zacks Rank #1 stock has a 35 years EPS growth rate of 8% and a Value score of A'. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation NTT provides a variety of telecommunications services, including telephone, telegraph, leased circuits, data communication, terminal equipment sales and other services. The stock with a Zacks Rank #1 and a Value score of A currently has a projected 35 year EPS growth rate of 20.7%. Korea Electric Power Corp. KEP, also known as KEPCO, is an integrated electric utility engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as development of electric power resources in South Korea. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has a 35 year EPS growth rate of 25% and a Value score of A'. Two River Bancorp TRCB, a bank holding company of the Two River Community Bank that provides banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individual consumers, has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Value score of A'. Celestica Inc. CLS is a supply chain solutions provider in the communications, consumer, aerospace and defense, industrial, healthcare, energy, semiconductor equipment, servers, and storage end markets in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Value score of A'. You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your trial to the Research Wizard today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today. Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance. Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: In addition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report KOREA ELEC PWR (KEP): Free Stock Analysis Report NIPPON TELE-ADR (NTT): Free Stock Analysis Report OMEGA PROTEIN (OME): Free Stock Analysis Report CELESTICA INC (CLS): Free Stock Analysis Report TWO RIVER BCP (TRCB): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The internet is one of the most valuable assets to homebuyers, and with instant access to newly listed homes on the market, it can be downright addictive. There is much more to utilizing the internet as a homebuyer than simply searching for homes. Knowing what information is available can help relieve some of the stress of buying a home. Here are some practical ways that homebuyers can leverage the internet to help them during the purchasing process. Local Neighborhood Info One of the most important aspects of buying a home is understanding the neighborhoods and areas in which you are interested. Using the internet to learn more about the areas you're considering can help narrow down the neighborhoods that work best for your needs. Many neighborhoods with homeowners associations now post their bylaws, covenants and restrictions online. You can find all kinds of valuable info in these documents, and even the fiscal health of the association. Simply do a quick Google search of the neighborhoods in which you are interested to find out more about them. YouTube videos are one of the fastest growing types of content in the real estate industry. You can find great insider information from local brokerages and agents who post about neighborhoods on a regular basis. This is especially helpful if you are an out-of-town buyer wondering what certain neighborhoods look like. Local community videos can reveal all sorts of interesting details about the area. [See: The Best Apps for House Hunting.] Step-By-Step Guides For many first-time homebuyers, the process of buying a home can seem daunting. Fortunately for us, the internet has an endless supply of information on each step of the buying process. Real estate professionals and brokerages are constantly posting new articles, videos, and infographics to help online consumers understand the steps involved. How-tos on getting a mortgage, finding a real estate agent and making an offer are all right at a homebuyer's fingertips online. Even if you have previously bought and sold a few homes, it's still nice to know that this information is online, in case you need a quick refresher course. Story continues But note that the process of buying a home can vary slightly based on different regions of the country. Be sure to find resources that are specific to the area in which you are looking for a home. Finding Professional Services Most homebuyers will need the services of real estate professionals to get the job done. Realtors, mortgage lenders, title companies, home inspectors and appraisers are all a part of the process. The internet is a great resource to research and find the right professional that fits your needs. There are many websites that offer paid ad placement for real estate professionals. Be wary of using these sites to find professionals as any real estate professional can pay to show up there. Just because a real estate professional has a presence on the internet does not necessarily mean that they are a good fit for you. A simple internet search of "homes for sale in X city" can reveal some of the top local brokerage websites in your area of interest. You can look through these websites for client reviews and to see what kind of information they share. If they seem knowledgeable and openly share information that helps you, they may be worth checking out. [See: 10 Ways to Save Energy and Reduce Utility Bills at Home.] Property Tax Records Tax records can show when a property was last sold, how much it sold for, how much the buyer financed and details about the previous owners. This information can be valuable for many different reasons. Property tax record websites differ by area -- many times they are maintained by the county. If your county has a property tax website, this can be a great resource to find data about certain homes online. In some cities, the property tax records may only be accessible through the real estate agents' multiple listing service portal. You may need to do some research to find the best way to access this information, but it's usually available online somewhere. Be wary of third-party websites that offer automated valuations on properties based on the property tax info, as these can be wildly inaccurate. It's always best to work with a local real estate professional to gather real-time information from the local MLS to determine accurate property values. Permit History Most counties have some sort of regulation on building and construction permits. It's likely that this information is available online and available to the public. If so, you can learn a lot about a property based on this information. Homebuyers can check to see when the water heater and roof were last replaced, or whether a deck addition was fully permitted or just a project that the homeowner did themselves without a permit. Home inspectors will often look up these permit history records when they are doing an inspection for a homebuyer. However, you shouldn't assume that they will -- it's best to check out the information yourself to determine the accuracy of what you receive from others. A quick scan of the permit records up front can save you time by revealing important issues that may not show up until much later in the process. [See: Weird Home Features That May Confuse Homebuyers.] Use More Than One Source. The internet is unregulated and can serve up information that varies wildly. Be sure to consult multiple resources to cross-check facts to make sure that you are receiving correct information. Consult with your local real estate professional as well. They can help guide you to the most reputable resources while you research online. Knowing how to best leverage the internet when buying a home can relieve stress and help homebuyers feel empowered. The internet is an amazing resource that has brought change to the entire real estate industry over the last decade. Utilize it to its fullest and you can save time, money, and undue stress. Andrew Fortune is the owner and Employing Broker at Great Colorado Homes, but he also creates valuable content for both home buyers and sellers, local market analysis as well as stunning infographics for easily share-able real estate tips. From ELLE This article originally appears in the August 2016 issue of ELLE. Shopping for jeans is no trifle. Unearthing the perfect pair of vintage jeans-which lack the magic of twenty-first-century stretch and come in limited, often baffling sizes-is a time-consuming, patience-testing task. Unless, that is, The Vintage Twin is doing the legwork for you. Since 2013, the Manhattan-based pop-up founded by twin sisters Samantha and Morgan Elias, 26, has been making the process positively breezy by eliminating the need to rifle through piles of aged wares. Instead, a staff of well-trained "jeaniuses" eyeball each shopper's shape and spirit a surefire winner out of the hundreds of pairs that line the walls. In 2010, while Samantha was attending the University of Michigan, the Eliases opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Ann Arbor, providing coeds with both reworked vintage and original designs. Three years later, the twins kicked off an ongoing series of NYC pop- ups, where they offer jeans ranging from $75 to $450 and other vintage finds to style bloggers, celebrities (Bella Hadid is a return customer), and-judging by the foot traffic on one recent visit-most of Manhattan's model-off-duty population. "Girls have FOMO," Samantha says. "They will try on 10, 15, 20 pairs and then go back to the first one." For me, it only takes two. The first, a Levi's 512, fit better than any pair I've ever owned. Still, they lack the spark one hopes for in all relationships, denim included. The second, a royal-blue, '80s straight-leg with a high waist by Lee, look like they've been tailored to my body-and give me a butt that would make Sir Mix-a-Lot proud. After Samantha crops the hem (gratis with the purchase) and Morgan applies one of the store's vintage patches (each $9-I choose a gold heart on the back right pocket), I'm in possession of my perfect jeans. Jeanius training takes "three days to three weeks," Samantha says. Here's our 30-second crash course: Story continues 1. When shopping for high-waisted jeans, hold the pair up to your neck-if you can wrap the waistband all the way around so that the edges just touch, they'll likely fit. 2. "Skinny jeans are a thing of this century," Samantha says. If you're looking for an ultra tight fit from hip to ankle, expect to tailor. 3. Break out of your brand comfort zone. "Wranglers get these cool washes," Samantha says. Or if, like me, your waist-to-derriere ratio is low, you might be a Lee girl. 4. For a no-fail DIY hem-and a crop they believe works with all heel heights-cut at the anklebone, then throw in the wash to fray. 5. How to spot a true vintage diehard: selvage. Crisp white edging on the inside of the leg seams is a sign the jeans were handmade. In Samantha's words, "The fit is sublime." There's no way around it: Your kids are going to need a ton of new items for school. From backpacks to water bottles, I've found the some of coolest gear that your kids will love using all year, plus some problem solvers guaranteed to make the kickoff to school a lot easier. Keep in mind, prices are subject to change and remember to stay on budget the last thing you or your family wants during this busy time is the burden of credit card debt. You can keep track of how your spending is affecting your credit by viewing your free credit report summary on Credit.com. 1. Bixbee Flyer Backpack Price: $43.99 at Bixbee.com These adorable, water-resistant backpacks are designed for little ones. And c'mon, backpacks with light up wings? Your boys and girls will love them, and so will you because they have a warranty and are PVC-, phthalate-, lead- and BPA-free. For every one purchased, Bixbee will donate a school bag with supplies to a child in need through their "One Here. One There" program. 2. Sydney Paige Young Explorers Backpack Price: $55 at SydneyPaigeInc.com These cool eco-friendly backpacks look like they're for big kids, but they are sized for the younger customer without sacrificing space. For every backpack sold, Sydney Paige donates a matching bag, packed with supplies, to a low-income child. 3. Granite Gear Maris Backpack Price: $44.99 at GraniteGear.com Available in six colors, this roomy, water-resistant backpack will hold a ton of books, notebooks, a laptop and all the little necessities with room to spare. Padded shoulder straps and back panels ensure comfort, no matter how heavy the bag gets, which will also come in handy for backpacking when school is done. 4. ALEX Toys Color A Lunch Bag Price: $14.18 and up at Amazon.com Available in kitty, doggy and owl styles, this insulated lunch tote doubles as a creative project to keep them busy before school starts. Five bright permanent markers are included. 5. The Children's Place Lunch Boxes Price: $9.95 to $14.95 at ChildrensPlace.com Story continues You can always count on The Children's Place for a fabulous, functional lunch tote. They have plenty of styles for kids of all ages, and the price is right. My current favorites? The Rainbow Photo-Real Lunch Box and The Force Awakens Kylo Ren Lunch Box. 6. Yoobi I Am Other Backpack Lunchbag Price: $12.99 at Yoobi.com If you need a roomier lunchbag, I recommend these. They are a mini one-shoulder backpack with tons of room for a big lunch, plus a grommet in the front for key chains. With every Yoobi item purchased, one is donated to a classroom in need in the U.S. 7. Stasher Silicone Reusable Storage Bags Price: $11.99 at The Container Store These 77 reusable re-sealable bags can store sandwiches, fruits and snacks, easily replacing your disposable baggies. You can even steam veggies in them! Easy to rinse in the sink or dishwasher, these are available in four colorful designs. You can see the full list of things to put on your back-to-school shopping list on Credit.com. More from Credit.com Warning: This post contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the new script-book by Jack Thorne, based on a story by himself, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany, obviously differs from the original book series in that it is a play. This means a lot of thingsless time for character development, a different sense of time passing, less descriptionwhich amount to a narrative that has less opportunity for the kind of rule-explaining and backstory-unpacking that Rowling mastered in the books. So at the end of the eighth story about the boy who lived, we have a few unresolved questions: 1. Who is the cursed child? In the seven original Harry Potter books, the title formula includes a person (the prisoner of Azkaban) or thing (the Deathly Hallows) that is murky or unknown to Harry at the beginning of the plot and revealed by the end. But by the end of the script-book, its not entirely clear who the cursed child is. The main options seem to be Delphi, cursed by her parentage, or Albus, cursed by hisbut some fans have suggested that it could also be Scorpius, cursed either by the rumor of his parentage, or by the curse that eventually killed his mother, Astoria. Or might it be Cedric Diggory, the boy whose death by the killing curse spurs the plot of the whole play? Or could it be Harry Potter himself, cursed as a father by his own unhappy childhood? We may have to wait for a J.K. Rowling tweet to find out. 2. When did Bellatrix Lestrange give birth to Delphi? According to the stage directions, Delphi is a twenty-something when she first appears to Albustwenty-two years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Since Bellatrix died in that battle, she has to have given birth earlier. One Redditor has speculated that Bellatrix probably gave birth sometime during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, pointing out that she wasnt present when Snape killed Dumbledore. Earlier in that book, she also said something strange to the Malfoys as Draco prepares for his assignment: If I had sons, I would be glad to give them up to the service of the Dark Lord! Why would she say sons instead of a son? Perhaps because shes pregnant and thinking about her future children. Additionally, the Redditor points out, her pregnancy could be why Voldemort insists on Bellatrix getting rid of Nymphadora and keeping her family tree pruned. Story continues 3. But how could Voldemort have a baby? Was the Dark Lord human enough to conceive a child? We know he was incapable of love, though not necessarily sex, as Rowling hinted in a 2014 tweet: @michaeljtabb Does a dehumanised wizard killer who murders in the pursuit of his own immortality forfeit the right to ALL privacy, Michael? J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 17, 2014 But could there have been some other form of magical conception that would have allowed him to avoid the very human old-fashioned way? Again, waiting for a Rowling tweet on this one. 4. Whats going on with the Parseltongue and the burning scar? In Cursed Child, Harry feels his scar burning for the first time in two decades and finds that he can once again speak and understand Parseltongue. We know from the end of Deathly Hallows that his scar didnt burn after Voldemorts death, and it could be assumed that he would lose the ability to understand Parseltongue now that Voldemort was no longer a part of him, after he destroyed himself as a Horcruxa fact Harry confirms in the play when he says, How do I? I havent been able to understand Parseltongue since Voldemort died. So why can he understand it now, if hes no longer a Horcrux? The best explanation might be that the alternate realities created by Albuss time travel mean that there are parallel universes where he does not destroy himself as a Horcrux, and therefore still has the skill. 5. Where did Delphis prophecy come from? Delphis interference with Albus, and in effect the entire action of the play, stems from a prophecy: When spares are spared, when time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers: Then will the Dark Lord return. She says Bellatrixs husband Rodolphus Lestrange revealed it to her when he left Azkaban, but does that mean he prophesied it himself, or is simply repeating it from someone else? And why is he seemingly OK with his wife bearing Voldemorts child? 6. What is Delphis last name? Clearly Diggory was a front, so is she a Lestrange? A Voldemort? A Riddle? 7. Whats the deal with Augureys? Delphi has an Augurey tattooed on the back of her neck, and in the alternate reality where she helps Voldemort re-ascend to power, shes his right-hand woman, dubbed The Augurey. So what are Augureys? As she explains, Theyre sinister-looking black birds that cry when rains coming. Wizards used to believe that the Augureys cry foretold death. The Augurey (also known as the Irish Phoenix) is also described in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a native of Britain and Ireland, though sometimes found elsewhere in northern Europe. A thin and mournful-looking bird, somewhat like a small and underfed vulture in appearance, the Augurey is greenish black. It is intensely shy, nests in bramble and thorn, eats large insects and fairies, flies only in heavy rain and otherwise remains hidden in its tear-shaped nest. Does this mean there could be an Augurey tie-in in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie? Well have to wait until November to find out. 8. Could there be more Time-Turners (and thus more Harry Potter stories)? As the very existence of this script-book has proven, anything is possible. But at a book-release party on Saturday night in London, Rowling said there would be no more Harry stories. He goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think were done. This is the next generation, you know So, Im thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now. But that doesnt mean we might not get other stories from the Wizarding Worldafter all, the November release of the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them could bring new stories of other witches and wizards throughout history. MeetTheDonors01 HBO It was a simple internet search that led documentarian Alexandra Pelosi (San Francisco 2.0) to a list of the biggest campaign donors funding presidential candidates. In her latest HBO doc, Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk?, we watch as Pelosi meets with an assortment of billionaire donors, asking them why they give millions to candidates, how this funding affects campaigns, and all the access these hefty donations can get you. We spoke with Pelosi about the donors she interviewed, the impact theyve had on past elections, and how this system plays into the current election. Related Links: MeetTheDonors04 HBO In your interviews donor after donor would give you a similar reason as to why they give so much money to campaigns, that its out of the goodness of their heart. What? You dont believe them? Thats whats wrong with you? Youre so cynical. They write $10 million checks because they just love America. Right. Did you feel frustrated that they werent being fully honest with you? I think thats the way it looks in their world. I think a couple things first of all, I dont think you realize how rich these people are. I feel like the disconnect that I keep having to try to explain to people that I know is you dont understand what a billionaire is like. They live in a bubble surrounded by people that tell them what they want to hear and they get anything they want. So I dont think they look at it as, Im paying 10 million dollars and Im getting x. I think they think of it more as, this is the price tag for the company they keep. I know that nobody sat down and just spread themselves out for me and said, Okay, heres why I do it, so I can get this law written. But I feel like its unspoken. That you get it from what they dont say. I know its not satisfying for you because they dont fully open up their diary and dish because the quid pro quo is not that concrete. Story continues Did you expect a clear answer from the outset and then realize as you interviewed more people that you werent going to get that linear explanation from them? The ratio of how many interviews I filmed to how many show up in the film is staggering. At some point I realized, oh, its more sophisticated then I though it was. Well, Tom Steyer is pretty clear. You talk to some people who are clear, like, Im doing this because I want clear energy. Im doing this because I want to save the world from global warming. Thats an admission or sorts. And you may think, its a good cause so its okay. Or is it? If he wants to save the world, is that okay? But at least he says it, they admit what they wanted I have this law and I want to get it passed. And it didnt work because the Koch brothers outspent him. But thats pretty revealing. But they all say, I do it because I love America and so I can have access, if I need the access. Like paying insurance. Its like the membership fee to go to Camp David. Exactly. Thats very articulate, thank you. I wish I was as articulate as you are. Its just like a membership fee to a club to get you invited to the exclusive places in America where no one else can go. MeetTheDonors05 HBO And what do you think goes into some donors being vilified over others? Ill say this: I do think theres a deep hypocrisy in the media coverage of campaign finance. When the Koch brothers write checks they are demonized because theyre trying to make the world in their likeness. But when a Democrat writes big checks, when George Soros writes a huge check hes deified because hes on the side of the angels. Oh, thats my politics so thats okay. He spent millions of dollars trying to take George Bush out and its okay if its in line with your politics. Im not saying thats right, but I feel like thats the way the narrative goes. And Im saying this as a person who is full blue, Im from San Francisco and live in New York City, thats my whole world experience. I live in the blue bubble. But I see the hypocrisy in the coverage. How has making this film changed the way you view the conventions? I have to apologize because I feel so dark right now. Im in a really dark place. I was at the Ritz-Carlton and there was so much money there and Ive voted Democrat my whole life so I can say this as a Democrat, its shameful how much influence money has in the current campaign. Where I was sitting in the convention hall, the Bernie people last night where protesting, chanting Goldman Sachs. I voted for Bernie, I was totally a Bernie person and I get that now its time to move on. But there was so much money at the convention and that money was not in Ohio. You did not see that money in Ohio because those big money people are not behind Trump, because hes gone rogue. It was hard to see it in the hotel bar round the clock, real money on display at the convention. And you got to call it out when you see it. And thats the reason people dont vote, because they feel like their vote doesnt matter because of all the money thats going into the election. Theres a lot of money surrounding Clinton, I havent seen that kind of money before. How would you like to see it change? Whats your ideal? Im just a documentary filmmaker and I really stayed away from the think tank because I dont really believe that there is some great road map to a fair election. Sorry to be so dark. Maybe we should have rescheduled this talk for next week when Im feeling a bit more positive. I would love to tell you that I have a solution, but I dont. There are a lot of good groups working towards a solution. Theres Take Back Our Republic and Issue One. Call them because they have answers. MeetTheDonors03 HBO After making this film, what are your lingering questions? What do you still want to know? I want the smoking gun. Well the Wikileaks was a little bit of the smoking gun. Lets face it, Wikileaks think that they outed the DNC, and what did we really learn from those emails? We learned that if you give $300,000 dollars to Obama you can sit next to him at dinner. You didnt see anything in there that said, This guy is giving us $300,000 dollars and in exchange he wants a law written that say this this and this. Wikileaks didnt prove anything except that rich people get to sit next to the president. Are you worried about our future with how this election may turn out? I think America is fine. Theres a lot of hyperbole about the state of Western civilization. If Trump becomes president, well be fine. If Hillary becomes president, well be fine. It will make a big difference in some peoples lives but not the people who say, This is the most important election of our lifetime and if Trump becomes president Im moving to Canada. Everyone wants to come to American still. Its embarrassing, I would say. The amount of money going into our election is really pushing voters out. I think the only real solution is making voting law. If people were required by law to vote wed have a totally different outcome. (Meet the Donors premieres on HBO tonight, Monday, August 1st) Alton Sterlings 15-year-old son joined Jessica Alba and Ne-Yo on stage for a special address during the Teen Choice Awards Sunday (July 31). Cameron Sterling stood in solidarity with other teens affected by shooting massacres in Orlando, Newton Connecticut, and San Bernardino, California. Alba shared Camerons story as a photo of Alton was projected on a screen behind the teen. Six weeks ago, Camerons world was turned upside down when he learned his father, Alton Sterling, was killed while selling CDs outside of a store in Baton Rouge, said Alba. Tonight we stand together with these teens united in our call for peace, and an end to this violence. #CameronSterling x #TeenChoiceAwards2016 #BLM via: @fox A video posted by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on Jul 31, 2016 at 8:52pm PDT Ne-Yo finished off the emotional moment with a rendition of Marvin Gayes Whats Going On. We need to come together as one, the father of three told the crowd. If you feel as we do that we have to do better, I need you to stand up right now and take out your phones. Take a picture of these courageous teens asking for the violence to stop and then post with the hashtag #StopTheViolence. #StoptheViolence I stand by these brave teens whos lives have been torn apart by gun violence #TCAs2016 pic.twitter.com/7vz0Q1Q0Rx Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) August 1, 2016 Lindsey Graham Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire delivered blistering rebukes of Donald Trump on Sunday for his attacks against the family of Humayun Khan, a Muslim American solider who was killed serving the US in the Iraq War. "This is going to a place where we've never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen," Graham said in a statement to ABC. "There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics that you don't do like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you." Graham, a onetime 2016 presidential hopeful, has not endorsed Trump, the Republican nominee. "If you're going to be the leader of the free world, you have to be able to accept criticism," the South Carolina Republican said. "Mr. Trump can't. The problem is, 'unacceptable' doesn't even begin to describe it." Ayotte, who has said she will vote for Trump, said she was "appalled" by the Republican nominee's attacks. The New Hampshire senator's husband is an Iraq War veteran. "There is no greater sacrifice than to lay down one's life for their country, and that's the sacrifice that Capt. Humayun Khan made fighting to defend our freedom and our constitutional rights," Ayotte said in a statement. "He was a true American hero. The Khan family deserves nothing less than our deepest support, respect, and gratitude, and they have every right to express themselves in any way they choose. "I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family," she continued, using the term for relatives of those killed in military service. Kelly Ayotte Trump suggested Sunday morning that he could not understand why he was earning scorn for questioning the two Gold Star parents who slammed him during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Story continues "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention," the Republican nominee for president said in a tweet. "Am I not allowed to respond?" Khizr Khan, speaking alongside his wife, Ghazala, offered a powerful rebuke of Trump on the final night of the DNC. In an eight-minute speech, Khan questioned whether Trump had ever read the US Constitution or sacrificed anything for his country. Trump hit back on Saturday, suggesting that Ghazala Khan might not have been permitted to speak at the convention because of her Muslim religion. The real-estate mogul further argued that he had indeed sacrificed for his country, saying he created jobs. Trump's remarks were widely condemned, and the billionaire eventually began walking them back. In a Saturday-night statement, he called the Khans' son a "hero to our country" and tried to shift the issue to what he described as "the real problem," or "the radical Islamic terrorists who killed him." Khizr Khan Khizr Khan said Sunday that Trump's questions about his wife represented the "height of ignorance." Ghazala Khan also wrote an op-ed article in The Washington Post saying she didn't speak at the DNC because she found it too painful to think about her son. "Without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain," she wrote. Trump's running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, pushed out a statement late Sunday in an attempt to clear up the attacks. Pence said he and Trump thought Khan was "an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American." "Captain Khan gave his life to defend our country in the global war on terror," Pence wrote. "Due to the disastrous decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a once stable Middle East has now been overrun by ISIS. This must not stand. "By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS at its source, and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family. Donald Trump will support our military and their families, and we will defeat the enemies of our freedom." Oliver Darcy contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: Father of deceased Muslim US soldier asks Trump 'Have you even read the US Constitution?' More From Business Insider Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the latest member to join the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, a Pentagon initiative led by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to bring Silicon Valley's top minds to the US military, the Washington Post reported last week. Alongside Bezos, astrophysicist and "StarTalk Radio" host Neil deGrasse Tyson will also join the board. Amazon declined to comment on Bezos' appointment. Launched in March 2016, the Defense Innovation Advisory Board boasts a star-studded line up of tech leaders on its 15-man team. Aside from Bezos, Schmidt, and Tyson, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, Google executive Milo Medin, Instagram COO Marne Levine, and Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson are all part of the board, according to the Washington Post. The Defense Innovation Advisory Board's work has largely been kept under wraps so far. In March, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the goal of the board is to provide advice "on the best and latest practices in innovation that the department can emulate." That includes new ideas around product development, decision making, and the use of cloud and mobile apps. But the board will not be involved in any of the military operations and strategy discussions, the Pentagon said. NOW WATCH: You can print your photos as pancakes now More From Business Insider One of the most eagerly anticipated adaptations of 2017 is Starzs American Gods, and executive producers and showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green said issues of representation and inclusion were on their minds not just during the casting process but during the writing of the show, which is now in production in Toronto. The lead of American Gods is Ricky Whittle, who is black, and there was never any question that the characters race would be otherwise, Fuller noted during a panel at the summer Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills. It just felt like in order to be true to the book, you had to cast the character who was written, who is not white, Fuller said. Thats not to say the process was easy; Fuller said that by Whittles count, the actor auditioned for the role 16 times before booking it. When you have so much that is about peoples cultures coming in, you need to be culturally literate in all respects, Green added. Youre dealing with ancient mythologies and gods. Those come from places and look a certain way. That just set the tenor of the whole thing. The producers said they frequently consult Neil Gaiman, who wrote the book the series is based on, as they adapt and cast his story for TV. The fun thing is, were not colorblind casting, were actually very consciously aware of color in the cast and ethnic specificity, because the book is so culturally specific, Fuller said. There have been times where a character has been described as having very dark skin, and weve made a suggestion to Neil, and hes like, Oh, that actor is black. The character needs to be Indian. Even though its written that they have very dark skin, the character is absolutely Indian and it needs to be an Indian actor. Thats been kind of a great relief, because its a map that we just stick to. As they began elaborating on the vision of Gaimans novel, theyve paid special attention to the roles for women. Story continues In the novel, its very much a sausage party. Its about two guys on a road trip, Fuller said. We have such fantastic female characters in the piece, we wanted to expand that. Speaking of casting, Fuller briefly addressed the casting of comic and actor Dane Cook, who joins fellow cast members Whittle, Kristen Chenoweth, Ian McShane, Gillian Anderson, Yetide Badaki and Bruce Langley, among others. They needed an actor who could play a really entertaining dick, Fuller said. When his name came up, it was really hard to see [the role] in a different way, Green said. Hes really very savvy as an artist and understands the perception of his brand, and how to subvert it with the show, Fuller added. Religion can be a divisive element in the culture, but American Gods, according to the producers, largely sidesteps that, spending almost no time on the biggest religions in the world. Largely its about forgotten myths and forgotten cultures, Green said. It manages to discuss religion in an inclusive way that invites all, including agnostics. We were both raised with religion, said Fuller, who was raised in the Catholic faith (Green was raised Jewish). We have an affection and respect for religion and its hard not to recognize the inspiration that religion gives people, Fuller said. We want to continue to reinforce the positive aspects of it. On a different note, Fuller called upon California politicians to come up with tax incentives that would keep more TV and film productions in the state. American Gods is filmed in Toronto, which has stellar crews, he noted, even as he acknowledged the production is in the city due to Canadian tax breaks. Until California gets competitive, and I really, sincerely hope it does were going to be hemorrhaging productions to places that offer better tax incentives. Fuller said. I really hope the state of California steps up. Related stories Starz Chief on Emmys: 'It's Not a Level Playing Field' 50 Cent Developing Superhero Drama With Starz After Extending Overall Deal Starz Renews 'The Girlfriend Experience' for Season 2 Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f162274%2f58230153075f448683c628b9f0c05a8c Every five years the people of Australia are asked to stay home for the night and fill out documents on how they live their lives for the country's census. Seems fair enough. But a new problem has emerged in recent years. An alarming amount of the population have indicated that their official religion is that of George Lucas' definitely fictional Star Wars films: Jediism. But supporters of the Don't Mark Yourself As Jedi movement have taken to Twitter to ensure this census joke stops in time for upcoming 2016 census. Good luck, guy. SEE ALSO: Aussie politician commentates her own bizarre documentary via Facebook Live What started out as a statistically harmless joke has rocketed in recent censuses. In 2011, a staggering 65,486 Australian citizens marked The Force as their religion. That's just slightly less people than the Sikh community and definitely more than Seven Day Adventists, Salvation Army, most Orthodox churches and other non-made-up groups. This rise in popularity of Jediism has prompted the Atheist community to decry the census equivalent of a donkey vote. Apart from perpetuating a tiresome joke, it also has legit consequences for the way our nation runs. Speaking with The Brisbane Times, the president of the Atheist Foundation Of Australia, Kylie Sturgess stated that the indication of Jedi as an individual's religion of choice, even as a joke, skews the census results to make Australia appear more religious than it is. A misrepresentation of the prominence of religion is Australia is something that the Atheist Foundation is not too keen on, see. Do we really want anthropologists of the future to delve into the mythical and colourful history of Australia and conclude that we were a nation of next level kooks? Yes? Oh OK, never mind us then. Rival airlines have been aggressively boosting capacity. Low fuel costs may have launched Singapore Airlines (SIA) into the red in 1Q17, but yield and demand pressures continue to haunt the airline's core earnings. According to a report by CIMB, SIAs Q1 figures would have been much better without a pullback in loads and the fifth straight quarterly yield decline. Moreover, the future for SIA mainline remains murky. The official guidance for SIA mainline stayed pessimistic, indicating fierce competition, aggressive capacity injection by rival airlines, geopolitical concerns in markets like France and Turkey, as well as yield pressures. Additionally, declining yields may further haunt SIAs cargo business. CIMB noted that tepid global economic growth as well as overcapacity in the global airfreight markets could extend SIA Cargos troubles for several more quarters. CIMB also revealed that SIAs efforts to build new connectivity by flying more economically to long and thin routes with its four A350-900 XWBs are longer-term plays, which may not yield immediate returns. Photo: IanC66/Shutterstock.com More From Singapore Business Review LUANDA (Reuters) - Two rebels and 17 Angolan soldiers were killed in two incidents in the oil-producing province of Cabinda at the weekend, the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) said on Monday. Authorities in the southern African, currently Africa's biggest oil producer, declined to comment. On Friday the government also did not respond to a FLEC claim that nine Angolan soldiers had been killed in the region. Luanda rarely responds to such claims in a region where separatists have been waging a low-intensity guerrilla campaign for several decades. The latest clashes broke out on Saturday and Sunday near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, FLEC said in a statement. FLEC, which wants independence for a territory that accounts for half of Angola's oil output, has been more vocal since the death this year of its 88-year-old founder, Nzita Tiago, in exile in France. Men claiming to be rebels boarded an offshore Chevron gas platform in late May and threatened foreign petroleum workers in a rare sign of the simmering instability in heavily guarded Cabinda. The incident cast doubt on Luanda's assertion that FLEC has fizzled out since a 2007 peace deal. Analysts say the group does not have the ability to affect oil output in Angola, nearly all of which is offshore. (Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by TJ Strydom; Editing by Ed Cropley) Willing foot soldiers being taken care of for surrounding their leader and advancing his will sounds more like the plot of a mob movie than the modus operandi of a legislative caucus. Yet, the similarities persist. Paid off for their loyalty and punished for their insubordination, the 98 th and 99 th General Assemblies of House of Representatives have played out like plot of a bad gangster movie. Of course, this isnt The Godfather, its nevertheless important to see the role of money in Don Madigans Illinois. (Never ask him about his business, by the way). The money is ours. And the man is Speaker of the House Mike Madigan. During his years in power, Madigan has padded the House, keeping himself surround by hand chosen, seat-warmer representatives to do his bidding. These individuals have reaped the rewards of this system, and are the first to fall for the mistakes of their beloved leader. Over the past two years, Illinois problems have compounded at the hand of Speaker Madigan. Between the states growing insolvency, a budget impasse that has shut down social services and Democrats inexplicable determination to continue expanding their failed government, Illinoisans are suffering as they have never before suffered. Although we reached a compromise on a stop-gap budget, it seems as if the IL state government is more divided than ever. Why is that? How can that be? It all comes down to two things: a man and money. Loyalty pay a bonus in which a legislator is rewarded for their loyalty toward to party leaders and their agenda. The Illinois House of Representatives spent nearly $1 million giving stipends to legislators for their roles as chairperson or minority spokesperson for one of 50 house committees. Three out of the 49 committees never met, and 36 of these very committees decreased their number of meetings. Yet still, each legislator acting as the committee chair received an additional stipend of $10,326. Legislators base pay is $67,836 annually the 5th highest in the nation for part-time work. Keep in mind, these same legislators have not passed a balanced budgets for the state in 13 years. The average committee met only 4 times, meaning that the committee chairmans time was for $2,581.75 per hour-long meeting. Of course this being Mike Madigans Illinois, results dont matter. Chairs receive their stipend regardless of the work that comes out of these committees. There can be no doubt that these bonus are handed out by caucus leaders to reward loyalty. It doesnt matter if the chair has any expertise in the subject matter. It doesnt matter how long or often committees meet or what real work is accomplished. It is simply a 15% bump in pay. To put this in perspective, when I served in the Army (and still today), positions similar to a committee chair (but with a mandate to carry out defined responsibilities), such as company training officer or security officer, are simply an additional duty with no bonus or stipend. It is expected. Its part of being a leader, whether officer or noncommissioned officer. In Illinois, as social services have to close their doors and those in need go unserved, Speaker Madigan has kept these excessive stipends in place. The ruling class is not looking out for you, or your family or your business or your rights no matter what they tell you on the campaign trail. Under the rule of Speaker Madigan and his henchmen, insiders count, those who play by the rules dont. Loyalty Pay is only one of many examples. If anything is going to change it has to come from us. As Carlito Brigante put it, The dream dont come no closer by itself. We gotta run after it now. (Carlitos Way) Our opportunity to change the states Good-Fellas culture comes in November. Vote for independent-minded challengers in State House races. Take the ruling class to the mattresses. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARNA is expected to report second quarter 2016 results on Aug 3. Arena had delivered a positive earnings surprise in the last quarter. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors at Play Arenas only approved product is obesity treatment, Belviq, whose performance remains lackluster. Driving sales in the U.S. anti-obesity market remains challenging due to several factors like the tendency of healthcare providers to treat symptoms of obesity rather than the disease itself, a narrow focus on certain patient types for treatment and historically low third-party insurance coverage. In fact, in late June, Arena announced a cut in its U.S. workforce and a shift in focus to its pipeline. Given Belviqs lackluster performance, investor focus will remain on the companys progress with its pipeline. Meanwhile, Arena intends to continue supporting Eisai Co., Ltd. ESALY with respect to Belviq -- Belviqs sales could get a boost provided positive data is generated from the cardiovascular outcomes trial (CVOT). Arena will provide an update on the second quarter call on its strategic focus and streamlining efforts. Surprise History Arenas performance has been strong over the last four quarters with the company surpassing earnings expectations in each of the last four quarters with an average earnings surprise of +16.31%. ARENA PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise ARENA PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ARENA PHARMA Quote Earnings Whispers? Our proven model does not conclusively show that Arena is likely to beat estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for Arena is -9.09%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate is a loss of 12 cents per share while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is a loss of 11 cents per share. Zacks Rank: Arena carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Note that stocks with Zacks Ranks of #1, #2 and #3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings. The sell-rated stocks (#4 and #5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement. Stocks to Consider Here are some health care stocks you may want to consider as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post a beat this quarter. The Earnings ESP for Exelixis, Inc. EXEL is +3.70% and it carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company is expected to release second-quarter results on Aug 3. Fate Therapeutics, Inc. FATE has an Earnings ESP of +12.9% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to release second-quarter results on Aug 3. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ARENA PHARMA (ARNA): Free Stock Analysis Report EXELIXIS INC (EXEL): Free Stock Analysis Report EISAI CO LTD (ESALY): Free Stock Analysis Report FATE THERAPEUTC (FATE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armed men who seized a police station in the Armenian capital Yerevan surrendered to the authorities on Sunday after a two-week stand-off, the country's National Security Service said. "The anti-terrorist operation is over," the service said in a statement, adding that the authorities had "forced the members of the armed group to lay down their arms". "Twenty terrorists have been taken prisoner," the police said. A group of around 30 gunmen had originally seized the police station on July 17, killing a police officer, wounding two others and taking nine people hostage. A second policeman, outside the building, was killed on Saturday, when the police had given the men an ultimatum to surrender. Several gunmen were also wounded during the 14 days of the stand-off. In a sign of the deep divisions within Armenian society, the gunmen had attracted sympathy from several thousand opposition protestors, leading to street clashes with police. The armed men included veterans of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with neighbouring Azerbaijan, and were seen as national heroes by their supporters, who want the government to pursue a harder line on the issue. Within a week, the group had released all its hostages, including two senior police officers, but they then took four doctors hostage and refused to surrender. The doctors were also eventually released. The hostage-takers' main demand was the release of Jirair Sefilian, an opposition leader accused by the authorities of plotting civil unrest. Sefilian was jailed in June over allegations of illegally possessing weapons. Sefilian, a former military commander, has accused Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan of mishandling the long-running conflict between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. A Moscow-brokered ceasefire halted four days of violence in the South Caucasus region in April, the worst flare-up in years, but sporadic shooting persists at night and some deaths have been reported. The gunmen were also demanding the resignation of President Sarksyan, and blamed the authorities for economic and social problems in the country of 3.7 million. "Our task is fulfilled," Varuzhan Avetisyan one of the gunmen, told Armenian Internet TV and newspaper 1in.am shortly before surrendering to the police. "Popular protest will continue. We feel that our victory is close and call on Armenian people to continue the fight," he said. (Writing by Jason Bush and Margarita Antidze; Editing by Andrew Bolton) To help Bayzle Morgan get a fair trial, a Las Vegas judge ordered his Nazi tattoos to be covered up by a taxpayer-funded makeup artist while he is tried for armed robbery. The 24-year-olds face, neck and head are covered with tattoos, including one depicting a swastika inside a clover and another spelling Baby Nazi. Read: 76-Year-Old Man Gets Tattoo of His Wife On 59th Anniversary The goal is make sure we can get a jury to at least give him a fair trial, defense attorney Dan Bunin told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Morgan is accused of stealing a motorcycle at gunpoint. After the trial concludes, he faces a second case where he is charged with murder in the shooting death of a 75-year-old woman. It takes two hours for a make-up artist to cover all of Morgans markings. The charge to taxpayers is $1,200 per session. Read: Father of the Year: Dad Gets Matching Surgery Tattoo to Support Son With Cancer Celebrity makeup artist Andrew Velazquez showed Inside Edition how covering the ink with orange negates the blue, and then cover-up in the subject's skin tone removes all traces of the tattoo. The trial judge declared the tattoos had to be covered after potential jurors said they would not be able to objectively weigh evidence because of the hateful tattoos on Morgans face, head and throat. Watch: How This Group of Tattooed Bikers Empower Victims of Child Abuse Related Articles: Yerevan (AFP) - Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian on Monday called for "radical changes" in the country after a tense stand-off with 20 anti-government gunmen holed up in a police station left two officers dead and triggered mass protests. "One thing is clear, the process of the radical changes in Armenia's social and political life" must be sped up, Sarkisian said at a meeting with civil society representatives, religious leaders and government officials, his office said. "Yes, it is true that the Armenian authorities are not perfect. Yes, it is true that there are many problems and complex issues in Armenia. Our goal is to give them a speedy resolution." The 20 pro-opposition gunmen surrendered Sunday after seizing a police station in Armenia's capital Yerevan on July 17. The crisis, which saw the gunmen take police officers and medical personnel hostage, sparked demonstrations by opposition supporters in Yerevan that sometimes descended into violence. The gunmen were demanding the release of jailed opposition leader Zhirair Sefilyan and the resignation of Sarkisian, a former communist party leader who came to power in 2008. Sefilyan is a fierce government critic who was arrested along with six supporters in June. They were accused of preparing to seize government buildings and telecoms facilities. A statement published on Sunday by one of the gunmen inside the police station vowed the group would continue its fight from prison. More than 1,000 people took to the streets in downtown Yerevan on Monday night in an anti-government protest calling for leniency toward the armed group, according to local media. - 'Not Beirut or Aleppo' - The gunmen plunged Armenia into turmoil when they stormed the police station, killing an officer and taking several others hostage. They let the officers go but then seized four medical workers before freeing them too. On Saturday a second officer was killed by a sniper who authorities said was firing from inside the police compound, a claim denied by the gunmen. Story continues Sarkisian vowed that the country would not allow anyone to "undermine the foundation of our state." "Problems in Armenia will not be solved through violence or arms," he said. "Yerevan is neither Beirut nor Aleppo." Sarkisian also called for a "thorough investigation, a comprehensive and unbiased examination and an open trial" over the incident. Human Rights Watch accused the Armenian police of using "excessive force against peaceful protesters" and said it had "assaulted journalists reporting on the demonstrations" on Friday. Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at HRW, said Armenia's investigation into Friday's assaults on demonstrators "should be swift and thorough." An Australian Aboriginal leader was Monday appointed to investigate the abuse of teenagers at a detention centre after the judge named to lead the inquiry resigned, saying he lacked the confidence of the indigenous community. The government ordered the inquiry into the treatment of young offenders after video emerged of prison guards assaulting mostly indigenous boys in a Northern Territory detention centre in 2014 and 2015. Graphic footage showed teenagers being tear-gassed, stripped naked and roughly restrained at the Don Dale Centre in Darwin, images that shocked and angered Australians. Snap protests were held on the weekend calling for justice for the victims, one of whom was hooded and shackled to a chair for two hours in scenes compared to the treatment of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay. Attorney-General George Brandis said two royal commissioners would now head the inquiry -- one of them indigenous leader Mick Gooda, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner on the government's Human Rights Commission. The appointment of Gooda, who will co-chair the inquiry with former Supreme Court of Queensland justice Margaret White, comes after judge Brian Martin resigned on Monday, days after he was appointed to head the investigation. The Aboriginal community had complained it had not been sufficiently consulted on the inquiry, which was also expected to determine if race was a factor in the abuse. Martin, formerly the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, had previously denied his role in the territory's justice system could be seen as a conflict of interest. He said Monday that he did not perceive "that there is any problem with bias, either actual or perception of bias, but others do". It had become apparent, he said, that he did not have "the full confidence of sections of the indigenous community". "As a consequence, the effectiveness of the commission is likely to be compromised from the outset," he told reporters. Story continues "I am not prepared to proceed in the face of that risk. This royal commission is far too important." The attorney general stressed that Martin's resignation "does not imply that a royal commission conducted by him would have been tainted by either real or apprehended bias". The Australian Lawyers Alliance said it had no doubts as to Martin's integrity, but welcomed his decision to stand down. "It is essential that the new commissioner has no background in the Northern Territory justice system," spokesman Greg Barns said in a statement. By Bernardo Vizcaino SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australian fund manager Crescent Wealth said on Monday it had launched an Islamic property fund in Malaysia alongside KAF Investment Funds Berhad, aiming to tap one of the largest markets for sharia-compliant financial products. The launch comes as Islamic finance is making inroads in non-traditional markets such as Australia, where the government recently proposed removing tax barriers to such asset-backed financing arrangements. Crescent Wealth, established in 2011, opened an office in Malaysia last year seeking to widen its customer base and is aiming to replicate this approach in other markets. "Malaysia is a global centre for Islamic finance. Our success here will build a strong precedent for other markets," said Talal Yassine, managing director of Crescent Wealth. "We continue to build our plans to launch similar collaborations in the United Arab Emirates, Brunei, South Africa and Indonesia." The fund would provide Malaysian investors with exposure to Australia's property market, feeding into a commercial property fund launched by Crescent in 2013. Malaysian investors are the fourth-largest source of approved property investment into Australia, according to the Foreign Investment Review Board, after those from China, the United States and Canada. Crescent launched Australia's first Islamic pension fund in 2012 and currently has around A$200 million in assets under management across its investment funds which include cash, real estate and domestic and international equities. Islamic finance has gradually expanded in Australia, with National Australia Bank Ltd helping fund a A$160 million ($114 million) Brisbane property purchase in February, after its maiden Islamic finance deal in August of last year. The government's proposed tax changes will only become effective in 2018, but this could increase the number of such transactions by ensuring tax treatment is similar to other interest-based financial arrangements. Islamic financial contracts follows religious principles such as bans on interest and gambling, which often require multiple transfers of titles of underlying assets that can attract double or even triple tax charges. (Editing by Kim Coghill) Summer vacations are great for students. They can go to bed late, wake up even later, wear shorts and fliplops, maybe even forgo brushing their hair (or teeth) altogether. Your employer does not believe that you should have the same absence of standards at work. Here are three things that may have slipped at work that could use your attention. [See: Are You Too Comfortable at Your Job?] First, your wardrobe. It is hot outside. It is very tempting to alter your wardrobe to deal with the heat. Start by remembering that most business offices are about a nice 72 degrees. Some, may even offer arctic temperatures. The key to transitioning from hot to cold (or at least not as hot) during the day is dressing in layers. A tank top and flip-flops are typically not acceptable for most business settings, but you can add a jacket or sweater and change to wedges before walking into the work. For men, it is time to invest in some undershirts if you wear button-down shirts every day. They will absorb sweat and prevent such unpleasant results as the sweaty arm pit stain or a perspiration streak down your back. Guys are stuck with slacks or jeans regardless of weather, but women have a few more options with skirts and dresses. Most offices are more conservative than a bar on Friday night -- your clothes should reflect that. Wearing items that bare too much skin can be off-putting to your co-workers, and can also erode the respect peers and managers have for you. As an example, skirts should be an appropriate length for sitting and standing at work, and your neckline shouldn't be so deep to the point of being a distraction. Make sure your summer selections still keep the focus on business. [See: 8 Ways to Beat the Mid-Afternoon Slump.] Second, your schedule. August is filled with outdoor concerts, barbecues, picnics, festivals and friends leaving a little early to get out of town. However, unless you accepted a pay cut before the summer, chances are you are still employed for a minimum of 40 hours per week. If you are still being paid for full time, you should work like a full-time employee. If you are lucky, you may have a manager who doesn't mind a schedule alteration from time to time, but you should not count on it (nor take advantage). It is key that your productivity is high and you are adding value before asking to leave a little early. Otherwise, manage your vacation time so that you leave ample hours for taking time off to enjoy the summer. Story continues It is also helpful to remember that many other people take advantage of scheduling time off on Friday afternoons or Mondays. If you are in a role where you set or conduct meetings frequently, beware of scheduling meetings on Friday afternoon, Monday morning or any summer day after 3 p.m. These are typically the first meetings canceled, forgotten or rescheduled if summer fun comes up. The safest times to set up meetings are Tuesday through Thursday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. There is a much greater chance that who you are meeting with will hold that time. Third, your "out of office" protocol. Work will continue even when you are not in the office. Be thoughtful of your customers and colleagues still in the office while you are away. Start with a clearly communicated plan as to how your work will be managed in your absence. Maybe you want to check emails and forward anything urgent? Alternately, you may want to disconnect completely and set up an "out of office" email message and a forwarding protocol. Be sure to create a similar process to handle any calls. Make sure you also document your activity on anything a colleague may need to handle while you are out. If you are in a client-facing role, the continuity of information is critical. As much as prospects and clients recognize you are a human and deserve a little rest and relaxation, if their need is immediate, they may just move on to someone else versus waiting for your return. If customers are properly informed and skillfully handled, you will minimize any business disruption. Finally, ensure that a manager or more senior employee is authorized to make decisions in your absence if you are inaccessible and an emergency comes up. [See: 8 Ways Millennials Can Build Leadership Skills.] Most of us work so that we can afford to enjoy things like vacations, time with family or other activities. It is likely that we enjoy those things even more because they are occasional treats instead of everyday occurrences. Set yourself up for continued professional success, even during the summer, by performing at your best with a little planning and thoughtfulness. Robin Reshwan is the founder of Collegial Services, a consulting/staffing firm that connects college students, recent graduates and the organizations that hire them and a certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE). She has interviewed, placed and hired thousands of people across a broad spectrum of companies and industries. Her career tips and advice are used by universities, national clubs/associations and businesses. A Certified Professional Resume Writer, Robin has been honored as a Professional Business Woman of the Year by the American Business Women's Association. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and as a Regents Scholar from University of California, Davis. More From US News & World Report These bad guys are a laugh riot! Vrajesh Hirjee This actor needs no introduction except that he might just be the funniest at his simplest best, even while he is essaying the role of an antagonist in a film. A prominent Gujarati actor and a popular TV and theatre personality, Vrajesh Hirjee is best remembered for his comic-antagonist role in the Golmaal series Paandurang, Anthony Gonsalves and Teja! His antics always had us in splits and he simply turned the scene from funny to hilarious with just his expressions. His absolutely crazy sense of humor worked every time. Bollywoods conception of a bad guy has changed drastically. Think Prem Chopra or Pran or even Ranjeet who still managed to pack a few chuckles in the days when cinema was a lot more dramatic, and then think of the latest brigade of actors who do justice to being the bad guy and the comedian. There are few such actors who can be the antagonist as well as the witty one who turns a boring scene into something worth remembering thanks to their amazing timing and slapstick comedy. Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business. FLEMING: I recently spent time immersed in meeting agents, and then took in Comic-Con in San Diego. Talk about a dichotomy. I started with the dealmakers, trying to get a feel for the movie business. Summer brings an inevitable slowdown anyway, but it seems downright depressing out there. It is harder than ever for studios to predict whats going to be a hit one sequel after another is doing less business than the previous film it cost more than and it has made picture pickers incredibly wary. That is reflected in the glacial pace at which deals are moving, and in how several movies with casts disappeared this summer, agents told me. Three were mentioned. There was The Something, a Rodney Rothman-directed film at Universal that had Seth Rogen, Zach Galifianakis and Bill Hader ready to star, until, agents told me, the brakes got pumped. Or the New Line comedy Paternity Leave that had Adam Devine and Jake Lacy set as slackers who pose as new dads to get time off work; or MGMs The Set Up, which had Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke and Glen Powell in a Claire Scanlon-directed comedy about workers who set up their abusive bosses for a romance. Maybe these pictures shoot down the line, but it is unusual. Even the big tent poles are fraught with uncertainty; they keep news about Star Wars locked up like Fort Knox, but I heard on those Rogue One re-shoots, it was Tony Gilroy behind the camera and not Gareth Edwards. When I saw Suicide Squad two weeks ago, I dont recall The Flash being in it; though maybe hes so fast I missed him. He was reportedly a last minute addition wholl be seen when the film opens Friday. BART: Dont you think all this is inevitable in this environment? Every project carries more financial weight. Every decision involves more levels of bureaucratic input. Vastly more projects are co-financed, so the number of decision-makers increases. But the same issues exist in television, exacerbated by regime change. Its fine to talk about the golden age of television, but its a very nervous golden age. Look at the new decision-making tier at HBO as an example, with all the programming changes that entails. I think this is a moment when creatives have to keep a substantial inventory of projects under their belt, in the firm expectation that anything can happen. And likely will. Story continues The basic reality of deal-making is that every project needs a championa dogged advocate who keeps plugging away on a movie until it becomes reality. This is especially true at a time like the present when the decision-making process is hopelessly constipated. But heres the problem: Champions, too, are in rare supply. Youve been talking to agents about this issue, Mike, but Ive been talking with directors and writers and they see things differently. They (and I) recall the era when agents usually took the lead in championing projects, shuffling elements and pitches until a buyer was found. It was once dangerous to get in the way of Sue Mengers or Stan Kamen if they wanted to get a project made. Talk with creatives today, however, and many will tell you that agents rarely fill that role any more. Theyre too busy building brands and businesses. Some producers yearn (and qualify) to play the champions role but studios have marginalized their role in the dealmaking hierarchy. Which bring us to managers: With a growing number of projects, its the new cadre of managers who are leading the charge for creatives. They are banging on the doors of financiers and distributors, and are also demanding producer credit and a bigger piece of the action. There was a time when I resented the incursion of the manager, but today its clear we need their energy and their unrelenting zeal to get the process rolling again. I date back to an era when the majors would release 30 or 40 movies a year and there was fierce pressure on executives to get them off the ground. Today each decision seems like a melodrama of committee meetings, research surveys and executive intrigue. Each movie has to be a potential franchise, a self-sustaining brand. Thats why champions are needed and why they are on the endangered species list. FLEMING: Managers can certainly be catalysts to get projects made, but I think youve got it wrong here, Peter. Unless you come with financing like a Megan Ellison or Black Bears Teddy Schwarzman, you still need someone to say yes before anything happens. That brings me to Comic-Con and Luc Besson. He showed the first footage from Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets, the $180 million dream project franchise play on which he has gambled his EuropaCorp company. Comic-Con, with its panels of forthcoming tent poles, is always about hope and hype. This time, it was a nice antidote to the depressing movie business tales I heard in Hollywood. I attended Hall H presentations by Warner Bros with their DC superhero offerings, and Marvels always impressive panels. They paraded the best and brightest filmmaking talent along with casts, and it was hard not to be drawn in by the trippy footage showing Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange, or feel that Marvels influence on Tom Holland and Spider-Man might be result in the best iteration of that franchise so far. A scene from the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel featuring The Walking Deads Michael Rooker and Baby Groot was hilarious (that small tree will move merchandise), as was the panel that featured all the stars and villains. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler also promised the goods, even though he doesnt start shooting till January. Lupita Nyong'o, from left, Michael B. Jordan and Danai Gurira attend the "Black Panther" panel on day 3 of Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 23, 2016, in San Diego. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) DC brought out its lineup of heavy hitter filmmakers including Aquaman director James Wan, Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins and Ben Affleck, who will direct the new Batman films, and David Ayer. Id already seen Suicide Squad for a Comic-Con interview with Ayer and think Warner Bros and DC have taken a big leap forward here imprinting their style, by injecting the fun and unpredictability missing from Batman V Superman. But of course, who knows how good these will be until they reach theaters and get picked up apart by the cynical audiences awaiting them? Suicide Squad looks like a smash, to me and there was very strong reception for Gal Gadots Wonder Woman. Many women of all sizes (and some men) came dressed as the heroine and the movie seems like its arriving at the right time. There were two very interesting first timers to Hall H who intrigued me. One was Besson, whose Valerian footage looked like real world creation stuff, reminiscent of but far more fully developed than The Fifth Element. His leads, Cara Delevingne and Chronicles Dane DeHaan, were offbeat but they popped on the screen. Even Rihanna showed up. Besson told Hall H how he once thought he was ready to make his dream project, until he saw Avatar and threw his script in the trash because it wasnt bold enough. He said he hopes to push Cameron with this effort, likening it to running neck and neck in a race against Usain Bolt. You dont expect to win, but you want the guy in front of you to feel your hot breath on his neck as you round the final turn. Based on what I saw, Besson might give Cameron a run for his money. The Valerian footage was one of the most impressive things I saw in San Diego. The other filmmaker who lost his Hall H virginity was Oliver Stone, to introduce Snowden. While Edward Snowden is certainly connected to Comic-Con enthusiasts in demo and the hi-tech that now dominates the world, it was inventive for Open Road to bring it and try to stake the Comic-Con contingent in a movie that usually premieres at a fall festival. Instead it played in a private screening. BART: Since you got an early look at Snowden, how do you feel the character per se will be received by audiences? In The Fifth Estate, Julian Assange emerged as a nasty egocentric cyber-sleuth. Now some speculate that the leaks of Democratic Party emails may stem from him, not the Russians alone. Will the character of Snowden be damaged by this veil of controversy? He now lives in Russia while Assange is still semi-imprisoned in an embassy in London. Will audiences empathize with a figure like Snowden or will they feel that they are undermining our institutions as well as, potentially, the Democratic candidate? FLEMING: I cant tell you how Snowden will be received, but I liked it a lot. Stone, who appeared on the panel with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, made a movie that lets the audience decide whether Snowden is admirable or a turncoat for his intelligence breach. Even at Comic-Con, the director seemed to be still figuring it out. When Stone and his stars were asked to raise their hands if they felt Snowden was a patriot, three hands shot up quickly. None did when asked if Snowden was a traitor. When the panelists were asked if Snowden was a hero, the actors raised their hands immediately. Stone finally did, but only after vacillating. Stones movie leaves it an open question, but humanizes Snowden. Assange came off like a slippery narcissist in The Fifth Estate; Snowden is more likeable. He is perhaps better compared to someone like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers; Snowden too sacrificed everything for his moral principles. Its interesting that both Steven Soderbergh and Netflix are working on movies about the Panama Papers, which divulged secrets about corruption among the rich and powerful. That seems a less perilous narrative track than Snowden or other whistleblower films because youve got clear protagonists. There is a big difference between Snowden and Ellsberg: the latter helped end the Vietnam War by exposing its futility, and Ellsberg stayed to face the music, fully expecting to go to jail. Snowden left and ended up in Russia. Could he not have found another way to expose the lengths of government surveillance? He doesnt really shed his turncoat reputation with me, but the movie makes for interesting discussion. BART: Snowden lately has been critical of Assange for not redacting sensitive defense information from his WikiLeaks. Snowden is trying to appear more responsible or cautious. Next topic. So what will life be like at Fox News in the post-Ailes epoch? With Rupert Murdoch hanging around, it will be a lot more austere. At 85, Rupert still sends out signals of hard work and high purpose. Fox News has always seemed like a boys club (I have had several meetings there). That will change. I was at a studio once during a harassment suit (not involving me) and the weeks after were stressful. Everyone felt under scrutiny. That will surely be the case at the House of Ailes. Politically, however, the atmosphere at Fox News likely will stay the same. Ruperts ideology, as reflected in the Wall St. Journal editorials, are Trump-ish. But hes alarmed over issues like immigration and trade. Will the supposedly more moderate views of Ruperts sons ever tamp down the Ailes-Trump rhetoric that has managed to split the Republican Party? That may be a long wait. FLEMING: If Ailes scandalous exit puts us one step closer to a media world where women can rise by their smarts and ambition, and not have to suffer the kinds of testimonials detailed by New York magazine, behavior attributed to Ailes, bravo. As for the Fox boys club culture, snap out of it, guys. Mad Men was a period show. There has to be zero tolerance for this nonsense. Related stories HLN's Dayside Hosts Applaud Gretchen Carlson "Chutzpah" For Filing Harassment Lawsuit - TCA Luc Besson Must Pay More For Copying John Carpenter's 'Escape From New York' Michael Clemente Exits Fox News BB&T Corporation BBT the second-largest lender of North Carolina announced the closure of its equity research coverage unit, along with curtailing of its institutional sales and trading activity. The company further disclosed its plan to dismiss 61 employees in Richmond, Virginia and some employees in other offices as well, as part of its overall restructuring plan in its equity capital markets and related operations. Rationale Behind the Exit BB&T has been offering equity research services since 1999. Since then, the company has expanded its research division as it introduced more services for its corporate clients. However, the changing market conditions in the equity trading business led to a reduction in the companys trading volumes and margin compression, which in turn triggered the exit. Further, the strategy was in line with the regional lenders that have scaled back their equity divisions as their revenues were being hurt by the lack of initial public offerings and investors shift to passive strategies. Impact of the Reorganization BB&T expects this restructuring initiative to have a negligible effect on its other equity capital markets services like equity syndicate and share repurchases. However, the share price of the company fell 1.1% following the announcement. Road Ahead This restructuring initiative is expected to bring a significant change in the companys securities team. Nonetheless, it will offer the company an opportunity to refocus its business model to further grow the debt capital markets, capital markets advisory, M&A and private client advisory platforms, where it enjoys greater market power. Further, in an e-mail statement, the companys spokesman, Brian Davis, said We recognize this is a challenging time for the affected associates and their families and we're making every effort to place them into other positions. Severance packages and outplacement services will be offered. Currently, BB&T Corporation carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Stocks That Warrant a Look Some better-ranked stocks in the finance sector include HomeStreet, Inc. HMST, Regional Management Corporation RM and State Bank Financial Corporation STBZ, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BB&T CORP (BBT): Free Stock Analysis Report STATE BANK FINL (STBZ): Free Stock Analysis Report REGIONAL MANAGE (RM): Free Stock Analysis Report HOMESTREET INC (HMST): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f163335%2fbear-in-house "Yogi decided to creep on in." Footage of a bear charging a man inside his house has been making its way across social media this week in what can only be described as terrifying. The clip, which was originally posted to Facebook by Rodney Ginn of Mammoth Lakes, California, starts with Ginn in a dark room. "We have a bear inside of our house right now," Ginn says, later adding, "Holy fucking shit." The bear then makes a noise, and the man promptly freaks out and runs to the top of the stairs. SEE ALSO: Bear's summer plans include napping in your backyard kiddie pool But instead of hiding inside of a room, Ginn keep filming. The beast eventually makes its way up the stairs and can be seen coming towards the camera as the man shuts the door. The moment is brief and the footage is a little blurry, but Redditor Pajamasofwrath stabilized the footage where the bear can be seen inside the home. After a few moments the men hear the bear go back downstairs and then exit the room. "Dude I thought it was you," Ginn admits to another man. Ginn also shared a photo on Facebook of the bear which reveals that the momma bear also brought its cubs along. Image: Rodney Ginn Ginn explained that the bears were able to exit the home through a sliding door. Image: Rodney Ginn Mashable has reached out to Ginn for additional information and comments. Just remember to always lock your door, folks. Bonus: Corgi butts in slow motion Photo: International Business Times Belgian expatriate Philippe Graffart, 42, has admitted to killing his five-year-old son, but will be spared the death penalty. According to media reports, the financial executive pleaded guilty on Monday morning (1 Aug) to a reduced culpable homicide charge. He may be jailed for up to 10 years and caned. According to a psychiatric report, Graffart was suffering from major depressive disorder at the time. This substantially impaired his mental state at the time of the killing. Graffart was arrested on 6 October 2015 when he arrived at a police station with self-inflicted wounds. He told police, "I have done something very bad to my son. The body of Keryan, Graffarts only child, was then discovered in his bedroom in their Leedon Heights condominium unit. He had been suffocated to death by his father, and had hand-shaped bruises around his neck. The Belgian was engaged in a custody battle with his ex-wife at the time. Graffart will be sentenced on 22 August. Making its European premiere, Ben Wheatleys anticipated Free Fire has been set as the closing night gala of the 60th BFI London Film Festival. The period action thriller is the latest from the Sightseers, A Field In England and High-Rise helmer. Martin Scorsese, who previously lent his name to the U.S. release of A Field In England, is executive producer on Free Fire. The film had been on some watchers wish lists for Cannes, but opted to target the fall festivals. Its designation as a European debut at LFF suggests a world premiere at one of the North American majors. Free Fire screens in London on October 16. Set in late 70s Boston, the film stars Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Jack Reynor and Sam Riley. Larson plays Justine, a woman who has brokered a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Murphy, Smiley) and a gang led by Vernon (Copley) and Ord (Hammer) who are selling them a stash of guns. But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart-stopping game of survival ensues. Wheatley wrote the script for his first U.S.-set pic with his wife and longtime collaborator Amy Jump. This is his third film to be presented at LFF, following 2015s High-Rise and 2012s Sightseers. Fest Director Clare Stewart calls Free Fire a ballsy actioner that pays knowing tribute to the films of Sam Peckinpah. Free Fire is a Film4 and BFI presentation of a Rook Films Production of a Ben Wheatley film. Along with Scorsese, executive producers are Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Reno Antoniades, David Kosse and Sam Lavender, Ben Roberts and Lizzie Francke, Danny Perkins and Dan MacRae. Producer is Andrew Starke. Studiocanal has UK distribution rights with a release date to be set. A24 has U.S. Protagonist Pictures is handling international rights. LFF opens with Amma Asantes A United Kingdom on October 5 and runs through October 16. The full lineup will be unveiled on September 1. Story continues Related stories Brie Larson (Finally) Confirmed As Captain Marvel - Comic-Con 'Kong: Skull Island' Trailer: "This Planet Doesn't Belong To Us" - Comic-Con Tom Hiddleston Returning To Comic-Con With Legendary's 'Kong: Skull Island' (Reuters) - The legal team for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl on Monday asked to have the charges against the former prisoner of war dismissed, arguing comments made by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain violated his due process rights. Bergdahl, 30, is facing a court-martial with a potential life sentence on charges of desertion and endangerment of U.S. troops after he walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and became a Taliban prisoner for five years. Defense attorneys argued in a motion filed on Monday that comments made by McCain and the committee's general counsel, Steve Barney, have unduly influenced his case. The filing quotes McCain as saying last October: "If it comes out that (Bergdahl has no punishment, we're going to have a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee." "I am not prejudging, OK, but it is well known that in the searches for Bergdahl, after - we know now - he deserted, there are allegations that some American soldiers were killed or wounded, or at the very least put their lives in danger, searching for what is clearly a deserter," McCain added. The statements, among others, defense attorneys argued, undermine the independence of the military proceeding and violate Bergdahl's rights to due process. The motion said if the charges are not dropped and Bergdahl is convicted, he should at least face no punishment. "It is not rocket science to see what was wrong with Sen. McCain's comment," the motion says. "His comments - as the Army certainly knows - constituted impermissible meddling in a pending criminal case and an abuse of his authority as chairman of a powerful Senate committee." Representatives for McCain's office could not be immediately reached for comment, nor could a spokesman for the Senate Armed Services Committee. U.S. military prosecutors have said Bergdahl sneaked off his post, resulting in a 45-day search that put soldiers' lives at risk and diverted attention from the fight against the Taliban. Story continues Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 involving the release of five Taliban leaders held by the United States. The deal drew heavy criticism from Republicans. The court-martial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 6, 2017. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) Naloxone President Barack Obama recently signed a law aimed at addressing the burgeoning opioid crisis in the US. While the law was undoubtedly a step forward for a gridlocked Congress, it won't affect one of the crisis' most intractable problems the skyrocketing price of naloxone, a drug that instantly reverses overdoses. A report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January revealed that drug overdose deaths reached a new high in 2014, totaling 47,055 people. Opioids were involved in 60% of those deaths. Frequently referred to as an "antidote" for opioid overdoses, naloxone has seen drastic price increases in recent years, according to information provided by Truven Health Analytics, a healthcare-analytics company. A popular injectable version of the drug has gone from $0.92 a dose to more than $15 a dose over the last decade. An auto-injector version is up to more than $2,000 a dose. On the market since 1971, naloxone works by blocking opioid drugs from interacting with the brain's receptors, counteracting the drugs' dangerous side effects, like slow respiration, coma, and death, during an overdose. The drug almost instantly pulls an overdose victim back to sobriety and has only minor side effects for opioid users and almost none if mistakenly administered to patients not suffering an overdose. The price increases, however, have made affording the drug difficult for community organizations, which provide naloxone for free to drug users, their family members, and other nonmedical personnel. These organizations along with pharmacies, public-health departments, and substance-use treatment facilities prevented more than 26,000 overdoses from 1996 to June 2014 by providing naloxone, according to a survey of 136 such organizations conducted by the Harm Reduction Coalition, a national advocacy group. That number is also likely lower than the actual number of overdoses prevented, according to the survey. Story continues We're not talking about a limited commodity. Many see the drug's price hikes as unwarranted and are frustrated with the lack of access. "We're not talking about a limited commodity. Naloxone is a medicine that is almost as cheap as sterile sodium chloride salt water," Dan Bigg, the executive director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, an outreach organization that has been providing naloxone to drug users for nearly 20 years, told Business Insider. In June, Sens. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, sent a letter to the five pharmaceutical companies that produce naloxone Amphastar, Pfizer, Adapt, Kaleo, and Mylan asking for an explanation of the recent price changes. "At the same time this epidemic is killing tens of thousands of Americans a year, we're seeing the price of naloxone go up by 1000% or more," McCaskill wrote. "Maybe there's a great reason for the price increases, but given the heart-breaking gravity of this epidemic and the need for this drug, I think we have to demand some answers." How much it costs to save a life naloxone training overdose All five pharmaceutical companies that produce naloxone have seen price hikes in recent years or, for the newer entrants such as Adapt, priced their product far above the industry average several years ago. As of January 2015, Amphastar's version of naloxone was up to $41 a dose, according to Fierce Pharma, a pharmaceutical-industry news site. That follows a price increase from $17 to $33 a dose in October 2014, according to data provided by Truven Health Analytics. In 2001, the price was just $12 a dose. As of October 2014 the most recent time for which prices are available Hospira's version of naloxone was $15.80 a dose. That's up from $0.92 a dose in 2005, according to Truven Health Analytics. The price of Hospira's version of naloxone hit a peak of $21.90 a dose in January 2014. Pfizer purchased Hospira last year. Meanwhile, Kaleo has raised the price of its naloxone product, Evzio, several times since last year. In November 2015, the price went up to $375, followed by an increase to $1,875 in February 2016. Since then, the price has been raised to $2,250 for each single-dose injector. Evzio, which is an auto-injector that works like an EpiPen and is specifically created for use by people without medical training, was introduced at $287.50 for each single-dose injector in July 2014, according to Truven. Adapt's Narcan, a nasal-spray form of the drug released in February, costs $63 for each single-dose spray unit, though it does sell the product for approximately half that price to government agencies, community organizations, and patients without insurance, Matt Ruth, Adapt's chief commercial officer, told Business Insider. Further exacerbating the price problem, according to Bigg, is that most organizations advocate providing overdose victims with multiple doses of naloxone because opioid drugs last longer than naloxone. Such a practice is necessary for safety, but means that these prices only give a partial picture of how difficult it currently is to fund such a program. The price increases, combined with the increase in demand, have caused sales of naloxone to jump from $21.3 million in 2011 to $81.9 million last year, according to numbers from prescription-tracking company IMS Health and cited by The Los Angeles Times. Amphastar, one of the two producers of the lower-priced injectable naloxone, saw a revenue increase of 4% in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the first quarter of 2015, according to a press release. The company attributed that increase largely "to an increase in sales of naloxone to $10.3 million from $6.7 million." All prices stem from purchasing directly from the manufacturer, not the list price, which is higher because of distributor markup. The list price is paid primarily by consumers purchasing naloxone without a prescription. The source of the increases PricetrendFDA According to Bigg, while price increases have been consistent for 20 years, the price hikes jumped in frequency and volume in 2008 after several manufacturers stopped producing the drug, leaving Hospira and Amphastar as the sole manufacturers of naloxone. Mylan and Kaleo introduced naloxone products in 2014, and Adapt followed suit at the beginning of this year. Only Mylan, Amphastar, and Hospira, however, make injectable versions by far the cheapest forms of the drug. Adapt and Kaleo make the more expensive nasal spray and auto-injector, respectively. Bigg says the limited number of producers has kept the price high and increasing. But some think the price hikes are a response to a big uptick in demand and point to new laws and programs designed to equip police officers and first responders with naloxone, as well as increase access for the general public. "Naloxone used to be an item purchased by emergency rooms and ambulances Now that harm-reduction organizations have pushed for laws requiring everyone to carry it, the demand has gone up exponentially," Tessie Castillo, the advocacy and communication coordinator at the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, told Business Insider. Pharmaceutical companies "know that they can make more money because of the demand, so they try to." Over the last couple of years, more than 30 states have acted to increase naloxone access, prescriptions, and use. In 2014, then US Attorney General Eric Holder urged federal law-enforcement agencies to train and equip personnel with naloxone. Such laws and policies were pushed by organizations like Castillo's. Daniel Raymond, the policy director of the Harm Reduction Coalition, told Business Insider that his organization has noticed increases in the price of naloxone in recent months, but he said he's skeptical that pharmaceutical companies were "profiteering" off the opioid crisis. Instead, he attributed the increase to broader dynamics "playing out across the pharmaceutical spectrum." "If naloxone was the only pharmaceutical product that was seeing price increases, I would be very suspicious," Raymond said. "But because this is playing out across the sector it's part of a larger trend that the whole healthcare industry and policymakers are struggling to get a handle on." A Food and Drug Administration analysis of the naloxone market in 2015 attributed the price increase to a general trend across the pharmaceutical industry for generic injectable medicines. Big Pharma's response Naloxone While a statement from Pfizer, on behalf of Hospira, did not respond directly to questions about recent price increases, the company emphasized that it believes it has priced naloxone "responsibly," taking into consideration both "sensitivity to the need for the product" and "the investments necessary to produce high-quality generic drugs as well as ensure appropriate distribution through licensed medical professionals." The company further touted its commitment to the naloxone market after other manufacturers ceased production. Amphastar raised the price of its naloxone product because of rising manufacturing costs and investments made in developing its own intranasal naloxone product, Bill Peters, the company's chief financial officer, told The Los Angeles Times. Kaleo points to the ease of use of its product, the Evzio auto-injector, as justification for its high price. Evzio's auto-injection system provides "voice and visual instruction" to aid administration in an emergency. "The price of Evzio is reflective of its innovation, years of extensive research to ensure the device is easy to use and reliable and to ensure the broadest access to this potentially life-saving product," Kaleo spokesman Lora Grassilli said in a statement. She added that Evzio is the first FDA-approved naloxone product specifically created for those without medical training. Ruth, the chief commercial officer for Adapt, told Business Insider that Adapt researched the market prior to setting the price of its Narcan nasal spray in February, which he says has been "well received so far." Ruth further pointed to Adapt's awareness and access initiatives as reasons for Narcan's higher price point. "Those initiatives aren't free," Ruth said. "We are looking to do this as efficiently as possible and charge an affordable and responsible rate for patients and organizations alike. We believe we've done that." Both products are increasingly being pushed as the naloxone product of choice for police officers and the general public alike. While Bigg and Castillo acknowledged that Evzio and Narcan are easier to use than a syringe and vial, both were skeptical that such advancements in delivery justified their considerably higher price tag. The Chicago Recovery Alliance staff has been using syringes and vials since its inception, according to Bigg, who said that in 7,500 reports on overdose reversals, they've never had someone tell them that they couldn't or didn't understand how to use the syringe. "We've had no problems with syringes. The syringes are really self-explanatory," Castillo said. Amphastar has responded to the criticism over naloxone pricing through "increased discounting and rebates." In an Amphastar press release on 2016's first-quarter financials, the company noted that naloxone pricing was down compared with the previous quarter. Increasing access to many but not all naloxone training overdose Many large organizations like the Chicago Recovery Alliance and government agencies have been insulated to some extent from the rising prices, thanks to special discounts and donations from naloxone producers as well as grants to pay for such products. Kaleo, for example, has donated 150,000 Evzio auto-injectors to first-responders, public-health departments, and nonprofits since the product's approval in April 2014. In January, Adapt announced a program in partnership with the Clinton Foundation providing a free carton of Narcan to any high school in the US that asks for it. Adapt has also donated 50,000 doses of Narcan to various organizations. Bigg and Castillo said that their organizations, which provide naloxone to those in need for free, would not be able to exist without such generosity on the part of pharmaceutical companies. According to Bigg, many police departments have money to pay for naloxone because of asset seizures, which confiscate the alleged proceeds or instruments related to crime. Many federal, state, and local government agencies have also been given grants to pay for naloxone. While these measures have generally increased the availability of naloxone, Castillo says the result is that those hardest hit by the high prices are smaller harm-reduction organizations or community programs that don't have the clout of larger government agencies or the renown of a large nonprofit like the Harm Reduction Coalition. Castillo says that she has spoken to "lots and lots" of organizations and programs that have closed in recent years or failed to get started because of naloxone's high price tag. "The companies have been pretty good about providing us with deals and discounts, but that's just to us. That is not a normal experience for most organizations that are trying to buy naloxone," Castillo said. That system has left organizations like Castillo's at the mercy of pharmaceutical companies' generosity. When a pharmaceutical company changes policy such as earlier this year when Kaleo suspended its charitable donations for the year because of "overwhelming demand" it can be devastating. Many of the companies have programs to ensure either lower prices or no cost for patients. Kaleo has a "patient-assistance program" that provides Evzio to people with commercial insurance at no cost. The program allows uninsured people with financial difficulties to request Evzio at no cost. Adapt's "public-interest pricing" charges approximately half of its list price to community organizations, police departments, public-health organizations, and those without insurance. Numerous solutions to the price problem have been suggested. Bigg believes that making naloxone available over the counter, as is now allowed in numerous states, would encourage more manufacturers to enter the marketplace and drive down the price an effort applauded by many doctors and pharmacists. In addition, he thinks that once the FDA approves more naloxone products currently in development, the price should come down as well. Castillo called for more consistent and transparent pricing, discounts, and donations for all organizations government and community that provide naloxone. Raymond suggested that one factor unique to naloxone makes it difficult to rein in the price increases. The primary buyers "are all purchasing individually in small amounts so they don't have the leverage to bargain for discounts," Raymond said. He suggested a solution in the form of a bulk-purchasing program that could aggregate demand and push suppliers to drop their prices. The demand for naloxone isn't likely to go down anytime soon. The law Obama signed on July 22, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, includes measures to make naloxone more readily available to the public, as well as to police officers and first responders. Another bill, which Congress is scheduled to vote on in the coming weeks, would push doctors to co-prescribe naloxone with every opioid prescription they write. NOW WATCH: How NASAs groundbreaking work on human blood can predict your reaction to certain drugs More From Business Insider LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian police have seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine and arrested three Bolivians in a massive bust of drugs headed for Honduras and likely eventual sale in the United States, a government official said on Monday. The haul, which was hidden in a cargo of minerals, would be worth over $160 million in Honduras and $350 million in the United States, Bolivian interior minister Carlos Romero said at a news conference. Romero said the cocaine had been intercepted in trucks carrying borates along a remote mountain pass that connects Bolivia with Chile's sea ports. In May, Colombian police confiscated 8 tonnes of cocaine, which officials described as one of the largest in the history of the country. (Reporting by Daniel Ramos, Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Richard Chang) Indian filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui has been found guilty of raping an American research student last March at his Delhi home. Farooqui, who co-directed with his wife, Anusha Rizvi, the 2010 release Peepli Live, faces between a minimum seven-year prison sentence and a maximum life term, according to the Indian Express. The court is slated to hear arguments Tuesday before pronouncing its sentence. The case first came to light when the victim, a student from Columbia University, filed a police complaint which led to Farooqui's arrest last June. He was later released on bail as the case went to trial in September. Read more: Indian Director Arrested on Rape Charges The case is seen as a landmark as its verdict has been delivered under a 2013 amendment to the criminal law which included forced oral sex as a crime, the complainant's counsel Vrinda Grover told the Express. "This is perhaps one of the first cases of forced oral sex, which shows two things: that there was a crime for which we did not earlier have an offense named, now it has been recognized as rape. We're also very happy to see that the court relied on very credible evidence that the woman gave." The brutal gang-rape of a young Delhi woman on a moving bus in New Delhi on Dec. 16, 2012. sparked nationwide protests. The outcry led to a call for action against crimes against women which included legal amendments and fast-tracking rape cases. According to the Express, the 2012 incident also was referred to in the testimony of the American woman who told the court that she "did not resist" the rape because she feared she would also be killed like the Delhi gang-rape victim. Read more: India Bans Telecast of BBC Rape Documentary Farooqui was first introduced to the student, who is in her thirties, by Danish Hussain, a longtime friend of the director. Local reports added that in his testimony, Hussain said the victim immediately contacted him after she was assaulted by Farooqui. Story continues Farooqui is expected to appeal the verdict, and the case could go to a higher court. "Our fight for justice is by no means over," his wife told the Hindustan Times. "We will approach the High Court for justice that has been denied to us." Peepli Live, which premiered at Sundance in 2010, was a satirical take on a poor farmer's struggle to pay his loans, highlighting India's painful issue of farmer suicides. In its review, The Hollywood Reporter said, "Both funny and sobering, this film, produced by Bollywood icon Aamir Khan (the Oscar-nominated Lagaan), aims beyond Indian audiences." The film was put forward as India's entry for the foreign-language film Oscar in 2011. Read more: Peepli Live -- Film Review BRASILIA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A crippling recession and doubts over the approval of structural economic reforms will keep credit conditions in Brazil weak for some time, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. The rating agency, which stripped Brazil of its investment grade rating in February, said in a statement that credit conditions have stabilized with improved market sentiment and a weaker Brazilian real that has helped exporters. But political uncertainty coupled with lower commodity prices and global risk aversion will keep the credit outlook under pressure. "The ongoing political turmoil complicates the government's fiscal repairs and delays structural reforms to support growth and curb the government's debt burden," Moody's said in the statement. The promises of interim President Michel Temer to limit public expenditures and overhaul an overly generous pension system has improved the mood of markets. Temer is expected to assume the presidency until 2018 if the Senate in coming weeks impeaches suspended President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly doctoring government accounts. Rousseff, a leftist and largely blamed for running the economy into the ground, was suspended in May pending her trial. But Temer faces criticism from lawmakers of his own alliance in Congress and powerful union groups for some of his austerity measures. ($1 = 3.2688 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli) By Andrew Downie SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian law enforcement agents stormed a hideout near Sao Paulo on Sunday and freed the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, police said. Aparecida Schunk was found safe and police arrested two men. Sao Paulo's Anti-Kidnap squad "freed the mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone," police said in a one-paragraph statement. "She was unharmed. Two men were arrested at the hideout near the city of Cotia. The operation continues." Sao Paulo police did not comment further on the operation or the kidnapping. But local news reports said they were searching for other members of the gang. The 67-year old Schunk was kidnapped on July 22 and her captors asked for 120 million reais ($36.5 million), according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine. Schunk is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, a 38-year old marketing executive who met Ecclestone at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. Ecclestone, whom Forbes magazine estimates - along with his family - is worth $3.1 billion and is one of the most powerful men in sport, married Flosi in 2012. Ecclestone, 85, divorced his wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, in order to marry the young Brazilian. The couple lives in England. Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars. A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer. Brazil is currently in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century. (Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Dan Grebler) RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's Foreign Minister Jose Serra labeled the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency a "nightmare" and urged all Americans to vote for Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. In an interview published Sunday in the Brasilia-based Correio Braziliense newspaper, Serra was asked "in the case of the USA, Trump or Hillary?" "I consider the hypothesis of Trump a nightmare," said Serra, a U.S.-educated economist. "Do nightmares, at times, come true? They do, but I prefer not to think about this." Trump, the Republican nominee for the White House, has often irked those outside the United States with his views and foreign diplomats have told U.S. government officials they are worried about the xenophobic nature of Trump's rhetoric, according to administration sources. Serra, a two-time losing presidential contender and former health minister who developed Brazil's lauded anti-AIDS program in the 1990s, is serving as foreign minister under interim President Michel Temer. He could be Brazil's top diplomat for at least a few years under Temer, who took the spot of suspended President Dilma Rousseff. She is facing an impeachment trial for alleged budget irregularities and is widely expected to be permanently ousted by Brazil's Senate in late August or early September. When Serra took over as foreign minister of Latin America's biggest economy in mid-May, he quickly reversed some foreign policy stances, emphasized that Brazil needs to seek bilateral trade deals, and shifted the nation away from its close ties to Venezuela and other more left-wing nations in Latin America. But when it comes to the United States, Serra said that he "always cheered for the Democrats, wholeheartedly." Serra holds a masters and a doctorate in economics from Cornell University, where he studied after being exiled from Brazil after the 1964 military coup. He said the choice between Clinton and Trump is not a matter of being a Democrat or Republican, "but of being wise." "Anybody who wants the best for the world should support Hillary, in my view," he said. Brazil's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by Mary Milliken) By Tom Esslemont LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Only 100 British companies have paid to sign up to a new voluntary slavery database, designed to fund an anti-trafficking helpline, organisers said on Monday. The number is a tiny fraction of around 12,000 UK businesses targeted to join the Transparency in the Supply Chain (TISC) data bank, that allows firms to confidentially admit when they find their suppliers using enslaved workers, its directors said. Funds raised by TISC are destined to cover operational costs of a victims' support helpline run by the anti-trafficking charity Unseen, but signing up is optional. Britain's 2015 Modern Slavery Act only requires businesses with a turnover of 36 million pounds ($47.43 million) to disclose in annual reports what action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are free of slave labour. "We urge companies to join the database. For a nominal amount of money it meets requirements for firms wanting to do more than just comply with the law," TISC co-director Jaya Chakrabarti told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Britain is regarded as a leader in global efforts to combat modern day slavery, with Prime Minister Theresa May setting out a new drive on Sunday to tackle what she called a "barbaric evil". In an article in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, May pledged more funding and a new cross-government taskforce to help victims found in "nail bars and car washes to sheds and rundown caravans". In her previous role as interior minister, May pioneered Britain's 2015 Modern Slavery Act that requires businesses to disclose what action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are free of slave labour. Nearly 46 million people are enslaved globally, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index, which estimated there were 11,700 victims living in Britain. "This is the great human rights issue of our time, and as prime minister I am determined that we will make it a national and international mission to rid our world of this barbaric evil," May said. Chakrabarti said voluntarily submitting statements to the TISC database offered firms more transparency, "reducing the overall risk of having slavery in their supply chains." But the slow take-up reflected a lack of awareness among businesses about what they need to do to comply with the law, anti-trafficking campaigners said. In March this year the charity Unseen won 1 million pounds ($1.32 million) of start-up funding for trafficking-busting helpline from Google.org, the grant-giving arm of the global internet giant. But Unseen said it was "confident" a further 1.5 million pounds needed to cover costs in the following three years would be provided through membership of the slavery data bank. "We view the income from TISC as a long term funding stream which will contribute to the costs of the helpline," Andrew Wallis, chief executive of Unseen, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, without commenting on the slow subscription rate to TISC. While companies must now publish their statements on anti-slavery measures every financial year they can decide themselves if they want to enter their data into a central repository, causing confusion among companies and campaigners. "Businesses have ... said they find it very hard to know what they should be doing," said Kate Roberts, head of the Human Trafficking Foundation, a UK charity. "They have asked for guidance from government as to where they should be depositing their statements," Roberts said. (Reporting By Tom Esslemont, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) By Giles Elgood LONDON (Reuters) - David Cameron faced accusations of cronyism and rewarding failure on Monday over a leaked list of names put forward to receive some of Britain's highest honours following his resignation as prime minister. Cameron stood down last month after he lost the referendum in which Britons voted to leave the European Union. Now he has drawn up the prime minister's traditional "resignation honours list", showering politicians, donors, co-workers and others with knighthoods and other titles. Some of the most prominent names are leading figures from the government's unsuccessful referendum campaign, according to the list leaked to the Sunday Times. They include cabinet ministers Michael Fallon, Philip Hammond, Patrick McLoughlin and David Lidington, all of whom favoured remaining in the EU. Also listed are Isabel Spearman, a former public relations executive for a handbag designer who worked for Cameron's wife Samantha as a stylist and assistant, and Thea Rogers, an aide credited with smartening up finance minister George Osborne. The list has angered many on the Eurosceptic wing of Cameron's Conservative Party, who emerged as winners from the referendum, while the opposition Labour Party said prime minister Theresa May should end a discredited system of awarding honours. "David Cameron has decided to reward his political allies with honours as if they are confetti and I think he discredits the system," Labour's deputy leader, Tom Watson, told Sky News. Nigel Farage, the outgoing leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, said on Twitter that the list contained "too many rewards for failure". Tommy Sheppard, a member of parliament for the Scottish National Party, which backs independence for Scotland, said the honours system was ridiculous: "We are seeing Tory (Conservative) privilege over reward for public service". A spokeswoman for May, who succeeded Cameron as prime minister, said nominations for honours were at his discretion. She added: "There is now a process to be followed, the prime minister's view is that it would set a bad precedent for the prime minister to interfere in that process." Cameron has not commented on the accusations but Conservative lawmaker Desmond Swayne, who was knighted for political service this year, said it was representative of Cameron's six years as prime minister. He told the BBC: "The reason we have a resignation honours list is because over a period of government ... a prime minister has to cajole and get the support of a number people and he builds up a debt of honour. "I think that frankly an honours list is a relatively light way of paying it off." Honours in Britain have in the past sometimes proved problematic. "Resignation honours lists are always risky," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. "The purpose of them is very personal. There's the extent to which the ex-prime minister's friends are going to be at a huge advantage over those who were of less importance and less value," he told Reuters. He cited the example of Harold Wilson, whose 1976 list contained one businessman later convicted of fraud and another who subsequently died while being investigated for the same offence. Wilson had gone beyond friendship, Bale said, and stepped over the line towards cronyism. There are also examples of when recipients have been stripped of their honours. Over the years, knighthoods have been removed from Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe, Romania's late communist chief Nicolae Ceaucescu and, for declaring war on Britain, Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. (Editing by Stephen Addison) United States health officials say pregnant women should not travel to an area north of downtown Miami that has active Zika transmission. The agency said on Monday that it is also recommending that pregnant couples in the area avoid mosquito bites with clothing and repellant. On Monday, the director of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Tom Frieden, announced that over the weekend more infections of Zika were identified in a small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown. It is determined that the area has active transmission of the virus, which is why the CDC is advising pregnant women to not travel to that region. In total, 14 people are infected with the virus from local mosquitoes. (You can see a map of the affected region here). The CDC also is sending an emergency response team to the area, after Florida governor Rick Scott called on the CDC to do so. Some members of the team are already on the ground and others are on the way. The CDC says it will re-assess the situation every day. Despite the daily use of spraying to control the local mosquitoes, Florida vector control specialists are still seeing a lot of mosquito larvae and high numbers of the aedes aegypti mosquito, which spreads Zika. Its not yet clear why the numbers remain high. Dr. Frieden said the CDC believes this is the first time a federal group has advised Americans not to travel somewhere in the continental United States due to a health risk. We wish we had all the answers, but the fact is this is a new phenomenon, said Frieden. We continue to learn each day about Zika. Despite the fact that Zika puts pregnant women at risk for having babies with the severe birth defect microcephaly, Frieden acknowledged to reporters that they continue to run into apathy over the virus and that it can be difficult to get the public to want to change behavior. Celebrity doppelgangers: Dhansika, Ruby Rose Actress Dhansika had to chop her beautiful tresses to play the role of Yogi, the bold hitwoman in Kabali. People loved her dramatic makeover, and the tomboyish 26-year-olds fan following skyrocketed in a fortnight. Although Kabalis success owes largely to the Rajni mania, Dhansikas effortless acting has earned high praise from the masses, not to mention her pixie cut, which adds to her swagger. Dhansika has rocked the tomboy hairdo like no other! People have started comparing her with Ruby Rose of Orange is The New Black fame, the same hot girl who shares the screen with Deepika Padukone in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Dhansika and Ruby have a similar facial structure, piercing eyes, and pouty lips. 30-year-old Ruby has more than eight million fans on Instagram, and is adored by men and women alike for her strikingly unconventional looks. The former MTV VJ from Australia became famous worldwide when her short film on gender fluidity, Break Free, became viral on the internet. That autobiographical short film depicting Rubys gender identity crisis, made her sensation, which landed her a role in the Netflix series Orange is The New Black. Rubys character Stella then became the ultimate girl crush. Even Taylor Swift has become her fan, inducting the sexy rebel into her famous girl squad. Image credit: Sai Dhanshika/Instagram; Ruby Rose/Instagram Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The Central African Republic's president said Monday he would soon hold talks with rebel groups as he seeks to restore security after years of sectarian violence. "Either this week or next week, we will initiate an exchange with representatives of the armed groups, in order to clarify some points," President Faustin-Archange Touadera told local radio station Ndeke Luka. "There are many weapons in the country, a lot of banditry," said Touadera, adding that in parts of the impoverished nation "people cannot go to the fields". Referring to a campaign dubbed the "DDR" (disarmament, demobilisation and social reintegration), Touadera said "the process must begin very soon". A total of 3,152 former fighters have registered in the DDR programme in the past year, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Central Africa said in late July. The Central African Republic descended into bloodshed between Christian and Muslim militias following a coup in March 2013 that ousted long-time leader Francois Bozize. Thousands died in the violence and more than 418,000 people remain displaced within the country. More than 480,000 refugees, a large number of whom are Muslim, have fled to neighbouring countries. Touadera was elected in a peaceful vote in February, helped by a 12,000-strong UN force. But the country has seen a resurgence of violence since mid-June. The UN Security Council on July 26 voted to task peacekeepers with supporting Touadera's government just as France prepares to end its military mission in the country, which involved nearly 2,500 French troops at its peak. Its the little things! Teen Mom 2s Chelsea Houska, whos pregnant and expecting her first child with fiance Cole DeBoer, took to Twitter on Thursday, July 28, to share her excitement over seeing her unborn baby develop. PHOTOS: Teen Mom 2 Tots: My, How They've Grown! You guys! We got to see our cute little hunny yesterday ... we even saw the tiny little hand, the reality star, 24, wrote, presumably after getting a sonogram. my heeeeeartttt. Houska who welcomed daughter Aubree, 6, with ex Adam Lind in September 2009 has used social media to keep fans updated about her latest bundle of joy. On Monday, July 18, the South Dakota native expressed her joy in listening to her childs heartbeat for the first time. I was able to find baby's heartbeat with the Doppler for the first time today, the MTV personality tweeted. I cannot handle it! I want to listen all day! Though shes excited about becoming a mom of two, the 16 & Pregnant alum is a bit anxious about expanding her family. I feel more nervous for some reason! she tweeted last month. Its been a while and I want to do everything perfect. #deboerbaby. As previously reported, Houska announced her baby news via Instagram and her brand-new personal website on July 12. PHOTOS: Famous Celebrity Pregnancies: Baby Bump Hall of Fame Oh my gosh! Im so excited to finally be launching my website, and I felt like the perfect first post would be to announce to everyone that baby DeBoer is expected in February 2017! she shared at the time. We are beyond excited for this journey and cant wait to share it with you all! Big sister Aubree is also extremely excited, and its no secret that she is hoping for a girl haha. Houska met DeBoer at a gas station in 2014 and the pair got engaged in November 2015 after nearly a year of dating. They plan to tie the knot this fall. However, Houska's father, Randy, revealed during a June appearance on the podcast Dentists, Implants and Worms that his daughters nuptials will not be filmed for MTV. Story continues Chelseas getting married in October she drew the line [on filming the wedding], the dentist explained. She wont let them tape it. That was a lot of fighting back and forth. They certainly wanted it. PHOTOS: Teen Mom Stars, Then and Now! She doesnt want it taped; she doesnt want it on TV, he added. She doesnt need it paid for. I was very proud that she grew the balls to say no. Theyll go to the bachelorette party and stuff [to film], but for the wedding she agreed that shell send a bunch of professional still photos [to them to use for the show]. From Popular Mechanics Thirty years after the Chernobyl disaster, the Ukranian government is considering revisiting the site as an energy source. Only this time, they would be using solar panels. There aren't many economic options for the region, which became uninhabitable after a faulty Soviet design and poor training resulted in at least 5 percent of the area's nuclear plant radioactive core getting released inadvertently. An exclusion zone of 1,000 square miles-the size of Luxembourg-was created. The abandoned land has become something of an accidental nature preserve. Photo credit: Getty A solar farm would have political ramifications for the Ukraine, which has long sought to ween its dependence on Russian oil. Ukraine's neighbor, Belarus, has already begun plans to build a solar farm on land affected by Chernobyl, spending 23 million to garner enough electricity to power its capital city, Minsk. The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is considering funding the Ukrainian efforts, according to Bloomberg. Photo credit: Getty There is, of course, the not-insignificant issue of who would work at a Chernobyl-based solar farm. While there are some distinct advantages to working at Chernobyl, specifically that there's already an infrastructure in place for transmitting power, the site is still actively leaking radiation. Tourists have been allowed in since 2011, and so have workers decommissioning the site. However, the costs of working in Chernobyl are high. It takes 7,000 people to do the work, going through short shifts so they aren't exposed to too much radiation. Even after a solar farm is built, it requires constant maintenance. Everything from vegetation overgrowth (which has already taken over so much of the Chernobyl region) to broken conduits to snow falling on panels can make a solar farm require constant care. Despite the difficulties, Ukrainian officials are optimistic. Developers plan on installing four megawatts worth of panels on the site by the end of the year. Story continues Source: Bloomberg You Might Also Like NextShark Jahrah, who only has a first name as customary in Indonesia, went out to collect rubber on Sunday morning in the forest in Jambi Province on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. A search party was organized that night to find the 54-year-old grandmother, but they only found her sandals, headscarf and jacket, and the tools she used to gather rubber at the time. The search parties only found success a day later, on Monday, when they discovered a 22-foot-long (6.7-meters-long) python with a bulging stomach resting in the woods. SANTIAGO, Chile -- It's 8 o'clock on a cold June evening in Santiago, and in Valentina Rosas' apartment, nine people -- all under the age of 30 -- sit on a sofa and chairs around a coffee table. They drink soda, eat potato chips and listen to Rosas' instructions as she lines up multicolored Post-its along a wall. On each she has written a concept that the participants -- architects, journalists, engineers -- say aloud: words like justice, community, gender equality. The group then exchanges ideas about the best way to define these terms and wrestles with the question of how relevant they are for the kind of society they want. To an outsider, this gathering may look like a university civics class. But these young Chileans are doing something more significant: They are working on their country's next constitution. "Our constitution includes values that stress too much the importance of order and doesn't give enough space to the value of politics itself," says Rosas, a 28-year-old political scientist at the Center for Public Policies at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, who assembled her group through social media. "That's why I want it to change." Although it's been 26 years since the end of the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Chile is still governed by a constitution illegitimately adopted in 1980 under his military regime. There have been many revisions to the document, including important changes in 2005 curtailing the military's authority. But during her 2013 election campaign, Chile's socialist President Michelle Bachelet promised even deeper reforms that would make the constitution fully legitimate and less free-market friendly. Last October, she officially kicked off a process that involves both institutional and public participation in the drafting of a new constitution. After that, thousands of people like Rosas signed up to organize local discussions about the values they would like to see reflected in the new document. They had until July 3 to submit their conclusions online. Provincial and regional town hall meetings are now being held to discuss these suggestions, which will be included in the draft the government plans to present to Congress by October 2017. Story continues [READ: Chile among the top 25 Best Countries for Adventure.] It's a crucial endeavor. Not only does it symbolically seek to end Pinochet's legacy, it also reflects Chileansdesire to find new ways of civic participation after a long period of transition in which reconciliation mattered more than debate. Chile, political analysts say, is taking a new step in the consolidation of its democracy. "This process reflects quite well on the maturity of the Chilean democracy," says Sumit Bisarya, who specializes in constitution building at the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental international organization based in Sweden. Bisarya cites the openness of the process, noting that when citizens discuss how they view the constitution they are really discussing "how they view the relationship of the state to society and citizens to each other." Countries that reform constitutions in absence of crisis "are only very established democracies, like Ireland, Luxembourg or Norway," he says. At the same time, the project has highlighted the deep distrust many Chileans have of the country's politicians and revived old tensions between right and left. The 1980 constitution was written under the influence of University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman's free-market model and protects a neoliberal system that some praise and others criticize as not satisfying the social needs of modern Chileans. At the center of the debate is a section of the constitution, which stipulates that the government can only develop or participate in entrepreneurial activities when it's specifically permitted by a law that requires an absolute majority. "There is a polarization, maybe not at the social level but at the political one, and that is because what is being discussed is the distribution of power," says Claudio Fuentes, director of the School of Political Science at Chile's Universidad Diego Portales. "The market-oriented system that is the backbone of the current constitution clashes with the ideals of the coalition in power, which believes that the state should play a more crucial role." In the past few months, constitutional lawyers, historians, political scientists, economists and even former presidents have publicly registered their enthusiasm or skepticism of the effort. Supporters of the reform movement praise a process they consider unprecedented and destined to help tackle inequality. Critics voice their concern that it may put additional strain on a slowing economy and divert attention from more pressing issues, such as the need to improve education, healthcare or public safety. "There is criticism of this constitution because it was originally drafted under the dictatorship, but we can't forget that in democracy it has been modified more than 30 times," says Sebastian Soto, constitutional area director of the conservative think tank Libertad y Desarrollo. "Practice has turned it into a legitimate document." Soto worries that the drive to reform the constitution will discourage investment in Chile's economy. "Unfortunately, constitutional changes bring uncertainty," he says. "When you question a whole set of constitutional rules that are relevant for economic development, its obvious that it makes investors more doubtful about the future." The constitutional reform process takes place amid Chile's ongoing political turmoil. In the past two years, a number of politicians on both the left and the right have been indicted or are under investigation for illegal campaign financing. And President Bachelet's approval rating has dropped significantly -- reaching a record low of 22 percent in June -- in part because of her daughter-in-law's alleged involvement in corrupt business practices and partly because of the economic slowdown. Estimations for Chile's gross domestic product growth in 2016 are at 1.75 percent, down from 4 percent in 2013. President Bachelet's determination to create an ambitious set of reforms aimed at guaranteeing more social rights has also exacerbated tensions between the ruling coalition and its political opponents. In this atmosphere, critics say, writing a new constitution should not be a priority. Paradoxically, the Chilean people's widespread disillusionment with politicians may explain the unexpected high level of public participation in the constitutional reform process. Patricio Zapata, president of the Council of Observers, an independent panel of 15 diverse citizens whose mission is to supervise the process, said the panel did not expect more than 2,000 local meetings to occur. Instead, more than 15,000 groups registered, 9,000 of which uploaded their conclusions to the web. "A large number of our citizens are looking for different ways to express their political preferences and their opinions -- and to defend their interests," says Zapata, a professor of political law at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Santiago. "And the younger generation is questioning the story we've been telling them about the way we got rid of dictatorship, reconciled, eradicated extreme poverty, grew economically at a 5 percent rate and so on. This participation shows that there are people who want to know what we gave away for the sake of reconciliation, now that we've seen how money and the private sector are permeating the political system." Rosas, who organized the local meeting, echoes this view. The local discussion groups, she says, seemed to satisfy a longing for civic exchange as much as they reflected a desire for a new constitution. "The most useful part of this is the dialogue occurring in the meetings," she says. "This is a process that people are paying attention to -- maybe not in all socioeconomic groups or all neighborhoods. But we are finally discussing things, and that speaks very well of the democracy we are building." Daniela Mohor is a freelance journalist based in Santiago, Chile. She is a contributor to "Capitalism, God and a Good Cigar: Cuba Enters the 21st Century." Follow her on Twitter. Beijing (AFP) - China "cannot tolerate" accusations that its investment in a British nuclear plant threatens that country's security, state media said Monday, after London surprisingly delayed the giant project. Beijing has a one-third stake in the plan to build Britain's first nuclear plant for decades at Hinkley Point in southwest England, along with French company EDF, which gave the scheme the go-ahead last week. The deal had been seen as a cornerstone of a "golden era" of Chinese-British ties pushed by then-prime minister David Cameron and finance minister George Osborne. But the new administration under Theresa May said Friday it would suspend a decision to build the plant until the autumn. British media said the move was a sign that May took a more sceptical view on ties with China than her predecessor. Tian Dongdong, a writer with China's official Xinhua news agency, said in a commentary that the delay "adds uncertainties to the 'Golden Era' of China-UK ties", adding that future Chinese investment in Britain could be suspended unless the deal went ahead. Fears over "China planting back doors" during construction to control critical infrastructure had a "groundlessness and sci-fi scent", the article added. "China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation," it stressed. The project has been criticised for committing British taxpayers to paying above-market rates for electricity for decades to come. Former British cabinet member Vince Cable, who worked with May when she was home secretary, told media at the weekend that at the time she had been "anxious" about Chinese involvement. He told Sky News that when Osborne was in charge of the economy Britain had been "uniquely open to Chinese investment". "Most Western countries, certainly the Americans, took a much more sceptical geopolitical view, and were worried if you get very closely involved with a government with a very different ideology, this potentially gives you serious problems down the road," he said. By Sue-Lin Wong BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's manufacturing sector eased unexpectedly in July as orders cooled and flooding disrupted business, an official survey showed, adding to fears the economy will slow in coming months unless the government steps up a huge spending spree. While a similar private survey showed business picked up for the first time in 17 months, the increase was only slight and the much larger official survey on Monday suggested China's overall industrial activity remains sluggish at best. Both surveys showed persistently weak demand at home and abroad were forcing companies to continue to shed jobs, even as Beijing vows to shut more industrial overcapacity that could lead to larger layoffs. And other readings on Monday pointed to signs of cooling in both the construction industry and real estate, which were key drivers behind better-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter. The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) eased to 49.9 in July from the previous month's 50.0 and below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. Analysts polled by Reuters predicted a level of 50.0. While the July reading showed only a slight loss of momentum, Nomura's chief China economist Yang Zhao said it may be a sign that the impact of stimulus measures earlier this year may already be wearing off. That has created a dilemma for Beijing as the Communist Party seeks to deliver on official targets, even as concerns grow about the risks of prolonged, debt-fueled stimulus. "The government has realized the downward pressure is great but they've also realized that stimulus to stimulate the economy continuously is not a good idea and they want to continue to focus on reform and deleveraging," Zhao said. Heavy flooding, particularly along the Yangtze River, contributed to July's manufacturing contraction along with slowing demand and the cutting of overcapacity in some industries, the statistics bureau said. Story continues Falling activity at smaller firms also was a key reason for July's poor figure, the statistics bureau said, but performance at larger companies improved, in a sign that the government is becoming more reliant on big state firms to generate growth. BUMPY OUTLOOK "Today's data do not bode well for GDP growth in the second half," ANZ economists Louis Lam and David Qu wrote in a note. Fiscal policy would be the key tool for boosting growth in coming months, while the central bank was expected to keep its policy settings accommodative, they added. While many analysts believe the world's second-largest economy may be slowly stabilizing, conditions still look patchy. Industrial profits rose at the fastest pace in three months in June, but gains were concentrated in just a few industries including electronics, steel and oil processing. Spurred by rebounding prices and stronger construction demand, China's steel output and exports have been near record levels. But it one of the key sectors being targeted by officials for capacity cuts and tougher pollution controls. Indeed, the PMI showed factory output in July still expanded solidly, though the pace cooled to 52.1 from 52.5 in June. Total new orders hovered just inside expansionary territory at 50.4, slightly down from June, but new export orders contracted as overseas demand remains weak and the impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union hurt sentiment. A private PMI survey by Caixin/Markit was more mixed. Its 50.6 reading was stronger than expected and the first expansion since February 2015, sparking hopes that some of the government's stimulus was starting to trickle down to smaller private firms which have been under greater stress than larger state-backed enterprises. But overall order growth was modest and export orders continued to fall. The Caixin report tends to give more weight to light industry, whereas the official survey is skewed more toward heavy industries, said Zhengsheng Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, according to Caixin. An official survey on the services sector was more upbeat, showing growth accelerated to 53.9 in July from 53.7 in June. But it, too, contained several worrying notes, with construction services growth solid but cooling and the property services sector weakening, adding to worries that China's housing boom may have peaked. Beijing has been counting on a strong services sector to pick up the slack as it tries to shift the economy away from a dependence on heavy industry and manufacturing exports. (Reporting by Yawen Chen, Elias Glenn and Sue-Lin Wong; Editing by Kim Coghill) Beijing (AFP) - China's manufacturing shrank in July, the government said Monday, blaming the deterioration on rainstorms that wreaked havoc across large swathes of the country. It was the first time since February the official purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed contraction, and according to a Bloomberg News survey it missed economists' expectations it would flatline. The official PMI came in at 49.9 for July, down from 50.0 the month before and underlining problems in the world's second-largest economy. A reading above 50 signals expanding activity, while anything below indicates shrinkage. The National Bureau of Statistics attributed the slowdown to summer downpours, which hit the industry-heavy middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River particularly hard. "Production and transportation of relevant areas were massively impacted," said NBS analyst Zhao Qinghe, adding that slowing expansion and overcapacity also dragged. Investors watch the PMI figures closely as the first reading on the health of the economy each month. The key manufacturing sector has been struggling for months in the face of sagging global demand for Chinese products and excess industrial capacity left over from the country's infrastructure boom. ANZ economists said July's figures "do not bode well" for China's economic growth in the second half of the year. "The traditional manufacturing sector is likely to continue to face strong headwinds as efforts to reduce overcapacity continue," they said in a report. China is a vital driver of global growth, but its economy expanded only 6.9 percent in 2015 -- its weakest rate in a quarter of a century -- and has slowed further this year. Beijing has said it wants to reorient the economy away from relying on debt-fuelled investment to boost growth and towards a consumer-driven model, but the transition has proven challenging. Unusually, the private Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index, which focuses on small companies, was more positive than the official figure. Story continues Its reading jumped to 50.6 in July from 48.6 in June -- the first expansion since February 2015 -- the Chinese financial magazine said in a joint statement with data compiler IHS Markit. Its sub-indexes for output, new orders and buying activity all returned to growth on "stronger domestic demand," even though export sales declined marginally. "This indicates that the Chinese economy has begun to show signs of stabilising due to the gradual implementation of proactive fiscal policy," Caixin analyst Zhong Zhengsheng said in the statement. "But the pressure on economic growth remains, and supportive fiscal and monetary policies must be continued." While the official PMI pointed to softened momentum in manufacturing, the NBS' reading for the service sector showed continued strength, reaching 53.9 in July, the highest in seven months. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's defense minister met the head of Afghanistan's army, thanking him for Kabul's support in fighting what Beijing says is an extremist group that seeks to split off its western region of Xinjiang. China has long been concerned that instability in Afghanistan will spill over into violence-prone Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, where hundreds have died in recent years in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist extremists. The United States and the United Nations have listed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist group, though some experts have questioned its cohesiveness and say China's policies in Xinjiang have contributed to unrest. "I thank Afghanistan for its valuable support in combating ETIM terrorist forces and on issues related to China's core interests," Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told Afghan army chief of general staff Qadam Shah Shaheem. "I hope the two militaries can continually enrich the shape and content of cooperation and make greater contributions to safeguarding both countries' security and creating a favorable environment for joint development," Chang said according to the official Xinhua news agency late on Sunday. Afghanistan is willing to continue fighting ETIM by "deepening cooperation on personnel training and joint exercises and other means", a statement on China's defense ministry website cited Shaheem as saying. The report and the statement did not give further details. China is working with Pakistan and the United States to broker peace talks to end a Taliban insurgency that has raged for 15 years in Afghanistan. That effort never got beyond exploratory talks 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. Sources in the Taliban told Reuters that a Taliban delegation visited China earlier this month, though Chinese officials have not confirmed it. In public statements, the Taliban have said that they wish to have good relations with Afghanistan's neighbors. China says it does not seek to fill a security void created in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led NATO mission ceased combat operations there at the end of 2014. But it has promised to play a "huge" commercial role in helping rebuild the country. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Michael Perry) (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc said on Monday it did not experience any "significant negative impact" on its results or client activity as a result of Britain's vote to exit the European Union. Citi said in a regulatory filing that while market activity increased following the referendum in the UK, the bank expects the operating environment to continue to be challenging. (http://bit.ly/2aFQlwd) The bank's UK asset exposure was $108.4 billion as of June 30, according to the filing. Citi said only 30 percent of its corporate loans booked in the UK were to UK-domiciled entities, while the rest were mostly to European counterparties. The bank left its estimate for possible unreserved legal costs, as of June, unchanged at $3 billion. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel) By Amanda Becker CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump on Sunday of scapegoating the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq, after the Republican nominee took issue with remarks the soldier's father made at the Democratic National Convention. Trump, in an ABC interview that aired on Sunday, questioned why Ghazala Khan, mother of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, stood quietly by her husband, Khizr Khan, as he took the stage at last week's Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Trump suggested the mother might not have been "allowed" to speak. Speaking at a church service, Clinton said Trump had been insulting to a family who had sacrificed so much. She also used the episode to contrast her own religious faith with that of Trump, who has spoken of religion on the campaign trail infrequently. "I don't begrudge anyone of any other faith or of no faith at all, but I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability," Clinton said in remarks at the Imani Temple Ministries, an African-American church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. "It's just not how I was raised, that's not how I was taught in my church," said Clinton, who grew up as a Methodist. "Tim Kaine and I are people of faith," she said, referring to her vice presidential running mate, who is a Catholic. Top Republican lawmakers House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also condemned Trump's remarks in separate statements, although they did not mention their presidential candidate by name. "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example," Ryan said. "His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honored. Period." he said. Earlier on Sunday, Ghazala Khan took up her own defense in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying her husband had asked her in advance whether she would want to speak at the convention but that she had decided she would be unable to do so on stage because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son. "Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn't allowed to say anything. That is not true," she wrote. "When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant." In a statement issued on Sunday evening by the Trump campaign, Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, said that he and the Republican nominee "believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero" that his family, like other families of fallen soldiers, "should be cherished by every American." But Pence added that Captain Khan had died defending the country against terrorism and that Trump's policies would reduce the likelihood that other families would face the kind of heartbreak the Khans had. Khizr Khan, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim, spoke about his war hero son at the Democratic convention and took issue with Trump's call for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States. Khizr Khan invited the Republican nominee to read the U.S. Constitution and visit the graves of American soldiers from many backgrounds at Arlington National Cemetery. In the interview aired on Sunday morning on ABC's "This Week," Trump cast doubt on why Khan's wife did not speak. "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. Trump on Sunday tweeted that Khan's son had died 12 years ago: "Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it!" Trump also tweeted that he had been "viciously attacked" by Khan at the convention. "Am I not allowed to respond?" he asked. The candidate also tried to change the subject to the war itself: "Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" On Twitter, Republican strategist Ana Navarro called Trump's comments about the Khans "gross" and labeled him a "jerk." Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, said he sympathizes with the Khan family but that their loss is not the issue at hand. "The issue really is radical Islamic jihad and the risk to the American homeland," he said on CBS, defending Trump's proposal to suspend immigration from some geographic regions. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Alana Wise, Doina Chiacu and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Sandra Maler) By Doina Chiacu and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Russian intelligence services hacked into Democratic National Committee computers and she questioned Republican rival Donald Trump's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin," Clinton said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." The White House has declined to speculate on who was behind the hack of Democratic Party computers, referring to an ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cybersecurity experts and U.S. officials, however, said they believed Russia engineered the release of the emails to influence the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Reuters reported a computer network used by Clintons campaign was hacked as part of the broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations. The United States would not tolerate that from any other country, especially one considered an adversary, Clinton said. "For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues," she said. Asked if she believed Putin wanted Trump in the White House, Clinton said she was not going to jump to that conclusion. "But I think laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy," Clinton told Fox in the interview, taped on Saturday. The Republican presidential nominee has praised Putin, saying he was a stronger leader than U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Trump last week invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of "missing" emails from Clinton's time at the U.S. State Department. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump told reporters. Story continues He later said he was being "sarcastic" in his comments, which raised concerns among intelligence experts and criticism that Trump was urging a foreign government to spy on Americans. Senator Jeff Sessions, a supporter of Trump, criticized Clinton for leaving her email system vulnerable to Russian penetration and defended Trump's comments. "I have people come up to me all the time and say 'Why dont you, if you want to find out where those 30,000 emails are, why dont you ask the Russians?" Sessions told CNN. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refused to answer questions on Sunday about whether a foreign government leaked the DNC emails to the group. "It's an interesting speculative question for the press," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." Trump's "absolute allegiance to a lot of Russian wish-list foreign policy positions" is among the reasons he is unfit to be commander in chief, Clinton, a former U.S. senator, secretary of state and first lady, said in the Fox interview. Trump alarmed allies this month when he indicated he might abandon NATO's mutual defense guarantee in the face of potential Russian aggression if members had not paid their bills. He also suggested he would consider easing sanctions on Russia and recognizing its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. On Sunday, Trump referred to that annexation again in a way that appeared to justify it. "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were," he said on ABC's "This Week." He also said Putin was "not going to go into Ukraine," prompting a rebuke from Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan. "Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that?" Sullivan said in a statement. Trump often speaks wistfully about smoother relations between Washington and Moscow. "Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing," he said on ABC. Such comments often leave his campaign to try to toughen the rhetoric. "I think Mr. Trump has made it very clear he views Russia to be somebody that we need to be firm with," campaign manager Paul Manafort said on CBS' "Face the Nation." (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Alana Wise; Editing by Dan Grebler) By Doina Chiacu and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Russian intelligence services hacked into Democratic National Committee computers and she questioned Republican rival Donald Trump's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin," Clinton said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." The White House has declined to speculate on who was behind the hack of Democratic Party computers, referring to an ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cybersecurity experts and U.S. officials, however, said they believed Russia engineered the release of the emails to influence the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Reuters reported a computer network used by Clintons campaign was hacked as part of the broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations. The United States would not tolerate that from any other country, especially one considered an adversary, Clinton said. "For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues," she said. Asked if she believed Putin wanted Trump in the White House, Clinton said she was not going to jump to that conclusion. "But I think laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy," Clinton told Fox in the interview, taped on Saturday. The Republican presidential nominee has praised Putin, saying he was a stronger leader than U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Trump last week invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of "missing" emails from Clinton's time at the U.S. State Department. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump told reporters. He later said he was being "sarcastic" in his comments, which raised concerns among intelligence experts and criticism that Trump was urging a foreign government to spy on Americans. Senator Jeff Sessions, a supporter of Trump, criticized Clinton for leaving her email system vulnerable to Russian penetration and defended Trump's comments. "I have people come up to me all the time and say 'Why dont you, if you want to find out where those 30,000 emails are, why dont you ask the Russians?" Sessions told CNN. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refused to answer questions on Sunday about whether a foreign government leaked the DNC emails to the group. "It's an interesting speculative question for the press," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." Trump's "absolute allegiance to a lot of Russian wish-list foreign policy positions" is among the reasons he is unfit to be commander in chief, Clinton, a former U.S. senator, secretary of state and first lady, said in the Fox interview. Trump alarmed allies this month when he indicated he might abandon NATO's mutual defense guarantee in the face of potential Russian aggression if members had not paid their bills. He also suggested he would consider easing sanctions on Russia and recognizing its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. On Sunday, Trump referred to that annexation again in a way that appeared to justify it. "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were," he said on ABC's "This Week." He also said Putin was "not going to go into Ukraine," prompting a rebuke from Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan. "Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that?" Sullivan said in a statement. Trump often speaks wistfully about smoother relations between Washington and Moscow. "Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing," he said on ABC. Such comments often leave his campaign to try to toughen the rhetoric. "I think Mr. Trump has made it very clear he views Russia to be somebody that we need to be firm with," campaign manager Paul Manafort said on CBS' "Face the Nation." (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Alana Wise; Editing by Dan Grebler) Hillary Clinton balloon Hillary Clinton received a boost in support after the Democratic National Convention and regained a narrow lead over her Republican rival, Donald Trump, according to a CBS News poll released Monday. The poll showed Clinton, who just accepted the Democratic nomination for president, with 43% support compared with Trump, who had 41%. Clinton gained with Democrats who had been undecided before the convention, but she didn't seem to woo voters who had previously supported Trump, according to CBS. Last week, after the Republican convention, Trump had a narrow lead over Clinton in the same poll. The poll focused on registered voters in 11 battleground states who had been interviewed over the internet. The margin of error was 5 percentage points. Clinton also overtook Trump in the RealClearPolitics national polling average, with 45% support compared with Trump's 43%. A Morning Consult poll released over the weekend showed similar results. That poll showed Clinton with a 43% to 40% advantage over Trump, a flip from the outlet's prior poll, which showed Trump with a 44% to 40% advantage following the Republican National Convention. Trump received a 6-point bump in the Morning Consult poll following the RNC. Allan Smith contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: INSTANT POLL: Americans viewed Clinton's convention speech more favorably than Trump's More From Business Insider Pittsburgh (AFP) - Hillary Clinton took a bus tour across the US "rust belt" region this weekend in a quest to win over white, working class voters who tend to support populist Republican Donald Trump. With her husband ex-president Bill Clinton in tow, the former first lady, top diplomat, ex-senator and now Democratic presidential candidate took her seat on a blue bus that meandered over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio. Here on this green and hilly landscape steel mills have been closing since the late 1970s, and many factories have shuttered since the 1990s. The 2008-2009 recession further aggravated despair, and the following economic recovery has produced only a fraction of jobs that pay as much as the lost industrial ones. "I understand that there are people who feel like the economy is not working well for them," Clinton said at a rally in Harrisburg on Friday. "But I understand that. Because I'm not satisfied with the status quo, are you?" she asked, joined by Bill Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine. - First tour as nominee - If elected, Clinton promises to implement what she says is the biggest jobs program since World War II, focused on manufacturing and infrastructure. Nevertheless "there's a lot of mistrust of Hillary Clinton, and it comes from Bill," who signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said John Russo, a labor expert from the region currently at Georgetown University. "The working class has been pretty angry on trade issues given the many manufacturing-related jobs that have been lost because of NAFTA," Russo said. Few anticipated the massive loss of US manufacturing jobs -- mostly to lower waged Mexico -- after Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law in December 1993. In time many of those same jobs moved to even lower wage countries in Asia. US manufacturing jobs continued to hemorrhage in the following years. Story continues In Pittsburgh, a historic steel city that has largely shifted to being a medical and educational center, Clinton slammed Trump for doing nothing for working class Americans. She even quipped that his Trump brand ties are made in China. "So Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. He can start by actually making things in America again," Clinton said at a rally in Johnstown. - From Kennedy to Trump? - Trump has broken with the Republican Party's age-old free-market orthodoxy and gone protectionist, cashing in politically on this region's malaise over lost industrial jobs. Trump blames the losses on Bill Clinton and his trade deals, and claims that it will be the same under Hillary Clinton. Ohio and Pennsylvania are key "swing states" in November's presidential race. Winning one or the other, or both, could be crucial to a Republican or Democratic White House victory. By increasing white voter turnout, Trump could counter Clinton's lead in large cities like Philadelphia or Cleveland, where African-American voters who tend to vote Democratic are concentrated. Near Pittsburgh, which Hillary Clinton visited Saturday, lies Monessen, population 7,500 -- a shadow of what the town was when two huge steel plants were open there, employing some 22,000 people. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy made the trip in this Democratic stronghold to praise its industrial strength. In June, it was Donald Trump's turn -- and he came to declare "US economic independence" in a vitriolic speech decrying globalization. "We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our country. This alone will create massive numbers of jobs," Trump said. From his office overlooking the Monongahela River, Monessen Mayor Louis Mavrakis, 79, tries to stay positive as he mentions that some 400 vacant homes set to be razed. Mavrakis is a Democrat who has never voted Republican. But he refused to say whether he would vote for Trump in November. "I'm disgusted with both sides, with our government with the way they give the foreign countries that hate us," Mavrakis said. "You're giving them billions of dollars, and they hate us, and you can't even take care of your own people? That's stupidity." According to Mavrakis "there's a revolution going on in this country right now, and these idiots in Washington, DC don't even know it." Mavrakis predicted that Trump "is going to get more Democrat votes than any other Republican president that ever ran, just from this area right here." (Paul Taylor has written the "Inside Europe" column for Reuters and the International New York Times since 2008. This is his final column before retirement. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) By Paul Taylor BRUSSELS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - After years of dodging bullets and muddling through, the European Union has taken one in the chest with Britain's referendum vote to leave the prosperous continental club. Worse, the bullet cannot be extracted immediately to enable the body politic to heal swiftly. An open wound will fester for several years of exit negotiations, draining strength the Union needs to recover, and making it more vulnerable to other blows. Brexit is the most visible sign of a wider decline in the ideal of ever closer European integration around the continent, even if the UK was always the least enthusiastic member. The EU, which former British European Commissioner Chris Patten once described as "a wonderful experiment in arguing about fish quotas instead of shooting at each other", is as out of fashion as a double-breasted jacket. National leaders mostly avoid talking about Europe beyond platitudes. Few in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw or The Hague seem willing to contemplate the hard choices that may now be needed to reinvigorate the EU and halt a return of nationalism. It took visiting U.S. President Barack Obama to remind Europeans just how far their continent had come from the ruins of World War Two and what it stands to lose -- "one of the greatest political and economic achievements of modern times". "A united Europe -- once the dream of a few -- remains the hope of the many and a necessity for us all," Obama proclaimed in Hanover, Germany, in April. Yet today's Europeans take peace, open markets and open borders for granted and fret about bureaucracy, immigration, a loss of national identity and remote unaccountable rulers. Symptoms of a backlash against sharing sovereignty include the rise of populist eurosceptic parties in most EU countries but also the inability of founders Germany and France to agree on ways to strengthen the 19-nation single currency at the centre of the European project. Story continues UNITED IN FEAR? The British problem was just one of half a dozen crises that together threaten the survival and success of the EU. "To the unkind observer, the EU today may look like an overextended empire with a weak centre, ageing population and semi-comatose economy, growing internal fragmentation and a world of trouble on its porous borders," says Loukas Tsoukalis, professor of European Integration at Athens University and a former top policy adviser to the European Commission. In a new book, "In Defence of Europe", Tsoukalis argues the EU is a victim of its own success. Common institutions and democratic legitimacy have lagged behind an ever expanding number of members and functions. The euro zone has traversed a painful sovereign debt crisis since 2010 without making monetary union fully sustainable. Most economic literature suggests that requires a common budget and some sort of common safe debt instrument. Germany opposes both. A Greek exit was narrowly avoided last year but Athens' debt problem remains unsolved. Euro area economies continue to diverge with mass unemployment and austerity gripping the south. Growing income inequality in most European societies and resentment in some parts of the west at the impact of the bloc's eastward enlargement since 2004 have fuelled public anger. Surfing on hostility to globalisation and immigration, populists could deal further blows to European unity in Austria's re-run presidential election and Hungary's referendum on migrant quotas on Oct. 2. The same forces may also unseat the Italian government in a constitutional referendum in the autumn and the Dutch one in a general election early next year. The EU has stemmed for now an influx of more than a million refugees and migrants but failed to share them out across the continent. Moreover, dependence on Turkey as Europe's gatekeeper is increasingly uncomfortable as President Tayyip Erdogan cracks down hard on opponents, the media, judiciary and civil society after a failed July 15 military coup. Islamist militant attacks in France, Belgium and Germany, coming on top of the migration flows, have undermined citizens' faith that a Europe with open internal borders makes them safer. "How long can fear keep Europeans together?" Tsoukalis asks. POST-MODERN BLUES The EU may be reaching the limits of what British thinker and diplomat Robert Cooper calls the "post-modern state". In a 2002 essay, Cooper described Europe as the most developed body politic that did not emphasise sovereignty or the separation of domestic and foreign affairs. "The European Union... is a highly developed system for mutual interference in each other's domestic affairs, right down to beer and sausages," he observed. That model remains a beacon to many statesmen and business leaders around the world. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, groups of countries seek to emulate EU-style integration, though the Asians remain more wedded to national sovereignty. But on its home turf, post-modern Europe is in deep trouble. The dominant reflex since the British vote has been to emasculate the European Commission, the unloved "honest broker" at the centre of the EU system, sideline the European Parliament and hand more power back to national governments and lawmakers. Nostalgic for a smaller, more manageable Europe, France, Italy and Belgium are keen that the euro zone or groups of like-minded countries should move ahead with deeper integration. By contrast, leaders of four ex-communist central European states, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, warned on July 20: "One of the worst conclusions that Member States may draw from Brexit is dividing the EU in small clubs." There are some rays of light in this gloomy and confused picture, but they may be just a flash in the pan. A six-nation opinion poll showed public support for the EU surged to multi-year highs in the bloc's biggest countries in the days after the June 23 UK referendum. "When people realise the real implications of an exit, there's new-found support for the European project," said Francois Kraus of pollsters IFOP who conducted the survey. Certainly speculators have lost a lot of money over the years, and pundits have jeopardised their credibility, by underestimating the political will that underpins European integration, above all in crises. But that does not mean that European governments or their electorates are necessarily willing to sustain even the current level of integration, let alone a deeper monetary union. Rather, the poll may reflect a dawning awareness of a European paradise lost. As Joni Mitchell once sang: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?" (Editing by Mark John) Just days before the owners of NBC go all Olympics all the time, the state of Washington today slapped Comcast with a $100 million-plus lawsuit over a pattern of deceptive practices. After negotiations with the cable giant collapsed recently, the consumer protection action officially was announced Monday by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson at a press conference in Seattle. Bob Ferguson This case is a classic example of a big corporation deceiving its Washington state consumers, Ferguson said today of the self-proclaimed first in the nation suit. I wont allow Comcast to continue to put profits above customers and the law. Filed in state court in the Evergreen State after negotiations with Comcast broke down in July, the complaint (read it here) seeks injunctive and other relief. Comcast has violated Washingtons Consumer Protection Act over 1.8 million times through unfair and deceptive acts and practices relating to its Service Protection Plan, service call fees it charges consumers, and deposits it obtained from consumers, the suit says. Comcast grossly misrepresented the SPP to consumers to induce them to purchase the SPP. says the 17-page complaint filed Monday morning, claiming over $70 million in improper fees being collected in the state for the nationwide plan. While a regional Comcast rep said earlier today that the company had not seen the suit, the company did not respond further to requests for comment on the lawsuit. According to Fergusons office, the parties were in talks over the issues but the fee Comcast was willing to settle with was too low, in the AGs opinion. A trial in the case has been set for July 2017. Up until very recently this year, aka the eve of litigation, the AG claims that Comcast grossly misrepresented its protection plan to more than 400,000 consumers in the state. That misrepresentation resulted in deceiving them into paying at least $73 million in subscription fees over the last five years for a near-worthless service. While the protection plan promised in sales calls and more that it would eliminate any additional fees for inside wiring service calls, improper service calls fix codes and more, the fine print of the roughly $60-a-year plan and the charges consumers paid out revealed that was not the case. Story continues Along with seeking the return of about $73 million in fees, the Washington action wants to see the company pay out more than $2,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act as well as other restitution and a clarification by Comcast on what services its plans truly offer. Additionally, more than 6,000 unnecessary credit checks were done by Comcast, says the AG, even in some cases where new customers already had paid a deposit to avoid such a check, which can affect credit rating. Ferguson said today that the investigation into the matter started more than a year ago, after an employee of the AGs office had an unwelcome credit check, but more complaints soon followed. Comcast needs to pay that money back, Democrat Ferguson told assembled media today of the various fees that he claims consumers were bilked. I refuse to let Comcast put its profits before people. RelatedComcast Granted Dismissal Of Byron Allens $20B Discrimination Suit For Now Related stories 'Hairspray Live!' Adds Dove Cameron & Garrett Clayton Donald Trump & RNC Top Hillary Clinton & Final Night Of DNC In Viewers 'This Is Us': Jon Huertas Joins Dan Fogelman NBC Dramedy No one likes being pulled over, but these Virginia residents had no complaints when the long arm of the law extended a sweet surprise. Read: Police Handing Out Free Ice Cream Vouchers to Each Kid Caught Biking With a Helmet Police Chief Kevin Lands of the Halifax Police Department was patrolling the streets as normal last week with Officer Brian Warner when they pulled over a pair in a sedan for allegedly speeding. "Are you aware of why I pulled you over today?" Warner can be heard saying in a Facebook video. "Are you familiar with vehicle code 1739?" Confused, the woman in the driver's seat shakes her head. Instead of giving her a ticket, Lands pulls out two ice cream cones to hand to the couple. As the driver burst into laughter, Warner joked, "it's actually against the law to drive on a hot day without an ice cream cone." Lands told InsideEdition.com that the police department has been brainstorming ways to connect with their tight-knit community when taking to the streets, armed with 16 Nutty Buddy ice cream cones. Read: Operation Water Fight: Neighborhood Kids Take to Twitter to Challenge Cops to H2O War They then pulled over about five or six drivers that purportedly committed a minor infraction, and instead of writing them up, they decided to lighten the mood by handing out frozen treats. "The ones with kids were so happy," Lands told InsideEdition.com. "We put smiles on peoples' faces." Watch: Parents Surprise Kids with Trip to Disney World but Their Reaction is the Real Shock Related Articles: (Corrects to show Theo van Gogh was Vincent van Gogh's great grand nephew not great grandson) AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police conducted security searches around Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Saturday in response to "indications" of a threat, an official said, causing traffic jams during the busy summer holiday season. The National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism and Security Policy (NCTV) provided no details of the possible threat, but it said extra security measures were implemented, including vehicle searches. "There was a (threat) indication related to the airport," said spokesman Edmond Messchaert. "The increased measures are intended to ensure the safety of people working at the airport and travellers." The national threat level in the Netherlands was unchanged at "substantial," or one notch from the highest. After attacks by Islamist radicals in France, Belgium and Germany, the Netherlands is considered a prominent target, because it supports U.S.-led military operations against Islamic State in the Middle East. The last major attack in the Netherlands was the killing by a Muslim radical of Theo van Gogh, the outspoken, film maker and great grand nephew of the famous painter, in 2004. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch Editing by Larry King) (Reuters) - A British government decision last week to delay approval of French utility EDF's (EDF.PA) plans to build two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point is the latest blow to the costly project. The British government, which had been expected to sign contracts on Friday, postponed its verdict until early autumn. British Prime Minister Theresa May was concerned about the security implications of a planned Chinese investment in the new plant and intervened personally to delay the project, a former colleague and a source said on Saturday. The pouring of the first concrete at Hinkley Point C in Somerset 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. While EDF is profitable, its heavy investments are weighing on cash flow and it has had to borrow billions of euros in recent years just to pay dividends, pushing net debt to over 37 billion euros, more than twice its market value. Below outlines the costs and challenges involved in the project. COSTS EDF says it has spent 2.4 billion pounds ($3.17 billion) on the project so far. In total, the project will cost around 18 billion pounds to build. Including financing costs, this figure is expected to be around 24 billion pounds. In October last year, EDF reached an agreement with China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) whereby the Chinese firm took a stake of around a third in the Hinkley Point project and paid 6 billion pounds. EDF said then it might sell another 15 percent stake in the project, but would maintain a majority holding. EDF has announced cost cuts, asset sales, a 4-billion euro capital increase and two more years of scrip dividends to boost its finances. On the UK side, the government has guaranteed 92.5 pounds per megawatt for the power the plant produces for 35 years under its contract-for-difference (CfD) subsidy scheme. Story continues Due to a fall in wholesale electricity prices since the contract was agreed the top-up payments the government could need to pay under the CfD scheme have rocketed to 30 billion pounds from 6 billion when the deal was first agreed, according to Britain's National Audit Office. Britain has also offered to guarantee up to 2 billion pounds of bonds that NNB Generation Company, an EDF subsidiary, may issue to finance construction. WHO BEARS THE RISK? An investment contract between EDF and the UK government has been agreed in principle but not yet signed. The British government had been expected to sign contracts last Friday but it said it wanted to give the plans further consideration. EDF declined to comment on Monday on whether there are any clauses specifying damages in the case Britain withdraws. Under the investment contract agreed in principle between EDF and the UK government but not yet been signed, EDF and its partners take the risk of constructing the power plant and the project would be protected from unforeseen changes in law. A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said on Monday the government is not responsible for any costs until a contract is signed. This April, the former energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd said in a letter that when all the contracts are signed, all risk is borne by EDF, "except in the case of a narrow and extremely unlikely range of circumstances such as a political shut down or a change in law, which are almost entirely within the control of the UK government." CHALLENGES Last year, Austria launched legal action against the European Commission after it backed Britain's plan to guarantee the price of power for the Hinkley Point project, saying it went against the EU's aim to support renewable energy. The British government has played down the legal threat. In June, former British energy minister Andrea Leadsom said the challenge did not have any merit. Separately, in April this year environmental campaign group Greenpeace and renewable energy supplier Ecotricity threatened legal action against the Hinkley Point project if the French government offered financial support. The previous month, French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said that France was willing to recapitalise EDF and possibly renounce a cash dividend to help the company. Added to that, the EDF works council has filed a new complaint with a Paris court about EDF's final investment decision on Hinkley Point as they think the firm's finances are too stretched. The hearing on the case is scheduled for Aug. 2. The works council had already filed a separate procedure to force EDF to release confidential documents about the project. French daily Le Monde also reported last month that France's AMF stock market regulator was examining financial communications concerning the utility's nuclear reactor renovation programme as well as its Hinkley Point project. ($1 = 0.7573 pounds) (Reporting by Nina Chestney and Susanna Twidale in London and Geert de Clercq in Paris, editing by Louise Heavens) By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Federal investigators said on Monday they have opened a criminal probe into the 2015 spill of some 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of toxic wastewater from a defunct Colorado gold mine that was triggered by a contractor with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At the urging of congressional leaders, the EPA's Office of Inspector General is investigating the rupture from the Gold King Mine above Silverton, Colorado, that fouled waterways in three states and Native American lands, the agency said in a statement. "Based on requests from several members of the House and Senate, the OIG is conducting both a program evaluation and a criminal investigation of the Gold King Mine spill," the EPA said in a statement. The OIG is an independent office that audits, investigates and evaluates the agency's activities, the EPA statement said. Last August, a contractor hired by the EPA to slow seepage from the century-old stake breached a tunnel wall, unleashing a torrent of wastewater that had backed up behind the mountainside. The orange-colored sludge, containing nearly 900,000 pounds (408, 233 kg) of heavy metals, poured into a creek that feeds the Animas and San Juan rivers and traversed into New Mexico, ultimately emptying into Lake Powell in Utah. Two Republican members of the U.S. Senate's Committee on Indian Affairs, John McCain of Arizona and Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, sent a letter in May to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, urging her to launch a criminal probe into the spill. On Monday, Barrasso applauded the probe. "Tribal communities in the affected region have been devastated and the EPA has not taken responsibility for the mess it made," Barrasso said in a statement. "I hope this investigation uncovers who is at fault and holds them responsible. We will be watching closely." A report issued last fall by engineers with the U.S. Department of Reclamation concluded that the spill had been "preventable" and was caused by several missteps over several decades, including nearby mining operations and tunneling that the EPA overlooked when it opened a portal at the site. Jeffrey Lagda, a spokesman for the EPA's Inspector General, told Reuters that the probe has been ongoing for some time, and that investigators are working with prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. The state of New Mexico has sued the EPA, the state of Colorado and two mining companies over the disaster. (Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Sandra Maler) oil tank storage inventories July was the worst month for crude oil in a year. The usual seasonal boost in demand that could be helping prices is lackluster right now, Barclays' Michael Cohen and his team wrote in a note on Monday. This postpones any chances for the market to balance out, he said. Summer is usually the best season of the year for excess inventories in both crude and refined products like gasoline to drop. After a few busy months of road trips, the oil market enters a so-called shoulder season, and refineries wind down to prepare for higher heating-oil demand. US stockpiles are at the highest level for this time of year in at least two decades, according to Bloomberg. And inventories could build up even more during this period. Here's Cohen (emphasis ours): "Strong gas oil and diesel demand used to provide 30-50% of global oil demand growth and the absence of positive growth leaves oil demand even more exposed to the ebb and flow of the summer driving and winter heating season. "When either of those seasons misses expectations, as it did with El Nino and with this summer, the market must begin anew the process of shoring up unused stocks. Moreover, as the uncertainty of Brexit and Fed hawkishness worsen the macroeconomic picture, observers should say goodbye to prospects of industrial led demand growth. "The hope for a clear rebalancing may have to wait a couple more months, since oil's drain is clogged in the meantime." Screen Shot 2016 08 01 at 8.51.36 AM There are more structural issues outside the US, Cohen noted. Refined-product inventories are high in Europe, and flooding in China could reduce demand, as pipelines are damaged and road travel is limited. Also, Saudi Arabia has kept its exports of crude oil and refined products high, with exports up by more than 500,000 barrels per day year-over-year. "The combination of weak non-OECD consumption, high non-OECD product exports, and an expected seasonal downtrend should see US refinery margins weaken further over this time," Cohen wrote. Story continues "Refineries are going to find themselves in the line of fire," he added. The benchmark US futures contract West Texas Intermediate crude fell 16% in July. On Monday, the contract for September delivery dropped 1.3%, to $41.03 per barrel. After supply disruptions in Canada and Nigeria helped lift prices above $50 per barrel in June, investors returned their focus to the high levels of output and inventories. NOW WATCH: 9 phrases on your resume that make hiring managers cringe More From Business Insider By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Monday it was not willing to rush talks with the United States over multibillion-dollar claims and counter-claims and would agree only to an accord that addressed the grievances of both sides. Washington is seeking upward of $10 billion (7.58 billion pounds), mainly for properties nationalized in Communist-run Cuba after its 1959 revolution. Havana, meanwhile, wants at least $300 billion for economic damage wrought by the U.S. trade embargo and for the harm caused by acts of what it describes as U.S. aggression. Settling the claims is key to normalizing relations between the former Cold War foes. The two sides held their second round of talks on the matter last week, after a first round last December. A State Department official told reporters the United States wanted to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and the two sides had agreed to hold more regular meetings. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno told reporters this likely was an "aspiration" of the State Department, given there had been no actual agreement on future meetings. "We have to follow the appropriate timetable. We cannot force it," Moreno said in a briefing on the talks in the Foreign Ministry. Cuba and its northern neighbour re-established diplomatic relations a year ago after decades of hostility and have since signed deals on the environment, postal services and direct flights. The two countries were not yet negotiating their respective claims, Moreno said, but were holding informative talks on a matter of "highly elevated complexity." The Cuban government has reached settlements with other countries for expropriated assets. But it cut off negotiations with the United States when bilateral relations soured in the 1960s. Moreno said the claims talks with the United States were much more complex than they had been with Canada and European countries because of the need to address damages caused by the trade embargo. "We are talking about a process in two directions," Moreno said. "Cuba will not accept unilateral solutions." (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Dan Grebler) Congratulations are definitely in order for Kym Johnson and Robert Herjavec! The happy couple, who began dating 10 months after they were paired-up on season 20 of Dancing With the Stars, tied the knot on Sunday during a lavish ceremony in Los Angeles. WATCH: DWTS Couple Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson Really Are 'Madly In Love The newlyweds surprised the crowd with two highly orchestrated dance numbers. Johnson, 39, was all smiles during her first dance with Herjavec, as they danced cheek-to-cheek to At Last by Etta James, reports People. For the second dance the entire bridal party took over the stage, including DWTS pro Cheryl Burke, and danced to I Got Bills to Pay. DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba, as well as former contestants Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Donny Osmond, were also among the many guests who watched the couple exchange vows, and partied with them during the luxurious reception. The Shark Tank judge proposed back in February with a gorgeous 6.5-carat ring and surprised Johnson by bringing all of her loved ones together, including her mom from Australia to celebrate the milestone. I never thought a year ago Id meet someone who would change my life completely! Johnson wrote on Instagram following news of the proposal. Im the luckiest girl in the world because last night the love of my life @robert_herjavec asked me to marry him and I said yes! WATCH: Kym Johnson Opens Up About 'Great Relationship With 'Shark Tank Boyfriend Robert Herjavec ET caught up with Johnson in October and she couldnt help but gush about her beau. We love spending time together, and he was so great on Dancing With the Stars, she explained. We had the best experience, and hes great. Were having a lot of fun. This will be the first marriage for the dancing pro. Herjavec has three children from his previous relationship with Diane Plese. Watch the video below for more details on the adorable couple: Related Articles Dear presidential candidates, senators, and congressional representatives: Get your butts back to Washington immediately. The time youve had to get a preparedness plan in order but have wasted twiddling thumbs and shifting around budgets to make it look like you were taking the threat of Zika seriously is over. So, go behind closed doors to negotiate if the glare of the media and prying eyes of your constituencies is uncomfortable I dont care. But know this: The goal is to prevent a major pandemic from sweeping the nation, the births of thousands of Zika-deformed and neurologically impaired babies, to forestall adult cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, eye problems, and other rare disorders caused by Zika infection, as well as to prevent the devastation of other public health and safety programs in cities, counties, and states across America as they shift resources from one account to another. If I were the referee for your negotiations which ought to commence this week in light of Floridas local mosquito-carried Zika cases the allowable focus for partisan debate between the houses of Congress and the White House would be extremely narrow. I would rule everything from the future of Planned Parenthood to pesticide regulations, shifting money from Ebola responses and existing federal and state accounts, the budget deficit, national debt all off the table. The one, and only, topic open for debate? How much new money must be allocated on an emergency basis to meet the needs of the nations scientists, public health leaders, hospitals, maternal health providers, and mosquito and environmental health experts in order to limit the number of Americans who fall ill to Zika, pass the virus sexually to their partners or in utero to their fetuses, miscarry, or are born with neurological deficits and deformations. Your mandate starting now: Show me the money. Partisan bickering about the lives of American babies is unconscionable. This is no time for grandstanding. As of Aug. 1, 161 days have elapsed since the White House requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds for Zika, met by various counterproposals from the House and Senate Republican leaderships. Thats 161 days during which researchers and public health experts have struggled, with no new resources of any kind, to figure out how the virus works, find ways to control it, work on vaccines and treatments, and develop effective mosquito-control tactics. Story continues If, politicians, you truly care about the right of every baby to a healthy life, you have no excuses, no rationales, and, yes, you will pay a price in upcoming elections if you fail. I dont personally care whether you are Democrat or Republican, and neither will the voters living in regions that get slammed by the virus. The only question pregnant women, worried that they might be carrying a severely deformed child, will be asking is this: What did you do in the first week of August, once Zika was in Floridian mosquitoes, to protect my family from the newly arrived birth-defect-causing virus? And heres the thing: Americans arent stupid and wont be hornswoggled. According to recent polls, most people in the United States know what Zika is and were concerned about it well before the virus infected Floridian Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. We have, as a nation, watched the epidemic reach our shores in slow motion, starting in mid-2015 when the Brazilian government issued its first announcements about babies born with microcephaly literally, squashed brains and misshapen skulls. Six months ago, on Feb. 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global Zika emergency. Americans looked south throughout our winter as the infected mosquitoes popped up across most of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean and as cases of microcephaly and other tragic disorders mounted. Shortly after Floridas governor, Rick Scott, announced on Friday that four people in Miami had contracted Zika from local mosquitoes, the nations most venerated epidemic scientist held his own press conference in Washington. Anthony Fauci, who has directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 30 years, soberly said that we are watching a pandemic in process and that he was almost certain that we will see more cases across the United States. On Monday, Scott confirmed 10 more homegrown cases of Zika in Florida. And the rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul approach Faucis agency has had to use for 161 days in order to conduct Zika research in the absence of emergency funding? We are getting to the point very, very soon that we are going to run out of the money that we are borrowing from ourselves, Fauci said in a Friday briefing at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. You should pay heed to Fauci this man has a long and storied track record on epidemics. He has been running the NIAID longer than anybody has ever directed any of the nations major scientific institutions, starting in the early 1980s when a mysterious form of cancer and lung disease was cropping up among gay men that turned out to be the dawn of the AIDS pandemic. And it was Fauci who warned Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton that all three presidencies were failing to grasp the scope, severity, and urgency of AIDS. The first president to take Fauci seriously was George W. Bush, who created the multibillion-dollar Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which today is credited with dramatic reductions in HIV deaths all over the world. But the Brooklyn-born scientist who has given his entire career to public service wasnt just right about HIV; Fauci has correctly advised five presidents and hundreds of members of Congress about SARS in China, the 2009 bird flu and H1N1 influenza outbreaks, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in New York, the dangers of the anthrax spores mailed to media and politicians in 2001, hantavirus in New Mexico, Ebola in West Africa and in Dallas the list is so long it would fill pages. So, American politicians, ignore me if you wish, shrug off the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention if you are so inclined, poo-poo the WHO, and turn your back on the Floridian governor if you can but open your ears when Tony Fauci speaks. On June 6, Fauci warned Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and his advisors that Zika poses a threat unlike any we have previously faced. Research funds were urgently needed, Fauci said, to understand how the once-benign and largely ignored mosquito virus transformed into the greatest threat to pregnant women and their babies since the 1964 rubella epidemic. In the pre-vaccine 1960s, rubella, or German measles, was the primary cause of child blindness, deafness, miscarriage, and other congenital abnormalities in the United States. But Zika is actually worse than rubella because the virus feeds on neural progenitor cells, turning the would-be baby brain cells into Zika virus production factories and eventually burning the cells out. One by one, a nerve cell destined to control hearing, or vision, or memory, or balance, is killed off. The thousands of microcephalic babies born so far in South America and the Caribbean have had so many of their brain cells devoured by voracious viruses that there literally was insufficient mass to, as happens in normal fetal development, push the cranial bone upward to form a nice round skull. But we have only begun to appreciate the range of neurological disorders Zika is inflicting on a generation of babies, because most of the afflicted are still too young to have reached key developmental markers, such as the ability to hold their head upright, capacity to recognize their parents, and the full range of hearing, walking, talking, and learning. Taking a page from cytomegalovirus (CMV), which can also be passed in utero from mother to fetus, only a small percentage suffer microcephaly and obvious deformities, while far larger numbers experience a vast array of learning deficits and brain dysfunctions that only become apparent later in childhood. Many psychiatric disorders that may be overlooked in infancy or early childhood are now known to stem from maternal viral infections damaging fetal brain development, including CMV, Borna disease virus, influenza linked to schizophrenia, herpes simplex virus (type 1) linked to bipolar disorders, and a long list of other fetal infections causing everything from autism-like syndromes to acute depression long after the infected childs birth. Enough is enough, politicians. Pay heed to Puerto Rico, which, though it is a territory not a state, is inhabited by U.S. citizens. For months, Fauci, the CDC, and Puerto Rican health authorities have warned that a potentially catastrophic Zika epidemic was coming and pleaded for resources to address the crisis. The numbers of infected, symptomatic, and, yes, microcephalic babies were negligible for many weeks. But now, the word crisis is literally applicable to the islands situation, as Zika diagnoses are soaring and the CDC on Friday declared, The situation in Puerto Rico warrants urgent, comprehensive action to protect pregnant women. A month ago, Puerto Ricos mosquito problems and Zika spread seemed manageable just as Floridas now appear but today, despite aggressive mosquito-control efforts and public education campaigns, the population is beset by viral threat, with the number of diagnosed cases (which represent less than 20 percent of actual infections, most of which are asymptomatic) increasing by 1 percent per week. Consider this: A 1 percent increase in the first week of June may seem trivial, but by the first week of August, it is a 9 percent increase, by Labor Day a 14 percent jump, and soon tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans will have been symptomatically infected with Zika, suffering from symptoms and side effects including mild fevers and rashes, paralysis, miscarriage, and giving birth to deformed babies. And this entire explosive spread in Puerto Rico will transpire before Congress returns to Capitol Hill from summer recess. Come on, congressional representatives and senators: This is a pandemic in progress. Reconvene immediately, negotiate a deal, focus on financing, and get the job your job done. Failure to do so will mean that every Zika-related birth defect, miscarriage, and paralysis case will be your fault. Photo credit: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images (Corrects name to Singapore Land Transport Authority from Singapore Land Transit Authority in paragraph 2 and paragraph 9. Corrects paragraph 6 to show that Delphi, not Singapore, plans to operate the fully autonomous ride service.) By Joseph White August 1 (Reuters) - Delphi Automotive Plc will launch a small test fleet of automated taxis in Singapore next year, aiming to ferry passengers around a city district in one of the first real-world tests of automated rides on demand, the company said on Monday. The project, run in partnership with the Singapore Land Transport Authority, will road test a concept that many companies investing in automated driving believe offers the fastest path to making such technology commercially viable. A cab ride in a dense urban area can cost $3 to 4 a mile, Delphi vice president of engineering Glen DeVos said in an interview. "We think we can get to 90 cents a mile" with an automated vehicle. That drops the price of transporting goods and people, and allows for the costs of automated driving systems to be spread over hours of operation and multiple users. Initially, the cars will have drivers ready to take over if the piloting systems fail, DeVos said. But by 2019 or 2020, "we'll have removed drivers from the car," Glen DeVos, Delphi's vice president of engineering said in an interview. By 2022, Delphi plans to launch a regularly operating automated cab service, the company said. The company said it plans similar projects in North America and Europe. A United States site could be selected later this year, DeVos said. Delphi plans to start the project with a fleet of Audi vehicles equipped with automated driving and mapping systems. Later, DeVos said the project will expand with the addition of electric vehicles. Other companies are studying the economics of using automated driving systems to replace human drivers in taxi or ride-hailing services, including Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft, which is collaborating with General Motors Co. Story continues Delphi is working with other companies, including Israel's Mobileye NV, to develop the sensor systems to enable vehicles to operate autonomously. The Singapore Land Transport Authority will supply infrastructure to help vehicles navigate safely. Delphi is doing its own mapping, but DeVos said "we are looking at mapping alternatives including a service offered by Mobileye. The Singapore project was deliberately kept to a small scale, DeVos said. "We are going to do it incrementally in a very controlled manner," he said. (Reporting By Joe White; Editing by David Gregorio) Photo credit: The Washington Post / Getty From Esquire PHILADELPHIA-Everybody wants a piece of Deray. Strangers want selfies. Fist bumps. Handshakes. Hugs. They want to share their Twitter handles and hope he somehow remembers them. Most people just want to be in his presence, or to tell him thank you. "People often ask what's next," McKesson told me Thursday afternoon. Maybe you're among the half-million-plus who follow McKesson (@deray) on Twitter. Maybe you saw him speak about race relations onColbert. Maybe you heard about his highly publicized campaign for mayor in his native Baltimore. Maybe you saw the video of his arrest two weeks ago down in Baton Rouge. That night in Louisiana, McKesson was wearing a gray and black #StayWoke shirt, the same one Twitter founder Jack Dorsey wore in a recent public appearance with McKesson. Dorsey immediately set off a minor firestorm of mockery on his own social network for trying way too hard to be "woke." But that exact shirt looks different on McKesson. The hashtag was borne out of the black community, and Deray is a household name because he helped make Black Lives Matter a household phrase. Deray is a household name because he helped make Black Lives Matter a household phrase. When you look back at that photo from the night of his arrest in Baton Rouge, you see McKesson on his knees. He's sweating. A black backpack tugs on his shoulders. His shirt is pulled back against his stomach, the neckline starting to strain. Two cops grasp his upper body. He stares directly into the camera lens. McKesson was in jail for 16 hours that night because he was out protesting yet another death of yet another black American by the hands of yet another cop from yet another police department. That particular death was Alton Sterling, who was shot while pinned to the ground outside of a convenience store. Sterling joins Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, and countless others on a list that refuses to stop growing. The mothers of those three men were among those who appeared onstage at the DNC Wednesday night as part of the Mothers of the Movement segment. McKesson was in the crowd. Story continues Photo credit: Twitter "I think it was important that they were given time to speak, that they spoke candidly about the issues," he said. "And I'm hopeful that if Hillary is the next president, that these issues remain a center in the administration." Four years ago, Black Lives Matter was not yet an American refrain, let alone a movement that would stage marches at both conventions. Now it's even spawned counter-movements like "Blue Lives Matter" and the more resentful "All Lives Matter." We heard the latter two phrases everywhere at the RNC last week, and Obama had the difficult task of bridging all three groups this week. McKesson has met with the President twice in private, but Wednesday night was the first time he had ever watched Obama speak before a live audience. "It was a reminder of the hope that people felt in '08," McKesson said. "Inside that arena, you felt that energy again. I think the message was strong. It was interesting to see him choose to end so soft, to try and de-center himself so that there would not be this thunderous applause for Obama, but so he could use his celebrity for Hillary." Photo credit: Getty Obama, McKesson said, is finally transitioning into one of Hillary's many surrogates. The First Lady is another, and she nearly walked away with the whole damn Convention after her speech on Monday night. Vice President Joe Biden is another, and he was on the verge of stealing Wednesday's show, until Obama came on for what was likely one of his last major public speeches while in office. "He did that thing," McKesson said, "He talked about how our best days are ahead, hammering in the understanding that we've made progress. We've not made all the progress, but we've made progress. He says it a little different, whether you're in a meeting or it's in public, but the message is the same. The two meetings I've been in, we were meeting because of tragedy. Because police have killed people, so people walk in listening for very specific things from him. In the arena, we know the message is going to end with 'I support Hillary.' How he gets there is the interesting part." Obama, McKesson pointed out, is finally transitioning into one of Hillary's many surrogates. Obama got there. He told the story of the past eight years and he alluded to the 80 years before that. He rejected the fear-mongering rhetoric that dominated the RNC a week earlier in Cleveland, where Tamir Rice was killed and where no officers were indicted. He made a case for his own legacy by making a case for America. But in the end, he stepped out of the way and made a case for Hillary. And then they shared a long embrace, and, as Charles P. Pierce noted, less than 80 years ago, in certain parts of the country, that sort of thing is what left black men dead. Black men are still dying for senseless reasons, but thanks to McKesson and his work with Black Lives Matter, millions of Americans now see it and hear it and feel it, even if they don't quite understand it. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. - @HillaryClinton #DemConvention - deray mckesson (@deray) July 29, 2016 So now Hillary Clinton has 101 days left to fight, then likely four to eight years to continue Obama's fight. She'll have to fight Trump's vitriol and misogyny and daily mudslinging. But more than anything, she'll have to fight weariness. Exhaustion. Apathy. McKesson told her as much. "What I said to Hillary when I met with her was, 'I hope the campaign doesn't take for granted that some people are choosing not to vote,'" McKesson said. "The campaign will explicitly need to talk to those people. And I'm hopeful that will happen over the next hundred days. I'm hopeful there's a strategy to do that." You Might Also Like Turkish political parties disagree on many things when it comes to secularism, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and democratic governance. But when it comes to the failed military coup aimed at overthrowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankaras leading parties are on the same page in condemning the botched putsch and demanding that the U.S. agree to the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based cleric accused of orchestrating the coup. On Monday, a delegation of Turkish lawmakers including opposition party representatives brought that message to Washington. Their visit comes amid growing international condemnation of Ankaras massive crackdown on politicians, academics, and military and police personnel. Tens of thousands have been fired from their posts, detained, or arrested since the July 15 coup. We are here in order to show that we are together in Turkey regardless of our political differences, said Kamil Aydin, a member of Parliament from Turkeys Nationalist Movement Party or MHP. We totally were against [the coup] Unfortunately it was misunderstood by some Western media. Members of the delegation, including a representative of the Republican Peoples Party, or CHP, spoke at a press conference hosted by the Turkish Embassy. Ankara has been working overtime to push back against allegations that Erdogans crackdown is disproportionate or that the president manufactured the coup in order to consolidate his power in the country. Members of parliament condemned those allegations and equated them to the 9/11 truthers who accuse the Bush administration of orchestrating the attack on the World Trade Center in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. Allowing Gulen to operate is unacceptable and having him appear every day in another TV channel and directing his message through those interviews is unacceptable and having him freely contact anyone he wants to is unacceptable, said Taha Ozhan, chairman of the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the Grand National Assembly and an MP representing Malatya. Story continues During the briefing, opposition members largely avoided criticizing the governments purge, which has prompted recent statements of concern from U.S. officials, including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who Turkish citizens protested on a recent trip to the country. Aaron Stein, a Turkey expert at the Atlantic Council, said the show of unity largely reflected how opposition groups have been reacting inside Turkeys political system. The purges have the support of the people, he said. But when asked about the mass detentions following the briefing, Oguz Kaan Salici, an MP representing CHP, said his party continues to criticize the way the purges have been carried out. We are not waiting. We are criticizing at the moment, he told Foreign Policy. The level of criticism from opposition to the government is very much linked with the percentage of the people who are dismissed from the their positions but they have no relation to [the Gulen movement]. When warned by an embassy official that his words were being recorded by a journalist, Salici said, I know. Getty Images Diageo plcs DEO earnings in fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 30, 2016) gained 1.0% (in local currency) year over year to 89.4 pence ($1.32* per share) from 88.8 pence ($1.37* per share) in the year-ago period backed by organic profit growth, higher associates income and lower finance charges. Unfavorable retail conditions in the emerging markets hindered profit during the fiscal year. On a reported basis, net revenue (total revenue excluding excise duties) slipped 3% in local currency in fiscal 2015. Unfavorable exchange and disposals more than offset organic growth in each region and accretion from acquisitions. Volume growth in reserve brands was offset by a decline in beer and scotch in the emerging markets. As a result, overall volume remained flat year over year. On an organic basis, net sales inched up 3% to 276 million ($4.1 billion) backed by sales gain in all the geographic regions. Volumes rose 1% on an organic basis. In fiscal 2015, Diageo witnessed 2% decline in marketing spending, on an organic basis. Operating profit before exceptional items (excluding acquisitions and disposals) went up 3% year over year, on an organic basis. DIAGEO PLC-ADR Price and EPS Surprise DIAGEO PLC-ADR Price and EPS Surprise | DIAGEO PLC-ADR Quote Segment Details In North America, organic sales grew 3% in fiscal 2016 due to 2% higher sales in all segments. Net sales also increased on the back of 6% growth in North American whiskey, as Crown Royal and Bulleit continued to gain share in the category. Marketing spending decreased 2% in the region, primarily due to focused spending and procurement efficiencies. Advertising was focused on US Spirits, with investment in Smirnoff, Crown Royal and Captain Morgan and fast growing brands such as Don Julio, Bulleit and Buchanans. Operating margin expanded 39 basis points (bps) due to higher gross margin and lower marketing spend. In Europe, Russia and Turkey, organic sales inched up 4% on higher sales in all regions. Volumes grew 4% in Europe, partly offset by volume decline in Russia and Turkey. Operating margin improved 51 bps due to higher gross margins in both Europe and Russia. In Europe, procurement savings offset increased marketing and overheads. Story continues Organic sales in Africa increased 3%, with 9.3% volume gain due to strong gains of premium brands. Marketing spending was up 1%, particularly on brand building initiatives. Operating margin contracted 252 bps primarily due to adverse mix and volume decline in Nigeria. The Latin America and Caribbean regions performance was modest in the fiscal year with only 1% gain in organic sales. However, volumes declined 2%. The company also increased its marketing spending by 6% to support broader participation within spirits. Investment in scotch was focused on enhancing brand equity across price points in Mexico. Operating profit dipped 2% as higher overheads overshadowed gross margin improvement due to higher procurement savings. In the Asia Pacific region, sales gained 2% backed by growth in India, South East Asia and Australia. Volume remained flat as higher volume in South East Asia, North Asia and Australia was offset by volume decline in Greater China and Middle East. Marketing spend declined 12% due to reduced spending on Johnnie Walker Black Label and Johnnie Walker Blue Label in China and India. This was because marketing in these areas reduced as a result of termination of USL-related party agreements. Other Updates Diageo is expanding fast into the emerging markets. The company has acquired ownership in United Spirits Limited, a leading spirit company of India. Moreover, during fiscal 2015, the company gained full control of the tequila brand, Don Julio, in an attempt to boost its presence in the premium tequila category. Currently, Diageo carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stocks in the same sector is Constellation Brands Inc. STZ, which holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Two other consumer staples stock worth considering includes Altria Group Inc. MO and Post Holdings Inc. POST also holding a Zacks Rank #2. *1=$1.48 (average price of the year ended Jun 30, 2016). **1=$1.55 (average price of the year ended Jun 30, 2015). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report DIAGEO PLC-ADR (DEO): Free Stock Analysis Report ALTRIA GROUP (MO): Free Stock Analysis Report CONSTELLATN BRD (STZ): Free Stock Analysis Report POST HOLDINGS (POST): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Travis Kalanick The Chinese car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is buying Uber China in a $35 billion deal, and for investors that means a big sigh of relief. The two companies had been rivals in China, with Uber consistently lagging behind Didi in the region. Private-equity investors in particular had reportedly been pushing for a truce as both companies poured in billions of dollars with no profit to show for it. That's why the deal makes sense, says Fan Bao, the founder of China Renaissance and a Didi investor. "We are very happy the nuclear warfare seems to have stopped and the management can focus on delivering core value to customers and shareholders," he told Business Insider on Monday. In addition to being a Didi investor, his firm was the sole adviser on the 2015 merger of Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache into what later became Didi Chuxing. Bao did not advise on the Uber China deal, but in an interview in June he told Business Insider (emphasis ours): "Among all the foreign internet companies, Uber has put up the best fight in China. They're really hanging tough there. No foreign internet company has ever succeeded in China. They are doing as good a job as they can, so hats off to them. But I think it's kind of tough to compete with Didi in China, because at the end of the day, it's a domestic business, there's a huge domestic market. And the Didi guys are good, I mean, they're really good, so I think it's really a tough battle." On the prospect of doing a deal at the time, he added: "Logic kind of tells you that some sort of partnership makes sense." NOW WATCH: Uber China is merging with an Apple-backed competitor More From Business Insider JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at a Remain in the EU campaign event attended at JP Morgan's corporate centre in Bournemouth, southern Britain, June 3, 2016. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wants to see immigration reform in America. Speaking with CNBC's Wilfred Frost on Monday, the chief executive highlighted several policy areas that he believes need to be addressed, including infrastructure spending and income inequality. He also pointed to the 2013 bipartisan "Gang of 8" immigration bill that he said provided a proper pathway to legalizing undocumented immigrants as an example of what was needed. "Most of them have jobs, most of them are doing fine," Dimon said of undocumented immigrants. He added that "kids" come from around the world to get advanced degrees at top universities, and then, "We send them home." "Let them stay and let them build companies," he said, noting that three of his own grandparents were born overseas. Dimon is touring the US to meet bank employees, and is currently in California. He said that many of the staff he has been meeting in the region are the children of immigrants. "Almost all of their parents were all born overseas, and they're fabulous Americans," he said. He cited the example of an employee who moved from China, bringing her parents with her. "She's among our top personal bankers in a retail branch," he said. "If you saw her, you'd be amazed at what this country still offers to people in terms of opportunity." The CEO has become increasingly vocal about economic and political issues facing the US and the world. Last month, he raised the minimum pay for 18,000 of his employees. He came out hard against the UK's decision in June to leave the EU, and in the company's annual letter released in April, he described multiple challenges, including infrastructure and long-term fiscal and tax issues, that he said must be dealt with. "We have serious issues that we need to address even the United States does not have a divine right to success," he wrote at the time. NOW WATCH: Everyone's obsessed with 'anchor babies' here are the facts More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f160273%2fca9acb4791cd4e85b093f806f1be4526 The Democratic National Convention dominated the news this week, and many attendees shared sweet photos capturing the experience on Instagram. Insta was also a platform for some relationship drama Rob Kardashian made numerous changes to his account and left us questioning everything about his relationship with fiancee Blac Chyna. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan asked her followers to respect her privacy during a difficult time. SEE ALSO: Instagram may be making it easier to binge on a person's photos Of course, some Instagram posts simply made us smile. A blogger expressed her body positive epiphany and Amy Schumer ate cake in an innovative new way. Meanwhile, John Stamos gave us visions of Uncle Jesse circa 1989 and your favorite High School Musical gals rocked out together. 1. Hillary Clinton and President Obamas hug for the ages As if President Obamas 45-minute DNC speech wasn't amazing enough, it ended with a moving embrace between him and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Honestly, we couldve watched that hug go on for 45 more minutes. We love you back, President Obama, Clinton captioned an endearing photo of them hugging on stage. 2. Amy Schumer invented a new dessert Weve all had hand cake at one point or another. Amy Schumer inhaled a handful of yummy spongy goodness while on her Marie Claire photoshoot, and her judgment-free road manager luckily captured the elegant feast on camera. If you eat cake with your hands it becomes hand cake, Schumer captioned the video on Instagram. Amy, thank you for coining the name of this ingenious confection. 3. Rob Kardashians Instagram scandal Image: robkardsahian/instagram Breakup rumors were in the air this week when Rob Kardashian suddenly removed every trace of Blac Chyna from his Instagram account, unfollowed her, and deleted every single photo from his page. A new, private Rob account just surfaced, listed under the name robkardsahian. Blac Chyna recently followed this new account which would suggest its legitimacy, although some older posts on the 14 week old account provide reason to believe its a fans creation. Story continues Robkardsahian posted a photo with Blac Chyna captioned, I want to say that me and Chy haven't broken up we are just going through some tough times and social media blew it all up. I would prefer if we could stay out of the spotlight and find a resolution . Its still unclear whether the account is legitimate or not, but hopefully Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashians upcoming E! reality series will shed some light. 4. Liv Tyler and her new baby are a perfect pair Actress Liv Tyler welcomed her third child earlier this month, and she proudly shared a photo breastfeeding baby Lula. Sunday morning snuggles with my baby girl. So grateful for this precious gift, she captioned the sweet Instagram post. Sharing breastfeeding photos has been the subject of controversy recently, and women have been crushing that stigma by sharing their own awesome breastfeeding photos. 5. Lindsay Lohan wants some privacy Drama between Lindsay Lohan and her fiance, Russian businessman Egor Tarabasov, has been unfolding in interesting ways lately. Lohan has been in the public eye for 18 years, and earlier in the week she Instagrammed an old photo of a heart-shaped cloud along with a message asking fans to take their magnifying glasses off of her relationship. A few days later, she took the post down and replaced it with a photo of herself on a boat. In the caption, she addressed her followers to reassure everyone that she is doing well and to apologize for publicizing matters she wanted to keep private. Dear friends. I'm good and well. #ATM I am taking time for myself with good friends. I am sorry that I've exposed certain private matters recently. I was acting out of fear and sadness... We all make mistakes. Sadly mine have always been so public," she wrote. 6. Lena Dunham and America Ferrera are with her Actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera spoke at the Democratic National Convention this week, and a photographer caught them feeling emotional about it. The moment it became real, Lena Dunham captioned the picture of her and America Ferrera tearing up on Instagram. Dunham and Ferrara used their speech to endorse Hillary Clinton and to discuss the importance of feminism and combating hatred. Lets put Hillary Clinton in the White House, and lets declare: love trumps hate, was the last line they said to the crowd, and it was met with thunderous applause. 7. Blogger Kelsey Wells is measuring her happiness, not her weight Blogger Kelsey Wells of My Sweat Life recently had a revelation about body weight that she shared to Instagram. After having a baby, she struggled with maintaining her goal weight, and ultimately came to the conclusion that weight is just a number. THANK GOODNESS I finally learned to start measuring my progress by things that matter strength, ability, endurance, health, and HAPPINESS, she wrote on Instagram alongside three photos of her at different weights. So to the little teeny tiny voice in the back of my head that still said "wtf is this- not 140!?" last week when I stepped on the scale, I say SCREW. YOU. And I think you should probably say the same to your scale too. #byefelicia . 8. John Stamos John Stamos recent visit to Las Vegas is giving us some serious Uncle Jesse flashbacks. Who could forget Full Houses double-episode spectacular when Jesse and Becky almost secretly got married in the city of sin? Stamos used Instagram to document the highlight of his trip. My favorite thing to do in Vegas. #Leave, Stamos wrote alongside a photo of him giving Vegas the peace sign. 9. Hill + Bill 4eva Bill Clinton melted hearts with his doting (although long) speech about his wife and presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the DNC, and she thanked him by sharing a fantastic #tbt photo of the couple. "'She is still the best darn changemaker I have ever known.' Bill Clinton, the Instagram caption read. 10. Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdales mini HSM reunion High School Musical actresses Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale reunited for a little Snapchat singalong, which Hudgens shared on Instagram. Unfortunately they didnt sing We're All In This Together, but their medley of Beyonces Lemonade songs was definitely a suitable alternative. Its nice to see former enemies Sharpay and Gabriella getting on so well. Donald Trump limped into August with his campaign under fire from both Democrats and Republicans appalled by his escalating feud with the family of a fallen Muslim soldier, whose parents intensified their criticism of Trump on Monday amid statements of support from GOP leaders. Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala, whose son was a captain in the U.S. Army when he died serving in Iraq in 2004, have found themselves at the center of the presidential campaign ever since Khizr Khan spoke out against Trump during an emotional speech last week at the Democratic National Convention. This candidate amazes me, Khizr Khan said Monday on the Today show. His ignorance. He can get up and malign the entire nation. The father, who has criticized Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., renewed his call on Monday for Republican leaders to rebuke Trump and for American voters not to put him in office. This candidate is void of empathy, so I will continue to reach out to Republican voters to refrain from voting for this candidate, he said. He needs to mend his way. Trump has struggled to put the controversy behind him, alternatively lashing out against the Khans, calling their son a hero, saying the issue he wants to discuss is terrorism, and criticizing the media for its coverage of his latest high-profile feud. This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S., Trump said Monday morning on Twitter. Get smart! Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice!, Trump said in an earlier tweet. Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have issued statements of support for the Khans, but have not wavered in backing their partys nominee. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a military veteran and former prisoner of war who Trump dismissed earlier in the campaign as only being a hero because he was captured, said in a statement Monday that it is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. Story continues While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, McCain said, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Lastly, Id like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America, McCain added. Were a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nationand he will never be forgotten. Khizr Khan, speaking on CNN, said Trumps reaction to his convention speech is proof of his ignorance and arrogance. He told the Washington Post late Saturday that Trumps response was typical of a person without a soul. The back-and-forth between the parents and Trump has dominated the campaign. It led nearly a dozen families of fallen soldiers on Monday to demand an apology from Trump for his repugnant remarks, accusing the billionaire of cheapening the sacrifice of their deceased relatives in the way he responded to the parents of Captain Humayun S.M. Khan. Khizr Khan told CNN on Monday that he and his wife want to be out of this controversy. That is not our style. This is not our path, he said, adding that there was no need for Trump to comment further. We want to maintain our dignity, Khizr Khan added. Meanwhile, Ghazala Khan shared a touching story of the last conversation she had with her son on Mothers Day in May 2004 before he was killed after a vehicle packed with IEDs exploded near him. The nervous mother said she pleaded with her son to be safe and reminded him that he only had a short time left before he was set to return home when he called her. As a mother, I said please, Humayun, dont be [a] hero. Just stay back and finish your time, she said on CNN. You will be home soon. Please just stay back. He laughed and said, Mom, you know these soldiers are my responsibility. I dont want anything to happen to them because I am responsible. I have to do my job. I am responsible for my soldiers, Ghazala Khan recalled. And he came back, but he came back as a hero. Donald Trump has responded to the father of a fallen Muslim American soldier who criticized him during his Democratic National Convention speech. Khizr Khan, the Pakistan-born father of the late Capt. Humayun Khan, spoke Thursday in Philadelphia where he addressed Trump's plan to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., diversity and his son's commitments which earned him a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart before he was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. Khan addressed Trump during his speech, saying "Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave Americans who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing." Khan also questioned if Trump had ever read the Constitution and offered to lend him his copy. Read More: Donald Trump Blasted by Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier at DNC In an interview on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Trump responded by saying, "Who wrote that? Did Hillary's [Clinton] scriptwriters write it? 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. I think I've done a lot." Trump continued, saying that he thinks his "popularity with the vets is through the roof" and credited himself for helping to build the Vietnam memorial in downtown Manhattan and raising "millions of dollars" for veterans. Trump also commented on Khan's wife, who was silent as she stood onstage with Khan during the convention. "If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say," said Trump. "She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that." Ghazala Khan said in an interview with MSNBC that she didn't speak because she was grieving over the loss of her son. "First of all, I thank all America who listened from their heart to my husband's and my heart, and I'm so grateful for that," she said. And it 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." Read More: Donald Trump Blasted by Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier at DNC Donald Trump Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday in an attempt to clear up a statement he made on ABC's "This Week" that Russia was "not going to go into Ukraine." "When I said in an interview that Putin is 'not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down,' I am saying if I am President," the Republican nominee tweeted. "Already in Crimea!" "So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push," he added. "That's what I said!" The Manhattan billionaire's comments, which appeared to mean Russia would not advance farther into Ukraine under a Trump administration, came after ABC host George Stephanopoulos corrected Trump mid-interview after he made an incorrect assertion about Russian involvement in Ukraine. Trump asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not going to invade Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels and some Russian special forces have been operating for several years, despite Putin's reluctance to acknowledge any role. "He's not going into Ukraine, just so you understand. He's not going to go to Ukraine," Trump said. "Well, he's already there, isn't he?" Stephanopoulos replied. Trump responded by both criticizing the US' decision not to intervene to stop the annexation of Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in 2014, and noting that many citizens of Crimea were allegedly supportive of Russia's decision to invade. "Well, he's there in a certain way, but I'm not there. You have Obama there," Trump said. "And frankly that part of the world is mess, under Obama. With all the strength that you're talking about, and with all the power of NATO, and all of this, in the mean time, [Putin] takes Crimea." "You know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were, and you have to look at that also," he added. Earlier in the interview, he shrugged off his campaign's influence in removing a provision of the Republican Party platform that would've advocated providing arms to Ukraine to defend itself from Russian aggression. Story continues "I was not involved in that," he said. "I'd have to take a look at it, but I was not involved in that." Trump has come under scrutiny this past week for his relationship with Russia following his suggestion that Russian hackers find emails that Hillary Clinton deleted after serving as secretary of state. He claimed he was just being sarcastic. Maxwell Tani contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: Trump now says he never met Putin here's footage of when he said the opposite More From Business Insider Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump isnt backing down from his recent claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going into Ukraine. Putin, as Trumps critics quickly pointed out, is already very much in Ukraine: Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula with armed men in March 2014. Most countries, including the U.S., still recognize Crimea as sovereign Ukraine territory. On Monday morning, Trump fired off a pair of tweets insisting that he was talking about the world under a potential Trump administration: When I said in an interview that Putin is not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down, I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push. Thats what I said! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 The controversy began in an interview that aired Sunday morning. ABC News George Stephanopoulos pressed him on a change to the GOPs platform regarding a supply of arms to Ukraine for self-defense. Hes not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand, Trump said of Putin. Hes not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want. Well, hes already there, isnt he? Stephanopoulos interjected. Hes there in a certain way. But Im not there, Trump told Stephanopoulos. He quickly shifted toward blaming U.S. President Barack Obama for the regions instability. You have Obama there. And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama with all the strength that youre talking about and all of the power of NATO and all of this. In the meantime hes going away. He takes Crimea. Story continues Trumps statements garnered widespread ridicule. Some accused Trump of not realizing that Putin already sent troops into Ukraine, while others accused him of parroting Russian propaganda to justify the invasion. In his ABC interview, Trump repeated Russias justification for Crimea and said he might recognize its claim to the region. Im going to take a look at it, Trump said. But you know the people of Crimea, from what Ive heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that also. A senior foreign policy adviser to Hillary Clintons campaign, Jake Sullivan, released a statement Sunday saying the interview provided further evidence that Trump is unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. What is he talking about? Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that? What else doesnt he know? Sullivan said. The Trump campaign has forged a relatively soft stance against the Kremlin. The candidate himself frequently and incorrectly claims that Putin called him a genius, and the two have praised one another. Trump has also hedged on whether he would defend Baltic NATO countries if they were attacked by Russia. On Monday, the New York Times ran a front-page story exploring Trump campaign chief Paul Manaforts ties to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine. It is not clear that Mr. Manaforts work in Ukraine ended with his work with Mr. Trumps campaign, the article concluded. Twice in a matter of days, Donald Trump has picked a fight with a local fire marshal, accusing these officials of imposing arbitrary, politically motivated limits on how many people may attend his rallies. On Friday, Trump attacked the fire marshal enforcing the fire code in Colorado Springs "probably a Democrat," Trump said shortly after he had been rescued from a stuck elevator by the Colorado Springs Fire Department. On Monday, in Columbus, Ohio, he accused the fire marshal of limiting rally attendance to 1,000 people "purely for political reasons," calling the marshal's actions "politics at its lowest." Entire trump gaggle just now pic.twitter.com/E76oadIoiq Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) August 1, 2016 On some level, this seems like just another story of Trump getting angry for a trivial reason though of course, as any experienced real-estate developer should know, fire codes are not trivial, and capacity limits are set to ensure that safe evacuation in case of a fire is possible. But the real reason this story matters is what it shows about what Donald Trump would do as president. Fire marshals are bureaucrats, charged with enforcing laws that are sometimes inconvenient. If Trump won't listen to a fire marshal who says that his proposed number of attendees at a rally would violate a fire code, then will he listen to civil servants or military generals who tell him that his proposed actions are illegal? Of course, we already knew the answer to that question: Trump has said that military officers will carry out war crimes if he orders them to. If we give Trump the power of the presidency, then he'll do a lot more than rant to reporters when bureaucrats won't bend to his will. He'll order them to ignore laws that he doesn't like. And in some cases, those laws will be much more important than fire codes. Story continues NOW WATCH: While under fire from GOP, Trump continues to call out the Muslim parents of a slain US soldier More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f16182%2fscreen_shot_2016-08-01_at_11.29.29_am Jean-Claude Van Damme can certainly handle a lot, as seen in his many action movies and that infamous leg split between two trucks. He can't handle boring questions, though. Van Damme walked out of an interview over satellite with Australian breakfast television show Sunrise on Thursday. "Those questions you've been asking me, the press, they've been asking me the same questions for the last 25 years. 'Kylie, how's your training, how's your this, how's your that," he said. Van Damme did the interview to help promote his speaking tour Down Under in August, but explained that the dull questions were "difficult to answer" and "making him sweat." The so-called boring questions, although not shown in the clip, seemingly continued and Van Damme decided to exit. "What the f**k is going on with Australia? What is going on?" he asked. Sarah Jessica Parker gives marriage the finger in HBO's 'Divorce' Rihanna literally collides with her fans in stunning 'Goodnight Gotham' video Margot Robbie fills Jimmy Fallon in on her artsy secret talent Beetle lands a solid high five during passionate insect orgy The first week of any month is the same regardless of the passage of time. What matters most to stock traders? The all-important U.S. nonfarm payroll report. Why? Nonfarm payroll is the major summary statistic on the performance of the entire U.S. economy. In July, economist consensus looks for for +180K U.S. job additions after a spike to +287K in June. A Wednesday report from the ADP private payroll company for the U.S. looks to print a similar +160K. If U.S. monthly job additions stay above +100K -- on a moving average basis over the past 3 months -- there is little to no worry about a U.S. recession. That looks to be the case for July. On Thursday, a super-low weekly unemployment claims report looks for 265K. Thats really, really low claims data, too. Market actors dont talk often about the U.S. insured unemployment rate. This is more subterranean data. It shows economists how many people actually collected unemployment checks each week. Last week on July 28th, 2016 the 4-week moving average was 2,135,250. This makes for a 1.6% U.S. insured unemployment rate. How low is that? The 1.6% mark for collecting checks is the lowest level for the U.S. insured unemployment rate average going back to November 11, 2000. That is the time of the top of the U.S. Tech/Internet bubble. Amazing! Imagine how hot the U.S. labor market really is. Its been said by many -- The impact of technology is overstated in the short term and understated in the long term. The latest on hot labor market data bears this out. According to a blog in Oklahoma, Technology delivers big for 2 areas inside the economy of today A. Communication with Customers First and foremost, technology affects a firms ability to communicate with customers. In todays busy business environment, it is necessary for employees to interact with clients (increasingly) quickly and clearly. Story continues Websites allow customers to find answers to their questions after hours. Fast shipment options allow businesses to move products over a large geographic area. When customers use technology to interact with a business, the business benefits. Better communication creates a stronger public image. B. Efficiency of Operations Technology also helps a business understand its cash flow needs and preserve precious resources such as time and physical space. Warehouse inventory technologies let business owners understand how best to manage the storage costs of holding a product. With proper technology in place, executives can save time and money by holding meetings over the Internet instead of at corporate headquarters. My message: Technology use -- which emerged around the year 2000 -- reaches deeper and deeper into day-to-day activities of the U.S. and global economy here in 2016. New Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys: As the U.S. nonfarm payroll report for July hits, look at U.S. stocks for the action: (1) Dixie Group DXYN. This small cap commercial and residential carpet seller beat big on its EPS report last week. Its a Zacks VGM of A and captured a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) this week. The stock trades at below $4 a share. (2) United Rentals URI. This building and construction industry stock is both a Zacks VGM of A and a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy). The stock trades at $80 a share. (3) Finally, take a look at the big +17% share price jump at TTM Tech TTMI made last week. The stock is a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) this week. This company still holds a Zacks VGM score of A after the leap, as its stock trades at $10 a share. TTM Technologies, Inc. provides time-critical, one-stop manufacturing services for highly complex printed circuit boards. Its printed circuit boards serve as the foundation of electronic products such as routers, switches, computer memory modules and communications infrastructure equipment. Here are the key global/macro indicators out Headline news should be made by the Bank of England rate cut on Thursday. Keep an eye out for statements from IMF Head Christine LaGarde on Thursday, too. She speaks in Brazil. Hitting on both sides of that BoE rate meeting, an ADP payroll report from the USA on Wednesday (looking for 160K) will get scrutiny, as will the Federal nonfarm payroll out on Friday (looking for +180K). Remember: USA job additions are the key macro data, both stateside and globally! On Monday, the official China PMI manufacturing index came out at 49.90, versus expectations for 50.20. The smaller-company private Caixin China PMI manufacturing index came in at 50.60. This was much better than the prior 48.60 and the consensus for 49.0. For India, the PMI manufacturing index was 51.80 versus a prior 51.70. In the Eurozone, the final manufacturing PMI index was 52.0 versus a consensus for 51.90. France came in at 48.60. Germany came in at 53.80. Italy came in at 51.20. The final CIPS/Markit U.K. manufacturing index came in at 48.20 for July, versus a prior 52.10. The post-Brexit consensus was for 49.10. The Markit PMI for Brazil manufacturing was looking for 46.50, up from a prior 43.20. The final PMI for USA manufacturing was looking for 52.50. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) overnight rate should be posted. Look for 1.75%. The forecast for U.S vehicle sales looks strong at 17.20 million annually. The CIPS/Markit construction PMI index for the U.K. is looking for a 43.60 reading, down from a prior 46.00 reading. Brexit is showing up here, too. The Feds Kaplan speaks in Beijing. On Wednesday, the Services PMI for the Eurozone should be final at 52.90, while Germany is at 54.60, France is at 50.20, and Italy is at 51.90. The final composite Eurozone PMI (Both services and manufacturing included) looks to be 52.70. The final CIPS/Markit services PMI for the U.K. looks to be 47.40. Eurozone retail trade should be growing at 1.6%. The APD employment survey for the USA comes out. Look for +160K after a prior +172K. The Brazil Markit composite PMI should get to 45.10 from 42.30. The BoJ releases minutes from last weeks meetings. On Thursday, there is an important U.K. BoE Monetary Policy Committee meeting and rate decision. The Base Rate should fall to 0.25% from 0.50%. U.S. initial unemployment claims should be 265K. Special: The IMFs LaGarde speaks in Brazil. On Friday, there will be an RBA statement on monetary policy out of Australia. The all-important U.S. nonfarm payroll number for July hits the tape. Look for +180K in July after a prior reading of +287K in June. The U.S. unemployment rate should be unchanged at 4.9% Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report UTD RENTALS INC (URI): Free Stock Analysis Report TTM TECHNOLOGIE (TTMI): Free Stock Analysis Report DIXIE GRP INC (DXYN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f162461%2fdonald LONDON Dublin has a new bar in town, and as with any new business in a bustling city, the Adelphi pub on Middle Abbey Street will need a unique identity to set it apart. Its mouthwatering menu of "hot dog blaa-guettes" is a pretty excellent start, but this is clearly a pub that likes to go the extra mile. This is a pub that now features the face of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump plastered on the urinal in the men's toilet. SEE ALSO: People in Scotland have a clear message for Donald Trump when he visits Patrons of the pub have responded with glee: And of course, with pee: Mashable reached out to the Adelphi pub for comment, and manager Tony McCabe responded, "In our opinion Mr. Trump has preached much hate in his statements. Irish bars are well known for their debates and chatter, and politics plays a big part in those conversations. We felt that the only place Mr. Trump's opinion mattered was on the wall of a urinal." "If he is elected President, we shall remove the image immediately as we feel that this would be disrespectful to the American people and to the office of the presidency," McCabe elaborated. Seems reasonable to us. And now, CHECK. OUT. THESE. HOT DOGS: [H/T The Daily Edge] (Corrects this story from July 30 to show Theo van Gogh was Vincent van Gogh's great grand nephew not great grandson.) AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police conducted security searches around Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Saturday in response to "indications" of a threat, an official said, causing traffic jams during the busy summer holiday season. The National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism and Security Policy (NCTV) provided no details of the possible threat, but it said extra security measures were implemented, including vehicle searches. "There was a (threat) indication related to the airport," said spokesman Edmond Messchaert. "The increased measures are intended to ensure the safety of people working at the airport and travellers." The national threat level in the Netherlands was unchanged at "substantial," or one notch from the highest. After attacks by Islamist radicals in France, Belgium and Germany, the Netherlands is considered a prominent target, because it supports U.S.-led military operations against Islamic State in the Middle East. The last major attack in the Netherlands was the killing by a Muslim radical of Theo van Gogh, the outspoken, film maker and great grand nephew of the famous painter, in 2004. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch Editing by Larry King) AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities said on Monday they will extend extra security measures around Amsterdam's Schiphol, due to a heightened threat level at one of Europe's largest airports. Police have been searching vehicles on major roads to the airport since Saturday. No details have been provided about the perceived threat, but the Netherlands remains one notch below the highest level of alertness for possible attacks. "The extended security (measures) will remain in place for the time being," a statement by local authorities said. The measures would increase safety for passengers and personnel at the airport, they said. All travellers should count on possible delays due to spot checks on trains and vehicles, they said. Earlier on Monday, all traffic to the airport was halted and police detained a man who spoke of a bomb a bus. No explosives were found. After attacks by Islamist militants in France, Belgium and Germany, the Netherlands is considered a potential target, because it supports U.S.-led military operations against the Islamic State jihadist militia in the Middle East. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Richard Balmforth) COLTON, OregonOn 20 acres of land outside Portland, eight adults are rethinking what many Americans would consider a normal family structure. Theyre trying to address many of the burdens that come with modern life, including the hours taken up by full-time jobs and the challenges of raising children in a nuclear family. The four couplestwo with young children, two with teenagersshare the property, a rambling plot of land with meadows, forests, a brook and an assortment of old rusted-out cars and trailers leftover from the previous property owner. Theres a main house and two small cabins out back; One of the only rules for the community is that everybody will share the main houses two bathrooms, one shower and the kitchen. Its an experiment in community living in which the families help raise each others children, pool resources for rent and food, share skills and knowledge, and keep each other sane. The idea is for the adults to share their lives with their best friends, at the same time creating a large extended family for their kids. Recommended: Why Losing China Will Probably Be Good for Uber We try to be the village that people talk about when it comes to the kids - not that it always works, one of the mothers of young children, Gracey Nagle, told me. Nagle and a few members of the group have been living in a shared house since 2003. When the homes owner decided to stop renting it, they searched around for another place and found the Colton property. Some of the original members have moved on since the early days, but others have stayed and brought spouses and partners and children into the fold. Gracey Nagle carries her daughter to the main house in Colton (Alana Semuels / The Atlantic) I visited on an evening in early summer, and the community was a cacophony of adult conversation and screaming children. A teenager and a few adults decorated cupcakes in the kitchen of the small house where community life is centered, while two toddlers played in back. A young child checked on chickens in the coop while a father of her friend carved wood in his shop. Story continues People going the nuclear family route definitely dont have the same quality of life. Nagle and her partner, Chris Martell, and their two children, ages seven and four, live in one small bedroom in the main house, which also holds a piano. Appeya Galindo and her fiancee Adam Murray live in another bedroom; Galindos teenage daughter sometimes stays there too. Erin Corzine and her partner Mike Lyman live with their two kids, ages five and two, in a tiny, one-room cabin in back of the house. Andrea Martin and her boyfriend Luke Precourt live in a small cabin, jokingly called the tiny mansion out back (it doesnt have a kitchen or bathroom); they each have teenaged daughters from a previous relationship who sometimes stay over. The communal living strategy helps overcome some of the problems faced by parents in nuclear families who live isolated in their own homes. Parenting on your own or with a partner is a full-time job; having other people to help out can go a long way. Daycare is expensive. Friends are not. Theres huge economies of scale when you have more parents around, said Nagle, a petite woman with glasses and short hair parted in the middle. Someone can take over for five minutes if you need to do something. Recommended: Why Can't Hillary Clinton Stop Lying? There are concrete financial advantages, too. Each adult pays $400 a month for rent and general upkeep; people buy food when they remember; the group owns a car but no one is quite sure who has the title. The plot of land where they live was only $275,000 because it was littered with junk when they bought it in 2013. Its another advantage of living an hour outside Portlandlarge plots of land are not as expensive as they might be in a big city. The group is eventually hoping to build individual tiny homes on the property around a main house, and perhaps invite other friends to join. Decisions that will impact the group are made by voting, and any issues are discussed at informal house meetings. Each of the adult members, who are in their thirties and forties, say they envision growing old here. The low expenses allow the adults to take a different approach to working and child-rearing than they might if they just shared a home with their partner and children. Ill retire earlier. My lifestyle is different. Its not that high-stress kind of thing, Andrea Martin, who has a 17-year-old daughter, told me. The families try to eat dinner together every night (Alana Semuels / The Atlantic) None of the adults feel pressured to have jobs that would pay a whole mortgage. Nagle, a Yale graduate who used to work as a paralegal, recently quit her part-time job and started managing and booking bands with her partner Martell. One of the other adults is in school, another has a small business that makes baby rattles, another is a teacher at a charter school, and another works around town doing odd jobs. Everyone knows that if they have a financial emergency, they can borrow from other community members. They look forward to the day when they pay off the mortgage (its in Nagles name), and just have to pay for taxes and upkeep. Then, they might not have to work at all. People going the nuclear family route definitely dont have the same quality of life, Martell told me. Recommended: The Lonely, Thirsty, Final Days of the Doomed Alaskan Mammoths Its an atypical arrangement, and one that might raise eyebrows in a place other than rural Oregon. When the adults, friends since childhood, first started to live together, their extended families thought they were crazy. Their parents sometimes still ask when theyre going to grow up and get a house of their own. Most Americans cant imagine any other way to raise kids. When it comes to the well-being of children, Americans engage in nuclear family triumphalism, the sociologist Bella DePaulo writes in her book, How We Live Now. They are convinced that children who are raised by two married heterosexual parents are going to be happier, healthier, better educated, less likely to get in trouble, and better off in just about every conceivable way than kids who are brought up any other way. Yet a study of children raised in non-nuclear households found that children raised by single, divorced parents in multigenerational households, for example, did just as well as those raised in nuclear families, DePaulo writes. They were no more likely to smoke, drink, or have sex at an early age. They were as likely as children living in nuclear family households to graduate from high school and enroll in college. Children of parents who had never been married and were raised in a multigenerational household did even better. Andrea Martin says that living with the group is much healthier than living on her own. She moved out a few years ago when she her boyfriend, fellow community member Luke Precourt, broke up temporarily. Martin and her daughter, now 17, lived in their own apartment by themselves for two years. Martin says raising her daughter was much more difficult outside of the community. If I had to work late, shed be home by herself watching TV and eating macaroni and cheese, instead of being here with people who love and support her, Martin told me. She and Precourt since got back together and moved back into the communal home. The tiny mansion, left, and cabin, right, where two families live (Alana Semuels / The Atlantic) Martins daughter says she was sometimes embarrassed by the groups living arrangement when she was in middle school, but told me her friends are now in awe of the community of adults she has around her.Its boring living by yourself. So boring, she told me, in the tiny home in back of the larger house where she lives with her mother and Precourt, which has two sleeping lofts and a living room. TV is not as fun as hanging out with other people. Martin says that the community is the best place for her to raise her daughter. Adults can assist with homework or talk to her about things she might not want to discuss with her mom. An only child, Martins daughter has surrogate siblings to spend Christmas morning with in Colton, and strong male figures to look up to.I know its definitely the healthiest environment for her, Martin said. There are signs that this sentiment is becoming increasingly popular across the country. Developers are building new co-housing complexes in which people have their own apartments yet form a close-knit community. Theyre investing in tiny apartments for Millennials who want to share fancy kitchens and rec rooms with other people like them. At the same time, the number of adults living with a spouse is on the decline, according to Census data. In 1967, 70 percent of adults lived with a spouse; by 2014, only about 50 percent did. The rest live with a partner or with others who arent their spouselike roommates or children. When in Portland, I also visited a co-housing community called Daybreak, a bright and airy apartment complex with a shared communal space. Single mom Malka Geffen lives there with her four-year-old daughter, and she told me having other families around was a lifesaver. The two attend the weekly group dinners and hang out in the playroom, go to movie nights and share popsicles with the other kids who live in the complex. Theyll go visit the elderly couple upstairs who are surrogate grandparents, or watch the teenagers her daughter idolizes. When Geffen goes out of town with her daughter, neighbors will water her plants and give her rides to the airport, pick up her mail and watch her apartment. It feels so safe, knowing people are looking out for you, Geffen told me. If we were in a single family home, I dont know if Id feel as safe. It makes sense that people are forming more intentional communities as Americans feel more disjointed from the people around them. As Robert Putnam explained in his seminal book Bowling Alone, there has, in the past half-century, been a decline in the in-person type of social interaction that used to be a big part of daily life. One third of Americans have never interacted with their neighbors, according to economist Joe Cortright. Four decades ago, one third of Americans spent time with their neighbors at least twice a week, he found. People are really trying to create community and real important human connections where there might not have been any otherwise, DePaulo, the sociologist, told me. The Daybreak Cohousing Community in Portland (Alana Semuels / The Atlantic) In Colton, having a community creates all sorts of opportunities for both children and adults, residents say. Having people around with other parenting styles can be a plus, for example. As we walked through the yard, which was littered with old cars and trucks and refrigerators, Nagles young daughter approached and asked if she could go on the swing set. She didnt want Nagle to push her, though. She wanted another parent, Erin, who pushes the swings higher than the other parents do. Im a timid pusher, Nagle admits. Another resident, Appeya Galindo, used to be a pre-school teacher, and is like Mary Poppins, Nagle says. Other adults are good at music or woodworking or math. We have so many resources to teach our kids stuff, Chris Martell, Nagles partner, told me. Nagle says living in a larger family can be good for couples, too. Theres always someone to help hash out marital problems or lend a balanced perspective on arguments or discussions. You are a better version of yourself when people are watching you, she told me. Of course, there can be difficulties to sharing so little space between so many people. Finding shower time for 15 people is a big challenge. Martin remembers getting up one morning to shower before work, and finding the bathtub filled with water balloons from a project the night before. And there are invasions of space. Adam Murray and Appeya Gallindo live in one of the two bedrooms in the main house. For a while, they had the only TV/DVD player in the compound. Sometimes, the young kids would wander in when no one else was there to watch TV, and there would be potty training accidents. Murray remembers coming home and finding urine all over the bed - multiple times. And sometimes Martell or other adults would take refuge in the room and nap, or snack, and Murray would come home to find edamame or other food in the bed. The pissing thing frustrated me, Murray said. His fiancee, Appeya Galindo, says the messiness of the house sometimes bothers her, since theres no set cleaning schedule or chores assigned. When I visited, she was the one doing all the dishes after dinner. But she also says that when she thinks of the negatives, she immediately remembers the positives: The boisterous group dinners every night of the week, the quiet moments with a close friend who also happens to be your roommate, and game nights on Fridays. It would be easy to think This is bothering me right now, or that is, she told me. But then Id remember 1,000 things Id be missing out on if I left. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies weakened on Monday after tepid U.K. manufacturing data reinforced concerns over economic spillover stemming from the so-called "Brexit" vote. Separate surveys showed British manufacturing shrinking at the fastest pace in over three years, while business confidence tumbled. Many investors had brushed off Britain's decision to leave the European Union, hoping that global central banks would counteract any financial turmoil with fresh stimulus. But recent figures showed growing odds that Britain could soon face a recession, weighing on appetite for risk-bearing assets. The Mexican and Colombian pesos declined on Monday after strengthening sharply on Friday. A tumble in crude prices following increases in OPEC production and U.S. oil rig additions also pressured both currencies. Brazil's central bank decision to intervene once again after standing pat for a day contributed to a drop in the real. The country's benchmark Bovespa stock index slipped 0.3 percent as lower crude prices hit shares of state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA . But shares of card payment processor Cielo SA rose to a one-year high ahead of quarterly results after the market close. Analysts with BTG Pactual wrote that they expect strong earnings, with only slight deceleration in transaction volumes and yields. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1535 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % change change Latest MSCI Emerging Markets 883.27 1.12 9.99 MSCI LatAm 2371.37 -0.84 30.69 Brazil Bovespa 57110.04 -0.35 31.74 Mexico IPC 46865.54 0.44 9.05 Chile IPSA 4119.07 0.04 11.92 Chile IGPA 20374.18 0.03 12.25 Argentina MerVal 15590.06 -1.35 33.53 Colombia IGBC 9662.69 0 13.05 Venezuela IBC 12417.82 -4.23 -14.88 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.2656 -0.71 20.87 Mexico peso 18.8550 -0.50 -8.62 Chile peso 657 -0.23 8.02 Colombia peso 3094.1 -0.88 2.43 Peru sol 3.335 0.48 2.37 Argentina peso (interbank) 14.9500 0.40 -13.16 Argentina peso (parallel) 15.44 0.19 -7.58 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Additional reporting by Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Dan Grebler) Credit: Getty You've heard of it, you've seen the dramatic before and after shots on Instagram, and you may have even looked into getting it done yourself. For some, the Brazilian Blowout has become notorious in the hair realm for its transformative (and dare we say, life-changing) qualities, especially if you spend a good hour fighting with the round brush after lathering up. There are a few similar treatments out there that adopt the moniker, so before committing to one, you'll want to make sure the original Brazilian Blowout is what your salon carries--brazilianblowout.com has a comprehensive list of participating outposts nationwide. To help us bust the myths circulating around the beauty world, we asked hairstylist Jennifer Matos of New York City's Rita Hazan Salon to give us a crash-course on the treatment. "It works on just about every type and texture, even fine hair," she tells us. "Especially in the summer when humidity affects everyone, it can be game-changing, and your hair will be much easier to manage." Read on for your cheat sheet on the Brazilian Blowout. RELATED: These Are the 6 Best-Smelling Shampoos, According to InStyle's Beauty Editors What Is It? The Brazilian Blowout is a liquid keratin formula that bonds to your hair to create a protective layer around each strand, effectively diminishing frizz, sealing the cuticle, and providing armor against any external damage. The smoothing treatment originated in Brazil, and uses ingredients indegenous to the country including camu camu, annatto seed, and a?ai berry. After getting the treatment, your hair will be left hydrated, less frizzy, and more resilient to heat styling--not to mention, with an insanely glossy mirror-like shine. How Is This Different From Other Keratin Treatments? Although both end results are similar, the Brazilian Blowout has a mild formula that can be tailored to your hair type, and is a little less precious post-treatment. "After you get a keratin treatment, you don't have as many options," says Matos. "You can't tie it back, you can't style it, and you can't wash it for the three or four days that follow. With the Brazilian Blowout, you get it done, your stylist rinses it out, and that's it. You're back to your normal life again." Story continues Will It Make My Hair Completely Straight? Not unless you want it to. Your stylist will seal in the treatment with a pass of a 450-degree flat iron, and the more your stylist flat irons, the straighter your hair will be. "If you like to wear your hair curly, but just want to tame your frizz, this will help make your hair more manageable. Just be sure to tell your stylist exactly what you want, and they can tailor the treatment to either preserve the texture of your hair, or make it smoother," Matos explains. The overall goal is to make your strands less of a burden to work with, but keep in mind that if you have naturally curly hair, it won't air dry to a pin-straight texture. "You'll still have voluminous body with waves if you air dry it, but if it normally takes you 30 minutes with a blow dryer, this can help you cut down the time to just 15 minutes," she adds. Is It Safe? Matos confirms that the treatment is safe on any hair type, and actually helps to improve shine as well as moisture levels. "Everyone is concerned because of the formaldehyde in the formula, but there isn't any more in this than would be in your nail polish," she says. "There is a very, very small amount, but with any chemical processing, there is always a chain reaction of bonding the treatment to your hair." The only situation in which breakage does occur is when a stylist goes too hard with the flat iron, so be sure to tell your pro if your hair can't take a lot of heat. RELATED: 5 Signs You Probably Need a New Hair Dryer How Long Does It Take? "Overall, the process takes an hour to an hour and a half," Matos says. "The longest I've ever spent doing a Brazilian Blowout was around two hours, so it all depends on how much hair you have and how thick it is." Your stylist will begin by shampooing your hair three or four times to remove all the product and create a base for the treatment to adhere. Working section by section, the Brazilian Blowout formula will be applied from root to tip, then blow-dried smooth. A flat iron heated to 450 degrees will seal it in, then it's back to the shampoo bowl to rinse out the treatment, followed by a deep conditioning mask. Finally, your hair will once again be blow-dried smooth. How Long Will It Last? Provided that you remove the shampoos that contain sulfates and chlorine from your shower, your treatment should last anywhere from three to four months--possibly longer if you don't need to wash your hair as regularly as some. Once it wears off, your hair will return to its natural curl pattern. "You'll start to see it around the hairline first," Matos says. "That's your indicator of when it's time to get it redone." Even if you don't get it touched up right away, there's no obvious line of demarcation between the previously treated hair and new growth, unlike with other relaxing or straightening methods. What If I Have Color-Treated Hair? Brazilian Blowout is completely safe on color-treated strands, says Matos, and since it completely seals off the hair shaft, there's a chance your hue will stay vibrant for longer. "We've had clients who have gotten color done and followed it up with a Brazilian Blowout in the same day, and that would be the perfect time to do it since the cuticle is already open from the color," Matos tells us. "If you're doing this, just be sure to let your colorist know since doing one treatment after the other can make the color a bit brighter." What Should I Do After the Treatment? Unlike the post-keratin routine, there aren't any restrictions as to what you can and can't do in terms of activity, so you won't have to skip out on your hot yoga class. Additionally, since the treatment is rinsed out in the salon, you can wait as long or as little as you'd like to wash it, but again, just be sure to use a sulfate- and chlorine-free formula to preserve its lifespan. Bucharest (AFP) - Four former communist officials in Romania, including the head of the hated secret police and the then interior minister, will go on trial over the 1985 death of a dissident, prosecutors said Monday. Tudor Postelnicu, 84, who headed the Securitate until dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime fell in 1989, and George Homostean, 92, have been charged with crimes against humanity. They are accused of authorising the September 1985 arrest and abuse of poet and engineer Gheorghe Ursu and covering up the real causes of his subsequent death. Ursu, denounced by an informer for anti-government comments in his private diary, died after being beaten and tortured by investigators and fellow prisoners on orders of the Securitate. Two former Securitate officers will also stand trial, prosecutors said, calling it an "important step" in bringing communist era crimes to light. No date was set for the trial. In 2003 two lower-ranking Securitate officers were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but Ursu's son has campaigned for years for their superiors to face justice too. The announcement came on the same day as researchers said they had found the remains of nine more people near the site of a former camp for political prisoners in Periprava in south-east Romania. This brought to 20 the number of skeletons found there since 2013, said archeologist Gheorghe Petrov. They were in "unmarked graves" and appear to have been buried "without clothes," he said. More than 600,000 Romanians were imprisoned for political reasons under Romania's communist regime, one of the most brutal in Soviet-controlled eastern and central Europe. Candace Cameron Bure walked away with a Teen Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a Comedy on Sunday, and the Fuller House star couldn't contain her excitement about how her celebrated Netflix revival series has resonated with new generations. "It's totally awesome," Bure told ET's Denny Directo on the teal carpet outside the awards show at The Forum in Inglewood, California on Sunday. "It's because of the fans and the generations of fans [that] Fuller House is here and why we got all these nominations, so we are thrilled. Beyond thrilled!" RELATED: Candace Cameron Bure Warms Our Hearts With 'Full House' Throwback The 40-year-old actress and mother of three stunned on the carpet in a shimmering, black and metallic romper, which showed off her toned legs and svelte physique. Getty Images PHOTOS: Teen Choice Awards 2016 Arrivals Bure addressed her effective fitness regimen, which she routinely documents on social media and includes quite a lot of outdoor calisthenics, admitting that she's worked out on a lot of city streets. "New York, L.A. -- it doesn't matter. I'm jumping rope on every sidewalk," Bure joked. As she gets in shape, wins awards and stars in a hit comedy series, Bure is bound to pick up some attracted admirers from the new generation of Fuller House viewers. However, the former child star said that she never really had a crush on any celeb when she was a teen herself. "I don't think I had a [teen crush]," she recounted. "My brother was the heartthrob at the time and that's gross," Bure added, referring to her 45-year-old sibling, Kirk Cameron, who starred as Mike Seaver on the popular sitcom Growing Pains. WATCH: 7 Things We Learned From Candace Cameron Bure's Food and Fitness Journal And it seems show business is continuing to run in her family. Rumors began swirling recently that Bure's 17-year-old daughter, Natasha, auditioned for the upcoming season of The Voice. However, the proud mama played coy about the speculation. Story continues "I can't confirm that, but you'll have to tune in to find out if that's true or not true," she shared, admitting, "She is singing [and] pursuing a singing career." "She sang on The View for my 40th birthday and I'm very proud of her," Bure added. WATCH: Candace Cameron Bure & Jodie Sweetin Talk 'Fuller House' Season 2's 'Throwback Guest Stars' Related Articles Shannen Doherty has some devastating news about her battle with breast cancer. The 45-year-old actress reveals her cancer has spread in an exclusive sit-down with ET. I had breast cancer that spread to the lymph nodes, and from one of my surgeries we discovered that some of the cancer cells might have actually gone out of the lymph nodes, Doherty tells ETs Jennifer Peros. So for that reason, we are doing chemo, and then after chemo, Ill do radiation. WATCH: EXCLUSIVE Shannen Doherty Breaks Down Over Cancer Battle: I Dont Look Past Today Doherty also reveals she had a single mastectomy in May and is open about the most difficult part of fighting cancer. The unknown is always the scariest part, she shares. Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work? You know, am I going to have to go through this again, or am I going to get secondary cancer? Everything else is manageable. Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, its the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love. But Doherty has found amazing support from her team of doctors, including the surgeon who performed her mastectomy. He didnt want me to wake up with absolutely nothing, she recalls. It was very important to him that I didnt have that experience, and so, he put an expander in, so I have a tiny something there. Its cute and sometimes we fill it up and make it bigger, and sometimes we reduce it. Im being so personal right now, she acknowledges. But I think a lot of women can probably go, Yeah, Ive been through that. Its great though, you get to pick out what size you want. WATCH: Jason Priestley Speaks Out on Shannen Dohertys 'Incredibly Brave Cancer Battle Still, Doherty did have an emotional reaction to getting fitted for a new bra. It was traumatic and horrible, and I didnt think anything of it at the time, then my mom went with me and I broke down crying in the dressing room and ran out, she recalls, now able to laugh about it. And then sat in the car crying. Story continues Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2015, and has undergone three out of eight rounds of chemotherapy so far. One of the more difficult experiences has been losing her iconic hair the long dark locks and blunt bangs she has sported since her Brenda Walsh days. Thankfully the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress has the support of her mom, best friends, and her husband of five years, Kurt Iswarienko. With their help she was able to turn a heartbreaking moment into an inspiring one when she shared photos of herself shaving her head earlier this month. WATCH: Shannen Doherty Shares Photo of Her Completely Shaved Head: It Was an 'Impossibly Tough Day After my second treatment, my hair was really matted, like in dreadlocks. And I went to try and brush it out, and it just fell out, Doherty recalls. I just remember holding onto huge clumps of my hair in my hands, and just running to my mom crying, like, 'My hair, my hair, my hair, my hair. It was just shedding and it was driving me crazy, she continues. It was just clumps, and I was like, 'Just grab the kitchen scissors. And my moms like, 'Wait, wait, wait. Im just, like, 'Grab it. She went and grabbed the kitchen scissors, and put it in a ponytail and she just chopped it off. And it was this cute little bob, but it wasnt enough, you know, it was falling out. WATCH: Shannen Doherty Opens Up About Cancer Battle: People Think Im 'Unable to Perform Eventually, Doherty just decided to shave her entire head. We did stages, she recalls. We did a pixie. And then we did a mohawk, which was my favorite look. And then finally, we had to get the shaver thing and just buzz it off. Unfortunately, her husband wasnt able to be there with her during the process, but he was still cheering her on. He was in Mexico working and he was texting nonstop in the middle of his photoshoot like, 'Give me pictures, and are you ok? I wish I could be there, she shares. He was so stricken that he wasnt there with me but I sent him pictures and videos and he was like, 'Oh my god. Youre hot with no hair. So you know, everybody kind of made me feel better about it. PHOTOS: Shannen Doherty Makes First Red Carpet Appearance Since Breast Cancer Announcement Doherty, who wears scarves over her head some personally sent to her by designer Diane von Furstenberg also candidly describes her intense battle with the disease. I am in bed and it is a rush to the bathroom, she says about her after-chemo experience. Its, you know, youre throwing up every single second. After my first treatment I lost 10 pounds, instantly. Youre throwing up and the last thing you want to do is be in a car. You dont want to be moved, you cant eat. But my husband has to, you know, pick me up. He puts me in the car, he buckles me in, and he drives me to my oncologist and they hook me up to an IV and I get hydrated. Theres nothing going in my body, its all going out. Doherty admits to being self-conscious about her appearance. Though, above all, she hopes to inspire others fighting cancer. WATCH: Shannen Doherty Chronicles Shaving Her Head Amid Breast Cancer Battle People dont realize that cancer yes, it ages you but also, you can balloon up from the various meds, she explains. There are so many different reactions you have and so I just I didnt want someone to take a picture of me coming out of the grocery store and be like, 'Oh God, look at her. I wanted to put it out there the way it felt the best for me to put it out there, she adds. And also, if I could help one person then it makes me go, 'Oh OK. Its easier to live with having cancer if I know Im helping at least one person. WATCH: Ian Ziering on 'Tough Cookie Shannen Doherty: She Handled '90210 Flap, She Can Fight Cancer Last Wednesday, ET talked to Dohertys Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Jason Priestley, who called his on-screen sister a tough fighter. Tune into ET on Monday night for more on Doherty and watch the video below to hear Priestleys sweet words about her: Related Articles Real estate investment trust (REIT) Rayonier Inc. RYN is expected to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 3, 2016, after the market closes. The company reported a positive earnings surprise of 37.50% in the preceding quarter, and an average positive surprise of 5.16% for the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus estimate for second-quarter earnings is currently pegged at 3 cents per share. Lets see how things have shaped up prior to this announcement. Factors to Consider Rayonier constantly strives to improve the quality of its timberland holdings by divesting non-core timberlands and re-investing the proceeds toward strategic timberlands. In early May, in a bid to give a big facelift to its Pacific Northwest timberland portfolio, the company closed two separate transactions. The first one was the acquisition of Menasha Forest Products Corporation in partnership with Atlanta-based Forest Investment Associates (FIA) for $263 million. Notably, the acquisition of the 61,000 acres of top-quality timberlands, situated in Oregon and Washington was expected to give a boost to the companys sustainable yield and annual harvest. The second deal involved the disposition of 55,000 acres of pre-merchantable timberland in Washington to FIA for around $130 million. The disposition was expected to enhance the timberland portfolio in the Pacific Northwest region by augmenting the share of merchantable timber. Further, geographic diversity, better pricing power due to favorable demand-supply dynamics, bode well for the company. Moreover, recent developments in biogenetics & cloning, which are helping in the rapid growth of trees, are expected to drive its growth engine. However, similar to other timberland REITs, Rayoniers business is governed by rules of the federal and state forestry commissions. In other words, Rayonier has to comply with stricter regulatory requirements compared with other industries. Further, higher degree of volatility in timber prices and seasonality associated with forest products industry continue to pose headwinds before the company. Moreover, Rayonier faces cut-throat competition from national and local players regarding a number of factors, including quality and price. Also, wood products, in general, are encountering increasing rivalry from a variety of substitutes like non-wood and engineered wood products. Overall, Rayoniers performance during the quarter was inadequate to win analysts confidence. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged at 3 cents per share over the last seven days. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Rayonier will beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate currently stand at 3 cents, which translates into a Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Zacks Rank: Rayoniers Zacks Rank #3, when combined with a 0.00% Earnings ESP, makes surprise prediction difficult. Note that we caution against stocks with Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Story continues RAYONIER INC Price and EPS Surprise RAYONIER INC Price and EPS Surprise | RAYONIER INC Quote Stocks to Consider Here are a few stocks in the real estate investment trust sector you may want to consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post a positive surprise this quarter: Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. AHP has an Earnings ESP of +6.15% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will report results on Aug 3. EPR Properties EPR has an Earnings ESP of +1.72% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will release results on Aug 3. National Health Investors Inc. NHI has an Earnings ESP of +0.83% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company will report results on Aug 5. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report RAYONIER INC (RYN): Free Stock Analysis Report EPR PROPERTIES (EPR): Free Stock Analysis Report NATL HEALTH INV (NHI): Free Stock Analysis Report ASHFORD HOSP PR (AHP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Atlanta (AFP) - President Barack Obama tore into those "trash-talking" the US military and disrespecting the families of fallen soldiers Monday, in a thinly veiled attack on Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump. "As commander-in-chief, I'm pretty tired of some folks trash-talking America's military and troops," Obama told a Disabled American Veterans convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump, who is vying with Democrat Hillary Clinton to succeed Obama, has called the US military a "disaster" and caused outcry by repeatedly disparaging the family of a slain Muslim American soldier. Khizr Khan -- whose son Humayun was killed in Iraq in 2004 -- accused Trump of smearing Muslims and having "sacrificed nothing" himself. That met a barrage of criticism from the Manhattan real estate mogul, who claimed he was "viciously attacked." Trump's response has prompted outcry from fellow Republicans, who have praised so-called "Gold Star families" -- those who have lost loved ones in war. Democrats have been quick to seize on the comments as evidence Trump is ill suited to be commander in chief. "No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," said Obama. "Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine." "We have to do everything we can for those families and honor them. And be humbled by them." Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f162404%2fbddeb3224efb4b86a3f039a29e700d16 LONDON A British lingerie brand whose body positive adverts were removed from Facebook has succeeded in its fight to have the ads reinstated. SEE ALSO: This is the plus-size ad campaign we've been waiting for Plus size lingerie brand Curvy Kate placed the adverts as part of its Scantilly collection #TheNewSexy campaign celebrating diversity. The campaign which features a transgender woman, an amputee, and someone living with alopecia is described by the brand as "a diverse range of hot women, all spreading an inspirational and empowering message." However, three of the ads were removed by Facebook after it deemed them to be in violation of its advertising policy, which prohibits "ads that promote sexual acts, sexual videos and publications (ex: magazines, blogs, Pages), strip clubs, or adult shows. The banned ads include trans model Effie's story. And a post about plus size half-cup bras. There is still such a lack of diversity in the media and we wanted to share this image to challenge social norms," wrote a spokesperson for Curvy Kate in a blog post. "#TheNewSexy calls for women of all shapes, backgrounds, looks and sizes to be represented in the media and looks to redefine how society views the word sexy," the spokesperson continued. After receiving a notification from Facebook stating the reason for the banning of the ads, the brand lodged an appeal. Frustrated with the lack of response from Facebook, the brand decided to take matters into their own hands by encouraging fans to spread the word about the removal of the ads. "These images are not hurtful but celebrate a message of diversity, strength and beauty. As you know, Scantilly is Fearless Lingerie for DD to HH cups so we thought, lets be fearless," the spokesperson wrote in a blog post. Story continues Fans of the brand shared the blog post penned by Curvy Kate, and commented with words of support on the Scantilly Facebook page. Thankfully, the plan worked. Facebook responded to the company's appeal, apologised for the error and approved the ad. Image: curvy kate / facebook In a statement emailed to Mashable, a spokesperson for Facebook said that the volume of adverts reviewed by Facebook means that mistakes sometimes happen. "Our team processes millions of advertising images each week, and in some instances we incorrectly prohibit ads," said Facebook's spokesperson. "This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologise for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad," the spokesperson continued. The adverts have since been reinstated on the lingerie collection's Facebook page. By Gina Cherelus (Reuters) - A war of words between Donald Trump and the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq in 2004 is dominating the election campaign. Khizr and Ghazala Khan were criticized by the Republican presidential candidate after they appeared at the Democratic National Convention last Thursday and shared the story of their son, U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan. The Khans are what is known in the United States as a "Gold Star Family," meaning they have lost an immediate relative in a military action. The gold star refers to the centerpiece of flags given to these families. On Monday, more than 20 Gold Star Families wrote to Trump condemning his treatment of the couple, saying he was "cheapening the sacrifice" of soldiers who have died and demanding that he apologize to the Khans. The following are some facts about Gold Star Families: * What are Gold Star Families? Gold Star Families have lost a member of their immediate family in a war or other conflict while serving with the U.S. military. The military awards each family an official flag bearing a gold star or a lapel pin with a gold star on a purple background. Called a service flag, families with relatives on active duty display a flag with a blue star. * History of Gold Star Families Grace Seibold, whose son was killed in Europe in 1918 during World War One, founded a group that came to be known as American Gold Star Mothers for women who lost sons in the war. In the same year, President Woodrow Wilson approved a suggestion to let U.S. women wear a gold gilt star on a traditional black mourning arm band signifying their loss. In 1936, the United States began observing Gold Star Mothers Day on the last Sunday of September. An organization called The Gold Star Wives was formed before the end of World War Two, and the Gold Star Lapel Button was created in 1947. The term Gold Star Families was widely used after World War Two. * Different Service Flags A blue star signifies a relative serving in the military while a gold star means a family member has died in service. During World War One, relatives of active duty service members flew service flags bearing a blue star. As the gold star tradition took hold, families covered the blue star with a gold one to symbolize their loss. These flags were often hung in windows. * How many Gold Star Families are there? The National Gold Star Family Registry notes on its website that 472,045 fallen service members have been registered by relatives. http://goldstarfamilyregistry.com/history * Which families wrote to Trump? Monday's letter to Trump was signed by relatives of U.S. service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korea. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Toni Reinhold) Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas. The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak: How do people become infected? Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found. How do you treat Zika? There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) had said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots. How dangerous is it? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years. According to the World Health Organization, there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. In addition, the agency said it could cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. Conclusive proof of the damage caused by Zika may take months or years. Brazil reports the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly at more than 1,700 as doctors and Brazilian health officials find that some suspected cases of microcephaly are not the disorder. Suspected ones under investigation declined to 3,257. Brazil registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus from February until April 2. Current research in Brazil indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, but health officials have warned an impact could be seen in later weeks. Recent studies have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue. What are the symptoms of Zika infection? People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms. The symptoms are similar to those of dengue or chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same type of mosquito. How can Zika be contained? Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries where they may be exposed to Zika. How widespread is the outbreak? Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 51 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brazil has been the country most affected. (http://1.usa.gov/1ovAJyh) Africa (1): Cape Verde Americas (42): Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saba, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelmy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Eustatius, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela. Oceania/Pacific Islands (8): American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. What is the history of the Zika virus? The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations. Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO. Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? The World Health Organization (WHO) said sexual transmission is "relatively common" and has advised pregnant women not to travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of Zika virus. It also advised women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant. The U.S. CDC is investigating about a dozen cases of possible sexual transmission. Those cases involved possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners. But the CDC issued updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection on July 25, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner. A reported case of female-to-male sexual transmission in New York City, and limited human and non-human primate data indicating that Zika virus RNA can be detected in vaginal secretions, led to the new warning, the agency said. CDC's expanded warnings on sexual exposure to Zika now caution against sex without a condom or other barrier method of protection with any person, male or female, who has traveled to or lives in an area with Zika, including female to female transmission with a pregnant partner. British health officials reported Zika was found in a man's semen two months after he was infected, suggesting the virus may linger in semen long after infection symptoms fade. The PAHO said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism. There is no evidence Zika can be transmitted to babies through breast milk. The WHO has identified Zika cases in Argentina, Chile, France, Italy and New Zealand as likely caused by sexual transmission. What other complications are associated with Zika? Zika has also been associated with other neurological disorders, including serious brain and spinal cord infections. The long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear. Other uncertainties surround the incubation period of the virus and how Zika interacts with other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue. (Compiled by the Americas Desk) A year ago Donald Trump got away with questioning the heroism of Senator John McCain, who as a young Navy fighter pilot was shot down over North Vietnam, tortured and held for five years in the infamous hellhole prison nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. Now its payback time. McCain this morning lashed out at the GOP presidential nominee for his attack on the family of Army Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim killed in Iraq in 2004 as he sought to save his troops from a suicide bomber. Related: Trump Melts Down Spectacularly in ABC Interview In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement, the Arizona Republican said in a very personal statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. Noting that McCains have served in the uniform of America for hundreds of years both his father and grandfather were admirals the senator said, I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. [But] I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent. Arizona is Trump country, or at least it was when he beat his nearest rival in the GOP primary there last March by more than 22 points. And McCain is in a tough re-election battle. So while it took a measure of courage to speak out, hes not the only member of his party dismayed that Trump would pick a fight with the family of a dead soldier. McCains close colleague and fellow vet, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said in a statement, "This is going to a place where we've never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen. There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics that you don't do like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you." Story continues Related: Trump Lashes Out at DNC Critics -- Except for One At the Democratic National Convention, Pakistani-born lawyer Khizr Kahn -- with his wife, Ghazala, silently at his side invoked the memory of his son and mounted a forceful and emotional attack on Trump and his proposed plan to restrict Muslim immigration from certain countries. Kahn said Trump had sacrificed nothing for America. Trump responded in an interview on ABCs This Week that aired yesterday, saying he had made plenty of sacrifices, worked very hard and created thousands of jobs. (Even before the controversy erupted, daughter Ivanka Trump spoke in a video at the Republican National Convention about the great sacrifice her Dad has made in stepping away from the business he has built to run for president.) The implication that Trumps sacrifices were somehow comparable to laying down your life for your country led to the inevitable #TrumpSacrifices on Twitter. One wag wrote: "After the bankruptcies, I had to make cutbacks, so I had my toilet plated in 14k gold instead of 24k. I know real hardship." Related: Clinton accuses Trump of scapegoating Muslim soldier's parents Meantime, the GOP leadership finds itself on a new Trump tightrope. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he rejects a religious test for immigrants and said Captain Kahn and other Muslim soldiers who died for America should be honored but did not criticize Trump directly. And Former Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trumps running mate, tried to calm the waters while at the same time defending the plan to suspend immigration from countries that are hotbeds of radical Islamic terrorism. Pence said he and Trump believe Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American." But social media remains outraged. Results on 30dB, a website that gauges social media sentiment -- and for which I consult -- showed an 86 percent negative reaction to Trumps handling of the controversy on Saturday and Sunday. The results do not include socials reaction to Captain Kahns family or his story. And this afternoon, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) issued a statement saying: "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression. There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed." But Trump doesnt seem to be sandpapering his words as he responds to a controversy that could be especially damaging to his candidacy.This morning at 6:10 (EST) he tweeted: Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Families of nearly a dozen fallen soldiers on Monday demanded an apology from Donald Trump for repugnant remarks he made in response to the emotional speech given by a father of a slain Muslim Army captain at last weeks Democratic National Convention. Eleven Gold Star families, those who lost loved ones serving the countrys military, wrote a joint letter to the Republican presidential nominee, accusing him of cheapening the sacrifice of their deceased relatives in the way he responded to the parents of Captain Humayun S.M. Khan. Captain Khan, of Virginia, died in Iraq in 2004. His father, Khizr Khan, had criticized Trumps call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. last Thursday. Trump, in response, said he has made a lot of sacrifices by creating tens of thousands of jobs during an interview with ABC News. He also questioned whether Khizr Khans wife, Ghazala, who was silent on stage next to her husband, was allowed to speak publicly as a Muslim woman. Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us, the Gold Star families said in their statement. When you question a mothers pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice, it continued. You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost. You are minimizing the risk our service members make for all of us. The families called on the real estate mogul to apologize to the Khans, all Gold Star families and every American. Ours is a sacrifice you will never know, they wrote. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know. Trump, first on Sunday and then again on Monday, tweeted that he was viciously attacked by Khizr Khan. Khan has said Trumps reaction proves that this person is void of empathy. In a new interview Monday, Ghazala Khan told CNN her religion and culture has never stopped her from speaking out. Her husband called for Republican leaders and Trumps advisors to rebuke him and set him right. This is proof of his ignorance and arrogance, Khizr Khan said. Somebody should tell him that there is equal dignity, equal protection of law in this country. From Delish In some of the nation's most cosmopolitan cities, including San Francisco and Brooklyn, upper middle class people pay at least $80 to eat food that's past its prime-in a dumpster. It sounds absurd, like hipster foodie-ness at its worst. But the meals are prepared by talented chefs, the dumpster is scrubbed and decked out so it's Instagram-worthy, and, best of all, the purpose is to raise money and awareness for a good cause. So, actually, maybe it's not as awful as it seems. This semi-regular event is called Salvage Supperclub, which, according to NPR, is the design of Josh Treuhaft, an industrial designer from New York, who has hosted them in Brooklyn, Berkley, California, and San Francisco. The food is comprised of ingredients that would have been thrown away. The food is safe and nutritious, according to The Wall Street Journal. Food writer Sarah Henry attended a Supperclub event in San Francisco in June. Here's what was on the menu: Wilted basil, bruised plums, past-their-prime tomatoes, vegetable pulp, surplus squash, whole favas (we're talking even the tough outer layer), garbanzo bean water, dairy whey, sweet potato skins and overripe, peel-on bananas. Believe it or not, Henry said everything except the overripe, peel-on bananas were "finger-licking good." The dinners are meant to raise awareness around food waste. Between 25 and 40% of food in the U.S. will be thrown out, according to Feeding America, a nonprofit fighting to end hunger. "There's all these people in [New York City] who spend extraordinary amounts on food, spend hours talking about their food and taking pictures of their food," Treuhaft told The Huffington Post in 2014. "So I wondered, 'Would people be interested in eating great meals in a social setting that is experiential, but do it in a way that's raising awareness about the fact that there's all this food that's getting thrown away?'" Story continues The answer, he's concluded, is a resounding yes. But raising awareness isn't the only reason for the dinners, which range from $80 to $125, according to Treuhaft. Profits from the events are donated to charities. The San Francisco event that Sarah Henry attended raised money for Food Runners, an organization that takes excess food from the city's restaurants and delivers them to people in need. But what about those dumpsters? That's weird - right? - that they eat dinner in a place for garbage. The dumpsters are, however, beautifully decorated, with hardwood floors, a communal table, twinkle lights, and bar towel napkins. In fact, it's probably nicer than many of our kitchens. "The dumpster itself was so eye-catching that Treuhaft spent much of the dinner chatting with strangers who stopped to observe the scene. Some snapped photos," The Wall Street Journal said of a Salvage Supperclub event in Brooklyn in 2014. But Treuhaft, the founder of Salvage Supperclub, admitted that casual observers have questioned the dumpster. After a dinner in one of Brooklyn's most hipster-y enclaves, Williamsburg, a woman approached him and said that eating in a dumpster was insensitive when there are homeless people in the area. "I was taken aback since that was never an angle I had considered," he told The Huffington Post, "but when I explained what the Salvage Supperclub was actually about, she totally lit up. She had judged the event as another shameless hipster foodie experience and written it off, but she ended up being totally supportive and enthused." The dumpster thing is still kind of weird, but hey, at least it's for a good cause. Follow Delish on Instagram. While his feud with Khizir and Ghazala Khan might have dominated headlines, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump also caused a stir when he seemed to suggest in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that Russia hadnt invaded Ukraine, despite the fact that Russia annexed Crimea, removing it from Ukraines control, in 2014. On CNN Monday, network journalist Fareed Zakaria suggested this was just another instance of Trump being ill-equipped to talk about todays issues. Every time it is demonstrated that Donald Trump is plainly ignorant about some basic public policy issues, some well-known fact, he comes back with a certain bravado and tries to explain it away with a tweet or statement, he told host Wolf Blitzer. He did it on Brexit; he did it on the nuclear triad; he did it really on how U.S. debt markets work; he thought that Tim Kaine was the governor of New Jersey; and now with this. It is amusing to watch. How he is going to be pulling it off this time? And, What is he going to argue? Usually, he adds that the press hates him. If Trump thinks the press hates him, what Zakaria said next will only strengthen that notion. There is a term for this kind of thing, and this is the mode of a bull**** artist, and its sometimes amusing, its entertaining, if the guy is trying to sell you a condo or a car, but for the president of the United States, its deeply worrying. Trump would tweet on Monday, When I said in an interview that Putin is not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down, I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea! The GOP nominee defended Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling Stephanopoulos, You know, the people of Crimea, from what Ive heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. Zakaria said this language smacks of another world leader from our recent past, claiming, It is important to understand that the argument that Donald Trump is putting forward about Crimea is the same argument that Adolf Hitler made about the Sudeten Czechoslovaks. It is in many ways the argument made about the Austrians that these people want to be part of Germany, so Im just going to go in and invade the country anyway. Story continues Trump and Clinton Surrogates Get in Volatile Argument Over GOP Candidates Feud with Khans: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or leave your comments below. From Delish In today's "why didn't we think of that first?" and "wow, sometimes people can be so nice" news, Food and Wine reports on a Everytable, a fast food restaurant in Los Angeles, that is doing something special with the prices for its food. Fast food has recently become healthier, which is great, but also causes prices to rise. For low-income households, this can be a problem, which is why Everytable has decided to vary its prices by local income levels. Set to open with two locations in L.A. this summer, a Jamaican jerk chicken bowl with coconut rice and plantains, the most expensive meal on the menu, will be sold for just $4.50 at their South L.A. location. Across the city in downtown L.A., the same meal will be offered for $9, double the other price. While the "first two locations are only about two miles apart ... the needs of each community are so different," explains co-founder David Foster. The South L.A. location has more of a grab-and-go vibe than the Downtown location, meaning that it doesn't require as many employees and can keep costs down in that sense. "I think it's similar to Toms," co-founder Sam Polk said, but instead of a someone somewhere in the world getting a free pair of shoes when you make a purchase, a person only a few miles away from you will be able to afford a healthy meal. Faith in humanity = restored . Follow Delish on Instagram. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A FBI electronics technician pleaded guilty on Monday to having illegally acted as an agent of China, admitting that he on several occasions passed sensitive information to a Chinese official. Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, was employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 1997. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to one count of having illegally acted as an agent of a foreign government. Chun, who was arrested in March on a set of charges made public only on Monday, admitted in court that from 2011 to 2016 he acted at the direction of a Chinese official, to whom he passed the sensitive information. That information included the identity and travel plans of an FBI agent; an internal organizational chart; and photos he took of documents in a restricted area related to surveillance technology, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Emil Bove. "At the time, I knew that was wrong, and I'm sorry for my actions," said Chun, who was born in China and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Chun, 46, was released on bail following the court hearing. Under a plea agreement, he has waived his right to appeal any sentence of 27 months or less. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2. "The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm," Jonathan Marvinny, his lawyer, said in a statement. "He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life." Chun was initially charged in March for having made false statements in order to conceal his contact with several Chinese nationals and a Chinese-based computer printer manufacturer called Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd. The complaint said Chun was asked by individuals affiliated with the company to perform research and consulting tasks in exchange for, among other things, foreign travel. Kolion had "government backing," and he was asked by associates in China who "deal with" the government to consult for it, Chun was recorded telling an undercover FBI agent in 2015, the complaint said. Story continues According to the complaint, Chun told the agent that his Chinese associates sometimes paid for prostitutes for him and provided hotels when he traveled to China. He said his parents urged him to work with those individuals because they were investors in Kolion, the complaint said. Kolion did not respond to a request for comment. New York (AFP) - A 46-year-old FBI electronics technician pled guilty in New York on Monday to acting as an agent of China and passing along sensitive information to a Chinese government official. Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, faces up to 10 years behind bars when sentenced by a federal judge on December 2, US prosecutors said. He was arrested in March, having worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nine years and getting top secret security clearance in 1998. He confessed to collecting sensitive information and allowing it to be passed onto a Chinese official in exchange for financial reward and concealing that relationship from the FBI. Information that he disclosed included the identity and potential travel patterns of an FBI agent, information about the internal structure of the bureau and surveillance technologies used by the FBI, US officials said. Chun, who was born in China and became a naturalized US citizen after moving to America, pled guilty to one count in court on Monday. Manhattan's top prosecutor, Preet Bharara, said the crime "betrays our nation and threatens our security." "When the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," he said. NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth of 2 percent is a "satisfactory outlook", as anything stronger than that could force the Federal Reserve to handle monetary policy more aggressively, New York Fed President William Dudley said on Monday. "We're growing 2 percent and we're pretty close to full employment. If we grew much faster than that, we would probably take monetary policy more aggressively," Dudley told reporters on the sidelines of an international central bankers conference in Bali. "So 2 percent growth is probably a pretty satisfactory outlook." Dudley earlier on Monday said he expected 2 percent growth over the next 18 months after a "sluggish" second quarter. (Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Sam Holmes) (Reuters) - Fidessa Group Plc said on Monday it expected revenue to rise 4 percent this year on a constant currency basis as changing U.S. and European regulations boost demand for its trading software. Shares of the company, which provides trading and investment technology for the financial industry, rose as much as 7 percent to a 16-year high. The stock was the top percentage gainer on London's FTSE 250 index. Regulators are putting a number of measures in place to prevent market abuse in the financial industry by requiring companies to make pre-trade risk checks, enhance transparency during trade reporting and monitoring algorithms. Many firms have picked Fidessa's software - which manages different asset classes such as foreign exchange, futures and equities trading through one system - to cut costs at a time of growing compliance burdens. Fidessa said it was planning a number of major software releases in 2017 as it expected clients to update their systems to meet new regulations, including the MiFID II trading rules set to come into effect from January 2018. These regulations are expected to be implemented across Europe despite Brexit. Fidessa gets about a third of its sales from Europe. Fidessa's largest opportunity would come from cross-asset execution platforms, Jefferies' analysts said. The company said on June 6 that it signed a deal to provide the platform to securities service provider ABN AMRO Clearing. Fidessa's revenue rose 9 percent to 153.8 million pounds ($203.7 million) in the six months ended June 30, partly boosted by the weakness in the pound ahead of Brexit. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose 4 percent. Over the period, the pound lost about 7 percent against the dollar and about 14 percent against the Japanese yen, two of Fidessa's main trading currencies. Fidessa said it would see further revenue gains if the sterling remained at current levels. Panmure Gordon analyst George O'Connor hiked his full-year forecast for earnings per share to 88.5 pence from 83.7 pence. ($1 = 0.7550 pounds) (Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair and Anil D'Silva) (Adds background, details on outbreak, disease) By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The state of Florida has identified 10 more cases of Zika virus caused by local mosquitoes and has asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to send in experts to help with its investigation of the outbreak. The state now has 14 cases of Zika caused by locally transmitted mosquitoes, according to a statement issued on Monday by Florida Governor Rick Scott. Scott said the state has called on the CDC to activate a CDC Emergency Response Team (CERT) to assist the Florida Department of Health and other partners in their investigation, sample collection and mosquito control efforts. The team will consist of public health experts who will augment Florida's response efforts, Scott said. Reuters was first to report that as of last Friday, Florida had not activated a CERT team to help with its investigation, raising concerns from infectious disease experts that the state was not taking every step it could to contain the spread of Zika in the continental United States. CERT teams are a key part of the CDC's national Zika plan and are intended to help local officials track and contain the virus. A similar team was sent to Utah earlier this month to investigate how a person may have become infected while caring for a Zika-infected patient, before local officials went public with the case. The state said it began investigating its first suspected case of locally transmitted Zika on July 7. According to CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben, the CDC first became aware of the investigation on July 18, a day before the state announced its investigation into possible local transmission. Florida on Friday said the first four cases of Zika in the state likely were caused by mosquitoes, the first sign that the virus is circulating locally, although it has yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the disease. Scott said in a statement the 10 new cases of Zika also were likely caused by the bite of a local mosquito. The Florida Department of Health said six of the 10 new cases are asymptomatic and were identified through the door-to-door community survey and testing that it is conducting. The health department said it believes active transmission of Zika is restricted to 1 square-mile (2.6 square km) area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown Miami. The state health department has been testing individuals in three locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for possible local transmissions through mosquito bites. Based on its investigations, two locations have been ruled out for possible local transmission of Zika. 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. Scott said women who live within the impacted area and are either pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant should contact their doctor for guidance and to receive a Zika prevention kit. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Bill Trott) TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A gay nightclub in Florida that was the site in June of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Monday cited an "inadvertent" social media post for reports that it was reopening as a memorial to the 49 people who were killed there. "OOPS! Looks like we got the medias pulse racing with an inadvertent Instagram posting that incorrectly stated the Pulse Nightclub was reopening as a memorial," said a statement attributed to Pulse nightclub, in Orlando. The statement was provided to Reuters in an email from Sara Brady, a media contact for the club. The news was posted late on Sunday to social media accounts for the OnePULSE Foundation, described as the official nonprofit of the club's owners, created to assist victims. The website also described its mission as to "contribute to the creation of a permanent memorial at the existing site of Pulse Nightclub." "You heard right! We will be reopening Pulse as a memorial for the 49 lives who were taken from us on June 12th," the organization said in a Facebook post that was later taken down. An updated post said the foundation would be fundraising for a memorial, without providing specifics. The club's statement said that Pulse remains closed and its owner wishes to someday create a memorial at the site. It noted that no money had yet been collected. "Pulse is NOT reopening as a memorial," Brady said in an email, responding to a request for additional information. She did not provide further detail. The gunman in the June 12 attack, Omar Mateen, was killed by police after he took hostages during a three-hour standoff inside the nightclub. He also wounded 53 people in the attack, during which he pledged allegiance to Islamic extremists. U.S. authorities said Mateen was self-radicalized and acted alone, without assistance or orders from abroad. (Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Steve Orlofcky) FMC Corp. FMC will release its second-quarter 2016 results after the bell on Aug 2. The chemical maker swung to a profit in first-quarter 2016. Adjusted earnings topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate (an 11.54% positive surprise). Revenues rose by double digits year over year on strong gains in the Agricultural Solutions division, but missed expectations. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider FMC Corp., in May, raised its earnings guidance for 2016. The company expects adjusted earnings in the band of $2.55 to $2.85 per share (up from the prior view of $2.50 to $2.80 per share) for the year, representing a 9% year-over-year rise at the mid-point of the forecast range. The company expects second-quarter earnings for its Agricultural Solutions division in the band of $90 million to $110 million. For the Health and Nutrition segment, earnings for the quarter are expected to be between $49 million and $53 million. Moreover, FMC Corp. expects earnings for its Lithium unit in the range of $10 million to $14 million for the second quarter. FMC Corp. should gain from strategic investments, Cheminova A/S acquisition and new product launches. The company remains committed to expand its market position and strengthen its portfolio. Acquisitions and development agreements are also adding strength to the companys agricultural business. In its lithium business, the company is seeing strong demand across specialty end markets. The company is also reducing corporate costs through reduced discretionary spending, global procurement initiatives and layoffs. FMC Corp. has also restructured its operations in Brazil to align it with market conditions and rationalize product offerings. Moreover, the sale of the alkali chemicals business has enabled FMC Corp. to de-lever its balance sheet to an extent which is best fit for the company. The company is also making a good progress with the integration of the acquired operations of Cheminova A/S. The buyout reinforces FMC Corp.'s core agriculture business and expands its access in major agricultural end markets. The company expects to deliver $60 million to $70 million of Cheminova-related cost savings in 2016. However, FMC Corp. faces challenging agriculture market fundamentals. Conditions in Brazil still remain weak, evident from a decline in volumes due to lower demand. The company expects agricultural market conditions to remain challenging in North America in 2016 due to elevated channel inventory levels and expected lower farm incomes. The global crop protection market continues to face several woes, which has resulted in a difficult operating environment. FMC Corp. expects the global crop protection chemical market to decline by a mid to high single-digit clip in 2016 due to weak conditions in North America and Brazil. FMC Corp. is also exposed to significant currency headwinds, stemming from a strong greenback. In particular, a slump in the value of the Brazilian real has created significant headwinds, hurting earnings in the company's Agricultural Solutions segment. The companys health and nutrition business is also susceptible to currency headwinds due to its significant euro exposure. Story continues FMC CORP Price and EPS Surprise FMC CORP Price and EPS Surprise | FMC CORP Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that FMC Corp. is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for FMC Corp. is 0.00% as both the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 67 cents. Zacks Rank: FMC Corp.s Zacks Rank #2, when combined with a 0.00% ESP, makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some stocks in the basic materials space that you may want to consider, as our model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Trinseo SA TSE has an Earnings ESP of +6.06% and a Zacks Rank #1. U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. SLCA has an Earnings ESP of +8.70% and a Zacks Rank #2. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. IFF has an Earnings ESP of +0.71% and a Zacks Rank #2. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report FMC CORP (FMC): Free Stock Analysis Report TRINSEO SA (TSE): Free Stock Analysis Report INTL F & F (IFF): Free Stock Analysis Report US SILICA HOLDI (SLCA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research - Brazilian police said they rescued the kidnapped mother-in-law of British Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone unharmed after more than a week in captivity and arrested two men over her abduction. Aparecida Schunck Flosi Palmeira -- the 67-year-old mother of Ecclestone's Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi -- had been kidnapped on July 22. Schunck spoke briefly to television cameras as she arrived at a police station after being freed on Sunday, before hugging waiting relatives. "No one should kidnap anyone in Sao Paulo because they will get arrested," Schunck said, her voice breaking with emotion. "The civil police anti-kidnapping division freed the mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone this Sunday evening. She emerged unharmed," the state security service said in a statement. "Two men were detained at the place where she was held captive in the city of Cotia". AFP The wife of late U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose life story was the subject of the Clint Eastwood-directed film American Sniper, has joined the ranks of Newt Gingrich and Judith Miller as a contributor to Fox News Channel. Taya Kyle, founder of the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, a support network for military families, "will provide military and family commentary across FNC's daytime and primetime programming," according to a statement Monday from the cable news channel. Kyle made her first appearance as a contributor on Fox & Friends on Monday morning, weighing in on the debate about whether retired senior military officials should publicly endorse presidential candidates. Two retired generals who spoke at the DNC and RNC political conventions drew criticism from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, who said high-ranking officers should be kept "off the stage." Kyle took issue with Dempsey's disapproval. "These guys are retired," she said. "They spent their careers fighting for all of our right to freedom of speech, so I think once they're out, they should be the first in line to exercise their right to free speech." Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Read more: The Day Chris Kyle Died: Text Messages and Terror in the 'American Sniper's' Final Hours With Killer Eddie Ray Routh Paris (AFP) - French authorities have shut down around 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam since December, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. "There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don't respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women," the minister said. "That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others." Cazeneuve was speaking after a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France, about 120 of which are considered to be preaching radical Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam. He said that since 2012, 80 people had been expelled from France, and dozens more expulsions were under way, without giving further details. The meeting comes as France struggles with an unprecedented jihadist threat that has seen a raft of terror attacks, most recently a truck massacre in Nice which killed 84, and the murder of a Catholic priest in the Normandy village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The repeat attacks have raised tough questions about security failures, but also about the foreign funding of many mosques. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week that he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam. Cazeneuve confirmed that authorities were working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee total transparency in financing of mosques "with rigorous respect for secular principles." New York (AFP) - After months of suspense on Frank Ocean's long-awaited new album "Boys Don't Cry," the artist on Monday shared some news -- that he can saw wood. The mellow hip-hop star put on his website a mysterious livestream that appeared to show him doing woodwork next to two tables and amplifiers. Little else was clear about the livestream, which by afternoon showed the room was empty and the only sound was static. Fans on social media speculated about the meaning, with one theory being that Ocean was explaining that he was still working on the album. Ocean has revealed little about "Boys Don't Cry" other than the title. His website shows a library due-date card with a series of dates; the only future one is November 13, raising speculation that is the album's release date. Ocean won wide acclaim for his 2012 debut album "Channel Orange," which defies easy classification by bringing together R&B, jazz and funk with Ocean's gentle, often-falsetto voice. Much of the album revolves around feelings of first and unrequited love. Ocean later revealed that his first love was a man, a rare openness in the often macho world of hip-hop that led stars including Jay Z to applaud him for coming out. At least one sign was unambiguous on his website's livestream -- the logo of Apple Music, the streaming service of the tech giant. Apple Music has sought out exclusives as it tries to challenge streaming leader Spotify, although it was unclear if "Boys Don't Cry" will be among them. Canadian rapper Drake initially made his "Views," the top-selling album released this year in the United States, an exclusive on Apple Music and Apple's iTunes. Music-streaming service Tidal, led by Jay Z, has also had initial exclusives for some of the biggest releases this year -- Beyonce's "Lemonade" and Rihanna's "Anti." After months of suspense on Frank Ocean's long-awaited new album "Boys Don't Cry," the artist on Monday shared some news -- that he can saw wood. The mellow hip-hop star put on his website a mysterious livestream that appeared to show him doing woodwork next to two tables and amplifiers. Little else was clear about the livestream, which by afternoon showed the room was empty and the only sound was static. Fans on social media speculated about the meaning, with one theory being that Ocean was explaining that he was still working on the album. Ocean has revealed little about "Boys Don't Cry" other than the title. His website shows a library due-date card with a series of dates; the only future one is November 13, raising speculation that is the album's release date. Ocean won wide acclaim for his 2012 debut album "Channel Orange," which defies easy classification by bringing together R&B, jazz and funk with Ocean's gentle, often-falsetto voice. Much of the album revolves around feelings of first and unrequited love. Ocean later revealed that his first love was a man, a rare openness in the often macho world of hip-hop that led stars including Jay Z to applaud him for coming out. At least one sign was unambiguous on his website's livestream -- the logo of Apple Music, the streaming service of the tech giant. Apple Music has sought out exclusives as it tries to challenge streaming leader Spotify, although it was unclear if "Boys Don't Cry" will be among them. Canadian rapper Drake initially made his "Views," the top-selling album released this year in the United States, an exclusive on Apple Music and Apple's iTunes. Music-streaming service Tidal, led by Jay Z, has also had initial exclusives for some of the biggest releases this year -- Beyonce's "Lemonade" and Rihanna's "Anti." Lyon (AFP) - A French prosecutor on Monday dismissed a probe into allegations that Cardinal Philippe Barbarin covered up the sexual abuse of Scouts, in a case which shook the country's Catholic Church. Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon in central France since 2002, had been accused of failing to remove a priest from his diocese when he became aware the man had sexually abused young boys 25 years ago. At the end of a preliminary investigation in March, prosecutor Marc Cimamonti had said the accusation that Barbarin had covered up the abuse had not been proven. Barbarin has said he learnt in 2007 that the priest, Bernard Preynat, had been accused of sexually abusing Scouts in the past. Preynat was only charged in January after a victim who was allegedly abused in the 1980s realised in 2015 that the priest was still in service. Several other victims have also come forward. Barbarin has said that when he learnt of the priest's past he immediately called a meeting with him. When he asked Preynat if he had committed further abuses since 1991 the priest swore he had not. "You can reproach me for having believed him... but covering up means knowing and letting it happen," Barbarin said, adding he had "absolutely never" done that. Barbarin said Monday that he "welcomed" the decision by prosecutors and praised the work of survivors in advancing the battle against sexual abuse. "I hope this is an end to the matter and the the diocese can work together with the victims who have never been considered adversaries," said Jean-Felix Luciani, a lawyer for Barbarin. - 'Trample his honour' - "They said terrible things about a man, even if he was a cardinal, we should be careful not to trample his honour." Prosecutors say Preynat -- who was removed from service in 2015 -- has admitted the charges. When complaints were first made against him in the 1980s, he was merely suspended for a few months. Story continues The victims filed complaints against several senior diocesan officials, including Barbarin, accusing them of failing to report the priest or remove him from duty despite being aware of his past. Barbarin has admitted to "errors in the management and nomination of certain priests". After the scandal erupted, he in June relieved four priests of their functions over sexual abuse allegations. The scandal was the worst to hit the Catholic Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a paedophile priest. "What I am interested in is the societal debate. How long will French citizens accept that paedophile priests come into contact with children?" said Francois Devaux, one of the plaintiffs. Barbarin has also been accused of covering up the abuse of a second Lyon priest in a separate case. Libreville (AFP) - Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba has warned of possible unrest during the August 27 election which he said was the "strategy" of the opposition challenging his eligibility to seek a second seven-year term. "It is to be feared, because it is the opposition's strategy for many years," Bongo said in an interview with the weekly "Jeune Afrique" published Sunday which asked him if he feared "abuses and even violence" after the vote. The opposition "has started to heat things up by announcing that the election will not be transparent, that we will steal victory," the president said. Bongo described as "nonsense" the arguments of critics who have opposed his re-election on the grounds that he was a Nigerian who was adopted in the 1960s by his father, long-ruling former president Ali Bongo, and was therefore ineligible as a foreigner under the constitution. "If they come to this kind of argument -- challenging my eligibility, my birth and other nonsense -- this proves that they recognise that my record is good (...) They fear an honest campaign, programme against programme, and obviously prefer slander," he said. Gabon's constitutional court last week rejected appeals lodged by three opponents against his candidacy. The representative of the EU election observation mission on Thursday called on politicians to "do everything" to "avoid any violence or any form of provocation" with tensions high ahead of the presidential polls. As the elections approach, the security forces have had a greater presence in the capital Libreville, with road checkpoints at night. Assessing his seven-year term, the president regretted "not having maintained the pace of reforms", particularly to diversify the economy of the oil-producing west African country. "I was talking one day with President Obama on the difficulty of reform, the pitfalls ... He replied: "In that situation, the best advice I can give you is to speed up, step on the gas", this is what we will do." Story continues Bongo was elected for a first term in a disputed 2009 vote following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had steered Gabon from 1967 and was described by critics as a corrupt despot. This rule saw the country tap its new found oil wealth that led to a per capita income four times that of most sub-Saharan African nations. However most of it has not trickled down to ordinary people. Critics accuse the Bongo family of usurping the country's riches and stifling democracy. Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, talks with his legal team before Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, testifies in court, in St Petersburg, Florida, United States on March 8, 2016. REUTERS/John Pendygraft/Pool/File Photo Gawker founder Nick Denton will file for personal bankruptcy on Monday to protect himself from Hulk Hogan's $140 million judgment. Denton confirmed the filing on Twitter on Monday after the publication of reports from Law360 and Politico. The news comes after a judge in Florida denied Denton's request for an emergency order to stop Hogan from collecting while Denton appeals, according to the New York Daily News. Hogan can begin collecting "immediately." Denton is personally liable for $10 million of the judgment and jointly liable for an additional $115 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. "On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaire's vendetta," Denton wrote in a tweet. Gawker Media Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 in June in a move that allowed Gawker to avoid having its assets seized while it continued to appeal the verdict. "Even with his billions, Thiel will not silence our writers," Denton said in a tweet at the time. "Our sites will thrive under new ownership and we'll win in court." Gawker has since continued to publish, pay its staff, and appeal the verdict. Gawker has also been put up for auction. Denton tweeted on Monday that the sale would close in "the next few weeks." The publisher Ziff Davis had made an opening bid to buy Gawker for $90 million. Ziff Davis, which is now helmed by Vivek Shah, the former Time Inc. executive, owns and runs a portfolio of publications including IGN, PCMag, and AskMen. The money Gawker gets from the auction will go into a fund that will be used for future legal costs and any eventual damages, according to The Journal. If any money is left after the litigation concludes (i.e., if Gawker wins), it will go to Denton as well as Gawker's investors. The case Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was awarded $140 million in damages in March stemming from a Gawker news article published in 2012 that included a clip of him having sex. Story continues It was revealed in late May that billionaire Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel had secretly financed the lawsuit and others against Gawker Media to try to put the website out of business. "I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest," Thiel, whom Gawker reportedly outed as gay in 2007, told The New York Times. Gawker Media was handed a legal loss in May when a judge in Florida denied Gawker's motion for a new trial. That meant the damages would not be reduced. The judge also denied Gawker's request for a stay. NOW WATCH: We tried the 'Uber-killer' that offers flat fares and no surge pricing More From Business Insider Gawker Media founder and CEO Nick Denton is expected to file for personal bankruptcy on Monday. Denton is set to make the filing in Manhattan federal court, a source told the New York Post. Denton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on behalf of Gawker in June. A Florida appeals court recently denied his motion for a shield against a court ruling in a case involving wrestler Hulk Hogan. Gawker, Denton, and A.J. Daulerio, a former Gawker.com editor, will have to pay Hogan $140.1 million in damages. Denton alluded to the bankruptcy filing in two tweets on Monday morning before confirming it by re-tweeting an article about the news and writing yes, this is happening today. Gawker Media Groups resilient brands and people will thrive under new ownership, when the sale closes in the next few weeks, Denton tweeted on Monday. On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaires vendetta, he added, referring to Silicon Valley titan Peter Thiel, who secretly funded Hogans lawsuit against Gawker. Gawkers now extinct website Valleywag outed Thiel as gay in 2007. And yes, this is happening today: https://t.co/x8hEKiKqOl Nick Denton (@nicknotned) August 1, 2016 (1/2) Gawker Media Groups resilient brands and people will thrive under new ownership, when the sale closes in the next few weeks. Nick Denton (@nicknotned) August 1, 2016 (2/2) On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaires vendetta. Nick Denton (@nicknotned) August 1, 2016 A Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million in March after ruling that the publication had violated Hogans right to privacy by posting his sex tape in 2012. Hogan received an additional $25 million in punitive damages a few days later. Story continues Gawker published excerpts of a video, which Hogan claimed was secretly recorded five years prior, of the former WWE star having sex with the then-wife of his best friend, radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. Related stories Gawker Media Files for Bankruptcy, Setting Up Potential Sale Beleaguered Gawker Founder Nick Denton Sets Soho Condo Out for Rent Gawker Stumbles to Traffic Low as Political Sites See User Freefall (New throughout, adds statement from Hogan's counsel) By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Gawker Media Chief Executive Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to court documents that name his largest creditor as Hulk Hogan, a former professional wrestler who won a $140 million court judgment against the news website over a sex tape it posted. Denton listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million in his Chapter 11 petition filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Earlier on Monday, he tweeted that he wanted to protect colleagues from a "vendetta" by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who funded Hogan's Florida lawsuit. Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy in June after Hogan won the judgment. The wrestler had accused the site of violating his privacy by posting a sex tape featuring Hogan having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, the radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. According to court documents, Denton is personally liable for $125 million of the $140 million judgment won by Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea. Thiel is an early backer and board member of Facebook who was angry over Gawker's writings about him and his friends in Silicon Valley. Gawker had published an article in 2007 about Thiel's homosexuality. Thiel's involvement has raised alarm bells in U.S. media circles over whether wealthy individuals are trying to muzzle the press. David Houston, Hogan's attorney, issued a statement saying Denton's bankruptcy "has nothing to do with who paid (Hogan's) legal bills, and everything to do with Denton's own choices and accountability. If even one person has been spared the humiliation that (Hogan) suffered, this is a victory." When Gawker filed for bankruptcy, the U.S. internet publisher automatically received the shield against Hogan's judgment that Denton had been seeking from both a New York bankruptcy court and Florida courts. Denton had said in court pleadings that without protection, Hogan would immediately begin to seize his assets. Story continues On Twitter, Denton said on Monday "On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaire' s vendetta." Thiel did not immediately return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Denton declined to comment further. Gawker filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell itself to media company Ziff Davis LLC for $90 million. That offer sets the floor for bids in a court-supervised auction scheduled for later this summer. Reuters reported earlier that Denton would file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday. (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gawker Media Chief Executive Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to court documents that name his largest creditor as Hulk Hogan, a former professional wrestler who won a $140 million court judgment against the news website over a sex tape it posted. Denton listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million in his Chapter 11 petition filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Earlier on Monday, he tweeted that he wanted to protect colleagues from a "vendetta" by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who funded Hogan's Florida lawsuit. Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy in June after Hogan won the judgment. The wrestler had accused the site of violating his privacy by posting a sex tape featuring Hogan having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, the radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. According to court documents, Denton is personally liable for $125 million of the $140 million judgment won by Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea. Thiel is an early backer and board member of Facebook who was angry over Gawker's writings about him and his friends in Silicon Valley. Gawker had published an article in 2007 about Thiel's homosexuality. Thiel's involvement has raised alarm bells in U.S. media circles over whether wealthy individuals are trying to muzzle the press. David Houston, Hogan's attorney, issued a statement saying Denton's bankruptcy "has nothing to do with who paid (Hogan's) legal bills, and everything to do with Denton's own choices and accountability. If even one person has been spared the humiliation that (Hogan) suffered, this is a victory." When Gawker filed for bankruptcy, the U.S. internet publisher automatically received the shield against Hogan's judgment that Denton had been seeking from both a New York bankruptcy court and Florida courts. Denton had said in court pleadings that without protection, Hogan would immediately begin to seize his assets. Story continues On Twitter, Denton said on Monday "On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaire' s vendetta." Thiel did not immediately return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Denton declined to comment further. Gawker filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell itself to media company Ziff Davis LLC for $90 million. That offer sets the floor for bids in a court-supervised auction scheduled for later this summer. Reuters reported earlier that Denton would file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday. ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana plans to sell Eurobonds of up to $1 billion by next week to fund the government's 2016 budget and refinance debt repayments due next year, government sources told Reuters on Monday. The West African country is expected to launch the bond, its fifth since a 2007 debut, after meetings with investors in London and New York this week, three sources, including one at the central bank and another in the Finance Ministry, said. "The (Finance) Minister and the Central Bank governor are already in London as part of the roadshow and there could be a deal ... this week or next week, depending on market conditions," one of the sources said. Finance Minister Seth Terkper said last month that the government appointed Standard Chartered PLC, Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp as advisors for this latest Eurobond transaction. Ghana exports cocoa, gold, and oil. It is currently under a three-year $918 million assistance programme from the International Monetary Fund to fix fiscal problems triggered by a fall in commodity prices and overspending by government in 2012, during an election year. The country issued a 15-year $1 billion Eurobond last October with a yield of 10.75 percent, after having first targeted a $1.5 billion bond at 9.5 percent. (Editing by Tim Cocks and Nellie Peyton) Ghazala Khan, the mother of a fallen U.S. soldier of Muslim faith, is responding to Donald Trumps speculation that she didnt speak at last weeks Democratic convention due to her religion. I can say that my religion or my family or my culture never stopped me saying whatever I want to say, Khan said in an interview with CNNs New Day. And my husband is very supportive of me in these things that I have all the rights as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter. After Khan and her husband, Khizr, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention last week to deliver an emotional speech denouncing Trumps proposed Muslim immigration ban, the GOP presidential candidate suggested that Mrs. Khan wasnt allowed to speak because of her Islamic religion. Also Read: 'The Simpsons' Derides Donald Trump, Theorizes Dog Toupee (Video) 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, Trump said. The Republican candidate received backlash for his comments, notably from Mrs. Khan. I have done very well saying my mind out, but that time was different. And anybody can see it was different that time when I was standing there in front of America, Khan said. Also Read: Ann Coulter Hammered by Conservatives for Smearing US War Hero's Dad as 'Angry Muslim' The Khans son, Army Capt. Humayun, had served in Iraq and died during a suicide car bombing. They said Trumps ban would have prevented their son from serving his country. Related stories from TheWrap: Muslim Soldier's Parents Slam Donald Trump's Diss of DNC Speech: 'Shame on Him' (Video) Father of Slain Muslim Soldier Says Donald Trump 'Is a Black Soul' Did Trump Just Rescind His Ban on Muslims? From Cosmopolitan A Wisconsin state appeals court ruled Wednesday that two girls accused of trying to kill their classmate in an attempt to please the fictional horror character Slender Man should be tried as adults. Investigators say the girls, who were 12 at the time of the attack in 2014, plotted for months before luring their classmate into some woods after a birthday sleepover and repeatedly stabbing her. The victim, who was also 12, was found along a road, bleeding from 19 stab wounds that nearly killed her. The girls have been charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and if convicted could go to prison for up to 65 years. As juveniles, they could be incarcerated for up to three years then supervised until age 18. Anyone 10 or older charged with first-degree attempted homicide is automatically considered an adult under Wisconsin law. But defense attorneys have argued that the case belongs in juvenile court, saying the adolescents suffer from mental illness and won't get the treatment they need in the adult prison system. Experts testified that one of the girls has schizophrenia and an oppositional defiant disorder that requires long-term mental health treatment. The other girl has been diagnosed with a delusional disorder and a condition known as schizotypy, which a psychologist testified made her vulnerable to believing in Slender Man. In a pair of rulings Wednesday, the 2nd District Appeals court affirmed a lower court's determination that it was reasonable to try both girls as adults. Citing the ruling last year, the appeals court said if the girls were found guilty in the juvenile system they would be released at age 18 with no supervision or mental health treatment. It also noted that the evidence showed the crime was not accidental or impulsive, but planned out and violent. Given the serious nature of the offense, it would not be appropriate for the trial to take place in juvenile court, the appeals court ruled. Story continues The girls could appeal the rulings to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Maura McMahon, the defense attorney for one of the girls, said she was "disappointed and sad" with the ruling and was reviewing it to decide whether to seek further appeal. Kevin Osborne, the assistant Waukesha County District Attorney, said he was pleased with the decisions, but declined further comment because he has not yet read them. A status conference in the case was set for Aug. 19. The AP hasn't identified the defendants because their cases could still move to juvenile court, where proceedings are closed. They are both now 14 years old. According to a criminal complaint, the girls plotted for months before they lured Payton Leutner into a park in Waukesha, about 20 miles west of Milwaukee, and attacked her with a knife. Leutner suffered 19 stab wounds, including one that doctors say narrowly missed a major artery near her heart. After the attack in a wooded park, she crawled to a road and was found lying on a sidewalk by a passing bicyclist. Despite the attack, she staged what her family called a "miraculous" recovery and was back in school in September three months later. The girls told investigators they hoped that killing her would please Slender Man, a demon-like character they had read about in online horror stories. The tales describe Slender Man as an unnaturally thin, faceless creature who preys on children. Police captured the girls on the outskirts of the city that same day. They told investigators they planned to walk 300 miles to the Nicolet National Forest, where they hoped to live as Slender Man's servants in his mansion. An HBO documentary on the case was released in March. Gisele Bundchens role in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics has been tightly under wraps, but witnesses of dress rehearsals told media in Brazil that the supermodel is featured in a scene that shows her getting robbed. Brazils UOL first reported Bundchens scene will feature her being approached by an actor on the scene that resembled a robbery, via a Google translation of the report originally written in Portuguese. Some are not happy with Gisele Bundchens reported role in the Olympics Opening Ceremony. (Getty) O Dia, a newspaper in Brazil, and Folha Daily also spoke to witnesses of the dress rehearsal who corroborated the claim that Bundchen is mugged in the scene. Suddenly two police seize the kid and, like in a film with a happy ending, Gisele embraces the assailant and everyone celebrates, O Dia wrote, according to AFP. This seems like a strange homage to Rio. [Related: Rio Olympics security firm fired, maligned police force takes over] According to O Dia, cast members set to perform in the Opening Ceremony have complained about the scene and hope that it will be removed. Olympic ceremonies typically attempt to show off the highlights of a country to the world, so the decision to depict a robbery in the Opening Ceremony is one that has raised eyebrows. Even if the end result and theme is one of peace, crime in Rio de Janeiro has been a frequent topic of conversation before the Summer Games, so its a interesting decision to put a spotlight on it. [Related: Team USA Opening Ceremony uniforms throughout the years] During a fire evacuation on Friday, Australian athletes say laptops were stolen from their hotel and a Chinese hurdler said his belongings were taken by a thief pretending to be drunk. Bundchen, 36, is one of many Brazilian models to reach international fame. Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima also found success through Victorias Secret and will join NBCs coverage team for the Rio Olympics. The Opening Ceremony will be televised on NBC on a one-hour delay with coverage beginning at 8 p.m. EST. * Galvani Bioelectronics 55 pct owned by GSK, 45 pct Verily * 540 mln pound investment from founding firms over 7 years * Aims to fight diseases include diabetes, arthritis, asthma * Uses miniaturised implants attached to individual nerves (Adds interview with executive, further details) By Ben Hirschler LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabet's life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a novel field of medicine called bioelectronics. Verily Life Sciences - known as Google's life sciences unit until last year - and Britain's biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million pounds ($715 million) over seven years to Galvani Bioelectronics, they said on Monday. The new company, owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, will be based at GSK's Stevenage research centre north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. It is GSK's second notable investment in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union in June. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million pounds on drug manufacturing. Galvani will develop miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. GSK believes chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma could be treated using these tiny devices, which consist of a electronic collar that wraps around nerves. Kris Famm, GSK's head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said the first bioelectronic medicines using these implants to stimulate nerves could be submitted for regulatory approval by around 2023. "We have had really promising results in animal tests, where we've shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism, and now we are bringing that work into the clinic," he told Reuters. "Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years." Story continues GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in a paper in the journal Nature three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. Verily already has several other medical projects in the works, including the development of a smart contact lens in partnership with the Swiss drugmaker Novartis that has an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. GRAIN OF RICE Famm said the first generation of implants coming to market would be around the size of a medical pill but the aim eventually was to make them as small or smaller than a grain of rice, using the latest advances in nanotechnology. Patients will be treated with keyhole surgery and the hope is that bioelectronic medicine could provide a one-off treatment, potentially lasting decades. Major challenges including making the devices ultra low-power so that they function reliably deep inside the body. The idea of treating serious disease with electrical impulses is not completely new. Large-scale electrical devices have been used for years as heart pacemakers and, more recently, deep brain stimulation has been applied to treat Parkinson's disease and severe depression, while EnteroMedics last year won U.S. approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite. Galvani, however, is taking electrical interventions to the micro level, using tiny implants to coax insulin from cells to treat diabetes, for example, or correct muscle imbalances in lung diseases. Galvani will initially employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians. The company will be chaired by Moncef Slaoui, GSK's vaccines head, who pioneered the drugmaker's drive into the bioelectronics field. Slaoui is retiring from GSK next March but will continue to steer Galvani after that date, a spokesman said. Galvani will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements, following the model of the group's majority-owned ViiV Healthcare business, which sells HIV medicines. ($1 = 0.7551 pounds) (Editing by Susan Thomas and Pravin Char) By Oleg Vukmanovic MILAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices edged up last week on fresh demand from Argentina as supply remained tight and traders covered short positions, but falling crude oil prices may mark a turning point in a months-long gas rally. Prices for September delivery rose to around $6.15 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last week, up five cents on the week ended July 22. Argentina's state-run energy buyer Enarsa launched a tender to buy nine LNG cargoes for delivery between September and October, surprising traders by the scale of its demand, having just procured six cargoes mainly from trading companies. A fire at Malaysian LNG production complex Bintulu over the weekend did not affect output, state-run Petronas said in a statement. However, global output during September is constrained by planned outages at the Chevron-led Angola LNG project and Cheniere Energy's first production line at Sabine Pass - both of which will be offline for repairs and testing. Angola LNG entered its longer-than-expected maintenance period several weeks ago. Sabine Pass maintenance will happen in September only. Tempering any drop in supply was the resumption of exports from the Chevron-operated Gorgon facility in Australia on Monday - only its third-ever shipment following a series of shutdowns. The cargo is being shipped aboard the Beidou Star tanker. Last week Exxon Mobil, which is a partner in Gorgon, issued a tender to sell a cargo from the project, sources said. Bids were due on Monday. Although the Beidou Star is listed as heading for Singapore, that destination may be adjusted once the tender is awarded. Before this latest shipment, Gorgon had only exported two cargoes since starting operations in March as unexpected technical problems forced the project to shutdown. Furthermore, the second production line at Cheniere's Sabine Pass plant is gearing up for production, offsetting planned maintenance on the first line in Sept. and helping maintain supply. Story continues "Cheniere's Sabine Pass LNG Train 2 started up last week," Barclays said in a research note on Monday. Falling Brent crude oil prices in recent weeks, down 22 percent since early June, are injecting bearish sentiment into LNG markets. One analyst said the dip in Brent prices could help erode a months-long upward run in spot LNG prices, although he noted that supply is still tight while trading companies remain active in covering short positions. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by William Hardy) Gloria DeHaven, who starred in classic movie musicals in the 1940s and 50s mostly for MGM, has died. She was 91. The actress died Saturday in hospice care in Las Vegas, after suffering a stroke several months ago, her agent told Reuters. DeHaven, whos career spanned six decades, embodied Hollywoods Golden Age with her spunk and charisma. She made her big-screen debut as a child, playing Paulette Goddards younger sister, in Charlie Chaplins last silent movie, 1936s Modern Times. DeHaven starred in more than two dozen films, including her breakout role in Lucille Balls Best Foot Forward (1943); Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) with Van Johnson, June Allyson, and Jimmy Durante; Step Lively (1944) with Frank Sinatra, giving him his first on-screen kiss; Summer Holiday (1948) starring Mickey Rooney; Summer Stock (1950) toplined by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly; and Fred Astaires Three Little Words (1950). She later transitioned to TV work, with roles on the soap operas As the World Turns, Ryans Hope, and All My Children. Her final film appearance was in the 1997 Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau romantic comedy Out to Sea, while her last TV role came three years later on CBS Touched by an Angel. DeHaven was married four times, including to actor John Payne and twice to businessman Richard Fincher. She is survived by four children. LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday it had teamed up with Alphabet's life sciences unit to create a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body. Verily Life Sciences - known as Google's life sciences unit until last year - and Britain's biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million pounds ($715.12 million) over seven years to the new bioelectronics firm, based at GSK's Stevenage research centre north of London. GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. ($1 = 0.7551 pounds) (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Susan Thomas) By Neha Dasgupta NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The prospect of passage of a goods and services tax bill in India has sparked a rally across markets, but analysts say the landmark reform may not provide a sustained boost as recent gains have largely priced in the outcome. The government is expected to bring up the tax bill this week in Parliament. If passed, the reforms would replace a slew of federal taxes and levies in 29 states, transforming the nation of near 1.3 billion people into a customs union. Analysts say the move could boost India's economic growth by up to 2 percentage points. But Indian markets have already posted strong gains. The broader NSE Nifty rose 0.6 percent on Monday to its highest since April 2015. It has now surged around 28 percent since hitting a near two-year low on Feb. 29, helped as well by hopes about recovering earnings. Meanwhile, the yield for the benchmark 10-year benchmark bond fell 3 basis points (bps) on Monday to its lowest level since September 2009. It has dropped about 34 bps since Britain's vote to leave the European Union in late June. Further gains may be difficult, analysts warn, especially as global investors who have underpinned much of the rally could grow cautious over potential U.S. rate hikes and negative surprises from China. India is also facing a critical month in August as the government gears up to appoint a new RBI governor to replace Raghuram Rajan, who will step down in early September. "For India, I think it will continue to hold its position as a relatively positive play for investors, even if it is unable to hold to current scale of gains," said Radhika Rao, an economist with DBS Bank in Singapore. Gains in India could also be tempered since other Asian high-yielding markets are seen attracting foreign investors. Overseas funds have bought a net $2.7 billion of debt and equity from Indian financial markets in July, but that is still below other countries in Asia such as Indonesia and South Korea. "Other markets like Indonesia and Philippines look more attractive. In India, liquidity is going to drive rates lower," said a senior treasury official with a foreign bank said. (Reporting by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kim Coghill) By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - A gunman killed a woman and seriously wounded three others in Austin early on Sunday when he shot into a crowd leaving nightclubs in the Texas capital's downtown area, police said. The gunman opened fire at about 2:15 a.m. local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. Police in a statement late on Sunday said they were seeking to find a 24-year-old man named Endicott McCray on a felony arrest warrant in connection with the shooting. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. "It was a very chaotic scene," Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The gunman killed a woman in her 20s and wounded three other women, who were transported to a local hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Mike Benavides told reporters. The shooting in the Texas state capital follows several recent major acts of gun violence in the United States. On June 12, a gunman who sympathized with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. On July 7, a U.S. military veteran shot and killed five police officers in Dallas in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Just over a week later another gunman killed three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The attackers in all three incidents were killed by police. Austin, whose downtown area is known for its lively music scene, has a population of more than 900,000. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Catherine Evans and Michael Perry) By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - A gunman killed a woman and seriously wounded three others in Austin early on Sunday when he shot into a crowd leaving nightclubs in the Texas capital's downtown area, police said. The gunman opened fire at about 2:15 a.m. local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. Police in a statement late on Sunday said they were seeking to find a 24-year-old man named Endicott McCray on a felony arrest warrant in connection with the shooting. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. "It was a very chaotic scene," Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The gunman killed a woman in her 20s and wounded three other women, who were transported to a local hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Mike Benavides told reporters. The shooting in the Texas state capital follows several recent major acts of gun violence in the United States. On June 12, a gunman who sympathized with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. On July 7, a U.S. military veteran shot and killed five police officers in Dallas in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Just over a week later another gunman killed three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The attackers in all three incidents were killed by police. Austin, whose downtown area is known for its lively music scene, has a population of more than 900,000. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Catherine Evans and Michael Perry) From Harper's BAZAAR Gwyneth Paltrow apparently wants to make a "conscious uncoupling" from Goop. The actress feels her connection with the brand is holding it back, she announced on Wednesday at the Sage Summit in Chicago, according to Page Six. "My dream is that one day no one would remember that I have anything to do with it," she said at the summit. "How can I separate myself from the brand? And I think it's going to be more its own brand." Paltrow established Goop in 2008, initially as a wellness newsletter. Since then it's grown into a full-blown lifestyle blog (where she announced her divorce from Chris Martin) with an online store, NYC storefront, skincare line, and a potential clothing line. Despite the actress' intentions to separate, she won't be leaving the brand. Representatives from Goop assured to Us Weekly that Paltrow will still remain involved in the brand, but wants it to be known as its own independent entity. "In order to scale and build a true lifestyle brand, it needs to continue to grow and build on its success so that it develops an identify of its own," they told the magazine. The annual Aspen Security Forum draws some of the worlds top thinkers on foreign policy, intelligence and geopolitics and this year, it was perhaps even more exciting than usual. Attendees were abuzz about the widespread allegation, made last week, that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee, and debated how the United States should respond. We sat down with senior columnist and former CIA chief John McLaughlin, who is just back from Aspen, to hear the latest. OZY: Were the Russians really behind this? John McLaughlin: Thats being widely reported as the conviction of unnamed American intelligence agencies, but no U.S. official who holds that view is confident enough to say so publicly. Thats because the hardest thing in solving cyber puzzles is what the experts call attribution in other words, whodunit. Skilled hackers will hop from server to server and country to country, leaving a trail so twisted and confusing that it takes a long time to figure out where the attack originated, and who is behind it. It could be a government, private hackers, organized crime or someone impersonating the group you think is responsible. The government would have to handle this for what it potentially is at base an attack on our democratic process, not just on one party. OZY: Was there any consensus among the officials who spoke at the Aspen Security Forum? J.M.: All of them notably Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and White House senior counterterrorism official Lisa Monaco were careful not to assign blame yet. But none of them downplayed the potential seriousness of the breach. Their consensus seemed to be that its one thing to spy on another countrys plans and thinking nothing shocking there but doing so with the intention of spinning the results to influence an election would be a much bigger deal. All the officials implied that if the investigation concludes Russia did indeed hack the DNC to shift public opinion, senior levels of the U.S. government would be caucusing on how to respond. Story continues OZY: Does it make sense to you that the Russians are behind this? J.M.: The circumstantial evidence cited by the press points to Russia private experts claim to see a Russian signature in some of what theyve unearthed, and Russia certainly has the expertise and a track record of using cyber tools in conflicts. But I agree with the senior intelligence officials who are saying lets wait until weve gathered and analyzed all the facts. If I learned anything from more than 30 years in the intelligence profession, its to be sure you really know before expressing certainty on a matter of great importance to national policy. OZY: What will it mean if the government concludes the hack was a Russian operation? J.M.: Well, there are two separate issues here. First, who hacked into the DNC computer system? Second, did the perpetrator then leak the information with the aim of affecting our election? On the first, it is of course deplorable and damaging, but not particularly shocking, at least to me, that some foreign power would do this if it could just to know as much as possible about whats going on in the U.S. On the second evidence that someone is doing so to affect and shape the democratic process here that would, as the senior officials at Aspen suggested, go beyond what nations typically tolerate in the spy world. OZY: How does politics play into all of this? J.M.: I dont have to tell you that all sorts of allegations are flying in this vicious political season. Im staying out of that except to say that if our government concludes this is as serious as rumored, it must keep party politics out of it and avoid seeming to take sides in the presidential battle. The government would have to handle this for what it potentially is at base an attack on our democratic process, not just on one party. This is the main point in a statement that a group of us at Aspen issued on a bipartisan basis we called on the parties and our government to tighten cybersecurity on all aspects of the election process. OZY: What bigger-picture elements should we be thinking about? J.M.: This is just the latest sign that cybersecurity is growing as a problem with no certainty where it leads as we all become more and more dependent on connectivity. Insecure networks are an enormous vulnerability for the country and for all of us personally, especially as we continue lashing up all parts of our lives in what is now known as the Internet of Things (IOT). During the Cold War, when nuclear weapons posed an existential threat, we and the Soviets figured out how to negotiate reductions, develop some rules of the road and give each other some reassuring transparency. Were nowhere close to that in cyber an international realm that now operates with no particular rules and massive potential for miscalculation and damage. Related Articles [Photo: Flickr/] Being the last of your friends to start their period was rubbish at the time, and it was easy to feel left out when they exchanged stories about buying tampons or their periods from hell. But according to a new study, it may actually be healthier in the long run to have started it when you were 12 or older. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that women who begin their periods at age 12 or older - and experience menopause at 50 or older - are more likely to live until theyre 90. [Photo: Pexels] The study tracked 16,000 women over 21 years, and also found that late bloomers were less likely to deal with coronary heart disease and diabetes. Theyre also less likely to take up smoking. Aladdin Shadyab with the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine told EurekAlert!: Our team found that women who started menstruation at a later age were less likely to have certain health issues, like coronary heart disease, and those who experienced menopause later in life were more likely to be in excellent health overall, which may be a possible explanation for our findings. Factors, such as smoking, can damage the cardiovascular system and ovaries, which can result in earlier menopause. [Photo: Pexels] Women with later menopause and a longer reproductive lifespan may have decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases." Why? It seems no one is totally sure, and researchers are still looking for an answer. "This study is just the beginning of looking at factors that can predict a womans likelihood of surviving to advanced age, Shadyab explained. Plus, plenty of other things affect your lifespan, so early bloomers dont need to be taking out life insurance just yet. What do you think? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK. One In Three Girls Say They Dont Have The Same Sporting Opportunities As Boys This Is The Ideal Relationship Age Gap, According To Experts The Hague (AFP) - Dutch brewing giant Heineken had little to cheer Monday as it unveiled a 48.8 drop in half year net profits, warning of "a challenging economic backdrop". Year-on-year net profits in the first half of 2016 fell to 586 million euros ($654 million) from 1.14 billion euros the previous year, Heineken said in a statement. But it stressed the 2015 results had been inflated by "the exceptional gain of 379 million euros" from the 1.2 billion euro sale of its Mexican packaging arm Empaque in February 2015. But the world's third largest brewer reported an increase in volume and sales, with revenue of 10.1 billion euros, up from 9.8 billion euros in the first six months of 2015, a 4.7 percent rise when adjusted. Founded in the 19th century, Heineken produces and sells more than 250 brands including Desperados tequila-flavoured beer, Sol and Strongbow cider and employs about 73,000 people around the world. "After a strong first quarter, boosted by Easter timing and a strong Vietnamese and Chinese New Year, volume growth in the second quarter was more subdued," the Amsterdam-based company said. Chief executive Jean-Francois van Boxmeer warned of "adverse economic conditions in some developing markets and currency headwinds" in the coming months ahead. "Whilst Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe continued to be challenging, performance was strong in some key developing markets such as Vietnam and Mexico," he said in a statement. Cider sales were also looking rosy, Heineken said, with sales of such brands as Strongbow doubling in Europe, while the apple-based beverage posted double digit growth in Canada and Mexico. From Town & Country Even royals deserve a little privacy every now and then. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly on a personal family vacation in France this week, though details are sparse, as they are not on official business. Here's what we do know: While earlier accounts placed Kate on a solo trip, it is now being reported that Prince William, and the pair's two children are all traveling together. Their plane touched down earlier this week in Pau-Pyrenees, a small airport in south-western France, near the border of Spain. As this is a private trip, the price of the flight wouldn't be billed to taxpayers, which is why they borrowed their friend the Duke of Westminster's 8 million Cessna aircraft. Not too shabby. As soon as they landed, the party was whisked away by two black Range Rovers. Prince William has accompanied his wife and children on their summer holiday to France, I understand. https://t.co/Yc3n8OCoGr - Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) July 27, 2016 Where to? Unclear. But there's been speculation that the family headed toward nearby Biarritz, a coastal town known for its beautiful beaches and luxury accommodations like the Hotel du Palais. Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty And the reason for the getaway? The Daily Mail reports that the Duchess was in the area to "visit relatives." Does Kate have a long-lost French aunt? Only time will tell. Nick Denton Gawker Gawker founder Nick Denton filed for bankruptcy on Monday to protect himself from Hulk Hogan's $140 million judgment. The filing came after a judge in Florida denied Denton's request for an emergency order to stop Hogan from collecting while Denton appeals. Hogan can begin collecting "immediately." Denton is personally liable for $10 million of the judgment and jointly liable for an additional $115 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Denton sent the following memo to Gawker Media staff on Monday: You may have seen the news that I have, as expected, had to join the company in bankruptcy. Peter Thiels legal campaign has targeted individual writers like Sam Biddle, editors such as John Cook, and me as publisher. It is a personal vendetta. And yes, its a disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didnt like the coverage. Still, Im in a positive frame of mind, because our influential brands will soon be free to thrive under new ownership, and our very existence as an independent entity has been a triumph. For once, the journalistic cliche is appropriate: Weve spoken truth to power. Sometimes uncomfortable truths. Sometimes gossipy truths. But truths. There is a price to pay for that, and I am paying it now. But we never gave up our souls in the pursuit of an easy life. What really lifts my spirits is the way in which we have stood together and just kept on writing, coding, and selling. Our stories reached 12 million more people around the world in July (104m) than they did in April (92m), before the bankruptcy. We were all over the political conventions and Pokemon Go, among other stories. Eyal just sent round a note saying that last week brought in a million dollars in direct advertising bookings, positioning us well for a further rebound once the future direction of the business is clear. Amazon Prime Day was 63 percent up on last year, with $7m in sales for merchant partners, underlining the unique credibility that brands such as Gizmodo have with consumers. Story continues Every department has kept focus and momentum. The pace of product development is sure and rapid. Our writers are the most productive and effective in digital media. The sales materials are more coherent and professional than they have ever been. Our sites dominate news in categories like technology, cars, and video games. The brands and the business, which we have built together, are in amazingly robust shape. Well go into the final stage of the sale with confidence in our continued momentum, and the knowledge that weve all been witnesses to a media miracle. This is a company founded by a journalist, built around a journalistic mission, beholden only to readers. We can be proud that we survived and prospered as an independent company for more than a decade, and have a second act ahead of us, under the shelter finally of a larger media company. Gawker endures. NOW WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's 'top secret' master plan here are the details More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f163322%2fscreen_shot_2016-08-01_at_3.18.28_pm For many children, elementary school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out new hobbies, whether it's sports, art or Satanism. The Satanic Temple, a humanist and social justice organization which incorporates Satanic imagery in its mission, made waves this weekend when the group announced their plan to roll out after school clubs in elementary schools all across the United States. While the Satanic Temple already has clubs in several schools, they're seeking to open chapters in schools with 'Good News' Clubs, highly conservative evangelical clubs that operate in the public schools. SEE ALSO: If Donald Trump was the actual 'Law and Order' candidate "We're directly in contrast with these evangelical school clubs," Lucien Graves, spokesman for The Satanic Temple, told Mashable. For Graves, many of these Good News clubs stigmatize children who don't belong to the faith kids who don't believe are told that "they're sinners, or that they're going to go to hell." The Satanic Temple operates on different principles. To attend the Satanic Temple after school club, children don't need to identify with any religion, or even worship Satan, despite what the organization's title may suggest. Instead, the Temple is guided by multiple overlapping values: secularism, evidence-based science and civil liberties. The Temple's after school curricula, Graves told Mashable, sends a "clear and positive message" of inclusiveness: "We have a general philosophy of inclusiveness," Graves said. "This is a non-religious zone." Curricula for the club will change seasonally, but the Satanic Temple club will teach science, art and, best yet, a Satanic snack. While the Satanic Club sounds like pure kid-friendly fun, fear not: their promotional video features a goth soundtrack, some vaguely nightmarish black and white imagery and your favorite demonic tropes. Story continues Since making their announcement, Graves said he's been flooded with support. "We're actually surprised by how few negative responses we've gotten," Graves said. "People are coming up to us to volunteer to start their own club, certified teachers, grandparents . . . people who are fed up with the Good News Club." There are currently nine After-School Satan Clubs operating across the United States, and Graves is confident the group will be able to open more. The same laws that protect religious clubs 'Good News' clubs from operating in the schools should protect Satanic Clubs as well. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that schools can't discriminate against clubs because of the club's expressed religious values. All hail after school Satan. From Esquire PHILADELPHIA-As the Republican National Convention was winding down its penultimate evening last week, I happened by the Colorado delegation, one of the last outposts of the opposition to the once-lunatic notion of nominating Donald Trump for president. I happened into conversation with a woman named Anita Stapleton, who was gathering her things and trying to figure out how she was going to get home to Pueblo City. She was a conservative stalwart who'd been fighting a lonely battle in her town against the curse that is Common Core. That afternoon, she said, the Colorado Republicans in her delegation committed to He, Trump had informed Anita and some of her fellow Ted Cruz acolytes that the party would not pay for their plane fare back to Colorado. She wasn't sure even then whether the threat was empty or not. "I don't know if I've ever seen anything like this," she said. "Mr. Trump wants things his way, and that's not the way we do things around here. That isn't the way Republicans do things." It's hard to know how the presidential campaign has changed over the two weeks in which the parties held their respective conventions, or even if it has changed at all. There are no reliable metrics with which to measure the dynamics of this peculiar political season. The polls are all over the lot. Great portions of the nation, which was not in a calm and reasoned state in the first place, are now jumping at shadows. Photo credit: John Moore/Getty A very famous, and very conventional-except for her gender-Democratic candidate now has 100-odd days to convince the country not to elect a man who often seems to be one tweet away from being hauled off to Bedlam dressed in the finest canvas waistcoat. There is no system of analytics by which measure to the depth of the rage and terror that have kept the Trump campaign aloft through public appearances by the candidate that would have landed any other person in a straitjacket. There is no depth gauge sensitive enough to measure the fathomless hate and strong enough to withstand the pressure that is building toward some kind of detonation. The process could explode. The process could implode. Story continues There is no way here, at the beginning of August, to reason your way through the poisonous muddle out of which will come the next President of the United States. And this is all taking place in a national and international context of almost weekly bursts of baroque violence. Citizens shot to death by police. Priests beheaded in France. The mass murder of police officers. None of the usual benchmarks apply. The signposts are useless. Too many of them are riddled with bullets or covered with blood. And it's hard to argue with the notion that, if you accept that the world's gone mad, then a madman might well be the most reliable guide through it. If you accept that the world's gone mad, then a madman might well be the most reliable guide through it. On Thursday night, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the best speech I ever saw her give. There were the "humanizing details"-which anyone would find insulting in any context other than being the first woman nominated for president by a major party. She hit all her marks. She stayed largely in tune. And in a long middle section, one that could have been titled, "Being a Defense of Wonkery," she was honest and winning. It became clear to me that simply caring is not enough. To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws. You need both understanding and action. So we gathered facts. We built a coalition. And our work helped convince Congress to ensure access to education for all students with disabilities. It's a big idea, isn't it? Every kid with a disability has the right to go to school. But how do you make an idea like that real? You do it step-by-step, year-by-year sometimes even door-by-door. And my heart just swelled when I saw Anastasia Somoza on this stage, representing millions of young people who-because of those changes to our laws-are able to get an education. It's true... I sweat the details of policy-whether we're talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs. Because it's not just a detail if it's your kid-if it's your family. It's a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president. I may be a sucker, and I may just be numb from two weeks of rhetoric, some of which was very good and a great deal of which was incredibly not, but I found that segment completely charming. Yeah, I'm a sap. So what? The other guy is, well, he's a little nuts, isn't he? Let me show you my 12-point plan again until we all settle down a little. The Sons of Light and the forces of Darkness shall fight together to show the strength of God with the roar of a great multitude and the shout of gods and men: a day of disaster. It is a time of distress fo[r al]l the people who are redeemed by God. In all their afflictions none exists that is like it, hastening to its completion as an eternal redemption. -The War Scroll, Qumran, circa 143 BCE. If the Republican convention was a stumble through a dark and terrible forest, the Democratic gathering was a star-spangled whizbang, a brass-band parade in the sunshine. Both conventions stayed true to these perceptions and, therefore, both conventions were in their own way intensely weird. The Trump people crushed all opposition, deflating all the drama at the same time. So, when Trump gave his acceptance speech, the hall was half-full and people fled at the end as though someone had set off a cholera bomb behind the podium. Why wouldn't they stampede? He, Trump had explained to them that the world was full of deadly menace and demonic spirit animals. I'm surprised that some of those bedeviled souls aren't still out on Euclid Avenue, running in circles out of blind panic. I'm surprised that some of those bedeviled souls aren't still out on Euclid Avenue, running in circles out of blind panic. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, with the Bernie Sanders Irreconcilables proving that the human capacity to be a jackass may well be limitless, the Democratic Party cranked the patriotic fervor up to 11. As a way to drown out the Irreconcilables, the people staging the final night of the convention handed out hundreds of American flags, some of them big enough to fly over your elementary school. When Chelsea Clinton came out to introduce her mother, Section 106 of the Wells Fargo Arena, home of the obstreperous California delegation, had so many huge American flags waving over it that it looked like Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg just as what was left of Pickett's Division reached the stonewall. The references to Ronald Reagan were a little too thick for truly progressive tastes, and the Democrats' eagerness to prove their military bona fides got a little disconcerting. But the amount of ground that He, Trump conceded last week to the forces of optimism was so vast that it's difficult to criticize the Democrats for occupying every inch of it they could. And, in that context, there were powerful moments that were grounded in all the good things that this twisted grotesque of a campaign has drowned out. Photo credit: Alex Wong/Getty There was Khizr Khan, the father of Captain Humayan Khan, who was killed by suicide bombers in Iraq. With his wife standing beside him in a hijab, Khan put his claim on an America that is greater than the plot of earth in which he had to bury his son. "Our son, Humayun, had dreams of being a military lawyer, but he put those dreams aside the day he sacrificed his life to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America." He was not finished. He was staking his claim on American history, too, all of it, including the part of it fashioned by the powdered-wig set in this very city during the fractious 18th Century. "Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words 'liberty' and 'equal protection of law.'" And, finally: "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." Ultimately, though, there was the Reverend Doctor William Barber from North Carolina, the prophetic activist behind that state's Moral Monday movement, whose voice sounds the way the gospels sound in your head. They put him in the middle of a bunch of politicians giving their Big Moment speeches and it was like someone dropped Pavarotti into the middle of a barbershop quartet competition. Photo credit: Alex Wong/Getty Barber began his movement fighting for voting rights, but he has since moved on to an entire panoply of issues, from the fight against discriminatory laws aimed at LGBT citizens to the preservation of rural hospitals. His movement is multiracial and, even though he came Thursday night to support HRC, he and his movement largely pray outside the camp. In a year in which nothing seems rooted, and everything impermanent, Barber's call to prayer, and that's entirely what it was, summoned his audience and his country to remember that there is, down there below our currently unmoored passions and confusion, a foundation of unchanging stone. "Listen to the ancient chorus in which deep calls unto deep." 100 days. More or less. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. Sydney (AFP) - Australian MH370 search authorities are hopeful a wing part found in Tanzania will shed light on how the flight crashed, amid a lack of public information on debris found a year ago. As the underwater hunt far off Australia's west coast draws to a close without any sign of the plane, there has been speculation the flight's final resting place may be outside the current search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysia Airlines jet was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The first debris linked to MH370 -- a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part known as a flaperon -- washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a year ago. But it has remained in the hands of French investigators, leaving questions unanswered on how the airliner entered the ocean. "We have also seen some analysis from the French that suggests that it's a possibility that (the flaperon) was in a deployed state," Peter Foley, the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB)'s head of MH370 search operations, told Channel Nine late Sunday. A deployed state, which means the flaperon was extended for landing, could suggest that someone was at the controls -- the "rogue pilot" theory -- when the aircraft entered the water. Investigators have considered all scenarios, but alternative possibilities could potentially have debris fields three times the current search zone, ATSB's former chief Martin Dolan told AFP in March. The current area was defined under the "most likely" scenario that no-one was at the controls and the plane ran out of fuel. But Foley told the commercial broadcaster that if the pilot was still in control of the plane or control-ditched the aircraft, it could potentially have had an extended range of flight. A team of Italian scientists said last month the debris zone may be a further 500 kilometres (310 miles) north. Story continues Foley said he was hopeful the wing part found off Tanzania, which is in Canberra for analysis and was confirmed by Australia on Friday to be "highly likely" from MH370, could reveal how the plane crashed. "We are looking to see whether or not we can work out whether that flap was extended at the end of flight... it suggests a different end-of-flight scenario," he said. The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments, where most of the passengers were from, have agreed that when the target area is fully searched, expected around December, they will pull the plug unless "credible new information" emerges. If there is one question that has constantly haunted gossip mongers in Bollywood, its about Salman Khans marriage. It looks like their prayers have finally been answered with Salmans Romanian girlfriend Iulia Vantur, with gossip mills churning out stories of a year-end wedding for the two. While it will definitely be one of the biggest weddings in Bollywood, heres a look at some sexy Indian actors and their foreign partners, who are giving us major relationship goals! Purab Kohli and Lucy Payton This charming actor has impressed us with his travel show on TV and roles in movis like Rock On and Airlift. Purab will soon be seen in Noor and Rock On 2. But what has kept him in the news lately is the birth of his daughter Inaya, with his British fiancee Lucy Payton. Purab and Lucy will get married by the end of this year. Arunoday Singh and Lee Elton He caught the fancy of many girls with his amazing physique and rugged looks in movies like Aisha, Yeh Saali Zindagi, Main Tera Hero and Jism 2. While professionally, Arunoday is now gearing up for Mohenjo Daro, personally, he is engaged to the Canadian lady in the photo - Lee Elton. Lee runs a beautiful cafe in Goa, and her Instagram bio reads the fiancee of a handsome gorilla. Gulshan Devaiah and Kalliroi Tziafeta Gulshan has created his won niche in the film industry after playing characters with grey shades in movies like Shaitan, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela and Hate Story, has been married to Greek actress Kalliroi since 2012. The two met in Lucknow during a play in 2009 and have been together since then! Ileana D'Cruz and Andrew Kneebone When she is not busy dabbling between movies in the South and in Bollywood, Ileana is busy holidaying with her long-time Australian boyfriend Andrew Kneebone. Andrew, who is a photographer, loves clicking pictures of his obvious muse Ileana, and the two never shy away from posting their lovey-dovey snaps on their Instagram pages. Preity Zinta and Gene Goodenough Well, none of us saw this coming! Preity, who had been dating a businessman in America for quite sometime, tied the knot with him earlier this year in a hush-hush ceremony in the US. Preity introduced her beau Gene Goodenough on her Instagram page and has been posting lovely pictures of her married life ever since! Also read: Top 5 secret weddings of Bollywood A Cook County correctional officer was charged in the beating of an inmate on Thursday, July 28, and the incident was captured on video. Miguel Ortiz, 44, was charged with official misconduct. He has worked as a correctional officer in Cook County since November 20, 1995. The male inmate was being transferred between two divisions in the jail at the time of the January 17, 2014, incident, according to a press release. The inmate became enraged in an argument with officers regarding the condition of the new cell, according to the release. The inmate protested because the cell had previously been used by a sick inmate who was quarantined there, according to a report. Ortiz was working in the control room across the hall and overheard the conversation before approaching the inmate, reaching for his arm to escort him to the cell. The exchange can be seen on the surveillance video. The inmate pulled away from Ortiz, according to the states attorneys office, and fell to the ground. One of the officers who had been transporting the inmate then moved to handcuff him. The states attorneys office said in the press release, Ortiz then knelt down and punched the inmate about seven times in the face and the head. The inmate would be taken to Cermak Hospital where he was treated for blunt trauma to the head. Ortiz can be seen punching the inmate in the surveillance video. Prosecutors were asked why it took two years for charges to be filed, and Assistant States Attorney Ahmed Kosoko said the office only learned about the incident about a year ago, according to a report. Credit: Cook County Sheriffs Office LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 1, 2016 / Lundin Law PC (the "Firm") announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against K12, Inc. ("K12" or the "Company") (LRN) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between November 7, 2013 and October 27, 2015 (the "Class Period"). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm in advance of the September 19, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here. You can also call Brian Lundin, Esquire, of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or e-mail him at brian@lundinlawpc.com. No class has been certified in the above action. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member. According to the complaint, K12 issued false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company published misleading advertisements about students' academic progress, parent satisfaction, graduates' eligibility for admission into the University of California and California State University, class sizes, the individualized and flexible nature of K12's instruction, hidden costs, and the quality of the materials provided to students; that the Company submitted inflated student attendance numbers to the California Department of Education in order to receive additional funding; that K12 was open to potential civil and criminal liability due to these practices; that K12 would likely be forced to end these practices, which would have a negative impact on its operations and prospects; and as a result of the above, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When this information was disclosed, shares of K12 declined in value. Lundin Law PC was created by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights. Story continues This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Contact: Lundin Law PC Brian Lundin, Esq. Telephone: 888-713-1033 Facsimile: 888-713-1125 brian@lundinlawpc.com http://lundinlawpc.com/ SOURCE: Lundin Law PC New Delhi (AFP) - India said Monday it is negotiating with authorities in Saudi Arabia to repatriate thousands of migrant workers after they lost their jobs, leaving them destitute and with no money to return home. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that around 10,000 workers had lost their jobs and been left to starve. Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress. Many of the companies employing them have suffered from the drop in oil revenues from falling prices, prompting a downturn in construction and layoffs. The Indian consulate in Jeddah has been providing free food for its nationals since their plight came to light last week, but Swaraj said the situation could not be allowed to continue. "This can't be a permanent solution, we will have to bring them back," Swaraj told the lower house of the parliament Monday. However that is being hampered by a Saudi requirement that workers provide a no-objection certificate from their employers before they can leave the country, she said. Junior minister V.K. Singh will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to try to sort the situation out, she said. Among those stranded are some 2,450 workers laid off by Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon's billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri. "No jobless Indian will sleep hungry. If they want to come back home, the government will ensure their safe return...we have a collective responsibility towards our citizens," Swaraj said. Nearly three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India. In November 2014, Gulf and Asian labour ministers agreed on a series of initiatives aimed at boosting protection and improving conditions of employment for foreign workers in the Gulf. FOREST LAKE, MN / ACCESSWIRE / August 1, 2016 / The Diamond Group, a retirement consulting business, is proud to announce the grand opening of the company's new office in Forest Lake, MN. Alan Schmidt, the founder of The Diamond Group, is a highly sought after retirement consultant. After much success in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, and Arizona he has chosen to come home to raise his family in Forest Lake. The residents of Washington County and the surrounding areas should be eager for the new opportunity to work with his firm. Alan Schmidt explains, "We are there to make sure people, either still working or already in retirement, can enjoy their retirement, rather than finding themselves with insufficient income to support their desired lifestyle. I invite everybody to come visit us to see what we can do for them or just to say hello." The Diamond Group offers a few very specific services, the first of which is their popular Individual Pension by Design. Schmidt believes that as every person is a unique individual, his or her pension should be unique and individualized as well, based on specific desires for retirement. He aims to help people, "live happily ever after" - at least financially. Another popular program is the CD Repair Shop. Schmidt encourages people to explore a MYGA as an option versus a CD for the fixed rate portion of their portfolios. "Bankers would like you to believe that CDs have a lower yield because they claim money held by banks is safer, which is a common misconception." Schmidt also said, "MYGA rates are higher because of how the yield is determined. MYGA rates are determined by investment yields, such as high-quality bonds that are continually adjusted for market conditions. Therefore, MYGAs tend to be much more stable with a higher rate of return as compared with a CD for the same time period." People are encouraged to visit their website for current comparisons, that are updated weekly. For more information about the services they offer, visit www.thediamondgroup.co or call (651) 321-2444. Contact The Diamond Group: Al Schmidt 651-321-2444 admin@thediamondgroup.co 146 Lake Street North, Suite 105 Forest Lake, MN 55025 SOURCE: The Diamond Group Indonesia will sink up to 71 impounded foreign boats this month on its Independence Day, a minister said Monday, ramping up a campaign to deter illegal fishing in its vast waters. The world's biggest archipelago nation has been seeking to stop foreign vessels fishing without permission in its territory, with President Joko Widodo claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually. So far 176 foreign boats captured fishing illegally have been sunk -- after the crews were removed -- since Widodo took power in 2014, with some blown up in spectacular public displays. Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has been leading the campaign, said up to 71 foreign boats caught illegally fishing would be sunk on August 17, the 71st anniversary of Indonesian Independence. She said that they would be sunk at various locations across the country, without specifying which countries the boats were from. Boats from a number of countries, including China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, have already been sunk as part of the campaign. The boats to be sunk later this month will be scuttled and not blown up, Pudjiastuti said. Green groups had complained about the environmental impact of blowing up boats. The plan comes at a time of high maritime tensions between Beijing and Jakarta after repeated clashes in waters around Indonesian islands in the hotly disputed South China Sea. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday urged citizens to take part in the country's new tax amnesty and pledged his government will "go all out" to keep the law behind it from potentially getting blocked in court. In line with low payment rates in a law passed in June, the government hopes that by March 2017, Indonesians will bring home billions of dollars parked outside the country. The tax amnesty program was initiated by Widodo's government to cover a big shortfall in budget revenue and to widen Indonesia's small tax base. The sooner people declare their assets, the lower rates they will pay. "We want this tax amnesty to be successful," the president told a Jakarta audience including business executives on Monday. "I know now many are still doing their calculation, but in time, I believe at the third or fourth week of August, or early September, there will be a lot of inflow." At Indonesia's Constitutional Court, legal activists last month filed a request for judicial review of the law, contending that it protects money launders and tax evaders. The court, at a preliminary hearing last week, told the applicants to revise their filed request, which it said lacked argument about the constitutional damage from the law. They were given until Aug. 9 to submit a revised request. Widodo, without elaborating, said the government "will go all out so the Constitutional Court will uphold the tax amnesty law." The president said it is important for the amnesty to work. "We have to realise that when there's inflow, we will have a big room to develop this nation," he said. (Reporting by Hidayat Setiaji and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy) By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's Oil Minister said on Monday the oil market was oversupplied but predicted balance between demand and supply will be restored, Iranian state television reported on Monday. "The oil market is oversupplied now but there are expectations that there will be balance between demand and supply in the market," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Iran's state TV, without saying when that may happen. A Reuters Survey on Friday showed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' oil output was likely to reach its highest in recent history in July as Iraq pumps more and Nigeria manages to export additional crude despite militant attacks. Supply from OPEC rose to 33.41 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from a revised 33.31 million bpd in June, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from industry sources. Since a landmark nuclear deal was reached with major powers in 2015 leading to lifting of sanctions, Iran has been planning to raise its crude production to the pre-sanctions level of four million barrels per day (bpd). To regain the production level, Iran has sweetened the terms it offers on oil development contracts to draw the interest of foreign investors. Iran needs $200 billion in foreign money to reach its goal. Zanganeh said that the first of Iran's new oil and gas investment contracts for international companies will be launched this week. "The government will approve the new contracts on Wednesday," Zanganeh told reporters, state TV reported. The launch of Iran's new oil contracts, the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) has been postponed several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani resisted any deal that could end the buy-back system. Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that no new oil and gas contracts for international companies will be awarded without necessary reforms. "Iran's priority is developing jointly owned oil and gas fields, as well as those in which we are after improved oil recovery." Zanganeh said Story continues Oil majors have said they would only go back to Iran if it made major changes to the buy-back contracts of the 1990s, which companies such as France's Total or Italy's Eni) said made them no money or even incurred losses. Under Iran's buy-back system foreign firms have been banned from booking reserves or taking equity stakes in Iranian companies. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Susan Thomas and William Hardy) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed his criticism of a nuclear deal signed with six world powers in a speech in Tehran on Monday, and accused the United States of failing to keep its side of the bargain. Under the deal, which came into force in October, world powers agreed to drop crippling multilateral economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for measures designed to ensure that it cannot develop nuclear weapons. Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, promised Iranians that the end of sanctions would bring growth and jobs to their moribund economy. Khamenei gave his blessing to the deal -- but his regular criticism of its implementation has allowed hardliners to clip Rouhani's wings as the president tries to build on parliamentary gains for his moderate allies and secure re-election next year. The nuclear deal, as an experience, once again proved the pointlessness of negotiating with the Americans, their bad promises and the need not to trust Americas promises, Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). In particular, Khamenei said sanctions were only being removed incrementally and that foreign companies were not yet investing in Iran. Major European banks and investors are in fact holding back from doing business with Iran, partly because of unilateral U.S. sanctions that still remain in place, but also because of the difficulties of dealing with Iran's complex regulations, a lack of transparency within its banking system, unclear dispute resolution mechanisms, labor issues and corruption. In particular, the launch of new contracts to attract vital investment to Iran's lifeline oil industry has been postponed several times as Rouhani's hardline rivals, with Khamenei's backing, resist any end to a "buy-back" system that prevents foreign firms booking reserves or taking equity stakes in Iranian companies. Meanwhile, citizens' impatience with the lack of improvement in their living standards is growing. Khamenei on Monday recommended looking inside Iran for development opportunities and ways to improve ordinary people's lives. He also said the United States had offered to negotiate with Iran on regional issues -- the two countries share an interest in fighting the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria -- but that the negative experience on the nuclear deal showed that this would be like taking a "deadly poison". (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi accused the parliament speaker and several lawmakers of corruption and blackmail on Monday, prompting the prime minister to order an investigation. The political row surrounding the defence minister comes as Iraq prepares for a drive to retake second city Mosul, the biggest operation yet in the country's war against the Islamic State jihadist group. Obeidi made the accusations as he appeared in parliament for questioning over corruption allegations brought by Alia Nasayif, a lawmaker whom the defence minister asserted was herself corrupt. The session broke down after Obeidi made the accusations, and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi then held a press conference denying them. Obeidi said that he was facing questioning as retribution for his rejection of corruption in connection with the supply of food for the military, saying that lawmaker Mohammed al-Karbouli was involved. Karbouli also sought to inflate the price of armoured vehicles, Obeidi said. And Obeidi said that a businessman had asked him in Juburi's presence to replace the head of the air force because he was "not cooperating with us." The minister also accused Nasayif of requesting that the ministry illegally transfer ownership of 127 properties that had belonged to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's regime. And he said that a former lawmaker told him that "we will shut up MP Hanan al-Fatlawi in exchange for $2 million," referring to a member of parliament who has been critical of the minister. Posts on Obeidi's official Facebook page generally outlined his accusations, including one that said he told parliament that Juburi was "involved in attempting to pass corrupt armament contracts". Another charged that Juburi and three lawmakers had sought to blackmail the minister "for the purpose of passing corrupt deals and contracts at the expense of Iraqi blood". - 'Theatre' - Story continues Obeidi later took to Twitter to make similar points, saying he had revealed the "names of MPs and politicians who practise acts of blackmail against him to pass corrupt contracts, among them the (speaker) of parliament." Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi responded by ordering Iraq's anti-corruption commission to investigate the allegations and to cooperate with a parliamentary investigative committee on the issue, his office said in a statement. "No one is above the law," the statement said. Following the session, Juburi held a news conference rejecting the accusations against him and the MPs. "Everything that was raised today is theatre" aimed at allowing Obeidi to avoid questioning by parliament, Juburi said. Corruption is widespread in Iraq's government, from senior officials to low-level functionaries, and while Iraqis have repeatedly demonstrated for change over the past year, little in the way of real reform has taken place. The latest parliamentary acrimony follows weeks of deadlock in the legislature over Abadi's efforts to replace the cabinet earlier this year. And it comes as Iraqi forces conduct operations to set the stage for an assault on Mosul, which has been held by IS jihadists since June 2014. The conflict between Obeidi and Juburi -- two of the country's most senior Sunni Arab politicians -- does not bode well for unity in the community ahead of the battle to retake the Sunni-populated city. By John Geddie LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Italian government borrowing costs fell to a 17-month low on Monday after the country's third largest bank unveiled a privately-backed rescue plan to prevent it from being wound up by regulators. Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, announced the plan moments before European banking regulators revealed the results of their stress tests late on Friday which predicted that the lender's capital buffers would be entirely wiped out if there was a severe economic downturn. The solution should also allow Rome to avoid having to inject public cash to recapitalise the bank, which under EU rules would entail politically unpalatable losses for Monte dei Paschi's bondholders and depositors above 100,000 euros. "Monte dei Paschi presented a recap plan (no bail-in, no bail-out) which should reduce pressure from this widely expected outcome," Mizuho International's head of European rates strategy Peter Chatwell said. As expected, Monte dei Paschi fared the worst in the latest EU stress tests which also unveiled weakness in lenders from Ireland, Spain and Austria and showed there was still work to do in order to boost credit to the bloc's economy. Italian 10-year government bond yields fell slightly on Monday to 1.16 percent, the lowest since March 2015, while most other euro zone equivalents were slightly higher on the day. German 10-year yields, the euro zone benchmark, edged up 2 bps to minus 0.10 percent, according to Reuters data. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Sunday ruled out the need for any extraordinary budget measures this year even as concern grows economic growth may fall short of government targets. Asked about Monte dei Paschi, Renzi said the government had worked for a market solution to its problems since any state aid would have meant ordinary people would have had to pay. "I don't want citizens to have to pay for mistakes made by politicians and bankers in the past," he said. Story continues But while the solution unveiled on Friday appears to have taken the onus off the government, Monte dei Paschi faces a Herculean task convincing investors to back a third recapitalisation in as many years and avert a banking crisis that would send shockwaves across Europe. The two-pronged rescue scheme hinges on Monte dei Paschi raising 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in a cash call to be completed by the end of the year - a tall order for a lender that is worth less than 1 billion on the market and has burned through 8 billion euros from share issues since 2014. Global investment banks have made a preliminary agreement to underwrite the rights issue by Italy's third biggest bank. But this is subject to conditions, including that the second prong of the bank's plan is successful: the sale of 9.2 billion euros of bad loans via a mammoth securitisation, whose sheer size is unprecedented in Italy. Shares in Monte dei Paschi rose around 6 percent on Monday to their highest price in two weeks. For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets (Editing by Andrew Heavens) The last time Jerry Garcia performed in public, he was holding Tiger, a 13andahalfpound guitar created specifically for him in 1979 by luthier Doug Irwin. It was July 9th, 1995 and the Grateful Dead were headlining a show at Chicago's Soldier Field. Tiger hadn't been his primary guitar for six years at that point, but his new one, Lightning Bolt, was in the shop for repairs and Rosebud, the backup, was experiencing technical problems. Midway though the show he strapped on Tiger and stuck with it through the final encore of "Box of Rain." Tiger has resided in the private collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay ever since he purchased it for $850,000 in 2002, but this summer he's loaning it out for a special series of shows honoring Jerry Garcia. "Because [Garcia's] music lives on, there's a need to preserve the instruments that created the sound," Isray tells Rolling Stone in a statement. "Tiger needs to be available for future generations to see and hear. I know this instrument, in the right hands, can produce sound capable of moving the human spirit to dance, to tears, and every emotion in between." The instrument will make its debut Monday night at Red Rocks in Denver as part of the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration tour, which features Warren Haynes and local symphonies performing the music of the Grateful Dead. Haynes, who has played with members of the Dead in various incarnations over the past two decades, has played Wolf, another Garcia guitar created by Irwin, at recent stops on the tour. "They're such unique-sounding instruments," Haynes tells Rolling Stone, "and the sound that comes out of them are as instantly recognizable as Jerry's voice. I feel one step closer to the music just from having these beautiful instruments in my hands." Haynes first teamed with the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration in the summer of 2014. "On opening night we were all nervous for obvious reasons," he says. "We didn't know how many people in the audience would be Deadheads, how many would be my fans and how many would be there just for the symphony. But as soon as we walked onstage, it felt like a Dead show. The place was completely filled with Deadheads and they were celebrating as if it were a Dead show." Merging the improvisational nature of the Grateful Dead's music with large symphonies that carefully rehearse each and every note was no easy feat. At some points in the show, the symphony simply stops playing and allows Haynes and his backing band to jam until they get the signal to jump back in. At other moments, the group will improvise on top of the symphony. There are also times when the symphony gets as close to jamming as is technically possible. "I took a four-minute section of a 1968 'Dark Star' performance and had it scored for a symphony," says Haynes. "There's no repeating parts and no themes. That's the way the show opens each night." It then merges into a rendition of "Bird Song" that the Grateful Dead once did with saxophonist Branford Marsalis. "Not only does it integrate Jerry's and Bob [Weir]'s and Phil [Lesh]'s parts and assign them to different parts of the symphony," says Haynes. "But it also has Branford's improvised sax parts that are a part of the score as well. The first 15 or so minutes of the show is completely steeped in improvisation coming from the symphony, which is I think very unique. I'm not familiar with a situation where symphonies have done that." The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration wraps up on August 8th in New York's Central Park, and nine days later Tiger will make another appearance at the Fillmore Auditorium as part of the Can't Stop The Train: A Tribute to Jerry Garcia concert which will feature performances by Phil Lesh, Luther and Cody Dickinson, Col. Bruce Hampton, Jackie Greene and San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy and his band the Outsiders. The evening is a benefit for The Rex Foundation and The Jake Peavy Foundation. "Its humbling just to be in the presence of an icon with a career like Phil Lesh," Peavy tells Rolling Stone in a statement. "The fact that he cares enough about the cause shows that hes a true gentleman in every sense of the word." There are no plans for Tiger beyond that, but it seems likely that Isray will continue to make the guitar available for special occasions. "I'm psyched to have the opportunity to play it," says Haynes. "Great instruments are not meant to be in glass cases." Related John McCain has slammed Donald Trump and his comments made at the parents of a fallen Muslim soldier following their DNC appearance. McCain, a Vietnam vet and former prisoner of war, released a statement Monday morning saying that Trumps comments do not mirror the ideals of the Republican Party. While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us, McCain said. Read: Donald Trump Faces Backlash, Ridicule for His Response to Fallen Muslim Soldier's Parents The Arizona senator added: In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates. On Thursday at the DNC, Khizr Khan said that Trump has sacrificed nothing and no one. The father lost his 27-year-old Army Captain Humayun Khan, in a 2004 suicide blast in Iraq. In an interview with ABC News George Stephanopoulos, the GOP presidential candidate said: I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard." When pressed by the interviewer about his sacrifices, the real estate mogul said: "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." In his statement Monday, McCain said: I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent. Story continues It's not the first example of bad blood between Trump and McCain. Last year, McCain said that he believed Trump had "fired up the crazies" during a campaign rally in McCain's home state of Arizona. Later, Trump ignited controversy after saying during an interview that McCain is considered a "war hero" only because he was taken captive. McCain was held for more than five years during the Vietnam War. "I like people that weren't captured, OK?" Trump sniped when asked about the 2008 GOP presidential nominee. Trump also questioned Khans wife, Ghazala, about not speaking at the DNC and standing silent next to her husband. Trump told Stephanopoulos that he believed it was because of their faith the mother "wasnt allowed to have anything to say." On Sunday, the anguished mother wrote in a Washington Post editorial: "Without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart." She added: Donald Trump said I had nothing to say. I do. My son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died 12 years ago in Iraq. He loved America, where we moved when he was 2 years old. He had volunteered to help his country, signing up for the ROTC at the University of Virginia. This was before the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. He didnt have to do this, but he wanted to. Throughout the weekend, the billionaire took to his favorite social media platform to defend his comments. Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016 I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016 Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 The Khans, who live in Charlottesville, Virginia, emigrated from the United Arab Emirates to Boston in 1980 when their son was 2. Humayun enrolled in the ROTC program while a student at University of Virginia where he graduated with a psychology degree before being deployed to Iraq. Read: Dad of Fallen Muslim Soldier Asks Trump: Want to Borrow My Copy of the American Constitution? Captain Khan was doing a routine check at the gates of an Army gate in Baqubah, Iraq, in June 2004 when a car rigged with explosives approached and detonated. The captain, who signaled for the vehicle to stop and ordered other soldiers nearby to stay back, is credited with saving the lives of his comrades around the camp. Captain Khan was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Watch: Poised Chelsea Clinton Praises Hillary: 'I'm So Grateful To Be Her Daughter' Related Articles: John Oliver went to town on Donald Trump for his controversial comments on Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a slain U.S. soldier who made headlines after Khizr Khan delivered a powerful speech, criticizing Trump, at the Democratic National Convention. "Trump hasn't said one crazy thing, he's said thousands of crazy things, each of which blunts the effect of the others," said Oliver, likening that to standing on one nail versus a bed of nails. He pointed out how Trump can say anything in his campaign "seemingly without consequences" but "even with that caveat, his response when asked about that speech from Khizr Khan stands out." Oliver played Trump's response, which was to claim that Khizr's wife Ghazala "probably, maybe wasn't allowed to have anything to say" when she stood beside her husband as he gave his speech at the DNC. "For a start, his wife explained that she chose not to speak because she gets too upset when she sees images of her dead son's face, you f - ing asshole," said Oliver. He then turned to Trump's answer in response to being asked about sacrifices, which was all about the jobs he's created, which Trump insists are sacrifices. "No they are absolutely not," said Oliver, whose wife is an Iraq war veteran. "They are self-serving half-truths from a self-serving half-man who has somehow convinced half the country that sacrifice is the same thing as success." "Honestly, the main takeaway from these two weeks is that, incredibly, we may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist, that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may actually be beyond his capabilities and I genuinely did not think that was a part of the job that someone could be bad at," continued Oliver. Read More: Donald Trump Blasted by Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier at DNC Story continues Earlier in the segment, Oliver played Khizr Khan's emotional speech, in which he pulled out a copy of his pocket U.S. Constitution and offered to lend it to Trump. "That is an American founding document inspirationally being used as a middle finger," said the Last Week Tonight host. Oliver said he was very moved by the part of the speech when Khan says Trump has "sacrificed nothing, no one." "That engendered in me a level of emotion that I did not think was possible after 16 months of this depressing campaign and 39 years on Earth as a British person," said Oliver. For the rest of the segment, Oliver commented on the Democratic National Convention and its speakers, calling Tim Kaine a "human sweater vest" and Joe Biden a "Soul Cycle instructor" and said Hillary Clinton's speech was basically a promise to "micro-manage the shit" out of the Oval Office. Read More: Donald Trump Responds to Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier: "I've Made a Lot of Sacrifices" Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f16209%2f5e8d2783ac774fa6965d9f0587d106da If you witnessed both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions over the past two weeks, you might have been left a little confused. Let John Oliver sum it up for you. SEE ALSO: Was Donald Trump at the 'Hunger Games' or GOP convention? John Oliver is on the case. While Republicans traditionally come off as the most overtly and feverishly patriotic, this year Oliver says, the RNC left commentators with a very negative vibe mostly because Donald Trump was focusing more on "whatever Donald Trump thinks is wrong with America." The Democratic National Convention, conversely, seemed to him incredibly pro-American. Major leaders in the party were there giving impassioned speeches, Meryl Streep wore "a plastic tablecloth on the Fourth of July," and even a retired Marine General John Allen spoke about ISIS. But that's not the story Oliver is most baffled by. One of the speakers at the DNC was the father of a fallen Muslim soldier, Khizr Khan, who challenged Donald Trump to actually read the Constitution and even offered his own copy to the candidate. Donald Trump's response to Khan has been, predictably, contentious. Trump criticized Khan's wife for not saying anything during the speech and the back and forth lasted all weekend. "We may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may be beyond his capabilities" Oliver said. "And I genuinely did not think that that was a part of the job that someone could be bad at." BONUS: Help Hillary get to the end of this convention! A new framework governing the transfer of consumer data between Europe and the United States comes into effect today, replacing the long-standing Safe Harbour pact that was abolished last fall over concerns about U.S. surveillance. The "EU-U.S. Privacy Shield" ensures that everyone in the European Union has a number of rights when their data is processed, such as the right to ask a company for information about the data they hold about them on U.S. servers, or to amend their records if the data are outdated or inaccurate. It replaces the Safe Harbour agreement which was in place for 15 years prior to the Court of the European Union ruling it invalid in October 2015 because it did not offer sufficient protection of Europeans' personal data from the type of U.S. surveillance practices that were exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013. Europe Releases Details of 'Privacy Shield' Data Sharing Pact With U.S. Effective today, American companies are able to sign up with the U.S. Department of Commerce to verify that they comply with Privacy Shield data laws. The new Trans-Atlantic framework was formally adopted by the European Union on July 12, although Austria and Slovenia were among four EU member states that abstained from the vote amid criticisms that it did not do enough to protect citizens' privacy. "The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield protects the fundamental rights of Europeans and ensures legal certainty for businesses, including European companies, transferring personal data to the U.S," said Vera Jourova, the EU's Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, in a statement. Jourova went on to say that the new legal framework "ensures easier redress for individuals in case of any complaints" and will "restore the trust of Europeans in the way their personal data are transferred across the Atlantic and processed by companies there." European Lawmakers Urge Tightening of Safe Harbor Exemptions "While negotiations have not been easy, we congratulate the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce on the hard work over the past months aimed at restoring trust in data transfers between the EU and US," said John Higgins, Director General of the DIGITALEUROPE trade group, which represents companies including Apple, Google and Sony, last month when the scheme was formally adopted. "We hope that the Privacy Shield will ease some of the recent pressure on alternative transfer mechanisms, particularly standard contractual clauses, so that Europe can get back to focusing on how international data flows can play a part in contributing to economic growth," Higgins went on to say. By Jonathan Stempel and Andrew Chung (Reuters) - A federal judge has thrown out a verdict requiring Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC.A) $625.6 million for infringing four patents relating to Internet security technology, causing VirnetX's share price to plunge. VirnetX shares were down $1.93, or 44.6 percent, at $2.40 in Monday morning trading, after earlier falling to $2.14. In a decision late Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder in Tyler, Texas said it was unfair to Apple that two VirnetX lawsuits had been combined into a single trial. He said jurors may have been confused by more than 50 references to the earlier case, though it contained "incredibly similar" issues, and deferred improperly to the prior jury's findings when it found Apple's liable for willful infringement. "The repeated references to the prior jury verdict in the consolidated case resulted in an unfair trial," Schroeder wrote. He ordered that both cases be retried separately, with the first trial beginning on Sept. 26. VirnetX is a Zephyr Cove, Nevada-based company that derives most of its revenue from licensing patents. It accused Cupertino, California-based Apple of infringing patents used in products including FaceTime and iMessage. The $625.6 million verdict announced in February was one of the highest in a U.S. patent case. "We are disappointed," VirnetX Chief Executive Kendall Larsen said in a statement on Monday. "We are reviewing all our options and will follow the court's direction as we start preparing for these retrials." Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Many patent cases are handled in the Texas court, which has a reputation for awarding favorable verdicts to plaintiffs alleging infringement. VirnetX had been assigned the four patents by Science Applications International Corp in 2006, court papers show. The case are VirnetX Inc v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Nos. 10-00417 and 12-00855. (Reporting by Andrew Chung and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum) Kabul (AFP) - A Taliban truck bomb blasted a hotel for foreigners in Kabul Monday, triggering a seven-hour gun and grenade assault that highlighted growing insecurity in a city still reeling from its deadliest attack for 15 years. The guests and staff of the Northgate hotel escaped unharmed, but one policeman was killed after the suicide truck bomber paved the way for two other armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility near Kabul airport. The massive explosion reverberated through the Afghan capital, leaving a huge muddy crater and piles of scorched debris strewn at the compound, which was previously attacked in July 2013. "A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer (perimeter) wall of the hotel," said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. "One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt. Three Taliban fighters including the truck bomber were killed." The attack came days after the Islamic State group claimed twin bombings that left 80 people dead in Kabul, the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Afghan commandos set up a tight security cordon around Northgate, which is used by military contractors and other foreigners, as sporadic grenade explosions and gunfire shook the area after the truck bomb struck around 1:30am (2100 GMT Sunday). Local TV station Tolo cited a source inside the facility as saying that all the staff and guests -- including at least 11 foreigners -- hunkered down in safe rooms throughout the night. It added that NATO special forces had overseen the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the bombing rattled windows across the city. It also cut a power line that supplies electricity to half of Kabul, according to the city's main utility. - Growing insecurity - "The blast was so strong that it startled everybody out of their beds," Abdul Mohib, a resident of the neighbourhood, told AFP. "The children were shocked. We all left the house screaming and shouting as our windows were shattered." Story continues Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns blasted their way into the compound housing "American invaders" after the truck bomb went off. He said the attack was meant to avenge the killing of former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike inside Pakistan in May. The militants are intensifying their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. The previous attack on the hotel compound in 2013 also involved a Taliban truck bomb followed by a gun siege. Nine people were killed, including four Nepalese. The IS twin bombings on July 23 tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. But officials have denied that it marked a turning point for IS in Afghanistan, saying the group has been under heavy pressure in its eastern strongholds from both US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim reminder of growing insecurity in Afghanistan since most foreign troops withdrew in 2014. The rising violence has resulted in large civilian casualties. The UN last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with 1,601 civilians killed and 3,565 wounded -- a four percent increase compared to the same period last year. Is Kanye really running for president? He finally addressed that in a new interview Is Kanye really running for president? He finally addressed that in a new interview Kanye West has always been full of ideas and its one of the reasons as to why hes so endearing. While he sometimes speaks without thinking (which, hey, we all do sometimes) his brain is always turning, like the true creative genius he is (and knows he is, and says he is). So when Kanye discussed running for President in 2020 which he has, a few times we didnt really know if he was being serious, or if he was just thinking out loud. Especially when this news went so far that Obama took it upon himself to give him a few tips about the position. Its not really an endorsement per se, but hey its kind of cool to have direct advice from such an influential leader. With all of that being said, and with election news pretty much commandeering our television sets, West pretty much made things clear regarding his presidential intentions in an interview he did with BBC Radio 1. We are numb, were numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, were numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July, he said to Annie Mac. When I talk about the idea of being president, Im not saying I have any political views, I dont have views on politics, I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while Im alive Im going to try to do it. So, while he might not run for President, he definitely want to make the world a better place. Good on him. The full interview, which also discusses the West/Kardashian house (especially Kims cooking) and his secret love of furniture design, is set to air today at 2pm EST. No word if hell discuss the Taylor Swift Snapchat incident, but itll be worth a listen no matter what. The post Is Kanye really running for president? He finally addressed that in a new interview appeared first on HelloGiggles. kanye-west-watermill Kanye West hasnt slowed down since the release of The Life of Pablo at the beginning of this year. Weve been given the Cruel Winter posse cut Champions and just last week the striking, tear-filled Wolves video (which doubles as a Balmain advert) dropped. Today, August 1, West will be on the UKs BBC Radio 1 from 2 p.m. EST speaking to Annie Mac. In the pre-recorded interview, parts of which have been shared by the BBC, he speaks on his dream of working with Ikea, his possible future presidential candidacy, police violence in the U.S., and the problems with his 2015 Glastonbury headlining performance. Even more exciting is the prospect of new music dropping today. The text on the preview page for todays show reads Kanye West supplies the Hottest Record, which is the name given to the new tracks that host Annie Mac premieres on her show. A commenter on Reddit also points out that new music was confirmed by BBC Radio 1 this morning, with one of the hosts saying that Kanye would be playing a new track and talking about his new album. Whether that is Cruel Winter, Turbo Grafx 16, or something else entirely is still to be seen, so make sure youre tuned in to BBC Radio 1 today to find out. Read highlights from the upcoming interview below. On working with Ikea: I have to work with Ikea make furniture for interior design, for architecture. Yo Ikea, allow Kanye to create, allow him to make this thing because you know what, I want a bed that he makes, I want a chair that he makes. On his 2015 Glastonbury headlining performance: It was incredible. I started off the show and I completely messed up the music. And me, as you can imagine by this phone call, Im a bit of a perfectionist. So it really put me into a slightly depressed state and it put me back in the position of when I was in high school and I got fired from my job. I dont usually get nervous, I prepare, I get fully prepared. When that music messed up in the beginning it tapped into my nerves and when youre nervous or vulnerable something special and something different can happen. Story continues On running for President and police violence: When I talk about the idea of being president, Im not saying I have any political views. I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. We are numb, were numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, were numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while Im alive Im going to try to do it. Related: The Evolution of Kanye Wests Tours Screen Shot 2016-08-01 at 7.53.29 AM More from Pigeons & Planes Shares of premium technology, engineering, procurement and construction company KBR, Inc. KBR sank 4.1% on Jul 29, following a tepid second-quarter 2016 earnings performance. KBR broke its beat streak that ran for five consecutive quarters, as its second-quarter adjusted earnings of 32 cents met the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Meanwhile, the earnings figure tumbled 25.6% compared with the year-ago tally of 43 cents. However, there was a $28 million pre-tax gain on the sale of a non-strategic business which boosted earnings in second-quarter 2015. KBRs bottom-line performance was driven by strong operational execution and strength in Technology and Government Services business. However, overall weakness in top line proved to be a drag. Inside the Headlines Revenues fell 26.9% year over year to $1,009 million, owing to absence of revenues from the deconsolidation of certain businesses in 2015. Also, low oil prices have been restricting the capital spending by clients which in turn compounded the top-line decline. Also, revenues lagged the consensus mark of $1,024 million. Segment-wise, Technology & Consulting revenues continued to be strong and were up 22.5% year over year to $98 million on the back of increased proprietary equipment sales and inorganic revenue growth from previously completed acquisitions. Additionally, Government Services revenues charted phenomenal growth as it soared nearly 45% to $229 million on a year-over-year basis. Revenues benefited from the solid expansion of existing U.S. government contracts and task orders in support of the U.S. Military. The company reached an agreement with the U.S. government regarding reimbursement of $33 million in legal fees related to the sodium dichromate legal disputes. However, Engineering & Construction revenues continued their weak trajectory, and deteriorated 34.8% year over year to $621 million. Reduced activities in a major LNG project and several other projects as they approach completion hurt segmental revenues. Also, deconsolidation of KBR's Americas Industrial Services business proved to be a major headwind. Story continues Also, non-strategic business revenues plummeted 67.9% year over year to $98 million owing to lower revenues from two recently completed power projects as well as divestiture of the Building Group business in second-quarter 2015. As of Jun 30, 2016, the companys total backlog stood at $11 billion, down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Of the total backlog, about $6.4 billion is booked under the Government Services segment (down 7.4% on a y-o-y basis) and around $4.2 billion under the Engineering & Construction segment (down 8.3% on a y-o-y basis). While Technology and Consulting accounted for $394 million of the backlog (down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis), non-strategic Business had $100 million in backlog (down 39.4%). Significant Developments Concurrent with the earnings release, KBR declared that it is on track to exceed its planned target of annual cost savings in 2016, as it has already identified more than $200 million of the target at the end of second-quarter 2016. Furthermore, the company is strategically pursuing its restructuring activities and has incurred $12 million in pre-tax restructuring costs during the quarter. Also, sale of assets associated with certain Corporate real estate assets during the quarter helped the company garner $2 million in pre-tax gains. Going forward, KBR plans to continue with its portfolio restructuring actions and thereby channelize resources specifically into the International Government Services and Global Hydrocarbons segments to maximize profits. In addition, the quarter saw KBR win two contract extensions with the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as a multi-year services contract for the Australian Defense Department. Wyle Acquisition On Jul 1, KBR closed the $570 million acquisition of California-based Wyle Inc. a provider of specialized engineering and technical services.The firm delivers an extensive range of revolutionary, differentiated solutions, and caters primarily to the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and other federal agencies. Wyle will function within KBRs government services segment under the name KBRwyle, thus retaining the legacies of both the companies. The acquisition will help expand KBRs government services capabilities and service offerings, enabling the company to reduce its reliance on the hydrocarbon market. In addition, over the long term, Wyle is set to unlock synergistic opportunities in markets where KBR can combine its large-scale logistics and project management capabilities with Wyle's expert technical capabilities. In addition to creating the equivalent of a global $2 billion government services organization, the acquisition also enhances KBR's overall risk profile by enabling it to leverage higher-margin and largely cost-reimbursable work through other government funding sources. KBR anticipates Wyle to be immediately accretive to its earnings and generate a positive cash flow. Liquidity & Cash Flow As of Jun 30, 2016, KBRs cash and equivalents were $804 million, down from $883 million as of Dec 31, 2015. For the quarter, cash flow generated from operating activities during the quarter totaled $9 million, compared with cash generation of $20 million in the prior-year quarter. Guidance Reiterated KBR has reiterated its guidance for full-year 2016. The company expects earnings per share within $1.20 to $1.45, excluding legal costs associated with the legacy U.S. government contracts. The guidance includes contribution from KBRwyle for the second half of 2016, which will likely add between $0.05 and $0.08 per share. Legal costs are projected at around $15 million or $0.11 per share for 2016. KBR INC Price and EPS Surprise KBR INC Price and EPS Surprise | KBR INC Quote Our Take Despite weak performance this quarter, KBRs ability to sustain its earnings growth over the past few quarters bears a testimony to the companys diligent restructuring actions. Going forward, KBR believes that its Government Services will keep acting as a strong growth driver as it continues to enhance technical knowhow and advance support services to intelligence agencies. The Wyle acquisition will further KBRs relationships with U.S. government clients and expand its footprint in the space. Overall, the companys lucrative contract wins and its ability to execute large-scale logistics and project management services efficiently adds to its strength and is expected to boost its financials. In addition, the companys capital allocation strategies and partnerships are expected to propel growth in the forthcoming quarters. Despite these positives, KBRs precipitous revenue decline over the past few quarters owing to macroeconomic concerns are putting the companys financials under pressure. Also, the slump in oil prices are compounding the challenges for the hydrocarbons markets, thereby thwarting top-line performance. KBR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader sector include Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. JEC, Envestnet, Inc. ENV and Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. FIS. All these stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JACOBS ENGIN GR (JEC): Free Stock Analysis Report KBR INC (KBR): Free Stock Analysis Report FIDELITY NAT IN (FIS): Free Stock Analysis Report ENVESTNET INC (ENV): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Running a successful business requires planning, sound financial sense, a slice of good luck, and everything in between. Running a business with your family throws up a load of other variables and issues. One bone of great contention is the issue of succession: Who takes over when the head of the business retires or passes away. CNBC's Lasting Legacy listens to the views of family business experts and finds out what it takes to ensure that a business run with your mother, father, brother, sister or anyone in between, goes smoothly. Planning, planning, and more planning Deciding how to transition from one generation to the next is crucial. "Succession in a family business is one of the most agonizing experiences that any family business face(s) when they move from one generation to the next, so of course it's very important to think about succession," Alfredo De Massis, director of the Family Business Center at the Lancaster University Management School, told CNBC in a telephone interview. "Consequently, it's very important to plan the succession process itself, because it is a process." John N. Mayes, senior consultant at The Family Business Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina, told CNBC via email that it is "vitally important that every family business expecting to survive to the next generation have a well-thought-out succession plan." This, Mayes added, means family businesses need to develop and maintain both a management succession plan and an ownership succession plan. "The management succession plan defines who will lead the family business into the next generation, how the future leaders will be groomed for their roles, and how and when the transition will ultimately take place," he said. "If the "who" is not obvious, qualifications and a plan to fill this void must be part of the plan," he added. Fiona Graham, from the U.K.'s Institute for Family Business, told CNBC that having a succession plan in place was key to "enduring family business success." "A proper succession plan places the business on sound footing for the future," Graham went on to explain. "Without it, people don't know what to expect when the time comes for the business to be passed on and this can result in family frictions," she added. Planning becomes all the more important when one realizes that as well as finances being at stake, emotions play a role too. "There are emotions in place, it's not only a matter of economic profit, of economic interest, they care of course about profits but they care much more about non-economic things," De Massis said. Keys to success Mayes stressed the need for time when planning for a smooth transition of responsibilities, stating that 10 years was a "good timeframe for successfully completing a family business succession." As well as giving them a long enough run-up, businesses also need to consider which family member is the "best fit" to lead the enterprise going forward. Everything from qualifications to interests and leadership abilities needed to be taken into account, he added. "Consider what is really necessary to lead the business, not just manage the day to day operations," he went on to say. "Even if the son or daughter is the obvious choice, consider whether they have enough experience and perspective to lead successfully." The 10 years, Mayes went on to explain, gave a business' "heir apparent" the chance to work outside the family firm for an extended period of time, helping them to "gain a different business world view that could prove invaluable to the future of the family business." For Graham, engaging the next generation is incredibly important to make sure the succession is smooth. "Ensuring that the next generation is involved in the business from an early age and that they are provided with safe spaces to learn and communicate within and outside the business is fundamental to ensure the right talents and passions are channeled into the various area of the business," she said. While the next generation is important, Graham said that the current crop of management needed to be supported as well, with "tailored support" to approach the subject of succession crucial to a smooth, successful takeover. For De Massis, a crucial part of ensuring a smooth transition is ensuring desire is present. "You need both willingness and ability," he said. Outsiders Letting a non-family member take an active role in the day-to-day running of operations can be a thorny issue for some, but both Mayes and Graham told CNBC it has many positives. "Outsiders can have great insights into the firm and the market, and this can be a useful tool for entrepreneurial activities," Graham said. "What's essential for a family business is that the best people are in place to run the business, whether they are family or not," Graham added. "Family businesses should absolutely consider outsiders when filling key roles in the business including senior leadership roles," Mayes said. "'Outsider' can mean elevating current non-family employers or going outside the business entirely for new leadership talent," he added. "It would be foolish to expect that the best fit leaders can or should only be found within the family bloodline." More From CNBC Since last weeks Democratic National Convention, a feud has ignited between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the family of fallen soldier Capt. Humayun Khan, who died while serving in Iraq in 2004. Khizr Khan, father of the captain, called out Trump for his attacks on American Muslims, saying the Republican candidate had sacrificed nothing and no one in the fight against terror. While Khans speech has focused attention on Trumps policy proposals, its also brought attention to the many Gold Star Families who have lost loved ones in our nations military efforts abroad. But what exactly is a Gold Star Family? They are the mothers, fathers, children and spouses of fallen service-members. The terms history traces back to 1918 when one mother, Grace Darling Seibold, turned the grief shed experienced after losing her son during World War I into a movement of mothers who comforted each other and visited with soldiers whod returned from war wounded. They named their organization Gold Star Mothers in a nod to the banner families hung in their windows in honor of sons and daughters in the service. The flag displayed a blue star for every living family member in the service and a gold star for those whod perished. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter In June 1928, ten years after Lt. George Vaughn Seibolds obituary ran in the Washington Star newspaper, 25 mothers traveled to Washington, D.C. to formally establish the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. (Now, American Gold Star Mothers has chapters across the U.S.) Two years later, in 1930, they became national news when thousands of Gold Star mothers and widows took a pilgrimage to the European graves of their loved ones, paid for by the U.S. government. That May, when 234 women set sail to France to visit the land on which their sons and daughters perished, it was clear that the idea of the Gold Star Mother had seized the national imagination, as TIME reported back then: Story continues Ceremonious was the Gold Star leavetaking. Airplanes dropped poppies. Ziegfeld chorus girls sent a great wreath. Mothers carried forget-me-not nosegays, waved little U. S. flags. Bands played. Chief of Staff Summerall read a parting message from Acting Secretary of War Davison (Go, therefore, not in sorrow but in pride). Tiny stars of real gold were distributed by Paul Chapman, head of U. S. Lines. Tugs tooted and forts banged out salutes as the America put to sea. The idea of sending mothers abroad was largely conceived by Mrs. Mathilda Burling, whose son Private George B. Burling Jr. died in France. According to TIME, Burling lobbied fiercely for the legislation to authorize the trip, appearing in Washington and rounding up witnesses for Congressional hearings five years before the trip. She enlisted the aid of other War organizations. Her irrepressible efforts were more responsible for enactment of this legislation than any other individuals, TIME reported. In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Sept. 27, 1936, as National Gold Star Mothers Day. (Marked annually on the last Sunday of that month, the observance will fall on Sept. 25 in 2016.) American Gold Star Mothers, Roosevelt said in his proclamation, have suffered the supreme sacrifice of motherhood in the loss of their sons and daughters in the World War. In the aftermath of World War II, the use of Gold Star expanded to the Gold Star Wives; in the years since, the term has also come to apply to all family members. In 1947, the Gold Star Lapel Button was establishedthe very lapel button that Khizr Khan donned during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. Russia is at war with Ukraine there is no concealing this basic fact. Yet despite the seriousness of the threat from the East, Moscow isnt the worst enemy the Ukrainians face. Given the self-inflicted corruption that has infected every facet of business and government, the countrys worst enemy may be its own leaders. Ukraines corruption was inherited from the dying Soviet Union and has persisted for two and a half decades. It has made the country into a brutal kleptocracy that hands power and wealth to a tiny and unassailable elite, impeding the development of a normal economy. It has warped society, ruining everything from the health care and education systems to law enforcement and the judiciary. This is a system where the drunken son of an oligarch can walk free if he happens to run over an ordinary citizen with his car. All of this helps to explain why so many Ukrainian activists have been demanding the adoption of Western-style legal norms. The rule of law, after all, is the only antidote to a system based on lawlessness. And in the 2013 Euromaidan revolution, many Ukrainians paid with their own lives for daring to stand up and demand this change. Since the revolution, however, the new government in Kiev has remained impervious to their demands. Crucially, it has also chosen to ignore heartfelt appeals from its closest foreign friends. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has spent the past year begging the government to send a signal by sending at least one corrupt oligarch to jail. Just one. But even his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Kievs inattention to the concerns of a largely sympathetic international community is an extremely troubling development that could cost Ukraine support from abroad when it needs it the most. Despite complaints in some quarters that the U.S. has done too little to help Kiev in its fight against Russian proxies, the fact remains that Washington has played a vital role in sustaining international diplomatic, financial, and military aid to Ukraine while keeping up the pressure on its European allies to maintain economic sanctions on Moscow. Story continues Unfortunately, Ukraines leaders appear to have made a dangerous miscalculation by assuming that the West regards their country as its proxy in a confrontation with an aggressively resurgent Russia. For this reason, they assume they can count on support in Western capitals no matter what happens. A former senior minister, in government until April, described the official mindset as follows: They believe that Ukraine is too important for America and the European Union to allow it to fail. I think thats completely delusional. I think Ukraine has this year in which to show real results. The U.S. and other friends of Ukraine are losing patience. The ex-minister is right. Worries about Ukraine fatigue are circulating among many of the countrys Western supporters. After a visit to Kiev in April, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer noted in a blog post: One sometimes gets a feeling that Ukraines elite have an inflated sense of the countrys geopolitical importance between the West and Russia that they believe that their country is too important to fail and that, regardless of what Ukraines leadership does, the West will stick with Kiev out of fear that it might otherwise turn to Moscow. That could be a mistake. Brian Mefford, a political and business consultant who has lived in Kiev for the past 17 years, said that Ukraine will soon face an uphill battle trying to convince a new U.S. president that it is serious about reform. There are three key things that Kiev can do to ensure that Ukraine fatigue does not set in, he told me. One: fight corruption. Two: fight corruption. Three: fight corruption. But so far, the problem just keeps getting worse and it goes all the way to the top. This month, one of Ukraines most respected anti-corruption journalists, Sergii Leshchenko, himself a member of parliament from President Poroshenkos party, wrote a devastating piece accusing Poroshenko of creating a clan of cronies and oligarchs around himself in the same way as his corrupt predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych. Leshchenko and other prominent reform-minded politicians are forming a new party to challenge the administration. It wont be easy. Lawmaker Arkady Kornatsky, also a member of the presidents party, told me that his experience in government has revealed to him the extent of the corrupt system. All the parties in parliament, including the one of which Im a member, were created and funded by oligarchs, and they are protecting each others interests, he told me. I want to believe that the president himself is honest but I dont see him seriously fighting corruption. Mr. Biden is naive if he thinks an oligarch will put his kind into jail. This government will stall on reforms unless the U.S. leans on it. Kornatsky claims to have evidence that the Ukrainian government is stealing much of the money being provided by western countries and the IMF. He believes disenchantment with continued corruption will lead to protests and even local separatist movements. The Ukrainian presidential administration did not answer queries about why reforms are moving so slowly. Kateryna Smagly of the Kennan Institute in Kiev notes that the countrys leaders may well be justified in moving cautiously when its a matter of implementing far-reaching structural reforms. Market reforms required huge cuts in unnecessary state-funded jobs. For instance, some 10 to 20,000 people now working in unvisited Soviet-era museums all over Ukraine would be thrown out of work. What would they all do, set up stalls in marketplaces? She also points out that the process by which many of the countrys assets were privatized back in the 1990s might not stand up to legal scrutiny meaning that reviewing the rights to ownership could cause immense chaos. Every businessman made his first capital illegally, she notes. But if, like Robespierre, you cut off every head, who will carry on, who will provide jobs? And without proper, careful legislation, Ukraine could be accused of selective justice. Fair enough. And yet, clearly, something needs to change. The soldiers still fighting a grinding war with Russian-sponsored separatists in the East are losing patience. On trips to the front lines one hears warnings that the battle-hardened veterans will not tolerate corruption forever, and could try to overthrow the government either by launching a new wave of mass protests or an armed coup. Needless to say, this could bring catastrophic consequences. Unless the government and president can unequivocally demonstrate substantive reforms in practice (not least by putting obvious criminals behind bars), they will stand guilty of squandering a precious chance to build a dignified, democratic, and prosperous future for their country despite the sacrifices of life and blood made by thousands of its finest people. If they think that sort of betrayal comes with no consequences, they are truly delusional. And the next time they turn to the West for help, they might find that they are truly on their own. In the photo, a man dressed up as Death holds a scythe reading Hucksters, I come for you during a protest in front of the parliament building in Kiev on April 11. Photo credit: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images As their donor retreat wrapped up at the grand Broadmoor resort, a group backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch previewed to invited reporters another almost $4 million in ads against Democratic Senate hopefuls. The ads, which are set to start this week in Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, bring Freedom Partners Action Fund media spending on Senate races to $24 million. That number is expected to hit $42 million by Election Day in November. In all, the Koch network plans to spend $250 million on politics this cycle. With Charles Koch disgusted by his options running for President, the network of conservative and libertarian organizations that are part of the Freedom Partners network is working to keep the Senate in Republican hands. Donors at this Colorado Springs, Colo., resort were largely supportive of that decision, even though most said they would vote against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton rather than vote for GOP choice Donald Trump. The new ads all reinforce voters beliefs that the system is rigged, and those in power are trying to get ahead through government gigs. The ads do not mention that they are, in effect, trying to keep two endangered incumbents in power. In the Nevada ad, a narrator tells voters that Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto fought shared-ride service Uber from Nevada and took money from the pockets of amateur drivers, all the while accepting gifts from special interest groups. In Washington, the female narrator asks, would she work for us or them? Its a similar message about insiders in Ohio, where former Governor Ted Strickland is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Rob Portman. When times were tough, Ted Strickland made our lives harder, the narrator says. The ad cites Stricklands decision to tap into the states rainy day fund to weather the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath, as well as fee hikes on trash and cars. As governor, Strickland was a disappointment. Why would we make him our Senator? Story continues And in next-door Pennsylvania, the group is running ads against Katie McGinty, who is challenging Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Katie McGinty helped steer millions of our tax dollars to favored companies. She helped them navigate government and land big contracts, the female narrator says. In exchange, the ad claims, McGinty got a board positions, a six-figure salary and campaign cash. The ad ends with the question: Will she look out for you, or the favored few? As a package, its clear the Koch allies are working to cast these candidates as nefarious and untrustworthy. In addition to these three states, the Koch network is eyeing Senate races in Wisconsin, Florida and Indiana. The Koch retreats have in the past been closed to reporters, but a handful were invited to attend the three-day summit in the Rocky Mountains. In exchange, reporters agreed not to identify donors who did not want to be identified. This week on TNTs The Last Ship, a black circle turned into a bulls-eye for the Nathan James, as the true nature of Pengs grand plan was discovered. Plus: a new POTUS brought new drama to the St. Louis White House. RELATEDTNTs The Last Ship Renewed for Season 4 Freshly armed with the intel that Takehaya had been curiously instructed by Peng to never pirate boats that were marked with a black circle, Chandler & Co. set out to decipher why. Having learned that Wu Ming was a bigger player than they first imagined and after seeing that Peng razed his entire compound, to cover his tracks the James found mammas boy Wu Ming at his mothers house, where he was getting roughed up by MSS. Danny, Wolf and the others infiltrated and subdued the baddies, then subject Wu Ming to fruitless questioning. But while there, they gleaned that some lottery tickets pinned to his wall in fact were marked with hull numbers of ships and that on the back of one was a black circle. After some recon, the ship in question was tracked down though it was a simple pleasure cruiser, steered by a goofball? Upon boarding the vessel, Sasha and Danny found nothing of interest until behind a stash of drugs, behind a hidden panel, they discovered a missile. Back on the James, inside the missile was found pellets filled with the same green mist that Takehayas wife recalled seeing in the air before they received the cure. Doc Rios determines that the gas contains a lectin that shields the Red Flu cells from being exposed the cure and that is why the cure had no effect on Takehaya and his wife. Now, the question becomes: Just how many of these missiles does Peng have at the ready, and how can the James possibly stifle his grand plan for genocide, by shielding people from the cure? RELATEDThe Librarians Season 3 Gets TNT Premiere Date Elsewhere in the episode, President Oliver took the oath of office, and his first priority is for the people of America to see, via video, that the James hostages were rescued. Alas, Kara still cant seem to solve for the strange interference their comms have been receiving, thus keeping video from getting through. Kara also finds that her opinions on non-military (read: domestic) matters are no longer welcome by Rivera and Shaw, the latter of whom has abruptly sold out Micheners domestic agenda to the regional leaders. Is she the mole inside the White House, or is Rivera? And did Michener not kill himself? Story continues What did you think of the episode Sea Change? And did you hear about The Last Ships Season 4 renewal?? Related stories Major Crimes Sneak Peek: Is Provenza Ready to (Finally) Retire? TNT Orders The Race Card Discussion Series Hosted By Charles Barkley The Last Ship Renewed for Season 4 Legendary Bonneville Racer Sam Wheeler Killed Land speed motorcycle racer Sam Wheeler died last week after suffering traumatic injury in a crash at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He was 72. According to a report in the New York Times, Wheeler was traveling at roughly 200 mph during a test run when his streamlined motorcycle suddenly went into a wobble and flipped into the air. Wheeler had been in a safety cage and was extracted by emergency crews but he died about four hours later at a nearby hospital. Wheeler was known within the world of land speed racing as something of a pioneer in the sport. The Arcadia, California, native had been building and racing motorcycles for more than 20 years and had once held the land speed record for motorcycles. He was pretty much one of the legends of our sport, fellow racer Pat McDowell told the New York Times. He did it with his brain, not his wallet. Wheeler had been testing his motorcycle ahead of Bonneville Speed Week, which is set to return this year after a two-year cancellation due to poor conditions and environmental concerns. Wheeler leaves behind a wife and two children. From ELLE In a new column for ELLE.com, R. Eric Thomas reads the news. Today he reads a tale of two dresses and a stage filled with balloons. On the final night of the DNC, Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio gave an electrifying speech in support of Hillary Clinton. Beatty has served in the U.S. House since 2013. Prior to that she served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, where she was the first female Democratic House Leader in the state's history. She's a great politician and a fantastic speaker. Oh, and also she wore the same dress as Melania Trump and it's giving me my entire life. Y'all. I can't. I can't. I mean, I can. I will. But I can't! This is graduate level shade. I'm just saying, don't sleep on black people. Don't do it. We use shade like it's the Force. Out here in these swamps like Yoda. "Open the library is. Read you I will." You must love someone who sees a dress on a supermodel and is like, "Imma let you finish, but...." She is wearing the sartorial version of "I don't know her." When asked who her designer was, she replied, "This is from the She Doesn't Have the Range collection by You Tried It." Actually, and this is true, Beatty claims to be totally blindsided by the whole thing. She didn't even know she was wearing the same dress. Y'all the shade is just shut up in her bones. I love it! Beatty claims that she wore the dress at the suggestion of her husband, Otto, also a longtime politician. It was just a coincidence. I just want to say-I see you Otto Beatty Jr., and I salute you. The Beattys are over here like, "Oh, you want to just borrow parts of the first lady's speech? That's cool. I drink your milk shake. I drink it right up!" Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, you're an American hero; you make me want to be a better person. And by that I mean a shadier person. For real though, people dressed in white were having a moment last night! Story continues This woman is not afraid of ISIS, Putin, Trump, or stains. She literally carries hot sauce around with her all the time. That takes guts! You know how hard it is to get the right amount of Frank's Red Hot out of that little bottle without some of it splashing up on you? I love the people who complain that Hillary's white pantsuit is impractical. What's she scheduled to do in it? She's giving a speech, not cooking a Fourth of July barbecue. Her agenda for the day had one item: make history. You know who is giving a Fourth of July barbecue? American Dad Tim Kaine! He's got some links on the grill and he's inviting over the whole country. He's wearing an apron that unironically says "I Love Meat" and he would love to talk to you about this hilarious thing that happened one time in Honduras. You have to love Tim Kaine. He loves you. He loves you so much. And I am living for the slow rollout of his Father's Day tie collection, available at finer Marshalls across the country. I am also 100 percent here for Tim Kaine's total ebullience about these balloons. It is hard to overstate the thrill of seeing very accomplished adults frolicking in balloons. Bill Clinton has never been happier in his life and he won two presidential elections. Bill is so happy. You know who's not happy? This man. I live for this picture. This man is shading these balloons so hard! He is so pressed right now. He's like, "These balloons are problematic." He is going through it. Ugh, thoughts and prayers, friend. But Bill! Gurl.... Bill has gone full Pina Bausch here. This photo won the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. So much changes when you become a vegan. Y'all, Bill Clinton is on another plane. He doesn't even know he's here right now. I love this picture because it captures that moment when Hillary Clinton is finally inducted into the society of people who understand that there is no greater thrill in life than being showered with balloons. It's about time she was inducted into the society. I hope there are many more to come. Welcome, Hillary Clinton. By Goran Tomasevic and Yeganeh Torbati SIRTE, Libya/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city. "The first air strikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing severe losses to enemy ranks," Prime Minster Fayez Seraj said on state TV. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes did not have "an end point at this particular moment in time". Forces allied with Seraj have been battling Islamic State in Sirte - the home town of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - since May. The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq. But they are now besieged in a few square kilometers of the center, where they hold strategic sites, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, the central hospital and the university. Seraj said the Presidential Council of his Government of National Accord, or GNA, had decided to "activate" its participation in the international coalition against Islamic State and "request the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on Daesh (Islamic State)." The air strikes on Monday - which were authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama - hit an Islamic State tank and two vehicles that posed a threat to forces aligned with Libya's GNA, Cook said. In the future, each individual strike will be coordinated with the GNA and needs the approval of the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, Cook added. This was the third U.S. air strike against Islamic State militants in Libya. But U.S. officials said this one marked the start of a sustained air campaign rather than another isolated strike. The last acknowledged U.S. air strikes in Libya were on an Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha in February. Although it does not include the use of ground troops beyond small special forces squads rotating in and out of Libya and drones collecting intelligence, the air campaign opens a new front in the war against IS and what American officials consider its most dangerous component outside Syria and Iraq. Obama authorized the strikes after a recommendation by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Washington took part in air strikes in 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya which helped topple Gaddafi. The country has struggled since then and Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine in April that the intervention "didn't work". OPERATIONS IN SIRTE AND SUBURBS "I want to assure you that these operations are limited to a specific timetable and do not exceed Sirte and its suburbs," Seraj said, adding that international support on the ground would be limited to technical and logistical help. "GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL (Islamic State) thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," said Cook, the Pentagon spokesman. The White House said U.S. assistance to Libya would be limited to air strikes and information sharing. "There are unique capabilities that our military can provide to support forces on the ground and that's what the president wanted to do," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One on Monday. But that coordination will be a challenge, experts said. Local forces in Libya fighting Islamic State are diffuse and fragmented, with no single center of command, said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who recently spent three days with fighters in Sirte. "U.S. and Western diplomatic strategy has been to try to boost this GNA, but I think there are certain limits," Wehrey said. "It's not the sort of conventional military operation we would think of where there's a central point of contact." U.S. and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte. Brigades mainly composed of militia from the western city of Misrata advanced on Sirte in May, but their progress was slowed by snipers, mines and booby-traps. Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialize. At least 350 of their fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the campaign. Libyan fighter jets have frequently bombed Sirte, but they lack the weapons and technology to make precision strikes. Islamic State took advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to start expanding into Libya in 2014. It gained control over about 250 km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline either side of Sirte, though it has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in the country. The GNA was the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them. But it is having difficulty imposing its authority and winning backing from factions in the east. Western powers have offered to support the GNA in its efforts to tackle Islamic State, stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean and revive Libya's oil production. But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help. U.S. officials were developing military options in Libya earlier this year. But enormous hurdles, including struggles in the formation of a unified Libyan government strong enough to call for and accommodate foreign military assistance, stood in the way. [nL2N15K24F] Small teams of Western countries' special forces have been on the ground in eastern and western Libya for months. Last month France said three of its soldiers had been killed south of the eastern city of Benghazi, where they had been conducting intelligence operations. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Dan Grebler) Tripoli (AFP) - Key dates since the Islamic State group (IS) moved into Libya in 2014 amid the chaos that followed the ouster of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. On Monday, US warplanes carried out their first air strikes on positions in the IS bastion of Sirte. First jihadist attacks - November 19, 2014: The US says it is "concerned" by reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to IS are destabilising eastern Libya, having already seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. - December 27, 2014: A car bomb claimed by IS explodes outside the diplomatic security building in Tripoli without causing casualties. - January 27, 2015: IS claims an attack on Tripoli's luxury Corinthia Hotel that kills nine people, including five foreigners. Since then IS has carried out multiple suicide attacks, including in February 2015 in Al-Qoba, near the eastern town of Derna, that killed 44 people and in January 2016 at a police school in Zliten, east of Tripoli, which killed more than 50. IS videos of killings - February 15, 2015: IS releases a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one Egyptian, that it says was filmed in January. Egypt carries out air strikes on IS in its then stronghold of Derna. - April 19, 2015: A new video shows the execution-style killing of 28 Christians originally from Ethiopia. Sirte seized - June 9, 2015: IS announces it has captured Sirte, hometown of Kadhafi, east of Tripoli. - July 12, 2015: The group acknowledges it has been pushed out of Derna after weeks of fierce fighting with the town's Mujahedeen Council. First US strikes - November 13, 2015: The US bombs IS leaders in Libya for the first time and says it killed Abu Nabil, an Iraqi also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. Libyan officials identify him as the IS chief in Derna. - February 19, 2016: A US air strike on a jihadist training camp near Sabratha, west of Tripoli, kills about 50 people. - February 24, 2016: Some 200 jihadists briefly occupy central Sabratha, before being ousted by militias. Story continues Offensive on Sirte - March 30, 2016: The head of Libya's UN-backed unity government, Fayez al-Sarraj, arrives in Tripoli, despite the hostility of rival authorities. - May 12, 2016: A vast offensive begins by forces loyal to the unity government to retake Sirte. - June 4, 2016: Unity government forces say they have retaken a jihadist air base south of Sirte. - June 9, 2016: Government forces enter the centre of Sirte and besiege the jihadists. - July 23, 2016: Loyalist forces say they have seized a building used by the IS to manufacture explosives. - August 1, 2016: Sarraj says the US has carried out air strikes on IS positions in Sirte for the first time, at the unity government's request. A US senior administration official says American troops will not take part in any ground operations in support of the government. Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's National Oil Company says it is preparing to resume exports of crude, halted for months because of political differences and attacks by jihadists. "Now we will begin working... to restart exports from the ports that were closed and from the fields that supply them," the NOC said in a statement Sunday. Last week, oil installation guards announced the reopening of two major export terminals after an agreement with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNA). Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals, with respective capacities of 200,000 barrels per day and 500,000 bpd, have been closed since January after storage tanks were set on fire during attacks by the jihadist Islamic State group. The NOC said the GNA had decided to release funds to allow the oil company "to boost production by over 900,000 bpd by the end of the year 2016". Libya's oil sector, its main source of income, is managed by the NOC which is split into two rival branches. The main branch is in the capital and allied to the GNA, but its rival in the east is close to a parallel executive that has the confidence of parliament which has so far refused to cede power to the internationally recognised Tripoli government. Nagi al-Maghrabi of the eastern-based NOC told AFP that he rejected the deal between the GNA and the oil installation guards, however. "We will not accept that oil is exported under these conditions... as there will be no guarantees of the fair distribution of income, or assurances that the funds will not fall into the hands of militias," he said. Oil is Libya's main natural resource with reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa. From Cosmopolitan Days after footage surfaced of Lindsay Lohan and Egor Tarabasov fighting on her balcony in London, Page Six is reporting that things are indeed over between the couple. Sources told Page Six that LiLo and the Russian business mogul have split and ended their engagement as Egor was seen moving out of her apartment. Someone claiming to be a friend of Lindsay's also said the actress was losing more than "just a boyfriend" because she viewed the relationship as a way to move forward from what the friend calls "the chaos of her youth." Over the weekend, LiLo took to social media and shared a photo of Egor with the caption, "Wow thanks #fiance with Russian hooker @dasha_pa5h," referring to Dasha Pasevkina, the creative director of PA5H. LiLo followed up with a video of her fiance and the caption, "First time in my life-bare with he/he cheated on me with a hooker." LiLo also shared an image from her 2009 movie Labor Pains and wrote, "I am pregnant!!" Her father Michael has since told Inside Edition that he has "no reason not to believe her. She is my daughter. She hasn't lied to me. She hasn't misled me. I go on what she tells me." Following the explosive video footage of LiLo and Egor's argument, which ended in London's Metropolitan police arriving to the apartment "following a report of a woman in distress," LiLo took to Instagram to share a lengthy note. "I would appreciate it if these speculations regarding my personal life would respectfully come to a halt. Unfortunately, a private matter has become more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own." LiLo, who has since been spotted with friends in Sardinia, Italy, issued another note Tuesday. "I am sorry for exposing certain private matters recently," she wrote. "I was acting out of fear and sadness We all make mistakes. Sadly mine have always been so public." She continues, "My intentions were not meant to send mixed messages. Maybe things can be fixed Maybe not I hope they can." Story continues Update 7/27, 4:26 p.m.: Michael Lohan tells Page Six that Lindsay texted him news of her pregnancy with "Daddy, I'm pregnant." "I don't know [how far along she is]." He also said something similar to the Daily Mail, adding, "It's going to be up to her what she decides to do," and that "It's troubling that she is pregnant." As for his feelings on Egor, Michael says, "He needs to get his act together. She is going through this hard time in the relationship. That's kind of hard." Update 7/30, 12:20 p.m.: Lindsay was spotted in Italy removing her giant emerald engagement ring and replacing it, fueling rumors that she and Egor aren't just on "pause." Follow Peggy on Twitter. Lindsay Lohan first came into the public eye when she was a child and she's been a famous name for many reasons ever since. HIGH: 1998 The world first met Lohan back in 1998 with the release of The Parent Trap, which was a smash hit and shot Lohan to child stardom. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2003 She had a few years out of the spotlight, peppered with a few smaller flicks (like Life-Size with Tyra Banks). But five years later, she had her first big success as a teenager: Freaky Friday, starring alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. HIGH: 2004 But it was Mean Girls that really raised Lohan's star status. The uber-successful, often-quoted film put Lohan on the map as the it girl. It resonates today: When people think of Lohan's film career, they undoubtedly think of Mean Girls. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2004 Riding high after Mean Girls, Lohan started her singing career, debuting her first album, Speak, to fairly positive reviews. HIGH: 2006 She took a break from the teen movies for a role in A Prairie Home Companion, alongside heavyweights Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep. Lohan won Streep's praise on the film: "She's in command of the art form," Streep said of her costar. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan LOW: 2006 Though she was receiving compliments from Streep, 2006 is when Lohan's began making headlines for things besides her career. She did a controversial interview with Vanity Fair in which she seemed to admit to drug use and battling bulimia. However, Lohan later claimed her words concerning any eating disorder were misquoted, telling Teen People, "The words that I gave to the writer for Vanity Fair were misused and misconstrued, and I'm appalled with the way it was done." LOW: 2007 The next year, while filming Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, Lohan was criticized for her behavior on set, including missing days of filming without notice and arriving late after nights of partying. It got so dire that the CEO of the production company, James G. Robinson, wrote her a letter saying she'd be held financially responsible for any further delays in production. LOW: 2007 The headlines continued. In 2007, she got a DUI twice. Police also found a "usable amount of cocaine" in connection with the first DUI. After her second DUI hearing, she was sentenced to three years probation. She was then sentenced to jail for the DUI, but ended up serving just 84 minutes due to overcrowding. Story continues Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2008 After her first stint in rehab, Lohan started dating DJ Samantha Ronson, a relationship that lasted for two years. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2009 A year later, after she split from Ronson, Lohan proved that despite her ups and downs, she knows how to laugh at herself. She appeared in a faux eHarmony ad describing her "dating profile," saying she's looking for a date who enjoys car chases and passing out in the back of Cadillac Escalades. LOW: 2010 But 2007 didn't mark the end of Lohan's legal troubles. At 24, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail for failing to follow the terms of her probation and not attending her court-mandated alcohol education classes. She only served 14 days of her sentence, due to overcrowding. After flunking a drug test that September, Lohan went straight from jail to rehab. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan LOW: 2011 Yes, there's more trouble with the law. In 2011, Lohan was taken into custody after pleading not guilty to stealing a necklace (worth $2,500) from a jewelry store. Then, she was sentenced to 120 days in jailand 480 days community service for violating her probation. She ultimately spent the bulk of her sentence under house arrest. That fall, after getting her probation revoked once more, she was detained briefly before being let out on $ 100,000 bail. LOW: 2012 It was a difficult year for her, both professionally and on a personal level: Her Lifetime Elizabeth Taylor film, Liz & Dick, was released and ultimately critically panned. Plus, she had her probation extended and was arrested again for clipping a man with her car. With that arrest, however, no charges were brought forth. HIGH: 2012 There was a positive side to 2012, however. Lohan relocated to London. Sources told PEOPLE that the move helped her find a calmer, less intense lifestyle. "She's not partying as much like she used to," the source said. "She's doing really well, and she is taking cooking classes with some girlfriends ... She has been happy staying out of the public eye. She likes staying in and flying under the radar and staying out of trouble." LOW: 2014 A copy of what was allegedly a list of all of the people Lohan had ever had sex with was published online. In an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Lohan confirmed the list was hers, and was created as part of her program at the Betty Ford Center. LOW: 2014 In 2014, during her reality series on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Lindsay, Lohan revealed she had a miscarriage. "No one knows this, and we can finish after this, I had a miscarriage for the two weeks that I took off," she said on the show. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2014 Lohan starred in her first-ever play in London, Speed-the-Plow in October. She received mixed reviews, but many were positive. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2015 After eight long years, Lohan's probation was finally lifted after she completed her community service. LOW: 2015 Lohan wore an outfit paying homage to the murdered Sharon Tate in November 2015 the timing, though, was questionable. It was the day of Charles Manson's birthday. (Tate was killed on Aug. 9, 1969, when members of Manson's cult broke into her Beverly Hills home and stabbed the pregnant 26-year-old actress to death.) Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan HIGH: 2015 Just a few days later, however, things started looking up. For the first time in two years, Lohan got back on set for a film called The Shadow Within. LOW: 2016 Currently, Lohan is at the center of some rather public relationship drama with her fiance, Russian business mogul Egor Tarabasov. Lohan made headlines after she posted a series of now-deleted messages on social media begging her fiance to come home and accusing him of cheating on her. Then a video surfaced of a woman who, in the footage, identifies herself as Lohan fighting with a man on a balcony and accusing him of abuse. (PEOPLE has not confirmed the authenticity of the video.) Lohan also posted a link to the trailer for her film Labor Pains with the caption, "Lindsay lohan labour pains trailer I am pregnant!!", prompting speculation that she is pregnant. Lindsay Lohan's Life in the Spotlight: The Highs and Lows| Lindsay Lohan Lohan then went to Italy, assuring fans in an Instagram post that she is "good and well" but is taking time for herself with "good friends." And she looked to be in high spirits this week as she sipped beer and smoked a cigarette while on a luxury yacht with her pal Hofit Golan in Sardinia. Image via Bandcamp Image via Bandcamp Legendary Portland-based producer Vektroid, better known as the artist behind the legendary vaporwave release Floral Shoppe, has been keeping busy as of late. Expanding her horizons as a producer and moving far past the vaporwave tags, Vektroid has spent 2016 releasing a series of experimental albums that explore just how fantastic of a producer she really is. Her latest project, is her furthest departure yet, teaming up with Houston-based rapper Siddiq for a full-length collaboration album, Midnight Run. Featuring a number of elements from her previous releases, the album shoots off in a number of different directions with some insane production and rapping that really stands out atop it. Siddiqs rapping might be relatively straight-forward compared to some of the production turns, but it works well, blurring the lines between the avant-garde and accessibility. Its definitely an ambitious project, but that ambition results in an exciting listen from start to finish. The definite highlight here upon first listen is perhaps the title track Midnight Run, or the glorious opening track Overture. It might be a lot to digest for some listeners, but theres no denying that its one of the most unique rap projects of the year so far. Listen to the album in full below, and purchase it here. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A London tribunal dismissed claims against Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman from the founder of Turkcell, Fridman's company said on Monday, marking a possible breakthrough in a decade-long battle for Turkey's top mobile operator. Fridman has been locked in a legal battle for control of the company with another shareholder, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, one of Turkey's richest men. The dispute prevented some dividends from being paid and has hampered the company's development. Fridman indirectly holds 13.2 percent of Turkcell, while Karamehmet indirectly holds a 13.8 percent stake. Swedish phone carrier Telia Company (TELIA.ST) owns 37 percent. The dispute started when Fridman's company Alfa seized Karamehmet's stake, saying the Turkish businessman's company, Cukurova Holding, defaulted on a 2005 loan agreement for which the shares were pledged as collateral. An international arbitrator ordered Fridman to return the stake to Cukurova Holding in exchange for $1.6 billion. Strapped for cash, Cukurova financed the repurchase with a loan from state-owned Turkish lender Ziraat Bank (TCZIR.UL), which now holds the shares as collateral for the unpaid loan. Cukurova has also made an offer to buy out Fridman's stake, which is held by his Alfa Telecom vehicle. Fridman refused and went to arbitration court at the end of 2014. The London tribunal has now upheld Fridman's counterclaim that he was entitled to launch a buyout procedure, triggered by the deadlock of corporate governance of Turkcell, an affiliated Fridman company said in an emailed statement. The tribunal's decision requires Cukurova to choose within 60 days whether to buy Fridman's shares in Turkcell for $2.7 billion or sell its own stake to Fridman for $2.8 billion. If Cukurova fails to make a decision within that time it shall be treated as having decided to sell its shares, Fridman's company said in the statement. A Cukurova source said it was too early for it to make a decision. Turkcell shares were up 0.9 percent at 10.45 lira by 0953 GMT. (Reporting by Asli Kandemir and Ceyda Caglayan, Writing by Seda Sezer; Editing by David Dolan and Louise Heavens) The Macerich Company MAC reported second-quarter 2016 adjusted funds from operations (FFO) per share of $1.02, which came in higher than both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and prior-year quarter tally of 97 cents. Improvement in releasing spread and same center net operating income aided the result. Macerich posted revenues of $259.9 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate $241 million. However, the year-ago quarter revenue figure was of $323 million. Quarter in Detail As of Jun 30, 2016, mall portfolio occupancy decreased 50 basis points (bps) year over year to 95%. Mall tenant annual sales increased to $626 per square foot from the $623 at the end of second quarter 2015. In addition, re-leasing spreads rose 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Also, same centers NOI grew 6.5% during the quarter. Macerich Company (MAC) EPS BNRI & Surprise Percent - Last 5 Quarters | FindTheCompany As of Jun 30, 2016, on a pro rata basis, Macerichs share of cash and cash equivalents were $149.9 million, compared with $192.7 million as of Mar 31, 2016. Moreover, the company had a total debt of nearly $7.4 billion (on pro rata basis), up from $7.1 billion at the end of the prior quarter. 2016 Guidance Macerich has reaffirmed the guidance range for 2016. The REIT expects FFO per share in a range of $4.05$4.15. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.09 falls in the range. Also, the company anticipates 2016 cash same store NOI to grow 4.505.00%. Our Viewpoint We believe Macerichs premium operating portfolio shows promise, going forward. Improving mall tenant annual sales per square foot and re-leasing spreads would pave the way for a robust top line. MACERICH CO Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise MACERICH CO Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MACERICH CO Quote Currently, Macerich has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Investors interested in the retail REIT space may consider stocks like Acadia Realty Trust AKR, Equity One Inc. EQY and National Retail Prloperties, Inc. NNN. All these stocks hold the same Zacks Rank as Macerich. Note: All EPS numbers presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) per share. FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MACERICH CO (MAC): Free Stock Analysis Report EQUITY ONE INC (EQY): Free Stock Analysis Report ACADIA RLTY TR (AKR): Free Stock Analysis Report NATL RETAIL PPT (NNN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. According to the Zacks Industry classification, the machinery industry is broadly grouped under Industrial Products, one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors. We believe that financial performance of U.S.-based machinery stocks are highly correlated to the economic conditions of the home-country as well as that of foreign countries it serves. On a macro front, we believe that during the AprJun 16 quarter these machinery stocks faced headwinds from unfavorable foreign currency movements and weak economic conditions in some developed and developing nations. However, the impacts of such adversities are believed to have ebbed compared with the previous quarter. Domestically, one of the leading economic indicators for the industrial stocks - industrial production - fell roughly 1% year over year in AprilJune quarter. As of Jul 29, roughly 71.4% of industrial products stocks in the S&P 500 Group reported results for the AprilJune quarter, recording a 1.4% decline in earnings and 4.2% fall in revenue. Earnings in the quarter are predicted to decline 5.1%, while revenue will likely fall 5.8%. Whats in Store for 5 Machinery Stocks, ETN, EMR, ESE, IIVI and POWL? Below we discuss briefly the expectations from the upcoming results (AprilJune quarter) for five machinery stocks: Eaton Corporation plc ETN: This machinery company is slated to release its second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 2, before the market opens. In the four trailing quarters, the company reported better-than-expected results in three while recording in-line results in one. Average earnings surprise was a positive 3.16%. EATON CORP PLC Price and EPS Surprise EATON CORP PLC Price and EPS Surprise | EATON CORP PLC Quote Our proven model conclusively shows that Eaton Corporation will disappoint earnings this quarter as it currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and -1.87% Earnings ESP. For a possible earnings beat, the company should have the right combination of two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP (the percentage difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate) and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold). Over the last 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock remained unchanged at $1.07 per share. (For more please read: Is a Disappointment in Store for Eaton in Q2 Earnings?) Emerson Electric Co. EMR: The machinery company is anticipated to release its third-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 2016) results on Aug 2, before the market opens. In the trailing four quarters, the company reported better-than-expected results in three quarters while lagging in one. Average earnings surprise was a positive 2.91%. Story continues EMERSON ELEC CO Price and EPS Surprise EMERSON ELEC CO Price and EPS Surprise | EMERSON ELEC CO Quote Our proven model does not conclusively show that Emerson Electric will beat earnings this quarter because it currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 and a 0.00% Earnings ESP. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock has decreased 1.2% to 84 cents per share for third-quarter fiscal 2016. (For more please read: Will Emerson (EMR) Let Down Investors in Q3 Earnings?) ESCO Technologies Inc. ESE: This machinery company is slated to release its third-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 2016) results on Aug 2, after the market closes. In the four trailing quarters, the company reported better-than-expected results in two while lagging in one. Average earnings surprise was a positive 11.92%. ESCO TECH INC Price and EPS Surprise ESCO TECH INC Price and EPS Surprise | ESCO TECH INC Quote Our proven model does not conclusively show that ESCO Technologies will beat earnings this quarter because it currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 and a 0.00% Earnings ESP. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock has remained stable at 45 cents per share for third-quarter fiscal 2016. II-VI Incorporated IIVI: The machinery company is slated to release its fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 2016) results on Aug 2, before the market opens. Over the four trailing quarters, the company reported better-than-expected results with a positive average earnings surprise of 18.78%. II-VI INCORP Price and EPS Surprise II-VI INCORP Price and EPS Surprise | II-VI INCORP Quote Our proven model does not conclusively show that II-VI Incorporated will beat earnings this quarter because it currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 and a 0.00% Earnings ESP. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock has remained stable at 24 cents per share for fourth-quarter fiscal 2016. Powell Industries, Inc. POWL: This machinery company is slated to release its third-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 2016) results on Aug 2, after the market closes. In the four trailing quarters, the company reported better-than-expected results in two while lagging in the rest. Average earnings surprise was a positive 40.70%. POWELL INDS Price and EPS Surprise POWELL INDS Price and EPS Surprise | POWELL INDS Quote Our proven model does not conclusively show that Powell Industries will beat earnings this quarter because it currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 and a 0.00% Earnings ESP. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock has remained stable at 15 cents per share for third-quarter fiscal 2016. Stay tuned! Check back on our full write-up on earnings release of Eaton Corporation and Emerson Electric. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ESCO TECH INC (ESE): Free Stock Analysis Report II-VI INCORP (IIVI): Free Stock Analysis Report EMERSON ELEC CO (EMR): Free Stock Analysis Report POWELL INDS (POWL): Free Stock Analysis Report EATON CORP PLC (ETN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Town & Country The use of campaign buttons dates back to George Washington's inauguration, when supporters wore pins emblazoned with "Long live the president." And over time, the political pin has evolved to sport slogans, shade opponents, and highlight issues important to the time and place of the election. Last night, Madeleine Albright took the tradition to the next level with a gold Hillary pin and a broken-glass brooch, representing Hillary's breaking of the proverbial glass ceiling. The former Secretary of State tweeted an image of her accessary: After tonight, this pin will be the only piece of glass ceiling left at #DNCinPHL! #tweetmypins #ImWithHer pic.twitter.com/sm5UUQiVw4 - Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) July 28, 2016 Albright is known for her jewelry collection, having even written a book about her pins called Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box. When she spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, she sported a large gold eagle pin, which also drew praise from Twitter. But Albright's pins weren't the only ones making a buzz at the DNC. The official Twitter account of North Carolina's Republican Party mistook Vice-Presidential nominee Tim Kaine's Blue Star Service pin, in honor of his son who is serving in the Marines, for a Honduran flag. They quickly deleted their critical message, though not before New York reporter Ben Amey caught a screen grab. They have since apologized. Bill Clinton also drew attention to his lapel by sporting a Hillary pin in Hebrew, a not-so-subtle nod to Jewish voters. Story continues I just want to point out Bill Clinton is wearing a Hebrew "Hillary" () pin tonight at the Democratic convention pic.twitter.com/ra4MwCjBEg - (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) July 28, 2016 And finally, Hillary herself received some ire on Twitter for her lack of an American flag pin during her speech last night. She opted for a clean lapel, a choice that some people took issue with: The woman who wants to be the next President of the United States is not wearing an American flag lapel pin tonight. #DemsInPhilly - Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 29, 2016 Her white suit may have been a symbolic act itself, though. White is the color that suffragettes traditionally wore when petitioning for women's right to vote. (Reuters) - Speculation about a possible transfer to Premier League rivals Arsenal has unsettled Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez, manager Claudio Ranieri has said. The 25-year-old Algeria international, who signed from Ligue 2 side Le Havre in 2014, has become a hot property after scoring 17 league goals and winning the PFA Player of the Year during Leicester's remarkable title-winning campaign. Leicester have already had to fight off advances from Arsenal to keep striker Jamie Vardy, but lost midfielder N'Golo Kante to Chelsea for a reported fee of 32 million pounds ($42.38 million). "Maybe Riyad is distracted a bit by all of these rumours and speculation," Ranieri told British media. "But that is also an experience for my players. It is important that he understands that he should stay with us. "He has to improve his fitness and play for the team as well as last season." Leicester, beaten 4-0 by French champions Paris St Germain in a friendly in California on Saturday, kick off their title defence with a trip to newly-promoted Hull City on Aug. 13. ($1 = 0.7550 pounds) (Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford) Male refugees should be taught about womens equality when they arrive in the UK to prevent cases of assault and sexual harassment and aid their interactions with women, a Labour MP has said. Thangam Debbonaire, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on refugees, said a "refugee integration strategy" would help men "understand what is expected of them, the Telegraph reported. The MP, who recently launched an inquiry into the experiences of new refugees in the UK, said the move could be part of a national drive to improve attitudes towards women generally. The Bristol West MP said it could help reduce fears in the UK that there could be sexual attacks similar to those against hundreds of women in Cologne on New Years Eve. "What I don't want is for the British people to respond to a case of assault or sexual harassment by saying 'no' to more refugees, which seemed to be what the public's response to Germany was in danger of becoming, she told the Telegraph. "We need to think about how we have those men understand what is expected of them without pretending we ourselves are perfect. "It would need to be sensitively worked out, and could be part of a nationwide campaign to help men and boys in general to look at gender equality in a different way," the MP told the Telegraph. "I'm not saying there's a little ticket you can give incoming men. But I do believe we need compulsory PHSE [Personal, Social and Health Education] classes in schools for all young people and an appropriate version for new arrivals. Debbonaire said that some refugees are hailing from cultures where gender inequality is an extreme struggle , but she added the move would also benefit males already in the UK. "All men need this education, our indigenous population is not a haven of gender equality and you could have a situation where boys who have settled, just arrived, or been born here, would all get the same information on how they should interact with women." Story continues One British woman, who has volunteered in the refugee camp in Calais and Dunkirk, France, told Refinery29 that while she didn't experience any "malicious" sexism, male refugees' attitudes towards female volunteers were outdated in other ways. "As soon as they saw me, a woman, with a saw and an electric drill, they ran to my aid. Offering to do the drilling, sawing, lifting, helping as much as they could. They said 'please, allow me.' To them it was chivalry, and definitely a shock to see a woman manual work. "In the camps, traditional gender roles are very much at play. Women are rarely out 'in public', preferring to stay in the tents, huts, or women-only centres, while the men are outside, in groups." She added that because there are a lot more men in the camps, because they often travel ahead of their wives, sisters and children, many appeared to have a "man as protector" mentality. "There are some very antiquated ideas in the camps, with the older men particularly making comments and jokes. However, its never intended as malicious, its just a different culture, so education into our way of living equally is necessary." Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Why HIV Prevention Drug PrEP Is Unavailable On The NHS These Powerful Portraits Are From Places Where LGBT Love Is Illegal Advertising Boss Put On Leave Over Gender Equality Comments LONDON (Reuters) - A man who stabbed a passenger at a London underground train station in December while shouting that he was acting for Syria was jailed for life at a London court on Monday. Muhaydin Mire, 30, of east London, beat his victim, forced him to the ground and kicked his head before attempting to cut his neck, leaving the man with a 12-cm (5-inch) gash that required five hours of surgery. He will serve a minimum of 8-1/2 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder at London's Old Bailey criminal court on June 8. Initially described by police as a "terrorist incident", the attack at Leytonstone station in east London was investigated by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. "Whilst Mire was not accused of terrorist offences, it would appear from comments he made at the time of the attack and the content he had downloaded on his phone that he may have been inspired by terrorist propaganda," said Commander Dean Haydon in a statement. Mire, who tried to attack several other people during the incident, had pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted wounding but denied trying to kill his victim. Several people filmed the incident on their phones. Some of the videos were posted on the Internet shortly after the attack, including footage of a bystander shouting "You ain't no Muslim, bruv (brother)," a phrase which circulated widely and was praised by then Prime Minister David Cameron. The Leytonstone incident took place on Dec. 5, a time of heightened tension over Islamist militancy in Europe following the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison) DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Six police officers were killed and four others wounded when a car bomb exploded as a police vehicle passed in southeastern Turkey on Monday in an attack that security sources said appeared to have been carried out by Kurdish militants. The bomb was detonated by remote control as the vehicle passed through a road in Bingol province. The attack was carried out by the members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the sources said. Two of those injured were in serious condition. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union, has waged an armed campaign against security forces in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, pushing for Kurdish autonomy. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the violence. Unrest has flared anew since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, and thousands of militants and hundreds of soldiers and police have since died. Rights groups have said about 400 civilians have also perished. Turkey's military, NATO's second largest, is undergoing a major shake-up following a July 15-16 coup attempt, but has played down concerns that the wide-reaching changes will undermine its struggle against the PKK. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Richard Balmforth) Whenever I hear the Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star, I get goosebumps. I practically want to cry, every time. Every. Single. Time. So says Martha Quinn, one of the iconic five original MTV VJs, as the history-making cable channel that launched her career (not to mention the careers of hundreds of pop artists) celebrates its big 35th birthday. On Aug. 1, 1981, Quinn who was just 22 years old at the time, and had only been working at MTV for two weeks and her new co-workers piled into a rented bus to go watch the stations midnight debut at a watering hole called the Loft in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The now-iconic moon landing theme music blasted for the very first time, the Buggles one-hit wonder hit the small screen and the music business and pop culture in general were forever changed. I remember waiting for a school bus. When MTV started, we didnt have a big budget at all no budget for limousines or anything like that so they rented a literal yellow school bus that drove the crew and VJs out to this little bar in New Jersey, because there werent many places that carried MTV. You couldnt even get it in Manhattan then. [Original VJ] Mark Goodman, I believe, took a limo, because he did not want to ride with these little people, because he was the WPLJ disc jockey at that time, which was a big New York rock station, Quinn chuckles. Anyway, as we watched the launch that night, we were all sobbing. It was the most emotional night. It was like having a baby being born. While Quinn says she thought that we were onto something from the very beginning, it took some time for the rest of America to catch up with Fort Lee. Quinn, a very recent New York University graduate, even kept her day job at the NYU dorms for a while, just in case her MTV employment was short-lived. The world was just not going along with us, she recalls. Everyone was against us. The advertisers didnt want to advertise with us; the record companies, by and large, didnt want to provide videos; the cable companies didnt want to carry us. My favorite story about that is, remember those famous MTV commercials that said call your local cable operator and demand, I want my MTV? Well, the reason that campaign started was cable companies did not want to add us. So MTV bought airtime, commercials. They had people like Pete Townshend and Billy Idol telling viewers to call their cable companies and cable companies were getting inundated with calls. Then the cable companies would phone up MTV and say, Youve got to pull those commercials! So we bought more. Story continues Eventually, the marketing blitz worked. All the kids in America wanted their MTV, and eventually, they got their wish. Quinn, the youngest VJ and therefore the most relatable to MTVs teen audience, soon became the networks most popular crew member and Americas shag-haired sweetheart which, she says, surprised her, because she thought her fellow VJs Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, and J.J. Jackson were the coolest people Id ever met in my life. You know how in movies like American Graffiti, theres always that little kid that wants to get in with the gang? That was totally me. I loved those VJs so much. And to this day, the four of us are such good friends [Jackson passed away in 2004]. We are family. Quinn soon gave notice at NYU, and ended up working her dream job during MTVs entire first decade making history with Live Aid, the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards, and countless A-list interviews. In a full-circle career move, she has reunited with her old MTV boss Bob Pittman, who hired her in 1981 after a chance encounter at New Yorks WNBC radio station; Pittman, now the chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, recently recruited Quinn for the iHeart80s radio station. But she admits to Yahoo Music, People say to me, Will you ever have a job as cool as being an original MTV VJ? And the answer is obviously no. When am I ever going to have the chance to be a part of something groundbreaking and revolutionary like that? And you cant be a part of it on purpose. We didnt know that it was going to be revolutionary at the time. As MTV hits the big 3-5, Viacom is banking on the current 90s nostalgia craze by rebranding its VH1 Classic channel as MTV Classic, a new 24-hour network that will run a binge-worthy loop of Daria, Beavis & Butt-head, and Total Request Live reruns. But here, Quinn reminisces about some of her personal favorite true MTV classic moments, from the networks earliest days. A Very Billy Squier Christmas Number one, my top, very favorite MTV moment is Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You, says Quinn, referring to the holiday singalong that she and her fellow staffers taped with stadium rocker Billy Squier in 1981. If I had to go back in time and revisit one day, like if I could get into the DeLorean and go back to one moment, it probably be this. What you see in that video, it was recorded within months of our launch, and we were all so starry-eyed, such believers. We were rebels with a cause. Everyone you see in that video, theyre the technicians, the secretaries, the executives, the production assistants. We were all one big happy family, fighting for MTV. We believed so strongly in the power of rock n roll. And you can really see it there. Three years later, Squier, one of MTVs early darlings, would release his polarizingly pastel, new-wavey Rock Me Tonite video, which many people including Squier himself claim destroyed his career in less than four minutes and 49 seconds. But Quinn shrugs, I dont remember that video being poorly received at the time. If I were Billy Squier, I would launch the Rock Me Tonite Tour. I would go out on tour with a giant huge bed on the stage, and I would come out in a pink tank top and dance my ass off. Because that was a super-fun video and a super-great song. I would just say, Take this, haters! And it would be a smash. When Bob Met Bono In 1984, I had the opportunity to interview Bob Dylan. He said he would do it if we sent a crew to Wembley Stadium in London, and he said, I want [the interviewer] to be Martha Quinn. I dont know how I wasnt nervous. I was there sitting with him, doing his makeup, and I was completely calm! I would be way more nervous today, says Quinn. As surreal as it may have been for 25-year-old Quinn to help a rock legend like Dylan apply 80s-appropriate guyliner, that wasnt the wildest thing that happened that day. After the interview, his assistant came up to me and said, Bob wants to know if you want to fly with the band to Ireland for their show there tomorrow. I was like, Oh my God, I dont have my passport with me! So I had to run back to my hotel in a cab and then race to Heathrow. The plane was waiting on the tarmac. I went leaping onto the plane; my head was spinning, Quinn recalls. And I flew to Ireland with Bob Dylan and his band and saw his show at Slane Castle where there was a young kid who was in a new band and working for a local music newspaper [Hot Press]. The kid went to interview Dylan. And that was the first time that Bono ever met Bob Dylan. I was backstage and I saw the whole thing happen. Aint Talkin Bout Love With David Lee Roth In my area of New York, where I grew up in the late 70s, you were either a fan of Black Sabbath, Van Halen, or Earth, Wind & Fire, laughs Quinn. (Interesting side note: The clearly well-rounded Quinn landed her VJ gig with an audition that consisted of her talking about EW&F for four minutes.) And so when a chance to interview David Lee Roth came down the pike, I was so excited. All I could think about was everyone back home freaking out. Quinn, who also confesses to crushes on Rick Springfield, Corey Hart, and other heartthrobs of the day (all of them, really!), may have kept calm and carried on in the presence of Bob Dylan. But she was a bundle of nerves when it came time for her sit-down chat with notorious charmer Diamond Dave. She tried her best not to let him see her sweat. We all know David Lee Roth is Mr. Jive Talker, and I was thinking, Im going to pierce through to his soul, and hes going to drop that facade and say, Oh my God, Martha Quinn, where have you been all my life? And we would ride off into the sunset, she giggles. You can see in the footage that Im not even laughing at any of his jokes. I was so intent on not being razzle-dazzled by him. Now I know that the best thing about David Lee Roth is his razzle-dazzling. So there was no sunset-riding for me and Dave. But later, at the first VMAs in 1984, Quinn finally got a lovely moment with the goofy Van Halen frontman. I opened the show, and when I was leaving the stage, I tripped onstage. I remember there was an audible gasp from everyone at Radio City Music Hall, and I was mortified to the max, she says. I was so embarrassed. I could barely function. I couldnt take it. And being young, with every single person I ran into that evening, I would say, Oh my God, did you see what happened? instead of just playing it cool. I said to David Lee Roth, whod been sitting in the front row, Oh no, did you see me trip and fall? And he said, Ah, darlin, welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You know how many times Ive done that? Thats what rock n roll is all about! He just singlehandedly pieced me back together and made me feel OK. So I totally did have my real, genuine moment with David Lee Roth after all. He was so kind and so positive, so gentle. Ive always been very grateful for that. Quinn, a self-described rocker chick, also reveals that her favorite music video of all time isnt the above-mentioned network-launching Buggles classic, but Jump by Van Halen. At the time, in the mid-80s, storyline music videos were big, like A-Has Take on Me and Duran Durans Wild Boys, or really produced videos like Peter Gabriels Sledgehammer. And what I loved about Jump was you really got to just see the band. It was the pure joy of the rock n roll experience. So, did Roth ever figure out that Quinn had a crush on him? Oh, I can imagine it was pretty obvious, she quips. Under the Cherry Moon In Sheridan, Wyoming Another one of Quinns 80s crushes was the late Prince, whom she only met briefly when she was bizarrely dispatched to a Holiday Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming, to report from the scene of an Under the Cherry Moon movie premiere for an audience of elated MTV contest winners. Theres a video floating around somewhere of Prince where Im interviewing a contest winner and he walks up, and its so obvious that Im completely throwing myself at him, she groans. Its too embarrassing. But you know, thats when you do when youre young. (Quinn asked Prince, So how do you feel? His answer: With my hands, Martha. Now thats some classic MTV.) Princes death was different to me from Glenn Freys or David Bowies, Quinn now says wistfully, in that he was really of the MTV generation. Purple Rain was ours. He was not our older brothers favorite artist. He was ours. That was a really direct hit to the MTV generation. Musing about other early-MTV icons who have recently passed, like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, Quinn says, It just sucks. Its like, No! Everybody stay here! I need to start sending crates of broccoli to all my 80s artists. Everybody needs to stay healthy. Martha Meets the Boss, Acts Like a Boss When MTV first started, so many of the more established artists, like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, were saying, No, we dont need to make videos,' remembers Quinn. Obviously, Dylan soon came around to the concept of MTV. And Springsteen did as well possibly with some encouragement from Quinn herself. I am pretty sure that I am responsible for launching the second phase of Bruces career the career that got launched with the Born in the USA album, Quinn jokes. Because I ran into Bruce in a restaurant when he was recording that album, and he said to me, Hey, arent you the girl I see on MTV? And I said, thinking very quickly on my feet, Thats more than I can say for you! When are you going to make some music videos? And sure enough, he made videos. So I really think Bruce should be thanking me! However, when it came time for Springsteen to shoot his career-rebooting Dancing in the Dark video, he famously hired then-unknown actress Courteney Cox to play the giddy fan that hops onstage with him for an impromptu, slightly dorky 80s dance-off. Clearly, Quinn would have been perfect for that role. That [casting] was kind of a knife in the back, if you want my opinion, Quinn laughs. Im just sayin! Paul McCartney Spills the Tea One of the reasons that Quinn and her fellow VJs were so beloved by the channels early audience was it was obvious that they were true superfans, just like the avid viewers at home. And even after a decade on MTV, that hadnt changed much for the now-seasoned Quinn. In 1991, I interviewed Paul McCartney at Capitol Records in Hollywood, she recalls. Im a diehard Beatles fan, and it was the only time that Ive brought an album to an interview to be signed. And the craziest thing happened. He was drinking tea during the interview, and afterwards, I looked down at his teacup and I saw there was still tea in there. So I picked up the cup and I drank it. I was like, I am going to drink Paul McCartneys tea. I dont even care if I get a bacterial infection! I am going to drink it. And no one was looking so I picked up the cup, saucer, and spoon, and I put them right in my purse. I still have them. Theyre behind glass, in a cabinet, to this day. And Ive never washed them. Follow Lyndsey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Amazon, Tumblr, Vine, Spotify As far as 20-year-olds go, Martin Garrix has got to be one of the most successful in the world. The Dutch DJ has not only played most major festivals, he's returned to headline them. He's worked with everyone from Tiesto to Afrojack, and he just signed an exclusive, no doubt grossly lucrative deal with Sony Music International. Martin Garrix Signs Worldwide Contract With Sony Music International It's hard to call any Martin Garrix song "underrated." They've all clocked more hits on YouTube and Soundcloud than Ronda Rousey. Still, some of the prolific producer's works never charted in the United States. Crazy, right? Let's take a moment to explore those lesser-loved bangers below. Turn Up The Speakers This kind of massive, in-your-face filter funk is what happens when two Dutch lords come together in a big way. It's crazy to think this collab with Afrojack never ranked, because as soon as the hook hits, we are instantly transported to every festival min stage set we ever saw in 2014. It was definitely everywhere that summer. Virus (How About Now) "Virus" goes hard, but there's something so devilishly smooth about those synths anyway. It's punchy and sweet at the same time. Shout out Garrix' fellow Dutchman MOTi on the assist. Forbidden Voices Here we see Garrix take a turn for the sensitive. This feel-good festival anthem is still high-energy, but it's way more cute than anything the youngster had put out before. He's since done a lot more exploring of the softer sounds, and we see this luscious little sound nugget as the moment it all began. The Only Way is Up This must have been a real high moment in Garrix career. He was originally inspired to make electronic music after watching Tiesto perform at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004. Break Through the Silence Featuring Matisse & Sadko, "Break Through The Silence" is pretty classic Garrix vibes. It's big room, it's got strong vocals, it's clean and full of dynamics. It's specifically designed to get tens of thousands of people on their feet and jumping. That's one thing a Garrix fan can always count on. From Esquire I believe," says Bill Simmons, in the ad for his new HBO series Any Given Wednesday, "that every DiCaprio movie would be just a little bit better as a Matt Damon movie." An outlandish statement that makes one wonder what that version of The Revenant would look like, but is also not without some truth. Simmons has long offered the theory that Matt Damon could play any Leo role, but Leo would never be able to sub in for Damon in, say, The Martian. He's probably right. That hardly makes Damon the better actor, but it signals his versatility, as well as his unique appeal. With his winsome style, Damon can charm us as the sociopathic Tom Ripley, make us fall for the dopey LaBoeuf in True Grit, and imbue the personality-free Jason Bourne with enough life to make audiences crave his return nearly a decade after The Bourne Ultimatum. Among the Hollywood elite, Matt Damon has one of the most impressive resumes. There's no shortage of good actors in Hollywood, but among the Hollywood elite, Damon has one of the most impressive resumes. It started early on, appearing in School Ties. He went on to star in Good Will Hunting-he also co-wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for doing so-Saving Private Ryan, Rounders, Ocean's Eleven, and many more. Perhaps more impressive has been his willingness to take oddball roles in unexpected films like The Informant!, True Grit, Behind the Candelabra, Margaret, and an incredible cameo in EuroTrip. Almost every time Matt Damon shows up in a movie, you're pretty much guaranteed a good performance, regardless of whether the film is any good. Photo credit: Jasin Boland Versatility is key, but Damon's real appeal comes from a much more basic place: his lack of vanity. Where the DiCaprios of the world treat acting like a sport-a game of increasingly extreme roles designed to win acclaim and awards-Damon has stood out by being true to his innate qualities as an actor. Not that Damon immune from vanity-what actor is?-but the arc of his career reveals a simple, relatable approach: do the work, and do it well, and move on to the next thing. Few other stars of Damon's caliber take such a diversity of roles without showboating for recognition at every turn. It'd be easy to see the general public turn on the nice boy from Boston if he started making himself a part of the Oscar conversation every year. Story continues The Bourne series is a perfect study of Damon's appeal. The Bourne Identity introduced us to Jason Bourne, a man who literally does not know who he is, where he's from, or why he's doing anything. Utter confusion and a lack of humor are his only defining traits. Enter: Matt Damon. With his easy good looks, and a charming determination in his eye, he turns Bourne from boring cypher into a character who can anchor three-maybe more?-films with ease. He even manages to bring deadpan humor to life in the role, something Jeremy Renner attempted to no avail in his disastrous outing as Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy. Renner himself is a very good actor-and good looking, and charming-but audiences were never going to accept the switcheroo. Renner, for all his qualities, always seems he's trying just a little too hard to win your approval with a knowing wink. It's antithetical to the appeal of the series. Damon needs no winks. With his easy good looks, and a charming determination in his eye, he turns Bourne from boring cypher into a character who can anchor three films with ease. The other end of this spectrum is Damon's breathtaking work in The Informant!, his best performance. Sadly underseen and underappreciated on release, The Informant! tells the true story of an agribusiness employee who agrees to blow the whistle for the FBI, all the while inventing most of the evidence and embezzling company funds. Photo credit: Warner Bros. Written by Scott Z. Burns, and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film gives Damon a lot to chew on. His character is equal parts brilliant and dopey, with a silly mustache and some extra pounds packed on for the sake of comedy. The film is also overrun by near-constant voice-over, often completely unrelated to the events on-screen, with Damon relating the character's bizarre interior monologue to the audience. Most importantly, Damon approaches the role like he does every other. He plays it straight, with simple determination, and a sense of comfort in exactly who this person is. Damon's success in maintaining his subdued Hollywood persona is in part due to the continued resonance of his origin story. Despite maturing over the years, becoming an activist, and keeping his private life relatively out of the spotlight, Damon still has something of the image the world was introduced to in the '90s. That goofy kid, standing nervously on stage at the Oscars with his best friend, Ben Affleck, accepting the Best Original Screenplay award, thanking "everybody back in Boston." That's still the Matt Damon of the public imagination. He's the ultimate version of the nice, smart, funny kid from the city who made good. Some-like Ben Affleck did in the early aughts-would try to run far away from that sort of image, but Damon has embraced it, and made it an invaluable element of his attraction. Photo credit: Timothy A. Clary/Getty "You know his name," states the tagline for the new Jason Bourne. While nobody really needed another movie about Bourne, Damon's return to the role-his name-will be enough to sell millions of tickets. The character, who reportedly only speaks about 25 lines in the film, may not have much of a personality, but unlike James Bond, who's defined by a set of clear traits and catchphrases passed around from actor to actor, Damon has turned Bourne into a character wholly his own. Damon is Jason Bourne, just like he is LaBoeuf, just like he is Tom Ripley. He's always Matt Damon, of course. Like any good star, he never lets us forget the face underneath. But with little vanity, and a lot of talent, Damon jumps into his performances head first, bringing us a career's worth of great work, memorable characters, and enough excitement to make us buy a ticket for his name alone. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="" customtitles="Bourne Is Back" customimages="" content="article.44195"] No ones personal renaissance has been more fun to watch than Matthew McConaugheys. The Texas actor who once mucked around in corny romantic comedies has in the past few years reinvented himself as one of Hollywoods most talented thespians (he won the Best Actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club) and an unofficial poster boy for an elegant brand of masculinity (youve seen the Lincoln commercials). Now hes making whiskey ads. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the 46-year-old has signed a multiyear contract with Wild Turkey bourbon under which hell write, direct and star in a new series of advertisements for the spirit company. Theyll air later this year. The great news is that Wild Turkey hasnt changed in all these years its totally authentic, McConaughey told the Times. And that appeals to millennials. Because they can smell fake. Some manicured, bearded hipster soliciting them? No, thanks. The deal is likely to bring McConaughey a windfall these contracts are usually worth millions but his passion for the project, as the Times captures it, seems to go beyond money. Ive always been interested in the art of the sell, he told the Times. He said that the new campaign Itll Find You is its tagline will be fun and wild, but the opposite of solicitous. [NYT] Matthew McConaughey wild turkey Matthew McConaughey is in the middle of a mid-career renaissance, scooping up awards as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. But now he'd like to do something different. McConaughey has been announced as the creative director for Wild Turkey bourbon. The actor will serve as "a storyteller for Wild Turkey behind the camera and in front of it," according to a press release sent out Monday. That includes directing and writing a series of TV and digital ads for the brand that will launch in September. In this video paired with the announcement, McConaughey visits with the distilling family behind Wild Turkey, the Russells, and gets mystical about the power of traditional American bourbon. McConaughey says he was approached a few years ago by the brand to be a spokesman, but he wanted something a little more hands-on for his new gig. While he's known for his eccentric Lincoln commercials, his involvement in the Wild Turkey ads will go much further. "I told them, I dont want to be just a face. I have ideas. Im an idea man, McConaughey told The New York Times of his role. It's yet another new era in the ongoing evolution of McConaughey. NOW WATCH: Nobody wants to buy 50 Cent's massive $6 million mansion More From Business Insider Instead of "cheers," bourbon drinkers could soon be toasting with a different expression: "All right, all right, all right." Texas-born actor Matthew McConaughey has signed a multiyear contract with Italian beverage company Gruppo Campari to be the creative director of the Wild Turkey bourbon brand. The star of True Detective and Interstellar will write, direct and star in ads for the whiskey, using it as a platform for the developing marketing phase of his career. In 2014, McConaughey, hot off a best actor Oscar win, appeared in a series of popular television ads for automaker Lincoln, which resulted in a major sales bump. Wild Turkey on Monday kicked off the campaign with a six-minute YouTube video in which McConaughey explains his desire to "have [his] hands in the clay of how we tell the story." "I want to be a part of the whole story," McConaughey says in the video, "not just the character in it. This is my new gig." The campaign launches in full in September with a series of TV spots and digital ads. John McCain Sen. John McCain of Arizona has distanced himself from Donald Trump's attacks on the family of Humayun Khan, a Muslim American solider who was killed in the Iraq War. McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, issued a statement blasting Trump for having "disparaged a fallen soldier's parents." "The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan," McCain said in the statement, released Monday morning. He continued: "In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." McCain has backed Trump's candidacy for president, saying Republicans must "listen to people who have chosen the nominee of our Republican Party." In his Monday statement, McCain called on Trump to respect the responsibility that comes with representing the party through his campaign for president. "Arizona is watching," McCain said in the statement. "It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." Trump suggested Sunday morning that he could not understand why he was earning scorn for questioning the Khans after Khizr Khan slammed him Thursday night during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention," Trump said in a tweet. "Am I not allowed to respond?" Khan, speaking beside his wife, Ghazala, offered a powerful rebuke of Trump on the final night of the DNC. Story continues In an eight-minute speech, Khan questioned whether Trump had ever read the US Constitution or sacrificed anything for his country. Trump hit back on Saturday, suggesting that Ghazala Khan might not have been permitted to speak at the convention because of her Muslim religion. Trump also said he had indeed sacrificed for his country, saying he created jobs. Here's McCain's full statement: "The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan." "I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me." "In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." "Make no mistake: I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family, and have my own record of service, and have stayed closely engaged with our armed forces throughout my public career. In the American system, the military has value only inasmuch as it protects and defends the liberties of the people." "My father was a career naval officer, as was his father. For hundreds of years, every generation of McCains has served the United States in uniform." "My sons serve today, and I'm proud of them. My youngest served in the war that claimed Captain Khan's life as well as in Afghanistan. I want them to be proud of me. I want to do the right thing by them and their comrades." "Humayun Khan did exactly that and he did it for all the right reasons. This accomplished young man was not driven to service as a United States Army officer because he was compelled to by any material need. He was inspired as a young man by his reading of Thomas Jefferson and he wanted to give back to the country that had taken him and his parents in as immigrants when he was only two years old." "Captain Khan's death in Iraq, on June 8th, 2004, was a shining example of the valor and bravery inculcated into our military. When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger." "Then he ran toward it." "The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters." "Scripture tells us that 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'" "Captain Humayun Khan of the United States Army showed in his final moments that he was filled and motivated by this love. His name will live forever in American memory, as an example of true American greatness." "In the end, I am morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance, and to which I have dedicated my life's work: the Republican Party, and more importantly, the United States of America. I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree." "I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent." "Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." "Lastly, I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation and he will never be forgotten." Oliver Darcy contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: While under fire from GOP, Trump continues to call out the Muslim parents of a slain US soldier More From Business Insider Washington (AFP) - Republican Senator John McCain slammed Donald Trump Monday for disparaging the Muslim family of a slain American soldier, and demanded that his party's presidential candidate set an example for the country. "While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," McCain said in a statement. It was the latest in a mounting Republican backlash against Trump's bristling response to Khizr Khan, the Pakistani immigrant who galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the billionaire Republican nominee as having "sacrificed nothing" for the country. Army captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, in an explosion at a military compound. McCain, whose heroism as a former prisoner of war Trump once put down, stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of the Republican nominee, but said he could not "emphasize enough how strongly I disagree with his statement." "It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party," he said. He praised captain Khan as a "shining example" of bravery and valor. "When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger. "Then he ran toward it," McCain said. "The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan -- and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters," he said. He thanked the Khan family for immigrating to America, saying, "We're a better country because of you." In one of several tweets he has fired off in recent days over the controversy, Trump wrote Sunday: "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" Trump was referring to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. McDonald's Mike Andres McDonald's wants its commitment to food quality to be taken more seriously. "We are ready to be better," Marion Gross, McDonald's supply-chain senior vice president, told a room of journalists on Monday at the company's headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. "We have challenged nearly every aspect of our menu." McDonald's has been continuously tweaking its menu over the last year in an effort to drive up sales and improve the widespread perception that its food is unhealthy and overprocessed. The changes have been successful so far: McDonald's same-store sales have grown for three-straight quarters following two years of declines. On Monday, the company announced its latest set of menu tweaks: removing artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets, eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from its hamburger buns, and transitioning to antibiotic-free chicken one year earlier than planned. McDonald's invited more than two dozen journalists, bloggers, and Instagram "influencers" to its headquarters to make the announcement. "This is only the beginning," McDonald's USA President Mike Andres told reporters. "We are a brand on the move and we are more customer-obsessed than ever before." McDonald's He hinted at big changes coming to the Big Mac next year, but wouldn't elaborate. Following the announcement, McDonald's ushered the group of reporters into the company's test kitchen to watch Jessica Foust, McDonald's head chef, cook the chain's most popular breakfast item: the Egg McMuffin. Foust spent a lot of time talking about the recent switch to butter over margarine which has been credited as a major driver behind McDonald's sales growth and how customers primarily want "real, simple ingredients" that they would find in their homes. She emphasized the fact that McDonald's cracks the eggs for its McMuffins right on the grill. Story continues "We're really cooking with real ingredients," she said. Critics have come down hard on McDonald's for not making certain changes faster, such as a switching to cage-free eggs and removing antibiotics from its chicken supply. McDonald's Gross the supply-chain executive defended the company's pace of change, saying that the sheer size of McDonald's makes systemwide changes a challenge. "When you have a supply chain as big as ours, sometimes things don't happen as fast as you want them to," she said. "Our grocery basket is huge ... we supply 14,200 restaurants daily." She said that it's getting easier to persuade suppliers like Tyson Foods to change their practices, however. "Our suppliers are keenly aware of where the customer is going, that this is what consumers expect today with their food," she said. But Gross couldn't provide any details on why the company hadn't yet found a way to source beef raised without antibiotics. When asked for specifics on that effort, she said only: "For us, it's a journey." NOW WATCH: We tried McDonald's popular international hit that's finally in the US here's the verdict More From Business Insider Again enduring a summer of somnambulant bats that undercut a capable pitching staff, the New York Mets on Monday agreed to acquire slugging right fielder Jay Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds for second baseman Dilson Herrera and pitcher Max Wotell. The move is reminiscent of last summers, when the second-place Mets added Yoenis Cespedes in an attempt to catch the Washington Nationals in the NL East. Cespedes went on a tear, the Mets won 37 of their next 59 games and finished eight games clear of the rest of the division, nine ahead of the Nationals, and went to the World Series. It may not be that easy the second time around, as Monday found the Mets 6 back of a better Nationals team that just acquired closer Mark Melancon and 2 back of the resurgent Miami Marlins. Theyve also lost Matt Harvey to injury. Cespedes has a sore quadriceps, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera strained his left knee Sunday, and Juan Lagares and Jose Reyes are on the disabled list. Bruce, 29, is having one of the best seasons of his career, batting .265 with 25 home runs and 80 RBI. Of particular interest to the Mets, Bruce is a .360 hitter with runners in scoring position. The Mets have batted a league-low .206 in those situations, among the reasons their offense has suffered. Jay Bruce is expected to start in right field for the Mets. (AP) Bruce is under contract through 2017, assuming the Mets pick up a reasonable option for $13 million. Cespedes can opt out of his contract after this season, or return for $37.5 million over the next two seasons. Bruce will play right field for the Mets. Cespedes would play left field and Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto are expected to share center field. At the end, the Mets outlasted a half-dozen or so teams that also sought Bruce. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays had interest. The Blue Jays believed they had struck a trade for Bruce in February, only to have the deal scuttled during the final stages. By Noe Torres and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Mexican banks, determined to avoid a return to past woes, are reining in lending to the country's indebted state governments, some of whose leaders have recently become the focus of corruption allegations. The drop in bank lending to the states this year has been the sharpest since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and coincides with a jump in liabilities in several states in the past five years. In the first half of 2016, commercial banks agreed 11 loans to local and state governments worth 8.471 billion pesos ($451 million), less than half the sum from the same period in 2015, when 32 loans went out, according to finance ministry figures. This year's decline was the steepest since 2009, when the financial crisis pushed Mexico into recession, the data show. Four states - Veracruz, Quintana Roo, Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua - accounted for close to half of the 70 percent jump in local government liabilities between 2010 and 2015, which stood at 536 billion pesos ($28.52 billion) at the end of December. "We now have more cautious policies to avoid cases of over-indebtedness," said Armando Acevedo, the executive in charge of local lending at Grupo Financiero Interacciones, a major lender to states and municipalities. In June, Moody's downgraded GFI's ratings, citing "rising asset risks deriving from the bank's large exposures to Mexican regional and local governments." And over the next six weeks, Moody's did the same to Veracruz and Chihuahua, while Quintana Roo, home to tourist hub Cancun, had its outlook lowered by Standard & Poor's. Mexico has suffered two major financial crises in recent decades - in 1982 following a national default and in 1994-1995, which was accompanied by a sharp currency devaluation. The Mexican government insists there is no problem, and a law passed in April means lending rules are now tighter. "I detect a much more analytical banking sector," said Marcela Andrade, head of the Finance Ministry unit responsible for coordinating with local governments. "It's more obvious they're looking more at who they lend to." Story continues POLITICAL FALLOUT Banks insist they are not retreating from regional borrowers, which are dominated by the 31 states and Mexico City. "What we have done is be much more careful about which states we're lending to," said Luis Robles Miaja, board president of BBVA Bancomer in Mexico. Another top Mexican financier, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that he was seriously concerned about corruption and financial mismanagement in states including Veracruz, and had sought to reduce his exposure. Signs of retrenchment are evident. Between December 2015 and June 2016, commercial banks' total outstanding loans among states and municipalities dropped 3.1 percent to 324.3 billion pesos, according to central bank figures. In contrast, their loans to the private sector rose 5.6 percent to 3.477 trillion pesos. Local governments account for a small fraction of total liabilities, but allegations of corruption have been punished by voters in the four states at the center of debt concerns. Ruled by President Enrique Pena Nieto's PRI going into 2015, Veracruz, Quintana Roo, Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua have all since fallen to the opposition, which has accused the outgoing governors of fraud or embezzlement. They deny the allegations. There are even fears some states could need a bailout. "Veracruz is broke," said Armando Rios Piter, senior member of the Senate finance committee in the center-left opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution, which captured the state in coalition with the center-right National Action Party in June. ($1 = 18.7940 Mexican pesos) (Additional reporting by Roberto Aguilar; Editing by Christian Plumb and Paul Simao) Michael Douglas' son Cameron has been released from prison after nearly seven years behind bars. Cameron, 37, was sentenced to a five-year prison term for possession of heroin and selling methamphetamine in 2010. But after he confessed to smuggling drugs into prison, Cameron's sentence was extended and he spent two years in solitary confinement at Maryland's Cumberland Federal Corrections Institute. He had been scheduled for release in 2018, but is now living in a halfway house in Brooklyn, New York. Cameron is the son of Douglas, 71, and his ex-wife Diandra Douglas, and the two divorced in 2000 after 23 years of marriage. Shortly after Cameron's initial arrest, Douglas told PEOPLE he was "holding up fine" amid his son's troubles. "It's a very difficult situation and painful, as I'm sure any mother or father of a substance abuser knows. So we're doing the best we can." Over the years, Douglas regularly visited his son in jail and has been outspoken about his disappointment in the prison system following the harsh punishment of his son. "I see him twice a month now because he's incarcerated closer to our home," he said. "He's a drug addict, but he's done more than his fair share of time for it." Cameron has also spoken out about his time behind bars. In 2013, he wrote an open letter published in the Huffington Post in which he opened up about his experience in prison. "Here I sit at my little table in the belly of the beast, writing to you. I have spent close to two of my four years of incarceration in solitary confinement," he wrote in 2013. RELATED VIDEO: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas Return to the Romantic Spot Where He Proposed The actor went on to question the way in which non-violent drug abusers are punished under the current prison system. "This outdated system pays little, if any, concern to the disease of addiction, and instead punishes it more harshly than many violent crimes," he wrote. "I'm not saying that I didn't deserve to be punished, or that I'm worthy of special treatment. I made mistakes and I'll gladly and openly admit my faults. However, I seem to be trapped in a vicious cycle of relapse and repeat, as most addicts are. Unfortunately, whereas the effective remedy for relapse should be treatment, the penal system's "answer" is to lock the door and throw away the key." He concluded by writing that he felt "blessed" to have the support of his family and that "there is a beautiful purpose hidden along this painful journey." Michael Douglas eldest son, Cameron Douglas, was quietly released from jail after nearly seven years and is now living in a halfway house, according to reports. PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots The Mr. Nice Guy actor, 37, was arrested in a New York City hotel in 2009 by the Drug Enforcement Administration for possession of 0.5 pounds of methamphetamine, which was enough to charge him with intent to distribute. Cameron was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2010, but his sentence was extended the following year when he pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin and other drugs into jail. He spent the last two years in solitary confinement. The National Lampoons Adam & Eve actor was scheduled for release in 2018, but he was recently released early, according to Page Six. PHOTOS: Stars at Court The news outlet also reported on Monday, August 1, that Cameron is planning to write a tell-all memoir about his life as a Hollywood scion, his struggle with drug addiction and his time in prison. The actor plans to stay under the radar following his release and is ready for a new start, and a chance at a new life, Page Six said. In 2013, Michael Douglas, 71, opened up about his sons conviction while accepting the Best Actor Award (for his role in Behind the Candelabra) at the Emmy Awards. Im questioning the system. At first, I was certainly disappointed with my son, but Ive reached a point now where Im disappointed with the system, the Oscar-winning actor said at the time. PHOTOS: Celebrity Health Scares Cameron is the son of Michael and first wife Diandra Morrell Douglas, who he divorced in 2000 after 23 years of marriage. The Fatal Attraction actor married Catherine Zeta-Jones in November 2000. They are the parents of two children, Dylan, 15, and Carys, 13. The past year has a time of transition for Michelle Dockery. The actress best known as Downton Abbey's Lady Mary, has seen major changes both personally and professionally as endured the unexpected death of her fiance John Dineen in December the same month Downton concluded after six seasons. Now Dockery, 34, is spending more time in Los Angeles as she forges ahead. "I love spending time here. It's been a real change for me," she told PEOPLE during the press tour for her forthcoming TNT series Good Behavior. "It's good to change it up." She added that plunging into her sexy, contemporary role as Letty Dobesh, a thief and con artist, was "very freeing." "I was very fortunate to go from Downton Abbey on to this quite quickly," said Dockery. "I like to keep working." She continued, "I was very lucky to find something that was quite different." Comparing her two characters, Dockery did note the "parallels with those women Letty is a very colorful, complex character. She's much like Lady Mary was. I always have a place in my heart for that character, and I think that you kind of take your characters with you as you go on in your career." As for whether she's ready to revisit her Downton past just yet, Dockery only issued a coy, "We'll see .... I mean, I'm open to the idea of the film. I'm looking forward to seeing if that happens." Until then, she admitted she misses her tight-knit costars most: "We're all still very, very close," she said of the Downton crew but "we're all off doing different things now all over the world." Good Behavior is set to premiere this fall on TNT. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is coming to Donald Trump's defense after the GOP nominee criticized the parents of a fallen Muslim U.S. Army soldier. Trump, 70, made several remarks to news outlets about Khizr Kahn's emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention, in which he remembered his son, Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a car bomb in Iraq and 2004 and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his heroism. "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American," Pence said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. "Captain Khan gave his life to defend our country in the global war on terror. Due to the disastrous decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a once stable Middle East has now been overrun by ISIS. This must not stand." Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! a Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 In his passionate speech, Khan challenged the Republican presidential nominee's proposed ban on Muslim immigrants to the U.S. and declared that Trump has "sacrificed nothing" for his country. Trump fired back at Khan's statement, telling ABC News that he has "made a lot of sacrifices." In true Trump fashion, the business mogul also took to Twitter to condemn Khan. Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all.... cont: https://t.co/c6h53ZBNo8 a Mike Pence (@mike_pence) August 1, 2016 "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice!" he tweeted on Monday. Trump even took aim at Khan's wife, Ghazala, who stood silently by her husband as he spoke at the DNC, telling ABC that perhaps the woman " wasn't allowed" to speak. Family of Fallen Muslim Soldier Fire Back at Trump After He Made Comments About Wife Ghazala responded to the presidential hopeful in an op-ed piece for the Washington Post. "Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me," she wrote. "Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain." Pence also spoke of Trump's proposed immigration and foreign policy, saying "we will defeat the enemies of our freedom." "By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS at its source and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family," Pence said. Milan (AFP) - Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik was paraded in front of Napoli fans Monday ahead of signing an imminent deal with the Serie A giants to replace the now despised Argentina international Gonzalo Higuain. Milik, who will join Napoli from Ajax, is expected to be officially announced as the Italian club's new striker on Tuesday. But on the evening of Napoli's 90th birthday celebrations at their San Paolo stadium on Monday, the 22-year-old walked out on to the pitch wearing a Napoli shirt as fans sung his praises -- and threw a few choice insults in the direction of former star Higuain. Club owner and president Aurelio De Laurentiis posted a message on his Twitter account which said: "Welcome Milik #ADL." The fallout from Higuain's shock 90m euros ($100.5m) transfer -- the third most expensive in history after Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo's moves to Real Madrid respectively -- to rivals Juventus is still being felt in Naples. De Laurentiis said Higuain "betrayed" the club last week, while fans of the Azzurri, some of whom posted pictures of their Napoli shirts with Higuain's name in their toilet, left little to the imagination with a range of insults aimed at the 28-year-old. Former club hero Diego Maradona, who helped steer Napoli to both of their league titles in 1987 and 1990, pitched in with a critique of his own. In a message sent to the club that was widely reported in the media, the Argentina legend said: "The people of Napoli need to be supported. Stay calm, I am right behind you, I won't betray you. "Now, it's over. Let's think about making a great team for the people and Higuain can think what he wants. "Now, it's over with Higuain, but my love for you will never die. A big hug to the president and all the people of Naples." MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Militants set off two car bombs outside a police base in Somalia's capital before gunmen stormed inside on Sunday, leaving at least 10 people dead, police said. Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the assault on the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Mogadishu. It was the second major operation in the city this week by the group which has kept up a guerilla war on the Western-backed government in the face of U.S. drone strikes and African peacekeeping forces. Heavy gunfire rang out inside for about half an hour after the first blast, said witnesses. The bodies of four civilians lay in the street near the compound which was partially destroyed. A kiosk close to the wall caught fire. "At least 10 people including four militants, five civilians and a soldier died in today's attack," Hussein Ali, a police officer, told Reuters. Another 15 people were injured, some seriously, he added. Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said one of its suicide bombers had started the attack by ramming a car bomb into the building's gate. In al Shabaab's first attack this week, 13 people were killed when two car bombs went off at the gate of the African Union's main AMISOM peacekeeping base on Tuesday. Security analysts have warned that the group could step up its attacks, taking advantage of the distraction caused by campaigning for a presidential election due in August. Al Shabaab, seeking to impose its harsh form of Islam on the Horn of Africa nation, has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force. Somalia plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Andrew Heavens) CLEVELAND (AP) -- Andrew Miller isn't concerned about his role in the Cleveland Indians' bullpen. The dominating left-hander only wants to help his new team make a run at the postseason. Two days after he was acquired from the New York Yankees for four minor leaguers, Miller joined the Indians prior to Monday night's game against Minnesota. Cleveland manager Terry Francona can use Miller with right-hander Bryan Shaw in the late innings before going to closer Cody Allen. ''I'll be a bullpen pitcher,'' Miller said. ''Wherever Tito asks me to pitch, I'll pitch. If we win games, that's what's important.'' Allen has 20 saves while Miller recorded nine with the Yankees. Francona doesn't see a problem with how he'll get the best from the back end of his bullpen. ''It's not really rocket science,'' he said. ''The whole idea is when you have leverage situations you want to use guys in the right spots. That's really what it is. They're all onboard. They know they'll be pitching with the lead or with a tie. It'll be fun.'' Miller was 6-1 with a 1.39 ERA with the Yankees. He held opponents to a .174 average and struck out 77 in 45 1/3 innings. ''When you get a guy like Andrew Miller, he's kind of a rare breed,'' Francona said. ''He just wants the ball.'' The Indians have the best record in the AL and lead the Central Division by 4 1/2 games. ''They had it going pretty good,'' Miller said. ''I think it's a complete team. Hopefully I can contribute and make us better.'' Miller was awakened Sunday by an 8 a.m. phone call from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman informing him of the trade. He traveled from Tampa, where the Yankees were playing, and arrived in Cleveland later that night. ''I was sleeping,'' he said. ''I woke up for the phone. My alarm hadn't been set to go off yet. That's how my Sunday started. It was a little bit of a whirlwind after that.'' Miller's first road trip with the Indians will be a return to Yankee Stadium for a three-game series that begins Friday. ''It will help with the move, my wife trying to get the apartment together,'' Miller said. ''I don't know how excited I am to face those guys. That's always a little weird. It's not the most fun thing as a player, but it's a business. I'll find a way.'' The newly crowned Miss Teen USA is already embroiled in controversy thanks to several racist tweets that came to light in the hours after Saturday's pageant. Screenshots of four Twitter posts that the white 18-year-old wrote in 2013 and 2014 appear to show Karlie Hay use the n-word. While the backlash has been swift, the Texan will keep her crown. Read: Florida Beauty Queen Loses Crown as It's Revealed She Had Face Professionally Done Hay used the same platform that got her into trouble to give her apology on Sunday. "Several years ago, I had many personal struggles and found myself in a place that is not representative of who I am as a person," she tweeted. "I admit that I have used language publicly in the past which I am not proud of and that there is no excuse for. "Through hard work, education and thanks in large part to the sisterhood that I have come to know through pageants, I am proud to say that I am today a better person. I am honored to hold this title and I will use this platform to promote the values of the Miss Universe Organization, and my own, that recognize the confidence, beauty and perseverance of all women." Read: 90-Year-Old Burlesque Dancer Prepares for Next Performance... and Reveals Her Secret to Staying Young The Miss Universe Organization, which oversees the Miss Teen USA competition, referenced Hay's apology in their statement on the controversy. Several years ago, I had many personal struggles and found myself in a place that is not representative of who I am as a person... Karlie Hay (@RealMissTXteen) July 31, 2016 I admit that I have used language publicly in the past which I am not proud of and that there is no excuse for. Through hard work... Karlie Hay (@RealMissTXteen) July 31, 2016 "As Karlie stated, she was in a different place in her life and made a serious mistake she regrets and for which she sincerely apologizes," the statement read. "The language Karlie Hay used is unacceptable at any age and in no way reflects the values of the Miss Universe Organization." Story continues Through hard work, education and thanks in large part to the sisterhood that I have come to know through pageants, I am proud to say that... Karlie Hay (@RealMissTXteen) July 31, 2016 I am today a better person. I am honored to hold this title and I will use this platform to promote the values of... Karlie Hay (@RealMissTXteen) July 31, 2016 The Miss Universe Organization, and my own, that recognize the confidence, beauty and perseverance of all women. Karlie Hay (@RealMissTXteen) July 31, 2016 Despite widespread condemnation on social media, the organization said it is "committed to supporting her continued growth." In a separate controversy, the annual pageant was criticized for this year's decidedly similar-looking top five finalists. Wow how can we choose from such a diverse bunch https://t.co/0a4JHbP465 christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) July 31, 2016 "Wow how can we choose from such a diverse bunch," model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen posted after the top five were revealed. The finalists Miss South Carolina, Miss Alabama, Miss Texas, Miss Nevada and Miss North Carolina are all blonde white teens. Watch: Ex-Miss Pennsylvania Stands by Claim Trump's Pageant Was Rigged: 'He Doesn't Scare Me' Related Articles: The Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid made its U.S. debut at the 2016 New York auto show, and at the time Mitsubishi said the eco-friendly SUV would go on sale here before the end of the 2016 after multiple delays. But the launch has been pushed back once again. The Outlander Plug-In Hybrid won't go on sale until Summer 2017, reports HybridCars. Mitsubishi is delaying the launch "in order to meet a level of competitiveness that will exceed customer expectations in the United States," spokesperson Alex Fedorak told the website. ALSO SEE: Why Ford is making a huge mistake with its new GT This latest delay means the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid will be three years late, and that's assuming Mitsubishi doesn't delayed the launch again. The Japanese carmaker originally scheduled the model's U.S. launch for early 2014 but gradually pushed that back further and further. The launch has been put off so many times that the Outlander has undergone a mid-cycle refresh in the interim. The Outlander Plug-In Hybrid shown in New York was broadly similar to the models already on sale in Japan and Europe, although Mitsubishi noted that it was a "prototype," and that U.S. specs hadn't been finalized. It used the same powertrain as Japanese and European models, consisting of a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and a pair of electric motors. One motor helps the gasoline engine drive the front wheels, while the second drives the rear wheels, creating a 'through the road' hybrid all-wheel-drive system. U.S.-spec models may get a different battery pack and definitely won't get the DC fast-charging system available in other markets. The Outlander Plug-In Hybrid has been a fairly strong seller in the markets where it is available, but Mitsubishi missed the opportunity to make it the first plug-in hybrid SUV available in the U.S. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volvo now offer plug-in hybrid SUVs, although they are all luxury models that the Outlander will likely undercut in price... if it ever gets here. MoneyGram International Inc.s MGI second-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the bottom line plunged 34.8% year over year. MoneyGrams total revenue for the reported quarter was $383.7 million, up 7% on both constant currency basis and reported basis. Revenues missed the Zacks Consensus estimate by 0.9%. Fees and other revenues increased 6.5% to $379.3 million, while investment revenues surged 57.1% to $4.4 million. The companys adjusted EBITDA came in at $69.8 million, up 28% on a reported basis and 29% on constant currency basis. Total operating expenses declined by 1.9% year over year to $367.5 million. Segment Details In the Global Funds Transfer segment, money transfer revenues increased 7.9% on both reported currency basis and constant currency basis to $341.5 million. Non-U.S. revenues climbed 11% on a reported basis and 12% on a constant currency on the back of solid performance in Africa and Europe. The U.S. Outbound revenues rose 10% on both reported and constant currency basis driven by sends to Latin America and Africa. Revenues from U.S. Outbound and Non-U.S. sends, which account for 88% of total money transfer revenue, grew 11% year over year on both constant currency and reported basis. Digital money transfer transactions, which jumped 9% year on year, represented 15% of the total money transfer transaction. Digital money transfer revenues, which grew 17% year on year, accounted for 13% of the total money transfer revenue. The results were supported by higher customer adoption of MoneyGrams kiosks and moneygram.com, mobile solutions and account deposit services. The Financial Paper Products segment reported total revenue of $19 million grew 5% year over year due to a 0.8% uptick in money order revenues and 15% increase in official check revenues. Adjusted operating margin deteriorated 300 basis points from the year-ago quarter to 27.9%. Liquidity As of Jun 30, 2016 MoneyGram had cash and cash equivalents of $148.6 million, down 9.7% from $164.5 million at year-end 2015. The companys total assets dipped 4.4% to $4.3 billion from $4.5 billion. The company exited the second quarter with $939 million of outstanding debt, down 0.32% from $942.6 million at year-end 2015. Adjusted free cash flow was $52.8 million for the first half of 2016. Story continues Full-year Outlook MoneyGram expects constant currency revenue growth between 7% and 9%. The company maintained its full-year constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth projection in the range of 911%. Zacks Rank Currently, MoneyGram holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). MONEYGRAM INTL Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise MONEYGRAM INTL Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MONEYGRAM INTL Quote Performance of Other Players in the Sector The bottom line at American Express Co. AXP, MasterCard MA and Visa Inc. V beat their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter ending as of Jun 30, 2016. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MONEYGRAM INTL (MGI): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER EXPRESS CO (AXP): Free Stock Analysis Report MASTERCARD INC (MA): Free Stock Analysis Report VISA INC-A (V): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Monster Beverage Corporation MNST is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 4, before market opens. Last quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 6.67%. However, the energy drink producer has delivered negative earnings surprises in two of the last four quarters and has an average negative surprise of 5.04%. MONSTER BEVERAG Price and EPS Surprise MONSTER BEVERAG Price and EPS Surprise | MONSTER BEVERAG Quote Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement Factors to Consider Monster Beverages revenues in the second quarter of 2016 are expected to gain traction from new products launched in the U.S in the past few quarters, solid international sales and growing momentum of the energy drink category. The company reported strong gross margin expansion through 2015 and first quarter 2016 on the back of price increase, strong sales of new products and a favorable segment mix trend. The brands acquired from The Coca-Cola Company KO, which are produced as concentrates or beverage bases, are high-margin products that make significant positive contribution to sales and gross margins. This gross margin trend is likely to continue in the soon-to-be reported quarter. However, Monster Beverage generates more than 20% of its consolidated gross sales outside the U.S. Because of its growing international presence, its sales and profits are being hurt due to negative currency translations. Though the U.S dollar is getting weaker, the negative impact of currency translation is still significant. Earnings Whisper? Our proven model does not conclusively show that Monster Beverage is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Monster Beverage Earnings ESP is -1.92% as the Most Accurate Estimate stands at $1.02 while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged higher at $1.04. Zacks Rank: Monster Beverage carries a Zacks Rank #3. Though the companys Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise. Meanwhile, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions momentum. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies in the broader food sector that can be considered as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Dean Foods Company DF has an Earnings ESP of +2.63% and a Zacks Rank #2 Post Holdings, Inc. POST has an Earnings ESP of +14.89% and a Zacks Rank #2 The Procter & Gamble Company PG has an Earnings ESP of +2.7% and a Zacks Rank #3 Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report PROCTER & GAMBL (PG): Free Stock Analysis Report MONSTER BEVERAG (MNST): Free Stock Analysis Report POST HOLDINGS (POST): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Barcelona (AFP) - Full-back Martin Montoya has joined Valencia on a four-year deal after being released by Barcelona, the two clubs confirmed on Monday. The 25-year-old Spaniard broke into the first team at the Camp Nou in 2011, but could not consolidate his place and only made 45 La Liga appearances for the Catalan giants in five seasons. "Valencia CF and Martin Montoya have reached an agreement with the player, who joins the club for the next four seasons," Valencia said in a statement. Montoya spent time on loan at Inter Milan and Real Betis last season, and will be hoping to help Valencia improve on their disappointing finish of 12th place in La Liga last term. Customers Can Now Shop Morale Patch Armory's Selection From The Convenience Of Their New App DUBUQUE, IA / ACCESSWIRE / July 31, 2016 / The team at Morale Patch Armory is pleased to announce the launch of their brand new companion app for iOS. Now, Apple users can easily download the free app and shop the entire Morale Patch Armory collection. Customers can now shop embroidered, PVC, and IR patches, including tactical patches, military patches, Morale Patches, and challenge coins, from within the sleek new app. According to Joe Medina, founder of Morale Patch Armory, We have been working day and night to really gain the momentum we need to be a pillar in the Morale Patch space online. We are excited to be available on platforms like iOS and Android for our fans and friends who have yet to discover us. It is important to connect with people where they are these days, and on their phones is one of the most vital. Morale Patch Armory is a 100% veteran owned small business offering a large vault of premier Morale Patches and more. Currently, their selection includes patches and more geared toward veterans, active duty servicemembers, law enforcement, and patriots everywhere. In addition, when people visit the Morale Patch Armory website, they can read articles and see videos geared toward the same audience. For instance, the site currently features a video highlighting Captain Clay Higgins, a Louisiana law enforcement professional urging Americans to stand together. Morale Patch Armory is thrilled to release their iOS app, which will allow people to shop their collection anytime, anywhere. The app features a streamlined, user-friendly interface that makes it simple for people to order with just a few taps. More information can be found at https://www.moralepatcharmory.com and iTunes. About Morale Patch Armory: Morale Patch Armory is a one-source hub for Morale Patches, tactical patches, challenge coins, military patches, and more. Morale Patch is a registered trademark of Morale Patch Armory. Story continues Contact: Julio Medina, Founder Morale Patch Armory Phone: 800-451-7083 E-mail: contact@moralepatcharmory.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moralepatcharmory Twitter: https://twitter.com/patcharmory Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Moralepatcharmory For more information, please visit https://www.moralepatcharmory.com SOURCE: Morale Patch Armory Tuition and fees at a four-year public university averaged $9,410 this past academic year. Now a majority of Americans want to cut that price down to zero. Sixty-two percent of Americans said that they support making public college tuition free for anyone who wants to attend, according to a survey by Bankrate, which polled 1,000 people in late July. The overall margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4 percentage points. Tuition-free college was more popular with millennials than baby boomers. Seventy-seven percent of people ages 18 to 29 supported tuition-free college while roughly half of people 50 and older did. "The older you are, the less likely you were to support it," said Steve Pounds, a Bankrate analyst. Campaign issue The rising cost of college has become a campaign issue this year. Last month, Hillary Clinton unveiled a higher education plan that would eliminate tuition for families with incomes up to $125,000 at in-state public colleges and universities. The Democratic Party presidential nominee borrowed heavily from the plan of her primary rival, Bernie Sanders, who wanted to make public college free for everyone. Donald Trump said last week he will announce his plan for dealing with rising college costs this month. Sam Clovis, policy director for Trump's campaign, rejected the idea that debt-free public college would be a part of that proposal. "How do you pay for that? It's absurd on its surface," Clovis told Inside Higher Ed in May. Subsidies for low-income students Even among people who oppose tuition-free public college, 1 in 4 said that it would be acceptable to offer that benefit to families who earn $50,000 or less, according to the Bankrate survey. "There is no such things as 'free,'" said Neal McCluskey, director of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. "What students don't pay in tuition for the education from which they benefit, someone else has to pay." Story continues Low-income students receive more help from taxpayers to pay for college than higher-income students, according to a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution. Whether tuition-free college becomes a reality, state governments are already spending more on public colleges and universities. State support for higher education is up 4.1 percent this year, according to the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. "The biggest challenge with state funding for higher education is not just increasing it, but making it consistent," said Ben Miller, senior director of post-secondary education at the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund. State governments tend to support higher education when the economy is strong and cut back when the economy weakens, he said. More From CNBC From Cosmopolitan An Alabama mother sentenced to 25 years in jail for putting her 14-month-old daughter in a 600-degree oven has officially been denied parole this week. Despite previously claiming it was an accident, Melissa Wright, 40, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her daughter, Ashley Smith, in 2003. According to WSFA, Wright removed the racks out of the oven, turned it to broil and waited for it to heat up, and then put her head first into that oven. When her father heard Smith screaming, he quickly ran to the kitchen. Smith suffered severe third-degree burns and received over 25 reconstructive surgeries after she was pulled from the oven by her father. Now 15, she argued against Wright being released from jail early because she believes she might still be a threat to her niece and nephew, who are currently both still very young. I honestly do not trust her and Im afraid for their safety, she said, according to Us Weekly. I cant imagine anybody being in as much pain as I was in I do not hate Melissa, but I do not love her. I forgave Melissa. According to People, the states parole board rejected Wrights request for an early release on Tuesday, and she will not be eligible for parole again until 2021. Follow Gina on Twitter. Related: Drinking while pregnant can pose potentially serious dangers for your baby and a mother who drank while she was expecting courageously comes forward to warn mothers-to-be about the possible life-long issues your infant could face. In the early 1970s, Katy drank throughout her pregnancy with her first child, daughter Karli, who was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Little did I know that drinking could result in life-long problems for my daughter. I did not know she was affected when she was born. Walking, talking, crawling, all of those milestones were delayed. Nobody ever attributed those to the fact that I drank when I was pregnant, so sadly I continued to drink in later pregnancies, she told The Doctors. In addition to Karlis issues, tragically, Kathys fourth child died the day he was born and she also lost another daughter who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome three months after being born. I believe both of those babies died as a direct consequence of my using alcohol during pregnancy, she shares. Now sober for 34 years, Katy has devoted her life to raising awareness of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The most important thing is preventing the next case of FASD, she tells The Doctors. This is preventable. This is actually something we can do something about if a woman doesnt drink during pregnancy, she cant have a child with a FASD. So, if our story can prevent one woman from drinking during pregnancy, then Im doing the right thing. Possible symptoms of FASD include: Impairment of facial features Heart and other organ development issues Physical defects Problems with brain and central nervous system development ER physician Dr. Travis Stork urges expecting mothers to be forthright and honest with their healthcare providers regarding alcohol use. If you think you became pregnant and you were still drinking, you have to talk with your doctor about it, because if you dont discuss it, your doctor is not going to know, he says. Story continues But what about the occasional glass of wine or a beer while pregnant? Family medicine physician Dr. Rachael Ross weighs in what many expecting mothers are often told. Most OBs you see now will tell you a glass of wine or a glass of beer here and there is fine, but I think the problem is theres just not enough data available to tell anybody whats the exact amount that you can have thats safe. So some people error on the side of caution and dont take any, she explains. It depends where you are in your pregnancy. Whats happening with the baby in the first trimester is completely different than what is happening in those last stages. She adds that The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists airs on the side of caution and warns all expecting mothers to not drink at all. Dr. Stork says, No two women are alike and throughout your pregnancy, its about you having a discussion with your doctor and being very open and honest. Not just about drinking, [but] everything. Smoking, any medications you take anything you take, your baby is taking as well. Katy, who now works with the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, says, I talk to women who have drank one glass to [those who have drank] lots of alcohol, and theyre guilt-ridden. If you dont drink anything at all, you never have to go through that and wonder if it was something you did. For more information on fetal alcohol syndrome, visit the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome website. From Popular Mechanics Scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany have published a paper declaring that they've discovered a new class of antibiotics, and the source is the bacteria inside people's noses. Most antibiotics are developed from defense mechanisms that other organisms deploy against bacterial infections. For instance, penicillin, the first antibiotic, is produced by a fungus. Many other antibiotics can be derived by slightly altering the molecular structure of these natural antibiotics. Ampicillin, one of the more common examples, is a derivative of penicillin. However, discovering new antibiotics is hard, and the most recent class of antibiotics dates back 30 years. Because bacteria naturally develop resistances to antibiotics over time, many scientists are worried about so-called "superbugs" that are immune to most or all antibiotics. For the past several years, multiple different groups of researchers have been in a race against time to develop new classes of antibiotics that could counter the rising threat of superbugs. The University of Tubingen group may have produced the most promising results yet, developing a brand-new antibiotic, called lugdunin, from bacteria living in people's noses. One of the more common bacterial invaders is called Staphylococcus aureus, and it lives in the noses of about 30 percent of the human population. The researchers examined the noses of people who didn't have this bacteria, and they found a rival species, Staphylococcus lugdunensis, had taken its place. Experimenting with S. lugdunensis in the lab, the researchers identified a single gene that was responsible for producing a new antibiotic, which they called lugdunin. Tests performed on mice showed lugdunin could treat bacterial infections on the skin even when those bacteria were superbugs. Many of the mice treated with lugdunin showed not a single superbug cell remaining. There are still a number of hurdles that lugdunin has to clear before it's approved for human use, so it may be several years before your doctor can prescribe it to treat your infection. However, the researchers believe they've only scratched the surface and that there are many more future antibiotics hiding out in the human body. There are over a thousand species of bacteria that naturally live inside us, and any one of them could hold the key to future medical breakthroughs. Story continues Source: BBC You Might Also Like Viewers of MTV's Girl Code already have a pretty good sense of who Nicole Byer is. The stand-up comedian has been become one of the breakout personalities on the unscripted series since it premiered in 2013. However, now Byer is making the leap to scripted with her upcoming half-hour MTV comedy Loosely Exactly Nicole, which promises to reveal even about the comedienne. "Most of it is based on my life," Byer told reporters Sunday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "Almost every episode has a nugget from my life in it." The series centers on Nicole, living in the San Fernando Valley and trying to achieve the Hollywood dream as she navigates friendships, relationships and more mundane topics like bills. "The show came about because I kept being like, 'Give me a scripted show. I'm not going away, give it to me,'" Byer joked. However, there were a few bumps along the way to a series pickup, namely a scrapped pilot that "had a bunch of kids in it and I was like, 'No, thank you,'" she recalled. "Their novelty wears off so fast." Executive producer Christian Lander, who wrote the original pilot, said the biggest problem was that Byer had to hold herself back in front of the children, since her mouth will "make a sailor blush," he said. "With kids around, we were going to handcuff that part of the show." Joked Byer, "I can't tell you have many times I said, 'F - ' in front of their faces." On the second try, the executive producers - also including new showrunner Christine Zander - decided to base the series more on Byer's life. "We were very lucky that we had Nicole in the room with us for breaking stories. We were able to pull a lot from her life," said Lander. "Everything that Nicole's done has been pretty crazy, so it's very easy to pull from." However, with two white executive producers sitting besides Byer on the panel, the questions arose about the ability of the writers room to accurately and truthfully depict the experiences of an African-American girl. Byer addressed the issue head-on: "They're very white, but they listen to me," she said, pointing to a particular upcoming episode about braids. "You don't know anything about braids," Byer said as she turned to the executive producers. Story continues Another episode deals with the racist stereotypes Byer must face while auditioning in Hollywood - something she's discussed at length in her stand-up and on other platforms. "I think listening was a key thing," she continued. "I don't think you needed to be black people. We had two black writers so that " "And a small room," interjected Zander, who noted half consisted of African-American writers. "So the blackness was trickling up," Byer joked. She also praised her longtime network for its ability to listen, and allow the writers room to figure out the show. "MTV has been so supportive and so wonderful and they gave us these parameters that were so wide," Byer said. "It was so easy to be creative when there wasn't anybody breathing down your neck." The process is a far cry from the racist stereotypes Byer has faced in Hollywood through the years - something that she has discussed at length in her stand-up and on other platforms. "There isn't really any different perspective ... it's just one, and it's 'sassy,'" she recalled of the struggle of the audition process as an African-American actress. On the panel, Byer recalled one casting director telling her to go black, and "If you go too black, I'll bring you back." When asked whether she was embarrassed about anything she pulled from her life for the show, Byer had no regrets. "No, I'm OK," she said. "I've made a lot of mistakes and it's funny so I'm happy to share them." Loosely Exactly Nicole is set to premiere Monday, Sept. 5, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A public inquiry on Monday accused the Nigerian army of killing 347 Shiite Muslims and dumping them in a mass grave in the northern city of Kaduna late last year. Two days of violence began on December 12 when Shiite worshippers attending a religious ceremony obstructed the convoy of Nigeria's chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai. "The Nigerian Army used excessive force," said the 193-page report seen by AFP. In total 349 people were killed including one soldier and one Shiite worshipper who died later in custody. The commission, setup by the Kaduna state government, said those responsible for the killings should be prosecuted, confirming the conclusions of an earlier Amnesty International report. "The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings... with a view to prosecuting them," it said. Amnesty International accused the army of deliberately shooting dead the Shiite followers of pro-Iranian cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky, burying them in mass graves and destroying evidence of the crime. The military maintains that its soldiers acted according to the rules of engagement after the crowd attempted to assassinate Buratai. Zakzaky, who lost an eye and was left partly paralysed in the violence, has been held since December. He has previously run up against Nigeria's secular authorities and has been imprisoned for calling for an Iranian-style revolution to create an Islamic state in the country's north. The Night Of debuted on HBO earlier this month to solid ratings and critical acclaim - an important victory for the pay cabler's drama slate after the cancellation of Vinyl and behind-the-scenes problems on the upcoming sci-fi epic Westworld. So when the creative team behind the limited series appeared Saturday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, questions were quickly posed about a possible second installment. "We're thinking about it and if we come up with something we all feel is worthy of doing, we'll do it," executive producer, writer and director Steven Zaillian told reporters. "This was designed as a stand-alone piece. That being said, there are ways of certainly kind of taking what it feels like and what it's about and doing another season on another subject." Read more: How HBO's 'The Night Of' Lives On After James Gandolfini's Death The eight-part drama focuses on a complex murder case in New York City through the examination of the police investigation, the legal proceedings, the criminal justice system and Rikers Island. Riz Ahmed and John Turturro star as a man accused of murder and his defense attorney, respectively. The Night Of is based on the first season of the BBC series Criminal Justice, which also ran for two seasons and focused on a different crime in its second iteration. "It's the antithesis of Law and Order," executive producer Richard Price said of the series. "It's not like, put it in the microwave, hit 60 seconds and serve." Turturro replaced James Gandolfini, who was first attached to star in and executive produce the project when it was picked up to pilot in 2012, but his sudden death the following year put the project in flux. First, Robert De Niro was to take over the role, but then Turturro stepped in. Gandolfini is still listed as an exec producer, along with Zaillian, Price, Jane Tranter and Garrett Basch. Story continues "It was toughest for me on a personal level because I was friends with James," Zaillian said of Gandolfini's death. However, there was never a question about whether the series would move forward. "He was indeed a great champion of it," Zaillian said of Gandolfini's involvement. "The character is the character. We didn't rewrite anything for John. This character is the character and so we just went forward with it." The Night Of airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. Like John Stones unrelenting eczema, nothing seems to help Nasir Khans plight on The Night Of. RELATEDHBO Boss on Game of Thrones End Date and Possible Spinoff, Deadwood Revival, Curb Season 9 Timetable Both in court and at Rikers Island, our Bambi-eyed protagonist is faced with choices more brutal than a TV addict reduced to a cable company carrying only Real Housewives of Wherever and Keeping Up With One of Those Soul-Crushing Kardashian Brand Extensions. Does Naz confess to a heinous crime hes reasonably sure he didnt commit and guarantee himself freedom before his fortieth birthday, or maintain his innocence and risk spending life in prison? Should he stick with the high-powered law firm that looks good on paper or revert to the precinct crawler who seems to really care about his fate? And on a more urgent note, should he seek protection with foreboding fighter Freddy, a guy who views him as a care package for his brain or align himself with a dude who walks around with a photo of his dead nieces bloodied face in his pocket? RELATEDSarah Jessica Parker Explains Biggest Difference Between Her Divorce Character and Carrie Bradshaw While you ponder the correct answers to those questions, let me recap the action from Season 1, Episode 4, The Art of War: 1c5a14490b76bd11e3dc98a22360f840465e2373fcc1ae5f3dab10923322e637 DEAL OR NO DEAL | I need you to trust me like youve never trusted anyone in your life, says slick attorney Alison Crowe, in her first meeting with Naz. And to be honest, the episode gives us no reason to doubt her advice other than, perhaps, her love of a press conference. (In introducing Nazs case to the media, she notes the disparity between a wealthy white victim and Nazs status as being part of one of the most reviled ethnicities in America. Hey, though, maybe shes just underscoring that Naz got consciously overindicted by the DA. When a Sikh cab driver gets brutalized in the wake of Nazs indictment, though, theres a new edict: Plead out the case and get it out of the headlines. Alison goes toe-to-toe with ADA Helen (the sensationallt compelling Jeannie Berlin) and they quickly settle on a manslaughter charge with a flat 15-year sentence. Alison tells Naz its a heckuva lot better than spending the rest of your life in a cage, wishing you were dead and shes right. But the unbearable tension of the episode is wondering how Naz can confess to a crime he has no recollection of committing. When Naz seems not entirelty convinced, Alison sends in her associate Chandra, who goes off script. Did Naz kill Andrea, she asks. If its yes, then take the deal. If its no, dont. And thus, despite even Stone dropping by the courthouse and reasoning that if Naz pleads out, hes not truly saying hes guilty, hes only saying you dont trust 12 idiots on a jury to get it right and neither do I, our protagonist falters in front of the judge. He admits to no recollection of what happened after doing drugs and having sex with Andrea, and the disgusted judge sends him back to his cell. I feel like killing you myself, hisses Alison, as Naz remains unmoved. Shes so pissed, in fact, that she turns the case over to the far less formidable Chandra and tells Nazs parents that the case will no longer be pro bono. Story continues 136b3ef00eaedee6a2c8388863edd522162cdc35311e47ea142fdb1fd04473a0e4afbcad19293312f6f292119286103d NAZ MAKES A FRIEND | In the wake of Nazs cot being set on fire, he gains an unlikely new friend, a bald, black and very practical inmate who instructs the wide-eyed newbie on how to survive in the clink. Respects all anybodys got in here, the dude explains, while also advising that Naz start looking like a man whos not afraid to look a man in the eye (without actually looking any of his fellow inmates in the eye). At the same time, formidable former boxer Freddy continues his courtship/mentorship sending Naz a blue jumpsuit for his day in court. But when Nazs arm gets slashed in the hallway, he pays a visit to the Rikers power player and learns Freddys stated interest is in Nazs mind (and not, perhaps, his body). Naz has already read Call of the Wild, but Freddy reminds him of the books lessons. Survival in here is about your alliances, my desert brother, he declares. And when Nazs new tour guide shows his psychotic side throwing a brutal combo of scalding water and baby oil in Nazs face its back to Freddys private cell. Say the words for me, Nasir, he says. To which Naz finally admits, I need your help. Oh please, The Night Of writers, let this Rikers scenario not get any more tense. The courthouse stuff alone is more than I can deal with without a strong prescription for an anti-anxiety med. The Night Of John Turturro STONE COLD? | Stone keeps investigating the case going to Andreas burial and witnessing a heated argument between her stepdad and a young, dark-haired dude. Our low-rent lawyer also learns Andrea had been in rehab muliple times in the recent past, and sells the intel to Chandra. Our broken-down attorney also makes a call to the clinic and learns Andreas cat is still awaiting adoption (but at least still alive). Why do I have a feeling that tabby might be the key to Nazs freedom? What did you think of this weeks The Night Of? Hit the comments with your thoughts and your theories about how the final four episodes will play out! Related stories Sesame Street CEO: Door Is Open for Bob, Luis and Gordon to Return Westworld Creators Reveal Reason for 2-Month Production Shutdown Sarah Jessica Parker Explains Biggest Difference Between Her Divorce Character and Carrie Bradshaw Although luxury, or premium, auto brands in the U.S. market tend to delight their owners more than their non-premium counterparts, according to the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study,SM non-premium brand improvement outpaces the advance for luxury marques this year. Compared with last year, the Non-Premium segment average rises 4 points to 794 (out of a possible 1,000 points), whereas the Premium segment sees only a 3-point increase to 844 points. Porsche retains its highest overall ranking among premium brands in the APEAL Study for a 12th consecutive year, with an index score of 877. Three Porsche models (911, Boxster, and Macan) receive 2016 APEAL Study segment-level awards. BMW (859) moves into the second rank position among Premium brands, with a 5-point improvement, and also receives three APEAL Study segment-level awards (2 Series, X1, and X6). 2016 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study photo Among Premium brands, Lexus (843up 12 points) advances five rank positions to place fifth, with a boost from the redesigned RX-Series, although only one model, the RC, receives an APEAL Study segment-level award. Volvo (839) shores up the largest point gain (+14 points) among luxury brands and ranks ninth overall, with momentum from the top-volume, new XC90. Lincoln (843) also improves its score in the 2016 U.S. APEAL Study due to the redesigned MKX and the MKZs improved performance. Among Non-Premium brands, Volkswagen (809), Mini (808), and Kia (807) each manage to outpace the premium Acura (806) brand, which has the lowest score among luxury brands this year. Also, VW moves to the top of the Non-Premium brand rank chart from third last year. Its the first time since 2001 that Germanys mass market brand leads all Non-Premium nameplates. In addition, Toyota (796up 15 points) gains the most rank positions of any Non-Premium brand, moving from the 17th position to eighth. Other Non-Premium brands to improve their APEAL Study scores and/or rank standings from 2015 are Kia (807), Ford (803), Ram (803), Honda (795), Subaru (793), Mitsubishi (770), Fiat (755), and Smart (745). Additional Research: Story continues Abstract: Although luxury, or premium, auto brands in the U.S. market tend to delight their owners more than their non-premium counterparts, according to the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, non-premium brand improvement outpaces the advance for luxury marques this year. Year: 2 016 Check this if this is NOT an Articles Listing Page: New or Used: New Display Article Date?: Article Is Flipbook: No Seoul prosecutors on Monday accused North Korea of hacking into the email accounts of dozens of South Korean government officials this year, the latest in the series of suspected cyber attacks by Pyongyang. Investigations showed a "suspected North Korea-operated group" attempted to hack into the emails of 90 people -- including officials at the foreign, defence and unification ministries -- from January to June, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said in a statement. "The passwords of 56 accounts were stolen," the statement said. The hackers set up 27 phishing sites in January posing as popular portals like Google and South Korea's Naver, as well as government and university websites, to steal the passwords. The prosecutors said the malicious codes used in the latest attack were the same as the ones used by North Korea in previous attacks on the South. An investigation is still ongoing to see if any confidential information may have been leaked. The latest cyber attack comes just days after South Korean police said the North stole the personal data of over 10 million customers at South Korean online shopping mall Interpark. Interpark was unaware about the attack until July 11, when it was blackmailed with threats to publicise the leaked data unless the company paid three billion won (US$2.7 million). The National Police Agency said the North's main spy agency -- the Reconnaissance General Bureau -- had organised the hack in a bid to earn hard currency. Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have been running high since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile tests. The provocations have put North Korea under the toughest sanctions yet from the United Nations as well as mounting individual sanctions by countries like the US, South Korea and Japan. Seoul has in recent years blamed the North's hackers for a series of cyber attacks on military institutions, banks, state agencies, TV broadcasters, media websites and a nuclear power plant. The North operates an army of more than 1,000 hackers who stage hacking or cyber attacks targeting Seoul's major institutions or key officials, according to the South's spy agency. By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's first and only law firm set up by a foreigner, Hay, Kalb & Associates, will suspend operations, the firm's principal said in a statement on Monday, as the country grows increasingly isolated. The firm is a joint venture between the North Korean state and British-French citizen Michael Hay, who has represented foreign clients in the capital, Pyongyang, for 12 years. Hay said he had made the decision based on "business and geopolitical principles". "This decision has been taken only after lengthy and thorough deliberation and an examination of the continuing deterioration of inter-regional relations pertaining to the Korean peninsula," Hay said in a statement. "It is not unreasonable to assume that no meaningful change or indicator of change in relations shall occur, if at all, until well after the United States Presidential Inauguration, on January 20, 2017," Hay said in the statement. North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to a new U.N. Security Council resolution in March that tightened sanctions against Pyongyang. The majority of Hay's clients are foreign investors, many of whom have been negatively affected by the sanctions, Hay told Reuters. "Sanctions are hurting legitimate foreign investors. There still is no credible, consistent evidence I see of DPRK companies hurting," Hay said. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official title. Very few foreigners live or work in North Korea. Those who do are usually members of the diplomatic or NGO community, although a small group of foreign investors have maintained a quiet and steady presence inside the country. The suspension takes effect from midnight on Monday, Hay said, with an official suspension scheduled for Aug. 14, the firm's 12-year anniversary. Hay, who bills his firm as the only foreign-invested firm in North Korea, said he will still maintain an office in Pyongyang. North Korea has more than 8,000 law graduates, according to an official 2008 census, half of whom are based in Pyongyang. Most are employed by the state. (This version of the story corrects headline, lead and penultimate paragraphs after lawyer clarifies the law firm is the only foreign-invested one in North Korea) (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Paul Tait) Yahoo file photo National University of Singapore (NUS) president Tan Chorh Chuan said the university is not doing away with orientation, according to a report by The Straits Times (ST). The comments by Prof Tan at the Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony on Monday (1 August) came days after NUS suspended student-organised team-building activities for freshmen. The suspension came in the wake of a public furore over media reports of the sexual and possibly dangerous nature of some orientation activities at NUS. The five-day orientation week, the final round of camps before the NUS semester begins, was supposed to take place this week. All formal freshmen activities, such as the Rag and Flag fundraising activities, will go on. NUS expects orientation activities to be fully respectful of the dignity of all those participating, Prof Tan said, according to the ST report. In particular, we make our stand very clear: we do not condone behaviour, games and activities that denigrate the dignity of individuals and that are sexualized. It is very disappointing that a few in our student community have clearly not internalised this, he added. NUS will rethink about how it can conduct orientation in more meaningful ways to ensure that it is an enjoyable experience, especially for freshmen, Prof Tan said. "There are a wide range things to consider, and we need the time and space necessary to do so over the next few weeks and months. President Obama on Monday called for Americans to honor Gold Star families and be humbled by them, a veiled but unmistakable swing against Republican nominee Donald Trumps attacks on the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq. Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine, Obama said in a speech to the National Convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them. The president never named Trump, who has waged a bitter public feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan. Their son Humayun, a 27-year-old Army captain, was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004. But Obamas target was clear. No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families, he said. Obama also indirectly dinged Trump for speaking highly of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Trump has praised Hussein for supposedly killing terrorists. To all of you who served in Iraq, we saw your heroism in pushing out a dictator whose brutality must be condemned, never praised, Obama said. The president also knocked Trump for refusing to say that he would meet Americas solemn commitment to come to the rescue of any NATO ally attacked by Russia. In the face of Russian aggression, were not going to turn our back to our allies in Europe. Were going to stay united in NATO, which is the worlds strongest alliance, he said. By Ginny McCabe CINCINNATI (Reuters) - An Ohio man pleaded guilty on Monday to charges he plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs and that he sympathized with Islamic State militants. In an appearance in federal court in Cincinnati, Christopher Cornell, 22, shackled and dressed in black-and-white striped jail clothes, admitted to the charges of attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Cornell, who mainly answered the judge's questions with "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am," faces up to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervision, according to officials at the hearing. Cornell, of Green Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati was arrested in January 2015 and accused of planning to travel to Washington to attack the U.S. Capitol during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 20, 2015, prosecutors said, citing the plea agreement. Cornell initially pleaded not guilty. His sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 31. A lawyer for Cornell, Martin Pinales, said the guilty plea was in the best interest of his client. Cornell's father, who previously told Ohio media he felt his son was set up by an FBI informant, declined to comment on the plea. "We love Christopher very much and we all support him," John Cornell said. Cornell researched the construction of pipe bombs, purchased two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition, and made plans to travel to Washington to carry out the plot, according to the original indictment. After his arrest, he posted statements online that included a call for others to join him in violent jihad against the United States on behalf of Islamic State, prosecutors said, citing the plea agreement. Islamic State militants control parts of Iraq and Syria and have sympathizers and supporters around the world who have carried out bombings and shootings of civilians. In April, U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith in Cincinnati ruled that Cornell, who has been held without bond since his arrest, was competent to stand trial. Last November, the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Cornell after his attorneys questioned his mental competence. (Reporting by Ginny McCabe; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Grant McCool) By Ginny McCabe CINCINNATI (Reuters) - An Ohio man pleaded guilty on Monday to charges he plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs and that he sympathized with Islamic State militants. In an appearance in federal court in Cincinnati, Christopher Cornell, 22, shackled and dressed in black-and-white striped jail clothes, admitted to the charges of attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation. Cornell, who mainly answered the judge's questions with "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am," faces up to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervision, according to officials at the hearing. Cornell, of Green Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati was arrested in January 2015 and accused of planning to travel to Washington to attack the U.S. Capitol during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 20, 2015, prosecutors said, citing the plea agreement. Cornell initially pleaded not guilty. His sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 31. A lawyer for Cornell, Martin Pinales, said the guilty plea was in the best interest of his client. Cornell's father, who previously told Ohio media he felt his son was set up by an FBI informant, declined to comment on the plea. "We love Christopher very much and we all support him," John Cornell said. Cornell researched the construction of pipe bombs, purchased two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition, and made plans to travel to Washington to carry out the plot, according to the original indictment. After his arrest, he posted statements online that included a call for others to join him in violent jihad against the United States on behalf of Islamic State, prosecutors said, citing the plea agreement. Islamic State militants control parts of Iraq and Syria and have sympathizers and supporters around the world who have carried out bombings and shootings of civilians. In April, U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith in Cincinnati ruled that Cornell, who has been held without bond since his arrest, was competent to stand trial. Last November, the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Cornell after his attorneys questioned his mental competence. (Reporting by Ginny McCabe; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Grant McCool) - The Russian weightlifting federation launched an appeal against their doping ban from the Rio Olympics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the tribunal announced. The International Weightlifting Federation last week suspended the Russian federation after an investigation which found widespread state-run doping in Russia. The eight Russian weightlifters entered for Rio were excluded because of the ban. Russian federation president Sergei Syrtsov told R-Sport news agency: "We have already submitted an appeal to CAS to be reinstated. We are waiting for a decision." He said that if the federation won then a new case would be lodged to get the eight lifters into the Rio contest.Three swimmers and a wrestler have also made appeals to CAS over their bans. The action could hold up naming the final delayed Russian delegation for Rio. AFP RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Making an Olympic debut aged 54 is some feat in itself, but for Brazilian trap shooter Janice Teixeira it surely comes second to confounding medics with a remarkable recovery from a stroke. Teixeira suffered the scare at the 2008 Beijing Games while working as a TV commentator. "I was taken to the hospital with the entire left side of my body paralysed. I couldn't speak, couldn't pronounce a word," she said. But 40 minutes later the Brazilian was showing no symptoms, in a case that baffled doctors. "Even the medical team had a hard time understanding how it happened," Teixeira said. The oldest member of the Brazilian team, Teixeira said a team of doctors who reviewed her test results could not explain her recovery, other than her healthy lifestyle. "I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and I don't eat anything fat. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I have exercised since I was seven," she said. Teixeira is hoping those habits will mean there is no end in sight to her sporting ambitions. "There really is no age factor in shooting. If you think I'm here at the Rio Olympic Games to finish my career, you're so wrong. "I will be fighting for a spot at Tokyo 2020. What happened to me was very serious, but I am here to show the whole world that if you want something, you can do it." (Writing by Ossian Shine; Editing by Rex Gowar) By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) Omega-3 fatty acid supplements may help the heart heal itself after a heart attack, according to a new study High doses, derived from fish oil and taken daily for six months after a heart attack, helped reduce scarring in the heart muscle and increase its ability to pump blood, researchers found. Omega-3 fatty acids have been studied for decades and have a direct beneficial effect on the heart, said senior author Dr. Raymond Y. Kwong, director of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. But in two trials of fish oil for heart attack survivors, the results had been conflicting, he told Reuters Health by phone. One trial found that the supplements did reduce the risk of death shortly after heart attack, while another found no benefit. Those trials administered one gram of the supplement per day. For the new study, 360 heart attack survivors were randomly assigned to take either omega-3 supplements or a placebo, starting within a month of hospitalization and continued for six months. Patients in the omega-3 group took four times the dose as those in the previous two trials: four one-gram capsules of Lovaza, a prescription fish oil, every day. The placebo group took corn oil capsules. All patients received lifestyle counseling and were monitored by doctors to make sure their drug regimens did not interact adversely with additional fish oil or placebo pills. They had cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before starting the capsules and after therapy six months later, according to a report released by the journal Circulation. After six months, compared to the placebo group, those in the fish oil group had less fibrosis, or thickening and scarring, of the heart muscle in the region of the heart attack. The also had less blood left in the left ventricle of the heart after the heart muscle fully contracted, which means the heart was pumping more effectively. Some people are better able to absorb and utilize fish oil, and those with the biggest increase in red blood cell levels of omega-3 levels had a 13 percent reduction in leftover blood in the left ventricle, compared to a 6 percent reduction for the fish oil group overall. There was some concern that very high doses of fish oil would increase the risk of bleeding for patients who are already taking blood thinners and other medications after heart attack, but there were no adverse effects in the study, Kwong said. The initial insult of a heart attack will damage a part of the heart muscle, which dies, so the rest of the heart muscle has to work extra hard, Kwong said. The heart pump function is weaker and scar tissue develops, and over time these two processes can lead to heart failure, he said. Though heart attack survival has greatly increased with improved treatments, heart failure later is still common, he said. Past research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation. We know that things like the degree of cardiac damage and cardiac dysfunction are important factors, however the data from the current paper suggest that other factors, such as inflammation, may also play a role, said Andrew J. Taylor of the department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, who was not part of the study. This is an important observation as it suggests another avenue for intervention to improve patients outcomes after a heart attack, Taylor told Reuters Health by email. But there needs to be more data on how to translate these findings to improved patient outcomes, he said. Based on these results, it seems logical that patients who take omega-e supplements will have a lower risk of heart failure later than those in the placebo group, although this study didnt look at that, Kwong said. Insurance does not currently cover high-dose fish oil prescriptions for heart attack patients, and commercially available non-prescription fish oil supplements are not regulated for safety or consistent dose in the same way, he said. Theres no way that eating fish will provide the same amount of omega-3 that patients got in this trial, although in general its not a bad idea to try to eat more fatty fish, Kwong said. The American Heart Association recommends two servings of fatty fish like salmon or albacore tuna per week. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1q3uqj1 Circulation, released August 1, 2016. ISIS Ask any person off the street about what the difference between al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (ISIS) is, and chances are theyll be hard-pressed to find an answer. Pose the same question to an AQ or ISIS militant, and youll most likely receive a plethora of ideological distinctions that can drive a wedge between the two extremist groups. Earlier this month, AQ's Ayman al-Zawahiri even accused ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his followers as "officers ... of Saddam" and that anyone who "pledges allegiance to Baghdadi must know that he's a partner in all his crimes". According to former CIA counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz, this animosity between the two terrorist networks can be exacerbated by a major overlooked factor. There have been numerous rationales advanced over the years but it probably just boils down to this: everyones ego, writes Peritz in a commentary from The Cipher Brief. No one really wants to play second fiddle to the other because all parties believe they are personally leading the worldwide jihad. Peritz explains how the division, between what appears to be ideologically symmetrical groups, can be traced even before the attacks on 9/11. In 2000, the man who would come to lead ISIS predecessor groups, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, visited Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. At the time, Bin Laden asked Zarqawi to pledge [allegiance]. Always the impetuous hothead, Zarqawi refused to do so. At first glance, it would make sense for these organizations to unite under the same banner, let alone a common cause. But ISIS leadership have attempted to do what AQ would not have even dared to imagine. It takes a special kind of moxie to unilaterally declare a caliphate and ones chief to be the leader of the worlds Muslims, explains Peritz. Al Qaeda certainly never had the nerve to do so. Yet Zarqawis group has done ittwice. Story continues Ayman al-Zawahiri It remains to be seen whether or not this lack of unity will be the downfall of one or both organizations. Even now, AQ has been on the back burner in media attention compared to their counterparts whether its because of the recent successes of ISIS campaigns or the fact that many other terrorist groups, such as Nigerias Boko Haram, have switched their loyalty from AQ to ISIS. But according to Bennett Seftel of The Cipher Brief, the gradual failure of AQ and the rivalry between the organizations can be explained simply. The ... rivalry can be likened to a competition between the old school and the new, explains Seftel. ISIS has used its robust social media campaign and technological advances, along with its lust for blood, to attract a significant number of followers, while, al Qaeda is considered by many to be a relic of the past, still transmitting announcements via VHS videos and audio recordings. Although Peritz contends that these differences may be a nuanced one thats reserved for the upper echelons of the radical Islamists leadership, it could still be a factor that the US can use to their advantage. The US should keep making sure the terrorist groups remain divided, and murderously suspicious of each other, claims Peritz. Causing internal discord among 'the brothers' is a great way to keep these groups paranoid and distrustful. ISIS, which in its past incarnations was a part of the AQ umbrella organization, was ultimately kicked out of the group in February 2014. It was the first time that AQ formally cancelled ties with a subordinate terror group. NOW WATCH: GREEN BERET: Why our strategy against terrorism is making things worse More From Business Insider CLOVIS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 1, 2016 / GuerillaStockTrading, a company operating out of Clovis, California, is celebrating 7 years on YouTube and more than 23,790 channel subscribers. As far as stock trading websites go, the company's website has also shown great success in raising brand awareness and building a following for the site. The company's YouTube channel can be found online at https://www.youtube.com/user/StockTradingMaster. It features videos which focus on subjects such as Investing for Beginners, How to Grow Your Trading Account, and more. The videos vary in terms of theme, with "How To" and informational videos going hand in hand with specialty subjects such as Economics and Stock Forecasts. Currently, the StockTradingMaster channel hosts more than 195 individual videos on the YouTube channel, each consisting of stock related topics with a unique twist. With three playlists to choose from, and more than a million hits, the number of subscribers is estimated to continue growing, with more room for celebration over the next seven years as well. In recent years, stock trading has picked up the pace as not only a form of investment, but as a hobby among the financially savvy. GuerillaStockTrading has been candid in its efforts to draw in this audience and help them to better their investments through educational videos. The information hosted on the site has been described as follows: "We are independently owned and the opinions we express here are our own. We have high standards and a reputation to uphold. Our recommendations are researched carefully and if the company or companies we currently recommend do not maintain their high quality of service, we will take appropriate action including updating this website to reflect any necessary changes." The company invites their viewers to leave comments and feedback on videos in order to help them better understand what viewers want to see, and which videos are less popular than others. GuerillaStockTrading has formed a business partnership with one of the best stock traders on Wall Street right now, Jason Bond. Story continues For more information on GuerillaStockTrading, their videos, or their steadily growing number of followers, the company invites interested individuals to check out their official website, subscribe to their YouTube channel, and contact them for more information. Contact GuerillaStockTrading: Lance Jepsen (559) 697-5834 lancejepsen@gmail.com 165 W. Barstow Ave Clovis, CA. 93612 SOURCE: GuerillaStockTrading It's that wonderful time of year again, when the Royal Observatory Greenwich releases the shortlist of entries into the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. While we expected these photos to be just as stunning as the entries from previous years, it's impossible to anticipate the way these snapshots take our breath away. This year's entrants include views of objects in deep space, snowy landscapes under starry skies, and glowing green auroras lacing through the atmosphere. To see all 30 of the shortlisted entries, check out our full gallery here. In the meantime, here are a few of our favorites: The Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine. This is competition's eighth year, and it received "a record number of over 4,500 spectacular entries from enthusiastic amateurs and professional photographers from over 80 countries spanning the globe," according to a statement from the observatory. The photo titled "Crystal Brilliance," taken by Tommy Richardsen of Norway, captures a scene that almost looks supernatural. The ring of light around the moon is a lunar halo. "The halo, also known as a moon ring or winter halo, is an optical phenomenon created when moonlight is refracted in numerous ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere," the caption reads. Richardsen snapped the photo in Norway. We always love a photograph of the elusive northern (and southern) lights, which are highly hypnotic no matter what they're up to. But photographer Jan R. Olsen from Norway captured something truly astounding in his photograph "Aurora Bird." The caption reads, simply, "The vivid green Northern Lights resemble a bird soaring over open water in Olderdalen, Norway." Photographer Lee Cook from the U.K. snapped a photo of a lonely hut at the foot of snowy mountain, while using a long exposure to also capture the rotation of the celestial sphere overhead. He titled the piece "Alone." Story continues "With temperatures close to -15 degrees [Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit], it's not surprising that the photographer was the only soul in the vicinity of Plateau Hut in Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand," the photo caption reads. "The lonely hut, dwarfed by the snowy mountains of the park, contrasts with the abundance of star trails seemingly encircling the peaks of the Anzac." Looking beyond Earth-bound landscapes, photographer Leonardo Orazi from Italy took this colorful photo, "M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind." "About 12 million light-years away from our planet, lays the starburst galaxy M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy," the photo caption reads. "In a show of radiant red, the superwind bursts out from the galaxy, believed to be the closest place to our planet in which the conditions are similar to that of the early Universe, where a plethora of stars are forming." In what looks like a whimsical cosmic game of tag, seven sparkling sisters (the Pleiades) trail behind the glowing green dot of a comet. "The Joy of Seven Sisters" was taken by Jose Francisco Hernandez Cabrera of Spain. "Comet Lovejoy flashes through the darkness of the Solar System, passing near the open star cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters," the photo caption reads. "The Pleiades glow blue due to their extremely hot nature, and are the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky." And who could resist throwing in another photo showing a wintertime scene: "Frozen Giant," by Nicholas Roemmelt of Germany, captures a gorgeous geologic feature crowned by the bright band of the Milky Way. "The celestial curve of the Milky Way joins with the light of a stargazer?s headlamp to form a monumental arch over the Cimon della Pala in the heart of the Dolomites mountain range in northeastern Italy," the caption reads. It's truly amazing what astronomy photographers can capture with modern equipment. To see some of the astounding astronomy photographs sent to us by readers, check out our gallery of the best night sky photos of 2015. Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Small companies are less susceptible. A majority of Singaporean business have experienced inner resignation, as a survey reveals that nearly 6 in 10 (67%) firms have seen staff members who are present physically but are mentally absent from their job. A survey by Robert Half of 150 chief financial officers (CFOs) revealed that inner resignation tends to be more common in medium-sized and larger firms, as over 6 in 10 (68%) say they have seen it happen. In contrast, only over 3 in 10 (32%) small organisations say the same. Moreover, more than in 3 in 10 (33%) of CFO and finance directors say their business is not impacted by inner resignation. This figure to spikes to more than 6 in 10 (68%) in small and medium enterprises. A vast majority of businesses share that they adopt strategies to keep employees engaged. Over 9 in 10 (97%) of finance leaders use a range of strategies to prevent inner resignation. This is followed by almost half (49%) of employers who encourage open communication. Meanwhile, over 4 in 10 (47%) ensure the employee fits the job, and over 3 in 10 (35%) provide feedback to ensure they are aware if employees are doubting their decision to stay with the organisation. More From Singapore Business Review The Oprah Winfrey Network has given a second-season order to Queen Sugar. Ahead of the drama's September premiere, OWN has reupped the Ava DuVernay co-created series and added an additional three episodes onto the order. Queen Sugar, also co-created and executive produced by Winfrey, stars Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe as three siblings who move to Louisiana to claim an inheritance from their recently departed father - an 800-acre sugarcane farm. DuVernay also directed on the series, which hails from Warner Horizon Television. "When we saw the first cut from Ava we knew right away that we wanted a second season," said OWN president Erik Logan, who announced the news Monday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "We think viewers are going to connect with the deeply layered characters and powerful story and are excited to be able to share with them Ava's director's cut on premiere night without interruption. We are proud to be a network that supports a filmmaker's creative vision." In addition, OWN has upped the forthcoming second season of its megachurch drama Greenleaf from 13 to 16 episodes. Like Queen Sugar, Greenleaf also was renewed for a second season more than a month ahead of its series bow. (Greenleaf went on to premiere to 3 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among OWN's core demo of women ages 25-54.) Queen Sugar and Greenleaf mark OWN's first two scripted series not produced by Tyler Perry, who has had several series on the channel, including The Haves and Haves Not. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in June, Logan discussed a common thread between the two ambitious original series. "I think what [Winfrey] sparks to and what a lot of the creative teams have sparked to has been that both of these are family dramas, but they're also in settings and telling stories that you don't see, and that's what sets them apart." Queen Sugar will get a two-night premiere on Sept. 6 and 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on OWN. We have reached the final stretch of the Q2 earnings season, with results on board from 317 S&P 500 members that combined account for almost 75% of the indexs total market capitalization. Total earnings for these companies are down 3.3% from the same period last year on 0.9% lower revenues, with 72.9% positive earnings surprises and 53.6% beating revenue estimates. (Data from the Earnings Trends report dated July 29, 2016). Energy Remains the Biggest Drag Expectedly, the Energy sector has been a big drag on the aggregate growth picture. For the sector components on the S&P 500 index that have reported Q2 results, total earnings are down 76.5% on 24.6% lower revenues. Though 66.7% of the companies outperformed earnings estimates, the positive surprises have undoubtedly been aided by easy-to-beat estimates. In fact, we have seen sub-standard reports from a number of major players in the sector, like Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM and Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A. E&P Companies are the Hardest Hit While all crude-focused stocks stand to lose from falling commodity prices, companies in the exploration and production (E&P) sector are the worst placed, as they are extracting less value for their products. Consequently, with oil prices recently collapsing to their lowest levels in years, upstream firms have seen their revenues, earnings and cash flows being hit hard. Moreover, with no refining business to help neutralize low oil prices, these companies have suffered the most. As oil sales floundered, producers generated lesser revenues. To survive the period of weak profits, they took more debt. Some of them especially the smaller and the more speculative ones with the most leverage now face an existential crisis, while for the others the time bomb is ticking with crude prices stuck below $50 a barrel. While mid- and large-sized energy producers are in a better position to weather the storm due to better financial flexibility, they still face declining profits and in some cases widening losses. Story continues Oil Exploration Stocks to Watch for Earnings on Aug 2 Lets see whats in store for five such companies expected to come up with second-quarter numbers on Tuesday, Aug 2. Lets take a look at how things are shaping up at their end. Devon Energy Corp. DVN is expected to report results after the closing bell. In the first quarter of 2016, this Oklahoma City, OK-headquartered large-cap energy explorer with operations concentrated in the onshore areas of North America, including the U.S. and Canada reported better-than-expected numbers on the back of cost saving initiatives undertaken by the company. Moreover, the company has an excellent track of earnings surprises, having beaten estimates in each of the last four quarters at an average rate of 27.89%. Our proven model shows that Devon Energy is likely to beat estimates in the second quarter as well because it has the right combination of two key ingredients. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. Simultaneously, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. For the quarter to be reported, Devon Energy Mobil has an Earnings ESP of +4.55%, while it carries a Zacks Rank #2. The combination makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat this season. (Read more: Devon Energy Likely to Beat Estimates in Q2 Earnings) DEVON ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise DEVON ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | DEVON ENERGY Quote Headquartered in Midland, TX, Concho Resources Inc. CXO is also set to report second-quarter 2016 results after the closing bell. Coming to the earnings surprise history, the Permian Basin-focused upstream player has a poor track, having missed estimates in the last two quarters. Estimates have been rising lately prior to Concho Resources second-quarter earnings release. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of 3 cents jumped 400% over the past 60 days. Concho Resources carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has an Earnings ESP of +33.33%, again making it a prime candidate for an earnings beat. CONCHO RESOURCS Price and EPS Surprise CONCHO RESOURCS Price and EPS Surprise | CONCHO RESOURCS Quote Antero Resources Corp. AR is another oil and gas finder to report second-quarter results tomorrow again after the market closes. Notwithstanding the crude collapse, the company outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 210.42%. Our quantitative model hints at another earnings beat for this Denver, CO-based company primarily looking for oil and gas in West Virginias Appalachian Basin in as it has a Zacks Rank #2 and an Earnings ESP of +400.00%. ANTERO RESOURCE Price and EPS Surprise ANTERO RESOURCE Price and EPS Surprise | ANTERO RESOURCE Quote Cobalt International Energy Inc. CIE, a Houston, TX-based independent, oil-focused exploration and production company, will release second-quarter results before the opening bell. Our model does not indicate that Cobalt International is likely to beat on earnings this time around. This is because it is a Zacks Rank #3 stock but has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. However, the company has a good track of earnings surprises, having beaten estimates in all but one of the last four quarters. COBALT INTL EGY Price and EPS Surprise COBALT INTL EGY Price and EPS Surprise | COBALT INTL EGY Quote Finally, we have independent natural gas producer EXCO Resources Inc. XCO coming up with second-quarter numbers after market close. In the preceding three-month period, the Dallas, TX-based upstream player delivered a positive earnings surprise of 36.36% despite the challenges that a steep drop in oil price tagged along. This was primarily owing to strong cost control measures. As far as the earnings surprise history is concerned, the company has an excellent record: it surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 35.43%. But we do not expect EXCO Resources to beat earnings expectations as our proven model shows that it does not have the right combination the two key components. While a Zacks Rank #2 increases the predictive power of ESP, the companys ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. (Read more: What to Expect from EXCO Resources' Q2 Earnings?) EXCO RESOURCES Price and EPS Surprise EXCO RESOURCES Price and EPS Surprise | EXCO RESOURCES Quote Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ROYAL DTCH SH-A (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis Report EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report DEVON ENERGY (DVN): Free Stock Analysis Report COBALT INTL EGY (CIE): Free Stock Analysis Report CONCHO RESOURCS (CXO): Free Stock Analysis Report EXCO RESOURCES (XCO): Free Stock Analysis Report ANTERO RESOURCE (AR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The Q2 earnings is in full swing and as many as 317 S&P 500 members have already reported their quarterly results. As we evaluate the results of these companies, we notice a slight sequential improvement in the growth pace. However, growth for the benchmark S&P 500 index is likely to be negative for the fifth quarter in a row. Eight of the 16 Zacks sectors (as of Jul 29) are projected to underperform. Total earnings for these 317 companies are down 3.3% year over year due to 0.9% lower revenues. Of these, 72.9% beat earnings per share (EPS) estimates and 53.6% surpassed top-line expectations. The earnings of the companies having reported from the energy sector so far are down 76.5% year over year due to 24.6% lower revenues. Per the Earnings Trends report, the general outlook for energy sector remains bearish as it is expected to register a massive 84% year-over-year decrease in earnings due to a 26% plunge in revenues. Excluding the impact of the energy sector, the S&P 500 index would witness earnings growth of 0.3%. Meanwhile, lets have a look at how some of these other energy companies are poised ahead of the scheduled announcements. Nabors Industries Ltd. NBR is set to release Q3 results on Aug 2, after the market closes. The company has an Earnings ESP of +6.82% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The Most Accurate estimate stands at a loss of 41 cents and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of 44 cents. NABORS IND Price and EPS Surprise NABORS IND Price and EPS Surprise | NABORS IND Quote Given that Nabors Industries has a Zacks Rank #3 and a positive Earnings ESP investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions raise optimism for the stock. (Read more: more: Why Nabors Industries Might Surprise This Earnings Season) Parker Drilling Co. PKD is expected to release Q2 results on Aug 2, after the market closes. Our proven model does not conclusively show that Parker Drilling Co. is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 for this to happen. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of 38 cents. Though the company has a Zacks Rank #3, a 0.00% Earnings ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. Story continues PARKER DRILLING Price and EPS Surprise PARKER DRILLING Price and EPS Surprise | PARKER DRILLING Quote Rowan Companies plc RDC is slated to release Q2 results on Aug 2. Rowan has an Earnings ESP of +2.74% as the Most Accurate estimate is pegged at 75 cents and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at 73 cents. This is very meaningful and a leading indicator of a likely positive earnings surprise. The company has a Zacks Rank # 3. ROWAN COS PLC Price and EPS Surprise ROWAN COS PLC Price and EPS Surprise | ROWAN COS PLC Quote The combination of Rowans favorable Zacks Rank and a positive Earnings ESP makes us confident about an earnings beat. Dont miss out on our full earnings release articles for these two oil refining stocks, as the actual results might hold some surprises! Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ROWAN COS PLC (RDC): Free Stock Analysis Report NABORS IND (NBR): Free Stock Analysis Report PARKER DRILLING (PKD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Wyatt Cenac showed up to the TCA Q&A for TBS new alien abduction comedy People of Earth carrying a large American flag on a flagpole that could have been pinched from a Donald Trump rally stage. I was told this starts with the Pledge of Allegiance, Cenac chastized the TV critics, calling them a bunch of Canadians. David Jenkins explained he conceived of People Of Earth after reading an article about an alien abduction support group that meets in the basement of a church. I thought it could be a fun group of people to focus on because the people Seem like reasonably normal people, realtors, they have jobs and lose their keys in the couch. In the spec script he described it as a cross between Greg Daniela and JJ Abrams type show and he wrote the lead character with Cenac in mind. Cenac and Daniels signed on which is freakish. People of Earth is a new original comedy about a support group for alien abductees. The show centers on skeptical journalist Ozzie Graham (Wyatt Cenac), who investigates a support group to write about the members supposed alien encounters. The more he digs into their oddball claims, the more he realizes there is truth in their stories and possibly even signs that point to his own alien abduction. The onetime outsider now finds himself a part of this eclectic group of misfits, all the while struggling with the idea of knowing that life could exist beyond our world. One show staffer talks to people with some regularity who claim to have been abducted. She came into my office the toehr day and said shed talked to someone who really wanted to talk to me about this, Jenkins said. The women claimed the aliens took her ovaries. Theres something deeply tragic about that, he said, noting its amazing that person has a job and a life, and buys groceries and that pretty interesting. Story continues And theyre all voting Trump, snarked cast member Oscar Nunez. USA! USA! Cenac began to shout, while waiving his Trump-ian flag. Cast member Ana Gastayer began to sing: Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain This wouldnt have happened if youd all just done the Pledge of Allegiance. Hollywood liberals! Cenac preached, still brandishing the Stars and Stripes. TCA: 11 more days to go. Related stories Starz Boss On Lionsgate Merger, Push For Diversity & 'Outlander's Future - TCA 'Versailles': Opulent Setting, Lavish Costumes, Unsettling Comments - TCA TV One Greenlights 'Media' Movie About Communications Industry Family Dynasty - TCA This pic proves Jason Momoa and his wife Lisa Bonet were meant for each other This pic proves Jason Momoa and his wife Lisa Bonet were meant for each other Though Jason Momoa uses Instagram to show off behind-the-scenes Game of Thrones photos and to celebrate his super cute kids, he hardly ever posts photos of his wife Lisa Bonet (aka The Cosby Shows Denise Huxtable). Yet, a few hours ago, Jason gave us a rare gem of him and his lady and we think its the most beautiful thing weve ever seen. While in London with Lisa at the Bull in a China Shop bar, Jason posted the following photo with the caption, Life goals. Find a goddess who drinks Guinness Make babies Live ALOHA. A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Aug 1, 2016 at 1:57am PDT They. Are. The. Best. However, this isnt the first (or second or third) time weve seen Jason share his love for Guinness on Instagram. Here he is sharing a pint with the High Sparrow: When DROGO and the high sparrow Get together and find peace in #guinness #legend ALOHA j A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Jun 12, 2016 at 4:33pm PDT Were glad this is something Lisa and Jason can share, too. But it isnt all they have in common. These two are also passionate about the environment. Behold a photo of them showing solidarity with the protests to stop building on Mauna Kea in Hawaii: Everyone unite for the world wide sign waving event happening right now. Lets show the world that #WeAreMaunaKea. @protectmaunakea We are ohana Aloha j and L A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Apr 8, 2015 at 7:03pm PDT And most importantly, both Lisa and Jason seem to cherish family. This pic shows the adorable pair supporting Lisas daughter/Jasons step-daughter Zoe Kravitz: Me and wifey. So very proud of you @zoeisabellakravitz You are so talented love u. A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on May 8, 2015 at 4:42pm PDT During an interview with The Huffington Post a few years ago, Jason said that Lisa was his dream woman. (Yup were melting right now.) Story continues Shes an angel, said Jason. Shes amazing. God bless her. Shes seeing this one through. Ive done a lot of dumb things in my life. Momoa also told Katie Couric that he developed a crush on Bonet after seeing her on The Cosby Show and that he low-key stalked her (lol). I was definitely that was the first time when I was like, I want that one. I want her. Im going to get her. I didnt tell her till after we had our two children, he explained. But I told her I kinda stalked ya. I was going to find ya. Ultimately, it seems that Jasons dreams came true and we couldnt be happier for him (especially if that means we get to see more pics of him and Lisa living their beautiful lives). The post This pic proves Jason Momoa and his wife Lisa Bonet were meant for each other appeared first on HelloGiggles. The Hague (AFP) - Several easyJet flights out of Amsterdam's Schiphol airport were cancelled Monday after a lightening strike called by Dutch pilots seeking better pay and conditions. The Dutch pilots union (VNV) announced around midnight Sunday they would be walking off the job for the second time this summer, after an earlier stoppage on June 14. EasyJet denounced the strike as a "disappointing and unnecessary action by the union" saying it had been "working closely with the VNV to negotiate a collective labour agreement and have already made a significantly improved offer." But the union called the strike from 6:00am (0400 GMT) to 10:00am (0800 GMT) saying it was "counting on the management to now return quickly and seriously" to the negotiating table. The pilots are calling for no loss of pay during sick leave, more rest between flights and better pensions, the labour organisation said in a statement. The VNV added it had decided to strike again after easyJet in June flew in "strikebreakers from abroad," which they said "only added fuel to the fire." And it warned a further series of stoppages were planned over the coming months. "We are determined to conclude a fair collective agreement for easyJet pilots even if it means that the conflict and the resulting disruption in operations drags on for months," said union chief Steven Verhagen. EasyJet added it was "trying to minimise the impact of the strike ... but unfortunately due to the short notice we will have to cancel flights." Flights to London, Nice, and Tel Aviv appeared to have been among at least six cancelled easyJet flights, although other early morning departures did leave. In a further blow to travellers, Dutch police briefly closed one of the main motorways linking Amsterdam to Schiphol airport on Monday amid a bomb scare. The alarm was raised when a man travelling on a bus on the A4 made "strange remarks" and mentioned "a bomb," police said. The driver stopped the bus and all passengers were evacuated. Police said in a Twitter message the man "was arrested after being confused" and the motorway was later reopened after the bus was searched and no explosives were found. Security has been stepped up in and around Amsterdam's Schiphol airport since Saturday following an unspecified threat, and airport authorities warned travellers Monday to leave earlier than planned for the busy travel hub. By William James LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will on Tuesday outline her bid to reshape the British economy for a post-Brexit world, reviving the once unfashionable concept of industrial policy 30 years after Margaret Thatcher killed it off. May will chair the first meeting of the "Cabinet Committee on Economy and Industrial Strategy" in her Downing Street Offices, bringing together the heads of 11 other ministries to set out her vision for a state-boosted industrial renaissance. "If we are to take advantages of the opportunities presented by Brexit, we need to have our whole economy firing," May said ahead of the meeting in a statement released by her office. "We also need a plan to drive growth up and down the country - from rural areas to our great cities." After a referendum campaign that revealed dissatisfaction in many of Britain's struggling post-industrial regions, May is pitching a plan to reunite the country by raising the prospects of those who she casts as "hard-working people". The June 23 vote to leave the European Union has raised serious questions about the future of the world's fifth largest economy, with some surveys indicating a recession, a hit to consumer confidence and a possible fall in investment. "We need a proper industrial strategy that focuses on improving productivity, rewarding hard-working people with higher wages and creating more opportunities for young people so that, whatever their background, they go as far as their talents will take them," May said ahead of the meeting. The challenge is to find a formula that arrests a decades-long decline in Britain's manufacturing sector by helping firms tackle the challenges posed by globalisation without blunting the market forces that make them competitive. She will make a priority of developing the industries already based in Britain - a push that could help carmakers like Jaguar Land Rover, GM-owned Vauxhall and Nissan , and aerospace industry leaders like BAE Systems to weather the Brexit storm. Story continues The strategy will also involve finding new ways to rebalance the economy away from its reliance on the services sector, and ensure wealth is distributed away from the prosperous south east of England. Whilst policy detail is scarce, the strategy is likely to combine state-backed investment in traditional infrastructure like roads and rail with funding for modern essentials like broadband and lower energy costs, along with a push to train more of the highly-skilled workers industry says it needs. NOT PICKING WINNERS Industrial policy has a toxic legacy in Britain. It was once used to help failing national champions through a series of flawed policies in the 1960s and 1970s that sought to arrest a decline in manufacturing influence. "We're not getting into the business of picking winners: it's more about creating the right environment," a government source who spoke on condition of anonymity said. May's office said the strategy would promote a range of industrial sectors with a focus on addressing long term productivity growth; encouraging innovation and focusing on the industries and technologies that give Britain a competitive advantage. May surprised French utility EDF and China last week with a last-minute decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades. The refocusing of Britain's economic policy, for the last six years aimed at balancing the books and heavily reliant on foreign money to replace state infrastructure spending, also carries a potentially huge political prize. With the opposition Labour Party, long seen as the champions of the working classes, locked in a vicious internal ideological struggle and losing sway in their traditional heartlands, May has an opportunity to won over those who saw voting 'Leave' in the EU referendum a 'nothing to lose' protest vote. "The Brexit vote and euroscepticism was strongest in former manufacturing areas, where the industry has gone, the good jobs have gone and people feel disaffected," said David Bailey Professor of Industry at Aston Business School. "If May's going to do something about reconnecting, manufacturing has got to be part of the story." (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge) From Cosmopolitan On July 22, investigators found 20-year-old Sierah Joughin's remains in a shallow grave in a Wauseon, Ohio, cornfield about a mile away from convicted kidnapper James Dean Worley's property, the Toledo Blade reports. The 57-year-old was taken into custody shortly before police found Joughin and is now charged with abduction and aggravated murder. Worley served three years in prison in 1990 when he was convicted of abducting then-26-year-old Robin Gardner. The woman managed to safely escape after Worley'd taken her off her bike, into his truck and into handcuffs; She reportedly cried when she heard about Joughin's death and Worley's arrest. According to the Washington Post, police searched Worley's property for days following his arrest. On his property, they found rope, handcuffs, fire arms, ammunition, recording devices, and a ski mask. Even more disturbing is what they found in his barn: a hidden room concealed by hay bales. Inside the room was a freezer lined with a blood-stained carpet. Restraints hung from the walls. There were several pairs of women's underwear on the property as well, one of which was bloodied. Sgt. Matthew Smithmyer of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department believes not only that Worley is responsible for Joughin's murder, but probably for other missing local young women's as well. In records obtained by the Blade, Worley told his therapist after his first conviction and jail time he "learned from each abduction he had done and the next one he was going to bury." Prosecutors point to the case of 14-year-old Lori Ann Hill as one Worley might also be potentially guilty of. Hill went missing from her home in 1985 and was found naked and dead four days later in a wooded area of Wauseon. In a statement, Smithmeyer explained "these types of offenders will often keep trophies." Joughin was last seen by her boyfriend on July 19 when the pair went bike riding together. They parted ways "on good terms," PEOPLE reported, and her family was "struggling and trying to stay hopeful" after they reported her missing. Now, Joughin's aunt Tara Shaffer Ice tells the magazine the "family is in complete shock and utterly lost." Story continues Joughin was going to be a junior at the University of Toledo, according to her obituary. She was a member of the school's business fraternity, "appreciative of every opportunity presented to her and full of life." A GoFundMe originally dedicated to bringing Joughin home is now collecting money for her funeral arrangements. Worley remains in a corrections center, where he is being held without bond. Follow Tess on Twitter. texas tower shooting On a blazing summer day 50 years ago in Austin, a sniper wreaked unprecedented carnage on the campus of the University of Texas. The gunman climbed the school's iconic Main Building, known as the Tower, armed with rifles, a sawed-off shotgun, and other firearms. He then unleashed a methodical, 96-minute killing spree on the people below, killing 15 and injuring more than 30 others before Austin police officers shot him dead atop the tower. The violence that day would be the first of its kind before Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, or Columbine. Monday is the 50th anniversary of the shooting, which was considered the first mass school shooting in American history. "People sent me newspaper articles from London, from Sweden. It hit the networks and it was all over the world," Ramiro "Ray" Martinez, one of the officers who gunned down the shooter, told Business Insider. Martinez, then 29 years old, is the last surviving person among the group that brought the shooter down. He remembers details from that terrifying day to an astonishing degree. "I was off duty, at home, and I was not supposed to report to duty until 3 o'clock in the afternoon," Martinez said. "I was watching the news at noon on television. The anchor was handed a note, and he read it, and he said there is a man on top of the University of Texas Tower shooting, and there are unconfirmed reports that some have been injured." texas tower shooting Martinez called the police department and was instructed to help direct traffic around the university. When he arrived, his task had already been covered. Instead, he went into the tower to help the assault squad he assumed was already inside. Story continues As he approached the tower from the university's south lawn, he got his first look at the carnage unfolding around him. "I could see a dead man. I could see a woman laying on her back, a pregnant woman, in the hot sun," Martinez said. "I could see other bodies laying there. I don't know if they were dead or wounded. That's when I decided to make a run for the tower." The shooter, a 25-year-old Marine veteran named Charles Whitman, was an expert marksman, hitting some victims from 500 yards away. Students stranded on the lawn sought refuge behind whatever they could find trees, parked cars, even a flagpole. Zigzagging his way across the lawn to avoid becoming the next target, Martinez made it to the tower and took the elevator up to the 26th floor two floors below the observation deck where Whitman was perched. "As I was going up, I could hear the shooting from inside the elevator," Martinez said. "So I said, 'This is very serious. I may be killed.' "As a practicing Catholic I was taught to say an act of contrition, atone for your sins, in case you don't make it. So I said my prayer, and by that time I got to the 26th floor and I had my gun out." When the elevator doors opened, Martinez immediately found himself on the business end of a rifle and a shotgun. Fortunately for him, they were held by officer Jerry Day and Allen Crum, who appeared to be a plainclothes officer. Martinez soon realized they were the only police officers in the building. The team searched the floor and found a group of survivors who had barricaded themselves in an office room. "One gentleman had a white pair of women's shoes. They were bloody. And he says, 'This SOB killed my whole family up there,'" Martinez said. Martinez and Crum moved to the stairs' first landing and found the victims the man told them about. A teenage boy, dead, with his tongue protruding the man's son. A dead woman nearby his sister-in-law. A severely wounded woman, his wife, whom they had to turn over to keep her from choking on her own blood. And the man's other teenage son, also wounded, who confirmed the shooter was one floor above. The two men moved upstairs and agreed that they would do whatever it took to stop the gunman. Martinez recalled: "He says, 'Are we playing for keeps?' I said, 'Damn right we are.' And he said, 'You better deputize me then.' "And that's when I found out he was a civilian. And I said, 'Well, consider yourself deputized.'" On the observation deck, the pair split up to opposite corners to find the gunman. Bullets whizzed over their heads and exploded into the brick behind them students with hunting rifles were trying to pick off the shooter from the ground. Crum and Martinez were soon joined by Day and another officer, Houston McCoy. Martinez and McCoy crept around the corner of the observation deck together and caught a glimpse of the shooter. From his corner, Crum inadvertently fired his rifle into the wall, distracting the shooter and providing Martinez the chance to get off a shot. texas tower shooting With McCoy covering him, Martinez fired a round at the shooter, initiating a gunfight. Martinez fired until his handgun was empty, shouting for McCoy to join him. McCoy fired his shotgun twice at the shooter, hitting him twice in the head. Martinez grabbed McCoy's weapon and fired one final time, hitting the shooter in the shoulder as he slumped to the ground. Official reports credit McCoy for killing the shooter, though Martinez maintains to this day that he fired the fatal shot. With the sniper dead, the gravity of the moment began to sink in for Martinez. "My knees started buckling because my adrenaline stopped pumping, and I became a human again," he said. In the hours and days that followed, details about the shooter began to emerge. Whitman was an engineering student at the university. He had a brain tumor, and he had complained to multiple doctors about violent impulses and depression over the previous year. The night before the shooting, he stabbed his wife and mother to death. The tower shooting remained the deadliest US school shooting until the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which 32 people were killed. The tower shooting was unlike anything the nation had ever seen. For the survivors, life had changed forever. "It was surreal. We didn't have mass killings in those days," Herb Ritchie, one of the people barricaded in the office room, told The Houston Chronicle in 2006. "After that, you never felt the same. You were never safe anywhere or with anybody." NOW WATCH: The number of times Obama has had to respond to mass shootings during his presidency is staggering More From Business Insider The political conventions are over, but references to Clash of the Candidates continue to creep in at TCA. Pop president Brad Schwartz introduced a panel for the new Pop TV series Wolf Creek (based on the horror movie franchise) as the story of a strong empathetic woman overcoming a psychopathic monster. Anyone get that? the executive added when the line failed to draw much reaction. On a more serious note, Schwartz described the new series as a perfect fit with Pops intent to celebrate fandom by expanding the Pop brand to include the cult favorite. Its a way for us to get into drama with a popular saga, Schwartz said. In the six-episode series with a previously announced Oct. 14 premiere John Jarratt reprises his movie role as serial killer Mick Taylor. But unlike the movie, here Mick meets his match in Eve Thorogood (Lucy Fry), an American college student visiting the Australian outback with her family. When Mick preys on the family, Lucy survives and becomes his relentless pursuer. Produced in Australia, the first-season episodes premiered earlier in the year in Australia. Series EP Greg McLean (also writer, director and producer of the movies) says the series is already a massive hit down under. He said that the movies had played fairly well there and audiences responded to having a female character leading a revenge drama: Its entertaining as hell. McLean was asked how the extreme violence of the films can translate to a TV project. McLean said that actually the intensity of the movies comes from the implied threat of violence, rather than graphic depictions. He added the TV series is a thriller story, not a horror story. Before the panel, Schwartz had said the first-season episodes were all produced in Australia (from Lionsgate Television and Screentime) but added that if the show lasts for multiple seasons Pop would become more involved as a co-producer. Schwartz was asked what cuts and edits might be made in the show for Pop TV. Said the executive: The original series was produced for an SVOD servicethere are no rules when you do thatI always start from a place that we will not do anything to it (then) the lawyers get involved. Story continues You try to stay as close to the creative vision as possible, protecting the creative vision and respecting the viewer experience. Related stories 'American Gods' EPs Talk Religion, Casting & Expectations - TCA Starz Boss On Lionsgate Merger, Push For Diversity & 'Outlander's Future - TCA 'Versailles': Opulent Setting, Lavish Costumes, Unsettling Comments - TCA (ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE) Pope Francis on Sunday said he wont label Islam as terrorist because that would be unfair and not true. Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him home after a pilgrimage to Poland, the day after extremists slit the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a French church, asked him why he never uses the world Islam to describe terrorism or other violence. While in Poland, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the devastating wave of terrorism in many part of the world. When asked why he didnt describe the priests murder and other attacks as Islamic terrorism, Francis replied he wont do that because its not right to identify Islam with violence. Its not right and its not true. I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group. I dont like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law, Francis said, in apparent reference to crime news in predominantly Catholic Italy. And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence. In Islam, not all are violent, not all the Catholics are violent. Its like a fruit salad, everythings in there. Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: I know how they think, they are looking for peace. As for ISIS, he said, the Islamic State group presents itself with a violent identity card, but thats not Islam. Francis spoke on the day when Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass to Sunday Mass in a show of interfaith solidarity following a string of extremist attacks threatening to sharpen religious divides across Europe. By Michelle Conlin COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The billionaire industrialist Koch brothers rejected pressure over the weekend from dozens of big donors in their sprawling political network to back U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying that their money was better spent trying to influence congressional races. The rejection deprives Trump, a New York businessman who has never previously run for elected office, of a major source of fundraising and reflects how his unorthodox White House bid has sparked some disarray among fundraisers who would normally be squarely behind a Republican nominee. The Kochs, with a nearly $300 million political warchest, have earned a reputation as powerful allies in Republican politics. Charles Koch, the dominant player in his political partnership with brother David Koch, told attendees at a bi-annual donor retreat at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado: At this point, I cant support either candidate for the White House. He said networks mandate was to shore up the countrys financial future and eliminate corporate welfare," a reference to government subsidies provided to some industries. "But since it appears that neither presidential candidate is likely to support us in these efforts, we are focused on maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will," he said. Trump's protectionist stances and pledges to review free trade agreements and to get tough on immigration have clashed with the Kochs' free-market political philosophy. Charles Koch has described as a "a blood libel" the idea he would instead support Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. A group of wealthy Republican donors, who paid the minimum $100,000 per year to be members of the 700-strong Koch network, had been urging the brothers to step off the sidelines of the election and back Trump. SEEKING FUTURE INFLUENCE The donors argued that if Trump is elected, the Koch network would want to have influence on his emerging policies and cabinet picks, and to have access to a Trump administration. Over cocktails on the patio overlooking the Rocky Mountains, in private meetings and on text message threads, some donors voiced their concern that if the Kochs alienate Trump, "it could hurt us down the road." Some suggested that some donors could leave the Koch network over the decision not to back Trump. Oil magnate Harold Hamm, a leading candidate to serve as Trump's energy secretary, did not attend the weekend gathering. Other donors who had been at the forefront of a movement to urge the Kochs to get on board with Trump, like billionaire broadcasting magnate Stanley Hubbard, said that in a private meeting with Charles, they had now been convinced that the Kochs were "doing the right thing." Trump has shown no hesitation in spurning the Kochs. On Friday, he tweeted that he had turned down an invitation to meet with the brothers. Koch insiders quickly disputed that characterization, saying an invite was never extended. Nonetheless, the Koch brothers also did not act to stop Trump from beating 16 presidential rivals and winning the party nomination. During the primary contests, many Koch donors were urging the brothers to perform a "Trump Intervention," whereby the brothers would leverage their political operation to support Trump's rivals. The Kochs refused. Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination in Cleveland last month, with a speech that painted a bleak picture of rising crime at home and increasing threats from overseas. The top Koch official on criminal justice reform, Mark Holden, said the speech was inaccurate. "We are safer (now)," he said. (Reporting by Michelle Conlin; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Frances Kerry) Dec 27, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills tackle Cordy Glenn (77) against the Dallas Cowboys at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Buffalo beats Dallas 16 to 6. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports Continuing our newest series, we will continue taking a look at the Buffalo Bills potential depth chart. I will again be doing my best to help sort out what the Bills depth chart could look like entering the final weeks of the pre-season and heading into the regular season. While some days we will only take a look at multiple positional group, today we will take a look at the backbone of any good offense. With a collaboration of talent and abilities, the Buffalo Bills offensive line needs to be on-form this season to help propel to the team towards a playoff spot. Led by left tackle Cordy Glenn, the Buffalo Bills need to see some top levels of performance out their offensive line this season. Playing as well as they did last season, look for the offensive line to be a big decider in the Bills push for the playoffs. AROUND COVER32 Madden Monday: A look at the new features for this years game Fantasy Football: Where to draft suspended players Fantasy Football: Ranking the top ten kickers of 2016 Free Agency: Five teams that should call Devin Hester Bills News: Predicting the Buffalo Bills tight end depth chart Offensive Line Starting off in the interior of the line, the Bills need a center who can lead the line and block with the best of them to succeed in the running and passing game this season. With three centers currently on the roster, Eric Wood should get the nod with Fernando Velasco being retained as the teams backup. Next up we find the two guard positions. Both positions should be solidified thanks to both starters from last season returning. Richie Incognito at the left guard position. John Miller opposite him on the right side. The real questions begin on who the Bills may retain as backups for their two veteran starters. Should the Bills decide to go with more tackles than guard backups, a crunch could be on for the final three guards on the Bills roster. While rookie Jamison Lalk should be headed to the practice squad no matter what, the real battle will be between Cyril Richardson and Ryan Groy. Story continues As far as the tackle positions go, Cordy Glenn is the left tackle for this team. The right side of the line though is a little more questionable. Rookie Marquise Lucas and second-year pros Justin Renfrow and Chris Martin should be out of the equation. This will leave Cyrus Kouandjio and Jordan Mills to battle for the right side of the line with Kouandjio having the upperhand in my mind. READ MORE: Fitzpatricks return could cost Buffalo The post Predicting the Buffalo Bills depth chart: Offensive Line appeared first on Cover32. Aug 1 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Times British taxpayers could bear the burden of 2.5 billion pounds ($3.30 billion) even if the Hinkley Point bill is dropped. EDF, the French energy giant, has already invested 2.5 billion pounds in developing the site for the nuclear plant. (http://bit.ly/2aUwzdM) A three-member International Olympic Committee (IOC) panel will have the final say on which Russian athletes can compete at the Rio Games, reviewing all decisions taken by the international federations. The IOC earlier this month set criteria for Russians to be eligible to compete in Rio after revelations of state-backed doping in the country. (http://bit.ly/2aUx5ID) The Guardian The Bank of England is almost certain to cut benchmark borrowing costs when it sets policy on Aug. 4. This kind of quantitative easing could be used by policymakers to give an extra boost to the economy after the Brexit vote. (http://bit.ly/2aUxpaj) Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said Britain is well-equipped to prevent terror attacks, but it remained a question of 'when, not if' there would be an attack. His comment came in light of the recent Islamic State attacks on European countries. (http://bit.ly/2aUyiQt) The Telegraph A large number of workers could be denied flexible access to their final salary pension funds if a bill to allow companies to ditch their pension promises is passed by the government.(http://bit.ly/2aUyPSl) Sky News British Prime Minister Theresa May's first important order of business was meeting the bosses of four companies subject to inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office. She met with the chiefs of Barclays, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls Royce and Tesco - each of which is being investigated for alleged wrongdoing. (http://bit.ly/2aUyQpu) The deal worth 79 billion pounds ($104.32 billion) between SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev remains to be voted on by shareholders of SABMiller. The board of SABMiller intends to persuade shareholders to approve the terms of the deal. (http://bit.ly/2aUzNxM) Story continues The Independent Former British Prime Minister David Cameron has reportedly offered knighthoods and other such titles to prominent campaigners from the Remain camp. Four cabinet members - Michael Fallon, David Lidington, Philip Hammond and Patrick McLoughlin - could be awarded knighthoods as well. (http://ind.pn/2aUCEXK) The recent surge in anti-immigration hate crimes in Britain after the Brexit vote has occurred mostly in areas that strongly voted to leave the European Union. Statistics show hate crimes are on the rise in Eurosceptic areas of Britain. (http://ind.pn/2aUDaVr) ($1 = 0.7573 pounds) (Compiled by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao) Thessaloniki (Greece) (AFP) - A Greek court on Monday released 26 anarchists who had disrupted a Sunday Orthodox church service to protest against refugee evictions, a judicial source said. The activists had ran into the Thessaloniki cathedral on Sunday, scattering leaflets that read "Solidarity with the refugees", before they were taken into custody by anti-riot forces. Among those arrested were nine foreigners from Austria, Britain, Germany, Morocco, Spain and Switzerland. The Thessaloniki court threw out charges of "disturbing a religious gathering". However, 19 of the activists were handed suspended six-month prison sentences for refusing to be fingerprinted by police. The ruling is suspended over a three-year period. The protest came after city authorities last week forced refugees out of three buildings where they had been squatting, including an orphanage belonging to the diocese. An incendiary device was also set off earlier Sunday outside the company that demolished the orphanage. Nobody was hurt. A number of abandoned buildings in Athens and Thessaloniki in recent months have been taken over by anarchists and groups helping migrants and refugees to find shelter. Official estimates say more than 2,000 refugees are currently living in such squats, mostly former schools. While the left-wing Greek government has been quietly tolerant of the squatters, local authorities have taken a harsher stance, warning of health and safety hazards. Ever since Balkan nations on the migrant trail closed their borders earlier this year, the Greek government has been struggling to cope with a build-up of new arrivals prevented from continuing their journey further north into Europe. Greece is currently hosting some 57,000 people, mainly Syrian refugees. A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer detained over a year ago in a sweeping crackdown has been released on bail, Hong Kong media said Monday, as it showed her praising her jailers. Wang Yu was among one of more than 200 lawyers and legal activists held last July in a swoop on those who had taken on civil rights cases considered sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party, which tightly controls the court system. She was bailed "in recent days," Phoenix TV said. Such releases are rare in China, and usually signal a suspect will continue to be closely monitored but will not face trial. "I experienced the legal civilisation of China and humane care," Wang was shown saying on Phoenix, which has ties to China's government. The exact circumstances in which the interview took place on Sunday were not clear. AFP was unable to contact Wang for comment, nor authorities in Tianjin, where she had been held. Chinese state-run media often show televised "confessions" from suspects in detention or on bail, in what lawyers say violates their right to a fair trial. Phoenix TV is privately owned but was founded by a former general in China's army. Its reporters have said in interviews that the government closely oversees its content. Working as a lawyer, Wang defended victims of sexual abuse as well as Ilham Tohti, an intellectual from the mostly-Muslim Uighur minority who was jailed for life in 2014 for separatism after he criticised government policies. Wang's husband Bao Longjun, also a lawyer, remains under detention and cannot contact family members, she said in the interview. She expected to meet her teenage son Bao Zhuoxuan, the broadcaster said. Bao was held under a form of house arrest last year, family friends said, after he was seized by Chinese agents while trying to escape overland to neighbouring Myanmar. China's President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of controls on civil society since assuming power in 2012, closing avenues for legal activism which emerged in recent years. Story continues Like more than a dozen lawyers and legal activists, Wang was held in an undisclosed location for six months, before being transferred to a detention centre following her formal arrest in January. The EU, the US and the United Nation's human rights representative have all called for the lawyers to be released. China has not laid out detailed charges against them, but state media called the Fengrui firm where Wang worked a "criminal gang" which organised protests outside courthouses. While under detention, Wang received an award from the American Bar Association, and the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Prize for her work defending human rights. But in the brief TV interview Wang said the awards were intended to "blacken the reputation of the Chinese government". "I am Chinese. I only accept the leadership of the Chinese government," she added. "I do not accept these awards, and will not accept them in future". The Public Transport Council on Monday (1 August) released its inaugural advisory report on the recommendations to improve the public transport system and commuter experience. The report, which has been submitted to the Transport Minister, addresses the needs of diverse groups of commuters including families, seniors, wheelchair users and children. To make public transport more family-friendly, PTC recommends that the Land Transport Authority reviews its policy on open strollers on buses. Open strollers are currently not allowed on public buses for safety reasons. PTC also calls for diaper-changing tables to be included in male and female toilets, apart from the toilets for wheelchair users. To ensure the safety of young commuters, PTC recommends the use of bigger text and eye-catching images on warning signs to make them more visible. For wheelchair users, PTC suggests those commuters who are traveling alone should be encouraged to approach train station staff for help. A label can be placed near the fare gate for wheelchair users to remind them to approach station staff for help. While there are travellators at some MRT interchanges, PTC said that more can be done. It proposes introducing travellators at future MRT interchanges to make walking more convenient for seniors. In addition, PTC recommends slower escalator speed at stations with high volume of senior commuters and those near hospitals as some seniors have given feedback that they are afraid of using escalators that may be too fast and steep. PTC also recommends giving a grace period for commuters to re-enter through the swing gate if they need to use the toilets at train stations urgently. Currently, commuters who need to do so have to tap out and pay a fare again when they resume their journey. One set of recommendations was on the provision of more information for commuters. PTC suggests showing bus service number and final destination, and real-time information on train disruptions on the new bus electronic screens being considered by LTA. Story continues At train stations, a video to advise commuters on their response to service disruption can be played regularly on display screens at MRT platforms. Another set of recommendations relates to public transport design. For future bus stops, PTC recommends wider and flatter seats, and with arm and back rests. To encourage commuters to move to the back of buses, it proposes having a third rear exit. The report is based on interviews, focus group discussions, a survey of more than 2,000 respondents and analysis of commuters views in the media. The owner of Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were gunned down in June, hopes to reopen the site as a memorial for those killed during the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, the club said Monday. Pulse management, behind the nonprofit organization OnePulse Foundation, said in a statement that it is raising money toward that goal. Earlier in the day, the foundation erroneously said in a Facebook post that Pulse was reopening as a memorial. Sara Brady, a spokeswoman for the nightclub, told TIME that a member of Pulses social media team misunderstood the facts about the fund and incorrectly published the post. OOPS! Looks like we got the medias pulse racing with an inadvertent Instagram posting that incorrectly stated the Pulse Nightclub was reopening as a memorial, Brady said in a statement. Pulse remains closed for business, but its owner Barbara Pomas desire is that someday a memorial be created at the site, the statement added. The city of Orlando has been planning to create a memorial to honor the shooting victims, who died June 12 when a gunman opened fire inside the popular gay nightclub. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer had said in a statement that the permanent space would preserve the memory of those who lost their lives, provide comfort to those who seek it and honor the spirit and love of our great city. Dyer said the memorial would include input from survivors of the massacre, victims families and the larger community and that a community-based committee would oversee its creation. The timeline of its creation is unclear. Quanta Services Inc. PWR is expected to report second-quarter 2016 results before the opening bell on Aug 4. Quanta Services recent earnings history is a mixed bag, with two beats and one miss in the trailing four quarters, with a modest average positive surprise of 0.9%.In the last reported quarter, the company missed earnings estimates by 9%. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Factors to Consider Quanta Services has been facing major headwinds in recent times, like harsh weather events, project delays and abrupt shifts in small transmission market dynamics. In addition, the collapse in oil prices, especially its effect on the Canadian economy, has been a significant drag on the companys operations. We expect such conditions to undermine the companys top line along with its profits in the upcoming quarter as well. In addition, Quanta Services financials have been adversely impacted by the soft performance of its Electric Power Infrastructure business. The segment was plagued by headwinds like low customer spending, decline in emergency restoration services revenues and delays in project timing owing to regulatory and permitting issues related to large electric transmission projects. Moreover, the company expects a decline in the volume of large transmission revenues, and this will likely weigh on revenues for the quarter under review. At present, one of the biggest challenges for the company is obtaining the sighting and permission for energy infrastructure projects, including major electric transmission programs, and this continues to weigh on its profitability. Also, macroeconomic factors like volatility in oil & gas market, reduced consumer spending, strong U.S. dollar and unfavorable weather conditions may pose as concerns for second-quarter 2016 results. On the positive side, an overall increase in spending for upgrade and expansion of transmission & distribution infrastructure, improving system reliability and delivering renewable electricity from new-generation sources to demand centers, will likely combat most of these challenges. Moreover, many of the companys key customers in North America have robust capital programs in progress, which are focused on upgrading and expanding transmission and distribution infrastructure. This should translate into additional revenues for the company. Story continues Also, Quanta Services recently booked large pipeline projects worth $800 million which will be carried out through 2016 and 2017. The projects include pipeline infrastructure works in North America to transport natural gas from production regions to load centers and natural gas power plants. Also, the company signed a contract to construct a pipeline project in Australia. These contracts should boost the companys top line. Quanta Services closed 11 acquisitions during 2015, thus positioning itself for solid internal growth. These acquisitions will likely bolster the companys revenues during the to-be-reported quarter. QUANTA SERVICES Price and EPS Surprise QUANTA SERVICES Price and EPS Surprise | QUANTA SERVICES Quote Earnings Whispers Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for the company currently stands at 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 32 cents. Zacks Rank: Quanta Services has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). As it is, we caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: B2Gold Corp. BTG has an Earnings ESP of +50.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company is expected to release its quarterly results on Aug 4. Hecla Mining Co. HL has an Earnings ESP of +50.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company will report results on Aug 4. Harsco Corporation HSC has an Earnings ESP of +38.46% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company is expected to release earnings results on Aug 4. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report QUANTA SERVICES (PWR): Free Stock Analysis Report HECLA MINING (HL): Free Stock Analysis Report HARSCO CORP (HSC): Free Stock Analysis Report B2GOLD CORP (BTG): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research HBO kicked off its time in front of the Television Critics Association on Saturday with good news for Bill Maher. The premium cable network has renewed the talk show through 2018, handing out a two-season pickup that slates season 15 in 2017 and season 16 in 2018. The announcement was made by new programming president Casey Bloys, who noted that the series - which featured coverage from both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions - is averaging 4.4 million total viewers. It ranks as the show's most-watched season since its debut in 2003. Read More: Bill Maher Pens Blistering Essay on Hillary as "Charlie Brown," Trump and Why Bernie Sanders, Socialist, Can Win "Bill Maher's fearless and irreverent insights make him an important voice of common sense," Bloys noted. "We are happy to extend our partnership and continue to provide him with the same uncensored forum that he's enjoyed on the network since the late '80s." Added Maher: "As long as Washington keeps serving up crazy, we'll be there to push it around the plate. In these turbulent, uncertain times, I can't think of anything more important than me being on TV." Maher is part of a staple of late-night hosts on the cable network that also includes John Oliver, the recently signed Bill Simmons and Jon Stewart, who inked a four-year deal with HBO that includes short-form digital content for HBO Now, HBO Go and other platforms. Also included in the pact is a first-look option for other film and TV ventures. Beirut (AFP) - Shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians in southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo over the last 24 hours, a monitor said late Monday. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said those killed "included six children and eight women" in two government-controlled neighbourhoods of divided Aleppo. He said dozens of people were also wounded. The city's southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the regime's own access route into the rest of the northern province. Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods. It said nine people -- among them three children -- were killed on Monday and 11 people died in the attacks on Sunday. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that morphed into a brutal civil war. Black plumes of smoke have risen above the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo for the last 48 hours, as young people burned tires in the streets to produce a thick smog intended to obstruct the views of the Syrian government and Russian warplanes bombarding the city. Scenes of teenagers and children rolling the tires into the street and setting them on fire represented a rare moment of hope in the opposition-held eastern section of Aleppo, where at least 300,000 people are encircled by pro-government forces. The improvised smokescreen coincided with an offensive launched on Sunday by mainly Islamist armed groups in an attempt to break the siege. The blockade began in June when government forces cut the last remaining route into the rebel-held section of the city, the Castello Road leading northwest out of the city. Yesterday all the people here worked together. FSA, FSP, hospitals, civilians, everyone, says Mahmoud Rashwani, 30, an activist in rebel-held Aleppo on Monday, referring to the rebel umbrella group Free Syrian Army and Free Syrian Police. It was great, he adds in a text message. This weeks insurgent counterattack comes at a transitional moment in the ongoing war, with rebel groups in the city fighting both to survive and remain relevant as a national force in the face of regime advances and the growing influence of extremist groups throughout the country. So far, the blockade remains unbroken in this crucible of the insurrection. In nearby Idlib province, fighters shot down a Russian Mi-8 military helicopter, killing five crew, the Russian government confirmed. Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his campaign to suppress the more than five-year-old armed rebellion against his rule. The show of defiance represented by the burning tires was a cathartic moment in an otherwise bleak situation in Aleppo, Syrias most populous city prior to the 2011 uprising that spawned the civil war. Vital supplies are scarce and cars have all but disappeared from the streets as a result of a lack of gasoline. The prices of staple foods like potatoes have more than tripled. Bakeries are concerned about dwindling supplies of wheat. According to the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), Aleppo currently only has 20 doctors serving some 300,000 people in the rebel-held section of the city, or a ratio of 15,000 to one. Story continues The encirclement of the city also means there is no way for civilians to flee the fighting. At least 18 people were killed around Aleppo over the last 24 hours, including six children and a college student according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, including some killed in rebel shelling of government-held neighborhoods. Last week, warplanes dropped leaflets urging people to leave the city, while the government and Russian forces claimed they had opened humanitarian corridors for people to exit. The leaflets came as the Assad regime reportedly made an offer of amnesty to rebel fighters willing to lay down their weapons over the next three months. Activists and officials inside the city disputed the claims of a safe passageway out of Aleppo.In reality, this was a huge lie, said Munier Mustafa, the head of civil defense for the White Helmets rescue group in Aleppo. There is no crossing that the regime has opened, and there is no safe place to leave from inside the city. In the last several days Russian and regime warplanes bombarding opposition held areas hit medical facilities throughout Syria, continuing a pattern of attacks on hospitals. In Aleppo alone, there were at least 15 attacks on medical facilities or personnel in July, according to SAMS. In southern Syria, an airstrike destroyed a hospital in the town of Jasim. According to Medecins Sans Frontiers, the facility was the only public hospital serving a town of about 65,000 people. Its very clear its systematic, says Dr. Mohamad Katoub, a spokesman for SAMS based across the border from Syria in Turkey. We are trying to avoiding working in hospitals that dont have good fortification. Another airstrike over the weekend hit the forensic medical lab in Aleppo, killing two staff, according to Mohammad Yasser Tabbaa of the Syrian Expatriate Medical Association. The unit had been responsible for investigating the aftermath of airstrikes and other fighting, meaning that some of Aleppos dead will now go uncounted. The siege of Aleppo also appears to have given the more hardline groups opportunities to assert themselves within the insurgency. One of the groups reportedly participating in the counterattack is the newly renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or the Front for the Conquest of the Levant, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and a U.S.-designated terrorist group. The group announced that it split from al-Qaeda last week, but analysts and Syrian activists are skeptical that the break will substantively change the groups jihadist program. That creates a dilemma for Western governments sympathetic to the rebel cause, as well as aid organizations and mainstream Syrian opposition groups. On the ground in Aleppo, besieged residents of the city seemed less concerned with the groups ideology than with their tactical role in the current battle. People here are looking for anyone to break the siege, said Rashwani, the activist in Aleppo. Its very toxic, nobody wants to touch that, says Adham Sahloul, an independent Syrian-American analyst based in Turkey, Theyre still going to be designated as a terrorist group and its still going to make things very complicated for anybody whos doing Syria work. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters have launched a major assault on government-held southwestern parts of Aleppo to try to reopen supply lines into opposition-held areas of the city after the army and its allies tightened their siege last week. The rebels are trying to break through a strip of government-controlled territory in the hope of reconnecting their area of control in the west of Syria with the encircled sector of eastern Aleppo. A rebel military command centre that includes the newly formed Islamist group Jabhat Fatah al Sham, formerly the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, Ahrar al Sham and Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades said they had seized army positions and some residential compounds in the first few hours of the assault, which began on Sunday night. Later, rebels said they had captured the strategic al-Mishrefah area, south of the Ramousah air force artillery base, which has been used to pound rebel-held areas from its fortified hilltop position. "There is fast and quick progress," said Abdul Salam Abdul Razak, military spokesman of the Free Syrian Army's Nour al Din al-Zinki group. However, the rebels still need to advance another 2.5 km and take the artillery base, one of the biggest in Syria, in order to reach fellow rebels on the Aleppo side. The army earlier confirmed on state media that rebels had begun an offensive but said they had been pushed back from the base. A quarter of a million civilians still live in Aleppo's opposition-controlled eastern neighbourhoods, effectively under siege since the army, aided by Iranian-backed militias, cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July. The army last week took significant ground on the northern edge of the city, around the Castello road, which leads north towards Turkey. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel assault was their biggest for several months. The monitoring group, which tracks violence across Syria, said pro-government jets had bombed rebel-held Khan Touman in the southern countryside of Aleppo, and rebels had shelled government-held parts of central Aleppo overnight. Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the outbreak of the conflict five years ago, has been divided between government forces and rebels since the summer of 2012. Seizing full control would be the biggest victory for Syrian President Bashar al-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. 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 raised misgivings about the plan and U.S. officials suggested it might be an attempt to depopulate the city so that the army can seize it. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REGN is scheduled to release second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 4, before the opening bell. The companys performance so far has been mixed. In the last four reported quarters, the company has surpassed earnings estimates on two occasions while it missed in the other two. Overall, the company has recorded an average negative earnings surprise of 0.06%. Last quarter, the company recorded a positive earnings surprise of 16.94%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Will Eylea Continue to Drive Revenues? Regenerons key growth driver, Eylea, should continue to perform well in the second quarter of 2016 and contribute meaningfully to the companys top line. In the first quarter of 2016, the company continued to witness strong sales growth for Eylea, both in the U.S. and abroad. While U.S. sales of the drug surged 44% year over year, it increased approximately 5% sequentially driven by market share gains. Product revenue from ex-U.S. Eylea sales is recorded by Bayer AG BAYRY. We note that Regeneron has a global development and commercialization agreement with Bayer outside the U.S. for Eylea. Encouraged by the strong performance of the eye drug, the company raised the Eylea U.S. net sales guidance for 2016. It is expected to grow 2025% in 2016. Previously, the company had anticipated Eylea sales to grow approximately 20%. Apart from Eylea, investor focus will remain primarily on the performance of the PCSK9 inhibitor, Praluent. We note that Regeneron has co-developed Praluent with Sanofi SNY. While Praluent's launch is currently underway, Regeneron noted on the first-quarter call that the product is facing a difficult reimbursement environment outside the U.S. On the second-quarter call, focus will be on the companys performance including the eye drug and Praluent along with pipeline updates. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Regeneron is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) for this to happen. However, that is not the case here, as you will see below. Story continues Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at $1.73 per share. Zacks Rank: Regeneron currently carries a Zacks Rank #3, which when combined with an ESP of 0.00%, makes a surprise prediction difficult. Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. REGENERON PHARM Price and EPS Surprise REGENERON PHARM Price and EPS Surprise | REGENERON PHARM Quote A Stock That Warrants a Look Here is a health care stock that you may want to consider instead, as our model shows that it has the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. CNAT has an Earnings ESP of +5.41% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to release second-quarter results on Aug 3. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SANOFI-AVENTIS (SNY): Free Stock Analysis Report BAYER A G -ADR (BAYRY): Free Stock Analysis Report REGENERON PHARM (REGN): Free Stock Analysis Report CONATUS PHARMA (CNAT): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research As we tread into another busy week of the current reporting cycle, a lot of activity can be noticed in the real estate investment trust (REIT) space. In fact, there is a deluge of Q2 earnings releases this week, with National Retail Properties, Inc. NNN, Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust RPT, Regency Centers Corporation REG and Retail Properties of America, Inc. RPAI of the retail REIT category, reporting their numbers on Aug 2. Industry top shots like Simon Property Group, Inc. SPG and Kimco Realty Corporation KIM already announced their results last week. Simon Property reported a positive surprise of 0.38% benefitting from growth in operating income as well as new developments and expansion. Kimcos results were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and its occupancy reached an eight-year high. Armed with strong consumer spending, job gains and rising income levels, the U.S. economy registered a solid rebound and retails sales picked up in the second quarter. Further, with omni-channel retailing expansion, demand for space climbed in the brick-and-mortar centers. Per the study of CBRE Group Inc. CBG, the national retail availability rate has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 amid reviving retail sales. In second-quarter 2016, retail availability averaged 10.9%, reflecting a 10 basis points (bps) contraction sequentially and 30 bps from a year ago. Encouragingly, two-thirds of the U.S. markets experienced tighter retail availability. However, not every retail REIT is equally poised to beat earnings this season. Hence, we relied on the Zacks methodology for predicting a beat this quarter, combining a favorable Zacks Rank Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP, to predict the chances of a beat this quarter. Our proprietary methodology Earnings ESP shows the percentage difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Research shows that with this combination of rank and ESP, chances of a positive earnings surprise are as high as 70% for the stocks. Lets take a look at whats in store for these retail REITs which are slated to report on Aug 2. National Retail Properties invests in single tenant net-leased retail properties throughout the United States. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, the stocks zero ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. Story continues NATL RETAIL PPT Price and EPS Surprise NATL RETAIL PPT Price and EPS Surprise | NATL RETAIL PPT Quote Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust is engaged in the business of owning and managing large, multi-anchor shopping centers, primarily in a number of the largest-metropolitan markets in the central United States. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). It is not poised for a beat this quarter as it lacks the right combination of the two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 or 3 (Hold). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. RAMCO-GERSHENSN Price and EPS Surprise RAMCO-GERSHENSN Price and EPS Surprise | RAMCO-GERSHENSN Quote Regency Centers Corporation is engaged in ownership, operations and development of high-quality, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers. The company has an Earnings ESP of -1.24% and a Zacks Rank #3. Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, a negative ESP lowers the chances of a beat this quarter. REGENCY CTRS CP Price and EPS Surprise REGENCY CTRS CP Price and EPS Surprise | REGENCY CTRS CP Quote Retail Properties of America is engaged in the ownership and operations of high quality, strategically-located shopping centers in the United States. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Therefore, despite a favorable Zacks Rank, the stocks zero ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. RETAIL PROPERTS Price and EPS Surprise RETAIL PROPERTS Price and EPS Surprise | RETAIL PROPERTS Quote Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CBRE GROUP INC (CBG): Free Stock Analysis Report SIMON PROPERTY (SPG): Free Stock Analysis Report KIMCO REALTY CO (KIM): Free Stock Analysis Report REGENCY CTRS CP (REG): Free Stock Analysis Report NATL RETAIL PPT (NNN): Free Stock Analysis Report RAMCO-GERSHENSN (RPT): Free Stock Analysis Report RETAIL PROPERTS (RPAI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Yushu (China) (AFP) - Thundering across the vast Himalayan plateau in their traditional finery, Tibetan horsemen gather for an annual riding festival which is a colourful feast for the eyes. Multicoloured prayer flags inscribed with religious texts flutter in the breeze and tents line the green hills surrounding the racing ground in Yushu, in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai. The area is home to many of China's eight million strong Tibetan minority, some of whom chafe against Chinese rule. Spectators at the event -- including local Tibetan women in traditional dresses known as chuba, and monks in red robes -- filed past state security personnel in green uniforms to enter a stadium built by the local government. But the atmosphere was relaxed and jovial. One woman in a blue and orange dress stood in front of a pyramid of prayer flags, brandishing an umbrella to protect herself from the harsh sunlight of the high-altitude plateau. The real draw are the horses -- brown steeds bedecked in yellow and green ribbons, mounted by riders whose long hair flows in the wind beneath azure skies. The festival held since the 1990s lasts for around five days. It was suspended for several years following a 2010 earthquake in Yushu which killed some 2,700 people. The Tibetan people of the area -- known as Kham -- are famed for their equine skills. Shows of horsemanship and archery are the festival's main events, drawing hundreds of spectators. Government officials say that they hope to use the festival to showcase Tibetan culture and bring tourism to the remote region. "You can see the Tibetan fashion show, the jewellery, the nice clothes and dancing," said one Tibetan spectator. "A lot of Chinese tourists and foreigners come to watch." But entry to the stadium for the opening ceremony was by ticket only even for locals, with a cordon and metal gates keeping out some would-be attendees -- in contrast to the free access of times past, when the event was held on open grassland. Story continues Beijing says its troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 and insists it has since brought development to a previously backward region, where serfs were exploited. But many Tibetans accuse officials of repressing their religion and eroding their culture, adding that natural resources are exploited to benefit China's ethnic Han majority at the expense of the environment. -- This story accompanies a photo essay by Nicolas Asfouri -- From Esquire Laurie Luhn, a former booker and event planner at Fox News, came forward Friday with details of how Roger Ailes sexually harassed and "psychologically tortured" her for more than 20 years. Furthermore, not only were Fox News executives aware of her relationship with Ailes, they helped him cover it up, Luhn told Gabriel Sherman, who published her story in New York. "He's a predator," Luhn told Sherman. She claimed that Ailes targeted her after realizing that she was vulnerable-in need of a job and scared as to how she would pay her bills. She had met and been inspired by Ailes while working on George H.W. Bush's campaign, and asked him for a meeting. Over dinner, he questioned her about her life and her relationship with her parents. Then he asked for a ride to the airport. "We pull up and I say, 'Thank you so much for dinner.' He leans over and slips me the tongue and kisses me," she said, "and hands me a wad of cash. 'Here's to help you pay some bills,' he said. It was maybe $200 or $300." He later called her with a job offer as a consultant. Included in her retainer was a relationship with Ailes, requiring Luhn to be available to meet him when he was in D.C. Thus began a years-long relationship where Ailes demanded sexual favors from Luhn and, in exchange, he gave her money, jobs, promotions and protection from being fired. In 1991, Ailes demanded that Luhn meet him at the Crystal City Marriott, just outside Washington, and bring a black garter and stockings, which he caller her "uniform." Once inside his room, he made her put on the clothes and dance. Luhn put on the black garter and stockings she said Ailes had instructed her to buy; he called it her uniform. Ailes sat on a couch. "Go over there. Dance for me," she recalled him saying. She hesitated. "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," he said, according to her account. When she started dancing, Ailes got out a video camera. Luhn didn't want to be filmed, she said, but Ailes was insistent: "I am gonna need you to do better than that." When she had finished dancing, Ailes told her to get down on her knees in front of him, she said, and put his hands on her temples. As she recalled, he began speaking to her slowly and authoritatively, as if he were some kind of Svengali: "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?" Then, she recalled, his voice dropped to a whisper: "What are you, Laurie? Are you Roger's whore? Are you Roger's spy? Come over here." Ailes asked her to perform oral sex, she said. Story continues He left cash for her. This pattern would repeat for years. Eventually, Ailes got Luhn a job at Fox News's Washington bureau as a booker, liaising with guests. When asked why she took the job, Luhn said that Ailes had psychological power over her. "I was programmed," she said. The hotel meetings continued, with Luhn traveling to New York periodically, and Ailes began asking Luhn for phone sex in between visits. In 2006, he stopped meeting her in hotels, instead insisting she send young, female employees alone into his office. "You're going to find me 'Roger's Angels.' You're going to find me whores," she remembered him telling her. Luhn's mental health declined, and she began hallucinating, which is when she says Fox News executive Bill Shine and his deputy, Suzanne Scott, helped Ailes cover up the abuse (the reason she gives for her mental state) by putting her up in hotel rooms. Luhn eventually left Fox and signed a $3.15 million settlement, which included an ironclad nondisclosure agreement. Luhn said she is breaking her silence now because, "The truth shall set you free. Nothing else matters." [Source: New York] From Road & Track IN ROLLS-ROYCE'S MODERN PERIOD, which began with the Phantom sedan in 2003, its cars have gradually veered away from limo-for-the-queen territory. Despite all their bespoke frippery-lamb's-wool carpet, fiber-optic-woven "starlight headliners," lacquered mahogany fold-out tray tables, book-matched veneers-they basically function as muscle cars for insouciant Middle Eastern princes and billionaire Chinese businessmen. With the 2017 Dawn convertible, Rolls-Royce has leaned in a softer, more elegant direction. Named in homage to the landmark 1950s Silver Dawn, of which Rolls built only 28 examples, this new Dawn has the beauty of old Hollywood, like Grace Kelly showing a discreet bit of leg underneath a ball gown. One model at the launch event, turquoise with a silver accent on the hood [pictured], may be the single prettiest car in the world. The car I drove, bright red with a creamy white leather interior, was merely the fourth or fifth prettiest car in the world. The Dawn shares its chassis with the Wraith fastback, but 80 percent of the body has been replaced or revised. The windshield is lower and, with the top raised, the roofline is steeper. Silhouetted against the rising sun at a wine estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa, where I picked up the car, the Dawn was striking. My drive companion for the day was a Spanish lifestyle journalist who is also an architect and a former ballerina. Done up in a headscarf and glamorous La Dolce Vita glasses, she sat beside me luxuriantly. The top, made of six layers of French-seam fabric, rolled down soundlessly in 22 seconds. Rolls-Royce sales literature, in all its pretension, calls this a "silent ballet." It's the backbone of what Rolls-Royce engineers, less pretentiously but with similar grandiosity, claim is the "quietest open-top car ever made." I whispered into the hills of Africa like a feudal lord. The Dawn, with its twin-turbo 6.6-liter V-12, drives with almost taunting ease. The eight-speed automatic transmission uses GPS data to anticipate gearchanges. The air suspension-double-wishbone front and multilink rear, with active anti-roll bars-carries over from the Wraith. The resulting package is smoother than a Gwyneth Paltrow breakfast recipe. Story continues As a billionaire for the day, I was also perfectly satisfied with the amenities, including an automated butt massager, which a Rolls product manager told me helps with "circulation and road awareness." Still, my very fashionable passenger had critiques, namely that the Dawn needed a lipstick holder and possibly a shoe rack. These were strange if interesting quibbles, but the whole thing seemed faintly embarrassing, considering the location. We were driving through Cape Town, which, despite being a hot vacation spot for the international elite, is still bordered by vast townships where hordes live in tiny metal shacks under an unforgiving sun. South Africa is the site of continual political turmoil, with an average of one murder every half hour, a rate one politician called "what I would expect from a country at war," backed by a horrific and mostly race-based system of economic inequality that's referred to as "apartheid after apartheid." President Jacob Zuma barely escaped impeachment in April for pilfering the national treasury to pay for renovations to his mansion. He could probably afford a Rolls-Royce Dawn. I had this in mind as we wafted down the road like officials during the Raj. Little kids ran behind us, cheering and waving sticks. It was cute, but driving a $340,000 convertible straight into the maw of African poverty is enough to give any conscionable person pause. When we reached a gas station near the coast, a bearded gentleman, with just a hint of an early middle-aged belly, walked around the car carefully, like a shy teen observing a bathing beauty. He wore all black and a silver cross around his neck. Clearly, he was a person of the cloth. "Is this your car?" he asked. "It is amazing, truly astonishing." Several Rolls-Royce representatives hovered. I ignored them. "Do you want to sit in it?" I asked. He did. His name, he told me, is Lucas, and he is a pastor. I told him to remove his shoes and plunge his feet into the lamb's wool. "My goodness," he said. "This is special." "Yes, it is," I said. "I would like to have one of these beautiful cars." "Everyone would." "I believe that I will quit my parish and buy one." "Don't do that," I said. "I will take my wife and children and drive away. And I would feel like the luckiest man in the world." Ten minutes later, after corrupting the sensibilities of a clergyman who, no doubt, tends to thousands of desperate people, I, the actual luckiest man in the world, got back behind the wheel of a deep-red Rolls-Royce convertible, leaning back into the soft leather seats and sighing. I drove at 75 mph along curvy roads, a biosphere reserve to my left, the roiling surf of the Atlantic Ocean to my right. My drive partner curled up in the back seat, napping serenely, like a satisfied house cat. It was a lovely sunset, but I barely noticed. I was too busy thinking about the Dawn. Rolls-Royce Dawn BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Former Queen Anne of Romania died on Monday in a Swiss hospital at the age of 92, the royal house said in a statement. Anne and her husband, former King Michael of Romania have been living in Aubonne, Switzerland since 2004, visiting Romania during the holidays and for official functions. They had been married for 68 years. Earlier this year, the royal house said Michael, who is 94, has withdrawn from public life due to illness after undergoing surgery for leukemia and cancer. Michael, a cousin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth and a descendant of Germany's old Hohenzollern dynasty, was forced to abdicate in 1947 after the post-war Communist takeover of Romania. He lived in exile in the West for decades, returning to Romania in 1992. He and Anne married in 1948 in Athens. They have five daughters. She was born in Paris and belong to the house of Bourbon-Parma. Anne died at the hospital surrounded by family, the royal house statement read. The funeral will take place in the central Romanian city of Curtea de Arges. While there is no popular demand for a restoration of the European Union state's monarchy, Romanians widely respect Michael and Anne as historic figureheads especially as they have grown increasingly disillusioned with a political class perceived as corrupt. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) Entrepreneur and activist Russell Simmons hit out at Republican nominee Donald Trump on Monday for his comments on Muslims, saying his rhetoric is un-American. Muslims should be treated fairly, and we shouldnt demonize them as Mr. Trump has done, Simmons told Yahoo News Guest Anchor Alexis Christoforous. The Republican Party should be ashamed of their support of him. They are supporting ideas that are un-American, and should be off-limits to a major American political party. The businessman and chairman of the Foundation of Ethnic Understanding also commented on Trumps continuing feud with Khizr Khan, the Muslim American lawyer who gave a now famous speech in which he sharply criticized Trump at the Democratic National Convention last week. Khan, whose son was killed while fighting in the Iraq War, said Trumps proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States showed his broader lack of empathy. I think his speech was accurate, Simmons said of Khan, adding that it underscored the contributions that Muslim Americans lend to American society domestically and abroad in the fight against terror. Fighting Islamophobia should be part of the American Dream. America is built on tolerance of religions and tolerance in general. While Simmons said he cant imagine Trump beating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, he expressed fear that the business moguls rhetoric could inflame discrimination and hatred towards Muslim Americans. The Muslim communities in America have been demonized by Donald Trump, he said. His whole hateful campaign, even when he is defeated in a landslide, has opened the door to hateful speech. What he has done has allowed Americans to say things that are festering deep in their hearts that they could never say. Simmons is championing a new FFEU program designed to fight the kind of rhetoric he says Trump espouses. The effort, which would include television advertisements and a social media campaign, is designed to educate Americans on the peaceful beliefs of Muslims in the face of connotations with terrorism. We keep saying Islam as if they are partners in this horrible wave of terror, Simmons said. I would suggest they are not. The Muslim community is a peaceful community. I think the American people can see that. Beirut (AFP) - A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian rebel shelling left 28 civilians dead and dozens wounded in government-controlled southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo. Russia's defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy called the downing a "terrorist act" and said the defence ministry was still trying to confirm the fate of the Russian servicemen "through all possible channels". It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government last September. It brought the total number of members of the Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of Islamist and jihadist forces including the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its status as Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. Story continues - Aleppo rebel assault - In neighbouring Aleppo province, shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians -- including six children and eight women -- over the last 24 hours, the Britain-based Observatory said. Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods. The city's southern edges have been ravaged by fighting in recent days as the Fateh al-Sham Front and allied Islamist rebel groups seek to ease a government siege of the rebel-held east of the city. The Observatory said the rebels had advanced overnight south and southwest of Aleppo, but reported ongoing fighting, as well as government air strikes on the battlefield and rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, cutting the sole supply route in and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. The primary goal of the rebel assault is to seize the Ramussa neighbourhood on the city's southern outskirts. "The road that runs through Ramussa is the main supply route for regime forces going to the areas they control in western Aleppo," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. It is also used by civilians to enter and leave government-controlled districts of Aleppo. Taking a detour from the north would be too dangerous, he added. Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham said on Twitter it was involved in fierce clashes near Ramussa and advancing towards the route. - 'Humanitarian corridors' - SANA said people were using the route as usual, but residents of western Aleppo expressed fears that the assault could cut them off. "If the militants break the siege, they will besiege us and cut the Khanasser route, which is the only artery we have," said Hossam Qassab, a 32-year-old pharmacist. A Syrian security source acknowledged the assault but said government forces had repelled it. The encirclement of eastern Aleppo has raised fears of starvation for remaining residents, who have reported food shortages and spiralling prices since the government siege began on July 17. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. On Saturday, Moscow and Syrian official media reported dozens of civilians had fled via these corridors, but residents and rebels on the ground dismissed the reports as "lies". Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, advanced inside the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij on Monday, the Observatory reported. The SDF hold approximately 40 percent of the town, and are fighting to take it with support from the US-led coalition against IS. Russian military helicopter shot down in Syria Men inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syrias rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. (REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah) A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regimes siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city. Russias defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo, the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. (AFP) By Andrew Callus and Guy Faulconbridge PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Kevin Roberts, chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, was suspended by owner Publicis (PUBP.PA) after the legendary advertising boss said some women lacked "vertical ambition" and that low numbers of women in senior positions was not a problem. Roberts, the British-born executive of Saatchi & Saatchi, was quoted in an interview with Business Insider website as saying that he doesn't spend any time on gender issues as the gender diversity debate was over in the advertising world. He said that some women at key junctures in their careers did not want to lead businesses and people and that managers should reflect on how to deal with the ambitions of female and male employees who "simply want to be happy and do great work". "Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it's this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy," Roberts was quoted as saying by Business Insider. "So they say: 'We are not judging ourselves by those standards that you idiotic dinosaur-like men judge yourself by'. Publicis Groupe has around a 50-50 gender split amongst all its staff, while around 65 percent of Saatchi & Saatchis staff are female, as the agency wants to reflect the buyers of the types of products it is advertising, Roberts told Business Insider. Publicis said it had asked Roberts to take an immediate leave of absence as the group did not tolerate "anyone speaking for our organization who does not value the importance of inclusion". The row engulfing Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world's most famous advertising agencies, comes just days after Roger Ailes resigned as chairman and chief executive of Fox News Channel (FOXA.O) following allegations of sexual harassment. "TALENTED, CREATIVE FEMALES" Roberts, who is described on his www.saatchikevin.com website as an uncompromisingly positive and inspirational leader, could not be reached for comment on the situation. Saatchi & Saatchi did not pass on any response from Roberts. Story continues In the interview Roberts appeared to argue that "idiotic dinosaur-like men" were trying to make women conform to Darwinian urges to acquire wealth, power, and fame. "I don't think (the lack of women in leadership roles) is a problem. I'm just not worried about it because they are very happy, they're very successful, and doing great work," he said in the interview. "We have a bunch of talented, creative females, but they reach a certain point in their careers ... 10 years of experience, when we are ready to make them a creative director of a big piece of business, and I think we fail in two out of three of those choices because the executive involved said: I dont want to manage a piece of business and people, I want to keep doing the work," he said. But from within Saatchi, Roberts' position was questioned. "Women don't bail out. I think we do want the top jobs," Saatchi & Saatchi Chief Creative Office Kate Stanners told BBC radio, adding that there had been a strong reaction from employees within Saatchi & Saatchi and the wider group. "I think the most important thing is encouraging women to be more vocal and more high profile, so younger women and women coming through the ranks can see that it is possible and there's no reason they can't take those jobs." Roberts, born in 1949, started his career at London fashion house Mary Quant before working for Gillette, Procter & Gamble and Pepsi. Robert Senior, worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, said the agency was a meritocracy. "Kevin Roberts has given what are his personal views on the subject of gender diversity. However, those views are not mine, and nor are they the position of the agency," Senior said. "Saatchi & Saatchi is, and has always been, a meritocracy. We live and die by our people, our talent, and it makes no difference to us whether that talent is male or female." (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge in London; Editing by Maya Nikolaeva, Greg Mahlich) After Khizr Khan pulled a pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution out of his jacket at the Democratic convention, sales have spiked on Amazon. Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy, Khan said during his Thursday speech. On Monday, $1 copies of the pocket Constitution were the No. 1 best seller in the sites history section, and No. 2 in books overall, beaten only by the latest Harry Potter book. Free pocket-sized copies of the Constitution are also available from the American Civil Liberties Union website until Election Day by using the coupon code POCKETRIGHTSa deal announced on Twitter Friday. In honor of Khizr Khan, get your FREE POCKET CONSTITUTION: https://t.co/wZdkZIahpi pic.twitter.com/875YWCeNZZ ACLU National (@ACLU) July 29, 2016 Alternately, if your tastes lean conservative, you can pick up a copy in Spanish from the Heritage Foundation for just $2.50 online. The libertarian think tank Cato Institute also sells copies in English, Spanish and Arabic for $4.95 apiece, with bulk discounts available. For those who prefer to consume literature on e-readers, the U.S. Constitution is one a several books available for free on Amazons Kindle. Cybersecurity companies studying the breach of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have found evidence indicating that the same group of Russian hackers breached both groups computer systems. According to ThreatConnect and Fidelis Cybersecurity, two security firms that have been studying the activities of a hacker group dubbed Cozy Bear, hackers from that organization used some of the same internet infrastructure to attack the two Democratic groups. Cozy Bear hackers utilized an email address identified by German intelligence as one used by the group to register an internet domain that was then used in the attack on the DCCC. According to Justin Harvey, the chief security officer at Fidelis, the finding provides 90 percent certainty that hackers working on behalf of Russian intelligence carried out both the DNC and the DCCC attack. In recent days, the alleged breach of DNC servers by Russian hackers a charge vehemently denied by Moscow and the publishing of Democratic Party emails by WikiLeaks has led Hillary Clintons lieutenants to accuse the Kremlin of intervening in the presidential election on behalf of her rival, Donald Trump. The real estate mogul has consistently taken a pro-Russia stance during the campaign a jarring posture for the Republican nominee most recently on Sunday, when he said Russia would not intervene in Ukraine, where it has had troops since 2014, when Moscow forcibly annexed the Crimean peninsula. Private sector researchers have said they are confident that hackers working on behalf of Russian intelligence perpetrated the breach of DNC servers. The U.S. intelligence community has reportedly reached the same conclusion, but it remains unclear exactly how DNC emails ended up in the hands of WikiLeaks. The White House, meanwhile, is reportedly considering just how to respond to the Russian hack of U.S. political organizations and the release of emails. Story continues The hacker Guccifer 2.0 has claimed credit for the DNC hack but not the DCCC breach and said he would provide stolen files to WikiLeaks. But cybersecurity researchers believe he is a persona created by Moscow to deflect attention from its alleged responsibility in carrying out the hack. Mondays finding that the same Russian hackers may have also breached the DCCC points toward Moscows broader campaign against U.S. political targets, with the apparent effort to destabilize Clinton, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin blames personally for protests in Russia that nearly cost him his third term in 2011. The release of DNC emails just ahead of the Democratic National Convention which sparked the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz broke new ground in how purloined information may be used to affect an election. The communications posted by WikiLeaks showed Democratic Party staffers, who are supposed to remain neutral in the primary campaign, working to undermine the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont. Photo credit: MICHAEL BOCCHIERI/Getty Images Neil Heslin hadn't been back to Sandy Hook Elementary School since December 2012, when his 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was killed along with 19 other first graders and six educators, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. On Friday, Heslin, 55, returned to stand on "sacred ground" the exact spot where the students and educators were killed. It's a grassy mound which now sits in the parking lot of the new Sandy Hook, rebuilt when the old school was demolished after the shooting. The $50 million, state-of-the-art facility in Newtown, Connecticut, sits further back on the property from where the original school was located. "I'm trying to figure out, visually, actually where [my son] was," Heslin told PEOPLE on Friday. Moving to a specific spot on the grassy mound, he said, "This is the murder site right here ... the two classrooms and the hallway." "There's no words for it," Heslin said. Just after 9:30 a.m. on December 14, 2012, authorities say 19-year-old gunman Adam Lanza stormed the school, killing Lewis, 19 other children and six educators, including his teacher, Victoria Soto, and principal, Dawn Hochsprung, who died trying to protect their students. On that fateful December morning, Lewis bravely urged nine of his classmates huddling in a corner to escape when the shooter's gun jammed, saving their lives, Heslin said. After Lewis yelled, "Run!" the gunman shot him in the head, his dad said. "He was a hero," Heslin said. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Being back is "sad," he told PEOPLE Friday. "Brings back memories, good memories and bad memories." Heslin brought something with him for the trip: His son's beloved Cars backpack, still carrying school papers from the day of the massacre. "I guess I kind of got a feeling that Jesse is here with me," Heslin said. On the day his son lost his life, Lewis and his class were supposed to make gingerbread houses, Heslin said. Returning to the site almost four years later was difficult, he said, but added, "I was in the school right after it happened, so being here today is not as hard as that was." "But it's sad," he said. "I feel numb at this point." On Friday, when the school opened to the public, more than 200 people showed up, including drivers from as far away as Georgia and South Carolina. One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told PEOPLE that some of the drivers asked, "Is this where the shootings took place? Can we see it?" Another resident said, "I hope they are here to pay tribute to those who lost their lives and not to gawk." Lewis' mother, Scarlett Lewis, visited the new Sandy Hook at an earlier date but didn't "get beyond the grassy plot in the middle of the parking lot, our 'sacred space,' " she tells PEOPLE. "I cried for an hour." The school will welcome students in September. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two months after the United Nations blacklisted a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, Riyadh has not provided enough proof that it should be permanently removed from the register, U.N. diplomatic sources said on Monday. U.N. officials plan to travel to Riyadh to obtain more details on various issues, such as rules of engagement, one of the sources said. A U.N. annual report on children and armed conflict said the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year, killing 510 and wounding 667. The Saudi-led coalition includes United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon temporarily removed the coalition from the blacklist - contained in an annex to the report - on June 6 pending a joint review after Saudi Arabia, a key U.N. donor, threatened to cut funding to the world body. Riyadh denied using threats. Ban is to brief the U.N. Security Council on the report on Tuesday. He plans to tell the 15-member council that the United Nations will continue to work with Saudi Arabia on the issue and reinforce that only the blacklist is under review, not the substance of the report, a U.N. diplomatic source said. The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Iranian-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power. In a rare move, Ban - who steps down at the end of the year after a decade in the top U.N. job - publicly slammed Saudi Arabia for exerting unacceptable pressure on the world body over the children and armed conflict report. Diplomatic sources told Reuters in June that Riyadh suggested a fatwa - an Islamic legal opinion - could be placed on the world body. "He came out of this bruised and unhappy," said a second U.N. diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Ban has since met with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Two weeks ago Saudi Arabia sent a letter that diplomatic sources said did not address U.N. concerns about the risks to children in Yemen and was described by one source as "superficial." A second letter received by the United Nations last Thursday "does not address yet all of our concerns, but is good enough to continue with the joint evaluation," said one of the diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They are willing to continue to be engaged, they formally accept international humanitarian law, and give all sorts of info useful to avoid and prevent future incidents affecting children," said the source. However, the same source said the United Nations needs "more specifics," citing as an example a commitment to international humanitarian law as "too general." "We think we sent a fairly comprehensive letter that I hope has served to address all the concerns of U.N. and clarify all issues surrounding the report by the U.N.," Saudi U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi told Reuters on Monday. U.N. sanctions monitors said in January that the Saudi-led coalition had targeted civilians in Yemen and that some of the attacks could be crimes against humanity, sparking calls by rights groups for the United States and Britain to halt sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in such attacks. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Dan Grebler) Riyadh (AFP) - Cross-border shelling from war-torn Yemen killed four people in Saudi Arabia on Monday, authorities in the kingdom said. Three others were wounded and hospitalised after the incident in the Jazan region, the civil defence agency said on Twitter without giving details. Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government in its fight against Iran-backed rebels since March last year. The rebels have in recent days intensified cross-border attacks on the kingdom as peace talks in Kuwait have failed to achieve a breakthrough. Border clashes left a Saudi army officer and six soldiers dead on Saturday. On July 25, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar clashes. 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. In Yemen itself, the conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year, according to UN figures. As the summer draws to a close, you may be lamenting the end of long evening barbecues, languid hammock naps and trouble-free beach days. But summer's end marks the beginning of the fall -- a time for warm, woolly sweaters, spiced apple cider and blossoming pumpkin patches. Families look forward to the new semester, digging out backpacks and shopping for sparkling notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils. The final weeks of summer are particularly busy for retailers, who become increasingly eager to stock their shelves with fall fashions and seasonal merchandise. Impatient to clear their stores, businesses begin offering summer clothes, equipment and other seasonal goods at a discount. For shoppers, this means huge savings on everything from playful dresses to colorful beach umbrellas and shiny new lawn mowers. This August, bid summer a fond farewell by shopping the late season sales. Maximize your end-of-the-summer savings with our list of 10 things to buy at the end of the summer. [See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.] 1. School supplies. With the new semester fast approaching, retailers are launching sales to catch the eye of back-to-school shoppers. If you can haul your kids out of the swimming pool and shuttle down to the stores, you'll be rewarded with savings on school essentials. Expect deals on school supplies and backpacks, as well as uniforms and late summer styles. 2. Dorm furniture. When students begin to pack their cars and slip on school swag, stores beginning promoting sales on dorm room gear. If you want to deck out your dorm room without blowing your summer job savings, snatch up the deals on seating, bedding, desks, bookcases and more. 3. Laptops and electronics. Tech companies are also kicking off their own back-to-school promotions, releasing deals on laptops, software and tablets. During end-of-the-summer sales, many electronics retailers offer bundle deals, pairing laptop purchases with free headphones, printers and other tech goodies. Story continues [See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.] 4. Outdoor furniture. Summer may be winding down, but you can still squeeze in plenty of barbecues on warm autumn afternoons. Furnish your yard for Indian summer shindigs by shopping outdoor dining sets, lounges, cushions and hammocks. In late August and early September, you can find patio furniture for as much as 80 percent off. 5. Grills. During the final days of summer, the grill prices can drop by as much as 70 percent. Expect to see solid savings on gas, electric and charcoal grills from brands like Kenmore and Weber. 6. Outdoor gear. When the weather grows chilly, retailers begin slashing prices on recreational and outdoor equipment. As summer fades away, you'll discover deals on bikes, camping gear and lawn mowers. 7. Summer clothes. Make your way back to the clearance section of your favorite clothing store, and you'll find summer apparel at anywhere from 50 percent to 80 percent off. Now is the time to stock up on eye-catching sundresses, flattering bikinis and stylish sandals. Come next summer, you will be grateful you did. 8. Appliances. During September and October, many manufacturers release newer models of stoves, cooktops and other large appliances. You can often score solid deals on major kitchen appliances during late summer, when retailers begin trying to push last year's models out the door. 9. Vacations. Late August through November is sometimes referred to as shoulder season, a period when travel is slow. When the vacation crowds head home, you can land flights and hotels at some of the lowest prices of the year. During shoulder season, you'll find especially good deals on trips to Hawaii, the Mediterranean and the South Pacific. And bonus -- you'll get to enjoy uncrowded beaches, restaurants and resorts. [See: 12 Shopping Tricks to Keep You Under Budget.] 10. Sales tax holiday exempt items. In early August, certain states celebrate sales tax holidays, when shoppers can purchase qualified items free of sales tax. This year, 16 states will participate in the holiday: -- Alabama -- Arkansas -- Connecticut -- Florida -- Georgia -- Iowa -- Maryland -- Mississippi -- Missouri -- New Mexico -- Ohio -- Oklahoma -- South Carolina -- Tennessee -- Texas -- Virginia If you live in a participating state, you can buy a variety of products without paying sales tax. Depending on your state's rate, you could save anywhere from 5 percent to 9 percent, approximately. Qualifying items typically include back-to-school gear, such as office supplies, clothes and computers. Maria Lalonde honed her deal-hunting skills while traveling through South America and Southeast Asia, combing colorful local markets for unique finds. Her love of blogging and thirst for deals brought her to Offers.com, where she blogs about savings tips. Justice Antonin Scalias legacy is often discussed in terms of his views on hot-button issues, such as gun control, campaign-finance regulation, abortion, LBGT rights, and the role of race in American law. But theres one extremely important area of Scalias legacy that has been largely ignored since his death: access to the courts. This is where Scalia had perhaps his greatest impact, writing or joining opinions that radically changed the law in a way that made it harder for individuals to have their day in court to vindicate their federal rights. In Article III, the U.S. Constitution establishes an independent federal judiciary with the power to hear all cases arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made...under their authority. As John Marshalls Supreme Court wrote nearly two centuries ago, this language authorizes the judicial department to decide all cases of every description, arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, giving to the federal courts the power of construing the Constitution and laws of the Union in every case and preserving them from all violation from every quarter. In some areas of the lawsuch as the scope of the right to bear arms, limits on campaign finance, or the protection of property rightsScalia took a broad view of the Constitutions text. But on the question of who should be able to argue before the courts, he did not. Article IIIs use of the word cases, he argued, means a plaintiff must prove that he or she suffered a concrete injury to establish standing to sue; this imposed substantial restrictions on the power of Congress to permit individuals to sue in court. Recommended: Why Can't Hillary Clinton Stop Lying? Throughout his career, Scalia argued that limits on the right to sue were a core aspect of the separation of powers. He worried that without strict standing requirements, courts would intrude into the domain of the political branches. Scalia was particularly concerned that courts were making it too easy for individuals and advocacy groupssuch as defenders of the environment, consumer groups, and othersto challenge administrative action. Scalias answer was to insist on concrete injury as the indispensable prerequisite of standing. Only that, Scalia insisted, would keep courts to what he saw as their properly limited role and prevent what he called an overjudicialization of the processes of self-governance. Story continues Scalias views about standingspelled out in a famous 1983 lectureshaped the law even before he joined the Supreme Court. In a backlash to the Warren Court of the 1950s and 60s , the conservative justices on the Burger Court drew on Scalias views, making it harder for racial minorities, victims of police misconduct, and others to vindicate their constitutional rights and challenge abuse of power by the government. As Gene Nichol observed long ago, the Burger Court turned to standing doctrine to fence out disfavored claims, repeatedly invoking the toughest standing hurdles in cases in which racial minorities had been victimized by the government. As a result, individuals who had previously turned to the courts to remedy systemic injusticeswhether housing discrimination or the use of chokeholds by the policewere thrown out of court. Recommended: Trump's Turn Toward Appeasement After joining the Court in 1986, Scalia worked to extend these rulings. In 1992, in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, Scalias majority opinion rewrote the law of standing, and, for the first time in the nations history, struck down as unconstitutional a federal statute that gave citizens a right to go to court to enforce federal legal protections. In Lujan and the cases that followed it, Scalia argued that the Constitution strictly limits Congresss authority to give individuals a right to sue to enforce federal rights, insisting on proof of a concrete injury as an essential and unchanging part of the case-or-controversy requirement of Article III. Scalias views did not carry the day in every standing casein a host of rulings that expanded the power of Congress to grant standing, he bitterly dissented. But he succeeded in making it harder for individuals to have their day in court to vindicate their federal rights. In 2013, in Clapper v. Amnesty International, Scalia joined a 5-to-4 ruling that threw out a lawsuit challenging the federal governments program of warrantless wiretapping as unconstitutional. Samuel Alitos majority opinion explained that the law of Article III standing, which is built on separation-of-powers principles, serves to prevent the judicial process from being used to usurp the powers of the political branches. Scalia had been championing this basic argument for decades. Scalias opinions have made it harder for individuals to sue to enforce federal civil-rights laws. Scalia was the leading voice for restricting access to the federal courts in other ways as well. His vision of the role of the federal courts was at the heart of numerous 5-to-4 decisions that narrowed federal laws and court rules in a way that closed the courthouse doors to injured plaintiffs. Scalias opinions have made it harder for individuals to sue to enforce federal civil-rights laws or bring class-action suits against corporations accused of violating federal rights. His opinions have given corporations the power to force consumers and employees to have their legal claims resolved through arbitrationin which claims against the company will be made by a decision-maker chosen by the companyrather than have their day in court. Scalias narrow vision of the role of the courts is hard to square with the originalist methodology he so passionately championed. The courts were central to the framers constitutional design. Article III was written to avoid the failures of the Articles of Confederation, under which federal laws were effectively unenforceable. In the framers conception of separation of powers, the courts had a critical checking function, preventing abuse of power and ensuring that governments obeyed constitutional limits. As John Marshall observed, To what quarter will you look for infringement on the Constitution, if you will not give the power to the judiciary? There is no other body that can afford such a protection. Recommended: The Narcissist The Supreme Court is currently stalled on the question of access to courts, and sharply divided. Last terms big standing caseSpokeo, Inc. v. Robins, in which a data mining company, supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a host of conservative legal groups, argued that Congress lacked the power to give consumers a right to sue over false dissemination of consumer-credit informationended with a whimper. Spokeo had based its arguments on an aggressive reading of Scalias opinion in Lujan, but after Scalias death, the eight remaining justices struggled to decide the big questions in the case, resolving it on extremely narrow grounds. The justices will tackle standing again next year in another major case, Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami. They agreed to decide whether the City of Miami can sue big banks under the Fair Housing Act for a host of discriminatory lending practices. Municipal standing to enforce fair-housing laws has long been recognized. If the Court were to change that, banks in Florida that have allegedly targeted minorities with predatory loan offers might escape accountability for their actions. All too often, the Courts standing jurisprudence has been at its strictest when courts are asked to redress harms to racial minorities and others not likely to prevail in the political process. The Bank of America case tests whether courts will help break downor compoundthe housing discrimination that harms minority communities and the cities in which they live. Access to courts may not grab attention in the same way that issues such as guns, abortion, or affirmative action do, but it forms the foundation of the rule of law. How this law changes after Scalia will determine whether minorities victimized by the government, consumers threatened by corporate power, and others will have the right to go to court to redress violations of their rights. The vitality of the Constitution and federal law depends on ensuring that individuals have their day in court to vindicate their legal rights and prevent the abuse of power. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Eighteen-year-old Nia Hill spent her senior year of high school homeless, but she graduated and will attend Howard University, in the nation's capital, on a full-ride scholarship this fall. More than 1.3 million students lacked a permanent place to live during the 2013-2014 school year, according to a recent report. Hill says some of her teachers at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago offered her emotional support. The school gave her bus cards to get there, but she thinks the school could have done more to help. Federal guidelines, released last week, aim to help states and school districts assist homeless students and implement recent changes to federal law that affect homeless youth. States are now required to help homeless high schoolers with college readiness and ensure that unaccompanied homeless youth understand and receive help with applying for federal financial aid for college as an independent student, says Christina Dukes, federal liaison at the National Center for Homeless Education. [Find out how homeless high schoolers face barriers to education.] "A lot of times high school becomes such a frustration and when you are going through a lot of hardships, you are just trying to get through," says Jonathan Houston, who coordinates homeless education for the Tukwila School District in Washington state, and has been homeless himself. High school educators and administrators can use the following strategies to help homeless students get to college. -- Create a college-going culture: Many homeless youth are very capable of going to college, but may feel like it is out of reach, says Dukes, the federal liaison. They may not have family members who have been to college by their side to help guide them through the process. Educators can help create a college-going culture among homeless youth by providing them with important information about the help that is available and encouraging them to believe that college is possible, she says. Story continues -- Ensure homeless youth are aware of available resources: Homeless youth have a plethora of free help available to them, including fee waivers for college entrance exams, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests and college applications, says Dukes. Unaccompanied homeless youth can also apply for federal financial aid for college as an independent student, which means they don't need to provide their parents' financial information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or have their parents sign the FAFSA. This can open doors for students, but students need to know that these, and other supports, are available and how to access them, she says. -- Help homeless teens transition to college: Moving to college can be especially difficult for homeless teens since they may be surrounded by students who have parental support or come from a better economic background, says Dukes. Homeless students need help making the transition to college, connecting with the college community and accessing available resources, she says. This support is especially critical during their first year. Hill, the recent graduate, became involved with Chicago Scholars, a nonprofit that helps students from underresourced communities pursue college, her junior year of high school. She says the group really helped her: They gave her plane tickets to visit colleges, money to cover expenses while on these visits and helped her through the college application process. The organization, she says, will continue to provide support for her through college. [Learn how mentoring programs aim to increase high school graduates.] Hill, who is still homeless, says she received many opportunities because she was open about her situation and advises teens in similar circumstances to do the same. "Be transparent and don't be afraid to tell others your story because it can motivate other people and it can also open doors for you," she says. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com. Alexandra Pannoni is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com. alone bleak foreboding thinking It's the leading disability worldwide and it can kill. Yet for decades, scientists have known surprisingly little about what genes are linked with the development of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). A new study aims to change that. In their paper, published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics, a team of scientists pinpointed 17 genetic tweaks, or SNPs (pronounced "snips"), that appear to be tied to MDD. The researchers combed through a trove of genetic data from thousands of people who submitted their information to the personal genomics company 23andMe. Scientists have been looking for such genetic hallmarks of depression for years. And while some, including a 2013 study in the journal The Lancet and a 2015 paper in the journal Nature, have yielded some promising clues, none have been able to spot any precise, reliable genetic hallmarks of the disease. And least not until now. "My group has been chasing depression genes for more than a decade without success, so as you can imagine we were really thrilled with the outcome," Harvard psychiatry professor Roy Perlis, one of the leading authors of the paper and the Associate Director of the Psychiatric Genetics Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Business Insider. The hope is that identifying these watermarks in our DNA tiny areas on genes where high amounts of variation tend to occur among individuals will help usher in a series of new, more precise treatments for people suffering from the disease. "But this is really just the beginning. Now the hard work is understanding what these findings tell us about how we might better treat depression," said Perlis. Using 23andMe data to uncover clues about depression 23andMe kit 23andMe is a personal genomics company that lets you spit in a tube and get your DNA analyzed for $199. Most of the attention they've attracted recently has been focused on its tiffs with federal regulatory agencies like the FDA, who eventually restricted several aspects of its tests because they were giving unauthorized "medical advice." Story continues But other research that the company is involved with has attracted less fanfare. In a recent StarTalk interview with host Neil de Grasse Tyson, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki said, "We are about individuals accessing, understanding, and benefiting from the human genome. The genome has a massive potential to transform healthcare. And we got a million people genotyped, so now we have a million people running around going to their doctors and talking about genetics, and that has the potential to be disruptive." This study which drew from 23andMe data could be one example of this disruptive potential. Psychiatric diseases, since they are the result of a complex mix of genetics, environment, and behavioral factors, require large numbers of people, or what's known as a large sample size. In the past, recruiting these large numbers of people, not to mention screening and interviewing each potential participant, has been extremely expensive and labor-intensive. In contrast, the current study drew from research that had already been done. "We thought, what can we do with this huge set of data thats already been collected by 23andMe?" said Perlis. Quite a lot, it turns out. Using data from more than 75,600 people who said they'd been clinically diagnosed with depression and from more than 231,700 people who reported no history of depression, Perlis and his team were able to identify 15 areas on our DNA that appear to be linked with Major Depressive Disorder. They also found some ties between these areas and those which have been previously identified as possibly playing a role in other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. Still, the data has some limitations. For one thing, its based on self-reports, meaning that only people who were experiencing problematic symptoms and went to a doctor to seek help were included. As a result, the data could exclude the many people who experience major depressive disorders, but have not yet been diagnosed. On the other hand, it could also include people who have been wrongfully diagnosed. "What we might be identifying here is something much more to do with help-seeking behavior than anything to do with a psychiatric illness," University of California, Los Angeles professor of psychiatry Jonathan Flint told The Guardian. Regardless of its limitations, however, the research hits home the message that diseases of the brain, such as depression or Alzheimer's are no less real and no less serious than diseases of the body, like cancer. "Beyond giving us this so much data to explore," said Perlis, "being able to show that depression is a brain disease, that there is biology associated with it, I think that's really critical for people to understand that these are brain diseases. They're not someone's fault. They are diseases, like any other." NOW WATCH: Doing this for 5 minutes every day can help people who suffer from depression More From Business Insider Gov. Scott Walker pulled up his jacket sleeve Sunday evening to show a metal bracelet engraved with the name of a slain soldier. This particular night carried the name of a young man from Oklahoma. Every day, I wear a different bracelet from a Gold Star family, Walker said by way of answering reporters questions about Donald Trumps latest feud, this time with the father of an American Muslim soldier killed in Iraq. I respect them. They deserve our respect, no matter what the political situation is, continued Walker, one of Trumps failed opponents for the Republican presidential nomination. Walker was obviously uncomfortable with his partys nominee doubling-down on attacking Khizr Khan, who spoke at last weeks Democratic convention about his late son, Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan. But Walker said he will campaign for Trump regardless. He wasnt my first choice. I was my first choice, Walker said. Going forward, I believe that any of the Republicans running is better than Hillary Clinton. That view is not one widely shared here in Colorado Springs, where donors to the network backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch are meeting. Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the Kochs coordinating hub for a sprawling network of policy and political groups, is staying out of the presidential race entirely. Charles Koch said he cannot support either candidate and instead will focus on keeping the Senate under Republican control. Walker, a longtime Koch ally, is taking a different approach. He might not love Trump, but his fellow Wisconsin Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson, faces a tough re-election bid. A Trump blowout could make Johnson a one-term Senator. Thats why Walker, the only governor in American history to survive a recall effort, is putting in motion the remnants of his three campaigns in four years to help Johnson. Trump has not yet plugged into that machine. Trump has an opportunity. Wisconsin is a tough state for Republicans, Walker said. Having said that, I think Trump could win. Hes got to stay focused. And he has to start doing on-the-ground campaign work. The organization is going to take some time, Walker said. The campaign is down to 99 days. Whereas the word "shambles" means a "state of total disorder" nowadays, a few centuries back it meant the part of town where animals cows, pigs and anything else in between were slaughtered and prepped for customers in the open air. Times have changed, and today most of us buy our food from supermarkets where strip-lighting, chilled aisles and vacuum-packed portions of meat are the norm. Richard Balson is at the helm of a business that has seen the transition from rough and ready to refined. Dating back to 1515, butchers RJ Balson & Son, based in Bridport, Dorset, is Britain's oldest family run business, selling everything from meat and poultry to game. "In 1515 there weren't any shops or high streets or transport really, apart from the horse and cart," Balson told CNBC in a phone interview. To give an idea how old the company is, it began trading when Henry VIII was King of England, and just 23 years after Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the New World in 1492. Today, Balson, 59, is the latest of his family to be involved in the business. "I'm the 26th generation of butcher that has worked in the shop," he said. "I see myself as the current custodian holding the fort at the moment, until either my son or his sons or my nephew or somebody else takes the reigns," he added. Big decisions A family business' decisions surrounding succession are often some of the most important to be made. The Family Business Institute refers to succession planning as being "the toughest and most critical challenge" many family businesses face. A 2014 survey of family business managers and owners by PwC found that "fewer than half" of family businesses planned to pass both ownership and management on to the next generation. Balson, however, seemed relaxed about the situation. "This succession question is a big question and one I'm always asked, because when you're England's oldest family business the question is 'who's going to take over from you and what's going to happen in the future?'" Story continues "You know, I'm not too bothered at the moment because I've got plenty of years left in me my son's in another job at the moment, but there's nothing to say it wouldn't skip a generation and go to his son." Commitment and a passion for the craft were hugely important, he added, explaining that it would be a shame if the business didn't continue after trading for 501 years. "But, you know, we're doing well, we're busy and we're in a job that we love," he said. "At the end of the day you've got to want to do it. It's no good being in a job you don't want to do because you won't put 100 percent in and you won't get 100 percent out." How then, does a business keep on trading for half a millennium, surviving plagues, war, flooding and everything else in between? "We like to sell top quality, local beef, lamb and pork that's nowadays fully traceable from the field to the fork. Customers want to know where it's come from, and the more local it is the better." A good relationship with customers is also crucial. "The quality of what you're selling is paramount but also, what we thrive on is offering a friendly, personal service where people come into our shop, they are treated with respect we like to make shopping a pleasure." Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC After Miss Teen USA Karlie Hay was crowned Saturday night, her celebration was short-lived as tweets shed posted years ago in which she used racial slurs came to light. Now 18, Hay was 15 when she used the N-word in several tweets. Hay has released a statement attempting to explain herself, but Sherri Shepherd of The View wasnt buying it. Besides the fact that she didnt believe Hays excuse for using the slur, Shepherd also said the Miss Teen USA crown should be taken away from Hay because of the message it sends to children that may see her as a role model. The Miss Universe Organization, which oversees Miss Teen USA, has condemned Hays Twitter posts but has said it will stand by her and will not remove her crown. Not all of the reaction to the controversy has been negative. Shepherd used this moment to share a message with young people on how to approach social media. Warning against posting offensive material, Shepherd said: Be careful what you post. Be careful what you say because it could come back, and it could cost you and hurt you. The ladies of The View also couldnt ignore another controversy surrounding the Miss Teen USA pageant: All five of the finalists looked incredibly similar. All of the final contestants were white with blond hair and blue eyes, causing one of the co-hosts to suggest at first that they were all the same person. This was nothing new to Shepherd, who said shes so used to it that shes desensitized and forgot to be outraged. Bill OReilly receives backlash over well-fed slaves comment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or leave your comments below. Gutting the Turkish military. The Turkish government dismissed another 1,389 military personnel over the weekend, accusing them of having links to the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, in a continuing purge of the military and government bureaucrats. The move comes just days after 1,700 servicemembers were dishonorably discharged, and the announcement that Turkey will shut down its military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the defense minister. Turkey, dont forget, has the second-largest military in the NATO alliance after the United States. Overall, about 10,000 members of the military have been detained. In other uncomfortable news, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got into a back-and-forth with one of the Pentagons top generals late last week over the gutting of Turkeys military leadership, FPs Paul McLeary points out. No news was bad news. The Turkish spy agency, known as MIT, didnt exactly cover itself in glory during the coup, having picked up no indication of the plot beforehand, the Wall Street Journal reports. Despite keeping close tabs on the communications of Gulenists in Turkey, who were using encrypted messaging apps to communicate, the spies didnt see anything coming until just a few hours before the coup began, and by then it was too late. The Institute for the Study of War has a very helpful Order of Battle chart pinpointing which units have been hit the hardest in the purge, and what military leaders have been removed. Syria update. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue to hammer the Islamic State in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, and have now seized control of almost 70 percent of the area, a spokesman told Reuters on Sunday. The SDF, which includes the battle-tested Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters have been battling to take the city for about two months, relying on U.S. and coalition airstrikes to back up their operations. Thousands of civilians remain trapped in the city, though somewhere between 40,000 to 50,000 have reportedly escaped. Story continues The airstrikes continue as the U.S. Central Command investigates two recent airstrikes near Manbij that may have killed dozens of civilians. Independent monitoring groups are saying the first strike on the village of al-Tukhar could have claimed the lives of as many as 73 civilians, making the July 19 assault potentially the worst incident of the war. Aleppo. A coalition of Syrian rebel fighters launched a major assault on parts of Aleppo being held by Syrian government forces on Sunday, in an effort to smash open supply lines after the Syrian army and its allies tightened their siege of the city last week. Nusra Front, which has recently rebranded itself and made a show of breaking with al Qaeda, is part of the offensive. Russian helo down. A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down over Idlib in northwestern Syria on Monday, while on what Moscow says was a humanitarian mission to Aleppo. All five Russian servicemembers aboard were killed. The forever election. In a headline-busting interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABCs This Week on Sunday, Republican nominee for president Donald Trump appeared unaware that Russian troops have been fighting in Ukraine. Speaking of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said, hes not going into Ukraine, O.K., just so you understand. Hes not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. When Stephanopoulos pointed out that there are indeed Russian troops in Ukraine, Trump admitted, OK, well, hes there in a certain way. Trump was also non-committal over what to do about Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014, which spurred the international community to slap economic sanctions on Moscow. Im going to take a look at it, Trump said. But you know, the people of Crimea, from what Ive heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. The comments come amid increasing scrutiny over business ties many in the Trump camp have in Russia. In a part of the interview that isnt receiving as much attention, Trump also went after the military leadership at the Pentagon. The generals certainly arent doing very well right now, he said. And when it comes to retired Marine Corps General John Allen, who harshly criticized Trump at last weeks Democratic convention, Trump said, after I saw he was on ranting and raving about me, who he never met, I checked up. Guess what? They were not so happy with him. He didnt beat ISIS. He didnt beat ISIS. He didnt do well with ISIS. Old boss. Not everyone is happy at the political turn that Allen, and Trump surrogate retired General Mike Flynn have taken. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Martin Dempsey, wrote a letter to the Washington Post over the weekend, saying, retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn werent introduced at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively, as John and Mike. They were introduced as generals. As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions. They have just made the task of their successors who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so. Something else. Here it is. Another story on how millennials are changing / breaking / improving the military. Good morning and as always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley Islamic State The Islamic State is weighing in on the latest controversy in the U.S. presidential race. The most recent issue of the jihadist groups online magazine, Dabiq, is out and it takes aim at fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan, whose parents Khizr and Ghazala spoke out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps anti-immigration rhetoric at the Democratic National Convention. In the latest Dabiq issue, the Islamic State calls Capt. Khan Trump, killed by a suicide bomber in 2004 while serving in Iraq, an apostate for serving in the U.S. military. Trump has come under fire for telling the Khans they have no right to criticize him. China Chinas pugnacious state-run tabloid is raising eyebrows with a warning to Australia that it will be an ideal target for China to warn and strike if it crosses the Peoples Republic in the South China Sea. In a Saturday op-ed, the Global Times took aim at Australia for a statement from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop supporting an international tribunals recent ruling against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, urging China to abide by the decision. The Times, notorious for mouthing off with bombastic rhetoric at various targets that offend its nationalist sensibilities, responded by belittling Australian power, demoting it from a paper tiger to a paper cat. North Korea North Korean hackers have been busy targeting email accounts of around 90 South Korean officials, according to Yonhap News Agency. South Koreas Supreme Prosecutors Office says North Korea likely accessed about 56 of those accounts, owned by government officials as well as journalist, in the first half of 2016. Prosecutors said the North Korean hackers have used an estimated 27 phishing sites to target their victims. Russia Over the weekend, Moscow announced it found malware on the networks of 20 government agencies, the BBC reports. The announcement, made by Russias domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), claimed that the malware could spy on users logging keystrokes and grabbing keystrokes, as well as controlling any microphones or cameras in affected computers. The FSB, however, did not offer any statement attempting to attribute the malware to a country, group, or individual. Afghanistan A large blast rocked Kabul as the Taliban detonated a truck bomb in the capital late Sunday night. Reuters reports that the bomb hit the Northgate Hotel, where a number of foreign workers in Afghanistan reside. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a subsequent statement, saying that its fighters entered the Northgate compound following the bombing in what appeared to be a complex attack. New nukes The Air Force is soliciting proposals for a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a new cruise missile to carry its nuclear warheads. Defense One reports that the service put out a request for bids on a Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent ICBM on Friday, which it says will stay in service through 2075. The Air Force is also asking contractors to offer ideas on the Long Range Standoff (LRSO), with the goal of winnowing down the competition to build the cruise missile to two contractors by 2017. F-35 The Marine Corps variant of the F-35 stealth fighter may have its first deployment shortly. Defense Tech reports that the Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute that the F-35B will be headed to Japan as early as January 2017. Following the January deployments, the Marines will send the F-35B on two more deployments to Japan in 2018. If push comes to shove, however, Davis says the jet is can be deployed now, saying we have a unit thats ready to go. Photo Credit: Mustafa Yildirim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Septimo Dia (Seventh Day) is the title of the Soda Stereo-inspired Cirque du Soleil spectacular set to debut March 2017. "The name of the show has to do with creation," Soda Stereo's Zeta Bosio said in an interview with La Nacion. "That was the concept that inspired Michel Laprise (Cirque du Soleil director) to elaborate all aspects of it. And the best title we could come up with for that was Septimo Dia." "This show has many things that have never been done by Cirque du Soleil. For example, it will be an interactive show and will premiere at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, where they have never taken one of their shows to. And it will also have the fans participate directly with the spectacular during the show," adds Stereo drummer Charly Alberti. The story and music of the 1980s Argentine rock band -- whose frontman, Gustavo Cerati, died in 2014 after lapsing into a coma -- will be the inspiration behind Cirque du Soleil's new production. "Basically, the concept of the show will be a science fiction story where there is this planet, which is basically Soda, where things are inspired by our songs and how people who live in that planet are inspired by our lyrics," said bassist Bosio. Cirque de Soleil is creating the show along with Argentine music promoter PopArt, and Triple, Soda's production company. After its debut in Argentina, Septimo Dia will visit countries including Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. New Delhi, Aug 1 (ANI): In a major relief for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected the petition against his discharge in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. The petition filed by social activist Harsh Mander had sought quashing of the December 30, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. During the hearing, the Apex Court said that Harsh Mandar has no locus to challenge Shah's discharge. Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibbal appearing for Harsh argued that in the matters concerning to public interest like this one, an individual can be an intervener. Appearing for Shah, Solicitor General Harish Salve cited many judges by the top before the bench that a third party cannot intervene in a criminal case. The CBI had files a chargesheet against now, and now with the Supreme Court's ruling, the BJP Chief gets discharged. In 2014, Shah was found innocent of charges that he ordered the "fake encounter" that led to Sohrabuddin Sheikh being shot dead in 2005 by the police which reported to him as Home Minister of Gujarat. Earlier Mander had approached the High Court against the sessions court order but his petition was dismissed in March this year, following which, he approached the SC challenging the order. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also allegedly killed by the police in 2006. (ANI) By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed in South Sudan over the weekend in renewed clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his longtime rival Riek Machar, a spokesman for Machar said on Monday. Machar, the former vice president, and his SPLM-IO group have been caught up with more than two years of on-and-off, ethnically charged fighting with supporters of Kiir. Machar returned to the capital Juba in April after a shaky peace deal but left again last month when new clashes broke out. Kiir replaced Machar as vice president last week with Taban Deng Gai, after Machar ignored Kiir's request to return to Juba, further deepening a split in Machar's SPLM-IO party. Nyarji Jermlili Roman, the deputy spokesman for Machar, said the nine died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya county in Central Equatorial state. "The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre," Roman said. Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was "small fighting" between the SPLA and Machar's forces. "We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations," Koang said. Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling the government military positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions. Nothing has been heard from Machar since and Kiir replaced him as vice president. In a further sign of trouble for the peace deal, Lam Akol, head of the opposition Democratic Change group, stepped down from his post as agriculture minister that he assumed after Kiir named a new unity cabinet following the peace deal. "One side has decided to abrogate (the peace deal)," Akol told a news conference in the capital of neighbouring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on Monday. The United States said over the weekend it had received "disturbing reports" of renewed violence in the south of the country and the United Nations is considering imposing an arms embargo. (Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed in South Sudan over the weekend in renewed clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his longtime rival Riek Machar, a spokesman for Machar said on Monday. Machar, the former vice president, and his SPLM-IO group have been caught up with more than two years of on-and-off, ethnically charged fighting with supporters of Kiir. Machar returned to the capital Juba in April after a shaky peace deal but left again last month when new clashes broke out. Kiir replaced Machar as vice president last week with Taban Deng Gai, after Machar ignored Kiir's request to return to Juba, further deepening a split in Machar's SPLM-IO party. Nyarji Jermlili Roman, the deputy spokesman for Machar, said the nine died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya county in Central Equatorial state. "The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre," Roman said. Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was "small fighting" between the SPLA and Machar's forces. "We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations," Koang said. Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling the government military positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions. Nothing has been heard from Machar since and Kiir replaced him as vice president. In a further sign of trouble for the peace deal, Lam Akol, head of the opposition Democratic Change group, stepped down from his post as agriculture minister that he assumed after Kiir named a new unity cabinet following the peace deal. "One side has decided to abrogate (the peace deal)," Akol told a news conference in the capital of neighboring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on Monday. The United States said over the weekend it had received "disturbing reports" of renewed violence in the south of the country and the United Nations is considering imposing an arms embargo. (Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Tom Heneghan) Soylent protein packaged food on display during preview at Frieze New York 2016 art fair on Randalls Island (Image via Shutterstock) The man behind the liquid food substitute called Soylent is in trouble with the law over a shipping container he put up on a hilltop overlooking Los Angeles, the Guardian reports. Last week, prosecutors in Montecito Heights charged Rob Rhinehart, 27, with unpermitted construction and other violations in connection with the red shipping container, which was supposed to become an experimental living facility, the Los Angeles Times reports. Related: Mark Zuckerberg Is Building Oppressive Wall: Hawaiians Instead, local residents say it became a neglected, graffiti-covered mess that attracted people looking to party. On the same day Rhinehart was charged, authorities hauled away the offending box, which had been a source of contention for the city and neighbors for months. Related: 5 Celebrity Restaurants That Failed One neighbor likened the containers red color to a middle finger, telling the Guardian, It feels like an intruder. Rhinehart, though, says hes the one getting the unfair treatment. I have spent thousands improving the surroundings, he tells the Guardian, adding, My home was graffitied and the windows were smashed. Thats my fault? Where are the police? Related: New Dairy Alternative: Pea Milk He bought the vacant lot on which it was placed in January. Rhineharts company is valued at more than $100 million, its product especially popular with tech workers in Silicon Valley. (Still, one reviewer found Soylent to be "joyless.) By Luke Roney More From Newser: Heres What a (Legal) Pot Habit Typically Costs 6 Reasons Why You Should Sleep Naked This article originally appeared on Newser: Soylent CEO Charged Over 'Experimental Living Facility Premier natural gas company, Spectra Energy Corp. SE is expected to report second-quarter 2016 earnings on Aug 3, before the opening bell. Last quarter, the companys earnings of 35 cents per share lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents and deteriorated 14.6% from the year-ago earnings of 41 cents. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to the announcement. SPECTRA ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise SPECTRA ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | SPECTRA ENERGY Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model shows that Spectra Energy is likely to beat earnings because it has the right combination of two key ingredients. Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate is +12.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate stands at 28 cents, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 25 cents. This is very meaningful and a leading indicator of a likely positive earnings surprise. Zacks Rank: Spectra Energy holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Note that stocks with Zacks Ranks #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Hold) or 3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings. Conversely, the Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 and 5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement. The combination of Spectra Energys favorable Zacks Rank and a positive ESP makes us confident about an earnings beat. Currently, the stock is trading at $35.97. We expect the release to lead to stock movement. Factors Likely to Influence this Quarter Though we believe that commodity price concerns remain in the near term, the companys core fee-based businesses of storage, transmission, distribution, along with Canadian gathering and processing, have the potential to move the needle toward solid earnings and cash flow growth in the long run. Going forward, Spectra intends to increase its presence in the oil and refined products pipelines, storage tanks and terminals businesses. This should help to boost its top line and bottom line. Spectras East Tennessee Natural Gas (ETNG) pipeline will supply an incremental 86 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of fixed transportation capacity to Eastman Chemical Companys Kingsport facility, TN, for 25 years. This long-term agreement is expected to add significantly to the companys revenues and thus, boost its growth. Spectra plans to deploy about $25 billion over the next decade on fee-based gas infrastructure growth projects. The company expects to commission around eight projects through 2016. Further, growth is expected from its master limited partnership (MLP) dropdown strategy. However, Spectras results are vulnerable to fluctuations in natural gas markets. The proposed liquid-rich drilling activities by the company clearly suggest that low natural gas prices have little chance of recovery in the near term. Though most of Spectra's revenues are based on regulated tariff rates, an unfavorable macro environment may result in lower earnings and cash flows. Moreover, the company has a relatively heavy debt-to-capitalization ratio of 57.5% and hence, its balance sheet remains highly leveraged. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies from the same space which, according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: SM Energy SM has an Earnings ESP of +2.82% and a Zacks Rank #2. Cimarex Energy XEC has an Earnings ESP of +200.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. Rowan Companies plc RDC has an Earnings ESP of +2.74% and a Zacks Rank #3. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SPECTRA ENERGY (SE): Free Stock Analysis Report ROWAN COS PLC (RDC): Free Stock Analysis Report SM ENERGY CO (SM): Free Stock Analysis Report CIMAREX ENERGY (XEC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Channing Tatum (left) at the Hail, Caesar! photo call on Feb. 11, 2016, in Berlin (Photo: Dominique Charriau/WireImage); Daryl Hannah (right) in Splash (Photo: Touchstone Pictures) Disney is moving full speed ahead with a re-imagining of Splash, the 1984 sleeper hit film that launched the stars of Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, along with Imagine partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the latter of whom hatched the idea for the fish wish-fulfillment story that Howard directed. Theyve got an intriguing take: Its being developed for Channing Tatum to take the role that Hannah played, with Jillian Bell in the role that Hanks played. Im told the pitch was hatched by Bell, who worked with Tatum in 22 Jump Street, most recently wrapped Office Christmas Party, and next stars in Rock That Body. Related: Channing Tatum and A24 To Produce 1980s Romanian Cop TV Show Spoof As Series Theyve hired Marja-Lewis Ryan to write the script. She most recently wrapped the Timur Bekmambetov-produced Liked, which she wrote and directed. The scribe also is writing for HBO and Tatums Free Association the college-set Unsupervised, which just hired a writers room and is looking good to go to a pilot. Free Association also is producing 6 Balloons, a feature she wrote and will direct, which was set up at Netflix and starts production in the fall. Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture president Sean Bailey just put the finishing touches on the Splash deals Friday night. Imagines Howard and Grazer will produce along with Free Associations Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kieran. Imagines Anna Culp will be executive producer. There might be some inevitable groaning about Hollywood running out of fresh ideas, but the twist on this fish tale sounds like a smart way of breathing life into a movie that came out 32 years ago and has a story strong enough to be reintroduced to a new audience. Related: Step Up TV Series Produced by Channing Tatum Ordered by YouTube UTA reps Tatum, Bell, and the writer. Tatum, who has just started in the starring role of Steven Soderberghs Logan Lucky, is also Management 360; Bell is 3 Arts, and Ryan is Kaplan/Perrone. Story continues Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts Channing Tatum, What Would You Do for $100?: Stan Lee has had to cut back on convention attendance recently, doing his last Canadian convention appearance this year. His eyesight has degenerated to the point where he can no longer read comic books, but his enthusiasm doesnt seemed to have waned a bit. He spoke to the official Deadpool Twitter account seemingly from the floor of San Diego Comic-Con about what makes Deadpool great. Granted, even though Lee didnt create the character, you know hes going to love it when he gets another cameo, even if hes not allowed to pick favorites. Lees cameo in the massively-successful Deadpool, if you missed it, was as the emcee at the strip club where Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) worked. In February, Lee joked that the only downside of that cameo was that he didnt get to stay in the strip club longer. Lees answer as to why Deadpool is loved doesnt involve strip clubs, but we believe its implied: The thing about Deadpool, I think, that makes him so widely loved by fans everywhere is hes like a real person. Hes not like some fictional hero. He talks the way regular people talk. He thinks the same way. Hes as disrespectful as most people are. You never know what hell say or do next. Hes like a guy you wish lived next door to you and would be your best friend because it would always be a lot of fun being with him and thered always be a lot of unexpected surprises. The best kind of guy to write about or have movies about. (transcribed by UPROXX) Strangely, he made no mention of chimichangas or pegging. Hmm. Curious. (Via Screen Rant and Entertainment Weekly) Steven Soderberghs The Girlfriend Experience has been renewed for a second season at Starz. The second outing of the limited series, which will run 14 episodes, will focus on entirely new characters and plotlines. The first season, which ended its run in June, averaged 230,000 total viewers per episode, but enjoyed overall positive reviews from critics. The first season of The Girlfriend Experience allowed us to accommodate all viewing appetites with the traditional weekly episodic premiere schedule as well as a binging option for the entire 13-episodes, said Carmi Zlotnik, managing director at Starz. Were excited to offer Starz subscribers a second season that will explore new GFEs, clients and relationships as we take viewers back into this world that questions the price of intimacy and its emotional consequences. Soderbergh is set to return as executive producer, along with Philip Fleishman, Lodge Kerrigan, Amy Seimetz, and Jeff Cuban. Andrew Fierberg and Adele Romanski will also executive produce. Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz will serve as showrunners, writers and directors. The Girlfriend Experience was a reimagining of Soderberghs 2009 critically acclaimed movie of the same name. Season one starred Riley Keough as Christine Reade (Keough), a second-year law student and a new intern at a prestigious law firm. Working hard to establish herself at the firm, her focus quickly shifts when a classmate introduces her to the world of transactional relationships. From my point of view, it would be silly to continue on with Christines story, Keough told Variety ahead of the premiere, but I know that (Starz CEO) Chris (Albrecht) was talking about potentially if theres a second season telling different stories every season. Soderbergh has several TV projects in the works, including HBOs Mosaic and Netflixs Godless. Related stories Starz Chief on Emmys: 'It's Not a Level Playing Field' 50 Cent Developing Superhero Drama With Starz After Extending Overall Deal 'Peep Show': American Adaptation of British Comedy in the Works at Starz Investors cant seem to make sense of the stock market. (Image: Geograph.UK) We have never had so many client meetings starting with statements such as we are totally lost, Credit Suisse equity strategist Andrew Garthwaite said on Thursday. Indeed, the stock market doesnt seem to be making a whole lot of sense lately. On Friday, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) set an all-time intraday high of 2,177.09, the latest milestone in whats been an impressive seven year old bull market. Interestingly, this rally comes as expectations for earnings growth continue to sour. This is counterintuitive for investors since earnings are the most important drivers of stock prices in the long-run. Stocks havent made sense in 10 of the past 16 quarters During the month of July, analysts lowered earnings estimates for companies in the S&P 500 for the quarter, FactSets John Butters observed on Friday. The Q3 bottom-up EPS estimate (which is an aggregation of the EPS estimates for all the companies in the index) dropped by 0.7% (to $30.44 from $30.66) during this period. As the bottom-up EPS estimate declined during the first month of the quarter, the value of the S&P 500 increased during this same time frame, Butters continued. From June 30 through July 28, the value of the index increased by 3.4% (to 2170.06 from 2098.86). Stock prices and earnings expectations are going in opposite directions. (Image: FactSet) This is not the first time stock prices and earnings expectations have diverged in recent years. [July marks] the 10th time in the past 16 quarters in which the bottom-up EPS estimate decreased during the first month of a quarter while the value of the index increased during the first month of the quarter, Butters noted. In other words, the stock market has been doing the exact opposite of what investors would expect 62.5% of the time. Valuations are stretched Itd be one thing if the price-earnings ratio (P/E) was below its long-term average. Furthermore, this comes amid a backdrop of what feels like heightened uncertainty around the world. Clients do not find equity valuations attractive enough to compensate for the macro, political, earnings and business model risks, Garthwaite said. Story continues The forward P/E ratio is well above its 5 and 10-year averages. (Image: FactSet) Sell everything. Nothing here looks good, DoubleLine Funds Jeffrey Gundlach said to Reuters on Friday. The stock markets should be down massively but investors seem to have been hypnotized that nothing can go wrong. No fear What makes some experts particularly troubled is the lack of volatility or fear as measured by the VIX being discounted in to the market. Will calm prevail? UBSs Julian Emanuel wrote. Unlikely. We believe a VIX near 13 insufficiently discounts uncertainty in the form of political risk in the US and in Europe that is not likely to dissipate meaningfully prior to the US elections on November 8. Is this the calm before the volatility storm? (Image: UBS) So, given the prospects for a contentious US presidential race where the outcome may not be certain until the day of the vote, November 8 (as a reminder, the pollsters were surprised by the 6/23 UK Referendum outcome) along with uncertainty about the economic future of the UK and the EU persisting, talk of volatilitys demise (VIX 13) may be greatly exaggerated, Emanuel continued. A spiking VIX is usually accompanied by selling in the stock market. Sam Ro is managing editor at Yahoo Finance. Read more: How a bad story can cripple the economy Forecasting 2017 earnings has become Wall Streets most controversial task Youre probably using P/E ratios incorrectly Wall St. is betting on earnings growth in the second half of 2016 Stocks hit new record highs, but Wall Street pros like Goldman and Gundlach are sounding the alarm. Should investors listen? Catch The Final Round at 4 p.m. with Jen Rogers and Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer. Can foreign firms compete in China? Uber agreed to turn over its Chinese operations to rival Didi Chuxing, in a deal that will value the combined company at $35 billion. In return, Uber will receive a $1 billion investment from Didi and become the largest shareholder in Didi. Why did Uber give up on China? Parrish: Great time to be an active investor Is buy and hold dead? Ted Parrish, president and CIO at Parrish Capital, tells us why its a great time to be an active investor. Winners and losers Stocks in the red to start the week include drilling contractor Diamond Offshore as lower demand for rigs weighed on results, Citrix Systems as Jefferies downgraded it to underperform and lowered its price target, and SolarCity. Shares of the solar firm are down after it announced it will be bought by Tesla. Stocks on the move higher include Biogen as the biotech firm announced positive results for a spinal muscular dystrophy treatment, Etsy as Citi initiated coverage with a buy rating, and Fleetmatics. Shares of the mobile workforce solutions company jumped as Verizon announced a purchase for $2.4 billion. Verizon has also agreed to buy the core assets of Yahoo, our corporate parent. Looking ahead Lets say youre a teen. You want to have sex, but you dont want HIV, and in your country theres a pretty high risk of contracting the virus if youre sexually active. So you opt for what you consider to be the safest choice an older, financially stable man who seems to have his life in order, unlike the rowdy teenage boys at school. Makes sense, right? Not so much. Turns out its the older guys, the so-called sugar daddies, who pose the risk. In Botswana, 45 percent of 40- to 44-year-old men are HIV-positive, compared with roughly 5 percent of teenage boys, according to the latest Botswana AIDS Impact Survey. And teenage girls are twice as likely to contract HIV as their male peers. This might be trivia to most of us, but for Noam Angrist, a terrifyingly successful 25-year-old MIT grad, Fulbright and Rhodes scholar it was the basis for starting Young 1ove (pronounced Young Love) just over two years ago, with funding from around a dozen organizations, including the Global Innovation Fund and PEPFAR. Based in Gaborone, Botswana, the NGOs mission is to bridge the gap between academic work around public health and the on-the-ground message nonprofits spread. The vehicle: cool, hip young people, locals to the project country who are charged with translating wonk into values. Young 1oves flagship is a program called No Sugar, which educates young girls about the likelihood of contracting HIV from sex partners in various age groups to shatter perceptions about who is safest. Its all about the facts, no judgment allowed. Young1ove Young students of Young 1ove in Botswana. Source: Young 1ove The team is addicted to this hypermanic mission to reduce HIV in young girls, says Laura Poswell, the executive director of J-PAL Africa, which partners with Young 1ove. Angrist secured an elusive mandate from the Ministry of Education to operate in schools across Botswana as an official HIV education partner. Angrist and co-founder Moitshepi Matsheng also hold a standing seat on the countrys National AIDS Council. Young 1ove just completed a 42,000-person study to see if its myth-busting led to reduced pregnancy rates, a predictor of HIV infections. Results are forthcoming and will determine whether Young 1ove scales, continues learning or moves on. Already, though, small-scale Young 1love pilots are being conducted in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Story continues Botswana has the worlds third-highest HIV prevalence, and women are disproportionately affected. But these girls arent born with HIV theyre getting it in middle or high school. Girls are largely getting HIV from older men, says Gang Sun, UNAIDS country director for Botswana. The data is not perfectly conclusive, says Angrist, but there is a considerable amount of research showing differential HIV rates among boys and girls of the same age. Turns out these so-called sugar daddies are giving away more than nice clothes and money in exchange for sexual favors. But does the world really need more HIV-awareness NGOs? From condom promotion billboards to radio ads lamenting HIV statistics to social media campaigns and red ribbons, a hodgepodge of programs with varying results or little to no follow-up purport to change behavior. When a country is stuffed to its limit with well-intentioned international do-gooders, the question becomes not how to get more funding or more programs on line but how to make choices which ideas are the best? Angrist has an edge, thanks to his data-geek personality. He didnt run with a new idea, but took a decade-old one and added testing. Before launching Young 1ove, the Israeli-American scoured hundreds of published studies and randomized control trials and found that very little changed behavior. But there was one study of an hourlong program focusing on sugar daddies in Kenya that had reduced pregnancies by a third. It had never been replicated, scaled or tested. It seemed like an obvious fit in Botswana. Young 1ove was born from poetry. Despite Angrists logical leanings, his favorite activity, he tells me, is reflecting deeply about anything with friends. One such night, a young Batswanan poet read Angrist a piece about an older man infecting a young girl with HIV. Moved by that experience, and motivated by the Kenyan study, Angrist launched into piloting the program almost immediately. He won a $20,000 D-Prize to formally launch the NGO. He was well-connected at just four months into his time in Botswana and already wrapping up his Fulbright research on education under his mentors, Gabatshwane Tsayang and Nkobi Pansiri, professors at the University of Botswana. His father is Joshua Angrist, a well-respected economist, who, he says, influenced his career in too many ways to count. The younger Angrist made his own way, says Harry Patrinos, practice manager for education at the World Bank, where Angrist interned. We were blown away with him, says Patrinos. Soon, managers from other teams started requesting Angrist for their projects. Angrists interest in the economics of health came much earlier. As an adolescent, he was a competitive rower, but at age 18, he suddenly developed a life-threatening blood clot in his arm that landed him in the hospital for three weeks. One removed rib and countless treatments later, a solution arose: an experimental blood thinner that cost thousands of dollars per hour. Angrist was fortunate to have top-notch insurance. He became fixated on insurance access; post-recovery, he worked under Jon Gruber, the architect of the Affordable Care Act, at MIT, where they analyzed the acts knock-on effects. That led to a string of prestigious internships, including one at the White House. Today, Angrist is anxious that I dont overstate the impact of his early results. We dont want to feel good, we want to do good, he says. Hes a numbers guy, after all. Related Articles Cat Grant is staying put in National City. Calista Flockhart is set to return to Supergirl for the superhero drama's upcoming second season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The actress, however, will not return as a series regular. She will instead be billed as recurring moving forward. Flockhart will appear in multiple episodes beginning with the Oct. 10 season-two premiere, which also will be the series' first new episode on The CW after moving from CBS. She begins production next week. Part of that change will be reflected by the upcoming addition of Ian Gomez (Cougar Town), who has joined the series as the new editor-in-chief of the CatCo magazine Flockhart's character owns and which Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) works at. Gomez's character, Snapper Carr, will subsequently become Kara's new boss. Read more: 'Supergirl' Unveils First Look at Tyler Hoechlin as Superman "Supergirl wouldn't be Supergirl without the amazing Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said Monday in a statement. "We are so excited Calista has agreed to continue on the show when she can. We and the audience love to see her onscreen." Flockhart's change in status comes after Supergirl moved production from Los Angeles, Flockhart's home base, to Vancouver in season two in an effort to cut costs. Questions began to arise quickly about whether she would continue with the series at all, particularly after Gomez was cast as a new recurring character that will serve as Cat's right-hand man. "We're happy to have her in whatever capacity that works out," The CW president Mark Pedowitz told reporters in May when the show's move to The CW was first revealed. The Supergirl role marks Flockhart's first series-regular role since ABC's Brothers & Sisters went off the air in 2011. Prior to that, she starred on Ally McBeal for five seasons. For Supergirl's part, the series also is adding new series regulars for season two, including Christopher Wood (Containment) and Floriana Lima (The Family). Supergirl's new season kicks off Monday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f162572%2fdog This dog was truly one man's best friend. Since his owner passed away eight months ago at Ruth Cardoso Hospital in Santa Catarina, Brazil, sweet pup, Negao, has faithfully remained outside the building, waiting for him to return. SEE ALSO: Nora the rescue puppy loves napping with her baby brother As the G1 Santa Catarina reported, late last year, Negao's owner a homeless man was taken to the hospital after developing an infection, which later proved to be fatal. It was reported that Negao raced alongside the ambulance, watched his owner get taken in to the hospital and remained outside waiting for his return. According to G1 Santa Catarina, one of the hospital's rescuers, Renaldo Marquato, explained, "We have seen patients who were very ill, living alone, even in death and the dog around. But this coming behind the ambulance, stayed here and stay here, never seen anything like it, except in the movies." Unfortunately, Negao had no way of understanding that his owner passed away, so as the months passed he continued to sit outside waiting. The hospital is well aware of Negao's presence, and as Zero Hora reported, two families even attempted to adopt him. However, in both instances Negao escaped and returned to the hospital. G1 Santa Catarina shared that the hospital workers all pitch in to care for Negao, and since his arrival, he has been vaccinated, neutered, and continues to receive care from employees who regularly bathe and feed him. As for the future, hospital official Giselle Bianchi says that the hospital employees have accepted Negao as part of their family. "He will stay here with us until he decides if he wants to leave or not," she said. "As long as he remains here, we will give all the care, warmth and love he needs." Even if you're not familiar with the brand Hunza G, you will still recognise the product, because a) your mum almost certainly sported a fluoro costume made of the stretchy fabric in the '90s, b) Julia Roberts' infamous cut-out dress in Pretty Woman was a Hunza G special and c) exactly one third of the cast of Saved By The Bell 's wardrobe was made from it. Ok, the last one is a lie, but in short, it's stood the test of time and if fashion editor and blogger Pandora Sykes has anything to do with it, you'll be wearing Hunza this summer. 'Hunza G' used to be just plain old Hunza, but that was before Georgiana Huddart stretched a rather long limb through the door of their Oxford Street HQ and breathed a minty whoosh of fresh air into the house. Originally from an interior design background, Georgiana has grabbed the label by its collar and pulled it back from the brink of extinction where it haunted the backs of perma-permed '80s exercise instructors and old cast members from John Hughes' films. Fast forward to 2016 and Georgiana's worked with Henry Holland on his SS16 collection, had every London hot-thing including Georgia May Jagger sporting her styles, and every fashion editor worth her Uber Lux expense invoice suited and booted in Hunza G. So, when we heard Georgiana was partnering with her long-term pal, Pandora Sykes (Fashion Features Editor at The Sunday Times Style and founder of pandorasykes.com) who is tbh one of our most frequently searched people on Instagram (don't lie, she's yours too) on a special five-piece capsule collection, we got rather too excited. Then we saw the pictures, showcasing beach-ball coloured puff-shouldered crop tops, cotton frill-trimmed bottoms in lemony yellows and two-tone asymmetrical one-pieces in peaches and lobster-reds, and, well, hold on to your frilly knickers because this is swimwear as you've never seen it. And... stretch. Story continues We caught up with the girls to chat '80s power shoulders, Bardot and which swimsuit Suki's already chosen for herself. Why should every woman own a Hunza G costume? Pandora: Why shouldn't they?! I'm constantly struck by how strong the brand identity is; everywhere I go people are wearing a Hunza costume. I think once you become a Hunza girl, you're converted. They're super comfy, really kind to the body (they stretch with pregnancy, for example) and have this fun iconic history to them. Georgiana: They're flattering, fun and make you feel good. How did the collaboration come about? P: I think we were having a cup of tea and I just said: 'We should do one! Why haven't we done one?' And Georgie went 'I have no idea. Madness. Let's do one.' Very quick and easy. G: We've been friends since we were 14 and it seemed like a very natural thing to do. How many pieces are there? There are five different pieces in multiple colourways. What do you love about each other's style? P: Georgie is so long and lanky like a piece of spaghetti. My nickname for her is actually Niff. It comes from Nine Foot Nora which got abbreviated to the acronym NFN, which became Niff. She can carry anything off. White jeans, mini dresses the size of a fingernail, you name it. She isn't really a big follower of trends, but she still always seems to nail it. She'll be wearing this amazing suede Gucci jacket that she got from some vintage store and I'll be like, 'you know suede jackets are really in right now?' and she'll be like, 'Oh! No!' It's just innate. It's why she's so great with interiors too. G: She is always so put-together but in such a cool way, it doesnt look contrived and she is always quite brave. Left: Sharon - Puff sleeve blouse 175. Available in red, black, yellow and peach. Right: Sharon - Puff sleeve blouse 175.00Comes in red, black, yellow and peach. Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. Kerry - Cross body swimsuit 135. Available in red and peach, navy and red, navy and pale blue, black and white. Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. Was there a particular girl you had in mind when designing? P: Marta, our model. She was the perfect Hunza girl. Exactly who I was thinking of. In the look book you quite clearly show how the pieces can be worn not just as swimwear P: We really wanted there to be some blouses in there, too. For example, I am wearing the Sharon blouse now with a smart skirt and mules. The big shoulders are very '80s, in the best way. How would you wear it? P: Gloriously '80s aren't they? And really stiff to touch, which I love, because it elevates it into a smarter piece. I actually got the idea from an amazing vintage dress Georgie has. She wore it to my hen do; it's got these mental, huge shoulder puffs and it got me thinking. I wear it with black denim, or a mini skirt, or for evening with black trousers. It's really slimming, so anything high-waisted. I can't wait to wear the red one on holiday, with a denim mini. It makes you look like a flamenco dancer, which is my go-to emoji. Which piece would you wear out to dinner? P: Sharon, for sure. She's my fave. G: The Debbie, in black. How did you chose the colours for the collection? P: In a fairly narcissistic manner, I chose my favourite colours! I love red, white, black and I knew yellow would look great. And Georgie pointed out that the swimwear always works really well in navy. It's always a popular choice. I love red and pink together, and so the idea of two colour ways came from there. G: Nothing fluoro, great basics with a pop of colour much like the beach huts where we shot the campaign. Tracey - Frill bikini 120. Available in red with pink frill, yellow with white frill, black with white frill, navy with pale blue frill. Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. Left: Debbie - Lace up blouse 150. Available in red, black, yellow and white. Right: Kerry - Cross body swimsuit 135. Available in red and peach, navy and red, navy and pale blue, black and white. Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. How would you style the lace-up fronted suit? P: I think it's a great holiday piece. Although an editor friend of mine said she'll wear the white one to New York Fashion Week, so I'm psyched to see how it gets styled in an upscale 'fashion' way too. It would look cool with a wrap over midi skirt, or a flouncy J.W.Anderson style ruffled skirt, because it's super fitted with a bit of sass. And also good as you can adjust the ties, so if you have a big rack you don't have to go full boob if you don't want to. How does the collaboration combine both your personalities? P: It's named after Essex girls. We are born (in my case) and bred (in Georgie's case) Essex girls. G: It marks a 14-year friendship that has come to a point where we both could combine our skills and work together. I had a Hunza costume when I was younger. So did my mum. What accessories look best with a Hunza G swimsuit? P: Personally, I think minimal. I love the sportiness of them and I don't think you want to go OTT. But perhaps some gold hoops or a bandana. Or you could go full '80s with a scrunchie! Denise - Frill swimsuit 120. Available in red, black, white, navy, peach. Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. Who would you love to see in the collection and why? P: We've already had some great girls place pre-orders. Leandra Medine requested the white Denise. Suki Waterhouse has the red bikini with pink trim. Yasmin Sewell asked for the Debbie in yellow. I'm excited to see any sassy girl in them! To be honest the greatest compliment is when your mates like them. G: Rihanna she would look great in the frilly swim. What's the one thing you always pack when you travel? A white sundress. And a Hunza piece, obvs. Your one beauty tip for holidaying? P: Hair serum. Monica Geller in Barbados is never far away. G: Suncream. Being burnt is so rubbish. Your holiday TBT icon? P: Brigitte Bardot. G: P looked pretty fab in Jamaica and never seemed to look sweaty. Cindy Crawford still always looks iconic on the beach. Georgina Huddart (L), Pandora Sykes (R). Photo: Courtesy of Hunza G. All available from Hunza G. Photographs: Eva K Salvi, Model: Marta Aguilar. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Ashley Graham's Latest Body-Positive Campaign Is So Fierce Here's A Much-Needed Dose Of '90s Supermodels In All Their Glory Beyonce & Blue Ivy Are The Utter Definition Of #Twinning By Emma Batha LONDON, Aug 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Last year Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini had to swim for her life when her boat broke down as she tried to reach Europe; this month the teenager will be swimming in the Rio Olympics. Yusra, who is a member of the first ever Olympic refugee team, told how she and her sister Sara feared they might drown after their overloaded dinghy started taking in water as they crossed the Mediterranean to Greece. Along with another refugee they jumped in the sea and pulled the boat for three hours through the water, saving the lives of 19 others. "When I was in the water there was fear. You don't know whether you are going to live or die," the 18-year-old said in a video interview published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Mardini, who will compete in the 100-metre freestyle, is among 10 athletes in the refugee team which will march behind the Olympic flag at Friday's opening ceremony in Brazil. "When I was swimming for my life, I never would have believed I would be where I am now," the IOM quoted her as saying. The two sisters, who now live in Germany, left their home in Syria's war-battered capital Damascus a year ago and headed to Turkey. One evening they boarded a dinghy on the Turkish coast along with 20 others - around three times as many people as it was designed to carry. "Before you go on the boat, people tell you that you are going to die," Sara told IOM in an interview published on Monday. "So the first thing you think about when you get on that boat is death. You don't think of anything else." Hundreds have died crossing the Mediterranean from Turkey as they tried to reach Europe after fleeing conflicts and political turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere. COLD AND EXHAUSTED Sara, also a swimmer, said she told her sister that if their boat capsized during the journey they should just try to save themselves as it would be impossible to help everyone else. But when the engine stopped and the boat started deflating she realised she could not let the others drown. "We needed to have less weight on the boat and nobody else besides us could swim ... When I first got into the water my whole body was shaking like it does just before competition," she said. "At that very moment I felt that life was bigger than me alone. All the people on that boat were part of me. "I thought it was my duty to jump in the water ... if I (had left) them I would feel bad with myself for the rest of my life." She described how her father's friend cut off her trouser legs in the sea to stop her clothing weighing her down. After two hours she was battling exhaustion and knew she risked falling asleep and drowning. "It was getting dark and cold, the wind was blowing and I was freezing. I could not open my eyes any more, they were full of salt water," she said. They eventually arrived on one of the Greek islands in the middle of the night. Her sister Yusra says she hopes her story will inspire others. "Now we are training really hard," she said. "I think about making my parents proud and everyone who supported me." The teenager has three dreams. "I hope that they will open the borders for refugees, and I hope to get a medal in the Olympics, and that my home town is in peace again." (Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.) NEWS BRIEF A military helicopter that Russia says was returning from a humanitarian mission to Aleppo was shot down Monday by Syrian rebels, killing five people on board, the Kremlins spokesman said. The deaths are a reminder of Russias continuing support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against many rebel groups, ranging in affiliation from moderate to Islamist. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said: Those who were aboard the helicopter, according to information from the Defense Ministry, have died heroically because they were attempting to steer the machine to minimize the casualties on the ground. Its unclear which rebel group brought down the Mi-8 transporter in Idlib province. The northern province is controlled by a coalition of rebels groups fighting Assad. The BBC has details from video footage of Mondays crash: Pictures on social media purportedly of the latest Russian helicopter downing showed burning wreckage and bodies, with armed men milling around. Footage showed at least one body being dragged away. Russian casualties in Syria have been relatively few since President Vladimir Putin announced last year his countrys military would support Assad. Last month ISIS shot down a helicopter being piloted by two Russian officers; both were killed. In April, a helicopter crashed near Homs; both pilots were killed. Last November, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane on its border with Syria. A Russian Marine sent to rescue its pilot was killed. Recommended: Trump's Turn Toward Appeasement Assad looks firmly in charge of Syria more than five years after the civil war erupted. Backed by Russia and his Iranian, and Hezbollah allies , he has retaken vast parts of the country that were captured by rebels, including ISIS and al-Qaeda. Government troops, attempting to retake Aleppo, besieged it last month. Over the weekend, Russia and Syria opened what they called a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians and rebels to leave the strategically important city, but its unclear if anyone took up that offer. Story continues Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Yahoo Newsroom file photo The multiple lapses in public sector spending and governance highlighted by the Auditor-Generals Office (AGO) report are matters of grave public concern and must be adequately addressed by the Government, said the Workers Party (WP). Getting to the root cause of systemic lapses and instituting preventive and deterrent measures are critical in ensuring that public funds are not misspent, said WPs Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera in a statement on the opposition partys Facebook page on 1 August (Monday). The AGOs audit of 16 ministries, 11 statutory boards and several government funds for financial year 2015/2016 was released last week. It highlighted four key areas: inadequate financial controls, weak governance over management of public funds, lack of oversight of administration of schemes and programmes and lapses in management of contracts. It emerged that the National Arts Council had spent $470,000 on constructing a bin centre, while the likes of the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Defence and the Land Transport Authority were also singled out for significant lapses. Questions to be raised in Parliament The $470,000 bin centre near Victoria Concert Hall, that is utilised by four buildings in the area. Yahoo Singapore file photo. WP said it was particularly concerned by the recurring lapses that took place at MOE, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and will be raising questions on these issues in Parliament. For example, more than half of the MOE scholars selected by the AGO for test-checks failed to fulfil their scholarship obligations to Singapore. Further, $511.49 million of tuition fee loans and study loans given out to students of institutes of higher learning are outstanding as at 30 June 2015. WP pointed to the trend of late payments at the Housing Development Board, noting that NParks was also flagged by the AGO for late payments in 2011. As pointed out by the AGO, late payments could be seen as an unfair business practice and could result in the Ministry paying more due to interest arising from late payments, said the opposition party. Story continues WP also slammed the unusual solution by the Singapore Police Force to amend the Police (Special Constabulary) Regulations (Cap. 235, Rg 3) to regularise its $2.63 million in over-payments to volunteer special constabulary officers over seven years. Calling the move highly irregular, WP noted, While VSC officers deserve recognition for their service, as enforcers of the law, retroactively changing the law to gloss over seven years of lapses makes a mockery of the rule of law. It called for transparency on the interventions that will be applied to correct systemic lapses. For example, will forensic audits be conducted, independent accountants attached to the relevant agencies or liquidated damages pursued? Taipei (AFP) - Wearing traditional dress from feather headdresses to loincloths, members of Taiwan's indigenous community met President Tsai Ing-wen Monday as she made a landmark apology for centuries of suffering including the loss of ancestral lands. Tsai, the island's first leader with aboriginal heritage, will personally head a committee to investigate past injustices as part of government efforts to ease tensions with the native community. "I apologise to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, offering our deepest apology for the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years," she said in speech. "We need to look at history seriously and speak the truth," she said, adding that apologising was "another step forward". The indigenous community -- which makes up about two percent of Taiwan's 23.5 million people -- have seen their traditional culture eroded since immigrants started arriving from China centuries ago. Much of their land is now designated national park, leading to clashes over hunting, fishing and foraging in areas where permits are needed. Aboriginals have also complained of developments on their ancestral land, which campaigners say make up two-thirds of the island, were approved without seeking their views. Tsai pledged to increase the autonomy of aboriginal communities, restore their lost land rights and protect tribal languages. But for dozens of aboriginals protesting outside the presidential office Monday morning, her promises were not enough. "The apology was well said and very touching, but her proposals for action don't meet our expectations," said Mayaw Biho, an indigenous activist from the Amis tribe, who had camped out overnight. Since coming to power in May, Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not made legislation promoting indigenous rights a priority in parliament, he said. "It's unfair. It's not being taken seriously," he told AFP. Story continues - Deliver on promises - Indigenous people remain a marginalised group in Taiwanese society, with wages about 40 percent below than the national average, as well as a higher rate of unemployment. Tsai on Monday listed numerous wrongs done to the indigenous population, including storing nuclear waste on Yami tribe's land on Orchid Island. "We have been protesting for over 30 years," said Capen Nganaen, an 80-year-old Yami representative wearing a loincloth, who spoke after Tsai. "I hope Taiwan's government and the president will truly deliver on the promises made in this apology," he said. Tsai and the DPP came to power after winning a landslide victory in January over the Kuomintang (KMT). The Indigenous Peoples Basic Law was adopted in 2005, during the DPP's last reign, but critics say actions to amend relevant laws have stalled. This means many aboriginals have been arrested or fined for "illegal" hunting or fishing, which is allowed in the basic law. Earlier Monday, tribe members who had been invited to Tsai's speech burned millet stalks in front of the presidential office as part of a traditional ceremony welcoming the ancestral spirits to join them. Tsai greeted the representatives from each of the island's 16 recognised tribes, who were all wearing their traditional tribal clothing. In a deviation from her usual plain blazers, Tsai wore a grey suit made by an indigenous designer, which featured a black butterfly pattern. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen formally apologized to the countrys indigenous people on Monday for the discrimination they faced for centuries. For 400 years, every regime that has come to Taiwan has brutally violated the rights of indigenous peoples through armed invasion and land seizure, Tsai said at a ceremony attended by representatives from 16 indigenous groups, according to Focus Taiwan News Channel. For this, I apologize to the indigenous peoples on behalf of the government. Tsais comments mark the first time in Taiwans history that a leader apologized for the mistreatment of its indigenous population. In her apology, Tsai acknowledged the ways native people were marginalized over the centuries by occupants including the Dutch and colonial Japan. More recently, the Republic of China government implemented assimilation policies that banned tribal languages after 1945 and the Taiwan government stored nuclear waste on Orchid Island, where the Yami tribe lives, in 1982. The government has since passed policies in the interests of indigenous people, such as 2005s Indigenous Peoples Basic Law. However, Tsai said, government agencies have not given sufficient weight to this law. Tsai also announced various plans to rectify the situation for Taiwans indigenous people, including setting up an Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Commission and an Indigenous Legal Service Center to pursue justice for indigenous tribes. Stereotypes and even discrimination against indigenous peoples have not gone away, Tsai said. The government has not done enough, so indigenous peoples have suffered pain and frustration unknown to other ethnic peoples. TBS has greenlit two new comedy series and ordered another to pilot. Greg Garcias The Guest Book and Carson Mells animated Tarantula are both coming straight to series, while Wanda Sykes-vehicle Worlds End lands the pilot. Additionally, the Turner comedy station has set Halloween night for the 9 oclock premiere of Wyatt Cenacs People of Earth. Plus, TBS is set to air the entire first season of Search Party during Thanksgiving week. Our new projects, from some of the best creators and producers in the industry, will fit perfectly with the new direction weve been taking the TBS brand, said Brett Weitz, executive vice president of programming for TBS. Each show brings something fresh and unique to the comedy genre, from the unforgettable characters that Greg has created in The Guest Book to the wild, animated absurdities of Carsons Tarantula. We also cant wait to see how the envelope-pushing audacity of our Worlds End pilot plays out on screen. Also Read: Snoop Dogg to Executive Produce, Perform Theme Song for MTV's 'Mary + Jane' Heres the full rundown of TBS new projects, all in the networks own words: The Guest Book For several years, Greg Garcia (My Name is Earl, Raising Hope) has been writing fictitious stories in the guest books of various rental cabins in an effort to freak out the next renters. He has always dreamed of having these stories come to life on screen, and now they will in the new TBS original comedy series The Guest Book. Garcia brings his quirky, signature single-camera comedy to this anthology series centering on a small town vacation home and its visitors. While the house and cast of characters living in this small mountain town remain the same, each episode will feature a different set of guests renting the house. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of The Guest Book, all of which are being written by Garcia. The Guestbook is a co-production of CBS Television Studios and Turners Studio T, the in-house studio that produces and owns original content airing on TBS and TNT. Garcia serves as executive producer on the series, which is slated to launch on TBS in 2017. Story continues Also Read: Notorious BIG Comedy Series in Development at TBS Tarantula Marking its first original primetime animated series under the networks new brand, TBS has greenlit Tarantula, a half-hour comedy about the residents of the Tierra Chula Resident Hotel (aka The Tarantula). The series centers on Echo Johnson, a respected but uncertified tattoo artist who delivers absurd yet introspective monologues. Echos poetic ramblings spin tales of misadventures with the other residents, as they partake in party crashing, dumpster diving and other socially dubious acts of mischief. Tarantula is created and written by Carson Mell (Silicon Valley). It is a co-production of Rough House Pictures and Turners Studio T, with Danny McBride (Vice Principals), Jody Hill (Vice Principals), David Gordon Green (Vice Principals) and Brandon James (Vice Principals) serving as executive producers. TBS has ordered an open-ended run for the series, which will join the networks lineup in 2017. Also Read: How TBS Landed on the 'Cutting Edge' of Cable Comedy Worlds End TBS has ordered a pilot for Worlds End, a half-hour comedy pilot written by Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death) and starring Hamish Linklater (The Big Short) and Wanda Sykes (Black-ish). Worlds End follows Henry Mueller (Linklater), a charismatic high school English teacher who has a breakdown and is committed to a mental institution. There, under the watchful eye of Louise Baldwin (Sykes), he begins to feel sane. Henry starts to question the system and the methods used to contain the inmates, ultimately becoming the leader of an inmate revolt. Its a dark comedy about an asylum that operates like a family, and as in all families, the question of who is sane and who is not is open for discussion. Worlds End is based on an original Sagafilm television format. The pilot is a co-production of Electus and Turners Studio T and is being executive-produced by Ames, Ben Silverman (Jane the Virgin), Stephanie Davis (Bored to Death) and Sean Canino (Jane the Virgin), along with Alan Poul (The Newsroom), who will also direct. Related stories from TheWrap: 'Wrecked,' 'Angie Tribeca' Score New Seasons at TBS TBS, TNT Hire Michael Bloom as Senior VP of Unscripted Series and Specials Why TBS Thinks You'll Watch Other People Play Video Games 'Full Frontal With Samantha Bee' Gets Full Year Pickup at TBS Jessica Alba in David Koma Jessica Alba put a funky twist on the crop-top trend with sheer shoulders and a wavy hemline paired with high-waisted flares. The Honest Co. entrepreneur was on hand to introduce Ne-Yo and was joined onstage by some teenagers recently affected by gun violence. (Photo: Getty Images) The Oscars and Emmys are for the adults, the Kids Choice Awards is for the kids, so, it would follow, the FOX Teen Choice Awards belongs to the teenagers. On Sunday, John Cena and Victoria Justice hosted the adolescent-focused event at the at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and awarded surfboards to stars including Chris Evans, Justin Timberlake, the cast of Pretty Little Liars, Cameron Dallas, and more. While Bethany Mota was selected as the Choice Web Star: Fashion/Beauty, others still dressed impressively, including the cast of Full House, with Candace Cameron-Bure showing some leg in a romper and Uncle Jesse John Stamos wearing a light-blue suit with white sneakers. Jessica Alba and Lea Michele both showed off their midriffs in crop tops, and Kelsea Ballerini looked like a 21st century Greek goddess in a white dress and lace-up gold sandals. Click through for for highlights. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Jessica Alba in a crop top and high-waisted pants The Honest entrepreneur put a funky twist on the crop top trend with sheer shoulders and a wavy hemline paired with high-waisted flares. While a little formal for the fun event, the mom still totally made it work. (Photo: Getty Images) The Oscars and Emmys are for the adults, the Kids Choice Awards is for the kids, and, so it goes, the FOX Teen Choice Awards belongs to the teenagers. On Sunday, John Cena and Victoria Justice hosted the adolescent-focused event at the at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif and awarded surfboards to stars including Chris Evans, Justin Timberlake, the cast of Pretty Little Liars, Cameron Dallas, and more. While Bethany Mota was selected as the Choice Web Star: Fashion/Beauty, others still dressed impressively including the cast of Full House with Candace Cameron-Bure showing some leg in a romper and Uncle Jesse John Stamos wearing a light blue suit with white sneakers, Jessica Alba and Lea Michele both showing off their midriffs in crop tops, and Kelsea Ballerini looking like a 21st century Greek goddess in a white dress and lace-up gold sandals, to name a few highlights. Click through for the rest. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. (Adds details of earnings, share price) Aug 1 (Reuters) - Tenet Healthcare Corp on Monday posted a second-quarter net loss, hurt by larger-than-expected costs to settle a federal investigation into patient referrals at some of its hospitals. Shares of the company fell 4.9 percent in extended trading. The third-largest U.S. for-profit hospital chain cited an agreement in principle with the U.S. government to settle, for $514 million, the previously disclosed probe into services provided to Hispanic patients referred to its hospitals. Tenet had previously reserved $407 million to settle the matter, it said in a statement. The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $44 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $60 million, or 60 cents, a year ago. Tenet said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), excluding special items, were $617 million. Analysts had expected about $624.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters/I/B/E/S. Tenet affirmed its full-year EBITDA estimate of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion, excluding special items. (Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; Editing by Richard Chang) An 8-year-old California boy with a rare disease died Sunday just one day after becoming an honorary U.S. Marine. Wyatt Gillette had Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome Type 1, a disease that causes kidney failure and eventually leads to death. His father, 29-year-old Marine drill instructor Jeremiah Gillette, reached out to fellow Marines asking for prayers when his son moved into hospice care. He and Wyatt's mother, Felishia Gillette, were stunned by the response. "I just started crying," Felishia said. "So many people and strangers took an interest." One of those strangers was Marine Anthony North, who created a petition on Change.org to have Wyatt become an honorary Marine. "I truly feel that Wyatt has faced more hardship than any Marine has gone through, and for that should be given the title," North wrote on the website. Within days, the online petition gained thousands of names, and the U.S. Marine Corps granted the impassioned request. Wyatt's proud parents watched as their son was honored in a moving ceremony at Camp Pendleton on Saturday. "He's the toughest kid I've ever met," Jeremiah told ABC7. "He's the toughest person I've ever met." Tragically, the young boy passed away the very next day. Jeremiah said his son was peaceful and pain free, according to ABC7. "Thank you all so much for letting Wyatt into your hearts, and allowing him to make you smile, it was his favorite thing to do," Jeremiah wrote. Elon Musk SolarCity, a maker of solar panels, has agreed to a merger with the electric-car maker Tesla, according to a post on SolarCity's official blog. Tesla made an all-stock offer for SolarCity on June 21. According to the post, the enterprise value of the deal will be $2.6 billion. The deal values each share of SolarCity at $25.37, according to the post. As of the close on Friday, SolarCity shares were trading at $26.70. The deal combines two of entrepreneur Elon Musk's public firms to create what the SolarCity post called "the world's only vertically integrated sustainable energy company." "Now is the right time to bring our two companies together: Tesla is getting ready to scale our Powerwall and Powerpack stationary storage products and SolarCity is getting ready to offer next-generation differentiated solar solutions," the post from SolarCity said. "By joining forces, we can operate more efficiently and fully integrate our products, while providing customers with an aesthetically beautiful and simple one-stop solar + storage experience: one installation, one service contract, one phone app." According to the post, SolarCity has a 45-day period, which will end September 14, to solicit counteroffers. The acquisition comes after a tough year for SolarCity in which the stock tumbled from a peak of $60.17 on August 15 of last year to as low as $16.67 on February 11. The company has also drawn criticism for its high level of cash burn, and its model of leasing panels has come under fire from investors, most notably short seller Jim Chanos. Because of the issues at SolarCity, and the fact that the deal will add nearly $3 billion in debt to Tesla's balance sheet, Musk has received criticism for proposing the merger between two parts of his clean-energy empire. Chanos described it as "corporate governance at its worst," and Wall Street analysts described it as a "bailout" for SolarCity. Following the announcement, SolarCity shares tumbled 5.2% to $25.30 a share. Tesla shares were up 0.14% at $235.11 a share, as of 7:45 a.m. ET. Story continues NOW WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's 'top secret' master plan here are the details More From Business Insider By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) and SolarCity Corp (SCTY.O) could announce they have agreed to merge as early as Monday, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a campaign to convince the two companies' shareholders to back the deal. Combining the clean energy car maker with the solar panel installer is a major part of billionaire Elon Musk's strategy, who earlier in July unveiled his master plan "part deux" that calls for the combined company to offer consumers a single source of hardware to power a low-carbon lifestyle. While Musk is chief executive of Tesla, chairman of SolarCity and the biggest shareholder in both companies, a merger agreement was not certain because SolarCity had formed a special committee to review Tesla's offer independent of the influence of Musk and other executives close to him. The merger agreement is likely to include a so-called go-shop provision that will allow SolarCity to continue to solicit offers from other potential buyers for a short period of time following its signing, the people said on Sunday. The exact terms of the deal could not be learned. Tesla had previously said it offered 0.122 to 0.131 of its shares for each SolarCity share. The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Tesla and SolarCity, which have market capitalizations of $34.6 billion and $2.6 billion respectively, declined to comment. Musk has argued that combining Tesla with SolarCity will allow the combined company to reach consumers more effectively, installing solar panels on their roofs, sending power to Tesla storage batteries in their homes, and Tesla cars in their garages. Batteries from Tesla's $5 billion Gigafactory outside Sparks, Nevada, will be central to the combined enterprises. Tesla shareholders have gradually warmed up to the deal with SolarCity following initial apprehension after Tesla announced its offer on June 21. After dropping to below $190 per share following the offer, Tesla shares have recovered and ended trading on Friday at $234.79. SolarCity shares closed at $26.70 Friday. Story continues Reuters first reported last week that Tesla and SolarCity were close to a merger agreement. Besides Musk, several Tesla and SolarCity executives, including Musk's cousins, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive and SolarCity board member Peter Rive, have recused themselves from voting their shares when the deal comes to a vote. Tesla is scheduled to release its second-quarter results on Aug. 3. The company said earlier this month that its deliveries for the quarter fell short of its forecasts. Analysts will be looking for signs that the company is containing its costs and slowing its cash burn. Tesla took a hit on June 30 when the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disclosed it was investigating a fatal accident that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while he was using the car's 'Autopilot' system, which takes partial control of steering and braking. Since then, Musk has both defended the Autopilot technology, and moved aggressively to change the subject. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Joseph White in Detroit; Editing by Sandra Maler) By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc and SolarCity Corp could announce they have agreed to merge as early as Monday, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a campaign to convince the two companies' shareholders to back the deal. Combining the clean energy car maker with the solar panel installer is a major part of billionaire Elon Musk's strategy, who earlier in July unveiled his master plan "part deux" that calls for the combined company to offer consumers a single source of hardware to power a low-carbon lifestyle. While Musk is chief executive of Tesla, chairman of SolarCity and the biggest shareholder in both companies, a merger agreement was not certain because SolarCity had formed a special committee to review Tesla's offer independent of the influence of Musk and other executives close to him. The merger agreement is likely to include a so-called go-shop provision that will allow SolarCity to continue to solicit offers from other potential buyers for a short period of time following its signing, the people said on Sunday. The exact terms of the deal could not be learned. Tesla had previously said it offered 0.122 to 0.131 of its shares for each SolarCity share. The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Tesla and SolarCity, which have market capitalizations of $34.6 billion and $2.6 billion respectively, declined to comment. Musk has argued that combining Tesla with SolarCity will allow the combined company to reach consumers more effectively, installing solar panels on their roofs, sending power to Tesla storage batteries in their homes, and Tesla cars in their garages. Batteries from Tesla's $5 billion Gigafactory outside Sparks, Nevada, will be central to the combined enterprises. Tesla shareholders have gradually warmed up to the deal with SolarCity following initial apprehension after Tesla announced its offer on June 21. After dropping to below $190 per share following the offer, Tesla shares have recovered and ended trading on Friday at $234.79. SolarCity shares closed at $26.70 Friday. Story continues Reuters first reported last week that Tesla and SolarCity were close to a merger agreement. Besides Musk, several Tesla and SolarCity executives, including Musk's cousins, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive and SolarCity board member Peter Rive, have recused themselves from voting their shares when the deal comes to a vote. Tesla is scheduled to release its second-quarter results on Aug. 3. The company said earlier this month that its deliveries for the quarter fell short of its forecasts. Analysts will be looking for signs that the company is containing its costs and slowing its cash burn. Tesla took a hit on June 30 when the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disclosed it was investigating a fatal accident that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while he was using the car's 'Autopilot' system, which takes partial control of steering and braking. Since then, Musk has both defended the Autopilot technology, and moved aggressively to change the subject. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Joseph White in Detroit; Editing by Sandra Maler) Tesla Motors, Inc. TSLA is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 3. In the last quarter, this electric carmaker had posted a negative earnings surprise of 58.97%. Let us see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Influencing this Quarter Tesla is actively working to boost production to meet the rising demand. Production volume surged to 18,345 vehicles in the second quarter of 2016 from 15,510 vehicles in the first quarter. Attractive products, rapid international expansion and improving production capacity are helping boost the companys sales. As a result, Tesla delivered 14,370 vehicles in the second quarter of 2016, which is significantly lower than its projection of 17,000 vehicle deliveries but higher than 11,532 cars delivered in the second quarter of 2015. This should lead to significant revenue growth. The addition of revenues from the Tesla Energy business, launched in Apr 2015, should also aid the top line in the quarter to be reported. However, despite increasing sales, Tesla remains a loss-making company due to high expenses. The company is expected to report losses in the second quarter of 2016 as well. Moreover, operating expenses in the second quarter are expected to increase marginally from the first quarter, as the company develops the customer support infrastructure and also focuses on expense management. TESLA MOTORS Price and EPS Surprise TESLA MOTORS Price and EPS Surprise | TESLA MOTORS Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Tesla is likely to beat estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below: Zacks ESP: Tesla has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are both pegged at a loss of $1.15. Zacks Rank: Tesla carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the companys ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. Story continues We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Westport Fuel Systems Inc. WPRT has an Earnings ESP of +9.09% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Aug 3. Magna International Inc. MGA has an Earnings ESP of +0.75% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Aug 5. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. CTB has an Earnings ESP of +7.48% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 results are expected to release on Aug 4. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TESLA MOTORS (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report MAGNA INTL CL A (MGA): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTPORT FUEL (WPRT): Free Stock Analysis Report COOPER TIRE (CTB): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A new law went into effect in Texas on Monday that allows certain students to bring guns into classrooms, with supporters saying it could prevent mass shootings and critics saying the measure will endanger safety on campuses. The so-called state "campus carry" law allows people 21 and older with a concealed handgun license to carry pistols in classrooms and most buildings throughout public universities, including the University of Texas system, one of the nation's largest with an enrollment of more than 214,000 students. The law took effect as the university held a memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the deadliest U.S. gun incidents on a college campus. On Aug. 1 1966, student Charles Whitman killed 16 people in a rampage, firing from a perch atop the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, the state's flagship public university. Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who supports campus carry, said a gunman could already bring a firearm on to campus, and the law could prevent mass shootings because someone with a licensed concealed weapon could be ready to confront a gunman. "What campus carry does is that it only authorizes those who go through the special training and background" to carry firearms, his office quoted him as saying. University of Texas professors lobbied unsuccessfully to prevent the law, arguing the combination of youth, firearms and college life could make for a deadly situation. University President Gregory Fenves reluctantly allowed campus carry, saying he was compelled to do so under state law. Last month, three professors sued to block the law, saying it could have a chilling effect on academic freedom. Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said the law was constitutionally sound and he would defend it. The law allows private colleges to opt out, and most of the state's best-known private universities have done so, saying the measure runs counter to protecting student safety. Story continues Eight states allow people to carry concealed weapons on public post-secondary campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At the Austin campus, third-year graduate architecture student Rachel Warburton said she was against campus carry since it runs counter to the idea that a university should be open and safe for all. "It brings an air to the campus that you don't feel safe and you feel that you always have to be protected," she said ahead of the memorial. (Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio) Chicago (AFP) - Texas became the eighth US state to allow guns on campuses Monday -- a controversial decision that comes on the 50th anniversary of a deadly sniper rampage at a university. The law, which was passed last year, requires public universities in Texas to permit concealed weapons in campus buildings, although schools can impose limits on where guns are allowed. At the University of Texas at Austin, where a mass shooting in 1966 claimed 14 lives, the institution's president Gregory Fenves said the emotionally charged issue would likely be little noticed on campus. "We have a very safe campus," Fenves said, "And I think that will continue." Texas joins seven other states which also allow concealed guns on university campuses, including Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Eighteen states specifically ban the practice. Critics of the law include three UT Austin professors who have sued, claiming their free speech rights would be violated, because students with guns would create a fearful atmosphere and stifle the open expression of ideas. In an opinion piece published last week in The Dallas Morning News, Seema Yasmin, who teaches at a public university in Dallas, echoed that theme. "I'm not scared of guns. I'm scared of this combination: term exam stress, undiagnosed mental illness and the ability to carry guns in university buildings," Yasmin wrote. Proponents argue that allowing concealed weapons on campuses makes students and teachers safer, because any potential shooting attacks can be halted more quickly by armed citizens. - Remembering a mass shooting - As the new law went into effect, UT Austin dedicated a new sculpture on its campus grounds for the victims of the 1966 massacre. The stone block sculpture is etched with the names of all 17 people killed by gunman Charles Whitman: the 14 killed on campus, his mother and wife whom he killed earlier in the day, and one more campus victim who would die of his wounds years later. Story continues Whitman, a former military sharpshooter, climbed the university's clock tower building and shot for more than 90 minutes before being killed. "This massacre... occurred before terms like mass shooting," said Lloyd Doggett, a Texas congressman who 50 years ago was a student at UT Austin. "Now, such gun violence has become all too commonplace." Some of the shooting's survivors attended the ceremony, including Claire Wilson James, who lost her unborn child when she was wounded. "Let this memorial remain here on campus and in our minds, as a reminder of the power we have each moment to become a community of love and reverence for life," James said during the ceremony. - Limits of new law - It is unclear what the impact of the Texas law will be. For one, concealed guns have been allowed on Texas university campuses since 1995. The new law now allows them inside buildings as well. A person has to be 21 or older to be licensed to carry a gun in the state. That limits the number of college students who would qualify. And despite fears, university officials say there is little evidence of increased violence. After the law was passed a year ago, the University of Texas examined 17 other universities where students are allowed to carry guns. "Most respondents reported that campus carry had not had much direct impact on student life or academic affairs," said UT's subsequent report. "We have found little evidence of campus violence that can be directly linked to campus carry, and none that involves an intentional shooting." Still, the law could have damaging public relations effects. Already, two UT Austin professors have parted from the school. A candidate to lead the university's communications school reportedly withdrew citing the concealed carry law. Asked whether the school was concerned that students might stay away, Fenves said the institution is monitoring any potential impact. "At this point, I can't say it's had an undue effect on our ability to recruit," he said. A new campus carry law in Texas, which will generally allow people at the states public universities to carry concealed handguns in campus buildings, goes into effect on Monday. The timing is eerily coincidental. On that same date fifty years agoAug. 1, 1966Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin, lugged several guns up to the observation deck of the limestone tower that soars 307 ft. above campus and starting shooting at people below. He killed more than a dozen people and wounded 31 over 96 minutes before being shot dead by police in what TIME described back then as the worst mass murder in recent U.S. history. The magazines Aug. 12 cover story, Madman in the Tower, offered a disturbingly detailed play-by-play of the sniper attacks: For a moment, nobody could make out what the odd explosions from atop the tower meant. Then men and women began crumpling to the ground, and others ran for cover. On the fourth floor of the tower building, Ph.D. Candidate Norma Barger, 23, heard the noises, looked out and saw six bodies sprawled grotesquely on the mall. At first she thought it was just a tasteless joke. I expected the six to get up and walk away laughing. Then she saw the pavement splashed with blood, and more people falling. In the first 20 minutes, relying chiefly on the 6-mm. rifle with the scope but switching occasionally to the carbine and the .357 revolver, Whitman picked off most of his victims. On the sun-dappled mall, Mrs. Claire Wilson, 18, eight months pregnant, was walking from an anthropology class when a bullet crashed into her abdomen; she survived, but later gave birth to a stillborn child whose skull had been crushed by the shot Whitman also killed his wife and mother before getting to the school, leaving notes that explained he didnt want his wife to have to face the embarrassment that my actions will surely cause her and that he wanted to put his mother out of her pain and misery, perhaps an allusion to Whitmans father, who physically abused her. The motivation for the shooting, however, would remain a mystery. Story continues Four months prior to the murders, when he told a campus psychiatrist that he was thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start to shoot people, he was told to come back in a week. Whitman didnt, though he noted in one of his farewell notes that he hoped an autopsy would be performed on him to see if theres any mental disorders. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Despite the decades that have passed since then, TIMEs coverage of the shooting may seem familiar to 21st century readers. In The Symptoms of Mass Murder, TIME reporters interviewed 40 psychiatrists and psychologists on how to spot warning signs. The story A Gun-Toting Nation talks about how Americans own more guns than any other people a fact thats still true according to a TIME round-up of gun use in America after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. Americans in the 1960s were sadly accustomed to public violence. Texas had been the scene, just a few years earlier, of the murder of a president. But this time they were seeing it unfold in a new way that may have made it resonate differently or seem more shocking. The Whitman shooting has been described as one of the first examples of mass media coverage of a mass shooting. It was notable for being the first American mass shooting of the television era, when families sat around TV sets in the evening sharing the news together, says Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. An Austin TV and radio station called KTBC first broadcast the news only about five minutes into Whitmans shooting spree, per TIME, and that station was affiliated with the major broadcast networks (of which there were only three at the time). That meant that the whole nation could get KTBC coverageincluding a live telecast from nearbyof the event. Warnings to stay away and pleas for blood peppered [the reporters] running account, TIME explained. Photographer-Reporter John Thawley abandoned his camera and raced out to help rescue wounded victims while bullets spattered around him. He was not hit. (The only newsman who was: A.P.s Robert Heard, shot in the left shoulder.) Meanwhile the story was prompting calls to KTBC from as far away as Canada requesting brief radio reports. Steven Gorelick, criminologist and lecturer in Media Studies at Hunter College of The City University of New York, says the news-gathering operation described above marks the dawn of what would become the age of the great echo chamber, meaning todays 24/7 cable news channels and social media networks. But, symmetry with today aside, some things really were different in 1966. In particular, says Gorelick, the experience of consuming all of this bad news was very different. Its easier today than it was in 66 to think that humanity is under siege, he says, explaining that the limited number of news sources available in the 1960sgenerally the paper in the morning and network television in the eveningmeant that there was less of that echo chamber effect. As a result, people got to digest what they were hearing, often in groups. There were moments to think about what had happened. Bangkok (AFP) - The mother of a prominent student activist was indicted by a Thai military court on royal defamation charges Monday over a one-word Facebook message in what rights groups have described as a new low for the junta's crackdown on dissent. Patnaree Chankij, 40, was initially arrested in May by Thai police for violating Thailand's severe royal defamation law, which bans disparaging the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison on each count. Her lawyers say the charge stems from writing "ja" -- the Thai equivalent of "yeah" -- in response to a private Facebook message from someone else that allegedly insulted the royal family. The case has been seized upon by activists as a terrifying example of how the military authorities have broadened their interpretation of the crime to include even vague references to the monarchy. Police eventually dropped the charges after an outcry but they forwarded the case to prosecutors from the military who have pressed ahead. "A military court today accepted the case filed by the military prosecutor (on 112)," lawyer Anon Nampa, told AFP, adding his client was granted bail ahead of an upcoming plea hearing. Use of both Thailand's lese majeste law and military courts has skyrocketed since former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in May 2014 sparking international condemnation, including from the United Nations. Record breaking 25 and 30 year sentences have since been handed down for people over Facebook posts while a man even found himself arrested for making sarcastic comments about the king's late dog. Many convictions occur behind closed doors while media must also heavily self-censor when reporting cases to avoid falling foul of the law. Reporters were not allowed into the military court on Monday and the court did not answer telephone calls. Police had earlier defended Patnaree's arrest telling reporters that "implying agreement" to unlawful web comments, through 'likes' or other means, is grounds for legal action. Story continues The latest indictment comes ahead of a crunch referendum vote this weekend on the junta's new constitution, the first time Thais will head to the polls since the coup. The generals say their charter -- the kingdom's twentieth -- will curb political corruption and bring much-needed stability after a decade of political turmoil. But critics deride it as a naked attempt to perpetuate the military's grip on power. Security is being ramped up ahead of Sunday's vote. Earlier Monday police announced that they had launched a pre-referendum crime crackdown in the northeast, an impoverished but populous region where many of the junta's fiercest critics reside. In a statement released Monday Thai police said the crime blitz had netted some 240 people who were caught with weapons, 1,908 who were detained on drugs charges and a further 1,488 who were arrested for gambling. Thailand's hospital-bound King Bhumibol Adulyadej is still being treated for fever and water on the brain, the palace said Monday in the latest in a series of updates on the 88-year-old's health. The world's longest-reigning monarch is widely revered and his frail health is a matter of great public concern. He is confined to a wheelchair and has not been seen or spoken in public for nearly a year. But in recent months the palace has begun releasing regular updates on his health. The king's reign has spanned seven tumultuous decades and most Thais have never known another monarch. Analysts say a decade-long political crisis is in part motivated by elites jostling for primacy once his reign ends. Bhumibol has spent most of the past two years in hospital in Bangkok for a series of ailments, including bacterial infections, breathing difficulties, heart problems and hydrocephalus -- a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid often dubbed water on the brain. In the latest statement by the Royal Household Bureau on Monday night, doctors said they continued to use antibiotics to treat the infections causing his fever. "After taking antibiotics his condition has got better but he still has some fever," the statement said. Doctors added that they had continued to adjust a catheter to drain excess spinal fluid, with satisfactory results. Bhumibol is seen by most Thais as a unifying force in a nation bitterly divided along political lines. Schoolchildren learn of his good works, cinemagoers must stand for the royal anthem and giant portraits of the monarch tower over most major roads. But detailed discussion of his reign and the role of the monarchy is all but impossible in Thailand because of one the world's strictest lese majeste laws. Use of the laws has skyrocketed in the last two years since the military took over in a coup, with some people jailed for as much as 30 years. From Popular Mechanics When reindeer started dying in Siberia, at first scientists blamed the heat. But there seems to be a more insidious cause: Anthrax. This summer, Siberia is experiencing a bit of a heatwave, with temperatures soaring over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. This is causing some of the permafrost to melt, and many of the region's reindeer herders are feeling the heat, along with their herds. So when hundreds of reindeer started dying, at first people thought it was due to the temperature. But when some of the herders and their children started getting sick, scientists realized something else was going on. After an investigation, scientists have determined that the culprit is anthrax, which hasn't been seen in the country since 1968. Scientists believe the source of the anthrax is an old reindeer carcass that was frozen during the last anthrax epidemic 75 years ago. The current heatwave thawed the carcass, allowing the dormant bacteria to spread. So far, the resurrected plague has killed 1500 reindeer since Sunday, although thankfully no people have died yet. Currently, thirteen people have been hospitalized, including four children. The remaining people in the area are being evacuated and vaccinated, and surviving animals are being vaccinated as well. The Russian government has imposed a quarantine of the area which is expected to last until September. Source: CNN You Might Also Like Elizabeth Holmes, the young CEO of blood-testing start-up Theranos, has had a standing invitation for the past few years to present at the annual summit for laboratory medicine, the conference of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. It was only after serious questions about her technology and a ban on her operating clinical labs arose this year that she finally accepted. "We want to know what it is that she's so secretive about, how she's doing what she says she's doing," said Patricia Jones, president of the AACC and professor of pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "We've been asking that since she first started advertising that she's doing this." In theory, Theranos' promise was simple but revolutionary: make testing possible on just a drop of blood where competitors require tubes of it to do so. But in practice, it's become increasingly unclear if Theranos has been able to accomplish it. Monday, Holmes will make her case to the biggest summit of experts in her field. She's scheduled to make a 45-minute presentation on Theranos' technology at the 68th annual AACC conference in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. Then she'll take questions for 45 minutes. It's a crucial moment for the company. In less than a year, it has gone from being a Silicon Valley darling valued at $9 billion to what some suggest is a cautionary tale about the dangers of excess hype and providing insufficient proof to back it up. The presentation at AACC marks the first time the intensely secretive Theranos will have presented information about its technology at a scientific conference. "Nothing speaks larger than data," said Dr. Joel Dudley, assistant professor of genetics and genomic sciences and director of biomedical informatics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "They need to release data to the public." Dudley published a study in March comparing Theranos' test results with those of established competitors Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and LabCorp, finding that the Theranos results for cholesterol tests diverged significantly. Story continues Published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the outside study marked the first scientifically rigorous review of the technology. "This one baffles me to this day," Dudley said in an interview Friday. "I still can't figure out why a bunch of geneticists and bioinformatics people from New York had to be the first ones to publish this study." Dudley's group conducted the research in July 2015, three months before an October Wall Street Journal investigation raised doubts about Theranos' technology, a machine called Edison. From there, the story rapidly unraveled. As Theranos disputed the Journal's reporting, federal regulators called the company's laboratory practices into question. In January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services identified serious deficiencies at Theranos' lab in Newark, California. Theranos said it was taking "corrective action" and had already addressed many of CMS' concerns. It also operates a lab in Arizona, where it says it does the majority of its tests. In March, CMS said Theranos had failed to sufficiently fix the problems in California, and threatened sanctions including a two-year ban from operating clinical labs for Holmes. Two months later, Theranos voided two years of test results in an effort to avoid the sanctions, according to the Journal. In June, Walgreens ended its partnership with Theranos , shuttering 40 testing sites. The drugstore giant cited CMS' concerns over deficiencies as well as the test results voided by Theranos. The major blow came in July: CMS said it was imposing sanctions, including the two-year ban for Holmes. "Theranos is working closely with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to resolve the sanctions that the agency advised it plans to impose on the company's Newark, California, laboratory," the company said in a statement at the time, noting it has 60 days to appeal and was considering all its options. Theranos has added two new executives to oversee regulatory, quality and compliance efforts, and recruited new scientific and medical advisory board members, including former CDC director Dr. William Foege. In an op-ed published in The Hill last month, Foege said that he and others had a chance to review Theranos' technology and that he believes in its promise. "Based on my experience, I believe that Theranos can collect, transport and test small samples, including finger-stick, with clinical integrity," Foege wrote. "This ability has break-through potential by expanding access to testing close to home or in remote locations." Foege noted the potential in particular for Theranos technology to be used to test for mosquito-borne diseases like the Zika virus, "for pregnant women who are at risk for transmitting disease to their unborn or newborn baby." "Theranos' tests are pending before FDA and, if authorized, would provide rapid access to critical information," Foege wrote. But the technology is so mysterious, "to me it's almost like magic," AACC's Jones said. "That's why I want to see the science behind it." That brings us to Monday, where Holmes' presentation is expected to cover a Theranos test for Zika, among others, according to a synopsis of the presentation on AACC's website. Given the controversy around the company and the technology, there has been pushback among some AACC members to letting Holmes present at all. "I still have some members that are not happy about the fact that we're providing her an opportunity," Jones said in a Friday interview. "I've tried to explain very carefully: We are not endorsing Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos and their technology." "Nobody knows anything about them," Jones continued. "How could we possibly endorse them?" Despite the spectacle, and the skepticism, there is hope in the field that Theranos might actually have something. "This is a technology we hope exists," Mount Sinai's Dudley said, noting the reason he did his study in the first place is because he wanted to take advantage of it in his research. "We want to believe this technology can be possible." More From CNBC By Suzanne Barlyn PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The chief executive of embattled blood testing company Theranos Inc on Monday said the privately-held firm is working diligently to rectify all of its outstanding issues involving its product and laboratory operations. Speaking before some 1,000 scientists at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry meeting in Philadelphia, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes described new products that she said are "distinct from the operations of our clinical laboratories" that have come under scrutiny. Holmes delivered her presentation to a standing-room-only crowd in a cavernous room at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Among the new experimental products Holmes discussed was a so-called minilab technology and a diagnostic for Zika that she said can detect additional strains of the mosquito-borne virus, currently racing across the Americas. Holmes said it collected blood samples for the Zika test using finger-prick technology and that the company had sent the results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She insisted the analysis of blood collected using the finger-prick is similarly effective as other methods. The company, once valued at $9 billion, was founded by Holmes in 2003 to develop an innovative blood testing device that would give quicker results using just one drop of blood. Members of the audience applauded several times when doctors on the stage challenged aspects of Theranos technology. Dr. Stephen Master, a pathologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said much interest in the company stemmed from claims it made which were very broad. "The evidence you presented fell far short of that," Master said to applause. Prior to introducing Holmes, association president Patricia Jones said the organization does not endorse Theranos. "We're all aware that there have been some suggestions about whether we'll see some science today and the viability of Theranos technology," Jones said. Theranos ran into trouble after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles beginning last October suggesting the blood-testing devices were flawed and inaccurate. Holmes last month was barred by U.S. regulators from owning or operating a lab for at least two years and, in a crushing blow, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revoked a key certificate for its California lab and terminated the facility's approval to receive government payments. Walgreens Boots Alliance terminated its relationship with the company in June and closed operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its drug stores in Arizona. (Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn and Bill Berkrot; Editing by Sandra Maler) Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Theranos has a lot to prove. And on Monday afternoon, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will have a chance at some redemption. She is presenting data on the company's controversial "revolutionary" tests that take only a finger-prick's worth of blood. That's happening at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's annual conference in Philadelphia at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. Theranos has never publicly shared any of its data before, saying for a long time that it'd rather go through the FDA approval process. This will be the first time Theranos data has been presented at a medical conference. Holmes is talking now because Theranos has faced withering criticism ranging from reports that it tests don't actually work to a government shutdown of one of its labs for almost a year. In an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Holmes emphasized that Theranos' mission is to make the lab-testing industry compact to just one machine. This is the machine that runs the small amounts of blood, which used to be called "Edison," but on Monday a newer version of the technology and platform will be presented that no longer bears the name "Edison." Holmes pins the missteps that have happened within the company on the people, not the Theranos technology. "At the highest level, we didn't have the right leadership in the laboratory, and we didn't have the implementation of the quality system in terms of procedures and the associated documentation to ensure that we were realizing the quality standards that we hold ourselves to," Holmes told CNN. Even so, the data the company ends up presenting today off that technology might not be enough to put the company back in good graces, lab-testing experts told Business Insider. Here's what's in store, according to the presentation's abstract: It's going to be an education session, which means that it's not pegged to specific study data and conclusions that a study-poster presentation would display. This also means that there won't be independently validated data. Theranos will be presenting data that intends to show how the company's finger-prick blood test, which requires only a small amount of blood, stacks up to a typical blood test that draws a few tubes of blood from a vein. Among the tests Theranos will be demonstrating is a test to diagnose the Zika virus. Story continues But that information is essentially "useless," since it's still not validated by independent reviewers, Dr. Eleftherios P. Diamandis, head of clinical biochemistry at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, told Business Insider. Diamandis, who has written critiques of Theranos in the past, said it's all just speculative. That's because it won't be independently validated data from a large amount of test samples. Ideally, Diamandis said, Theranos would need to present millions of tests, with very rare failures. "The quality demands are going to be very high," he said. Diamandis, who's been going to this conference for decades, said he will be attending the presentation, but he's not going to be taught anything about the technology. He's mainly just curious to see what Holmes ends up sharing. A rocky July A year ago, Theranos was touting its first FDA approval for a herpes test that could be run with just a few drops of blood. This July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which regulates blood-testing labs, barred Holmes from the industry for two years, imposing other sanctions including banning the company from working with the Medicare program. Theranos is now in the middle of a number of government investigations, including one by a congressional committee. It's seen major deals fall apart, and now operates just five testing centers, down from more than 40. The company has taken steps to make things right, adding scientists to its newly formed Scientific and Medical Advisory Board among those four former AACC presidents and hiring compliance and regulatory executives. Best-case scenario Ideally, if Theranos was able to show independently reviewed data, that would be the best way to make a comeback. But in the meantime, Howard Forman, Yale diagnostic radiology, economics, and public-health professor, told Business Insider that just having the company show a willingness to work with the government better would be a step in the right direction. "I think it would be great if they could show willingness to change whatever management needs to be changed in order to have the relationships they need to be able to rebuild with CMS and CLIA," he said. But beyond that, the company will need to tackle the more serious issue of allowing university researchers to use its technology and run tests without any interference. Overall, there seems to be a optimism in seeing at least something. If the product works the way Theranos claims it does, it would have a huge impact on healthcare, Forman said. "In the long run, we're all better by seeing new entities succeed, not to see them fail," he said. "But at the same time it has to be on terms that are going to make this country better and not just something that sops up venture money and never returns it to investors in a meaningful way." Here's the full abstract of Monday's presentation: Title: Theranos Science & Technology: the miniaturization of lab testing Abstract: Theranos mission is to deliver affordable and easily accessible clinical diagnostic testing. To achieve this objective, the company has developed a family of novel clinical diagnostic methods with the aim to simplify sample collection and reduce sample volume requirements, while performing a wide range of diagnostic tests in both centralized and decentralized settings. This presentation will describe the Theranos lab testing framework, which consists of a finger-stick blood collection and storage device, technologies for processing small volume samples in a centralized setting, and a compact fully-integrated and automated field-deployable diagnostic testing platform. Ms. Holmes will present reproducibility and correlation data for various tests comparing Theranos capillary collection and storage device with traditional venipuncture methods. She will also discuss methodology employed for their diagnostic testing platform, and share data to demonstrate the precision and accuracy of these chemistry, immunochemistry, hematology, and molecular assays (traditionally performed on separate instruments) using their analytical testing platform, including a novel molecular test for the Zika virus. Following the presentation by Ms. Holmes, there will be a moderator-led Q&A session featuring questions submitted in real-time by members of the audience. The moderator panel will include Drs. Patti Jones, PhD; Y.M. Dennis Lo, DM, DPhil, FRCP, FRCPath; and Stephen Master, MD, PhD. This interactive session is not part of the accredited educational program, and as such will not receive Continuing Medical Education or ACCENT credit. NOW WATCH: This medical device should make drawing blood a lot less painful More From Business Insider student loans debt Most people have some debt payments to make, loans to pay back. But for some Americans, debt has gotten to an extreme and dire level: all their debts, added up, cost more than all their assets combined. It's called "negative wealth," and a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that 14% of Americans are dealing with it, along with another 1.1% who are just breaking even. Which means that for 15.1% of Americans, everything they own isn't enough to pay off their debt. The analysis was done by four economists using data from the Survey of Consumer Expectations from 2015. (The 2014 data was just released on the SCE website.) The economists were interested in the composition of households with negative and non-negative wealth. In other words, who are these 15.1% of Americans? How much money are they making, and what kind of debts do they owe? Some of their findings are intuitive. The heads of households with negative wealth are younger, on average, than heads of non-negative households, and are slightly less likely to have a college degree. They have lower annual incomes ($39,077 versus $86,309), and they're also four times more likely to be single parents, less likely to own their home, and more likely to be black or Hispanic. In terms of what they actually own, the discrepancies are clear: Households with non-negative wealth have more retirement wealth and more money in housing assets. Only 20% of negative-wealth households own their home, compared with 75% of those with non-negative wealth. For households with negative wealth, 40-55% of their total assets are in their vehicles. graph 1 But one of the starkest contrasts is in the debt composition for each wealth group. The chart below shows how much debt households have, on average, in seven categories: mortgages, credit card debt, auto loans, student loans, medical bills, legal bills, and other personal loans. Story continues graph 2 For households with negative wealth less than $12,400, debt is dominated by credit cards, which account for over 30% of their total debt, according to the analysis 60% larger than households with non-negative wealth. And for households that have even less wealth (or more negative wealth), student loan debt is the biggest cause for concern. For households in the middle third, student loan debt is 40%, and for the bottom third it's almost 50%. That means that for the people who are most affected by debt, almost half of that is for their college education. Academics have argued that student debt is partly to blame for America's increasing inequality that college is only worth the cost for wealthier students, it's actually preventing low-income and middle-class students from building wealth because they're crippled by their student loans. And indeed, wealthier students are less likely to take on loans to attend school and tend to graduate with a lower amount of debt as a portion of their income. That's even clearer after looking at households' debt composition. The people who have the least ability to pay their debts for whom everything they own is nowhere near close enough to pay back what they owe the biggest chunk of that is going to repaying student loans. The authors agree it's a problem. "Given the importance of student debt in explaining negative household wealth," they write, "it is likely that the steady growth in student debt and borrowing ... has materially contributed and will continue to contribute to negative household wealth and wealth inequality." The hope, they say, lies in housing. For the lowest third, 22% of their debt is mortgage debt, and for the slightly-better-off two thirds, mortgage loans make up slightly less. "The continued recovery in the housing market observed over the past few years may help households with negative home equity come out of their negative wealth position," the authors wrote. NOW WATCH: This Excel trick will save you time and impress your boss More From Business Insider By Matthias Inverardi COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators from Germany's Turkish community turned out in Cologne on Sunday to show their support for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at a rally that ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Ankara and Berlin. Waving the Turkish national flag, demonstrators held aloft pictures of Erdogan and placards reading "For Democracy, Against Putsch" after a failed military coup earlier this month. "We are here because our compatriots in Germany advocate democracy and are against the attempted military coup," Turkey's sport and youth minister, Akif Cagatay Kilic, who attended the rally, told reporters. The demonstration became the focus of increasingly strained ties between Germany and Turkey after a decision by Germany's top court on its eve prevented Erdogan from addressing the meeting via videoconference. "German Constitutional Court's decision on the anti-coup rally in Cologne is an utter backsliding in freedom of speech and democracy," Turkey's minister for EU affairs, Omer Celik, wrote in English on his official Twitter account. Erdogan has said it is 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 coup attempt. On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Turkey should show proportionality in its pursuit of those behind the failed military coup, adding that she was following developments in the country with concern. Germany is home to around 3 million people of Turkish origin. In Turkey's last elections, 60 percent of them voted for Turkey's ruling AKP Party, according to the organization Turkish Communities in Germany. Police sources said about 20,000 demonstrators turned out at the rally, at which protestors held a minute's silence for the victims of militant attacks around the world. About 3,000 police were deployed. German officials are concerned that tensions within Turkey could spill over into Germany, which has seen violence in the past between nationalist Turks and militant Kurds on its soil. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Angus MacSwan) The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda's Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest 1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania 1954: Virus found in Nigeria 1960s-80s: Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa 196983: Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan 2007: Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap 2012: Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian 201314: Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia March 2, 2015: Brazil reports illness characterized by skin rash in northeastern states July 17: Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection Oct. 5: Cape Verde has cases of illness with skin rash Oct. 22: Colombia confirms cases of Zika Oct. 30: Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns Nov. 11: Brazil declares public health emergency November 2015-January 2016: Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica Feb. 1: World Health Organization (WHO) declares public health emergency of international concern Feb. 2: First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite Feb. 5: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says virus being actively transmitted in 30 countries, mostly in the Americas Feb. 8: U.S. President Barack Obama requests $1.8 billion to fight Zika Feb. 12: Brazil investigating potential link between Zika infections and 4,314 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 462 confirmed as microcephaly and 41 determined to be linked to virus Feb. 17: Brazil investigating potential link between Zika and 4,443 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 508 confirmed as microcephaly and most of those cases are linked to the virus. WHO seeks $56 million to fight Zika. Feb. 18: CDC adds Aruba and Bonaire to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 32. Feb. 23: CDC investigating 14 cases of possible sexual transmission of Zika. CDC also adds Trinidad and Tobago and Marshall Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 34. Feb. 25: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases number more than 580 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly. Feb. 27: France detects first sexually transmitted case of Zika. Feb. 29: CDC adds St. Maarten, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 36. March 1: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 641 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,222 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 8: WHO advises pregnant women to avoid areas with Zika outbreak and said sexual transmission of the virus is "relatively common." March 9: CDC adds New Caledonia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 37. March 15: Cuba reports first case of Zika contracted in the country. March 16: Cape Verde identifies first case of microcephaly. March 18: CDC says during Jan. 1, 2015 to Feb. 26, 2016, 116 residents of the United States had evidence of recent Zika virus infection based on laboratory testing. Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 863 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,268 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 19: CDC adds Cuba to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 38. March 21: South Korea confirms first case of Zika. March 22: CDC adds Dominica to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 39. Bangladesh confirms first case of Zika virus. Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 907 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,293 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 29: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 944 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil said the number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped slightly to 4,291. March 31: According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years. April 1: CDC adds Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 40. April 4: CDC adds Fiji to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 41. April 5: Vietnam reports first Zika infections. April 6: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 1,046 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped to 4,046. April 7: St. Lucia confirms first two cases of Zika, contracted locally. April 12: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 1,113 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped to 3,836. It was the second week in a row that the overall total figure fell. April 13: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years. CDC adds St. Lucia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 42. April 14: Colombia confirms two microcephaly cases linked to Zika. April 18: Peru reports first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus. CDC adds Belize to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 43. April 19: Chilean authorities find Zika mosquito for first time in decades. April 25: Canada confirms first sexually transmitted Zika case. April 26: Brazil says the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly climbed to 1,198 from 1,168 in the week through April 23, but suspected ones under investigation continued to decline to 3,710 from 3,741 a week ago. Brazil registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus from February until April 2, the health ministry said, in its first national report on the epidemic. April 29: Puerto Rico reports first death related to Zika, according to the CDC. The country also confirmed 683 Zika cases, including 65 pregnant women, and five suspected cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome from Zika, the CDC reported. May 4: Panama confirms four microcephaly cases tied to Zika. May 6: Spain gets first case of Zika-related brain defect in a fetus. May 9: CDC adds Papua New Guinea, Saint Barthelemy and Peru to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 46. Honduras suspects first case of microcephaly in Zika patient. May 11: Brazil says the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly dropped to 1,326 in the week through May 7 as doctors and Brazilian health officials find that some suspected cases of microcephaly are not the disorder. Suspected ones under investigation continued to decline to 3,433. May 12: CDC adds Grenada to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 47. May 13: Puerto Rico reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly. May 20: WHO says an outbreak of Zika virus on the African island chain of Cape Verde is of the same strain as the one blamed for birth abnormalities in Brazil. May 24: Brazil reports the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly at 1,434 for the latest week to May 21. Suspected ones under investigation declined to 3,257. May 26: CDC adds Argentina to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 48. June 9: WHO issues updated guidelines on prevention of sexual transmission of the Zika virus, including advising women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant. June 14: El Salvador confirms first case of microcephaly linked to Zika. June 23: CDC reports seven babies in the United States with microcephaly or other Zika-related birth defects such as serious brain abnormalities, and five lost pregnancies from either miscarriage, stillbirth or termination. June 28: First baby with Zika-related birth defect microcephaly born in Florida. June 30: CDC adds Anguilla to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 49. Guinea-Bissau confirms three cases of Zika, government says. Spain records first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus, health authorities said. July 8: CDC confirmed that a Utah resident's death last month is the first Zika-related death in the continental United States. July 14: CDC adds Saint Eustatius to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 50. July 15: New York City's health department reports the first female-to-male transmission of the Zika virus. July 18: CDC reports that caregiver of Utah man who died of Zika tested positive for virus. July 19: Florida health officials are investigating a case of Zika virus infection that does not appear to have stemmed from travel to another region with an outbreak. July 21: CDC reports 400 pregnant women in U.S. with evidence of Zika infection, up from 346 a week ago. The health agency also reports three more babies born in U.S. with birth defects linked to the Zika virus, bringing total to 12. Florida Department of Health said it was investigating a non travel-related case of Zika in Broward County, marking the second such case in the U.S. July 22: New York City health officials reports first baby born with Zika-related birth defect. July 25: Spain reports first case in Europe of baby born with Zika-related defect. CDC issues updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner. July 26: Honduras detects 8 cases of babies with Zika-related defect. CDC adds Saba to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 51 July 27: Paraguay reports first cases of microcephaly linked to Zika. July 29: Florida authorities report what is believed to be the first evidence of local Zika transmission in the continental United States. Aug. 1: Florida identifies 10 more cases of Zika virus caused by mosquitos, bringing total to 14. CDC issues guidelines for pregnant women who live in and traveled to affected area. SOURCES: World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by the Americas Desk) A toddler has been hospitalised with the worst case of chickenpox doctors have ever seen. Little Jasper Allen, two, spent five days in care after the sores, which cover every inch of his body, became severely infected. But his mother, Sarah, 36, claims that less than 48 hour before he was rushed to hospital, she was told he wasnt unwell enough to see a doctor. The mum-of-two was allegedly refused an appointment at her local GP surgery by a receptionist and is now calling on the government to make a vaccination against the disease free for all on the NHS. It is currently only offered where there is a clinical need. This includes where the child is likely to come into contact with people who are particularly vulnerable to chickenpox, such as those having chemotherapy. Nursery manager Sarah, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, said: I was one of those parents who couldnt wait for my two [kids] to get chickenpox so then it was out of the way I didnt think there was any harm in letting him get it. Jasper got chickenpox days after suffering from scarlet fever (Mercury) But to see him get it like that and see how it took over his body was just heart-breaking. It was definitely not just chickenpox and I want people to realise this. "Everyones reactions in the hospital were just complete shock over how severe it was the doctors all wanted to come and see this worst ever case of chickenpox. "There was even talk about using the pictures for a medical journal. One of the paediatric nurses with 40 years experience said she had never seen anything like it. Sarah, who also has daughter Poppy, five with 38-year-old postman husband Keith Allen, noticed a few spots on Jasper in July after the tot had first developed scarlet fever the week before. Sarah said: "When I first called our local GPs surgery I spoke to the receptionist to make an appointment for Jasper but when I told her it was chickenpox she said to me 'every mother thinks their child has bad chickenpox. Story continues I knew I wasnt being a neurotic mother I have two children and have run a nursery and seen hundreds of kids with chickenpox before so I knew this wasnt normal. Jaspers mum, Sarah, was allegedly turned away from a GP surgery (Mercury) They should listen to parents more we know our babies better than anybody in the world. "As we were sat in the waiting room waiting for a bed I could see this redness in his chest spreading all over him before my eyes. "We couldnt hold him for three days because he screamed every time we touched him. A spokesman for the Department of Health said: Chickenpox is usually a mild illness in children with most recovering quickly. "The vaccine is not routinely offered to children although the Governments expert vaccination advisers are reviewing this. "The vaccine aims to protect those who are at risk from serious illness. "Thats why it is recommended for children with family members who are undergoing medical treatments such as chemotherapy which can affect immunity." Sarah, Poppy, Japser and Keith (Mercury) A spokesman for Cambridge and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said the CCG is unable to comment upon individual patient cases. He added: If you are ever concerned about your childs health then call NHS 111 who can give advice or refer to an appropriate NHS service, including A&E if necessary. (Credit: Mercury) Tweet your views to @YahooStyleUK Could You Have Longer Left On Your Biological Clock Than You Think? Could An App Make Your Children Happier? Headspace Launches Meditation App For Children Youll Instantly Bond With Your Baby And Other Classic New Parent Myths Last weeks Democratic National Convention was, among other things, a battery of rejoinders prepackaged for Twitter from a lineup of the partys most popular lawmakers and supporters. By analyzing the millions of tweets that included one of the common hashtags for the convention, TIME was able to identify the top 100 most popular lines, as measured by the number of times people tweeted them. Since not everyone transcribed the same quote verbatim, we combined quotes that referred to the same line with small variations. By this method, Nominee Hillary Clinton led the pack with 27 of the top 100 quotes, followed by President Obama with 14. 1. Dont boo. Vote. President Obama, repeating a familiar refrain from his reelection campaign 2. When they go low, we go high. First Lady Michelle Obama 3. Malarkey. Vice President Joe Biden, referring to Donald Trumps alleged concern for the middle class. 4. I believe in science. Secretary Hillary Clinton 5. When there are no ceilings, the skys the limit. Secretary Hillary Clinton 6. The system is rigged Sen. Elizabeth Warren 7. America, we will rise! Sen. Cory Booker 8. He has no clue, period. Vice President Joe Biden, referring to Donald Trump. 9. Deal me in! Secretary Hillary Clinton, co-opting accusations that she plays the woman card. 10. Im a New Yorker and I know a con when I see one. Mayor Michael Bloomberg 11. To the Bernie or Bust people, youre being ridiculous. Sarah Silverman 12. We dont look to be ruled. President Obama 13. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. Secretary Hillary Clinton 14. The American Dream is something no wall will ever contain. President Obama 15. He spoke for 70 odd minutes, and I do mean odd. Secretary Hillary Clinton, regarding Trumps acceptance speech a week earlier. Story continues 16. Democracy isnt a spectator sport. President Obama 17. America is already great. President Obama, alluding to the Trump campaigns slogan Make America Great Again. 18. No Donald, you dont. Secretary Hillary Clinton, responding to Trumps claim that I know more about ISIS than the generals do. 19. Change maker President Bill Clinton, referring to Hillary Clinton. 20. I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. First Lady Michelle Obama 21. America is great because America is good. Secretary Hillary Clinton, echoing a phrase that is often misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville. 22. Si se puede Sen. Tim Kaine, relaying the Obama campaigns Yes We Can in Spanish. 23. Lets elect a sane, competent person. Mayor Michael Bloomberg 24. Your cause is our cause. Secretary Hillary Clinton, in an olive branch to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders. 25. Dont believe anyone who says I alone can fix it.' Secretary Hillary Clinton, referencing a line from Trumps acceptance speech. 26. We own the finish line Vice President Joe Biden 27. Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. Sen. Bernie Sanders 28. You have sacrificed nothing. Khizr Khan, father of a fallen soldier, regarding Trump 29. It takes a village. Secretary Hillary Clinton, referencing the title of her 1996 book. 30. Not voting is not a protest, it is a surrender. Rep. Keith Ellison 31. The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy. Mayor Michael Bloomberg 32. Homegrown demagogues will always fail in the end. President Bill Clinton 33. Public service is about service. Chelsea Clinton 34. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Sen. Cory Booker, quoting an African saying of unclear origin. 35. This is not reality television. This is reality. Mayor Michael Bloomberg 36. When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone. Secretary Hillary Clinton 37. We dont fear the future, we shape it. President Obama 38. Dont let anyone tell you this country isnt great First Lady Michelle Obama 39. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself Secretary Hillary Clinton, quoting Franklin Roosevelt. 40. We are called to be a nation of love. Sen. Cory Booker 41. Democracy doesnt work if we constantly demonize each other. President Obama 42. There is no other Donald Trump. This is it. Secretary Hillary Clinton 43. Strong women get things done! Rep. Gabby Giffords 44. When we are indivisible, we are invincible. Sen. Cory Booker 45. This right now is the greatest country on earth. First Lady Michelle Obama 46. One is real, the other is made up. President Bill Clinton, referring to the portrayal of Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Convention. 47. Cynicism is a refuge for cowards. Sen. Cory Booker 48. After all, when there are no ceilings, the skys the limit. Secretary Hillary Clinton 49. Its never been a good bet to bet against America. Vice President Joe Biden 50. No one gets through life alone. Secretary Hillary Clinton 51. Thats not law and order. Thats criminal intent. Ret. Navy Rear Adm. John Hutson, referencing Trumps call on Russian to uncover Clintons unreleased emails from when she was Secretary of State. 52. Somos americanos todos. Sen. Tim Kaine, saying in Spanish that We are all Americans. 53. Donald, youre not fit to polish John McCains boots. Ret. Navy Rear Adm. John Hutson 54. Reject cynicism and reject fear. President Obama 55. I accept your nomination for President of the United States. Secretary Hillary Clinton 56. Tough times dont last. Tough people do. Sen. Tim Kaine 57. Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks. Secretary Hillary Clinton 58. Being a teacher is not what they do, its who they are. Vice President Joe Biden 59. My family never crossed a border, the border crossed us. Eva Longoria 60. Jesus was a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew Rev. William Barber 61. You nominated the real one. President Bill Clinton 62. Our revolution continues. Sen. Bernie Sanders 63. We must shock this nation with the power of love. Rev. William Barber 64. In the spring of 1971, I met a girl. President Bill Clinton 65. I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before. President Obama 66. I love you back! President Obama 67. We can honor police and treat every community fairly. President Obama 68. We are always stronger together. First Lady Michelle Obama 69. I just dont want you to be shot by someone who shouldnt have a gun in the first place. Secretary Hillary Clinton 70. I dont know if they had their birth certificates. President Obama, referring to his Kansan ancestors and joking about accusations that he was not born in the United States. 71. Come on! Were America! Vice President Joe Biden 72. You have to stand up to bullies. Secretary Hillary Clinton 73. There is more than enough of the American Dream to go around. Secretary Hillary Clinton (introductory video) 74. This isnt about being politically correct. This is about saving our children. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin 75. Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. First Lady Michelle Obama 76. Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Sen. Bernie Sanders 77. I wish every American could hug President Obama. Sharon Belkefor, who lost a son in Afghanistan 78. I married my best friend. President Bill Clinton 79. Barack and I married way up. Vice President Joe Biden 80. We lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. Vice President Joe Biden 81. The America I know is decent and generous. President Obama 82. Its healing time. Its hope time. Its Hillary time. Rev. Jesse Jackson 83. She never, ever forgets who shes fighting for. Chelsea Clinton 84. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight. Sen. Bernie Sanders 85. Do all the good you can and serve one another. Sen. Tim Kaine 86. You cant love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. Sen. Cory Booker 87. Were not done perfecting our union. President Obama 88. I look forward to your votes during the roll call tomorrow night. Sen. Bernie Sanders 89. I want to thank Bernie Sanders. Secretary Hillary Clinton 90. Every kid with a disability has the right to go to school. Secretary Hillary Clinton 91. Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top. Sen. Elizabeth Warren 92. In times of crisis, we dont abandon our values, we double down on them. Sen. Cory Booker 93. To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws. Secretary Hillary Clinton 94. We are going to follow the money. Secretary Hillary Clinton 95. Thank God they can fix this in post. Sarah Silverman, joking about how awkwardness at the convention could be edited out in post-production. 96. I trust Hillary Clinton with our sons life. Sen. Tim Kaine 97. We are not going to be Donald Trumps hate-filled America. Not now, not ever. Sen. Elizabeth Warren 98. I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next. Secretary Hillary Clinton 99. Our economy isnt working the way it should because our democracy isnt working the way it should. Secretary Hillary Clinton 100. We have the most tolerant and generous young people weve ever had. Secretary Hillary Clinton One of Donald Trump's key advisers appeared on CNN on Sunday to defend Melania Trump after the New York Post published nude photos of the Republican presidential candidate's wife. Jason Miller, the campaign's senior communications adviser, said during an appearance on Reliable Sources that the photos of Melania Trump are "a celebration of the human body as art." He added: "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. She's a beautiful woman." The Post printed a photo of the former model sans clothing on the cover of its Sunday edition with the headline "The Ogle Office." Several more nude photos ran inside the newspaper. They reportedly were taken 21 years ago by photographer Jarl Ale Alexandre de Basseville for now-defunct French men's magazine Max and had never appeared online. EXCLUSIVE: Melania Trump like you've never seen her before https://t.co/GZwLuejORJ pic.twitter.com/ukdet3CJRY - New York Post (@nypost) July 31, 2016 In the article accompanying the photos that was posted online, Donald Trump is quoted as saying: "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common." Read More: Ann Coulter on Roger Ailes' Fox News Exit, Melania Trump's RNC Speech Flap On CNN, Miller echoed that sentiment: "These were photos that are 20 years old, before Mrs. Trump met Mr. Trump." De Basseville also has shot Dior perfume ads and worked with stars including Diane Kruger, according to the Post. For his part, the photographer also defended the pictures. "I think it is important to show the beauty and the freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melania's beauty," said de Basseville. A CNN panel discussion on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps ongoing feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of the late Capt. Humayun Khan, was volatile early Monday morning. Former Trump campaign manager and current CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski defended his candidate of choice. When someone attacks you publicly in front of a stage of millions of people, you have the ability to respond, he claimed. Now, this is a very sensitive issue. She didnt say a word! Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign surrogate Christine Quinn interjected. She didnt say a word. It is outrageously un-American. When Quinn was condemning Trumps response, Lewandowski interrupted and things got heated. You got to relax a little bit, Lewandowski told Quinn. I do not have to relax, said a visibly angry Quinn. Excuse me, Lewandowski started, but when Quinn touched his arm, he immediately started to tell her, Dont touch me. Dont touch me. Oh calm down, Quinn shot back. Relax, insisted Lewandowski. Im not going to relax, shot back Quinn. Because we have a man running for president of the United States who made a Gold Star mother have to go on TV and cry in front of America. Lewandowski complained that Trump never asked Mrs. Khan to go on TV. CNN anchor John Berman suggested she felt she had no choice. While [Trump] said Capt. Khan was a hero, what he did there was he questioned why this woman was being silent, Berman pointed out. But remember how this began, Lewandowski replied. Mr. Khan got up and said, Donald Trump is a bad person whos never read the Constitution, et cetera, et cetera. Thats how this began. Its hard to see how a protracted argument between Trump and the Khans benefits the candidate, something anchor Poppy Harlow brought up. What does this get Donald Trump, this fight? Harlow asked. He didnt start the fight, Lewandowski complained. This is the typical media. When Donald Trump responds to somebody, they say hes attacking. Hes not. Hes counterpunching. Story continues Lewandowski repeatedly tried to shift the discussion into how a Trump presidency would have prevented an Iraq War in the first place. This despite Trump, like Clinton, initially supporting the war. Yet the conversation inevitably would return to Trumps inability to let go of this dispute with the Khans. Presidents of both parties rarely ever, maybe never, attack the families because being a leader, being a commander in chief sometimes means, often means rising above, said Quinn. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog crashes live CNN broadcast: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. Donald Trump Have you no sense of decency, sir? Those are the words that I keep reflecting on when I think of Donald Trump and his supporters as they launch attacks on a Gold Star family who spoke out at the Democratic National Convention. In an emotional speech, Khizr Khan father of Capt. Humayun Khan, a Bronze Star hero killed in the Iraq War said that if it were up to Trump, then his son probably would not have been able to be in the US, let alone its military. And he asked whether Trump had read the US Constitution, while opining that he had never sacrificed anything in his life. It was all legitimate criticism and questioning: Trump had called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" last year, despite various legal scholars calling such a ban a clear violation of the Constitution. And when later asked of what personal sacrifices he had made for his country by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Trump couldn't recall anything other than his business success and that he had "created thousands and thousands of jobs." Sacrifice is defined as the "act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone." So, I would ask, how is Trump working hard to build a business a sacrifice? And I would ask again: Have you no sense of decency, sir? Khizr Khan, who's son Humayun (L) was killed serving in the U.S. Army, challenges Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to read his copy of the U.S. Constitution, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 28, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson A few know what the ultimate sacrifice looks like firsthand. They are the Gold Star mothers and fathers, and they count the parents of Capt. Khan within their ranks. All have once heard a knock at their door, a soldier and chaplain behind it, charged with delivering the news that no parent ever wants to hear. Trump also implied that Ghazala Khan's Muslim faith was the reason why her husband spoke at the convention and she did not. But what stopped her from speaking was her incredible grief, as she explained in The Washington Post. Story continues "Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself," she wrote. "What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?" Perhaps this shouldn't be so shocking, considering that Trump had no problem attacking a man held captive and tortured for more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. But it will never be right. And it's more than politics it's about basic human decency. Trump said that "Mr. Khan [had] no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim" that he had never read the Constitution a coincidental statement, given that Khan was demonstrating his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Now contrast Trump's view with President George W. Bush, who was asked about Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed the same year in Iraq as Capt. Khan. As Sheehan held an anti-war vigil outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in 2005, he told reporters: "I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan. She feels strongly about her position, and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has the right to her position. And I thought long and hard about her position I've heard her position from others, which is 'get out of Iraq now.' And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so." Humayun Khan grave While visiting a dying soldier at Walter Reed that year, Bush was even berated by a devastated mother, as his press secretary, Dana Perino, recounted. He tried to offer comfort, but eventually, he just stood there and took it. Bush knew that, at the end of the day, it was ultimately his fault that that mother's son was in a hospital bed. Though he believed that the Iraq War was just, his decision to invade in 2003 was one that was his alone. "I don't blame her a bit," he told Perino. He had the dignity to let a grieving family vent. Why can't Trump? "You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost," more than a dozen Gold Star families wrote in a letter calling on Trump to apologize. So, Mr. Trump, I'll ask again: Have you no sense of decency, sir? And to the ranks of the Republican Party beyond a handful who have spoken out yet refused to withdraw their support that continue to remain deafeningly silent as a Gold Star family is attacked by its candidate for US president: People will remember that you would not condemn a man who may some day walk into a hospital room of a grieving family angered that he sent their son or daughter to war. So I would ask all of them: Have you no sense of decency? Paul Szoldra is a correspondent for Tech Insider and a US Marine infantry veteran of the war in Afghanistan. NOW WATCH: While under fire from GOP, Trump continues to call out the Muslim parents of a slain US soldier More From Business Insider Washington (AFP) - Veterans groups and Republicans Monday savaged Donald Trump's war of words with the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier, the latest example of the presidential nominee making statements considered beyond the pale. The feud has shaken the US presidential campaign, becoming a flash point 99 days before the November election that pits the Republican against Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom Trump on Monday called "the devil." Criticism has poured in from outraged veterans groups, relatives of soldiers killed in action and even President Barack Obama. The episode has dominated US headlines since last Thursday, when Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the Republican nominee for having "sacrificed nothing" for the country. In an interview aired on ABC Sunday, Trump insisted he had made "a lot of sacrifices" while suggesting that Khan's wife, who stood silent on the convention stage as her husband spoke, had not been allowed to talk. On Monday, Trump renewed his assault, tweeting: "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same - Nice!" The families of 23 other slain US soldiers berated Trump for remarks they called "repugnant and personally offensive." "We feel we must speak out and demand you apologize to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments," they said in an open letter. Army captain Humayun Khan was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest US war veterans group, heaped scorn on Trump's "out of bounds" criticism of a fallen soldier's mother. "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," VFW leader Brian Duffy said. Story continues Trump broke precedent again on Monday, lambasting Clinton's nomination rival Bernie Sanders for giving in to her nomination, saying the Vermont senator "made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil. It's true." - Republican backlash - Trump's running mate Mike Pence attempted to walk back the billionaire's war of words with Khan Monday, telling an angry Air Force mother whose son is serving in the military that "Captain Khan is an American hero." "We honor him and honor his family as we do all Gold Star families," Pence told the woman in Carson City, Nevada, after she asked the vice presidential nominee how he could tolerate Trump's "disrespect." Few high-profile Republicans have backed Trump in his battle with the Khans. The mogul's sustained hostility toward the couple -- alarming partly because criticism of Gold Star families has traditionally been off-limits in American political discourse -- incensed Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war once mocked by Trump for being captured in Vietnam. "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr Trump's statement," McCain said in a lengthy and scathing statement. "While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," he added. Former 2016 White House candidate Jeb Bush blasted Trump's statements as "incredibly disrespectful," while the chairman of the Republican National Committee signaled he, too, was shocked by the billionaire. "I think this family should be off limits," Reince Priebus told CNN. - Ultimate sacrifice - With the two sides slinging criticism, Khan accused Trump of Islamophobia, assailing his "ignorance and arrogance," expressing exasperation on NBC that the provocative billionaire "can get up and malign the entire nation." Obama issued his own thinly veiled attack on Trump, telling a group of disabled veterans he was tired of some people "trash-talking" America's military and troops. "No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," the president said. Ghazala Khan, whom Trump questioned for standing quietly as her husband talked about their son, spoke out in Monday's Washington Post. "Without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain," she wrote. Trump scrambled to pivot away from taking on military families, tweeting Monday that the issue was "not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US. Get smart!" For months, Trump warned that the Democratic primary system was "rigged" against Sanders, but on Monday, he stoked distrust about the larger election. "I am afraid the election is going to be rigged. I have to be honest," he told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. A CNN poll Monday showed Clinton with a nine point lead over Trump, 52-43, reflecting a seven-point bounce in support after her party's convention. Meanwhile, a CBS News Poll found that six in 10 voters believe Trump is not prepared to be president, while 60 percent believe Clinton is prepared for the job. Clinton on Monday welcomed the endorsement of American billionaire and investment pioneer Warren Buffett, who joined her onstage in Omaha, Nebraska to berate Trump for not releasing his tax returns because he is being audited. "You're only afraid if you got something to be afraid about," Buffet told the crowd. "He's not afraid of the IRS. He's afraid because of you." Donald Trump (left) and Khizr and Ghazala Khan (Photos: David Zalubowski/J. Scott Applewhite/AP) The feud between Donald Trump and the family of a slain Muslim American soldier entered its fourth full day Monday, with Khizr and Ghazala Khan continuing their criticism of the Republican nominee, Trump firing back on Twitter and Arizona Sen. John McCain releasing a lengthy, scathing rebuke of Trumps comments about the Khans. Over a series of televised morning show interviews, the Gold Star parents of Humayun Khan a 27-year-old U.S. Army captain who was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004 urged Republicans to refrain from voting for their partys presidential nominee. We are as concerned as Donald Trump is about the safety of this country, Khizr Khan said on CNNs New Day Monday. But we need a leader that will unite us, not disrespect, not by derogatory remarks. This candidate is void of empathy, Khizr Khan said on NBCs Today show. Trump, who is known to be an avid viewer of TV news coverage, was apparently watching. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same, he tweeted. Nice! This candidate amazes me, Khan said on NBC. His ignorance he can get up and malign the entire nation, the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges and yet [as] a private citizen in this political process I cannot say what I feel? That proves the point, he has not read the Constitution of this country. Had he read that, his behavior would be different. I have exactly same rights as he does, Khan said on CNN. He wants to have one set of rights for himself and he wants to have another set of rights for others. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 We want to be out of this controversy, Khan added. That is not our style. We are [a] decent, dignified family of this country, very appreciative of the blessings that we have enjoyed and we continue to enjoy, and we want to remain that way. Story continues Meanwhile, McCain became the latest GOP leader to condemn Trumps comments about the Khans. The Arizona senator, 2008 GOP presidential nominee and famed former POW issued an impassioned statement denouncing Trumps position. In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service, McCain said in a statement released by his office Monday. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. He continued: In the end, I am morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance, and to which I have dedicated my lifes work: the Republican Party, and more importantly, the United States of America. I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree. McCain added: Lastly, Id like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. Were a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation and he will never be forgotten. New John McCain stmt. on the Khans: "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement." pic.twitter.com/t9wiehkYqI Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 1, 2016 The war of words between Trump and the Khans began at last weeks Democratic National Convention, where Khizr Khan delivered a stinging rebuke of Trump over his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States a policy that would have prevented his son from serving in the U.S. military. Donald Trump, youre asking Americans to trust you with their future, Khan said. Let me ask you? Have you even read the United States Constitution. I will gladly lend you my copy. Look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. Ghazala, who stood by Khizrs side, did not speak. In an interview last weekend with ABCs This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Trump floated the idea that Khans wife, Ghazala, had been forcibly silenced. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say, Trump said. Maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. In an op-ed for the Post published Sunday morning, Ghazala Khan wrote that she was in too much pain to speak at the convention. Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention, she wrote. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. Related: Khizr Khan: Trump has a black soul Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America, Khizr Khan said onstage. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. Trump said hes sacrificed plenty. I think Ive made a lot of sacrifices, Trump told Stephanopoulos. I work very, very hard. Ive created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. Ive done, Ive had Ive had tremendous success. I think Ive done a lot. Those are sacrifices? Stephanopoulos asked. Oh, sure, Trump replied. I think theyre sacrifices. Corey Lewandowski, Trumps former campaign manager turned CNN political analyst, tried to clean things up for his old boss on Monday. If Donald Trump were president, Capt. Khan would be alive today because we wouldve never entered the Iraq War in the first place, Lewandowski said. Number two, this is something that Khan family decided to engage in by going to the Democratic convention. Was Trump's response to the gold star family warranted? Fmr. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski weighs in https://t.co/6kcKV3Ao3U New Day (@NewDay) August 1, 2016 Both Khizr Khan and the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Republican leaders to repudiate Trumps comments. As the leader of Americas largest Muslim civil rights organization, I urge Donald Trump to apologize for his shameful remarks disparaging a Muslim Gold Star family and for his repeated use and promotion of anti-Muslim stereotypes, CAIR chairman Roula Allouch said in a statement. Just as Donald Trump must apologize for his un-American remarks, Republican Party leaders must finally repudiate their candidates divisive rhetoric. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to take those calls to heart distancing themselves from the Republican nominee. Captain Khan was an American hero, McConnell said in a statement, and like all Americans Im grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror. All Americans should value the patriotic service of the patriots who volunteer to selflessly defend us in the armed services. And as I long made clear, I agree with the Khans and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values. A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America's fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 31, 2016 Americas greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it, Ryan said in a similar statement. As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it. Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honored. Period. Campaigning in Ohio, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also condemned Trumps remarks about the Khans. To have Trump do what he did, I dont know where the bounds are, Clinton said. I dont know where the bottom is. We may never know who hacked 20,000 Democratic National Committee email messages, or why they were made public. But we know a lot more now about where our two presidential candidates stand on Russia. No matter whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump prevails at the polls in November: Either way were in for a continuation, if not an intensification, of the confrontation that now defines the U.S.Russia relations. Related: Trump Melts Down Spectacularly in ABC Interview This big chill comes with costs, given the numerous interests Washington and Moscow share. Straight off the top, we can expect continued resistance among American policy planners to cooperative solutions to the Syria and Ukraine conflicts. These are pressing; negotiation is the only way out in both cases. Clinton, long noted as a foreign policy hawk, is entirely upfront about her view of Russia. Having just accused Trump of his supposedly cozy ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, she has effectively declared talking to Moscow, to say nothing of any form of detente, unpatriotic. What was once called red-baiting now amounts to Kremlin-baiting. It was a primitive position back in the 1950s, and its a primitive position now. As to Trump, campaign politics have more or less assigned him a misguided Russia policy. The few statements he has made on relations with Moscow hint at a greater willingness to cooperate with Moscow, but theyre no more than wisps of a thought-through stance. Related: Clinton vs. Trump: The Roller Coaster You Cant Get Off A Trump victory would shift this vacuum from the campaign trail into the White House. From his Fifth Avenue triplex Trump insists he can talk to the Russians, but how vigorously and effectively would President Trump resist the Pentagons policy hawks? Not very is the logical answer, at least for now. It has been clear for some time that President Obamas legacy on the foreign side is going to include a badly bifurcated policy establishment. In Syria and Ukraine and across the Pacific, those favoring negotiation in behalf of common goals are regularly countered by those who put confrontation and military options first. Story continues By all appearances, the two sides are positioning themselves for advantage as the administration changes. And with unusual clarity, the division is now personified. On one side, Secretary of State Kerry energetically pursues cooperation with Russia on the crises in Syria and Ukraine. He also encourages Asian nations to talk to China and avoid confrontation on questions of sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction in the East and South China Seas. On the other side stands Ashton Carter, a hawk across the board. Since last spring, the defense secretary has focused on advancing U.S. and NATO closer to Russias borders while making unprecedented tours of Asia to encourage the Philippines, Vietnam, and others to hang tough with the Chinese. Related: Why Julian Assange Could Be Hillary Clintons Biggest Problem Most recently, Kerry negotiated an agreement with Putin and Sergei Lavrov , his foreign minister, to cooperate on the ground in Syria by way of shared logistics and intelligence. But when Kerry brought a draft pact back to Washington, Carter reportedly altered the terms to make it all but certain Moscow would reject it. Kerrys effort now lies in limbo. Heres the take-home: Hillary Clinton lines up more or less congruently with Carter and the Pentagon. Donald Trump, famously the dealmaker cognizant of the other sides interests, might come over as an heir to Kerryif only he had a policy framework one could actually analyze. Clinton was closely identified with the Obama administrations noted reset of relations with Moscow when it was attempted in 2009. But as the effort soured the then-secretary of state distanced herself from it, and her hostility toward Russiaand specifically Putingrew. Two years ago, she prompted an uproar when she compared the Russian leader with Hitler. And shes four square behind NATOs recent moves eastward, which instantly (and predictably) provoked Moscow. One cant expect a President H.R.C. to improve the miserable tone much. Related: In a Night of Bitter Attacks, Dems Question Trumps Competence With the NATO summit in Warsaw last month, it starts to look as if Cold War II is official policy. Clintons decision to cast Trump as an outlier for his willingness to talk to Putin is nothing if not a confirmation of this grim reality. For his part, Trumps a victim of (1) his own imprudence, (2) a key mistranslation, (3) his lack of substantive policies and (4) an antiRussian tone prevalent among Americans for the past several years, notably, since the crisis in Ukraine flared in 2014. Trump set the ball rolling when he asserted during the second Republican debate last September that he would get along with Putin. The Russian leader appeared to compound matters when he was subsequently quoted calling Trump a brilliant and talented person. That was a regrettable mistranslation. As any Russian-language scholar will tell you, Putin simply observed that Trump has a vivid personalitya hands-off assessment no one can argue with. Nonetheless, we now come out the other end assuming a full-dress bromance between two people who have never met. Related: Is This Why Russia Is Counting on a Trump Presidency? Trumps other miscalculation concerns NATO. Last year he asserted that the Cold War alliance is obsolete. On the eve of his nomination in Cleveland, he told The New York Times the U.S. shouldnt necessarily defend another NATO member if it hasnt paid its fair sharea straight-out contradiction of NATOs founding principle. Trump is far from alone in suggesting NATO needs a rethink. Demanding that other NATO members carry more weight is nothing new, either. The longstanding reality is that West Europeans arent as keen on NATOs mission as Washington is; East Europeans are but cant afford proportionate contributions. This leaves it to Washington to carry the ball and pay for it, too. Not many political leaders are willing to bring this up. Trumps miscalculation is his clumsy articulation of a position that is at least arguable. That this proves provocative in an atmosphere of mounting EastWest tension is his misfortune. With Hillary Clinton, its what-you-see-you-get on Russia. But what you see is wrong and holds no promise of improvement. Its hard to see what wed get with Trump in the White House. Absent a coherent policy, its unlikely he would go to the mat in defense of detente. That leaves Ash Carters successor to prevaileither wayin the policy argument Obama leaves behind. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The outrages that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has committed against what most people consider decent behavior have been so frequent and varied over the last year that the public has become somewhat numb to them. He retweets another white supremacist? Yawn. He spouts demonstrable falsehoods on national television? Meh. However, in deciding to attack the family of an American soldier who died in Iraq, he shattered norms and traditions that leaders of both parties tend to honor without question. And the angry response from some of his fellow Republican politicians suggests that Trump may be approaching a level of public toxicity that will make even their grudging support of his candidacy untenable. Related: Trump Melts Down Spectacularly in ABC Interview Khizr and Ghalaza Khan, whose son Humayun died protecting his men from a suicide bomber in 2004 while deployed to Iraq, made what may have been the most effective attack on Trump by any of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention last week. In a powerful speech, Mr. Khan noted that Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. would have prevented his son from emigrating from Pakistan, as he did with the rest of his family at age two. Mr. Khan memorably questioned whether Trump had ever read the U.S. Constitution or visited Arlington Cemetery, where Humayun Khan is buried. You have sacrificed nothing, Khan said. And no one. Harsh words from a grieving father. Surely they stung, particularly to someone as sensitive to slights as Trump. But there is something sacrosanct about the grief of parents of children who die in the nations service, and most people who aspire to the White House understand that. Ten years ago, a woman named Cindy Sheehan, whose son also died in Iraq, camped out on land near then-President George W. Bushs Texas ranch, demanding a meeting with the president. While she gave angry interviews about his foreign policy to major media outlets across the country, Bush was largely silent. Story continues Related: Clinton v. Trump -- The Roller Coaster You Cant Get Off Asked about her in a press conference at his ranch, Bush said, She has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position. More recently, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was asked to respond to remarks by the parents of two of the Americans killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Both have claimed that the former secretary of state lied to her about the causes of the attack when they met. One of them, Pat Smith, said at the Republican National Convention that she personally blames Clinton for her sons death. My heart goes out to both of them, Clinton said. Losing a child under any circumstances, especially in this case, two State Department employees, extraordinary men, both of them, two CIA contractors gave their lives protecting our countries, our values. I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that. Asked specifically to respond to the claims that she had lied, Clinton said, As other members of families who lost loved ones have said, that's not what they heard -- I don't hold any ill feeling for someone who in that moment may not fully recall everything that was or wasn't said. Related: Trump Is Wrong About Russia, but He Does Get One Thing Right Contrast that with Trump, who blasted Khans criticism of him at the Democratic National Convention as vicious, and insinuated that Mrs. Khans silence during her husbands speech was an example of a woman being oppressed by her Islamic faith. (Mrs. Khan, in a television interview and a Washington Post op-ed, said that she had chosen not to speak because she was afraid that she would not be able to without breaking down in tears onstage.) Trump went on, in an interview with ABCs George Stephanopoulos, to suggest that his career in real estate and reality television was somehow a sacrifice he made to the nation. Republican leaders across the country, including Trumps own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, have been forced to issue statements affirming their support for the Khan family and honoring their sacrifice. Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American, Pence said, in a Facebook post, the same day that his running mate was still attacking the Khans on national television. Related: Clinton Skates Through Fox News Softball Interview The GOPs two top elected leaders, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, both issued statements in support of the Khans and against Trumps proposed Muslim ban. Arizona Sen. John McCain issued a lengthy statement condemning Trumps attacks on the Khans, which he ended by thanking them for choosing to come to the United States, and saying that they made the country a better place by doing so. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement, McCain said. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates. Americans, however, may find it difficult to understand how the remarks do not represent the GOP, given that the party just selected Trump as its presidential nominee, and that even as they distance themselves from Trumps remarks about the Khans, Ryan, McConnell, McCain and other Republican leaders continue to endorse him for the presidency. And as the public outcry against Trump grows, thats a real problem for the GOPs leadership. The cognitive dissonance of repudiating their nominees various statements and proposals while still claiming that they want him in the White House may become too much for GOP lawmakers to bear. Related: Donald Trump Is Right About Deadbeat NATO Countries On Monday, they got a good example of what they are up against when the members of 16 Gold Star families -- like the Khans, those who lost a child in military service released a punishing joint letter to the GOP nominee. Ours is a sacrifice you will never know. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know, it began. Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice. They accused Trump of cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost, and added, This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as political correctness. We feel we must speak out and demand you apologize to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments. We hope you will hear us. Trump, who does not apologize for anything, can hardly be expected to start now, which means that if his fellow Republicans are hoping he will provide them with some cover by making peace with the Khans, they are probably waiting in vain. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: "More than acquiring knowledge, education empowers the individual to be personally and politically developed," said the Vice President of India. Education is a fundamental precondition of democracy and it is instrumental for any individual's personal and political development, said Vice President Hamid Ansari, addressing an event at Aligarh Muslim University. 'Education empowers the individual to be personally and politically developed' "The quality of education depends on elementary education. While equality of status and opportunity contribute to nation building and a humanitarian society, education is a fundamental precondition of political democracy," said Hamid Ansari "More than acquiring knowledge, it (education) empowers the individual to be personally and politically developed," he added AMU's Duty Society, which has been instrumental in raising funds for expansion of the varsity and establishing Chairs, celebrated its 125th anniversary here today. The Vice President was the chief guest at the event, which kick-started with a seminar entitled 'Educational Development of weaker sections in India'. advertisement The event culminated with a poetic session that would feature works of distinguished poets, like Shakil Badauni and Majaz Asrarul Haq, who were associated with AMU. Read:UGC begins integrated online short-term courses under Swayam Read: Need to educate aanganwadis about hepatitis, says Amitabh Bachchan Click here for more education related news. With the controversy surrounding his attacks on the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier swirling all around him, Donald Trump on Monday focused his complaints on CNNs coverage of the presidential race. You look at CNN. Its called the Clinton News Network, Trump said at a town hall in Columbus, Ohio. All day long: Trump. Trump. All day long, CNN: Trump. Trump. Trump. Such a bad guy, I just want to bring back your jobs. I want to bring back your safety, because were not safe. The Republican nominee began his critique of the cable news network in a flurry of Twitter posts. CNN will soon be the least trusted name in news if they continue to be the press shop for Hillary Clinton, Trump tweeted early Monday afternoon, a few hours before the event. CNN anchors are completely out of touch with everyday people worried about rising crime, failing schools and vanishing jobs. CNN will soon be the least trusted name in news if they continue to be the press shop for Hillary Clinton. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 CNN anchors are completely out of touch with everyday people worried about rising crime, failing schools and vanishing jobs. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 He didnt stop there. He further accused CNN of not reporting stories that would be critical of his Democratic rival. When will we see stories from CNN on Clinton Foundation corruption and Hillarys pay-for-play at State Department? he tweeted. Will CNN send its cameras to the border to show the massive unreported crisis now unfolding or are they worried it will hurt Hillary? Will CNN send its cameras to the border to show the massive unreported crisis now unfolding or are they worried it will hurt Hillary? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 The people who support Hillary sit behind CNN anchor chairs, or headline fundraisers those disconnected from real life. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 The people who support Hillary sit behind CNN anchor chairs, or headline fundraisers those disconnected from real life, Trump continued. Story continues That tweet was published shortly after Fareed Zakaria, host of CNNs Fareed Zakarias GPS, ridiculed Trump for saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down, despite the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Trump later clarified that he meant Russia would not attempt such a move if he became president. Theres a pattern here, Zakaria said. Every time it is demonstrated that Donald Trump is plainly ignorant about some basic public policy issue, some well-known fact, he comes back with a certain bravado, and tries to explain it away with a tweet or a statement. Usually he adds that the press hates him. This is the mode of a bulls*** artist, Zakaria said. At the rally, Trump later returned to attacking CNN amid a tangent in which he also bashed the New York Times and Washington Post. I think their ratings are going to go down really sharply now, the former Celebrity Apprentice host told the crowd. Theyve been asking me to go on for months; I wont do their shows. And the reason I wont is because its so dishonest that, until they straighten up, Im not doing their shows. And when people finally realized Im not doing their shows, they stopped watching. Thats what happens. Trump, though, has not stopped. Earlier Monday, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Gold Star parents who appeared onstage at last weeks Democratic National Convention, continued their criticism of Trump on several morning shows, including CNNs New Day. And judging by the timing of this tweet, Trump was watching the Khans on CNN too. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same, he tweeted. Nice! Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey admitted on Monday there may have been some "unfair" treatment in its post-coup crackdown as it voiced anger at Germany for barring President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a rally in Cologne. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a top-ranking US general that his government remained committed to principles of law in its fight against coup plotters and called for Washington to extradite US-based preacher Fethullan Gulen "as soon as possible". Ankara accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup and says it is seeking to remove all trace of his influence in Turkish institutions. Retaliating after a failed military attempt to unseat him, Erdogan has launched a purge that has seen tens of thousands of people suspended from their jobs and almost 19,000 detained. Apparently responding to widening international alarm about the crackdown, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitted there may have been some unfair treatment in the state sector. "There must definitely be some among them who were subjected to unfair procedures," he said in comments published by state-run Anadolu news agency. "We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not." Echoing Yildirim's tone, deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said: "If there are any mistakes, we will correct them". - German rally - Turkey meanwhile summoned a senior German diplomat, a day after a rally of tens of thousands of Erdogan supporters in Cologne in opposition to the coup. Hours before the demonstration, Germany's constitutional court rejected an application to show via video link live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, over fears they could work up the crowd. The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the move a "violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly". A spokeswoman for the German embassy in Ankara told AFP that the charge d'affaires had "been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT)" on Monday over the rally. Story continues Turkish foreign ministry sources said the envoy was summoned to "strongly express our disappointment" over the ban on a popularly elected leader from addressing the rally and called the German approach "unacceptable." But Germany, which is home to the largest portion of Turkey's diaspora, played down the incident, saying such "invitations" were nothing out of the ordinary. Ties between Germany and Turkey are already strained over the German parliament's decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces. - Pressure to extradite Gulen - Turkish officials also met in Ankara with the top US military commander in the first direct talks since the failed coup, with Washington under pressure to extradite the Islamic preacher, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 -- from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania. General Joseph Dunford met with Yildirim, as well as Turkish chief of staff Hulusi Akar to "deliver messages condemning in the strongest terms the recent coup attempt and reaffirming the importance of our enduring partnership for regional security," Dunford's spokesman Greg Hicks said in a statement. Yildirim told the US general to extradite "terrorist group leader Fetullah Gulen and members of FETO to our country as soon as possible," his office said in a statement after the meeting, referring to what Turkey calls the Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO). "It is important that the United States, our strategic partner and ally, demonstrates a clear and determined approach against the terrorist coup attempt," Yildirim told the general. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been aggravated by the foiled putsch, with some Turkish officials even alleging that Washington could have had a hand in the plot. The suggestion has been firmly denied by top US officials. Last week, Erdogan lashed out at the top US general in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, after he expressed concerns about the future of military relations between the two allies in the wake of the putsch. - 'Uninterrupted' cooperation - During their meeting, the Turkish premier also told Dunford that the Turkish armed forces were fulfilling its duties "at full capacity" after the reshuffling in the wake of the coup attempt and said that cooperation continued "uninterrupted" with the US and other allies in the fight against terrorist groups including the Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Before his meetings with the Turkish officials, the US general visited Incirlik air base -- used by coalition planes for air raids on IS in Syria. Unexpectedly, Dunford also toured the Turkish parliament which was extensively damaged by rebel air strikes on the night of the coup, seen as a symbolic gesture. Meanwhile Turkey on Monday said it had arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on Erdogan's hotel during the night of the coup. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. Just one soldier from the attack group now remains at large, Kurtulmus said. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey has arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hotel during the night of the failed coup, the deputy prime minister said Monday. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. "Eleven of them were captured in Ula," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a press conference after a cabinet meeting, referring to a town near Marmaris. He said one soldier was still at large. Erdogan earlier said his swift escape had saved him from being killed or taken hostage. An interior ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a "death squad" and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers. The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. "There was an exchange of fire during the operation," the official added. "Drones and helicopters were used to pinpoint the location." Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish special forces captured 11 fugitive commandos who were involved in a bid to seize President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup attempt last month, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Monday. The 11 soldiers were part of a group which launched an attack on a hotel where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of July 15 in the southwestern resort of Marmaris. The president, having been tipped off that he was in danger, had fled the hotel by the time they arrived. Their capture came after Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 more members of its armed forces and stacked a top military council with government ministers on Sunday in moves to tighten control of the military after the coup. Anadolu said the fugitives were caught in the Ula district of Mugla province after gendarmerie special forces, supported by helicopters and drones, were sent to the area after a tip-off from a local. Gunfire broke out as the special forces clashed with the fugitives, but there were no reports of any casualties. Dozens of protesters gathered and jeered outside the gendarmerie outpost where the commandos were first held before being taken to a police station in the area. A total of 37 soldiers were reportedly involved in the operation to seize Erdogan in Marmaris and 25 of them had been caught earlier, Anadolu said. The scale of Erdogan's crackdown since the coup attempt - more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended or placed under investigation - has unnerved Turkey's NATO allies, fuelling tension between Ankara and the West. Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is accused by Turkey of orchestrating the failed putsch. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied the charges and condemned the coup. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d'affaires at the German Embassy on Monday after German authorities prevented Turkey's president from addressing by video link a pro-democracy rally in Cologne, a senior source in Ankara said. President Tayyip Erdogan had wanted to address via video conference thousands of his supporters who gathered in Cologne on Sunday to protest against a failed military coup on July 15 that killed more than 240 people. Germany's top court ruled against the live video link amid concerns that political tensions in Turkey could spill over into Germany. Violence in the past between nationalist Turks and Kurds has occurred in Germany, which is home to Europe's largest Turkish diaspora. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Gareth Jones) Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey summoned a senior German diplomat on Monday, a day after a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president who was not permitted to address the crowd by video link. Turkish officials were also to meet with the top US military commander in the first direct talks since a failed coup on July 15, with Washington under pressure from Ankara to extradite the alleged mastermind, Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. The coup aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has since launched a sweeping nationwide purge of suspected Gulen supporters, dismissing tens of thousands from their jobs and detaining almost 19,000 people. The crackdown has sparked international alarm, with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitting there may have been some unfair treatment in the dismissals. "There must definitely be some among them who were subjected to unfair procedures," he said in comments published by state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday. "We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not." - German rally - In Germany, home to Turkey's largest diaspora, tens of thousands of Erdogan supporters rallied in Cologne on Sunday to demonstrate their opposition to the coup in an event held under tight security. Hours before the demonstration, Germany's constitutional court rejected an application to show via video link live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, over fears they could work up the crowd. The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the move unacceptable and a "violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly". A spokeswoman for the German embassy told AFP that the charge d'affaires had "been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT)" on Monday over the rally. But Berlin played down the incident, saying such "invitations" were nothing out of the ordinary. Story continues "In the day-to-day dealings between countries, it is a daily event -- normal for a representative of a country to be called in to the foreign ministry of his host country," German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told journalists. The tension comes as ties between Germany and Turkey were already strained over the German parliament's decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces. - Tensions with Washington - Also on Monday, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was to meet with Yildirim and Turkish chief of staff General Hulusi Akar. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been aggravated by the foiled putsch, with some Turkish officials even alleging that Washington could have had a hand in the plot. The suggestion has been firmly denied by top US officials. Turkey is now requesting the extradition of Gulen -- who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 -- from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania. "We do not want (the US) to be in a position that will make us question our friendship," Yildirim said. "If they keep on dragging (their) feet on the Gulen issue... then things will take a different course, because events of July 15 are crystal clear." After a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters that Washington would have to chose between support for a "terrorist chief" and the citizens of Turkey. Last week, Erdogan lashed out at the top US general in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, after he expressed concerns about the future of military relations between the two allies in the wake of the putsch. Meanwhile Turkey on Monday said it had arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on Erdogan's hotel during the night of the coup, Kurtulmus said. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. Just one soldier from the attack group now remains at large, Kurtulmus added. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's military and political leaders were to meet on Monday in Ankara with the top US military commander in the first direct talks since last month's failed coup. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, will meet with Turkish chief of staff General Hulusi Akar and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in the Turkish capital. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been aggravated by the foiled July 15 putsch by rogue elements in the military who sought to bring down the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And some Turkish officials have even alleged that Washington could have had a hand in the plot, although the suggestion has been firmly denied by top US officials. Turkey successfully thwarted the attempted coup, blaming it on a military faction loyal to Erdogan's arch-foe Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who has been in self-imposed exile in the United States for years. From his secluded compound in Pennsylvania, the preacher has denied the charges. Ankara has dispatched dossiers to Washington which it says proves Gulen's involvement in the putsch, with the White House on Friday confirming it had received documents from the Turkish government requesting the cleric's extradition from Pennsylvania. Last week, Erdogan lashed out at the top US general in the Middle East after he expressed concerns over military relations between the two allies in the wake of the putsch. Quoted by US media, US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel had said the failed coup and subsequent round-up of dozens of generals could affect American cooperation with Turkey. "You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt," the Turkish leader said. The US State Department has rejected suggestions it had any hand in the coup as "ludicrous". Dunford will also visit the Incirlik air base, which is used by the US-led coalition for air raids against Islamic State jihadists, a US official told AFP. Ankara suspects that the base in southern Turkey was used by putschists to resupply war planes involved in the July 15 operation. Turkish authorities had temporarily cut power to the huge base in the wake of the aborted coup, later restoring electrical power supplies. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Twins acquired starting pitcher Hector Santiago a minor leaguer from the Los Angeles Angels for right-handers Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer and cash, completing the deal Monday just before the non-waiver trade deadline. Santiago, an All-Star last season, is 10-4 with a 4.25 ERA in 22 starts with 107 strikeouts and 57 walks in 120 2/3 innings. He's eligible for free agency after the 2017 season. The Angels also sent Double-A reliever Alan Busenitz to the Twins. ''We're getting a starter who we can plug right in, and he's excited about the opportunity,'' Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. ''He certainly knows how to pitch. This is a good chance for a change of scenery for him.'' The 33-year-old Nolasco went 15-22 with a 5.44 ERA for the Twins since signing before the 2014 season a $49 million, four-year contract that went fulfilled. Meyer, a once-promising prospect who has sputtered in four seasons with the organization, was acquired in 2012 from Washington for center fielder Denard Span. This wasn't the typical trade-deadline deal, given that both the Twins and the Angels are way out of contention. According to the Twins, the remainder of Nolasco's $12 million salary this year will stay with the Twins and the rest of Santiago's $5 million salary this season will stay with the Angels. The Twins will then send $4 million to the Angels in 2017 toward Nolasco's $12 million salary. As a result, the Twins pay the Angels $6,371,585: $2,371,585 this year and $4 million in 2017. If the Angels decline Nolasco's option, the Twins must send the Angels an additional $1 million. Nolasco leads the Twins this year with 124 2/3 innings, 93 strikeouts and 21 starts, but he's 4-8 with a 5.13 ERA. If he logs 400 or more innings over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, his $13 million club option for 2018 will be guaranteed. Over an 11-year career in the majors, Nolasco is 104-97 with a 4.58 ERA. His 3.41 strikeout-to-walk ratio is 10th in the majors in that span among pitchers with a minimum of 1,500 innings. Story continues ''Telling Ricky he was traded was tough,'' Molitor said. ''He brought it all on the mound in every start for us, and I'm grateful for that.'' For a rotation decimated by injuries this season to C.J. Wilson, Garrett Richards and Nick Tropeano, Nolasco is at least a slight downgrade from Santiago. But the Angels were willing to swap for the chance to harness the ability of Meyer. The 26-year-old has a 1.04 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts for Triple-A Rochester, but he has been hampered by shoulder trouble. This is his third straight season in Triple-A, having struggled with his control and his confidence since reaching the top level of the farm system. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound Meyer was a first-round draft pick by the Nationals in 2011. Meyer has allowed 10 runs in 6 1/3 innings in the majors, making four appearances for the Twins. Santiago, who made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2011, went 7-0 with a 2.52 ERA in his last nine starts for the Angels. The Twins announced that Santiago would start Thursday at Cleveland, the finale of a four-game series. Left-hander Tommy Milone was moved to the bullpen, with rookie Jose Berrios recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take the mound Monday. Earlier in the day, the Twins traded left-handed reliever Fernando Abad to Boston for minor league pitcher Pat Light. Last week, they sent shortstop Eduardo Nunez to San Francisco for minor league pitcher Adalberto Mejia. Veterans such as starting pitcher Ervin Santana, closer Brandon Kintzler, catcher Kurt Suzuki and third baseman Trevor Plouffe stayed put, but any of them still could be dealt this month by first clearing waivers. The 25-year-old Busenitz, a 25th-round draft pick by the Angels in 2013, has a career 3.55 ERA in the minor leagues. The right-hander was hit hard with Triple-A Salt Lake in 10 appearances this season but posted a 1.93 ERA in 32 2/3 innings for Double-A Arkansas. The Twins will send him to Double-A Chattanooga. Jack Dorsey Twitter is joining rivals Facebook, Google, and Microsoft in a heated arms race for artificial intelligence. Now we have a first official confirmation of how much this race is costing Twitter. In mid-June, Twitter announced the acquisition of Magic Pony Technology, a company in London that specializes in image recognition. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but TechCrunch pegged the deal at roughly $150 million, including retention bonuses for the staff of 11. In Twitter's latest 10Q quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Twitter notes that it completed two acquisitions during the six months ended June 30, for a price of $85.2 million. The filing does not specify which companies it is referring to, nor break down how much of the $85.2 million went to each of the two companies. But there have been only two publicly announced Twitter acquisitions in 2016: Peer, an employee-management feedback tool that Twitter picked up for an unknown sum in April, and Magic Pony, which was announced on June 20. The filing does not mean that Twitter actually paid less than $150 million for Magic Pony. The deal likely included items like stock-based compensation, which might not be reflected in the SEC filing's accounting categories, meaning that Twitter wouldn't necessarily have to disclose that additional amount in this latest filing. In fact, in the filing, Twitter says that the money it paid for the two acquisitions can be accounted for as follows: $13.3 million for developed technologies $4.4 million for cash acquired $0.2 million for net tangible assets acquired based on their estimated fair value on the acquisition date $2.4 million for deferred tax liability $69.7 million for the purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired to goodwill One thing that does appear clear from the filing is that, even with complex AI technology, the bulk of the value is in goodwill rather than in the technology itself at least the technology that's been developed so far. Story continues Paying up for goodwill is not uncommon in tech deals, of course, especially for consumer properties that have a lot of their value tied up in the brand. And with a newly hired team of AI experts now on its payroll, along with Twitter's existing AI talent, the company is betting that the new products that get developed will be worth much more. NOW WATCH: Twitters huge deal to live-stream NFL games could be a game changer More From Business Insider Two men were detained on Sunday in connection with the murder of a priest during last weeks attack on a Normandy church. One of the two in custody is Farid K, the 30-year-old cousin of one of the attackers Abdel Malik Petitjean, and is being held under suspicion of terrorist association, according to the BBC. The second man is 20-year-old Jean-Philippe Steven J who is under investigation after allegedly trying to travel to Syria last month with Petitjean. News of the arrests emerged as Muslims across France attended mass in a show of solidarity after the gruesome murder. Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, stormed the church in the small French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, and took hostages during morning mass last Tuesday. The pair slit 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamels throat before being killed by police. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, releasing a video purporting to show the killers pledging allegiance to the extremist group. [BBC] By Heather Somerville and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - After a bruising two-year battle, ride-hailing firm Uber is selling its China operations to bigger local rival Didi Chuxing in a deal that will give Uber a one-fifth stake in Didi. The merged entity is worth around $35 billion - combining Didi's most recent $28 billion valuation and Uber China's $7 billion worth - said a source familiar with the matter who did not want to be named before the deal was made public. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. In a posting on Uber's website, CEO Travis Kalanick said San Francisco-based Uber Technologies would have a one-fifth stake in Didi, making it the Chinese firm's biggest shareholder. Kalanick will join Didi's board, with Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. "Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development," it said. China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has spent billions of dollars in a price war with Didi. Both firms spent heavily to attract riders with discounts and both also raised billions in recent fundraisings. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: "Sustainably serving China's cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didi's to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities - from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and "doing more than 150 million trips a month." Didi, however, claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing. Richard Ji, Hong Kong-based co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock, said the deal makes "huge sense". Story continues "Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage," he said. "This will lead to favorable outcomes for both companies. The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later." Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. INTERNATIONAL AMBITION Analysts said Didi's acquisition signals its readiness to step beyond its home market. "This clearly shows Didi's global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travelers, who are going out in big numbers. There's a possibility the two could work together in other markets," All-Stars Investment's Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its international business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi - itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (BABA.N) and social network firm Tencent - has invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. The Didi deal is the latest sign that global Internet and technology companies are struggling to break into China's cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of China's technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu (BIDU.O) will gain a stake. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. It was unclear whether the deal would need to be cleared by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the anti-trust regulator. "Given Didi's reported high market share, any increment would attract MOFCOM's attention. But for the parties to seek pre-closing approval, each has to meet the minimum sales threshold. That's where it's unclear whether an anti-trust filing would be required," said Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in SAN FRANCISCO, Denny Thomas in HONG KONG, Rama Venkat Raman in BENGALURU, Jake Spring and Beijing monitoring team in Beijing, and Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) By Heather Somerville and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - After a bruising two-year battle, ride-hailing firm Uber is selling its China operations to bigger local rival Didi Chuxing in a deal that will give Uber a one-fifth stake in Didi. The merged entity is worth around $35 billion (26.58 billion) - combining Didis most recent $28 billion valuation and Uber Chinas $7 billion worth - said a source familiar with the matter who did not want to be named before the deal was made public. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. In a posting on Ubers website, CEO Travis Kalanick said San Francisco-based Uber Technologies would have a one-fifth stake in Didi, making it the Chinese firms biggest shareholder. Kalanick will join Didis board, with Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development, it said. China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has spent billions of dollars in a price war with Didi. Both firms spent heavily to attract riders with discounts and both also raised billions in recent fundraisings. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: Sustainably serving Chinas cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didis to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities - from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics. He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and doing more than 150 million trips a month. Didi, however, claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing. Story continues Richard Ji, Hong Kong-based co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock, said the deal makes huge sense. Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage, he said. This will lead to favourable outcomes for both companies. The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later. Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. INTERNATIONAL AMBITION Analysts said Didis acquisition signals its readiness to step beyond its home market. This clearly shows Didis global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travellers, who are going out in big numbers. Theres a possibility the two could work together in other markets, All-Stars Investments Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its international business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi - itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (BABA.N) and social network firm Tencent <0700.HK> - has invested $100 million in Lyft, Ubers main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, Indias ride service Ola and Southeast Asias ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Ubers global dominance. The Didi deal is the latest sign that global Internet and technology companies are struggling to break into Chinas cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of Chinas technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu (BIDU.O) will gain a stake. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. It was unclear whether the deal would need to be cleared by Chinas Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the anti-trust regulator. Given Didis reported high market share, any increment would attract MOFCOMs attention. But for the parties to seek pre-closing approval, each has to meet the minimum sales threshold. Thats where its unclear whether an anti-trust filing would be required, said Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in SAN FRANCISCO, Denny Thomas in HONG KONG, Rama Venkat Raman in BENGALURU, Jake Spring and Beijing monitoring team in Beijing, and Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) By Heather Somerville and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - After a bruising two-year battle, ride-hailing firm Uber is selling its China operations to bigger local rival Didi Chuxing in a deal that will give Uber a one-fifth stake in Didi. The merged entity is worth around $35 billion - combining Didi's most recent $28 billion valuation and Uber China's $7 billion worth - said a source familiar with the matter who did not want to be named before the deal was made public. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. In a posting on Uber's website, CEO Travis Kalanick said San Francisco-based Uber Technologies would have a one-fifth stake in Didi, making it the Chinese firm's biggest shareholder. Kalanick will join Didi's board, with Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. "Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development," it said. China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has spent billions of dollars in a price war with Didi. Both firms spent heavily to attract riders with discounts and both also raised billions in recent fundraisings. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: "Sustainably serving China's cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didi's to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities - from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and "doing more than 150 million trips a month." Didi, however, claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing. Richard Ji, Hong Kong-based co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock, said the deal makes "huge sense". "Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage," he said. "This will lead to favourable outcomes for both companies. The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later." Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. INTERNATIONAL AMBITION Analysts said Didi's acquisition signals its readiness to step beyond its home market. "This clearly shows Didi's global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travelers, who are going out in big numbers. There's a possibility the two could work together in other markets," All-Stars Investment's Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its international business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi - itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and social network firm Tencent - has invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. The Didi deal is the latest sign that global Internet and technology companies are struggling to break into China's cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of China's technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu will gain a stake. Apple Inc recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. It was unclear whether the deal would need to be cleared by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the anti-trust regulator. "Given Didi's reported high market share, any increment would attract MOFCOM's attention. But for the parties to seek pre-closing approval, each has to meet the minimum sales threshold. That's where it's unclear whether an anti-trust filing would be required," said Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in SAN FRANCISCO, Denny Thomas in HONG KONG, Rama Venkat Raman in BENGALURU, Jake Spring and Beijing monitoring team in Beijing, and Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) After two years and billions spent trying to gain a solid foothold in the region, Uber conceded victory to rival Didi Chuxing in a deal to sell their China operations to the company for $7 billion. The payment is not in cash, but rather stock in Didi. With the deal, Didi is now valued at $35 billion. Formed from a 2015 merger between Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, Didi Chuxing dominates the Chinese market, claiming to hold 87% of the private car market and 99% of the taxi-hailing sector. The combined company is backed by tech giants Alibaba BABA and Tencent TCEHY. Furthermore, Apple Inc. AAPL invested $1 billion in the company back in May in a move that we discussed here. Leading up to the deal, Uber had been noticeably lagging behind Didi. Uber had operations in 45 cities, while Didi operated in over 400. As our team highlighted some time back, Uber also faces competition in other regions. Indias Ola and U.S.-based Lyft are a few of many headaches for the company, but with this latest move they can allocate more time and resources towards expanding their reach in other parts of the world and compete with these companies. The deal also indicates that Uber shareholders will gain a 20 percent stake in Didi, while Didi will also invest $1 billion into Ubers global operations. A potential Uber IPO has made for plenty of conversation recently. The company is now estimated to value at around $68 billion, and entices many investors through its startling momentum since its inception just six years ago. Tech IPOs have been scarce thus far in 2016, with Twilio, the cloud services company, TWLO surging since its IPO, while messaging service Line Co. LN has continually traded downward. Many believe that in moving past the headache that competition in China had become, an Uber IPO could be on the horizon as it would no longer serve as a liability. China has been notoriously difficult for foreign companies to penetrate due to stringent regulations. Apple, the poster child for success in the region, has also faced increased competition from domestic competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi. Story continues Although in the short term this stings a bit, it seems that focusing on other growth opportunities will serve to benefit Uber in the future. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TENCENT HOLDING (TCEHY): Free Stock Analysis Report ALIBABA GROUP (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report LINE CORP -ADR (LN): Free Stock Analysis Report TWILIO INC-A (TWLO): Get Free Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research At first glance it may look like Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has lost the fight with Elon Musk, who fired him immediately after buying Twitter. But look closer: Agrawal is actually the winner as he forced Musk to complete a $44 billion deal which Musk wanted to avoid. Picture this: its 3 oclock in the morning, and all you want to do is leave theovercrowded bar, eat some pizza, and go to bed. Or you bought way too much stuff at Targetbecause of course you had to look through the clearance aislesand there is no way youre getting all those bags home on the bus without tripping or falling. Or you just had a long, stressful day at work, and the thought of squishing yourself in with thousands of other commuters on the train makes you want to die a slow and painful death. So what do you do? You pick up your phone, open the Uber app, and request a car. Like a fairytale, your transportation woes vanish with the digital sight of a car heading your way. Launched back in 2010, Uber is an app-based transportation company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Today, it operates in roughly 270 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide. The company uses a smartphone app to receive ride requests, and then sends out these requests to their drivers who transport the customers to their final destinations. Uber Controversy While Uber has seen great success, it has run into some roadblocks as of late. Uber has been in and out of the news thanks to legal and publicity issues in a variety of countries for a number of issues. In January, the company faced trouble in New York City for noncompliance thanks to a failure to adhere to requests from the citys Taxi & Limousine Commission. 5 out of 6 Uber bases have been unwilling to provide any electronic trip data, legal documents allege. Because of increased regulatory concerns and lack of driver background checks, Uber has been banned in The Netherlands and in parts of Thailand, India, and China. Scrutiny has increased in Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia due to these same issues. Despite some U.S. statesNevada, Oregon, Alabama, and Florida come to mindinitially suspending Uber services due to regulatory concerns, many have gone ahead and let the company resume its operations. Alaska, however, has completely ceased the companys operations for now until Uber will fully comply with its state laws. As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity, and this recent bad press has yet to negatively affect Uber. In fact, Uber is already rumored to generate roughly $2 billion in net revenue at the end of this year, not bad for a company that is less than a decade old. Increased Competition The emergence of on-demand rides has become a popular business venture all over the world, but it has proved difficult for companies to break away from the congested pack. At the end of last year, Sidecar, another on-demand car service, announced that it will officially stop offering rides and deliveries on December 31st. In addition to the now-defunct Sidecar, companies like Lyft, Curb, Chinas Didi Chuxing, Southeast Asia-based Grab, and Indias Ola have all stated to eat into the ride-hailing market share and become big competitors for Uber. Even Alphabet Inc. GOOGL has plans to make its self-driving cars unit a stand-alone business. This initiative could put Google in direct competition with Uber, as the lack of a driver could keep costs down in the long-term. If Google can offer lower prices to customers, Uber may struggle to compete. However, as the technology for self-driving cars becomes more commercially available, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that Uber could develop new business strategies focused on autonomous driving. In a blog post, the company recently announced that it is investing $500 million to create its own mapping technology, which could seamlessly pave the way for Ubers move into self-driving cars. Uber IPO Despite these recent controversies, investors are eagerly awaiting an Uber IPO. Many believed that the company would go public at some point this year, but Uber CEO Travis Kalanick hopes to make sure [an IPO] happens as late as possible, said in an interview with CNBC earlier this year. An IPO for Uber would be massive, as the company is currently valued at an amazing $68 billion after a total of nine rounds of funding worth $12.9 billion since its launch. And thanks to Ubers structurea unique combination of transportation company, mobile Internet company, and real world engineeringthe company has been touted as one of the best future IPO candidates. Continuing the Trend If even a fraction of these companies go public, it will continue the IPO boom that investors witnessed for the past few years. 2014 was the best in more than a decade for IPOs; more than $85.2 billion was raised in offerings, a huge increase over 2013s $54.9 billion total. Last year, though, saw a considerable decrease in viable IPOs, having raised only $30.3 billion. 2016 has only raised $8.9 billion so far, with Japanese messaging giant LINE LN, cloud communications company Twilio TWLO, and leading foodservice distributor US Foods Holdings USFD being the three biggest IPOs of the year to date. Uber joins a varied list of other companies with potential high profile tech IPOs in 2016. Airbnb, a room rental service, is worth an estimated $25.5 billion. Snapchat, the popular photo and video sharing app, is also seen as a hot IPO prospect. The reported value of the company is an estimated $16 billion. Spotify and Pinterest, the former a worldwide leader in digital music and the latter a site used to create digital pin boards, are both finding themselves as hot topics in future IPO discussions. Check out this just released Zacks report for a more in-depth look at these potential tech IPOs. This barely scratches the potential IPO offering for the year though, suggesting that we could see a very busy year for initial public offerings in a number of market sectors. How Might Uber Perform? Ubers IPO, then, could go either way, but let one number stay in your mind: $68 billion. Let me write that again: $68 billion. This number is a hard one to forget, and a figure that will be on the forefront of many investors minds come the time of its public offering, as it impressively showcases just how far this startup has come in a few short years. The pressure will be intense for Uber though, as its status as the most valuable privately-held company will most likely draw attention from all over. And, it seems likely that this will be another IPO that draws in the retail investor who is looking to cash in on a household name going public for the first time. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report LINE CORP -ADR (LN): Free Stock Analysis Report TWILIO INC-A (TWLO): Free Stock Analysis Report US FOODS HLDG (USFD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda has picked three Nigerian companies and one from Australia for its oil exploration licensing round, inviting them to negotiate for production sharing agreements, it said on Monday. It announced its first competitive bidding round for six exploration blocks, covering a total of 3,000 square kilometres (1,150 square miles), in February 2015. Bidding documents were issued to 16 oil firms but only seven submitted bids. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development said it selected Nigerian firms WalterSmithPetroman Oil Limited, Oranto Petroleum International, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources and Australia's Armour Energy Limited. The four companies will negotiate for five production sharing agreements (PSAs) covering four blocks. "Negotiations for these PSAs is the final milestone before granting exploration rights," the ministry said in a statement. Issues for negotiation would include exploration work programmes and how the financial proceeds will be shared. Crude oil reserves estimated by government geologists at 3.5 billion barrels were discovered in the Albertine rift basin along Uganda's border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2006 but production has repeatedly been pushed back. Spats over taxation, disagreements over field development strategies and delays in erecting infrastructure such as the export pipeline agreed with Tanzania in April have all been blamed. The jointly developed pipeline will carry Ugandan crude oil to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga for export. The three oil firms already operating in Uganda - London-listed Tullow Oil, France's Total and China's CNOOC - did not participate in this bidding round. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) (This story filed on July 31, 2016 corrects final paragraph to take out reference to China's Ministry of Finance. A request for comment had not been made at that time) By Michelle Price HONG KONG (Reuters) - British and Chinese securities watchdogs are discussing an agreement that will pave the way for landmark financial services projects between the countries, sources said, easing fears that Britain could be a less attractive partner for such deals after last month's vote to leave the European Union. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) are cooperating on a regulatory framework for a scheme for distributing fund products in each other's jurisdiction and a proposed London-Shanghai link for trading shares, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Britain, home to the EU's biggest finance sector, has been pushing in recent years to deepen its financial services ties with China, which has agreed to these and other cross-border financial services schemes as part of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) program. The UK's former Chancellor George Osborne and Chinese vice premier Ma Kai said at last September's EFD meeting in Beijing that they would explore the creation of a London-Shanghai equity link and mutual funds recognition scheme, but neither government has provided further details. There are, however, other complications in the economic links between the two countries since the EU vote ended the premiership of Britain's David Cameron, who along with Osborne had been keen to develop cooperation with Beijing. New Prime Minister Theresa May stepped in on Friday to delay a planned Chinese investment in a new British nuclear plant to review security concerns, a former colleague and a source said on Saturday. Vince Cable, who was business secretary from 2010 to 2015, also told BBC Radio that during Cameron's tenure May had made "quite clear she was unhappy about the rather gung-ho approach to Chinese investment". Story continues Even so, the formal cooperation between the FCA and CSRC signals that the financial projects at least are going ahead, with one source saying the discussions had remained "very positive". Some market watchers had raised concerns that leaving the EU, which puts in doubt the UK's future access to the trading bloc and its "passports" to provide financial services there, could scupper such projects by limiting their potential scope and appeal. "So far none of the cross-border exchange initiatives has been derailed by the risk of Britain leaving the European economic area and the associated passporting rights," said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner at financial services consultancy GreySpark Partners in London. "What is clear is that the CSRC and the FCA will not stop cooperating after the vote to leave the EU," he added. A second source said the FCA and CSRC were exploring a regulatory agreement similar conceptually to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) inked by the CSRC and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) prior to the launch of the Hong Kong-Shanghai stock trading link in November 2014. The Hong Kong-China MOU created a framework for policing the scheme, including sharing trading data and coordinating on investigations, although it was not clear if a UK-China cooperation would be as far reaching, the sources said. Details of the regulatory agreement may be announced at the next EFD meeting in the Autumn, though this has not been decided yet, both sources said. One said the UK and China may also unveil cooperation on so-called "fintech" initiatives. Both said, however, that Britain and China did not expect to announce any major new financial services initiatives at this year's EFD meeting, the date for which has not been set but will likely be held in October or November in Britain, a third source said, while both countries analyze the implications of Britain's exiting the EU. The FCA declined to provide comment. The CSRC and UK Treasury did not respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Michelle Price; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Will Waterman) * China says it hopes Britain can proceed with Hinkley deal * UK says right to review project, still wants close China ties * UK will not comment on reported security concerns * France's EDF says already spent 2.4 billion pounds on Hinkley (Adds context, quotes) By William James and Ben Blanchard LONDON/BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday that it wanted closer ties with China but resisted pressure from Beijing to sign off on a $24 billion nuclear power project that was delayed at the last minute by Prime Minister Theresa May. May's decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades has raised concerns that her government could take a sterner view of Chinese investment, potentially souring ties with the world's second largest economy. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said they had "noted" the British decision to conduct a review and called for the project to go ahead. China "hopes that Britain can reach a decision as soon as possible, to ensure the project's smooth implementation", she added, without elaborating. Under plans drawn up by former prime minister David Cameron, French utility EDF and Chinese partner China General Nuclear would fund the 18-billion-pound ($24 billion) cost of the project, while Britain committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years. The Hinkley financing deal was agreed during a state visit by President Xi Jinping last year designed to cement a "Golden Era" of relations between the two countries. Britain also sought Chinese investment in rail and other projects during the visit. But after winning Britain's top job in the political turmoil following the June 23 Brexit vote, May's decision to review the project indicates a much more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as French President Francois Hollande. Hinkley is seen as the frontrunner to closer Chinese nuclear involvement, paving the way for another project in Britain that would use Chinese nuclear technology. Story continues NATIONAL SECURITY May's spokeswoman said nuclear power remained an important part of Britain's energy supply plans, and it was natural for the incoming government to want to look at the plans in detail. "This is a big infrastructure decision and it's right that a new prime minister and a new government take the time to make sure that they are fully informed before they take that decision," she said. "The government will make a decision in September." She said that Britain still wanted to attract foreign investment and valued its ties with China. "With the role that China has to play on world affairs, on the global economy, on a whole range of international issues, we are going to continue to seek a strong relationship with China," she said. The Financial Times reported that high-profile Treasury minister Jim O'Neill, an influential former Goldman Sachs economist brought into government to promote ties with China, was baffled by a change in approach and could quit the government. May's spokeswoman said O'Neill still had a role to play in government. A former colleague of May said on Saturday she had previously expressed concern about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment. Last year, Nick Timothy, now May's joint chief of staff, said security experts were worried the state-owned Chinese group would have access to computer systems that could allow it to shut down Britain's energy production. Asked whether national security would play a part in the review of the Hinkley Point nuclear project, the spokeswoman declined to comment on the review process, other than to say that it would look at all component parts of the deal. China's official Xinhua news agency published an English-language commentary saying China would not tolerate "unwanted accusations" about its investments in Britain. Xinhua said people might think Britain was trying to erect a wall of protectionism. This "will surely stain its credibility as an open economy and might deter possible investors from China and other parts of the world in the future", read the commentary, which is not a government statement but offers a reflection of official thinking. Asked about the commentary, May's spokeswoman said the government could take time to reach its final verdict. "The prime minister's focus is about making sure that we take the right decision; recognising that we need a reliable and secure energy supply, recognising that nuclear energy is an important part of that and recognising that we can take some time to make that decision," she said. She said she was not aware of any direct communication between May and China over the review. SUNK COSTS EDF said it had already spent 2.4 billion pounds on Hinkley Point so far but declined to comment on whether there are any contract clauses specifying possible damages in case of withdrawal of the British side. The cost of the Hinkley project has already come under scrutiny, with British lawmakers warning that the energy price guaranteed by the government is too high, and union officials saying the up-front costs could jeopardise EDF's future. The EDF board voted narrowly to proceed with the project last week. A spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said on Monday the government is not responsible for any costs until a contract is signed. French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday that he did not believe Britain would reverse its position. (Additional reporting by Susanna Twidale and Nina Chestney in London and Geert De Clecq in Paris; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Anna Willard) It will transition into operational service by 2022. Robot taxis may soon be on the horizon for Singapore, as the Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) has tapped UK-based tech company Delphi to trial driverless taxis in the city-state. According to Delphi's media release, the Singapore pilot program will last for three years, with plans to transition into an operational service by 2022 timeframe. Delphi will provide the autonomous vehicles, as well as develop a cloud-based mobility-on-demand (AMoD) suite. The company will trial the "urban, point-to-point, low-speed, autonomous, mobility-on-demand service" in Singapore's Autonomous Vehicles Test Bed in one-north, a business park in the city-states western area. Delphi's AMoD development program and autonomous vehicle demonstration is in line with the Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI) established in 2014 to oversee and manage autonomous vehicle (AV) research and test-bedding. SAVI also looks to develop applications and solutions by industry partners and stakeholders. "Of particular interest to the Singapore LTA is the potential for automated driving solutions to make it easier for commuters transiting the first mile and last mile between a mass transit station and their home or workplace. By addressing this need, the usage of the mass transit systems could increase; reducing overall traffic congestion and vehicle emissions," Delphi stated. More From Singapore Business Review LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - British finance minister Philip Hammond welcomed the issuance on Monday of the first offshore rupee-denominated bond from a private company, saying it highlighted London's status as a leading global finance centre. The three-year bond, from Indian bank Household Development Finance Corporation, raised 30 billion rupees ($450 million) at a yield of 8.33 percent and was more than four times oversubscribed, Britain's finance ministry said. "HDFC is the first company to issue a bond of this type and their decision to issue and list in London is a clear sign that Britain's capital is the world's number one financial centre," the ministry said. Since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June, it has been keener than normal to promote trading ties. (Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Michael Holden) Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps claim that Crimea wanted to be annexed by Russia in 2014 evidence that he is a dangerous fringe politician. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said it was a breach of moral and civilized principles. And Ukrainian ambassador to Washington Valeriy Chaly told Foreign Policy in an email Monday that the businessmans comments raised concern in Kiev, especially if they could lead to a dramatic shift in U.S. policy. Despite the Minsk agreements, Russia has not left from Donbass and continues to build military capacity there killing and wounding people every day, Chaly wrote. Appeasing the aggressor would not help to stop the violence, on the contrary, it will provoke him to go further West, undermine security in Europe, and open a Pandoras box of bigger instability in the world. But speaking to reporters outside the United Nations Security Council on Monday, Vitaly Churkin, Moscows envoy to the U.N., refused to respond to Trumps Crimea statements, saying only that he has met Trump twice in the past few decades and has been impressed by him on both occasions. He was a very impressive guy as a businessman, Churkin said of Trump, explaining that he met him in the mid-1980s with then-Soviet ambassador to Washington Yuri Dubinin, when Trump was interested in doing business in Moscow. It never happened, it never happened. But I was impressed by his vigorous and open approach to doing business, Churkin said. He also said he met him more recently in a social context, but did not elaborate on that, and avoided questions about whether Trump has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His own impressions of Trump, Churkin said, are simply a personal observation from 30 years ago. Trump has repeatedly said that he and Putin would work well together, and has advocated for improved relations with Moscow, which have been particularly frosty during Barack Obamas presidency. Story continues If our country got along with Russia, that would be a great thing, Trump said on ABC on Sunday. Foreign Policy senior staff writer Colum Lynch contributed to this report from New York. Photo credit: Matthew Busch/Getty Images This weekend, it briefly seemed like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had redefined the meaning of bad press after members of his own party rushed to disown the insults he leveled at the Muslim parents of fallen U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who died protecting hundreds of American troops in Iraq in 2004. But just when it seemed like Trumps weekend couldnt get worse, the business mogul turned presidential hopeful started talking about Ukraine and just wouldnt stop. In a Sunday interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News This Week, Trump tried to wiggle his way out of questions about Russian involvement in Ukraine by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going into Ukraine even though its widely understood that Russian troops moved into the Crimean peninsula and eastern Ukraine in 2014. Well, hes already there, isnt he? Stephanopoulos asked back. OK, well, hes there in a certain way, but Im not there yet, Trump said, before insisting that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama and claiming that those living on the Crimea peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, might actually be happier under Russian control. On Monday, Trump sought to clarify his contradictory and confusing statements again, tweeting that he meant Putin would not go into Ukraine again if he were president though that clearly wasnt what he said and then blamed the seizure of Crimea on Obamas lack of strength toward Russia. Meanwhile, Trumps campaign co-chair suggested that the reality-television producer was just thinking of something else while conducting a TV interview. When I said in an interview that Putin is "not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down," I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push. That's what I said! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 Ukrainian Ambassador Valeriy Chaly to Washington told CNN on Monday that everybody was surprised by Trumps comments, which are in contradiction with [the] official position of [the] White House, of the United States, and of Republicans before. Story continues Chaly said it was a fact that Russian troops are in Ukraine, and went on to say that Ukrainian officials are now concerned about what could happen after the November presidential elections in the United States. Although Ukrainian-Americans have historically voted Republican, Chaly said, Trumps controversial comments over the weekend could very likely lose him the support of that population. Chalys remarks came after former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also condemned Trumps comments on Ukraine, saying in a Facebook post on Sunday that the presidential candidate had violated the very values of the free world, civilized world order, and international law. It can hardly be called ignorance. This is a breach of moral and civilized principles, Yatsenyuk wrote. The United States is the leader of the free world. Without leadership and alliance the free world will be destroyed by the likes of Putin, Le Pen, Assad, Kim Jong Un, and other dictators, demagogues, and populists. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov also lashed out at Trump, saying in a separate Facebook post that his shameless statementon possible recognition of Crimea as Russia is a diagnosis of a dangerous fringe politician. He is dangerous for Ukraine and equally for the USA, Avakov wrote. An outcast bowing down to Putin cannot be the guarantor of democratic freedoms in the U.S. and the world. In late February 2014, shortly after the ouster of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia deployed troops without insignia into Crimea and later annexed the peninsula in March 2014. Moscow also sent troops into eastern Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian separatists as fighting began in April 2014. Despite repeated denials from the Kremlin, the presence of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory has been confirmed multiple times and been widely tracked through Russian soldiers accounts on social media networks. The Obama administration supported the new government in Kiev, but refrained from interfering to prevent the Russian push into Ukraine. According to a transcript from a Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council meeting that took place on February 28, 2014, Ukrainian authorities knew the Kremlin was preparing for an operation in Crimea, but decided not to fight it, in part because Ukraines corrupt and underfunded military would have been no match for superior Russian forces. But Ukraine also resisted because Western governments, including Washington, asked Kiev not to use force. Americans, Germans, all of them as one are asking us not to make any active moves because, according to their intelligence services, Putin would use it to start a large-scale land invasion, said Valentin Nalyvaichenko, then head of Ukraines intelligence service, at the national security meeting according to the transcript. In response to Russias actions in Ukraine, the United States targeted members of Putins inner circle with economic sanctions, which were later expanded in July 2014 after pro-Russian separatists shot down a passenger plane over eastern Ukraine. The White House has been supportive of Ukraines fledgling government, and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden even took the country into his own portfolio. Biden has remained a strong advocate for U.S. support for Kiev during its standoff with Russia, but has also used his role to criticize the Ukrainian administrations myriad of problems with economic reform, corruption, and political infighting. Trumps camp, meanwhile, lobbied hard for changes to the Republican platform last month, removing any reference to U.S. armed support for Ukraine. Less clear is where exactly Trump stands on the whole morass. Crimea has been taken, Trump said on ABC on Sunday, after claiming Crimeans may be OK with it. Dont blame Donald Trump for that. Photo credit: PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty Images By PTI: From M Zulqernain Lahore, Aug 1 (PTI) Pakistani authorities today arrested 13 employees of its national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) here for allegedly trying to smuggle 6 kgs of heroin worth over 60 million rupees to Dubai. PIA flight PK-203 was ready to leave for Dubai on Saturday from the airport here when the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) staff got it vacated on information that a huge quantity of heroin had been concealed in the aircraft, officials said. advertisement After a thorough search of a couple of hours, the ANF team seized 6 kg of heroin worth over Rs 60 million from the toilet of the aircraft, they said. Thirteen PIA employees were arrested by the ANF and a thorough probe was launched into the matter. PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani confirmed the arrests saying some of the airline employees have been taken into custody in connection with the failed bid to smuggle heroin. After investigation, if these employees are found guilty, strict action will be taken against them, he said. During the last few years, there has been a rapid rise in the number of cases in which the PIA employees were caught red-handed while smuggling different items like drugs, cigarettes, mobile phones, illegal passports and laundered money abroad. In some cases, the PIA employees were caught at Pakistani airports and in others, they were intercepted and arrested in other countries, mostly in the European destinations. PTI MZ DBS KJ SAI KJ --- ENDS --- United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations is preparing a formal proposal to jumpstart talks on settling the decades-old conflict over Western Sahara, a spokesman said Monday. UN envoy Christopher Ross is ready to travel to the region to discuss the proposal on "re-invigorating the Western Sahara negotiating process," said spokesman Farhan Haq. "A formal proposal is being made to the parties and neighbouring states,' he added. Four rounds of UN-sponsored talks held between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which is campaigning for a referendum on self-rule, have failed to make progress since 2007. The UN Security Council nevertheless said in a resolution adopted in April that the parties must prepare for a fifth round. No date has been announced for Ross's trip, which follows months of strained relations between the United Nations and Morocco following Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to the region. After Ban described the status of Western Sahara as an "occupation", Morocco reacted angrily and expelled dozens of staff from the UN mission in the territory, known as MINURSO. Some of the UN personnel have been allowed to go back and discussions are continuing on the return of the remaining staff to allow MINURSO to operate fully. "It is his belief that he can return to the region at any time," Haq said of Ross' planned diplomatic mission. Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom despite UN resolutions that task MINURSO with organizing a referendum on self-determination. MINURSO was established in 1991 after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975 and fought Sahrawi rebels of the Polisario Front. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, declared by the Polisario in 1976, is a full member of the African Union. Washington (AFP) - The US military conducted air strikes in Libya on Monday following a government request to target the Islamic State group's Libyan stronghold of Sirte, the Pentagon announced. While the Pentagon has carried out two previous air attacks on high-value IS targets in Libya, Monday's action marked the first US strikes in Sirte itself. "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using an acronym for the IS group. One strike destroyed an IS tank that been targeting civilians, and a second strike hit two IS vehicles that "posed a threat" to local forces, Cook said. US strikes in Sirte "will continue" in coordination with the GNA, Cook added without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorized the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes were "consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces," Cook said. "The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya," he said. Monday's action comes after a US strike targeted an IS training camp in a rural area near Sabratha, outside Tripoli, in February, likely killing an IS leader called Noureddine Chouchane and dozens of other jihadists. In November, a US strike killed Abu Nabil, another IS leader who was also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. A US senior administration official said US action would be limited to strikes and information sharing to support these, and that American troops would not take part in any ground operations to support the GNA. The official said precision strikes would target key IS military infrastructure such as tanks, high-caliber weapons and command and control nodes. Libya spiraled into chaos after longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted and killed in October 2011, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control vast energy resources. Exploiting Libya's power vacuum, IS jihadists established a foothold in Libya, especially in Sirte. The Pentagon estimates fewer than 1,000 IS fighters are in Sirte. New York (AFP) - Sales of pocket versions of the US Constitution have soared since the father of a fallen Muslim American soldier brandished a copy to denounce Donald Trump, igniting a major backlash against the Republican nominee. Khizr Khan, a Harvard-educated lawyer whose son died in a 2004 suicide bombing in Iraq, went head to head with the insult-dishing White House candidate in a confrontation that has dominated the US news cycle for days. On Amazon's best seller list, a pocket edition of the US constitution is second only to the new "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" script, and number one best seller in Amazon's US history category. The 52-page paperback, on sale for $1 on Amazon, does not appear to be the same edition that Khan whipped out of his pocket in one of the most defining moments of last week's Democratic National Convention. Publishers of another volume, "The US Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It," told AFP they had completely sold out and seen nothing like it in 23 years of operations. "Today was the busiest day so its definitely accelerating," said Keir Walton, president of Oak Hill Publishing Company, founded in 1993 in Chicago. "This is the first thing I've seen in 23 years that's just fueled this incredible acceleration," he told AFP by telephone. Walton said he had dispatched 150,000 new copies to replenish stocks and was "100 percent certain" that the hike in sales was linked to Khan's appearance at the Democratic convention. "It's super exciting that it's reintroduced so many people to the constitution, because it's a fascinating document as relevant today as when it was written," he said. Trump on Monday renewed his assault against Khan as families of other fallen US soldiers demanded the tycoon apologize and prominent Republicans criticized his disparagement of the bereaved father and mother. Khan, a Pakistani immigrant, last Thursday stood next to his wife accusing Trump of vilifying patriotic American Muslims, saying that if the Republican had his way his son, Captain Humayun Khan, would never have been in America. Story continues "You are asking Americans to trust you with their future, let me ask you -- have you even read the United States Constitution?" he said, waving a copy to loud cheers at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. "I will gladly lend you my copy!" Khan said, demanding Trump consult the 14th amendment, which guarantees equal protection before the law. As soon as Khan finished speaking, "register to vote" spiked as a Google search. Tripoli (AFP) - US warplanes Monday carried out air strikes on positions of the Islamic State jihadist group in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte for the first time, the country's unity government announced. "The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... in Sirte," prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech. In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from Sarraj's Government of National Accord. "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS. Monday's action came after a US raid targeted an IS training camp in a rural area near Sabratha, outside Tripoli, in February and a targeted strike last November. One strike on Monday destroyed an IS tank that been targeting civilians, and a second hit two IS vehicles that "posed a threat" to local forces, Cook said, adding that US strikes in Sirte "will continue", without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes are "consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces", Cook added. "The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya," he said. - 'No foreign presence' - The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake the IS bastion of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi which the jihadists have controlled since June 2015. Sarraj stressed that the US strikes took place in coordination with the military command centre of pro-GNA forces, and that no foreign troops would be deployed in Libya. Story continues "This has allowed our forces on the ground to take control of strategic positions," he said, adding that the American involvement would be "limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs". "We asked for this support from the international community, notably the United States, but we want to point out that there will be no foreign presence on Libyan soil." Italy, which has supported the anti-IS offensive in Sirte by providing medical care for seriously wounded GNA forces, said it welcomed the US strikes. "This took place on the request of the Government of National Accord, in support of forces loyal to the government, with the shared objective of contributing to the reestablishment of peace and security in Libya," the foreign ministry said. Italy has offered to lead an international peacekeeping force in Libya if the fledgling unity government requests such an intervention. A US senior administration official said Monday that US action would be limited to strikes and information sharing. - Precision strikes - Precision strikes would target key IS military infrastructure such as tanks, high-calibre weapons and command and control nodes. A Libyan military source told AFP that Monday's raids followed negotiations that led to a signed agreement. The accord covers "specific" technical issues, such as informing the Libyan side in advance of the time and location of US strikes. The fall of Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, would be a major blow to IS, which has also faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq. The battle for Sirte has killed around 280 pro-government fighters and wounded more than 1,500, according to medical sources at the unity forces' command centre. The GNA advance slowed after an unexpectedly rapid initial breakthrough into the Mediterranean city on June 9. There are between 2,000 and 5,000 IS fighters from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Mauritania deployed in Sirte, Tripoli and Derna, according to a report which UN chief Ban Ki-moon submitted to the Security Council last month. The pro-GNA forces are mostly made up of militias from western Libya established during the 2011 revolt that overthrew Kadhafi. A militia set up to guard the country's main oil facilities has also been advancing on IS. The GNA was the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement struck in December, but it has yet to be endorsed by Libya's elected parliament based in the country's far east. With earnings releases coming in thick and fast, nearly 87% members of the S&P 500 index are expected to report financial numbers by the end of this week. The utility sector, known for its inherent stability, is expected to be in focus this week, with many companies operating in the space scheduled to report quarterly results. Note that a domestic orientation makes utilities immune to the impact of a strengthening dollar. However, the performance of these companies depends on weather patterns to a large extent. Above-average temperatures in the second quarter of 2016, thus aided the performance of the majority of utilities operating in the U.S. The steady drop in unemployment rates should further boost results of the Utility sector. So far, 317 S&P 500 members have released Q2 results, accounting for 73.5% of the indexs total market capitalization. Total earnings for these companies have declined 3.3% due to 0.9% lower revenues. In spite of the bleak year-over-year comparisons, an impressive 72.9% managed to beat on earnings, while 53.6% surpassed top-line expectations. As per the latest Earnings Preview report, the general outlook for the utility sector remains bullish on the back of the projections of a 20.4% year-over-year surge in quarterly earnings, compared to the S&P 500s anticipated 3.4% drop over the same period, including the results of the energy sector. On the other hand, revenues at the utility sector will grow 5.2%, compared to the S&P 500s 0.4% dip. Encouraged by a bullish outlook and positive fundamentals, particularly the low-rate scenario, lets take a look at some utilities that are scheduled to report earnings on Aug 2: Entergy Corporation ETR engages principally in domestic utility operations, power marketing and trading, global power development, and domestic non-utility nuclear operations. The company reported a positive earnings surprise of 15.38% in the previous quarter. Our proven model shows that Entergy is likely to beat earnings this season because it has the right combination of two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP (the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate) and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold). Story continues Entergy has an Earnings ESP +6.73%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate stands at $1.11, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged slightly lower at $1.04.Entergys Zacks Rank #3, when combined with a positive ESP, makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat this quarter. (Read more: Entergy Q2 Earnings: Will the Stock Beat Estimates?) ENTERGY CORP Price and EPS Surprise ENTERGY CORP Price and EPS Surprise | ENTERGY CORP Quote NiSource Inc. NI is one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 6 cents. Though NiSources Energys Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of the ESP, a 0.00% ESP makes a beat uncertain this quarter. (Read more: NiSource Q2 Earnings: Can the Stock Pull a Surprise?) NISOURCE INC Price and EPS Surprise NISOURCE INC Price and EPS Surprise | NISOURCE INC Quote Pinnacle West Capital Corporation PNW is engaged, through its subsidiaries, in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and selling energy, products and services. The utility has an Earnings ESP of -2.56% as the Most Accurate estimate stands at $1.14, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged higher at $1.17. Pinnacle West Capital carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).As it is, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. (Read more: Pinnacle West Q2 Earnings: Stock to Disappoint?) PINNACLE WEST Price and EPS Surprise PINNACLE WEST Price and EPS Surprise | PINNACLE WEST Quote Westar Energy, Inc. WR is Kansas' largest electric utility. The utility has an Earnings ESP of -3.92% as the Most Accurate estimate stands at 49 cents while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged higher at 51 cents. Though Westar Energys Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of the ESP, a negative ESP makes a beat uncertain this quarter. WESTAR ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise WESTAR ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | WESTAR ENERGY Quote Stay tuned! Check later for our full write-up on earnings releases of these stocks. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PINNACLE WEST (PNW): Free Stock Analysis Report NISOURCE INC (NI): Free Stock Analysis Report ENTERGY CORP (ETR): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTAR ENERGY (WR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research A 5-year-old boy has died this after he was struck by lightning while vacationing with his family in North Carolina. The unnamed boy was on the beach in the town of Carova in the state's Outer Banks when he was struck Sunday afternoon, according to reports. Watch: 4-Year-Old Boy Has Prosthetic Leg Stolen While Going To Beach For First Time When emergency crews responded just after 4:00 p.m., authorities said the family put had put the boy in their SUV to meet EMS partway. The family is reportedly from the Philadelphia area. The ambulance then crossed state lines in Virginia Beach, according to reports. A medical helicopter was unable to respond due to severe weather. Watch: Mother Dies After Being Impaled by Beach Umbrella In Freak Accident The boy was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 6 p.m., the Outer banks Voice reports. According to NOAA data, the boy was the 21st person to die in the United States from a lightning strike in 2016. However, his was only the second to occur on a beach. Watch: Wife Saves Husband's Life After He Was Struck By Lightning Related Articles: By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Sole terror suspect 25-year-old Mohammad Masiuddin alias Musa, who was nabbed last month, had foreign tourists on his terror radar. The ISIS terror recruit told his interrogators that Shafi Armar alias Yusuf Al Hindi had instructed Musa to target foreign nationals from United States, Britain, Canada and Israel. Once he was told about his targets, he did recce of two cities Kolkata and Srinagar. During the recce he identified Mother Teresa Center in Kolkata and Dal Lake in Srinagar as areas frequented by foreigners. Musa wanted to unleash a terrifying "Machete attack." When asked as to why he did not choose to implement his terror designs, top official in the agency said that a recce is done to not just to identify the target, but also use it to look for escape routes. advertisement MUSA WAS RADICALISED ONLINE Musa who used to live in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu along with his wife and two children, worked at a grocery shop. NIA sleuths had been tracking him since he began his journey to Kolkata from Tamil Nadu. He was radicalized online, following the ISIS terrorist on Twitter and Facebook accounts. Through this he got in touch with ISIS top headhunter Shafi Armar. Musa had Rs 60,000 that he had saved by selling of a small property. He used his money to travel to both West Bengal and Jammu Kashmir. He took the long route to Srinagar. Reaching till Jammu by train and then taking a bus to Srinagar. Musa then visited central Kolkata where he reportedly bought a 13-inch long machete. He then boarded the Visva Bharati passenger train from Howrah and left for his hometown in Birbhum. Acting on specific intelligence inputs from the NIA, he was picked up by GRP and the Burdwan police last month. Currently he and his two associates have been sent to 14 day judicial custody. Also read: How revelation by ISIS suspect's friend foiled terror attack in Maharashtra --- ENDS --- Bali possesses a gentle and calming virtue of life, a contrast from the fast-paced reality of the city back in the UK. The humble and up-beat locals we met throughout our journey in Bali is one of the most treasured memories of my travels. Other than hotels and tourist spot technology is foreign. The place strives upon a stripped-back way of life, that I was not used to. I grew to appreciate during my travels the insignificance of smartphones and technology, especially when you have so much beauty surrounding you in nature awaiting to be discovered - materialistic items were not a functional necessity, and I loved the escape of anxiety that is emitted from the technological world within modern society. If there is one thing I took back with me to the Western World it is to descend the materialistic way of life we have become accustomed to within society, and truly cherish the moments we are in and to be forever grateful. Bali is truly unique, significantly due to its diversity of beauty within each location Seminyak Seminyak is part of the party scene of Bali. Potato Head Beach Club is the ultimate go-to. Centred around the pool bar, the best ocean view of the sunset and the biggest house DJs playing until late the next morning - its a buoyant atmosphere, that must be experienced! The biggest house festival ULTRA is also held here! Jimbaron Staying at the famous resort the AYANA. There are many amazing features to the resort: a private beach, variety of private restaurants (including the best seafood restaurant in Bali where the seafood is sourced fresh by the ocean sea), infinity pools by the ocean and the world renowned Bali Rock Bar at your feet, bliss? I think so! Ubud The change of scenery within Ubud is what is so magical about Bali. I felt like Peter Pan - transcended into a new fantasy world. Adios beaches and hello jungle forestry. Within our private beach hut, perfectly hung upon the hills, was situated our own infinity pool complimented by the view (one could mistake for a perfectly sculpted canvas painting!) Story continues Mount Batur Mount Batur is at least a 2 hour climb and at 4am and half asleep, it was a bit of struggle but it is beyond worth the exceptional view above the clouds. I cannot recommend enough for others to travel to Bali, I gained so much more than I expected from the beautiful culture and outstanding scenery of the island Put it on your bucket list! Ovation on October 1 will debut Versailles, covering the first years in power of the young Louis XIV, that already has aired in France on Canal Plus and BBC Two in UK. TV critics at TCA wondered how they got so much access to shoot at and in the palace. Showrunner David Wolstencroft, noting its an English-language series about the French monarch, and The moment [the government] accepted that with enthusiasm was the moment I knew we wouldnt have trouble. Theyre closed every Monday so we were able to shoot there every Monday, he said of the palace. They were incredibly supportive. The story begins around the time of the expiration Louis XIVs mother, Anne of Austria, who has been calling the shots since he became king at age 5. The series, Wolstencroft said, is about Louis taking control of his own destiny, shaking off the trappings of his parents. That said, the king built Versailles at the site of Dads hunting lodge and would not let the designers touch a single brick. So theres that. Among the ways in which the Sun King attempted to wrangle the unruly country he inherited was to move the seat of government out to the swamps outside of corruption of Paris, and to send a portrait of himself to every city in France with the instructions that is him and they should worship accordingly, which Wolstencroft said, was propaganda on an impressive scale, even by todays standards. Lots of questions about the costumes, and men wearing outfits that were five layers thick. Especially enthusiastic about his costumes was Alexander Vlahos, who plays Louis brother Philippe, a brilliant military commander who, Vlahos explained to those not so well versed in the history, was gay and sometimes dressed in womens clothing. Unsettlingly, Vlahos, who is 27, said he had to learn that he should not worry about the continuity of the character who could return from battle, make love to his boyfriend, kiss his wife, and then dress in womens clothing. Vlahos said he learned to embrace his extravagance and peacock qualities. Story continues Starting in 1667, 28-year-old King Louis XIV, portrayed by George Blagden (Vikings), will stop at nothing to achieve his vision of creating the most beautiful palace in Europe and seizing absolute control of France and his enemies. Executive producers are Simon Mirren (Without a Trace, Criminal Minds), David Wolstencroft (Spooks, The Escape Artist), Claude Chelli (Braquo), Anne Thomopoulos (Rome, The Tudors) and director is Jalil Lespert (Yves Saint Laurent). Related stories CBS Running With Toughest Mudder; Extreme Endurance Races Headed For TV & Digital - TCA 'Harley And The Davidsons' Trailer Races Past Shark Week Record, Discovery Says - TCA TCA Panel On Diversity: "You Have To Be Part Of The Solution" Veterans Charity Ride to Sturgis Under Way The second annual Veterans Charity Ride kicked off Saturday en route to this years Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Sponsored by Indian Motorcycle, the Veterans Charity Ride offers a select number of wounded and amputee veterans the chance to experience the benefits of motorcycle therapy allowing individuals the opportunity to get outdoors, ride the open road with the wind in their face, and talk about their experiences while serving in the military so they can experience life and living again. The ride was started by former Army Paratrooper Dave Frey, who came up with the idea while taking his own solo ride across the country. Upon returning from the trip, he called upon the help of his business partner, Emmy-award-winning producer and director Robert Manciero, to help bring the idea to fruition. vtts2 The Veterans Charity Ride group will spend nine days meandering from Los Angeles to Sturgis, South Dakota. They are expecting to arrive at Sturgis famous rally this Sunday. Along the way, theyll pass through some of the most spectacular scenic back roads of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. This year sees more than a dozen veterans taking part in the ride, each with his or her own very unique tale many suffering not just physical injury from their military experience but also the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. To learn more about the event and to follow the veterans progress visit the Veterans Charity Ride website. Donald Trump Veterans of Foreign Wars released a statement on Monday decrying Donald Trump's attacks on the family of Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American solider who was killed in the Iraq War. "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," VFW leader Brian Duffy said in the statement. "There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one's life to [one's] nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard," he said. Trump has gotten criticism from both sides of the aisle for his attacks on Khan's family. Arizona Sen. John McCain also issued a strongly worded statement on Monday condemning Trump. "In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents," McCain said in the statement. "He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." Trump suggested on Sunday morning that he could not understand why he was earning scorn for questioning the Khans after Khizr Khan slammed him on Thursday night during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention," Trump said in a tweet. "Am I not allowed to respond?" Khan, speaking beside his wife, Ghazala, offered a powerful rebuke of Trump on the final night of the DNC, questioning whether Trump had ever read the US Constitution or sacrificed anything for his country. Trump hit back on Saturday, suggesting that Ghazala Khan might not have been permitted to speak at the convention because of her Muslim religion. Trump also said that he had indeed sacrificed for his country, saying he created jobs. Story continues Oliver Darcy contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: While under fire from GOP, Trump continues to call out the Muslim parents of a slain US soldier More From Business Insider Mexico City (AFP) - More than 20 people were killed in three Mexican states plagued by drug violence over the weekend, with 11 found dead in a single day in Acapulco, authorities said. The victims in Acapulco were found in five different locations in the Pacific resort city on Sunday, amid an increase in homicides across the country this year. Gunmen killed three people at a bar; two men and one woman were found dead in a car near a cemetery with signs of torture and their feet and hands tied; and three bodies were exhumed from a clandestine grave on the outskirts of the city. Two other people were shot dead in separate incidents in Acapulco, which is among the most violent cities in the world outside war zones, with 111 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015. Acapulco is in the state of Guerrero, where seven people from the same family, including two children, were found shot dead on Saturday in two homes in the town of Tepecoacuilco de Trujano. Elsewhere in Mexico, a soldier and four suspected drug gang members died in two clashes on Sunday in Nuevo Laredo, a city bordering the United States in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas. Six other soldiers were wounded. The soldiers came under attack after they responded to reports of gunfights between rival gangs in two parts of the city, the Tamaulipas security task force said in a statement. Another four suspected criminals died on Sunday in the eastern state of Veracruz after exchanging fire with police, authorities said. In the western state of Michoacan, the burned bodies of nine people were found in a charred pickup truck on Saturday, but authorities were investigating whether their car went up in flames by accident during a fuel theft or if they were murdered. Homicides rose in Mexico in 2015 after three years of decline, and they are on their way up again this year. More than 9,400 people were killed between January and June, compared to 8,156 during the same period last year, according to official figures. The grave of Army Capt. Humayun Khan lies at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters) The grave of a fallen Muslim American soldier has received many visitors since his father sang his praises at the Democratic National Convention last week. Khizr Khans emotional speech struck a nerve with patriotic Americans on both sides of the proverbial aisle and compelled many to find U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khans gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington. The tombstone has been adorned with flowers, letters and tiny American flags all expressions of love and gratitude for the young mans valor, patriotism and sacrifice. He died at the age of 27 while saving his fellow troops during the Iraq War in 2004. On Thursday night in Philadelphia, Khan rebuked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his comments on Muslims and his proposed ban on them entering the United States. If Trump had it his way, Khan said, his son never would have been allowed into the country. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities, Khan said to thunderous applause. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. Jennifer Lynch, a public affairs officer at Arlington National Cemetery, said more than 400,000 people have been buried at the cemetery, which averages about 4 million visits each year. Everyone is a hero here, and we encourage people to come and visit all of the people that are buried here. Every one of them has a story of their sacrifice to the country, she said in a phone interview with Yahoo News. She said that the cemetery is not a political place, noting that campaigning and similar activities are prohibited. Members of the media photograph the tombstone of Capt. Humayun Khan at Arlington National Cemetery. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Though Khans suggestion was for Trump to visit the military cemetery to better appreciate the diversity of men and women buried there, many others have heeded his call. Trump did, however, respond to Khans accusation that he has not sacrificed anything. 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 done, Ive had tremendous success. I think Ive done a lot, Trump said during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABCs This Week that aired Sunday. Story continues Khan, a Pakistani immigrant, had also suggested that Trump read the U.S. Constitution to learn about how it guarantees liberty and equal protection under the law for all Americans. You are asking Americans to trust you with their future: Let me ask you have you even read the United States Constitution? Khan said, while brandishing his pocket edition of the Constitution. I will gladly lend you my copy! (Sales of the Constitution skyrocketed as a result of this moment.) Trump is accustomed to lashing out at his political opponents when hes attacked, and his response this time around was not much different. Though he acknowledged that Capt. Humayun Khan was a hero, he also criticized and ridiculed his parents across several platforms. 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 in a statement Monday. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 In the Stephanopoulos interview, Trump said Khan was very emotional and speculated that perhaps he would not allow his wife, Ghazala Khan, to speak at the convention. I saw him. He was, you know, 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 wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet. Looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ghazala Khan responded to Trump by saying that her husband had asked if she wanted to speak during the convention, but she wouldnt have been able to with the huge picture of their dead son displayed prominently on the stage. Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun (left) was killed serving in the U.S. Army, challenges Donald Trump to read the U.S. Constitution. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I havent been able to clean the closet where his things are I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it, she wrote. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak? Other notable groups and politicians have also piled on Trump. U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called upon Americans to honor and be humbled by Gold Star families (those who lost a loved one while serving in the military) for making a sacrifice others could not imagine. Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), the nations largest major war veterans organization, released a statement saying that Trump was out of line for ridiculing a Gold Star mother. Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression, VFW National Commander Brian Duffy said in a statement. There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed, he continued. Giving ones life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard. Warren Buffett introduced presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a rally in Omaha, Nebraska on Monday. Buffett, CEO of $360 billion company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B), endorsed Clinton in December. Why did he do this? Buffett disagrees with Trumps depiction of the economy Throughout his campaign, Republican nominee Donald Trump has been painting a gloomy picture of the economy. His message crescendoed when he spoke at the Republican Convention. Buffett, however, argues the candidates who have been framing the economic backdrop as dire are dead wrong. Its an election year, and candidates cant stop speaking about our countrys problems (which, of course, only they can solve), he wrote in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders. As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves to. That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history. American GDP per capita is now about $56,000six times the amount in 1930 (the year Buffett was born) in real terms. Americas economic magic remains alive and well, Buffett wrote in his letter. Berkshire Hathaway has not stopped betting on future growth in America. Most recently, it acquired aerospace company Precision Castparts, which is sensitive to economic cycles. Buffett believes the wealthy should pay higher taxes When he endorsed Clinton in December, Buffett emphasized the large gains that have been made by the wealthiest Americanssomething that hasnt been enjoyed by the broader population. Buffett said that Clinton will make sure that those people who are having to work two jobs to barely get by will not have that kind of world for themselves and their children moving forward. Clinton added, I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful, she said. Buffett has advocated the richest Americans should pay higher taxes. He specifically cited that the top 400 wage earners saw their income increase sevenfold while their tax rate fell to 16.3%. So they got a one-third tax cut as their income went up seven to one, he said. Story continues Clintons tax plan includes her support of the so-called Buffett Rule, which would set a minimum tax rate on individuals making over one million dollars a year. The Buffett Rule was named after Warren Buffett based on comments he made in 2011 when he argued it was wrong that rich people like himself could pay less in federal taxes as a portion of income than the middle class. The 400 of us pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If youre in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%, Buffett said while speaking at a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2007. Buffetts support for increased income taxes on the wealthiest was part of a tax plan proposed by President Barack Obama in 2011. The Buffett Rule was not in the Presidents 2012 budget proposal and the White House initially stressed it as a guideline rather than a legislative initiative. The rule, however, was later submitted for deliberation in the Senate. In April 2012 the bill received 51 affirmative votes but was stopped. Buffett supports wealth redistribution In 2010, Buffett formally announced The Giving Pledge with Bill Gates aimed at inspiring the wealthy people of the world to give the majority of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon death. And he defended his support of lower-income populations within a capitalist framework in a 2015 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. The economic rewards flowing to people with specialized talents have grown dramatically faster than those going to equally decent men and women possessing more commonplace skills, he wrote. He added that the widening gap is the consequence of an advanced market-based economy. He said, todays mismatch is neither the fault of the market system nor the fault of the disadvantaged individuals. It is simply a consequence of an economic engine that constantly requires more high-order talents while reducing the need for commodity-like tasks. While celebrating the rich like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and Sam Walton, Buffett said education isnt enough of a solution. Buffett doesnt support raising the minimum wage For some, it may be surprising to hear that Warren Buffett does not favor raising the minimum wage as a way to close Americas widening wealth gap. In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in 2015, Buffett wrote that raising the minimum wage would distort our market system. Clinton too has not come out to support a $15 minimum wage. Buffett instead has promoted what he sees as a better answer: an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which currently goes to millions of low-income workers. Payments to eligible workers diminish as their earnings increase, he explained. But there is no disincentive effect: A gain in wages always produces a gain in overall income. The process is simple: You file a tax return, and the government sends you a check. For Buffett, the EITC is a better solution because its about more than just money. In essence, the EITC rewards work and provides an incentive for workers to improve their skills, he continued. Equally important, it does not distort market forces, thereby maximizing employment. Buffett added that the plan needs improvement, including reducing fraud, shifting payments to monthly installments from annual, and increasing dollar amounts for those earning the least. Although Buffett and Trump have immense wealth in common, they very clearly differ when it comes to policy. Telugu Desam Party MP from Anantpur JC Diwakar Reddy today took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the PM is scared of Chandrababu Naidu and thus isn't granting a special status to Andhra Pradesh. aMr Naidu is the biggest political enemy of Mr Modi. The BJP-TDP divorce will happen. However, we will abide by the chief ministeras decision,a? Diwakar Reddy said. By Ashish Pandey: Telugu Desam Party MP from Anantpur JC Diwakar Reddy today said that NDA isn't granting a special status to Andhra Pradesh because Prime Minister Narendra Modi fears Chandrababu Naidu and wants to crush him. He also said that only Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu are the big alternatives to Narendra Modi. Mr Naidu is the biggest political enemy of Mr Modi. The BJP-TDP divorce will happen. However, we will abide by the chief ministers decision,?? Diwakar Reddy said. advertisement Reddy's statement comes in retaliation to YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy's statement earlier today that Naidu feared PM Modi. The ties between NDA and TDP have strained after the Centre failed to sanction a special status category to Andhra Pradesh. I told Chandra Babu a year ago that we cant live with the BJP because of their attitude. We have to divorce,?? fumed Reddy said. A TDP MLC B Venkanna also took a dig at Modi saying that the PM has adopted a vengeful attitude towards the state as Chandra Babu Naidu had criticised the then Gujarat chief minister on 2002 Godhra riots. Only because Naidu had been critical of him in the past, Modi is now seeking vengeance and denying special status to Andhra Pradesh,?? Venkanna said. The state BJP leader refused to respond to these comments. Also Read Andhra Pradesh special status: Will TDP break alliance with BJP? --- ENDS --- OMAHA, Neb. Hillary Clintons campaign on Monday touted the support of investor Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world, in order to try to take Donald Trump down a peg in the presidential race. The Oracle of Omaha went directly after Trump, dismissing the Republican real estate magnates excuse for not releasing his tax returns. Trump has cited an ongoing audit when asked if he would follow the presidential-campaign tradition of releasing tax documents. I would like to make him an offer I hope he cant refuse, Buffett told Clintons supporters at a rally. Ive got news for him. Im under audit, too, and I would be delighted to meet him any time, any place, between now and the election. I will bring my tax returns. He can bring his tax returns and just let people ask us questions about the items that are on there. Buffett then asked the crowd, How many of you would be afraid to have your tax returns made public? Youre only afraid if youve got something to be afraid of. Hes not afraid because of the IRS. Hes afraid because of you, Buffett said. I will meet him in Omaha or Mar-a-Lago. He can pick the place, he continued. The rally on Monday marked the second time in less than a week that the Clinton campaign has brought out a billionaire far richer than Trump to criticize the GOP nominee. During last weeks Democratic National Convention, media mogul and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg fiercely criticized Trumps candidacy. Buffett also bashed Trump on various other topics at the Omaha event. He pointed to Trumps claim at the Republican National Convention that he knows the system better than anyone and he alone can fix it. Buffett responded to this by saying, Well, la-di-da. It takes some kind of nerve or something else to really have the notion that youre the only one out of 325 million people who can fix it, said Buffett. Trump speaks during a town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, August 1, 2016. (Photo: Eric Thayer/Reuters) Buffett continued by addressing Trumps comments about the Khan family. Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier who heroically died in Iraq, spoke at last weeks DNC and blasted Trumps proposal to bar Muslims from entering the country. Khan said Trump had sacrificed nothing for the freedoms he enjoyed. In turn, Trump cited his business success as a sacrifice and questioned why Khans wife stood silently at his side leading to days of additional controversy. Story continues No member of the Buffett family has gone to Iraq or Afghanistan. No member of the Trump family has gone to Iraq or Afghanistan, Buffett said. Weve both done extremely well during this period and our families havent sacrificed anything, he added. The Nebraska billionaire then said he wanted to make a little news that would be a surprise even to Hillary. He admitted that voters in certain states with large partisan majorities couldnt have much impact in the electoral college. However, Buffett pointed out that Nebraska is a very special place because it awards electoral votes by congressional district instead of allocating them all to the winner of the statewide vote. Citing analyses that predict a potential electoral college tie, Buffett said the local Omaha-based second congressional district, which Democrats won in 2008, could be what puts Clinton in the White House if the November election is tight. Were going to help that process along this time. I have pledged today that on Election Day, I will take at least 10 people to the polls who would otherwise have difficulty getting there, Buffett said. Along with his own efforts to increase turnout, Buffett announced the launch of a website, Drive2Vote.org, where people can register to join him in helping voters in Nebraskas second district get to the polls. Buffett said he has already rented a trolley that seats 32 people to help him transport people to polling stations. Im going to be on it all day. Im going to do selfies, whatever it takes, Buffett said. Clinton took the stage after Buffetts introduction and called him a personal friend. She also made her own pitch to the locals. She joked that if the congressional district has the highest percentage of voters in any potential district come November, Warren and I will dance in the streets of Omaha! Additional contributions by Colin Campbell. This post was updated at 8:59 p.m. with additional details from Clintons speech. Lily-Rose Depp has music in her DNA, and fans can get a glimpse of it in her new film Yoga Hosers. In this exclusive clip, the daughter of Johnny Depp (who just wrapped up a tour with his band Hollywood Vampires) and French chanteuse Vanessa Paradis shows off her vocal chops during a duet with costar Harley Quinn Smith much to the dismay of Natasha Lyonne. That's because Lyonne character, Tabitha, is in the middle of an intimate moment with Bob Collette ( Tony Hale) when his daughter Colleen (Depp) starts singing Styx's hit song "Babe." Hale's character cannot get over the sweet melodies of his daughter, ruining the time with his lady. "I used to sing this to her when she was a baby," says Hale in the film, which is directed by Harley Quinn Smith's father, Kevin Smith. "She just remembers it. She's just grown up so fast, you know?" Yoga Hosers is a spin-off of Smith's 2014 film Tusk, in which both his daughter and Lily-Rose had small roles. They take the lead in this horror-comedy as two high school sophomores obsessed with yoga and their phones. When they're invited to a party by dreamy senior Hunter Calloway (Austin Butler), they have to overcome some serious obstacles to get there. The film marks Depp's first leading role and her first time on the big screen with her dad. Paradis herself also has a role in the film. Smith told PEOPLE last year that the scenes with the father-daughter Depp duo were "mind-blowing" to watch. "It was adorable," he said. Other members of the star-studded cast include Justin Long, Adam Brody and Tyler Posey Yoga Hosers hits theaters Sept. 2. After the Great Recession hit in 2008, business schools started ramping up their menu of specializations to meet the demand of students eager to differentiate themselves as experts in a given area. This expansion into concentrations has become a way for schools to innovate while they educate the next generation of business leaders. It has also become a way for them to distinguish their own MBA programs from other top business schools. Unlike a master's degree in finance or accounting or other specialty, an MBA is by definition a generalist program, which exposes students to many different disciplines -- both hard disciplines like finance and soft like organizational behavior. If you're contemplating business school, think about whether you'd prefer a general management approach or one that offers majors or concentrations. Choosing to be a generalist or specialist at business school depends heavily on your end goals. Advantages of being a generalist: Business schools want to fill their classes with students who will not only get hired after graduation but eventually run the firm. Most applicants see business school as a way to grow as a leader and advance their career. The degree imparts a strong foundation of general business knowledge, allowing students to gain a greater understanding of how various departments operate. [Here are four things to know before going to business school.] Although students typically come to b-school with a clear career goal in mind for after graduation, an MBA program is actually an excellent time to explore a variety of subjects and experiences that may ultimately redirect your path. For long-term flexibility in the global marketplace, career-switchers need a breadth of courses to prepare them for the myriad management responsibilities they will encounter in whichever sector they end up. The only potential drawback to a general MBA is that you may not acquire the depth of knowledge required for a particular position. However, that broader know-how and wider range of career opportunities that come from earning an MBA at a top program is almost always worth it. Story continues Advantages of being a specialist: MBA s pecialization is a good move for individuals who know exactly what they want to do with their career and who want to build a stronger skill base in that area. If you already know that you're interested in an area like digital marketing, real estate, business analytics, social innovation, health care and so forth, then earning an MBA with a concentration can make you even more marketable. Recruiters like to see a strong focus on a particular field or functional area. In today's competitive job market, having that specialization on your resume, bolstered by a supporting internship or extracurricular activities, will help you stand out from the crowd. Students who specialize can also grow their niche network during the MBA program and then be ready to hit the ground running on day one. [Learn how to select an MBA concentration.] Drawbacks of being a specialist: While specializing in a certain area of business is fine, know that it can be limiting. One could even argue that you should just earn a degree in that specialty instead. Depending on the career path you have chosen after graduation, by specializing you could inadvertently pigeonhole yourself and narrow your job prospects, especially if you're a career-changer. A recent Harvard Business Review article detailed how Tulane Assistant Professor Jennifer Merluzzi and Columbia Business School Professor Damon Phillips studied the records of almost 400 students, who in 2008 and 2009 graduated from top U.S. MBA program s and then entered the investment banking field. [Discover 14 MBA programs that lead to jobs.] Among their findings, the researchers discovered that, "specialists were definitely penalized by the market. Not only were they less likely to receive multiple offers, but they were offered smaller signing bonuses. In some cases the specialists earned up to $48,000 less than their generalist peers." The classroom experience may also differ notably for specialists. Instead of classes with individuals who have multiple, diverse perspectives that enrich a traditional MBA experience, participants in the same specialization will likely have similar backgrounds and professional experiences from which to call on. Ultimately, when you're running a company, chances are you won't be pulling together the financial models or balancing the books. Understanding those aspects is important, but you don't need to be a master -- ideally you will hire others to do the deep dive . My friend and executive at a Fortune 100 company, who has thousands of employees reporting to him, once explained his role to me. He said, "I know what needs to be done and I get people to do it for me." Whether you choose to pursue a general or specialty MBA, pay close attention in all of your classes -- even the areas you would plan to outsource when you have the budget. With an objective of increasing market share in commercial lending markets, Wells Fargo & Company WFC completed the acquisition of General Electric Companys GE Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) business in Australia & New Zealand. Notably, Wells Fargo sealed the deal with GE Capital, an arm of the Connecticut-based company last October. The acquisition comprised of CDF assets and 123 team members at 5 sites in Australian markets and CDF assets and 7 team members at 2 sites in New Zealand. Notably, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segments closure is expected to take place later this year. Significantly, Wells Fargo International Finance, LLC is acquiring the CDF assets in Australia, and Wells Fargo International Finance (New Zealand) Limited is buying the assets in New Zealand. Previously, Wells Fargo had signed an agreement to buy GE Capitals CDF and Vendor Finance platforms along with its Corporate Finance business. In Mar 2016, Wells Fargo completed the acquisition of commercial lending and leasing businesses in North America. The total purchase included assets of around $31 billion along with about 2,800 employees. Further, in Jul 2016, the banking giant completed the acquisition in Asia comprising CDF assets and 46 team members in Asia Pacific markets. While the latest deal enhances Wells Fargos financial services business, for GE, the move is in line with its efforts to trim down its financial wing and focus more on its core industrial business. Notably, Wells Fargo and The Blackstone Group L.P. BX aided GE in commencing its finance overhaul in Apr 2015 by agreeing to purchase its real estate assets worth about $23 billion. Further, with the recent acquisition of GE Railcar Services from GE Capital, Wells Fargo Rail the railcar finance, leasing and fleet management business of Wells Fargo became the largest railcar and locomotive leasing company in North America with over 175,000 railcars and 1,800 locomotives. Wells Fargo currently holds a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Comerica Inc. CMA is a better-ranked stock in the finance space carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report COMERICA INC (CMA): Free Stock Analysis Report WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report GENL ELECTRIC (GE): Free Stock Analysis Report BLACKSTONE GRP (BX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Western nations warned Monday that a new defamation bill could severely undermine freedom of speech in the Maldives as they accused President Abdulla Yameen of eroding democracy on the honeymoon islands. The United States led calls on Yameen to withdraw the bill that is being discussed in parliament this week, saying it gave authorities powers to impose severe penalties on people seeking to exercise basic human rights. "The defamation bill that has been introduced in the Maldivian parliament risks being, if passed, a serious setback for freedom of speech in the Maldives," the US embassy said in a statement. "It will allow severe penalties to be imposed on those who wish to exercise their democratic rights and freedoms, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." The strongly-worded missive was supported by the Sri Lanka-based diplomatic missions of Britain, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the European Union, which have responsibility for the Maldives. The statement also expressed "concern about the erosion of fundamental freedoms and the institutions of democracy, including freedom of assembly and press" under Yameen, who came to power in 2013. "We urge President Yameen to reverse the backsliding of the past many months and return to the path of democracy, transparency, and rule of law - for the well-being and prosperity of all of the people in the Maldives," it added. Maldivian police arrested 16 journalists in April for protesting against the bill, which seeks to criminalise defamation and proposes heavy fines and jail terms for offenders. Independent media institutions fear it could be used to stifle freedom of speech on the islands, whose pristine seas and white sandy beaches are a popular draw for wealthy Western tourists. The Indian Ocean archipelago adopted multiparty democracy in 2008 after decades of autocratic rule. But it has been gripped by turmoil since its first democratically-elected leader Mohamed Nasheed was toppled in 2012. Nasheed, whose jailing last year on terror charges has been widely criticised by the West, has since secured political asylum in Britain after travelling there for medical treatment while on prison leave. Western Union Co. WU is set to report second-quarter 2016 earnings results after market close on Aug 3. Last quarter, this money transfer company missed the earnings estimate by 2.63%. The company, however, beat estimates in three out of the past four reported quarters, with the average beat being 1.8% Will Western Union be able to keep its streak of positive earnings surprise alive this quarter? Let's see what factors might have influenced the earnings report this time around. Factors Likely to Influence Q2 Results A strong dollar will continue to affect second-quarter revenues of Western Union which has a broad international business exposure. Revenues will also remain depressed due to continued weakness in Russia. Low oil prices will be affecting revenues from Middle East and Africa. Bottom line will also see a drag from technology spending and investment that has increased from last year, as the company continues to invest in enhancements to its platforms, digital capabilities, settlement systems and data center transformation. Higher technology expense will also negatively impact the C2C segment operating margin. Nevertheless, the consumer-to-business and consumer-to-consumer segments will see higher operating margin from cost saving initiatives. We also expect the companys online business, in which it is investing heavily, to reap results. A margin upside is also likely from the restructuring efforts taken previously. Share buybacks supported by the company strong balance sheet will help the bottom line. But will these be enough for an earnings beat? Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Western Union is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. However, that is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Western Unions Earnings ESP is 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate of 40 cents is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Zacks Rank: Western Union has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). As it is the company has a 0.00% Earnings ESP, on top of that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when it is seeing negative estimate revisions. Story continues WESTERN UNION Price and EPS Surprise WESTERN UNION Price and EPS Surprise | WESTERN UNION Quote Stocks to Consider Here are some other financial companies which you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Prudential Financial, Inc. PRU has an Earnings ESP of +0.40% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report second-quarter earnings results on Aug 3. Manulife Financial Corporation ALL has an Earnings ESP of +2.94% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings results on Aug 4. Sun Life Financial Inc. SLF has an Earnings ESP of +1.47% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings results on Aug 10. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SUN LIFE FINL (SLF): Free Stock Analysis Report PRUDENTIAL FINL (PRU): Free Stock Analysis Report ALLSTATE CORP (ALL): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTERN UNION (WU): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Producers of HBO's highly anticipated and twice-delayed Westworld used their time Saturday in front of reporters at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour to defend the show's violence against women and portrayal of rape. The topic, which rattled new HBO programming chief Casey Bloys during his morning session, took center stage after the first two episodes of HBO's forthcoming drama were screened. The opening scene features a lifelike female android (played by Evan Rachel Wood) being dragged by her hair to be raped offscreen by a villain of sorts called the Man in Black (portrayed by Ed Harris). (The trailer that recently aired on HBO featured an orgy scene that was cut before it was unspooled on YouTube.) "It was definitely something that was heavily discussed and considered as we worked on those scenes," said showrunner Lisa Joy. "Westworld is an examination of human nature. The best parts of human nature - paternal love, romantic love, finding oneself - but also the basis for parts of human nature - violence and sexual violence. Violence and sexual violence have been a fact of human history since the beginning. There's something about us - thankfully not the majority of us - but there are people who have engaged in violence and who are victims of violence. "When we were tackling a project about a park with a premise where you can come there and do whatever desire you want with impunity and without consequence, it seemed like an issue we had to address," she continued. "In addressing it, there's a lot of thinking that goes into it. Sexual violence is an issue we take seriously; it's extraordinarily disturbing and horrifying. And in its portrayal, we endeavored for it to not be about the fetishization of those acts. It's about exploring the crime, establishing the crime and the torment of the characters within this story and exploring their stories hopefully with dignity and depth and that's what what we endeavored to do." Read More: HBO's High-Class Problems: $100M 'Vinyl' Disappoints Amid 'Westworld,' David Fincher Woes HBO has a lot riding on Westworld. With the end in sight of HBO's current ratings champion Game of Thrones, the premium cabler has high hopes that the pricey Westworld will help fill the critical and viewership void when the George R.R. Martin adaptation signs off after season eight. Read More: HBO's New Chief Talks Jon Stewart, 'Vinyl' Demise, Violence Problems and 'Thrones' End "The point in Westworld is they're robots," Bloys said earlier in the day while also addressing the sexual violence against women depicted in Game of Thrones. "How do you treat a robot with human-like qualities? Is that reflective of how you would treat a human? It's a little bit different than Game of Thrones, where it is human-on-human violence. But to your larger point: Is it something we think about? Yeah, I think the criticism is valid. I think it's something that people take into account. It's not something we're wanting to highlight or trying to highlight, but I think the criticism is 'point taken' on it." Read More: Production on HBO's 'Westworld' Shut Down The ambitious drama stars Anthony Hopkins as the head of an ultra-realistic amusement park where visitors come to live out their most outrageous desires. It is based on Michael Crichton's 1973 film of the same name. Westworld, which HBO announced will premiere Oct. 2, was originally eyed to debut in 2015 and has been the subject of swirling rumors about a messy process that included multiple production delays. For his part, co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan noted that Westworld is an "examination of human nature from two different directions" - synthetic hosts and the human guests, plus the scientists behind said universe. Joy reiterated that the series, unlike the movie, is no longer based on science fiction but is now more like "science fact," given that scientists are currently working on creating artificial intelligence machines. "They're the product of our inputs, the product of how we designed them - good and bad," she said. "They're a reflection of us. And there's the possibility of human error they can sometimes take on their own course." Executive produced by Nolan (Person of Interest), Joy, J.J. Abrams, the late Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk, Westworld features an all-star cast - many of whom can play completely different characters, thanks to the show's robot-filled amusement-park concept. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the show's androids, played by castmembers including James Marsden, Wood and Thandie Newton, can be killed off and return with completely different personas, allowing actors to play many characters within one season and the life of the show. That creative device, one top talent agent said, helped HBO attract a premier cast, which also includes Jeffrey Wright. And unlike the actors on such anthology series as FX's American Horror Story and HBO's own True Detective, which reboot themselves every season, the cast of Westworld is signing multiyear deals. Read More: How HBO's 'Westworld' Became TV's Hottest Project Workiva Inc. WK is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 3, 2016. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 16.7%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider Workiva offers a cloud-based mobile-enabled platform for enterprises to collect, manage, report and analyze critical business data in real time. The exponential increase in the amount of data, complexity of data formats and the need to scale resources at regular intervals have compelled several companies to turn to cloud computing vendors. Although the company reported a loss in first-quarter 2016, it compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Also, the top line surpassed the consensus mark in the quarter and increased on a year-over-year basis. Cloud computing includes the entire gamut of computing intelligence required to carry out day-to-day operations by companies and professionals. Thus, other than the hardware, all the supporting technology involved in creating, storing, retrieving, transporting, protecting, sorting, processing, analyzing and presenting information from multiple sources and formats, which when available from a shared (private) or public pool, could be referred to as cloud computing. Cloud service providers, therefore, help organizations to store data and applications remotely in this pool, which can be accessed from anywhere, anytime via the Internet. Given its scope and advantages (cost, scaling, convenience, etc.), demand for cloud computing software and applications will continue to increase. This will aid Workivas results in the second quarter and beyond. We believe that increasing mainstream adoption of cloud-based solutions will boost Workivas second-quarter results. However, an uncertain economic environment, currency headwinds and competition remain major concerns. WORKIVA INC Price and EPS Surprise WORKIVA INC Price and EPS Surprise | WORKIVA INC Quote Story continues Earnings Whispers? Our proven model does not conclusively show that Workiva is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for Workiva is 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at a loss per share of 43 cents. Zacks Rank: Workiva has a Zacks Rank #3 which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the companys 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 and 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions momentum. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies that investors may consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: CDK Global, Inc. CDK with an Earnings ESP of +4.26% and a Zacks Rank #1 Paycom Software, Inc. PAYC with an Earnings ESP of +7.69% and a Zacks Rank #3 Qualys, Inc. QLYS with Earnings ESP of +12.50% and a Zacks Rank #3 Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PAYCOM SOFTWARE (PAYC): Free Stock Analysis Report QUALYS INC (QLYS): Free Stock Analysis Report CDK GLOBAL INC (CDK): Free Stock Analysis Report WORKIVA INC (WK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Political alliance between TDP and BJP have come under a strain after finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the demand for granting special status category to Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. By Ashish Pandey: Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDP) MPs and senior leaders on Sunday suggested chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw ties with NDA government if a special status is not granted to Andhra Pradesh. During an emergency meeting at Vijaywada on Sunday, TDP members demanded the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act which led to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state. advertisement TDP members have sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the matter, and will be holding a dharna today at the Parliament complex. "We have waited with hope for two years. If the Prime Minister can spare two hours, the problems can be solved," Chandrababu Naidu said. STRAIN IN TDP-NDA TIES Political alliance between TDP and BJP have come under a strain after finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the demand for granting special status category to Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. "We cannot give preferential treatment to any state, even if it is one ruled by an ally of the BJP, as Andhra Pradesh is at present," Jaitley said while rejecting the long-pending demand. Naidu questioned Jaitley, "What is our mistake that you are doing such injustice to Andhra Pradesh? You have no authority to do injustice to us. We are part of India and we are paying every tax, contributing to your income." He said that the special status is a life and death issue for the state and its future, and the outcome of the party MPs meeting with the Prime Minister will decide the future course of action. Also read Andhra Pradesh's Special Status issue escalates, Opposition calls state bandh on August 2 Naidu slams ally BJP, Jaitley over Andhra special status issue --- ENDS --- Delphi Automotive PLC DLPH is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 3. In the last quarter, the company had delivered a positive earnings surprise of 1.49%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Influencing this Quarter Delphi Automotive regularly undertakes acquisitions and alliances to enhance its technological capability, increase operating scale, augment its client base and expand geographically. The acquisition of PureDepth will complement and enhance Delphi Automotive's fully-reconfigurable digital display product offerings. In Dec 2015, the company completed the acquisition of HellermannTyton Group PLC, a leading global manufacturer of cable management solutions. The transaction is expected to boost Delphi Automotives earnings by 15 cents per share, excluding one-time integration expenses, from 2016 onward. Some of the incremental earnings from these acquisitions will likely be visible in the companys second-quarter results. For 2016, Delphi Automotive expects revenues, adjusted earnings per share, adjusted operating income and operating cash flow to increase over 2015. This raises hopes for good results in the second quarter. On the flip side, the loss of revenues from the divested Thermal Systems business has been negatively impacting Delphi Automotives top line. Moreover, economic weakness in South America is leading to lower production in the region by original equipment manufacturers. This can adversely affect Delphi Automotives sales. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Delphi Automotive is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below: Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Delphi Automotive Earnings ESP is -0.65% because the Most Accurate estimate stands at $1.54, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $1.55. Zacks Rank: Delphi Automotive carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Story continues DELPHI AUTO PLC Price and EPS Surprise DELPHI AUTO PLC Price and EPS Surprise | DELPHI AUTO PLC Quote Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Westport Fuel Systems Inc. WPRT has an Earnings ESP of +9.09% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Aug 3. Magna International Inc. MGA has an Earnings ESP of +0.75% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Aug 5. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. CTB has an Earnings ESP of +7.48% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 results are expected to release on Aug 4. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MAGNA INTL CL A (MGA): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTPORT FUEL (WPRT): Free Stock Analysis Report COOPER TIRE (CTB): Free Stock Analysis Report DELPHI AUTO PLC (DLPH): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Nu-Skin Enterprises, Inc. NUS is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 4, after the market closes. Last quarter, the company posted a positive surprise of 13.51%. Let us see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider Unfavorable currency has been a concern for Nu Skins revenues since quite some time. Last quarter, currency fluctuations negatively impacted sales by 5%. For the second quarter, revenues are expected in a range of $560 million to $580 million, assuming a negative foreign currency impact of approximately 4%. On a constant currency basis, revenues are expected to increase in a range of 6% to 8% in the second quarter, with earnings in the band of 7579 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of 79 cents per share is at the higher end of the guided range. In addition, multi-level marketer Nu Skin has been witnessing a decline in Greater China since the past few quarters. This is a concern as the company generates more than a third of its total revenue from the region, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong. Last quarter, the company witnessed a sales decline in all the geographic regions (except EMEA) on a constant currency basis, owing to lower-than-expected sales of cosmetic oils as well as difficult economic conditions. Another concern is the regulatory steps undertaken by the company in mainland China to review a legal issue. This is also negatively impacting sales in the region. Moreover, we note that China has always been suspicious about direct selling companies like Nu Skin and Herbalife Ltd. HLF. Both these companies employ sales representatives to sell products and are always closely watched by rivals and regulators. They face accusations like focusing more on recruiting instead of selling products and running a pyramid business model i.e. employing deceptive marketing practices for improving business. Nevertheless, Nu Skin plans to continue to roll out ageLOC Me and ageLOC Youth in the second quarter, with more products in the second half of the year. Story continues In the second quarter, the company will offer limited-time deals of ageLOC Me in Greater China and ageLOC Youth in South Asia, and launch ageLOC Me on a full-time basis in Japan. NU SKIN ENTERP Price and EPS Surprise NU SKIN ENTERP Price and EPS Surprise | NU SKIN ENTERP Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Nu Skin is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for Nu Skin is 0.00% as both the Most Accurate Estimate and Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 79 cents. Zacks Rank: Nu Skin holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the companys 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies in the consumer staples sector, which are worth considering, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: The J.M. Smucker Co. SJM, with an Earnings ESP of +4.07% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Dean Foods Company DF, with an Earnings ESP of +2.63% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NU SKIN ENTERP (NUS): Free Stock Analysis Report DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report SMUCKER JM (SJM): Free Stock Analysis Report HERBALIFE LTD (HLF): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The tallest men in the world live in the Netherlands, and the tallest women call Latvia home, according to the largest study ever done on people's heights. The vast project included data from more than 1,400 previous studies that had the heights of more than 18.6 million people in 200 countries. These studies included the heights of people who were 18 during every year between 1914 and 2014, allowing the researchers of the new study to track changes in average heights over time. They found, for instance, that South Korean women and Iranian men showed the largest increases in average height over the past 100 years, with South Korean women gaining an average of 8 inches (20.2 cm) between 1916 and 2014, and Iranian men growing an average of 6.5 inches (16.5 centimeters) taller. [Know Your Roots? Human Evolution Quiz] Men and women in the United States also experienced a growth spurt, but to a lesser degree. In 1914, U.S. men were the third tallest in the world, and U.S. women were the fourth tallest. But despite increases in height of 2.2 inches and 2 inches (6 cm and 5 cm), respectively, U.S. men are now ranked 37th and women are ranked 42nd, the study found. In the United Kingdom, both men and women have gained about 4.3 inches (11 cm) over the past 100 years, jumping from 57th to 38th place (for women) and 36th to 31th place (for men). In China, the stature of men and women has increased about 4.3 and 3.9 inches (11 cm and 10 cm), respectively, from 1914 to 2014. In the modern world, the top 10 tallest nations are all in Europe, and none of them are English-speaking nations, the researchers found. Roller-coaster trends Some countries hit plateaus over the past 30 to 40 years, although they showed increases in height during the first half of the century, the researchers found. For instance, the United States plateaued, as did the United Kingdom, Finland and Japan. However, other countries, such as Spain, Italy and several Latin American and East Asian countries, are still increasing in height, they found. Story continues In contrast, other countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, have actually seen declines in height over the past 30 to 40 years. In these countries, the stagnation or decreases in height could be due to a mix of the wealthy people already receiving the maximum amount of nourishment and health care, and lower-class people getting subpar nutrition, especially during pregnancy, study co-author James Bentham, a research associate at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, told Live Science. Why height matters People's height is partly determined by genetics, but nutrition and environmental factors also play a role, the researchers said. Because conditions such as childhood illness and poor nutrition during pregnancy and childhood can stunt growth, the average height of people can serve as a proxy for how healthy their nation is, the researchers said. Moreover, being taller is associated with longevity, higher education and better earnings, the researchers wrote in the study. Tall people are also less likely to experience heart disease and stroke, and taller women and their children are less likely to have complications before and after childbirth, they said. [Blossoming Body: 8 Odd Changes That Occur During Pregnancy] But it's not all rosy for tall people. Research shows that tall people are more likely to get some cancers, including colorectal, breast and ovarian cancers, and possibly pancreatic and prostate cancers, they said. "This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century, and reveals the average height of some nations may even be shrinking while others continue to grow taller," study lead researcher Majid Ezzati, a professor at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said in a statement. "This confirms we urgently need to address children and adolescents' environment and nutrition on a global scale, and ensure were giving the world's children the best possible start in life." Ezzati added that the English-speaking world, especially the United States, "is falling behind other high-income nations in Europe and Asia Pacific." These differences in height, when combined with reports about increased obesity, could be a red flag about people's health, and emphasizes the need for better nutrition throughout life, he said. Quick facts The average height of 18-year-old men has dropped by as much as 2 inches (5 cm) over the past 40 years in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Sierra Leon, Uganda and Rwanda. Australia was the only non-European country to be in the top 25 in 2014; its men ranked No. 18 and its women ranked No. 15. In East Asia, South Korean and Chinese men are now taller than Japanese men. Adults in the South Asian countries of Bangladesh and India have heights that are plateauing, at about 2 to 4 inches (5 cm to 10 cm) shorter than adults in Japan and South Korea. The smallest men in 1914 lived in Laos, with an average height of 5 feet (153 cm), which is similar to the height of a well-nourished 12-year-old boy today. In 1914, the shortest women lived in Guatemala, with an average height of 4 feet 7 inches (140 cm), the same height as a well-nourished 10-year-old girl today. The nations with the tallest men in 2014 (with their 1914 rankings given in brackets): Netherlands (12) Belgium (33) Estonia (4) Latvia (13) Denmark (9) Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) Croatia (22) Serbia (30) Iceland (6) Czech Republic (24) The nations with the tallest women in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): Latvia (28) Netherlands (38) Estonia (16) Czech Republic (69) Serbia (93) Slovakia (26) Denmark (11) Lithuania (41) Belarus (42) Ukraine (43) Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A heartbeat away. We hear that expression a lot when it comes to the office of the vice president of the United States, especially now that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have chosen their ticket companions. Yet we rarely ponder what it really means in terms of democratic process. So think about it: Hundreds of millions of people weigh in on who will become the next U.S. president through a painstakingly long election process. But for a vice president to become president, only two things really must happen: They must be chosen by the presidential nominee and, once that nominee is elected president, that person must stop being president before the term is finished. Sure, the vice presidential candidates name is on the ballot too, and sometimes that name can impact the tickets chances at the margins. But for all intents and purposes, the vice president is chosen by a single individual: his or her running mate. Isnt there a more democratic way of choosing the person who is supposed to be the top-dog-in-waiting? With the expansion of the vice presidents role and influence in recent decades, the person who holds that office has become more important than ever. Politicians and political historians have long questioned the necessity of the office itself. Even Franklin Roosevelts first VP, John Nance Garner, famously said the position was not worth a bucket of warm piss (or spit accounts vary). But presidents do die, and leave office for other reasons, and the prospect of a vice president becoming president is hardly academic. It has happened nine times in American history, and the transition does not always go well, or all that democratically. Take the last vice president to assume the presidency: Gerald Ford, who became president despite having never been elected to that office or the vice presidency (he replaced Richard Nixons first VP, Spiro Agnew, who resigned after a bribery scandal). With the expansion of the vice presidents role and influence in recent decades, the person who holds that office has become more important than ever. And, unlike other cabinet officers, who serve at the pleasure of the president, the VP cannot be fired by the president. In sum, there is a great deal of risk today that an American vice president, despite that offices growing influence and proximity to power, will be someone who would have a hard time getting elected president themselves (see: Mike Pence or Tim Kaine). Story continues Is there a better way? I asked some experts on the vice presidency what they thought about the issue. I think we all have a sense that theres something of a democratic deficit in this process, says Christopher Devine, a political scientist at the University of Dayton. The running mate is basically selected for us. But both Devine and his co-author of the new book The VP Advantage, Kyle Kopko of Elizabethtown College, caution that despite such apparent flaws, theres no alternative thats clearly better, or that we havent tried already. Another alternative process that America has tried before: letting the party conventions select the vice presidential nominee. For example, why not elect a vice president separately, the way many states elect their lieutenant governors? Well, for the first few presidential elections in our nations history we did, with the runner-up in the presidential election becoming vice president. It became clear, though, that having a president and a vice president of different parties was a recipe for dysfunction, especially today, as the vice presidents role in advancing the presidents agenda has expanded. Recent history has demonstrated that personal and ideological compatibility between president and vice president, says Saint Louis University law professor Joel K. Goldstein, is critical for a smooth and productive working relationship. A similar risk of incompatibility would be involved in another alternative process that America has tried before: letting the party conventions select the vice presidential nominee. In the period prior to 1940 when party conventions played this role, says Devine, they regularly made decisions based on patronage and electoral considerations rather than more responsible bases. Strike two. So, what about a third option one that emulates Ted Cruz choosing Carly Fiorina as his running mate during the Republican primary? Why not force presidential candidates to name their running mates at the start of the primary process? This would ensure some compatibility and allow primary voters a more direct say in the running mate and prospective ticket as a whole. Of course, as Goldstein points out, even in years where you dont have 16-plus contenders as we did in the GOP primary this election, you would quickly dilute the quality of the potential veeps. Besides, many of the best prospects would be current officeholders hesitant to declare their candidacies, or contenders for the presidency itself (as Biden and many other VP candidates have been). So, like it or not, we are probably stuck with a vice presidential nomination process that, although democratically flawed, may be the best we can hope for given the nature of the office today. Ultimately, says Goldstein, the best way to further democratize the process of choosing a vice president is to engage actively in the same sort of highly visible selection period we currently have, in which a nominees record, debate performance and qualifications are scrutinized by the public and media. Its not perfect, but its not warm piss either. Political conventions arent typically the place to bring campaign white papers to life. But I kept hearing the same phrase in speech after speech in Philadelphia last week, obviously shorthand for some Hillary Clinton policy that must have been released to great fanfare at some point, but which had escaped me this election season. Hillarys got specific ideas to help workers share in their companys profits, President Obama said in his convention address. If a company offers stock options to its senior executives, it ought to offer stock options and profit sharing for all its employees, said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner at a panel discussion put on by the centrist group Third Way. If you believe that companies should share profits, not pad executive bonuses, join us, thundered Hillary Clinton herself, in her nomination speech. I do believe that. But Id be more full-throttle about it if I actually knew what Clinton was talking about. Related: Clinton Skates Through Fox News Softball Interview So I went to where all well-intentioned policies go to die: the campaign issues page. And buried in among 30-plus other ideas, I found Clintons plan for a profit sharing tax credit, originally announced over a year ago in New Hampshire. The plan attempts to solve a very real conundrum: how to increase the labor share of national income, which has been dropping consistently for the past 15 years. This translates into a loss of $535 billion for workers since 2000, according to the Economic Policy Institute. And it obviously exacerbates income inequality, as the share of income increasingly flows to managers and financiers at the very top. A small group of academics believe one answer to this lies in creating incentive compensation systems, in which all workers, not just executives, get performance bonuses when their employers profits rise. Profit sharing was relatively commonplace in the early 20th century, and many corporations still retain such programs, from tech firms Google and Cisco to household product maker Procter & Gamble to Southwest Airlines, which paid out $620 million last year. The idea is to give workers a bigger stake in their companys success, increasing productivity, worker morale, and of course, pay. Story continues Related: 5 Significant Ways Sanders Pulled Clinton to the Left Heres the Clinton plan: She would encourage inclusive profit-sharing plans in which workers in high-performing companies would receive 10 percent on top of their wages. To get companies to make the switch, she would offer a corporate tax credit for up to 15 percent of the profit-sharing pool. Small businesses would be eligible for an even higher credit. This would defray the cost of setting up the profit-sharing plan, and would phase out after two years. The business would retain the program, theoretically, out of recognition for its benefits. Clinton expects this to cost $20 billion for those two years, but that leverages about $133 billion in returns to workers, which continue long after the tax credit expires. I appreciate the thinking behind this, but I can think of about a half-dozen ways to game it. The most obvious one stems from the fact that corporations often boost profits in the modern age by downsizing workers, cutting hours, eliminating benefit packages like health insurance and otherwise slashing labor costs. Those cuts would expand profits, and only a portion of them (not as much as the labor cuts) would go back to workers, with the company getting a nice tax break out of it. In the end, the corporation does better but workers have a net loss, with the profit sharing a poor substitute for wages. This would make workers more reliant on the profit-sharing bonus, and since the business cycle produces ups and downs, some years would cause real hardships. Related: The Retirement Revolution That Failed Why the 401(k) Isnt Working On the flip side, if a CEO wants corporate profits to shrink, he can just siphon money out of the company through stock buybacks or dividends to shareholders or executive compensation and benefits. Productivity may rise because workers expect to share in the companys success, but the investors would really see the windfall. A bigger problem could arise with the structure of the profit-sharing program. In banking, bonus culture leads to more risk-taking; policymakers are busy trying to de-link compensation from financial industry performance. A similar dynamic could arise once profit sharing is instituted more widely. Then there are non-cash forms of profit sharing. For example, many companies offer plans where workers get shares of company stock, sometimes called an Employee Stock Ownership Program, or ESOP. In fact, there are already tax credits in place to encourage them. But undiversified portfolios can really nosedive when company stock falters. When Procter & Gamble fell 52 percent in three months in 2000, employees lost millions in accumulated savings. At Enron over half of employee 401(k) investments were tied up in company stock. Though top executives cashed out over $1 billion in shares in the final days, the employees, unaware of the state of the company, lost everything. Related: 8 Million Adults Could Be Driven into Poverty Because They Have Jobs To her credit, Clinton acknowledges the possibility of limiting wages or other gaming to get the tax credit, and would seek ways to tailor it to avoid those outcomes. But the bigger problem here is that, in order for workers to get a fair deal on the job, they dont need just a bigger share of profits; they need a bigger share of power. Even Joseph Blasi of Rutgers University, the academic perhaps most associated with the profit-sharing idea, admits that it can only work if paired with a more participative corporate culture with training for workers who need the right skills to figure out how to make the firm more valuable. If workers have no way to affect the decision-making of a firm, they cannot be certain their labor will make a difference in the companys success, defeating the purpose of profit sharing. Worker power doesnt magically follow a profit-sharing plan, especially not one coerced through a tax break. That expanded worker voice needs to be fought for and won through collective bargaining. The labor movement elicits profit sharing every time they hammer out a new contract. But they dont just gain shares in a company, or cash when that company does well; they demand a seat at the table. Related: Could a Universal Basic Income Really Work? If we want to foster greater worker voices in companies, we could encourage German-style works councils, where labor representatives sit on corporate boards and help determine compensation schedules, capital expenditures and product development. Or we could do the same for worker-owned co-operatives, where employees have even greater control of a companys decision-making. We know that profit sharing like ESOPs flourish best when worker participation increases; the latter needs to be foregrounded and the former will follow. Clinton has the right idea in trying to make workers succeed when their businesses succeed. But those businesses would succeed more if they used their workers as a resource rather than productivity machines. When we all can use our talents and skills to full potential, everybody wins. Find a way to build incentives for that, and youre onto something. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: No Weddings For Tedder Ryan Tedder doesn't do weddings. The prolific songwriter played an exclusive show with his band OneRepublic at the Red Bull Sound Space at AMP Radio in Los Angeles on July 21 and afterward told Overheard he'll no longer sing at weddings "because nothing makes me more nervous." As Tedder sees it, "If you forget a lyric or fall onstage, you can always do another show. But with a wedding, that's it" -- and, he adds, thanks to the videographers and photographers that are hired to document weddings today, any gaffe "is recorded forever." OneRepublic Would 'Gladly Collab' With Calvin Harris, But That New Song is a Fake Tedder also talked about OneRepublic's yet-to-be-titled new album, which is slated for a fall release. It took 18 months to record, "the longest amount of time we have ever spent on one project," he says. "We did a lot of living in the last four years -- there was a lot to write about." Peter Gabriel, Romy Madley Croft from The xx and Cassius make guest appearances on the record, and, Tedder says, the tracks came together in some far-flung locations. "We have a song called "The Future Looks Good," which I wrote in Rio and we recorded in Sao Paulo. Another track, "Kids," which Tedder says will be the lead single, was created in Japan and Mexico City. Tedder is busy with other projects as well, including working on a song with Stevie Wonder for a movie soundtrack that is slated to be released as Christmas. (He declined to reveal the title.) OneRepublic Teases New Album With Handwritten Letter to Fans Sting Serenades Trudie Sting played a benefit for conservation group Oceana at the Hollywood Hills home of manager-producer and Oceana board president Keith Addis on July 19, but there were moments when he seemed to be playing exclusively for his wife, Trudie Styler. The former frontman of The Police wouldn't start the show until he had located Styler in the crowd, which included actor and Oceana co-founder Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldblum, Brooklyn Decker and Andy Roddick. "I just want to make sure you are here before I start," he said after locating his spouse of 24 years. Backed by a six-piece band, Sting played a 45-minute set that opened with "Message in a Bottle" and included "Englishman in New York," "Fragile" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." After performing the romantic "Fields of Gold," which includes the lyric "Will you stay with me, will you be my love," Sting pointed at Styler and said, "I always think of you when I sing that." By Luiza Ilie BUCHAREST (Reuters) - On an early morning walk through the Romanian capitals newest park, photographer Helmut Ignat points out cormorants, harriers, terns and several other birds flying high over the marshes. "Were in luck, all the birds are showing themselves," said Ignat, who discovered Vacaresti park in 2011 on assignment from National Geographic. Word was beginning to spread that a wild wetland had sprung up between apartment buildings not far from downtown Bucharest. Ignat is one of four founders of the Vacaresti Nature Park Association, which has spent the last four years lobbying authorities to grant the wetlands protected status. "We must have met local and central public authorities more than 250 times," said its director Dan Barbulescu. Advocacy paid off. The government gave Vacaresti protected status in May, one of Europes largest urban wetlands. Vacaresti is the result of a communist-era plan to build a lake in southern Bucharest, one of dictator Nicolae Ceausescus many projects to overhaul the city. Abandoned in 1989, it was a massive pit surrounded by a concrete embankment that hid it from view. Nature took over and created 183 hectares (452 acres) of wilderness where experts have identified almost 100 species, including the protected red-breasted geese, egrets, Western marsh harriers, European pond turtles and otters. "No one was expecting that behind this embankment so many people pass by every day there was such life, a rich, balanced ecosystem," Barbulescu said. "Bit by bit nature has built a place that lives without intervention." The environment ministry is expected to appoint a park manager by year-end. The association will compete for the job. The wetlands need protection from trash, fires and poachers. Squatters need relocation. A longtime park squatter could become its first ranger, Ignat said. Gigel Enache has been living in Vacaresti for the past 18 years, and he is almost part of the ecosystem. He arrived with a wife, a four-year-old daughter and a horse and carriage. Now 50, he has nine children aged 4 to 22. They live in improvised huts of cardboard and tarps on the waters edge, without plumbing, steady income or health insurance. The children bubble with excitement and questions around visitors. Enache used to sell scrap metal for cash and now gives occasional visitors boat rides. He cant afford to move, but even if he could, apartment living is not for him. "I dont have anywhere else to go, otherwise I wouldnt have lasted here for this long," he said. "But I will die in an apartment building. I am used to being free. I have 18 years of wilderness." (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Adrian Croft) By PTI: Benegal panel New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) The Shyam Benegal-led committee constituted by the I&B ministry to examine the film certification process has said that static warnings that appear during every smoking scene in movies disturb smooth viewing. The panel has suggested that a "meaningful static disclaimer" against smoking should be shown at the beginning of films with standard visual background approved by Health Ministry for a "minimum" time along with a matching audio. advertisement In the second part of its report, the panel has said that warnings should be made in all Indian languages and made applicable to all Media Platforms. As an option, producers of such films can make a short visual conveying an anti-smoking message by the same actor who is shown smoking in the film, the panel has suggested. The committee has also suggested that the film industry should produce small films on anti-smoking theme with popular actors on their own for screening in cinemas and TV Channels. These may replace the present anti-smoking clips shown in theatres and on TV after obtaining clearance from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the panel has said. Under the present norms, filmmakers have to carry anti- tobacco warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of a smoking scene. "The static warnings that appear during every smoking scene apart from the disclaimers and anti-tobacco health spots being shown mandatorily in the beginning and interval of every film, disturbs the smooth viewing of the film," the panel said in its report. In present times, depiction of smoking has become less fashionable due to awareness generated about its harmful impact through various programmes and regulations as well, the panel said. PTI ADS SK --- ENDS --- Matthew McConaugheys Civil War drama Free State of Jones failed to ignite moviegoers interest this past June. But the McConaissance continues unabated, thanks to an impressive slate of upcoming projects, including voice work in Kubo and the Two Strings (August 19) and Sing (Dec. 21), as well as starring roles in this falls award-courting Gold (Dec. 25) and January 2017s eagerly anticipated Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower. Still, as evidenced by a new short film that he spearheaded (watch it above), the project thats close to his heart is the one about an all-American beverage: bourbon. Related: Watch Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron Chat Up Kubo and the Two Strings, Talk Up Fast 8 In a new six-minute video that begins on the banks of the Kentucky River, McConaughey discusses his new role: creative director of the new Wild Turkey campaign. Not content with just being a celebrity endorser, McConaughey explains that he sought out his latest gig because he found a story herethat I think deserves to be told. That tale involves the history of Wild Turkey, which for three generations has been manufactured by the Russell family. The actor jokes around with the Russells about which family member boasts the finest taste buds (the verdict: 82-year-old master distiller Jimmy Russell) and gets a chance to taste some of Jimmy Russells rare Prohibition-era private stash. Throughout, McConaughey whos also been a pitchman for Lincoln cars uses his short to expound upon his love of bourbon. The great news is that Wild Turkey hasnt changed in all these years its totally authentic, McConaughey told the New York Times about his new endeavor. And that appeals to millennials. Because they can smell fake. Some manicured, bearded hipster soliciting them? No, thanks. Related: Matthew McConaughey Teaching Filmmaking Course at University of Texas If you like bourbon or just the sound of McConaugheys southern drawl youll find much to enjoy about the stars newest project. Watch the latest trailer for Sing, featuring the voice of Matthew McConaughey: This London woman was abandoned in a phone booth just hours after she was born, and 22 years later, she has reunited with the man who found her and likely saved her life. Read: Woman Graduates From School Where She Was Abandoned in Cardboard Box as a Newborn Kiran Sheik, 22, said she was 8 when she realized she was adopted. She said for a period, she felt "lost and confused," but immediately began looking for her biological family, determined to find more about who they were. Over the years, she discovered her mother whom she was told she looks and acts like gave birth in a bathroom in their home at about midnight, on April 30, 1994. "She was a great mother until my father started getting more and more abusive," she told InsideEdition.com. Her mother clothed the newborn, wrapped her in a blanket and put her inside a nearby telephone booth. "She called a local charity to come and get me," Sheik said. "They did not." Sheik said she was inside the telephone booth alone for two hours, until a man came in the middle of the night to call his parents in Guyana. Read: The Boogeyman in the Backyard: Stats Show Most Abducted Children Know Their Captors When he saw the abandoned baby, he called the police. He then lost touch with Sheik but he never forgot her. Sheik later learned that the man, Joe Campbell, had been sending her birthday presents and cards every year for the next 7 years, until social services asked him to stop. Sheik also had no luck trying to find the man, until she recently appealed to local media to help reconnect her him. Sheik asked the local press to post an appeal to her savior, and Campbell, now 52, said a colleague showed him the story. Last week, Metro UK, a London newspaper, was able to reunite them. In their reunion, Sheik and Campbell discovered they had both remained in London living only an hour away from each other. Story continues Since the last time they saw each other, Sheik is now a mom of a 2-year-old herself. Campbell, who was unable to adopt Sheik because he was unmarried at the time, has since had five children of his own with his wife Ursula, 49. According to Metro UK, Campbell plans to introduce his children to Sheik, whom he refers to as his "adopted daughter." Sheik called the reunion "surreal." She said they have planned to meet weekly in the future. Through her journey, Sheik said she also discovered she has seven siblings six of whom she met. One of them is a sister, Zoe, who was also adopted and living in Florida. Read: Newborn Smiles as She's Placed in Late-Father's Gloves: 'He Will Always Be With Us' Sheik also said she learned her biological father is currently in prison in Canada for attempted murder. Though she has not reached out to him, Sheik said she does want to meet him one day. But Sheik has been unable to track down her mother, and has intensified her search with help from her supporters on GoFundMe. "I wish she does contact me," Sheik said. "Without her, I will forever have a part of me missing." Watch: Surveillance Footage Shows Mother of Baby Before He Was Left at Church Nativity Scene Related Articles: DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni government negotiators said they were leaving peace talks in Kuwait on Monday after Houthi militia foes rejected a United Nations proposal aimed to ending their country's war. Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi insisted the government was not abandoning the peace process, but suggested it would only return if the Houthis and a powerful local ally lifted their objections to the UN plan. "We've agreed to the initiative ... we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of Kuwait but we're not leaving the talks," Mekhlafi said while announcing the move. "We'll return at any moment, even an hour after our departure, if the other side agrees to sign this document which the (U.N.) envoy presented." U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed proposed that the government's foes in the armed Houthi movement quit three main cities they hold, including the capital Sanaa. Under this plan, new talks would then be convened on forming a government that would include the Houthis, delegates said. The envoy said in a statement the talks would continue. "The departure of the Government of Yemen delegation from Kuwait is not a departure from the Peace Talks," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said. "We agreed with the parties to keep the talks ongoing until we agree on next steps in the coming days which shall be dedicated to intensive meetings" with the government's foes as well as international diplomats, he said. The Houthis dismissed the U.N. proposal as a non-starter on Sunday, saying in a statement that any agreement would need to be comprehensive and not postpone a resolution on major issues. They said they would stay in Kuwait for the talks. The negotiations started in April have slowed the nationwide fighting that has killed at least 6,400 people and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Reporting By Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by William Maclean and Tom Heneghan) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f163246%2fmosquitocontrolmiami A localized Zika virus outbreak in Miami prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a rare travel advisory on Monday, warning pregnant women or women who wish to become pregnant against traveling to a 1-mile radius of an area just north of downtown Miami. The Zika virus transmission zone encompasses the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, Florida, as well as portions of Edgewater. The agency said that since it first announced the first active transmission of the Zika virus within the U.S. on Friday, additional cases were identified in the same part of Florida just north of downtown Miami. SEE ALSO: Likely Zika outbreak in Florida marks turning point for the U.S. CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters on a conference call that testing by state and local officials as well as CDC personnel has turned up persistent mosquito populations in that area, along with additional Zika cases. Frieden said there is a risk of continued Zika transmission in that area. The CDC travel advisory is a step the agency had been taking to warn against foreign travel by U.S. citizens to countries where Zika transmission was ongoing, including Brazil, where the Rio Olympics will kick off on Friday. The 1-square-mile Zika transmission zone just north of downtown Miami. Image: Florida department of public health Frieden said it is the first time the CDC had issued a travel advisory regarding a location inside the U.S., other than a Zika-related advisory in Puerto Rico, where far more widespread transmission of the virus is occurring. The CDC said women who are considering becoming pregnant can travel to the affected area, but health officials recommend they wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive a child. According to the 2010 Census, the advisory affects about 20,214 people. The limited area of the advisory is based on the fact that the mosquito that spreads the Zika virus is not known to venture further than 150 meters during its entire lifetime, Frieden said. Story continues Zika is spread through mosquito bites of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can also spread dengue fever and chikungunya, and can also be transmitted sexually. The virus is the first mosquito-borne illness known to cause birth defects, according to Frieden, as it has led to an increase in cases of microcephaly, a devastating condition in which infants are born with unusually small head sizes and brain abnormalities. This is the first time weve seen birth defects caused by a mosquito bite, Frieden said. While it can also cause health complications in adults, most of those infected with the virus don't notice any symptoms at all, which makes detecting the virus more difficult. Florida Governor Rick Scott said on Monday that 10 additional Zika cases had been identified in his state since Friday, bringing the total number of known locally-acquired cases to 14. The governor requested that a CDC emergency response team be dispatched to his state to help coordinate the Zika control efforts. This team is already en route to Florida, Frieden said. Pregnant women living in the 1-mile area where active Zika transmission is occurring are being told to minimize their exposure to mosquitoes, and wear mosquito repellent containing DEET, Frieden said. Mosquito control is falling short Frieden said part of the reason for the travel advisory is that "aggressive" mosquito control efforts in the Miami area have fallen short of expectations, possibly because the Aedes aegypti mosquito has become resistant to insecticides used against it in that area. Another reason may be because there are areas of standing water that are providing breeding locations for the mosquitoes, according to the CDC director. Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), seen in Washington on July 13, 2016. Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images "Mosquito control efforts in the specific community dont appear to be working as wed hoped," Frieden said. So far, though, health officials have not found any mosquitoes that have tested positive for Zika. However, Frieden said that is extremely difficult to do, with human infections typically showing up before mosquitoes test positive. Frieden rejected the notion that the narrow advisory is aimed at pleasing Florida's multibillion dollar tourism industry. There wouldnt be a technical or scientific basis to give a broader recommendation, he said. This won't quickly spread nationwide While Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are present in at least 30 states, the Florida cases do not necessarily herald a larger outbreak. However, this does mark a turning point, since until Friday, Zika had not been transmitted by mosquitoes in the Lower 48 states. The way Zika spreads is very different from the way other mosquito viruses spread, Frieden said, noting that there is no animal host where the virus circulates. With Zika it is quite focal and generally requires that mosquitoes get reinfected by people. A similar pattern has been seen with U.S. outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya, with those occurring in limited areas, predominantly near the Gulf Coast where warm, muggy weather is more common. Mashable's Miriam Kramer contributed to this report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Wynwood, a Zika-affected neighborhood just north of downtown Miami. The new guidance comes on the heels of an alarming discovery made over the weekend by health officials: Mosquito control measures are failing in Florida, and Zika is spreading via local mosquitoes. The total number of known locally acquired cases rose to 14, from just 4 on Friday; all of those cases are believed to have originated in the same square-mile radius. The real number of local cases is likely much higher because many infected people never exhibit symptoms, or get tested. "Aggressive mosquito control measures have not worked as well as we hoped," said CDC director Tom Frieden, M.D., in a press conference today. Frieden says the CDC is reviewing surveillance data daily, and will update the area of caution as new information comes in. The agency suspects that insecticide resistance is a significant part of the problem, but also says that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the Zika virus, may be making use of cryptic breeding places that are difficult to access and clean up. Despite daily spraying of insecticides (pyrethroid chemicals including and similar to permethrin), Florida health officials are still seeing new mosquito larvae and thriving populations of Aedes in the same area that the new local infections have emerged. So far officials have not caught any Zika-infected mosquitoes, but they wouldn't necessarily expect to. "That's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Frieden said. "Unfortunately, the most reliable way to measure local transmission is through human cases." The CDC is sending several additional members of its emergency response team to Florida, to help with the Zika outbreak and resistance testing. It will take a week or longer to determine which pesticides are still effective and which may have been rendered useless by mosquito resistance. Story continues In the meantime, Frieden says, pregnant women should avoid travel to Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. Women and men who live in the area, or have traveled there after June 15th, should use condoms or other protective barriers with any pregnant sex partner, or they should abstain from sex during pregnancy. Pregnant women who live in Wynwood, or have traveled to the area after June 15th, should be tested for Zika in both the first and second trimester of pregnancy. Historic Warning The guidance marks the first time in recent memory (possibly ever) that a government agency has advised U.S. citizens to avoid travel to a part of the continental U.S.a move warranted by the unique risks Zika infection poses to pregnant women. One child born with microcephaly is not only devastating for families, Frieden said, but can cost upwards of $10 million to care for across his or her lifetime. The CDC has asked for $1.9 billion from Congress to invest in Zika prevention and control efforts: better mosquito tracking and control, better diagnostics, and ultimately better preventative medicine in the form of vaccines. So far that money has not been forthcoming. Experts still dont expect widespread transmission of Zika in the U.S. But they do expect the current Florida outbreak and others like it that may crop up in nearby Gulf-coast states to persist for many months. This is a really tough mosquito to control, Frieden said, pointing out that a recent outbreak of dengue (which is carried by the same mosquito as Zika) lasted more than a year, despite intensive control efforts. Thats really a demonstration of how intensive this might be, he said. Zika is likely to be most prevalent, and Zika outbreaks most prolonged, in places where humans are crowded together, Aedes populations are high, and bug sprays, air-conditioners, and window and door screens are not well-utilized. One bright spot is that so far, while Culex mosquitoes (which carry West Nile Virus) may be able to carry the Zika virus, they dont seem capable of passing it to humans. Unlike West Nile, Zika has no animal reservoir; mosquitoes must be infected and re-infected by humans in order to keep passing the virus around. One of the challenges of containing the Zika virus has been that most peoplefour out of five of those infectedare asymptomatic, and so never get tested. "I know thats not comforting, Frieden says. But thats the way it works. Its urgent, he said, that everyone traveling to a Zika-prone region use mosquito repellent for at least three weeks after they return to block further spread of the disease, even if they feel perfectly fine. Additional Recommendations Men and women who live in or have traveled to the affected region should take several precautions: Use EPA-approved insect repellents. Pregnant women and their partners living in and around the affected region should wear repellent. Anyone returning from a Zika-prone region should also wear repellent for at least three weeks. Wait to get pregnant. Women and men who have traveled to this area after June 15th should wait at least eight weeks to get pregnant. Anyone who has tested positive for Zika, should wait at least six months to get pregnant. Talk to your doctor. If you live in or around Wynwood and are pregnant or hoping to conceive, talk to your doctor and get tested for Zika. Don't donate blood if you live in or are traveling to Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to the Food and Drug Administration. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. Miami (AFP) - Zika fears prompted US health authorities on Monday to issue a travel warning for a small section of Miami where local mosquitoes have spread the virus to 14 people, officials said. "We advise pregnant women to avoid travel to this area," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Tom Frieden, noting that the virus can cause the birth defect, microcephaly. The area to avoid is inside a one-mile section north of downtown Miami, a popular arts and restaurant district known as Wynwood. Women who are pregnant and live in or may have traveled to the area since June 15 should talk with their doctor, Frieden added. Pregnant women in the area are also urged to use barrier protection during sex, or to abstain in order to lower the risk of transmission from a partner. He also recommended people use mosquito repellant, wear long sleeves, repair screens and drain any standing water to prevent the spread of the mosquitoes. "In Miami, aggressive mosquito control measures don't seem to be working as well as we would have liked," said Frieden. He said it was possible that mosquitoes are resistant to insecticides currently being used, or that they may have hidden breeding areas that haven't been found yet, or that this type of mosquito -- the Aedes aegypti -- is simply difficult to control. Frieden said most people with Zika do not show any symptoms. "Nothing that we have seen indicates widespread transmission but it is certainly possible there could be sustained transmission in small areas." - First local cases in US - On Friday, Florida officials announced the first locally transmitted cases of Zika in the United States with all four linked to the same area in Miami. Early Monday, Governor Rick Scott said the number of identified cases had jumped by 10 to 14. The cases mark the first time the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and is considered particularly dangerous for pregnant women, is known to be spreading via local mosquitoes in the United States. Story continues In Wynwood, there was no sign of panic. Merchants said they sensed no decrease in customers, while many tourists and residents learned of the outbreak because of the unusual presence of several news media in the heart of the Art District. "So much crazy stuff happens in the city I don't think people will freak out over it," said Michaela Castro, a 19-year-old student. Others simply said they knew but were not bothered by the news. Over 1,600 cases of Zika have been previously reported in the US, but most were brought by travelers who were infected elsewhere. The virus can also spread by sexual contact. - Emergency team en route - The CDC is sending an emergency team of specialists to help the Florida response, Frieden said. Two of the 14 cases involve women and the rest are men. At least six were not showing any symptoms but were identified during door-to-door surveys and testing. Frieden said the decision to issue a travel warning is an unusual measure for the continental United States. "We can find no similar recommendation in recent years," he told reporters on a conference call. A travel warning for the US territory of Puerto Rico was issued in January when Zika began to circulate there. According to the World Health Organization, 67 countries and territories have reported mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission since 2015. Brazil has been particularly hard hit, with more than 1,700 babies born with unusually small heads, a key feature of microcephaly. Frieden said that each child born with microcephaly can require $10 million in medical costs over a lifetime, but convincing people to take strong measures against Zika can nevertheless be a challenge. "The tragedy of a preventable case of a severe birth defect is something I think we have to make very clear to people," he said. "It is truly a scary situation but it is not immediately apparent to people that it is this kind of significant risk." Funding for the Zika response has also been a source of dispute among US lawmakers. President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February, but Republicans protested, saying the money should be taken from funds previously set aside for Ebola. Congress went on summer recess last month without approving any legislation for Zika funds. Harare (AFP) - Police on Monday arrested two senior members of Zimbabwe's war veterans' association, in a growing crackdown on critics of President Robert Mugabe after a series of rare protests. Victor Matemadanda, secretary general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), was taken away by police at a court hearing of a colleague facing charges of insulting the head of state. An AFP correspondent saw detectives take Matemadanda from a group of independence war veterans, who had gathered outside the Harare court for the bail hearing of association spokesman Douglas Mahiya. Matemadanda was put in the back of a truck flanked by detectives, and driven off. His lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said Matemadanda has been accused of undermining Mugabe. In a previous episode last week, he was arrested at his home in Gokwe, in northwestern Zimbabwe, but was released two days later. Separately, the Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights association said the war veterans' political commissar, Francis Nhando, was also arrested outside the court on Monday. Nhando last month declared that the relationship between Mugabe and the highly influential war veterans had "broken down." Mugabe, 92, who has ruled since 1980, has faced a groundswell of opposition in recent months as the country's moribund economy collapses and the government struggles to pay its workforce. - 'The punishment will be severe' - Previously loyal supporters of the president, the war veterans released a highly critical statement two weeks ago attacking Mugabe as "dictatorial" and accusing him of being unable to address Zimbabwe's problems. "When we find out who the people were... the punishment will be severe," Mugabe said, referring to unsigned authors of the war veterans' statement. A new non-partisan opposition movement known as #ThisFlag has also galvanised anti-government sentiment in Zimbabwe, where security forces have crushed signs of dissent for decades. Story continues The police spokeswoman was not available to comment on any charges against Matemadanda. Scores of sympathisers and rights activists attended Mahiya's court hearing, including former vice president Joice Mujuru, now the leader of a new opposition party. Police in anti-riot gear stood guard at the court entrance while war veterans sang songs protesting against Mahiya and Matemadanda's arrest. Mahiya was granted $300 (268 euros) bail and released. Last month, a one-day strike shut down offices, shops, schools and some government departments as people protested over an economic crisis that has delayed salaries for civil servants and the military. More than 90 percent of the population is not in formal employment after years of economic decline under Mugabe's rule. The Shyam Benegal Committee has stressed on the smooth viewing of films without interfering with the importance of anti-tobacco messages for people. "Am I in the Twilight Zone? What is happening?" A Kentucky judge was captured on video last week chiding jail officials after a female defendant arrived in a courtroom for a hearing without pants. A widely shared video shows District Court Judge Amber Wolf flabbergasted after the womans lawyer told her the inmate had been denied clothing and feminine hygiene products while behind bars for about two or three days, People reports. Excuse me? This is outrageous. Is this for real? Wolf said. Am I in the Twilight Zone? What is happening? Wolf then called corrections officials on the phone to demand answers. Metro Corrections Deputy Director Dwayne Clark later brought the woman clothing, video shows. This is not normal, Wolf said. Ive never seen it happen This is completely inhumane and unacceptable. Im sorry you had to go through this. Corrections officials told KDRB that the woman was wearing shorts that werent visible under her long shirt, but that she should have been given different clothing. The woman was arrested for not completing a diversion program following a 2014 shoplifting charge, according to KDRB. Wolf released her from jail with a $100 fine instead of more jail time. August is a bittersweet month for many Americans. Sure, it's still summer and you're still enjoying the weather and the time off if you're in school. But the arrival of August is also a harsh reminder that the summer break is winding down and before you know it you'll be back in school, or back to dealing with school for your kids if you have children. Maybe this list of paid iOS apps on sale for free for a limited time will help take your mind off things. MUST SEE: This leaked photo sure makes it look like the iPhone 7 will come in a new color These are paid iPhone and iPad apps that have been made available for free for a limited time by their developers. There is no way to tell how long they will be free. These sales could end an hour from now or a week from now obviously, the only thing we can guarantee is that they were free at the time this post was written. If you click on a link and see a price listed next to an app instead of the word get, it is no longer free. The sale has ended. If you download the app, you will be charged. OWeather OWeather Normally $0.99. OWeather - it's a great weather application, providing the most detailed information about the weather in a convenient graphical interface. Weather data is taken from the project OpenWeatherMap. App Features: Daily and hourly (every three hours) weather forecasts; The most informative weather information (date, time, weather image that refines the description of weather, temperature, barometric pressure, relative air humidity, cloudiness, wind speed, wind direction, sunrise, sunset); Ability to select units of measurement; Receive the weather forecast in a particular city or user's current location; Ability to configure the update time of the weather data; Compliance with the wallpaper season; Supported widget and apple watch; Available localization into 26 languages: Arabic Bulgarian Catalan Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional Croatian Czech Dutch English Finnish French Galician German Hungarian Italian Macedonian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Slovak Spanish Swedish Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese We appreciate your feedback and are constantly working on making the app better! By downloading this app you support the Open Source projects. Join us! Story continues Download OWeather LightArrow LightArrow Normally $0.99. My.Agenda is a powerful calendar and organizer for business owners, real estate agents, freelancers, contractors, project managers and moms alike! Unified views for all calendars, appointments, todo lists, checklists, tasks, reminders for managing work and life in one place. My.Agenda is a starter version of LifeTopix. Start small, add what you want. Also, check out LightArrow Organizer on the app store which is a free download with all features unlocked and a 100 item limit. NEW! Modern dashboard available with LifeTopix Pack! See which one of our apps is best for you: http://lightarrow.com/compare RAVE REVIEWS "The UI is sleek, stunning, and marvelously intuitive!" Tapscape "At the end of the day, My.Agenda is perhaps the best dollar you can spend on a management application. " The iPhone App Review "My.Agenda is a well-designed app striking just the right balance between powerful and lightweight." AppCraver BEST AGENDA & CALENDAR Stay on task with a cleverly designed and easy-to-read Agenda view showing whats important today, tomorrow and in the near future. Unified reminders, appointments and todo lists. Alerts included. Best Day, Week, Month and Year views. Easily identify items by color. Control your calendar with filters. Device calendar integration enables interaction with events on your iOS Calendar and other calendars that iOS supports. BUILT-IN FEATURES + Best calendar app w/ detailed calendar & agenda views + Unified agenda view of reminders, todos & schedule + Unifies & works with iOS calendars & reminders + Color-coded items + Reusable todo lists & checklists + Near Me - View scheduled items on a map / locate businesses & recreation + Backup your data on Dropbox, Box or email from any device + Passcode lock + Hot List (favorites) + Starter bookmarks + Local notifications + Search + Integrated Help Download LightArrow PhoneBook Pro PhoneBook Pro Normally $1.99. PhoneBook Pro - it is an application to manage your contacts, that will make your address book neat and easy to use. MAIN FEATURES Remove duplicates and merge contacts Backup and restore contacts Group messages and emails Filter contacts by any conditions Favorite contacts in the app and in the Notification Center CLEANING THE CONTACTS The app will find all the duplicate contacts, contacts with the same phone numbers or email and similar names. Before clearing you can preview result of the merging and manually select the contacts. BACKUP Backups can be sent by email or transferred to your computer via iTunes. You can restore all the contacts at once, or manually selected contacts. You can connect your Dropbox account and automatically save contacts on a schedule. FAVORITE CONTACTS You can bookmark the phone numbers or emails. Available the appropriate action: call, send a message or email, call by Facetime or send a message in WhatsApp. + Widget with your favorite contacts in Notification Center. CONTACT MANAGEMENT Instantly send group text & email Filtering contact with any conditions Export contacts by Mail or in a message Create, edit, delete and batch delete contacts, groups and filters Handy organization of contacts Quick search Quick access to your own contact View the links and addresses on the map Download PhoneBook Pro iOverwrite iOverwrite Normally $0.99. iOverwrite simply writes a large number of random-data files into the flash memory of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, which overwrites any recently deleted data. This way, if your iOS device comes into the possession of someone who can perform an un-deletion of files (like a hacker or a government), your privacy is that much safer than if you had only erased your data. NOTE: If iOverwrite is unable to overwrite 100% of the free space on your iPhone's flash drive, this may indicate defective TLC flash. Download iOverwrite Active Voice Active Voice Normally $9.99. * * Join over a Million people around the globe using Active Voice on a daily basis!! Download it now! * * Active Voice is the power of your voice in the palm of your hands! - Use your voice to send messages and emails. No more tedious typing. Just speak and it's done. - Translate your text into 32 foreign languages. - Copy your text with one tap. - Correct your text using voice dictation or typing. - Voice recognition support for 34 languages and accents. - Full support for American and British English. :: :: ::Customer Reviews:: :: :: - WoW ... Great app...thank U !!! - This is one thing I have always wanted! Even better than I thought it would be!!!!!!! - It is quite intuitive and makes sending messages a breeze - I just started using this and it's on my front page... Really fast and accurate ! - Highly recommend this app just great - Great app for virtually hands-free texting on Facebook. My friends wonder how I do it while I'm driving. Thanks for this WONDERFUL app. :: :: SUPPORTED LANGUAGES :: :: :: Speech recognition support , English (UK, US, Australia), Espanol(Espana, EE.UU., Mexico), Bahasa indonesia, Bahasa melayu, cestina, Dansk, Deutsch, francais (France, Canada), italiano, Magyar, Nederlands, Norsk, Polski, Portugues, Portugues brasileiro, Pycc, Romana, Slovencina, suomi, Svenska, Trkce, , , (,), , . :: Translation support Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese Chinese (traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Georgian Gujarati Haitian Creole Kannada Latin Tamil Telugu Urdu If you are too busy to type on your iPhone, then Active Voice IS DEFINITELY FOR YOU. So, in a nutshell, you can do the following: - Convert your voice into text. - Send your text as an SMS message or email. :: :: Technology: Active Voice is powered by cutting-edge technology in speech recognition that requires a Wifi or 3G Internet connection. - Tired of typing your messages and emails? THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET YOUR COPY OF ACTIVE VOICE NOW Download Active Voice CleanUp Pro CleanUp Pro Normally $1.99. Your contacts are the most important data on your phone. But eventually address book easily becomes messy, if not constantly updated. "CleanUp" helps you merge duplicate contacts and keep your contacts in a safe place. CLEANING THE CONTACTS Remove duplicate contacts Merge contacts with similar names Merge contacts with the duplicate phone or email A preview of the result of the merging and manual selection of contacts BACKUP One tap to backup your contacts Quickly export your backups by Email or iTunes Restore all the contacts at once or manually selected contacts Offline backup. No need to sync to any server. Just email the backup file to yourself Easily transfer contacts between iOS Devices using just an email client All contacts can then easily be restored any time by simply opening the .vcf file in your mailbox This app will make your address book neat and easy to use. Download CleanUp Pro Eazy Reminder Eazy Reminder Normally $1.99. Remind Yourself by Your Voice!! The Fast and Easy way to create Reminders to notify yourself to do daily life activities i.e. Meet Friend, Meet Customer, Buy Food, Bring documents to the office, etc. To create a new reminder is very fast and easy. Just Recording your reminder voice, setting time to alert, setting reminder title (optional), that's all. Features: - Easy steps for adding a Reminder. - Auto-play Reminder voice. - Ack/UnAck Reminders. - Choosable Notification Tones. - Easy to Manage Reminder Lists. Download Eazy Reminder TranslateSafari TranslateSafari Normally $4.99. TranslateSafari - Translate & Speak Extension for Safari The app is a Safari extension that translates and speaks aloud the entire web page of Safari app. A must have app to translate and speak aloud web pages of Safari. Useful Features Translate the entire web page of Safari app. - Support both Bing Translator (40+ languages) and Google Translate (60+ languages) translation services. - Display the original text for each translated sentence. Speak aloud the entire English web page of Safari app. - Add favorite web pages with "Starred" to speak aloud later. - With funny bear and human face animations while speaking. - Support useful speaking repeat, pause, speed and pitch options. Features A Safari extension that translates the entire web page Supports both Bing Translator and Google Translate translation services The app supports both Bing Translator (40+ languages) and Google Translate (60+ languages) translation services. The service requires the internet connection while translating. Bing Translator (40+ languages): Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong Daw, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Klingon, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh. Google Translate (60+ languages): Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh and Yiddish. Display the original text for each translated sentence The app could display the original text while taping the translated sentence (Bing Translator only). A Safari extension that speaks aloud the entire English web page sentence by sentence The app is a Safari extension that speaks aloud the entire web page of Safari app. The app integrates a built-in English text-to-speech engine, speaks aloud offline sentence by sentence without internet connecting. Optional high quality voices (In-App Purchases) English HD, British HD, Spanish HD, Chinese HD, Japanese HD and Korean HD. Add favorite web pages with "Starred" Add favorite web pages with "Starred" to speak aloud later. Support useful speaking options The app provides some useful speaking options, such as speaking repeat times of each sentence, speaking pause seconds between sentences, speaking speed speaking pitch and font size options. Speaking face animation The app provides funny face animations while speaking. You can choose bears and humans face animation with two types of mouth each. You could use the pinch to zoom gesture to change the face size, drag and drop to move to other position features. Highlight words while speaking Words will be highlighted on many web pages while speaking. Please note that words with special format may not be highlighted properly. This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad Download TranslateSafari Angle Meter PRO Angle Meter PRO Normally $1.99. Angle Meter PRO lets you measure the angle or slope. Note that you will be able to measure a variety of slope forms. You can choose to directly measure the surface by the second mode, which makes it relatively easy to measure up,or to measure the angle of the target away a short distance away from you after kilo meter. By measuring the angle from the camera aperture. This is a reference line, respectively, and the angles are measured while the display on your phone continuously. You also can take what you measure by showing the angle to keep a check on it later. Featured 1) Real time display angle value reference by horizontal axis. 2) 2 mode for using(mode 1 and mode 2). 3) Support measure angles with the camera mode. 3.1) you can take screen short can be a target for record store at a later time. 4) Support the ability to measure the angle from the image. 5) Graphics Animation display related by mode. 6) Display 0 to 90 degree reference by horizontal axis. 7) Calibrate option for accuracy. 8) Support Level Meter allows you to measure the degree of tilt in the vertical plane and can take many forms. The measurements in each axis is locked to the screen, still more easy to measure. ***For Level Measurement 1) The three models at the same level. Including horizontal, vertical and inclined at 45 degrees. 2) Sound a warning when it finds that the measure in the horizontal plane. That is the angle measured in the plane is less than 1 degree (you can enable / disable this). 3) While the display is illuminated at all times, making the work easier (you can enable / disable this). Download Angle Meter PRO Faceover Faceover Normally $2.99. Want to make your friends laugh? Then you've found the right app! Faceover lets you easily copy and paste faces between people in your photos--and it even looks real. Apply amazing photo editing effects with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Use Faceover to edit, save and share any photo from your library. Quickly create high quality effects by copying, pasting, swapping, flipping, and rotating images. It's simple to use and the results are realistic and hilarious. Get photos of your friends and use Faceover to swap their faces. Copy the eyes of a celebrity and paste them onto a photo of yourself. Copy and paste the dog's face over everybody in the family portrait. Or even do some serious photo editing. The possibilities are endless but be warned--this app is very entertaining. You'll soon be trying to Faceover everyone you know! Download Faceover 8bitWar: Netherworld 8bitWar Netherworld Normally $1.99. 8bitWar puts your strategical and tactical thinking to the test! Hire units and place them in strategic formations to counter the enemy's army. A total of 180 levels! Play against a friend on the same device or online. Download 8bitWar: Netherworld Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com At the annual BlackHat USA 2016 security conference next week in Las Vegas, Apple security guru Ivan Krstic will provide security researchers with an in-depth overview regarding many of the more advanced security features built into iOS 10. While Apple showing up at the BlackHat conference in an official capacity is not unprecedented, Krstics talk promises to be the most detailed technical look into the security mechanisms that govern iOS yet. DON'T MISS: Ultimate Pokemon Go cheat lets you walk anywhere in the game without moving an inch Krstics talk will focus on a myriad of security related topics, including three core Apple technologies that handle exceptionally sensitive user data. HomeKit, Auto Unlock and iCloud Keychain are three Apple technologies that handle exceptionally sensitive user data controlling devices (including locks) in the users home, the ability to unlock a users Mac from an Apple Watch, and the users passwords and credit card information, respectively. We will discuss the cryptographic design and implementation of our novel secure synchronization fabric which moves confidential data between devices without exposing it to Apple, while affording the user the ability to recover data in case of device loss. Other topics on deck for Krstics talk include iOS cryptography, the Secure Enclave processor that was designed alongside TouchID, and how Apple is making it increasingly difficult for malicious actors to compromise mobile Safari. Krstic, who heads up Apples security efforts, is a security wiz who was originally hired back in May of 2009. Prior to that, he was the director of security architecture for the One Laptop per child initiative where he focused on ensuring that computers were easy to use and impervious to malware. Impressively, Krstic began working at Apple at the age of 23 and was previously heralded as one of the most influential security experts in the world. On a related security note, Apple executive Craig Federighi touched briefly on one of the security features built into Auto Unlock during a post-WWDC podcast last month. Responding to a question about how Apple plans to prevent users with an Apple Watch from opening up a Mac that isn't their own, Federighi responded: Story continues Its a continuation of the work we did with continuity to develop really low-power BTLE based discovery protocols so that your devices could discover each other continuously with acceptable overhead from a battery point of view. And also, all the authentication mechanisms we put in place as far as having your devices know that theyre your devices. So thats kind of a foundation. The unique challenge with auto-unlock is that you dont want a kind of relay-attack, where Phil is actually well far away from his office and someone basically has a bluetooth listener that will forward a signal to you, because youre now by his Mac, and this Mac is having a conversation with Phils watch over a very long distance. And so, were actually able to do time of flight calculations using peer-to-peer Wi-Fi where we literally can measure how long at the speed of light its taking for the signal to travel from your Mac to your watch and back. And because of that, if you interposed any kind of relay, it would introduce a delay that would immediately tell us that there are hijinks afoot. So that piece is critical. Krstic's talk is slated to take place on August 4 at 12:50 Eastern Time. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com By Joseph White August 1 (Reuters) - Delphi Automotive Plc will launch a small test fleet of automated taxis in Singapore next year, aiming to ferry passengers around a city district in one of the first real-world tests of automated rides on demand, the company said on Monday. The project, run in partnership with the Singapore Land Transport Authority, will road test a concept that many companies investing in automated driving believe offers the fastest path to making such technology commercially viable. A cab ride in a dense urban area can cost $3 to 4 a mile, Delphi vice president of engineering Glen DeVos said in an interview. We think we can get to 90 cents a mile with an automated vehicle. That drops the price of transporting goods and people, and allows for the costs of automated driving systems to be spread over hours of operation and multiple users. Initially, the cars will have drivers ready to take over if the piloting systems fail, DeVos said. But by 2019 or 2020, well have removed drivers from the car, Glen DeVos, Delphis vice president of engineering said in an interview. By 2022, Delphi plans to launch a regularly operating automated cab service, the company said. The company said it plans similar projects in North America and Europe. A United States site could be selected later this year, DeVos said. Delphi plans to start the project with a fleet of Audi vehicles equipped with automated driving and mapping systems. Later, DeVos said the project will expand with the addition of electric vehicles. Other companies are studying the economics of using automated driving systems to replace human drivers in taxi or ride-hailing services, including Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and Lyft, which is collaborating with General Motors Co. Delphi is working with other companies, including Israel's Mobileye NV, to develop the sensor systems to enable vehicles to operate autonomously. The Singapore Land Transport Authority will supply infrastructure to help vehicles navigate safely. Delphi is doing its own mapping, but DeVos said we are looking at mapping alternatives including a service offered by Mobileye. The Singapore project was deliberately kept to a small scale, DeVos said. We are going to do it incrementally in a very controlled manner, he said. (Reporting By Joe White; Editing by David Gregorio) (image: REUTERS/ Jim Young) Sorry, tech-policy nerds: People still dont care about your issues. Thats one of the conclusions you can draw from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons acceptance speech Thursday night. It also taught us that she supports hampering terrorists online propaganda efforts in an unspecified fashion: We will disrupt their efforts online. And naturally, it revealed that she doesnt think much of Republican nominee Donald Trumps social-media output: A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. Clinton set out a detailed tech-policy platform last month, but Thursdays speech didnt get into its contents. She did, however, nod to the 2016 Democratic platform upfront, saying, We wrote it together, now lets make it happen together. First, though, lets unpack that 55-page document. If you were looking for a ringing defense of net neutrality, youll like it. If you were hoping for a little bipartisan agreement with the Republican platform posted two weeks ago, you wont be disappointed. If you were seeking clarity on other issues, youll have to wait to see what Clinton says. Broadband and net neutrality Everybody complains about their internet connection at some point, so its no surprise that broadband gets a mention early on in the platform. Big surprise: The Democrats want you to have more of it and expect wireless to play a key part, including both free WiFi from anchor institutions and 5G technology. The document describes 5G as the next generation wireless service that will not only bring faster internet connections to underserved areas, but will enable the Internet of Things and a host of transformative technologies. The Dems will also defend existing net-neutrality regulations, which forbid internet providers from blocking or slowing access to particular websites or serves. These regulations have already survived one court challenge and will likely face others, given Big Telecoms relentless litigation on this issue. Democrats support a free and open internet at home and abroad, and will oppose any effort by Republicans to roll back the historic net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted last year, the platform notes. Story continues Unfortunately, the platform doesnt offer a view on how the government should view further mergers among telecom and other tech companies, or whether it should seek to curb the powers of existing tech giants. Privacy and encryption The governments bulk surveillance of Americans communication should have been a top topic in the 2012, 2008 and 2004 elections, but we didnt learn about its extent until Edward Snowdens 2013 leaks. The 2016 Democratic platform stands against a renewal of the type of warrantless surveillance of American citizens that flourished during the Bush Administration (and which continued in various forms through much of the Obama administration). It also backs recent reforms to government bulk data collection programs so the government is not collecting and holding millions of files on innocent Americans. Should you be able to use encryption to thwart this kind of government snooping, even if it stymies law-enforcement investigations? We already know the strongest encryption precludes having backup keys. Extra unlocking mechanisms kept by a third party outside the users control might help law enforcement, but theyd also represent an exceptionally attractive target to criminals and foreign intelligence agencies. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Democrats think we should talk about it more, noting they support a national commission on digital security and encryption. Cybersecurity WikiLeaks posted a trove of e-mails last month stolen from the Democratic National Committee (with personal details of party donors intact) and dumped DNC voice-mail recordingsall after the Dems had released their platform. Perhaps if the leak came earlier, cybersecurity might have received a more prominent spot in this document. Instead, we got studied vagueness: We will strengthen our cybersecurity, seek to establish global norms in cyberspace, and impose consequences on those who violate the rules. What does that mean if we confirm Russian intelligence agencies hacked the DNC? You tell me. The document then backs appointing a chief information security officer (CISO) as part of can only do so much across the sprawling federal bureaucracy a good move, even if an assertive CISO can only do so much across the sprawling federal bureaucracy. The platform does back extending the Obama administrations initiatives to inject some private-sector innovation into federal IT with programs like the United States Digital Service. Before you ask: No, the platform doesnt say anything about whether cabinet secretaries should use their own e-mail systems instead of in-house systems. I think we can assume Clinton no longer supports that. Finally, you can find some welcome common ground with the longer Republican platforms security provisions in the Democrats call for securing voting machines with voter-verified paper ballots a key step to guard against hacking electronic voting terminals. Barely mentioned: patents, copyright and intellectual property The Democratic platform allots two sentences to intellectual property, neither substantive: Democrats will fight against unfair theft of intellectual property and trade secrets. We will increase access to global markets for American intellectual property and other digital trade by opposing quotas, discriminatory measures, and data localization requirements. The platform should have said more (and Clintons own position paper does). Patent trolling threatens innocent companies with expensive litigation, while the Digital Millennium Copyright Acts overly broad protection of copyright holders digital locks thwarts research and innovation. Both center on abuse of power by private enterprise, which is supposed to among the Democratic Partys core concerns. Im sure well get a substantive, fact-based discussion of those issues in the debates. Unless we dont. Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. From Popular Mechanics Israel's air defenses, equipped with U.S. Patriot PAC-2 surface-to-air missiles, are among the best in the world. Yet earlier this month they failed to shoot down a drone intruder. What happened? And what does it mean for the future? On July 17, an unmanned aircraft crossed the border from Syria into the Golan Heights, setting off Israeli air raid sirens. "The aircraft was detected prior to entering the nation's territory and was fully tracked," according to a statement from the IDF. Not long after the unidentified drone came over the border, the IDF tweeted: Moments ago, Patriot Air Defense missiles fired towards a #drone infiltrating Israeli airspace from #Syria - IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 17, 2016 It is not clear whether the missiles were fired sequentially or at the same time. (Sometimes Israel will fire two missiles simultaneously but on different trajectories to guarantee a hit.) This is not the first incursion from across the Syrian border, and Israel has shot down previous intruding drones, as well as others from Gaza. The Patriot missile is good at its job. This time, though, the missiles failed to bring down the target (watch video of missile smoke trail here). One of the missiles did detonate mid-air. According to the Jerusalem Post, a 14-year-old girl was slightly injured by falling shrapnel. Israel then made another interception attempt, this one most likely by an F-16 firing an air-to-air missile at the drone. The details are not available, but we know this missile also missed. The drone later crossed back over the border to Syria. A news report quoted Hezbollah, the Islamist militant group based in Lebanon, as saying that the drone was theirs and had been "part of an operation against Israel." However, the IDF have not officially identified the origin of the drone and have reportedly contacted Russian staff in Syria to help establish where it came from. Story continues It is hard to see such a slow-moving and obvious target like this could evade a Patriot missile. It is possible that the drone did belong to Hezbollah. The organization has been flying unmanned aircraft into Israel since 2004. The first few incursions were successful, but Israel subsequently beefed up defenses. When three small Ababil drones carrying explosives came over the border in 2005 they were all shot down by Israeli F-16s. In 2012 another Hezbollah drone got close enough to photograph the Israeli nuclear weapons complex at Dimona before it was downed. Although Hezbollah claim to have built their own drones, the aircraft appear to be based heavily on Iranian designs-which makes sense, with Iran being a major supporter of the group. Hezbollah's Mirsad-1 looks to be a direct copy, if not an export version, of the Iranian Mohajer-4 (which itself bears a strong resemblance to the Israeli-made RQ-5A Hunter drone operated by the U.S. Israeli news site DebkaFile, meanwhile cites "military and intelligence sources" claiming the drone was a Yasir, an Iranian copy of the Scan Eagle drone by Boeing subsidiary Insitu. The Scan Eagle has had a remarkable career since its first flight in 2002. It started out as a new and cheaper way for fishing companies to find tuna; the 10-foot Scan Eagle can fly for twenty hours or more at 70 mph. Then the U.S. Navy started flying these drones and selling them to 19 other countries, including Japan, the UK and Spain. Famously, a Scan Eagle crashed in Iran in 2012 (the U.S. denied it was one of theirs). The country claims to have reverse-engineered the design to create the Yasir. They even presented one to the head of the Russian Air Force in 2013 as proof of their prowess. So perhaps this was the drone that invaded Israel-a Hezbollah-operated version of an Iranian drone whose design was stolen in the first place. But the Scan Eagle is not a stealthy or agile drone and the Yasir adds nothing to the design. It is hard to see such a slow-moving and obvious target like this could evade a Patriot missile. According to Debka's sources, the drone had been upgraded by "Chinese cyber warfare specialists." This seems rather speculative at best. For one thing, cyber warfare is a different discipline than engineering electronic countermeasures to protect aircraft. More realistically is what Tal Inbar, head of the Space and UAV Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, told Haaretz: that a complete defense against drones was not possible: "It is not easy to shoot down drones because of their size, speed, and the materials they are made from, which make detection difficult." Small size means that drones have a much smaller radar signature than manned aircraft. They are generally made of composites rather than metal, and this too makes them harder to spot. Flying slowly they tend to merge into the background clutter. At low altitude there are many other objects moving at similar speeds, including vehicles, birds, wind turbines and even trees waving in the wind, and some radar tends to filter out anything moving at less than 80 mph (helicopters are still visible from their high-speed rotor blades). "It is not easy to shoot down drones because of their size, speed, and the materials they are made from." However, if you believe the Israeli Defense Force's statement that they spotted the drone at once and tracked it continuously, then the problem has more to do with engaging it with a missile. The Patriot missile has been hugely upgraded since the questions over its performance in the 1991 Gulf War and it is considered highly reliable and effective. It's possible that the missiles locked on but the lock was broken, or the proximity fuze-which detonates the missile when it gets close enough to the target-failed. Missiles can have a variety of proximity fuzes based on radar or laser reflections, and some (like early Sidewinders) use infra-red for proximity sensing as well as guidance. The Patriot has an M818 E2 dual-mode fuze, but it seems that only one mode can be used at a time. Clearly, if anyone has a means of jamming or spoofing this fuze-and at least one missile did detonate, having apparently sensed a target-then the consequences are potentially serious. It is possible that the failure to intercept on this occasion was sheer bad luck, and that future drone intruders will be shot down easily. But if "Chinese cyber-warfare specialists" or other developers have found a way for non-stealthy drones to shrug off Patriot missiles, then the prospects are alarming. Especially if that technology is already in the hands of terrorist groups like Hezbollah, and drones are spreading rapidly among groups like ISIS. David Hambling's book Swarm Troopers: How small drones will conquer the world is out now. You Might Also Like 10 Rhinos and more than 130 deer have lost there lives in trying to move to safer pastures. By Manogya Loiwal : The Flood fury in Assam is now taking a toll on one of the World's most protected Heritage Sites - The Kaziranga National Park. DAMAGE Located in between beautiful Himalayas, Dhansiri and Brahmaputra river the National Park is facing the worst floods in the past ten years. 10 Rhinos have died and more than 130 deer have lost there lives in trying to move to safer pastures. advertisement The Forest Officials are working round the clock to save the animals and their natural habitat. Spread across 430square kilometres area the Kaziranga is almost 80% submerged in water. The Divisional Forest Officer Suvashish Das explains the flood impact in Kaziranga. He says, " Kaziranga's biggest problem is the shortage of grass and food for the animals. The small animals like hog deers and calf rhinos die often. Their mortality rate is very high. Even now the ones who have died are cub rhinos because they cannot swim. Around 10 rhinos have died already." "The challenge now will be to keep the animals free from any diseases. "We have to try to keep the animals in safe zone where they feel comfortable. They have to be kept away from disease like pneumonia." added Das. ANNUAL OCCURRENCE He further explains, " This is a set pattern that has been seen from several years. Floods are common for Kaziranga and this is the annual flooding season. The rhinos move towards highland and mainland and that is when the cub rhinos are unable to move with them during migration for food and shelter. As soon as the water level rises, the animals start migrating towards the southern area of Kaziranga. They cross the national highway and go towards Karbi Anglong area. They go back after the water recedes. Grasslands go dry, so fodder is a very important issue and then theere is the fear of poaching. Once the animals are out of the reserve, they are open to the threat of being attacked or poached. So we have to work round the clock to give them protection." PROTOCOLS FOR DIFFERENT ANIMALS The protocol of rescue and treatment is different for every animal and differs according to there age. Wildlife Trust of India, International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Forest Department of Assam are working to give best possible treatment to the traumatised and injured animals. Deputy Director of Wildlife Trust of India describes, "We have different protocols for different animals. When a rhino calf is displaced, we first tranquillise him and then physically capture him through net if required. We keep them giving milk formula. We keep them here for a few years till the time they are comfortable to move back to the reserve in full health. They have to be given adequate care and assistance in the rescue centres." advertisement But it's not just Rhinos and Deers in Kaziranga. There are cows too. More than four thousand cows have rescued in a commendable job done by Dhansiri Eco Camp. The team of two dozen people worked tirelessly daring heat and rain to bring the stranded cows to safer locations. Gautam Saikia, the pioneer of the Eco camp states, "There are lots of problems for the cows in the flood. The biggest problem is that they can't swim and hence drown. They have to be ferried in boats due to this. Most of the cows cannot even stay in water for long unlike buffalos which can. there are a lot of islands in kaziranga where cows stay. There are around 4000 cows in the area. We have to bring them from one island to the safer locations. we work from 6am to 10 pm daring the rain and the sun and even the flood. It takes a minimum of two hours in taking one complete round." advertisement He added, "The cows are wild and dont see anyone all year around so they behave wildly and attack when approached by anyone else besides there master. It is very difficult to catch hold of them and bring to a better highland." Gautam puts the flood into perspective stating,"Flood is very important for Kaziranga as it helps in habitat management. Flood destroys the grass and brings it to fresh start. The elephant grass has to be destroyed naturally during floods and then it grows into suitable heights of the animals. The problem is only when the deluge is too high like this year" ALSO READ: Assam floods: Trapped woman gives birth on a boat Challenges rise in Assam with growing threats posed by flash flood, death toll reaches 29 --- ENDS --- The new Jason Bourne movie can be summed up rather easily: a bunch of random stuff happens, Tommy Lee Jones scowls, and then the entire cast of characters lazily meet up in Las Vegas for an exceptionally formulaic climax. It pains me to say it, but Jason Bourne is a subpar movie that is more of a generic action film than it is a worthy addition to the Bourne cannon. As for some quick background, the film was written by Christopher Rouse, an award-winning film editor who took up writing duties for the first time on Jason Bourne. Rouse has an impressive resume as far as filmography is concerned, but his lack of writing experience shines through in this fourth installment of the Bourne series (the Jeremy Renner one doesn't count). Not surprisingly, the vast majority of critics panned the movie for a wide variety of reasons. DON'T MISS: This leaked photo sure makes it look like the iPhone 7 will come in a new color More than anything, the entire film lacked context. Things happen for no rhyme or reason with absolutely no explanation as to what is going on or why we should care about what's going on. Even from one of the film's first scene, questions abound. When we first come across Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, we see that he's involved in number of unofficial bareknuckle fights in a desert-like environment on the outskirts of Greece. Bourne of course can absorb an ungodly amount of damage and can quickly dismantle any of his opponents with just one punch. That's all well and good -- Bourne is a badass after all -- but we're never told why Bourne is there or what compelled him to participate in an underground fighting ring. Context would have been helpful: Is he fighting for money? Is he fighting for sport? Is he fighting because that's what Bourne is simply programmed to do? Early on, we're also re-introduced to Nicky Parsons -- played by Julia Stiles -- who for reasons that are never made clear, is in Iceland and is in the midst of hacking into CIA computers in order to steal sensitive information. When she uncovers information about how the agency recruited Bourne, she magically finds Bourne in the middle of nowhere and drops him a note asking him to meet her somewhere. Story continues And from there, we're taken on a 2-hour "thrill ride" that is effectively a generic cat and mouse game consisting of CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and CIA Cyber Ops Guru Heather Lee (played by Alicia Vikander) trying to track down Bourne. Also in the mix is a cold-blooded CIA assassin (played by Vincent Cassel of Oceans 12 fame) who, like Dewey and Lee, is trying to track Bourne down and kill him, albeit for his own reasons. In an abstract sense, this plot offers up a lot of potential, but the actual execution leaves much to be desired. Due to a subpar script, we're never given a sense of who any of the characters are. During the course of the movie, Heather Lee decides to help Bourne at critical times for reasons that are never made clear. Is she wary of the way that her CIA boss is running things? Is she angling for a position of power herself? Does she empathize with how Bourne has been treated? We really have no idea, which is often why the film felt like a string of loosely connected events shown in random succession. Also problematic is that the action in this movie is abysmal. Nearly all of the chase and fighting scenes move so quickly that it's literally impossible to grasp what's going on. Scenes that should have been exciting were rendered helplessly boring due to quick camera cuts that seemingly shifted every half-second. What's more, the camera footage itself is so jerky that it was hard to process what was going on even in more sustained shots. To this point, a popular thread on Reddit argues that the shaky camera work on Jason Bourne is some of the worst to ever grace the silver screen. If you can't stand shaky cam, don't watch Jason Bourne. It's bad in this one. Probably the worst I've ever seen. There are parts where two people are talking and the camera is zoomed in and shaking for no reason. Guy sitting on the couch, camera shakes. Bourne reading a text, camera shakes. Alicia Vikander staring intensely, camera shakes. There's a fight scene at the end and it's nearly unwatchable. This is 100% spot-on. One of the things that made the original Bourne movie so great is that the camera zoomed out and let viewers in on the action, allowing us to actually see the mechanics of Bourne's awesome fighting style. Unfortunately, there is hardly one memorable fight or car chase scene throughout the entirety of the film, if only because the camera moves too fast for us to really take anything in. Unfortunately, the laundry list of other problems with the movie is long. For instance, CIA director Dewey apparently has no problem killing 4 of his own CIA agents just so that he can plausibly argue that killing Bourne is a necessity. What's more, Damon as Bourne barely has any speaking lines. He's effectively been turned into a zombie running on auto-pilot which is partly why the film failed to deliver any truly memorable action scene, story line or dialogue. The A.V. Club really nails it in their own review: What Jason Bourne really has is a Jason Bourne problem. The characters driven blankness, his total lack of psychology, made sense when he was still a man without a past. (In the underrated original, it actually made him rather likable, like a Hitchcockian wrong man.) But even with a full biography, Bourne is still just an empty cipher, devoid of any trait but determination; Greengrass attempts to give him a personal stake in the actiona new crusade for information, fueled by daddy issuesbut its painfully clear now that theres just no one there with Bourne, embodied by Damon through a complete suppression of his star charisma. I really wanted to like Jason Bourne and walked in with high expectation. But sadly, the film lacks any semblance of saving grace. All in all, Jason Bourne is uneventful, predictable and altogether tedious. Whether you're a big fan of the series or not, do yourself a favor and see something else instead. It'll be a good 2 hours well saved. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - The line between pharmaceuticals and technology is blurring as companies join forces to tackle chronic diseases using high-tech devices that combine biology, software and hardware. GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabet are the latest to share expertise, unveiling a new joint company on Monday that aims to market bioelectronic devices to fight illness by attaching to individual nerves. The plan to wrap a grain-sized electronic collar around nerves sounds like something from 'Fantastic Voyage', the 1966 sci-fi film in which a submarine is shrunk to fix an injured scientist's brain, yet GSK and Alphabet are not alone in pushing the boundaries in medical tech in this way. U.S. biotech firms Setpoint Medical and EnteroMedics have already shown the early benefits of bioelectronics both to tackle inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and suppress appetite in the obese. Others are miniaturizing technology in different ways. Medtronic , for example, sells a well-established camera-in-a-pill as an alternative to colonoscopies, while Proteus Digital Technology is working with drugmakers on pills with embedded microchips that measure drug usage. Makers of lung treatments are racing to make smart inhalers. "It's an area that hotting up pretty fast because the technology is moving so fast," said Hilary Thomas, chief medical adviser at KPMG. Many of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies have turned to tech experts at Alphabet, including Swiss-based Novartis , which is working with the U.S. group on a smart contact lens with an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. Sanofi also has a diabetes deal with Alphabet, while Biogen is working with the tech giant to study the progression of multiple sclerosis. Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez has said that the combination of pharmaceuticals and technology will eventually be "front and center" in disease management. Certainly, many technology companies are pushing hard into the healthcare arena, especially when it comes to finding new ways for patients to monitor their own health and track chronic conditions using smart devices. Businesses such as Apple and Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>, along with Alphabet, are all trying to find health-related applications for a new wave of wearable products. Technology and pharmaceutical companies alike believe accurate monitoring using wearables will dovetail with a drive to offer so-called value-based healthcare. The aim is to prove that medicines can keep large groups of patients healthy, thereby improving their appeal to cost-conscious insurers. That gives drugmakers a major incentive to offer services that go beyond routine drug prescriptions. Real-time feedback on how patients are doing is one of the benefits of bioelectronics, according to Kris Famm, the GSK scientist who has been appointed president of the new jointly owned GSK-Alphabet company Galvani Bioelectronics. "It will really help us hone the intervention," he said. "This is almost the epicenter of convergence because the technology is not only helping you to monitor a disease but it is also actually the therapy." There are still plenty of hurdles ahead, including the need for multi-year clinical trials to prove that the new technologies are safe, effective and can deliver the kind of benefits to overall clinical outcomes that proponents hope. Regulators such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also need to be convinced of the case for radically new ways of treating and monitoring patients. "The challenge will be to make sure that regulators are on board, although the FDA is much more innovative than it was 10 years ago about accepting different endpoints for treating disease," said KPMG's Thomas. (Editing by Anna Willard) This earnings season has seen equal excitement in terms of acquisitions as well. Last week, earnings reports were accompanied by new that the Japanese firm Softbank was acquiring British chip designing powerhouse ARM Holdings. This week saw another big announcement in Analog Devices ADI picking up Linear Technology LLTC, Yahoo YHOO finally accepting Verizons offer and some speculation of a hostile takeover of Micron. And of course there were the hottest tech earnings from Apple AAPL, Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Facebook FB, Twitter, Groupon GRPN and so on. Here are the top stories- Earnings Highlights Apple: Apple saw unit declines across all major product lines from iPhones to iPads and Macs although iPad revenues grew possibly because people are upgrading to newer models. Its also likely that people are reluctant to buy new iPhones with the next model just around the corner. At any rate, the iPhone numbers were better than expected, which sent the shares up. Services Apple Music, the App Store, iTunes and iCloud) were a bright spot and now generate more revenue than both iPads and Macs. For more details read: Apple Shares Up on Q3 Earnings & Revenue Beat Alphabet: Alphabets revenue and earnings topped estimates. The FX impact on revenue was negative on a year on year basis. The Google segment constituted substantially all of the business with Mobile and YouTube remaining strong drivers. Google continues to sacrifice prices for volume, which helped it grow the advertising business. Nest, Fiber and Verily contributed to Other Bets revenue. For more details read: Alphabet Earnings And Revenues Beat On Solid Execution Amazon: The company blew past the Zacks Consensus Estimates for revenue and earnings with the FX impact coming in positive across all segments. The North America and AWS segments were strong contributors to profits while investments in international continued. Operating efficiencies continued in the last quarter and the tax rate also continued to decline. Story continues The company promised heavy investments to build out 18 fulfillment centers in the current quarter that will help it cope with the fourth-quarter surge in demand. It continues to take the Prime advantage to new markets. For more details read: Amazon Beats 2Q Earnings Estimates Courtesy AWS Facebook: Almost like clockwork, Facebook comfortably beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate on both top and bottom lines. This time, results were driven by very strong growth in mobile and continued growth in its huge user base. But Facebook isnt satisfied with being the place where practically everyone on the planet socializes on. It has big ambitions to deliver other experiences (and build the social media one as well). After all, theres a limit to the real estate that you can plant ads on and this could curb its future growth. So the company has laid out future growth plans and intends to step up investments in emerging areas like AR/VR, Messenger, WhatsApp and so forth. For more details read: Facebook (FB) Q2 Earnings Top Estimates Driven by Mobile Ads Texas Instruments: The company reported another very strong quarter with margins continuing to expand significantly from the year-ago quarter. TI as it is better known, has moved away from the fast-growing (or in other words erratic) consumer electronics market for deep focus on automotive, industrial and communications markets. Current R&D efforts are focused on very long-term analog and embedded processing solutions for these markets that will help the company to continue filling up its advanced, cost-efficient fabs thereby driving up its margins. For more details read: Texas Instruments Beats Zacks Consensus, Margin Expansion Story Continues Twitter: Twitter shares plunged 11% following disappointing second quarter results and third-quarter guidance. It appears that all the efforts of current management to bring back users havent yet yielded the desired results because user growth was again sluggish. For more details read: Twitter Q2 Loss Narrower, Revenues Lag on Ad Woes Analog Devices to Buy Linear Technology Since the boards of both companies have signed the deal and turned it over for regulatory approval, Linear Technology may soon become part of Analog Devices. For Linear, the offer of a 24% premium (or $14.8 billion), which will be paid in 58 million new shares and cash (through $7.3 million in fresh debt and Analogs balance sheet cash), was too good to pass up. For Analog Devices, it is an acquisition of products (there is minimal product overlap and some possibility of cross selling), technology (Linears power conversion products can complement Analogs data conversion capabilities targeting wireless, automotive and industrial customers) and an extremely strong engineering team that it has said it will focus on retaining. Moreover, annual synergies after 18 months are expected to be $150 million. Unrelated to the acquisition, Analog Devices raised its fiscal third-quarter guidance: revenue up from $800 million-$840 million to $865 million and adjusted EPS of $0.77-$0.78, up from prior guidance of $0.66-$0.74. Verizon Confirms Yahoo Buy Verizon is buying Yahoo for $4.83 billion en route to transforming itself into an Internet company. In 2014, it acquired another ailing Internet giant AOL for $4.4 billion and Yahoos core assets will be folded into this AOL business. Mayer will continue at Yahoo through the process but its likely that Tim Armstrong, who heads AOL will take over the combination once the acquisition is complete. Verizon has been buying online properties and will continue doing so to reach more users. With Yahoo, it will reach a billion users and the goal is to double this number by 2020. Advertising and video are two of its focus areas that are expected to help it diversify away from the highly-regulated, low-growth carrier business. The deal will draw the attention of regulators as Verizons history with law enforcement hasnt been spectacular to date. The company was earlier charged with planting super cookies to track users and passing on their details to advertisers without their consent. But Verizon is determined to collect more data and thats the reason for these acquisitions. Its highly doubtful that it will become the next Google or Facebook, but even capturing a few points of market share will make this a good deal for Verizon. For Yahoo, this is the end of the road for one of the webs pioneers. Hopefully the brand stays, and also some of its popular services. Is Micron a Takeover Target? There was renewed speculation about a possible takeover after the board of directors of the company approved a plan to issue one right share for every common share held in the event any individual or group assumed greater than a 5% stake in the company. The rights issue would prevent a hostile takeover of the company, prevent the transfer of control to another party and also enable Micron to continue to use its prior losses to reduce its tax bills. Two names are at the forefront in this respect: the first is Chinas Tsinghua Unigroup, which earlier offered $23 billion for the company and then backed out when it was thought that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CIFUS) could oppose it on security concerns. The second possibility is Intel Corp because the chipmaker has already partnered with it to develop its 3D XPoint architecture and other technologies. In the event of an acquisition, Intel would get Microns other memory technology as well, but would also be saddled with its losses. What could happen instead is that both Intel and the Chinese company (or any one of them) could increase investment in the company to gain access to some memory technology to further their own growth goals. Sector Price Index Sector Price Index Company Last Week Last 6 Months AAPL +5.61% +7.05% FB +2.43% +27.76% YHOO -3.02% +28.23% GOOGL +4.21% +7.87% MSFT +0.19% +9.43% INTC +0.57% +17.76% CSCO -0.59% +31.76% AMZN +1.87% +27.19% Other stories you might have missed- Corporate Google Announces New Executive: Googles new HR head Eileen Naughton, previously VP of sales and operations for Google in the UK and Ireland, will report directly to CFO Ruth Porat. She joined Google in 2005 after a stint as President of Time Magazine. She will be in charge of recruiting, benefits and diversity globally for Googles 64K employees but not for Alphabets other endeavors. Amazon Woos Startups: Amazons Launchpad store is making room for a little addition. Its a kickstarter store with a difference: the companies that have raised funds through Kickstarter and created successful products will now get to customers through two-day Prime shipping. Startups generally have plenty of problems to deal with from manufacture to sales to after-market service and Amazon is now saying that reaching customers is not going to be one of them. Some of the things currently on offer are Pebble smartwatches, Oculus Rifts, Petcube dog cameras, Zackee's turning signal LED gloves for cyclists and Olloclip's detachable iPhone lenses. Pandora Strategic Alternatives: Under pressure from activist investor Corvex Management LP (with 9.9% stake in the company), Pandora has hired Centerview Partners LLC to advise it on a possible sale. While talks are reportedly in initial stages, Liberty Media has made an informal offer to buy Pandora for $15 a share. The board would like $20. Morgan Stanley is already an advisor since February, so this is the second advisor. Legal/Regulatory Facebook Tax Bill: In the next chapter of the transfer of its global operations to Ireland, the IRS has served a notice of deficiency for $3 billion to $5 billion, plus interest and penalties. The problem seems to be that Facebooks tax adviser Ernst & Young LLP undervalued the companys property in its transfer to Facebook Ireland Holdings Ltd. by evaluating pieces of the online platform separately. Facebook will likely have to cough up some cash (if not the amount the IRS is claiming) in case its found guilty. Brazil Authoritys Problem with Facebook:Brazil continues to penalize Facebook for not providing data on people charged with crimes. The platform being questioned is WhatsApp, where Facebook has enabled end-to-end encryption. Last week, the authorities froze 38 million reais ($11.7 million) held in a Brazilian Facebook account for non-compliance with a court order asking for the information. New Technology/Products Facebook Publicity About Camera: In one of its biggest pushes to boost demand for the Occulus Rift, Facebook released on GitHub the blueprints to build the Surround 360 degree Camera as well as the software required to stitch the video together for the 360 degree immersive experience. Off-the-shelf parts will add up to $30K, compared to $15K for the GoPro Odyssey or $60K for the Nokia Ozo. Facebook is betting that if more professional videographers start shooting in VR, demand for VR content will rise and what could be better for its $599 Rift, which started selling in March this year? Yahoos Tumblr Starts Advertising on Blogs: Soon after the announced sale of the business to Verizon, Tumblr has announced that it will be serving ads on nearly all blogs. While the blog owner can opt out of it, this may not happen since it is a way for the bloggers to make some more money (and Yahoo/Verizon too of course). The Tumblr community has resisted ads since Yahoo bought it, but alternative methods of monetization havent materialized with the company finally writing down its billion dollar valuation by $230 million. So ads it is. Microsoft App to Get You Clicking: Microsofts Pix app for the iPhone uses artificial intelligence to identify the best settings for exposure, focus and time (down to the exact second) to take a photo. Another interesting feature is, it automatically takes pictures in burst mode, i.e. in a series and uses facial recognition technology to choose the best one. So dont worry if your eyes close at just the wrong moment! Google Maps Makeover: Google has made some cosmetic changes to its popular Maps app to make it easier on the eyes. It has removed road lines and started using color code to mark areas of high activity (points of interest), where bars, restaurants and shops are more easily available. Google uses an algorithmic process to find such regions and marks them a pale orange. Theres also a color code to mark regions with schools and hospitals. Typography for street names, points of interest, etc now appears larger. The changes are already available on iOS and Android. A Google-backed Chinese Smartwatch: Former Googlers in China formed a company called Mobvoi that Google invested in the last round of funding in October. That company is now getting ready to launch a $200 smartwatch called Ticwatch to take on Apples Watch in China. The CEO of the startup expects to sell 50K devices within a year of its U.S. debut and reach total revenue of $100 million in 2017. Worlds First 64 Layer 3D NAND Technology: Western Digital has announced its next generation 3D NAND technology called BiCS3, claiming 64 layers of vertical storage capability. The company has started pilot production at its Yokkaichi, Japan JV facilities with the first lot of devices expected later this year. Western Digital expects to ship meaningful commercial volumes of BiCS3 in the first half of calendar 2017. M&A and Collaborations Apple Has Deal with Parkopedia: Apples agreement with the parking services company will integrate the service directly into Apple maps so users can look for parking garages and lots along with details about the payment type, number of spaces, etc. They can also click on the link to book a spot rightaway (the payment is currently being completed on the Parkopedia website and not Apple Maps). Parkopedia covers 40 million parking spots in 75 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, so this is a nice enhancement to the Apple service. Some Numbers Apple iPhone Milestone: At an employee meeting last week, Tim Cook said iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in historyIts become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day. Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but weve always set out to make the best products that make a difference. Thank you to everyone at Apple for helping change the world every day. Some Other Companies That Reported Last Week: Expedia, Lam Research, Garmin, Corning, CA Inc, Xilinx, Groupon, Marvell Technology, Western Digital, NXP International, Nielsen, Verisign, Automated Data Processing, Equifax Companies to Report This Week: Priceline, Dun & Bradstreet, Insperity, Fiserv, Teradata, Electronic Arts, Take Two Interactive, ActiVision, Iron Mountain, Harman, Zynga, Scientific Games, Cognizant Seagate, Paycom Software, Equinix, Symantec, LinkedIn, FireEye, NVDIA. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report YAHOO! INC (YHOO): Free Stock Analysis Report APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report LINEAR TEC CORP (LLTC): Free Stock Analysis Report ANALOG DEVICES (ADI): Free Stock Analysis Report GROUPON INC (GRPN): Free Stock Analysis Report FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research In his new role as Supreme Court correspondent for Constitution Daily and the National Constitution Center, Lyle Denniston will be offering his unique analysis of the Court on a more regular basis right here. Today, Lyle explains what the Court actually does during its summer period and why it is important work. courtfreize535 On March 9, 1803, newspaper readers in Philadelphia would have found a short story on page 3 of the local paper. Headlined simply MANDAMUS, it was a brief, and almost entirely unexplained, news story about the Supreme Courts decision about two weeks earlier in the case of Marbury v. Madison. The ruling deserved more: It claimed for the Supreme Court the awesome power to say what the Constitution means. Some 213 years later, at least two lessons might be drawn from that story: The Supreme Court always holds the attention of the American people, but what it does very often needs explaining. A current example: the Justices have been on summer recess for a month, but still they do things that need explaining. The wheels of justice may turn slowly at times, but they do not stop turning. Why? That is the kind of question that Constitution Daily which prides itself on offering smart conversation about Americas founding document and about the Supreme Court has regularly and reliably answered. It will be doing more of that, with its own correspondent on the scene: working on the ground floor at the court itself on Capitol Hill in Washington. To begin with, lets answer how, and why, the Supreme Court is still at work, when its eight sitting members are out of town for most of the summer, taking vacations, teaching, or even watching a grandson appear in Merchant of Venice in a theater in Venice itself. The courts regular sessions run, usually, from early October to late June. But, since most of them left town, their new law clerks have begun to arrive, a few at a time, and they already have more than a dozen quite lengthy lists of cases they have to start boiling down to summaries to help the Justices decide which to hear, and which to turn aside. Story continues New cases arrive at the court, maybe as many as a dozen a day. An example of a recent arrival: an appeal by a Colorado bakeshop owner who is in legal trouble for refusing to design a wedding case for a same-sex couple; he is refusing because of his religious objections to such marriages, and is asking for the courts protection. But the law clerks, the new ones and some of the ones from last term remaining on the job to ease the transition, are also helping the Justices no matter where they are actually make some decisions. Right now, for example, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., with the help of his clerks, is preparing to decide what to do with the courts first new case on the issue of transgender rights: Does federal law prevent discrimination against people who were assigned one gender at birth but have come to define themselves as the opposite? That is something that has a deadline for action. A new school year opens at a Virginia high school on September 6, and the school board needs to know what kind of policy it can have on transgender students access to bathrooms. If Roberts decides to invite his colleagues to join in making the decision, all of the Justices will be in touch, one way or another, to make up their minds together. Sometime in the next few days and, again, despite the summer recess state officials in North Carolina are expected to ask the court to put on hold a new ruling by a federal appeals court, striking down a broad new state election law that was challenged as racially biased against black voters. The court wont be back in session before October, but this dispute apparently wont wait for that. These mid-summer disputes are serious legal controversies, but they are different from the ones that the Justices will start examining when they open their new term in October. The summertime cases involve requests for temporary orders, to keep a lower court ruling from taking effect while a new appeal challenges them. The cases already granted review will be the stuff of the courts hearings after the recess is over; those are already on the track for final decisions in the new term. The court already has promised the review of enough new cases to fill its hearing schedule through December. But even with the summer activity, the hot months are a quiet time at the court. There are not so many visitors, with school students around the country on vacation, so field trips are off. The court building itself looks, from the outside, as if it is wrapped in gauze; it is getting new external repairs to the masonry, and the wrapping is there to keep down the dust. Although the new term starts on the first Monday in October, the Justices actually have their first gathering already scheduled, for September 26. Held a week before the term officially starts, that private session will be devoted to selecting maybe a dozen or so new cases for review. It takes the votes of only four Justices to accept a case for review. But it will take a majority to actually make final decisions in cases that get a full review. Although there has been a vacant seat on the court since Justice Antonin Scalia died in mid-February, there does not appear to be any realistic chance that a new Justice will be approved by the Senate in time for the opening of the new term. A federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., Merrick B. Garland, is President Obamas choice to take that seat. But Judge Garland has been waiting since March 16 for the Senate to take any action on his nomination. That, apparently, has set at least a modern record for inaction on a Supreme Court nominee. The Senates Republican leaders have held off any action, arguing that the nations voters should have a chance to make their choice for a new president before the Supreme Court vacancy should be resolved. There are, as yet, no plans on what will be done after the election is over in November. The court has functioned with only eight Justices since February but found itself deadlocked 4-to-4 on two major cases the Justices heard the last term. One of those was to decide the legality of President Obamas broad new immigration policy, affecting the fate of more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. One of the summertime tasks the Justices may take up is a request by the Obama administration to grant a new hearing on the immigration issue, to be decided when there is a ninth Justice on the bench. The prospects for that request are uncertain; there is no deadline for the court to react to it unless it would be that the Obama term will end on January 20, and the political future of his immigration policy after the election is over is entirely uncertain at this point. Constitution Daily, though, will keep you posted. Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011. Denniston has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Telling the Supreme Courts story, as it happens Women, the White House and presidential campaigns Constitution Check: Does the First Amendment protect a wedding cake as an art form? By Heather Somerville and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - After a bruising two-year battle, ride-hailing firm Uber is selling its China operations to bigger local rival Didi Chuxing in a deal that will give Uber a one-fifth stake in Didi. The merged entity is worth around $35 billion - combining Didi's most recent $28 billion valuation and Uber China's $7 billion worth - said a source familiar with the matter who did not want to be named before the deal was made public. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. In a posting on Uber's website, CEO Travis Kalanick said San Francisco-based Uber Technologies would have a one-fifth stake in Didi, making it the Chinese firm's biggest shareholder. Kalanick will join Didi's board, with Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. "Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development," it said. China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has spent billions of dollars in a price war with Didi. Both firms spent heavily to attract riders with discounts and both also raised billions in recent fundraisings. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: "Sustainably serving China's cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didi's to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities - from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and "doing more than 150 million trips a month." Didi, however, claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing. Richard Ji, Hong Kong-based co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock, said the deal makes "huge sense". "Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage," he said. "This will lead to favorable outcomes for both companies. The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later." Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. INTERNATIONAL AMBITION Analysts said Didi's acquisition signals its readiness to step beyond its home market. "This clearly shows Didi's global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travelers, who are going out in big numbers. There's a possibility the two could work together in other markets," All-Stars Investment's Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its international business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi - itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and social network firm Tencent <0700.HK> - has invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. The Didi deal is the latest sign that global Internet and technology companies are struggling to break into China's cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of China's technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu will gain a stake. Apple Inc recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. It was unclear whether the deal would need to be cleared by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the anti-trust regulator. "Given Didi's reported high market share, any increment would attract MOFCOM's attention. But for the parties to seek pre-closing approval, each has to meet the minimum sales threshold. That's where it's unclear whether an anti-trust filing would be required," said Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in SAN FRANCISCO, Denny Thomas in HONG KONG, Rama Venkat Raman in BENGALURU, Jake Spring and Beijing monitoring team in Beijing, and Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) Comcast is the most-hated brand in the US, and its slippery marketing tactics and bullshit charges are well known to the entire Western world. But nothing ever gets done, because Comcast is (mostly) a monopoly and people love internet more than they hate Comcast. But as it happens, the government can (and should!) deal with monopolists that abuse their power, especially by bare-faced lying to customers. That's exactly what Washington state has done: it has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Comcast for "engaging in a pattern of deceptive practices" that ended up costing customers tens of millions of dollars. DON'T MISS: What if the iPhone 8s screen is even more durable than Gorilla Glass 5? There's many, many things that I think Comcast could be sued for, but this lawsuit focuses on one thing in particular: Comcast's Service Protection Plan, a $5-a-month plan that supposedly covers all Comcast technician visits. An investigation by the Washington Attorney General's Office discovered that Comcast reps would tell customers that inside wiring was covered, for example, but then would charge customers for any inside wiring during a service call. They also found that when Comcast equipment (say, a rental modem) failed, customers would still be charged for the technician visit, in violation of the "Comcast Guarantee." Oh, and as the cherry on the cake, the investigation also found "thousands of instances of improper credit screening by Comcast, unnecessarily impacting the credit reports of those customers." Thanks, Comcast. In all, the lawsuit is seeking: " More than $73 million in restitution to pay back Service Protection Plan subscriber payments; Full restitution for all service calls that applied an improper resolution code, estimated to be at least $1 million; Removal of improper credit checks from the credit reports of more than 6,000 customers; Up to $2,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act; and That Comcast clearly disclose the limitations of its Service Protection Plan in advertising and through its representatives, correct improper service codes that should not be chargeable and implement a compliance procedure for improper customer credit checks." Story continues Godspeed, Washington Attorney General, and may the Force be with you. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com According to media reports, veteran actor, George Williams passed away on Monday, 1st August 2016. According to a report by UltimateFMOnline.com, a close associate of the actor disclosed the death of the actor to the media house. The 87-year-old actor, who is affectionately referred to as Uncle George, was married with five children. George Williams passed away on Monday morning The veteran actor, who is a general favorite, has featured in movies such as Genesis Chapter X, Dogo Yaro, Bloody Kids, Mama and TV series, Ultimate Paradise among others. Mr. George Williams, a British-trained actor, was arguably an unrivaled authority in film-making, who was teaching acting at the Accra Film School (AFS), an Accra-based private film and television training institute. Source: YEN.com.gh Families continue to live in water-filled houses as they have nowhere to go. Flood victims are facing a harrowing time as they have to ferry their children to the local tuitions as well. By Manogya Loiwal : Roads in Jorhat district of upper Assam have turned into a river...Believe it or not it's not vehicles but boats being used to travel from one house to another. For more than 300 people living in the Kamaliya Chapoli village, Teok area of Jorhat district in upper Assam, it is almost like living in a river, ironically they are only three kilometers away from the Brahmaputra. advertisement NO FOOD SUPPLY The food supply system has collapsed and the families are surviving on stock left with them. Animals have been tied to highlands in order to keep them safe from water. HOUSES, ROADS INUNDATED The tribe members living in the area are accustomed to high tide in monsoon season. So the houses are constructed at a height of eight feet but even those houses are submerged in water. Many families had to move to safer locations as snakes and fishes gushed in along with water in their homes. They are now contemplating whether to move back or not, fearing for the welfare of their family in light of the reptiles that have infested their house. BOATS FOR COMMUTE Junti Taut, a flood victim says, " There are no roads, no school, We have to use a boat to go from one place to the other. There are not many boats also. We have to work on a sharing basis for boats.. We are in big problem." Flood victims are facing a harrowing time as they have to ferry their children to the local tuitions as well. WHERE IS GOVT RELIEF? ASK RESIDENTS "My son has his board exams this year. We have to ferry him to tuition in boats. There are no roads here. We don't even have basic food facility here. All got destroyed in flood." says Jaya Pegu as she ferries her son in a boat. Uttam, a resident says he has rarely had such sleepless nights. "We have no place to stay or sleep. There is atleast two feet water even in my house. We are sleeping on drums at night. No government relief or medical assistance has reached us till now," he says recalling the horror adding that diseases are starting to spread now. Families continue to live in water-filled houses as they have nowhere to go. Alleging that they have not got the basic supply also from government because they are not living in relief camps. "There is no food left...We are almost starving. Flood has taken a toll on our lives. There is no way to travel except these small boats. We are sending children to school in boats. Now it will continue till next two months. Even school is submerged in water" explains Bolen Tanti. advertisement The entire upper Assam is facing the fury of floods, the only respite so far is that it hasn't rained in the past 24 hours. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Chennai, Aug 1 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution asking the Centre to rename Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court and not Chennai HC as proposed in a Bill introduced in Parliament last month. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, besides other parties, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. "Naming the High Court of Judicature at Madras as Tamil Nadu High Court will be most appropriate," Jayalalithaa said, moving the resolution. "This House urges the Union government to alter the name from Chennai HC, proposed in the Bill introduced in Parliament to Tamil Nadu HC," the resolution said, adding "It will be correct to call the High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court which is presently being called as Madras High Court." Giving reasons for seeking the change, the resolution pointed out that the High Courts situated in other states take the respective names of such states, which were formed on linguistic basis in 1956. advertisement It said it would be "inappropriate to call the High Court with jurisdiction over entire Tamil Nadu as Chenani High Court." The resolution said a HC bench is functioning from Madurai too. "The name of Madras was changed to Chennai through a legislation in 1996 and according to it, Chennai will mean only the city of Chennai," it said. The Centre had introduced High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 in Lok Sabha on July 19, according to which Madras High Court will be called Chennai High Court from the date appointed by the Act, the resolution said. PTI VGN ROH APR SRY --- ENDS --- Expensive cars without logos have become a common sight with the stealing of car logos setting the newest trend of auto theft in the city. By Mail Today Bureau: A Businessman from Shahdara, Anubhav Jain, was shocked when a fellow Mercedes driver drew his attention towards the missing chrome Jaguar logo from his car at a traffic signal. Jain realised that the prized metal logo had been forcefully detached from the car leaving behind a dent. And Jain is not the only victim - owners of swanky cars are losing sleep over this all new kind of monogram-robbery. advertisement LOGOS TARGETED Expensive cars without logos have become a common site with the stealing of car logos setting the newest trend of auto theft in the city. Mass parking areas seem to most affected by this. Badges and logos of expensive cars like BMW, Audi, Mercedes and other luxury brands are the ones increasingly targeted. "The front logo of my Jaguar suddenly went missing with so much as a scratch on the bonnet and a dent. The thieves also attempted to claw the rear monogram but failed. This was brought to my notice as I stopped at a traffic signal by another such victim," Jain told Mail today. Jain, who spent over Rs.12,000 for the replacement, added, "I am sure this has happened at a market place. The car looks so incomplete with the monogram and these are very expensive." Jain, however, did not report the matter to the police. Similarly, Vasant Kunj-resident Harsh Vardhan Singh now drives his swanky red Mercedes without the front logo, that got stolen twice. "The three-pointed star logo of my car has been stolen twice. When I went to the service station, I realised that it is a regular matter. I did a little research and found that similar logos are being sold online at half the price," Singh explained. Atul Sharma, a dealer of second hand cars, said that not only monograms of luxury cars but several Skoda, Volksvagen and Honda cars can be spotted plying without their monograms. INCREASE IN REQUESTS FOR LOGOS Car showrooms are also witnessing a significant increase in number of requests from customers for replacement of logos. "We are dealing with many expensive cars which are without their logos. Initially, I thought this was only happening in our area which is the corporate hub but after speaking to other people from the industry, I found such cases to be rampant," said Sanjay Singh, owner of a leading service station at Sector 58. "These logos are available only with stores which deal in the merchandise of imported cars. These logos cost approximately Rs.10,000, depending on the brand. Flicking a logo is easy as they are either stuck with special glue or held in position with clips. One can easily detach it with a screwdriver without making any damage to the logo," he explained. advertisement GANG AT WORK? If experts are to be believed, youngsters might be doing it for their personal collection, but increasing practise also hints at the possibility of an organised gang at work. Auto experts claim that replica and refurbished logos can be bought at half their prices at the secondhand monogram market in Karol Bagh and Okhla. Leading online portals like OLX.com and Ebay.in are also flooded with such products for sale. Even senior police officers say the logo theft is on the rise but victims do not approach the police for such petty offences. "Auto thieves take away monograms, side-mirrors. There is a huge demand for logos as people love to collect them. These logos also have good resale value," a senior police officer said. ALSO READ: BMW Noida theft: High profile thief arrested --- ENDS --- Television actors Aashka Goradia and Rohit Bakshi split after being together for a decade with each other. Picture courtesy: Instagram/aashkagoradia; Twitter/iamrohitbakshi By India Today Web Desk: Looks like the cupid is not very happy with the Indian television industry. Confused? Well, after the infamous Dalljiet Kaur and Shaleen Bhanot divorce, and Karishma Tanna and Upen Patel's break-up; it is time for another couple to call it quits--television stars Aashka Goradia and Rohit Bakshi. Also read:New entry: Aashka Goradia to enter Naagin as Ichchadhaari Madhumakhi Television actress Aashka Goradia. Picture courtesy: Instagram/aashkagoradia advertisement Yes, you read that right. The couple has decided to part ways after being together for a decade. Apparently, the couple was facing some issues a few years ago, but they had somehow arrived at a common ground; but things seem to have gotten worse with time, according to a report in The Times of India. Rohit Bakshi in a still from the show Siya Ke Ram. Picture courtesy: Twitter/iamrohitbakshi "Despite the turmoil, they stuck around and gave their relationship several chances. But with time, they realised it was best to part ways. Communication gaps and compatibility issues led to constant friction in the relationship. Both wanted different things from life. The good thing is that the split was an amicable one. They respect and care for each other and didn't want their relationship to end on a sour note," a source close to the couple told The Times of India recently. Aashka was last seen in Color TV's Naagin, whereas Rohit is currently portraying Lord Shiva in the Star Plus show Siya Ke Ram. --- ENDS --- Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover are on a vacation in Bali. By India Today Web Desk: It's sun, sand and beaches for Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover, once again. After soaking in the sun in Maldives, the couple is set for another beach destination. And this time, it is Bali. ALSO READ: Both of us need to approve of a script, says Bipasha on working with Hubby Karan ALSO READ: Don't miss Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu's PDA on IIFA green carpet advertisement It's been three months since Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover tied the knot. But it seems their honeymoon period still hasn't ended. The couple, who was in Madrid last month to attend IIFA, extended their trip to explore the picturesque Barcelona. And now the lovebirds are off to Bali for another vacation. And the pictures posted by Alone actors on social media can make anyone go green with envy. From spa to boat ride, Bipasha and Karan seem to be having a ball of a time in Indonesia. Finally reached this beautiful and tranquil place @fsbali #fourseasonssayan A photo posted by karan singh grover (@iamksgofficial) on Jul 28, 2016 at 7:43am PDT My Cup of Tea?? By the ocean side , where we belong ?? @fsbali #fourseasonsjimbaran A photo posted by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jul 30, 2016 at 7:23pm PDT Keep your face always towards the sunshine- and shadows will fall behind you ?? @fsbali #fourseasonsjimbaran A photo posted by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jul 31, 2016 at 3:23am PDT Grateful for this blissful experience of Anahata Chakra Ceremony at the Sacred River Spa at #fourseasonssayan @fslbali ?? Must visit place ?? A photo posted by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jul 29, 2016 at 3:38am PDT Karan, who is smitten by his wife, shared a picture with Bipasha and called her "his sunshine." My sunshine and I watching the sunset together! All pink skies are for you... @fsbali #fourseasonsjimbaran A photo posted by karan singh grover (@iamksgofficial) on Jul 30, 2016 at 6:25am PDT Bipasha in an earlier interview had said that wishes to go for a longer honeymoon. And it seems the two are exactly doing the same. Karan and Bipasha met on the sets of their 2015 film Alone. Their wedding was a private affair with family and close friends in attendance, but the reception witnessed all the famous B-Town celebs. --- ENDS --- The BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in Parliament for the next three days in view of GST Bill. By India Today Web Desk: With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill expected to be tabled tomorrow, the BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in Parliament for the next three days. The crucial reform bill, India's biggest tax law since independence, has been listed for consideration and passage in the Upper House, where the ruling BJP is in a minority. advertisement Though the numbers in Rajya Sabha for the BJP are more favourable than they were earlier, the GST is a Constitution amendment bill and requires the nod of at least 163 MPs in the 245-member Upper House. The NDA has 72 MPs; it also has the support of the SP with 19 MPs, BSP with six, JD(U)'s 10, NCP's five, RJD's three, TMC's 12, and the BJD's eight. However, the 60-memeber Congress and the AIADMK with 14 members are still holding out. The Left with nine MPs is also opposed to the bill, although Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has hinted at a compromise. Last week, the government reached out to the Congress and other opposition parties in order to hammer out a consensus on GST. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanyam held several rounds of talks with leaders from various parties. The Congress, which has stalled the passage of the GST so far, described the government exercise as "constructive and positive". GST to be tabled in Rajya Sabha next week, will the ship sail? --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mysuru, Aug 1 (PTI) A low intensity explosion rocked a court premises here today causing panic among lawyers and litigants and leaving at least two persons injured. The explosion with "bomb blast-like" sound occurred in the toilet located behind the court building, eyewitnesses said. Windowpanes were shattered due to the intensity of the explosion, police said, adding the two persons received minor injuries. advertisement Senior police officials who rushed to the court cordoned off the area and pressed dog and bomb detection squads into service. They said the cause of the blast is being investigated. State Home Minister G Parameshwara, who was here today to pay last respects to Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs son Rakesh who died in Belgium on Sunday, visited the spot with DGP Omprakash. "I have seen the place, it has happened in the toilet. Due to the impact, wall and doors have been damaged. No injuries have happened, samples are being collected. FSL (Forensics Sciences Lab) teamis here and are collecting samples. After that investigationwill happen," he said. Asked if there were any similarities to earlier explosions or any kind of suspicion, he said, "Nothing can be said now itself; let the investigation happen and let them find out about the materials used and the purpose." The Minister said though it was a low intensity blast, its impact wasbig because walls, doors and windowpanes have been damaged. To a question about any intentions behind the blast asa large number of people and prominent personalities were inMysuru to pay last respects to Rakesh Siddaramaiah, he said "I cant say anything; I dont want to speculate." He said police would be taking all required preventive and security measures. PTI KSU RA APR TIR --- ENDS --- The Bawariyas are notorious for a whole host of crimes - murder, rape, burglaries and/or assaults - and their name is enough to send shivers down the spines of villagers and even the police. By Vishakha Saxena: Five men allegedly part of UP's infamous Bawariya gang were arrested on Monday on suspicion of being involved in the gang rape of a woman and her teenage daughter in Bulandshahr. The family who witnessed the rapes have now identified three of their attackers from among the arrested men. A reconstruction of the crime shows the gang first waylaid the family on their way from Noida to Shahjahanpur, then raped two women members of the family and looted them of their cash, jewellery and mobile phones. advertisement Read: Robbers gangrape mother, daughter in front of family, two accused identified Reports suggest two of the accused in the case have been involved in prior cases of loot and theft. That's not a surprise considering the Bawariya gang is notorious for a whole host of crimes. Here's a look at who the Bawariyas are and their tainted crime trail: 1. Bawarias are a nomadic criminal tribe involved in a range of criminal activities for decades now. They primarily operate across Uttar Pradesh but their sightings are also reported from Haryana and Rajasthan - where they originate. Almost all attacks involve incidents of murder, rape, burglaries and/or assaults. 2. The Bawariyas usually split and operate in groups - comprising both men and women, and sometimes even children. A group can generally have 5 to 10 members. 3. Bawariyas are widely known for attacking houses built in near-vacant areas around highways or railway tracks. The Bawariya women are responsible for surveying and identifying potential victims. They pose as utensil or cloth sellers to do a recce of the house they plan to attack. Sometimes, even kids are involved in the surveying process. 4. Before they begin 'hunting', the groups choose a spot near highways or railways where their women ceremoniously bid them goodbye. After 15-20 days, gang-members return to the spot to divide their booty. 5. When they attack, the Bawariyas aim for the head so they can easily commit the crime. Also, they leave behind their weapons and mobiles to avoid being tracked or identified. 6. Bawariyas arrested in the past have never given any clues about the rest of their tribe. 7. According to an Amar Ujala report from just days prior to the recent gangrape, four-five villages in Bulandshahr's Kakod area had reported seeing Bawariya gang members, sending villagers and the police into a panic. Following the reports, 400-500 people from 40 villages held a 'Mahapanchayat' at the police station in the presence of the SO, who announced increased police presence and instructed villagers to form groups and keep watch at night. advertisement Video: Horrific details emerge from Bulandshahr gangrape FIR accessed by India Today 8. Early this year, three Bawariya members were arrested for abducting and raping a private hospital nurse in Jaipur. During investigation, police found that six men riding two bikes thrashed the nurse and forced her to sit on their bike before raping her at an isolated spot. 9. Rainy season marks the arrival of Bawariyas - the gang considers it an auspicious time to commit crime. 10. Sometimes the gang is also referred to as the 'Kaccha Banyan gang' as they preferred to dress in underwear - white vests and striped knickers. It is believed that gang-members are now turning to more traditional forms of clothing to prevent detection by the police. 11. One of the primary reasons police struggle to catch the gang is because they're known with different names in different areas - 'bhaatu', 'ghumantu', 'criminal trap', 'mewaiti', 'saasi' and 'kangda' are some of the other names given to the Bawariya gang. 12. In April 2015, police arrested five men off a bus in Mathura who turned out to be Bawariyas. Rs 5 lakh, gold jewellery and chains, country-made pistols, live cartridges and nine mobiles were recovered from them, among other things. The arrested gang members revealed that they had a pattern of shifting to new grounds after committing crime at one spot. advertisement 13. Then, in July, they arrested five gang members from Ghaziabad who had a Scorpion SUV among other things in their possession. 14. Later in September, in Kanpur's Maharajpur area, the 'kaccha baniyan group' beat two men to death and then went on to assault a couple who tried to resist robbery. Eighteen days later, people of Maharajpur's Jahana village lynched a man to death suspecting he was part of the gang. 15. In November the same year, a Bawariya member was arrested in Gurgaon for carrying out dozens of chain-snatchings in Bengaluru. 16. According to a Jagran report from 2015, Bawariyas are the worst of the 13 nomadic tribes involved in criminal activities in Uttar Pradesh and have operated since pre-Independence times. To keep them in check, police used to do a headcount of men in their native villages every day - a practice that continued after Independence but not for long. 17. In December 2014, three shops in Bareilly were burglarised by Bawariyas in one night. The shopkeepers reported that apart from missing money and a 250-gram Ganesha idol, they found faeces inside their shops. Leaving their excreta behind is one of the trademarks of the Bawariya gang. advertisement 18. In 2013, five Bawariya gang members confessed to 24 murders and nearly 100 cases of loot in Delhi-NCR, Meerut and Bulandshahr. The gang members used to offer lifts to passers-by before taking them to a secluded spot and robbing and killing them. 19. In 2012, the Special Task Force of UP police arrested Farman - a Bawariya gang member carrying a Rs 50,000 reward. He was involved in cases ranging from looting and assault to murder including hacking a constable to death before taking off with his motorcycle. 20. In June 2010, police in Rajasthan's Dholpur tortured a 75-year-old man Jaidev at a police station and hung him from a tree alleging he was the leader of the Bawariya gang. It said the gang was involved in stealing goods worth Rs 1.5 lakh from a motor parts showroom the month before. Jaidev's wife who protested was threatened with the same fate. 21. According to a 2009 Times of India report, residents on the outskirts of Kanpur had to move after a spate of murders and burglaries - police was unable to solve a single case. One of the residents recounted being urged by police to install a safety door or employ a security guard to be safe. 22. The report claims that Bawariyas apply oil on their bodies so they can easily wriggle out in case someone tries to grab hold of them. If challenged, Bawariyas don't hesitate to kill their victims too. 23. Police claims that with time, Bawariyas have gone hi-tech too - they now use trucks or cars to flee crime scenes, use mobiles to stay in touch with other gang-members and are also using latest weapons. 24. Bawariya members are also involved in cases of poaching. In March this year, a Bawariya member was arrested from the Haridwar-Nazibabad highway carrying five tiger pelts and bones. Read: Bulandshahr gangrape victims' family says will commit suicide if not given justice in 3 months Cops missed vital evidence at Bulandshahr gangrape crime scene Five police officials suspended for negligence in Bulandshahr gangrape case --- ENDS --- Lakshmi Singh, DIG, Meerut, today said five accused in the Bulandshahr gangrape and loot case. By India Today Web Desk: In the latest development in the Bulandshahr gangrape and loot case the police today has arrested five accused. Three accused have been identified by the family. On Sunday, five police officials were suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav government for dereliction in duty. SSP, SP City, CO, SOS of two police stations have been suspended on charges of negligence. The CM has promised stringent action if accused are not nabbed. advertisement Here are the latest developments Three of the five accused have been sent to 14-day judicial custody. The husband and father of the rape victims has threatened to commit suicide if accused are not punished within 3 months. On Sunday, five police officials including SSP, SP City, CO, SOS of two police stations have been suspended on charges of negligence. An FIR under relevant sections of the IPC was lodged against five accused and three police teams were formed to investigate the case. Taking cognisance of the case, the National Commission for Women members met the women and family in Uttar Pradesh. DETAILS OF THE CASE Miscreants threw a piece of metal at the car when it was passing through Dostpur village on Saturday, forcing the driver to stop, police said. When the driver came out of the car to examine the damage, the criminals overpowered him and allegedly forced him to drive the car off the road and into the fields. Then they dragged the women to a nearby field and raped them while the men were tied with ropes. One of the family members, who managed to untie the ropes, reported the matter to police. The incident has sparked outrage in the country with opposition parties attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government alleging that "goonda raj" was at its peak in the state and governance had collapsed. Meanwhile, SHO Ramsen of Kotwali Dehat, to whom the case was reported, was relieved from the charge of the case due to his alleged negligence. Also read: Bulandshahr: Robbers gangrape mother, daughter in front of family, two accused identified Bulandshahr gangrape case: Five police officials suspended for negligence --- ENDS --- Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said that it is shocking to know that despite crime of such a dastardly nature happening in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government chose not to speak over the matter. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Uttar Pradesh's Congress chief minister candidate Sheila Dikshit on Monday spoke for the first time over the barbaric incident of mother-daughter rape in Bulandshahr couple of days back. Speaking exclusively to India Today, the former Delhi chief minister said that it is shocking to know that despite crime of such a dastardly nature happening in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government chose not to speak over the matter. advertisement Sheila said that the incumbent Samajwadi Party government has lost control over the law and order in the state. The senior Congress leader asserted that the gruesome incident spoke volume about the deteriorating law and order situation in the country's largest state. Dikshit said it is shocking for her to know that despite crime of such a dastardly nature happening in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government chose not to speak over the matter or even reach out to the victim family. "Its is sad for me to know that the state government is silent and no one has taken effort to go and meet the victim family," she said. SHEILA DIKSHIT SLAMS UP GOVERNMENT Slamming the state government, Sheila said that simply suspending a police officer for the crime was not enough and the chief minister himself should take responsibility for the incident. "This incident raises doubt over Akhilesh Yadav's ability as an able chief minister," said the three-time former Delhi CM. UP Congress president Raj Babbar too hit out at the UP government over the incident and said that it was shameful on part of the Uttar Pradesh government to take action against one police officer and claim that justice hasn't been done to the victim's mother and daughter. "Guilty police officer along with other police personnel present at the police station should be punished for not doing their duty", said Babbar. He alleged that the UP government was only interested in minting money through transfers and posting. ALSO READ | Ruthless, organised and disgusting: All about the Bawariya gang behind Bulandshahr gangrape --- ENDS --- In the wake of the gangrape of a mother-daughter duo, opposition today demanded resignation of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: As the shocked nation expressed outrage over Bulandshahr rape, the Centre today took cognizance of the heinous crime seeking a report on rape of the mother-daughter duo. Ministry of Home Affair's (MHA) Centre-state division today sought report. Around six armed men stopped a car on the Delhi-Kanpur highway early on Saturday morning, according to the FIR registered later on Saturday. The armed men dragged the family to nearby fields and raped the teenager and her 35-year-old mother. advertisement MHA expressed concern over the incident. "Though law and order is a state subject, we have sought a report, as parliament is functioning. Home Minister may have to make a statement. But not only is the incident heinous in nature and action has been taken not only perpetrators of crime but also on lax police officials. But that may not be enough. It is a concern that police helpline number 100 was not working, which is extremely shocking," said a senior official from MHA. OPPOSITION DEMANDS CM'S RESIGNATION Meanwhile opposition parties on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the gang rape of a Noida-based mother and daughter near Bulandshahr and also asked him to own up moral responsibility for the heinous crime. Former Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati demanded a "personal explanation" from Akhilesh on whether "he would be able to return the lost honour of the victims." Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, BJP MP Bhola Singh, who represents Bulandshahr, alleged that such incidents were happening in the state as criminals enjoyed the government's "protection". SITUATION IS VERY SERIOUS "Police is not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The Chief Minister should resign," Singh said garnering support from other party members. The chief minister has suspended the Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishan, SP (City) Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer Himanshu Gaurav, SHO Ramsen Singh and four other officials for dereliction of duty. Also read: Ruthless, organised and disgusting: All about the Bawariya gang behind Bulandshahr gangrape --- ENDS --- By PTI: From K J M Varma Beijing, Aug 1 (PTI) China today issued a red alert for Typhoon Nida ahead of its landfall in the southern areas tomorrow. Chinas State Oceanic Administration (SOA) issued the red alert for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida approaches the mainland. From tonight to tomorrow, sea waves as high as 11 metres are expected in the northern South China Sea, while the southern Taiwan Strait will witness waves as high as seven meters. advertisement The SOA also issued a red alert storm tides and estimated that the sea level off the Pearl River estuary will rise up to 220 cm. Typhoon Nida is expected to land in Guangdong Province early tomorrow, probably around the Pearl River Delta, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Local authorities in the provinces of Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have been asked to closely monitor the typhoon and publicise early warning information in a timely manner, according to a circular on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The China National Commission for Disaster Reduction has asked people in typhoon-affected areas to stock daily necessities for at least one to three days, the circular said, adding that emergency mechanisms for disaster relief will be activated if necessary. Typhoon Nida will make landfall in south Chinas Guangdong Province tomorrow. Several Chinese provinces suffered heavy damages due to heavy rains during the past few weeks. At least 173 people were killed and 126 people listed missing in last weekss rains. PTI KJV AJR AKJ AJR --- ENDS --- Delhi Police today busted a drug racket and arrested four people in possession of heroin worth Rs 16 crore. By Arvind Ojha: Delhi police today busted a drug racket and arrested four people--two Nigerians and two Indians--in possession of heroin worth Rs 16 crore. Delhi police special cell recovered huge quantities of fine quality heroin from Surendra Bhatt and Balvinder, both residents of Punjab, at Mubarka Chowk in Delhi. According to police Surendra and Balvinder often visited Delhi to collect drug from a Nigerian couple and then supplied the same at parties. advertisement Following the investigation a raid was also conducted at the couple's residence and 1 kg heroin was recovered. Police also found fake passports of Nigeria, South Africa and fake Indian visa. Police is now searching for other members of their gang. --- ENDS --- McDonald's had not clearly outlined the terms and conditions of the contest that it had launched in 2005 and Mitra had allegedly ended up being cheated by the restaurant in the process. By Mail Today Bureau: Delhi-based Kapil Mitra has won a long legal battle against one of the leading fast food chains, McDonald's, that had allegedly been deficient in its services. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY McDonald's had not clearly outlined the terms and conditions of the contest that it had launched in 2005 and Mitra had allegedly ended up being cheated by the restaurant in the process. The Delhi State Dispute Consumer Redressal Commission in its order has asked the food chain to pay the complainant a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for deficiency and Rs 10 lakh to Consumer Welfare Fund of the State, maintained by the Commission, for not being transparent while declaring the results and duping people at large by holding that the contest in a clandestine manner. advertisement The counsel for McDonald's refused to comment on the future course of action saying that he has not received any instructions from his client on this. CONTEST Mitra had gone to McDonald's with his wife in 2005 where he participated in the 'Ghar Bulao Sab Lucky Ban Jao' contest. The customers were assured of prizes on their next purchase of minimum Rs.20. "I participated in the contest but received no intimation from the restaurant for over a month on the results. The schemes were widely advertised in various newspapers, but there were no mention of any terms and conditions. After consulting with the manager I sent two texts costing Rs 3 each, but still did not get the result. The outlet too failed to give me a convincing response," Kapil Mitra told Mail Today. Mitra who is a lawyer, decided to battle it out legally with McDonald's which is operated by Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt and filed a suit in the district forum. The restaurant told the court that the schemes were launched for customers opting for home delivery and those visiting the restaurant. It claimed that the terms and conditions were put up on the notice board of each outlet. DEFICIENCY IN SERVICE However, judge NP Kaushik, member, Delhi State Dispute Consumer Redressal Commission observed that the results of the lucky draw were not made public and ordered in favour of Mitra. The order was challenged in the state consumer forum that observed that the restaurant could not place anything on record to show that the terms and conditions were displayed on the notice board. Moreover, it observed that the final result of the scheme was not published in the same newspaper in which the scheme was advertised thus holding it guilty of 'deficiency in service' as per the Section 2(3)(3A) of the Consumer Protection Act. ALSO READ: Indian couple launches 1.5 bn dollar lawsuit against Aus bank Delhi police arrested four persons including a Nigerian and Tanzanian in connection with an international drug cartel. Heroin worth Rs 16 crore were recovered from the accused. By Tanseem Haider: Delhi Police special cell has arrested four key members of an international narcotic drug cartel. The accused have been identified as Surender Singh, Balwinder Singh, Micheal Chinedu Chukwudi from Nigeria and Catherine Leonard Mrope a Tanzanian National he presently residing at Sector 38, Gurgaon. About 4 kilograms of heroin were recovered from the drug suppliers. Several mobile handsets along with SIM cards used in drug trafficking have also been recovered. The police also recovered a car. Police said that the international value of recovered heroin is over Rs 16 crores. The accused were under watch for last few months. Investigations revealed that the heroin was brought by the African nationals and are supplied to Punjab and Delhi-NCR. On July 30, the police received information that two persons Balwinder Singh and Surender Singh came to Delhi and had procured a big consignment of heroin from African nationals from Dwarka. The police got information that both Bindar and Surender were to supply herion near Rohini jail. Acting on the information, the police laid a trap near the petrol pump and arrested the duo. advertisement ACCUSED PART OF INTERNATIONAL DRUG SYNDICATE The accused disclosed that they were part of a massive international narcotic syndicate. They told the police that they used to supply heroin to various persons of Punjab and Delhi-NCR. Both disclosed that they used to get supply of heroin from persons of African origin in Pochanpur, Dwarka area. They also told that they had received consignment of 3 kg heroin from the African nationals. They also told that these suppliers have taken two-three flats in Pochanpur and one house in Sector-38 Gurgaon, Haryana on rent, where they used to keep heroin. The police formed two teams conducted simultaneous raids at both the hideouts in Dwarka and Gurgaon. During this operation, the main kingpin of this cartel namely Micheal Chinedu Chukwudi was arrested from his rented house in Gurgaon and one kg heroin was recovered from him. Two passports were also recovered from his house. In the other raid at other rented house of said Nigerian, two more passports from Tanzania and South Africa having photographs of his wife Catherine Leonard Mrope were recovered. FAKE PASSPORTS RECOVERED Fake passport of South Africa was also having stickers of fake visa of India and fake immigration stamps. Catherine Leonard Mrope was also arrested for illegally staying in India and for forgery and possession of fake passport and other incriminating documents. Both the above foreigners were interrogated in detail, during which Micheal Chinedu Chukwudi disclosed that he has been supplying heroin to various drugs supplier of Punjab including Balwinder and Surender for last six months. He disclosed that he used to get the supply of heroin from another Nigerian. He told that the fake passport of South Africa was forged by him because his Nigerian passport had expired and he had to shift to Gurgaon a week ago. Police said that the fake passports and visa stickers were prepared with master perfection. Investigation to identify other persons indulging in preparation of these forged passport and Visa stickers is underway. DRUGS SMUGGLED INSIDE HOUSEHOLD ITEMS He also told that his African friends had contacts in Pakistan and Afghanistan, who used to send heroin to him through couriers. He also told that secret cavities carved inside suitcases, bags, household items are being used to safely smuggle narcotics to India. Balwinder Singh has been indulging in supply of heroin for the last 15 years. He was arrested in 2007 under the NDPS Act in Sultanpur Lodhi, Punjab. In 2015, he was arrested in two more cases of NDPS Act. Surender Singh has been working with Balwinder Singh for over a year. Surender came in contact with Balwinder Singh two years ago. He discussed his financial problem with Balwinder who lured him to work with him. Police said that Surender got about Rs. 50,000 per trip to Delhi and back. A minor girl was allegedly raped and set on fire inside her home in east Delhi last week. By India Today Web Desk: A minor girl was allegedly raped and set on fire inside her home in Delhi's Gandhinagar area last week. According to police the girl's burnt body was found by her mother on Thursday. Two suspects, who have been caught, used to harass and stalk the 16-year-old for months, the police said The police initially believed that it was a suicide case, however, an autopsy confirmed that she was strangled. advertisement Teenage girl's half-burnt body found inside Delhi flat, police suspect rape, murder A friend of the girl has told the police that she had been followed by two young men in the neighbourhood for long and has also claimed that she was sexually assaulted by them. The suspects were picked up on the basis of her statement. The girl was alone when the killers broke into her home. The girl had allegedly complained to the police about the men. --- ENDS --- By Tatsam Mukherjee: Watching Akshaye Khanna in action in John Abraham and Varun Dhawan's Dishoom, opened a few windows of nostalgia for the '90s kids. Akshaye Khanna was always an above-average actor, unfortunately he didn't fit the hero template of the 90s, unlike his contemporaries Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman, Sunny Deol or even Ajay Devgan. He was an actor, not a superstar. He went almost completely untapped, until Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai. Only after that, did everyone start recognising his potential. Akshaye Khanna has time and again reminded us of his acting potential, and yet the audience and filmmakers have not been visionary enough to use him even as a character, even if not the lead actor. We look at 6 actors we would like to see comeback on the big screen with meatier parts: advertisement 1. Chandrachur Singh Known for playing the chocolate-boy in most of his films, Chandrachur Singh was a much better actor than that. Delivering a knockout performance in Gulzar's Maachis, he went on do good work including Josh alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Kya Kehna alongside Saif. And then he lost his way to do movies like Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiya, was recently seen in bit-roles in films like Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Chaar Din Ki Chaandni. He deserves better roles than those. 2. Rahul Khanna Only to have been properly tapped by Deepa Mehta, Rahul Khanna has mostly been stereotyped into a role of a 'hot boss'. Having done a few experimental films, this is one actor who deserves more time on the silver screen. He can act, but then in a country where you can get away with sleep-walking through lead roles, who will blame Rahul Khanna for not trying enough. 3. Milind Soman The Made-in-India model has always been around the film industry, only to go on to do the godawful 16 December. As an actor he has proved his mettle in bit parts like the recent Bajirao Mastani, David. He surely can act and deserves to be given meatier roles in mainstream Bollywood. 4. Raveena Tandon Everyone was excited about her return to the silverscreen in Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet, however, for unknown reasons her role was chopped off to barely a minute in a 3-hour saga. Known to be quite hottie during the 90s for films like Mohra, she took on a few tough roles like Satta, Aks and Shool and proved herself as an actor. Sadly, Bollywood lost this actor to its unwritten rule of filling their movies with only 20-year old women. 5. Nandita Das Another brilliant actor, who Bollywood couldn't keep interested with the limited range of roles. Das moved on to theatre, she directed Firaaq, based on the 2002 Godhra riots which is still critically revered. She went on to even direct stage plays. Hopefully Bollywood will give her some interesting work, which is NOT that of an elder sister, or mother. Something more layered hopefully. 6. Karisma Kapoor The flag-bearer of the Kapoor khaandaan through the 90s until baby sister Kareena Kapoor came on the scene. Routinely going through the regressive portrayal of women, she emerged as a brave actor giving a stunning performance in Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa. She tried to make a comeback, in a leaking ship called Dangerous Ishk, and it was bound to sink without a trace. However, we know of her abilities as an actor, and she should work more. By PTI: From Aditi Khanna London, Aug 1 (PTI) A cat fight for control over Britains corridors of political power turned brutal today with 10 Downing Streets chief mouser coming to blows with its Foreign Office feline neighbour. Larry, the Prime Ministers residence No 10 Downing Streets mouse-catcher, has never really got on with Foreign Office neighbour Palmerston but this morning the two so-called chief mousers had to be physically separated by political photographer Steve Back. advertisement "It was utterly appalling, the fighting has been going on for weeks and weeks. This morning Iwas there covering normal political events and suddenly Palmerston appeared from the foreign office," Back told The Daily Telegraph. "Suddenly these two were at each other hammer and tongs. First they were hissing at each other and we didnt think they were going to fight, so we walked off. The next thing we heard there was this terrible screaming. We turned around and they were fighting outside No. 11, literally ripping fur off each other. Palmerstons ear is in a terrible mess and Larry has lost his collar," he said. The photographer, who has been reporting on the cat fights on his Twitter account Political Pictures, said he was worried that if no one takes action, their rivalry could end in death. "They are going to end up killing each other -- they were brought in as a PRstunt and now ithas gone too far. No one seems to care -- its happening outside (Prime Minister) Theresa Mays window! There now even are rumours the Cabinet Office is going to get a cat -- its cat madness on Downing Street as they are all fighting over a small space," Back warned. Pictures of one fight showedPalmerston has a clump of fur missing, and Larry had to have veterinary treatment for a sore paw. The two were both adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats home. Larry in 2011 and Palmerston earlier this year. Members of the public have started taking sides in the fight, calling themselves #teamlarry or#teampalmerston on Twitter. Last month, Palmerstone even sneaked into the Prime Ministers home before being unceremoniously evicted by Scotland Yard officers. PTI AK ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- The brutal bear attack scene starring Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant surely seems to have scared the wits out of this man. He actually slaughtered an endangered bear fearing a similar encounter. By India Today Web Desk: The unforgettable bear attack scene from Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar winning Hollywood movie -- The Revenant -- kept us all on the edge of our seats. But this man from Missouri took his fear to another level. Fourty-year-old Chris Keown from House Springs, Missouri, grabbed his muzzle-loader and illegally shot down an endangered black bear, only 25 yards from his front door. The St Louis Post-Dispatch quoted him as saying, "I'm sorry that I did do it. My adrenaline was pumping. About three weeks before that, we watched 'The Revenant' and it was just going through my mind." advertisement He feared a similar attack on his his 8-year-old son, Hunter. via GIPHY Keown had to pay a fine of $99.50 for his unwarranted action. The bear showed no signs of aggression and scurried off as soon as he opened the door; yet he tracked it down and shot it. After killing it, he skinned it and left the head and hide in the forest. Larry Yamnitz, protections division chief for the Missouri Conservation Department, said, "Bears are afraid of humans. When a bear runs away, where is the threat?" and added, "he should have just let it go." Here's the goosebumps-inducing bear attack scene from the movie: --- ENDS --- The new red-flag rule will kick in from this weekend's German Grand Prix after a controversy involving Nico Rosberg in the Hungarian Grand Prix. By Reuters: Formula One qualifying will be halted under "double-yellow" conditions starting during this weekend's German Grand Prix in a tightening of rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of the controversy surrounding Nico Rosberg's pole in Hungary. "The procedure now would be to simply red-flag any time that there's a double-waved yellow flag, then there will be no discussion," Charlie Whiting, the governing International Automobile Federation's (FIA) Formula One race director, told reporters at the Hockenheim circuit on Friday. advertisement "It will be done routinely if there's a double-waved yellow flag," he said. A spin for Fernando Alonso in the dying seconds of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix brought out the double-waved yellow flags, under which rules say a driver must slow down significantly and be prepared to change direction or stop. (Also read: Nico Rosberg hoping to get back on top in Germany) Several drivers, most notably world champion Lewis Hamilton - who came upon Alonso's McLaren lying stationary halfway across the track - slowed down enough to hinder their laps. But Rosberg improved on the rapidly drying tarmac to snatch pole. The German was investigated by stewards but was cleared after they deemed he had slowed down enough. However, that triggered a discussion among drivers, who plan to discuss the incident with Whiting in their regular briefing with him on Friday, over just how much they had to slow down for it to amount to a significant reduction in speed. "The stewards accepted Nico's explanation and looked at the data and felt that he had slowed down," Whiting said. "But then the question is did he slow down enough, what's enough? So if you can't set a time, then that's that, it removes all that subjective discussion." Whiting also expanded on the decision by the sport's strategy group on Thursday to delay the introduction of a cockpit-protection device by a year to allow more time to develop it. (Also read: Nico Rosberg fastest in opening German Grand Prix practice) The FIA had been keen to have the 'halo' concept, which looks like a wishbone with a central pillar supporting a protective loop above the driver's head, on cars for next year. But, while Whiting said the concept was ready for introduction with all the tests complete, teams felt drivers didn't have enough experience driving with it fitted to their cars. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Television personality and film actress Gauahar Khan has never shied away from expressing what she thinks is right, and this time too, the actress has done the same. Gauahar is in news again for lashing out against a journalist. Also read:Now showing on social media: Ex-couple Gauahar Khan and Kushal Tandon's fight Picture courtesy: Snapchat/gauaharkhan According to a report in India Forums, the said journalist had interviewed the actress while she was in Jharkhand, and there had not been an issue until the interview came out the next day for everyone to see. The actress claims that she was misquoted in the interview, and especially so on the subject of her ex, Kushal Tandon. It is not clear from the report, which publication was this interview for and what was the exact quote, which created the controversy. Picture courtesy: Instagram/therealkushaltandon advertisement The actress took to a social media platform to respond about what she felt on the whole issue. "You never asked me a question about Mr. Kushal Tandon because I would never ever use any wrong words for someone I have had an amazing, amazing, amazing relationship with. How dare you?" Picture courtesy: Instagram/gauaharkhan "I know I am always fun and games on my Snapchat, but this is serious stuff. How can someone misquote me on something that matters so much to me?" the actress said in one of the videos she had posted on Snapchat. The former lovebirds had recently been in news for fighting over social media platform. Hardly two weeks have passed since the aforementioned incident, and the two are back again, at least where the headlines are concerned. Apparently, when asked about his relationship with Gauahar, Kushal had then told a daily, "It is possible, but we (Gauahar) are not friends. I don't want to be friends. I am friends with two of my former girlfriends though," Tellychakkar had reported. And of course, Gauhar had replied via Snapchat, "It is so disappointing to read that some people need your name to make headlines even in their work articles. Get over it. There are two golden words that people can use. 'No Comments.' " Gauahar is presently promoting her upcoming movie Fever, which releases on August 5, and also stars Rajeev Khandelwal. The Goods and Services Tax Bill to be tabled in the Upper House of Parliament for discussion on Wednesday. By India Today Web Desk: The long-stalled Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha for discussion on Wednesday. "All the issues have been resolved," sources in the Finance Ministry have said. Initially, the government was planning to bring the critical reform bill tomorrow, but with Congress Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, away in Varanasi, the decision to move the tabling of the bill by a day was taken. advertisement Leaving no stone unturned as the Narendra Modi government gears up for its biggest economic reform yet, the BJP has already issued a three-line whip to all its Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in Parliament for the next three days. The government has finished its consultative process with all the political parties and is now confident of mustering up the requisite two-third majority in the Upper House to ensure the passage of the Constitution amendment bill. Though the BJP is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, the numbers are more favourable to the party now than they were earlier. The GST is a Constitution amendment bill and requires the nod of at least 163 MPs in the 245-member Upper House. While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has 72 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, it also has the support of the Samajwadi Party with 19 MPs, the Bahujan Samaj Party with six, Janata Dal (United)'s 10, the Nationalist Congress Party's five, the Rashtriya Janata Dal's three, the Trinamool Congress's 12, and the Biju Jana Dal's eight. However, the 60-member Congress and the AIADMK with 14 members are still holding out. The Left with nine MPs is also opposed to the bill, although Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has hinted at a compromise. ALSO READ | BJP's GST whip: Rajya Sabha MPs must be present in House for next 3 days --- ENDS --- For Chinese investors, India's "complicated" tax regulations have often been cited as one of the biggest hurdles when entering the Indian market. By Ananth Krishnan: Passing the GST Bill could lead to a surge of investment from China in sectors such as infrastructure, believe investors and officials in Beijing. For Chinese investors, India's "complicated" tax regulations have often been cited as one of the biggest hurdles when entering the Indian market. Taxes that vary from state to state, policies that sometimes befuddle new entrants and tax rates that are seen as far higher than what Chinese find in other potential markets such as Southeast Asia are some frequently cited complaints. advertisement Tax policy "is one of the biggest concerns we find from potential investors", Wang Chao, the founder and CEO of ZD Invest, one of the few Beijing investment advisories that is dedicated to the Indian market, told India Today. "The GST will be a great positive news for Chinese companies. With lower tax cost and easier environment of doing business, there will be a greater FDI flow from China to India," he said. SLOWDOWN IN CHINA Driven by overcapacity in manufacturing and infrastructure, Chinese companies are facing a slowdown at home. Hence, they are increasingly looking to "go out" and invest overseas. With China less interested in FDI in sectors such as manufacturing, reforms that boost India as a destination are hence being seen more as an opportunity than as a threat. While India is seen as one of the rising top destinations because of the size of the market, there are still widespread perceptions of a difficult investment environment. One executive at a Chinese State owned firm recalled being surprised by "taxes that vary when we cross the border from one state to another, unlike in China". BANKING ON MODI The hope is the GST could address some of those concerns. "The tax is a big barrier," said Wang. "The GST, which is similar to China, will help them understand policy easier and give them more determination to bet big on India." Investors, he said, are now banking on the Modi government to remove this barrier. --- ENDS --- In a Facebook post written in Gujarati, Patel has requested the party leadership that she be relieved from the responsibility as she turns 75 this November. By India Today Web Desk: Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has resigned from her post, saying it was time for new leadership to take over since she is soon going to turn 75, however, the BJP leadership is yet to take a call on her decision. Sources said that Anandiben has already conveyed her decision to party president Amit Shah. Nitin Shah and Saurabh Patel are said to be the frontrunners to replace her. advertisement "Will place Anandiben Patelji's letter before party's Parliamentary Board, which will take final decision on this," BJP president Amit Shah told reporters. He further added that the decision on new chief minister is possible ahead of Vibrant Gujarat meet. In a Facebook post written in Gujarati, Patel has requested the party leadership that she be relieved from the responsibility as she turns 75 this November. "I had sought to be relieved two months ago...It is better to step down as I will turn 75 in November. New leadership should look at Vibrant Gujarat Summit and Assembly polls in 2017," she said. Anandiben Patel: Perched on a shaky chair "I have been working actively with the BJP for last 30 years and I have got the opportunity to manage several responsibilities the party entrusted on me. I am fortunate to have been offered prime positions and major responsibilities by the party," Patel's said in the post. "I consider it a privilege to manage the women's wing of the party to eventually becoming the chief minister. The party has helped in my development. I have tried my best for result oriented governance and constantly contributed to innovations while working in various departments of the state. Will always be indebted for Narendra Modiji and the party leadership for giving me all the important responsibilities that I was given," she said. The Gujarat CM's decision is being linked to party leadership's unwritten 'rule' of retiring leaders over 75 years of age. Recently, veteran minister Najma Heptullah,76, resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet. Kalraj Mishra is the only minister in the Modi Cabinet above 75 years of age. Sources said that the party has apparently avoided asking Mishra, a powerful Brahmin leader from Uttar Pradesh, to step down in view of the crucial Assembly election in state next year. ANANDIBEN'S MISMANAGED GOVERNANCE However, political analysts believe that Patel's decision has more to do with her failures on several fronts in the state. Assembly elections are due in Gujarat in early 2017. Anandiben Patel was handed over Gujarat's responsibility after Narendra Modi led the BJP to a historic win the 2014 Lok Sabha elections going on to become the PM. advertisement However, in the last couple of years Patel's mismanagement has been exposed on numerous occasions. Her government failed to tackle the Patidar protest led by Hardik Patel. Atrocities against the Dalits in the state only made the matters worse for the veteran party leader. Also Read: Gujarat government to withdraw 90 per cent of police cases filed during Patidar quota agitation Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel's daughter in soup over Gir sanctuary land deal, Congress wants SIT probe --- ENDS --- Stomach ache? Pop a pill. Period cramp? Pop a pill. Headache? Where's the damn Disprin?! Sure, we have a pill for every ailment (except heartbreak; but that's for another time), but do we know exactly what happens inside our bodies once we pop those pills? If you're interested in the science bit of it, this is what refence.com has to say about the process of pills being broken down by our body: the human stomach is generally an acidic environment with pH levels ranking between one and two. Medication that dissolves in pH one or two is processed to make its way into the bloodstream without having to go through the intestines. Not all drugs are meant to be dissolved in the stomach, because the acidic environment can interfere with the drug's potency. If a medication does not dissolve in the stomach, it is usually the job of the juices inside the large intestine to break it down, before it is further metabolised. And if you're not interested in JUST the science bit of it, be prepared to be awed, because the sight of pills breaking down by water (which is very similar to what actually happens in our tummies), is MIND BLOWING! Sample this, for instance: Look at that thing dissolve! Picture courtesy: YouTube/Macro Room Look at that thing dissolve! Picture courtesy: YouTube/Macro Room Or this--the uncoated kind of pills like Paracetamol break down exactly like this: ...And the bubbles start to form. Picture courtesy: YouTube/Macro Room ...And the bubbles start to form. Picture courtesy: YouTube/Macro Room The video was originally made for a YouTube channel called Macro Room--which, as the name suggests, gives us humans a macro perspective on everyday things. But wait; first prepare yourself for what's about to come next. Make sure you have your headphones on: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha today said VK Singh will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start the process to bring back 10,000 Indian workers. By Indo-Asian News Service: The government is making all efforts to bring back the 10,000 Indian workers rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia and is also providing them food in camps, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. She also said that Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start the process. WATCH: VK Singh to visit Saudi Arabia to assess food crisis of by nearly 10,000 Indians "I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food. I am monitoring the situation on hourly basis. I am satisfied to say this in the Parliament that ration (food packets) has been distributed to all the five camps for the next 10 days," said Sushma Swaraj. advertisement "But this is not a permanent solution to the problem. The companies have shut their factories and left. We can't leave our workers there. I contacted their foreign office and labour office. We have asked the foreign office to authorize us to bring them from Saudi Arabia," she added. Elaborating on the situation, Sushma said, "But their payments are also due. So, I have asked the labour office that each one of them will sign a contract. Before the company pays the government's (Saudi Arabia) dues, they should first pay these workers." She said all the formalities will be completed once V.K. Singh reaches Riyadh. "Not even a single worker will stay hungry. Everyone will get food this is my assurance to the country through the Parliament," said Sushma Swaraj. The workers have been laid off by Saudi Oger, a leading Saudi construction company following the slowdown in the Saudi construction industry due to the fall in global crude oil prices. Crime branch arrested a man for cheating a former government employee of Rs 77 lakh. The accused had sought investment from the complainant through his fake insurance company. By Tanseem Haider: Crime branch sleuths busted an insurance scam, after a Delhi resident was duped off Rs 77 lakh. Sumit Verma (32), one of the directors of Davis Value Card Private Limited (DVCPL) that duped several citizens, was arrested in a raid conducted at his office in Sector 38 of Noida. The scam came to light after an 80-year-old Delhi resident filed a complaint with the police. Atam Wadhwa, a retired government employee, told the police that people from DVCPL have been calling him stating that he was entitled to a bonus and growth schemes on his LIC policies. advertisement Wadhwa said that the accused who made repetitive calls convinced him to deposit money in their company's bank accounts. Police said that the complainant invested money in both DVCPL and Verma's another firm Dreamland Developers. COMPLAINANT INVESTED RS 77 LAKH Wadhwa had deposited Rs 77 lakh in cheques from his bank accounts. He filed a complaint after the alleged companies did not pay any bonus as promised. The police said that several people across the country were cheated by DVCPL. The company operated under the guise of a holiday package services. The accused had convinced citizens with the promise of bonus and growth on a variety of investment schemes. The police said that the accused received the sum from the victims in different accounts owned by DVCPL. Primary investigation revealed that the several complaints of cheating were registered against the company in Delhi NCR, Dehradun and Chandigarh. COMPANIES WERE OPERATING FROM NOIDA Police said that all the companies under DVCPL were operating from rented premises in Noida. The details of the companies were obtained from the office of the registrar of companies in Delhi and efforts were made to trace the office bearers and directors of the alleged companies but they were not found at the mentioned addresses and kept evading a probe. Verma was arrested on July 22 in raid at Supertech Pavilion in sector 34. Police said that he had purchased the plush flat and an Audi Q3 SUV with the money recovered by cheating innocent citizens. The other accused in the scam are absconding. ACCUSED HAD WORKED AT A CALL CENTRE Verma a native of Old Delhi started his career by working at a garment factory at Gandhi Nagar, Delhi. The police said that in 2006, he joined a call center in sector 2 of Noida as a telecaller. At the call center he had come in contact with Gurpreet Singh, Bhupender Rawat and Manoj Verma. In 2008, Gurpreet Singh started a call center Da Vision Services at Naraina, Delhi and accused Sumit Verma joined as Team Coordinator and was promoted to Team Manager. advertisement According to the police, Verma used his experience as a telecaller to sell insurance policies. He has duped several unsuspecting citizens under the pretext of providing them bonus on insurance policies. Also read: Attempted fraud of over Rs 11 crore busted in Delhi --- ENDS --- "Her arrest is an important breakthrough in the case. She has close links with Islamic State network operating in India," said the police official. By Jeemon Jacob: Kerala police arrested a woman from Delhi who helped 21 missing persons from Kerala leave for Islamic State destinations. WIFE OF KINGPIN Police identified her as Yasmin, a native of Bihar and second wife of Abdul Rasheed, a computer engineer who went missing with his family. 35-year-old Abdul Rasheed who hails from Thrikkaripur in Kasargod district is considered to be the kingpin who recruited the missing persons from Kerala for Islamic State. advertisement WAS TRYING TO REACH KABUL According to a top official in Kerala, Yasmin was trying to go to Kabul from New Delhi when police detained her. "She was taken to Kasargod and interrogations are progressing," the official told India Today. Kasargod police has slapped Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against the 17 missing persons from the district. "Her arrest is an important breakthrough in the case. She has close links with Islamic State network operating in India," said the police official. Police suspects that the missing persons and families have reached Afghanistan and Yasmin was planning to join them by reaching Kabul. The police has declined to reveal any more details on this. According to a senior police official, while tracking the call details of Abdul Rasheed, police tracked her mobile number and location. ARRESTS SO FAR Earlier Kerala police arrested Arshid Qureshi, Guest Relationship Officer in Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation and Rizwan from Mumbai on July 28 on the basis of FIR lodged in Palarivattom Police station in Kochi. Ebin Jacob, brother of Merin Jacob alias Mariyam who was missing along with her husband Yahya, filed a petition before the police stating Merin while working in Mumbai was converted to Islam forcefully by Arshid Qureshi and her husband Bestin Vincent alias Yahya. According to the remand report, the first accused Arshid Qureshi and second accused Yahya converted Merin to Islam in 2014 September and recruited her to Islamic State. Ebin has alleged that his brother-in law tried to radicalise him and took him to Mumbai to meet Qureshi. The third accused 53-year-old Rizwan extended his support for conversion and marriage between Yahya and Mariam. Kochi police also registered case against the third accused under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. --- ENDS --- The Chief Minister has also asked the Tourism Department to undertake infrastructure development for promotion of border tourism as well as adventure tourism in the state. Secretary Tourism has been directed to launch a strong campaign in various parts of the country as well as abroad particularly focusing on south Asian countries to attract tourists to Kashmir. Photo credit: Reuters By Ashraf Wani: On the intervention of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Union Ministry of Home Affairs, has decided to relax the 'Protected Area Permit' for foreigners visiting various parts of Ladakh. This will allow foreign tourists to visit various parts of the Nubra Valley. TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE ON PRIORITY Expressing satisfaction over the development, the Chief Minister reiterated the resolve of the government to boost tourism infrastructure in the state and open new areas in Kashmir as well as Jammu for tourists. advertisement Mehbooba Mufti has directed the Tourism Department to expedite necessary approvals and initiate work on various tourism projects for which DPRs have already been submitted for approval from the Government of India. In addition to boosting tourism in already established tourist places, like Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, etc., Mufti has directed that adequate attention needs to be given to upcoming places like Yusmarg, Doodpathri, Khilanmarg, Kokernag, Tosamaidan etc., to attract more tourist arrivals. WORK IN PROGRESS TO GARNER TOURISTS The Chief Minister has also asked the Tourism Department to undertake infrastructure development for promotion of border tourism as well as adventure tourism in the state. She expressed hope, that very soon atmosphere will be conducive for tourists to visit Kashmir as had happened at the beginning of this year. Moreover, Secretary Tourism has been directed to launch a strong campaign in various parts of the country as well as abroad particularly focusing on south Asian countries to attract tourists to Kashmir. --- ENDS --- This new bar lets customers relax in a tub of muck while they enjoy their favourite drinks. By India Today Web Desk: The guests of this place can lounge at the mud pool in Tokyo's new bar Gata, which offers customers the opportunity to relax and chill in a tub of muck while cherishing their favourite drink. The bar was set up with 8 tonnes of mineral-rich clay was imported from Ariake Sea. Watch the video here advertisement Gata bar is a project of the Saga Prefecture and offers guests the opportunity to sip their drinks in the mud for one hour for free, after buying a beverage. --- ENDS --- By Tatsam Mukherjee: The new Jason Bourne movie does not really break new ground with plot, action. Does that mean it's not fun to watch? Hell no! Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed. Direction: Paul Greengrass Rating: Jason Bourne is about efficiency. He's not one of those who will dive in front of bullets in slow motion and try to look cool. No offense, Keanu Reeves. Bourne is a different kind of cool. He will use a ball-point pen against a machete, and still manage to puncture his opponent in his/her jugular. In one scene in the franchise's latest film - Bourne is racing against time on a motor-bike navigating his way through a protest-torn Athens. He has asked his colleague to meet him at a certain point, and knowing she will have company, he gets ready for combat. He takes out a weapon, shoots one, punches one, drifts the bike and hits two more. He takes out four people in the space of a second and a half. advertisement Jason Bourne doesn't waste time, and the makers make us feel the essence of it. So even when he sees his colleague Nicky Parsons after almost a decade, his only question is - what's wrong? While Bond has his cheese, women and scotch, Ethan Hunt does anything Tom Cruise can buy, there is this no nonsense efficiency to Bourne which sets him apart from other spies. There's a subtlety to the action in his films. You'll see a good mix of Krav Maga, Capoeira, and various martial arts in some very believable, bloody action sequences - where neither of the men know how to back down. ALSO READ: Matt Damon, Paul Greengrass hint at 5th Bourne film together In the franchise's fifth film, the action kicks off almost a decade after Bourne Ultimatum. The amnesiac assassin has been on the run, since getting his memory back. He's become a prize-fighter taking down East European hulks with a single punch, or 'punishing' himself by taking punches until he feels the need to finish the fight with one swift combination of punches and kicks. Until one day he is contacted and told that he was under surveillance way before he was recruited, and that his father might have something to do with Treadstone - the black-op under which Bourne was recruited. The film goes from Athens to Berlin to London to Vegas, ticking off the boxes for globe-trotting spy thrillers that Bourne films have always been. The actors are outstanding for their parts, even as they play mere tokens inside the Bourne universe. Tommy Lee Jones is terrific as the manipulative, chest-beating patriot, CIA director Robert Dewey, Alicia Vikander is the confident young newbie who wants to keep a dialogue open with Bourne (basically another Pamela Landy), the amazing Vincent Cassel plays the 'asset' who doesn't say much unless it's with a gun. Riz Ahmed plays the part of a Mark Zuckerberg-esque social media billionaire, rather well. Matt Damon is Jason Bourne in every scene of the film, and it's absolutely unquestionable. Even as he spends three-fourth of the film muttering instructions to someone or the other through his headset, no one can dare claim Damon doesn't disappear into Jason Bourne in those scenes. ALSO READ: How did Matt Damon get back in shape for latest Bourne movie? After a rather ho-hum Bourne Legacy, this movie is proof why team Damon/Greengrass HAD to reunite. The film gives us at least three brilliant chase sequences, including the one in Vegas, where a jeep bumps off a dozen cars in its way and the bike sequence in Athens. It takes the mind of a Paul Greengrass to tie a spy-film with the geo-political incidents, as he uses the Greek crisis to spike up the adventure factor to the film, while also weaving in the surveillance issue in a post-Snowden era. advertisement The truth is Jason Bourne hardly ever breaks new ground with its latest film, but the select elements are so much fun to watch, you almost don't mind. This is one sequel, which wasn't really the need of the hour, but one that the audience will not mind watching since it is so well made. So once again as the sirens go up, the screen fades to black and Moby's Extreme Ways starts playing, the one scene the audience won't mind wishing for might just be a man staring at a computer screen and screaming, "Jesus christ! It's Jason Bourne!" The writer tweets as @LunkyFallow --- ENDS --- Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(JOHNSTOWN, Pa.) -- Bill Clinton's fashion sensibility took center stage Saturday at a trio of Hillary Clinton rallies in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Democratic presidential candidate cited her husband's Pennsylvania-made shirt, using it as a visual aid to slam Donald Trump's purported affinity for U.S.-made products and remind her supporters of the plethora of Donald Trump-branded products made overseas. "Donald Trump, you hear him. He talks a big game about putting America first," Clinton, who is on a weekend bus tour with running mate Tim Kaine, said at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. "Well, with all due respect, please explain to me what part of 'America First' leads Trump to make Trump dress shirts in Bangladesh, not Ashland, Pennsylvania? Or to make Trump furniture in Turkey, not Freeburg Pennsylvania." Clinton then worked her husband's shirt into the speech, saying, "In fact, my husband told me on the bus ride here ... you know, this shirt he has on right now, he said, that's made in Reading, Pennsylvania. And, look. You're not going to believe this because it just sounds too coincidental. It's made at a company called Bills. So Donald Trump says he wants to make 'America Great Again.' Well, he can start by actually making things in America again!" Bill Clinton proceeded to unbutton his blazer to show off the plaid shirt. .@Billclinton shows off shirt made in Pennsylvania during @HillaryClinton's criticism of Trump products. pic.twitter.com/CnpciL0Lm1 ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 30, 2016 Hillary Clinton retold the tale of the Pennsylvania-made shirt at her next rally, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "When we were packing for the bus tour, he said, 'What am I supposed to wear? I said well I dont know, its sort of 'bus tour casual.' And so you know, hes going through his closet and this morning in the hotel in Harrisburg hes putting this shirt on, he goes 'you know what?' This shirt was made in Reading, Pennsylvania. And you will not believe this, at a company called Bills." During the event, he tweeted a photo of his shirt's label, confirming it was made in the Keystone State. As @HillaryClinton mentioned just now, I'm proud to be wearing a shirt made right here in Pennsylvania! pic.twitter.com/Vsw3J9dQ2z Bill Clinton (@billclinton) July 30, 2016 And finally, at a rally later in the day in Youngstown, Ohio, Hillary Clinton, said, "I dont ant to stir up any rivalry with Pennsylvania, but my husband is wearing a shirt that was made in Reading, Pennsylvania. So if were going to start making things in America, Donald Trump better start making things in America." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Speaking at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Rowling and theatre producer Sonia Friedman said that the latest Harry Potter play might just mark its presence in other countries too. By India Today Web Desk: While the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's script is enough solace for the ocean of Potterheads who won't be in attendance to watch the play live, JK Rowling might just have some more good news in store. The bestselling author whose stories have still been weaving magic, after years of their last release recently hinted at a possibility of her much-talked-about play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child being staged worldwide. advertisement Also Read: 5 curses from Harry Potter books that you can totally use every day! Hinting at the possibility of Harry Potter's eight story taking the Broadway route, The Guardian quotes Rowling as saying, "I'd love it to go wider than that. I'd like as many Potter fans to see it as possible." In what can safely be assumed as a thumbs up in the same direction, broadway theatre producer Sonia Friedman said that several countried might just get a chance to witness the magic of Rowling's Cursed Child right in front of their eyes. Also Read: Harry Potter's forehead scar is the most recognisable symbol of the series for Indian fans "Hopefully more than America, hopefully many countries at some point will get to see it. But it's a big piece of theatre, it's a big endeavour, you can't just turn it around overnight. But if everything goes to plan over the years, we will get there," a report in The Guardian has her saying. Following eight weeks of previews, the two parts of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child saw a grand premiere at London's Palace Theatre this weekend, followed by a release of its special rehearsal edition script 19 years after the last Harry Potter story came out. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Aug 1 (PTI) Donald Trumps comments against father of a slain Pakistani-origin American Muslim soldier appears to have shaken the US presidential race as his own party leaders came out openly against the Republican presidential nominee. While House Speaker Paul Ryan said a "religious test" for entering the US is "not reflective of the countrys fundamental values", former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the reality TV stars remarks were "disrespectful" in targetting a family that endured the "ultimate sacrifice" for the country. advertisement Ryan hailed Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004, and said Americas greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it. "As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it," he said in a statement. "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honoured. Period," he said. Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted: "Theres only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honour and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family." Kasich was joined by Bush on Twitter in slamming Trump. "This is so incredibly disrespectful of a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for our country," said Bush, who badly lost the Republican primary to Trump. In an interview to CNN, Senator Jeff Session who was among the first few top Republican leaders to endorse Trump said that he "rejects" and is "disappointed" over the remarks made by the billionaire from New York against Khan. The 70-year-old real estate tycoon sparked controversy last week when he lashed out at Humayuns father Khizr Khan over his speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in which he was highly critical of Trump and said that the billionaire has "sacrificed nothing" for the country. A day later, Trump hit back, saying he created thousands of jobs and questioned whether his wife was even "allowed" to speak, triggering a national outrage following which he later called Humayun a "hero". He, however, continued to criticise Khizr, drawing a flood of criticism yesterday. Many criticised him both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered the remarks racist and anti- Muslim, especially because they came from someone who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. advertisement "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" Trump tweeted, even as his running mate came to his rescue giving another set of clarification. "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American," Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said as the national outrage over Trumps comment refused to die down. PTI LKJ SAI --- ENDS --- By PTI: Bhopal, Aug 1 (PTI) Despite the odds including Pakistans opposition to its operation, the 330-MW Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant in Kashmir is likely to be commissioned by this year-end, a top NHPC executive said here today. "We are hopeful of commissioning the Kishanganga project by November or December," National Hydroelectric Power Corporation chairman and Managing Director, KM Singh told PTI. advertisement He was here to take part in the Foundation Day celebrations of NHDC, a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh government and NHPC. Singh said the cost of the project has gone up to Rs 5,500 crore "due to different reasons" from initial estimate of Rs 3,900 crore. The CMD said the project was supposed to be commissioned by January this year, but got delayed by a few months. He conceded that NHPC faced "hard conditions" due to Pakistans opposition and the militancy problem in the Valley. "Though Pakistan went to the International Court against the project, India got some relief from there and restarted the project. We are nearing to impounding the reservoir," he said. Responding to a query, he said, "Certainly Pakistan is creating the problem." Referring to the turmoil in Valley, Singh said, "Due to this law and order problem, movement of the manpower, movement of the material has become very difficult...We are working under hard conditions." The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant is part of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme that is designed to divert water from the Kishanganga river to a power plant in the Jhelum river basin. The project is located close to north of Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir. On the status of the project, whose construction had started in 2007, Singh said, "Right now impounding of dam for power generation is going on. The time for impounding is from June 20 to August 20." An impoundment facility is typically a large hydropower system that uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. PTI LAL MAS NSK ABH --- ENDS --- Josh Coombes is tidying up the streets' homeless by giving them free haircuts. A homeless woman before and after getting a free haircut from Josh Coombes. Picture courtesy: Intagram/dosomethingfornothing By India Today Web Desk: This kind-hearted barber, Josh Coombes, has been giving free haircuts to the homeless people of London, in order to raise awareness about, well, humanity. The 29-year-old barber works at a salon in Exeter, London, and gives free haircuts to the homeless while roaming around the city with his photographer friend, Matt Spracklen. advertisement Famously known as the 'hairdresser for the homeless,' the pair documents their sessions on Instagram using the #DoSomethingForNothing hashtag and are hoping to inspire others to do more of these unselfish acts. "For me, it is about giving something back and raising awareness of the homeless and by doing it on the street, it breaks the generalisation and so far it has been a good response," Josh told Metro. "Doing something good for nothing really wakes people up. It is just me giving up a bit of my time, it is a great experience and it is really humbling for me," he said. So far, the barber-photographer duo has been to several cities and given free haircuts to numerous homeless strangers who have acknowledge this selfless act in a very humble way. After every haircut, Josh holds up a hand mirror in front of them and their expressions are priceless. #DoSomethingForNothing ??? A video posted by #DoSomethingForNothing (@dosomethingfornothing) on Jun 5, 2016 at 3:49pm PDT Josh approaches the homeless by telling them about himself, what he does and after hearing him out, if they agree to get a haircut, Matt shoots the whole process and uploads it on Instagram. It's been more than a year since Josh has been cutting hair for free. He says, "When they look in the mirror in the end...that is the huge part of it." "They're like...okay....I've still got it...I've been tough on myself for over a year, but I can still go for that job interview...I can walk into that place and feel confident to do so," shares Josh. --- ENDS --- Among the big winners in this year's edition of the awards were Kerala Tourism and Madhya Pradesh Tourism in particular. By India Today Web Desk: Madhya Pradesh won the first prize in the category of Best State/Union Territory for Comprehensive Development of Tourism for being able to provide a complete and varied travel experience to tourists. The official awarding criteria by Ministry of Tourism stated, "With emphasis on better infrastructure especially in the field of power and roads, destinations in MP have become more accessible and tourist friendly. The state is aware of the employment generation potential of the tourism sector and pays special attention to training programs. Further, the aggressive and innovative branding campaigns make Madhya Pradesh the desire of every travel lover across the globe." Having known that, take a look at Madhya Pradesh Tourism's latest ad campaign: The second and third prize in this category were bagged by the state tourism boards of Gujarat and Karnataka respectively. advertisement Madhya Pradesh Tourism was also among awards in other categories with the Heritage Walk of Bhopal winning the Best Heritage Walk award along with India City Walks for the Built Legacy of Mughals (Old Delhi Heritage Walk) being the joint winner in this category. Apart from this, the monuments of Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh won the award for being the Best Maintained and Disabled Friendly Monument. Another interesting award winner from the state of Madhya Pradesh is Art Ichol, a destination that serves as a platform for creative individuals to create, share and promote their works of art in a picturesque environment, which won the award for being the Best Innovative/Unique Tourism Project. This video shows a sneak peek into the project: Kerala Tourism, on the other hand, won as many as six awards in the marketing category for states. Three out of the six awards the tourism board received were for states in the Tourism Promotion and Publishing category, including the one for 'Most Innovative use of Information Technology' - social media/mobile app. The Wayanad initiative, which has transformed the hilly district's economy through intensive participation of the local people, was selected for the award in the 'Responsible Tourism' category. Sargaalaya Arts and Crafts Village at Iringal, a small but thriving village in Kozhikode, fetched the award for Kerala Tourism in the Rural Tourism project category. "The awards are a heartening and robust reaffirmation of our Responsible Tourism initiative, which has emerged as a trailblazing tourism product for the entire country. We also received three national awards for our brilliant marketing initiatives which are designed to woo travellers from both inside the country and abroad," Kerala Tourism Minister A C Moideen said in a press release. Kerala Tourism Director U V Jose said the national awards have come in the wake of Kerala Tourism winning two PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Gold Awards for its brilliant marketing initiatives. Also read: Planning to travel in August-September? Maharashtra Tourism is offering travel packages starting at Rs 990! Kerala and the Spice Routes, a coffee-table book designed by Stark, won the award in the category of Excellence in Publishing in English language. The book takes readers through the Malabar Coast that was the starting point for Kerala's spice trade with the rest of the world. 'The Great Backwaters', a brochure in German language, details out the unique, standalone and once-in-a-lifetime experience of the Kerala backwaters to the international travellers, was adjudged the best in foreign language segment. The third award for Kerala Tourism in 'Tourism Promotion and Publishing' category came for its most innovative use of information technology for the website designed by Invis Multimedia and social media managed by Stark Communications. Kerala Tourism has 12.8 lakh Facebook followers, the largest figure for any Tourism Board in India. Turtle on the Beach, Kovalam, was the adjudged the best hotel in the Five Star category; Coconut Lagoon, Kumarakom, bagged the award for Best Heritage Hotel in Classic Category; Coconut Creek Farm and Homestay, Kumarakom, was given the award for 'Best Incredible India Bed and Breakfast Establishment' approved by State Governments / Union Territory Administrations' and Somatheeram Research Institute and Ayurveda Hospital Pvt Ltd, Thiruvananthapuram, was declared the Best Wellness Centre. Also read: Kerala Tourism wins 4 awards at a prestigious Polish Film Festival; here's why Interestingly, Yes Bank Limited was also among the award winners in this year's edition. The bank won the award in the Most Responsible Tourism Project/Initiative category for its Edge of India initiative, which focuses on developing cooperative tourism models to ensure livelihood security of local communities. advertisement The project has been carried out in four villages--Bageshwar, Ranikhet and Pithoragarh districts of Uttarakhand and Purulia in West Bengal. The Project helps to realize the potential of heritage and set up tourism businesses through a cooperative model to ensure that the benefits percolate to the entire community. The communities get trained and assisted in creating a self-sustaining tourism business model. On receiving the award, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director & CEO, Yes Bank said, "Yes Bank is honored to be the first Bank to receive the prestigious National Tourism Award from the Government of India, for its unique 'Edge of India' initiative which is focused on developing cooperative tourism models to ensure livelihood security of local communities. This significant national recognition further inspires us to continue working closely with the Government, industry, local communities and all stakeholders in the Tourism value chain to create an enabling policy environment to fully unlock India's Global Potential in Tourism - an engine of economic growth and job creation." Other prominent award winners at the National Tourism Awards 2014-15 include the following: Best Tourist Friendly Railway Station: Sawai Madhopur Railway Station, Rajasthan advertisement Best Airport: Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai Best Heritage City: Warangal, Telangana Best Hotel (Five Star Category): Taj Exotica, Salcette, Goa Best Heritage Hotel (Grand Category): Fateh Prakash Palace, Udaipur For the entire list of the award winners, click here . On Monday, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly adopted unanimously a resolution urging the central government to rename the Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court, instead of Chennai High Court By Amarnath K. Menon : What's there in the name of a High Court? Aplenty, or so, it seems, going by the reactions to the Union Government's proposal to alter the names of High Court in three metros, keeping up with the changed names of cities- Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The growing opposition will put on hold a bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 19 seeking to change names of the Bombay, Kolkata and Madras High Courts. advertisement NAMING, RENAMING On Monday, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly adopted unanimously a resolution urging the central government to rename the Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court, instead of Chennai High Court. The resolution also urged the central government to make necessary changes in the bill introduced in Parliament. Earlier on July 11, the judges of the Calcutta High Court decided unanimously to stick to the original name and conveyed this to the Law Ministry. Most lawyers also backed the judges on arriving at a consensus. Tamil Nadu state was renamed from Madras in the year 1969 after the resolution adopted in the Assembly in 1967 was passed as an act in the parliament in 1968. "The word Chennai denotes Chennai city only. The Madras High Court serves the entire Tamil Nadu and since other High Courts were named after their respective states following the 1956 creation of states on linguistic basis, and considering that a Bench of the Madras High Court is functioning in Madurai, it would be inappropriate to rename it as Chennai High Court," said Jayalalithaa whose suggestion received instant and unanimous support. Shortly after the resolution was adopted, the Chief Minister dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasizing the proposed change is based on overwhelming public opinion. CALCUTTA IS JUST FINE, SAY JUDGES This is at variance with the plea for the retention of the existing name in West Bengal. The High Court has been Calcutta for more than 150 years. "Calcutta is the first High Court in India, there is a sentiment attached. Also, worldwide, in shipping, banking and other commercial businesses, it is known as Calcutta High Court. Changing it would mean changing to Kolkata worldwide," said R.K.Khanna, President, Incorporated Law Society of Calcutta. (ILSC) As the chorus on court names gets louder it is still unclear whether Mumbaikars will want it to be known as Bombay High Court only or go the Maharashtra way. --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken today took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for their "frequent" trips, saying they have failed to fulfill their responsibilities towards the people who voted for them. "Both the PM and the CM failed in fulfilling their responsibility towards Delhi and their voters. Modi ji is busy visiting the world and Kejriwal is busy visiting India. When both are here they are busy fighting," he told a press conference. advertisement Hitting out at Kejriwal, who in Dharamshala to attend a 10-day Vipassana session, Maken said, "Either the government should wake up or go." "Monsoon is the most crucial time for any city and in this time it is very sad that the CM is going for meditation. His main priority should be Delhi and its people who showed faith in him...The city is facing problems like water-logging and diseases, Delhi needs its CM the most," the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief said. Maken blamed the Delhi government for not completing the desilting of roads on time. "The deadline for desilting the roads was June 15 but according to a PWD report out of over 1000 roads only 311 have been desilted so far, which is only 30 per cent. There is no logic in desiliting after the arrival of monsoon. "It is criminal negligence due to which a man was killed in Vasant Kunj. Last year also many such accidents occurred because of the governments negligence," he added. Congress has started a WhatsApp helpline for public to provide it information about potholes so that they can forward the complaints to the government. "People can send pictures on 9891620771 for both the corporation as well as PWD roads which we will share with the authorities. Our work will not stop by just highlighting the potholes, but we will also track the progress," Maken said. "DPCC is planning to start a campaign #jago_ ya_ bhago against the Delhi government," he added. PTI NKS GJS AAR ZMN AAR --- ENDS --- Security agencies have drawn up a list of 55 terror accused, arrested from across the country over the past decade, who have claimed to be influenced by or to have watched Naik's speeches. By India Today Web Desk: Tasked by the Union Home Ministry to examine whether any legal action can be initiated against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, security agencies have drawn up a list of 55 terror accused, arrested from across the country over the past decade, who have claimed to be influenced by or to have watched Naik's speeches. Who is Zakir Naik? Were the Dhaka attack terrorists 'inspired by him'? advertisement Sources in the agencies told that the list includes arrests from as far back as 2005 to those made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) earlier this year. These accused have claimed affiliation to groups such as the SIMI, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Indian Mujahideen and the Islamic State (IS). Naik, who preaches on his Peace TV, is under the scanner of the investigating agencies in India and Bangladesh after two terrorists in the Dhaka attack earlier this month were believed to be influenced by him. VICTIM OF MEDIA TRIAL In his first ever television interview since the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Naik told India Today TV that he was being targeted by the media. "I am a victim of media trial," Naik, who was banned from UK and Canada in 2010 for his controversial sermons, said. "I have heard many allegations against me in the India media...as far as being afraid is concerned. I am not afraid at all. So far, there has been not a single Indian government authority which has called me. Just because the media has labelled allegations against me. I am not going to come to India for a media trial," he told India Today TV's Executive Editor Javed Ansari. Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation denies link with ISIS India Today Investigation: Zakir Naik's converts were paid to change beliefs, say aides Zakir Naik to India Today: I back Modi's quest to improve relations between Hindus, Muslims Zakir Naik: Don't back terror, being targeted for running Islamic channelZakir Naik: No plans to return to India this year Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's financers traced to Saudi Arabia, UK Zakir Naik writes open letter to media, says ready to join any probe Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Bihar connection exposed --- ENDS --- By PTI: Colombo, Aug 1 (PTI) The introduction of a bill to criminalise defamation in Maldives will be a "serious setback" for freedom of speech in the country if it is passed, the Colombo-based foreign missions, including from the EU and the US, said today. In a joint statement, embassies of the US, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands and the High Commission of the UK and the EU delegation said they supported all Maldivians struggling to preserve democracy and human rights. advertisement They said they were concerned about the erosion of fundamental freedoms and the institutions of democracy, including freedom of assembly and press. "We express our support for all Maldivians struggling to preserve their hard won democratic institutions and rights, " the statement said. "We urge President Yameen to reverse the backsliding of the past many months and return to the path of democracy, transparency and rule of law for the well being and prosperity of all the people in the Maldives," it said. The foreign missions said that if the bill was passed it would be a "serious setback" for freedom of speech in the Maldives. The Maldivian journalists groups also said that the bill would have a direct negative impact on the media. "The bill is a threat to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and freedom of press," the groups said. "They have asked that the bill be amended to not give courts of law the authority to formulate the policies and regulation on how media should cover reports and rulings issued by courts and tribunals," they said. Other amendments suggested include exclusion of articles related to national security, religious education and religious sermons and allowing the regulating body to investigate defamation cases against media personnel, prior to taking the cases to court. The ruling party defended the bill last week, saying it will not be withdrawn and that it was not a threat to anyone except journalists who fabricate stories. After decades of autocratic rule, Maldives became a multiparty democracy in 2008. However, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom is accused of reversing the democratic gains by misusing courts, police and the bureaucracy to silence dissent. Street protests are banned in the country and people who post criticise government on social media are arrested. Former president Mohamed Nasheed who travelled to the Britian on a medical leave from prison earlier this year has been given asylum by the UK. Nasheed has also formed a united opposition front with other leaders in exile and supporters of those imprisoned to force Gayoom to resign. PTI CORR MRJ AKJ MRJ --- ENDS --- advertisement Rags to riches and then back to square one, this man wasted his multi-million dollar lottery by investing it in a crystal meth business. By India Today Web Desk: This 45-year-old man won three million dollars lottery money, but will soon be behind bars for investing it in crystal meth business. Ronnie Music Jr, a Georgia man, bought the scratch-off ticket from Waycross. He used to buy tickets every now and then, and when he won the lottery he could not believe it. advertisement Three million dollars; approximately Rs 20,02,19,850! Quite obvious he couldn't believe it. After a few months from winning the money, he told the state lottery authorities that he and his wife planned to save a portion of that money. Ronnie, a maintenance supervisor, invested that money in methamphetamine business and worked towards distributing the drug in Ware County along with other suspects. Quite an idea, right? The case came into light when Ronnie's partners in the drug racket were caught trying to sell 11 pounds of crystal meth worth $5,00,000 (that's more than Rs 3 crore). After an investigation, Ronnie was identified as the supplier. He had purchased the drugs for resale with the lottery money. He has pleaded guilty last week in the district court to the federal drug trafficking and firearm charges. "Defendant Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth. As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison", said United States Attorney Ed Tarver. Ronnie will soon go behind bars. The period of the sentence will be decided after further investigation. --- ENDS --- Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and his brigade had to abandon his plans to proceed to New Delhi after he was stranded due to a massive traffic jam near Rajokri area on the Delhi-Gurgaon-Jaipur NH8 highway. By India Today Web Desk: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was on his way from Gurgaon to New Delhi when he tasted the same medicine that thousands of his fellow state residents faced last week. Khattar and his brigade had to abandon his plans to proceed to New Delhi after he was stranded due to a massive traffic jam near Rajokri area on the Delhi-Gurgaon-Jaipur NH8 highway. advertisement The chief minister was scheduled to reach Haryana Bhawan on Copernicus Marg in New Delhi, where he was supposed to spend the night. The National Capital Region, including Gurgaon, experienced heavy rains again today. Heavy traffic was reported from other areas - namely Kashmiri Gate, Ghazipur, Dhaula Kuan and the Delhi-Haryana border on NH8. Rajokari is one of the crucial corridors for commuters coming into the capital or the New Delhi airport from Gurgaon. Last Thursday, commuters faced similar experiences after heavy rains lashed the National Capital Region. Section 144 was imposed in Gurgaon after the state police was unable to bring the situation under control. Also Read | Hooda slams Khattar government over Gurgaon fiasco, says Gurugram is Gurujam --- ENDS --- Maluk Singh, the father of deceased Jawan Bablu Singh said that his son is a martyr and martyrs never die. By Siraj Qureshi: As the news of the demise of Jat Regiment's Bablu Singh while fighting terrorists in the Naugam sector of J&K broke in his hometown Mathura, the Braj region was immersed in sadness. On Sunday, when the body of the deceased jawan reached his village, all residents flocked to his house and paid their respect to the martyr. Bablu had a wife, six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. advertisement HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN Talking to India Today, an army officer said that two rifles and a lot of ammunition was recovered from the site of the encounter. The terrorists killed belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, although there has been no official confirmation of this. The encounter took place on Friday when the jawans posted in the Naugam sector sensed some movement and noticed some terrorists trying to infiltrate. The jawans stopped the terrorists and asked them to surrender but they in turn started firing. The firing continued for some time, claiming his and jawan Vishal Singh's life and killing two terrorists. The officer said that the terrorists were trying to take advantage of the bad weather on LOC, adding that the Naugam sector is a hotbed of terrorist infiltration bids these days. MARTYRS NEVER DIE Maluk Singh, the father of deceased Jawan Bablu Singh said that his son is a martyr and martyrs never die. He said that his only worry was how Bablu's family with survive. A neighbour said that Bablu had come to the village on June 23 this year and had asked the youth of the village to join the forces, as wearing a military uniform was a matter of pride. --- ENDS --- Maruti Suzuki has increased the prices of the Vitara Brezza by Rs 20,000 and that of the Baleno by Rs 10,000. Other car models will see a price hike of between Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000. Maruti Suzuki has hiked prices of all cars models by Rs 20,000. Reuters photo By India Today Web Desk: Maruti Suzuki hikes prices by up to Rs 20,000 across various models with immediate effect. While the Vitara Brezza's price has been hiked by Rs 20,000 that of the new premium hatchback Baleno has been hiked by Rs 10,000. Across various other models, the price hike will be between Rs 1,500 and Rs 5,000, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a regulatory filing. advertisement Explaining the reasoning behind the price hike, MSI said, "This price revision is based on factors like segment-wise demand, forex movements and strategic objectives of the company." The hike is effective from today, it added. The company sells a range of models starting from hatchback Alto 800 to premium crossover S-Cross, priced Rs 2.45 lakh to Rs 12.03 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). MSI's stock today ended at Rs 4,869.80 on BSE, up 2.41 per cent from the previous close. The announcement comes close on the heels of the announcement that the country's largest car maker had posted a 12.7 per cent rise in its total sales in July. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza commands a hefty waiting period Maruti's sales, driven mostly by the launch of the new Vitara Brezza, rose to 1,37,116 units as against 1,21,712 units in the same month the previous year. In its best ever monthly domestic sales, Maruti's sales stood at 1,25,778 units, up 13.9 per cent from 1,10,405 units in July 2015. A hill run with the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross However, the sales of mini segment cars, including the Alto and WagonR, declined by 7.2 per cent to 35,051 units compared to 37,752 units in the year-ago month. One of its best selling models, the compact sedan Dzire Tour declined by 9.2 per cent and stood at 3,059 units as against 3,370 units in July 2015. Maruti Suzuki Baleno: A driver's car Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga, S-Cross and recently launched compact SUV Vitara Brezza surged over two-fold to 17,382 units in July this year from 6,916 units in the corresponding month last year. Also read: In Monsoon season, it's raining profits for Maruti Suzuki, sales up 13 per cent --- ENDS --- American daily tabloid, the New York Post, ran a front page cover featuring Melania Trump's nude photo with the caption, 'You've never seen a potential first lady like this'. By Shilpa Rathnam: American daily tabloid, the New York Post, ran a front page cover with Melania Trump's nude photo with the caption, "Melania Trump like you've never seen her before". The presumptive first lady was shown naked in American daily tabloid, New York Post's front page cover story called 'Ogle Office'. The picture which went with a provocative caption, "Melania Trump like you've never seen her before" sparked outrage on social media. Speculations are rife that this particular shoot was leaked by Trump himself to detract attention from the controversy surrounding Trump's insensitive comments to Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala, parents of a Muslim who died a hero's death while fighting for the US in Iraq. The opening line of the story published on the Rupert Murdoch owned daily reads, "Donald Trump thinks his wife will be a model first lady - and here's the proof." advertisement Today's cover: Melania Trump like you've never seen her before https://t.co/wkoDGWTF9g pic.twitter.com/V375rBTUEw New York Post (@nypost) July 31, 2016 According to the story, she posed for these pictures when she was a model for a French magazine and was popularly known as Melania Knauss. The 'steamy' photoshoot was directed by Ale de Basseville, a French photographer. The tabloid also interviewed Donald Trump about the photographs, to which he responded nonchalantly. "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including ones for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common," he said. This is not the first time the New York Post has published something controversial. In April, just before the New York Primary the Post's editorial boardopenly endorsed Donald Trumpand they described him as a 'do-er', as a 'businessman', and said 'he's created jobs for thousands' and as one who has 'electrified the public." Twitterati slammed the article published by the daily and tagged it as 'extremely tasteless'. I don't expect anything better from the NY Post. It's a rag that continuously crosses the line. Printing Melania Trump's naked pics is vile. Nymph O. Braniac (@nikkirojo4life) July 31, 2016 I am appalled and outraged by The New York Post's Melania Trump cover. Here's why. Misogyny is misogyny,... https://t.co/FE0oNVkwhl Debra Goodman (@debrag1025) July 31, 2016 Trump attacks hero's family so the Rupert Murdoch owned New York Post, who endorsed him, releases nude pics of Melania? Nothing to see here. Andrew Hibbard (@andrewhibbard) July 31, 2016 Less than a fortnight ago, Melania made a speech not just similar but bizarrely identical to Michelle Obama's speech from 2008. It definitely succeeded in distracting from the real issues of racism and sexism that plague Donald Trump's stables. A week ago, Melania took down her website MelaniaTrump.com. She tweeted "website in question created in 2012 and has been removed because it does not accurately reflect my current business and professional interests." MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) July 28, 2016 The website had stated that she had a degree from Slovenia, which is apparently false. Now her website redirects to www.trump.com - the website of The Trump Organisation. Melania Trump has gone under the bus so many times in the recent past for her husband that it is now apparent that the Republican nominee is definitely on shaky ground. Donald's diversionary tactics are straight out of his playbook, but he's played this hand two times too many now. A one trick pony gets tiresome soon, even if she's a showstopper. Does AN-32 have systems on board to help rescuers locate and salvage if it were to crash at sea? By Jugal R Purohit: Those involved in the search for the missing Antonov 32 aircraft are beginning to raise a fundamental point - does AN-32 have systems on board to help rescuers locate and salvage if it were to crash at sea? At 2123 hours on June 8, last year, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Dornier plane vanished from the radar screens tracking it's journey in Trichy near Chennai. The three-member crew on board the aircraft never gave a distress call. For 33 days, no debris was found. Then, a submarine searching underwater, INS Sindhudhvaj, picked up acoustic transmissions emerging from the data recorders on board the Dornier flight CG791. Emerging from a depth of 990m at sea, those rapidly-fading acoustic signals were the only link available and the submarine did the needful. The debris, the recorders and mortal remains of the crew were recovered. advertisement "There is no device on AN-32 which can emit such acoustic signals," said a senior planner deployed in the search. When asked why, he explained that AN-32 was not an aircraft which primarily flew over the sea for operations. The locator devices on board AN-32 can emit electromagnetic signals/transmission using devices like the fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) or Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) on rubber boats and vests. The ill-fated flight had 50 life vests and 10 boats. Unfortunately, these signals won't travel in water to be picked up by a sensor or submarine. "They are designed to function at the surface, say if they float, come in touch with water, but not underwater especially at a depth like 3500m where we suspect the plane has crashed," he explained. Worryingly, as a senior source pointed out, "The ELTs have had a history of not functioning properly at the time of a crash. They did not work during Coast Guard crash, naval Dornier crash, both of last year and this was raised with the seniors." AN-32 LACKS MODERN FEATURES The AN-32 also lacks features which come along with modern aircraft. For example, AN-32 does not have the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast. This system, in place of relying on ground-based radars, relies on navigational satellites to automatically transmit an aircraft's journey in real time. The crew of the aircraft can switch it on or off. "In a mission like the one this aircraft was on, the crew would not mind being tracked. But because the system was missing, the alarm was raised only at 1225 hours, which is nearly an hour after it was to have landed at 1130 hours at Port Blair," explained a source. The AN-32 went out of the coverage of the ground radar in Chennai a little after 9am. No alarm was raised then. The AN-32 also lacks other systems that modern aircraft possess. A source aware of the intricacies of the operation explained, "The Poseidon 8 India (P8I) aircraft which the navy operates has a deployable ELT, which in the event of the plane plunging into the sea will emerge out of the aircraft and self deploy on the surface of the sea. By doing so, it will help the searchers locate faster. The AN-32 has nothing like that". A detailed questionnaire sent to the IAF was not answered. A source explained, "AN-32 does not have any underwater locator or sonar locator beacon as it is not a marine aircraft." WHAT IS THE SEARCH LOOKING FOR "We are picking up debris, oil in a bid to see if it has anything to do with the AN-32. At this rate, we will end up cleaning the entire Bay of Bengal and yet not find anything," said a source. On the underwater front, the source explained, "It is anything that we can find. We are aware of the science and yet we are simply throwing everything we have at it". National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) research vessel, Sagar Nidhi has been called for scanning the sea bed. The vessel, which is on its way from Mauritius, will use its echo sounder and look to the ocean floor to see if the ground pattern has any change. "We may not be able to tell if there is an aircraft or not but we can tell if there is any anomaly and that will then have to be investigated. There is nothing in that aircraft which can help us locate it. We will have to rely on luck," said an official from the ministry of earth sciences. advertisement The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) too is trying to pitch it. "However, the Ultra High Frequency signals which the plane can emit will never emerge as the water will absorb them. An effort is also being made if any of our satellite or those from our friendly countries picked this plane in its final moments when it was out of radar coverage," explained a source aware of ISRO's operations. SEARCH ON 106 sorties flown for over 483 hours. Nine ships in the search area. Aerial search over 360 nautical miles by 300nm. Surface search over 120 nm by 120nm. WRITER IS A SENIOR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT WITH INDIA TODAY TV AND TWEETS @JRPUR Hunt for missing AN-32: Search teams pick up signals possibly from Indian Air Force aircraft Missing IAF plane: All you need to know about the AN-32 aircraft ISRO to use radar imaging satellite to locate missing IAF plane The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has passed Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde's Mohenjo Daro without any cuts and has given it an U/A certificate. By India Today Web Desk: Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde's Mohenjo Daro is all set to hit the screens on August 12 this year. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), that has been strict with films lately, has passed Mohenjo Daro without any cuts and has given it an U/A certificate. What's more surprising is that the censor board had no trouble with kisses in the film. ALSO READ: Mohenjo Daro - Can we have the old Ashutosh Gowariker back please? ALSO WATCH: Hrithik Roshan will take you back to the era of Indus Valley Civilisation "The three kisses in Mohenjo Daro have been left untampered. The film has been passed without a single verbal or visual cut, with a UA certificate," a source from the board told DNA. advertisement Hrithik also told the leading daily, "I wasn't expecting any cuts, to be honest. But I am glad nevertheless. As for the kisses being left intact, I guess they came across as they were meant to, as manifestations of pure love. Vulgarity is always in the intention and expression. And we never went that way." But now the question is how did Pahlaj Nihalani pass the film and had no issues with passionate lip-locks in the film? It was Nahlani who shortened Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci's liplock in Spectre because he found it inappropriate. Well, this is a good news for Hrithik's film that it didn't face any trouble with censor board. The filmmakers have also shared a promo of Mohenjo Daro. Watch: The film is set in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation that dates back to 2600 BC. By PTI: Mathura, Aug 1 (PTI) The mortal remains of army jawan Bablu Singh, who was killed while thwarting an infiltration bid in Kashmir, were consigned to flames in village Jhandipur here today with full military honours. "Amid chants of Shaheed Bablu Singh Amar Rahen, Jab Tak Suraj Chand Rahega Bablu Tera Naam Rahega Dron Chaudhary, the six-year-old son of Singh, lit the pyre amid heavy showers. advertisement 28-year-old Bablu Singh was one of the two soldiers killed in an encounter on July 30 in Naugam sector of Kashmirs Kupwara district that also left two militants dead. Bulandshar native Vishal Choudhary was the other soldier who died in the gunbattle. "In the early hours of July 30, while being part of an ambush party on the Line of Control (LOC), he noticed suspicious movement of militants. When challenged, the militants opened fire. Notwithstanding the risks involved, he retaliated with precision fire, killing two militants on the spot," an army officer had said after his killing. Bablu had joined the armys Jat regiment in 2005. He is survived by his wife and two children. PTI CORR AQS SK CPS --- ENDS --- Panaji, Jul 31 (PTI) The mortal remains of two soldiers, martyred in a mine blast along the LoC in Kargil sector recently, would land here tomorrow enroute to their native places in Karnataka. "The remains are being flown to their native places where they will be accorded military funerals with full ceremonial honours," a defence spokesperson said here today. advertisement While Sepoy Hasansab Khudavand hails fromDharwad district in Karnataka, Subedhar Basappa Patil from Gokak in Belgavi district. "The remains of the two brave hearts will be arriving in Goa tomorrow evening and will thereafter move to Belgaum, Karnataka, on August 2," he said. Patil, who was the patrol leader, and Hasansab, the leading scout, were martyred on July 29 while patrolling along the Line of Control in Kargil sector when they were caught in a mine blast, the spokesman said. The solemn wreath laying ceremony was held at Leh today where the duo were honoured by all ranks of the Fire & Fury Corps. PTI RPS NSK MNG PTP --- ENDS --- Reacting to reports of him quitting the party, fellow members said that Misgar feared for his life and the safety of his family as his house was attacked recently. He announced his decision in Anantnag town on Sunday evening, when he along with his group of supporters went to a street protest in Anathnag and raised pro azadi and anti national slogans. By Ashraf Wani: Amid the unrest in Kashmir Valley, National Conference leader Iftikhar Misgar has quit the party and joined the separatist movement in the state. When contacted, Iftikhar Misgar, confirmed it and said that he has to live with his people and can't go against their wishes. LOYALIST OR AFRAID? But National Conference sources said Misgar feared for his life and the safety of his family as his house was attacked. advertisement He announced his decision in Anantnag town on Sunday evening, when he along with his group of supporters went to a street protest in Anantnag and raised pro azadi and anti national slogans. Misgar, who had lost to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the June bypoll, had also fought and lost the 2014 Assembly elections against her father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, in 2014 from the Ananthag Assembly constituency. ATTACK ON POLITICIANS Attacks on politicians have increased in recent days since the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani on July 8 that triggered protests across Kashmir. Earlier, the house of a Peoples Democratic Party legislator was set afire at Kokernag while another PDP MLA Mohammed Khalil Bhand was injured when he was on way to his home town in Pulwama. Nearly 50 people died and around 3,000 injured in the protests that have gripped the Valley for the past 24 days. --- ENDS --- Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the second day of monsoon session said that though the Nagpur pact in 1953 spoke about a separate state of Vidarbha, there is no such proposal before the state. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: The issue of separate statehood for Vidarbha rocked the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature for second consecutive day. After ruckus in both the houses, the Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad were adjourned for the day. Not only the Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress but even the ruling ally Shiv Sena demanded the state government to clear its stand. Wearing saffron caps with "Akhand Maharashtra"(Unified Maharashtra) written on it, Shiv Sena MLAs raised slogans in the lower house. advertisement "Government should make its stand clear. With Shiv Sena also opposing the issue the govt is now in minority. The govt has no right to stay," NCP Leader Dilip Walse-Patil said. After the pandemonium, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis assured the house that there is no proposal of a separate statehood of Vidarbha. "The Nagpur pact in 1953 spoke about a separate state of Vidarbha. However the BJP and Shiv Sena have their own and clear views about Vidarbha. Opposition is an opportunist and is trying to politicize the issue...the issue of separate Vidarbha is not a state issue and there is no such proposal before the state in that regards." The issue also witnessed heated scenes in the Upper House of the Maharashtra Legislature. Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde alleged that the BJP is trying to break the state of Maharashtra into pieces for their political benefit. Shiv Sena Leader Neelam Gorhe also demanded that the government should bring in a resolution of united Maharashtra in the house. The Council too was adjourned for the day after uproar over the issue. The issue also resonated outside the assembly. Aditya Thackarey took to the social media over the issue of separate Vidarbha. "A bill on division of Maharashtra by someone who is part of Government both at Centre-State, doubts the capacity of Govts to govern well," he tweeted. A Bill on division of Maharashtra by someone who is part of Government both at Centre- State, doubts the capacity of Govts to govern well Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 1, 2016 Demand for division of Maharashtra by a member of Governing Party only embarrasses the State Government on its capacity to develop the State Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 1, 2016 The people of the State gave this Government it's strength to rule for development of all regions equally, not to dissect the State Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 1, 2016 I hope the Chief Minister reassures the people of this State that elected his Government, on the unity of Maharashtra for development Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 1, 2016 Shiv Sena MP and party leader Sanjay Raut went a step ahead and threatened that "If Maharashtra is broken into pieces, will the BJP government in the state survive?" --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: It's been quite some time that the rumours about Sonakshi Sinha's role in Dabangg 3 have been doing the rounds. There were reports that Sonakshi won't be a part of the third installment as there is some bad blood between Salman Khan and her. But producer Arbaaz Khan has shot down speculation and confirmed that the 29-year-old actor will be a part of Dabangg 3. ALSO READ: Parineeti Chopra to replace Sonakshi Sinha in Dabangg 3 ALSO READ: Sonakshi Sinha not in Salman Khan's Dabangg 3 because of bad blood? In an interview to Times of India, Arbaaz confirmed that Sonakshi and Salman would reunite on 70mm for Dabangg 3. But at the same time, he said that there is a possibility of having yet another heroine in the film. advertisement "Sonakshi is going to be a part of Dabangg 3, in what capacity that is to be seen when the script is ready. But there might also be a possibility of another heroine in the film," he told the daily. There has been a lot of buzz that all is not well between Salman and Sonakshi. Their camaraderie reportedly ran into rough waters when Sonakshi turned down Arbaaz Khan's production Dolly Ki Doli which was initially offered to her. And this very news did not go down too well with Salman. But all this has been rubbished now. In fact, the news of Parineeti Chopra stepping into the shoes of Sonakshi for the role of Rajjo also started doing the rounds. However, Arbaaz has denied this. The film is expected to go on floors in mid-2007. On the work front, Salman has begun shooting for Kabir Khan's Tubelight. And Sonakshi is awaiting the release of her film Akira. Banned extremist group members have started to appear with clear threats and open hate speeches against the Indian Home Minister's visit to Islamabad. By Hamza Ameer: As Islamabad gears up to host the conference of South Asian Association for Regional Conference (SAARC) on August 3, which Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to attend; anti-India elements have started to stage protests and rallies, opposing the Nawaz Sharif-led government for hosting the Indian counterpart. These protests are in light of the recent crackdown in Indian administered Kashmir, that has claimed lives of at least 60 people till date. advertisement BANNED GROUPS PLEDGE SABOTAGE Banned extremist group members have also started to appear with clear threats and open hate speeches against the Indian Home Minister's visit to Islamabad. Jamat-e-Islami, the largest religious organization and one of the mainstream political parties in Pakistan took out a long march from Lahore city till the Wagah border. The rally was part of the ongoing campaign to buildup pressure on the Nawaz Sharif government to boycott all relations with New Delhi until Kashmir dispute is not tabled and put on priority. Senator Siraj-Ul-Haq, leader of Jamat-e-Islami led the protest rally and vowed to continue protesting for as long as it takes. While the protest was organized by Jamat-e-Islami political party, members from Jamat-ud-Dawa, an organization led by India's most wanted man Hafiz Saeed, suspected to be the prime perpetrator behind the Mumbai terror attack, Hisb-ul-Mujahideen, the banned militant group operating in Kashmir and part of the Hurriyat leadership were seen taking active part in the rally, giving open anti-India hate speeches and threats of violent resistance on Rajnath Singh's day long visit to Islamabad. WILL DO EVERYTHING TO STOP HIS WAY "Rajnath Singh is coming to Islamabad on August 3 to attend the SAARC conference. Pakistan government is preparing a warm welcome on his visit. I want to tell this to the government? you either become the defendant of the struggle of the Kashmiri people or become a friend of India. Both positions cannot go on together." said Syed Salauddin, leader of Hisbul Mujahideen "I want this gathering to decide, as Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad will be taken as a criminal offense by the people of Jammu and Kashmir and will never be forgiven. And In Shaa Allah, we will do everything to stop his way." he added. Protest organizer Senator Siraj-Ul-Haq also called on the Pakistan government to ban Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad in protest against what he described as Indian brutalities in the Indian Administered Kashmir. NO ONE HERE WILL WELCOME YOU RAJNATH SINGH "I want to give this message to the Indian Home Minister. Don't come to Pakistan. You will find no one here to welcome you. And if there is anyone in this country who wants to welcome the man who is the reason behind deployment of 7.5 lakh troops sent to kill the people of Kashmir; then they should go back to New Delhi with Rajnath Singh. We have no place for them in Pakistan," expressed the leader of Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan. advertisement It is pertinent to mention here that Jamat-ud-Dawa is on the government's 'Terror Watchlist' while Hisb-ul-Mujahideen is a declared banned militant organization as per the Pakistan Interior Ministry records. Yet, its leadership is able to co-host protests and rallies in major cities of Pakistan and passes un-noticed and un-checked. Their participation was evident when Jamat-e-Islami appreciated the security, provided by the militants of Hisb-ul-Mujahideen, who were there in a very big number ensuring security of the rally. SERIOUS THREATS LOOM OVER SINGH'S VISIT While Pakistan continues to maintain that it is fighting terrorism in all of its forms; the Wagah border long march and the presence of banned outfit leaderships with open hate speeches and threats to New Delhi, has certainly raised serious questions and suspicions on the deviation between Pakistan government's claims and the reality on ground. With open threats to stop Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's way when he comes to Islamabad to attend SAARC conference; serious threats loom around his visit. It will be the first visit of any Indian lawmaker since the Pathankot attack and the recent escalation of tensions in Jammu and Kashmir, which turned violent after the death of Burhan Wani. advertisement Jamat-e-Islami has also announced another anti-India rally on August 15, this time in Pakistan administered Kashmir to be taken out from Muzaffarabad till the Chakothi border with India. --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court today rejected a petition filed by activist and former bureaucrat Harsh Mander challenging the discharge of the BJP president in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. By India Today Web Desk: In a relief for Amit Shah, the Supreme Court today rejected a petition filed by activist and former bureaucrat Harsh Mander challenging the discharge of the BJP president in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. A bench of Justice SA Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea by Mander, who had challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his plea against Shah's discharge. The apex court said Mander had no locus standi to challenge the discharge. advertisement "Where a person genuinely aggrieved moves the court, it takes a different colour, and another person who is not even remotely connected (moves the court), it takes a different dimension," the court said. The plea filed by Mander had sought the quashing of a Mumbai court's order on December 30, 2014 giving clean chit to Shah in the 2004 killing. Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kauserbi and accomplice Tulsiram Prajapati were killed in separate encounters in Gujarat in 2005 and 2006. Shah's name had figured in the investigations in all three alleged extrajudicial killings. He also went to jail in the Sohrabuddin case and resigned from his post. The Gujarat Police had alleged that the trio had plans to assassinate the then state Chief Minister Narendra Modi to avenge the 2002 riots. --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court Woman Lawyers' Association (SCWLA) says no porn site should have free access and those desperate to watch it should be made to pay a hefty amount which "can act as a deterrent". By Mail Today Bureau: The fight against online porn ban in India is just getting bigger. Women lawyers of the Supreme Court on whose plea its judges had five months ago asked the Modi government to find out "ways and means" to block pornography on the Internet and make watching of blue film in public an offence have struck again. advertisement NO FREE ACCESS The Supreme Court Woman Lawyers' Association (SCWLA) says no porn site should have free access and those desperate to watch it should be made to pay a hefty amount which "can act as a deterrent". It also moots a "revenue-generation model for the government". It also wants establishing of rehabilitation centres across India for those "addicted to porn", and complete blocking of eight porn sites - Xvideos.com, Xnxx.com, Pornhub.com, Xhamster.com, Youporn.com, Redtube. com, Tube8.com, Hclips.com - which are "very popular" but most content in these are without the consent of the person figuring in the video. These are some of the suggestions SCWLA, which became a party in the public interest litigation (PIL) along with original petitioner and lawyer Kamlesh Vaswani, submitted to the SC on its directions. A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra had on February 26 this year asked for the suggestions so that "it can pass it on to the competent authority of the central government". HEFTY AMOUNT Referring to "increasing" instances where auto drivers, bus drivers and conductors indulge in molestation and sodomy, the affidavit says: "Limited access to people making request to visit porn sites, may be provided (like VPN gateway server, etc) with certain conditions like instead of making payment to the service providers, a hefty amount be made to the government of India." This way, it is reflected in the bank accounts, also people like auto drivers and people belonging to such similar strata of the society will have restricted access to online pornography. Also, it can be a great revenue-generating model for the government". "The government should make a security payment gateway before allowing any person to view porn online. Also, before the payment, details like name, address, contact number should be verified and only after the completion of such details, should the payment be allowed," said the affidavit filed by SCWLA secretary Prerna Kumari, which was drafted by senior lawyer Mahalakshmi Pavani. MORAL POLICING VS PRIVACY The government, if need be, can also censor minors from viewing pornographic material by adopting such a measure, it says. The SC is exploring the possibility of banning watching of pornographic materials in any form at public places. advertisement Despite stiff objection from the Centre that said it only favoured banning child pornography sites and not "going beyond" considering a citizen's right to privacy and did not want to be seen "moral policing", the court has already directed the Centre to "develop a mechanism" for blocking all porn sites with the help of Information Technology experts and service providers. ALSO READ: Chennai techie couple earned Rs 2 crore from child porn sites, arrested Man arrested for uploading ex-girlfriends videos on porn site --- ENDS --- Experts say the existence of ISIS flags, dresses, and writings published in Dabiq clearly prove the grassroots appeal of the ISIS ideology in Bangladesh. By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Bangladeshi security experts have found outfits similar to those worn by the ISIS militants among the home-grown militants although the government is denying the existence if it. ISIS BLACK In the crackdown following the Gulshan attack in Dhaka, the law enforcment agencies have uncovered a number of militant hideouts at different places across the country. Though no militants were detained during the raids, the security agencies managed to recover some material such as black Panjabi kurtas and salwars with black caps. advertisement Security experts say that the attire recovered from the militants' den is similar to that worn by ISIS's suicide bombers who are referred to as Istihadi soldiers by the ISIS. The experts said, the existence of the ISIS flags, dresses, and writings published in Dabiq clearly prove the existence of the Islamic State in Bangladesh. Dabiq is the Islamic State's glossy propaganda magazine named after a key site in Muslim apocalypse mythology. Earlier, the security agencies had recovered three sets of black dresses similar to the ISIS attire along with a hand grenade from a hideout at Sheorapara in Dhaka. Incidentally, before their death, the militants at Kalyanpur were also wearing similar black dresses combined with a scarf. The police also recovered some black Panjabi (dresses) along with the ISIS flag. The photos of the deceased militants were later published by the ISIS in their propaganda mouthpiece Dabiq. In those photos, the militants were seen posing in front of the ISIS flag wearing black dresses. DRESS CODE A Daily Mail report had, in 2005, revealed the clothing pattern of the ISIS militants. The report suggested that ISIS workers are separated by their dress according to their ranks and work. The trainers wear white Panjabi kurtas combined with grey salwar and grey belts. The militants who are recognized as 'Afghani Rab' wear dresses similar to the army and go to war in Syria or Iraq. The light-colored dresses and scarfs are used by those are sent on dangerous missions. The black dresses and trousers are worn by those who go on suicide missions and operate like commanders of IS. The ISIS security officers wear black T-shirts, trousers and a black cloth mask. The scarf is similar to the ISIS flag. ISIS INFILTRATION Last June, the ISIS had claimed via the Amaq News Agency that they have seven secret units working in seven countries, including Bangladesh. The Bangaldesh security forces say that till the Gulshan attack they had no clue about the secret ISIS units operating in Bangaldesh. They said that the black dresses of the attackers pointed to them being members of the suicide squad. A Bangladeshi militancy expert said that the militants wear black dresses after kidnapping and make their hostages wear yellow clothes when they broadcast their activities via media. They also maintain their rank and badge like other militant organizations. However, he said that the black attire is a much admired attire with all militants vying to wear the colour. He said that the warriors who go on the most dangerous and worst missions wear such attire. advertisement Revealing the various kinds of fighters that ISIS has, he said that the first and most dangerous are the Istihadi warriors, who are suciide bombers. The other type of ISIS warriors are the Inghamacy or the commandos. A former Bangaldesh army officer who is now a security analyst said, the situation has changed after the Gulshan and Kalyanpur militant attacks. The direct communication setup with ISIS helps them follow all the characteristics of the terror organisation. As a result they take the black dress as the model for their own. Notably, the militants who were killed in Kalayanpur, all were wearing black T-shirts, black turban along with bag pack with them. ALSO READ: ISIS plans to attack India through its bases in Bangladesh and Pakistan Bangladesh cracks down: 9 suspected ISIS militants killed as police raid Dhaka building --- ENDS --- advertisement Rajnath Singh's Islamabad visit comes amid a heightened tension between the two nuclear power neighbours following the killing of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir last month. By India Today Web Desk: Home Minister Rajnath Singh's Pakistan visit to attend a SAARC Summit is on track despite open threats from Jamaat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen boss Syed Salahuddin. While government sources have confirmed that Rajnath Singh will be attending the SAARC meet on Thursday, August 4, India has made it clear that the home minister will not be holding any bilateral meetings with Pakistani leaders. advertisement "India not reconsidering Rajnath Singh's visit. The home minister is not heading for a bilateral event ... he is heading for multilateral event. It is up to Pakistan to provide security to him (Rajnath Singh). This shows (threats by Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin) how terrorists operate in Pakistan," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said. Rajnath Singh's Islamabad visit comes amid a heightened tension between the two nuclear power neighbours following the killing of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir last month. Wani's killing triggered a massive protest in the Valley and resulted in deaths of over 45 people. Kashmir unrest: Killing of Burhan Wani was an accident, says Deputy CM Nirmal Singh HAFIZ SAEED WARNS OF COUNTRYWIDE PROTEST AGAINST RAJNATH'S VISIT Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", JuD chief Hafiz Saeed warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the Home Minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement. "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," the statement added. Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin's unholy alliance behind Kashmir unrest The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3. Saeed, who is carrying a US$ 10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". advertisement SUSPEND ALL TIES WITH INDIA: SYED SALAHUDDIN Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. "Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing a rally in Lahore on Sunday (July 31). "It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said. (With inputs from PTI) Also Read: Wish PM had mentioned Kashmir situation in Mann Ki Baat: Omar Hafiz Saeed asks Pakistan government not to allow Rajnath Singh's visit --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) Mobile handset company Ringing Bells today claimed that it has started delivering 65,000 more units of the worlds cheapest smartphone priced at Rs 251 apiece. A fortnight ago the company claimed to have started off with the delivery of 5,000 units of Freedom 251. "Ringing Bells is all set to fulfill its promise of delivering 2 lakh smartphones to the customers by starting the delivery process of 65,000 more units," the company said in a statement. advertisement The process is cash on delivery where customers will pay only after they receive the desired unit, the statement said. The deliveries were made in states -- West Bengal, Haryana, Himachal, Bihar, Uttarakhand, New Delhi, Punjab, J&K, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. "We started the process of lottery few days back, and now are dispatching the units to the people. We are elated with the response that we have got for the delivered units. Our target is the low income people who fancy the chances to own a smartphone. We wish to fulfill their dreams soon," Ringing Bells spokesperson said. With the delivery of current 65,000 units the overall delivery of Freedom 251 will now stand at 70,000 units across India, the statement said. PTI PRS ABK --- ENDS --- By PTI: Patna, Aug 1 (PTI) A local court today granted bail to Ruby Rai, a former intermediate arts topper, who was arrested in connection with the Intermediate toppers scam on June 25 last. The Additional District Judge (ADJ) - I Parvez Alam granted bail to 18 year-old Rai after her advocate K D Mishra pleaded before the court that her remand in juvenile home was wrong and not in the interest of being a teeanager. advertisement "It will serve the best interest of the child if she is allowed bail," Mishra prayed and disagreed with the Juvenile Justice Boards contention that she had committed a grave offence by indulging in falsehood to get the top ranking in the intermediate arts examination this year. The vigilance advocate Vijay Kumar, however, opposed her bail plea, but the court rejected his contention before granting bail to Rai. Ruby Rai was arrested by the SIT on June 25 last soon after coming out of re-test by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) which was conducted to check her academic abilities. She was sent to Beur jail, but later got shifted to the juvenile remand home as she was found to be a minor as per details in her birth certificate. Interestingly, it was Rais reply to basic questions with regard to her subjects which apparently exposed her knowledge. Ruby Rai was a student of Vishun Roy College, belonging to another alleged scamster Bachcha Rai who too has been arrested along with over three dozen other accused persons in the intermediate toppers scam. She had said that political science was one of her subjects but described it as prodikal science which teaches cooking. PTI COR KDK SUS SUS PD --- ENDS --- Though Mouni Roy, Mohit Raina haven't made their relationship official yet, they often drop hints about it. By India Today Web Desk: Mouni Roy and Mohit Raina are said to be dating since the time they met on the sets of Mahadev (2011), wherein they played the role of Sati and Shiva respectively. Their on screen as well as off screen chemistry has been much talked about. In the beginning of this year, the couple also sparked engagement reports after Mouni was spotted with a solitaire ring, which was reportedly gifted to her by Mohit. The couple were even spotted vacationing in Goa sometime back. But then, they haven't made anything official as yet. advertisement So when Mohit recently invited his Twitter fans to chat with him, a barrage of questions inundated his timeline, and there was one cute question buried in the middle of all the fan questions, which Mohit spotted instantly and replied to. Also read: Mohit Raina gifts solitaire ring to ladylove Mouni Roy; sparks engagement rumours That cute question was posted by his rumoured ladylove Mouni who also decided to be part of the live chat session. Here's what she asked: What are you looking forward to, next sir? Mohit replied: trip to Thailand Well, does that mean the couple are heading to Thailand for a holiday next? Though the couple refrain from making personal comments about each other, they do not miss a chance to praise each other professionally. Sample this: MOHIT ON MOUNI (In a 2016 interview) "I share a great equation with Mouni. In fact, I recently congratulated her for her new show that she is doing. I think she is doing really great career-wise and I am happy with her success. If an opportunity comes my way, I would love to work again but that is not in my hands," said Mohit. "Honestly, I love everything about him. It's been almost three years since the show went on air... look at that man's dedication! I get to hear that he takes every single scene as seriously as he used to when the show had just begun. My favourite avatar of his was when he played Veerbhadra. It must've taken immense power to play that role. Russia is like our high school friend and USA is our office colleague. How? Check out this description by a Quora user. By India Today Web Desk: A curious Quora user started a thread asking which country is a 'better and more honest ally' to India - Russia or The United States of America. The answer to this given by a user, Rohit Kapoor, could not be more apt. "Russia is like your high school friend. He knows you from the time you were nothing. You don't meet often but when you do, you feel like you were never separated. USA is your office colleague. He knows you because your status now is impossible to ignore. You exchange pleasantries because it is impossible for the two of you to ignore each other." The answer was viewed more than 29,000 times and has been upvoted nearly 3,000 times. Expanding on this another user Shantanu Ray described how Russia is like a childhood friend who has been there with you when you lived in a lower-middle class locality. And the US as the classmate you first met in IIM/IIT. advertisement "Russia is like that childhood friend from the time you used to live in a lower-middle class locality, struggled to make ends meet and you could always trust on each other's support. You have moved on to better things and have made your own life. But you never forget your childhood friend who helped you in difficulties so you know you two can never betray each other. USA is the classmate you first met in IIM/IIT who taught you all you need to know to succeed professionally and be accepted in a higher social class. He teaches you how to be competitive and he is a benchmark for your own professional skills, but at the same time you know that he will never help you if you sure in difficulty, since he is deeply competitive and you two are rivals." In this extensive discussion, another user pointed out that in diplomacy "there are no permanent friends or foes only permanent interests," and that made all the sense. Russian photographer, Daniel Kordan, snapped mesmerising photos of the Milky Way mirrored on the flooded salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. By India Today Web Desk: Russian photographer Daniel Kordan travelled all the way to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, world's largest salt flat, and captured these images that show the Milky Way mirrored by the flooded plain. Salar de Uyuni, located in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, is at an altitude of 11,995 feet above sea level and is a gigantic stretch of 10,582 square kilometers. Kordan, who captured the starry spectacle, wrote in an Instagram post, "It was incredible experience to drive in the night on the flooded Uyuni salt flats. Literally you can't see a thing, just absolutely black tunnel in front of your car. What you feel is just how your car going through the mess of water and salt. It's very easy to get stuck on the dangerous surface. Usually it's up to 5-10 cm of water above the salt, but sometimes it go deeper. We made a GPS track during the daytime to this exact place and followed it precisely in the night." advertisement Salar de Uyuni also happens to be one of the worlds largest sources of lithium. Nearly 70 perc ent of the world's lithium is in the process of being extracted from Salar. Kordan used a Nikon D810A astrophotography DSLR with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 Nikon lens to capture the breathtaking pictures below: Photo:Daniel Kordan/Instagram Photo:Daniel Kordan Photo:Daniel Kordan/Instagram The Kremlin on Monday said that Russian military personnel on board a helicopter shot down in Syria on Monday were dead, citing the Russian Defence Ministry. The helicopter, with five people on board, was shot down in Idlib Province, Russian news agencies quoted the Defence Ministry as saying. They died a "heroic death" on a humanitarian mission, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. He said the helicopter had tried to veer away from inhabited areas to avoid civilian deaths. Peskov also said that Moscow would continue fighting international terrorism "on all fronts" despite threats from Islamic State. On Sunday, Islamic State posted a nine-minute video message on YouTube, calling on its members to carry out jihad or holy war in Russia. Salman Khan has been closely tied with the Barjatya family since the days of his debut. By India Today Web Desk: Salman Khan for once didn't look like the tough guy, he portrays on the silver screen. He broke down, sobbing like a child at a prayer meeting held for Rajjat Barjatya, belonging to the Barjatya family with whom Salman made in his first film, Maine Pyaar Kiya. First time I saw @BeingSalmanKhan crying. He was really attached with him. pic.twitter.com/vAezMXAb9l Salman ki Bulbul (@RoomanaKhan) August 1, 2016 The film was the reason Salman shot to stardom, and some of his biggest films in the beginning of his career came with the Barjatya like Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, Hum Saath Saath Hai. Hence, he was understandably close to the Barjatayas. RAJAT BADJATYA WAS CLOSED TO HIS MAJESTY EMPEROR SALMAN KHAN THE MAN WITH SOFT & GOLDEN HEART SALMAN KHAN CRYING ?? pic.twitter.com/NmR6Akid6P SULTAN IN CINEMAS (@AurengzebKhan) August 1, 2016 advertisement The two entities had not worked for almost a decade and half, only to reunite in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, which turned out to be one of the biggest films of 2015. @BeingSalmanKhan IN My life First Time I Have looked SALMAN SIR CRYING. ..???? The Rajat sir Salman sir very closed . pic.twitter.com/eaR2gOHnIi SULTAN_OF_BOLLYWOOD? (@ISalman_Rules) July 31, 2016 Rajjat Barjatya is survived by his wife, and two children. The entire B-town was shocked by his sudden demise. Other than Salman, Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, Swapnil Joshi, Richa Chadda shared their grief on Twitter. (Photos by Yogen Shah) Jamshedpur, Jul 31 (PTI) Chennai-based Sankara Nethralaya Hospital has accepted a proposal by the Jharkhand government to open its branch in Ranchi. State Chief Minister Raghubar Das had a discussion with a delegation of Sanakara Nethralaya during which the CM put forward the proposal, an official release said. The delegation, led by Chairman Emeritus S S Badrinath, readily accepted the proposal. The Chief Minister assured the delegation to provide land for the facility. Das today inaugurated a nursing college at the Tata Main Hospital and launched Sankara Nethralaya Mobile Eye Surgical Unit, the release said. PTI BS NN MNG Smriti Irani tweets #IWearHandloom and the noble cause trends. Take a look at some of the best tweets. By Hemul Goel: If your Twitter timeline has been suddenly hit by a barrage of posts with women showing-off their handloom sarees, served with a sprinkling of body confidence, then you have Smriti Irani to thank. Also read: 7 times birthday girl Smriti Irani gave us some serious #SariGoals Having recently taken the charge of the Textile Ministry, the Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles sprung into action to generate buzz around the beauty of Indian handwoven textiles by tweeting, "I support Indian weavers, here's my #IWearHandloom look - Handwoven Silk from Bihar. Share your look & tag 5 people," tagging five people that included Anandiben Patel, Devendra Fadnavis, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Kiran Bedi. I support Indian weavers, here's my #IWearHandloom look - Handwoven Silk from Bihar. Share your look & tag 5 people pic.twitter.com/1NOuueJ0mS Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) August 1, 2016 advertisement Courtesy her tweet, #IWearHandloom is already trending on Twitter with people sharing pictures of themselves in their favourite handspun textile. Take a look at some of our favourite tweets: Have always worn it since my college days. #IWearHandloom pic.twitter.com/kdFHu7rLzJ Nirupama Rao (@NMenonRao) August 1, 2016 Here is my #IWearHandloom look - handwoven tussar with Kasuti hand embroidery. @smritiirani pic.twitter.com/uBKx1KjmZ0 Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) August 1, 2016 Not just females, men who have an appreciation for the finer things in their wardrobes are also tweeting pictures of themselves donning garments made of handspun textiles, including the likes of eminent journalist Gaurav Sawant, fashion designer Manish Malhotra, sporting celebs Vijender Singh and Virender Sehwag and actor Rahul Dev among others. Wearing Handloom makes u feel free&gives livelihood to our weavers Handloom pehno,ekdum Free Ho jaao!#IWearHandloom pic.twitter.com/u3L2qfyL5o Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 1, 2016 Wonderful initiative @smritiirani ji #IWearHandloom because it's one of the best representation of our culture pic.twitter.com/E0fQKuGxEM Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) August 1, 2016 Irani, who was shifted from human resources to textile in what was called a demotion in the last cabinet reshuffle, seems to have begun well. The textile ministry has a big target and the primary focus is to revive India's own handloom sector. It helps that the minister has had a successful stint as a television actress in the past, that has probably given her style a dedicated fan following. With a crop of super-talented young designers like Gaurang Shah and Anavila Misra--whose subtle contemporary sarees are to die for--changing the way we look at handloom, traditional handspun textile still has a chance of appealing to a younger generation that's easily seduced by western labels. Working in collaboration with younger designers, roping in celebrity ambassadors and a smart use of social media can easily give a boost to the dying crafts of India. Sonia Gandhi will kickstart the Congress party's 'Mission UP' campaign from Varanasi today. She will pay tribute to several prominent leaders and visit temples in the city. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Congress President Sonia Gandhi will be kick starting her party's "Mission UP" from PM Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi on August 2. The Congress President will be doing a road show in the holy city in a bid to enthuse the party cadres ahead of the UP Assembly elections scheduled to be held early next year. During her visit to Varanasi, her first since PM Modi was elected as MP from here, Sonia will also be undertaking a quick pilgrimage to important temples in the city. Sonia will be arriving at the Babatpur airport at 11 am after which she will head to the circuit house. At around 12 noon, she will be starting her road show. Straight from the circuit house Sonia will be heading for Varuna Pul area via Gol Ghar Kachahari where there is bust of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar. She will pay her tribute to father of the Constitution and will garlanding his bust. From there her road show will head for Maidagin crossing through Andhra Pul, Chowka Ghat, Pili Kothi and Bisheshwar Ganj. At Maidagin, she will pay tribute to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. advertisement TO PAY TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRIME MINISTERS In Maidagin itself, she will also pay respects to former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri by garlanding their busts. Thereafter she will be meeting Dharma Gurus from the Kabir Panth. Then she will be heading to Lahurabir to garland the statue of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad following which her road show will reach Maldahiya chowk where Sonia will garland the statue of Iron Man, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Her road show will end at the Varanasi Cantt area where she will garland the statue of Kamlapati Tripathi. She is also likely to address a gathering after her road show ends. "Sonia ji will be coming to Varanasi on August 2 and we are making huge arrangement to make this road show a grand success. She will start he road show by garlanding bust of BR Ambedkar", said Prajanath Sharma, Varanasi District Congress President. In the evening Sonia will visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple before leaving for Delhi. It may be remembered that PM Modi when he was announced BJP's candidate from Varanasi in 2014, the first time he visited Varanasi, he had began his election campaign by garlanding statues of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviye, Sardar Patel and Swami Vivekanand. MODI TOO HAD GARLANDED PROMINENT LEADERS Modi's well calculated political move to garland Mahamana, Sardar Patel and Swami Vivekanand during his first Varanasi visit not only won hearts in the ancient city but also won handsomely from the constituency as Brahmins and people from Patel community voted in large numbers for him. Similarly, Sonia Gandhi too is trying to establish right kind of social engineering to woo voters. If by garlanding Ambedkar, Sonia would be eyeing Dalit votes, by garlanding Kamlapati Mishra and Sardar Patel, her eyes will be on Brahmin and Patel vote bank. It is very interesting that Sonia will be garlanding former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's bust, a leader whom the Congress never gave the recognition he deserved. ELABORATE ARRANGEMENTS FOR ROAD SHOW In order to make Congress President's first election campaign a success, elaborate preparations have been done. Top leaders of the Congress including UP Congress President Raj Babbar and Congress's CM candidate Shiela Dixit will be part of the road show. At various places across the holy city, party workers have put up huge banners, posters and cut out of Sonia Gandhi. advertisement Several welcome gates have been also been erected to welcome the Congress President. 10000 party workers on their motorbikes will be part of Sonia's road show. During the road show Sonia will also be taking stock of the developmental work done by PM Modi as claimed by him. Sonia will be spending 7 hours in Varanasi on Tuesday. Also read: UP polls: Priyanka's role to be decided after Rahul Gandhi returns from vacation --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court said that former chief ministers are not entitled to government accommodation, which they must vacate in two months. By India Today Web Desk: In a significant ruling on VVIP encroachment, the Supreme Court today said that former chief ministers are not entitled to government accommodation, which they must vacate in two months. Ruling on a petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari, the apex court ordered six former CMs of Uttar Pradesh, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, to vacate their bungalows. advertisement "Any possession should be vacated in two months," the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave said. Lok Prahari had challenged the validity of 1997 Ex-Chief Minister Allotment of Residence Rule. It contended that that the rule was without statutory basis and in breach of Uttar Pradesh Minister Salaries, Allowances and other Facilities Act, 1981. Home Minister and former UP Chief Minister Rajnath Singh is also believed to have retained his bungalow in Lucknow. Pther leaders to be affected by today's ruling are the BJP's Kalyan Singh, ND Tiwari of the Congress and Ram Naresh Yadav. The bungalows occupied by the former Chief Ministers are located on Lucknow's posh Mall Road and Vikramaditya Marg. --- ENDS --- The Taliban claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a military and logistics services compound, mainly used by foreigners, in Kabul. Afghan police stand on guard near the site of a bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday August 1, 2016. By Reuters: The Taliban claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a military and logistics services compound, mainly used by foreigners, in Kabul early on Monday after a powerful explosion was heard all around the city. A security services official said four heavily armed attackers were fighting on the site of the Northgate Hotel, a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organisations. advertisement There was no immediate word on casualties from Afghan authorities, although the Taliban claimed there were "dozens of dead and wounded". The Islamist group often exaggerates the extent of attacks it launches against Afghan government and foreign security targets. Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, which is east of Kabul's main international airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the city, immediately after the attack. Telephone calls to the hotel went unanswered. The hotel's website (www.northgatehotel.com/) says it "provides custom-made Life Support Services to military and civilian organizations in danger zones". There were also reports of power outages in Kabul after the blast. A spokeswoman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, said they were assessing the situation but gave no details. A statement from the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said its fighters had entered the compound. The attack comes around a week after the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people. The Taliban, which often says it wants to avoid civilian casualties, said the compound was not near homes and that ordinary people were not harmed. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Patna, Aug 1 (PTI) A local court today granted bail to the girl who was arrested in connection with the Intermediate toppers scam on June 25 last. Additional District Judge (ADJ)-I Parvez Alam granted bail to the teenager after her advocate K D Mishra pleaded before the court that her remand in juvenile home was wrong. advertisement "It will serve the best interest of the child if she is allowed bail," Mishra prayed and disagreed with the Juvenile Justice Boards contention that she had committed a grave offence by indulging in falsehood to get the top ranking in the intermediate arts examination this year. The vigilance advocate Vijay Kumar, however, opposed her bail plea, but the court rejected his contention before granting bail to the girl. The girl was arrested by the SIT on June 25 last soon after coming out of a re-test conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) to check her academic abilities. She was sent to Beur jail, but later shifted to the juvenile remand home as she was found to be a minor as per details in her birth certificate. It was her reply to basic questions with regard to her subjects which apparently exposed the scam. She had said that political science was one of her subjects but described it as prodikal science which teaches cooking. She was a student of Vishun Roy College, belonging to another alleged scamster Bachcha Rai who too has been arrested along with over three dozen other accused persons in the intermediate toppers scam. PTI COR KDK SUS RT --- ENDS --- Forces aligned with the United Nations-backed government have been battling Islamic State in Sirte since May. A pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria (File Photo/Reuters) By Reuters: The US military conducted air strikes on Monday targeting Islamic State militants in the Libyan city of Sirte, the Pentagon said in a statement. Forces aligned with the United Nations-backed government have been battling Islamic State in Sirte since May. ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi killed in US-led air strike Islamic State still holds several strategic sites in central Sirte, including the university, the main hospital and the Ouagadougou conference hall, where fighters believe they have stocked large quantities of ammunition and provisions. advertisement Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) requested the US air strikes in Sirte, and President Barack Obama approved them, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement. "GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL thus far around Sirte, and additional US strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," Cook said, using an acronym for Islamic State. Libyan Prime Minster Fayez Seraj said in a statement broadcast on state television that the air strikes caused "severe losses to enemy ranks." Also Read: ISIS chief Baghdadi's ex-wife says he was a 'normal family man' ISIS plans to attack India through its bases in Bangladesh and Pakistan ISIS labels slain Muslim American soldier an 'apostate' --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Aug 1 (PTI) Amplifying its opposition to any move aimed at carving out Vidarbha from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena today questioned if the BJP-led government in state would survive if separate statehood was even thought of. "...Why is the BJP thinking of bringing this misfortune to Maharashtra? Will your government survive if you think of a separate statehood for Vidarbha?" senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told reporters here. advertisement Earlier in the day, Sena, a junior ally in the BJP-led dispensations at Centre and in Maharashtra, tried to corner government on the issue in the Legislative Assembly and asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to clarify his governments stand. Raut said, "the Chief Minister is from Vidharbha, half of the Cabinet is from Vidharbha...then why you want separate Vidharbha?..For the last 60 years, the Sena has pinned people to the mat." Sena, a staunch votary of united Maharashtra, has renewed its aggression in the wake of a BJP MP moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha last week seeking formation of Vidarbha state. Meanwhile, a senior Sena leader said the issue of separate Vidarbha is purposefully brought on the anvil with an aim to divert attention from the allegations of corruption levelled against some BJP ministers. Taking a dig at Fadnavis, Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray in a series of tweets said, "a bill on division of Maharashtra by someone who is part of the government both at Centre-State, doubts the capacity of Governments to govern well. "The people of the state gave this government its strength to rule for development of all regions equally, not to dissect the state. I hope the Chief Minister reassures the people of this State that elected his government, on the unity of Maharashtra for development." PTI MM NSK RG --- ENDS --- Regime officials at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, southern Iran told Tajikis family that they should visit him for the last time before Wednesday. This is the second time that the Regime has threatened to hang Tajiki this year; previously they were planning to hang him on May 15, but backed down after international pressure. At the time, Amnesty International explained that Tajiki was convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture which he retracted in court and urged the regime to stop the execution. James Lynch, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said: Imposing the death penalty on someone who was a child at the time of the crime flies in the face of international human rights law, which absolutely prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18. It is particularly horrendous that the Iranian authorities are adamant to proceed with the execution when this case was marked by serious fair trial concerns and primarily relied on torture-tainted evidence. He added: Irans bloodstained record of sending juvenile offenders to the gallows, routinely after grossly unfair trials, makes an absolute mockery of juvenile justice and shamelessly betrays the commitments Iran has made to childrens rights. The Iranian authorities must immediately halt this execution and grant Alireza Tajiki a fair retrial where the death penalty and coerced confessions play no part. The human rights group released a statement on May 12, in which they reiterated the chilling fact that 970 people were executed in 2015. Despite the myth of moderation, Iran continues to execute children in violation of international law. To help Alireza Tajiki, spread this news and the National Council of Resistance of Irans piece on social media. The report notes that this gain was regarded as defiance of general foreign expectations for the Islamic Republic following the nuclear agreement, which defined relief from all nuclear-related sanctions. Economic analysts are now taking seriously Irans plans to increase its output to four million barrels per day by the end of the year, thereby exceeding the peak that the Iranian oil industry reached eight years previous. But while Iran may be serious about its intentions for this level and speed of recovery, the viability of those plans certainly depends upon the persistent enforcement of the JCPOA. And this is something about which a number of commentators have expressed serious doubt. The nuclear deal appears to be facing rising levels of opposition on both sides of its implementation, with Iranian officials expressing dissatisfaction with its impact on Iranian access to European markets, and American politicians insisting that the deal may not be effective in forestalling Irans pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Naturally, these Western concerns have led to the persistence of political efforts to either strengthen the implementation of the deal or to merely cancel it an implement new economic sanctions. The latter recommendation was made on Thursday in an editorial by former Member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson, which was published in The Diplomat. Stevenson questioned whether the nuclear agreement is falling apart on its own as a result of revelations of its weakness and of Iranian plans to greatly expand nuclear enrichment either in the last years of the 15-year deal or much earlier, depending on whether the Iranian leadership feels like it is under continued pressure from the West. In effect, Stevenson advocated for eliminating the uncertainty on this point and simply resuming a policy of exerting pressure through the hard-hitting sanctions that forced Tehran to the negotiating table and theoretically should have eliminated the major threats of Iranian violations, which now persist more than seven months after implementation. But even if there were not such prominent threats on this point, there would no doubt still be considerable advocacy for revocation of the JCPOA, in light of Western concerns about that deals effects on Irans finances, and the resulting concerns about how those finances might be spent. This issue was given renewed primacy last week when it was announced that the US Treasury Department was imposing new sanctions on three members of Al Qaeda who were believed to be living in Iran. This revelation is one of the latest pieces of evidence indicating that Iran has not diminished its support for international terrorism in the wake of the JCPOA. US President Barack Obama, the deals standard-bearer in the US, suggested that the success of nuclear negotiations might encourage a moderating trend in the Islamic Republic. But various examples of persistent hardline policies have further compounded opposition to the deal among Obamas political adversaries. On Thursday, Al Arabiya suggested that the three newly sanctioned Al Qaeda members only constitute a small part of a much larger phenomenon, one that includes Osama bin Ladens son Hamza, who is reportedly a recognized beneficiary of Irans largesse. Letters recovered from the bin Laden compound have apparently revealed dozens of names of people with connections to both Al Qaeda and Iran, as well as confirming that Osama bin Laden had advised some of his followers that Iran was the Sunni terrorist groups chief pathway for our money, men, communique, and hostages. In the wake of the sanctions of the three Iranian-based Al Qaeda members, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has merely denied knowledge of their presence in the country. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry and other departments of the Iranian government continued to insist upon more American assistance with the Iranian economic recovery, threatening to walk away from the JCPOA or otherwise retaliate if they felt they were still subject to foreign pressure. Naturally, such reactions raise the concern that Iran is similarly lacking in transparency about its past terrorist activities and about its intentions and expectations vis-a-vis the nuclear deal. The article points out that the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) recently resumed hostilities with the Iranian regime after approximately 20 years without open conflict. The KDPI has reportedly declared that Iran is still violating Kurdish rights, leading to the conclusion that conflict is the only way for the Kurdish ethnic minority to reclaim those rights. But Tehran apparently dismisses the notion that the recent rebel activities are autonomous and are based on ongoing human rights violations or instances of political imprisonment of Kurds. Instead, the Iranian regime has publicly suggested that these activities have been instigated from outside, and specifically that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is financing the KDPI in order to destabilize Iran. The Rudaw report was spurred by the fact that the Kurdish Regions Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani had responded to these accusations, and also to parallel accusations accusing the regional capital of Erbil of turning a blind eye to that interference. Barzani flatly denied the claims that have mainly been advanced by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also indicated that there was no evidence of Saudi presence or interference in Kurdish affairs, with or without complicity from Erbil. Tehran has presented no evidence to undermine Barzanis statements. And furthermore, Tehrans credibility on such matters is damaged by the fact that Iranian officials are prone to claiming foreign intervention in the case of virtually any acts of domestic rebellion, whether it be military or merely social. In fact, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the head of Irans Basij civilian militia, even went so far as to blame Western-based media for the rates of divorce and drug addiction in Iran, during a ceremony to destroy satellite television receivers last weekend. But regardless of the credibility of Irans claims about Saudi interference, the prevalence of those claims appears to be clear evidence of deteriorating relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. Of course, this deterioration has been well recognized at least over the past several months. In January, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran following the storming of the Saudi embassy by Iranian mobs angry over the execution of a Shiite dissident cleric. Tensions between the Islamic Republic and the Saudi Kingdom subsequently reached new heights in January when former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal attended the annual rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, during which he explicitly endorsed a platform of regime change in Tehran. This might seem to lend credence to Tehrans accusations, but so far Iranian authorities have publicly accused Riyadh of sponsorship of Kurdish rebels, but not of groups like the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, which have no designated ethnic or religious limitations. Meanwhile, foreign commentators have similarly stopped short of concluding that Saudi Arabia has any direct involvement in Iranian resistance movements, even after such a public endorsement by a member of the royal family. In one example of this, US Marine Corps Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwait published an editorial at Family Security Matters on Thursday in which he described Turki as issuing a tacit declaration of war, but also left some doubt as to whether Riyadh was in fact ending the mutual kabuki dance with which the two countries have traditionally hidden the extent of their antipathy. But Zumwait clearly makes the case that if this dance comes to an end, it will be Irans doing more than Saudi Arabias. That is, whereas Iran may have reason to accuse Saudi Arabia of prospective interference in its affairs, the Saudis have considerable evidence of longstanding and ongoing Iranian interference throughout the Middle East. This was the focus of a joint-statement made by the 21 active member states of the Arab League early this week. It called for the ouster of Iranian influence from the region as a necessary prerequisite to confronting issues of terrorism in various countries being affected by sectarian conflict. Zuwait described the Islamic Republic of Iran as having been engaged in a region-wide game of Shia monopoly since the mullahs came to power in 1979. In recent years, Iranian officials have boasted of control over the Arab capitals of Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, and Sanaa. And Zuwait notes that they demonstrably have their eyes fixed also on Manama and Jerusalem. Although there may be some debate about the extent of Tehrans commitment to this endeavor, there is really no doubt about its interest in expanding its regional influence or financing proxies in and around each of the aforementioned capitals. Yet this has not prevented the Iranian leadership from crying foul when they believe they have reason to suspect Saudi Arabia or other foreign parties of exerting their own influence with the aim of changing governments in the Middle East. This fact was discussed in an article that appeared at the Huffington Post on Thursday. It looked at apparent expansion in relations between Iran and Turkey, and asked the question of why the mullahs stood by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he faced down a coup attempt. The article points out that relations between the two governments have been strained but have also been improving in line with the increasingly Islamist ideology of Erdogans rule. The preservation of that trend was beneficial to Iranian interests in and of itself. But more to the point, Irans defense of Turkey has apparently provided the former with leverage in discussions over the future of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The Huffington Post points out that in the immediate aftermath of the coup attempt, a number of Iranian officials delivered remarks that expressed support for Turkey but also invoked the Syrian crisis and asserted that Iran expected other countries to join in defending supposedly democratically elected governments. One politician even went so far as to say, The most important thing is that this experience might be an opportunity for Mr. Erdogan to understand the situation in neighboring Syria. Of course, not all of Irans regional interventions are aimed at preserving elected governments. In Yemen, the Houthi rebellion is understood to have been financed, supported, and perhaps instigated by Tehran, and it is endeavoring to replace the elected government of President Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi. Iran has denied being the driving force behind the rebellion, even as it has levied matching accusations against Saudi Arabia and the West. The Huffington Post notes that some Iranian officials suggested that the attempted coup in Turkey was directly analogous to the British and American orchestrated coup that removed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh from power in pre-revolutionary Iran. While most of Irans recent accusations against the West have not been as specific as its accusations against Saudi Arabia, various Iranian public statements have made vague references to Western plans for the soft overthrow of the regime. Some have even implied more elaborate Iranian suspicions, as when Brigadier General Ali Shadmani, the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian army, said that the Islamic Republic was prepared to destroy any sedition that might originate from Western enemies. As Fox News reports, these comments came in the midst of another in a series of attempted shows of force in the Persian Gulf region. If the enemy makes a small mistake, we will shut the Strait of Hormuz, Shadmani said, repeating a threat that had been made earlier in this year, amidst other statements suggesting readiness for war on Irans part. [August 01, 2016] PFP releases system for detecting SYNful Knock PFP Cybersecurity, a provider of an IoT platform to ensure trust, today announced it will demonstrate a simple solution for continuously monitoring and securing enterprise router racks in data centers. PFP's new solutions include a portable unit for periodic cybersecurity checks and a small 1U rack-mount monitoring unit which can simultaneously monitor an entire rack without interfering with normal operations or adding software to the routers. PFP will demonstrate detection of attacks such as the SYNful Knock implant in Cisco (News - Alert) routers at Black Hat 2016. PFP's advanced solutions detect anomalies from insider tampering and continuous attacks of critical infrastructure and protects against cyber-attacks that threaten any IoT connected device including data centers, medical equipment, power grids, cars, mobile devices, as well as, any other smart device. The increase in connectivity of everything IoT, consumer behavior and enterprise security is vital to the safety of anything and anyone connected to the internet. Steven Chen, PFP CEO, says, "For years it has been said home routers are a key attack point, but enterprise outers are secure. Recently, FireEye (News - Alert) burst that bubble announcing that Cisco enterprise routers are vulnerable to APT threat called SYNful Knock." "PFP has recently tested its product against enterprise router attacks such as SYNful Knock identified by FireEye," said Thurston Brooks, PFP VP of Product Marketing, "Our newest product monitors an entire rack of Cisco routers at once and detects the attack instantly." Whether on the cloud or on premise, PFP enables a SaaS (News - Alert) solution for brand protection for Fortune 1000 companies. The PFP IoT platform for trust, based on patented analytics for power analysis - the lowest common denominator of any digital processor - is proven to detect supply chain, configuration or continuous attacks. The PFP power analytics provides alarms in machine time to enterprise systems with strong confidence. About PFP Cybersecurity Headquartered in the Washington, D.C., PFP Cybersecurity (aka Power Fingerprinting Inc.) is a Virginia Tech spin-off using patented technology developed by Dr. Jeff Reed and Dr. Carlos Aguayo Gonzalez (CTO). Cofounder and CEO Steven Chen, CFO Rich Kearney and VP Marketing Thurston Brooks have proven the same business model, leveraging government funded technology for commercial success through $300M+ SBIR Phase III contracts. The PFP Board and advisors include the Honorable Gordon England, Chairman, National Academy of Engineering Council and former Deputy Secretary of Defense and Homeland Security; John Czupak, CEO of ThreatQuotient and former SVP of Business Development at SourceFire; Dave Merkel, former CTO of Mandiant and FireEye; and Todd Headley, former CFO of SourceFire. PFP has been covered by media (e.g., Forbes, MIT (News - Alert) Technical Review, Bloomberg, Dark Reading, etc.). Gartner has selected PFP as a 2015 Cool Vendor. PFP has been awarded the SINET16, the top 16 cyber security innovator award in 2015 and 2016. Lux Research highlighted PFP as a top 10 innovative company with a strong positive rating for connected objects and platforms. For more information, please visit: http://www.pfpcyber.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005694/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Study: Edico Genome's DRAGEN Accelerates Analysis of 3-D Structure of DNA SAN DIEGO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Edico Genome's DRAGEN Bio-IT processor accelerated by nearly 20-fold the analysis of massive data sets generated from the study of three-dimensional (3-D) structures of DNA, as published in Cell Systems. In the paper, Dr. Erez Lieberman Aiden, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics and director of The Center for Genome Architecture (TC4GA) at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University, and his colleagues introduced Juicer, an open-source tool for used in three-dimensional (3-D) genome sequencing ("Hi-C") experiments. Hi-C experiments generate terabases of data to create high-resolution contact maps and to comprehensively map the loops that the genome forms when it folds up inside the nucleus of a cell. Identifying these loops is crucial to understanding genetic regulation, which could improve our understanding of genetic diseases or inform drug development. Juicer features a fully automated pipeline that allows users with little or no computational background to transform raw next-generation sequence data into genome-wide maps of looping. The DRAGEN hardware greatly accelerated the processing of the extensive datasets generated by the sequencing pipeline, with specific analysis time summarized in the table below. System Total Time to Process 1.5 Billion Paired-End Hi-C Reads (Hour: Minute) Amazon Web Services g2.8 x Large 8,906:11 Broad Univa Grid Engine 11,959:01 Rice PowerOmics 4,819:36 Rice PowerOmics + FPGA (DRAGEN) 608:59 In 2009, Dr. Aiden and collaborators at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and at UMass Medical School invented Hi-C, a method that produces a genome-wide measure of the probability of contact between pairs of loci. Hi-C combines high-throughput sequencing with earlier technologies, including Nuclear Ligation Assay and Chromosome Conformation Capture. In 2014, members of Dr. Aiden's team showed that it was possible to use Hi-C to create a genome-wide map of loops, in which the genome bends backward, bringing genes close to crucial regulatory elements that lie far away in one dimension. But there was a catch: even a single map requires billions of reads to generate. The researchers immediately recognized that new hardware solutions for analyzing massive sequencing datasets would be crucial to the fledgling field. In the current study, researchers tested Juicer by creating the deepest 3-D map to date, spanning over three terabytes of sequence data drawn from a single experimental condition. The team, led by Neva Durand, Ph.D., Muhammad Shamim, and Ido Machol, also benchmarked the performance of Juicer on four different cluster systems, including a system based on Edico's DRAGEN platform and IBM's Power8 architecture. The DRAGEN-based system yielded the fastest analysis times of all the systems tested. "The study published in Cell Systems describes our team's new, end-to-end system for analysis of 3-D genome sequencing data. It is the first system of its kind, making it possible to map the loops in a mammalian genome in a fully automated fashion," said Dr. Durand, a senior scientist at TC4GA and co-first author of the study. Mr. Machol, a co-author of the study, added, "When we ran our pipeline on a hybrid DRAGEN/Power system, the data analysis was 20-fold faster than running the pipeline on an industry standard cluster. That kind of difference opens the door to many analyses that would have been very impractical before." "Dr. Aiden and his team's application of DRAGEN to accelerate Juicer is a great example of DRAGEN's effectiveness in processing massive amounts of raw sequencing data in minimal time and without requiring any additional training or post-graduate degree. In addition, one DRAGEN/Power system replaces a cluster of servers, making for a very compact and economic bioinformatics solution," said Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Edico Genome. "We are continually working to optimize DRAGEN and expect the next version to be even faster than the speed we have already achieved." DRAGEN is highly reconfigurable, using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to provide hardware-accelerated implementations of genome pipeline algorithms, such as BCL conversion, compression, mapping, alignment, sorting, duplicate marking and haplotype variant calling. The flexible DRAGEN platform allows users to develop custom algorithms as well as refine and improve existing pipelines. Updated versions are made available for customers through simple remote downloads. Although pipelines for Hi-C data analysis exist, current solutions are not designed to annotate loops or process data at the terabase scale. Juicer features the ability to automatically annotate loops and contact domains, and is compatible with multiple cluster operating systems and with Amazon Web Services. Juicer is available at http://aidenlab.org/juicer/. "Given the dramatic acceleration that we observed, we are excited about the extraordinary potential of FPGA technology in 3-D genomics," said Mr. Shamim, who is co-first author of the study and currently working towards a M.D.-Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine. The Cell Systems paper can be found by visiting http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2016.07.002. Other contributors to this work include James T. Robinson, Jill P. Mesirov, and Eric S. Lander of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Suhas Rao and Miriam Huntley, from The Center for Genome Architecture. About Edico Genome Edico Genome has created the world's first bioinformatics processor designed to analyze next-generation sequencing data, DRAGEN. The use of next-generation sequencing is growing at an unprecedented pace, creating a need for a technology that can process this big data rapidly and accurately. Edico Genome's computing platform has been shown to speed whole genome data analysis from hours to minutes, while maintaining high accuracy and reducing costs, enabling clinicians and researchers to reveal answers more quickly. For more information, visit www.EdicoGenome.com or follow @EdicoGenome. About Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston is recognized as a premier academic health sciences center and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care. It is the only private medical school in the greater southwest and is ranked 20th among medical schools for research and 9th for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. Baylor is listed 20th among all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding and number one in Texas. Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals and jointly owns and operates Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, part of CHI St. Luke's Health. Currently, Baylor trains more than 3,000 medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, physician assistant and orthotics students, as well as residents and post-doctoral fellows. Follow Baylor College of Medicine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BaylorCollegeOfMedicine) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCMHouston). About the Aiden Lab and The Center for Genome Architecture at Baylor College of Medicine Directed by Erez Lieberman Aiden, The Center for Genome Architecture is a world leader in the study of 3-D genomics. In 2009, Dr. Aiden and colleagues introduced the Hi-C technology, the first method for sequencing entire genomes in 3-D. In 2014, researchers at TC4GA published the first reliable map of loops across the human genome. In 2015, researchers at TC4GA performed the first successful surgery on the human genome, changing how it is folded inside the nucleus of a cell by means of ultra-targeted DNA modifications. Their work has appeared on the cover of Nature and Science; the laboratory has also been recognized on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for its discoveries about the structure of DNA. For more information, visit www.tc4ga.com or follow @theaidenlab on twitter. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140716/127788 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/study-edico-genomes-dragen-accelerates-analysis-of-3-d-structure-of-dna-300306824.html SOURCE Edico Genome [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Mangalitsa by Msefund Launches New Website to Sell Its All Natural, Healthy "Kobe" Pork Products BRANCHVILLE, N.J., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mangalitsa by Msefund, the nation's largest Mangalitsa pig breeder, processor and marketer, today announced the launch of a new redesigned version of its website. The new www.Mangalitsa.com features refreshed design, enhanced content and easier to use e-commerce capabilities for the purchase of its fresh meat, Mangalitsa bacon burgers, 11 product line of all natural, cured (charcuterie and salumi) meat products and its six flavors of Better than Butter whipped lard spread. With the redesigned website, user access i greatly enhanced with a new format that provides multiple points of entry for site visitors to gain access to select products and expedite payment and delivery. Customers buying from the website during August 2016 will receive a 10% discount on their orders. Oftentimes referred to as "Kobe" pork, Mangalitsa meat is succulent, delicate in texture, and richly- flavored. It is also higher in monounsaturated fat and lower in saturated fat than any other domesticated animal, making it one of the most delicious, nutritious and healthy meats. Mangalitsa by Msefund Owner, G C. Andersen explained, "Since we first launched our website in 2010, we have seen the sales of our products increase significantly as the word has spread about the flavor and healthful benefits of our Mangalitsa meat products. In addition, our product offerings have grown exponentially. In an effort to provide a better purchasing experience, our team is proud to present a new look to mangalitsa.com." About Mangalitsa by Msefund : Msefund Farm employs the best practices in breeding and raising 100% Certified Mangalitsa pigs. The Farm's breeding stock represents the purest Mangalitsa genetics on the market today. They are raised mostly outdoors or in comfortable barns, and also receive a specially-blended feed that maximizes flavor and texture. The result of Mangalitsa by Msefund's care in feeding and husbandry is a thrilling taste experience unmatched by other heritage breeds. An investment banker (head of G.C. Andersen Partners LLC and the former head of the Investment Banking Group of Drexel Burnham Lambert and former Vice Chairman of PaineWebber) who has traveled the world, G. C. Andersen has almost single-handedly brought the Mangalitsa, a near extinct heritage breed pig from the Austro-Hungarian empire, to the attention of the US markets through his Msefund Farm in Branchville, New Jersey. Mangalitsa by Msefund breeds them, farrows them, feeds them, finishes them, harvests them all to their specifications with no nitrites or nitrates and creates antibiotics-free, minimally- processed, no trans fats superior quality products. Contact: Melissa Krantz, Krantz & Co. [email protected] 917.653.6716 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394472 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mangalitsa-by-mosefund-launches-new-website-to-sell-its-all-natural-healthy-kobe-pork-products-300306835.html SOURCE Mangalitsa by Mosefund [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] New PBS Film and 2016 BIO Animal Biotech Summit Highlight Biotech Solutions to Combating Emerging Infectious Diseases More than 60 percent of infectious diseases in humans are spread from animals, and 75 percent of the emerging human pathogens are also expected to be zoonotic. HIV and Ebola are modern day examples of viruses that originated in animals and spread to humans. Even though most zoonotic diseases are not as deadly as HIV/AIDS, all strain public health resources, and some harm a region's economy and even threaten national security. The severity of the problems posed by emerging zoonotic disease is the focus of a new PBS film, Spillover: Ebola, Zika and Beyond, that will premiere on August 3, 2016. Programming at this year's Animal Biotech Summit, Advancing One Health through Biotechnology, will look at how biotechnology can be used in emerging infectious disease surveillance and rapid diagnosis, while highlighting the flexibility biotechnology provides for treating, controlling and preventing these diseases. The 2016 Summit will be held September 21-23, 2016 in Bethesda, Maryland. "As we have seen in this past decade, zoonotic diseases can emerge or re-appear anywhere and at any point without warning. They are a threat to global health, and all countries must have access to the latest technologies in order to identify the pathogenic agents accurately and respond quickly and effectively," said Adrianne Massey, PhD, Managing Director, Science and Regulatory Affairs at BIO. "The 'Emerging and Existing Infectious Disease' Session on September 21 consists of a strong line-up of experts, some of whom are featured in the new PBS film." Topics and confirmed speakers include: Dennis Carroll , Director, Global Health Security and Development Unit, USAID - Dr. Carroll will speak about new genomic tools that allow public health officials to predict outbreaks and respond proactively. , Director, Global Health Security and Development Unit, USAID - Dr. Carroll will speak about new genomic tools that allow public health officials to predict outbreaks and respond proactively. Eddie Sullivan, President/CEO, SAB Biotherapeutics - Dr. Sullian will describe how animals genetically engineered to produce fully humanized antibodies could allow rapid production of large amounts of effective therapeutics. President/CEO, SAB Biotherapeutics - Dr. Sullian will describe how animals genetically engineered to produce fully humanized antibodies could allow rapid production of large amounts of effective therapeutics. James Cummings , Senior Director, Novavax - Dr. Cummings will discuss Novavax's promising work to create a vaccine against the Ebola virus. , Senior Director, Novavax - Dr. Cummings will discuss Novavax's promising work to create a vaccine against the Ebola virus. Haydn Parry, President/CEO, Oxitec - Mr. Parry will provide recent field trials results for genetically engineered mosquitoes. If successful, this strategy could decrease spread of diseases such as dengue fever and Zika. Registration for reporters will open soon. About BIO BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling "innovations transforming our world" and the BIO Newsletter is the organization's bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter. Upcoming BIO Events BIO Animal Biotech Summit September 21-23, 2016 Bethesda, MD BIO Investor Forum October 18-19, 2016 San Francisco, CA (News - Alert) BIO Latin America Conference October 26-28, 2016 Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo, Brazil View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160801005917/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 01, 2016] Mi9 Retail, Boston Retail Partners Take On Omni-Channel Payment/Data Security at Synergy 2016 MIAMI, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mi9 Retail, a premier provider of enterprise retail and e-commerce solutions, announced today it will feature the topic of "Payment and Data Security in an Omni-Channel World" at its annual customer conference, Synergy 2016. The invitation-only event is taking place on September 14-16 at The W South Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida. According to a special report published in January 2016 by Boston Retail Partners, data security breaches still pose a great threat to retailer resources. In today's environment, retailers are beginning to re-evaluate payment architectures in order to cover all aspects of security and fraud protection. "Only 22% of retailers currently support EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) Chip Card Technology, another 53% plan to implement within 12 months, and 38% of retailers indicate that payment security is a top priority." 1 According to The Nilson Report, from 1993 to 2014, worldwide losses from card fraud grew to $16.31 billion annually and issuers and merchants lost $2.95 billion in the U.S alone. Additionally, as online sales grow at the expense of bricks-and-mortar retailers, payment and data security wll continue to require innovation and prioritization as card fraud is expected to reach $35 billion per year worldwide by 2020. 2 Security protocols, payment security objectives, and the challenges facing today's retailers will be discussed by industry experts who include: Daniel Montellano from Shift4, Brad Pinneke from Vantiv, Vince Torres from Verifone, and Perry Kramer from Boston Retail Partners. Attendees will learn from these experts about EMV compliance, multi-tiered, end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and the critical relevance of these approaches for retailers processing payments through online and traditional in-store channels. Brian Bunk, a Principal and leading IT strategist with Boston Retail Partners, will host this session. "Our business partners like Boston Retail Partners, Shift4, Vantiv and Verifone have deep domain knowledge that helps our customers optimize their investments in Mi9 Retail solutions," said Neil Moses, President of Mi9 Retail. "The discussion of data security best practices and managing payment risks is something that many retailers face and these experts will provide useful insights our customers can take back and put into practice immediately." About Mi9 Retail: Mi9 Retail, the premier provider of enterprise retail merchandising, business intelligence and customer-centric software, empowers the world's most successful retailers to build strong personal relationships with their customers, process high volumes of transactions in real time and optimize inventory across all channels utilizing a single, accurate source of the truth. Built using cutting-edge technology, the software minimizes costs of ownership and provides the industry's fastest time to value. The company's global headquarters are located in Miami, FL, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. To learn more, please visit www.mi9retail.com. 1 Boston Retail Partners. 2016 Special Report: Payment/Data Security in an Omni-Channel World https://bostonretailpartners.com/2016-special-report-payment-security/ 2 The Nilson Report. 2015 Global Fraud Losses Reach $16.31 Billion https://www.nilsonreport.com/publication_newsletter_archive_issue.php?issue=1068 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160701/385734LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mi9-retail-boston-retail-partners-take-on-omni-channel-paymentdata-security-at-synergy-2016-300306844.html SOURCE Mi9 Retail [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 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 ... Bryan Physician Network is pleased to welcome neonatologist Craig Sitzman, MD, to our Heartland Neonatology Associates practice. "We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Sitzman join our team of experienced neonatologists," said Eric Mooss, Bryan Physician Network president. "If your baby needs special care, I can think of no better place than the Bryan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Our skilled physicians and staff, along with the region's most advanced technology, are dedicated to providing you and your baby with the best possible care." Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Gov. Pete Ricketts reiterated Monday that if it is shown that Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion used his state computer for sexual purposes, he should resign. "It's that simple," he said. Ricketts said the Nebraska State Patrol told the governor's office in July 2015 that Kintner had asked for an investigation into a computer-related crime he said was committed against him. "That's when I said the State Patrol needs to do a full investigation," Ricketts said at a Monday morning news conference called on a different topic. When it appeared that Kintner used his state computer for sexually explicit reasons, Ricketts told him he ought to resign, he said. "Obviously, he didn't resign," he said. Ricketts said Kintner didn't respond one way or another to his opinion he should leave the Legislature. It is well known that Kintner has worked closely with the governor on legislative matters. But Ricketts said Monday he would have handled the situation the same way no matter who the senator was, taking into consideration due process. The patrol completed its investigation in October and turned its findings over to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission in November, Ricketts said. The commission is expected to announce its findings on Friday. Ricketts said he didn't make any public comment on the issue at the time because it was not appropriate. State law bars comments on investigations by Accountability and Disclosure. "Of course, we're all entitled to the legal process that goes along with such an investigation," he said. Ricketts said the fact that Kintner's wife, Lauren, is his policy research director didn't affect how he handled the case. Ricketts' spokesman Taylor Gage said the governor did not talk to Lauren Kintner about the issue until early June this year, when he also told her she was a valued member of the governor's team. Ricketts said it is not within his powers, either by state law or the state Constitution, to discipline members of the Legislature. That power belongs to the Legislature. He would not comment or whether the Legislature should have acted earlier on the Kintner situation. "They typically don't like it when the executive branch tries to get into their business, so I'll let the Legislature manage their own business," he said. The Legislature's Executive Board chairman, Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, said this weekend that when it came to light that a woman was trying to sell a sexually explicit video she said involved Kintner, he and Speaker Galen Hadley decided it should be handled by Ricketts' office because Kintner's wife worked for the governor. Krist said he thought if anyone could get through to Kintner and stop the embarrassment, it would be Ricketts. If he had it to do over again, Krist said, he would have pressed for the Executive Board to deal with the issue or pursued some other action. Hadley said he, too, should have asked more questions. If the allegations are true, Hadley said, Kintner could be expelled with a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers said Saturday that the Executive Board, of which he is a member, should have been informed about the allegation last year. If Kintner doesn't resign, he said, he will call for his impeachment or work to expel him from Legislature in January. COLUMBUS Twins Abby and Allison Goos were shocked when they discovered they needed to pay to use the public restroom. That wasnt the only cultural change the girls experienced while on a recent trip to London and Paris with 11 other Columbus High School students. I couldnt believe we had to pay to go to the bathroom, said Allison, adding that it cost the equivalent of 30 cents in London and 50 cents in Paris to use the facilities. Her sister Abby called it a different experience. And I guess they dont drink things cold over there, she said. Everything seemed to be room temperature and they were fine with it. The high school seniors spent July 11-20 touring attractions such as Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. I felt like it would be a good opportunity for our students who may never really feel like theyre able to go to places like this, said CHS English teacher Maggie Downing, who coordinated the trip and served as a chaperon. Downing, who has traveled to Europe before, said the culture shock the students experienced was amusing to witness. It was fun to see them point out those differences to us, she said. It was kinda like, Wow there is more to this world than just Columbus, Abby said. The trip was more than a fun experience for the students. It also exposed them to what they've been learning about in school. A lot of what they were seeing tied back into things they had read about in our English class, Downing said. This is the first time Downing has planned a trip like this for her students. She is hoping to take a trip to Athens, Greece, in 2018. A crowd gathered on Lake Street Monday morning. Local Patriot Guard Riders bowed their heads for a prayer -- Heavenly Father, Bless the Gold Star families ... A chaplain made his way up the driveway. A general in the Nebraska Guard followed, fellow soldiers in fatigues, a man with a camera, a woman in a cap dotted with patriotic pins. A small woman in a flowered dress sat on the stoop. A middle-aged man in a Navy Dad T-shirt lingered by the folding chairs. The woman who lives in the brown bungalow handed out hugs, offering coffee and orange juice and donuts. All of them waited for strangers on motorcycles whove ridden all the way from Oregon to honor fallen warriors. In 15 days, crossing 12 states and traveling 3,200 miles, they will pay tribute to 50 men and women in ceremonies like the one about to begin here in the middle of a town in the middle of America. Its the middle of the morning when -- with a rumble, and a police escort -- the Tribute to Fallen Soldiers Northwest team arrives, 14 riders and the driver of an Aerbus motorhome, on their way to Arlington Cemetery. *** The riders gather in the street. Men in blue jeans and black vests and heavy boots, wearing patches with sentiments like this one: If You Cant Stand Behind Our Troops, Stand in Front of Them. Some of them are veterans; all of them are patriots, they say. Men with names like Wayne and Richard and Randy and Charlie with white in their beards and their hair. Some of them live in Oregon, others went there from as far as Pennsylvania to turn around and make the open-air trek across America to meet Gold Star families. They are sun-weary and road-weary, but they are not complaining. Its been emotional, says Neil Wagner. Rewarding, says Roger Cox. Six of the men present a plaque and a portrait to each of the three families they met in Lincoln on Monday. Warren Williamson has done the planning for this pilgrimage, starting 10 months ago, lining up families to honor and accommodations -- usually on the floor of American Legion posts or VFWs. Hes executive director of the nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon. Williamson drives the Aerbus, and he makes sure his guys know whos who. The woman in the flowered dress is Lindas Tarango-Griess mom. The man in the Navy Dad shirt is John Douangdaras father. The owner of the brown bungalow is the mother of Patrick Hamburger. You got it, you guys? *** The chaplain leads with a prayer. Crown this service with your blessing, Gary Fuller says. The Patriot Guard Riders stand at attention in the backyard of the bungalow, wind whipping their flags. Family members sit up front near portraits of their lost sons and daughter. The folding chairs fill. Williamson explains the mission: to honor and keep alive the memory of veterans killed in service to their country. This years trip began July 23 in Eugene, the torch lit by the widow of a young Marine killed in January. The torch accompanies them, pulled by a small trailer, Williamson says, and will stay lit until Aug. 7, when they arrive at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. They will extinguish it there, offering a prayer for the 50 men and women they honored, and for all fallen service members. This is the groups eighth annual trek. Each year it gets bigger, spreads further. From Lincoln they will travel to Omaha and then on to Iowa and Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia before arriving in the nations capital. Monday morning, Williamson reads the stories of the three fallen warriors from the Midwest, their service records and biographies, their bravery, who they loved, how they lived. May we never forget the service and sacrifice of Army Master Sgt. First Class Linda Tarango-Griess, 33 years old at the time of her death, he says. May we never forget the service and sacrifice of Navy Petty Officer First Class John Douangdara, 26 years old at the time of his death. May we never forget the service and sacrifice of Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Hamburger, 30 years old at the time of his death. Then the riders come forward bearing gifts for the small woman in the flowered dress, and for the Navy Dad and for the woman who lives in the brown bungalow. Words cant explain how I feel, says Tarango-Griess mother, Maria Medrano-Nehls. This project is very meaningful to me, says Douangdara's father, Sith Douangdara. Our greatest fear is that our children will be forgotten, says Hamburger's mom, Joyce Peck. The character of our nation will be determined by how well we remember people like Patrick, Linda and John, who raised their hands willingly to protect the Constitution of the United States, says Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac. The Patriot Guard calls out in unison: HOOYAH! And Williamson makes a promise to the parents standing before him -- that their sons and daughter are not forgotten. They ride with us forever now. In the end, it wasnt even close. After a GOP gathering in Cleveland that had all the incandescent joy of a biblical plague, the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was as bracing as snow down your back on the most scalding day in August. In terms of star power (Meryl Streep versus Chachi from Happy Days) production value and substance, there was no contest. One was a sixth-grade talent show, the other a matinee of Hamilton. If you doubt the difference could have been that stark, perhaps youll take the word of disaffected Republicans like former Jeb Bush strategist Tim Miller, who asked on Twitter why an 18-year-old watching the conventions would want to be a Republican? Or conservative blogger Erick Erickson, who tweeted: Im so angry at my own party right now. Their pessimism was understandable in the wake of powerful, conscience-calling speeches by the president, the vice president, the first lady and the Rev. William Barber II, an organizer of the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina. Even Hillary Clinton, whose oratorical skills are not formidable, rose to the occasion. The history-making first woman to win a major party presidential nomination issued a stinging rebuke of her thin-skinned opponent, Donald Trump. A man you can bait with a tweet, she observed acidly, is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. For all that, though, the emotional center of the convention might have been someone who wasnt much of an orator at all, whose first language isnt even English. With his wife at his side, Khizr Khan, a Pakistan-born immigrant, addressed the crowd. Tonight, he said, we are honored to stand here as parents of Captain Humayun Khan and as patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country. Humayun, a soldier, was killed in Iraq in 2004, running toward a suicide bomber to save his men. Yet, as his father noted, if it were up to Trump, he of the hateful rhetoric, the Mexican wall and the Muslim ban, Humayun would never even have been in this country. Donald Trump, said Khan, engaging the bully directly, you are asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: have you even read the United States Constitution? In the thunderous ovation that followed, he produced a booklet from his pocket and held it up, saying, I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? demanded the grieving father. Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing, and no one! he cried, voice rising with barely suppressed outrage. We cannot solve our problems by building walls, sowing division. And one is reminded that no one believes in Americas promises liberty and justice for all quite as fiercely as the immigrant does. Trumps thesis is that we can no longer afford to strive for those promises in a world he says is more threatening and scary than ever before. The Democrats response was to remind us of us. America is great, quoted Clinton, because America is good. November, then, is not just an election, but a moment of truth. We are called to decide whether to affirm our nations promises, and thus validate the faith and sacrifice of families like the Khans, or whether to burn it all to ash in the fire of our own anger and fear. And thats something else that shouldnt even be close. The two new walk-in health clinics planned for Lincoln by partners CHI Health and Hy-Vee are a welcome addition to the array of local health options as health care continues to evolve. Walk-in clinics are becoming more popular across the country. Hy-Vee, which considers itself an industry leader in the trend, already has opened 43 retail health clinics in its eight-state region. The clinics are convenient, quick and for some things depending on insurance coverage cheaper than a traditional visit to a doctors office. Someone might want to check out that weird rash that showed up after camping, for example. Or a busy mom might take in her offspring for a school physical. The clinics even offer ear wax removal, one of the indignities sometimes inflicted by aging. The clinics will be staffed by a physicians assistant or a nurse practitioner. Among the factors fueling the trend is that the country has more insured people due to the Affordable Care Act. In Nebraska the number of uninsured workers has dropped by 14 percent, according to study by Families USA. In states that have expanded Medicaid coverage the average decrease was 25 percent. Changes in health insurance coverage also make the walk-in clinics more desirable. Companies often give employees incentives to move to high-deductible health insurance plans coupled with health savings accounts. Because people with those plans want to economize, they seek out more inexpensive care. Super Saver pioneered the walk-in clinic concept ten years ago in partnership with St, Elizabeth hospital before it was purchased by CHI. Its first walk-in clinic at 27th and Pine Lake and another at 27th and Cornhusker later moved to standalone clinics. Since then the trend has taken off. Accenture, a professional services company, predicted last year that the number of walk-in clinics will double from 2012 to 2017, reaching a capacity of 25 million patient visits a year. The consumer demand for thesewe continue to see it grow, said Matt Hazen, CHIs division director for corporate and retail services. The other local walk-in clinics in retail settings in Lincoln are MinuteClinics inside CVS pharmacies at 14th and Superior, 70th and O streets and 56th and Nebraska 2. The walk-in clinics are not the answer to all health and medical needs, obviously. And ideally people will have a medical home, with a primary care physician who has in-depth knowledge of a patients medical history and condition. But the addition of more local walk-in clinics should be greeted with enthusiasm. Theyll help Lincolnites stay in good health. I am a proud citizen and I love my country but this year I am struggling to figure out who to vote for for President, whether it be Republican, Democrat or other. Jill Stein is running for the Green Party. She is not on the ballot for Nebraska yet. Please sign a petition if someone asks you to add her name. I would love to have another choice. Nebraskans deserve to try to elect someone who represents our good honest values. Here is what her website says: "Americans deserve real solutions for the economic, social and environmental crises we face. But the broken political system is only making things worse. It's time to build a people's movement to end unemployment and poverty; avert climate catastrophe; build a sustainable, just economy; and recognize the dignity and human rights of every person. The power to create this new world is not in our hopes; its not in our dreams it's in our hands." I think that she deserves a chance to be voted in. I also am looking at Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party too. His website says: "America may finally be ready for a presidential candidate who believes in the free market, but rejects crony capitalism. They may be ready for a candidate who actually governed a border state and doesn't believe that a great wall is a substitute for immigration reform that todays politicians cannot summon the courage to enact." Please keep an open mind and vote in November. God bless America. Tim Sparks, Lincoln RACINE Few local artists seem to have had as much impact at the easel, in the gallery, and behind the scenes than Margaret Lukow. Lukow, known as Maggie or Peg, was an unceasing and indefatigable champion for Racine artists for more than 50 years. She worked at the Charles A. Wustum Art Museum, helped establish the Starving Artists fair and the Racine Artists Gallery, encouraged fellow artists, all while creating her own paintings, drawings, prints and clay sculptures. Lukow died July 25 in a Madison hospital from injuries she sustained in a car accident that occurred July 24 in Galena, Ill. She was 82. Word of Lukows death spread quickly along the local artistic grapevine. It hit everyone really hard, said Bruce Pepich, director of the Racine Art Museum, who said he had known Lukow for more than 40 years. It was unexpected and tragic news. She always had a positive attitude and a positive spirit of being alive and being engaged with the world, and especially with the people around her, said Marc Wollman, a fine arts photographer and Racine native. Maggie was an incredibly good person. She was a very active volunteer and did a lot of the behind-the-scenes work. Pepich lauded Lukows ability to roll up her sleeves and do what needed to be done on any kind of project creating art, volunteering at the Wustum or simply completing records. She was a woman of substance, but not afraid to do the unglamorous things that need to happen in the art world that the public might never see, Pepich said. She was the quintessential volunteer with a heart of gold. Lukow battled vision problems from macular degeneration in the past several years, making work difficult. That slowed her down but didnt stop her, Wollman said. She was a creative artist who didnt let things get in her way, Wollman said. She generated a lot of enthusiasm among artists here. Lukow earned a bachelors degree in art and womens studies from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1991. She was very focused and very energetic, said Doug DeVinny, a retired UW-Parkside art professor who taught Lukow in several drawing and print classes. She was always a keen observer of what was involved in those classes. Lukow was born in Evanston, Ill., and attended Purdue University, where she met Kenneth R. Lukow. They married in Wilmette, Ill., in 1955 and moved to Racine in 1959. In the 1980s, Lukow worked at Wustum Museum, where she helped start the docent program, and helped the facility obtain professional accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. Lukow also was one of the first artists to move into the 16th Street Studios at the Racine Business Center, served on the Racine Art Museum board, helped establish the Starving Artists Fair, and helped found the Racine Artists Gallery in 1988. In January, the Artists Gallery held a major retrospective of her work. It was the last time many local artists saw and talked to her. At about 1:30 p.m. July 24, the car in which Lukow and her husband were traveling went off the road and crashed into first a tree and then a building in Galena, Ill. Both Lukows were taken to a Galena-area hospital. Maggie was transported to University of Wisconsin hospitals in Madison, where she died July 25. Lukow loved crosswords, chocolate cheesecake and jazz, according to her obituary. She served as a Girl Scout leader and belonged to the Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church for more than 50 years. She is survived by her husband and children, Mark (Luanne Frey) Lukow of Racine, and Heidi Anne Lukow and Kathryn Louise Lukow, both of Tucson, Ariz. KENOSHA Kenosha city police have made an arrest in connection to an investigation of a man found dead last week, the department announced in a Monday press release. Michael Gayan, 51, of Kenosha, was found dead July 26 at a residence in the 300 block of 59th Place. Gayan's autopsy, conducted Wednesday, indicated his manner of death was a homicide, according to police. Derrick R. Matthews of Kenosha was arrested Monday in connection to the case, police said. The investigation into Gayan's death remains ongoing, police said. Matthews, who does not appear to have a Wisconsin criminal record, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime, according to the release. Police located Gayan's body inside the Kenosha residence just before noon on July 26 during a welfare check. According to the release, his body was in such an advanced stage of decomposition that it took three days to positively identify him. Anyone with information on the case, can contact the Kenosha Police Department Detective Bureau at 262-605-5203 or Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333. MOUNT PLEASANT A Racine man faces three charges of retail theft in connection to separate incidents at three Mount Pleasant grocery stores. Daniel Foxcraft, 38, of the 1100 block of Blake Avenue, allegedly stole items totaling $750.04 from two Pick 'n Saves on Green Bay Road and at the Festival Foods on Washington Avenue, according to a criminal complaint. The first incident occurred July 21 at the Pick 'n Save at 1202 N. Green Bay Road, when Foxcraft allegedly stole 10 bottles of alcohol from the store totaling $269.40, the complaint said. The second incident occurred on July 25 at the Pick 'n Save at 2820 S. Green Bay Road. Foxcraft was reportedly filmed on surveillance camera taking five bottles of alcohol, nine bags of Snickers Minis, 31 packages of BIC lighters, and a stack of notebooks totaling $365.74. The third incident occurred July 28 at Festival Foods, 5740 Washington Ave. Foxcraft allegedly stole 40 bottle of nail polish, several other makeup and hair products, and a bag of chips. Foxcraft faces three misdemeanor retail theft charges for each incident. RACINE Taylor Oglesby and Katie Hall were engaged with a baby on the way when Oglesby suddenly passed away July 12. Oglesbys cause of death has not been determined, but is believed to be from either a sudden aneurysm or heart attack. He was found on the front porch of his parents house by his father, holding the keys to the house in his hand. Oglesby, 34, was known to have bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia. He did have some health concerns, but nothing that would have urgently taken him, Hall said. He was an amazing soul and was always willing to help anyone that needed it and such a people person. He could light up a room with his smile. This is the second of three sons the family has lost to sudden death. Oglesbys younger brother, Phillip, died of an aneurysm in 2014 at the age of 28. Not only has Oglesbys immediate family had it tough, but his soon-to-be family as well. A Wanderer Joe Patterson, 34, of Madison and Oglesby have been friends since they graduated from Case High School in 2000. Both attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison until Oglesby decided to transfer to Florida A&M, then UW-Parkside and eventually Gateway Technical College. Oglesby never finished school officially. He was an artist, jumping from one project to the next, friends and family said. Oglesby had just finished a semester at Gateway studying photography and videography. He was always working on something new, whether it was music or drawings, painting for a little while and then photography, Hall said. Its what kept him busy and kept him happy. In 2011, Oglesby met Hall, also from Racine, at a local bar through mutual friends. The two hit it off and were inseparable from that moment on. Hall was studying nursing at Gateway at the time. Through good and bad times, they stuck together and got engaged in April. No date was set, but they were hoping to get married this month. We were more than likely going to be married on our anniversary in August, Hall said. The realization that hes not going to be here with me is hard. Hall also is 17 weeks pregnant with Oglesbys child. They were supposed to find out the gender of the baby together this week. Support in Tough Times Hall said she has received an outpouring of support in the wake of Oglesbys death. She said Oglesby knew many people in Racine, and many of them have come up to her in stores to offer their support and condolences. Family and friends also pitched in to offer support. Taylor has always been a really good friend, Patterson said. The type of guy you could call and talk about anything. Patterson set up a GoFundMe page July 14 to raise money for Katie and her expected child. The proceeds will go toward birthing expenses and the cost of having a child, Patterson said. He wont be there to help or provide since he wont be around. This is to support her, the kid and his legacy. The GoFundMe page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/babyoglesby. He was always working on something new whether it was music or drawings, painting for a little while and then photography. Its what kept him busy and kept him happy. Katie Hall, Taylor Oglesbys fiance. The state Department of Health Services plans to start independent assessments of personal care this fall after signing a $16 million, three-year contract in July with Pennsylvania-based Liberty Healthcare Corp. Personal care provides assistance with bathing, dressing, toileting and other tasks to about 16,000 elderly or disabled patients on Medicaid per year. After Wisconsin let freestanding agencies provide personal care in 2010, the number of people receiving the care increased 60 percent over four years and the cost went up 72 percent, from $159 million in 2011 to $273 million in 2014, state health officials said. A state review of select cases found that agencies approved patients for an average of 34 hours of care a week but the average should have been 13 hours a week. Independent assessments will reduce fraud by preventing nurses employed by the agencies from determining how much care patients need, state officials say. Last year, the state health department said spending $8 million on the contract over two years half state money and half federal money would reduce personal care expenditures by $27 million, for a net savings of $19 million. The contract with Liberty, which started in May and runs through April 2019, is for about $16 million: $4.9 million the first year and $5.5 million each of the following years. The assessments are expected to begin this fall. Elizabeth Goodsitt, a spokeswoman for the health department, said the expected $8 million cost for the contract over two years was based on estimates in 2015. She declined to say what impact the higher cost of the contract will have on expected savings. The Wisconsin Personal Services Association believes the plan for independent assessments adds another layer of administration to the personal care industry and creates additional uncertainty for providers at a very difficult time, Jean Rumachik, legislative chairperson for the association, said in a statement. The state already uses prior authorization and audits to control fraud and abuse, Rumachik said. The states reimbursement rate for the care, $16.08 per hour, hasnt increased since 2008, she said. Spending on personal care dropped to $268 million in 2015. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said last year that the decline in spending could mean the independent assessments wont achieve the expected savings. The bureau also said the assessments wont catch some types of fraud, such as billing for services not provided or improperly documenting services. State and local election officials are bracing for another round of voter confusion after two federal judges struck down several voting-related laws recently. Neither ruling will affect next weeks fall primary election, but they have potentially wide-ranging implications on the November vote for president, U.S. Senate and state legislative races, said Michael Haas, the states top elections administrator. Our main message at this point is that people understand that nothing changes these rules for the August election, Haas said. We, as well as the municipal clerks, will be doing our best to educate voters after the primary and as soon as we can. Municipal clerks are awaiting more information from the state Elections Commission and legal advice on whether the court decisions are likely to stick. If they do, voters could see expanded days, hours and locations for early voting, and the small number of voters who lack a photo ID would be less likely to be turned away at the polls. On July 19, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled that anyone without a valid photo ID could sign an affidavit at his or her polling place in order to vote in November. Then on Friday, U.S. District Judge James Peterson struck down a raft of laws Republicans have passed since 2010 that have limited early voting to weekdays between certain hours at one location per municipality, upped residency requirements from 10 to 28 days and prohibited the use of expired student IDs for purposes of proving ones identity. Haas noted that neither ruling negates the requirement that voters present a photo ID at the polls in November. That law has been upheld by a federal court, though in response to a separate motion as part of that case, Adelman ruled that an affidavit option must be available for voters starting in November. The state Department of Justice plans to appeal both rulings and ask for a stay of the decisions. On Monday, DOJ filed an emergency motion seeking a stay of Adelmans decision to avoid subjecting the state and the public to substantial and irreparable harm. Republicans have called Petersons decision an infringement on states rights by an activist judge. Both judges were appointed by Democratic presidents. Haas said he hopes the appeals court will rule on a stay soon so that elections officials can have clarity heading into the general election. He expects the primary results will be certified by Aug. 24. Federal and state laws allow absentee ballots to be issued starting Sept. 22. DOJ spokesman Johnny Koremenos said given Petersons decision, municipalities are free to move forward to comply with the order. But he cautioned that the states appeal is likely to prevail. The law is very much in flux, therefore any changes made by local governments to comply with Judge Petersons decision at this time may need to be halted if the court of appeals were to stay some or all of his order, Koremenos said. Given the current composition of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and a recent decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidating similar laws in North Carolina, its possible the recent Wisconsin court rulings will be upheld, said UW-Madison law professor Robert Yablon. A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit upheld Wisconsins voter ID law in a previous case, but the full 7th Circuit rejected a request for the entire court to hear the matter on a 5-5 vote. One of the judges opposing that motion has since retired, making it possible the full court will hear both the Adelman and Peterson cases. Yablon noted that while the district judges were bound by the 7th Circuits voter ID ruling, the full 7th Circuit could decide to take up the issue again and invalidate Wisconsins voter ID law entirely. Going up to the 7th Circuit presents some risks and opportunities for both sides, Yablon said. The plaintiffs have a pretty good chance of at least keeping on appeal what theyve already gotten, just based on where the numbers stand in the appellate courts. Under the law that Peterson struck down, in-person absentee voting, an increasingly popular option in Madison and Milwaukee, was limited to weekdays in the two weeks before an election between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Level playing field When they passed the law, Republican lawmakers said it created a level playing field for smaller municipalities that dont have the staff or resources to offer early voting on weekends. Democrats said it was a blatant attempt to suppress Democratic constituencies in large urban areas. New York University Law School professor Samuel Issacharoff, a federal election law expert, said attempts to curtail early voting hours have been struck down in other states. Such laws tend to block so-called souls to the polls voter drives, in which primarily black, urban voters who tend to vote Democratic take buses after church on Sunday to early voting locations. Courts have been very skeptical of attempts to influence an election by manipulating the voter rolls, Issacharoff said. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said his office was prepared to handle the impact of Adelmans ruling, but Petersons ruling dramatically changes what happens across the city and the county. McDonell said he anticipates Madison will extend the hours for early voting for the November election, including on the weekends. He also expects there will be additional locations to facilitate voting, particularly on UW-Madisons campus. But any changes will require advance planning, he said. Weve got to make decisions now, McDonell said. Youve got to hire, youve got to train, youve got to print materials. All of these things are going to be going on in August. Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl did not respond to a request for comment. Milwaukee Election Commission executive director Neil Albrecht hailed Petersons ruling as very positive because during the April primary, when photo ID was reinstated after being on hold for years because of court challenges, there were hundreds of disproportionately minority and low-income voters turned away. Access to voting should be given the same level of scrutiny as purported efforts to prevent fraud, Albrecht said. The restrictions to early voting were troubling in their intent and very problematic to voters. Albrecht said his current focus is to work with state and local officials to provide clear information to the public on voting access requirements. Wood County Clerk Cindy Cepress, president of the Wisconsin County Clerks Association, said clerks across the state are awaiting guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Cepress said shes not aware of any widespread disenfranchisement of voters in rural parts of the state akin to what Albrecht described happened in Milwaukee. But she agreed there has been confusion about the law. 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. Alisha Baxter(NEW YORK) -- It's a look of excitement and fear many new dads can relate to. It's why this photo of a dad, looking terrified during child labor, has gone viral thanks to the new father's hilarious expression. Alisha Baxter shared the photo of her partner Jive Ria on Facebook last week and since then more than 24,000 people have liked it. The first time mom told ABC News that her cousin captured the funny snap that shows Baxter, 23, clutching Ria's hand for dear life. Baxter said that Ria, 26, made the expression after her mother told "him to look because [the] baby's head was showing while I was pushing" and not because of her tight grip on his hand. "He was a bit grossed out," she added. Still, the Australian woman said she understood his reaction, especially since she was in labor for nearly 24 hours. "I don't blame him," she continued with a laugh. The couple's first child Blakely was eventually born July 21 at 12:47 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds and 5 ounces. Baxter said she's looking forward to motherhood, including "watching her grow up, and getting her own personality, and seeing how she does her own things." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 102 people die in water-induced disasters, Home Ministry says The Home Ministry has said that a total of 102 people lost their life to water-induced disasters that occurred in different parts of the country since July 25. Consensus call fades: PM election likely on Wed With the deadline given by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the political parties to form a consensus government expiring on Sunday, Parliament is set to elect a new prime minister on Wednesday based on majority votes. France church attack: Two arrested over priest's killing Two men have been placed under formal investigation over the murder of a priest in a Normandy church, including a cousin of one of the killers. Good neighbourliness? Delhi underestimates why people in Tarai are angry about construction across the border India low-caste Dalits protest over Gujarat attacks About 25,000 member of India's low-caste Dalit community have rallied in the western state of Gujarat in protest at attacks on their members. Lamjung leopard scare ends after 48 hrs A leopard that entered a residential house in Lamjung district headquarters Besisahar was rescued on Monday. Limestone mine lies idle due to politicisation Arghakhachi Cement, a leading cement manufacturer, has not been to use one of its limestone mines in Narapani, Arghakhachi, for the last five years, amid differences between political parties over whether to allow the industry to extract limestone. Local level restructuring: Morang, Ruphandhei to have most numbers of local bodies The Local Level Restructuring Commission has recommended the numbers local level bodies in line with the federal set-up in all 75 districts. Morcha demands: Taskforce to flesh out political commitment The first meeting of the nine-member taskforce comprising representatives from the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Sanghiya Gathabandhan on Sunday agreed to incorporate a political commitment to resolving the issues raised by the agitating parties into an action plan. Morcha divided on joining new govt Some second rung leaders of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha have opposed the idea of joining a new government until the demands of the agitating parties are addressed through further amendment in the constitution. Mother of US Muslim soldier hits back at Trump over speech silence The mother of a dead US Muslim soldier has hit back at presidential hopeful Donald Trump for questioning her silence during a speech by her husband. Nepal-India JC meeting uncertain The fourth Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting, scheduled for August 20-22 in New Delhi, has become uncertain due to the impending change of government in Nepal. Nepalis traveling to India have to carry ID card With security tightened by India at border areas in view of its Republic Day on August 15, the Nepalis travelling to India are required to carry identity cards with them. Nominees endorsed: In a first, apex court to have 3 female justices As the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee endorses all the 11 candidates recommended for Supreme Court justice positions, there will be three women in the apex court for the first time in the countrys judicial history. NRNA Europe meet concludes with 13-pt declaration The Ninth European Regional meeting of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) concluded here in the Danish Capital with 13-point Copenhagen declaration. The aim of the conference was to draw the roadmap for Nepals prosperity. Police seize contraband drugs worth Rs1.32b Police have arrested five persons, including Ratan Lal Sanghai of Sanghai Group, with contraband drugs worth over Rs1.32 billion. President calls for formation of majority govt President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on the parties to form a majority government. RPP-Nepal open for all possibilities Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, one of the coalition partners in the KP Sharma Oli-led government, has said that it is open for all possibilites in the new government formation process. Russian helicopter shot down, killing five on board Five Russians on board a military helicopter were killed when it was shot down by rebels in northern Syria, Russia has said. Syria war: Russian helicopter shot down, killing five on board Five Russians on board a military helicopter were killed when it was shot down by rebels in northern Syria, Russia has said. Tara Air flight 193 crash report: Pilots violated standard operating procedure Pilots of Tara Air Flight 193, which crashed at Myagdis Solighopte in February killing all 23 onboard, deliberately entered cloud while operating under the visual flight rules and deviated from the normal track due to the loss of situational awareness, the governments fact-finding committee said on Sunday. Thousands march in Germany in support of Turkey's President Erdogan Tens of thousands of people in Germany have turned out in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a rally that raised diplomatic tensions. Tired of seeking funds, Pun offers own land to run innovation hub Social entrepreneur Mahabir Pun, who has been fundraising for the operation of the National Innovation Centre, has announced the donation of his land worth Rs32 million for the purpose. UML to field Nembang as PM candidate CPN-UML leader Rabindra Adhikari has hinted that his party would field its deputy leader of parliamentary party, Subas Nembang, as the prime ministerial candidate in the election to be held on August 3. Views that Maoists are afraid of transitional justice are flawed Transitional justice is a big part of the peace process and our only concern is that it should accord with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement By Mark Leonard LONDON If history repeats itself first tragedy, then farce what comes next is Boris Johnson, a shape-shifting politician who embodies the contradictions of our age. Johnson is a tribune of the people who grew up with the privileges of the 1%; a child of immigrants who campaigned for closed borders; a Conservative who wants to upend the political order; an erudite man who mocks expertise; and a cosmopolitan who casually calls black people "piccaninnies." Johnson did more than anyone to bury Britain's European future; but his ultra-flexibility may yet prove to be its salvation. In his first public appearance after being appointed Foreign Secretary, Johnson compared the Brexit vote to the French Revolution. Provoking boos at the French Embassy's Bastille Day celebration, he hailed the referendum as "a great popular uprising against a stifling bureaucratic ancient regime (sic) whose democratic credentials had become very far from obvious." But the Brexit vote with its promise to recreate the Britain of yesterday is less revolution than counter-revolution. Boris and his band of Brexiteers have more in common with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who overturned the French republic to create a new monarchy, than with Danton or Robespierre. If anyone or anything has a claim to embody the progressive ideals of 1789, it is the EU. Its politicians and officials have translated the vague trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity into a concrete form: 80,000 pages of laws that cover rights and regulations from the bedroom to the factory floor. And the application of these rules helped waves of countries from Greece and Spain to Estonia and Poland move from autocracy to democracy. The EU has driven a revolution in how countries live together advancing individual rights, international law, and the pooling of sovereignty. Its transformative power springs from the promise of potential membership, a "neighborhood policy" that exports European values, and its facilitation of global institution-building and copycat regional integration. Now, as a result of the counter-revolution, the EU club is shrinking, rather than growing. Rather than remaking the world in its image, the EU fears neighbors that export chaos rather than import values. Interdependence causes, rather than ends, intra-European conflict. And the European idea has become a focus of political opposition across the continent. Indeed, the most troubling thing about Europe today is not the United Kingdom's departure, but the fragility and disunity of the remaining 27 states, where the domestic consensus for Europe has all but evaporated. The UK's "Leave" campaign channeled a widely felt desire to restore past certainties, not to establish new rights. And all member states are subject to the economic insecurity, cultural anxiety, and political alienation that new political forces are exploiting by using referenda to recast politics as a fight between the people and self-serving elites. Britain's post-referendum economic and political travails will make other EU member states think twice before holding their own popular votes on membership. But make no mistake: the EU is well into an era of disintegration. A slow slide into ungovernability can be just as devastating as a breakup. Some EU decisions are already being challenged by national referenda, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's planned plebiscite on refugee quotas. In France, the so-called Posted Workers Directive (which allows employers to pay seconded workers no more than the minimum rate in the host country) may not be implemented. And the European Commission is backtracking on favored projects such as a free-trade deal with Canada. Rather than banding together, each new challenge has divided the EU into ever-smaller groups. The euro has divided north and south; Ukraine and the refugee crisis have divided east and west. Pro-Europeans need to engage with the sources of discontent and rethink the forms used to express the European ideal. The EU was based on a mechanical idea that interdependence would reduce conflict. By linking European means of production together first through the European coal and steel community, and later through the common market and the euro the EU hoped to bind Europe's states together so closely that war between them would no longer be an option. True, war in Europe is now mostly unthinkable, with much wealth created. But the backlash against interdependence whether through the euro, free movement, or terrorism is undeniable. To save the EU, European leaders should focus on making people feel safe with interdependence. That means redistributing some of the economic benefits of free movement to communities bearing the burden of it; strengthening control of external borders and cooperation against terrorism; ensuring greater flexibility for eurozone integration and migration; and returning to the idea that EU institutions' highest calling is to defend Europe's nation-states, not to develop their own power. The Brexit crisis gives the remaining EU members a chance to reconceive the European project. If they succeed, the UK may even eventually want to rejoin. Of course, that is not what the Brexiteers or their allies elsewhere are seeking. They may succeed in unraveling the EU, but they are unlikely to deliver on their promise of recreating the world of yesterday, much less a better future. In fact, they could inadvertently destroy the benefits of European integration that people most value. Voters who supported Brexit may yet echo what Marx said of Louis Napoleon's counter-revolution: "A whole people, that imagines it has imparted to itself accelerated powers of motion through a revolution, suddenly finds itself transferred back to a dead epoch." They discover that what they overthrew was not the tyranny of the ancien regime, but "the concessions that were wrung from it by centuries of struggle." That is where Johnson's political cross-dressing may come into its own. If the UK enters a deep recession and struggles to deliver on the Leave campaign's promises, many voters may yet want to remain in the single market, or even the EU itself. That sort of volte-face would be impossible for most of the Brexit camp, for whom the dream of sovereignty trumps the threat of economic collapse. But Johnson is culturally at ease with Europe and at times seemed ambivalent about the Leave campaign that he led. Johnson's ability to escape the shackles of his previous statements would inspire Houdini. If the EU manages to reform and the UK's economic problems deepen, all that seems solid particularly Johnson's Euroskepticism could melt into air. Mark Leonard is director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate. If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here. Submit Join us for National Farmers Market Week in La Crescent on Tuesday, Aug. 9 from 4-7 p.m., where La Crescent Animal Rescue will be holding a fundraiser. In recognition of this part of the American life, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has proclaimed Aug. 7-14, 2016, as National Farmers Market Week. This year marks the 17th annual National Farmers Market Week, recognizing the important role that farmers markets play in our local food economies. Across the country, farmers markets are an important part of strong local and regional food systems that connect farmers with new customers and grow rural economies. In many areas, they are also expanding access to fresh, healthy food for people of all income levels, Vilsack said. National Farmers Market Week recognizes the growth of these markets and their role in supporting both urban and rural communities. Theyre at the heart of many towns and cities, some even serve as the new town square. Theyre community gathering places where Americas food producers are building successful businesses and bringing fresh, local food to market. As the popularity has grown, some farmers markets are open longer, adding live music and offering a wide variety of prepared foods. National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to hold special events celebrating our local farmers who grow healthy food. Here in La Crescent, were combining our celebration with La Crescent Animal Rescue, as they will be offering brats/hot dog meals. There will music and kids activities. Be sure to stop by the information tent and sign up for drawings. It is a great way to show why we love the farmers, vendors and customers that make the farmers market great. We hope you will join us in celebrating our farmers and producers who are bringing local food and hand-made goods to our communities. PIPE, Wis. Wisconsin has long been as one of the nations leaders in cow dairies, farm after pastoral farm tucked into the states rolling hills. Its earning another milk laurel in the face of increasing demand for goat cheese and milk: the most dairy goats in the U.S. That distinction will only stand to increase when two of the largest goat dairies in the world soon begin operating in northeast Wisconsin. Its something Larry and Clara Hedrich didnt expect when they started raising dairy goats in the 1970s as a hobby. They now milk 800 dairy goats, make award-winning cheese from cow, sheep and goat milk and boast enough capacity to process triple what they currently do. Were competing in our farm here in Pipe, Wisconsin, with the world, Larry Hedrich said. The growth in Wisconsin as well as California, which is No. 2 in goat- and sheep-milk sales is due to both existing infrastructure and growing appreciation for goat milk in the U.S. Chefs are using it more frequently, consumers are seeking out its unique taste and growing immigrant populations from places like East Africa and Latin America are looking for the familiar products, according to Norm Monsen, dairy economic development consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. But theres a lack of research and goat-specific products, like medicine or feed, which can be problematic for farmers who are turning to the emerging market. Goat milk in the U.S. is used mostly for cheese, retail sales of which reached $142 million this year, up 8 percent from $131 million in 2015, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. The quality of Wisconsins goat milk products is on the rise, too, occasionally winning awards over cheese made from cows milk. Theres been nowhere near the amount of milk produced as is needed, Hedrich said, noting that some cheesemakers ship in frozen curds from Europe and import raw milk from Canada to fill the gap. Our plant has been running starved for milk since we opened. Wisconsin farmers have been trying to catch up. There are 267 licensed goat farms more than double from 2004, when there were 126, state agriculture officials said. And the dairy goat herd has increased 70 percent since 2002, from 25,900 to 44,000. Wisconsin had almost $12.9 million in sales of goat and sheep milk in 2012, the most recent statistic available. Californias 39,000 goats trail only Wisconsin, and it had the second-highest sales of sheep and goat milk in 2012, at $12 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The market is growing by leaps and bounds, said Vicki Tonn, president of the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association. I cant see it reversing. I cant see there being a surplus. But whereas cow dairies have extensive research and lots of university experts to offer advice, theres not a single person at the University of Wisconsin whos dedicated to dairy goats. The lack of research can lead to greater obstacles for farmers when their goats fall ill or they want to expand or try a new practice. It also means goat dairies largely face the same regulations as cow dairies, even though theyre different animals. I think its really a shame, said Dave Thomas, an animal sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who focuses on dairy sheep. The dairy goat industry is large enough in the state to deserve some research and outreach expertise, but there is none. Some hope the advent of the two large dairies in Northeastern Wisconsin will change that by encouraging more research and providing a model for others to follow. Both are being started by leaders in cow dairies an industry with a strong lobbying presence in the state Capitol. They carry a voice thats still bigger than the goat world, Hedrich said. The Drumlin Dairy, which could open next year, plans to have about 9,000 goats. The other farm, Chilton Dairy, is being converted to house goats by Milk Source, a cow dairy producer. Spokesman Bill Harke said there are 1,500 goats already at the site, with 900 of them milking. He said it could expand to 7,600 goats, about 6,500 of them milking. This is our first goat farm, so were taking it a step at a time, Harke said. We dont want to rush anything. Monsen said its hard to say whether the larger dairies will become the industry standard, but that there will likely be room for a range of sizes. Hedrich said he thinks it will depend on how successful the dairies are: I dont have a crystal ball, but my guess would be two dairies is not going to have a major impact on the lack of goat milk. Its not been a good day, the man grumbled to the desk clerk at the airport hotel. My wife sneezed, went to get a Kleenex and the box was empty. Makes one wonder by what utopian scale this man measures a good day. Amid political angst and daily terrorist threats, our self-indulgence rings like a butlers bell in a 4-alarm fire. Perhaps weve forgotten what a good day looks like in America. It looks like this: As our plane drops into Kalispell, Mont., among the rough-sawn peaks of the Rocky Mountains, we begin to see all that has been given to us without asking. A place far removed from the hand of man, yet not immune. Glacier National Park, a vast and wondrous collection of glaciated mountains, pristine lakes and virgin forests, awaits our exploration at the edge of Kalispell. Its iconic glaciers are fast disappearing due to global warming, yet enough remain to cast a spell upon any visitor fortunate to abandon civilization for a day hike into its midst. We find such a hike at Many Glaciers on a trail that skirts Lake Josephine, a blue-hued glacial lake that hangs from the trails edge like a sapphire from a necklace. We run into a couple of hikers who had just encountered a grizzly sow and two cubs a dangerous combination on the upper trail. Caution wins over curiosity. We take the lower trail. At trails end, we find another remote glacial-fed lake surrounded by mountains draped with waterfalls; its beaches strewn with deadwood. The only actor in this tranquil scene is a chipmunk raiding my backpack for granola bars. Armed with bear spray and clapping like a marching band director to ward off bears, we understand that we are the interlopers. Grizzlies, moose and chipmunks rule the wild, without any help from man. To the contrary, we need natures help; to bring equanimity to a world tipping toward insanity. Nature restores calm following the storm and returns sunshine after darkness. We find quiet when the whole world seems to be talking at once. At Grand Teton National Park, we leave the noisy world behind to hike 9 miles to Grand View Point. We meet a young couple from France and discover a common language in the wordless poetry of the grand view. Two Ocean Lake sprawls below while the Grand Teton towers above. To say it makes you feel small trivializes the largeness of the awe welling inside. At Yellowstone National Park, we find alien landscapes of geysers, hot springs, mudpots and cavernous canyons of a width rivaled only by our gaping mouths. Every mountain pass opens to a new land of strange revelations. Artist Point, hovering above the rim of Yellowstones Grand Canyon, reveals sculptures cut from rock by the hand of water. Yellowstone River at the bottom of the canyon appears to my eye to flow uphill, rivaling any abstractionists attempt to create illusion. Nature inspires more than artists and poets; it remains a fundamental birthright. The farther we get from nature, retreating to technology and the vicarious stimulation of our electronic devices, the farther we get from our own nature. We were, after all, born into this world without accessories. Back in Prairie du Chien and looking out my window at the Driftless mountains of Southwest Wisconsin, I am reminded that we do not need to fly anywhere to witness natures grandeur. The largeness of natures wonder lies just outside our door. Out here, we can still find a good day in America. Nature inspires more than artists and poets; it remains a fundamental birthright. The farther we get from nature, retreating to technology and the vicarious stimulation of our electronic devices, the farther we get from our own nature. We were, after all, born into this world without accessories. Our candidates are polar opposites It has been a long time since weve had the choice between polar opposites for president as we do with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Here is where I see the perceived differences, and I emphasize the word perceived, in qualities, policy and voters. Ive ignored traits where both are lacking, such as trust, popularity and favorability. Qualities: Clinton wins with steadiness, predictability, competence, international experience, relationships with foreign leaders, understanding politics, an established approach to problem solving and political correctness. Trump prevails with strength, straight talk, believing what he says, independence from donors, thinking big, commitment to excellence, problem solving, hardworking, shaking things up with change and physical stamina. Policy: Clinton has the advantage with issues dealing with race, Black Lives Matter, police sensitivity training, diversity, identity politics, social justice, redistribution of wealth, globalization, abortion rights, universal health care, gun control, raising the minimum wage, union protection, free college, climate change, reducing carbon, green energy, increased immigration, sanctuary cities and maintaining Obamas direction of more power concentrated in Washington. Trump leads with law and order, safety and security, controlling immigration, backing the police, Blue Lives Matter, a powerful military, veterans, unleashing the military on ISIS, putting America first, economic populism, protectionism, jobs, commitment to excellence, energy independence, fewer regulations and lower taxes. Voters: Clinton has the clear Electoral College lead with overwhelming appeal to women, minorities and the well-educated. Trump attracts those who are dissatisfied, white men, middle-class workers and rural America. This is one voters perceptions. Tell me where Im wrong. Responding to strong complaints from Wisconsins dairy industry, the state Department of Natural Resources quietly narrowed the scope of rules it is writing to reduce health hazards from hundreds of millions of gallons of manure spread on farm fields each year. An industry representative said the DNRs initial plan for rule-making would have been much too costly, in part because it would have generally reduced the amount of manure that could be applied per acre, requiring dairy operators to obtain more land. But conservationists said the narrowed rule-making plan delayed indefinitely the consideration of public health and water resources protections that were identified through lengthy scientific study and extensive public discussion. And they said the changes exposed the way a 2011 state law has allowed Gov. Scott Walker and the DNR to give industry opportunities to sharply limit crucial administrative rules before the public even knows they are under consideration. Im concerned that they dont give equal consideration to all the communities impacted by problems with drinking water and other water quality issues, said Amber Meyer Smith, government relations director for Clean Wisconsin. The DNRs rolled-back rule-making plan is set for approval on Wednesday by the Natural Resources Board. Were talking about probably a much narrower set of recommendations for practices, and a more narrow geographic area thats being impacted, said John Holevoet, director of government affairs for the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association. Originally, the DNR proposed rewriting rules for manure-spreading by concentrated animal feeding operations statewide, with special restrictions for sensitive areas, along with new regulations on airborne spraying of manure and public notifications when manure-spreading plans are significantly changed. The plans going to the NRB are for rules that would apply only to sensitive areas, which have yet to be defined. Regulators wont consider revisions to rules on airborne spraying or public notification, and wont make revisions to bring rules in line with new state and federal regulations. Control of rules The dispute revolves around state administrative rules, which have the authority of law. They are written by state agencies to provide details on how state laws are implemented, and then approved by lawmakers. In the area of natural resources, DNR scientists and attorneys provide detail on matters involving complex issues such as the way manure can be carried away by rainwater and affect the chemistry of water. Since Republicans took over state government in 2011, Walker and the Legislature have insisted that administrative rule-making power belongs more firmly in the hands of elected officials. Act 21 of 2011 prohibited state agencies from writing rules with provisions not specifically included in statutes, and it added a number of steps to the rule-making process, including a requirement that the governor review initial scope statements and approve them before rule-making proceeds. Last month, the DNR completed scope statements designed to update manure-spreading rules in light of widespread drinking water contamination in Kewaunee County, UW-Madison-led research on airborne hazards of spraying manure and other related state and federal rules. The plans laid out reasons for changing standards for when, where and how manure could be spread by concentrated animal feeding operations. They also called for defining sensitive areas where shallow soil and porous bedrock leave groundwater especially vulnerable and extra precautions would be required. On June 15, the DNR submitted the plans to Walkers office, which distributed them to farm industry groups. The Dairy Business Association then met with the DNR to express its concerns. On July 13, the DNR submitted a more limited scope statement to Walker and he approved it the same day. Thats the plan the DNRs policy board will consider Wednesday. One conservation group, Midwest Environmental Advocates, is asking the NRB to direct the department to restore the original plans. Any revised scope statement would be submitted to Walker for approval. DNR authority Typically, scope statements dont become known to the public until after the governors review when they are placed on the NRB agenda. But environmental groups saw these rules as especially important and asked for the original scope statements. When state officials declined, the groups filed a request under the state open records law. After the groups received the documents, they shared them with reporters. This is just another example of DNRs authority being cut back, Clean Wisconsin attorney Elizabeth Wheeler said. They really need to have all their tools available to them to perform the core function of protecting water quality. DNR policy and public outreach manager Russ Rasmussen said the department narrowed the plans in the hope that remaining rule changes may be adopted sooner with fewer objections. It could add years to the process, Rasmussen said of opposition to the original rule package. Rather than do that, the decision was made to separate them out. That doesnt mean we wont do the manure (spray) irrigation later. If there are no delays or sustained objections, the remaining rule-making could be done in time for consideration by the Legislature as early as 2018, Rasmussen said. Holevoet said it wont be clear if the Dairy Business Association opposes the rules until details are known. Fast track suggested Environmental advocates said they were also disappointed that the DNR wasnt using its emergency rule-making powers to move more quickly in recognition of the urgency of drinking water contamination problems. This is and has been a drinking water emergency for some time now, said Sarah Geers, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates. They should recognize that its the emergency that it is. In Kewaunee County, voluntary water testing dating back to 2004 has found 30 percent or more of tested wells with unsafe levels of hazardous materials associated with animal waste. The DNR has used the faster emergency rules process for changes that were friendly to industry, Geers said. In this case, Rasmussen said, the department isnt using emergency powers because that would require reapproval by legislators and the governor every six months until the permanent rule was adopted, and theres no guarantee reapproval would be granted. And if there was opposition to using the faster track, the whole process could be stalled before it started, Rasmussen said. You can draw your own conclusions on how the Dairy Business Association would weigh in, Rasmussen said. Rasmussen said farmers and operators of large animal feedlots in Kewaunee County have been asked to voluntarily adopt new spreading standards while the rule is being written. Some farmers have disputed whether cows were the source of tainted well water. But many other possible sources have been eliminated and a new round of random testing last year suggested manure is the source. In 2014, six organizations petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for emergency action to ensure safe drinking water for Kewaunee County. Last year, the DNR and EPA convened work groups. In June, the groups made a series of recommendations, including tighter restrictions on manure-spreading. Those recommendations are referenced in the scope statement approved by Walker, but not a statement about their urgency that was included in the original version. The original scope statements also called for rules aimed at preventing people from being infected by pathogens in liquid manure that is sprayed onto fields. Regulations on equipment and setbacks from homes were to be based on a first-of-its kind study completed in April by a group led by UW-Madison scientists. The governors office shared the scope statements with representatives for the state Dairy Business Association, Farm Bureau, Independent Business Association, and industry associations for cattlemen, pork producers, and growers of soybeans, cranberries and potatoes and vegetables, Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said. When scope statements come to the office of the governor, staff will share these with the regulated entities to get feedback as part of the rulemaking process, Evenson said. State and local election officials are bracing for another round of voter confusion after two federal judges struck down several voting-related laws recently. Neither ruling will affect next weeks fall primary election, but they have potentially wide-ranging implications on the November vote for president, U.S. Senate and state legislative races, said Michael Haas, the states top elections administrator. Our main message at this point is that people understand that nothing changes these rules for the August election, Haas said. We, as well as the municipal clerks, will be doing our best to educate voters after the primary and as soon as we can. Municipal clerks are awaiting more information from the state Elections Commission and legal advice on whether the court decisions are likely to stick. If they do, voters could see expanded days, hours and locations for early voting, and the small number of voters who lack a photo ID would be less likely to be turned away at the polls. On July 19, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled that anyone without a valid photo ID could sign an affidavit at his or her polling place in order to vote in November. Then on Friday, U.S. District Judge James Peterson struck down a raft of laws Republicans have passed since 2010 that have limited early voting to weekdays between certain hours at one location per municipality, upped residency requirements from 10 to 28 days and prohibited the use of expired student IDs for purposes of proving ones identity. Haas noted that neither ruling negates the requirement that voters present a photo ID at the polls in November. That law has been upheld by a federal court, though in response to a separate motion as part of that case, Adelman ruled that an affidavit option must be available for voters starting in November. The state Department of Justice plans to appeal both rulings and ask for a stay of the decisions. On Monday, DOJ filed an emergency motion seeking a stay of Adelmans decision to avoid subjecting the state and the public to substantial and irreparable harm. Republicans have called Petersons decision an infringement on states rights by an activist judge. Both judges were appointed by Democratic presidents. Haas said he hopes the appeals court will rule on a stay soon so that elections officials can have clarity heading into the general election. He expects the primary results will be certified by Aug. 24. Federal and state laws allow absentee ballots to be issued starting Sept. 22. DOJ spokesman Johnny Koremenos said given Petersons decision, municipalities are free to move forward to comply with the order. But he cautioned that the states appeal is likely to prevail. The law is very much in flux, therefore any changes made by local governments to comply with Judge Petersons decision at this time may need to be halted if the court of appeals were to stay some or all of his order, Koremenos said. Given the current composition of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and a recent decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidating similar laws in North Carolina, its possible the recent Wisconsin court rulings will be upheld, said UW-Madison law professor Robert Yablon. A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit upheld Wisconsins voter ID law in a previous case, but the full 7th Circuit rejected a request for the entire court to hear the matter on a 5-5 vote. One of the judges opposing that motion has since retired, making it possible the full court will hear both the Adelman and Peterson cases. Yablon noted that while the district judges were bound by the 7th Circuits voter ID ruling, the full 7th Circuit could decide to take up the issue again and invalidate Wisconsins voter ID law entirely. Going up to the 7th Circuit presents some risks and opportunities for both sides, Yablon said. The plaintiffs have a pretty good chance of at least keeping on appeal what theyve already gotten, just based on where the numbers stand in the appellate courts. Under the law that Peterson struck down, in-person absentee voting, an increasingly popular option in Madison and Milwaukee, was limited to weekdays in the two weeks before an election between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Level playing field When they passed the law, Republican lawmakers said it created a level playing field for smaller municipalities that dont have the staff or resources to offer early voting on weekends. Democrats said it was a blatant attempt to suppress Democratic constituencies in large urban areas. New York University Law School professor Samuel Issacharoff, a federal election law expert, said attempts to curtail early voting hours have been struck down in other states. Such laws tend to block so-called souls to the polls voter drives, in which primarily black, urban voters who tend to vote Democratic take buses after church on Sunday to early voting locations. Courts have been very skeptical of attempts to influence an election by manipulating the voter rolls, Issacharoff said. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said his office was prepared to handle the impact of Adelmans ruling, but Petersons ruling dramatically changes what happens across the city and the county. McDonell said he anticipates Madison will extend the hours for early voting for the November election, including on the weekends. He also expects there will be additional locations to facilitate voting, particularly on UW-Madisons campus. But any changes will require advance planning, he said. Weve got to make decisions now, McDonell said. Youve got to hire, youve got to train, youve got to print materials. All of these things are going to be going on in August. Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl did not respond to a request for comment. Milwaukee Election Commission executive director Neil Albrecht hailed Petersons ruling as very positive because during the April primary, when photo ID was reinstated after being on hold for years because of court challenges, there were hundreds of disproportionately minority and low-income voters turned away. Access to voting should be given the same level of scrutiny as purported efforts to prevent fraud, Albrecht said. The restrictions to early voting were troubling in their intent and very problematic to voters. Albrecht said his current focus is to work with state and local officials to provide clear information to the public on voting access requirements. Wood County Clerk Cindy Cepress, president of the Wisconsin County Clerks Association, said clerks across the state are awaiting guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Cepress said shes not aware of any widespread disenfranchisement of voters in rural parts of the state akin to what Albrecht described happened in Milwaukee. But she agreed there has been confusion about the law. Ive been doing this for 14 years and the only thing constant in these 14 years is, its been one change after another, Cepress said. I can see that voters dont know which way to turn. They dont know whats currently in effect. Its very difficult to overcome the misinformation that happens out there. BROOKINGS, S.D. Swaths of Midwestern wildflowers planted by well-meaning governments and nonprofits to attract bees may be inadvertently harming them. Thats the surprising finding of a new scientific study that concludes a bee-killing pesticide carried by wind or water from nearby farms is landing on the wildflowers, putting pollinators at risk. Scientists spent two years examining wildflower plots planted around Brookings. Testing for the presence of clothianidin, a neonicotinoid insecticide commonly used in corn growing, they consistently found the insecticide on the wildflowers even in those planted on organic farms where no pesticides are used. I was actually really surprised because we were using organic sites as control sites. We certainly werent expecting to see any there, said entomologist Chrissy Mogren. Organic growers have to have a 30-foot buffer between their field and other conventional fields to help mitigate that. We can only assume that its probably drifting in. Bees pollinate most of the fruits and vegetables we eat, so the fragile health of bee colonies has been a major concern. Honey bees have been dying this decade at a rate experts call unsustainable. Last year Minnesota beekeepers reported losing half of their bee colonies. Experts say bees are in trouble for many reasons, including rapidly spreading diseases, not enough flowering plants on the landscape to provide adequate nutrition, and increasing use of insecticides on crops, which is why the South Dakota research is important. Mogren, a Louisiana State University scientist who conducted the bee research while working for the United States Department of Agriculture, also gathered data on the health of the bees feeding on the wildflower strips. She tested the pollen and nectar bees use for food and found very low levels of insecticide. While it wasnt concentrated enough to kill the bees, researchers found it was potentially damaging to the creatures nutritional health. The more insecticide in the bee food, the less energy bees stored in the form of glycogen and lipids. Glycogen provides short-term energy, like a candy bar after a workout. Lipids are like body fat, providing long term energy. Bees need adequate lipids to survive winter. The work raises questions about efforts to plant more habitat for bees, said study co-author Jonathan Lundgren. If those efforts are being compromised by some of these pesticides showing up where they dont belong, that has really important implications for how we can proceed forward, said Lundgren, a former USDA scientist who believes the department retaliated against him for his prior research on pollinators and insecticides. Its not just plant it and see the benefits of it anymore, he added. Its how do we preserve those plantings from potential contamination. Still, the researchers say the findings do not mean farmers should stop planting pollinator habitat. Instead, they should look for ways to protect the wildflowers from insecticide exposure, Mogren said. She also noted that the findings that tie insecticide exposure to nutritional health dont necessarily prove insecticides are the cause and that more research is needed. Results of nitrogen management trials, current season plots, the updated U of M nitrogen rate guidelines for corn, and yield monitor use are the focus of a field day to be held near Eyota from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16. University of Minnesota Extension along with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture have been conducting on-farm nitrogen management plots in the region for multiple years through the MDAs Southeast Minnesota Nitrogen BMP Outreach Program. Jake Overgaard, U of M Extension, and Dawn Bernau, MDA, will give an update on research results for the area in addition to a focus on the multi-year plot onsite. University of Minnesota recently updated its recommended nitrogen rates for corn. Greg Klinger, U of M Extension, will give an update on what the new rates are and why theyve been adjusted. Do you know how to calibrate your yield monitor correctly? How can you use the data? Ryan Miller, U of M Extension, will help you get ready for harvest by going over the basics of yield monitor use and how to use the data in your crop management decisions. The field day will be held on the farm of Dan Brandt, 10801 10th St SE in Eyota. Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. and the program concludes at 2 p.m. Lunch will be served at noon. The program will be held outdoors and some walking will be involved. Pre-registration is preferred, but not required. Do so by calling Winona County Extension at 507-457-6440 or emailing Jake Overgaard, over0128@umn.edu. In the event of bad weather, call the farm information line for cancellation info at 1-800-232-9077. The soybean aphid has been a significant pest for U.S. soybean producers since the early 2000s. There is no controversy over whether or not the soybean aphid reduces yield. But there are different opinions on how producers should manage this pest. When making agricultural management decisions, for soybean aphids or otherwise, it is always important to critically consider your sources of information. A group of experts from our regional land-grant universities recently published an article that addresses the science behind the soybean aphid control recommendations they make. Here, I will cover some of the critical topics covered in that article. Soybean aphids feed on soybeans by piercing plant parts and removing material from the phloem, often referred to as sap. Soybean aphids do not cause direct yield loss when the first five or 10 aphids begin feeding on a plant. It requires several thousand of what are referred to as aphid-days to cause measureable yield loss. Aphid-days are calculated by multiplying the average number of aphids on a plant by the number of days those aphids are present. So if there were five aphids on a plant for 20 days that would be 100 aphid-days. The lowest level of aphid infestation that causes measurable yield loss is called the damage boundary. When insect populations are below the damage boundary and are not increasing, no management efforts directed at aphid control can provide a return on investment. The high insect population that producers need to avoid is called the economic injury level. This is the insect population at which economic loss from aphid damage is equal to the cost of a management action. To prevent aphid populations from reaching the economic injury level, producers need to take action at what is called the economic threshold. The University of Minnesota recommends that the economic threshold for soybean aphids be 250 soybean aphids per plant, with more than 80 percent of plants infested and aphid populations increasing. The aphid population for this recommendation is well below that of the economic injury level and below the damage boundary population. Since this threshold was first developed and published, no published and peer-reviewed data has shown conclusions that refute that threshold. Why is it so important that farm managers understand these recommendations? Most insecticides used to control aphids are not specific to soybean aphids. This means they kill the beneficial insects along with the pests. Beneficial insects have the potential to control aphid populations well enough that producers would never need to apply costly management practices. In addition, overuse of insecticides can lead to accelerated rates of insecticide resistance development. There are a relatively small number of insecticides that are effective against soybean aphids. Development of insecticide resistance in any of these could cause significant difficulties for soybean growers in the future. Please remember that the recommendations that come from the University of Minnesota and other land-grant universities are backed by a rigorous scientific process. They are not based off feelings or hunches. I highly encourage those who are interested to read the full published piece, Just the facts: A review of the biology and economics behind soybean aphid insecticide recommendations. It can be found at http://extension.umn.edu/agriculture/soybean/pest/soybean-aphid/soybean-aphid-biology-and-econimics/. Michael Cruse is an extension educator for Houston and Fillmore counties. iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- An FBI employee has been arrested in New York for allegedly lying about secret work for Chinese businessmen and government officials, according to charging documents filed in the case unsealed Monday. Kun Shan Chun -- or "Joey" Chun -- pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to one count of illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government. He had been working for the FBI's New York Field office as an electronics technician since 1997, but he was quietly arrested in March after his own office sent an undercover agent to meet with him and record their conversations, according to the charging documents. Since at least 2006, according to the FBI, Chun and some of his family members maintained close ties with at least one person he "understood to be affiliated with the Chinese government" and multiple businessmen tied to Kolion, a manufacturer of printer products in China. These associates demanded Chun advise them on technology matters and conduct research for them -- in exchange for regular payments and, sometimes, even prostitutes, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City. As recently as last summer, Chun allegedly met with some of these Chinese associates in Europe. But months earlier, the FBI had sent in an undercover agent, who told Chun he was a Chinese-born U.S. citizen working as a private contractor for the Department of Defense. Chun allegedly told the undercover agent he wanted everyone to develop a "consulting" relationship, and Chun allegedly expressed desire to pass sensitive U.S. government info to these associates, including people associated with the Chinese government. In March, Chun was charged under seal with several federal offenses, most accusing him of lying to federal authorities and failing to disclose his relationships with certain Chinese nationals during a 2012 background investigation for a top security clearance. In October 2015, he acknowledged in a recorded conversation with the undercover agent that he had broken the law, saying, "I lied, I reported certain people [but] not everybody." Illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government, which Chun pleaded guilty to on Monday, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Chun was born in China in 1969, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985, according to court documents. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. August has barely started, and summer remains in full swing across the country. Students returning to classes Aug 10 and Aug 15 across Florida School start dates about two weeks early this year in Bay area and Central Florida Multiple districts approved earlier start dates for multiple reasons, including ending year before Memorial Day Back to school 2016-17 But in the Bay area, many parents and students are getting ready to head back to school. But the return to classes about two weeks earlier this year has caught many off guard, leaving plenty to ask why? The reason is because last fall state lawmakers removed a mandate that school systems could not start classes sooner than two weeks before Labor Day. Multiple school districts had previously asked for the change. The problem, according to some school officials, has been that the late August start pushes the end of the first semester of the school year past the winter break. The idea of a smoother, uninterrupted first semester led several districts to opt for the Aug. 10 school start this year. In addition to Pinellas and Hillsborough, students will return to school Aug. 10 in Citrus, Hernando and Manatee counties. Students in Pasco and Polk head back to school Aug. 15. Across Florida, 40 of the 67 school districts are heading back on the earlier date. In Central Florida, Orange and Volusia opted for the later (Aug. 15 start) while Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Osceola, Seminole and Sumter begin classes Aug. 10. Districts with the earlier start date will see the school year end before Memorial Day next year. The later starts will end their year the first week of June. The earlier end date was another selling point for some school officials as the year ended before the major holiday and evened out school days per quarters. Still, there were plenty of complaints from school officials, to parents and students and even down to the rumblings from the state's tourism board that groussed the earlier school start could put a dent in late summer tourism dollars. All those issues were weighed, school officials said, before the majority of districts voted on the new, earlier dates. In all, it added up to school bells ringing two weeks earlier across Florida. But on the brighter side, students and parents will have a fuller break next summer. The case of a former Turkey Creek Middle School teacher accused of having a sex with a 15-year-old student will not go to trial. Former middle school teacher takes plea deal in student sex case Victim was a student Megan Connors, of Brandon, accepted a plea deal Monday. She received five years in Florida state prison, two years of community control (GPS monitoring), followed by 15 years probation. Connors was arrested and charged with sexual battery, lewd and lascivious battery and lewd conduct in February 2015. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Connors established a relationship with the teenager, who was a student in her classroom. Deputies say the relationship turned physical with Connors having sex with the boy at the school during school hours and once in his bedroom. As part of the deal, Connors will also have to register as a sex offender. A St. Petersburg woman sought on an attempted murder warrant after police say she poured a boiling pot of hot soup on her boyfriend has been arrested. Tip leads to arrest of St. Pete woman Police say Misty Childs threw hot soup on boyfriend Lavont Moss still in hospital with severe burns According to St. Petersburg Police, Misty Childs, 41, threw the hot soup on her 46-year-old boyfriend, Lavont Moss, after an argument early Monday. Officers said the couple was arguing at 1123 13th Avenue South just after midnight when Moss went to bed. Police said Childs, who had been preparing a boiling pot of soup, took the hot liquid and poured it onto Moss' face and upper body as he was lying in bed. Childs then left the home. Moss was taken to a hospital, where he remains in critical condition with severe burns. Police say a tip led to Childs' arrest Tuesday afternoon at Queensboro Avenue South home in St. Petersburg. Childs is currently at the St. Petersburg Police Department being interviewed by detectives. She will then be taken to the Pinellas County Jail and booked on an attempted first-degree murder charge. The University of Tampa is now a smoke-free campus. University of Tampa goes smoke-free Includes cigarettes, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, hookahs, cigars Student organization Breathe-Easy UT worked to create policy University of Tampa smoke-free campus details When students return to campus in a few weeks, there will be no smoking permitted anywhere on UT property. University officials say they've worked since 2010 to make the entire 105-acre campus smoke-free. The smokeless status begins Monday and includes cigarettes, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, hookahs and cigars. A group of public health students initially pursued the goal six years ago. Smoking has been limited to designated zones on campus since 2013. Professors and school administrators joined in and conducted a study that looked at trends happening in higher education and discovered smoking was being banned at universities across the country. In fact, UT is one of the last universities in the Bay area to prohibit smoking. The University of South Florida banned smoking on its campuses earlier this year. Close to 2,000 colleges and universities have banned smoking. UT officials say that aside from the serious health consequences from smoking, many employers also are banning it, creating a need to make sure students are preparing as they head into the work world. "Im excited to see how the students react when they come back in the fall," Associate Dean of Wellness Gina Firth said. "They were aware of it when they left in the spring, but overall, we have really great support within our entire community." So what happens when someone ignores the order or doesn't see the signs? School officials said there will first be a warning. Further action will be taken for habitual offenders. The school also is offering various programs to help students and staff quit smoking in they choose to do so. One of the biggest talked about moments from last weeks Democratic National Convention still is the speech given by the father of a fallen Muslim-American Army captain. Donald Trump said he had a right to 'respond' to Khizr Khan's accusations against him GOP blasts Trump for his reaction The father criticized Donald Trump in his speech and the Republican presidential candidate responded by defending himself. While many people were moved by during Khizr Khan's speech about his son Army Capt. Humayan Khan who died in Baghdad in 2004, some parts of the speech didnt go over well with the former reality TV star. Many last week called the fathers speech powerful, as he shared a moving testimony about his son. At one point, Khan waved a copy of the Constitution in the air and questioned if Trump had read the document. But the real estate giant went on ABC News to defend himself against some of the accusations Khan made. Then went onto point out that his wife was silent duing the entire speech suggesting it was because of their religion. "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, plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet. And looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that, Trump said. Republicans are also responding to what Trump said. "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honored. Period, House Speaker Paul Ryan stated in a press release. Senator Lindsey Graham also firing back at Trumps statement. "There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics that you don't do like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you," he said. But Trump, not backing down, went to twitter to defend himself yet again. Ten more cases of locally-transmitted Zika have been found after a door-to-door survey of a small area in Miami-Dade County, the governor's office announced Monday, prompting a federal travel notice. 10 more cases of locally-transmitted Zika found Health officials found some after door-to-door survey So far, transmission area is in small area of Miami-Dade This brings the number of cases of locally-transmitted Zika to 14, the Florida Department of Health said. Two of the people are women and 12 are men. The health department thinks the active local transmissions are occurring in a small area of Miami-Dade and it's the only area of the state where the health department has confirmed there are ongoing local transmissions of Zika. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice for the area that said women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant should avoid unnecessary travel to the impacted area. Among the 10 new people with locally-acquired Zika, six are asymptomatic (not showing symptoms) and were found by the door-to-door survey being conducted by the state health department. Since the health department began its investigation into possible local transmissions of Zika on July 7, more than 200 people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been tested for the virus who live or work near the people who have already been confirmed with likely mosquito-borne transmissions. Gov. Rick Scott called upon the CDC to activate a CDC Emergency Response Team to assist the health department in its investigation, sample collection and mosquito control efforts. While we continue to learn more about this virus each day, we know that it is most harmful to pregnant women and their babies. For women who live or work in the impacted area and are either pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika prevention kit," Scott said in a statement. Akshay Kumar refused to be drawn into a controversy over veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah's comments on his father-in-law Rajesh Khanna. A few days ago, Shah set off quite the row after he said Khanna was a "poor actor" who ushered in an era of mediocrity in Indian cinema. Khanna's daughter Twinkle had immediately taken to Twitter, telling Shah: "Sir if you cant respect the living, respect the dead. Mediocrity is attacking a man who cant respond. Twinkle's mother Dimple Kapadia was also asked about the issue. I just want to say that while I understand that everyone has the right to their own opinion, the mans career and legacy speak for him. I dont need to over-emphasise his (Khanna's) accomplishments or what he has done for Hindi cinema. You know them, I know them, millions of his fans know them as well, she told DNA. Akshay was asked for his reaction to Shah's comments at a press event on Monday, but declined to elaborate on it, saying that the matter had ended for their family after Naseeruddin Shah had apologised. Its okay. Everything is finished. He apologised. So everything is over. Lets go ahead, Akshay said, reports The Indian Express. He added that people needed to move on from the controversy. Everything is over. If he apologised, all should be gracious enough to let it go, Akshay said. A correspondent with the Washington Post in India, Rama Lakshmi, in a Facebook post spoke out against Peepli Live director Mahmood Farooqui, who was convicted for a raping a woman from the US. A Delhi court on Saturday convicted Farooqui for raping a 35-year-old US-based woman, who had come down to India for research related work. According to reports, the woman told the police that she was raped by Farooqi at his South Delhi residence on 28 March, 2015. Rama Lakshmi, who knows both the survivor and Farooqui, in this deeply-personal and poignant post, describes the anguish of the rape survivor: Two days after the incident occurred, the survivor messaged me and asked to meet. I was in my office. I did not know what it was about. She came over and she narrated the entire incident for two hours in tears, anger, shock and loathing. She had been friends with Mahmood Farooqui and his wife. She had met Mahmood Farooqui for help with her research work in Gorakhpur (Mahmood Farooqui hails from that place). Lakshmi goes on to describe the day when the survivor came to her to talk about the incident: She met me that day not because I am a journalist. But as a woman-friend. In her narration to me, there was a lot of shock and disbelief over what he had done to her. She wrote an email to him telling him what he did to her was wrong, and that he should know he cannot go through life doing this to other women. He replied to her email with a short apology. Adding that silence is never a choice, Lakshmi further said that that the survivor just wanted to act against a heinous crime. She was not out to get revenge. The survivor did not think about the outcome of the trial. She is not out to get revenge or send him to jail for x number of years. Her impulse behind filing the FIR was simple she had to act. Silence was not a choice. She wanted to believe in the law and the system. And by that mere act of believing in the system, she moved the battle forward not just for so many other women like us but for her own path to internal recovery. She reclaimed some of her own sense of who she was. Lakshmi, in the post, questioned how a "socially and intellectually influential" and a "learned" man as Farooqui could do something like this. Mahmood Farooqui is socially and intellectually influential. He enacts stage performances about injustice, human rights and gender. He is a Rhodes scholar. How can such a learned man ever do this, many asked. Others said: She knew him, they were close friends. How can it be rape? As if education and familiarity negates the act of rape automatically. 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. Domestic airlines reported flying 47.6 million passengers during the first six months of the current year (January-June), an increase of 22 percent from January-June 2015, according to data released on July 26, 2016 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation IndiGo, the leading private carrier, flew the maximum passengers during the first six months 17.9 million and had the largest market share of nearly 38 percent. Jet Airways and Air India had market shares of 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation; 2015 In 2016, the largest number of complaints (273) was made about the domestic flights of Air India followed by Jet Airways+JetLite (203) and IndiGo (104). More than 50,000 passengers were affected by flight delays; compensation and facilities provided to them were valued at Rs 5,700,000. Vistara, the new airlines from the house of Tata and Singapore Airlines, reported the best on-time performance at the four metros: Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation; *operations of Go Air only at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru Chandigarh - Domestic budget airlines IndiGo on Sunday announced direct flights from the city to Dubai, starting September, a year after the inauguration of a new terminal at the Chandigarh International Airport. The city is all set to get on the international aviation map with the announcement. IndiGo will launch its new daily non-stop flights between Chandigarh and Dubai, starting 26 September, the Gurgaon-based carrier said in a release. It has also announced special all-inclusive return fare of Rs 9,999 for its maiden international flight, which is up for booking from Sunday. "We are very excited about the new launch from Chandigarh to Dubai. Chandigarh has been a promising market for us at IndiGo. We are excited to provide an international connection from Chandigarh which has been a long standing request from the people of city," IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said in the release. The new terminal at the Chandigarh International Airport, constructed with an investment of Rs 939 crore, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 September last year. The terminal is being operated and maintained by Chandigarh International Airport Ltd (CHIAL), a joint venture firm between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the governments of Punjab and Haryana. AAI holds 51 per cent stake in CHIAL while Punjab and Haryana have 24.5 per cent equity each. The largest airline by domestic market share, IndiGo, currently operates 812 flights per day to 40 destinations with a fleet of 110 Airbus A320 aircraft. IndiGo had commenced its international operations in September 2011. The two units of India's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), which is being implemented with strong safety enhancement requirement, can withstand an energy accident like the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011 in Japan, a Russian nuclear industry official has said. In an interview to The Hindu, Vladimir Angelov, director of projects for the ASE group of companies in India, said, "We analysed the basic technical design of Units 1 and 2 in terms of the lessons from Fukushima. We came to the conclusion that they would have withstood a Fukushima-like incident." In addition to the successful implementation of two units, the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, the Indo-Russia nuclear cooperation, will construct six units of VVER-1000 light-water reactors at Kudankulam, The Hindu reported. Local anti-nuclear activists like S P Udayakumar dub the reactors at Kudankulam as "unsafe" and call them a huge risk for the people living around the giant reactors. The fairly affluent fisher folk who inhabit the village closest to the nuclear reactors called Idinthakarai erupted against the establishment of the atomic reactors in their backyard and forced the plant authorities to delay the start of the reactors. Even as Russia's nuclear official claims to have undertaken stringent safety measures to avoid any disaster in future, the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat has remained shut for nearly four months after a leak in the nuclear island of the reactor forced an emergency shut down of a fully operating plant, a PTI report said in mid July. The development has resulted in farming suspicion about the safety of nuclear power plants in general. The bigger headache for the Indian nuclear engineers is that even after several months of investigation the exact reason why the 'leak' took place remains a mystery. According to AERB, preliminary investigation have revealed that "the failed coolant channel is seen to have three cracks... the leaky coolant channel is yet to be removed from the reactor for detailed failure analysis and establishing the causes. The Russian officials comments to The Hindu assumes significance in this context. For Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), the two units of Kudankulam project are expected to contribute handsomely to its top line and bottom line. The first unit experienced several hiccups since starting commercial production in December 2014 but seems to have stabilised now, generating about 940 MW daily on an average, a report in IANS in early July had said. The first unit supplies power to Tamil Nadu (562.5 MW), Puducherry (33.5 MW), Kerala (133 MW), Karnataka (221 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (50 MW). The total outlay on the two units of Kudankulam project has been over Rs 17,000 crore. Once the second unit at Kudankulam starts power generation to its full capacity, the total atomic power capacity in Tamil Nadu would go up to 2,440 MW. Already, the NPCIL has two 220 MW units at Kalkpakkam near here under its Madras Atomic Power Station. With agency inputs New Delhi - The government is scheduled to move in the Lok Sabha on Monday an amended bill to strengthen the debt recovery laws with an objective to improve the ease of doing business in the country. Introduced in the Lok Sabha in May, the bill seeks to amend four legislations -- Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Sarfaesi) Act, 2002, the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 and the Depositories Act, 1996. Following the introduction, the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 2016 was referred to a Parliamentary Joint Committee. Here are the key facts you need to know about the bill: What are the salient features of the Bill? Take possession of collateral: According to PRS Legislative, the SARFAESI Act allows secured creditors to take possession over a collateral, against which a loan had been provided, upon a default in repayment. This process is undertaken with the assistance of the district magistrate, and does not require the intervention of courts or tribunals. The Bill provides that this process will have to be completed within 30 days by the district magistrate. It accords the magistrate power to help banks take over the management of a company, in case it is unable to repay loans. This will be done in case the banks convert their outstanding debt into equity shares, and consequently hold a stake of 51 percent or more in the company. Central registry: PRS says the Act creates a central registry to maintain records of transactions related to secured assets. The Bill creates a central database to integrate records of property registered under various registration systems with this central registry. This includes integration of registrations made under Companies Act 2013, Registration Act 1908 and Motor Vehicles Act 1988. The Bill provides that secured creditors will not be able to take possession over the collateral unless it is registered with the central registry. Further, these creditors, after registration of security interest, will have priority over others in repayment of dues. Power for RBI: The Act empowers the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to examine the statements and any information of Asset Reconstruction Companies related to their business. The Bill further empowers the RBI to carry out audit and inspection of these companies. The RBI may penalise a company if the company fails to comply with any directions issued by it, says PRS. Amendments to the RDDBFI Act: The RDDBFI Act established Debt Recovery Tribunals and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals. The Bill increases the retirement age of Presiding Officers of Debt Recovery Tribunals from 62 years to 65 years. Further, it increases the retirement age of Chairpersons of Appellate Tribunals from 65 years to 67 years. It also makes Presiding Officers and Chairpersons eligible for reappointment to their positions. The Act provides that banks and financial institutions will be required to file cases in tribunals having jurisdiction over the defendants area of residence or business. The Bill allows banks to file cases in tribunals having jurisdiction over the area of bank branch where the debt is pending. The Bill provides that certain procedures under the Act will be undertaken in electronic form. These include presentation of claims by parties and summons issued by tribunals under the Act. The Bill provides further details of procedures that the tribunals will follow in case of debt recovery proceedings. This includes the requirement of applicants to specify the assets of the borrower, which have been collateralised. The Bill also prescribes time limits for the completion of some of these procedures. Why is the Act important? The government has come up with this legislation at a time when there is mounting concerns over loan recovery in view of stressed assets to the tune of over Rs 8 lakh crore in the banking system. Around 70,000 cases involving more than Rs 5 lakh crore are pending in Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT) and the proposed amendments would facilitate expeditious disposal of recovery applications. According to minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar, 27 public sector banks (PSBs), which constitute 70 percent of Indias banking sector, have written off Rs 59,547 crore in fiscal year ended March 2016. These are the cases where banks have thoroughly failed to make any recovery from the borrowers, largely corporate clients. In the last three years (FY13, 14 and 15) banks had together written off Rs 1.14 lakh crore. What this also means is so much of depositors money has vanished in thin air. This act will help banks to step up their recovery efforts, in turn saving taxpayers' money. With PTI The first rumbles in the toothpaste market are being felt with a well known oral care brand, Colgate deciding to come out with a herbal variant. The Economic Times reported that multinational giant Colgate Palmolive is ready with a herbal variant, Cibaca Vedshakti, "an indigenous brand", to counter Baba Ramdevs ayurvedic toothpaste, Dant Kanti. What really made a multinational company that has firmly ingrained itself in the India terra firma for over eight decades to come out with a toothpaste that it claims is an ayurvedic variant now? Firstpost spoke to brand specialists to find out what does this fledgeling brand have that forced an established MNC to come out with a new product to face the competition. Baba Ramdevs Patanjali has almost 444 products, including 45 types of cosmetic products and 30 types of food products, according to his company website. The route to success that Baba Ramdev took has been slow and deliberate. He started out with his television shows where his body contortions and vishesh tippanis (tips) got viewers establish a connect with him. And most of these tips were simple easy-to-do remedies. For instance, rubbing your nails together for hair growth, or juicing vegetables - like bottle gourd - that one would not give a second glance to for good health. Baba Ramdev made its effects known without hype or any claim other than it being an ayurveda recipe. He is an evangelist but a very good one, says Alpana Parida, Managing Director, DY Works, a Mumbai-based brand strategy and brand design firm. Earlier, no one talked of ayurveda or managing illness in a holistic way the way he has and that is where his strength lies, Parida said. Ayurveda was not a new word for gen-next Indians. It is a word bandied about for years by brands to differentiate themselves in the crowded marketplace. There are some Indian companies that have touted ayurveda as their differentiator. However, they have not been able to cut the competition apart. Many home-grown brands were able to limp a bit clutching on to ayurveda as a differentiator but soon were trampled in the dust raised by the MNCs. Patanjali toothpaste Dant Kanti sales are estimated at Rs 450 crore, the ET report stated, and has been able to brush off 1.5 percent of Colgate share in the dental care market. Harish Bijoor, Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, says that when the MNCs rode into the country with their dental care products, they were chemical concoctions which helped form habits in people. When the consumers got bored of the products, then the subtle variations kicked in. Like fluoride toothpastes, for instance. But they all were in the realm of chemicals. Some came in later with Indian variants like neem, tooth powder, etc but they did not catch the attention of consumers like Baba Ramdevs products did. Baba Ramdev scored by pulling out the ayurvedic card and made it seem he was privy to some secrets with his deep knowledge of the branch of Indian medicine, says Santosh Desai, Managing Director and CEO, Future Brands. The idea is that if consumers are open to variants then they are open to ayurveda variants, too. If anyone believes they can compete with Baba Ramdev on this front then they are being optimistic, says Desai. Another area that Baba Ramdev scores is with his not in-the-face advertising. There are countless franchisees in small towns and villages with the smiling face of Baba Ramdev that sells his products exclusively. It is his strong distribution network that has helped, says Alpana. You get the product from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu to the known markets in Haridwar and Rishikesh to a small out-of-the way area in a village in the interiors of Maharashtra. The distribution network is only 4 percent of the total market category. He has worked up the MNCs with only 4 percent of the distribution network. Just think what would happen if Baba Ramdev were to double this to 8 percent, says Bijoor. It was only a matter of time that the saturation in the Indian market led consumers to accept a different player. When that player was known through TV channels in their homes, the offerings became believable. Also, word-of-mouth publicity after using the products have also helped. The difference in pricing alone cannot be a major contributor to the acceptance of a product, points out Dham. That cant be the reason for Patanjali Ayuved's Dant Kanti to displace 16 well-known brands in the market, says Bijoor. Bijoor says that the biggest gainer in the branding game has been Patanjali Ayurvedas entry without making a big noise in the brand marketplace. The grassroots level market placement of the product was a brilliant idea. You place a product in a hole in the wall and then you come out with advertising which is rustic. It is that which worked and continues to. If Baba Ramdev resorts to glib, suave and slick advertising, he wont be able to make the impact he does now, believes Bijoor. Word-of-mouth publicity for the efficacy of Patanjali Ayurved products has led to repeat buys. The repeat buy is the fear factor for the MNCs, says Bijoor. He believes that competition has trifurcated from MNCs of yore to Indian MNCs like Dabur and ITC to a third formation with the rise of baba cool companies like Baba Ramdevs, Baba Rahims and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The Baba cool companies will take a chunk off each of the former two and be a real threat to both, says Bijoor. When MNCs respond to Baba Ramdev, like Colgate is doing now, it is a 'late' response, points out Desai. What they are doing, he says, is playing to a gallery that they are unfamiliar with unlike Baba Ramdev who knows it intimately. It is not a game of equals on the turf that Baba Ramdev is on, says Desai, adding that is a mistake that MNCs are committing when they get on to the ayurveda brandwagon. Which would be the case for Baba Ramdev too if he were to step into the space that the MNCs have been first movers of. Colgate may be the first mover now in the ayurvedic turf among the MNCs. Soon there might be others who will paint themselves with Indian colours. Or someone will come with fruit flavor variants of toothpastes. Who knows?! But it is not like Baba Ramdev will be able to outclass the competition in all the categories he is present in. He may have an advantage over malted drinks, biscuits, cookies but not in noodles, say some analysts. Noodles can't be ayurveda after all! The Railways will invest Rs 7,000 crore in the current fiscal (2016-17) to develop its network in the seven northeastern states, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Sunday. "In 2014-15, the railway ministry invested Rs 2,702 crore for (this purpose). In the current financial year, the investment will be more than Rs 7,000 crore," Prabhu said here after flagging off the Agartala-Delhi weekly passenger train service. "Northeast India is a priority area for the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally giving special emphasis for the all round development of the region," he said. "Increase of inter-state connectivity and connectivity between the region and the rest of the country are being given the highest priority. Available connectivity will boost the region's economy," Prabhu said. Bangladesh Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain and top officials of the Indian and Bangladesh governments were present at the flagging off ceremony at the Agartala railway station. Prabhu invited the Bangladesh railway minister to come to Delhi to discuss the increased railway connectivity between India and Bangladesh. "India is keen to increase railway connectivity with Bangladesh. If the facilities of the Chittagong port can be used, then trade and economy of both northeast India and Bangladesh will flourish," He added. The railway minister said that to boost tourism in northeast India, his ministry would sign an agreement with the state governments of the region to undertake specific joint tourism development projects. He said a passenger train between Agartala and Kolkata will start in August. Bangladesh Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had announced a revival of all the pre-1965 railway connectivity with India. "We want very close connectivity between our two friends (India and Bangladesh) and more closer people to people relations." Hoque, who came here on Sunday to attend the function, said Modi and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had agreed to help Bangladesh to curb terrorism in the country. Sarkar said: "Without the development of connectivity, how can industrialisation take place and boost the economy?" He said earlier Congress Prime Ministers, including the late Rajiv Gandhi, seriously neglected the demand for extension of railway network in Tripura. With just over a month left for his term coming to end at Mint Road, outgoing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has taken one of the key reform steps in the countrys banking sector by announcing final norms for on tap licensing or continuous licensing. In simple words, this means bank licensing process will no longer be a once-in-a-decade affair. It will be an ongoing process. From this point onwards, any eligible banking aspirant, individual or entity, can walk to the central bank with an application to start a full-service bank at any point. They dont need to wait for specific announcement from the RBI or government on a brief window for bank licensing like that happened in 1993, 2001 and later in 2013. In the first round, RBI gave ten permits, while two each in the second and third round. These include Kotak Mahindra and Yes Bank (2004) and later IDFC and Bandhan. Since 1990s, some of the private banks which got license, lost their race in the tough competition. They got eventually merged with other banks. A few examples are Bank of Rajasthan, Times Bank and Bank of Madura. With on-tap licensing comes in, the RBI, under Rajan, has initiated the biggest overhaul in Indias banking structure, after readying the structure for differentiated banking regime with the issuance of small finance banks and payments bank licences. If one sees the monetary policy structure reforms too along with this, Rajans governorship has witnessed an era of big reforms in Indias banking industry. But, the big highlight of on-tap licensing norm is that corporate biggies are out of the race already. The central banks final guidelines clearly say that large industrial houses are excluded as eligible entities but are permitted to invest in the banks up to 10 percent. This line immediately pours ice-cold water on the plans of corporate tycoons, who wants to wear the cap of a banker. The apex banks move is understandable since it has never favoured big corporations setting up banks since banks primarily deal with public money. Hence, the RBI doesnt want to take chances of private corporations misusing that money for related party lending. Having said that the RBI has permitted business houses to invest up to 10 percent in the new banks. The question here is can RBI ensure few corporations that do not act in concert to take indirect control of a bank. Also, the RBI permits the existing non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) that are controlled by residents and have a successful track record for at least 10 years applying for licence. So are individuals / professionals who are residents and have 10 years of experience in banking and finance. Also, private groups owned and controlled by residents and have a successful track record for at least 10 years. Such entities, with total assets of Rs 5,000 crore or more and non-financial business of the group not accounting for more than 40 percent of total income, can apply. The minimum entry capital set is Rs 500 crore. In short, the RBI primarily wants good NBFCs convert to full-service banks. A private group can apply if it is primarily into financial services business with good track record of a decade. The stringent norms would mean that only very few eligible candidates can throw their hat in the ring. Not surprising given the central bank always had an aversion to corporations setting up banks. In the last round, from the 25 candidates applied for full service bank licences, only two got the final permit IDFC and Bandhan. The others too can try their luck once the new regulation comes into place. For the yet-to-be banked in the hinterland of the country, this is good news since more banks would mean more competition, more reach that would lower the cost of services. The RBI has made it clear that new banks under the on-tap licensing mode cannot ignore the rural areas of the country by stipulating that at least 25 per cent of their branches should be in unbanked rural centres (population up to 9,999 as per the latest census) and they shall comply with the priority sector lending targets and sub-targets as applicable to the existing domestic scheduled commercial banks. Under the priority sector lending rules, a bank needs to lend at least 40 percent of their loans to economically weaker sections. Financial inclusion has been a big challenge for Indian banking sector even after decades of nationalisation of banks. The new set of universal banks and the small finance, payments banks will change this scene. But, all depends on how many licences the central bank chooses to give. With the RBI now opening the door for all eligible aspirants on a continuous basis, one gets an impression that so many new banks will now come to the picture. But that is unlikely given the stringent riders the RBI has set and the central banks aversion for too many banks. But, as mentioned earlier, the key takeaway from the guideline is that no big corporate house should dream of becoming a bank now, unless they can outsmart the regulator by acting in concert with interested parties. Mumbai: As the lenders and tax authorities cool their heels for Vijay Mallya to return to India, they will put under hammer next month assets worth over Rs 700 crore of the embattled businessman's long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The items waiting for the right bidders are plenty -- the erstwhile headquarters Kingfisher House near airport here; cars and office furniture; Mallya's plush personal jet along with everything inside that include cushy couches and even a bathrobe; Kingfisher Villa in Goa famous for parties hosted by Mallya; and numerous brands and trademarks including the famed 'Fly with Good Times'. This would be the second try by the lenders and tax authorities at auction of these assets as part of their efforts to recover thousands of crores worth outstanding dues, after the earlier attempt for each of these properties proved to be a damp squib. Mallya's personal jet is being put under hammer by the service tax department, while other properties will be auctioned by the lenders whose dues from long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines have ballooned to over Rs 9,000 crore including penal interest. For almost all the properties, the reserve price has been marked down after the earlier attempts failed to attract bidders. The 17-bank consortium, led by the State Bank of India, is re-auctioning Kingfisher House in Mumbai and the airlines' trademarks and brands, including the 'Kingfisher' logo. On August 4, the lenders will re-auction Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of the airline, at a lower reserve price of Rs 135 crore. In the initial attempt in March to sell the property with a built-up area of over 17,000 sq ft in plush Vile Parle area near domestic airport here, not a single bidder came forward at the then reserve price of Rs 150 crore. Banks have also put up some of the movable secured assets worth Rs 13.70 lakh lying at Kingfisher House for sale. These assets will be auctioned separately on August 25 by SBI Cap Trustee, which possesses these assets on behalf of the lenders. The items on sale would include eight cars--Toyota Innova, Honda City, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, among others. The reserve price of each car has been set differently in the range of Rs 90,000-2.50 lakh. These items will be sold on individual basis and not below the reserve price, according to a public notice put up by SBI Cap Trustee. In another second attempt, banks will auction brands and trademarks of Kingfisher Airlines including the Kingfisher logo as also the once-famous tagline 'Fly the Good Times' on August 25. The other trademarks on sale included Flying Models, Funliner, Fly Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device. The reserve price for auction of brands and trademarks has also been reduced to Rs 330.03 crore from Rs 366.70 crore earlier. In the heydays of Mallya-led group, the Kingfisher brand itself was valued at over Rs 4,000 crore by Grant Thornton when the airline was at its peak. In its annual report for 2012-13, KFA said that at it peak, it was the largest airline in the country with a five-star rating from Skytrax. The airline's brand had been registered separately from the Kingfisher beer trademarks. Banks will also soon auction Kingfisher Villa situated at Condolim, in north Goa, which they took possession from the group in May this year after a long legal battle. The date for the auction of Kingfisher Villa has not been announced so far, but it can also happen in August itself. According to sources, valuation process by the banks is underway for the Villa, which has come out to be around Rs 90 crore. Meanwhile, the service tax department will again auction the luxury personal jet of Mallya on August 18. In the earlier auction on June 30, the department had rejected the sole bid of Rs 1.09 crore offered by the United Arab Emirates-based aviation support firm Alna Aero Distributional Finance Holdings, against a reserve price of Rs 152 crore. The new pricing has not been announced yet by the Department but sources say it would also be lowered. MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Members of India's low-caste Dalit community in Gujarat state have pledged to boycott the dirty jobs traditionally thrust upon them in protest over their treatment by upper-caste Hindus, said activists for the marginalised group. Thousands of Dalits rallied on Sunday in the state capital Ahmedabad, blocking roads and attacking buses, local media reported. Unrest in the state erupted last month after four Dalit men in the city of Una were tied to a car, stripped and flogged by Hindu vigilantes, who accused them of skinning a cow, a revered animal for Hindus. "I urge all Dalits to discontinue the work of disposing dead animals ... (and) take a pledge of discontinuing the work of cleaning sewers," Jagdish Mevani, of a local Dalit rights group in Una, said at the rally. "We no longer wish to do this work and want the government to allot agricultural land to us, so we can live a respectable life," he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper. Landless Dalits are at the bottom of India's age-old social hierarchy, making them vulnerable to discrimination and attacks by upper-caste Hindus, including by hardline "gau rakshak" vigilantes who regard cows as sacred. The slaughter of cows is banned in most Indian states including Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dalits in the state have said they earn a livelihood from skinning cows and buffalos that die naturally. The vigilantes chase trucks transporting cattle and raid slaughter houses. Several people accused of eating beef have also been attacked, including a Muslim man who was beaten to death last year by a mob in a town near New Delhi. "What we observe in Gujarat is a measured outbreak against decades of impunity Dalits have suffered," said Paul Divakar, general secretary at the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights. "One cannot force unclean occupations on Dalits for centuries and then abuse and assault them for doing those very occupations," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Opposition parties have criticised the government for its handling of the protests, and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday said she would resign from her post. Caste-based discrimination was banned in India in 1955, but centuries-old attitudes persist and low-caste Indians still face prejudice in every sector, particularly in rural areas. Crimes against India's lower-caste communities rose by almost a fifth to 47,064 in 2014 from the previous year, according to national data. In Gujarat, crimes against lower-caste communities, including indigenous people, had a conviction rate about six times lower than the national average, according to IndiaSpend, which analysed data over a 10-year period. India has passed several laws to end manual scavenging - a euphemism for disposing of faeces from dry toilets and open drains by hand - which has long been a task carried out mostly Dalit women. Yet Dalit communities continue to face threats of violence, eviction and withholding of wages if they try to give up the practice, human rights groups say. (Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran, Editing by Ros Russell. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Patna: Opposition BJP on Monday supported demand for reservation of 80 percent of seats to Bihar natives in state jobs and admission in state-run professional colleges, while hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad for only making "statements" for political gain. "BJP is in favour of reservation of 80 per cent of seats in professional institutions and state jobs as mooted by RJD President Lalu Prasad and in principle supported by CM Nitish Kumar," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. "But, it seems both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are more interested in making statements in this regard for political grounds but not doing anything concrete on the ground," he said in his Legislative Council chamber. BJP state President and MLC Mangal Pandey and Rajneesh Kumar on Monday raised the issue in the Legislative Council. In reply to a question that the CM has asked the Centre to intervene on the issue of domicialry allegedly erupting in different parts of the country, Modi, leader of opposition in the state's Upper House, said, "The Centre has no role in such issues." Referring to Lalu Prasad's allegations that outside candidates were getting selected in interviews for the post of Assistant Professor conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) due to lack of domiciliary policy, the BJP leader said the state government was to blame for this. "Despite clear cut guidelines from the Centre that candidates having done PhD before 2009 are eligible for interview for the post of Assistant Professor, the Nitish Kumar government has not put it into practice," he said. State Education minister Ashok Choudhary had in fact assured the Legislative Council that PhDs completed before 2009 would be recognised in BPSC exam in the Budget session early this year, but still it had not come into practise and BPSC was carrying interviews in which 80 per cent of successful candidates were outsiders, he said. "More than 34,000 students of Bihar have their PhD before 2009 who are at loss because of Bihar government's apathy," he alleged. "Moreover, Lalu Prasad, who is now demanding 80 per cent reservation for Biharis had got students who have done their PhD before 2009 seeking his intervention, chased away from his house recently," Modi alleged. The former deputy chief minister asked the state government to stop the ongoing BPSC interview and follow the guideline recognising candidates who have done their PhDs before 2009. Jammu: As the protest by Kashmiri Pandit employees entered the 19th day, BJP on Monday expressed grave concern over their migration from the Valley and said that it will prepare a detailed report and will submit it to the Union government. "The party is deeply concerned over the migration of the employees (Kashmiri Pandits)," state BJP chief Sat Sharma said. He said that a Kashmir committee of BJP senior leaders is in regular touch with the employees who have migrated from Kashmir due to the turmoil there. "The team will prepare a detailed report and the same will be forwarded to the Union government to resolve the problems being faced by them due to their migration," Sharma said. Kashmiri Pandit workers employed with the government have refused to return to their jobs in the Valley after alleged stone pelting attacks on their transit camp. The employees, including women, continued their 'dharna' at the Relief Commissioners Office (RCO) today raising slogans against the state and central governments accusing them of "forsaking" the Pandit community. More than 1,600 displaced Kashmiri Hindu youths had been recruited under Prime Minister's Special employment package and posted in Kashmir voluntarily. Most of these employees escaped from Haal transit accommodation in Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara transit camps, Vessu and Mattan KP employees colonies in Anantnag district after the unrest began and managed to reach Jammu. Speaking to the protesters, All Party Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) Chairman, Vinood Pandit threatened to sit on indefinite fast unto death if the government failed to fulfill their demands. "We will take this agitation to New Delhi to wake up the central government over the threat and insecurity to KP employees in Kashmir. We are holding a protest demonstrations in the capital," Pandit said. Meanwhile, National Conference minority cell president M K Yogi, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference president Ravinder Raina, secretaries of AIKS Ashwani Bhat and Aryan Ramesh, Swami Kumar Ji from Geeta Satsang Ashram Muthi and vice president Kapal Mochan Trust (Shopian) Somnath Saraf have addressed to employees on the occasion and extended their full support and cooperation in their struggle. New Delhi: The NCW on Monday summoned a doctor who conducted medical examination of the minor victim in the Bulandshahr gangrape case for allegedly ill-treating her and asking "awkward" questions and also slammed police for not including sections of POCSO Act in the FIR. National Commission of Women Chairperson Kumarmangalam said that the family had told the NCW team, which met the victims in Bulandshahr, that when the girl was taken for a medical examination, "she was abused by the doctor, who asked her a number of awkward questions and berated her". "The FIR in the case did not have sections of POCSO act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer," she said. Despite being pointed out, the police is yet to include sections of POCSO act in the FIR, she said. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh told PTI POCSO Act has not yet been added in the FIR. Kumarmangalam said the NCW members were counselling the victims, as they were traumatised and had not been offered any such assistance by the UP Police. "Both the minor girl and her mother are severely traumatised. The police has not offered them any counselling, either clinical or psychiatric." NCW also alleged that the police initially did not allow their team to meet the two gangrape survivors. "We were to meet the victims in Noida but as soon as the police came to know about our plans they whisked them away to Bulandshahr. When our team reached Bulandshahr, for an hour they did not allow our members to meet them. We had to remind them that what they were doing was illegal," she added. Three persons have been arrested in the case. The gangrape occurred when the victims' car was stopped on NH91 by a group of dacoits when they were on their way to Shahjahanpur on Friday night. The women were dragged to a nearby field and gangraped while the family was robbed at gunpoint. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Monday asked the state government and police to take immediate steps to ensure that incidents like the Bulandshahr gangrape do not recur. "The state government and police need to follow their duties in ensuring that such incidents do not take place in the state," the governor said on the sidelines of a programme. "This is not the first incident...cases like this have been taking place at different places...there is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said, adding immediate steps are needed in this regard. The Governor however expressed satisfaction with the steps taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in rushing senior officials like the DGP of state police and principal secretary (home) to the scene of the crime. Late on Friday night, a group of bandits had waylaid a family, dragged a woman and her 13-year-old daughter out of their car, took them to a nearby field and raped them while the male members of the family were tied with ropes. The family was travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur when the incident occurred in Bulandshahr on NH-91. The friendship between terrorist Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and the Pakistani state is almost similar to the tale of a king who kept a monkey as his close aide. In the end, as the story goes, the stupid beast killed his friend with a sword while apparently trying to swat a fly disturbing the king's sleep. At the moment, it is apparent, the JuD chief is being reared by the deep state to serve its interests in Afghanistan and Kashmir. It is using him as a proxy to carry out terror strikes in Afghanistan and build up a separatist movement in Kashmir. On Monday, Saeed exceeded his brief when he called for a ban on Rajnath Singh's visit to Pakistan for the Saarc summit. Asking his government to cancel the Indian home minister's visit to Pakistan to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir, he warned of country-wide protests if Singh is allowed to attend the summit. Saeed's is obviously an attempt to act as Pakistan's legitimate leader, the moving force behind the country's India policy. His audacious ultimatum to both the governments India and Pakistan is a low-stakes gamble. The JuD chief knows that a) if India backs out, he becomes a hero, b) if Pakistan backs his demand, he gets credit for forcing it to act on Kashmir, and c) even if nothing happens, he positions himself as the face of the Kashmiri cause in Pakistan. To thwart his sinister plan, it is of course imperative for Singh to call Saeed's bluff and go ahead with the visit. If Pakistan buckles under Saeed's pressure, an unlikely scenario, it would become a butt of ridicule for allowing an outlawed organisation to frame its foreign policy. Also, it is unlikely Pakistanis care much for crazies like Saeed. His threat of countrywide protests is likely to remain just that--mere bombast. On July 19, Pakistan had given a call for observing a 'Black Day' in the country to support the Kashmiri cause. Its fate suggests Pakistanis have better things to do in life than obsess our a failed cause. India would clearly treat Saeed's threat as rants of a frustrated jihadi. But, Pakistan would do well to reconsider Saeed's raison d'etre as a non-state actor. At the risk of being labeled an anti-national by Indians, it can be argued that Saeed's meddling in Kashmir only harms Pakistan's cause. Back in the 80s, when Kashmir began to boil, Pakistan was misled by jihadists like Saeed, who suggested that the time was right to pump in money, weapons and terrorists into India. For several decades, Pakistan interfered in Kashmir, sponsored terror attacks and organised training camps for separatists. Its blatant interference in Kashmir only strengthened its reputation as an exporter of terror, a training ground for global jihadists. In the end, Pakistan ended up losing diplomatic support of even its allies, who gradually became uncomfortable with the idea of Pakistan being a jihadist haven. Pakistan should realise by now that it has done its best in pursuit of its six-decade old dream of annexing Kashmir. That's never going to happen. What it can do now is to resign to the reality of Kashmir being a problem between its people and the Indian state. Only by understanding this fact can it help the people of Kashmir. In fact, as many Pakistani liberals are arguing, the current crisis in Kashmir is a perfect opportunity for their government to shut down outlawed organisations that thrive on the pretext of destabilising India. As columnist Pervez Hoodbhoy argues in The Dawn, Pakistan can "make a virtue out of necessity by cracking down upon Kashmir-oriented militant groups still operating from its soil. Such groups have turned out to be a menace to Pakistans society and armed forces, apart from taking legitimacy away from those fighting Indian rule." Saeed is a relic of the Pakistani past where its dictators dreamt of beating India with the help of proxies. Saeed and his JuD are offshoots of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a globally banned terror organisation, raised by General Zia ul Haq in the 80s as a "reserve core" to fight India. Over the past decade, the snakes Pakistan had bred in its backyard have turned rogue, spreading most of their poison and mayhem within home land. India, on the other hand, has been able to push them out of its boundaries, making them just fringe players in Kashmir. Hafiz Saeed is aware of his growing irrelevance in Kashmir and, by extension, in his own country. By threatening the Indian home minister, he is just trying to regain prominence and publicity. Pakistan should be wary of the consequences of handing over a sword to a monkey. New Delhi: Congress on Sunday attacked Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar over his jibe against actor Aamir Khan, accusing BJP and RSS of "concerted conspiracy" to hound Dalits, minorities, writers, actors and whoever dissents against the Narendra Modi government. "RSS & Parrikarji want to teach everyone a lesson. Here's a lesson for you: hate is the preserve of the coward and it never wins," Congress Vice President Rahul gandhi said on Twitter. RSS & Parrikarji want to teach everyone a lesson. Here's a lesson for you: hate is the preserve of the coward and it never wins Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) July 31, 2016 "Shameful that @manoharparrikar threatens 'teaching a lesson' to 'actors', instead of training his guns elsewhere," Congress spokesperson Randeep S Surjewala said. Shameful that @manoharparrikar threatens 'teaching a lesson' to 'actors', instead of training his guns elsewhere. https://t.co/ZefclQh7r7 Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 He said it was a "shocking revelation" by Parrikar and showed that BJP and RSS supporters actively disrupted and sabotaged an online trading company on Aamir Khan issue. Shocking revelation by @manoharparrikar that BJP supporters actively disrupted, sabotaged Snapdeal on Aamir Khan issue. Scandalous! Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 "Scandalous," he tweeted questioning whether Parrikar's job is to protect India from external aggressors like Pakistan or threaten fellow countrymen. "@manoharparrikar's statement proves a concerted conspiracy to curb all dissent, hound Dalits & Minorities. Can this be the 'Raj Dharma'?," he tweeted. Is @manoharparrikar job to protect India from external aggressors like Pakistan or threaten fellow countrymen like actor Aamir Khan? Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 .@manoharparrikar's statement proves a concerted conspiracy to curb all dissent, hound Dalits & Minorities. Can this be the 'Raj Dharma'? Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 Later in a statement to the media, he alleged that Parrikar has "unknowingly" exposed the conspiracy through which BJP people targeted the online company, booked orders and cancelled in pursuance of a conspiracy to ensure that Aamir Khan was removed as its brand ambassador. He said the incident "now established that there is a concerted conspiracy against poor, the dalits, the minorities, artists, actors and anybody who dissents against Modi government". Parrikar had reportedly said anyone speaking against the country must be "taught a lesson" and had referred to alleged anti-national sloganeering at JNU earlier this year and remarks by an "actor" who "had said that his wife wants to live out of India". Khan had late last year spoken about a "sense of insecurity" resulting from increasing intolerance in the country, and mentioned his wife Kiran Rao's apprehensions about the future of their child in India. 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. Congress spokesperson Randeep S Surjewala said it was a "shocking revelation" by Parrikar and showed that BJP and RSS supporters actively disrupted and sabotaged an online trading company on Aamir Khan issue. Shocking revelation by @manoharparrikar that BJP supporters actively disrupted, sabotaged Snapdeal on Aamir Khan issue. Scandalous! Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 Is @manoharparrikar job to protect India from external aggressors like Pakistan or threaten fellow countrymen like actor Aamir Khan? Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 .@manoharparrikar's statement proves a concerted conspiracy to curb all dissent, hound Dalits & Minorities. Can this be the 'Raj Dharma'? Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 Later in a statement to the media, Surjewala alleged that Parrikar has "unknowingly" exposed the conspiracy through which BJP people targeted the online company, booked orders and cancelled in pursuance of a conspiracy to ensure that Aamir Khan was removed as its brand ambassador. He said the incident "now established that there is a concerted conspiracy against poor, the dalits, the minorities, artists, actors and anybody who dissents against Modi." Without naming Aamir, Parrikar had said his comments were "arrogant". "How does someone dare to talk about this country? If anyone speaks like this, he has to be taught the lesson of his life," he said yesterday at a function in Pune. New Delhi: A large number of Indian workers in Saudi Arabia who have lost their jobs and cannot even buy food due to severe financial hardship will be brought back home, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, asserting that not one of them will go hungry. In a statement in Parliament amid concerns by members in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said her deputy VK Singh is leaving for Saudi Arabia to oversee the evacuation process. She said the Indian embassy in the Gulf nation was running five camps to feed the affected people. "Not one worker of ours will go hungry. This is my assurance to the country through Parliament... We will bring all of them back to India," Swaraj said. Issues like logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of the workers who want to return to India will be worked out during Singh's visit. Official sources said approximately 10,000 Indian workers have been affected by the economic slowdown in the Gulf and the situation was "fluid and dynamic". They said the situation varied from company to company. Sources said 3,172 Indian workers in Riyadh have not been paid their salary dues for several months but are getting regular rations. Separately, 2,450 Indian workers belonging to the Saudi Oger Company are housed in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. Since 25 July, the company had stopped providing meals to the workers besides defaulting on their salaries, the sources said. The Indian Consulate in Jeddah, with the assistance of the diaspora, has provided rations to the workers which should be sufficient for the next 810 days, they said. The government, Swaraj said, was in touch with the foreign and labour offices in Saudi Arabia to ensure early evacuation of affected Indians. Swaraj noted that the law there does not permit an emergency exit visa without no objection certificate from the employers who, she said, have shut their factories and left the country, leaving these employees stranded. The government has requested the Saudi authorities to give them exit visas without NoC from employers and also urged it to clear the dues of workers who have not been paid for months, whenever they settle the accounts with the companies concerned. Swaraj said she recieved the last report at 2.45 am and informed the Lok Sabha that ration for 10 days had been distributed to people in all the five camps. "I am personally monitoring the situation." MoS in the External Affairs Ministry MJ Akbar is liaising with the Saudi authorities to ensure that the claims of all Indian workers with unpaid dues are lodged and processed in accordance with law. He has also sought Saudi assistance in arranging exit visa for all Indian workers who wish to be repatriated, said the sources. "VK Singh would be proceeding imminently to Saudi Arabia to visit the worker camps and make an on the spot assessment of the ground situation. Logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of those workers who want to return will be worked out following MoS' visit," the sources said. Swaraj has been monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. After numerous protests and fears in a post-Fukushima world, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) attained criticality last month. And now, reports are emerging that the plant is 'the safest in the world'. Vladimir Angelov, a Russian nuclear industry official claimed that the Kudankulam plant is the first in the world to have implemented all the requisite post-Fukushima safety measures and to have operated them successfully. According to this report in The Hindu, Angelov is quoted as saying, "We analysed the basic technical design of Units 1 and 2 in terms of the lessons from Fukushima. We came to the conclusion that they would have withstood a Fukushima-like incident." The report further quotes Angelov underlining the safety of the plant by stating that the KKNPP can withstand any anticipated operational occurrences, it can even withstand a fall of aircraft. Therefore, we can firmly state that presently India possesses the safest (nuclear power plant) in the world. The title of 'safest nuclear power plant in the world' may have seemed a long away back in February this year when the 1,000-MW plant stopped generation following a steam leak in the plant's secondary side. With India set to receive 12 nuclear reactors for two sites, as per the Narendra Modi-Vladimir Putin joint statement in December 2015, one would hope that Angelov's statements are rooted in fact and not made with a view to increase sales to India. With inputs from PTI Jabalpur (MP): A day after his apparent jibe at Bollywood actor Aamir Khan in the context of the intolerance debate that caused a flutter, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Sunday that he did not target any specific person, but is against overall "unrest". Parrikar also said that he was not opposed to "freedom of expression, but feels that country is supreme". While addressing reporters in Pune on Saturday, the senior BJP leader had taken a veiled jibe at Khan who had earlier expressed a "sense of alarm" over "growing intolerance in country". "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, but I have to love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it," Parrikar had said. Addressing reporters a day later, the minister said, "I have not taken anybody's name. I had said that people who don't respect the country should be opposed. I am opposed to 'upadrav' (unrest). Such people should be opposed in a democratic manner. To oppose, seminars should be held." Parrikar had said, "When the actor made the statement last year, people, while protesting his views, started uninstalling the online trading app, he was advertising for and the firm too pulled out the advertisement (involving the actor)." Also launching an oblique attack on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar against the backdrop of alleged raising of anti-national slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University earlier this year, Parrikar had said, "Such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country." Meanwhile, responding to a query, Parrikar said, "I don't say that nationalists are only in BJP. Non-political people and persons of different political parties could also be nationalists. Citizen of any other nation cannot comment against his country. So, people (speaking against the country) in India too should be opposed." "Citizen of any other nation cannot comment against his country. So, people (speaking against the country) in India too should be opposed." In November last year, the "PK" actor had joined the chorus of intelligentsia against growing intolerance, saying he has been "alarmed" by a number of incidences and his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should probably leave the country. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar must have heard of the Islamic State practice of extracting Baya'a the oath of allegiance. If you do not pledge complete loyalty to the Caliphate, the Islamic State will punish you. It reserves the right to kill, maim, enslave, rape or lash and stone you in public. But, whatever be the medium of instruction, Islamic State will always teach you a lesson you for not vowing fealty, disrespecting the Caliphate. When the Defence Minister of India gloats about teaching a lesson to a defenceless actor for speaking his mind and an online retailer for its choice of a brand ambassador, you can see that we are getting into the Islamic State territory. It is some distance away, but not too distant a nightmare. The means may be different, but the intent and desire are almost the same: If you disrespect the Caliphate, motherland in this case, speak against the state, a fitting punishment awaits you. Beware! The warning came at the launch of a book on Sunday, where Defence Minister Parrikar told his audience that anyone speaking against the country must be taught a lesson in the same way that an "actor" and an "online trading company" were taught. He went on to narrate how the actor and the online retailer were punished in 2015 by his team. According to The Indian Express, Parrikar said his team is very smart and keeps track of such incidents. Though he didn't name anyone, it was apparent he was referring to last year's hounding of Aamir Khan and Snapdeal. In 2015, at an awards function organised by The Indian Express, Khan had spoken about his wife's fears of the growing intolerance in India, provoking a nasty backlash from a section of the right wing that argued the actor had insulted Bharat Mata. Turns out Khan was absolutely right. Parrikar's confession that a ''smart team'' indeed went after Khan and Snapdeal shows the level of intolerance in the Parivar. If it can go after an actor and an established business entity for such petty reasons, there is indeed something wrong with today's India and the mindset of the people running it. Even more worrying is Parrikar's desire to dispense the same treatment to everybody who speaks "against" the country. Hello? Is this India or some nascent version of Islamic State where vengeful mobs can be let loose on people whose words someone may find unpalatable? Is Parrikar the defence minister of this country, the man responsible for protecting India's people and their freedoms, or leader of a gang of street vigilantes? And, who defines what is in the interest of the country and what is against it? Who is the judge and jury? Since when did India turn into a banana republic? Were the 2014 elections held to elect a Kangaroo court? It is a shame that Parrikar, an IIT graduate, former CM of a vibrant, liberal state like Goa, has revealed a mindset that mimics the al-Baghdadi school of thought. Only a few days ago, Indians were chiding Pakistanis for celebrating the killing of Qandeel Baloch, who was taught a lesson for speaking and acting against her country. And here we have an honourable minister narrating similar tales of retribution in public! Ideally, Parrikar should have been reserving his retributive rage for neighbouring countries that nonchalantly send reconnaissance planes into India and then venture deep into our territories. But, when that happens, instead of roaring out warnings, the defence minister starts giving out clean chits, arguing that such acts are mere transgressions, not incursion. How about ordering stuff from a Chinese online retailer and then returning it, Mr Parrikar, to teach our neighbour a lesson for strolling deep into Uttarakhand? If China is too formidable an adversary, instead of taking on an artist, Parrikar should have been concentrating on ensuring that our Air Force carriers do not vanish into thin air over the Andamans again. That the lives of our service personnel are not at the mercy of run-down equipment. Think about this, Mr Parrikar: Your job is to secure India against enemies like the Islamic State, not to create the impression that we are already under the yoke of their ideology of intolerance and state-sponsored revenge. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday held that former chief ministers are not entitled for government accommodation for lifetime. A bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave, which pronounced its verdict on a 2004 plea, said that any such government accommodation should be vacated within two to three months. "They don't have the right to occupy government accommodation for lifetime," the bench also comprising justices UU Lalit and L Nageswara Rao said. The judgment came on a plea filed by a UP-based NGO Lok Prahari, which had sought a direction against allotment of government bungalows to ex-CMs and other "non-eligible" organisations. The NGO had alleged that despite the direction of Allahabad High Court, the UP government had framed ex-Chief Minister's Residence Allotment Rules, 1997 (non-statutory) for allotting bungalows to successive ex-chief ministers. The NGO had also contended that the rules framed in 1997 for allotment of government bungalows to ex-chief ministerswere unconstitutional and illegal, and those occupying them were allegedly unauthorised occupants under the purview of the UP Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. The petitioner also said that retention of government accommodation by chief ministers after demitting office was against the Provisions of UP Ministers (Salaries/allowances and other facilities) Act. The judgment on the plea was reserved on 27 November, 2014. Srinagar: Normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir for the 24th consecutive day on Monday as curfew continued in some parts while restrictions were in effect in rest of the Valley to maintain law and order. Curfew remained in force in five police station areas of the city and Anantnag town. Restrictions on assembly of four or more persons continued in entire Kashmir, a police official said. "Curfew is in place only in five police station areas of Srinagar city Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal and Maharajgunj," he said. Normal life remained disrupted for the 24th consecutive day due to the strike call given by separatists against civilian deaths during the protests which erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on 8 July. Shops, schools, colleges, business establishments and private offices remained closed while public transport remained off the roads in the Valley which is reeling under the violence that has left 49 persons dead and over 5,600 persons injured. Mobile internet services continued to remain snapped in the entire Valley where the postpaid mobile telephony services have been restored across all networks. The incoming facility on prepaid connections was also restored, but the outgoing calls are barred on such numbers. The separatist camp has extended the shutdown call in Kashmir till 5 August, calling for a march to Hazratbal shrine on Friday. New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring terror in India and to rein in groups like LeT and JeM during the SAARC Interior/ Home Ministers' conference to be held in Islamabad on 4 August. Official sources said Singh is unlikely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan separately as top echelons of the government feel that time is not conducive for a bilateral meeting. However, the Home Minister, in his speech at the SAARC meeting, is expected to raise the issue of Pakistan's support to terror groups operating in India and ask Islamabad to check Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other groups based in that country. Singh's visit comes in the backdrop of growing strain in Indo-Pak ties after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Burhan Wani's killing on 8 July. Wani was a wanted terrorist of banned Hizbul Mujahideen. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". Singh is also likely to raise the issue of fake Indian currency notes being circulated at the behest of Pakistani agencies, sources said. Apart from terrorism, other key issues to be discussed include liberalisation of visa, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and small arms and how to make coordinated and concerted efforts to combat such menace. The three-tier meeting will begin at the joint secretary- level and then move on to Secretary and Home Minister-level meetings. The meeting will also focus on strengthening networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and also enhance information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. The last meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers' conference was held in Kathmandu in 2014 when the Home Minister had said that member nations of the group were facing common challenges and they should cooperate with each other to address them. The Home Minister had also voiced concern over the new threats of terrorism and violence to South Asia and asked SAARC countries to chalk out strategies to check radical groups and extremist ideologies. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition challenging the discharge of BJP President Amit Shah in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. "Rejected," a bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said after nearly a half-an-hour hearing on the plea filed by former bureaucrat and social activist Harsh Mander. Mander had challenged the Bombay High Court order which had upheld the discharge of the BJP President by the trial court in the case. The bench, while giving relief to Shah, said, "When the person is genuinely aggrieved then the issue takes a different colour but when the person is not remotely connected and wants to revive the case then its a different matter". Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, said, "Public must get the feeling that nobody is above the law". To this, the court said it does not consider anyone "above the law". Sibal said, "CBI has filed the charge sheet but I am unable to understand why did they turn turtle. Even his (Sohrabuddin) brother who filed the case against Shah withdrew his case later." He said that it is a high profile case which was transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra and added that justice to the people of India should be done. At the outset, the bench questioned the locus standi of Mander in the case. Sibal cited some earlier judgments of the apex court and said any member of society can have a locus in the case. He said that the high court should not have dismissed Mander's application and could have taken suo motu cognizance of the issue. He said, "CBI has filed a charge sheet and had made Shah accused number 16. It is a case of murder." Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Shah, cited various judgments of the apex court and questioned the locus of Mander in the case. He said, "This court has already held that if one is not connected with the case, he cannot interfere with anyone's trial." Salve further said, "It cannot be a case that if State is not going to file an appeal, I will file the appeal." He also said this court has held that a third party cannot be allowed to interfere in the trial unless it is an aggrieved party. In the petition, Mander had sought quashing of the 30 December, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. The petitioner had questioned the findings of sessions court which was endorsed by the high court exonerating Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati killing case, holding that there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". Mander had approached the high court against the sessions court order which was dismissed by the Bombay High Court in March this year. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also killed allegedly by the police in 2006. Security agencies have reportedly drawn up a list of 55 terror accused, who have claimed to be inspired by the controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naiks speeches, after an order from the Home Ministry. The Union Home Ministry has asked agencies to examine whether any legal action can be initiated against Naik, reported The Indian Express. The report also quoted sources as saying that the list includes arrests from as far back as 2005 to those made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) this year. ABPLive reported that the name of the suspects mentioned in the list have affiliations to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Simi, Islamic State and Indian Mujahideen. According to reports, the list includes Feroze Deshmukh, a former Islamic Research Foundation employee, who was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for his alleged role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case; Qateel Ahmed Siddiqui, an Indian Mujahideen member, who was murdered inside Yerwada prison in Pune in June 2012 and Afsha Jabeen, alleged IS online recruiter. The agencies are also investigating the four criminal charges registered against Naik in India. The Indian Express reported that investigations are on in three of the FIRs while a fourth case is pending in a court in Kolhapur. Subhash Pandurang registered an FIR against Naik in 2013 at Kurla police station in Mumbai. He was charged under section 153 A and 505-2 of the Indian Penal Code for spreading enmity among different groups. In 2012, three FIRs were registered against him under sections 153 A and 295 A in Maharashtras Sindhudurg district. He was booked under similar sections by Lakshmipur police station in Kolhapur. The case is currently pending. The authorities are proceeding very cautiously because there has to be a strong legal basis for proceeding with any action against Naik. Naiks lawyer Mubin Solkar told The Indian Express that the accused, who claim to be influenced by Naik are lying. He added that if the contents of his speeches are seen in the right context, no one can come to a conclusion that he could inspire people to commit terrorist acts." I do not agree that these 55 people may have been inspired by Dr Naik to commit terrorist acts," he was quoted as saying in the report. Naik came into limelight after reports that his provocative speeches inspired some of the militants who carried out the attack at a cafe in Dhaka. Lahore: United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin on Monday accused Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh of being a "killer of Kashmiris" and urged Islamabad to recall its envoy from India over the ongoing unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. Salahuddin, who is based in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, also seconded Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who on Sunday warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit against the Indian minister who arrives in Islamabad on August 3 to attend a Saarc ministerial conference. Addressing Pakistani media at the party headquarters in Mansura Auditorium in Lahore, Salahuddin criticised the Nawaz Sharif-led government's policy on Kashmir. He suggested that Prime Minister Sharif, in addition to immediately recalling its envoy from New Delhi, also "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir that has left 50 people dead following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. He said the Pakistan government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference. "The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said. Hafiz Saeed on Sunday during a rally said: "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add salt to injury of the Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris." "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," he added. Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, said: "If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris." He said the people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit last week, and added that the Sharif government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis". The real state of policing and law and order in Uttar Pradesh was revealed on Monday when a video surfaced in which a man who had gone to file a complaint at a police station in Lucknow was seen massaging the feet of the station house officer. According to News18, Ram Yagya Yadav, SHO of the Mohanlalganj police station in Lucknow, asked the complainant to massage his feet. The report added that even though the complainant initially thought the SHO was joking about the massage, he was later forced to massage his feet. The policeman in the video can be seen casually talking to someone over the phone as the man massages his feet while other policemen at the station do not intervene. Yadav was suspended after the video of the act went viral. Another report in The Indian Express said that the police said it was not clear whether the person giving the massage was a complainant or a detainee. The Uttar Pradesh Police has been facing charges of being lax and inefficient as the recent spate of crimes in the state shook the whole country. Four UP policemen have been suspended so far in the Bulandshahr gangrape case. The officials suspended include SSP Bulandshahr Vaibhav Kishan, SP city Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer (Sadar) Himanshu Gaurav, which takes the total number of policemen suspended on charges of laxity to four. Reacting to the allegations of dereliction of duty by the Bulandshahr police, Uttar Pradesh administration had earlier suspended the Station House Officer (SHO) Ramsen Singh. Earlier, the UP police had claimed that they had identified the main accused in the case and had detained 15 people. However, according to Times Now reports, the National Commission for Women (NCW) contradicted the UP Police's claim stating only one person was apprehended in the case. The TV channel also reported that the family tried calling the police emergency number but did not get any response. It was also said that the police overlooked evidence and were not thorough in examining the crime scene. CNN News-18 reported that a gold chain, that could have belonged to the victim, was found lying at the spot one day after the incident. The report further said that evidence from the scene has now been sent for forensic examination. And the fact that a police station was just 100 metres from where the incident happened has also raised eyebrows on the police's response time after the incident. NCW has also questioned the lack of patrolling on the stretch of highway especially since the incident lasted for more than three hours. You can watch the video of the UP policeman asking for massage here: (With inputs from agencies) Investigating agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), and the crime branch and special team of the Mumbai Police are very close to the pointing fingers at controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. The controversial preacher's speeches and videos have allegedly influenced many terrorist outfit such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi), the Islamic State (IS) and Indian Mujahideen, highly-placed sources told Firstpost. "The investigation is almost over," said a senior official, who is closely monitoring the case, and added, "But we are just waiting for the probe into a possible link where Naik was directly contacted by someone from the Islamic State, to be completed. So we will wait till the link is established." The report will be handed over to the home minister and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis in the next two to three days, he said. The ATS, crime branch and Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar are closely monitoring the Naik case. Neither the SIT nor CID has given a clean chit to Naik, the senior official added. When asked for a comment, Padsalgikar said, "The investigation is ongoing, we have not yet submitted a report to the chief minister. And I cannot say any more than that." The senior official to whom Firstpost spoke also pointed out that Arib Majeed, the youth who travelled to Syria told the NIA in a statement that he was personally influenced by Naik's speech and joined the Islamic State. Majeeb's statement has compounded the trouble and pressure for Naik in the future. Pointing fingers at the controversial Islamic preacher, security agencies have now come up with a list of 55 terror accused, who have been arrested from across the country over the past 10 years and have claimed to be influenced by Naiks speeches. Recently, Naik came into the limelight after two of the Dhaka cafe attackers who slaughtered 20 hostages claimed to have drawn inspiration from Naiks speeches. The agencies are also probing the details of different cases registered against Naik in India in the past. While one FIR is still pending in court, investigations are still on in three other cases in Maharashtra's Konkan region. Commenting on the allegations levelled against him while addressing a press conference via video conferencing in Mumbai recently, Naik said, I have heard many allegations against me in the Indian media. As far as being afraid is concerned, I am not afraid at all. So far, there has been not a single Indian government authority which has called me. Just because the media has levelled allegations against me, I am not going to come to India for a media trial." Sources in the agencies told Firstpost that Feroze Deshmukh, a former Islamic Research Foundation employee who was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for his alleged role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. But later, due to a lack of evidence, he was freed by the court. But Feroze has constantly been in touch with the mastermind of the 26 November, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai Abu Jundal. So, while analysing Naik's 'role' in terrorist activities, investigating agencies might taking Jundal's statement, said the senior official. Arshid Qureshi arrested by a joint team of the Maharashtra ATS and Kerala Police two weeks ago, under the the charges of radicalising Kerala youths and recruiting them for the Islamic State has been confirmed by the Kerala Police of not only having Islamic State links, but also of being a member of Mumbai-based preacher Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). The confirmation came in a report filed (before the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court last Monday) by the police team probing the disappearance of 21 people from the state in suspicious circumstances, while seeking the custody of Qureshi and his associate Rizwan Khan. Its an exhaustive exercise involving a large team, which is carefully watching and listening all of Naiks speeches, and looking at the activities at Naiks IRF in Mumbai, and the Mumbai and Chennai branches of the Islamic International School run by him, said the official. A district-wise estimate of the health indicators released by the National Family Health Survey-4 2015-16 have brought in good news for Mumbai city. Why? Females at birth in the last five years has gone up to 1,033 per 1,000 males. While Mumbai suburbs saw 932 females at birth per 1,000 males, the overall sex ratio of the state of Maharashtra has been recorded as 952 females over 1,000 males. Interestingly, other districts of Maharashtra Nagpur, Nashik, Marathwada and far-flung Vidarbha region too have shown a positive picture. Amravati has 1,052, Aurangabad: 1,130, Beed: 1,046, Bhandara: 1,204, the Naxal-affected Gadchiroli: 1,162, Gondiya: 1,037 and Hingoli: 1,002, especially the rural areas which were always known for female infanticides, have shown a considerable rise. The survey provides state and national information on the following indicators: Fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services. The literacy rate among women (age group 15-49) in Mumbai is 90.5 percent as compared to 98.1 percent among males. However, a similar difference is visible throughout all the other districts. While in Maharashtra 80.3 percent females are literate as compared to 92.8 percent males. The infant and child mortality rates as compared to the 2005-06 survey have gone done by 13 and 17 percent respectively in Maharashtra. Also, the marriageable age of women has shown a considerable rise with women (age 20-24 years) married before 18 years has dipped by 25.1 as compared to 39.1 percent in 2005-2016. The survey, however, reveals that there has been a dip in the use of family planning methods by the state's population. Any use of the modern-day methods as compared to 64.9 percent in 2005-06 has gone down to 62.6 percent. There has been a slight dip in the numbers of female sterilization from 51.1 24 to 50.7 percent, while that of male sterilization has been to 0.4 from 2.1 percent. The total unmet need has seen a marginal dip from 10 to 9.7 percent. However, this reflects the poor quality and unmet needs of the family planning services. "The NFHS-4 data will help the authorities identify the need for new programmes with area-specific focus," a health ministry official was quoted as saying by DNA. Although the indicators like sex ratio, literacy rates, rising marriageable age have shown a steady upward trajectory, the quality of the family planning has not shown much improvement. Often accused of being rambunctious and even tawdry, social media has nevertheless completely changed the way we consume news, undercutting the agenda-setting of large media outlets and loosening their tight grip on the flow of information. The importance of this cannot be overstated in an era where mainstream media habitually indulge in cherry-picking facts and using those to spin a discourse or reinforce a dominant narrative. What happened with Manohar Parrikar following his comments at a book release function on Saturday night is the latest in a long string of such examples. Parrikar fell prey to what appears to be a either a wilful or inadvertent misrepresentation of facts. And had it not been for social media, the Union defence minister would have remained defenceless before a narrative that sought to show him as a tinpot figure who incites cyber mobs to crush dissenting voices. During the release in Pune on Saturday of the Marathi version of a book on Siachen written by journalist Nitin Gokhale, Parrikar took what seemed to be a veiled jibe at actor Aamir Khan without taking any names. The popular Bollywood actor had last year created quite a furore by voicing "alarm" over "rising intolerance" in the country and had mentioned that his wife was toying with the idea of leaving the country in fear. According to news agency PTI, Parrikar said: 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. Speaking in Marathi, Parrikar also said that when the actor had 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. Also, in an apparent reference to the sloganeering at JNU earlier this year, the defence minister said those who speak against the nation "need to be taught a lesson by people of this country." His comments, a large part of which was delivered in Marathi dialect, was also tweeted out by news agency ANI, which seemed to corroborate the PTI version. People have shown their power, an actor did this mistake, said his wife wants to go and stay in a foreign country. Arrogant stmnt: Parrikar ANI (@ANI_news) July 31, 2016 However small my house is, I have to love my house & aim to make it big bungalow: Manohar Parrikar in Pune (July 30) pic.twitter.com/6LDORPQN0E ANI (@ANI_news) July 31, 2016 When the actor did this, people discontinued association with online trading company,he was associated with-Parrikar pic.twitter.com/8DWi0QyoVo ANI (@ANI_news) July 31, 2016 Many ppl ordered & then returned the order to teach a lesson to the company, the company had to finally pull out his advertisement: Parrikar ANI (@ANI_news) July 31, 2016 The controversy erupted when The Indian Express, covering the same event in Pune, in a report quoted Parrikar as saying that "anyone speaking against the country must be 'taught a lesson' in the same way that an 'actor' and an 'online trading company' were taught. To quote the newspaper's version: I am only trying to point out if anyone speaks like this, he has to be taught a lesson of his life, Parrikar said at a ceremony to launch the Marathi edition of a book by journalist Nitin Gokhale. Actorne jeva hey kela, thehva jya company la toh advertise karat hota online trading company hoti. Aple log thoda jaste hoshar ahet. Mala mahite ahey there was a team which was working on this They were telling people you order and return it The company should learn a lesson, they had to pull out his advertisement (When the actor did this then the company which he was endorsing was an online trading company. Some of our people are very smart, I know. There was a team which was working on this. They were telling people you order and return it The company should learn a lesson, they had to pull his advertisement), Parrikar said. This presents an impression that the minister "admitted" that "our team" went after the e-trading company (presumably Snapdeal) to have Aamir Khan removed as brand ambassador. That would truly be a stunning admission. Some influential voices certainly interpreted it as such and the outrage quickly spread like wildfire. Incredible! Did Parrikar just admit that 'our people formed a team' to hurt @Snapdeal over Aamir Khan's comments? pic.twitter.com/O9wHnYOn8C Pierre Fitter (@pierrefitter) July 31, 2016 So now Defence Minister @manoharparrikar admits that "our teams" on social media went after @snapdeal to remove @aamir_khan Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) July 31, 2016 Parrikar has only confirmed what we've known: use of cyber-mobs to lynch those daring to question u. Regret is a new eco startup succumbing Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) July 31, 2016 It was duly picked up by the Congress party, whose spokesperson Randeep Surjewala expressed "shock" at the "scandal" and not unsurprisingly, gave it a minority twist. Shocking revelation by @manoharparrikar that BJP supporters actively disrupted, sabotaged Snapdeal on Aamir Khan issue. Scandalous! Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 .@manoharparrikar's statement proves a concerted conspiracy to curb all dissent, hound Dalits & Minorities. Can this be the 'Raj Dharma'? Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 31, 2016 Here, two interesting things need to be pointed out. First, the report does not mention the fact that the minister's remark "such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country" was in context of the sloganeering at JNU, not Aamir Khan's statement. This is an important omission. Second, according to author Nitin Gokhale, at whose event Parrikar was speaking, the defence minister's statements were misconstrued. He never said "our people" had run a campaign to return Snapdeal's goods. He said many smart people bought & returned goods. I know of a team which was telling people to do it. 'A' team imp https://t.co/j9cFYjmAkO Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) July 31, 2016 Gokhale quoted Parrikar as saying: "When this actor made this statement, the online trading company for which he used to advertise many people broke relations with the company...many quit and the smart alec ones placed orders and then returned them I know there was a team working on this which was telling people you order and return it Those who were there understood what @manoharparrikar said.Idiots who don't understand nuances of language are prone to deliberately mislead Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) July 31, 2016 The author also uploaded the video clip of the event. The audio video is clear. He is stating how people reacted. There is neither endorsement nor condemnation. https://t.co/0OMlir27fQ Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) July 31, 2016 News portal opindia.com also came out with an English transcription of the Marathi speech of which a paragraph is reproduced here: When this actor did this, the company for which he was advertising, was an online trading company. Many people broke relations with that company. Many people quit from the lease, and some over smart people ordered goods and sent them back. There was a team, which I know, was working on this. They were telling people you order and return it, this company should learn a lesson... Some plebians also seemed to concur. @pierrefitter As a marathi speaker I can tell dat its a wrong translation. by "aple loka" he meant our people as in countrymen @manupubby_ET Ramrajvi Parghi (@RamrajviP) July 31, 2016 @pierrefitter @justicearnab He meant the Indian public in general by 'Aaple log'. Non story. Ceteris Paribus (@andafunda) July 31, 2016 The hair-splitting is important because the devil lies in the details. In absence of the qualifiers, it does appear as if a senior minister in the Union cabinet had deliberately set the mob upon an e-commerce company and pressurised it to drop the Bollywood actor as brand ambassador. However, the qualifiers add an altogether different dimension. Taken together, it seems Parrikar was narrating the event that took place last year without endorsing or condemning it. An apparently small shift denotes a big change in the discourse, more so while defining the actions of a government which has been facing charges of majoritarianism from almost the very moment it was sworn in. There could be arguments about whether or not Parrikar should have refrained from raking up an old topic but the narrative of him being complicit in influencing the e-commerce firm's decision is certainly dubious. The stepping down of Anandiben Patel was always on the cards. The question was when. BJP President Amit Shah was always keen that the forthcoming elections could not be fought under the leadership of Patel. Age has been a factor and in a post Narendra Modi regime, living up to expectations was getting difficult for the aging Patel who was expected to be eased out in November on her 75th birthday. When Patel took over as chief minister from Modi in May 2014, it did not come as a surprise to many. For one, Patel was the seniormost cabinet minister in the BJP government. She had handled portfolios like education and revenue and was also known to be close to Modi. So being appointed as the next chief minister was expected, even though the names of many other senior ministers in the Modi cabinet did the rounds. Patel was also known for her proximity with the RSS and all BJP rebels like former CM Keshubhai Patel and the likes of RSS strongman Sanjay Joshi. She had ensured that people such as former home minister Goardhan Zadaphiya, who had resigned during the Modi tenure and floated their own outfit, returned to the party fold. But the rising discontent amongst several communities was making things increasingly difficult for Patel. The Patidaar agitation and now the Dalit agitation were adding to the problems of the BJP and Modi, a negative factor considering the many Assembly elections coming up in 2017. The powerful Patel agitation could be restricted to the state, but the Dalit agitation had a national outcome and was affecting the BJPs prospects in Uttar Pradesh. In Gujarat, Dalits may form a meagre seven percent of the population, but nationally the Dalits matter even more when the agitation is in the Prime Ministers home state. The visit of several national leaders and the debate in the Parliament was getting difficult for the BJP to handle at both the state level and the national level. Things were also getting worse for Anandiben with land scams involving her daughter Anaar Patel and her son Sanjay Patel. They have been calling the shots during the Anandi regime and many bureaucrats expressed helplessness when decisions had to be taken to appease the Patels. Meanwhile, Amit Shah was always playing games from outside the state. Though Patel was the chief minister, it was Shah who was taking key decisions. So when Vijay Rupani was made the state party president, it was a clear indication as to who is the boss. Rupani is known to be a close associate of Shah. Shah also ensured that people who were close to him such as DGP PP Pandey held key positions and made key decisions. Shah had also ensured that he was consulted before the tickets for local elections were distributed. And the recipients of the tickets were mainly people who were known to be close to Shah. Now that BJP has accepted Patel's resignation, party circles are abuzz with the idea that Rupani will be the next chief minister. But the final decision will be in Modi's hands as he is the one who has to ensure that the BJP's prospects are not affected in his home state. New Delhi: BJP members in Lok Sabha on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the rape of a woman and her daughter in Bulandshahr as they hit out at the state government over the law and order situation there. Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, Bhola Singh, who represents Bulandshahr, alleged that such incidents were happening in the state as criminals enjoyed the government's "protection". "Police is not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The Chief Minister should resign," he said, drawing support from other party members. "Uttar Pradesh is burning," one of them said. Members of Samajwadi party, which is in power in the state, were seen protesting, with Dharmendra Yadav heard asking the treasury benches to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation first. On Friday night, a group of bandits waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged the women, including the 13-year-old girl, to a nearby field and raped them while tying up the men accompanying them with ropes. New Delhi: The long-pending GST Bill was today listed for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday amidst strong indications that the most far-reaching taxation reform in independent India would be supported by Congress and all other major political parties. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which has been in the making for over a decade, entails introduction of a single indirect tax regime across the country. "The GST Bill is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha and we seek support of all political parties. The mood is in favour of its passage," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. According to top government sources, a fresh round of talks was held today with the main opposition Congress and other parties, including the Left and Samajwadi Party, for building a consensus on the key tax reform legislation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held further consultations with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and chalked out details of the contentious bill aimed at bringing about a consensus on the key bill, sources said. Jaitley also met CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, besides some other leaders. Later, along with Kumar, he met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Another round of talks to clarify on the language of key parts of the bill is likely to be held with Congress tomorrow. Sources added that government was to initially bring the bill on Tuesday, but Congress was not keen on the proposal due to the roadshow of Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi tomorrow which may be attended by some party MPs. The government, sources say, is keen to bring about four key amendments in the Constitution Amendment Bill which will include the scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax provision and grant of more powers to states for providing them full compensation for a period of five years. The key Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to by the government. At the AICC briefing, Congress leader P L Punia said GST is very important for the economy, industry and the business as also for the consumer. "With that objection in mind, it was the Congress party which brought the idea of GST. We have raised certain issues and negotiations are still on. We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect the business, industry and consumer. "There has to be one more round of talks. Party feels the bill should be passed and our best wishes that this bill be passed," he said. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last year but the government could not muster required numbers for its passage in Rajya Sabha that time due to strong opposition by Congress and some other political parties. Meanwhile, the BJP today also issued a whip to its members asking them to be present in the House for the next three days during which it expects the legislation to be passed. Another amendment that the government is likely to bring in the bill is to spell out the principle for setting the rate of tax to be fixed to ensure that neither does it hurt the revenue of states nor the consumer. The key bill is likely to see the light of the day and get passed as almost all the parties are now on board, according to top government sources. "We are trying to bring on board everyone on the key legislation and are holding talks to all and clearing their doubts," a senior government official said. Intended to convert 29 states into a single market, the 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. The countdown for the historic Goods and Services Tax (GST) passage in the Rajya Sabha begins today, literally. If the crucial constitutional amendment has to happen, it will happen in the next 10 days as the monsoon session is scheduled to end on 12 August. Even if one assumes positive outcome, it is only the beginning of a long process to rewrite Indias convoluted tax regime keeping the April 2017 deadline (already delayed by one year). There is a lengthy, complex process involving state governments that will follow before the actual roll out takes place. Hence each remaining day in this session is critical to watch. It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say that the Narendra Modi government can kiss goodbye to the GST dream in this term of NDA government if it fails to pass the Bill in the ongoing session. Why? Skip this session, and comes winter, when the war cries will be heard for the crucial state elections scheduled for the next year. No one will be keen to group together for the tax reform at that point. Look further to 2017-18, the GST passage will be even more difficult since the incumbent will be preparing ground for the next general elections in 2019 and the Congress-led opposition will be fighting hard to win back power using all weapons to attack the Modi government. The Congress party wouldnt want to concede defeat on GST with 2019 elections at the door-step. No room for the business of lawmaking then. At the time of filing this, the GST amendment is not listed in the business of the Upper House for today (1 August) and even tomorrow (2 August). There has never been a better conducive environment for the passage of GST in the last eight years since the idea was first introduced by former finance minister P Chidambaram in the 2006-2007 budget. There is an all-party consensus for the amendment. Most of the regional parties, except the AIADMK is on board. The Congress, which has been opposing the Bill demanding the inclusion of the GST rate in the constitution seem to have diluted its stance to settle for the rate to be mentioned in the law. It has also agreed to allot five hours of the house time to debate the Bill, signaling willingness to initiate the process. One needs to only fear negative surprises. Are there any? Over the weekend, a controversy has erupted after defence minister Manohar Parrikars comment on those acting against the interest of nation and allegedly on actor Aamir Khan in this context. The minister didnt take any names. But his reference to an actors comment on growing intolerance climate in the country that even prompted his wife to ponder over the prospects of leaving the country, is obviously on Aamir and has stirred a controversy. 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, but I have to love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it," Parrikar had said. Parriakr also mentioned that when Khan made the statement last year, people, while protesting his views, started uninstalling the online trading app, he was advertising for and the firm too pulled out the advertisement involving the actor. Also launching an oblique attack on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar against the backdrop of alleged raising of anti-national slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University earlier this year, Parrikar had said, "Such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country." Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has wasted no time to jump on Parrikars remarks saying, when he tweeted RSS & Parrikarji want to teach everyone a lesson. Here's a lesson for you: hate is the preserve of the coward and it never wins." Parrikar later clarified that he didnt take anybody's name. I had said that people who don't respect the country should be opposed. I am opposed to 'upadrav' (unrest). Such people should be opposed in a democratic manner. To oppose, seminars should be held," Parrikar said Then there is the raging issue of atrocities against Dalits in Gujarat and the excesses of cow-vigilante group. On Sunday, Dalits rallied in Ahmedabad reflecting their anger against the oppression and attacks. Whether Gandhi and his friends will translate these issues to shake the floor and drag the GST passage, one needs to wait and watch. In the past few weeks, considerable progress has been made on solving the GST code between centre and states. The government has agreed to drop the 1 percent inter state levy and fully compensate the states for any possibly losses. According to this Economic Times report, the state governments have also raised a demand for right to assess taxes of companies with turn over of over Rs 1.5 crore on a three year rotation basis so that the issue of duplication of taxes doesnt arise. Already, there is an agreement to leave the control of smaller taxpayers (those less than Rs 1.5 crore turn over) to states. What is not decided yet is the issue of what should be the ideal GST rate. The consensuses currently seem to be around 18-19 percent. Too low a rate will break the back of manufacturing states although the government has said that it will compensate them in the initial years. Too high rate will severely hurt the service industry and consumers directly. The GST Council, which will likely be the authority to take a call on the rates, will thus have to find a middle path. The passage of the amendment cannot be seen as a won battle. Its the first step in the direction of the major tax reform India has ever seen. There is a lot of work left for the final rollout even after that. That is why the Congress support is crucial for the government not just for the passage of the Bill, even after that. Though the Congress has come down substantially from its earlier position, it hasnt given the final word yet. The wind can still turn either side. The problem is that Jaitley wants to divide the opposition and wants to corner others. They are delaying the matter. Our leaders are ready to pass the bill," Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday. The remaining ten days of Parliament will surely have the characteristics of high suspense. If indeed the NDA manage to pass the GST test India will join the 160 plus list of countries that have implemented the advanced tax reform. Fingers crossed. Anandiben Patel has made official something which was considered to be obvious in informed ruling BJP circles. It is, however, intriguing as to why she chose to announce it on her Facebook page and wrote it in Gujarati that in November, (on 21st to be precise) she would turn 75. Keeping the party's newly laid out unwritten norm for 75-plus aged leaders, she would relinquish the chief minister's post and make it open for the party leadership to find a replacement. Her act of offering to resign and making it known to the world through social media is an act which does not have any precedence in past. The incumbent chief minister wilfully resigning when the state is going through turbulent times without any designated replacement is a one of its kind political situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will have difficult times dealing with this situation. More so, it concerns their home state of Gujarat. They can ill-afford to leave their native state in a political limbo. Amit Shah's reaction over this issue was measured: "We have received the letter of her resignation, will put up this matter in front of parliamentary board committee and will decide on further action". He gave her a glowing tribute, saying she is the first woman chief minister of the state, who has established a healthy tradition, as she herself said she wishes to resign on turning 75. The big question is this: Why did she announce her resignation through her Facebook page while the party leadership was still seized with the issue? Had she sent her resignation to Modi and Amit Shah, or is it taken for granted that the two top leaders had conveyed the same to her in private and she made it public albeit without referring to them? By doing so, she has made it clear that she wants a graceful dignified exit from the post, if not from politics. But at the same time, it has its own flip side. Once it is known that a particular leader, Anandiben Patel, in this case, is on her way out and is virtually a care taker chief minister for the next few months, then all bureaucrats, ministers and other concerned start working with an eye on the right side of potential future incumbent. The party also starts reacting to situations in the same manner. That's the reason why an issue like leadership change is kept a suspense till the last minute by the party concerned. Anandiben in her own wisdom has turned conventional wisdom on its head. Has she done it with the approval of Modi or Shah? Nobody can confirm that but again, it appears to be highly unlikely, given the fact that the duo are currently focused on a whole lot of other things and would not like to open unwanted unnecessary speculations, that too on their home state front. Anandiben is known to have a mind of her own and also a fiercely independent streak. A graceful exit from the chief minister's post would mean a gainful post-retirement placement, like a Governor in the times to come. But again, that's not possible if Modi takes an exception of her today's action which made her an undesired newsmaker today through a Facebook post. Well, what actually drove Anandiben to call it a day and announce her resignation through social media, is a big mystery, at least for now. She can't afford to have ill-will or invite the displeasure of Modi in her last days or months in active politics. She can't on her own play spoiler to the close trustworthy working relationship she built over the years with PM Modi. After the recent expansion cum reshuffle of Union Council of Ministers, two ministers Najma Heptullah and GM Siddeshwara resigned from the government because they had crossed 75 years of age. A senior party leader had earlier told Firstpost that ahead of next year's Gujarat elections, Anandiben Patel would relinquish the post and pave way for a new leader to take over. The BJP was to fight next state election (December 2017) under the leadership of a new leader. But that political superannuation at age of 75 for Anandiben was taken as a convenient alibi for her removal. That would have given dignity to her exit. The script as conceived earlier was that the Modi-Shah duo would take a call on the subject after the politically critical Gujarat elections. A senior party leader had earlier told Firstpost that the leadership change in Gujarat would take place after the UP elections. Amit Shah would be occupied in UP till February-March. But as they say, a week or a month is a long time in politics. The Patel community agitation and Dalit community unrest has changed the political dynamics in the state. It's a fact that senior leaders in New Delhi and a section of leaders in Gujarat were unhappy over the handling of situations in both the cases. In the recent Una incident concerning Dalits and subsequent uproar in the state and outside, there was a widespread feeling that Anandiben Patel's handling of the situation was lethargic and ineffective. That state government's mishandling of the situation turned a law and order issue into a political and administrative crisis. Today, Anandiben checkmated her critics and tried to make her imminent exit a principled move. While dropping the resignation bomb through her Facebook, she said, "I have been a committed BJP worker for the past 30 years. I am indebted to the leadership to have elevated me from Mahila Morcha to Chief Minister. I have been in charge of important departments in the government for the past 18 years. I am going to be 75 years old in November. The very important Vibrant Gujarat Summit is being held in January 2017 and elections are due later in the year...It is good for a new leadership to organise and plan these two big events. Two months ago, I had sought to be relieved...I have done everything possible to serve the people of Gujarat. I am grateful towards BJP for the amount of responsibilities I have been trusted with over time." Another critical question is that whether by choosing such a timing of her exit from the post, she has checkmated Amit Shah's prospects to return to Gujarat as chief minister. WHY DONT YOU READ THESE? The eleventh day of Parliament's Monsoon Session on Monday began with AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa's statement where she said that she was facing a "life threat" and was being "compelled to resign". Sasikala, who hit the headlines for slapping DMK leader Tiruchi Siva at the airport on Saturday, said: "I am receiving an unconditional apology from Tiruchi Siva. Something was spoken against my party leader and I behaved like that." Sasikala did not give any detailed reference to the incident but said there was no safety for women. "I fear threat to my life. I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post by my leader for whom I have much gratitude." The parliamentary proceedings over the day saw the passage of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year; and National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Rajya Sabha. The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Key issues discussed/proceedings in Lok Sabha: - Supplementary demands over additional spending The government sought parliament's nod for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, though the cash outgo will only be Rs 20,948.26 crore. Presenting the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought parliament's approval for a transfer of Rs 5,000 crore towards National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for providing funds to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore, and Pudur. - Bill for speedier recovery of bad loans passed The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Piloted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the bill seeks to amend four laws -- the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993; the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; and the Depositories Act, 1996. - Special status: TDP MPs protest in Parliament Unhappy over the Centre's stand on special status to Andhra Pradesh, TDP, a partner in NDA government, staged protests both inside and outside Parliament. Seeking immediate announcement for special status, the MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) tried to disrupt the proceedings in the Lower House. Holding placards and raising slogans in support of their demands, the TDP members in the Lok Sabha began the protest as soon as the house met for the day. They rushed to the speaker's podium, demanding that the government fulfill its commitments under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan repeatedly appealed to members to return to their seats but they continued the protest. The Speaker conducted the proceedings amid the uproar before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm. - Amendment of EPF Act Government plans to amend the Employees Provident Fund Act to bring more workers under the ambit of retirement fund body EPFO by reducing the threshold for coverage of firms to 10 workers, Lok Sabha was informed. Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the plan is to amend the law so that firms with ten employees can also be brought under the ambit of EPFO to ensure more workers come under the umbrella of social security. - Demand for raising minimum pension to Rs 3,000 per month A demand was made in the Lower House for an increase in the minimum pension to Rs 3,000 per month, review of the Employees Pension Scheme and hike in the government share in Provident Fund. Supporting a resolution introduced by N K Premachandran (RSP) on 'Steps to Ensure Welfare of Employees Provident Fund pensioners', Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress said the government's contribution to the EPF is just 1.16 per cent since 1971 and that has to be increased. Roy also demanded PF for the unorganised sector the way it is being given by the West Bengal government. - Attack on Dalits and Muslims Opposition members expressed concern over growing attacks on Dalits and minorities and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targeting them. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the Dalits and Muslims to uphold secularism and communal harmony. Key issues discussed/proceedings in Rajya Sabha: - GST Bill listed for Wednesday The government has listed the GST bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, hoping it will be passed through consensus, but the opposition Congress said that consultation is still on over the issue and an agreement is not yet finalised. In view of the development, the BJP has issued whip for all its Rajya Sabha members to be present in the house for the next three days. "The GST bill is listed for Wednesday. We hope it will be passed through consensus," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar - Bills to put in place NEET passed The Rajya Sabha passed by voice vote the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year. The bills provide for a Constitutional status to the 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and seek to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and the Dentists Act, 1948. Responding to a debate on the bills in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda said the whole exercise was aimed to stop multiplicity of examinations, to bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop exploitation of students. - NIT (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed Rajya Sabha passed a bill for establishing the prestigious National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Andhra Pradesh, on a day MPs of the ruling TDP from the state staged a protest to demand special category status. The National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by Rajya Sabha by voice vote. The bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 21 July. The bill aims at establishing the NIT in Andhra Pradesh as an institute of national importance. - Uproar over Manohar Parrikar's comments on Aamir Khan Rajya Sabha witnessed a brief uproar by opposition members over alleged remarks by Manohar Parrikar against actor Aamir Khan even as the Defence Minister denied having said what was been quoted to him. During the Zero Hour, Derek O'Brien (TMC) raised the issue of "dangerous" rise in religious fundamentalism in the country, saying the government, ministers and people associated with the ruling party were "shooting their mouths off every day". "The Prime Minister needs to come and say these are in fact mistakes, this is not thinking of the government. Prime Minister come here and assure us that we can live in the India we know -- Unity in Diversity". As soon as he finished his Zero Hour mention, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted a report which said 'Parrikar takes a swipe at actor Aamir; those who speak like this must be taught a lesson'. "So may I ask him (Parrikar who was sitting in the House) what lesson he is going to teach us...The entire nation should be told what type of action and lesson he is going to teach the minorities of this conuntry," Azad said. To this, Parrikar said: "I would only say one thing. Let the members see the video...and make up their mind". However, this did not pacify the agitated opposition. With inputs from agencies On Monday, Sasikala Pushpa, the AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP made an exception to the unwritten rule of her party make a bowing reverential reference to her leader J Jayalithaa as 'Puratchithalaivi Amma'. What she said in Parliament on Monday during Zero Hour shall be used as a test case on internal functioning of political parties with source based information and leaks pointing to wheels within wheels of this given situation. Sasikala has now been expelled from her party. Her expulsion, for bringing disrepute to the party, was announced minutes after she made her statement on the floor of the House in Rajya Sabha. But that should make her happy because she remains an MP, though "unattached", till her term ends in April 2020. An unsung MP from Tamil Nadu till three days back, Sasikala became known to the wider world when she hit the headlines for thrashing an MP, Tiruchi Siva, from rival DMK at security check at IGI airport in New Delhi, because she claimed the MP from the other party had exceeded all limits in criticising Amma and her government. Interestingly, while this incident took place in full public view, neither of them complained to the police. Siva missed that flight, which he was supposed to take with Sasikala for Chennai and took another flight. Sources said what Sasikala claimed was for public consumption and also as potential defence before her party leader Jayalalithaa. The real story is something else, they suggest. When the Parliament assembled on Monday, a teary-eyed Sasikala walked in the well to make a plea to speak to Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien. Her request was granted. When she rose to speak, she stunned the House, her party and students of politics with her dramatic revelations that first, she and Tiruchi Siva had called a truce with both apologising to each other. Second, she had been summoned, and told in no uncertain terms by her party supremo (Jayalalithaa) to resign from the Rajya Sabha. The consequent pressure to quit on her was immense. But she did not want to resign; she wanted to continue in the Parliament as she intended to "serve the country". Third, her life was now under threat. She couldn't go to Tamil Nadu, as she felt threatened. She did not really ask for security, but with tears in here eyes and a choked voice, she sought protection from the Chair and the House. She didn't take any names as to who had threatened her and left it open to anyone's interpretation as to who that person could be. That created a ruckus in the House, with AIADMK strongly protesting against her references, and the Congress coming out in her support with all its might in the House. Samajwadi Party's Naresh Agrawal too supported her. By the time she was finished with her statement, she was expelled from AIADMK. Sasikala had dared to speak in a manner that no AIADMK leader or worker would ever imagine to speak in public. In fact, it has by now become an accepted norm in Parliament that every single MP would begin their statement, brief remark or long speech by first paying respects to Jayalalithaa, "Puratchithalaivi Tamil thai Amma... with blessings of, with blessings of our leader, Puratchithalaivi Amma, I want to raise...." and so on. Sources said that after the airport slapping incident, she was called by Jayalalithaa to hear her side of story. She had perhaps anticipated the reaction from the party boss. After having heard her, the AIADMK chief directed her to resign from the MP position. Sasikala has completed two years of her term and has another four years to go as an MP. She outsmarted Jayalalithaa by raising the issue in Parliament, ensuring that nothing wrong will happen to her. She has retained her MP position and the following four years will be a long time to make her next political landing. The Congress in any case is on her side for now. Tiruchi Siva too was summoned by DMK chief K Karunanidhi and asked the actual story. Siva apparently told him that several suggestive pictures and comments were made about them on social media for the last two months. He was then reportedly asked whether he filed any complaint with the police or anywhere else. The whole episode has turned out to be a juicy story for Tamil media. It is said that the fight between the MPs, of the two bitterly rival parties, was personal in nature. A personal relationship that had gone sour. A Sudeshi news channel post on Youtube for instance has several pictures of Sasikala and Siva, suggesting a close proximity between the two. The gossip mill in the power corridors suggest that there was some other angle too. It concerned to some monetary exchange and the other side was now refusing to return the money. The dramatic narration by Sasikala, as it unfolded in Rajya Sabha and beamed live on news channels, has spiced up politics and given a juicy talking point to the parliamentarians in an otherwise dull political scenario. The last word on this episode has not yet been said. The endgame seems to be nearing for controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. According to reports, the investigators have identified several cases where Naiks speeches have allegedly inspired terrorist groups including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Indian Mujahideen. In all, security agencies have come up with a list of 55 terror-accused who got "inspired" by Naik. The televangelist is not a terrorist but is an "inspiration" for many in that genre to take up arms and kill innocent lives. Investigative agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seem to be convinced with the fact that terrorist groups became inspired by Naiks speeches, as pointed out in the earlier reports some of them date back to 2005. Moreover, the recent arrest of Arshid Qureshi, the guest relation officer of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and reports that Feroze Deshmukh, a former IRF employee who was arrested and released by the Maharashtra ATS for his alleged role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, remained in touch with Abu Jundal, shows there is a serious problem here with IRF and Naik. Now, these problems didnt happen overnight. IRFs and Naiks alleged roles in abetting and inspiring terrorist elements date back to a decade. How come no government or political party or police force paid serious attention to this problem and took action against them? If the allegations of abetting and inspiring terrorists are true, timely clampdown on these elements could have helped to give crucial insights to the operations of terror groups both in India and abroad. Why it took the Dhaka terrorist attack that claimed 20 lives to alert India about the problem called Zakir Naik? Naik isnt some unreachable forbidden Salafist ideologue giving video lectures from a godforsaken land and Dongri isnt an Islamic State village in Afghanistan or Syria. All this happened under our nose in the sovereign Indian republic. What went wrong? Surely, its not that the Congress and BJP were unaware about the potential problem caused by radical preachers by Naik. As Firstpost reported, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was alerted about this problem, which he passed on to the Ministry of Home Affairs. After that, no one knows what happened to that communication. Similarly, when the NDA took over in May 2014, the government and the security establishment knew very well what figures as the problematic areas and where to act to take preventive measures against possible act of terrorism to save the common man from the deadly bites of blind, rabid dogs propagating religious fundamentalism and the false notion of religious supremacy. Why did the Modi-government act in the beginning? Here again, did it take a Dhaka newspaper report (which later backtracked its statement) to make the government understand the gravity of the problem? It cant be that simple. The real issue, perhaps, lies in the community vote bank politics of both Congress and the BJP. Both of them wanted Muslim votes, especially considering that crucial Uttar Pradesh polls are bound in mid-2017 a state with a significant chunk of the electorate belonging to the Muslim population. The Congress too chose to live in blissful ignorance about the problem since it too wanted a share of the Muslim votes. Any action against the popular Islamic preacher would have been termed as an attack on Muslim minority and would backfire in the elections. No politician wanted to risk that chance. The safer way was to pretend ignorance till the time media jump into the issue and leave no options for the government and the Opposition to wake up and speak up. The success of Zakir Naik and his biggest defence is his own community. Naik often links the actions against the Peace TV and IRF to his identity as a Muslim and has rightly invoked his Muslim status to seek shelter from his enemies. I, Dr Zakir Naik, Call upon all my Muslim Brothers & Sisters to Support me against the Media Trials and Let Justice Prevail (sic), Naik tweeted some time back. The reason is simple. If you link anything with your religion and community and redirect the actions against you to that community, you are safe. The whole game changes to a majority-minority battle. Precisely, thats what the preacher seems to have in mind. And thats where the real challenge lies for the investigators to not let Naik play the community card. Washington: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, vowed to "campaign vigorously" for party nominee Hillary Clinton. "I'm going to do a couple of things," the Vermont Senator said in a CBS interview on Sunday. "Number one, I intend to campaign vigorously to make the case that on issue after issue Clinton is far and away the superior candidate. Number two, to stay focused on the real issues impacting the American people," Politico quoted Sanders as saying. When asked whether his supporters would vote for Clinton, Sanders ticked off a series of issues popular among progressives, including overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, raising taxes on the wealthy and increasing the minimum wage, Politico reported. Clinton's positions on those issues, Sanders said, clearly showed that she was the best candidate. "So I would ask ... my supporters to get away from the personality conflicts that media tries to bring forward and focus on the real issues impacting the American people," Sanders said. "And when you do that, I think the choice is pretty clear, and that is that Hillary Clinton is far and away the superior candidate," Politico quoted Sanders as saying In contrast, Sanders slammed the campaign of Republican rival Donald Trump for dividing the nation. "That is not what our country needs," Sanders said, adding "In these stressful times, we ought to bring our people together, not divide us up, which is what Trump is trying to do." Crews battling a deadly wildfire that has gutted dozens of homes near California's Big Sur coast looked forward to cooler weather to help them slow the flames on Monday as the blaze raged for an 11th day, burning most heavily in rugged, inaccessible terrain. The combination of steep mountainous terrain and extremely hot, dry conditions has hampered efforts to quell the so-called Soberanes Fire, which erupted on July 22 just south of the picturesque oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Carmel itself has remained largely out of harm's way, but the blaze has roared through more than 40,000 acres (16,190 hectares) of drought-parched chaparral, grass and timber in and around the Los Padres National Forest. A force of nearly 5,300 firefighters has managed to slow the pace of the fire's spread during the past two days. But containment of the blaze - a measure of how much of its perimeter has been cleared by fire crews of unburned vegetation - stood at less than 20 percent on Monday. As long as crews can keep the fire's growth somewhat in check, "we should get more containment as we go along," said Toni Davis, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). She added that slightly lower temperatures in the forecast should help that effort, even as some of the heaviest fire has crept into areas largely beyond the reach of ground crews. Flames have already destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, with at least five other structures damaged, according to the latest tally. Another 2,000 structures were threatened, with an estimated 350 residents displaced by evacuations. The fire threat, coming at the height of the region's summer travel season, has prompted the closure of several popular California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Point Lobos Natural Reserve and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Officials on Sunday ordered evacuations for the famous Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Pfeiffer Big Sur. The blaze took a deadly turn on Tuesday when a bulldozer operator hired by property owners to help battle the flames was killed when his tractor rolled over. It was the second California wildfire-related death in a week. Another fire broke out on Saturday in grass and brush about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Fresno, in central California, and has since charred about 1,800 acres (607 hectares), threatening 200 homes, according to Cal Fire. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Dhaka: The bodies of five Islamists behind a deadly attack on a Bangladesh cafe have still not been claimed a month later, police said Monday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against extremism. Relatives of the men have spoken of their shock and horror at learning of their involvement in the siege in Dhaka's Gulshan neighbourhood, in which 20 hostages were killed many of them hacked to death. On Monday tens of thousands of university and college students across the country stood in silence and formed human chains in front of their schools. "No terrorism, we want peace. We want life without fear," read one banner at a women's college in Dhaka. Authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to shame those behind the attacks. Clerics at the mainly Muslim country's more than 300,000 mosques have been asked to give sermons on why Islam forbids killing. Police said the bodies of nine other men allegedly from the same group who were shot when police launched a raid on a militant hideout on 26 July are also still being stored at a state hospital. "No relatives came to us or officially applied for the bodies of the 14 extremists," Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP. Sohel Mahmud, a forensic doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said several families had come to identify the bodies. "But no one wanted to take them home for burial," he said. Police gave no official reason, but officers speaking on condition of anonymity said the parents of the extremists were overwhelmed with guilt. Six of the young men were from well-off Dhaka families, among them 18-year-old Rohan Imtiaz. His father Imtiaz Khan Babul told AFP he was "stunned and speechless" to hear of his only son's involvement in the carnage and apologised to the nation. Abdus Salam said his brother Mohammad Abdullah, one of the nine killed in the shootout with police, had betrayed the family and his country. "That's why we don't want to take his body," he told reporters last week. BAGHDAD Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday ordered an investigation into allegations of corruption in weapons deals that risks re-igniting a political crisis ahead of planned military moves to retake Mosul from Islamic State. Infighting over anti-corruption measures, which stalled government activity for several months and sparked clashes between protesters and security forces in Baghdad earlier this year, threatens to slow momentum to recapture Mosul and capitalise on battlefield gains against the ultra-hardline militants. Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri denied charges of corruption made at a closed parliament session by Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi that was broadcast late Monday on state television. Obeidi told the session that Jabouri and other MPs he identified had lobbied on different occasions on behalf of companies or businessmen seeking contracts to sell planes, Hummer all-terrain vehicles, civilian cars or foodstuff to the army, or to appoint soldiers, officers and personnel at the ministry. Abadi said in a statement that he had directed the Integrity Commission, a government body tasked with fighting corruption, to investigate the accusations. Obeidi had been summoned to parliament to respond to allegations of graft in the Ministry of Defence, which has been accused of wasting billions of dollars in public funds and weakening the armed forces to the point where they collapsed in 2014 in the face of the Islamic State threat. "What happened today was a charade in order for the questioning not to be held", Jabouri said in a televised news conference following the session. He also said he would refrain from chairing parliament until he can clear his name. Islamic State seized a third of Iraqi territory two years ago, but has since been pushed out of many of those areas by Shi'ite Muslim militias and a military that is slowly being rebuilt with the support of a U.S.-led coalition. Former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was forced to resign following the Islamic State surge, was acting defence minister at the time. Abadi has been trying for more than two years to tackle corruption in Iraq, which ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency International's Corruption Index, but has faced resistance from much of the country's political elite. Obeidi told state television in an interview on Saturday that the summons to appear in parliament was "a conspiracy by the corrupt, a political targeting because of tackling corruption". He said that since taking over the ministry, he had cut down significantly on graft in weapons deals and "ghost soldiers" - members of the military who do not exist but whose salaries are collected. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin, Saif Hameed and Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Richard Balmforth, G Crosse) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Rome: Islam is not a violent religion, and only a minority of its followers have embraced fundamentalism, Pope Francis said in an overnight press conference. "I think it is neither true nor right to say that Islam is [a] terrorist [religion]," Francis said on the plane back from Poland, according to a transcript by Vatican Radio. The pope was in Poland 27-31 July for World Youth Day, a week-long event attended by over a million pilgrims. A day before he left, an elderly Catholic priest was killed in Northern France during Mass, in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State. "One thing is true: I think that in nearly all religions there is always a small group of fundamentalists," the pontiff noted, adding that it was a problem also for Christians. "If I had to talk about Muslim violence, I would have to also talk about Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent. Not all Catholics are violent," he added. He said Europeans should reflect on what drives disaffected youth to join the Islamic State terrorist group. "I ask myself: how many young people, how many young people, whom we Europeans have left empty of ideals, have no jobs and turn to drugs, alcohol or enroll themselves in fundamentalist groups," Francis lamented. Sydney: Australian MH370 search authorities are hopeful a wing part found in Tanzania will shed light on how the flight crashed, amid a lack of public information on debris found a year ago. As the underwater hunt far off Australia's west coast draws to a close without any sign of the plane, there has been speculation the flight's final resting place may be outside the current search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysia Airlines jet was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March, 2014. The first debris linked to MH370 - a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part known as a flaperon - washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a year ago. But it has remained in the hands of French investigators, leaving questions unanswered on how the airliner entered the ocean. "We have also seen some analysis from the French that suggests that it's a possibility that (the flaperon) was in a deployed state," Peter Foley, the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB)'s head of MH370 search operations, told Channel Nine late Sunday. A deployed state, which means the flaperon was extended for landing, could suggest that someone was at the controls - the "rogue pilot" theory - when the aircraft entered the water. Investigators have considered all scenarios, but alternative possibilities could potentially have debris fields three times the current search zone, ATSB's former chief Martin Dolan told AFP in March. The current area was defined under the "most likely" scenario that no-one was at the controls and the plane ran out of fuel. But Foley told the commercial broadcaster that if the pilot was still in control of the plane or control-ditched the aircraft, it could potentially have had an extended range of flight. A team of Italian scientists said last month the debris zone may be a further 500 kilometres (310 miles) north. Foley said he was hopeful the wing part found off Tanzania, which is in Canberra for analysis and was confirmed by Australia on Friday to be "highly likely" from MH370, could reveal how the plane crashed. "We are looking to see whether or not we can work out whether that flap was extended at the end of flight... it suggests a different end-of-flight scenario," he said. The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments, where most of the passengers were from, have agreed that when the target area is fully searched, expected around December, they will pull the plug unless "credible new information" emerges. Aboard the Papal Plane: Pope Francis has refused to equate Islam with violence, saying Catholics could be just as deadly, and warning Europe was pushing its young to terrorism. "I don't think it is right to equate Islam with violence," he yesterday told journalists during his return from a trip to Poland. Francis defended his decision not to name Islam, when condemning the brutal jihadist murder of a Catholic priest in France in the latest of a string of recent attacks in Europe claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. "In almost every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. We have them too." "If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother-in-law, and these are baptised Catholics." The pontiff was speaking after Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the murder of the priest, whose throat was slit at the altar of his church. In an echo of remarks made during his five-day trip to Poland for a Catholic youth festival, Francis said religion was not the driving force behind the violence. "You can kill with the tongue as well as the knife," he said, in an apparent reference to a rise in populist parties fuelling racism and xenophobia. He said Europe should look closer to home, saying "terrorism... grows where the God of money is put first" and "where there are no other options". "How many of our European young have we left empty of ideals, with no work, so they turn to drugs, to alcohol, and sign up with fundamentalist groups?" he asked. Marseille: A passenger ferry docked in the southern French port of Marseille was evacuated after an explosion was felt on board, with authorities investigating if it was caused by an old wartime bomb. France has been on high alert following the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice which killed 84 and the jihadist murder of a priest last week. All the passengers had already disembarked after their voyage from Corsica and the blast did not cause any damage to the ship or dock, officials said. "The Jean Nicoli of the shipping company Corsica Linea had completed its disembarking operations after coming from Porto Vecchio when what appears to be an underwater explosion shook the ship," the Marseille port authority said in a statement. "The ship's captain immediately implemented security procedures and suspended the operation of embarking passengers for the next destination of Porto Torres in Sardinia," it said. Marseille deputy prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni confirmed to AFP that the explosion "very fortunately was without any consequences, neither to property nor person". The port authority said only crew members were on board at the time and all were immediately evacuated. "I was in the cabin, and there was noise: 'boom'," and "It went 'boom' and we felt like something moving up and down," two maintenance workers said. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the explosion. The magistrate had initially said it appeared to be caused by an old explosive device on the seabed. Dives conducted during the afternoon however did not seem to support this hypothesis, according to a source familiar with the incident. "There was something, for sure, but what?" said the source. The prosecutor said Monday night: "It is still too early to say what it is or what it is not," while noting that they had not ruled out it being caused by an old bomb. Marseille police commissioner Laurent Nunez said "security measures" had been taken, including inspections of other quays, following the incident. After "removing any doubts" he allowed the ship to depart Monday night for Sardinia, its original destination. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Richard Bransons space company, Virgin Galactic, has been granted an operating license to fly its passenger rocketship with the world's first paying space tourists aboard once final safety tests are completed, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday. The unprecedented license covers all operations of Virgin Galactic's six-passenger, two-pilot SpaceShipTwo vehicle, including commercial passenger service, which according to FAA spokesman Hank Price is contingent on "certain terms and conditions" being met first. Those requirements include verification of vehicle hardware and software in an operational flight environment, the FAA wrote in an email. The FAA, which oversees U.S. airline service and general aviation, is also the chief regulatory body for commercial spaceflight in the United States. The new licence will be modified as Virgin Galactic supplies the FAA with additional data from the SpaceShipTwo flight test programme, company spokeswoman Christine Choi said in an email. The company has not yet announced a date for the start of passenger flights but is selling tickets for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo at $250,000 a seat. Commercial service is not expected to debut before 2017. About 700 people have put down deposits for rides that will take them about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth set against the blackness of space. Virgin Galactics original SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during an October 2014 test flight that killed the co-pilot and seriously injured the pilot, in an accident that was ultimately attributed to pilot error. Both were employees of Scaled Composites, a Northrop Grumman (NOC.N) subsidiary based in Mojave, California, that built the vehicle. The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic sister firm also owned by Bransons London-based Virgin Group, built a new SpaceShipTwo, the second in a planned fleet of five, and took over the test flight programme from Scaled. The new ship, dubbed Unity, was rolled out of its hanger on Monday for its first taxi test at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Virgin Galactic plans to fly from Spaceport America, near Las Cruces, New Mexico. SpaceShipTwo will be ferried to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) by a carrier jet known as White Knight Two and then released for an independent rocket ride beyond the atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo is designed to glide back to the ground and land on a runway like a conventional airplane. (Editing by Steve Gorman and Steve Orlofsky) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. DIYARBAKIR, Turkey Six police officers were killed and four others wounded when a car bomb exploded as a police vehicle passed in southeastern Turkey on Monday in an attack that security sources said appeared to have been carried out by Kurdish militants. The bomb was detonated by remote control as the vehicle passed through a road in Bingol province. The attack was carried out by the members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the sources said. Two of those injured were in serious condition. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and European Union, has waged an armed campaign against security forces in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, pushing for Kurdish autonomy. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the violence. Unrest has flared anew since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, and thousands of militants and hundreds of soldiers and police have since died. Rights groups have said about 400 civilians have also perished. Turkey's military, NATO's second largest, is undergoing a major shake-up following a July 15-16 coup attempt, but has played down concerns that the wide-reaching changes will undermine its struggle against the PKK. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Richard Balmforth) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. AUSTIN, Texas A new law went into effect in Texas on Monday that allows certain students to bring guns into classrooms, with supporters saying it could prevent mass shootings and critics saying the measure will endanger safety on campuses. The so-called state "campus carry" law allows people 21 and older with a concealed handgun license to carry pistols in classrooms and most buildings throughout public universities, including the University of Texas system, one of the nation's largest with an enrolment of more than 214,000 students. The law took effect as the university held a memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the deadliest U.S. gun incidents on a college campus. On Aug. 1 1966, student Charles Whitman killed 16 people in a rampage, firing from a perch atop the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, the state's flagship public university. Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who supports campus carry, said a gunman could already bring a firearm on to campus, and the law could prevent mass shootings because someone with a licensed concealed weapon could be ready to confront a gunman. "What campus carry does is that it only authorizes those who go through the special training and background" to carry firearms, his office quoted him as saying. University of Texas professors lobbied unsuccessfully to prevent the law, arguing the combination of youth, firearms and college life could make for a deadly situation. University President Gregory Fenves reluctantly allowed campus carry, saying he was compelled to do so under state law. Last month, three professors sued to block the law, saying it could have a chilling effect on academic freedom. Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said the law was constitutionally sound and he would defend it. The law allows private colleges to opt out, and most of the state's best-known private universities have done so, saying the measure runs counter to protecting student safety. Eight states allow people to carry concealed weapons on public post-secondary campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At the Austin campus, third-year graduate architecture student Rachel Warburton said she was against campus carry since it runs counter to the idea that a university should be open and safe for all. "It brings an air to the campus that you don't feel safe and you feel that you always have to be protected," she said ahead of the memorial. (Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Istanbul: Turkey has arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hotel during the night of the failed coup, the deputy prime minister said on Monday. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on 15 July, but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. "Eleven of them were captured in Ula," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a press conference after a cabinet meeting, referring to a town near Marmaris. He said one soldier was still at large. Erdogan earlier said his swift escape had saved him from being killed or taken hostage. An interior ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a "death squad" and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers. The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. "There was an exchange of fire during the operation," the official added. "Drones and helicopters were used to pinpoint the location." Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed. DUBAI Yemeni government negotiators said they were leaving peace talks in Kuwait on Monday after Houthi militia foes rejected a United Nations proposal aimed to ending their country's war. Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi insisted the government was not abandoning the peace process, but suggested it would only return if the Houthis and a powerful local ally lifted their objections to the UN plan. "We've agreed to the initiative ... we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of Kuwait but we're not leaving the talks," Mekhlafi said while announcing the move. "We'll return at any moment, even an hour after our departure, if the other side agrees to sign this document which the (U.N.) envoy presented." U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed proposed that the government's foes in the armed Houthi movement quit three main cities they hold, including the capital Sanaa. Under this plan, new talks would then be convened on forming a government that would include the Houthis, delegates said. The Houthis dismissed the proposal as a non-starter on Sunday, saying in a statement that any agreement would need to be comprehensive and not postpone a resolution on major issues. They said they would stay in Kuwait for the talks. The negotiations started in April have slowed the nationwide fighting that has killed at least 6,400 people and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. (Reporting By Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by William Maclean and Tom Heneghan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. CHINA released a prominent human rights lawyer on bail amid protests yesterday outside a northern city court, where supporters of other jailed lawyers and activists condemned the secrecy surrounding the governments yearlong campaign against legal activism. More on p10 TAIWANs president yesterday apologized on behalf of the government to the islands aboriginal peoples for 400 years of conquest and colonization, saying the facing of difficult historical facts was necessary for society to move forward. Tsai Ing-wen said her government wished to take a further step and offer its fullest apology. More on p20 BANGLADESH More than 100,000 students in Bangladesh linked their hands yesterday to form human chains to protest two attacks last month by suspected Islamist militants. The students from hundreds of colleges and universities in Dhaka and other cities took part in the protest as part of a campaign to create awareness about the rise of Islamic extremism in the country. More on p12 INDIA-SAUDI ARABIA The Indian government said yesterday it plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for a flight home. The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction companies and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry caused by low global oil prices. About 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have lost their jobs. TURKEY yesterday slammed a German court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany denouncing Turkeys failed July 15 coup, and summoned a German diplomat in protest. The German Embassys charge daffaires was due at the ministry yesterday to discuss the issue, an official said, as the attempted coup continued to strain Turkeys relations with allies. NIGERIA A man accused of scamming USD60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails has been arrested after months of investigation, Interpol and Nigerias anti-fraud agency said yesterday. The ringleader of the global scamming network, identified only as a 40-year-old known as Mike, was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Nigerias oil capital, Port Harcourt. More on p15 US A tiny island village on Alaskas storm-battered western coast is entering a new chapter in its decades-long pursuit to move the entire community from its badly eroding shores to safer ground. The Inupiat Eskimo community of Shishmaref will hold a special election next month asking residents if they should develop a new community at a nearby location on the mainland or stay put with added protections, such as expanding a seawall that has never been completed. The Republican incumbents running for re-election to the U.S. House and Senate in Idaho are starting off with big leads over their Democratic challengers, according to the latest polling data released Monday. In the Second House District, which includes the Magic Valley, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has 62 percent support now, compared to 26 percent for Democrat Jennifer Martinez, with 12 percent undecided. The poll doesn't look to have included Constitution Party candidate Anthony Tomkins. And in the U.S. Senate race, incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo has 57 percent statewide, with 20 percent for Democrat Jerry Sturgill, 15 percent undecided, 4 percent for Constitution Party candidate Ray Writz and 4 percent saying someone else. In the First House District, U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador is polling at 61 percent, with 29 percent for Democrat James Piotrowski and 10 percent undecided. And in the state Supreme Court race to replace Jim Jones, former Nampa state Sen. Curt McKenzie is polling at 21 percent, with 20 percent for Rupert lawyer Robyn Brody and 59 percent still undecided. The Supreme Court race is nonpartisan, but McKenzie is known statewide as a Republican senator and he got the endorsements of several of his Republican colleagues during the primary. While Democrats and Republicans, like voters in general, are mostly undecided so far, Republicans are leaning toward McKenzie and Democrats toward Brody Democrats are 30-16 Brody with 54 percent undecided, Republicans are 22-13 McKenzie with 66 percent undecided, and independents are 25-21 Brody with 55 percent undecided. Labrador and Simpson both have the support of 93 percent of the self-described Republicans in their districts, but Simpson, who is more moderate on some issues than the prominent House Freedom Caucus member Labrador, is doing better with Democrats 8 percent of Democrats in Labrador's district are backing him, while 22 of Democrats in Simpson's district plan to vote for him, the pollsters found. The poll of 601 adults 324 in the First District, 264 in the Second was done from July 5 to 16 by Dan Jones and Associates. Margins of error are 4 percent for the statewide results, 5.4 percent for the First District and 6 percent for the Second. Simpson, Crapo and Labrador have all been easily re-elected before, and Republicans have a heavy voter registration advantage in Idaho. It's important to bear in mind, though, this is the first poll in these races, the campaigning hasn't really gotten underway yet and the Democratic challengers probably aren't known to many voters yet we've still got three months of campaign stops, debates, advertisements, and a volatile presidential race that's happening at the same time. As for the Supreme Court, while voters might have gotten to know the candidates a bit during the May primary in which McKenzie and Brody edged out two other contenders, the huge number of undecideds would seem to indicate both candidates have plenty of opportunity to make inroads. Natural gas sprang to life last 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 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 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 serves as 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 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 percent more than 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 per barrel? Dollar Dumping Helps Commodities The U.S. dollar dropped Friday when the U.S. gross domestic product report came in far weaker than expected. Virtually all commodities, from soybeans to silver and from crude to cattle, saw a boost at the 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. JEROME The inside of the Heritage Plaza building looks very close to what it did when building was completed seven years ago. Bare beams and flooring lay concealed from the outside by an eye-catching grand exterior, complete with towers and a wrap-around terrace. Still, one can see the makings of what a finished interior will look like an elevator shaft, here, bathrooms, there, and offices on all three floors. But while the initial building completion was met with fanfare, the structure reminiscent of the old North Side Inn seems to be frozen in time. Soon, that could change. The owners have stepped up their efforts to sell or lease the building at Crossroads Point in Jerome County. Meanwhile, nearby construction lies as evidence that the economy isnt what it was back in 2009 when Heritage Plaza was built and managers say theres more to come within the next year or so. Things have changed, Crossroads Point owner and developer Arlen B. Crouch said. Its the best location out there. Upcoming development Having welcomed Watkins Distributing back in January, the business center will soon include a completed Rush Truck Centers commercial truck dealership and a Valley Country Store and gas station. Well be completed probably the first week of September, Rush Truck Centers Regional General Manager Jorgan Peterson said. The company will shift operations from its downtown Twin Falls dealership to Crossroads Point later that month, and bring in another six to 10 employees. Peterson said Rush Truck Centers needed more space, newer facilities and a better location for access and visibility. Its downtown building is up for sale. An 11,000 square-foot Valley Country store is scheduled to open in January 2017, said Valley Wide Cooperative Chief Operating Officer Donn Bordewyk. The station will offer Phillips 66 gasoline and is located across from the Flying J. We think were going to have a very easy, in-and-out fueling center, he said. The travel center is larger than other Valley Country Stores, but will not carry the farm supplies, Bordewyk said. It will hire about 40 employees. Crossroads Point is a roughly 500-acre planned unit development, general manager Blair Crouch said. The 250-acre first phase is about 35 percent sold out. Theres not much retail yet, but thats in the making, Blair Crouch said. Arlen Crouch, Blair Crouchs father, said he has three more deals about ready to close. According to the Crossroads Point website, Western League LLC and Animal Health International will also be coming soon. Waiting it out The Crouch family has owned the property at the northwest corner of Interstate 84 and U.S. 93 for 22 years. For several years, the developers worked on getting everything lined up. Crossroads Point had its own well, which it gave to the city of Jerome in exchange for getting water and sewer service. Arthur Brown, planning and zoning administrator for Jerome County, said its beneficial that the development is on the citys systems in several ways including fire suppression and concerns with a septic system going into the area thats naturally rocky. If a hotel wanted to go in on a well, it probably wouldnt be able to without working with the Department of Environmental Quality, Brown said. Crossroads Point is an urban renewal district in Jerome County, he said. Commercial development for a county is always good, Brown said. With those agreements in place, the business center welcomed its first facility in 2006, Fed-Ex Ground. Its had several others come in since, including a Comfort Inn & Suites, Subway, Intermountain Gas Co., Pella Windows and Doors, and Fastenal. But in 2008, the economy took a downturn. That slowed down everybody, Arlen Crouch said. We did like everyone else, we waited for it to be over. The following year, initial construction finished on Heritage Plaza, a 14,000 square-foot office building that was to be prime property located next to a St. Benedicts hospital. The hospital was supposed to start construction the same month, said owner Lori Dragt of Dragt Construction. Her company had constructed the building thats now home to Pella Windows and Doors, and Fastenal, just the previous year. That building sold within 30 days, she said. The Dragts originally had some other property at Crossroads Point, but traded that to the developer in exchange to the more attractive property next to the promising new hospital, Dragt said. But the hospital never came, and the 30 or so acres its company owns at Crossroads Point sits empty next to the picturesque Heritage Plaza. Like Arlen Crouch, Dragt waited out the storm of the Great Recession. Then, about four years ago, her husband became disabled in a car crash. That kind of took us off the map for a while, she said. Between the economy and his accident, we lost a lot of years. It wasnt until about a year ago that Dragt Construction began to seek interested parties to buy, rent or rent-to-own the property. The Heritage Plaza building is unique from Jerome offices in that it has 11 separate suites, she said. Blair Crouch believes things are picking up, and is going to take a hand in trying to find tenants or owners for Heritage Plaza. Based on the phone calls and people Im dealing with, things are getting better, he said. Dragt also has a positive outlook, as recent developments such as a street light and Valley Co-Ops store, could make the area more of an attraction for business. Its time to really look at the Crossroads Point Business Center again, she said. Russia was behind the hacks into the Democratic National Committees computer network that led to the release of thousands of internal emails just before the partys convention began, U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly concluded. The FBI is investigating. WikiLeaks promises there is more data to come. The political nature of this cyberattack means that Democrats and Republicans are trying to spin this situation as much as possible. Even so, we have to accept that someone is attacking our nations computer systems in an apparent attempt to influence a presidential election. This kind of cyberattack targets the very core of our democratic process. And it points to the possibility of an even worse problem in Novemberthat our election systems and our voting machines could be vulnerable to a similar attack. If the intelligence community has indeed ascertained that Russia is to blame, our government needs to decide what to do in response. This is difficult because the attacks are politically partisan, but it is still essential. If foreign governments learn that they can influence our elections with impunity, it will open the door for future manipulations, both document thefts and dumps like this one that we can see and more subtle manipulations that we cant. Retaliation is a politically fraught step and could have serious consequences, but this was an attack against our democracy. The United States needs to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin in some waypolitically, economically or in cyberspaceand make it clear that it will not tolerate this kind of interference by any government. Regardless of your political leanings this time, theres no guarantee the next country that tries to manipulate our elections will prefer the same candidates that you do. Even more important, we need to secure our election systems before the fall. If Putins government has already used a cyberattack to attempt to help Donald Trump win, theres no reason to believe it wont do it againespecially now that Trump is inviting the help, albeit sarcastically. Over the years, more and more states have moved to electronic voting machines and have flirted with Internet voting. These systems are insecure and vulnerable to attack. But while computer security experts like me have sounded the alarm for many years, states have largely ignored the threat, and the machine manufacturers have thrown up enough obfuscating babble that election officials are largely mollified. We no longer have time for that. We must ignore the machine manufacturers spurious claims of security, create tiger teams to test the machines and systems resistance to attack, drastically increase their cyberdefenses and take them offline if we cant guarantee their security online. Longer term, we need to return to election systems that are secure from manipulation. This means voting machines with voter-verified paper audit trails, and no Internet voting. I know the old-fashioned way is slower and less convenient, but the security risks are simply too great. There are other ways to attack our election system on the Internet besides hacking voting machines or changing vote tallies: deleting voter records, hijacking candidate or party websites, targeting and intimidating campaign workers or donors. There have already been multiple instances of political doxingpublishing personal information and documents about a person or organizationand we could easily see more in this election cycle. We need to take these risks much more seriously than before. Government interference with foreign elections isnt new, and, in fact, thats something the United States itself has repeatedly done. Using cyberattacks to influence elections is newer but has been done before, toomost notably in Latin America. Hacking of voting machines isnt new, either. But what is new is a foreign government interfering with a U.S. national election on a large scale. Our democracy cannot tolerate it, and we as citizens cannot accept it. In April 2015, President Barack Obamas administration issued an executive order outlining how we as a nation respond to cyberattacks against our critical infrastructure. While our election technology was not explicitly mentioned, our political process is certainly critical. And while the technology is a hodgepodge of separate state-run systems, together their security affects every one of us. After everyone has voted, it is essential that both sides believe the election was fair and the results accurate. Otherwise, it will have no legitimacy. Election security is now a national security issue; federal officials need to take the lead, and they need to do it quickly. Almost on cue, Donald Trump had a meltdown after the Democratic convention ended Thursday night to positive reviews. He launched a Twitter storm, whined that Hillary Clinton had not congratulated him (what, is he 10 years old?) and insisted that he had nothing to do with the much-criticized Republican convention. Despite previous statements that he was going to put on a great show in Cleveland, Trump insisted that all he did was show up to give a speech. Saturday he demonstrated how utterly despicable he is when in an ABC interview he attacked the Gold Star mother who stood by her husband Khizr Khan at the Democratic convention. Trump declared, [L]ook 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, Trump continued. But a plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that. Actually, no one in public life but Trump would say something so cruel. But then the billionaire bigot was twisted enough to compare himself to parents who lost a child. Trump replied to Khans statement that Trump has given nothing and sacrificed nothing by insisting he had sacrificed, too, because he employed people and gave charitable donations. Trump once again proves he is a moral monster. This all comes after his outburst on Thursday, when he threatened (or was it sarcasm?) violence: I mean, the things that were said about me. I was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard their heads would spin, theyd never recover! He continued, I was going to hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin. He wouldnt know what the hell happened. That would appear to be former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg (who is worth about six times what Trump claims he is worth, which is widely believed to be exaggerated). Its almost as if he were bent on proving Clintons point that he is dangerously ill-suited to the presidency. Trump was having a miserable week before all that, ever since he was slammed for his comments about Russias alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committees computer and hinting that Russian President Vladimir Putin might get to keep Crimea. A YouGov poll showed that voters by a wide margin (54 to 30 percent) think Trumps comment suggesting that Russia should look for Clintons deleted emails was inappropriate. A substantial plurality (40 percent) think he is too friendly toward Russia. Former CIA and National Security Agency director Gen.(Ret.) Michael Hayden observed, Either he wanted Russian security services to capture the related State Department emails, which is problematic. Or he wanted the Russian government to capture the private emails of a person protected by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which is equally problematic. So I just find it to be an incredibly stunning commentary. As for Trumps comments on Article V of the NATO charter, Hayden remarked that to create doubt in the minds of a potential adversary that you wouldnt respond to an attack is a very dangerous thing. While Trump is the object of ridicule in the United States for his bromance with Putin, our allies dont think he is the slightest bit amusing. In Japan, public- and private-sector officials expressed astonishment and alarm at Trumps rise. There are no Trump supporters among officials in Tokyo, and it seems reasonable to say there are none in any other allied or just plain friendly capital: Seoul, Taipei, or Canberra (or for that matter New Delhi) facing China, Jerusalem or Riyadh or Amman or Abu Dhabi facing Iran, Warsaw or Vilnius or Prague or Kiev facing Russia, former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams writes. Trump likes to say that President Barack Obama is not respected overseas; should Trump get elected, God forbid, our allies may pine for Obama. For Eastern Europe, Trump is a nightmare. I was born in 1970 in Siauliai, Lithuania. I grew up during some of the darkest days of the Soviet system, where many were afraid not only to speak up but even celebrate Christmas, said Erika Veberyte, former chief foreign policy adviser to the speaker of her countrys parliament and diplomatic adviser to the acting president between 2001 and 2006. She told me: Almost every family in Lithuania had someone killed or deported by KGB. I was 19 and a student at Vilnius University during the events of Jan.13, 1991, when we rallied to stand up to Soviet tanks. For Lithuanians (not unlike other former captives under Soviet rule), Trump and Putin are constant worries. The media and politicians are continuously sounding alarm bells as Russias soft power of propaganda is extremely well funded and is constantly felt in Lithuania, she said. Obviously events in Ukraine have raised alarm bells, and the current government is working hard to increase defense spending. The level of concern is particularly high among those who experienced Soviet domination and ... joined their parents defending Lithuanias independence in 1991 and rebuilding independent Lithuania. Veberyte continued, Our children are born in a free country and we want to see it that way. The progress we have made and the opportunities we have experienced cannot be compared to our censorship and freedom lacking childhood and early youth. As for Trump, she said, Since Lithuania joined NATO, we strongly believe that NATOs Article 5 is equally valid to any and all NATO members. Thus, when such items are questioned by a U.S. presidential candidate, naturally, anxiety level increases. Rather than listening to himself (I have a very good brain) and his pro-Russian lackeys, Trump might want to get out of Trump Tower and talk to real people who understand Putin better than he. Veberyte said: Having watched, lived, and been a part of Lithuanias transition from a Soviet-occupied state to a democratic member of the E.U. and NATO, I understand how precious and fragile democracies are to keep the flame lit. She added, I hope America will continue to be a role model for those of us who sprung free of authoritarian rule and not become like other countries, where nationalism is accepted as a normal phenomenon. I want to believe that its voters will choose the candidate that would guarantee it to be an exceptional nation, as they have always perceived it. We do, too. Throughout my career, I have worked at everything from a mom and pop operation and a government entity to a major corporation. Each environment presented different challenges, some unique and others just the opposite. One experience shared among them all was the overlooking of silent evidence that gave a true picture of events. In his 2007 book, The Black Swan, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb coined the phrase silent evidence. Loosely defined, silent evidence is the notion that experiential observations cannot always be counted on to develop valid conclusions. He illustrated his definition with the following story: A young man, who was an ancient Roman non-believer, was being shown portraits of survivors of a shipwreck. He was told that these people were believers and that their survival was proof that prayer saved them from the tragedy. To this the young man replied, How many of those who drowned were believers? Did you interview them as well? Those drowned believers become the silent evidence against the logic behind the argument that prayer is protection from drowning. They cannot be surveyed or measured, and their silent testimony is easily ignored. The axiom that history is written by the survivors holds true in the business world. Everyone loves a winner and few pay attention to the losers that litter the landscape. Books abound on the ten things you need to do to be _______ (fill in the blank), because everyone thinks that following someone elses blueprint guarantees their success. People dont get into business planning to fail. Most people venture into the cruel world of entrepreneurship with rosy visions and dreams of being the next Bill Gates or Donald Trump. The truth is that most small business start-ups fail, yet no one lifts up those courageous souls and sings their praises. Silent evidence examines the story not told by the big sale or the amazing quarterly report. For example, a few months ago a positive jobs report said that 80,000 people were put back to work. This report supported the impression that the economy was starting to revive, however a look at the silent evidence revealed that 45,000 people, who settled a strike and went back to work, buoyed the report. Most entrepreneurs are optimistic peoplejust ask their bankers. Eager to start a business and achieve fame and fortune, they seek evidence to support their business ideas. They may look around the local area and discover that there are no widgets like the one they propose. Based on that research, they believe that their widget will sell like crazy so they approach the bank with their idea, market research and a plan. The banker examines all aspects of the entrepreneurs logic with a skeptical eye, looking for the silent logic that will either prove or disprove the theory. A couple of years ago I had an idea for a project I felt would be a good thing for our department. I proposed the idea to my boss, Joe, who gave me the green light to pursue it. I did all the research to discover the five things I must do to ensure success acquired the right equipment, attended the right classes and so on. I put everything in place and prepared for the big launch day. I invited the Joe to attend the first event of the project to provide feedback and see what great work I did. It was a disaster! When it was over and I was licking my wounds, Joe approached, put his arm around me and asked, What are you going to fix for the next event? I had done everything right, my five things were in place and I had attended all the right classes. What I had failed to do, was look at the failures that had gone before me. I should have spent time examining the what not to do sources, because those became my pitfalls. I have since reviewed the silent evidence and fixed the problems that plagued that first event, thus creating successful projects. Silent evidence is about looking at evidence not readily apparent that can have an impact. Next time you embark on a new venture, product launch, hiring a new person or any other activity where preconceived notions exist, take a second to examine the story behind the story to discover what tales the dead men tell. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Public school teachers are pushing back against a state school board plan intended to address teacher shortages. The Utah State Board of Education unanimously decided to allow schools to hire people with expertise in subject matter but no teaching license or classroom experience. Many spoke against the plan at an overflowing board meeting last week. Their concerns included a lack of preparedness and burdening other educators, among others. Instead of a fixing a leak in the dam, its going to be plugging the hole with a stick of dynamite, said Roger Donohoe, a Hyde Park teacher who won a Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education in 2014. The Academic Pathway to Teaching rule requires applicants to have at least a bachelors degree and show they mastered their intended course subject. They would be mentored by a veteran educator. Board members will hear a report on the publics feedback before meeting in August. The rule will go into effect if the board takes no action. There were a lot of comments directly related to the rule and probably even more that were probably beyond that, pointing to problems maybe in the teaching profession, Chairman David Crandall said. We appreciate all the comments that were made. We do listen. Lincoln Elementary School science teacher Cara Baldree said the rule is absolutely demoralizing and insulting. Just because you comprehend third-grade math doesnt mean you can teach third-grade math, she said. Supporters say the program offers schools a bigger talent pool. The rule allows Utah to tap into an important pool of talent and ability, Sutherland Institute policy analyst Christine Cooke said. Daniel Baker is a director at the private company American Preparatory Schools, which operates American Preparatory Academy charters. I dont like throwing out this whole rule because some people cant apply it effectively, he said, noting that mentorship programs should be incentivized or allow for more flexible schedules. Utah Education Association President Heidi Matthews said there are negative consequences when teachers are tasked with helping those who would be included in the program. What other profession does this? she said. We dont let someone work on our car, clean our teeth, unclog our drain we dont even let people cut our hair if they dont have a license that means something. No school is required to participate. Our directors, our principals, those who run our local (schools), you have the responsibility, knowing whats happening in your classrooms, to verify that this person is prepared to teach in your classroom. If not, dont hire them, said Royce Van Tassell, executive director of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(ATLANTA) -- President Obama praised the families of fallen military service members Monday in an apparent rebuke to Donald Trump, who continues to face backlash over his attacks against the family of slain Army Capt. Humayun Kahn. No one, no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families, the president said at the Disabled American Veterans convention in Atlanta. Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. They represent the very best of our country. They continue to inspire us every day." The president said families of fallen service members "serve as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America. We have to do everything we can for those families and honor them and be humbled by them. Though he didn't mention Trump by name, Obama also expressed frustration over those who denigrate the military. "As commander-in-chief Im pretty tired of some folks trash talking Americas military and troops," he said. ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Pope Francis Sunday rejected critics equating Islam to terrorism as he argued that Catholics also commit crimes daily. It is not true and it is not right to say that Islam is terrorism, he said aboard his plane on his way back from Poland. I dont think it is right to equate Islam to violence Every day when I open papers, I see violence in Italy, someone who killed his girlfriend, another who killed his mother in-law, and they are baptized Catholics, he said. The Pontiff was returning from Poland where he attended a week long Catholic global event in the Polish city of Krakow. The comments of the head of the Roman Catholic Church come following the murder in France of priest Jacques Hamel, 86, last Tuesday by two IS militants. Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France and also in Italy on Sunday to express sympathy and sorrow following the murder of the priest. Pope Francis further chided European leaders for failed social and economic policies towards youth. Terrorism grows where the God of money is put first and where there are no other options. How many of our European youths have we left empty of ideals, with no work, so they turn to drugs, to alcohol, and sign up with fundamentalist groups? he asked. Tunisian parliament Saturday withdrew its confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid as expected after lawmakers of the ruling coalition backed the Presidents proposal to form a unity government. 118 out of the 191 lawmakers present during the session rejected embattled Essids premiership report, even though he asserted that his government achieved some success against the numerous economic, social and security challenges the North African country has been facing up over the past two years. 27 lawmakers abstained. The Tunisian parliament counts 207 seats. Appointed Prime Minister less than two years ago, Habib Essids spell in the position has been shaken by security, economic and social issues that nearly produced a remake of the 2011 revolution last year. Social riots claimed jobs for youths swept across the country last year letting analysts fear for a new political instability in the North African country after a successful transition into democracy. The ruling coalition made of Nidaa Tounes, Ennahda (the largest party in the parliament), Afek Tounes and UPL earlier announced they would not back Essid adding that the country needed a new cabinet leader to lift the country out of the economic slowdown that has crippled the countrys growth. The coalition and other parties as well as some civil society movements have back President Caid Essebsis June 2 call for the formation of a unity government to meet the challenges. They inked the Carthage Agreement paving the way to the unity government. With parliament voting out Essids team, President Essebsi now has ten days to appoint a new government leader who will be tasked to form the unity government. Essid who underlined the success scored by his cabinet said the Presidents call for a unity government has jeopardized the course of progress achieved despite the growing terrorist threat. King Mohammed VI paid tribute to African States which voiced support to Moroccos decision to reintegrate the African Union and recover its natural place, as this return will enable the kingdom to continue defending its interests from within the pan-African organization and to enhance cooperation with its partners, at the bilateral and regional levels. Our countrys return to its natural place reflects our keenness to continue defending our interests from within the African Union and to enhance cooperation with our partners, at the bilateral and regional levels, said King Mohammed VI in The Throne Day speech he delivered on Saturday, as Morocco was celebrating the 17th anniversary of the Kings enthronement. For the Moroccan Sovereign, this return to the African fold will also open up new prospects for Morocco, mainly in East and Equatorial Africa, and consolidate the countrys position as a player with regard to the continents security, stability, human development and solidarity. The monarch expressed special thanks to the 28 signatories of the motion addressed to the AU chairmanship, welcoming Moroccos decision and pledging to work so that this legitimate return be effective as soon as possible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all African sister nations for supporting Morocco in defending its territorial unity and for responding positively to its decision to return to its institutional family, particularly leaders of the 28 states, who have signed the statement, as well as those who have contributed to the initiative, said the King who also expressed gratitude and esteem to Rwanda, which hosted the AU summit, and to its president, Paul Kagame, for their support and collaboration. The King made it clear however that Moroccos decision to reintegrate the AU, in a bid to strengthen its African policy, does not mean that Morocco will relinquish its legitimate rights, nor recognize a pseudo entity lacking the basic elements of sovereignty which was imposed on the African Union, in flagrant violation of the latters charter, in reference to the so-called Sahrawi Republic, self-proclaimed by the Polisario. Underlining Moroccos commitment to its territorial integrity, King Mohammed VI said If some are trying to make 2016 a year of decision, for Morocco it is a year of determination as far as our territorial integrity is concerned. He recalled in this respect how Morocco has faced the fallacious statements and irresponsible behavior related to the management of the Moroccan Sahara issue and taken the necessary measures, dictated by the circumstances, to put an end to these serious deviations. We will continue defending our rights and will take the required measures to counter any future deviations. We will not give in to any kind of pressure, nor any blackmail attempts regarding the sacred cause of all Moroccans, he insisted, adding however that Morocco will remain open and ever ready to engage in constructive dialogue in order to find a final political settlement to this artificial dispute. In this regard, I would like to call again for continued vigilance and mobilization to counter the maneuvers of Moroccos opponents, who are infuriated by the development and progress witnessed in the Moroccan Sahara, King Mohammed VI said, adding that All conspiracies, overt or hidden, will not undermine our determination to go on with the implementation of our southern provinces development model. Referring again to Moroccos return to the AU, the monarch said It will also open up new prospects for Morocco, mainly in East and Equatorial Africa, and consolidate the countrys position as a player with regard to the continents security, stability, human development and solidarity. The king also renewed Moroccos commitment to spare no effort to boost strategic solidarity-based South-South partnership, particularly with African sister nations, both bilaterally and within West-African regional groupings, recalling that as a major player in triangular cooperation, Morocco has placed development issues, particularly in Africa, at the top of its political agenda. Misrata brigade forces allied with UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Friday closed in further on Islamic States fighters in Sirte as they engage in street battle with IS snipers holed up in buildings, reports say. Fighting for the retake of the coastal has reached a critical point as GNA forces engage in street battle to dislodge IS militants still resisting despite relative losses. GNA forces from Misrata powerful brigade on Friday pushed further into the town and tried to retake the Dollar neighborhood, about 1.5 km southwest of the middle of the city, reports say. We are trying to take the whole of Dollar we control about 40 percent so far, said fighter Mohamed Faraj Zourab. Its slow progress because of the land mines, booby traps and snipers. The militant group is using snipers to hold back regular forces. We are trying to force them out house by house, said another fighter named Mohamed Sbah. We advanced by about five houses this morning. We saw the snipers making holes in the wall so they could move from one building to another. The campaign against IS began in May with forces making quick advances but they lost the momentum as militants staged suicide and car bomb attacks. They also resulted to explosives to inflict losses to GNA forces. Recent fighting marred by heavy artillery, shelling were concentrated on city center, including the university, the main hospital, and the Ouagadougou conference hall. Five fighters were reported dead in Friday fighting according medical reports. The number of wounded has been put at 28 according to same sources. Since the start of the campaign more than 300 fighters have been killed and over 1,500 wounded. IS took control of Muammar Gaddafis home town last year after massacring militiamen protecting the town. The city which possesses a port and an airport is strategic. Located at some 100 miles from the coast of Europe, IS is feared to smuggle militants among waves of illegal migrants setting off from Libyan coasts in direction to Europe. Head of GNA, Faiez Serraj has appointed military operation rooms to win back Libyas territories which have fallen into the hands of IS. More than 120 bodies of illegal migrants trying to join Europe had been collected last month at the Libyan western city of Sabratha, the citys mayor said on Sunday. Lawless Libya has become the main leaving port for waves of migrants seeking to reach European shores in search of better life. Sabratha mayor Hussein Thwadi told Reuters that lifeless bodies had washed up the citys shores on a regular basis. Up to 50 bodies were found on a single day last week. Illegal migration existed before, but with the prevailing insecurity and the lack of state authorities the crisis has become worse and worse. Most of the dead migrants found last month were from sub-Saharan countries. Some 23 Tunisians were among the dead. More than 3,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, noting that 3/4 of the dead embarked on the perilous journey from Libyan coasts. Also on Friday, some 3,400 migrants on board 34 boats were reportedly saved off Libyan coasts. The Italian coast guards saved some 1,400 of them while the remaining migrants were rescued by EUs Sophia operation ongoing in the Mediterranean. According to press reports, another batch of 1,095 migrants were rescued off Libyan coast on Thursday. Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been unable to control its land and sea borders because of political rivalries between conflicting factions. The Islamic State (IS) entered the country in 2014, seizing major coast regions where it indulged into the trafficking. UN-backed Government of National Accord led by nominal Prime Minister Faiez Serraj vowed to meet security challenges and put an end to trafficking. Credit: University of Liverpool Scientists from the University of Liverpool and Victoria University of Wellington have been awarded over 478K to advance a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Professor Jerry Turnbull at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Integrative Biology and Professor Peter Tyler, Drs Olga Zubkova and Ralf Schwrer from Wellington's Ferrier Research Institute have been awarded an Alzheimer's Society grant worth over 260K. The team has also been awarded more than 220K from the KiwiNet PreSeed Accelerator Fund, as well as a New Zealand Federation of Women's Institutes research grant of 8000 for Dr Zubkova. New case every 60 seconds Every 60 seconds someone in the world develops Alzheimer's disease, which causes an inability to retain new information and difficulty in recognising people and places. The funding will be used to develop drug candidates discovered from research the team has been working on since 2008. The researchers approach harnesses the natural ability of complex sugars called heparan sulfates to control the degradation of proteins in the brain that cause memory loss. Degradation control Professor Turnbull, said: "Through our research we have discovered how to make small heparan sulfates chemically in the lab and found some of them have the ability to target an enzyme that creates small toxic compounds in the brain believed to be responsible for Alzheimer's disease." Professor Peter Tyler adds: "New drugs that can effectively halt or delay the progression of the disease are urgently needed and this funding is invaluable to progressing our work." The remainder of the preclinical tests are expected to take two years, and if successful, the end product can be launched in clinical trials. Explore further Chemical advance supports treatment Alzheimer's disease More information: For more information about this research please visit For more information about this research please visit www.liverpool.ac.uk/integrativ aff/jeremy-turnbull/ In June 2016, Zeriscope, a technology company based in Charleston, SC, reached an agreement with White Oak Management (WOM) of Spartanburg, SC to provide its mobile telemedicine platform to more than a dozen of its skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Zeriscope is an enterprise-grade, hands-free, mobile-first, multi-sensor SaaS (Software as a Service) platform. Nurses empowered with a Zeriscope-enabled mobile device are able to stream their point-of-view from a tethered camera system in real-time, high-definition video, with advanced sensor streams such as Bluetooth stethoscope audio. Like hospitals before them, SNFs are looking to telemedicine to help them lower rates of readmission, but the costs associated with traditional point-to-point telemedicine may prove a barrier, as profit margins for SNFs can be very narrow.The answer could lie in mobile telemedicine, which carries a much smaller price tag than traditional point-to-point telemedicine. "A point-to-point telemedicine system can cost tens of thousands of dollars and requires a lot of infrastructure," said William Harley, Chief Executive Officer of ZeriscopeTM. "Our system is much less expensive, making it a viable option for SNFs." Beginning in 2017, SNFs will be required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to report rates of hospital readmission, and their performance on this measure will begin to affect their bottom line in 2018. There is no need to look far to understand the reasons for these new requirementsin fiscal year 2011, one quarter of Medicare nursing home residents were rehospitalized, at a price tag of $14.3 billion. White Oak Management was quick to see the potential of ZeriscopeTM to improve patient care and prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions. "When introduced to Zeriscope and its innovative approach to telemedicine, we instantly realized that the Zeriscope platform could be a game changer in lowering the rates of patient rehospitalization and avoidable readmissions while maintaining White Oak's overall star rating," said John Barber, Chief Financial Officer of WOM. Without telemedicine, the only recourse for nurses at SNFs is to verbally describe the patient's condition over the telephone. Much is lost in the translationthe physician has no way of assessing the patient's appearance and behavior and no way of checking real-time physiologic data. Because a comprehensive assessment is not possible, the physician often optsout of an excess of cautionto transport the patient to the emergency department or hospital for further evaluation. ZeriscopeTM makes possible a much more comprehensive assessment of SNF patients by off-site physicians, enabling them to "see the patients" in high-definition real-time streaming video, communicate with SNF staff, and access real-time physiologic sensor data. For example, at White Oak of Charleston, one of the WOM-operated SNFs, the ZeriscopeTM platform enables patients experiencing a health concern to be seen "virtually" by a physician any time of the day or night. Nurses use a mobile deviceWhite Oak has opted for a tabletto engage in a two-way audio/video consultation with a physician. During the consultation, the nurse can use a high-definition camera tethered via Bluetooth to the mobile device to zoom in on an area of specific interest or zoom out to enable the physician to engage with more members of the health care team. In addition to allowing the physician to see and speak with the patient, ZeriscopeTM can provide a wealth of physiologic feedback, including streaming stethoscope audio and EKG readings. Devices recording physiologic data can simply be plugged into or tethered via Bluetooth to the mobile device. Because one component of the Zeriscope system is an elegantly designed, unobtrusive camera tethered to the mobile device that is mounted on the nurse's lapel or glasses, the video stream is hands-free. This important feature enables the nurse to interact naturally with the patient and other health care providers, examine the patient as directed by the physician, and apply additional physiologic sensors, as needed. Should the decision be made to transport, these data can be captured and sent with the patient. "In addition to enhancing the capability for high-quality medical decisions when residents of the SNF experience problems, the ability to see, hear, listen to the heart and lungs, see the EKG, and interact with the staff and family is expected to reduce preventable admissions to the emergency department or hospital," said Robert J. Adams, M.D., President and Chief Medical Officer of Zeriscope. Adams, a neurologist, was an early adopter of telemedicine and has played a seminal role in the development of telestroke. He is the South Carolina SmartState Endowed Chair in Stroke and Director of the South Carolina Stroke Center of Economic Excellence at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Adams is one of the inventors of Zeriscope and has an equity interest in the company. MUSC's Foundation for Research Development (FRD) also has a small equity stake in ZeriscopeTM. Avoiding unnecessary hospital readmissions with mobile telemedicine not only makes good financial sense; it's good medicine. SNF patients, who may be frail and face mobility challenges, are provided the best of medical care in a setting where they are comfortable without having to endure the stress of ambulance transport and the risk of fractures and infections. Nurses are empowered to treat more patients in place with confidence, knowing they have an angel on their shoulder24/7 access to the expert advice of a physician. Explore further The right stuff? Hospital readmission penalties approaching for nursing home patients Marilyn Cotter recently needed a stress test following a bout of chest tightness. Unable to withstand exercise because of foot problems, Cotter, a 68-year-old grandmother from Delhi Township, wasn't a candidate for a normal stress test that uses a treadmill. Instead, her physicians at University of Cincinnati Medical Center used a space-age option: an anti-gravity treadmill. "I really don't do much exercise," says Cotter. "I walk in the living room with Leslie Sansone's tape because my feet aren't the best, and I don't want to get out on the pavement. I do have custom orthotics, but I have to put pads on the boney parts of my feet." Cotter is now one of 50 patients expected to take part in a randomized, single-blind, controlled study at UC Medical Center testing whether an anti-gravity treadmill is safe for heart patients and if its use can provide better tests to diagnose heart disease. Cotter was placed in neoprene shorts and zippered into a pressurized airtight enclosure from her waist down and suspended over the surface of the treadmill. By inflating the enclosure, UCMC staff were able to reduce Cotter's weight by as much as 50 percent. She was able to reach 121 heart beats per minute, which is less than the 129 heart beats per minutes doctors hoped she would achieve, but still good by her accounts. "Now, in my younger years I did use a regular treadmill; it's been a long time since I've done it, but that was amazing," said Cotter. "It was like half my weight was gone. Nothing hurt, but I was really getting tired toward the end because I am not used to exercising all that long. With my walking at home if I get too tired, I can stop for a second and then go on." Patrick Daly, MD, a principal investigator who recently finished a cardiology fellowship at UC, says Cotter was able to exercise for six minutes on the anti-gravity treadmill. "The important thing to remember is even in patients who did not get to their target heart rate on the anti-gravity treadmill, they still achieve a significant amount of exercise which enables us to better predict clinical outcomes," explains Daly. Normally, a patient such as Cotter would initially be given regadenoson, a coronary vasodilator used in pharmacologic stress testing. But UC Health physicians believe that exercise as part of a stress test may be more beneficial for assessment of the patient's long-term health prospects and in obtaining better cardiac imaging. Once the heart is stressed, a gamma camera is used to take pictures of your heart to show how well it is supplied with blood. "Coronary artery disease is still the No. 1 cause of death in the United States," says Myron Gerson, MD, a principal investigator, UC Health cardiologist and emeritus professor of internal medicine in the UC College of Medicine. "The No. 1 approach to diagnosis is stress testing with imaging." The anti-gravity treadmill is made by AlterG, Inc., a Fremont, California, company that adapted the technology originally developed at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. A similar device was created to offer astronauts on the International Space Station a way to exercise in a weightless environment. AlterG is providing the anti-gravity treadmill for the study, which is sponsored by the University of Cincinnati. There are no conflicts of interests involving physicians participating in the clinical study. "For those of us who tried it out, the anti-gravity treadmill feels like walking on the moon I suppose," says Gerson, also a member of UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. "The sensation of gravity is much less and we can un-weight the patient by 25 percent, 50 percent or even more. In our study, patients are randomized between the default which involves using regadenoson as a pharmacologic stress, or to exercise on the anti-gravity treadmill. "On the anti-gravity treadmill, we are finding many of these patients can reach target heart rate. We are testing two hypotheses: First, is the anti-gravity treadmill safe for these people, and second, can use of the anti-gravity treadmill improve image quality?" Gerson says that improved image quality might be achieved when patients reach target heart rates during their stress tests. During the trial, those patients who do not reach target heart rates will be given regadenoson, which is standard of care. UC Health cardiologists say they can get a lot of information when a patient exercises that's not available with a pharmacologic stress alternative. The anti-gravity treadmill helps reduce pressure and pain on knees, the back and other areas that make exercise simply not possible for up to half of the cardiovascular patients physicians are seeing at UC Health, says Daly. Physicians can also examine a patient's cardiovascular capacity or fitness level using the anti-gravity treadmill. "Research shows that exercise capacity is a stronger correlate with long-term survival and cardiovascular mortality," says Daly. Stress tests using regadenoson are accurate, but you can't learn the patient's aerobic capacity, says Gerson. "How long can they walk on a treadmill on a standard protocol? You don't learn what heart rate they can go up to," says Gerson. "For that reason, the national guidelines of the American Heart Association and the College of Cardiology strongly recommend when possible the patient should exercise and only do the regadenoson stress if they can't exercise and get their heart rate up to target." Explore further Study shows that treadmill testing can predict heart disease in women Researchers have identified 788 biomarkers in blood that could be used to develop an early stage cancer screening test for the general population. The study, led by the University of Sheffield, is the first to create a comprehensive list of relevant cancer blood biomarkers that have been researched in the last five years. The study also groups them by molecular function and records the technologies that can be used to detect them. The team from the Universities of Sheffield, Coventry and Warwick started with over 19,000 scientific studies published over the last five years that investigated blood based biomarkers. Systematic review methods including ruling out studies in fewer than 50 patients reduced this to 4,000 studies from which the final biomarker list was compiled. Lead researcher, Dr Lesley Uttley, from the University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research, said: "Because of the sheer number of publications in this field, previous reviews have only been able to look at one biomarker or a small group of biomarkers. Our data mining approach allowed us to take in all relevant research findings from the five-year period, which meant we could map the full range of potential blood-based biomarkers that are particularly relevant for early detection of cancer." The work was carried out on behalf of the Early Cancer Detection Consortium, a group of nearly 40 organisations, including universities, hospitals and commercial companies. The Consortium was funded by Cancer Research UK to investigate whether a cost-effective screening test can be used in the general population to identify people with early stage cancers. The next step will be to look in detail at the research behind each biomarker, to check that it is robust and that the biomarker could feasibly be used as part of a screening test. Biomarkers will also be grouped by cancer type at this stage. The validated biomarkers will then be put through a clinical study, using samples from cancer patients and healthy controls, to check how effectively they identify the presence of cancer. Finally, those biomarkers which work successfully in the study will be taken forward into a clinical trial, to see if the screening test works in practice and is cost-effective. ECDC Director and Molecular Pathologist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Professor Ian Cree, said: "Our expectation is that, once the validation and clinical studies are completed, we will have a suite of around 50 biomarkers, identified using four different tests, that can go into the clinical trial. To complete the validation and the trials will take six to eight years, but in theory, we could have a test ready within three years for use in high risk groups". "Our vision is that the screen will pick up even the small amounts of these biomarkers that might be in the blood at an early stage of the cancer, without necessarily identifying which cancer they relate to. Patients would then be referred for more specific tests, that could narrow down the tumour type." Explore further Step towards blood test for many cancer types More information: Lesley Uttley et al. Building the Evidence Base of Blood-Based Biomarkers for Early Detection of Cancer: A Rapid Systematic Mapping Review, EBioMedicine (2016). Lesley Uttley et al. Building the Evidence Base of Blood-Based Biomarkers for Early Detection of Cancer: A Rapid Systematic Mapping Review,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.07.004 A 12-year-old boy has died in an anthrax outbreak in remote far northern Russia while dozens have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection, the region's governor said Monday. The Yamalo-Nenetsky region, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) northeast of Moscow, has been under quarantine for a week after the deadly bacterium infected at least nine nomadic reindeer herders and their animals. "I've been told of the death of a boy in our hospital. I have no words to express my feelings," governor Dmitry Kobylkin said. It was the first outbreak of anthrax since 1941 in the sparsely populated region, which authorities blamed on a heatwave that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer corpse. "The infection showed its cunning. Returning after 75 years, it took away a child's life," said Kobylkin. A total of 72 people, 41 of them children, have been hospitalised on suspicion of infection in the main city of Salekhard. So far nine have tested positive for anthrax, including the boy who died, the regional authorities said Monday. More than 2,300 reindeer have been killed in the outbreak in the region where more than 250,000 of the animals roam, the authorities said. The authorities said they were carrying out vaccinations of people and reindeer and giving those who visited the quarantine area antibacterial medicines. The infection was identified on June 25 after numerous deaths among reindeer, the sanitary medicine service for the region said Monday. Russia's chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova visited the region last week, saying the site of the infection had been "isolated" and the region had enough vaccines and antibiotics. Popova said that there had been no cases of anthrax in the region among people or animals since 1941 and it had been considered formally free of the infection since 1968. The regional authorities linked the outbreak to unusually hot weather, with more than a month of temperatures up to 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that melted the permafrost and activated the deadly spores. "The anthrax spores lay in wait in the permafrost for more than a century," said the agriculture watchdog agency. Anthrax does not spread directly from one infected human or animal to another, but is spread through spores. Humans can contract anthrax from handling diseased animals or eating infected meat. The potentially lethal bacterium exists naturally in the soil and commonly infects livestock which ingest or inhale its spores while grazing. Explore further Russian authorities evacuate nomads after anthrax outbreak 2016 AFP A new mechanism that affects how our immune cells perform - and hence their ability to prevent disease - has been discovered by an international team of researchers led by Cambridge scientists. To date, researchers have identified hundreds of genetic variants that increase or decrease the risk of developing diseases from cancer and diabetes to tuberculosis and mental health disorders. However, for the majority of such genes, scientists do not yet know how the variants contribute to disease - indeed, scientists do not even understand how many of the genes function. One such gene is C13orf31, found on chromosome 13. Scientists have previously shown that variants of the gene in which a single nucleotide - the A, C, G and T of DNA - differs are associated with risk for the infectious disease leprosy, and for the chronic inflammatory diseases Crohn's disease and a form of childhood arthritis known as systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In a study published today in the journal Nature Immunology and led by the University of Cambridge, researchers studied how this gene works and have identified a new mechanism that drives energy metabolism in our immune cells. Immune cells help fight infection, but in some cases attack our own bodies, causing inflammatory disease. Using mice in which the mouse equivalent of the C13orf31 gene had been altered, the team showed that the gene produces a protein that acts as a central regulator of the core metabolic functions in a specialist immune cell known as a macrophage (Greek for 'big eater'). These cells are so named for their ability to 'eat' invading organisms, breaking them down and preventing the infection from spreading. The protein, which the researchers named FAMIN (Fatty Acid Metabolic Immune Nexus), determines how much energy is available to the macrophages. The researchers used a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas9, which acts like a biological 'cut and paste' tool, to edit a single nucleotide in the risk genes within the mouse's genome to show that even a tiny change to our genetic makeup could have a profound effect, making the mice more susceptible to sepsis (blood poisoning). This showed that FAMIN influences the cell's ability to perform its normal function, controlling its capacity to kill bacteria and release molecules known as 'mediators' that trigger an inflammatory response, a key part of fighting infection and repairing damage in the body. Professor Arthur Kaser from the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, who led the research, says: "By taking a disease risk gene whose role was completely unknown and studying its function down to the level of a single nucleotide, we've discovered an entirely new and important mechanism that affects our immune system's ability to carry out its role as the body's defence mechanism." Dr Zaeem Cader, the study's first author, adds: "Although it's too early to say how this discovery might influence new treatments, genetics can provide invaluable insights that might help in identifying potential drug targets for so-called precision medicines, tailored to an individual's genetic make-up." Explore further Unsilencing silenced genes by CRISPR/Cas9 More information: Cader, MZ et al. C13orf31 (FAMIN) is a central regulator of immunometabolic function. Nature Immunology; 1 Aug 2016; Journal information: Nature Immunology Cader, MZ et al. C13orf31 (FAMIN) is a central regulator of immunometabolic function.; 1 Aug 2016; DOI: 10.1038/ni.3532 Voting experts from Florida and across the country met at UF in Gainesville Monday to assess a quadrennial topic of interest: the state's level of readiness for the 2016 presidential election. "It will never be easier to vote in America than it will be in this presidential election," said UF political scientist Michael McDonald as the seminar got underway. The daylong conference, entitled "Making Elections Work in the Sunshine State and Beyond," was sponsored by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and brought together experts on voter registratiion, technology and litigation, from Massachusetts, New York, Louisiana, Texas and California. Sixteen years after the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential recount in Florida, Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said "there's no margin for error" in conducting an election in Florida, a critical battleground state because of its sheer size and its purple hue. Corley noted an emerging trend in voting in Florida in which more than half of participating voters will have voted by mail or early before the polls open on election day, Aug. 30. "Election day has, to some extent, become a tie-breaker," Corley said. Speakers cited the declining voter turnout in off-year or mid-term elections, when the White House is not at stake, and presentations focused on the need to develop reliable technology that would allow people to vote on the phones. Monday was the deadline in Florida to register to vote -- or to switch parties -- for the Aug. 30 primary. Nearly 2.3 million ballots have been mailed to primary voters across the state. Early voting will be available in all 67 counties on Aug. 20 and will start in some counties on Aug. 15. @alextdaugherty Annette Taddeo pulled out of a scheduled candidate forum to discuss immigration with primary opponent Joe Garcia. The forum is set for Saturday, Aug. 6 at the Deuxieme Maison Building, Room 100, at Florida Internationa l University. Garcia is still scheduled to attend. According to Bud Conlin of the Friends of Miami-Dade Detainees, a pro-immigrant group, Taddeo confirmed her attendance on July 5 but changed her mind on July 30. "She didn't give an explanation; it's just very disappointing," Collins said. "I don't know the differences between Annette and Joe [on immigration] so that's why we wanted them both there to find the differences." Taddeo's campaign did not immediately respond to a Miami Herald request for an explanation. Incumbent Rep. Carlos Curbelo was also invited but has not confirmed his attendance. It is uncommon for sitting politicians to debate opponents who are in the midst of contesting a primary. The Florida Immigrant Coalition, WeCount!, Students Working for Equal Rights, Friends of Miami-Dade Detainees, the Haitian Lawyers Association and United Families are sponsoring the forum. All are pro-immigrant groups that want a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. As restrictive voter ID laws are under legal attack by courts in Texas and North Carolina, Florida finds itself in the unaccustomed position of not being vilified for imposing new barriers to democracy. At least that was the consensus Monday at a conference on voting and elections at the University of Florida, sponsored by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service. Officials from the ACLU, NAACP, Project Vote and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU sketched the litigation landscape in 2016, and while hailing a federal court's rejection of North Carolina's voter ID law as "a huge win," they focused on what they said are restrictive laws in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The word "Florida" was scarcely mentioned. It's August, and the shrieks of "voter suppression" (by Democrats) and "rampant voter fraud" (by Republicans) that dominated the past two election cycles in Florida have scarcely been heard this year. Part of the reason, experts said, is that Florida has already fought pitched legal battles over barriers to registering voters, limits on early voting, purging suspected non-citizens from the rolls and other issues. "Florida learned its lesson," said UF political scientist Daniel Smith, recalling the "fiasco" of a 2011 voting law, House Bill 1355, that came under intense legal attack and prompted legislative changes. Said Smith: "There are a lot of states that are making Florida look pretty good right now." Mandatory ID at the polls? Floridians are over it, and accept having to show proof of identity. Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley noted that people take for granted they must flash an ID when they cash a check or get a prescription. "The integrity of the election has to come first," Corley said. But Florida elections officials have learned to take nothing for granted. Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards said her fears include another razor-close presidential election, ballot errors by voters and the possibility of a hurricane close to the Aug. 30 statewide primary. @MichaelAuslen Gov. Rick Scott and the Obama administration on Monday called for additional money to combat the spread of Zika in South Florida. It's a familiar cry for both parties, made more urgent by the 14 Zika infections acquired from mosquitoes in Miami-Dade County confirmed in recent days. "The White House and Congress have to come together and work together no different than I have to work with my legislature and make sure they get things done," Scott said Monday on Fox News. When it comes to more money to fight Zika, he said, "The blame is on the federal government." But Obama, too, has called on Congress to pass budget authority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fight the disease. Spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters that because Congress didn't fund Zika before leaving for the August recess, the administration is less able to pay for research and fight the virus' spread. The CDC is sending a team to Florida. Director Tom Frieden said that by Tuesday, eight people will be on the ground in Miami-Dade County. They will work alongside Florida Department of Health officials there. Frieden said the CDC is battling several problems in Miami: First, there is concern that mosquito control efforts in South Florida haven't been completely successful. "In Miami-Dade County, aggressive mosquito control efforts don't seem to be working as well as we'd like," Frieden said. Additionally, he said, there is apathy among at-risk people who don't believe Zika is a threat. "It's something that we've seen surpisingly often in the Zika resonse," Frieden said. "I'm sorry that people feel that ,way but it is a problem." Because people rarely see symptoms associated with Zika, they often do not know that they have it. However, the virus can cause birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected. That's why the CDC recommends that pregnant women steer clear of the Wynwood district of Miami, and that women considering pregnancy see a doctor to be tested. How safe is Floridas drinking water? The agency charged with protecting it says its very safe, especially with the approval this week of a new rule that imposes limits on 39 additional toxins and updates the allowed limits on 43 other chemicals dumped into Floridas rivers, streams and coastal waters. Each and every criterion protects Floridians, according to both EPA and the World Health Organization, the Department of Environmental Regulation said last week after the governors Environmental Regulation Commission approved the new water quality rule on a narrow 3-2 vote. But environmentalists are so convinced that Floridas water will be further harmed, they are ready to go to war. They say that new rules allow for higher levels of carcinogens and chemicals that can disrupt natural hormones to be discharged into Florida waters than current standards. They claim that weak enforcement by the Department of Environmental Protection already fails to shield Floridas drinking water from infiltration by health-harming contaminants and, if the new rules are approved by the federal government, more clean-up will be needed. That policy now says that more Floridians are expendable to cancer and other serious health diseases in order for industries to be more profitable, said Linda Young, executive director of the Florida Clean Water Network, which tried and failed to get the commission to reject DEPs proposed rule. A look the regulations, testing and exposure here. Priorities USA Action, a liberal group, released a new ad attacking Donald Trump for his comments about Sen. John McCain being captured as a prisoner of war. In July 2015, Trump said of McCain: "hes not a war hero." The ad features Lieutenant Joe Kernan (Ret.), a naval officer who was shot down over Vietnam and spent 11 months in a POW camp. The ad will run statewide in Florida and multiple other states. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio gave the Miami Herald a statement on Humayun Khan, the solidier who was slain in the Iraq war. Khan's father, Khizr Khan, gave a speech at the Democratic convention attacking Donald Trump. Khan was a captain in the Army. Here is his statement "I think its unfortunate. Look, Sergeant Khan is a hero, for every measure. "He is, Ive often talked about, Americans who also are Muslims, who have served this country in uniform, 14 of whom have died between 2001 and recently. I remember one of the debates, saying, that if you go to Arlington, you will see crescent moons on some of the tombstones of brave Americans, who happened to be Muslims, who died in the service of our country. "I think his parents are heroes and they have a First Amendment right to speak out on their politics, as all Americans do. Their son died for the Constitution and I honor that. "And the third point I would make is, separate from the latest on that issue, lets remember that Sergeant Khan lost his life in the hands of radical jihadists. They took their view of their faith and used it to justify killing innocents and attacking them. So thats why its a complex issue. "The last point I would make is, we have Americans who are Muslims who are patriotic and love this country, as evidenced by the Khan family. We also know that there are parts of this world, where there are terrorists that are trying to get into the United States, and its not that we dont want to allow people in, its that in many cases we cant because we dont have a way to vet them. If you are coming into the United States from Syria, as an example, theyre falsifying passports in Syria, the people who ran the passport office are now making fake passports. Everything in the passport is real except the name. And as a result, you worry because its very difficult to vet people from certain parts of the world where there are not vetted governments. "We live in a world now where we have to know exactly whos coming in, why theyre coming, who they are, and what theyre up to. And that becomes harder when theyre coming from countries that dont even have a functional government. "And so, I think you can be for that, as I am, and also honor the sacrifice and service of all Americans who have served us in uniform." - With Patricia Mazzei @ByKristenMClark Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy chastised Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday for not condemning Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nominee's comments this weekend attacking the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq. "Donald Trump is the man Marco Rubio wants to see elected as our next commander-in-chief. It is unacceptable that Marco Rubio remains silent as Trump seeks to tear down everything this country stands for," Murphy, a congressman from Jupiter, said in a statement this afternoon. Murphy added: "Trump has completely disqualified himself from the presidency, and if Marco Rubio cant work up the courage to withdraw his endorsement, then he does not have the courage to be Florida's Senator." While some other high-profile Republicans -- like Arizona Sen. John McCain -- have distanced themselves from Trump since this weekend, Rubio waited before commenting on Trump's widely criticized remarks in responding to Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of the late Capt. Humayun Khan. Rubio's campaign this afternoon sent out these comments that they said were made by the senator "earlier today" in Tampa: Just sent from @marcorubio campaign, here are his remarks (RE: Trump/Khan) made "at an avail in Tampa earlier today" pic.twitter.com/3mtB6Ns595 Kristen M. Clark (@ByKristenMClark) August 1, 2016 On Saturday, Rubio affirmed his support for Trump, saying at a candidate forum in Sarasota: "We have to make sure that Donald wins this election." Murphy is viewed as a front-runner in the Democratic field of candidates seeking to unseat Rubio. In the Aug. 30 primary, Murphy faces fellow U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando and former naval officer and labor attorney Pam Keith of Miami. Former assistant U.S. attorney Reginald Luster of Jacksonville and California real estate developer "Rocky" Roque De La Fuente of Orlando are also running. Rubio's primary challenger is Manatee County home-builder Carlos Beruff, an outspoken Trump supporter. This post has been updated with Rubio's comments, which were released shortly after original publication. UPDATE 5:05 p.m. Murphy wasn't satisfied with Rubio's comments today, issuing this follow-up statement this evening: "In his shockingly tone-deaf and inadequate response, Rubio failed to even mention Donald Trumps name. This was not a condemnation of Trump. This was Marco Rubio once again proving that he would rather pursue his political ambition and abandon this countrys values than stand up to his party's racist nominee for President." After 23 years in state government, Stacy Arias is trading in her state job to move into lobbying at the Tallahassee-based firm, Southern Strategy Group. Arias joins what the firm calls its "Jedis of Government" a group of "highly successful former public officials drawn from the top ranks of government." The growing lobbying firm has expanded by snatching up former government officials in five Florida cities -- often to handle vendors whose contracts they previously managed -- but it has turned the transactional value of relationship-building into a sales pitch. "Our teams lobbyists understand government for the simple reason that we used to govern and clearly demonstrated our ability to excel in that environment,'' the firm's web site states. "This government experience provides two enormous benefits for our clients: a thorough and detailed knowledge of public policy and process and authentic and powerful relationships. These advantages often make the critical difference between success and failure in lobbying." Arias, who served with FDC Secretary Julie Jones at the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, began her career in government in 1993, according to the Southern Strategy statement. She will be replaced at Corrections by Steven Fielder, who also served at DHSMV as director of administrative services. "Stacy will leverage her extensive operations expertise to help Southern Strategy Groups clients develop effective strategies to achieve meaningful change in Floridas ever-evolving system of administrative policy,'' the statement said. With one month to go before the Aug. 30th primary, Tim Canova has raised nearly $2.8 million in his battle against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Canova raised $2,798,041.27 including $260,985 since Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down as Democratic National Committee chair July 24, said his campaign manager Richard Bell. Her decision followed WikiLeaks posting thousands of DNC emails showing that the party favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders -- something Wasserman Schultz had denied doing for months. Wasserman Schultz raised about $3.1 million while Canova raised about $2.3 million through June, the last report filed with the Federal Election Commission. The Democrats are competing in Congressional District 23 which spans from western Broward to northern Miami-Dade County. Canova released a summary of a poll Sunday showing that he is eight points behind Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz is facing the first primary of her career since 1992 when she ran for state House. Eighteen years ago, in one of the most anticipated moments in American television history, fans of "Seinfeld" obsessed over the series ending its nine-season run and struggled with saying goodbye to one of the most influential, hilarious and successful comedies of all time. In a sense, though, the farewell wasn't entirely necessary. The show has lived on in perpetuity, with reruns broadcast daily in nearly every corner of the U.S. And, in fits and spurts, we've been satiated with both extensions of the show and glimpses into the making of it. Jerry Seinfeld resumed his stand-up life, regularly giving audiences a chance to ask questions about the show, and started "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," which has included appearances by "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David and co-stars Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. David gave birth to a series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," made of pure "Seinfeld" DNA, and even built a season around a reunion of the earlier show. Interviews, panel discussions and outtakes have been abundant, and easy to view via YouTube. And perhaps most insightful of all, the series went to DVD with all sorts of insight and commentary etched into its discs. Even though the show has never really gone away, we still crave more more on the Low Talker and Bob Sacamano, on coffee-table books and mastering your domain and achieving "Serenity Now." The proliferation of so much material likely complicates an author's ability to add something new to the conversation, though, and despite her noble efforts in "Seinfeldia," Jennifer Keishin Armstrong does little to broaden perspective on the show for its most ardent fans. Though Armstrong spoke to numerous writers and others involved in "Seinfeld," the new light they shed is limited. The book did not include fresh conversations with the main characters or David, relying instead on other published comments and the aforementioned litany of easily available sources. Without key players, we're brought discussions on the periphery: with the real-life Kramer, the theme song's composer, the woman whose face adorned a movie poster for the in-show movie "Rochelle, Rochelle." Not that there's anything wrong with that. But it leaves you wondering why we couldn't come away with juicier morsels from more of the many hundreds involved in the show. Couldn't the author even track down more members of the fascinating parade of ancillary characters who might offer some new stories? Not Jerry Stiller, who played George Costanza's father? Not Wayne Knight, of Newman fame? Not the actors behind David Puddy or J. Peterman or Susan Ross? It's not that interesting threads are completely missing from "Seinfeldia." We learn of a scrapped episode in which Elaine weighed buying a handgun, of Richards' aloofness on the set and of a York Peppermint Pattie standing in as the famed airborne Junior Mint to make sure the camera could easily track it. Those glimpses are few. Deep into the book, in a chapter examining whether a "Seinfeld" curse doomed the cast from replicating their success, you'll find a telling quote from Jason Alexander. The presence of a curse has easily been dispelled by the successes of "Veep," ''Curb" and "Comedians in Cars," but Alexander's words could easily apply to Armstrong's attempt. "The problem with Seinfeld," he says, "is that measuring up is no easy standard." Ever wonder what Polson was like in 1868? Well, in the July 1, 1937, edition of The Flathead Courier, Angelique Eneas, daughter of ferry operator Baptiste Eneas, described life in Polson in 1868: The grass was knee high and this flat (present site of Polson), was the favorite grazing ground of blacktail deer. They would jump up everywhere when a rider came along. There were no roads, only a trail over the hill. After July this trail was black all day long with moving pack trains of Indians on their way east to the buffalo range. They came from Spokane, Coeur dAlene, Bitterroot and farther to go with the Pend d Oreilles to hunt and camped here to cross at the ferry and at night their cooking fires lit up the banks of the river. The ferry was kept constantly busy taking hunting parties across the Big River, as it was then called. In the fall the hunters returned with meat and camped again enroute home. Along the lakeshore, where there was cover, prairie chickens were so thick and tame, Angelique said there they would not bother to fly when riders came along. In the spring their drumming could he heard all day. The Indians copied these feathered drummers in many of their ceremonial dances, she said. At one side of the flat there was a cluster of buildings constructed by Baptiste Eneas. He had a freight line from Hellgate (later called Missoula) to the foot of the lake. From here the freight was taken to Demersville. She said Baptiste used a team of eight oxen and hired Michel Pablo and his wife to drive the other freight wagons. Mrs. Pablo drove four horses. Baptiste Eneas built and operated the first ferry at the foot of the lake. The ferry was built of huge cedar timbers large enough to hold a four-horse team and wagon with room enough to spare on the side for riders. Before the ferry the Indians swam their horses across and towed their children behind in cowhide boats. Angeliques mother used to fish with other Indian women. She said they would row out the islands, camp for a couple days, fish and return with a boat laden with fish and wild goose eggs. The islands, she said, swarmed with ducks, geese, cranes, loons, curlews and other native game birds. She recalled the days when Harry Lambert built a trading post on the site of Polson and Indians would come to trade and camp for weeks. Both sides of the river were dotted with tipis. Every Sunday there would be horse races, wrestling and running contests. Before coming to Polson to operate the ferry, Angeliques father lived at the St. Ignatius Mission. With an ox team he brought out the logs for the first church there. During the summer hed accompany the Sisters of Charity to more populated areas of their territory as they tried to raise funds for their school. She said the Sisters were very poor but strong and full of religious fervor. *** Paul Fugleberg is a former editor and co-publisher of the Flathead Courier of Polson and the Ronan Pioneer, his freelance articles and photos have appeared in numerous national and regional magazines and newspapers, and he has written several books. He may be reached at pfugleberg@bresnan.net. HAMILTON A minimum of 500 homes are under orders to evacuate due to a fast-moving fire that already had claimed a number of structures as it spread across 2,000 acres southwest of Hamilton Sunday. Were just trying to get people out of the way now, said Bitterroot National Forest spokesman Tod McKay. We can rebuild homes. We need to get people out of this area. The fire started about one mile up Roaring Lion Road about a mile from a national forest trailhead. It was first noticed probably at about 2 p.m. and by a quarter to 3 it was encroaching on homes, said Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman. We skipped stage one evacuations and went immediately to stage two, which is get out of here. An estimated 200 homes were directly threatened by the fire Sunday night. Firefighters said they have confirmation that buildings have burned in the Judd Creek area but won't have a total number of buildings lost until Monday. Hamilton Fire Chief Brad Mohn said the fire has been so intense that volunteer firefighters have been forced to fall back several times. We have had limited opportunities to put out spot fires near homes, but the conditions are very volatile, Mohn said. Its not safe to directly attack the fire. There are several hundred structures threatened.'' At 6 p.m., Hoffman said he had received verification of structures on fire in the Judd Creek area but won't have a specific number of buildings destroyed until Monday. We are asking for people to cooperate, he said. We cant let people back up therethis is a big area. If you pull the radar, youll see the plume is huge. Weve got fairly steady high winds up in the canyons and this fire has just launched. The Red Cross has set up two shelters for evacuees at the First Baptist Church at Lewis and Cooper lanes and at The River Church at 354 Cooper Lane in Hamilton. Gates are open on the Ravalli County Fairgrounds for livestock. ABC Acres in Hamilton is also accepting livestock displaced from the fire. Retired West Fork District Ranger Dave Campbells first hint that something was wrong came when the sun turned red Sunday afternoon while he was taking a break from his annual chore of stacking firewood far away from the house. Campbell knew the area where the fire was burning had a heavy fuel load. When he could see the flames, he noticed they were whirling. You could tell there was very unstable air, he said. When you see those fire whirls, you know its going to be a very difficult fire to fight. Campbells home is surrounded by defensible space. He planned to stay and sprinkle his home, but the power went out. I didnt have a choice (about leaving) at that point, he said. The hardest part about this is I know that some of my neighbors have lost their homes. I might have too. Hoffman said the fire apparently started near the bottom of the drainage and spread immediately, driven by gusting winds. At this point, we dont know how it started, he said. Obviously, we have had no lightning. It took off too hard and too fast for anyone to investigate that at this point. McKay said he's been in the Bitterroot for seven seasons and has "never seen a fire take off and burn so quick.'' "Its a combination of terrain and fuels and the winds we have had today'' he said. "The fire guys are up against it. Today they are really being put to the test. The speed meant the initial attack team had no chance of catching up. By the first call, it was already ripping, McKay said. It got on the face with some wind behind it and then there were 200-foot-flame lengths with fire crowning in the trees all way up the face. It was incredible. A Type 1 team is expected to take over management of the firefighting effort Monday. *** The weather will offer little relief. Although winds are expected to calm on Monday, the National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for the Bitterroot and West and East Lolo districts Tuesday that predicts westerly winds gusting as high as 45 mph in the afternoon and evening. Humidity will remain low, at 10 to 15 percent for lower elevations and 17 to 22 percent at high elevations. This is a bad one, McKay said. We already have put every resource that we have on the fire and everything that we can order, weve ordered. The last estimate put the fire at 1,000 acres, but McKay said its hard to know for sure due to the amount of smoke being generated by the blaze. Hoffman said there have been a couple of ambulance calls, with one for a person needing CPR in the Owens Creek area. Hoffman said the community has had an incredibly good response from valley volunteer fire departments and law enforcement from as far away as Missoula. A portion of Highway 93 south of Hamilton has been closed to traffic. Hoffman said people living near the fire need to be prepared. Evacuation notices are changing by the minute as this fire spreads, he said. *** The Ravalli County Sheriff's Office has put in place Stage 2 evacuations for the west side of Highway 93 from Owings Creek to Hayes Creek. That includes all of Roaring Lion Road, Lupine Ridge Trail, 2 Horse Lane, Highland Drive, North Gold Creek Loop, Owings Creek south to Roaring Lion Road, and Gold Creek Loop to Camas Creek Loop. Stage 1 notifications were added from Owings Creek to Westside Road west of Wyant Lane. Stage 1 alerts homeowners that there is a high probability that they may need to evacuate. At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the Stage 1 alert was expanded to include both sides of Lost Horse Road. "It's horrible," said Pamela Caughey, a Hamilton artist who lives on Roaring Lion Road. She had evacuated and was heading toward Highway 93 Sunday afternoon. By Sunday night, she had posted on Facebook: "Our house and many others now just ashes, but we are thankful for our lives and how helpful and kind all have been.'' She estimated in an interview Sunday afteroon that there are about 50 homes along the four miles of Roaring Lion Road. "When a fire gets going, it's just going to go," Caughey said. "We could see it coming so fast." This is the one we didnt want to happen, said Bitterroot National Forest public affairs officer Tod McKay. Weve got all our resources on it. As of Sunday night, there were three Hot Shot crews, two engine crews from Darby and a hand crew from Sula already working on the fire. They were supported by five helicopters and one heavy air tanker that made multiple retardant drops. McKay said plans called for local volunteer firefighters to patrol through the night in an effort to protect as many homes as possible. Is it treason? Donald Trump, as a major party nominee for president, has encouraged Russia, an adversarial power, to hack the emails of a former Secretary of State, his electoral opponent. Is that treason? Clearly, it is at least treachery, a violation of faith, allegiance and confidence in our constitutional system. It says Vladimir Putin, you can execute our laws better than we can here in the USA, help me out. Perhaps Trump could care less about the states under Putins threat: the Baltics, the former Soviet states, Poland. Perhaps Trump just wants to make a deal, as did Neville Chamberlain with Hitler. Or just maybe, Donald Trumps thinking is closer to Aaron Burr's, who came near being president, but then decided to ally with Spain with an eye toward becoming emperor of the American Southwest. Or maybe it is what it seems like, a treacherous and treasonous act by a man who could care less about the consequences for the world and his country? Ed Chaberek, Superior MAMMOTH SPRINGS, Wyo. There's a community spirit when you camp in Yellowstone National Park, said Kris Yasord as she sat in the shade of her family's RV on a windy June afternoon. "People share information about what they saw and where," said the Oregon camper. "There are a lot of other places you could go if you want solitude." Popular place There's no doubt about that. Last year more than 4 million tourists visited Yellowstone, a new record. Of those visitors almost 20 percent or around 811,000 chose to camp out in tents, vans, trailers and RVs, according to Park Service statistics. Thanks to Yellowstone's typically cool climate, most of those tourists are crammed into the summer months. Of the folks who chose to camp out, the majority more than 581,000 favored concession operated sites where reservations can be made. Fishing Bridge on Yellowstone Lake is the most popular campground, attracting 101,000 visitors last year where they can plug RVs into electrical outlets. Another 45,000 opted to seek a less crowded option at backcountry campsites accessible only by foot or horseback. In the first five months, the park has topped last year's early visitation by more than 75,000 folks. That may be proof that once again Yellowstone faces another record-setting year for tourism. This year has the added attraction of the National Park Service's 100th anniversary, which has been widely advertised, assisted by continued low gas prices. Yellowstone has consistently proven to be a draw for people, not only from around the region, but around the world. Stop to chat with campers, and there's no telling who you will meet or the unique tales you may hear. Going south Take Canadian Dale Wiggins, for example. He piloted his 250cc Yamaha motorcycle roughly 8,000 miles across much of the Western United States before reaching Yellowstone in June. "It's on my bucket list," he said while relaxing at a picnic table next to his small pitched tent. "I wanted to see what was in my neighbor's back yard. "All I've been doing is hitting state parks and national parks." Lean, tan and wind-weathered, Wiggins said every place he's visited has its own charm. Yellowstone is different in one significant way, though. "That's one thing I noticed: When people get in the park, their minds turn to jelly," he said, which makes him drive even more defensively than usual. As for the possibility of one of the park's natives a black bear or grizzly wandering through the campground, Wiggins said it was not a concern. "They are who they are," he said. "I treat nature as the locals." From out West For California campers Marth and Erik Thomson, Yellowstone was a convenient stopover on the way to a marvelous adventure for Erik. "I'm going to canoe all the way down the Mississippi," he said. The trip would start when he launched a canoe on the nearby Yellowstone River. It's an odyssey he was looking forward to enjoying with his two dogs, who would co-pilot the boat. "I've been wanting to hear that sound of just the wind, no freeway," he said, leaning up against their car in his shorts and a black T-shirt that read "Keep Calm and Ask Your Mom." "I'm going to worry about what's around the next bend and nothing else." Yellowstone holds fond memories for Marth, who lives in Atascadero, California. But the park had changed significantly from the last time she was there about 20 years ago namely, there were more people everywhere she went. "I remember we just walked right up to one of the main attractions, swam in the river," she said wistfully. "It wasn't nearly this crowded or restricted." So what? Even with Yellowstone more crowded than ever, Kris Yasord still loves to return. "Yellowstone is my favorite park," she said. "I've been coming here since I was 4, and I've been back several times." Then Yasord's mother poked her head out of the RV and corrected that her daughter had actually been to Yellowstone when she was only a year-and-a-half old. The attraction for the family is the bubbling mud pots and geysers, "things that you can see here that you can't see anywhere else," Yasord said. There was one fly in the campground ointment for the family, though. Nowhere on the website could the family find any information about the use of children's scooters in the campground. So instead of hauling bicycles cross country, they saved space and brought scooters only to find out the campground host wouldn't let the children ride them. "They were really bummed," said Jami Yasord, the kids' father. So his oldest daughter, Cedar, found another way to entertain herself, climbing in a worn juniper tree next to their RV. Like her mother, Cedar said she enjoys coming to the park "because it's really cool and there are lots of creatures you can't see anywhere else." While large creatures like bison and elk may attract the majority of tourists' attention, Cedar was just as intrigued by the wee ground squirrels scuttling around the campground. In Butte, so the saying goes, the identities of Frank Little's killers are well-known. But on the 99th anniversary of the radical labor organizer's murder, researchers still can't agree on just who did it. Not that there is a shortage of suspects. At least 21 men have been publicly fingered as one of Littles six murderers in the last century, ranging from a future state senator to Americas original hard-boiled noir novelist. The details of Littles murder are common knowledge. Just after 3 in the morning on August 1, 1917, five men in carnival masks dragged Frank Little from Nora Byrnes boarding house on 316 N. Wyoming St. and stuffed him into a Cadillac with a waiting driver. Little was beaten and his skull fractured. He was dragged behind the car by a rope until his knee caps were shorn off. The car stopped at the Milwaukee railroad trestle, and the men threw the rope over the top. Still alive, Little was hoisted into the air by the neck and strangled. A note pinned to his corpse threatened local labor leaders with the same fate. Knowing who killed Frank Little may be impossible, but the historical forces that came together that summer night give researchers insight into how a miners' strike ended in murder. Butte, America, in 1917 Once nicknamed the Gibraltar of labor for the strength of its unions, Buttes progressive miners dynamited the conservative Butte Miners Union Hall in June of 1914 for kowtowing to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and in the disorder, the city became an open shop. A month later, unions worldwide were split between supporting their home nations or international labor when the Great War broke out in Europe. Faced with treason, most supported war. Buttes Irish cheered as the kaisers submarines torpedoed British shipping in the aftermath of the failed 1916 Easter Rising, but Germanys unrestricted naval warfare and British urging dragged American doughboys into the trenches of northern France in April 1917. Revolutionaries toppled the Russian tsar the following month, terrifying barons of all stripes, and when a fire killed 168 men in the Granite Mountain Mine, 14,000 Butte copper miners went on strike in the midst of full wartime production. Into this powder keg hobbled Frank Little on a broken leg with little more than a jaunty fedora, a grimace, and a glass eye like his IWW boss Big Bill Haywood. A veteran labor organizer and general executive board member of the Wobblies, Little was radicalized in the brutal Gilded Age mining camps of Colorado. By the time of Americas entry into the war, he had been beaten, kidnapped, and arrested for his support of free speech and striking iron rangers, stevedores, farmworkers, oil hands, and lumberjacks across the West for over a decade. Littles opposition to the draft was radical even among the radicals of the IWW. Though formed to unite workers across professions into one big union to destroy capitalism through a nationwide general strike, IWW leaders feared an unparalleled government crackdown should they act out against the war. Little felt the shoe was to drop nonetheless. Arriving in Butte, Little gave a speech on June 19 decrying the war and the Company, arguing for the solidarity of labor and calling American soldiers Uncle Sams scabs in uniform. More followed. The company-owned papers excoriated Little, demanding his arrest for treason. Threats were delivered to Little and other organizers from Anaconda Company offices, and Little was warned a day before his murder that a posse was forming to come for him. He brushed it all off; he was, after all, a survivor. Little wouldnt survive Butte nor would he ever leave. Little's grave at Mountain View Cemetery is nearly picturesque, with Walmart barely visible through the trees. Accusations and gossip The most common theories of Littles murderers stem from a series of editorials in the radical Butte Bulletin in the aftermath of the lynching. Men accused of complicity included Company employees William Oates, Herman Gillis, Peter Beaudin, Frank Middleton, and Jack Ryan. The Bulletin never put forward any evidence. When the Butte Miner published an unlikely story in 1923 about a spurned prostitute accusing her husband of the murder, the Bulletin shot back by implicating mining company employees Roy Alley, John Berkin, L.O. Evans, Oscar Rohn, J.F. Taylor, Gay Stivers, and James Rowe as knowing who killed Little, again without evidence. Also accused by some of complicity in Little's murder was hard-boiled noir novelist Dashiell Hammett, who reportedly spurned a $5,000 offer from the Anaconda Company to kill Little. Hammetts late-in-life lover Lillian Hellman thought it preposterous and said the novelist often and proudly brought up denying the contract-killing as the moment the precocious Pinkerton had a change of heart and drifted left enough to be blacklisted and jailed for communist subversion during the Second Red Scare. Hammett likely wasnt even in Butte at the time of the murder. In a 2009 interview for former Montana Secretary of State Bob Browns oral history project, former Butte Democratic state senator Dan Harrington implicated fellow Butte Democrat Frank Reardon based on gossip from restaurant owner William Harrington. He wasnt the first to name Reardon. The researchers Reardon and four others came up for Missoula high schooler Will Roscoe in 1972 when his senior history teacher let him investigate Littles murder instead of taking the class. Roscoe heard rumors about barber Conn Lowney, an old Butte Wobbly. Lowney apparently said he knew the identities of the killers and that several died in a car crash. Roscoe tracked down the names and the accident, a 1936 Nevada crash that killed Dr. H.D. Kistler, car dealership owner Howard Pierce, and taxi driver Alex Loiselle; institutionalized Hansen Packing Company president Walter Hansen; and briefly hospitalized Reardon. Lowney suspected several of those men, according to Roscoe. The research paper had a huge effect on Roscoe. None of what he learned was taught in history class. Roscoe grew into a gay civil rights activist and worked for San Francisco politician Harvey Milk until the public officials murder in 1978. Roscoe compares Milk's and Littles murders as improperly resolved cases that left scars on the psyches of both cities, hate crimes meant to intimidate the disenfranchised into submission. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline thinks its no coincidence Butte police never solved the case. Littles murder inspired Axline to write his 1985 masters thesis on the reform of the Butte police department in the aftermath of the killing. Axline attributes Littles murders to Butte police acting at the behest of the Anaconda Company, specifically the notoriously violent Chief Detective Ed Morrissey. Surprisingly, Chief Detective Morrissey was not called in to assist with the investigation. Morrissey, himself, was drunk continuously for several days after the murder, often mumbling about killing someone, Axlines thesis reads. Axline also rebuts claims by newspapers (then owned by mining companies) that Little was killed by the IWW for being a company plant or because he was growing popular enough to challenge Haywoods leadership or by Buttes Metal Mine Workers Union for hijacking their strike and disrupting negotiations. Littles biographer Arnold Stead agrees and said Little was a grassroots organizer who never kept an office even as a chairman of the IWW no threat to a political leader like Haywood. He wasnt an intellectual, Stead said, he was a warrior. Like most, Stead believes Littles death was orchestrated by the Anaconda Company not a crowd of patriotic drunks, as Company papers alleged but that he was killed not just to end the strike in Butte but to nip his nascent anti-war movement in the bud. It was a relatively small union that had a powerful effect on working people, Stead said. If theyd have shut down the harvesters and the miners, they could have damaged the war effort powerfully. Killing Little did real damage to the radical wing of the IWW. Stead said it matters more that people know why Little was killed more than the exact men who murdered him. The Little family Jane Little Botkin agrees with Stead. Frank Littles great-grand-niece grew up during the fearful early days of the Cold War and said her family burned every photo of Little save one during J. Edgar Hoovers and later Joseph McCarthys witch hunts. Her great uncle was spoken of by older relatives in hushed tones as little more than a lynched socialist. Dissatisfied with chronicles of Littles life citing regurgitated disinformation, Botkin endeavored to write a better biography of her slain great uncle. Crisscrossing the ghost towns and mining camps of the West for seven years, Botkin was more interested in Little's unknown early years than his murder. She chronicles those years in her upcoming book, Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood that Stained an American Family, out next May. Butte is just a very small chapter at the end of Franks life, Botkin said. Digging through declassified FBI records, Botkin disproved her familys long-held suspicion that Little was assassinated by the federal government. That was just a happy coincidence courtesy of the Anaconda Company, she said. Botkin hypothesizes that the ultimate cause of Littles murder was the threat he posed to the Company, but that the patriotic killers hired by the Company opposed him for his anti-war stance. Her most troubling discovery was a rumor that a family member was complicit in the murder. She said an Anaconda man accused by some of the murder moved to Texas and married into her family, but she refused to identify him in her book. She said the family has suffered enough. Botkin hopes her book rehabilitates the family black sheep as a pioneer of passive resistance and free speech. Im really proud of him for this, she said. We have the right to do that. We have the right to protest and to speak out, and thats what he was pointing out, even to the very government that was supposed to give him those freedoms and was abusing him because they didnt like what he had to say, she said. Botkin is inspired by the lengths Frank was willing to go to to stand up for free speech, even in wartime Butte when he knew what it likely meant. Without a doubt he knew he was going to be killed, she said. MUSCATINE, Iowa The Rev. Susan Bantz is back in Muscatine. The Lutheran pastor recently became the chaplain at Lutheran Living Senior Campus. Before she went into ministry, Bantz, 51, was a librarian, a teacher, and a mom, but she had an inkling from an early age she would be a chaplain. "I first thought about serving God when I was about 11," said Bantz. "This opportunity came up, and it's almost like it came full circle. Now I am a chaplain." Bantz graduated from Galesburg High School in 1982. She graduated from Knox College in Galesburg in 1986 with a BA in English literature and from the University of Illinois in 1987 with an MS in library and information science. Then she worked at the Chicago Public Library until 1993 when she took a decade off to raise her son, Thomas Gustafson, homeschooling him through third grade. "During that time, we lived in San Antonio and East Moline, in Marshfield, Wisconsin and Troy, Michigan." Bantz first came to Muscatine in 2004. She worked at the library and did some substitute teaching before deciding to pursue her interest in ministry via a new program-Distributed Learning- at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. "We took classes over the internet, and in January and June we went to the seminary to take intensive classes," Bantz said. "And I was involved in local churches as part of my seminary training. It was an exciting time to go to seminary because it was a new program from the ground up." Bantz received her Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary in 2013. She left Muscatine shortly after to accept her first pastoral call at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Waterville and Trinity Lutheran Church in Greenleaf, a small rural parish in Kansas. "I was there a little over two years, and I really loved it," Bantz said. "It was a warm and welcoming community and a great place to get my feet wet as a pastor. I had no intentions of leaving, but health issues of my parents in Galesburg necessitated moving closer to them, so I began to look at a call here and was invited to Lutheran Living. Interestingly, God opened every single door for me to come here. I have absolutely no doubt that God intended for me to be here, although it was hard to leave Kansas and the people I had come to love." Bantz was raised in the United Methodist Church and is an ordained Lutheran pastor, but as a chaplain in a Lutheran institution, she said her duty is to meet the needs of people of all faiths -- and of no faith. "I do one-on-one visits. I do a worship service in the chapel on Sunday. I do shorter worship services in the Transitional Care Community and in the Special Care Community for people with dementia. I meet with families. I sit at bedsides. I visit with people who have been hospitalized. At this stage, I'm just getting to know people. Building relationships is at the crux of what I do, so when I see people in distress I can see it before it gets out of hand. I try to provide a caring non-judgmental presence." In her spare time, Bantz enjoys music, sewing, reading, writing, and building her extensive vocabulary. "I play piano, and I sing. I enjoy knitting and cross- stitching. I enjoy writing and actually do copy editing for a lot of people. I read voraciously. And I collect interesting words. My parents are well read and always used big words with us." Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] The 2nd South African International Expo for Leisure, Tourism, Recreation & Modern Business will be held in Johannesburg Expo Centre on 5 7 August. The expo is a brand new show which focuses in city leisure, amusement and commercial equipment in Africa. It is also the only exhibition that specializes in dealing leisure and amusement in South Africa. The expo covers a total area of 7500 square meters, converging over 180 renown enterprises that involve in industries like gaming and amusement, sounds and lighting, commercial equipment from all over the world. The expo will display many products related to games and amusement equipment, stage lighting and sounds equipment as well as modern commercial equipment, including: Heat balloon Super plane Whirling cup Jukeboxes Parachutes Acoustics Microphones Conference devices Sound insulation equipment Recording systems Stage lights Wind instruments Cash registers Code scanners Shelves for showcasing Vending machines There will also be activities at the exhibits, as the exhibition blazes a new path that mixes business and recreation. The expo will also hold a singing contest called Seek the Best Voice in Africa, which anyone can enter, with prizes of up to R4,000. The annual IDA International Darts Tournament & Darts Contest will also take place at the expo, also offering great prizes to the winning dart enthusiast. The show and the activities are all held in Hall 5 of the Johannesburg Expo Centre. Visit the official website for more information or to register as either an exhibitor or visitor. The PlayStation VR has been delayed in South Africa. According to PlayStation South Africas website, the headset was originally dated to release on 13 October 2016. The new release date has been updated to a rather nebulous, January 2017 with pre-orders now officially being accepted by BT Games. There has been no local pricing for the PlayStation VR as of yet, but it has been announced that it will sell for $399, while the PlayStation Camera will be sold for $60 in the US. We have contacted Sony and local distributors about the delay, but they had not responded by the time of writing. More gaming news Behind Pokemon GOs missing footprints and why people are so upset How to build a powerful next-gen gaming PC for under R11,000 The best boardgames of 2016 ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Donald Trump said that the people of Russia-annexed Crimea appear to want to remain under Russia's control - and that a President Trump would "look at" whether the U.S. would recognize Russian control of the territory. "I'm gonna take a look at it," Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview on This Week Sunday. "But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also." Trump was asked to clarify a comment he made in a recent news conference indicating he was looking at whether Crimea should officially be considered Russian territory. At the news conference, Trump said he "would be looking at" the possibility of lifting sanctions against Russia tied to its annexation of Crimea, which the U.S. government refuses to accept. Trump said that if he's elected president he will make sure Russian President Vladimir Putin makes no further incursions into Ukraine. "He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand," Trump said on "This Week." "You can mark it down. You can put it down. Asked further about Russia's current presence in Ukraine, of which Crimea is part, Trump then acknowledged Russia was already in Ukraine "in a certain way." "But I'm not there. You have Obama there," Trump said. "And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama, with all the strength that you're talking about and all of the power of NATO and all of this." Trump also said he was personally "not involved" in writing a portion of the GOP platform with language softening the United States' diplomatic stance on Ukraine. Trump pushed back against accusations that he is too easy on Putin, saying that if he's elected and the U.S. gets along with Russia, "that would be a great thing." "When Putin goes out and tells everybody, and you talk about relationship, but he says, 'Donald Trump is gonna win. And Donald Trump is a genius.' And then I have people saying, 'You should disavow,'" Trump said. "I said, 'I'm gonna disavow that?' But when Putin says good things, and when we have a possibility of having a good relationship with Russia, I think that's good." "If we can have a good relationship with Russia, and if Russia would help us get rid of ISIS, frankly, as far as I'm concerned, you're talking about tremendous amounts of money and lives and everything else," Trump added. "That would be a positive thing, not a negative." Trump caused an uproar during a press conference last Wednesday when he called on Russia to release 30,000 emails deleted from Hillary Clintons private email server a comment which the Clinton campaign said amounted to a presidential candidate encouraging a foreign adversary to conduct espionage against the United States. Trump later brushed his comment off as sarcasm. On "This Week," Trump said repeatedly that he has "no relationship with Putin," adding that hes never met him in person or spoken on the phone, and that he has no business ties or debts to Russia. "He was saying very good things about me. But I don't have a relationship with him," Trump said. "I didn't meet him. I haven't spent time with him. I didn't have dinner with him. I didn't-- go hiking with him I wouldn't know him from Adam except I see his picture, and I would know what he looks like." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. CALISTOGA -- Seeing a restored vintage travel trailer in the woods at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park just evokes memories, according to Dan Cutright, board member of the Napa County Landmarks. Its even better when you can go in the trailers, look around and talk to the owners. You feel like you just stepped into a time warp, Cutright said. He is the event coordinator for a gathering of vintage travel trailers, to be held from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park. Its sponsor is Napa County Landmarks, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architectural treasures throughout the county. Cutright said he expects 16 vintage trailers to show up for the event, and maybe one or two more. He said there will be a nice cross-section of model years and makes but also different styles of classic RVs. There will be a couple of tear-drop trailers, he said, They are the little low-slung things you see, they are basically sleeping compartments on wheels, with an outdoor galley on the back. He is also expecting a classic tent trailer from the 1960s, a few classic Airstream trailers, with the oldest going back to the early or mid-1950s, as well as some from the 1960s. One of the most unusual trailers that will be pulled to Bothe is a 1936 Covered Wagon, which is a brand name. This one belongs to a friend of ours and it is very original, he added. Its also unique in that it is 80 years old and as a wooden trailer, it still exists. Cutright explains, A lot of trailers were made from wood and other materials. Over the decades, they stood out in fields and were exposed to the elements. They would not hold up, and would basically disintegrate. In talking classic travel trailers, the names youll see include Airstream, obviously, because its the best-known, but also Liberty, Golden Falcon, Shasta Compact, Curtis Wright, Boles Aero, Aljoa, Bowlus and Traveleze. Other trailers coming to the rally include those in a category that is called canned hams. Again, Cutright explains, Imagine a canned ham put on its side with a set of wheels put on it. Our trailer is in that category. Daniel and Susan Cutright have been a part of the vintage travel trailer scene for the past 15 years, which includes attending rallies all over Northern California. At first, they owned a 1954 Traveleze that was 15 feet long. They found it locally and had it restored in 2000 by a professional classic trailer restorer in Los Angeles. Thats how we got into it, Cutright said. I spent less money doing that than it would have cost me to buy a new, cheap little Coleman tent trailer and I have something far more unique. A year later, the Cutrights were on a weekend trip with friends and went through Bishop. Dan said he spotted an old trailer sitting on some property as they drove by. We recognized the graphics of the trailer and it turned out to be a 21-foot Traveleze, which has an important advantage over the smaller ones: It has a full bathroom. In the vintage trailer world, you see a lot of canned hams from the early to mid-50s, but typically the 15-foot variety dont have bathrooms, Cutright said. Long story short, they talked to the property owner and bought the trailer for $300. We had to go back there, get it tow-worthy and bring it home, Cutright said. The larger Traveleze was called a park model, because it was originally designed to be hauled to a campground and parked. It actually has all the comforts of home, Cutright said. It has an apartment-size gas stove and oven, a very small full bathroom, a metal stall shower, sink and cabinet, an onboard electric water heater and electric refrigerator. All of the appliances in our trailer are original and they all work, which is unusual, he added. After bringing the trailer to St. Helena, the Cutrights spent about 18 months restoring it. My wife and I put a lot of sweat equity into it. All of the system stuff was retrofitted and when we restored it and we added a holding tank and retrofitted the plumbing, effectively making it a weekender. The metal fabrication was done by someone Cutright went to school with. He actually enjoys doing it, because its a break from what he normally does, which is building race cars. The Cutrights go to three or four rallies a year, including one in Felton, and another at the KOA Park in Petaluma, where 150 to 200 trailers are on display. Usually, at multiday rallies, the public is welcome to come tour the trailers on Saturday. People like to hang out, bring a picnic and walk around, he added. People just have an interest in old trailers, maybe they tried to acquire one, or they grew up camping in one, or they just are interested in the hobby and want to talk to the owners. So, as an owner of a vintage trailer, does Cutright own a vintage tow vehicle as well? No, he said, he made that mistake once, when he owned a 1989 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. It had the classic look, but we took it on a long road trip and I had all kinds of problems with it. My wife informed me that was the last time she was going in that vehicle. So now, I tow my trailer with a late-model GMC pickup truck, Cutright said. I like getting there and getting home. On June 27, 1966, the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows made the afternoon airwaves of ABC television. It was a replacement program for teen soap opera Never Too Young. Victoria Winter (Alexandra Moltke) comes to work as a governess for the Maine Collins family, who live in the small seaport village Collinsport. When she arrives at the Collinwood estate, shes unprepared for all the spooky adventures ahead. Nevertheless, the new gothic soap opera didnt catch on with the TV viewing audiences until the 175 year-old vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) came aboard the show the following year. He was only supposed to be on the program for a few weeks, but the shows ratings went up. Also, he received over 6,000 fan letters for his role of Barnabas Collins during the Gothic soap opera run. However, my focus isnt on him. Lets talk about Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker). She was an 18th-century witch who turned up on the afternoon soap toward the end of 1967. Unlike the nice housewife witch Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) on Bewitched, vengeful Angelique didnt have a husband forbidding her to use witchcraft. As a matter of fact, I doubt shed agree to such a marriage, where she couldnt use her witchcraft on one of her enemies. At a seance on the Collinwood estate, Victoria Winter is transported from 1967 back to the year 1795. She meets the 18th-century Collins family. They assume shes the new governess for young Sarah Collins, Barnabas sibling. In the meantime, the 18th-century governess, Phyllis Wick, is in the 20th century with the 1967 Collins family. Josette Du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott) arrives to Collinwood with her fair-haired servant girl Angelique Bouchard. Barnabas plans to wed Josette and make her his wife. Unfortunately, Angelique also has a romantic attachment to Josettes fiance. He turns her down. She is very humiliated by his rejection of her, and turns to the black arts of voodoo to get revenge on him. Angelique casts a love spell on Josette and Jeremiah Collins, Barnabas uncle. They try to resist the attraction to one another through the spell, but fail miserably. On Barnabas and Josettes wedding day, the bride runs off with Jeremiah (Anthony George). They are later married. However, on their honeymoon the spells wears off. Jeremiah and Josette return to Collinwood to face the consequences of their actions. Barnabas challenges his uncle to a duel. Meanwhile, Barnabas spinster aunt Abigail Collins (Clarice Blackburn) calls for the witch hunter Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy). She suspects that Vicky is a witch and totally responsible for the weird goings-on there. Reverend Trask interviews with Josette, and believes a spell was put on her to do something against her will. Shes convinced of this fact. However, Barnabas mocks the notion of a spell and the matter is dismissed. Before the duel, Sarah (Sharon Smyth) pleads with her older brother Barnabas not to fight in the duel. He takes the bullet out of the chamber of the pistol. During the duel with Barnabas and Jeremiah, Angelique does another spell. When Barnabas fires his pistol, his uncle is killed. Then, Angelique torments the Collins family with the ghost of Jeremiah when they move into the new house that was recently built on the property. In the graveyard, Barnabas mother Naomi (Joan Bennett) and Josette see the hand of Jeremiah come up from the dirt on his grave. They try to convince Barnabas father Joshua (Louis Edmonds) but he dismisses the entire matter to hysteria. Angelique puts a spell on Sarah and makes her deathly ill. Then, she informs Barnabas that she can cure Sarah with a special herbal tea if he marries her. He agrees to her deal. Sarah drinks the tea and recovers miraculously. However, Joshua objects to his son and Angeliques nuptials. He refuses to go to the wedding. It is to be held in the old house. Before the ceremony, Angelique is visited by the ghost of Jeremiah. She has lost control of him through her witchcraft. He kidnaps Angelique while shes wearing her wedding dress and buries her in his grave. She summons a Collins servant, Ben Stokes (David Thayer), to help her. He comes and helps her out of the grave. Angelique marries Barnabas. However, they arent a happy couple. During a fight, Barnabas shoots Angelique. Before she dies, she puts a curse on him. A vampire bat instantly appears and bites Barnabas on the neck. He becomes ill and cared for by the Collins family. Then, he dies and returns as the undead. Carl G. White lives in Napa. Polish general appointed as head of EU mission to train Ukrainian troops Iran prevents bomb explosion in Shiraz crowded street Iraqi parliament expresses vote of confidence in new cabinet France lawmakers visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Putin: Moscow is doing everything possible to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku Annual shopping festival kicks off in Dubai on December 15 At Lazarev Club meeting, minute of silence held in memory of fallen Russian and Armenian soldiers Bayramov and US Assistant Secretary of State discuss Yerevan-Baku relations Expansion of cooperation with Interpol is important, Armenia PM says Armenia defense minister briefs Austria envoy on situation due to recent Azerbaijan military aggression (PHOTOS) Australia can't rule out energy price caps Garo Paylan is in Yerevan Barack Obama tries to help Democrats win midterm elections Azerbaijan president, Russia first deputy PM discuss North-South transport corridor project PM Pashinyan receives France-Armenia friendship group delegation from French parliament Taiwan urges China to start talking Armen Grigoryan and Toivo Klaar discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process Matviyenko: Russia will continue mediation for signing Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty Politico: Scholz and Macron threaten U.S. trade retaliation CIS premiers sign several agreements at Kazakhstan meeting Konstantin Zatulin: Nagorno-Karabakh peoples right to self-determination must be respected U.S. must strengthen its defense against growing threats from both China, Russia Karabakh ex-President: Necessary to rule out mistakes, miscalculations which will have irreversible consequences EU reaches agreement to ban new cars with internal combustion engine by 2035 Benny Gantz: Future of Israel and Turkey is promising EU Special Representative for South Caucasus arrives in Armenia Lazarevsky Club meeting underway in Yerevan, Moscow Yellen sees no sign of recession in U.S. economy in near future Cannes palm trees promenade named after Charles Aznavour Pashinyan: Armenia agrees to work on basis of main principles proposed by Russia CIS prime ministers meeting kicks off in Kazakhstan Newspaper: Karabakh people to make appeal to Armenia authorities Residents of Moldova asked not to go out into street in dark Bloomberg reports fuel shortages in some parts of Europe Lebanon, Israel sign deal on maritime border demarcation Spanish prime minister twice mistakes Kenya for Senegal during his speech Peskov: CSTO meeting to be held before Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia summit Putin says he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine Putin compares Indian Prime Minister Modi to icebreaker Putin warns Seoul about risk of ruining relations with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine Interpol Secretary General visits Armenia Putin: Russia will not abandon the historical legacy of the USSR and the Russian Tsarist Empire Putin sees no point in nuclear strike on Ukraine Olaf Scholz says solution can be found to curb speculative spikes in gas prices Putin calls Russians and Ukrainians one people who find themselves in different states Putin: We proposed Armenia give 5 districts Putin: Washington version provides for recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over whole Karabakh Putin calls Erdogan consistent and reliable partner, although not easy one Italy plans to double national gas production to 6 billion cubic meters a year Putin: The West, as a minority, has no right to impose values on the world Putin: As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is always a danger of their use Putin outraged by US assassination of General Soleimani: What is this all about? FM Abdollahian: Iran will not allow its interests to become plaything of terrorists Mirzoyan and Lavrov discuss preparations for CSTO Collective Security Council Putin proposes to discuss changing structure of UN and UN Security Council Pashinyan's wife accompanied in Tavush by mothers of servicemen who died in first and last days of war Shell reports almost $9.5 billion in profits Putin calls on West not to shift blame on intrigues of Kremlin Hungarian PM expresses readiness to buy electricity from Azerbaijan via Georgia Newsweek: The biggest foreign threat to the U.S. is not Russia or China. It's the EU Putin: In recent years, West has taken steps to exacerbate situation in world Armenian Defense Minister and French delegation discuss possibilities of developing defense cooperation Australia to send 70 soldiers to UK to help train Ukrainian troops Scholz condemns Turkey's stance questioning Greek sovereignty Armenian Defense Ministry: Azerbaijan hands over 10 bodies of killed servicemen to Armenian side Dollar, euro lose value in Armenia Turkish Central Bank raises inflation forecast for the end of 2022 to 65.2% U.S. State Department official visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan Prime Minister Pashinyan sends letter of condolence to Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi Secretary of Armenian Security Council and representatives of French Ministry of Defense discuss cooperation prospects Israel and Turkey to resume defense cooperation Scholz says solidarity is the only way to deal with the energy crisis Israeli and Turkish defense ministers meet in Ankara Turkey to rewrite inflation forecasts again after rate cut Azerbaijan does not want checkpoint on border with Armenia, it wants only 'corridor' Putin plans to attend meeting of CSTO leaders CSTO special session to be held Friday, assistance to Armenia to be discussed Estonia urges Rishi Sunak to increase UK defense spending Moscow perplexed by information about ban to enter Armenia for Konstantin Zatulin and Margarita Simonyan Armenia PM honors October 27, 1999 parliament tragedy victims U.S. and Western officials finalize plans to limit Russian oil prices EU seeks Armenia-Azerbaijan peace for its own energy interests? World economy is approaching recession US Armenians demand Senate member candidate Mehmet Oz to stop his Armenian Genocide denial Azerbaijan president, Russia deputy PM discuss prospects for unblocking South Caucasus communications Armenia opposition MP: Azerbaijan attempting to fulfill much bigger task with its attacks of aggression Armenia opposition pledges to become active again Syria MFA: Terrorist attack in Shiraz shows that terrorism has become U.S. policy main tool Lebanon and Israel approve maritime border agreement Pashinyan to Sunak: Armenia attaches great importance to further development of cooperation with UK U.S. accelerates deployment of modernized version of nuclear bomb at NATO bases in Europe Armenian Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Iran over Shiraz terrorist act Premier: Armenia set new absolute record in income-salary jobs Armenia premier: We need to ensure 7% economic growth in 2023 also Gazprom: Creating gas hub will benefit Russia, Turkey, Europe and Azerbaijan Ruling force MP: Azerbaijan must withdraw its troops from sovereign territory of Armenia Armenia parliament speaker: We hope Uzbekistan will also remain part of building peace in our region CNN: CIA Director visits Ukraine OSCE needs assessment mission briefs deputy FM on their work in Armenia European Parliament report amendment condemns Azerbaijan policy of erasing Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh YEREVAN. - The impact on civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh was totally irresponsible and outrageous, member of the U.S. House of Representatives Jim Costa told Armenian News NEWS.am. The Congressman has joined many of his colleagues opposing the actions the Azerbaijani government took in early April. I think there has to be a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh [conflict], [or] as we say Artsakh. And I am urging the American Government to continue the efforts with the Minsk accords. I know that in August there is going to be another meeting with the Foreign Minister of Russia [Sergey] Lavrov, French Foreign Minister [Jean-Marc Ayrault] and [U.S.] Secretary [of State John] Kerry, Costa noted. In his words, Russian President Putin is going to present in Baku to the President of Azerbaijan the principles that had been agreed upon. And I hope that he is able to convince the President of Azerbaijan to support publicly to his people those principles so that we can achieve a peaceful settlement. But clearly, its important to maintain integrity [of Artsakh]. Thats from my perspective; Im not speaking on behalf of the American Government, the Congressman stressed. According to him, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry very much wants to resolve this issue before he leaves office. He is spending a great deal of time on the details of Nagorno-Karabakh [negotiation process]. He understands it very clearly and is very concerned that what happened in April could reignite because of the tensions that are along the borders - something that nobody would like to see. As you know, we have elections in the United States in November. So I believe Secretary Kerry will do everything he possibly can and see what can be done to reach an agreement, Jim Costa added. To the question whether he visited the Nagorno-Karabakh, the Congressman said: Hopefully in the future I will be able to do that. My next visit may be next year. YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Monday held a meeting at the Presidential palace with the representatives of the different segments of the society: cultural figures, representatives of healthcare, mass media, public and political figures, members of the Public Council, as well as the representatives of legislative and executive bodies, heads of the standing bodies set up by the law of the Republic of Armenia and representatives of the Armenian clergy headed by the Catholicos of All Armenians. President of Armenia delivered a speech. Below is the text of his speech: Your Holiness, Distinguished Colleagues, Yesterday, the situation created as a result of the assault by an armed group on the Police station was finally resolved. It was resolved in a way which was probably the most acceptable for all of us: the National Security Service, Police, State Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs through their consistent and coordinated activities compelled the members of the armed group to put down their weapons and surrender to the authorities. I am very glad that we were able to avoid the classical scenario of resolving situations such as this one even though the detailed plan for the implementation of such option was certainly on hand too. We suffered two losses and have many injured. I express my condolences to the family and friends of the Police Force serviceman, Sergeant Yuri Tepanosian. We convey our admiration and respect to the family of Colonel Arthur Vanoyan. He was a true devotee, who had steadfastly passed from the Artsakh liberation war up to the April war, but was killed by a bullet of his fellow citizen at the moment when he was carrying out his duty towards Fatherland. Glory to you, proud Colonel! As I have already noted, the state bodies of the Republic of Armenia took all conceivable measures to avoid human losses. With this regard, I first of all express gratitude to the representatives of the law enforcement bodies for their work. Composure and magnanimity signify professionalism and understanding of ones own power. You have manifested them in full measure. I thank you for your expert work. I also thank those who took the Hippocratic Oath our doctors and medical workers for their awe-inspiring stance; I bow to their professionalism, to their courageous spirit. I express my thanks to our General, Hero of Artsakh Vitalyi Balasanian who these days has become the voice of reason. Distinguished Colleagues, The unacceptable situation has come to an end; however its full resolution lies ahead. First of all there needs to be made a thorough investigation, a comprehensive and unbiased examination, and an open trial. Every single person must answer for his actions only and only before the law. There will be no other options; any attempt of personal vengeance will be stopped by the law. All processes unfolding in the Republic of Armenia will take place exclusively in the framework of the RA Constitution and laws. The time has come to draw conclusions. A full analysis of these events will take a long time. However one thing is clear: the process of the radical changes in Armenias social and political life must be expedited. First of all, the very existence of the disastrous tendency to solve problems through violence must be eradicated. We have no right to tolerate even a intention of solving problems by force; the next one can be disastrous for our state. Last two weeks and the losses we suffered in the course are unacceptable human, social, loss of values and the huge blow which our economy has suffered. No country in the world can afford such thing to happen; moreover Armenia had no right to do it. From now on we will allow no one to take our country hostage. We will allow no one to undermine the foundation of our state. Problems in Armenia will not be solved through violence or arms. Yerevan is neither Beirut nor Aleppo. Let no one aspire to import Near East solutions of the previous century, of the Cold War to Armenia. Let those who dont comprehend this need to look at the history of Lebanons civil war or at the consequences of the civil war going on the moment in Syria and draw conclusions. I express gratitude to all political figures who have manifested themselves as true political and state figures and comprehending all that was going on from day one spoke about the unacceptability of the events. Unlike a few short-sighted persons, they understand only too well where ends the line of political competitiveness and starts the security of Fatherland. Critical situations often become litmus tests, pointing out for the society and history mature persons and singling our short-sighted one and adventurists. I also thank our prominent culture figures, our public figures, our true intellectuals who understood very well that through the public condemnation of the unacceptable steps, conveying the word of reason to the members of the armed group, they contributed to a bloodless resolution of the situation, and showed these men a safe way out. Alas, those who were cheering them up unwisely didnt understand that spilling out the spite accumulated in them they did a terrible thing and in reality led the armed ones to destruction. Thanks God, good reason is prevailing in our country. In Armenia a simple truth, which it seems could not be debatable in the first place, has prevailed. That truth lives in our system of values, in our mentality, in our kind, and is about our heritage. Anyone can dislike the authorities, or the government, or the President, can be categorically against our policies. However, dislike cannot be a reason for glorifying those who attempt to solve problems with arms. Authorities come and go; encouragement of terrorism will remain as cancer and will spread; it will ruin everything our nation has created. It is dreadful, it must be fully eradicated. Ladies and gentlemen, dear young people, the encouragement of terrorism is a mortal sin. Stay away from that horror no matter whats the reason, even if its the most compelling reason. Say no to terrorism and all its manifestations. Say no in the name of our country, our nation, our generations, our Fatherland. Say no to that cancer. Toss it away, far away. I ask you. Dear Friends, I thank our journalists and reporters for their dedicated work and for working for a bloodless resolution of the situation. I also apologize to the journalists for the events which took on the night of July 30; during these events it was our greatest blunder. Certainly, conclusions will be made. I ask for our indulgence, I ask journalists but not the low enforcement personnel to forget about these events, because I am confident that it will never happen again. I also want these events to have no event subconsciously an impact on the freedom of your work. Now about the criticism which has been voiced. I am not talking about the armed persons that were acting in a distinct terrorist style and were hiding their intentions under the slogan of patriotic and social justice. I am talking about concern which is present in some segments of our society. Yes, it is true that the Armenian authorities are not perfect. Yes, it is true that there are many problems and complex issues in Armenia. Our goal is to give them a speedy resolution. At this stage our goal is also to form the authorities of national accord, in which issues will be solved under a wide consensus. The constitutional reforms are aimed at exactly that; the reforms have given a base for the formation of such authorities. A government of national accord is not about a lost someone who is trying to make his way to a high position; it is about the widest possible distribution and sharing of political responsibility, and have already provided for its entire institutional base. I state with confidence that only months later we will have a government of that kind, authorities of that kind. We follow that route and that route is about political forces and political figures. I state once again, its about political figures but not about those who follow the route of armed terrorism and those who support them. Thanks God, as we have seen, today we have no shortage of political figures who share the values necessary for building a state and a country. There many of them in all political parties. And it makes the political wealth of our country. I would like to speak about another issue, which we have spoken about on many occasions. It is about the Karabakh issue and so called surrender of lands. My personal statements with regard to our clear-cut position on that are probably numberless. I repeat once again: there will be no unilateral concessions in the resolution of the NK issue. Never. Nagorno Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan. Never.I repeat once again:it is out of question. I have given my entire adult life to this. To get to the solution acceptable for my nation, I have always been ready to sacrifice any position, and also my life. It is like that today, it will like that tomorrow. Distinguished Colleagues, I conclusion, I would like to stress that we as a state have emerged from that calamity event stronger. Today we are even more determined to move with doubled speed towards the implementation of the agenda of positive changes in our country. We will talk about it in a greater detail very soon. Thank you. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida A pair of conjoined twins were airlifted to Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital in Orlando, Florida following a water incident at Playalinda Beach just east of Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 31, 2016, Brevard County Fire Rescue crews and the Kennedy Space Center Fire Department responded to reports of an injury at Playalinda Beach. When crews arrived, they discovered that the conjoined twins had suffered possible cervical injuries. A medical helicopter was called in to transport the 12-year-old girls suffering from the neck injury to the hospital. At first, there was concern that the two could not be transported because they are conjoined at the head. However, both patients were ultimately taken in the helicopter. Conjoined twins are a rare phenomenon, occurring only once in approximately 100,000 births. Most conjoined twins are female, outnumbering males by around 3 to 1. As the above photo shows, ocean conditions on Sunday were calm with breaking waves ranging from 2 to 3 feet. MILAN (AP) The head of the Italian Banking Association says that the European stress test has restored credibility to the nation's banking sector. Four out of the five Italian banks subjected to the test of financial health showed capital levels that could weather adverse economic conditions. However, Monte dei Paschi di Siena fared worst among the 51 European banks tested, according to results released Friday. Italian Banking Association President Antonio Patuelli said Saturday that "the credibility of Italian banks has been reinforced," but he called for continued reforms in the sector. Monte Paschi sought to get ahead of the poor result with the announcement of a 5 billion euro ($5.6 billion) capital increase, its third in two years. The plan calls for raising the funds privately without state aid. 11:55 "Our enemy is once again taking a shot at the morale of our soldier by spreading cooked-up stories on the 7th Pay Commission implementation on social media. I will discuss this in the following paras: "I am quoting from the 7th CPC report: "Equivalence in pay levels for certain levels: The starting pay level for officers at Group `A entry level is identical at Rs 56,100 in the case of both civilian and defence service officers. Similarly the pay of the Major General and Joint Secretary and equivalent officers and those above [viz., Lieutenant General (in HAG, HAG+, Apex) and Chief of each defence service] has been kept identical with their civilian counterparts. Identical pay levels have been devised for JCO/ORs and their civilian counterparts corresponding to the existing pay bands and grade pay." "It is clear that: "a) We are getting same starting pay as civilians. Edge to defence forces is given by way of MSP, unique to dfence forces only. A jawan gets a start of 21,700 with a MSP of 5200, a 24 edge over their civilian counterparts. Officers start with same pay as IAS and IPS at Rs 56,100. In addition we get MSP -- for officers it is Rs 15,500. That means we get an edge of (15,500/56100) x 100 = 27.62%. This edge continues till Brigadier rank and per centage goes down with increase in basic pay. "b) Since Independence, forces have been compared with police for pay. During V CPC Major's pay with 14 years of service considered to be low was brought up to the level of police officer with same length of service. However, the edge over all other services, including IAS and IPS is provided in the form of MSP. "c) 7th CPC has not made any changes to pay fixed by 6th CPC. They have just given a multiplication factor of 2.57 with slight variations to fix the pay in a new matrix. Hence, there is no way that it can upset the established equation between civil and defence forces. Whatever discrepancies were noticed were already in existence in previous CPCs. Chiefs and governments have resolved them in favour of soldiers. Instead of thanking them, we are blaming them! "d) A big lie circulating on social media is that 7 CPC has brought down the status of Lt Col to the 3rd Pay Panel level. Fact is that this was actually done by the 6th CPC. Our chiefs at the time put their foot down to push it up to PB4. Present status is that Lt Colonels are placed at level 12A. Level 12 starts at Rs 78,800 and level 12A at Rs 11,6700+ map 15,500, a huge jump of Rs 53,400. There is no degradation, no pushing back to PB3 or level 12. "Each and every word written above is easily verifiable on internet and also through authentic sources of information. "I request friends not to play into enemy hands by forwarding their anti-national emails." -- From an ex-Fauji who has studied the pay panel award in detail The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] The Taliban has claimed responsibility of the attack describing the blast as a truck-laden suicide bombing at the gate of the North Gate guesthouse, CNN reported. However, no casualties have been reported so far. "The massive explosion struck the guesthouse frequented by foreign contractors and international staff of foreign agencies at around 1.25 a.m. The heavily guarded complex is located in Pul-e-Charkhi area along Jalalabad road in eastern edge of the city," a security source told Xinhua news agency. "The area is not a populated residential district. But there is still fear of casualties as many people were inside the building before the attack. So far, we have no more details, but we will try to get more information," the source added. Khaama Press quoted police saying that at least four militants launched a gun attack following the massive blast that resulted into power outage in the city. The same hotel came under an attack in July 2013 when five insurgents blasted the perimeter wall open with a truck bomb and made their way into the compound, Tolo News reported. Five security guards were killed before the attackers were gunned down. Kabul has repeatedly been the scene of deadly attacks in recent months. On July 23, at least 80 people were killed and over 300 others injured when the Islamic State attacked a Hazara (ethnic Shia minority group) gathering. In April, the Taliban launched an attack on the intelligence agencies in the capital which killed 64. --IANS ksk ( 274 Words) 2016-08-01-09:12:00 (IANS) Some PIA employees have been taken into custody in connection with the heroin smuggling to Dubai. If found guilty, strict action will be taken against them, PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani told Dawn online on Sunday. A PIA flight was to leave for Dubai on Saturday from Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport when the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) received information that a huge quantity of heroin was being smuggled through the flight. ANF personnel searched the plane and recovered 6 kg of heroin from the toilet. Official sources said the ANF suspected that such a huge quantity of heroin could not be concealed in the plane without the connivance of a number of employees, Dawn online reported. --IANS ksk ( 154 Words) 2016-08-01-11:06:14 (IANS) Dublin (Ohio, United States), Aug.1 (ANI-Businesswire India): L & T Technology Services Limited, a leading global pure-play ER & D services company, today announced the opening of its new Engineering Center of Excellence in Dublin, Ohio, marking a milestone in the company's commitment to strengthening its offerings and supporting OEMs and U.S customers through its innovative product design and manufacturing engineering capabilities. The CoE would also serve as a key hub for supporting the Smart Cities initiative with focus on connected vehicle-to-vehicle communications, electric self-driving shuttles and autonomous vehicles. The Center was inaugurated by Mr. Greg Peterson, Mayor of City of Dublin, in the presence of top industry officials and prominent representatives from the government and academia. The 50-seater Center of Excellence is L&T Technology Services Limited's seventh delivery center in the United States. "On behalf of the city of Dublin, we welcome L&T Technology Services Limited to our city. Through its focus on automotive technologies, the center will propel our local economy into the next era of growth, delivering quality services, expanding workforce, and supporting major automotive organizations in the region through innovative engineering processes," said Mr. Greg Peterson, Mayor of City of Dublin. "This Center of Excellence is a testament to L&T Technology Services Limited's commitment to continued innovation, service offerings and economies we serve in," said Mr. Amit Chadha, Chief Sales Officer and Whole Time Director at L&T Technology Services Limited. "Through this investment, we will leverage our engineering expertise and deliver differentiated value to our customers," Mr. Chadha said. Ms. Carla Bailo, Assistant Vice President at The Ohio State University said; "Ohio State has been at the forefront of evolving a transformational roadmap for Intelligent Transportation System for Columbus and this partnership with L&T Technology Services Limited will create new internship and job opportunities for our engineering and management students on specific Smart City initiatives including product development, engineering and smart manufacturing projects." On the occasion, L & T Technology Services Limited also hosted a thought leadership discussion that dwelled on the "Opportunities of Public Private Partnerships in engineering a Smart City". Notable participants included Ms. Carla Bailo, AVP, Ohio State University, Mr. Doug McCollough, CIO of City of Dublin, Mr. Mike Wiseman, Chief Engineer, Honda, Mr. Amit Chadha, Chief Sales Officer and Whole Time Director, L & T Technology Services Limited and Mr. Alind Saxena, EVP & Transportation Business Head, L&T Technology Services Limited. The discussion, moderated by Mr. Saxena of L&T, dwelled on a 2020 vision for Columbus, Ohio, the role of the government, Academia, Private companies and citizens in creating Smart Cities and the key challenges and road ahead. As of March 31, 2016, L & T Technology Services Limited had more than 200 employees operating out of its onshore delivery center's in the US and more than 8,000 engineers from nine nationalities serving over 200 customers, including more than 50 Fortune 500 customers globally. (ANI-Businesswire India) The key indices receded after touching their new intra-day highs in almost a year, as heavy selling pressure was witnessed in capital goods and banking stocks. The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) slipped by 3.10 points or 0.04 per cent to 8,635.40 points. The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,083.08 points, traded at 28,017.35 points (at 2.00 p.m.) -- down 34.51 points or 0.12 per cent from the previous close at 28,051.86 points. The Sensex has so far touched a high of 28,284.85 points and a low of 27,873.53 points during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,545 declines and 1,067 advances. On Friday, the benchmark indices closed the day's trade in the negative territory due to profit booking, negative global cues and foreign fund outflows. The barometer index plunged 156.76 points or 0.56 per cent, while the Nifty slipped by 27.80 points or 0.32 per cent. Initially on Monday, the benchmark indices opened on a higher note, in sync with their Asian peers. The upward trajectory also got a boost from the increased chances of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill getting passed during parliament's ongoing monsoon session. Investors are hopeful about the bill's passage after the Union Cabinet last week approved key changes in the proposed legislation. 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. Besides, positive macro economic data -- the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) -- which showed an acceleration in manufacturing sector's growth, unleashed fresh buying spree. However, profit booking, lower crude oil prices and anxiety over upcoming macro-economic data dragged the equity markets lower. In addition, depreciation in rupee's value and caution ahead of major global events risks such as Bank of England's (BoE) monetary policy review and US jobs data subdued investors' sentiments. "Profit booking and a steep decline in banking sector stocks dragged the equity markets lower," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS. "However, the key indices opened on a higher note, aided by positive Asian markets, strong closing from last week and expectations of GST bill getting through." According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, CNX Nifty faced profit booking at higher levels. "Bank Nifty and most pharma stocks traded down due to profit booking, while IT sector stocks held the initial gains on back of fresh buying support," Desai noted. "Sugar and aviation stocks traded with mixed sentiments due to profit booking. However, lower USD/INR prices are likely to limit the downside." --IANS ppg-rv/vt ( 483 Words) 2016-08-01-14:30:02 (IANS) New Delhi, Aug 1 (ANI-BusinessWireIndia): Deal32.com, a one-of-a-kind online dental e-commerce marketplace for dental doctors, students, and vendors, has announced the commencement of activities through a press meet this week. Deal32.com is the ideal one-stop place for dental doctors and students to obtain the highest quality comprehensive range of dental supplies from the comfort of their practice, university, or from their home. Deal32.com, a one-stop shop for all favorite dental supplies, takes this gratifying opportunity to announce the launch of the online dental platform, where the best dental products from the widest range of brands can be extensively found at affordable prices. Deal32.com is a unique e-commerce platform as it serves as a hub for well-established offline dental stores across India. The vendors and dental stores, an integrated part of Deal32.com have earned trust from dental doctors from past many decades. Each of these retail vendors will have their online store on Deal32.com. Dental physicians and students can now purchase from any of these stores with the click of a button. This platform will allow dental doctors to maintain their existing relationships with providers while still benefiting from the comfort of online purchasing. "The dental doctors and the students who will be purchasing from this website will be ensured of the best quality dental equipment and instruments," said the PR manager of Deal32.com. "This online dental e-commerce center is the first of its kind because it administers several vendors from different cities of India, where the vendors will have their very own stores. Vendors can showcase their genuine products and equipment to the dental doctors on their stores," he added. Thousands of genuine products from over 100 companies are available through the e-commerce platform, catering to everything a dental doctor needs to run a dental practice. All equipment is thoroughly tested to meet the highest standards before being shipped, so you can shop safely in the knowledge that you're getting only the best possible products at affordable prices. "We are delighted to launch our new online dental e-commerce store that will now smoothly enable the busy dental doctors and the aspiring dental students to make purchases of the required dental supplies with 100 percent confidence at online comfort marketing head of Deal32, was quoted as saying in the press conference. He further added, "We are passionate about dentistry and entirely focused on providing the dental community with better pricing, superior customer service, and supplying top quality dental products directly to your doorstep." The website will be selling dental materials, consumables, instruments and equipment of all the major brands. Further, it also provides webinars, equipment demonstration videos, expert training, and other dental education materials to ensure doctors get the most out of the purchases and the practice. (ANI-BusinessWireIndia) Investments in Madhya Pradesh declined 14 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 2016 while 86 per cent of the Rs 53,000 crore of committed investments remained on paper, said an Assocham study published on Monday. About Rs 44,000 crore of the Rs 53,000 crore of investments announced in the financial year 2015-16 remain mere announcements while the remainder have been at various stages of approvals, said an Assocham 'Analysis of Madhya Pradesh: Economy, Infrastructure and Investment'. According to the analysis, investments declined 60 per cent in 2013-14 and then jumped a whopping 700 per cent the following year due to Global Investors' Summit, before declining again by 14 per cent in 2015-16. Manufacturing accounted for 68 per cent of new investments in the last financial year, followed by power (19 per cent), services (11.5 per cent), and construction (one per cent), Assocham said. Until the 2015-16 fiscal year, total live investments of Rs 5.75 lakh crore were committed in Madhya Pradesh, out of which Rs 300,000 crore of investments are at various stages of implementation. Power projects account for 55 per cent of the total live investments, followed by manufacturing (20 per cent), non-financial services (12 per cent), irrigation (six per cent), mining (four per cent), construction and real estate (three per cent). Assocham attributed poor realisation of investments to delays in environmental approvals and land acquisition, bottlenecks in supplies of raw material, shortage of skilled labour, financial constraints, and loss of interest among promoters. It said private investors have also been put off by the irregular development of physical and social infrastructure. --IANS sp/kb/vt ( 278 Words) 2016-08-01-18:24:01 (IANS) The central government on Monday announced that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Act will be amended to bring more workers under the ambit of retirement fund by reducing the threshold for coverage of firms to 10 workers from existing 20. "We are going to amend the EPF Act. Now it is available where there are 20 or above workers. Once the amended law becomes effective, then the coverage will be increased where the number of workers is 10. That is why, a large number of workers, including workers in the unorganised sector, can also come under the purview of this act," Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattareya informed the Lok Sabha during question hour. The minister said no proposal is under the consideration of the government to allow EPFO subscribers to contribute voluntarily towards pension scheme in addition to their employers' mandatory contribution. He said effort is on to bring more workers under the ambit of various social security schemes for which more projects are being unveiled. "There is more focus on these workers," he said. Responding to the 'plight' of beedi workers following the introduction of 85 per cent pictorial display on tobacco products, Dattatreya said the Labour Ministry is working to impart vocational skills to beedi workers. Various members raised supplementary questions. Expelled RJD member Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav wanted to know if the minimum pension money will be raised. Dattareya said EPF pension scheme is "contributory" wherein the employer pays 8.33 per cent while the central government 1.16 of the share. "We are actively considering enhancing the amount from existing Rs 15,000," he said. Taking supplementary questions from Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, the minister said any employment of child in beedi units is totally banned. "No child can work as a worker in beedi factories. In respect of children who help their families, there are educational schemes and scholarship is given," Dattareya said. He said the government is all "for the welfare" of the workers employed in beedi industry. "I know about the issue very well as large number of them work in beedi units in my home state Telangana," he said. He also said beedi workers are covered under group insurance scheme and provided assistance of Rs 10,000 in case of natural death and Rs 25,000 in case of accidental death. Rs 1,500 is also provided for the funeral of deceased workers. Financial assistance of Rs 5,000 is given to widows or widowers of beedi workers, he said. --IANS nd/bim/vt ( 431 Words) 2016-08-01-19:54:01 (IANS) The Mukul Sangma government in Meghalaya on Monday annulled the decision taken during the previous D.D. Lapang regime to leas 422 hectares of land to Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) for pre-mining activities in South West Khasi Hill district. "We (the cabinet) have revoked the earlier cabinet decision taken on August 24, 2009 relating to pre-mining activities which is a precursor to uranium mining," Sangma told journalists after chairing the cabinet meeting. The decision to annul the leasing of land to the UCIL was adopted after the government-owned mining company had recently floated the expression of interest (EOI) for a mine and processing plant of uranium ore in South West Khasi Hills without the consent of the state government. "This decision is a strong message that any initiatives relating to pre-mining activities which is precursor to uranium mining cannot be allowed until and unless the people of the state are taken on board," Sangma said. He said the cabinet has also directed the departments concerned to communicate the cabinet's decision to the UCIL. Meghalaya is the third uranium-rich state in the country after Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The state accounts for 16 percent of India's uranium reserves, with deposits estimated to be around 9,500 tonnes and 4,000 tonnes respectively at Domiasiat and Wakhaji, both in South West Khasi hills district. However, the proposed open-cast uranium mining in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district has been hanging fire since 1992 after several groups expressed fears of radiation impact on human health and environmental degradation. The UCIL had pegged Kylleng Pyndengsohiong Mawthabah project in Meghalaya for Rs.1,100 crore. The ores are spread over a mountainous terrain in deposits varying from eight to 47 metres from the surface in and around Domiasiat, 135 km west from here. The UCIL plans to produce 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore a year and process 1,500 tonnes of the mineral a day. --IANS rrk/vd ( 328 Words) 2016-08-01-22:28:01 (IANS) The Health Ministry has sent a team of specialists for assessment of incidents of malnutrition deaths among children in Nagada village in Jajpur district of Odisha, said an official statement. "In response to the report of deaths due to malnutrition in Jajpur district of Odisha, and based upon the request received from Minister of State(IC), Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, a high level team has been constituted by the Health minister J.P. Nadda to carry out an on the spot assessment of the situation and investigate into the causes that led to the incident," said the statement. The team comprises of senior officers and public health experts from Health ministry and the Women and Child Development ministry. The team is visiting the Nagada village under Sukinda block to carry out a detailed on the spot assessment and will submit a report on the matter to Health Ministry. According to a statement, the Centre is ready to extend all assistance to Odisha in terms of preventive and curative measures for managing the situation in the district. --IANS rup/rn ( 191 Words) 2016-08-01-22:48:02 (IANS) Lakhs of people in Kerala will perform 'Karkidaka Vavu Bali' (Pithru Tharpanam) tomorrow to propitiate their forefathers. Bali, a form of ritualistic homage, is an important ritual observed by Hindus offering sacrifice to the departed souls of their ancestors on the first Amavasi of Dakshinayanam. It is believed that the souls of ancestors attain eternal peace when Bali is offered. Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the temple administration body in Kerala, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and several religions organizations had made elaborate arrangements for special poojas and 'Bali' at various Temple ghats in the State. On this day, thousands of people gather on the riverbanks and beaches to offer 'Bali.' The ritual is performed by men, women, and children. Important temples on the river banks are ideally chosen for offering Bali. Hindus believe that the offering made on Karkidakavavu will bring them prosperity and appease the spirits of their ancestors. Elaborate arrangements have been made at various temple ghats including Parasuramaswamy temple at Thiruvallam, Aruvikkara, Shanghumughom beach, Janardhanaswamy temple at Varkala, banks of river Periyar at Aluva, Bharathapuha at Thirunavaya in Malappuram, Kozhikode Beach. It is an important Hindu religious observance performed in honour of the forefathers in Kerala and other South Indian states. According to the Hindu custom, if a member in the family dies, the younger ones in the family have to perform 'Bali' to make the soul get eternal peace. Usually the Bali or Pitru Tarpanam is performed calculating the date or 'Nakshatra' on which the family member died. However, Karkidaka Vavu Bali is performed regardless of the date or Nakshatra of death of the deceased member. According to Hindu Kerala tradition, people observe fast on the day before performing the ritual. The persons performing the rites are guided by priests. Taking a dip in the sacred water before and after the ritual is necessary. Boiled rice, Turmeric, Thulasi (Ocimum) etc are used for the rituals connected to the Bali. In the northern parts of Kerala, people believe that the dead ancestors pay visit to homes on the 'Karkidaka Vavu' day. Therefore people prepare and offer 'Ada' - a sweet - made of rice, to the departed souls. The Pujaris (hindu priests) help and guide devotees in chanting the mantras and performing the rituals.UNI DS CS 1128 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-865448.Xml Flooding from torrential rain killed two people in Ellicott City, Maryland, with floodwaters washing through the US town's historic downtown, collapsing a street and sweeping away cars, officials said.Ellicott City received almost 15 cm of rain in two hours late on Saturday as thunderstorms moved through the region, causing the Tiber, a tributary of the Patapsco River, to break its banks, officials said.Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said the flooding in Ellicott City, about 56 km northeast of Washington, was worse than that from Hurricane Agnes in 1972."I don't believe there's ever been a flood and the devastation that we've had overnight in Ellicott City," he said in an interview with Baltimore's WBAL NewsRadio.County spokesman Andy Barth said a man and a woman were killed. The woman's body was recovered from the river overnight.Barth said every business near the river on the town's historic Main Street had suffered major damage, including building fronts torn off and doors stripped away.In all, at least four properties were completely destroyed and another 20 to 30 buildings were badly damaged, Kittleman said in a statement.Howard County officials posted a photo on social media of a glass and wood storefront with its foundation ripped away, leaving a void where wooden struts were installed as a work crew tried to stabilize the building.Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, as did Kittleman. The declarations allow aid to be released more quickly for Ellicott City, which has a population of about 65,000.Firefighters rescued about 120 people and emergency workers were also dealing with a water main break, Howard County said in a statement. On a video posted online, men formed a human chain to get a woman trapped by raging waters out of her car.Television footage showed a downtown street collapsed, power poles down, mud-covered roads and cars tossed onto one another. REUTERS RSD RAI1012 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-865376.Xml The intrusion attempt was made on Sunday evening and one intruder was killed in the counter offensive by troopers in the Border Out Post (BOP) Kassoke in Hussainiwala sector, 280 km from here. The body of the unidentified intruder, believed to be a Pakistani, was recovered from beyond the border fence and handed over to the Punjab Police. BSF officials said that five intruders were detected moving suspiciously close to the border fence. When they were challenged, they fired at the BSF troopers. In the counter offensive, one intruder was killed while the others escaped. The BSF is on high alert along Punjab's international border with Pakistan since last year. In the recently concluded BSF-Rangers meet, India urged Pakistan to step up vigil and effectively check cross-border infiltration to prevent terrorist activities and clamp down on drugs smuggling during bi-lateral. (ANI) Members of the Opposition today raised an uproar in the Rajya Sabha over the comments by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar against Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, saying the BJP government at the Centre was targeting the minorities in the country. The Defence Minister, however, refuted the allegations by the Opposition. "I never took anybody's name. What is being reported is not what I said,'' Mr Parrikar said, responding to the Opposition charge. The issue was raised by Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress during Zero Hour. Mr Derek said religious fundamentalism was spreading across the country in the past two years. He alleged that repeated incidents of religious fundamentalism across India meant that it was a part of the design by the government. "If this were not so, the Defence Minister would not have said what he did at a function this weekend when he made some objectionable comments against Aamir Khan as is evident from a video clipping of the event." He said in the name of 'gau raksha' (cow protection) activists were crossing the line. The UN Human Rights Commission has also expressed concern over the caste-based discrimination taking place across the country, he added. "This is not the country, we are used to living in. The government ministers and BJP MPs are shooting off their mouth. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi come to the House and assure us of action against such remarks,''he said. Associating with comments, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) said, "Mr Parrikar is the Defence Minister of the country and he is making such negative comments against the minority communities.'' Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "The Defence Minister should tell the House what kind of lessons he is going to teach.'' Mr Parrikar, however, denied that he had made the remarks that were being attributed to him. "I never took anybody's name. You all should see the video again. What is being reported is not what I said,'' he said. Mayawati of the BSP said, "Since the day BJP has come to power, Muslims are being targeted time and again. And now they are targeting Dalits. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come in the House to explain what is happening in the country and to the minority communities.'' Deputy chairman P J Kurien said if any member or a minister has made a statement which is objectionable, a notice could be issued under the rules of the House.UNI AR SW 1356 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-865664.Xml Addressing mediapersons outside Parliament, Ms Mayawati, who has served four times as Chief Minister of UP, said,''Bulandshahr incident has proved the fact that there is complete lawlessness in the state.'' "UP mein kanoon ka raj nai, jungle raj chal raha hai (It's not the rule of law, but Jungle Raj which prevails in UP),'' she said. A woman and her 14-year-old daughter were traveling from Noida to Shahjahanpur along with their family on Friday night, when robbers waylaid them on NH 91 near Dostpur village (Bulandshahr) and brutally raped them after dragging them to a nearby field. Squarely blaming Mr Yadav, she said the Chief Minister must own moral responsibility for the incident and step down from his office. " If you (Mr Yadav) are not able to manage UP, then it would be better if you just resign. This is my advice,'' the BSP stalwart said. UNI RG PR RSA 1441 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-865708.Xml Leading PC maker Lenovo today appointed its Indonesian executive Rajesh Thadani as Head and Executive Director of Consumer, Online and E-commerce, Lenovo India. Mr Thadani will report to Rahul Agarwal, Managing Director, Lenovo India. Before this, Rajesh Thadani was heading Lenovo's Indonesia business, the company said in a statement.Announcing the appointment, Mr Agarwal said, "We are pleased to welcome Rajesh back in our India office. As a strong leader with passion, determination, eye for detail and focus, he has delivered outstanding growth in Indonesia. I am confident that his wealth of experience will add great value to Lenovo's growth in India and will help to accelerate our Consumer and Online business to the next level."On his appointment, Mr Thadani said, "I am excited to be back in India. The Lenovo Consumer business has evolved significantly over the past few years. India is growing at a phenomenal pace especially with the growth of Ecommerce and the changing dynamics of consumers."He further added, "I hope to leverage my learnings from the Indonesia market and take the Consumer business to greater heights."In his new role in Lenovo India, he will lead the growth strategy to further strengthen Lenovo's growing consumer segment. UNI ASH PR RSA 1529 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-865680.Xml Indonesia president Joko Widodo said the government will propose a cut in the corporate tax rate to improve competitiveness once a tax amnesty program expires."We are in a competitive era, if we are not brave, investors will leave," Widodo told reporters on Monday. The amnesty is due to expire at the end of March next year.Widodo said the government was still calculating what the appropriate tax rate should be. The finance ministry has previously said tax may be lowered to 20 percent from 25 percent currently. REUTERS SDR PR1422 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-865748.Xml Puducherry government today filled up 78 vacant posts in health department on compassionate grounds. Chief Minister V Narayansamy handed over the appointment orders in the presence of Education Minister Kamalakannan, Health Secretary B R Babu and among others. Talking to press later, the Chief Minister said steps would be taken to fill up the posts in other departments too on compassionate grounds. Out of the 78 posts in the department, 61 are in Pudhucherry region and rest are in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions.UNI PAB CS 1615 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-865770.Xml Artists desire the freedom to tread their chosen path and to show to the world a part of their souls. A group art show titled "Freedom of Thought" in the capital last week beautifully presented the journey of many artists as a celebration of colours and emotions. Each participating artist expressed his or her voice through the painting and sculpture exhibition, conceptualized by Jyoti Kalra of the Uchaan Art Gallery. "Art is the best way to showcase all kinds of feelings or moods. That's freedom," Kalra told IANS. "Art is everywhere. It is only the inspiration that gives you a visualization of it," she said. Deepali Jain, whose series of portraits represented the modern-day woman performing different roles, used art to depict the emotions she goes through in her everyday life. "I have tried to depict the emotions that I feel while performing all my responsibilities as a woman. There is a representation of the woman as the breadwinner of the house, a loving mother, as somebody who takes care of the house and the family," Jain told IANS. "As far as the style in concerned, I have tried to use elements of Chinese paintings in acrylic. The work is done in bold black," she explained. For Sunita Agarwal, who feels attracted to the portrayal of human emotions, "art is the medium to a magical world of feelings". "It allows you to express yourself freely. I observe my surroundings and get inspired to work as an artist" she said. One of her paintings was a "representation of childhood's freeness and happiness" and another one "the depiction of a girl's desire to grow fast as she drapes herself in her mother's sari and jewellery". --IANS mg/vm ( 295 Words) 2016-08-01-17:30:04 (IANS) Around 42.5 per cent of Delhi's population is diabetic, followed by Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, according to a recent survey by ASSOCHAM. Secretary General ASSOCHAM, D S Rawat said, '' Diabetes today is one of the biggest health threats to our country and immediate steps are needed to contain its spread. Timely screening and earlyidentification of the disease can help the victim take immediate steps and improve the quality of life. We at ASSOCHAM have decided to take the process of screening to the doorsteps of the citizens by organising camps in Delhi. The ASSOCHAM is organising over 85 Diabetes screening camps in Delhi in the next 100 days.'' The study reveals that 38.5 per cent of Mumbai population suffers from diabetes. In Ahmedabad 36 per cent people are diabetic, in Bangalore 26.5 per cent while in Chennai the percentage is estimated to be 24.5 per cent. In Hyderabad and Kolkata, the number of diabetic patients is estimated at 22.6 per cent and 19.7 per cent of the total population, respectively. Even in rural areas, people are increasingly becoming victims of the disease. The ASSOCHAM findings have revealed that the increase in Diabetes cases among men grew by 25 per cent while that among women made a whooping increase of 42 per cent.Recently WHO released findings placed India among the top three countries with the highest number of Diabetes cases.''If changes of lifestyle and food habits are not made, 125 million Indians are likely to become victims of Diabetes by 2035,'' he said. ''The number of Non-insulin Dependent Diabetics Mellitus (NIDDM) in India is estimated at 98 per cent. The age brackets of 30-40 are living at higher risk levels of diabetes. Even those from the age bracket of 20-30s are observed to have increased by 28 per cent. Younger women in the age bracket of 30-35 having extra junk and sweet stuff that has also elevated the chances of diabetes in them,'' Mr Rawat said.There are an estimated 85 million people in India who are suffering from pre-diabetes, a condition in which the patients have high blood glucose level but are not in the diabetes range. These people are athigh risk of getting diabetes. ASSOCHAM Health committee warns that uncontrolled diabetes can affect various parts of the body which include blood vessels, heart, kidney, eye, food and nerves, and therefore advises adequate preventive measures need to be adopted to further control the spread of diabetics among Indian populace. The study concludes that larger intake of Vitamins such as Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vitamin E, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid will keep human populace off diabetics. Among other remedial measures to keep off diabetes from human population can be through public-private partnership in health, aim is prevention and early reduction of disease, adds the study.UNI SY PR RSA 1754 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-866199.Xml The victim, Rakesh K. Gavde, was a resident of Mauja-Gurja village in Aheri sub-district and studied in second-year degree course in a nearby college. Besides studies, Gavde also used to create awareness about government schemes and policies among the local villagers, besides engaging in other social activities, said the official. Around 2 a.m. on Monday, a group of Maoists entered the village, barged into Gavde's home and fired several bullets at him before disappearing in the darkness. Following the incident, the security forces have stepped up vigil against the Maoists in the entire region and are trying to track the killers, the official said. --IANS qn/rn ( 140 Words) 2016-08-01-19:34:02 (IANS) Four persons, including two foreign nationals, have been arrested on charge of being members of an interstate gang of drug peddlers and four kg heroin has been seized from them, the Delhi Police said on Monday. Those arrested are Surender Singh, 36, and Balwinder Singh, 53, Nigerian Michael Chinedu Chukwudi, 36, and Tanzania's Catherine Leonard Mrope, 26, the police said. "Balwinder and Surender, both residents of Kapurthala in Punjab, were arrested on July 30 from west Delhi's Rohini Jail area when they arrived there to supply heroin to their contacts," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said. "We seized two kg heroin from Balwinder and one kg heroin from Surender," the officer said. Both were supplying drugs in Punjab and Delhi-National Capital Region, the police officer said. According to police, Balwinder was earlier arrested in 2007 and 2015 in separate cases related to the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act. "During interrogation, they accepted receiving three kg heroin from the African nationals," Yadav said. "They revealed that the drug dealers had taken on rent two-three flats in Pochanpur and one house in Sector-38 of Gurgaon, Haryana, where they used to keep heroin." "Chukwudi was arrested from his rented house in Gurgaon and one kg heroin seized from him," Yadav said. The police also seized two passports of Chukwudi, one issued in Nigeria and the other in South Africa. "He confessed to supplying drugs to Balwinder and Surender for the last six months and that he used to get heroin from another Nigerian resident here," Yadav said. Chukwudi also allegedly admitted to forging the South African passport after the expiry of his Nigerian travel document. Catherine was arrested from another flat and two fake passports seized from her flat -- one issued in Tanzania and the other in South Africa, the police said. "She was illegally staying in India for over two years," the DCP said. The police said contacts of Chukwudi's friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan sent heroin to him through couriers. A case under Sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused, police said. --IANS aks/tsb/vt ( 367 Words) 2016-08-01-20:00:01 (IANS) Claiming that BJP is scared of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today dubbed the resignation of his Gujarat counterpart Anandiben Patel as his party's victory in the battle against corruption. The Chief Minister, who is in Dharamshala for a 10-day meditation course at Vipassana Meditation Retreat, Dharamkot, expressed his views at micro-blogging site, Twitter. " Anandiben's resignation is result of AAP's soaring popularity in Gujarat. BJP is scared in Gujarat. Anandiben's resignation is AAP's victory in battle against corruption in Gujarat,'' Mr Kejriwal said. Earlier in the day, Ms Patel tendered her resignation saying that she wanted the younger leaders in the party to take charge of the post. BJP president Amit Shah said the party had received her resignation letter and their final decision on it would be taken at the Party's Parliamentary Board, tomorrow. UNI RG PR RSA 2000 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-866719.Xml Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president and AISF leader Kanhaiya Kumar today said the people in Kerala rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following his comparison statement of the State with Somalia for poverty during the assembly election.Mr Kumar said the people of the country would also reject him and the Sangh parivar in the same way in the next coming Lok sabha elections, while addressing the Commemorative function of late CPI leaders N E Balaram and P P Mukundhan at Collectorate ground here.He said Kerala which is in forefront in all sectors like education, communal harmony, women empowerment, literacy, but prime Minister neglect this and compared with Somalia, so the people of Kerala punish the BJP led NDA in the election. He opined that the country should take Kerala as a role model in these sectors.He pointed out that all time ABVP, the BJP student organisation has been highlighting the violence of Kannur in JNU campuses. He said only the powerful party start the violence against the oppress people and they only reacts to the oppression.Mr Kumar said , BJP led government has been allocating huge amount for purchasing weapons citing the threat from the neighboring Countries. However, the need of the hour is to strengthen the country by invest the fund into education to all which would empower them by providing information, knowledge and wisdom. But the government continue to remain away from this as they fear that the people who have acquired information, knowledge and wisdom, may react. Hence they continue divide the people the people in the name of religion and caste and raking up issues such as beef eating and others .He called the people to strengthen the movement even ignore the ideological difference for the unity of the country.CPI national leader and former State secretary Pannyan Raveendran inaugurated the function and C N Chandran presided and CPI district secretary P Santhosh Kumar also attended it.UNI AK CJ PY 2022 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-866825.Xml The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved appointment of Bhaskar Khulbe, a 1983 batch officer of West Bengal cadre, as secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official release said on Monday. Khulbe had been working as additional secretary in Prime Minister's Office. His appointment has come into effect from July 29, the release said. --IANS ps ( 66 Words) 2016-08-01-20:42:03 (IANS) According to witnesses, the bomb was struck at about 1.25 a.m. (local time) on Monday and was heard across most of the city, BBC reported. Officials said that it was a truck bomb at the North Gate compound housing foreign contractors and four attackers may be involved. The Taliban said it carried out the attack. No casualties were reported. Power in parts of Kabul was briefly cut off shortly before the explosion. Last week, two suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State (IS) killed 80 persons and over 230 wounded in Kabul. In July 2013, North Gate guesthouse came under attack when five militants blasted open a wall with a truck bomb and made their way into the compound. Five security guards were killed before the attackers were gunned down, Tolo news reported. --IANS ask/lok ( 154 Words) 2016-08-01-04:46:01 (IANS) Brazilian law enforcement agents stormed a hideout near Sao Paulo and freed the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, police said.Aparecida Schunk was found safe and police arrested two men.Sao Paulo's Anti-Kidnap squad "freed the mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone," police said in a one-paragraph statement. "She was unharmed. Two men were arrested at the hideout near the city of Cotia. The operation continues."Sao Paulo police did not comment further on the operation or the kidnapping. But local news reports said they were searching for other members of the gang.The 67-year old Schunk was kidnapped on July 22 and her captors asked for 120 million reais (36.5 million dollars), according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine.Schunk is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, a 38-year old marketing executive who met Ecclestone at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.Ecclestone, whom Forbes magazine estimates - along with his family - is worth 3.1 billion dollars and is one of the most powerful men in sport, married Flosi in 2012.Ecclestone, 85, divorced his wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, in order to marry the young Brazilian. The couple lives in England.Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars.A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer.Brazil is currently in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century. REUTERS JW0715 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-865322.Xml Mangla SHO Aqeel Abbas confirmed that Shakil had previously faced 18-month jail term on charges of firing and injuring Gul Zaman, a resident of Dhok Sahi near Pandoori over a land dispute, reports the Dawn. Shakeel had also contested the last local bodies elections for the slot of a general councilor of his village in November 2015, but lost. Reportedly, a paternal aunt of the deceased woman had also died under identical circumstances nearly 25 years ago since she had also sought divorce from her husband which her family was not ready to accept. "Samia's family, including her father and cousins, are known for using strong arm tactics to maintain their influence in the area," said a resident of Pandoori. Samia's killing has come under global spotlight after her second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim alleged that his 28-year-old wife, a beautician from Bradford, was killed by her father and her first husband this month after being called to Pakistan on the pretence that her father was gravely ill. Initially, Samia's family claimed that she died of a cardiac arrest while her father later said that she committed suicide. (ANI) The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d'affaires at the German Embassy today after German authorities prevented Turkey's president from addressing by video link a pro-democracy rally in Cologne, a senior source in Ankara said.President Tayyip Erdogan had wanted to address via video conference thousands of his supporters who gathered in Cologne yesterday to protest against a failed military coup on July 15 that killed more than 240 people.Germany's top court ruled against the live video link amid concerns that political tensions in Turkey could spill over into Germany. Violence in the past between nationalist Turks and Kurds has occurred in Germany, which is home to Europe's largest Turkish diaspora. REUTERS SDR PR1419 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-865739.Xml Germany and the European Union should not be blackmailed by Turkey in talks on visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said today."It is up to Turkey if there is or there isn't visa liberalisation," Gabriel said during a trip to northern Germany. "Germany and Europe should under no circumstances be blackmailed."Gabriel also welcomed a decision by Germany's highest court to prevent Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan from addressing via video-link a rally in Cologne yesterday.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in remarks published at the weekend that Ankara would back out of its agreement with the EU to stem the flow of migrants into the bloc if the EU doesn't deliver visa-free travel for Turks.Visa-free access to the EU - the main reward for Ankara's role in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe - has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation and Ankara's crackdown after a failed coup.REUTERS SDR NS1614 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-866038.Xml Pakistan has arrested at least 12 staff of its national carrier following the discovery of 6 kg of heroin in the toilet of an aircraft bound for Dubai, an airline spokesman said today.The latest instance of misbehaviour by the staff of cash-strapped Pakistan International Airlines was uncovered after the military-run Anti-Narcotics Force raided a flight from Lahore to Dubai flight yesterday, Danyal Gilani said."Around a dozen employees of PIA have been detained and are being interrogated in connection with heroin seizure," he told Reuters. "If proven guilty, they will face action with respect to their jobs, in addition to the legal consequences."In June last year, the airline sacked five cabin crew who had been detained in Britain on accusations of trying to smuggle mobile phones and foreign currency.In 2013, a PIA pilot was jailed for nine months in Britain after being found to be over three times Britain's legal alcohol limit for flying, just before he was due to take off with 156 people aboard.For nearly three years, the government has struggled to find private buyers for the airline. Employees staged a three-day strike in February to oppose privatisation. REUTERS SDR PM1642 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-866075.Xml The three, arrested in an operation on Saturday, were being interrogated by anti-narcotic officials here, Xinhua news agency quoted security sources as saying. They were linked to a cartel smuggling highly valued cocaine from Brazil and trailed by foreign and local anti-narcotic authorities for months, the sources said. According to port documents, the containers where teh drugs were found were loaded at Santos Port in Brazil on June 20. The Port of Mombasa has in the past been used as a transit port for drugs headed to Europe and Asia. Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the destruction of a ship loaded with heroin valued $13 million. The vessel was blown up on the high seas as a sign of the government's tough stance against drug trafficking. --IANS sm/py/vt ( 166 Words) 2016-08-01-17:30:02 (IANS) In a growing dispute between Donald Trump and the parents of a Muslim US Army officer killed in the Iraq war, the father said today that the Republican presidential nominee lacked the empathy to be a leader and chided him for throwing the first salvo in their exchange.Trump responded simultaneously on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan's morning television appearances, saying he was being "viciously" attacked.Asked on CNN what message he could give Trump, Khizr Khan said he wanted to maintain his family's dignity and convey to Trump "that a good leader has one trait ... empathy.""It is basic character, realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people that you wish to lead," Khan said. "And that is missing."The issue has dominated the election campaign in recent days after Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, with his wife standing at his side.The Khan's son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2004, and the father spoke emotionally of the sacrifice his son had made for the country as an American Muslim, specifically criticizing Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.In response to the speech, Trump said Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some traditional Muslims."There was no need to comment the way he commented," Khan said today. "That initiated this conversation."Ghazala Khan wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post yesterday saying that she had remained silent during her husband's remarks to cope with making her grief public during the convention.The parents have appeared on television numerous times over the weekend and several leading Republicans have weighed in to express support for the family and to honor their sacrifice.The dispute is the latest in a series of missteps by the freewheeling, unorthodox campaign of Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected political office but who beat 16 rivals to become the Republican presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. He has made some deeply controversial campaign proposals, including the ban on Muslims and building a wall along the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants.In interviews today, the Khans spoke about their son and described the outpouring of support they have received during their very public exchange with Trump. Ghazala Khan said on CNN her family had always felt safe and protected as Muslims in the United States.MCCAIN'S DISAPPROVALIn response, Trump has tried to shift focus from the Khans."This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US Get smart!" Trump said Monday on Twitter. He has accused Mr. Khan of "viciously attacking him."Yesterday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said Trump had scapegoated the parents. Leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements in support of the family.Trump drew similar opprobrium a year ago when he said US Senator John McCain, who was taken prisoner for five years during the Vietnam War, was not a hero since he had been captured.McCain, a leading voice in the party on military issues, on Monday condemned Trump for disparaging a fallen soldier's parents, saying in a statement his remarks do not represent the views of "our Republican Party."In an open letter, nearly a dozen so-called Gold Star families - families who lost relatives in wars - said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology."This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency," it said. "That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness.'"REUTERS SDR BD1937 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-866648.Xml TEHRAN, July 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader on Sunday reiterated Tehran's support for Turkish people and government in the face of threats, Press TV reported. Ali Akbar Velayati hailed the Turkish people's resistance and success in thwarting a recent military coup attempt in the country and highlighted Iran's support for the Turkish government and nation, according to the report. "Iran and Turkey are two very important countries among Islamic states and can influence the future of the Muslim world," Velayati said in a meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Riza Hakan Tekin. Velayati urged Tehran and Ankara to tap into their common interests to strengthen cooperation in all fields, saying that minor differences between the two countries cannot impact the neighbourly ties. "Some differences of opinion and views between the two sides will not deflect our attention away from the existing commonalities. This issue is very important for the expansion of relations between the two countries," he was quoted as saying. The Turkish ambassador, for his part, said Ankara praises Tehran's stance against the recent coup attempt in Turkey. Relations between Tehran and Ankara have reached their highest level over the past 10 years, Hakan Tekin added. Iranian officials have unanimously condemned the coup attempt in Turkey and voiced their support for Turkey's government in foiling the bid. Enditem A picture taken on July 3, 2016 from the UNESCO-listed citadel shows the partially collapsed building of the famed Carlton Citadel Hotel (L), in the government-controlled side of the divided northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (AFP/Xinhua) DAMASCUS, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Intense battles raged on Sunday in the northern province of Aleppo in Syria, following a broad offensive the rebels unleashed in a bid to break government-imposed siege on rebel-held areas, a monitor group reported. The Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was previously known as the Nusra Front before breaking ties with al-Qaida and changing its name, as well as other jihadi groups unleashed Sunday a wide-scale offensive in the hope of breaking a siege imposed recently by the Syrian army on rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The London-based watchdog said the rebels attacked from several directions, coupled with explosions that were heard in the southern countryside of Aleppo. It said at least two car bombs were detonated in southern Aleppo, with the launch of the rebel attack. The ground battles were also coupled with airstrikes on rebel-held areas in the western countryside of Aleppo. Earlier in the day, the al-Fateh Army, or the Conquer Army, which is an ally to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, announced in a video message the beginning of a big offensive to break the Syrian army's recent advance in Aleppo. Late last week, the Syrian army stormed the Bani Zaid area, a main rebel stronghold in the eastern part of Aleppo. A picture taken on July 3, 2016 shows the damaged building of the Coral Julia Dumna Hotel in the government-controlled side of the divided northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (AFP/Xinhua) The progress came a week after the army severed the last rebel supply route connecting rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, with rebel-controlled parts in the eastern part of the city. Severing the Castello road has dealt a strong blow to the rebels inside Aleppo. With the progress made, the Syrian army has fully besieged eastern Aleppo, urging the rebels to surrender themselves and the civilians to cooperate. Moreover, President Bashar al-Assad announced an amnesty for the rebels who surrender themselves and their weapons to the authorities. The Syrian authorities in cooperation with the Russians also opened three safe passages for civilians wishing to leave eastern Aleppo. They also opened a fourth one for the rebels who would want to surrender themselves. On Saturday, state news agency SANA said dozens of families evacuated eastern districts in Aleppo, amid reports that the rebels prevented many civilians from leaving. The evacuation of the civilians was also coupled with official reports talking about rebel fighters surrendering themselves to the authorities. Video clips of rebels surrendering were aired on several Syrian TVs. Still, the process, which was apparently going on smoothly, was undermined Sunday by the rebels' offensive. Well-informed sources from Aleppo told Xinhua that the army units managed to foil the rebels' offensive so far amid intense battles. A military source told Xinhua on Sunday evening that very intense battles are taking place south of Aleppo on several fronts, adding that medium and heavy weapons are being used, as well as airstrikes on the rebel positions. "The intense battles are still raging till now," he said on condition of anonymity. Aleppo, Syria's largest province and once a thriving economic metropolis, has witnessed intensified violent battles lately as the Syrian army advances against the rebels in the north. A helicopter tries to extinguish a wildfire in Los Angeles, the United States, June 20, 2016. Two fast-moving brush fires tore through vegetation on Monday in the Angeles National Forest and the foothills above Duarte and Azusa in Los Angeles, burning more than 2,000 acres within three hours amid blistering heat wave. (Xinhua/Yang Lei) LOS ANGELES, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Firefighters are feeling a little bit relieved due to better weather conditions as they continue to fight to fully contain the wildfire near Los Angeles on Sunday. The fire has burned 41,432 acres (about 167 square km) in Santa Clarita and was 93 percent contained as of Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Monsoonal moisture in and around the fire area is expected to increase the relative humidity to a range of 25 to 40 percent, and slightly cooler temperatures are also expected on Sunday, with a high of 94 degrees forecast for Santa Clarita. Some 1,038 firefighters were working to mop up, put out hot spots and shore up and extend containment lines, according to the USFS. The fire has destroyed 18 homes and killed a man since it broke out July 22 near Sand Canyon Road along the northbound Antelope Valley (14) Freeway. An estimated 20,000 people were evacuated as the fire raged, but all those who evacuated were allowed to return home, with the last evacuation orders lifted on Friday. A smoke advisory issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for parts of the Santa Clarita Valley and San Gabriel Mountains is set to expire at midnight. People in those areas with respiratory problems are advised to stay indoors, and all residents are advised to use caution when going outside and to avoid using swamp coolers or wood-burning appliances. The USFS said the fire was not active on the north, west and south sides. Hot spots are scattered along the southeast side, but the fire is not expected to spread. Firefighters advised people in the area that pockets of unburned vegetation will continue to burn for several days or even weeks, but that does not pose a threat to the contained fire line. The wildfire broke out around 2 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on July 22 near Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. Fueled by high heat and dry woods, it has spread over one week. KHARTOUM, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) and international envoys on Sunday urged South Sudan President to stop chasing opposition leader and put the peace deal back to normal course. At the conclusion of its 3rd meeting in Khartoum Sunday, the JMEC, tasked with overseeing implementation of South Sudan peace deal, and envoys of China, Norway, the United States and the European Union urged the warring parties in South Sudan to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the recent acts of violence and to hold accountable whoever proves to be involved in the violation of the ceasefire agreement. The meeting issued a statement stressing the importance of taking necessary measures to address the deteriorating humanitarian situations in South Sudan and to prevent collapse of the economy of the new-born state. The meetings came following the outbreak of fighting between the South Sudanese army and troops of the opposition leader First Vice President Riek Machar on July 8. South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit appointed former opposition chief negotiator Taban Deng Gai to replace Machar who disappeared following the bloody events in the capital Juba. The opposition described the president's move as a "conspiracy" to remove Machar, vowing to escalate the war against the government of President Kiir. KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Casualties were feared in the early hours of Monday after a powerful blast rocked the Afghan capital of Kabul when the city was plunged in darkness, witnesses said. The huge bang was heard around the city roughly at 01:25 local time (20:55 GMT Sunday), causing panic among local residents. "The big bang shocked me at my bed as soon as I got up I found we had no electricity. I received several phone calls from relatives. All people are trying to find what is happening but nobody knows what is exactly going on," witness Ahmad Farshad from western Kabul told Xinhua. "The nature of the blast looked like a truck bombing which occurred a couple of months ago in central Kabul. The electricity was reconnected to the city about 10 minutes after the blast." Farshad said. No official was immediately available to make comments. However, unofficial sources said that the blast was triggered by a car bombing followed by gunfires on the eastern outskirts of the city. Afghan security force members stand guard near the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 1, 2016. Casualties were feared after a powerful Taliban truck bombing and ensuing gunfire rocked a foreign guesthouse in eastern Kabul in the early hours of Monday, sources and witnesses said. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Scores were feared killed and injured after a powerful truck bombing and ensuing gunfire rocked a foreign guesthouse in eastern Kabul in the early hours on Monday, sources and witnesses said. "The massive explosion struck North Gate guesthouse frequented by foreign contractors and international staff of foreign agencies. The heavily guarded complex is located in Pul-e-Charkhi area along Jalalabad road in eastern edge of the city," a security source told Xinhua near the site. "The area is not a populated residential district. But there is still fear of casualties as many people were inside the building before the attack. So far, we have no more details, but we will try to get more information," the source said anonymously. The blast, claimed by the Taliban militant group, occurred roughly at 01:25 local time, when the city was plunged in darkness, causing panic among local residents. It seems that the security forces had the information about a possible terror attack as electricity was shut down across the city before the blast, he said. The Afghan Special Operation Forces arrived at the scene shortly after the incident. Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures. Media and people were not allowed to enter the site and no one knows what exactly is going on inside and around the stricken compound. Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of official statement. "More details would be made public later as investigation is underway to find more facts about the incident," the source added. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that a Taliban suicide squad conducted a complex attack against a foreign guest house and the attack was part of Taliban yearly rebel offensive. He said the explosion and gunfight have claimed the lives of dozens of foreigners. Saint Etienne Parish(PARIS) -- Two men were arrested Sunday in connection with the killing of an elderly priest in Rouen, France, last week. Farid K, 30, was arrested on terrorist association and is a cousin of attacker Abdel Malik Petitjean, according to BBC. Jean-Philippe Steven J, 20, is under formal investigation for attempting to travel to Syria a month ago with Petitjean, BBC reports. The two men are in custody, the Paris prosecutor's office said according to BBC. Petitjean and 19-year-old Adel Kermiche disrupted the church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray last Tuesday during morning mass and took six people hostage including a priest, nuns and parishioners. Both were killed by police outside the church after stabbing the neck and torso of Father Jacques Hamel, 86. On Sunday, Muslims across France attended the church's mass as a gesture of solidarity after the attack. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Photo taken on July 2, 2016, shows view of the city near Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- With an investment of 46 billion U.S. dollars and scores of infrastructure projects, the ongoing construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is undoubtedly one of the largest endeavors now taking place on the planet. Roads, energy projects, industrial parks and the Gwadar port are all included in the basket, satisfying Pakistan's immediate needs as well as helping the south Asian country get back on its feet after years of anti-terror campaigns wrecked its economy. Three years after the initiative on the construction of CPEC was jointly announced by China and Pakistan, Xinhua has learned that the project is yielding its early fruits as new roads and power plants have put Pakistan's growth in the first gear. ELECTRIC POWER Located 20 km east of Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, the Bin Qasim power plant is one of the pioneer and flagship projects of CPEC planned to begin operating at the end of next year. The Pakistani government hopes the plant would significantly cut power shortage as both population and economy boom. In the capital city of Islamabad, there is virtually no supply of electricity for almost half a day, with the rural areas in even worth conditions, supplied by electricity only six hours a day. The lack of electricity has made the poor vulnerable to extreme heat which smothers the country every summer, and has the manufacturing industry on a leash. For the coal-fired plant built by PowerChina, the Chinese construction company commissioned to undertake the construction of the project, two 660-megawatt generator units will be installed, which would generate 1,320 megawatts of electricity per year, more than a quarter of the 4,500-5,000 megawatts of power shortage estimated for the year 2012. "With three more plants like this one, Pakistan would have no more energy woes," said Chen Enping, a manager at PowerChina. A little further away from Karachi, the operation of the first phase of a Chinese wind farm is already in full swing. Thirty-three windmills erected by China Three Gorges Corporation churned out 140 million kwh of electricity last year, powering 60,000 families in the region. "Before this, we had blackout most of the time. Now we can enjoy three or four more hours of power each day, which means a running fan can help us get through the night," Hassan, a local resident, told Xinhua, adding that he hopes the second phase of the wind farm, under construction in January, will make the next summer more comfortable. LIFELINES Photo taken on Sept. 13, 2015 shows a general view of northern Pakistan's Hunza valley.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) For Sher Afzart, a shop owner in northern Pakistan's Hunza Valley, the Karakorum Highway is what he owes his livelihood to. The two-lane highway, originally built by the Chinese in the 1970s and recently renovated by China Road and Bridge Corporation, connects Kashgar, a commercial hub in northwest China's Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region, and Pakistan. Afzart can save days on trips to Kashgar to buy goods as the road cuts through the Karakorum mountains. There is a steady flow of business as thousands of Chinese workers labor around Hunza. Following the completion of the Karakorum Highway renovation project, more business opportunities are created, Afzart said. "With the convenience of road traffic, I'm thinking of opening branches in Islamabad and even in cities farther south," he said. The Karakorum Highway is just one of the roads that falls under CPEC. The M-4 National Motorway, a strategic artery in central Pakistan, is also being paved by the Chinese. Wang Feng, chief engineer of China Railway First Group Co., Ltd., which was commissioned to construct a segment of the motorway, said despite the temperature at the site often running up to more than 50 degrees Celsius during summer, his team is beating the odds to complete the project on time. "We were touched by the generous local people, who offered us fruits and tea when we first arrived. To repay their kindness we built two bridges and water ducts at our own cost to help local farming," Wang said. Aside from highways, railways and light rails are also part of the grand plan to upgrade Pakistan's road network, as the current one, constructed in the British colonial era, is putting a strain on the economy. GWADAR PORT Photo taken on July 2, 2016, shows a view of Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) The Gwadar port, located in the southern coast of Pakistan, is where CPEC meets the Indian ocean. From here resources can commence their journey onto the hinterlands of Pakistan and western China, and Chinese and Pakistani products can be shipped out to every corner of the world. Viewed from above, the port is like an anchor protruding into the emerald waters, forming two natural bays that are as deep as 14.5 m, making them perfect harbors. After the CPEC cooperation program was launched in 2013, a plan was developed in the following years to comprehensively transform the fishing town into a modern metropolis complete with industrial zones, a harbor and recreational zones. Gwadar Port Authority Chairman Dostain Jamaldini has big ambitions for the port, eyeing Dubai, which is just across the Arabian Sea, as a model. Near future plans for the port area include the construction of a Free Trade Zone, a Special Economic Zone, a coastal expressway, an international airport and a pipeline linking Iran, which are all part of the CPEC plan remodelling the town which will be the hinge of the corridor. "Pakistan is ready to offer the most generous terms for companies investing in the port," Jamaldini said, "We believe the favorable policies and the superb location of the port will soon attract the interest of investors worldwide." MEXICO CITY, July 31 (Xinhua) -- In a laboratory in Mexico City's Chapultepec Zoo, veterinaries have been working to extract and preserve "seeds" from 20 species of endangered animals, according to an official. In the reproduction laboratory, gametes from national protected species such as the Mexican wolf, the California condor, the volcano rabbit, the Mexican salamander and the jaguar are being studied and preserved, Fernando Cortes Villavicencio, technical and research director at the General Directorate for Zoos and Wildlife in Mexico City, told Xinhua on Saturday. The scientists are also working with specimens of exotic animals from other latitudes that live in zoos, like the snow leopard or some primates, said Cortes Villavicencio. "We have at least preserved 20 different species which are included in the at-risk category in the germplasm bank," said the official. In the laboratory, the experts obtain semen from the male and oocyte from the female and evaluate the best techniques so that their conservation is long-lasting and they are freezing the germplasms. "At some point in the future this (the germplasm bank) will surely be used if it is necessary to save a species in danger of extinction," said Cortes Villavicencio, who is a veterinary. The official emphasized that the program attempts to conserve endangered species, a task which, just like others, was tarnished due to the death of a silverback gorilla early this month. Bantu, who was born in Chapultepec in 1991 and the only male of his species in Mexico, suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest after he was sedated before he could be transported to a zoo in Guadalajara, capital of the western state of Jalisco, to mate with two females. Since his death on July 6 the zoo's authorities have faced questioning from animal protection organizations and local opposition parliamentarians, some of whom have pushed for discussions within the city's legislative assembly to close the zoo. Cortes Villavicencio said the case has caused an erroneous perception of how the zoo operates. He also added that the proposal needs to be thought about "twice" because Chapultepec does so much more than just show 1,208 kinds of animals to 5 million children and adults annually. The zoo has become a research center and the preservation program is the proof, as it has contributed to repopulating the woods in northern Mexico with the Mexican wolf after the species was completely eradicated in the wild four decades ago, according to Cortes Villavicencio. "The first (new wild) Mexican wolves were set free in Mexico in 2011. They have blood from the same species that live in the city's zoos," he added. Recently, they have also transported three California condor chicks that were born and raised in Chapultepec's laboratory to a mountain range in northwest Mexico. Once the rehabilitation process is finished, the birds will be set free, Cortes Villavicencio added. The chicks of the species, declared extinct in 1987, were the first to be born in captivity in Mexico. "If I am not mistaken, the zoos in Mexico City are the only ones to have a reproduction laboratory in Mexico," he said. Even Bantu's move to Guadalajara came within the conservation tasks of the species in Mexico, where the general wildlife regulation prohibits new primates from entering the country. "On many occasions when you are handling wild animals, these types of situations are probable and unfortunately on this occasion it happened," said Villavicencio, who explained that they are still awaiting the results of the analysis in order to to rule out improper handling. The director added that Chapultepec is also a training center for Mexican and foreign students of veterinary medicine and many of them get jobs in other zoos or become wildlife researchers. "Instead, I believe that they (those in favor of closing Chapultepec zoo) should get to know the reality from within the zoo, the aims and the love that people who work there have for wildlife," Cortes Villavicencio said. "We are genuinely very interested in continuing our work and making sure that they (the citizens) believe and know that we are doing everything out of love. What we most enjoy doing is working with wild animals," Cortes Villavicencio noted. QUITO, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Interpol Office in Ecuador on Saturday highlighted good cooperation with its Chinese counterparts in deporting a Red Notice fugitive back to China. "This is the first 'red notice' case (involving a Chinese citizen in Ecuador). As soon as we received the information, we began our cooperation (with Chinese side) on this case," Wilson Cacuango, an officer from Interpol's National Office for Ecuador in Quito, told Xinhua during an interview. The case involved Ni Qunyan, a Chinese citizen who was arrested on June 10 in Ecuador's capital city of Quito under an order from the National Court of Justice for extradition purposes. Ni, owner of Zhejiang Sanmen Longyuan Garment Co. Ltd. in Zhejiang Province in China, was accused of tax invasion and put on a Red Notice list published by Interpol Beijing on Nov. 4, 2014. Cacuango noted Interpol Quito kept communication with Interpol Beijing as well as the Chinese Embassy to Ecuador in the process. The investigation and eventual arrest was not easy, he recalled, as Ni began to delete all traces that could help to locate her, including the closure of her RUC, or Single Taxpayer's Register, an identification number for tax-collecting purpose for all natural persons and corporations in Ecuador. Ni was arrested in a case involving a false Ecuadorean identity card, in which she was eventually identified after her fingerprints was taken, according to Cacuango. Ni had been in Ecuador for 14 years, where she is also wanted for other offenses, according to the Ecuadorean Interior Ministry. After her arrest, Ni was sent to a detention center for women in the central city of Latacunga before she was taken before the National Court of Justice. According to Ecuadorean law, she was freed after 40 days in detention before the deportation process began. "She was then handed over to Chinese police and should be sentenced," said Cacuango, who just returned from a trip to China to hand over Ni to the Chinese side. "It was very nice to share experiences with the police (in China) and they gave us information that helped here (in Ecuador) in other cases," said Cacuango, recalling his trip to China. The need for an extradition treaty between the two countries became apparent after the case, he added. WELLINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Fijian man described as a "serial immigration fraudster" has been jailed for 30 months in New Zealand, immigration officials said Monday. Sentencing Raymond Claudius on three counts on providing false or misleading information on visa applications, a judge at Christchurch District Court said he had "a lifetime of immigration fraud," according to a statement from the government's Immigration New Zealand agency. It outlined how Claudius had used several names to get in and out of New Zealand. Born in Fiji and originally known as Bal Krishna, Claudius moved to Australia in his early adult life before he was eventually deported, said the statement. Back in Fiji, Claudius accumulated several dishonesty convictions before he jumped ship to New Zealand in 1987, where he lived for two years under different names to hide from the authorities. He was eventually tracked down and deported to Fiji in 1989. On his return to Fiji, he changed his name by deed poll to Raymond Claudius and travelled to New Zealand in 2007 under his new name. In 2015, his past caught up with him when Immigration New Zealand officials interviewed him and the extent of his fraudulent past was unraveled. "This case demonstrates just how seriously the courts take matters of immigration fraud," Immigration New Zealand assistant general manager Peter Devoy said in the statement. CANBERRA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A leading air crash expert has said missing Malaysia Airlines fight MH370 was likely to have been in controlled flight as it hit the water, giving life to the theory it was brought down by a rogue pilot or hijacker. Air crash expert Larry Vance told Australia's Nine Network that there was no other way to explain why the flaperon, found off the coast of Madagascar, was "extended" meaning it would have been in controlled flight as it hit the water. Vance said the only way to extend the flaperon, something which happens when a plane is attempting a landing, was for the pilot to engage a switch, something which is unlikely to have occurred during an sudden disaster. "You cannot get the flaperon to extend any other way than if somebody extended it," Vance told the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program overnight. "Somebody would have to select it (in the cockpit)." Vance said, from photos released of the flaperon, there was evidence to show the aeroplane hit the water at a controlled speed, pointing to it being a "human engineered event." "Somebody was flying the aeroplane into the water... There is no other alternate theory that you can follow of all the potentials that might have happened. There's no other theory that fits," he said. "The force of the water is really the only thing that could make that jagged edge that we see (on the flaperon). It wasn't broken off. If it was broken off, it would be a clean break." Meanwhile, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) crash investigator Peter Foley said there was a possibility that someone was in control of the plane as it went down. "There is a possibility there was someone in control at the end and we're actively looking for evidence to support that," he said on Sunday night. He admitted that if it was brought down by a "rogue" pilot, the wreckage could be outside the parameters of the Australian-led 120,000 square kilometer search zone. The search for the Boeing 777 is scheduled to end in coming weeks, considering less than 10,000 square kilometers is yet to be searched. "If you guided the plane or indeed control-ditched the plane, it has an extended range, potentially," Foley said. MH370 was a scheduled passenger flight bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. There were 239 passengers and crew on board. Enditem KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- One police and three militants were killed and three police wounded in a truck bombing and ensuing gunfight on a foreign compound in eastern outskirts of Afghan capital of Kabul overnight, the provincial police chief said Monday. By Matt Walsh CANBERRA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis on Monday was forced to name two replacements to head the royal commission into the treatment of juveniles in detention in the Northern Territory (NT), following Brian Martin's sensational resignation just days after he was given the position. Martin, who was appointed royal commissioner just four days ago, said the decision to appoint him was made without proper consultation with Indigenous leaders, who would not have "full confidence" in him heading the inquiry. The royal commission was formed by the Turnbull government last week, following an explosive investigation into the mistreatment of juveniles in NT's detention centers. Vision obtained by investigative journalism program Four Corners showed the youths, mostly of Indigenous background, were physically abused, tear-gassed, stripped and humiliated by guards. Martin said not only was the lack of Indigenous input important in his decision to step down, but also a misguided perception of conflict of interest surrounding his appointment as royal commissioner was also a factor in resigning from the position. "As a consequence, the effectiveness of the commission is likely to be compromised from the outset," Martin said in a statement released on Monday. He said it was "far too important" to allow petty politics to take precedence in what is expected to be one of the biggest social justice issues witnessed in Australia. "I am not prepared to proceed in the face of that risk. This royal commission is far too important to undertake that risk and, in the public interest, personal considerations must take second place," Martin said. The perceived conflict of interest had involved Martin's daughter, Joanne, who worked as a justice adviser to the former NT Attorney-General Delia Lawrie from 2009 until 2011, within the period set to be covered in the royal commission. Martin said he was "not prepared to allow the unwarranted intrusion into the life" of his daughter to continue. Following Martin's resignation from the post, Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis appointed current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and former Queensland Supreme Court and Appeals Court judge Margaret White as joint commissioners, after consultation with Indigenous leaders. Brandis said both Gooda and White were "obvious choices" as replacements for Martin. "I've spoken to the chief minister of the NT, Adam Giles, who strongly supports the course of action that I have outlined and strongly supports these two appointments," Brandis told the press on Monday. Brandis said Martin had not been pressured to stand down from leading the inquiry, and defended the initial decision to appoint him as royal commissioner, but said it was now time to get on with the commission. "The government has acted swiftly and decisively to ensure that the resignation of Mr Martin will not delay the work of the royal commission," he said. "It is now for the commissioners to set about that important work and I thank them for their willingness to take on this very significant and challenging task." ANKARA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's counter-terrorism police forces briefly closed the Incirlik Air Base in southeast Turkey on Sunday to prevent a new coup attempt, said the Hurriyet Daily News. The shutdown operation carried out by the police forces has been completed in two and a half hours. Earlier, it was reported that supporters of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen would make a new coup attempt in this air base, according to Hurriyet. The Incirlik military base is used by the United States and shelters combat planes of the U.S.-led coalition launching airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State group outlawed in many countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that the country's intelligence agency will be under his control and military commanders will report to the defense minister. Speaking in an interview with ATV and A Haber channels, Erdogan said the moves aim to bring the Turkish military under civilian control after the failed coup attempt last month. A total of 1,389 pro-coup soldiers including Erdogan's military aide were discharged from the Turkish Armed Forces, the state Official Gazette announced on Sunday. Altogether, 8,651 soldiers took part in the failed coup attempt of July 15, making up 1.5 percent of the military's total personnel, the General Staff of the Turkish armed forced said. SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's July exports posted a longest monthly decline for 19 months in a row, boosting worries about recovery in the export-driven economy, a government report showed on Monday. Exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, reached 41.04 billion U.S. dollars in July, down 10.2 percent from the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The falling pace of the country's exports accelerated from 2.7 percent in June to 10.2 percent in July, after slowing down from 11.1 percent in April to 5.9 percent in May. It prolonged the period of the monthly export fall to 19 months in a row, the longest in its history. The previous longest exports reduction was 13 months from March 2001 to March 2002. In July, business days reduced by 1.5 days compared with a year earlier, contributing to the export decline. A fall in ship deliveries also helped exports log a double-digit slide. Excluding the one-off factors such as less business days, outbound shipments shed 1.6 percent in July from a year earlier, the lowest monthly slide in 2016, according to the trade ministry. Daily average exports dipped 4.4 percent in July compared with a year earlier. Imports tumbled 14.0 percent from a year earlier to 33.25 billion dollars. Both exports and imports declined for 19 months in a row. The faster fall in imports than exports sent the July trade surplus to 7.79 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in black for 54 straight months since February 2012. In terms of volume, exports slipped 1.6 percent, with the export unit price retreating 8.8 percent in July from a year ago. By item, display panel shipments dropped 19.2 percent in July, better than a 25.2 percent fall tallied in June. The falling pace of oil product exports slowed from 27.2 percent in June to 9.4 percent in July, while the figure for general machinery slowed from 4.6 percent to 3.7 percent. The display panel exports improved on the back of a slower fall in export prices, while demand for gasoline increased last month, helping enhance oil product exports, the ministry said. Ship exports, however, plunged 42.5 percent on delayed delivery of some orders. Auto exports declined 14.6 percent as workers of Hyundai Motor, the country's No.1 carmaker, went on a strike. Steel exports slumped 11.1 percent amid global weak demand. By region, exports to China, South Korea's largest export destination, sank 9.3 percent last month from a year ago, continuing their losing streak since the beginning of the year. Exports to Vietnam increased 7.6 percent, keeping an upward trend for the sixth consecutive month. Those to the European Union (EU) and Japan declined 4.3 percent and 2.1 percent each, but those were a slowing fall from the previous month. Exports to India tumbled 10.1 percent, and those to the United States plunged 14.3 percent in July, worse than a 7.0 percent reduction in June. The trade ministry said it is hard to expect an export recovery in the foreseeable future due to the continued downturn in emerging economies and the remaining uncertainties such as Brexit, or British referendum to leave the EU. Imports of raw materials reduced 12.5 percent in July on the back of lower commodity prices. Capital goods import fell 4.2 percent, but consumer goods imports increased 5.4 percent. KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- One police and three militants were killed and three police wounded in a truck bombing and ensuing gunfight on a foreign compound on eastern outskirts of Afghan capital of Kabul overnight, the provincial police chief said Monday. "One militant rammed a truck bomb at the wall of North Gate camp which gives home to several foreign companies and logistic firms. Two armed militants tried to enter the facility but police intercepted them. The attackers took position in a nearby building, triggering a gun battle lasting for a while," General Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters at the site. The Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred roughly at 01:25 local time. The complex was also frequented by foreign contractors. "Our initial findings showed that no casualties occurred to the people inside the complex which is located in Dispachari locality of Pul-e-Charkhi area," the police chief said. It is not immediately known how many people were inside the complex when the massive blast took place. "The blast walls have absorbed the force of the explosion," the police chief noted. The Afghan Special Operation Forces arrived shortly and launched a counter attack. One policeman was killed and three others injured during the exchange of the fire with the militants.`` The huge sound of the explosion caused panic among local residents and following the massive blast the city was plunged in darkness for a while. The targeted building is located in an industrial park. The blast caused a huge crater and severely damaged the surrounding buildings. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that a Taliban suicide squad conducted a complex attack against a foreign guest house and the attack was part of Taliban yearly rebel offensive. He said the explosion and gunfight have claimed the lives of dozens of foreigners. Several people were injured by broken glasses and shattered windows in surrounding areas, according to local media reports. This is the second attack against the stricken building. The Taliban attacked the same complex in 2013 through a car bombing. On April 19, the Taliban launched a similar attack on a security complex in central Kabul, killing 64 people and injuring over 350 others. Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah strongly condemned the incident. PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong on Monday admired outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo for her active contributions to further enhance bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries. "I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for your strong efforts to promote bilateral ties and cooperation between China and Cambodia,"he told Ambassador Bu during a farewell meeting here. "During your three-year diplomatic mission in Cambodia, relations and cooperation between the two countries have been further strengthened and expanded." Hor Namhong said that during Bu's tenure, the volumes of trade and investment between Cambodia and China have increased, as more roads and bridges have been built with aid from China. Meanwhile, he extended profound gratitude to the government and people of China for having provided grants, non-interest loans and concessional loans to Cambodia, and to the Chinese investors for having invested a great amount of capital in Cambodia. "Cambodia's progress today could not be detached from China's aid,"said Hor Namhong, who is the ex-foreign minister. For her part, Bu showed satisfaction with her diplomatic mission in Cambodia and thanked the Cambodian government for working closely with the Chinese Embassy for the benefit of the two countries and peoples. by Xinhua Writer Tian Dongdong BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- British new cabinet's decision to delay the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant program over "national security" concerns not only draws queries from the international community about its openness towards foreign investment, but also adds uncertainties to the "Golden Era" of China-UK ties. Giving green light to a 24-billion-U.S.-dollar project can never be an easy decision, and China fully understands and respects British government's requirement for more time to ponder. However, what China cannot understand is the "suspicious approach" that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement. The Hinkley Point C program will offer thousands of jobs for local people while bridging the electricity gap left by the closure of all coal-fired plants in Britain as of 2025, with 7 percent of electricity supply guaranteed nationwide. Such a rosy prospect underpins the program's win-win nature and dispels the groundlessness and sci-fi scent of fears over "China planting back-doors" during program construction to control the critical infrastructure. Those uncalled fears are particularly harmful to Britain for at least two reasons. For starters, for a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out. As the initiator of the "free trade" theory and full implementor of free market economy, Britain has long been known for its extraordinary attractiveness to foreign investment with its openness. The "suspicious approach" towards Chinese investment pervading in the postponement actually triggers much concern that Britain might thinking of erecting a wall of protectionism, which will surely stain its credibility as an open economy and might deter possible investors from China and other parts of the world in the future. Secondly, by halting a flagship program indicating the arrival of the China-UK Golden Era, as some British media reported, for suspicion towards Chinese investment, the British new government is actually running the risk of dampening the hard-won mutual trust with China. China-UK relations have long been taken as a model of relationship between developing and developed countries. Based on mutual trust, mutual understanding and win-win cooperation, bilateral ties have been peaked by last year's successful UK-tour of Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as Britain's participation in the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. If history offers any guide, many China-targeted suspicions have been boiled down to diffidence and distortion. China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but can not tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation. After all, the hard-won momentum in China-UK relations cannot be wasted, and the Golden Era cannot afford to be delayed. VANCOUVER, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Sunday joined thousands of others in the streets of downtown Vancouver in western Canada for the city's annual Pride Parade. This is the 38th Pride Parade of Vancouver's gay, lesbian and transgender community. It spreads the message that everybody is equal and deserves to be loved and respected regardless of their sexuality or gender. One of the participant Casha told Xinhua that the Pride Parade was "all about diversity and celebration of the uniqueness that everybody in the gay community enjoys, so that's why it's important." It's impossible to count so many people, but organizers claim that nearly half a million come out each year to the parade. This is the first time a sitting Canadian prime minister has joined the parade in Vancouver, even though Trudeau has marched several times at the event in the past. A drag queen named Brooke said Pride is about turning your back on discrimination and hatred in all its forms. "Pride is all about love and community. They think that they can break us down, but together we will come back fighting harder and harder," Brook said. The event seems to grow larger every year and has become Western Canada's largest parade. It's also one of the largest street parties across all Canada and the United States. The parade organizers say the event generates millions of U.S. dollars for the local economy, but the true meaning of Pride is to raise awareness for gay, lesbian and transgender rights, diversity and friendship, while also raising awareness about sexual health. COLOMBO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday left for Indonesia to attend the 12th World Islamic Economic Forum where he is expected to give a speech. A statement from the Prime Minister's office said that during his visit, Wickremesinghe will hold discussions with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and will meet leaders of Malaysia and Jordan on the sidelines of the summit. This is Wickremesinghe's first visit to Indonesia after being sworn in as the country's prime minister in August last year. COLOMBO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua)-- The World Bank has approved a 100 million dollar credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to support the Sri Lankan government's economic reform program, local media reported here on Monday. "Sri Lanka has been making steady progress on economic reforms, with the government aiming to create one million new jobs through a reform package focused on improving the country's competitiveness, transparency and macroeconomic stability,"the report quoted a statement by the World Bank as saying. A World Bank study, the Systematic Country Diagnostic, has highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to move from"a largely inward looking and public sector driven economy"to one that can unleash the potential of the private sector. The Sri Lanka Competitiveness, Transparency and Fiscal Sustainability Development Policy Financing (DPF), which is only the second DPF to Sri Lanka in a decade, aims to support the government's reform agenda by reducing obstacles to private sector competitiveness, establishing transparent and well managed public institutions and improving fiscal sustainability. "The breadth and depth of the actions implemented signal the comprehensive approach and commitment of the government to tackle difficult reforms aimed at making growth sustainable and creating jobs."said Francoise Clottes, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. "The specific actions in this DPF operation will help improve fiscal sustainability and create the fiscal space for delivery of public services, social spending and capital investment, which are integral to the country's competitiveness." The Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs will be responsible for overall implementation and coordination of the proposed operation. Other agencies involved include the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media, the Auditor General's Department, the Board of Investment and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. MANILA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday voiced hope that the peace talks with communist rebels will continue, stressing the need to usher in peace in the country. "I hope that we can proceed with the talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)," Duterte said at the Malacanang presidential palace. he did not elaborate. He also stressed the need to pursue peace talks not only with the communist rebels, but also with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front. However, Duterte made it clear that his administration will not talk to the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, branding them as criminals. "I will not deal wth criminals. I will not deal with persons of extreme brutality," he said, adding that "there is no redeeming factor or reason for me to sit down and talk with criminals." "They (the Abu Sayyaf) are just out to derail the life of a nation," Duterte said. "They have no ideology." Duterte revoked Saturday a week-old unilateral ceasefire he had declared after the communist rebels killed a militia man and wounded four others in Davao del Norte last Wednesday despite the truce. The government and the communist rebels are scheduled to hold talks in Oslo, Norway from Aug. 20 to Aug. 27 in a fresh attempt to end decades-old leftist insurgency. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the CPP's armed wing - the New Peoples' Army has estimated 4,000 members. They have been fighting the government since 1969 in one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies. The government has been attempting to forge peace with the rebels since 1986, but the on-and-off talks have faltered many times since. WELLINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Airlines in Mauritius and New Zealand will be able to begin code-sharing under an agreement signed by the two governments Monday. "This agreement opens up opportunities for code-share services linking New Zealand and Mauritius, through Air Mauritius services to and from Perth, Australia. Passenger airlines of each side can now also operate up to 14 services per week," New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges said in a statement. "This agreement will further enhance New Zealand's international air connectivity, bringing both trade and tourism benefits," he said. Bridges said the New Zealand government's liberal international air transport policy had seen 50 new or amended air agreements signed since 2012, bringing the total to 78. "Most of the major airlines in the world are now able to operate services to New Zealand without restriction, with 19 new air routes announced in the past year alone," said Bridges. PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen will be honored by the conferment of the ASEAN Lifetime Achievement Award this weekend, becoming the fourth leader in the ASEAN who receives this award. According to a Cambodian Foreign Ministry statement, the award will be presented to Hun Sen during the 13th ASEAN Leadership Forum to be held on Aug. 6 and 7 in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. "It should be noted that this very special and significant Award has been conferred upon the longest serving Head of Government in ASEAN," the statement said. It added that so far only three distinguished personalities have received these Lifetime Achievement Awards, namely former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and Sultan Nazrin Shah, Sultan of Perak of Malaysia. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Deep into a primeval forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the weather is harsh -- you just sweat all over when it is sunny, get covered with mud when it rains, and could have a layer of your skin "removed" by the scorching sun that comes out again. This is where the Chinese peacekeepers in the Central African country carry out most of their missions. On the eve of the Chinese Spring Festival that fell on Feb. 7 this year, a section of the Baraka-Lusenda road in South Kivu Province in eastern D. R. Congo was severely damaged by a landslide caused by torrential rains. The road is the only way for the South Kivu brigade of the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) to reach the Lusenda refugee camp sheltering about 7,500 people, which was set up in June 2015 on the forested border between Burundi and the D.R.Congo. The Chinese engineers were dab hands at rebuilding the damaged road. However, MONUSCO's South Kivu brigade was hesitating about whether to request the Chinese blue helmets to carry out the job, as they were celebrating their traditional Spring Festival -- the most important annual holiday season for the Chinese. However, Liu Wei, commander of the 19th Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment to the D. R. Congo, said: "Although it was on the occasion of the Spring Festival, Chinese blue helmets put implementation of tasks on top of their agenda and will successfully accomplish their mission." In fact, the extent of damage of the road was much more than what the soldiers could imagine. On one side of the road, there were 20 meter-plus heaps of debris; on the other side, there was a trench as deep as more than 30 meters. The road was very narrow and some parts of it only could allow one machine to pass. Nevertheless, no one complained or wanted to quit. After three days and two nights of arduous work, the lifeline passageway was reopened. U.N. staff, local government officials and peacekeepers from other countries were deeply moved by the spirit of the Chinese engineers. Guided by such a spirit of facing up to challenges, more than 30,000 Chinese peacekeepers have served overseas since China sent in April 1990 five military observers to the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization, which monitors and reports violations of cease-fire agreements in the Middle East. Now nearly 2,500 Chinese peacekeepers are serving in nine U.N. peacekeeping operations. Chinese peacekeepers have built or repaired more than 11,000 km of roads and more than 300 bridges. They have removed 9,400 mines or unexploded devices, and treated 149,000 patients. But behind such accomplishments, the soldiers have sacrificed a lot. Two years ago, when a vice commander of a medical detachment was carrying out a overseas mission, his father fell seriously ill. The doctor knew the seriousness of the disease, but he could do nothing about it. He had to pretend to be happy to call his unknowing father and quietly wept in a corner after he hung up. One year ago, a member of a engineer detachment always held a cellphone displaying with no signal when he was having a rest. Staring at the photos of his son who was born shortly after he arrived overseas, he could not help touching the face, hands and feet of his baby on the cellphone's screen. And the most painful experience for the soldiers is seeing the bodies of their comrades-in-arms put into coffins covered with a Chinese national flag -- They came for peace but passed away due to war. Since 1990, a total of 13 Chinese peacekeepers have lost their lives on duty. On July 8, Corporal Li Lei, 22, and Master Sergeant Yang Shupeng, 33, were killed in fighting between government troops of President Salva Kiir and forces loyal to Vice President Riek Machar in South Sudan's capital of Juba. On May 31, Shen Liangliang, a 29-year-old sergeant first class, was killed in a terrorist attack in the northern Malian town of Gao, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated at a U.N. camp. Wiping off tears after seeing off their dead comrades, the Chinese blue helmets, with their high professionalism, fearlessness and compassion, keep advancing in continued display of the bravery and loyalty of contemporary Chinese servicemen. LONDON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- E-commerce giant Amazon has struck a deal with the British government to conduct drone package delivery testing in the country, almost two years after it was banned from such testing by U.S. authorities. The latest deal allowed Amazon to develop and test technologies in three main areas: when drones can't be seen by their pilots; stopping the drones crashing into buildings; and where one person flies multiple drones at once, The Wired reports, according to a report by Reuters. In 2013, Amazon revealed its Prime Air program in an interview on 60 Minutes, a plan for Amazon to use drone technology to autonomously deliver individual packages to customers' doorsteps within 30 minutes of ordering. Google has been working on a plan called Project Wing, hoping to rapidly deliver products across a city by drones with full-scale testing being carried out in Australia. In a YouTube video that Google has uploaded, it showed off a five-foot single-wing drone that could fly thousands of feet in the air and gently lower packages to the ground using a winch. The tech giant hopes to release its drone delivery service to the public in 2017. Despite those technical breakthroughs, experts have warned against its possibility. "It is technically possible to deliver a package by drones but the practice still faces challenges as far as law and safety problems are concerned," said Chen Bingwen, a researcher with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Research Institute in Beijing, China. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) got in Amazon's way to carry out the plan by refusing to approve Amazon's application to test drones in a rural area outside Seattle in 2014, which has led to the company's relocation of its research and development to Canada, Britain and the Netherlands. FAA requirements effectively ban drone deliveries by requiring operators to retain a line of sight, avoid flying drones over people, and stick to a low weight limit, according to a report by Wall Street Journal. Chinese tech companies have not fallen behind their U.S. counterparts and have revealed their own drone delivery plans. Shunfeng Express, one of the leading express companies in China, has been testing its drone delivery system by flying more than 500 flights per day, hoping to carry packages to the inaccessible countryside and accumulate data for future reference. JD.com, one of the largest B2C online retailers in China, successfully completed its first drone delivery on June 8, during which a drone carried a package to its destination 10 km away in just 10 minutes. The company has displayed three types of drones, all of which can carry a package with weight ranging from 10 kg to 15 kg and fly a distance ranging from 5 km to 10 km. After automatically loading its package, the drones can autopilot itself to its base. The company was reportedly authorized by the air force and the aviation administration to fly under 120m in Suqian, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province. "Delivery in the sparsely populated countryside can be very costly as it takes too much time and energy just for one package. Drone delivery has perfectly solved this problem," Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com, told Sina Tech. "If we can use drones on a large scale in the future, the cost of delivery in the countryside can be significantly reduced," said Liu. But large-scale drone delivery has yet to be possible in China as the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) requires license or administration by an association, which are not in place, for any unmanned aerial vehicle with wight above 7 kg or flying out of the pilot's sight. "The flying routes of drones need careful planning to avoid densely populated areas and overcrowding in the airspace, which is not possible under current regulations," said Chen. "Even if it is granted by the authorities, we still must be very careful about drone delivery simply because of safety issues, for it can easily be used for smuggling, drug trafficking and terrorist purposes," he added. CONAKRY, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of six West African nations are currently meeting in Guinea capital, Conakry, to discuss the possibility of forming a second West African Monetary Zone (ZMAO). Representatives from Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea attending the meeting said the new monetary union will help to boost regional integration. The Conakry meeting, which began on Friday and is set to end on Aug. 5, is aimed at "evaluating the monetary cooperation program of the Economic Community of West African States, which is under the responsibility of the West African Monetary Agency." ZMAO technical committee has a heavy task of examining the progress made on previous recommendations and steps that have been accomplished towards creating the second monetary zone. Recommendations from the meeting will be submitted to a committee of Central Bank governors from the concerned member states. In 2000, the West Africa Monetary Zone was created through the Accra Declaration. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 89th anniversary Monday, Army Day, with a call to action: A strong China needs a strong armed forces. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping has said a strong armed forces can only be achieved through military reform. Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), called the reform drive "a comprehensive and revolutionary change," and said obstacles and policy issues that may hold back reform measures must be addressed to build a strong armed forces commensurate with China's international status. The latest reform drive marks a historic shift in the organization and structure of the PLA. It is expected that the PLA's command system and structure will be more efficient, powers and responsibilities will be better managed, and its troops better arranged. The fundamental criterion should be the test of war, especially modern combat. The military's role is to protect the country and it should be capable of winning battles, should the situation arise. China has been pushing to reform various fields and its measures in the military have been some of the most successful. After the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in2013, the CMC drafted a reform plan, and subsequently the general command of the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket Force, and the PLA Strategic Support Force were established. The previous seven military area commands were regrouped into five theater commands, and the four military departments -- staff, politics, logistics and armaments -- were reorganized into 15 agencies. With these measures, the PLA has established a system whereby the CMC manages the overall administration of the armed forces, while theater commands focus on combat preparedness, and the various armed services pursue development. The PLA is committed to being "a peacemaker," adhering to peaceful development, contributing to world peace and protecting international order, State Councilor and Defense Minister Chang Wanquan said Sunday. China will pursue a defensive defense policy, safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and protect territorial integrity and maritime interests, he said. China is "confident" and "capable of" dealing with various security threats and provocative acts, Chang noted. A strong China needs a strong military to uphold peaceful development. While anticipating peace, China will not accept any infringements on its sovereignty, security and interests. The latest military reform drive is another Long March for the PLA. Today, this same spirit will drive forward this next stage of military development. Related: President Xi stresses development of PLA army BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the ground force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to transform and build itself into a "mighty, modernized, new-style" military force. Full story Xi calls for further armed forces reform MOMBASA, Kenya, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Police in Kenya have arrested two Kenyans and a Briton in connection with seizure of cocaine haul worth over three million U.S. dollars at the port of Mombasa. The three were were arrested in an operation on Saturday and were being interrogated by Kenyan anti-narcotic officers and a team from U.S. anti-drug authorities in the capital Nairobi, security sources said on Monday. The sources indicated that the three were linked to a drug smuggling cartel of the highly valued cocaine from Brazil and had been trailed by foreign and local anti-narcotic authorities for months. Officers found the cocaine last week while intercepting some 18 containers at Mombasa port which were in transit to Uganda concealed as sugar. According to port documents, the containers were loaded at Santos Port in Brazil on June 20. The Port of Mombasa has in the past been used as a transit port for drugs headed to Europe and Asia. Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the destruction of a ship loaded with heroin valued at 13 million U.S. dollars. The vessel was blown up in the high seas as a sign of the government's tough stance against drug trafficking. DHAKA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Internet vulnerabilities are garnering attention of Bangladesh officials in the wake of the two major terror attacks that occurred here, including the July 1 siege staged by militants. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was weighing options for isolating capital Dhaka's strategically important places' Internet in event of any such crisis. BTRC took the decision after media report Gulshan attackers used Internet service to convey the messages of their horrific operation to their foreign links during the hours of attack. BTRC Secretary Sarwar Alam Monday evening told Xinhua that "the commission decided to conduct a drill aimed at testing the response time the relevant stakeholders take to shut down Internet operation in case of an emergency incident. He said the drill will take place at places in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country Monday night and early Tuesday. But he could not tell immediately when and where in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country the Internet down drill will be conducted. According to the official, BTRC has already instructed all relevant stakeholders including Internet service providers for necessary measures to conduct the drill which may last for half an hour to one hour. "The purpose of this drill is to see whether stakeholders concerned can isolate an affected area in time." "It is also a drill to test our ability to halt Internet services." Terror-gripped Bangladeshi law enforcers have already stepped up efforts in fighting terrorism and militancy. Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack at a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka, that left 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers dead, had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers. At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7. ANKARA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Monday summoned the charge d'affaires at the German Embassy, a day after German authorities prevented Turkey's President Recep Tayyip from addressing by a video link a rally staged by his supporters in Cologne, Turkish media reported. Tens of thousands of Turks living in Germany gathered in Cologne on Sunday condemning the July 15 coup attempt. Germany's highest court, Federal Constitution Court, had upheld a ban on Erdogan's broadcasting a message to his supporters at the rally. German police said the measure was taken for "security reasons," while a local court agreed on the decision and issued the ruling. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that further actions will be carried out in response to the ban. "This is a double-standard by German judicial authority," he said, describing the move as a "ban on the freedom of expression." Turkey demands that Germany extradite supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric Ankara accused of masterminding the failed coup. The German court's decision heightened tensions between Germany and Turkey at a time when Ankara is stepping up its crackdown on suspected coup plotters. This is the second major incident marring bilateral relations in two months. On June 2, Turkey recalled its mission chief after the German parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the 1915 killing of Armenians as "genocide." HANOI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Monday asked the Vietnam Administration of Forestry to set up a national forest database. Localities across the country are instructed to make updates on developments of forests to the database, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted the MARD as saying on Monday. According to MARD, as of Dec. 31, 2015, Vietnam had some 14.061 million hectares of forest, among which over 10.175 million hectares was natural forest and over 3.886 million hectares belonged to planted forest. Provincial and municipal people's committees are urged to assign forest management and protection to relevant agencies. Those with declining natural forest areas in 2015 need to look for reasons and responsibilities of related organizations and individuals, said the report. The move came after a large-scale Fokienia hodginsii tree forest destruction case was unveiled in central Vietnam a few days ago. Relevant agencies of Vietnam and Laos are jointly investigating the falling of 60 Fokienia hodginsii trees in Laos-bordering Quang Nam province, local media reported. The illegally cut wood would then be transported to Laos, where all goods were made legal by customs procedures and returned to Vietnam for consumption. Quang Nam police estimated that the 60 trees were worth more than 18 to 24 billion Vietnamese dong (over 800,000 to 1.096 million U.S. dollars). TIRANA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Falling oil and mineral prices in international markets was to blame for the drop in Albania's exports during the first half of 2016, the Albanian National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) announced on Monday. The six-month fall was mainly attributed to a 10.7 percent decline in the export prices of minerals, fuel and electricity. The export prices of construction materials and metal declined by 2.9 percent year-on-year in the first six months, followed by leather and other items with a combined decline of 0.2 percent. However, exports of textile and footwear registered a growth of 5.3 percent in the first six months year-on-year. According to INSTAT, the export prices of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 1.4 percent, while those of machinery and equipment spare parts went up 0.6 percent year-on-year. Albania's overall exports in June alone were valued at Lek 23 billion (184 million U.S. dollars), down 6.4 percent from the same period of 2015 but up 10.1 percent over the previous month. DAMASCUS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A video clip claiming to show the wreckage of a Russian helicopter appeared online on Monday, just hours after rebels in northern Syria reportedly shot down the aircraft. The footage showed people gathering around the wreckage of in the northwestern province of Idlib. A still image was also released, showing people dragging what was said to be the pilot of the helicopter. Another photo showed a Russian driver license, a paper of Christian amulet, and a military ID, which were said to have been found in the wreckage. State news agency SANA cited the Russian Defense Ministry as confirming that a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter had been shot down after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. It added that the plane was on its way back to the Hmaimim airbase in the northwestern province of Latakia, when it was shot down over Idlib. The statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said three crew members and two officers were on board. Later, the Kremlin said that all five aboard the military helicopter were killed. WINDHOEK, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- American actor Tom Cruise is in Namibia for the making of The Mummy movie. Cruise is accompanied by actress Annabelle Wallis, actors Russel Crowe and Courtney Vance, and director Alex Kurtsman. Filming started late last week at 10 locations identified in and around the port town of Walvis Bay (about 395 kilometers from Windhoek), where the film crew has set up camp. In a statement released Sunday, producer Sean Daniel said they have engaged about 650 crew, of which about 200 are Namibians. Daniel said they feel proud to showcase Namibia's breath-taking landscape in the film. "Namibia has welcomed us with open arms. Only because of all of the amazing hard working Namibian crew, and the warm hospitality we have received from them and the community, are we able to accomplish the work at hand," he said. The Mummy is derived from a legend about an ancient queen who comes back to life with a vengeance. KATHMANDU, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on all political parties in the Parliament to make efforts to form a majority government. President Bhandari sent a letter to the Parliament Monday, urging it to begin the process of electing a new prime minister on majority basis, the National News Agency reported. The move comes after the political parties failed to form a consensus government within the deadline provided by the president, that expired on Sunday. On July 25, the president called on the political parties to form a consensus government within a week in accordance with the Article 298 (2) of the new Constitution. The Parliament is likely to begin the election procedure of the country's 39th prime minister on Wednesday as it is preparing to call for nominations on Tuesday. Last week, President Bhandari held consultations with top leaders of three major parties - Nepali Congress, CPN UML and the CPN Maoist-Centre - regarding the formation of the new government. Similarly, the leaders of the major parties also held rounds of discussions with each other in an attempt to reach an understanding; however, they failed to develop consensus as the second largest party in the Parliament CPN UML decided to sit in the opposition. Local media have reported that Chairman of CPN Maoist-Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal is likely to become the next prime minister of the country with the backing of Nepali Congress, the largest party in the Parliament. Dahal is also making efforts to woo the fringe parties including Madhes-based parties to bring them on the consensus board. The latest political development comes in the Himalayan nation after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli stepped down from the post on July 24 owing to the no-confidence motion filed against him by major parties Nepali Congress and CPN Maoist-Centre. GUIYANG, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to the Ninth China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week held in the southwestern city of Guiyang. In the letter, Li said people-to-people exchanges, including education exchanges, are emerging as a new pillar for China-ASEAN relations and showing broad prospects. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship. Li said China and ASEAN are good neighbors and partners, and communicate and cooperate in various fields. Education is a fundamental way to cultivate the younger generation and create a better life, Li said. This year is China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Year, Li said, and it will be marked by nearly 300 activities across China and ASEAN. China is willing to work with ASEAN to provide more talent and intellectual support to each other to boost a closer China-ASEAN community of shared destiny, Li said. Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith expressed his hope that people-to-people exchanges will be a new pillar of strategic partnership between China and ASEAN, in his congratulatory message to China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong made a keynote speech during Monday's opening ceremony and she said education cooperation had been one of the highlights of increasing cooperation between the two sides in recent years. China and ASEAN have hosted Education Cooperation Week for eight consecutive years, and have signed over 800 cooperation deals, according to Liu. She said that China and ASEAN can share resources and draw on each others' strengths in the education field for win-win cooperation. She suggested the two sides could improve cooperation mechanisms to draw on each others' strategies, build brand characteristics to expand the influence of education week, and enrich forms of exchanges to lift the level of cooperation in basic education, vocational education and linguistic education. Liu also proposed a China-ASEAN maritime silk road scholarship to elevate student exchanges between China and ASEAN. Over 1,400 people from China and ASEAN countries attended the opening ceremony. SYDNEY, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- With its open culture and growing economy, China is becoming a popular destination for higher education seekers in Australia. According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday, there are 5,000 Australians studying in Chinese universities, up by 83 percent compared with the figure in 2011. The number of Australian students studying in China has kept growing in recent years, the report said, attributing the change to China's open society and healthy economy. "Local Chinese companies are rising, they are becoming more and more competitive. Economic growth, a more service-orientated economy, a more technology-focused economy have all contributed," Li Haitao, the associated dean of the MBA Program at Beijing's Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, was quoted as saying. Attending a seminar on preparing business leaders for "China's Century" in Sydney on Thursday, Li said, "Higher education, and in particular postgraduate study, is one of the most important pipelines into China and its economy." Though the number of Australian students in China is increasing, it pales comparing with that of Chinese students heading to Australia and non-Australian international students in China. According to the Chinese Education Ministry, Chinese universities have an enrolment of 184,799 international students in 2015, surging 12.41 percent from 2014. In 2015, students from Korea, the United States and Thailand ranked the three biggest groups in China, while the Chinese capital city of Beijing, the bustling metropolis of Shanghai and Zhejiang province in eastern China are the top three destinations of foreign students, showed Chinese official data. China now has 2,800 higher educational institutions, the second biggest number in the world. Aiming to attract up to 500,000 foreign students in 2020, China keeps increasing its educational input in recent years. Afghan security guards inspect the site of a truck bombing attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 1, 2016. One policeman and three militants were killed and three policemen wounded in a truck bombing and ensuing gunfight at a foreign compound in eastern outskirts Kabul overnight, the provincial police chief said Monday. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least four people including a policeman and three attackers were killed, and three policemen were injured in a truck bomb targeting a foreign guest house in Kabul, police said on Monday. The attack took place in Pul-e-Charkhi locality in the eastern edge of Kabul city, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. One militant exploded his explosive-laden truck next to North Gate Hotel, a foreign guest house, at 01:30 a.m. local time, Rahimi told reporters at the site of the blast. A police personnel and an attacker were killed in the blast and three others injured. The police also gunned down two more terrorists who took position at a nearby building, Rahimi said. According to Rahimi no civilians were injured. The guest house next to the bombing site was frequented by foreigners. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack. Zabihullah Majahid, who claimed to speak for the Taliban outfit in contact with media outlets, said the attack killed several foreigners. He said the bombing, followed by gunshots, was targeting North Gate Hotel which was frequented by U.S. citizens. Locals at the site, however, reported higher number of casualties than announced by Kabul police chief. Dozens of houses and shops around the blast site were also destroyed or badly damaged. San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. will merge its operation in China with local archrival Didi Chuxing Technology Co., media reported on Monday. (Source: Xinhuanet) BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. will merge its operation in China with local archrival Didi Chuxing Technology Co., media reported on Monday. Didi will buy Uber China in a deal that values the combined company at 35 billion U.S. dollars, in which Uber China will hold a 20 percent stake, according to Bloomberg on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Didi will make a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar investment in Uber Global, the sources said. A blog post that Bloomberg said obtained from Travis Kalanick, the chief executive officer of Uber, gave a hint of the merger. "Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term," wrote Kalanick. Didi confirmed the deal later on Monday, saying that Didi and Uber Global will become each other's minority stockholders and both heads will join the other's board of directors. The deal marks an end of the fierce business war in China's fast-growing ride-hailing market. Both companies have spent tens of millions of dollars in China to attract users in the past year. Uber, since it entered the Chinese market in 2013, has lost more than 2 billion dollars, according to a source to Bloomberg. The merger came after China granted legal status to ride-hailing services last week, when the State Council released a document featuring guidelines on the registration and operation of on-demand mobility services, allowing qualified private cars and drivers to join the party. Uber will continue to operate under its own app in China, according to Bloomberg. TEHRAN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said here Monday that the United States is not trustable. The experience of Iranians about the failure of the United States in the fulfilment of it obligations pertaining to a nuclear deal showed that it can never be trusted, Khamenei said. "The United States has violated its obligations (over the nuclear deal) and is busy destroying Iran's economic ties with other countries," he said. "The oppressive sanctions (against Iran) were supposed to be lifted quickly so that it could leave its (positive) impact on the people's lives," he said. "However, after six months (following the implementation of the deal) there has been no tangible change in the lives of the people." Displaced civilians taking refuge at the Tomping base of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), in the wake of fresh clashes in Juba between soldiers of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the SPLA in Opposition (SPLA-IO). (UN Photo/Beatrice Mategwa) JUBA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Top United Nations relief official is due in South Sudan for a three-day visit this week to see first-hand the appalling humanitarian situation and call for urgent action to alleviate suffering, the UN has said. A statement from the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Stephen O'Brien, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will visit the youngest nation from Aug. 1 to 3. "During the three-day mission O'Brien will meet with people affected by the humanitarian crisis, senior government officials and humanitarian partners," the statement said. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced after recent fighting in Juba and Wau, there is escalating food insecurity and malnutrition across the country, and a cholera outbreak has erupted in Juba and Jonglei. Prior to the eruption of fighting in Juba on July 7, the humanitarian situation in South Sudan was already dire, with unprecedented levels of food insecurity and one in five people displaced. The 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan is currently just 40 percent funded as slightly over 500 million U.S. dollars have been received out of 1.3 billion dollars required and additional resources are urgently required to respond to the growing needs. The visit comes after the UN Security Council on Friday extended for two weeks the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), allowing time for its membership to consider options on adapting the operation's mandate amid renewed violence in the world's youngest country. With the mandate of UNMISS set to expire in 48 hours, the Council unanimously approved a short extension -through Aug. 12, by a resolution that also authorized the Mission "to use all necessary means to carry out its tasks." The UN action comes as deadly clashes between rival factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar have, since early July, sent thousands of civilians fleeing the capital, Juba. Photo taken on July 13, 2016 shows Chinese ICU doctor Zeng Rong carrying a Ghanaian child patient for a Type-B ultrasonic test at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana. Cardio experts from the Guangdong Academy of Medical Science's Cardio Institute have wrapped up their second medical mission to Ghana to offer treatment to patients with severe conditions. The team, with support from local counterparts, performed successful surgeries on four patients and implanted pacemakers on five others at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. (Xinhua/Lin Xiaowei) ACCRA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Speakers at the just ended Ghana-China Investment Forum have called for the creation of an enabling environment for Chinese industrial concerns to relocate manufacturing plants to Ghana and the West African sub-region. China's Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohong pointed out that Ghana and China needed first to strengthen exchanges of ideas, especially since China had, after years of exploration and practice, found a development path that conformed to its national conditions. "While creating world-renowned development miracle, China has also formed and accumulated abundant advanced ideas on development. China is ready to enhance exchanges of experiences on governance with Ghana to learn from each other, jointly build up our capacity," she noted. She said as Ghana strived for industrialization and agricultural modernization to transform the economy to add value to its products, China was willing under the framework of FOCAC to support the West African country to reach those goals. "China is willing to, under the framework of FOCAC, focus more on the requirements of Ghana, explore multiple ways of cooperation, make full use of the tool of investment, vigorously participate in Ghana's industrialization, agricultural modernization," she added. President John Dramani Mahama and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, held a bilateral meeting at the Johannesburg Summit of FOCAC in December 2015, pledging to consolidate bilateral traditional friendship.(Xinhua/Lin Xiaowei) Bilateral trade between Ghana and China in 2015 grew to 6.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 18.2 percent on year-on-year basis and ranked sixth in that part of Africa. China's non-financial direct investment inflows into Ghana hit 174 million U.S. dollars. Commending China for locating the West African office of the China Africa Development Fund (CADFUND) in Ghana, Vice-President of Ghana, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, noted that after receiving investments into the extractive sector over the decades, Ghana was now looking to attracting investments into the agro-industrial sector. "We have introduced an industrial policy to encourage the growth, diversification, upgrading and competitiveness of the manufacturing sector." He argued that Ghana could do better than placing sixth among African countries in their trade with China while placing fourth in investment from China. Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2016 shows the site of a truck bombing attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) KABUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- One police and three militants were killed and three police wounded in a truck bombing and ensuing gunfight on a foreign compound on eastern outskirts of Afghan capital of Kabul overnight, the provincial police chief said Monday. "One militant rammed a truck bomb at the wall of North Gate camp which gives home to several foreign companies and logistic firms. Two armed militants tried to enter the facility but police intercepted them. The attackers took position in a nearby building, triggering a gun battle lasting for a while," General Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters at the site. The Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred roughly at 01:25 local time. The complex was also frequented by foreign contractors. "Our initial findings showed that no casualties occurred to the people inside the complex which is located in Dispachari locality of Pul-e-Charkhi area," the police chief said. It is not immediately known how many people were inside the complex when the massive blast took place. "The blast walls have absorbed the force of the explosion," the police chief noted. Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2016 shows the site of a truck bombing attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) The Afghan Special Operation Forces arrived shortly and launched a counter attack. One policeman was killed and three others injured during the exchange of the fire with the militants. The huge sound of the explosion caused panic among local residents and following the massive blast the city was plunged in darkness for a while. The targeted building is located in an industrial park. The blast caused a huge crater and severely damaged the surrounding buildings. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that a Taliban suicide squad conducted a complex attack against a foreign guest house and the attack was part of Taliban yearly rebel offensive. He said the explosion and gunfight have claimed the lives of dozens of foreigners. Several people were injured by broken glasses and shattered windows in surrounding areas, according to local media reports. This is the second attack against the stricken building. The Taliban attacked the same complex in 2013 through a car bombing. On April 19, the Taliban launched a similar attack on a security complex in central Kabul, killing 64 people and injuring over 350 others. Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah strongly condemned the incident. Afghan men check the debris at the site of a truck bombing attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) Chinese on-demand mobility (ODM) firm Didi announced Monday it will take over Uber's China business, in a deal that could value the merged China operation at 35 billion U.S. dollars. (Source: Xinhuanet) BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese on-demand mobility (ODM) firm Didi announced Monday it will take over Uber's China business, in a deal that could value the merged China operation at 35 billion U.S. dollars. Uber will take a 5.89 percent stake in Didi. Didi did not disclose the stake it will take in Uber. Uber China's ODM service will continue to operate independently. The deal follows China's legalization of ODM services. Uber's founder Travis Kalanick and Didi founder Cheng Wei will sit on each other's company boards. The two companies have been locked in a bitter battle for customers in China marked by huge customer discounts since last year. Uber is one of very few foreign tech firms that has been able to compete with domestic rivals head-on in China. While Didi holds a majority share in China's ODM services, Uber has managed to establish a foothold, and has made inroads into lower-tier cities this year to further threaten Didi's dominance. The competition has seen the two companies locked in a discount war in an attempt to poach riders away from each other's platforms. In June, Didi announced it had secured 7.3 billion dollars in equity and debt financing, including 1 billion dollars from Apple, which valued the start-up at around 28 billion dollars. Uber has secured over 6 billion dollars in its latest funding round. Liu Zhen, Uber China head of strategy, said in June that most of the money raised will fund Uber's operations in China. While Uber has generated over 1 billion dollars in profit from its top 30 cities worldwide, the company has not yet turned a profit in any Chinese city, even though it provides more trips in China than any other country, Kalanick told Xinhua on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin in June. CHONGQING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chongqing Municipality in southwest China has seen a boom in foreign trade in recent years, primarily due to the extensive expansion of its transport network. The Yuxin'ou Railway, which starts in Chongqing and ends in Duisburg, Germany, opened in 2011 and has seen a growing number of journeys every year since. The name of the railway is an acronym consisting of Yu (Chongqing), Xin (Xinjiang) and Ou (Europe). A total of 16 cities now receive regular freight on the route, and the line transports about half of all rail freight between China and Europe, said Luo Shuquan, chairman of the board with the Chongqing Western Logistics Park, which operates the railway. "As trade on the east coast faces difficulties, inland cities like Chongqing are expanding their roles in foreign trade. It is no exaggeration to say the age of sea is giving way to the age of land," he said. In the past five years, import and exports in Chongqing, a regional economic center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, have grown by more than a third every year, according to recently released trade statistics. Last year import and export values reached 464 billion yuan (about 71.4 billion U.S. dollars) in Chongqing, almost five times the 2010 figure. "In the past few years, Chongqing has been building land, air and water transport networks to facilitate logistics and trade," Luo said. Provinces such as Henan and Shaanxi are also following suit to boost foreign trade, he added. Both provinces posted double-digit growth in their total import and export values last year. Chongqing transport authorities said that the cargo handling ability of ports in the municipality will rise from the current 180 million metric tons per year to 220 million metric tons by 2020. Trains depart from Chongqing at least three times per week, and in peak season this can rise to seven times per week. For the return journey from Duisburg, trains depart between two and five times per week. In 2015, a total of 257 freight journeys were recorded on the Yuxin'ou route, and that number will increase to 300 this year, said Yang Liqiong, director of Chongqing Logistics Office. Initially transporting just IT products, the railway network has now expanded into auto parts, cosmetics, frozen food, wine, coffee and more. "With growing demand, rail freight will increase every year. And as costs are lowered, rail freight become as competitive as other means of transport, such as air and maritime," Yang said. From 2014 Chongqing was given approval by the central government to import vehicles via rail from Germany. The journey takes 13 days from Duisburg to Chongqing, saving two thirds of the time it would take to ship them, resulting in significantly lower logistics costs. In June, 600 BMW vehicles arrived in Chongqing via the Yuxin'ou railway. Wu Xi, a resident of Chongqing, received his new car just 20 days after he placed his order, a journey that would have taken two months by sea. "Growing trade between Chongqing and Europe has brought convenience to buyers," said Wu. China has made the opening-up of inland provinces one of its top priorities, said Chi Fulin, director of China Institute for Reform and Development. "Central and western provinces have great potential to tap foreign trade as a growth point," he said. Related: China's foreign service trade deficit widens in June BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China's deficit in foreign service trading widened in June, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released Wednesday. Income from foreign services stood at 22.3 billion U.S. dollars in June, while expenditure was 41.7 billion U.S. dollars, resulting in a 19.4 billion U.S. dollar deficit. Full Story WTO concludes China's sixth trade policy review GENEVA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The sixth World Trade Organization (WTO) trade policy review of China came to a close here on Friday, with members highlighting the vital role played by the country in the global economy as well their desire to see deeper reforms in a number of areas. Fishermen move their boats ashore to take shelter from the upcoming Typhoon Nida in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 1, 2016. Typhoon Nida will make landfall in Guangdong during the day on Tuesday, meteorological authorities forecast. Shenzhen on Monday issued a red alert, the most severe level in China's weather warming system, for the typhoon. All kindergartens and schools in Shenzhen suspended class on Monday. Outdoor work and sea operations will also be halted. Affected by Typhoon Nida, 18 flights at Shenzhen airport had been canceled as of 1 p.m. on Monday. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian) BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Monday issued the a red alert for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida approaches the mainland. From Monday night to Tuesday, sea waves as high as 11 meters are expected in the northern South China Sea, while the southern Taiwan Strait will witness waves as high as seven meters. The SOA also issued a red alert storm tides and estimated that the sea level off the Pearl River estuary will rise up to 220 cm. Typhoon Nida is expected to land in Guangdong Province early on Tuesday, probably around the Pearl River Delta. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A series of cyber regulations officially took effect Monday, as China aims to better protect online users' interests and better guide the development of China's Internet industry. According to a regulation on search engines, released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, search providers must ensure objective, fair and authoritative search results. Search providers must improve censorship and remove any illegal content that could harm national interests and people's lawful rights. The regulation ordered that search engine providers must change the paid-for listings model and rank search results according to credibility rather than price-tag. All paid-for listings should be labeled clearly, so that they are distinguishable from normal search results, and the returned content should not mislead users, the regulation said. The regulation came after an investigation into Baidu, which was criticized for influencing users' choices by presenting misguiding information. Wei Zexi, a computer science major at Xidian University in northwest China who had cancer, fell victim to Baidu's "pay to play" scheme. He died in April after a controversial treatment he found via a Baidu search failed. An investigation revealed that the search engine giant had sold highlighted advertizing space to questionable medical institutions. Another online regulation taking effect requires real-name registration for users of mobile phone apps, in an effort to hold users responsible for content they share. On one hand, if users break the rules, they will be warned, their use of the service may be restricted and, as a last resort, accounts may be closed. On the other hand, providers of app services must protect the privacy of its users. They will be subject to public supervision and must deal with illegal content in a timely manner. The fast growing mobile app market has seen a boom in malicious cyber attacks, online malware and security breaches. The regulation clearly defines the role of app developers and service providers, and ordered the protection of users' right to know and purchase option. These two regulations order all web directories to have a channel to receive complaints and compensate for any damage caused to users. "Cyber security isn't just about national development, but also concerns the immediate interests of every Internet user. Online service providers should be aware of their social responsibility," said Li Yuxiao, a professor on Internet governance from Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. The regulations reflect the growing importance China attaches to public concerns over the Internet, as well as its resolve to improve its governance capability both online and offline, said Li. The regulations are expected boost netizens' awareness of their own duty and rights online, and supervise the operation and management of Internet companies, to create a healthy environment for the people and the Internet Plus industry, said Li Zhigang, chief of Beijing Academy of Telecommunication Research. The number of Chinese netizens has soared to 668 million. A man from Seongju county holds a banner to protest against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), during a rally in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on July 21, 2016. More than 2,000 people from Seongju county, where one THAAD battery will be deployed, gathered at a square in Seoul for a rally on Thursday, to protest against the deployment of THAAD. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) by Qu Junya, Liu Lili BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- By deploying the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) anti-missile missile system in South Korea, Washington not only ties Seoul onto its chariot, but also casts a shadow of a new Cold War over Northeast Asia, to the detriment of regional peace and stability. For hawks in Washington, deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula is a phased victory for their efforts to forge an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as the THAAD system in South Korea can be integrated with those already installed in the U.S. military bases in Japan and the Guam island. For South Korea, the deal with Washington is largely seen as a serious damage to its political mutual trust with its neighbors and an invitation for economic punishments which Seoul cannot afford. In addition, the deployment has resulted in public fury over South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her administration at home, bringing her public support to an all-time low. An opinion poll conducted last week by local media shows that her supporting rate among young people in their 20s even dropped to below 10 percent. Meanwhile, the deployment will also intensify confrontation between the two Koreas, as Pyongyang might be provoked by strategic insecurity and go further on developing missiles or even banned nuclear weapons. And with its X band radar commanding surveillance of an area that extends over 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) from the peninsula, the United states can spy on almost half of China's territory and the southern part of Russia's Far East, putting China and Russia's national security in danger. What is worse, Seoul's nearsighted and hotheaded decision also breaks the strategic balance in Northeast Asia. Some analysts even hold the view that it will force Beijing and Moscow to take strategic countermeasures, looming large the possibility of a new round of arms race and ultimately, a new Cold War, which would inflict unbearable pains onto the Korean Peninsula and further drift it away from the dream of reunification. For all that, by agreeing on THAAD's deployment, South Korea has put the cart before the horse in its pursuit of national security. With the specter of Cold War never disjoining us, Seoul is highly advised to make a second thought before carrying out the deployment, which will only make itself an oblation of Washington's insatiable appetite for hegemony and military supremacy. Related: Commentary: New Cold War looms large in North East Asia as Seoul accepts THAAD by Xinhua writer Liu Chang BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A new Cold War is looming large in Northeast Asia as Washington insists on installing an anti-missile shield in South Korea, a provocative move that could further split the region, trigger a fresh arms race and crush hopes of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. MOSCOW, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- All the five people aboard a Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter were killed on Monday when the aircraft was downed by hostile ground fire in Syria, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "Those onboard the helicopter, according to the Defense Ministry's information, have died heroically as they had tried to steer the machine to minimize the casualties on the ground," Peskov told reporters. Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was shot down in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib by gunfire from the ground while returning to the Hmeimim Air Base after delivering humanitarian aid to the Syrian city of Aleppo. Among those on board were three crew members and two officers of the Russian center for reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria, the ministry said in a statement. The Kremlin said that Russia would continue to combat terrorism in Syria as the Islamic State militant group called on its supporters to wage attacks in Russia in a video clip that was posted online. The video, however, could not be independently verified at the moment. "Such threats are not able in any way to impact Russia's and President Vladimir Putin's consistent policy on the fight against international terrorism, which of course will continue in all directions," Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency. He stressed that terrorist publications were treated with necessary attention by special services responsible for anti-terrorist operation and security. "The Ministry of Defense overseeing the Aerospace Forces' operations in Syria are taking the necessary measures," Peskov added. The spokesman also warned against exaggeration of the "scare tactics" used by the terrorists, and noted that "precautions must be taken at the same time." Russia began to deploy its air forces in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year to strike terrorist targets. In March, Putin ordered the withdrawal of most of its air forces from Syria, but Moscow kept striking terrorist targets and maintained military coordination with the U.S.-led coalition forces, as well as humanitarian aid delivery in the war-torn country. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday urged Britain to decide "as soon as possible" to proceed with the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant after the new British government said it would delay the final decision. "I'd like to stress that the project was agreed on by China, Britain and France in the spirit of reciprocity and win-win cooperation," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press release, adding that the project had always been strongly backed by the British and French sides. According to an agreement reached last October, the Chinese consortium led by China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) would hold a 33.5 percent stake in the project, and Electricite de France, or EDF, a 66.5 percent. A deal was supposed to be inked by the British government, EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp. on July 29. The British government, however, said recently it wanted to give the project further consideration. "[We] hope that the British side will make a decision as soon as possible to ensure the project's smooth implementation," Hua said. Related: Britain continues to seek closer ties with China despite nuclear deal delay: PM spokeswoman LONDON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that Britain will continue to seek a stronger relationship with China, Reuters reported. Men inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. (REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah) MOSCOW, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- All the five people aboard a Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter were killed on Monday when the aircraft was downed by hostile ground fire in Syria, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "Those onboard the helicopter, according to the Defense Ministry's information, have died heroically as they had tried to steer the machine to minimize the casualties on the ground," Peskov told reporters. Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was shot down in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib by gunfire from the ground while returning to the Hmeimim Air Base after delivering humanitarian aid to the Syrian city of Aleppo. Among those on board were three crew members and two officers of the Russian center for reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria, the ministry said in a statement. The Kremlin said that Russia would continue to combat terrorism in Syria as the Islamic State militant group called on its supporters to wage attacks in Russia in a video clip that was posted online. The video, however, could not be independently verified at the moment. "Such threats are not able in any way to impact Russia's and President Vladimir Putin's consistent policy on the fight against international terrorism, which of course will continue in all directions," Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency. He stressed that terrorist publications were treated with necessary attention by special services responsible for anti-terrorist operation and security. "The Ministry of Defense overseeing the Aerospace Forces' operations in Syria are taking the necessary measures," Peskov added. The spokesman also warned against exaggeration of the "scare tactics" used by the terrorists, and noted that "precautions must be taken at the same time." Russia began to deploy its air forces in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year to strike terrorist targets. In March, Putin ordered the withdrawal of most of its air forces from Syria, but Moscow kept striking terrorist targets and maintained military coordination with the U.S.-led coalition forces, as well as humanitarian aid delivery in the war-torn country. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) shakes hands with Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 1, 2016. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen met with visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on Monday, discussing the cooperation between the two countries under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. (Xinhua/Sovannara) PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen met with visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on Monday, discussing the cooperation between the two countries under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, a senior official said. Hun Sen said that Cambodia fully supported the Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the country has been working to link its Rectangular Strategy to the initiative, according to Eang Sophalleth, a personal aide to the prime minister. The prime minister said the initiative would importantly contribute to Cambodia's socio-economic development. For his part, Gao said that his visit to Cambodia was to learn about Cambodia's strategy in connecting with the Belt and Road Initiative and to promote the implementation of agreements that the two countries had reached. The minister said that he would hold talks with Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak, Finance Minister Aun Porn Moniroth, and Transport Minister Sun Chanthol on Tuesday in order to explore ways to broaden bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment, and transport infrastructure development. During the meeting, Hun Sen pinned the government's honorary medal to Gao to thank him for his contributions to the development of Cambodia. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) meets with Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Sovannara) PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen met with visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on Monday, discussing the cooperation between the two countries under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, a senior official said. Hun Sen said that Cambodia fully supported the Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the country has been working to link its Rectangular Strategy to the initiative, according to Eang Sophalleth, a personal aide to the prime minister. The prime minister said the initiative would importantly contribute to Cambodia's socio-economic development. For his part, Gao said that his visit to Cambodia was to learn about Cambodia's strategy in connecting with the Belt and Road Initiative and to promote the implementation of agreements that the two countries had reached. The minister said that he would hold talks with CambodianCommerce Minister Pan Sorasak, Finance Minister Aun Porn Moniroth, and Transport Minister Sun Chanthol on Tuesday in order to explore ways to broaden bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment, and transport infrastructure development. During the meeting, Hun Sen pinned the government's honorary medal to Gao to thank him for his contributions to the development of Cambodia. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities must report natural disasters in a timely and exact manner, and those who conceal the truth will be punished, a ministerial official said Monday. Authorities must be aware that any lies will be exposed on the Internet and through new media, as the public now actively participate in disaster relief and in the supervision of officials, said Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo at a meeting. Once major natural disasters such as floods, mudslides and landslides occur, local civil affairs authorities should quickly assess the situation and release all relevant information, Li said. They should not wait to be forced to do so under pressure from the public nor be late and inaccurate in the information released, the minister said. Late last month, the mayor of Xingtai City in north China's Hebei Province apologized for inadequate response to and late, inaccurate reporting of floods that killed at least 25 in the city. Photo taken on April 18, 2013 shows the interior of the Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in Ningde, southeast China's Fujian Province.(Xinhua/Zhang Guojun) LONDON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that Britain will continue to seek a stronger relationship with China, Reuters reported. The statement came following British new cabinet's decision last week to delay the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant program, which has raised concerns about its openness towards foreign investment. May's spokeswoman said it was natural for the incoming government to want to look at the plans in detail, adding that Britain still valued its ties with China. "With the role that China has to play on world affairs, on the global economy, on a whole range of international issues, we are going to continue to seek a strong relationship with China," the spokeswoman said, as quoted by Reuters. Asked whether national security would play a part in the review of the Hinkley Point nuclear project, the spokeswoman declined to comment on the review process. Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech after arriving at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain on July 13, 2016. Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May arrived at Downing Street on Wednesday after gaining consent from Queen Elizabeth II. (Xinhua/Han Yan) Britain has cast doubt on the 24-billion-U.S.-dollar project with French utility EDF to build Britain's first new nuclear plant in decades, delaying a final decision on the plan just weeks after May took office as prime minister. "The UK needs a reliable and secure energy supply and the government believes that nuclear energy is an important part of the mix," Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said in a statement Friday, adding that the government will consider carefully all the component parts of this project and make its decision in the early autumn. The new nuclear power station would be Britain's first since Sizewell B opened in 1995 and is considered vital in helping the country meet its energy requirements. The project is expected to offer thousands of jobs for local people while bridging the electricity gap left by the closure of all coal-fired plants in Britain as of 2025, with 7 percent of electricity supply guaranteed nationwide. BEIJING, Aug.1 (Xinhua) -- Around 1,000 technical schools in China will provide free training to impoverished people from 2016 to 2020, according to a circular issued recently. According to a document issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, anyone who is able to work from a poverty-stricken household can receive free technical training. Local governments should implement national polices on student subsidies and free tuition, and formulate regional polices on the deduction and exemption of other fees, as well as on offering living allowances, the circular said. Impoverished families involved in the project can receive a yearly subsidy of 3,000 yuan (450 U.S. dollars) for each student, which will be drawn from a fiscal poverty relief fund. At present, there are over 3.2 million people studying in 2,454 technical schools nationwide, of which over 75 percent come from rural areas. A digital print of Queen Elizabeth's oil painting. The painting, measuring 1.1 meters by 1.25 meters, known as the Armada Portrait, is regarded as a masterpiece of the English Renaissance period. (Photo courtesy of The Art Fund of Britain) LONDON, August 1 (Xinhua) -- Britain's reigning Queen Elizabeth II has been in the limelight this year for the occasion of her 90th birthday. But the spotlight Friday was on her namesake, Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned more than four centuries ago. A public appeal has enabled London's Royal Museums Greenwich to acquire an oil painting of Queen Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Grants from public bodies and donations from more than 8,000 members of the public have raised almost 13.6 million U.S. dollars to save the painting for the nation. The painting, measuring 1.1 meters by 1.25 meters, known as the Armada Portrait, is regarded as a masterpiece of the English Renaissance period. The portrait commemorates the most famous naval conflict of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588, regarded as one of the greatest military victories in English history. The painting is among the most famous images of Queen Elizabeth I. A spokesman for the Arts Fund said: "This remarkable historic portrait will enter public ownership for the first time in its 425-year-history." It will go on public display on Oct. 11, following major restoration work, at the Queen's House, the birthplace of Queen Elizabeth I. The painting was once owned by one of Britain's most famous sailors, Sir Francis Drake. Drake was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. The painting was put up for sale by descendants of Drake and attracted a groundswell of public support from people wanting to ensure that the painting never left the shores of Britain. Kevin Fewster, director of Royal Museums Greenwich, said Friday: "The support enables us to bring the painting into the national collection thus safeguarding its future, and also allowing us to make it the centerpiece of future displays, talks, tours, and education initiatives." Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: "This campaign has been a triumph of popular will. The painting captured the national imagination in 2016...Record numbers of donors, large and small, stepped forward with determination and generosity." NEW DELHI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Indian government Monday said it would evacuate all the Indian workers currently stranded in Saudi Arabia. "The government will make all arrangements to bring back Indian workers currently stuck in Saudi Arabia," India's Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj told India parliament. Thousands of Indian workers have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for food and a flight back home. Swaraj said the Indian mission in Riyadh has arranged free ration to the stranded workers. Officials said over 10,000 Indian workers were facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia. Swaraj informed the fellow lawmakers that India's junior minister for Foreign Affairs, V K Singh would travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to sort out the matter and arrange exit documents for the return of stranded workers. "The government will also take steps to ensure that the Indian workers will get their salaries," she said. Reports said the workers employed by construction companies in Saudi Arabia were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry in wake of low global oil prices. On Saturday, Swaraj said she was personally monitoring the development in Saudi Arabia. The minister also made an appeal to Indians working in Saudi Arabia to help their brethren. Over 3 million Indian are working in Saudi Arabia. With dearth of jobs and low salaries at home, thousands of Indian workers travel to the Middle East every year for better prospects. A similar crisis about laying off workers has also unfolded in Kuwait. TEHRAN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday urged the regional countries and governments not to rely on the United States to tackle their issues, saying that Washington is not trustable. The United States is "the producer or booster of the regional problems," rather than being a savior, Khamenei was quoted by Press TV as saying in a meeting with thousands of Iranians from several provinces in Tehran. "The regional nations are able to solve their problems. We draw the attention of the regional governments to the point that the United States is unreliable, and it considers the Arab states as tools to serve Israel's existence and its interests," he said. The experience of Iranians about the failure of the United States in the fulfilment of its obligations pertaining to a nuclear deal showed that it can never be trusted, Khamenei added. "The United States has violated its obligations (over the nuclear deal) and is busy destroying Iran's economic ties with other countries," he said. "The oppressive sanctions (against Iran) were supposed to be lifted quickly so that it could leave its (positive) impact on the people's lives," he said. "However, after six months (following the implementation of the deal) there has been no tangible change in the lives of the people." The nuclear deal, reached between Iran and world powers in July last year, was implemented in January. The deal saw Iran scrap major part of its nuclear program in return for the removal of Western and international sanctions. The United Sates still maintains sanctions on Iran over alleged violations of human rights and support of terrorism, which Iran denies. Also, Washington has recently blacklisted some Iranian and foreign entities for alleged involvement in Iran's missile program. Khamenei also accused Saudi Arabia of committing a "grave crime" by bombing innocents in Yemen with the help of the United States. "Raiding Yemen, uninterrupted bombing of homes, hospitals and schools, and the killing of children are a grave crime of Saudi Arabia, which is done by the supply of the arms and the green light of the United States," he said. Khamenei also described the recent negotiations of Saudi Arabia with Israel as a "dagger from the behind" of the world's Muslims and said that "Saudi relations with Israel are a big sin and a treason." In building Saudi ties with Israel, "the United States has played a role, as the Saudi officials are obsessed by the whims of the Americans," he said. The Iranian leader also said that Saudi Arabia has raided Bahrain with the help of the United States. Khamenei also criticized what he described as the backtracking of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on condemning alleged Saudi atrocities against Yemeni children. The UN chief on June 9 strongly criticized Saudi Arabia and its allies for putting "undue pressure" on the world body in order to seek their removal from a blacklist for overwhelmingly violating children's rights in Yemen. In his first public remarks about the uproar, Ban said he decided to temporarily take Saudi and some Arab monarchies off the blacklist of children rights violators in Yemen after they threatened to cut off funding UN humanitarian programs. Khamenei also commented on Turkey's recent political developments, saying that "there is a strong accusation against the United States of being involved in Turkey's coup and, in case this is proved, it would be a big disgrace for the United States." Although Ankara has good relations with Washington and is its regional ally, it is mistreated by the United States since Turkey's government has Islamic tendencies, Khamenei said. Following the failure of the coup attempt, "the United States became hated in the eyes of the Turkish people," he said, noting the presence of anti-U.S. sentiment in Syria and Iraq. The Iranian leader called for "unity among Muslim nations and governments" by "resisting the plots of the United States and some of its European allies." CAPE TOWN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The key objectives of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the upcoming local government elections are to win the majority seats in all municipalities where the ANC currently governs, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said on Monday. The second objective is to improve support for the ANC where the party is in opposition, Mantashe said in a statement on the state of readiness for the elections, scheduled for August 3. The ANC will be contesting almost all of the total of 4,392 wards in all 213 municipalities. "We have entered the final push; Our structures and all our supporters are urged to ensure that we go door to door on the August 3 to encourage all our people to go out and cast their vote," said Mantashe. The ANC has organised transportation at various pick-up points where voting stations are located far from where people reside. The ANC, Mantashe said, is going into the elections after waging a very successful and positive successful election campaign. ANC officials have crisscrossed the length and breadth of the country, going to every community -- rural and urban, rich and poor, he said. The 2016 local government elections are heralded by many as being the most contested since 1994. The ANC could probably lose control of three more major cities -- Pretoria, Johannesburg and the Nelson Mandela Bay --in the elections, according to the latest Ipsos opinion polls. Despite this, the ANC has vowed to take over the strategic metropolis of Cape Town from the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). The ANC controls most of the country's municipalities. But the party's influence has been weakened by graft scandals and growing public discontent over poor service deliveries. "The ANC continues to approach each election with a singular objective -- to win based on the confidence our people have in the work of the ANC," Mantashe said. He recommitted the ANC to the Electoral Code of Conduct, and called on all ANC members and supporters to ensure that they abide by its regulations. "Members who break the code may be subjected to the ANC disciplinary processes ad we urge all our members to resist any provocation under any circumstance," he said. HOHHOT, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A former police officer in charge of a case where a teenager was wrongfully executed for a murder he did not commit, stood trial for taking bribes and illegal weapon possession on Monday. According to a local procuratorate in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Feng Zhiming, former deputy director of the city Public Security Bureau of Hohhot, the regional capital, was accused of taking advantage of his position and accepted bribes of over 4.5 million yuan (680,000 U.S. dollars). Additionally, Feng could not explain the source of property worth more than 34 million yuan, which far exceeded his legal income. He also had four unauthorized firearms and 549 bullets, the procuratorate said. Huugjilt, the wrongfully executed teenager, was found guilty of raping and killing a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot in 1996 and was executed 61 days after the murder. Feng headed a special team to investigate Huugjilt's case. A serial rapist and murderer, Zhao Zhihong confessed to the killing in 2005 and was given a death sentence in 2015. On Dec. 15, 2014, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court exonerated Huugjilt, ruling that he was not guilty of rape and murder, as the facts of his case were unclear and evidence inadequate. Investigations against Feng started two days after the exoneration. LJUBLJANA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec has expressed satisfaction with the unofficial visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Slovenia on Saturday, beliving it would help deepen bilateral economic ties. "The day at the Russian Chapel and Zale (cemetery) was filled with emotion. The emotions will certainly deepen the friendly relationship between Slovenia and Russia," Erjavec said in an interview with Vecer, the Maribor-based paper on Monday. He said "the emotions are also key to deepening cooperation in other fields. In particular in economy where Russia is the most important partner of Slovenia outside the EU(European Union)." "I assess that it was a successful visit that will yield certain results," Erjavec said, adding the two sides used the opportunity of what was a primarily commemorative visit for many talks at various levels. He said that Putin and Slovenian President Borut Pahor talked at quite some length about economic cooperation and about issues caused by international crises. During his visit, Putin attended a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Russian Chapel below the Vrsic mountain pass at Kranjska Gora. The chapel was built to commemorate Russian and World War I prisoners of war who died in an avalanche. As part of the visit, Karl Erjavec and Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolay Nikiforov agreed for the bilateral economic cooperation commission they co-chair to meet in the autumn. With Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov, Erjavec discussed former Slovenian President Danilo Turk's bid for the post of the United Nations secretary general, according to the newspaper. NEW DELHI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- India Monday said that there will no change in Home Minister Rajnath Singh's scheduled visit to Pakistan Thursday to take part in SAARC Summit, despite threats from terror outfits like Jamaat-ud-Dawaah and Hizbul Mujahideen. "India is not reconsidering Rajnath Singh's visit. The Home Minister is not heading for a bilateral event. He is heading there for multilateral event," junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju told the media in the national capital. Jamaat-ud-Dawaah chief Hafiz Saeed, an alleged mastermind in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has accused the Indian home minister of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris" and warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if Singh arrives in Islamabad. BRUSSELS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- NATO multinational exercise Saber Guardian 16 concluded in Romania's Cincu commune, the security organization said in a press release Monday. The exercise was held at the Romanian Land Forces combat training center in Cincu from July 27 to August 1, involving about 2,700 soldiers from 10 different NATO and partner nations. The exercise, which is under U.S. European Command's joint exercise program, aims to strengthen interoperability between Romania, the United States, as well as NATO Allies and partners. "Saber Guardian 16 is a clear demonstration of readiness with a credible collective defense scenario that includes a command post exercise, field exercise, and live fire exercise," said co-director for the exercise Colonel Robert Bertrand. BRATISLAVA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Slovakia will decide on extraditing the 19 migrants arrested on Sunday at the Jarovce-Kittsee border crossing with Austria, police said here Monday. Slovak Police Corps president Tibor Gaspar said the migrants arrived in the country by lorry. "A people smuggler let 12 Pakistanis, six Afghans and one person of unknown origin out of the lorry. They were allegedly told that they were in Austria," he said. The migrants, who include several minors, will be placed in facilities in Secovce and Medvedov in western Slovakia for the time being. "As for the situation as a whole, it's stable. We've detained several groups, when along with the National Unit for Combating Illegal Migration we took action against people smugglers," said Gaspar. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism industry raked in 2.25 trillion yuan (346 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in H1, up 12.4 percent year on year, official statistics showed on Monday. Domestic tourists made 2.24 billion trips in the first half, an increase of 10.5 percent. Inbound and outbound trips edged up 4.1 percent to 127 million, China National Tourism Administration (NTA) said. Tourism has become a strong engine for economic growth. The sector contributed 10.8 percent to GDP last year and created 10.2 percent of new jobs, according to NTA data. China's spending in the tourism sector is likely to triple by 2020, to 3 trillion yuan, said NTA head Li Jinzao, during the First World Conference on Tourism for Development in May. China invested more than 1 trillion yuan in the sector last year, an increase of 42 percent from one year before, according to Li. A picture taken on August 1, 2016 reportedly shows Syrian rebels gathering around the wreckage of a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter after it was shot down along the administrative border between Idlib province, northwestern Syriaand neighbouring Aleppo. (AFP/Xinhua) DAMASCUS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A video clip claiming to show the wreckage of a Russian helicopter appeared online on Monday, just hours after rebels in northern Syria reportedly shot down the aircraft. The footage showed people gathering around the wreckage of in the northwestern province of Idlib. A still image was also released, showing people dragging what was said to be the pilot of the helicopter. Another photo showed a Russian driver license, a paper of Christian amulet, and a military ID, which were said to have been found in the wreckage. State news agency SANA cited the Russian Defense Ministry as confirming that a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter had been shot down after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. It added that the plane was on its way back to the Hmaimim airbase in the northwestern province of Latakia, when it was shot down over Idlib. The statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said three crew members and two officers were on board. Later, the Kremlin said that all five aboard the military helicopter were killed. A photo showing Terracotta Army lanterns displayed in Colombia. (Photo courtesy of Beijing Chaoyang Cultural Centre) MANCHESTER, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's Terracotta Warrior lanterns are to be the centerpiece of new year celebrations in Manchester in January, marking their first appearance in Britain. The Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors will illuminate Manchester's Exchange Square as part of the city's 2017 Chinese New Year program, the biggest celebration of its kind in Britain outside Chinatown in London. The event will be co-held by Heart of Manchester BID along with the Federation of Chinese Associations of Manchester, Manchester City Council and the Confucius Institute. Commissioned for the Beijing Olympics Games in 2008, the exhibition has appeared in iconic locations across the globe including Sydney Harbour, Zagreb Central Square and Prague's Hradcany Castle. A photo showing Terracotta Army lanterns displayed in Sydney. (Photo courtesy of the City of Sydney) Created by artist Xia Nan, the brightly colored lanterns were inspired by the the famous Terracotta Army uncovered in 1974 in the tomb of China's First Emperor and widely regarded as the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World. Each standing more than two meters tall, the lanterns bring together two key elements of Chinese art and culture, namely the compelling story of the Terracotta Army and the 2000 year old tradition of lantern-making. A spokeswoman for Heart of Manchester BID said: "The Chinese New Year celebrations in 2017 are set to be the biggest the city has ever seen." A photo showing Terracotta Army lanterns displayed in shanghai. (Photo courtesy of Beijing Chaoyang Cultural Centre) "Manchester city center will see in the Year of the Rooster with a four day program (26th - 29th January 2017), celebrating the very best of traditional and contemporary Chinese culture," she added. More than 6,000 traditional red lanterns will adorn the city's streets alongside a 15-meter tall Golden Dragon spectacle, with light shows and firework displays, Chinese and Asian food villages, live music and traditional performances and a host of citywide family events. SOFIA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria and Greece agreed to build a fast railway line that will link the coasts of the Black and Aegean Sea, the prime ministers of the two neighboring countries said here on Monday. The railway would connect the port cities of Alexandroupolis and Burgas, which are located respectively on the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after a bilateral meeting. The two countries would also work to develop new corridors for transporting natural gas, he added. His Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov said that linking the two seas would be a very good example of good neighborliness and would help increase trade turnover. Bulgarian Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski told reporters a working group with representatives of the maritime administrations and the railways of the two countries would meet in the first week of September. After hashing out their plans, Moskovski and his Greek counterpart plan to go to Brussels to see if this project could receive funding from the European Union, he added. TRIPOLI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. launched the first airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) targets in the Libyan city of Sirte, at the request of Libya's UN-brokered government, the prime minister said in a televised speech. "The first airstrikes were carried out on precise positions of the IS in Sirte, causing heavy losses," Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said. In Washington, Pentagon confirmed the operation in a statement, saying "additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA (Government of National Accord) to make a decisive, strategic advance." It said the U.S. stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya. Since May, Libya's UN-backed government have been striking the IS targets in Sirte, about 450 kilometres east of the capital city Tripoli. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (L), European Council President Donald Tusk (C) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker greet each other after a joint press conference at the end of the EU-Turkey summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 7, 2016.(Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) BRUSSELS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Monday reiterated that Turkey must fulfill all benchmarks in order to secure visa-free travel to the European Union (EU) for Turkish citizens. At a daily press briefing, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said the EU remains fully committed to ensure "continued and full implementation of the EU-Turkey statement," but if Turkey wants visa liberalization from the EU side, the benchmarks must be met. "Turkey has committed to fulfill the benchmarks in order to enable the EU to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens," she stressed. The spokeswoman said that the final timing for any visa free travel will depend on both when Turkey will complete work on remaining benchmarks, and when the EU member states ultimately take a decision. "On fulfilling the remaining benchmarks of the visa liberalization roadmap, the Commission continues to provide support and expertise to the Turkish authorities to accelerate the reforms needed to fulfill the remaining requirements," she added. The Commission will update the state of play in the program report on the EU-Turkey deal in September, according to the spokeswoman. The EU-Turkey deal to curb refugee influx into Europe came into force in March. Under the agreement, Turkey agreed to take back all undocumented migrants, while the EU has Syrian refugees resettled from Turkish camps on a one-for-one basis. As part of the deal, Brussels promised to introduce visa liberalization for Turkish citizens. According to the EU, Turkey still has to meet five benchmarks to secure visa free travel, including reforming the country's anti-terrorism legislation. In an interview with German media published during the weekend, Turkish Foreign Minister said that Ankara would back out of the agreement if the EU fails to deliver the promise of visa liberalization. BAGHDAD, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said Monday that 759 Iraqis were killed and 1,207 others wounded in terrorism, violence and armed conflicts in July across Iraq. The figures included 629 civilians killed and 1,061 wounded, while 130 security members were killed and 146 wounded, the UNAMI said in a statement. The UNAMI figures excluded the casualties in Iraq's western province of Anbar, as it has not been able to obtain the civilian casualty figures from the provincial health department for the month, the statement said. The statement said the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief Jan Kubis "reiterated his call on the parties to undertake every effort to protect the lives of civilians." "The number of casualties as a result of terrorism, violence and conflict in Iraq continues to remain high. We continue to deplore this unacceptable situation and look forward to the day, hopefully soon, when peace and tranquility will return to Iraq," Kubis said. Iraq has witnessed intense violence since the IS took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups such as the IS group on the United States, which invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the pretext of seeking to destroy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the country. The war led to the ouster and eventual execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, but no WMD was found. ANKARA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Some 311 soldiers involved in the failed coup attempt were still at large, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik told CNN Turk Monday. Isik said that the soldiers, including nine generals, were believed to be in Turkey. Turkish Defense Ministry announced the reshuffling of the jobs of 167 generals within the army following the dismissal of thousands of soldiers. A total of 3,073 military personnel, including 158 generals and admirals, have been dismissed from Turkish Armed Forces over links to Fethullah Terrorist Organization. Isik stated that expulsions from the military would continue if necessary. He also said that due to the post-coup state of emergency, the official ceremony for the Aug. 30 Victory Day celebrations in Ankara will be canceled. Key decisions have been made in the Turkish Armed Forces in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt and announced on Sunday via a statutory decree. Under the decree, which was published in the official Gazette, Turkey's land, naval and air forces are now under control of the Defense Ministry. In addition, Turkish Coast Guard and Gendarmerie General Command have been brought under the control of the Interior Ministry. A new university called the National Defense University will be established under the Defense Ministry. LAGOS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government said on Monday that it has put in place arrangements to commence the rehabilitation of about 800 repentant Boko Haram members in northeast Gombe State. Brig.-Gen. Bamidele Shaffa, Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor for Repentant Boko Haram, told a news conference in Gombe that the repentant Boko Haram members will soon arrive in Gombe for rehabilitation, noting that all the necessary arrangements had been put in place to commence operation at the rehabilitation camp. The repentant militants would undergo a de-radicalization process in the camp, which would prepare them to go back to their various communities, he said. Shaffa said about 14 federal government agencies including the security personnel would work in the camp. He said the former militants would be trained in 12 different trades and vocations. Shaffa said the National Directorate of Employment would provide all the facilities for the training. Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management said it has presented relief materials to the Nigerian Army for the rehabilitation of repentant Boko Haram insurgents in Gombe State. Sani Sidi, the Director-General of the agency, confirmed the presentation of the materials during a courtesy call on Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of the state in Gombe. He said the items were food and non-food materials aimed to support the efforts of the military in the ongoing rehabilitation and de-radicalization of the Boko Haram insurgents in the country. He commended the government and members of the security agencies for the selfless services of ensuring peace and stability in the country. Shafa said various agencies of the federal government had partnered with the military for success of the de-radicalization program. He said Gombe state happened to be the first to host the exercise based on the facilities on the ground, unlike the initial plan scheduled for Jigawa. Shafa said any moment from now the repentant Boko Haram insurgents would be deployed to Gombe for the commencement of the program. Executive Secretary of Human Rights Commission Bem Angure commended the federal government for ensuring that peace was gradually returning to the country. He also commended the Nigerian Army for its anti-insurgency operations, adding that the military is making the country proud in that direction. On his part, the governor said the state government would assist to ensure the success of the program. Dankwambo urged the people of the state to always be vigilant and to report any suspicious movement or persons and to collaborate with security agencies to ensure lasting peace. The northeast region has been a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram and has been frequently raided in the past six years. In past months, The Nigerian government has launched several military operations to eliminate the terrorist threat. Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing of more than 2.6 million people since 2009. VILNIUS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian government plans to submit next year's balanced budget draft law this autumn, however, upcoming national elections may influence the budget, Rasa Budbergyte, the Baltic country's finance minister, said on Monday. "Next year's national budget must be balanced, that said, with no deficit," Budbergyte was quoted as saying by local website vz.lt. The minister was speaking after a close-door meeting with Labor party's group at the country's parliament, the Seimas. Labor party is one of Lithuania's ruling parties. According to the minister, it is stated in the country's legislation that the government should prepare and submit balanced budget draft law for the year 2017 to the parliament. However, she admitted that approval of the balanced budget depends on a political will, as well as on economy and political situation. "We should wait for September and see renewed macroeconomic projections which will determine the next year's budget structure," Budbergyte said. She also mentioned that upcoming national elections in Lithuania are weighing on spending plans as some members of ruling coalition push to increase expenditures for socially sensitive groups within the country's society. "Elections are already having an impact (on the budget); however, my duty is to ensure that the budget to be submitted to the parliament is not grounded on populism," the minister underlined. Lithuania's national elections will be held in October this year. Budbergyte stressed that fiscal discipline must be respected, alongside with efforts to reduce social exclusion in the country. Spending for defence must remain a priority, the minister added. Meanwhile, Lithuania's Labor party questioned the possibility to submit next year's balanced budget. "We indeed committed to have balanced budget, however, it is a subject of discussions; (...) probably this target is too ambitious," Valentinas Mazuronis, leader of Labour party, was quoted as saying by vz.lt. In his words, budget is an issue of political will, and "increase of social spending is on the political agenda in the meantime". "Lithuania's residents' purchasing power should increase, this is the priority to which other budget-related priorities must be adapted, including balanced budget; only a few members of the European Union have balanced sheets at the moment, so we can consider if it is necessary for us next year," Mazuronis added. Other members of Labor party propose to repeatedly increase minimum monthly wage in Lithuania next year, despite it was already increased twice this year and now amounts to 380 euros (424 U.S. dollars). Budbergyte, the finance minister, pointed to the limited space for spending in the country. "We must allocate the limited amount of resources in an effective way, so that 'wish list', surrounding the budget preparatory and approval phase, is as short as possible," the minister stressed. Budbergyte was appointed as Lithuania's new finance minister this June. The newly-appointed minister faces a challenge of tackling financial populism in the country despite short period of time at the office until this fall. According to the government's forecasts, Lithuania's public sector budget deficit will amount to 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. Budget revenues were higher than projected in the first half of 2016 and deficit amounted to around 0.04 percent from GDP during the period. The country's presidency said earlier that national defence and social security are the priorities in terms of next year's national budget. Firefighters watch part of the the wreckage of a twin engine aircraft that crashed on a built-up area in the Minaslandia neighborhood in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, killing all its three passengers and injuring another person in the ground, on June 7, 2015. (Xinhua File Pic/AFP) RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed when an executive jet crashed into an industrial warehouse in southern Brazil, barely missing a nearby church holding service, official sources said on Monday. The twin-engine Piper Navajo jet crashed onto the facility belonging to the Excellence transportation company Sunday night in Cambe, Parana state, hitting a bus and exploding on impact. Local residents who witnessed the crash told reporters the incident could have been even more tragic, as the aircraft fell only some 20 meters far from a church, where about 300 people were attending a service. According to a police report, the two crew members and six passengers, including at least three minors, were heading to Londrina, a city near Cambe after a wedding in west-central Mato Grosso state. The passengers were all relatives of the president of Brazilian union of cooperatives Fenatrocop, Mauri Viana, who had flown in a separate plane with his wife, a daughter and son-in-law, the union's website said. The victims were Viana's ex-wife, two daughters, grandson, brother and sister. by Rahul Venkit BRUSSELS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- With Europe still reeling from a wave of recent terror attacks in Germany and France, tough questions confront the continent as to how it will affect public opinion, politics and refugee policy. In one week alone, Germany was rocked by an axe attack on a train in Wuerzburg, a mass shooting in Munich killing nine, a machete attack in which a pregnant woman was killed in Reutlingen, and a suicide bombing outside a music festival in Ansbach. In France, two teenagers decapitated an 86-year-old priest during mass in a church in Normandy, while a man ploughed a heavy truck into a crowd celebrating French national day in Nice, killing 84. A majority of these attacks were carried out by refugees and/or those pledging allegiance to Daesh or the Islamic State. On one hand, this has stoked fears of public security and further terror attacks. On the other, it has polarized opinion on whether opening the door to refugees was the right decision. 'WE CAN MANAGE IT?' The spate of deadly violence on European soil has, in part at least, led to EU citizens citing immigration and terrorism as the biggest challenges that the EU faces. According to a European Commission survey, terrorism was ranked the number one concern in eight EU countries and was among the top two in every EU country except Greece. "The general public is clearly uneasy about the refugee crisis, but seem to be torn between the moral aim of helping and growing fears about the social consequences," Iain Begg, research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Xinhua. Issues surrounding refugees, terrorism and free movement are often conflated in the eyes of the general public, which can distort the true picture, he added. "The links between refugees and the attacks in Germany and France, -- although in the latter, it is more French citizens of Maghreb origin -- are seen through the lens of Islamist terrorism," Begg stated. However, it is important to note the number of incidents is, in reality, quite low in relations to the sheer number of refugees, he added. Indeed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week was unequivocal in maintaining her refugee policy, saying a rejection of the humanitarian stance could have led to even worse consequences. Her mantra when it comes to dealing with the million plus migrants Germany has received remains: "Wir schaffen das (We can manage it)." But the masses in Europe may not agree with Merkel. STRENGTHENING OF THE RIGHT Gauri Khandekar, Europe director at the Global Relations Forum, foresees a change in political leadership in both France and Germany. "Globally there is a rise of nationalism and Europe is no exception," she said. "While mainstream politicians and political parties are not adequately addressing the deep concerns of the populations, far-right parties are increasingly making concerns such as Islamist terrorism, perceived rise of Islam in Europe and the influx of refugees from Muslim countries, their main speaking points," Khandekar added. Citing immediate repercussions such as strengthening of the political far right, threat of reemergence of neo-nazism and increased security measures, the foreign affairs expert stated: "Any political party in Europe today which maintains an open refugee policy will simply not come to or stay in power." Currently, Europe's migrant deal with Turkey is looking shaky at best and several Central and Eastern countries have opted to pay fines instead of accepting migrants. Upcoming elections in Austria, France, Italy and elsewhere will in the coming months reveal the mood of the public and the extent to which far-right parties gain ground in the continent. EUROPEAN SECURITY ADEQUATE? With every passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that security and justice failures led to some of the recent attacks in Europe. Prime Minister Manuel Valls, for example, rued the fact that one of the attackers in Normandy had been released with an electronic tag pending trial on terror charges. Focusing on a larger number of unpredictable suspects will require a re-thinking on counter-terrorism practices, said Edoardo Camilli, CEO & co-founder of Horizon Intelligence. "On the one hand, we have lone wolves who use rudimentary methods to attack soft targets such as restaurants, bars, shopping malls and public transport. On the other hand, we have organized terrorist groups who carry out coordinated attacks in multiple locations using sophisticated methods such as suicide bombings and shootings," he told Xinhua. Countering the terror threat in Europe will be challenging, "considering that information sharing in Europe is first very limited, and secondly based on personal contacts between agents." European nations need to have a more structured system of sharing information both internally and between countries. In effect, a "fusion center" or database collecting operational intelligence from local, states and federal security agencies, Camilli said. Stricter integration of databases containing records on terrorists with those of criminals is also vital. "This is because some attackers had a criminal background before becoming terrorists, and because terrorists may rely upon criminals networks for forging documents and acquiring weapons," he added. Other tools at Europe's disposal are improved surveillance of identified threats, requiring larger investment in technology, personnel and drafting of strong anti-terror laws, according to the security expert. PUBLIC REACTION Amid the ongoing turmoil, the average European citizen finds herself soul-searching -- does one give into fear and restrict outdoor activity or keep going as before? For EU nationals in Brussels Meran and Wilf Moore, while they admit to the recent spate of incidents sparking personal safety concerns, they say they cannot and will not change their way of life. "Yes, we feel we need to take extra precautions while being out and about, whether traveling to work or while on vacation. But we cannot be cowed down. If we do, then the terrorists win. We cannot let that happen," the couple said. DAMASCUS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 civilians were killed and 210 others wounded over the past 24 hours caused by rebel shelling on government-controlled areas in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's national TV said Monday. The rebels have been conducting an intensified shelling by rockets and mortar shells against government-held areas in the western part of Aleppo since Sunday, said the report. The shelling came in tandem with a wide-scale offensive the rebels, mainly the Jaish al-Fateh and the Jabhet Fateh al-Sham, previously known as the Nusra Front, have unleashed to break a government-imposed siege in the eastern part of Aleppo city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said the Syrian army on Monday recaptured several points the rebels had taken during their offensive on Sunday in the southern countryside of Aleppo. The UK-based watchdog group said that intense battles, however, are still raging in southern Aleppo. On Sunday, the al-Fateh Army announced in a video message the beginning of a big offensive to break the Syrian army's recent advance in Aleppo. Late last week, the Syrian army stormed the Bani Zaid area, a main rebel stronghold in the eastern part of Aleppo. The progress came a week after the army severed the last rebel supply route connecting rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, with rebel-controlled parts in the eastern part of the city. With the progress made, the Syrian army has fully besieged eastern Aleppo, urging the rebels to surrender themselves and the civilians to cooperate. Moreover, President Bashar al-Assad announced an amnesty for the rebels who surrender with their weapons to the authorities. The Syrian authorities in cooperation with the Russians also opened three safe passages for civilians to leave eastern Aleppo. They also opened a fourth one for the rebels who would want to surrender. On Saturday, state news agency SANA said dozens of families evacuated eastern districts in Aleppo, amid reports that the rebels prevented many civilians from leaving. The evacuation of the civilians was also coupled with official reports talking about rebel fighters surrendering themselves to the authorities, on which some video clips were aired on several Syrian TVs. WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. health authorities urged pregnant women not travel to a Miami neighborhood on Monday as Florida officials identified 10 additional cases likely caused by local mosquito bites. U.S. media said this could be the first time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised the public not to travel a place in the continental United States. The travel guidance recommended that pregnant women who have visited the one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) area, just north of downtown Miami, should talk with their doctors and should be tested for Zika. Pregnant women without symptoms of Zika who live in or frequently travel to this area should also be tested for Zika virus infection in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, according to the U.S. CDC. The U.S. agency also advised male and female sexual partners of pregnant women who live in or who have traveled to this area to use condoms or other barriers against infection during sex or abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy. In addition, women and men who traveled to this area should wait at least eight weeks before trying for a pregnancy while men with symptoms of Zika wait at least six months before trying for a pregnancy. "Pregnant women should avoid this area and make every effort to prevent mosquito bites if they live or work there," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. "We apply the same criteria within and outside of the United States, and are working closely with the State of Florida and Miami health departments to provide preventive services, including mosquito control." At Florida's request, the U.S. CDC is also sending an emergency response team with experts in Zika virus, pregnancy and birth defects, vector control, laboratory science, and risk communications to assist in the response. Two CDC team members are already on the ground in Florida, three more will arrive today, and three more on Tuesday, it said. On Friday, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced the first four locally spread cases of Zika in the continental United States. Earlier on Monday, Scott said the total number of such cases, all in the same Miami area, has risen to 14. Two of the 14 cases are women and 12 are men, and among the 10 new cases, six are asymptomatic and were identified from the door-to-door community survey that the Florida Department of Health is conducting, he said. Scott said Florida would try to continue to keep residents and visitors safe utilizing constant surveillance and aggressive strategies, such as increased mosquito spraying, that have allowed the state to fight similar viruses. "While I encourage all residents and visitors to continue to use precaution by draining standing water and wearing bug spray, Florida remains safe and open for business," he said in a statement. "This year, we have already welcomed a record 30 million tourists and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to Florida this summer." More than 1,600 Zika cases have been reported in the United States, but previously all cases have been linked to travel to affected areas or sexual contact with an infected person. Most people infected with Zika will not have symptoms, but for those who do, the illness is usually mild. However, Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe foetal birth defects. LA PAZ, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Bolivian police seized more than 7.5 tonnes of cocaine destined for the U.S. market and arrested three Bolivians, the Bolivian News Agency said on Monday. The seizure dealt "a big blow to international drug trafficking," interior minister Carlos Romero said at a press conference. The 7,580-kilogram cache of "pure cocaine," seized over the weekend, is worth 379 million U.S. dollars, Romero said. Members of the Bolivian police force's special anti-narcotics unit (FELCN) intercepted the shipment of the white mineral ulexite which was about to ship via container first to Honduras and then eventually to the United States. The ulexite was found to contain 34.45 percent of cocaine, the official said, adding the investigation that led to this latest drug seizure began in 2015. The seizure brings the total amount of drugs confiscated so far this year to more than 22 tonnes of cocaine and nearly 100 tonnes of marijuana. A doctor holds a tube containing a larva of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of Zikavirus, in a laboratory of the Ministry of Health, in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Jan. 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Kent Gilbert) WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. health authorities urged pregnant women not travel to a Miami neighborhood on Monday as Florida officials identified 10 additional cases likely caused by local mosquito bites. U.S. media said this could be the first time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised the public not to travel a place in the continental United States. The travel guidance recommended that pregnant women who have visited the one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) area, just north of downtown Miami, should talk with their doctors and should be tested for Zika. Pregnant women without symptoms of Zika who live in or frequently travel to this area should also be tested for Zika virus infection in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, according to the U.S. CDC. The U.S. agency also advised male and female sexual partners of pregnant women who live in or who have traveled to this area to use condoms or other barriers against infection during sex or abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy. In addition, women and men who traveled to this area should wait at least eight weeks before trying for a pregnancy while men with symptoms of Zika wait at least six months before trying for a pregnancy. "Pregnant women should avoid this area and make every effort to prevent mosquito bites if they live or work there," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. "We apply the same criteria within and outside of the United States, and are working closely with the State of Florida and Miami health departments to provide preventive services, including mosquito control." At Florida's request, the U.S. CDC is also sending an emergency response team with experts in Zika virus, pregnancy and birth defects, vector control, laboratory science, and risk communications to assist in the response. Two CDC team members are already on the ground in Florida, three more will arrive today, and three more on Tuesday, it said. On Friday, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced the first four locally spread cases of Zika in the continental United States. Earlier on Monday, Scott said the total number of such cases, all in the same Miami area, has risen to 14. Two of the 14 cases are women and 12 are men, and among the 10 new cases, six are asymptomatic and were identified from the door-to-door community survey that the Florida Department of Health is conducting, he said. Scott said Florida would try to continue to keep residents and visitors safe utilizing constant surveillance and aggressive strategies, such as increased mosquito spraying, that have allowed the state to fight similar viruses. "While I encourage all residents and visitors to continue to use precaution by draining standing water and wearing bug spray, Florida remains safe and open for business," he said in a statement. "This year, we have already welcomed a record 30 million tourists and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to Florida this summer." More than 1,600 Zika cases have been reported in the United States, but previously all cases have been linked to travel to affected areas or sexual contact with an infected person. Most people infected with Zika will not have symptoms, but for those who do, the illness is usually mild. However, Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe foetal birth defects. To the best of my ability, here is the list, after the jump. Complete Listing of Italian DOCG Wines (as of May 2008): 41 Abruzzo (1) M... 10 held for weekend murders This as Acting Commissioner of Police, Stephen Williams and top officials of the Defence Force and other National Security agencies were summoned yesterday to an emergency meeting by National Security Minister, Edmund Dillon to address the upsurge in murders and violent crimes. Yesterday marked Williams last day in office prior to proceeding on three months vacation leave. Between Friday night and Saturday, five men were murdered. The two victims shot dead at Albert Street, St Joseph at about 3am on Saturday are Anthony Lalla, 26, of Upper Quarry Drive, Champs Fleurs and Idi Farrell, 23, of Lemon Drive, Champs Fleurs. They were sleeping on a double decker bed in a one-room apartment when gunmen broke down the door and opened fire. In Tunapuna at about 6.45 am on Saturday, gunmen pursued 31-yearold Shawn Straker, also known as Shawn Joseph, from Das Trace to his home at Lovell Trace, Monte Grande. Loud explosions were heard and Straker fell onto the roadway. He was rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he died on arrival. Two other men were killed in separate incidents at St Francois Valley Road in Morvant and Caura. At about 8.30 pm on Friday, 26-yearold Akile Eugene of Morvant was shot once in the back. He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. And at about 10 am on Saturday, the body of an unidentified man was found on an agricultural estate in Caura. Police said the owner of the estate went to check on some felled trees when he discovered the body of a man of African descent clad only in a black 3/4 pants and a red and white polo shirt. The mans hands were tied behind his back, he was gagged, and had a wound to the left side of the head. Yesterday, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Surujdean Persad, assured that officers from his Division are working assiduously to make inroads into these five murders. Persad said although there are ten persons in custody for three of the five murders, more persons are expected to be rounded up. He also assured that several anti-crime measures have been put in place to deal with serious crimes as well as murders. Williams told Newsday yesterday that he gave instructions to the Homicide Bureau and the nine police divisions to increase visibility effective immediately. Newsday understands that soldiers will also play a major role in accompanying police officers to hotspot crime areas. Asked for details of the emergency meeting yesterday, Williams said, I do not wish to comment on that. He noted, however, that up until yesterday, there were 256 murders compared to 239 for the same period last year. He said, While the murders may have increased, statistics have revealed that violent crimes have decreased. Williams said believes some of the anti-crime initiatives put in place under his watch are reaping the desired results. He added, Even though I am proceeding on vacation leave, I will continue to support the Police Service to deal with crime and to engender a feeling of safety and security to all citizens. Newsday was informed that Dillon expressed concern over the increase in homicides and demanded results, not only in crime detection, but avoiding violent crimes from taking place. In a statement issued yesterday, the Police Service called on members of the public to assist with the investigations by providing information that could lead to persons being charged in relation to these recent homicides by anonymously calling 800-TIPS. Meanwhile, Couva North Member of Parliament, Ramona Ramdial says she is convinced that Government continues to fail at fighting crime in in this country. In a statement to the media yesterday, Ramdial put the murder toll to date at 262. We seem to have a vacationing Prime Minister and three Ministers of National Security and there has been deafening silence from government on the unprecedented rates of shootings and murders, Ramdial said. What must not also go unnoticed is the disturbing trend of the non-reporting of crimes by victims. It seems this may be so because citizens have lost all faith in the Ministry of National Security and the police in getting a handle on our crime situation. Ramdial said she will continue to call for joint police-army patrols in every crime hotspot, to fully utilise the 12 offshore patrol boats bought under the Peoples Partnership Government to monitor our maritime borders and to continue to carry out raids and road blocks based on reliable intelligence from Strategic Services Agency (SSA). Powerful voices pay tribute to Ella Andall It is critical to show appreciation and gratitude for someone who has brought us to a greater sense of African consciousness. Ella we Thank you! These words from Khafra Kambon, Chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee set the tone for the tribute concert to local songstress, Ella Andall, held at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, Queens Park Savannah on Saturday night. A stellar cast of performers sang from their hearts as they expressed their love and appreciation for the popular Chantuelle. The show was opened in a most fitting manner with a performance of Andalls Bring Down the Power by a combined drum ensemble featuring the talents of Wasafoli, Sogren Trace and North West Laventille. They were followed by Juno Awardee and international performer Lorraine Klaasen, whos South African songs connected with the audience through their hearts and souls. When she and Andall met in the dressing room before the show, it was as if two sisters, separated for a long time, had been re-united. Such was the excitement and love that was shown one for the other. Later in the evening, Klaasen presented Andall with a South African necklace, and placed it immediately on her neck. The dynamic cast was a full one, with spirited performances from the Juenes Agape Choir of Point Fortin, Lady Adanna, Bevon St. Claire, Makeda Darius and young Shanya Springer. Then came Joanne Tigress Rowley, regally dressed in a red gown and stiletto heels, who wowed the audience. For her first song she was on stage in all her splendour. For the next, she was in the audience and had Ella on her feet, signing the Orisha chants that form a critical part of Andalls Rhythm of a People and dancing with the audience - a pure moment of powerful African spirit. To close the show, Sandra Des Vignes-Millington, popularly known as Singing Sandra, took to the stage. She told the audience that she could not miss the opportunity to pay homage to her sister Ella. Sharing a story of their relationship and their history in the calypso performing group of the late 90s, The United Sisters. Sandra said, Ella was an original sister and, even from those days, Ella would work with you, support you and then let you fly. She also came down into the audience to get some energy from Ella and together they had the audience on their feet. The capacity audience filled the tents and bleachers and danced at the sides of the stage showing their excitement and appreciation for Andall. As she received a token of appreciation from Kambon, Andall addressed the audience briefly. She said, As we go from generation to generation, I salute all the women and all the men. God bless all of you and thank you very much. This Pan African Festival saw attendees this year from the United States, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cuba, Martinique and Nigeria. The celebrations started on Wednesday last with a grand opening event and included a Trade and Investment Symposium, a Youth Day, Pan and Jazz concert, a Reggae concert and a Market Expo where local and international traders had their art, craft, clothing and jewellery available for sale. The Village is also a place of learning as religious and educational groups and associations have a space to engage, educate and create awareness. The festivities culminate today with the Drum Call at 4am at All Stars Pan Yard, then to the Treasury Building, downtown Port of Spain for the performance of Freedom Morning Come at 6am. The Kambule, the magnificent street procession, begins at 8am with a procession to the Lidj Yasu Omowale Village where cultural groups and associations will have the opportunity to perform on the Savannah stage all day ending with a flambeaux procession at 7.30pm. Anglican priest tells citizens: Educate and free yourself The biggest thing we continue to face daily is mental slavery, Williams said. We are still depending upon the government, the churches or anybody for handouts. This is the biggest problem we are challenged with on a daily basis and people need to understand that Jesus has freed us by dying on the cross for us. Williams was speaking at the Emancipation Commemoration Service and Award ceremony, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain. We have the responsibility to reach out and do something for ourselves, and understand that we are also anointed to help others. He emphasised that each person was designed by God to help and reach out to others. All of us cannot be priests, but we can be apostles and we can be evangelists. We can be reaching out to say what can I do within our neighbourhoods and society to bring about good? This is the quality we need to face, let us stop depending upon others and see what we can do as God has anointed us to bring about change and transformation. He said change will only come about when citizens put their hearts and minds into the path of transformation. Delivering the feature address at yesterdays service, Chairman of the Emancipation Committee (ESC), Khafra Kambon, said more is needed to be done to liberate peoples minds, and in particular the African community. There are hardly any cultural institutions that help to maintain a positive identity and the African community lacks these kinds of institutions, Kambon said. It is very important for people to know about their culture and history in order to have a positive identity in society. Kambon said more is needed to be done in order for people to have a better understanding about themselves, and it is very critical for a person to know about their history. History is all about giving people an understanding of who they are and what they have accomplished, and it gives people a very distorted impression of who they are because it is the human being that you want to elevate by the history. He continued, If we began our history in the days of slavery, in the case of the Africans, how do we overcome the negative feelings about self which have been deliberately instilled in us? The lack of knowledge for our history, and the impression that we have been given about our history makes us feel that we are people who had nothing and achieved nothing. Kambon said it is very important that people know about African history and why people were enslaved, otherwise they would not know who they are and what is their role in the development of civilisation. He is hoping that the history of enslavement can be added to the schools curriculum for the empowerment of the youth of the nation. Kambon said more is needed to be done to liberate peoples minds, and in particular the African community, because there are hardly any African cultural institutions that help to maintain a positive identity. At the service, the Ashanti Stool award was presented to physician, Dr Alan Patrick, who was the second person to receive the award which is bestowed upon individuals or organisations for contributions made to the overall development of the Anglican and national com Battered daughter leaves hospital bed to attend moms funeral Covered with bruises, Tarmatie wept as she stood over her mothers coffin at the familys Preysal home yesterday morning. It was only a few days after being beaten that Tarmatie and her elder sister Rajdaye had to deal with the death of their mother who died unexpectedly while warded at the hospital. As the funeral service ended, Tarmatie was whisked away to be taken back to the hospital. She is still undergoing treatment for the injuries she sustained during the attack. Tarmatie, Rajdaye and their cousin, Indira Lackhansingh, 53, were brutally beaten by bandits who also robbed them at their Sapata Hill, Preysal home on July 24. The sisters sustained injuries to their faces, arms, necks and legs. Rajdaye has since been discharged from the hospital. On the morning of the tragedy, the sisters had just returned from admitting their mother to the San Fernando General Hospital after she fell ill. Rajdaye, Tarmatie and Indira were ordered out of their beds by the thieves 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. The sisters and cousin were rushed to the hospital via ambulance. They were placed on an adjoining ward, next to their ailing mother. Pollys condition deteriorated that day on learning of her daughters attack. She died shortly after 11pm on Wednesday. Yesterday, officiating at the funeral service, Pastor Donnie Balgobin said that people had no respect for each other in todays world. We need to pay respect to each other. It is sad the way human beings are behaving now, he said. He called on citizens to live in harmony with each other. People are fighting over inches of land and robbing and cursing each other. There is no respect. I think that people pay more respect to the dead than the living. We need to treat people with respect, love and dignity, he said. Balgobin said that death was one of the many unsolved mysteries in the world. You dread the day it will happen, but we all will have to die. The moment we are born, you begin to die. God has given each man a number of days on earth and you must prepare for death, he told mourners. Balkissoon was described as a kind, loving woman by many villagers. She was cremated at the Waterloo Cremation Site. Meanwhile the search continues for her daughters and nieces attackers. Rowley: Deep reflection needed for Emancipation Rowley, in an Emancipation Day message issued from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, said Afro-Trinbagonians, at Emancipation, reflect on their history and proudly claim their ancestry. We celebrate freedom and recognise the immense sacrifices made by our ancestors and we are justifiably proud of our accomplishments as their descendants, Rowley said. In examining our history, should come the realisation that struggle, oppression, discrimination and violence were endured in varying degrees by many of our ancestors and yet, through sheer determination, the will to succeed and the power of an unconquerable spirit, they surmounted what was intended to crush them. Rowley also called for persons of African descent not to let the past tragedies of slavery, hinder their own progress and personal development, but rather use the past as a platform to which they could achieve their goals. The stories of our past should not condemn us to the turmoil of acrimony; but rather they should show us a path for achieving the positive and prosperous development of our country now and for the generations to come. He said Trinbagonians should take the opportunity to take on greater responsibility and that citizens should look beyond themselves and seek what is good for society and by extension the nation. We are currently writing new pages in our history. We need to ask ourselves, are we facilitating new prejudices and divisions in our society? Are we perpetuating a mindset of entitlement claiming rights where instead we should accept personal responsibility? Are we committed to working together in the best interest of our country? Can we look past the me and my group to the bigger picture of nationhood? And acting President, Christine Kangaloo, says the fight for true emancipation is still being fought and, despite progress made since emancipation 178 years ago, various social struggles that have come about as a result of chattel slavery, have yet to be overcome. The institutions of the slave trade and of state-sanctioned slavery may have been abolished. But their vestiges live on in modern- day atrocities such as child labour, human trafficking and prostitution, Kangaloo said. These evils are as much a blot on humanity as the slave trade and slavery ever were. No nation can claim to be truly emancipated until they are completely eradicated. Kangaloo said the battle for emancipation is one that has been hard-fought and has continued even to today. She invited citizens of all ethnic backgrounds to use the occasion to reflect upon the progress made since emancipation almost 200 years ago. Siparia chairman: Burgesses indiscriminately altering land spaces During a tour last week of Anthony Branch Trace, Syne Village, Siparia, Doodnath charged that based on reports from burgesses from the length and breath of the area, some people are indiscriminately cutting down hills, filling up low-lying areas and blocking both major and minor water courses. As a result, it is causing major challenges such as flooding and public health issues. Together with representatives from various agencies among them the Drainage Division, Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), Health Ministry and legal personnel, toured one of the many sites where a water course was blocked. Speaking from a laymans perspective, someone (is) constructing house and it seems as though he did some backfilling on the water course. Where the house is being constructed, is where the river is blocked. I had some personal conversations with the man and he is saying that there is not a watercourse, Doodnath told reporters. The chairman however added that investigations are being conducted to ascertain the blockage, which started about six months ago. The blockage is causing a backup of the river for miles. We will be holding discussions with the agencies to find out how we reach here, and to find a solution. We have to find now an alternative route for the river. All the agencies and technical people will investigate the matter to find out if any laws were broken, Doodnath added. He vowed to personally follow up with all the agencies involved as it relates to the investigations. But the owner of a house believed to be causing the blockage, expressed shock and confusion saying he began construction about three years ago, prior to which he received all the necessary approvals including some from the SRC. If I am blocking any river, then somebody has to pay me back my money. Something must be wrong with his organisation because I got approvals from his own organisation, the owner added. The chairman lives a short distance away from the owners house. What locals believe to be demonic possession strikes 80 children in Peru, causing convulsions, screaming and fainting Several children at a school in Peru have experienced seizures and hallucinations of a man in black attempting to strangle and kill them. Locals are calling the incident a case of mass demonic possession. Disturbing footage has surfaced of around 80 school children having convulsions, seizures and foaming from the mouth at Elsa Perea Flores School in northern Peru. Most of the children are aged between 11 and 14. Concerned parents flocked to the school, immediately taking their children to the hospital. Experts are dubbing the incident as a case of contagious mass hysteria, but have been unable to explain what sparked the initial outbreak. Rumors are circulating that the school was built over a Mafia graveyard. Supposedly, during the construction of the school, workers unearthed mass graves harboring bones of people who had been tortured and killed by the local Mafia. It is known that years ago there were many victims of terrorism here, paranormal investigator Franklin Steiner told sources. When this school was built, some say bones and dead bodies were found, he added. Other locals have suggested that the school children may have tampered with games that summon demons, like an Ouija board. The first case of supposed daemonic possession occurred in April. Now, approximately 80 students have experienced the contagious condition. Health authorities are obfuscated by the outbreak and are struggling to maintain the epidemic. Doctor Antony Choy told national channel Panamericana TV: We dont understand how this has kept [on] going on. We know it started on 29th April and now it is still happening. Now there are almost 80 pupils [still affected]. School teachers claim the incidences occurred in many classes. Some of the students convulsed, fainted and experienced disturbing hallucinations, whereas others sporadically became ill and vomited. Elsa de Pizango, the mother of a daughter who experienced some of the symptoms, said, She fainted in school. They didnt say anything at the hospital. She just fainted. She keeps on spitting froth from her mouth. Another schoolgirl recapitulated her harrowing experience: Its disturbing for me to think about it. Its as if someone kept on chasing me from behind. It was a tall man all dressed in black and with a big beard and it felt like he was trying to strangle me. My friends say I was screaming desperately, but I dont remember much. While locals believe the episode is a demonic attack, social psychologists and mental health experts claim these incidences are a product of fear and anxiety disseminating within a population, like a student body stressed out during finals week. This isnt the first case of contagious hysterical behavior occurring among schoolchildren either. Just last month, for instance, a case of mass hysteria was reported in the school of Malaysia, according to Inquisitr. Several teachers and students reported seeing a spirit or black figure in the hallways and corridors. The incident triggered fear among students. Symptoms of demonic possession swept the school. No one is sure what provoked the mass hysteria at the Peru school. So far, there has been no official explanation for the odd occurrence. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk Inquisitr.com Science.NaturalNews.com Mirror.co.uk Submit a correction >> U.S. just as active in hacking countries as Russia, despite Trumps remarks (Cyberwar.news) GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump touched off a media firestorm recently when he jokingly called on Russia to find thousands of missing emails from his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Many who have criticized him for those comments say he has, in essence, encouraged Moscow to hack into American IT systems. But the fact of the matter is, Russia and China, and North Korea, and Iran, and others have already been probing and hacking U.S. businesses and governmental systems for years, so Trumps words really werent all that significant or damaging. That said, its important to note that the United States is no stranger to the cyber world. As noted by the Washington Post, in fact, Americas approach to this cyber realm is fairly advanced. For instance, few people know that the Pentagon utilizes our advanced, super-quiet submarine fleet as underwater hacking platforms. The fact is submarines are a very important part of U.S. cyber strategy. While they serve to defend the country and protect, in part, against hacking attacks, they are also utilized to launch such attacks, two Navy officials said at a recent conference in Washington, D.C. There is a an offensive capability that we are, that we prize very highly, Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley, the U.S. Navys program executive officer for submarines, said, the Post reported. And this is where I really cant 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 silent service has long been utilized in the information technology arena to get an edge on U.S. rivals. For instance, in the 1970s the U.S. government instructed Navy subs to tap undersea communications cables off the coast of Russia. The vessels recorded messages that were being relayed back and forth between Soviet military forces and government installations. Today, U.S. subs are outfitted with sensitive, sophisticated antennas that are used to manipulate and intercept others communications traffic, especially on weak, unprotected systems. Weve gone where our targets have gone which means online, according to Stewart Baker, the National Security Agencys former general counsel, in an interview with the paper. Only the most security-conscious now are completely cut off from the Internet. He added that cyberattacks are a lot easier to conduct than to defend against. Some subs are more involved in the cyber realm, like the USS Annapolis, the Post noted, which is part of a much wider spying network than was divulged by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. The vessel and its sister subs are the infiltrators of the new new of cyber warfare, wrote Adam Weinstein and William Arkin last year for Gawkers intelligence and national security blog, Phase Zero, 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. More: Cyberwar.news is part of USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> Leaves are falling, the air is crisp and deer season is right around the corner. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love this time of year. Becoming involved in hunting a few years ago gave me yet another reason why I look forward to fall. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Indonesian daily, The Jakarta Post, wrote on Sunday about the promising prospects for the development of economic ties between Indonesia and Morocco, which the paper described as a regional power in North Africa. Morocco is a promising market as well as a gateway to both African and European countries for Indonesian products and investment, as it is located less than 100 km from Spain, said the paper. The Jakarta Post shed light on the upcoming opening of a 5 million-dollar noodle factory in Morocco by Indonesian food giant Indofood. The new factory will be the largest Indofood plant outside Indonesia and is expected to start operation in September or October. Quoting Indonesian Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljuno, the paper said that economic ties between the two countries are expanding and encouraging, adding that Moroccan-Indonesian trade totaled 214.32 million dollars in 2015. We will jointly explore opportunities to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries, said the Indonesian official at a reception on the Occasion of Moroccos National Day. Indonesias exports to Morocco over the years include palm oil, furniture, coal, spices, garments and glassware. In recent years, Indonesia added more products to its exports to the North African country such as instant noodles, green tea and coffee. Morocco also serves as an important partner in Indonesias agricultural sector as it is home to more than 70 percent of worlds phosphate, a main ingredient in fertilizers and reserves. Indonesia imports phosphates, fertilizers, chemicals, oranges, iron and steel products from Morocco. A tribute was paid to national figure Abderrahmane El Youssoufi on July 30 by King Mohammed VI who named a street in Tangier after him. With such a tribute, Abderrahmane El Youssoufi, national movement leader, co-founder of the leftist party the USFP and former Prime Minister, becomes one of the rare national personalities who saw their name given to a street in their hometown while they are still alive. Only members of the Royal family enjoy this privilege. This gesture represents recognition of Youssoufis patriotism, leadership and altruism in serving the nations supreme interests both in the opposition and in office. The timing in which this Royal tribute was paid is also full of significance as it coincides with the celebrations marking the accession of King Mohammed VI to the Throne. Born in 1924, El Youssoufi engaged at an early age in political life by joining the Istiqlal party in Casablanca during the colonial era (1944-1949). Afterwards, he moved to France where he studied law and contributed to the efforts aiming at organizing Moroccos working class. El Youssoufi, then, returned to his hometown where he became a lawyer. His political engagement will undergo a turning point when he co-founds with key figures such as Mehdi Ben Barka and Abderrahim Bouabid the party of the National Union for Popular Forces (UNFP), an opposition outspoken leftist organization that seceded from the Istiqlal party. The creation of the UNFP will put El Youssoufi in direct confrontation with Hassan II regime. In 1959 El Youssoufi will be arrested along with UNFP leader Mohamed Basri for stressing that accountability of the government should be to the people and not to the King. This call was then perceived as an offense to the King and El Youssoufi was accused of inciting crime and undermining public order. El Youssoufi and his colleague were sentenced in 1963 to two years in prison for conspiring against the regime. Following the assassination of Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965, El Youssoufi will leave to France where he will stay 15 years. During that period, he joined several human rights NGOs. At that time, he was accused in Morocco and sued between 1969 and 1975 for conspiracy with the death sentence issued against him. In 1978, the death sentence was dropped against El Youssoufi who became a member of the political bureau of the UNFP which changed its name to the Socialist Union for the Popular Forces (USFP). In 1992, El Youssoufi was designated first secretary of the USFP. His denunciation of the electoral fraud will lead him to a voluntary exile in France. Two years later, he returned to Morocco and in 1998 he became Prime Minister leading Moroccos political alternance experience. An Italian judge ordered Italian oil major Eni, oil services group Saipem and former Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni to stand trial in a long-running case of alleged bribery in Algeria In relation to court proceeding for the alleged bribery case relating to Saipems activities in Algeria, Eni acknowledges that the new GUP (judge for the preliminary hearing) in charge of the case decided the commitment for trial for Eni, The Milan-based oil company said in a statement. Eni continues to deny any illegal conduct and is confident that this will be ascertained in court proceeding, ENI added. The long-running case revolves around allegations Saipem paid intermediaries around 198 million ($218 million) to bag contracts worth 8 billion with Algerias state-owned Sonatrach. The corruption trial is scheduled to begin in Milan on Dec. 5, legal sources told Reuters. Under Italian law, companies are responsible for the actions of their managers and can be fined if found guilty. Japanese giant Asahi Glass Co. (AGC) has reached an agreement with Induver Holding to set up a joint venture in Morocco specialized in car glass manufacturing. The joint venture is expected to start production in 2019. It will produce laminated glass and tempered glass. It is AGC Groups first operation in North Africa. The Japanese auto-glass maker has decided to invest in Morocco due to the countrys thriving economy, political stability and growing car industry, making of the country a production base for Europe. Several major European carmakers such as Renault, Peugeot, Ford as well as auto parts manufacturers have set up plants in the North African country offering foreign investors incentives for growth and exports in a highly competitive sector. PSA Peugeot Citroen is planning to start production at an approximately $632 million plant near Kenitra, some 40 km to the north of Rabat, in 2019, while French automaker Renault Group announced a plan to invest more than $1 billion in its operations in the country earlier this year. U.S. auto parts maker Delphi Corp. will also set up a new factory making electrical distribution systems and a research and development center in the North African kingdom. The Moroccan government aims to lift the overall industrial component of gross domestic product (GDP) to 20 per cent, up from 16 per cent, reaching around 500,000 jobs by the same period. Unlike many countries in the region, Morocco managed to avoid a big drop in foreign direct investments in the wake of the global financial crisis and the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, partly by marketing itself as an export base for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Last year, Morocco produced 232,000 vehicles, according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, up 38.5 pc year-on-year. Production soared by 54 pc between 2012 and 2013 alone, propelled in part by the inauguration of Renaults two assembly plants. Today, Morocco ranks as one of the largest car manufacturers in Africa. As automobile production in Europe exceeds 20 million units annually and is expected to continue growing at approximately two percent a year, AGC top managers look upbeat over their investment in Morocco and expansion in North Africa. Ghazala and Khazir Khan. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images The back-and-forth between the Republican nominee for president and the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in the Iraq War continued Monday, after a weekend of verbal sparring that saw Khizr Khan, the father of Captain Humayun Khan, say Donald Trump has a dark heart. Appearing on Morning Joe, Khizr Khan explained why he and his wife, Ghazala, decided to appear at the Democratic National Convention last week: We felt compelled from within to [speak about Trump and how] voting for a divider, voting for an excluder will put such a burden on our souls for the remainder of our lives that we may not be able to bear it. Ghazala Khan also spoke, disproving Trumps suggestion over the weekend that she didnt speak at the DNC because she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. Khan described the last time she spoke with her son, who told her of the great responsibility he felt for his fellow soldiers, but could hardly finish through her tears. Ghazala Khan gets emotional describing the last conversation she had with her son. https://t.co/zrKD51Phsv Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 1, 2016 Meanwhile, Trump was on Twitter continuing to defend himself against the Khans, who received the support of 11 gold-star families over the weekend in an open letter that accused Trump of cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost. Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 On CNN, Khizr Khan was asked to speak directly to Trump, who was clearly watching him make the rounds on TV. Khan said he wanted Trump to know that the billionaire has a serious problem with empathy. Realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people you wish to lead and that is missing, he said. To Trumps credit, at least hes not smearing Khan. His former adviser and longtime friend Roger Stone did that over the weekend, though. On Twitter, Stone called Khan a Muslim Brotherhood agent helping Hillary and linked to a website that describes Khan as a Muslim plant working for Hillary Clinton on behalf of Muslim oil companies. That probably isnt sitting well with John McCain, who put out a statement this morning criticizing Trump for his remarks about the Khan family. It reads, in part, I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. Thats funny because Trump, as the partys nominee for president, explicitly does represent the views of the GOP. While McCain, who describes profound respect for the Khans and their son, isnt pulling his support for Trump, the statement does seem to contain a warning. It is time for Donald Trump to set an example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. The implication: If Trump keeps it up, he may lose McCains support. The question is whether Trump cares. Donald Trump, poisoning the well. Photo: Jay Laprete/AFP/Getty Images American democracy is held together in part by laws, but also by norms. Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to them one by one. The latest is the general assumption that the losers of an election should respect the democratic outcome. Im afraid the elections gonna be rigged, to be honest, he said today. Trump does not require a lot of evidence to conclude that elections have been rigged. On Election Night 2012, he declared the outcome a clear win for President Obama a sham and a travesty. When he lost the Iowa caucus earlier this year, he accused Ted Cruz of stealing the election. When his nomination appeared to be in danger later, he described the system as phony and rigged. He also used similar arguments to encourage dissatisfaction by Bernie Sanders supporters. There is plenty of conspiracy-mongering around the political system. Far-left activists like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have insisted George W. Bush stole the 2004 election. Paranoia and rejection of mainstream media having penetrated far deeper into the Republican Party, a great many leading conservatives promote hysteria about the alleged threat of rampant Democratic vote theft. Still, to this point, major-party candidates have always respected the law. Al Gore requested a re-count to which he was legally entitled in 2000, and conceded the election after the Supreme Court quashed it. It is difficult to sustain a democracy without these kinds of norms. Trump is going to do serious damage even if he loses. If he wins, the future of the Republic is in serious danger. Racist? Him? Photo: Pool/Getty Images Half a dozen years ago just before Donald Trump latched on to the birther issue, but when the conservative base was already erupting in racialized terror against President Obama The Simpsons slyly satirized Fox News with a pretend slogan: NOT RACIST, BUT #1 WITH RACISTS. The first part was probably too kind to a network that has frequently stoked white racial paranoia (and just last week had a prominent host lashing out at Michelle Obama for pointing out that the White House was built by slaves). But it perfectly describes most of the elite of the Republican Party. Within the Grand Old Party, open racism is extremely rare. Far more common is denial of the persistence of racism in American life, a willingness to pursue policies that disadvantage nonwhites, and a refusal to jeopardize the partys support among racists. Donald Trump has pulled the cloak away, leaving the partys alliance with racism exposed for all to see. Donald Trumps first appearance in the New York Times, in 1973, came as a result of a lawsuit by the Department of Justice over his refusal to rent to African-Americans. In 1989, he took out a full-page ad in the New York Daily News to demand the death penalty for five African-Americans for a rape in Central Park. (They turned out to be innocent.) He has been credibly accused by former associates of racist statements and practices behind closed doors. As a presidential candidate, he has focused more of his attention on Latinos and Muslims, but the discriminatory quality of his persona has, if anything, grown even more naked. He declared that Judge Gonzalo Curiel is unfit to preside over the most recent of his many lawsuits, this one concerning fraudulent practices at Trump University, because Curiel is Mexican, which is Trumps way of saying Curiel descends from immigrants from Mexico. He also proposed a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, and then later blamed the rampage in Orlando on the entire Muslim American community, who (he claimed) refused to cooperate with authorities against terrorism. These statements were not incidental gaffes. They were the foundation of Trumps appeal. As the political scientist Michael Tesler shows, previous Republican primaries lacked overtly racial themes, and as a result, voters did not choose on that basis. In 2016, Trump prevailed because he won over the most racially resentful Republicans: Likewise, Trump attracted Republican voters with the most disdain for Muslims: Khizr Khans speech before the Democratic National Convention was emotional because it zeroed in on the racist nature of Trumpism. Trump does not merely call for more restrictive immigration policies or a more stern response to terrorism. He blames the entire community for any crime committed by one of its members, separating all of their members from America and the privileges of citizenship on the basis of their heritage. Khan demanded that Trump reconcile his sweeping characterization of all Muslim Americans with the heartbreaking facts of his dead sons heroic life and the Constitution itself. (It is Trumps misfortune, or perhaps ineptitude, that the personalized targets of his feuds happen to be the strongest possible refutation of his prejudice: Curiel had to live in hiding from death threats from Mexican drug cartels; Khan is not only a gold-star father but has publicly called upon his fellow American Muslims to turn in radicals.) In response, Trump baselessly insinuated that Khan did not allow his wife to speak, from which it might follow that he adheres to some extreme variant of Islam, and probably was some sort of secret radical. This smear provided yet more confirmation for Khans point that Trump refused to judge suspect minorities as individuals, that nothing they say or do can dispel the suspicion attached to them in Trumps feverish mind. These constant displays of racism have placed Trumps party in a delicate position. Some Republican elected officials have fully embraced their nominee and his ideas; a somewhat smaller number have repudiated them completely. But the vast majority of Republicans have arrayed themselves somewhere along the spectrum between these two positions. The goal of this large middle group is to avoid the taint of Trumps racist ideas while maintaining the support of the voters who are attracted to them. The Republican who has kept the greatest distance from Trump without fully opposing him is Senator Jeff Flake, who represents a state (Arizona) with a sizable and growing Latino population. Theres one sure thing: I dont want Hillary Clinton to be president, Flake tells Politico. Flake stayed home during the convention, and he says he is nowhere near ready to support the nominee. Flake wants Trump to earn his support, but first the candidate has to stop using language that demonizes Latinos and mocks prisoners of war, Politico reports. Flake considers Trumps racism unacceptable, but sees his racism as a series of discrete acts that he can stop engaging in, rather than a pattern that reflects unacceptably racist underlying beliefs. Flake withholds any character judgment of the nominee; he simply requires that he stop acting so racist for some undefined period of time in order to endorse him. Other blue-state senators, like Susan Collins (who has said Trump really has to change in order to win her endorsement), have trod this same careful line. A second group, closer to Trump, has disavowed his most wildly racist statements while endorsing his candidacy. Figures like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell fall into this category. Both issued statements praising the heroism of Captain Khan, but without naming Trump. Like Flake or Collins, they wish Trump would stop saying such racist things, but, unlike them, they will support him regardless. The third group consists of Republicans who may cringe at Trump but keep their reservations private. This category, probably the largest, includes Marco Rubio, who once called Trump a con man, then retreated to the position that the nominee should stop saying racist things, and is now openly campaigning on Trumps behalf. We have got to come together as a party; we cannot lose to Hillary Clinton, Rubio told the crowd. We cannot lose the White House. We have to make sure that Donald wins this election, Rubio told Republicans this weekend. The future of our Constitution, of our Second Amendment even of our First Amendment the future of whether Obamacare stands or not hangs in the balance. The Republican Party fashions itself as the party of Lincoln, and when its national leaders have used race as a wedge, they have buried it beneath the language of race neutrality. The official party history holds that Barry Goldwaters rejection of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was merely an overzealous interpretation of constitutional principle, and the mass influx of white Southerners that followed an unrelated coincidence. Those who dont closely follow conservative rhetoric may not appreciate how deeply the right has invested itself in these fantasies of racial innocence. And so, even though Trump has sprung naturally from the conservative fertile soil of racism, anti-intellectualism, and authoritarianism, his nomination is truly a sea change. No successful candidate before him has identified himself so tightly with white-identity politics. His place at the top of the ticket, and potentially as head of state, has presented fellow Republicans with an agonizing dilemma. To be sure, their choice is not comfortable. Those Republicans who have distanced themselves from the nominee, even in carefully measured increments, have endured fierce blowback from their own voters and even donors. (Eliana Johnson reports for National Review that Ted Cruz and his inner circle have been shocked at the hostility his carefully neutral, vote-your-conscience speech in regard to the man who accused his father of potentially murdering President Kennedy has provoked among his supporters.) In a party rife with racism, anti-racism is hardly considered an acceptable basis for partisan disloyalty. What most Republican elites have always wanted is to lead a party that appeals to a majority of the country on the basis of abstract small-government, patriotic themes. Trump has revealed that this is a hopeless fantasy, and what they can lead instead is a party of racists. And they have decided, nearly every one of them, that they will take it. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Finance LP/Getty Images After a billion-dollar war over the Chinese taxi market, Uber is selling its operation in China to its chief rival, the Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, in exchange for a 20 percent stake, Bloomberg reports. Didi CEO Cheng Wei and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will also be joining each others boards. This agreement with Uber will set the mobile transportation industry on a healthier, more sustainable path of growth at a higher level, Cheng said in a statement. Over the past few years, Uber has been spending more than $1 billion a year in the country trying to take control of the market. Early this year, Didi fortified its own position by accepting a $1 billion investment from Apple. The deal, which is still pending based on government approval, has been gaining steam over the last few months. Some of Ubers most prominent investors were pressuring the company to stop burning through so much money in China. Now Uber gets a cut of the market with significantly less expenditure. As the New York Times points out, Ubers push into China has been closely watched by the rest of the tech industry. It could arguably have been framed as a trial run for how other tech businesses might break into a populous market that often blocks foreign companies. Instead, Uber infamous for using its vast cash reserves to spend its way through regulatory red tape is another cautionary tale. In an impending blog post announcing the deal, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says, As an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both have yet to turn a profit there. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images The Teen Choice Awards on Sunday night took a break from its usual lighthearted programming to call for an end to gun violence. Jessica Alba broached the subject as she stood alongside and introduced teens whove been impacted by mass shootings such as those in Newton, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; and San Bernardino, California. Respect to the #TeenChoice Awards for paying tribute to victims of gun violence & police brutality. #StopTheViolence pic.twitter.com/YRUW7XCc6F Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 1, 2016 Images of victims of gun violence flashed on the screen behind Alba and the group. Among those shown was Alton Sterling, the black man who was fatally shot in July by a police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His 15-year-old son, Cameron Sterling, was the last person Alba introduced. Ne-Yo also joined the group and told the audience that, We need to come together as one. He and Alba asked viewers to post using the hashtag #StoptheViolence. The somber moment struck a chord with many of those in the audience. The venue went silent as Ne-Yo performed Marvin Gayes classic song, Whats Going On. Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Inga Rubenstein), 2010. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Known for addressing sex, politics, death, and pop culture in his controversial artwork, the Polish artist Piotr Uklanski consistently takes an eccentric, rebellious approach to various forms of media. Some highlights: Pornalikes, which covered the walls of a publishing house in celebrity look-alike porn similar to Kanyes Famous video, and a fully functioning disco floor installation. His work includes photography, sculpture, collage, performance, and film. The book Piotr Uklanski: Fatal Attraction, out August 9 from Gagosian/Rizzoli, combines two previous Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibits into one impressive collection, showing an extensive selection of Uklanskis creations alongside others by artists who inspired him. The art is as surreal and pleasing to the eye as it is (occasionally) disturbingly sinister. Click ahead to see an eerie collage of swans, precisely red-painted lips, and a psychedelic storm. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Maciej Chorqzak, Partner, Tarnatoga Capital), 2014. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Inga Rubenstein), 2010. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Stockholm), 1998, printed 2013. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Tiger, Bursting), 1998. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (GTXa), 2001. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Starry Eye), 1993. Photo: Piotr Uklanski/ Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (AMG), 2014. Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (President du Groupe Artemis, Monsieur Francois Pinault), 2003, Photo: Piotr Uklanski Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Flame), 2001. Let the Restoration Begin! Wetlands restoration within the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern will focus on problems such as sediment contamination, reduced habitat, and a lack of public access. The Great Lakes hold 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water, making habitat restoration critically important for severely degraded industrial areas near their shores. In Michigan, NOAA has moved that goal forward by supporting the recent purchase of 98.8 wetland acres near Muskegon Lake, which feeds directly into Lake Michigan. "NOAA and its partners soon will start restoration work to improve wildlife habitat, boost public access, and improve water quality through restoring and reconnecting wetlands to the riverine systems," says Elizabeth Mountz, a coastal management specialist for NOAA's Office for Coastal Management. "This project moves us closer to the day when the larger Muskegon Lake area is a more vital place for natural resources and wildlife, the community, and the coastal economy." Muskegon County made the wetlands purchase with the aid of NOAA funding. This natural resource forms part of the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern, one of 43 degraded industrial areas in the Great Lakes basin identified in 1987 and prioritized for cleanup and restoration by the U.S. and Canada. Putting Restoration on the Map The overall restoration plan will upgrade water quality for both Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan by addressing algal blooms and a decline in lake oxygen. A lack of funding stymied intensive U.S. cleanup efforts until 2010, when the Obama administration budgeted $475 million for the new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to jump-start national restoration action. Over the past four years, NOAA has allocated nearly $4 million to support 13 "area of concern" land acquisition projects in four Great Lakes states. Grants are awarded to state and local partners to protect critical coastal lands through land purchases and conservation easements. Four U.S. sites have now been "delisted" as areas of concern following intensive restoration, which is the eventual goal for the Muskegon Lake site. This wetlands purchase supports the NOAA Habitat Blueprint initiative, which identified the Muskegon Lake site as a habitat focus area and directed restoration and water quality improvements. He's probably into that.... Reply Thread Link I wouldn't be shocked if his wife choosing to show her naked body is what affects his candidacy and not his harmful and ignorant speech. Reply Thread Link lmao right Reply Parent Thread Link right? nothing quite beats a woman's sexuality in making others (irrationally and unreasonably) uncomfortable/angry rme Edited at 2016-08-01 01:07 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Same :/ Part of me is like "Well as long as something makes him lose". Reply Parent Thread Link ia it's down to lose a battle, win a war tbh. it also helps knowing that melania is comfortable with nudity and these photos weren't leaked - they're just very old so shitty journos can pretend as if they uncovered a scandal, it's really dumb because some of first google picture hits on her are also nude modelling photos anyway and from semi-recent years Reply Parent Thread Link sad and true Reply Parent Thread Link The thing that sucks though, is you know that if this crashes Drumpf's campaign he's just going to blame his wife/women as a whole. Reply Parent Thread Link Sad, but I'll take anything at this point. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh for sure. But republicans tend to be for anything that benefits them. They might say this is okay but we all know damn well if Michelle Obama did these she would be torn down by them way more than she is now. Reply Parent Thread Link the fucking irony... Reply Parent Thread Link I don't think it will matter. The same people that attack Michelle Obama for showing too much arm are going to say how hot Melania is and how they want to vote for Trump even more. Reply Parent Thread Link for fucking real Reply Parent Thread Link this isn't going to matter at all. his supporters are far too rabid for anything like this to matter. Reply Parent Thread Link sad but true Reply Parent Thread Link nah, desperate racists are willing to let this slide in order for trump to take office. Reply Parent Thread Link NO ONE CARES LETS LIVEBLOG PREACHER Reply Thread Link THIS! (How dare they make me hate Donnie less!) Reply Parent Thread Link Is there a post for it yet? Because what the fuck is happening... Reply Parent Thread Link these aren't new, she's done other nude spreads she looks good Reply Thread Link tbh this is fucked up, and i don't like these kinds of tactics to get at other candidates. Reply Thread Link Same. Focus on Trump's shit, not dragging out his third wife's nudes. Reply Parent Thread Link When it comes to Trump, there is so much gross shit that talking about his wife posing nude years ago is a huge waste of time. Lets talk about him insulting a Gold Star family instead of Melania's past work. Reply Parent Thread Link The Post endorsed Trump. They love him. This was not done by the Dems, I'd bet my life they were leaked by Trump himself to distract from the bad news cycles he's been having. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Like I hate Trump and all, but this is not cute. Like of all the things to drag him through the mud for, this is not it. Reply Thread Link exactly, and the photos themselves really aren't even that provocative or raunchy. I was expecting hope solo levels of nudeness Reply Parent Thread Link wait what re: hope solo levels of nudeness Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Oh gosh, yes. I wasn't even trying to dig into that huge nudes leak when it happened but someone on ONTD had posted pics of Hope deep in a comment chain and I still clutch my pearls a little bit. I felt like a gynecologist. Reply Parent Thread Link I've never seen such angry and aggressive nudes in my life. They're etched into my brain Reply Parent Thread Link I really doubt this is coming from anyone but his side. Trump is doing enough on his own to make himself look bad. This is an obvious distraction from the horrible things he said about a fallen soldier's family. Reply Parent Thread Link kris jenner is his new PR manager Reply Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link lmao noooo he'll never go away in that case Reply Parent Thread Link If that's the case let's hope she's paying off Cait to endorse him lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Did Donald's camp leak the photos to distract from Khan story? i wouldn't put it past them tbh Reply Thread Link MTE Reply Parent Thread Link same. he's gonna talk about how hot melania is and how everyone is a small pathetic LOSER Reply Parent Thread Link i'm waiting for his excited tweet! about everyone appreciating his beautiful wife!!!! within the next 48 hours Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Can't believe this guy is a presidential candidate. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That's what everyone on twitter is contending. This is diversion from Trump's shit. The Post endorsed Donald months ago and is their mouthpiece. Reply Parent Thread Link I really think so. For the college thing too... Reply Parent Thread Link murdoch owns the ny post so i believe it tbh Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i believe this Reply Parent Thread Link I feel like this is exactly what happened. Especially when he has been saying that Ghazala Khan wasn't "allowed to speak" by her husband... He will use this and say, "See, I'm okay with letting my wife make her own choices!" and his racist supportera will eat it up ... and then attack abortion rights. Reply Parent Thread Link He's enough of a misogynist and creeper to do it too. Reply Parent Thread Link i 100% sure they did. the ny post is in his pocket and the definitely worked this out together. melania obviously doesn't care because it's an actual photoshoot that's been out before. Reply Parent Thread Link I don't think anything at this point will deter people from voting Trump. Reply Thread Link please people voting for him don't care about ANYTHING and are gonna vote for him regardless of any dirt they release on him it really sucks they're being released to shame HER (which shouldn't be an issue, with a body like that i'd be showing off too) and not the hateful shit his husband spits out Reply Thread Link oh boy.... Reply Thread Link if all the dumb racist and insensitive shit he's said hasn't hurt him, why would this? Reply Thread Link IA. i'm surprised but not surprised that so many people are supporting this dumb asshole. his insensitive and ignorant comments about ghanzala khan is what many of his supporters were thinking anyway. as if muslim men are the only men who oppress their wives and that ALL muslim men are like this. they don't want to face the truth that not all muslim men treat their wives that way, it's just easier to believe it. Reply Parent Thread Link Hit the nail on the head. These people care more about hating on POCs/women/immigrants/Muslims and are willing to tank their own country to do it. It's obvious by now that they don't give a single fuck about any other actual issues. Edited at 2016-08-01 01:41 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link because america is more offended by a woman's breasts than by racist comments. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Old prudes may be turned off if this story gets traction and will just not vote altogether. Reply Parent Thread Link one word: misogyny Edited at 2016-08-01 03:40 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link "For de Basseville, the inspiration for the pictures was the Renaissance" what Reply Thread Link Distract from the Khan story? With more negative press?? What kind of Kris Jenner team does Trump have? Dear lord if this human shitstain wins the election. Reply Thread Link It's what they did with the fake PR person, John Miller. In fact, all things point to Trump releasing the story himself to get attention off of ... the Judge story, I think? And, as I don't remember exactly what the focus was being taken off of, it obviously worked. Reply Parent Thread Link no joke i googled how far it was to drive from jersey to chicago, might end up making a trip out of it because THAT CAST Reply Parent Thread Link Hate to be that person but does anyone have a stream for either of the bootlegs? They're not on stagedork anymore and I wanted to convince a friend of the musical. Reply Thread Link I was joking that LMM wasn't really on vacation he was just taking down streams. Reply Parent Thread Link i saw someone saying that they reported every bootleg they saw because "lin has done so much for us, we need to protect his feelings". like lol the guy is super rich right now and the show is sold out everywhere, his feelings will be fine. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link noooooooo crap i was going to watch the bootlegs with my sister D: crap i gotta find theeemmmmm Reply Parent Thread Link here too please! My three year old is devastated she can't watch it anymore. That show was like Mickey Mouse in my house. Reply Parent Thread Link Joshua is SO sexy. My friend and I were literally talking about why he isn't in Hamilton already. Excited to see he's finally joining the team. So damn talented. Reply Thread Link I was expecting Renee to leave so much earlier than October. The Netflix show she's doing starts filming in September in Vancouver and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is already filming. Mandy Gonzalez and Karen Olivo (in Chicago) as Angelica, WOW! Hope to hear both of their takes on Angelica. I always thought Mandy would be Eliza. Reply Thread Link She'll probably just take some days off to film Henrietta Lacks. She was out over the weekend, but I think Mandy would make a great Eliza too or maybe just that her Burn would be really good. She may have aged out of the Eliza role. She was Maria waaaaay back when they first started working on the show. Reply Parent Thread Link I think Mandy is best suited for more in-your-face strong roles like Nina and Elphaba, so I always saw her as more of an Angelica. Even vocally. Although I'd kill to hear her doing Burn. Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh agreed! I really want to see both of their performances. Reply Parent Thread Link Ooh October? Like when in October?? (I've been mulling a Columbus Day weekend trip). And lol the In the Heights reunion continues! I hope Mandy and Chris overlap at lead a little, it would bring new meaning to the scene where Washington and Angelica dance at the Winter's Ball! ;) Reply Thread Link They don't have a date for departure and I'm pretty sure Chris isn't going anywhere so he should def be there when she comes in. Reply Parent Thread Link ITH reunion! And with Seth also being in Hamilton. I'm so happy. Now just put Robin de Jesus as Laurens and just give any role to Andrea Burns. I think I'm going to have to go to NYC sooner than I expected and go back to the stage door... Reply Parent Thread Link ugh bring this show to Philly, I want to see it! Reply Thread Link Great casting! Hamilton has been hitting it out of the park with all these replacements! I've always imagined Mandy as more of an Eliza but I'm sure she'll make a fantastic Angelica. Now can we get Lindsay Mendez as Angelica somewhere? Reply Thread Link there's one more company to put together and she was in 21 chump street so this could totally happen for the touring company if she's up for it Reply Parent Thread Link Fingers crossed! I honestly love how many great casting possibilities this show has. I can't wait to see who they get for the US tour and London! Reply Parent Thread Link Mandy!! I have been playing "Breathe" non stop lately so this is just great. I agree that I picture her as more of an Eliza but she will be an amazing Angelica for sure. Does anybody have any recordings of the new main cast? I am sure they are all great but it would be nice to have a listen Reply Thread Link They haven't really gone on. There are Javier recordings floating around but Brandon Victor Dixon isn't actually in until the end of this month, and Lexi Lawson was out for like 2 weeks with vocal issues. Reply Parent Thread Link There are some audios with Lexi Lawson as Eliza on tumblr Reply Parent Thread Link bless you i almost regret deleting my tumblr awww elizabeth judd has a beautiful voice!!! and sydney's burr >>>>> austin's Edited at 2016-08-01 03:32 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Joshua Henry?? I'd love to see him as Burr. That's fantastic Reply Thread Link 30 DAYS until I get to see Hamilton. I am so excited. I was really bummed so many of the main cast left already but the new/interim leads sound great and I'm excited to see Chris, Renee etc. I am on a Hamilton hiatus until I see it now. Reply Thread Link Counting down until November. So excited for this Chicago cast!! Reply Thread Link I have a ticket for the Chicago show but might sell it. IDK if I really want to go to Chicago in January... Reply Thread Link I'm not familiar with Broadway, so do actors normally do a tv/movie role when their show ends to give their voice a rest, or do some immediately sign on to another production and begin reversals? Reply Thread Link i don't think there's a standard for what they choose to do after they're done with a role. in the case of joshua (and even brandon, the new burr for bway), their show wasn't supposed to close this soon initially so i think it's moreso they were offered an opportunity they couldn't pass up. Reply Parent Thread Link A lot hope their musical/play will be good enough to get them offers for tv/film and sometimes do both at the same time if it shoots in NY Reply Parent Thread Link Ahh! I'm going to be in New York Sept. 30 through October 3. I would kill to see Renee before she leaves. Reply Thread Link Islamic State fighters have killed five people in an attack on the largest oil field in Kirkuk, Bas Hassan, and have attempted to take down a gas compression station nearby as well, where they planted bombs after killing four guards. The fifth victim was an engineer working at Bas Hassan, media report, citing Iraqi and Kurdish sources. However, ISIS itself has so far not claimed responsibility for the attack. Sources from the Kurdish military forces, the Peshmerga, said that the attack on the gas station was neutralized and that three of the four ISIS terrorists involved in the double hit were killed, one of them managing to blow himself up, causing explosions in oil storage tanks at Bas Hassan. The fourth one escaped. There have been suggestions that the attackers belonged to a sleeper cell based in the oil-rich region of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Bas Hassan is the largest oilfield in Kirkuk and contributes around a third of the oil exports of the Kurdistan Regional Government, which has been locked in an unofficial dispute over the oil-rich province with the central government in Baghdad since the removal of Saddam Hussein. Multi-ethnic as it is, Kirkuk has been hard to win for either Baghdad or Erbil, the center of the Kurdistan government. It seems, however, that a large portion of the population would back a referendum on where it belongs, which could see it become even more closely affiliated with Kurdistan than with Iraq, as Oilprice wrote back in April. Related: Why Goldman Sachs Remains Bullish On Russian Oil According to some local analysts, Kirkuk is already practically under Kurdish control but there is a possibility for the province to become an autonomous entity. This, says Arif Qurbany, will be pretty much a disaster for Kurdish interests and people in Kirkuk. Autonomy will give Baghdad more power to influence the course of events in the oil-rich region, undermining the Kurds influence, he argues. Control over Kirkuk is extremely important for Kurdistan, as it is overwhelmingly dependent on oil for its livelihood, just like Iraq. Currently, the Kurdistan Regional Government has control over some 45 billion barrels of oil (BP estimates), which is about a third of Iraqs total. Now that KRG has won the right to market its own oil independently of Baghdad, it will likely do everything in its power to get access to more oil and that oil is in Kirkuk. ISIS attacks on Kurdish territory have been rarer than elsewhere in Iraq. Yet, the terrorist group is now being driven out of some important strongholds by the Iraqi army (and by the Syrian forces in Syria), cutting its access to oil, on which it is no less dependent than both Baghdad and Erbil. Just earlier this month, ISIS set five oilfields on fire near Mosul, one of the first major cities that fell to the terrorists back in 2014. Oil is the ultimate bargaining chip in the war-torn Middle East. This latest attack is simply another in a long string of events constantly highlighting this fact. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A new week, a new month, a new sell-off. Crude prices are charging lower to start the week as a plethora of bearish indicators emerge to encourage crude lower. Hark, here are five things to consider in the oil market today. 1) First up, Saudi Arabia has cut its official selling price (OSP) for Arab Light into Asia for September by the biggest amount in nearly a year. The Kingdom has lowered its OSP to a $1.10/bbl discount versus Oman-Dubai; while some will interpret this as a signal of Saudi rolling up its sleeves to battle for market share, it is more likely that the price discount is a response to lower impending Asian demand as refiners dial back on runs. As our ClipperData illustrates in the chart below, Saudi has accounted for some 16 percent of waterborne crude deliveries into China this year through June. This number has been inflated by February imports at their highest since at least 2013; nonetheless, Saudis share of waterborne flows to China is below that seen last year, as the battle for market share rages on. (Click to enlarge) 2) The latest CFTC data show that speculators increased their shorts (aka bearish bets) by the biggest volume on record in last weeks data for WTI crude. This is the biggest increase since data began back in 2006, dragging the net long position in WTI to its lowest since February. Another bearish development from the CFTC data has been gasoline positioning. Speculative positions in gasoline have moved to a record net short position as hedge funds bet on an ongoing gasoline supply glut. (Click to enlarge) 3) As Indian domestic oil production (see below) continues to edge lower as demand continues to increase, it has boosted foreign investment in an effort to increase its energy security. Indian investment in Russian oil projects is now close to $6 billion, while it has invested a further $6 billion into a gas project in Mozambique. (Click to enlarge) The chart below shows Indias expected increase in oil demand over the long-term. This year it is surpassing Japan to become the third largest oil consumer in the world behind China and the U.S.: (Click to enlarge) 4) Sinopec is looking to double its domestic production of shale gas through heavy investment in the coming years. It is expected to reach close to to 4 Bcf/d by 2020 as it taps Chinas huge shale reserves, even as it dials back on its oil investments. Chinese domestic consumption increased by 3.3 percent last year, down from double digits in recent years. Sinopec is targeting production growth of 18 percent per annum to achieve its goal; in the first half of the year it only reached 10 percent. 5) While we have previously raised concerns about Venezuelas finances in relation to their ability to purchase diluent to mix with their heavy crude to export it, other financial cracks are appearing elsewhere. Schlumberger has halted work at four of six drilling platforms that it operates in Lake Maracaibo, citing a lack of payment by PdVSA. It was only in mid-June when Schlumberger had previously reached an agreement to keep six platforms operating. Halliburton also said in April that it would reduce operations in Venezuela due to underpayment from PdVSA, while other services companies have also suspended operations. By Matt Smith More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Very interesting comments on the zinc market the last few days from a major producer that says it is struggling to find projects for the metal even as a price surge looms. Thats Chinas MMG. Operator of a number of base metals mines in Australia and Peru and a firm thats now aggressively seeking to expand its global portfolio in zinc. MMGs CEO Andrew Michelmore told an investor conference call Thursday that his management team thinks now is the time to be betting on zinc. A sentiment that he summed up simply by saying, The crunch has finally come. Michelmore went on to note that MMG is scouring the land for zinc projects, especially in one part of the world: Peru. Where the company already has a strong presence, thanks to the recent commissioning of the Las Bambas copper mega-mine. MMG also sees Peru as a great place to develop zinc projects, with Michelmore saying that big deposits already identified in the country demonstrate significant potential. Something MMG says is very hard to find in other parts of the planet. Theres so little zinc around, Michelmore told conference call attendees. We are very positive about the zinc industry and were keen to be involved with more of it, but its challenging. The recent price action in zinc supports this bullish sentiment. With the metal having risen nearly 45 percent so far in 2016 largely driven by a number of big mine closures globally, including MMGs own Century operation in Australia. That kind of appreciation should indeed mean miners jumping into projects. But theres been surprisingly little action in this space due to the lack of good projects that MMGs management points out. Related: Expert Commentary: Dont Be Fooled By U.S. Production Gains A look at zincs global production profile reveals there arent a lot of options for this metal. As the chart below shows, after top producer China, there are really only two big zinc nations Australia and MMGs top choice Peru. (Click to enlarge) Source: U.S. Geological Survey That supply tightness is going to mean that quality zinc projects could become a very hot item over the coming months and years. One dark horse here watch for Myanmar, which has substantial known deposits and past-producing mines in this rare space. Heres to if you only buy one metal this year, By Dave Forest More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The global natural gas glut could get much worse if China has its way. The spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have plunged in recent years, falling by more than 75 percent from the 2014 highs. Too much supply has run headlong into a market that has seen demand slow significantly. But China could make things much worse. In an effort to find a domestic source of energy, and clean up its horrific air pollution problems by shutting down coal plants, the top state-owned energy companies are scrambling to develop shale gas. China has been trying to develop shale gas for several years, but has struggled because the geology is complex, there is a dearth of infrastructure in places where the gas is located, and water availability issues have also made development difficult. China is persevering, however Sinopec has announced a goal of doubling production within five years, The Wall Street Journal reports. That would take production from roughly 2 to 4 billion cubic feet per day by 2020. The logic for state-owned companies like Sinopec is obvious. Oil production from its aging fields is falling, so they are venturing into new markets. By growing gas production they are effectively trying to mitigate whats happening on the oil side of the business, Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Bernstein Research, told the WSJ. Ramping up shale gas looks like more of a volume strategy than a value strategy, he added. Related: Whats Next For Oil - Could This Be The Start Of A Correction? In Sinopec is successful, the implications would reverberate beyond Chinas boarders. If China ramps up shale gas production, it might not need nearly as much imported LNG as everyone expected. That would put billion-dollar investments at risk, such as ExxonMobils recent $2.5 billion offering for InterOil, a company that has gas assets in Papua New Guinea and will allow the oil major to expand LNG exports from that country. Or, Royal Dutch Shells $54 billion purchase of BG Group could turn out to be a major loser if LNG markets remain depressed for years to come, something that would be more likely if China succeeds in developing a successful shale gas industry. For now, substantial hurdles remain. Sinopec is still learning shale drilling techniques and infrastructure needs improvement. Sinopec boosted output by 10 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier, but it is not on track to hit its 18 percent growth target for the year, according to the WSJ. By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Over the secular horizon, Oil prices are likely to remain low, said the PIMCOs Global Advisory Board (GAB), while assessing global economic trends, according to the PIMCO website. The GAB believes that the major factors that can keep prices down over the long-term are twofold: consistently high production by Saudi Arabia, and on the demand side, the board expects new technologies and a move towards green fuels to slow oil consumption somewhat. The GAB members included Dr. Ben Bernanke, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dr. Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ng Kok Song, former Chief Investment Officer of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. A few of the points mentioned by the GAB dont add uplets analyze both the demand and the supply situation. High oil production by Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian oil production has gone up only marginally in the last four years, as seen in the chart below. However, what Saudi Arabia has done is that they no longer operate as the swing producer of the world. (Click to enlarge) I think managing in the traditional way that we tried in the past may never come again, said Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi Arabian oil minister. Certainly we will not go with certain price targets, reports The New York Times. The Saudis have realized that the shale oil drillers cant wait for prices to rise before increasing production. Their financial position dictates that they continue high production to meet their liabilities. Similarly, all the other major oil producing nations are also not in a position to reduce production, as most are struggling to fund their fiscal budgets. Related: Electric Vehicles Wont Kill Off Oil Demand Anytime Soon Hence, Saudi Arabia has adopted the new philosophy to continue pumping oil, allowing the market to determine the fair price, which is the right thing to do for the long-term. This means that it is not only Saudi Arabia that is keeping production highall major oil producers are pumping as much as they can. Regime change in the Middle East Since the Arab spring, most Arab nations have taken a practical approach to falling oil prices. They have initiated corrective measures to avoid another round of unrest. The Vision 2030 plan announced by Saudi Arabia is a big step in the right direction, and it is not the only country to do so. Oman and the United Arab Emirates have also chalked out plans to reduce dependence on oil by diversifying their economy. "In the UAE we are diversifying the sources of energyand also we are diversifying the sources of income. We are developing our economy, and year on year we are seeing that the non-oil economy's contribution is growing," Suhail Bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, energy minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) told CNBC. Khalid Al Rumaihi, chief executive of Bahrain's Economic Development Board, considered the current oil crisis as an opportunity for the gulf nations to transform. "In my mind, this period is a blessing in disguise. I think it was Mr (Winston) Churchill who said 'never let a good crisis go to waste'. I think it is an unprecedented opportunity for reform," said Khalid Al Rumaihi. Related: ISIS Hits Largest Oil Field in Kirkuk, Kills Five Though these steps are long-term in nature, they show that the rulers have learned their lesson well and are taking the necessary steps to reduce the possibilities of another Arab Spring in the near future. Consumption remains strong Various reports suggest that crude oil demand will remain strong till around 2030. Aside from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whose demand has peaked, the non-OECD demand continues to remain strong. We still believe that there could be one more super-cycle in oil before demand peaks in 2030-35, investment advisory firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in its note. Assuming tight oil peaks out before demand does, it could result in another period of supply tightness as OPEC becomes a dominant force in supply, just as it did in the 1970s, reports Bloomberg. So in order to survive in the short-term, oil companies have shelved billions of dollars of oil projects, which will lead to a shortage of oil in the future, when demand will continue to rise and the supply of oil will not be enough to meet the demand. We are likely to get a bout of high oil prices a few years from now, but until then, the markets will continue to remain range bound. By Rakesh Upadhyay For Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The coming of Spring is unequaled in its power to spark fresh ideas in creative minds. Melting snow, thawing brooks, budding flowers and a warm breeze or two after a long and hard winter inevitably open the spirit to possibilities never before thought of. So it must have been for the young portraitist as he anticipated a bright future among his new-found friends. Commissions, exhibitions, and a studio, surrounded by artists of like mind, in a congenial neighborhood less stress-filled than Manhattan--the pluses all crowded his mind, while not entirely putting to rest the apparent negatives such as reduced exposure to the clamoring front line of the established art world. But even considering the downsides, a move to Brooklyn looked like a step in the right direction. And the possibility of romance lurked in the undercurrent of his thoughts. Whatever it was, Stanis gradually appeared to be coming under the spell this graceful abode on the other side of the East River. In terms of the arts, Brooklyn was not as much of a backwater as one might at first imagine. As far back as 1824, Brooklyn civic leaders felt the time was ripe to guide the artistic and cultural development of the city. They established a library that evolved into the Brooklyn Institute, later to become the full-blown Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. This last umbrella organization offered courses and presentations in a broad range of subjects. Through the decades, it added to its roster of departments, until by the late 1800s it became akin to a university in its own right. It spun off, as independent institutions that still exist today, the Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Children's Museum. The press was not unconscious of the strong cultural currents that were taking up so much of the time of Brooklyn folks. It fueled the flames of artistic development by providing detailed coverage of the arts that included frequent visits to artists' studios and reports on the progress particular artists were making. These developments all occurred in tandem with an economic boom in the late 19th Century, driven by the flurry of technical innovations such as the telegraph, telephone, steamboat, and engineering breakthroughs that made possible the construction of massive projects like the Brooklyn Bridge and a forest of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan. Brooklyn, however, was not about to be outdone by Manhattan or even Washington, D.C. It would have its major art museum, its performance space, and its libraries. These were all constructed, maintained, and liberally used. It was upon this foundation that a community of up-and-coming painters and sculptors took root, blossomed and flourished. But the need for studio space for artists often presented a challenge, as the commercial boom put a priority on available rentals for business purposes. When major businesses expanded, however, they would vacate older buildings for the new, and studio space began to open up. Among the most prominent examples of this trend in Brooklyn was the Ovington Building on Fulton Street. The Ovington brothers had run a brisk trade in ceramics, pottery, table ware and sculpture since the mid-1800s. In the 1870s, they opened a fine two-story building encompassing several storefronts along Fulton Street at the edge of the downtown shopping district. Their stock included some of the finest examples of china and porcelain one could obtain, much of it imported. A table setting, for example, might sell for as much as $3,000, or the equivalent of $195,000 today. Ovington Brothers Building, from an 1887 Ovington Brothers catalog. (Image by Peter Duveen) Details DMCA One cold winter morning in 1883, however, a fire broke out in the lower stories of the store just before opening time. Two employees rushed out to the street to escape the flames, only one of them belatedly pulling an alarm to alert local firefighters. Engines arrived some 30 minutes after the initial outbreak of the fire, which quickly spread to the upper floors, engulfing the entire building and threatening a church and neighboring structures. These buildings were saved when the fire was finally brought under control, but both the stock and structure of the Ovington Brothers store was a total ruin. Losses were estimated as upwards of $250,000, or $16 million in today's dollars. Amazingly undaunted by the loss, the company was determined to rebuild. It set up headquarters in a nearby church, and by November of 1883, a mere 11 months after the disastrous fire, a new six-story department store, equipped with modern elevators, opened to much fanfare and excitement. The firm prospered in its new location, and soon opened a branch in Manhattan. Eight years would pass before it abandoned its Fulton Street store for more attractive retail space on nearby Flatbush Avenue in the middle of the downtown Brooklyn shopping district. That fateful decision was to have the side effect of providing a haven for a robust community of painters and sculptors that would eventually fill the building Ovington Brothers had vacated, although the firm would still retain ownership for years to come. It might be of interested to the reader to know that the land upon which the Ovington Building stood, was owned by none other than Martha Middagh, heir to a large swath of what was once farmland in the heart of Brooklyn Heights. Upon her death, the landed estate was distributed among three surviving daughters, among whom was Sarah Middagh Gracie. When the latter died around 1900, her share passed to her adopted daughter, Cornelia Middagh Gracie Henshaw, the matriarch of the Henshaw clan that plays so prominently in this narrative. The parcel leased by Ovington Brothers was finally acquired by the firm around 1909, but the legal back and forth between the Henshaws and the Ovingtons left a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste in the affairs of the two families. Corrie, who was Cornelia's daughter, blamed a less than scrupulous attorney for the disadvantageous transaction that relieved the Henshaws of ownership of the parcel. But back to the story. Among the first tenants of the vacated and rather immense six story structure was an arm of the aforementioned Brooklyn Institute, the Brooklyn Art School, which brought with it an appreciable roster of students and faculty around 1890. Soon following suit were a bevy of painters and sculptors who opened individual studios in the building, many of whom would keep them for most of their artistic careers. Painting of an African-American household by Harry Roseland (Image by Peter Duveen) Details DMCA Benjamin Osro Eggleston, an import from the Midwest who, like many artists of the time, cut his artistic teeth as a newspaper illustrator, was one of the first to occupy the building. After only a few years in Brooklyn, Eggleston's pictures, which ultimately were executed with a crisp, insightful style as his work matured, had attracted attention and notice in local papers, and were included in the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design. Harry Roseland, known for his heartfelt renderings of African-American life, also opened a studio there, and the men were seen as friendly competitors by the press. Harry Roseland would keep a studio in the building until his death in 1950. Two women artists of some prominence, Edith Sawyer and Eleanor Bannister, also took studios in the building, which before long was abuzz with colleagues running to and fro in the hallways, and up and down the elevators. On the main floor was a produce shop that would draw its own clientele, while providing tenants with shopping convenience. In 1924 when Stanis arrived on the scene, the building was bustling with activity. In the meantime, the 20th Century brought to the Brooklyn arts community its own set of innovations. At the beginning of the century, the latest experimental trends in Europe were but rumblings in America. The public had not yet been introduced to the radical schools of abstract art that were emerging in Germany and France. The National Academy of Design, established in the 1820s by artists that included portraitist and inventor Samuel F.B. Morse, maintained such a tight control over the local art scene in the early 1900s that it sparked a rebellion among the many artists who were refused admission to its shows. In the first decade of the century, Robert Henri, known for his warm impressionist portraits, organized a group that would buck the Academy's control over American art. Their first show in 1908 sent shock waves through the art world. The band of upstarts--Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, Maurice and Charles Prentergast, among others--were cast by the day's mainstream media as "Ashcan" artists, whose choice of themes -- often realistic streetscapes instead of idealized pastures--were considered below the standards of acceptable work. But the works of these artists "The Eight" they were called--eventually caught the eye of the public and art patrons. A few years later, many of these same artists, along with some associated art critics, organized a show that highlighted new and controversial works in abstract and expressionist styles that the Atlantic Ocean had heretofore protected the American public from. The Armory Show of 1913, as it is now referred to because it was held in an armory in New York City, shook the American art world to its foundations, and set the tone for most of the 20th Century. These upheavals paved the way for other arts groups in America that would promote exhibitions by their members without having to go through a single academy or other elitist organization. As the second decade of the century rolled to a close, a new organization in Brooklyn emerged to support the borough's artists. Known as the Brooklyn Society of Artists, this group met formally each month, and launched a series of annual exhibitions--the first in 1917--to expose the public to its members' work. Many artists in the Ovington building joined and became officers of the BSA, which would eventually emerge as a national organization, the Society of Contemporary Artists. A conflict between the members over whether the group should promote new trends in art as opposed to what appeared to be the more staid and less experimental styles among them led to the formation of two splinter groups, the Brooklyn Society of Modern Artists and the Brooklyn Painters and Sculptors, the former considering itself the cutting edge while the later preserving the time-tested techniques of classical art. Watercolorists, etchers and miniaturists had their separate clubs. It is quite evident that, with the proliferation of these competing groups, Stanis would not arrive in Brooklyn to greet a void in culture. In terms of his profession, at least, he would not be on foreign soil, although his predilection for realism and love for the Old Masters put him and many of his colleagues at odds with the emerging trend that was to be called modern art. For Stanis, this was a fight that would endure through his dying days. For all the chatter about animosity between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Washington Post reports that "a senior Israeli official will arrive in Washington next week for a final round of negotiations involving the largest military aid package the United States has ever given any country and that will last more than a decade after President Obama leaves office." The U.S. already transfers $3.1 billion in taxpayer money every year to Israel -- more than any other country by far -- but the new agreement Obama is set to sign "significantly raises" that amount, and guarantees it for 10 years. [ ... ] In response to this massive windfall, Netanyahu is angry that he is not getting even more. For some time, "Netanyahu was holding out for as much at $5 billion a year." Also, Israel has been opposed to efforts to direct more of that aid to U.S. military contractors rather than Israeli ones (so this "aid" package is as much a transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to weapons manufacturers in both countries as it is to Israel itself). Moreover, "Israelis are also said to be displeased with a U.S. position that whatever amount of money they agree on will be final and that Israel will not go to Congress requesting more money." Usually, when someone hands you billions of dollars in aid, you're not in much of a position to demand more. But the rules for Israel when it comes to U.S. policy, as is so often the case, are simply different. Even as Israel has aggressively expanded settlements of the West Bank (often in a way designed to most humiliate the U.S.) and slaughtered civilians in Gaza, U.S. aid simply increases more and more. What's particularly fascinating about all of this is that Netanyahu originally intended to wait until the "next administration" to finalize the deal because, assuming that would be Hillary Clinton, he believed (with good reason) he would get an even better deal, but is now worried about an "unpredictable" Donald Trump, who has spouted standard pro-Israel rhetoric before AIPAC (and worse) but had previously espoused the need for "neutrality" on the Israel/Palestine question and has made "America First" the rhetorical centerpiece of his campaign. Click Here to Read Whole Article Vladimir Putin (Image by theglobalpanorama) Details DMCA Once in a while one of the videos somebody emails me a link to turns out to be well worth watching. Such is this one. In it a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union tries to explain to Vladimir Putin why new U.S. missile bases near the border of Russia should not be understood as threatening. He explains that the motivation in Washington, D.C., is not to threaten Russia but to create jobs. Putin responds that, in that case, the United States could have created jobs in peaceful industries rather than in war. Putin may or may not be familiar with U.S. economic studies finding that, in fact, the same investment in peaceful industries would create more jobs than does military spending. But he is almost certainly aware that, in U.S. politics, elected officials have, for the better part of a century, only been willing to invest heavily in military jobs and no others. Still, Putin, who may also be familiar with how routine it has become for Congress members to talk about the military as a jobs program, appears in the video a bit surprised that someone would offer that excuse to a foreign government fixed in U.S. sights. Timothy Skeers who sent me the video link commented: "Maybe Khrushchev should have just told Kennedy he was just trying to create jobs for Soviet citizens when he put those missiles in Cuba." Imagining how that would have played out may help people in the United States to grasp how their elected officials sound to the rest of the world. That one main motivation for U.S. military expansion in Eastern Europe is "jobs," or rather, profits, is almost openly admitted by the Pentagon. In May the Politico newspaper reported on Pentagon testimony in Congress to the effect that Russia had a superior and threatening military, but followed that with this: "'This is the "Chicken-Little, sky-is-falling" set in the Army,' the senior Pentagon officer said. 'These guys want us to believe the Russians are 10 feet tall. There's a simpler explanation: The Army is looking for a purpose, and a bigger chunk of the budget. And the best way to get that is to paint the Russians as being able to land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. What a crock." Politico then cited a less-than-credible "study" of Russian military superiority and aggression and added: "While the reporting about the Army study made headlines in the major media, a large number in the military's influential retired community, including former senior Army officers, rolled their eyes. 'That's news to me,' one of these highly respected officers told me. 'Swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles? Surprisingly lethal tanks? How come this is the first we've heard of it?'" It's always the retired officials speaking truth to corruption, inlcuding retired Ambassador Jack Matlock in the video. Money and bureaucracy are euphemized as "jobs," and their influence is real but still explains nothing. You can have money and bureaucracy promote peaceful industries. The choice to promote war is not a rational one. In fact, it is well described by a U.S. writer in the New York Times projecting U.S. attitudes onto Russia and Putin: "The strategic purpose of his wars is war itself. This is true in Ukraine, where territory was a mere pretext, and this is true of Syria, where protecting Mr. Assad and fighting ISIS are pretexts too. Both conflicts are wars with no end in sight because, in Mr. Putin's view, only at war can Russia feel at peace." This was, in fact, how the New York Times reported last October on the event from which the video linked above is taken. (More here.) I condemn the Russian bombing of Syria all the time, including on Russian media on almost a weekly basis, but if there is a nation that is always at war it is the United States, which backed a right-wing anti-Russia coup in Ukraine and now refers to the Russian response as irrational war-making. The wisdom of the New York Times writer, like the wisdom of Nuremberg, is selectively applied in a hostile manner, but still wise. The purpose of war is indeed war itself. The justifications are always pretexts. European Union (Image by pixabay.com) Details DMCA The European Parliament will vote, after this summer recess, a visa-free short-stay travel permission to Ukraine, Georgia, and Kosovo, after the proposal being approved by the European Commission. If approved, citizens of these three countries will be allowed to enter Schengen zone's countries without asking for a previous visa and remain up to 90 days. The proposal has been discussed for a while, but it has raised the fears of many EU members, especially by Germany and France, which have concerns about its consequences for their countries. The weak passport system of Kosovo and the possibility of creating an open door for illegal immigrants from Ukraine were among possible drawbacks pointed out by them. So, at this stage, Georgia is the only country that seems more likely to have the visa-free permission approved without raising any eyebrows in Europe. But, it is believed in Brussels that the proposal will be approved by the European Parliament anyway despite the lack of unanimity. And yet, the approval of a visa-free regime for Georgia, Ukraine, and Kosovo won't necessarily means that citizens of those countries will be allowed to enter in all EU countries in the long-term. And this is because members of the European Union are working behind the scenes creating measures that can be used if they become unhappy with the agreement in the future. Last May, for instance, EU interior ministers approved a mechanism that has been called "emergency brake", which will allow the temporary suspension of the visa-free permission with any non-EU countries if necessary due to the refugee crisis in Europe. Plus, Germany and France are also working to approve a "suspension clause" that will give them, and to any other EU country, the right to withdraw from the visa-free regime. Kosovo has met all requirements Even though the concerns about Kosovo are still alive among the EU members, it was said by the EU Commission that the country had met all necessary conditions required to join the visa-free short-stay system. As demanded, Kosovo implemented biometric passports, for example. And by the time the agreement is approved, they will have ratified their border agreement with Montenegro and imposed more effective measures against organised crime and corruption, according to the European Commission. Another point being considered in the discussions is that EU citizens are already allowed to travel to Kosovo without a visa, so it would be only fair to adopt the same measure for the other way around. The country has also written a document signing a trade and political pact with the EU, even though not being recognized by the EU members Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Greece, and Slovakia. How the visa-free short-stay works The visa-free short-stay visa suggested to be joined by Ukraine, Kosovo, and Georgia doesn't cover all EU, neither is free of requirements for travelers from any country. The Schengen agreement was signed by 22 of 28 EU Member States, and by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, but not by Ireland and the UK, for instance. In addition to it, those interested in travelling to those countries will still have to prove financial means and are only allowed to travel for write my paper business, tourism, and family purposes -- not to work. And they will be authorised to stay only up to 90 days within a 180-day period. Turkey wasn't included On the other hand, Turkey failed to meet the requirements and missed the deadline to be included in the discussions for visa-free within the Schengen Zone. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Trump 'deferring to Putin' (Image by reddit) Details DMCA Forbes came out on July 18 with a piece focused on the 2016 Republican platform vis-a-vis Russia. Its headline read, "Trump, Deferring to Putin, Deleted GOP Platform's Call to Supply Ukraine with Lethal Defensive Weapons." There isn't anything in this headline that is demonstrably true. Interestingly, that same Trump-Putin theme is being voiced strongly by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Trump is in cahoots with Vladimir Putin they claim. There's been no factual substantiation, though. Let's pick off a couple of the clearest points first. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). It's no secret that the Presidential election has narrowed down to major candidates who are each distrusted or even loathed by a substantial portion of the electorate. However, the deeper problem is that neither candidate has proposed an adequate response to, or even given priority to, the biggest challenges of our age. the system (Image by author (Craig .K. Comstock)) Details DMCA Hillary and other speakers at the Democratic National Convention made the best case for her that could be made, whether it was the President 's noting that her Federal experience prior to the Presidency exceeds Bill's or his own, Chelsea's praise for Hillary's mothering skills and her devotion to kids and women, Bill's charming "aw shucks" tales of her toughness and of their courtship at Yale Law School and elsewhere, or Hillary's own earnest imitation of an Eisenhower Republican who somehow also feels the bern while breaking a glass ceiling. Okay, good rhetorical job. Applause for all these main figures and for others in the Wells Fargo arena in Philadelphia. So what's the problem? It's not that lawyerly promises in an acceptance speech or in a platform document signify little about how a successful candidate will actually govern. The problem is that neither of the major candidates has presented an adequate policy to deal with the greatest challenges of our time. Meanwhile, the short-term problem is that Hillary is likely to continue the economic practices that led to the rise of Trump. In four years, what if the pain felt by Trump backers grows even worse, and if more people are affected? Even if we don't want to elect an ignorant, egotistical, sociopathic fraud and cheat, with no programs other than saying "trust me," where are the programs to deal adequately with global warming and with the persistent dangers of nuclear war? Oh, Hillary's opponent in the primaries did repeatedly invoke global warming, and even post a policy paper calling it "the single greatest threat facing our planet," which is the overwhelming consenses of scientists, but has anybody designed an actual program for making the transition to renewable energy? And where is the program for dealing with the danger of nuclear war rather than creating "failed states"? Senator Sanders has done a historical service in raising the issues of gross economic inequality, in revealing the plight of many young people and poor people, in reawakening the spirit of the New Deal, and in trying to start a "political revolution." However, unless the greenhouse gas situation is adequately addressed, with more than ridiculous self-congratulation in Paris, crucial issues of inequality and of women's rights will be submerged. In Philadelphia at least we kept hearing that the US is "exceptional." An exceptional people would deal with reality, not only with gross economic inequality but also with threats so big that politicians so far avoid discussing detailed responses. It will not be enough to feel superior to those who deny man-made global warming and to reassure each other that "we respect science." Not enough to observe that if your ideology has little to offer to any adequate solution, then it's natural to deny. But is it helpful to respect science but not respond adequately to it? To return to gender, as someone who had the benefit of learning from a strong mother, strong sisters, and a strong wife, I'm thrilled that girls will grow up feeling a that woman can be top dog (that Hillary can do what Bill and other guys did), thrilled that we'll have more woman in top government jobs, in board rooms, and in other seats of power, that Hillary, if she wins, might follow the example of the leader of the land to the north and appoint a cabinet that looks like the country (for example, half women). But the job of a leader is not only to celebrate the U.S., but also to challenge it. Yes, an exceptional people would deal with reality. In an age of globalization (empowered by the triumph of economic neo-liberalism, by giant container ships, and by the internet), what will bring back the good (manufacturing) jobs? In the absence of good pay, where will the economic demand come from, to support U.S. businesses? To the extent that we suffer economic frustration, what will prevent a Commander in Chief, relatively free abroad, from taking risks that could lead to nuclear war? Since we have lived since 1945 in a nuclear age, without a subsequent bomb exploding in war, and don't see an alternative to a system of threats of retaliation or even first-strike, we may underestimate the dangers. When asked how we have avoided nuclear war, several well-informed observers have used the word "luck." These observers include a former National Security adviser (McGeorge Bundy , the author of Danger and Survival, the most thorough reporter on military nuclear accidents ((Eric Schlosser in Command and Control) and a former Secretary of Defense (William J. Perry in My Journey o the Nuclear Brink). In Moscow in 1986 I discussed another nuclear near-miss with an adviser who sat at Khrushchev's elbow during the Cuban Missile Crisis ("A Nuclear Secret"). Even if Trump is defeated in the fall, even if Bernie and others succeed in creating a "political revolution," some of the lethal dangers would remain unaddressed or without adequate solutions. We are settling for much too little. Some are depressed about the "lesser evil-ism" of a vote for the Democratic ticket. Others of us are concerned about the lesser evil-ism in almost all major campaigns to date. Consider, for example, the contrast to the early 1980s. Without arguing that nuclear abolition is the answer, I want to observe that the country was then in the midst of a widespread campaign called the "nuclear freeze," including the largest rally in U.S. history, held in Central Park. Then a book could be published calling for nuclear abolition (Jonathan Schell in The Fate of the Earth). Then the super- powers could agree to eliminate a whole class of weapons (intermediate-range missiles). Then at a summit meeting in Reykjavik the leaders of the US and its main rival could come close to agreeing to get rid of all nuclear weapons, leading the poker-faced Secretary of State to blurt out, "let's do it." In contrast, our hopes have become small. One side defends the absurdity that "the market" can solve all problems if only "guv-ment" would "get out of the way," while the other side acts as if becoming the 55th country to break the glass ceiling and elect a feminine head of state will be enough. Yes, the latter would be helpful, but it's not nearly enough, nor are vague promises and gestures. Standing up for women is a long-overdue job and it's not fair that we also need to do other things at the same time, but we do. If Hillary is only a third term of Obama's hopefulness , in the face of GOP obstructionism, the conditions that facilitated Trump's rise will only get worse. What then? We have to think big, or it may soon be too late. Reprinted from The National Was it meant as an epic parody or an insult to his audience's intelligence? It was hard to tell. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to social media to apologize for last year's notorious election-day comment, when he warned that "the Arabs are coming out to vote in droves" -- a reference to the fifth of Israel's population who are Palestinian. In videos released last week in English and Hebrew, Mr Netanyahu urged Palestinian citizens to become more active in public life. They needed to "work in droves, study in droves, thrive in droves," he said. "I am proud of the role Arabs play in Israel's success." Pointedly, Ayman Odeh, head of the Palestinian-dominated Joint List party, noted that 100,000 Bedouin citizens could not watch the video because Israel denies their communities electricity, internet connections and all other services. Swiftly and predictably, the reality of life for Israel's 1.7 million Palestinians upstaged Mr Netanyahu's fine words. In a radio interview, Moti Dotan, the head of the Lower Galilee regional council, sent a message to his Palestinian neighbors: "I don't want them at my [swimming] pools." Sounding like a mayor in the southern United States during the Jim Crow-era, he added: "Their culture of cleanliness isn't the same as ours. Why is that racist?" Dotan was no extremist, observed the liberal newspaper Haaretz. He represents the Israeli mainstream. Notably, Mr Netanyahu did not distance himself from Mr Dotan's remarks. At the same time, Samar Qupty, star of a new film on Palestinians in Israel called Junction 48, was questioned for two hours and then strip searched at Ben Gurion airport and denied her hand luggage before being allowed to fly to an international film festival. Stories of state-sponsored humiliation at the airport are routine for Israel's Palestinian academics, journalists, actors and community leaders -- in fact, for any Palestinian active in the public sphere. The list of restrictions on Palestinian citizens is long and growing. A database by the legal group Adalah shows that some 60 Israeli laws explicitly discriminate against non-Jews, with another 18 in the pipeline. Two laws passed last month intensify the repression of dissent. An Expulsion Law is designed to empower Israeli MPs to oust Palestinian lawmakers whose views offend them, while a Transparency Law stigmatises human rights groups working to protect Palestinian rights. Recently leaked protocols reveal that the police have secretly awarded themselves powers to use live fire against Palestinian protesters in Israel, even if they pose no danger. Yet another law threatens jail for any Palestinian citizen who tries to dissuade another from volunteering in the Israeli army. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Consortium News Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's embrace of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has built a national reputation for his harsh treatment of undocumented migrants and U.S. citizens of Mexican descent, is a clear signal of how Trump plans to treat Latinos if he becomes president. While the federal courts have taken legal steps to restrain Arpaio's most flagrant actions, the elected sheriff has set the tone for the right-wing debate on immigration and has paved the way for Trump's promise to deport all 12 million undocumented people from the United State and build "the most beautiful wall you've ever seen." For more than seven years, Salvador Reza, a Phoenix-based indigenous rights leader and long-time human rights activist with Tonatierra , has gone head to head with Arpaio and was appalled to see the sheriff on stage at the Republican National Convention. Dennis Bernstein spoke with Salvador Reza. Dennis Bernstein: Could [you] begin by just giving us a bit of background in terms of the kind of work you've been involved in, what your struggle has been over the last 10 and 20 years? Salvador Reza: Well, Tonatierra is an indigenous rights organization, and we see immigration tolerance through that lens. We see that we have been here for thousands of years, and these are the lands where the Aztecs migrated from. So when we defend anybody that's being persecuted by Joe Arpaio or by this racist law, we do it from that context. We've been fighting Arpaio since 2007, when he started deporting day laborers massively from a furniture store. We were able to get him out of there, basically by almost breaking the store financially. We've been instrumental in putting pressure on Joe Arpaio everywhere he turns. He arrested me twice, once voluntarily and the second one because he wanted to teach me a lesson. And the litigation is still going on. But then [State Rep] Russell Pierce arrested me too, for opposing his racist policies in the state legislature. So, I hate to say it, but with Trump, you know, getting up there and possibly becoming the next president, the same policies that started here in Arizona are going to be implemented nationwide. With the exception that, now with Donald Trump, you don't have a sheriff that's relying on taxpayers' money. He'll be relying on corporate money plus taxpayers' money. So that makes him more dangerous. [...] So he doesn't care whether the justice department, the judge, whatever puts pressure on Arpaio or what he stands for, because Donald Trump basically stands for Arpaio. DB: That was a good way to set the scene for your multiple confrontations with Arpaio and the policy that he, and now Trump, represent. But let me, for a moment, ask you to give us your reaction when you heard both that [...] Arpaio would be a major supporter [of Trump], and then that [Arpaio] was given a platform [at the Republican National Convention] leading up on the day that Trump would speak. What did that mean to you? What went through your mind? How did that reverberate in your community? SR: Well, what it means to us, and what it means to our community, is that the racist policy in Arizona, at the national level, are going to be massively pushed by the Trump administration if he gets elected. The thing is that Trump is only like a mini-me of Arpaio, with the exception that this mini-me is actually more powerful than Arpaio. Cause Arpaio is local at a county, and Donald Trump will be at the international level and the national level. So what it means to us, the way we saw it, is very dangerous. What we predicted would happen is happening now. We didn't stop it in Arizona, we were able to squash it a little bit, but we were not able to stop it. And SB 1070 is the law of the land right now. Any police force, any police officer, can stop you for what they consider reasonable stop, and basically ask you for your documentation. And that's what is about to happen, nationwide. And to ask what it meant to us, it's a very dangerous precedent. People better hold on, because I don't think they're ready for what's coming. DB: Can you talk ... [about] the level of violence that Joe Arpaio perpetrated on the people of Arizona, and brown people across the state [...] and very specifically, because a lot of people don't understand. I know that you were put in jail a couple of times. But just remind people some of the brutalities. Some of them led to fatalities that Arpaio propagated, forced, pushed as sort of a vigilante operation. Just so we have a taste of what he's doing on the ground, why you were able to be a little bit successful, in the courts. SR: Arpaio, the type of damage that he inflicts upon our community, is first of all psychologica l-- the climate of fear. That is daily for a child. For example, when a parent leaves, [the child] doesn't know if he's going to have the parent back home that afternoon. The parent goes to work, he doesn't know whether he'll come back from work place, right? And, more than that, the tent city is an area where at a temperature of 115-120 degrees on the outside, getting to be 140-150 [degrees] under the tents. And that type of scenario... Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona speaking at the Tea Party Patriots American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, Feb. 25, 2011. (Image by (Photo by Gage Skidmore Flickr)) Details DMCA DB: So, he created a tent city to house, and essentially subtly torture, the community that he was arresting en mass. 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). Abraham Lincoln memorial. (Be sure at some time to read his 2nd Inaugural Address. In my view, stands way above the Gettysburg Address in historical importance.) (Image by airlines470) Details DMCA So far there have been 44 U.S. presidents, each with their own legacy. Two of these presidents were in office for only a month, so their legacies are short. Generally, the more malevolent a particular president was in office the more the legacy needs to be spun to flatter the subject and keep America's powerless in the dark so as not to weaken the power elite of America's corpocracy; namely, its corporate, political, and military leaders, along with the shadow government (e.g., the CIA director), and, in the inner circle, fanatical proponents of America's manifest destiny to control the world's resources. The 42 presidents all had in common two malevolent characteristics that needed the most spinning. One was their psychopathology, a condition of them all that has been substantiated by experts.1 The other is their unflinching willingness to authorize covert and overt wars that all told and so far have claimed and are continuing to claim countless millions of lives of civilians and those killed in combat.2 Currently, we are told that "the US is dropping bombs quicker than it can make them."3 Before continuing reflect for a moment on what that quote really means. It means it's just another sickening reminder of how heinous America's power elite are in their endless effort to control the world's resources. The purpose of this article is threefold: to shed the slime light on the whitewashing by America's corpocracy of five of our nation's truly despicable yet revered presidents; to show how legacy spinning is but a microcosm of the power elites' broader agenda; and to point out the overall implications of that agenda. The Real Legacy of President George Washington As the nation's first president George Washington also became the nation's first "warrior-in-chief." He advocated a "regular and standing" army to "awe the Indians, protect our Trade, prevent the encroachment of our Neighbours of Canada and the Florida's---[and] establishing arsenals of all kinds of military stores."4 He relied on that army in the Northwest Indian War that resulted in several thousand casualties and also in quelling the so-called "whiskey rebellion."5 Why should any different behavior have been expected from a man who was an experienced warrior on numerous occasions even before the American Revolution?6 The Real Legacy of President Abraham Lincoln "Honest Abe?" As a young man, legend says it's so. As president, real legend says "absolutely not!" Ordinarily I don't quote whole paragraphs from other sources, but I am making an exception here: "A president of the United States would never operate outside the law, ignore the U.S. Constitution and the courts, shut down the presses, imprison his domestic adversaries or turn his guns on his own people. Well, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president did of all of that and, curiously, has been turned into a national hero for his troubles. Lincoln ignored his closest advisors and the temper of the times to engage in the bloodiest war in American history, a war that could easily have been avoided." Thomas DiLorenzo, economics professor, historian, and prolific author, wrote that passage in his book about "The Real Lincoln."7 One of his other books highlights the "dishonest Abe."8 I have also written in two of my books about Lincoln and the Civil War, but I don't have Professor DiLorenzo's credentials.9 In doing the research to write the newer of those two books I read twice over Howard Zin's enlightening book on American history, and learned that Lincoln was actually a racist.10 Perhaps more than any other president, Lincoln's legacy is the most spun. The Real Legacy of President Thomas Jefferson Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). See original here Democrats and Republicans are controlled by banks, oil giants, insurance companies and war profiteers, says Green Party presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein. Her party, she claims, gets no money from corporations and has liberty to really address problems. As the two major US political parties have officially selected their nominees for president, Chris Hedges, host of RT's On Contact program, discussed with the Green Party candidate for president, Dr. Jill Stein, what could be an alternative way forward. According to Dr Stein, in the current presidential race, the American public is "clamoring for something else at unprecedented levels." "People have rejected not only both of these parties, which are minority parties by actual polling...Their candidates are running at record levels, all time highest for people disliking the Democratic and Republican candidates," she said. "The American people and the people all over the world are being thrown under the bus by this political system...in which both parties are basically funded by and controlled by predatory banks, by fossil-fuel giants, by war-profiteers, the health insurance industry -- the usual suspects who are calling the shots from behind the closed doors," Stein says. Stein says that since her campaign and the Green Party "are the only candidates and party" that do not take money from corporations and lobbyists, and do not have super PACs, they have "the liberty to address the crises" that the US people are facing. Speaking about the frontrunners, the Green Party candidate noted that if you "look at the track record, the terrible things that Donald Trump says -- which are truly reprehensible and horrific -- have actually been done by Hillary Clinton." For example, she said, "on immigrants, xenophobia and hate mongering, we've learned that Trump and the Republicans are the party of hate and fear." But, Stein went on, "the Democrats are the party of deportation, detentions, and night raids." And the night-raiding is carried out against the women and children "who are feeling the violence that Hillary Clinton herself gave the thumbs up to with this horrific corporate coup in Honduras." US policies very much promoted by "Clinton herself are generating these refugees, which she then, and the Democrats, are criminalizing when they get here and sending them back," says Stein. Speaking about security issues -- "finger on nuclear button," as she put it, the Green Party candidate noted that Trump makes "irresponsible statements" and Clinton advocates the enforcing of a no-fly zone over Syria "against a nuclear armed country that is Russia." Clinton has already been antagonizing Russia by surrounding it with missile bases and soldiers, Stein said. "How would we feel if Russian troops were amassing on the border of Mexico and Canada?" she added. Dr Stein has called Donald Trump "a product" of economic misery, which created vulnerability, fear, and sense of dread on behalf of the American worker and middle class, "to whom adversity is somewhat new." Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. By Steve Buckstein School choice has entered a new world. Because Americans are increasingly vocal about providing parents with the ability to choose their childrens schools, states are adopting broad-based school choice initiatives. Those successes can be attributed to various individuals, groups, and campaigns nationwide. However, it is school choices Christopher Columbus who deserves recognition for starting this movement more than 60 years ago. In 1955, the yet-to-be Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman introduced his vision of school choice as a way to improve the quality of American education. His idea was simple: Give parents access to their childrens public education funding, rather than require they attend the government (public) schools nearest their homes. Governments could require a minimum level of education which they could finance by giving parents vouchers redeemable for a specified maximum sum per child per year if spent on approved educational services, Friedman wrote in 1955. Parents would then be free to spend this sum and any additional sum on purchasing educational services from an approved institution of their own choice. The educational services could be rendered by private enterprises operated for profit, or by non-profit institutions of various kinds. The role of the government would be limited to assuring that the schools met certain minimum standards such as the inclusion of a minimum common content in their programs, much as it now inspects restaurants to assure that they maintain minimum sanitary standards. Because of vested interests in the education arena, including powerful public school teachers unions, Friedmans suggestions were ignored. And, as a result, the cost of public education doubled while its academic performance stayed the same. As Friedman noted, that should come as no surprise because thats exactly what monopolies do: They offer a product of similar, if not worse, value at a higher price than normally would be allowed if they had to compete in the free market. But those days are over. Many states are broke, preventing them from dropping more money out of airplanes over public schools. And many parents are fed up, wondering why their kids are underperforming or unmotivated in K-12 schools and unprepared for their college courses and future careers. Because of that sentiment and cash crunch, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, named after Milton and his wife Rose, we now see over half the states with one or more school choice programs, consisting of vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, individual tax credits and deductions, and Education Savings Accounts. Oregon is behind the curve, with no significant private school choice programsyet. But widening charter school and online school options hopefully will soon lead to more school choice for all Oregon children. The most promising possibility here involves an update of Friedmans original voucher idea, now seen as the rotary phone of the school choice movement. The school choice smart phone is now Education Savings Accounts. ESAs give parents and students even more choices, while replacing the old use it or lose it funding mechanisms with a market system. This system allows parents to shop for educational services and use their savings toward future educational needs of their children. Limited Education Savings Account programs now exist in several states, and Nevada is on the verge of implementing a near universal ESA program that soon could be available to all its K-12 students. If achieved, this will be seen as the realization of Milton Friedmans 60-year-old vision of full school choice for every child, at least in one state with more to follow. But Friedmans vision was not for school choice to be just another government program. He wanted to see school choice fundamentally change the way public education operates from its current structure that supports government schools and the adults who work in them, to a better model that empowers parents. He argued that if both rich families and poor ones could receive government funding when their kids use public schools, then both rich and poor should be able to receive that same funding to make educational choices outside the government school system. It took America more than 60 years to reach todays environment in which parent empowerment in education is celebrated more than ridiculed. Moving forward, around the country and especially here in Oregon, we should celebrate the new world that the school choice movements Christopher Columbus opened up for us. Milton Friedman died in 2006. For the ten years since, Cascade Policy Institute and more than one hundred other organizations around the world have celebrated what has become known as Friedman Legacy Day each year on or around his birthday, July 31. This year marks the last such formal celebration. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, which has sponsored these events to honor and reflect on the life and legacy of its founder, has announced that on the day of this years final formal celebration, Friday, July 29, it will unveil its new name and new strategic plan designed to move Milton Friedmans school choice vision even more effectively into the future. Please join us as we celebrate both the man and his vision, and as we look forward to many more children getting the quality educations they have been so long denied in our one-size-fits-all government school system. Steve Buckstein is Founder and Senior Policy Analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregons free market public policy research organization. A version of this Commentary first appeared in Cascade Business News on what would have been Milton Friedmans 100th birthday, July 31, 2012. Steve Buckstein wrote about Friedmans ties to Portland in The Oregonian the day after he died in 2006. MQMs Empowerment by Gen Musharraf 01 August, 2016 By Asif Haroon Raja Related News Govt finalises draft of national security policy: Nisar Govt okays targeted action in Karachi Related Articles Horde of Enemies surrounding Pakistan By By Asif Haroon Raja Dirty role of International NGOs in Pakistan By By Asif Haroon Raja Related Speakout More on this View All Govt determined to transform Pakistan into truly democratic society: Rasheed Govt finalises draft of national security policy: Nisar Govt okays targeted action in Karachi Karachi violence: 10 more killed Int'l aid can help Pakistan be anchor of stability: FoDP Pakistan's existence not jeopardised at all: FM Qureshi Pakistani state is not going to collapse, says Zardari Related News Poll Are you in support of amending the law to raise the strength of the Supreme Court to 27 from 17? After the mysterious death of Gen Ziaul Haq in a plane crash on August 17, 1988, the era of unstable democratic era commenced in which PPP and PML-N took turns. None could complete the mandated five years and each tenure ranged from two to two-and-half years. President Ghulam Ishaq and President Laghari used the axe of Article 58-2B, handed over to them by Gen Zia to fell the governments on charges of corruption and inefficiency. In his second tenure starting February 1997, Nawaz Sharif with a heavy mandate and removal of Article 58-2B felt quite secured, but he strained his relations with his handpicked Army chief Gen Musharraf because of Kargil conflict in summer of 1999, which Musharraf had launched without his knowledge. Element of distrust between the two kept growing with every passing week. A team of Generals mounted a coup on the evening of October 12, 1999 when Gen Mush was on his way back home from his official trip to Colombo and Nawaz had sacked him and appointed DG ISI Gen Ziauddin Butt as his replacement at about 5 pm. By the time he managed to land back at Karachi, the coup makers had arrested Nawaz and taken over the control. Sweets were distributed by the PPP leaders and workers as well as other political parties in opposition to celebrate the demise of elected government at the hands of the military. They had got fed up of the autocratic style of Nawaz but didnt have political power to oust him and hence welcomed the military takeover. Benazir Bhutto in exile extended cooperation to the coup makers particularly because of the fact that all the generals were not on board and some were critical of Musharraf. Gen Mush remained at the helm of affairs for almost nine years during which he did some good things but also committed mistakes for which he and Pakistan had to pay the price. With the help of technocrats he pursued his 7-point agenda but he suffered from legitimacy bug. 9/11 came as a blessing in disguise for him but not for Pakistan. He became the darling of the West and the US helped him in improving the economy and in carrying out development works, but in return Pakistan had to gradually lose its sovereignty, security and dignity. War on terror was a ruse to destabilize, denuclearize and balkanize Pakistan. After the controversial presidential election, Mush created a Kings party comprising of turncoats from PML-N, PPP and other parties in 2002, who were won over through inducement and coercion. He went out of the way to strengthen the MQM in Sindh which at that time was in wilderness. Right from the day of its birth, the MQM under Altaf Hussain had pursued policy of fascism and violence in order to gain control over the port city of Karachi. By introducing the cultures of sack filled dead bodies, extortion, kidnappings, torture and no-go areas, it had plunged the city of lights into darkness. It gained votes with the power of gun and in 1988 elections became the leading party in Karachi and Hyderabad and also gained a toehold in the federal government. It gained so much of monopoly over Karachi that it could bring it to a standstill by giving a call for strike. Anyone defying the orders was killed or put in torture cell. It resorted to blackmailing tactics to fulfill its mostly illegal demands. In order to hide its sins, it would keep grieving over its so-called socio-politico-economic grievances and playing the card of victimization of Mohajirs. The Mohajirs were terrorized and brainwashed that their identity and survival lay in blind obedience to Altaf. It was owing to fascist and criminal activities of the MQM and making state-within-state in Karachi that both PML-N and PPP had to launch operations in Karachi in 1992 and 1995 and impose governor rule in 1998 after the murder of Hakim Saeed. Each time, the MQM leaders had gone underground. Altaf had gone in exile in 1992 and is since then leading a luxurious life in London where he has opened an international secretariat. All the exiled members of the secretariat have hired flats in posh locality of London and living a lords life. Their expenses are met by Rabita Committee and Khidmat Khalq Foundation after collecting money through extortion, and variety of illegal means. The MQM has been maintaining a connection with RAW since 1989 and receiving heavy funds as well as arms and explosives for carrying out subversive activities in Karachi. It has been gradually expanding its influence in all the urban centres of Sindh right up to Sukhar and had future plans to become a national party after it won seats on Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK Assemblies. It is not possible that our intelligence agencies remained unaware of MQMs linkage with RAW and training of its militants at Dera Dhun camp in India. When Operation Cleanup was launched in June 1992, several leaders of MQM like Javed Langra had fled to India. According to former IG Sindh Shuaib Suddle, Sindh government had gathered sufficient evidence of this connection during 1995-96 operation. MQMs alternative base of operation opened up in South Africa in 1996 was also in the knowledge of state authorities. It is now learnt that Thailand and London were also used as bases to destabilse Karachi. We still remember Altafs letter written to Tony Blair in 2001 offering full support in the war on terror. His anti-Pakistan speech made in New Delhi in 2003 is also on record. What is befuddling is that despite the MQMs nefarious activities, why both PML-N and PPP vied to make it a coalition partner both in Sindh and at the centre? Pakistan had gone through traumatic experience in 1971 when Mujibur Rahman led Awami League had started a province wide rebellion with the help of Indian military, and RAW had played a key role in subverting the minds of Bengalis and in creation of Mukti Bahinis. It was also known that since 1973, RAW had got involved in Sindh to subvert the minds of old Sindhis and later new Sindhis to create rural-urban divide. It had also come to light that many among the MQM were toying with the idea of Jinnahpur and maps had been found during 1992 operation. The two operations in 1990s were abandoned half way due to lack of political will, but still had helped in blunting the dangerous designs of the MQM. Well knowing the track record of the MQM, Gen Mush chose to rehabilitate the MQM which was in disarray and to fortify it by meeting all its demands. He agreed to appoint Ishratul Ibad as Governor Sindh after quashing all the criminal cases against him, cleansing 8000 MQM criminals involved in heinous crimes through the dry cleaning machine of NRO, pulverizing MQM Haqiqi, a breakaway faction of MQM, and releasing 35 dangerous criminals, each involved in 70 different cases and convicted by the courts. Local bodies framework evolved by Mush to transfer power at the grassroots levels benefited MQM the most. By manipulating the constituencies, the MQM doubled its vote bank in 2008 elections and made it difficult for the PPP to discount its nuisance value in Karachi. PPP backtracked from the pledge taken by all political parties in the APDM in 2007 that MQM will not be made a coalition partner in future and both sailed together for next 5 years. During this black rule, the MQM militants resorted to target killings with a vengeance and killed well over 5000 innocent people. Not a single culprit was caught and punished. Gen Mushs authority was challenged by former Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Ch in March 2007 after he was given a marching order. The lawyers rallied behind him and soon the civil society as well as other political parties joined the caravan to restore the CJ. The huge caravan from Isbd to Lahore unnerved Musharraf. According to ex CM Punjab Pervez Elahi, he was told by Mush to disrupt the caravan between Kharian and Gujarat by firing at it but he refused. When the CJ along with leading lights of legal fraternity proceeded to Karachi to address Sindh Bar Council on May 12, 2007, MQM was instructed to stop him from moving out of the premises of Karachi airport. When MQM leaders started hurling threats, the Sindh based political parties and lawyers rallied together to accord rousing welcome to the CJ. To counter them, the MQM took out its own rally which was duly approved by the then CM Sindh Rahim and Home Minister Waseem Akhtar, well knowing that it could lead to an open clash. Port & Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri barricaded the route by placing containers. The Rangers and the Police were told to look the other way. When the peaceful rally of PPP-ANP-PTI-other parties moved towards the airport, it was fired upon indiscriminately resulting in deaths of over 50 and injuries to many. The MQM flashed victory signs when the CJ returned to Isbd without addressing the Bar Council. That evening, Gen Mush addressed a public meeting at Liaqatabad in Pindi, arranged by Pervez Ellahi. Feeling excited, he raised his clenched fists and said his political power had triumphed. He then made sure that no inquest was held to probe the loss of so many lives. To cover up the crime, the MQM claimed that several of its workers had also been killed. When the lawyers pressed the case in the Sindh High Court, the court building was besieged by the MQM goons and later on, two of the prosecuting lawyers were murdered. On April 9, five lawyers were burnt to death in their offices to stop them from pursuing the May 12 case. Even then, no inquiry was ordered by the provincial or federal government. Gen Mush after vacating the seat of president in August 2008 went in exile in 2009 but retuned in 2013 to take part in general elections. Besides debarring from elections, several cases were opened up including case of treason. He was allowed to proceed to Dubai for medical treatment last year, but he has not returned to face court cases. Law court has ordered seizure of his bank accounts and property in Pakistan. During the Rangers operation in 2014, MQM sector in-charge Malir Halt, Rauf was arrested. He revealed that he and his team were involved in the May 12 killings and that he had prepared the firing sites and dumped weapons and ammunition before the D-Day. The elected Mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhtar who has recently been arrested on the charges of getting terrorists treated in Ziauddin hospital and his linkage with RAW has confessed that he had ordered firing on the rally on May 12, 2007. This case if pursued will also implicate Gen Mush. During the ongoing Rangers operation in Karachi, large numbers of MQM target killers, kidnappers and extortionists have been nabbed. From September 2013 till July 27, 2016, Rangers conducted 7950 operations in Karachi. It handed over 6361 suspects to the police and 221 to FIA. Among them were 1236 terrorists, 848 target killers, 403 extortionists and 143 kidnappers. 1158 were released without registration of FIR, and 313 set free on bail. Only 188 were convicted but none punished. This is indeed a very poor state and the reason is politicization and corruption of investigating officers, weakness of prosecutors and judges, and terrorization of witnesses. These anomalies need to be rectified by Sindh government at the earliest to make the Rangers operation result oriented. Altaf intends to once again play up the card of victimization of Mohajirs by the Rangers in USA this month since for the first time all political parties have got fed up of MQM fascist policies and blackmailing tactics and view it as a terrorist and anti-state organization and not a political party. This impression has gained strength after collection of tons of evidence by intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the proofs of MQM-RAW connectivity given by Mustafa Kamal led new Party Pak Sar Zameen (PSZ), born out of the womb of MQM. The MQMs power has been decisively cut to size and it no more has the capacity to bounce back as it had been doing in the past. The only hope it has is that the PPP under new Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah, which itself is in extremely difficult situation, agrees to cozy up and bail it out. MQM-PPP marriage of convenience will prove disastrous for Sindh and may hasten the imposition of Governor Rule. The other possibility is that the PML-N gives in to political expediency and agree to adopt a soft approach. This option is not viable since Gen Raheel will never let the gains made by Rangers go waste. He is determined to take the operation to its logical end before he hangs his boots in November this year. PSZ is repeatedly urging the government to ban the MQM after declaring it a terrorist outfit linked with RAW. The public is also expecting a similar verdict. The lone option for the MQM to survive as a political entity is to part company with Altaf who has become a big liability, find a new leader who is unsoiled, thoroughly overhaul the party by purging the bad hats, eliminate its militant wing, sever ties with RAW and pledge to function as a political party. Although PSZ has posed a big challenge to MQM monopoly in Karachi, however, it doesnt seem a feasible alternative since all its members are ex MQM with hands drenched in human blood. Both MQM and PSZ will have to induct new and clean faces to become credible. After the arrest of Qaimkhani along with Waseem on similar charge, who is also associated with horrifying Baldia Town factory case, in which 289 people were burnt alive, the PSZ is resorting to MQMs bullying tactics to pressurize the government to release him. The PPP rule in Sindh is in dire crisis since the Rangers have tightened the noose around the necks of defaulters of PPP. Zardari and several top leaders of PPP are in hiding in Dubai and Zardari is remote controlling Sindh from there. Feeling cornered, ex CM Qaim Ali Shah dilly dallied over granting extension to the Rangers in their special anti-terror powers, which expired on 19 July. He said that Rangers have no business to deal with corruption cases, not realizing that crime, terrorism, corruption and politics have got intermixed in Sindh and cancer of corruption is the root cause of terrorism. He also stated that Rangers should confine their operations to Karachi only and failed to comprehend that the terrorists and criminals once trapped escaped to interior Sindh from where they crossed over either into Baluchistan or southern Punjab. His successor Murad has signed the notification of extension on the evening of July 30 after another incident of killing of a Rangers soldier occurred in Larkana. For the PPP, the only way to re-establish itself as a national party and become viable in 2018 elections is to do away with dynastic politics, get rid of perverse influence of Zardari, let go its habit of corruption, carryout in-house cleansing, improve governance, depoliticize the police and civil administration, carry out reforms in judiciary and criminal investigation system, curb Wadera Shahi (feudalism), strengthen middle class, facilitate the Rangers to catch the big fish rather than protecting them, and work with sincerity to improve the conditions of the poor. The writer is retired Brig, war veteran, defence and security analyst, columnist, author of five books, Director Measac Research Centre, Director Board of Governors Thinkers Forum Pakistan, member Executive Council Ex Servicemen Society, and member Executive Council Tehreek Jawanan Pakistan. He takes part in TV talk shows and delivers talks. asifharoonraja@gmail.com Father of slain Muslim American soldier assailed Donald Trump as black soul WASHINGTON: The father of a slain Muslim American soldier assailed Donald Trump as a black soul on Sunday in an impassioned exchange with the Republican presidential candidate over the qualities required in a US leader. Khizr Khan electrified the Democratic convention last week with a tribute to his fallen son that ended with a steely rebuke that Trump had sacrificed nothing for his country. Trump defended himself in an interview with ABCs This Week, insisting he had made a lot of sacrifices while suggesting that Khans wife, who stood silent on the convention stage as her husband spoke, had not been allowed to talk. But Khan shot back in interviews on US television news shows, while his wife Ghazala explained in a Washington Post op-ed that she had been too grief-stricken to speak. Without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain, she wrote. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart. Her son, US Army captain Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004 in a roadside explosion at the gates of a military compound. Khan, speaking on CNN, accused Trump of lacking the moral compass and empathy needed to be the countrys leader. He is a black soul. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country, Khan said. Trump has courted controversy and sparked outrage during his drive for the US presidency with disparaging remarks against immigrants, Muslims and women. His call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States has drawn criticism even from leaders of his own party. But despite his high negatives he has attracted a fervent following among working class white males, and he stands almost even with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the polls. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Clinton took aim at Trumps positive view of Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused him of absolute allegiance to Moscows foreign policy objectives. Trump responded defiantly, saying in the ABC interview that he had no relationship with Putin, but that if our country got along with Russia, that would be a great thing. The jousting on policy was overshadowed, however, by the emotional back and forth between Trump and Khan. 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 said. Trump questioned whether Clinton had been behind Khans address, which the naturalised Pakistani immigrant said he wrote with his wife Ghazala. Who wrote that? Did Hillarys script writers write it? Trump said in the interview. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say, Trump said, adding: Maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. Khan said he had invited his wife to speak, but she declined, knowing that shed become too emotional. He 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 told ABC News. 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, adding: We should honour all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe. But Trump took issue with Khans convention night speech, including his claim that the billionaire candidate 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 and say many other inaccurate things, Trump said. 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, she said in a statement. This is a time to honour the sacrifice of Captain Khan and all the fallen. Captain Khan and his family represent the best of America, and we salute them. Turkey dismissed 1,400 members of armed forces 01 August, 2016 Related News Imran Khan distributed loan cheques under Kamyab Jawan Programme PTI govt to face all challenges coming its way: Imran khan More on this View All Top 2021 Accessories We Know You Will Love Types of Casino Payment Methods Tips for Taking Incredible iPhone Travel Photos Are Slot Developers Important for players? Best Poker Hands ever played on a Casino Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry Ways that Players Used to Take Advantage of Slot Sites ANKARA: Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 more members of its armed forces and stacked the top military council with government ministers on Sunday, moves designed by President Tayyip Erdogan to put him in full control of the military after a failed coup. The scale of Erdogans crackdown more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the July 15-16 coup has unnerved Turkeys Nato allies, fuelling tension between Ankara and the West. Adding to the acrimony, Turkeys EU Affairs minister hit out at Germany on Sunday after its constitutional court upheld a ban on Erdogan making a televised address to a rally of pro-government Turks in Cologne. The new wave of army expulsions and the overhaul of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) were announced in the official state gazette just hours after Erdogan said late on Saturday he planned to shut down existing military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the Defence Ministry. According to the gazette, 1,389 military personnel were dismissed for suspected links to the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkey of orchestrating the failed putsch. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied the charges and condemned the coup. It comes after an announcement last week that more than 1,700 military personnel had been dishonourably discharged for their role in the putsch, which saw a faction of the military commandeer tanks, helicopters and warplanes in an attempt to topple the government. About 40 per cent of Turkeys generals and admirals have been dismissed since the coup, in which Erdogan says 237 people excluding the plotters were killed and more than 2,100 wounded. The government also said its deputy prime ministers and ministers of justice, the interior and foreign affairs would be appointed to YAS. The prime minister and defence minister were previously the only government representatives on the council. They will replace a number of military commanders who have not been reappointed to the YAS, including the heads of the First, Second, and Third Armies, the Aegean Army and the head of the Gendarmerie security forces, which frequently battle Kurdish militants in the south-east. The changes appear to have given the government commanding control of the council. Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview on July 21 that the military, Natos second-biggest, needed fresh blood. German media said authorities had decided to bar Erdogan from addressing a rally via videoconference in the city of Cologne on Sunday due to concerns over public order, prompting an angry response from Turkeys EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik. German Constitutional Courts decision on the anti-coup rally in Cologne is an utter backsliding in freedom of speech and democracy, he said in English on Twitter. Germany is home to Europes largest ethnic Turkish diaspora. The rally in Cologne, in which Turks waved national flags and pictures of Erdogan, was one of several planned on Sunday in European as well as Turkish cities and towns. Four Turkish soldiers killed by Kurdish militants The aggressive military purges come at a time when the armed forces is stretched by fighting with Kurdish insurgents in south-east Turkey and threats from the IS militants on its border with Syria. Four soldiers were killed by the Kurdish militants on Sunday in two separate incidents, officials said. Turkeys military is taking part in the US-led coalition against the IS in Iraq and Syria. Its Incirlik Air Base is used by coalition forces for missions against the IS. Security was tight in the immediate area around Incirlik on Sunday, Turkish security sources said, before an expected visit by the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford. While there were rumours on social media that security forces were at the ready on worries about another coup attempt, a US military spokesman at the base said they had not seen an increased Turkish police presence. Its business as usual here, he said, without giving his name. We are not seeing anything like that. Incirlik has seen some scattered protests in the days since the coup as pro-government supporters have called on the United States to extradite Gulen. Washington says it will only do so if it receives clear evidence of Gulens involvement in the coup. Dunfords visit comes at a delicate time for Turkeys relations with the United States, given Erdogans constant demands for Gulens extradition. Erdogan told broadcaster A Haber on Saturday that Gulen was a pawn being controlled by a greater power. There is a mastermind behind him. That mastermind is the one who took him to the United States and who helped him avoid any judicial process, he said. Conspiracy theories have flourished in Turkey since the attempted coup, with one pro-government newspaper saying the putsch was financed by the CIA and directed by a retired US army general using a cell phone in Afghanistan. The United States has denied any involvement and any prior knowledge of the coup attempt. 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 Gulens 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. In an unexpected move, Erdogan has said 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. Bangkok, Thailand. 26 July 2016. Amari Vogue Krabi is excited to welcome French Michelin-starred Chef Gerard Salle to Thailand. Best known for his creations at leading Parisian establishments such as Ledoyen, Fouquets, La Maree and Hotel Plaza Athenee, Chef Salle will prepare a four-course gastronomical menu in collaboration with the culinary team at Bellini, led by Alex Trouble, executive chef at Amari Vogue Krabi. The menu will feature some of Chef Salles signature creations combined with fresh produce from Krabi. Highlights include Atlantic lobsters with seasonal local mango, tropical sole fillet with green asparagus, beef tenderloin with braised aubergine and roasted local pineapple with vanilla. During his trip to Thailand, Chef Salle will make a stop at Oriental Residence Bangkok to officiate the launch of the new menu at Cafe Claire which he helped create. As vice president of the Maitres Cuisiniers de France, an association dedicated to preserving and advancing the tradition of French cuisine, Chef Salle will also be sharing his knowledge and experience with the culinary teams at both Amari Vogue Krabi and Oriental Residence Bangkok. Patrice Landrein, General Manager, Amari Vogue Krabi, said: Chef Gerard Salle and I were colleagues at the Hotel Vendome in Paris. His short visit to Krabi and Bangkok will offer a rare opportunity for gourmands to sample local interpretations of his signature creations at both our beautiful locations by the beach in Krabi, and at the embassy district in Bangkok. The gastronomical dinner will be served by the beach at Amari Vogue Krabi on Monday, 15 August from 6:00pm at THB 2,500 per person excluding beverages. Seats are limited and reservations can be made via e-mail to romain.gayrard@amari.com. Many researchers begin the scientific process by making observations of the natural world and collecting data. They then try to extract patterns from these observations and data using statistical analysis. However, defining statistical correlations alone does not result in understanding. Instead, a theory is needed. A scientific theory aims to provide a unifying framework for a large class of empirical data to help researchers make testable predictions. Although theory is celebrated in the physical sciences, it is questioned in the life sciences. Theory in biology was initially obscure and often relegated to highly technical journals. However, with the advent of big data, theory has now come to the forefront in biology. In this post, I will discuss the role of theory in biology, provide examples of important models, and conclude with an in-person interview with prominent theorist Larry Abbott at Columbia University. Why Physicists Like Models, and Why Biologists Should In biology, few quantitative theories are predictive, leading some scientists to distrust theoretical studies. In physics, the opposite is true. The difference lies in the nature of the systems being studied: while physics derives beauty from simple reductionist elegance, biology finds beauty in complexity and richness. For this reason, simple mathematical theories of biology are often incorrect. Many experimentalists also see simulated data as too far removed from biology. Some are frustrated by the dense language of computational papers and inaccessible math used to explain straightforward biological principles. I believe that computational models can complement experimental data to provide superior biological understanding and treatment of diseases. A good computational model inspires new experiments and provides new insights. While models cannot prove what mechanisms are at work, they can suggest what variables are most important to investigate in an experiment. Daniel Hillis compares the utility of theoretical models to that of model organisms: "models cannot prove anything conclusive about biological evolution anymore than the nervous system of a nematode can prove anything about the nervous system of a mammal." In other words, both computational models and simpler nervous systems serve as instructive examples. Learning from Theory: The Discovery of DNA Structure Theory played an important role in the discovery of DNA structure. While Francis Crick had a background in mathematics and physics, James Watson had expertise in the molecular biology of phage, the viruses that infect bacteria. Working together, these scientists used model building to reveal the famed double helix. X-ray crystallographic data obtained by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins at King's College London were also crucial to the discovery. In particular, Franklin's photo of the B-form of DNA pointed to the helical structure of DNA. "The instant I saw the picture, my mouth fell open and my heart began to race," wrote Watson. Together, Watson and Crick built a now famous model of DNA using metal plates for nucleotides and rods for the bonds between them. The true beauty of this model is that structure implies function, and this discovery facilitated a new era in biological research. Computational Models in Neuroscience Computational models have become very popular in neuroscience, where the Hodgkin-Huxley model of action potentials is arguably the most important theory. This model is a set of nonlinear differential equations that approximates the electrical patterns of excitable cells such as neurons and cardiac myocytes. The Hodgkin-Huxley model has inspired contemporary neuroscientists like Professor Abbott to model firing patterns of cortical brain cells. In a PLOS Computational Biology paper, Abbott addresses the relationship between tuning curves and neural circuits. A tuning curve is a graph of auditory threshold intensity at different frequencies for a single neuron. As neurons have distinct tuning curves and are thought to arise from structured synaptic connectivity, a theoretical model can predict the order of synaptic inputs. Knowledge of the order of synaptic inputs, such as the identity, strength, and location of each synapse, is critical for understanding how neurons compute. Professor Abbott on Creating Models In a PLOS Computational Biology paper, Lalazar et al create a theoretical model for arm posture control in a primate monkey model. The results of this neural network model were compared to biological data obtained from the primary motor cortex area. Surprisingly, this study found that synaptic connectivity in this model is completely random. Professor Abbott was a theoretical particle physicist at Brandeis University for ten years before he switched to neuroscience. Today, he is a leader in theoretical neuroscience and a co-author on the first comprehensive textbook on theoretical neuroscience. He was inspired to transition into biology after a visit to the laboratory of Professor Eve Marder at Brandeis University. Mesmerized by the sound of spikes of electrical activity in neural tissue, Abbott trained with Marder for one year. They subsequently published together for over a decade. At Columbia University, Abbott founded the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. He collaborates extensively with experimental biologists including Eric Kandel. Abbott uses computer simulations and analytical techniques to model and analyze neural circuits that drive behavior. "I first try to take all the important features of a neural circuit and then see what they imply. I then see if they agree with what I believe are the important experiments," Abbott says during our interview. In other words, Abbott first determines the neurons that participate in a neural circuit. He then generates a simulation to predict how each neuron integrates input signals from synapses. A good model will recapitulate biology and lead to novel understanding. However, a computational model in biology need not be predictive to be of use. "You can have models of a well-understood phenomenon if you describe it in a new way. These models will lead to greater understanding," Abbott says. He states that it is critical for a model to go beyond our simple intuition. Learning Computational Skills Abbott argues it is critical for early-career biologists to learn computational skills. "Knowing skills outside your field before you choose to specialize is really good. It's very hard to do it in the reverse order once you've picked a lab. Statistics and math are important skills today." I can attest to the benefits of learning computational skills as I first trained in a mechanical engineering lab. When I entered the neuroscience field, I already understood the engineering behind electrophysiology rigs and the math behind theoretical models. In my current research, I merge experiments and theory using the simple nervous system of a fly, and this work has shown me the value of combining these two approaches. To move forward, I believe theoretical biologists and empirical biologists must make their work more accessible and valuable to each other. Professor Abbott is a testament to this type of collaboration and has succeeded in attracting mainstream attention to computational theories in neuroscience. Theory can provide novel insights and change the way experimental biologists understand their subject. Explore further How synaptic connections in the brain force nerve cells to coordinate their work More information: Brodland, G. W. (2015, December). How computational models can help unlock biological systems. In Seminars in cell & developmental biology (Vol. 47, pp. 62-73). Academic Press. Brodland, G. W. (2015, December). How computational models can help unlock biological systems. In Seminars in cell & developmental biology (Vol. 47, pp. 62-73). Academic Press. Hillis, W. D. (1993). Why physicists like models and why biologists should.Current Biology, 3(2), 79-81. Shou, W., Bergstrom, C. T., Chakraborty, A. K., & Skinner, F. K. (2015). Theory, models and biology. Elife, 4, e07158. J. D. Watson, The double helix. London: Penguin, 1999. Watson, J. D. (1981). The DNA story: A documentary history of gene cloning. In WH Freeman and Co. Purves, D., Augustine, G. J., Fitzpatrick, D., Katz, L. C., LaMantia, A. S., McNamara, J. O., & Williams, S. M. (2001). The auditory system. Lalazar, H., Abbott, L. F., & Vaadia, E. (2016). Tuning Curves for Arm Posture Control in Motor Cortex Are Consistent with Random Connectivity. PLoS Comput Biol, 12(5), e1004910. Journal information: Current Biology , eLife , PLoS Computational Biology Provided by PLOS This story is republished courtesy of PLOS Blogs: blogs.plos.org. Simons and his team took two Son-O-Mermaid instruments to Bermuda last summer, where Princeton has a partnership with the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. Here, the instruments are secured on deck before deployment in the water. Unlike traditional ocean-bottom seismometers, which are placed in stationary locations and must be retrieved to obtain their data, Son-O-Mermaid drifts with ocean currents and regularly reports data back to scientists using wireless technology. Several can be deployed for the same cost as one ocean-bottom seismometer. Credit: Frederik Simons, Department of Geosciences On a ship off the coast of Bermuda, Frederik Simons, an associate professor of geosciences at Princeton University, fastens a rope around a six-foot-tall white cylinder affixed with solar panels and various wires suspended in a metal frame. As everyone scrambles into position, a crane slowly raises the device and prepares to lower it into the ocean. After three years of work on design modifications and fine-tuning, the researchers are preparing to test the apparatus for the first time. The instrument, named Son-O-Mermaid, will detect and record waves, but not the kind that are rolling under the research vessel and making Simons seasick. Son-O-Mermaid measures sound waves created by the quaking of the earth far beneath the ocean surface. Just as a CAT scan can enable physicians to "see" inside the human body, geologists can use earthquake data to survey the interior structure of the planet. With two-thirds of the Earth covered by water, Son-O-Mermaid is one of only a few instruments able to record earthquakes in the ocean. The origins of Son-O-Mermaid began more than two decades ago with an idea from collaborator Guust Nolet, who was then a professor at Princeton and is now the George J. Magee Professor of Geoscience and Geological Engineering, Emeritus. He is also professor of geophysics, emeritus, at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis in France. While on sabbatical at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, Nolet met a colleague who was measuring sound waves in the ocean. Among the whale songs and passing freighters, Nolet detected the signal of an earthquake that came all the way from Alaska. He realized that it might be possible to use sound waveswhich are the audible equivalent of seismic waves that travel through the Earthto build a better picture of the planet's structure in regions inaccessible underneath the oceans. In this video, Princeton researchers Frederik Simons, associate professor of geosciences, and Guust Nolet, the George J. Magee Professor of Geoscience and Geological Engineering, Emeritus, discuss the origins and development of MERMAID and Son-O-Mermaid, instruments that detect and record sound waves in the ocean created by distant earthquakes. Just as a CAT scan can enable physicians to "see" inside the human body, geologists can use earthquake data to survey the interior structure of the planet. With two-thirds of the Earth covered by water, MERMAID and Son-O-Mermaid are among the few instruments able to record earthquakes in the ocean. Credit: Jennifer Schieltz for the Office of the Dean for Research This is important because geoscientists can use seismic waves, the elastic vibrations emitted by earthquakes, to map the structure of Earth's interior. These waves travel faster when passing through colder, denser regions deep inside the Earth, such as subduction zones where tectonic plates collide and one slides under the other, and slower in hotter regions such as mantle plumes, which are upwellings of hot rock. By careful analysis of how the waves travel and change, geophysicists can create 3-D maps of the inside of Earth's crust and mantle. On smaller scales, similar principles are used to prospect for oil, gas and other mineral deposits. Joel Simon, a Princeton graduate student in geosciences whose research focuses on analysis of the Son-O-Mermaid data, adjusts cables and prepares the instrument for a test run. Simon went to Bermuda a week ahead of deployment with the engineers to unpack the pieces of the instrument from the shipping container and assemble them. Credit: Princeton University Although many seismic stations dot the continents, few have been installed in the oceans. "If you think of the Earth as a patient in the hospital, the present situation is like trying to do a CAT scan with two-thirds of the sensors broken," explained Nolet. Nolet realized that hydrophones, which are microphones that record sound in water, could be deployed on mobile devices floating in the oceans. But at the time, the technology did not exist to make the project workable, and Nolet put the idea aside. Ten years later, Nolet brought the project to Simons, who was then a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton. "Guust sent me a brown envelope marked 'confidential,'" Simons recalled. "Inside was a picture of a seismogramthe record of a seismic waveand a proposal to build a dedicated instrument that could record earthquakes in the ocean." Simons and Nolet envisioned deploying tens or hundreds of these instruments throughout the world's oceans. They built the first version of the device with colleagues at Scripps in 2008 and named it MERMAID, for Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers. Here is how it works: Once in the water, MERMAID sinks to about a mile deep, drifts along deep ocean currents, and "listens" to acoustic signals. "When there is a ship passing or a whale singing it will analyze the signal and decide whether the sound is due to an earthquake or not," Nolet explained. When it decides that it is an earthquake, MERMAID comes to the surface, takes a GPS measurement of its location, and sends a seismogram by email. Before MERMAID, undersea earthquake data could be obtained only by traditional ocean-bottom seismometers, which are placed in stationary locations and must be retrieved to obtain their data. "And sometimes when one gets those instruments back," Simons explained, "something might have gone wrong and months of waiting would have been in vain." The high cost of manufacturing and ship time required for ocean-bottom instruments also greatly restrict their use. A Son-O-Mermaid instrument is attached to a crane and lowered into the ocean. The researchers will next reel out 1,000 meters (more than 3,200 feet) of cable that connect the surface buoy to hydrophones, microphones that record sound in water, which "listen" for earthquakes in the ocean. When an earthquake is detected, the device sends a seismograph by email to the scientists. Credit: Princeton University MERMAIDs, in contrast, regularly report data back to scientists using wireless technology, and several can be deployed for the same cost as one ocean-bottom seismometer. Last August, Nolet, Simons and colleagues published a paper in the journal Nature Communications reporting that the divers successfully recognized earthquakes and transmitted the seismograms more or less in real time. Meanwhile, Simons had already started to design adjustments and new features to overcome some of MERMAID's limitations. He developed Son-O-Mermaid with colleague Harold "Bud" Vincent, a research professor at the University of Rhode Island. Both MERMAID and Son-O-Mermaid possess a series of hydrophones, but Son-O-Mermaid's hydrophones are suspended from a long cable that connects to a drifting buoy that stays at the surface. This new design has some advantages. MERMAID uses an electrically powered buoyancy pump to bring itself to the surface each time it reports an earthquake, so it functions only as long as the battery lasts. Son-O-Mermaid is equipped with solar panels to supply it with power. In addition, Son-O-Mermaid can maintain continual contact with a satellite, instead of only connecting when it surfaces. It always knows where it is and exactly what time it is. Comparing the exact arrival time of a seismic wave with predictions based on how waves travel through different materials is a crucial step in using seismogram data to create models of the interior of the Earth. Despite these advantages, Son-O-Mermaid does have drawbacks. The buoy is at the surface, in the waves, so it can get run over by shipsor be hit by a hurricane, as the very first Son-O-Mermaid prototype was during its maiden voyage three years ago. "Off the coast of the Bahamas," Simons recalled, "we successfully deployed it. It was reporting its position faithfully every hour for a number of days until it went silent, which was when it ran right through the eye of Hurricane Sandy." Over the next few days they heard nothing and feared it was lost. Eleven days later it came back online and started communicating again. "It reported that it was indeed alive and had survived the hurricane, but alas, its reporting package hadn't, so we lost the data from that very first trip," Simons said. A Son-O-Mermaid instrument in the water. The research team deployed and retrieved the buoys several times to test that everything was working and to identify remaining kinks. Now the task ahead is to construct a robust new generation of Son-O-Mermaid instruments to add to the growing number of earthquake recorders in the oceans. With each new instrument deployed, Simons and colleagues will help fill in the picture of our planet's interior. Credit: Princeton University Over the next three years, Simons and Vincent worked to fine-tune Son-O-Mermaid, adjusting part of the design to make it more robust to withstand events like Sandy. The latest Son-O-Mermaid deployment took place last summer. Simons and Vincent took two Son-O-Mermaid instruments to Bermuda, where Princeton has a partnership with the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. The team included graduate students, technicians and undergraduates who were on deck helping to move the instrument. They hooked it to the pulley and crane system, lowered it into the ocean, and reeled out the 1,000 meters of cable that connect the surface buoy to the hydrophones. Joel Simon, a Princeton graduate student in geosciences whose research focuses on analysis of the Son-O-Mermaid and MERMAID data, went to Bermuda a week ahead of deployment with the engineers to unpack the pieces of the instrument from the shipping container and assemble them. "My current research focuses on answering the question, 'Given a signal, can you automatically (1) tell if the signal is from an earthquake or other source, and (2) precisely tell the arrival time of the signal at the detector,'" he said. He continued: "Probably the most excited I've been during this research was when I saw the first core phase returned in the dataan earthquake on the complete opposite side of the Earth generated a seismic wave that passed through the inner core [of the Earth] and then was detected as a sound wave at a MERMAID float. Seeing that for the first time blew my mind. Now, logging into my computer every morning and downloading new seismograms is exciting because I never know what interesting waveforms I will get." The research team deployed and retrieved the buoys several times to test that everything was working and identify remaining kinks that are now being addressed. "As a proof of concept, Son-O-Mermaid proved its seaworthiness," Simons said. "Now the task ahead is to construct a robust new generation of Son-O-Mermaid instruments to add to the growing number of earthquake recorders, including MERMAID, in the oceans." With each new instrument deployed, Simons and colleagues will help fill in the picture of our planet's interior. Experts call for new conservation guidelines after research shows 90% of tropical amphibian and reptile species are affected by the 'edge effect' and forest islands less than 500m in diameter are putting many at risk. Breaking up the rainforest into small 'forest islands' means more species are being forced to live on the forest edge, prompting a decline in species sensitive to changes in light, moisture and temperature. Studying over 100 species of reptiles and amphibians living in nine fragmented forest landscapes in Central and South America, scientists found that over 90 % of all species were affected by the forest edge effect. While a small number of these actually increased in abundance (those already adapted to living at the forest boundary), the majority of species declined and the negative impact on them extended far into the forest interior. Sampling in areas where the forests had been divided to make way for farming or roads, the research team led by Newcastle University, UK, showed the average 'edge effect' extended more than 250m into the forest. This means a forest island with a diameter of less than 500m would contain no viable 'core' area for many forest species. Publishing their findings today in the academic journal Biological Conservation, the research team involving experts from Imperial College, the University of East Anglia and Colombia University - are calling for a new approach to forest conservation and management. Dr Marion Pfeifer, one of the lead authors and a lecturer in Ecology, Conservation and Management at Newcastle University, explains: "The rapid decline in the world's rainforests is having a devastating effect on species numbers and diversity but until now there has been little information about the additional impact of forest fragmentation. "In our study, we found the majority of amphibian and reptile species were negatively impacted the closer we got to the forest edge and in some cases, species disappeared altogether." "The findings have strong implications for conservation in fragmented tropical landscapes and suggest large forest patches will need to be conserved to protect forest-dependent species and avoid loss of biodiversity." Combined impact of deforestation and fragmentation Forest fragmentation acts on top of forest loss, as habitats are broken up into increasingly smaller, isolated patches. This in turn reduces the core area of favourable habitat for forest species. In the Brazilian Atlantic forest, for example, more than 80% of the fragments are less than 50 hectares and half of the remaining forest is closer than 100m from an edge, much smaller than the minimum 250m needed to preserve species diversity. "These 'edge zones' differ structurally and functionally from the original forest," explains Dr Pfeifer. "Edges are typically characterised by more open canopies, leading to reduced moisture, increased light, wind and maximum daily temperatures. This compares to the core where the dense canopies can filter up to 95% of the solar radiation and the environment is more constant. "Some species, such as many amphibians and reptiles, are more sensitive than others to changes in the microclimate so this edge zone effect will significantly impact their ability to survive." "Also, while many species may decline, some others may actually benefit, particularly those species that are less sensitive to temperature, light and moisture variability." Amphibians under threat Amphibians are the world's most threatened group on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, the world's most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species. Assessing the abundance of 104 species of amphibians and reptiles in nine fragmented forest regions in the Neotropics, the team found that only two amphibians and eight reptiles were not sensitive to the edge effect. Now the team are looking at the impact of the 'edge effect' caused by fragmentation on other species, from insects to birds and mammals, and how this information might be used to inform future conservation and management strategies in fragmented forested landscapes. For this, the team will make use of an extensive dataset compiled within the Global Biofrag project, led by Dr Pfeifer (biofrag.wordpress.com/). "Road expansion is a key priority for communities in this part of the world so this research will be vital in helping to inform future management plans," says Dr Pfeifer. "Amphibians and reptiles are useful indicator species to assess the overall health of the forest ecosystem and the next step will be to work with local communities to see how we can best protect biodiversity under conflicting land use demands." Explore further Landscape pattern analysis reveals global loss of interior forest More information: Laure Schneider-Maunoury et al. Abundance signals of amphibians and reptiles indicate strong edge effects in Neotropical fragmented forest landscapes, Biological Conservation (2016). Journal information: Biological Conservation Laure Schneider-Maunoury et al. Abundance signals of amphibians and reptiles indicate strong edge effects in Neotropical fragmented forest landscapes,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.06.011 Comparison between a woolly mammoth (left) and an American mastodon (right). Credit: Dantheman9758/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0 A remnant population of woolly mammoths on a remote Alaska island was likely pushed to extinction by rising sea levels and a lack of access to fresh water, according to a newly published study. By analyzing layers of a dated sediment core from a lake on St. Paul Island, researchers determined that mammoths went extinct on the island roughly 5,600 years ago, thousands of years after remnant mainland populations died off. The study also indicated that the Bering Sea island experienced a phase of dry conditions and declining water quality at about the same time the mammoths vanished. The results were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Matthew Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a co-author of the study, said past events on St. Paul Island provided a unique opportunity for research. Mammoths were trapped there when rising sea levels submerged the Bering Sea land bridge, and survived about 5,000 years longer than isolated mainland populations. There is no evidence of people having lived on the island during the era. In 2013, a team of researchers collected a sediment core from the bed of one of the few freshwater lakes on St. Paul Island. Wooller and fellow UAF researcher Kyungcheol Choy measured the stable oxygen isotope ratios of the prehistoric remains of aquatic insects preserved in the sediment from before, during and after the extinction of mammoths from the island. The remains of aquatic organisms living in lakes retain water isotope signatures within their bodies, which allowed researchers studying their exoskeletons to determine that lake levels had diminished. The remains of diatoms and aquatic invertebrates from the core also changed over time, indicating decreasing lake levels and water quality leading up to the mammoth extinction. Nitrogen isotope analyses of dated mammoth bones and teeth also signaled progressively drier conditions leading up to the extinction event. Wooller said these "multiple lines of evidence" of decreasing lake levels provide a strong case for what led to the animals' extinction. "It paints a dire picture of the situation for these mammoths," Wooller said. "Freshwater resources look like the smoking gun for what pushed them into this untenable situation." The study not only determined one of the best-dated prehistoric extinctions, using state-of-the-art techniques on ancient mammoth DNA preserved in the lake core from St. Paul Island, it also showed the vulnerability of small island populations to environmental change. St. Paul Island gradually shrank to its current size of 110 square kilometers as sea levels rose, reducing the opportunities for mammoths to find new areas with water. Conditions incrementally changed for about 2,000 years before mammoths went extinct. Modern climate change could shift conditions more rapidly, which could make the story of prehistoric St. Paul Island relevant today, Wooller said. Explore further New study points finger at climate in mammoth's demise More information: Timing and causes of mid-Holocene mammoth extinction on St. Paul Island, Alaska, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604903113 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Timing and causes of mid-Holocene mammoth extinction on St. Paul Island, Alaska, Credit: Illinois Institute of Technology Scientists from Illinois Institute of Technology received a patent for a method to genetically engineer bacteria and yeast to increase bioethanol production, especially from cellulosic material in biomass like twigs, branches, plant stalks and husks, and woodchips. Ben Stark, professor of biology, and former Ph.D. student Tony Sanny, now a partner with Swanson & Bratschun, developed a method to genetically engineer Escherichia coli and Zymomonas mobilis, two bacterial ethanol producers, and yeast, a eukaryotic ethanol producer, to express Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb). Engineering of microorganisms with VHb has been shown to enhance the production of many useful bioproducts as well as improve microbial degradation of certain toxic chemicals. Physical addition of small amounts of oxygen to ethanol producing cultures has been shown by others to enhance bioethanol production; the Illinois Tech (VHb) approach is a biological correlate of the physical method, and so works on its own without the need for an oxygen feed to the growth chamber. Bioethanol is a liquid fuel that comprises about 10 percent of the gasoline at the pump. It is made by microorganisms by fermentation of sugars. The sugars come from various sources, including starch from plants like corn; sugar from sugar cane and sugar beets; or cellulose and hemicellulose, polymers of various sugars that are among the main structural components in wood and plants in general that give them their strength. Cellulosic and hemicellulosic-based bioethanols are the least common right now, because these polymers are fairly difficult to break down into their component sugars, and this factor makes it difficult to produce enough fuel-grade ethanol cost-effectively. On the other hand, bioethanol from these feedstocks has the promise of being much more cost effective and sustainable, producing less greenhouse gas, and having a less direct impact on the food supply than using corn starch as a source of sugar. Work in recent years has focused on genetically modifying yeast and other materials used in producing bioethanol from cellulose and hemicellulose to speed the breakdown process, improve yields, and lower costs. This patent is Stark's and Sanny's third since 2014 for increasing bioethanol production by genetic engineering of microorganisms to express Vitreoscilla hemoglobin. Explore further Biologists partner bacterium with nitrogen gas to produce more, cleaner bioethanol Transition from a cubic arrangement into several hexagonal layers. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology An international collaborative of researchers has used computer simulations to find the minimum thinness of a slab of salt in order for it to break up into graphene-like layers. Based on the computer simulation, they derived the equation for the number of layers in a crystal that will produce ultrathin films with applications in nanoelectronics. Their findings were in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. From 3-D to 2D Unique monoatomic thickness of graphene makes it an attractive and useful material. Its crystal lattice resembles a honeycomb, as the bonds between the constituent atoms form regular hexagons. Graphene is a single layer of a three-dimensional graphite crystal and its properties (as well as properties of any 2D crystal) are radically different from its 3-D counterpart. Since the discovery of graphene, a large amount of research has been directed at new two-dimensional materials with intriguing properties. Ultrathin films have unusual properties that might be useful for applications such as nano- and microelectronics. Previous theoretical studies have suggested that films with a cubic structure and ionic bonding could spontaneously convert to a layered hexagonal graphitic structure in what is known as graphitisation. For some substances, this conversion has been experimentally observed. It was predicted that rock salt NaCl could be a compound with graphitisation tendencies. Graphitisation of cubic compounds could produce new and promising structures for applications in nanoelectronics. However, no theory has accounted for this process with an arbitrary cubic compound or made predictions about its conversion into graphene-like salt layers. Positive sodium ions Na are shown in red, negative chloride ions Cl are shown in blue. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_dipole_moment For graphitisation to occur, the crystal layers need to be reduced along the main diagonal of the cubic structure. This would result in one crystal surface being made of sodium ions and the other of chloride ions. It is important to note that positive and negative ionsand not neutral atomsoccupy the lattice points of the structure. This generates charges of opposite signs on the two surfaces. As long as the surfaces are remote from each other, all charges cancel out, and the salt slab shows a preference for a cubic structure. However, a sufficiently thin film gives rise to a large dipole moment due to the opposite charges of the two crystal surfaces. The structure seeks to get rid of the dipole moment, which increases the energy of the system. To make the surfaces charge-neutral, the crystal undergoes a rearrangement of atoms. Experiment vs model To study how graphitisation tendencies vary depending on the compound, the researchers examined 16 binary compounds with the general formula AB, where A stands for one of the four alkali metals lithium Li, sodium Na, potassium K, and rubidium Rb. These are highly reactive elements found in Group 1 of the periodic table. The B in the formula stands for any of the four halogens fluorine F, chlorine Cl, bromine Br, and iodine I. These elements are in Group 17 of the periodic table and readily react with alkali metals. Phase diagram for a bulk crystal of NaCl with the known phases represented in blue and yellow whereas the graphitic phase represented in red. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology All compounds in this study come in a number of structures, also known as crystal lattices or phases. If atmospheric pressure is increased to 300,000 times its normal value, another phase (B2) of NaCl (represented by the yellow portion of the diagram) becomes more stable, effecting a change in the crystal lattice. To test their choice of methods and parameters, the researchers simulated two crystal lattices and calculated the pressure that corresponds to the phase transition between them. Their predictions agree with experimental data. Just how thin should it be? The compounds within the scope of this study can all have a hexagonal, "graphitic" G phase (the red in the diagram) that is unstable in 3-D bulk but becomes the most stable structure for ultrathin (2-D or quasi-2-D) films. The researchers identified the relationship between the surface energy of a film and the number of layers in it for both cubic and hexagonal structures. They graphed this relationship by plotting two lines with different slopes for each of the compounds studied. Each pair of lines associated with one compound has a common point that corresponds to the critical slab thickness that makes conversion from a cubic to a hexagonal structure energetically favourable. For example, the critical number of layers was found to be close to 11 for all sodium salts and between 19 and 27 for lithium salts. Based on this data, the researchers established a relationship between the critical number of layers and two parameters that determine the strength of the ionic bonds in various compounds. The first parameter indicates the size of an ion of a given metalits ionic radius. The second parameter is called electronegativity and is a measure of the atom's ability to attract the electrons of element B. Higher electronegativity means more powerful attraction of electrons by the atom, a more pronounced ionic nature of the bond, a larger surface dipole, and a lower critical slab thickness. The dependency of surface energy on the number of layers. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Pavel Sorokin, head of the Laboratory of New Materials Simulation at TISNCM says, "This work has already attracted our colleagues from Israel and Japan. If they confirm our findings experimentally, this phenomenon [of graphitisation] will provide a viable route to the synthesis of ultrathin films with potential applications in nanoelectronics." The scientists intend to broaden the scope of their studies by examining other compounds. They believe that ultrathin films of different composition might also undergo spontaneous graphitisation, yielding new layered structures with properties that are even more intriguing. Explore further Scientists gain insights into 'forbidden' chemistry More information: A. G. Kvashnin et al, Ionic Graphitization of Ultrathin Films of Ionic Compounds, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2016). Journal information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters A. G. Kvashnin et al, Ionic Graphitization of Ultrathin Films of Ionic Compounds,(2016). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01214 Cayan Unveils Unified Commerce Suite, Genius Handheld and Unrivaled EMV Speed Times BOSTON, MA(Marketwired Aug 1, 2016) As retailers struggle to meet consumers high expectations for seamless shopping experiences,Cayan, a leading payment technologies company, will showcase several industry-changing solutions at RetailNOW 2016. At booth #407, Cayan will preview its in-aisle payment solution Genius Handheld, as well as the Cayan Unified Commerce Solution Suite. Cayans industry-leading EMV transaction speeds will also be on display. Cayans latest innovative products come at a point in time when retailers are struggling to integrate the latest payments technologies while also satisfying todays connected consumers. In the coming weeks, Cayan will release these new products to help retailers process payments online, via mobile apps, at the counter, in aisle, in the field and tableside at restaurants ushering in a new era of unified commerce. Theres a dangerous dichotomy at work in the retail world. Todays connected consumer demands a seamless shopping experience, but retailers are challenged by aligning constantly evolving payments technologies and systems across all channels, said Henry Helgeson, CEO of Cayan. Solving these challenges is Cayans core mission. Seamlessly Connecting Payments Both In-Store and Online Cayan has developed a single solution that effectively and seamlessly engages shoppers across channels, delivering improved margins, brand value and revenue. Cayan Unified Solutions Suite will connect retailers POS, mobile and e-commerce payment capabilities enabling seamless transactions throughout the consumers shopping journey, whether in-store or online. Additionally, merchants will be able to track purchases to build customer profiles, allowing for more precise targeting and relevant offerings. Cayans Unified Commerce Solutions Suite helps streamline all the ways that consumers shop, including: Buy online, pick up in store Auto-reorder and ongoing subscriptions Easy exchanges and refunds Buying and returning in any channel or location Targeted and personalized marketing campaigns Unified Commerce in Action At its booth, Cayan will have a highly interactive experience showing how Cayan checkout is integrated with Lightspeed Retail and Lightspeed eCom illustrating exactly how unified commerce works, live. Attendees with mobile devices can use the live web-store to go through the process of buying and returning products. The web-store will exactly mirror an in-store scenario. Lightspeed is a powerful POS system for retailers and restaurateurs, giving merchants access to a one-stop-shop for all their retail management needs, in-store and online. A Customer-Friendly Approach to Payments Cayans newest game-changing offering, Genius Handheld, allows store associates and restaurant servers to bring the transaction straight to the customer wherever they are. For consumers, this means less time waiting in lines and a faster, more personalized shopping experience. Genius Handheld gives store associates the flexibility to engage customers on the shop floor or in-aisle, increasing the likelihood of closing the sale. Genius Handheld also gives retailers an easy way to reduce queuing times through line-busting, as well as an opportunity to save the sale in an out-of-stock situation. In a restaurant setting, Genius Handheld provides a pay-at-the-table solution for a more efficient and secure experience for customers. Other Genius Handheld benefits will include: Full- color touch screen display Accepts chip cards (EMV), Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and gift cards Easy integration via the Genius API Digital signature capture, pin steering and line item display A Better Experience: EMV Doesnt Have to Be Slow While Cayan has been working to improve both the retail and consumer experience on several different levels, EMV has further complicated the retail landscape, making the check-out experience slower for consumers. In addition to creating Genius Handheld, Cayans developers have been preparing for EMV for a long time and the Genius platform offers speeds of only 3.6 seconds per EMV transaction. Because connected consumers are now dictating and controlling the terms of engagement with retailers demanding a fluid experience across both in-store and online channels that puts greater pressure on margins and revenues, and requires greater efficiency and adaptability. According to industry analyst firm IDC, consumers who shop across channels have a 30 percent higher lifetime value than those who shop through only one. Cayan is working fast to help retailers meet these pressures head on, with new technologies that will make the retail experience more fluid, fast and secure. About Cayan Cayan is the leading provider of payment technologies that give businesses a competitive advantage. From simple and reliable payment processing, to fully integrated, multi-channel customer engagement platforms, Cayan is continuously developing new ways for businesses to unlock the power of payments. Headquartered in Boston, the company has multiple offices in the United States and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Cayan is one of the worlds fastest growing payment companies. For more information, visit www.cayan.com. MORE POS news from Pointofsale.com: Looking for POS buyers? Get exposure on www.Pointofsale.com click here for a media kit (This post was updated at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday to add information about Kathy Derrick speaking.) Green Party congressional candidate Matt Funiciello said he hopes to make inroads with Democrats when he speaks to Women Democrats of Fulton and Montgomery Counties at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Pine Park Pavilion at 23 Pine St. in Broadalbin. "This is an unofficial group of women Democrats" that is loosely affiliated with the Democratic Party, he said, in a telephone interview on Monday. Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls, is running in the 21st Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County. Kathy Derrick, wife of the Democratic candidate, also will be speaking, said Drew Prestridge, Derrick's campaign manager. QUEENSBURY The Glens Falls man who tried to blame the woman he tried to rape for the attack and her injuries was told he was a "danger to every woman in our community" by a judge who sentenced him Monday to 29 years in state prison. Michael J. Butkiewicz wept after Judge John Hall imposed the maximum prison sentence for luring a neighbor into his home, sexually assaulting, choking and beating her. In addition to the prison term, Hall recommended that Butkiewicz be held after his release from prison under the state's "civil confinement" program for dangerous sex offenders. Hall's sentence came after the judge heard an emotional victim's impact statement from the woman Butkiewicz attacked, who told the judge she is still scared or being alone and of crowds, has been "walking around in a fog" since the attack and was "sad" that we live in a world where assaults like this happen. "I carry my phone with me everywhere I go. I won't go into my basement, my bathroom or my closet without it because they each only have one exit and I never want to feel trapped and helpless again," the 34-year-old told Hall. She also said she was "disgusted" by Butkiewicz's testimony at trial, in which he told a Warren County jury that she initiated a sexual encounter and repeatedly hit him when he ended it. That testimony came after he told police nine months earlier that he didn't know her and she hadn't been in his home. "The nightmare that was October 21 will always be with me," she told the judge. Hall praised the woman for her strength, and said she was a "better, stronger person" after the "horrible experience." Butkiewicz, 34, had no comment in court, telling Hall he planned to appeal. His lawyer, Kathryn Conklin, told Hall she did not believe that consecutive sentences should be imposed for the charges, and pointed out that Butkiewicz halted the attack after the woman talked with him. "He did, in fact, stop any further actions that might have occurred," she said. Hall imposed consecutive prison terms for the attempted first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse and second-degree strangulation counts, amounting to 29 years in prison to be followed by 15 years on parole. Butkiewicz was convicted July 18 of four felonies and a misdemeanor after a trial that stretched over nearly two weeks. The victim, a neighbor of his, testified he came to her door, pretended he was locked out of his home and lured her there to try to pick the lock with a credit card. He instead pushed her inside, ripped off her clothes and assaulted her before telling her he was going to rape her. He halted the assault after she asked him what he planned to do when he was "done" with her. But he testified at trial that she initiated the encounter and attacked him, testimony that the judge called "absurd and preposterous." The defendant stands 6-foot-7, and the victim is a petite 5-foot-5. Butkiewicz turned down a plea deal offer that would have resulted in a 10-year prison term before trial. The sexual assault came about two hours after he allegedly attacked his wife in their home, prompting her to flee. A felony strangulation charge and numerous misdemeanors are still pending in that case, and he potentially faces trial in that case, though authorities said his wife has declined to cooperate with the prosecution in recent months as the attempted rape case headed to trial. Butkiewicz will have to serve 24.8 years before becoming eligible for parole. EDINBURGH An 18-year-old man found Sunday in the Great Sacandaga Lake died from drowning, authorities said Monday. A boat was spotted going in circles with no one aboard off South Shore Road shortly before 8 p.m. on Saturday. The Saratoga County Sheriffs Office believe that the man fell out of the boat. Searchers suspended their efforts on Saturday but resumed on Sunday. Members of the sheriffs Dive Team, the New York State Police Dive Team and Corinth Fire Department rescue divers found the body of Sean J. Craig of Amsterdam at about 5 p.m. Sunday. The body was located in about 25 feet of water about 400 feet west of the IGO Inn Restaurant, according to a news release. An autopsy performed at Saratoga Hospital Monday by Dr. Michael Sikirica found that the cause of death is accidental due to drowning. Toxicology results are pending. Authorities are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Craigs actions and whereabouts before the incident. ELIZABETHTOWN A former Olympic Regional Development Authority employee has been convicted of grand larceny. The Essex County District Attorneys Office reported Jeffrey D. Lowndes, 46, stole electrical wire from ORDA while employed there in May and June 2015. He sold the wire, valued at more than $1,000, to a local scrap yard. The Vermontville man was indicted by an Essex County grand jury in January. Jury selection began July 25, and Lowndes was convicted a few hours after the jury began deliberations July 28. He was sent to Essex County Jail on $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 22. Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague thanked Assistant District Attorney Michele Bowen for her work in presenting the case and ORDA for its assistance during the investigation and trial. This case should send the message that theft of any kind will not be tolerated, especially theft by an employee from an employer, Sprague said in a press release. It is such a violation of trust, and I am very pleased that this jury found the defendant guilty of his actions and that he will be held responsible for this serious theft. According to the DAs office, Lowndes faces up to life in prison if deemed a persistent felony offender under New York state sentencing guidelines. If not, he faces up to 2 to 4 years in prison. Lowndes was represented by the Essex County Public Defenders Office. Essex County Judge Richard B. Meyer presided over the trial. Editors note: This is part of a continuing series about local veterans and their experiences. LAKE GEORGE Whitehall High School senior Dennis Downs was in third period study hall when a secretary came in to speak with their teacher, Mr. Smith. His face just completely changed, Downs said. After the teacher was alerted, a TV was brought in and they began watching coverage of the events that were unfolding in New York, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. Like all Americans that day, he said they watched in shock and disbelief. When 9/11 happened, that was my call, Downs said. Downs enlisted in the U.S. Army after his graduation in June 2002. After basic training, he trained as a construction engineer and was deployed to Korea for 15 months. In 2004, Downs volunteered for deployment to Iraq. We got a call for our company of engineers for a platoon to deploy and I was ready, I was ready for something else. Downs arrived in Iraq on Aug. 8, 2004. His unit was stationed near Ramadi, not far from Fallujah. While in Iraq on what would be his first of two deployments to the country, Downs unit was tasked with building roads, sweeping for improvised explosive devices, and setting up checkpoints and roadblocks. While manning a roadblock, a vehicle-borne IED was driven into the checkpoint, killing three combat engineers from his unit. It was a nasty scene, he said. The investigators came out and plotted everything down and picked up all the different body parts. Downs said losing men was always difficult on the unit, but said it was something they could not fully comprehend until the military funeral back at base. It just rocks you right down to the soul, and just grown men standing at the position of attention crying, in tears just honoring and just remembering and owning it. Downs said they worked together to get everyone through it, and as time went by, it got easier. He said when a unit took a casualty in one of its vehicles, other units would step in. Another unit or different people would clean out all the remnants of their bodies so their own people wouldnt have to deal with that, he said. As an engineer who also served one tour in Afghanistan, Downs worked with both Iraqi and Afghan civilians. He said he always worked to treat them with respect. Downs said many of them said they were worried the enemy would learn they were working with the Americans and would kidnap their families. He said they told the civilians they would do everything to protect them, and in Iraq even told them they might be able to receive visas to the U.S. Downs said he and his unit learned this was not to be the case. Not too much of that actually happened. It was just false hope and empty promises. It was around 1 a.m. April 8, 2010, when a mortar attack hit Downs base in Afghanistan. Running out of his shelter, Downs began to direct men into bunkers. An 82 mm mortar came in off to my 11 oclock around 3 to 5 feet away is what I heard after the fact. It tossed me a good 10 feet and I landed right in front of the aid station door, he said. Downs was left with wounds to his left leg and testicles. He was evacuated by helicopter along with two others who had been wounded in the attack. Over the next two years, doctors tried a variety of techniques to reconstruct Downs leg. Finally, Downs said he had enough. I just went up to (the doctor) and said, Its time to amputate. On April 10, 2012, Downs had his leg removed. He said within a month he was running with a prosthetic. He was discharged in February 2013. While in the hospital, Downs said he became dependent on morphine. He said when he returned home, he found a rental property in Dresden to stay at while he detoxed. It was while at this rental property with his then-girlfriend that the Warren County Sherriffs Office responded to a domestic disturbance. Downs allegedly tried to strike one of the officers, and was arrested. According to court records, Downs pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault with the understanding that if he did well with counseling and day reporting monitoring, all charges would be dismissed, which they eventually were. Downs said even after kicking the morphine addiction, he still struggled with alcohol and marijuana. He said he began smoking marijuana to relieve pain, but over time he began keeping himself in an almost catatonic state. Downs said he still drinks, but only socially. Initially, when he returned home, Downs said he was sensitive to loud noises. He said the smell of diesel fuel would also remind him of his time in the military because of all the diesel vehicles his unit used. According to Downs, this sensitivity has lessened in the past two or three years. He said he has largely accepted everything that happened to him and tries to live on positive side of life, but this has not always been easy. When he came home, he struggled with survivors guilt and depression to the point where he contemplated suicide. It felt like a quitting cop-out, but there were definitely times where I was there and I was ready, and if I had the testicles enough to do it I would have, and I wanted to so severely bad, he said. Downs said what stopped him was the knowledge of what he had devoted his life to in the military. He said he felt it was not his decision to make. It wasnt my life anymore, so much that it wasnt mine to take away from myself, he said. Downs lives in Lake George, but he is hoping to move back to Whitehall in August with his girlfriend, Shawna Hart, and his daughter, Jazmyn. He is divorced, but said he and his ex-wife, who is still in the Army, are still on good terms. After moving around so much, Downs said he is ready to settle down in one place. Its time to get a piece of the earth that I have done so much for, in my opinion. LAKE GEORGE A new initiative calls upon local government and residents to be more conscious and accepting of people with disabilities, especially those on the autism spectrum. The Lake George Village Board voted unanimously earlier this month for a resolution that calls for the adoption of the Think Differently initiative for the village, including residents and business owners. The initiative also seeks to implement programs that make the community more accessible. Lake George is among seven towns and counties to adopt the measure since it was introduced by Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro in 2015. The city of Troy and town of Horicon have also adopted the initiative, according to Colleen Pillus, Molinaros communications director. Molinaro said he proposed the initiative in 2015, partly for selfish reasons. He has a 12-year-old daughter on the autism spectrum, and he wanted to make it possible for her and others to enjoy their community as much as any other child. Think Differently is Dutchess Countys call to ensure that every resident is respected and embraced by the community, Molinaro said. Despite the best intentions, Molinaro said he feels there is a low expectation placed on individuals with disabilities in society, especially those who fall within the autism spectrum. He said the initiative is meant to confront this attitude and change it. Since its implementation, Dutchess County has worked to implement programs that help to make citizens with disabilities feel included and valued in the community. This has included offering free training to local businesses at the Anderson Center for Autism on how to make their business more inclusive and welcoming for those with disabilities. Molinaro said they have also hosted a special movie night for families with children who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum, with the bass volume and light turned down, since both can be triggers for individuals on the spectrum. Molinaro said the movie night has been particularly well received. We had a family come last year and it was the first time they had come to a movie together as a family, Molinaro said. While the event was great for families with children with disabilities, Molinaro said it was also important for everyday citizens to learn about what types of things can be triggers for some of their fellow Dutchess County residents. As part of the initiative, Molinaro said the county government is hiring a deputy commissioner of special needs whose job it will be to advocate for and assist families with special needs. He said the position is a major component of the initiative, as the government system currently in place is difficult for families to understand. Molinaro said the county has devoted funds to the initiative, however he feels it is not something extra they are allocating funds for. He said it is simply a matter of ensuring all citizens of the county have the same access. Another important component of the initiative is ensuring officials know how to handle situations involving people with disabilities. Every law enforcement officer on the street within 18 months will have crisis intervention team training, Molinaro said. Molinaro said this is especially important given recent events in North Miami, Florida, where an unarmed autistic adult was almost shot by police with the bullet instead striking his therapist because he was believed to be armed and did not comply with police commands. Lake George Mayor Robert Blais said the resolution is merely the first step in the process, and village officials are looking for ways to implement the initiative, hopefully using Dutchess County as a model. We certainly felt it was worthwhile, especially as a resort where we get people from all walks of life, Blais said. Blais said he has been impressed with how well Molinaro has publicized the initiative, and said he plans to contact him to get his thoughts on the best way to implement the program. I wanted to be one of the first communities to pass that resolution, Blais said. A search for a missing 18-year-old man on Sacandaga Lake ended at 5 p.m. Sunday, when a member of the Saratoga County Sheriffs Dive Team found the body of Sean J. Craig of Amsterdam. Saratoga County Sheriffs Office received a 911 call around 8 p.m. Saturday, reporting an unoccupied boat circling the lake. The operator could not be found, so a search began, with members of the Sheriffs Office, Fulton County Sheriffs Office, New York State Police dive team and aviation unit, Edinburg Fire Department, Edinburg Ambulance, Corinth Fire Department, Fulton County ALS, South Glens Falls Fire Department, Porter Corners Fire Department, Greenfield Fire Department, Galway Fire Department and Saratoga County Fire Coordinators. The search resumed at 7 a.m. Sunday with the Sheriffs and State Police dive teams and Corinth Fire Department rescue divers. Craig was found in about 25 feet of water, about 400 feet west of the IGO Inn Restaurant. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Saratoga County Coroner Daniel J. Kuhn. An autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause of death. According to a news release from Saratoga County Sheriffs Office, there was no evidence of foul play and the death is believed to be accidental. The circumstances surrounding Craigs actions and whereabouts before his drowning remain under investigation. Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more READ MORE: Calls for immediate reduction in transport fares In a statement signed by its executive secretary Duncan Amoah on Monday, COPECGH said prices at the pump has so far not "reflected prevailing figures both on the international markets and the cedi dollar exchange, though same have contributed immensely in no small way in the past when pump prices have gone up, the phenomenon where periods for reductions seem to go unheeded is becoming increasingly worrying." "Contrary to expectations for fairness under deregulation which dictates prices to reflect current trends and market dynamics, the Ghanaian downstream and pumps have remained quite insensitive to movement of indexes on the world market and the cedi's performance over the past four pricing windows or two months," the statement added. It said prices on the world markets over the past 4 windows have gone down by over 17.164% from previous levels of $50.22/barrel to the current indexes of $41.60/barrel but the local pumps have till date adjusted by less than 5% cumulative across most omcs. The cedi over the same period has lost marginally around 1.78% to close trading at 3.96/1$, it stands to reason therefore, that given a standard variance of 5% cumulative the Ghanaian petroleum consumer could have gotten at least 11-12% reductions at the pumps but we have so far recorded below 5% net reductions over same period, the statement explained. The Chamber Of Petroleum Consumers Ghana said it "high hopes" that the deregulation programme will be "applied fairly to all and sundry" is gradually "eroding." READ MORE:COPECGH calls for fuel reduction The statement also called on the "various bulk distribution companies and oil marketing companies to reduce fuel prices by at least 5% to ensure the right things are done in a deregulated market where the cardinal principle of fairness is protected as is the case the world over." According to the Bill, persons or companies that wish to import cement would require a license, failure of which would attract punitive measures from the state, ranging from fines, to prison sentences or both. READ MORE: Dangote Cement vows to drive prices of cement down In order to guard against defaulters of this new regulation, the Trade and Industry Ministry is establishing a Portland Cement Monitoring Committee (PCMC) to implement and enforce the provisions of the regulation. The committee will also advise the Trade Ministry on importation, pricing and local production of Portland cement. The move is believed to be in response to calls from local producers who have called on government to protect them from unfair competition from imported cement. Currently, the Ghanaian cement market is dominated by GHACEM, produced by the Heidelberg Cement Group, Diamond Cement produced in Afloa in the Volta Region, and Dangote Cement which is exported from Nigeria, but for long. The sign language classes, offered with the assistance of volunteer Patrick Sarfo from the Lutheran Church, took non-deaf children through the basics of communicating with those with hearing impairments. Over a period of six weeks, the children, aged between 7 and 14 years, learned how to sign the alphabet and numbers up to 20, as well as how to exchange basic greetings and day-to-day conversation in sign language. One of the participants, Jude Gyane, 12, a student at Presec Primary School in Madina, said: It is important for us to learn sign language because we need to learn how to communicate with those who are not like us so we can involve them more. The children expressed their excitement at the chance to learn at a university at their tender age and for the opportunity to learn a new language and make new friends. The summer educational CSR programme included a two-week IT course geared towards recent SHS graduates. The SHS leavers were exposed to the basics of the Microsoft Office Suite as well as Web Design and Development. Each session included practicals and assignments. Yvonne Takyi, 17, a former student of Aduman Senior High School in Kumasi, who lives with her grandmother in Tema, attended the IT course. She said: I learnt how to make faster calculations using Excel and also how to make report for a company or an enterprise. We also learned how to send messages or letters faster to group emails and were also taught how to design a website. Yvonne, who wants to study medicine, added: This course will help me in future to be able to do things faster because now I know a better way of doing it. The SHS students also benefited from career and self-development advice from Wisconsins Career Services Officer, Ms Ngozi Dickson. The young people learned the pillars of success, which include self-discovery, time management and ascribing to the right values. Ms Dickson advised them on the dangers of spending too much time on social media or using it in the wrong way. The young people also prepared a four-year plan for their lives, which they were encouraged to keep and refer to from time to time. Participants were presented with certificates at the end of their respective courses. Wisconsin PR and Communications Officer Mrs Victoria Chimbwanda said: Education is the core business of any university. As such, our CSR activities this summer were geared towards learning. By engaging young people on our campus, we hope to inspire them to aspire to attain the highest level of education while teaching them skills that they can take with them through life. About Wisconsin International University College It received its Interim Accreditation in January 2000 under the name University College of Wisconsin International University - Ghana (UCWIU-Gh). It was thus one of the first private universities to receive accreditation. Wisconsin International University College, Ghana (WIUC-Gh) programmes are accredited by the National Accreditation Board (NAB). The University College is affiliated to the University of Ghana, Legon, the University of Cape Coast and to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Wisconsin offers Certificate, Diploma, Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes in areas including IT, various Business disciplines, Law, Communication Studies, Economics, Environmental Science and Sustainability and Rural Development and Tourism, among others. OUR UNIQUENESS Leaders in International Education Wisconsin International University College, Ghana has a unique brand that distinguishes itself from other private universities. It is truly international in terms of scope of its course offerings and their global appeal as well as its student and lecturer population mix. Our students and lecturers are from Ghana and other countries including: Nigeria, Cote DIvoire, Mali, Togo, Benin, Egypt, Congo DR, Niger, Guinea, Liberia, Gabon, Chad, Cameroun, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Morocco, The Gambia, UK, USA and Zimbabwe. Career Services Center Wisconsin has a vibrant Career Services Center, which arranges work placements and internships for students. Students are encouraged to undertake an internship a year, to boost employability and enhance their entrepreneurship skills. French/Chinese Language The study of French is compulsory. Students also have the option of studying Chinese. Exchange Programme Wisconsin has partnered with Concordia University Irvine in California, USA to offer the Master of Arts in International Relations programme. Other exchange programmes/collaborations are under consideration. Apart from his music career, AJ Nelson is determined and very passionate on empowering young people to become great leaders, motivating them to speak on challenges in society and providing care and support to the less privileged. I am happy that NABA LIFE FOUNDATION contacted AJ Nelson to become the ambassador in the country. AJ Nelson has shown interest in supporting an NGO to achieve its goals on giving back to the society especially to the less privileged and orphan children and in view of this we will work together to achieve it, Yaw Sarpong-Kumankuma, AJ Nelsons manager stressed. AJ Nelson is known for the singles Same Girl, Faith and Power to the People among others. He has also initiated a campaign titled Power To the People to empower the youth in Ghana and of the African continent to speak against woes of society since there is too much corruption and conflicts on the African continent. Dumelo dished that marriage should not be rushed into, as doing so could result into fatal consequences. This was disclosed in an interview published by The Nation News on Sunday, July 31, 2016. The actor said, I have seen a lot of people talking about marriage, a lot of people getting into marriage early, and divorcing early.I think people just love the idea of marriage but dont know how to stay in marriage. They like the idea of love but dont have the idea of how to stay in love or be in love, so since I have some followers, I decided to put it in writing and advice people not to rush into marriage because your friends or cousins are getting married or because you want to have beautiful wedding pictures. Marriage is making it work and that is what is failing a lot of marriages these days because people go into it with the wrong mindset. These reasons are why I am taking my time before getting married and of course, there are plans of getting married soon. Dumelo is an actor known for his roles in the movies "The Maiden", "Heart of Men" and "A Northern Affair". News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. A female Chinese worker sews clothes at a garment factory in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, June 1, 2015. [Photo/IC] Anxiously, the world held its collective breath when China announced its 2016 second quarter GDP growth rate, and then collectively exhaled with great relief, for it was 6.7 percent, the same as in the first quarter. The steady growth, slightly beating forecasts, signaled that China's economy is well and on course. Stock markets worldwide need not panic. The initial anxiety and the subsequent relief are both misguided. At best, GDP growth rates tell only part of China's economic story. Consider the widespread displeasure over China's slowing growth. How terrible is this? Ten years ago, in 2006, when China's growth rate was a robust 12.7 percent, everyone was happycount on China to drive world economic growth. Now everyone is on edge about China. But consider this: the GDP base is far bigger. In 2005, China's GDP was $2.3 trillion, and 12.7 percent growth meant an increase of less than $300 billion in 2006. Fast-forward 10 years. In 2015, China's GDP was $11 trillion, and 6.5 percent growth would mean an increase of over $700 billion in 2016more than twice the absolute amount the economy grew in 2006 when the growth rate was that happiness-engendering 12.7 percent. And since China's population in 2016 is only marginally more than it was in 2006, the absolute amount of GDP growth per capita will be well more this year than it was a decade ago. That's the good news. But there's complexity, pulling in the opposite direction. What are the components of the growth rate? What sectors are driving it? Investment looms large, so we must ask: How productive are those assets being formed? Massive industrial overcapacity is China's most serious economic impediment. Debt-fueled investments in fixed assetsparticularly via government stimulus programs (needed for economic stability)have rendered some investments unproductive or even counterproductive (they cost money to maintain). While we cannot know in real time how much unproductive assets are embedded in each year's GDP growth rate, we do know for sure that some of the growth of the past years now sit as overcapacitiescoal, iron, steel, cement, glass, heavy equipment, chemicals and housing. So, on the one hand, the GDP growth rate on a much larger base continues to impress, but on the other, some of that growth is unproductive. Yet there is real growth in consumer products, e-commerce and service industries. It is difficult to figure out what is really going on. Obviously, we need GDP growth rates for standardization and benchmarking, but we should not deify them. It's no surprise that they dominate discourse. GDP growth rate is a simple, single number, seemingly easy enough to understand. That's its power. That's also its problem. How else to assess the economy? I follow China's national policies, seek indicators to discern progress (or not). Supply side structural reform is critical for reducing overcapacity and corporate debt. Progress in the former could be assessed by, say, an increasing number of corporate bankruptciesclosing down "zombie" enterprises would be a good thing, not a bad thing. It's no secret that some State-owned enterprises are moribund, and so a leading indicator that the government is willing to make hard choices and endure short-term pain to achieve long-term gain would be an uptick in the number of SOE bankruptcies. Similarly, progress in reducing corporate debt would be an increase in debt-for-equity swaps. Another indicator is the percentage of non-performing loans (NPL) issued by banks, largely to SOEs. No one takes seriously the official NPL rate of about 1.5 percent, which is based on narrow definitions. Analysts estimate the real NPL rate to be between 10 percent and 20 percent. To me, a positive indicator of economic progress would be an increase in officially reported NPLs, because it would mean that the government is ready to clean up the financial system, which is necessary for sustainable growth. I also focus on China's overarching guidelines for economic and social transformation. Put forth by President Xi Jinping, the Five Major Development Concepts are the highest-level drivers of national policy: innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing. For each, various metrics can be tracked. None are perfect. All are useful. Innovation: R&D expenditures (as a percentage of GDP), patents, new technology products and companies. Coordination: differentiated economic plans among integrated geographic regions (heretofore competitive). Green: reports from environmental NGOs. Openness: data from China's free trade zones, such as shrinking negative lists (industries off limits). Sharing: reductions in urban-rural imbalances, lower Gini index (test of inequality). So, take note of the quarterly GDP, sure, but watch other indicators as well. The author is a public intellectual, political/economics commentator, and international corporate strategist. He is the host of Closer To China with R.L. Kuhn on CCTV News. This was after the Economic Community of West African States has delayed in taking a decision as to whether to sign the EPA in their current form or not. It is believed that an ECOWAS response to the EPA would grant the sub regional body and its member countries a bigger bargaining advantage. The European Union gave West African states a deadline of November, 2016 to sign the agreement or pay duties on exports to the European market. READ MORE: Vladimir Antwi Danso EPA could harm ECOWAS integration Foreign Affairs Minister, Hannah Tetteh revealed in July, that Ghana was waiting for a unified response from ECOWAS as to whether to sign the agreement or not. With that not forthcoming, Ghana has gone ahead to sign an interim agreement, awaiting a more substantial move from ECOWAS. Some economists have kicked against the decision to sign the EPA in its current form, as it will grant countries of the European Union access to 75% of Ghanas market. The leaked document showed that the Kufuor administration signed the agreement on the 15 February 2006 without seeking cabinets approval. Under the agreement, government was to decommission the 300,000 metre square Racecourse Site for the project, while the Cascade Development Company and affiliates construct a five-star hotel, an office building, residential buildings and a shopping mall. The private developers were also giving tax exemptions and a 50 year sub-lease on the Racecourse land, something that has been severely questioned by financial analysts, and anti-corruption campaigners. Suspended chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Paul Afoko also allegedly received over half a million dollars for fronting as a nominee director for the offshore company. In response to the allegations that president Kufuor and his government broke the law in committing the country to such an agreement arbitrarily, Former Chief of Staff under the Kufuor administration, Kojo Mpiani said, he signed the MOU after carefully considering the terms, and after assessing the seriousness of the Cascade Development Company. The President gave an executive approval to the agreement afterwards. Mr. Mpiani explains that the deal didnt go through cabinet approval because the president had the power to approve such agreements if he was satisfied with the details after review, which explains why the support agreement sent to Parliament for approval was given executive approval. The leaked confidential document from the office of the president dated 21 October 2008 says: Patients who turned up at the hospital Monday morning were left stranded due to inadequate health personnel to attend to them. The leadership of the Physician Assistants are currently in a crunch meeting after they received separate letters from the Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission. The Physicians are expected to announced either the continuation of the strike action or to discontinue it for negotiations to resume. The three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe were sentenced to a four-month jail term by the Supreme Court for scandalising and bringing its name into disrepute through death threats on an Accra-based Montie FM. Scores of NDC big wigs, supports as well as Ministers and Deputy Ministers have signed a petition for their release through the presidents powers under Article 72 after the sentencing. Meanwhile, some legal wits in the country have cautioned president Mahama not to use his presidential powers to free the trio Dr Arthur Kennedy, has released a statement to defend his comments about the matter. He said: While I do not believe the President should pardon them, I have no doubt that he has the constitutional authority to pardon them. If the President can pardon murderers, he can pardon contemnors! Bediatuo et all are just making empty noise, as they did in the appointment of the E.C. Chair. If the President were to pardon them, there will be NO judicial review because it would be unconstitutional.Read full statement belowLAWYERS AND THE LAW My friends, since I expressed my opinion on the MONTIE FM contemnors, I have been attacked by many for daring to offer an opinion on an issue that, in their opinion, should be left to seasoned legal minds.I disagree. The basis for participating in such debates is citizenship and personhood, not law school certificates. Indeed, throughout history, many societies have recognized that the law is too important to leave to lawyers. The greatest set of laws ever written, the Ten Commandments, was brought down from the mountain, not by a seasoned lawyer, but by Moses, a layperson. Many of the "I put it to you" crowd now trying to muzzle me would have asked to see Moses ' law credentials before accepting the ten commandments but he had credentials-- from God!!. Many societies allow jury trials because, as Thomas Jefferson stated, "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution ". Indeed Ghana included non-lawyers like market women in drafting the 1992 constitution that has served us so well. Therefore, my fellow citizens, despite my unbounded admiration for many lawyers throughout history and in our country, laypeople like me have a place in our discussion of the laws and constitutions. Despite my admiration for Thurgood Marshall, Bill Renquist, Clarence Darrow, Jonny Cochran, J.B. Danquah, Nana Addo, Sam Okudzeto and Nana Asante Bediatuo, to mention but a few, I insist that the lay perspectives that people like me bring are sometimes indispensable. That is why I asserted, correctly that the President had the constitutional authority to appoint the E.C. Chair while seasoned lawyers were wasting words and ink challenging that authority. Indeed, we must view the claim by lawyers that they are the best custodians of the rule of law and constitutional democracy with a lot of scepticism. In the U.S., it was eminent lawyers, sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court who handed down the Dred Scott decision of 1857 that barred blacks from US citizenship! It took them nearly a century and a detour through Plessy vs Ferguson before they finally redeemed themselves and America with Brown vs Board of Education which held that discrimination was unconstitutional in 1954. Here in Ghana too, members of the learned profession have been undermining the rule of law for a long time. In 1961, it was some of our best legal minds, sitting on the Supreme Court, who upheld Preventive Detention and gutted the rule law in re: Akoto in the case of Baffour Osei Akoto and 7 others, despite J.B. Danquah's magnificent advocacy. Throughout the 1980s, it was perhaps, the finest legal brain to come out of Legon, Tsatsu Tshikata, who helped the PNDC write proclamations while they gutted the rule of law. During the protracted attempt to cover up the murder of the judges, he was firmly on the side of the evil doers. To finish on the case of the MONTIE FM contemnors, while I do not believe the President should pardon them, I have no doubt that he has the constitutional authority to pardon them. If the President can pardon murderers, he can pardon contemnors! Bediatuo et al, are just making empty noise, as they did in the appointment of the E.C. Chair. If the President were to pardon them, there will be NO judicial review because it would be unconstitutional. Finally, my fellow Ghanaians, we should never kowtow to the tyranny of the "I put it to you" profession. We belong in the discussions of our constitution and our laws, not because we are lawyers but simply because we are citizens! God bless Ghana. According to the former president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), President Mahama will be planning his own funeral if he gives in to the pressure being mounted on him. They threatened judges, which is a criminal offence, they refused to prosecute the people and now should he free them, that is going to be his own funeral. What lesson will he be telling the people of Ghana; that if people commit a criminal offence because they are his party people, therefore, he should go and pardon them? Is that a proper way to administer the pardon? That is my view. If he wants to do it, he should go ahead and do it, but they forget we are all in Ghana; it is not just me. People have threatened to kill judges, which is a criminal offence, which is there in the criminal code and the Attorney General has not prosecuted them and he wants to go and pardon? He should go ahead and pardon them because his party people want it, his party chairman said it, but as for me, I will not be a party to it, he said. The convicted three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe sentenced to a four-month jail term by the Supreme Court for contempt on Wednesday, July 27. They threatened the lives of judges on an Accra-based radio station called Montie FM. Read More:Montie FM Saga Street hawkers engage in heated argument over court ruling on panellists Since the sentencing, the office of the president has been besieged with numerous calls from some party big and supports of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as Ministers and appointees of the presidency to grant the Montie trio presidential pardon since in their view the sentencing was harsh. The original project consisted of a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) covering 344MW plant with 142.5MW being a simple cycle plant. The project consist of a 400MW plant, involving a conversion of the 142.5MW simple cycle to combined cycle that will add 50MW steam turbine. After 25 years of the operation of the facility, ownership will be transferred to the Government of Ghana or its nominated agency at a price of US$1. Parliament is considering the request by Government to approve a Put-Call Option Agreement (PCOA), intended to provide a risk guarantee against default termination of the contract. ACEP worries the advantages the project brings may be tempered by some concerns, which may affect the level of benefits Ghana could gain from the project. It said the initial cost of the project at $647.7 million, which has now gone up to $953.4 million, as a result of the upgrading of the simple cycle plant to a combined cycle plant and the addition of LPG infrastructure, could have been put at $453 million. "We expect that government and ECG will take advantage of this to review some of the costs. The financing cost of $178.7 million is particularly interesting but predictable considering the negotiated project debt-equity ratio of 70:30, the longer construction period as a result of moving from an emergency solution to a regular long-term IPP solution, and the provision that allows ECG to waive its requirement to post a letter of credit equal to 2 months of total revenue under the PPA," ACEP said. The tariffs approved for the project consist of capacity charge and energy charge and any adjustments arising from increased or decreased costs However, ACEP said the capacity charge of 4.579 cents/kwh could be lower, however marginal. Touching on generational general, ACEP it is worrying to sign "another PPA, which does not bring energy on-stream." After the launch people from various walks of life have signed the petition. Government appointees have also shown their support by signing the petition as well. Below is ten people who have signed the petition. 1. Dr Valerie Sawyer The Senior Policy Adviser and Head of Presidential Delivery Unit, signed the petition on the day it was launched. Many have criticised her for signing. Her critics argue that she should rather commiserate with the Chief Justice especially because she is a fellow woman. 2. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa Ablakwa also signed the same day the petition was launched. In his opinion though he does not support the comments made by the Montie trio, he said the sentence was unfair. 3. Sena Okity Duah In her view the President needs to exercise his power to release the trio. In her opinion they deserved a lighter sentence than was handed them. 4. Benjamin Dagadu The Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Benjamin Dagadu, has also signed the petition calling for the release of the three. 5. Akua Donkor The founder of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Akua Donkor also joined the increasing list of prominent sympathisers of the jailed Montie three when she signed the petition for a presidential pardon for them. 6. Betty Mould-Iddrisu The Vice Chair of the governing NDC, also signed the petition to get President Mahama to exercise his power to free the three. She argued that even though the conduct of the contemnors was reprehensible and distasteful, they deserved mercy. 7. Nuumo Blafo The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly also signed the petition on Friday (July 29). 8. Prof Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang The Education Minister also signed on Friday. She has also received some backlash especially from social media users for signing. 9. Nana Oye Lithur The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection also signed the petition. Many have criticised her for double standards. Her critic argue that her ministry especially should have defended the Chief Justice since they defended the Electoral Commission Chair when she was accused of trading sex for the position she holds currently. 10. Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe The Council made this appeal at a press conference in Accra today [Monday]. The three contemnors Alistair Nelson, Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase aka Mugabe were prosecuted for contempt of court. This was after Nelson and Gunn made threatened the life of Supreme Court Judges and the Chief Justice on a radio program hosted by Mugabe. The three were handed a four-month jail term by the Supreme Court along with a fine of GHc 10,000 each. The owners were also fined an amount of GHc 60,000. But the Ga Traditional Council argued that sentence was too harsh. Gbese Mantse and member of the traditional council Nii Ayibonte said if the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling, nobody can question the court but we think that the verdict is a harsh one. He further mentioned that even though the Council condemns the threats issued by the three as chiefs in the country, we have the right to plead, he added. Acting president of the Council Nii Dodoo Nsaki II explained that they are pleading for their release because the Ga State was in a period of reconciliation ahead of the annual Homowo festival. A group calling itself the Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP), opened the petition book in a bid to impress upon President Mahama to exercise the prerogative of mercy. A number of people have shown support by signing the petition. These include ministers of states, other government appointees and NDC sympathisers. Oti Bless allegedly made those comments on the same day Alistair Nelson and Ako Gunn also made threatening comments against the court. He said Today we have a CJ who because of a Political favour done her, will do anything to help the NPP. It is an agenda. The electoral commission should stop working and give it to Georgina Woode. And we have a whole CJ, look at how old you are; you have kids and grandchildren and yet you are at the Court doing politics; you deliberately appoint NPP Judges to do politics and scheme with NPP to give biassed rulings. Are you not calling for war? Are you not calling for civil war? Are you not destroying this country? In a statement issued by the Foundation, and signed by the convener of the group Anthony Fredua Tamakloe, the group commended the judges for sentencing the three for the comments made during the program. The group however said they will submit the audio to the court registry for appropriate actions to be taken against Oti Bless as well. We, Law Protection Foundation (LPF), wish to express our profound gratitude to the apex court (SC) for stamping their authoritative verdict on the Montie 3 case, and so have scheduled a Thanksgiving Float on 1/08/2016 through the principal streets of Accra. We are thankful for such deterrent sentence on such despicable act of journalism and disrespect for the highest authority, SC. The statement added that in another twist, we have discovered a fresh evidence to the effect that an honorable member of parliament was also on the Montie show who also made contemptuous statements with the jailed 3. We shall submit the audio to your registry first thing 1/08/2016 for the consideration of the apex court. We trust as usual that justice shall be delivered. Meanwhile, addressing officials of the party in Bolgatanga, on a working visit to the Upper East Region, acting national Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Freddie Blay said, It is mind boggling that at this point in time when in this country everywhere else people are dependent on social media. We (NPP) find nothing wrong with the social media and we dont see how it could in anyway create any embarrassment or violence in this country. We are strongly opposed to it, it goes to reinforce our suspicion that something sinister is about to happen on the initiative of the government and we want our development partners to appreciate our concerns. Ghana is for all of us and we will work hard for a peaceful election but the National Democratic Congress is jittering and they are resorting to all kinds of tricks. And we in the (NPP) will not allow them to get away with it. The young actor was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration having found in possession of 0.5 pounds of methamphetamine. Based on US laws, such act is sufficient enough to charge a felon to court, as it could be interpreted that such a person had an intent to distribute the substance. ALSO READ: Actor allegedly suffers cancer relapse According to Us Magazine, Cameron Douglas "was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2010, but his sentence was extended the following year when he pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin and other drugs into jail." He was scheduled to be released in 2018, but fortunately got his freedom two years before his due date. Following this, the actor plans to spend his time away from prison judiciously. The new mum is now an ambassador for a skin products company, Naturessence. ALSO READ: Tonto Dikeh showers praises on her step mum She took to Instagram today, August 1, 2016 to share the news with her fans and followers. "Signed and sealed #NATURESSENCEUSA #AMBASSADORALERT #MULTIMILLIONCONTRACT #GOD #YOLO," she wrote. Tonto Dikeh recently celebrated hitting 1Million followers on Instagram. Not too long ago, Tonto Dikeh was known more for being controversial and grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons. Since shes gotten married the former DB artiste has taken it easy. Now that she is a mother Tonto Dikeh is the total opposite of her public persona. ALSO READ: Actress celebrates son as he turns 4 months old Instead of going wild online the actress now gushes about the joys of breastfeeding her son. After birth this is the most fulfilling task/Duty. Having the knowledge that you produce food so great for your Child..Am so greatful for Gods awesome miracle.. If you have never been here you wldnt understand the joy my heart holds.. Mothers pls read about the benefits of breast feeding, Show everlasting love to your offsprings ..#7monthstogo penned the actress on her Instagram page. According to the Daily Post, the men were nabbed during a raid of some locations, where criminal activities increase by the day. Captain Lazarus Eli, the spokesman of 2 Brigade, made this known to newsmen in the state. Eli said, some of the arrested suspects have been released, with fifteen people remaining, who are undergoing interrogation. ALSO READ: Kidnappers in military regalia supplied by motorcyclist One hundred and forty two suspects were arrested during the raid operation. After profiling the suspects, some were released while 15 suspects are being interrogated and would be handed over to the relevant security agencies for further investigation. A resident of the area identified as Musa said, the accused lured the girl with some money, into his room at about 7pm on Saturday, July 20, and forcefully raped her. The witness said though the landlord and Yunusa did not stay in the same compound, the accused might have taken advantage of the girl whom all the tenants usually send on errands. "Yunusa had sent the girl on the errand and when she returned, he lured her into his room where he had carnal knowledge of her. The girls mother raised an alarm about her whereabouts when she did not turn up for dinner and she was directed to the Yunusas room by another neighbour who saw her when the girl went to buy something for him from his shop. When the mother and one of the brothers went in search of her, the girl was seen in the tenants room half naked, Musa said. She wrote this pathetic letter: "My name is Monisola, a 38-year-old woman with four children. I have been married for 12 years, though I had a daughter, Timininu, when I was in secondary school, meaning that my other three children are for my husband, Ademola. Before I got married to Ademola, he knew I had a child out of wedlock and he accepted her and promised to treat her as his own and we have been living in peace untill the day I bumped into him having sex with her in her room. Timi is 18, and growing faster than her age and I have tried my best to be a good mother but little did I know that my young daughter was not as innocent as I thought. Though I tried to monitor her as best as I could, I knew she had some male friends though she kept them away from me. It was an aunt who came visiting some months ago that first warned me that she did not find Demola's closeness to Timi funny, sensing that they did not act like a father and daughter, especially when I was not around. Aunt Joke further hinted that she suspected there was something sinister going on behind my back, stating that she had seen Demola sneak into Timi's room at odd hours. But I did not take Aunt Joke serious till I caught the two of them red handed. The day of reckoning started like every other day for me as I left for work as early as I usually did but around 10am, I had this piercing stomach upset and had to rush to the hospital. The doctor told me I had dysentery and should go home, take some drugs and rest. I called Demola to inform him but his phone was switched off, so I had to take a taxi home. I was surprised when I saw his car in the compound when I got back. I guessed he must have come home for something. I had earlier sent Timi to the market, so when I went inside and did not see her, I thought she had gone to buy the foodstuff I had instructed her to. I went to our bedroom and when I did not find Demola there and I went to the kitchen, thinking he would be there but he was not there. Instinctively, I made for Timi's room. On opening the door, I was almost thrown back by the force of what I saw. There was my husband naked and in his full glory, humping on my equally naked daughter who was apparently enjoying the sexual intercourse. It was glaring that Demola did not rape her because she was equally responding to his thrusts. I must have frozen on the spot for close to a minute and they did not know they had company. It was my screams that brought them back to earth and before I passed out, I saw them scramble apart. I came out of coma in the hospital and that was when the reality hit me that I had caught my husband and daughter having sex. All this happened two months ago and since then, I have not gone back to the house neither do I want anything to do with my husband and daughter. They have been sending emissaries to beg me on their behalf and even my family members have been imploring me to forgive them but how on earth can I live with the two of them again, with the picture still playing in my head? Monisola." The teaser for the day was: How Nigeria voted: I will divorce my husband immediately - 31% I will disown my daughter - 12% I will forgive them - 41% I will not forgive them at all - 16% Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! This time, the two murdered Nigerians, Gideon Ogalaonye and Michael Nnamdi, were said to have been killed by some South African and Zimbabwean criminals after robbing them of their possessions. According to the President General of the Nigerian Union in that country, Ikechukwu Anyene, Ogalaonye, who hails from Onitsha, Anambra State, was shot dead while on a visit to the home of his daughters, while Nnamdi, an indigene of Enugu State, was stabbed to death by bandits who wanted to steal his mobile phone. Rikiji made the announcement on Sunday in Gusau after a meeting of stakeholders. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders included the governor, all the 24 members of the Assembly and traditional rulers. The traditional rulers were led by Alhaji Attahiru Muhammad the emir of Anka who is also the chairman of the state Council of Chiefs. The speaker told newsmen at the end of the meeting that the lawmakers gave the governor terms and conditions before they agreed to suspend the impeachment threat. He said that the intervention of traditional rulers and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, helped in addressing the issues that caused the face-off between them and the governor. In a separate interview with newsmen, Gov. Yari described the cause of the face-off between him and the legislature as "the handiwork of the devil." ``The cause of the misunderstanding was addressed at the meeting and we have now agreed to put aside our differences and work together for the advancement of our state," he said. NAN reports that the legislators had threatened to impeach the governor for alleged abuse of budget implementation, misappropriation of bailout funds released to the state by the federal government. MASSOB made the comment after Niger Delta militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for the release of Biafra leader, Nnamdi Kanu, on the condition that he renounces the agitation. MASSOBs comments were contained in a statement released by spokesman, Uche Madu on Sunday, July 31, 2016. The statement reads: The condition for Nnamdi Kanus release is a bluff by the Federal Government that knows nothing about genuine self-determination. This condition is not only laughable but inconsequential. MASSOB does not see Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as one who can betray his belief on Biafra, He is not a sellout. His ideologies on Biafra may differ. He can never betray hundreds of Biafrans that died recently in the course of Biafra. Biafra is not a religious faith that can be renounced or abandoned. Nobody can renounce Biafra, it is an identity, culture, tradition and existence of a group of nationalities. Its not personal or individualistic. There are thousands of Biafranistic persons more determined, consistent, dangerous, focused, unshakable than Nnamdi Kanu. It is childish for the Federal Government to expect Nnamdi Kanu to renounce Biafra which is the fate of over fifty million people. MASSOB advises President Buhari to save his battered Nigeria face from more diplomatic shame by allowing the court to grant Nnamdi Kanu others bail. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, critics who accusing the President of religious and ethnic bias are playing into the hands of the Boko Haram sect who want to divide Nigerians along religious lines. Shehu stated this in a statement on Monday, August 1, while reacting to The London Telegraphs article Children Face Death by Starvation in Northern Nigeria, which was published last Saturday. He said the article repeated a claim from an earlier piece Nigeria Using UK Aid to Persecute Presidents Political Foes published on April 12, indicating that Nigeria was diverting United Kingdoms aid monies away from defeating the Islamist terror group Boko Haram towards those the newspaper identifies as political opponents of the administration. As for claims that the administration is targeting Christians and the opposition, these are without foundation," Shehu said. Since assuming office, President Buhari has treated all Nigerians without bias for ethnicity or religion as the composition of his cabinet and the policies and programmes of his administration demonstrate. To suggest his government as deepening Muslim-Christian division is not only untrue, but plays into the hands of Boko Haram who wish to divide Nigerians along religious lines. Fighting this group is key priority of President Buharis administration. Indeed the international community has widely acknowledged his determination to defeat terrorism in Nigeria and the entire Lake Chad Basin. There is nothing to gain by attempting to mould public opinion against these facts. Therefore we invite The Telegraph to visit Nigeria: to witness first hand not only the challenges we face, but the administrations determination to confront them, the Presidential spokesman said. Speaking further, Shehu added: To state the facts: the UK government does not give development aid to the Nigerian administration for use in military operations against Boko Haram. Where British military support such as intelligence is provided, it is precisely and only, given for operations directly against Boko Haram. Similarly, the Nigerian Government is in no position to divert aid monies used for emergency relief for refugees or IDP camps for any other purpose, as these are dispensed directly by DFID, USAID, the United Nations, the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and many other organisations with which we enjoy excellent relations. The humanitarian situation in these camps is real. The administration remains deeply concerned about the medical, health and nutrition challenges and we are doing everything with the limited resources we have at our disposal to improve the situation. Amina, one of more than 200 girls abducted from a school in Chibok in April 2014, and her four-month-old baby were rescued in May near Damboa in the remote northeast, by soldiers working together with a civilian vigilante group. After a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in the hope she would shed light on the fate of the other kidnapped girls, Amina has since been held in a house in the capital Abuja for what the Nigerian government has called a "restoration process". But her mother, Binta Ali, who has spent the last two months in the house, is concerned about Amina's welfare and future. "Before she was kidnapped, she wanted to further her education," Binta told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Chibok, having briefly returned there to seek medical treatment. "But now she is afraid of schooling, and she wants to be close to me at home," said Binta, adding that Amina wants a sewing machine so that she can start a business making clothes. Binta said she was also worried that her daughter was being pressured into following Islam, having been forced to convert from Christianity to Islam by Boko Haram militants during her captivity. "Amina herself does not want to remain a Muslim," Binta said, explaining how an Islamic teacher had visited the house several times and told her daughter to maintain her new faith. "She did not want to see him," Binta said, adding that the teacher had stopped visiting after she complained about him. "NO LONGER AFRAID" Boko Haram kidnapped 219 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, as part of their seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. Some girls escaped in the melee but parents of those still missing accused former President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's then leader, of not doing enough to find their daughters, whose disappearance sparked a global campaign #bringbackourgirls. Binta said she was shocked to hear about the hardships faced by her daughter as a captive of the Islamist group. Amina and the other girls, starving and with nothing to cook with, resorted to eating an entire bag of beans and maize raw. "I cannot imagine how a human being can eat raw maize and beans like a goat," Binta said. Amina also told her mother how some of the kidnapped girls had died in captivity, while others suffered broken legs or went deaf after being too close to explosions. But she pleaded with her mother not to break the news to the families in Chibok. "Other parents have been coming to visit me since I returned," Binta said. "But I have not told them anything, even though I know some of those whose daughters have died." Despite her fears over Amina's religion and education, and uncertainty over when she will be allowed to return home, Binta said she still had reason to be positive about her daughter. "She used to be very afraid," Binta said, explaining how Amina would talk to herself during the night prior to her kidnap. Jibrin who arrived the premises of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in company of over ten lawyer on Monday, August 1, 2016 noted that those found guilty should be sent to jail immediately in line with President Muhammadu Buhari administration's disdain corruption. He said: "I am here to submit a formal petition and give further clarification and insight on the allegation of corruption, abuse of trust and office by Mr Speaker, , his deputy, , the whip of the House , the minority leader of the House, and nine other members of the House who are also chairmen of different other committees. "We have submitted the petition, the chairman of the commission received us in person. We exchanged a couple of ideas on how to move forward. I hope to see a very quick commencement of investigations so that these corrupt set of Nigerians can be prosecuted in earnest and if found guilty, sent to jail immediately so that it will send a very powerful signal of the anti-corruption fight of this government." Others on the list include; chairman, FCT Herma Hembe; chairman higher education, Zakari Mohammed; chairman health, Chike Okafor; chairman power, Dan Asuquo; chairman marine transport, Mohammed Bago; Chairman Police, Haliru Jika; chairman interior, Jagaba Adams and chairman House services, Babanle Ila. Honourable Abonta Abonta's name also made the list today. "I added one new name to my petition, Hon Abonta Abonta", Jibrin said. "The member who spoke after me on channels and denied corruption exists in the House. Let me use Hon Abonta as a case. I have asked the anti graft agencies to investigate his office running cost. Wait for the shocking outcome," he added. Jibrin became a self-proclaimed corruption fighter shortly after he was removed as chairman of the House committee on appropriation. He said he had kept mum on the matter in the interest of the House, and because whatever he says will have impact in and outside the low chamber. Since the budget controversy that engulfed the House about a week ago, I have pointedly maintained a dignified silence," Gbajabiamila said in a statement released on Monday, August 1. I did this for the sake of the institution I represent and which I have laboured hard to grow and protect, knowing that whatever I say could be impactful both within the House and outside it. I was determined to keep in place the glue that holds an otherwise fragmented House, protect its integrity and at the same time avoid eroding the little confidence and vestiges of hope Nigerians have in us. Unfortunately, the controversy has now taken a different turn following the rather strange if not comical text making the rounds amongst members about my complicity in this rather sordid matter. I am being dragged into an arena I tried very hard to stay out of only for the good of the House." The Speakership election has come and gone. The election was divisive and acrimonious but I have since worked hard to heal the wounds some of which still fester amongst members on both sides. It is my responsibility to bring all tendencies in a House I lead together and I have worked well with the Speaker and all other Principal officers in a bi-partisan manner and in the interest of the institution and the country. This text message, which desperately seeks to finger me in some macabre plot to destabilise the House is a throwback and echoes our dark post speakership election history. The resurfacing or resurgence of the faceless text messengers will not help us as a House and let me quickly add that it will fail." The lawmaker further said: My strongest critics and biggest political adversaries in the House cannot deny the fact that my commitment has always been to strengthen the legislature and its processes and our democracy as a whole. I consider everyone a friend and colleague and urge that as we collectively work towards a stronger legislature and strive to deepen our democracy, we do not pull back the hands of the clock nor lose sight of the enormous responsibility placed upon us by providence as members of a critical arm of government. On the budget issue at hand, it is clear that our budget process needs radical reform and very quickly too. Yes, allegations have been made but I strongly believe judgment should not be passed based on allegations. We operate a constitutional democracy and we must at all times submit to its dictates and ethos. All parties are innocent until otherwise proven. This should be our guide. I plead with all members. The mudslinging must stop. The governor made the comments on Sunday, July 31, 2016, while attending a service at Pastor Tunde Bakares Latter Rain Assembly in Lagos. We have always known that there is massive corruption in Nigeria but the revelations of the past one year have shocked even the most pessimistic of critics. Nearly 70 per cent of Nigerias oil revenues disappeared without a trace, he said. Of course, there must be consequences for that. When we sit down with President Buhari these days, I pity him. I pity him because he has always become President anytime Nigeria is in trouble. First, it was after the NPN (National Party of Nigeria) government had almost grounded the economy (in 1984) and now, after a massive looting of the nations treasury; and he has to lead the team to fix it. But we are working round the clock to fix these problems. With your prayers and the cooperation of Nigerians, we shall surmount these problems, he added. This is contained in a statement issued by speaker's spokesman, Mr Turaki Hassan, in Abuja on Sunday. Dogara spoke at the dedication of twin daughters of former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof. Suleman Bogoro, at the Church of Christ In Nations (COCIN) Centre, Bauchi on Sunday. He said all human beings were created to live under God's shadow, hence the necessity of dedicating new born beings to God as was done by the parents. ``Everything that has breath, are created to live in a certain atmosphere. If you take man or woman outside God's presence, he will die. ``It is always a privilege and great gift to be a father or mother. So, when we have children we should participate in shaping, moulding and directing them," he said. The speaker congratulated the family for the gift, which came 26 years after their son and prayed God to grant the couple who wait upon the Lord for the gift of children their heart desired In his sermon, COCIN Vice President, Rev. Obed Dashen, enjoined parents and the Christian community to collectively ensure good upbringing of children. Dashen urged parents to take up their responsibility and reverence to God in counselling children as well as show them love in order to be godly. On his part, the COCIN President, Dr Dachollom Datiri, commended Dogara on the manner he was running the affairs of the House of Representatives. Datiri, who was represented by his predecessor, Rev. Soja Bewarang, urged the speaker not to be distracted by challenges from whatever corner. The cleric further enjoined Dogara to be courageous, adding that the current accusations and counter-accusations over 2016 budget padding would soon be over. Dokpesi made this statement on Sunday, August 31, 2016, at the PDP secretariat in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, where he went to solicit support for his ambition to become the chairman of the opposition party. The top contender in the PDP chairmanship race said just as many were locked up during President Buhari's military reign, he has started locking many up. ALSO READ: Raymond Dokpesi admits he received N2.1bn from Dasuki Dokpsei also said just the same way he was locked up as the Chief of staff of Gongola state for participating in politics, he is being vindicated for rendering services to the PDP in the last regime. In his words, I respect Buhari as the president of Nigeria but what he is doing now is not different from what he did as a military head of state. Continuing, he said, He locked up Nigerians for 200 years, some 150 years. As the Chief of staff of Gongola state, I was locked up and my charge was that I held political office. If you are an hotelier and someone spent three days in your hotel and paid for services rendered but days later, DSS came to arrest you that the money the client paid you was from illegal proceeds from CBN. How do you explain that? The case is in court and I dont want to comment on it but I will not join APC or be a stooge because of it," he disclosed. Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin has made some astounding allegations about how the 2016 budget was padded, supposedly with the connivance of Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, but the EFCC hasnt as much as uttered a peep on the issue. This is strange because EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu has expressed a readiness to die while fighting corruption and also said that itmakes him cry. The impunity is too much. Sometimes I shed tears in the morning before I go to the office. It is just unbelievable; the rot is terrible. What I am saying is that people who know they have stolen our commonwealth should bring it back, he said on January 20, 2016, while speaking about the corruption problem in the country. I am not afraid of anything. I prefer to die fighting corruption if need be, Magu said on February 18, during a meeting with a group of lawyers in Lagos. So why is Magu not crying about the budget padding scandal? Is the N284 billion that was allegedly smuggled into the budget not enough to give the anti-corruption boss a headache? Has he been so numbed by the billions of dollars stolen that this amount has become meagre in his sight? The EFCCs delay in addressing the scandal is casting an embarrassing shadow on Nigeria but most of all, it appears to buttress the point made the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that only its members are being arrested for corruption. If the EFCC and President Muhammadu Buhari expect Nigerians to believe in the validity of their anti-corruption war, then both Dogara and Jibrin must be interrogated with immediate effect. There must be no room for anyone to insinuate that he is above the law simply because is a member of the ruling party of the head of a legislative chamber. While acknowledging the submissions of Nigerians that the present administration has failed on its promise to transform Nigeria, Mohammed said the change is real. He stated this on Monday, August 1 at a town hall meeting in Enugu State. According to the minister, part of the change is the prosecution of treasury looters and the entrenchment in public service. Many have said they are yet to see the change we promised. Many more have called the promise a ruse. In fact, they are now mocking us. But we remain undaunted because we know that the change we promised is real. In fact, the change we promised is already here, and it is manifesting all around us, Mohammed said. Before now, public officials simply opened the public till, took as much money as they wanted and walked away without consequences. That explains why funds allocated to the military to fight Boko Haram ended up in the piggy banks of many unscrupulous Nigerians. Today, all those who looted the public treasury are being made to answer for their actions, as impunity gives way to accountability. Many have offered to return their loots, and many more are facing charges. On the diversification of the economy, Mohammed said that 70 percent of the N500 billion realised from the federal accounts allocation committee came from the non-oil sector. He said: We promised to diversify the economy away from oil, to ensure that other sectors are able to significantly contribute to sustainable development. In June 2016, for the very first time, about 70 per cent of the more than N500 billion raised from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee came from the non-oil sector, while 30 per cent came from the oil sector." ALSO READ: Lai Mohammed charges political leaders to build one Nigeria While speaking as a special guest at a forum organised by the Abuja Writers Forum, Mnguni narrated how the iconic Nelson Mandela, who led the struggle against apartheid forces, came to Nigeria in 1963 to solicit financial assistance. Mandela came to Nigeria in February 1963 to beg for money to help in the struggle for the people of our country and he was given the needed support, he was quoted as saying. Nigeria as a country helped South Africa a lot in the struggle for freedom; I want to use this opportunity to thank Nigerians for the role they played in our struggle. The African National Congress (ANC) was earlier in the struggle dominated by professors and other educated people, but Mandela later changed it and made people the centre of the struggle. Mnguni explained that people saw Mandela as a symbol of struggle; he was an intelligent lawyer, who did not compromise in spite of the contradiction happening in his country at that time. Two of them - Nicholas Goodness and Terubein Fawei, who finished from the University of Bedfordshire, bagged the honours in Public Relations, Telecommunication and Networking engineering respectively. The third ex-militant, Lucky Azibanagein, graduated in Mechanical Engineering and Robotic System from the University of Liverpool. The Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Paul Boroh, congratulated the graduates for making Nigeria proud. President Buhari is ever ready to implement the blueprint upon which the amnesty programme was established. The era of impunity and phoney contracts are gone for good, Boroh said on Friday, July 29, at an event organised by the Nigerian High Commission in the UK. He also urged members of the Niger Delta Avengers to emulate the militants who laid down their arms to embrace education that can make them indispensable to the world. ALSO READ: Avengers bomb Shell oil pipeline in Nigeria - locals Their first step is to use few of our greedy political elites. The second plan is to frame distinguished leaders with frivolous charges. The third one is to incite crisis for the military to come into the Niger Delta with the sole purpose to kill all the vibrant and brave youths of the region that are mouth piece and leaders of tomorrow. To further expose their Islamic agenda to own our oil and enslave us, they have gone further to absorb more than 250,000 civilian JTF into the Nigerian Army and even boasting to absorb more into the military and paramilitary force. As if that is not enough, they are offering the Boko Haram Amnesty with the sole aim to invade the Niger Delta in the name of fighting militants. The drafting of Special Forces to the Niger Delta is not a threat to the people Niger Delta, because before this time we have known the Islamisation plot of recruiting Saudi Mercenaries, absorbing civilian JTF, and recruiting of Boko Haram members to form a special force to invade the Niger Delta. Niger Deltans have suffered in the hands of the Nigerian government through their divide and rule tactics and few criminal minded elites to impoverish the people. This is why from 1957 when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri till date, there is nothing to show as an oil producing region. All we see is suffering, hunger, poverty, gas flaring, and degradation. Now, their ploy is to cause disunity in the Niger Delta in order to go on with their exploration and exploitation. All what we see now in the Niger delta is disunity, witch-hunting, tribal sentiment, poverty, which they are using in order to achieve their purpose. These things are done deliberately to disorganize the people of the Niger Delta to enable them continue with oil exploration. Even in political appointments, they try to use it to create disunity among the people. Example, in the NDDC, if truly they meant well for the region, there will not be any need for agitation, an Isoko man is from Delta state, why are the Itsekiri people protesting, in Ondo, the same thing, Akwa Ibom the same thing, Abia the same thing. They are now using our resources to acquire weapons and fighters to enslave us in this 21st century. We are very sad with our brothers that use Niger Delta struggle to enrich themselves and at the same time being used by the northerners to achieve their aim of exploiting the oil. They feel that they have settled some few charlatans and criminals that call themselves ex-militants, using them to hijack the struggle that our distinguished sons and fathers stood for. If the government is truly sincere about solving the Niger Delta crisis, they should discuss with our distinguished elders. The proposed release of Henry Okah, Charles Okah, and Nnamdi Kanu and others is a welcome development to build the dialogue process. How the authorities respond to the inquiry's findings may indicate the extent to which reform is being implemented under a drive by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, to root out human rights violations by soldiers. The United States blocked arms sales to Nigeria and ended training of troops there under Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, partly on concerns over human rights such as the treatment of captured suspected insurgents. The report published on Sunday confirms claims by human rights groups such as Amnesty International that the army killed hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims during three days of clashes in the northern city of Zaria. The army has repeatedly denied this. "The Nigerian Army used excessive force," said the report by a commission appointed by Kaduna state, where Zaria is located. "The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings of 12th - 14th December 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them," it said. The army has said Shi'ites had blocked its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, and tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him. "We are aware that the report has been made public and we are studying it," Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said on Monday. The commission's findings contained in the report said 349 people - including one soldier - were killed. "Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave," said the report. The commission said it had received 3,578 memoranda - 132 letters and 3,446 emails - along with 39 exhibits and 87 witnesses testimonies in the course of the inquiry and the writing of the 193-page report Africa's most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shi'ite Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shi'ite Iran. The scenario: confronted with a probably great movie seemingly destined to not get the attention of a lot of Nigerians, the director and producers of "Behind the Wheels" concocted a plan. First came the Instagram posts and conversations prior to The Instagram post featured Ani Iyoho going on and on about how he was about to become the first man in Nigeria to be set on fire. A hashtag was even created for it - #lightupAni. ALSO READ: undefined Then came the e-mails which were circulated on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, stating that the Nollywood actorwas in the hospital after a fire stunt went wrong on set of the movie "Behind the Wheels." Afterwards, with someone screaming 'bring the fire extinguisher' in the background, surfaced. The aforementioned video was shared by the director of the movie, Stanlee Ohikhuare, but was deleted hours later. At that point, they lost me as a worried Nigerian. After the post and delete, I realized they were only out to toy with emotions and pull a publicity stunt. If the fire stunt had actually gone wrong, the director wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to share such sensitive and vivid video - only an insensitive person would do that. Pulse Nigeria reached out to an actress and friend of the 'burnt' actor, who gave us the response "I can't say yet." "Yet?" we thought. It's either he was burnt, or he wasn't, so what is the significance of 'yet?' Why would there be a 'yet' if there was something critical going on? ALSO READ: undefined They had me impassive when they announced a press conference at Diplomat hotel, 18 Oduduwa way off Isaac John Opposite Rumour club G.R.A Ikeja. A press conference? To discuss what exactly? To discuss the 'alleged' fire incident that happened on the set,' they said. My lack of enthusiasm turned into exasperation when they offered no cogent reason for their long silence. When the only announcement they had to make was Those emails came from us. We wanted to test the waters." Following the announcement, Iyoho released series of updates, tweets, and videos to assure his 'heartbroken' fans that he's doing fine, and explain how 'humbled' he is by their gestures. He contradicted his director by saying the drama of the past week wasn't a publicity stunt. According to Iyoho, " It was a huge misunderstanding, misrepresentation and misinterpretation of events." "It worried the production that anything he might say as an individual may be misinterpreted, further worsening the situation," he added. In one of his videos, Iyoho said God simply used the viral video to make him shine. In his reply to one of his fans, the actor said the commenter wants to "ride on his new God given fame." At this point, I was once again disappointed - "God given fame?" ALSO READ: undefined As a 'talented and professional actor', I would think that Iyoho would rather have his fame stem from being the 'first Nigerian to be set on fire,' than being the actor who had his fans worried because he supposedly got burnt on set. The PR movement came from a wrong direction. It chose to appeal to emotions when it could have drawn attention to Iyoho's talent as a stunt man or talented actor, thus drawing attention to the movie too. Few people currently remember the title of the movie which would have been a perfect medium for fans to watch an actor who pulled a fire stunt successfully. To discover his talent and have him recognized for who he truly is. Is there no such thing as bad publicity? At the heart of the popular mantra is the thought that every publicity creates a chance to be in the spotlight, capitalize on the negativity/positivity, and probably come back stronger, weaker, or insignificant. Ani Iyoho and his team set up a PR stunt I consider off-putting, and were doing a bad job at capitalizing on it for a comeback, success of the movie, or success of Iyoho's career as an actor. Publicity stunts are made to get attention in a busy but social media inclined world, but be sure that any stunt and expected outcomes are appropriate for your audience and what you would like your image to be. The cast and crew of "Behind the Wheels" chose to present Iyoho as a 'man on fire,' a 'burnt actor,' rather than a professional who is good at what he does. The viral video appealed to emotions, and not for one second portrayed Ani as a talented actor. Ani Iyoho trended, but not for his talent as a stunt performer, talented actor or even for the movie "Behind the Wheels." He trended as the 'burnt actor.' In 2015, fans were hit with the news that upcoming act . Prior to the 'heartbreaking' news, he wasn't known. The social media went into mourning for a 22-year-old upcoming act, who died before his career took off. As the music industry and everyone with a heart started paying their last respects, the twist in the story came out- Skiibii was responding to treatment. He resurrected from the dead. It has been a year now, and most people still do not know Skiibi. We still do not know the single he pulled such expensive PR stunt for, we still don't know what he has released since his death and resurrection. He only enjoyed few hours of fame. Trended on Twitter, got more followers, but that was as far as he got. ALSO READ: undefined In the Art of the Deal, it is written that Good publicity is preferable to bad, but from a bottom-line perspective, bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all. Controversy, in short, sells. We can only hope that the burning man publicity stunt sells whatever it is out to sell. From being declared missing by Senator on during plenary on Friday, January 12, to some projects being removed, the 2016 appropriation bill popularly called the "Budget of Change" was characterised by a number of anomalies. After the document was eventually signed into law, the Federal Government announced that it would not be able to fund some projects in the budget due to the fall of crude in the commodity market. Another reason the government gave was that Nigeria's foreign reserves was "highly depleted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration under the supervision of President Goodluck Jonathan". Jibrin Abdulmumin, the former House committee on appropriation chairman reopened old wounds on Thursday, July 21, 2016, when he asked Speaker Yakubu Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, minority leader, Leo Ogor and the whip, Ado Doguwato resign for allegedly padding the 2016 budget. Few days later, some copies of documents allegedly issued by the speaker and his media aides began to fly around the media. Most Nigerians have called for investigations and prosecution of those involved in the crime including former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon. While Jibrin may have indicted key personalities in the House, the Kano state lawmaker is yet to make any comment against the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila. A situation which has got most Nigerians thinking. Popularly called Bola Tinubu's protege, Hon Gbajabiamila was the All Progressive Congress (APC) favourite for the Speaker job. The Lagos state lawmaker however lost out in the leadership contest to Dogara who was said to have been "pickedby his boss", Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state who served in same capacity during the last administration. Doara's emergence as speaker led to what was described by many as an internal war both within the House and the party as Dogara was seen to have disobeyed the decision of the party. Two camps immediately emerged within the House; those loyal to the new speaker and Gbajabiamila's group. A lawmaker who spoke to Pulse correspondent in Abuja on the condition of anonymity stated that the groups remained in existence despite Gbajabiamila's announcement by Dogara as the House Leader. "These two camps did not disappear even after Dogara announced Gbajabiamila as the House leader. Till now, the two groups are there", a lawmaker said. Speaking on the allegation against Dogara and three others, the lawmaker said: "Isn't this too much of a coincidence that Jibrin has not mentioned Gbajabiamila in this whole budget padding issue despite his position as the House leader? If you don't smell a rat in this whole issue, I do. "If a minority leader can be named in this issue, talk more of the leader of the whole House leader. I'm not saying he is involved or not. But I think the APC may just use this whole controversy to replace Dogara with who they have always wanted which is Femi Gbajabiamila. "Once the House gets back, a lawmaker moves for Dogara's impeachment, and 2/3 of the House supports the motion, that is all. They will just nominate Gbajabiamila and I am sure no APC lawmaker will want to fool himself or herself by contesting with Gbaja because he has always been the party's choice. If that happens, the party will install who they have desired from the beginning and that's all. Describing the current crisis as "scary", the source said his colleagues have declined comments on the issue so as to prevent Jibrin from attacking them. "My colleagues who addressed the press on Friday have been hit by Jibrin. In fact, Jibrin said two of them are on the list which he will submit to the EFCC. So you see, the matter is so scary that most people don't want to talk about it", he said. Abubakar made the disclosure during a recent chat with journalists in Abuja, Vanguard reports. I assure you that we are not going to delve into cases that are before the courts or tribunal. We are not going to delve into the current issue of the moment, he said. We are only going to touch on the political issues pertaining to the National Assembly. What is before the court, those of us who are lawyers, know that it is subjudice and the current issue is just coming up and it is not politics. As far as I am concerned, if any proof is found to any of the allegations, these are criminal offences. So, there is no way any committee of governors can delve into that, I assure you, he added. ALSO READ: Jibrin calls on EFCC to arrest Dogara over budget padding scandal Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, is accusing Speaker, Yakubu Dogara of padding the 2016 budget. The deputy senate president made his comments on Sunday, July 31, 2016, via a statement released by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu. The statement reads: I am indeed humbled by your solidarity. As they say, the true test of a man is not where he stands in the time of comfort; it is where he stands when there is crisis. Many people may not take this step of faith because of the situation we found ourselves in the country; some may be afraid of their liberty and afraid of any reprisals. But you have stepped out to come and show solidarity and ask questions in a matter concerning one of your sons. Let me start by saying that I reinstate my innocence; that I committed no offence or forged any documents; and none of the accused persons to the best of my knowledge committed any offence, let alone forging any document. Let me also say that no senator accused me, President of the Senate or the other people of committing any offence. No senator or bureaucrat accused us of forging any document. Again, as a lawyer, I know what is called Proof of Evidence, that is the statement of witnesses who are going to confront you with the offence for which you are being charged. Dokpesi was said to have received a massive reception in Nasarawa on Monday, August 1, where party members and loyalists lined the popular Lafia-Jos road to receive him. It was gathered that Dokpesi was meant to visit Benue first, but before meeting delegates from Nasarawa but had decided to the Lafia secretariat as hundreds of party faithful awaited him. The chairman of the party in Nasarawa, Francis Orogu, described the AIT founder as the best candidate to lead the party. He urged Dokpesi to end impunity and imposition in the party which he attributed as the failure of the PDP in previous elections in the state. "If there is hope for PDP, it is in Nasarawa. We have been shortchanged by the national body in the past. When you get there, dont let impunity continue. These delegates are yours. You have more than any other candidates to give to this party and we will vote for you, Orogu said. Dokpesi had on Sunday, July 31, assured the PDP delegates in he will end the reign of imposition of candidates in the party if elected into office. PDP was formed to be an umbrella to protect all of us from rain, sun but after our victory in 1999, our leaders abandoned the principles of our founding fathers, which made some people to leave and led us to where we are today. We must return to the vision of our founding fathers because the PDP of today is not the same as the party that was formed in 1998, he said. ALSO READ: Dokpesi says Buhari's administration is not different from military rule This barbaric attack has led to Muslims, and Christians, alike, showing up for Sunday Masses, DailyMail reports. Reportedly, this interfaith gatherings are also occurring in Italy, as many Imams and Islamic leaders, have been seen, attending Masses. According to Ahmed El Balzai, the imam of the Vobarno mosque in the Lombard province of Brescia, people need to see that not all Muslims are terrorists. "I am not afraid. ... These people are tainting our religion and it is terrible to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists. That is not the case. Religion is one thing. Another is the behavior of Muslims who don't represent us", he said. He was supported by Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Mosque of Paris, who said: "The situation is serious. Time has come to come together so as not to be divided." In response to this act of solidarity, Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, said: "We are very moved by the presence of our Muslim friends and I believe it is a courageous act that they did by coming to us." Churchgoer, Jacqueline Prevot, also had something positive about the attendance of Muslims. "Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass. I find this very heartwarming. I am confident. I say to myself that this assassination won't be lost, that it will maybe relaunch us better than politics can do. Maybe we will react in a better way.'" Oladapo Mojeed Babatunde, 500 level; Adebanjo Fatai Adekoya, 500 level and Fola Kosoko, a fresh graduate from the school were the suspended students. In a statement by the management, it was disclosed that the trio made a move to kidnap Sekoni on Thursday, July 28, on his way home. The statement reads: The Management of Lagos State University has suspended the following students with immediate effect, for attempting to abduct the Lagos State University Students Union [LASUSU] 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 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. Development of its own maps would mean that Uber would be able to reduce its reliance on Google Maps which currently powers the Uber app across the world. Last year, Uber already hired Brian McClendon, one of the world's leading digital mapping experts and the man who formerly ran Google Maps, to spearhead its mapping efforts. Accurate maps are at the heart of our service and backbone of our business, McClendon said in a statement. The ongoing need for maps tailored to the Uber experience is why were doubling down on our investment in mapping. In a fiery speech in Kinshasa, Etienne Tshisekedi warned him not to try, saying it would be "high treason" if the electoral process were not launched on schedule in September. After a two-year absence due to ill-health, Tshisekedi, 83, returned Wednesday to the Democratic Republic of Congo to a warm welcome from supporters. He told the rally that September 19 was the "first red line which must not be crossed". "The electoral body must be convened (by that date) for the presidential election. If it is not, high treason will be proved in the person of Mr Kabila, who will take responsibility for the misery of the Congolese people," Tshisekedi said. "From that moment, his three-month notice period on the presidential palace begins. On December 19 the notice expires and on the 20th the house must be free," he added, to rousing cheers. An immensely popular figure who emerged as a leading dissenting voice as far back as the 1980s, when he was a critic of strongman Mobutu Sese Seko, Tshisekedi recently accomplished the rare feat of uniting the Congolese opposition. DR Congo's opposition has never before managed to forge a common front against Kabila, who beat Tshisekedi in the last presidential election in 2011. Last month, another leading light of the opposition, Moise Katumbi, was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for property fraud. The presiding judge in the case has since claimed she was pressured by the authorities into signing off on a guilty verdict, to ensure Katumbi would be ineligible to run for office, according to a letter seen by AFP. - Rare display of unity - Tshisekedi travelled to the rally in an open jeep escorted by a swarm of motorbikes along a route thronged with supporters and draped with the flags of various opposition parties. One group of youths carried a coffin daubed with anti-Kabila slogans. At the rally itself, opposition supporters waved banners reading "Change is now," and "No dialogue without the release of political prisoners." "We voted for Tshisekedi in 2011 but still the international community imposed Kabila on us," said one supporter who gave his name only as Martin. Talk of Kabila hanging on beyond the expiry of his second term on December 20 has whipped up fresh tension in the country of 71 million people. Protests erupted after the Constitutional Court ruled in May that Kabila, who took power after his father's assassination, could remain in office in a caretaker capacity beyond the end of the mandate. The government has called for a "national dialogue" and former Togo premier Edem Kodjo has been named by the African Union as the talks' "facilitator." Opposition groups had shunned the talks, seeing them as a trap, but several leaders appearing with Tshisekedi on Sunday gave them the thumbs up, on certain conditions including the release of political prisoners. Tshisekedi also called for "an end to arbitrary judicial cases against opposition leaders like Moise Katumbi and Martin Fayulu". He told the crowd the Congolese would bid farewell to Kabila on December 20 and "inaugurate a new era" in a country plagued for decades by poverty, corruption and war. In Belgium last month, DR Congo's opposition parties rallied behind Tshisekedi in a new alliance named "Rassemblement" (Rally) that aims to ensure Kabila quits. The latest instance of misbehaviour by the staff of cash-strapped Pakistan International Airlines was uncovered after the military-run Anti-Narcotics Force raided a flight from Lahore to Dubai flight on Saturday, Danyal Gilani said. "Around a dozen employees of PIA have been detained and are being interrogated in connection with heroin seizure," he told Reuters. "If proven guilty, they will face action with respect to their jobs, in addition to the legal consequences." In June last year, the airline sacked five cabin crew who had been detained in Britain on accusations of trying to smuggle mobile phones and foreign currency. In 2013, a PIA pilot was jailed for nine months in Britain after being found to be over three times Britain's legal alcohol limit for flying, just before he was due to take off with 156 people aboard. Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the assault on the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Mogadishu. It was the second major operation in the city this week by the group which has kept up a guerilla war on the Western-backed government in the face of U.S. drone strikes and African peacekeeping forces. Heavy gunfire rang out inside for about half an hour after the first blast, said witnesses. "At least 10 people including four militants, five civilians and a soldier died in today's attack," Hussein Ali, a police officer, told Reuters. Another 15 people were injured, some seriously, he added. Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said one of its suicide bombers had started the attack by ramming a car bomb into the building's gate. In al Shabaab's first attack this week, 13 people were killed when two car bombs went off at the gate of the African Union's main AMISOM peacekeeping base on Tuesday. Security analysts have warned that the group could step up its attacks, taking advantage of the distraction caused by campaigning for a presidential election due in August. Al Shabaab, seeking to impose its harsh form of Islam on the Horn of Africa nation, has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force. Lam Akol was agriculture minister in Kiir's administration and also announced he was quitting as longtime leader of the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party. "There is no more peace agreement to implement in Juba," Akol said at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "All of us agree that the regime in Juba must change," he added. Akol was the president's only serious challenger in a regional election held in 2010, the year before the semi-autonomous region known as Southern Sudan seceeded and gained full independence. He has also long opposed rebel leader Riek Machar, whose forces clashed in recent weeks with government troops loyal to Kiir. In December 2013, a skirmish in Juba between troops loyal to to Kiir and Machar degenerated into a ruinous civil war. The latest in a series of deals designed to end the conflict was signed in August 2015. It was under that agreement that Machar attained the position of first vice president and that 30 ministerial posts were distributed between the two and to other parties. Machar has not returned to Juba since fighting broke in early July, and a week ago Kiir named another member of his SPLM/A (IO) party to replace him as first vice president. "We are consulting as I speak how to organise so that the opposition to the government is consolidated," he said. Machar, the former vice president, and his SPLM-IO group have been caught up with more than two years of on-and-off, ethnically charged fighting with supporters of Kiir. Machar returned to the capital Juba in April after a shaky peace deal but left again last month when new clashes broke out. Kiir replaced Machar as vice president last week with Taban Deng Gai, after Machar ignored Kiir's request to return to Juba, further deepening a split in Machar's SPLM-IO party. Nyarji Jermlili Roman, the deputy spokesman for Machar, said the nine died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya county in Central Equatorial state. "The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre," Roman said. Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was "small fighting" between the SPLA and Machar's forces. "We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations," Koang said. Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling the government military positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions. Nothing has been heard from Machar since and Kiir replaced him as vice president. In a further sign of trouble for the peace deal, Lam Akol, head of the opposition Democratic Change group, stepped down from his post as agriculture minister that he assumed after Kiir named a new unity cabinet following the peace deal. "One side has decided to abrogate (the peace deal)," Akol told a news conference in the capital of neighbouring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on Monday. Trump responded simultaneously on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan's morning television appearances, saying he was being "viciously" attacked. Asked on CNN what message he could give Trump, Khizr Khan said he wanted to maintain his family's dignity and convey to Trump "that a good leader has one trait ... empathy." "It is basic character, realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people that you wish to lead," Khan said. "And that is missing." The issue has dominated the election campaign in recent days after Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, with his wife standing at his side. The Khan's son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2004, and the father spoke emotionally of the sacrifice his son had made for the country as an American Muslim, specifically criticizing Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. In response to the speech, Trump said Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some traditional Muslims. "There was no need to comment the way he commented," Khan said on Monday. "That initiated this conversation." Ghazala Khan wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday saying that she had remained silent during her husband's remarks to cope with making her grief public during the convention. The parents have appeared on television numerous times over the weekend and several leading Republicans have weighed in to express support for the family and to honor their sacrifice. The dispute is the latest in a series of missteps by the freewheeling, unorthodox campaign of Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected political office but who beat 16 rivals to become the Republican presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. He has made some deeply controversial campaign proposals, including the ban on Muslims and building a wall along the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. In interviews on Monday, the Khans spoke about their son and described the outpouring of support they have received during their very public exchange with Trump. Ghazala Khan said on CNN her family had always felt safe and protected as Muslims in the United States. MCCAIN'S DISAPPROVAL In response, Trump has tried to shift focus from the Khans. "This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart!" Trump said Monday on Twitter. He has accused Mr. Khan of "viciously attacking him." On Sunday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said Trump had scapegoated the parents. Leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements in support of the family. Trump drew similar opprobrium a year ago when he said U.S. Senator John McCain, who was taken prisoner for five years during the Vietnam War, was not a hero since he had been captured. McCain, a leading voice in the party on military issues, on Monday condemned Trump for disparaging a fallen soldier's parents, saying in a statement his remarks do not represent the views of "our Republican Party." In an open letter, nearly a dozen so-called Gold Star families - families who lost relatives in wars - said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology. Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind After thousands of visitors and residents alike get their annual Bix fix this weekend, the region will pull together for the next uniquely Quad-Cities festival The Great River Tug Fest. Now in its 30th year, the tug-of-war rivalry over the Mississippi has earned a new distinction this summer as of one America's Top 6 Quirkiest Summer Festivals. The list, created by hotel chain Motel 6, celebrates some of the most original and entertaining summer events. It joins the likes of these quirky festivals on the 2016 list: Avon (Ohio) Heritage Duck Tape Festival; Roswell UFO Festival in New Mexico; Running of the Bulls in New Orleans; The Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California; and Bat Fest in Austin, Texas. The Tug Fest, which pits teams from Iowa and Illinois, has grown into a three-day festival, Aug. 11-13. The actual competition between LeClaire and Port Byron is Saturday. To support the off-beat festivals, Motel 6 is offering fans staying at designated locations a 10 percent discount during the festival. Motel 6 Davenport is offering the discount here. For more information, visit www.motel6.com. Partnership lights the way in Hilltop The folks in Davenport's Hilltop Campus Village are celebrating the lighting of an alleyway used as a main pedestrian corridor in the re-emerging neighborhood. A partnership between the Hilltop Business Association, MidAmerican Energy and the city has led to the installation of 11 new LED lights in the alleyway between Locust and 13th streets and between Harrison and Ripley streets. Hilltop director Scott Tunnicliff said the lights are the same power as those on Harrison. "The Hilltop Campus Village has been focusing on street lighting, but the alleys needed lighting too," he said. TripAdvisor honors 3 Q-C businesses TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site, has selected three hospitality companies in the Quad-Cities to receive its annual Certificate of Excellence awards. The award recipients are: Mo Brady's Steak House, Davenport; Miss Mamie's Restaurant, Moline; and the Hampton Inn Davenport. The awards, in their sixth year, celebrate hospitality businesses that have earned great traveler reviews at the online TripAdvisor web site in the past year. "This honor is a testament to our dedication to exceptional customer service,'' said Kristin Meyer, the Hampton's general manager. Mike Osborn, the executive chef and owner of Miss Mamie's and Mo Brady's, said "We are thrilled to have this recognition, and for all of the support we continue to receive from the Quad-Cities." Jason Bourne is a link movie. Or thats how I consider it. Its important that the film sets up its final few seconds, because the story of Bourne is going to take another turn in the next film. Or at least I hope it is. Matt Damon reprises his role as spy Jason Bourne/David Webb in an action-packed tale again helmed by Paul Greengrass, who also directed Bourne Ultimatum and Bourne Supremacy. The stars of the show are not so much the characters, but the car chases in fact, theres a great one that unfolds on the Las Vegas Strip that Id love to see again (vehicle lovers, this one is worth seeing in the theater). The movie opens in Greece, where Bourne is a contender in what appears to be a sort of Fight Club arrangement. Elsewhere Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), who has been a trusted partner to Bourne, successfully hacks a CIA list of Black Ops (conveniently labeled as such, incidentally Im not sure whether this was supposed to be a joke but is indeed laughable). The list holds a key to Bournes past, and his family, and Parsons ensures that Bourne will see it. CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is on alert that Parsons and Bourne are meeting. CIA Agent Heather Lee (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina) joins in on the hunt, as does an assassin. The action that unfolds in Athens sets the frantic pace for what is to come, with Bourne/Webb being chased by multiple pursuers. Theres another chase scene in Paris, too, but neither of them compare to the Vegas sequence. This will keep your adrenaline flowing. And to pique your interest, theres a Steve Jobs-type guy were not sure whether hes a villain or a hero until All Is Revealed along with a sub-plot that involves technology and privacy a reflection of headline-making material in the real world. I wish the movie had made more of a connection to The Bourne Legacy, and the character played by Jeremy Renner. Probably well learn more about him in a thus-far-untitled Bourne sequel in which Renner again stars. How I would love to see him and Damon together. Damon is fun to watch, but hes simply not in the movie as much as I would have liked. Does his character still have some more surprises in his past and future? Of course he does. This may not be a as clever as its predecessors, but its solid summer fun. A Rock Island man who is listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry has been arrested on charges of committing another sexual assault. Todd Allen Payne, 46, of 1219 3rd Ave., is charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault of a family member under the age of 18. Criminal sexual assault is a Class X felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of six to 30 years. Payne was arrested Friday by Rock Island Police. He was being held Saturday in the Rock Island County Jail on $100,000 bond. A preliminary hearing on the case is scheduled for Aug. 18. In August of 1994, when he was 24-years-old, Payne pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault. His victim was 7 years old. Payne was sentenced to 11 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Since being released, he has violated the sex offender registry requirements four times: in 2009, 2011 and 2014 in Rock Island County; and in 2014 in Scott County. Thomas Geyer The man accused in the serious assault of an East Moline police sergeant had encountered the officer at the police department shortly before the attack. U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, campaigning for Hillary Clinton on Monday in Davenport, accused Republican rival Donald Trump of siding with Russia and having a skewed idea of whats in the best interests of the United States. Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, met with about a dozen people at Clintons Davenport headquarters, part of a daylong visit to the state that included stops in Dubuque and Cedar Rapids. Stabenow praised Clintons record as a senator and secretary of state. And she amplified recent criticism that Trump's ties to Russia are troubling. Trump's campaign manager worked with pro-Russia political forces in Ukraine. In addition, Trump said recently that he would help the Baltic states in an attack from Russia only if they met their financial obligations to NATO. Trump has repeatedly called for friendlier ties between the U.S. and Russia. At minimum, he has a very skewed view of what is in Americas best interests when he turns away from our allies and thinks, in fact, that we should be standing with Russia, she said. Either he doesnt know what hes doing and saying, or he is siding with someone who is not Americas friend. Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Stabenow also urged Democrats to unite behind Clintons candidacy. Clinton defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, in the Democratic primary. But in Iowa, which is considered a tossup state in the general election, there still are die-hard Sanders supporters who have not come on board. Clinton only narrowly defeated Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, and she lost to him in Scott County. Stabenow appealed to Sanders supporters by noting that we agree on where we want to go. She said Trump and Republicans have a different view of the role of government. Stabenow told reporters polls say that an "overwhelming" number of Sanders backers will support Clinton. Face it: Hillary Clinton was going to disappoint regardless of who she chose as her running mate. In picking Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton let down those who were hoping she would make an appeal to Hispanics with a high-visibility leadership position. Julio Ricardo Varela, political editor of the Futuro Media Group, lamented on Facebook: "All this talk about diversity and this being the year of the Latino vote, and we have all-white Democratic and Republican tickets." It was a no-win situation that would have also inspired derision had Clinton picked rumored Latino VP candidates like Housing Secretary Julian Castro, California Rep. Xavier Becerra or Labor Secretary Tom Perez because simply adding a Hispanic name to the ticket wasn't going to magically inspire voters who distrust her or find her unlikable. Weirdly, in choosing Kaine she avoided the thorny question raised by some people on whether Castro is really Latino since he doesn't speak Spanish. Now the question is whether it matters that Kaine speaks fluent Spanish. Sure, Hispanic advocacy group leaders like Pili Tobar of the Latino Victory Fund, Ben Monterroso of Mi Familia Vota and others were quick to note that Kaine spent time in Honduras running a Jesuit school, is one of the few Spanish speakers in the Senate and has proved himself a "true friend" to the Latino community. But the language thing has become a bit of a controversy. Sylvia Manzano, a principal at the Latino Decisions polling firm, told NBC Latino that Kaine "provides a unique opportunity to communicate directly with Spanish-language media and their audiences." Meanwhile, others were grinding their teeth. Jimmy C. Patino Jr., a University of Minnesota Chicano studies professor, told the Associated Press, "The superficial usage of Spanish by a white politician to appeal to the Latino vote, in addition to the Clinton campaign's decision not to pick a Latino like Julian Castro for vice president, does reveal a long history of the Democratic Party taking the Latino community for granted." Nelson Flores, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, whipped off an angry blog post in which he pointed out the irony of this linguistic pat on the back during a time when Latin American immigrants get harassed for not speaking English and U.S.-born Hispanics get their ethnicity questioned for not speaking their parents' language. Ultimately, all that matters is whether Clinton can turn out the Latino vote, and it's unclear whether Kaine's language skills will have any impact on that. Whether he can be an asset to Clinton's campaign as an ambassador to Hispanics seems shaky given that such a scenario started off on the wrong foot. In a mini-debacle similar to when Trump supporters were seen holding up placards blaring "Latinos Para Trump," during the Republican National Convention (they were meant to translate into "Latinos for Trump" but technically said something closer to "Latinos for the use of Trump"), the Clinton campaign tweeted out a message quoting Kaine about the values of "our community" in Spanish, with a glaring grammar error in it. Nothing huge, or crazy, but it undermined the whole fluency thing. Ultimately, Latinos -- and others -- will care more about what a new president and vice president can do about the economy, jobs, education and national security than about whether their promises are made in multiple languages. Kaine wasted no time in reinforcing his Hispanic bona fides by promising, in Spanish no less, that a Clinton administration would begin working on comprehensive immigration reform "in the first 100 days." Well, in 2008 candidate Barack Obama promised Latinos there would be an immigration reform bill during his first year in office, and we saw how that turned out. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad will tour the state this week to discuss and observe water quality practices undertaken by Iowa farmers. Branstad said Monday he continues to develop plans to provide state funding for water-quality projects, and he hopes to be able to work with state lawmakers on the issue in the 2017 legislative session, after no agreement was reached this year. We have a nutrient reduction strategy, and we also have a program to help municipalities deal with water treatment issues, Branstad said Monday at his weekly news conference. "But we need long-term, reliable funding for that." During the 2016 legislative session, Branstad proposed sharing revenue from the state sales tax for school infrastructure projects with water-quality projects. Leaders in the Republican-led Iowa House proposed diverting some current resources from the states infrastructure fund and a water-metering tax to water-quality programs. Leaders in the Democrat-led Iowa Senate did not offer a proposal. Branstad said he considered his proposal a framework and has been willing to work with lawmakers. He said he supported the House plan and wished Senate Democrats would have considered it. Democrats opposed the House plan because it drew money from the states general fund, which funds many other programs, including health care and education. I want to see us do something, Branstad said. I think what the House passed was a great start. Id like to see us go even further and provide a more long-term, reliable source of funding for water quality. Branstad has tweaked his proposal, saying recently he supports the House plan in the immediate future and implementing his plan of splitting sales tax funds between water-quality and school infrastructure projects in 2029, when the current 1-percent sales tax for infrastructure is scheduled to expire. Others think the state should implement a three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax increase to fund natural resources projects. In 2010, voters approved the creation of a natural resources fund, with the understanding lawmakers eventually would increase the state sales tax to fill the fund. The latter has not happened. It is great to see Gov. Branstad recognize that we need a constitutionally protected and sustainable source of funding for water quality through the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, but his proposal doesnt fulfill the promise of what Iowa voters approved in 2010, Mark Langgin, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Iowa and an Iowa Conservation Voters board member, said in a news release. To fulfill that promise, the Iowa Legislature and Gov. Branstad need to take action and raise the sales tax three-eighths of 1 percent and fully fund the (trust fund). Branstad and many state lawmakers have been hesitant to support a tax increase for water-quality programs. Branstad said he will use this weeks tour to learn about what farmers are doing to protect water quality on their land. The governor also said he continues to work with lawmakers on water-quality funding plans but said he has not had discussions with Senate Democrats. DES MOINES Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is due back in Iowa for a campaign event later this week, touched off a partisan prairie fire Monday over his criticism of the parents of a fallen U.S. soldier who spoke out against Trump at last weeks Democratic National Convention. Gov. Terry Branstad told Iowa reporters Trump made a mistake by raising questions about the mother of fallen Muslim U.S. soldier Humayun Khan, but he declined to weigh in on whether Trump should apologize for disparaging a Gold Star family, saying he would prefer the GOP candidate stay focused on 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. After the couples convention appearance in Philadelphia, Trump questioned why Capt. Khan's mother, Ghazala Khan, did not speak as her husband delivered a sharp rebuke of the GOP nominee's proposed Muslim ban, offering an explanation that "maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say." Ghazala Khan responded with a Washington Post column in which she described the pain of losing her son that she says makes it difficult for her to speak about her loss in public. On Monday, Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Andy McGuire called Trumps comments despicable and disgraceful and demanded that Iowa Republicans publicly condemn the GOP presidential standard-bearers hateful rhetoric in criticizing the mother of a fallen U.S. soldier. By disrespecting one military family, Trump disrespects all military families, McGuire said in a statement. Cpt. Khan gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country. We should always honor his memory and his family for his brave service, she said. Iowans deserve to know if their leaders are going to stand up against bigotry and fight for our military and their families. It is not enough to simply disagree with Trump or call his comments, a mistake. In response to a request for comment, Sen. Joni Ernst, a Red Oak Republican and a former officer in the Iowa National Guard with combat experience during her 23-year military career, said: We as a nation are incredibly grateful to Capt. Khan's service and ultimate sacrifice as well as the sacrifices of his parents to keep us safe and free. We must always honor our veterans, and their families; many have endured far more than we can ever imagine, and we must always remember to express our gratitude. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, issued a statement Monday saying Americans ought to honor anybody who fought to maintain freedom no matter what race, religion or background, adding he is friends with a Muslim family in Cedar Falls whose son served in the U.S. armed forces. Mr. Trumps comments are not in line with my own beliefs about how the members of the military and their families should be treated, and respect for the people who serve our country is something both presidential campaigns could use more of, Grassley said. Hearing the words from Gold Star families conjures memories of my own mother painting gold stars and the names of fallen New Hartford sons during WWII on boards to place in front of the New Hartford Post Office, he added. We had several in our little town. Only Gold Star families know the pain and sacrifice of losing a son or daughter in the fight for freedom. Grassleys statement came after his 2016 general-election opponent, Albia Democrat Patty Judge, took him to task Monday for being slow to condemn what she called Trumps attack on a Gold Star family. Chuck Grassley has stood by while Donald Trump has insulted women, minorities, Americans with disabilities, and now he is remaining silent as his endorsed presidential candidate levies vile attacks on Captain Humayun Khans family, Judge said in a statement. By remaining silent, Senator Grassley is choosing loyalty to his party in Washington and his continued support of Donald Trump over his loyalty to Iowa values like respect, decency, and defending the honor of Americas fallen and their families. The fact that he hasnt already condemned Trumps attack on this Gold Star family shows Iowa just how much 42 years in Washington have changed Chuck Grassley and not for the better. In Illinois, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, who in June withdrew his endorsement of Trump, said, "To Mr. Trump, I would simply say hands off Gold Star families." Kirk is facing a tough re-election fight against Democrat Tammy Duckworth. At his weekly news conference, Branstad said he personally thinks that anyone that has died in the service of our country is a hero and Trumps response to the parents who immigrated to the United States was a mistake to divert the focus away from his policy differences with Hillary Clinton. Ive been through a few campaigns, and I understand there are a lot of people who are going to try to set traps for you and all those kinds of things, but I think you have to be very disciplined and very careful, Branstad said. As a candidate, its important to bring things back to whats important to the American people: jobs, fiscal responsibility and protecting the safety of Americans. The weekly travel schedule issued by Trumps campaign shows a town hall scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday in Des Moines, but so far, no details have been announced. Trump made stops in Iowa last Thursday in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, while Clinton spent part of Monday in Omaha, Neb. Jeanne Apelseth and Michael Brunick had seen James Taylor perform before, but they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity last week when they were able to thank him for helping save Brunick's life. Taylor had donated sheet music of his song "Fire and Rain" to the couple in late 2014 as they were struggling to raise money for Brunick's lung transplant. Through Charity Buzz, a website dedicated to selling memorabilia for charitable causes, they were able to raise $3,000 to help pay for the surgery. "I was totally not expecting that," said Apelseth, 59. "I thought maybe we might get some small thing, but when he did that, it was amazing. He was so generous." "I had to tell him, 'Without you and a lot of people like you, I wouldn't have made it,'" said Brunick, 63. The meeting was the end of a long journey for Brunick and Apelseth, who knew each other from childhood but reconnected in 2003, and have been partners ever since. "We consider ourselves married," Apelseth said. No doubt that comes from their dependence on each other. In late 2003, Brunick was told that he had zinc oxide poisoning from years of work as a welder, as well as years of lung damage from his past as a smoker. "At the time, I was still really capable, physically," Brunick said. "For the next few years, things were normal." Beginning in 2006, Brunick's health deteriorated. By 2007, he was using an oxygen tank full-time, and by 2010 he was told by a pulmonary physician that he needed a lung transplant. "We went down to the University of Arizona in Tucson to look at their program, because my daughters live in Mesa," Brunick said. "They were ready to list me, but they told me I had to come back after a triple-bypass first." Brunick complied, but before they could move forward with the lung transplant, the university's program was closed. "Which was, you know, very daunting," Brunick said. "Here you are, ready to be listed, and they took down the program." The two kept searching, being rejected by Duke University, the Mayo Clinic and other organizations because of Brunick's cardiac problems. But Apelseth didn't give up and eventually found the Cleveland Clinic. Even then, it wasn't easy, and it was another two and a half years before listing Brunick. "You have to keep going back every three months to check up, test and see if you're sick enough," Brunick said. "But you can't go past the line of being too sick." The price tag for the surgery was steep at $40,000 to $50,000. Apelseth led the charge to find the money, organizing several benefits. "It's tough to get people to raise that much money within such a small town," Apelseth said. "I was brainstorming how else to do it." Apelseth then came up with an ingenious idea to reach out to musicians who meant a lot to the two of them and might have a bit of extra money to help. "James Taylor was at the top of the list," Apelseth said. They were both fans. Apelseth said that she was a teenager when she first saw him live, and that she had a memory or meaning attached to every one of his song, citing "Close Your Eyes" as a favorite. "That means a lot more because of our situation," Apelseth said. "It's been really tough going through years of health problem, so 'Close your eyes, it's OK' ... I think that means a lot to me." Brunick said that he'd seen Taylor seven or eight times since the 1970s, naming "You Got a Friend" as a favorite. "It's a pretty extraordinary song about hope," Brunick said. "That's the nice thing about his music. It's mostly hopeful stuff. Throughout my life, it gave me a smile." They were given more than a smile after Apelseth reached out to Taylor and heard back from his personal assistant, who said that Taylor would donate sheet music of "Fire and Rain" from a concert at Carnegie Hall in the 1980s, one that had a bit of notation from Taylor himself on it. Apelseth said that "Fire and Rain" may now be her favorite song of his. "Listening again to how those lyrics apply to the hard times Michael struggled through during this past decade ... dealing with significant health issues and dancing death, the fear of losing someone you love and fighting to save their life ..." Apelseth said. "I realize, this song says it all." Apelseth said that they also received help from Rick Springfield and Roni Benise, who donated guitars. Still, the journey wasn't over, and the two were still tested as they waited for a donor. On Father's Day 2015, Brunick said he didn't think he could continue to fight. "I was on so much oxygen, and it took 8 liters for me to sit, 20 liters to walk," Brunick said. "It's a massive amount, like being in a wind tunnel. And I had dropped from 175 pounds to 138, had no strength." Brunick told Apelseth: "I don't think I have it in me to make another trip, I'm so tired and worn out. I don't think I can do it." "I was upset. I was furious," Apelseth said. "I felt like, 'You can't give up now. We've been fighting for years.'" Four hours later, they received a call from the Cleveland Clinic, saying that a lung was available and they would send a jet for the two in 2.5 hours. "I said, 'Well, I guess I changed my mind. I'm not ready to quit,'" Brunick said. "It's a pretty great Father's Day present," Apelseth said. Even after the surgery, there were problems for another 9 months, with Brunick suffering a toxic reaction to some of the anti-rejection drugs and an initial rejection of the organ. At one point, while the two were in Cleveland, his children were brought from Arizona, as it was suspected he would not live. "He's kind of a miracle man, though," Apelseth said. "In the last three months, he's been great. He's talking about normal things, fishing again." Today, Brunick says he feels great, even as he deals with lower-back problems and loss of muscle mass from years of inactivity. "My lung is doing great," Brunick said. "I'm not on oxygen tanks anymore." When the two learned Taylor would perform at the Rushmore Civic Center, they made sure to get good seats. Apelseth also contacted his assistant, who had asked Apelseth to keep her updated on Brunick's health. "We asked if there was any way we could meet him and thank him for the part he played in saving Michael's life," Apelseth said. "I was told to call again a week before the concert, and the arrangements were made." It was their first date since the surgery. At the civic center, the two were given an envelope with passes and told to go to the sound booth after the show. They assumed they would go back with a large group of people, but the other three people there were sent back first. After some time, they were led to a room backstage. There stood James Taylor, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and no shoes (with stockings on his feet), "beckoning us in to take a seat on the couch." "I started to thank him and say how much it mean to me," Brunick said. "You know how emotional that can be." The three spoke for a half hour, with Taylor asking several questions about the transplant, the process, the post-surgery medical issues. The couple was surprised to learn that Taylor knew a good deal about the medications Brunick used and about several medical issues. "I asked him how he knew so much, and he said, 'I'm just curious, I'm really interested,'" Apelseth said. The two told him that they planned on organizing a speaker tour or TED Talk to speak on behalf of organ donation. Taylor told them that he'd like to get involved, and made sure his assistant had their contact information. At the end, Taylor walked them out to the parking lot and gave them both a hug before leaving. "We were like, 'Wow, did that really happen?'" Brunick said. "What an incredible ending to a perfect night," Apelseth said. "Beyond our wildest dreams. What an incredibly kind and compassionate man." The two are planning that speaking tour to inspire the sick to not give up and the healthy to think about becoming organ donors. "A lot of people don't make it while they're waiting," Brunick said. "This is part of my tribute to my donor, who I only know was a 30-year-old male. I have to live a good life, do good things, honor that gift." Michael Brunick's donor, James Taylor and the others who helped his cause were all important parts of his recovery. The most important was his beloved Jeanne. "It took incredible strength, ingenuity and spirit for her to endure all of this, to take care of me all of these years," Brunick said. Through the whole process, Apelseth worked full-time, aside from the four months immediately following the surgery, as a marketing director for ARC International, as an artist, and as a photographer with her business on the side, Sunchaser Fine Art. "Now we're making the transition from caretaker to her being my girlfriend again," Brunick said. "She had to take care of everything, so it's time for me to take back some responsibilities. I'd love to be able to spoil her." He added: "I have a hopeful future, I think." Russian court refuses to change Navalnys suspended term to imprisonment MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) The Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow has refused to change a suspended term for opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case to imprisonment, RAPSI learned in the courtroom on Monday. Earlier, a representative of the Russias Federal Penitentiary Service has requested to change Navalnys probation to an actual imprisonment. According to the penitentiary agency, Navalny has regularly failed to register at a local penitentiary inspection office. Navalnys lawyer Vadim Kobzev said that Navalny was on vacation and that documents confirming this were presented to the respective authorities in due time. As Navalny himself said about the request: The only person who you make feel anxious in this situation is my wife, who is forced to pack and unpack my prison bag. Navalny and his brother Oleg were convicted of committing fraud against cosmetics company Yves Rocher Vostok. Investigators alleged that the Navalny brothers embezzled over 26 million rubles (about $400,000 at current exchange rates) from the cosmetics company, as well as close to 4 million rubles ($61,500) from the Multidisciplinary Processing Company through a fraud scheme. The brothers were further charged with laundering 21 million rubles ($322,600). In December of 2014, Alexei Navalny received a suspended sentence of 3.5 years, while his brother Oleg was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Navalny has also been involved in several other cases, including a case of embezzlement at the Kirovles timber company in which he was given a suspended sentence. He has denied all the charges brought against him. Alexei Navalny is a Russian political and public figure, leader of the Party of Progress. HELENA - A Browning ranch hand who posted a video to social media of a grizzly bear being chased by a truck was fined as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Lawrence Lane Kennedy entered into the plea agreement July 5 in Great Falls District Court after initially pleading not guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act. Under the terms of the agreement, Kennedy was fined $400 with a $25 processing fee for unlawfully harassing a threatened species. Federal officials launched an investigation after Kennedy posted a video to his Facebook page on March 19 in which he drove a pickup truck as a grizzly bear ran across a stubble field on a Browning-area ranch. When contacted by the Independent Record in March, Kennedy said the bear had come within 100 yards of a herd of cows that were calving. Chasing the grizzly was not meant to bother the bear but to move it away, as they felt it was an immediate danger to the livestock, he said. The pursuit never exceeded 10 miles per hour, he said. Kennedy said he did not intend to upset anyone by posting the video but wanted to let people in the immediate area know that a bear was present. According to charging documents, Kennedy told investigators the chase lasted approximately 90 seconds. If a fountain of youth runs through the Bitterroot Valley, a couple dozen women over the age of 90 who met for tea Saturday afternoon might be accused of having found it. For 11 years, women affiliated with Soroptimist International in Hamilton have hosted an afternoon tea to honor those women who are 90 years and older. More than 40 guests arrived for the tea and at least 32 have lived for more than nine decades. But in some cases, it was hard to tell. Ann Robbins is 95 years old, but waltzed into the dining room with refined grace and a flowered hat. She sat with three other longtime friends who are either a year younger or older, and they enjoyed their tea and pastries. Esther Ducurrschmidt, 94, sat across from Robbins and was dressed more casually, but was proud to be the only one wearing fashionably modern leather riding boots. I think Im the only one in the room wearing boots, she said. Im not trying to brag or anything but they do look cute and they keep the circulation in my feet. Midway through the tea, organizer Brenda Van Bach announced a roll call of attending ladies by age. While there were no 98-year-olds in the room, the oldest was Mabel McKillop, who is 104. Shes carried the oldest title for several years now, but was one of the most mobile in the room. She stayed long after the tea ended, visiting with friends in the hallway. McKillop and all those more than 100 years old received a wrapped rose from the Soroptimists. Roses were also presented to those who turned 90 within the last 12 months and were eligible to attend for the first time. One-hundred-year-old Virginia Folz was delighted to receive a rose and then told the others at her table, You kids will have to wait a while until you get your flower. She said her age surprises even her. Its just so surprising how fast it happens, she said. I never even thought about turning 100 even at 90 but here I am. I had no idea it would happen this fast. Folz has lived in the Bitterroot Valley for only five months. She moved from Portland and appreciates social activities at Sapphire Lutheran Homes, where she lives now. Im the new girl so its hard to get acquainted at my age, she said. None of us get around like we used to. Im meeting more people today so I think Ill be getting around more now and can visit more often. Volunteer Mary Lynn said the tea is her favorite Soroptimist activity of the year. She brought her 90-year-old mother to the first tea 11 years ago and she has attended every year since. When we finished that day of the first tea, my mother said, You should be doing this all around the country, Lynn said. She was just so pleased with the event. And I love to be here and participate and wear my hat. Patrice Promack also volunteered to help: We do it because its an honor and a privilege to put these wonderful ladies of wisdom in the spotlight and spend some time with them in all their fineries. Pamela Morris played the piano, featuring a round of old-time favorites. Some ladies chose to sing along. Von Bach said 37 women over the age of 90 live in the four buildings that comprise the Sapphire Lutheran campus, but we know there are many more in the community who are able to live at home or other facilities. We hope they join us next year. After an hour, many of the ladies made their way back to their apartments. See you next year, said Lucille Coppinger with a smile and a wave. Somali soldiers. [Photo by Hou Liqiang/China Daily] MOGADISHU -- At least five people were killed and several others were injured on Sunday in twin car bomb blasts at the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital city of Mogadishu. Police said the blasts hit the gate of the CID headquarters before militants stormed the building. Spontaneous gunfire could be heard. The militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, fighting against the Somali government, frequently stages attacks in Mogadishu. "There were two huge bombings near Somali's Criminal Investigations Department. I have seen black smoke rising from the place," Jamal Omar, an eye witness, told Xinhua. The death toll could rise, Abdirashid Hamud, a police officer at the scene told Xinhua by phone. The CID headquarters is located alongside on a busy road. Al-Shabaab, which literally means "The Youth" or "The Youngsters" in Arabic, is a terrorist group based in East Africa. The militant group battles with the UN-backed government in Somalia, and has carried out a string of attacks in neighboring Kenya. Allied to al-Qaeda, the group has been pushed out of most of the main towns it once controlled, but it remains a potent threat to peace and stability in the region. BEIRUT, Aug 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman says all five aboard in the Russian helicopter downed in Syria have been killed. Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday that "from what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died." He says the Russians "died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground." Earlier, the ministry said the helicopter had been shot down but that the fate of the three crew members and two officers was unknown. Guwahati: Patriotic People's Front Assam (PPFA) welcomes the decision of Ludhiana girl Jhanvi Behal to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk of Srinagar in J&K, where the Tri-colour was insulted in various occasions by the anti-nationals, on the occasion of 70th Independence Day. Challenging the anti-national and separatist elements of Kashmir, high school student Jhanvi dared them to stop her initiative to hoist the Tri-colour on 15 August and paid tributes to the known & unknown martyrs of India's freedom struggle. 'We salute the spirit of teenage Jhanvi and urge each & every patriotic Indian national to support her in the mission. Jhanvi has shown the emerging trend of patriotism generated among the Indian youngsters in the recent past,' said a statement issued by Rupam Barua, Nava Thakuria, Pramod Kalita, JagadindraRaichoudhury, Anup Sarma etc for PPFA. It may be mentioned that since 1998, a group of city based scribes and patriotic citizens have been defying the diktat of separatist northeastern militants to hoist the national flag at Guwahati Press Club on every Independence Day and Republic Day. Guwahati, July 30 : Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday directed Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia to constitute Embankment Protection Committee to avert breaches in any embankment. At a high level meeting at his office conference room in Guwahati, Sonowal said that the Embankment Protection Committee to be constituted comprising engineers, experts, youth organisations, NGOs, clubs and socio-cultural organisations will help to avert breaches in embankment with timely intervention. Sonowal asked the Water Resources Department to go in for thorough and in-depth inspection of the condition of around 1200 embankments covering a stretch of 500 km so that strengthening and repairing of the old embankments could be carried out. The Assam CM directed the officials of the Water Resources Department to conduct proper inspection of the embankments across the State and submit project estimates within August next so that revetment of the embankments can start from September onwards. He instructed them to hold review meetings regularly near the site of the embankments. The Assam CM directed the Water Resources Department to initiate steps to constitute Embankment Monitoring Committee at local level to keep a close eye on the embankments, particularly in susceptible and vulnerable areas to avert any disaster. Sonowal also advocated for display of all relevant data of embankments for information of the general public. The Assam CM asked the Chief Secretary to engage employees of other departments apart from the line departments to ensure relief operation round the clock. Sonowal asked DGP Mukesh Sahay to ensure police patrolling round the clock in the flood affected areas so that anti-social elements cannot take advantage of the situation. On other hand the Assam CM said that the State needs a comprehensive water resources management policy and latest technology and know-how to find a permanent solution of the flood and erosion problems in the State. Towards this end, experts and engineers have to play a pivotal role. Inaugurating a Workshop on 100-Day Agenda of Water Resources Department at Assam Water Research and Management Institute at Basistha in Guwahati on Saturday, Sonowal said that river experts and engineers can prepare a roadmap for durable solution of the flood and erosion problems in the State. 'The State has been plagued with the perennial problems of flood and erosion since 1951. Flood and erosion problems have acted as spanner in the wheels of development, the Chief Minister pointed out that to usher in overall development of Assam and welfare of its people, durable solution has to be found out. To make this happen, Water Resources, river experts and engineers have to play pro-active role by formulating a comprehensive roadmap to tackle flood and erosion effectively,aA Sonowal said. Extending his Government's all-out support and cooperation to the experts and engineers, Sonowal said that it augurs well that World Bank and Asian Development Bank have come forward to mitigate the flood and erosion problems. It is against this backdrop, the Water Resources experts have to come out with a comprehensive roadmap for lasting solution of the twin problems. 'The State has vast water resources and optimum utilisation of the invaluable resources of the Brahmaputra, Barak and its tributaries would make Assam one of the most developed and frontline States of the country,aA the Assam CM said. Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Water Resources Keshab Mahanta said that the State Government has accorded top priority to finding a permanent solution to the flood and erosion problems. Dwelling at length on the 100-day Workshop of Water Resources Department, Mahanta said his department has given thrust on management of flood and erosion of Brahmaputra and Barak basins, flood and erosion management of Majuli and Nimatighat, fluvial morphology of Brahmaputra River, sediment management with possibility of dredging by adopting modern technology and rejuvenation of Kollong River. The Water Resources Minister exuded optimism that the deliberations in the workshop would go a long way in preparing suitable strategies to solve the flood and erosion problems. Earlier, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, in his address, said flood and erosion problems act as impediment in the way of development and Assam's development in the true sense cannot take place if lasting solution is not arrived at. Latest technology has to be adopted to find solution to the complicated problem. Additional Chief Secretary, RT Jindal, Chairman, Technical Advisory Committee, Water Resources Department, AK Mitra, World Bank representative, Dr. Raj Singh and Dr. Anju Gour, representative, Asian Development Bank, Nasukh Tetsuka also spoke on the occasion. Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, Hemanta Narzary, CEO, Flood and River Erosion Management Agency of Assam, Dr.KK Dwivedi and Secretary, Water Resources Department PP Changkakoty and several experts and engineers were present on the occasion. Earlier, the Assam CM released a souvenir brought out on the occasion. He also inaugurated an exhibition on water resources. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Kathmandu, Nepal: with the announcement of the schedule for the election, the country would get new Prime Minister by Wednesday. Following the instruction of the Speaker Onsari Gharti, the General Secretary at the Parliament Secretariat, Manohar Prasad Bhattarai, publish detailed election schedule to elect the new Prime Minister on Monday. As per the election schedule, the Prime Minister candidates should file nominations at the parliament secretariat from 11 am to 4 pm on Tuesday and final list of the candidates would be published at 4:30 pm. House meeting would begin at 11 am on Wednesday to elect the PM. According to the election schedule, the nominations would be put to vote after the candidates presented their nominations in the House meeting. The lawmakers who propose and seconded the Prime Ministerial candidate would be allowed to address the House before voting. Election of the new Prime Minister through the majorly votes was begun from Monday as week long deadline to elect the consensual Prime Minister was elapsed on Sunday. President Bidya Devi Bhandari sent a letter calling to the political parties in the House to elect the new Prime Minister through majority vote as per the Article 298(3) of the Constitution of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on Monday passages a condolence proposal on the demise of former Minister of State for Finance and lawmaker Hariraj Khewa Limbu. Following the passage of the condoletion proposal the first meeting of the legislative parliament was ended. Limbu had died in a road accident at Sidhuwabazaar of Dhankuta on July 28. He was elected as the Constituent Assembly doubled legislative parliament member in 2064 BS from Dhankuta-2 from the then CPN (Maoist). If Dajuan Harris Jr. is underrated, its not by those at Kansas Bob used to be his citys Saviour. As Captain Truth he kept crime at bay in the city of San Francisco. However, when Bob hit middle-age his powers all but vanished, leaving him as normal and vulnerable as the rest of us. Plain, normal Bob spends his days wandering the city, drinking. He lives off of his girlfriend Mimi who is having her own existential crisis as she hopes for a promotion at work, while being reminded she once dreamt of going to Rome and studying art. When Bobs former sidekick releases a biography Mimi encourages Bob to write his own memoir and hire an editor. After putting out an ad he will meet Daniell, a young, beautiful and vivacious go getter looking to get her foot in the door in publishing. Instantly attracted to her Bob hires her but ironically keeps her identity secret from Mimi. As Bob reflects upon his past life into his voice recorder he reevaluates his life, his relationship with Mimi and searches for a newfound purpose. Superpowerless is the superhero movie for adults who have accepted that they are adults. The coming of middle-age story ends with a hopeful message that all is not lost when you hit your 40s. It is alway possible to find a new purpose or reboot if you feel you have to. It is odd that the mid-life crisis still exists. Turning 40 now is not the same when our parents turned 40. No one told me I was Over the Hill when I hit Version 4.0. Yet here I am, in my early 40s, and I will admit that the very same thoughts have crossed my mind. What is next? What now? Where? Who? How did I get here? Who will take me to my home? Where is my home? I do not have the free time to do it drunk like Bob does, though. As Bob reflects on his life he recounts the story of when he discovered that he could fly. By accident, he fell of a rooftop while on a mission, and found this other power. From then on he could fly but he would have to jump off a rooftop first. You dont fly until you jump. This story becomes the moral of the story. What is next? Well you do not know until you take that first plunge. You will not find out until you get out there and do something about it. Instead of wallowing in doubt or fear you have to jump. Josiah Polhemus (Bob, and director Duane Andersens friend since ever) and Amy Prosser (Mimi) are stage actors by trade so the delivery sometimes flows with that posterity, with an awareness of what the characters will say next. Some exchanges sound too perfect to be natural. You never doubt a characters sincerity and they are believable but it lacks the casualness of the everyday conversation. Still, Superpowerless strength is the subtlety by which the messages are delivered. There is some humor mixed into the screenplay when Bob talks with LIberty Boy his former sidekick. Jokes about what other superheroes are doing. Then there is the time tested joke of secret identities and how they always work and the two duck into an enclave and lift a hood and remove a mask. It is simply silly but it still works. The challenge for Superpowerless may be relatability to a broader audience. Superpowerless is a well crafted and executed study of a middle aged man coming to terms with his lifes turn and his relationship with his partner. It is simply relatable. It is relatable for those of us who are going through it now. Those having already done so may see some of those same things that Bob is going through. To the rest, that are younger than us, the target audience, who still believe they have the World in their grasp and everything is possible, it may be a tale of foreboding doom. When they watch it instead of calling it a dramady we should call it a precautionary tale. This is your future! Nothing you do will prepare you for it! Doom! Doo-oooom. Mel Gibson returns to the big screen with a new action thriller, Blood Father. The film is based on a novel by Peter Craig, who wrote the superb screenplay for Ben Afflecks The Town. When his teenage daughter is caught up in a drug deal gone wrong, she is forced to reach out to her estranged father, ex-con John Link (Gibson). Only he can protect her from the drug dealers who want her dead. Thanks to Icon Film Distribution, we have TEN double passes for the film to give away to our readers. For a chance to win, all you have to email your name and postal address to me at: hugo[at]screenanarchy.com Blood Father will open in Australian cinemas on September 1 and this competition closes at 3pm on August 29. Good luck! During the introduction of the Japan 1968 film program at this years Guanajuato International Film Festival, we saw footage of Oshima Nagisas classic Death by Hanging and also the filmmakers very direct and bold statement against death penalty. Almost 50 years later this issue remains highly controversial; proof of that is the appearance of a film like Boo Junfengs Apprentice as part of the festivals official competitive section. This is an important exploration of capital punishment, not from a political point of view, but rather from the perspective of the prison system employees that experience first-hand this particular way of doing justice used in several countries, including Singapore. Rahim (Wan Hanafi Su) is a veteran executioner and eventual mentor of our protagonist Aiman (Fir Rahman), the classic new young man who joins the maximum security prison in a movement thats much more complex than what it appears at first sight. Apprentice perfectly understands how the death penalty affects the people involved in ways no regular job could do. Whats inside the troubled mind of a hangman who has been doing the job for several decades? And how is the actual connection with those criminals who know exactly the day on which their lives will end? Its certainly not an easy task, beyond the inevitable moral dilemmas. As the drama unfolds, theres another layer that brings new meaning to the growing relationship between Aiman and the executioner, creating a fascinating situation. In a way, the film can be thought of as a character study seen through the eyes of a couple of innocent persons -- the protagonist and his older sister Suhalia (Mastura Ahmad) -- who nonetheless are marked by crime, due their late fathers obscure past. Their struggle is equivalent to a reformed criminal trying to overcome the past. The sister has completely decided to move on by marrying an Australian man and going with him far away from Singapore. In contrast, by joining the prison system, the brother is actually confronting both his fathers past and his own (he once was a gang member who could have ended in jail). Little by little, and even in a circumstantial manner at times, he gets closer to the exact moment when his family was forever changed, as well as to the continuous and divisive process that, in the name of the law, decides the fate of murderers, drug dealers or maybe even innocent persons, and their remaining relatives. Reviewing disconcerting realities when kids are put on sex offender registries | Main | Will there be fewer than 20 executions in 2016? July 31, 2016 "Boot-Camp Prisons Find Their Time Running Out" The title of this post is the headline of this new Wall Street Journal article. Here are is how it gets started: At 5:30 on a misty morning in the Adirondacks, 180 prisoners leapt out of bed when a bugle call blasted over a loudspeaker. Fifteen minutes later, they were performing synchronized exercises while a drill instructor barked orders. Motivated! Motivated! Motivated, sir! the men shouted in unison between calisthenics. These inmates are serving six-month sentences at Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, one of the last prisons in the U.S. that seek to shock inmates out of criminal behavior through a military-style boot camp. Inmates at the facility typically trade multiyear sentences for six-month stints. Such programs used to be widespread, but fell out of favor in much of the country amid debate about their effectiveness. Only a handful remain and two of them are in New York, where correction officials say their brand of military-style training reduces recidivism and saves taxpayer money through shorter sentences. It instills self-discipline, said Boyce Rawson, a captain at Moriah. Inmates take personal pride in themselves as well as their platoon. As recently as 1995, according to federal research, there were 75 state-operated boot camps nationwide for adult offenders, 30 for juveniles and 18 in local jails, including at New York Citys Rikers Island jail complex. A 1994 federal crime bill allocated millions for such programs. While the camps were popular with tough-on-crime politicians, reviews were mixed. One Justice Department analysis found the camps had a positive effect on inmates attitudes, behavior and safety while in prison. But that analysis and other studies found the programs had no notable impact on recidivism. The programs gradually closed. The Federal Bureau of Prisons ended its boot camps in 2005. New York has closed two facilities in the past several years, leaving Moriah and Lakeview, in Chautauqua County, as the only ones left in the state. Other states have shifted their camps toward what they call more evidence-based, rehabilitative models. July 31, 2016 at 11:36 PM | Permalink Comments One of those concepts that sounded good at the time -- deal with young offenders who are unable to comply with probation conditions by putting them through a program designed to develop self-discipline. For the defense attorneys, it seemed like a better option than the court simply sending their client to prison. For prosecutors, it sounded like being both smart and tough. In practice, it turned out that these offenders needed something other than discipline to reform -- be it drug treatment, basic education, mental health counseling -- and that what was not needed was a group of would-be-offenders who pursued their criminal conduct in a very disciplined manner. Posted by: tmm | Aug 1, 2016 5:44:05 PM Post a comment The Soberanes Fire in Big Sur, which fire officials are now saying may not be contained for another month, continues burning through steep and rugged terrain and has now destroyed 57 homes, up from 41 on Friday. The fire covers 52 square miles now, or 38,000 acres, and as CBS 5 reports, there are now 5,000 firefighters battling it. The tourism industry in the popular destination of Big Sur along Highway 1 has also been impacted, and the Associated Press says that business owners say business is down by 50 percent in the last week. The area remains inundated with smoke, but the fire so far has remained to the north and east of Big Sur's famed redwood groves, in the Carmel Valley and above the fog line on the coastal ridges. An evacuation warning from CalFire was issued Sunday morning for the communities of Cachagua, Jamesburg, and Tassajara, where they believe the fire is likely headed next, deep in the mountainous valley east of Big Sur. This area was last burned by a major wildfire in 2008, when the San Francisco Zen Center's Tassajara retreat was famously saved from the flames by a group of five monks. A smaller wildfire also hit the area last September, but that fire only burned about 1,100 acres. Fire officials believe they will be battling the blaze throughout the month of August, and as many as 2,000 structures remain threatened. 1 week time lapse of the #SoberanesFire - now larger than the city of San Francisco at 31,386 acres. pic.twitter.com/P9p7bLMel9 CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) July 29, 2016 Previously: 'Hikers' Rescued From Big Sur Wildfire Probably Actually Pot Growers The driver of a stolen sport utility vehicle slammed into a motorcyclist in SoMa Sunday, leaving her critically injured as he sped away from the scene of the crime. It was 9:56 Sunday morning, police say, when the driver of a tan GMC Yukon was spotted traveling at a "high rate of speed" near South Van Ness Avenue and Howard Street. The driver, according to the San Francisco Police Department, then "crossed into oncoming traffic" and struck a woman as she rode her motorcycle. According to the SFPD, she was critically injured in the collision. She was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, and remains there today. The driver, who witnesses say looked to be in his 40s, fled the scene. Officers with the SFPD later recovered the vehicle used in the hit-and-run, and determined that it had been reported as stolen. As of Monday morning, the driver remains at large. As always, anyone with any information on this case (or any other crimes) is urged to call SFPD's Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or to text a tip to Tip411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message. Two men ended up in San Francisco County Jail Sunday, after they climbed a 525-foot tower on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. According to a spokesperson with the California Highway Patrol, calls started rolling in at around 3 p.m. Sunday, all reporting two guys clambering up a cable that passes the bike path on the southern side of the bridge, then rises all the way to the tower's tip. "What happened was they came up the path, and between the path and a cable that runs up to the top, there is a railing," CHP spokesperson Officer Vu Williams told the Bay Area News Group. "They jumped over the railing and made it up the cable." The duo, identified by Bay City News as Danil Grigoriev, 18, and Robert Canales, 23, are believed to have made it to the top of the tower. "By the time we got there, we saw them coming back and we arrested them when they came back down," Williams told BANG. Though the CHP had initially requested Coast Guard assistance, "no other agencies' help was required," BANG reports. They were just walking back down the cable the same way they came up, Williams said to the Chron. The duo were in police custody by 3:30, according to the CHP, and were booked into SF County Jail on suspicion of unlawful access at a vehicular crossing, general trespassing and public nuisance. Grigoriev was also tagged onsuspicion of resisting arrest, Canales for "aiding and abetting," BCN reports. As of yet, the CHP has not said why the men climbed the tower, but whatever the reason, it's not OK, Williams says. We ask that people, for their own safety as well as the safety of the motorists, stay on designated paths, he told the Chron. Its a safety issue for all involved. Not one to readily admit defeat, bullish Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has come closer than ever in a blog post to the Uber Newsroom titled "Uber China Merges with Didi Chuxing." It's less a merger of the San Francisco-based company's Chinese operations than a wholesale purchase of them by China-based rival Didi, but never mind that Kalanick has "no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together," and without the headache that their rivalry had become, Uber can focus at home on its long-awaited IPO. For the past few years, Uber China and Didi have been at each others' throats, waging an expensive price war whose difficulty Kalanick acknowledges."As an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term." Bloomberg first reported the news of the merger/acquisition/truce, noting that while Uber claims to be profitable in the US and Canada, huge losses in China have hindered the company overall. In China, Uber spent $2 billion in the last two years, with Uber investors pushing for a deal with Didi to stem the tide of those losses. Didi Chuxing represents the merger of two Chinese Uber rivals, Didi and Kuaidi, who joined forces last year. With backers Alibaba and Tencent as well as $1 billion from Apple, Didi was valued at $28 billion before the merger and $35 billion after it compared to Uber's sky-high $68 billion valuation. Didi Chuxing and Uber have learned a great deal from each other over the past two years, Didi founder and CE Cheng Wei said in a statement. This agreement with Uber will set the mobile transportation industry on a healthier, more sustainable path of growth at a higher level. Wei and Kalanick will join the boards of each others' global companies, and Didi has invested $1 billion in Uber as part of their deal. The New York Times characterizes Uber's fight in China as somewhat effective, with frequent trips made by Kalanick and his clever use of Communist party language assuaging political leaders see "People's Uber," the company's product last year. In the end, Chinese officials laid out a framework for legal ride-hailing apps just last week. Related: Uber Caught Using Ex-CIA-Staffed Research Firm To Dig Up Dirt On Legal Opponent Born as the protagonist of a Robert Ludlum page-turner, Jason Bourne became a new kind of cinema superhero. Transformed from a regular guy into a killing machine with extraordinary physical power and mental agility, Bourne needed no mask, tights or capes to make his mark. And unlike Spider-Man and his pals, Bourne had no idea of who he was or how he gained his strength. When we meet him in the fourth installment of the movie franchise, simply titled Jason Bourne, hes in Greece making a living from illicit fights, easily koing other barrel chested muscle men with swift blows. Played again by Matt Damon, hes traded his baby face for a ruggedly careworn visage. The troubled Bourne would probably have continued beating his head against a dead end had he not been contacted by Niki Parsons (Julia Stiles), a renegade ex-member of the secret Treadstone program that had transformed him. Now a hacker committed to bringing down the world order, she broke through the CIAs firewall and loaded the Treadstone files onto a thumb drive. She plans to pull a WikiLeak but is able only to pass the drive to Bourne before being felled by CIA hitman who is after Bourne for his own reasons. Bourne doesnt share Parsons agenda. Im not on your side, he tells her comrade, a Berlin anarchist, before koing him. He wants to understand who he is and then maybe get vengeance on the man behind it all, Robert Downey (Tommy Lee Jones). Jason Bourne has a couple of subplots twined around the main story line as it grapples with public policy questions of privacy versus security. Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed), a Steve Jobs-like techno-kingpin who makes pronouncements about transcending borders to adoring geek audiences, has a dark secret: his start-up was funded by the CIA to provide a back door into every electronic device in the world, and hes feeling guilty. Will Kalloor tell the world who hes been in bed with? And then theres ambitious CIA agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), who joined the agency to make a difference. She seems to be working at cross-purposes with Dewey, who wants Bourne dead. She thinks Bourne is a patriot at heart who can be brought back into the fold. Although writer-director Paul Greengrass is the talented filmmaker behind such excellent films as United 93 and Captain Phillips, the Bourne franchise has given him the opportunity to descend into the smash em-up cliches of contemporary Hollywood action thrillers. Jason Bourne flits across the globe from Athens to Iceland, Washington to London, Rome to Las Vegas. Despite the visual intrigue of Bourne and Parsons clandestine rendezvous amidst the chaos of an Athens riot, with Molotov cocktails and teargas grenades exploding all around, too much time is spent on ridiculously over-the-top vehicle chases, photo-shopped and computer-generated to the point where nothing is visceral or dangerous or even possible. Needless to add, Jason Bourne ends with a road sign to the next sequel. 2 stars out of 4 SIOUX CITY | The City Council on Monday approved a $92,000 Economic Development Grant that will support the construction of 16 rental town homes on Sioux City's east side. The council voted 4-1 in support of the grant, which will help local developer Sam Moos build the rental homes on a six-acre tract of land in the 3500 block of First Street, behind the Gordon Drive Hy-Vee in the Greenville Urban Renewal Neighborhood. Mayor Bob Scott cast the dissenting vote. Scott said part of the reason he voted against the grant is the development includes a private street that will turn off of First Street into the new addition. Private streets are always great when you first do them, but 20 years later, when that group doesnt want to maintain them anymore they want the city to take over, he said. Ive always been hesitant to vote for any major private street project because of that. Jeff Hanson, the citys community development and operations manager, said Moos is planning to invest $1.3 million to $1.5 million in the town homes. Under the agreement with the city, construction must be completed by Dec. 31, 2017. "The homes are rentals, with the opportunity to sell any of the individual the structures later on by themselves," Hanson said Monday. Along with approval of the grant, which will be funded through the city's residential fill-in program, the city agreed to sell all vacated rights-of-way in the development area to Moos for $1. In other action Monday, the council voted unanimously to approve an application to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Program on behalf of local developer Rick Bertrand, who is planning to build six residential condominiums on East 14th Street. According to city documents, Bertrand will be investing more than $600,000 in the six units, qualifying him for an estimated $63,000 in investment tax credits and $17,100 in sales tax refunds, if approved. A local match for the project will be provided through the city's citywide Urban Revitalization Program. It's the latest in a series of housing projects in recent years spearheaded by Bertrand, who is also a state senator from Sioux City. Scott noted Monday that Sioux City's housing market has improved, but still has room to grow. He said city officials will meet this week with representatives from Seaboard-Triumph Foods, which is constructing a pork plant that will initially employ more than 1,000. When the plant comes on board and ramps up to 2,100 employees, I think its obvious that we dont have enough housing in this community for that time, he said. We need to continue to be proactive. The City Council also approved the hiring of Janelle Bertrand as city human resources director. Longtime city human resources director Bridey Hayes accepted a similar position with the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork plant under construction in Sioux City in April. SAC CITY, Iowa | Authorities have released the name of a pilot who was killed when his crop dusting plane crashed 3 1/2 miles south of Sac City Friday morning. Although the Sac County Sheriff's Office said its investigation is ongoing, it appeared that The plane flown by Mark James Watson, 44, of Burlington, Iowa, clipped the static lines on the high voltage power lines owned by MidAmerican Energy, according to the Sac County Sheriff's Office. Watson's Air-Tracker INCE AT-402 crashed in a cornfield on Sierra Avenue owned by Steve Hansen of Sac City. The plane was discovered after Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative crews responded to a power outage at 9:48 a.m. Watson was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Sheriff's Office, Watson had recently refueled and reloaded with chemicals at the Carroll, Iowa, airport. An estimated 160 gallons of fuel and 300 gallons of chemicals were on board at the time of the crash. The Fort Dodge Fire Department's Region 5 HAZMAT as well as the Sac City Fire Department and Sac County EMS responded to the crash. The crash is still under investigation. A roundup of Iowa Capitol and state government news items of interest for Monday. NO DIRECT ZIKA THREAT: Branstad said while the state is taking the Zika virus seriously, he thinks the mosquito-borne virus, which has spread from South America and is now showing up in Florida, is not a direct threat to Iowans. We do need to take the Zika virus seriously. Our Department of Public Health is keeping us informed, Branstad said Monday. We dont think there is a direct threat from mosquitos in Iowa today. Floridas governor on Monday requested emergency federal assistance after 10 new cases were reported there, according to the Miami Herald. The cases in Florida are believed to be the first in which the disease was transmitted by a mosquito in the U.S. Previous cases of infection in the U.S. were found in people who had traveled to high-impact regions in South and Central America. LAWSUIT SETTLED: The State Appeal Board voted 3-0 Monday to approve a $950,000 judgment to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought against the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City. Family members of Rollin Hoffert alleged in the wrongful death claim filed in Johnson County District Court that pertinent information was not given to the stroke team and failure to recognize signs and symptoms of a stroke which led to the ultimate demise of Hoffert, according to board documents. Under the agreement, Hofferts estate would receive $450,000 from the states general fund and the University of Iowa Physicians organization would pay $500,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to the Iowa Attorney Generals Office. ARTS SUMMIT: About 300 of Iowas cultural art leaders, professionals and advocates are slated to gather Friday for this years day-long Iowa Arts Summit in Des Moines. Gov. Terry Branstad said the annual event is important because it celebrates Iowas creative energy and its impact on the states cultural legacy. The 2016 Iowa Arts Summit is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines and offers breakout sessions, presentations, and insights from Iowas most creative minds about transforming communities through the arts.Standard registration is $50 per person and $35 for artists and students. More information and registration is available at www.iowaculture.gov or 515-281-5111. DES MOINES | Gov. Terry Branstad will tour the state this week to discuss and observe water quality practices undertaken by Iowa farmers. Branstad said Monday he continues to develop plans to provide state funding for water-quality projects, and he hopes to be able to work with state lawmakers on the issue in the 2017 legislative session, after no agreement was reached this year. We have a nutrient reduction strategy, and we also have a program to help municipalities deal with water treatment issues, Branstad said Monday at his weekly news conference. "But we need long-term, reliable funding for that." Branstad kicked off his water quality tour Monday night with a visit to Bill Hammitt's farm in western Iowa's Harrison County. Beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the governor will participate in a Buena Vista County Water Quality Roundtable Discussion and Watershed Tour at Kings Point Resort, on the shores of Storm Lake. During the 2016 legislative session, Branstad proposed sharing revenue from the state sales tax for school infrastructure projects with water-quality projects. Leaders in the Republican-led Iowa House proposed diverting some current resources from the states infrastructure fund and a water-metering tax to water-quality programs. Leaders in the Democrat-led Iowa Senate did not offer a proposal. Branstad said he considered his proposal a framework and has been willing to work with lawmakers. He said he supported the House plan and wished Senate Democrats would have considered it. Democrats opposed the House plan because it drew money from the states general fund, which funds many other programs, including health care and education. I want to see us do something, Branstad said. I think what the House passed was a great start. Id like to see us go even further and provide a more long-term, reliable source of funding for water quality. Branstad has tweaked his proposal, saying recently he supports the House plan in the immediate future and implementing his plan of splitting sales tax funds between water-quality and school infrastructure projects in 2029, when the current 1-percent sales tax for infrastructure is scheduled to expire. With the tax scheduled to sunset, Sioux City public school leaders said they have limited bonding authority left to fund additional school infrastructure projects. A 20-year extension, they argue, would help the district replace one or more aging elementary schools and modernize the three high schools that are nearly 50 years old. Others think the state should implement a three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax increase to fund natural resources projects. In 2010, voters approved the creation of a natural resources fund, with the understanding lawmakers eventually would increase the state sales tax to fill the fund. The latter has not happened. It is great to see Gov. Branstad recognize that we need a constitutionally protected and sustainable source of funding for water quality through the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, but his proposal doesnt fulfill the promise of what Iowa voters approved in 2010, Mark Langgin, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Iowa and an Iowa Conservation Voters board member, said in a news release. To fulfill that promise, the Iowa Legislature and Gov. Branstad need to take action and raise the sales tax three-eighths of 1 percent and fully fund the (trust fund). Branstad and many state lawmakers have been hesitant to support a tax increase for water-quality programs. Branstad said he will use this weeks tour to learn about what farmers are doing to protect water quality on their land. The governor also said he continues to work with lawmakers on water-quality funding plans but said he has not had discussions with Senate Democrats. Imagine this: one day while youre at work, you start to feel a dull pain in one of your teeth. You dismiss it as not a big deal and go about your day. But as the days and weeks pass, the pain only gets more intense. You put off going to see a dentist at first, because the cost can be prohibitive. You think that the worst that can happen is a little tooth pain, maybe a cavity that youll need to get taken care of eventually. But you dont consider that dental care can actually have an impact on your overall health and quality of life. This situation has happened many times in the past. And it doesnt just result in the need for a filling or even a root canal. In fact, research over the last several years indicates that theres a correlation between dental health and overall health. Thats one of the reasons why proper dental care is so important. And for business owners, providing employee dental health care isnt just a bonus that can make your benefits package look more attractive to employees. It can actually have a huge impact on employees overall health, quality of life and even their productivity at work. The Value of Employee Dental Health Benefits Insurance According to the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP), people without employee dental health benefits insurance reported higher incidences of a variety of other illnesses. For example, periodontal disease has been shown to make other health conditions like diabetes worse. In addition, people who have access to dental coverage are more likely to practice good preventive care, which can help keep them healthier overall. Take a look at a shocking correlation those without employee dental benefits were: 67 percent more likely to have heart disease. 50 percent more likely to have osteoporosis. 29 percent more likely to have diabetes. So if you decide against offering employee dental benefits insurance, youre not only decreasing your teams odds of having good dental health, but also their chances of having good physical health overall. And that doesnt just mean negatives for your employees, but also for your business. Think about it. If a lack of coverage causes your employees to experience health issues, it could lead to them missing a significant amount of work over time. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 164 million work hours are lost each year due to dental problems alone. Even if your employees arent actually missing work, just experiencing those dental and physical health issues can impact their satisfaction and productivity when theyre actually at work. About 30 percent of small business employees said that their productivity at work has suffered because they had to delay medical or dental care due to the cost, according to MetLifes 14th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study. Since dental health can have a significant impact on overall health, its likely that a lack of dental coverage can actually lead to even more missed work. Given that, its in your companys best interests to invest in keeping your employees healthy so that they can be most productive. If your employees dont have dental health coverage to pay for the care that they need, it can make them stressed and distracted so that they arent fully focused on the tasks they need to accomplish. In addition, theyre likely to be unhappy with their lack of dental coverage if it leads to a situation where theyre unable to get the care they need. And that could cause them to either lose motivation so they dont work to their full potential or just decide to seek employment elsewhere. If a lack of employee dental health benefits insurance causes your employees to leave for companies that offer better benefits that means you have to spend more on hiring and also training new employees. Overall, cutting corners when it comes to employee benefits, especially employee dental benefits insurance, can lead to a variety of increased costs or missed potential down the line. It might seem like youre saving money by skipping that part of your employee benefits plan, but if you add up the missed work, productivity issues and increased turnover, youll likely find that those costs can be much greater over time. Offering Non-Medical Employee Benefits Instead of accepting that fate, you can create a better work environment for your employees and better the chances of your business succeeding by offering non-medical employee benefits that include dental insurance. Doing so can have a positive impact on your employees overall health. But it can also give your small business a better chance at succeeding. The investment in non-medical employee benefits that include dental insurance is really an investment in your team and your business. If your employees are healthy and happy, they can spend more time working and actually focused on improving your business, instead of missing work for appointments with their dentist. Additionally, when theyre actually at work, they can be more focused on their tasks instead of being stressed or distracted by their dental health issues and all of the costs associated with them. All of those benefits to your business also lead to benefits for your employees. Of course, your employees are more likely to experience better quality of life and overall satisfaction if they are generally healthy. And dental health can be a big part of that. So if your team has dental coverage included in their benefits, theyre more likely to be healthy, happy at work and satisfied with their compensation. Happy employees tend to be more productive at work and also tend to spend a longer length of time employed with a company. If you can offer employee dental coverage, you can help them avoid those situations where they might experience health issues because of delayed care. And in doing so, you can create a happier and more productive team thats more likely to get stuff done, stick around and experience much greater overall health. While Uber has been growing quickly in some parts of the world, it has struggled in China. The popular ride sharing service has spent billions of dollars trying to gain more of the market in that huge country. But it only ever managed to gain about 20 percent, at most. Ubers main competition in China is a company called Didi Chuxing. And that competition got even heavier recently when Didi Chuxing partnered with Lyft and received a major investment from Apple. So instead of revving up its own efforts even more, Uber decided to take a different sort of approach partnering with Didi Chuxing as well. (Ubers decided to merge its China operations with Didi Chuxing but will still own a healthy chunk of the new company.) The Value of a Market Opportunity Analysis It might seem like Uber is sort of giving up the fight. But there comes a time for a lot of businesses when you have to decide whether the outcome youre looking for is actually going to be worth the resources youre putting into getting there. For example, you might be looking to expand into a new territory, but once you get started you find that the market is pretty saturated. In that case, you might not find it worth it to continue your efforts, or you may need to look for a more creative solution. Thats basically what Uber did. Their market opportunity analysis weighed the odds of achieving its desired outcome with the resources it was putting into getting there. And it found a creative way to still keep its share of the market without having to continually pour resources into fighting the competition International Relations August 1, 2016 Tony Iltis Faced with an attempt to overthrow his government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the coup as a gift from God and wasted no time in exploiting it to further entrench his authoritarian regime. Turkish government broadcaster TRT was seized by a group of military officers calling themselves the Peace in the Country Council on July 15, who announced that they had taken over the country. Within 24 hours, the coup attempt had failed. Erdogan responded by calling his supporters to the streets. Once his governments survival was guaranteed, it quickly became clear that one coups failure was becoming anothers success. The authoritarian president has been seeking to concentrate more power in his own hands. However, his ambitions were frustrated last year by the success of the left-wing Kurdish-led Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) in elections. This blocked plans by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to change the constitution, which required winning two-thirds of parliamentary seats. Erdogans use of the failed coup to launch one of his own was borne out by scenes on July 16 and following days. Mobs of Erdogans right-wing Islamist supporters beat and lynched soldiers surrendering after the coup and launched attacks on neighbourhoods inhabited by minorities and supporters of the left. It has been further borne out by a huge purge that has targeted not just the military, judiciary and civil service, but also the media, academia and civil society. The purge deepened pre-existing moves by Erdogan to control these institutions. Unravelling the Coup The HDP opposed the coup, as did the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other Kurdish groups that have been mounting armed resistance against the Turkish states brutal military onslaught over the past year. HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said on July 19th: Kurdish guerillas could have taken advantage of this attempt and seized many cities, but this would be playing into the hands of the pro-coup mindset. [The] Kurdish movement, by not making a choice between the two pro-coup mindsets, maintained a dignified stance that insists on the democracy struggle of the peoples. However, people like Erdogan do not have the capacity to understand this dignified stance. Both the left and the movement of the long oppressed Kurdish minority (which makes up about 20 per cent of Turkeys population) warned that whoever was the victor in fighting between coup-makers and Erdogans forces, democracy and the people would lose. It is not clear who was behind the failed coup. There has been some speculation that the whole thing was Erdogans Reichstag fire a faked coup to rally support for the president and justify further restrictions on democracy. This conspiracy theory is not as outlandish as it might seem, given the Byzantine workings of the Turkish state. Erdogans inner circle has worked in close cooperation with the military in the past years war against the Kurdish people and in the sponsorship of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War. The theory has been fuelled by incongruities in the events on the night of the coup. These include pro-coup air force jets intercepting, but not shooting down Erdogans plane when he returned to the largest city, Istanbul, and the failure of the coup plotters to take over pro-government commercial media outlets. This allowed Erdogan to rally support in an interview conducted over FaceTime. However, these facts could also be explained by incompetence on the part of the coup plotters, less support than anticipated from the military or the attempted coup being executed prematurely after being discovered by the intelligence service, the MIT. Furthermore, as left-wing journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan pointed out on Sendika10.org on July 17th: Given that Turkeys is a NATO army, it is well-nigh impossible for the army to conduct a successful coup against the wishes of the U.S. and EU (that is, NATO). Support from the U.S. and EU was not forthcoming. The Reichstag Fire theory was boosted when Erdogan blamed the parallel state for the coup code in AKP jargon for the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic preacher who was an ally of Erdogan until 2014. The AKP government had allowed Gulens supporters to infiltrate the institutions of Turkish state. The aim was to displace supporters of Kemalism, the right-wing secular ethnic nationalist ideology of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the Turkish Republic in the 1920s. In 2014, Gulenists in the judiciary tried to bring corruption charges against members of Erdogans inner circle. Since then, the AKP has carried out several purges against Gulenists in the state apparatus. However, a July 21 statement by the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress explained: It is important to specify that this coup was not undertaken by Gulenists. Due to the conflict between the AKP and the Gulenists, sympathizers of Gulen may have taken part in the coup attempt. But by saying the Gulenists attempted the coup, AKP-Erdogan are trying to create a platform on which they can suppress Gulens supporters even more. By labelling the coup as Gulenists (who many people see as worse and more reactionary than them), they are hoping to rally support in order to take revenge on the putschists. In other words, they are trying to kill two birds with one stone. It is evident that this attempt was backed by a large part of the army. If they had planned and executed it more professionally, it may have succeeded. In this regard, it cannot be said that it was undertaken by Gulenists or a minority; there isnt enough of a Gulenists presence in the army to pull off a coup. There has also been speculation that Kemalists were behind the coup. Until the 1990s, Kemalism was dominant in the Turkish state. When its predecessors first rose to power in the 90s, the AKPs Islamism was a challenge to the Kemalist establishment. Kemalist ideology includes an extreme form of secularism based on the French ideology of laicite, which, among other things, bans people wearing Islamic clothes from higher education and public sector employment. For much of its existence, the Turkish republic has been under military rule. The armed forces have traditionally seen themselves as the guardians of the states Kemalist ideology. Conflict between the AKP and Kemalism has often manifested as conflict between the government and the army, resulting in large-scale purges in 2009 and 2013. This ironically benefited Gulens supporters. It is likely that Kemalists were involved in the failed coup. However, the two large Kemalist parties, the MHP and CHP, both opposed the coup. Ethnic Minorities For much of his rule, Erdogan has been at loggerheads with the Kemalists, but in the past year there has been a rapprochement based on the violent oppression of common enemies. Primarily, this has been the Kurds. Extreme ethnic nationalism was always central to Kemalist ideology. As Turkeys largest minority, the Kurds were subjected to forced assimilation from the Turkish Republics birth in the 1920s. (The other two main minorities Armenians and Greeks were ethnically cleansed shortly before and during the republics birth.) The state not only banned Kurdish culture, Kurdish names and the Kurdish language, it even banned the letters q, w and x because these exist in Kurdish but not Turkish. Thousands of people were forcibly moved to cities in a bid to erase their ethnic identity. After the PKK initiated armed resistance in 1984, about 30,000 Kurds were slaughtered by the military and paramilitaries. The Humanitarian Law Project documented 18,000 extrajudicial executions of Kurdish civilians. When Erdogan was first elected as prime minister in 2003, his government took a more liberal approach toward the Kurds. The Kurdish language remained banned from use for official purposes, but speaking it was no longer a crime and the letters q, w and x were legalized. The PKK remained illegal, and its leader Abdullah Ocalan remained imprisoned in an island dungeon. But the regime held sporadic talks with the PKK and Ocalan, culminating in the 2013 peace process. The AKP regime was initially more liberal than its Kemalist predecessors in other respects. However, it was also fiercely neoliberal. In 2013, protests against the privatization of public space in Istanbuls Gezi Park mushroomed into a nationwide youth-led movement for economic opportunities, civil liberties and against increasing moves by Erdogan to concentrate power in his own hands. This Gezi Park movement involved Turkeys large, highly militant but perennially factionalized old left. Most significantly, though, it sparked the creation of a new left, similar to anti-neoliberal movements erupting at the same time in public squares in southern Europe and incorporating the feminist, LGBTI, environmentalist and other movements. The HDP managed to unite most of the old and new left with the Kurdish movement into an electoral force strong enough to deny the AKP a two thirds majority in elections in July last year. In doing so, the HDP secured significant parliamentary representation for forces threatening to both Turkeys Islamist and Kemalist elites. Erdogans response was to call a second election, restart the war against the Kurds and launch violent crackdowns against the opposition. There were mass arrests of academics, closure of newspapers and the flattening of Kurdish towns and cities. The regime also used mob violence against leftists, Kurds, religious minorities and those seen as non-conformist. Significantly, Islamist AKP supporters stood shoulder-to-shoulder with secular fascist Grey Wolves affiliated to the Kemalist MHP in this mob violence. Despite this, the second election, on November 1, still failed to give the AKP its two thirds majority or keep the HDP out of parliament. The renewed war against the Kurds put the armed forces at the centre of politics again. Why a section of the armed forces turned against the regime is unclear. The air force most clearly sided with the coup, while the MIT, the Special Forces Command and the Turkish National Police most clearly opposed it. The bulk of army land forces stayed out of the fighting, leading to speculation that they may be biding their time for another coup attempt. It is possible that Erdogans foreign policy may be a factor. When the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Erdogan gave support to mainly Islamist armed groups fighting the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad, hoping to gain influence over a post-Assad regime. Some groups were supplied with arms and logistical support, while others were directly created and run by the MIT. The extent of Turkish involvement in Syria grew and its objectives changed with the rise of the revolution in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) in 2012. In Rojava, a left-wing movement led by Kurdish forces ideologically allied to the PKK had become a key player in Syrias conflict. With crushing Rojava the main objective, and various Turkish-backed armed groups failing to do so, Turkish support went to the groups that Erdogan viewed as most likely to be able to accomplish this: first the al Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front, then ISIS. Western governments have consistently downplayed its NATO allys support for ISIS the Wests official arch-enemy. But at certain times, Turkeys relationship with the West was strained by the constant traffic of jihadis through Turkey, on the one hand, and the U.S.s tactical alliance with the Rojava-based forces on the other. Turkeys air force shot down a Russian military plane last November in a move intended to force the U.S. to side more closely with Turkey. But all it achieved was a hostile relationship with Russia. Furthermore, Turkey seems to have suffered blowback from its involvement in Syria in the form of ISIS terrorism in Turkey. Initial ISIS attacks in Turkey suggested the relationship between the AKP and ISIS remained strong. The June 5 attack in Diyarbakir last year, which killed four people, and the October 10 attack in Ankara, which killed more than 100, targeted the HDP and were straight out electoral violence on behalf of the AKP. Last years July 20 attack in Suruc, which killed 33 left-wing youth travelling to Kobane to help reconstruct the iconic ISIS-ravaged Rojava town, also eliminated militant opponents of the government. There is evidence the police enabled all these attacks. However, since then, ISIS attacks in Turkey have become more indiscriminate, targeting random civilians and tourists. The reason might be that as ISIS failed to crush Rojava, Turkey has given more support to other armed proxies in Syria. Suspending Democracy Just before the failed coup, the Erdogan government normalized relations with Russia and with Israel. Relations with Israel had become strained after the Israeli murder of Turkish activists attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in 2010. There were also reported moves toward normalising relations with Assads ally, Iran, and even Assad himself. Whether the failed coup-makers were opposed to this policy shift, or opposed to Erdogans previous policy in Syria is a matter for speculation. Interestingly, Iran was one of the first countries to condemn the coup, even before it was certain it had failed. What is certain is that whether the coup succeeded or failed, the result would be the same inside Turkey greater violence and oppression. The coups failure has strengthened Erdogan and the Islamist wing of the Turkish state and political elite. On July 16, pro-Erdogan mobs beheaded and beat to death captured soldiers many of whom were conscripts who were unaware they were taking part in a coup, having been told by their commanders that they were responding to a terrorism alert in Istanbul. Since then these mobs have, with support from the police, attacked neighbourhoods that are populated by Kurds, the Alevi religious minority, other minorities and leftists in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities. Syrian refugees have also been targeted, suggesting ethnic nationalism, as well as Islamism, has fuelled the mob violence. However, Sendeka10.org reported on July 17 that residents of these communities militantly resisted the mobs, in some cases successfully. A purge of the armed forces is understandable after a failed coup, but Erdogan is using the pretext to achieve the concentration of power he has been striving for. About 7000 people, civilians as well as soldiers, have been arrested. Journalists have had their credentials revoked and TV stations have had their licenses taken away. About 15,200 education workers and more than 2800 members of the judiciary have been sacked. On July 21, Erdogan declared a state of emergency and suspended the application of the European Convention on Human Rights. HDP spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen responded: If the coup was successful they would have declared a state of emergency. The AKP government who claim that they pushed back the coup and protected democracy now declares a state of emergency and does what would have happened. JINHA Womens News Agency responded that Kurds had been living under a state of emergency for the past 36 years. But the response of the Kurdish movement, the left and Turkeys militant working class communities has shown that resistance will continue even in the face of greater repression. As Ali Ergin Demirhan put it: Ultimately, it behoves everyone who says no to both a coup and an Islamist dictatorship to remember the third option presented at Gezi as a model for resisting for democracy. An early morning (Monday, Aug. 1, 12:29 am) house fire at 12472 Eldorado Lane in Lusby displaced the residents. Investigators say the fire started due to the gas stove being left on. There were no injuries or deaths.Damages to the structure are estimated at $50,000 and damages to the contents are estimated at $5,000.The house was a two story single family dwelling occupied by Spiro T. Maroulis, who discovered the fire.The one alarm fire involved 25 firefighters and took 10 minutes to bring under control. The primary responding fire department was Solomons Island VRS/FD.The occupants are being assisted by the American Red Cross.A 1986 Chevrolet Corvette suffered an estimated $1,000 in damages after the hot exhaust ignited nearby dry vegetation. The fire occurred Saturday, July 30, around 1:14 pm at 3663 Mt. Pleasant Road, Waldorf.The vehicle is owned by Vincent Washington.The one alarm fire involved 5 firefighters and took 10 minutes to bring under control. The primary responding fire department was Hughesville VFD. NASA FISO Presentation: Near Real-Time State Models - a Foundational Technology for Space Automation and Robotics NASA/XISP Now available is the June 22, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Gary Barnhard of Xtraordinary Innovative Space Partnerships, Inc. (XISP-Inc) who discussed Near Real-Time State Models a Foundational Technology for Space Automation and Robotics. Gary Barnhard a self-described synergistic technological philanthropist, entrepreneur, and serial venture capitalist now serving as the President & CEO of Xtraordinary Innovative Space Partnerships, Inc. (XISP-Inc) a start-up company focused on International Space Station technology development work as well as Barnhard Associates, LLC, a systems engineering consulting firm and Internet Service Provider (Xisp.net) based in Cabin John, Maryland. He is a robotic space systems engineer whose professional work includes a wide range of robotic, space, and computer systems engineering projects. He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park in 1982 combining Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, with graduate work in science policy, solar physics, and artificial intelligence/knowledge based systems. He served as a Space Systems Engineer and Information Systems Architect for EER Systems, and as a Senior Space Systems Engineer on the Grumman Space Station Systems Engineering and Integration Contract (SSEIC) responsible for advanced automation and robotic systems support. He was the Executive Secretary of the Space Station Freedom Program Robotics Working Group and received a NASA Group Achievement Award for the Robotic Systems Integration Standards Interface Design Review Team, as well as an Outstanding Support Award from the Canadian Space Agency Space Station Freedom Program Liaison Office. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA and a life member of the National Space Society. Listen to podcast of Near Real-Time State Models a Foundational Technology for Space Automation and Robotics telecon: Download the MP3 File. Download the presentation (PDF). We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. What started out as a backyard coffee party has quickly become a caffeine-driven pop-up playground for community creatives. Shreebs Coffee in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles prefers to do things differently, co-founder Casey Goch asserts. With an espresso-less bar, cold-brew cocktails, and a location built from a shipping container, Shreebs can certainly claim its declaration of difference from the other 10 or so coffee shops in the area. Shreebs originally began in 2012 as a space for creative-minded individuals in the backyard of Casey Gochs house in Venice, California, where she and her husband would host coffee parties for the neighborhood. Using coffee education and beans from The Conservatory in Culver City, the gathering eventually relabeled itself as a secret pop-up coffee shop and moved to the front yard of the house. Musicians would come in from the neighborhood and play guitar while others hosted business meetings out front. It just became this hub, Goch remembers. When Shreebs took a year break from its post, former customers started requesting Shreebs to provide coffee service at events: baby showers, photo shoots, and other occasions. From then on, Goch and co-founder Ren Fuller-Wasserman decided Shreebs could be a real business. After hosting various pop-up events in the LA area, the shop finally became a long-term piece when a shipping container store in the heart of the the Arts District came available. Shreebs as we know it now a semi-permanent pop-up coffee shop and community space for creatives. Shreebs shipping container home is a stylish version of that which you may have seen in a typical junkyard or port terminal. The shop exterior is rust-free and adorned with thick, striped pastels of salmon, teal, and tan. The front of the cafe looks like a fancy front lawn in a trailer park. Shreebs 500 square feet of space sits atop a fresh patch of bright green AstroTurf and clean wooden picnic benches. The shipping container was a fun challenge to clarify for the community at first.In the beginning, we had to be waving people down on the streets because they didnt understand, like Do I stop? Whats going on here? Goch laughs. The inside bar setup is simple. Without an espresso machine, Shreebs counter space is dominated by its pour-over bar and various syrups & concentrates dedicated to the cafes cold brew program. The lack of an espresso machine is intentional and a commitment to Gochs concept of simplicity. Cold brew offerings are the most defining aspect of Shreebs. In addition to serving single-origin cold brew and pour-over (for which they roast their own coffee for in small batches), the menu also includes a rotating selection of cold-brew cocktails. Shreebs is best known for its Horchata Cold Brew Latte, the recipe for which was designed by chef (and brother-in-law to Goch) Daniel Benhaim, known for his work as Because The Wind. The refreshing drink combines cold brew with rice, almond, oat, cinnamon, cane sugar, sea salt, olive oil, and almond milk. On a hot daywhich is practically every day in LA these daysShreebs take on an horchata & coffee cold brew beverage truly satisfies. Other current selections include the Choco-Chili Latte with dark chocolate, smoked chipotle chili, and cane sugar and the Cardamom Dulce of black pepper, cardamom, cane sugar, and sea salt. To complete the Shreebs coffee presentation, each beverage also comes paired with a dunker oatmeal mini cookie. Our biggest challenge with [Benhaim] is that hes the flavor master, explains Goch. Hes bringing to us flavors like juniper and Douglas fir and all these crazy things and so were still trying to keep it accessible and not let it get too out there, but were looking to expand that menu and really go in that direction. But this is no mere cold brew shipping container. Shreebs is also intimately involved in the community around it, a throwback to the concepts early days as a Venice house party. These days that means hosting a variety of activities that fuel art and creativity, oftentimes run by the neighbors. Every Saturday morning, outdoor yoga takes place on the astroturf lawn before openings. Additionally, the shop runs a community arts blog, artist pop-ups, and has plans to begin movie nights. Most of the people who lead these events started out as regular customers. Its really something special when people are able to service their own community. Thats what the coffee shop really does. For any successful coffee shop, your biggest asset is your people within a mile or two from you, Goch affirms. While Shreebs had initially agreed to its space in the Arts District as a pop-up, the shop is coming up on its one-year anniversary in the same spot. While they currently have no set ideas on where to move to next, Shreebs has many ideas on how to continue serving the community they have come to thrive within. It has really the traits of why we started this and how it all happened and how weve gone beyond the backyard, Goch says. But in some ways this really feels like a backyard. Katrina Yentch is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles. This is Katrina Yentchs first feature for Sprudge. Bir Lehlu, July 31, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, affirmed that the political prisoners today lead the peaceful resistance in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and the South of Morocco. In a letter addressed to Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik, the President of the Republic underlined that "they paint the tables of glory and write history pages that will remain engraved in the collective memory of Saharawi people, for which they give the best example of faithfulness to martyrs". "You have asserted through your incomparable strength and challenge to the arrogance and tyranny of the Moroccan occupying forces, your hunger strikes and refusal to submit to the colonizer despite forms of abuse, torture and harassment," highlighted the President of the Republic. "The maneuvers of the Moroccan occupation state will not deceive the Sahrawis, they reflect the confusion of Moroccan torturers after their failure to break the will of the Sahrawi people. Morocco's new maneuvers aim to prolong the tragedy of this people, but at the same time they represent a defeat for Morocco, "he said. "The fact of transferring the Saharawi prisoners in front of a civil court is recognition of the illegality of the trial of Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik, and consequently they should be released," he added. The trial of these Sahrawi political prisoners in front of a martial court is "unfair and constitutes a blatant violation of law and legitimacy, the price of which Morocco has to pay ", he said, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the Sahrawi political prisoners. The legality of the cause, your resistance and that of your companions in the Moroccan prisons, the support of the masses of the Intifada of independence and Sahrawi people in general, and the efforts of organizations and associations of human rights and friends of the just Sahrawi cause in the world obliged the Moroccan authorities to revise the illegal trial of Sahrawi political prisoners. (SPS) 062/090/TRA WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US military has conducted airstrikes against Daesh in Libya at the invitation of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza said in a statement on Monday. "Today, at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL [Daesh] targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL [Daesh] in its primary stronghold in Libya," Baldanza said. US President Barack Obama authorized US military airstrikes against Daesh positions near Libyas Sirte, US Department of Defense spokesperson Peter Cook said in a statement on Monday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) On Monday, the Pentagon announced it carried out its third round of anti-Daesh airstrikes in Libya since November. The airstrikes were requested by the internationally recognized Libyan Government of National Accord. "The 2001 authorization for the use of military force, similar to our previous airstrikes in Libya," Cook told reporters when asked the legal basis for the latest US airstrikes. The 2001 AUMF was passed in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and provided the authority to target any person, nation, or organization that planned or aided the 9/11 terrorist attacks. TOKYO (Sputnik) Some 90 South Korean government officials and experts have been targeted by cyber attacks emanating from the North, with at least 56 passwords hacked and emails stolen by North Korean hackers, South Korean prosecutors said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency. North Korean hackers have gained access to officials' emails, including those working for the foreign, defense and unification ministers, as well as creating 27 phishing sites on free South Korean hosts, according to the news outlet. Last month, South Korean police said that North Korean hackers have targeted computer systems belonging to 160 large South Korean companies, government agencies and non-government organizations, infecting some 140,000 computers with malware. "Christchurch Police were called to a Hei Hei address this afternoon following reports a man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. A [armed] man left the address on foot and two nearby schools, St Bernadettes School and Hornby High School, have been placed into lock down as a precaution," the statement reads. Police added they believed all parties to the incident were known to each other and deemed it isolated incident, noting that there is no reason for the public to be concerned for their safety. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia is willing to revive joint projects with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Afghanistan after receiving signals of that nature from the Western military alliance, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Director of the Second Asian Department said Monday. Certain signals are there, but these are just signals and only words, although we do not see practical steps from NATO yet. They say Afghanistan is a common subjects that concerns both Russia and NATO, and we have to somehow work together. Great, let us go back to the projects that we have previously discussed and which you, NATO, have suspended, Zamir Kabulov told RIA Novosti. India's Ministry of Defense had shortlisted six Airbus A330 MRTT for the Indian Air Force following a RFP issued six years ago. According to highly placed sources, the Finance Ministry was of the opinion that the aircraft were too expensive and asked the Defense Ministry to look for cheaper options. A new RFP was released, following which the budget was increased to $2 billion and included lifecycle costs in the price arguing that the Airbus plane would work out cheaper in the long term over its Russian competitor if lifecycle costs were to be considered. Meanwhile, a Member of Parliament wrote to the Defense Ministry against the deal, as a result of which the case was sent to the Law Ministry for an opinion. In April 2015, the Government referred the deal to the Defense Ministry's Vigilance Department for clearance after ascertaining the status of the old cases against the consortium. However, it was found that only one such case against the consortium had been closed due to lack of evidence and that the other inquiries were pending. After buying the aircraft last May he then had to wait six other months for customs to clear his giant purchase. Afterwards, I've the course of four months the airplane had to be disassembled and rebuilt eight times. "Demounting, port, shipping, business license, trade declarationall these procedures were never done by anybody before, which means I had to go through them one by one," explains Li. Li spent more than 35 million yuan, which is about $5.28 million on the Boeing 737. In addition, an airplane themed childrens park was also built next to the restaurant, giving parents a chance to enjoy nice dinner alone. Radio Sputniks Loud and Clear spoke with Lee and Rhee about their experience and the potential negative impact THAAD could have in South Korea. "At the immigration checkpoint," Rhee recalled, "we were taken inside a small investigation room and after some questions, we found out that there was a block on our entry, which was placed by the 'Central Agency." "Since the immigration officers were a lower rank they couldnt tell us why the block was placed, however. They couldnt let us pass. We were given a paper stating that in accordance with articles 11 and 12 of the Korean Immigration Control Act we could not enter Korea." "The United States will do what it has to do. We will do what we have to do," he said. "The entire military side has been hardened. It was a huge loss of face." Defense experts have also noted the current mood. "The Chinese military will step up and fight hard and China will never submit to any country on matters of sovereignty," Liang Fang of the US National Defense University wrote on his blog. "We must make preparations for a long-term fight and take this as a turning point in our South China Sea military strategy," Li Jinming of the South China Sea Institute at Chinas Xiamen University wrote for the academic journal Southeast Asian Studies. While the situation has remained calm, there has been a building sense that conflict could be on the horizon. Earlier this month, the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) launched combat patrols over the waterway. This was a response to similar patrols conducted by the Pentagon. MOSCOW (Sputnik) This comes days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel denied claims that talks on the EU-US free trade pact, called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), had collapsed. Before departing to Seattle, a US seaport on the West Coast, the foreign policy spokesman for Merkels Christian Democrats said that, "Seattle is a dynamic center of economy and growth that offers a big potential for further deepening of transatlantic ties especially in the economic sphere." Germany has been a major driving force behind EU-US and EU-Canada talks on the free trade deals. The TTIP pact has been under discussion behind closed doors for over two years and became quite controversial. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been in the making for seven years but has not come into effect yet. NEW DELHI (Sputnik) The two countries have been in talks on Rafales since 2012 but disagreements on the pricing and Indias demands for additional guarantees have hindered the signing. "Rafale deal will put for another clearance from Indias highest decision making body Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs (CCS)," the source said. "Rafale deal is still in a state of uncertainty as negotiations are not fully completed," the source added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Turkish minister added that Novak and he would be co-chairing the commission. "There is an agreement with the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak to hold a meeting in October of the mixed intergovernmental commission on trade economic cooperation," Zeybekci said. Turkey and Russia ended seven months of tension in late June when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria in November 2015 and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident. "This was an issue that was raised in general but it was also raised specifically in relation to Hinkley," he said. Chinese Media Questions 'Suspicious Approach' While understanding Britain's decision to take time to think about the project, China's Xinhua news agency raised some questions regarding the possible motives behind the latest developments. "What China cannot understand is the 'suspicious approach' that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement." The project is expected to create thousands of jobs and generate energy for Britain following the closure of coal-powered plants, with Xinhua questioning the UK's commitment to being an open economy. Is national security one of the component parts of the Hinkley deal that must now be considered? PM's chief of staff had China worries. Carrie Gracie (@BBCCarrie) July 29, 2016 "For a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out," it said. "If history offers any guide, many China-targeted suspicions have been boiled down to diffidence and distortion. China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but can not tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win co-operation." French state-owned EDF with China's backing building the 18bn Hinkley Point dodgy nuke plant is another British energy privatisation dud Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) July 28, 2016 China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, also weighed into the debate, saying China "hopes that Britain can reach a decision as soon as possible, to ensure the project's smooth implementation." The Hinkley Point project includes plans by French company EDF to build two nuclear reactors with the help of Chinese state funding. May Concerned About China's Influence Theresa May's decision to review the Hinkley project marks anther significant break from the premiership of former PM David Cameron, who was enthusiastic in drumming up support for Chinese involvement. TRIPOLI -- The US launched the first airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) targets in the Libyan city of Sirte, at the request of Libya's UN-brokered government, the prime minister said in a televised speech. "The first airstrikes were carried out on precise positions of the IS in Sirte, causing heavy losses," Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said. In Washington, Pentagon confirmed the operation in a statement, saying "additional US strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA (Government of National Accord) to make a decisive, strategic advance." It said the US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya. Since May, Libya's UN-backed government have been striking the IS targets in Sirte, about 450 kilometres east of the capital city Tripoli. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Nigeria's Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo on Monday was appointed Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), OPEC said in a statement. "His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria assumed office today in his role as Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria," the statement read. The statement added that Barkindo, who was expected to serve as the cartel's Secretary General for the next three years, replaced Abdalla Salem Badri, who had headed the organization since 2007. "The public service costs of poverty amount to around 69 billion [$91.5 billion], with identifiable knock-on effects of child poverty costing a further 6 billion and knock-on effects of adult poverty costing at least 2.7 billion; this gives a total cost of poverty in the UK of around 78 billion [$103.4 billion]," the report said. The report adds that one fifth of all the money spent on public services in the United Kingdom goes to dealing with the consequences of poverty. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Media claimed that an accident occurred on the night of July 9 at the construction site of Belaruss first nuclear power plant. "It is wrong to use misleading words like hit the ground or fell because the reactor was moving toward the ground at a pace below that of a pedestrian," Rosatoms First Deputy CEO for Operations Management Alexander Lokshin told reporters. Lokshin said a subcontractor firm was relocating the reactor horizontally some 30 feet within the construction site with a crane when it malfunctioned. The massive cargo was left strapped to the crane for half an hour and tilted slowly to one side until it was handing diagonally from the sling and touched the ground. Suppression However, as part of the deal, the EU was supposed to grant Turkish citizens visa-free access to the EU by the end of July and accelerate its accession to becoming a full member of the EU. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has now told Germany's newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that: "If visa liberalization does not follow, we will be forced to back away from the deal on taking back (refugees) and the agreement of 18 March. It could be the beginning or middle of October but we are waiting for a firm date." The deal had already hit the skids over Erdogan's increasing grip on power, crackdown on opposition parties and the media, as well as criticism of Turkey's human rights record. Since the attempted coup, however, his massive suppression of those associated with the coup the judiciary, the military and the police has been the cause of deep skepticism within the EU. History of Coup D'etats in #Turkey: 1960: Accomplished 1971: " 1980: " 1997: " 2016: FAILED In sum: NEVER again! pic.twitter.com/8f3owKMCKr Failed Coup Facts (@failedcoupfacts) 1 August 2016 If Turkey fails to meet the basic benchmarks on democracy and human rights required by the EU, the visa-free travel deal will be abandoned and with it the whole migrant deal, once again leading to another flood of migrants crossing into Europe. Relations between Brussels and Ankara were already under strain ahead of the attempted coup, but sources within the EU have told Sputnik that Erdogan's continuing reprisal against his enemies are making the whole migrant and visa-free agreement increasingly unlikely to come to fruition, plunging the EU into yet another crisis. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The police station in Yerevans Erebuni district was held by an armed group since July 17, when several traffic police officers were taken hostage inside the building. A policeman was killed and six more people were injured, including five police officers. The group released all hostages by July 23. "The Armenian National Security Service states that in the criminal case into seizure of the patrol police services regiment by the armed group47 people have been detained or arrested," the statement reads. On July 18, a 17-year-old male youth who had sought asylum in Germany was shot dead by police after wounding five people with an axe on a train near Wuerzburg, also in Bavaria. Police found a hand-painted Daesh also known as ISIL flag in his flat. Later, on July 24, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a pregnant woman and wounding two people with a machete in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, near Stuttgart On Friday, July 22, an 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman killed nine people in a shopping mall in Munich and injured dozens more in a shoot-out that ended in the gunman shooting himself. According to preliminary data, the shooter adhered to nationalist views and also had mental problems. According to Reichert, regular checkups alone and the closure of radical religious organizations won't be enough to prevent such attacks in the future. He argued that it is necessary to pay attention to psychological work as well, as well as carefully monitor those who illegally enter the country. "I would like to emphasize that, despite the tense situation and numerous discussions, it is necessary to differentiate these crimes. Not all the attacks were carried out on the basis of religious intolerance. We already know that a few days before the attack on a train in Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old attacker learned that his close friend was killed in Afghanistan. This shows that it is necessary to focus on the psychological aspect as well. Moreover, authorities should carefully monitor all those who illegally enter and stay in Germany," Reichert stated. Earlier, numerous reports suggested that the Daesh terrorist group can infiltrate the refugee influx into Europe in order to carry out terrorist attacks. A statement of that kind was recently made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "After the Paris terrorist attacks, we know that Daesh has used and can use refugee movements to infiltrate Europe with terrorist forces," Merkel told reporters. The European Union has been struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East, mainly Syria and Iraq, as well as North Africa and other regions, to escape violence and poverty and seeking asylum in Europe. The growing influx of migrants raised security concerns and fears of possible terrorist attacks among the population. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The data, obtained under freedom of information rules, shows that Eurosceptic areas outdo the nationwide increase in the hate crimes of 57 percent, showing double and triple hikes, the media reported. England's eastern county of Lincolnshire, where over 70 percent of residents voted to withdraw from the European Union, saw a 191-percent growth in hate crimes, with 42 such crimes in the referendum week comparing to 22 crimes during the corresponding week in 2015. The increase in hate crimes in England's southeastern Kent county was 143 percent. Almost 60 percent of the county voted Leave. Central Derbyshire county recorded a 121-percent hike, while central Nottinghamshire showed an 140-percent hate crime growth in the first full week after the nationwide vote. In a front page lead , The Times investigations editor, Dominic Kennedy revealed how " Sputnik's bureau is in an office building where tenants have a minimum lease of five years" an astonishing fact to feature in such a prominent news story. In a two-page spread inside the newspaper, Kennedy writes that Edinburgh where the Sputnik radio operation is based was at the heart of easing relations between the Soviet Union and the West during the Cold War. "The late John Erickson, a historian of the Russian army so brilliant that his work was secretly studied by the Soviet Union's elite, used to bring together military chiefs from the USSR and United States for regular face-to-face discussions called the Edinburgh conversations," he wrote. Privacy Shield is the proposed new deal between the EU and the US that is supposed to safeguard all personal data on EU citizens held on computer systems in the US from being subject to mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency. The data can refer to any transaction web purchases, cars or clothing involving an EU citizen whose data is held on US servers. EU-U.S. #PrivacyShield up and running from today pic.twitter.com/he0tqWnvmn Vera Jourova (@VeraJourova) 1 August 2016 Human rights campaign groups say Privacy Shield which replaces the Safe Harbor agreement ruled unlawful in October 2015 does not meet strict EU standard on the use of personal data. Privacy International's Legal Officer Tomaso Falchetta blogged: "There are no meaningful legal protections, and therefore any promises today can be easily be undermined tomorrow. The safeguards relating to unlawful surveillance, particularly mass surveillance, by US intelligence agencies continue to not contain meaningful legal protections." MOSCOW (Sputnik) On December 5, Muhiddin Mire attacked musician Lyle Zimmerman with a knife in eastern London's Leytonstone tube station seriously wounding him and slightly injuring two more people. According to the BBC broadcaster, the 30-year-old Mire was jailed for life with a minimum term of an eight-and-a-half year. Soon after the attack, UK media reported that the attacker shouted "this is for Syria" before attacking by-passers with a knife. Zeybekci told Sputnik he hoped all the problems of the bilateral relations with Russia would be resolved during a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 9. The two presidents are expected to meet next Tuesday in St. Petersburg for the first time since the bilateral relations deteriorated in 2015 over Turkey's downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft. "Both sides are completely ready to return the level of bilateral relations which we had before November 24, 2015. Obviously, how and how soon it will be done only the time will show. I see hope that during the August 9 meeting problems will be resolved entirely," Zeybekci said. Specific advice has been issued by the police to the estimated 47,000 churches in Britain on security measures. Places of worship can now apply for funding for security measures to prevent hate crime: https://t.co/k5yqB1F2lm Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) July 26, 2016 The church has always exercised an "open door" policy allowing congregation members to visit their priests and discuss confidential issues. However, the attack in France has left many churches feeling that perhaps current security measures are not good enough. While there are no specific threats to the UK's Christian community, churchgoers should be alert, according to the police advice which was sent out on Tuesday 26th July. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The delegation, headed by Mariani, paid a three-day visit to Crimea last week. Following the lawmakers' visit to Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta, the delegation arrived in Moscow. "We need to address the issue of Donbass, where people continue to suffer. French doctors who had visited Donbass reported about a difficult situation in Donbass, including the shortage of medications. I am discouraged by a reaction of Europe to the situation in Donbass. Europe keeps silent in this regard. It is difficult to imagine that only a few hours away from Paris, people are continue to die," Mariani, who is a member of the French party The Republicans, said at a press conference, following their visit to the Black Sea peninsula. Unfortunately, there is also still a bunch of other difficulties which hamper efficient coordination and share of available data between intelligence agencies. In every country, there are usually dozens of intelligence agencies which compete with each other, have their own databases and their own networks of agents. The failure of such system is clearly visible on the example of the US. After the 9/11 attacks it turned out that two of the terrorists were registered in the lists of the CIA, but the latter didn't even bother to transfer the information about them to the FBI. "It is easy to imagine the scale of the chaos in the countries where not two or three, but dozens of special services are involved in intelligence and counterintelligence activities," the article said. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that Europeans have tried to somehow change the situation for better. The structure of the EU bodies dealing with security is quite logical: Europol deals with crimes, Frontex with the protection of borders, and Eurojust coordinates investigation. In January 2016, there has also been created a joint European counter-terrorism center within Europol which is expected to coordinate activities of the European security services. However, many problems still remain in place. The common European database with 90,000 fingerprints turned out to be much less efficient then it was expected. The base is too huge and it is almost impossible to find necessary information. Moreover, European intelligence agencies not only don't want to negotiate with each other, but often just can't do it as different countries have different systems of transliteration of Arabic names. The problem is also complicated by the fact that intelligence services usually have very few people who speak Arabic, the article said. All in all, proper cooperation between the intelligence agencies within the European Union has not been established so far and probably won't be in the future. "Most likely, corresponding measures will be gradually intensified on the national level," Bordachev said. "And this, unfortunately, would undermine one of the fundamental freedoms of the EU the freedom of movement," he added. According to data of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Italian banks have approximately 550 billion euros of loans from around the world, including 250 billion euros from French banks and 90 billion from German ones. In the event of a collapse of the Italian banking sector, Deutsche Bank alone would lose 30 times more than if Greece went bankrupt. The oldest Italian bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is on the verge of bankruptcy, the expert said. The absolute amount of the bank's "bad" loans amounted to 47 billion euros, which is more than 40% of the loan portfolio. Monte dei Paschi di Siena is not an isolated case; there are dozens of such financial institutions in Italy. What to Do? The government of Matteo Renzi seeks a review of Eurozone banking regulations in order to direct the taxpayers' money to save the bank. Renzi cannot allow depreciation or curtailment of bank deposits of Italians and that is exactly what the new EU financial rules provide. According to Dobrov, this action could lead to panic: investors will withdraw funds en masse from banks, and this will lead to a total collapse of the financial system. In the event of mass protests, early elections will be appointed, which could end in Italy's anti-European party coming to power. ANKARA (Sputnik) New appointments follow the failed coup attempt in Turkey, after which 163 generals and admirals were detained, what constitutes 40 percent of the total number. Eighty-seven out of 198 generals in the Army were dismissed, 30 of 72 in the Air Force, seven out of 32 in the Turkish Gendarmerie General Command, and in the Navy 32 of 55 admirals. There are 94 new appointments in the Army Command, the Air Force has 44 new appointments and in the Navy there are 22 admirals' appointments. On July 15, an attempted coup took place in Turkey, and was suppressed by the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. Ankara has accused US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers of having played a key role in the coup. Gulen has denied the accusations. BELGRADE (Sputnik) The statement comes amid heightened tensions between Serbia and Croatia. On Tuesday, Balkan media outlets reported that the Croatian Foreign Ministry had sent a note of protest to Serbia after critical statements from Belgrade regarding the rehabilitation of Catholic Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who had been supported by the Croatian pro-Nazi Ustashas regime during WWII while in the post of the Archbishop of Zagreb. "In this letter, we only ask to tell where Serbia have made a mistake, what we have done wrong, I am really looking forward to this response. But we will not get a response. And on the other side, there will be fresh statements that we are continuing Milosevic's policy, and that we are the heirs of the Serbian aggressor," Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told reporters. According to Vucic, Croatia's policy was glorifying Nazi collaborators, terrorists and the 1990s war criminals. MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) Three people were shot in a restaurant when a gang entered the building an opened fire, the police said on Sunday. In another part of the city, a car was found to contain three bodies, including one woman, in the cabin and in the boot of the vehicle, according to the police. Acapulco de Juarez is the largest beach and health resort city in Mexico. It is also considered to be one of the key points involved in drug trafficking between South America and the United States. Brazilian Twitter users supported the action in bulk, demanding that Pokemon Go be launched in the country. News: @johnhanke has been hacked. Hacker group #OurMine Stated a test of security hopefully voices will be heard. pic.twitter.com/MQFRd56Ciw Team Mystic PDX (@TeamMysticPDX) 31 2016 . Internet cracksmen say that they committed the crime in the name of Brazil as there was no official launch of Pokemon Go in the country. Each of their posts was accompanied with the hashtag #PokemonGo4Brazil. YEREVAN (Sputnik) On Sunday, Armenian security forces said that the police building in Yerevan's Erebuni district, which had been seized by an armed group, was liberated with 20 militants arrested. Several people were injured in a shootout during the operation. "Three members of the armed group are inside our medical center," the center said in a press statement. The names of those hospitalized have not been disclosed. Saudi Arabia and Russia have coinciding views on a range of regional problems aside from the Syrian issue, such as Palestine, Jubeir said. In July, Jubeir said in an interview with the Politico newspaper that Saudi Arabia was ready to offer Russia access to the Gulf Cooperation Council market and regional investment fund if it stopped supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Islamic State (ISIL, also known as Daesh), as well as Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front), both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal. The fate of the Syrian president has been a sticking point in the Geneva intra-Syrian peace talks, as well as in discussions among the mediators. Russia has insisted that the Syrian people must have the full say in their country's political transition, while the Riyadh-formed Syrian opposition delegation, as well as Saudi Arabia and various Western countries, have stressed that Assad must leave at the start of the transitional period regardless. The group's leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani announced the amicable split from al-Qaeda on July 28, adding that the group would not be linked to any foreign party. He also said that the organization changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of Syria). Al-Julani also urged other jihadi groups to join forces with al-Nusra Front to secure the victory in the Syrian conflict. Although al-Nusra Front has tried to distance itself from Daesh and to present itself as a legitimate force in the war-torn Arab country, the United States has confirmed that the rebranding does not change the status of the group, which Washington, Moscow and the UN consider to be a terrorist organization. Russia and the US recently agreed to make specific steps to reinforce the fragile ceasefire in Syria and intensify their campaign against al-Nusra Front. The rebranding will not affect these efforts. "Foreign forces will continue to go after them," Pipes confirmed. The analyst further noted that the split and the name change are more than a mere PR campaign, adding that "there is a potential status component to it." Al-Nusra Front's decision to part ways with al-Qaeda "might be accompanied by actual changes in policy, behavior and personnel. I suspect it's more than simply a PR change. I think there is likely to be an effort to reach out to other groups to accommodate, to be more flexible," he said. The Russian Aerospace Forces' Mi-8 Hip transport helicopter was downed in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib while returning from a humanitarian mission in Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier in the day. Three crew members and two reconciliation center officers were on board the helicopter. "Those who were aboard the helicopter, according to information from the Defense Ministry, have died heroically because they were attempting to steer the machine to minimize the casualties on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He expressed deep condolences to the friends and relatives of the fallen servicemen. While Saudi Arabian law states that juveniles cannot be executed, the UK Foreign Office's (FCO) latest Human Rights Priority Country assessment for the Gulf kingdom states that "all three were convicted of crimes committed when they were juveniles, although under Saudi law they are considered to have been adult at the time". However, human rights group Reprieve has rejected this claim, stating that although there is limited scope for juveniles to be treated as adults in Saudi Arabia, such a provision does not apply to the cases involving Ali, Dawoud or Abdullah. [Petition] Demand that Saudi Arabia ends juvenile executions https://t.co/BiGguuy8wj Almost 100k have signed #OpNimr pic.twitter.com/MVcb90HsWw Anonymous (@GroupAnon) July 29, 2016 The group has called on the FCO to correct what it believes is an inaccurate claim, saying Britain "runs the risk of helping to legitimize the Saudis authorities' use of the death penalty against children." "The British Government should not be accepting the Saudis' excuses for their appalling plans to behead people sentenced to death as children," Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's death penalty team said. DESPITE Saudi Arabia mass executions UK arms sales total 3.3 Billion @theresa_may continues where Cameron left off https://t.co/hrmi3vzNzX Jane Hersey (@HerseyJane) July 28, 2016 "The government must stop hiding behind the fiction that Abdullah, Ali and Dawoud are considered adults under Saudi law. The reality is that the Saudis are breaking both their own laws and international law in their plans to execute these three." Reprieve: 'UK Must Not Support Propaganda' Reprieve also previously criticized former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who claimed that 47 people executed in a single day by Saudi officials in January this year "were terrorists" despite a number of the victims being convicted for their involvement in protests calling for reform in the country. Saudi Arabia has executed 108 people so far in 2016. Iran has executed 250. These two countries lead the world in executions per capita. Iyad el-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) July 27, 2016 The FCO has so far refused to correct what Reprieve believe to be false claims, with Foa putting pressure on Johnson to act on the matter. "The attention the Foreign Office has paid to these cases so far is welcome. However, they must ensure they are not giving support to Saudi Government propaganda, as they have done all too often before. Boris Johnson needs to set the record straight, and call on the Saudi authorities to immediately commute the death sentences handed down to these three juveniles." Western media have been debating the recent decision of al-Nusra Front's leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani to cut ties with al-Qaeda and change the name of the organization. Russian political expert Igor Korotchenko argues that with this step, members of the organization are trying to escape the final defeat, seeking to "withdraw themselves" from the list of terrorist groups. "Terrorism is changing colors, but any attempt to withdraw from the onslaught of terrorist organizations can't be recognized as legitimate," Korotchenko said."The desire of al-Nusra Front to change its color speaks about the success of the fight against this terrorist organization, which bears heavy losses and is trying to get away from the final defeat," Korochenko told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Friday, a part of the hospital in Idlib was destroyed in the bombing. "Save the Children has been working with their partner in the region around the clock to keep the bombed maternity hospital in Idlib open. Its currently operating at a reduced level and only able to support emergency cases and non-surgical deliveries Repair work is underway," the statement said. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) Militants shelled on Monday one of the buildings of the Aleppo university, leaving 13 students injured, a source in the city's central hospital told RIA Novosti. "A total of 13 students with shrapnel wounds were delivered to hospitals, some of them have severe injuries. Terrorists opened mortar fire at the building of the department of social sciences of the Aleppo state university," the source said. The Russian Aerospace Forces' Mi-8 Hip transport helicopter was downed in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib while returning from a humanitarian mission in Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier in the day. Three crew members and two reconciliation center officers were on board the helicopter. No one survived, according to the Kremlin spokesman. "A Russian transport Mi-8 helicopter which was returning after delivering food and medicines to Aleppo residents, was downed today as a result of a terror attack," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff, said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Rudskoy noted that, unlike the US-led anti-Daesh coalition active near Manbij, Russian aircraft do their utmost to avoid collateral civilian damage by not targeting populated areas within city limits. The Russian Aerospace Forces aviation actively supports government troops in repelling enemy attacks, carrying out selective strikes on militant positions, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy told reporters. The Syrian armed forces with the support of Russian combat planes repelled a terrorist offensive near the city of Aleppo, killing over 800 militants and destroying 14 tanks, Rudskoy added. PARIS (Sputnik) French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry to seek implementation of the ceasefire regime in Syria by the sides to the conflict and ensure access of humanitarian aid to the population. "While the international community has pledged to achieve a political transition in Syria by August 1, France with a great concern has to admit that it did not produce an effect," the French Foreign Ministry said in a communique according to which Ayrault called on Kerry and Lavrov to take measures to "urgently restore the ceasefire and to ensure humanitarian access to all areas, giving priority to the besieged ones to alleviate the suffering of the Syrians and to allow the resumption of intra-Syria negotiations." "The attack was preceded by the suicide bombers detonating four fighting vehicles filled with explosives on government troop positions," the official added. Militants have shelled the Syrian city of Aleppo 30 times in less than a week, killing 42 civilians and wounding 98 others, the Russian General Staff said. Residential areas continue to be shelled from regions under the control of terrorist groups. Only since July 28 with the use of mortars and multiple rocket launcher systems, Aleppo neighborhoods where civilians live have been shelled over 30 times. As a result of the shelling, 42 civilians were killed and 98 were wounded, Rudskoy told reporters. Russian Defense Ministry Fully Supports UN Proposals on Humanitarian Operation in Aleppo Russia Defense Ministry is fully supporting the initiative of UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on "improving modalities" of the Russia-Syrian humanitarian operation in Aleppo, Rudskoy said. "The Russian Defense Ministry has closely studied the proposals of UN Special Envoy for Syria de Mistura on improving the modalities of the Russia-Syrian humanitarian operation in Aleppo and fully supports them," Rudskoy told journalists. On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow and Damascus had launched a joint large-scale humanitarian relief operation in Aleppo, establishing three corridors for civilians and one for militants wishing to lay down arms. He said Russia offered international organizations working in Syria to join this operation. On Friday, de Mistura called on Russia to leave humanitarian corridors in Syria to the UN surveillance. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Seven humanitarian corridors have been opened in the Syrian city of Aleppo for civilians and militants willing to surrender, the Russian General Staff said Monday. "Seven humanitarian corridors are active for the rescue and aid of civilians taken hostage by terrorists, as well as for militants who choose to lay down their weapons. Stations for hot meals, food supplies, water and first aid have been established in close proximity to these humanitarian corridors," Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy told reporters. He said a separate corridor for militants wishing to give up was formed in northern Aleppo. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The report reminded that according to the UN data, some 2,000 children were killed or injured in Yemen in 2015, with 60 percent of these casualties being attributed to the coalitions airstrikes. "Yemens children have faced unimaginable horrors in the past 15 months. All parties to the conflict in Yemen are responsible for committing grave violations against children, but by the UNs own evidence, the Coalitions military operations are responsible for a significant amount of this suffering," Save the Childrens Country Director in Yemen Edward Santiago said, as quoted in the letter. The agencies also called on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to take "concrete steps to end grave violations against children." KUWAIT CITY (Sputnik) The UN-brokered talks to end the Yemeni conflict renewed in Kuwait in mid-July after a suspension that lasted for almost three months. "The delegation of Yemeni government that participated in the negotiations has unexpectedly left Kuwait City and set off for Riyadh, a week before the end of the term designated for negotiations," the source said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 28, Yemens Shia Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah and General People's Congress party supporting the countrys ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an agreement on creating the supreme political council for ruling the country. "Concerning the military situation in Yemen, nothing has changed. Houthis' violations continue And no matter whether the council is formed or not, it won't change anything," Asiri said, commenting on Houthi influence in Yemen. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Russian Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy told reporters on Monday that the helicopter was downed in Syria over territory controlled by the terrorist group previously known as al-Nusra Front and its associated so-called moderate opposition forces. We [the United States] don't have any information to provide on this incident, the Pentagon official told Sputnik when asked whether they possess information on the downing of the Mi-8. The helicopter was returning to the Hmeimim air base after delivering humanitarian aid in Aleppo. "On August 1 in the province of Idlib, the Russian military-transport Mi-8 helicopter, returning to the Hmeimim air base after delivering humanitarian assistance in the city of Aleppo, was hit by gunfire from the ground. Three crew members and two officers of the Russian center for reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria were on board," the Russian Defense ministrys press service said. It underscored that the fate of the Russian servicemen is being investigated through all available channels. Heroic Death The crew members on board Russia's transport helicopter downed in Syria died heroically in an attempt to minimize civilian casualties on the ground, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Those who were aboard the helicopter, according to information from the Defense Ministry, have died heroically because they were attempting to steer the machine to minimize the casualties on the ground, Peskov told reporters. He expressed deep condolences to the friends and relatives of the fallen servicemen. White House Regrets 'Any Loss of Life' The US administration regrets any death caused by the ongoing Syrian conflict, White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reports following the downing of the helicopter. "[We] regret for any loss of life in association with this [Syrian] conflict," Schultz said. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the pullout of the bulk of the Russian contingent in Syria as the anti-terrorist campaign's objectives had broadly been completed. Following Putins announcement of the withdrawal, Moscow said that some Russian military personnel would remain at the Hmeimim air base as well as the naval base at Tartus to observe the implementation of the US-Russia-brokered ceasefire, which came into force across Syria on February 27. CAIRO (Sputnik) On July 28, Egyptian Finance Minister Amr Garhy said the country is expecting to get $12 billion from the IMF in the next three years in exchange for certain austerity measures. "The biggest challenge is not the measures themselves but their acceptance by the society, public opinion. The challenge is whether it is prepared to accept the measures, which is likely to be hard and tough," Sisi said talking at the Cairo youth forum. She noted that civilians in the city are being held captive, and are not only starving, but are also being used as human shields a fact that prevents Syrian government forces from forming a massive assault. Sepahpour-Ulrich recalled that the US also created humanitarian corridors during its operations in Iraq, and so any condemnation from Washington of the evacuation of civilians is, in her words, "hypocritical." US military presence is used to support local terrorists, Sepahpour-Ulrich argues, rather than governments, in order to create instability, which will allow the US to make its mark on the ground. At the same time, however, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is gaining in popularity among civilians, she said. This is likely to lead to the failure of terrorists. And if those terrorists, whom Sepahpour-Ulrich calls "the United States' mercenaries" fail, the US might resort to aerial bombings and try to turn Syria into a "failed state," despite it's being backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. "I don't think the United States will give up just because they were defeated in Aleppo," she said. "They will continue with [their plan of] regime change They already invested too much time and money and their reputation." Sepahpour-Ulrich insists that, even though the retaking of Aleppo will be a "mile boost" for Assad, nobody should "for a moment" think that the worst of the war is behind us. "We should be even more on guard than before at that point against what may be coming," she told Sputnik. Sepahpour-Ulrich also commented on al-Nusra's recent "rebranding," as the group officially disaffiliated itself from Al-Qaeda. She said the move was motivated by the desire to stop being perceived as "terrorists" and to gain the right to officially receive direct aid from the United States and their allies fighting in Syria. She likened the al-Nusra front to Afghanistan's Taliban, which took the same tack of rebranding themselves to become involved in international relations. "If anybody believes that they've changed their philosophy of terrorism, that would be naive," she said of al-Nusra. The Korean delegation, led by Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-mo and Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Tae-ho, met with the US delegation, led by David Shear, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, and Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security for the US State Department, this Thursday, according to Korean Times. The sides discussed several key foreign and security policy issues, including the transfer of US technologies essential for development of South Korea's own fighter jet that is supposed to replace the aging F-4 and F-5. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia's Navy is set to receive a total of 12 battleships, eight combat boats and 23 auxiliary ships in 2016, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday. "It is planned that the Navy will receive 12 battleships, eight combat boats and 23 auxiliary ships this year," Shoigu said. ANKARA (Sputnik) According to the Turkish broadcaster, Dunford is expected to meet US troops and hold talks with Turkish high-profile military officials in Ankara. It comes a day after media reported that the Turkish army stepped up security at Incirlik military base amid unconfirmed reports on a new coup attempt. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Armed Forces should deploy a team to Ukraine to quietly conduct an assessment of Kievs security requirements and structure, former NATO commander Wesley Clark told Sputnik. "I think what the US really needs to do in Ukraine is to get an assessment team from the United States Armed Forces to go in and really do a systematic assessment of their defense needs and their structure and do it on a quiet basis," he said. "Now we are doing training for them but to the best of my knowledge we have not done an assessment." The United States remains uncertain about Kievs objectives in the Donbass region and with Russia, Clark added. He noted readiness to conduct joint incident prevention work on the basis of bilateral agreements, as well as consultations with the defense ministries of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Sweden and Finland to address mutual concerns related to military activities in the border areas. Russian Defense Ministry Analyzes NATO Warsaw Summit Decisions The Russian Defense Ministry is performing rigorous analysis of decisions reached at last months NATO Warsaw Summit, Antonov said. "The Defense Ministry is carrying out a meticulous analysis of the decisions voiced in Warsaw Russian proposed a "positive program" for the development of relations with the alliance at the Russia-NATO Council, the implementation of which would contribute to a de-escalation of tensions and to prevent armed incidents on the contact line between the armed forces of the parties," Antonov said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance agreed at the July 8 Warsaw Summit to strengthen the military blocs presence in Eastern Europe by next year. The four-battalion rotational presence would include US troops in Poland, British forces in Estonia, German troops in Lithuania and Canadian forces in Latvia. Russian Defense Ministry Offers to Review Inactive Russia-NATO Council Programs The Russian Defense Ministry has informed military attaches to review the previously active Russia-NATO Council programs and exchange assessments of the terrorist threat to combat the spread of Daesh, Antonov said. "The military attaches have been informed about the proposal to review the previously active military programs under the Russia-NATO Council. In particular, it was noted resuming that Russia-NATO initiatives to cooperate in airspace would contribute to the improvement of aviation safety," Antonov told reporters. He underscored Moscows proposal to establish a military channel to exchange the assessments of the terrorist threat with the primary objective of stemming the spread of the outlawed Daesh and other terrorist organizations. BEIJING (Sputnik) The Chinese navy kicked off on Monday large-scale military exercises in the East China Sea, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement. "Currently, large-scale military exercises of the active military forces are held in the East China Sea in the area of 16,000 square kilometers [6,177 square miles]," the statement said. The exercise, including a cruiser, a submarine, more than 100 vessels, several dozens of combat aircraft and several coastal radar stations, are aimed at practicing reconnaissance tasks, long-distance attacks, as well as the overall missile defense in the conditions of electromagnetic interference. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian Airborne Forces will deploy a battalion next year and a regiment by 2018 in the northern Crimean city of Dzhankoi, Airborne Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Nikolai Ignatov said Monday. We plan a regiment in Dzhankoi, one battalion in 2017, then a full-fledged unit to be deployed by 2018, Ignatov told reporters. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week a self-sufficient force grouping has been formed in Crimea with more than 4,000 weapons and hardware, including coastal missile complexes, missile systems and submarines. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia and Afghanistan are in discussions over various formats of delivering Russian Mi-35 Hind attack helicopters to Kabul, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Director of the Second Asian Department, Zamir Kabulov, said Monday. You need money to purchase. The Afghan government does not have money. Various options will be discussed. They would like it as free-of-charge as possible, while our position is to do so on a commercial basis, Kabulov told RIA Novosti. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) NATO air policing jets practiced intercept procedures with US bomber crews over the Baltic Sea during the Polar Roar air exercises, NATO Allied Air Command said in a statement on Monday. "Allied and Partner jets scrambled to train intercept procedures at designated points in the exercise, and the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force aircraft ensured command and control during operations," the statement noted. The exercise took place in European international airspace over the Baltic Sea and English Channel, according to NATO. Danish F-16s fighter jets and Swedish JAS-39 Gripens participated in the training. As tensions between the two countries sour, Incirlik has been the focus of a number of protests. Last week, over 5,000 people participated in anti-American demonstrations, demanding that the base be closed. The Pentagon has remained adamant that it has no intention of moving its forces at the base. "There is no plan to move out of Incirlik whatsoever," US Air Force Secretary Deborah James said last Tuesday. Roughly 150 protesters marched to the US embassy in Ankara head of Dunfords arrival, chanting "coup plotter Dunford get out of Turkey." Others carried banners reading "Dunford go home. Send us Fethullah." Over the weekend, Turkish police sealed off access to Incirlik, claiming it was a routine safety inspection. This led to speculation that a second coup attempt was underway. Independent military expert Anton Lavrov said that the new system would turn the frontline bomber into a multirole machine able to fight and reconnoiter all at the same time. With this specialized container on board, the Su-34 will save us the money that would otherwise be needed to develop a new AWACS-type aircraft. During peacetime it can conduct reconnaissance without the use of dedicated spy planes, while in wartime it is less vulnerable compared to reconnaissance planes converted from transport and passenger aircraft, Lavrov said. According to another in dependent defense expert, Dmitry Boltenkov, the UKR-RT has at its heart the M-410 radio reconnaissance system. The M0410 is a downsized version of the more sophisticated Fraktsiya system carried by Russias latest Ty-214R reconnaissance plane, Boltenkov said. Many foreign military specialists regard the Tu-2014R as a unique information gathering platform able to spot targets hundreds of kilometers away. Several such planes conducted a series of reconnaissance missions late in 2012 near Japanese airspace and are frequent guests in Syria. According to an article, titled Russia Has Deployed its Latest Spy Plane to Syria, which recently appeared in the authoritative Internet journal Aviationist, the Fraktsiya system allows the Tu-214R not only to intercept radar, electronic communications and even cellphone massagers, but also to use the obtained information to create an electronic picture of the battlefield in real time. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow is ready for talks with Kiev on resuming air traffic, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Monday. "Since cardinal measures have been taken recently in regard to personnel policy on cooperation with Ukraine, there are certain hopes here, I personally have hopes. Talks are still not underway, though our position is openwe are ready to move forward in any format," Sokolov told RIA Novosti. "This largely depends on the Ukrainian side. We are ready to resume dialogue on any of these [air traffic] issues, as a whole or partially," he added. On Sunday, some 50,000 activists took part in a rally in support of Erdogan and in protest against a recent Turkish coup attempt in Cologne. Earlier that day, media reported that the German Federal Constitutional Court banned broadcasting of Erdogan's speech at the rally , saying that broadcasting of the presidential speech from abroad runs contrary to the German legislation. On July 15, an attempted coup took place in Turkey, and was suppressed by the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. The Turkish authorities have arrested over 13,000 people following the coup attempt, 10,000 of whom were members of the Turkish military. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The post-coup type of relationship between military and civilian leaders in Turkey is what Brussels wanted to see to consider the country for EU membership, former NATO commander Wesley Clark told Sputnik. "The way it works now [after the July 15 coup attempt] is that Turkey is more like a regular government where the military is loyal to civilian authority. Thats what we wanted and European Union wanted for Turkish consideration of EU membership," Clark said. On Friday, Turkish Agriculture Minister Faruk Celik told Sputnik Ankara is disappointed over the ambiguous attitude of some EU member states to the attempted coup in Turkey, coming a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Erdogans harsh post-mutiny crackdown has been disproportionate. Although such claims do not necessarily correspond with reality, as the use of chemical weapons was most likely a provocation by the rebels and the idea of "authoritarian governments" allegedly killing and torturing its own people has repeatedly been used as a pretext for US invasions abroad, it won't prevent Clinton from implementing her aggressive plans into practice. "Mrs Clinton believes that problems around the world can more easily be solved when America is involved and in each of those problems or crisis," Bash earlier told the Telegraph. According to Bloomberg, in contrast to Obama, Clinton has repeatedly demonstrated a preference for a hard-power approach in Syria, in particular the enforcement of a no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians. At the same time, her counterpart and presidential candidate from the Republican party Donald Trump stated that he would rather undertake more aggressive military action against Daesh but not Assad. At the same time, Robert Powell, a senior Middle East analyst with The Economist Intelligence Unit in New York, believes that an aggressive approach in Syria won't bring any positive results. "It's too late for a military action by the US. There was a time that the US could have an impact in the civil war against Assad but that time is long gone," the expert said. ANKARA (Sputnik) He added that the ban was illogical and unacceptable. "There are cases on 4,500 terrorists [members of Kurdistan Workers' Party banned in Turkey] being considered in Germany for years At the same time, the Constitutional Court made a decision to impose a ban on President Erdogan's address in 24 hours. The court demonstrated incredible speed of the work. These are undisguised double standards," Kurtulmus told a press conference. On Sunday, some 50,000 activists took part in a rally in support of Erdogan and in protest against a recent Turkish coup attempt in Cologne. Earlier that day, media reported that the German Federal Constitutional Court banned broadcasting of the president's speech at the rally, as it runs contrary to the German legislation. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The whistleblower website published nearly 20,000 of hacked emails that apparently showed Committee members discussing ways to undercut Bernie Sanders in the race for the ruling partys nomination. "There has been significant false reporting, for example false reporting about there being credit card numbers in there. This is a play by the Clinton campaign," Assange said. He admitted there were the last four digits of credit cards in the leaked DNC emails, just like on receipts, but ruled out any prior redaction of more leaks to come, possibly ahead of the September debates between the Democratic and Republican nominees. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Last week, Terrot, who is a member of the French Republican Party, visited Crimea as part of the French delegation, the lawmakers' second trip to the Black Sea peninsula since last July. "It seems to me that one should not expect any changes before the elections in France. But I am glad that the majority of opposition candidates look favorably on a new scenario and new relations with Russia," he said. Terrot stressed that the European Union's new member states had a negative view of Russia, while France "is not going to bow down" and break an old tradition of friendly ties with Russia. Footage shows a crowd looking at the burning wreckage of what appears to be a Russian helicopter with several bodies nearby. Some bystanders can be heard shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great in Arabic. One of the videos shows a rebel standing on a naked body, while another one depicts a mob dragging the body of what is said to be a Russian pilot through the dirt. Images allegedly showing scorched Russian passports and other belongings of those on board have been circulating on social media. BELGRADE (Sputnik) The Croatian Embassy in Belgrades Plenipotentiary Minister Stjepan Glas has refused to accept two notes of protest issued by Belgrade in regard to two separate cases, the Serbian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent today two protest notes to the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, which charge d'affaires Stjepan Glas refused to accept, and which the Ministry submitted in a regular manner, meaning that the notes have formally been delivered, a statement on the ministrys website said. According to the ministry, one of the notes concerns the decision of the Croatian Supreme Court to revoke Branimir Glavas conviction for committing a war crime against civilians, in particular against Serbians. TEL AVIV (Sputnik) In April, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked signed a decree to extradite Grozovsky, who is wanted in Russia on charges of sexual abuse against children. The extradition was postponed after Grozovskys defense appealed against the decision, requesting among other issues to guarantee the defendant security in his homeland. "We received a refusal of the Supreme Court. It was our last resort, but it seems that the Supreme Court trusts a lot the Russian legal procedures," Azencott told RIA Novosti, adding that he has run out of means to counter the decision on Grozovskys extradition. MOSCOW (Sputnik) In the past months, a series of terrorist attacks has shaken Europe, with the Daesh group, outlawed in many countries including Russia, claiming responsibility. "Russia is our best partner in the fight against the Islamist threat I can say that there are high-ranking politicians in France, such as [Francois] Fillon, a presidential candidate, and even lawmakers like [Thierry] Mariani and others, as well as military officials, who fully share my opinion," Pinatel said. He added that the interests advocated by NATO do not coincide with the interests of France as it is an organization "serving the Anglo-Saxon interests." Becker is joined by political analyst Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, who comments on Russia and Syria opening three humanitarian corridors in Aleppo and how what unfolds there could dramatically change the course of the war that has raged on for over five years. South Korea has denied entry to and deported two Korean-American peace activists who traveled to the country to participate in protests the deployment of THAAD, the US missile defense shield in South Korea that has generated mass anger inside of South Korea and harsh condemnation from China and Russia. The activists, Hyun Lee and Juyeon Rhee, speak with Becker about their experience. While Korean authorities detained and deported Korean-American peace activists other Americans from Veterans for Peace were able to make it into the country and they are joining Koreans in protest all over the country including upcoming actions in Sonju the site of the THAAD missile deployment. One of these activists, Will Griffin, joins Becker to discuss why he traveled to Korea and the importance of international solidarity. NOVOSIBIRSK (Sputnik) The private aircraft, reported to be carrying up to 3 people, went missing on Sunday while heading from Berdsk to Krasnoyarsk. "Rescuers have reported from the site that the aircraft is destroyed, everything has burned. There are no survivors," Vladimir Plotnikov told RIA Novosti. "The Archaeology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations together with the Federal Protection Service and the Presidential Administrative Directorate [are ordered] to look into the issue of archaeological excavations in the eastern part of the Moscow Kremlin in 2017-2018," the press statement read. The scientists have until December 30, 2016 to set out their plans. The president has also ordered to create a museum at the site where the Miracle of Archangel Michael church once stood. According to the Kremlin press office, UNs cultural body UNESCO will be informed of the plans. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Prosecutors, backing an earlier request by the Federal Penitentiary Service, requested the court to jail Navalny for violating the terms of his suspended sentence. "The Federal Penitentiary Services request to replace [Navalnys] probation for real imprisonment has been refused," judge Lilia Dadashova said. In December 2014, Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years for the embezzlement of some 30 million rubles ($452,000 at the current exchange rate) from the Yves Rocher cosmetics company and the Multifunctional Processing Company (MPC). The sentence was suspended. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to media reports, the video was posted on YouTube on Sunday through a messenger account allegedly used by Daesh. In the video, a militant threatened Russia with new attacks and called on Daesh members to carry out jihad in the country. "My considered opinion that this 'statement' is an empty threat, which is not backed by any real power and capabilities. In Chechnya, we have destroyed excellently trained and heavily armed militants from 51 country," Kadyrov said on his Instagram account. He added that if anyone tried to attack Russia, such an attempt would be interrupted for sure. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The delegation, headed by former French Minister of Transport and current member of the French parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Thierry Mariani, had a three-day visit to Crimea last week. The lawmakers visited such cities as Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta. "The general impression that I have after this trip to Crimea is very positive. It is a region where you meet people who are proud of the choices they have made two years ago. One gets the feeling that a historic error has been corrected once Crimea reunited with Russia," Terrot, who is a member of the French party The Republicans, said. He added that the delegation met with Tatar population and visited a synagogue during the visit, which aimed to examine the situation with local minorities, prisoners and persons that have become missing during the conflict in Ukraine. Upgrades of the Kamov 28 had been pending for the last eight years due to various reasons. However, sensing the Indian Navy's immediate necessity, especially for its frigates, destroyer and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar intervened and signed the deal last Saturday. Defense Ministry sources told Sputnik that this deal was inked swiftly as India's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) did not want to delay the process. The PMO's decision seems to have been prompted by the fact that Selex Galilio, a subsidiary of Leonardo Finmeccanica was to provide sensors and other equipment for the proposed upgrades. However, the Indian government recently decided not to hold business deals with Leonardo Finmeccanica following its subsidiary AgustaWestland's involvement in a corruption case in India. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Last week, a group of 11 French lawmakers headed by Mariani paid a three-day visit to Crimea, which was preceded by a visit last July. "We were talking about future plans, new projects, about the construction of new schools, repairing roads, construction of state infrastructure, problems of minorities the situation is increasingly normalizing, [Crimea is] becoming similar to any place, the local authorities are concerned about the welfare of citizens. The people are more concerned about their holidays than about security issues," Mariani told reporters. He added that those who described the peninsula as an occupied territory had "better personally visit Crimea and see what is happening there." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier media reports suggested that the ministry was planning to fire 8,000 scientists by 2019 due to the cuts in funding. "In the course of the budget process we will do everything to ensure that the number of jobs for researchers in science is not reduced, but increased," Livanov told Rossiya 24 broadcaster in an interview. MOSCOW (Sputnik) United Rocket and Space Corporation, part of the Roscosmos state corporation, said Monday signed an agreement with 3D Bioprinting Solutions, a resident of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, for the development of the magnetic 3D bioprinter to use in zero gravity at the International Space Station by 2018. "The development of a magnetic bioprinter will allow printing tissue and organ constructs which are hypersensitive to the effects of space radiation for biomonitoring of the negative effect of cosmic radiation in the conditions of a prolonged stay in space and for the development of the preventive countermeasures," the press release read. The scientific part of the project will be headed by the scientific director of the 3D Bioprinting Solutions Vladimir Mironov. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian Cabinet decreed to extend scientific and technological cooperation with the United Kingdom for 10 years, a document published on the official portal for legal information Monday said. Accept the Russian Ministry of Educations proposal to extend the agreement between the Russian Government and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on scientific and technical cooperation for the next 10-year period, the decree states. The agreement, to be concluded by an exchange of notes, has been coordinated with the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and provisionally with the British side, the document adds. All this looks more like a PR stunt meant to say that even though Trump is not in love with Russia, he realizes that relations with Moscow are a hot potato issue. Each time he sees that he is losing out the media war against Clinton, Trump starts making provocative statements about Russia just to win public attention. As for Hillary Clinton, she could start playing the anti-Russian card to enlist the support of radical liberals and even some Neocons who dont like Trump. While Donald Trump appears to be willing to mend fences with Russia, Hillary Clinton wants to underscore her opposition to this line by ramping up the Americans anti-Russian sentiment, which is a dangerous way to go. Clinton is now taking on board people who want to bring back the Cold War days, Mathew Barrows, a leading analyst at the Atlantic Council expert center in Washington, told the newspaper. He added that Hillary Clintons policy towards Russia could become even tougher and feared that she could authorize the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US authorities have extended the permission for Syrian citizens to register or re-register for temporary protected status in the United States, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced in a press release on Monday. "Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has redesignated Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and extended the existing TPS designation for the country from Oct. 1, 2016, through March 31, 2018," the release stated. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Cornell was detained in January 2015 after making online posts urging others to join Daesh in violent jihad against the United States. Cornell is facing some 30 years in jail. According to the plea agreement, from on or about August 2014 through January 2015, Cornell plotted, planned and attempted to travel to Washington, DC in order to attack the US Capitol during the State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015, the release said. The Justice Department noted that Cornell admitted that he searched online for weapons and the construction of bombs, as well the US Capitol and other possible targets in the Washington, DC area, and planned to kill the countrys authorities. These are bold claims for an aircraft that was, until recently, plagued with software glitches that caused it to shut down mid-flight. "When we go to train, its really an unfair fight for the guys who are simulating the adversaries," Watkins said. "Weve been amazed by what we can do when we go up against fourth-gen adversaries in our training environment, in the air and on the ground." While earlier tests showed that the F-35 was outperformed by older fighters, Watkins suggests otherwise. Four F-35s, he claims, can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time because we can cover so much ground with our sensors, so much ground and so much airspace. And the F-35s or F-16s, or whoever is simulating an adversary or red air threat, they have no idea where were at and they cant see us and they cant target us. "Thats a pretty awesome feeling when youre going out to train for combat," he said, "to know that your pilots are in an unfair fight." Franklin Osgood, 61, who retired from the Providence Police Department in 2007, had called his daughter and informed her that he had hurt her mother on Saturday. She promptly called the police and informed them that her father was missing and in a bad state. The Providence police put out a nationwide alert for Osgood and his wife Mary Jo, 55, and the department made contact with him on Saturday evening by phone. Osgood refused to reveal his location, however. At around 9:00 PM local time, the department contacted New Jersey State Police saying that he was believed to be on the NJ Turnpike in his 2007 Dodge Charger, armed and dangerous. Osgoods vehicle was located approximately 25 minutes later, a few miles from the George Washington Bridge, where he refused to pull over. "Releasing this solicitation is a critical step toward affordably recapitalizing the aging air leg of the nuclear triad." While the Pentagon is adamant about the need for the weapon, a number of Congressional lawmakers have fought against the plan. Ten Democratic senators have urged the Obama Administration to cancel the LRSO program, arguing that in addition to promoting world peace, it would also save American taxpayers $20 billion. "Nuclear war poses the gravest risk to American national security," the senators wrote in a statement. During a Congressional hearing last month, US Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney rebuffed these concerns. . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US-EU Privacy Shield mechanism goes into effect on Monday. Under the agreement, data belonging to Europeans but held by US companies will be subject to the same strict privacy safeguards as under EU law. "When they are caught out in public doing nasty stuff, as happened after my revelations about AT&T, and later after [Edward] Snowden's revelations, they paper it over with new reform laws which simply legalize what had been illegal previously," Klein said, adding that he does not hold much confidence in the privacy laws, "no matter how nice they may sound on paper." In 2006, Klein exposed a secret agreement between his former employer, US telecommunications corporation AT&T, and the NSA. While working as a line technician in San Francisco, he found that the telecom giant was allowing the NSA to record all internet traffic by tapping into AT&Ts infrastructure. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The US-EU Privacy Shield mechanism goes into effect on Monday. Under the agreement, data belonging to Europeans and held by US companies will be subject to the same strict privacy safeguards as under EU law. The Privacy Shield is the successor to the Safe Harbor agreement, which was struck down by the European Union in October 2015 for failing to prevent the US government from gaining routine access to European citizens data. "Privacy Shield is a huge confidence trick. It attempts to protect economic interests at the expense of personal privacy. The system maximises the flow of TransAtlantic data without the protections that Europe would demand from other countries. It is no better than the now discredited and unlawful Safe Harbour agreement. The difference is all in the branding," Davies said. The Safe Harbor agreement was nixed against the backdrop of the former NSA employee Edward Snowden's leaks, which revealed extensive US spying on European allies, and widespread collaboration between US tech companies and the NSA. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Special services of France, Russia and Syria should forget all sticking points to work together to tackle terrorism, Thierry Mariani, member of the French parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday. "France has only one enemy the Islamic terrorism. Therefore, Russia, France and Syria all face this common enemy, who kills the innocent, plants bombs, kills priests; all have this common enemy to fight. The conclusion is simple we need to forget all differences that could exist, special services need to work together to solve this problem," Mariani told reporters during a press conference in Moscow. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry's Director of the Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said that Russia was willing to revive joint projects with NATO on Afghanistan after receiving signals of that nature from the Western military alliance. Good neighbour relations and regional cooperation and support remain essential to Afghanistans security and stability. We will continue to support all initiatives in this regard which will help achieve this objective. Russia should also play a constructive role in helping to stabilize Afghanistan, the NATO official said. Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations, including the Taliban, continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets. In January, the culprits operated 27 phishing sites posing as legitimate sites like South Koreas Naver and Google, along with university and government sites, in order to obtain the passwords. Prosecutors indicated that the same codes used in this hack were used in previous breaches North Korea committed against South Korea. Theres also an ongoing investigation into whether confidential information was leaked. This incidents comes only days after after South Korean police accused North Korea of stealing the personal data of over 10 million customers at Interpark, a South Korean online shopping center. Interpark didnt know about the attack until July 11 when they received blackmail threats that they would publish the private information unless they were paid the equivalent of around $2.7 million. The 2016 Tattersalls Summer Mixed Sale was held on Sunday, July 31 at The Meadowlands, with WEG Circuit campaigner Hillsonator selling with one of the highest price tags of the sale. Hillsonator, Hip 126, was purchased for $72,000 by agent Charles Karp of Fort Lee, New Jersey. The four-year-old Muscle Hill-Wilsonator gelding earned eight of his 10 career wins this year while collecting the majority of his $166,810 bankroll. While trained by Rob Fellows for owners/breeders Michael Pozefsky and Edward Wilson, he took his mark of 1:55 at Woodbine Racetrack in January and was the runner-up in the series finals of the General Brock and Don Mills before climbing to the top Preferred class on the WEG Circuit. Canadians shelled out some big bucks at the sale as three-year-old Muscles Yankee gelding Honor Above All was purchased for $62,000 by Ben Baillargeon of Rockwood, Ont., and four-year-old Well Said gelding Paparazzi Hanover was acquired for $52,000 by Travis Cullen of Airdrie, Alta. Other top priced horses included three-year-old Rocknroll Hanover colt Winning Linc, purchased for $60,000 by Richard Banca of Saddle River, New Jersey, and Guantanamo Bay, purchased for $57,000 by Sarah Murphy of Fredricktown, Pennsylvania. Four-year-old RC Royalty mare Summers Windsong had the highest price tag at $95,000 and was a buyback by agent Preferred Equine Inc. To view the complete sale results, click here. Frances (Frankie) Lund of Charlottetown, PEI, is the photographer behind the August shot for the Fan Clubs Heart of Harness Racing Calendar. Lund captured this image, titled Downpour of Danny Romo and The Rev in the Gold Cup & Saucer Post Parade, on August 22, 2015 at Red Shores Racetrack & Casino at Charlottetown Driving Park just minutes before the race was rescheduled to the next day because of the torrential downpour and hazardous track conditions. The photograph was originally published in Atlantic Post Calls on September 11, 2015. This was the second consecutive year that Lund has captured a unique Gold Cup image which was featured as the Heart of Harness Racing calendars August shot. The past year has been an amazing one for Lund. She was urged by some close friends to enter this shot for Standardbred Canadas Media Awards of Excellence. "The minute the OBrien announcement came out, and even still today I am humbled by the support and kind words my Atlantic harness racing family has shown from the texts, emails, facebook messages, phone calls and stopping to personally say a sweet compliment to the help with expenses," explained Lund. "The trip to the OBriens was only improved by the fact the Martimers were right there with me, in body and the rest in spirit, and in true fashion there were a lot of laughs when we all ended up together," Lund recalls. Lund ended up winning the 2015 Media Excellence Award which was presented at the OBrien Awards in February, and she completed her daily double of awards by taking a George Smallsreed Award in the US in the feature photography category with the same shot. That honour was presented at the Dan Patch Awards Banquet hosted in March. "Winning both major awards in the same year was only done once before. It just adds to the pride I have," stated Lund, "Downpour is an image the people think of when they think Gold Cup and the great show it is. Would I wish it to happen again no, but that night is so typical Gold Cup you never know what happens. But its all taken in stride and people continue to party on with family and friends and others who just wanted to get out of the rain. Downpour is a unique shot like the race, the people on PEI and the Old Home Week experience which I am very excited to share with the world when the World Trotting Conference is hosted in PEI next summer." More comfortable behind the camera, than in front of it, Lund received several accolades for 2015 and the Prince Edward Island Horse Owners Association named her Horsewoman of the Year. "It was amazing and totally unexpected, and Im honoured to have my name on it." Domo-kun has had a long history, as the mascot of the Japanese broadcast company NHK, and behind his large, saw-toothed mouth, theres something endearing about this brown, open-mouth monster. During this years J-POP SUMMIT, the NHK mascot collaborated with the idol group Tokyo Performance Doll, forming a new unit called TPDomo. Making their American debut, Tokyo Performance Doll (TPD), kicked off J-POP SUMMIT at Fort Mason Center on the main stage with a fun and energetic five-minute workout called Domobics at 11:00am on both days. Originally one of the groups responsible for the massive pop idol sensation thats invaded the world, the group was disbanded in 1996 only to be revived in 2013 after an exhausting member search from over 8,800 candidates. Immediately after being formed, the new female idols who comprised the group had one goal in mind: to become a peerless and unique performance group. Using the monkier of Domobics (Domo + aerobics), the song features a 5-minute long exercise routine that uses simple moves from stretching to lower body workouts and was composed by m-flosTaku Takahashi and supervised by Katsuhiko Nagata, an Olympics silver medalist. Although it may seem simple on the surface, underneath the glitz and glamour of the catchy pop-tune is an actual fun rhythmical workout to help you get ready for your day. With the simple message that, if Domo can do it, then you can too, it effortlessly makes exercise fun! Earlier this month NHK launched a section on their website featuring special videos of Tokyo Performance Doll doing Domobics. While we were a little disappointed that a physical CD or a digital version does not exist yet at this time, we were told you could go watch the Domobics music video on the official NHK YouTube channel. We also received a teaser from Sony Music that it may be released sometime within the near future; so fans will definitely have something to look forward to! Throughout the festival the NHK booth hosted multiple Domobics sessions featuring Tokyo Performance Doll where attendees were able to learn the routine and even a lucky few were able to participate on stage and receive autographed posters from the group. Other activities included special appearances by the mascot Domo and attendees were offered the chance for a photo op. Sebastian Masuda, art director of Kawaii International, NHKs pop culture program which explores everything from Tokyo street fashion to art and design, collaborated with NHK to host TIME AFTER TIME CAPSULE a workshop which includes an interactive art installation in the shape of Domo. Overall, I personally enjoyed my experience at the NHK booth. This was my favorite event at J-POP SUMMIT with the great fans and lots of high energy. With the group earnestly leaving the hope that they will come back again soon, we really hope they come back next year as theyre a performance that needs to be seen! By: Daisy Handfield A SERIES of investigations have recently been launched to identify the circumstances surrounding allegations against the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for throwing a fetus in the garbage, without the mothers consent. The mother of the deceased fetus is preparing to sue InterHealth Canada for what she considers to be "the most I humane thing that I have experienced in my entire life." According to a family member, around 5 pm on Monday, the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, had a miscarriage and her body just ejected the baby. It took calling the police in order to contact 911, who were not answering their phone. It was said that the mother was already prepared to go to the hospital when the ambulance arrived at her Lower Bight home. By by 9pm, the family felt the woman was out of medical danger and asked for her baby, but no one knew where the baby was. Around 1pm on Tuesday, the health officials called and explained that the baby was found. When pressured as to where it was found, she was told the fetus was discovered in the garbage bin. In subsequent interview with the woman, she expressed her grief and accused the hospital staff of being extremely inconsiderate. She said: "I feel terrible about it; how can you look someone in the face who just lost their baby, and tell them you mistakenly threw their child in the trash. "Like, my baby was trash; she was a part of me. "I carried that child for three months and then I lost her." The mother said following the incident the hospital staff called to console her. "She told me not to feel bad because I am not the first person that happened to; it happened to a lot of people. "You will get over it; you can always have another child. Nikira John, the new PR Executive of InterHealth Canada said an investigation into the incident is being carried out. She said the findings would be forwarded to the Ministry of Health and Human Services. She said: "Cheshire Hall Medical Centre (CHMC) received a report of an alleged misplaced fetus on July 26, 2016. "Our confidentiality policies prohibit the disclosure of any information about our patients." "Please be advised that reports published by certain media houses are highly sensationalized and grossly incorrect, despite our efforts to emphasize that this was an ongoing review. "We wish to vehemently dispel any allegation of a foetus being misplaced by staff of CHMC. "Our hospital staff is always committed to providing compassionate care, especially during times of distress and as always, our condolence is extended to the patient involved. "We have no further comment. BY OLIVIA ROSE FIVE cases of the dreaded Zika virus have been confirmed in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This was revealed by Premier and Minister of Health Dr. Rufus Ewing in a release issued on Sunday July 24. Premier Ewing stated that of the five confirmed cases three are imported, two of which are currently undergoing further investigations to determine whether they are also imported or part of local transmissions. He said the Ministry is working with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), PAHO and UK IHR on the investigation of these cases. "The Environmental Health Department and Public Health Disease Surveillance Team of the Ministry of Health has stepped up its surveillance activities and has been working with the persons infected with the Zika virus to ensure that the risk of in-country transmission is reduced. "I am urging all residents and visitors of the Turks and Caicos Islands to remain calm as there is no evidence of in-country transmission at this time, although it remains possible. The Ministry of Health, is urging people to take the necessary precautions to avoid mosquito bites and to reduce the number of mosquitoes in and around your households, by cleaning up your yards and removing all catchment containers and derelict vehicles that can hold water as methods of reducing mosquito breeding. Premier Ewing emphasized that the Environmental Health Department will continue its fogging activities where necessary and country-wide cleanup campaigns will continue. He noted that: "During the Pre-Joint Ministerial Council Conference which was hosted here last week I, along with the other UK Overseas Territory Leaders, discussed new and innovative ways to combat the Zika virus by reducing the population of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito population. "We will continue to explore those initiatives which are deemed suitable and applicable in the Turks and Caicos Islands. "We are particularly asking pregnant women to take extra precaution to avoid mosquito bites and to visit our local public health care providers who are currently issuing mosquito nets and providing educational material. However, on Monday July 25 during the House of Assembly the Premier revealed that the government is contemplating genetically modified mosquitoes to control the population of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. He told the House that the Government has already engaged companies involved in the manufacture of genetically modified mosquitoes. He said: "If this goes well and good, this is something that we may have to consider using in the future and we will have to sensitize the public about it. "I would like to say that yes, these five cases did not just pop up on Saturday. A number of these cases are some that were once in time suspected and before we even communicate anything as it relates to suspected cases, we had to confirm, because we have to be true that we are confirming. "We had to also go further and find out in addition to whether or not they are imported cases versus in country transmission. So lots of work has been going on behind the scenes, said Premier Rufus Ewing. The zika virus has since been reported in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean from February 2014 to January 26, 2016. Below are a few tips to protect yourself from mosquito bites: Apply insect repellent on exposed skin liberally When weather permits, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants Use air conditioning or window/door screens to keep mosquitoes outside If you are not able to protect yourself from mosquitoes inside your home or hotel, sleep under a mosquito net Help reduce the number of mosquitoes inside and outside your home by: Check around buildings for anything that could hold water, inspect your home and yard weekly Turn containers over or cover them Get rid of or cover old tires Properly dispose of all garbage/refuse Cover boats, childrens pools, water drums and rain barrels etc Clean rain gutters and make sure they are flowing properly Check screens for holes Empty standing water from containers such as flower pots or buckets For additional information regarding the zika virus, contact the Health Promotion Unit on 338-3064. PREMIER and Minister of Health, Agriculture and Human Services, Dr. Rufus Ewing will be leading a delegation to Washington DC this week to participate in two important meetings. Premier Ewing will meet with his other Caribbean UK Overseas Territories Ministers of Health at the Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Headquarters in Washington DC for an intense two days of meetings to advance the Multi-Country Strategy for the advancement of health care that was endorsed by the UKOT Ministers of Health in July 2014. This is the first time that a multi-country strategy for technical cooperation has been developed to the benefit of the six Caribbean UKOTs of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The strategy will focus on three priority areas addressing health and the social determinants of health in alignment with the national health plans of the UKOTs and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #3 "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Premier Ewing will address the delegates on Thursday July 28th by giving an overview of the PAHO/WHO strategy for technical cooperation. A key discussion will also take place on mental health and the incorporation of mental health care in primary health services. The Premier is joined by Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Health, Agriculture and Human Services, Mrs. Tamera Robinson and the Director of Health Services, Dr. Nadia Astwood. On Friday July 29th Premier Ewing will meet with representatives of the U.S. Department of State for Energy to engage in high level discussions on renewable energy and opportunities for pilot projects being launched in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This is in keeping with the Governments commitment to pursue initiatives for climate change adaptation and mitigation which is being led by the Cabinet appointed Climate Change Committee. Discussions will be held under the umbrella of the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative that was launched by US Vice President Joe Biden in June 2014 and the commitments made by stakeholders at the January 2015 Caribbean Energy Security Summit that was hosted by Biden at the Department of State. These commitments included improved support for policy reform, improved donor coordination and increased access to investment towards the overall goal of comprehensive energy diversification to facilitate the introduction of cleaner forms of energy in the Caribbean. The specific support areas provided to the Caribbean are through improvement in governance, facilitation of development of cleaner energy sources, development of collaborative networks on clean energy, financial support for clean energy projects, increasing energy efficiency and expansion of access to electricity, information and technology. Among other initiatives, the US Department of State is currently supporting technical assistance in St. Kitts and Nevis for the development of their geothermal resources and the U. S. Department of Interior, along with State is assisting Jamaica with the development of commercial renewable energy on public lands. The Premier will be joined by the Director of the Office of the Premier and Chair of the Climate Change Committee, Ms. Althea Been and the Energy and Utilities Commissioner in the Energy and Utilities Department of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning, Mr. Malike Cummings. The delegations return on Saturday July 30, 2016. A wildfire that broke out in central California a week ago has now grown to 40,000 acresthat's the size of San Francisco. The fire has destroyed 40 buildings, displaced 500 people, and killed one. The severity of the fire is in large part due to California's years-long drought. Syrian rebels shot down a Russian helicopter in Aleppo today. All 5 aboard the helicopter were killed. This comes amid deadly fighting in eastern Aleppo, where rebels are trying to break government control. The US has launched air strikes against the Islamic State in Libya, the Pentagon said today. The strikes were requested by the Libyan government. Forrest Stuart, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Chicago, releases his book Down, Out and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row this week. The book examines how "zero tolerance" policing can pit those most in need of helpthe poor, addicts and homelessagainst each other, through the lens of Stuart's five year study on the street corners of Skid Row, one of the poorest and most policed neighborhoods in Los Angeles. You can read an excerpt of the book here. On Saturday, a hot air balloon caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas, killing all 16 passengers. The Board of Elections and Registration in Sparta, GA., has been systematically questioning the voters' registrations of 180 of its Black residents. Those residents have been subpoenaed by deputies and asked to appear in court to prove their residence and defend their registration. This is one of many instances of voter discrimination that have caught national attention since three years ago, when the Supreme Court repealed the mandate that changes in voter registration must be pre-cleared by the Justice Department. CAPITAL investments by FortisTCI are boosting economic development and transforming the electricity infrastructure throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands. Major investments were recently made on North Caicos and Grand Turk. Upcoming planned investments in utility-scale solar energy by way of a recently signed MOU with the Rocky Mountain Institute - Carbon War Room will also serve as a support for the development of renewable energy projects across several islands including Salt Cay and South Caicos. On Grand Turk, $3.2 million dollars has been invested in necessary infrastructure upgrades at the energy plant in South Base. The project awarded through tender to local contractor Rolle Construction includes the demolition of an old building that formally served as a part of a U.S. Military Base. At the time, the demolition created at least 12 jobs that included training provided by a U.S. Company headquartered in Florida named EE&G Environmental Services, LLC. The training imparted knowledge and new skill sets on the handling and disposal of hazardous material to all persons assigned to the project. Phase two includes the construction of a new multipurpose building to house a workshop, personnel offices, and storage space, and is expected to employ up to approximately 20 persons during construction. Work will begin on August 1, 2016. Investments on North Caicos totaling nearly $1 Million for a substation, generation, and related infrastructure project, will help to increase reliability to customers in North and Middle Caicos. The project was completed in July 2016 by local contractors Charlies Construction responsible for the civil works, and TC Industrial responsible for all Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) work. Other upcoming projects include the relocation of the submarine transmission cable at Heaving Down Rock in Providenciales and the introduction of 1 Mega Watt (MW) worth of utility-scale solar energy installed across the FortisTCI service territory. President and CEO of FortisTCI Eddinton Powell said, "Investments such as these are critical to the development of a world-class electricity service across the Turks and Caicos Islands. The North Caicos substation and generation project, together with the relocation and upgrade of the submarine transmission cable [which is currently susceptible to frequent damage by passing boats are a part of the Company's long-term plan to produce significant renewable energy in North Caicos and will eventually connect all the way to South Caicos. On the fourth and final day of the Cowlitz County Fair, hundreds of people poured through the fairs Seventh Avenue gates, eager to begin a day full of gaming, fair rides and fried food. Welcome to the fair, would you like a guide? asked Susie Mathes. Mathes, an assistant manager at Castle Rocks Red Canoe branch, volunteered to pass out fair guides to attendees Saturday afternoon and help promote the Red Canoe Fill the Canoe school supply drive. Tia McGreevy and Russ Peters, also Red Canoe employees, could not hand out guides fast enough as excited children tugged parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles through the gates. I would say a couple hundred people have already come through since we opened an hour ago, Peters said Saturday afternoon. Though fair officials won't have official attendance counts until later this week, Saturday was estimated to be the event's busiest day. Reserve tickets for Saturday evening's Thunder Mountain Pro Rodeo sold out by 1 p.m. that afternoon, and general tickets were gone by around 6 p.m. Inside, fairgoers flocked to the food stands and gaming booths that lined the entrance. Go Kayden, climb like a monkey! shouted Sieara Howard as her brother scaled a 20-foot rock climbing wall. Kayden and Siearas younger brother, Tyler, waited impatiently inside the fence surrounding the wall, harness on his hips. Though the fair had only been open an hour, both brothers bore full face paint, completed at a nearby tent. Inside the dairy barn, cattle owners awaited judging nervously. Were doing toplines, said Hannah Ireton, 13, as she took clippers to her milking shorthorn cow, Scarlett. Hannah and her sister Bailey, 11, are members of the Krafty Kritters 4-H group in Lewis county. On dairy cows, they have to clip the whole body, Hannahs mother, Kaylee Ireton, explained. If your cow doesnt have a perfectly straight line [of hair on its back] you can fake it by filling in the gaps. Hannah looked to her mother for approval as she continued trimming. Theyve only been doing this for 3 years, so theyre still learning, Kaylee said. Among the rows of cattle, a young woman wearing a sash and tiara stood out from onlookers. Alicia Smaciarz, 18, of Raymond, was there as this years Washington State Dairy Ambassador. A recent graduate of Willapa Valley High School, Smaciarz has been visiting schools and attending county fairs as a representative of the Dairy Farmers of Washington. In order to be chosen, you have to have experience in the dairy industry, Smaciarz explained. For me, I was born and raised on a dairy farm. Other duties as dairy ambassador include informing the urban population in Washington State about the dairy industry in Washington State as a contemporary business important to local economies. The Iretons hoped for recognition for their meticulously groomed dairy cows. Like many other animal owners showing at the fair, the Iretons hauled into the barns on Tuesday, and wont leave with their livestock until Sunday morning. Showing and caring for livestock at the fair means long days spent cleaning stalls and meeting with fairgoers starting before 8 a.m. and ending well after 9 p.m. Meanwhile, families with younger children flocked to the shade offered near the Cowlitz County Historical Museums Bush Cabin. There, volunteers took turns showing kids how to use the cabins water hand pump, walking on stilts, and setting up coloring stations. Maggie Watson, a volunteer with the museum for the past four years, showed visitors how to use the water pump near the cabins entrance. Imagine every time you turned on the faucet you had to do this, Watson said to children watching. You want to try? Eight-year-old Harley Rossman eagerly jumped in. She can do that all day, said mother Catherine Rossman. Shell be all worn out tonight! Rossmans elder daughter, Shelby, 15, wandered on a set of stilts nearby. This is their favorite part. Every year they ask if were going to the cabin, Rossman said. When Jim and Darlene Conrod moved to their beachfront house 20 years ago, they used to worry about campers using their beach illegally. Now theyre worried about having any beach left at all. For years, residents of Puget Island and Cape Horn, riverside communities about 5 miles east of Cathlamet, have watched their beaches recede during winter storms and high tides, leaving them with less property each year. Our beach used to go out almost 150 yards, Conrod said. Now that bottom terrace down there has fallen in. Conrod gestured to an area just below his homes porch, where a hillside buttressed with rocks drops straight into the river. Conrods sandy beach is gone, and now hes worried about the shore eroding beneath his homes foundation. Conrod and his neighbors, as well as residents of Puget Island, are frustrated that no one has received beach nourishment to help curb the erosion. Both the Seattle and Portland Corps of Engineers have been involved in what has become a slow process to approve any erosion aid. Seattle regulates the placement of materials in water within the state of Washington, explained Matt Rabe, Chief of Public Affairs for the Portland Corps of Engineers. The county has to get a permit from the Seattle district to allow materials along the water line. At a July 12 Wahkiakum county commissioners meeting, commissioner and Corps liaison Dan Cothren said he expected to have an update from the Corps regarding the status of the application by July 26. When July 26 came around, however, there was no update on the application process from the Seattle office. Last meeting people were asking if they needed to demonstrate, Conrod said. Commissioners discouraged this because they wanted to work together without offending anyone. A lot of people come to our meetings every week asking if there are any updates, said Wahkiakum County Commissioner Blair Brady. Brady said the last time sand was applied to stem erosion was around 10 years ago. But homeowners along West Cape Horn Road, some of them residents for several decades, claim no memory of any beach nourishment and are wondering if they need to act independently to protect their property. But that also requires permitting. Cape Horn residents Mary Ann and James Bennett learned that the hard way in the late 1980s, several years after they moved to the area. The couple, along with two other property owners, watched the beach recede and began to bring in truckloads of sand and rock to augment their beaches. We just started without permits, and somebody turned us in, Mary Ann Bennett said. All of these official vehicles drove in, the sheriff, fish and wildlife, and the like. After receiving and paying a fine, the couple also received a permit to continue their work. We probably wouldnt have gotten the permit if we hadnt done that, Bennett said. Dena Horton, the Southwest Washington Outreach Director for Sen. Maria Cantwell, has visited affected homeowners twice, while Sen. Patty Murray also sent letters to community members acknowledging she was aware of the issue. Meanwhile, homeowners like Randy Shroyer wait and watch as the water creeps toward their property, chewing away the last remaining rock and dirt below his home. Yet some remain optimistic. I feel like were getting somewhere, Shroyer said. As long as people know about this. Anything will help. Finally bringing all the speculations and buzzes to an end, Samsung is confirmed to release its newest Smartwatch at IFA 2016. Gear S3 is the successor of its previous model Samsung Gear S2 which was launched in January 2015. Since that time so many buzzes are revolving around Gear S3 about its specs, release, and price. However, now Samsung is fully prepared to wrap off its latest Smartwatch with some major upgrades to its one-year-old Smartwatch Gear S2 running on Tizen OS. Following the footsteps of its forerunner Gear S2, S3 will have several improved specs along with the exact rotary bezel. As officially confirmed, this cutting-edge smartwatch of Samsung will be revealing at IFA 2016 which is the official product launch festival of Samsung which takes place each year from September 2-7 in Berlin. As declared, Korean Giant Samsung will be releasing its most-awaited Smartphone Galaxy Note 7 on 2nd August; and so Gear S3 Smartwatch will be the key attraction of IFA 2016. Though the official announcement from Samsung is still anticipated, Gear S3 is rumored to come up with two variants like a sporty one and a more graceful one. Among other reported features, the rotary bezel is the certain feature to be found in this device. Formerly released Gear S2 also had this signature rotating bezel, and so it is confirmed that Gear S3 will not be exceptional. Price range of Gear S3 Samsung has not reported any specific price for its upcoming Smartwatch Gear S3. However, rumors and gossips regarding the price range of this gadget are striking the tech market incredibly. As the successor model Gear S2 is available at Rs. 23,500 onwards in the Indian market, Gear S3 is expected to have a higher price range. tech2 News Staff Google would very much like to be your one-stop-shop for everything related to the Olympics. Theyre working on rolling out new features and updates to ensure that all the updates you need will be at your fingertips. Theres a lot happening under the hood and well try to break it down for you. Primarily, Google will provide all the information you want via cards. These cards will pop-up when you search for relevant information via Google and will display information on event schedules, athlete information, etc. Youll also be presented with TV schedules in 30+ countries and have the option of watching events live streamed on YouTube. In fact, Google is sending 15 creators to Rio to give you a taste of what its like to be there. Google points out that if you search for information on the Google app on Android or iOS, youll have the option to enable automatic updates on events, medals won and more. Google has also sent Google Street View Trekkers into the Olympic Park so as to capture 360 degree imagery of the place. This years summer Olympics are to be held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, where over 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries are expected to participate. The event will be kicked off on 5 August. Rio will become the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. Anirudh Regidi Huawei has unveiled the Honor Note 8 in China. The Honor Note 8 is a phablet device with a 6.6-inch screen, a Kirin 955 SoC and 4GB of RAM. The Huawei Honor Note 8 features a 6.6-inch screen and a resolution of 2K (2560x1440). The device is powered by Huaweis own Kirin 955 SoC that packs in four Cortex-A72 and four Cortex-A53 cores as well as a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU. GSMArena reports that the device will come with 4GB RAM and that a cheaper, 3GB variant is also rumoured to be around. The SoC is coupled with 32/64/128GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. There is support for a microSD card, but youll need to sacrifice one of the two nano-SIM slots for that. While the phone is a dual-SIM device, only one SIM supports 3G/4G; the other is relegated to 2G only. The device will run Android 6.0. Other than that, you get the usual assortment of Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Bluetooth v4.2, USB Type-C, NFC, etc. connectivity options. All of this, and a 4,500mAh battery is packed into a device that weighs only 219g. Pricing starts at around Rs 23,000 for the 32GB model and goes up to around Rs 28,000 for the 128GB model. Of course, these are Chinese prices and one can expect Indian and global prices to vary. Heres how the Honor Note 8 compares against the Xiaomi Mi Max and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro: Huawei Honor Note 8 Xiaomi Mi Max Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Display type Super AMOLED IPS LCD IPS LCD Display size 6.6-inch 6.44-inch 6.4-inch Display resolution 2560x1440 1920x1080 2560x1440 PPI 443 342 459 Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 955 Qualcomm Snapdragon 650/652 Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 GPU Mali-T880 MP4 Adreno 510 Adreno 510 microSD support 256GB 256GB 256GB Internal Storage (GB) 32/64/128 32/64/128 64 RAM (GB) 4 3/3/4 4 Camera (F/R) in MP 5/13 5/16 8/16 Battery Capacity 4,500 4,850 4,050 Approximate Price *Rs 23,000 starting Rs 14,999 starting NA *Official price in China. Indian prices will vary. hidden Delphi Automotive Plc will launch a small test fleet of automated taxis in Singapore next year, aiming to ferry passengers around a city district in one of the first real-world tests of automated rides on demand, the company said on Monday. The project, run in partnership with the Singapore Land Transit Authority, will road test a concept that many companies investing in automated driving believe offers the fastest path to making such technology commercially viable. A cab ride in a dense urban area can cost $3 to 4 a mile, Delphi vice president of engineering Glen DeVos said in an interview. We think we can get to 90 cents a mile with an automated vehicle. That drops the price of transporting goods and people, and allows for the costs of automated driving systems to be spread over hours of operation and multiple users. Initially, the cars will have drivers ready to take over if the piloting systems fail, DeVos said. But by 2019 or 2020, well have removed drivers from the car, Glen DeVos, Delphis vice president of engineering said in an interview. By 2022, the Singapore authority plans to launch a regularly operating automated cab service, Delphi said. The company said it plans similar projects in North America and Europe. A United States site could be selected later this year, DeVos said. Delphi plans to start the project with a fleet of Audi vehicles equipped with automated driving and mapping systems. Later, DeVos said the project will expand with the addition of electric vehicles. Other companies are studying the economics of using automated driving systems to replace human drivers in taxi or ride-hailing services, including Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft, which is collaborating with General Motors Co . Delphi is working with other companies, including Israel's Mobileye NV, to develop the sensor systems to enable vehicles to operate autonomously. The Singapore Land Transit Authority will supply infrastructure to help vehicles navigate safely. Delphi is doing its own mapping, but DeVos said we are looking at mapping alternatives including a service offered by Mobileye. The Singapore project was deliberately kept to a small scale, DeVos said. We are going to do it incrementally in a very controlled manner, he said. Reuters Naina Khedekar There are many startups building technologies to support the booming e-commerce industry. One of the important factors is customer engagement that helps convert a user into a buyer, and Noida-based Betaout is helping do just that. It calls itself an all in one e-commerce and B2C marketing software platform, allowing e-commerce companies to build user intelligence databases. It provides tools to engage with users through email, on-site engagement, mobile push, live-chat, SMS and other channels. The startup focuses on increasing conversions and personalising user engagement using real-time user persona and intent data. It is the second Indian startup to get incubated at the premier accelerator in Chicago called Techstars last year. And also was part of Nikkei Pioneers Asia in Tokyo where it was the only Indian startup to be selected. E-commerce platforms can integrate our software into their existing systems with a simple javascript plug in. The process takes only a few minutes and doesnt require any technical know-how, co-founder Ankit Maheshwari tells us. The platform is available on web and app versions for any e-commerce platform and currently serving over 150 e-commerce companies across the world including. Some of its prominent clients are Paytm, Lenskart and Tokopedia (e-commerce platform in Indonesia). The startup is founded by brother duo Ankit Maheshwari and Arjun Maheshwari, along with Nandini Rathi, Raghubir Thakur, and Mayank Dhingra. Today, they are a team of over 55 employees. Ankit is an engineer from Aligarh Muslim University and has been a serial entrepreneur for the past decade. Arjun comes with a law degree from AMU and has been involved with startups for the past decade. Rathi recently sold her last company Instamedia, which was doing over 20M page views per month, Thakur was the VP of Technology and CTO at Citizen Media Limited, and Dhingra, is a graduate from Delhi College of Engineering with over 10 years of working with startups. Maheshwari tells us how a coffee machine ordered from an online site and a message from the site offering discount on the same product a few days later led to the creation of Betaout. My brother and I were very excited after the successful exit of our previous startup. In order to celebrate the same we ordered an expensive coffee machine from one of India's leading e-commerce site. It was pretty expensive and we paid the full price for it. In about a day's time we had it delivered. However after a week I received an email marketing message from the same e-commerce company offering a 25% discount on the same coffee machine. I was unhappy for having paid the full price for the same just a week back. I immediately sent the old coffee machine back and asked for a refund, he said. This is how he figured the loophole in marketing channels. It was not uncommon that e-commerce companies send the same marketing messages to customers who have already purchased the same product. This did not make sense to me. Clearly there was disconnect between the various tools used by the e-commerce companies. Sales has no insight about the tech. The tech has no insight about the customer care. The customer team has no insight about the marketing and so forth, he added. Betaout differentiates itself from the competition, by offering a customised set of tools tailored to the needs of e-commerce players. Betaout's tools are designed to serve all the needs of an e-commerce company rather than a single vertical, he said. Arjun Maheshwari adds, "The integration required to capture data is difficult. It is far more tedious for initial integration. We focus only on e-commerce companies as our data capture is targeted at e-commerce." From e-commerce, personalisation is very important. Sending emails to the complete list at one time doesn't work. A targeted message will help customers as well as businesses, Arjun further explains. Adding about security, he said, Our platform is encrypted end to end for our clients so only they can access the data and all the data gathered from users is anonymised adding another layer of security. It operates on the SaaS model and charge clients a recurring fee depending on their needs from our software suite that serves as the revenue channel. Betaout has raised $2 million from prominent industry figures including Amit Ranjan (co-founder, Slideshare), Ankur Warikoo (CEO, Groupon India), Ashish Kashyap (CEO, Ibibo Group), Kunal Bahl (CEO and co-founder, Snapdeal), to name a few. The company plans to expand to other markets around the world. The company has set sight on South East Asian market, and meanwhile plans to scale up the team. The tech team is also working on adding features requests by clients. Three people at a Utah demolition derby were injured after a drivers metal driveshaft launched into the audience Saturday. The injuries took place at the Heber Demolition Derby and have made national headlines after the injuries were caught on video by a number of fans. The videos each capture the flying part from a different angle. Any way you see it, this is not good. The flying debris caused a 30-minute delay in Saturdays derby. Two of the three people ended up in the hospital. So far, one has been sent home and the other is in fair condition. According to those at the event, this is something that does not happen often. KSL employee Jodi Saeland attended the event with her family and witnessed the incident. She said the derby was halted for about 30 minutes and that medical personnel were already at the event just in case anything happened to the drivers. It was bizarre. Ive never seen that happen, she said. Talking to the drivers afterward, they said theyve been doing it 10-12 years and they have never seen a piece go up into the audience. Heres to hoping everyone is okay, and this doesnt happen again any time soon. [KSL/Deadspin] Embankments turn into shelters Flood victims affected by water-borne diseases Staff Reporter : The flood affected people are surviving fighting with hardship taking shelter on boats or on embankments for the last two weeks. Two women died of drowning in flood water at Islampur in Jamalpur and one child died at Rupganj in Narayanganj. At least 39 children died due to the flood at Jamalpur, Kurigram, Sirajganj and Gaibandha within a week. Among the dead, 36 children, aged between seven and eight, died of drowning in the flood water and three died on snake bite. The medical team working in the affected area said, 2499 people have been given primary treatment due to Diarrhea, suffocation, snakebite, skin diseases and ophthalmology. Of them, 935 people have been suffering from diarrhea, 259 in suffocation, 114 skin diseases, 151 on ophthalmology. Four have taken treatment for snakebite. Dr Ayesha Akter, in-charge, National Crisis Management Center and Disease Control of Health Department said, the risk of death drowning in flood water is rising. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged all to came forward to help the distressed people in the flood affected areas. She was speaking at a programme at Krishibid Institution in the capital on the eve of National Tree Plantation Day. Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said, actions will be taken against those if any complaint arises about the distribution of relief in the flood affected areas. "Around 14 lakh people in 16 districts have been affected by flood," he said. "If any question arises about the distribution of relief among the affected people stern actions will taken against them. It is our moral duty to help the helpless," he said. The experts opined that the flood situation will last a longer this year as the huge rainfall recorded at the Himalayas and its surrounding areas. The tidal flow of this rain water will down fall through North-Eastern part of the county. The Padma on the West, the Mohananda on the North, the Atrai, the Punarbova, the Teesta, the Dharla, the Brahmaputra, the Surma-Kushiyara on the East, Sari, Piyain and Jadukata in border area are flowing heavy current of down fall water. This down trend of the water flowing to the Bay of Bengal flooded new areas in the country. The mountainous water fall causes storage of sand which blocked the river path of the Meghna, Dhalewari, Lohalia and Sangu. The disruption of water flow through these rivers causes flood in the adjacent areas. The heavy currents are breaking the dam and embankments of the river basin. In Munshiganj, hundreds of thousands of people have been marooned in 40 villages for sudden flood and down fall water from mountains. The river banks are in danger for heavy current in the river. The Water Development Board (WDB) sources said, the water level rose 10 CM above danger level in last 24 hours. The rise of water is continuous in last few days. If the water rising trend continue like this, the district will face a horrible situation. Many families at Chilmari in Kurigram have taken shelter on boats with their family members. The family members include children. The families are passing horrible life on boats under open sky and on heavy current. They tied their boats with trees and passing time anxiously. They fear that any accident could happen anytime. They are living in remote areas in the district where they could not get any high area to take shelter. Some dead domestic animals have been seen floating on the water causing death due to flood. Domestic birds like duck and other fisheries flooded by water. The villagers let them go as they did not have any place to give them shelter. The domestic animals added extra burden for them. Our Sylhet Correspondent adds: The river erosion turns serious in Sylhet Sadar. According to upazila office sources, during the last few days the incessant rainfall further rise the water level in the river and inundated two unions. Five hundred people have been rendered homeless. The most affected unions are Mugolgaon and Tukerbazar. Many people are now living under open sky. The flood water has submerged their homestead. The sources said the erosion is still continuing. Some educational institutions, including Madrasah, government primary school and mosque, have come under threat. Upazila officials, local chairman, UNO visited the affected areas. Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) sources said, the Bhramaputra-the Jamuna and the Surma-the Kushiyara are in falling state, the Ganges is in steady state while the Padma is in rising state. The Brahmapurtra-the Jamuna and the Surma-the Kushiyara may continue to fall in next 72 hours. The flood situation is likely to improve in low lands adjacent to the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna rivers at Gaibandh, Jamalpur, Sirajganj and Bogra. The Padma is likely to rise in next 48 hours, which may cause slightly deterioration of flood situation in low lands adjacent to Rajbari, Manikganj, Munshiganj and Sariatpur districts. The Buriganga, the Balu, the Lakhya rivers around Dhaka city are in rising trend and they likely to continue in next 24 hours. Comilla University shut indefinitely after student dies in BCL faction feud Saiful Khaled Comilla University has been closed sine die following a students death in a clash between two factions of the ruling Amawi Leagues student front on the campus. After an emergency meeting on Monday morning, the authorities instructed students to vacate residential halls. Male students have been told to leave campus by 11am and female students by 2pm. Police said that bullets were fired during the clash Sunday midnight between two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). At least 12 persons were injured, some with bullet wounds, during the clash, said Comilla South police OC Nazrul Islam. Marketing Department Student Saiful Khalid was declared dead around 5am on Monday by doctors at the Comilla Medical College Hospital, said OC Nazrul Islam. Khalid was the organising secretary of a hall unit for the BCL's Comilla University chapter.--bdnews24.com Internet blackout exercise in capital tonight Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has decided to hold an internet blackout drill tonight (Monday night) in the capital aiming to take prompt steps for suspending internet operation if incidents like that of Gulshan and Sholakia take place in the future. BTRC officials said they faced some problems to shut down the internet in Gulshan area during the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1. Talking to UNB, BTRC chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said, Well shut down internet operation in any area tonight to have an experience so that we can take immediate action in case of emergency. He also said there will be such drills in other cities of the country in phases. Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) will assist the telecom regulatory authority in the blackout exercise, Mahmood added.--Dhaka, Aug 1 (UNB) - Erdogan `snatch squad` soldiers captured Tens of thousands of Turks living in Germany demonstrated in support of Mr Erdogan in Cologne. BBC Online :Turkey says it has captured all but one of the soldiers accused of trying to seize the president during last month's failed coup.Special forces arrested another 11 soldiers overnight after a two-week manhunt near Marmaris.Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on holiday at the resort in south-west Turkey on the night of the coup attempt, but fled before his hotel was raided.The fugitives were located in a forested area, reports say. Since the failed putsch Mr Erdogan has targeted people suspected of links to those involved.Tens of thousands of people have been detained, or dismissed or suspended from roles in the military, judiciary, civil service and education.Over the weekend Mr Erdogan announced a sweeping reform of Turkey's armed forces to bring them under full civilian control.Turkey has summoned Germany's charge d'affaires to the foreign ministry in Ankara to explain why Mr Erdogan was prevented from addressing a rally in Cologne via a video-link on Sunday. Cologne police had initially banned the organisers from erecting a large video screen at the demonstration. This ban was partially overturned by a regional court, which ruled that a large screen could be used, but only to relay the speeches of people physically present at the rally.The right to freedom of assembly did not apply to "the delivery of opinions by a member of a foreign government or head of state via video-link," the court found. Germany's highest court confirmed the ruling after an appeal.There are about three million ethnic Turks living in Germany, Turkey's largest diaspora community.Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus accused Germany of "double standards".Turkish authorities accuse US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen of being behind the coup attempt, something he denies.The rebel soldiers were spotted by villagers hunting boar in the forested area near Marmaris. Gunfire was exchanged during the operation but no casualties were reported. The soldiers arrested overnight on Sunday and Monday morning include Major Sukru Seymen, the alleged commander, according to Anadolu news agency.More than 20 other members of the military squad suspected of involvement had already been remanded in custody to face trial, the agency reports.During the coup attempt on 15 July Mr Erdogan spoke live on TV via his mobile phone. He said he had narrowly escaped an attempt on his life.According to official reports, the president's security team was tipped off that a squad of soldiers was heading to his hotel and moved him.Turkey's interior minister said on Friday that more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup. More than 9,000 of them have been formally arrested.Nearly 50,000 Turkish citizens have had their passports cancelled, Efkan Ala told state TV. Prof Dr Yousuf M Islam, Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University addressing a human chain formed against militancy in front of its campus on Monday. Anti-militant human chain, rally by universities Campus Report : A human chain programme under the auspices of University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh to protest the recent militant attacks in Gulshan and Sholakia was held on Monday at its premises. UGC Member Prof Dr M Shah Nowaz Ali attended the programme as chief guest. Md. Kamal Hossain, President, UGC Officers' Association and Additional Director, UGC presided over the function. All officers and employees of the Commission took part in the human chain programme. Prof Shah Nowaz observed that Bangladesh is not the place for terrorism, extremism and militancy. Rather it is a peaceful country of co-existence for people of all religions. We must not allow the reputation of Bangladesh to be smeared by the activities of a few derailed youths, he added. He urged the every family to properly groom and develop their children as worthy citizen of the country. He further said that militancy is not only a problem of public or private university but now it is a national problem which should be handled unitedly. UGC has taken zero tolerance policy to stamp out militancy, he observed. Other speakers vehemently condemned the recent militant attacks in Gulshan and Sholakia where a number of people including foreigners were brutally killed. They prayed for salvation of the departed souls of the victims. Bangladeshi people will resist terrorist activities including militancy in iron hand, they warned. Besides, many public and private universities also organized anti-militant human chain and rally at their campuses as a part of nationwide central program declared by UGC and Association of Non Government Private Universities of Bangladesh. BOU Teachers, officers and employees of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) brought out a rally and human chain in front of its main gate on Monday. Vice Chancellor of the University Prof Dr MA Mannan along with Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khondoker Mokaddem Hossain and Treasurer Prof Dr Md. Abu Taher led the rally. The rally and human chain organized by the university also held at its all Regional and Sub Regional offices at a time. Learners, teachers, officers and other employees of the field offices took part in the programme at their offices to enhance mass awareness against militancy and terrorism. BOU VC Prof Dr MA Mannan conducted an oath ceremony at the end of the human chain and asked everybody to play role against militancy and terrorism from their own position DIU Daffodil International University DIU) formed an anti-militancy human chain on Monday in front of its campus on Mirpur Road in the capital to commemorate those who were killed in Gulshan and Sholakia attacks and protesting against militancy. Prof Dr Yousuf M Islam, Vice Chancellor, DIU was the chief guest while Hamidul Haque Khan, Treasurer of the university was present as the special guest. The program was also addressed by Prof Dr Engr AKM Fazlul Hoque, Registrar, Mohammed Emran Hossain, Member, Board of Trustees and Syed Mizanur Rahman, Director (Student Affairs). About 7-8 thousand students of 24 clubs of the university took part in the program with Anti-militancy slogan. BSMRMU An anti-terrorism anti-militancy human chain demonstration and rally was organized by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU) in front of its temporary campus on Monday. The Vice-Chancellor Rear Admiral ASM Abdul Baten, Deans, Registrar, Treasures, faculty members, students, all officers and staff of the university were present during the occasion. The rally rounded to Mirpur-12, Cantonment area and Pallabi and ended at the campus. A discussion was held after completing the rally at the auditorium. The university is determined to detect and control all type of terrorism and militancy, said the Vice-Chancellor. ULAB University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) held a human chain in front of its Dhanmondi campus on Monday with the aim to create awareness against terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh. The human chain was part of a mass demonstration taken by all universities in Bangladesh, public and private, in the wake of recent militant attacks across the country. Urging people to resist against terrorism and militancy, ULAB faculty members, students and employees formed a human chain and discussion under the banner #Bangladesh Against Terrorism. The human chain stretched along Satmasjid Road from 11:00am to 12:00 noon. Later, students joined a discussion session led by ULAB Vice Chancellor requested students to be united against terrorism. Vice President of ULAB Board of Trustees Dr Kazi Anis Ahmed, Board of Trustees Member Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP, Board of Trustees Member Kazi Inam Ahmed, ULAB Emeritus Prof Rafiqul Islam along with ULAB Vice Chancellor Prof Imran Rahman, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof HM Jahirul Haque, Prof Dr Salimullah Khan, Registrar Lt Col Foyzul Islam (Retd.), and all faculty members, admin members and students also joined the human chain. GUB In accordance with the decision taken by the government to curb the existing militant activities in the country, Green University, Bangladesh (GUB) initiated and organized anti-militant and anti- terrorism human chain, rally and discussion meeting, With the slogan, "We must stop anti religion, anti- social and anti- state militant terrorist and terrorism activities". The students, teachers, officers and staff led by its VC Prof Dr Md. Golam Samdani Fakir brought out the rally from the main campus in Rokeya Sarani and paraded Bangladesh University Grants Commission in Agargaon. Treasurer and Director (Student Affairs) Md. Shahid Ullah, Registrar Lt Gen Md. Mainul Islam (LPR), Prof and Advisor of Green Business School, Prof MM Khan, Dean, School of Business, Prof Dr Golam Ahmed Faruqui, Dean, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Prof Dr Md. Fayzur Rahman, Proctor, Dr Parvez Ahmed, as well as chairpersons of different departments. This time slogans, "Stop the Militant Activities," Resist Emergence of Militancy, Consciousness of Freedom and No Militancy-created a ripple in the high way. In the discussion meeting, the VC was the chief guest while Registrar Lt Gen Md. Mainul Islam (LPR) and Proctor Dr Parvez Ahmed were the special guest and key discussant respectively. EU Eastern University (EU) organized a rally and human-chain against terrorism on Monday. 'Youth against terrorism' was the slogan of the event. The rally moved in different streets of Dhanmondi area. Sk Saydur Rahman, Member of the Board of Trustees; Pro-Vice Chancellor; Treasurer; Registrar; Deans; Faculty Members; officials and students of the university took part in the rally. The participants carried colored festoons with slogans against terrorism and militancy. Prof Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Eastern University, informed that families have to render proper education to their children to prevent terrorism. He also mentioned that EU has adopted zero-tolerance towards terrorism and militancy and has upgraded security measures at the university premises in the current context of the country. ABT activist taken on 4-day remand Chittagong Bureau : A court in Chittagong on Sunday granted four-days remand to the suspected member of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team(ABT) in a case filed under the Anti-terrorism Act. The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Salem Mohammad Noman granted the four-day remand of him after the investigation officer prayed for a 10-day remand prayer in a case filed under the Anti-terrorism Act with Biyazid thana, court sources said. The alleged ABT man was identified as Abdul Hannan alias Laden, 21, hailing from Dinajpur district. Earlier, police arrested the suspected militant from Kulgaon area under Biyazid thana in the city on Thursday night. The police team also recovered a laptop, one mobile phones and huge number of Jehadi books from his possession .Later, a case was filed with Biyazid thana in this connection. French Muslims to create foundation to finance mosques Muslim worshippers attend the Friday prayer at the Yahya Mosque, in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France on Friday four days after the hostage taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. AP, Paris : A new foundation will be created to help finance mosques in France and keep out radical benefactors, the head of the French Muslim Council said Monday. Anouar Kbibech proposed the foundation would be used to fund the construction and running of mosques and would be financed by fees paid by actors in the halal food sector. France, home to Europe's largest Muslim community, is a secular state that prohibits the use of state money for places of worship. Prime minister Manuel Valls said Sunday he wants to put an end to the financing from abroad for the construction of mosques. "Almost all Muslims of France are attached to a serene, open, tolerant Islam and they are fully respecting the values and laws of the Republic," Kbibech said on LCI television. After meeting Kbebich, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he wants the foundation to be launched in October. The debate about the financing of mosques in France was revived by last week's slaying of an elderly priest in a Normandy church by two Islamic extremists. Some observers have suggested foreign influence over certain mosques and prayer rooms in France could encourage the radicalization of attendants. Cazeneuve said 20 Muslim places of worship have been shut down in recent months due to radical views being exposed there. "There's no room in France for those who call for and stir up hatred in prayer rooms or mosques and do not respect the principles of the Republic," he said. He added the government is working on a way to guarantee "total transparency" in the financing of the mosques while at the same time "strictly respecting the secular principles of the Republic." The French Muslim Council, the CFCM, is also working to improve the training of imams in France so that they have a better knowledge of the country's secular history and the institutions of the Republic, Kbebich said. On Sunday, dozens of Muslims in France and Italy attended to Catholic Mass as a gesture of interfaith solidarity following the attack on the priest. HSC results on Aug 18 Staff Reporter :The results of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations 2016 will be published on August 18. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid disclosed the date to the media on Monday. The minister said that, he along with chairmen of all education boards would ceremonially hand over copies of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office (PMO) at 10:00am on that day. Later, he will officially announce the results at a press conference at his office at the Secretariat and then it will be sent to all educational institutions across the country. Over 12 lakh students under the eight education boards sat for this year's HSC and its equivalent examinations. Voice against militancy Teachers, students, guardians form human chains at edn instts Staff Reporter : Thousands of teachers, students, employees and guardians have raised their voices against militancy and vowed to root out it from the country. They said this at human chains formed in all the public and private universities, colleges, schools and madrasas across the country on Monday. The educational institutions formed the human chains responding to the call of University Grants Commission (UGC). At all the human chains, teachers, students and guardians were seen holding different festoons and placards written with "We don't support militancy", "Islam also doesn't support it", "Militancy is the curse of the world", "No militancy in Bangladesh", "We want non-communal society", "Protest militancy, save Bangladesh." They also chanted slogans against the militancy and its masterminds. The teachers, students and guardians remembered the victims with due respect who were killed in Gulshan and Solakia terror attacks. Dhaka University formed a human chain in the morning at the base of Aparajeyo Bangla on the campus protesting the terror attacks. The teachers, students and employees from all departments and faculties, research centres took part in the human chain. No class was taken during the programme. Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique led the human chain while President of Dhaka University Teachers' Association Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed and General Secretary Professor Maksud Kamal were present. Sadia Noor Khan, a lecturer of Department of Banking and Insurance of Dhaka University, taking part in the human chain, said, "Bangladesh is a non-communal country. Its people do not support militancy or any kind of terrorism in the society. The teachers and the guardians should play important role to prevent militancy. Dhaka University already has raised its voice against militancy. So it is now a matter of time to root out the terrorism from the country." Like the Dhaka University, the educational institutions all over the country also raised their voices against militancy and offered it good-bye. Fatema Begum, an Assistant Teacher of Amzad Ali Sarkar Pilot Girls High School and College, said, "We want peace. We want a peaceful society also. We never support militancy in the name of Islam. Islam doesn't support militancy or terrorism. To define it among the students and guardians we have arranged human chain like the other institutions across the country." "We have asked the guardians to increase surveillance on their children. We have also arranged discussions for the students and the guardian to create awareness about militancy. I think the problem will not be longer," Fatema Begum said. Meanwhile, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the educational institutions, which follow foreign curriculum, were instructed to include Bangladesh's culture, heritage and history. If the educational institutions fail to implement the instruction, then those cannot survive, he said while addressing a human chain programme at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka in the morning. The programme was oragnised to create awareness against militancy and terrorism in the wake of recent terror attacks in the country. There will be various types of educational systems like vocational and religious but the target should be production of good and patriotic citizens, the minister said. University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Professor Abdul Mannan and National University Vice-Chancellor Professor Harun-or-Rashid spoke on the occasion, among others.. Security strengthened at all Japanese offices Staff Reporter : The Home Ministry has ordered the law enforcers to strengthen security measures to all Japanese offices in Bangladesh. The ministry ordered the Police Headquarters to strengthen security to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), its projects across the country, Students of Japanese schools, the officials of Japan embassy and the residence of the ambassador. The Japanese Foreign Department has sent letters several times to Bangladesh government to give police protection round the clock. Besides, they have requested to give permission to carry arms by the private security forces in their offices. Sources said, JICA President Shinichi Kitawka will visit Dhaka on August 6 and 7. Law enforcers have been asked to give the JICA President and his co-visitors round the clock protection. The JICA president will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. He will also sit with JICA officials in Bangladesh offices. The issues of bilateral interests will be discussed in those meetings. The security issue will be the top priority in those meetings, the sources said. They said, Japan become anxious about their nationals' security after the last July 1 attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan in which 29 people were killed. Seven Japanese nationals were among them. After the incident, Japan has requested the Bangladesh government to strengthen their citizens' security here. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists that they have directed police to take appropriate measures to give round the clock protection to the Japanese and other foreign citizens. "We have ensured security everywhere for the foreign nationals. From their residence to work place and everywhere they want we are giving them protection. The diplomatic zone and everywhere is now secured," he said. Earlier the Japanese embassy has requested the government to strengthening security to 16 officials of JICA, 68 Japanese private enterprises and another five non government cooperative organizations, relevant officials said. They have also requested to ensure security during mobility to the JICA and other officials to make continue the Japanese cooperative works and to ensure the future development projects in Bangladesh. Sources said, foreigners working in different projects in Bangladesh have been asking for special security after the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks. The concerned ambassadors, high commissioners and other officials have met ministers and asked to take appropriate measures. Recently, JICA Vice President Hidioci Irijaki has expressed his anxiety about the security of several hundred Japanese citizens over a letter to Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. Sources said, around 50 projects are now running in different districts of the country. 1 killed, five hurt in BCL infighting Comilla varsity closed sine die Staff Reporter :Comilla University has been closed for an indefinite period after the death of a student in a clash between two factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on the campus on Monday.The University Administration took the decision at an emergency meeting chaired by Vice-Chancellor Md Ali Ashraf.The male students were asked to vacate the halls by 11am on Monday while the female students by 2 pm.Khaled Saifullah, a student of Marketing Department and Organising Secretary of Kabi Nazrul Hall unit of BCL, was killed and five others injured at the factional clash on the campuses in the University early morning. The clashes ensued between the followers of University unit BCL President Alif and another BCL leader Ilias Sabuj over lighting candle issue in front of the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the campus.A chase and counter-chase occurred between the two groups and at one stage, both sides exchanged fires that left Khaled, a leader of Sabuj group, bullet-injured.Critically injured, Khaled was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctor declared him dead.Factions of Chhatra League are trading blames each other for the incident. BCL President Nazmul Hassan blamed an ousted leader Ilias Hossain for the clash on the campus.On the contrary, Ilias Hossain alleged that activists of Bangabandhu Hall accompanied with outsiders swooped on their party. However, he could not answer what he was doing there in the first place.The University's proctorial body and police brought the situation under control. Proctor Mohammad Ainul Haque confirmed the shooting incident during the clash and the casualty.Additional Superintendent of Police of Comilla Abdullah Al Mamun echoed similar and said one student was killed during the clash. "Gunshots were fired during the fight."The police conducted a raid to the residential halls and lethal weapons including a firearm. The tension has been prevailing within Chhatra League on the campus of the university for a few days. It turned clashes yesterday, BCL sources said. Police protection for few is not safety EUROPEAN Union envoy in Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon has urged the government to ensure security of foreigners in each and every corner of the country. In their view diplomats' safety at Gulshan and Banani areas is not enough. The new security arrangement that the government is now working to put in place for capital's diplomatic zone includes raising brick walls or barbed wire fence at many places, closure of many internal roads and arranging separate transport system for the area. It will be virtually a prohibited city within the city. Confined people within police cordon may be protection for few, but it is not safety. News reports said EU envoy raised diplomats' Security issues at a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at his secretariat office in the city on Sunday. Ambassadors of Spain, Netherlands, High Commissioner of UK, Charge d'Affaires of Italy and representatives of Germany and Denmark were present and shared their concerns on safety issues. Tofail briefed the envoys on the steps in hands and said the government is also actively considering setting up a specialized force to protect the foreigners. There is no doubt; it highlighted the government's determination to rein in the situation but it appears not so convincing, the fear now undermines everybody's confidence. Physical presence of police is not safety for the general public. It is natural after the militant attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia foreigners living in the VIP and diplomatic areas become frightened demanding comprehensive security at all levels. What they insisted is that security in diplomatic zone is no doubt important but not enough. They want total security all over the country. If the 16 crore people of Bangladesh feel secure, foreigners living here for various reasons, including business, will also feel protected; it will bring back confidence, the EU envoy is reported to have told the Minister. This is obvious because they will not always remain confined in the diplomatic area and have to come out of the highly enclosed city to travel to the countryside. Aid workers in different development projects need to travel and stay at project site. Businessmen have to move out to factories outside the cities. So what they want is general safety but it appears to be a highly challenging job as fear of more attacks can't be altogether ruled out. We must say that the EU envoys have made sensible points that security in the city for special groups is not enough to give safety to all. Normal life is a reality. After evening roads are empty and businesses shut down. The police cannot restore confidence in the government's ability to provide safety and the rule of law. The police has been empowered to arrest anybody for mere suspicion. French Muslims join Catholic mass in solidarity to denounce killing in the name of religion MUSLIMS across France attended Catholic mass in churches on Sunday in a gesture of solidarity and sorrow following the brutal murder of a priest by two jihadists, the latest in a string of militant attacks. According to media reports more than 100 Muslims were among 2,000 faithfuls who packed the 11th Century Gothic Cathedral of Rouen near the Normandy town where the 85-year old priest Father Jacques Hamel was slain. The most poignant moment of Sunday's mass in Rouen was the sign of peace, a regular part of the liturgy when the faithful turn to greet each other in the pews, either shaking hands or kissing. Archbishop Labrun used the moment to step into the congregation and greet Muslim leaders with three nuns who were at the church in Saint Etienne-du-Rouvray when Hamel was murdered. He welcomed and thanked the Muslims in the congregation in the name of all Christians for affirming that Muslims reject death and violence in the name of God.' The Archbishop said they are very much touched by the presence of the Muslims accepting it as an important gesture of fraternity. President of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mosque Mohammed Karabila said the physical presence was very important to show the solidarity physically, because until now the Muslim community did a lot of things that were not seen. They are here to show that the two communities are united against religious violence and threat to peace. Nice's top Imam Otaman Aissaoui also led a delegation to a Catholic mass in the southern city where a jihadist on Bastille Day killed 84 men and women and children injuring 435, which also include many Muslims. He epitomized the moment saying French Muslims are united with Catholic in response to the act of horror and barbarism. This exposure of unity of faithful all over France on Sunday was a proper act in proper direction. God is truth and peace and harmony is the accurate reflection of truth. Interfaith harmony and fraternity is the basis of modern civilization. Muslim clerics did a great job to enhance trust and to cure wounds created by some so-called jihadists whom Muslims denounced as not Muslims at all. They have earned bad name to Islam and the presence of Muslims in the Catholic mass was a bold step to show that Islam stands for peace and solidarity and hate barbarism of any form. Indeed terrorism in the name of religion has created serious threat to interfaith coexistence and harmony and French Muslims did not give it a chance by sharing the pain and sorrows of the Christian community. We hope such fraternity will work as a milestone in interfaith relations in France and all over to endure the challenge of time. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Scott Angelle Photo by Robin May Their attention focused on Trumps Shermanesque march through the Republican Party, Acadiana residents should be forgiven for not having paid closer attention to the race in their own backyard. The many candidates who have qualified for the 3rd District seat being vacated by Republican Charles Boustany have labored in obscurity. But this is typical for this district, which is home to 755,000 citizens and stretches from the Texas border to St. Mary Parish. Only twice in recent years has the 3rd District had a contest of any note. In 2004, a lively race to see who would succeed Chris John ended with Boustany besting Don Cravins Sr. and Willie Mount. A second memorable contest resulted from legislative redistricting in 2011, which placed two incumbents into one recrafted district. Today, Boustanys decision to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by David Vitter once again brings feverish competition to the 3rd District election. Leaving aside the 2012 contest, which was not as close as the expensive and bitter campaign made it seem, the casual observer might conclude from the quotidian affairs of 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2014 that no one really coveted Boustanys post. But open seats draw crowds, and no less than 12 candidates have qualified for the post, although some are more serious than others. Reflecting the new reality of Louisiana politics and quite unlike the race in 2004, eight of the pretenders to Boustanys seat are Republican, leaving two Democrats, one Libertarian and one no party to round out the field. This GOP skewing of the candidate field reflects the strongly Republican character of the district, which, in the Obama years, has become as axiomatic as was Democratic domination in former years. One measure of this is provided by the Cook Partisan Voting Index, which predicts voting behavior based on the levels set by the previ- ous presidential election. This measure, when applied to the 3rd District, produces an R+19 score. This means that Trump is likely to exceed the national percentage of the vote by 19 percentage points in the 3rd District. If, for example, Trump gained 47 percent of the vote nationally, he could expect to receive 66 percent of the vote here. As this measure suggests, the 3rd District will continue to be inhospitable to Democratic candidates, regardless of how they present themselves and despite the roughly 25-30 percent of voters who vote Democratic in every election. A poll of 800 likely voters by the Trafalgar Group showed Republican Scott Angelle with a commanding lead over his competitors. Conducted in early June, the poll gave Angelle 39.19 percent of the vote, followed by Clay Higgins (17.5%), Greg Ellison (7.5%), Brett Geymann, (5.27%), Gus Rantz, (2.6%) Erick Knezek, (1.92%), Grover Rees, (1.76%) and undecided at 24.25%. This poll was prior to the departure of Knezek from the race and the entrance of two Democrats, Larry Rader of New Iberia and Jacob Dorian Phibian Hebert of Lafayette. A poll of 400 voters taken later in June by Harper Polling (again, before the two Dems entered the race) showed Rantz gaining at a faster clip than other relatively unknown candidates. Despite the erratic results frequently produced by early polls, the numbers validated what most pundits expected: Angelle is likely to dominate this race and may even gain 50 percent on the first ballot, thereby avoiding a runoff. Support for this belief comes from Angelles strong showing during the 2015 governors race. In that race, Angelle won a majority of the vote in St. Martin Parish (62%) and a plurality of the vote in five of the other eight parishes represented in the 3rd District (Acadia, Cameron, Iberia, Lafayette, and Vermilion). Angelles only weakness was in Calcasieu Parish, where he placed third (18%) behind eventual winner John Bel Edwards (40%) and Jay Dardenne (24%). Angelles fundraising underscores his strength relative to the other candidates. The FEC report shows that Angelle has succeeded in raising more money than all of his opponents combined, while retaining a 3-1 cash on hand advantage over his closest fundraising competitors, Ellison and Rantz. While dollars are not votes, a strong financial report indicates broad support in a crucial area. By this measure Angelle is well ahead. Having run for two state offices (Public Service Commission and governor) immediately prior to his congressional bid, Angelle may be less interested in a lengthy congressional career than he is in replicating the steps of another defeated candidate who bided his time in Congress while waiting for a second shot. The previously defeated candidate was, of course, Bobby Jindal, who was twice elected to the 1st District congressional seat while keeping his attention focused on supplanting Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Angelle is likely to deny this. Yet, both he and Acadiana might benefit should these events unfold. The combination of Angelle in Congress and Boustany in the Senate would give Acadiana voters the clout theyve lacked since the days of John Breaux and Jimmy Hayes. Furthermore, the possibility that Angelle may move on after two terms explains why so many are running this time: to establish name recognition and lay the groundwork for a future campaign. Pearson Cross is an associate professor in the Political Science Department at UL Lafayette. He holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University (1997), and his principal areas of teaching are state and local politics, and Southern politics. Cross interviews local politicians and newsmakers on his radio show, Bayou to the Beltway, which airs on KRVS 88.7 FM at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and 5:30 p.m. on District 4 Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux has had Mayor Joel Robideaux's ear for much of the chief-selection process. Photo by Robin May Lafayettes law enforcement system is at a crossroads. A new sheriff has taken office for the first time in 16 years, and a new chief is expected to take over leadership of the Lafayette Police Department in the coming months. The entirety of all that has transpired in the last month not to mention the last two years of tensions that have grown from the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. represents a crucial turning point for Lafayettes local system of law enforcement. And there are so many unanswered questions. Will Sheriff Mark Garber continue his predecessors progressive, datadriven approach to reducing recidivism? And who will Mayor-President Joel Robideaux select as the citys next chief of police? Will this new chief be a bridge builder who will fight for training and resources for the department or will we get someone who reinforces the status quo? Most important, how will this new leadership navigate our law enforcement system through whats continuing to be one of the biggest issues currently facing our nation that is, how will this permanent chief effectively reconcile the vastly growing divide between law enforcement officers and the minority citizens of Lafayette? And the burning question: Did Lafayette cast a broad enough net to generate the pool of talented, experienced candidates our city deserves? If not, can and should Robideaux hit the reset button so we get this right? Thus far, Lafayette appears to be somewhat insulated from whats happening in so many places across the country, even as close as 45 minutes away in Baton Rouge where the July 5 police killing of Alton Sterling set off one of the biggest protests this year. But its not a question of if Lafayette will experience a highly publicized and questionable fatal shooting by one of its law enforcement officers its a question of when. How that situation plays out will soon be in the hands of the new police chief, who should make among his first priorities reforming how use-of-force allegations and officerinvolved shootings are investigated because the current policy of police investigating police is not a good one. I hope we can take advantage of this transition time to get the best possible leadership in that chiefs position that we can, says Lafayette City- Parish Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux during a recent phone interview. As it relates to a shooting involving a police officer, although we dont want it to be, theres times when this will take place in line of his or her duty as an officer. We would hope those things dont happen, but any community in the country is subject to an incident at any given time. The Lafayette Police Department has in fact been involved in a number of officer-involved shootings under former Chief Jim Craft, who retired in January, including at least 10 fatal shootings within a six-year period. The ones that happened here, a lot of the info we dont have access to it, but as far as we know the majority of those cases have considered the officers use of force to be appropriate, Boudreaux says. Some will disagree with that. As we go forward my prayer is that we never have another shooting in Lafayette, in Louisiana or this country. But if it is done, I hope it truly is that lethal force was warranted and necessary to protect life. There are no other circumstances that I would know of where this is OK. Since Crafts retirement, the department has been under the leadership of Capt. Reggie Thomas, a 26-year veteran of Lafayette Police who was disqualified from putting his name in the running to be Crafts full-time successor because Thomas lacks a bachelors degree. Thomas ineligibility for the chiefs job comes down to the requirements set by the Lafayette Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board, which, at Robideauxs urging earlier this year, considered changing the qualifications for the post but opted not to do so. So despite his lengthy service with the department, in addition to holding an associate degree in criminal justice and being a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Thomas cant be chief. More important for many of his supporters, he cant be Lafayettes first black chief. For Boudreaux, the process has been hugely disappointing. Weve really made such progress under the interim chief with community relations, says Boudreaux, referring to Thomas efforts to get a conversation going between the department and Lafayettes minority communities, including the councilmans District 4, which encompasses big parts of Lafayettes Northside. Thomas could have very well been the chief Lafayette needs, insists Boudreaux. Not only does he express the philosophy that police must change the existing relationship with minorities, but hes also been attempting to put that idea into action since becoming interim chief at the start of the year. So far hes doing it through engagement, by getting out there as the chief and talking to the people. For Boudreaux, this is the type of chief equipped for taking Lafayette Police to the next level. Its about getting boots on the ground and having relationships outside of tense situations, explains Boudreaux. Its about the confidence of the people feeling that when their chief, or his deputy chief or majors or captains, lieutenants, whoever it may be, that whenever that uniform appears, theres a level of comfort and a relationship in place to allow for peaceful resolutions. Right now, Chief Thomas offers us that. He fits that mold of someone who paid their dues, was promoted through the ranks by hard work and dedication, and knows the department inside and out. Unfortunately, the rules in place dont allow him to apply for the position. Shame on Lafayette, were missing an opportunity. Thomas is eligible for the police chief jobs in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Monroe. Just not Lafayette. Shame on Lafayette if we allow one of our finest one we trained and developed to get away from us and go provide his services to another community, says Boudreaux. Other communities have their requirements balanced between education and experience. Thats significant because when youre talking about graduating from the FBI Academy, I think thats important, and when you talk about rank work, having worked in everything from patrol to narcotics, detective, juvenile services, investigated on behalf the prosecutors office; I think all those things should come into play in how we pick the person for the job. Fourteen total candidates have since applied for the job all men, 11 of them white. The job was only advertised for 30 days, between June 6 and July 6, in several national trade publications and websites, the Advocate in Acadiana, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News, according to information provided by Robideauxs office. Its certainly questionable whether that amount of time and advertisements in those outlets were sufficient to get the most qualified candidates to apply, and whether the salary range, $101,701 to $123,263, is attractive to high caliber applicants. According to a report from The Advocate, only nine of the 14 are qualified to sit for the civil service chiefs exam on Aug. 11 (see related sidebar for applicant names). According to the Civil Service Board, once the results of the Aug. 11 test are in, they must receive board approval before being sent to Robideauxs office. From there, its up to Robideaux to pick Lafayettes next chief. Robideaux has declined to meet with The Independent to discuss this matter and did not answer a series of questions emailed to him for this story. Capt. Reggie Thomas, interim Lafayette chief Photo by Robin May According to an interview with The Advocate in early July, Robideaux expects to finalize his decision within the next three months. With the current environment of the relationship with law enforcement in the community, I wish Robideaux would take his time and not rush to hire someone, says Boudreaux. This needs to be in all Lafayettes best interest. I just hope he doesnt rush and that he utilizes all the resources we have available to get this thing right. As far as the next chief, we need someone who is a very high-level professional, a law enforcement person, someone who has the skills, ability and the proven track record of being able to establish and maintain very substantive relationships with the entire community, in particular, those that are policed the greatest. Policed the greatest? Hes talking about minorities. Thats what this is all about. The long-standing history of violence and mistrust between the black community and the police. Shootings are symptoms of a greater problem, says David Khey, who heads the Criminal Justice Department at UL Lafayette, while speaking at a July policing forum hosted by the Acadiana Press Club. For the past 15 years, Khey has lived in a world of this very research, and within that complex world, he sees fragments of answers and explanations for what history tells us is a centuries-old struggle between black Americans and law enforcement. The Black Lives Matter movement was born from a history intertwined with segregation, Jim Crow and slavery. Since Jim Crow weve just put a Band-aid on this problem, Khey tells the audience. Research shows there are disparities in society that are persistent. On the individual level it doesnt seem that bad. But on a larger scale there are lasting disparities that just arent fair. Whats happening now is an example of how these disparities impact us over time. Its like looking at the O.J. Simpson trial and understanding the power of that verdict. What caused all those emotions back then? Were seeing that now. Theres a feeling of being under siege by law enforcement. ... Its going to take a very long time to address these trust issues. But to ignore them, to put another Band-aid will just not suffice. When we say Black Lives Matter, theres one word missing. It should be Black Lives Matter less. Just adding that one word. Coming to the table on all people deserving fairness everyday is something well deal with this generation. We must first understand what lives get pushed away in society. Could this all be a matter of changing our approach to training and recruitment? We often hear about community policing and cultural sensitivity training, but what do these mean in real life? For Chief Thomas, his short time in office has afforded an opportunity to put ideas like community policing into practice. Community policing starts at the top, says Thomas, another of the panelists for the local Press Clubs forum. People want to see the chief sit down and talk to people. We should demand that our higher ranking officers come talk to the community. They need to be out there because they can make changes immediately. Thomas has also proposed expanding the departments recruitment efforts to target more minorities and wants to incorporate additional diversity-focused courses into the departments 40-hour block of annually required training hours. This is a big step in the right direction. Right now, African Americans make up only 17 percent of Lafayettes police force, whereas the citywide population is 32 percent. The percentage of African Americans within the department, says Thomas, should mirror that of the city. Boudreaux, however, points out that the desire for going into a law enforcement career is dwindling. Recruitment is a major component of changing this culture, says Boudreaux. Recruitment and getting minorities interested is critical. Ive spoken to this issue before, you know, that the way people go into law enforcement over the years has changed. I think because of all the opportunities in America the desire and prestige for law enforcement isnt what it used to be. It used to be police officers were hired in the communities they grew up in, lived in, and were well known in. So if an officer who grew up in Truman or McComb gets a call and knows the lady on the porch, thats much different than an officer who came here for a career or an education and ends up policing a community hes not familiar with. Recruitment can make these situations better. I remember a time when we knew officers by their first name. Thats significant when talking about establishing relationships. When officers know the families and they know his family, that changes things dramatically. Unfamiliarity with the community youre policing is where problems are quickest to arise. Its what leads to misinterpretation, miscommunication, a bigger divide. So how do we get more minorities interested in becoming police officers, especially in the aftermath of the fatal ambush of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge? Its a lot like our public education systems need for, but inability to substantially recruit, black male teachers. When you have a healthy economy, you got the oilfield going, construction, and you have these deadly attacks on police officers, who wants to do that? questions Boudreaux. That desire that once existed, thats gone. A lot of it has to do with pay and its ability to afford you the quality of life you may want. And you also have mens wives saying, I dont want you to be a police officer because I dont want anything to happen to you. So how does all this connect with Lafayettes next police chief? Its the next chief who will make the decisions that will determine the future course of this department and its relationship with the minorities of this city. It will be up to that person to decide how and who the department recruits, the resources that will go into proper training of the recruits, and ultimately, how the department approaches minorities in the future. This person will ultimately set the stage for where that relationship goes from here. Well need of lot of diversity in recruitment and training in areas of diversity and cultural sensitivity, says Boudreaux. Im hoping we can identify someone not afraid to look at policies and procedures and laws on the books to see which of these need to be changed or revisited. Ive heard from a number of professionals in the judiciary and in law enforcement that were still policing and doing things with a 1970s approach. With all the new technology out there and the demands from communities of color, its time we look at some new things. Boudreaux points to reforms in public education that brought heightened accountability for teachers, schools and districts. He thinks this could work for law enforcement. How we train, grade officers, review their performance as it relates to the success of cleaning up and maintaining law and order in our community, says Boudreaux, and if we take time to look at these things really closely, unbiased, and with all of Lafayettes interests in mind, I think in fact we can land us the police chief we need. The low applicant turnout appears to leave Robideaux with few options. Or does it? Even though the nine candidates deemed qualified to sit for the chief exam are scheduled to do so Aug. 11, we think it is pressing that Robideaux hit the reset button, restart the search and cast a wider net in hopes of landing the best possible candidates for the job (and thats not to say one of the existing applicants is not the best person to lead our police force). For guidance on how to undertake a comprehensive search, Robideaux could look to the example of the city of Memphis, which is paying the International Association of Chiefs of Police $40,000 to conduct a legitimate, nationwide search for a police director (the equivalent of Lafayettes chief). Since 1974, every police director in the city has been homegrown, writes Otis Sanford, who holds the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Journalism at the University of Memphis, in a June column for The Commercial Appeal, a daily newspaper. And with only one exception, all have come up through the Memphis Police Department ranks. Amid immense pressure from political and community leaders to name Interim Chief Michael Rallings to the permanent job, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has remained steadfast in his commitment to find the best police director he can, Sanford notes in his column. I think at the end of the day, the mayorpresident has the option to make sure he has before him a candidate that satisfies what he wants for chief of police, Boudreaux comments. That authority is granted to him. What the rules say as related to this with civil service positions is if a director or person making the selection doesnt see in a particular candidate everything he wants to see that he can possibly call for additional info, or another test. Its hard to say which way Robideaux will go. But he should not rush to have a new chief in place by some artificial deadline. By all accounts, interim Chief Thomas is doing a fine job of trying to tackle problems that have festered for decades and will continue to do so until the right person to lead this communitys law enforcement and community outreach can be identified, recruited and hired at a competitive salary. THE SHORT LIST Here are the nine applicants currently scheduled to test for chief of the Lafayette Police Department. Toby Jean Aguillard, 47, director of cyber crime prevention at Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office; 19 years law enforcement experience James Benoit, 35, trooper for Louisiana State Police; 16 years experience Forrest Blanton Jr., 45, LPD sergeant; 18 years experience Vaughn Burris, captain and assistant chief with Lafayette Police, 26 years experience Nathaniel Clark, 56, former deputy chief in Albany, Ga., and chief in Pine Bluff, Ark.; 20 years experience Derek Pacifico, 47, retired sergeant with San Bernadino (Calif.) County Sheriffs Office, 22 years experience John Rogers, 40, former litigation specialist for Lafayette Parish Sheriffs Office and candidate for sheriff in last falls primary; 17 years experience Joey Sturm, 47, UL Lafayettes police chief; 19 years experience Samuel Wyatt, 45, director of investigative audit services at LSU System; 24 years experience President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: CARBONDALE A Carbondale man was sentenced to a little more than three years in prison for aggravated battery of a police officer, for spitting at the officer and threatening to harm him once he was released from custody. Robert L. Delmore Sr., 38, came to the attention of police about 11 p.m. on April 26, when he was identified as the driver of a vehicle that was being driven through yards and striking items on Springer and West Baird streets. According to a news release from the Jackson County State's Attorney's office, after receiving the call, investigators located the vehicle described in the incident and determined that Delmore had been the driver. When officers located him, his speech was slurred and he seemed confused and smelled strongly like an alcoholic beverage, according to the release. He was given a field sobriety test, which resulted in him being arrested for Driving Under the Influence. While he was being processed, he began to threaten the police officer and raised his fist toward him, according to the news release. He then also spit on the officer and made direct threats to kill the officer after his release from jail. This past Thursday, Delmore pled guilty to aggravated battery, threatening a public official and aggravated driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 42 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by two years of mandatory supervised release on the aggravated battery charge and one year of mandatory supervised release on the remaining charges. The sentences are to run concurrently. CARBONDALE A Carbondale Police officer is in serious but stable condition after being shot during a pursuit Sunday, according to Police Chief Jeff Grubbs. The incident happened after 11:30 p.m. as officers of the Carbondale Police Department were on patrol in the 700 block of North Robert A. Stalls Street responding to gunshots being fired in the area. While driving toward the source of the gunshots, Grubbs said, the officers identified a tan Pontiac Grand Prix driving away from the area at a high rate of speed. As officers attempted to stop the vehicle, a pursuit was initiated, Grubbs said. During the pursuit, at least one suspect fired several gunshots from the fleeing vehicle striking the police car and the officer. After taking notice of the injured officer, Grubbs said remaining officers ended the pursuit. Shot were not returned by the officers. At a news conference Monday, Grubbs said the vehicle was later located abandoned and destroyed by fire on Dewmaine Road in Williamson County. Police can only describe two black males as suspects, Grubbs said, however additional passengers are not being ruled out. "We are working diligently to identify the identities of those involved," he said. The 27-year-old officer whose name is being withheld by the department out of respect for his family was transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale where he was initially treated for the gunshot wound and was later transferred to a hospital in the St. Louis area for additional treatment. As investigation into the incident is continuing, Grubbs announced that there is a minimum $10,000 reward for the identity of anyone involved. Suspects should be considered armed and dangerous, Grubbs said. "We do not want (individuals) engaging but we want (people) reporting," he said. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Carbondale Police at 618-457-3200, or the Carbondale/SIU Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 618-549-2677, or the Murphysboro/Jackson County anonymous tip line at 618-687-2677. With a Department of Public Utilities lineman continuing to recover from injuries he received in a June accident, the mayor of Orangeburg and each member of Orangeburg City Council voiced support and encouragement to a group of the injured man's fellow linemen Thursday morning. The lineman, who has 22 years of experience, came into contact with a 14,400-volt power line while performing his regular duties with three of his coworkers on Fanfare Drive off of Belleville Road. We wanted to come here and share our sympathy and our expressions of love to you. Were here for you as a council, and were not just saying this just to say it," Butler told the linemen. "Were saying it because we mean it." When something happens to one person of your team, it could have been anybody because youre all in this together. I dont know if you all were at the sight when it (the accident) actually happened, but thats a picture in your mind that will be there forever, the mayor said. The small group of linemen gathered at the DPU office on Russell Street to hear from Butler and council members, all of whom said they appreciated the professional and dependable work they do for the citizens of the city. Butler told the linemen, "All lives matter to us. This is our job. If you have a concern, we're open to you." City Councilman Charlie Jernigan said while the linemans accident in June was unfortunate, "the thing is that we try to move on from these things and live by the example that hes showing right now, showing courage. We go ahead and do what we need to do. I dont know whether you realize it or not, but Orangeburg is very, very lucky to have a group of people like you working for them, Jernigan said. He said the linemen are the ones braving the elements to make sure citizens have power, and you do that day in and day out. I appreciate everything that you do and Im here if you ever want to talk about anything. Im a phone call away," Jernigan added. City Councilman Richard Stroman also thanked the linemen for their service and urged them to always keep safety first. I have an open door policy. You can call me any time you want to call me. I just want to say one thing: safety is first. When the electricity goes out, I dont care how long it takes you. Take your time, Stroman said. DPU lineman Mike Miller said he is grateful for the expressions of support and appreciation as he and his coworkers continue their mission and pray for their injured colleague's speedy recovery. It made me feel good to know that city council supports us, that theyre here to be with us. It just lets us know that what we do doesnt go unnoticed. Were trained to do our job. We stress safety and put it first, Miller said, noting that the mood in the department has been sad at times. Its been tense and sad, and everybodys praying for him (the accident victim) and wishing him the best of luck, that he has a speedy recovery, he said. City Councilwoman Liz Zimmerman Keitt asked everyone to join hands in a prayer of solidarity and support as she thanked the linemen for their service. Let us all work together to continue to make Orangeburg one of the best cities in the state of South Carolina and the United States of America," Keitt said. "We thank you for what you do and continue to do for us. If at any time that we can be of service to you let us know." Councilwoman Sandra Knotts said the simple things in life should not be taken for granted, including being able to just flip a switch to turn on the lights. Thank you for the service that you provide for the citizens of Orangeburg. We are grateful, and I think for the most part, most of them take it for granted until the lights go out, Knotts said. She added, Be mindful and careful in all the things that you do. Know that Jesus Christ is with you 24-7. Know that the city council of the city of Orangeburg and most of its citizens thank you for the job that you do. I must say you do an excellent job. Councilman Bernard Haire said he was saddened by the news of the injured lineman, but he noted that the council wants to be partners with DPU in continuing to make life for the citizens of Orangeburg so much better. I have noticed the professionalism of the workers here. I do not, for one moment, question or have any reservation as to you all continuing that kind of service for the citizens of Orangeburg, Haire said. If there are things that we can do to make your life, your work environment better, please do not hesitate to let us know because we want to make this a safe environment for you. DPU Manager Tommy Miller declined to provide any details on the nature of the lineman's injuries because of patient privacy laws and regulations. "I can only tell you he's in the hospital recovering at this time," he said, noting that he often brags about DPUs linemen and the work they do. I commend them for what they do and am extremely proud of them, said Miller, who also thanked Butler and council for coming out Thursday morning. Its been a tough time. This is not the kind of thing that you take very lightly and its not something that will heal itself overnight," he said. "I think you being here is a step toward helping these gentlemen get through this situation." Nicolle Wallace was the fly in the ointment. While most of MSNBC praised Hillary Clintons speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, the conservative commentator said the former secretary of state squandered her campaigns week of outreach to Republicans with a very partisan speech. After the Obamas welcomed conservatives into the Democratic tent with inclusivity and non-ideological indictment of Donald Trump, Wallace argued, Clinton offered the GOP run-of-the-mill class warfare. Shes certainly right about this much: Clinton had an extraordinarily difficult needle to thread in Philadelphia, and its hard to imagine the Democrat didnt prick herself with it at some point. On the one hand, Clintons speech was, as multiple MSNBC pundits concluded, a speech Bernie Sanders could have given. She went out of her way to court her former primary rivals voters and shore up support on the left, offering more than a little evidence that shes moved there on various issues. Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition free for the middle class and debt free for all, she said, citing the marquee example of their coming together. We will also liberate millions of people who already have student debt. Clinton also pledged to oppose unfair trade deals, tax the wealthy and usher in new economic stimulus along with a host of government programs from affordable child care to paid family leave. And therein lies the downside Wallace saw. Clinton is a liberal, and more importantly shes increasingly running as one. Thats going to make it harder for #NeverTrump Republicans to join her campaign, especially since many of them are ideologically to the right of the GOP nominee. One potential opportunity is Republican women. According to Wallaces fellow MSNBC conservative and compatriot from John McCains 2008 presidential campaign, Steve Schmidt, Clinton has a shot at married security moms if she can persuade them Trump is unfit to be commander in chief. Thats key to the Democrats strategy. Like Lyndon Johnson running against Barry Goldwater, Clinton is arguing that Americans military arsenal in the hands of the bombastic businessman is a frightening prospect. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons, she said Thursday. I cant put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride. All of this should resonate with anti-Trump Republicans. They dont need to be convinced of their nominees problems, and some may even prefer Clinton on these issues of stability and security. The question is whether they can abide such strong social liberalism as part of the package, and whether a diverse coalition of security moms and Bernie bros can ever really be sustained. Thats the challenge of being stronger together: enduring three months longer together. Graham Vyse is a reporter for InsideSources. He was previously a staff writer for Washington, D.C.'s Current Newspapers, where he appeared on "The Fixs 2015 list of best state political reporters" in the Washington Post. His work has also been published by the Post, Slate, and NBC News. Democrats did a remarkable thing this past week in Philadelphia: They framed this election as an epic struggle not just to continue the policies of President Barack 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. 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 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. 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. Orangeburg native and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson's email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia has issued a statement regarding the surrender of the Sasna Tsrer armed group. The statement again names the armed group members terrorists. The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia announces that the anti-terrorist operation aimed at the liberation of the Armenian police regiment on July 30 and 31 has ended. Through their consistent and coordinated actions, the special task detachment of the relevant law enforcement authorities have forced the armed group members to lay down arms and surrender to the authorities. 20 terrorists have been detained. The territory of the police regiment has completely been liberated, the statement reads. Turkey's security forces have arrested eight military personnel suspected of being involved in an airstrike on a hotel in Turkey's southwestern Marmaris where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stayed during mid-July's attempted coup, local media said Monday. The arrests were carried out in Marmaris after local residents discovered a suspicious group of people in a corn field, the Anadolu news agency reported. Earlier, seven members of the military were arrested in southwestern Turkey's Mugla province. A number of reforms will be held in the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), the countrys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, the Sabah newspaper reported Aug. 1. Yildirim said that the reforms will be aimed at improving the intelligence service of Turkey. Its too early to say which pattern will be used for the intelligence service of the country, he added. The prime minister didnt mention when the reforms will be discussed and/or implemented. It was earlier reported that President Erdogan couldnt reach the head of intelligence service on the day of the military coup attempt. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. /By Azernews/ By Gunay Hasanova Turkey's ongoing cleansing within the state and government structures is expected to be one of the issues to be discussed at a meeting of the CE Secretary General with the Turkish high ranking officials. Thorbjorn Jagland is scheduled to hold official meetings as part of his upcoming visit to Turkey on August 3, Turkish TV channel NTV reported on Monday. He plans to mull cleansing of state and government structures of Turkey from Gulen supporters, whom Ankara blames in staging a failed coup attempt on July 16. Earlier, Turkish authorities said that cleansing in the state structures of the country will continue. Another topic of discussion will be application of visa-free regime of the EU for Turkey. The European Commission plans to publish in September a regular report on Turkey's fulfillment of the conditions for the introduction of visa-free regime, RIA Novosti reported. "The next report on the progress in the implementation of EU-Turkey commitments, including the terms of the progress in the dialogue on visa liberalization, is expected to be published in September," said a source, who requested anonymity, RIA Novosti reports. Earlier, a representative of the European Commission said that timing the abolition of visas for Turkish citizens depends on the performance of the Turkish side regarding the remaining conditions of visa liberalization plan and subsequent decisions of the European Parliament and the Council in this regard. In turn, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned the EU that Turkey will have to withdraw from the implementation of the migrants return program unless the visa facilitation occurs. The Heads of State and the EU Member States' governments agreed with Turkey upon a joint plan to combat the migration crisis in mid-March. The program is focusing on the return of illegal immigrants arriving from Greece to the territory of Turkey and accepting legal Syrian refugees in Turkey by the EU according to the principle of "one for one". Turkey has long waited for its EU membership, while each application to accede to the European Union was frustrating for the government. Turkey, holding a status of an associate member at the Economic Community -- the predecessor of the EU since 1963 -- made an official application for entry on April 14, 1987. The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union /By Azernews/ By Rashid Shirinov Armenians still rally in Yerevan protesting against the government and demanding resignation of the Sargsyan regime. Despite the surrender of the armed group Sasna Tsrer, which seized a police station in Yerevan for 15 days and demanded resignation of the Armenian president, the situation on the Freedom square in Yerevan is tense, news.am reports. Leader of rally Tigran Khzmalyan said that the first interim victory has been achieved, and a transition to the political process should take place. He also informed that the next rally will be held tomorrow at 19.30. Following Khzmalyans speech, a large group of protesters began a spontaneous march through Yerevan streets in support of the Sasna Tsrer and in protest to the current Armenian government. The main thing is that the movement of Sasna Tsrer started. From this moment until the release of the leaders, the movement will be managed both from prison and from hiding, Chairman of the Founding Parliament of Armenia, Garegin Chugaszian said. Down with tyranny, long live the free and sovereign Armenia. Meanwhile, the confrontation between Armenian population and police grows. On July 29, following a rally in Sari Tagh district of Yerevan, the police dispersed the protesters and arrested 165 people. As a result of last clashes, 73 citizens addressed medical institutions with injuries of varying degrees of severity. Currently, 22 of them still stay in hospitals. This even more rose up Armenian population against its police, and protesters demand to release all the arrested. The Armenian police's atrocities is not limited to brutal disperse of the rally, as they also beat up the activists in prisons. Recently, activist Andreas Ghukasyan has been brutally beaten in a remand centre, where he is being kept. Member of the Anti-Crisis Council Saro Saroyan informed that his knees were broken by police, he is unable to move, and the police do not even transfer the activist to the hospital. On July 17, a group of armed men entered the territory of the Armenian police patrol department in the Erebuni district of Yerevan and took several people hostage. The attackers demanded the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was arrested nearly a month ago on charges of illegal possession of arms. They also demanded resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Following the long-lasting talks, the armed group on July 23 released all of the hostages. Nevertheless, they refused to lay arms down and surrender to the authorities. On July 27, the group took new hostages. They were four ambulance doctors who arrived at the police station to assist the wounded in the shootout between the police and Sasna Tsrer members. By July 31, they were also released. From the first day of the seizure, Armenian people started their protest actions against authorities by gathering on Yerevans streets. /By Azernews/ By Laman Ismayilova August is the hottest month of the year in Azerbaijan and the heat rises to+39?C. Throughout August in Baku, typical wind speeds vary from 0 m/s to a moderate 6 m/s, at time exceeding 9 m/s. The average temperature of the sea during this month is 26C. That's 2C warmer compared to July , where on average the sea temperature stays around a positively warm 24C. The average monthly temperature in August is expected to be nigh to the climatic norm along with a small positive margin in some places, the National Hydrometeorology Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources reported. In Baku and Absheron peninsula, the average monthly temperature is predicted to be +25-28?C which is close to the climatic norm. At nights temperature will be +21-26?C at night. In the afternoons of the first half of the month the temperature will be + 30-35?C but in several days will rise up +39?C. Monthly precipitation will be close to the climatic norm (6-8 mm) and a little below the norm in some places. In Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, average monthly temperature is excepted to be +25-28?C which is close to the climatic norm and above the norm. At nights temperature will be +19-24?C. In the afternoons the temperature will be +30-36?C but will rise up to +38-42?C in the several days. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 6-10 mm). The average monthly temperature In Upper Karabakh: Khankandi, Shusha, Khojali, Khocavand; Gubadli, Zangilan, Lachin, Kalbajar and Dashkasan, Gadabay regions is predicted to be +18-22?C which is nigh to the climatic norm At nights the temperature will be +12-17?C.In the afternoons temperature will be +21-26?C, and will be+28-33?C in some days. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 32-55 mm) and a little above the norm in some places. In Gazakh-Ganja, Goranboy, Tar-Tar-Agdam-Agjabadi-Fuzuli-Jabrail regions, average monthly temperature is predicted to be +24-28?C which is close to the climatic norm. At nights the temperature will be +20-25?C. In the afternoons the temperature will be +30-34?C, will be+36-39?C in some days in the second and third decade. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 15-27mm) and a little above the norm in some places. The average monthly temperature In Balakan, Zagatala, Qakh, Sheki, Oguz, Gabala, ?smailly, Agsu, Shamakhy, Siyazan, Shabran, Khizi, Guba, Khachmaz, Gusar regions is expected to be +22-26?C which is close to the climatic norm. At nights the temperature will be +18-23?C. In the afternoons temperature will be from +26-31?C, will be+33-38?C in some days. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 13-116 mm) and a little above the norm in some places. In Agdash, Mingachevir, Yevlakh, Kurdamir, ?mishli, Beylagan, Sabirabad, Bilasuvar, Saatli, Shirvan, Haj?gabul, Salyan, Neftchala regions, average monthly temperature is predicted to be +26-28?C which is close to the climatic norm. At nights the temperature will be +21-26?C. In the afternoons the temperature will be from +30-35?C, will be +38-40?C in some days in the second and third decade. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 6-22 mm) and a little above the norm in some places. The average monthly temperature In Masall?-Lankaran-Astara-Lerik, Yardimli regions is predicted to be +23-26?C which is close to the climatic norm. At nights the temperature will be +20-25?C. In the afternoons the temperature will be from +28-33?C, will rise up to +38?C in some days in the second and third decade. Monthly rainfall is expected to be close to the climatic norm (norm 18-83mm). The UAE's hospitaity sector continues to grow with 183 hotel projects and 54,000 hotel rooms currently in the pipeline, a new report has showed. The hotel construction report by Tophotelprojects prepared exclusively for The Hotel Show Dubai 2016 reveals that the majority of the new hotels are expected to open before 2020. The busiest years are forecast to be 2017 (56 project openings) and 2018 (58 project openings). Hotels opening in this time include: Paramount Hotel Dubai (2017); Hard Rock Hotel Abu Dhabi (2017); Citymax Hotel Ras Al Khaimah (2017); and Marriott Dubai Jumeirah (2018). Thomas van Vliet, CEO of Paramount Hotels & Resorts, said: Paramount Hotel Dubai, expected to open by the end of 2017, will be the first ever Paramount Hotels & Resorts property as well as the operators UAE flagship hotel. The hotel, part of a mixed use complex also housing 1,197 serviced residences, offers a luxurious experience with a Californian edge and Hollywood vibe, housing 823 guest rooms and suites, some of which are themed after Paramount Pictures movies. We have three more projects underway in Dubai, with a total of 1,383 keys. W Hotels & Resorts opened its first hotel in the UAE in June of this year. Peter Katusak-Huzsvar, general manager of W Dubai Al Habtoor City, said: It has been a long-time coming, but the first W Hotel in the UAE has opened its doors. As a leading lifestyle hotel, it is fitting that W Dubai opens within a unique and first of its kind urban resort like Al Habtoor City Starwoods largest hospitality project in the Middle East. As a city, Dubai represents everything that W Hotels are passionate about Fashion, Music, Design, and Fuel. Following the launch of W Dubai Al Habtoor City, the brand is set to rapidly grow its portfolio in the Middle East with four new openings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE; Amman, Jordan; and Muscat, Oman. Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to lead in hotel construction across the UAE with a combined 155 hotel projects and 47,619 rooms in the pipeline. Other Emirates with hotel construction underway include: Sharjah with six projects (959 rooms) and Ras Al-Khaimah with five projects (1,847 rooms). Tophotelprojects will discuss the latest hotel construction trends across the UAE and the wider Middle East and Africa at the Vision Conference 2016, part of the 17th edition of The Hotel Show Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service More than 50,000 schools are expected to be set up in the Gulf region by 2020 to address the growing school population that is estimated to reach 15 million in four years, said organisers of an upcoming education forum in Dubai, UAE. Citing findings from the GCC Education Industry report published by Alpen Capital, organisers of the forthcoming International and Private Schools Education Forum (IPSEF) Middle East said 41,678 schools will have been established throughout the GCC in the public education sector by 2020; and 9,301 schools in the private education market. Experts estimate about 51,000 schools will be needed by 2020 to accommodate the growing demand for schools throughout the GCC, said Rhona Greenhill, co-founder IPSEF. This will be a significant addition of 7,000 more schools than the current number to address the burgeoning school student population across the region. Saudi Arabia leads with 44,441 schools expected to be set up, followed by 2,054 in Oman and 1,497 in Kuwait. Next comes the UAE with 1,406, followed by Qatar with 1,107 and Bahrain with 503. Last year alone, figures from the GCC Education Construction report identified more than 500 educational projects in various stages of development collectively worth more than $50 billion throughout the Gulf region. The projected capacity gap has prompted both public and private sector stakeholders, including international school operators to focus on the education market through increased government spending and long-term development strategies. For instance, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman have allocated more than 20 per cent of their total budget this year towards the education sector, a figure higher than in most developed countries such as the US, UK and Germany, indicating the seriousness of these Gulf states efforts to develop their education sector. The lead in time for the delivery of new schools is at least 24 months allowing for design and approvals in advance of a typical construction first phase of at least 14 months, said Mark Ryder, Education Consultant Daymer Group, one of the speakers featured at the event. This also assumes handover to the operator in the May preceding a September opening. With this in mind we have a good sense of the schools planning to open in September 2016 and 2017. The window for September 2018 schools will close in a few months. There are schools planned for Abu Dhabi and Sharjah but not in the same numbers as Dubai. I know that there is significant activity in the construction of new public schools in Saudi Arabia and that the Qatar market is also active. New schools in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait are limited, he added. Experts say there is definitely a growing recognition amongst existing operators and schools that are considering entering the market that it is now very competitive and previous enrolment ramp up rates are unlikely to be achieved universally. In the British and American sectors some operators are even talking about over supply. However, there still appears to be a gap in the International Baccalaureate (IB) market and for quality affordable education. With the international and private school markets continuing to grow, and as competition increases, it is increasingly critical that schools and investors planning to open new operations in education develop strategies for success, Greenhill said. To assist that need IPSEF provides a unique reference point for all those involved in the financing, planning, design, delivery and management of a new school project. By bringing together the diverse community involved in a new operation, IPSEF aims to provide participants with not only valuable case studies of schools from across the MENA region but importantly a host of contacts that will enable them to plan their project with confidence, Greenhill ended. IPSEF will take place from September 27 to 29 at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Dubai, UAE. TradeArabia News Service The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm, has inaugurated a year-long business analyst programme in Saudi Arabia. The initiative is especially designed to help nurture young Saudi talents and equip the nations youth with the tools, knowledge, and leadership skills needed to excel in the field of strategy consulting. In accordance with Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 agenda, men and women enrolled in the Business Analyst Programme will be able to gain first-hand experience working side-by-side with BCG consultants and conducting business analysis for the firms vast portfolio of high-profile clients spanning all BCG practice areas. Investing in and developing local talent has long been at the crux of BCGs global and regional talent management strategy, said Joerg Hildebrandt, senior partner & managing director at BCG Middle East. With this in mind, we are delighted to be launching our Business Analyst Programme in Saudi Arabia; we firmly believe that this initiative will help contribute to the creation of a high-potential, dynamic local talent pool in the Kingdom, one that includes both men and women. After all, a robust workforce is a key driver of a diverse, knowledge-based economy. BCGs Business Analyst Programme is tailored for outstanding fresh graduates and targeted towards those who performed in the top 10 percent of their university. To start, as part of its ongoing search for talent, BCG has partnered with three universities in Saudi Arabia which are: the King Saud University, Al Faisal University and the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral. Moving forward, BCG is looking to expand the programme to other countries in the GCC. TradeArabia News Service The global air cargo business, following a poor start to 2016, has picked up in June and reported an increase in worldwide chargeable weight of 2.7 per cent year-over-year (YoY), according to WorldACD Market Data. The uptick in June was largely caused by a strong showing of the Asia Pacific region, which grew by 7.1 per cent in incoming and by 6.6 per cent in outgoing air cargo, quite a change from earlier months, said a statement from WorldACD Market Data. Europe as a destination continued to do well, but Africa and Central and South America fell back, in incoming as in outgoing air cargo volumes. With a drop of almost 11 per cent, African imports were particularly hard hit. North America performed on average, while the Middle East and South Asia (Mesa) was lacklustre with a performance below the other areas in the northern hemisphere, it said. Most product categories grew in June more or less in line with general cargo, except pharma, which showed an increase of over 10 per cent. Thanks to this growth, with yields well above average, the overall USD-yield in June remained stable, i.e. the same as in May 2016, it added. Moreover, the first quarter of 2016 hardly lent itself to a proper comparison with the same quarter a year earlier. Therefore, the second quarter may be a better indicator of what 2016 will turn out to be: it showed an average YoY volume increase of 2.1 per cent worldwide, it said. The smaller country pairs outgrew the larger ones, as the top-100 country pairs grew by much less than average (0.6 per cent only). Yet, 21 of these top-100 grew by more than 10 per cent. India figured in six of these 21 country pairs, China East and Germany in five, and Hong Kong in four. As far as destination areas are concerned, growth was only recorded for Asia Pacific and Europe, both over 5 per cent. The belly hold capacity grew most from Mesa to Europe, but a good part of that capacity growth was taken up by cargo carried over 4.9 per cent. In the other direction, the figures were over 5.3 per cent and over 2.2 per cent respectively, it stated. For Europe to North America, however, the picture was more worrisome: a bellyhold capacity growth of 5.5 per cent combined with a volume decrease of 1.5 per cent. The result was slightly better in the other direction, i.e. from North America to Europe, where bellyhold capacity grew by 3.2 per cent and cargo carried in the bellyhold dropped by 0.7 per cent, it said. For the routes between Mesa and Europe, more than half of the airlines reporting capacity data to WorldACD, notched up a higher volume growth than capacity growth for the bellyhold, thus improving their cargo load factors on their passenger aircraft. For the routes between North America and Europe, the picture was quite different: only 20 per cent of the airlines reporting improved their cargo load factor on passenger aircraft, it added. TradeArabia News Service Ericsson has announced a partnership with KDDI, a leading Japanese operator, to deploy Ericsson Device Connection Platform (DCP), to deliver Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to enterprises. The partnership will provide enhanced connectivity services to KDDIs enterprise customers and support the deployment of IoT solutions on a global scale, said a statement from the company. DCP is a cloud-based IoT platform that will enable KDDI to offer enterprises IoT connectivity management, subscription management, network connectivity administration and flexible billing services, it said. Enterprises will therefore be able to deploy, manage and scale IoT connected devices and applications globally, while improving operational efficiency and reducing costs, it added. Keiichi Mori, executive officer, general manager, IoT business development division, solution business sector, KDDI, said: KDDI has for a long time been committed to building the communication environment to connect with world operators in order to support the global businesses of our customers. We believe that by adopting DCP, we will be able to leverage Ericssons connection with world carriers and furthermore promote our unified service deployment globally to customers as they start worldwide IoT deployments, he said. By offering seamless multinational connectivity, DCP enables customers to capitalise on the global growth of connected devices. The platform lowers entry costs as well as total cost of ownership, and makes deploying, managing and scaling IoT solutions financially viable for device manufacturers, enterprises and service providers, said a statement. Chris Houghton, head of region North East Asia, Ericsson, said: Our company is driving the evolution of the IoT by lowering thresholds for businesses to create new IoT solutions, as well as by breaking barriers between industries and connecting people, business and society. This partnership with KDDI is an important milestone in making the adoption of cellular services for IoT devices economically viable for enterprises, he added. TradeArabia News Service China's dominant ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing will merge with Uber's business in China in a $35 billion deal that will end bruising competition between the two firms, according to a source familiar with the matter. The deal between the pair - which have been spending heavily to gain market share and battling fiercely for passengers - is nearly complete and could be announced as early as Monday, said the source, who declined to be identified because the deal is not yet public. The new entity combines Didi's most recent valuation of $28 billion and Uber China's $7 billion valuation for the $35 billion market capitalisation. Uber China investors will have a 20 percent stake in the new company, the source said. Uber declined to comment. In addition, Didi will invest $1 billion in San Francisco-based Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said. Didi last year invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the US. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. But China has been a challenging market for Uber. The company was burning through more than $1 billion a year there in a price war with Didi. Uber is profitable in the US, Canada and about 100 other cities. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported the deal earlier. The deal comes after China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. Didi itself was created last year from the merger of two companies backed separately by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and social network firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. - Reuters Issued every year in a strictly limited edition worldwide since 1992, the Montblanc Writers Edition pays tribute to the greatest icons of literary history. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his lifes achievements, Montblanc celebrates the revered English playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare, creator of Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth and many other masterpieces. A literary genius and magician with words, Shakespeare penned over 150 sonnets and 37 plays, a treasure trove of verbal brilliance that has provided many expressions and nuggets of human wisdom still integral to the English language today. The diversity and richness of Shakespeares work is honoured in the many details of the William Shakespeare Limited Editions created from the most select materials and shaped by highly skilled master craftsmen with meticulous dedication. In a first for Montblanc, the precious resin cap takes on an octagonal shape reminiscent of the famous Globe Theatre and its octagonal structure. A feat of technical virtuosity and precision, the shape is achieved by ensuring that the facts and edges are perfectly defined while never losing the highly polished surface of the resin. The design of the Writers Edition William Shakespeare is inspired by the broad spectrum of Shakespeares plays, ranging from dark tragedies to light comedies. The black and white precious resin combination on the cap and barrel recalls the colours of the flags that were raised above his theatre depending on the genre staged with white being comedy and black being tragedy. The body of the writing instrument is engraved with a fine feather-like pattern that represents the quill pen Shakespeare used to write his many works. At the end of the clip, a golden ring recalls the earring Shakespeare wore in the Chandos portrait, the most famous portrait of the bard. In honour of the great dramatist of the human soul, the writing instrument is encircled with a gold-plated ring embossed with symbols representing his seven most famous plays. A rose and dagger stand for Romeo and Juliet, a skull for Hamlet, two chess pieces for King Lear, a crest for Henry V, a crown for Macbeth, a swirling cloud for The Tempest and a laurel wreath in the form of a C for Julius Caesar. Inspired by the shape of the Globe, Shakespeares innovative circular theatre that drew every audience member into the action of the play, the cap of the writing instrument is octagonal and finishes in a cap top shaped like the ringed roof of the theatre. In the centre, where the yard and stage are open to the sky, the deeply set white Montblanc Emblem elegantly crowns the Edition. The engraving on the Au 750 gold nib honours the Globe Theatre affectionately referred to by the playwright as the wooden O, depicting the multi-storey stage in the centre of this special universe he created for his audience. Limited to 1597 pieces in reference to the year his most important play The Tragedy Of Romeo and Juliet was first published, the William Shakespeare Limited Edition 1597 is inspired by his greatest tragedies. The multi-coloured barrel is embellished with exquisite guilloche patterns evoking his quill overlaid with precious lacquer, contrasting with the cap crafted from pure black lacquer. The black and red colours are a reference to the flags that flew above his theatre to inform audiences of that genre being performed at the time: red for historical drama and black for tragedy. As well as featuring the embossed symbols on the cap and cones gold-plated rings representing his most famous plays, the William Shakespeare Limited Edition 1597 is decorated with Tudor design elements reminiscent of the era in which Shakespeare wrote most of his plays and the longstanding patronage of Queen Elizabeth I. The forepart of the fountain pen is engraved with his signature, and the black resin cone features a Tudor rose at its base, the badge favoured by the Virgin Queen. The blue lacquer above the cone of the fountain pen refers to the colour defined as Royal Blue because it was worn by royalty, the nobility and members of the Council. The colour also symbolised heavenly grace within the church, power, importance and wealth. The octagonal cap mirrors the distinctive structure of the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames in London with gold-coated strips set against the precious lacquer evoking the balconies that surrounded the stage and gave audiences an unparalleled experience inside the theatre. Inspired by the colours of the red flags that flew above the theatre to indicate the performance of one of his historical dramas as well as the vibrant red quill pen used by the playwright himself, Montblanc is releasing a velvet red ink to accompany the Writers Edition William Shakespeare. To complete the Collection, Montblanc is introducing two pairs of circular cufflinks with the Tudor rose as the central motif. The simple elegance of a red rose contrasts with the yellow-gold PVD finish of the first pair, while a black rose complements the shine of the stainless steel pair. - TradeArabia News Service When it comes to alleviating poverty and allowing people to live up to their potential, prize-winning Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto divides the world into two groups: the ones who have defined property rights and those who do not. About two billion people have full rights to the property they live in and the land they farm, according to the director of the Lima-based Institute for Liberty and Democracy. For the 5.3 billion who do not have such rights, the implications are stark: people are unable to leverage their resources to create wealth, and their assets become "dead capital" which cannot be used to generate income or growth. As a result, the poor remain trapped by the "tragedy of the commons" where their unregistered assets can be stolen by powerful interests, hurting individuals and broader economic development, de Soto said. Legally protected property rights are the key source of the developed world's prosperity, and the lack thereof is the reason why many nations remain mired in poverty, de Soto argued. Providing the world's poor with titles for their land, homes and unregistered businesses would unlock $9.3 trillion in assets, de Soto estimates, an unprecedented sum to reduce poverty. Property titles would allow the poor to use their small homes or land in order to borrow money and start businesses, he said, unlocking the entrepreneurial potential of billions of people. "There is no such thing as an investment without property rights that are negotiable and transferable," de Soto told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview. "The question is: do people own things in such a way that they can be brought into the global market and make us wealthier?" Political leaders preparing a new 20-year development plan for urban areas, to be agreed at a UN conference in October, will be addressing the challenge of unequal property rights as they face demands for better living standards from a growing global urban population. HIDDEN CONNECTIONS In the US, the world's largest economy, the most important source of funds for new businesses is a mortgage on the entrepreneur's house, de Soto wrote in his book "The Mystery of Capital". Small business people in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, in contrast, normally cannot leverage the value of their homes or land to create businesses because they lack secure property rights. An adviser to more than 30 heads of state from South Africa to the Philippines, the 75-year-old economist said there is no clear data on whether property rights are improving or receding globally. But a lack of these rights underpins seemingly disparate international events from the rise of religious extremism in the Middle East, to rural land rights protests in China and conflicts over "blood diamonds" in central Africa, de Soto said. The spark which ignited the "Arab Spring" uprisings was the expropriation of a Tunisian vendor's unregistered fruit cart, underlying the broader lack of property rights across the Middle East. The region has the world's worst record when it comes to empowering ordinary people with property rights, he said, in a trend which stokes desperation. In Asia, an estimated 150,000 rural protests happening each year in China are "all about property rights - things being taken away from the poor and given to industry or wealthy people." ELITE IDEAS To his critics, de Soto's ideas do not threaten the world's elite who have amassed an ever greater share of the planet's wealth and resources. Others contend that property rights, while important, are not the key starting point for improving the lives of the poor. "Formal titles are more important for financial expansion than for the rights of people," Raquel Rolnik, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Rolnik supports the idea of getting title deeds to the poor, but says de Soto's policy prescriptions met mixed success in his native Peru. Slum dwellers who received formal titles to their unregistered homes did not head straight for the bank in large numbers to take out loans against their properties to build new businesses, she says. "A good housing policy is diversified and can mobilise different tenure arrangements, not only private property," Rolnik said. - Thomson Reuters Foundation Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) has achieved an increase of 12 per cent positive guest reviews year-to-date as compared to last year at the various hotels managed by the group. Securing an average of 75 to 95 per cent positive reviews, most hotels including The Ajman Palace Hotel, Coral Beach Resort Sharjah and Coral Dubai Deira Hotel topped the popularity index charts on leading Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and popular guest review sites such as TripAdvisor. Laurent A Voivenel, CEO of HMH Hospitality Management Holdings, said: "There's no substitute for a strong brand reputation. We are delighted by the continuous growth in positive reviews and comments by our valued guests. Their feedback is extremely precious for us as we are committed to exceed their expectations. Our brands are built on our core values putting the customer at the heart of the proposition and delivering outstanding quality and service that sets us apart from the competition. Every hotel within our network, must meet the requisite brand standards and deliver on the brand promise in terms of product quality and service and these high rankings are testimony to that." - TradeArabia News Service Etihad Airways Medical Centre (EAMC), the UAEs first aeromedical facility, and Fatima College of Health Sciences (FCHS) of The Institute of Applied Technology, have announced a new partnership to support the training and continued development of Emirati nurses in Abu Dhabi. The partnership, which is the first of its kind in the UAE, forms an important part of EAMCs strategy to employ more Emirati female healthcare professionals, as the airline remains committed to realising the vital economic potential of women and their important role in driving the emirates transformation into a thriving knowledge based economy. The agreement also supports FCHSs vision to be a key provider of excellence in health sciences education in the UAE. The agreement was signed by Dr Nadia Bastaki, Etihad Airways vice president - Medical Services, and Dr Daryl A. Cornish - director, Fatima College of Health Sciences. The EAMC sponsorship programme will provide up to three students a year with a unique opportunity to pursue a rewarding and challenging career in the nursing profession with Etihad Airways. EAMC will also give the selected students the opportunity to become pioneers in aviation and occupational nursing as a recognized training centre, following a recently signed agreement with the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Students will be selected for sponsorship based on their robust academic performance to date. Successful students will receive a monthly stipend from the airline and will meet EAMC clinical staff members regularly to discuss their progress. After graduation, students will be offered full-time employment with the airline. Dr Bastaki said: We are honoured to announce our partnership with Fatima College of Health Sciences. This agreement provides a unique opportunity for EAMC to encourage female UAE nationals to pursue a career in nursing and explore the fields of aviation and occupational medicine, when they will have the opportunity to become a pioneer in this area of medicine. In March 2016, EAMC and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) announced a pioneering new partnership to provide the airline with educational, training, research and operational excellence opportunities in the field of Occupational Medicine. The collaboration, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East, enabled Etihad Airways to enhance the medical and broader wellbeing services it provides, whilst also marking a significant step in the airlines vision to be the global leader in Aviation Medicine. The EAMC serves the airlines 23,000 Abu Dhabi based employees, providing full laboratory services, physiotherapy, radiology, dental care, nutrition counselling, ear, nose and throat services, and primary care. Nurses from FCHS who successfully gain employment with Etihad Airways will have the option to work across a number of disciplines in addition to aviation health services. Dr Ahmed Al Awar, managing director of The Institute of Applied Technology, said: This agreement forms an important part of our ongoing efforts to encourage more Emirati nationals to enter into fulfilling professions within the healthcare sector as we continue to play a vital part in ensuring its rapid growth and expansion. Our partnership with Etihad Airways will enable a select number of our most talented nurses to pursue careers with one of the UAEs largest companies as well as gaining invaluable experience in the field of aviation medicine. - TradeArabia News Service Pakistan has arrested at least 12 staff of its national carrier following the discovery of 6 kg (13.23 lb) of heroin in the toilet of an aircraft bound for Dubai, an airline spokesman said on Monday. The latest instance of misbehaviour by the staff of cash-strapped Pakistan International Airlines was uncovered after the military-run Anti-Narcotics Force raided a flight from Lahore to Dubai flight on Saturday, Danyal Gilani said. "Around a dozen employees of PIA have been detained and are being interrogated in connection with heroin seizure," he told Reuters. "If proven guilty, they will face action with respect to their jobs, in addition to the legal consequences." In June last year, the airline sacked five cabin crew who had been detained in Britain on accusations of trying to smuggle mobile phones and foreign currency. In 2013, a PIA pilot was jailed for nine months in Britain after being found to be over three times Britain's legal alcohol limit for flying, just before he was due to take off with 156 people aboard. For nearly three years, the government has struggled to find private buyers for the airline. Employees staged a three-day strike in February to oppose privatisation. Reuters CHEYENNE Cooking oil and graphene, a recently discovered substance stronger than steel, might seem to have little in common, but some theorize both could be made from carbon dioxide emitted by coal- and gas-fired power plants. Teams from Canada, China, Finland, India, Scotland, Switzerland and the U.S. have submitted 47 proposals for the first round of a $20 million contest to put power-plant emissions to profitable use, NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE officials announced Wednesday. Overall, weve got some people trying some classic approaches, some classic chemistry, and theyre trying to do it in a new way, or a more efficient way. And then we have some people taking some unorthodox approaches and theyre trying to do something brand new, said Marcius Extavour, director of technical operations for the contest. NRG is a major U.S. energy company based in Houston, Texas. COSIA stands for the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, a group of companies developing the Canadian oil sands. The first round of competition will be a technical and business viability review on paper. Up to 30 teams will advance to the second round, which will involve using simulated flue gas in a lab. From there, up to 10 teams will share a $2.5 million milestone prize and advance to the third and final round: Using real emissions from a coal-fired power plant in Wyoming or a gas-fired power plant in the Canadian province of Alberta. The goal is to demonstrate the most profitable way or ways to make products from carbon dioxide to defray the cost of keeping the gas out of the atmosphere. The winner of each side of the competition the gas-fired power plant side or the coal-fired one will get a $7.5 million grand prize. Nine trained scientists from business and academia will decide the winners at each turn. Entries were due July 15. Teams have emerged from academia, private business, startups even a father-and-son partnership with ideas for new building materials, fuel sources, plastic products and more: A team from the University of California, Los Angeles, proposes to make a 3D-printed building material called CO2NCRETE with half the carbon dioxide emissions as typical concrete production. Pond Technologies, of Markham, Ontario, proposes to use CO2 emissions to grow algae and process the algae into biodiesel and a solid biofuel. A U.S.-based team called Protein Power proposes to use the CO2 to grow microbes for use as fish food at fish farms. Fish farms often use wild-caught fish as fishmeal. Still others propose to create a palm-oil-type product. On the almost-science-fiction end, others propose to make graphene or extremely tiny tubes of carbon molecules called nanotubes. Those materials are so new theres not sort of a technical process for how to make them, Extavour said. Its really cool to see people really kind of swinging for the fences. The state of Wyoming has pledged $15 million to help modify Basin Electrics Dry Fork Station coal-fired power plant near Gillette to host carbon-capture research. XPRIZE, which is perhaps best known for holding contests to encourage private exploration of space, will be the facilitys first tenant. I am more of a patriot than I was before my Vietnam experience. I believe in the principles that our flag represents, and that we, as responsible citizens, must speak and act to uphold those principles, and bring them forward to each new day, and for each new generation. And I believe more strongly that war is not the answer. At the same time, each individual needs to search inside themselves to determine where they will draw the line, and yes, possibly act violently to protect themselves, their loved ones and vulnerable others in this world. I have no right to judge anyone about how they deal with this issue. Neither does anyone have a right to judge me. Each individual must struggle on their own with this issue. That is where freedom of conscience and freedom of choice hold sway. Those freedoms, in my experience, are available in our country. I, for one, have benefitted my whole life because of them. Bruce Andrews While studying at the University of Wyoming, Bruce Andrews completed two years of ROTC training. Through his senior year of college in 1967, ROTC service required selection from three military specialties in which to serve armor, infantry and medical service corps. The Army chose armor for him. The values taught in Andrews home meant that he would have a lifelong commitment to humankind, and he valued putting lives together. A full bird colonel and ROTC Commander allowed him to discuss how he could best serve the Army. Andrews told him, I could be more fully present if I had a transfer to medical service corps. The officer trusted me, and that I knew best how to serve my country and the men I would command. Andrews was transferred to Medical Corps. Objector status A training officer at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, told his trainees that most of them would be going to Vietnam, and if the unlikely possibility occurred that enough people of rank were killed, the medical service corps officers might have to lead combat troops. Hearing this comment led Andrews, an active duty Army officer, to apply for 1-A-O conscientious objector status. Initially denied due to his merely personal moral code, Andrews was not deterred, and reapplied for CO status until it was granted. As described in the dictionary, a conscientious objector is a person who, for reasons of conscience, objects to serving in the armed forces. Andrews, however, served his country and volunteered to serve in Vietnam despite his conscientious objector status when he could have stayed stateside. He never carried a weapon. He would serve according to the dictates of his conscience, and would not take a life upon another persons order. My decision was . . . that if Im going to pull the trigger on somebody, Im going to be the only one thats going to make that decision, Andrews remembered. I will not leave that in someone elses hands. I will go anywhere. I will do what you want me to do in a combat zone or not, but Im not going to make that move on somebody elses order. Shipping out After training, Andrews volunteered for Vietnam, and following a quick trip to visit family and friends, he flew aboard Flying Tiger Airline military aircraft from California to Anchorage, Alaska; Udorn, Thailand; Japan and finally to Bien Hoa, Vietnam. At Bien Hoa, he entered the inferno that was to be his home for the next, as he says, "approximately" 10 months, 5 days, 3 hours and 46 seconds. He then rode an Army deuce-and-a-half to his permanent base at Tan Son Nhut Airbase. There his military operational assignment was Field Medical Operations Officer/Medical Platoon Leader for the 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, serving in-country from January through December of 1969. His units nickname was the All American. At Tan Son Nhut, Andrews actively served with the medics who treated and evacuated injured troops during the war, thus increasing their survival rate. The medics wore subdued insignia on their uniforms. Some chose to carry firearms and other armaments. Some fought, but most diligently saved lives. And it was brutally difficult saving mens lives out in the jungle and rice paddies, far away from base and hospitals. Their transport was helicopters. Many of these young men went from adolescence to manhood in a very short time. Throughout their service, they experienced traumatic stress, the sheer brutality of seeing and treating the mens injuries, and the cruelty of war. Many young men witnessed the ravages of death over and over again. Thats not the point A lieutenant colonel hell-bent on Andrews carrying a weapon ordered, Lieutenant, you are going to carry a weapon. If necessary, Andrews would have disobeyed that direct order. But it was not needed. He always carried his CO status orders. He would reach into his breast pocket and hand the documents to anyone commanding him to carry a weapon. The lieutenant colonel was frustrated when the battalion commander ordered the return of Andrews weapon to the quartermaster. Another officer, a major, assigned Andrews to identify an American that had been killed. At the morgue, he saw a soldier lying on the morticians examining table with the side of his head missing. Andrews confirmed his identity by comparing the dog tag around his neck to the one in his boot. They matched. Later, the major approached Andrews and asked, Want to kill some Gooks now? Andrews answered, Thats not the point, Sir. He saluted the rank on the majors shoulder, but not the person for whom he lost all respect. Andrews made himself available to his men and other troops, no matter what time of the day or night, seven days a week. Always accessible, he listened while they shared their painful experiences. He wanted to be certain that these men were physically and mentally capable of completing their life-saving tasks in the field. Honors At that the end of his service, and in appreciation for his concern for his men, they presented him a state-of-the-art, Norelco electric shaver. Andrews knew it was a reflection of their esteem for him. He holds this shaver with the same level of pride as his combat medics badge because his men had a right to their opinion of him more than anyone else. For many years, this honorable gift, still in its case, has been stored in a metal box along with Andrews citations, medals and other important documents from his military service. Not only did his men honor him, but the U.S. government by direction of the president awarded Andrews the Bronze Star Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Military Merit Medal and others for his outstandingly meritorious service in connection with military operations against a hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. In the citations, descriptive phrases summed up Andrews service record and the man he is today: Consistently manifested exemplary professionalism and initiative; rapid assessment; energetically applying sound judgment; extensive knowledge; diligence and determination; and unrelenting loyalty. Andrews was a war hero, and without carrying a gun. He insists, I was no hero, but was simply doing my job. The real heroes were my men, especially those that paid the ultimate price. Moving forward Andrews was asked to discuss what the fear felt like. His eyes filled, and the discussion moved on to something else. There may not be words to describe his feelings, even for someone as articulate as he. Andrews faithfully, and in his own way, served. Upon returning home, he and his fellow soldiers were not treated as heroes but as scum. They were told not to wear their fatigues. Nationwide, our country wanted out of Vietnam and took out their hostilities on these returning vets. Confirmed rumors proved returning soldiers were spat upon. Many also experienced rude and unkind comments, and open hostility. In 1972, Andrews completed his masters of science degree in counseling psychology at Southern Illinois University. For many years, Andrews served the Sheridan community by providing mental health services, much like he did in Vietnam when he served his medics. Bruce Andrews and his wife, Jo Lynn, have two adult children, Amy and Doug Andrews. His family, always supportive of him, respects his service and time in Vietnam. In his office, a shrine honoring this time graces an area above his desk. It includes his memorabilia, letters, drawings and comments from his family. They understand just how formative and important this time was for Andrews, and what it meant for who he is today. Grownup Stuff Adult Coloring Club Drop by the Natrona County Library anytime between 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday, August 5, for our Adult Coloring Club. Coloring books and pages will be available for you to turn into works of art. Colored pencils, crayons, and markers also will be provided. Just bring yourself and your friends, and enjoy the afternoon. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Collage map wine bottles The Natrona County Library will host an adult-level crafting program on Saturday, August 6, at 2 p.m. Well collage maps and wine bottles into unique works of art. Supplies and space limited. Creating opportunities for adult creativity and interaction, Craftastic Saturday is free, open to adults age 18 and over, and held the first Saturday of every month. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Wyoming Blues Challenge Calling all Wyoming Blues Bands and Solo/Duo Blues acts. Heres your chance to represent Wyoming in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge. Prelims will be held on August 7 at the Alibi Pub in Laramie and August 20 at the Attic above the World Famous Wonder Bar in Casper. Finals will be held on September 18 in the ballrooms at the Parkway Plaza. If you think you have what it takes, contact Rick Davis at wyomingblueschallenge@gmail.com to get rules and receive your entry information. Jonah Bank celebrates 10 years Jonah Bank of Wyoming has been building a better Wyoming for 10 years. Come celebrate with us. Caspers celebration will take place from 4 to 7 p.m., on Thursday, August 11, at Jonah Bank on the Platte River (777 West First Street). Jonah Bank of Wyoming was established in 2006 and continues to build a better Wyoming through support of Wyoming small businesses and their employees. The bank strongly believes in old fashioned, relationship-based banking where your banker is your neighbor, friend and most importantly, your partner in growing your business. Jonah Bank is dedicated to the communities it serves, with two locations in Casper (777 West First Street and 3730 East Second Street) and two in Cheyenne (2015 Central Avenue and 205 Storey Boulevard). New displays at senior center What is Zentangle? Zentangle is a fun, relaxing ,easy method of drawing that creates structured images. Visit the Senior Center at 1831 E. 4th St. to view this fascinating display of amazing drawings by local artists. Also featured is a collection of Japanese collectibles including pottery, clothing, dishes and more. For more information, call 265-4678. Veteran Cigar Night Every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., all veterans are invited to Veteran Cigar Night at the Casper Cigar Company, 4717 W. Yellowstone Highway, sponsored by Casper Cigar Company. There is no cost to attend. This is a time and place for our communitys combat veterans to relax and share their stories with other combat veterans while enjoying a good cigar. Veterans receive 20 percent off cigars. For more information, call Josh Cruse at 307-337-4400 or josh@caspercigar.com. One of Weavers colleagues told officers she saw Weaver become verbally aggressive with a resident, according to the report. The employee also said Weaver was stumbling and slurring her speech. She said she was concerned about Weavers ability to safely take care of the patients in the facility, the report states. A Natrona County detention officer is facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly leaking information about a sexual assault case, according to recently filed court documents. Brendon Littau is charged with negligent release of names. The crime is punishable by up to a $750 fine or up to 90 days in jail, or both. Prosecutors charged Littau on July 22. Casper attorney Andrew Sears is representing Littau. Sears did not immediately respond to a message left Monday seeking comment. Littau was a sheriffs office employee as of Monday, said Sgt. Aaron Shatto. Shatto said the department could not comment on the case since it involves personnel matters. According to the court documents, Littau disclosed the names of the alleged victim and suspect in a rape investigation to his father. The sheriffs office received the sexual assault report June 25, the documents state. During the investigation, the victim in the case told authorities she had been contacted by the suspect, who told her confidential information that only the victim and law enforcement should have known. The suspect told investigators he became aware of the rape investigation through Littaus father, Mike Littau, who told authorities he was informed about the case through his son, according to the documents. A Casper police detective then took over the investigation into the information leak, since it involved a sheriffs office employee. The detective interviewed Littau on July 1, the documents state. Littau said he was working June 25 at the detention center and had reviewed the computer aided dispatch system used by the dispatch center. He said he recognized the names of both the reported sexual assault victim and suspect. Littau said he then spoke with his father about the case and told him the identities of the victim and suspect, according to the documents. He said he also disclosed the nature of the case and what information had been relayed to the dispatcher. Littau said he was aware the information was considered confidential but believed once the call left the computer screen, the case was over, the documents state. Mike Littau, who was reached by phone Monday, told a reporter he did not wish to comment on the case. The information leak did not jeopardize the rape investigation, and the suspect was arrested, authorities have said. The alleged victim, who contacted the Star-Tribune, said she left Wyoming just after reporting the sexual assault. She said she received a phone call from the suspect within two days of speaking with law enforcement. He said he had found out about the rape case. To gauge the opportunism and hypocrisy that define Donald Trumps Republican Party, consider this: Imagine the scalding rhetoric that would have boiled from the likes of Newt Gingrich, that Metternich of many green rooms, if Hillary Clinton had offhandedly undermined the collective security architecture of U.S. foreign policy since NATO was created in 1949. Vladimir Putins regime is saturating Europe with anti-Americanism, buying print and broadcast media, pliable journalists and other opinion leaders, and funding fringe political parties, think tanks and cultural institutions. (Putin is again following Hitlers playbook; read Alan Fursts historical novel Mission to Paris, set in pre-war France.) Putin is etching with acid a picture of America as ignorant, narcissistic and, especially, unreliable. Trump validates every component of this indictment, even saying that the U.S. commitment to NATOs foundational principle an attack on one member is an attack on all is not categorical. Gingrich, who is among the supposed savants who will steer Trump toward adulthood, flippantly dismisses Estonia, a NATO member contiguous to Putins Russia and enduring its pressure, as some place which is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. Gingrich thereby echoes Neville Chamberlains description, three days before Munich, of Hitlers pressure on Czechoslovakia as a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing. It would be fanciful to suggest that Trump read a book, but others should read Svetlana Alexievichs Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, an oral history of post-Soviet Russia, 1991 to 2012. A recurring theme is Russian nostalgia for the Soviet era: We had a great empire stretching from sea to sea, from beyond the Arctic to the subtropics. Where is it now? It was defeated without a bomb. Nostalgia coexists with Soviet-era memories like this: Twenty-seven people share an apartment with one kitchen and one bathroom, including a mother of a 5-year-old daughter and a childless woman. The mother is secretly informed against. Before being sent into the gulag for 17 years, she begged the childless woman to take care of her daughter, who comes to call the woman Mama. After the real mother serves her sentence, under perestroika she sees her police file and recognizes her informants signature her childless friend. The mother went home and hanged herself. Putins constituency of nostalgia, writes Alexievich, is in the grip of the narcosis of old ideas acquired when the state had become their entire cosmos, blocking out everything else, even their own lives. She repeatedly records longings for the days before the eruption of ethnic hatreds to fill the void left by the melancholy, long withdrawing roar of socialist faith. During one ethnic pogrom, the youngest girl climbed a tree to escape ... so they shot at her like she was a little bird. Its hard to see at night, they couldnt get her for a long time. ... Finally, she fell at their feet. Putins supporters include those who, in the words of one of Alexievichs interlocutors, feel like they were defeated twice over: The communist Idea was crushed, then Russia was looted by a feral crony capitalism. Putinism is bitter nostalgia on the march, and Putin is as interested in the U.S. presidential election as Trump and some of his aides are in Russian wealth. Read Franklin Foers Slate essay Putins Puppet: We shouldnt overstate Putins efforts, which will hardly determine the outcome of the election. Still, we should think of the Trump campaign as the moral equivalent of Henry Wallaces communist-infiltrated campaign for president in 1948. ... A foreign power that wishes ill upon the United States has attached itself to a major presidential campaign. It is unclear whether any political idea leavens the avarice of Trump and some of his accomplices regarding todays tormented and dangerous Russia. Speculation about the nature and scale of Trumps financial entanglements with Putin and his associates is justified by Trumps refusal to release his personal and business tax information. Obviously he is hiding something, and probably more than merely embarrassing evidence that he has vastly exaggerated his net worth and charitableness. In Wednesdays news conference, Trump said, I have nothing to do with Russia. Donald Trump Jr. says, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. Trump Sr. can end the speculation by providing information. If, however, he continues his tax information stonewall, it will be clear that he finds the speculation less damaging than the truth would be, which itself is important information. PROTECTION ISLAND, Wash. (AP) Jim Hayward slips on a hard hat and pops open an umbrella before stepping into a storm of angry gulls. Hayward, a seabird biologist based on Protection Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is making his evening rounds through the largest gull nesting colony in the Puget Sound region. He's been monitoring this site since 1987, so he's used to the shrieking, the dive-bombing, the frequent splatterings of gull poop, and the pecking at his head, hands and feet. What he's not accustomed to is the cannibalism, reported the Kitsap Sun (http://bit.ly/2a2qsrJ). It's hard to watch: A fluffy chick straying a few yards from its nest is suddenly snatched up by its neck. Another hungry gull swoops in and bites at the chick's leg. The mother intervenes but is outnumbered. Her baby disappears under a frenzy of flapping and pecking. Over the last decade, the gulls have shown a growing taste for their neighbors' eggs and chicks. The trend appears linked to climate change. "It doesn't seem like a lot, but a one-tenth of a degree change in seawater temperature correlates to a 10 percent increase in (the odds of) cannibalism," said Hayward, a professor at Andrews University in Michigan. Over the past 60 years, ocean temperatures have increased about 15 times faster than any other time over the past 10,000 years. As temperatures rise, plankton drops into deeper, colder water. Fish that feed on the plankton also drop lower. The surface-feeding gulls, which depend almost entirely on fish while nesting on Protection Island, can't find enough to eat. "So they resort to feeding on their neighbors," Hayward said. Bird paradise Protection Island is a high-cliffed and nearly treeless swath of land near the mouth of Discovery Bay about five miles west of Port Townsend. More than 70 percent of the region's seabirds nest on Protection a fact that led to its status as a national wildlife refuge in 1982. The 380-acre island is home to the third largest colony of rhinoceros auklet seabirds in North America and one of the last two breeding sites in the Salish Sea for tufted puffins, which nest in holes burrowed into sandy cliffs. The island's ecological value and the fragility of its habitat make it off-limits to the public. Protection's only full-time resident is a caretaker employed by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hayward and his wife, mathematician Shandelle Henson, also of Andrews University, spend two months each summer studying the vast glaucous-winged gull population. High temps, high cannibalism It was Henson who answered the cannibalism question. Taking decades of Hayward's data, she fed it into a computer model loaded with a range of climate and other environmental factors. "We found that, over the last eight years, there's a 100 percent correlation between hot years and high cannibalism," she said. She also found that gulls are beginning to synchronize egg-laying, possibly in response to cannibalism. "On one day, we'll see a ton of eggs. The next day hardly any," Hayward said. Henson's hypothesis: "If there's a lot of eggs available all at once, there's less chance your own eggs will be taken," she said. Gulls aren't picky eaters. They'll pluck a meal from a dumpster just as readily as a beach at low tide. But during nesting, their range is greatly reduced. They can't be gone for long from their nests and must rely on whatever the immediate area provides. Increasingly, the region's marine waters simply aren't providing. Forage fish such as herring and sand lance key food sources for salmon, birds and other marine animals are in decline. Fish accustomed to warmer water are moving in, but they pack less of a nutritional punch. "Essentially, they're getting junk food," said Scott Pearson, an avian ecologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The region's puffins haven't resorted to cannibalism but climate change appears to be making them less committed parents. During periods of high sea temperatures, Puffins tend to abandon their nests, fail to incubate their eggs or skip the nesting routine altogether. That's probably because they're so busy and exhausted from food hunting that they can't invest time or energy into raising the next generation, Pearson said. While puffin populations are struggling, a visit to any Puget Sound beach makes clear that gulls are anything but endangered, despite the rise in cannibalism. But what happens with gulls may be happening or may soon happen with other species that aren't as easy to study, Henson said. Gulls have long been a favorite species for scientists investigating how environmental changes affect animal behavior. "They're big, easy to see and easy to find," Hayward said. The fact that they nest on the ground in densely-packed colonies makes data collection fairly simple. Hayward strolls through each day, counting and measuring eggs and noting the occurrence of chicks or broken eggs in about 300 nests marked with numbered stakes. "They're a good indicator species, like canaries in the coal mine," he said. Meade Krosby, a research scientist with the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group, agrees. "There's no doubt climate change has already negatively impacted species around the world," she said. "We know the oceans are getting warmer, so we can expect more cannibalism." Scientists have recently documented climate-related upticks in cannibalism among other species. As ice recedes in the Arctic, polar bears are finding it harder to hunt seals and other marine mammals. In response, hungry males have been spotted hunting down smaller bears and cubs. In 2013, warming waters off the coast of Maine sparked a lobster population explosion. With lobsters suddenly the most plentiful food source around, the opportunistic eaters began dining on each other. "They kind of ate themselves out of business," Krosby said. Super cannibals Cannibalism has been noted in about 1,300 species, including humans. Usually, animals resort to cannibalism as a stopgap measure during periods of food scarcity. Once food is plentiful again, cannibalism ceases. But what if conditions don't improve, as appears to be the case with climate change? It could give rise to what Hayward calls "super cannibals." These are gulls that have largely given up on fish foraging and are instead specializing in hunting their own kind. "You call tell them because they have scads of egg shells around their territory," he said. "You see them slowly flap around the colony, and suddenly they drop when they see an unattended nest." They also take advantage of the panic caused when an eagle soars overhead. Most gulls begin flying frantic circles, but the super cannibals seize the opportunity, raiding eggs and plucking away chicks. Cannibal gulls often eat two or three eggs a day more than enough to meet their caloric needs. Hayward has recorded some of these gulls eating up to 80 eggs in a month. "For a species, cannibalism is not a good long-term strategy," Hayward said. "If there's no food, it can get you across a bad year." "But every year," added Henson, "could be a bad year with climate change." ___ Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/ Coroners Verdict Is Disputed By Father Doubts That Son Committed Suicide; Thinks Baron Mistake That his son, Benjamin W. Eckels, did not commit suicide but was accidentally shot, is the belief of J. F. Eckels, wealthy Iowa farmer, who arrived Sunday to accompany the remains of the young man to Nevada, Iowa, where the funeral will be held. Mr. Eckels states that the young man was very much interested in writing motion picture scenarios and he believes that while acting some part with a six shooter in the bathroom the gun was accidentally discharged, resulting in the young mans death. Mr. Eckels also does not believe that his son contemplated traveling to the South Sea islands as a baron, as was stated in the local papers. He believes that the address on the envelope from a traveling company to Baron Banes Wadsworth Eckels was a mistake on the part of the person addressing the letter. Mr. Eckels states that the son was quite eccentric but he does not believe that he ever contemplated suicide and he wishes to state this view of the matter to the public. Officers appeared to have no doubt but what young Eckels took his own life. The fact that he fired two shots one after another into his heart was taken by them as conclusive proof that he had taken his own life. As children head back to school, Pima County health officials are reminding parents of the importance of vaccinating, not only for the protection of their kids but classmates. Pima County has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state, reducing the likelihood of measles or whooping cough outbreaks, officials say. But the level of coverage at each individual school is what will makes the biggest difference in protecting kids from infectious disease. The rules In Arizona, students are required to provide proof of immunizations to attend school. Failing to do so can result in a child being kept out of school until documentation is provided. But Arizona law also allows parents or guardians to file statements objecting to immunizations based on medical reasons as well as religious and personal beliefs. State data collected on vaccination rates for preschoolers, kindergartners and sixth graders show that less than 3 percent of Pima County students at each level opted out of vaccines for non-medical reasons, compared to the statewide percentage that ranges from 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent. School safety By and large, our public school districts do an amazing job at making sure children are vaccinated, said Dr. Francisco Garcia, Director of the Pima County Health Department. At a minimum, 90 percent of a schools students should be vaccinated to create community immunity, which lessens the likelihood of an outbreak, Garcia said. But a disease like measles, which is much more contagious and more easily spread, has a higher standard of 93 percent minimum coverage. Vaccination gap While traditional school districts are known to have higher levels of vaccinated students, health officials have seen bigger gaps in private and charter schools, Garcia said. Overall, nationally there is a really good understanding of why parents choose to not immunize and if you look at the national trend, youll see there are many more non-medical exemptions among people who have higher levels of education and higher levels of income, Garcia said. At charter schools, the reason may not necessarily be a matter of students opting out, but rather one of resources, Garcia said. By design, charter schools dont necessarily have all of the infrastructure that is required to pull vaccination information, so the person recording whether the school is in compliance and collecting all of the forms may not have the same degree of training and ability, Garcia explained. Vaccine safety In the past, infectious diseases have been known to wipe out populations, but that is no longer the case thanks to vaccines, Garcia said. The vaccines we have today are the safest vaccines weve ever had and the benefits to their individual child and the other children in their lives is tremendous, he said. Even within your household, if you dont vaccinate your kindergartner for measles and if you have a newborn at home, he or she is very vulnerable should they come into contact with measles. Afghanistan Taliban attacks kill 24 police over two days KANDAHAR Taliban attacks on a district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand province killed at least 24 police officers over the past two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday. Kareem Atal, the director of Helmands provincial council, said that battles between government forces and militants have been raging in the Kanashin district since late Friday, when the Taliban took control. The fighting has spread north to other districts, where militants are targeting checkpoints and have killed at least seven policemen, he said. The police and government compounds in the Nad Ali district have been surrounded by insurgents, Atal said. Taliban fighters are also trying to close key highways across the province. Syria Rebels launch push to break Aleppo siege Syrian rebels launched an offensive aimed at breaking the governments siege of eastern Aleppo on Sunday, where the U.N. estimates some 300,000 people are trapped with dwindling food and medical supplies. As the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham faction announced the rebels campaign, residents in the northern citys besieged opposition quarters burned tires to reduce visibility for fighter jets flying overhead, according to local activist Wissam Zarqa. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a network of local informants, said rebels and pro-government forces were clashing along several fronts on the outskirts of the divided city. Presumed Russian or government jets bombed neighborhoods in the eastern side, the Observatory reported. Earlier in the day, helicopters dropped unguided barrel bombs on the opposition-controlled neighborhood of Bustan al-Basha, it said. Government forces closed off the last route to the opposition holdout in early July. Congo Thousands call for elections as scheduled KINSHASA Tens of thousands of Congolese gathered in the capital Sunday at an opposition rally calling for the president to step down at the end of his mandate in December, and urging elections take place as scheduled in November. Opposition leaders say President Joseph Kabila is delaying elections to remain in power. The constitutional court says he can stay in charge if elections are postponed. We are attached to our constitution, and it says that the president cannot go beyond two mandates, said main opposition party head Etienne Tshisekedi to the excited crowd. The popular leader returned to Congo last week after being away for two years. Armenia 20 gunmen surrender in police standoff YEREVAN All 20 gunmen inside a police compound in Armenias capital surrendered Sunday, ending a two-week standoff that left two police officers dead and several wounded on both sides. The standoff involving armed members of a radical opposition group also set off protests that led to unrest in the capital, Yerevan. On Friday, July 15, the Obama White House released a redacted copy of the missing 28 page chapter from the original December 2002 Joint Congressional Joint Inquiry report on 9/11. The timing of the release was calculated to minimize the blowback from the long-overdue release of the chapter. Congress went into summer recess until after Labor Day, just hours before the 28 pages were made public through the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The attention of most Americans was immediately focused on the Republican and the Democratic National Conventions. However, anyone carefully reading the 28 pages would realize that the Congressional investigators working for the Joint Inquiry had gathered a significant number of leads on Saudi officials and members of the Saudi Royal Family, who had either had direct contact with the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the United States preparing for the terrorist extravaganza, or had been implicated in financial and other support for Al Qaeda. The Joint Inquiry was restricted by its limited legislative mandate, the lack of time and financial resources. They were really only able to review existing files from the CIA, the FBI and other agencies, and interview some agents who had investigated Al Qaeda prior to 9/11. And they did not always find the agencies cooperative. The Saudis attempted to block the investigation and provided virtually no answers to the questions the inquiry's investigators posed to them. This limit on the Joint Inquiry probe was reflected in a 2003 memorandum by the two 9/11 Commission staffers who had written the forbidden chapter. Document 17, as it was described by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), the highest executive branch authority on document declassification, was a 47-page memo by Dana Lesseman and Michael Jacobson, spelling out all of the leads on Saudi support for the 9/11 hijackers that the Joint Inquiry had been unable to pursue. According to John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy to Ronald Reagan and a member of the 9/11 Commission, the Commission itself had been unable to complete their mandate, and had been unable to pursue all of the Saudi leads before their deadline expired. Furthermore, the Commission's staff director, Philip Zelikow, was a plant, informing the George W. Bush White House and his former boss, Secretary of State Condi Rice, about everything unearthed by his staff. Ultimately, Zelikow fired Lesseman for her persistence in pursuing the Saudi file. The bottom line: There is more work to be done. Sept. 11, 2016 is the fifteenth anniversary of the attacks, and there will be significant public attention. When Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day, just before the 9/11 anniversary, the House is expected to pass the Justice Against Supporters of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a bill that would allow the survivors and family members of the 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 attacks to sue the Saudi Kingdom, by lifting sovereign immunity in specific cases where regimes support terrorist attacks on US soil. Members of Congress are also contemplating the next step in pursuing the Saudi file, including potential legislation to launch a de novo inquiry. Timing is everything, and the timing of George Bush's decision to classify the 28 page chapter is a perfect case in point. In December 2002, when the President banned the publication of the chapter, the Administration was in the final phases of planning the invasion of Iraq. The two "reasons" given for the plan to overthrow Saddam Hussein were: He was amassing weapons of mass destruction, and he had been behind 9/11. Had the chapter been published, it would have been near impossible for Bush and Tony Blair to get away with the Iraq invasion. It would have been like FDR announcing he was declaring war against China, not Japan after Pearl Harbor. The issues behind the evidence of Saudi involvement in 9/11--whether at the very top of the regime and the Monarchy, as former Joint Inquiry co-chairman Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) insists, or at some mid-level where Al Qaeda sympathizers had resources to pour into the 9/11 plot--are still with us, and will not be laid to rest by the release of the 28 pages. Harper Tonight on Foreign Correspondent Sally Sara reports on youth in South Sudan are using radio and music to push back against the threat of civil war. As the worlds newest nation teeters on the brink of civil war, the young people of South Sudan are pushing back, seeking peace through music and the power of radio. Five years ago it burst into life in a euphoric celebration of new nationhood. Now the fear is that South Sudan is barrelling towards failed-state oblivion, its future trashed by tribal conflict and bloodshed. But try telling that to W J De King, local reggae star. Peace will be here, he says matter-of-factly. As South Sudans elders fight over the spoils of independence, dreadlocked WJ criss-crosses the country to sing for peace, rallying young people who make up 70 per cent of the population. Let me cry now through my music, if my leaders will listen to me People are dying, all because of them lyrics of WJ song The meaning of his songs is touching our hearts teenage girl at a WJ concert Like WJ, most of South Sudans young people were born into war. Many lost loved ones, homes and any chance of an education in the war for independence from the mostly Arab north. Now they are claiming their future For that they need peace. And in a largely illiterate country with barely any TV or Internet, the anti-war message is best spread by radio. People are so hungry for information Tethluach Yong, Eye Radio presenter In the capital, Juba, Sally Sara meets a team of young journalists who risk their lives to keep countrymen informed about the intricacies of the latest peace deal and other vital news. You walk outside and anyone can just pull his gun and shoot you Eye Radio station manager Presenter Tethluach, 27, wears the risk. He would broadcast all day long if he could. The main challenge, as he sees it, is to educate young people to help break down tribal rivalries. If he had a microphone big enough he would ask every South Sudanese: While youre busy dividing yourselves, while youre trying to stand along ethnic lines, dont you see the world is progressing? You will be the only people who are left behind! Twelve years after she last reported on Sudans civil war, former Africa correspondent Sally Sara returns to what is now South Sudan, to find an infant country still deciding whether to destroy itself or pull together for the future of its young people. 9.30pm Tuesday August 2 on ABC. Help India! By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net Srinagar: Local journalists from Kashmir have often alleged biased reporting of mainstream Indian media as the main reason for frequent attacks on them by the locals. While security forces have shown their ruthlessness when journalists cover their excesses on the people, the people are attacking journalists for being pro-government agents and reporting the Kashmir unrest in biased and distorted manner. Support TwoCircles On July 24, Syed Ali Safvi, a correspondent and producer for Iranian News channel, Press TV was ruthlessly assaulted by group of youth at Tengpora, Srinagar. Journalists covering protest in Downtown area of Srinagar (Photo by_ Raqib Hameed Naik) After seeing Press sticker pasted on the front mirror of the car, protestors turned violent and started hitting the car from all directions. They manhandled and damaged my car beyond repair. We work under extremely difficult conditions but still we have always tried to uphold the principles of free and fair journalism, said Safvi. Importantly, the Press TV has always been objective in its reporting on Kashmir, but for people in Kashmir the difference is little, because they perceive journalists as one community; if one commits a mistake, all are to be blamed. In second week of July, Press TV camera man Aijaz Khan was allegedly taken hostage for few hours along with other journalists inside SMHS hospital in Srinagar by the attendants of patients believing them to be from mainstream Indian News channels. We were let off after elders intervened, otherwise we could have been lynched. The biased reporting of Indian media is creating problems for all those journalists who report reality without any hidden agenda or propaganda, Aijaz Khan told TwoCircles.net over Phone from Srinagar. Photo Journalists running for cover from stones pelted by protestors in Srinagar (Photo by_ Raqib Hameed Naik) Another valley-based senior photojournalist, Dar Yasin, working for an international news agency, was thrashed by people near the SHMS Hospital on Friday last week. Bilal Bisharat Bhat, Editor of valley based news portal, OnlyKashmir.in said, The biased reportage of Kashmir by the Indian electronic media is the main reason of public anger . When dozens of youths were dying in Kashmir, they were busy in presenting hyper local news. Reports of many journalists beaten by security forces have also been coming since the start of the unrest in Kashmir. The PDPs promise of security for journalists security has also fallen flat. The united separatist amalgam of Hurriyat G, Hurriyat M and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front on Saturday in a joint statement have asked the people to boycott Times Now, News X and Zee news. The separatist amalgam lashed out at the channels and said, these channels are aggressive and bigoted, by design, in their reportage of Kashmir in order to mislead and poison the Indian public opinion regarding the events in Kashmir and the Kashmir issue. The spokespersons asked Kashmiris to avoid watching these channels and also called for boycotting speaking to their correspondents or being part of their panel discussions. Recently, a protest had erupted on July 21 in remote Gurez region of Kashmir against Zee News for a report telecasted on July 19 and portraying that the people of Gurez were opposed to the continuing unrest following the death of young and popular Hizbul commander Burhan Wani in which 55 people have died as of now and more than 3500 people have been injured. Angry locals who were protesting had alleged that Zee News reporter had bribed a few local army porters and contractors to record anti-movement statement that too recorded inside a BSF Camp which were later telecasted. Help India! New Delhi : The government is making all efforts to bring back the 10,000 Indian workers rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia and is also providing them food in camps, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. She also said that Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start the process. Support TwoCircles I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food. I am monitoring the situation on hourly basis. I am satisfied to say this in the Parliament that ration (food packets) has been distributed to all the five camps for the next 10 days, said Sushma Swaraj. But this is not a permanent solution to the problem. The companies have shut their factories and left. We cant leave our workers there. I contacted their foreign office and labour office. We have asked the foreign office to authorize us to bring them from Saudi Arabia, she added. Elaborating on the situation, Sushma said: But their payments are also due. So, I have aked the labour office that each one of them will sign a contract. Before the company pays the governments (Saudi Arabia) dues, they should first pay these workers. She said all the formalities will be completed once V.K. Singh reaches Riyadh. Not even a single worker will stay hungry. Everyone will get food this is my assurance to the country through the Parliament, said Sushma Swaraj. The workers have been laid off by Saudi Oger, a leading Saudi construction company following the slowdown in the Saudi construction industry due to the fall in global crude oil prices. Help India! Patna : A Bihar court on Monday granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in the toppers scam, a government lawyer said. A special juvenile court here granted her bail after hearing a petition. Support TwoCircles Earlier, the court had denied her bail twice. Ruby had pleaded that she should be granted bail as she is a minor. Last month, she was shifted from Beur jail to a remand home after the court accepted Rubys age on the basis of her matriculation certificate that states her date of birth to be November 15, 1998. Ruby had topped this years Class 12 examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) in humanities stream. She got into trouble after after a sting by a TV news channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects. Class 12 science stream topper Saurabh Shreshtha was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic science questions about his subjects. The sting suggested that the toppers might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their top ranks. Both Ruby and Saurabh belonged to V.R. College in Vaishali district. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police then lodged an FIR against Ruby, Saurabh and two other exam toppers. Help India! By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net Srinagar: The unrest in Kashmir took a new turn on Sunday, July 31 when a senior leader of National Conference from Anantang district in Kashmir valley publicly announced his resignation from the party and extended his support to the ongoing movement by chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Support TwoCircles The NC Leader, Iftikhar Misgar, had recently contested elections from Anantnag Assembly segment against Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, which he had lost. In a move that was not visible even during the 2008 and 2010 protests, Misgar sought apology from people for being part of the pro-Indian camp. The video of him addressing a gathering in Cheeni Chowk of old town in Anantnag is already available on Internet, where he can be heard saying, I have already withdrawn my security and today I officially say that,I dont need any security; my people are my security, the people of Anantnag are my security. While leading the sloganeering, he shouted slogans like, Jis Kashmir ko khoon se seencha, wo Kashmir hamara hai, Bharat ke Awaivanu mai aag laga do aag laga do (Burn the constitutional Institutions of India), Bharat ka jo yaar hai,Gaddar hai Gaddar hai (Friend of India are traitors). Misgar, a businessman, first contested elections in 2008 on Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) ticket. He later joined NC and became its youth president and was allotted the party ticket in 2014 assembly elections after the exit of the then senior NC leader Mehboob Beg. Then he had lost elections against late Mufti Mohammad Syed. He was again given mandate by NC to contest the last month by-election from the Anantnag constituency against Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Last week the amalgam of separatists parties in the Valley had called for social boycott of legislators and activists associated with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other mainstream parties after dubbing them as collaborators in Indian occupation. People shall ostracize them and boycott them at all levels, socially and publicly. People shall refuse to interact with them at community and public places. They shall no longer be allowed to exploit the people and the sacred freedom struggle, the statement issued by the separatists amalgam had said. After the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani earlier this month, many leaders associated with mainstream political parties were attacked in the valley. Help India! By A Mirsab, Twocircles.net Islamic State or ISIS, as it is commonly known, declared in June 2014 the establishment of global caliphate for Muslims. Muslims across the world rejected this Caliphate and the organisation was denounced in the strongest possible manner and Indian Muslims too joined the rest of the world in rejecting the IS calling it anti-Islamic. However, this has not stopped a surge in Indian Muslims witnessing harassment at the hands of security agencies under the pretense of alliance with ISIS. Support TwoCircles In last two years, the National Security Agency (NIA) and the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) have arrested scores of youth across the country for being sympathizers and for being in touch with terrorists based in Iraq. Some have been arrested for having pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the most wanted terrorist in the world and the leader of ISIS while others have been arrested for being members of Al-Qaida in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) or Ansarul Tauhid Fee Biladil Hind. In fact, the number of such cases has only risen with each passing day, with security agencies claiming to have unearthed massive terror conspiracies that could have resulted in the deaths and loss of property. However, the truth remains that India has never witnessed terror attack from ISIS or AQIS but under the guise of it many youths have been sent to prison. Change in trend The trend of Indian Muslims persecution has changed since the emergence of ISIS. Earlier youths would be picked up for their alleged involvement in orchestrating bomb blast or for being member of any banned organization in India such as Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). It has been observed that security agency keeps changing this trend in every few years. After the ban on SIMI in 2001, a trend emerged under which senior functionaries of this organization were arbitrarily arrested from across the country and were charged under sections of rioting, unlawful assembly, sedition and waging war against the nation. However, none of this organization member were convicted under the sections of sedition or waging war against nation. This was the reason that the tribunal that checks activities of each banned organization every two years, lifted ban from SIMI in April 2008 but ministry used its veto and banned it the next day. This trend continued till it arrested Safdar Nagori, a senior most functionary of SIMI in May 2008 and charged him under many cases across the country including Ahmedabad bomb blasts that actually took place couple of months after his arrest. A new trend took birth after his arrest and the security agency blamed Indian Mujahideen organization for bomb blasts in the country. Many youths were picked up for being members of this organization. This trend continued till November 2013 when the last major bomb blast took place in Patna during Narendra Modis election rally. This was the last bomb blasts that the security agencies claim to have caused by Indian Mujahideen or LeT resulting into the death of six people. Many youths were picked up by NIA for causing this blast and since then India has not witnessed any significant bomb blast. After the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, NIA claimed that senior leadership of the banned organization had been wiped out from India. Time and again, families of the accused rejected involvement of these youths in the anti-national activities and suspected foul play of security agencies behind their arrests, the only silver lining was that if the bomb blast case has been solved, no more youths would now be arrested. To sum up, the earlier trend was that the security agencies would arrest youth in the pursuit of being members of banned organizations SIMI or LeT then they would look for youths for alleged involvement in bomb blast cases and therefore Indian Muslims would feel unsecured only until a bomb blast, or a terrorist attack, occurred in the country. But now, the trend has changed for the worse, if one takes a look at how things are unfolding in the present scenario. The aforementioned agencies have now departed from the earlier traditional methods of investigation and have now started picking up youth for allegedly being in touch with ISIS or AQIS. How does one stay in touch with these organisations? Read on. Many youths including Maulana Abdul Sami Qasmi and Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi have been arrested in last two years by NIA from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. NIA alleged them to be the members of ISIS or AQIS and as evidence it produced electronic communication from chatrooms that they allegedly had with their handlers through Facebook or twitter. Arrest without prior admonition Interestingly, most of the youth and the maulana arrested by agencies were already on their surveillance but they were never admonished. In the case of younger people, their parents were never informed about their childs suspicious activities. Instead, it allowed those youth to continue their activities and arrested them when they gathered electronic evidences to prosecute them. As a substitute if agencies would have restricted youth at the early stage of their alleged radicalization with the help of their parents then they would not have gone that far and their arrest would have been avoided. However, there is hardly any case reported in India where agencies utilised help of parents in containing youths or for stopping their radicalization. This is the reason that there are number of such cases where agency arrested youths and claimed to have unearthed conspiracies. Considering the strong public denunciation of terrorism by Indian Muslim community, the security agency can utilise community leaders in restraining the youth from visiting ISIS website or Facebook accounts by holding peace meetings with them. Instead, it is instilling fear of insecurity amongst them and widening the gap of trust between the agencies and community. Agencies monitor social media All investigation agencies have their social media task force for monitoring various social media platforms to identify ISIS sympathizers or suspicious chats. These forces identify IP addresses in the India from which likes have been placed on pro-ISIS comments made by others. It also marks some IP addresses from where internet users visited websites operated by the terrorist outfit. The agencies then keep a hawks eye on such IP addresses. Recent arrests A software techie Anees Ansari was arrested from Mumbai in mid-October 2014 by ATS for allegedly plotting to blow up an American school in BKC. ATS officials said the ISIS inspired Ansari. ATS claimed Ansari has been watching videos and lectures of Syria and ISIS and also checking sites of making weapons. But till now no terror link beyond chat rooms was established by it. He continues to remain in jail. There are many similar cases. Shah Mudassir and Shoeb Ahmed Khan, two youths from Maharashtra, were allegedly brain-washed by jihadis overseas using Internet chat rooms and were arrested by ATS in November 2014. A year later in November 2015 Maulana Mujeeb from Maharasthra was arrested by ATS for influencing and radicalizing these youths. In December 2015, ATS claimed to have busted the Malwani module. It registered a case against Ayaz Sultan and two others of Malwani, Mumbai. The youths were allegedly chatting with jihadis in Iraq. A 30-year-old Mohammed Sirazudin, a local marketing manager of petroleum major Indian Oil Corporation in Jaipur was arrested by Rajasthan ATS for allegedly urging local youth to join ISIS through social networking sites like Facebook, WhatsApp groups and by another social networking app Telegram. Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi was arrested from Bengaluru in January 2016 by Delhi Police Special Cell for his alleged links to an AQIS module. Delhi Police Special Cell claimed Qasmi had links with the alleged AQIS module in Odisha through Maulana Abdul Rahman, who was also arrested in the case for attempting to recruit people for the AQIS. A Delhi-based Islamic scholar, Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi was arrested on February 5, 2016 in connection with the National Investigation Agencys open FIR against ISIS. The NIA, along with the Uttar Pradesh ATS, arrested him from Hardoi. NIA claimed Qasmi had been delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches in support of the Caliphate since 2014 but was never summoned or warned before his actual arrest in February 2016. More than 11 youths were arrested by NIA in a predawn raid from Hyderabad in June 2016 and alleged it to be a module of ISIS that was planning to explode bombs in India. A 31-year old Naser Bin Yafai Chaus, a civil contractor from Parbhani,Maharashtra was arrested last week for being in touch with handler of ISIS in Syria using various chatrooms for the past one year. Another youth Shahid Khan, 25, was arrested on July 20 from Parbhani under the same allegations of chatting with handlers of ISIS and was following their instructions. There are many such cases of arrest in last couple of years but none of these youths or their parents was warned before these youth allegedly went ahead in furthering their chats with the ISIS handlers but were kept under surveillance for some period and then arrested. Similar was the case with Maulanas who were never reprimanded for their speeches that the agencies were monitoring and finding rabid. Help India! Dr Naik also considering filing civil suit against TimesNow before Bombay High Court very soon. By A Mirsab, TwoCirlces.net, Support TwoCircles Mumbai: Days after sending a Rs. 500 crore defamation notice to Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and four other office bearers of Times Now, Dr. Zakir Naik will be sending a similar legal notice to other news channels and media houses. Dr Naik is also mulling to file civil suit against Times Now before Bombay High Court very soon. Speaking with TwoCircles.net, Advocate Mubeen Solkar who last week sent defamation notice on behalf of Dr Naik, confirmed the developments and said Dr Naik has instructed him to send similar defamation notice to other Indian TV News Channels for running defamatory programs against him without verifying facts and without having any positive and/or cogent evidence in support. We are in a process of initiating legal action against several other electronic and print media publications for defaming my client who happens to be an international orator on Islam and comparative religion, Solkar told TwoCircles.net. He also confirmed that after sending defamation notice to Times Now, his team is now drafting the suit that he would soon file before High Court against Times Now for carrying out a media trial with the malicious intent of defaming Dr Naik. We intend to approach Bombay High court and file a civil suit very soon against Times Now news channel, Solkar said, adding, Media should act responsibly because its reporting influences people and thus everything it reports should be verified and based on facts. Solkar sent a 22-page notice against five Arnab Goswami, President & Editor in Chief TimesNow, Megha Prasad, Bureau Chief TimesNow, Avinash Kaul, Chief Executive Officer TimesNow, Sunil Lulla, Chief Executive Officer Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd. And the Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd. and called upon them to furnish the evidence with which Goswami made his statements, withdraw his remarks, tender an unconditional apology and pay a sum of Rs 500 crores for causing Dr Naik mental trauma and agony. Before coming to these demands, the notice listed the number of international awards Dr Naik has received from many countries and the national/international debates he has successfully participated across the world in last 25 years. Then it rolls date wise quoting Goswamis statements word-by-word that he made during The Newshour Debate telecasted live on TimesNow TV News Channel and ask for evidences for making baseless statements that were defamatory in nature. My client is not in a position to ascertain the actual monetary damages suffered by him for your wrongful action. However, my client for the present estimates that the damage suffered by him is estimated at an amount not less than Rs.500 crores, the notice reads before making above demands. Help India! By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net The Gau Raksha Dals can stand and take notice now. Support TwoCircles For the past few years, these vigilantes, in the name of cow protection, have terrorised Muslims and Dalits, knowing well that they have the support and the blessings of the Sangh Parivar. In his death, Mohammed Akhlaq became another casualty to the politics of cow-protection. However, Muhammad Majloom (35) and Azad Khan alias Ibrahim (15) may not even make it to the pages that chronicle the acts of these Dals, which have attacked and killed people in Rajasthan, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The two traders from Jharkhand were lynched by cow protection groups. According to police, preliminary investigation revealed that the two were on their way to a cattle market in Chatra district to sell eight oxen with them. The two were tortured, and one of them was a teenager. But does it surprise anyone? Or more worryingly, do these acts invoke any anger among the communities at the receiving end of such acts? If the protests on Sunday in Ahmedabad are anything to go by, then yes. The anger is now visible. When 50,000 people took to the streets to protest against the Una violence case, even mainstream media stood up and took notice. On July 11, when cow protection vigilantes thrashed four Dalits for skinning dead cows, the message from them was clear: we will do as we please, and no one can stop us. Or so they thought. But little did they know that the video of four Dalits being thrashed in the open, and in front of police (which was recorded by a member of the Gau Raksha Dal) would infuriate so many people. Within a day, the video had gone viral on social network and the anger among the Dalit community was both visible and justified. However, what was even more surprising was that unlike in the past, the news did not die the next day and turned into a massive headache for the Anandiben-led BJP government in Gujarat. According to Mohammed Kaleem Siddiqui, editor of Tarkash, an Ahmedabad-based Urdu paper, the incident in Una angered the Dalits because of the audacity of the culprits. This was no sneak attack; it was done in full public view with the police acting as mute spectators, or worse, as silent associates to these thugs. The Dalit community was hurt because this was neither new, nor the last time that they had been attacked, he told Twocircles.net. According to him, however, the main reason that the protests have been so huge, is because the local activists ensured that this incident was not hijacked by political parties who wanted to corner BJP. Siddiqui, who was present at the protests on Sunday, said that when a few Congress leaders tried to speak at the protests, they were booed off the stage immediately. The Dalits made it clear: you cannot continue to speak for us, and toe your party line at the same time, he said. According to activists, the protests following the Una incident are also like to provide momentum to other Dalit struggles in the state. One such case is the police shooting in Thangadh, where three Dalits lost their lives at the hands of the police. For the past three years, the families of the victims have been running pillar to post for justice but to no avail. Shamshad Pathan, a lawyer based out of Gujarat and has been working closely with the family, believes that ever since the Una incident, there is hope that these protests will also gain the attention of the media and the government. Today, we sat for a Dharna in Gandhinagar to demand justice for the victims, and there were more than 200 people who joined us. This is a relay protest and we expect more people to join us, he told Twocircles.net. He added that although the two events (Una violence and Thangadh incident) are not directly connected, the people who have been at the forefront of Una protests, like Jignesh Mevani, have been working with the Thangadh victims too from the beginning. Dalit-Muslim unity at a nascent stage in Gujarat, but the signs are encouraging One of the more encouraging signs from the recent protests in Gujarat have been the support extended by Muslim organisations to Dalits. Although Muslims and Dalits have shared the same space in urban centres in cities of Gujarat, until now, according to Siddiqui, there has been little trust between the two communities, especially since the RSS and its sister organisations have made substantial inroads into Dalit spaces. Over the past decade or so, there has been a substantial effort on the part of right-wing forces to impose their ideology on the Dalits at the cost of Ambedkarite ideas. Furthermore, Muslims remain sceptical of Dalits due to their role in 2002 riots, says Siddiqui. However, on Sunday, a small but important intervention was made by members of the two communities in joining hands to protests against the Gau Rakshak Dals. Both communities have been at the receiving end of such actions, and hence it is natural for them to come together, he added. He also pointed out that it was not as if Muslims participated in large numbers. Although there were representatives from Jamat-e-Ulama-e-Hind, Jamat-e-Islami and Insaf Foundation, most Muslims who joined the protests came off their own accord. More than the members of these organisations, it was the presence of Mufti Abdul Qayyoom Mansoori and his supporters which was welcomed by the protesters. Mufti Abdul Qayyum, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the 2002 Akshardham temple terror attack in 2014, joined the rally in solidarity with Dalits. He was given a warm welcome by Dalits and raised slogans like Dalit muslim bhai bhai; jai bheem jai meem; Dalit Muslim saath chalega manuvadi bhaag niklega and Dalit muslim ekta zindabad. With news emerging that Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel had resigned from her office, it is clear that the state government has been left shaken by the wave of protests. How much this does to curb the root of the problemGau Raksha Dalsremains to be seen. Homelessness is one of the major problems nowadays. It is affecting the human societies, and no measures have been taken by the officials to deal with this issue. Millions to billions of people all over the world have no houses. They, instead, spend their lives on the footpath or in the temporary shelter centers. This issue has not only badly impacted poor and needy people, but also many Homeless individuals belong to wealthy families. These individuals have been thrown out of their houses by their own kids or the relatives. In almost all big cities of England, USA, UAE, and Asia there are peoplewho cannot afford houses of their own. One of the core difficulties in eradicating this problem is that the number of homeless people is increasing day by day. Extreme poverty, unemployment, domestic violence, and/or drug abuse have forced these people to live miserable lives. The cities mentioned here have devastating numbers of homeless people who sleep rough every night and they need immediate help. Dublin. Various research projects carried out in this Irish city reveals that more than two thousand people are homeless. The recent years have seen up to twenty people becoming homeless on a daily basis. There are even individuals who are living in this miserable condition along with their entire families. They spend their lives onto the streets. Unfortunately, most of them have not even been provided with sheltered accommodation. Mike Allen, of the advocacy group Focus, has claimed that the rise in homelessness is the result of poor global economy and lack of a sufficient number of jobs. As a result of this, the homeless people can neither afford to buy even a single-room apartment nor can they rent any house. London. Various factors are behind the increased number of homeless people in London, England. The reports make it clear that the poverty has reached an alarming level in different parts of Europe over the last few decades. Moreover, the uncertain domestic crises and being jobless for months push these people behind the race. The massive cut in housing benefits and welfare aids from the government side has affected up to 25% people of London. Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, has undergone extreme economic problems recently. The countrys major population is struggling for survival. The homeless people start suffering from health complications due to lack of facilities. Data reveals that approximately 25,000 people in Buenos Aires are spending their lives in either sheltered accommodation or on the footpath. Amazingly, many of them are in this situation along with their little children and old-age parents. It is very unfortunate that the number of homeless individuals in this city is increasing day by day. They require immediate help. As the government lacks sufficient funds for combating the problem, NGOs and welfare organizationsneed to step to the frore. Los Angeles. Like various prosperous cities, Los Angeles has a high cost of living, and not all of the people can afford it. As a result of this, they have been forced to sleep on the streets. They are left homeless, jobless, and even there, little or no food available. According to an estimate, the number of homeless people in this city is up to 50,000. Half of their population is African-American. The extreme shortage of accommodation has led many of the Americans to sleep without shelter. Massages are not at all the brand new Therapy, moreover the practice has been passed on for centuries. Ancient Chinese medical documents and inscriptions found in Egyptian tombs can demonstrate this. Nowadays, its popularity has drastically increased, and since we are well aware that with great power comes great rumors, we decided to bust some myths about massages. There are many reasons you should opt for a full bodywork, of course there are the Health benefits, but merely you should do it because it feels unbelievably good. MYTH: Massages can spread cancer According to researchers, oncological diseases develop and spread as a result of changes in DNA cells, which means massages cant possibly have this effect. Real benefit: On the contrary to this rumors, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or drug therapy have used massages as a complementary therapy. Theyve been known to ease pain, help patients sleep better, reduce nausea and fatigue and improve motion and quality of life overall. MYTH: You shouldnt get a massage if youre pregnant Real benefit: There actually are specific Massage styles known as pregnancy massage or prenatal which can work wonders for future mothers. By reaching specific reflex zones, located for instance in your feet, the lymphatic and blood circulation will improve causing a benefic chain reaction: relaxing muscles, easing pain, lowering anxiety and decreasing back and leg pain. Because it increases the levels of serotonin and dopamine, it will also help with mood swings. A Cochrane Systematic Review (2012) found proof that massages have a significant improvement in managing labour pain and may play an important role in decreasing pain and improving womens overall emotional experience of labour and birth. MYTH: Massages can only have a short-term result Of course, if youre only going to get a massage once, the effects will not be as profound as if youd add it to your routine. Real benefit: By regularly getting a massage you can experience a lot of benefits. If you want a massage for relaxation and a feel-good vibe, you can get one whenever you feel your lifes gotten its toll on you or simply when you can squeeze one in your schedule. But if youre looking to ease symptoms of various conditions such as osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, digestive disorders, fibromyalgia, joint and muscular pain (and the list goes on) you will need to take more seriously and make time for it. MYTH: Massages cant stop migraines Real benefit: Migraines, headaches, fatigue and insomnia are usually stress-related conditions. Besides unwinding your mind and body and helping them function properly, applying pressure on specific points can help block pain signals sent to the brain, which will prevent these conditions. It also strengthens your immune system in general and allows you to breathe deeper and easier. There are specific techniques such as reflexology or trigger point therapy that could help you if youre experiencing painful and recurring headaches. MYTH: All types of massages are basically the same Real benefit: There are dozens of different massage styles, each one targeting a certain pain or need. Some of the most popular are: Swedish massage, which is the most common, best for relaxation, relieving stress and tight muscles; the Deep tissue massage is usually recommended for muscle stiffness and painful areas. Thai massages are also in demand, and are similar to a passive stretching session which improves flexibility and overall health. The Shiatsu and Watsu (basically the same thing, the only difference being that the last one is performed underwater) are destined for people having a lack of energy or suffering from migraines, lower and upper back pain or neck aches. Nevertheless, getting a massage (especially if suffering from a specific medical condition) should be always done by a professional. Law man Updated: 2016-07-15 09:09 By Liu Xiangrui(China Daily) Eugene Clark says he has seen how the country has changed dramatically over the past two decades.[Photo provided to China Daily] Eugene Clark brings an international legal perspective to many China projects and institutions, Liu Xiangrui reports. Law expert Eugene Clark, 68, has been involved with teaching and research in and about China for two decades. As an active commentator on China issues, he was invited to Beijing in June to give a presentation at a conference that focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and its impact upon China. Clark is a fellow with the Australia Academy of Law and a professor emeritus at the University of Canberra, where he was formerly pro vice chancellor. He is on the board of three international journals and a member of the Legal Education Committee of the Law Council of Australia. Born in the United States, he is now a citizen of both the US and Australia. Clark's direct interaction with China started in 1995, when he received a "China Links" grant from the Australian government as part of a team of law academics from the University of Canberra. They formed a partnership with the China University of Political Science and Law. Experts from both sides engaged in various collaborative activities including hosting conferences in Beijing and Canberra, producing special issues of publications that focused on China-Australia comparative law. Clark recalls making many friends in those early exchanges with China, which led to his later work in the country. "We shared networks to build bridges of understanding and cooperation between Australia and China," says Clark. He says his interest in China started after he moved to Australia from the US in the mid-1970s, when he noted the growing involvement of Australia and the US with China. "Australia's geographic position makes China especially important. Historically, too, the presence and contribution of Chinese immigrants to Australia's economy and society have been significant," he adds. In 2012, he was appointed a distinguished professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, and became the university's first Global 1,000 Talents scholar. The 1,000 Talents program was initiated by the Chinese government to recruit global experts. Besides teaching undergraduate and postgraduate classes, he has published articles in international journals, several of which were co-authored with Chinese scholars, and assisted the university with building relations with international universities. After his three-year period as a Global 1,000 Talents scholar ended, Clark continues to visit China periodically to attend conferences, and has been a visiting professor of law at the same university since 2015. During his time in China, Clark has had the opportunity to visit different universities and tour many historical and cultural sites around the country. "In the 20-year period since I first came to China, I have seen how dramatically the country has changed," says Clark. "I have also come to appreciate the immense size and vastness of China. I appreciate now that there are many 'Chinas'. In each province the food, the history, the industry, the geography, the cultural traditions and the dialect are wonderfully diverse and continuing to evolve while at the same time each contributing to the whole." A swahili spring Updated: 2016-07-29 07:35 By Liu Xiangrui(China Daily) Fadhhili Mpunji, who has traveled to about half of the provinces in China, learns to play a Chinese instrument during his trip to Yunnan province. Photos provided to China Daily Fadhhili Mpunji, a radio producer from Tanzania, says he is 'stuck' in Beijing for more than a decade - and is loving it. Liu Xiangrui reports China always made Fadhhili Mpunji curious. The 42-year-old journalist from Tanzania was familiar with Chinese during his childhood: They stayed in his hometown to help operate a railway built by a Chinese company in the late 1970s. Besides, he was intrigued by kung fu movies and watched Chinese gymnasts at the Olympic Games on TV. He briefly studied Chinese history and politics in college. Mpunji worked for the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation before coming to China in 2003 as part of a cooperation program between his former employer and China Radio International. He has been working as a producer for CRI's Swahili service since. He writes reports and records programs that introduce China to African listeners. Mpunji has paid close attention to the deepening of ties between China and Africa. The cooperation and trade between the two sides have benefited African people's lives, Mpunji says. When he got his first cellphone in 1994, he was among some 3,000 people in his country to own such a gadget. Now nearly half of its population of 50 million are using cellphones, lots of which are imported from China. In 2013, Mpunji broadcast programs on President Xi Jinping's visit to Tanzania, among his earliest state visits. Japanese suspect detained in security inquiry Updated: 2016-08-01 02:23 By ZHANG YUNBI(China Daily) A Japanese citizen has been investigated on suspicion of endangering China's state security, the Foreign Ministry told China Daily on Sunday. The ministry's spokesperson's office did not elaborate on the identity of the detained Japanese, saying only that the investigation had taken place recently. It said the probe was carried out by government departments, and the Japanese embassy in China had been notified. Japanese media reported on Thursday that the country's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga had confirmed that a Japanese man had been detained. Some Japanese media speculated that the man had been detained on suspicion of espionage. But Suga denied this at a news conference in Tokyo. The Tokyo-based Jiji News Agency quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man, aged over 50, had been scheduled to visit China from July 11 to 15. Japan News Network, a Chinese-language website that reports Japanese news, quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man was a member of the Japan-China Youth Association. According to the association's website, it is a group that helps to develop friendly relations between the two countries. However, the website is currently not accessible as it is "under maintenance". Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said the case may have a negative effect on Chinese public opinion about Japan in the short term. But he also said it will not deal a major blow to overall Sino-Japanese ties. "Most of the time, it is no surprise that Tokyo chooses to deny suspected espionage if there are any allegations," Zhou added. Crackdown on food outlets cleans air, upsets residents Updated: 2016-08-01 07:46 By Qi Xin in Zhengzhou and Hou Liqiang in Beijing(China Daily) A city in Henan province regularly hit by smog has seen an improvement in its air quality after a controversial crackdown that included the closure of smoky snack stands and restaurants, officials said. The Shangqiu government introduced a series of tough measures after the Ministry of Environmental Protection summoned its leaders, along with those from four other heavily polluted cities, on April 28. According to an official statement, as of Thursday, the city's average concentration of PM2.5 - tiny pollutant particles that can harm human health - had fallen by 3.4 percent month-on-month to 56 micrograms per cubic meter. The average PM10 level was 82 micrograms per cubic meter, down by 19.6 percent month-on-month. "There has been a significant improvement in the environmental quality" after a citywide campaign and "the blue skies with white clouds, unseen for a long time, are now back", the statement quoted an unnamed official as saying. The campaign was based on nine measures, including controlling dust, a ban on burning straw and removing from the roads any vehicles that do not meet the national exhaust emissions standard. However, a move to close polluting restaurants led to complaints online that it had affected residents' lives and had quietened bustling streets. Zhang Hanxin, 28, said she now finds it hard to buy traditional local foods like steamed bread and cold noodles near her home. "There are very few snack stalls left nearby," she said. "The street used to be busy and lively, but now it looks very quiet. The blot left by the barbecue stalls is still there. I don't know how long it will be like this." Zhang Fuyi from the city's publicity department said open roadside markets and outdoor barbecue stands have been cleaned up in the campaign, while restaurants that used coal or did not have the right purification facilities for cooking fumes were ordered to close down until they met the standards. As of Saturday, most of the restaurants affected had reopened, although the environmental protection bureau had still to complete some inspections, he said, adding that residents can still buy steamed bread in markets that meet the standards. Contact the writers at houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 08/01/2016 page3) Seminar for experts to exchange views on Tibetan studies Updated: 2016-08-01 07:46 By Cui Jia(China Daily) An international forum for academics to discuss the latest research into Tibetan studies will start in Beijing on Tuesday. The three-day Beijing Seminar on Tibetan Studies, the sixth since 1991, will be attended by 325 scholars and observers from China and abroad, according to the China Tibetology Research Center. The first seminar attracted about 80 experts. Some 308 papers have been selected for the event, covering topics such as religious studies, contemporary politics, social transformation, economic development and the Belt and Road Initiative, said Li Decheng, a researcher at the center. The reincarnation of Living Buddhas will be a main topic, he said, adding that scholars and observers will be invited to view an exhibition on reincarnation in Beijing. "As an academic seminar, we welcome different voices," Li said. "We expect to see heated debate as well as discussions in which scholars from China and abroad exchange ideas and deepen understanding on past and current affairs in Tibetan areas." He added that the seminar promotes international academic cooperation - at the event in 2008, Russian and German universities agreed to conduct joint studies with the China Tibetology Research Center - and provides opportunities for young scholars to shine. "We've seen an increasing number of young Chinese scholars presenting their latest studies at the seminars and responding to foreign scholars' questions in fluent English," Li said. Tibetan studies have become more popular among foreign experts, he added, while the Beijing seminar has become a leading platform for academic exchanges between Chinese and foreign scholars. cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 08/01/2016 page3) HK jeweler wading into US market Updated: 2016-08-01 11:01 By Paul Welitzkin in New York(China Daily USA) Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group seeks to offset sales drop with push into wholesale market Mike Netka of Leon Diamonds on West 47th Street in New York City said about half of his customers in the summer are Chinese tourists. Judy Zhu / For China Daily Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group Ltd plans to offset a decline in luxury sales in China by entering the US wholesale diamond market, and industry observers said the world's largest publicly traded jewelry chain will face a very competitive landscape. Some retailers in New York City's Diamond District - one of the primary centers of the global diamond industry - welcomed the prospect of a new supplier, but also expressed reservations. "It will be better for guys like us that we have more options as long as they are competitive in their prices," said Mike Nekta of Leon Diamonds on West 47th Street in Manhattan. His family has been in the business since the 1970s. Nekta, who also has his own custom designed jewelry line, said about half of his customers at his New York store in the summer are Chinese tourists. "That's why I have a Chinese salesperson on my staff," he said. George of Ali Jewelry hailed the entry of Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook into the wholesale business. "The more the merrier," he said, but he isn't ready to abandon his current suppliers. "I wouldn't change because I am already accustomed to the people I work with," he said. "I know and trust the people I buy from right now." Last week, Chow Tai Fook company officials unveiled plans to sell polished and rough diamonds to other US retailers. It follows a slowdown in the Chinese market, which hurt luxury sales and led profits to plunge by 46 percent in the last fiscal year. Chow Tai Fook now sells cut diamonds to US franchise retailers with its "Hearts on Fire" brand, which it acquired in 2014 for $150 million. "We are interested in the US market because it has the largest demand for diamonds in the world. It contributes 40 percent of diamond sales," Chow Tai Fook Managing Director Kent Wong told Bloomberg. Rather than breaking into a brand-new retail market on its own, the new wholesale business will allow Chow Tai Fook to test the waters, said Wong. "We will seek to partner with local retailers who know the market well," he said. "With the slower growth of the Chinese market and more Chinese traveling and shopping overseas, local Chinese and Hong Kong jewelry retailers have started to expand to popular tourist destinations where Chinese buyers would like to go, including the US and Canada," Erik Jens, the CEO of ABN AMRO's International Diamond & Jewelry Group wrote in an email. Chow Tai Fook will be entering a US diamond wholesale market that is competitive to the point that some view it as unhealthy, according to Edahn Golan, a Tel Aviv-based diamond industry consultant. "Margins are slim and payment terms are very generous to further encourage sales. That said, the market is also fragmented and that may provide Chow Tai Fook with an opportunity as well," he said. Golan said Chow Tai Fook moving into new markets makes sense. "Generally, the US market is very stable compared to China. It's also a good market for goods not sold in China. In that sense, the diversification provides counterbalance that can help at a time such as now, when the market they are active in is weak," he added. Golan said Chow Tai Fook's biggest competition will come from seasoned sightholders that have years of experience in the US market. A sightholder is a company on the De Beers Global Sightholder Sales's (DBGSS) list of authorized bulk purchasers of rough diamonds. DBGSS is controlled by the De Beers Group, the single largest producer and seller of rough diamonds in the world. Ali Jewelry's George wondered if Chow Tai Fook should first try affinity marketing for its new wholesale operation. "They should start with the Chinese jewelers to establish a presence and then come to shops like mine," he said. paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com Military cooperation not aid, Abe's tool of choice in SE Asia Updated: 2016-08-01 07:51 By Cai Hong(China Daily USA) Together with the United States and Australia, Japan has again tried to drive a wedge between Southeast Asian countries and China. Although the three countries have no territorial claims in the South China Sea, they are intervening in the region in the name of "freedom of navigation" and "the rule of law". When, after their meeting in Laos last week, the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not mention in their final statement the ruling in the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by the Philippines, the three countries came up with their own statement chiding China for its claims in the South China Sea. Japan, the US and Australia regard themselves as a "pillar" of stability throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and the foreign ministers of the three countries met on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings, issuing a statement in which they called on countries in the region to uphold the ruling, which China has consistently said it does not acknowledge or accept as it is unlawful. For Japan and its allies, China is inherently in the wrong simply by growing stronger. Any move by China is seen as a challenge to their power, or the existing status quo, which allows no room for newcomers. Even China's vision of interconnecting continents with its Belt and Road Initiative has been deemed as a means for Beijing to take the initiative in defining regional policy, considered by the three as the continental power's strategy for consolidating a sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific area. Japan on the other hand is implementing a strategy that aims at supplementing the aid it provides the region, its traditional tool of influence, with new military cooperation and assistance. Southeast Asia now tops the foreign policy agenda of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration. Abe visited the 10 ASEAN countries in the first year of his return to power, highlighting a new appraisal of the region in Japan's strategic calculations. In Laos, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea. But Japan has not uttered a single word encouraging peaceful resolutions to the disputes through negotiations, instead is seeking to stoke tensions in the region. Japan has sought to strengthen its partnership with Southeast Asian countries through capacity-building and defense cooperation. Japan has enhanced its presence in the region by upping the number of patrols in the South China Sea, increasing its participation in bilateral and trilateral military exercises, and making more port visits to maritime countries in Southeast Asia. Japan joined the US-Australian Talisman Sabre biennial military exercise for the first time in July 2015, a move that showed how Japan wanted to play a role in the Western Pacific. Japan also conducted its first bilateral maritime and air exercises with the Philippines in 2015 and its first bilateral table-top exercise with Vietnam in February 2016. In April, a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces destroyer participated in multilateral naval exercises hosted by Indonesia. Among several ASEAN countries, Abe invited Laos, the grouping's rotating chairman for this year, to an outreach meeting when the world's seven most industrialized nations convened in Japan in late May. Japan intended to draw the Southeast Asian countries to its side, offering them aid and trade. However, the latest meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers drove home the message that Japan's approach is not working. The author is China Daily Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 08/01/2016 page12) South Australia to have first direct flight to Chinese mainland in December Updated: 2016-08-01 17:31 By Li Jing(chinadaily.com.cn) Adelaide in South Australia will land the first direct flight from the Chinese mainland in December, as China Southern Airlines inked a deal with the South Australia Tourism Commission recently. Beginning Dec 12, three weekly flight services will start between Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province and Adelaide, carried out by the airlines' Airbus A330-200. South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill said having a direct flight from China's mainland "will create jobs that extend well beyond Adelaide Airport". "Three direct flights per week from Chinese mainland to Adelaide would create 135 local jobs, and have flow-on benefits for our hotels, our restaurants and tourism operators across the State," Weatherill said. Tourism is one of South Australia's key economic drivers, which is why the State government committed $35 million over two years in the 2016/17 State budget, in addition to the $35 million committed over two years in last year's budget. China is the state's fourth largest tourism market, welcoming 34,000 visitors in the 12 months leading to March 2016, a five-fold growth from a decade ago. 5 feared dead as Russian helicopter shot down Updated: 2016-08-02 01:34 (AGENCIES) The wreckage of a Russian helicopter lies smoldering in Syria's Idlib province after it was shot down on Monday. [Photo/Agencies] All five people on board a Russian military helicopter that was shot down over Syria on Monday are believed to have died, the Kremlin said. The Russian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was shot down over the Syrian province of Idlib. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground in Idlib province after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the ministry said in a statement. "There were three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation center in Syria on board," it said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences over the deaths of the five soldiers. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the Defense Ministry, those in the helicopter died. They died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimize victims on the ground," he said. Photos shared widely on social networks by Syrian opposition activists on Monday purported to depict the smoking aircraft in the desert and personal belongings of those inside, including Russian driver's licenses, passports and insurance cards, as well as Orthodox Christian icons. The authenticity of the pictures could not be independently confirmed. It was the third Russian helicopter lost in action in Syria this year. In July, an Mi-25 attack helicopter was shot down near Palmyra, killing two Russian pilots. The aircraft had been engaging advancing Islamic State militants at the Syrian Army's request when it was taken down, the Russian Defense Ministry said. In April, an Mi-28N attack helicopter crashed while flying near the city of Homs, with the Defense Ministry stressing it was not shot down. The crash killed both pilots, with technical failure cited by Moscow as the likely cause of the accident. Monday's helicopter downing was the deadliest for the Russians since Moscow began carrying out airstrikes in Syria last September. She opens her vinyl-covered pocket Qur'an to surat An-Nur, "The Light," and I open the translation I brought with me. "Allah is the Light of the heavens and of the earth," begins Fakhrys translation. We talk about what each of us thinks it means to speak of God in these terms. The sky over the lake turns pink and then darkens. When we turn to go inside, the meadow is filled with fireflies. I've chosen Psalm 27, since the month of Elul is fast approaching and it's customary to read the psalm daily during that month of spiritual preparation. We read two English translations, one from JPS and the other from my rebbe, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. "Yah, You are my light," Reb Zalman begins. We talk about the psalms writ large and what its like to pray them. It is a sticky August evening in Garrison, New York. I'm sitting on a park bench at a retreat center with a woman I've only just met. I'm wearing capris, a tank top, and my rainbow kippah. She's wearing a turtleneck and long dress with her hair tucked under a scarf. Our assignment is to teach each other a favorite text from our own holy scriptures. She is a Muslim and I am a Jew. This essay was originally published on 9/15/09 as Allah is the Light: Prayer in Ramadan and Elul , back when Zeek had a web partnership with Jewcy rather than with the Forward . But the formatting on that original piece has gone wonky and it's become nigh-unreadable, so I'm reprinting it here. There are eighteen participants in the first Retreat for Emerging Jewish and Muslim Religious Leaders, organized by the office of multifaith initiatives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. We have been carefully hand-picked. The Jews present were recommended by the heads of our various rabbinic programs as people likely to find this kind of interfaith encounter fruitful. The Muslims present arent clergy students (since, it turns out, their clergy formation process doesn't map neatly to ours) but scholars, academics, community leaders, lay leaders. Many of them are Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow. The formal structure for our time together revolves around studying one of the stories our two traditions hold in common: not the Abraham/Ibrahim, Isaac and Ishmael tale around which most Abrahamic initiatives are based, but the story of Joseph/Yusuf. Two Jewish scholars and two Muslim scholars will delve deep into the story and its commentaries over the course of our week together. We read Tanakh and Qur'an, midrash and tafsir. Each of our teachers illuminates a different facet of this shared story. Raquel Ukeles teaches us about intertextuality in the Joseph narratives, Sherman Jackson provides a Blackamerican Muslim perspective on the ambiguity of love in the twin Joseph stories, Rabbi Or Rose offers Hasidic teachings on the Joseph cycle as a spiritual journey, and Mahmoud Ayoub teaches us about the Yusuf story as a lesson in repentance, love, and forgiveness. If this were the entirety of the retreat experience, dayenu: it would have been enough. Four small subgroups are formed within our larger cohort, each tasked with a project. The first group organizes a storytelling circle: one night we sit on floor pillows and pass a microphone around. We're invited to share love stories, then to share grandparent stories, which turn into immigration stories and then freeform stories about who we are and where we're coming from. The first couple of tales are tentative, but then we start to loosen up. It's the "grandparent" theme that really gets us going. Despite our considerable differences, we all had beloved grandparents and we all want to share something of how they made us who we are. One of the retreat organizers tiptoes out and returns with milk and cookies. We tell stories and we nosh. By the end of the evening, I'm starting to feel less like I need to be on my best behavior, and more like I can let some of my personality shine through. The second group project is a session of intrafaith dialogue, e.g. dialogue within (rather than between) our religious-community groups. The Jews gather in the Jewish prayer space, the Muslims gather in the Muslim prayer space, and each group takes half an hour to talk about what the retreat has been like for us so far, what we're learning, what's been good, what's been hard. Not for the first time I'm amazed by the simple fact of sitting in a circle with rabbinic students from Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox seminaries (plus the other two transdenominational seminaries besides my own.) I say something about that, and everyone laughs a little. And then I say the thing that's been bothering me all week: I know how different we are from one another. But I don't know enough about the Muslim cohort to know what their differences are. I don't even know what questions to ask. We all know the terms Sunni and Shia, but what do they mean in practice? I can see variations of dress in the Muslim students, but what do those imply? What do I not even realize that I dont know? When the two groups reconvene, the students in charge of the session take a new tack. They invite us to take turns, one Muslim speaking and then one Jew speaking, asking questions of one another. We come up with an incisive list of the things we don't know about each other but wish we did. This is the first time that I hear someone outwardly name the elephant in the room, the issue of Israel and Palestine, and it feels to me as though the room breathes a collective sigh of relief. On the first night of the retreat, the subject of travel in Israel came up at the dinner table. (Of course all of the rabbinic students have spent time there; our perspectives differ, but its a natural area of conversational common ground for us.) I felt awkward, worried that the Muslims at our table might feel alienated but unsure how to ask them what the conversation was like for them. Now, a few days in to our learning together, one of the Muslim professors asks a question about how Jews perceive Israel and the energy in the room shifts. One of our potential points of contention has been raised and the sky hasnt fallen. I feel as though an invisible weight has been lifted. My small group gets the privilege of leading the session entitled "difficult conversations." When we meet early in the retreat to begin planning, we begin cautiously by asking each other what we think the difficult conversations are. Slowly we shift into talking about the stereotypes that each group holds of the other. Often the same stereotypes cut in both directions. Each of our communities has a tendency to feel that the other is more powerful. The Jews say: but there are so many of you; Israel is surrounded by hostile nations! And the Muslims say: but you are so disproportionately powerful given your small numbers! As we share with each other what we've heard in our communities, we wear the same chagrined expressions. We decide to begin our session with a roleplay. I will announce that we are on flight such-and-such from JFK to Heathrow and that I am our flight attendant. Then I will walk over to my two fellow retreatants, seated on chairs in the middle of the circle, and say, "I have a halal meal and a kosher meal...?" and pantomime handing one to each. In the ensuing conversation, my two classmates will aim to work in as many obnoxious stereotypes as possible. We decide to do a trial run, so I pretend to hand the meals to them and then I sit back to see what they will do. "Give me that," the Muslim says. "You took the wrong meal." Then he mutters, "Just like a Jew -- taking what doesn't belong to her!" It's an appalling remark, and yet in this moment it's hilarious; I have to fight back a giggle. His Jewish counterpart doesn't miss a beat: "Excuse me? I'm offended! Are you talking about my homeland, the land of Israel?" And they're off. A few minutes later we notice that one of our fellow retreatants is standing near us, eyes wide as saucers. "We're practicing a roleplay," one of my cohorts says hastily. The retreatant who overheard the conversation bursts into relieved laughter. We tweak her about it for the rest of the retreat -- "you didn't honestly think that was real, did you?" But of course it could have been. Each group harbors fears of the other. Maybe what's most miraculous about this retreat is that we're beginning to name those fears, and to hear each other naming themand then we sit down to eat and talk about life and work, parents and children. Not ignoring the tough stuff, but not allowing it to define us, either. We grow bolder. One of my colleagues asks me about my kippah: what does it mean, why am I the only woman wearing one, what do the colors signify? In return I learn about the Ismaili tradition of which she is a part, where in smaller communities women may serve as lay leaders and pastoral counselors. I know that there are divides within each group which remain hidden. That African-American Muslims, Arab Muslims, and South Asian Muslims have different experiences and priorities doesn't come up until the "difficult conversations" session, when one South Asian Muslim notes that the Israel/Palestine issue isn't a central issue for her as it is for some of her colleagues. By the same token, the Jewish participants generally don't raise the places where we diverge, issues of sexuality and LGBT ordination and who counts in a minyan. But even with these issues largely unspoken, we're still learning about each others' communities, and everything we learn nuances our understanding. At lunch, a Muslim participant asks how long women have been writing midrash, crafting Torah commentary, ordained as rabbis. She seems galvanized by our response. We talk about Amina Wadud, who has been leading mixed-gender Muslim prayer since 2005. What was once inconceivable is already a reality, even if it's not yet comfortable or mainstream. What else which once seemed impossible is within our grasp? As the week ends, the Jews are on the cusp of the month of Elul, a month of prayer and contemplation and the inner work of teshuvah (repentance/return.) The Muslims are on the cusp of Ramadan, which could be described in much the same way. We hug and shake hands, we agree to meet on the internet. We brainstorm a list of ways we can continue to work together. What would it be like to bring each other to events in our own communities? Can we teach together? Can we write together? How can we ensure that the fragile friendships we're beginning to build outlast our visit to the Garrison Center? And, most importantly, how can we share some of this sense of transformed relationship with the people in our communities who arent here? On Shabbat, at the kiddush after morning services, I tell a group of people where I've been all week. "Why don't we ever hear about Muslim clergy denouncing violence?" one of the congregants at my shul asks. There is a note of gotcha! in his voice. "Because our media doesn't report it," I say. "Or because it's being said in a foreign language and we don't understand it. Or because it's not news. Or because we're not listening. But it's not because they're not saying it." He looks startled, but apparently decides to take my word for it. I wonder how many of my new Muslim friends found themselves in a similar position at the masjid when they got home -- when they said they'd spent several days studying texts and forming connections with Jews, what push-back did they encounter? The family of Abraham has long been at loggerheads, but this retreat shows me that we can do better. (I would argue that we must.) Both of our traditions name us as spiritual cousins. Being related doesnt necessarily mean that we always like everything about each otheranyone with an extended family knows that. But I'd rather be on speaking terms, even though our family tree is sometimes warped by our history. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. Farmers in the southern province of ong Nai are growing Thai rambutan because of its high profit, according to the ong Nai Agriculture and Rural Development Department. Photo tintucnongnghiep.vn ONG NAI Farmers in the southern province of ong Nai are growing Thai rambutan because of its high profit, according to the ong Nai Agriculture and Rural Development Department. The department said ong Nai has 11,000ha of rambutan trees, making it the largest rambutan producer in Viet Nam. The total area for growing rambutan trees has not increased over the years, but the structure of the area has changed. The area for growing Thai rambutan has increased, while the area for Vietnamese rambutan has been reduced. Le Thi Lan, a farmer in Binh Loc Commune, ong Nai Province, said her family grew 5ha of Vietnamese rambutan before 2014, but now she has cut down local rambutan trees on 3ha to grow Thai rambutan. She said her family might grow Thai rambutan trees on the remaining 2ha in the future if the selling price of Thai rambutan remains high. Currently, the wholesale price of Thai rambutan stands at VN18,000 (US$0.8) per kilo, while the price of Vietnamese rambutan is between VN5,000 and VN15,000 per kilo depending on the kind of rambutan, according to Tin tuc newspaper. The demand for Thai rambutan has also increased recently, said Phung Thanh Tam, director of the Binh Loc Agricultural, Service and Trade Cooperative in Binh Loc Commune. However, Thai rambutan prices have not been as stable as local rambutan prices. That is a great risk for local farmers, he said. In addition, the higher supply of Thai rambutan would drive down the selling price for the fruit. The ong Nai Agriculture and Rural Development Department warned that farmers should be careful when switching from local rambutan trees to Thai rambutan. Local rambutan profits might not be as high as Thai rambutan profits, but Vietnamese rambutan trees have been developed in ong Nai for many years, and land and natural conditions are suitable for growing Vietnamese rambutan trees, the department said. The department also echoed warnings about prices going down once more farmers switch to Thai rambutan crops. In a related matter, Long Khanh rambutan received a geographical indication certificate in June, which would create more chances for local rambutan to enter new markets, the department said. VNS By Thien Ly Recently the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment published a list of 77 apartment projects that have been registered as mortgaged at land registration offices. The list has been submitted to relevant offices in the city as well as uploaded on the website of the Land Registration Office. This is the first time in Viet Nam that property mortgages have been announced publicly with details of names, addresses, contracts, relevant organisations, and mortgage registration dates. Most of the projects were mortgaged under credit contracts signed in 2015 or 2016, though some go back as far ago as 2010, especially in Tan Phu District. Consequently, the developers of many of the projects have already sold flats in them to buyers but are yet to provide them with the title deeds (also known as red and pink books). The action is said to have been prompted by the Harmona scandal in the city a few months ago. More than 600 buyers of apartments in the Harmona in the citys Tan Binh District got a rude shock one day when they were told their homes would be seized by a bank because the developer had mortgaged the building and failed to repay the loan. The building was handed over to the bank on June 9, meaning nearly 2,000 people living there had to leave their apartments despite already making full payment. This kind of violation by developers has become a cause for serious concern in recent times. As a result, the city has decided to make the legal status of property projects public to reduce the risk for buyers. But the action has not come in for universal approbation as one might have expected. True, some analysts have hailed it, saying the risk faced by home buyers has been growing since a large number of transactions are done before projects are finished, and this move would promote transparency in the property market and protect buyers. But many objections have been raised. Many critics point out that the way the city has announced the list of mortgaged projects has deeply worried both buyers and developers and even affected their business. They have a point: the list is simplistic, only mentioning names, addresses, contracts, relevant organisations, and mortgage registration dates, and not the precise status of the projects. In many cases, the developers have not even borrowed money but had to mortgage the development to a bank to obtain the guarantee mandated by the Real Estate Law. The law requires developers, before selling or leasing unfinished properties, to obtain guarantees from banks, who will compensate buyers if the sellers default. So clearly there is a case for making it explicit why a development has been mortgaged: to borrow money or for getting the banks guarantee. The simplistic list has begun to cause unnecessary misunderstanding between developers and buyers, according to critics. Many buyers, on discovering their properties are mortgaged, have anxiously sought clarifications from the developers as well as local authorities. Some individual customers, whose mortgage details have also been listed, are very unhappy that their private information has been made public. Many developers are now fearful that potential buyers will become wary of buying from them. Analysts insisted that the exact status of the mortgages need to be published as well since it is the main reason for conflicts between developers and buyers. One way the tension can be eased is by banks closely monitoring loans to ensure the developers use them for the right purpose, which would ensure projects are completed on schedule, they added. Are bonus shares really a reward? Early in August the Vinacomin-eo Nai Coal Joint Stock Company will issue 13.44 million bonus shares to its shareholders to increase its capital. The chartered capital will increase to VN294.4 billion (US$13.08 million) after the issuance. Last year the company had paid a dividend of VN600 per share. Many companies in Viet Nam issue bonus shares instead of paying cash dividends, a strategy that divides critics since while it rewards shareholders, it also unduly dilutes the companys equity. Two other coal companies, Coc Sau and Cao Son, also plan to issue bonus shares to their shareholders in August, with the former set to issue 19.49 million shares. The two companies shares are now traded at VN6,000. Not only coal companies but many firms in other industries also opt to issue bonus shares. Lam Thao Fertilizer & Chemicals Joint Stock Company, for instance, recently decided to issue more than 35 million bonus shares. Its chartered capital is expected to rise from the current VN778.3 billion ($34.6 million) to over VN1.128 trillion. The Southern Freight Forwarder Company (STG) has issued 1.7 million bonus shares and also made a rights issue, issuing 55.1 million common shares to existing shareholders at VN10,000. The money from the issuances will be used to buy other companies and redeem its bonds. The question is, what do shareholders think about getting bonus shares? If the company is performing well, most shareholders are happy to get bonus shares since they can avoid paying the income tax (of 5 per cent) on cash dividends. But if the firm is not doing well, they do not want bonus shares since the share price is likely to be low. To issue bonus shares, a company transfers a part of the reserve to the capital account, thus increasing the capital. But analysts said that the bonus shares of the above companies come from share premium, development funds and profits retained over the years, while the shareholders are by definition already their owners. This means that shareholders do not get any reward from the company since it is tantamount to taking their money and giving it to them. So when are bonus shares actually a reward for shareholders? The analysts said they would be actual rewards only when they are issued from the companys social welfare and reward funds meant to respectively ensure the cultural and social welfare of the firms employees and reward them for outstanding achievements. When the company issues bonus shares from those funds, its equity will increase, while employees will receive shares instead of rewards. Thus, the bonus shares of many companies such as eo Nai Coal Joint Stock Company and Lam Thao Fertilizers and Chemicals Company will not actually benefit shareholders. VNS HCM CITY To boost sales at the peak shopping season for Tet (Lunar New Year), Vietnamese enterprises need to pay more attention to customer demand in each region in order to map out proper production and distribution plans, delegates told a seminar in HCM City on Friday. Tran Thai Ha, a representative from the market research firm Nielsen Viet Nam, said the most-mentioned products during Tet include beer, beverages, coffee, and confectionaries. But the demand was different in each region in the period. For instance, during last Tet, sales of beer and beverages increased significantly compared to normal time in the south, but in the north, beer and beverages sales slightly reduced, while demand for confectionary went up strongly, she said. Firms usually release their Tet products in early November, but with the 2017 Tet falling on January 28, earlier than in previous years, businesses should notice that to prepare commodities for Tet early, she said. Besides, to increase sales during peak season, firms should make efforts to bring their products into retail stores and launch promotional programmes. Despite the Viet Nam economy showing signs of slowing, its retail sales growth has remained high, she said. She also shared the top five factors that influence custome decisions over where to buy products. They are availability, quality, location, store personnel and product assortment. More and more Vietnamese shoppers look for products with healthy ingredients, she said, adding that this is a good opportunity for retailers to boost sales of these products. Overseas expansion Delegates at the seminar also shared their experience in penetrating overseas markets. Nguyen ang Hien, general director of Tan Quang Minh Manufacture and Trading Co. Ltd ( Bidrico), said by participating in trade fairs held in Myanmars big cities, his company found local distributors to distribute its products. Bridico chose to penetrate the modern trade channels first, by selling its products at a supermarket there, where Myanmar consumers give priority to go for shopping, before distributing its products in the traditional channels, he said. Philip Zerillo from the Singapore Management University said finding a proper distributor is the most important factor in helping businesses distribute their products abroad. Businesses should find distributors that give them insights in the local market, so they know how to adapt their pricing and products, he said. Pham Thanh Binh, chairman and general director of Bich Chi Food JSC, said 10 years ago, his company only sold in the domestic market, but its earning from exports currently account for 66 per cent of its total revenue, with its processed farm produce available in all ASEAN countries. To succeed in overseas markets, firms must conduct market research to develop suitable products for the target markets, he said. With Muslims accounting for a large population in ASEAN, companies must obtain Halal certification for their products if they want to penetrate these markets, he said. Hien and Binh agreed that firms need to have different business strategies for each market. We can not apply our business strategy for Viet Nam or Cambodia and deploy it in Myanmar, Hien said. Binh said Vietnamese businesses encounter strong competition both in the domestic and overseas markets, so they have no other choice than to make efforts to improve production technology and labour productivity to raise their competitiveness. At the seminar orgnaised by the Business Studies and Assistance Centre and the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products, delegates suggested the Government provide more support to help Vietnamese firms promote their products abroad. VNS People shop for childrens books at a Viet Nam Education Publishing House bookstore. School suppliers have been told to increase supplies by 15-30 per cent to market demand. VNA/VNS Photo Quy Trung HCM CITY As a new school year is just around the corner, many supermarkets and bookstores have launched major promotions designed to increase sales of stationery and other school supplies. For instance, Co.opMart and Co.opXtra supermarkets nationwide are offering sharp discounts on more than 1,000 items, including student uniforms, school bags, notebooks, pens and other school supplies until August 7. School student uniforms such as white shirts, blue trousers and skirts have an average discount of 35 per cent. White notebooks, school bags, shoes, and many kinds of school supplies of familiar brands like Sanding, Viettien, Novelty, SGC, Bitis, Bitas. Miti, Thien Long and others have their prices discounted by up to 50 per cent. Big C is also running a discount programme called Hanh trang en truong until August 8, with discounts between 15 per cent to 42 per cent applied on more than 880 items, including school student uniforms, footwear, notebooks, school bags, and desk lamps, of which many are new models. In addition to discounts on prices, the programme will also apply buy two get one free to certain items such as notebooks and notebook covers. Since the middle of this year, Lotte Mart supermarkets have launched attractive discounts on products serving the upcoming academic year. School uniforms are discounted by 15 per cent, while pen, ruler, backpack, notebook, pencil and other school items are discount at over 30 per cent. Many bookstores in HCM City, including Thang Long, Nguyen Van Cu, and Fahasa, are offering 10 per cent to 15 per cent discounts on textbooks, notebooks, pen and other items. Price stability programme As in previous years, HCM City is carrying out a price stabilisation programme for school equipment, which will go on until March 2017. School equipment suppliers have been told to increase supply by 15 per cent to 30 per cent and meet 35 per cent to 50 per cent of market demand. The programme has attracted the participation of 15 enterprises, who registered to stabilize the price of 28 million notebooks, 1.369 million school bags and backpacks, and 320,000 pairs of shoes. Tran Ba Dung, deputy director of Huong Mi Handbags Co., Ltd, told Viet Nam News that his company was assigned to offer stablised prices on 600,000 backpacks and schoolbags. The company has developed many new models this year, including terrain backpacks (which are easy to pull up stairs) and anti-hunchback shaping backpacks, he said. Besides providing products under the citys price stabilisation programme, the company has also supplied products to other provinces and cities nationwide, he said. Its wholesales volume sold to Co.opMart supermarket chain, Fahasa and PNC bookstores and first-level agents increased by 15 per cent over the same period last year, he said. Tran Van Tac, director of Tuan Viet Shoes Co., Ltd, said the company expects to sell 60,000 products in the 2016-17 school year. Duong Chi Thanh, general director of Vinh Tien Joint Stock Company, one of the largest manufacturers of high quality student notebooks and paper stationeries in Viet Nam, said the company has prepared 20 per cent more notebooks to serve this school year, of which 40 per cent will be sold in the price stabilisation programme. VNS PHU YEN The largest factory processing woodchips for export in the south-central Phu Yen Province became operational at ong Bac Song Cau Industrial Park yesterday. The 36,000sq.m factory has been built by a local private enterprise at a total cost of VN100 billion (US$4.5 million). According to Tran ang Khoa, director of Bao Chau Private Enterprise, the factory would produce 100,000 tonnes of woodchips annually, with a designed capacity of processing 36 tonnes per hour, during its first phase. It would manufacture 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets in 2017 for export to the Republic of Korea (RoK), the United States and the European Union, he said. The company has a 2,000ha raw material area to feed the factory. It has worked with the National Economics University, Bureau Veritas and the RoK-based Dongseo University and Kangwon National University to study new wood processing technologies. -- VNS HA NOI The central Thua Thien-Hue Province plans to spend more than VN6.6 trillion (US$295 million) on transforming itself into a textile and garment hub in the countrys central region. This is the main objective of the provinces textile and garment planning for the 2016-2020 period. Under the plan, the province will focus on developing the domestic market and expanding export markets, with exports being a driving force for the sectors development; boosting research, product design, brand-building and promotion; and developing a professional fashion industry to change the rural labour structure. Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Van Cao said in order to develop the sector sustainably and ensure enough supply of materials for production, the province had co-operated with the Centres co-ordinating board of key economic zones to build a centre for supplying apparel materials. The centre would cover 400ha in the Phong ien Industrial Zone, he said. Highly appreciative of the project, many textile and garment companies located in the zone had expressed their willingness to expand their factories, Cao said. In addition, to create a closed production chain, the province is also conducting research of modern wastewater treatment systems to protect the environment. Due to dependence on materials supplied by foreign partners, local textiles and garment companies had lost their competitiveness and the sectors efficiency had also been affected, Cao said. Thats why in the near future, companies would be urged to transfer their production from a processing model to ODM (original design manufacturing) or OMB (original brand manufacturing) model, he said. The province is now home to six industrial zones, with 50 textiles and garment enterprises. VNS HA NOI The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) retained its position as the countrys largest commercial bank in terms of assets, the banks latest accumulated report said. According to the report, BIDVs total assets as of the end of June rose 9.2 per cent against January to reach more than VN930 trillion (US$41.51 billion). The banks credit and investment also increased 8.3 per cent to reach VN876 trillion, while its capital mobilisation rose 13 per cent to touch VN868 trillion, helping the bank claim a market share of 12.8 per cent of the entire banking systems total capital mobilisation. Thanks to the credit growth, BIDVs accumulated profits as of the end of June reached VN3.311 trillion, up 6.2 per cent year-on-year. However, the banks non-performing loans increased sharply by 31 per cent against the end of last year, or by more than VN3 trillion to reach VN13.183 trillion. Of these debts, potentially irrecoverable debts and doubtful debts rose from VN5.190 trillion and VN887.76 billion to VN6.343 trillion and VN2.326 trillion, respectively. The bank, however, controlled its total bad debts under two per cent as required by the central bank. - VNS HA NOI Conservationists and scientists have strongly called on the Government to stop allowing organisations and individuals commercially farming and trading endangered species in Viet Nam. The call was made after conservationists and scientists recently discovered commercial farming and trading of endangered species barely contributed to the reduction of species smuggling which was the Governments major aim when it gave the green light to commercial farming and trading of endangered species. Bui Thi Ha, deputy head of the Education for Nature Viet Nam (ENV), said a two-year survey, released last Wednesday, taken by the organisation of the 26 biggest commercial farms of endangered species throughout the country, showed that all farms had signs of illegally buying wild endangered species and selling them as captive endangered species. Under current regulations, owners of the farms must show a one-use licence, issued by the local forest management division, when undertaking trading activity of their captive endangered species, Ha said. However, the owners often illegally used one licence for many transactions. For examples, they only had a license to sell a couple of captive civets, however, after they sold the captive civets, they illegally bought wild civets and continued to use the same licence to sell them, she said. Therefore, it was considered as a trick to legalise their wildlife smuggling, she said. Journalist o Doan Hoang, a member of the survey team, said when the survey was conducted, most of the commercial farms were raising several individuals of endangered species such as snakes or turtles. But they could provide up to thousands of snakes or turtles within several days for anyone who demanded it. It was the most eyebrow-raising thing, he said. So the big question is where do they take the animals from? he said. Khong Trung, head of the central Quang Tri Provinces Forest Management Division, said giving permission to commercial farming and trading in endangered species actually caused troubles for forest rangers when enforcing laws. It was hard for forest rangers to distinguish between products of wild animal species and captive animal species, he said. For examples, it was impossible to differentiate between tiger-bone glue made from wild tiger and tiger-bone glue made from captive tiger, he said. The only way to protect endangered species is to ban trading activities in all forms, he said. Associate professor Le Xuan Canh, former head of the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology, said several endangered species, including pangolin and water monitor (Varanus salvator), were unable to reproduce in captivity. So, owners of commercial farms breeding pangolins or water monitors often illegally buy wild pangolins or water monitors to meet the demand of the market, he said. It could push endangered species to extinction, causing a decline in biodiversity, he said. Therefore, the Government was urged to soon prohibit commercial farming and trading of endangered species in all forms, he added. VNS HANOI A working group led by Phan Xuan Dung, chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Committee on Science, Technology and Environment has arrived in central Ha Tinh Province to supervise the implementation of the law on environmental protection on the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company. The working group yesterday visited fishermen who were affected by recent environmental accidents as well as examining places where waste from Formosa was reportedly buried in Ky Trinh Ward. The group also met with leaders from the Peoples Committee of Ky Anh Township and Ha Tinh Province. It is scheduled to inspect Formosa today. The group will also work with Vung Ang Thermal Power Plant, a waste treatment plan under the Phu Ha Environmental Limited Company. The group is expected to inspect waste burial sites used by Formosa across the province. At the first session of the NA, the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment was authorised to supervise the environment in the central region and report to the NA Standing Committee. Late in June, the Vietnamese government found Taiwanese-owned Formosa responsible for mass fish deaths in four central provinces in April after it released toxic wastewater into the sea. The leaders of the company officially apologised to the Vietnamese government and people and promised to pay $500 million as compensation, and to pay for the clean-up and restoration of the sea. Earlier in mid-July, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said that the body would form a council to supervise the anti-pollution commitments made by Formosa. The minister added that a state-of-the-art marine environment monitoring system would be built to make regular assessments of the marine environment, Vietnam News Agency reported. VNS On the occasion of Switzerlands National Day today (August 1), Viet Nam News presents an article written by Beatrice Maser Mallor, ambassador of Switzerland to Viet Nam. Today, on August 1, the Swiss Confederation celebrates its 725th anniversary. The date refers to a historic union concluded in 1291 by the three cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. This union is the origin of what was to become modern Switzerland, which has 26 cantons today. During the National Day, Swiss people usually celebrate with family and friends outdoors, as August is the warmest and sunniest month of the year. At night, traditionally, a parade of children carrying lighted paper lanterns takes place, followed by fireworks in most cities and bonfires up in the mountains. This year represents a special year in the relationship between Viet Nam and Switzerland, as it marks the establishment of 45 years of bilateral relations. Indeed, Switzerland was one of the first countries from Western Europe to have recognised Viet Nam on October 11, 1971. Since then, relations between Switzerland and Viet Nam have continuously developed in key areas such as trade (US$1.53 billion of bilateral trade in 2015), development co-operation ($123 million of aid from 2013 to 2016), and co-operation in education, research and innovation. Today, Switzerland is the fourth largest European investor in Viet Nam with a total of US$2 billion of foreign direct investments. Over 90 Swiss companies are present in Viet Nam and provide employment for more than 15,000 people, thus contributing to the countrys economic growth. To further enhance the commercial relationship, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein the so-called EFTA countries - are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Viet Nam. Switzerland is a small country by its size, but a highly competitive nation with an export-oriented economy. In the 2015 Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland ranks first, for the seventh consecutive year. It is among the countries with the highest performance levels for several reasons. First, the business environment contributes to Switzerlands innovation ecosystem. Indeed, it is among the countries with the highest spending on research and development (R&D) in relation to its gross domestic product. Over two-thirds of Swiss R&D expenditures are provided by the private sector. Furthermore, the labour market is highly efficient, balancing employee protection with labour market flexibility and business needs. The business environment also benefits from a highly developed financial market, excellent infrastructure and connectivity, and a macroeconomic environment, which is among the most stable worldwide. Second, the education sector plays an important role for Switzerlands innovation capacity. Its great universities and the two Federal Institutes of Technology, in Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL), are renowned worldwide for their cutting-edge scientific output. The countrys capacity to nurture talent relies on an excellent education system at all levels, including its emphasis on vocational training. Furthermore, the strong co-operation between the academic world and the private sector is highly beneficial. Additionally, renowned hospitality schools attract many foreign students, including from Viet Nam. Third, Swiss public institutions are known to be effective and transparent. They include business-friendly regulations and a moderate level of domestic taxation. Last but not least, political stability and talented professionals, who are attracted from around the world to work and live in Switzerland, contribute to its international competitiveness. A perfect example of Swiss innovation is Solar Impulse. If everyone says you can do it, then youre not dreaming big enough, said Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss mastermind behind Solar Impulse, a high-tech, lightweight plane flying around the world, powered only by solar energy. Switzerland, mountainous and located in the heart of Europe, maintains excellent relationships with its neighbouring countries. The latest example of high achievement in terms of regional integration is the Gotthard tunnel, the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world at 57.1km long and 2,300m below ground. It was officially opened on June 1. This tunnel increases the transportation capacity of goods and people by train through the Alps, which separate the North and South of Europe. Viet Nam and Switzerland share the importance of tourism related to the beauty of their countries. Tourists visit Switzerland for its historic cities and beautiful nature and for its rich culture, shared by more than eight million citizens and its four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Finally, Swiss citizens are proud of the countrys direct democracy, where women and men can participate directly in political matters by launching an initiative or requesting a referendum and by voting on specific issues from the national to the cantonal and communal levels several times a year, in addition to electing the citizens representatives to parliament. As Ambassador of Switzerland to Viet Nam, I wish the Swiss community and all the friends of Switzerland in Viet Nam a happy National Day, and I am looking forward to celebrating with Viet Nam our 45 years of bilateral relations on October 11 of this year. VNS Customers purchase fruits at a supermarket. The fight against unsafe food requires more joint drastic efforts by State agencies, food producers, suppliers and users. Photo tapchigiaothong.vn HA NOI The fight against unsafe food requires more joint drastic efforts by State agencies, food producers, suppliers and users, according to the director of the National Agro Forestry and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD), Nguyen Nhu Tiep. Tiep, speaking last week at a conference headlined Actions for safe farming products, warned that the fight against unsafe food in Viet Nam would not end soon despite recent efforts. Figures presented at the conference, co-organised last week by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and Lao ong (Labour) newspaper, showed that in the first half of this year, 0.42 per cent of tested meat contained the banned chemical Sabutamol, almost four per cent of vegetables had excessive concentrations of pesticide, 1.3 per cent of meat contained excessive concentrations of chemicals, and 5.3 per cent of aquaculture products had excessive antibiotics residue. The figures prove the need for more action to ensure food safety, Tiep said. Le Viet Nga of the MoITs Department for Domestic Market, said up to 70 per cent of fresh food was sold at traditional markets where risks of unsafe food were much higher than those in other food supply channels, such as supermarkets. She said that products sold in supermarkets usually had clear certified origins. In terms of producers, some of them failed to meet food safety requirements, particularly small-scale farms which accounted for about 98 per cent of total farms in Viet Nam, having limitations in capital, technology, corporation management and market access. Chairman of Ha Noi Supermarkets Association Vu Vinh Phu said that more attention should be paid to the production stage with solving problems of production factors like air, soil and water. We are too concentrated on controlling the supply stage. Food safety problems must be addressed from the root, not the top, Phu said. The official appealed for the Government to promulgate policies that are strong enough to encourage the production and supply of safe food. Consumers need to exercise their soft power to boycott those who violate food safety rules and to support those who strictly obey the rules, he said. Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Seafood Exporters and Producers, said that it was time for Vietnamese food producers to tighten co-operation to ensure stable supply both in quality and quantity. He suggested food processors to apply Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP - a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product) as a key to produce safe products. VNS A NANG The central coastal city has become a favourite destination for foreign diplomatic delegations and investors and a good example for other Vietnamese cities in utilising official development assistance (ODA), Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said at a meeting with the citys leadership on Saturday. Minh said a Nang experienced an impressive growth in export and tourism of over 11 per cent in the first half of this year. a Nang has experience in managing ODA, with disbursement about 30 per cent, higher than the average of 18 to 20 per cent among provinces and cities, Minh said. However, the city should map out a strict plan for reimbursement of ODA funds in 2016-20 when the number of preferential loans will be reduced, Minh warned. Minh, who is minister of Foreign Affairs, said the ministry will do all to support a Nang in boosting investment promotion and connections with foreign investors. The Deputy PM also said the government will review the citys proposals for seven ODA projects for socio-economic development, as well as speeding up preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) 2017 and the Asian Beach Games 5 to be hosted in a Nang. The chairman of the citys Peoples Committee, Huynh uc Tho, asked the Government to include ODA funds for the seven key projects, including improvement of the quality of the water supply and the environment, the second phase of Information Technology (IT) development, the construction of Lien Chieu Port, improvement of urban traffic infrastructure, and intelligent traffic system application. Tho also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies to help a Nang seek potential strategic investors. Tho said a Nang has been a leader in Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in the past decade, but it only approved 30 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a modest fund of US$10 million in the first six months of this year. The city has 409 FDI projects worth $3.7 billion. In 2011-15, a Nang received 13 ODA projects worth $700 million, of which seven have been completed. The city plays an important role as a logistics centre for the coastal central region and the East-West Economic Corridor, which links Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Viet Nam. In 2013, the World Bank approved a $272.1 million sustainable development project for the city, of which $202.4 million will be provided by the Bank. VNS HA NOI The Supreme Peoples Procuracy (SPP) is reviewing the police decision not to prosecute former leaders of Vinaconex Corporation for 18 breaches of the a River pipeline. The SPP said public opinion was against such a decision of the police, and that it created a bad precedence while working with similar cases later. The SPPs division on prosecution in economic cases, informally known as Division 3, will reconsider whether the five former heads of the conglomerate should be prosecuted over their responsibility for the breaches. The said officials are Phi Thai Binh, former chairman of the Vinaconex management board, who later became vice-chairman of the Ha Noi Peoples Committee from 2006 to 2010; Nguyen Van Tuan, directorgeneral; and three other members of the management board: To Ngoc Thanh, Hoang Hop Thuong and Vu inh Cham. The police, in its final investigation report released on July 15, said the five officials deliberately switched the materials used to build the water pipeline to glass-fibre composites without taking proper consultations. They were also responsible for selecting subpar contractors who provided uncertified composite products that consequently led to the 18 breaches of the a River pipeline after it became operational in 2009. The repair of the breaches cost Vinaconex more than VN13.4 billion (US$603,000) as of September 2015, excluding the last four breaches, the police report said. Some 177,000 Hanoian households faced shortage of clean water for 343 hours due to the breaches. The five officials, who allegedly committed violations in construction that led to severe consequences, were to face criminal charges in accordance with Article 229 of the Penal Code. The police, however, dismissed the case against them as they had violated for the first time, had clean resumes and family records and had made tremendous contribution to the construction sector. The police could not find evidence that the five persons committed violations for personal gains either, hence ruling out the prosecution decision. The polices decision was instantly criticised by the people and the media, who accused the justice system of being lenient towards the officials. Vinaconex is the investor of the a River waterline, which was kicked off in 2004 with a total investment of VN1.45 billion. VNS HA NOI South Korea will temporarily stop receiving workers from 44 districts and towns in 10 Vietnamese provinces and cities, a document released by the labour ministry last Friday said. The 10 provinces and cities are Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and Ha Noi, besides Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Nam inh and Bac Ninh, as well as Quang Binh and Hung Yen. The reason behind the Korean decision is that many workers, who worked under the Employment Permit System (EPS), overstay in South Korea after their contracts end, ignoring all efforts by Viet Nam and South Korea to encourage them to return home. The Nghe An Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said more than 500 workers from the said provinces lived illegally in South Korea in August 2012, comprising more than 70 per cent of the total workers whose contracts had expired. As of the end of October 2014, the contracts of 173 workers has expired, but nearly half of them overstayed and lived illegally in Korea. As of the end of February this year, 1,450 illegal workers from Nghe An Province stayed in South Korea, leading the list of illegal Vietnamese workers in that country. Statistics of the Quang Binh Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs showed that in 2012, more than 90 per cent of the workers, whose contracts had expired, overstayed in South Korea. Nguyen Van Trung from Nghe An Province, an illegal worker who was deported form Korea, told the Lao ong (Labour) newspaper that workers did not want to return to Viet Nam after the end of their contracts because the salary in South Korea was very attractive. Each worker could earn several million ong per month (VN1 million is equal to US$40), whereas in Viet Nam, their income was unstable, Trung said. Workers are even willing to pay a penalty to be able to stay in South Korea. Moreover, some workers had paid a lot of money to go abroad, so they wanted to stay on in Korea. South Korea used to receive 10,000-20,000 Vietnamese workers per year under the EPS, and the workers sent about $700 million to Viet Nam per year. In the last three years, this country hires only 3,000 to 3,500 Vietnamese workers a year, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. VNS HA NOI A co-operative in Ha Nois Thanh Tri District will return nearly VN1.7 billion (US$76,500) to its customers after it was found overcharging them for the water supply. The Trieu Khuc agricultural production and services co-operative, based in Tan Trieu Commune, provides water to 3,364 households in Trieu Khuc Village. The people were forced to pay extra for three years, from April 4, 2013, to April 30 this year, according to a June report by the finance planning division of the Thanh Tri Peoples Committee. The co-operative started supplying water in April 2013, after a a River project pipeline was linked to it. The co-operatives director Trieu inh Nha told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that a lack of guidance on how much it should charge the residents for water resulted in the overcharges. We plan to return the extra amount once and for all from August 10 to 24, Nha said. The Thanh Tri Peoples Committee asked the commune authorities to monitor the refund process and to report immediately if any violations were detected. No charges or fines have been imposed on the collective so far for the miscalculation. VNS A NANG Fred Hollow Foundation (FHF) and Standard Chartered Bank will finance a free eye screening project for more than 7,500 primary school students in the central city in the 2016-18 period. The citys administration said the project, which was approved last week, would also provide eye care training to nearly 7,000 parents, teachers, health staff and servants in four districts. The VN6 billion (US$266,000) project also covers free eye surgeries to treat eye diseases and defects among 300 underprivileged students. a Nang, Hai Duong and Tien Giang will be the beneficiaries of the childrens eye examination project in the 2016-18 project. Last year, nearly 50,000 people in Ha Noi were provided free eye check-ups, consultancy and surgery as part of the charity vision programme funded by the Fred Hollow Foundation. VNS HA NOI Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested ministries, agencies and localities to prepare for tropical storm Nida, given the likelihood of it hitting northern Viet Nam. Storm Nida, which entered the East Sea on Sunday night, is forecast to cause torrential rain from tonight, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting. To prepare for the storm, PM Phuc asked for a close watch on the storms development from the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting. The forecasts must be provided timely and publicly to relevant agencies and media sources. The Ministry of Information and Communications, Viet Nam Television, the Voice of Viet Nam, and all media agencies were asked to increase the frequency of broadcasting information about forecasts, warnings and instructions. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to maintain regular contact with ships at sea, provide them information on the storm, and instruct them to not to enter dangerous areas. The ministry will direct localities to take measures to ensure the safety of dykes, dams and other irrigation systems. The PM requested the National Committee on Search and Rescue and the Ministry of Defence to be ready to help localities in search and rescue missions if needed. Also yesterday, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control held an urgent meeting to discuss Nida. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and deputy head of the committee, Hoang Van Thang, requested all coastal localities to guide boats out of dangerous areas. Mountain areas were urged to prepare for landslides and flash floods. He asked the forecast agency to provide timely information to the committee and local authorities. Thang suggested the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Electricity of Viet Nam to ensure electric power. At 6am yesterday, the High Command of Border Guard announced guidelines for the anchoring of 53,000 ships and boats and provided information about the storm to 234,000 people. Nida, the second storm to hit the East Sea this year, is forecast to be moving towards Hong Kongs shore with wind speeds up to 120km per hour, and make landfall in the southern part of China. The first storm of this year, Mirinae, killed three people in Ha Noi, Ha Giang and Ha Nam, and injured 21 others in Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen, Hoa Binh, Nam inh, and Thai Binh. It blew off the roofs of more than 24,700 houses, and uprooted over 44,000 trees in northern provinces, reported the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Saturday. VNS As is the case with nearly every college campus in America, parking can be a challenge at Virginia Tech. Although the university has hundreds of parking spaces that sit empty every day, many people express frustration about how far away from classes and offices they have to park. The university has 4,700 graduate students in Blacksburg, Virginia. And, while some of those students live on campus (200), the majority (4,500) are nontraditional students who commute to class. About 3,500 graduate students work on campus as teaching, research, and office/program assistants. The goal of the universitys new pilot program is to make it easier for those students who both attend classes as a student and work as an employee to be able to get to and from their classes and offices. Through a lottery, up to 75 eligible graduate students will be able to purchase a Graduate Reserved Parking permit as part of the new program. The permit, which costs $296, will give them access to parking in an assigned parking space in Perry Street Lot 3 or any other commuter/graduate student parking space on campus. Graduate students have received an email with details on how to sign up for the lottery. The idea for the program came from the Virginia Tech Graduate Student Assembly, which represents graduate students and serves as their liaison with the universitys administration. We are committed to making the parking experience the best we can, said Jeri Baker, director of parking and transportation at Virginia Tech. Receiving suggestions like this enables us to make positive changes. We consider ourselves lucky and are exceptionally grateful to attend a university where our opinions are not only heard, but where policies are implemented that benefit our professional lives and education," said Chelsea Corkins, president of the Graduate Student Assembly. The Office of Parking and Transportation is working to improve parking and transportation on campus in a variety of other ways. A master plan is under way to study all current parking and transportation needs and to project out more than 20 years. During the 2015-16 academic year, the university started a program to make parking more accessible for student members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. The pilot program, which allots 100 spaces in the North End Center Parking Garage for upper-level members of the corps, will continue for the 2016-17 year. Eligible employees were given the opportunity during the 2015-16 year to participate in a program that reduced the cost of the faculty/staff parking permit by parking in the Chicken Hill Lot and taking a shuttle to their work location. In 2015-16, pay band 1 and 2 employees were eligible. In 2016-17, the program is being expanded to include pay band 3 employees. Changes to how parking spaces in front of Burruss Hall may be used are under way to create a safer and less-congested environment for passengers traveling on Blacksburg Transit buses and more temporary spots for those coming to meetings in area buildings. For more information about the graduate student pilot program, contact the Office of Parking and Transportation at 540-231-3200 or parking@vt.edu. The first group of Mandela Washington Fellows at Virginia Tech, in a program inaugurated in 2014 as part of President Barack Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative, ended a six-week stint in Blacksburg with career goals sharpened, a meeting with Obama in Washington, D.C., under their belts, and new skills acquired. The Fellows say they deepened friendships while studying, generating fresh ideas, and gathering inspiration to take home to their countries. When Lusungu Kalanga returns to Malawi, for instance, she plans to focus on her own organization, called Growing Ambitions, "to create safe spaces where girls and young women can interact and get mentoring and career guidance," she said. Virginia Tech Department of Chemistry faculty and students are assisting the U.S. military in creating new materials that can trap and destroy chemical warfare agents, such as sarin and VX nerve gas. These compounds represent some of the most toxic chemicals ever created, yet there currently are few methods available for safely removing them from the environment, said John Morris, professor of chemistry with the Virginia Tech College of Science, and the lead investigator on the project. "The ultimate aim of our research team is to develop materials that might be incorporated into air filters, fabrics, and gas masks for soldier and civilian protection. Supported by a $3 million multi-university grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, the research team is composed of scientists from Emory University in Atlanta, Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, and the U.S. Armys Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Aberdeen, Maryland. An additional local key team contributor is Diego Troya, an associate professor with Virginia Techs chemistry department and an expert in computational studies of surface chemical reactions. Laboratory studies carried out by Morris group at Virginia Tech are focusing on uncovering the molecular-scale reaction pathways and determining the reaction rates when nontoxic mimics of chemical warfare gases, which are fully benign, come in contact with catalytically active materials being developed by researchers at Emory University. These fundamental studies held at Virginia Tech will then inform more applied experiments underway at Brookhaven and Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, including advanced experiments employing actual chemical warfare agents at the latter facility. Experimental results will then be used to develop rules for understanding how a catalysts chemical structure can be changed to improve the efficiency of the reactions. Computational studies will provide true atomic-scale chemical insights. Josh Abelard, of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Conor Sharp, of Arlington, Virginia, both doctoral students in the Department of Chemistry, are spearheading the experiments at Virginia Techs Hann Hall-South. We want to use these new materials to trap the chemical warfare agents and then perform a reaction on the chemicals using moisture from the atmosphere to break down the chemical weapons into much less toxic molecules, said Sharp. We want catalytic materials that can be reusable and work as well the 100th time as it does the first time. Added Abelard: The engineering phase is already under way. Our role is to help engineers understand why their current materials do or do not work well, and make recommendations for improvements. Materials being tested may one day be used in respirator cartridges, air filters, and clothing to protect both military personnel and the general public. While we cannot stop the use of chemical weapons, we can do our best to ensure that people are protected from chemical attacks, added Sharp. Morris has cited the excellent facilities, graduate students, and surface science capabilities at Virginia Tech as key factors in attracting federal funding for the project. We are fortunate to have an outstanding group of analytical and physical chemistry graduate students here at Virginia Tech, said Morris. The students will also travel to national laboratories, where they will be some of the first scientists to use high-energy X-rays to explore this type of catalysis under real-world conditions. Sharp already has performed experiments at Argonne National Lab near Chicago and the SLAC National Accelerator Lab in Palo Alto, California. One of the experimental techniques we employ uses high-energy X-ray light to examine how the metal in our catalysts changes during a reaction, he said. We want to see how our catalyst materials will interact with toxic chemicals, and this is a very sensitive experimental technique. You generally have a narrow time allotment to perform experiments, so you end up using 24 hours a day, every day of the run, to collect data. A typical experiment at a national laboratory may last for up to five days, added Morris. Computer simulations by Troya and his Ph.D. student, Robert C. Chapleski Jr., of Severn, Maryland, will capture details that are difficult to measure, allowing the research team to augment the experiments by learning about components of the reactions that are obscured in the experiments. In addition, we can probe the actual chemical warfare agents with the computer without any exposure risk, added Troya. The Rs 8,957-crore Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), fast-moving consumer goods arm of the Adi Godrej Group, proposes to triple revenue from its Indonesian business in five years, said Naveen Gupta, business head Indonesia & Middle East, in a conversation with Business Standard. The Capital Partnership (TCP), a London-based independent asset manager of the uber-rich from the Middle East, has acquired real estate investment fund Cerestra Advisors, from Religare Enterprises, owned by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the Indian company informed stock exchanges on Friday without sharing details. As Textiles Minister Smriti Irani settles in to her new job overseeing an industry that is Indias largest source of formal jobs, the governments 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. On May 30 this year, Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development, released a draft Bill on - Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2016. The draft, which is likely to be tabled in Parliament by the end of the year, enumerates long-pending changes in law. The present legal framework to address is an amalgam of laws, making it near impossible to investigate crimes properly, protect victims and repatriate them after appropriate rehabilitation. However, survivors and activists believe that in its present form, the draft has serious lacunae that would ensure that victims could continue to be wronged not only by traffickers but by the new law itself. Heartbreaking family update after mother-of-six was killed in horror crash Hannah Fraser's father and stepmother are trying to make it from the United Kingdom to Australia in time for their daughter's funeral. Firefighter unions latest message to Andrews Government More than a hundred fire trucks in Victoria will carry pointed messages about the Andrews Government as part of a union campaign in the lead up to next month's state election. Family of Aboriginal teen who died in apparent suicide after sexual abuse back calls for inquiry Police believe 15-year-old Layla Leering took her own life after being raped in the Northern Territory community of Bulla in 2015. Duttons declaration to voters amid Labors big mess The Opposition Leader said the Prime Minister "might write me off" but he believes Australians will vote the Coalition back into power in 2025 to clean up "the big mess" Labor will leave behind. CEDAR FALLS One of the individuals instrumental in leading Cedar Falls Utilities into the Information Age is stepping down. Roger Kueter, the second-longest-serving member of the CFU Board of Trustees, is stepping down from that post at the end of August, ending more than 20 years on the board, a record surpassed only by trustee Maurice Alderman. Kueter, and associate dean of education at the University of Northern Iowa, co-chaired a 1994 committee that successfully campaigned for the creation of a municipal communications utility in Cedar Falls. Kueter joined the board shortly after that. During his tenure the board, Kueter also helped guide CFU through a weather-plagued 2008 when the city and its utility infrastructure was hit by a hailstorm, severe flood that inundated CFU offices and a windstorm in the College Hill area. He also served through several general managers and was part of the board that hired current CFU general manager Jim Krieg about 15 years ago following a period of turnover in leadership for the municipally run electric, water, gas and communications utilities. Kueter came to the community in 1970 when he came to work at UNI. President (J.W.) Maucker signed my letter of employment. So Ive worked for every president since President Maucker and every dean in the College of Education. After serving 18 years as head of the Department of Teaching, he un-retired about two years ago and came back to the university at the request of then-College of Education dean Dwight Watson. I always appreciated doing things for people. I guess service in my blood, he said. IVe enjoyed my professional career tremendously, and my time in the Cedar Valley area. Hes served as an auctioneer for a number of benefit auctions in the community for a variety of charities, ranging from Cedar Valley Hospice to Columbus High School to the Allen School of Nursinga talent he picked up while attending Loras College in Dubuque prior to coming to town. He became involved in CFU due to his academic background.My degree from Indiana University in 1970 was instructional systems technology, he said which brought him to UNI, teaching with colleagues responsible for educational and audio-visual media. Ive always had an interest in computers and technology, and taught high school principals and superintendents in that area. At that time, he became acquainted with CFU trustees Monte McCunniff, Bill Appelgate and Dave Williams, who were exploring the possibility of a municipal communications utility. I didnt have to think very hard to be co-chair, Kueter said. Deno (Constantine) Curris was the president at that time at the university, and Dr. Curris was always encouraging people to get involved. Kueter became co-chair of the Citizens Wired for the Future campaign committee along with Doris Kelley, later a state legislator. Some questioned the initiative. The kind of things we encountered was, How does this relate to water, gas and electricity? and This is really the business of private industry; why should a municipal utility be involved? The referendum encountered opposition from TeleCommunications Inc., or TCI, then the private cable provider. Give credit to the City Council and the mayor and people in this community, Kueter said. This is a community who says, If we dont do it, whos gonna do it for us? That led people to explore this further. The consensus was, We might have some connectivity at some point in time. But it wont be this year, next year or maybe not this decade unless we step up and do it ourselves. The time was right, Kueter said and CFUs position in the community, built up over decades, made it happen.We had the foundation of a utility to build off of, he said. Cedar Falls Utilities and the city of Cedar Falls have been partners forever. We had a base in Cedar Falls of trust in an organization. The referendum passed with more than 70 percent approval. Concurrent with that, voters approved a measure to expand the board of trustees from three members to five, after which Kueter and University Book & Supply executive Rose Lorenz were added to the board. It was sold to improve television, but also required public education as to the economic development benefit from computer access for businesses and households. It has made the difference, Kueter said. The Industrial Park would not be the type of Industrial Park that it is without it. Theres probably not a business in the Industrial Park that isnt interconnected with some one in the Cedar Valley, the Midwest, the country or around the world. Theres no limit. Martin Brothers, the (Viking) Pump people, they need to connect. The communications utility has made that possible. And we didnt do that at the expense of electricity, gas and water, Kueter added. This is not one utility company. this is four utility companies under one board of trustees. We cannot commingle funds and communications has to to stand on its own feet. All those other utilities have made expansions and improvemewnts, Kueter said, as evidenced by an ongoing effort to put electric distribution lines underground and the electric utilities recent Simple Solar initiative and solar farm near Prairie Lakes Park. It has also invested in wind generation and traditional power plants. CFU also has added a natural gas substation and water towers and an initiative for land-line telephone service The people in this organization have always looked to the future, Kueter said. We havent stopped looking at how we can make Cedar Falls better. The Utilities is not successful because of one person, Kueter said. Im one trustee. Five of us trustees work with a general manager and his directors. That group of people couldnt do anything with out the 180 people in this organization. CFU general manager Krieg said of Kueter, Hes been such a great ambassador for the community in so many ways. Not only Cedar Falls Utilities, but his work throughout the community, not only at the university, but the nonprofits, his work the Rotary, his work as a auctioneer. But what he brought to Cedar Falls Utilities, I think his legacy will be his leadership and his vision of the possibilities of who we could be, Krieg said, as CFU commanded national attention and recognition, as evidenced by President Obamas visit to CFU last year. Krieg said Kueter emphasized customer focus and professionalism, having the foresight to drive innovation in each of the respective utilities. WATERLOO The Waterloo Human Rights Commission is trying to continue a constructive dialogue between the community and local law enforcement with a community conversation Wednesday. The program Reaching for Respect: Our Police Our Partners will be 6 p.m. at Jubilee United Methodist Church at East Fourth and Newell streets. The program, coming a day after National Night Out activities, is designed to continue and build on the dialogue and citizen-law enforcement relationship fostered at a June 23 event, Operation Public Relations at Sullivan Park, said the Rev. Abraham Funchess Jr., Jubilee UMC pastor and executive director of the Waterloo Human Rights Commission, co-hosting the event. Representatives of local law enforcement agencies will be present, Funchess said. Waterloo Safety Services Director Dan Trelka, part of the planning committee for the event, and Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson both said they will attend. A representative of the Cedar Falls Police Department also is anticipated to be there. Food will be provided. The free event is designed for law enforcement and citizens to meet as neighbors and have some courageous conversation with each other and air mutual concerns, Funchess said. Although there may be individuals with complaints to air about law enforcement, We want to make sure we dont unduly attack our police; or that were being too soft, Funchess said. We understand police feel they have received the brunt of criticism. We want a civil society. The event was in the planning stages for some time but takes on more significance in light of national events in Baton Rouge, La., the Twin Cities and Dallas, involving police shootings of civilians as well as individuals shooting officers. Moderating the discussion will be Sharon Silva, formerly special projects coordinator to the provost at the University of Northern Iowa, utilizing videos stemming from recent events to foster discussion. The purpose of this event is to allow law enforcement to experience the support that they have here in the Cedar Valley, Silva said, and to give people in the local community, citizens, practice on how to talk about these difficult things in a respectful, non-accusatory way. The event is one of several the Human Rights Commission will conduct as part of its 50th anniversary, Funchess said. He hopes to coordinate the event with pastors of other local congregations and also is promoting the discussion through Operation Public Relations organizers on their social media outlets. WATERLOO -- Hawkeye Community College's Independence center is moving to where most of its students go to school. The college will begin offering classes this fall in leased space at Independence Junior Senior High School. Hawkeye's board of trustees Tuesday unanimously approved the one-year $15,000 lease. Independence is one of three communities outside of Waterloo-Cedar Falls that hosts a satellite location for the college. Since 2003, concurrent classes for high school students as well as college and community education classes for adults have been offered by Hawkeye in a rented Independence facility at 2349 Jamestown Ave. The school is at 700 20th Ave. SW. During the past year, 66 percent of those served have been Independence high school students. Other high school students come from Dunkerton, East Buchanan and Jesup. The center serves about 100 high school students per semester, with another 20 to 30 adult students during the after-school hours. The most popular courses generally are in the certified nursing assistant and liberal arts programs. "We may be the only college in the state that has a center with leased space in a junior-senior high school," said Jane Bradley, Hawkeye's vice president of academic affairs. They are essentially "taking what's at the existing center" and moving it all to the school without reducing staff. "We estimate the cost savings to the college will be around $65,000," said Bradley. That includes annual rent at the current facility of about $55,000 and other expenses such as utilities. Located in three classrooms and an office near the media center, the new space will be referred to as Hawkeye Center of Independence. Two Independence teachers will also use their nearby classrooms to teach additional courses. One of them is an Iowa Communications Network room, so some classes will continue to be offered through remote access. The current facility includes six classrooms and a number of other spaces. Years ago, some of that was used for business and industry training sessions, much of which has since migrated into the workplace. "It's not as much space, but we're being more efficient," said Tom Mueller, Hawkeye's dean of transitional programs. High school students will continue taking classes between 7 and 9 a.m. as well as after 4 p.m. "It's worked well because the students get this done outside of the school day," said Bradley. The main difference from the current facility is no adult classes will be offered before 4 p.m. Those daytime courses typically enrolled 10 or fewer students. "Our hope is this is going to grow," said Bradley, noting that would likely include expanding offerings into the school day. "We anticipate that certainly Independence students may be more inclined to take classes." PHILADELPHIA The countrys top Democrats spent four days in the nations birthplace celebrating a historic moment while also working on two key objectives they hope will help keep their party in control of the White House. Time will tell whether those efforts were successful, but the objectives were clear: At last weeks Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Democrats attempted to coalesce support from Bernie Sanders backers and to paint a personal picture of nominee Hillary Clinton for undecided voters. All the while, Democrats celebrated the first female presidential candidate for a major political party in the nations 240-year history. Early in her campaign, Clinton downplayed the significance of the possibility of breaking the countrys presidential glass ceiling, but recently she has embraced it, to the delight of her supporters. I cant believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet, Clinton said on Tuesday, the night she officially was named the partys nominee. If there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next. The Hillary I know Clinton made history by becoming the first woman nominee on a major party ticket, but she also has historically low favorability ratings with the public. In fact, Clinton trails only her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in having the highest unfavorable ratings of any major party presidential candidate in history. Clinton also has poor ratings in polling questions about her trustworthiness. Democrats spent the week in Philadelphia trying to chip away at those numbers. Its up to people that know Hillary Clinton. We need to make sure we get out and tell the story of Hillary, said Tom Vilsack, the U.S. agriculture secretary and former Iowa governor who has long been a friend and political ally of Clinton. I have great confidence that if we tell that story, people are going to understand who she is and what she has done all of her life. Im confident that over time were going to continue to see growing support. Two of Hillary Clintons immediate family members husband and former two-term President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton used their prime-time speeches to give a personal glimpse at her. In introducing her mother for Thursday nights acceptance speech, Chelsea Clinton described Hillary as a mother and a grandmother, calling her wonderful, thoughtful, hilarious. My earliest memory is my mom picking me up after I had fallen down, giving me a big hug and reading me Goodnight Moon, Chelsea Clinton said. From that moment to this one, every single memory I have of my mom is that regardless of what was happening in her life, she was always, always there for me. Even Hillary Clinton herself acknowledged the gap she must bridge, saying early in her acceptance speech, I get it that some people just dont know what to make of me. Sanders supporters Another challenge facing Hillary Clintons campaign is wooing supporters of runner-up Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist Democrat and U.S. senator from Vermont. Sanders was not a traditional Democratic candidate he serves as an independent in the U.S. Senate and plans to return to independent status and his supporters were not traditional Democratic activists. Many elected officials who supported Sanders have now endorsed Clinton, as has Sanders himself. At the grassroots level, many who voted for Sanders said they will support Clinton 90 percent in a recent Pew Research Center survey. But some remain skeptical and a few adamantly oppose Clinton. Clinton and her supporters spent the week in Philadelphia making the case to Sanders supporters. Tom Harkin, the former Democratic U.S. senator from Iowa, and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey both shared stories of how a lack of unity among Democrats can have troublesome electoral results for the party. Harkin used the 1968 presidential election won by Richard Nixon; Booker said low turnout helped pave the way for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies election. Imagine what our country would have been like without eight years of Richard Nixon, Harkin said. So, I say to you (Sanders supporters), Look, weve got to come together. The other side is way too scary. DES MOINES Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, due back in Iowa this week, has touched off a prairie fire by criticizing the parents of a slain Muslim U.S. soldier after they spoke at last weeks Democratic National Convention. As prominent national Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. John McCain and Trumps own running mate Mike Pence lined up to criticize Trump, Iowans also expressed their disapproval. Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday said Trump made a mistake by raising questions about the mother of Capt. Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq, but did not call on Trump to apologize. Branstad said he would prefer the GOP nominee stay focused on Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. After the Khans convention appearance in Philadelphia, Trump questioned why Capt. Khans mother, Ghazala Khan, did not speak as her husband, Khizr, delivered a sharp rebuke of the GOP nominee. Maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say, Trump said. Ghazala Khan responded with a Washington Post op-ed column in which she stated the pain of losing her son makes it difficult to speak about her loss in public. Trumps pushback was widely condemned in Iowa on Monday. Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire called Trumps comments despicable and disgraceful. By disrespecting one military family, Trump disrespects all military families, McGuire said in a statement. U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Red Oak Republican and a former officer who served 23 years in the Iowa National Guard, said: We as a nation are incredibly grateful to Capt. Khans service and ultimate sacrifice as well as the sacrifices of his parents to keep us safe and free. We must always honor our veterans and their families; many have endured far more than we can ever imagine, and we must always remember to express our gratitude. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-New Hartford, also issued a statement Monday. Mr. Trumps comments are not in line with my own beliefs about how the members of the military and their families should be treated, and respect for the people who serve our country is something both presidential campaigns could use more of, said Grassley. ... Only Gold Star families know the pain and sacrifice of losing a son or daughter in the fight for freedom. His opponent, Albia Democrat Patty Judge, took Grassley to task Monday for being slow to condemn Trump. By remaining silent, Senator Grassley is choosing loyalty to his party in Washington and his continued support of Donald Trump over his loyalty to Iowa values like respect, decency and defending the honor of Americas fallen and their families, Judge said in a statement. Trump will hold a town hall at 3 p.m. Friday in Des Moines, according to a campaign statement, but no details have been announced. Trump stopped in Davenport and Cedar Rapids on Thursday. CEDAR RAPIDS The African American Museum of Iowa has chosen Melvina Scott of Waterloo as one of its three 2016 History Makers. She will be honored at the 2016 History Makers Gala on Sept. 15 at the Hotel Kirkwood. Scott joined Waterloos African-American community 49 years ago. The daughter of a Mississippi sharecropper, she has helped increase voter registration and black participation in caucus meetings in the Cedar Valley. She has been instrumental in initiating a womens political empowerment project in Black Hawk County. She helped found nonprofit organizations like the United Sisters of Black Hawk County, an Iowa affiliate of Networking Together, an eight-state organization that works toward the advancement of women of color. More recently she assisted in organizing the Cedar Valley Black Veterans Coalition, dedicated to bring attention to black veterans and their service both in and out of the military. An avid historian, Scott has helped collect historical artifacts and oral histories of the African-American community in Waterloo. With the help of the community, she has preserved Waterloos black migration history and promoted publics understanding of African-Americans contribution to the economic and cultural development in the Cedar Valley. Tickets for the event are $50 for individuals or $500 for a table. Derek Davis, 47, was flown by air ambulance to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo for injuries suffered in the single-vehicle crash in the eastbound lanes of Highway 20 near the Wellsburg exit in Grundy County. The Iowa State Patrol said Davis was traveling east about 5:15 p.m. when his Harley-Davidson left the roadway and entered the south shoulder where he lost control. Davis was ejected from the bike and found in the south ditch. Search thanks SHERIFF DAN PICKETT WAVERLY The Bremer County Sheriffs Office and Emergency Management want to express our heartfelt appreciation to the many people who assisted with the ongoing search for Cloris Mehmen. Know that efforts to find Cloris continue and lead tips are being investigated as they are received. When requests for assistance were made, the outpouring of support from area residents and responders, and many who came from further away, was overwhelming. Donations of food, water, insect repellant, along with the use of ATVs, horses, canines, aircrafts, water pumps and camera-equipped quadcopters/drones were invaluable to support the search efforts. Hundreds of miles were searched on foot and thousands of miles were covered using other resources. The process continued during high heat, high humidity, high water levels and day and night. We appreciate your compassion and wiliness to assist. Your efforts and concern will not be forgotten. The search for Cloris continues. We ask people continue to be observant. Please report any information as soon as possible to the Bremer County Sheriffs Office at 352-5400 ext. 3. Redistricting BOB BLACK WATERLOO - Redistricting, which is political speak for gerrymandering, has brought us a government loaded with politicians who have been in office way too long. In Iowa it has given us a governor who in his last couple of terms has set about dismantling education, mental health care, granting favors to 2 percent of the state, etc., a governor who will not accept responsibility for a 90-mph speeding ticket, yet wants to determine which taxpaying, time served felons should vote. Redistricting gave us a senator who is blocking a Supreme Court nominee for Republican bias. We also have a 4th District congressman who seems to be applying for imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. There is a simple solution for all of this, from city council to the president of the United States two terms and out. Try that on in November. Photo wrong TOM PFIFFNER WATERLOO Tim Jamisons July 27 story on the debate about surveillance cameras in public areas was interesting and informative. It mentions (probably quite accurately) the citys traffic operations department has 28 existing traffic cameras, which are useful for public safety purposes as well as traffic engineering purposes. However, the accompanying Tiffany Rushing photos are not correct. The devices pictured on traffic signal arms are not cameras, but emergency vehicle pre-emption detectors. Many police and fire vehicles are equipped with transmitters that can trigger traffic signal changes to clear the way for the EV responding to a call. The pictured devices are part of that system and include visual indication the intersection is in pre-emption mode. Of Waterloos 180 or so signalized intersections, there are far more than 28 equipped this way, with multiple detectors on each such intersection. The misidentification of these devices as cameras could skew the public debate and increase paranoia in our community. I support Dan Trelkas position on adding more cameras, if funding can be found, as a useful tool in efforts to improve the safety of our community. Q: Who has the right-of-way in a round-about the one in the roundabout or the one entering it? A: Cedar Falls Public Safety Director Jeff Olson responds: As you approach a roundabout you will notice the incoming traffic entering the roundabout has a yield sign. The traffic already in the roundabout has the right-of-way. Q: On Saturdays when driving downtown can you park in the courthouse parking lot if you have business at one of the stores downtown and not get a ticket or get your car towed? A: Per Black Hawk County Code Chapter 10.05: No person shall park a vehicle in any area of the county parking lots, except for employees working in the county buildings or the public doing business in the county buildings, unless specifically authorized by the county Board of Supervisors or the superintendent of maintenance. Keep in mind, on-street parking meters are free in downtown Waterloo on Saturday. Q: What is going in by the old Toys R Us? A: Chris Fischels of the Sulentic-Fischels Commercial Group said he is currently negotiating with two tenants to each occupy half of the space. He cannot release the names of the companies at this point but believes the retailers will both be great additions to the Crossroads market. Q: How can a user of Hudson Municipal Electric switch to MidAmerican Energy? A: Energy providers in Iowa have exclusive assigned service territories established by the Iowa Utilities Board. Regulations do not allow for one customer or a group of customers to switch electric service providers without investigation and approval by the Iowa Utilities Board. MidAmerican Energy Co. cant pick up one or two customers in a community when another company has the franchise. Q: Who pays for the sidewalk going in on East Shaulis Road? A: The city received a $756,000 State Recreational Trails Program grant and has a $412,000 grant from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program to pay for the extension of the Shaulis Road recreational trail. Q: What started the fire in the Los Angeles area? A: What sparked the Santa Clarita fire is under investigation. The National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning across Southern California advising an unrelenting heat wave, low humidity and powerful winds had created a dangerous environment for a wildfire. 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has transformed new retail space into a 'Lifestyle Laboratory' by adding different showcases for fashion products in Bangkok, Thailand. Commissioned by Siam Piwat, an operator of prestige retail developments, the new development introduces revolutionary retail concept to Thailand as the 'Biggest Arena for Lifestyle Experiments.' The US$ 112 million new building repositions itself as thought leader of many famous brands by embedding many interactive activities and surprise experiences created with latest technology. Called Siam Discovery, the projects covers 40,000 square-metres of space, placing special emphasis on allowing visitors to experiment by trying out new products and new ideas and giving them opportunities to to discover and re-discover themselves. The complex-which a hybrid between a shopping center and department store-features many existing circular atriums dotted through the building were extended and joined up to create an elongated canyon-like space of over 58 m that draws visitors into the back of the building. Nendo adds a wall consisting of a stack of 202 frame-shaped boxes with video monitors, digital signage and displays of merchandise inside them was installed along one side of the atrium, and this plays the role of a directory for the whole store. The wall also has the effect of drawing visitors to the upper floors since it extends up from the first to the fourth floor. And by repositioning the escalators to run through the atrium and wall, the design also facilitates a smoother flow of visitors. Nendo also designs an exterior of the retail complex by opening up it the outside as much as possible and so the design studio cleares away as much from the walls as structural constraints permitted with the aim of eliminating the previous sense of oppressiveness. However, to balance the intense heat of the sun in the building, Nendo created a double-skinned facade decorated with a pattern that reflects the stacked box installation in the atrium. Since this new retail space was a hybrid between a shopping center and department store, the studio worked on the environmental design not only for the common use areas, but also all for the self-curated retail space which comprises the majority of the site, except for some of the tenants. Rather than categorizing merchandise by brand the experience is organized around the theme of ''Lifestyle Laboratory.'' ''Its innovativeness will reinforce Siam Piwats reputation as a thought-leader in Thailands retail sector capable of creating unprecedented destinations that compete with the best of the world as well as support Bangkoks appeal as the retail hub of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and a favourite shopping destination for the world,'' said Mrs. Chadatip Chutrakul, Chief Executive Officer of Siam Piwat. Mrs. Chutrakul added, ''We have created a venue where thousands of lifestyle brands are brought together under a single universal concept that puts customers at the centre. That means everything presented at Siam Discovery is not organized by brand, or category, as in traditional retailing, but by visitors interests, because our purpose is no longer just to sell products but to provide an extraordinary and emotional experience that allows visitors to discover and express themselves.'' This aims at encouraging visitors to discover and enjoy a mixture of tastes and lifestyles, and to reflect this we designed motifs at 13 different locations around the sales floors that include laboratory equipment such as beakers, flasks, and test-tubes, and diagrams of molecular structures, nucleotide DNA sequences, microscopes and amoeba, smoke and bubbles to reflect this. The studio blended the finishes on the floors and ceilings in the common areas and retail spaces in a graduated way which gives an impression that different materials are stirred together. In this way, Nendo created an atmosphere where people can feel relaxed and feel free to approach the stores. ''These experiences are highly interactive and with lots of opportunities for visitors to personalize their purchases. We also empower visitors to make statements about their life preferences, whether it be about sustainability or a love of nature, and to support those preferences through their purchases, and through occasions to interact with like-minded people and communities.'' ''And then we further enhances those experiences through the power of the most advanced digital technology. Its a totally new and an extraordinarily exciting way of presenting products and their associated lifestyles,'' she said. The studio also created a character called ''Discovery Man'' as the symbol for the retail complex. The office wanted to make a character that expresses intellectual curiosity and creativity, so his head is a cube like those used throughout the design of the building and the top is slightly open as if something is always popping in and out. The character serves as a guide in the complex, and as one of the opening events 30 creative artists from Thailand and across the rest of Asia were chosen to paint and customize them to decorate the space. Sam Piwat expects the new Siam Discovery to attract, in the first year, 100,000 visitors a day, with around 35% being international visitors. Products are presented are in five different categories including Everyday Products, Trend Products, Innovative Products & Services, Sustainable Products, and Collaborations and Absolute Siam Products. Siam Piwat will also introduce some of the most exciting new approaches to dining. Food and beverage outlets are integrated with retail and activity areas. More than 2,500 square metres are dedicated to food and beverage across the entire building. It will also introduce to Thailand one of the worlds most famous dining brands which will be sensation when launched. Nendo's first sketch-layering products Project Facts Designer: Nendo Client: Siam Piwat Co., Ltd. Date: May 2016 Size: 40,000m2 Location: Bangkok, Thailand Collaborator: Taisuke Sumihiro (NOMURA Co.,Ltd), Shohei Suzuki (NOMURA Co.,Ltd), awn, oni, syk All images Takumi Ota > via Nendo "Southwest Florida municipalities and companies alike are continuing to build momentum, and we are fortunate to work on meaningful and impactful projects," said RWA CEO Christopher Wright, P.E. NAPLES, FL, August 01, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- RWA, Inc. is proud to welcome new hires Oliver Sendall and Laura Tefft to the firm's Planning Department. Sendall and Tefft will help diversify RWA's services and enhance the company's capacity in Southwest Florida. Laura Tefft is a Southwest Florida native, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Florida Gulf Coast University. With experience at various engineering firms and construction companies in the region, Tefft will provide planning services in Lee and Rural Southwest Florida counties. Tefft is also attending Florida Gulf Coast University for a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Policy and Planning. Oliver Sendall graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Parks Recreation & Tourism Management. Sendall then went on to attend Florida Gulf Coast University where he is currently enrolled for a Graduate Certificate of Planning and Master of Public Administration in Environmental Policy and Planning. Sendall will focus on Parks and Recreation as well as Bicycle and Pedestrian projects at RWA. "RWA is pleased with our steady resource and revenue growth as the market expands," said RWA CEO Christopher Wright, P.E. "Southwest Florida municipalities and companies alike are continuing to build momentum, and we are fortunate to work on meaningful and impactful projects." Headquartered in Naples, Florida, RWA, Inc. provides quality civil engineering, land planning, surveying and mapping solutions from initial planning through final design, permitting, and construction for their portfolio of private and public sector clients. RWA is entering into 20 years of business in Naples, with a second full service office location in Fort Myers. Presently led by Christopher Wright, P.E. and John Williams, RWA is devoted to the evolution of the firm, designing the future one decade at a time. For the latest happenings at RWA, visit www.consult-rwa.com, contact (239) 597-0575 or connect with RWA on LinkedIn and Google +. ABOUT RWA, INC. RWA, Inc. is a professional services firm based in Naples, Florida offering land use planning, civil engineering, surveying and mapping for private and public sector clients. Through experience, knowledge, and innovative problem-solving, RWA provides quality solutions from initial planning through final design, permitting, and construction. Established in 1997, the firm maintains a high level of core values with a relationship-driven approach, focusing on the needs of our clients and genuinely caring about the people within our organization. For more information, visit consult-rwa.com. # # # by Thomas R Wells Liberalism is a centuries old political project of taming the power of the state so that it works for the ruled not the rulers. Can it survive the security state midwifed by global terrorism? Only if we take back responsibility for managing the dark political emotions of fear and anger that terrorists seek to conjure. How do we resist the security state? First, by challenging its effectiveness. PRISM and the other opaquely named universal surveillance programmes seem to have been approximately zero use in predicting terrorist attacks before they happen; last year the TSA failed to detect 67 out of 70 weapons and explosives carried by mystery shoppers. Security expert Bruce Schneier characterises the counter-terrorism security measures that increasingly dominate our experience of public spaces as mostly theatrical, designed to make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security. (And actually they can't even manage that.) Second, by challenging the cost-effectiveness of the security state even if it worked as it is supposed to. The loss of our privacy is not a small price to pay for preventing terrorism and saving lives. Firstly because we should be consistent. If we wouldn't give up privacy rights to reduce minor risks of death in other contexts (like installing government cameras in every bathroom to save people from bathtub slips), what rational reason do we have for giving up all our privacy to the government to reduce the risk of terrorism from almost nothing to possibly slightly less? Secondly because privacy is not an ornament but the heart of liberalism. In a liberal society the people should be mysterious and the government should be transparent; the more these are reversed the further we go towards despotism. But there is a further problem with the security state besides its ineffectiveness and inefficiency: It is a fundamentally incoherent project. Its justification is to provide citizens with freedom from fear, yet in order for the security state to gain the powers and money to do this it must relentlessly terrify the public with claims about how real and significant the terrorist threat is! Thus, the security state is constitutively unable to achieve what it is supposed to do, and itself becomes a greater source of public fear about terrorism than terrorists themselves could hope to be. Liberal critique of the security state tends to focus on the character of the trade-off between security and liberty. It is acknowledged that security is a universal need of citizens and a foundational duty of the state, and that it can trump other civil rights and government duties (on which see Corey Robin's excellent essay). The focus is on the means proposed, which should be precise; effective; limited to what is justified by necessity; accountable; structured in such a way as to cause the least possible infringement of other rights; subject to ongoing review (so that states of emergency can't become permanent); and so on. The trouble is that even with such improvements the security state can never do the job it is supposed to do. Terrorism is different from ordinary security threats, such as criminals or hostile states, because the point of terrorism is not the direct pursuit of material or geo-political interests, but the spread of the dark political emotions of fear and anger among civilians. The strategic aim of terrorism is to undermine the faith that ordinary people have in the ability of their governments to protect them, thus undermining the legitimacy of those governments and converting a tiny radical movement into a central political issue. Because terrorism is about generating fear, rather than trying to achieve military objectives, it is a form of warfare that is more virtual than real (as I have discussed elsewhere). It takes place largely in the imagination of a citizenry rather than its neighbourhoods. Terrorism is thus both much cheaper for small groups to engage in and also much less of a real danger than to the state than more conventional military opponents. (Pakistan is correct to see India as a more existential threat than the terrorist groups that set off hundreds of bombs a year.) Nevertheless, the theatrical outrages perpetrated by terrorists, publicised so extensively and eagerly by our mass and social media, do lead citizens to demand government action to manage their own febrile emotional state. They demand not to feel afraid in their own homes. They demand vengeance against those who made them feel afraid. But although governments can do much about risk for example by regulating the safety of our food, medicines, airplanes they cannot provide freedom from our own emotional incontinence, from our irrational fear. The lavishly funded civil rights trampling counter-terrorism programmes that have flourished in America and the UK (and now France) are therefore mainly exercises in theatre, just like the terrorism they purport to combat. They are there to show that the state is doing something as citizens demand no matter how pointless. However this is obviously self-defeating. The sight of tanks outside airports and shoe-bomb detectors inside does not reassure us that we are safe. Rather, the more a state emphasises the need for security against the terrorist threat (tanks at airports; soldiers with machine-guns at government buildings), the more it emphasises the significance of that threat, and thus the more credibility it gives to our irrational fear. The security state thus succeeds only in using the enormous resources of the state to further the terrorists' project of frightening us out of our skin. What makes the security state so dangerous is the positive feedback loop at its heart. The more resources it directs towards detecting and fighting terrorism and the more civil rights are suspended, the more it must play up the threat to the nation and our way of life to justify it all. Which makes it even more important that the security state be seen to be active. Which amplifies the original problem of terrorism yet again, fraying our trust in our fellow citizens and political institutions alike. This will go on until it can't go on anymore. Until it spirals into despotism or until we bring the system back to its senses. The longer we wait the more harm will be done, as we know from that other out of control security state born from our irrational fear of drugs. *** The security excuse for illiberalism is baked into the liberal project from the beginning: As all the famous political philosophers acknowledge, security is the necessary foundation on which liberal projects like justice and dignity and markets build. Yet it is not the priority of security as a principle that is the problem but its overuse as an excuse. We have come to rely on the state as a security blanket to cling to whenever our feelings become uncomfortable. We have abdicated our responsibility as citizens to manage those emotions ourselves, together, and to make a reasoned judgement of when our collective security is really at stake. No wonder then that the security state that responds to our cries is incapable of protecting our free society and sees the rights of citizens as obstacles to be overcome. by Emrys Westacott With the media choosing to pay so much attention to Donald Trump, relatively little attention has been paid to the 2016 Republican Party platform. This is in line with the tedious and reprehensible reduction of political discourse to horse race punditry. But it is a pity, since the prospect of this platform being enacted is every bit as worrying as the prospect of a narcissistic ignoramus like Trump becoming president. For those who don't have the stomach for reading allor anyof its 54 pages, here are a few of the more disturbing highlights with brief commentary. 1. On prejudice and discrimination The Platform boldly declares that Republicans oppose discrimination based on race, sex, religion, creed, disability, or national origin and support statutes to end such discrimination. Question for 5th graders: What is conspicuous by its absence from this list? That's right: no mention of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. A fair question, then, to ask the authors of the manifesto is: Do you, or do you not, oppose discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation? If you do, why don't you say so? You mention many other kinds of discrimination; so why not this one? If, on the other hand, you don't oppose it, why is this? A hint of an answer (to the last question, at least) can be found elsewhere. Sexual orientation is mentioned just once in the document, when the authors protest against the attempt by Obama and others to impose a social and cultural revolution on the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and other categories. This agenda, we are told, has nothing to do with individual rights. It seems, then, that freedom from discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation is not a right that Republicans recognize. And I suppose that's why they don't oppose it. While we're on the topic of prejudice and discrimination, here's another question for 5th graders. How does the above rejection of discrimination based on religion square with Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country (a proposal he has not disavowed)? 2. On same-sex marriage The Platform vehemently opposes the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v Hodges which legalized same-sex marriage across the country. This opposition is stated with admirable clarity. The reasoning behind it, though, is decidedly odd. We are told at the outset thattraditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society. This is not exactly a self-evident truth. For many, especially women, marriage down the ages has often been a cage in which they were imprisoned against their will and subjected to legalized oppression and brutality. The claim about traditional marriage also implies that if marriage is defined differently one of the pillars supporting social freedom is removed, or at least damaged. So in all those countries where same-sex marriage has recently been legalizede.g. Canada, France, South Africa, Spain, Norway, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden we are supposed to believe that people's freedom has been diminished, or at least jeopardized. And why? Because all the people in these countries are now free to do something they were not free to do before. Go figure. The platform looks forward to a Republican president appointing Supreme Court justices who will help overturn the lawless ruling in Obergefell when five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It's truly hard to make sense of this. The unelected lawyers are, of course, supreme court justices who were appointed by the president in accordance with Article II of the US Constitution. But the problem isn't really the fact that they are unelected, or even that they are lawyers. After all, the authors are keen to see other unelected lawyers of their own persuasion step in and reverse Obergefell. No, the problem is that we've all been robbed of something precious: viz. our legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage along traditional lines. Happily, although the platform doesn't mention this, our loss has been compensated by a newly granted authority to define marriage along non-traditional lines. And since, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll, 57% of Americans now support same-sex marriage while only 37% oppose it, this looks like a pretty good deal. Really, though: what on earth is meant by that talk about people's legitimate constitutional authority? Notice, they don't say people have been robbed of their right to define marriage in a certain way. Why not? Because the law can't tell you how to define anything. For all the law cares, you can go around like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass insisting that words mean whatever you say they mean. No, what authority to define means here is the right to have your definition be the one that is recognized by the law and which other people therefore have to live under; in short, it means the right to impose your definition on others. The peculiar thing about this particular kind of authority to define, though, is that it only accompanies certain definitions, not others. Which ones? But you know the answer: definitions approved of by the GOP! 3. On abortion The Republican platform is stringently anti-abortion. Arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection applies to the unborn, it mentions no circumstancesnot rape, not incest, not even a threat to the life of the motherin which abortion might be acceptable. Here, too, the supreme court is condemned, in this case for striking down commonsense Texas laws providing for basic health and safety standards in abortion clinics. These commonsense laws stipulated, for instance, that clinics should have expensive hospital grade facilities of a sort not required for other, more dangerous procedures. The point of the Texas law was transparently to make it much harder for women in Texas to get an abortion. The supreme court noted that the law increased by 7,400% the number of women in Texas who lived more than 200 miles from an abortion clinic. According to the authors, Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and wellbeing of women. This is simply false, if by studies is meant scientifically reputable studies. The legalization of abortion after Roe v Wade resulted in fewer backstreet abortions by unlicensed practitioners, fewer abortions after the first trimester, and fewer medical complications following the procedure.[1] 4. On gun control The Republican response to mass shooting such as those at Orlando, San Bernadino, and Newtown is to allow more people to carry guns wherever they go, and to increase the killing capacity of guns that can be legally owned. Regarding the last point, the platform is frighteningly unequivocal: We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle. It isn't entirely clear what sort of weapon they are referring to here, but a best guess would be the AR 15 automatic rifle and its clones. The standard magazines for these rifles hold thirty rounds, although some can be fitted with magazines that hold up to 100 rounds. But it seems that even 100 rounds is not enough. The logic seems to be: only if we make it easier for people to buy and carry around semi-automatic rifles with unlimited magazine capacity are we likely to reduce the likelihood of some deranged individual shooting up a night club, an office, a school, or any other heavily populated location. Again, go figure. 5. On energy and the environment Republican environmental policy rests on an a debatable premise: viz. that year by year, the environment is improving: air and waterways are healthier; there is less pollution and ecological degradation. But let's grant that this true, as it perhaps is in at least many parts of the US. Why and how has this progress been achieved? The platform doesn't say. But one explanation is rejected out of hand: it can't have had anything to do with government regulations, particularly not the regulatory juggernaut known as the Environmental Protetcion Agency. Possibly the captains of polluting industries just started feeling lots of remorse. Climate change is mentioned just once. It is not denied, but the tone is suspicious. Information regarding climate change must be based on hard data. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change can't be trusted. The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement are rejected. On principle, if there were a climate change problemand there probably isn'tthe solution cannot lie in any kind of regulation: A Republican president would forbid the RPA to regulate carbon dioxide. If there were a problemand there probably isn'tthe solution lies in giving incentives for human ingenuity and the development of new technologies. OK, you might be thinking, there's a concession. How about a carbon tax? Many experts advocate this as one obvious way to encourage cleaner technologies. But no. We oppose any carbon tax. Coal, we are told, is not just abundant, reliable, and affordable; it is also clean. Presumably this claim is based on hard data, although not the hard data provided by the US Energy Information Administration, according to which coal emits almost twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas.[2] But coal is clean is a good slogan, nicely alliterative. And fit to place alongside George Orwell's ignorance is knowledge. I do not mean to suggest that the issues highlighted here are the most central or important discussed in the Republican platform. Arguably, the philosophical heart of the document is its blanket opposition to redistributing wealth or limiting its power through taxation, regulation, and social programs. But the platform's position on the topics discussed indicates its doctrinaire character as well as the continuing willingness of the Republican leadership to pander to extremism and bigotry. by Richard King The King is dead! Long live the King! Thus did the English aristocracy mark the death of a monarch, with words that at once acknowledge change and insist on continuity on the idea that divinely sanctioned kingship not only survives the King's demise but also alights immediately on the next in line, on the dead monarch's heir. It would be difficult to conceive of a more effective way of perpetuating and shoring up class power. One king carks it, another takes his place, or is deemed to have done so by God Himself Today's elites lack such brazenness, but they are no less convinced of their right to rule. For they too posses the uncanny ability to declare themselves existentially challenged and at the same time move to consolidate their position. Faced with pressure from without, or below, the old habits of mind reassert themselves: by some weird magic or historical instinct the establishment is able to transcend defeat even as it acknowledges it: The establishment is dead! Long live the establishment! Take the case of post-referendum Britain. After the shock of the Brexit vote and David Cameron's resignation, everyone from the grandees of the major parties to the opinion writers in the mainstream press seemed to be noisily convinced of the following three things: one, that Brexit was yet more evidence of how disconnected the political establishment now is from that amorphous constituency the people; two, that this fissure in the political soil heralded some major ideological earthquake, and subsequent tectonic realignment, to which the major parties would have to respond if they didn't want to be cast into history's dustbin; and, three, that the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn the man who, in transforming Labour into something like a mass social movement, had taken on, and is still taking on, the very establishment deemed to be in crisis should resign his leadership immediately. The technical name for this is cognitive dissonance. Other names include establishment groupthink, rank opportunism, and utter bloody cheek, and all of these descriptors could and should be applied to the subsequent, shameful campaign against Corbyn, which has come to focus, not on policy, but on the Labour leader's lack of elan in the lead up to the referendum. Labour had taken a Remain position, but had stressed the need for major reform of the European Union's institutions, which are technocratic, inefficient, and imbued with a deeply neoliberal ethos a foundational neoliberal ethos. Corbyn himself, like many on the left, was known to be opposed to the EU for these reasons, but he adopted this Remain and Reform position as a workable and principled compromise with the Labour Party's pro-European wing. This was perhaps a more nuanced stance than electorates are assumed to be comfortable with, but not so nuanced that Corbyn couldn't deliver nearly two thirds of Labour's voters to the Remain cause. As for immigration by general consent the issue that swung the referendum for the Leavers well, no one was in any doubt at all as to Corbyn's position on that: he is as pro-immigration as it is possible to be without actually flying planes to Syria and handing out European passports. To make Corbyn's lack of enthusiasm for the Remain cause the crux of the campaign to unseat him is thus a strange thing to do. To do it while also lauding the Conservative Party for parachuting Theresa May into the Prime Ministership is strangeness raised to the level of art: May, after all, was a Remainer herself and almost invisible in the referendum campaign. Yet that is what happened, and is happening now. The hard right of the party its Blairite wing wasted no time at all in moving against Corbyn laying the blame for the Brexit vote, or a significant chunk of it, at his shiny red door. And such is the air of crisis they've created a crisis stoked and amplified by their spruikers in the mainstream press that the great majority of Labour MPs have now come out in favour of a change. Having instigated and fomented chaos, the Blairites now declare Corbyn's position untenable the member for Islington North has to go. But he hasn't, and he won't. And the reason he won't is that he believes that a party's leadership should be chosen by the party's members and not by the kind of centrist rent-seekers who lack the appetite for a real fight. Yes, folks, Jeremy Corbyn believes that a party espousing social democracy and/or democratic socialism should be, um, democratic. It's this prospect of genuine grass-roots democracy that scares the bejesus out of the establishment. The Blairites like to talk about credibility and to lament or decry Corbyn's lack of it. But they know as well as anyone that the public's notions of what is credible are changing faster than Donald Trump's policy positions. Boris Johnson, a man who can't comb his own hair and describes African people as piccaninnies, has just been made British Foreign Secretary: how's that for credibility? No, the Blairites aren't anti-Corbyn because they think he can't beat May in a general election. They are anti-Corbyn because they're worried he will. Here's the nightmare for the Blairites, and for the establishment more generally: Stage 1: Corbyn survives the challenge mounted by the party's right and the majority of MPs fall in behind him. The hardline Blairites maybe 30 souls in all decide not to stand at the next election. Stage 2: For all her determination and poise, Theresa May proves unable to unite the Conservatives, a party riven by ideological infighting and traumatised by the prospect that its previous leader may have inadvertently killed the UK, one of the entities it was set up to defend. The Tories fall in to open fratricide. Stage 3: Corbyn wins the general election, probably in some kind of alliance with other broadly progressive parties. Stage 4: Amidst huge hostility from the world markets, Labour manages to redefine Brexit as a cause for social democracy and anti-austerity. In so doing, it becomes a pole of attraction for other leftwing parties in Europe. Now, the chances of all this occurring are slim less than 5%, according to my instruments. But these are strange days strange days indeed and if there's one thing that keeps an establishment awake it's the prospect of a Podemos or a Syriza emerging at the heart of the neoliberal north. Better, perhaps, to be on the safe side At any rate, the contest is on, and the Labour Party's higher-ups have already moved against the left. Anyone wishing to (re)join the Labour Party and vote in the leadership election had until Wednesday 20 July to do so and had to pay 25 for the privilege, the party bigwigs having decided that anyone who became a member after January 2016 at the standard rate of about 3 per month would not be allowed a vote. This brazen attempt to exclude the members Corbyn has attracted in to the party may cost him 130,000 votes. It will also, of course, exclude the poor, the very people who have the most to gain from a redistributive, anti-austerity government. Corbyn's opponent will be Owen Smith (brilliant Labour name, that) not quite the quasi-Blairite stooge who had thrown herself forward originally but still a more acceptable figure to the party establishment than the current leader. With the great majority of Labour MPs and the abovementioned bigwigs at his back, not to mention the great majority of the press, I expect him to run Corbyn close. It will fall to the Corbyn-supporting members to hold their nerve and reject all the prophecies of catastrophe should they stick with their man. If the thousands of Corbynistas who turned up outside parliament to support Corbyn after the initial coup attempt are anything to go by, the outlook is encouraging. The stakes are massive, not just for Britain, but for Europe, and for progressives everywhere. It took centuries to get from The King is dead! to the idea that it is the people who are sovereign. A win for Corbyn will be a win for a left that promises to pay that idea more than lip service. Visit me at The Bloody Crossroads. If you've ever wondered what the director of Traffic, Oceans 11, Magic Mike and The Girlfriend Experience drinks, the answer is Singani 63, on the rocks. Stephen Soderberghthe "poster boy of the Sundance generation," as Roger Ebert called himdiscovered Singani, a 500-year-old Bolivian spirit, while on location filming Che, his 2008 biopic film about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Made from white Muscat of Alexandria grapes brought to the Andes mountains in 1530 by Spanish monks, singani is the national drink of Bolivia. Soderbergh fell hard and fast for the versatile, heady booze, and by the time he finished filming Che, he couldn't bear to leave Bolivia without it. As he puts it, "I decided I would bring Singani to the US even if it meant I might end up drinking the entire inventory myself." So, he procured an import license, secured the rights to sell the liquor outside Bolivia, and set about introducing it to the American market under his private label: Singani 63 (Soderbergh was born in 1963). An ad for Steven Soderbergh's Singani 63 features the filmmaker and liquor connoisseur himself. Courtesy of Extension 765 He admits it was much more difficult than anticipated to bring a new liquor to the US market, and that if he'd known just how challenging it would be, he might not have undertaken the project. Nine years later, it is finally available in select cities, including San Francisco. Bartenders here have embraced the imminently mixable liquor, using it to make everything from a French 75 to a Sazerac. At Bergerac in SOMA, bar manager Tammy Hagans has incorporated the Bolivian booze into one of the bohemian bar's signature "socials," served in large, prohibition-era cocktail shakers for 4-5 people. The Singani Punch combines Singani 63, lemon, grapefruit, pineapple juice and Luxardo Maraschino for a refreshing citrus concoction that goes down just a little too easy. Foreign Cinema infuses it with chamomile for their Chamomile Sour, made with lemon, egg white and simple syrup. Mourad takes it in a tropical direction with their Passion Fruit and Yuzu cocktail, consisting of Singani 63, lemon, passion fruit, yuzu marmalade, and Campari. At Blackbird, you'll find it mixed with tomato-infused Cocchi, Pamplemouse, cinnamon and Sauvignon Blanc in The Nightshade. In fact, you'll find Singani 63 cocktails on more than two dozen bar menus in the Bay Area, ranging from Benjamin Cooper to Tony's Pizza Napoletana to The Front Porch to Bird Dog in Palo Alto. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (aka "TTB") has classified Singani as a brandy, and strictly speaking, it is distilled wine. But Soderbergh believes the clear liquor should have its own classification, like Pisco and Cachaca do. After all, Singani has both a DO (Designation of Origin) and a GI (Geographical Indication), which requires that the grapes used to make it are grown at a minimum altitude of 5,250 feet and only within the confines of the historic home of Singani in the Andes mountains of Bolivia. During a recent bar crawl in San Francisco, Soderbergh suggested that Singani 63 can be substituted for the main liquor in just about any cocktail imaginable, prompting me to ask if it should be described as the tofu of liquor. "I prefer to think of it as the bacon of liquor," he replied. "It makes every cocktail taste just a little bit better." By the time we sloshed into our seventh round of Singani cocktails at the third bar of the night, the bacon claim had escalated: the Bolivian spirit now had super powers, according to Soderbergh. "This shit will make you invisible." // Singani 63, singani63.com This article was originally published in May 2016. Every so often, Danny Bowien flies back to San Francisco from New York to touchup the menu at Mission Chinese Food. His most recent update includes a magical salt & pepper fried lamb ribsa mashup of his favorite fried chicken joint in Oklahama City, Eischen's, with some elements and flavors found in Vietnamese cuisine. Check it out at Mission Chinese Food, or recreate it at home with the surprisingly easy recipe below. Mission Chinese Food's Salt & Pepper Lamb Ribs (Serves 4-6) Ingredients 6 pounds lamb breast portioned into two-rib pieces 4 yellow onions, charred on a grill or in oven 2 knobs ginger, charred on a grill or in oven 8qt chicken stock 1T toasted red chili pepper 1T garlic 1T star anise 1T fennel seed 1T green sichuan peppercorn Kosher salt black pepper canola, grapeseed, or other frying oil Salt and Pepper Rub 3 cups corn starch 2T ground mushroom powder (found in Asian supermarkets or online) 1T ground white pepper 1T ground black pepper 1T Kosher salt 1. Season lamb ribs liberally with salt and black pepper to cover. Optional: allow to cure overnight. 2. Sear lamb ribs in a large dutch oven, making sure each side is nice and browned. 3. Remove lamb ribs, then add chicken stock, charred onions and ginger, toasted dried chili pepper, garlic, star anise, fennel seed, and green Sichuan peppercorns and bring to a simmer. 4. Add lamb ribs, and braise in an oven at 300F until tender, Approximately 2.5 hours. Allow ribs to cool in liquid. To Serve 1. Thoroughly mix together cornstarch with Salt & Pepper rub ingredients, then toss in lamb ribs 2. Fry in canola or grapeseed oil heated to 325F until crispy outside and warmed through, about 10 minutes. 3. Season liberally with lots of Salt and Pepper. *In the restaurant, the ribs are served with BBQ fixings and Vietnamese herbs: white bread, sliced onions, bread and butter pickles, rice paddy herb, cilantro, mint, rau ram and a cup of crema/creme fraiche. We highly recommend you do the same. San Francisco makes it almost too easy to snap an iconic picture. Think Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, or our famous fog (Hi, Karl!). It takes a truly gifted photographer, however, to frame the complex spirit of The City in all its beauty and grit. The following people each have a unique perspective on life in SF. (Chris Beale) Chris Beale Beale captures slices of life from cultures around the world and brings to light the injustices suffered by the subjects of his camera. His series "David and Goliath" brings the narrative home, speaking to the current tensions between police and the citizens of San Francisco, while "Frisco" takes a real, gritty look at city life in places such as the Tenderloin. // chrisbealephoto.com, Instagram: @chris__beale (Inks of Truth) Reynaldo Cayetano Jr. Founder of the SF-based art collective Inks of Truth, Cayetano grew up on Sixth Street, and has dedicated himself to touting the importance of the often underappreciated neighborhood. Although he documents his travels around the world, Rey's photographic love letter to the TL is just as stunning, and crucial, to his work. // inksoftruth.com, Instagram: @inksoftruth (Maury Edelstein) Maurice Edelstein SF is radiant with color, sound, and energy. It takes an expert to absorb all that and confine it to the frame of a photograph. Maury Edelstein is one such photographer. He has chronicled the characters of SF in all their splendor, exploring their neighborhoods, camera in hand, for over 40 years. // maur-images.com , Instagram: @maur_images (Sandy Elle) Sandy Elle Although Sandy Elle's photography is mostly based around SF's food scene, her snaps of The City proper encompass the childlike joy that can be found here. She exposes unexpected and beautiful slices and shares them in candy-hued shades, interesting shapes, and lush textures. // sandybythebay.com , Instagram: @sanfranciscounicorn, @sffoodphotography (Charles Shelton Green) Charles Shelton Green Oakland-based architectural designer and photographer Charles Shelton Green fuses both his trades, gathering inspiration from "craft, details, and sense of place" to create cozy snapshots filled with adventures in nature and a sense of old-school nostalgia. // charlessheltongreen.com , Instagram: @charlessheltongreen (Troy Holden) Troy Holden Troy Holden shoots candid moments that are gone just as quickly as they were here. The result is a crazy collection of photos where you wonder what the heck is going on, want to know the story behind it, and wish you were there to see it firsthand. // troyholden.com , Instagram: @troyholden (Joel Angel Juarez) Joel Angel Juarez As a photojournalist for publications such as El Tecolote, it's Joel Angel Juarez's job to objectively reflect on his surroundings. The product proves to be as powerful and beautiful as it is truthful. His photo series depict refugees in Greece , the Open Wounds of America , and farm workers in Oxnard , but his photos of the Bay Area carry just as much worldly weight. From rowdy Giants fans celebrating to passionate police protests to farm workers marching to City Hall on Cesar Chavez Day, this is San Francisco. // joelangeljuarez.com , Instagram: @jajuarezphoto (Dan Kurtzman) Dan Kurtzman Land- and cityscape photog Dan Kurtzman may be split between two coasts, covering both SF and New York City, but we like to think his SF photographs show who has his heart. They highlight the brilliant splendor of how architecture and nature play off each other to create this unique postcard city. // dankurtzman.com , Instagram: @kurtzmanos, @wildbayarea, @wildnewyork (Ted Pushinky) Ted Pushinsky With SF changing radically in just a few years, those who capture its true essence over the course of 50 years are gold. Across so many decades, Pushinsky's photos fill us in on all the diversity, fashion, conflict, and complexity that embody The City's denizens. // tedpushinsky.com , Instagram: @tedpushinsky In the search for easy-to-perform tests to predict Alzheimers disease risk, new research suggests the nose might know and the eyes might have it. Older patients are more and more often asking their doctors if theyre going to get Alzheimers disease, William Kreisl , a Columbia University Medical Center neurologist, said at a briefing Tuesday at the Alzheimers Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto. Detection of the disease before symptoms appear would enable people to make decisions about their care while they still can, said Melanie Campbell of the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Were on the cusp of new therapies for Alzheimers disease, so the earlier patients could begin taking them, the greater the chance they could work, added Suzanne Craft, an Alzheimers researcher at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. Both the nose and the eyes can serve as windows into whats going on in the brain. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), an inexpensive scratch-and-sniff test that people can take on their own on in a doctors office. Low UPSIT scores have been shown to predict cognitive decline in people with no symptoms as well as in those with memory problems, Kreisl said. The sense of smell is connected to areas of the brain affected early on in Alzheimers disease, he said. Kreisl and his colleagues compared UPSIT scores with beta-amyloid status in 84 adults who were age 68 on average. Beta-amyloid deposits are made of protein fragments, and their presence in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. The people in his study all took the UPSIT and underwent either a PET scan or a spinal tap. Those with an UPSIT score below 35 (out of 40) were three times more likely to have memory decline six months later than those with higher scores. In a related study, other Columbia scientists administered UPSIT to 397 people, age 80 on average, who also underwent MRI brain scans. They found that people with low UPSIT scores were more likely to develop dementia during a follow-up period of four years. To a lesser degree, the MRI scans showed that thinning in the entorhinal cortex, the first part of the brain to be affected by Alzheimers, was also associated with a greater risk of developing dementia. The eye might also prove to be an accessible avenue for assessing the status of amyloid in the brain, Campbells study found. She and her collaborators examined the eyes of patients with and without Alzheimers who had donated their organs to science. Using polarizing microscopes, the researchers found amyloid deposits in the retinas of those who had Alzheimers. Polarization imaging of the eye is a promising tool for detecting amyloid deposits before Alzheimers symptoms appear, Campbell said. Another promising imaging technology is optical coherence tomography, or OCT, which one study presented at the Alzheimers meeting used to assess amyloid in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Ophthalmologists regularly use OCT to diagnose diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Experts have identified several reasons why, including rising obesity and the unprecedented number of adults taking medications such as antidepressants. But for many, sleeping less is a choice: We're watching TV, fiddling on Facebook or otherwise occupied in front of electronic screens deep into the wee hours. This consumes more than 11 hours per day for an average adult, according to Nielsen estimates. All those tablets and smartphones and TVs collectively conspire to steal our sleep by emitting a high-intensity light that scrambles our circadian rhythms, which evolved to follow the cycles of natural daylight. We're also subject to the workplace phenomenon of "sleep shaming" when alpha-achiever types humblebrag about how late they work and how early they rise. This is hardly new: Thomas Edison, a champion sleep shamer, claimed to need no more than four hours of rack time and demanded the same of his employees. He's a formative figure in what Penn State labor history professor Alan Derickson, in his book Dangerously Sleepy, dubbed "the cult of manly wakefulness." (A period exemplar: Charles Lindbergh, who claimed to stay up for 63 hours during his transatlantic flight.) "We are always hearing people talk about 'loss of sleep' as a calamity. They better call it loss of time," Edison once proclaimed. "There is really no reason why men should go to bed at all." On the other side of this late-night culture war stand pro-sleep evangelists such as Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, whose book The Sleep Revolution joins several new self-help tomes promising to restore sanity to the night. "We're a society that's on the clock," says Matt Berical, senior editor of Van Winkle's, an online publication devoted to sleep. "The next great struggle for us is, how are we going to get rest? Sleep inequality will be a big issue in the future. There are services that will be available only to people who can afford it." The sleep gap is just one of many stubborn disparities that haunt the night. The wealthy sleep better than the less affluent, and whites sleep better than African Americans. Women sleep more than men, although men are more satisfied with their sleep. And age itself is a factor, says University of Chicago epidemiologist Diane Lauderdale, who studies the sleep patterns of various populations. "Young adults sleep better and sleep more. If you expect to be able to sleep like you did when you were 26, you're going to be disappointed." Lauderdale goes on to caution that, when it comes to how well we're sleeping, we're not the best judges. Since population-based studies tend to rely on self-reported surveys, the current epidemic of sleep woes could in part be in our (aging) heads. "Everyone personally used to sleep better, so it sounds reasonable to think it's something the whole population is going through," she says. "The fact that we are being bombarded with people telling us we're not sleeping enough can influence our perceptions." What isn't in dispute is how absolutely critical it is to get enough sleep. In animal studies, sleep deprivation has a horrific impact rats kept awake died in agony within weeks. But it wasn't until UCLA biomathematician Van Savage published a 2007 paper comparing sleep duration and metabolic rates that scientists were able to mount "a compelling argument for the core function of sleep," says Charles Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. According to the theory, sleep is the brain's overnight rinse cycle, a time for flushing cellular debris generated by metabolic activity. "The brain has to go offline during that process," Czeisler says. "That's what we call sleep." There's no getting around the damage done by failing to run your neurochemical dishwasher: One bad night translates into a day of diminished executive function, foggy memory and sludgy mental acuity. In older adults, bad sleep can speed the development of cognitive impairments. Unfortunately, understanding why it's important to go to sleep doesn't make it any easier to get there. Business roundup: Dunn Bros. to open in November, E Glass's big pitch In business news, an Aberdeen entrepreneur is making a nationwide pitch, car wash coverts to Tunnel of Terror, Dunn Brothers to open in November. Speedcast Appointed to Provide Satellite Communications Services in Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Aug 1, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - SpeedCast International Limited ( ASX:SDA ), a leading global satellite communications and network service provider, today announced that it has been awarded a multi-year service agreement by a leading global energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas ("the Customer"), to provide managed satellite communications services for the Customer's offshore sites in Malaysia. Under the service agreement, SpeedCast will provide managed VSAT network services for the Customer's Central Processing Platform (CPP) and the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) located in Malaysia. The CPP and FSO will share bandwidth dynamically with stringent QoS control, resulting in an efficient allocation of bandwidth to mission critical applications among the sites. "We are thrilled to have the Customer on board our global VSAT network. SpeedCast field team has been working closely with the Customer to understand their requirements and customize our offering. Our extensive track record in providing advanced VSAT solutions across the globe for prestigious energy clients, and particularly offshore Malaysia with significant field support capabilities, make us stand out from our competition," said Keith Johnson, Senior Vice President, Energy of SpeedCast. "At SpeedCast, we greatly value and appreciate building a long-standing relationship with our customers, fulfilling their communications and IT requirements everywhere they operate." Mr. Johnson added. This new win is one more demonstration of our growth in the energy sector as we gain market share." PJ Beylier, CEO of SpeedCast, emphasized. "We are seeing growing traction with heavy-weight players in the energy sector as we have built up and demonstrated our engineering, delivery and operational capabilities to the highest level, thus gaining the required credibility that can now open a lot of new doors" He added. About Speedcast International Ltd Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) is the world's most trusted communications and IT services provider, delivering critical communications solutions to the Maritime, Energy, Mining, Media, Telecom, Cruise, NGO, Government, and Enterprise sectors. With more satellite capacity than any other provider, Speedcast enables faster, seamless pole-to-pole coverage from a global hybrid satellite, fiber, cellular, microwave, MPLS, and IP transport network with direct access to public cloud platforms. The company also integrates differentiated technology offerings that provide smarter ways to communicate and distribute content, manage network and remote operations, protect and secure investments, and improve the crew and guest experience. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 3,200 customers in over 140 countries. Learn more at www.speedcast.com. There is still time to make a nomination for the 2017 New Mexico Ethics in Business Awards, but time is getting short. Nominations will be accepted until Aug. 8 The Ethics in Business Awards are an annual recognition of for-profit businesses, not-for-profit organizations and individuals whose work demonstrates the highest ethical conduct and social responsibility. Nominees will be forwarded to UNM Anderson School of Management after careful analysis of all nominations by a volunteer screening committee. Following the screening process, business ethics students led by a faculty member will research each nominee during the fall semester. A selection committee, a group of New Mexico business leaders, will meet to choose the recipients. A nomination form and criteria for selection may be obtained by checking the website at www.EthicsInBusinessNM.com or by calling the Samaritan Counseling Center at 505-842-5300 ext. 206. The counseling center supports a more ethical business community, while also raising money for the centers Good Samaritan Fund, which provides financially assisted counseling services to the community. The multiyear battle over how the states largest utility will replace energy after shutting down part of its coal-powered plant may not be over yet. Environmental group New Energy Economy has filed a brief with the state Supreme Court asking the court to overturn a 2015 ruling by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. The PRCs decision permits Public Service Company of New Mexico to obtain replacement energy after closing two of the four units at the coal-powered San Juan Generating Station in 2018. New Energy Economy alleges in the brief that the PRC failed to consider all cost-effective alternatives, particularly renewable resources. The PRC and PNM have 30 days after the filing to submit a response. On July 22, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto met with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. The objective of the meeting was to discuss a variety of subjects, including the drug war, water, trade, health, student exchanges and tourism. Security also was a focus, with both nations committing to a new security system to better share information on travelers who cross into one country from another. Neighbors inevitably have issues that pop up from time to time, but good neighbors get together, communicate and work them out. This is the relationship that the U.S. and Mexico have had for many years, and this is precisely what the two presidents did at their meeting. However, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, not to hear the discussion on these important subjects, but to hear any discussion on the U.S. presidential election and what it could mean for both nations in the future. The July Obama-Pena Nieto meeting will probably be the last meeting between them as heads of state, as the new U.S. president takes office in January. When this occurs, the U.S.-Mexico relationship will be entering a great unknown. If Republican Donald Trump wins the presidential election, will his tough and vocal rhetoric, in terms of rescinding or rolling back the North American Free Trade Agreement, become reality? If Democrat Hillary Clinton wins, will she continue the relationship that her husband Bill Clinton built with Mexico by negotiating and implementing NAFTA, or will she remain cool to the agreement and strengthening the relationship with Mexico because of political pressures within her own party? I imagine that a good portion of the Obama-Pena Nieto meeting must have focused on the what if factors. On the trade front, Obama has been resolute in his support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade relationship for which NAFTA was implemented among the three partners. Pushing forth trade with Mexico and a free trade agenda, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, will be major parts of his legacy. Pena Nietos presidential term expires in 2018, so he will have to deal with the new U.S. president for approximately two years. He definitely does not want to end his term on a sour note with his neighbor to the north, and subject himself to attacks from political rivals and the nations private sector. The same what if conversations have to be occurring in other U.S.-allied nations after Trump surmised that, if elected president, he may have to impose some type of ban on countries such as France and Germany both huge trading partners and allies with the U.S. because of his viewpoint that they may be compromised by terrorism due to the number of Muslims in those nations. After the U.S. was declared the winner of the Cold War and having capitalism prevail as the preferred economic system by most of the world, the World Trade Organization, which the U.S. supported and encouraged nations to join, is being called a disaster by Trump. For her part, Hillary Clintons backtracking on free trade also has to raise concerns in allies minds about what would happen if she were elected. It is common during a political campaign to fire up the rhetoric on a controversial subject or to modify a persons conviction for a particular issue and then, after the election, move back to a more moderate position in the political spectrum. It is unclear if this would apply to Clinton. I cant remember a U.S. presidential election causing so much doubt and consternation throughout the world as the present one. The U.S. has been a bastion of leadership and a calming force to which other nations turn during world crises and we certainly have one on our hands with the terrorism that ISIS and mentally unstable people are wreaking upon innocent people in countries throughout the world. To defeat these evil forces, the U.S. and its allies need to cooperate from economic and security standpoints more than ever. Having the U.S. renege on its commitments and move to an isolationist position would create more instability throughout the world. To remain a global economic force, the U.S. needs to develop trading relationships with allies to create jobs at home and to sell American products throughout the world. Through close trading relationships, security and cooperation are fostered. Going the other direction has not worked historically and will not work in the future. Jerry Pacheco is the executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a nonprofit trade counseling program of the New Mexico Small Business Development Centers Network. He can be reached at 575-589-2200 or at jerry@nmiba.com. The New Mexico Private 100 is back a chance to showcase your companys importance to the states economy. The annual program features a list of the top 100 privately held companies in the state based on revenue, a lineup usually as diverse as the New Mexico landscape. Moss Adams LLP, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Modrall Sperling are sponsoring the 2016 New Mexico Private 100 in conjunction with the Journals Business Outlook. What impresses me, year after year, is the tremendous economic boost these 100 companies give to New Mexico. They represent billions of dollars in annual revenue and thousands of jobs around the state, said Jennifer Noya, marketing partner at Modrall Sperling. The New Mexico Private 100 program is an excellent event that recognizes a diverse group of privately held companies within our great state, Steve Keene, Partner In Charge for Moss Adams Albuquerque. Each year, we are excited to welcome new companies to the list, as well as admire the longevity of the companies we welcome back to the list every year. To qualify for the list, a company must be privately owned and headquartered in New Mexico. It may be any type of business except an accounting firm, cooperative, depository financial institution, law firm or securities broker-dealer. There is no minimum or maximum number of employees or sales revenue. The nomination requires each company to report revenue for ranking purposes. But information will be kept strictly confidential financial information will be used solely for ranking purposes and wont be disclosed in the final list. Other restrictions may apply; the nomination form provides details. Nomination forms can be found at mossadams.com/nmprivate100. The deadline to apply is Aug. 19. For more information about the nomination form or the New Mexico Private 100 program, contact Cindy Miller or Amanda Marquez at nmprivate100@mossadams.com or 505-878-7200. The New Mexico Private 100 is an opportunity to honor the top 100 privately held companies in the state and recognize the significant contributions these companies make to the New Mexico economy, said Paul Mondragon, market president at Bank of America. Last years list featured a wide array of companies, from the would-be Greek restaurant that pivoted to become a multistate pizza chain to the gym company that flourished by bucking convention. The companies come from all over New Mexico, although those headquartered in Albuquerque dominate, and sectors are as varied as health care and automotive. A common thread was that all help boost the states economy and provide jobs for thousands of New Mexicans. Last years 100 companies had a combined $4.2 billion in revenue and 9,105 employees. The Private 100 originated in 1988 and was revived in 2012 after an eight-year hiatus. The program is a way to bring attention to the economic contribution these companies make to New Mexico. A special issue of the Journal s Business Outlook this fall will feature the Private 100. How to apply: Find forms at mossadams.com/nmprivate100 Deadline is Aug. 19. More information: Cindy Miller or Amanda Marquez at nmprivate100@mossadams.com or 505-878-7200. Albuquerque-based Array Technologies has ridden the solar wave to become the largest maker of solar-tracking systems in the U.S. and now its setting its sights on the world. The company, a homegrown firm that CEO Ron Corio launched in 1989, has built about 30 percent of all the solar-trackers installed in ground-mounted solar systems in the U.S. today. In fact, the company helped set the trend for industry adoption of tracking systems, which are used to tilt and turn solar panels to follow the sun, increasing electric output from photovoltaic arrays. Having cemented a dominant role in the U.S., the company is now planning an aggressive move into global markets as PV generation heats up around the world. The world is waking up to solar energy and our growth now is dependent on the globalization of our products, Corio said. Thats become our primary focus to globalize our tracking systems. The company expects international markets to account for 17 percent of its total sales by next year and 50 percent by 2020. Like Array, rapid expansion in domestic and foreign demand is creating lucrative opportunities for other homegrown New Mexico companies. New Mexico had 114 solar-related companies operating around the state as of yearend 2015, according to the national Solar Energy Industry Association. Together, they employ about 1,900 people, with projections for a 12.3 percent expansion in payroll this year, according to the national Solar Foundation. The vast majority are service-sector businesses, including about 60 contracting and installation companies, and nearly 30 more involved in project development, financing, engineering and legal support. Another 16 are manufacturing enterprises that make a range of products. That includes tracking and racking systems, electronic components and even solar cells for spacecraft. The manufacturing sector has had its ups and downs in recent years. Advent Solar, a venture-backed firm that made solar panels at Mesa del Sol in south Albuquerque, was sold to a California firm in 2010 after facing financial difficulties in the recession. And Schott Solar PV Inc., which ran a 200,000-square-foot panel factory at Mesa del Sol, collapsed in 2012 because of intense competition from China and elsewhere. More recently, Direct Power & Water Corp., which makes racks and other parts for solar systems, moved from Albuquerque to a factory in North Carolina owned by its parent firm, Preformed Line Products Co. Preformed Line acquired DPW in 2007, but it continued to operate in Albuquerque until last October. Todays booming markets offer opportunities for local companies, but they face new challenges, as well. More competitors are entering the market, forcing New Mexico firms to improve efficiency and fight harder for customers. In the service sector, installation companies now face deep-pocketed national competitors, such as SolarCity and ZingSolar, which came to town last year with aggressive marketing techniques, including door-to-door canvassing. That helps build more awareness among consumers, benefitting all firms, but local businesses must fight to keep pace, said Regina Wheeler, CEO of Sunpower by Positive Energy Solar. Weve seen an impact, Wheeler said. We have to spend more money on marketing to compete for each customer. Even so, Positive Energy and other installers, such as Affordable Solar, report marked growth. Both companies earned spots on this years Flying 40 list of fast-growing technology firms. Positive Energys revenue increased from $8.5 million in 2010 to nearly $13 million in 2015. Affordables revenue leapt by 160 percent in the same period, from $22.5 million to $58.6 million. In manufacturing, Albuquerque-based Unirac has sought more growth capital to compete. The company, which makes mounting platforms at the Springer Industrial park north of Downtown, was acquired in April by New York-based private equity firm Tenex Capital Management. But it will remain in Albuquerque, where Unirac employs about 100 people, said President and CEO Peter Lorenz. Array Technologies, meanwhile, is New Mexicos true rising star, but it also faces increased competition. Thats why its moving heavily into foreign markets. The company reached $38 million in revenue in 2010, when it stopped publicly reporting its finances. But Arrays accumulated growth since then is in the triple digits, with annual revenue growing multiple times in the past five years, Corio said. The company has expanded its north Interstate 25 manufacturing facility from 50,000 to 75,000 square feet since 2013 and, last year, it added 70,000 more square feet of space in other parts of the city. It employs 211 people today, up from 35 in 2010. Corio is now exploring markets in Asia, the Mideast and Latin America. We have a team in the Mideast now, and were actively looking at Australia and Brazil, Corio said. Were also very interested in Mexico. It has a good-sized market, its close to us, we have the NAFTA free-trade accord and we have manufacturing capability in that country. New Mexicos solar energy developers say their industry is finally hitting its stride as thousands of new residential and commercial customers opt to go solar, and more utilities nationwide turn to the sun for electric generation. Plunging prices are driving the market for solar systems, with waves of homeowners and commercial establishments tapping into sun power to offset rising electric utility bills. And, with many more financing options available today, plus a lot more solar companies competing, solar generation is beginning to penetrate the consumer mainstream. We continue to see about 20 percent more growth per year as more people become aware of the opportunities, said Regina Wheeler, CEO of Sunpower by Positive Energy Solar, which installs residential and commercial systems throughout the state. Theres solid knowledge today that solar is a viable, attractive way to fix a customers long-term energy costs at an affordable price. It can help control unlimited utility costs and people understand that now. Jerry Mosher, managing member of Consolidated Solar Technologies LLC in Albuquerque, said his business is signing up a lot more residential and commercial customers. Were doing a lot more solar installations than we used to, Mosher said. Business is very steady, whereas before it was up and down. The solar market has matured now to the point where its a pretty steady deal and theres still a lot more room to grow. By all counts, 2015 was a banner year for the industry in New Mexico and nationwide, and 2016 is so far shaping up to be even better. As of early this year, the U.S. market had reached 1 million solar installations a milestone representing 27.5 gigawatts of installed generating capacity, or enough electricity to power 5.4 million homes, according to the national Solar Energy Industry Association. The SEIA expects another 14.5 GW to be installed this year, or nearly twice the 7.3 GW developers built across the country last year. As of year-end 2015, New Mexico had about 400 megawatts of installed capacity. That includes 85 MW of residential and commercial systems, and 316 MW of utility-scale generation scattered throughout the service territories of New Mexicos public utilities and electric cooperatives. The generating power of solar systems can vary widely. Some utility-scale plants provide enough power per MW only for a few hundred average homes. Some offer a lot more, depending on location, type of technology used, and strength and availability of sunlight. Public Service Company of New Mexico accounts for about 41 percent of all installed solar capacity in the state. That includes 15 utility-scale projects with 107 MW of capacity, which PNM says is enough to power about 140,000 average New Mexico homes. All told, New Mexico ranks 8th in the nation today in terms of installed solar capacity per capita, according to the Environment America Research and Policy Center. New Mexicos utility-scale solar has increased as public utilities strive to meet the states renewable portfolio standard, which requires them to derive 15 percent of their electric generation today from renewable sources and 20 percent by 2020. Although PNM has no immediate plans to procure more solar now, other utilities and cooperatives are building new installations and the renewable portfolio standard will drive more procurements in coming years. Residential and commercial installations are booming in part because of state-mandated utility incentives to encourage consumer adoption, plus a 10 percent state tax credit for solar installations in effect since 2008. Until recently, PNM and El Paso Electric Co. in southern New Mexico offered payments to customers for each kilowatt-hour of solar electricity they produced, which helped consumers and businesses offset the costs of installing systems. Those utilities also offer net metering, which allows customers with solar systems to sell all the excess electricity they produce back to the grid at a price equal to what PNM pays for its own electricity. That net metering is separate from the renewable payments, which PNM pays to consumers for helping it meet its RPS mandates. To date, 7,100 customers have signed up for PNM credits, said Kumiko Styes, the utilitys customer solar program manager. Thats up from 4,400 in 2014. It really has exploded, Styes said. 2015 was a big year, but 2016 has been even bigger. This year, many PNM customers rushed to get their applications in because the payment program is winding down. Payments fell from 13 cents per kwh in 2009 to just 2.5 cents by year-end 2015. And, as of mid-2016, PNM stopped processing new applicants because the number of customers seeking credits surpassed the money available in the program. Were fully subscribed now, so were not paying renewable energy credits for the rest of this year, Styes said. We received like 2,200 applications and we have hundreds on the waiting list. PNM is seeking approval from the state Public Regulation Commission to restart the program in 2017, but at just one-quarter cent per kwh. El Paso Electrics payment program ended entirely in 2015. The 10 percent state tax credit also came to an end this year. That credit was formally scheduled to sunset in December, but available funding ran out in July and no more credit applications are being accepted. Nevertheless, solar installation companies expect residential and commercial markets to keep growing. For one thing, PNM and El Paso Electric still offer net metering, which solar companies say is far more critical for consumers to offset system costs than the renewable energy payments. In addition, the federal government still offers a 30 percent tax credit for solar systems and, in December, the U.S. Congress extended that through the end of 2019 before it begins to slowly ramp down. Most important, solar prices have spiraled downward. Prices for both residential systems and utility-scale power plants declined by more than 50 percent from 2008-14, according to a recent study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2015, prices overall fell another 17 percent, according to the SEIA. Today, for example, an average 4.4 kilowatt residential system in New Mexico costs about $17,000 before tax credits or other incentives are factored in. Thats down from about $30,000 in 2009, according to some local installers. And, with credits and incentives, the actual cost to consumers ends up much lower. That same system, for example, would be reduced to just $11,900 after federal tax credits are factored in. And, with financing, the average New Mexico homeowner would in the end pay about $99 a month, or less than the average monthly bill for many utility customers today. Constant technology improvements for solar panels and components, plus increased operating efficiencies by installation firms, have cut costs. More solar companies are also operating here and elsewhere, offering better deals and broader options for consumers. That includes leasing, rather than buying solar systems, although there are costs and benefits to those new alternatives, such as ongoing responsibility for a lease contract when selling a house. There are also many more lending institutions providing financing. All that is generating fierce competition, creating economies of scale that help lower prices. New Mexico now has about 60 contracting and installation companies, including national firms like Solar City and ZingSolar that entered the market last year. As a result, most solar firms are poised to absorb the loss of New Mexicos state tax credit, as well as the decline in renewable energy payments from utilities, said Ryan Centerwall, CEO of Albuquerque-based Affordable Solar, which installs systems here and sells them nationally. It shows the development and maturity of the industry, Centerwall said. Even without state incentives, were still able to save customers money from day one and with no money down for a financed system, because it typically costs less now than for utility retail service. The industry in New Mexico and elsewhere could face more hurdles in coming years because many electric utilities want to roll back incentives like net metering, while imposing new charges on customers with solar systems. Power companies say they still maintain generating plants, transmission and distribution lines to serve customers with solar installations when their panels dont provide enough electricity, and those fixed costs remain unchanged, even though utility revenue has declined with more consumers going solar. When PNM filed for a new rate increase with the PRC in 2014, it asked for changes to its net metering program, plus a new interconnection fee on solar customers. It withdrew those things from the rate case in 2015, but they could come back in future rate cases. For now, however, with net metering unchanged and the federal tax credit firmly in place through at least 2020, installers have more time to drive prices down before solar is forced to fully stand on its own. The idea was never to have tax breaks and incentives forever, but rather use them to enter the market and begin to deliver until volume ramps up, and price reductions and economies of scale kick in, said Mellow Honek, co-founder of the Las Cruces-based installation firm Sunspot Solar Energy LLC. And, in the meantime, theres still plenty of room to grow in New Mexico and nationally. We have less than 10 percent market penetration overall today, Honek said. Theres still a long way to go to hit our peak. This election, voters have an important decision to make. We recently witnessed a reality TV star become the nominee for the Republican Party. Waving flags and boisterous speeches about making America great again doesnt change the fact that the Republican nominee has no experience to back up his rhetoric. Weve heard time and again that Donald Trump essentially floated to the top of a large group of candidates because Republican voters want someone who isnt a political elite; however, it appears that their nominee is elite nonetheless (and he has gold-plated everything to prove it). Trump stepped on Americans to get where he is. He committed fraud against students of his university, caused small businesses to fail because he doesnt pay his bills, and cheered for Americans to lose their homes so he could buy low and sell high. Is this the type of person we want to lead our country? Trumps values are abject to what we believe in as New Mexicans, and we must support a candidate who has a track record of breaking down barriers, advocating for our childrens education, and looking at complex issues with an eye for solutions. In New Mexico, we have 23 Indian tribes and we need a president who recognizes the need to give tribes a seat at the table. Hillary Clinton will nurture the excellent government-to-government relationships that President Obama developed over the past eight years so tribes are partners in our countrys success. Educating children and supporting our teachers is a priority for Clinton and is why the American Federation of Teachers has endorsed her. With New Mexico ranking 50th in child well-being in the annual Annie E. Casey Kids Count Annual Report, we cannot risk the possibility of a president who has not even mentioned early childhood education in his many public appearances and speeches. On early childhood education and college affordability, Clinton stands strong so every American has an opportunity for a bright future. It is also important to point out that Clinton has more national security experience than any presidential candidate in history. She served as a diplomat, as first lady of the United States, addressed military issues while serving as a senator on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, and addressed foreign threats as secretary of state under Obama. Being president requires an immense amount of responsibility, and Trump doesnt have the patience or capacity to lead our country in todays global climate. Clinton is just as concerned about equality, justice, and race issues here at home. No matter what is going on in the world, we will not be OK unless women have equal pay; unless our LGBT community is free from discrimination; unless workers are paid fairly and respected; and unless we address the rift between law enforcement and the communities they serve. As a country, we have spent too many years working toward fairness to have it all swept away in one election. Democrats have always been on the front lines for workers, for women and children, for people of color, and for our LGBT brothers and sisters, and this election is no different. After the Democratic National Convention, we officially have our nominee, and well work hard to ensure that voters know whats at stake. For decades Republicans have worked to discredit and outright lie about Clinton which was on full display at the Republican National Convention. Clinton is a strong woman and will continue to stand up for Democratic values. For our part, New Mexico Democrats will work to expand voter registration and participation and make sure voters have the facts. Here in New Mexico, Democrats have a proud tradition of grass-roots organizing. Its in our blood. Well continue that tradition and fight for New Mexico families across the state and in every community. The July 16 Albuquerque Journal editorial IGs report reveals lies and manipulation on wolves does not represent current operations within the Mexican wolf recovery program. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services southwest regional director, I would like to set the record straight. In 2013, I recognized that we were falling short in some key functions pertaining to wolf team operations and made decisive management changes to address those shortcomings, including personnel moves and hiring additional field staff. Three years later, the inspector generals report recognizes and validates the appropriateness of those changes. The Journal does not acknowledge that the report simply did not substantiate the most egregious complaints, and further implies that many programmatic issues still exist, when in fact the majority have been resolved or were not substantiated. Recovery of a predator that has long been absent from a working landscape has understandably been met with resistance. Successfully recovering the Mexican wolf on a working landscape requires that we work closely with local residents, stakeholders and public leaders. We also work hard to communicate effectively and have taken definitive steps to improve our communication protocols. Our interagency field team of wolf biologists reviews and documents each and every nuisance complaint we receive and responds accordingly. Human safety is our highest priority and I have acted, and always will act, immediately whenever public safety concerns arise and that includes removal of any wolf (using lethal means if necessary) from the wild that has become a threat to human safety. Our team of wolf biologists has been out front and continues to make every effort to build connections with the local elected officials and the neighboring ranching communities. For example, they are in contact with the Catron County wolf interaction investigator on a routine basis to provide updates and exchange reports and information about Mexican wolves. And, on nearly a daily basis, we speak with landowners and ranchers and provide them with up-to-date information pertaining to the Mexican wolf. This includes the current location of wolves, following up on recent sightings, and any possible release of a wolf into the area. We recognize that ranchers face daily challenges to sustain livestock production. The service strives to improve our efforts to address wolf-related adverse effects on livestock. In 2011, I appointed the Mexican Wolf/Livestock Council, which consists of livestock producers, county representatives, environmental organizations and tribes. The council allocates funding to ranchers for depredation compensation, proactive conflict avoidance measures (for example, range riders, fencing and flagging), and payments for the presence of wolves. From 2011 to 2015 a total of $664,000 in federal grants, which has been matched by nonfederal funds from Defenders of Wildlife and Mexican Wolf Fund, have been distributed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The service also consistently looks for additional resources for the council to use as operational capital. Depredation determination can be complicated. Not all depredations are discovered in a timely manner, making determination difficult because determination of cause of death is challenging with older remains. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services has the responsibility for making depredation determinations. The council acts to provide compensation for wolf-related livestock losses once a determination has been made. Make no mistake, recovery of the Mexican wolf on a working landscape is absolutely challenging. When we identify deficiencies that adversely affect the program, our partners, or our neighbors, we make every effort to address those issues and implement appropriate and proper solutions. As the southwest regional director, I am responsible for the recovery of the Mexican wolf. My commitment is to continue to improve communication, transparency and operation of the program to make it more responsible to the public and stakeholders who utilize this working landscape. Aid in dying shouldnt be the governments call. It should be your call. Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces The state lawmaker knows of what he speaks two years ago he watched his father die of a debilitating neurological disease. And he knows the New Mexico Legislature, which wrote the states very broad 1963 ban on assisted suicide, has the ability to craft a compassionate and responsible law that differentiates between assisted suicide and aid in dying. The first is now a pejorative term referring to help to achieve a permanent, and irrational, solution to a temporary situation. The second is humane help to hasten an inevitable, sometimes painful, death. In June the state Supreme Court refused to overturn the state law in a case involving a Santa Fe woman with advanced uterine cancer, which is in remission, who wanted the law clarified so she would not put her doctors at risk. McCamley says a task force will submit ideas for legislative consideration. That deliberative process complete with analysis, debate and amendment is what the state Attorney Generals Office and the New Mexico Court of Appeals have argued is needed on such a complex issue. The current law, statute 30-2-4, too-simply states Assisting suicide consists of deliberately aiding another in the taking of his own life. Whoever commits assisting suicide is guilty of a fourth-degree felony. It has no definitions, does not address the issues of terminal illness or dueling diagnoses, patient competency or caregiver coercion, age of consent or guardianship. And, a legislative debate would deal with the foundational question of whether hastening death should be allowed at all. Thats a position that is opposed by Catholic bishops and many others. Meanwhile, legislatures in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont have done just that, allowing terminally ill patients to decide if and when to end their lives. New Mexico lawmakers of both parties have shown in the past that they are compassionate and empathetic to the medical suffering of their fellow New Mexicans, legalizing medical cannabis in 2007. They also showed they are thoughtful, deliberate and responsible, at that time authorizing just seven specific conditions cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS and admission to hospice care for the drug. There is every reason to believe the legislative class of 2017 can and will give the same treatment to aid in dying for some of New Mexicos most vulnerable residents. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. An 18-year-old man who spent 10 months in jail after being arrested on suspicion of murdering a high school student a charge that was dismissed is taking steps toward filing a lawsuit against Albuquerque and its police department. Donovan Maez, through his attorney, sent the city of Albuquerque a tort claims notice earlier this month that said he is considering a lawsuit for damages. Maez is alleging that Albuquerque police knowingly and falsely arrested and imprisoned him. City Attorney Jessica Hernandez said the city has received the notice and will review it. A tort claims notice informs an entity that a lawsuit may be filed against it. Maez was arrested in August 2015 in connection with the death of Jaydon Chavez-Silver, a 17-year-old student athlete who was fatally shot in a northeast Albuquerque home in June 2015. The shooting angered many in the community. Chavez-Silver was a popular and successful student who was expected to go to the Air Force Academy after his senior year at Manzano High School. Nicole Chavez, Chavez-Silvers mother, has become active in lobbying for criminal justice laws in the state Legislature since her sons death. One of those laws was signed by the governor in February, and it gives judges immediate access to the juvenile criminal histories of people under 30 who are charged with felonies. The law was nicknamed Jaydons Law in honor of the slain teen. Meanwhile, John Day, Maezs attorney, said Maez and his family have been vilified because of the charges. Maezs mother, former state Rep. Stephanie Maez, D-Albuquerque, resigned from her position after her sons arrest. Maez was the first of four young men who were arrested on charges related to the shooting. But District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said in a statement in June that it wasnt appropriate to proceed with charges against Maez and another suspect, Christopher Cruz. The two men have since been released from jail. In the tort claims notice, Maezs attorney accused Albuquerque police officers of knowingly arresting an innocent man. The charges and arrest by APD were based on the intentional conduct and intentional malice of APD officers and supervisors, Day wrote in the notice. The APD officers and supervisors knew at the time of Mr. Maezs arrest that they charged and arrested an innocent person. A third suspect in the case, Nicholas Gonzales, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to shooting at an occupied dwelling and other charges earlier this month. Charges are still pending against another suspect, Dominic Conyers. A grand jury has refused to indict a 16-year-old boy on any criminal charges related to the shooting death of his sister Azure Blue Rascon, 35, after Rascons boyfriend testified about her three previous attempts at suicide. Attorney Stephen Taylor of the Law Office of the Public Defender said that although charges of murder and assault were put before the grand jury Friday against Isaiah Haynes, the grand jury returned a no bill on both, meaning they would not find probable cause that a crime was committed. Taylor said Haynes had not seen his sister in over a year when she showed up out of the blue on July 14 and took him to her home, a trailer parked on Orlando NE, near Wyoming and Comanche. She had been drinking and fighting with her boyfriend, Joe Montano, on and off all day, Haynes later told police. At one point Rascon ordered her brother to hit her in the face, and when he didnt do it hard enough she demonstrated on him what she intended. Then she got a gun, showed him it was empty and told him to pull the trigger. Rascon had Haynes look into a mirror, and Taylor said it was presumably then that she loaded the gun, put the muzzle at her temple and told him to pull the trigger again. This time, it went off and killed her. The boy left the trailer screaming for help, and Montano arrived in time to see her smile weakly before she died. In the years that Rascon and Montano were together, they frequently talked about God and suicide, Monta n o told the Journal earlier. He said she was worried that if she killed herself, she would not go to heaven. Taylor said he asked prosecutors not to charge Haynes, but when they decided to go forward, he asked for Montano to be called as a defense witness, and prosecutors didnt object. Besides her demonstrated suicidal tendencies, Montano told the grand jury that Rascon was suffering from cancer, Taylor said. Haynes was a Valley High School sophomore until dropping out last March after excessive absences, and he has no criminal history. Taylor said he hopes that Haynes can be released to his family and that the defense attorney staff and social workers will be able to arrange psychological treatment for him for the trauma of the incident. He said he was still in the detention center as of Sunday. Anyone who wants to see New Mexicos economy thrive should pray that several dozen more firms like IntelliCyt come our way, and soon. IntelliCyt sprang from University of New Mexico research into ways to improve flow cytometry, a technology used to study cells. The technology became a patent. The patent was licensed to IntelliCyt in 2006. Today, the company employs 55 people in Albuquerque and is expected to sell product worth $18 million this year. The German pharmaceutical company Sartorius AG bought IntelliCyt last month for $90 million. Sartorius plans to leave IntelliCyt in Albuquerque. The hope is that it will continue to grow and employ more people. Even better, some IntelliCyt employees may one day leave the company to start their own biotech companies in New Mexico and start a cycle of life sciences business startups and expansions. The question, as it has been for years, is how do you grow companies like IntelliCyt in a soil that has not been especially hospitable to private sector entrepreneurs? Ray Radosevich has been pondering that question for much of his career, first as a business professor at UNM, then as an angel investor and venture capitalist. Radosevich was one of the earliest investors in IntelliCyt and encouraged Albuquerques Verge Fund to back the firm. To Radosevich, it comes down to human capital. We have smart people, but we have the wrong mix of people because we dont have a private sector, Radosevich said in an interview earlier this week. A more robust private sector, instead of an economy in which the best jobs are in government or in government contracting, would produce the talent we need to create and run companies. Among the smart people is Larry Sklar. He led flow cytometry research at Los Alamos National Laboratory, joined UNMs School of Medicine, and is a co-inventor of the intellectual property underpinning IntelliCyt. He continues to spearhead efforts to commercialize biotech research in New Mexico. Radosevich said Sartorius is inclined to leave IntelliCyt in Albuquerque because so much of the worlds flow cytometry expertise is in New Mexico. We need more people who can take great ideas from researchers like Sklar and turn those ideas into commercial enterprises, people like Terry Dunlay, IntelliCyts founder and chief executive officer. Otherwise, the great ideas will be patented, then licensed to out-of-state companies. Local firms will never be created. Local people will never be hired. Dunlay was trained as an electrical engineer. He has been an executive at a number of biotechnology companies. He knows the life sciences business, recognized the value of UNMs technology and was able to recruit several experienced executives from out of state to help run IntelliCyt. Radosevich says this surrogate entrepreneurship is necessary because we grow so few of the business leaders we need locally. New Mexico needs but does not have in sufficient numbers people who have taken companies public before, people who have created technology and marketing alliances with other companies, people who have raised a meaningful amount of capital and people who have built manufacturing and customer support operations. Radosevich jokes that his walls are papered with worthless stock certificates from startup companies he has helped fund that eventually failed, so high is the risk in the venture capital world. Asked how New Mexico could produce more IntelliCyts, Radosevich replied, If I could tell you that, I wouldnt have all those certificates on the wall. There are probably a half-dozen more technologies at UNMs Health Sciences Center that could become the foundation of new life science companies. There is some world-class technology, Radosevich said. But life science startups are expensive, and the capital they require is hard to locate in New Mexico. If the capital, at least a good piece of it, doesnt come from New Mexico, the startup is far more likely to be uprooted to the state where the venture capital originated. The future economic growth and the jobs occur elsewhere. The State Investment Council is authorized to invest some money in new high-risk ventures. Radosevich thinks more of the publics capital is needed, but it must be deployed to the best deals, without regard to politics or other considerations. Getting the right people is probably at least in part a matter of time. The more startups there are, the more surrogate entrepreneurs there will be. Eventually, the local people they hire get the experience they need to take top jobs in other startups and the surrogates will no longer be necessary. UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Winthrop Quigley at 823-3896 or wquigley@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor. A man whom police described as very intoxicated was arrested Saturday after he hit a man in the head with a pink metal scooter at an east Central bus stop, according to court documents. Police were called to a convenience store on Central near Wyoming after callers reported a man was threatening people with a machete. When officers arrived, they say they found Faron Tenorio, who appeared to be very intoxicated holding a metal scooter, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. As police attempted to speak with Tenorio, another man approached and said that Tenorio hit him in the head with the scooter, officers said. The man told police that he protected his head with his hand, and police noted that he had several small wounds on one hand. Tenorio denied hitting anyone, according to the complaint. He was booked into the county jail on one count of aggravated battery. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal In May, 17-year-old Julian Romero was at a Northwest Albuquerque apartment with a couple of other teenagers who were watching YouTube videos and smoking marijuana when one of them shot him in the head, critically injuring him, according to a police report. His mother says he is now partially blind and attends physical therapy multiple times a week. The 15-year-old who allegedly shot him is at the juvenile detention center. The shooting is one of 130 reported to the Albuquerque Police Department in the first six months of the year, a significant increase compared with 105 for the same period last year. And last year saw the highest number of shooting calls in the past five years. The Journal obtained from APD a list of all calls reported as shootings since 2010. The list does not include self-inflicted incidents, but does include injuries from gunfire and incidents in which no one was struck. In 2015, there were 219 shooting calls. Between 2010 and then, the numbers fluctuated. In 2010, there were 138 shooting calls, which fell to 113 in 2012 but then spiked the next year to 182. In 2014, they fell to 160, before spiking again in 2015. And this year they are on track to be even higher. Homicide Sgt. John Allen with the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office says his detectives in the county have noticed an increase as well. Stats are always going to be overreported or underreported, he said. But our violent crimes detectives are seeing almost double the amount of firearms-related calls (in the past two years). Gun injuries uncounted New Mexico was tied for seventh in the nation for firearm deaths in 2014, according to the Center for Disease Control. There were 15.8 gun deaths per 100,000 compared to the national average of 10.2. The CDC only publishes data on gun fatalities; it does not track non-fatal shootings. Nor does any other agency. We have no data on injury, because its very hard to get, said Miranda Viscoli, the co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. She said that, while non-fatal shootings are often overlooked, its important to acknowledge the toll of gun violence on victims who have been shot and injured, or even just shot at. When someone is injured with a gun, that affects that person for the rest of their life and affects their family, she said. Theres the loss of quality of life, not being able to work, the psychological damage. I think looking at injury from gun violence is critical. City Councilor Pat Davis and a community task force have been trying to find out more about the toll of gun violence in the city as well. Davis said he asked an APD detective to compile data on non-fatal shootings, firearm recovery and types of guns that are being used in shootings. He is waiting for that data. People are anxious, Davis said. There seem to be more firearm-related incidents, but we dont have a sense, data-wise, how many firearm offenses occur in Albuquerque. Guns and anger Many of the shootings around the city appear to be the result of momentary flashes of anger. Its the fact that someone just gets angry with a gun, Viscoli said. We have a lot of people with guns and anger issues. Just over the past year and a half, numerous fights over debts, drugs, women and more have erupted in gunfire, some fatally. In May 2015, police say a man shot and killed a 42-year-old man for flirting with an ex-girlfriend. In the months that followed, two teen-age boys were fatally shot in separate incidents in which they were innocent bystanders. One was 17, the other 14. Last October, a 4-year-old girl was shot and killed on Interstate 40 after her father and another driver got in a road rage incident. And around New Years Eve, two men, ages 18 and 25, were shot and killed in separate arguments over the drinking game beer pong. In April, two men got in a shootout near Sierra Vista Elementary School in another road rage shooting. No one was injured, but three bullets struck the school and five struck one of the cars. Officer Tanner Tixier, an APD spokesman, said the department struggles with how to prevent shootings that are crimes of passion. He said drugs and alcohol usually play a role as well. When people are intoxicated, their emotions are heated and violence goes up, Tixier said. Most of the shootings involving drugs revolve around the sale of drugs. Its not so much that Im high. Im going to shoot my friends. Kids shouldnt have guns While the majority of shootings dont result in death, many leave lasting trauma. Julian Romeros mother, Rosemary Romero, said her son is still recuperating after the bullet entered his skull and pushed bone fragments into his brain. She said she doesnt think he will ever be the same. Adrian Nieto, 15, has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and is awaiting trial in Childrens Court. Detectives suspected that the gun used in the shooting was the same one found in a truck during another shooting investigation. In that case police came across a couple of teenagers they say were firing into the air near a skate park on Bataan SW, according to court documents. No one was injured in that case. Rosemary Romero said she believes her sons shooting was an accident, but she worries about how easily the teenagers were able to get guns. Kids shouldnt have guns, she said. Theyre acting like theyre big and bad and brave when they should be enjoying life and enjoying being kids. Julian is lucky hes not in a wheelchair. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal Anyone planning to attend the upcoming New Mexico State Fair, set for Sept. 8-18, will have a new transportation option for the traffic-choking event the Uber Lounge. Dan Mourning, general manager for the Expo New Mexico fairgrounds, said he approached the ride-sharing service Uber earlier this year in an ongoing effort to get people into and out of the State Fair more efficiently. Weve been trying to figure out better transportation options for folks to come to the fair. Since we lost (the city bus services) Park & Ride back in 2009, we had to start looking for different alternatives, he said. Uber uses a mobile smartphone app that connects people needing transportation with Uber drivers. The drivers use their own cars to transport users to their destination, and fares are based on a combination of time, distance and rider demand for drivers. The State Fairs Uber Lounge will be near Domingo Road and California Street NE the same spot where Park & Ride customers used to arrive and depart the fair. The lounge will be under a large shaded area with seating where Uber riders can relax while waiting for their ride. Mourning said refreshments will be available at the lounge. Were going to create this really nice area for Uber drop-offs and pickups, Mourning said. It will be quick into the fair. Youre not going to be circling around in all that (traffic), youll be able to get a fast track in. Well have a special gate directly into the midway, and they can get their admission ticket right there and avoid any lines. In addition, first-time Uber users can get a discount on their fare. Uber also offers Uber XL for larger groups of people. If you have a family and you need something like a Suburban or a van or something like that, you can order that when booking your ride, Mourning said. Thats outstanding because theres not a more family-friendly event than the State Fair. When ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber first appeared in Albuquerque in April 2014, opponents primarily conventional taxi services began raising questions about unfair competition, safety and liability. Regulatory authorities nationwide have been struggling with how to impose rules and fees governing what is, in essence, a new model of public transportation made possible by smartphone technology. After the New Mexico Legislature initially failed to act on the issue, the state Public Regulation Commission created new rules that treat transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft separately from cab companies. In the meantime, Lyft stopped operating here, saying some of the proposed new rules were onerous. Uber continued operating, and this year legislators passed regulations signed by Gov. Susana Martinez. The regulations, which took effect July 20, require ride-booking services to obtain state permits and sufficient insurance, and to perform background checks on drivers, including checking criminal and sexual offender databases. Uber has made it clear to us every step of the way that theyre doing their due diligence to make sure theyre getting the accreditations that they need, said Expo spokeswoman Erin Thompson. Theyve been very open and have kept us informed of where they are in that process. Lyft, which stopped operating here in May 2015, recently applied for a PRC permit to resume business in the state, according to Avelino Guiterrez, interim director of the PRCs transportation department. Mourning said Expo has not been approached by Lyft about offering similar services to state fairgoers. He said Expo used a similar setup when it hosted the Southwest Coffee & Chocolate Fest last March. Future events at Expo are likely to include similar arrangements with ride-sharing companies. Uber discounts for State Fair First-time Uber riders can use the pass code nmstatefair while booking their ride to the New Mexico State Fair, set for Sept. 8-18, and receive a $15 discount on their initial trip to the State Fair. The State Fair will receive $5 from the fare of those who receive the $15 discount as a first-time Uber user. Uber is covering the $15 discount. Fair officials will have a special Uber Lounge for people using the ride-sharing service. LAS CRUCES A local group that touts the positions of the John Birch Society will host a presentation Aug. 19 in Las Cruces. Former New Jersey police detective James Fitzgerald, national director of field activities for the John Birch Society, will give a local presentation about the importance of keeping police accountable to local communities, instead of the federal government, according to a news release. The talk, called Support Your Local Police and Keep Them Independent, begins at 7 p.m. Aug. 19, 2016, at the Mountain View Baptist Church 705 N. Main St. The event is open to the public. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for ages 13 and under and free to law enforcement and first responders. Contact Donna ODaniel of the Support Your Local Police Committee at 575-520-7938, for information. Fitzgerald will document the history of peace officers in America, including the vital role they hold in protecting the Republic form of government founders created in 1787. He will also explain the war on police, expose who is behind it and offer solutions, the news release states. Fitzgerald spent eight years as a plain-clothes detective in Newark in the 1960s before joining the staff of JBS. He is on tour across the country delivering this presentation. 2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A University of New Mexico regents committee has abandoned a plan for now to require incoming freshmen to live in school dorms. Citing concerns about the increased cost to students and available food, parking and recreational services on campus, regents on the Finance and Facilities Committee tabled the proposal in their monthly meeting Monday. But they seemed willing to reconsider it after seeking more input from students once school starts and after the school builds in more services to keep students happy and healthy on campus. I just dont know if were ready, said Regent Marron Lee, committee chairwoman. The proposed move, according to supporters, was expected to help students stay in school. Administrators have said students who live on campus do better academically in the long run. The average cost of room and board at UNM runs about $9,500 annually. Tuition runs about $7,000 for in-state students. University administrators in support of the move had anticipated that an additional 350 students not already living on campus would be required to live in university housing in addition to the roughly 3,800 current campus residents, based on data from 2015. Students who live within a 30-mile radius of the school, those who are older than age 20 and those who demonstrate a hardship would be exempt from the residency requirement. University administrators said of the 2014 freshmen that 85 percent of students living on campus came back for their sophomore year. In contrast, only 75 percent of freshmen who lived off-campus returned for their second year. UNMs undergraduate enrollment is about 20,000. The schools main campus dorms have about a 70 percent occupancy rate, according to Associate Vice President Chris Vallejos. Some of UNMs peer institutions in the region already require freshman residency, including New Mexico State University beginning fall semester 2017. I just dont want to increase cost for students, Regent Ryan Berryman said. COLUMBUS, Ohio In a story Aug. 1 about Donald Trumps comments at an event in Ohio, The Associated Press misspelled Captain Khans last name. A corrected version of the story is below: Trump suggests general election could be rigged Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested Monday that he fears the general election is going to be rigged an unprecedented assertion by a modern presidential candidate By JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested Monday that he fears the general election is going to be rigged an unprecedented assertion by a modern presidential candidate. Trumps extraordinary claim one he did not back up with any immediate evidence would, if it became more than just an offhand comment, seem to threaten the tradition of peacefully contested elections and challenge the very essence of a fair democratic process. Im afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest, the Republican nominee told a town hall crowd in Columbus, Ohio. He added that he has been hearing more and more that the election may not be contested fairly, though he did not elaborate further. Trump made the claim after first suggesting that the Democrats had fixed their primary system so Hillary Clinton could defeat Bernie Sanders. Trump has previously backed up that thought by pointing to hacked emails from the national party that appeared to indicate a preference for Clinton. Still, the former secretary of state received 3.7 million more votes than Sanders nationwide and had established a clear lead in delegates by March 1. The celebrity businessman who has been known to dabble in conspiracy theories, including claims that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and, more recently, that Sen. Ted Cruzs father was an associate of President John F. Kennedys assassin also claimed that the Republican nomination would have been stolen from him had he not won by significant margins. He then asserted that Novembers general election may not be on the up-and-up. He repeated the charge Monday night on Fox News Channels Hannity, saying: November 8th, wed better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or its going to be taken away from us. Requests to Trumps campaign for additional explanation were not returned. The statement could be an effort by Trump to lay the groundwork of an excuse if he goes on to lose the general election. But if he were to be defeated in November and then publicly declare that the election results were bogus, his claim could yield unpredictable reactions from his supporters and fellow Republicans. Trump has not been shy about asserting that the electoral process has been rigged. It became a frequent catchphrase of his during a low-water mark of his primary campaign this spring, when forces allied with Republican rival Ted Cruz managed to pack state delegations with supporters of the Texas senator. Trump also asserted that the Republican Party had changed the delegate allocation in the Florida primary to favor a native candidate, like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, at Trumps expense. In recent weeks, in an effort to woo angry Sanders supporters to his campaign, Trump has made the claim that the Democrats process was also rigged. Monday night, Trump said Sanders made a deal with the devil, and said of Clinton, Shes the devil. The Clinton campaign declined to comment about Trumps remarks. The event in Ohio was Trumps first campaign appearance since the onset of his tussle with the parents of a slain Army veteran, but he did not address the flap. He spoke for nearly an hour Monday in Columbus, but did not mention his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. The Khans spoke out against Trump and questioned his familiarity with the Constitution last week at the Democratic National Convention. Trump struck back by questioning whether Ghazala Khan had been allowed to speak. She said she is still too grief-stricken by her sons death. Trump criticized the family in an interview Sunday and again in a pair of tweets Monday morning. Asked on MSNBC Monday whether Trump should apologize, Ghazala Khan said, I dont want to hear anything from him and I dont want to say anything to him. But his running mate, Mike Pence, quieted a campaign rally crowd Monday that booed a woman who said she had a son who serves in the U.S. Air Force and asked how he can tolerate what she called Trumps disrespect of American servicemen. Pence asked the Nevada crowd to quiet down, then said about the questioner: Thats what freedom looks like. Thats what freedom sounds like. He continued: Capt. Khan is an American hero. We honor him and his family we cherish his family. He added that Trump had great respect for veterans. ___ Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed reporting in Carson City, Nevada. __ Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire The Federal Aviation Administration has granted Virgin Galactic a commercial license to operate its SpaceShipTwo the latest milestone in the aspiring spacelines quest to one day fly from New Mexicos Spaceport America. The new operator license reauthorizes Virgin Galactic to continue its commercialization process after its spaceship broke up during a rocket-powered test flight over Californias Mojave Desert in October 2014, killing one pilot and injuring another. In a statement, Virgin Galactic Senior Vice President of Operations Mike Moses called the FAA license an important milestone but added that the company still has much work ahead to fully test this spaceship in flight. The operator license will be modified over time, Virgin Galactic said, as the company achieves milestones in ground and eventually flight testing. The company will ultimately seek FAA approval under the license to fly passengers to the edge of space and back from the $218.5 million taxpayer-funded spaceport near Truth or Consequences in southern New Mexico. The operator license enables the thorough testing that is a prerequisite for commercial operations and moves the day of the first commercial flight at Spaceport America even closer, outgoing Spaceport America Executive Director Christine Anderson said in a statement. Spaceport America has scrambled to retool its business plan after Virgin Galactics last, tragic test flight made it clear that the company would not be flying paying passengers to space any time soon. A five-year plan released in 2015 said Spaceport would target new tenants in the emerging new space industry and market the facility as a location for commercials, tourism and special events. The license authorizes Virgin Galactic to conduct launches of SpaceShipTwo from Mojave Air and Spaceport in California, where the company is conducting its test program. According to the license, Virgin Galactic must successfully verify the performance of hardware and software in its spaceship and carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo before allowing any space flight participant on board during a flight. Verification must include flight testing, and the results must be provided to the FAA prior to conducting a mission, according to the license. Virgin Galactic unveiled its new spaceship VSS Unity in February and began ground tests of cabin controls, electrical systems, landing gear, the reaction control system which allows the vehicle to maneuver in space and other key systems. The new spaceship underwent its first tests outside the hangar on Monday a taxi test in which the spaceship was pulled by a vehicle to calibrate its navigation and communications sytems, Virgin Galactic said in a statement. Estella Atencio was filling a pitcher with water when she noticed a strange brown sediment swirl around the glass before settling to the bottom. I thought nothing of it, Atencio said. I used it to water the plants. Then she and her family began experiencing nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. A few days later, a notice from the New Mexico Environment Department appeared on her gate in June stating that a boil water advisory had been issued for her community, the Harvest Gold subdivision in Bloomfield. Atencio is just one of 7,000 people in the Bloomfield and Crouch Mesa communities who are customers of AV Water, a private company based in Farmington. They have been instructed to boil their drinking, cooking and bathing water for more than two months. Recent filings with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, which regulates the company, show the commission is considering imposing sanctions and fines on the company for not providing adequate service to its customers, among other alleged violations. The company argues that it acted appropriately under the circumstances. Based on information available to date, and discussed herein, it appears that AV has used reasonable diligence in providing water service and that factors outside AVs control have led to the current emergency situation, the company said in a July 11 filing. The company did not respond to a request for comment . A timeline prepared by the NMED shows the issues began on May 22 when the agency received numerous customer complaints about water quality in the area. Subsequent investigations revealed multiple issues with the the Harvest Gold and Morningstar water systems run by AV Water, including a malfunctioning valve that allowed backwash water to enter the distribution system. The NMED found high levels of sediment in the water system, which can indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms, according to the agency. AV Water has been supplying water from the city of Farmington since July 22, though the boil advisory cannot be lifted until a flush is complete. On Monday,, Animas Valley Water began flushing its distribution systems in what it said was the final step before restoring normal service, according to a press release. As for Atencio, she said she has been boiling her water when she can as well as purchasing bottled water. She said she is particularly concerned about obtaining enough safe water for her father, who requires hospice care. Were not that well off, said Atencio. I cant afford to buy gallons and gallons of water. Atencio has filed a formal complaint with the PRC claiming she should have been notified of the water issues sooner and asking for reimbursement for the water shes already purchased. She said she will continue buying as much bottled water as she can afford, though the supply wont cover all the familys water needs. And when the hospice staff comes to bathe her father? She said theres nothing to do but to turn on the faucet. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez the nations only Latina governor and the chair of the Republican Governors Association is joining a chorus of Republican lawmakers in disavowing Donald Trumps repeated criticisms of a bereaved military family. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Monday called Army Capt. Humayun Khan an American hero while distanced herself from Trump, the GOP presidential nominee who she has not endorsed. Khan was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. Captain Khan is an American hero period, Martinez said in a statement to The Associated Press. He laid down his life for his country and left behind two grieving parents who have every right to voice their opinions in the political process. Disparaging them is absolutely wrong and completely uncalled for. Trump broke a political and societal taboo over the weekend when he criticized Khizr and Ghazala Khan. Khizr Khan sharply criticized Trump during the Democratic National Convention. Trump stoked further outrage by implying Ghazala Khan didnt speak while standing alongside her husband at the convention because shes a Muslim woman. Those remarks drew rebukes from at least five Republican senators on Monday, including John McCain of Arizona. McCain, a former POW in the Vietnam War, said in a statement that the fact that Trump won his partys nomination doesnt give him unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. The commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars also said Monday that Trumps criticism of the Khan is unacceptable. Brian Duffy, head of the 1.7-million-member VFW, said in a statement that election year or not, the nations oldest and largest war veterans group will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising their right to free speech. Gold Star families are those that have lost a close relative in military service. Trump tweeted Monday that Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same. He said the focus should be on radical Islamic terrorism, not the parents. Martinez previously denounced Trump for comments made about Mexican immigrants. Trump harshly criticized Martinez over food stamps and unemployment numbers during an Albuquerque rally that turned violent in May. He also falsely claimed Martinez was allowing Syrian refugees to settle in New Mexico. Trump later said he wanted an endorsement from Martinez. PHOENIX A tentative trial date has been set for early next year for a Phoenix woman accused of fatally stabbing and partially dismembering her three young sons two months ago. Octavia Rogers had an initial pretrial conference Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court where a judge set a tentative trial date of Feb. 16. The 29-year-old Rogers remains in custody on three charges of premeditated first-degree murder. She was indicted June 14 by a county grand jury in the deaths of 8-year-old Jaikare Rahaman, 5-year-old Jeremiah Adams and 2-month-old Avery Robinson. The bodies were discovered June 2 in a closet after Rogers brother came home from work to find her talking about God and saying she had found the answer to life. Rogers required hospital treatment for some self-inflicted stab wounds. PHOENIX An Arizona judge on Monday rejected an effort to require Maricopa County to have court-approved plans in place for managing upcoming elections. The order issued by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Hugh Hegyi turned away a request for a preliminary injunction that would have required Maricopa County and the secretary of state to file their election plans with the court for review. The request by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law came as part of a lawsuit it filed over the way the county ran its troubled March 22 presidential primary election. It argues countless Arizona voters were disenfranchised by the cutting of polling places to just 60 from about 200 in the 2012 presidential primary and led to extremely long lines, in some cases exceeding five hours. Hegyi noted those lines violated the Arizona constitution, but he called it an anomaly. He said the plaintiffs failed to meet the high legal burden for an injunction. but the case can still continue to trial. Impermissibly long wait times during the upcoming elections would unquestionably constitute irreparable harm to plaintiffs and to the voters of Maricopa County, the judge wrote. However, the burden was on the plaintiffs to convince this Court of the possibility of that irreparable harm by a preponderance of the evidence. They have failed to do so. County Recorder Helen Purcell plans to have 724 polling places in upcoming primary and general elections, the same as in previous election cycles. You remember I said I did something wrong? I did, I apologized for that, Purcell said. I cant go back and undo it. I wish it I could. All we can do is go forward and I think thats another thing he said, were not looking at the rearview mirror any more. Weve got to go forward with the primary and general and make sure we have things in place. Lawyers Committee President Kristen Clarke said the lawsuit itself will continue to ensure all voters have the right to cast a ballot with a focus on the November primary election. She noted that the judge found that the problems in the primary violated the state Constitutions free and equal elections clause. What is very significant is this is the first time of which we are aware that an Arizona court has applied the free and fair election clause to a case of this kind, she said. We continue to believe that county and state officials failed to administer a free and fair election that allowed all voters who sought to participate the opportunity to do so. A second lawsuit filed by Democratic groups in federal court is pending and also seeks court oversight of elections based on the primary election problem. It also challenges a new state law that makes it a felony in most cases to collect someone elses early ballot. Democrats say that is designed to prevent their get-out-the-vote efforts, while Republicans argue it is needed to prevent fraud. MOSCOW Twelve people were killed in Russian air raids on northern Syria, a monitoring group said Monday, hours after Moscow said one of its helicopters had been shot down in the area with the apparent loss of all five crew members. The 12, including two children, were killed in intensive Russian air raids near the Abu Dhuhur air base in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Local rebel sources said Russian forces carried out 33 airstrikes in the area after the helicopter crashed. The raids came after Russian General Sergei Rudskoi said that the Mi-8 helicopter had been shot down over territory controlled by members of a former Syrian al-Qaida affiliate and of the moderate opposition. It was returning to the Khmeimim air base on Syrias northwestern coast after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo when it was shot down by fire from the ground, the Defense Ministry said in an earlier statement carried by the Interfax news agency. Rudskoi said the Nusra Front, a former Syrian branch of al-Qaida that last week renamed itself the Fatah al-Sham Front and ended its formal affiliation with the international jihadist network, was one of the groups controlling the area of the incident. Earlier Russian media reports said the helicopter was shot down over territory likely held by the rebel alliance Jaish al-Fath, which includes Fatah al-Sham and controls much of Idlib province. There was no claim of responsibility for the downing. All five people on board apparently died in the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told state news agency TASS. They died heroically, Peskov said. The Kremlin sends its profound condolences to the loved ones of our deceased servicemen. The helicopter was carrying three crew members and two officers from Russias center for reconciliation in Syria, Russian media reported. Russia has been supporting its longtime ally, the Syrian government, with an air campaign since last year. The Russian intervention has enabled government forces to gain ground on several front lines, recapturing the desert city of Palmyra from Islamic State and imposing a siege on the rebel-held eastern sector of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent monitoring organization, has said Russian airstrikes have killed about 5,000 rebel fighters and more than 2,700 civilians. Another prominent rights group, Amnesty International, has accused Russia and the Syrian government of deliberately attacking health facilities in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. Russia has denied targeting civilian facilities and maintained that its operations are aimed at United Nations-designated terrorist organizations such as Islamic State and the former Nusra Front. Deloitte has some tips to help companies deal with the Securities and Exchange Commissions guidance on the use of non-GAAP measures. The SEC has stepped up its efforts to discourage companies from overemphasizing non-GAAP metrics at the expense of standard accounting measures when announcing their earnings results to the public. In May, the SECs Division of Corporation Finance issued a set of Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations pertaining to the rules and regulations on non-GAAP financial measures. Deloittes alert, Heads UpControls and non-GAAP measures, describes some of the controls that companies can put in place and offers several examples to consider. The SEC has come out with some new guidance in the last couple of months, and obviously our clients are focused on it, said Deloitte partner Jeff Aughton, who co-authored the article. As theyre refocusing on the compliance of their non-GAAP disclosures, we suggested that it would be an opportune time for them to look at the controls that monitor those non-GAAP disclosures. Theres a lack of clarity as far as the additional requirements out there between financial statement certifications as well as broader certification of the full filed documents. We wanted to offer some clarity around that, make some suggestions in regards to the rigor of individual controls to ensure compliance, as well as give an example to tell companies to think through and compare and contrast what they do to what others do to try to come up with a control that ensures the reliability and accuracy of the non-GAAP disclosures. He believes there is still room for non-GAAP measures, as long as theyre adequately disclosed. I think the stress with what the SEC has said through their recent compliance disclosure interpretations is that there are situations where non-GAAP disclosures, particularly when there are stakeholders who believe that they are relevant as long as theyre disclosed properly, that there is a place for those, said Aughton. But as you read through the SECs interpretations, really what theyre trying to ensure is a fair bit of consistency from period to period. There is a list of taboos, where you should not use non-GAAP disclosures in certain situations, and the way theyre presented from a prominence standpoint. Once you have that list of rules and interpretations from the SEC, the key is to ensure you dont cross the line. If companies use non-GAAP disclosures, they should be meaningful to stakeholders as well as accurate. You wouldnt want to have an error in one of those key measures that youre putting forth, said Aughton. He pointed out that firms like Deloitte dont actually audit that information since it generally falls outside the financial statements. But we do review it and we do provide comments and feedback if we believe there are material inconsistencies with it, he added. Aughton noted that the audit committee in many large companies typically gets involved in the process, along with a disclosure committee. What you tend to see is that the ownership of it starts at the controller level or the financial reporting level, and then theres a committee that works to ensure that the disclosures are consistent with what their plans are for their stakeholders, making sure that theyre in compliance, he said. But ultimately everything thats pulled together within the financial statements is the responsibility of the audit committee, so the audit committee as we point out should be aware of those non-GAAP measures and should be aware of the controls put around them to ensure theyre in compliance and that theyre accurately calculated. The disclosure committee and the audit committee are generally separate, from my experience. Generally the disclosure committee is made up of senior executives of the company who really are tasked with assisting the CFO and the CEO, who are signing the certifications of those financial statements, and helping them ensure the information is correct, so youre using some of your best people who have the broadest view of the organization to take a look at the measures before theyre finalized. Thats the purpose of the disclosure committee. Beyond the heads up advisory, Deloitte is working on a more comprehensive guide to help companies cope with non-GAAP measures. We are actually developing a broader guide to give some thoughts and some examples around some of the limitations and some of the items that are allowable, underneath the new interpretations, said Aughton. Its sometimes difficult to interpret the standards out there. Were trying to put a practical edge onto it, so that people can look at it and see some questions and some answers from Deloittes point of view that may be helpful to a client, and maybe some examples around that, so clients can then compare and contrast their own approach to what weve put forth into a broader toolkit. In the meantime, he advises companies to take a closer look at their controls. What I thought was pertinent was making sure that we had clarity around the matter and then looking at the opportune time to look at controls, said Aughton. Given the importance of these measures to stakeholders, you want to make sure that theyre reliable, accurate and consistent. Companies that are trying to deal with the SECs renewed scrutiny of non-GAAP measures are also calling on outside legal counsel. Anytime the SEC puts out new guidance our clients focus on it, said Aughton. It is an issue thats popping up during quarterly reviews and those going through audits right now, so it is top of mind and everybody wants to ensure that theyre addressing the new interpretations. As far as Deloittes input on it, again we dont audit the information, but clearly we are having conversations with our clients. Their key focus is comparing and contrasting what they are doing to ensure that theyre interpreting the new rules correctly, but also to get sort of an outside view of whether or not the information appears to be in compliance. I also see our clients working with their outside attorneys because the attorneys tend to focus on these non-GAAP measures, particularly outside the financial statements, from a legal interpretation. There is a lot of activity around it. Citrin Cooperman has entered the Boston region by merging in Kirkland Albrecht & Fredrickson on Monday. KAFs 10 partners and 40 other staff members in its Braintree and Woburn, Mass., offices are joining Citrin as a result of the merger, which took effect on August 1. Citrin Cooperman ranked 22nd on Accounting Todays 2016 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $195 million in annual revenue. The combination with KAF is expected to increase Citrins annual revenues to $200 million. The addition of KAFs two offices will give New York City-based Citrin nine offices on the East Coast. We are delighted that we have been able to join together with the KAF partners and staff, said Citrin Cooperman CEO Joel Cooperman in a statement. We have been looking in the Boston marketplace for several years, and we have finally found a firm that matches our commitment to service and quality. We are excited to enter into the Boston marketplace. We feel that, with KAF, we are better positioned to help our clients meet the demands of their business needs and goals. KAF has been providing accounting, tax and advisory services in the Boston area for 25 years, focusing on construction, manufacturing and distribution, not-for-profit, professional services, real estate and technology clients. Its client base includes both high net worth individuals and privately owned and closely held businesses. Citrin Cooperman has approximately 800 employees, with offices in New York, N.Y.; White Plains, N.Y.; Plainview, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Livingston, N.J; Norwalk, Conn.; Bethesda, Md.; and now the Boston, Mass., area. It was important to the KAF team to find a firm that has the depth and resources to service our larger clientele, while also providing world-class client service to the individuals and small businesses that have been clients of our firm for years, said KAF managing partner Kenneth Kirkland in a statement. We found that balance with Citrin Cooperman and look forward to introducing our clients to their expanded services. Citrin was searching for a firm like KAF to expand into Massachusetts. Citrin Cooperman had been focused on coming into the Boston market for several years but ultimately passed on every firm they looked at, said Allan D. Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who advised both firms on the merger. They didnt want a firm out of gas but rather one that was highly entrepreneurial and had a lot of game, great leadership and young talent available. In KAF they found the perfect firm. Meanwhile, KAF had also been looking to combine with a larger firm. As part of KAFs strategic planning process last year we explored what the firm of the future would look like and chose to explore merging with a larger firm, but only if it could accelerate the advancement and growth of their associates and partners and also provide additional services and expertise to their clients, said Koltin in an email. In addition it had to be an entrepreneurial and growth-oriented firm like KAF, and lastly, KAF had to be in the drivers seat of leading the Boston offices strategy and growth. In Citrin Cooperman they also found the perfect marriage. Leaders of the two firms met to see if their businesses would be a good fit. You could see the chemistry in the first meeting with both founders, Joel Cooperman (Citrin Cooperman) and Ken Kirkland (KAF), as well as KAF Executive Committee members Joe Fabiano and Ed Berardi, said Koltin. At that meeting a common trust, respect and bond was formed and it carried throughout the six months of discussions leading into the merger. KAF had been approached by many other exceptional national firms but felt for the above reasons Citrin Cooperman was the perfect fit. Koltin expects to see more mergers at Citrin in the near future. I wouldnt be surprised to see another deal by Citrin Cooperman in the greater New England region this year as they are really committed to growing this area right now, he said. A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases. Spokane, Wash.: CPA Roger Stadtmueller, 53, has pleaded guilty to three counts of making and subscribing false corporate income tax returns. Stadtmueller admitted owning Zazz Inc., a corporation under which he provided accounting and consulting services, including income tax prep, bookkeeping and financial auditing for clients. He also admitted that he made and subscribed false and fraudulent corporate returns for Zazz for calendar years 2006, 2007 and 2008, understating the corporations gross receipts some $1.8 million. Sentencing is October 11. Stadtmueller faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and financial penalties for each of the three counts of filing false corporate returns. He also agreed to pay $400,000 in restitution to the IRS. Greenville, Texas: Local resident Lourdes Ramirez has been indicted on 21 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated ID theft. According to the indictment, Ramirez helped prepare fraudulent federal returns for years 2011 through 2013 that contained, among other falsehoods, phony education credits and Schedule C expenses. Ramirez is also charged with using the U.S. Postal Service to submit her own fraudulent 2011 federal income tax return that falsely claimed an individual as Ramirezs dependent without that individuals knowledge. If convicted, she faces a maximum of three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false return, a maximum of 20 years in prison for the mail fraud charge and a mandatory two years in prison for the aggravated ID theft charge. She also faces monetary penalties, supervised release and restitution. Mount Vernon, N.Y.: Preparer Samuel Gentle, 59, owner of the prep business GenGen Inc., has been found guilty on charges of obstructing the IRS and aiding and assisting the preparation of false and fraudulent individual income tax returns for clients. Evidence at trial showed that from 2010 through 2014, Gentles business prepared and submitted to the IRS, on average, 3,200 returns each year. Some of these returns were fraudulent in that they contained various inflated deductions for unreimbursed employee business expenses, gifts to charity and Schedule C expenses. As part of the investigation, an undercover IRS agent posed as a client and provided Gentle with a W-2. Despite being provided no records to support any other deductions, Gentle included false and fraudulent deductions for unreimbursed employee business expenses and gifts to charity on the return he prepared for the undercover agent. Gentle also failed to report on his own returns nearly half of the $1 million he received for tax prep services from 2010 through 2014; he spread the receipts across eight accounts at five banks. In addition, he failed to issue W-2s or 1099s to himself or his employees. He was found guilty on all 39 counts, including one count of interfering with the administration of the internal revenue laws and 38 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent U.S. returns, each of which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Sentencing is October 25. Dallas: Preparer Allan Ukiru Kadagi and four associated tax prep companies have been permanently barred from preparing federal returns for others. According to the complaint, Kadagi and Akay Tax Services, Akay Express Tax Services, Akay Express Tax Services and Cleanshine Tax Services prepared returns for clients that claimed false, improper or inflated business expense deductions and education expenses and credits. The returns also claimed unjustified EITCs, the complaint alleges. The complaint further alleges that Kadagi and the companies misused PTINs and that Kadagi did not provide true copies of returns filed with the IRS to his clients. The court order requires the defendants to turn over to the federal government a list of all persons for whom they prepared federal returns since Jan. 1, 2014, and authorizes the U.S. to monitor the defendants compliance. Red FM RJ Mandy breaks the ice and brings to us the real picture of famous Arnab Goswami through her exclusive interview. There is no escaping this man, but this time he couldnt escape from us. Every night, on top of his voice he asks the most uncomfortable questions and he makes sure that he finds all the answers that the nation is looking for. The politicians dread him; trouble makers fear away from his name itself. Many mistake him to be a bitter person but deep down he is the sweetest of all. It might surprise everyone that Arnab chooses to stay silent and just listen when he is around his friends and family. News is his only interest and it is his whole life. He enjoys the madness that engulfs his debates, so much so that he often compromises on the advertisements that fetch his channel the desired revenues. His good sense of humour is evident in the way he talks about the spoof and trolls on him. Indias most talked about journalist was caught discussing about his personal choices in life and what originated the term The nation wants to know. Red FMs RJ Mandy got him to speak in his own language, Assamese. Watch the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9a7Ig_crVQ Acceptance speech of Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman & Managing Director, RK Swamy, on the occasion of he being honoured with the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, July 29, 2016. Sri Gurubhyo Namah: Salutations/pranams to all my Gurus. There are many Gurus in this room who taught me numerous things about our profession, relationships with people, and nuances of our business. Similarly, I have learnt considerably from my colleagues, past and present, in many of our group Companies; from my colleagues from the various industry Associations and Chambers of Commerce, I have been involved in; from my many clients and friends who have encouraged me to make mistakes and learn from them; from my wife and other family members who allowed me to pursue my dreams but always shown me the right path. This Award AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award, is therefore dedicated to each and every one of them, for if I stand today receiving it, you have all made this possible. I am a great believer of fate. What is destined for one will happen. But that didnt stop me in taking on many challenges. I am confident by nature, sometimes foolishly if I may add, but my life has been all about leap of faith. Every task I have taken on, I try to do full justice. My personal benchmark is to do better than all my predecessors and I have unfailingly delivered on this, to the best of my knowledge! Many of you may not realize this, but I have served in the AAAI Executive Committee for 18 continuous years. That is half my working life, considering I have been in this profession for 36 years. I think only Nagesh Alai has served longer than I have at AAAI. When I was elected into the Executive Committee of AAAI in 1998, I was an unwelcome addition. Our Agency had filed filed a case against AAAI when it proposed at an AGM that all its members should submit their Annual Report along with Client list, to determine the membership fee to be paid. Rightly or wrongly, we felt that AAAI may misuse what we felt was competitive information. The Court ruled in our favour and therefore, as mentioned earlier, I was seen as an intruder at the Executive Committee. Hardly two years later, in 2000, AAAI decided to move a resolution to get it members to apply for accreditation with Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) much on the lines of what we had with INS. Our Agency felt that this was a wrong move, since AAAI members had a bilateral and equal relationship as an agency with every TV channel. Why would AAAI want its members to subject themselves individually to a collective body called IBF, was beyond our comprehension. Communications to AAAI on our objection to the proposal was ignored and therefore we collected adequate proxies and defeated this resolution on the floor of the house. Subsequently we got the next President to see merit in our proposition and finally got AAAI to sign an Agreement with IBF which provided an equal status with them. However, both these episodes clearly implanted in the minds of many industry people that we are difficult people and we dont toe the line on industry matters. This was so strongly entrenched, that when someone suggested in 2009 that I should join the IAA Mancom, the concern was whether I would be a difficult person to have in the Committee! Frankly, neither AAAI nor IAA, or any industry body for that matter, have found in me a unreasonable person, even if I have to say so myself! It would be impossible to have been Chairman/President of various Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Charitable Trusts and Registered Societies, if I were not an affable person. As mentioned earlier, the IBF-AAAI Agreement came about in 2000 and we were on an equal footing with IBF. In about a year, I was made the Chairman of this Joint Industry Body. For an agency person, this job was akin to running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. For 7 years when I was heading this joint working committee comprising heads of many agencies and channels, we had a great time. We combined work and had fun in different parts of the world Australia, Germany, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and of course in many Indian locations. My faith was, if we bonded well as friends, we could be fair to each other. I am told, that was the golden era of IBF-AAAI relationship. When I become President of AAAI in 2004, I did what I thought was an obvious thing to do. An industry association is for all members and if anyone wanted to serve the industry they should be allowed to. So based on interest levels of members, I expanded the Executive Committee with many invited members and made what was an exclusive club, a place anyone can participate and contribute for the industry. In hindsight it appears a normal thing to do, but at that time it was a leap of faith. Of course having invited members in the Executive Committee is the norm from then onwards. We also did many new things at that time. We celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the association very well, we changed the logo to be in line with current trends, renamed AAAI Premnarayen Award to AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award, helped start the Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations and of course our own Goafest. Before Goafest, AAAI had something called AAA Awards. It was an Award which no one had serious respect for. Abbys from Ad Club was seen as the most coveted and it attracted over 1500 people on their Awards night when AAAI would struggle to get 200 to 300. And the President of the day stood there all by himself and ditched out these Awards to the winners. After my first and only AAA Awards night in 2005 as President, I decided that this would be my last. AAAI represents the industry. Its members send entries and if we cant make our Award the most coveted one, then we are doing something wrong. A small group started to think through what we can do to differentiate us and make it the most coveted. Thus was born Goafest an advertising festival, combined with industry conclave, knowledge seminars, fun events and of course Awards. To be fair, I did invite Ad Club to join us to be part of Goafest from the first year, but they rebuked it, for their own reasons. In our own AAAI Executive Committee, there were doubting thomases as to whether we will get our members to participate and the whole episode will lead to financial mess for AAAI. We were looking at about Rs.2 Cr commitment and AAAI had never taken projects or events of this scale. And to top it, AAAI did not even have the financial resources to pay advances for event companies and travel agents. My faith in our idea egged me on, and my company lent substantial money to AAAI to start on the execution of the event. Fortunately there was enough goodwill when I went and met Vineet Jain in Delhi, Aveek Sarkar in Kolkata, Peter Mukerjea at Star, Subhash Chandra in Zee etc. The very first year of Goafest in 2006 had over 1200 delegates for the two-day event. Fortunately for me, we did cover our costs and made a small contribution to AAAI coffers as well. My leap of faith, paid off. After 2 years, Ad Club decided to team up with AAAI and now Goafest is firmly established as a destination to go to, for Creative, Media, Digital, Publisher and Broadcaster Awards. In 2014, Goafest was on a slide for a variety of reasons and many felt that Goafest should be skipped for a year. I felt that once it gets stopped and the momentum lost, it will be difficult to rebuilt the festival. Again with a leap of faith, I took on the Chairmanship when asked by the then President and did all that was necessary to do a festival, including broad-basing the appeal for a wider audience. Incidentally, that year turned out to be most profitable year until then for Goafest. I wish to give just two more instances that I was a part of, in two other Associations. All India Management Association conducts National Management Convention and this is the high point in any Presidents Calendar. 2009 was the worst year economically in India after the economic melt down in 2008 in the western world. As President, I was to conduct this Convention. I chose Chennai, my home town, and we delivered a Convention with some of the best speakers and raked in record surplus as well, which hitherto is unsurpassed in AIMA. Similarly, it was just a leap of faith that I felt Kochi would be good destination for IAA Silver Jubilee Summit. Many in the IAA Mancom warned me that it may be difficult to get delegates to come there. But our speaker line up was so good that we had over 600 delegates from outside Kerala and 600 were from Kerala including some 300 students. This was the biggest event ever for IAA in India. My leap of faith is equally true in the businesses I lead. From a stand alone advertising agency about 15 years ago, we are amongst the most diversified marketing services group in the country today. Our cumulative revenue we believe will place us at No.3 or No.4 in India. We have about 25 business verticals across 4 of our companies in India and two in the US R K SWAMY BBDO, Hansa Vision, Hansa Research and Hansa Customer Equity in India and Hansa Marketing Services and Hansa GCR in the US. Again the reason for this success is easy to comprehend. We identify a candidate with the right skill and more importantly the right attitude and empower him/her to take the business forward. I believe in total delegation and my task is to see that any hindrance posed by finance people based on budget constraints is removed for the person to perform and to take on new challenges and risks to grow faster. This has served us well. When we started BBDO India in 2007 as our second agency it was another, major leap of faith. We were told that we were cutting the ground under our own feet. The last 9 years have proved that our two-brand strategy has worked well and our overall market share and market presence have improved. Moving on to some other aspects, I thought I would reflect briefly on my relationship with my father, R K Swamy. I worked with him from 1978 to 2003 25 years. He is one of the coolest bosses one can have. He is thorough in whatever he does, but at the same time he empowers people. He is generous with his praise and quite happy to review and offer comments on anything you put in front of him. You do learn a lot by observing and I think some of his qualities have rubbed off on me, though not once he has told me what I should do. He was President/Chairman of all industry bodies in India other than only IAA that was not in his orbit then. May be instinctively I followed his path. He has said a few times to me that any amount of time we spend on industry matters in fine since it the hand that feeds us. He passed away in June 2003. If he is observing the institution he created now, I am sure he will be more than happy as to where we have taken it. In this context, I am reminded of a couplet in Tirukural: Eendra Pozhudhin Perithuvakkum Thanmakanai Chaandron Enak ketta Thaai. Loosely translated it says the mother who hears her son being called a wise-man will rejoice more than when she did, at the time of his birth. I am sure, in the same vein, my father will be mightily pleased that his son has this recognition today, as much as my mother. Before closing, I want to thank a few people: Ramesh Narayan has been a terrific support for me in IAA without whose help and constant prodding, IAA would not be what you know it to be. I am also grateful to him for all the kind words he spoke about me. My wife Sudha, She is a very bright lady, a MBA and had a thriving career. But she gave up much of this to support my children, me and my parents. She is here to share my happiness with me today, as she has always done in the past. And of course the President and the Executive Committee of AAAI for having considered me for this honour. Thank you all for what you did. But let me warn you all this lifetime achievement award doesnt mean retirement for me. I am not going away anywhere yet I have a long journey ahead. Thank you! From its first campaign (Wholesale ka rate, tu kya lega seth) to the last one (Mall nahin market), ShopClues has been reinforcing the promise of good quality items at low prices. The latest campaign, conceptualised by Enormous, encourages middle-India to enjoy Laat Saab-like lifestyle, without burning a hole in their pockets. Laat Saab is typically any person who is born and raised in a well-off family. Most of our target audience aspires a fancy lifestyle (like that of a Laat Saab). Therefore, we attempt to realise our masss aspirations by offering them luxury at affordable pricing. The campaigns TVC describes the story of a couple who boast about their lavish lifestyle. Clueless about the fancy manners of greeting their Canada returned aunty, the duo manages to keep their swagger intact. All thanks to their hi-fi clothing and home furnishings that they bought from ShopClues at extremely low rates. Adding to it, the sophisticated voice-over along with opera-like background score gives it just the perfect tone. At the launch, Nitin Agarwal, AVP - Marketing, ShopClues, said, Today, every Indian aspires to have a distinct style statement that sets them apart in their professional and social circles. With the only barrier being the cost of living, ShopClues is now making it possible to attain an evolved lifestyle while also being highly cost-efficient. With our existing consumers already availing these benefits that our marketplace brings, we hope to establish our brand relevance with new consumers through this promotional campaign. "Instead of taking a straight approach by telling these recent upgraders that now they can get low cost paraphernalia to rub shoulders with the privileged class, we decided to boost their confidence by telling them that they dont need to know the hoity-toity rituals and mannerisms of this rich lifestyle to enjoy such a life.", says Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous Brands. The campaign uses TV, radio, OOH, Digital and Social Media Marketing along to propagate this liberating message. The entire collection is covered under ShopClues 100% Buyer Protection Program ensuring payment security, product guarantee, easy replacement and trusted merchants. The brands Hassle-Free Return Policy is another boost for shoppers as it enables them to shop with confidence. With easy, quick and convenient return & refund policies, ShopClues is trying to tap the market in its full potential. Creative: Ashish Khazanchi, Abhishek Chaswal Production house: Conversation Films Fashion social network Roposo has strengthened its leadership ranks with the appointments of Anand Jha as Head of Design and Saurabh Khullar as Head of Sales. These appointments highlight the companys focus on enhancing the experience it offers to its users and also underlines its commitment to expanding its nation-wide presence. Speaking on the appointments, Roposo Co-founder Avinash Saxena, said, Roposo has had a phenomenal growth story so far. As we prepare to helm the company into its next level of evolution, we are pleased to welcome Saurabh and Anand on board to lead the key divisions of Sales and Design. Both bring tremendous experience and dynamism along with years of rich industry experience. We are certain that their contributions to the Roposo growth narrative will be significant and that they will be a perfect synergistic match for our existing team. At Roposo, Anand Jha will look after the entire user interface and user experience. An alumnus of IIT Delhi with a Masters degree in Industrial Design, Anand has worked as a mentor and guest faculty at design schools in IIT Delhi and Ambedkar University's School of Design. A design veteran with 10 years of experience in building and managing interdisciplinary teams in the product design and product strategy functions, Jha was previously associated with Delhivery, as its Senior Manager-Technology. Prior to that, he has been part of successful product launches at Siemens and General Motors amongst other renowned companies. He holds four patents in requirement engineering and interaction design and has been a research fellow at Sarai, CSDS Delhi. He has also been a practicing installation artist with solo and group exhibitions displayed in Barcelona and Basel. Speaking on his appointment, Jha said, I am glad to be a part of this enthusiastic and diligent team at Roposo. Design is central to Roposo and my job will be to build on the already-outstanding product. Through an enriched design offering, Roposo will be able to further establish its market leadership stance and make deeper inroads in the consumer mindscape across India. Saurabh Khullar further added, I believe that Roposo has had an exceptional growth graph given the current business climate. Im looking forward to further enhancing its revenue model and sales numbers and contribute to the companys upward trajectory. The teams energy and passion for the product is truly infectious and Im looking forward to working with them. With a keen interest and expertise in building and shaping businesses to create a distinct market positioning, Khullars prime responsibility at Roposo will be to set up monetisation channels across India for the fashion social network. His 13 years of experience across FMCG, Telecom & Digital Media in Sales & Marketing sectors will enable him to tap the potential growth areas at Roposo. He will focus on setting up advertising revenue strategies and will look at interest-based local hyper targeting systems for advertisers. Before heading the ad business for Ananda Bazar Patrikas digital arm, he was the founder of Ideacts Innovations, a Sequoia & SVB funded internet start-up, where Khullar developed the entire ad sales structure and business from scratch into a thriving model. As the company has been crossing one milestone after the other, with a user base of 3 million and its ever growing popularity among celebrities and enthusiasts alike, these new appointments highlight function expansion within the team. Roposo is now entering the next stage of growth and will be focusing on revenue generation along with its persistent endeavour of product development. The Global Marketing Agency is recognized for industry-leading efforts to leverage Adobe Marketing Cloud, creating game-changing customer experiences for brands in Asia Pacific. VML SEA & India, a global marketing agency that delivers forward-thinking ideas and solutions for the worlds most influential brands, was named the 2016 Adobe SEA Partner of the Year, presented at the Adobe Symposium & Partner Briefing 2016 in Singapore, earlier today. The award recognizes VMLs success in leveraging the potential of the Adobe Marketing Cloud to develop and present unparalleled customer experiences for its brands in the Asia Pacific region. The VML SEA & India-Adobe alliance offers the valuable combination of market-leading technologies and expertise. In a short span of one-and-a-half years, VML SEA & India has quickly become the Adobe Centre of Excellence for VML across Asia Pacific, with one of the most talented and formidable Adobe technology teams in the region. The agency empowers the customer experience for numerous brands in the region, including DSP Blackrock, Ford, Lincoln,Kelloggs and Premiere Inn and Premier League. Commenting on the win, Tripti Lochan, CEO, Southeast Asia & India, VML said, It is an absolute honor to be recognized as Adobes key strategic partner. Digital transformation is part of our DNA and we have found in Adobe, like-minded partners that help us achieve our goals in a seamless and effective way. We are globally invested in the Adobe Marketing Cloud and recognize its potential as the future of marketing automation. According to a recent report by Forrester, as legacy services offerings become outdated and less effective, CMOs need to deliver a relevant experience that reflects the brand promise throughout the customer life cycle. As customers increasingly discover and engage with brands through digital, there is a need to deliver superior digital customer experiences to build brands, enable immediate relevancy, and ultimately, drive the bottom line. Gary Teo, Regional Projects & Technology Director, Southeast Asia & India said, At VML, we bring together brand strategy and digital capabilities to empower brands to create delightful and awe-inspiring customer experiences. The Adobe product suite has further enabled VMLs expertise in understanding consumers needs minutely and our partnership has driven value at every point of the customer journey for some of the largest brands in the region. VML is in a unique position to help clients get the most from their investments and has identified numerous efficiencies implementing Adobe products both as standalone and as an integrated solution. This allows the agency to deliver secure, scalable, high performance solutions that release the best returns on investment in the Adobe platform. AF researching advanced manufacturing techniques for replacement parts The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a $10 million research project for refining the efficiency of Air Force aircraft part replacements to the America Makes - National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. This will be the first project under a new five-year cooperative agreement between AFRL and America Makes, which was created to help advance the U.S. 3-D printing industry, also known as additive manufacturing. The goal of this Directed Project Opportunity is to improve the efficiency of Air Force air logistics complexes in rapidly replacing parts for legacy and other military aircraft by developing, demonstrating and guiding the transition to the use of additive manufacturing and other types of related advanced manufacturing technology, said Dr. Dennis Butcher, the America Makes program manager. The University of Dayton Research Institute will be the principal research leader on the project, while Youngstown State University will be the co-leader of the technical efforts. In addition to both universities, more than half of the 25 team partners, comprised of representatives of academia, industry and the Air Force, are located in northeast Ohio. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center here and Air Force Reserve Commands 910th Airlift Wing, located at Youngstown Air Reserve Station will also play roles in the project. America Makes has awarded $8 million in AFRL-managed funds through the cooperative agreement from the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Manufacturing and Industrial Base Technology Division, the institute said in a news release. An additional $2.87 million in matching costs has been contributed by the award project team for a total of $10.87 million in funding for the research project. Both universities are sharing the funding equally throughout the project. In addition to Air Force officials from three air logistics complexes at Robins AFB, Georgia; Hill AFB, Utah; and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma; the team will also work with several other Air Force and Defense Department bases and depots. For example, the 910th AW is home to DODs only full-time fixed-wing aerial spray mission. Since depot-level maintenance for their unique aerial spray mission systems is performed at the Youngstown base, the 910th (AW) is a good candidate for the application of additive manufacturing and other advanced manufacturing techniques to support sustainment activities, said Dr. Mary Kinsella, the additive manufacturing product team leader. In order to deal with challenges related to the sustainment of its fleet of aircraft, aircraft support vehicles and machinery, this project will focus on additive manufacturing and related advanced manufacturing techniques such as reverse engineering tools, 3-D scanners, computer-aided design software and non-destructive evaluation systems. The America Makes public-private partnership model provides unique opportunities to leverage current member investments and to better align the internal research and development activities of industrial, academic and government partners to a national additive technology road map. The challenge lies in finding replacement parts for an aging fleet, whose planes are flying well beyond their planned service lives, Brian Rice, the head of UDRIs multi-scale composites and polymers division stated in a UDRI news release. One of the biggest hurdles to maintaining legacy aircraft is securing out-of-production spare parts. In some cases, suppliers have gone out of business, or they will no longer support the production of spare parts for older aircraft. Its just not profitable for them. The answer lies in additive manufacturing commonly known as 3-D printing which uses a computer-driven printer to deposit successive layers of polymer, metal or other media from the bottom up to create simple or complicated and intricate objects, as dictated by a 3-D, digital design file of the object, Rice said. Additive manufacturing can be used to print actual spare parts as needed, or it can be used to create very large tooling and molds to be used in traditional forms of manufacturing. First shirts attend Yellow Ribbon en masse More than 30 Air Force Reserve first sergeants attended a Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program training event July 23-24 here to familiarize themselves with the system that helps pre- and post-deployment Airmen and their loved ones. What they learned could come in handy to them personally as a dozen or more first sergeants are set to deploy in early 2017, a dramatic increase over the pace of the last few years, said Chief Master Sgt. Paul Tomlinson, functional manager of the first sergeant career field at Air Force Reserve Command headquarters, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. Six Reserve first sergeants deployed in each of the past few years. Up to 40 are scheduled to deploy throughout fiscal year 2017, a pace may continue for the next few years. The new pace reflects a deliberate increase sought by retired Chief Master Sgt. Michael Bellerose, Tomlinsons predecessor. Knowledge is power, Tomlinson told the enlisted leaders at a gathering just prior to the events start. To deploy successfully and redeploy successfully you need the knowledge. Learn something about yourself this weekend. Youre going to have changes when you deploy. Youll have been in a war environment. First sergeants work as advisers to commanders on issues that affect enlisted Airmen in completing their unit mission. This was the first Yellow Ribbon event for nearly all of the first sergeants who attended. The program promotes the well-being of reservists and their loved ones by connecting them with resources before and after deployments. It was the first, too, for Tomlinson, who was on an active-duty tour at the Air Force First Sergeant Academy in Montgomery, Alabama, for four years until last fall, when he assumed his current post in which he leads more than 500 first sergeants. Tomlinson worked with the Yellow Ribbon management team at command headquarters to get so many first sergeants approved to attend the same event. Normally, they may only participate if five or more reservists from their units attend a training weekend. The idea of a mass attendance was that of Senior Master Sgt. Jackie Zawada, a reservist at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, who is on active duty managing Yellow Ribbons logistics operation and youth programs. She proposed it to her supervisors as she was concerned about there being a missed connection between the program and first sergeants. They are the communicators and supporters for their entire unit and those who have never seen Yellow Ribbon cant really give a firsthand experience to their members, she said. I was really glad they were allowed to attend. Senior Master Sgt. Tracy Cornett of the commands Force Generation Center at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, said many first sergeants have deployment experience from career fields they were in before becoming part of unit leadership but are concerned about doing so as first sergeants. Participating in the weekend training helped, said Cornett, who deployed as a first sergeant in 2011-2012. I took care of people when I was overseas and Yellow Ribbon took care of me when I got home, said Cornett, a law enforcement officer in Lenoir, North Carolina. Master Sgt. Rebecca Wyatt of the 916th Civil Engineer Flight at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, said she attended the Texas training to learn more about the program so she can do a better job of explaining it to her Airmen. Its good info and its not just checking a block, she said. Its something you can actually do. You come take it all in and all you have to do is give up a weekend. Maj. Gen. Jocelyn Seng, the senior officer present at the event, said she was delighted that so many first sergeants could attend. She is mobilization assistant to the commander and president of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Youre a whole second critical wave, she told the enlisted leaders. Its focused time at a great pace (so) you can absorb everything. Its a menu and you can pick from it. Tomlinson compared first sergeants to human resources managers at civilian firms, asking who better than them to spread the word about what Yellow Ribbon offers. He compared the program to a person who can change your life yet you havent met them met. You need to go and meet them, he said. Thats what Yellow Ribbon is like; it has the potential to change your career, your life. Yellow Ribbon began in 2008 following a congressional mandate for the Department of Defense to assist reservists and National Guard members in maintaining resiliency as they transition between their military and civilian roles. Each year, the Air Force Reserve program trains 7,000 reservists and those closest to them in education benefits, health care, retirement information and more. Albino body parts : A hot demand in Burundi In the past months, 26 albinos have been killed in Burundi for their body parts. The witchdoctors have however been indicted with the murders with reports saying they seek albino body parts for blood-money rituals. Africas labour movement is on the move from Cape to Cairo demanding democracy, devising policy and building a new African economy that creates jobs and opportunities for all. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, the former head of Ghanas powerful labour federation, was elected general-secretary of the Africa division of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) in 2007, putting him at the helm of a pan-African labour movement representing 16 million workers in 47 countries. Michael Fleshman spoke with him at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, on 8 February, shortly after Mr. Adu-Amankwah led a march to the Egyptian embassy in solidarity with the Egyptian peoples pro-democracy movement. [1] * Alternatives to Neo-liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA) is a 10-point political and economic programme intended to serve as an alternative to the development model promoted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. [2] * Alternatives to Neo-liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA) is a 10-point political and economic programme intended to serve as an alternative to the development model promoted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Opinion editorial - Panafrica - Development - Education Individual Liberty delivers economic freedom and progress Wednesday 12 October 2011 / by Franklin Cudjoe Everyone says they believe in freedom. The kind of freedom that endures is individual liberty that comes at no cost to anyone else. Increasing such liberty is the best way to solve many of South Africas and the worlds problems. Ministry of Home Affairs officials have said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will not cancelled his Pakistans trip to attend SAARC meeting despite threats by terrorist organizations chiefs warning. According to sources from the ministry, The host country is responsible for the home ministers security. The comments come at a time when Singh has been threatened by Jamaat-ud-Dawah (Lashkar-e-Toiba) Chief Hafiz Saeed, who said there would be nationwide protests in Pakistan if Singh attends the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ministerial conference planned for August 3 and 4. Sources however, said, The visit is on track. India attains highest priority to SAARC. The visit is strictly to abide by our SAARC commitments. They also said that the host country (Pakistan) is responsible for the home ministers security. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack in a statement said if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris. I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris, he said. It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh, said the statement. Even, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin threatened to stop Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Accusing the Home Minister of deploying soldiers in Kashmir to shed the blood of innocents, he warned the Pakistan government against welcoming Mr. Singh. Meanwhile The Bangladeshi Home Minister will not participate in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Home Ministers Conference. Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have not yet improved after the diplomatic row seven months ago when the two countries expelled each others diplomats in a tit for tat reply. Bangladesh Foreign Office sources informed that in the Conference, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Pakistan, Tariq Ahsan, along with the Deputy Secretary Home Affairs of Bangladesh, one official each from immigration and foreign affairs will represent their country. Chinas leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an international court ruling against. Beijings claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the United States. China refused to participate in the case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It denounced the emphatic July 12 ruling in favour of the Philippines as a farce that had no legal basis and part of an anti-China plot cooked up in Washington. The ruling has been followed in China by a wave of nationalist sentiment, scattered protests and strongly worded editorials in state media. So far, Beijing has not shown any sign of wanting to take stronger action. Instead, it has called for a peaceful resolution through talks at the same time as promising to defend Chinese territory. But some elements within China`s increasingly confident military are pushing for a stronger potentially armed response aimed at the United States and its regional allies, according to interviews with four sources with close military and leadership ties. The People`s Liberation Army is ready, one source with ties to the military told Reuters. We should go in and give them a bloody nose like Deng Xiaoping did to Vietnam in 1979, the source said, referring to China`s brief invasion of Vietnam to punish Hanoi for forcing Beijing`s ally the Khmer Rouge from power in Cambodia. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. President Xi Jinping has assiduously courted and thoroughly cemented his leadership over the PLA and faces no serious challenges to his command. While he is overseeing sweeping military reforms to improve the PLA`s ability to win wars, he has said China needs a stable external environment as it deals with its own development issues, including a slowing economy. And few people expect any significant move ahead of Xi`s hosting of a G20 summit in September. But the hardened response to The Hague ruling from some elements of the military increases the risk that any provocative or inadvertent incidents in the South China Sea could escalate into a more serious clash. [dropcap]T[/dropcap]wo neighbouring countries of the South Asia have fought three wars since they gained independence in 1947 and remain deeply skeptical of each other. India and Pakistan shares hate, disregard and doubt each others credibility. While these two countries face various problems on border, their internal peace is also at stake. Corruption on various levels is the biggest problem faced by both the countries. To fight corruption in India, the Indian anti-corruption movement, commenced in 2011, a series of demonstrations and protests were held across India intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption. Anna Hazare, a crusader against exploitation in India led the movement here; in the same manner, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Siraj ul Haq announced Naya Pakistan movement there. Haq also is dreaming to end corruption in which his former President Asif Ali Zardari and incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are accused. You can imagine how corrupt nation Pakistan is where its top ranked politicians are involved. Pakistans existence was threatened due to corrupt leaders; JI was in demand of an independent investigation commission to be formed to hold a probe into the Panama Leaks issue. Haq warned Pakistani government of consequences by calling people for protests like Anna Hazare. The Jamaat is famous for demanding protection and security for women and minorities in Pakistan. The organisation stood by minoritys rights and assured that justice should be done to them. Haq wanted to awake Pakistani citizens against corruption and corrupt people. Corruption in Pakistan is widespread, particularly in the government and lower levels of police forces. In 2014, Pakistan scored 126 out of 174 on the Corruption Perceptions Index published by the Transparency International, improving slightly from its previous score of 127 out of 175 in 2013. Pakistan saw a significant improvement in its statistics in 2013 when its ranking improved by 12 indices compared to its previous rankings. Corruption has beleaguered Pakistan from the very moment it came into existence. It was the unremorseful display of plutocracy amongst its powerful bureaucracy and the West Pakistani Punjabi Muslim landowners that partly led to the secession of East Pakistan into the nation-state of Bangladesh. Later, nationalization policies prepared under the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto paved the way for the corrupt elites to politicise the nations economic planning resulting in a public outcry against corruption. This led the military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to draft policies regarding denationalisation of institutions which only ended up benefiting a few rich business magnates such as the future prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was also a protege of the military dictator. In recent times, Pakistan government is criticised as the most corrupt in the nations history. Since then, there is a growing need to reform accountability and anti-corruption policies at higher levels within the state government. Siraj-ul-Haqs Naya Pakistan movement began in this situation and their sole purpose was to fight corruption on various levels. Haq gained immense popularity when Imran Khan and Muhammad Tahirul Qadri announced the Long March against PM Nawaz Sharif. He acted as a neutral figure. He convinced the Government and Imran Khan for negotiations and due to his efforts the government became stable. He said that the Jamaat-e-Islami will not let democracy derail. Keeping all the political differences aside, he fought for the sustenance of Democracy. For his utmost efforts, he later received an award, Baba-e-Jamhooriyat, from the Government of Pakistan. The only difference between Haq and Hazare is that, Haq is a politician and fighting the system within it whereas Anna Hazare is a social activist and a non-political figure, who attacks the system from outside. Both India and Pakistan are internally suffering with this epidemic called bribery. To support these whistle-blowers, youth on social media played a pivotal role and make their voices reach the global platform. Citizen journalism is emerging as a growing phenomenon and social media is being touted in India and Pakistan as an important tool that can be used to strengthen democracy. Adding to the mix, several prominent politicians have moved to the likes of Twitter to gather support and get prospective voters on board and analysts think that this can lead to a better and direct accountability of political leaders. Social media has also proved effective in identifying corruption in mainstream media, particularly in the case of the media gate scandals in Pakistan and India. India and Pakistan might have severe differences on various levels, but internally both are suffering from same issues. Both the countries are sailing through all odds, but there are watchdogs to clutch the ruling government when they cross the limits. Unfortunately, these whistle blowers came to limelight by giving hopes to people but soon landed in controversy. Haq recently shared a stage with Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Sayeed Salahuddeen which is not appreciated by many. Same has happened in the case of Anna Hazare, he landed in controversy for being with politicians carrying their political agenda. People, who regarded him as a non-political person, felt betrayed and with the time his popularity also faded. Let it be any country, we need leaders to deter respective governments and keep people alert against corruption and their rights. However these leaders need to know their responsibilities are bigger than their choices. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) A city tabloid caused a major stir when it published nude photographs of Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, during her modelling days in the 1990s. Youve never seen a potential First Lady like this, the New York Post said on its front page on Sunday below a nude photograph of Melania. The some rarely seen and others never published pictures were taken during a shoot in 1995 in Manhattan for a photo spread for a now-defunct French mens magazine, the paper said. The pictures, obtained exclusively by The Post, were shot by French photographer Ale de Basseville. Slovenian-born Melania was then 25 years old and known by her professional moniker Melania K. She had then recently arrived in the city after doing modeling stints in Paris and Italy. When asked about the photos, Trump told The Post: Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common. The photos show Trumps wife in nothing but high heels. Melania was super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me, de Basseville told The Post, adding the former model never once felt uncomfortable posing for the nude pictures. I was quite surprised when I saw the pictures because it was a racier shoot than I expected, said a fashion-industry insider who was present for one of the photo sessions. Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP had created ruckus in the assembly and expressed their strong protest over separate Vidarbha state issue. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issued a clarification in the state assembly that there is no proposal to form separate Vidarbha state and only centre is empowered to take any decision in this regard. He appealed to the opposition to allow the smooth functioning of the assembly. Fadnavis informed the assembly that the government is taking every step to develop Vidarbha region. Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP had created ruckus in the assembly and expressed their strong protest over this issue. The functioning of the house was disrupted as Congress leader Narayan Rane demanded the resignation of Fadnavis. Shiv Sena leaders had worn a cap mentioning Akhand Maharashtra (united Maharashtra) in the assembly to voice their protest against the bifurcation of Maharashtra. Earlier BJP MP Nana Patole had said that the decision about carving out Vidarbha from Maharashtra will be taken at an appropriate time. Thus the issue of granting statehood to Vidarbha has brought Sena, Congress and NCP together to take on the BJP in both the houses of Maharashtra Legislature. Theres no such proposal (for a separate Vidarbha state). Carving out small states is a subject handled by the Centre, Fadnavis said. The Chief Ministers said this amid noisy protests by the Opposition, within and outside the Lower House, on the contentious issue of formation of a separate Vidarbha state. Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan said, The Chief Minister, legislators and BJP must issue a clarification in this regard. They should not indulge in politics over granting statehood to Vidarbha. People of Maharashtra oppose the division of the state. Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane said, The 11 crore residents of the state are in favour of united Maharashtra. BJP should not forget about those people who had sacrificed their lives for united Maharashtra. Lokmanya Tilak had taught us to remain united to achieve independence from British rule. BJP is only trying to mislead the people of Maharashtra. They have come to power only because people had voted for them. Shiv Sena MLAs displayed a banner depicting BJP MP Nana Patole as shekhchilli (a comic character). Patole had last week moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha, seeking formation of a Vidarbha state. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, Vidarba CM is ruling the state and most of the ministers belong to this region. Nana Patole has hurt the sentiments of people of Maharashtra. Shiv Sena has always opposed the formation of Vidarbha and we wont allow the division of Maharashtra. Shiv Sena legislator Neelam Gorhe said, Since BJP has got peoples mandate it doesnt mean that it can go ahead with the decision of forming Vidarbha. A decision in this regard should be taken by having a dialogue with the opposition parties and alliance partners. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil alleged theres fixing between Sena and BJP over Vidarbha. He said Maharashtra was formed after the sacrifice of 105 martyrs in Samyukt Maharashtra movement. BJP has insulted people of Maharashtra by making and backing demand for separate Vidarbha, the Congress leader said. Government agencies have been disgracefully impotent regarding public education on autism behaviors and the challenges faced by people with autism, their families and caregivers. To many frustrated autism parents, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee epitomizes government inaction and waste. I cannot keep coming here and talking about the same issue time after time after time, said Dr. Albert Enayati at the IACCs most recent meeting . Another problem is autism advocacy groups with financial links to organizations with questionable motives. Spectrum News, funded by the Simons Foundation, writes about children who mysteriously grow out of autism . Another group, Autism Speaks, lists early signs of autism but their byzantine website takes you down one rabbit hole of generalizations after another. Lets start with mainstream media reporting, which skews toward upbeat stories of quirky kids showcasing some special talent. Depending on legislative focus, people with severe autism might be portrayed as drains on tax-funded services. Or those with autism lead the nightly news when theyve gone missing, were found dead, or perpetrated a crime such as a fatal shooting. Question: Whos been misinforming or under-informing the public about the realities of autism? The general publics inability to recognize behaviors common in the growing autism community indicates that autism awareness efforts need a change. The thoughts of North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda before he fired his gun may never be fully understood. One key factor deserves examination: The citizen eyewitnesses whod called 9/11 had misinterpreted autistic behaviors. That mistake caused lifelong trauma for all three men, and nearly resulted in the death of either or both innocent citizens. Those three mens lives intersected against a tense societal backdrop of increasing gun violence reported in international media. Three men whose parents were relieved that their son was not killed. Many thorny sociological threads are interwoven within the chilling July 18 police shooting of Florida behavior therapist Charles Kinsey in front of his autistic group home patient, Arnaldo Rios-Soto: Repeated inaccurate media reporting on autism psychologically conditions the rest of the world to believe a whitewashed narrative. Its easy for neurotypicals to ignore the autism thats hidden away from public view the countless children and adults sick and suffering with immune and gastrointestinal damage, acting out physically, with families forced to avoid public venues and instead live as if under house arrest. Worse, seeing that Florida video of what almost became a street execution sadly provides another reason to hide in ones home. Autism misinformation contributes to the cultural devaluation of persons with autism, especially as diagnoses skyrocket. Government human service funding decreases as fewer employable adults support Social Security, waivered services and Medicare for the disabled. Over the centuries humankind has continually created reasons to persecute subcultures it finds inconvenient. On July 26 a 26-year-old Japanese man stabbed 19 people to death and injured 26 at a disability center near Tokyo where hed once worked. According to officials, he wanted to get rid of the disabled from this world. (Ironically the disability of mental illness may have led to the mans homicidal actions.) The appalling headline, North Miami Officer Was Aiming At Man With Autism, Union Chief Says, implies that the disabled man was the greater of two evils. Thus both the black Miami shooting victim and his disabled patient found themselves at the crossroads of oppression: People who are black, primarily male, historically viewed as threats to society; People with autism, primarily male, increasingly viewed as threats to society. Not just at the crossroads, but in the crosshairs. * * * The shared experiences of oppression can bind differing cultures. In 1930 the American sociologist and author W.E.B. Du Bois asked scientist Albert Einstein to contribute an essay on the evil of race prejudice for The Crisis magazine. Du Bois translated that essay and wrote its introduction, saying: Professor Einstein is not a mere mathematical mind. He is a living being, sympathetic with all human advance and he hates race prejudice because as a Jew he knows what it is. Intersectionality is a term coined in a 1989 paper by Kimberle Crenshaw, a U.S. legal scholar and critical theorist, to describe how feminist groups of white women and anti-racist movements of black men were marginalizing black women. The definition of intersectionality has expanded over the years to encompass combinations of not only race and gender, but also sexual orientation, religion, social class, country of origin and disability. Some have criticized the term intersectionality, claiming that emphasizing restrictive definitions of subpopulations creates division instead of unity. However, Crenshaw says, Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power, to examine the structures of power that so successfully resist change. Minority advocates for social change also have expanded the definition of intersectionality from primarily dually-impacted individuals (e.g. a person of color with autism) to a multi-group concept that is, identifying oppressions shared by a variety of minorities. Combining these groups communications networks provides mutual support and greater strength in numbers for promoting initiatives on cultural understanding and equal inclusion in society. Using intersectionality as a tool for social change requires empathy and reciprocation. Collaborating with other cultures means questioning entrenched assumptions and rooting out stereotypes. And one must not take advantage of other long-standing communities hard work in order to leverage ones own agenda to inequitable prominence. * * * A new minority has evolved out of our scientific age: the medical minority of vaccine injury victims. Since the Internet was created, people affected by vaccine injury have been networking with each and creating activist communities. This diverse, growing group of victims and families is the inevitable outgrowth of faulty vaccine research and ethical lapses by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, vaccine manufacturers, and medical trade unions. Vaccine injury is a demoralizing shock for any family, which changes lives and sometimes ends them. And its quite a civil rights awakening for affluent white families unused to poor quality medical care, government denials, closed educational doors, public ostracizing, and financial hardship welcome to their world. This as-yet-nameless medical minority is co-producing fruitful cross-cultural collaborations to promote vaccine injury awareness and reform. In October 2015 a rally was held outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta, with Nation of Islam members among vaccine safety and health freedom organizations protesting the governments destruction of data linking the MMR vaccine to autism in African-American boys. Another rally outside the CDC was held in April 2016 to protest the fraud, manipulation and cover-up by vaccine policymakers, which mainstream media have failed to publicize. Educating the rest of the planet to recognize autistic behaviors and to help prevent vaccine injuries is a tall order, but social media have proved instrumental. However many advocates have reported censorship; on Facebook, algorithms from pharma-friendly content editors identify and block posts critical of vaccines. Twitter wars pit vaccine injury victims supporters against high-volume sites of industry-linked celebrities. A June 2014 article described how R&D group Pacific Social was developing bots that will detect misinformation posted to social media the belief that vaccines cause autism. Twitter bots only get 128 characters, whereas a picture gets a thousand Likes and retweets. Furthermore, autism parents are posting videos of their suffering childrens stimming, tics and perseverating, or sobbing and writhing in pain due to chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction. Some viewers find the content too distressing, while others criticize these slices of life as degrading for the subject and possibly nonconsensual. The Kinsey shooting spotlights the intersection of two public safety paradoxes, with similar narrative scripts: Two government-run entities policing and vaccines intended to improve the quality of life instead having the opposite effect on a subset of the population; After the incident, government representatives scrambling to put the best possible spin on the sensitive powder-keg situation; The so-called vocal minority protesting, demanding ethical agency policy change to stop such tragedies from happening to others. Shootings by police, and of police, are profoundly shocking. Videos of vaccine injury victims suffering are profoundly shocking. But as both scenarios are broadcast repeatedly in mainstream and social media, their sheer volume risks setting off information overload, compassion fatigue and desensitization. Still, that high volume of human misery also increases the odds that everyone is affected personally in some way, giving the issue far more compelling empathetic resonance. This tumultuous election year has brought together a wide variety of subcultures working to change local and national policy on social justice issues. Said historian Robin D. G. Kelley, The marginal and excluded have done the most to make democracy work in America. The inexcusable Kinsey shooting deserves to be sandblasted into the national psyche, its moral message carved in sharp relief: No one deserves to be a random shooting target. No one deserves to be written off as collateral damage in the war on crime or disease. Together we can hold the powers that be accountable. ### Nancy Hokkanen is Contributing Editor to Age of Autism. WASHINGTON, August 1, 2016 - The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, in conjunction with Agri-Pulse Communications, is sponsoring a Rural Infrastructure Summit on Monday, August 29 at the Iowa State Centers Scheman Building, in Ames, IA. The summit will be held from 2:00 pm 5:00 pm followed by a networking reception. The Summit will address how we develop new, innovative ideas to solve the infrastructure challenges that rural America faces today and in the future; both in the day-to-day operations of the agriculture economy and in simply getting products moving around the world. A cross-section of leading companies and organizations will be participating in the program that is structured for maximum discussion and input by the speakers and attendees. Leif Magnusson, AEM Chairman and President, CLAAS Global Sales Americas will kick off the event. The program will consist of two panels moderated by Sara Wyant, Editor of Agri-Pulse: Panel 1 Rural Infrastructure and the Ag Economy: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Bob Fox Vice Chair, Ag and Rural Affairs Steering Committee, National Association of Counties, and Commissioner, Renville County, MN Doug Boone, President, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, and CEO, Premier Communications, Sioux Center, IA Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director, Soy Transportation Coalition Stuart Anderson, Iowa DOT, Director of Planning, Programming and Modal Division Amanda De Jong, Senior Policy Advisor, Iowa Corn Growers Association Panel 2 Disruptive Innovation: Not Just for Silicon Valley Andrew Jacob, Chief Vice President, Regulatory, Legislative and Compliance Officer, CoBank John Engelen, Vice President, Government Affairs, CHS Inc. Darryl Matthews, Senior Vice President and Sector Head, Agriculture, Forestry, Positioning Services and HarvestMark Divisions, Trimble Navigation, LTD Kevin Kimle, Director, Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative, Iowa State University Bert Farrish, CEO, Big River Rice & Grain, Pioneer, LA Following the summit, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and other organizations such as CoBank, CHS, Inc., National Corn Growers Association, National Grain and Feed Association, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Soy Transportation Coalition, US Grains Council, and the Waterways Council will sponsor a seven-part follow up series Keeping Rural America Competitive. This special editorial series launches September 12th on Agri-Pulse.com. Please register before August 15 by clicking on this link or send a note to jodi@agri-pulse.com About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers: AEM is the North American-based international trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace. AEM membership comprises more than 900 companies and more than 200 product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the world capitals of Washington, D.C.; Ottawa, Canada; and Beijing, China. About Agri-Pulse: Agri-Pulse is the most trusted source for farm and rural policy information in Washington, D.C., providing a balanced perspective on a wide variety of issues including the farm bill, nutrition, trade, food safety, environment, biotechnology, organic, conservation and crop insurance. Agri-Pulse publishes a subscription only e-newsletter, the Agri-Pulse Daily Harvest and Agri-Pulse Daybreak early morning news summary and breaking news on www.Agri-Pulse.com #30 No matter who wins this Novembers presidential election, one of the first items facing a new Secretary of Agriculture will be developing a 2018 Farm Bill, a process sure to begin early in 2017. As we start that effort, its worth noting that for all its rich diversity, American agriculture seems to be united behind a few large overarching issues: coordinated and scientific regulatory policy by EPA, FDA and USDA; healthy trade promotion; biotechnology; and, farm labor issues, including immigration. But at the individual farmer level, no issue is more important than defending and improving Federal crop insurance. All farm groups agree that crop insurance is critical to the future of agriculture, leveling out the booms and busts. Crop insurance has deep roots in America. As noted above, Benjamin Franklin first raised the idea back in the 1780s as a way of applying good Yankee sense to agriculture. The Federal program itself dates back almost 80 years to 1938. Crop insurance remained a small program limited mostly to Midwest row crops, though, until the 1990s when the disastrous 1993 flood prompted Washington leaders to fundamentally re-think how best to respond to emergencies. The 1993 flood had caused massive crop losses through wide swaths of the country and forced Congress to respond by enacting an off-budget, after-the-fact, $8 billion ad hoc disaster relief bail-out package, which was typical for that era. Farmers waited months for relief, the process was plagued with uncertainly, and taxpayers suffered as well. Beginning that year, a succession of Congresses and Administrations spanning three decades and three Administrations, both Democratic and Republican, began investing in Federal crop insurance as an alternative, increasing fiscal supports and developing better products in partnership with private providers. The changes worked. Higher-quality crop insurance became affordable, and farmers began voting with their checkbooks to make it a stable, permanent replacement for the old ad hoc disaster bailouts. Today, farmers can insure everything from yields to revenue and input costs, from corn to clams, cabbage and cultivated wild rice. Todays modern crop insurance system is a vast improvement over what existed just a few decades ago. Sheer numbers tell much of the story. Federal crop insurance today covers almost 300 million areas of American farmland, over 90 percent for major commodities and over 70 percent for specialty crops, representing over $100 billion in insurance guarantees. USDA backs the program by developing and regulating the policies, subsidizing a portion of the farmers premiums, and providing financial backup to the seventeen private companies approved to deliver the program through its Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Federal crop insurance today covers more than a hundred individual crops representing over 540 types and varieties. Coverage takes a multitude of forms: yield protection, revenue protection, margin protection, whole farm policies, livestock risk protection, rangeland coverage, special policies for organics, and a growing list of tailored policies for smaller crops. While some regions and crops remain underserved, this list grows shorter each year. As other federal farm support programs have been affected over the years by budget cuts, adverse international trade rulings, and political crossfires, crop insurance has grown into the indispensable element of the Federal safety net for American farm producers. One key example of how American farmers have grown to rely on crop insurance came last October when Congressional leaders quietly inserted a $3 billion crop insurance spending cut into the two year budget agreement. The move sparked an almost-unprecedented and immediate uprising from across the agricultural community -- all regions, all crops, bipartisan forcing the Congressional leadership to agree to repeal the cut in the omnibus appropriations bill. There are good reasons for this growing acceptance: The crop insurance model is flexible and highly adaptive. It can cover specialty fruits and vegetables like apples and cherries as well as big row crops like wheat, corn, and cotton, while insuring yield risk as well as price risk, all under the same umbrella. Every year, new features are added and built into an actuarial structure that protects the programs fiscal integrity. It puts individual farmers in the drivers seat. Farmers pay a premium charge for their insurance, giving them ownership and responsibility. They can then tailor it to their operations and business plans, choosing their own features and coverage levels and using their individual yield histories. Farmers have seen how the system rewards good management and record-keeping, and many have upgraded their own internal management systems accordingly. Also, since crop insurance guarantees are based on annual legal contracts, no politicians can step in and take them away once signed for the year. It uses a unique private-public partnership combining the dynamism of private enterprise with the stability of government oversight. Under it, USDA-backed policies are delivered to farmers by seventeen private insurance companies and some 15,000 private insurance agents who can assure payment of claims within 30 days once a claim is finalized. And in addition to USDA support, these companies also place significant portions of their insurance risk with private reinsurance firms that spread the risk around the globe -- another savings for taxpayers. As the program has grown, its management under USDAs Risk Management Agency (RMA) and the participating private companies has improved steadily. In February 2016, RMA Administrator Brandon Willis announced that the programs improper payment rate a standard government wide measure of accuracy and integrity fell to 2.2 percent, well below the government wide average and ranking it as among the better run programs in Washington. At the same time, the programs cost to taxpayers has dropped as RMA has reduced company payments under its Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Congress has cut administrative subsidies, and premium levels on many major crops have been trimmed. Crop insurance alone does not answer all the needs of America farmers. Research, credit programs, conservation, extension, FSA support programs, rural development and the rest, all play important roles in making American agriculture the most productive and reliable in the world. USDA is also making a special effort to reach out to Indian Reservations that rely on farming. But, in short, assuming the farm and nutrition coalition can put together the 217 votes needed in the House to pass another Farm Bill, crop insurance must be a centerpiece. It has become the most sustainable farm support vehicle in times of tight budgets and low commodity prices. Going forward, one barrier to getting the 217 votes needed is the debate over whether to keep the nutrition title in the farm bill. As you may recall, during the last farm bill debate, the Nutrition Title was deleted from the package in the House, and it took a compromise with the Senate to get the legislation to the President for his signature. The 2016 Republican platform goes even further, saying they propose to correct a mistake made when the Food Stamp program was first created in 1964, separate the administration of SNAP from the Department of Agriculture. We are not going to predict the outcome of the Presidential election or who will control the House and Senate, but we are predicting that crop insurance will be the fundamental element of the next Farm Bill. And we hope the nutrition programs will remain in the final legislation..or it would be very difficult to keep the farm-nutrition coalition together to pass the legislation. Marshall Matz and Ken Ackerman are partners at OFW Law, specializing in agriculture. Mr. Ackerman was the Manager of USDAs Federal Crop Insurance Corporation from 1993 to 2001. #30 In September 2014, 43 students from a teachers college disappeared in Mexicos Guerrero state, presumably kidnapped and killed by corrupt police and a crime syndicate. Emmanuel Guillen Lozano was studying at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico in Mexico City at the time; moved by the students fate, he has Cargolux has appointed a new interim executive vice president of flight operations following the announcement that current incumbent Jason Holt has decided to move on to a new opportunity. The Luxembourg airline said that Claude Zehren would take over all duties from Holt with immediate effect. "Zehren has been with Cargolux for 18 years and his wealth of experience, not only as a pilot, but also as a member of the management structure, is a valuable asset for Flight Operations and for Cargolux," the airline said. Cargolux chief executive Richard Forson said: "It is my pleasure to welcome Claude Zehren in his new position and as part of the new executive committee team. Having worked with him closely throughout the last couple of years, I am convinced that he will be an excellent addition to the Cargolux leadership team. Holt is not the only high profile departure from Cargolux this year. In June, then Cargolux chief executive Dirk Reich stepped down from the role for personal reasons to be replaced by Forson. Holt joined Cargolux last year from the UKs leading low cost carrier easyJet where he ran the Gatwick Division and then led their operational strategy & transformation business changes. One contact said all the recent changes at the airline does not send a good message to customers and was not good for the business because of the constant change. The source pointed out that since 2008, there had been 19 changes in the Cargolux executive committee with six different chief executives over the last 12 years, lasting an average of two years each. However, the contact did welcome the appointment of Zehren because his experience at the airline would help with the transition. He added that on the other side, the employees of Cargolux remained fairly constant with some being second generation and many others having worked for the company for 20 years. Cargolux said: "In the short time he has been with us, Jason has played a significant role in the development of Cargolux and has made invaluable contributions to our organisation." This included, following the departure of the then incumbent, assuming responsibility for its global logistics division, covering the airlines network (including Luxembourg), whilst retaining his responsibilities as executive vice president flight operations. Forson said: Jason has made a major contribution to the airline by bringing his experience and talent to bear on the airline, including playing a major role in achieving the CWA agreement with our unions in December 2015. "On behalf of my executive committee colleagues, I thank him for all the hard work, dedication and initiatives he has given us and wish him all the best for his future. We will miss him. Holt added: Its been a fast and furious year learning new skills in aviations most demanding sector. It has been a pleasure to be with Cargolux and I look forward to hearing of their positive transition under the new chief executive and management team who now pick up the baton ahead of this years forthcoming high season. Meanwhile, earlier today, it was announced Denis Ilin, executive president of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, has resigned after three years in accordance with mutual agreements. Share this story Denis Ilin, executive president of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, has resigned after three years in accordance with mutual agreements. Ilin started his management career in AirBridgeCargo Airlines as director of operations. From 2006 to 2008 he worked as general director of the airline and later rejoined AirBridgeCargo team in 2013 to hold the position of executive president. "Denis Ilin made a significant contribution to the boosting of the airlines operational results and overall FTK figures as well as to opening the new ABC stations in North America and Southeast Asia, thus bringing the company to its solid position in the key markets," the airlines owner Volga-Dnepr said in a statement. Ilin directly participated in establishing the long-term business relationships with key customers and strategic partners such as Boeing and General Electric, which resulted in the signing of the major agreement for the delivery of 20 state-of-the-art oeing 747-8F cargo aircraft. "The top management of Volga-Dnepr Group would like to express their gratitude to Denis Ilin for his substantial contribution to the development of the scheduled cargo business of AirBridgeCargo Airlines and wish him every success in his business career," the airline group added. Ilin is not the only high profile executive to step down from their role this year. In June, then Cargolux chief executive Dirk Reich stepped down from the role for personal reasons to be replaced by Richard Forson. This was followed quickly by the resignation of Olivier Bijaoui from ground handler Worldwide Flight Services. In March, Air France-KLM cargo boss Bram Graber announced he was stepping down to join Netherlands-based Royal Boskalis Westminster as group director maritime services for its offshore energy division. Share this story Middle East gulf carrier Qatar Airways has increased its shareholding in IAG, the parent group of British Airways and Iberia, to 20.1%, saying that it does not intend to increase its stake further "unless there are material changes to the current situation". This latest move follows a gradual stakebuilding by Qatar Airways in IAG, a partner airline in the oneworld alliance, which saw it raise its shareholding to 15.67% on July 12 this year. At that time, the gulf carrier reiterated that it may consider increasing its stake in IAG further "within the allowable limits". Non-European Union shareholders of IAG are subject to an overall cap on non-EU ownership requiring that EU airlines be majority owned by EU shareholders. Qatar Airways said today that while its interest in IAG is "purely financial, the increased shareholding reflects the strength of commercial and strategic ties between the companies and evidences the continued support for the ongoing strategy of IAG". Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive of Qatar Airways, said: "The recent market valuation of one of the worlds leading airline groups has provided what we believe is an attractive opportunity to increase our shareholding in IAG. "We continue to be highly supportive of IAGs strategy and management team and we do not intend to increase our percentage shareholding further unless there are material changes to the current situation." In early July, Qatar Airways signed a deal at the Farnborough Air Show to acquire up to 10% of shares in LATAM, another oneworld alliance member. At the time, Al Baker, described the move as an exciting opportunity to invest and support the development of our long-term relationship. As a leading airline in Latin America, and key member of oneworld, this investment provides potential opportunities for Qatar Airways global network, alongside our successful investment in IAG". The South American carrier will also hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting no later than September 2, to propose a capital increase of $613m by issuing new shares at $10 per share. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. In mid-July Qatar Airways signed an agreement with Alisarda to buy 49% of its subsidiary Meridiana, Italys second largest airline. The deal is subject to conditions and is expected to close in early October. Share this story August 1, 2016 JABALIYA, Gaza Strip In a small town in the northern Gaza Strip, a group of children sat on a circle of small chairs in front of a minibus, listening raptly to a storyteller. The bus had been turned into a mobile library to bring books into areas where there are none. The mobile librarys coordinator, Mahmoud Askalani, told Al-Monitor that Ramallahs French-German Cultural Center sent the bookmobile to Gaza on May 16. Its route takes it to marginalized areas and towns with no public libraries on a mission to encourage children to read. The bookmobile is expected to return to the West Bank by the end of August after completing its three-month tour. The mobile library, the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, has already visited 40 neighborhoods across Gaza this year, targeting children under 14. This is the bookmobile's second trip across the Gaza Strip. Its first visit was in the summer of 2015. The cultural center collaborated on the project with the Tamer Institute for Community Education and the Abdel Mohsin al-Qattan Foundation, both of which provided childrens books. Aya al-Ajrami, 11, from Jabaliya, told Al-Monitor she was extremely pleased with the bookmobiles visit to her hometown, adding that she had never been to a public library before. Ayas father, Raed al-Ajrami, who accompanied his daughter to the mobile library, said though he has always told her bedtime stories, this was Aya's first chance to actually hold a storybook in her hands and read it herself. After finishing his story, the storyteller allows children to go up to the library and choose a book to read. Since the bookmobile visits each place only once, the children cannot borrow the books and take them home. Aseel Hajjaj decided to take her young son Raed, 5, to read him stories. She told Al-Monitor, My son has not yet learned how to read, but he likes listening to stories. Hajjaj expressed sadness at the lack of childrens facilities in Gaza. The story Hajjaj chose for her son held special meaning for the Palestinian situation. The book tells the story of a fox that destroyed the house of a rabbit it was hunting. The rabbit turned to the lion for help, but the lion also tried to devour the small animal. The rabbit was able to escape again and asked for help from the bear, who also tried to feast on the rabbit. The rabbit got the same response from the tiger and the elephant. Finally, the rabbit decided that the only solution was for all the rabbits to unite against the fox and defeat the predator. The moral of this story is that Palestinians need to be united and achieve national reconciliation in order to confront Israel's occupation. As for Mohammad Abu Warda, 13, he wishes there were a permanent library in his town, so he could visit it and borrow books. He told Al-Monitor that no one cares about building libraries there. Askalani told Al-Monitor, The bookmobile is equipped with tables and seats, and is accompanied by a storyteller whose job is to tell children stories. He said that the library contains over 200 titles, and children are allowed to go in and choose any they like to enjoy during the minibus' stop. However, each visit lasts only an hour, and then the bookmobile leaves for another place to reach the largest possible number of children across Gaza. The idea, said Askalani, was met with great enthusiasm from both children and parents who ask for more visits. With a population of 2 million in an area of 365 square kilometers (227 miles), the Gaza Strip contains just 15 public libraries, according to the general manager of exhibitions and libraries at the Ministry of Culture, Mohammad al-Sharif. Sharif told Al-Monitor, The shortage of libraries is due to the lack of space. Ideally, each municipality should have a public library. But there is rarely any space available for a library in municipal buildings. This is why residents of many areas dont have access to libraries close to their homes. Religious institutions in Gaza often provide small libraries for visitors, usually at the ground floor of mosques. But most of the books there are religious, and literary and scientific books are scarce. These libraries are not usually inviting places to sit and read, but more often simply book storage areas. The book collection at the Brighter Tomorrow Cultural Center is the only such facility in Jabaliya, which stretches over an area of 18 square kilometers (11 square miles), with 220,000 residents. Asma Hammouda, a librarian there, said that the library was established through the Young Womens Muslim Association, a civil institution in Gaza, in January. It's very small, with an inventory of approximately 600 books. At best, only 20 children visit the library per day. Sometimes, we have no visitors because parents and children dont know about the library, she added. Visitors to this library will readily notice its focus on religious content. The religion section is piled high with books, but other topics like literature, science and art take up very little space. Only 10 books make up the literature section. Asked about why the library is rich with religious books at the expense of scientific and literature books, Hammouda said, This is not intentional at all. The presence of a large number of religious books compared to other books is because the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has sent us a great deal to be included. At present, work is underway to provide more books for the scientific and literature sections. Faced with a moribund cultural scene in the Gaza Strip and an acute shortage of public libraries, Jabaliya's children will have to wait for next year to revisit Gazas mobile library and read the storybooks they like. August 1, 2016 Six months into the implementation of the comprehensive deal between Iran and six world powers that curtailed the countrys nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran's nuclear program, has criticized the United States for its implementation of the deal and the lack of benefits for the Iranian public. During an Aug. 1 speech, Khamenei said that even Irans nuclear negotiators have conceded that the United States has made "bad pacts," created obstacles and attempted to destroy Irans economic relationships with other countries. The obstacles Khamenei referred to are likely the remaining US banking sanctions unrelated to nuclear sanctions that have made European companies hesitant to fully establish economic relations with Iran. Iranian negotiators had previously said that the United States wanted more concessions to remove the banking sanctions. In an indirect attack on President Hassan Rouhani and others who hope for better ties with the United States, Khamenei said, Of course its been some years that I have been repeating this about the lack of trust with America, but for some it was hard to accept this reality. According to Khamenei, in the last meeting with their American counterparts, the Iranian negotiators accused the opposing side of breaking oaths, not acting on their commitments and creating obstacles. In some of his harshest criticism of the nuclear deal since its implementation, Khamenei asked, Was it not supposed to be so that the unjust sanctions would be removed and it would have an effect on peoples lives? After six months, is there any tangible effect on the lives of the people? If not for America violating its oaths, would the administration not be able to do many things during this time? Khamenei continued, Approximately two years ago we said that the nation would look at the negotiations as an experience to see what the Americans do in practice, and now it is clear that they are acting contrary to their promises and busy with conspiracies. He added that the United States has approached Iran to negotiate on other regional issues, but recent experience has shown that negotiations with the Americans is like a lethal poison and there is no issue in which their word can be trusted. Khamenei said this is the reason for his continuous opposition to negotiating with America. Khamenei also said that if an enemy country were committed to its word, it would be possible to negotiate with the country on certain matters, but that America has shown it is not this type of enemy country. He said that the best path for Iran is to continue its policies so the enemy will come after us, not us go after the enemy. Khamenei also condemned the warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, calling it treason to the Islamic world. According to Khamenei, the United States had a role in this decision, given the Saudi reliance on it. Khamenei also accused the United States of having a hand in the coup attempt in Turkey, saying that the United States is opposed to Islamist governments. August 1, 2016 AMMAN, Jordan The Jordanian government has cracked down on the popular US ride-hailing company Uber and its Dubai-based rival, Careem, impounding around 60 of their cars, an Amman police official told Al-Monitor. The police have covertly ordered Uber rides on the companys app and then after the drivers' arrival seized the cars and issued fines. Justifying the governments recent change in policy toward the US company, Marwan Hmoud, director general of the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC), said, [Uber] cars currently operating in Amman and other governorates are violating traffic rules and regulations. Many Amman residents resent the governments interference in this aspect of daily life because the ride-hailing companies are well-liked in the city. Despite frequently adopting a pro-government line, Nabil Sharif, the former minister of state for media affairs and Jordanian ambassador to Morocco, opposes the police campaign to impound Uber and Careem vehicles. This is the new technology all over the world, he told Al-Monitor. You cannot stop this wave of change. Hazem Zureiqat, an urban planning specialist and Uber user, explained, The reasons why these services are successful here is because the government has failed to provide a decent public transport system. Echoing the complaints of many Amman residents, Zureiqat added that people are frustrated with taxi drivers who insist on smoking in the vehicle or who violate local law by refusing to abide by the meter. Sharif noted that the taxi industry feels threatened by Uber and its advanced services. He said that the powerful taxi sector likely lobbied the Transportation Ministry and as a result, he said, Probably, the government caved into that pressure. A fair number of Jordanians work as taxi drivers, and they believe the taxi industry is right in pressuring the government because Uber appears to be operating illegally. Hmoud told Al-Monitor that Uber and Careem are violating the 2010 Public Transport Law, which prohibits Jordanians as well as foreigners from operating a public transport vehicle without a government license. Hmoud also explained that Uber cars do not have proper insurance, which can be especially troublesome in an accident. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is far from the only country in the region where Uber has caused controversy. The United Arab Emirates has also cracked down on Uber, and Egyptian taxi drivers have protested the companys perceived unfair advantage. Ibrahim Manna, the general manager of Emerging Markets at Careem, told Al-Monitor, Some governments dont know what to do with these types of technologies, so they prefer to block them rather than try to regulate [them]. He added, That is the current situation in Jordan. Jordanian government officials stress that the current policy is not merely symbolic, but a serious enforcement effort. In a July 17 interview with the Jordan Times, Bassem Kharabsheh, the director of Amman's Traffic Department, said, It takes time to track down all the drivers since all the work is done through the [Uber] application. An informal transportation system involving private individuals openly transporting people for payment off the books currently operates across Jordan with little regulation, Zureiqat said. The urban planning specialist considers the current approach to the ride-hailing outfits a flawed policy, noting that the government is being selective about cracking down on services like Uber and Careem, which are actually providing a high-quality service using technology. Many citizens are suspicious of the polices apparent double standard on transportation enforcement. The Jordanian government and its representatives have not always been opposed to Uber. Dana Daoud, the director of the Information Bureau at the Jordanian Embassy in Washington, excitedly tweeted on April 3, 2015, .@Uber launches its service in Amman, Jordan Ubers 300th city! After the Eid festival on July 6, however, the kingdoms policy toward Uber changed dramatically. Hmoud explained that when Uber began allowing customers to pay with cash in addition to credit cards thus operating exactly like a taxi service, but without a license the government decided that it could no longer be lenient toward the company, allowing it to operate differently from taxis, which are subject to strict regulations. Taxis must register with the government and obtain permission from the LTRC for the use of their vehicles to provide public transit. Many Jordanians reject the governments assertion that the crackdown on Uber stems from security concerns, as Hmoud claimed. Basem Aggad, a frequent Uber user, said that unlike with taxis, Uber and Careem provide an extra layer of personal security. Users are provided with information about the driver and can verify the license plate before entering the vehicle. Aggad called the governments seizure of Uber cars absurd. Amid the current pressure on the company, Ubers Middle East spokeswoman Shaden Abdellatif told Al-Monitor, We are currently working with the government to help develop the regulatory framework to allow for the use of technology in the transport space. The police generally seize Uber vehicles for a week after issuing a citation for operating public transit without a license. Thus Jordanians can still use the app, but wait times have increased. Hmoud disclosed that his office does not know the number of Uber cars operating in Amman, and Abdellatif declined to provide such information. One driver told Al-Monitor that the company reimburses drivers for the fine. Many of them return to the road despite the legal risks. Al-Monitor spoke with an Uber driver who insisted on using the pseudonym Ahmad, due to fear of arrest. After arriving at Taj Mall in Amman to pick up a passenger three weeks ago, he said, the police seized his car for a week. Officials warned Ahmad that if they caught him working again for Uber, he would be required to pay a fine of 3,000 dinars ($4,230), approximately five times the average Jordanian monthly salary, in addition to possibly serving a jail sentence. Regardless, given the high rate of unemployment among young Jordanians, Ahmad returned to driving for Uber. Its risky, but Uber is the only job for me now, he said. August 1, 2016 On July 27, 1,684 ranking officers of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were dismissed for constituting a threat to national security and for their affiliation with the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO). This unprecedented purge of officers was carried out using a simple state of emergency decree with the power of law issued by the council of ministers. The purge ruling, which cannot be appealed, covered 2% of 40,000 officers in the TSK and 1% of approximately 90,000 noncommissioned officers. The ranks most affected were generals and admirals. Of the 325 generals in Turkey's army, air and naval forces, 149 (45.8%) were discharged on July 27, including two four-star generals, seven lieutenant generals, 27 major generals/vice admirals (12 army, 11 air force and four navy) and 126 brigadier generals/rear admirals. Before the purge was made public, Land Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Ihsan Uyar, the No. 2 name of that major command, and Gen. Kamil Basoglu, commander of Training and Doctrine of the army, submitted their resignations. Defense Minister Fikri Isik said the dismissals and resignations were not all linked to FETO and included those who did not perform their duties on the night of July 15 or those who did not oppose the coup attempt. When asked on July 24 whether resignations of Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Hakan Fidan should be expected, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replied, "You don't switch horses when crossing a river." That answer meant Erdogan decided to continue with the current command structure without changes at a critical period of major developments in foreign policy and TSK's direct involvement in combat against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Islamic State and reinforcing border security. This is why Akar and army, air and navy commanders retained their posts. With the Supreme Military Council's (SMC) decision to promote 99 colonels, the number of generals/admirals in the TSK rose to 227, which is 98 less than the pre-coup attempt level of 325. The rising stars of the TSK Gen. Umit Dundar, who was appointed as the deputy chief of General Staff; Gen. Metin Temel appointed as the commander of the second army that is responsible for combating the PKK and ensuring border security; and the head of Special Forces Zekai Aksakalli, who was promoted to lieutenant general are likely to have strong bearings on the future of the TSK. So why didn't the SMC change the positions of the chief of General Staff and branch commander as was widely expected in Turkey? Erdogan has already said the chief of General Staff and MIT should be directly attached to the presidency and that such a move would require structural reforms in Turkey's security. But because of a lack of support from opposition parties for such a radical change, a constitutional amendment will be needed to make those changes. Erdogan needs the support of Akar to persuade the opposition parties. The new security sector design aspires to generate inter-service rivalry under civilian control by instituting a chief of general staff that will be under the president and whose mission will be one of coordination. Army, air and naval commanders will be under the minister of defense, and gendarmerie, police and coast guard will be under the Ministry of Interior. The July 27 purge and resignations of two four-star generals indicate a compromise between Erdogan and the current TSK command. For the president to have a decisive say on the fate of the commanders means a significant boost of his control over the TSK. Also, to retain a known entity like Akar for the time being may make it easier to control any grumbling from the TSK ranks. Ten colonels who were earlier sentenced to prison terms in the Sledgehammer-Ergenekon mass trials were promoted to brigadier general/rear admiral ranks by the SMC. This group, known to be anti-US/NATO and more inclined to nonaligned and Eurasian perspectives, are likely to influence the strategic culture of the TSK. A perusal of the list of generals discharged indicates that many of them were "Atlanticists" who were keen on relations with the United States, Europe and NATO. Justice and Development Party (AKP) elites and victims of the Sledgehammer-Ergenekon cases, whose influence over the TSK will most likely increase after the SMC meeting, agree on the creation of a national and indigenous army. These two currents are in accord to design a military that is more independent, more anti-US, anti-NATO and anti-West. They believe that the TSK can play a major role to orient Turkish foreign policy to more nonaligned and Eurasian-oriented outlooks. It is therefore possible that the strategic culture of TSK henceforth will be less Atlanticist and more Eurasian. But those two camps cannot agree on the army's secularist stance. While the Sledgehammer-Ergenekon camp defend the return of the military to its "factory settings" of hard-line secularist Kemalism, the prevailing trend in the AKP is to entrust the military to more religious cadres, thus undermining its coup inclinations. In short, for the Sledgehammer-Ergenekon camp, the biggest danger is Islamizing of the military, while the AKP see Islamization of the military as the only way to thwart further coup attempts. Because of this split between the two camps, it is likely that we will be witnessing more debates on bans on headscarves and beards, prayers in the TSK, fasting, status of female personnel in the military and allowing religious seminary graduates to become officers and noncommissioned officers in the TSK. It is becoming clear that the TSK will be encountering problems not only from its loss of personnel, but also from its loss of morale and motivation and its plummeting public prestige. It is almost assured that the institutional identity of the TSK will be less Atlanticist but more of a Eurasian character. But the real tension will be the sustained and hard ideological debates between strong secularists who want TSK's return to its factory settings and those who advocate more Islamization. (With another decree issued on July 31, a second purge of 1,389 more military personnel were discharged from the TSK.) August 1, 2016 The prevailing view among punditry and the media, both Turkish and international, is that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged much stronger from the July 15 coup attempt and is now empowered to steer the country as he likes. This assumption, however, is less than convincing for those who have closely watched Erdogans character, relationship with power and general political style during his 14 years in power. Erdogans statements and political behavior since the thwarted coup suggest quite the contrary that he feels less powerful. The declaration of emergency rule and the draconian purge of the Gulen community the decision-making and operational center of the putsch may be projecting power, but that is an illusion. In fact, Erdogan is readjusting his political behavior in a way that suggests he feels less powerful. The first signs to that effect came not immediately after the coup was suppressed on July 16, but several days later. Judging by the changes in his political attitude, he seems to have recognized a new reality sometime between July 19 and 20 probably after an assessment of external rather than domestic implications and decided to step back accordingly. After the failed coup, Erdogans first address to his supporters was on the night of July 18 outside his posh house in Istanbul, perched on the hills of the Bosporus Asian shore. In that speech, he seemed confident he was now more powerful, very much in the style of what doesnt kill me makes me stronger. This was evidenced by the fact that only three days after the coup bid he declared he would proceed with a project that did require him to be more powerful than ever. It was none but the project to erase Gezi Park at Taksim Square and replace it with a replica of former Ottoman barracks the very spark of the 2013 Gezi Park resistance which he had grudgingly shelved but had since become obsessed with. The project will go ahead whether they like it or not, he told the crowd, and went on to give other good news a plan to erect also a mosque on Taksim Square. It was the typical Erdogan who had lost nothing from his overbearing style even after weathering a mortal threat. It was the same Erdogan, who, in 2013, had closed Taksim Square to the opposition, including on May Day, stoking popular resentment that eventually boiled over in the Gezi revolt. But in a couple of days Erdogans rhetoric and behavior in domestic politics began to noticeably change. The domineering Erdogan full of hubris was gone, replaced with one who clearly sought cooperation and support from the opposition. The first sign came July 20 as the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) got permission to organize a "democracy rally" at Taksim Square. Opening the square to the opposition after a three-year ban was Erdogans first step of domestic moderation, which was followed by other decisions. The same day he signaled he had shelved, at least for now, his plan for an executive presidency regime, which lies at the core of Turkeys deepening polarization and the apprehension the opposition and civic society feel vis-a-vis him. We will remain inside the democratic parliamentary system, we will never step back from it, he told Al Jazeera. On July 24, Taksim Square witnessed one of its biggest rallies in recent times as tens of thousands from almost all oppositional quarters joined the CHP-organized event. On July 25, Erdogan invited CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and the chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahceli, to his palace to listen to their views on the coup attempt and its aftermath. He snubbed the Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said later in the day the HDP was welcome to come on board in a joint parliamentary effort, agreed to with the CHP and the MHP, for several constitutional amendments. On July 27, Erdogan moved to crown his efforts at coup peace with the opposition, withdrawing all libel cases against Kilicdaroglu and Bahceli. Soon he went even further, dropping all lawsuits against hundreds of people accused of insulting him. Finally, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) hung a giant portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the facade of its headquarters in Ankara, which left many stunned, given the Turkish Islamists aversion for the man who abolished the caliphate and founded modern Turkey as a secular republic. Only a few months ago, AKP heavyweights were calling for removing the tenet of secularism from the constitution. So, what is behind Erdogans sudden peace-making drive? Understanding his motives is crucial for correct reading of developments in Turkey in the wake of the failed coup. Over the past 14 years, Erdogan has steadily opted for polarization as a means to consolidate power, so why does he need national unity now? Is this meant as a form of societal and political deterrence against a possible second putsch? This possibility, however, is gone with the massive purges in the military and other security branches of the state. Hence, his motives must be rooted abroad rather than at home. To start with, lets see how the world reacted to the coup attempt. Generally speaking, the United States and Europe saw it as a move directed primarily at Erdogan. Both the scope and tone of their reactions was just the minimum of what diplomatic etiquette requires. The Western media focused less on the putsch itself and more on Erdogans crackdown on the putschists, using a highly apprehensive language in reporting the measures. The solidarity expressed by the Arab and Muslim world also fell short of the vibrant, impassionate support that Erdogan must have expected. But not only that. Starting on July 16, Erdogan and his aides were all eyes and ears for signals from the United States, the worlds only power at which Erdogan would flinch, barring perhaps Russia since the plane crisis last year. And what Erdogan saw across the Atlantic must have been very alarming. Whether his July 19 phone call with President Barack Obama bore on his anxiety is unknown, but Ankara clearly perceived a threat from the United States. Its bluntest expression came in a headline in the staunchly pro-government Yeni Safak, which trumpeted, "The United States tried to kill Erdogan!" Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag would later say he was sure Obama knows the coup was the work of Fethullah Gulen as much as he knows his own name, but a perception of threat was discernible in these remarks as well. Gulen has been in self-exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, and his extradition is a demand Ankara raised immediately after the botched coup. In sum, Erdogan embarked on peace-making at home upon concluding he was facing a threat from outside. For him, the failed coup is no longer a domestic but an international issue. It has opened his eyes to how isolated he has become internationally, as evidenced in a sentence he uttered July 23: If I had died [in the coup], our Western friends were ready to jump for joy. Having pinned the United States at the origin of the threat, Erdogan quickly realized he cannot face the challenge with the AKP and his supporters alone, and moved fast to reposition himself in line with this sudden loss of power. The cooperation ground he seeks with the opposition by engaging it along the narrative of defending democracy against coups is in fact an effort to stand against that external threat. His trip to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Aug. 9, is a product of the same effort. Yet one should have no illusions that the failed coup has changed Erdogan in a positive way. He is merely in a forced retreat, with a view of compensating for it later. To speak of any new hope for Turkish democracy is still premature. Oxford Pharmaceuticals' $29 million facility is complete, and the startup is moving toward starting production of generic drugs. The Birmingham company celebrated a ribbon cutting Monday morning. Oxford's President and General Manager of Birmingham Operations John Schultz said the company is setting up equipment and will start the regulatory processes in September, which will take between three and four months to complete. "This is a different kind of manufacturing. It's a far cry from the old steel blast furnaces that Birmingham was founded on, and the kind of labor that so many of our fathers and grandfathers engaged in," U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., said at the ribbon cutting. "This is a great place to bring a company and raise a family. You can make a great life here, and I think Oxford Pharmaceuticals is a great part of the new Birmingham." Oxford first announced its plans to open in Birmingham in November 2014. When at full capacity - which will take between seven and 10 years - the company plans to employ about 200 people. About a dozen people work there today, but Schultz said they're aiming for 25 employees at the start of production and 60 within a year of that start. Jobs will range in pay from about $12 an hour to more than $100, and include everything from quality control workers to chemists and microbiologists. Oxford will be advertising jobs on the Alabama Industrial Development Training website as well as other typical places for job searches like Indeed. This is the British pharmaceutical manufacturer's first U.S. facility, and Oxford will receive a total of $4.9 million in state, county and city incentives. Birmingham's Robins & Morton was the general contractor on the project, Huntsville's NOLA/Van Peursem Architects was the architect and Birmingham's Sain & Associates provided engineering services. "I know you have had a lot of help from people, but it really has to do with your innovation, your entprenuership, your willingness to develop an idea into products," Gov. Robert Bentley said. "I want to thank you for that on behalf of the people of this great state." Maxwell's 90-minute set in Birmingham on Sunday behind the release of July's blackSUMMERS'night was a celebration of blackness, incidentally, on a summer night. He once paused to share, "I was born in Brooklyn, but my mom was Haitian and my dad was Puerto Rican, and I never really felt like I was black enough. But when I can come to Birmingham - where it is black up in here - and you guys support me, it's a great feeling." The lights fell at 8:45 p.m. and Prince's "Kiss" played in its entirety on the house PA. As it neared its close, the curtains were drawn and the video screen behind Maxwell's band wove images of Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. between images of news reports of recent mass shootings in America, notably the June incident at an Orlando nightclub. His band welcomed him to the stage with "The Urban Theme." It seems impossible that political statements can be made and be profound during a performance that Maxwell described as "grown and sexy." But it worked. He's a man that can do both. And he's a man who seemed authentically grateful to the Magic City for its role in the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s. He performed a freestyle in which he included the lyrics: "You represent the struggle of every brown person in the world. I stand here before you humbled and truly grateful for all the things that you do and for hanging out with me for 20 years." His cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" sat near the set's midway point and had the women of Birmingham howling, with very deliberate, pregnant pauses. But it also managed to celebrate the lives of Muhammad Ali and Prince, lost earlier in 2016. "Shoutout to Muhammad Ali and Prince," he said at the song's conclusion. "And to all of the lives lost. Black lives matter. It's important to us to be in Birmingham where so many people struggled so many years ago and now we're facing those things all over again." That began "Lifetime," in which he added, "You deserve your life. We all deserve our lives. We all deserve to live." During "Lake By the Ocean," Maxwell danced with a lady in the front row that had been fanning her handkerchief at him for most of the set. When he finished with a kiss on her forehead, the women in the audience roared their approval. He often joked about his own pace. The new record is "part two" of the most recent album, BLACKsummers'night, which was released seven years ago. "I'm sorry for ever making you doubt. All I ever wanted to do was make you proud," he also sang in his freestyle about Birmingham. Maxwell's band included trumpet player Keyon Harrold, who plays the trumpet parts in the Miles Davis biopic starring Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead. His organist, Shedrick Mitchell, was also offered the spotlight during "Fortunate." The live performance was always of utmost importance to Maxwell, and though the BJCC Concert Hall was only at about 65% capacity, he played the room as if it were packed. SETLIST: The Urban Theme - Dancewitme - Badhabits - Gods - This Woman's Work (Kate Bush cover) - Lifetime - Lake By the Ocean - Sumthin' Sumthin' - Fortunate - Whenever, wherever, whatever (tease) - Ascension - Pretty Wings An Etowah County inmate who was being held in the death of a six-month-old infant died Sunday night of apparent natural causes. Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said Eva Goggins Lindsey, 60, of Gadsden, died around 9 p.m. An autopsy will be performed. The sheriff's office and Oxford Police are investigating the death, which apparently is from natural causes. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lindsey family during this untimely loss," Entrekin said. Lindsey was being held at the Etowah County Detention Center without bond for capital murder. She was arrested last April for the Feb. 26, 2014 death of a six-month-old female. Eva Lindsey, photographed in April 2015. The arrest came after results from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences arrived today determining the child died of blunt force trauma. The child was taken to an Etowah County area doctor's office on Feb. 24, 2014, and transported to a local hospital. She was pronounced dead two days later at Children's of Alabama. Last week, a motion filed by Lindsey's attorneys to reduce her bail was denied by Judge William Rhea III. According to court documents, Lindsey's attorney stated she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year after her arrest and received a mastectomy and chemotherapy. However, she was in back pain, had been hospitalized for internal bleeding and was unable to stand or walk, her attorneys argued. Authorities have identified the two murder victims discovered Sunday afternoon in Cherokee County's Tennala community. Cherokee County Coroner Jeremy Deaton said Daniel Andrews and Latitia B. Andrews, both 47, were the victims authorities discovered around 1:30 p.m. Sunday at a home in the 9000 block of County Road 19 in the area south of Centre. Chasidy Wilcox Jeffrey Wilcox Jr., 30, is the man who is being sought in connection with the deaths. Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver said Wilcox left with his estranged wife, 30 year-old Chasidy Wilcox, as a kidnapping victim. As of this morning, he has warrants for capital murder and first degree kidnapping. The Andrews' were Jeffrey Wilcox's mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law. Shaver said Wilcox arrived at the house with his three children in the pickup. Another two children, who were grandchildren of the Andrews', were inside the house when the incident happened. The five children escaped out of the house and were later found by authorities. None were injured, Shaver said. Authorities are looking for a red 2011 Chevy Silverado pick up, carrying the license plate number 11FR476. Wilcox is believed to be armed and dangerous. He lives in the northern part of Calhoun County and is employed in Anniston, according to the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office. Chief Deputy Matthew Wade said he was not aware of the agency having had any prior interactions with Wilcox. According to court records, the couple had filed for divorce last October. Chasidy Wilcox had also filed for a protection order last September which was denied. In May of this year, the divorce case was dismissed after the couple reconciled, according to filings. Stolen Identities Arrest.jpg Damon Sean Haneline and Duvuan James Holliday-Seegars, both of Detroit, were arrested by the Jefferson County Financial Crimes Task Force with 177 stolen identities. (Vestavia Hills Police) Two Michigan men caught in Alabama with nearly 200 stolen identities are the latest to be snared in the net of Jefferson County's Financial Crimes Task Force. Vestavia Hills police today announced - via their Facebook page - the arrests of Damon Sean Haneline and Duvuan James Holliday-Seegars, both of Detroit. They were arrested in the Birmingham area on July 28 in possession of 177 stolen identities from more than 25 banking institutions. Authorities said many of the victims were from Jefferson County, which police said highlighted "the level of sophistication in the duo's planning." The pair is believed to be responsible for thousands of dollars in fraud loss before being arrested by the task force and Shelby County sheriff's deputies. The Financial Crimes Task Force includes Vestavia Hills police, the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Secret Service. The group works closely with investigators at Regions Bank, and said the bank's help in this investigation was invaluable. "Despite the small fraction of victims Regions Bank experienced in this case and numerous banking institutions more greatly affected, Regions Bank's dedication to the fight against card fraud made it possible for the Jefferson County Regional Financial Crimes Task Force to ultimately make an arrest in this case,'' police said in their release. Haneline, 21, and Holliday-Seegars, 22, both are charged with trafficking in stolen identities. They are being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail. "This case emphasizes the need for a RICO statute in Alabama," District Attorney Brandon Falls said in a prepared statement. "We will continue to be a target for credit card fraud rings until we have the ability to go after the leaders responsible for this type of organized crime." After Republican nominee Donald Trump lashed out at a fallen soldier's parents, many GOP lawmakers are denouncing Trump's comments. In a speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, Muslim lawyer Khizr Khan talked about his son, Capt. Humayun Khan. Humayun received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. "If it was up to Donald Trump, he would have never been in America," Khizr said during his speech. The mourning father also said that Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one" for America. He also asked the nominee if he had "even read the United States constitution." Trump disputed Khizr's comments this weekend. "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. "If you look at his wife [Ghazala], she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me." Ghazala wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post yesterday, and said that she did not speak during her husband's speech because she can "hardly control" herself when seeing pictures of her son, and that she is still grieving. This morning. Sen. John McCain criticized the real-estate mogul's comments and said, "While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." "In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents... He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States -- to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates," according to his statement. McCain, a war hero and former POW in Vietnam, added: "I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent." The senator's statement comes after his granddaughter, Caroline, endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in an essay on Medium. McCain's daughter, Meghan, also posted a tweet on Saturday that called Trump a "barbarian." According to NPR, Trumps running mate Mike Pence tried to tone down the nominee's comments. "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American," he said. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a former presidential candidate, also spoke out against Trump's comments and said that he respects all Gold Star families. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have both made statements defending the Khan family, ABC News reported. McCain finished his statement by thanking the Khan family for coming to America. I would ask what kind of barbarian would attack the parents of a fallen soldier, but oh yeah it's the same person who attacks POW's. Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 31, 2016 Roy Moore responds to complaints Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore listens to Attorney Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, respond Wednesday, April 27, 2016, to complaints made against Moore in January by various groups protesting his administrative order explaining the legal status of the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Act and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) (JULIE BENNETT) Secrets and blacked-out documents have taken center stage in the past week in the battle between suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and the state commission that leveled ethics charges against him. One issue involves a "secret" ruling JIC cited in a response to the federal lawsuit Moore filed against JIC. The other involves redacted memos Moore wrote to colleagues on the Alabama Supreme Court that he cited in response to the JIC ethics charges before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. When Moore responded last week to the ethics charges he included excerpts from memos he had sent last fall to fellow justices in an effort to explain why he ultimately issued a Jan. 6 order to probate judges regarding same-sex marriage. It was that January order that prompted the JIC to file the ethics charges against Moore. On Monday, at the request of the JIC, the chief judge of the Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ), Michael Joiner, ordered Moore to submit to him by 5 p.m. Tuesday the full, un-redacted, copies of memos he sent to his fellow justices on Sept. 2 and Oct. 7 last year. The COJ is the court that will hear the complaint and decide whether Moore should be disciplined or tossed off the Alabama Supreme Court for the second time in his life. Moore had been tossed off the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003 after refusing a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courts building. Moore was re-elected in 2012. The JIC late Friday had filed a motion seeking full, un-redacted, copies of the memos. The JIC stated it had first sent a request to Moore for the un-redacted memos. Moore provided two memos but they still had substantial redactions. Joiner states in his order that he will look at the copies of the memos and decide what should be provided to the JIC. Moore's attorneys, JIC stated, indicated that "a small portion of each memorandum has been redacted because it includes confidential court matters not relevant to the dispute in this case." The JIC stated it asked Moore's attorneys once again but Moore refused, citing confidentiality concerns. "To be fair, counsel for the Chief Justice then suggested that, if the JIC intends to press this issue, it would be willing to provide the un-redacted memoranda to the Court for in-camera inspection, and will promptly respond to the JIC's present motion." Moore had brought up the excerpts from the internal memos to fellow Alabama Supreme Court Justices in his response to the JIC charges last week. He wrote that he was trying to get the other justices to take action on a pending petition filed by the Alabama Policy Institute (API) that sought an order barring same-sex marriage licenses being issued in the state. Based on the API petition the Alabama Supreme Court in March 2015 - before the U.S. Supreme Court had made gay marriage legal nationwide - had issued an order to probate judges to halt the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The charges filed by the JIC surround Moore's administrative order Jan. 6 to Alabama probate judges stating that the Alabama Supreme Court Order of March 2015 was still in place - that it had never been rescinded by the justices although federal rulings had already declared same-sex marriage legal and Alabama's sanctity of marriage law unconstitutional. "I did not direct the probate judges to disobey a federal order, but instead sought to encourage the Alabama Supreme Court to fulfill its duty to rule on the status of its API orders. By issuing the Administrative Order, I sought to address the confusion and uncertainty among the probate judges of Alabama arising from the court's delay," Moore stated in his response last week. Moore stated he included in his response the excerpts from memos to his colleagues on the court in September and October 2015 to indicate he "strongly encouraged" fellow justices to address an order in the API case on June 29, 2015, three days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring same-sex marriage legal nationwide. That Alabama Supreme Court ruling had asked parties in the API petition to submit briefs on the effect the U.S. Supreme Court should have on its order from March 2015 telling probate judges not to issue the licenses. Probate judges and others submitted briefs but the Alabama Supreme Court did not act right away. On Sept. 2, 2015, Moore states in last week's response, that he wrote to his colleagues reminding them of the order they had issued just after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. "I believe it is time for us to make a decision in this case, one way or the other: to acquiesce in Obergefel and retreat from out March orders or to reject Obergefell and maintain our orders in place," Moore states he told his fellow justices. "At this juncture any decision is better than no decision at all," Moore states he told fellow justice in the September memo. "The uncertainty facing the probate judges in this state is enormous. As the parties in this case, they need guidance from us on this court's view of the legitimacy and controlling effect of Obergefell." Moore stated he again wrote another memo on Oct. 7 to his colleagues on the Alabama Supreme Court noting that others were urging them to act. This memo came after AL.com published a guest opinion entitled "Where is the Alabama Supreme Court on gay marriage?" The authors were Eunie Smith, president of the Alabama Eagle Forum and John H. Killian Sr., former president of the Alabama State Baptist Association. Moore then issued the Jan. 6 order telling probate judges that the Alabama Supreme Court orders were still in place. "The (January) Order neither instructed the probate judges to defy a parallel federal court order nor to ignore the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges," according to a 54-page brief filed Wednesday by Liberty Counsel, which represents Moore. The brief also asks the Court of the Judiciary, which will hear the ethics complaint brought by JIC, to dismiss the ethics charges against Moore. The Judicial Inquiry Commission, which had brought the ethics charges against Moore in May, stated in a July 15 brief to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary stating why that court should issue a summary judgment in its favor and remove Moore now - instead of waiting on a trial - from the bench instead of granting Moore's request to dismiss the charges. Joiner has set a hearing for Aug. 8 to consider both Moore and JIC's motions for summary judgment. After that hearing a final hearing, including a trial if necessary, would be set. Secret case Meanwhile, Moore's attorneys also are fighting to have a federal judge review a secret JIC case and secret ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court in that secret case. The motion by Moore's attorneys was made Friday in the pending federal lawsuit Moore filed against JIC. Among other things, Moore challenges in his lawsuit the automatic suspension of judges from the bench when the JIC files ethics charges. He also claims the JIC has no jurisdiction over an Administrative Order of the Chief Justice. U.S. District Court Judge W. Harold Albritton, III has set a hearing for Thursday in Montgomery to consider a motion by the JIC to dismiss the lawsuit. "The JIC conveniently implies that a full, un-redacted copy of its 'secret precedent' cannot be filed, because the opinion is secret," Moore's attorneys state in the federal lawsuit motion. "That, however, is a problem of the JIC's own making, which the JIC should have considered before it advanced a cherry-picked paragraph from that secret opinion as dispositive of this case. Relying only upon the paragraph selectively and deceptively chosen by the JIC would offend any notion of fairness or basic due process." If the Court does not strike or entirely disregard the JIC's reliance on the excerpt from the secret opinion Mooe asks permission to file a full, un-redacted, copy of that opinion under seal in the case so the judge can review it. JIC says that secret ruling does confirm the Court of the Judiciary's authority to rule on constitutional challenges. "With respect to the court's first question regarding the Alabama Supreme Court's order in Ex parte [redacted], which confirms the authority of the Court of the Judiciary to hear and decide constitutional challenges, the Chief Justice argues that, because the decision is unpublished, it should be afforded no precedential value and that it was 'soley for the benefit of the parties' to that particular Rule 19 petition (case)," according to the JIC filing. parker griffith Parker Griffith, former U.S. congressman and Alabama senator, is currently the largest individual campaign donor for two candidates for the Huntsville school board 2016 race. Griffith is shown here in a 2014 file photo. (Sarah Cole/scole@al.com) (Sarah Cole) Former U.S Congressman Parker Griffith has donated $1,000 each to the Huntsville school board campaigns of Pam Hill and Michelle Watkins. Both of the board candidates have been vocal critics of the school board in recent years. Griffith said he wants to see fresh faces on the board to counterbalance what he calls a "management style of fear and intimidation." Griffith is now the largest individual supporter of Watkins in north Huntsville and Hill in west Huntsville. "We've got an exodus of teachers and an exodus of children out of our system," said Griffith, who represented North Alabama in Congress from 2009-2011. "We would like for the rest of the state to see Huntsville as an oasis of progress and wealth, but in reality there is a core in our city that's declining and management of this school system is a big part of our declining core. "It has to be changed." Griffith, a retired cancer doctor who has two granddaughters at Huntsville High School, said he's been dismayed at the school board's "rubberstamping" of the recommendations of Superintendent Casey Wardynski, a former Army colonel hired to improve a city system of about 23,000 students. But the Committee of 100, a group of local business leaders of which Griffith is a member, endorsed the rival candidates, including incumbent Laurie McCaulley for District 1 in north Huntsville and Carlos Mathews for District 5 in west Huntsville. Griffith, who lives in neither district, criticized the Committee of 100 for supporting candidates he said will try to smooth over the system's problems. "What I would like the superintendent to do is to recognize the fact that his leadership style has been detrimental to the system," he said. "Teachers cannot be managed as though they are military recruits." Carol Madry Bell, executive director of the Committee of 100, said the organization values the strides the school board has made in improving test scores district-wide "at a greater rate than we have seen in a long time." As part of a Federal court-approved plan to get out from under a 50-year-old desegregation order, the school system has closed and merged some schools, rezoned students, and revamped its discipline procedures. Griffith is concerned about how discipline has been handled in the schools since a new Code of Conduct was adopted last year. Bell acknowledged that complying with the federal consent order has been "challenging" for the school system, but said her organization supports the efforts the board has made toward getting the desegregation order lifted. "Our No. 1 interest in our school systems is that they provide academic opportunity for all students and high quality workforce development," said Bell. "We believe Huntsville City Schools is headed in a very positive direction on both of those levels." Griffith represented the Huntsville area as a Democrat in the Alabama Senate from 2006-2008 before winning a seat in Congress. He switched to the Republican party while in office and lost in the Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks. Griffith said he supports Hill and Watkins because they have a history of "being children's advocates." Both Watkins and Hill have been educators in Huntsville schools. "I feel like they can bring a perspective to the school board that we don't have right now. It was an easy decision" to donate to their campaigns, he said. Griffith, who mounted an unsuccessful run for Huntsville mayor in 2004, also said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle has not adequately addressed the problems in the school system. "I believe that Mayor Battle, who is going to win a third term, is actually running for governor and does not want any hiccups or blemishes in this community. He's covering up what's happening in the school system because he does not want that on record. It would hurt him in a gubernatorial election in Alabama." The Redstone Arsenal resident who was found dead Sunday on the installation has been identified as a two-star general who just moved to Huntsville to take the reins of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command. Maj. Gen. John Rossi, 55, was found dead Sunday at his new home on the arsenal. He was scheduled to take his new command on Tuesday, replacing Lt. Gen. David L. Mann as commanding general of USASMDC/ARSTRAT. The cause of death for Rossi, a native of Long Island, New York, remains under investigation, according to Redstone Arsenal officials. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Maj. Gen. John G. Rossi's family. We share their grief during this time of loss," Lt. Gen. Larry Wyche, Army Materiel Command deputy commanding general and Redstone Arsenal senior commander, said in a news release. "Our priority right now is to take care of the family, ensuring they have all the resources they need during this critical time." Rossi leaves behind his wife, Liz, three children and a grandchild. According to KSWO-TV out of Lawton, Oklahoma, where Fort Sill is located, Rossi was anticipated to receive his third star upon his taking command of the USASMDC/ARSTRAT. Before leaving Fort Sill, Rossi was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service. Just 10 days before his death, Rossi told the television station that he planned on being in the Army until the military no longer needed him. "You hate leaving because you try to become part of a team and build a team. I think we have a great team here, so you hate to leave it, but you know, in the back of your mind that this is just part of the Army, this is tradition," Rossi told the TV station. "As commanders come and go...the colors live on forever. So the name tag changes, but the institution and command stays," Rossi said. See Rossi's interview with the news station at the bottom of this story. Rossi graduated from West Point in 1983 and was commissioned in the Army as an air defense artillery officer, KSWO-TV reports. He was a commander at every level, becoming commanding general of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill in 2014. Prior to that assignment, according to Redstone Arsenal, Rossi served as the director of the Army Quadrennial Defense Review Office at the Pentagon. Officials and NGOs hope to work with healers, who thrive in remote areas, in order to reach underserved communities. Ambondro, Madagascar In Ambondro village in the remote south of Madagascar, it is said that the man whom people seek out to cure their sickness was trained by a ghost. Sixty-year-old Mbola Tohamana is a traditional healer and claims his potions and spells can treat diseases and psychiatric disorders and even make people fall in love. He is the sole inhabitant of a wooden house a rare luxury in a region where many families cram a dozen people into one small living space. Inside, a brown and yellow tapestry emblazoned with depictions of butterflies and vines hangs across a wall. Pinned to it is a 2016 calendar and a weekly timetable. Tools, boxes and a bicycle are neatly stacked around a sizeable bed. Sitting on the thatched floor, Mbola explains how the knowledge of his craft came to him. In 1975, I fell sick, he says. I had to drink Zebu blood [the blood of the local humped cattle]. Soon after, a ghost came from the sea and taught me everything I know. Another 4,860 ghosts followed, Mbola says, and they always sit on his shoulders even as he speaks. I take them as gods, they guide me. They are his counsel in healing and advise him on how to treat people, he says. He is one of many healers practising his craft in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, where 80 percent of people live in extreme poverty. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional healing as the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures. Mbola provides a face to an issue present in many developing countries across Africa an estimated 80 percent of the population use traditional medicine to treat ailments, according to the World Bank. The community pillar Mbolas remedies and solutions are at odds with modern medicine, but he is a pillar of the community in a remote place which feels forgotten by modern institutions owing to the lack of infrastructure and services. From his small shack in Ambondro, Mbola diagnoses patients and prescribes treatments. There are two kinds of diseases, those that need hospital and those that dont need hospital, Mbola says. The only thing that I cannot heal is something which has to be done by surgery, but the tools of how I do it change every six months. Delivering babies is not something Mbola defines as needing hospitalisation, but for cases of tuberculosis the leading infectious killer in Madagascar Mbola gives patients a plant and then sends them to hospital. He also admits that he cannot treat HIV. READ MORE: Madagascar The vulnerability to tuberculosis He does not restrict his repertoire to physical ailments. I also break curses, and cure foolishness, he says, referring to mental illness. If someone is walking around with no clothes on and has no shame, he can come to me The community will still accept him if he comes to me. Despite delivering results of varying quality, traditional healers are often integral members of their communities and local culture and heritage. They thrive in places where doctors are few and far between in Madagascar, only 60 percent of the population has geographic access to health facilities, according to NGOs working in the country. Those who fall sick in remote communities may have to walk a dozen miles or more to reach medical help. Getting around is tough: Madagascar has some of the least developed infrastructure in the world and the quality of its roads lounge at the bottom of the International Trade Centres global rankings at 120th out of 148 countries. Even if a person is able to complete that journey while sick, they meet with a doctor unknown to them, who represents a healthcare system described as inadequate by officials and aid workers alike. And despite their efforts, the Malagasy healthcare system is extremely weak and heavily reliant on foreign aid. According to those working in the health sector, it faces myriad challenges, including poor management, and maintenance of infrastructure and medicine stocks. Many of the staff work voluntarily, having not been paid for years, which means that for the sick, just making it to medical help does not guarantee recovery. Diagnosis and treatment Still, their diagnostic tests seem more likely to be accurate than those provided by Mbola. Back in his house, he reaches into a drawer, takes out his tools for identifying a patients problem and arranges them on the floor. Below his feet are seeds, mixed in a pile with a collection of coins, both Malagasy Ariary and old francs. Next to the pile lies a deck of playing cards, some bones, a bracelet and some small pieces of wood. Patients do not have to be present at this diagnosis, Mbola says. He can do it over the phone, sending his treatments across the country. To be diagnosed by the patterns these objects make costs just 200 Malagasy Ariary, which is less than $0.10. When the treatment is determined, it will cost the patient several thousand Ariary (less than $1.00), depending on the case though he provides free treatment for children under a year old. Mbola reaches into a drawer again, and pulls out more small pieces of wood from a plastic bag. These have writing scrawled on them identifying the type of wood needed for a certain treatment. Some are driftwood, others are from trees. One set is for physical illnesses, another for foolishness. Another set can be used to treat animals this is a lucrative market in the agrarian region, where cattle are more highly valued than cash. The wood is made powerful when it is ground by a stone, Mbola says. Then it is drunk with water Handicapped people must take the wood that comes from the sea. Mbola also plays Cupid for those unfortunate in love. If a man wants to marry someone who is not interested, I give him this, Mbola says, reaching for a bar of bright pink soap. A special potion is made and doused on the soap, after which Mbola instructs the bachelor to wash with it, and the subject of his love will accept him. A strategy for collaboration? The widespread presence of traditional healers is deeply rooted in many parts of the developing world, including Madagascar. Some traditional healer remedies have been found to be effective. For instance, the World Bank cites a study which indicated that herbal treatments for shingles used by healers in Uganda were effective. The WHO even has a strategy for working with traditional healers whose practices are more accepted. But regulation, safety, effectiveness and evidence-based use are core to the WHO approach. Indeed, the organisation describes the risks associated with traditional healers as the use of poor-quality, adulterated or counterfeit products; unqualified practitioners; incorrect or delayed diagnosis; failure to use effective conventional treatments; exposure to misleading or unreliable information and direct adverse events; side-effects or unwanted treatment interactions. READ MORE: How traditional healers helped defeat Ebola In Madagascar, working with some purveyors of such poor medicine is far from ideal. But traditional healers have access to more people, more so than NGOs and medical doctors. Traditional healers are held in high regard among some medical professionals in Madagascar, as well. Health minister, Professor Mamy Andriamananarivo a trained surgeon told Al Jazeera of his appreciation of traditional healers. Although he said that some were fakes who were just in it for the money, he also said some were good at their craft. I saw people cured by traditional healers, he said in an interview. I saw a broken foot treated with plants. I also saw someone who had been burned cured by saliva. This happened just seven kilometres from Antananarivo [Madagascars capital], the health minister said. Andriamananarivo said he wants to do more to work with established, good traditional healers those who really have a gift. He wants to give licences to real traditional healers, but did not say how he planned to implement regulations over what is, by its very nature, a hard-to-control business. While not endorsing the practices, some in the international health sector believe that engagement, rather than confrontation with traditional healers, should be attempted in order to implement health policies. Back in Ambondro, Dr Simeon Ananama, a visiting nutritionist from Unicef, says he is cautiously willing to work with traditional healers on health issues though collaboration efforts have proved difficult. For any engagement to work, he says, they must be organised into an association. However, when asked if he would be willing to become involved in this, Mbola refused. It would be impossible, he told Dr Ananama. Mbola opposes the prospect of collaborating with other traditional healers in the locality for the purposes of improving healthcare because they are his competitors and could threaten his income. READ MORE: Ebola and Africas medicine men The Turkish nation, with all its elements, is united against the insidious coup attempt. Yasin Aktay is an AK party member of the parliament and head of the Turkish Group of Inter-Parliamentarian Union. On July 4, a criminal judge in Turkey, Ilhan Karagoz also known as one of the disciples of Fethullah Gulen in the judiciary issued a court decision stating that Gulen was The Mahdi. The Mahdi is the name given to a holy leader who, according to some Muslims, will be sent by God to guide humanity, calling them to follow Islam before the end of the world. Karagoz incorporated himself in this fiction by designating himself as the so-called harbinger of Mahdi, as is written in some religious narratives. Moreover, he issued a call for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, together with all cabinet and parliamentary members, hundreds of mayors, journalists and businessmen, to be taken into custody. Karagoz has now been taken into custody, yet his scandalous verdict clearly demonstrates the extent of this Gulenist esoteric groups conception of the world and it helps us anticipate what Turkey would be like, should such a coup attempt succeed. The night of the coup attempt On July 15, Gulen unleashed his pawns his disciples had been infiltrating into the Turkish army since the 1970s against Turkish democracy. These pawns attempted to seize the government by brute force. Millions of civilians flooded the streets to prevent the nefarious objectives of the coup plotters and forced them to surrender with their mere unarmed solidarity. That night, the putschists killed hundreds of civilians. Fortunately, at the end of the day, they lost and people saved the democracy. The Turkish nation, with all its elements including the staunch critics of the Justice and Development Party (AK party) united against the insidious coup attempt. Almost all segments of society echoed the same message to the whole world. Yet this event bears the characteristics of a litmus test for global media coverage. We are already accustomed to widespread criticism, particularly aimed at Erdogan, parroting his so-called authoritarianism. There was no change on this occasion. OPINION: The strategic consequences of Turkeys failed coup Once again, he had his share of being the target of unjust assault even before any serious condemnation of the bloody coup attempt. Pedantic criticism of Erdogans potential attitude towards coup plotters accompanied whispered expressions of condemnation of the coup. Reactions from the global community in this sense have helped to reveal Westerners sincerity and consistency on embracing democracy. Once again their attitude reflects a crude repetition of orientalism, in the same way they reacted against General Abdel Fattah el-Sisis coup in Egypt back in 2013. According to them, eastern particularly Muslim societies lack pluralism, civil society and personal liberties. There is nothing to learn especially on the concept of democracy from the easterners. How do the Gulenists work? Another source of confusion in the minds of obsessive opponents is the lack of understanding of the Gulenist organisation. It is also the main reason behind the sniff at the heroic victory of the Turkish nation against coup plotters. Although the Gulenist organisation might be quite alien to some Westerners, at least they should take into account the details of how Gulen started this organisation and the methods he used to covertly infiltrate into bureaucratic institutions. Those who direct the sharpest arrows of criticism at Erdogan since day one, should realise the extent of threat Turkey has faced. by The most remarkable thing about their organisational structure is the peculiar hierarchy they adopt. In their idiosyncratic chain of hierarchy, an elementary school teacher might possess the authority to give orders to an army general. Day by day, confessions of the plotters revealed the scope of the decade-long underhand project of Gulen and shed light on his final treason. One criticism to deal with the failed coup attempt centres on the number of people taken into custody or dismissed from public service and other institutions. Recalling how the Gulenists boasted about the number of their followers gives an insight into the number of people involved in the plot. OPINION: People defeated the coup in Turkey For years, Gulenists were boasting of having millions of supporters. This attempt was clearly organised by hundreds, including the allies in various departments of the government. Some experts estimate that had the Gulenists not attempted to overthrow the government, they would have controlled 90 percent of the command echelon of the Turkish military by 2023. Consequently, such a large-scale bloody attempt would inevitably involve thousands. Were Gulen and Erdogan allies? Gulen has always worked in harmony with various Turkish governments. He has never missed any opportunity that would brace his organisation. He was always careful not to clash with any government, let alone have any critical stance against previous coups. His pragmatism continued during the rule of the AK party. Obviously Gulenists exploited the AK partys reforms and the democratisation initiatives with the aim of increasing their power within the bureaucratic and civil society circles. OPINION: Coups work only for autocracies, not democracies Moreover, Erdogans governments were not categorically against religiosity. Freedom of religious expression was fully guaranteed, and religiosity was no longer an obstacle to being in public service. The ostensible alliance between Erdogan and Gulen made it easier for the latter to deeply penetrate into the government. Erdogan was initially neutral towards the Gulenists. Nevertheless, after realising that they were following a different agenda, respecting an autotelic chain of hierarchy and increasingly posing a threat to the legitimate bureaucratic hierarchy, the government started to take measures to avoid what it termed as a parallel state. Extreme threat Various analyses in the aftermath of the coup attempt have been quite different from previous ones targeting Erdogan or the AK party. Those who have directed the sharpest arrows of criticism at Erdogan since day one should realise the extent of the threat that Turkey has faced. Social media is vibrant with the recordings of the putschists atrocities and peoples unprecedented resistance in the name of protecting democracy and the very legitimate ground of politics. Turkey is now taking serious measures to consolidate its government against any other attempt that could endanger its future. This momentous campaign is run both by the ruling and opposition parties. Hence, before reformulating obsolete arguments, journalists need to have a far better insight into the actuality of the cause celebre in Turkey. Yasin Aktay is a Justice and Development Party member of the parliament and head of the Turkish Group of Inter-Parliamentary Union. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Both anarchist violence of the past century and ISIL today have sought to bring radical change to the global order. Ibrahim al-Marashi is an associate professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. How does one connect the murder of a French priest, Jacques Hamel, in Normandy on July 26 with two car bomb attacks that killed more than 50 in the Syrian city of Qamishli the following day? Both tragic acts of violence were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) but represent the evolution of two distinct trends of political violence, even if the events occurred within 48 hours. While the Qamishli attacks targeted Syrian Kurds, a formidable threat to ISILs presence in Syria, the tragic death of an elderly priest did not increase the strength of the ISIL in any tangible way. The notion of a lone-wolf has come under question as a faulty analytical concept in understanding the violence in Europe. Rather, those attacks in Europe and the United States are launched by individuals operating within an ISIL hierarchy of violence, and developing a self-perpetuating momentum, with little guidance from ISILs capital in Raqqa. These types of attacks do little to prevent ISILs territorial contraction in Iraq and Syria, yet they form a discrete pattern of violence of striking at soft, symbolic targets, which harkens back to the anarchist terrorism more than a century ago a persistent source of fear and anxiety in Europe and the US. Activating cells The summer of 2016 has witnessed ISIL attacks in urban centres such as Orlando, Baghdad, Istanbul, Medina, Nice, Munich, Kabul, Ansbach, Germany, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, and Qamishli. Hamid Dabashis earlier article on these attacks attributes them to ISIL as the total state predicated on the pure spectacle of violence. The attacks in Baghdad and Qamishli were orchestrated by this total state, striking at enemies which border it. First, ISILs central organisation uses car bombs on the battlefield. Second, car bombs are ISILs most effective yet indiscriminate weapon of sapping the morale of the civilian base of its enemies in Iraq and Syria, the equivalent of Adolf Hitlers V-1 and V-2 missiles which terrorised London. Beyond its base in Syria and Iraq, ISIL projects violence beyond its state with autonomous cells, groups consisting of more than five people, with one member directly dispatched by the ISIL base. The phenomenon of ISIS-ish attacks in the summer of 2016 raises the spectre of a type of political violence resembling the anarchist violence, or the 'first war on terror'. by The attacks further afield in Europe, the US, and Medina, Kabul, and Istanbul appeared to have been the work of ISIL cells, most likely with some direction of the central leadership or its regional franchises. These self-contained networks were responsible for relatively sophisticated urban-guerrilla attacks such as the ones in Paris and Belgium. All these attacks were tangential to ISILs military campaign, but struck at soft targets that perpetuate a narrative of the global reach of the ISIL. William McCants distinguishes between ISIL-directed violence and a category he terms ISIS-ish conducted by men and women who have no organisational ties to ISIS but murder in its name. These attacks are launched on the individual level, and tangential to ISILs military and territorial objectives in Syria and Iraq. The attacks from San Bernardino to Orlando, from Nice to Normandy, appear to be ISIS-ish. OPINION: World leaders perpetuate failed anti-terror policies Towards the end of their killing sprees, the perpetrators claim loyalty to ISIL, usually through a Facebook post or call to the authorities. Some of these individuals had online contacts before with ISIL members or sympathisers. In some cases, ISIL leaders most likely learned about the attacks the way we do, from the news, and then opportunistically claim credit after the fact. Both on the cell and individual level, they strike at symbolic targets. Past waves of terror The phenomenon of ISIS-ish attacks in the summer of 2016 raises the spectre of a type of political violence resembling the anarchist violence, or the first war on terror. While anarchists sought to usher in an age without political and religious authority, ISILists seek to usher in an age with a single religious-political authority, their caliph. OPINION: ISIL as total state and pure violence From the 1880s to the 1930s, anarchist terrorism ranged from assassinating European heads of state and royalty, to US President William McKinley in 1901. They targeted industrialists, such as Rockefeller and Morgan, and sought to bomb targets ranging from a Catholic church in Wisconsin in 1917, to Wall Street in 1920. By no means did these anarchists match the brutality or systemic horror of ISIL-directed or ISISish attacks. Rather this historical comparison of cell-based and individual anarchist violence indicates what ISIL-inspired violence represents for the 21st century. OPINION: The blurred battle lines between Baghdad and Brussels After World War II, terrorism emerged owing to a confluence of nationalism, decolonisation, and Cold War proxies. Groups such as the Irish Republican Army, the Basque ETA or Turkeys Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the likes sought a future nation, usually within an existing state. Leftist groups such as the Italian Red Army or Perus Shining Path, while adhering to a transnational ideology, still operated within their respective national settings. The emergence of religious groups in the 1980s, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah or Hamas, originated from within national conflicts during that decade. ISIL and al-Qaeda represent a decentralised form of transnational terrorism. The individual-level ISISish attacks this summer do bear some resemblance to the anarchist attacks of the last century. Opposed to terrorist groups that sought Irish unity or Basque independence, both anarchist and ISIL violence sought and seek to bring radical change to the global order. Whether it was an anarchist attack against a Catholic church, or the murder of a Catholic priest last week by a deranged ISISish youth, such attacks claimed symbolic value in the name of ushering in a utopian future. Both represent the violent counter-cultures of their time. And like all violent counter-cultures, they will eventually lose relevance and die out over time. Ibrahim al-Marashi is an assistant professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. He is the co-author of Iraqs Armed Forces: An Analytical History. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. The ongoing war in Yemen, which has displaced millions of people, is far more complex than a Sunni-Shia conflict. For three years, Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country, has been wracked by a bloody war between the Houthi rebels and supporters of Yemens internationally recognised government. The Houthis and the Yemeni government have battled on and off since 2004, but much of the fighting was confined to the Houthis stronghold, northern Yemens impoverished Saada province. READ MORE: Resolution still elusive in war-torn Yemen In September 2014, the Houthis took control of Yemens capital, Sanaa, and proceeded to push southwards towards the countrys second-biggest city, Aden. In response to the Houthis advances, a coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthis and restore Yemens government. Here are some key facts about Yemens complex war: Civilian casualties in Yemen are high. As of March 26, 2018, at least 10,000 Yemenis had been killed by the fighting, with more than 40,000 casualties overall. Getting accurate information on the death toll is difficult, but Save The Children estimated at least 50,000 children died in 2017, an average of 130 every day. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has estimated that Saudi-led coalition air attacks caused almost two-thirds of reported civilian deaths, while the Houthis have been accused of causing mass civilian casualties due to their siege of Taiz, Yemens third-largest city. Millions of Yemenis have been displaced. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), estimates that more than 3 million Yemenis have fled their homes to elsewhere in the country, and 280,000 have sought asylum in other countries, including Djibouti and Somalia. As reported by Al Jazeera, internally displaced Yemenis often must cope with a lack of food and inadequate shelter. Many Yemenis who have not fled are also suffering, especially those in need of healthcare. Many foreign countries are involved in Yemens war. In 2015, Saudi Arabia formed a coalition of Arab states to defeat the Houthis in Yemen. The coalition includes Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal. Several of these countries have sent troops to fight on the ground in Yemen, while others have only carried out air attacks. The US government regularly launches air attacks on al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) targets in Yemen, and recently admitted to having deployed a small number of troops on the ground. The US, along with other western powers such as the UK and France, has also supplied the Saudi-led coalition with weapons and intelligence. Iran has denied arming the Houthi rebels, but the US military said it intercepted arms shipments from Iran to Yemen this March, claiming it was the third time in two months that this had occurred. Iranian officials have also suggested they may send military advisers to support the Houthis. Events in Yemen are viewed as part of Saudi Arabias cold war with Iran. Saudi Arabia shares a long, porous border with Yemen, and it fears what it sees as Iranian expansionism through its support for Shia armed groups. Commentators in the Arab Gulf States often claim that Iran now controls four Arab capitals: Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa. In Syria, Saudi-backed rebels are fighting against Bashar al-Assads government, which is supported by Iran. Lebanon is another arena of conflict: Iran sponsors Hezbollah, the Shia militia and political movement, while Saudi Arabia supports the predominantly Sunni Future Movement. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran were ratcheted up even further earlier this year, when Saudi Arabia executed Shia Muslim leader Nimr al-Nimr and Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Yemens war is far more complex than a Saudi-Iranian, Sunni-Shia conflict. Yemen was ruled for a millennium by Zaydi Shia imams until 1962, and the Houthis were founded as a Zaydi Shia revivalist movement. However, the Houthis have not called for restoring the imamate in Yemen, and religious grievances have not been a major factor in the war. Rather, the Houthis demands have been primarily economic and political in nature. In 2013, Yemens National Dialogue Conference was launched, and was tasked with writing a new constitution and creating a federal political system. But the Houthis withdrew from the process because it left Yemens transitional government in place. Further inflaming matters was the fact that two Houthi representatives were assassinated during the conferences proceedings. READ MORE: The psychological cost of Yemens war The governments decision to lift fuel subsidies in July 2014 angered the Yemeni public and sparked massive street protests by Houthi supporters and others, who demanded that the government step down. The Houthis proceeded to take over Sanaa in September, forcing the government to flee. The Houthis were assisted in their advance by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was overthrown by protests in 2011, and his supporters. Al-Qaeda and ISIL have spread as a result of the chaos. Yemen has long been home to an al-Qaeda franchise, regarded as one of the most dangerous branches of the organisation. Yet the armed group was able to expand its footprint in Yemen amid the chaos following the ousting of Saleh in 2011, taking control of territory in southern Yemen. Since the start of the war last year, al-Qaeda has launched several attacks on Houthi rebels, whom it views as infidels. In 2015, al-Qaeda took over Mukalla, a provincial capital and the fifth-largest city in Yemen. However, in April 2016, 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops launched a ground raid on Mukalla and drove al-Qaeda from the city. ISIL announced the formation of a wilaya, or state, in Yemen in December 2014. In March 2015, it claimed its first attack in Yemen: suicide bombings in two Sanaa mosques used by Zaydi Shia Muslims, which killed more than 140 people. Providing aid to civilians in Yemen is very difficult. Across Yemen, aid organisations are facing major obstacles to helping Yemenis in need of food, medicine, and other essentials. The Houthi siege of parts of the city of Taiz has prevented critical medical supplies from arriving. Saudi Arabia has pressured aid groups to leave rebel-controlled areas of Yemen, saying that aid workers are at risk. In January 2016, a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders was hit by a rocket, killing four people. A bombing carried out by the Saudi-led coalition injured at least six people at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in October 2015. The psychological trauma of being trapped in a war zone will last long after the conflict ends, doctors say. Aleppo, Syria Eight months ago, Halas mother was killed in front of her when a shell struck the familys home in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Whenever I remember this moment, my tears just fall by themselves, Hala, 14, told Al Jazeera. Even after we moved to another house, I have been having nightmares, and I awake suddenly in the middle of the night and I just cant sleep again, she said. I feel very exhausted. Regardless of how many civilians manage to leave besieged Aleppo in the coming days or weeks, the psychological scars left on the citys children will take much longer to heal, doctors say. READ MORE: No escape from Aleppo for the critically wounded Some 300,000 civilians remain in the opposition-held part of the city, 60 percent of whom are women and children, according to Save the Children. The Russian and Syrian governments announced last week that civilians and any fighters who surrendered would be allowed to leave the city via humanitarian corridors, but Amnesty International expressed scepticism, noting that even if safe routes were provided, this will not avert a humanitarian catastrophe. John Kahler, a paediatrician from Chicago who recently visited Aleppo on a voluntary medical mission with the Syrian American Medical Society one of the biggest organisations still providing healthcare inside the country said the situation has become increasingly dire. It was powers of 10 worse than what I expected. You cant expect it if you havent seen it whole blocks were bombed out, he told Al Jazeera. Civil wars are deeply traumatic for children, Kahler said, noting that to be happy, children must feel secure and comfortable. [In a civil war], its not just an external aggressor. These are foes from inside, he said, noting the degradation of cultural security can leave children feeling extremely vulnerable, affecting their ability to trust others and to find comfort. [In Aleppo I saw] kids who couldnt be comforted At the least provocation, they would break down, Kahler said, citing temper tantrums and signs of significant anxiety disorder. Um Hanan, a mother of five children whose husband was killed three years ago when a shell hit his carpentry workshop in Aleppo, said she was at a local market last year with her daughter Basma when two barrel bombs fell nearby. While Basma, now 11, quickly recovered from her light wounds, the psychological trauma has lingered, her mother told Al Jazeera. Ten days after the incident, she began wetting her bed at night, and her hands shake while she eats. She no longer seems to enjoy socialising, her mother added: She goes to school but she doesnt play, and she is not very interactive in classes or in the free time between the lessons. [Children by John safety, comfort, protection, room to play. I dont mean physical room, but psychological space. But if you dont know when a barrel bomb is going to fall next, theres only so much you can do.] Um Hanan, however, says she has struggled to find support for her daughter. I really dont know what to do, she said. I visited and asked many doctors and pharmacists about her situation, but they all said she cant be treated because it is a psychological issue. Abdulkarim Ekzayez, a doctor with Save the Children, expressed concern that children have not been receiving sufficient psychosocial support in many areas of Syria. We do have a lot of cases of mental health and children really badly affected, psychosocially, by the conflict, said Ekzayez, who heads the organisations health and nutrition programme for northwestern Syria. He said that he has seen children exhibiting anxiety-related symptoms, often after having left besieged areas. You can see the child is isolated. In the child-friendly centres, a lot of children are not engaged with other children; they do not play, they prefer to be alone, they do not laugh at all, he said. Such symptoms are really common. Kahler says this type of anxiety can manifest as bed-wetting and having difficulty eating, a situation that has been exacerbated in Aleppo as families have been repeatedly internally displaced, with their everyday routines torn apart. READ MORE: Syria Civil War The sky is falling in Aleppo Jamilas 16-year-old son, Ahmad, has displayed many of these symptoms, his mother told Al Jazeera. Five months ago, he was at school when the building was hit in a regime air raid. He managed to escape serious injury as he was in an underground classroom at the time, but he has not been able to forget that day. This is not the first time he has survived a bombing from a jet, but this one truly had a bad effect, Jamila said. He has lost his appetite and has been eating a small amount of food. He has also been wetting the bed and stammering, she said, noting she has tried in vain to find appropriate support for Ahmad. There are no psychological doctors or specialists in the rebel-held part of Aleppo, but I asked and visited many pharmacists, and they gave me some medicines to help my son, she said, noting the drugs have helped somewhat, but not enough. She lamented the gradual exodus of doctors from Aleppo in the years since Syrias civil war broke out. Why they have abandoned the city? We suffer from constant sickness All of those who have left will never be forgiven by those of us who have had to survive with basic treatments in order not to die, Jamila said. Doctors work should be here on the ground, which is what they had an oath to do. While life in a warzone is unpredictable, Kahler said, it is crucial for parents to impress upon their children the message that life goes on. [Children need] safety, comfort, protection, room to play. I dont mean physical room, but psychological space, he said. But if you dont know when a barrel bomb is going to fall next, theres only so much you can do. Bodies of 12 people, including a pregnant woman, found more than a year after their disappearance in Boali town. An earlier version of this story misidentified Robert Kolofio and Konoumon Maurice. It also said that Boali was in the northeast of the country. It is in the west. We apologise for these errors. Boali, Central African Republic Robert Kolofio was finally able to bury his younger brother Konoumon Maurice in February, more than a year after he disappeared. His family says Maurice, along with 11 others, was executed by soldiers from Congo Brazzaville who were part of an African Union peacekeeping force. As he seeks justice, Kolofio looks after Maurices six children. Weve been meeting human rights people. My concern is that justice is done, he said. Hes left me with children, I dont have a job, I cant take care of them and I dont even have the power to follow up on his death. Maurice was an area leader of anti-balaka, a Christian rebel group which has been one of the groups fighting a sectarian war in the Central African Republic. People in Boali, the western town where Maurice was from, say he had kept the peace but an altercation with a Congolese AU commander could have led to his death. Pregnant woman killed Most of the graves alongside Maurice are marked unknown because identifying the highly decomposed bodies was difficult. Among the bodies was a pregnant women. What I saw was just skull and bones. I couldnt tell who was who but I knew it was them because of the clothes and some jewellery, said Dabele Nguile Frederick, who witnessed the exhumation. The 12 who were killed were well known, Frederick said, adding that he believed they were murdered at a military base near the field in which they were buried. INTERVIEW: CAR president Touadera speaks to Al Jazeera A United Nations mission took over from African Union forces in September 2013. Since then, the UN has sent AU soldiers accused of murder back to their home countries. Until now there has been no accountability, there has been no judicial process to hold these murderers accountable and this has reinforced this notion in the mission. This has transferred over to the UN that you can get away with it, Lewis Mudge, a researcher in the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al Jazeera. HRW investigated the deaths of 18 people killed between 2013 and last year. While Congolese military officials say they are independently investigating the recent deaths, those at the African Union have handed over the case to the UN. African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, said: I think we usually establish special inquiry teams to look into the facts. The UN has certainly taken this up and well see the outcome of those inquiries, then make a determination. The process has been long and those whose family members were killed are still waiting for answers. They say simply sending troops away is not enough. Al Jazeera is seeking comment from the African Union and the United Nations. Follow Catherine Soi on Twitter: @c_soi New foundation to finance construction and running of mosques to stop radicalisation following attack on priest. A new foundation is planned to help finance the construction and administration of mosques in France, the head of the French Muslim Council has said, as the countrys prime minister and dozens of prominent French Muslims have called for action to stop radicalisation. Anouar Kbibech said on Monday that the foundation would be financed by fees paid by actors in the halal food sector to keep out radical benefactors. The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that he wanted to put an end to the financing from abroad for the construction of mosques. He called for a new pact with the Muslim community in France, which includes about five million members. There is an urgent need to help Islam in France to rid itself of those who are undermining it from the inside, he said. To do that, we have a duty to build a real pact with Islam in France, and give the foundation a central role. READ MORE: Muslims of France Also on Sunday, 41 prominent Muslims, including former ministerial advisers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, scientists and academics, published a joint letter pledging: We, French and Muslim, are ready to assume our responsibilities. We Muslims were silent before because we understand that in France religion is a private matter, they said, calling for a cultural battle against radical Islamism among the youth. The debate has been prompted by an attack on an elderly priest in a Normandy church last week by two Muslim men with alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The attack came as France was on high alert after an attack in Nice that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by ISIL. France, home to Europes largest Muslim community, is a secular state that prohibits the use of state money for the construction of places of worship. Mosques shut down The authorities have shut down about 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam since December, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. There is no place in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who dont respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women, Cazeneuve said. That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others. READ MORE: Is Europe under attack? There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France, about 120 of which are considered to be preaching Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam. He said that since 2012, 80 people had been expelled from France, and dozens more expulsions were under way, without giving further details. Cazeneuve was speaking after a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. He confirmed that authorities were working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee total transparency in financing of mosques with rigorous respect for secular principles. Ankara arrests 11 more soldiers and authorities warn of more to come after coup attempt. Turkey has arrested 11 fugitive soldiers and said at least 311 soldiers, including nine generals, are still at large following this months coup attempt. Fikri Isik, Turkish defence minister, said expulsions from the army were not over and more personnel would be dismissed if necessary, He told CNN Turk television on Monday that the fugitives were believed to still be in Turkey. The 11 soldiers arrested on Monday were suspected of involvement in an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogans hotel during the night of the July 15 failed coup. Also on Monday, 167 generals were reappointed by the defence ministry. READ MORE: The lessons to be learned from Turkeys failed coup The job changes ordered by the fourth decree signed by Erdogan since the announcement of the state of emergency touched at least 94 generals in land forces, 22 admirals, 44 generals in the air force and seven others. Erdogan says Fethullah Gulen, a US-based businessman, was behind the attempted coup. More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the incident. Unfair treatment Turkey admitted on Monday there may have been some unfair treatment in its post-coup crackdown as it voiced anger at Germany for barring Erdogan from addressing a rally in Cologne. There must definitely be some among them who were subjected to unfair procedures, he said in comments published by state-run Anadolu news agency. We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not. Echoing his tone, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said: If there are any mistakes, we will correct them. Houthi rebels refuse to leave three main Yemeni cities they hold, prompting government delegation to leave Kuwait talks. Yemeni government negotiators have decided to leave peace talks in Kuwait after Houthi rebels rejected a United Nations proposal aimed at ending their countrys war. Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said on Monday that the government was not abandoning the peace process, but suggested it would only return if the Houthis and a powerful local ally lifted their objections to the UN plan. Weve agreed to the initiative we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of Kuwait but were not leaving the talks, Mekhlafi said while announcing the move. Well return at any moment, even an hour after our departure, if the other side agrees to sign this document which the (UN) envoy presented. READ MORE: Who are the Houthis? Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN envoy, proposed that the governments foes in the armed Houthi movement quit three main cities they hold, including the capital Sanaa. Under this plan, new talks would then be convened on forming a government that would include the Houthis, delegates said. The Houthis dismissed the proposal as a non-starter on Sunday, saying in a statement that any agreement would need to be comprehensive and not postpone a resolution on major issues. They said they would stay in Kuwait for the talks. The negotiations that started in April have slowed the nationwide fighting that has killed at least 6,400 people and caused one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. The gang rape of the mother and her 14-year-old daughter over the weekend has sparked outrage across the country. Police in northern India said on Sunday that they had detained 15 suspects after a woman and her 14-year-old daughter were gang-raped off a busy highway, the latest incident of sexual violence to shock the country. The attack took place on Friday night near the town of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh state after the car in which the victims were travelling was stopped by a gang of men with an iron rod, said senior local police official Daljeet Choudhary. The men dragged the woman, the daughter and three male relatives who were travelling with them to a nearby field. They then tied up the males and raped the woman and the daughter, Choudhary said. He said several police teams were at work to ensure that the attackers were identified quickly. He gave no details about the detained men. The family was also robbed of money, jewellery and their mobile phones. The attack, which caused outrage across India, highlights the persistence of violence against women in the country despite tougher laws against sexual assault that were imposed following the December 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi. After Fridays attack, opposition politicians in Uttar Pradesh accused the state government of failing to protect women and children. Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of the state, asked local police to ensure that the attackers are identified and arrested quickly. The pope says it is not fair to speak about violence by Muslims without talking about violence committed by Catholics. Pope Francis has condemned the habit of linking Islam with terrorism, saying that nearly all religions have a small group of fundamentalists. Reporters aboard the Catholic leaders plane flying him back to Rome on Sunday after a pilgrimage to Poland, asked him why he never uses the world Islam to describe terrorism or other violence. Its not right to identify Islam with violence. Its not right and its not true, he replied. The pope was in Poland from July 27 until July 31 for World Youth Day, a week-long event attended by more than a million pilgrims. A day before he left, an elderly Catholic priest was killed in Northern France during Mass, in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. READ MORE: Pope in historic talks with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar I dont like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, the pope said, in apparent reference to news of crime in the predominantly Catholic country of Italy. And these are baptised Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence. Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: I know how they think, they are looking for peace. As for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, he said it presents itself with a violent identity card, but thats not Islam. At least 26 anarchist activists cleared by Greek court after being arrested for pro-refugee solidarity action. A Greek court has released 26 anarchists who had disrupted a Sunday Orthodox church service to protest against refugee evictions, a judicial source said. The activists ran into the Thessaloniki cathedral on Sunday, scattering leaflets that read Solidarity with the refugees, before they were arrested by anti-riot forces. Among those arrested were nine foreigners from Austria, Britain, Germany, Morocco, Spain and Switzerland. The Thessaloniki court threw out charges of disturbing a religious gathering. However, 19 of the activists were handed suspended six-month prison sentences for refusing to be fingerprinted by police. The ruling is suspended over a three-year period. READ MORE: Greek anarchists organise for refugees as state fails The protest came after city authorities last week forced refugees out of three buildings where they had been squatting, including an orphanage belonging to the diocese. An incendiary device was also set off earlier on Sunday outside the company that demolished the orphanage. Nobody was hurt. A number of abandoned buildings in Athens and Thessaloniki in recent months have been taken over by anarchists and groups providing refugees and migrants with housing amid concerns about the poor humanitarian conditions in Greek camps. Official estimates say more than 2,000 refugees are currently living in such squats, mostly former schools. While the Greeces Syriza government has been quietly tolerant of the squatters, local authorities have taken a harsher stance, claiming there are concerns of health and safety hazards. Greek authorities have been criticised for the poor conditions in the camps. READ MORE: Greek anarchists cook in solidarity for refugees Ever since Balkan nations on the refugee trail closed their borders earlier this year, the Greek government has been struggling to cope with a build-up of new arrivals prevented from continuing their journey further north into Europe. Greece is currently hosting about 57,000 people, among them Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and people from across the Middle East and Africa. Fleeing war and economic devastation, more than a million refugees and migrants reached Europe by boat in 2015, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Upwards of 256,000 have made the journey so far this year. Crew members and officers on board killed after being shot down in rebel-held Idlib province. Five crew members have been killed as a Russian military chopper was shot down in Syria, the Kremlin said. The helicopter shot down on Sunday in the rebel-held Idlib province had three crew members and two officers on board. Russias defence ministry was cited as saying that the helicopter, an Mi-8 military transport helicopter, had been shot down after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo as it made its way back to Russias main airbase in Syria. There were three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation centre in Syria on board, the ministry said in a statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences over the deaths of the five soldiers. READ MORE: Life among barrel bombs for Aleppos children As far as we know from the information weve had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, he said. Russia is backing the Syrian government in the civil war with military support. Photos had circulated on social media of the smoking wreckage of the helicopter in the deserts of Syria after it was gunned down, said Al Jazeeras Rory Challands. There are [on the images] lots of people standing around this wreckage and the body of a man being dragged away with various bits of documentation and ID being displayed, he said. The signs were there that this would be something very sorry the Russian government would want to admit to. Syrias civil war: Rebels push to break Aleppo siege It was not immediately clear who was responsible. Mamoun Abu Nuwar, an Amman-based Jordanian military analyst, said Russia is being very careful about releasing information on the incident. I think its been shot down by small fire arms or anti-aircraft guns, he told Al Jazeera, explaining that the Army of Conquest, an alliance of armed groups, is most likely to have shot down the aircraft in that region. Possibly well see some punishment by the Russians on these people in that area conducting or escalating an air power campaign in the area. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assads government last September. Tuesdays deaths brought the total number of Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of hardline rebel groups, including the former al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham group after renouncing its status as al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate. Rebel alliance attacks government positions as 300,000 people remain trapped with little access to food and medicine. Syrian rebels have launched an offensive aimed at breaking a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where the UN estimates some 300,000 people are trapped with dwindling food and medical supplies. A rebel alliance that includes the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham group which was formerly the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Ahrar al-Sham group said it had taken army positions in the southwestern government-held parts of the city within the first few hours of launching a battle to break the siege imposed on rebel-held areas. Al Jazeeras Milad Fadel, who is embedded with Syrian rebels on the edge of western Aleppo, said government forces have been preparing for an extended assault. Regime forces have several lines of defence protecting Aleppos western neighbourhoods. This battle could last several days, or maybe even weeks, he said. They will first try to capture the nearby al-Hikmeh school, which is used by regime forces as a military unity base. They will also try to capture nearby security points, advancing towards Aleppos western neighbourhoods. READ MORE: No escape from Aleppo for the critically wounded The Syrian army confirmed the offensive on state media but said its troops had pushed back rebel fighters from an air force artillery base and denied the rebel alliance had captured the Hikmeh school. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which gathers information from a network of local informants, said rebels and pro-government forces were clashing along several fronts on the outskirts of the divided city. Government forces closed off the last route to the opposition holdout in early July, replicating siege tactics that it has employed with mixed results throughout the war. Seizing control of Aleppo would be the biggest victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in five years of fighting, and would demonstrate a dramatic shift of fortunes in his favour since Russia joined the war on his side last year, offering crucial air support. The UNs special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. The Syrian and Russian militaries announced safe corridors for residents who wanted to leave the besieged area on Thursday, but according to the Russian government, only 169 civilians had left by Saturday. Rights groups have warned it is illegal to deprive civilians of basic necessities, and that residents should not have to choose between leaving their homes or starving. Hospitals targeted In southern Syria, an air strike on a hospital in an opposition-controlled town put the facility out of service on Sunday. The hospital in Jasem was targeted in one of several air strikes to hit the town in Deraa province, located some 50km south of Damascus, according to the Local Coordination Committees activist network. The group said six people were killed in the strikes, blaming the government. SOHR said the hospital strike killed a pharmacist and put the facility out of service. Hospitals are regularly targeted in Syrias war, drawing condemnation from the UN and rights groups. The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights says more than 90 percent of attacks on medical facilities in Syria have been carried out by pro-government forces. This is just one of many instances where hospitals have been targeted in Syria. And at some point we have to say this is enough and people have to be held to account, Sanjayan Srikanthan, Deputy Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee, told Al Jazeera. Red lines have been declared by the international community and red lines have been ignored. Push for peace talks In the capital, Damascus, Ramzy Ramzy, the UNs deputy special envoy for Syria, reiterated the UNs intention to resume talks between the government and the opposition in late August, saying he discussed a political transition process with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. The opposition has demanded that Assad step down and whether it will agree to have him stay in power during a transition period or beyond is a key sticking point in negotiations. READ MORE: Women risk death to give birth in Aleppo The minister confirmed the intention of the Syrian government to participate in these talks once they are held, said Ramzy. De Mistura was simultaneously meeting with the Iranian deputy foreign minister in Tehran, a close ally of the Damascus government. In Syrias north, a US-backed, Kurdish-led fighting force managed to secure control of 40 percent of Manbij, a vital satellite for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) groups de facto capital in Raqqa, according to the SOHR. The latest advance by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) opened the way for some 2,300 additional civilians to evacuate the town, the monitor said. A spokesman for the SDF, Sherfan Darwish, said between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians have been released from ISIL-controlled areas over the course of the battle for the town, now entering its third month. He said the SDF controlled nearly three-quarters of Manbij. De Mistura estimated in April that 400,000 people have been killed in the five years of bloody civil war. Tunis Negotiations have begun to form a new government in Tunisia after parliamentarians voted this weekend to sack Prime Minister Habib Essid, whose critics charge that he has failed to tackle the countrys economic and social crises. The vote was a test for democracy, Ibtissem Jbebli, a member of parliament for the Nidaa Tounes party, told Al Jazeera from the capital, Tunis. We are a young democracy and a model for the Arab world. Citing little progress on the economic front during Essids year-and-a-half in office, Jbebli said the outlook was too grim to allow him to remain. Look at how the dinar is dropping. Our economy is in a terrible state. We could not afford to give him a second chance, Jbebli said. He was hesitant and just didnt take firm decisions. READ MORE: Tunisian parliament votes to dismiss PM Habib Essid Essid, 67, had faced increasing pressure to step down in recent weeks, after President Beji Caid Essebsi appeared on national television in June to criticise Essids performance and propose a new government of national unity. A total of 118 members of parliament voted to oust Essid, while three voted for him to remain and 27 abstained. In addition to Nidaa Tounes, Essids coalition government was composed of independents, two small liberal parties the Free Patriotic Union and Afek Tounes and the Islamist Ennahda party. Ennahda became the largest parliamentary force in parliament after 22 Nidaa Tounes politicians split off in January amid party infighting. All of Ennahdas members of parliament voted to unseat Essid. We spent 11 hours discussing the matter, Ennahda party spokesman Oussama Sghaier told Al Jazeera. We practised our democracy. Its very important what we did. According to Sghaier, Essid had done what he could, but Tunisia needs new leadership. People have high expectations. We need a national leader, a politician not a technocrat like him, Sghaier said. In the next government, there will be more consensus. That will make it easier to solve problems. Houda Slim, a member of parliament who abstained from the vote, said she believed Essid had been ousted because he did what he thought was right. Nidaa Tounes wasnt happy about that. Im worried they wont select the most competent person now, but someone from their own people who will obey orders, Slim told Al Jazeera. Although Ennahda has a parliamentary majority, Tunisias president is from Nidaa Tounes. Before the vote, members of parliament praised Essid for his integrity while simultaneously criticising his record. After the vote, he received a standing ovation from parliamentarians. If they don't manage to agree on everything now and they appoint a prime minister with minimum support, problems will arise again. There will be calls for his resignation and large-scale demonstrations. by Youssef Cherif, political analyst Many commentators have praised this exercise of democracy, Tunisian journalist Farida Ayari told Al Jazeera. But I think it was ridiculous to first praise him and then sack him. Also, how can you expect someone to clean up all this mess in only 18 months? This was not just the responsibility of one man. It is a shame that Essid did not speak more about the corruption and nepotism he witnessed during his time in office, and about the pressure on him to resign, Ayari added: He had nothing to lose. Political analyst Youssef Cherif also noted that Essid was not given enough time to make the changes needed for the country. He was clearly failing, but with so many problems, nobody would have been able to do a better job, Cherif told Al Jazeera. According to the countrys constitution, a new prime minister has to be named within 10 days and a government seated a month after that. But seeing how fragile the situation is, any last-minute problem can postpone things, Cherif said. If they dont manage to agree on everything now and they appoint a prime minister with minimum support, problems will arise again. There will be calls for his resignation and large-scale demonstrations. READ MORE: Why is Tunisias Ennahda ditching political Islam? If the politicians cannot agree, the time period can be extended, Slim said. If that doesnt lead to anything we will need new parliamentary elections, she said. But hopefully that wont be necessary. Slim already fears that Essids ousting could slow down many decisions within the government. A new government needs time, she said. People will need to get to know each other. There has been much speculation about who the next prime minister could be already the sixth prime minister since the downfall of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Some of the ministers who have performed well in Essids cabinet will likely continue in the new cabinet, while others will be replaced. Blogger and communications specialist Abdelkarim Benabdallah, who said Essid was not the right person to lead Tunisia, remained hopeful that the next prime minister would be more capable, but added: The problem is that its a hell of a job. Nobody can do it well. Its like suicide. Anyone would think twice before accepting it. Jbebli said she was confident that the new candidate would perform better and get the country to move forward again, but Slim was more pessimistic in her outlook. We are realistic, she said. Nobody can perform the miracles we need right now. Follow Thessa Lageman on Twitter: @thessalageman Turkish special forces have captured 11 soldiers suspected of being involved in a bid to seize President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during last months failed coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. The 11 soldiers were caught in the Ula district of Mugla province after Turkish special forces, supported by helicopters and drones, were sent to the area after a tip-off from a local, state-run media said on Monday. Gunfire broke out as the special forces clashed with the fugitives, but there were no reports of any casualties. The soldiers were part of a group that launched an attack on a hotel where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of July 15 in the southwestern resort of Marmaris. Erdogan, having been tipped off that he was in danger, had fled the hotel by the time they arrived. A total of 37 soldiers were reportedly involved in the operation to seize Erdogan in Marmaris and 25 of them had been caught earlier, according to state media. READ MORE: The lessons to be learned from Turkeys failed coup Their capture came after Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 more members of its armed forces and sacked a top military council with government ministers on Sunday in moves to tighten control of the military after the coup. On Monday, Erdogan said that 18,699 people had been detained since the coup, with 10,137 of them placed under arrest. Thousands of the detained have now been released, with an Istanbul court freeing 758 soldiers late on Friday, adding to another 3,500 former suspects already freed. Turkish authorities have blamed Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim cleric, for the coup attempt. Gulen has denied the charges. Gulen was a one-time ally of Erdogan but the two fell out in recent years over a number of policy issues and personal clashes, according to officials, reports and insider accounts. The government has since vowed to cleanse the civil service of his supporters. Ankara angered after President Erdogan blocked from delivering live-stream address to anti-coup crowd in Cologne. Turkey has summoned a senior German diplomat, the embassy said, a day after German authorities stopped Turkeys president from addressing a rally in Cologne via video-link. The charge daffaires has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry at 1pm (10:00 GMT), a spokeswoman for the German embassy in Ankara told the AFP news agency, adding that the ambassador, who was summoned originally, was not in town. Tens of thousands of supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied in Cologne on Sunday to show their opposition to a failed coup on July 15, which had aimed to topple him. Hours before the demonstration, Germanys constitutional court banned an application to show live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, amid fears that political tensions in Turkey could spill over into Germany. READ MORE: Turkey detains 11 involved in bid to kidnap Erdogan The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the ban unacceptable and a violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly. Germany is home to three million ethnic Turks, making up Turkeys largest diaspora, and tensions over the failed coup have put authorities there on edge. The tension comes at a time when relations between Germany and Turkey are already strained over the German parliaments decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces. Top US general visits Separately, Turkeys military and political leaders were due to meet in Ankara with the top US military commander in the first direct talks since the failed coup. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was to meet with Turkish chief of staff General Hulusi Akar and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been aggravated by the foiled putsch. Some Turkish officials allege that Washington could have had a hand in the plot, a suggestion that has been firmly denied by top US officials. READ MORE: Turkey United against a coup, divided on the future Turkey successfully thwarted the attempted coup, blaming it on a military faction loyal to Erdogans arch-foe Fethullah Gulen, a US-based businessman who has been in self-imposed exile since 1999. Turkey is now requesting his extradition from Pennsylvania. We do not want (the US) to be in a position that will make us question our friendship, Yildirim told Turkish media. If they keep on dragging (their) feet on the Gulen issue then things will take a different course because events of July 15 are crystal-clear. Last week, Erdogan lashed out at the top US general in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, after he expressed concerns about the future of military relations between the two allies in the wake of the attempted coup. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and almost 19,000 people have been detained across Turkey in a post-coup crackdown, sparking international concern. Washington says air raids aimed at backing Libyan forces seeking to retake city of Sirte from the group. An earlier version of this story said Libya's unity government was called the Government of National Authority. This was incorrect. It is the Government of National Accord. US fighter jets have carried out air raids on positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Libyan city of Sirte for the first time, according to the countrys unity government. The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (ISIL) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses in Sirte, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a speech on television on Monday. The Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government, known as the Government of National Accord (GNA). Al Jazeeras Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said the Libyan army had asked for air support after facing booby traps, mines, and roadside bombs in and around Sirte. ISIL made it physically very difficult to follow them as ISIL strengthens their grip on the heart of the city, she said. These air strikes are a way of clearing the terrain and making it safer for Libyan troops to advance. The battle will become more complex as it moves closer to the centre of the city because there are many civilians there who could get caught in the crossfire, Jordan said. Gaddafi home town Speaking to reporters, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the US would continue to carry out air raids in coordination with the GNA. The specific targets will be precision targets, Cook said. One of the targets struck today was a tank the United States military will be rigorously involved in every step of the process. READ MORE: Opinion Libya, extremism and the consequences of collapse We dont have an end point [for the bombing campaign] at this particularly moment in time we certainly hope that this is something that does not require a lengthy amount of time. The Tripoli-based GNA in May launched an assault to retake Sirte, the hometown of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, which ISIL has controlled since June 2015. The fall of Sirte, 450km east of Tripoli, would be a major blow to the group, which has also suffered a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq. The battle for the city has killed around 280 pro-government fighters and wounded more than 1,500, according to medical sources attached to government forces. The pro-GNA forces are mostly made up of militias from western Libya established during the 2011 war that overthrew Gaddafi. A militia set up to guard the countrys main oil facilities has also been advancing on ISIL. The GNA was formed as part of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement reached in December, but it has yet to be endorsed by Libyas elected parliament based outside Tripoli in the countrys east. A look at how DNA sampling can help put an end to the ivory trail. Plus, Californias starving sea lions. A booming illegal ivory trade kills thousands of elephants each year. The issue received international attention in 2015 when four tonnes of ivory were confiscated by customs in Thailand. While the seizure was the biggest in the countrys history, the perpetrators of the crime were never caught. To better equip law enforcement entities, a group of scientists in the United States are developing innovative tools to identify trends in the international ivory trade. They are these keystone species where if you take one out, it has this huge ripple effect on all these other species. Elephants are true keystone species. by Samuel Wasser, director, Center for Conservation Biology, University of Washington In this episode, Techknows Marita Davison talks to a group of scientists who are using DNA extraction, genetic mapping, and carbon dating to find out where the ivory is coming from. In a lab at the University of Washington, researchers extract DNA from ivory samples and compare it to a genetic mapping database which is compiled by analysing DNA in elephant dung. By doing so, they can locate the site of poaching with astonishing accuracy. Right now from anywhere in Africa, we can assign a seizure of ivory closer than 300 kilometres from where it came from, says Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. While DNA analysis helps locate the ivory, geochemist Kevin Uno at Columbia University is using carbon dating to determine when the ivory was harvested. Doing so can help determine if an elephant was poached before or after ivory trade was outlawed. Stopping the ivory trade is not only a question of saving elephants it is also about saving the ecosystems the animals support. Techknows Shini Somara travels to California to learn why sea lion pups are underfed and dying along the states coast. She talks to Toby Garfield, director of Environmental Research at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in San Diego. He explains that one of the root causes is unprecedentedly warmer ocean temperatures in the northeast Pacific. The unusual temperatures prevent colder, nutrient-rich, deep water currents from swelling up to the surface water. This limits the sea lions food sources. The whole food chain gets depressed, says Garfield. A lot of those fish species that can move have moved northward, and the food source is a lot less than we had last year. As a result, sea lion pups dont get enough food. And trends seem to be worsening. Rescued sea lion pups sometimes return underfed, and some adult sea lions are now showing up underweight. Despite these setbacks, the Sea World park which faced a backlash owing to its orca treatment is now working to rescue struggling sea lions. Regimented tube-feeding is used to nurse the sea lions back to health, before tagging and releasing them back into the ocean. Concerns lie within the greater picture of the more recent events and whether the effects of climate change will make this phenomenon a more frequent occurrence. As nursed sea lions return starved time and time again to Californias shores, the situation is the worst it has ever been. Satellite technology is now being used by rescue centers to track the movement of the sea lions. It is such a new technology, many of the sea lions currently tagged have been dubbed pioneers of the movement. This film was first broadcast on Al Jazeera in 2015. 2005 .. Some 77 million new-borns or 1 in 2 are not put to the breast within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother that protect them from disease and death, United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said. Making babies wait too long for the first []Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... The chief operating officer position seems to be a sensible approach to handling management succession and dealing a chief executive officer's span of control issues. Many smaller banks especially look to COOs to assist their CEOs and be the heir apparent. Some large banks, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, also have a COO. But many other institutions, of all sizes, are increasingly choosing to go without the COO position. Some new CEOs would prefer not to have the COO in a bank's leadership structure. Meanwhile, across numerous industries, the COO position has been in a long-term decline. According to a report last year by Crist Kolder Associates, the number of firms with a COO has declined from over 48% in 2000 to around 33% in 2015. (The study looked at 672 large companies, in multiple sectors, from the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 indexes.) There are many reasons why including a COO in a bank's management lineup is not attractive. First, a COO can actually inhibit succession planning by complicating the search process. COOs can deter from attracting qualified external candidates, who may be hesitant to consider joining institutions where the succession plan appears fixed. This is a problem in the current competitive and digital environment, where banks need new talent with a fresh change agenda. Also, many CEOs fear becoming a lame duck. Consequently, they are uncomfortable with the potential threat posed by a strong "CEO-in-waiting" COO. Thus, they are likely to favor less aggressive and potentially less qualified COOs who will not rock the boat. Succession issues should be addressed directly and not through a difficult-to-define COO position. But the problems surrounding the COO position go beyond succession complications. While some say that COOs can alleviate overstretched CEOs, who have too much to manage, they arguably can add another layer of management and additional complexity slowing decision-making, hindering communication and even harming moral. Having a COO also complicates recruiting and retaining other talented senior management, like a world-class chief financial officer. Such talent would find it demotivating to report to an intermediary instead of directly to the CEO. Also, a confusing shared command structure creates potential conflict with subordinates; a COO and CEO could pitted against each other if they are conveying conflicting messages to staff. Authorizing a COO to take on CEO-like duties also diminishes accountability, since it obscures who has the right to make the ultimate decision and who takes responsibility for outcomes. As I heard one senior manager recently say, it is an abdication of leadership for a CEO to be split into two jobs. That role should fall to one person. If the firm is too complex and the CEO's span of control is too large, then companies should address that problem directly by simplifying the firm and making its goals more focused. As the 21st century sees more firms streamlining their missions, there is less of a need for a COO position. Finally, and perhaps most concerning is the evidence that firms with COOs have lower returns and trade at lower market-to-book pricing multiples. Alternatively, it may arise from unclear accountability. In any event, investors want CEOs closer to the business and customers, and not in some insulated corporate center. Removing a redundant COO layer helps satisfy this desire. Changing corporate organizational structures reflect market developments and strategic adjustments following the financial crisis. The unfocused 20th-century diversified financial conglomerate strategy is giving way to more efficient and focused strategies at banks. This change is contributing to the COO position becoming an endangered species. Banks should think twice about creating or retaining the COO position to avoid ending up with a two-headed monster that is ill-suited to the post-crisis environment. J.V. Rizzi is a banking industry consultant and investor. The views expressed are his own. Imagine that before responding to a co-worker's Slack message about going to lunch, consumers could ping their bank from the popular office messaging system to ask if a $12 burrito bowl at Chipotle fits within their budget. The bank's bot says the bowl is OK, but maybe skip the guacamole. After all, that's extra. That's the future a handful of banks and fintech startups are envisioning as they look to be on the forefront of using the next generation of artificial intelligence software, which promises to go beyond their not-so-great predecessors. "Chat bots are not new but they are coming of age," said Keith Armstrong, founder and chief operating officer of one such personal finance bot, Abe.ai. Abe.ai and firms like Digit, Penny, Trim and Kasisto use artificial intelligence to let customers ask their bank-related questions through their bots on a handful of platforms: SMS text, Facebook Messenger, Slack and other third-party messaging channels that particularly appeal to millennials. Banks are dabbling in the conversational language trend, too. USAA and Ally Bank have virtual assistants on their own mobile apps, while American Express and Bank of America have announced their plans to use chat bots on Facebook Messenger an app that has one billion users. The bot trend transcends fintech and banking. According to Gartner, an estimated two-thirds of consumers in developed markets will use virtual personal assistant services such as Apple's Siri or Google's Google Now daily by the end of this year. By 2019, the research firm predicts, requests for customer support through consumer mobile messaging apps will exceed requests for customer support through traditional social media. While startups and banks with big innovation budgets are forging ahead, analysts are suggesting the industry as a whole proceed with caution. A report from Forrester Research set to be released this month advises most banks to avoid investing in the AI tech for now. "Chat bots on messaging platforms are meant to simulate human conversations ... but today many either fail to communicate accurately or offer clunky and awkward exchanges," Peter Wannemacher, a senior analyst at Forrester, writes in the report, titled "Bots Aren't Ready to Be Bankers." "Bot conversations often fall short of great customer experiences." According to Forrester's research, there are lingering algorithmic trouble spots with today's AI software. That might be acceptable if an order on Taco Bell's Tacobot on Slack gets botched or if weather bot Poncho says the weather will be "undefined." In banking, however, "undefined" wouldn't be funny when customers are asking for their balance. "That is our concern," Wannemacher said in an interview. To be sure, he believes already investing in chat bots makes sense for some banks that are digitally advanced and have funds to experiment. And, of course, the algorithms only improve with use. Eventually, Wannemacher could see a day where chat bots will help democratize finance so a bank customer regardless of wealth could ask a bot something like "should I be buying a house soon?" For now, the companies looking at chat bots are considering which channels are the right way to connect. At Abe.ai, the startup has been building its algorithms to run on Slack first because it is targeting young professionals who are just out of college, working at their first jobs and dealing with student loan debt. (It is considering other channels, like SMS, too.) Armstrong said Slack, a platform that allows coworkers to communicate easily, is a natural place to connect. People are coming to work stressed about money. So the Slack bot is meant to help consumers address their concerns that won't just magically disappear when the daily grind starts. (Employees have to ask their companies to integrate with Abe.ai's Slack bot.) "People don't leave their money problems in the parking lot," he said. Another fintech company looking to connect via Slack is Kasisto, a conversational AI platform company. "It's a new channel for banks to engage their customers," said Zor Gorelov, Kasisto's chief executive. The company is also offering AI via Facebook Messenger and SMS. Royal Bank of Canada will be testing Kasisto's technology with employees. The pilot program, which is expected to run this year, will use the smart bot technology to let clients message RBC to get access to account balances, transaction history and answer some general questions. "We know that our clients are increasingly looking for seamless, convenient and secure mobile banking experiences and by potentially adding a smart bot through Facebook Messenger, we're helping to meet the evolving expectations of our clients," Linda Mantia, executive vice president at Royal Bank of Canada, said in an email to American Banker. Kasisto also introduced direct-to-consumer MyKAI, which lets any consumer with a U.S. bank account use a subset of KAI banking features. MyKai can show balances and search transactions across accounts; however, it cannot make payments or transfer money from bank accounts unless it is integrated into the bank or Venmo. Currently, there's a waiting list to join. Regardless of the provider, the messaging medium is particularly suited for an audience all banks are vying for: millennials. "An entire generation is coming of age financially now," Armstrong at Abe.ai said. "They grew up in the world of texting." As he sees it, the Slack channel is more natural for young adults. "It's just a more fluid and seamless experience," he said. And Abe.ais hope is that an easy experience will drive behavior that yields healthier financial habits. "The need for help is certainly there," Armstrong said. "Too many U.S. citizens are living on a financial cliff." The Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, which flows from the right of the people peaceably to assemble clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has interpreted that clause to affirm the freedom of association. Inherent in the right to associate is the right not to associate. That can entail the right to bar selected persons from ones company -- the right to form private associations. In June 2009, the Wall Street Journal ran Private Clubs That Aren't Private Under the Law by Nathan Koppel. He quotes Andrew Koppelman, a constitutional-law professor at Northwestern University School of Law: When an association reaches a certain size and importance, the public has a legitimate interest in what goes on inside them. By public, Koppelman surely meant government, not the People. And the legitimate interest that government would have in large associations is in making them even larger, as in throwing open their doors to the forced acceptance of outsiders that association members may already have decided against. But government always knows best: In deciding whether a club is private, courts often consider how selective it is in choosing its members. Courts often are loath to allow clubs to claim private status if they open their doors to virtually all comers but exclude people by race or gender, discrimination experts say. At issue is whether a club can be seen as a place of public accommodation. So a club needs to be ultra-discriminating in choosing its members if it doesnt want to get hit with an anti-discrimination lawsuit and lose its status as private. But whence do we Americans get the right to privacy? There is but one instance of the word privacy in The Federalist, in No. 69: privacy in the mode of appointment by the governor of New York. But that doesnt pertain to any general right of privacy. Theres no instance of privacy in the original Constitution and its 27 amendments. There is one instance of private in the Constitution, in the Fifth Amendment, but it concerns private property. In 1973, the Supreme Court established the right to privacy in its decision in Roe v. Wade. For justification, Justice Blackmun adduced the Fourteenth Amendment. The term privacy, however, doesnt seem to be entirely appropriate when its applied to associations, that is, groups. After all, when youre associating, youre not being entirely private. Perhaps a better term is exclusivity. If so, the issue in private clubs would be: Should associations have the right to exclude certain persons from membership? Lets say theres a private club that doesnt have any Jews in it, and this is brought to the attention of the feds. If the club disallowed membership to Jews it would be repellant to most decent Americans, but should it be illegal? Should the club be required to shut down or accept Jews? But lets say the club doesnt have a rule to bar Jews and the only membership requirement is that one be sponsored by a member in good standing. And what if in addition to their rule of sponsorship, they have a rule that membership can never exceed a certain number and at the moment the club has that many members. Should the club be required to make its next member a Jew or else shut down? Just how far into the affairs of private associations should government be allowed to intrude? Should associations have the right to keep private the criteria by which they select members? If not, then they might change their criteria to subjective ones that are less subject to challenge, such as: we just didnt like him, he didnt seem to fit in, he had atrocious table manners, or we didnt like the cut of his jib. Some associations are based on an allegiance to particular ideas or ideologies which form their criteria for membership. The government shouldnt be allowed to force such associations to accept members who dont share their views. There is one such type of association that has affected the very character of our nation. Some say this association is public, while others say it is or should be private, and yet others say it is a mix of public and private. The association to which I refer pervades the entire country; it is the political party. But in todays America, what exactly is a political party? What do the terms the Democratic Party and the Republican Party actually refer to? Does each term refer to a discrete, legal entity, such as an entity that can be sued? Or, does each term refer to a cluster of things, like the terms the Left, or the West, or Christendom? Arent the actual entities that make up our two major parties their national, state, county, and precinct committees? Rather than a party being a single entity, or being the voters, or being party-identified public officials, arent those linked associations, the committees, the actual party? If so, a political party in America is an association of associations. Shouldnt an association that is based on ideas, especially a political party, have the right to reject a prospective member merely because they dont like the way he thinks? Without the freedom to determine its membership, an association based on an idea will become wishy-washy, too heterodox, and might as well shut down. Yet, government, especially the states, highly regulates political parties, those associations of associations. So, should political parties be entirely private? The American left wants to be able to poke its roseate nose into everybodys business. For the Left, there is no sphere of privacy; the individual cannot exclude others from his association. For the useful idiots that the Left uses and exploits (mainly youngsters), everybody is welcome; let in a million unvetted Syrian refugees, the rich will pay for their upkeep. For the Left, the government should force MENSA to accept stupid people; the Knights of Columbus should be forced to accept atheists and Baptists; private mens clubs, if there still are any, should be forced to accept women and hermaphrodites; little girls should be forced to urinate in the company of shemales and transexuals (both post-op and pre-), dogs should be forced to lie with cats, lions with hyenas, and all will be sweetness and light, dont cha know, because its One World, baby. The Left not only wants to regulate your associations, but your inner life, as well. It is the Left that has given us thought crimes. For the Left, the right to privacy seems to extend only to pregnant women. Although the right to privacy gives a woman the legal cover to snuff out the life of her unborn child, at least up to viability, privacy does not extend to ones most private thoughts: ones diaries. (See Dear Diary -- Can You Be Used Against Me? by Daniel E. Will, which dealt with the case of Senator Bob Packwood and his sexual imbroglios). Maybe we need an amendment to the Constitution that more completely spells out the right to privacy and how it affects the freedom of association, because sometimes it seems that in America the private life is dead, (video). Jon N. Hall is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City. Donald Trump has the right idea about Vladimir Putin and Russia. Trump is a realist and a nationalist. The Russian Republic is not the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the Kremlin described America as the "Main Enemy," and Soviet agents as well as communist sympathizers in America colluded against our nation as part of an ideological jihad against us. Today that Soviet Empire has lost its satellites in the Warsaw Pact nations as well as the old Marxist states of Yugoslavia and Albania, a loss to the old Soviet Empire of about 125 million people. The disintegration of the Soviet Union itself into twelve nations means that the Russian Republic has 117 million fewer people than the old Soviet Union. The Russian Republic has only 37% of the population of the old communist empire, which stretched from the Elbe River to Sakhalin. The changes from the old, threatening Soviet Empire into the Russian Republic today involve more than just a dramatic loss of territory and population. Russia is much freer and more democratic than the old Soviet Union. Four different political parties are represented in the Duma. Putin's party barely has a majority and it lost seats in the last election. Five different candidates ran for president of Russia in the last election, and although Putin got over 60% of the vote, that result corresponded closely to independent public opinion polls. There is little doubt that Putin won the election, although it is also likely that the voting process was sometimes suspect. Putin is the sort of strongman Russia has historically embraced. Russia today is much more religious than many of our allies in NATO, and it is overwhelmingly Christian. Putin himself professes a strong Christian faith and wears a cross around his neck, he says, at all times. Russian aggression against Ukraine and Georgia ought not to be ignored, but the theme of Putin's actions that Russia is a great nation and ought to have a grand role to play in the world is not inherently wicked or false. Moreover, as Trump slyly suggests, it is silly for us to be paying much treasure today to protect Europe from Russia, because the capacity for self-defense already exists, and it is the political will of richer European nations that is their security problem vis-a-vis Russia. Russia really does not threaten us directly at all. Historically, Russia has viewed America as a fellow transcontinental power with vast frontiers and wildernesses. It has never been fully European any more than America has been fully Europeanized. Since the early days of our republic, Russia has viewed America sympathetically, almost as a partner in the greater stage outside the confines of tidier Europe. What Russia does have is the sort of toughness absent in the politically correct and immigrant-swamped Western Europe. Russia also has as much experience dealing with the Islamic world as any other great power except, perhaps, India. Russians have fought for centuries against different incarnations of Islamic power, and they know how to win these conflicts. If President Trump could actually create an informal alliance with President Putin, guided by mutual self-interest for both nations, then we might be able to accomplish a lot fairly quickly. Russia could do much to contain Iran, which has historically been a rival of Russia, and Russia could even prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons (does Moscow really want a nuclear Tehran?). Russia has the power to invade and occupy North Korea, especially if we supported a Russian occupation and took care not to exclude China. Russia has long supported different factions in the Middle East (the Kurds, for example), and a collaborative effort with America and moderate powers in the region could dramatically reduce Islamic terrorism. Russia has also viewed China as much as a rival as an ally. If Russia were accepted by us as a de facto ally in the region, we would gain and Russia would gain an important balance against the growing power of China. The price of all this would be that we would have to grant Russia a high place at the table of great powers and something very much like the old "spheres of influence," which implies the right of a great power to guide events of smaller neighboring nations. This is the old style, rough-and-tumble Realpolitik, guided by self-interest. It also works, as Trump understands. Trump has a huge opening on higher education. He can build on some of the strong ideas his surrogates have put forth (see this piece in Inside Higher Ed) by taking on an obvious target: tenure. Conservative purists have already attacked Donald J. Trump for not being a true Republican and for really supporting big government. He has nothing to gain by neglecting the constitutional powers available to the president, and there is a strong regulatory basis for federal action to phase out university tenure. One could do this fairly easily by legislating that colleges must not have dual tracks of tenured and non-tenured faculty if they want federal support. If You're on the Public Dime, You Are Held to a Public Standard Taxation and the misuse of citizens' compulsory donations to the state were central issues perhaps the main issue in the American Revolution. First on the list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence is that King George III "refused to assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good." You cannot take citizens' money from them and then spend it on endeavors that benefit nobody, one individual, or only a selected group of people. The public good can be abstract for instance, promoting refinement in art or language but it cannot be restrictive or exclusionary. At this point, there is no meaningful distinction between public and private non-profit universities, since both are financially propped up by the federal government via 501(c)(3) tax exemptions, federally backed student loans, and government grants, without which even the mighty Harvard and Stanford would buckle. All these arrangements fall under the purview of Congress under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. First, there's this: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States ... And more generally on the topic of advancing knowledge and intellectual flourishing, this: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries ... In Article I, Section 9, federal funds cannot create a government-backed aristocracy, the very thing that the Founding Fathers were seeking to overthrow. Remember this consideration: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. Trillions of dollars cannot be thrown at little cliques of power-mongering social climbers to create a passive-aggressive ruling class. It is the constitutional duty of the federal government to prevent such waste and abuse. The Constitution Protects Citizens from Elitists Tenure serves no function and turns institutions into clumsy and ineffectual hotbeds of nepotism. About half of college professors are contingent faculty and not on any tenure track; these people teach a majority of classes. Research from Northwestern shows that students learn more from non-tenure track faculty than from people on the track. Where there is tenure, there is a costly brain drain and a host of double standards. One set of rules exists for the lucky intellectuals who have a shot at a sinecure. Another set addresses the masses of locally hired "adjuncts," who are treated like goat dung. Think of the financial and logistical implications. When a tenure track position opens, universities recruit nationally through a costly process that ends up dragging "probationary" scholars (the hot new ABD at Big Shot U) from cities where they have studied and established themselves to locales where their only social connections are tied to a school that's carefully watching them to see if they pass ideological muster. Tenure is the pinnacle of inequality. While universities are often derided as hotbeds of identity politics, they do an awful job at promoting racial equality. Blacks and Latinos make up 30% of the U.S. population but only 7% of tenured full professors, according to research by Jon Shields. As someone who doesn't like affirmative action, I do not want to see quotas, but on the other hand, I also know that the underrepresentation is not purely incidental; it is the result of widespread and vicious racism even from academics who pretend, in public, to be the polar opposite of prejudiced. Tenure-based higher education also cannot claim to have been responsible for countering class inequality. Much research shows that the strictly tiered nature of colleges widens the gap between rich and poor. The system allows power and prestige to be hoarded at specific campuses like Harvard's or Yale's. Meanwhile, students who leave for college are told they have to go somewhere prestigious if they want the best outcome. They borrow lavishly to cover their living expenses as they spend years in a city removed from their family and in need of housing, food, utilities, and amenities that they cannot pay for because they are busy studying. Their classes are taught either by stressed out scholars clawing for tenure or overworked adjuncts who have no incentive to teach them anything, or pompous bigwigs who have gotten tenure and have no incentive to behave remotely like civil human beings. They will blow all their money on spring break anyway. Besides the student paying rent to live on a campus somewhere pricey when they could just as easily have lived rent-free in Mom's attic back in Springfield, the student's family also has to fork over the tuition necessary for these self-proclaimed Cordova campuses to be the "internationally recognized" centers of learning with the world's best and brightest, which they earmark a fortune for marketers to convince prospective parents they are. A high tuition tag is endemic and unavoidable with this model. It is an impecunious and clumsy task to shuffle so many people from place to place so that places like Dartmouth can be oases of wealth and prestige in far-flung haunts surrounded by snickering townies. There is no reason for it when the vast majority of these students could have just gotten an associate's degree from their local community colleges and walked away with a practical trade, and then, should they feel moved, transfer with their associate's degrees to a liberal arts college for another two years. We have now learned from a string of polarizing presidents who attended Yale or Harvard that elite schools do not produce people who are particularly effective or knowledgeable at anything. We know by now that going to Harvard does not make a president any better than the average person at preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. And as for the maudlin claims that education should nourish the soul, there is little evidence that people who take Shakespeare from Harold Bloom as opposed to a thirty-two-year-old literature scholar who lives down the street makes anyone a kinder, gentler, more loving, more understanding, or more productive human being. So let's stop. Stop giving public money to universities that engage in tenure. Tenure Degrades Our Character Recall Nietzsche's mockery in Genealogy of Morals: "What right have people to make such a fuss about their little failings, like these pious little men do?" These lines muse about the perennial lesson humans learn: coteries of like-minded snobs turn into truly oppressive forces that threaten freedom. A century prior to Nietzsche's diagnosis, in the French Revolution, the "Third Estate" of the masses revolted against the First and Second Estates, the nobility and the priesthood, who were seen as jointly and mutually corrupted. In the days of James Madison and John Jay, the percentage of Americans with advanced degrees, other than those trained for the clergy in seminaries, was so minuscule that it would not have even registered as a major concern. Unlike the 27.5% of the adult population with a bachelor's degree in 2010, there were so few chummy whippersnappers in the eighteenth century that they weren't even really "a thing," as my students like to say. In Notes on the State of Virginia (1784), Thomas Jefferson was boldly proposing a revolutionary idea: county school districts in which "every person in it [is] entitled to send their children three years gratis, and as much longer as they please, paying for it." Jefferson was convinced that voting citizens in a democracy needed to know "reading, writing, and arithmetic" enough to fill a whopping three years on the government dime. As for people sent for further schooling, Jefferson states that every year, twenty students in each district should be "raked from the rubbish" based on their outstanding promise and sent for more schooling. Of those, he saw fit to recommend that ten annually should be sent for three years of schooling at a college like William and Mary. Later, Thomas Jefferson would go on to found the University of Virginia, today home to 21,238 students, only one of 5,300 institutions of higher learning. There's a whole lot more "rubbish" to rake, and the raking is shockingly costly and unequal. Also, one has trouble seeing how anybody has been raked from anything when Jefferson's cherished public college has gained its most recent notoriety for a rape hoax in Rolling Stone and a nightmarish vortex of lawsuits. The Mother of All Higher Ed Problems Is Tenure Irrespective of the usual talking points (see AAUP's typical claim that tenure protects academic freedom and fosters better research), there is copious and insurmountable evidence of tenure's economic wastefulness, proneness to political corruption, hostility to academic freedom, and capacity to nurture weak and even absurd research like "the Pilates Pelvis: Racial Implications" and "Hobosexual resisting capitalism by having not-for-profit sex with homeless people." In Jephthah's Daughters: Innocent Casualties in the War for Family Equality, my co-writers and I identified the twelve deadliest weapons used by the neo-liberal left against the traditional religious family: fraud, lies, scorn, shamelessness, faithlessness, hypocrisy, pedantry, deflections, demagoguery, McCarthyism, inhumanities, and "the siren song." The chapters on "pedantry" and "inhumanities" lay out in extensive detail how the tenure system created an elite that thrives on propagating the very economic crisis it claimed to be defending the poor against, and then deflected all attention away from class and race to the esoteric and comparatively harmless issue of sexual orientation. Universities have gone haywire on so many levels that it is difficult for anyone, Democrat or Republican, to pull together all the crises in one relatable message. Everyone seems to know that college costs too much, student loan debts are at crisis levels, graduates are not given the life improvements they were promised, and the elitism in the system has passed a threshold of justifiability. The parties diverge in other areas. The Democrats are keenly aware that average families like mine (father of two with lots of tuition worries here!) find higher education the scariest part of planning their future; Republicans too often dismiss this with Laura Ingraham's anecdotes about how you have to pick a lot of blueberries to get ahead in life. The Republicans are keenly aware that political bias and exclusion of non-liberal ideas are undermining scholarship, nurturing a generation of "crybullies," and trampling religious liberty and the First Amendment. Confronted with evidence of liberal bias, Democrats stick their fingers in their ears and accuse a Christian somewhere of homophobia. Donald Trump's appeal to working-class voters and the ignominious exit by Bernie Sanders leave Trump with the unique chance to bring together these worries in one relatable and effective message. Without doing anything about forcing down the actual price tags on tuition, Sanders just promised to make all of college free, which is crazy. Here Donald can get ahead of the pack by speaking the unspeakable. To solve all these problems, you have to eliminate tenure, which makes universities more expensive, less efficient, and more biased. With the possible exception of folks like Scott Walker, Republican leaders have shied away from critiquing tenure because they are often beholden to the college cliques just as much as liberals are, and they do not want to irritate the mentors who launched them. Having been denounced by conservative professors as the anti-Christ, Donald Trump is free to alienate eggheads on all sides of the political spectrum. So why not? I'm begging you, Donald come out against tenure. Robert Oscar Lopez can be followed at English Manif, Soundcloud, or Twitter. On the contrary, it looks like more and more Cubans are heading out by whatever means they can find, from Ecuador to Nicaragua to Mexico or crossing the Straits of Florida. So far, opening Cuba to Americans is not keeping Cubans in the island or changing much of anything. We can call this movie: Obama in and Cubans out! According to Sarah Rumpf, this is an exodus with capital letters: August 14 will mark the one-year anniversary since Secretary of State John Kerry went to Havana, Cuba to preside over the official reopening of the American embassy, followed by a visit by President Barack Obama this past March. The Obama administration has proudly touted the thawing of diplomatic relations with Cuba, but its been a failure by a very visible metric: the number of Cubans fleeing the island nation to come to the United States. So far this fiscal year (since October 1, 2015), 44,353 Cubans came to the U.S., a figure that is already higher than the 40,115 Cubans who arrived during fiscal year 2015, reports el Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). This figure includes those who traveled through airports, by sea, or by land -- those in the latter category usually start in Ecuador or Guyana, before making their way up through Mexico. This recent surge of Cuban immigration actually started during the prior fiscal year. The 40,115 Cuban immigrants during fiscal year 2015 nearly doubled the 23,752 who arrived during fiscal year 2014. The number of Cubans who made their exodus by sea is also showing a substantial increase: 5,485 so far during fiscal year 2016 (since October 1, 2015), compared to 4,473 during the entire fiscal year 2015. None of this was supposed to happen. Of course, the Affordable Health Care Act wasn't supposed to be unaffordable either and wars were not to break out again after Obama ended them. What we see in Cuba is a combination of bad and very bad decisions. First, the Obama administration assumed that Cuba would change just because we put a flag in Havana and legitimized the regime. In fact, the opposite happened. Repression is up and Raul Castro does not show show up at the airport to greet President Obama. We heard from the Obama White House that his visit to Cuba was historic. On the other hand, Raul Castro decided to stay in rather than make history. So much for respect! Second, the Obama administration, and frankly a lot of others, assumed that Cubans would start buying office supplies, tractors, air conditioners, tablets, and other consumer goods just by allowing U.S. companies to go to the island. They forgot about important stuff like purchasing power, the most undeveloped consumer market in Latin America and Cubans driving 1950s cars. So here we are. The Americans are told to go to Cuba but the Cubans in the island are leaving. As the song goes: "You say goodbye and I say hello"! P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. In a show of supreme solidarity, Venezuela has removed any visa requirements for Palestinians to enter their country. Venezuela, the home of the Bolivarian Revolution , friend of Hizballah , and mortal fierce enemy of Israel , has recently upped the ante, and most of our Western Media has ignored it. Venezuela has abolished entrance visas for Palestinians, the Palestinian ministry of foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. The Venezuelan authorities have issued a decision on Wednesday exempting Palestinian passport holders from entry visas, the ministry said in a statement. -- Middle East Monitor Caramba! That was a historic first. Venezuela became the first state on the planet to openly welcome Palestinians. The heroic revolutionary gesture happened eleven months ago, and the Europeans have yet to avail themselves of the manifold opportunities. How did the Europeans miss this? I guess the Europeans were too upset that the fulminating Zionist tyrant Netanyahu has enacted legislation to monitor European NGOS. The European Union yesterday criticised a new Israeli law which targets foreign funded NGOs saying it undermines democracy and freedom of expression while a leading Israeli human rights group said it will submit an appeal against the law before the Supreme Court. -- Middle East Monitor Ay, Chihuahua! It seems that the tyrant occupier may have shot himself in the foot. This NGO law may have a silver lining after all, and prove to be an opportunity to strike a death blow against the apartheid atrocity that is Israel. Europe can take the hundreds of millions they had planned to spend on soon-to-be-demolished trailer homes, water pumps, and solar cell batteries in the contested areas and instead purchase tickets to fly Palestinians from Amman to Caracas -- and probably give los venezuelanos nuevos some startup funding to boot. Right now, Venezuela is hurting for cash, and could use some funding. Los Palestinos would be a gift from Allah! Ojala! True, the cost of flight is presently expensive. About $4000 per person; but I am sure the Europeans could charter some airlines to bring the costs down; and even arrange for some rather tasty Halal Lamb Kebob to be served during the flight. The Palestinians would find Venezuela a welcoming place. There are 15,000 Muslims in Caracas already, and it has a modern mosque. The country already has 100,000 Muslims, though the imams claim more. Does it matter? The arriving Palestinians would bring the numbers up to the desired levels. Alabanza a Ala! Not quite an Islamic Republic, yet; but I am sure they could wrest control of some municipal districts. This is a win-win for everybody! Para Los Palestinos, Venezuela, y La Revolucion Boliviariano. As the native Venezuelans voluntarily move to Colombia, I am sure el Presidente Comrade Maduro would happily welcome in thousands of Palestinians to fortify his Bolivarian vision against the imperialistos yanquis del norte, and their counterrevolutionary lackeys. More importantly, al Filastineen, soon-to-be Palestinos could continue their intifada cum lucha liberacion from the barrios and jungles of Venezuela. Europe, if you want to send Israel a strong message that Zionist apartheid will not be tolerated, this is the way to go! And probably for less money than you are spending now. Viva Venezuela! Viva Palestina! !Viva la Revolucion! See, I always told you that South America was the solution. Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who is neither Latin, nor Arab. He runs a website, http://latinarabia.com, where he discusses the subculture of Arabs in Latin America. He wishes his Spanish were better. I know its getting a little tired to point out media bias, but in the case of Chuck Todd, well, he holds a special place in the pantheon of biased and corrupt broadcasters. His taking over of Meet the Press was a disappointment. To be sure, David Gregory was not much better, and Tim Russert was far superior to both. Since Russerts death, the show has lost all gravitas and now would be at home on MSNBC just as well as NBC. Chuck Todds interview style is prosecutorial in tone against Republicans, whereas with Democrats his tone is collegial, and one would not be surprised, considering the Wikileaks revelations, if the Democrats are given the interview questions ahead of time. One always wonders when watching one of these shows why the Republican guest doesnt just point out the blatant bias of the interviewer. Instead, in a Mitt Romneyesque manner, the guest patiently follows along with the premises and the frames that the interviewer sets. To take Mitt Romneys example, he was always competent in these settings and could give a smooth response, but he never let the audience know that what was occurring was not quite right. Yesterday on Meet the Press, in an interview with Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Chuck Todd did the usual routine of producing an infamous quote from Trump, in fact reading a whole litany of them, such as insulting the precious Khizr Khan. Manafort responded , Well, Chuck, youre now repeating the talking points of the Clinton campaign. So Manafort, like his boss, has a way of cutting to the chase and taking the fight to the enemy in a way that Im sure non-liberal voters find very satisfying. For those who dont already know, there exists an email from former DNC president Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Chuck Todd, referencing her displeasure with Mika Brzezinskis negative commentary on Schultz, and Mikas calls for Schultz to resign. In retrospect, Brzezinski was more than a little bit right. The email from Wikileaks has Schultz imperiously demanding that this negative coverage end: Chuck, this must stop. As Roosh Valizadeh puts it, Todd responded to that email telling Schultz to contact him, giving a wide window of availability as if he was the cable guy. If your boss was doing something you didnt like, you wouldnt say, This must stop. But if your employee was doing something you didnt like, that imperative would be perfectly appropriate; and we can therefore conclude that this describes how the relationship had been between Schultz and Todd. Is he therefore not a little out of line in pursuing the Russian connection Clinton narrative regarding Wikileaks in his interview with Manafort, seeing as that Chuck himself is implicated in Wikileaks? Chuck, this must stop. The attitude toward wolves has evolved over the last couple of hundred years. Originally despised and feared, as their numbers dwindled, they became a symbol of wilderness beauty unless you're a rancher raising sheep or cattle. Then wolves are nothing more than pests a threat to your livelihood. But to the animal lovers in the Department of Interior, the effect of wolves on ranching and the safety of residents never seems to be taken into account. That's why it's not surprising that, according to an Interior Department audit, the feds neglected to inform residents in several New Mexico communities when they released wolves back into the wild. Washington Free Beacon: An official in charge of the Fish and Wildlife Services Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program, which was established to conserve the species, was found to be protecting wolves she considered genetically valuable, even though they posed a danger to residents in the area. The agencys inspector general released an audit last month detailing how the former program coordinator covered up complaints against a wolf that posed a human safety hazard. Team employees in Catron County deliberately avoided documenting complaints to protect certain wolves, the inspector general found. Allegations made by the Catron County Board of Commissioners were confirmed by Fish and Wildlife Service employees. As an example, the county employee described an incident involving one male wolf, serial number M1133, that had been captured in a residential area of Reserve, NM (the Catron County seat), after numerous complaints, the inspector general said. [The Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program] said that wolf M1133 could be paired with a female and released because [the program] considered the wolf genetically valuable and stated that it had no documented history of nuisance behavior. [Interagency Field Team] IFT personnel, including the former IFT coordinator, met with ranchers and county officials to discuss the release plans. The coordinator said the wolf could be released since it had no nuisance complaints against it, despite being informed that the wolf was extremely habituated and a human safety hazard. The wolf was released despite strong opposition from the county. It then killed cattle in another community. The former coordinator was described by other employees, including a senior wolf biologist, as overly passionate about individual wolves and thus reluctant to remove them from the wild when it was appropriate to do so. One employee said the coordinator was more concerned for the individual [wolf] than the species. She was also seen crying when one of the wolves in the program had to be killed. The county commissioner and the county employee alleged that FWS officials focused on wolf welfare rather than public safety, the inspector general said. We also spoke to several Catron Country residents who said that IFT did not notify them about the presence of wolves, did not properly manage nuisance wolves, and falsified or concealed wolves locations, which caused them to be concerned about public safety. One of the major problems with resettling wolves is that they don't care about boundaries. They will hunt where there is food easy prey, to be exact. They will migrate huge distances to prey on ranchers' cattle and sheep because they're smart and don't want to work harder for a meal than they have to. This should have been obvious from the beginning of the wolf resettlement program, when wolves released in Yellowstone expanded their range to include ranches bordering the park. Several had to be killed before the geniuses at Fish and Wildlife began to release the wolves in even more remote locations. But that's not always possible. Hence this dangerous release of wild animals who have preyed on humans for tens of thousands of years. And if they've learned to avoid humans, there's always their domesticated animals, who are easy pickings. It's bad enough that the IFT bureaucrat made the release in a populated area without informing residents. What's worse is that they tried to cover up their mistake by removing the carcasses of cattle killed by the wolves to keep their incompetence a secret. Yes, wolves are beautiful and a joy to see on wildlife programs. But for ranchers and others, there are real-life consequences that must be weighed by government before any release is authorized. Now that the Clinton campaign and media are hyperventilating over Russia and treason, doing their 21st-century version of Joe McCarthy, the door is open to examine Hillarys own web of entanglements with the Russians. With impeccable timing, a new report by Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer is available today. At 56 pages, including 12 pages of footnotes, it goes into considerable detail. Laura Italiano of the New York Post summarizes the evidence that American technology of considerable military value was finding its way to Russia while millions of dollars flowed back to the Clinton Foundation. It traces: ... cash connections between the Clintons and participants in the State Departments failed five-year effort to improve, or reset, US-Russia relations during Hillarys reign as secretary of state. Key players in a main component of the reset a Moscow-based Silicon Valley-styled campus for developing biomed, space, nuclear and IT technologies called Skolkovo poured tens of millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation, the report by journalist Peter Schweizer alleges. As the Obama administrations top diplomat, Hillary Clinton was at the center of US efforts on the reset in general and Skolkovo in particular, Schweizer argues. Yet, Of the 28 US, European and Russian companies that participated in Skolkovo, 17 of them were Clinton Foundation donors or sponsored speeches by former President Bill Clinton, Schweizer told The Post. (snip) I think the idea that youre going to help develop a Russian version of Silicon Valley, which, by the way, will be controlled by the Russian government, and then not to expect that the technology will be siphoned off for military uses, is incredibly naive, Schweizer said. As early as 2010, Cybersecurity experts also expressed deep concerns about Russia using Skolkovo to develop hacking capabilities. Russias FSB spy agency the successor agency to the KGB reportedly keeps two of its information warfare security centers at Skolkovo, the report says. There certainly is an irony that as we are now concerned about Russian cyber attacks on the US, that the reset played a role in enhancing their cyber-capabilities, Schweizer said. Facilitating strategic technology transfer in return for money is an old Clinton game. The Chinese bought their way to access of considerable space technology when Bill Clinton was president. Remember Charlie Trie, Loral, and the rest of the crew? With so much potential dirt on Hillary and Russia, I have to wonder if Donald Trumps sarcasm was bait to get the media to jump on Russia as a threat. What is one to make of the Democratic Convention speech of Khizr Khan, a Pakistani-born Virginia lawyer whose son Humayun was killed in action in Iraq in 2004? According to Byron York: Khan's brief speech wasn't a finely-detailed case. But he suggested that Trump's Muslim ban and Mexican border wall proposals are unconstitutional. Specifically, Khan cited the words 'liberty' and 'equal protection of the law' in suggesting that Trump's policies violate the Constitution. But, in fact, "there's simply no sense in which a border wall violates the Constitution." There is also "nothing unconstitutional about deporting people who are in the United States illegally." York emphasizes that "[a]s far as a Muslim ban is concerned, Trump ... amended his proposal to focus on immigration from countries 'compromised by terrorism.' But assume that Khan was addressing Trump's original, more extensive, proposal: a temporary ban on foreign Muslims from entering the United States." In fact, the 14th Amendment of the Constitution applies to "all persons born or naturalized" in the United States. It does not refer to foreign persons in foreign countries. Trump made it clear that this ban "would not apply to U.S. citizens, members of the U.S. military and others with a legal right to be in the United States." Whether one approves or disapproves of Trump's building a wall, deporting illegal immigrants, and temporarily banning the entry of foreign Muslims, the fact is that Trump's proposals are not unconstitutional. In an effort toward clarification, Donald Trump released a statement: 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 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. Given the state of the world today, we have to know everything about those looking to enter our country, and given the state of chaos in some of these countries, that is impossible. Moreover, Trump reiterated that "Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our 'leaders' to eradicate it!" But is there even more to the story about Khizr Khan? According to Theodore Shoebat and Walid Shoebat, Mr. Khizr Muazzam Khan is a promoter of Islamic sharia law and a co-founder of the Journal of Contemporary Issues in Muslim Law (sharia). In fact, in the past, Khizr Khan has shown "his appreciation for an icon of the Muslim Brotherhood" by the name of Said Ramadan, who "wrote material for the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, an organization that has been promoting Islamic revivalism and indoctrination to recruit young people in Malaysia to jihadism." Mr. Said Ramadan was the son-in-law of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood including Ahmad Bahefzallah, the boss of Huma Abedin (Hillary Clinton's aide)[.]" Should this connection give us pause? Shoebat writes that "Khizr Khan currently runs a law firm in New York called KM Khan Law Office, a firm that specializes in 'immigration services.'" According to Shoebat, "[t]o understand the inception of Muslim immigration one must study the Muslim Minority Affairs, a paradigm created by Saudi jurisprudence which sparked during the times Khan lived in Saudi Arabia while collaborating with the Saudi kingdom. It is likely that Khan is a Muslim plant working with the Hillary Clinton campaign, probably for the interest of Muslim oil companies as well as Muslim immigration into the U.S." Khizr M. Khan used to work for Hogan & Hartson and Lovells, which has ties to the Clinton Foundation. Accordingly, "Hogan Lovells LLP, another U.S. firm hired by the Saudis, is registered to work for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia through 2016, disclosures show. Robert Kyle, a lobbyist from the firm, has bundled $50,850 for Clintons campaign." In fact, Shoebat relates how "[m]any lawyers at Hogan Lovells remember the week in 2004 when U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan lost his life to a suicide bomber. Then-Hogan & Hartson attorneys mourned the death because the soldiers father, Khizr Khan, a Muslim American immigrant, was among their beloved colleagues." Shoebat emphasizes that "Saudi interests with using Khan to advance Muslim immigration and advance Muslim Sharia is a lengthy subject [.]" "Then there are the ... ties to Hillary Clintons aide Huma Abedin as well. The House of Saud had used Humas father Sayed Zaynul Abedins work regarding the Muslim Minority Affairs in the West, published in 1998 as part of 29 works to construct a plan to conquer the U.S. with Islam." Shoebat maintains that "[i]t is obvious that Khan is upset, that a Trump victory will eliminate and destroy decades of hard work to bring in Islamic immigration into the United States which was spearheaded by agents in Saudi Arabia like Khan and Huma Abedins father (Sayed Z. Abedin)." Huma Abedin has never been properly vetted, and this takes on even greater urgency now that Clinton is running for the presidency. The mainstream media continues to cover up the Muslim Brotherhood's enormous clout in the Obama administration. Each day brings new revelations about the financial influence and "access" the Saudis have exerted on the Clinton team. Patrick Poole, a national security analyst, asserts that "[t]here are massive conflicts of interest. It's beyond comprehension." So is it wrong to impugn Khan's motives? He appears to be a man in mourning for his son. Was Mr. Khan merely being used by the Clinton campaign to advance Clinton's agenda? Or is there an even larger issue concerning the influence such people as Abedin and Khan exert concerning Clinton's bid for the highest office in the land? The questions need answers. Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com. Even by the standards of MSNBC, Sunday mornings shout-down of a guest for daring to mention the blackmail potential in the 33,000 deleted emails was unusually embarrassing. As Nicholas Fondacaro of Newsbusters reported: AM Joy Sunday as host Joy Reid shouted down Amy Kremer, former Chair of Tea Party Express, for daring to mention there are roughly 30,000 missing e-mails from Hillary Clintons personal server. You just invented it an entire thing, Reid shouted, Theres no 33,000 e-mails that are going to harm our national security. From there Reid refused to let Kremer speak anymore. And when Kremer asked to finish her point, Not if youre going to invent things, Reid reprimanded her. Reid is an embarrassing ignoramus. She was unable to distinguish between the DNC hack of about 20,000 emails and the 33,000 emails that Hiullary deleted from her home-brew server. The segment started off with a discussion about how Donald Trump asked Russia to find Clintons missing e-mails. Reid claimed that Trump wanted them to hack her current e-mail account, but Kremer noted the request was to find the e-mails. A reference to the roughly 30,000 e-mails not turned over to the FBI. Thats how they found them. They found them by hacking, Reid shot back snarkily. Kremer reminded Reid that it is not known who hacked Hillarys private server. It is not definitively known if it was hacked at all, but FBI Director James Comey said in his press conference that, Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clintons personal e-mail account. But Comey never indicated who those said actors could be. But that didnt stop Reid from misleading her viewers. Hold on Amy. The U.S. Intelligence services have said to a high degree of certainty that they do believe it is the Russians, she argued. It is a sure sign that the left is panicked over Hillarys national security exposure to blackmail. You can watch the entire segment: A transcript is available here. When Donald Trump sarcastically appealed to the Russians to release Hillary Clintons 33,000 deleted emails from her personal server, he was asking the wrong spooks. An archive of those emails exists at the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a former highly placed officer there who resigned as a whistleblower. Aaron Klein of Breitbart reports: [William] Binney was an architect of the NSAs surveillance program. He became a famed whistleblower when he resigned on October 31, 2001, after spending more than 30 years with the agency. He was speaking on this reporters Sunday radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, broadcast on New Yorks AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphias NewsTalk 990 AM. Binney referenced testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2011 by then-FBI Director Robert S. Mueller in which Meuller spoke of the FBIs ability to access various secretive databases to track down known and suspected terrorists. Stated Binney: Now what he (Mueller) is talking about is going into the NSA database, which is shown of course in the (Edward) Snowden material released, which shows a direct access into the NSA database by the FBI and the CIA. Which there is no oversight of by the way. So that means that NSA and a number of agencies in the U.S. government also have those emails. So if the FBI really wanted them they can go into that database and get them right now, he stated of Clintons emails as well as DNC emails. Asked point blank if he believed the NSA has copies of all of Clintons emails, including the deleted correspondence, Binney replied in the affirmative. Yes, he responded. That would be my point. They have them all and the FBI can get them right there. This could end up being Debbie Wasserman Schultz's worst year ever. First, she was publicly forced out of her job as chair of the Democratic National Committee as the fall guy for the rigging of the nomination, and the casual racism, bigotry, and contempt for various constituencies revealed in the DNC Wikileaks hack. Face it: whatever her faults, she was just the tool of Hillary Clinton, and doing her duty as a loyal political retainer. No wonder she had to be metaphorically dragged kicking and screaming off the stage, losing her role as chair of the convention, then her speaking slot, and finally banished entirely after being energetically booed by her own state's delegation the morning before the convention's kickoff. Photo via The Hill Now, as Lisa Hagen reports for The Hill: The Florida Democrat is facing the toughest political race of her life after ending her controversial tenure as leader of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Her House seat is on the line in a primary race against well-funded challenger Tim Canova, and the battle is heating up amid the fallout from her resignation following the leak of hacked emails that showed DNC officials plotting to undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) presidential campaign in the Democratic primary. Some think the race has changed after the former chairwomans tough week. I think this has really shifted the race, said Kathryn DePalo, a political science professor at Florida International University. I think shes going to have a tough fight. I think shes probably going to win, but itll be close. She added that a Canova victory would not be a surprise. I think thats how devastating these email leaks have been, DePalo said. Debbie might want to call up Eric Cantor, former number-two Republican in the House, as majority leader, about handling a primary challenger playing to the base. Hell take her call because hes a lobbyist now. Her opponent is very energetic and riding a wave of dissatisfsction with the party establshment, just like Dave Brat, who defeated Cantor. Hes already raised an eye-popping $2.3 million since entering the race in January, and his alignment with Sanders has won him attention and an endorsement from the senator himself. Canova said hes been nonstop campaigning for the past eight months as he criss-crosses the district to meet as many constituents as possible. The DNC leak exudes her bad judgment and has rallied more people to his campaign, he said. Were seeing a lot of energy come our way, Canova told The Hill. We built a very good field operation to ride the wave thats come in now. For selfish reasons shes great copy, and often helps conservatives unintentionally Id hate to see Debbie return to private life. But how can I root against her opponent? Lenovo is one of Chinas largest tech companies, and a rather significant player in the smartphone space. Lenovo not only owns Motorola, but theyre also unveiling devices under the ZUK brand, even though ZUK is a completely separate company it seems. This company had introduced the ZUK Z1 last year, their first smartphone which managed to attract interest from quite a few people. The ZUK Z1 was followed by the ZUK Z2 Pro and the ZUK Z2 which were introduced this year, and both of those devices are worthy successors to the ZUK Z1, and are quite affordable. Well, ZUK wanted to up the ante a bit more, so theyve decided to announce yet another really affordable smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor, read on. The ZUK Z2 Rio Edition is the all-new ZUK-branded smartphone, which is, at least according to its name, a special edition ZUK-branded smartphone for the Summer Olympics. This device is not only powered by the Snapdragon 820 SoC, but it also comes with a number of other commendable specifications, especially if you consider this phone costs only 1,599 Yuan ($242). The ZUK Z2 Rio Edition features a 5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) 2.5D curved display, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The Snapdragon 820 SoC fuels this phone, and the Adreno 530 GPU is here for graphics processing, of course. The 3,500mAh battery is also a part of this package, and it is not removable, while it offers Qualcomms Quick Charge 3.0 tech. The 13-megapixel snapper (f/2.2 aperture, 5P lens, ISOCELL sensor, PDAF) can be found on the back of this device, while an 8-megapixel camera (1.4um pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, 78.9-degree wide-angle lens) is located on the phones front side. Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on this phone, and on top of it, youll be able to find ZUKs ZUI 2.0 user interface. There are two nano SIM slots available here, and the phone also offers 4G LTE connectivity with VoLTE. The ZUK Z2 Rio Edition measures 141.65 x 68.88 x 8.45mm, while it weighs 149 grams. The ZUK Z2 Rio Edition will probably have limited availability, if you live in China youre in luck, but this phone will hardly become available in Europe and the US, at least not officially. The device is priced at 1,599 Yuan ($242) in China, while youll be able to get it for 1,499 ($224) on August 2nd through select online stores in the country. All in all, this might even be the cheapest Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone out there. Chinese tech giant, Lenovo, has announced a couple of new smartphones in India. While one of the two is an interesting variant of a device that was launched in the country earlier this year, the other is a brand new one for India, even though it has been on sale in China for some time now. The Vibe K5 Plus, which is itself an upgraded version of the Vibe K5 (also on sale in India currently), will now be available in an all-new avatar which will have one little change in the hardware department, but a rather massive one on the software side of things. The new Vibe K5 Plus model will sport 3GB of RAM instead of just 2GB thats found in the current model, but thats as far as the hardware differences go between the two. The real change is actually in the all-new user interface which will reportedly give users an almost stock Android experience, meaning, users will not have to navigate their way through rather heavy Vibe UI that Lenovo devices normally ship with. The launcher will also be customizable, offering users more options to personalize their phone. The Android version, however, remains unchanged at Android 5.1 Lollipop. The device comes with the same name Vibe K5 Plus as its previous version, and will ship in three different colors Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold and Graphite Gray. It will have a price-tag of Rs. 8,499 ($127 USD). Interestingly, thats the same price-tag the 2GB version was initially launched with, even though it is currently going for Rs. 7,999 ($119 USD) on Flipkart. The second device, meanwhile, is actually an all new smartphone that has finally been launched in India after having already been on sale in Lenovos home country for several weeks. It happens to be the Vibe K5 Note a successor to the Vibe K4 Note that Lenovo had launched in India earlier this year. The device, like the other Lenovo models currently on sale in the country, will also be exclusive to online retailer Flipkart, and will go on sale from midnight on August 3rd. It will come in two different versions with different amounts of RAM. While the 3GB model will have a price-tag of Rs. 11,999 ($179 USD), the 4GB variant has been priced a tad higher at Rs. 13,499 ($202 USD). Advertisement The launch offer will also include a VR bundle (TheaterMax controller and ANTVR headset) for Rs. 999 ($15 USD) and a gaming bundle (Amkette Evo Gamepad Pro 2 and ANTVR headset) for Rs. 1,999 ($30 USD). While those offers are from Lenovo, Flipkart has also announced a few offers of its own, including a flat 25% discount on purchases over Rs. 1,349 ($20 USD) made on Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer, Myntra, as well as gift vouchers from PVR Multiplexes, although that will be limited to only 200 customers. Taking a quick look at the Vibe K5 Note, the device features a 5.5-inch 1080p display panel with a 178-degree wide viewing angle, 450 nits brightness and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. The device will be powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor that comes with a 1.8 GHz octa-core CPU and a 550MHz Mali T860 GPU. As mentioned already, it will come in either 3GB or 4GB RAM depending on the model, but both will have 32GB of built-in storage with support for a micro SD card of up to 128GB in capacity. The primary camera will have a 13-megapixel sensor with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF and an f/2.2 aperture. The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, meanwhile, will have a 77.4-degree wide-angle lens. The phone will also feature a fingerprint scanner, carry a 3,500mAh battery and support 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS. Its not exactly a secret Samsung releases tons of smartphones every year, ranging from their entry-level units, all the way to flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices. The companys Galaxy A line of devices belongs at the very middle of the pack, these are usually mid-range devices which offer great build quality and nice specs, but are nowhere near the very best this company has to offer. That being said, Samsung had introduced a number of Galaxy A devices last year, including the first-gen Galaxy A8 smartphone. This handset was announced back in July last year, which was over a year ago. Its about time Samsung introduces the second-gen Galaxy A8 smartphone, right? Well, sure is, and the latest leak more or less confirms it, read on. The all-new model of the companys Galaxy A8 handset surfaced on GFXBench, and it not only confirmed its existence, but also its partial specs. According to GFXBench, the Galaxy A8 (2016) will sport a 5.1-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Its storage will quite probably going to be expandable, but we cannot know for sure at the moment. The device will be fueled by the Exynos 7420 64-bit octa-core processor, which is Samsungs flagship SoC for 2015, and still quite a powerful processor. The device will sport a 16-megapixel shooter on the back, and a 5-megapixel unit will be available up front. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow will come pre-installed on the new Galaxy A8, and on top of it, youll be able to find Samsungs proprietary TouchWiz UI. That is more or less it as far as specs go, well have to wait for the official announcement in order to check out the devices full spec sheet. Interesting enough, GFXBench claims that the Galaxy A8 (2016) will sport a 5.1-inch display, while its predecessor shipped with a 5.7-inch panel. Does this seem odd to you? Well, it is, though do keep in mind its possible GFXBench is wrong, and that the phone will ship with a 5.7-inch panel in the end, even Zauba listing predicts such an outcome. We still dont know when will Samsung introduce this smartphone, but considering its predecessor was announced over a year ago, you can expect this phone to land within the next few weeks. Ride hailing apps are steadily becoming a staple of most big cities and small towns worldwide. While many are trying their luck in the fast-growing sector, one Silicon Valley startup has quickly become the foremost name in the industry in many countries. Uber has seen more than its fair share of controversies in the U.S. and around the world, although not all of that has been its own doing. From regulatory hurdles in Europe to allegations of sexual impropriety against its drivers in India, Uber has already gone through much more in its short history than most companies its age. However, all of that hasnt stopped the San Francisco, California-based transportation network company from expanding pretty fast ever since its inception back in 2009. However, with the industry already starting to consolidate worldwide, Uber, too, is now looking to exit the ultra-competitive Chinese market. While this was being reported in some sections of the U.S media already, it was confirmed earlier today by the companys co-founder and CEO, Mr. Travis Kalanick, through a post on his Facebook account. Chinas largest transport aggregator, Didi Chuxing, is the company that will be taking over Ubers Chinese business after the Silicon Valley-based company failed to turn a profit in the country after years of trying. The company has apparently lost as much as $2 billion in the country according to reports in the American financial media. While the industry has already seen multi-billion dollar buyouts like the recent Hailo-Daimler deal, Didi, too, has already received over $8 billion in funding in recent times, with $1 billion of it coming from Apple alone. Meanwhile, the terms of the Uber-Didi Chuxing deal were not disclosed by Mr. Kalanick on his Facebook post, but media reports seem to indicate that the merger will value the newly-created company at a whopping $35 billion, with Uber taking a minority stake in the combined entity. According to reports, Uber will own just 5.89% of the new company, but Didi will also invest a billion dollars in Uber at a valuation of $68 billion. Its worth mentioning here that Didi has been working closely with Ubers competitors around the world in an apparent attempt to build up a formidable defense against Uber in the markets it operates in. While the company is collaborating with Lyft in China, it has also invested in Indias Ola Cabs, which is the market leader in the country ahead of the U.S. company. More or less everyone knows who Xiaomi is by now, even people who are not as tech-savvy have, at the very least, heard of this company at some point. Xiaomi has been making waves in China for a long time now, the company grew quite a bit in the last couple of years, and it took them only a couple of years (the company was founded back in 2010) to become one of Chinas largest smartphone manufacturers. That being said, Xiaomi had introduced quite a few devices this year, including their Mi 5 flagship, Mi Max phablet and the Redmi Pro handset which was introduced quite recently. Xiaomi is currently battling the likes of Huawei, Vivo and OPPO in China, amongst others, theyre trying to outsell those companies by releasing affordable, well-built devices. Well, even though Xiaomi is well known for their built quality, accidents do happen, and it seems some of the companys devices exploded recently, though it is still unknown whether they malfunctioned, or are the owners to blame. Following the Mi 4is explosion which occurred about a week ago, a new report (along with some images) surfaced, claiming that something similar happened to the Mi 5. If you take a look at the provided images, youll get to see the Xiaomi Mi 5 with a melted off back cover, and it seems like the phones battery is to blame. The Weibo (Chinese social media) user which shared these images branded the incident as strange, though we still dont have all the necessary info to know what exactly happened here and under what circumstances. Xiaomi had delivered the replacement Mi 4i device to a customer which was a part of the recent incident, and is currently investigating what happened, and we expect the company will do the same in this newly-surfaced Mi 5 case, though we still dont have any official information. Either way, such reports are definitely not good for the company, no matter what happened. We do hope Xiaomi will release more info regarding all of this soon, and well keep you posted, as per usual, so stay tuned. Xiaomi had introduced quite a few smartphones this year, in addition to other smart devices, of course. The company had introduced the Mi 5 flagship back in February, and that phone was followed by the Mi Max phablet, Redmi Pro smartphone and a number of other devices including the Redmi 3s mid-ranger which was introduced back in June. The Redmi 3s is a part of the companys mid-range Redmi line of devices, and it was introduced in China by Xiaomi. Well, it seems like this device will be announced in India soon, read on. Xiaomi has a tendency to re-announce their devices in India soon after they announce them in China (about a month later), and the same will happen with the Redmi 3s. This smartphone will be announced in India on August 3rd, it was confirmed. The device will be introduced in New Delhi during the companys press conference, and it is expected to cost somewhere between Rs. 7,000 ($105) and 8,000 ($120), though we cannot know for sure what will its exact price be. The phone will, almost certainly, going to sport identical specs to the Chinese variant, which essentially means it will ship with a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display, along with 2GB / 3GB of RAM and 16GB / 32GB of expandable internal storage. The Redmi 3s is fueled by the Snapdragon 430 64-bit octa-core processor, along with the Adreno 550 GPU. On the back of this phone, youll spot the 13-megapixel shooter (f/2.0 aperture, PDAF), and a 5-megapixel snapper (f/2.2) will be placed on the front side of this smartphone. The 4,100mAh battery is also a part of this package, and it is not removable. Both the Micro SIM and Nano SIM card slots are going to be included here, and the phone will support 4G LTE connectivity. The fingerprint scanner is located on the back of this smartphone, and the device is made out of metal. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on the Redmi 3s, and on top of it, youll get Xiaomis MIUI 7.3 OS. The Redmi 3s is available in Gold, Dark Gray and Silver color variants in China, and chances are all of those colors will be available in India as well. The device measures 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm, while it weighs 144 grams. That is more or less it, the phone will land in two days, so stay tuned for that. Drugs barons life in a luxurious suite of prison cells Londoners in search of affordable housing can head to Paraguay just remember to take a huge stash of cocaine in your suitcase on departure. With any luck you too will be housed in one of the countrys well-appointed prison cells. Until recetly, Brazilian drug lord Jarvis Chimenes Pavao was living in fully furnished three-room cell, boasting a conference room, plasma screen television, library, kitchen, air conditioning and an en-suite bathroom. When out, Pavao would rent his pad to other inmates. Pavao was due to complete his sentence for money laundering next year, at the end of which he was likely to face extradition to Brazil. He has now been transferred to a special unit away from his luxury cell in Tacumbu prison, near the capital Asuncion. It being handier for the airport. Anorak Posted: 1st, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Police arrest tambourine playing man who wrote The Matrix Has U in sand Hey, Mr Tambourine Man, take your instrument and **** off, or else. Thats the message British police gave a man they arrested after he was seen playing a tambourine to watching crowds on the sandbanks of the River Mersey in Liverpool. Before his arrest the man wrote The Matrix has U in the sand. Toby Fagan, saw it: I was down the Pier Head and I saw all these emergency service vehicles down there. I headed down to see what was going on and the area was starting to be cordoned off. He was walking up and down the banks of the Mersey playing a tambourine. I sort of stayed with him as it happened, he went almost down to the ECHO Arena. Then he was detained by the police after being chased across the mudflats. It was quite interesting, not something you see everyday. He wrote The Matrix has U and he seemed of the opinion he was doing nothing wrong, he was shouting for the crowd to join him. The Pied Piper has many guises. The crowd didnt move into the trap. Merseyside Police say the man has been arrested but for what crime they cannot specify. Wed go for attempted kidnap, carrying a tambourine in public whilst not in a 1960s tribute band and graffiti. Anorak Posted: 1st, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink About 20 mosques, prayer rooms closed in France - Minister Training plan for Imams to be presented in October (ANSAmed) - PARIS, AUGUST 1 - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday that about 20 mosques and Muslim prayer rooms had been closed in recent months in an attempt to crack down on radical Islam in the wake of a series of terror attacks. "There will be others," Cazeneuve said after meeting Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM). Cazeneuve also explained that 80 expulsion orders have been adopted and 10 are under examination. During the meeting, it was also agreed that a global plan will be presented in October for the obligatory training of Imams and a more transparent financing of the Muslim religion. The CFCM is also studying measures to prevent radicalisation, including developing counter-arguments to jihadist ideology. (ANSAmed). PARIS - Thousands of Muslims and Catholics gathered for a memorial Mass on Sunday in honour of slain Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel, who was killed in a terrorist attack last week while celebrating Mass at his church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Meanwhile, ISIS released their magazine Dabiq with a cover image of a cross being knocked off the roof of a church under the headline "Let's Break the Cross", with copy inside the magazine inviting its "hidden soldiers" to attack the "crusaders". Throughout France, unprecedented displays of Muslim-Christian solidarity have taken place. "We're here to spread our message of peace and solidarity to the Christian community. Our presence is worth more than so many words," said Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Muslim Council, in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Dalil Boubakeur, his predecessor and rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, said that Muslim participation at the Mass is "an essential act in the history of our two religions in France", adding that "we've never had such a strong bond before". "The situation now is very serious. The time has come to change our behaviors, to not divide ourselves," he said. The Saint-Etienne Mosque refused to bury the remains of Hamel's attaker Adel Kermiche. At the cathedral in Rouen, just 10 kilometres from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, about 2,000 Catholics were joined by about a thousand Muslims in tribute to Father Hamel. "We welcome our Muslim friends," said Monsignor Lebrun, who celebrated the mass in Rouen after an urgent return from Krakow where World Youth Day was being celebrated. "They wanted to be with us this morning and I want to thank them in the name of all Christians," Lebrun said. "In this way you are highlighting that you reject death and violence in the name of God. As we've heard directly from you, this isn't Islam," he said. TUNIS - Negotiations began Monday with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on the nomination of a new prime minister following the vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid in parliament. Article 89 of the Tunisian Constitution provides 10 days of time to nominate the new prime minister, and in the interim, the Essid government will manage urgent matters only. In June, Essebsi proposed the formation of a unity government tasked with speeding up reforms, dealing with the country's unemployment and economic crisis, and security risks due to terrorist attacks. The Essid government was seated in January 2015 and despite a reshuffling in January 2016, was voted out on July 31, in a move that was foreshadowed in June when four coalition parties (Nidaa Tounes, Ennhada, Union Patriotique Libre and Afek Tounes) said they intended to vote no-confidence in Essid. It remains to be seen how many ministries will be distributed to single parties in the new government. The Islamic Ennhada, for example, currently has the most members of parliament despite being the second most powerful party in the country, and said that it will demand that government positions be distributed according to the respective proportion of representation in Parliament. Libya: Noc welcomes reopening of oil ports in east Expects output to rise to 900,000 bpd by end year (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, AUGUST 1 - Libya's state oil company has welcomed the reopening of the main oil ports in the east following an agreement between the government and armed forces which control the oil facilities, the Libya Herald reported on its website. The National Oil Corporation (Noc) said it aimed to gradually increase production to 900,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. According to Noc, the vice-president of Libya's Presidential Council Mousa al Kuni said that funds had been released to pay for some salaries due to the facilities' guards. Noc President Mustafa Sanallah said "now I ask other groups that are blocking the petrol terminals to let the petrol flow freely," he said, adding that in western Libya in the wells of Sharara ed El Feel, 400,000 bpd are blocked". (ANSAmed). - NEW DELHI - The Indian government is preparing to repatriate about 10,000 nationals working in Saudi Arabia who have not received their salaries for months due to the economic crisis that has engulfed the kingdom. Local media cited government sources confirming that about 10,000 Indians who work mainly in the construction sector now find themselves in emergency conditions and require help. Saudi Arabia has seen its economic growth slow recently, weighed down by lower oil prices. Among the most serious situations, 3,172 workers in Riyadh have not received a salary in months and are being provided food by the Indian consulate, local media reported. A further 2,450 workers for the Saudi Oger Company are being hosted in compounds where the firm has suspended food provisions since July 25 after having stopped paying salaries, according to the reports. Indian authorities are in contact with their Saudi counterparts to try to ensure that the salaries owed to the workers are paid, local media cited the government sources as saying. Muslims and Catholics join to honour Father Jacques Hamel Thousands gather for Masses for priest slain in terrorist attack (ANSAmed) - PARIS, AUGUST 1 - Thousands of Muslims and Catholics gathered for a memorial Mass on Sunday in honour of slain Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel, who was killed in a terrorist attack last week while celebrating Mass at his church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Meanwhile, ISIS released their magazine Dabiq with a cover image of a cross being knocked off the roof of a church under the headline "Let's Break the Cross", with copy inside the magazine inviting its "hidden soldiers" to attack the "crusaders". Throughout France, unprecedented displays of Muslim-Christian solidarity have taken place. "We're here to spread our message of peace and solidarity to the Christian community. Our presence is worth more than so many words," said Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Muslim Council, in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Dalil Boubakeur, his predecessor and rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, said that Muslim participation at the Mass is "an essential act in the history of our two religions in France", adding that "we've never had such a strong bond before". "The situation now is very serious. The time has come to change our behaviors, to not divide ourselves," he said. The Saint-Etienne Mosque refused to bury the remains of Hamel's attaker Adel Kermiche. At the cathedral in Rouen, just 10 kilometres from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, about 2,000 Catholics were joined by about a thousand Muslims in tribute to Father Hamel. "We welcome our Muslim friends," said Monsignor Lebrun, who celebrated the mass in Rouen after an urgent return from Krakow where World Youth Day was being celebrated. "They wanted to be with us this morning and I want to thank them in the name of all Christians," Lebrun said. "In this way you are highlighting that you reject death and violence in the name of God. As we've heard directly from you, this isn't Islam," he said.(ANSAmed). Italy says U.S. anti-ISIS Libya strikes 'positive' (ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 1 - The Italian foreign ministry said Monday United States air strikes against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) terror group in Libya are "positive". "The operations are taking place upon request by the government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj...with the common objective of restoring peace and security to Libya," the ministry said in a statement. Italy supports the Sarraj administration and "encourages it to undertake the measures needed to restore stability and peace to the people of Libya". (ANSAmed). Don't equate Islam with terrorism, says pope Thousands of Muslims in Italy, France attend Sunday Mass (ANSAmed) - VATICAN CITY, AUGUST 1 - Pope Francis told reporters that it is wrong to equate Islam with terrorism on his flight back to the Vatican Sunday after spending five days in Poland for World Youth Day. "It's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true," the pope said when asked about last week's attack in which a priest was killed in a French Church, the latest in a string of recent atrocities committed by Islamist extremists. "I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I read the newspapers, I see violence, a who man who kills his girlfriend, a man who kills his mother-in-law. "These are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence". Thousands of Muslims attended Mass on Sunday in churches in Italy and France to show the faiths are united against violence. (ANSAmed). EU migrant accord at risk without Turkish visa exemption Cavusoglu issues ultimatum, EU reiterates conditions (ANSAmed) - BERLIN, AUGUST 1 - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that if the European Union doesn't implement an visa exemption for Turkish citizens by October, Turkey will no longer honour its March 18 accord with the EU to stop the flow of migrants into the EU by keeping them in Turkey. An EU spokesperson said European Commission President Juncker has previously specified the conditions under which the visa exemption would be granted, and said the Commission's priority is "ensuring the full implementation" of the migrant accord. "The final timing of the exemption will depend both on when Turkey finishes work and when legislators make a final decision," the spokesperson said. In the FAZ interview, Cavusoglu said the migrant accord is working "because Turkey has undertaken very serious measures", but that this comes under the condition of visa exemption for Turkish citizens. Germany, home to about three million Turkish citizens, is one of the countries most opposed to the visa exemption. In fact, a debate is currently underway in that country to stop granting dual citizenship to Turkish citizens, following recent attacks in Munich and Ansbach.(ANSAmed). EU says won't change conditions for Turkish visa exemption Says intention isn't to reduce Turkish anti-terrorism efforts (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, AUGUST 1 - EU spokesperson Mina Andreeva said that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has already said conditions for visa exemptions for Turkish citizens as part of the EU-Turkey migrant accord can't be changed, but that the EU's objective is not to reduce Turkey's ability to fight terrorism. "We want to be clear: the Commission's position was never to reduce the Turkish ability to effectively fight terrorism," Andreeva said. She said the EU's goal is to introduce a "proportionality element, so that people like journalists or professors, who express their ideas in non-violent ways and don't instigate violence, don't find themselves put in prison or under accusation based on the anti-terrorism law". Juncker told Austrian daily Kurier Sabato that the EU-Turkey migrant accord is "fragile" and "at risk".(ANSAmed). RABAT - King Mohammed VI celebrated 17 years of his monarchy in Morocco, where he has introduced changes that have given more rights to women and children, have established the basis for an ecological movement, and allowed for a society that now allows civil protests. Despite these changes, however, the system still has its flaws. The Alaouite dynasty is one of the world's most tenacious, claiming to have descended directly from the prophet Muhammad, which is perhaps why it feels the responsibility of keeping Islam as one of its main focal points. In fact, in one of the anniversary greetings from around the world, President Barack Obama wrote, "I hope that we will work together to solve one of the most complex questions of our generation". In Morocco, the younger generation is referred to as "Generation M6", in a country where more than 30% of citizens are aged 10-24, and modernity threatens tradition. The Moroccan Family Code of 2004, called the Moudawana, is one example of changing views. In it, a woman can stipulate that her husband can't take a second wife, and in fact statistics now show that 84% of Moroccans are in favor of limiting poligamy. Economic growth in 2015 was 4.5%, a slight decrease that reflected in employment figures, with 33,000 new jobs compared to the 129,000 new jobs created between 2003-2012, according to statistics by Bank Al-Maghrib. General elections in October will be the first test for democracy following the constitutional reform of 2011, which was adopted by popular referendum pushed by the winds of the Arab Spring. Spanish court suspends Catalan independence plan motion Warns of possible sanctions against Catalan leaders (ANSAmed) - MADRID, AUGUST 1 - The Spanish Constitutional Court has decided to suspend a motion by the parliament of Catalonia which gave the green light last week to a process of "disconnection" from Spain. During a unanimously approved announcement, the court warned of possible sanctions against Carles Puigdemont, President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and Carme Forcadell, President of Catalonia's parliament. The suspension of the motion, which detailed plans for the creation of a Catalan fiscal and social security system, has been imposed for five months. The Catalan motion also aimed to define transition measures ahead of independence and foresaw a referendum on secession. The court has given Catalan authorities 20 days to present a petition. A definitive sentence will be pronounced in September, which will likely declare the motion anti-constitutional. (ANSAmed). Tunisia headed for unity government after Essid voted out Constitution gives 10 days to decide on new prime minister (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, AUGUST 1 - Negotiations began Monday with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on the nomination of a new prime minister following the vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid in parliament. Article 89 of the Tunisian Constitution provides 10 days of time to nominate the new prime minister, and in the interim, the Essid government will manage urgent matters only. In June, Essebsi proposed the formation of a unity government tasked with speeding up reforms, dealing with the country's unemployment and economic crisis, and security risks due to terrorist attacks. The Essid government was seated in January 2015 and despite a reshuffling in January 2016, was voted out on July 31, in a move that was foreshadowed in June when four coalition parties (Nidaa Tounes, Ennhada, Union Patriotique Libre and Afek Tounes) said they intended to vote no-confidence in Essid. It remains to be seen how many ministries will be distributed to single parties in the new government. The Islamic Ennhada, for example, currently has the most members of parliament despite being the second most powerful party in the country, and said that it will demand that government positions be distributed according to the respective proportion of representation in Parliament.(ANSAmed). Operating revenues also showed a drop of 7.3 per cent with the airline posting $81.3 million for the period January to June. Commenting on the results, analyst Saj Ahmad said: Jazeera Airways has continued to make strong in-roads into the GCC low cost market while ebbing away at Kuwait Airways. While operating revenues dropped by about 7%, the airline carried 3% more passengers than a year ago on increased load factors - this will have helped yields to offset the competitive pricing in some highly competitive markets such as Dubai, where pricing is more aggressive and would be part of the reason why Jazeera's revenue was lower overall. The big challenge for Jazeera Airways is how it manages its long haul ambitions against a backdrop of pressure within the GCC. The region thrives on connecting passengers and Jazeera Airways will have to do a lot of work to entice a long haul airline to partner up with them to make such a venture work. The half year figures were worsened by the airlines second quarter p[erfoamce where profits weredown 38.1% of last years second quaqrterer. The airline also posted results for its second quarter, recording a net profit of KD2 million ($6.5 million), down 38.1 per cent compared to Q2 2015, and operating profit of KD12.8 million ($42.1 million), down 6.9 per cent from Q2 2015. Jazeera Airways chairman Marwan Boodai said: We closed the year with a load factor of 72.4 per cent, which is a full 10 per cent higher than our peers average load factor on the routes we operate. Thats not to say it wasnt a challenging quarter, we saw more capacity being dumped on our routes, rising fuel costs, and an expected shift of the summer season as most of Ramadan has now moved into Q2, thus shifting revenue and travel trends and slightly impacting our earnings. Our outlook for the year remains unchanged and in line with our sectors seasonality. While the excessive overcapacity on the sectors we operate poses a downward pressure on our yields, we expect to counter this pressure in Q3, which only had five days of Ramadan, and close the year with growth in our operational profits and our bottom line. The sale and leaseback transaction adds a new client to the leasing platforms client portfolio in what Mounir Kuzbari, Novus Managing Director hopes will be the first of many such transactions with Lion Air. Edward Sirait, CEO of Lion Group, said the airline hopes to expand and deepen our cooperation to our mutual benefit. Novus is an independent, privately-held aircraft leasing platform focused on investing in commercial aircraft assets. Established over 22 years ago, the Novus team operates out of four global offices in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The company currently co-owns and manages aircraft-related projects worth about $3 billion. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. It is meaningless to put political demands and solve them by force. The experience showed that Armenias current internal-political situation is such that the issues are impossible to solve with such measures, doctor in political sciences, professor Garik Keryan said in an interview with Armenpress. I consider impossible to solve issues with such measures taking into account both peoples mood and the degree of the political systems stability. I think all these can have a meaning of political lesson. And if the political forces want to propose certain demands, the way is one: a legal struggle within the framework of the constitutional right, participation in elections with own political platform and voicing their own demand through such measures. This was the first incident in our 25 years of history when an attempt has been made to solve a political issue in such a way, Garik Keryan said. He welcomed the authorities discretion who until the last moment did not conduct military operations, as well as the gunmens last decision who gave priority to the process of saving the Armenian peoples life. Referring to the Armenian political forces behavior during this period, the political scientist said there was an obvious passivity. We didnt see political forces significant participation, they didnt issue statements and take actions supporting the authorities or the gunmen. The actions of Daredevils of Sassoun (Sasna Tsrer) received a wide reaction within the public, there were people who condemned their actions, who supported them, of course, it would be desirable if the parties would take actions as well. I dont know what stood behind it, maybe later it will be justified that the silence was a right step not to aggravate the tension, but it is fact that silence was maintained in the political field, Garik Keryan said. In the morning of July 17 gunmen stormed a Police HQ in Yerevan and took hostages demanding the release of Zhirayr Sefilyan, who was imprisoned a month ago, charged with illegal possession, transportation and acquirement of weapons and ammunition. Police Colonel Artur Vanoyan has been killed by the gunmen during the ambush. Colonel Aram Hovhannisyan, Lt. Colonel Hrach Khosteghyan, Corporal Gagik Mkrtchyan received gunshot wounds. The hostages were released within a week, but on July 27 the gunmen took hostage the paramedics who came to show medical assistance to the wounded in Police station. On July 30 a police officer Yuri Tepanosyan has been killed by sniper fire from the seized police precinct. On July 31 the gunmen laid down the weapons and surrendered. YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. The overnight July 29-30 events were our most significant flaw during these days, President Sargsyan announced at a meeting with representatives of the society, authorities and clergy. I am grateful to our journalists for their devoted work and contribution to a bloodless resolution. I also apologize to our journalists for the overnight July 29-30 incidents: this was our most significant flaw during these days. All conclusions, of course, will be made. Asking for your forgiveness I ask you to forget about those incidents only journalists, not law enforcement, because I am really convinced that such thing will never happen again, and I also want these incidents not to have an even subconscious impact on your free practice, the President said. Serzh Sargsyan also touched upon the criticism of these days. I am speaking about, of course, not about the gunmen who acted with accented terrorist style, who had hidden their intentions under calls of social and patriotic justice, I am speaking about the criticism of a part of our people. Yes, the Armenian authorities arent perfect. Yes, there are many incomplete matters and difficult problems in Armenia. Our goal is to accelerate the solution of these. At this stage our goal is also forming a government of national consent, where the implementations of solutions will happen within the responsibility of a wide area of agreement. The Constitutional reforms were just about this, these reforms laid the foundations of forming this kind of leadership. The government of national consent isnt about someone who hasnt accomplished himself and wants to slip to the chair, it is about the most possible wide placement and sharing of political responsibility, the entire institutional ground of which we have already ensured. I am confidently stating that we will have such government in just a few months, we will have such leadership. We have taken this path, and this path is about the role of political forces and political figures. I repeat, political forces, and not armed terrorists and their supporters. Thank God, as you saw, we dont have shortage of political figures who share the set of values of state and country building. They are many in all political currents. And that is the wealth of our country, the President said. Lundgren, the pianist you just heard, is the artistic director of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. Pianist Bill Mays and I are headed to Europe to be a part of it. For details, go here. Following our performance, Bill and his wife Judy will spend a few days in Copenhagen. Ill remain in Ystad and do some reporting on the festival. Please check in to Rifftides now and then for updates. By: Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Cameron Gilchrist The IMF projects Myanmar to be the worlds fastest growing economy in 2016, with GDP forecast to advance by 8.6 percent. Still considered a frontier economy, Myanmar is at a young but developing stage for foreign direct investment (FDI) within ASEAN. Not only does the nation offer fertile land, bountiful resources, and a strategic geographic location, but the Government is increasingly committed to encouraging foreign investment through major economic and political reforms. The reform process began in 2011 and has successfully increased trade and FDI, contributing to 8.3 percent real GDP growth in the 2013/14 fiscal year, which topped the preceding years 7.3 percent growth. Although reforms have been successful in augmenting Myanmars economic growth and attracting foreign investment, the regulatory environment remains complex. In 2012, Myanmar released the Myanmar Foreign Investment Law to address the rights and duties of foreign investors. More recently, Myanmar has seen the passage of the Special Economic Zone Law which was passed in 2014, offering numerous FDI incentives. Further, the 102 year old Companies Act, which serves as the countrys foundation for investment, is currently under revision in parliament. In the midst of an evolving economic and regulatory climate, it is crucial for prospective investors to understand their responsibilities in Myanmar. Government agencies, namely the Directorate of Investment and Company Registration (DICA), as well as private advisors can play a key role in successful business establishment in Myanmar. Options for Investment Below, the steps for registering a private limited foreign company and a foreign company branch office are outlined. These are the two best vehicles for foreign investors to establish profit generating operations in Myanmar. Deciding between a private limited foreign company and a branch office is largely influenced by the desired business function of the company. Private limited foreign companies can be 100 percent foreign owned and engage in nearly all service provision and manufacturing activities. The industries that allow only limited foreign ownership are listed in Notification No. 26/2016. In most cases, foreign companies must engage a fully domestic company to conduct trade activities in Myanmar. All foreign investors must register their companies with the DICA in order to receive a registration license and Permit to Trade, which allow businesses to commence activity in Myanmar. Foreign companies are also required to register with the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) under the Myanmar Foreign Investment Law of 2012 (MFIL) if they plan on receiving investment incentives, which include long term land leases. Small companies that will strictly provide services in Myanmar are not required to register with the MIC. Branch offices are also allowed to generate profits within Myanmar and represent a viable investment vehicle for certain endeavors. Companies using branch offices are restricted from participation in any of the industries listed in Notification No. 26/2016. However, branch offices are not required to register under the MFIL. Thus, they can register strictly under the Myanmar Companies Act of 1914 and skip approval from the MIC. Because they will use the name of their parent company, branch offices can also bypass a name check. The necessary documentation to register a branch office, however, is more extensive than that for establishing a private limited company. Option 1: Private Limited Foreign Company Registered Under the MFIL Step 1 Name Check In order to establish an entity in Myanmar, a foreign company must first ensure their desired name is available and appropriate by submitting a name check form to the DICA. Step 2 Staffing Foreign companies must have a minimum of two directors and two shareholders. Unless specified in Notification No. 26/2016, the directors and shareholders can all be foreigners. A maximum of 50 shareholders are allowed. Step 3 Register with the MIC Foreign investors need to submit a project proposal to the MIC in order to receive a Foreign Investment Permit. The MIC should accept or reject the proposal within 15 days of submission. If accepted, the proposal will be reviewed and either approved or denied within approximately 90 days. According to the MIC, proposals are evaluated using three main criteria: Compatibility with the policies set out in the Foreign Investment Law Financial trustworthiness Economic solidity of the company and conformity with existing laws Before submitting a proposal, foreign investors should secure a land lease and consult the DICA. The DICA provides a detailed outline of the MIC application process as well as a list of documents required for the application. All forms must be submitted in English. Step 4 Register with the DICA Foreign investors must also register with the DICA in order to officially operate in Myanmar. Once getting MIC approval, DICA registration will be virtually automatic. The documents needed for registration with the DICA and the MIC can be submitted simultaneously. However, the forms for each registration vary. The documents necessary for DICA registration are listed in a detailed outline of the registration process. If the DICA approves an application, a temporary license will be issued. Before a permanent Registration Certificate and Permit to Trade are issued, foreign investors must confirm their registered office address within one month of receiving approval. Proof of the minimum capital transfer into a Myanmar bank account as well as a signed letter of conditions must also be submitted before the DICA issues a permanent Registration Certificate and the Permit to Trade. The Internal Revenue Department (IRD) will assist with confirming inward capital remittance. Step 5 Licensing and Compliance If no further licensing is required for its intended business activities, a foreign company is allowed to commence business upon receipt of the MIC permit and the DICA permanent license. Inquiries concerning further licensing can be directed to the Company Registration Division of the DICA. Company Registration Certificates are valid for five years and must be renewed in order to continue business operations in Myanmar. The DICA provides a general list of investors rights and obligations to facilitate fair treatment and compliance with Myanmar law. Option 2: Branch Office Registered Under the Companies Act Step 1 Lease Land For successful registration, investors must provide the information for their branch offices future address. Step 2 Staffing Using Form 18, investors must appoint a minimum of one resident of Myanmar to be their authorized person who is able to accept any notices intended for the company. Investors are also required to appoint someone the power of attorney. Step 3 Register with the DICA To receive a Registration Certificate and Permit to Trade from the DICA, investors must submit registration forms available on the DICAs website. These include the companys annual report or audited financial statements for the previous two years, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the appointment letter/power of attorney for authorized persons, all three of which need to be notarized by the companys resident authorities and local Embassy of Myanmar. All forms must be delivered in English. If the DICA approves the application, a temporary license will be issued. Before a permanent Registration Certificate and Permit to Trade are issued, foreign investors must confirm their registered office address within one month of receiving approval. Proof of the minimum capital transfer into a Myanmar bank account as well as a signed letter of conditions must also be submitted before the DICA issues a permanent Registration Certificate or Permit to Trade. The IRD will assist with confirming inward capital remittance. Step 4 Licensing and Compliance If no further licensing is required for its intended business activities, a branch office is allowed to commence business upon receipt of their DICA permanent license and Permit to Trade. Inquiries concerning further licensing can be directed to the Company Registration Division of the DICA. Company Registration Certificates are valid for five years and must be renewed in order to continue business operations in Myanmar. The DICA provides a general list of investors rights and obligations to facilitate fair treatment and compliance with Myanmar law. Further Support from Dezan Shira & Associates Corporate establishment can prove a complex and challenging procedure, particularly in a country with emerging regulatory standards, such as Myanmar. With decades of experience helping companies set up businesses in the region, specialists at Dezan Shira & Associates are well placed to help overcome these challenges. For more information, please get in touch with our advisors at asean@dezshira.com. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email asean@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Annual Audit and Compliance in ASEAN For the first issue of our ASEAN Briefing Magazine, we look at the different audit and compliance regulations of five of the main economies in ASEAN. We firstly focus on the accounting standards, filing processes, and requirements for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. We then provide similar information on Singapore, and offer a closer examination of the city-states generous audit exemptions for small-and-medium sized enterprises. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its Impact on Asian Markets The United States backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) includes six Asian economies Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, while Indonesia has expressed a keen willingness to join. However, the agreements potential impact will affect many others, not least of all China. In this issue of Asia Briefing magazine, we examine where the TPP agreement stands right now, look at the potential impact of the participating nations, as well as examine how it will affect Asian economies that have not been included. An Introduction to Tax Treaties Throughout Asia In this issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, we take a look at the various types of trade and tax treaties that exist between Asian nations. These include bilateral investment treaties, double tax treaties and free trade agreements all of which directly affect businesses operating in Asia. by Nirmala Carvalho Pastor Yohan Maraiah was dragged from his home and taken by force into the forest. His body was dumped near the village, with his hands tied behind his back. The Maoists repeatedly stabbed him and shot him. The rebels claim he was murdered for having "accumulated wealth", but the pastor served the poorest of the village. Hyderabad (AsiaNews) - A group of Maoist rebels savagely beat, tortured and killed Pastor Yohan Maraiah in the district of East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. The Christian was draggedfrom his home in the village of Lachigudem into the nearby forest, while his church was set on fire. There he was killed and then his body dumped at the road junction that leads to the village. Speaking to AsiaNews, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) condemned the brutal murder and reports that Christians in India are increasingly the victims of blind and unmotivated violence. The murder of the 55 year old pastor took place on July 29. Investigations reveal that a group of 100 armed Maoist rebels seized the pastor at night and dragged him into the forest. He was violently beaten with sticks, stabbed and shot to death. His battered body was found three hours later with his hands tied behind his back. Sajan K George said: "In front of his church in flames Pastor Yohan Maraiah remained strong in faith in Jesus Christ. He was not doing any illegal activities in India. Religious freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution ". Next to his body, the Maoists left a letter in which they explain the motives for the brutal act: they accuse the Christian of being a police informer and not having repented for the fact that he had "accumulated a disproportionate" wealth. The letter goes on to say: "We punished him by the people's court because Maraiah exploited the tribal poor and the needy." The president of the GCIC says instead that the pastor was born in the Sukuma district in Chhattisgarh, "and had settled for 15 years in the village of Andhra Pradesh. He did not engage in any illegal activity, the poor and marginalized came to his church to receive peace, comfort and dignity that only Jesus can give. Crackdown in eight provinces in the northeast. Punished owners of illegal firearms, gamblers and drug dealers. The junta wants to increase security ahead of August 7, when the date of the next general election will be decided. Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) More than 3,600 suspects were arrested in a police crackdown on crime in eight lower northeastern provinces from July 11-30. The operation was due to strengthen security ahead of the 7 August charter referendum, in which thai people will approve or not the new Constitution draft. The Provincial Police Region 3 blitz arrested 250 people on illegal firearms possession charges and seized 234 guns; 1,488 people with 881 sets of gambling equipment and 100,278 baht cash; and, 1,908 on drug charges with a total 216,246 methamphetamine pills, 341 kilogrammes of dried marijuana and 95.37 grammes of crystal methamphetamine found in their possession. The results of the operation were announced on Monday at a press conference at the Provincial Police Region 3 training centre in tambon Chor Hor in Muang district in the presence of Pol Gen Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul, a deputy police chief, and Surapan Dissaman, the deputy provincial governor. Thai military junta wants to avoid tensions prior to the political test, the result of which will set the agenda for the countrys political system in the short-term, especially up to and including the next general election, which the countrys ruling junta has stated will take place in mid-2017 an election which is expected to be held regardless of whether the draft charter is approved or not. However, the junta-sponsored draft charter has been facing a number of doubts from both public and political groups, especially the provision in the draft that opens a channel for the military government to continue holding power, regardless of the referendum result or outcome of the general election. by Sumon Corraya Entire villages submerged by floodwaters, crops destroyed. Numerous rivers break their banks. regional director of Caritas: "I was on the banks of the Brahmaputra and saw thousands of people waiting for help." The government has begun distributing food and aid. Dhaka (AsiaNews) - At least 30 people have died due to the floods that are hitting the central and northeastern part of Bangladesh. The residents of 14 districts have been struggling for days with flooding of rivers and heavy monsoon rains that are destroying homes and crops. The government reports that thousands of homes have been washed away and hundreds of schools are closed for security reasons. Many people are without access to food or aid. Miha Alam, a resident of Rouha village (near Jamalpur), says: "Our house was flooded five days ago and all the food we haddestroyed . From that moment no one has come to bring us aid. " Local media reported that there are at least five childrenamong the dead who drowned in floodwaters. Nabakumar Chowdhury, an Engineer at the Water Development Council of Jamalpur, said that many rivers have broken their banks. The Jamuna has beaten the 1988 record for the height of floodwaters (112 cm). Mahfuzur Rahman, an official of the Kurigam Council, has announced that the Brahmaputra is currently flowing at 99 centimeters above the warning threshold, while the Dharala is at 88 cm beyond the red mark. The Ministry for Environmental Disasters has begun distributing aid and relief, but they are not sufficient given the scale of the emergency. Sahabuddin Khan, Deputy Commissioner of Jamalpur district, says: "Every day we send rice and cooked food to the areas affected by the floods. Every day we send more". Denis C. Baskey, regional director of Caritas Rajshahi, said: "We plan to bring aid in the northern districts. I have visited Sirajgonj [on the Brahmaputra River ed] and I saw thousands of people waiting for help (see photo). We informed our donors and we hope that soon we will receive an answer to give relief to these victims". A letter containing death threats was sent to local press. It does not contain the name of any organization or a sender. Police on alert. Those threatened include a judge of the war crimes Tribunal, various activists and an Imam who endorsed a fatwa against terrorism. Dhaka (AsiaNews/Agency) Death threats were sent to nine prominent personalities in Bangladesh. Those threatened include a Supreme Court justice, an Iman known for his liberal views, and a leader for dialogue between Hindus and Christians. The anonymous letter was sent by post to a local newspaper, the Dhaka Tribune, which alerted the authorities. The letter, written in Bangla, does not contain the name of any organization or a sender. On top of the letter is the proclamation Allahu Akbar (which means Allah the Great) and a phrase: Your death sentence is final. Execution will be carried out any time. The letter was postmarked Mohammadpur Post Office, in the division of Dhaka. In the list there are nine prominent personalities: International Crimes Tribunal judge Justice Nizamul Haque; tribunal prosecutor Dr Tureen Afroz; activists Rana Dasgupta, Dr Imran Sarker, Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, Azadur Rahman Chandan, Shagor Lohani; Islami Oikya Jote faction Chairman Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury; Sholakia Imam Maulana Farid Uddin Masuud. Maulana Masuud is among those who initiated the recent fatwa against terrorism, and was the target of the terrorist attack at the festival of Eid al-Fitr in Kishoreganj district. He said he did not receive any such letter with a threat, but he offered prayers for those who had sent the letter, saying: May Allah guide them. Lawyer Rana Dasgupta, the secretary general of the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council of Bangladesh, said he did not receive any new death threat, but such death threats have been sent many times before in my name. I filed a complaint, but there was no police response. by Wang Zhicheng Funeral will be held tomorrow at 6.30 am. Checkpoints set up to curb the flow of the faithful. Only 3 thousand people allowed into the cathedral. Ban on miter and pastoral buried with corpse. But faithful succeed in gaining permission for episcopal ring, pectoral cross, skull cap and floral arrangements, as well as small procession to the cremation. The tomb, ruined by bad weather of recent days, restored by the government, who wants to stop the prelates ashes from being buried in the cathedral for the homage of the faithful. The successor of Msgr. Huang is Msgr. Vincenzo Guo Xijin. He, like his predecessor, has spent several years in prison. Mindong (AsiaNews) The funeral of Msgr. Vincent Huang Shoucheng, who died on 30 July, will be celebrated tomorrow at 6.30 am, in Mindong's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary. Thousands of faithful are pouring into the city from across the province of Fujian, but the police has set up checkpoints on roads to curb the influx of the faithful who want to pay homage to the bishop. Msgr. Huang was the bishop of the diocese, but belonged to the non-official Church and therefore was not recognized by the government as a bishop. Local authorities have been in discussions with his successor, Msgr. Vincenzo Guo Xijin and priests on to how to perform the ceremony to avoid too much attention" and "too many people" gathering. This is why checkpoints were set up on roads leading to the city. The authorities have established that only 3 thousand people can attend the funeral in the cathedral. But the community has pointed out that tens of thousands more will remain outside of the place of worship, and that they must be given the opportunity to pay homage to the bishop. Since the bishop was not recognized as such by the government, initially authorities did not want the corpse to be buried with any recognizable episcopal insignia. However agreement was reached and and Msgr. Huang will be cremated with his episcopal ring, pectoral cross and skull cap. The authorities were firm in not wanting either a miter or pastoral. So the faithful prepared a floral display in the form of a miter and pastoral to decorate the bishop's body (see photo 1). In 2005, at the funeral of the previous bishop, Msgr. Xie Shiguang, authorities did not allow anyone to take pictures. This time it was impossible to prohibit photos or videos, given the presence of many faithful with cell phones. In 2005 , the traditional procession from the church to the place of cremation was prohibited; now permission has been granted for a procession with 20 cars, but no more. After cremation the faithful had wanted to honor the ashes of the dead, bringing them back to the cathedral - and in doing so, allowing many more faithful to pay homage - but authorities have been insistent: after the cremation, the ashes of Mgr. Huang will be buried in the grave already prepared for him for some time. The faithful tell AsiaNews that the was damaged by the recent typhoons. But the authorities have promised that the tomb will be repaired for tomorrow will be dignified enough to receive the remains of this great pastor. Msgr. Vincenzo Guo Xijin, 58, who succeeds Msgr. Huang,was ordained coadjutor on December 28, 2008. He was ordained a priest in 1984 and worked as a teacher in seminaries and as an economic administrator of the diocese. But his most important job was to nourish and support religious male and female and vocations to the priesthood. He also urged his young seminarians to undertake graduate studies at state colleges. He was an unofficial priest and was arrested in 1990-'92; in 1993-'94; 1996. In the late 1990s he was also appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese of Wenzhou for a short time. by Melani Manel Perera The organization carried out a survey of 395 families. It compiled a list of 16 thousand disappeared, but the numbers are much higher. The report contains a number of suggestions to give economic and psychological support for the relatives of the victims. Colombo (AsiaNews) - The International Red Cross has carried out a survey among the families of persons who disappeared during the thirty years of civil war andare in great need of comfort and support. The result of the survey is contained in a recently published report in which the organization makes an appeal to the government to give serious consideration to the question of missing persons. The report also contains a series of proposals to help families of the victims. The Red Cross survey was conducted between October 2014 and November 2015. In this period, the staff met 395 families of persons who are missing, were seized or victims of the clash between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE). The Red Cross has drawn up a list of missing 16 thousand, although the numbers are much higher. Recently, the government in Colombo admitted 65 thousand people have gone missing without trace, and in late May the President Maithripala Sirisena presented the new Office for Missing Persons (OMP). Although the war ended definitively in May 2009, an official list of missing persons, including civilians and Tamil rebels, has never been released. The army leaders have always denied the existence of official data on the Tamil who surrendered and then disappeared into thin air, but at the end of June the publication of a list had seemed imminent. So far there has been no development in this regard. According to the Red Cross report, the victims' families face legal, administrative and economic difficulties every day, in addition to the deep sorrow of having having lost their relatives. This is why government, non-governmental organizations and international institutions should work together to put an end to their suffering. Among the recommendations in the report, the organization encourages the creation of an independent mechanism to investigate the truth about what happened. It intends to compile a list of missing persons at a national level; to search for bodies and identify them; conduct a thorough investigation and to coordinate all those working in the field. As for the families, the Red Cross asks that they be given accurate information about the victims, receive economic aid and brought together through the creation of a day of remembrance. by Catherine Field Hundreds of Muslims attended Catholic Masses yesterday, in a sign of solidarity and mourning for the killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel, near Rouen. His community has been very active in interfaith dialogue. One of the young terrorists who killed him took part in the prayer in the mosque. Manuel Valls proposes education for imams, and the blocking of foreign financing for mosques. Paris (AsiaNews) Yesterdays Masses in France were attended by many Muslims to express solidarity and condolences with Christians after the brutal murder of Fr. Jacques Hamel by two young local jihadists in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, close to Rouen. More than 100 Muslims were present among the 2 thousand faithful who filled the cathedral of Rouen. The Archbishop, Msgr. Dominique Lebrun, told them: "I thank you on behalf of all Christians. In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God. In Nice, the chief imam Otaman Aissaoui led a delegation to the Catholic mass. In this city, a jihadist drove a truck into the crowd on Bastille Day, killing 84 people and wounding 435, many of whom were also Muslims. Otaman said that "being united is a response to acts of horror and barbarism. Similar gesturestook place in Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris, etc. ... As well as in many Italian cities. Muslims have responded to an appeal launched by the Council of French Muslims, to show "solidarity and sympathy" to the Christians, after the slaughter of the priest. Yesterday I was at Notre Dame de Paris; three days ago, last Friday, the cathedral of Rouen. I must say that all these scenes of encounter between Christians and Muslims warm the heart. But they are not enough. My impression is that this outpouring of inter-faith grieving after the attack is based more on the needs for fraternity after all the horrors that France experienced last month. Of course, the scenes at the mosque and the Friday sermon in Saint Etienne du Rouvray on Friday and the Saturday and Sunday catholic services were a relief. But to be honest, Saint Etienne already had a very active inter-faith dialogue group. The relations in that town between the moslem and catholic communities were very strong. The catholic church even gave them the land on which to build their mosque. Similarly, in Rouen. There has been some very excellent grassroots work between the communities. Still, at least one of the two young terrorists would attend the local mosque prayer. All this coming together is between people who already have a kindred spirit. The marginalised youths will still be marginalised; the lure of 'Daesh' looms large; the people who carry out these attacks are all young, they act on instructions they receive via internet ... And life in French society seems to favor this type of thing. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has suggested more training for imams. Well, that already exists. It was set up by the Institute Catholique de Paris back in 2008 to teach about laicite, French customs and to make sure imams spoke French. Because of strict laws on laicite, the Institute Catholique is the only higher education faculty allowed to teach religion. The take-up though hasn't been that great, less than 100 have received the training. Even back in 2008 it was felt there needed to be more supervision of imams, particularly concerning their civil education and ensuring they spoke French. The problem was that the various muslim organisations didn't have any confidence in the Institute Catholique to do a 'fair' job. There is also a suggestion from Valls that foreign funding of mosques be forbidden. And that's also an old demand. To this all must be added the security failures. That has been a constant in all the attacks in France. Nicolas Sarkozy abolished the neighbourhood police units and put the emphasis on video surveillance and tough policing at a national level. So there are no links at all between say local (municipal) police and young kids on housing estates or even local mosques. If to all this is added the unemployment among young people and the sense that France is perhaps too stridently secular, accused of atheism by the fundamentalists, it is clear that there is not much hope to solve soon the problems of jihadism. by Joseph Masilamany Reverend Jerry Dusing, leader of the "Sidang Injil Borneo" terms the proposal incompatible with the Constitution. He promises that Christians will defend themselves "from any attempt to introduce Islamic law, injustice and extremism". Sabah State has a pluralistic and peaceful tradition. Christians make up 26% of the population. Kota Kinabalu (AsiaNews) - We will defend our borders "from any attempt made by anyone to approve sharia law in this state", says Reverend Jerry Dusing, leader of the Evangelical Church of Borneo (Sidang Injil Borneo, Bb) commenting on the desire of some political parties to impose Islamic rules to the entire population of Sabah (North Borneo). According to figures updated in 2010, Christians in Sabah are 853.726 (26.6% of the population). Muslims are 65.4% of the total. The evangelical leaders called the proposal incompatible with the Malaysian Agreement [note that in 1963, North Borneo and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaya, to form Malaysia ed]. It defines Malaysia as a secular federation: "This - continued Dunsing - was assured to all the inhabitants of Sabah and internationally recognized by Great Britain and Singapore, which approved the Constitution. Moreover, he added, "Sharia will not work in Sabah, which is pluralist in nature. We will guard our shores from injustice, unfairness and extremism". According Dusing Sabah has always welcomed with joy the harmony between different communities without a religious tensions, although Christians now live with the fear that their places of worship will be shut down. Before the State of Sabah, Kelantan's Muslim community called for the introduction of sharia,opposed by the opposition minority. The proposal to include the hudud (punishment according to Sharia law) came from Partai Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas). Last May the ruling coalition (National Front) agreed to bring the discussion before parliament. The measure would introduce penalties such as the stoning of adulterers and hand amputation for thieves. In late June Abdul Rahman Osman, Chief Mufti of Pahang state, called every non-Muslim citizen and those who oppose the inclusion of Sharia law in the legal system "kafir harbi". The term refers to non-believers in the Koran and the enemies of Islam, who therefore deserve death. The retired bishop Msgr. Paul Tan has called this statement "a threat to national security". Reverend Jerry Dusing has also been fighting for time to get permission for the tribal languages Bahasa Malaysia (used by Christians in Sabah and Serawak) and Bahasa Indonesia to use the word "Allah" to refer to God in their translations of the Bible. In January 2015, the Federal Court dismissed the appeal of Catholics to use the term. The Taliban militia claim "dozens of deaths and injuries", but no official statement from the government. Taliban and Islamic State fight each other for control of the region. Kabul (AsiaNews /Agencies) - A truck bomb exploded in the Afghan capital last night, hitting a complex for services and military logistics, used mainly by foreigners. The attack was claimed this morning by the Taliban, who say a group of its armed militants are currently engaged in shootouts, after gaining access to the near Northgate Hotel, a high-security residential complex used mainly by foreigners and international organizations. The authorities have not yet announced the exact number of victims of the explosion and shootings. A policeman and a soldier were killed in the crossfire. The Taliban announced that the explosion caused "dozens of dead and wounded." A week ago Kabul was the scene of another suicide bombing, claimed by Islamic State, which left at least 80 people dead and over 230 wounded. The attack targeted a gathering of the Shia Hazara community. According to experts, there is an open struggle between the Taliban and the Islamic state for the control of the region. by Shafique Khokhar The youth who travelled to Poland had trouble getting visas. But in the coming days they will return to Pakistan and can be an example for all Catholics. The priest invites the Church leaders to prepare ahead of the next World Youth Day. Lahore (AsiaNews) - In a country that discriminates and marginalizes minorities, young Pakistani Catholics were eager to participate in the World Youth Day in Krakow, which ended yesterday with a meeting dedicated to the 20 thousand volunteers who took part. Fr. Bonnie Mendes, a priest of the diocese of Faisalabad and Executive Secretary of the Office for Human Development of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC-OHD) spoke to AsiaNews of the difficulties in organizing the departure of young people, for whom obtaining a travel visa was not as straight forward as in other countries. Although there have been no great preparations and the delegation was not large, "we are ready to receive the minimum benefits that the event will give us." The priest believes in order to gain the most from such experiences, a well planned preparation is needed. Therefore, he is calling upon the leaders of the Church to immediately plan for the participation in the next World Youth Day to be held in Panama. You have asked me what I expect to get from the WYD in Krakow Poland. When we lead everyday lives in Pakistan, there are various kinds of challenges; it is hard to focus on any particular goal. It is in that context the Catholic Pakistani Youth applied to go to Poland. Unlike other countries where the Youth do not need visas or if they need visas they are sure they will get them. In our case, till the very last month, the Catholic Youth were not sure whether they could travel or not. Given the difficult situation in Pakistan, including discrimination, the Catholic Youth were keen to go to Poland but the coordinated planning for WYD was not visible. If it was there then it was not given much publicity. If we were not prepared in a big way, for a World Event, then we have to be ready to accept the small benefits we will receive. Some Pakistani Catholic youth from Poland were emailing saying they did not know many of the representatives from the country. For any National Youth Director to collect the whole Pakistani delegation to WYD and plan together must have been extremely hard. In the given background, we have to be satisfied with the little we get from Krakow, Poland. The WYD Programs began in 1986 with St John Paul taking the initiative to invite Catholic Youth to be prepared for the Challenges of the time. Ever since then, every two or three years the WYD Programs have been held. Though it is called WYD, the Program lasts for a week. This is the second time the Program is being held in Poland. The last time it was in Poland was in 1991, when the Russian Empire was crumbling. This is the 14th WYD. The theme was: Blessed are the Merciful for they shall be shown Mercy. The minute the Program ends, it will be known where and when the next Program will be held on what topic. If we are serious now, then we must plan for the next WYD. That will mean regular meetings in active Parishes - if not in all Parishes - on the theme of WYD. The journalists will have to write about it especially in Urdu language. For me Pakistani Catholic Youth meeting every month is very important. Churches where the Youth do not meet regularly will continue to have Seasonal Programs like Christmas Get together, Lenten Program "Sham e Calvary" (Evening of Calvary). For me Regular Youth Formation Programs is where Formation takes place. It has to involve the Youth. The Process is very important. Participants always learn from a Process. Seasonal Programs come and go; they depend on individuals with talent. The regular Programs get all involved. Even the less talented contribute and sometimes turn out to be big learners and contributors to the Youth Development Activities. I look forward to the Youth Commissions playing such a role, of initiating discussions on the next WYD and at same time drawing on the experience of the Catholic Pakistani Youth who have participated in various WYDs. There must be a data base of all from Pakistan who attended WYD Programs. We must begin enrolling now already for the next WYD. If we plan and work in a systematic way, we will move forward. For the time being the Youth must bring back from Poland, whatever they can. Pakistani Catholic Youth must plan concrete acts of Mercy. That will be a positive outcome which the Youth Commission can present to the world at large. Pakistan has enough problems, let us see how the Catholic Youth can be a part of the solution to the problems. The world needs love, forgiveness and mercy. Let us the heralds of this Good News. New York Post Uncovers Melania Trump Nude Photoshoot Trending News: Melania Trump's Nude Photoshoot Might Make You Change Your Vote Why Is This Important? Because the Presidential race is certainly heating up. Long Story Short The New York Post has tracked down modeling pictures of Melania Trump at the age of 25 that leave nothing to the imagination. Long Story Note: An earlier version of this story included three additional pictures published by the Post. After a good deal of (understandable) online discussion about what the Post was hoping to accomplish by publishing them, we decided to pull some of the images to avoid any appearance of malice or impropriety. If you wish to see the full set, both Post articles are linked within. If Donald Trump becomes US President on November 8, his wife Melania will have completed a rare career path from nude model to first lady. Melania was thrust into the spotlight after her allegedly plagiarized speech at the Republican National Convention and now she has again stolen the headlines from her husband after the New York Post dug up some rather compromising pics, published in the article "Melania Trump like youve never seen her before." About 20 years ago, Melania was modelling for now defunct French magazine Max and posed for a set of photos wearing nothing more than a pair of high heels. The shoot was one of the first Melania did in the US, at the time having recently arrived after working in Paris and Milan. Back then, the Slovenian model probably didnt think shed one day be involved in a US Presidential campaign, but now those photos by Ale de Basseville have been re-published in their full glory. Ale de Basseville/New York Post Since the photos appeared on top shelves in January 1996, Melania, now 46, has come a long way. Now a jewelry designer, she was introduced to Donald Trump at a party in New York Fashion Week in 1998 and they got married in 2005 in Palm Beach, Florida. It would seem that the pictures havent fazed Donald, who is quoted by the New York Post as saying: Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common. Of course we can only defer to Donalds superior knowledge of European culture, but its not that common for fully nude pictures of the potential first lady of the United States to appear on the internet. Update: The Post has discovered yet more photos, including one featuring Melania nude in bed with another woman. The question is, where are these pics coming from, and why now? Is Donald Trump leaking them himself to distract from his discombobulated interview over the weekend? Discuss. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Do nude pics of Melania Trump help or hinder Trumps presidential campaign? Disrupt Your Feed Donald shouldve have used this as a campaign poster, its the first good argument for Trump Ive heard. Drop This Fact Melania also appeared nude in GQ in 2000 including a picture of her handcuffed to a briefcase on Trumps private jet. A top litigation funding firm is expecting a boost in business as the UK bides it time in officially leaving the European Union.In its annual report, Burford Capital argued that volatility in the business sector often leads to increased litigation, which is why it is already seeing benefit to its business because of the Brexit.Substantively, Brexit will give rise to significant uncertainty for businesses, and demand for legal services tends to flourish during periods of uncertainty, boosting our business collaterally, the report read, according to The Law Society Gazette.The predicted boon comes as other sectors are expected to be negatively impacted by the Brexit. International legal firm Baker & McKenzie forecast in a recent study that a disorderly exit from the EU could cost the global M&A market by as much as $1.6 trillion Burford said that the weakened Sterling could actually have a substantive positive effect on their business as this makes UK courts and arbitral institutions (and the UK lawyers who practise in them) somewhat more economically competitive globally.Over the first half of 2016, Burford Capital saw US$76 million (58 million) in total income, up a significant 88 percent from US $40 million (30.5 million) from the comparable 2015 period. The outfit also reported US$55.8 million (42.5 million) in profit before tax for the first half of 2016, up from US$23.7 million (18 million) in the first half of 2015. The first and only foreign law firm in North Korea has decided to suspend services in the country citing business and geopolitical principles.Reuters reports that Hay, Kalb & Associates is a joint venture between British-French citizen Michael Hay and the North Korean State. It has been operating for 12 years this month but tensions between Pyongyang and other nations have become increasingly strained.Sanctions on North Korea imposed by the United Nations have led to increased difficulties for the law firms clients, mostly foreign investors.Hay says he will maintain an office in North Korea but that services are suspended from midnight Monday (Aug. 1) and will be officially suspended from Aug. 14.The procedural rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre have been amended for the first time in three years.In a client note from law firm Greenberg Traurig it notes that the changes, effective 1August 2016, are not a fundamental overhaul but bring the SIAC in line with developments in international arbitration practice.Among the new rules is provision for providing two options for disputes involving multiple contracts and there is now the ability for parties to consolidate two or more SIAC cases into one single case.The full rules can be found at the SIAC website Just two weeks after it announced new offices in Brazil and Peru, international law firm Kennedys has further expanded its presence in Latin America.The new offices in Chile and Colombia extends the firms presence in Latin America to four offices, three formal associations and various relationships. It also brings the firms worldwide footprint to 26 international offices and 12 formal associations.Lawyers tend to be fairly conservative when it comes to promoting their services but there are always exceptions.Take Bryan Wilson, criminal lawyer in Texas and self-styled Texan Law Hawk whose superhero-style commercials have become viral hits in YouTube.With his loud and brash catchphrase of someone just called me Wilson has already won a number of accolades including a US law magazines 2015 Lawyer of the Year Award for showing that lawyers can have a sense of humour.While some may say Wilsons style is not befitting of the legal profession, hes certainly getting noticed! A UK judge has suggested the establishment of an online court that lets people resolve disputes worth less than 25,000 in a process that rarely needs the involvement of lawyers, if at all.The suggestion, seen to cut costs, comes from Lord Justice Briggs who conducted a review starting July 2015 of the civil courts of the British justice system.In the 300-page Civil Courts Structure Review: Final Report penned by the judge, he describes the online court having a three-stage process that involves an automated online triage phase, a conciliation phase to be handled by case officers and if all else fails a determination phase to be led by a judge.Detailing the first stage, he writes that it is designed to help litigants without lawyers articulate their claim in a form which the court can resolve, and to upload their key documents and evidence.Intending to embrace digital technologies for the suggested addition to the British civil courts system, the determination phase can be done via video or telephone hearings apart from in-person trials or determination on the documents.The judge sees the online court becoming the compulsory forum for resolving cases within its jurisdiction.He also took note of and provided recommendations for criticisms mainly about provisions for the technologically-challenged to be assisted in using the system, for complex cases to be escalated to higher courts and for justice and transparency issues to be addressed.In a statement, Lord Justice Briggs said that it is for others to decide which of his recommendations should be implemented, and by what means.In my view, if they are all substantially implemented, then the essentially high quality of the civil justice service provided by the courts of England and Wales will be greatly extended to a silent community to whom it is currently largely inaccessible, and both restored and protected against the weaknesses and threats which currently affect it, he said. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Preparing for a road trip: 10 things to check before you hit the road Driving a long distance this holiday season? Here are 10 things to know before you do. 2,21,576 Views Follow us on First, lets get the obvious out of the way get your car serviced and make sure everything is as it should be; top up or replace oils, coolant, lights, wiper blades and tyres; and carry all your cars documents. Okay, now that we are now done with that, lets talk about some not-so-obvious guidelines to make your drive safer and more comfortable. This is the most important point in this article. Everyone in the car, including rear-seat passengers, must be belted up at all times. Not only can it save your lives in an accident, it will also save you from getting bruised if you speed over an unmarked speed breaker (found aplenty in India) and hit your head on the roof or those hand grips over the windows. Its always good to have a second driver, just in case you fall ill on the way or get tired. You wouldnt want your passengers to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, is there is no one else to take over. This is especially important if its a long drive, or a challenging one, like the drive to Ladakh. Carry a spare key, but dont keep it in the glove box or in a bag stored in the boot. Keep it with you, but dont keep both the keys together. Its a good idea to let someone else hold on to the spare key. Carry a couple of old newspapers as they make excellent window cleaners and also act as effective carpets for muddy shoes. Preserve the toll receipts till the end of the trip. Thats because if you are stopped by the authorities for driving an out-of-state registered vehicle, the toll receipts will prove that you are passing through and not a permanent resident of that state. Yes, your driving license and car papers should prove that, but keep the toll receipts too as another line of defence. Follow all the rules of traffic. You wouldnt want to get your license confiscated by the traffic police so far away from home. Also, some places might have particular rules that you may be unaware of. For example, in Chandigarh you can be fined for smoking while driving. Motorists have been stopped by the Gujarat traffic police for not having a yellow strip on their headlamp. In Karnataka, pillions are prohibited on bikes with less than a 100cc engine capacity. If you want to reach your destination faster, making fewer stops is more efficient than stepping on the throttle. So try and minimise your stops if you want to make time. Carry liquids and snacks to have on the go. Though you will find fuel pumps along all major national highways, finding pumps on state roads might not be so easy. Get your tank topped once the needle drops below half a tank. Actively scout for a pump if your fuel level drops to a quarter of the tank. Also remember that all pumps will have diesel, but some of them may not have petrol. Heres a rough rule of thumb to plan your drive with respect to the time it will take. On the highway, you will take an hour for every 50km, so a 200km drive should take about four hours. This is just an approximation. And while on the subject of planning your drive, its a good idea to leave at first light, as the traffic is lighter and the weather will be better. Moreover, it will give you a buffer time in case you have a breakdown or a puncture. While we have some fantastic roads criss-crossing the country, whats missing are clean washrooms. While it may not be too much of an issue for men, it can be a real issue for women. So when you come across a clean washroom, make use of it because you dont know when you will find the next one. And yes, carry toilet paper. Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs. Dont throw anything out of the car. Please keep a bag inside for all your waste and dispose it when you reach your destination. That brings us to the most important point in this article. Indian roads are the most dangerous in the world. Its a fact, accept it. Vehicles will come at you from the wrong side, bikers will suddenly swerve across the road in front of you, there will be unmarked obstructions, pedestrians and animals will jump out on the road from behind bushes and no amount of shouting profanities at them will help. What you can do is stay vigilant every moment. Leave your ego and anger at home. Keep yourself calm and patient. Remember, you want to have a nice holiday and not spend your time at the police station, a workshop or a hospital. Have a safe driving holiday. Copyright (c) Autocar India. All rights reserved. Ecclestone himself has reasons to be happy as well since despite a 120 million reais (approximately $36,5 million) ransom was requested, no money was actually paid.Aparecide Schunck, the 67-year-old mother-in-law of the Formula 1 supremo, had been kidnapped on July 22 from her home in the neighborhood of Interlagos in Sao Paulo, but her ordeal thankfully ended without anyone getting hurt in the late ours of yesterday.According to Brazilian news outlet Veja , phone calls held between the kidnappers and members of Mrs. Schunck's family were monitored by police, helping the lawmen find out their location.Last night, a special police task forced stormed the hideout, which was located in Cotia, in the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo and freed the woman. Two kidnappers were arrested on the spot, but the Sao Paulo police think that more people could be involved, and the investigation is still ongoing.Apparently, Ecclestone had wanted to come to Brazil to help in the investigation, but the police suggested that he and his wife should remain in the United Kingdom, as their presence might have the opposite of the desired effect.About 18-years younger than Ecclestone, Mrs. Schunck became his mother-in-law when Bernie married her daughter, Fabiana Flosi, in 2012, not even three years after meeting her working at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.As most of you know, Bernie Ecclestone is one of the most powerful men in motorsport and most likely the richest, with a personal net worth of about $3.1 billion, according to Forbes.His fortune didn't decrease by one bit after the kidnapping, despite Mrs. Schunck's captors obviously targeting Bernie's big bucks when they abducted her. All is well when it ends well, especially since the abduction was resolved just days before the Rio 2016 Olympics are to be held in Brazil. We're talking about Miracle Detail, which isn't at its first hybrid Prancing Horse. However, the Youtube description of the first video below, which shows various finish issues, reads: "Brand new with swirl marks, scratches, buffer marks, and deep sanding marks, how nice of the factory to give these away free with your new million+ pound LaFerrari ,"Of course, such a statement is difficult to believe, so a commenter asked for more details, with Paul Dalton, who handles the detailing company, replying: "It got driven straight from the factory to myself. Most of the defects are sanding marks from the factory where they have sanded the paint but not removed all the da sanding marks as seen in this video the rest is buffer marks again from the factory,"We too are sitting here with a raised eyebrow. However, before moving any further, we must explain that one poor (and unmentioned) washing job that could've taken place along the way might be responsible for the swirl marks, for example. And yet it's hard to believe that all the issues you'll see here come from one or two improper washing jobs.It's not uncommon to see less-than-perfect paint finishes on supercars and hypercars, with many owners turning to details who spend days on giving high-octane monsters the perfect finish.In fact, the let's-make-things-perfect job we see here is a five-day plan - the intro of the first video below dedicates plenty of time to showing you the problems, with the rest of the footage shedding some light on how these issues can be overcome. The company has signed a deal to form a consortium, which will handle the self-driving vehicle trial set to begin next year in Singapore . The idea behind this deal is to put the companys self-driving technology to the test in one of the worlds most busiest cities, and with real traffic conditions and needs.For the trial to work flawlessly, the vehicles will have humans behind the wheel at all times, ready to step in and avoid a potentially dangerous situation. Eventually, as the trial moves towards the end of its two-and-a-half-year contract with the city, the human drivers will step down from the vehicles altogether.Delphi wants to demonstrate it has a robust and reliable technology, which is fully compatible with user demands and other requirements. Even though Delphi does not want to bring autonomous vehicles to market in the form presented in Singapore, the supplier will demonstrate to its partners that it can develop and provide tech for driverless vehicles.These technologies could be integrated into production vehicles for crash-avoidance purposes, as well as semi-autonomous driving features. Delphi has chosen Singapore for this trial because it already has a factory and a Research&Development center there, and the citys streets are crowded and have busy traffic.As Automotive News reports, Delphi will be involved with six other partners, and it will operate a fleet of six vehicles. The partners will be named at a later date, but Delphi is the leading company of the consortium. Delphi showcased a self-driving Audi SQ5 (as seen in the photo gallery) last year, but the same model will not be used for the autonomous ride-hailing service.In the case of the Singapore self-driving fleet, Delphi will retrofit each vehicle with cameras, radar , and LIDAR. Customers will request a ride using an app, and the cars will pick them up and drive them to the selected destination. Each client can choose to stop the fare and get off earlier, if desired.Once the human drivers step down from the wheel, Delphi will program each self-driving vehicle it operates to slow down, pull over, and stop if it discovers a malfunction in its autonomous drive system. The same procedure happens in Googles self-driving prototypes in the case of a failure. The E-Class range from Mercedes-Benz is about to be enhanced with a crossover version, which might become known as the E-Class All Terrain. While the name is still pending, we do have a set of spy photos of the prototype, which has been spotted by our friends at CarPix while it was being driven through Germany.The new version of the E-Class is evidently based on the Estate body style, and it comes with distinct body cladding, similar to that worn by SUVs and crossovers . The trend was started by Audi, with the Allroad model, and then seen at Volvo in the form of the XC70.Interestingly, BMW and Mercedes-Benz did not have any competitors in the niche, but it appears that the three-pointed-star from Stuttgart has had a change of heart.As you can observe in the photo gallery of this article, the All Terrain variant of the E-Class comes with different front and rear bumpers, a set of side skirts, and appropriate ornaments for the wheel arches. We expect the additional body cladding to be painted black, or to be decorated in a way that makes it stand out from the rest of the sheet metal.Just like its existing competitors from Audi and Volvo, Mercedes-Benzs E-Class-based crossover comes with a higher ground clearance. Evidently, at this price level, the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system from the German automaker is expected to come standard with this car.The new crossover from Mercedes-Benz might come to the market as a 2017 model. We would not exclude the possibility of introducing an air suspension to allow the manipulation of the ride height.According to some reports, the new E-Class All Terrain could be showcased at this years Paris Motor Show, scheduled this fall. Others would not exclude a launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show, while Mercedes-Benz might delay the model until the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. Mr. Warming recently left the MINI brand to seek new opportunities , and a press release from the revived German brand has revealed his new job. The Borgward appointment comes after 16 years spent by Anders Warming in the BMW Group.The Borgward brand is the first automaker from Germany to introduce a Board of Management position for Design, which will be taken by Anders Warming. His new role will be effective starting January 1, 2017, but Mr. Warming will be in the offices of the German company before that date.Representatives of the Borgward brand have stated that they are delighted to have someone like Anders Warming on their team. Their enthusiasm is understandable, as the 43-year-old Danish designer has worked for two German automakers, BMW and Volkswagen. In the past six years, Warming was the head of MINIs design team in Munich, Germany.As we previously explained, Warming is credited for helping the BMW Group move the MINI brand upmarket . Even with all of the advanced materials available in the German corporation, pushing a brand upmarket would not have been possible without an appropriate design.Anders Warming has created concept cars like the MINI Vision Next 100 Concept, as well as the second-generation Countryman, ongoing Clubman, and the beautiful Superleggera concept car. Furthermore, the very first five-door MINI was launched with Warming at the head of the design department.Before leading MINI s design department, the Danish designer had worked at BMW, where he shared a studio with Chris Bangle and Adrian van Hooydonk , two of the artists that shaped the way BMW models have looked in the past 20 years.Before joining BMW, Warming studied at the Art Center College of Design in Vevey, Switzerland, as well as in Pasadena, California, at an equivalent institution. His first employment in the design industry was at the BMW Designworks studio in California, followed by a short stint at the Volkswagen Group.Interestingly, his former boss, Gert Hildebrand, left MINI to join Qoros, another brand started with Chinese funds. Unlike Qoros, Borgward is a German make, with European headquarters, but it is also financed by Chinese investors. However, as impressive as its ascension may be, its business still relies heavily on the products of other companies, with Google playing an important part. The Uber app is powered by Google Maps, and the tech giant has reportedly announced it will be raising the fees it charges for its use, a move that would place companies such as Uber in a delicate position.A company with the financial power of Uber understandably doesn't like being at the hand of other businesses, so it is taking rapid measures in an attempt to eliminate the middleman. Last week, Uber made it public that Brian McClendon, the former head of Google Maps who switched over to Uber last year would direct its global mapping project. This came less than a month after news of a partnership between DigitalGlobe, one of the leading providers of high-resolution Earth imagery, data, and analytics, and Uber.Now, Financial Times reports that Uber has set a clear investment figure for its mapping efforts, and it stands at half a billion dollars. An unquoted source "familiar with Uber's plans" told the publication that the San Francisco company is doubling its efforts in this direction, with mapping vehicles already out on the streets of the US and Mexico. Other countries are expected to follow soon.After a relatively low-cost start where Uber didn't have to invest in hardware or new technology, the company has now chosen to take matters into its hands and ensure that its future does not depend on third parties.Uber is alredy working on developing its own autonomous driving technology that will presumably allow it to operate driverless fleets at one point, and is now accelerating its efforts in mapping the roads network around the world joining the likes of Google or HERE (owned by Audi BMW , and Mercedes-Benz ). Schuetz John Schuetz, a principal in The RSH Group and automotive veteran who worked for Ford Motor Co., Kia, Fiat/Iveco, and Daewoo, passed away on July 25 in Auburn, Calif., from congestive heart failure. He was 69. Schuetz co-founded The RSH Group in 2001, where he worked for the past 15 years bringing more than 30 years of negotiating, economic development, and marketing expertise to the firm. He was responsible for all sales and marketing at The RSH Group. Prior to RSH, Schuetz managed corporate relationships with companies such as GE, Home Depot, Lowes Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi International. During his automotive career, Schuetz was the corporate general manager of Daewoo Motor America, which was sold to General Motors in 2002. Daewoos North American operations were closed following its sale to General Motors. While at Daewoo Motor America, Schuetz established all company policies and procedures, attained a No.4 ranking in the J.D. Power Automotive CSI Survey of 38 manufacturers, and developed a residual strategy that achieved, at that time, the highest residual values of any Korean automotive manufacturer in U.S. history. Prior to joining Daewoo, Schuetz served as national manager, field operations with Kia Motors America. In that position, Schuetz directed operations strategy and planning for four regions and a 500-plus dealer network. Schuetz created and launched the Kia Dealer Relations Advisory Council. During his employment at Kia, the company achieved the highest industry annual percentage increase in sales and was named the highest potential franchise in J.D. Powers 5-year forecast study. From 1985-1991, Schuetz was Western Region vice president for IVECO Truck of North America. Schuetz started his automotive career at Ford Motor Company serving as the field and operations manager. In that position, Schuetz developed detailed programs to increase sales for 157 dealers in the Western U.S. market. During his career at Ford Motor Co., Schuetz also worked as a personal assistant to Lee Iacocca, who was president of Ford Motor Co. Schuetz was also a decorated officer in the U.S. Navy and served as a lieutenant, where he commanded a division of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. He served with distinction in Vietnam from 1969-1971, pioneering many tactics in riverine naval combat and served as a training advisor for several foreign navies. During his command, he also taught at Annapolis and served on several boards with Retired Naval Flag Officers. He was a member of both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Among his other accomplishments, Schuetz was named Orange County (California) Man of Character in 1998 and served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America for many years. In 2007, Schuetz was appointed to be a consultant to the White House-sponsored Community Reinvestment Fund Program. Schuetz received a bachelors of arts degree in communications/advertising from Marquette University in 1969 and was a graduate of the Stanford University School of Business Executive Management/Corporate Development Program. He is survived by his wife Jaci and sons Michael and Sean. NASA took delivery this week of a Tecnam P2006T, which will undergo transformation into an electric-propulsion testbed called the X-57 Maxwell. The Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology and Operations Research (SCEPTOR) project, the latest in NASAs X-plane experiments, seeks to develop technologies to make flying quieter, cheaper and emissions-free. Sean Clarke, one of the leaders of the X-57 project out of NASA Armstrong in California, was among the presenters during a joint news conference with Tecnam during AirVenture 2016. Clarke told AVweb during the event that the test aircraft will undergo a series of modifications and be ready to fly in early 2018. Experiments with electric motors mounted on the wingtips will follow, he said. Future plans are to research flight characteristics with smaller inboard electric motors. The project was launched with $15 million of funding over three years. From a research standpoint, electric motors are highly efficient regardless of size, and they can be installed, removed and rearranged in various configurations with ease, said Mark Moore, a SCEPTOR project leader. It gives us incredible flexibility, he said. While the aircraft sent to NASA is strictly for research, Tecnam says the projects findings will benefit industry in the future. Even though this aircraft will never be a production article, Tecnam is proud to be a part of expanding our base of knowledge in this new paradigm in flight, said Shannon Yeager, director of Tecnam U.S. The entire aircraft manufacturing community will benefit from the return of the X-planes and the new information gained with the X-57. 1 August 2016 10:23 (UTC+04:00) Armenian armed forces have 17 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Aug.1. Armenians were using large caliber machine guns and sniper rifles while firing at Azerbaijani positions. Armenian armed forces, stationed in Paravakar village of Armenias Ijevan district, Berdavan and Barekamavan villages of the countrys Noyemberyan district opened fire at positions of Azerbaijani armed forces stationed in the nameless heights of Aghstafa district, as well as Kemerli, Gaymagli villages of Gazakh district. Armenian armed forces, stationed on the nameless heights of the countrys Berd district opened fire at positions of Azerbaijani armed forces in the nameless heights of Tovuz district. Besides, Azerbaijani positions on the nameless heights of Gadabay district underwent fire from the positions stationed on the nameless heights of Armenias Krasnoselsk district. Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the positions located near Chilaburt village of the Tartar district, Horadiz, Bash Gervend villages of the Fizuli district. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 11:23 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Members of the armed group Sasna Tsrer, who seized a police station in the Armenian capital Yerevan, surrendered to the authorities on July 31 after a two-week stand-off. "The anti-terrorist operation is over," the National Security Service said in a statement, adding that the authorities had "forced the members of the armed group to lay down their arms". During the 15-day armed seizure, two police officers were killed and both the attackers and police side got several wounded. 20 terrorists have been arrested. The area of the police regiment is completely liberated, the Service claimed. On July 17, a group of armed men entered the territory of the Armenian police patrol department in the Erebuni district of Yerevan and took several people hostage. The attackers demanded the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was arrested nearly a month ago on charges of illegal possession of arms. They also claim resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Following the long-lasting talks, the armed group on July 23 released all of the hostages. Nevertheless, they refused to lay arms down and surrender to the authorities. On July 27, the group took new hostages. They were four ambulance doctors who arrived at the police station to assist the wounded in the shootout between the police and Sasna Tsrer members. By July 31, they were also released. From the first day of the seizure, Armenian people started their protest actions against authorities by gathering on the Khorenatsi street and other main venues of the capital. Every evening they conducted rallies in front of the police cordon to stop the implementation of a special operation against the armed group. On July 29, following a rally in Sari Tagh district of Yerevan, the police dispersed the protesters and arrested 165 people. Due to numerous violations by Armenian police, 73 people addressed medical institutions with injuries of varying degrees of severity. This terrifying fact has also been mentioned by the U.S .Embassy, which called on Yerevan to preserve stability in the country. 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, the Embassy stated. President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt also expressed his deep concern on the situation: All those concerned should resolve this crisis through dialogue and respect of the Council of Europes standards. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By J. Bradford DeLong The Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen recently gave a talk in Lisbon about inequality that demonstrated one of the virtues of being a scholar of economic history. Eichengreen, like me, glories in the complexities of every situation, avoiding oversimplification in the pursuit of conceptual clarity. This disposition stays the impulse to try to explain more about the world than we can possibly know with one simple model. For his part, with respect to inequality, Eichengreen has identified six first-order processes at work over the past 250 years. The first is the widening of Britains income distribution between 1750 and 1850, as the gains from the British Industrial Revolution went to the urban and rural middle class, but not to the urban and rural poor. Second, between 1750 and 1975, income distribution also widened globally, as some parts of the world realized gains from industrial and post-industrial technologies, while others did not. For example, in 1800, American purchasing power parity was twice that of China; by 1975 it was 30 times that of China. The third process is what is known as the First Age of Globalization, between 1850 and 1914, when living standards and labor productivity levels converged in the global north. During this time, 50 million people left an overcrowded agricultural Europe for resource-rich new settlements. They brought their institutions, technologies, and capital with them, and the wage differential between Europe and these new economies shrank from roughly 100% to 25%. This mostly coincided with the Gilded Age between 1870 and 1914, when domestic inequality rose in the global north as entrepreneurship, industrialization, and financial manipulation channeled new gains mostly to the wealthiest families. Gilded Age inequality was significantly reversed during the period of social democracy in the global north, between 1930 and 1980, when higher taxes on the wealthy helped pay for new government benefits and programs. But the subsequent and last stage brings us to the current moment, when economic policy choices have again resulted in a widening of the distribution of gains in the global north, ushering in a new Gilded Age. Eichengreens six processes affecting inequality are a good starting point. But I would go further and add six more. First, there is the stubborn persistence of absolute poverty in some places, despite the extraordinary overall reduction since 1980. As the UCLA scholar Ananya Roy points out, people in absolute poverty are deprived of both the opportunities and the means to change their status. They lack what the philosopher Isaiah Berlin called positive liberty empowerment for self-actualization as well as negative liberty, or freedom from obstacles in ones path of action. Seen in this light, inequality is an uneven distribution not only of wealth, but also of liberty. Second is the abolition of slavery in many parts of the world during the nineteenth century, followed by, third, the global loosening over time of other caste constraints race, ethnicity, gender which deprived even some people with wealth of the opportunities to use it. The fourth process consists of two recent high-growth generations in China and one high-growth generation in India, which has been a significant factor underlying global wealth convergence since 1975. Fifth is the dynamic of compound interest, which through favorable political arrangements allows the wealthy to profit from the economy without actually creating any new wealth. As the French economist Thomas Piketty has observed, this process may have played some role in our past, and will surely play an even bigger role in our future. At this point, it should be clear why I began by noting the complexity of economic history. This complexity implies that any adjustments to our political economy should be based on sound social science and directed by elected leaders who are genuinely acting in the interest of the people. Emphasizing complexity brings me to a final factor affecting inequality perhaps the most important of all: populist mobilizations. Democracies are prone to populist uprisings, especially when inequality is on the rise. But the track record of such uprisings should give us pause. In France, populist mobilizations installed an emperor Napoleon III, who led a coup in 1851 and overthrew democratically elected governments during the Third Republic. In the United States, they underpinned discrimination against immigrants and sustained the Jim Crow era of legal racial segregation. In Central Europe, populist mobilizations have driven imperial conquests under the banner of proletarian internationalism. In the Soviet Union, they helped Vladimir Lenin consolidate power, with disastrous consequences that were surpassed only by the horrors of Nazism, which also came to power on a populist wave. Constructive populist responses to inequality are fewer, but they should certainly be mentioned. In some cases, populism has helped in extending the franchise; enacting a progressive income tax and social insurance; building physical and human capital; opening economies; prioritizing full employment; and encouraging migration. History teaches us that these latter responses to inequality have made the world a better place. Unfortunately and at the risk of oversimplification we usually fail to heed historys lessons. Copyright: Project Syndicate: A Brief History of (In)equality --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 12:24 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Railroad between Mashhad city of Iran and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan will be launched in autumn 2016, said Mohsen Pakayin, Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan. The ambassador highlighted that the launch of the railway communication will promote further development of tourism between the two countries, mentioning that the tickets will be put up for sale in Azerbaijan and Iran. No information about the ticket cost was revealed, while the train is expected to run twice a week. The project is envisaged within the framework of the agreement between the governments of Azerbaijan and Islamic Republic of Iran on the coordination of railways of the two countries, which was signed by Iranian Minister of Transportation Abbas Akhoundi and Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev during President Ilham Aliyevs Tehran visit on February 23. The ambassador went on saying that there are also plans to launch new flights en route Baku-Mashhad and Baku-Shiraz. Being located in the in the northeast of Iran, Mashhad is considered to be the second most populous city in Iran. The Islamic Republic has unilaterally cancelled visa requirements for Azerbaijanis since 2009 in a move to demonstrate that Tehran is looking forward to fostering closer relations with Baku. Currently, Azerbaijan and Iran are focused on expanding economic ties in various fields, including industry, agriculture, energy, alternative energy, and transportation. The transport connections between Nakhchivan and other countries , except Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran ,is possible only by means of air transport. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 13:57 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova A bilateral agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Russia on the application of Green Card System of motor insurance came into effect from August 1, Azerbaijan Compulsory Insurance Bureau (ISB) reported. From now on, Azerbaijani and Russian car owners will get insurance policies at the entrance to the territories of Russia and Azerbaijan, accordingly. The policies will be valid at the territories of both countries. Azerbaijan citizens, who hold Green Card policies that are valid in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, will have a right to exchange their policies for free for analogous ones that include the international country code of Russia (RUS). The Green Card is an international system of motor vehicle liability insurance which functions since 1951. The system was introduced in Azerbaijan in 2016. As much as 1,444 insurance contracts with the total worth of 224,000 manats ($146.3) have been signed in January-May 2016. Azerbaijan and Russia signed the agreement on the Green Card System in June 2016. Negotiations with the Russian side on the mutual recognition of the system have dragged out because of the issue relating to occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The talks on application of policies in the occupied territories lasted for more than six months. The sides had reached a consensus on non-application of the insurance policies in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Earlier, Elkhan Guliyev, Executive Director of ISB said that the issue will get actuality after the release of the Armenian-occupied territories. The main objective of the Green Card System is settlement of claims of persons injured as a result of road accidents involving foreign registered vehicles, ensuring that victims of accidents involving foreign registered vehicles are not disadvantaged as well as facilitation of the movement of vehicles across international borders by the use of an internationally acceptable insurance document. The Green Card system currently comprises 48 countries. Responsibility for issuing Green Cards is given to national organizations. ISB performs the function of a national insurance bureau of the international Green Card system in Azerbaijan. As much as 16 companies are the members of ISB with 13 being eligible for the sale of compulsory insurance policy. Some 25 insurance companies are currently operating in Azerbaijan. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 17:08 (UTC+04:00) Mortgage portfolios of four closed Azerbaijani banks Ganjabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank and Royal Bank have been transferred to management of the Bank BTB OJSC. Bank BTB and Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund have reached an agreement to transfer the four banks portfolios consisting of 1,755 customers and worth nearly 59.5 million manats, the bank reported on August 1. Transfer of mortgage loans of Ganjabank and Royal Bank to the management of the Bank BTB is related to the fact that earlier, these banks mortgage portfolios were under the management of Zamin Bank, the license of which was revoked by the decision of Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Body. The licenses of DekaBank, KredoBank, Parabank and Zaminbank have been revoked in accordance with the decision of the Board of directors of the Financial Market Supervisory Body dated July 21, 2016. The reason of a halt is the failure of banks to comply with statutory minimum capital requirements as well as manage their activities in a safe and prudent manner. Previously, highlighting the issue of existence of other troubled banks in Azerbaijan, Head of the FMSB Board of Directors Rufat Aslanli said that currently the country has no problem banks except the International Bank of Azerbaijan and Bank Standard. Nevertheless, the closure of these banks is not currently on the agenda. Currently, 33 banks have licenses for implementing banking activities in Azerbaijan. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 18:22 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Moodys Investors Service, an international ratings agency, has confirmed Azerbaijans long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings at Ba1 and assigned a negative outlook. The countrys rating was changed in February 2016 while the outlook on it was changed to negative in April 2016. The agency downgraded the government bond and issuer ratings of the country to Ba1 from Baa3. The impact of the fall in oil prices, rising pressures on the financial system of the country and loss of confidence in the national currency (the manat) are considered to be the key drivers for the downgrade to Ba1. Moody's projects real GDP to contract by 0.7% in 2016 as compared to a previously forecasted expansion of 1.7 percent while the growth of around 1 percent is forecasted for 2017. Earlier, Fitch Ratings also approved the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Azerbaijan at BB+ with the forecast negative, and forecasted the short-term IDR both in foreign and local currencies at B. Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said recently that the country will gradually restore its sovereign rating due to the stabilization of the economic situation, increase of the volume of export earnings as well as positive results of reforms which are implemented in the country. Sharifov stressed that sovereign rating downgrade by the international rating agencies has also concerned other countries which are oriented in the export of raw-materials mentioning that the process in natural. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 17:44 (UTC+04:00) Key representatives from across the UK shale gas industry, will meet in Manchester this October for the fourth annual UK Shale Gas Summit (formerly known as E-SGOS). This years summit has taken a UK focus and will address the role for shale gas in the new energy infrastructure, considering the latest developments, strategies and opportunities within UK unconventional exploration & production. Sponsors & Partners The UK Shale Gas Summit is delighted to be hosting the event with sponsors from across the shale industry; Schlumberger, Tesla Exploration, Metasphere and Rain for Rent International UK. Additionally, the summit has the profound support from partners across the energy sector; including Eversheds who will be participating in the Planning Panel on Day 1. Excellent Networking UK Shale will also host networking throughout the course of the day, with lunch, networking breaks and evening drinks. Bringing together national & local government, investors, contractors, operators and new entrants from the 14th onshore licensing round with service and solution providers. Exciting Speaker Line-up & Conference Agenda Specific attention will be afforded to the status of the current planning system, the path to exploratory drilling, supporting the future supply chain, tiers of public engagement, baseline monitoring, health & safety regulation and energy security. Speakers will include: Environment Agency Eversheds Gary Stringer, Head of Sustainability, IGas Plc David Joffe, Team Leader, Committee on Climate Change Richard Salter, Global Shale Exploration Technical Manager, Schlumberger Bryan Payne, Head of Energy Productivity Team, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Professor Michael Bradshaw, Professor Global Energy, Warwick Business School Professor Mike Stephenson, Chief Scientist, British Geological Survey Tim Gibbs, Divisional Manager Policy and Development Services, Halton Borough Council Chris Hughes, Commercial Director, Nutech Energy Alliance Dr Neil Thorpe, Lecturer in Transport Studies, Newcastle University Jason Nisse, Partner, Newgate Communications Tim Gregory, Corporate Director, Place, Nottinghamshire County Council Tony Almond, Oil & Gas Policy, HSE Lorraine Allanson, Friends of Ryedale Gas Exploration Craig Norman, HM Inspector of Well Engineering & Operations | Energy Division Offshore, HSE Tom Beeley, Renewable Energy Advisor, Country Land and Business Association (CLA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To purchase your conference ticket, exhibit or sponsor at UK Shale Gas Summit 2016, please enquire via the details below or visit the event website: www.esgos.eu For Conference and Marketing Enquiries: [email protected] For Tickets & Sponsorship Enquiries: [email protected] +44 (0)151 230 2105 PRESS REGISTRATION If youre a journalist and interested in attending the UK Shale 2016, please send an email to [email protected] for your complimentary press pass. ---- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 12:12 (UTC+04:00) Mayor of Islamabad Sheikh Anser Aziz has expressed the city`s interest in building direct ties with Baku as he met with Azerbaijani Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Alizade. He said they were ready to maintain cooperation in organizing various cultural, scientific, educational, tourism, humanitarian and social projects in Islamabad in order to develop and strengthen relations between the two countries, Azertac reported. Alizade, in turn,highlighted humanitarian and social projects organized in Pakistan through the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, saying these projects play a vital role in strengthening ties between the two nations. The ambassador also spoke of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan. Religious and cultural monuments, mosques were destroyed and vandalized in ancient Azerbaijani lands as a result of this aggression. Alizade hailed Pakistan`s supporting Azerbaijan`s stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The fundamental building block of the bilateral relationship between Azerbaijan and Pakistan is military cooperation. The sides intend to join efforts to gain access to modern technologies, as well as modernize their potential. Azerbaijan and Pakistan also focused on the development of economic relations. The two countries have agreed on boosting bilateral trade and investment cooperation. Although the countries enjoy very close friendly relations at diplomatic level, these close ties have not been translated into significant commercial gains. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Pakistan stood at $2.8 million in 2014, according to the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 17:28 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov A summer environmental camp was held in the Gariblar village of Azerbaijans Masally region on July 27-30 in the framework of Protecting Caucasian leopards project. The camp was organized by IDEA Public Union, the Baku office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Republican Centre of Environmental Education of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Education. Over 70 schoolchildren from Masally, Astara and Lankaran regions took part in the event. The first such camp was organized in July 2014, also in Masally, involving schoolchildren from Lankaran, Astara and Lerik regions. The main goal of the summer camp is to educate schoolchildren living near the habitat of Caucasian leopards, this unique wild animal and advocating for its protection. The students gathered information about the life and habitat of leopards and importance of this rare fauna species, and participate in various environmental studies, quizzes and competitions. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently announced that the number of Caucasian leopards is less than 1,000 across the Middle East and Asia, while their number is around 25 in the southwestern part of the Caucasus region. Until the early 2000s, very little information about was available about leopards living in the territory of Azerbaijan. But, the studies of the past 15 years gave an opportunity for the national zoologists to discover their traces in Hirkan forest, Nakhchivan and Mingachevir water reservoir. With the aim of protecting and increasing the number of wild nature, IDEA identified the Caucasus Big Five project which also envisages protection of Caucasian leopard. Considering symbol of the Caucasus and the regions main living beauty, leopards, are also protected, under the Protection of Leopards project, which hold various events aimed at public education, including summer camps, scientific seminars and workshops for students. Overall, IDEA Public Union, founded by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva always draws attention to the Azerbaijani flora and fauna issues. The campaign regularly arranges various activities and projects aimed at the problems of environmental and animal protection. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 16:56 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Several businesses in Azerbaijan have been fined for violating requirements of the ecological legislation, according to the Environmental Protection Department at the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry. The department conducted a survey in order to inspect the compliance with the requirements of the environmental protection in the countrys territory since early 2016. The ministry drew up 1,070 acts and 351 protocols in January-June 2016 against physical and legal entities for violations of environmental legislation, particularly conservation of water and soil reserves, atmospheric air, fauna and flora, as well as illegal emplacement of domestic and industrial wastes in the environment, and 319 timed mandatory orders were made to eliminate the shortcomings. Penalties worth 395,780 manats ($247,433) were imposed on 329 cases, claims worth 483,841 manats (302,488) were declared on 249 cases related with the damage to the environment, repayments worth 494,304 manats (309,029) were applied against physical and legal entities on 2,647 cases connected with the leaving and discharging of wastes in the environment. About 115 of 207 cases were sent to certain law enforcement bodies, 87 of 172 to executive bodies and 25 of 129 for taking measures. After gaining independence, the country stood face to face with heavy environmental and ecological problems, especially spread in capital Baku, coastal stripe of the Caspian, Sumgayit and other cities. Realizing the seriousness of the problem Azerbaijan took control in its hands, issuing large-scale state programs directed to the sanitation of the ecological situation during the past decade, and investing in billion manats projects. For the past 4-5 years the government has conducted several projects on modernization and reconstruction of water mains and sewer lines in rural areas located on the banks of these rivers. Special equipment cleans waste waters, and sewage water does not dump directly into the rivers. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 10:21 (UTC+04:00) Turkey's security forces have arrested eight military personnel suspected of being involved in an airstrike on a hotel in Turkey's southwestern Marmaris where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stayed during mid-July's attempted coup, local media said Monday. The arrests were carried out in Marmaris after local residents discovered a suspicious group of people in a corn field, the Anadolu news agency reported. Earlier, seven members of the military were arrested in southwestern Turkey's Mugla province. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 10:16 (UTC+04:00) European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini has expressed support for Iranian accession bid to the World Trade Organization, a senior official from the European Commission in charge of Trade and Tariff said on Saturday,IRNA reported. Jose Luis Fernandez told the senior official of Iranian Customs Organization Mahmoud Beheshtian that Mogherini declared the EU support for Iranian accession bid to WTO in a statement released after an EU economic delegation visited Tehran after implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iran has applied for WTO membership for 20 years and is now an observer member of the organization after the US blocked Iranian accession bid. Prolongation of the process to gain the WHO membership caused crippling damages on Iranian economy and the per capita income of Iranians. Washington blocked Iranian membership to the WHO over the loggerheads the Islamic Republic of Iran developed with the US since 1979. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 12:40 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara insists on the introduction of visa-free regime with the EU by mid-October, RIA Novosti reported. "This could be in the beginning or the middle of October, but we expect the exact date to be named soon," said Cavusoglu in his interview with a German newspaper. Cavusoglu warned the EU that Turkey will have to withdraw from the implementation of the migrants return program that unless the visa facilitation occurs. The Heads of State and the EU Member States' governments agreed with Turkey upon a joint plan to combat the migration crisis in mid-March. The program is focusing on the return of illegal immigrants arriving from Greece to the territory of Turkey and accepting legal Syrian refugees in Turkey by the EU according to the principle of "one for one". Turkey has along waited for its EU membership, while each application to accede to the European Union was frustrating for the government. Turkey, holding a status of an associate member at the Economic Community -- the predecessor of the EU since 1963 -- made an official application for entry on April 14, 1987. The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union. 1 August 2016 14:23 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Iran exported 3.35 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey in January to May, 2016 compared to 3.13 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2015, Turkey's Office of Energy Market Regulatory (EPDK) of Turkey reports. In 2015, Iran delivered to Turkey 7.83 billion cubic meters of natural gas compared to 8.93 billion cubic meters in 2014. Turkey imported 19.94 billion cubic meters of gas in January-May, 16.22 billion cubic meters of which was imported via pipelines and 3.72 billion cubic meters fell on LNG imports. Turkey held 16.79 percent in Iran's total gas imports in January to May 2016. Iranian gas is transported to Turkey through the Tabriz-Ankara pipeline with a capacity of 14 billion cubic meters per year. Iran and Turkey are very close trade and economic partners. Both countries are part of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Moreover, Iran and Turkey have extensive tourism relations for years. Turkey receives one million Iranian tourists each year and economically benefits from Iranian tourism. As of 2013, tourists from Turkey comprise one of the largest that visit Iran, making up 391,283 registered tourists. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 August 2016 18:50 (UTC+04:00) Turkmenistans Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov met with French Ambassador Patrick Pascal, as the envoy ends his mission in the country, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported. During the meeting, the parties expressed intention to further strengthen the ties between the two countries. Emphasizing the high-level political and diplomatic cooperation, the parties pointed out the role of the policy of neutrality and sustainable development principle of Turkmenistan, said the message. The meeting participants also emphasized the high-level relations between the two countries in trade and economic spheres. French companies are represented in Turkmenistan in such spheres as construction, transportation, tourism and energy. The two countries are interested in the implementation of the project for transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe. Frances Total company can be involved in developing hydrocarbon resources on the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea and studying the possibilities of transporting gas to Europe. Gas de France also expressed interest in cooperation in this sphere. French Schneider Electric has signed an agreement with Turkmen government in the sphere of energy supply to Ashgabat. Thales Alenia Space has implemented the project for construction of Turkmenistans first national artificial satellite. Bouygues and VINCI Construction have been involved in the big construction projects on Turkmen market. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Sunshine early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 78F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 49F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Real Good Food has reported a statutory profit before tax of 12.9m for the year ending 31 March 2016. The companys successful disposal of sugar arm Napier Brown generated a profit of 9.1m and the disposal transformed the groups balance sheet, reducing net debt from 30.1m down to 5.1m. Revenue from continuing operations reached 100.4m, down from 104.6m in 2014/15 with ebitda at 5m. Profit before tax for continuing businesses was 4.8M compared to 1.6m in the same 2014/15 period. During the year the group restructured into three pillar markets Cake Decoration, Food Ingredients and Premium Bakery - with standalone business strategies for each. Meanwhile, it said its acquisition strategy was progressing to plan with the purchase of Rainbow Dust Colours in January 2015, ISO2 Nutrition in December 2015 and Chantilly Patisserie in February of this year successfully completed. In addition, the company launched the Renshaw Academy to further monetise the Renshaw brand and cement its position as an industry leader in the global cake decorating market. It also opened a new Development Centre in Liverpool, providing a base for the groups support functions. Real Good Food executive chairman Pieter Totte said: The hugely successful disposal of Napier Brown transformed our balance sheet and has enabled us to begin a strategy of investing in our core markets. We have spent the time since reviewing our strategy, clarifying our focus and restructuring the business accordingly. We now operate in a pillars market and our objective will be to build scale and strategic positions in each of these through organic growth, targeted investment and bolt-on acquisitions as appropriate. He added: The food industry faces challenging times with diversifying sales channels, increasing legislative burdens, the growth in the minimum wage and ever-demanding consumers. The response to these trends requires being alert to all these factors and having the resources to invest and adapt. I am confident we are in a good position to build three increasingly strong businesses in our three pillar markets. Real Good Food finalised the disposal of Napier Brown in August last year. Samworth Brothers has denied allegations it circulated a "bullying" letter to its workers in order to sign away their collective bargaining rights. The Bakery Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which urged the public to boycott the food manufacturers products during a protest outside Marks & Spencer on Humberstone Gate in Leicester on Saturday (30 July), claimed it had seen evidence of a letter given to employees at Samworths Kettleby Foods site in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. George Atwall, BFAWU union representative, insisted Samworth was actively encouraging its line managers to coerce workers to sign away their bargaining rights through the distribution of the letter. Theyre also circulating a petition for workers to sign, which declares to the Central Arbitration Committee [CAC] that they have no interest in joining the union, Atwall declared. Factual inaccuracies The Ginsters manufacturer became embroiled in controversy earlier this year over the introduction of alleged cuts to pay and conditions in order to address the impact of the National Living Wage (NLW). A Samworth spokeswoman told British Baker: We totally refute the allegations. The material presented is totally misleading and full of gross factual inaccuracies. The latest spat follows a row between Samworth and the union, after the dismissal of employee Kumaran Bose. The BFAWU claimed he was unfairly sacked after helping to recruit more than 50% of the Kettleby workforce to the union. The spokewoman added: "The union are required to show that over 50% of employees are in favour of recognition. We have not seen any evidence to date from BFAWU that the union have these levels of support." UK supermarket Aldi was the stand-out winners in all four categories at the 2016 British Baker Christmas Star awards, with Nevis Bakery and Bakkavor Bread winning the highly recommended accolades. There were four categories: Christmas Biscuits, Christmas Breads, Christmas Cakes and Puddings and Mince Pie, which were split into winners and highly recommended. To get a Christmas Stars win or highly recommended acknowledgement, the product had to get a score of at least 40 from the judges. Aldi Specially Selected Exquisite Biscuits won the Christmas Biscuits category, while its Specially Selected Exquisite Crackers were highly recommended in the same category. The supermarket continued its reign into the Christmas Breads category crowned winner for its Specially Selected Christmas Tree Brioche, while Bakkavors Finest Caramelised Red Onion Camembert Sharing Bread Swirls were highly recommended. The store also won the Christmas Cakes and Puddings category for its Specially Selected Exquisite Vintage Christmas Pudding (Isle of Man), with Nevis Bakery Iced Christmas Fruit Fingers selected as highly recommended in the same category. Finally, it was a full house for Aldi as it also sealed the winners award for its Specially Selected Mince Pies. Huge congratulations to Aldi, Bakkavor Bread and Nevis bakery on their products, which were judged on appearance, aroma, taste, value for money and innovation. To see a video of the judging and awards announcement, go to www.bakerychristmasstars.co.uk. Here are steps you can take to establish your independence after financial abuse and help ensure long-term financial health. 9 min read Apr 09, 2020 Police arrested a Tampa man who operated a prostitution ring through a website and two homes in the Seminole Heights area, according to a search warrant. Tampa prostitution ring busted 10-to-15 prostitutes were working for suspected pimp Preston Taylor Taylor facing 13 charges When we get these people off the streets that are committing prostitution, theyre forced to go inside, said Lt. Carlos Rodriguez. I dont think anybody would appreciate that going on next door. The suspected pimp, Preston Taylor, 41, had 10-to-15 prostitutes working for him and would advertise their services on his website discretemeetsoftampabay.com, according to a confidential informant. Preston Taylor would advertise prostitutes on his website discretemeetsoftampabay.com, according to a confidential informant. Police said Taylor used a home he rented at 2206 North Boulevard as the base of operation for the prostitution ring and used his own home at 407 E. Cayuga Street to collect $75 of every $200 earned by the women. If that was a prostitution house I think the cops did a good job cleaning it up, said resident John Elm. Two prostitutes told police that Taylor used a Craigslist advertisement claiming to hire bartenders and waitresses to lure women into the ring, according to the warrant. Detectives said during a second interview Taylor would photograph the womens drivers licenses, sexually assault the victims and then flash a gun warning them not to cross him because he knows where their families live. To further intimidate the women, Taylor said he had a working agreement with the Tampa Police Department to protect his operation, according to the report. I believe he said something to the effect that TPD was on his payroll, said Lt. Rodriguez. Well, clearly thats not the case. Police said Taylor used his own home at 407 E. Cayuga Street to collect $75 of every $200 earned by the women. Police said he used this home he rented at 2206 North Boulevard as the base of the operation. Rodriguez said police first began investigating Taylor when they received multiple anonymous tips through Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay in March. Bay News 9 captured exclusive video of detectives executing a search warrant at both homes on July 20. Officers could be seen bringing out long guns and hand guns from Taylors home, along with a box full of binders. According to the warrant, Taylor would require johns who wanted to hire a prostitute to submit two forms of identification, a work email address and a credit card or utility bill. Clients could order prostitutes by texting Taylors cell phone after being verified, according to police. Weve come across a lot of ledgers as a result of our search warrant, Rodriguez said. Information that were going to be utilizing to see if theres any other crimes or any other people that were involved in this. Taylor was arrested on 13 charges including deriving proceeds from prostitution, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and unlawful use of a two way communication device. Taylors being held in a Hillsborough jail on a $35,000 bond. Police said a tipster who called in will be the second person to receive an additional reward of $1,000 under the Crime Stoppers gun bounty program because Taylor was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. People who call in tips, that helps us out, Rodriguez said. Thats basically the only way youre going to catch something like this run out of a private residence. Tampa police ask anyone with information about Taylor to call 813-231-6130. Celebrations: 50th Anniversary of Oregon Coast Beach Bill and Public Beaches Published 07/31/2016 at 6:11 PM PDT - Updated 07/31/2016 at 6:13 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Oregon Coast) Two big anniversaries are being marked on the Oregon coast: one landmark was just celebrated this last week while the most important achievement will be recognized in the coming year. (Above: Gleneden Beach, a public beach thanks to 1960's legislation). Beach monitoring group CoastWatch and its parent organization Oregon Shores just celebrated 45 years of existence, while the mammoth Oregon Beach Bill will be celebrated all next year. Both turning points in Oregon's history are related, and thus CoastWatch is gearing up for a series of fun and fascinating events as well as a call for help on a few things. CoastWatch Executive Director Phillip Johnson said the biggie will be marking the Oregon Beach Bill, Senate Bill 1601. Next year, it will be 50 years since the bill was passed by lawmakers, which happened on June 7, 1967. So began a major chapter in the Oregon story, and one that is fundamental to CoastWatch, Johnson said. The bill stated that Oregons entire shoreline, up to the statutory vegetation line (a surveyed line at roughly the 16-foot contour), is open to all. This enabled the vibrant tourism industry for the coast to not only grow but thrive one which has really blossomed in the last decade to include much stronger visitor numbers even during winters. Public access had major benefits to the environment by keeping the beaches cleaner, and cleaner beaches that were also completely public worked hand in hand to attract more people. Oregon Shores was formed by veterans of the campaign for Oregons pioneering Beach Bill, and by giving access to Oregons entire shoreline it made a program like CoastWatch possible. Advocates for protection of these public beaches then set about creating a new watchdog organization, which became an officially recognized non-profit corporation on July 29, 1971. We havent been making much noise about Oregon Shores anniversary, because were already focused on next years major milestone, Johnson said. Johnson said there will be plenty of time to extol the farsightedness of the Beach Bill, and all it has done for Oregon and the shoreline environment, later this year and throughout 2017. He hinted at a lot of things coming down the road. Oregon Shores evolved from the citizen campaign for the Beach Bill, so this is our story as well as the states, Johnson said. We are already planning a host of special activities, including a series of guided beachwalks; a conference on the future of the coast; a variety of talks, field trips and parties; and a commemorative publication. More on all this soon. CoastWatch organizes seven citizen science projects, Johnson said. While the organization is making great progress in achieving results, it could definitely use more volunteers out on the beaches. More volunteers are needed for the teams conducting regular surveys (marine debris, sea stars, beached birds), and we need all CoastWatchers to keep watch for stranded marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles and other creatures; to recognize and report tsunami debris; and to participate in the King Tide project to document the highest tides of the year, Johnson said. The group is hoping to get more people involved in CoastWatch as well, where volunteers adopt a mile and periodically make reports on what is found there or what has changed. These reports are actually quite interesting by themselves, showing how the beaches produce surprises and how often: http://www.oregonshores.org/coastwatch.php5. In the meantime, you can also donate to the cause, as the stepped-up efforts this next will require more financial assistance. Join and donate here, https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/oregonshores, or by writing to them at P.O. Box 33, Seal Rock, OR 97376. Oregon Coast Hotels in these areas - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The July heat and humidity wasn't enough to stop hundreds from taking part in National Dance Day in Orange on Saturday. Dancers of all ages, led by "So You Think You Can Dance" star Lauren Froderman, showcased their best moves at Orange Riverfront Pavilion. "It's National Dance Day 365 days of the year for me," Froderman said. "So to spend the day doing what I'm passionate about with the people of Orange was amazing." The event - in its third year - included speciality groups such as a "jazzercize" troupe that performed their own dance routines and there were also interactive dance sessions for popular songs like "Wobble." Froderman, season seven winner of "SYTYCD," performed her own routines as well during her first visit to Orange. Froderman was impressed with the dancers - even "the dads who danced from their lawn chairs" in the crowd - but the kids were her favorite. "I'm a sucker for the little ones," Froderman said. "They just love dancing and don't care how their bodies move as long as they're having fun." Froderman also held a meet-and-greet at Orange Community Players Theatre and two dance classes - including a free one - at the West Orange-Stark Middle School gym. Event organizer Penny LeLeux contacted Froderman, who is based in Los Angeles, on Facebook to ask for her participation in the event, which Froderman gladly accepted. "I love 'So You Think You Can Dance,'" LeLeux said. "Having Lauren here to show all the little ones how to dance and to inspire everybody was perfect." Kinley Wolfford, of Orange, has been dancing since she was 3. Wolfford, 12, said having Froderman present only enhanced her love for dance. "Dance is a passion for me and it's a way to tell a story without words," Wolfford said. "(Froderman) was so kind to everyone and that was amazing. It was the best part of the day." LeLeux hopes to keep growing the event and showing the Orange community the fun of National Dance Day. Froderman enjoyed spending the day in Southeast Texas. "Everyone here was really nice and had a lot of fun," Froderman said. "We all stuck it out in this heat to show our support for dance." DShapiro@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/DannyShapiro13 Exactly 100 days from now, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected president. Some thoughts: -- Democrats won the battle of conventions because theirs was upbeat and the Republican one was gloomy. Unless we're going through a war or recession, smiles beat frowns every time. It is ironic that Republicans forgot this because Ronald Reagan, who knew a little about showmanship, was the ultimate Happy Warrior. He was also criticized relentlessly by Democrats at the time for being sort of a political Mr. Rogers. My how things have changed. -- Did you notice what didn't happen at either convention? Violence or terrorism. Outside of a few scuffles, the safest place to be in America was downtown Cleveland during the GOP gathering and downtown Philadelphia during the Democratic confab. This also follows a pattern for other major events over the years, from Super Bowls to economic summits. The massive police presence squelches ordinary criminals, and terrorists prefer soft targets. The next time something bad happens, it will come in a place you didn't expect. -- If - or when - that happens, it will favor Trump, even if it occurs in Europe. He is seen as tougher on terrorism, so don't be shocked if ISIS ends up influencing the American election. -- Trump's acceptance speech was more dramatic yet light on the details. Hillary is just not a good orator but got through OK and tossed in a few policy proposals. Both talks will be largely forgotten by November. -- Hillary Clinton will enjoy a boost in the polls from her convention just as Trump did from the GOP gathering. Wait about a month for the noise to subside and see where both stand. The leader on Labor Day will probably win in November. The debates could change things, but only in a way that hurts Trump. Clinton is so disciplined (and scripted) that she won't make a mistake - or dazzle you either. Trump, of course, is a wild card who could do himself serious damage, especially if he is trailing and feels desperate. -- Whatever the national polls say, remember that the presidential election is all about the state-by-state contest in the Electoral College. Both candidates named VPs who can help them in their home states (Mike Pence in Indiana, Tim Kaine in Virginia). The Electoral College favors Democrats, who start out with about 240 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Trump can't afford to lose a state he's counting on, like Florida or North Carolina. To win, he needs his Red base, most swing states and a pickoff or two to win, like Michigan or Wisconsin. -- Finally, both candidates won by appealing to primary voters, who invariably are more ideological. The general election is a completely different animal, especially as more voters identify as independent and non-political. The person whom swing voters dislike the least will be your next president. ------------------ Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom Here are seven updates: Medical errors occur in nearly 50% of surgeries Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found nearly 50 percent of surgeries encounter a medical error or unintended drug side effect. Of the adverse drug events researchers noted might have led to patient harm, 30 percent were deemed significant and 69 percent were considered serious. Following Olympus email scandal, US representative to push for stringent guidelines for medical device warnings United States Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) is urging Congress to tighten requirements governing medical device warnings, in light of Olympus telling U.S. executives not to issue a warning to hospitals regarding a possible deadly infection from tainted scopes. Internal emails from Olympus have surfaced showing that in 2013 the company told executives in the United States that it was not necessary to communicate scope-related infection outbreaks in French and Dutch hospitals to U.S. hospitals. Anthem is 1st payer to challenge DOJ lawsuit Following the Department of Justice's lawsuit about the pending payer megamergers, Anthem is the first of the four payers to file paper to fight the suit. Anthem asked the federal judge to set the trial date for October as it its projected to extend for four months. The payer also asked U.S. District Judge John D. Bates to fast-track the case by making a decision nearly a month after the four-month trial. The CORE Institute teams up with The Joint Commission & CDC on ASC infection control guidelines To prevent infection in ambulatory surgery centers, The CORE Institute, the Joint Commission, the CDC and other healthcare organizations will collaborate on an initiative on infection prevention and control in ASCs. Physician-owned ASCs drive growth in global osteosynthesis devices market A Technavio report projects physician-owned ASCs will drive the global osteosynthesis devices market from 2016 to 2026, among other trends. As surgeons perform more highly advanced MIS procedures, the demand for osteosynthesis devices will follow suit. Panel favors AmSurg in non-compete controversy with physicians Three physicians affiliated with an AmSurg-partnered center argued in a federal antitrust lawsuit the ASC company has a monopoly over outpatient surgery centers and their non-compete agreement was overly restrictive and unenforceable. An out-of-court arbitration panel disagreed and found in favor of AmSurg. The judge put the antitrust case "on hold" until the panel went through its process. Takeda Pharmaceutical plans $725M R&D redesign Takeda Pharmaceutical is planning a $725 million overhaul of its research and development efforts. Takeda will also focus its efforts in three primary therapeutic areas oncology, gastroenterology and the central nervous system. More healthcare news: Bringing in young blood to your ASC: 4 considerations when recruiting physician investors Takeda Pharmaceutical plans $725M R&D redesign: 5 things to know The CORE Institute teams up with The Joint Commission & CDC on ASC infection control guidelines: 5 key notes Recruiting young physician investors can bring in new cases and add young blood to an ASC's mix of investors. Surgery centers, in turn, can offer physicians freedom they may not have in other healthcare environments. "A doctor would want to work in an ASC because if they are owners, they can make decisions on day-to-day operations," says Paul Eiseman, vice president of business development for Westchester, Ill.-based Regent Surgical Health. "This is something that is not always possible in the hospital." Here are four considerations when recruiting physician investors: 1. Debt and other expenses may limit young physician's investing capabilities. Coming out of residency, many physicians face a series of financial obstacles. Physicians do not accumulate a large amount of capital to make them well-suited for a large investment immediately following their fellowship or residency. Additionally, many potential investors have or want to start a family, which does not come cheap in 2016. After medical school, physicians are faced with $166,750 in medical debt, on average, according to CBS News. However, all hope is not lost as physicians without an influx of capital can take on less ownership, with the ASC possibly restructuring their ownership down the line. "Everyone can't take on the same amount of debt," Mr. Eiseman says. "There may be opportunities down the road when someone cashes out and the center can restructure its ownership. In some cases, a bank may provide a physician a loan for the equity, giving that physician the opportunity to invest in the ASC. 2. Hospitals are seeing ASCs as an ally. The drive for low-cost, high quality care is allowing hospital-employed physicians to invest in surgery centers. "Surgery centers are a more cost-effective way to do outpatient surgery than a unit of a hospital," Mr. Eiseman says. "Hospitals are increasingly joint venturing with ASCs for the purpose of doing surgeries in a lower cost environment." The adversarial-turned-ally relationship has allowed more hospital-employed physicians to become investors. "The business of employed physicians becoming partners was unheard of, and now, it is," Mr. Eiseman says. "Hospitals are finding this to be a great recruiting tool for new surgeons, and also very helpful in retaining the physician after their contract ends." 3. Highlight the benefits ASCs offer. Surgery centers provide physicians a valuable resource flexibility. The younger generations of physicians have a greater desire for work-life balance as opposed to older generations. ASCs can offer surgeons a faster turnaround time between cases, creating a fast-paced, efficient environment. ASCs can also offer block time scheduling, so a surgeon does not have to travel back and forth between cases. "Because you can make decisions about how you work, you can be more efficient," Mr. Eiseman says. "This gives you an opportunity to earn more assuming you have the business. This all contributes in a positive way to work-life balance." 4. Recruit a physician who would mesh well with existing physician investors. Not every physician would make a great partner for an ASC, and ASCs should ensure they are fully aware of a physician's reputation. Mr. Eiseman explains, "Ten cases from this guy are not the same as 10 cases from the next guy." When selecting a possible investor, go out into the community and ask other physicians you respect about young physicians they enjoy working with. Ask your existing partners who they would want to bring on as a partner. "Surgeons want to know who they are operating next to and how they will impact the surgery center," Mr. Eiseman says. "Choose well-respected, high quality doctors that are recommended by hospitals." More healthcare news: Following Olympus email scandal, US representative to push for stringent guidelines for medical device warnings: 7 notes Total joint replacement in ASCs: 10 years & counting for Pacific Rim Outpatient Surgery Center 5 things to know Cross Key plays crucial advisory role in AmSurg's acquisition of AllegiantMD: 4 notes Many factors influence where millennials choose to reside, though these may be different than their older counterparts. Research company Niche has released its 2016 ranking of the "Best Cities for Millennials in America." The list of 25 cities provides a comprehensive assessment of key factors that millennials and young professionals value, including affordability, job opportunities and access to bars and restaurants. Here are the 25 best cities for millennials in the U.S., according to the Niche study. 1. Cambridge, Mass. 2. Arlington, Va. 3. Alexandria, Va. 4. San Francisco 5. Ann Arbor, Mich. 6. Minneapolis 7. Seattle 8. Denver 9. Washington, D.C. 10. Austin, Texas 11. Boston 12. Berkeley 13. Sunnyvale, Calif. 14. Raleigh, N.C. 15. Jersey City, N.J. 16. Santa Clara, Calif. 17. Madison, Wis. 18. Durham, N.C. 19. Charleston, S.C. 20. Bellevue, Wash. 21. Pittsburgh 22. Atlanta 23. Round Rock, Texas 24. Plano, Texas 25. Tempe, Ariz. There were around 154 hospital-related shootings in the United States between 2000 and 2011, according to an Annals of Emergency Medicine study, with more than half occurring in the hospital and 45 percent of the time the victim is the shooter. Hospital employees comprise 20 percent of the victims, nurses are 5 percent and physicians are 3 percent. Here are seven dramatic instances of active shooters in hospitals: A man opened fire at Parrish Medical Center in Titusville, Fla., in July and killed an elderly patient as well as a hospital employee. Two security guards restrained the gunman, who later claimed mental illness, after he opened fire. The gunman was taken into custody after the attack, which appeared random. Urologist Elbert Goodier III, MD, was shot and killed while at his medical office inside East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, La., earlier this year. The gunman walked into Dr. Goodiers office while he was treating a patient and shot him; the police didnt cite a motive in the case. In September 2015, a man scaled a construction site near St. Lukes Hospital in San Francisco and was able to fire one round before police shot him. The active shooter was pointing one of his guns at the hospital when he was fatally shot. Nobody was hurt by the shooter but the hospital did go on lockdown. Two people died in November 2015 in a murder-suicide at Florida Hospitals Tampa location. The shootings occurred in the morning in a room on the third floor of the hospital, although neither the shooter nor victim was a patient or employee at the hospital. The victim was taken to the emergency room where she died. Michael Davidson, MD, died after being shot at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, where he was a cardiovascular surgeon. The shooting occurred in January 2015, and the shooter killed himself shortly after the shooting while he was still in an exam room. The shooter apparently had issues with the way his mother received treatment at Brigham and Womens. In December 2013, a gunman opened fire in a Reno, Nev.-based Renown Regional Medical Center building. The shooting occurred at an outpatient clinic for specialized treatment. The center then went on lockdown for more than two hours after the shooting, which ended with two people including the shooter dead. After a man received news about his mothers medical condition in September 2010, he opened fire inside of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The gunman wounded orthopedic surgeon David Cohen, MD, before shooting himself and his mother. Dr. Cohen was treated at the hospital. Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital a branch of Partners HealthCare in Boston looks to complete its acquisition of Dover, N.H.-based Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, the Boston Business Journal reported. The hospitals signed an acquisition agreement July 21, three months after penning a letter of intent. Both hospital boards have approved the acquisition agreement and the hospitals are awaiting regulatory approval in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Under the agreement, the 178-bed Wentworth-Douglass would be an independently licensed, nonprofit hospital with its own board of trustees, medical staff and fundraising. MGH, a 950-bed facility, would act as Wentworth-Douglass' parent organization, and Wentworth-Douglass would be under Partners HealthCare's umbrella as well. Wentworth-Douglass would receive IT system upgrades and increase its clinical services, according to the report. The pending acquisition is Partners' first reach outside of Massachusetts. More articles about payer issues: 16 largest hospital chains in the United States for-profit & not-for-profit Trinity Health-New England affiliates with 5th hospital Columbus Radiology to join Radiology Partners A man plans to sue Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital for allegedly losing part of his skull, according to WAAY 31 News. Brandon Cribbs said he fell 40 feet through a roof while working in February and was airlifted to HuntsvilleHospital for treatment. Mr. Cribbs broke his leg and both wrists in the fall. He said physicians removed his gallbladder, appendix, kidney and a portion of his skull to decrease swelling in his brain. Mr. Cribbs alleges that once he was stable, physicians took him back into surgery to repair his skull. When he woke up, Huntsville physicians told him that they had lost the bones. One physician allegedly joked with him saying his head would "grow back," according to the report. Hospital physicians allegedly released Mr. Cribbs with a dent on the side of his head. Since the incident, Mr. Cribbs said he suffers from severe headaches and had a seizure. A spokesperson for HuntsvilleHospital said the hospital was unfamiliar with the case, according to the report. The state of Florida has informed the CDC that four Zika infections in the state were likely transmitted by local Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, making them the first known cases of Zika mosquito transmission in the U.S. On July 19, Florida health officials announced a possible case of locally transmitted Zika in Miami. That number soon increased to four. Epidemiological investigations conducted by Florida health officials in collaboration with the CDC soon yielded substantial evidence suggesting local transmission. The investigation included interviewing neighbors of the infected individuals and requesting residents to provide urine samples. "All the evidence we have seen indicates that this is mosquito-borne transmission that occurred several weeks ago in several blocks in Miami," said Tom Frieden, MD, director of the CDC. "We continue to recommend that everyone in areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are present and especially pregnant women take steps to avoid mosquito bites. We will continue to support Florida's efforts to investigate and respond to Zika and will reassess the situation and our recommendations on a daily basis." State health officials are rapidly implementing mosquito control measure and conducting a communitywide search for additional cases. The CDC has provided the state with a medical epidemiologist for added assistance. For now, there are no plans of limiting travel to the area. In light of the possibility of local Zika transmission in Florida, the Food and Drug Administration asked blood collection organizations in the two effected Florida counties to stop collecting blood immediately to keep the U.S. blood supply Zika-free. According to the most recent update from the CDC, there have been 13 babies born in the U.S. with Zika-related birth defects like microcephaly. More articles on the Zika virus: CDC backs away from using controversial insecticide to fight Zika in Puerto Rico Texas Children's to open first Zika clinic in the state New York sees first baby born with Zika-related microcephaly A Co Antrim firm which installs top-end tech at luxury hotels across London is creating 60 new jobs as part of its latest expansion. Lisburn firm Clear AV, which has added a London office to its Northern Ireland base, is currently working on around 45 installation projects throughout the capital. Some of the projects it's working on range from 10m to 100m in value. The new jobs will mean the company's workforce growing to three times its size. It currently has 30 staff. Some of its clients include developers, design teams and interior designers as well as luxury brands such as Claridge's, Hilton Hotel Group, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy and W hotel. The company started off 25 years ago installing television aerials, before branching out into modern technology, including iPad-controlled television and room systems. It has developed an automated lighting system for Mayfair's five-star hotel Claridge's. Managing director Philip Dowds said its systems "provide our clients with amazing experiences every day, whether it's by creating the perfect dramatic lighting scene in the kitchen for entertaining friends, the perfect temperature in the master bedroom, an emotional connection to the music playing in the living space or by transforming a standard room into a fully immersive theatre at the touch of a button". He added: "In the luxury commercial sector we install similar technologically complex projects that are controlled using a simple interface on a customised iPad that we have developed in collaboration with Apple. These devices function differently from a standard iPad and enable users to control every aspect of the room, from TV and audio to climate and access." Mr Dowds said he expects to create the 60 new jobs by 2020, and grow his pool of contractor-support as Clear AV steps up its activities in London. "We're a hungry, ambitious and driven team who have been fortunate to work on some of the most prestigious commercial and residential projects in London - especially over the past three years or so. We are renowned for delivering complex, high-end projects on time every time. "Our business has evolved in line with our sector and we are currently finalising an exciting re-brand." There were more than 1.1 million jobs advertised in June, according to website Adzuna Employers are continuing to hire staff despite concerns following the EU referendum result and a "chronic" shortage of skilled workers, a report shows. More than 1.1 million vacancies were advertised in June and, although the lowest on record, there are still around two jobs per jobseeker, said Adzuna. The jobs site said a south-east "bubble" was forming, with four out of the five best UK cities to find work in the region - Guildford, Oxford, Reading and Winchester. Cambridge topped the list, with 14 jobs available for every jobseeker. New job vacancies were posted in the weeks following the EU referendum, showing that the impact of Brexit on job adverts has been "limited", said the report. Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, said jobseekers have a lot to be optimistic about, adding: "Rising vacancies in June suggests that the jobs market was strong pre-Brexit and that employers may still be keen to hire in the next couple of months. "There's a long journey ahead to deal with upcoming changes, political, legal and financial, but the jobs market is adaptable. Negative headlines disguise a picture of steady growth in the run up to the vote. "As well as more jobs on offer, an ongoing skills shortage is making jobseekers more valuable to companies. Employers are competing to snap up those with the right skills, giving applicants more bargaining power in the boardroom over salary and benefits. Job hunters now have more options and can push for a better deal." Financial and legal jobs have stagnated in recent months, suggesting it might take these sectors longer to recover from the Brexit shock, the report added. Employment Minister Damian Hinds said: "The jobs market is in a position of strength thanks to a record employment level that has risen in all regions and nations of the UK over the last year. "Our task now is to build on this success and support more people of all abilities and backgrounds into work so they can reap the benefits that come with having a job." The Brexit vote has led to a surge in people from the Republic shopping in Northern Ireland, according to a major retailer. Peter Murray, the manager of Newry's Buttercrane Shopping Centre, said there had been a 50% increase in southerners travelling to his store thanks to the pound initially slipping in value against the euro to levels not seen since 1985. "Their euro is going further because of the rate against the pound," he explained. "The devaluation of the pound makes their euro in their pockets go further, and prices in Newry are the same." Mr Murray also told how the average proportion of Ireland-registered vehicles in his centre's car park had risen from 11% or 12% before the referendum to about 18% now. However, it is not all good news, with companies that import from the EU feeling the pinch since the vote. The city's Cahill Brothers - Northern Ireland's second oldest shoe shop - now pays more than before for the footwear it imports from Spain, Italy, France and Portugal because of the pound's weaker value. Owner Declan McChesney said: "It is not possible to suddenly turn around and find a new location of expert manufacturers. "Around 60% of the population of Ireland live within around one hour of Newry, so basically I am cutting my hinterland in half. "For me to compete with towns across the border, I must now look to my margins, and to maintain my competitiveness I must reduce my margins." Newry is around five miles from the border. The surrounding area is hilly, and parts of it are rural, but there is a main road to nearby Dundalk and on to Dublin. Old currency exchange signs are still in evidence, even though most transactions are now done via plastic. Former border posts also lie abandoned, gathering rubbish from motorists rather than customs duties. The only indication of passing into the Republic is the change in the colour of road markings and the different signs, with distances measured in kilometres, rather than miles. Two decades ago, Army watchtowers looked down on traffic, soldiers checked vehicles for weapons and commerce was disrupted. The Irish and British Governments, including Prime Minister Theresa May, have insisted there must not be a return to the borders of the past. But Cahill Brothers' Mr McChesney said: "That is what we call in Newry a politician's promise. Let's be honest, that does not give us much room for hope. "I cannot see how they are going to have free passage and free movement of goods if they don't have a record of it "And if you don't have a record of it (goods and people), there will have to be a way of finding it and there will have to be some sort of checks, we suspect, which means a hard border. "A hard border is desperately dangerous for the peace of Northern Ireland and also desperately difficult if you are in business." Paddy Malone, a Dundalk accountant, said there were fewer northerners in his town now, but added that not many locals had gone over the border. "I would like to think that sterling would track the euro and we could settle down to peaceful coexistence," he explained. "I would prefer to think that we could actually live together without this disruption of trade because neither Newry nor Dundalk is benefiting from this boom and bust cycle. "It does not help either of us to survive." Game Of Thrones will end after its eighth season, broadcaster HBO has announced. Casey Bloys, the US cable network's new programming president, talked about a conclusion to the fantasy epic on Saturday. He also mentioned a possible spin-off during HBO's panel at the Television Critics Association press tour. Speaking in Beverly Hills, California, Mr Bloys said the number of episodes for the final season was yet to be determined. "We'll take as many as the (producers) will give us," he said. Mr Bloys did not rule out a spin-off, saying "we're open to it, (the producers) aren't opposed to it, but there's no concrete plans right now." Executive producers David Benioff and DB Weiss have previously hinted that the international phenomenon is drawing to a close. HBO recently renewed Game Of Thrones for a shortened seventh season of seven episodes, instead of the usual 10. The penultimate season will be broadcast a little later in summer next year. The eighth and final season is expected to follow in 2018. Earlier this month, Game Of Thrones picked up 23 Emmy nominations, the most of any show recognised with a nod. Adapted from George RR Martin's novels, the series stars Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington, among others. The series premiered on HBO in the United States in April 2011. It is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. The first narrative follows a dynastic conflict among competing claimants for succession to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, with other noble families fighting for independence from it. The second covers the attempts to reclaim the throne by the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North. Relatives (from left) Gordon Miller, Desmond Temple, Mary Hamilton, who was injured in the outrage, James Miller and David Temple whose brother William died Relatives of those killed in the Claudy bomb have spoken of their desperate fight for justice 44 years on from the tragedy. No paramilitary group has ever claimed responsibility for the attack in the Co Londonderry village in 1972, but the IRA has been linked to the atrocity. No one has ever been convicted. In 2010 a Police Ombudsman report found that police colluded with the government and the church to cover-up the suspected role of a local Catholic priest, James Chesney, in the terrorist attack. However, the investigation found "no evidence of criminal intent on the part of any government minister or official or on the part of any official of the Catholic Church". The church has also denied being involved in a cover-up and Fr Chesney, who was moved to a parish in Co Donegal, denied involvement in terrorist activities to his superiors. Yesterday, to mark the 44th anniversary, relatives gathered at a memorial which stands in the village to commemorate those who lost their lives. David Temple (63) lost his 16-year-old brother William, who was delivering milk when he was injured by the first explosion and killed by the third. "My memories are still as strong as ever of that day," he said. "William worked in a local creamery, a fellow didn't turn up that day and he put his hand up to go. He was a young, intelligent man who enjoyed his sport. He would have been coming up to 60 years old if he had lived." Mr Temple went on to claim: "The British government, the Irish government, the Roman Catholic Church were all involved in Claudy but nobody has come forward. We are trying to seek justice and we will never give up. "My mum is 91 and it is very fresh in her mind. She looks at a photo of William every night when she goes to her bedroom. She always asks me, 'David, what's happening?' in relation to the investigation. It's very difficult." The retired welder said he was not interested in "another Bloody Sunday" type of inquiry but said it was "very hurtful" that they had not been given similar consideration. He said he believed there were people in power with information who could come forward. "The British government know about Claudy," he said. "They do not want to open it up. If they open it up Stormont could fail. They want it to go away." Mark Eakin (56) was helping out in his family shop in Claudy with little sister Kathryn on July 31, 1972, when tragedy struck. The little girl had gone to wash the windows outside the shop when she was killed by a 250-pound bomb. "It is something you think about every day but more so on a day like today," he said. "I can still see her. She was just a tomboy. She did not do dollies, she was more into getting mucked up. She had a very old head on her shoulders. "We had spent over a month together at a caravan in Castlerock. You didn't get everything handed to you in those days. We were broke after spending money during our holiday in Castlerock so we worked in the shop. My mum sent Kathryn out to wash the windows, something she regretted for the rest of her life." Mr Eakin, a builder, said he shared the frustrations of Mr Temple in seeking justice. "The government, church and ex-RUC have been involved in covering it up," he alleged. "Why Claudy? It does not make sense." Kenny Donaldson, director of services at victims group South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), called for anyone knowing anything about Claudy to show "repentance". "The fact that the Claudy families continue to have no resolution for the events of that day is a stain upon the many institutions involved," he said. "Provisional IRA terrorists carried out the attack and bear core responsibility, but they are joined by the Roman Catholic Church, and UK and Republic of Ireland states in having shown complicit actions in denying justice from being served in the aftermath of the atrocity. "Our prayers remain with the Claudy families as they continue to search for answers. How many more of those left behind will go to their graves not knowing the truth of Claudy?" John Taylors car after he was shot and injured by Joe McCann in 1972 John Taylors car after he was shot and injured by Joe McCann in 1972 John Taylor and the former Ulster Unionist politicians car after he was shot and injured by Joe McCann (inset) in 1972Sometimes A former unionist MP has attacked a justice system which could see a retired soldier prosecuted for shooting dead an IRA commander - a gunman once involved in an attempt on the politician's life. The ex-solider, known only as Soldier C, has spoken of his distress that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is currently reviewing his role in the death of IRA man Joe McCann. McCann was shot by soldiers in disputed circumstances close to his home in the Markets area of Belfast in April 1972. The 24-year-old was commander of the Official IRA's third Belfast battalion and regarded by the security forces as a dangerous terrorist. An RUC investigation at the time ruled the soldiers would face no action, but three years ago a report by the now-defunct Historical Enquiries Team (HET) concluded that the killing was not justified. The two former paratroopers who cooperated with the HET's investigation believed the matter was closed - until they received letters two months ago saying the case had been passed to the PPS. Unionists have condemned the move, including John Taylor, now Lord Kilclooney. In February 1972 The UUP politician survived a hail of bullets after his car was machine-gunned by McCann and an accomplice, hitting him five times in the neck and head. Asked yesterday if he had sympathy with Soldier C, Lord Kilclooney told the Belfast Telegraph: "Definitely, yes." "It is outrageous," he said of the potential prosecution. "It shows the UK judicial system at its worst." Lord Kilclooney added he had concerns not only for Soldier C, but for other former security services personnel. "This is not an exceptional case," he explained. "There is the threat of further prosecutions that the Government needs to address." Referring to recent claims of a two-tier justice system for ex-soldiers and ex-paramilitaries, Lord Kilclooney said the system did not serve "the community, the security services or the police". This week Soldier C, a 65-year-old living in England, said the emotional strain of potential prosecution was taking its toll. "All I ever tried to do was serve loyally and professionally as a soldier," he added. "Only some sort of psychopath would take any pleasure from a man's death. "I wish I hadn't been involved, but at the same time nobody will ever convince me that my actions on that day were anything other than the right actions. I did my duty when I was called upon to do so. But now, all these years later, I've been brought to this. "What we're terrified of is a knock on the door and they handcuff me, drag me out and take me into custody. If that were to happen, it'd be unholy. "Progressively, on a daily basis, this weighs upon us more and more. It's much worse for my wife. "Given my background with the Army, if I was incarcerated then I could deal with it. (But) my wife couldn't. "It's not the issue of having to go to court and being tried, it's the stigma - the stigma to my name, my reputation and the impact on my family." His lawyer, James Dunn, of Devonshires Solicitors in London, is representing no fewer than 12 British soldiers, but Soldier C is the first to speak out. "This is wrong," he told the Daily Mail. "Thirteen months ago, our daughter gave us a grandson, so I'm a husband, father and grandfather. "My wife supported me loyally throughout my Army career. Sometimes, I'd be away for 10 months at a time, but she never complained or asked questions. "Now I've retired this should be her time - our time." Soldier C also alluded to figures such as John Downey, who was controversially cleared of involvement in the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombings in London after he produced a so-called comfort letter given to him by Tony Blair's government. "I constantly ask myself, 'What kind of world am I living in when suspected terrorists and murderers are literally walking around with get out of fail free cards in their possession, while I and many others like me who have served our country are living in fear of being arrested and tried for doing what we considered was our duty?'" he said "It seems that Sinn Fein, under the control of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and their stooges, are being allowed to mount a campaign of revenge against those they have despised for decades. "These same men, who were themselves sought by the authorities for acts of terrorism, are now rubbing shoulders with royalty and senior politicians - the Prime Minister included - while at the same time former and serving members of the armed forces are being persecuted." For legal reasons Soldier C cannot speak in detail about the death of Joe McCann. It has been widely reported, however, that McCann was unarmed while fleeing arrest from RUC Special Branch when the soldiers opened fire. "I have asked myself countless times what would have happened had we not taken the action that we did that day," Soldier C continued. "I keep getting the same answer: Joe McCann would undoubtedly have carried on his war against the authorities, attempting to murder members of the security forces, police and possibly innocent members of the public. "In short, he was a battle-hardened terrorist who had no compunction about killing others." Soldier C has been told to expect no decision from the Public Prosecution Service until the end of this month. The PPS said its review followed a referral by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, John Larkin. The man raised him arm in a bid to shield himself, but suffered a slash to his arm. A man's arm was slashed as he defended himself from an alleged bid to stab him to death at a Belfast filling station, the High Court heard. The victim underwent surgery on tendons damaged in the knife attack carried out in the Andersonstown Road area in June, a judge was told on Monday. Details emerged as bail was refused to a 29-year-old man charged with his attempted murder. Gareth Bradley, of Woodbourne Court in the city, also faces counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and possessing a knife with intent to commit attempted murder. Prosecutors said the victim was approached by two men who arrived at the garage in a taxi as he was withdrawing money early on June 1. It was alleged that after he gave one of them a cigarette Bradley produced a knife and tried to stab him. The man raised him arm in a bid to shield himself, but suffered a slash to his arm. As well as the damage to his tendons he also suffered an eye injury. Witnesses at the scene told police the weapon had been thrown onto a roof, the court heard. Forensic tests on the knife are still being carried out. Bradley was arrested at a nearby location. Defence counsel Barry Gibson said the accused struggled with addiction problems that were exacerbated by the death of his mother. Bradley started taking a street drug known as "Budweiser" and has Little recollection of the alleged incident, according to his barrister. Mr Gibson also challenged the attempted murder charge currently faced by his client, stressing the high standard of proof required. Denying bail, however, Mr Justice Colton held there was a risk of re-offending. Ryanair is reducing the number of flights to London from City of Derry airport from October Ryanair is reducing services between City of Derry Airport and London The airline said it will cut the weekly service to London from seven down to six from October 30. The low-cost airline, that campaigned aggressively for Britain to stay in Europe, has said it will focus more on growing at airports in the EU and less on the UK. It warned last month there could be further implications if the UK is unable to negotiate access to the single market and the open skies regulatory framework currently in place across the EU. SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan has expressed his concern at the move. Mr Durkan said: "This announcement is a bleak omen for what is to come if the North is dragged out of Europe against our will. "Before the 23rd June, industry leaders and experts, including Ryanair CEO Michael OLeary, warned that Brexit would damage economic growth and act as a barrier for businesses operating in the North. Read more Read More "Ryanairs move to scale back services in the North, only months after announcing new routes from Belfast, is evidence that the toxic fallout from the EU referendum is already having a decidedly negative impact on our economic future. "Our people recognised that our economy is better served by remaining a full member of the European Union. We have not given our consent to a change in our constitutional status that has already proven itself to be harmful to business growth. We will continue to fight to ensure the will of our people is respected." The low cost carrier made a return to Northern Ireland earlier this year, and now flies 11 routes from Belfast, with five daily flights to London's Gatwick. A teenager is recovering in hospital after he was attacked by a gang of men with a bat in Co Tyrone. James Gormley was left with serious head injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment. The 18-year-old was targeted as he walked along the Hospital Road area of Omagh in the early hours of Saturday morning. The victim was close to Tyrone County Hospital when a number of men got out of a black coloured car and assaulted him with a club or bat. An 18-year-old male was arrested a short time later on suspicion of grievous bodily harm with intent, and was in custody assisting police with their enquiries. However, police released a statement and said he has been released unconditionally. Ulster Unionist MLA for the area, Ross Hussey, condemned the attack, describing it as "pure thuggery". He said: "Nothing can justify an attack of this nature on anyone. This is pure thuggery and anyone who knows anything about the thugs who committed this attack must, if they have any conscience at all, contact the police on 101. If they get away with it once they may try it again. "My thoughts are with the injured victim and his family and I hope he makes a full recovery." PSNI detective inspector Brian Foster is appealing for anyone who was in the Hospital Road area of Omagh at the time, and who witnessed the assault or a black coloured car or anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation to contact detectives in Omagh Police Station on 101. A spokesman for the Western Health Trust said the teenager was in a stable condition. Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The picture of the child that sparked the investigation Dublin Zoo are investigating after pictures emerged showing a young boy inside their rhino enclosure. Images shared on social media show an adult holding the child's hand as he stands on the other side of the safety fence. A Dublin Zoo spokeswoman said it was being looked into. She said: "It's completely against Dublin Zoo's health and safety rules but it is being looked into at the moment." In May this year there was an outcry after a 17-year-old 400-pound male gorilla was shot dead in a US zoo after a child (3) fell 15 feet into its enclosure. Read more: Read More The child was picked up by the gorilla before the zoo's dangerous animal response team killed the gorilla to protect the boy. The killing of the gorilla named Harambe sparked a huge debate. Ewan McGregor travelled to northern Iraq last week in his role as Unicef Ambassador and has said more must be done to "protect the extraordinary number of children who have been torn from their homes by violent conflict". The actor met families at the Debaga camp to discover how the conflicts in Iraq and Syria have affected the lives of children who have been forced to uproot their lives. The father-of-four, 45, also spent time with displaced Iraqi families and Syrian refugees who are living in camps in the nearby Erbil area. The ongoing unrest in Iraq and Syria has left tens of thousands of children separated from their families, forced into work at a young age, recruited into fighting or killed. During his excursion, McGregor saw how Unicef is helping those fleeing IS-held city Mosul by giving them supplies of water and food as well as access to healthcare and child protection services. He said that "the world is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis" as he pressed for more to be done to address the issue. The Trainspotting star said: "Children uprooted by conflict can find themselves alone, without family and in grave danger. "No child should be alone. Many of the children I've met in Iraq have been forced to flee their homes, risking their lives on dangerous journeys and have been exposed to unimaginable horrors. "One girl I met, called Mirna, told me how her family slept in a disused, half-constructed shopping mall for over a year. "The community donated food, clothes and supplies to her family and really came together to welcome displaced people." The Scottish actor said that "this act of humanity should be replicated everywhere, especially on our own doorsteps". He added: "It's up to us to tell our friends, our neighbours and our governments that refugees are welcome." McGregor has been a Unicef Ambassador since 2004 and Peru, India, Nepal and the Congo are among the countries he has visited with the charity. Around 3.6 million children in Iraq are at risk of being abducted and recruited into armed groups, and face the constant threats of death, injury and sexual violence. September will see world leaders come together to discuss the global refugee crisis and Unicef is keen for a resolution to bring more help and protection to children forced to flee their homes. Unicef UK is also calling on the UK Government to take urgent action to reunite unaccompanied refugee children with their families. Turkey has criticised a German court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany denouncing Turkey's failed coup. The German embassy's charge d'affaires has been summoned to the ministry to discuss the issue, an official said, as the attempted coup on July 15 continues to strain Turkey's relations with allies. Ankara has accused European nations of not standing firmly in solidarity with Turkey against the coup bid that it says was masterminded by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, and has accused the United States of harbouring him. Mr Gulen denies any knowledge of the attempt to overthrow the government. Thousands rallied in the German city of Cologne on Sunday to denounce the abortive coup and show support for Mr Erdogan. A regional court ruled, however, that no messages from speakers elsewhere - such as politicians in Turkey - could be shown on a video screen at the rally. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said the German move was contrary to freedom of speech. Mr Kurtulmus said German courts normally address cases very slowly, "yet the German Constitutional Court prohibited our president addressing the rally via teleconference in less than 24 hours. This is a clear double standard". Later on Sunday, organisers read a message from Mr Erdogan thanking people with Turkish roots in Germany for their moral support during the coup attempt, the German news agency dpa reported. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of the rally that there is "no place in Germany" for anyone to "bring domestic political tensions from Turkey to us in Germany". The cabinet meeting in Turkey was held a day after a government decree introduced sweeping changes to the military aimed at bringing the armed forces further under civilian authority. The decree, the third issued under a three-month state of emergency declared after the attempted coup, gives the president and prime minister the authority to issue direct orders to the commanders of the army, air force and navy. It also announces the discharge of 1,389 military personnel, including Mr Erdogan's chief military aide. Mr Kurtulmus said the changes would prevent military powers being accumulated "under a single hand". He also announced plans to switch Turkey's largely conscript army towards a force "made up of experts who are totally focused on the defence of the nation". The aim is to "create such a system, such an armed force that no-one within it will ever think about staging a coup", Mr Kurtulmus said. Authorities have captured two more people suspected of being part of a group of soldiers who had raided Mr Erdogan's seaside hotel in the town of Marmaris during the failed coup, bringing the number of suspects caught in the operation to 11. One suspect is still on the run. Mr Erdogan had been on holiday during the July 15 coup. The soldiers raided his hotel in an attempt to capture or kill the president but are believed to have missed him by an hour or less. AP The strikes mark the start of a more intense American role in the fight against IS in Libya The United States has launched multiple air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya, opening a new, more persistent front against the group at the request of the United Nations-backed government. Fayez Serraj, the head of the UN-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean in northern Libya. No US ground forces will be deployed, he said. The precision strikes, which targeted an IS tank and vehicles, come amid growing concerns about the group's increased threat to Europe and its ability to inspire attacks across the region. "The presidency council, as the general army commander, has made a request for direct US support to carry out specific air strikes," Mr Serraj said. "The first strikes started today in positions in Sirte, causing major casualties." The strikes mark the start of a more intense American role in the fight against IS in Libya, as the US steps in to assist the fragile UN-backed government there. They were the first strikes by the US on the group in Libya since February. In a statement, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said President Barack Obama authorised the strikes following a recommendation from defence secretary Ash Carter and General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They are consistent with our approach to combating Isil by working with capable and motivated local forces," said Mr Cook, using another name for IS, adding that "additional US strikes will continue to target Isil in Sirte". US officials earlier this year estimated there were as many as 6,000 IS insurgents in Libya, including some who have abandoned Syria. But in recent months, officials say, their numbers in Libya have declined and the group is weakening there under pressure from local militias and the UN-brokered government. Just last week, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said that IS fighters in Libya are facing the "distinct possibility" of defeat in their last stronghold. And Gen Dunford estimated in mid-July that there were only a few hundred militants still inside Sirte, which the group has used as a headquarters. "I don't think there is any doubt that the Islamic State in Libya is weaker than it was some months ago," said Gen Dunford, adding: "They've suffered significant casualties in and around the Benghazi area." Without mentioning any future US military plans in Libya, Gen Dunford said that "whatever actions we conduct", aside from those meant to eliminate an IS threat to the US homeland, "are going to be in conjunction with" the UN-backed government of national accord. In February, American F-15E fighter-bombers struck an IS training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border, killing more than 40. Libya slid into chaos after the removal and killing of dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The power and security vacuum left the country a breeding ground for militias, and militants including the Islamic State group and al Qaida affiliates. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes. The UN brokered a deal in December, which tried to mend the rift by creating a presidency council and a unity government. The deal envisions an up to two-year transitional period, followed by a vote on a draft constitution and then presidential or parliamentary elections. Libya's pro-government militias - mainly from the western city of Misrata - have been waging an offensive against IS in Sirte since May. AP As MLA for South Belfast, I am very concerned that one of the major institutions in my constituency, Queen's University, is looking to raise tuition fees for undergraduates to up to 6,300. I am opposed to this. Higher education should be available to all who want it, regardless of their financial circumstances. Raising fees will simply mean that a university education is unaffordable to many people. While I appreciate there is a funding gap for our universities that needs to be resolved, there are much better ways of closing this than by placing an increased financial burden on our young people. The Green Party were clear in our Assembly manifesto earlier this year that we oppose any tuition fee rise. Having spoken to the NUS-USI, I know that they have several alternative funding streams to propose, which would keep tuition fees at their current level, or potentially even allow them to be reduced, or removed. These options include asking businesses who benefit by employing our highly-skilled graduates to contribute more to the costs of training them and should be considered by both Queen's University and the Executive as alternatives to tuition fee rises. At a time when the costs of religiously segregated education in Northern Ireland are estimated to be up to 80m per year, to punish students because of a funding gap of 55m is shameful. I, and the Green Party more widely, will continue to fight any proposals that would do this. CLARE BAILEY (GREEN PARTY) MLA for South Belfast Bangladeshi students and teachers form a human chain in Dhaka to protest against terrorism on the one-month anniversary of the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe, Aug. 1, 2016. Bangladeshi telecommunications authorities said they began testing blackouts of internet and mobile phone services in Dhaka on Monday to determine if they could disrupt communications between terrorists during an attack at a specific location. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission launched the tests on the one-month anniversary of a terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka that left 20 hostages dead. According to Bangladeshi officials, the attackers were able to communicate with their handlers and militant networks via mobile phones and internet service during the course of the overnight siege at the upscale cafe in Dhakas diplomatic quarter. The test began as tens of thousands of students and faculty members from universities, schools and Islamic boarding schools across the country marked the anniversary of the attack by forming human chains in a show of protest against terrorism and militancy. We will run a drill of internet and mobile network blackouts Monday afternoon through early Tuesday. The trial-blackout will help us prepare the operational details on blackouts in a small area in case we need to cut off terrorists communication networks, Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), told BenarNews. The commission has lacked the ability to cut off internet connections in a particular area instantly, and blackout tests would help the BTRC figure out whether such action is possible, he said. Such pinpoint blackouts would have a positive effect because terrorists rely on the internet and mobile phones to talk among themselves, according to telecommunications journalist Muhammad Zahidul Islam. In many cases, police cannot catch the militants and criminals because they communicate over social media and leave their dens before police raids. The blackout would enable authorities to cut internet and mobile networks before carrying out operations against the militants in future, he told BenarNews. Human chains Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid led human-chain protests marking the one-month anniversary of the July 1 attack. We will surely defeat the militants through a social movement like this. Look at the massive crowds across the country [that] have stood hand-in-hand to denounce the militants and terrorists, Nahid told a crowd of demonstrators in Dhaka. Some of the demonstrators who were protecting against militancy came from North South University (NSU) in Dhaka, where at least one of the five slain men who perpetrated the attack studied. As a student of North South University, I am really ashamed They brought a bad name to NSU and the country. We hate all terrorists and militants, Rubayet Hossain, an NSU student who joined the human chain, told BenarNews. After the attack, Bangladeshi officials announced that the five were among 15 youths, including from privileged backgrounds, who had been missing from their schools and families for months. Militancy will never take root in Bangladesh. Bangladeshis love religion but they are not fanatics. We believe in tolerance and peace the true messages of Islam. No religion, including Islam, preaches violence and hatred, Mahbubur Rahman, a student at the Islamia Senior Madrasa in southeastern Bandarban district, told BenarNews in a phone interview. Embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gained new powers Monday as a new law went into effect that expands the reach of the National Security Council (NSC), which he chairs. Under the NSC Act, the prime minister is empowered to declare any place a security area for six months at a time, subject to renewal. The NSC may then order the deployment of any security forces or other government personnel to the area in question. The law also allows the NSC to authorize stops, searches and arrests of people, as well as searches of and seizure of private property, without a warrant, legal experts say. There is good reason to fear that the act will be yet another tool in the hands of the government to crack down on peaceful protests under the guise of national security, Josef Benedict, deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific for Amnesty International, said in a statement Monday. The Najib government is increasingly resorting to repressive new laws that are said to protect national security but in practice imperil human rights. Malaysias NSC consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, the ministers of defense, home affairs, communications and multimedia, the chief of the armed forces, the national police chief and the governments chief secretary. Najib and other top officials have argued that such measures are necessary due to a threat posed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) and other transnational terrorist groups. I can assure Malaysians that the government will continue to put all possible measures in place to protect you. Daesh (another name for the Islamic State) and its cruel, perverted ideology have no place in Islam, nor in our peaceful, diverse and tolerant country, Najib said in a statement posted on his website last week. Now is the time for us to unite and play an even greater part alongside the world community in the fight against terrorism. Since last year Malaysian authorities have arrested dozens of suspected IS members, and have warned that Malaysians returning from combat stints with IS in Syria or Iraq could launch terrorist attacks on home soil. Police believe that IS was behind a grenade attack that injured several people at a nightclub on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur last month. Highly unusual Approved in parliament in December 2015, the NSC Act did not receive consent from the Conference of Rulers a body of sultans, rajas and governors that normally grants royal approval of a bill 30 days after it is presented to the king. That is highly unusual, according to civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan. I personally do not know why the Conference of Rulers asked for a review of the bill, but this law would allow the government to bypass the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (king) altogether in declaring a security emergency, Syahredzan told BenarNews. Najib has faced calls for his resignation over the past year in light of an ongoing scandal involving more than $1 billion in funds stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund he oversees, known as1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB. In the last year, his government has blocked websites of local news organizations that were reporting on the 1MDB affair and those of grassroots groups that were organizing street demonstrations calling for his resignation. Laurent Meillan, the Bangkok-based acting regional representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), expressed concern that the new law could erode human rights and restrict freedom of expression and assembly. We are gravely concerned that the immunity provisions in the act may encourage human rights violations, he said in a statement on Friday. We call on the government to revise the act to bring it in line with international human rights norms and standards. Furthermore, we encourage the government to allow for an open and transparent consultation process on the provisions in the act with all relevant stakeholders. Residents of Tambon Sawo, a village in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat, take down a banner urging people to vote no in an upcoming constitutional referendum, Aug. 1, 2016. Thailands Election Commission (EC) expects a high turnout for Sundays constitutional referendum, yet voters appear to be deeply divided over it, fresh polls show. And although the commission has allowed limited debates on the issue to take place through Wednesday, the military-controlled government banned public discussion or criticism of the draft charter and has arrested or detained scores of activists during weeks leading up to the vote. According to officials at the EC, as many as 40.4 million voters or 80 percent of Thailands electorate are expected to vote on the proposed charter, which would usher in general elections for mid-2017, if passed. Should the referendum succeed it would clear the way for Thailands 20th constitution since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. The upcoming vote also marks only the second constitutional referendum in those 84 years. The turnout for the last referendum, which took place in 2007 a year after a military coup had toppled another civilian-led government was only 57 percent, according to reports. When Thais step into the voting booth on Sunday, the ballot in front of them will ask them two questions: to vote yes or no on the draft charter as well a clause in it that would allow 250 appointed senators to join 500 elected MPs in picking a new prime minister during a five-year period after the formation of a new parliament. The 279-section draft charter is particularly controversial because it leaves open the possibility of a non-elected person becoming prime minister, its critics say. They also argue that the charter would entrench the militarys power by allowing the junta to hand-pick all 250 senators and guaranteeing that six of those seats are held by the chiefs of the armed forces and police. According to retired Lt. Gen.Nathadej Meksawat, an observer of Thai politics, the clause is making elected officials and other politicians nervous. What is getting in the way of politicians are NCPO-appointed senators who will counter-balance an elected government, Nathadej told BenarNews, referring to the junta by its formal name the National Council for Peace and Order. The junta overthrew the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup two years ago. However, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), whose members were appointed by the junta and which unveiled the draft charter four months ago, has argued that it would help restore stability in politically fraught Thailand by preventing corruption and other abuses of power by politicians. Asked why we, the drafting commission, had a provisional clause to allow appointed senators, the answers are the NCPO feels [that] its past efforts to bring back peace are not quite done yet. A pledge to reform politics was not fulfilled yet, CDC Chairman Meechai Richupan told reporters when the commission released the draft charter in late March. The politicians dont like it Somchai San-in, a Bangkok-based businessman, said he planned to vote in favor of the charter because, as he put it, politicians have ruined the country through self-interest and the articles of the new constitution would act as a check-and-balance against corrupt leaders. I support the charter because the politicians dont like it. That is because they cannot be corrupt and use that corrupt money to play money politics, Somchai told BenarNews. With less than six days till Thais go to the polls, voters seem to be split over how to vote. According to a poll published by Bangkok University over the weekend, 48.4 percent of 2,810 respondents said they would vote for the charter, while 35.4 percent were undecided, and the rest said they would abstain or vote against it. The Prachamati poll, a separate survey that came out Saturday, showed that 85 percent of 1,813 respondents said they would reject the charter, while six percent responded that they were undecided and the remainder said they would vote for it. Free debate? Fears and tensions around the issue have also grown as the junta has clamped down on dissent over the referendum by banning public criticism of it and arresting at least 122 dissidents on charges of sedition or violating a new referendum law. Thai officials have sent out conflicting signals about allowing limited debates over the issue this week. After the EC announced last week that it would allocate funds for debates of no more than three hours in each of Thailands 77 provinces, a forum to discuss the draft constitution was thwarted in the northeastern province of Khon Khaen province on Saturday, according to local reports. Two pro-democracy groups, New Citizens and New Democracy-Isaan, had sought permission to hold a debate on the proposed constitution at Khon Khaen University but a campus official ordered them to cancel the event, citing advice from police, reports said. Don Pathan in Bangkok contributed to this report. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. 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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. For Immediate Release, August 1, 2016 Contact: Stephanie Parent, (971) 717-6404, sparent@biologicaldiversity.org Appeals Board Affirms EPA Decision to Cancel Pesticide Toxic to Dragonflies, Crayfish, Other Freshwater Species WASHINGTON The Environmental Protection Agencys decision to cancel use of a pesticide thats highly toxic to freshwater wildlife like dragonflies, crayfish and mussels survived an industry challenge from Bayer CropScience. The EPAs Environmental Appeals Board agreed that Bayer failed to live up to its commitment to stop selling the pesticide when studies confirmed that it is too toxic for wildlife to keep it on the market. Photo courtesy EPA. This photo is available for media use. Cancelling flubendiamide is a huge win for freshwater wildlife around the country, said Stephanie Parent, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Aquatic invertebrates are among our most important and most imperiled wildlife. Harming species like dragonflies, crayfish and mussels has cascading effects on the entire web of life, and this pesticide poses unacceptable risks to these remarkable endangered freshwater creatures. The EPA knew back in 2008 that flubendiamide, an insecticide designed to kill caterpillars, is very toxic to aquatic invertebrates and accumulates in the environment with each application. Nonetheless, it granted Bayer a time-limited, conditional registration while Bayer conducted additional studies. The EPA gave its approval on the condition that studies show the harm to wildlife could be mitigated and that Bayer immediately voluntarily cancel if they did not. After the studies confirmed unacceptable levels of harm, the EPA requested voluntary cancellation. Bayer refused, fought the decision and lost. The Center for Biological Diversity supported the EPAs cancellation by submitting friends of the court briefs. Bayer could not convince the Environmental Appeals Board that it should be able to back out of the bargain it made, Parent said. The EPA reached a sensible decision to affirm cancellation because Bayer should not be rewarded with additional time to sell and distribute pesticides after failing to required conditions of its temporary license to sell flubendiamide. The decision allows retailers other than Bayer to sell existing stocks of flubendiamide, but once that supply is gone, it will no longer be available for use. The EPA concluded that significant effects to aquatic organisms due to the use of flubendiamide could potentially occur in as little as 2 years. Stream and river monitoring data indicate widespread occurrence of flubendiamide and its break down chemicals in the environment and widespread potential for water quality impacts. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. ACCRA, Ghana - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ministry of Health, and the Ghana Health Service, launched the refreshed 'Good Life, Live it Well' campaign on July 28 at the National Theatre. Image by 123RF The Good Life, Live It Well campaign will serve as the overarching Ghana Health Service brand and aims to promote positive health behaviours through television, radio, social media, and print materials. The campaign was first launched in partnership with USAID in 2010. By focusing on the health behaviours involved in each stage of life, the refreshed campaign hopes to resonate with Ghanaians from all walks of life and encourage them to adopt healthy behaviours. The new, refreshed campaign will promote improved health behaviours in family planning; maternal, newborn and child health; malaria prevention and treatment; and water, sanitation and hygiene. USAID is providing $10 million towards the mass media and print campaigns, as well as technical support in the development of the campaigns messages. Said US Ambassador Robert P. Jackson at the launch event. A healthy population is one of the most important enablers of economic growth. Healthy children are attentive students. They grow into healthy, educated adults who can create and fill the jobs that will propel the Ghanaian economy forward. The Good Life, Live It Well campaign furthers the goals of USAIDs integrated Health, Population, and Nutrition Program, which works to improve the health and well-being of the population in Ghana. USAID partners with the government of Ghana to achieve these goals, build leadership, improve governance, and build capacity in the health sector. The search for season three's The Insurance Apprentice is on, with applications open till 30 September 2016 for the 2017 installment of the show. Going bigger and better this time, the team is taking it regional to give applicants close to Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg a fair and equal chance to get into the top eight. Rianet Whitehead, editor of FAnews says the aim of The Insurance Apprentice is to excite more young people about what the industry has to offer, what the benefits are and how many growth opportunities there are, as well as to grow industry talent. Who can enter Entrants must be younger than 35, have been in the short-term insurance industry (any part of it) for more than four years, and should preferably hold a COP or any other professional qualification (not compulsory). Applications can be found at http://theinsuranceapprentice.co.za/apply2017/. Please read about the process before entering. Regional rounds will take place in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Those chosen to go through to the second round will be notified at the beginning of October. After identifying the top eight, filming will take place from 8 - 13 January 2017. The series will be aired early 2017 via the FAnews and The Insurance Apprentice websites and YouTube. Prestige, prizes and persuasion Winner of The Insurance Apprentice 2016, Andre Brooks, who is an account manager at Price Forbes, says, "The exposure provided by The Insurance Apprentice has certainly enhanced my credibility as an insurance professional, not only internally at Price Forbes, but with the industry at large. It is an absolutely overwhelming feeling to be one of the most recognised faces in the industry at the moment." Other than the earning the title "The Insurance Apprentice 2017", the winner will get the trip of a lifetime to Lloyds of London (sponsored by Lloyds of London) and a bursary (sponsored by Inseta) to further their studies. Potential entrants are invited to come out to Norton Rose Fulbright in Sandton on 12 August between 9:30am - 12pm for the chance to meet contestants from the previous series. They can ask the apprentices questions or meet their favourite apprentice and network and find out more about why they should enter. Space is limited though, so send an email to az.oc.swenaf@arym to book your space. #askapprenticeevent Sponsors The Insurance Apprentice 2017 sponsors are Aon South Africa, CN&CO, Hollard, Inseta, Insure Group, Lloyds of London, Price Forbes, PWV Insurance Brokers and Norton Rose Fulbright. To enquire about other sponsorship opportunities available, contact Rianet Whitehead at az.oc.swenaf@tenair or call +27 (0)11 768 2299. Keep track of The Insurance Apprentice on Facebook, Twitter @TheInsApp, or follow the journey of The Insurance Apprentice by signing up for the newsletter. Some developers are shifting their focus to small and convenience shopping centres, especially in rural or semi-rural areas, as demand increases in these historically undersupplied areas. Retail experts have warned that much of Gauteng is overshopped and it would be too risky to commit to new large mall developments while consumers come under pressure in a slowing economy. We are finding opportunities involving smaller malls. Im doing most of my work in areas which have not had quality shopping centres before and I have found higher living standards measure shoppers have started to use these new centres," said Finlay & Associates MD Marianka Victor. Victor said many of the malls she was managing were between 4,000m and 8,000m. The companys largest project was a new 20,000m centre in Botshabelo in the Free State. "The Botshabelo mall is the largest mall in that rural area. It's already 85% let," she said. Patrick Flanagan, head of development company Flanagan & Gerard, said there were large rural communities whose shopping needs needed to be met. "A number of rural communities do not have the facilities, infrastructure and development including shopping, that allows them to be economical with their time, transport and other costs. "These communities generally travel to more powerful nodes to fulfil their requirements. The result is likely to be that more centres will be developed to cater for these large rural communities and this will put further pressure on the more established urban areas as the rural folk will no longer need to visit these. "All the more reason that care should be exercised by all involved in developing and investing in shopping centres in urban environments," he said. Source: Business Day LONDON - Brewer SABMiller's board on Friday accepted a final takeover offer from rival Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company said in a statement, heralding what will be one of the world's biggest ever takeovers. AFP/File | AB InBev is already the world's top brewer and the SABMiller acquisition is in line to be the third largest in history. The Belgium-based AB InBev had raised its cash offer to 45 ($60, 53 euros) per share from 44, in a revised proposal tabled after the value of the pound slumped following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. SABMiller Chairman Jan du Plessis said the decision had been difficult. Since the board approved in November the price of 44 per share, "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," he said in a statement. "This has made the board's decision more challenging, and we believe the final cash consideration of 45 per share to be at the lower end of the range of values considered recommendable," said du Plessis. The transaction now values SABMiller's entire "issued and to be issued" share capital at around 79 billion, AB InBev said. SABMiller's takeover is expected to be the third largest in history if it clears all the regulatory hurdles. AB InBev welcomed the SAB Miller approval and said it expected the deal to be completed by the end of the year. "AB InBev believes that the proposed combination represents a compelling opportunity for all SABMiller and AB InBev shareholders and continues to intend to recommend the combination to its shareholders," the buyer said in a statement. Shares of AB InBev in Brussels rose 4.6 percent on news of the deal, which must now be approved by shareholders of both companies. SABMiller shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management swiftly rejected the agreement: "We intend to vote against the deal as we are uncomfortable with the structure and believe it undervalues the company. "We would welcome other investors who value good corporate governance and recognise the superior value from continuing to hold SABMiller as a standalone entity voting in a similar fashion." The Financial Times described chairman du Plessis as "the reluctant salesman getting the best deal" from AB InBev. "SABMiller's chairman has played hardball, extracting the highest price from AB InBev," the business daily wrote. The announcement came two days after reports SABMiller had paused integration work with AB InBev as it considered the new takeover offer. SABMiller had asked its employees to halt work on integrating finance, technology, procurement and some supply-chain functions, according to reports in Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. ING bank said the increased offer will cost AB InBev an additional 1.5 billion. "However, when comparing the previous offer at the prevailing exchange rate before Brexit ... with the increased offer at the current exchange rate, the latter is actually (more than) $3 billion lower in value," the bank said in a note to clients. The deal gained the backing on Friday of Chinese regulatory authorities and has previously been approved in the United States, European Union and South Africa, where SABMiller has its origins. AB InBev has agreed to a series of concessions to win the greenlight from the competition authorities, including the sale of stakes in Snow Breweries in China. It also agreed to sell most of SABMiller's European businesses, including Peroni and Grolsch which were bought by Japanese brewer Asahi. The buyout of London-based SABMiller is expected to boost AB InBev's prospects in developing markets in Africa and in China. If approved the takeover will create a new entity selling more than twice as much beer as its nearest rival, Heineken, which is currently the world's third largest brewer. Attending the PMA Foundation Women's Fresh Perspectives Breakfast recently, I had the honour to meet one of the most inspiring young women from South Africa, Zamantungwa Khumalo. Khumalo grew up in Soweto and overcame many obstacles to become a successful and outspoken woman in her industry. Zamantungwa Khumalo She is currently a producer for Power FM 98.7 and a member of the selection committee for the South African Youth for International Diplomacy. Khumalo is passionate about African development, women empowerment, and entrepreneurship. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community (Tshwane Hub). On top of her involvement in these initiatives, she also co-founded Africa Unleashed. At the young age of 25 she is already taking the globe by storm, so don't let her age fool you. Do you feel there's a glass ceiling for women in your industry? Zamantungwa Khumalo: I think there's glass ceiling for women just generally and we still have such a long way to go. If you look at the representation of genders in the top-end of every industry across the country, you find that it's very male dominated. If anything, that tells us that there is a barrier of entry for women when they get to a certain level. So, for me, it's identifying where the ceiling is because I think in different industries it's at different places. We must make sure we try and break it. Who is your biggest influence? Khumalo: It varies and I know that's such a cop-out. I draw inspiration from different women. I was raised by my mother and my aunt. My mother was one of the smartest kids in the school she went to, she got really high marks in Maths and Science, but she could never access university. She wanted to go study BSc at Wits, but because her mom was a domestic worker and they didn't have money, she didn't. She ended up working at a bank and helped pay for my aunt to go through teaching college. So they are a very big inspiration in my life and I often draw on them when I find myself in difficult times. There's also a very good friend of mine who is actually in India attending a leadership conference. She motivates and inspires me in ways that are out of this world. She also grew up in a township not so far away from me, and even though she came from a household where her father was a bus driver and her mother was unemployed, she was able to get straight A's through high school and she got to Varsity. For her first year in Varsity, she was travelling by train, but still got straight A's and ended up graduating at Wits with a distinction. She went on to do a post-grad degree at Rhodes and now she's is pursuing a second post-grad at UCT. Her story is really that of a young girl who had to fight so many obstacles but was able to come out on top and really be phenomenal at what she does. Her work ethic is something I have yet to see. I often call myself a lazy person; I'm one of the laziest productive people I know, but her work ethic is out of this world. Women like that who defy the odds and women who pull other women up, for me is a huge inspiration. What do you think is the biggest issue facing women in South Africa? Khumalo: I want to say patriarchy and unpack that. We're socialised wrong and it's such a hard one. The issue is that the messages we tell little girls and little boys are so different and so warped from such an early age, that by the time they are our age, unlearning it is so much worse, because it's everywhere. It's in the colours you choose for girls vs. boys and the toys. If you're a mom and you have to buy your child a toy or outfit, you struggle to find a female doctor's outfit, instead you find a female nurse outfit. So that's what we're saying to children; boys are doctors and girls are nurses. Imagine if you're learning that at the age of three. That is very troublesome and problematic, so we need to change what we tell girls and boys at a young age. When we start them young and start them right, when they grow up they won't be intimidated when their girlfriend earns more money or if she's a doctor they are a teacher for example. That would be normal, just each of us pursuing a career we're passionate about. It's the messaging we're getting wrong. The reality of patriarchy is, it's not just holding women back but men as well because the men can't be human. They have to be these superman providers who have everything intact and must earn more than the woman, they must drive the better car, must have a better career. Patriarchy is holding everyone hostage and we need to undo that. What is the biggest barrier you faced in your career to become successful? Khumalo: For me, it's my age. I'm often the youngest in the room and have been the youngest in many rooms. A lot of people get over the fact that I'm a woman. Since a young age, I've been very commanding and assertive and I think I get that from my older brother. I grew up around a boy who did that and I thought that that's what people did, that it's normal behaviour. Only to go into the big bad world to realise that that's not normal behaviour, it's boy behaviour. I just went on with it, because it's what I'm used to. There's that and I'm young, so they don't take me seriously. They use my youth as a weapon against me as opposed to my gender. I suspect, though, the older I get the age bit will even out and then the gender will come into play a bit more. What advice would you give women who are pursuing a similar career? Khumalo: Speak up. Don't be afraid to be yourself, even when yourself is weird. I know we live in a society that makes it hard for people to be who they authentically are, so we try to mold ourselves into different variations of who we think we're supposed to be, but that won't get you very far. Know who you are, know you're worth and stand your ground. You should have a list of non-negotiable regarding yourself and stick to it no matter which career you're in. Things that you won't change, no matter the situation. The moment you have that, it makes it just a little bit easier to navigate your way, so that when you're in difficult times you won't compromise yourself. How do you feel about women's month? Khumalo: It has been such a political month for me. We've been seeing a lot of campaigns, where I'm concerned, is anti-woman and are patronising. From the Mairie Claire's 'In her shoes' campaign to Bic's "think like a man, work like a boss". If anything it shows me that people don't get the importance of a gender conversation and the fact that women have actual issues. We've reduced women's month to spa treatments and hampers, and it should be more than that. In 1956 women took to the streets in the thousands and they said enough is enough. These were women, black and white, who said we're not agreeing to pass laws. These are women who took a political stance and women's month really should be about not only us commemorating and celebrating them, but also, as women saying "what are the things we're 'gatvol' of, that we want an end to and what actions are we going to take to make sure we get it. Women of 1956 took action not spa treatments. This is a political month and we're not using it properly by reducing it to goodie bags. Yes, we must pamper women, but do that on valentines day or mother's day or any other day. On women's month we should have serious conversations, men and women, to say what is not working in our society, how are we creating barriers of entry in any of the industries, how can we undress that, how can we fight the status quo. We're missing the opportunity to put real issues on the agenda. What is your message for women's month? Khumalo: I want women to be brave enough to be the leaders that they are yearning for. It's tough, but think to yourself what type of leader, manager, colleague do you want and are you that person? And if you're not, start being that person, because when you start being that person people will start treating you differently. Greet people with a smile in the mornings, change your attitude and they will start emulating you. That does make a change, imagine ten people in your office making that shift. We need to be the people we're waiting for and yearn for who can support and encourage us. Be that for somebody else and for as many people in the office as you can. It must start with you. Looking for a worthy successor for the CEO of your company? Look no further than your chief HR officer. That's according to research by Professor Dave Ulrich and Ellie Filler. For too long, HR professionals have been treated as the Cinderellas who didnt quite make it to the ball. The HR division was viewed as a backwater that had very little, if any, strategic significance, let alone influence on the real business activities of the company. This was reflected in an attitude where the CEO and CFO would essentially say to the CHRO, You keep the people happy and well make the money. In such companies, the CHRO would be sidelined from the real business issues in the name of keeping the people happy. He or she would be tolerated by the CEO and CFO as a necessary evil and treated with courtesy, but not really taken very seriously or asked for any real input regarding difficult core business decisions. Those who have held this view of HR as an inconsequential part of the business may, however, need to reconsider in light of new research conducted by University of Michigan Professor Dave Ulrich and Swiss-based senior client partner of executive recruiting firm Korn Ferry, Ellie Filler. Their findings demonstrate that, contrary to popular opinion, time in the chief HR officer position serves as excellent preparation for the CEO position. Comparitive assessment To examine the significance of the CHROs role, one of the first things Ulrich and Filler undertook was a comparison of CHROs salaries with those of other C-suite executives. Predictably, they found that CEOs and COOs came out tops, but third in line were CHROs. According to Ulrich, good CHROs get paid good money because theyre not easy to find. Ulrich and Filler then examined Korn Ferry assessments of a wide range of C-suite candidates over a 10-year period, considering scores related to 14 aspects of leadership in three categories leadership style, thinking style, and emotional competency. A comparison of the results among a variety of executives revealed, rather unpredictably in this case, that, with the exception of COOs, CHROs had the most similar traits to those of the CEO, a result Ulrich says they never anticipated. The upshot of this, was that Ulrich and Filler made the rather surprising observation that CHROs would be well worth considering for the CEO position. While one has to be careful of considering it a dead cert for HR professionals to progress to the corner office, the research does make a case for the fact that time in the CHROs role serves as good preparation for the top job. The broader picture Ulrich and Filler are quick to point out that if someone has spent their entire career in HR, they would probably not be suited for the CEO job as the position requires a range of leadership skills that will probably not be part of the career HR persons toolkit. Executives who have operated across a broad spectrum of business activities during the course of their careers and who have then moved into the senior HR position for a period of time would, however, be ideally placed to become the CEO. Does that mean that people who have made a career of HR have missed the boat for that top job? Not necessarily. They will have limited their options if they have not made any attempt to acquire technical as well as financial skills as they have progressed through the ranks. How to get into the corner office Advice to HR professionals with their eye on that corner office? Based on the conclusions Ulrich and Filler came to, it would seem that HR professionals must make a point of moving through general management and/or line management positions to acquire some serious leadership experience in addition to their solid HR experience. Secondly, they need to make it their business to understand the language of the CFO and learn to speak it ... fluently. Until they grasp the intricacies of the financial matters related to the business, they will be nothing more than interested spectators. While the practice of HR is certainly not for the faint-hearted, when one remains in HR exclusively, one does not have the opportunity to acquire certain skills that are not readily accessible in the HR division. Any HR professional looking to rise to the top must therefore bear in mind the old saying: a calm sea never made a good sailor. Learning sailing skills in a spread of business contexts, including HR, will serve you well if you are keen to captain a ship navigating the high seas of global business practice. If your brand is going to deliver on the brand promises it makes, your company needs to take care of what's going on behind the bright shiny facades of your shopfronts and corporate HQ. Our research has revealed a clear link between healthy workplace culture and working spaces, and the impacts that these have on healthy brand reputations and business results. Brand management today extends well beyond a company logo and corporate identity guidelines. Every touchpoint impacts a customers experience of a brand and builds (or undoes) trust in the brand promise. Its not always in the obviously visible touchpoints that a brand experience is made or broken, such as reception areas and presentation rooms, but rather the intrinsic values that are expressed through employee interactions with your brand. Jonathan Hall In todays highly digitally connected, always-on world, brand image and reputation can be damaged without much detection. Despite the way that workspaces may look, employees growing frustrations within their working environment are finding their way down ordinary telephone lines, into inboxes, and onto pages without check. Research conducted by the Gallup Group shows that workplace culture and the workspace in which employees function combine to impact employees work behaviour very profoundly. It also shows that almost two thirds of employees are disconnected from their companys brand purpose and dislike their current workspaces. These include an inability to concentrate on work due to continuous disturbances, or workspaces that are not designed to support the way people actually work, rather just housing people at the lowest possible cost. Many say that their workspaces show little value or care for the people that work in them, while most staff dont think that their workspaces offer the flexibility of space that the stretched modern multi-taskers need. And, truth be told, how can you possibly expect anyone working under those conditions to deliver what their employers promise to their customers? Because the modern workspace and workplace culture is inarguably responsible for the chemistry that seeps into the brand so profoundly, its crucial that brand custodians appreciate how workplace design impacts the brand and the people behind it. Workspace neuroscience is increasingly linking bad workplace layout with low human performance, poor productivity and lacklustre business results. The latest findings show how powerfully the workspace impacts the heads, hearts and hands of staff the same staff that organisations count on to present a differentiated experience of their brand to clients. For example, the norm of sustained work pressure, an inability to focus and concentrate, limited opportunities to collaborate, the drain of always-on technology, and management by fear all combine to cause high levels of cortisol in the average workers body. David Mark via Pixabay Cortisol is the neurotransmitter that helps humans to respond to spikes of danger and stress, and while it may save you in a short-term life-threatening situation like a hijacking or a lion attack, sustained cortisol depresses the human auto immune system. This causes energy to drop, and stifles inspiration and creativity dragging the customers experience of the brand in the wake of the employees disconnect with the brand in their workplace. You and your people may not be being chased by a lion, but your business is going to be dead in the water if you keep your workers operating under these conditions. The research emphasises that brands need to design workspaces that harness positive neurotransmissions, because humans respond to pleasurable experiences - and pleasurable working environments. Positive environments produce dopamine, a natural hormone that makes people seek out the meaning, purpose and recognition that drives them to succeed. Similarly, a good mood and happiness in the workplace stimulates the natural production of serotonin. This, in turn, stimulates memory and learning, and drives creativity and innovation all attributes that brand owners and marketers want to be driving in the people taking their brand to market. The modern workspace is the proxy of enterprise culture, reflecting the values and ethos that staff carry out into the world. Workspaces that reflect positioning, personality and brand attributes ensure that workers experience and live the brand. When this happens, workers convey the brand and its values on obvious and subliminal levels, reaching customers heads and hearts, and creating strong and enduring relationships the things of which branding and marketing dreams are made. At the Cape Town Press Club AGM, held late last week, the chairperson, Brent Meersman, stated that it will support other organisations, such as the SA National Editors Forum (SANEF), however it can to help get the SABC back on track. Hundreds of committed reporters at the SABC need to have the freedom to meet their commitment to South Africa as members of a public broadcaster. The atmosphere of fear that is reported to exist at the SABC does not bode well for journalists trying to do their job, a job that is crucial for a healthy democracy. We hope the COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng cloud will pass soon after the upcoming local elections, when he will have finished serving his current purpose. The SABC has done the right thing not to appeal the Labour Courts order to reinstate its former employees. This group of producers and reporters have been vindicated for the principled stance they took and we congratulate them for standing their ground. This groups return to work is not the end of this story, though. We have tasked the vice chair, Martin Slabbert-Capper, to engage with SANEF and others to take this process further, concluded Meersman. South Africa should have been a no-brainer for any holiday-seeking traveller. Did you not hear the barmy army chanting "we've got 24 Rand to the pound", whilst glugging copious amounts of Castle Lager at 80 cents a pint". JaguarE via pixabay The exchange rate, Ebola, ISIS fears and terrorism across the West and Europe had us all anticipating a huge influx of overseas visitors into our country. South Africa was primed for a double-figure increase in inbound tourism. However, on the opposite side of the coin (pardon the pun), we as South Africans find ourselves gasping at the mere thought of gulping a beer at R700 a pop across the ocean somewhere. Even the wealthiest jet-setters would pause before taking an overseas holiday at such an unfavourable exchange rate. Which got me thinking Holidaying locally Our tourism industry suffered something very similar in days gone by. During the apartheid era, the rest of the world placed sanctions on South Africa, forcing the hospitality industry to rely on local tourists to fill up beds, restaurants and airlines. This led to the emergence of the likes of Protea Hotels, Sun City and Thompsons Tour Operators as South Africans were forced to holiday locally. What we also discovered during these times is that holidaying locally is fantastic in so many ways. South Africa (and Africa for that matter) has so much to offer for leisure and business travellers. I truly believe that South African Tourism bodies, organisations and officials need to rally together in a concerted effort to market both local and neighbouring destinations to the South African tourist. Millions of Rands are spent luring overseas visitors into this country. We attend Travel Shows all over the world punting our country to the Americas, Europe and the East, only to be stifled with changing visa restrictions and confusion in the market. And yet we have a captive and captivated audience right under our noses. Returning from a launch event at BON Hotel Swakopmund confirmed this. Take Namibia for example, our neighbour and almost an extra province of South Africa offers a fantastic family holiday. Access is no problem with daily flights into Walvis Bay and Windhoek, or even better, the Namib-Cape route is an amazing road trip for any family. If one has to look at exotic travel options for South Africans on our current exchange rate, we have limited choice for value perhaps Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia or even Mauritius at a push. South Africans need to be reminded by the tourism industry of the fantastic places right under our noses and within our borders. We need to cater to our local travellers, making the most of the fact that the unfortunate exchange rate actually creates an exciting new market for hospitality service providers our locals! No, we shouldnt be jacking up prices because the exchange rate is so high or upping our menus to suit the overseas market. Lets provide our people with the best packages and options for exploring and enjoying our very own country. Let everybody find delight in staying within our border. Janette de Villiers, founder and executive producer of the female-run Groundglass boutique production company, has put the 'groundglass' back in the spotlight, and predicts we'll soon see an industry-wide creative revival. Its terrible to think that nobody knows what a groundglass is anymore in this digital age it was a critical piece of equipment on film cameras back in the day, quite literally an expensive and tiny piece of glass that sits at the back of a camera. While it was originally used for manual focusing purposes, in advertising it was used to give an indication of TV safety for titling, and would assist the cinematographer with framing for different film formats. The groundglass is still used, its now electronically built into cameras today so is purely a setting. Thats De Villiers explanation of the relevance of the name Groundglass. More than this, theyre a female-strong production company women make excellent producers, De Villiers interjects with an extensive work catalogue over the past 15 years that covers commercials, music videos, documentaries and short films. As such they pride themselves in representing some of South Africas top emerging directors as well as top international names. For example, in 2014 Natasja Fourie produced the award-winning The Man with the Heavy Leg work that was also a Cannes entry, and De Villiers herself produced 100% Human with Hair TV series pilot, embedded below: Its interesting as De Villiers points out its widely accepted that women, more often than men, pay attention to detail. Thats why Groundglass prides itself as being exceptionally well managed, because the team cares about every aspect of conducting business. From ensuring they have a well-trained and committed staff to ensuring they go above and beyond clients expectations to ensure they deliver phenomenal service. Thats why Dan Mace, also on Groundglass books, won two silver screenings at the Young Director Awards in Cannes 2016 and as they diversified a few years ago, they no longer shoot just television commercials, now focusing on a lot more short film, web content and non-traditional work. More training and support = stronger business leaders De Villiers feels we should definitely be doing more to boost strong female leadership in SA. She says while BEE is a phenomenal practice and is definitely bridging the gap to empower black women, more emphasis needs to be put into training and upskilling to ensure that women are equipped to lead. Business owners need to start putting an emphasis on using their own framework to support and nurture talent its not only a governmental issue, but also a societal one that we all need to address and improve. More specifically, she says theres no question that the advertising industry is far from diverse enough here or internationally. Female directors in particular see way fewer boards than their male contemporaries, and are very limited in the jobs they get mostly beauty and female hygiene! To turn these stereotypes on their head, De Villiers says women should be given much more creative respect and acknowledgment in our industry. Another way the limelight gets stolen is when ad agencies bring home trophies for work done by production houses. It's a topic close to De Villiers' heart, as she's given quite a few talks on diversity in film over the last two years, at Cannes and Ciclope in Berlin in particular. While De Villiers isnt sure the situation will ever change, she says the way consumers view advertising these days is enough to slowly flip the situation organically, as film companies now play a far bigger role in content creation and are far more agile when it comes to online communication and doing good work. Shes excited about it all and thinks we are moving back into a far more creative space at the moment, predicting that the ad industry is going to look very different in 10 years time. Based on the agencys international work, she predicts the industry will become much more creative as soon as we see more relationships change and evolve. She has noted far more collaboration between creative directors, producers and directors an indication is how many top creatives are leaving agencies to work directly with brands and brands working directly with creative teams who are not attached to agencies. De Villiers feels process has got in the way of creative in the last few years, as big media houses want to own more of the supply chain, and with todays switched on consumer, who wants to see engaging content that has integrity and relevance to them personally especially as they have a choice as to whether to even view it or not the more creative you are the better you will do. Production companies are at the creative end of the ad chain, which is why De Villiers feels its a very exciting time to be a talented young filmmaker. The rules of engagement are changing and the work is only going to get better. For more on Groundglass, click here to visit their website and follow their successes on Twitter. The roll-out of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comes with a "leave no one behind" strategy that moves from reducing to ending poverty; and one that puts sustainability and growth at its core. Abey Tau The SDGs were prepared to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals were unveiled with the aim of taking steps towards building a better world in the next 15 years. This is no easy target. The UN has spent significant time analysing the successes and failings of the MDGs in order to apply the learnings to the SDGs. The MDGs did produce some good outcomes - such as contributing to decreasing the proportion of people living on less than $1.25, from 47% in 1990 to 14% in 2015. However, it is also acknowledged that progress has been limited, with many being left behind. According to reports, the SDG strategy will require an annual outlay of $2.5 trillion for it to be implemented successfully, which will need to come from private investment. Its certainly something the private sector wants to get involved with in an effort to show support for sustainable development. The SDGs hone in on growth as the main solution to poverty, but we are still in a position where most of the global GDP growth remains in the upper echelons of society, rather than having an impact on the poor. The amount of growth needed to truly end poverty would also have a significant impact on environmental issues such as climate change. Corporate sector So this leaves the corporate sector, called on to make the investment needed to achieve these goals, in a tricky situation. Where do we invest to ensure we arent encouraging one area of growth at the expense of another? Corporate investors play such a central role in the roll-out of the SDGs, and theres a lot of work that needs to be done when it comes to our specific commitments and accountability mechanisms. With this framework, Samsungs aim is to make a positive contribution towards the SDGs by positively impacting the lives of people. We see ourselves as an active participant in the global agenda to help promote positive change, by using our global network of employees, suppliers and partners; which is why we have established solutions which help address the felt need of communities, particularly in education, health, skills and employability. In 2015, we have established Digital Villages in various countries in Africa including Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Senegal to mention a few. Designed in collaboration with African communities, the Digital Village concept comprises of mobile, solar-powered facilities including a connected admin centre, solar powered internet school, solar powered generator and solar power mobile health centre, which can be configured to serve as the high-tech hub of rural and underserved communities. Common goal In addition to delivering desperately-needed services to communities, the Digital Village also delivers WiFi access and power to the broader community, often for the first time. This access sparks small business development and information-sharing, e-government service delivery and agricultural progress in areas that have been sidelined in the information age for too long. It makes sense to get behind the SDGs because they are a mechanism to help end poverty and promote sustainability across the board. It may be corporate citizenship that kick starts the process, but it is essential that every individual is working towards a common goal. There is no doubt that the SDGs will, in one way or another, shape the global agenda on economic, social and environmental development over the next 15 years. It is also true that global action is the best way to ensure accountability and inclusivity. Ultimately the call is for everyone from government, to the private sector and civil society to play their part in creating a sustainable future. Emerging markets are without a doubt the new frontier. Consumers in emerging markets are encountering marketing environments that are as complex and ever changing as their counterparts in developed countries. Choice of products and the channels of communication are growing exponentially, along with wide acceptance of mobile and digital platforms. This all translates into a more informed and empowered consumer base. In todays emerging market place there are essentially four key areas which every business needs to consider. These are viz. initial consideration, active evaluation, closure and post-purchase. Each step is critical and can determine whether a marketer loses or wins in their bid. Initial consideration sets in when a consumer decides to make a product or service purchase and thinks of a number of brands. Active evaluation then sets in when consumers conduct research on some of the potential future purchases. The closure phase comes in when they select a brand during purchase and lastly the post-purchase comes in when they experience the service or product selected. These four stages are as applicable for emerging markets as they are for established markets. However, there are three important differences between developed and emerging markets which need to be carefully considered. Firstly, word of mouth is invaluable when it comes to affecting decision phases of emerging market consumers. Secondly, the process of getting a brand into the initial consideration set of a consumer is very important in emerging markets since it seems to have a very large impact on their purchasing decisions. Lastly, companies must be quick to address any issues that follow when their products reach the retailers shelves. Using geographic focus to harness word of mouth Word of mouth plays a critical role in building brand value and trust in emerging markets. When beverage and food consumers are surveyed in the UK and USA, about 40% of respondents say that they receive recommendations from family and friends before a purchase. About 60% of consumers from Asia and Africa rely heavily on recommendations from family and friends. A potential explanation boils down to the fact that family members live in closer geographic proximity in emerging markets whereas the opposite holds true in established markets. Therefore, companies can reap dramatically higher profits if they decide to pursue a geographically focused strategy for word of mouth - compared to spending their marketing resources in selected regions countrywide - such as in big cities only. Once a brand attains initial share of the market (15%), a virtuous cycle can be unleashed by a company. Word of mouth spread by additional users can quickly boost brand reputation, helping it acquire even more market share without higher expenditures in marketing. Getting brands into consumers initial consideration Consumers in emerging markets initially tend to give smaller brand sets consideration and are usually less likely to change to brands that were not part of their initial consideration set. For example, according to surveys in China, most consumers initially consider three brands on average and purchase one of those brands about 60% of the time. Compare this to Europe and the US where consumers have four brands on average in their set with a 30% to 40% purchase rate. Including a brand into a consumers initial set is very important in emerging markets and the first step to achieving this is by increasing visibility through advertisements in media channels. Advertisements alone will not be sufficient enough to achieve initial consideration by consumers. Companies must also reach the consumers with tailor made messages according to the concerns and preferences in the local markets. An important part of this equation is testing every message, including ones that have already achieved significant results in developed countries. Dont simply copy-and-paste marketing material as this can lead to embarrassing contradictions with the local culture and vernacular. KFC made Chinese consumers a bit apprehensive when "finger licking good" was translated as "eat your fingers off." Winning the in-store phase The in-store phase of the decision journey for emerging market consumers tends to be more prolonged and more critical compared to developed markets. Consumers in emerging markets have a higher inclination for visiting several outlets a couple of times and to collect more information in an ordered manner, particularly when it comes to big ticket purchases. For instance, the typical decision journey of a Chinese consumer for electronics takes more than two months and also involves at least four store visits. These consumers are fond of testing products, interacting with sales representatives so as to collect more information about the product and create negotiation power with the retailers for the best possible deal. Companies need to be up to speed with what is happening with their brand at retail level. Inconsistent packaging, merchandising as well as in-store promotions are some of the things that can overshadow the brands integrity. The first step in establishing a better in-store consumer battle is by attaining a clear view of the retail landscape - its segmentation and the location of priority outlets. Control systems must then be developed by companies based on the incentive schemes, distributor collaborations and programmes in order to manage the retail environment. Companies must also deploy control models using mystery shoppers and supervisors with the support of IT infrastructure so as to ensure store performances can be analysed and assessed. Johan Hanekom These three principles - using geographic focus to harness word of mouth, getting brands into consumers initial consideration and winning the in-store phase may seem elementary, but they each require careful planning and execution. They require bold leadership and investments, efforts in building local teams and the nerve to function in fundamentally different ways from what is regarded as the norm by headquarters. Consumers in emerging markets are more likely to choose a brand they perceive as consistent and positive across these key touchstones, and will eventually profit the companies that invest smartly. The UN General Assembly has encouraged UNIDO to mobilise adequate resources for the implementation of the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa; while reiterating that African countries have primary responsibility for their own economic and social development. Image by 123RF The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has welcomed the UN General Assembly decision proclaiming the period 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa. The First Industrial Development Decade for Africa was from 1980 to 1989 and the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa was from 1993 to 2002. UNIDOs director general, Li Yong, said: This is great news. Last September, at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, UNIDO, together with the African Union Commission, the Office of the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Africa, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, called for this decade as a way to place the African continent irrevocably on the path towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Noting that Africa remains the poorest and the most vulnerable region in the world, the UN General Assembly highlights the need for the continent to take urgent action to advance sustainable industrialisation as a key element of furthering economic diversification and value addition, creating jobs and thus reducing poverty and contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Li said that he was pleased to note that the adopted resolution specifically calls on UNIDO to develop, operationalise and lead the implementation of the programme for the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa, in accordance with its mandate and through voluntary contributions. The resolution also invites UNIDO to scale up its technical assistance to African countries in order to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Li said: We at UNIDO believe that the path to sustainable development is through inclusive and sustainable industrialisation. As the director general of UNIDO, but also as a citizen of the developing world with a deep personal commitment to Africa and a strong faith in its future, I want to reiterate the validity of the dream of a flourishing continent, in which all its extraordinary resources, both natural and human, can finally be harnessed effectively to generate lasting prosperity for all. The UN General Assembly encourages UNIDO's director general to mobilise adequate resources for the implementation of the Decade, and reiterates that African countries have primary responsibility for their own economic and social development. In addition, the resolution invites UNIDO to foster partnerships, as appropriate, with other relevant entities in the UN development system. The General Assembly also calls for enhanced international cooperation, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, in support of Africa's industrialisation, including through the implementation of the Third Decade. Czech President Zeman: People should arm themselves against refugees 1. 8. 2016 cas cteni 1 minuta The Czech President Milos Zeman recommends that Czech citizens should be afraid of terrorist attacks and should obtain guns. He has also demanded that those individuals whose applications for asylum have been rejected, should be deported and that the Czech Republic should build a fence on its border. "It is cheap just to condemn terrorist attacks. The only solution is to get rid of what causes them and what causes them are the illegal immigrants," said Zeman. He added that it is necessary to realise that amongst the large numbers of refugees, arriving in Europe there is a certain percentage of jihadists. "The solution is to deport everyone who is refused asylum in a particular country. As we know, most refugees are refused asylum." Zeman also wants to deport the "fanatical imams" who "sow hatred in the mosques". Zeman added that in his view, all the refugees who have refused to accept asylum in a particular European country are illegal immigrants. Such people want to go to Germany in order to access social welfare there. "Have no illusions. They do not want to work there. They just want to get social welfare," said Zeman. There are no refugees in the Czech Republic. Source in Czech HERE There are stories like this in the Czech Republic every day that never make it to the outside world because of a lack of translation. You can support us and help reveal what's happening in Central Europe today. Please make a contribution today on www.paypal.com and send your donation to redakce@blisty.cz. We fully rely on crowdfunding in our work. Thank you. 0 On that day, the commander of Aley Than Kyaw BGP camp ordered all the fishermen of Maungdaw south for not going to rivers to catch fish as the order came from high level authority, he added. Earlier, the fishermen were also ordered by the said BGP commander not to go to rivers for fishing. It is the second time, the commander asked the fishermen. Mostly fishermen of Aley Than Kyaw village, Buhamu Para (village), Sonhodda Bill (village), Gozzan Dia village, Modaina Para (village) and Khanpu Para (village) have been facing many difficulties to support their families as they have no alternative works to survive, a village fisherman Hashu said. The fishermen have to go to rivers at least once a day for fishing, if they are not able to go to rivers or Naff River for fishing, they have to face difficulties to maintain their family members survival, Mohin, another villager said. A fisherman, Rashel from the locality said I have five family members and have to support them. So I am facing acute difficulties now. According to sources, the concerned authorities of Burma always discriminate the Rohingya people, try to cut off Rohingyas income sources, arbitrary arrest, extort money by giving false accusation and restrict the movement of Rohingya people. At present, Rakhine villagers are confiscating the arable lands of Rohingya people who are living in IDP camps or who are living in their original villages with the collaboration of local concerned authority, so that Rohingya people become landless and jobless day by day, said Jalal Uddin Fakir from the locality. The local authorities with the help of Arakan State ministers drive Rohingya people jobless and push them into ultra-poverty position, said a local youth on condition of anonymity. UNFC deputy leader stated the above during a press conference at the Mai Ja Yang summit, in the controlled area of the Kachin Independent Organization (KIO), Kachin State, on Wednesday [July 27]. We will present at the 21st Panglong Conference regarding how federal union should be formed, that is what ethnic groups demand for. We are still discussing some matters. In the past, the Tatmadaw [Burma army] really opposed the idea of federalism. The Tatmadaw also opposed this idea when we as the NCCT [nationwide ceasefire coordination team] were holding talks with them [Tatmadaw]. However, now is not like before. The Tatmadaw also accepts federalism while it is still worrying about secessions [by ethnic groups]. In reality, no ethnic armed group nor ethnic political party want to secede from the union, said Nai Hongsar, who is also the vice-chairman of the New Mon State Party. Over 100 representatives are present at the Mai Ja Yang summit. These representatives are from ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) and non-signatory groups, members of the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and the Nationalities Brotherhood Federal (NBF), the Women League for Burma as well as international representatives, including delegates from the UN and China. However, leaders of four ethnic groups did not attend the summit. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) were all absent. Nai Hongsar added that what ethnic groups demand is an establishment of a union with democratic rights, national equality and self-determinations. In this current situation, if one group leaves [the union], it will lead to great danger. No one wants to leave. If there is real national equality and self-determination, which is what they [ethnic groups] want for their nationalities, no group will leave. We can assure you of that, said Nai Hongsar. The objectives of the four day summit at Mai Ja Yang, from July 26 to 29, are to prepare for the 21st Century Panglong Conference as well as the political standpoints for the future establishment of a democratic, federal union. Many ethnic groups find the current political representation system inequitable and hope that this reform will greatly benefit ethnic minorities. At the summit, the representatives discussed four main topics including basic policies for the constitution of federalism, democratic union establishment, policies for security and defense, and amending a political discourse framework. The meeting was attended by 17 EAOs, minus the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Kokang or Myanmar National Democratic Army (MNDAA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland Khaplang (NSCN-K), making it the most comprehensive and exclusive meeting to determine the common position of the EAOs. Also attending were representatives from two umbrella, alliance organizations of ethnic nationalities political parties; United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and National Brotherhood Federation (NBF), including the Women League of Burma (WLB), UN Secretary-Generals Special Adviser Vijay Nambiar and Sun Guoxiang, Special Envoy of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. This was the fifth EAOs gathering that followed the earlier four meetings, twice in Laiza, KIO controlled largest town, and twice in Law Khee Lar, the Karen National Union (KNU) administered area, during the last couple of years since the former President Thein Sein started the peace process in 2011. During the fiveday summit, delegates discussed on the issues of approving the Panglong Handbook prepared by the Kachin, Shan and Chin EAOs as the original signatories of the Panglong Agreement in 1947 with the Burmese Interim Government; basic principles for the constitution of a future federal democratic union; basic principles for security and defence; and the amendment, fine-tuning of Framework for Political Dialogue (FPD). While the Mai Ja Yang meeting was endorsed by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) that would help and enable the EAOs to achieve a common position, complementing and supporting the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference (21CPC) as preferred by Aung San Suu Kyi or Union Peace Conference (UPC) dubbed by the previous regime, the military (Tatmadaw) was against it saying that it could divide the EAOs more than forging unity. But it also didnt hide its worry that they could use the occasion to form military alliance among themselves and expand their territorial control. Whatever the case, let us look at the outcomes on what has been discussed at the meeting. Panglong Handbook The EAOs Panglong Handbook endorsement was in order, which emphasized the core principles of rights of self-determination, equality and democracy to be applicable in all their political bargaining process. Accordingly, only a final touch on some wordings were needed. The Panglong Handbook is a compilation of historical facts, principles and guidelines for the Panglong agreement, with the explanation of its spirit and pledges, which have failed to materialize after nearly 70 years of its signing in 1947, in Panglong town of Shan State. The treaty was signed between the then Burmese interim government, represented by Aung San the late father of Aung San Suu Kyi and three ethnic nationalities, the Chin, Kachin and Shan. The Burmese interim government, which was then known as Burma Proper or Ministerial Burma included all the territories inhabited by the Karen, Mon and Arakan among others, while the Karenni state was then considered by the British as an independent territory. Federal Constitution The meeting agreed on the 8 point principles in drafting a federal union constitution, which included sovereignty, equality, rights of self-determination, genuine federalism, protecting the rights of minorities, democratic rights, universal human rights and gender equality, and multi-party system-based secular form of governance. The EAOs guidelines were based on federal union constitution that was drafted in 2008 by Federal Constitution Drafting and Coordinating Committee (FCDCC) and added proposals made by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) in 2015. The most outstanding point of discussion in federal form of governance was the alteration proposal of national state and nationalities state formation, rather than just accepting and going along with the 14 States and Regions configuration under the present military-drafted constitution. Hypothetically, for example, a Bamar State could be carved out from Mandalay, Magway and Bago Regions, while Yangon (Rangoon), Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy), Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) and Sagaing Regions could become nationalities states, for they are populated with various other ethnic groups, besides Bamar ethnic. Security and defence The security sector reform (SSR) deliberations the EAOs mainly focused on the formation of a federal union army, which should be under the defence ministry and subordinated to the civilian government, emphasizing that the countrys president would be the Commander-in-Chief of the military. The military has tried all along to push for the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR), which entertains only the surrender of the EAOs without question or coming under the wings of the Bamar-dominated Tatmadaw, while the EAOs were for the SSR that harbours more on integration into the security apparatus either in form of state security units, like state defence or border patrol police force, of their concerned state, plus becoming part of the federal union army within a given prescribed quota. The Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Laing has time and again said that the military is striving to become a standard army, which could be construed as either trying to build a professional or union army, leaving politics to the civilian government. But Min Aung Hlaings professed timeline of some 15 years for the military to go back to the barracks starkly contrasted with the vague commitment of withdrawing from political arena, which he is inclined to dole out publicly occasionally. Framework for Political Dialogue The amendment of the FPD that has been drawn by the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), without the UNFC, centred around the participation quota, which was agreed by all attending EAOs to be a tripartite one endorsed by the United Nations for decades. The recent FPD under the NCA setting now has seven groups, which the EAOs thought could not lead to equitable and fair participation of the ethnic nationalities. The EAOs proposed tripartite includes the government, the parliament and the military as one party; the EAOs as another; and the other, all the registered political parties nationwide. Common position still need to be ironed out With the end of the EAOs Plenary Meeting coming to an end on 30 July, a statement issued said that the common position on a variety of issues still have to be ironed out. Reportedly, there were a number of open questions that needed further discussion. General NBan La, vice chairman of the KIO and UNFC chairman urged the meeting participants that it would be good to form a single negotiation group together between the signatory and non-signatory EAOs, under the UNFC, to talk to the government. NBan La who was in an upbeat mood said: The ethnic nationalities political rights discussion has enable us to achieve a common position for future political negotiation process, which has shown our most invaluable unity. I want to thank all the ethnic leaders and make a record (on this). The meeting further resolved to form a working group, to compile all the agreed points and discuss the remaining outstanding issues. It is said that the Coordinating Team (CT) of the 8 signatory EAOs and the UNFCs Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) would find ways to achieve common positions and bridge the gap on outstanding issues. According to Mizzima, Colonel Sai Hla from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) summed up the situation recently as follows: We got a draft from the four negotiation issues. It was agreed that in order to confirm it, our top leaders will hold another meeting and make decision. The positive outcome was said to be that the two groups have resolved to bargain as one party in the peace negotiation process and the agreed upon the understanding to ask for postponement of the August scheduled 21 CPC from the government, to either September or November, as they needed more time to work out common positions among themselves. The meeting was said to be successful according to Khu Oo Reh, who is the convening Chairman of the Mai Ja Yang meeting. While we cannot say that we have one hundred percent agreement (on all issues discussed), it is almost close to it, he said. But Sai Kyaw Nyunt representative of the UNA has a different opinion and said that only about fifty percent agreement has been reached. He particularly pointed out the lack of concrete agreement, especially on the issue of national state and nationalities state formation criterion. He explained: We discussed about the formation of a Bamar State and other nationalities states, with no concrete count of how many states it should be there. But in building a federal union with equality, representation (of each ethnic state) is anyhow needed. Outlook and perspective The purpose of the meeting participants attending the Mai Ja Yang summit, along with civil society organisations and political parties was to prepare for the 21CPC and to find common ground for a future federal union. In this respect, it could be said that the objectives are fulfilled, although one could argue to what degree of achievement the meeting has made. Khu Oo Reh said that it was successful and was nearly a hundred percent achievement of the meetings objective, while some ethnic political alliance representatives put it as some fifty percent success rate. However, some of the crucial hurdles still left and remain to be resolved are the much debated controversial issue of all-inclusiveness and real ceasefire implementation on the ground, in order to even participate in the amending of FPD, recently being opened by the government to the EAOs that have not yet signed the NCA. During the course of meeting in Mai Ja Yang, Vice-Chairman of UNFC Nai Han Thar and UNFC Chairman General NBan La reportedly reiterated their commitment of all-inclusiveness participation in the peace process meaning that the excluded three EAOs that the military refused to let in must be included and the implementation of a genuine ceasefire implementation on the ground, either through unilateral ceasefire from the government part or simultaneous ceasefire declaration, both by the military and the EAOs. Only after the above mentioned conditions are being satisfactorily resolved, the participation of the FPD amendment discussion could take place, which again would lead to another hurdle of implementing a tripartite dialogue mode of participation. The UPDJC has now accepted seven parties to participate in the UPC, to thrash out a political settlement that include a total of 700 delegates comprising 75 from the Government, 75 from the Hluttaw, 150 from the Tatmadaw, 150 from EAOs, 150 from registered political parties, 50 from ethnic representatives and 50 from others who should participate. And finally, provided that the tripartite participation mode is agreed, the signing of Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) would follow, leading to the participation of the UPC or 21CPC. One day after the EAOs Plenary Meeting, responding to a question on what he thought about the tripartite position of the EAOs, Zaw Htay spokesperson of the Presidential Office replied to the BBC, that he welcomed it, as it is exactly the same with the UPDJC setup, where the government, parliament and the military, the EAOs and the political parties, all three have an equal representation of 16 members each. Nevertheless, it is a tall order by any standard and all would have to go through the negotiation phase whether they like it or not. For the time being, the EAOs will be burdened with ironing out the outstanding issues collected from the Mai Ja Yang meeting and working on the concrete common set of position among themselves for the UPC, while the NLD and the military would have to scrutinize the proposals and demands of the EAOs and consider to what extend they are ready to compromise and accommodate them. Equally, the EAOs would also need to adjust and soothe down the adversaries worries, such as secession issue and angst of having to become equal partner with the other ethnic nationalities, falsely believing as a degradation from their racial supremacy position. In sum, there is hardly any other way, rather than to accommodate and understand each others aspirations through give-and-take, if we are to break this deadlock of decades-old ethnic conflict that has consumed the largest amount of our human and natural resources all these years. Domestic banks continue to be financially safe and sound as they have satisfied the prescribed prudential thresholds for capital adequacy, credit concentration, liquidity and foreign currency exposures despite challenges bedevilling the sector, a report has revealed. Bank of Botswana Governor, Linah Mohohlo, said in 2015 domestic banks financial soundness indicators compared favourably with other regional banking sectors. Overall, in 2015, banks were compliant with key prudential requirements as expected and were resilient. Where incidences of non-compliance occurred, corrective action was instituted, not least through consultation and engagement with the banks concerned, she said in a statement made in the Banking Supervision Annual Report 2015 released recently. Last year, Mohlolo said the central bank reduced the Primary Reserve Requirement from 10 percent to 5 percent in April 2015, in order to bolster liquidity in the banking system, thus releasing additional funding resources of about P2.3 billion. She however said, due to the weak macroeconomic environment, the banks profitability was on a downward trend during the year. The governor also highlighted that the banking sector was dominated by five banks, which accounted for 90 percent of total banking assets. The commercial banking sector has four largest banks accounting for approximately 79.2 percent (December 2014: 81 percent), 78.1 percent (December 2014: 79.4 percent) and 77.9 percent (December 2014: 80.1 percent) of total banking assets, total deposits and total loans and advances, respectively; a marginal decrease compared with the previous year. When one of the small banks is included, given its rapid growth, total banking assets, deposits and loans for the five banks account for approximately 90 percent, the report said. The banking sector balance sheet as well as key prudential and statutory indicators showed some improvement. Total banking assets grew by 12.7 percent to P76.6 billion in 2015 from to P68 billion in 2014. All banks reported an increase in their asset base. Loans and Advances also grew (7.1 percent) to P48.3 billion in December 2015, albeit at a much smaller rate compared to a year earlier. According to the report, the total customer deposits grew by 16.4 percent to P60 billion in 2015. Customer deposits constituted the largest part of liabilities (78.3 percent) and were the primary source of funding growth in banking assets. However, balances due to other banks and credit institutions declined as banks continued to mobilise funding from alternative sources, including debt securities. Banks were adequately capitalised in the period under review, with the Capital Adequacy and Core Capital Ratios surpassing the minimum prudential and statutory requirements of 15 percent and 50 percent, respectively. The industrys profitability decreased during the year as a result of a combination of narrowing interest margins and an increase in operating expenses. Consequently, the Bank said Return on Average Total Assets (ROAA) and Return on Equity (ROE) were below historical trends for the Botswana banking sector, but comparable to international norms and met the minimum statutory requirements. Some of the University of Botswana graduates are a frustrated lot as it appears their former institution has two public faces bearing its re-introduced original logo on certificates and the new but now abandoned logo on transcripts for the same graduating period. The latest from graduates is that even though the institution embarked on bringing back the old logo in 2014, up to now (July 2016), UB is still issuing transcripts bearing the disbanded logo, and yet the degree certificates for 2015 bear the official logo. In an interview with the Botswana Guardian, graduates complained that this is affecting their job opportunities. Most of those that are disgruntled are graduates seeking employment outside the country. No one the world over has ever issued such contradictory academic documents and this is affecting us as graduates in the market, says one of them. The graduate states that the credibility of UB academic documents is being questioned, which in turn jeopardises the good image of the university. A Bachelor of Sciences graduate reveals that he was about to be employed by a popular South African health post until authorities realised that the academic certificate carried the new logo. I could not say anything convincing to them about this controversy because it just doesnt make sense. What is difficult in putting the right logo in certificates? asks the graduate. Another graduate says he has lost two job opportunities due to the wrong logo in his academic documents. This is the highest level of incompetence. Employers in other countries dont have time to listen to what happened in the past about these logos because it undermines the university, she says. UB spokesperson Mhitshane Reetsang referred BG News to the Director of Academic Services, Motsei Rapelana who could not respond to a questionnaire at the time of going to press. The University had in 2014 decided to revert to the old logo, including the original UB ceremonial gowns for the Chancellor and his deputy and Chairperson of the council. The duel in which the presidential aspirant, Kenathata Dipogiso takes on the incumbent, Johannes Tshukudu in the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) leadership election is due this weekend in Palapye. Both the incumbent and his deputy are determined to emerge victorious over the weekend, as they have done a lot of groundwork. But the reality they both know is that despite their confidence, one of them will remain powerless after the election. In 2013, Dipogiso had ambitions of contesting for the unions presidency but pulled out after he was advised by members to pave way for Tshukudu. Speaking in an interview with BG News the youthful Dipogiso said, our campaign has been running smoothly and we have been preaching unity in the union. The biggest challenge for us is the use of pseudo accounts on Facebook where we are being attacked but this cannot stop us from winning over the weekend. His rival, Tshukudu, who is reportedly enjoying the support from the mother body, Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU), said he is confident that he will retain his position. I have been running a clean campaign and it is up to members of the union to decide who they want as their leader, but I am confident that I will win over the weekend because my record speaks for me, he said.Dipogiso said he was challenging Tshukudu so that he re-focuses the unions direction. We need a leader who will be available to do duties in the union, he said adding that they want to bring back the union to members. BTU does not exist in a vacuum. There are issues of teachers we have and we need the voice of the union over it, not that of the federation.On the other hand, Tshukudu said even if he loses the election over the weekend, he would remain the federations leader. Asked about the support from the federation to win the election, Tshukudu said, BOFEPUSU has always said they do not want to get involved in the election of the affiliates and that is how it is. It will never change. But I have fellow comrades who are supporting me in this cause. BOFEPUSU FACTOR The federation is said to be backing Tshukudu because the other team want to pull out from BOFEPUSU. For the past few years the federation has been focusing its energy in politics while issues of workers are growing every day, said a concerned unionist. Dipogiso is not a wanted man at the federation because he is not a yes man. There is a cartel at the federation that want Dipogiso out so that BTU can remain voiceless like other unions, said the source. The Secretary General of BOFEPUSU, Tobokani Rari said as the federation they do not want to get involved in the elections of the affiliates. During BOPEU elective congress last year we were even accused of supporting Sikalame Seitiso against Andrew Motsamai and we hear those sentiments again, said Rari adding that the policy of the federation is not to interfere in the internal affairs of the affiliates. He said they are ready to work with anyone who will be voted over the weekend. Anybody who has evidence that we support Tshukudu should demonstrate and show the deeds we have done, explained Rari.Minister of Education, Skills and Development, Unity Dow will deliver a speech while the Secretary General for Kenya National Union of Teachers; Wilson Shisoke will give a keynote address. There was pomp and funfare in Senyawe village on Saturday when the Assemblies of God church of Botswana and the Presidential housing appeal became a blesser for an economically challenged resident of the village, Nicholas Robert who was all smiles during the official handing over of his new house. Although many theories exist regarding the relationship between the Church and government, others aver that no state or government can survive or function by ignoring the role of the church. Yet some will equally contest that the church should stay away from issues of governance or politics. Whatever the arguments, the bottom-line is that God is the supreme governor who reigns in every government and that no government can be successful if it undermines God and the leadership that God has bestowed on his people through the church. When President Lt. Gen Dr. Ian Khama ascended the throne, he had within his leadership mapped the 5Ds: Democracy, Discipline, Dignity, Development and Delivery and little did he know that the Assemblies of God in Botswana under the leadership of Bishop Dr. Raphael Habibo will contribute towards the answering of his prayers on one of the Ds-Dignity. Khamas conviction is that every human beings dignity matters and it is on the basis of that principle that he vigorously introduced the Presidential Housing Appeal which to date has handed over 622 houses countrywide. One of those houses, the 622nd, came as a token of compassion and love from the Assemblies of God Main Church in Gaborone to Robert of Senyawe village in Tati East constituency. The Assemblies of God became one of the latest blessers of Khama by donating a 2-bedroomed house with 2-bathrooms, a kitchen and a sitting room towards his Presidential Housing Appeal initiative. Speaking at the handover ceremony over the weekend in Senyawe, the jubilant guest, Tefo Mokaila, from the Office of the President acknowledged the instrumental role the Church plays in the running of any government. He impressed upon the Bishop of Assemblies of God in Botswana to continue sowing seeds of hope and love to those in need since it is the wish of Khama to see every person living a dignified life. Mokaila also requested the church to continue praying for the President so that God can guide him in his challenging task of leading the nation. Mokaila reflected on the fact that the Presidential Housing Appeal is an innocent and legitimate call to every Motswana to contribute towards making lives better for those whose socio-economic and political circumstances are unfortunate. One of the guests at the ceremony, Professor Agreement Lathi Jotia of the University of Botswana said that no government can achieve its mandate if it fails to recognise the Church and the instrumental role that it plays in national development. Prof. Jotia, who is a Democracy and Education Specialist, vibrantly spoke about the fact that the wheels of any democracy are oiled by the people and that it was therefore not accidental that the Assemblies of God Church saw it fitting to contribute towards the building of democracy by building a house for Nicholas Robert. Prof. Jotia said that a democracy can never triumph if it is run by a leadership that does not care about involving the masses in the development process. In our participatory democracy, the role of the church should never be undermined since more often the church has visionary leadership, said Prof. Jotia. Bishop Dr. Raphel Habibo expressed his gratitude to the entire Assemblies of God Church in Botswana for the good gestures they continue to make towards the nation and urge them to pursue the good job throughout the good and bad seasons. For his part Nicholas Robert, registered his appreciation to the Assemblies of God church as well as to the Office of the President in a few words; I am so excited about what you have done for me-lenna ke motho gompieno. Tswelelang jalo lo thuse ba bangwe. Ke a leboga thata thata, he emotionally said. Area Councillor William Tatose could not hide his excitement regarding the history that the Assemblies of God church has made in Senyawe by contributing a magnificent structure towards the development of his village. Tatose noted that the church plays a crucial role in the development of a person morally and spiritually and urged Assemblies of God Church to forge on with its development mission in Botswana. Botswana will not be part of the SADC member states who will immediately and, or urgently receive humanitarian assistance offered this week by the International Cooperation Partners (ICPs) mainly for two reasons. It is said the assistance is focusing on countries that have been most affected by the effects of El- Nino, and perceived to be low income. Furthermore, Botswana did not request for such assistance from the ICPs. The shocking revelation was made by some of the ICP representatives whose countries and organisations responded positively to SADC chairperson and Botswana President, Ian Khamas appeal when launching the Regional Humanitarian Appeal and mobilising funds for the regional Economic bloc on Tuesday. The appeal is a formal request by the economic regional bloc to the international community to provide assistance to affected States. During the ICPs respective responses on Tuesday, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were not mentioned amongst the member states who will be assisted. Botswana Guardian learnt that Botswana submitted to SADC at a later stage than other countries because she took her time to assess and acquire the facts before she could press the alarm.However, what is clear is that Botswana, just like many other member states, has long declared drought emergency. The Humanitarian Appeal brochure launched this week indicates that Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have declared drought emergencies. South Africa has declared drought emergency in all provinces except Gauteng while Mozambique has declared an institutional red alert. El Nino-related government preparedness and response plans have been developed or are under development by most countries. Although it still falls far from the SADC target of USD 2.4 billion, this week Tuesday four ICPs namely, United States of America (USA), European Union, Britain and United Nations responded by offering pledges worth millions to help all countries save for Botswana, Namibia and South Africa because they are regarded as middle-income economies. Presenting during the meeting, Ambassador Earl Miller said the USA government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is contributing $127 million as part of an integrated response to El Nino drought relief. With this announcement, the United States has provided nearly USD300 million in humanitarian assistance to the region and has also invested over USD 200 million in longer-term development interventions. These efforts will mitigate the droughts impact and build resilience in Southern Africa through agricultural production, environment, health, livestock, trade, and water and sanitation programmes. The USA government supports recognition of the current drought in the SADC region as a humanitarian crisis with significant negative consequences for food security, water access, health, and economic productivity outcomes. In addition to food assistance, the biggest priority will be livelihood support, including seed distributions and livestock recovery to accelerate economic recovery. The United States applauded President Ian Khamas appeal on behalf of SADC nations for greater international support in the current drought crisis. Speaking to Botswana Guardian Ambassador Earl Miller, USAID country representative Blake Chrystal, Head of Delegation of the European Union Ambassador Alexander Baum, UN Representative, UNOCHA El-Nino Coordinator, Southern Africa and RIASCO Chairperson, Timo Pakkala all revealed that Botswana is not getting assistance because she did not submit the request.Blake Chrystal of USAID said they excluded Botswana because SADCs request for immediate urgent humanitarian appeal assistance is focused on countries that have been most affected by the effects of El- Nino. We also do a lot of longer term work in countries that are better often than neighbours, countries like Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, the need for emergency assistance aid food is not as great as it is in other countries. So we do a lot of work of what we call disaster risk mitigation and resilience. So that is the work in partnership with the governments of those countries to ensure that they are better placed to deal with the drought the next time it happens. Examples include the work the US government is doing on early warning for droughts so that the countries have a better idea it is coming. We do a lot of work on conservation agriculture which is growing food with less water and crops that are more drought resistant. We have made significant effort in what we call seed harmonisation in SADC, which is to ensure that countries have access to safe drought resistant seeds they can plant. Those are some of the examples of how we vote on resilience and disaster risk mitigation in up and middle income countries. Chrystal said Botswana government has been very open about the investments they have made in ensuring that their people here are food secure, and they have reached out to development partners and asked for assistance going forward in disaster mitigation and resilience. We will continue looking for opportunities to work with government here. Timo Pakkala told Botswana Guardian that, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia have more national resources than the other countries. As ICPs we are targeting the most vulnerable, most affected countries with least capacity to respond, he said. According to him resources are quite limited and thus they needed to prioritise. On Botswana, Namibia and South Africa he said, they believe they can manage themselves from their natural resources, which is an excellent thing. Ambassador Baum shared that the El- Nino story is already past. The way I look at it is, we are looking at the next crisis, I am not sure anybody will be able to reopen the El- Nino case. That is my sense when I listened to my headquarters. For now, I cannot say yes or no, but looking at this late stage as we are in August, I will not raise any hope that there will be more money than the 60 million Euros offered. You have seen the FAO- SADC regional map indicating the needs. He said Botswana had signalled an understanding that it is more or less in control of the situation and that it can respond to the situation itself. That is why there has been very little coming forward practically in terms of request for international support. If the government is confident that it can manage the situation before it would ask for assistance, I think it is good because we have some countries which always appeal for international help, if the country focuses on using its means before going for international help, it adds to its own credibility, because one day they may be a real issue that cannot be coped with by the country, and once such a country makes the appeal, then they will be taken seriously, said Baum. Worst drought in 35 years The current El Nino is the worst in 35 years, following poor rainfall since October 2015. The severity of the drought conditions overwhelmed the disaster response capacity in most of the affected member states and a number of key socio- economic sectors has already been negatively affected. According to president Ian Khama the current drought has already resulted in widespread crop production failures and loss of thousands of livestock. In South Africa, the biggest grain producer in the region, it is estimated that the maize harvest resulted in approximately 7.16 million metric tonnes, about 4million tonnes less than average. While several countries have recorded over 50 percent drop in crop production. Khama said the poor rainfall performance and the high evaporation rates with prolonged heat waves that have persisted in the region since October 2015 have led to low water levels in major reservoirs in the region, compromising domestic and agricultural water supplies and hydro-electric power generation. He gave examples of Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Zambia where the water levels in major dams and rivers were at the lowest. Ground water levels were also reported to be much lower than expected as some service providers such as hospitals and schools are unable to provide their services due to lack of water. El-Nino impact on the health services has led to disruption of health services and compromised the case management of patients. Poor feeding resulting from lack of food will also further compromise peoples immune system and increase the risk of infection due to drinking water. Khama said affected member states have already re-allocated their limited resources to support vulnerable populations through drought relief and recovery programmes.The SADC Appeal is in support of ongoing planned efforts by SADC Member States in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The appeal covers all relevant sectors in an effort to enable a holistic approach to the drought, addressing immediate multi-sectoral humanitarian needs as well as referencing longer term developmental and resilience-building requirements The reality that King Mswati III of the Mountain Kingdom of Swaziland will, courtesy of the rotational nature of the SADC, be handed chairpersonship, has elicited condemnation from the interviewed Botswana civil society in the political and labour sphere. The vice president of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang is not impressed by the development. Although Swaziland is a sovereign state, the fact that King Mswati III is ascending the SADC chair this August is a matter of great concern to us because the country has thus far refused to embrace the values of democracy. This is an indication that the regional body is not committed to democratic values. In his view, the development is a setback for the region because Mswati III is not competent to meaningfully intervene when there is a crisis especially where democracy is the issue. Dr Gobotswang would have liked a situation whereby geographical location does not automatically qualify a country to be a member of the regional organisation. The European Union (EU) has a checklist which a country must satisfy in order to be allowed membership, explained Dr Gobotswang. Mswati does not qualify to hold that position at all. Not only is he a dictator but he is also a corrupt leader who sees nothing wrong with abusing public resources for his benefit while people starve, said the president of the Botswana Peoples Party(BPP), Motlatsi Molapisi. The BNF secretary for Foreign Affairs, Nelson Ramaotwana, like Gobotswang, notes that all countries, including Swaziland, are free to run their affairs according to their own home-grown processes. Mswati is, however, not the right person for the job because he cannot mediate between government and its people where matters of democracy are concerned. In his country, civic right groups including political parties and trade unions are, for all intents and purposes, banned, said Ramaotwana who says the problem with SADC is that some of its members are compromised. For his part, the Deputy Secretary General of the Botswana Federation of Public and Private Sector Unions(BOFEPUSU), Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, is disappointed that, while the whole world has criticised Zimbabwe for her democratic credentials, the world, including the western powers, seem to be tolerant of Mswatis impunity. He rules by decree. There is no bargaining council and those who raise their voices about his abuse of power are incarcerated. Above everything else, a leader must be a role model with regards to what the organisation he leads stands for, BOFEPUSU will not fold its arms though, he promises. We are liaising with like-minded organisations in the SADC as well as embassies to reject his chairmanship. We will also lobby Swatis here and back home to join us in the rejection of King Mswati III. We seek to isolate him, he said. Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) has expressed disappointment on what it views as contempt of court by parliament in its deliberation on the amendments of the Trade Dispute Act (TDA). Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Edwin Batshu brought the Bill before Parliament in the previous sitting. The Bill has been marred by controversy as BOFEPUSU argued that they have not been consulted resulting in the opposition MPs calling for the deferment of the Bill to allow the minister to consult. When the debate on the Bill started, the Speaker of Parliament revealed that her office and that of the Parliamentary Counsel have not received any communication that suggests that the TDA could not be discussed because it is subjected to litigation. President of BOFEPUSU, Johannes Tshukudu said the case would be heard before court on 13th of September this year. This could have an impact on the outcome of the decision of the court. We do not know how the MPs would feel if the court could rule against them and nullify the Act they have just wasted their energy on. We would demonstrate before court that what Parliament did was wrong. This also boils down to the issue of separation of powers. This could clearly mean that Parliament is failing to abide by the laws that it makes but expect other citizens to obey. It also undermines the role played by our judiciary in this country, Tshukudu stated. Despite several attempts by opposition MPs to have discussions on the Bill suspended, the speaker has maintained ignorance of any pending case. Batshu has also on the other hand maintained that he has consulted relevant stakeholders through the Labour Advisory Board. BOFEPUSU however rubbished claims that they have been consulted. The federation argued that they were told late about the consultative meeting and when they requested for a postponement of the meeting they were ignored and the meeting proceeded without BOFEPUSU. The sole reason of operating a business is to get sustained profits, nothing else. This does not matter if government or a private investor owns the business. I am compelled to reiterate this statement because of the current tightrope that government is currently walking through in a desperate attempt to save BCL copper mine. Looking from a distance, it will appear the executive arm of government is having limited options. However, some four hundreds of kilometers, north of the capital city, more than 4500 workers trek to BCL copper mine in Selibe-Phikwe to make a fortune for the company and a meal for their families. However, in recent months, workers and indeed management have become increasingly jittery and restless. The fear? They might just wake up and discover the government had closed the mine, for good! For sometime now, BCL has dominated high-leveled closed-door meetings at the government enclave. The agenda items centred on how the copper mine should operate sustainably and profitably. Two weeks ago, a local business weekly made chilling death knell to miners with its article titled Finished and Klaar. In the article, the paper said cabinet has taken a decision to close the mine as it is not sustainable to run. The determination on whether to shut down the mine or not remains a very challenging decision to make by cabinet. However, what is key is what government should do with a profitable future BCL. The mine is currently operating at a loss and it has a mountain of debts to descend from. However, the mine is currently not producing anything to generate revenue, let alone pay its numerous creditors. It will seem BCL top executives these days spend more time discussing how they could sweeten their funding proposals for impactful responses. However, what is becoming clearer by the day is that the same government is running impatient that BCL has now become more of a burden, competing with other equally important national projects, with its piling financial proposals on the back rock of drying state coffers. Its a precarious situation for President Ian Khamas government, which is expected to post a P6 billion deficit in its current budget (2016-17). The choice to close the mine will not be helpful for now, as government has to first recover the invested billions of Pula. Government has also made guarantees to BCL mine, including the recent $100 million from Barclays bank. Any solution must ensure the mine returns to profitability in the medium term. This of course, is if the global commodity crunch was to end and prices for copper warrant sustained mining. While governments top officials are still in deep thoughts about how to deal with BCL, the critical matter that should be lingering on their heads is how to deal with the mines shareholding structure. It is a decision that could have been made some years ago, but unfortunately it was not to be. Currently, government is the sole shareholder at BCL. This has become increasingly knotty, as whatever demand BCL makes government has to bear it alone. In the modern business world, this kind of business model is eroding fast. It is even problematic for Botswana government, which surprisingly but forthrightly speaking, seems not to truly understand the art of mining. I strongly believe that to solve this menace, once and for all, government should just sell part of BCL once the mine is profitable. The share sale will prove vital during unprofitable and unsustainable periods. If government had partnered with other investors shareholders at BCL, it could have acted as fallback and even more importantly, as a measure to spread risk in the highly volatile mining business. De Beers and Botswana have had a largely successful partnership with their Debswana. For example, when Jwaneng was facing possible closure in the foreseeable future, the two shareholders quickly jumped in and invested P24 billion in a project known as Cut 8. The project is expected to prolong the life of the mine by at least a decade or so. When the Russian company, Norilsk sold its minority stake at BCL some few years ago leaving government as the sole shareholder, an expression of interest should have been opened immediately to invite strategic investors on board. At the current time, BCLs aging equipment and mining underground become expensive; the deeper the mine, the more expensive and risky to run it. Recent loss of lives at the mine can attest to this. The Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi admitted, as Bloomberg recently reported from Kigali, that the mine is costing them dearly. It's unprofitable, unsustainable and expensive, he said this on the sidelines of the African Union elective meetings two weeks ago. Further, the republics number two said they will continue to inject P1, 4 billion on the mine to keep it afloat every year, even when the company was to stop mining. This perhaps shed some light on the imminent closure of the mine. To save taxpayers from further paying more for BCL problems alone, government should at the earliest possible time part sell the mine. This will not be for the first time that a government does this. In Russia, Vladimir Putins government has sold part of its stake at Alrosa to plug its budget deficit. For now, government is likely to come with a workable solution to keep the mine running. However, to avoid falling into the same pit year in and year out, government should sell part of its shareholding at the Selibe Phikwe mine. The money raised would be thrown in the economic diversification efforts. Tomorrow (Saturday) marks the second year since the passing away of iconic politician, Gomolemo Motswaledi who was the President of Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and whose death, officially caused by a car accident, fed political campaigns towards the 2014 election. He was also the Secretary General of the coalition movement, Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). BMD is a contracting member of the UDC, together with Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Peoples Party (BPP). UDC launched an independent investigation after raising doubt that his was just like any other road accident. The man was assassinated, the party proclaimed and embarked on a mission to raise funds to investigate the cause of the death. The UDC has however so far failed to release the report for the cause of Motswaledis death. The delay has now reversed the unity that the nation experienced after his death; some political observers are of the view that his death earned the UDC sympathy votes. BMD, which is currently characterised by internal fighting last month through its National Working Committee, revealed that the report was ready and with the UDC leadership. Political pressure from other parties also reached the coalition movement corridors. The delay was seen as a political stunt by the UDC to continue getting sympathy votes from Batswana even in 2019. Botswana Congress Party Youth League last year called for the release of the report. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) also joined the calls. BDP Member of Parliament for Francistown West, Ignatius Moswaane has since brought a motion before Parliament requesting that the UDC be forced to release the report or be investigated for stealing money from Batswana. UDC President who is also the leader of BNF, Duma Boko once indicated that they are waiting for experts to come to the country to reconstruct the accident. An exercise he said would take time. Even though he promised to do regular updates on the matter this never happened. This week BMD Chairman Nehemiah Modubule and UDC Head of Communications Moeti Mohwasa referred all enquiries to Ndaba Gaolathe who doubles as BMD President and UDC Secretary General. Gaolathe was said to be in South Africa and would only be back today (Friday). The UDC is however, planning various activities to honour Motswaledi and just like last year a remembrance memorial has been scheduled for Gaborone next week. Motswaledi became popular after he challenged BDP leader and head of state Dr Ian Khama in court, where he was left saddled with huge legal costs. The public came to his rescue after he was threatened with civil imprisonment. He would later with other disgruntled BDP members form the BMD in 2010. Not for the first time, the Botswana Democratic Partys reckless recruitment desperation has once again been captured on tape and this time around the actors are Francistowns Raoboy Mpuang, Ditiro Majadibodu and the targeted recruit, BCPs former Botsalano Ward council candidate, Barulaganye Mooketsi, known as Baka. Notably, in the new audio recording, passed on to this publication, a glimpse into BDPs recruitment modus operandi comes to surface; this time it is less on, bo asa boa pele, denoting economic attraction, but is simply a factionally based gossip mongering, accentuating the partys internal bickerings. Both the recruiters are open that they represent or at minimum belong to the Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisis faction. Francistown West MP, Ignatious Moswaane comes out as a major nemenies, whom the recruit is advised to stay away from. Moswaane o lelela golo mo go sa berekeng, says Mpuang who also warns that, Letsatsi le o tlang ko BDP, boMma Sengalo le Moswaane ba tla batla gore ba baakanyetse your arrival. Ba go batlela gore enne bone ba ba go dirisang. Ba tla go dirisa ba bo ba filda batho wena bago dampa. Before Moswaane sabotages you, o tshwanetse go tshwaragana le rona le bo Lotty (Manyapetsa), who is also according to Mpuang, Masisis foot-soldier. Mpuang also reveals in the tape that Moswaane supports Nonofo Molefhi in the presidential race and that Moswaane and Masisi do not see eye to eye. As if tutoring Baka on cronyism, Mpuang emphasises, What is important is for Masisi to know you. Who does not want to be close to the president? Mongwe le mongwe o batla go nna close to the president. Majadibodu agrees, Then when he (Masisi) thinks about Aerodrome, he thinks about you as well because that is his late brothers ward. Later in the tape however, he warns Baka to avoid Moswaane because he will have much to lose when the axe is wielded against Moswaane (Fa selepe se lela). Aerodrome is a small township in the Botsalano ward. Other local politicians and office hopefuls are mentioned by names, indicating a region in total disarray. Mpuang, who is the suspended BDPs secretary for the region is heard explaining to Baka how he had already assembled his own council candidates for the 2019 general election throughout the constituency. For example, Mpuang, who intents to challenge Moswaane in the next party primary election, is not certain whether Ontiretse Nthinthi Bakaile is in his or Moswaanes faction. Some of Mpuangs preferred candidates are Ndove, Mma Fanuel, Lesego Mpayang for Moselewapula, Kanana and Tatitown respectively. He makes it clear in the tape that he has no faith in the likes of Cornelius Gopolang (Kanana ward), Benifield (Botsalano ward) Lechedzani Modenga (Moselewapula ward) and Gaethusi Ramolotsana (Tatitown ward). All the four are sitting councillors. Leading them on, the BCP targeted recruit now turned a mule, asks for information about one of the community leaders in the form of Gerald Estate Chief, Paul Motshwane, whether he will be seeking a parliamentary seat. They both admit to have heard the rumours but are not certain although they could not avoid casting aspersion on his credentials as a politician. Majadibodu, whose recruitment to BDP was under similar circumstances suggests that Motshwanes tradional role is of no use in town.Unlike out in the village, he is not a factor at all, The economic factor, also known as, Boasa bo a pele, a phrase associated with the partys Secretary General, Botsalo Ntuane, is not, however, wholesomely avoided as Baka is urged to know where his bread is buttered. First he is assured that if he jumps in he will be granted the opportunity to be elected to the council. To convince him, the name of Bagalatia Arone, the recent BDP catch, is thown in. Arone remains the strongest contender in the constituency, said Majadibodu apparently to assure Baka that, even if he defected to the BDP, he will still have the right to contest the election in 2019. You should not be surprised if Mbaha does not contest to give way to Arone, said Mpuang who describes Mbaha as one of Masisis boys. Although at the beginning of the tape, the two BDP foot-soldiers denied that the BDP bribed people to join them, Mpuang is heard saying that Mbaha may be prevailed upon not to contest but to support Arone. Fa ba mo tshwarisa sengwe se se substantial ba re tshwara jaana a bo a sa eme. It is also suggested in the tape that, the BDP might use the special election dispensation with Mbaha being appointed to council leaving only Arone to contest. In the audio conversation which keeps going back and forth, Majadibodu makes an impassioned plea to Baka not to miss the gravy train. Its all about your life now at the end of the day. Leba gore fa o tsenang teng is there a better life, advises Majadibodu. Chips in Mpuang, Nna ke motho wa ga Sisboy, you see. If you join, you should know that, we are in the ruling faction. Majadibodu, who reveals that he is contesting the Nata-Gweta primary elections also makes it clear that he belongs to the Masisi faction. Talking about the sitting MP, Paulson Majaha, this is what Majadibodu says, He doesnt stand a chance. What with all the blunders as well? When he saw me at the Goodhope rally, he fled, says Majadibodu referring to the rally where he was officially welcomed into the BDP after leaving the BCP a few months back. The welcoming was done at a rally in the Goodhope-Mabule constituency during the campaign for the constituency by-election. Mpuang is heard appealing to Baka in the recording to join the BDP while he (Mpuang) was still the secretary of the region. Mpuang could not be reached as his phone was off-air by press time. When contacted for comment, Ditiro Majadibodu insisted that he never had any formal meeting with Baka. I know him because he is my former comrade. Like everyone else I meet, who is not a BDP member, I talked to him about the BDP. However, I have never had any formal meeting with him. But again, it would be unfortunate that somebody would have recorded my discussion with him, said Majadibodu wondering what the motive for recording could have been. Despite the denial, indications are that Mpuang and Majadibodu picked Baka from Aerodrome in the afternoon of Saturday 18th June. When they called to confirm the appointment, I was with one of the party elders, Kays Phitshana with whom I had discussed how I should deal with the incessant overtures on me by the BDP. I however went to meet them in the street where they insisted we drive out of town and far from the public glare. We went as far as the old international airport before I was seized by the fear of being out there alone with these BDP activists, revealed Baka in an interview. Baka further confirmed that he is the one who recorded the conversation. NEW DELHI (PTI): The government has withdrawn the nearly US$ 2 billion tender for procuring six mid-air refueller aircraft for the Indian Air Force over high life-cycle cost, for which it was in talks with European defence and aerospace major Airbus. It may go in for a government-to-government deal to procure the aircraft. Defence sources said the Ministry, in a letter to Airbus late last month, had informed it of the decision to withdraw the tender. "The main reason for the cancellation of the tender is very high life-cycle cost which was not calculated properly in the beginning," a top defence source said, adding that the Finance Department also raised some concerns. This is the second time in a decade that the tender for the much-needed refuellers, primarily to be used for the SU-30 fighter jet to enhance its operational capabilities, has been cancelled. An earlier tender for procuring these aircraft was scrapped in 2010 after the Finance Ministry expressed reservations on the procedure. Documents related to the proposal to buy mid-air refuellers were found in the custody of defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari during income tax raids on his premises recently. The deal had been stuck for long because of the cost factor and multiple complaints, besides a CBI probe into a separate deal with the firm inked by the Civil Aviation Ministry during the UPA era. Airbus's A-330 MRTT had emerged as the lowest bidder in the IAF contract for procuring these tanker aircraft. So far, the Indian Air Force has only been equipped with Russian-origin IL-78 mid-air refuellers. The selection of Airbus followed a lengthy selection process, including completion of extensive flying demonstration during which the aircraft refuelled multiple types of IAF fighters and operated at high altitudes. The Mirage-2000 fighter. A HAL photo BENGALURU (PTI): Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has said it has flown the first Final Operational Configuration (FOC) upgraded Mirage-2000 aircraft, adhering to the scheduled date. It said the first flight of 45 minutes duration on July 28 was piloted by Group Captain C Subramaniam (Retd), Chief Test Pilot of HAL, from the front cockpit and Wing Commander Haldikar of Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment in the rear cockpit. Group Captain A Mishra of IAF acted as the Test Director, HAL said in a release on July 29. "We have done it again on time. What it proves is HAL's capability of mid-life upgrade of platforms to overcome obsolescence issues, enhance the reliability and maintainability of these aircraft," HAL CMD T Suvarna Raju said. The introduction of state-of-the-art facility created for this project ensures the timely upgradation of the Mirage fleet, he said. HAL said the FOC design was implemented on an Initial Operational Configured (IOC) aircraft which was received at HAL only about eight months ago. The initial operation configuration was designed by the Dassault and Thales of France. Stating that HAL took up the FOC design and development activities, the company said the FOC configuration covers the integration of Indian specific weapons, sensors and electronic warfare system. This FOC upgrade on Mirage 2000 gives additional capability of air to ground weapon, training, helmet mounted display etc. Noting that the system having a unique feature of integrating different types of data bus for IOC and FOC configuration is achieved without any degradation, HAL said the total design and development was done by the company which includes mission computer hardware, OFP (Operational Flight Programme) software, system design and aircraft modification. The company is responsible for the IOC and FOC upgrade of the Mirage fleet of IAF, it added. VELLORE, TAMIL NADU (PTI): Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are gearing up for the launch of geostationary weather satellite INSAT-3DR sometime by the end of next month, a top official of the agency has said. "The GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mark II will carry the geostationary weather satellite INSAT-3DR. We are looking to launch it by end of next month," ISRO Satellite Centre Director Mayilsami Annadurai told reporters in Vellore on the sidelines of a function on Sunday. The space agency had successfully launched INSAT-3D, a satellite aided search and rescue satellite, from French Guiana in 2013. ISRO made its last successful launch of 20 satellites, including its earth observation Cartosat-2 series, in a single mission on board ISRO's workhorse PSLV-C34 from the spaceport of Sriharikota last month. ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar had recently said that the space agency was planning to increase the number of rocket launches from the present eight to 12 every year. The Kalvari class submarine. An Indian Navy photo MUMBAI (PTI): Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Monday said India is indigenously building AIP-enabled submarines. "We are making our own AIP (air independent propulsion) indigenous system with DRDO. At present, project definition is going on. Prototypes based plant is being constructed and once it is ready, it will be fitted in the Kalvari-class submarines," Admiral Lanba said during his first media interaction after taking over as Navy Chief. To a query if Pakistan's acquisition of submarines fitted with AIP system from China was a threat to India, he said, "The submarines have capabilities. But we have system in place and operation in place which we can look after that." The Naval chief said the force was committed to building indigenous ship in-line with the 'Make in India' initiative and at present, 46 ships and submarines were being built in the country. "The Navy has been focused on indigenisation right from the beginning. We have been building ships in India for over decades and 200 naval ships have been built in India till date. At the moment, 46 ships and submarines are under construction and are all being built in Indian shipyards," he said. "We work closely with DRDO and other private sector industries to ensure our weapons and sensors are titled with India. We are focused and committed to make in India," Lanba said. Talking about India's stand after China rejected an international tribunal ruling on the disputed waters of the South China Sea, he said rule of law should be followed. "As far as South China Sea goes...and arbitration which has been done...and decision which has been taken, India's stand has always been that disputes should be resolved on the basis of laws, there should be freedom of navigation and rule of law should be followed," he said. The Hague tribunal backed the Philippines in a case on the disputed waters of the South China Sea, ruling that rocky outcrops claimed by China - some of which are exposed only at low tide cannot be used as the basis of territorial claims. Admiral Lanba also said that 'INS Viraat' is likely to be de-inducted during later part of the year. "Viraat, which commissioned in May, 1987 after doing good yomen's service for 27 years, is scheduled to be de-inducted in later part of the year," he said. He also said they were working towards induction of 'INS Vikrant' by 2018. "We are working in close coordination with Kochi Shipyard to ensure the INS Vikrant will be commissioned in December 2018," the Naval Chief said. He also cleared doubts surrounding the MiG-29 aircraft and said "serviceability of the plane has improved". "Indian Navy was the first country to induct MiG-29 aircraft. There were few issues when the aircraft were inducted initially and they have been resolved. The serviceability of the aircraft has improved over the years and majority of the problems are behind us," Lanba said. An Irish man who has been branded an illegal immigrant in Australia says he fears for his safety. 26-year-old Bernard Lee from Greystones in Wicklow was arrested by armed police on Monday - after an admin error stated that he was in the country illegally. A transatlantic flight was diverted to Shannon this evening after a passenger on board was reported to have fallen ill, writes Patrick Flynn. United Airlines flight UA-2078 was travelling from Athens in Greece to Newark in New Jersey at the time. The flight was about three hours into its journey and an hour north west of Shannon when the crew opted to turn around and divert. The Boeing 767-300 jet landed in Shannon at 6.17pm and was met at the terminal by ambulance service paramedics. The patient was treated at the airport before being removed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick for further treatment. The flight has since been cancelled as the crew would have exceeded their legally permitted duty hours if they had continued to the US. It is expected that the flight will continue its journey tomorrow. Last year, a total of of 27 flights diverted to Shannon with ill patients while this year so far, 13 aircraft have made unscheduled landings at the mid west airport after declaring medical emergencies. Thousands of music fans are today packing up their tents and leaving Mitchelstown after the annual Indiependence Music and Arts festival came to a close last night writes Joe Leogue. Three-day camping and individual day tickets for the festival sold out in advance of this years event, and music fans packed out Indiependences expanded 10,000 capacity over the weekend. UK five-piece band Editors brought the festival to a close with their second appearance in Mitchelstown, while Downpatrick, Co Down outfit Ash also played the main stage for their third Indiependence set. Other headliners across the weekend included Bell X1, Walking On Cars, and The Blizzards, while fans also took in comedy, spoken word, and a new music trail, which saw new emerging acts play at locations across the town. Businesses as varied as shoe shops, pizzerias and supermarkets all hosted gigs from bands that brought crowds from the Deer Farm festival site on the northern outskirts of Mitchelstown into the town itself. Its fantastic to be involved in bringing a portion of the event back to the streets of Mitchelstown, said Indiependence organiser Shane Dunne. The support that Indie is receiving from the businesses of Mitchelstown is fantastic and we hope that this event, which is funded and supported by Cork County Council and The Mitchelstown Forum, will help to ensure its a great weekend not only at Deer Farm but also on the streets of Mitchelstown, he said. Back at the festival site, bands played at three stages, with a number of marquees hosting DJ sets across the weekend. The Garda Press Office last night said that it had no reports of any serious incidents at the festival. This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner. A Nigerian accused of scamming 60 million dollars (45m) from companies around the world through fraudulent emails has been arrested by Interpol. One target alone paid out 15.4 million dollars (11.6m), Interpol said. Donald Trump has begun the first full week of the US general election campaign with his strategy of saying the politically unimaginable facing its greatest test to date. Mr Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in a feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim captain of the US army who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. The Republican presidential nominee stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at the Democratic convention because they are Muslim. The outcry was bipartisan, leaving Mr Trump largely isolated among his fellow Republicans and potentially risking whatever progress the New Yorker had made in winning over independent voters who will likely decide the election this autumn. "I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family," said the Republican New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte. Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements praising Capt Humayun Khan, who was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in Iraq in 2004. Though neither explicitly mentioned Donald Trump, the congressional leaders pointedly denounced his proposed ban on foreign Muslims entering the country, a policy he has altered in recent weeks but nevertheless one that returned to the centre of the campaign debate via his attacks on the Khan family. For the second time in a week, Mr Trump's running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, issued a statement that appeared designed to put some space between the two men. The father of a US Marine, Mr Pence said that he and Mr Trump believe Capt Khan is a hero and his family "should be cherished by every American". Last week, Mr Pence said Russia would face "serious consequences" for meddling in US elections at roughly the same time as Mr Trump appeared to encourage it, telling reporters he would welcome Russia unearthing emails that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton deleted from the private servers she used during her time as US secretary of state. At last week's Democratic convention, the Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told his son's story, questioned whether Mr Trump had ever read the US Constitution and said: "You have sacrificed nothing." During the speech, Ghazala Khan stood quietly by his side. Mr Trump responded in a TV interview, saying: "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." Ghazala Khan wrote in Sunday's Washington Post that she did not speak because talking about her son's death remains difficult for her. "Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for him, and I cry. The place that emptied will always be empty," she wrote. Although Mr Trump tried several times to deflect the criticism, he refused to back down from his initial attack. "Am I not allowed to respond?" Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. "Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" His tweet followed a Saturday night statement where Mr Trump described Humayun Khan as "a hero," but said his father had "no right" to "say many other inaccurate things". A spokesman for Mr Trump said that a biased media was at work, framing the issue as one of "Trump vs Khan", suggesting that the real issue was a "Trump vs Clinton" battle over fighting terrorism. He added that Mrs Clinton camp's was stirring controversy to distract from the Democratic nominee's weaknesses on national security issues. Mrs Clinton reached out to Republicans over Mr Trump's comments, telling an audience in Ohio: "One doesn't know where the bottom is. It's hard to imagine anyone who has ever run to be president of the United States saying any of what he's said. "This is a time to pick country over party." A schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a musician during an Islamic State-inspired rampage at a Tube station has been sentenced to life in prison. Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year. He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and attempted to murder the 56-year-old after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road. Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before being considered for parole, and will start his sentence at Broadmoor secure hospital. The whole incident was caught on shocking CCTV and mobile phone footage taken by a passer-by who bravely carried on filming even as Mire lunged at him with the rusty blade. One onlooker shouted at him: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv", after he declared he was going to "spill blood" for his "Syrian brothers". Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, Recorder of London, said that while he accepted Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he was also of the opinion he had been motivated by events in Syria. He continued: "In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here. "That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause." Judge Hilliard added that Mire's "brazen" actions were carried out in order to advance a "religious and extremist cause". "This was an attempt to to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact," he said. Flanked by several dock officers and wearing a blue tracksuit top, Mire stared ahead as he was sentenced. Judge Hilliard went on to publicly commend Mire's four other victims, the doctor who helped Mr Zimmerman and the first police officer on the scene, for their "courage and presence of mind". Mire had images of Fusilier Lee Rigby and British Islamic State (IS) executioner Jihadi John on his mobile phone, along with material linked to IS. He has a history of mental illness and psychosis, including the paranoid belief that he was being persecuted for his religion and stalked by MI5 and MI6. But prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said the stabbing was a "revenge attack" for the events in Syria. He told the court: "We suggest that it can be no coincidence that the attack was carried out some three days after Parliament had voted to extend the UK bombing campaign against Isis in Syria." When detained, Mire told officers "Why don't you finish me off? You know that's what we do." The prosecutor submitted this was a reference to so-called Islamic State jihadists slitting the throats of their victims. Mr Zimmerman said he was "fortunate" to have received prompt first aid treatment at the scene from a passing junior doctor. In a statement read during a pre-sentence hearing, the victim said he was "quite lucky" to have survived. "I have been left with a scar on my neck which I am aware of only because it pulls when I use my voice but is otherwise superficial and healing well," Mr Zimmerman said. "I am somewhat more cautious about interacting with strangers since the attack - overall I have not been significantly traumatised by the attack psychologically," he added. Mire has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and suffered his first episode of psychosis in 2006, the court heard. He apparently first viewed IS material on his phone around three years before the attack. Mire was found guilty of attempted murder, and admitted four counts of attempted wounding and an alternative count of wounding with intent to cause Mr Zimmerman grievous bodily harm. HAMBURG: The lowest price offered in the tender from Pakistan to purchase 500,000 tonnes of wheat which closed on... SINGAPORE: Chinas crude oil imports in September rose from the previous month but stayed 2% below their level a... LAHORE: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and rest of the world marked Black Day on Thursday,... More than one hundred Canberrans are expected to join a protest in Sydney on Tuesday in an outcry against NSW Premier Mike Baird's decision to shut down the NSW greyhound racing industry. A spokesperson from the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club said speakers will point to "the many errors in the McHugh Report" referring to the damning report of the Special Commission of Inquiry in NSW Greyhound Racing by former High Court judge Michael McHugh. Following the rally against the greyhound racing ban at Hyde Spark in Sydney,a petition with 25,000 signatures will be presented to NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley. Credit:Marina Neil The report found as many as 68,000 greyhounds were slaughtered as "wastage" in the past 12 years "because they were considered too slow to pay their way or were unsuitable for racing". The Canberra Greyhound Racing Club spokesperson said the rally would allege that many supposed 'expert witnesses' falsified qualifications to present misleading evidence. With the ink barely dry on its bailout plan, Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena faces a Herculean task convincing investors to back a third recapitalisation in as many years and avert a banking crisis that would send shockwaves across Europe. To stave off the risk of being wound down, the world's oldest bank hastily unveiled the private sector-backed rescue blueprint late on Friday. It came just hours before the lender emerged as the worst performer in European stress tests that showed its capital would be entirely wiped out in a severe economic downturn. The Banca Monte dei Paschi de Siena Credit:Bloomberg The plan aims to clean up and bolster the bank's balance sheet once and for all, restoring to health a lender whose frailty threatens the wider Italian banking system, the savings of thousands of retail investors and the increasingly weak political standing of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. A financial crisis in the euro zone's third-biggest economy would also risk creating contagion across Europe, a region already reeling from Britain's decision to leave the EU. In a speech to young Labor Party members, Kevin Rudd has described the Coalition government's decision not to support his bid to become the next leader of the United Nations as proof that sometimes the best-laid plans in life will "turn to shit", and referred to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as a "brick wall" to his advancement. Footage of the speech emerged on Facebook as the storm of controversy around his bid grew, with Mr Turnbull effectively accusing Mr Rudd of verballing him, and Coalition Senator Cory Bernardi bragging that Labor frontbenchers were personally congratulating him for his part in blocking Mr Rudd's ambitions. The former Labor prime minister made the candid remarks during an informal chat to young Labor activists in Brisbane on Saturday, just one day after Mr Turnbull told him he lacked the "interpersonal skills" to be nominated for the job. Mr Rudd told the activists how the election of Gough Whitlam piqued his interest in politics and shaped his views. He recounted writing to Mr Whitlam, telling him he would like to become a diplomat. 1. Turnbull a 'brick wall' Oh the folly of Malcolm Turnbull to spurn Kevin Rudd. Doesn't he realise Rudd's capacity for vengeance is matched only by the size of Turnbull's self-regard? Here we have two giant egos battling it out. Kevin wants job. Turnbull says no. Kevin leaks letters. Turnbull says not true and leaking letters is really poor form ok? Kevin says Turnbull a "brick wall" and so on we go. This could go on for weeks, months, years - forever! Rudd has delivered another backhander, in trademark cheesy, cheery Kev style to a group of young Labor activists telling them Turnbull was a "brick wall" to his desire to "make a difference" on the world stage and how despite the hardest work plans can "go to shit." This came as Cory Bernardi bragged Labor MPs, including frontbenchers, have been bombarding him with gratitude for effectively blocking Rudd's global ambitions. [My report/Fairfax] Mason Lee's mother probably should have been aware of her son's poor condition but had limited access to the child, her lawyer says. Anne-Maree Lee has been denied bail in Toowoomba Magistrates Court after being charged over the manslaughter of 21-month-old Mason, who died on June 11. Duty lawyer Brad Skuse on Monday told the court there was evidence to suggest his client should have known her son was in need of medical attention. But he also said Lee had "limited opportunities" to observe Mason. PETA have offered a $5000 reward for anyone with information relating to the dumping of eight dogs, believed to be from puppy farms, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. In the past month, eight poodle-crossbreed dogs have been found abandoned in Beerburrum West State Forest near a timber plantation, believed to have come from an illegal puppy farm. Two of the eight dogs found abandoned. Credit:Safe Haven Animal Rescue Inc./Facebook Staff at the HQPlantations site had attempted to catch the animals earlier this month but had to call in welfare groups for help to catch those that had become too feral to approach. PETA Australia campaign coordinator Claire Fryer said the dogs were considered "designer dogs" and were common in puppy farms. The Taxi Council of Queensland and the RACQ have become involved in a public stoush over the automobile club's support of ride-sharing. RACQ spokesman Paul Turner made comments on Sunday demanding the state government urgently legalise ride-sharing to remove confusion and allow companies such as theirs to address the insurance needs of operators. The Taxi Council and RACQ have become involved in a public stoush on Twitter. Credit:Ryan Stuart But the taxi council took umbrage to the comments, releasing a statement accusing RACQ of having plans to launch its own ride-sharing service. "The RACQ's support for illegal activity is surprising, and should raise the question of why it is being so vocal and what its agenda really is," a statement from Taxi Council Queensland chief Benjamin Wash said. Flights to and from Bali will resume on Tuesday morning after planes to WA's favourite holiday destination were grounded the day before because of an ash cloud caused by a volcanic eruption. A Tigerair flight from Perth was cancelled on Monday while two Virgin Australia flights already on their way to Bali were turned around after voclanic ash again wreaked havoc with travellers to the Indonesian island. Travellers in Bali waiting to return to Australia on Virgin flights have also had their flights cancelled. Jetstar put out a statement just after 5am saying flights to and from Bali would continue on Tuesday morning. A Perth woman has lost nearly $10,000 in the fall-out from a Northbridge-based travel agent, Global Plus Holidays, which has collapsed in July. The company shut its offices abruptly in July, with angry customers left to learn their flights had never been booked, or were booked and then cancelled - with the agency allegedly pocketing the refund. Elisabeth Poland (right) may not be able to attend her mother, Niki Anagnostaki's wedding in Greece after being caught up in the holiday agent scam. Elisabeth Poland says her mother, 76, has lost nearly $10,000 in the scam, after she booked flights to fly her to Greece for her wedding. Ms Poland claims her ticket to attend the wedding was cancelled and $7,500 was stolen from her mother's credit card on July 24. A volcanic ash cloud over Bali has caused flights to and from the holiday island to be cancelled on Monday. A Tigerair flight from Perth has been cancelled while two Virgin Australia flights already on their way to Bali have been turned around. Flights in and out of Bali have been disrupted by a volcanic ash cloud. Credit:Antara Foto Travellers in Bali waiting to return to Australia on Virgin flights have also had their flights cancelled. Perth Airport issued a warning to travellers that other flights may also be cancelled due to the ash cloud. Premier Colin Barnett could face a leadership challenge as early as Tuesday, after Treasurer Mike Nahan accused party powerbrokers of trying to plot his demise. Mr Nahan told reporters on Monday morning he wants his party colleagues to stop trying to destabilise the premier ahead of the State Parliamentary Liberal Party Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. Could Emergency Minister Joe Francis be the next Liberal leader? Despite leadership rumours swirling around for months, Mr Nahan is the first senior minister to finally admit there had been rumblings within the Liberal party ranks over the premier's future. It comes after a high-ranking Liberal source told WAtoday on Sunday, that despite Emergency Minister Joe Francis scouring around to see if he had the numbers, he didn't have the support of the party. Beijing: After more than a year without legal representation, the re-emergence of Wang Yu, one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers detained in a sweeping crackdown, would ordinarily be met with relief from her supporters. Instead, video interviews accompanying her purported release on bail has attracted widespread scepticism and suspicion of another rehearsed, coerced televised confession. Ms Wang provided interviews to a select group of local and pro-mainland Hong Kong media outlets, of which video footage was published online on Monday, showing her effusive in praise of her jailers and damning in her criticism of former employers and colleagues, her arguments bearing strong similarities with previous public indictments disseminated by the ruling Communist Party's propaganda departments. Rights lawyer Wang Yu being interviewed after her release on bail. Credit:Credit: Phoenix TV/supplied Having devoted much of her career advancing the cause of human rights in China, she told reporters that she now realised she had been used and manipulated by unspecified foreign organisations who wanted to disseminate "Western universal values" in China while "attacking and smearing the Chinese government" to the extent of fomenting a potential "colour revolution". She said she rejected being awarded Europe's prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Prize as well as another honour from the American Bar Association. She said she "won't acknowledge, won't recognise and won't accept" the honours, language mirroring almost word-for-word Beijing's angry rejection of the recent Hague tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea. Beirut: Islamic State has ordered its supporters in the West to carry out more attacks on Christians, in the latest issue of its monthly online magazine, Dabiq. Entitled "Break the cross", the entire edition of Dabiq focuses solely on inciting attacks on supposed "crusaders". In the foreword, the magazine calls on all Europeans to "abandon their infidelity and accept Islam, the religion of sincerity and submission to the Lord of the heavens and the Earth". The issue includes interviews with several Christian converts to Islam, including an American and a Finnish woman, and about fighting for the Islamic State. WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES Manila. Jennilyn Olayres was cradling the body of her husband Michael Siaron after he was gunned down by vigilantes on a street in a rundown area of Manila's Pasay City. As photographers behind a police cordon captured the moment, Ms Olayres says she was thinking he did not deserve to be one of the hundreds of Filipinos who have been shot with the encouragement of the country's new president Rodrigo Duterte. "It can't be you. You don't deserve this. There are others who deserve this more than you," she told reporters, recalling the moment. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Jews must support the Black Lives Matter movement to fight for the rights of people of color in their own religion, said dozens of Jewish activists who rallied for police reform Downtown on July 28. Black Lives Matter is a Jewish issue because there are black Jews, said April Baskin, a vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism, who came all the way from D.C. for the event. The freedom and safety of black people is tied to our Jewish values for justice and safety for everyone. Our country collectively has not been vocal enough. Jewish people of color led the procession of around a hundred people from Barclays Center to the Brooklyn Detention Complex on Atlantic Avenue at Smith Street, where leaders from activist group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice recited a prayer and the names of black people police have killed this year. Along the way, they chanted Black lives matter, black Jews matter, and called on city lawmakers pass the Right To Know Act a bill requiring police officers to identify themselves when they stop civilians and inform them of their right to refuse a search and for other members of the faith to join the cause. Many white liberal Jews mean well, one activist said, but they need to be more active in the fight for the racial equality they profess to support. I found in white Jewish liberal communities, there is a desire or wish for post-racial reality, said Queens resident Mark Tseng Putterman, whose background is Ashkenazi and Chinese, and said he felt alienated growing up in a predominantly white Jewish community in Boston. I think its really important for the white Jewish community to come out and take a more active stance for black lives. Ten percent of Jews in the U.S. are people of color, according to the Pew Research Center. A lone Jewish counter-protester showed up to the rally, following the marchers with a sign reading More white people killed by police than black people and accusing them of hating police and not caring about the non-black people who have died at the hands of law enforcement officers. This is racist, said the 15-year-old Long Island resident who identified herself only as Batya. My life matters white, black, all lives matter. These people hate the police. But the protesters said they dont hate cops or think theyre all racist they just believe the Police Department is as an institution and must change. I think that there are certainly good cops, but they are working within a system which that is inherently bias which needs systemic reform, said Tseng Putterman. I dont think that were out here saying that all cops are racist but we are saying that the NYPD as an institution is racist in impact, and needs to make changes in order to remedy that. Was there a murder 100 years ago at Yardley's Continental Tavern? Frank Lyons began excavating the basement of the Continental Tavern in Yardley. He found a gun, bloody corset and part of a woman's purse. Campus News Marx Brothers, Moonstruck among highlights of film series The Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera" is one of the films in the next Buffalo Film Seminars. By SUE WUETCHER The Marx Brothers classic A Night at the Opera and the romantic comedy Moonstruck are among the films being screened in the fall 2016 edition of the Buffalo Film Seminars. The popular, semester-long series of film screenings and discussions is hosted by UB faculty members Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson. Each session begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, beginning Aug. 30 and running through Dec. 6, in the Amherst Theatre, 3500 Main St. in the University Plaza, directly across the street from the South Campus. Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of English, and Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture in the Department of English, will introduce each film. Following a short break at the end of each film, they will lead a discussion of the film. The screenings are part of Film Directors (Eng 381), an undergraduate course being taught by the pair. Students enrolled in the course are admitted free; others may attend at the theaters regular admission prices of $9.50 for adults, $8 for students and $7.25 for seniors. Season tickets are available any time at a 15 percent reduction for the cost of the remaining films. Goldenrod handouts featuring production details, anecdotes and critical comments about each weeks film are available in the theater lobby 45 minutes before each session. The handouts also are posted online one day before the screening. The series opens on Aug. 30 with the 1932 film Trouble in Paradise, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The film tells the story of a gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket who join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme, according to the IMDb online movie database. The remainder of the schedule, with descriptions culled from IMDb and other sources: Knauf Insulation is investing 5m into its rock mineral wool plant in Queensferry, increasing the plants capacity and capabilities to meet customer needs. The upgrades will deliver thermal and mechanical improvements, along with an increased portfolio of insulation solutions. Furthermore, the investment continues the evolution of Knauf Insulations no added formaldehyde, ECOSE Technology binder. The increased production of high-density products will reinforce the companys strategy to supply the optimal product for every application, across its glass and rock mineral wool product ranges. John Sinfield, managing director at Knauf Insulation Northern Europe, said: We are especially pleased to announce this investment at Queensferry, given the uncertainty many other businesses and investors currently face. That uncertainty applies to wider concerns around the impact of Brexit on economic activity, but also to key sectors we service such as the construction industry, UK energy and energy efficiency businesses. This decision demonstrates that a drive on energy efficiency will deliver greater energy security, increased UK economic competiveness and help address environmental commitments. We would hope the new government, and especially the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, considers these outcomes when exploring what its new strategy is to be. Whats more, our manufacturing capability must be underpinned by a strong strategy that enables all of our mineral wool plants to capture every opportunity open to them be they existing or new markets. The shareholders continuing desire to invest in the UK gives me great confidence. We must be customer focused and thats exactly how this investment has been secured; I very much look forward to seeing the benefits it will bring to them. Mark Jolliffe, plant manager at Queensferry, added: This is a fantastic opportunity for our customers and staff. The upgrades are being implemented towards the end of the year and so to accommodate our customers needs during the downtime, we have already increased production to build up our stock. Knauf Insulation has a strong investment in the UK; since acquiring sole ownership of the business in 2002 it has so far invested over 150m across its UK plants. What you need to know to sign up for NJ Obamacare this year health Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Tata Steels pension obligations, a cause of much concern, have come down by 35 per cent in the financial year 2015-16 (FY16) to Rs 1.2 lakh crore, thanks to changes in the British pension scheme. has become the latest mobile operator to give up to 67% more data benefits to its pre-paid customers, a move which is in line with other telcos including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular. As states rush to showcase their start-up mettle, French group Dassault is pitching itself as an aggressive enabler in the space. A top official of Dassault Systemes, a software multinational and part of the aviation-to-information technology family, said there had been several layers of talks with Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana. Uncertainty looms over the commercial operations of the 540-Mw Goindwal Sahib power project of in Punjab as the company has to procure coal through e-auctions to run the project in the absence of a long-term fuel linkage. The Government of India's Inter-Ministerial Standing Linkage Committee in its meeting on June 21 had turned down the company's request for a permanent coal linkage to operate the project, which was declared commercial operation date (CoD) in the month of April. and Construction Company has entered a pact with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for execution of a Rs 675 crore project in Bihar. " and Construction Company ( Services) has signed an agreement with...MoRTH for execution of a road project that involves rehabilitation and upgradation to two lanes with paved shoulders configuration and strengthening of Birpur-Bihpur section...Of NH-106 in Bihar under Phase-I of NHDP," the company said in a filing to BSE. The total value of the project is Rs 675 crore, it said. The project is an engineering, procurement and construction contract, it added. The company had received a letter of acceptance from the ministry in December last year, it said adding that the duration of the project is 36 months. "The signing of this agreement now paves the way for immediate start of the project," it added. Engineering services provider Technology Services plans to collaborate with startups to either take or jointly built solutions in the so called internet of things space to its global customers. Technology Services, which has filed its draft red herring prospectus, ahead of a public offer, says that in emerging technology areas, there is a level playing field for startups against large . In what seems a change in strategy, Chinese technology manufacturer Lenovo has shifted focus in this country from volume-led to revenue growth in the smartphone segment. As part of its Rs 3,000 crore diversification plan to venture into solar and wind power projects, Limited (previously known as National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) is looking at feasible options in various states in the sector. Hundreds of protesters from various parts of the country gathered here and demonstrated against the loss of their investments in schemes of the group of .The protesters, many of whom were agents of the company, staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar. They'd gathered under the banner of a hitherto unknown entity called the All Investor Safety Organisation (AISO).Wearing Nehru caps which had an AISO emblem on one side and paise vapas karo (PACL, return our money) on the other, they raised slogans and demanded the authorities take steps for an early resolution. The protests come a week after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) stated the public at large was being advised not to deal with any of the properties wherein Ltd and/or its directors/promoters/agents/employees/group and/or associate directly or indirectly have any interest.The PACL agents Business Standard spoke to said they were being hounded by investors, usually daily wagers and poor labourers, who wanted their money back. Some carried badges representing regions they were from, such as 'AISO Indore', 'AISO UP', etc. Those who didnt have badges were being given receipts of membership on the spot by AISO volunteers.Boleram Choudhry, an agent from Rajasthans Sikar, said he had about 700 agents working with him and together they had investments of over Rs 11 crore in PACL. The company had been running smoothly for over three decades. They had never defaulted on repayments. They were giving handsome returns. In our areas, they were bigger than even LIC. But, everything has been ruined now.Choudhry said the track record of Sebi and court-appointed panels have not been great in past instances like the Golden Forest scam, investors are yet to get payment. Our worry is that we should not become like them.The protesters questioned why the considerable assets of the PACL group, which they said was worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore, was not being used to repay investors.In a statement distributed among the protesters, AISO president Mahendra Pal Singh Dhankad referred to a February 2 directive by the Supreme Court for Sebi to sell the properties of PACL entities and take steps for refund of investors. Even after six months, neither Sebi nor the Lodha committee (named to do so) have been able to refund even one investor. That is why we have been forced to do this dharna, Dhankad said.Founded by Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, PACL (earlier Pearl Agrotech Corporation) raised about Rs 49,000 crore from some 56 million investors through various schemes linked to real estate. In August 2014, Sebi had ordered the company to refund to investors the money raised. A year later, it also passed an order levying a record Rs 7,300 crore penalty on the group.As the company failed to do so, the Supreme Court on February 17 set up a committee headed by ex-chief justice R M Lodha and four other membersS. Raman, Prashant Saran, Amit Pradhan and Rakesh Kumar Singhto oversee disposal of the land purchased by PACL, to refund those who'd invested in various funds floated by the company for purchase of land.The matter has become a subject of a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which has arrested Bhangoo and some associates. MONEY BACK Aug 2014: Sebi passes order against PACL for refund of Rs 49,100 crore Aug 2014:Securities law amendment Act passed in parliament Jan 2015: Fresh show-cause notice to PACL and current directors for money raised after Sep 2013 Apr 2015: Supreme Court appoints two retired judges to realise PACL assets and settle dues Aug 2015: SAT upholds Sebi's August 2014 order Sep 2015: Order giving penalty based on show-cause in Jan 2015 Jan 2016: CBI arrests PACL founder Nirmal Singh Bhangoo February 2016: Panel headed by former CJI RM Lodha set up to refund money to investors July 2016: Court restrains promoters, directors of PACL from selling any group property August 2016: Protest by AISO at Jantar Mantar today reported a 18% decline in profit before taxes and interest to $527.1 million (nearly Rs 3,439 crore) for the quarter ended June 30, on account of lower revenue. The billionaire Anil Agarwal-led group had clocked an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) of $644.6 million in the first quarter of last fiscal. Its revenue fell 21% to $2.34 billion in April-June quarter of the current fiscal, from $2.95 billion in the same quarter of 2015-16, the company said in a statement. CEO Tom Albanese said: "We are focused on generating stronger free cash flow and de-levering balance sheet, in line with our strategic priorities. Another of these priorities, the simplification of the group structure, is also on track following the recent announcement of the revised and final terms for the Vedanta Ltd-Cairn India merger." The Group has made good progress on the ramp up of capacities at aluminium, power and iron ore businesses during the quarter, he said. "These would be significant contributors to earnings as the year progresses. Zinc India was impacted by lower mined metal production as per the mine plan, and the second half is expected to be substantially higher. We are making good progress towards optimising costs at Copper Zambia," he said. Vedanta Resources' oil & gas segment reported a 45% drop in Ebitda at $119.2 million in Q1 2016-17 from $215.4 million in Q1 2015-16. Revenue fell by 32% to $281.5 million during the quarter from $413 million in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal. Zinc India business' operating profit declined 37% to $160.3 million in June quarter from $255.4 million in the year-ago period. Revenue dipped 35% to $364.8 million from $558.2 million. Its Zinc International business, however posted a stagnant Ebitda at $37.4 million, while revenue was down by 51% to $67.7 million from $139.3 million in the year-ago quarter. said the iron ore business posted an operating profit at $54 million in Q1 2016-17 from $3.4 million in Q1 2015-16. Revenue also shot up by 92% to $145 million compared to $75.6 million during the same period. Copper India segment's Ebitda dropped by 20% to $65.7 million during April-June of this fiscal from $82.4 million in the same quarter in 2015-16. Revenue declined 21% to $695.5 million from $877.4 million during the reported quarter. While is the case of Copper Zambia, the Ebitda dropped 38% to $3.7 million from $6 million, whereas, revenue declined to $194.8 million from $289.2 million a year-ago. (WIN), hydraulic solutions provider and part of Wipro Enterprise, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire HR Givon (Givon), an Israel-headquartered manufacturer of metallic parts and assemblies for the Aerospace industry, in an all-cash deal. Givon manufactures structural parts and assemblies which form part of the fuselage, wings and empennage of an aircraft. The 46-year-old company is a certified Tier-1 supplier and counts leading global original equipment manufacturers (OEM) among its customers. It has three manufacturing plants, two in Israel and one at Everett, Washington in the US. This acquisition will help WIN broaden its product portfolio, expand global footprint and strengthen customer relationships in the Aviation and Aerospace industry. "Givon has a strong tradition of technical expertise and enduring client relationships. I am confident that Wipro and Givon together will be a significant force in key markets. The synergies from our combined portfolio and locational proximity will be a key enabler to build and nurture successful customer relationships," said Pratik Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, . India is the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment while Israel is the second-largest defense supplier to India after Russia. Independent estimates put the potential offset opportunities at $10 billion and the acquisition of H.R Givon will strengthen WIN's ability to address this market. WIN sees the Aerospace industry as strategic to its future. In 2013, WIN set up India's first Aerospace actuator manufacturing facility at the Devanahalli Special Economic Zone, near the Bangalore International Airport. Plans are on the anvil to expand into multiple product lines and enter into technology partnerships with leading Aerospace . "We are delighted with the opportunity to join hands with Wipro and this gives us an opportunity to bring to the market an expanded range of offerings," said Ronen Givon, Chief Executive Officer, Givon. "We see cross-synergies in customer relationships, products and technology that can be leveraged to strengthen our presence in the growing Aerospace sector and become a partner of choice for global OEMs and Tier-1s," noted Sunil Rajagopalan, Business Head (Aerospace) of . The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, which are expected to be completed in September 2016. WIN has a global workforce of over 1,700 and has 13 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities spread across India, Europe, USA and Brazil, making it one of the largest Independent Hydraulic Actuator Manufacturers in the World. Its Aerospace manufacturing facility for Actuators and Precision Engineered Components is located at Bangalore, India. Givon founded in 1970 by Ruth and Haim Givon as a family-owned business, H.R Givon (Givon) has grown to be Israel's largest manufacturer of metallic aerostructure parts and assemblies. Business services and document management solutions provider is looking at increasing its foothold in the Small and Medium Business (SMB) in the country. The company is also working on strengthening its focus on the office business segment, said a senior official from the company. Announcing the national launch of its affordable colour multifunction printer DocuCentre SC2020 in India, Balaji Rajagopalan, executive director, technology, channels and international business, India said, "We already have presence in the SMB segment and the new product will give us more foothold in the segment". He added that the company is also re-inforcing its presence in the large corprate segment. Protesters turned out for lightly attended demonstrations in Rio against embattled President Dilma Rousseff five days before the start of the 2016 Olympic Games. About 4,000 protesters yesterday gathered on the beach at Copacabana in a festive atmosphere with sound trucks blasting out a mix of samba and the national anthem. Marchers carried an enormous banner that read "Dilma out and prison for Lula," a reference to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was charged Friday with obstruction of justice in an ongoing corruption probe. "We want our country back and for these people to go," said Vilma Moniz Portella, a lawyer carrying a small inflatable doll of the judge leading the probe into bribes and kickbacks at state oil giant Petrobras. The scandal has shaken Brazil's political and business establishment, casting a shadow over the August 5-21 Olympic Games, the first ever held in a South American country. Marchers said the turnout was smaller in Rio than at past protests calling for Rousseff's impeachment that have attracted hundreds of thousands of people. Rousseff's impeachment trial for alleged violations of budgeting rules is set to begin August 29. A two-thirds vote by the Senate would remove her from office. Suspended from office on May 12, she was replaced on an interim basis by Vice President Michel Temer. If Rousseff is ousted, he would finish out her mandate, which runs until the end of 2018. In Brasilia, about 3,000 protesters dressed in the green and yellow colours of the Brazilian flag took part in a demonstration against Rousseff outside the Congress, according to police estimates. Similar anti-Rousseff protests were called in other cities, including Sao Paulo, Recife, Salvador and Belo Horizonte. Rousseff's supporters, meanwhile, turned out to rally against Temer in several cities. Many heeded the call of a leftist umbrella group called the "Fearless People's Front" and demonstrated in cities such as Sao Paulo where thousands clad in red chanted "Temer, get out!" "Sure, the Workers Party (of Rousseff) is not having its best moment. There is corruption in all the parties. But Temer's government is even worse," said Eunice Mariano, a 61-year-old retiree. In a major respite for employees of Financial Technologies (India) (FTIL), the Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the release of money needed for salary and other statutory expenses from FTILs bank accounts that had been attached by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police. Hundreds of Keralites in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and elsewhere in the Middle East are facing a livelihood crisis brought about by unpaid salaries and benefits and non-renewal of their work permits. The problems at the construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, where a large number of Indians work, is a case in point, said those in the know. The the Saudi Arabian government suspended the Group from undertaking new contracts last September after it was held responsible for an accident at Mecca's Grand Mosque that killed 107 people. The ban was lifted in May but not before the Group laid off tens of thousands of workers. The workers who continue to be employed by the Group, directly or indirectly, have not been paid their salaries. Lateef, a Keralite who has worked at the Saudi Binladin Group for many years, said about 10,000 Indians, including numerous from Kerala, find themselves in limbo as their work permits have not been renewed. "We have not got salary for the past five months and the condition at the labour camps with 4,500 inmates is really pathetic. Getting water and food is tough," said Lateef, speaking from to the reporters here. "We request that some Indian officials immediately come here and see for themselves what the conditions are." CPI-M Lok Sabha member P. Karunakaran told reporters that the issues facing Indian workers in Kuwait and are very serious and "we are bringing it before the Lok Sabha today". He said he has urged Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to intervene. Karunakaran cited the case of about 15,000 Indians working with Kharafi Company in Kuwait not being paid salaries on time. An Indian worker, who has three months' salary arrears outstanding, said that circumstances have been tough. "A strike took place when workers of other nationalities, who locked the labour camps, insisted that none need to report for work. For a few days none could go out but then many escaped from the camp and reported for work. Of these there are more than 4000 Keralites," the employee said, requesting not to be identified. The office of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has been receiving numerous calls from and Kuwait and from anxious relatives in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday asked the non-resident Keralite department officials to see that the issue is taken up at all levels. According to sources, Swaraj has decided to send her two junior colleagues to the Middle East. V.K. Singh will fly to Saudi Arabia and M.J. Akbar is expected to reach Kuwait shortly. Defence Minister on Sunday said we have put a check on infiltration along the Pakistan border and over 70 terrorists who were trying to enter India from Pakistan have been shot dead so far this year. "We have put a check on infiltration into India along the Pakistan border. Terrorists trying to sneak into India have either been shot dead or beaten a retreat," Parrikar said. "More than 70 terrorists who were trying to enter India from Pakistan have been shot dead this year so far", he said. Parrikar cited a "ratio" of the "martyrdom" of jawans to slain terrorists while speaking to reporters here. 14 jawans have attained martyrdom this year so far, the minister said, adding that the figures reveal that if India lost one jawan, 5 terrorists had been killed against it. The ratio come to 1:5, Parrikar said, adding that earlier it was "1:1.5". Denying that the Chinese Army had breached India's border, the defence minister said several points have been made for dialogues along the Indo-China border. The border between India and China has not been demarcated, he said, adding that it is because of several historical reasons. As a result of this, Parrikar said that the Chinese Army enters India by mistake thinking that it is operating in it's area. "We stop them and send them back. Sometime they return on their own. Such incidents are being reported since last 20-30 years but their occurrence has dropped by 40%," Parrikar claimed. Three weeks after idolised Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed by the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Police in an encounter near Anantnag in southern Kashmir, the Valley continues to seethe. In Srinagar, extended curfews have failed to end furious stone-pelting by violent mobs. United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin on Monday accused Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh of being a "killer of Kashmiris" and urged Islamabad to recall its envoy from India over the ongoing unrest in Jammu and . Salahuddin, who is based in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, also seconded Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who on Sunday warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit against the Indian minister who arrives in Islamabad on August 3 to attend a Saarc ministerial conference. Addressing Pakistani media at the party headquarters in Mansura Auditorium in Lahore, Salahuddin criticised the Nawaz Sharif-led government's policy on . He suggested that Prime Minister Sharif, in addition to immediately recalling its envoy from New Delhi, also "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of the unrest in Jammu and that has left 50 people dead following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. He said the Pakistan government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference. "The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said. Hafiz Saeed on Sunday during a rally said: "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add salt to injury of the Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris." "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," he added. Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, said: "If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris." He said the people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit last week, and added that the Sharif government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis". Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Monday said India is indigenously building AIP (air independent propulsion) -enabled submarines. "We are making our own AIP indigenous systemwith DRDO. At present, project definition is going on. Prototypes based plant is being constructed and once it is ready, it will be fitted in the Kalvari-class submarines," Admiral Lanba said during his first media interaction after taking over as Navy Chief. To a query if Pakistan's acquisition of submarines fitted with AIP system from China was a threat to India, he said, "The submarines have capabilities. But we have system in place and operation in place which we can look after that." The Naval chief said the force was committed to building indigenous ship in-line with the 'Make in India' initiative and at present, 46 ships and submarines were being built in the country. "The Navy has been focused on indigenisation right from the beginning. We have been building ships in India for over decades and 200 naval ships have been built in Indiatill date. At the moment, 46 ships and submarines are under construction and are all being built in Indian shipyards," he said. "We work closely with DRDO and other private sector industries to ensure our weapons and sensors are titled with India. We are focused and committed to make in India," Lanba said. Talking about India's stand after China rejected an international tribunal ruling on the disputed waters of the South China Sea, he said rule of law should be followed. "As far as South China Sea goes...And arbitration which has been done...And decision which has been taken, India's stand has always been that disputes should be resolved on the basis of laws, there should be freedom of navigation and rule of law should be followed," he said. The Hague tribunal backed the Philippines in a case on the disputed waters of the South China Sea, ruling that rocky outcrops claimed by China - some of which are exposed only at low tide - cannot be used as the basis of territorial claims. Admiral Lanba also said that 'INS Viraat' is likely to be de-inducted during the later part of the year. "Viraat, which commissioned in May, 1987 after doing good service for 27 years, is scheduled to be de-inducted in later part of the year," he said. He also said they were working towards induction of 'INS Vikrant' by 2018. "We are working in close coordination with Kochi shipyard to ensure the INS Vikrant will be commissioned in December 2018," the Naval chief said. He also cleared doubts surrounding the MiG-29 aircraft and said "serviceability of the plane has improved". " was the first countryto induct MiG-29 aircraft. There were few issues when the aircraft were inducted initially and they have been resolved.The serviceability of the aircraft has improved over the years and majority of the problems are behind us," Lanba said. The world will flourish when all cultures in their diversity are respected, RSS chief said as he called Hinduism as a religion which is "more inclusive and not exclusive". Bhagwat described Hinduism as a way of life as he addressed Sunday's concluding session of the three-day 'Sanskriti MahaShibir' organised by UK-based charity, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh at Hertfordshire, about 50 km from here. He spoke about the positive aspects of Hinduism which believed in the principle of Vasudeva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). "In a diverse world, every culture has to be respected and when all cultures are respected, the world will flourish," the RSS Chief told over 2,200 delegates from the UK and the Europe who attended the 'MahaShibir'. He said Hinduism is "more inclusive and not exclusive". Bhagwat also spoke about the conflict between development and environment and said: "Hinduism has answers to the question 'should environment be compromised because of development'. Emphasising that exercise is essential for a healthy body and mind, he said "healthy society depends on leading a disciplined life, with proper eating habits and regular exercise." During the three-day deliberations there were in-depth discussion among others on 'Sanskaar' (values of life), 'Sewa' (selfless service) and 'Sangathan' (community spirit). The MahaShibir was addressed among others by Swami Dayatmananda, Head of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre UK, Swami Nirliptananda, Head of London Sewashram Sangh UK and Acharya Vidya Bhaskar, Omkarananda Ashram Switzerland. Revenue Secretary has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to come up with a firm revenue collection target under the one-time black money window scheme that closes on September 30, as he vowed non-interference in implementation of the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 (IDS), sources said. Adhia communicated it to the direct tax department during the video conference meeting on Saturday. He also asked the department to prepare a list of potential declarants under the scheme. Vegetables price have plunged in Mumbai over the past two weeks, on a sudden increase in direct supply from farmers to retailers and bulk consumers, following the state governments removal of the legal compulsion for farmers to sell only at regulated wholesale markets (mandis). Prices of green vegetables have fallen up to 53 per cent since July 15. The delisting of fruit and vegetables from mandis was announced in early July. The impasse over sharing of waters between the co-basin states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh has deepened. Odisha has voiced strong protest to Chhattisgarh's master plan proposing to utilise 88 per cent of the Mahanadi water in the upper catchment area. "The proposal by Chhattisgarh in its master plan is not acceptable. If implemented, it will adversely affect water flow to Odisha. As of now, our assessment is that their government has either utilised 37.5 per cent of the waters or they have projects under implementation", said Odisha chief secretary Aditya Padhi. The government has listed the for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, hoping it will be passed through consensus, but the opposition Congress said that consultation is still on over the issue and an agreement is not yet finalised. In view of the development, the BJP has issued whip for all its Rajya Sabha members to be present in the house for the next three days. "The is listed for Wednesday. We hope it will be passed through consensus," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters here. The government had initially planned to take up the Goods and Services Tax bill on Tuesday but opted to delay it by a day so that parties have enough time to talk to their members. The "mood is in favour of passing the bill", said Ananth Kumar, adding that talks are being held with different political parties as the bill concerns all the states. The Congress said it was prepared to accept every reasonable solution but added that the consultation is still on. "We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect business and industry, and does not adversely affect the federal structure and the consumer at large," Congress spokesman P.L. Punia told reporters. Noting that the GST is very important for the economy, industry, business and also for the consumer, he said: "We agree with that objective in mind. It is the Congress party which mooted the idea of GST, which was opposed by the BJP and especially today's Prime Minister Narendra Modi." "We had raised certain valid issues and the negotiations are still on." The cabinet last week approved key changes in the GST bill, including dropping the proposed one per cent additional tax on inter-state sale, a demand of the Congress. It had also agreed to include the mechanism to compensate states for all loss of revenues for five years. The is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks majority and the Congress is the single largest party. The GST was first mooted by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a Bill, which provides for expeditious recovery of by banks. The Bill, passed by voice vote, also proposes to move towards online debt recovery tribunals (DRTs). The government is likely to extend protection to the steel industry by either re-notifying the minimum import price (MIP) or through wider anti-dumping duty. A hectic day of meetings with Opposition leaders on Monday gave government strategists the confidence to table the Constitution amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The amendments to the Bill, which was to be circulated among Rajya Sabha members, showed that the government has yielded to some of the Congress demands to achieve a consensus. KEY AMENDMENTS One per cent additional tax on inter-state supply of goods to be scrapped Full compensation to states for the first five years of GST roll out Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of a dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council met Opposition leaders said that while they would support the Constitution amendment Bill, the real battle will be fought at the time of the GST Bill, which is likely to be discussed in the winter session. After the Cabinet seal on the changes to the Constitution amendment Bill on GST last month, the draft legislation seeks to scrap up to one per cent additional tax on the inter-state supply of goods. It also seeks to provide full compensation to states for the first five years of the GST roll-out, in case they earn less revenue than the existing tax regime. The states will also get a greater say in the dispute resolution mechanism. A senior government source said the Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to. The earlier demand of the Congress to cap the rates in the Constitution amendment Bill was not met. Now, the Congress wants the rates to be ring fenced in the GST Bills, which would come up only after the Constitution amendment Bill is passed by Parliament and ratified by at least 15 of 29 states. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said: The is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha and we seek the support of all political parties. The mood is in favour of its passage. Kumar said the government has consulted all parties. We hope as well as expect that the Bill will be passed by the Rajya Sabha unanimously, he said. Kumar said a Constitution amendment Bill, under Article 368 (2) of the Constitution, needs to be passed by at least two-thirds majority of a minimum half of the strength of the House, adding that an extra day has been factored in to enable all political parties to ask their members, who might be travelling, to reach Delhi by Wednesday. All political parties that have representation in the Rajya Sabha were in the process of issuing whips to their members to attend Wednesdays proceedings. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a whip that asks its members to ensure their attendance for the next three days. Five and a half hours have been allocated for the discussion and passage of the Bill. Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury. He also met Samajwadi Party leaders. Congress leader Sharma conveyed to the government that his party would prefer that the Bill is not taken up on Tuesday, since several of its Rajya Sabha members, including Azad, would be busy with Congress President Sonia Gandhis road show in Varanasi. Senior Congress leaders, like former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Sharma, are likely to brief Congress members on the partys demands that the government has agreed to. At its media briefing, Congress PL Punia said GST was mooted by his party and is important for the economy, industry, business and the consumer. We have raised certain issues and negotiations are still on. We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect business, industry and consumer. There has to be one more round of talks, Punia said. The Lok Sabha had passed the GST Constitution amendment Bill on May 6, 2015. It had then been referred to a select committee, which had submitted its report this July. The government then tried to build consensus with all political parties. It held a meeting of the state finance ministers last month. Some of the amendments suggested by the parliamentary committee, regional parties, the Congress and state finance ministers have been incorporated in the amended Bill to be tabled for passage in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. In what could be Raghuram Rajans last banking reform before he bows out in the first week of September, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday released the final guidelines for on-tap licensing of universal in the private sector, under which it ring-fenced the banking system from large industrial houses, excluding them from floating in the future. But conglomerates have been allowed to hold up to 10 per cent in the lenders. The focus, as elaborated in the draft guidelines on May 5, continued to be towards non-banking companies (NBFC) which are not controlled by large groups. For this purpose, RBI defined large group NBFC as an entity which is a part of a group having total assets of Rs 5,000 crore or with the non-financial business of the group not accounting for 40 per cent or more in terms of total assets or gross income. However, experts still see some standalone NBFCs wanting to become to improve their cost of funds, especially those that compete with banks in the same space. Those who have pricing advantage would still not want to become a bank, but there are only a handful of such NBFCs, said Abhishek Bhattacharya, director and co-head, financial institutions at India Ratings. According to Bhattacharya, the new banks would mostly be focused on niche areas, but even then the RBI would not be in a hurry to dole out licences before fully assessing how Bandhan Bank and IDFC Bank, the latest two entrants, fared in the game. Certainly, awarding payments bank licence did not work out well for the central bank as after giving 11 licences, three said they were not interested anymore. UAE Exchange India, one universal banking licence aspirant, prefers universal licence over payments banks. Universal banks are a better choice compared to payment banks or small banks because these can provide full-fledged banking. Giving out more universal bank licence will give boost to the economy and help it grow further, said George Antony, the managing director of UAE Exchange. A final call on application for the universal banking licence will be taken after the board meeting to be convened shortly, Antony said. PAVING THE WAY FOR NEW BANKS Resident individuals with 10 years of experience in banking and sector eligible to promote banks Banks should be floated under a Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) NOFHC not mandatory for individuals or standalone promoters who do not have other group entities Not less than 51% of the total paid-up equity capital of the NOFHC shall be owned by the promoter/promoter group Existing specialised activities can be carried out under NOFHC, provided the bank does not do so Minimum capital requirement is Rs 500 crore Foreign shareholding capped at 74% Shares should be listed within six years of the commencement of business by the bank Business plan should spell out clearly how the bank aims to achieve financial inclusion The bank shall open at least 25% of its branches in un-banked, rural centres Nirmal Jain, the chairman and founder of IIFL Group said the company had applied for a banking licence once and therefore has interest in floating a bank. But Jain did not commit before discussing the issue at the company board level. These are once in a lifetime decisions and cannot be decided in a hurry. But now that it is on-tap, there is no rush, Jain said. A senior official with Muthoot said the group would also want to apply for a universal licence. RBIs agenda in doling out new banks is financial inclusion and the on-tap licence guidelines make it amply clear. The business plan will have to address how the bank proposes to achieve financial inclusion, RBI said in its guidelines. The central bank said that it would also prefer to give licence to any resident individuals and professionals having 10 years of experience in banking and finance at a senior level. The central bank allowed the promoter groups to bring down their stake in the bank to 15 per cent in 15 years, against 12 years proposed in the draft. An internal screening committee, consisting of the governor and the deputy governors, will examine the applications and would then submit the recommendations to the RBI board for the final decision. Applicants aggrieved by the decision of the committee of the central board can prefer an appeal against the decision, the RBI said in its final guidelines. This is a departure from the central banks usual practice as the decision is usually final and binding on the applicants. Certainly this was the case till the draft version. While the new bank has to be floated through a Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC), such an entity is not compulsory in case of promoters being individuals or standalone promoting entities which do not have other group entities. The promoter group should hold at least 51 per cent of the total paid-up equity capital of the NOFHC. In fact, no shareholder, other than the promoters/promoter group, shall have significant influence and control in the NOFHC, the guidelines said. Existing specialised activities have been permitted to be continued from a separate entity proposed to be held under the NOFHC subject to prior approval from the Reserve Bank and subject to it being ensured that similar activities are not conducted through the bank as well, the central bank said in its guidelines. The minimum paid-up equity capital for a bank would be Rs 500 crore. The promoter group should have at least 40 per cent of the paid up voting rights in the bank, to be locked in for five years from the date of commencement of business of the bank, which then should be brought down to 15 per cent in 15 years. The foreign shareholding in the bank would be as per the existing foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, which at present caps it at 74 per cent. The Government introduced the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Parliament Standing Committee on Labour. The Parliament Standing Committee submitted its report to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in December, 2014. The major amendments proposed in the Factories Act, 1948, inter-alia, include provisions relating to imposing obligation upon the occupier to make a provision of Personal Protective Equipment for workers exposed to various hazards; providing canteens facilities in factories; providing for shelters or rest room and lunch rooms in respect of factories employing seventy five or more workers; providing drinking water in all Factories irrespective of number of workers; enhancement of penalties for different violations; permitting women in night shifts if adequate safeguards as regards occupational safety and health, provision of shelter, rest room, lunch rooms, night creches and ladies toilets, adequate protection of their dignity, honour, safety and transportation exist. . . The existing provisions of Section 4 of the Factories Act, 1948 empowers the State Government to declare different departments to be separate factories. . . The Government has consulted various stakeholders which includes Governments representatives, Employers Association & Trade Unions to further amend the Factories Act with regard to, inter-alia, the prescribing qualifications of the Inspectors. . . This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. . . The Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP) a central sector scheme, is under implementation with an approved outlay of Rs. 990.36 crore, during 12th Plan period with the following six sub-schemes: . . 1) Integrated Development of Leather Sector (IDLS) - Assistance is provided for technology up-gradation/modernization of leather units as investment grant @30% to small & micro units and @20% to other units through nationalized banks with maximum assistance of Rs.2 crore for each product line. . . 2) Human Resource Development (HRD) - Assistance is provided for placement linked skill development training to unemployed persons @ Rs. 15,000 per person and for skill up-gradation training to employed workers @ Rs. 5,000 per employee. For training of trainers assistance@ Rs. 2 lakh per trainer is provided. The placement of 75% of trained persons is mandatory for availing assistance related to skill development training component. . . 3) Mega Leather Cluster scheme - The sub-scheme aims at providing infrastructure support to the Leather Industry by establishment of Mega Leather Cluster. The minimum land area required for Mega Leather Cluster is 25 acres to be set up without tanneries and 40 acres with tanneries. Assistance upto 50% of the project cost is provided by the Government of India under the scheme, excluding cost of land and with maximum assistance limited to Rs. 125 crore. . . 4) Support to Artisan scheme - Assistance is provided for Support to Artisans for formation of Self-help groups (SHGs), product development, capacity building, providing centralized common facilities centers and marketing linkages. . . 5) Leather Technology, Innovation & Environmental Issues - Assistance is provided for up-gradation/installation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) @ 50% of the project cost. Pilot Projects under Technology Benchmarking for leather units, organizing Environment Related Workshops and Pilot projects for Solid Waste Management are also eligible for assistance under the scheme. . . 6) Establishment of Institutional Facilities Providing infrastructure by way of establishment of two new branches of Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), with assistance of Rs. 100 crore for each branch, in the States of Punjab and Gujrat. . . Leather industry and tanning activity in particular, all over the World is linked to environmental concerns. Footwear and Leather products sector has high employment potential and there is a demand for skilled and trained workforce in the footwear manufacturing, design, marketing and retails sector. . . To address the human resource constraint and environmental concerns being faced by Indian Leather Industry, two sub-schemes of the Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP), namely Human Resource Development and Leather Technology, Innovation and Environmental Issues, respectively, are under implementation, during the 12th plan period, the details of which are as under: . . (i) Human Resource Development (HRD) During 12th Five Year Plan, total 3,73,916 unemployed persons have been trained and 3,00,113 trainees have been given placement in leather and footwear industry, so far. Further, under Placement Linked Skill Development Training, a target of 1,44,000 unemployed persons has been set for 2016-17. In addition 6000 workers have been provided skill up-gradation training. The total funds released under HRD sub-scheme of ILDP during 12th Five year Plan is Rs. 542.56 crore. . . (ii) Leather Technology, Innovation & Environmental Issues - During 12th Five Year Plan, assistance has been provided to 2 CETP projects having Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology at SIDCO-II and Dindigul (Tamil Nadu) out of 6 the CETPs approved during 11th Five Year Plan. Rs. 2.27 crore and Rs. 12.53 crore have been released for these projects respectively. One Project of Solid Waste Management in Calcutta Leather Complex has been completed with GOI assistance of Rs. 95.12 lakh under ILDP. . . This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. . . The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences has informed that it provides weather forecast on its website for 325 cities. These cities include 106 tourist destinations across the country for which 7-day forecast is being issued twice a day. In addition, the weather forecasts to tourists, is also provided on toll free number 1800 180 1717 through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). . . IMD has also developed a mobile App called Indian Weather" by which initially, current weather and 4-days forecast for app 300 cities is being provided. . . IMD also issues special forecasts for pilgrim/tourist destinations across the country with a focused effort for Himalayan region and Severe Weather Warnings through various schemes. Highway forecasts have also been started by IMD in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. . . This information was given by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. . . India has not signed any specific agreement with Bangladesh to enhance electricity generation or to enhance export of power. However, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh on Cooperation in Power Sector" on 11.1.2010. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy and Mines in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. . . The Minister further stated that India has signed a bilateral agreement with Government of Nepal on Electric Power Trade, Cross-Border Transmission Interconnection and Grid Connectivity" on 21.10.2014 and with the Royal Government of Bhutan concerning Cooperation in the field of Hydroelectric Power" on 28.7.2006. . . Besides, SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity) has also been signed, by all the SAARC member States, comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, on 27.11.2014, the Minister added. . . RM/RS- USQ1571 - RS Government of India has embarked on the Sagarmala Programme with the aim to promote Port-led development in the country. The concept of the Sagarmala Programme was approved by the Cabinet on 25th March, 2015. . . As part of the SagarmalaProgramme, a National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the comprehensive development of Indias coastline and maritime sector has been prepared. As part of the National Perspective Plan, more than 150 projects have been identified across the areas of Port Modernization & New Port Development, Port Connectivity Enhancement, Port-led Industrial Development and Coastal Community Development. . . Thisincludes capacity expansion at existing ports, development of new ports, enhancement of road and rail connectivity to major and non-major ports, heavy haul rail corridor project, freight expressways, development of multi-modal logistics hubs, promotion of coastal shipping and inland waterways, development of Coastal Economic Zones and port-linked industrial clusters, development of fishing harbours and coastal community skill development programmes. . . These projects are expected to mobilize more than Rs. 4 Lac Crore of infrastructure investment, double the share of domestic waterways (inland & coastal) in the modal mix, generate logistic cost savings of Rs. 35,000-40,000 Crore per annum, boost merchandize exports by USD 110 Billion and enable creation 1 Crore new jobs, including 40 Lac direct jobs, in the next 10 years. . . This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping, Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today. . . The data is respect of number of Rag Pickers is not available. . . The Government has enacted Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008" for the welfare of unorganised workers and the Rag Pickers are covered there under. The Act provides for formulation of suitable welfare schemes for unorganised workers on matters relating to: (i) life and disability cover, (ii) health and maternity benefits, (iii) old age protection and (iv) any other benefit as may be determined by the Central Government through the National Social Security Board. Various Schemes, formulated by the Government to provide social security cover to the unorganized workers, listed in the Schedule I of the above Act are as under: . . i. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme. (Ministry of Rural Development) . . ii. National Family Benefit Scheme. (Ministry of Rural Development) . . iii. Janani Suraksha Yojana. (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) . . iv. Handloom Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme. (Ministry of Textiles) . . v. Handicraft Artisans Comprehensive Welfare Scheme. (Ministry of Textiles) . . vi. Pension to Master Craft Persons. (Ministry of Textiles) . . vii. National Scheme for Welfare of Fishermen and Training and Extension. (Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries) . . viii. Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana. (Department of Financial Services). . . ix. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) . . In addition to the above, the Rag Pickers have also been extended scholarship benefits under the scheme namely Pre-matric scholarship for children of those engaged in occupations involving cleaning and prone to health hazards". Under the Scheme there is a provision of scholarship of Rs. 750/- per annum to the students who are day scholars studying in classes I to X and Rs. 1000/- per annum to hostellers studying in classes III to X. . . The Act also enjoins upon State Governments to formulate schemes relating to (a) provident fund; (b) employment injury benefits; (c) housing; (d) educational schemes for children; (e) skill upgradation of workers; (f) funeral assistance; and (g) old age homes. . . This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. . . The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is implementing National River Conservation Programme, sub-schemes of Conservation of Natural Resources and Eco-Systems, National Afforestation Programme & Green India Mission, National Coastal Management Programme, National Mission on Himalayan Studies under Climate Change Program under the Central Sector & Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Government of India. . . These schemes act as remedial measures for conservation of environment and sustainable development of various ecosystems. The umbrella Scheme on Conservation of Natural Resources and Eco-systems through its different sub-schemes formulated for protection of corals, mangroves, biosphere reserves, wetlands and lakes conserve the natural resources and these eco-systems of the country. The sub-scheme of National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems aims at conservation of all aquatic eco-systems including lakes and wetlands of the country. National Afforestation Program and Green India Mission contribute towards regeneration of degraded forests and their adjoining areas in the country. National River Conservation Program facilitates in improving water quality of polluted stretches of rivers by preventing pollution loads reaching the rivers through various pollution abatement works. National Coastal Management Programme ensures livelihood security to fishing and other local communities to conserve and protect coastal stretches and promotes coastal development based on scientific principles. National Mission on Himalayan Studies aims at focusing on conservation of Himalayan Ecosystem and sustainable development of the Indian Himalayan Region. The Ministry also monitors implementation of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and has been carrying out enabling activities and other obligations of the Convention. The program aims at networking and forging strategic partnerships among relevant Scientific Institutions and stakeholders for enhancing knowledge data base and scientific inputs in reporting and revising desertification and land degradation. Collection, collation and storage of subject specific database on environmental issues for future retrieval and dissemination to all concerned for sustainable quality of life for future generations, is achieved through an Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Program of the Ministry. . . The funding under the Central Sector Schemes is 100 percent from the Government of India. Under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, as per the revised funding pattern from 2015- 16 onwards, the Government of Indias share is 50 percent for rest of India and 80 percent for the North Eastern States and 3 Himalayan States i.e Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in environment sector. The share of the Government of India is 60 percent for rest of India in the schemes related to forestry and wildlife and 90 percent in respect of North Eastern States and 3 Himalayan States. . . This information was given by Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Anil Madhav Dave, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today. . . The Government of India has launched several initiatives for educational assistance to students of North-Eastern States. Under Ishaan Uday, 10,000 scholarships are awarded to North East students to enable their access to higher education outside the region. Supernumerary seats for NE students are also reserved in Engineering/ technology/ architecture/ pharmacy courses in institution approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). AICTE has a scheme of North East Quality Improvement Programme (NEQIP) to provide grant-in-aid for improving quality of education in technical institutes in North Eastern Region. Under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), funding support is provided in the ratio of 90:10 to North Eastern States for improving access, equity and quality education. . . The University Grants Commission (UGC) has advised the Universities in the country to raise awareness about the history, literature and culture of North Eastern Region (NER) and to teach history of NER at Undergraduate (UG) and Post-graduate (PG) level. Exchange of students between Higher Education Institutes in NER and those in other states are enhanced to understand and appreciate the culture of North East. Cultural exchanges between institutions of North East Region and other universities are encouraged. In addition, UGC has also advised to include the units on freedom-fighters from NER in curricula at various levels. National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) has included in its textbooks contents on various aspects of life and culture of the North East region. . . This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question. . . A Russian military helicopter was shot down today over the Syrian province of Idlib with all five people on board believed to have been killed, the Kremlin said. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. The defence ministry had earlier said there were five people on board. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. "Three crew members and two officers... Were on board," it said. GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabet's life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a novel field of medicine called bioelectronics. Verily Life Sciences - known as Google's life sciences unit until last year and Britain's biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million ($715 million) over seven years to Galvani Bioelectronics, they said on Monday. The new company, owned 55 per cent by GSK and 45 per cent by Verily, will be based at GSK's Stevenage research centre north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. It is GSK's second notable investment in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union in June. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million on drug manufacturing. Galvani will develop miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. GSK believes chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma could be treated using these tiny devices, which consist of a electronic collar that wraps around nerves. Kris Famm, GSK's head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said the first bioelectronic medicines using these implants to stimulate nerves could be submitted for regulatory approval by around 2023. "We have had really promising results in animal tests, where we've shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism, and now we are bringing that work into the clinic," he told Reuters. "Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years." GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in a paper in the journal Nature three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. Verily already has several other medical projects in the works, including the development of a smart contact lens in partnership with the Swiss drugmaker Novartis that has an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. Famm said the first generation of implants coming to market would be around the size of a medical pill but the aim eventually was to make them as small or smaller than a grain of rice, using the latest advances in nanotechnology. Patients will be treated with keyhole surgery and the hope is that bioelectronic medicine could provide a one-off treatment, potentially lasting decades. Major challenges including making the devices ultra low-power so that they function reliably deep inside the body. The idea of treating serious disease with electrical impulses is not completely new. Large-scale electrical devices have been used for years as heart pacemakers and, more recently, deep brain stimulation has been applied to treat Parkinson's disease and severe depression, while EnteroMedics last year won US approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite. Galvani, however, is taking electrical interventions to the micro level, using tiny implants to coax insulin from cells to treat diabetes, for example, or correct muscle imbalances in lung diseases. Galvani will initially employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians. The company will be chaired by Moncef Slaoui, GSK's vaccines head, who pioneered the drugmaker's drive into the bioelectronics field. Slaoui is retiring from GSK next March but will continue to steer Galvani after that date, a spokesman said. Galvani will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements, following the model of the group's majority-owned ViiV Healthcare business, which sells HIV medicines. A group of hedge funds, including Arrowgrass, Highbridge and Pine River, has sued in a London court over who should hold the losses on derivative contracts tied to bonds of auto parts maker Castex Technologies, The Financial Times reported on Monday. A Taliban attack on a hotel housing foreign contractors ended after all three Taliban fighters were killed, around seven hours after the assault began, police said. "The operation is over now. One policeman lost his life and three were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt," police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters. A massive Taliban truck bomb struck the hotel for foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. There was no immediate word on casualties from the powerful bombing, which occurred close to a military base next to Kabul's airport, and rattled windows several kilometres away. The attack on Northgate, a heavily guarded compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive. A three-day conference of Pakistan's envoys to key multilateral institutions and countries, including India, began here today to deliberate on a host of issues like the Kashmir situation, ties and relations with the US. Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz inaugurated the envoys' conference for discussing how to confront multiple challenges faced by the country. Nine envoys of Pakistan accredited to various capitals and multilateral institutions have been invited to participate in the third annual conference being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Aziz, in his address, said the envoys should focus on protecting the country's interests and project its point of view on vital issues of national importance. Details of his address were not immediately available. The situation in Kashmir will be discussed in the conference in addition to the current stalemate in ties with India, sources said. Other issues to be discussed, include Afghanistan, relations with the US and the progress on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that will provide access to China to the Arabian Sea. The upcoming SAARC summit and the issue of India's efforts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, disarmament affairs and terrorism was also expected to be discussed during the conference. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in statement that the Envoys' Conference is a regular feature in which Pakistan's representatives in various regions brief the government on important developments in their respective areas of accreditation and challenges and opportunities arising out of such developments. "The envoys also present their recommendations towards existing foreign policy with a view to review, adapt and recalibrate policy in accordance with the prevalent strategic, political and economic trends," he said. The envoys invited for the conference include Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani (Washington DC), Ambassador Masood Khalid (Beijing), High Commissioner Abdul Basit (New Delhi), Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi (UN) and Ambassador Qazi M Khalilullah (Moscow) among . Surprisingly, envoys to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have not been invited for the conference. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will preside over the concluding session of the conference during which he will be briefed on the outcome and he will share his foreign policy vision, Zakaria said. Syrian rebels launched an offensive aimed at breaking the government's siege of eastern Aleppo today, where the UN estimates some 300,000 people are trapped with dwindling food and medical supplies. As the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham faction announced the rebels' campaign, residents in the northern city's besieged opposition quarters burned tires to reduce visibility for fighter jets flying overhead, according to local activist Wissam Zarqa. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a network of local informants, said rebels and pro-government forces were clashing along several fronts on the outskirts of the divided city. Aleppo was Syria's largest city and its commercial capital before the war. Presumed Russian or government jets bombed neighbourhoods in the eastern side, the Observatory reported. Earlier in the day, helicopters dropped unguided barrel bombs on the opposition-controlled neighbourhood of Bustan al-Basha, it said. Government forces closed off the last route to the opposition holdout in early July, replicating siege tactics that it has employed with mixed results throughout the war. Opposition neighbourhoods in Homs, the country's third largest city, surrendered to the government control in 2014 after a two-year siege left residents at the brink of starvation. Other sieges have lasted until today, with devastating humanitarian consequences. The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. The Syrian and Russian militaries announced safe corridors for residents who wanted to leave the besieged area Thursday, but according to the Russian government, only 169 civilians had left by yesterday. Several rights groups have warned that it is illegal to deprive civilians of basic necessities, and that residents should not have to choose between leaving their homes or starving. In southern Syria, an airstrike on a hospital in an opposition-controlled town put the facility out of service today. The hospital in Jasem was targeted in one of several airstrikes to hit the town in Deraa province, located some 35 miles (57 kilo meters) south of Damascus, according to the Local Coordination Committees activist network. The group said six people were killed in the strikes, blaming them on the government. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the hospital strike killed a pharmacist and put the facility out of service. Didi Chuxing, the dominant ride-hailing service in China, said it will acquire Uber Technologies' operations in the country, ending a battle that cost the two companies billions as they competed for customers and drivers. Didi will buy Uber's brand, business and data in the country, the Chinese company said in a statement. Uber Technologies and Uber China's other shareholders, including search giant Baidu, will receive a 20 per cent economic stake in the combined company. Didi founder Cheng Wei and Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick will join each other's ... The has approved a $100 million credit from the Development Association (IDA) to support the Sri Lanka's economic reforms programme, officials said on Monday. "Sri Lanka has been making steady progress on economic reforms, with the government aiming to create one million new jobs through a reform package focused on improving the country's competitiveness, transparency and macroeconomic stability," the report quoted a statement by the as saying. A study, the Systematic Country Diagnostic, has highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to move from "a largely inward looking and public sector driven economy" to one that can unleash the potential of the private sector. The Sri Lanka competitiveness, transparency and fiscal sustainability Development Policy Financing (DPF), which is only the second DPF to Sri Lanka in a decade, aims to support the government's reform agenda by reducing obstacles to private sector competitiveness, establishing transparent and well managed public institutions and improving fiscal sustainability. "The breadth and depth of the actions implemented signal the comprehensive approach and commitment of the government to tackle difficult reforms aimed at making growth sustainable and creating jobs."said Francoise Clottes, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. "The specific actions in this DPF operation will help improve fiscal sustainability and create the fiscal space for delivery of public services, social spending and capital investment, which are integral to the country's competitiveness." The Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs will be responsible for overall implementation and coordination of the proposed operation. Other agencies involved include the Ministry of Development Strategies and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media, the Auditor General's Department, the Board of Investment and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This week the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill is to be introduced to the Rajya Sabha and Q1 results continue to come in. Next Tuesday, Raghuram Rajan will chair his last policy review at the Reserve Bank of India. That will end the series of major central bank meetings after Brexit. Last month, the Supreme Court passed a judgment quashing a tribunal order against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the matter of Opee Stock Link, an Ahmedabad-based operator. Over the next few weeks, the regulator would take steps to recover the disgorged illegal gains of about Rs 14 lakh from Opee and its director, Ashok Bagreecha. A Delhi Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sharad Chauhan, who has been arrested in connection with the alleged suicide of a woman party worker, and sent him to 14-day judicial custody. The AAP MLA from Narela, who was arrested on Saturday night, was earlier grilled by police in the case pertaining to alleged suicide of a party worker named Soni. Soni committed suicide on July 19, alleging harassment by fellow party worker Ramesh Bhardwaj, who allegedly asked her for sexual favours. The AAP, which has come under flak over this incident, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned his sanity while charging him with acting on pure 'vengeance' against the Delhi government. The Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court will on August 27 hear the investigating agency's plea seeking arrest warrants against Malaysian-based companies and individuals, accused in Aircel-Maxis case, and decide whether it has jurisdiction to hear this matter and issue warrants. The investigating agency moved to the Special CBI Court, saying the accused are not responding to the summons, adding all the formalities for summoning the Malaysian companies have been made. The summons are now pending with Malaysia's Attorney General. Former communication minister Dayanidhi Maran, his wife Kaveri Kalanithi, his brother Kalanithi Maran and four others had moved a Delhi court last month seeking bail in connection with the case. Special Judge O P Saini, earlier on July 11, adjourned the hearing after counsel for the Enforcement Directorate, N K Matta, sought time to file replies to their bail applications. While taking cognizance of the complaint in the case, the Judge had said that he was satisfied on perusal of the material on record and that there was enough material to proceed against the accused persons. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that two firms, South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) and Sun Direct TV Private Ltd. (SDTPL), had received Rs. 742.58 crore as "proceeds of crime" from Mauritius-based firms and that the two firms were then allegedly controlled by Kalanithi Maran. Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday submitted her resignation to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top brass asserting that the saffron party needs a fresh face in the state. Patel, who took charge as Gujarat's first woman chief minister after Narendra Modi took charge as the Prime Minister, citing age issues had in her Facebook post earlier urged the BJP to relieve her from the coveted post. Patel said that she had two months earlier sought to resign from the party to give "enough time to the new incumbent to prepare for important events like the upcoming 'Vibrant Gujarat Summit'. Her government was criticised for its handling of the outrage created by the public flogging of four Dalit men by self-styled cow protection groups. Taking a strong exception to Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh's remark that killing of Burhan Wani was an 'accident', the Janata Dal (United) on Monday said such statements reflected that BJP and PDP were not on the same page. "What Nirmal Singh and Mehbooba Mufti are both saying separately and each in a more confused manner than the other, actually reflects the state of BJP-PDP alliance. They are not on the same page. They are pulling in different directions, their priorities are different, their outlook is different. The biggest sufferer in this is the governance in a sensitive border state like Jammu and Kashmir," JD (U) leader Pawan Verma told ANI. After Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti stated that security forces were unaware about Burhan Wani's identity during the encounter in which he was neutralised, Nirmal Singh on Saturday said that it was an "accident". When asked about Wani's killing and the recent remarks made by certain leaders about it, Singh said the security forces had no prior information and the identification of bodies was done after the terrorists were killed. "Burhan Wani was a terrorist, a self-proclaimed, self-avowed terrorist. We do not need apologies about his elimination either fromt he BJP or from the PDP. There must be some limit to political opportunism," Verma told ANI. However, Singh later retracted from his remark and said he never called it an accident. "I never said that. I was asked a question by a correspondent if the state government had failed after Burhan Wani's killing, and I was only explaining that because it was a routine anti-terrorist operation, had security forces known, they would have taken better precautions" Singh told ANI here. The Congress on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not raising the issue of Dalit atrocities in his radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', adding that his silence over the Una incident reflected his support to it. "Una has been a horrific incident. It has shown the very dirty anti-schedule caste, anti-Dalit underbelly of the BJP. It shows its 'manovadi' nature and what it really is. It's surprising that the Prime Minister in 'Mann Ki Baat' did not even speak about all the horrific incidents that are happening in the past one month to a week," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI. Taking a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for being a 'great pass master in quoting Sanskrit', Dikshit quoted a Sanskrit phrase back to the Prime Minister. "Probably, I think the Prime Minister supports what happened in Una. There is a statement in Sanskrit that says 'Maunam Sammati Lakshanam'. By keeping quiet, you are actually supporting what happened there. The BJP seems to be a great pass master in quoting Sanskrit all the time. I am quoting back to the Prime Minister and saying that perhaps you were happy with what happened in Una," he added. Reacting on the resignation of BJP's Dalit leader Babu Pandvadra, Dikshit termed the whole episode as a 'drama' "I would like to ask that why these MPs are now realising all this? Did they not know which party are they joining? Initially they just wanted to become MLA, at that the greed for the post mattered. I do not consider this protest seriously. All of it is a drama," he added. Aggrieved by his own party's inability to help get justice for Dalit atrocity victims, Pandvadra resigned from the primary membership of BJP along with his 200 supporters yesterday. The BJP has been facing heat over the flogging of Dalit community members in Gujarat's Una on July 11 for alleged cow slaughter, a state where the saffron party is in power. Deal32.com, a one-of-a-kind online dental e-commerce marketplace for dental doctors, students, and vendors, has announced the commencement of activities through a press meet this week. Deal32.com is the ideal one-stop place for dental doctors and students to obtain the highest quality comprehensive range of dental supplies from the comfort of their practice, university, or from their home. Deal32.com, a one-stop shop for all favorite dental supplies, takes this gratifying opportunity to announce the launch of the online dental platform, where the best dental products from the widest range of brands can be extensively found at affordable prices. Deal32.com is a unique e-commerce platform as it serves as a hub for well-established offline dental stores across India. The vendors and dental stores, an integrated part of Deal32.com have earned trust from dental doctors from past many decades. Each of these retail vendors will have their online store on Deal32.com. Dental physicians and students can now purchase from any of these stores with the click of a button. This platform will allow dental doctors to maintain their existing relationships with providers while still benefiting from the comfort of online purchasing. "The dental doctors and the students who will be purchasing from this website will be ensured of the best quality dental equipment and instruments," said the PR manager of Deal32.com. "This online dental e-commerce center is the first of its kind because it administers several vendors from different cities of India, where the vendors will have their very own stores. Vendors can showcase their genuine products and equipment to the dental doctors on their stores," he added. Thousands of genuine products from over 100 companies are available through the e-commerce platform, catering to everything a dental doctor needs to run a dental practice. All equipment is thoroughly tested to meet the highest standards before being shipped, so you can shop safely in the knowledge that you're getting only the best possible products at affordable prices. "We are delighted to launch our new online dental e-commerce store that will now smoothly enable the busy dental doctors and the aspiring dental students to make purchases of the required dental supplies with 100 percent confidence at online comfort marketing head of Deal32, was quoted as saying in the press conference. He further added, "We are passionate about dentistry and entirely focused on providing the dental community with better pricing, superior customer service, and supplying top quality dental products directly to your doorstep." The website will be selling dental materials, consumables, instruments and equipment of all the major brands. Further, it also provides webinars, equipment demonstration videos, expert training, and other dental education materials to ensure doctors get the most out of the purchases and the practice. The recent victory for the ruling Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) is being publicly projected as the result of alleged "bad governance and corruption" by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led regime. However, according to an article published in the Dawn, bad governance or corruption were not the only reasons for the PPP's electoral loss, as people were also upset with the interference of PPP's central leaders in affairs of the region. The article states that it was an open secret that the strings of the government in Muzaffarabad were being pulled by people in Islamabad and Karachi. PoK's ex-chief minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed was the chief executive in name, and the shots were called by former Pak president Asif Ali Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur. And to further complicate the situation, the authority on her behalf was exercised by Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz, who was one of the caretakers of Zardari House in Islamabad. In an attempt to provide him the fig leaf of law, he was also appointed as the adviser to former Chief Minister Majeed with the status of minister in December 2013. However, Riaz never attended his office in Muzaffarabad and instead opted to sit in Islamabad's Kashmir House where he took decisions on PoK affairs. Such was his influence with Talpur, that senior officials would fawn on him for postings of their choice. "Yes, I knew that every summary about postings and transfers would be first sent to Mr. Riaz for getting approval from Ms Talpur and only then the prime minister would give his assent," said one official privy to the wheeling and dealing of the past five years. Apart from that, members of the cabinet, PPP cadres had also developed "direct links" with PPP leaders holding important official positions in Islamabad, mostly on the strength of Biradri (community) to dictate terms to former Chief Minister Majeed. However, not much change is expected in the situation, as unfortunately, the PML-N, seems to be no better in terms of being a political alternative. It appears to be following the same decisions made somewhere else and conveyed to Muzaffarabad for implementation, which made the PPP unpopular. The PML-N workers were stunned when Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani, a special assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, tweeted: "It (appointment of PoK PM) is our internal party matter and we will announce it at an appropriate time." When the newly-elected legislators of the PML-N held their first informal meeting in Muzaffarabad to draw names for the eight special seats in AJK Assembly which include, five seats reserved for women and one each for technocrats, religious scholars and overseas Kashmiris, the party's parliamentary group was shocked as the list smelled of favouritism. The six names included Sehrish Qamar, Nasira Azeem and Nasima Wani for the three seats of women, and Jamaat-i-Islami's AJK chief Abdul Rashid Turabi, Pir Ali Raza Bukhari and Raja Javed for the seats for technocrats, religious scholars and overseas Kashmiris, respectively. The name for one woman seat was left to the parliamentary party's discretion. Qamar is the daughter of Nawaz Sharif's personal assistant, who hails from AJK; Azeem, is an office-bearer in the PPP government who joined the PML-N just three months ago; and Wani is the wife of an Islamabad-based leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. The local PML-N workers, are also simmering with resentment and their anger is directed at Dr Kirmani as they believe that he is trying to reprise the role played by Faryal Talpur for the PPP. Analyst Arif Bahar says that there should be no middlemen between Prime Minister Sharif and his regional chief because the go-betweens usually create misunderstandings and problems for their vested interests. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday asked for a report from the Samajwadi Party led Uttar Pradesh Government on the Bulandshahr gang-rape case. A fast track court in Bulandshahr had earlier in the day sent the three accused, arrested in connection with the brutal gang-rape of a woman and her daughter, to 14-day judicial custody. "Raisuddin, Savesh and Jawar Singh have been sent to 14-day judicial custody. The Sections that have been imposed are 385, 397, 376 D, 342 of the Indian Penal Code and four POCSO rules," Additional District Government Council Navneet Sharma told ANI. Under attack from the opposition parties over sliding law and order situation in the state, the Samajwadi Party Government yesterday suspended Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishan for dereliction of duty. Six others, including Superintendent of Police (city) Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer (Sadar) Himanshu Gaurav and SHO Ramsen Singh of Kotwali Dehat, were also suspended. The Chief Minister had set a 24-hour deadline for the force to nab the culprits. Following the Chief Minister's order to top officials to visit Bulandshahr and meet the survivors and take first-hand stock of police action into the matter, Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmad and Principal Secretary (home) Debasish Panda visited the district yesterday and held closed-door meetings with the concerned officials. Three men have been arrested in connection with this case. According to reports, a case of rape, illegal confinement, robbery and dacoity under the provisions of the prevention of children from sexual offences act has been registered against them. The incident took place earlier on Friday night when a 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were allegedly gang-raped by a group of robbers in Bulandshahr district. The victims were on their way from Noida to Shahjahanpur with the other family members when their vehicle was stopped near a cycle repairing shop in Dostpur village on NH-9, which connects Noida and Bulandshahr. According to one of the relatives of the victims, a group of six to eight men dragged the mother-daughter duo from the vehicle and took them to the nearby field and allegedly raped them. The culprits also snatched money and jewellery from the possession of the victims and fled the scene of crime. A Central fact-finding team will visit Nagada tribal-dominated village in Jajpur district of Odisha today following the death of at least 19 children due to malnutrition. The five-member team of the Union Health Ministry would visit the village under Sukinda block to interact with the residents before having a review meeting with the Jajpur district administration and other government officials. Meanwhile, the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the State government to submit a report on the situation in the village, predominantly inhabited by people of the primitive Juang tribe, in 10 days. Besides 19 children's death in the mineral-rich area, 24 infants in two villages of Nagada and Guhiasal located on the hilltop are undergoing treatment at local health centres. Downplaying Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's threat of nationwide protest in Pakistan during Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to attend the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers meeting, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday put the ball in Islamabad's court and said it is for the Asian neighbour to take note of security issues. "The Home Minister is going to Pakistan for a multi-lateral meeting, not for any bilateral talks. It is a meeting of the Home Ministers of SAARC members. If any security issue arises, it's Pakistan's responsibility to deal with it," he told the media here. "Terrorism will figure in the talks," he added. Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan if Singh arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC conference. Ahead of his visit to Pakistan for the SAARC meeting, the Home Minister earlier in the day chaired a high-level meeting here. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Dineshwar Sharma and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Rajinder Khanna were also present in the meeting. At the 13th SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in November 2005, the Heads of State decided that the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers would meet annually preceded by a meeting of the Interior/Home Secretaries to strengthen cooperation in the area of counterterrorism, which they agreed was a challenge to all states and a threat to humanity, and could not be justified on any grounds. Attempting to corner Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for his comments that those who speak against the nation should be punished, an indirect reference to actor Aamir Khan, the Congress Party on Monday said the former is in a way trying to expose the BJP and RSS with his irresponsible statements. Congress leader Meem Afzal asked Parrikar to focus his attention on the incidents taking place at the border rather than joining the list of BJP leaders trying to divide the nation on communal lines. "Manohar Parrikar must not include himself among the leaders of the BJP who were involved in separating the nation. He is not talking against Aamir Khan, but he is imposing his mentality on others. The people understand what is trying to say. I think he should focus more on his work," Afzal told ANI here. "Today we are in danger with China, with Pakistan, border security is his responsibility... So, he should not give such irresponsible statements which show that he is trying to expose the RSS and BJP," he added. After drawn flak from the opposition for suggesting that Aamir should be "taught a lesson" for his comments on intolerance last year, Parrikar yesterday clarified that his comment was not pointed out at anyone. "I'm just saying that we should mount pressure, verbally condemn people who speak against nation," Parrikar told ANI clearing his earlier statement. Adding that he does not need to name anyone specifically, he said that everyone can understand what is in benefit for the country. The Defence Minister had earlier on Saturday said that those who speak ill of India need to be taught a lesson. "People have shown their power, an actor made this mistake, said his wife wants to go and stay in a foreign country. That was an arrogant statement," Parrikar said while speaking at a book launch function in Pune. He added that "an online trading company" the actor was associated with "was "taught a lesson" as well. The Supreme Court on Monday will hear Tamil Nadu government's plea seeking review of its judgment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case in which it was ruled that the Centre has 'primacy over states' right to grant remission. The judgment, pronounced by constitution bench on December 3, 2015, had virtually closed the seven convicts' chances for a premature release. The Court had ruled that consultation with the Centre in such heinous cases should not be an "empty formality" as interest is at stake. On February 20, 2014 the apex court had stayed the Tamil Nadu government's decision to release three convicts -Murugan, Santhan and Arivu, whose death sentence had been commuted to life term by it two days before. Later, the top court had also stayed the release of four other convicts -- Nalini, Robert Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran, saying there were procedural lapses on part of the state government. Anger is mounting high in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmiri (PoK) over both Pakistan and China exploiting their resources in a reckless manner for selfish economic gain. The residents are strongly opposing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it has failed to provide any tangible benefits for them. China is investing over 40 billion dollars for its ambitious 3,000-km-long economic corridor that will link western China to southern Pakistan through a network of roads, railway lines and pipelines. The project is being touted as bringing about a spectacular socio-economic change in the region, but alienated residents currently feel that both China and Pakistan are past masters in lies and deceit, as before firming up the project, all stakeholders were not consulted. "People want that at least they should be informed about the project, be taken into confidence so that they get to know what all benefits they will get from this project. We fear that this should not happen as if we sit idle and only count the number of trucks coming from China side and not benefit even a bit," said Abdul Rehman Bukhari. Pakistan, which suffers from a huge power crisis, draws its electricity mostly from Gilgit Baltistan, but ironically none of the power projects have presence in the region - thus depriving Gilgit of potential royalties. Activists and locals have raised concerns that CPEC project will create a huge ecological imbalance. Locals are dejected as presence of Chinese workers in the region has left them without jobs. The CPEC is being seen as a sheer attempt to exploit the resource-rich region. "They are constructing 60 economic zones as per the CPEC project, but none of these zones exist in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. The CPEC will pass through these areas, but they are only constructing an army headquarter in Diamer for the security of the corridor. But out of 40 million USD to be spent on the project, there is no investment in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir," said Mohd Naeem Khan, leader of the Kashmir National Party. China has its economic interest in disputed Gilgit Baltistan and region. It is engaged in construction, ranging from dams, highways and ports. There is a growing resentment among locals over China's presence in the region. To fulfill the requirements of the project, the government and the army are forcibly acquiring the ancestral land of the locals in Gilgit Baltistan. Senge H. Sering, Director, Gilgit Baltistan National Congress, said: "When Pakistan Army was constructing Karakoram highway along with China, no compensation was given to affected people. No lose assessment was made. Now, the land acquirement for the CPEC project is being done forcibly. The ancestral land of the people cannot be acquired without paying them compensation and earning their consent. But, the Gilgit Baltistan government and Pakistan Army are forcibly acquiring the ancestral land of the people." In an effort to provide legal cover to the multi-billion dollar Chinese investments, Pakistan is even considering elevating the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan. However, the local population is completely against it. Gilgit-Baltistan region was illegally acquired by Pakistan in 1947. Since then the beleaguered region has suffered badly as the administration has failed miserably to provide basic facilities to the local population. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered as many as six former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, to vacate their government bungalows within two months. The other ex-chief ministers, who have been issued orders in this regard, are Narendra Tiwari, Ram Naresh Yadav, Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh. The apex court held that the former chief ministers were not entitled to government accommodations. The petition was filed by Lucknow-based NGO 'Lok Prahari'. Lok Prahari's general secretary Satya Narain Shukla, a retired civil servant with a background in law, argued the case on behalf of the NGO. The petition prayed against the allotment of government bungalows to the former chief ministers and other non-eligible organisations. The respondents in the case included both Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territories of India besides others. Besides the six former chief ministers, some organisations and trusts, whom the petitioner had alleged as undeserving of government accommodations, were also arraigned as respondents. The Centre was asked to assist the apex court regarding the rules framed by it with regard to allotment of accommodation. "The Supreme Court ordered to vacate government accommodations within two months. It will reinforce people's trust on the judiciary. It is a very important decision for the people of Uttar Pradesh as well as for the people of other states," petitioner S.N. Shukla told ANI. He expressed hope that Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which have been following the same custom, won't continue it after the apex court's order. In wake of the recent issue of bifurcation of Maharashtra, the Yuva Sena on Monday expressed hope that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reassures the people about the unity of the state for development. "The people of the state gave this government its strength to rule for development of all regions equally, not to dissect the state. I hope the Chief Minister reassures the people of this state that elected his government on the unity of Maharashtra for development," Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray said in a tweet. Thackeray asserted the demand for the division of Maharashtra only embarrasses the government on its capacity to develop the state. "A bill on division of Maharashtra by someone, who is part of government both at the Centre and state, doubts the capacity of the governments to govern well. The demand for division of Maharashtra by a member of governing party only embarrasses the state government on its capacity to develop the state," he added. The Shiv Sena disrupted the proceedings of the Maharashtra Assembly twice earlier today in protest against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nana Patole's Private Member's Bill in favour of statehood for Vidarbha in Parliament last week. Fadnavis today said the issue of carving out a separate state for Vidarbha was currently not under the government's consideration, adding that it was committed to Vidarbha's development. In a major relief for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected the petition against his discharge in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. The petition filed by social activist Harsh Mander had sought quashing of the December 30, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. During the hearing, the Apex Court said that Harsh Mandar has no locus to challenge Shah's discharge. Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibbal appearing for Harsh argued that in the matters concerning to public interest like this one, an individual can be an intervener. Appearing for Shah, Solicitor General Harish Salve cited many judges by the top before the bench that a third party cannot intervene in a criminal case. The CBI had files a chargesheet against now, and now with the Supreme Court's ruling, the BJP Chief gets discharged. In 2014, Shah was found innocent of charges that he ordered the "fake encounter" that led to Sohrabuddin Sheikh being shot dead in 2005 by the police which reported to him as Home Minister of Gujarat. Earlier Mander had approached the High Court against the sessions court order but his petition was dismissed in March this year, following which, he approached the SC challenging the order. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also allegedly killed by the police in 2006. After Varun Dhawan, his co-star John Abraham expressed disagreement over banning their latest outing 'Dishoom' in Pakistan. According to the 43-year-old actor, who portrays cop Kabir Shergill, there is no point behind the ban. "I have told it even earlier that this film is not anti-Pakistan. Our antagonist in the film 'Wagah' is not someone from India or Pakistan. We have clearly said that in the film. So I don't think there's any point to ban the movie in Pakistan," he told media here yesterday. Varun, who is seen playing Junaid Ansari, took to Twitter on Saturday to post, "Really upset that 'Dishoom' is banned in Pakistan. I don't think the film eventually shows any country in a bad light. It's a wrong decision." The movie, which is getting a good response in the nation due to its masala-content, is about abduction of India's top batsman Viraj before Indo-Pak match and two police officials from either side of the Arabian Sea team up for a 36-hour manhunt. The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday unanimously passed the special privilege motion to rename the Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. The Tamil Nadu Government stressed that the Centre should not change the Madras High Court as Chennai High court but as Tamil High court. The state government emphasized that calling it as Chennai High Court would be inappropriate. All opposition parties, including the DMK and Congress, welcomed the special privilege motion and supported the motion. The Government of India introduced 'The High Courts' (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in the Lok Sabha earlier on July 19 in order to rename the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. As per this Bill, the High Court of Madras from the appointed day shall be known as the High Court of Chennai. Based on overwhelming public opinion in Tamil Nadu, the proposed change of name was debated in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. After a detailed discussion, the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution today to call upon the Government of India to move necessary amendments to the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha so as to rename the High Court of Madras as the High Court of Tamil Nadu for the reasons outlined in the resolution. "The text of Resolution passed unanimously in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly today is appended. I request the Government of India to take immediate further action on the basis of the Resolution," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Allotment made at Rs 219 per share Dilip Buildcon (DBL) has raised Rs 196.19 crore from allotment of 89.58 lakh shares to a slew of anchor investors. Shares have been allotted to anchor investors at Rs 219 per share - the top end of the Rs 214-219 per share price band for the company's initial public offer (IPO). The IPO opened for bidding today, 1 August 2016. The bidding for the IPO concludes on Wednesday, 3 August 2016. Among the anchor investors, Smallcap World Fund, Inc was allotted 20.33 lakh shares constituting 22.7% of the total allocation to anchor investors. Among other anchor investors, American Funds Insurance Series Global Small Capitalization Fund was allocated 7.06 lakh shares, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - Behave was allotted 11.87 lakh shares, PGGM World Equity II B.V. was allocated 5.93 lakh shares, HDFC Mutual Fund was allotted a total of 27.36 lakh shares under various schemes, Grandeur Peak Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund was allotted 4.56 lakh shares, East Bridge Capital Master Fund was allocated 3.15 lakh shares, Nomura Singapore was allotted 3.65 lakh shares, DB International (Asia) was allotted 3.15 lakh shares and IDFC Infrastructure Fund was allotted 2.46 lakh shares. DBL's IPO comprises of fresh offer of Rs 430 crore. In addition to this, there is an offer for sale (OFS) of 1.02 crore shares comprising of promoters and group of private investors. DBL is one of the leading road-focused engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors in India with nearly 83% of total revenue of FY 2016 coming from execution of road focused EPC contracts in India. As of 31 March 2016, the company has an order book of Rs 10800 crore. The government contracts account for 76.27% of the total order book as on 31 March 2016. The businesses of the company are spread across 2 major segments viz. the construction segment and infrastructure development. The company intends to utilise the proceeds from the fresh offer of Rs 430 crore towards repayment of term loans of around Rs 203.60 crore, Rs 200 crore towards working capital and rest for general corporate purpose. DBL's consolidated net profit rose 124% to Rs 196.60 crore on 56% growth in net sales to Rs 4315.40 crore in the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016) over the year ended 31 March 2015 (FY 2015). Powered by Capital Market - Live News Maruti Suzuki India rose 2.13% to Rs 4,856.70 at 10:43 IST on BSE after the company reported 12.7% growth in total sales to 1.37 lakh units in July 2016 over July 2015. The announcement was made during market hours today, 1 August 2016. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 208.12 points, or 0.74%, to 28,259.98. On BSE, so far 34,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average daily volume of 75,142 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 4,871 so far during the day, which is a record high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 4,775.60 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 3,202.10 on 29 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 29 July 2016, rising 15.16% compared with 4.9% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 25.30% as against the Sensex's 9.55% rise. The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 151.04 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. Maruti's domestic sales rose 13.9% to 1.25 lakh units in July 2016 over July 2015. This is the company's record monthly sales in the domestic market. The company's exports rose 0.3% to 11,338 units in July 2016 over July 2015. Maruti's net profit rose 23% to Rs 1486.20 crore on 12.1% rise in net sales to Rs 14654.50 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. Maruti is India's biggest car maker in terms of market share. Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation currently holds 56.21% stake in Maruti (as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 June 2016). Powered by Capital Market - Live News On 11 August 2016 Time Technoplast will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 11 August 2016, to consider and take on record, the Un-audited Financial Results for the quarter ended 30 June 2016. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Banks need to put in place preventive measures such as appropriate controls framework around the systems, reconciliation of transactions in on real / near real time basis, controls over the message creation and transmission, applying timely security patches to the interfaces, if any, close monitoring of transactions and disabling USB, and Internet access on the connected nodes, said Mr R Gandhi, Deputy Governor RBI at an ASSOCHAM event. Equally important is the timely detective measures. It is pertinent to prepare ourselves to face such incidents, by having a robust crisis management plan. I am sure the banks are taking earnest steps to comply with the provisions of the circular as soon as possible, said Mr Gandhi while inaugurating '9th annual summit on cyber & network security,' organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Information dissemination is a key facilitator in combating the menace of cyber related incidents. While the Reserve Bank obtains information from banks on cyber incidents, including those which did not fructify into loss of money or information, such information is also shared amongst the banks along with suggestions aimed at best practices. The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) also has a system to collate such information and share the generic aspects amongst the CISOs of banks. All these, I am sure will help the banks in further enhancing their cyber security related capabilities, said RBI Deputy Governor. The banking sector - similar to other sectors of the Indian economy has always been very responsive to change and has adapted itself very well to meet the challenges which keep emerging frequently. It has also proved that it cannot only adapt well but also quickly so that response times are fast to prevent recurrence of negative incidents. The same fervour, I am sure, will be witnessed in the area of cyber security as well and will leave a mark of confidence in the minds of the customers of banks. This will ensure that banks provide for a safe and secure processing environment when the depositor's money is safe and where all other customers can conduct their banking transactions safely and securely, added Deputy Governor RBI. The recent developments in banking as also payment and settlement systems have resulted in enhanced customer comfort and flexibility in terms of timing, location and choice of channels. These, however, also expose the customers as well as banks to risk of cyber-attacks. While the banks have better resilience in terms of risk mitigation structures and ability to absorb the losses and expenses, the customers may not be so privileged, said Deputy Governor RBI. A relatively small value fraud of a few thousands of rupees may endanger the purchase of basic needs and most customer may be ill-equipped to effectively handle the security features provided with the service. We have also heard of instances, elsewhere in the world, of even as small a value of one penny being robbed off every transaction, misusing the ICT capabilities, which have also resulted in loss of enormous amount of money. While it is recognised that the customer has to protect himself against disclosure of sensitive passwords, PINs etc., they may only have limited ability to distinguish between the genuine customer service calls and fraudulent operators. Cyber criminals and the attacks they launch on financial sector and its users come with different faces. There are organised criminals who are looking to attack the financial institutions, with a view to siphon away funds, illegally. Then there are those who steal confidential data from financial institutions which may also include customer related information. The latter are more interested in ex-filtration of data, though no loss happens immediately. These stolen data then land in the hands of petty criminals, who defraud the banks directly or by enticing the customers to share more information such as passwords and pins where after actual loss takes place, said Mr. Gandhi. A variation of these attacks is to masquerade as bank officials and extract information from customers, based on random calls to phone numbers obtained from various sources, or even by blind trials which result in at least a few attempts resulting in success. There are other cyber criminals who steal money by putting through fraudulent transactions, or changing the particulars, so that they are able to take large sums away and vanish. In such cases, customer may not be directly contacted, but his particulars are taken through malware or other means. Recent incidents of this type have set the alarm bells ringing. I would like to draw your attention to the recent cyber incident reported by one of our banks, which I am sure all of you would have seen, particularly when similar incident at a central bank in the neighbourhood is still fresh in our memory. Yet another vicious cyber-attack, which we really tread is what is categorised as cyber warfare; this is expected to be of organised attacks, sometimes by backing of large terrorist organisations and often with covert state sponsorship, made against enemy country information assets. The strategy to build preventive and detective defences depends on the specific link in the asset that one is trying to protect. The ecosystem for financial transaction not only includes banks and their customers, but also network service providers, IT infrastructure providers, providers of managed services such as data centres, software developers, providers of security solutions and providers of the end-point device which is used for accessing the financial service, including the ATMs which may or may not be bank-owned / managed devices. The devices which are used to provide the entire ecosystem produce huge quantity of information and activity logs, which contain crucial information which can throw light on potential attacks, even before the attack takes place. However, the humungous quantity of log data renders it impossible to analyse using conventional outlier detections. Conventional techniques result in considerable false alarms and restrict genuine activity, causing inconvenience and also creating mistrust among the users about the security products and techniques, highlighted Mr. Gandhi. Therefore, the focus has now been shifting to techniques which are not rule based, but having ability to identify the normal activity patterns and detect the anomalous and potentially harmful activity. Needless to say, these involve machine learning and soft computing techniques. Application of these techniques is expected to generate better hit-rate in terms of identifying threats, without generating high level of false alarms. As each alarm requires response and is resource intensive in terms of time, money and manpower, the ability of the expert systems to distinguish the malicious behaviour from and casual digressions from the normal activity pattern will determine the value of these tools in the security infrastructure, mentioned Mr. Gandhi. In addition to the tools, the most important component of the critical infrastructure protection is the skills, experience and alertness of the manpower deployed in this activity. The skill sets required for security are getting diversified from conventional IT 6 skills to investigative skills of criminal investigator, data scientists having ability to deal with huge data requirements and with innovative minds to stay one step ahead of the cyber-criminal. As the strength of overall security is only as much as the strength of its individual components, it is necessary that all the stakeholders have to work hand in hand to address the threat to the information systems. The forums such as this provide great opportunity to interact and understand the role that each one of us has to play and to also ensure that our actions and plans are complementary and not at cross purposes. Cyber Security Preparedness - Five Commandments for safety in banking In terms of providing a comprehensive framework for IT implementation, we at Reserve Bank have been proactive and follow an approach of consultation and congruence in the security framework. Right from the early days when RBI provided guidance on computerisation, we have been conscious of the role that IT plays in meeting the emerging customer needs and the opportunities and challenges of using technology, including cyber related aspects. The Reserve Bank has recently issued on June 2, 2016 a comprehensive set of guidelines for Cyber Security framework in banks. These guidelines built over the earlier work emphasise the importance of having a focussed attention to cyber threats and framework for mitigating the threats and to protect the information assets. "I would like to redraw your attention to the recent cyber incident at one of our banks. Apparently there has been no monetary loss in the recent incident. But it is too early to conclude what and how of the incident at this juncture; however, the need for vigil over the sensitive systems like remittances is once again brought to the fore, with particular focus on configuration of the systems and the human aspects in managing the systems". Powered by Capital Market - Live News On 13 August 2016 Vivimed Labs will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 13 August 2016, to consider and approve the unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter ended 30 June 2016. Powered by Capital Market - Live News At least 11 soldiers who belonged to the group that stormed the hotel where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staying during the failed coup attempt on July 15, were arrested by police on Monday. At least nine soldiers surrendered while two were arrested later. Only one soldier from the group was on the run now, EFE news reported. The soldiers were found in an operation in the Aegean coast in a forest about 20 km northeast of Marmaris, the seaside resort where Erdogan was staying when the coup attempt took place. A neighbour discovered the group of soldiers while hunting wild boar and alerted the police who deployed an operation with helicopters and thermal cameras, reported CNNTurk. A senior government official said it was known that the command was composed of 12 soldiers, so one of them remains a fugitive. The group on July 16 morning stormed a hotel in Marmaris where, according to the president, he had left "15 minutes earlier". --IANS py/vt Nearly 80 per cent of expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where six major fire accidents occurred in the past one year, are not insured against fire damage. "We estimate that almost 80 per cent of expats are not protected and that is a frightening statistic," Xinhua news agency quoted financial planner Hamzah Shalchi, Regional Manager at Guardian Wealth Management, as saying in a statement. It is necessary for the local residents to purchase property and life insurance against tragic accidents such as fire, he said. On July 20, the 75-storey high Sufala Tower in Dubai caught fire in the lower levels of the building, the third tower blaze in the Gulf state in 2016. "In home countries, this type of insurance is often mandatory or automatic, but in this region it is often not thought about and people aren't always sure how to go about it. In reality, it is a simple process and there are a number of insurance providers," said Shalchi. "If something were to happen to the main breadwinner of the family and there was no life insurance in place, the consequences could be serious," he added. --IANS ksk Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has called upon the BJP leadership to "relieve" her from her present responsibilities in keeping with the "party's laudable tradition" of leaders who turn 75 vacating their posts. In a Facebook post in Gujarati on Monday, Patel says: "I turn 75 in November but I would request the leadership to relieve me now to allow more time to the new incumbent." Patel said the State government's ambitious biennial Vibrant Gujarat meet this year-end and the crucial state assembly elections fall next year. She said, "The new Chief Minister will thus have adequate time to prepare for these important events." --IANS desai/rn/vm The government has given assistance of Rs 6,403 crore to Andhra Pradesh since the enactment of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 to March 31, 2016, parliament was informed on Monday. "Having considered resources available with the Union Government within gross budgetary support (GBS), since the enactment of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 up to March 31, 2016, central assistance of Rs 6,403 crore has been provided to Andhra Pradesh under various provisions of the Act," Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The provisions made under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 does not specify the quantum of the financial assistance to be provided to the states after bifurcation, he added. The AP Reorganization Act, 2014 provided for a special development package for the backward regions of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, in particular for the districts of Rayalaseema (four districts) and North Coastal area (three districts). Andhra Pradesh had in 2014 requested the central government for providing the special development package to the seven districts of the state, severely hit by revenue deficit. The 14th Finance Commission also recognised that Andhra Pradesh is revenue deficit state. As per the assessment made by the Commission, Andhra Pradesh is set to receive post devolution revenue deficit grant of Rs 22,112 crore over its award period (2015-2020), he said. The central government had advised the state to revise the proposal, following which a comprehensive proposal for Rs 24,350 crore was submitted to the NITI Aayog on January 6, 2016, Singh added. --IANS mm/vd The Bihar assembly on Monday passed a new Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016, which has stringent provisions for ensuring a total ban on consumption of liquor in the state. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party dubbed it a "black law" and a "draconian" measure. The party legislators introduced a series of amendments but all were defeated by a voice vote in the assembly during discussion. In the face of the BJP opposition, the ruling Grand Alliance of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress supported the bill. Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to the BJP and its allies to support the draft legislation in the assembly as they had backed total prohibition in the budget session in early April. But the BJP and its allies opposed the bill in the assembly on Monday. Nitish Kumar, during his reply to the discussion on the new bill in the assembly, said the new legislation was not draconian but framed after much deliberations to effectively implement the liquor ban in Bihar. The Chief Minister said the new legislation was required to plug gaping holes in the previous act that facilitated the liquor ban in the state with effect from from April 1. --IANS ik/tsb/vt Three suspects, arrested in the sensational Bulandshahr gang rape case, were produced before a court here which sent them to 14 days judicial custody and a hunt was on for the other accused, police said on Monday, even as the victims narrated their night of horror and the "unhelpful attitude" of police. The three suspects were identified as Shawed, a resident of Dehpa, Hapur, Rahees, a resident of Sutari, Bulandshahr and Jabar Singh, a resident of Noida. "We are in hunt of other criminals whom the criminals, during interrogation, revealed their role," said Deputy Inspector General of Police, Meerut, Laxmi Singh. The sensational crime, that has sparked off attacks on the state's Akhilesh Yadav government on the law and order situation, occurred near Dastampur village on Highway-91 (Delhi-Kanpur) on Saturday night, when a gang of eight criminals stopped the car in which a family from Ghaziabad's Khoda locality to their village for some rituals following a death, robbed them and raped a woman and her daughter. The criminals employed a unique ruse to stop the car, creating an obstacle that made it seem the car had a defect, and when the driver stopped to check, the gang members burst out and held the family at gun-point. While one of the eight criminals put the pistol at the driver's head and took the all male members to a sugarcane field where they were kept restrained, the other accomplices took the two women - a 39-year-old and her 13-year-old daughter - to the other side and gang raped them. The distraught father said his daughter kept crying out for help and repeating his name but he could do nothing, since he was being held at gun point. They victims saw a police patrol vehicle pass through the highway but could not shout for help due to the presence of the armed criminals. The victims phoned police on the 100 number four times but got no response, and finally phoned their friend in Noida who contacted Bulandshahr's Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna and provided his number to them. They got through to him and told him the sordid story, but it still took half-an-hour before a police team reached the spot. The victims told this reporter they walked to the police station after covering over 5 to 6 km but police's response remained apathetic. The women were not given a proper medical treatment and there was no provision of counsellors. Police remained unhelpful throughout the entire process of legal formalities, added one of victims. Next day when the news was flashed in the media, Director General of Police Javed Ahmad and Principal Secretary, Home Devashish Panda rushed the crime spot and started a damage control measures. Subsequently, police had face the wrath of the public which tried to assault the criminals. In a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi-led central government over the attacks on Dalits in Gujarat by cow protection vigilantes, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused it of not even sparing the Hindu community and isolating them. She also slammed the Centre over a students' scholarship portal not being functional for a year, and accused it of not being serious about giving scholarship money to minority students. "The only thing you (the Centre) do is propagate fundamentalism, do ads and cow census. They are just dividing people. Sometimes there are attacks on Dalits, sometimes on Christians, sometimes on Muslims," Banerjee said in her address at a programme on minority development. "They don't even spare the Hindu community from attacks. They isolate the Hindu community more. I am saying as a Hindu that we don't want this anymore. We want to walk together with all," she said. Stressing on equality of religions, the Trinamool Congress supremo flayed the Centre for failing to rectify technical problems in a portal that deals with scholarships for students, including from the minority community. "When I went to Delhi last week I told the Prime Minister that students are being deprived due to technical problems with the scholarship portal. The Centre has created a portal where applications aren't getting submitted. It is not working since a year. If the portal is not working then why should our students suffer. Either they can repair it or they are not giving the money to the minorities citing the breakdown of the portal as the reason. This is most unfortunate," she said. She also took pot shots at the Centre for the profusion of advertisements. "You do no work but advertisements run from day to night. So how come the portal breakdowns when you have to give scholarship to students. It's your responsibility to rectify the problem immediately," she pointed out. Alleging that the ruling BJP was instigating people via social media, Banerjee urged the minorities in Bengal to "not be provoked by the BJP". --IANS sgh/ssp/rn/vt China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Monday issued a red alert for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida approached the mainland. From Monday onwards, sea waves as high as 11 metres were expected in the northern South China Sea, while the southern Taiwan Strait was forecast to witness waves as high as seven metres, Xinhua news agency reported. The SOA also issued a red alert for storm tides and estimated that the sea level off the Pearl River estuary will rise by up to 220 cm. The China National Commission for Disaster Reduction has asked people in the forecast path of the typhoon to stock up on three days of daily essentials adding that emergency mechanisms for disaster relief will be activated if necessary. Typhoon Nida is expected to approach Guangdong province on Tuesday, probably around the Pearl River Delta. China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue. --IANS sm/py/dg Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Monday kicked off a three-day conference of its envoys based in various countries, including India. The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Apart from High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit, Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani, Ambassador to China Masood Khalid, UN (New York) Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, Ambassador to Austria Ayesha Riyaz, Ambassador to the European Union Naghmana Hashmi, Ambassador to Afghanistan Abrar Hussain, Ambassador to UN (Geneva) Tehmina Janjua and Ambassador to Russia Qazi Khalilullah are among the participants. According to a statement from the foreign office, Sharif will express his vision for regional and global peace during the meeting. The Envoys' Conference is a regular feature in which Pakistan's representatives in various regions brief the government on important developments in their areas of accreditation, and challenges and opportunities arising out of such developments, it said. Last year's Envoys' Conference focused on connectivity, and regional issues and developments. --IANS ahm/vt The AAP is confident of sweeping the Punjab assembly polls but is in no hurry to decide who will be its Chief Minister, a party leader in charge of the state said. Durgesh Pathak also said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was ready for any decision by a parliamentary panel on its MP, Bhagwant Mann, who is accused of breaching Parliament's security, a charge Mann has denied. Pathak, who has played a key role in building the party in Punjab, said he expected the AAP to win 95 to 105 of the 117 seats in the elections due early next year. "Of course any party will say it is winning," Pathak, 27, told IANS in an interview. "But I invite you to visit any place in Punjab and ask any 10 people who they will vote for. I bet seven will say AAP. "As of now, the Akalis and the Congress are far, far, far behind us," he said, referring to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress, the main opposition party. The BJP is a junior ally of the Akalis. Pathak, who said he had visited every nook and corner of Punjab in the last one year, debunked arguments that the Akalis still held sway in rural areas. "Of the 117 seats in Punjab, only 20 to 25 are urban seats in the real sense. So, if this argument is true, the AAP can't win. But the reality is different. We have support in both rural and urban areas." According to Pathak, the AAP won a quarter of the votes polled in Punjab in the 2014 Lok Sabha election which fetched it four seats - the only parliamentary victory it got anywhere in the country. "A winning party in an assembly battle will need about 35 per cent of votes. As of now in Punjab, we have acquired a support base of 53-54 per cent. No wonder, C Voter survey is giving us 102 seats as of today." The AAP's entry has made the coming Punjab election a triangular affair for the first time. Both the Akalis and the Congress admit their main foe is the AAP. Pathak said there were many reasons why the AAP had grown so rapidly in Punjab. He said a decade of Akali rule had badly hurt Punjab's economy, made corruption a way of life, led to nepotism as well as given birth to both 'goondagardi' and a drug culture that had mauled the young. "The voter is angry. People are hungry for good governance. And in such a scenario, our achievements in Delhi are seen positively. So the voter is looking to bring the AAP to power, not the Congress. "And we are seen as political activists who are honest and fearless," he added. Amid speculation that former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu could be the AAP's Chief Ministerial candidate in Punjab, Pathak said the AAP was in no hurry to project a potential CM. "We have not even thought about it. We have not even decided whether there needs to be a CM candidate ahead of the election. We will cross the bridge when we come to it." Does the AAP fear that Bhagwant Mann's membership of the Lok Sabha will be cancelled by the parliamentary panel probing his video recording of a section of parliament? Pathak, who is from Allahabad and who joined the India Against Corruption campaign of 2011 before embracing the AAP, said the Akalis, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had ganged up against Mann. "Mann has done no wrong. He only wanted to show how questions submitted for Zero Hour in Parliament are selected like in a lottery. "But if this panel wants to throw him out of the Lok Sabha, so be it. None of us joined the AAP for any post. We are prepared for anything. All I can say is people are watching everything and they are the final judge." ( can be contacted at narayan.swamy@ians.in and ashish.m@ians.in) --IANS mr-am/ Apart from police deployed for security duties, the Goa exchequer bore expenses of Rs 500 for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's first visit to the state on May 22, the government told the assembly on Monday. This amount was spent on a bouquet presented to the AAP convener. In a reply to a question by Nuvem MLA Francisco Pacheco, Protocol Minister Dilip Parulekar said 82 police personnel were deputed for Kejriwal's security during his May visit. "... the chief minister was received and see(n) off at the airport. He has not availed of accommodation at the state guest house. The state government has presented flower bouquet amounting to Rs 500 on his first visit," Parulekar said in a written reply. Pacheco had asked for "the total amount of expenditure incurred by the (Goa) government during Kejriwal's visits to Goa -- on May 22 and June 28. During his first visit, Kejriwal formally announced the Aam Aadmi Party's decision to contest the 2017 elections to the 40-member Goa assembly. He is expected to visit Goa again in mid-August. During his June visit, Kejriwal interacted with various sections of society as part of AAP's Goa Dialogue, a preparatory exercise for the political party's poll manifesto. Parulekar said 82 police personnel from the security unit of the Goa Police had been deployed during the visit of Arvind Kejriwal on May 22, while 26 policemen were allotted as part of the security arrangement for the June visit. --IANS maya/tsb/dg Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday conducted an aerial survey of Gurgaon and took stock of waterlogging situation and roads damaged in the wake of heavy rain last week. Talking to the media after the survey, he said waterlogging at the Hero Honda Chowk was an old problem and the shortcomings in the National Highway-8 construction were responsible for the same. He said that the construction of a flyover led to waterlogging at the Hero Honda Chowk, due to which only three of the six lanes of the national highway were operational. Two heavy vehicles broke down on the service lane, resulting in road blockade. Unprecedented heavy rain further worsened the situation. However, the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation, the district administration and the Irrigation Department were studying the causes of waterlogging in the area, which resulted in a massive traffic jam on July 28. The Chief Minister said the Badshahpur drain had been encroached upon and was also not cleaned properly, due to which the rainwater could not be disposed of quickly. Khattar said special corrective measures will have to be taken to ensure that the commuters did not face traffic snarls due to waterlogging in future. The Chief Minister said a survey revealed that the Najafgarh drain too was filled to capacity and the water flow was negligible as the Delhi Government had constructed a barrage on the drain at Kankrola village. He said thousands of acres of land along the Najafgarh drain in Haryana was still inundated. He said he will write to the Centre to formulate a scheme to redress the problem. The Chief Minister admitted that traffic could have been regulated in the area on July 28 in a better manner. Traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur stretch was hit on Thursday evening as hundreds of commuters were stuck at the Hero Honda Chowk in over four feet of water due to breaches in the Badshahspur drain. The traffic on the stretch resumed only on July 29 evening. --IANS pradeep/tsb A retired colonel of the Indian army, who served as a medical expert in the Kargil area, has innovated new techniques for treating 25 odd common chronic human ailments. A book brought out by Berlin's Lap Lambert Academic Publications lists the areas that he has successfully worked in with these unique techniques which need to be further refined and perfected for wider use and acceptance. Colonel Rajesh Chauhan, an alumni of the AFMC, is currently an honorary national professor. He served the Indian army and also worked in Botswana. Talking to IANS, Chauhan said: "We feel that the world continues to be guided by age-old beliefs and theories and it is high time we began thinking afresh, looked at different realities with different perceptions. Having worked in very hostile terrain and in extremely difficult conditions without the benefits of modern science it was possible to apply mind on new possibilities and utilise whatever resources were at our command. This proved a trigger for innovative techniques to address a whole lot of human ailments and come out with promising results." He said specifically new thinking and new approaches to treatment of medical conditions like migraine, primary hypertension, sleep apnoea, non insulin dependent diabetes, benign prostatic hyperplasia, presbycusis, lumbar canal stenosis, frozen shoulder, arthritis of knees, stroke, coronary blockage, haemorrhoids, external abdominal hernias, etc., have proved rewarding and people have already benefited from the techniques. Chauhan said the problem was that we had stopped looking for alternative possibilities to mainstream treatment. "Possibly, by being convinced and satisfied, we have never tried to look beyond what has already been established or accepted by the world. "Through my book I have tried to provide new perspectives on 25 common medical conditions with the intent that it may and should initiate a fresh look, discussions, debate and research around the world," he said. Chauhan claimed that a large number of patients with these chronic problems had been successfully treated by him using his own innovative techniques. "By going to the root of the problem and attacking it using a different line of treatment, varying the doses, trying new interventions and above all using the common sense approach to health, in tune with the nature's unique designs, patients have been relieved of their persisting problems relating to deafness, heart, diabetes, DNS, arthritis, blood pressure," Chauhan said, adding that he has an open mind and individualises treatment to suit a specific need. Hs lamented that the medical fraternity goes out for easy options rather than innovating and looking for fresh approaches. Perhaps his book will provide the necessary trigger to redirect research in unchartered territories, he hoped. (Brij Khandelwal can be contacted at brij.k@ians.in) --IANS bk/bim/ky/tb State-run Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) is offering a certificate programme in general management for health care professionals in partnership with Apollo Medskills, the B-school said on Monday. "The course begins on Tuesday with an overview of the executive education by chief program officer Madan Mohan Raj and an address by Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd joint managing director Sangita Reddy," the institute said in a statement here. The B-school has selected 35 professionals for the first batch on the basis of their profile and fit with the programme's mission and objectives. "The selection committee has ensured an adequate batch diversity in terms of the professional's background and experience in the field," the statement noted. The programme's faculty directors V. Rajluxmi Murthy and Shankar Venkatagiri and Apollo Mediskill's chief executive Pulijala Srivinivasa Rao will address the occasion. "The programme will be delivered at the campus, while classes in Bengaluru will be conducted in synchronous mode, using two-way video and audio along with auxiliary technologies," the statement noted. The programme includes field trips in every module to facilitate experiential learning. --IANS fb/sm/rn The government is making all efforts to bring back 10,000 Indian workers rendered jobless in the Gulf and Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh is visiting Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start the process, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha on Monday. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said that she is personally monitoring the situation on hourly basis and that food is being provided to the Indians at five camps set up by the Indian mission there. The economic slowdown in the Gulf Cooperation Council region following the fall in global crude oil prices has affected over 10,000 Indians, mostly working in the construction sector with factories shut down and workers laid off. "The situation is a fluid and dynamic one," sources here said on Monday. "A total of approximately 10,000 Indian workers have been affected by the economic slowdown in the Gulf. The impact, however, varies from company to company," they said. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to sources, 3,172 Indian workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have not been paid their salaries for several months but were getting regular rations. Indian workers, numbering 2,450, belonging to Saudi Oger, a major Saudi construction company based in Jeddah, are housed in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. "Since July 25, the company had stopped providing meals to the workers besides defaulting on their salaries," the sources here said. Sushma Swaraj instructed the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah to urgently provide food assistance to them. "Accordingly, our consulate in Jeddah, through the assistance of the Indian community has been providing rations for the 2,450 Indian workers which should be sufficient for the next eight to 10 days," the sources said. The consulate, along with Indian community members, provided 15,475 kg of foodstuff besides cooking ingredients and 1,850 readymade food packets to these workers on Saturday. The sources here said Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar was liaising with the Saudi authorities to ensure that the claims of all the Indian workers with unpaid dues were lodged and processed in accordance with law. Akbar, it is learnt, has also sought Saudi assistance in arranging exit visas for all Indian workers who wish to be repatriated. "V.K. Singh would leave for Saudi Arabia to visit the workers' camps and make an on-the-spot assessment of the ground situation," the sources said. "Logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of those workers who want to return will be worked out following V.K. Singh's visit," they said. Sushma said in the Lok Sabha: "I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food. I am monitoring the situation on hourly basis. I am satisfied to say this in the Parliament that ration (food packets) has been distributed to all the five camps for the next 10 days." "But this is not a permanent solution to the problem. The companies have shut their factories and left. We can't leave our workers there. I contacted their foreign office and labour office. We have asked the foreign office to authorise us to bring them from Saudi Arabia," she added. Elaborating on the situation, Sushma said: "But their payments are also due. So, I have asked the labour office that each one of them will sign a contract. Before the company pays the government's (Saudi Arabia) dues, they should first pay these workers." She said all the formalities would be completed once V.K. Singh reached Riyadh. --IANS ab/rn/vm Compromise always occurs when a woman is involved among two decision makers, but hardly ever when the pair of decision makers are men, says an interesting study which could be pertinent to marketers, managers, and consumers alike. The findings showed that the compromise effect basically emerges in any pair when there is a woman. However, when two men are choosing together, they actually tend to push away from compromise options and tend to choose extreme options in order to prove their masculinity in the presence of other men, because compromise is consistent with feminine norms, and extremism is a more masculine trait. For example, if two men are choosing a car and the cars they are considering differ on safety and fuel efficiency -- they will either go for the safest car or the one that offers them the most fuel efficiency, but they won't choose an option that offers a little of both. "When making decisions together, men take actions that are maximally different from feminine norms, which prioritize moderation, and maximally similar to masculine norms, which prioritize extremity," said Hristina Nikolova, Assistant Professor at Boston College, in the US. Womanhood is not precarious and does not need the same level of public defence as manhood. That is why the compromise works effectively in the joint decisions of two female partners. In addition, men criticized compromise among other men, but is embraced by women. "Only men judge other men very harshly when they suggest the compromise option to a male partner," Nikolova pointed out. It doesn't happen when a man suggests the compromise option to a female partner or when women suggest the compromise option so it's really specific to men dealing with other men, the researchers explained. Conversely, individuals and mixed-gender and female-female pairs will likely go for the middle option since it seems reasonable and is easily justified, the researcher said. "In contrast to men, women act the same together as they would alone because they don't need to prove anything in front of other women," Nikolova added. The study examines how joint decision-making contexts change consumer's preferences for the compromise option and suggests that retailers and marketers should be aware of the gender composition of the joint decision-making pairs they might be targeting. The decisions we make in pairs may be very different than those we make alone, depending on who we make them with, the researchers noted in the work published in the Journal of Consumer Research. For the study, the team conducted four experiments with 1,204 students at two US universities, and a fifth experiment using 673 online participants. --IANS rt/sm/vm Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said the US was not trustable as, according to him, Washington failed to fulfil its obligations over the nuclear deal titled "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action". The experience of Iranians about the failure of the US in the fulfilment of its obligations pertaining to a nuclear deal signed on July 14 showed that it can never be trusted, Xinhua news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. "The US has violated its obligations (over the nuclear deal) and is busy destroying Iran's economic ties with other countries," he said. "The oppressive sanctions (against Iran) were supposed to be lifted quickly so that it could leave its (positive) impact on the people's lives," he said. "However, after six months (following the implementation of the deal) there has been no tangible change in the lives of the people." The "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" between Iran and the group of world powers P5+1 was announced on July 14 last year in Vienna under which the UN Security Council terminated all nuclear-related resolutions from Tehran. --IANS py/dg The Islamic State (IS) militant group's threats against Russia can not influence Moscow's stance on the fight against terrorism, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. "Such threats are not able in any way to impact Russia's and President [Vladimir] Putin's consistent policy on the fight against international terrorism, which of course will continue in all directions," Sputnik News quoted Peskov as saying. Following the terrorist organisation's purported video urging jihad in Russia, the Kremlin "treats such publications with the necessary attention", he said. "Certainly, the special services responsible for anti-terrorist operation and security take such publications into account. Surely the Ministry of Defence overseeing the Aerospace Forces' operation in Syria are taking the necessary measures," Peskov said. --IANS py/dg Ruling AIADMK General Secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday dismissed the party's Rajya Sabha member L. Sasikala Pushpa from the party after the latter slapped a DMK leader. In a statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said Pushpa acted against the party's principles and code of conduct and also in a manner that defamed the party. Jayalalithaa said Pushpa is dismissed from Monday from all party posts and also from the basic membership of the party. Party members were asked not to have any contact with her. The dismissal comes after Pushpa slapped DMK's Rajya Sabha member Tiruchi Siva in Delhi airport on Friday evening. Pushpa said she had slapped Siva as he was making some nasty remarks about Jayalalithaa. Without any retaliation or making a scene Siva went away. It was reported that Pushpa was asked by Jayalalithaa to explain her behaviour in the Delhi airport and the reasons for assaulting Siva. In New Delhi, Pushpa on Monday alleged she was facing a "life threat" and that she was being "compelled to resign". "I fear threat to my life. I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post by my leader for whom I have much gratitude." According to reports, Sasikala visited AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa's residence on Sunday. "In Tamil Nadu I have no safety... I need protection," Sasikala said but other AIADMK members protested. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien asked her to write to the Chairman about the issue. He also assured other AIADMK members that reference to any person who cannot defend themselves in the house will be deleted. --IANS vj/rn On the 25th anniversary of India's economic reforms, a general consensus seems to have emerged within the country and without that the next phase reforms must address what has so far eluded agreement among the principal stakeholders: land and labour. Make in India will not happen if these two main factors of production remain entangled in political one-upmanship. The government has made some overtures in the domain of land reforms, but the issues surrounding it have not yet fully crystallised. Unless there is clarity and consensus around land reforms, including land acquisition for implementing government's industrialisation and infrastructure development projects, the vision of converting India into a global manufacturing hub will remain unrealised. It is essential to pursue efforts towards a comprehensive land reforms policy relentlessly to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. In the field of labour, the exercise for rationalisation and consolidation of labour laws undertaken by the government in the last two years has suddenly taken a breather. Despite earlier attempts to push the agenda forward, the feeling that the main stakeholders were not taken fully on board has provoked angry reactions among the major trade unions, which have threatened a nationwide strike in September. Recognising the possible implications of unilateral action, the Prime Minister has reportedly decided to proceed more cautiously in future by taking the workers' representatives into confidence. Industry lobby FICCI had set up a special tripartite group to consult the stakeholders and make suitable recommendations for the government's consideration. As convener of the special group, I held extensive consultations and submitted my report making a host of recommendations. Among other things, I advocated gradualism and proposed an incremental approach to labour law reforms in place of the wholesale reforms that were being attempted. There really is no alternative to dialogue, compromise and consensus in the realm of social re-engineering. The efforts may appear tardy and frustrating at times, but sustainable results can be achieved only if we are able to hone the strategy of tactical retreat with a view to eventually finding the winning formula that will be acceptable to all. The rolling back of government's publicly announced EPF policies earlier this year is a case in point. The massive street protests in Paris in April and May 2016 against the French government's labour reforms that were perceived as pro-capitalist portend social unrest that may become intractable if such sensitive matters are not handled with understanding and empathy. The fact that recent amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act encountered widespread criticism from academia, social activists, international organisations like Unicef and others exposes the absence of broad-based dialogue and consensus building that is the cornerstone of progressive and sustainable labour reforms architecture. Despite all the wishful rhetoric over the last two years of the present government, it is now common knowledge that enough jobs especially decent quality jobs are not getting created in the economy, particularly in the organised manufacturing sector. The government would do well to ensure that the frustrations of youth poised to enter the job market are effectively contained. Towards this end, the recent announcement about massive injection of funds for skilling and re-skilling potential job seekers is most opportune. The concerned department and agencies of the government must quickly respond by setting up capacity and infrastructure to absorb the funds and put them to best advantage. The youth are impatient and care must be taken to ensure that the burning embers are not allowed to be stoked by "indosceptics" who have a problem for every solution. Clearly, job creation is the single most important direction to follow in the next phase of reforms. If adequate numbers of jobs are available in the marketplace, the resistance to labour reforms on the part of the traditional trade union movement will surely mellow. Meanwhile, the government should re-establish confidence and trust among employers' and workers' representatives by organising impartial and meaningful tripartite consultations on labour reform proposals that are doable. There is no point in biting off more than you can chew. The priorities and pace of reforms must be carefully calibrated so that the achievements can endure in the long run. The government has three more years to go in its first term. There is sufficient time to readjust the trajectory so that results start showing before it must inevitably return to the hustings. Alarm bells are not ringing just yet, but a gentle reminder is not out of order. The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Piloted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the bill seeks to amend four laws -- the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993; the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; and the Depositories Act, 1996. "The present law simplifies the procedures by which there will be a quick disposal of claims of banks and financial institutions," Jaitley said. He said most suggestions made by a joint committee of parliament on the issue have been accepted by the government. The bill was passed by a voice vote after the amendments moved by opposition members were either withdrawn or negated. Replying to queries on the bill from Lok Sabha members, including B. Mahtab and Tatagatha Sathpathy (both Biju Janata Dal), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress) and Sushmita Dev (Congress), the Finance Minister said the new law will empower the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to examine the statements and any information of Asset Reconstruction Companies related to their business. "The bill further empowers the RBI to carry out audit and inspection of these companies. The RBI may penalise a company if it fails to comply with any directions issued by the central bank," the officials said. It says the stamp duty will not be charged on transactions undertaken for transfer of financial assets in favour of asset reconstruction companies. Financial assets include loans and collaterals. Congress member Sushmita Dev initiated the debate on the bill, which was introduced on May 11. --IANS nd/tsb/vm Actor Prabhas's next yet-untitled Telugu outing, which will helmed by Radha Krishna Kumar, will be completely shot abroad on a lavish budget. The makers are currently finalising the locations. "The shoot will commence from January 2017. The entire film will be shot abroad and we are currently zeroing in on the locations. It will be a love story and we are yet to finalise the leading lady," Radha Krishna told IANS. Asked if any popular heroines are under consideration, the director said they are planning to rope in a newcomer. "We're most likely to go for a newcomer. We're still in the process of auditioning. In the next few weeks, we might be able to lock the heroine," he said. The project will be jointly bankrolled by UV Creations and Gopikrishna. --IANS hp/rb/vm Southern film actors Rana Daggubati and Prakash Raj will be seen in retro avatar for an upcoming television commercial of a Delhi-based brand. "Rana and Prakash Raj have been roped in as the ambassadors of this Delhi-based brand. As part of the brand's television commercial, they will be seen in retro comical avatar. The TVC will be officially launched very soon," a source in the know of the project, told IANS. This will be the first time they will be seen together in a commercial. On the acting front, Rana is shooting for S.S. Rajamouli's "Baahubali 2", while Prakash Raj is busy with Telugu-Kannada bilingual directorial project, "Mana Oori Ramayanam". --IANS hp/rb/dg In an ominous turn to the heated campaign for the US presidency, a retired general backing Hillary Clinton has predicted that the military would confront Donald Trump if he is elected. General John Allen told a TV interviewer Sunday: "We would be facing a civil military crisis, the like of which we've not seen in this country before" if Trump becomes president. Allen commanded the troops of the US and its allies in Afghanistan as a Marine general from 2011 to 2013 before his retirement. The next year Obama appointed him his envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State. At the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia last week, Allen spoke in support of Clinton, "We know that she as no other knows how to use all instruments of American power -- not just the military -- to keep us all safe and free." As he delivered the speech, he was accompanied on the stage by retired Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, the first Sikh to be allowed to wear a turban and beard in the US military. In a reference to Trump calling for waterboarding terror suspects and carpetbombing ISIS territories, he said" "Our armed forces will not become an instrument of torture, and they will not be engaged in murder, or carry out other illegal activities." Calling Allen a "failed general", Trump hit back on Saturday. "He was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasn't done so well, right? Not so well." On Sunday Allen was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, a former spokesman for Bill Clinton and now an anchor for ABC network and host of its "This Week" show. Expanding on his criticism of Trump, Allen told Stephenopoulos: "What we need to do is ensure that we don't create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil-military crisis with a commander-in- chief who would have us do illegal things." Allen had not protested when the military under President George W. Bush carried out waterboarding. As he spoke at the convention, some delegates booed him and shouted "No more war", before they were drowned out with cries of "USA, USA," a chant heard usually at Trump rallies and the Republican Party Convention. The Republican Party also had a retired lieutenant general, Michael Flynn, speak in support of Trump at its convention. Flynn, who headed the Defence Intelligence Agency, criticised Allen, saying that the anti-Islamic State strategy under him was a "failed strategy". While Allen was in charge of the policy, "the rise of radical Islamism and ISIS, you know, it exponentially grew", Flynn said last week on a Fox News programme. With rhetoric of the former generals threatening to make the US military an unprecedented factor in the election campaign, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Generral Martin Dempsey, crticised both for getting involved in the campaigns, and the two political parties for dragging them in. "It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so," he wrote in the Washington Post. "As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions," he declared. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS abl/vm Russian prosecutors on Monday demanded over three years of prison term for leader of the opposition party. Alexei Navalni was first accused of scamming in 2014 and placed on parole, but prosecutors and the Russian Federal Penitentiary Services asked courts on Monday to sentence him to three and a half years in prison, Efe news reported. They accused him of missing three meetings with his parole officer, which would violate the terms of his conditional freedom. The petition, which is not the first since Navalni's arrest, was made a month before the Russian general elections that are due to take place on September 18. Navalni and his supporters consider the charges against him over the years as fraudulent. The opposition leader owes his popularity to the NGO he runs that investigates and denounces corruption within the government. --IANS ksk/vt Both houses of Maharashtra legislature were adjourned on Monday over the issue of a separate state of Vidarbha even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis categorically denied any such moves were on. "There is no such proposal by the state or the Centre. Carving out smaller states is a subject handled by the Centre," Fadnavis asserted amidst noisy scenes and slogan-shouting by legislators of all opposition parties, besides Bharatiya Janata Party's ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena. "It is the Centre's prerogative to decide on this and the state has no role. The state government is not considering this (Vidarbha) issue nor has any such proposal been sent to the Centre," Fadnavis said. The Chief Minister came on the firing line of the Shiv Sena, the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party besides other parties for the second time since Friday when the issue first rocked the legislature during the ongoing monsoon session. Opposition leaders Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (in the assembly) and Dhananjay Munde (in the council), and former Chief Ministers Narayan Rane and Prithviraj Chavan were among those who lashed out at the BJP-led government for not making its stance on the separate Vidarbha state issue clear and demanded Fadnavis's resignation. "The Chief Minister says there is no plan for it (Vidarbha state). Then let's bring in a resolution for a unified Maharashtra. If he has any problem, we can do it, the Shiv Sena can do it," Chavan said -- a demand later voiced by Vikhe-Patil. Shiv Sena's member of legislative council Neelam Gorhe and other party legislators shouted that they would not allow carving out a separate Vidarbha and waved a banner terming BJP's parliament member Nana Patole as "Shaikhchilli" for moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha last week, demanding Vidarbha state. While Sena's member of assembly Prakash Abitkar asked Fadnavis to clarify his stand, Vikhe-Patil claimed it was a "fix" between the two ruling allies as the issue hotted up again after Friday. Vikhe-Patil said Maharashtra was formed after the sacrifices of 105 martyrs in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and "the BJP has insulted the people of the state by making and backing the demands for a separate Vidarbha". --IANS qn/bim/vt In a breather for Amit Shah, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by social activist and former bureaucrat Harsh Mander challenging the BJP President's discharge in the alleged staged killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his aide Tusliram Prajapati. Sohrabuddin was killed by Gujarat Police on November 26, 2005, in an allegedly staged shootout. Two days later, on November 28, his wife Kausar Bi was killed. His aide Tulsiram Prajapati was murdered December 28, 2006. Shah was Gujarat's Minister of State for Home when the killings took place. A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea by Mander, who had challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his plea against the discharge of Amit Shah on the grounds of his locus standi to do so. "Where a person genuinely aggrieved moves the court, it takes a different colour, and when another person who is not even remotely connected (moves the court)," it takes a different dimension, said the bench. Saying that it could not keep the question of locus that open that anybody could intervene in the matters, even when directly aggrieved parties are not coming forward, the bench said: "This man's brother withdraws, and you are coming up." The court was referring to Rubabuddin Sheikh - brother of Sohrabuddin Sheikh withdrawing his petition before Bombay High Court challenging the discharge of Amit Shah in the case. However, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, said: "Court can't close its eyes to everything." He cited several judgments including one by the constitution bench as he argued that under law, a person not remotely aggrieved by the crime too can knock the door of the court to seek justice in a criminal case in larger interest of society. Opposing Mander's plea, senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Amit Shah, cited another set of judgments to contend that an unconnected third party had no locus to knock the doors of the appellate courts in a criminal matter. "There is a difference between corruption and murder case" and both can't be compared, Justice Bobde said as Sibal told the court that often the top court had entertained pleas by third parties raising the issue of corruption. Telling the court that public must not get the feeling that somebody is above the law, Sibal said that things have happened which can't be brought on record. As the court said that nobody was above law and God knows what had happened, Sibal said: "We mortal human beings know the way God's ways work." His remark came as he noted the complete U-turn by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which had investigated the case and chose not to appeal against the Amit Shah's discharge and Sohrabuddin Sheikh's brother first challenging the discharge and then withdrawing his case. The trial in Sohrabuddin Sheikh case was shifted to Mumbai by the top court on September 27, 2012, and later the same special CBI court was asked to hold trial in the staged shoot-out of Prajapati. Discharging Amit Shah in the two cases of alleged stage-shoot out on December 30, 2014, holding that there was no evidence, the special CBI court judge had said: "I found substance in the main contention made by the applicant that he was involved in the case by the CBI for political reasons." Amit Shah was granted bail in Sohrabuddin Sheikh case by the Gujarat High Court on October 29, 2010 and the very next day, the CBI moved the apex court seeking the cancellation of bail. The top court while declining to cancel bail directed Shah to stay away from Gujarat. --IANS pk/vd Unhappy over the Centre's stand on special status to Andhra Pradesh, TDP, a partner in NDA government, on Monday staged protests both inside and outside Parliament. Seeking immediate announcement for special status, the MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) tried to disrupt the proceedings in the Lok Sabha. Holding placards and raising slogans in support of their demands, the TDP members in the Lok Sabha began the protest as soon as the house met for the day. They rushed to the speaker's podium, demanding that the government fulfill its commitments under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan repeatedly appealed to members to return to their seats but they continued the protest. The Speaker conducted the proceedings amid the uproar before adjourning the proceedings till 2 p.m. Earlier, the TDP members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha staged a protest at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament complex. They held placards and raised slogan 'We want justice'. "We want justice for Andhra Pradesh. Save Andhra Pradesh," read one of the placards. Galla Jayadev, one of the Lok Sabha members, said they had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking special status and adequate help to the state. He said the Centre should fulfill the promises and assurances. "We are ready to whatever it takes. Leaving government or leaving our positions, it doesn't matter," the MP from Guntur said. TDP, a constituent of the NDA, has two ministers in the Union ministry. TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was monitoring the developments in Delhi over television at his office in Vijayawada. He was also issuing direction to the party MPs. The TDP decided to launch protest to bring pressure on the BJP-led government after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely told the Rajya Sabha last week that Andhra Pradesh can't be granted special status but the Centre would handhold the state until it became economically stable. Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, on Monday met the Prime Minister to brief him on the developments in the state. The senior BJP leader is believed to have conveyed to Modi that growing distance with an ally would not be good for the coalition. Later, Venkaiah Naidu along with TDP leader and central minister Y.S. Chowdary called on Jaitely to discuss the developments in the wake of TDP's protest in Parliament. In another development, Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh told the Rajya Sabha that Andhra Pradesh was so far given a central assistance of Rs 6,403 crore. This includes Rs 2,803 crore for bridging the revenue deficit. In reply to a question, he said seven backward districts of the state were provided Rs 700 crore while Rs 2,050 crore was given for the development of new state capital and Rs 850 crore for Polavaram project. --IANS ms/bim/dg Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left for Indonesia on Monday to attend the 12th World Islamic Economic Forum where he is expected to give a speech. During his visit, Wickremesinghe will hold discussions with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and will meet leaders of Malaysia and Jordan on the sidelines of the summit, Xinhua news agency cited from a statement by Prime Minister's Office. This is Wickremesinghe's first visit to Indonesia after being sworn in as the country's Prime Minister in August 2015. --IANS sm/vt Thousands of people, including VIPs and common folks, bid a tearful adieu to Rakesh Siddaramaiah, elder son of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, before his mortal remains were laid to rest in the family farmhouse at T. Katur, about 20 km from here. "The last rites were performed at the farmhouse before sunset as per the 'Halumatha' tradition under the guidance of Niranjananda Puri swamiji in the presence of seers, priests, relatives and family members of Siddaramaiah amid tight security," an official told IANS here. Rakesh, 39, died of multiple-organ failure on Saturday at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Even before the cortege carrying Rakesh body arrived at the farmhouse from Mysuru in a convoy, accompanied by the Chief Minister and his family members, people gathered in large numbers around the farmhouse to have last glimpse of the departed soul. "Public was not allowed inside the farmhouse for security reasons, privacy and to avoid inconvenience to the family members during the last rites," the official said. In the afternoon, it was a sea of humanity at the exhibition grounds in Mysuru where the flower-decked cortege was kept for paying last respects by the public. Thousands of people came from far and nearby towns and villages to pay homage to Rakesh. Many were seen grieving for the untimely death and loss of a young leader. Among the VIPs who offered floral tributes to Rakesh were state Governor Vajubhai Vala, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, former JD-S Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, state cabinet ministers, lawmakers and leaders of political parties. The cortege was brought here in a special aircraft from Bengaluru after it was flown from Brussels by an Emirates Airlines flight earlier in the day. Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, their daughter-in-law and younger son Yathindra accompanied the cortege from Brussels. Holding back tears and with folded hands, an emotional Siddaramaiah stood by the cortege and expressed gratitude to all the people who came to the venue for paying respects to Rakesh and sharing his grief over the personal tragedy. Elaborate security arrangements were made by the district authorities to regulate the flow of mourners in thousands and prevent any untoward incident. Apart from people from Mysuru, Siddaramaiah's home city, hundreds of others from his Varuna village and Chamundeshwari, which he represents in the legislative assembly as the ruling Congress lawmaker, made a beeline for a last glimpse of Rakesh's body, which was kept on a raised dais for paying homage. --IANS fb/rn Mysuru (Karnataka), Aug 1 (ANS) Thousands of people on Monday bid farewell to Rakesh, elder son of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who died in Brussels last week, at the exhibition ground in the city, about 150 km from Benglauru. 'As scheduled, the cortege carrying the mortal remains of Rakesh was brought here in a special aircraft from Bengaluru after it was flown from Brussels by an Emirates Airlines flight earlier in the day,' an official said. Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, their daughter-in-law and younger son Yathindra accompanied the cortege from Brussels. Rakesh, 39, died of multiple-organ failure on Saturday at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels. He was undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the hospital where he was admitted after developing sudden health complications when he was on a personal trip to Europe since July 21. The body will be taken on road to T. Katur, about 40km from here, for the last rites at Siddaramaiah's farmhouse in the evening. Besides state Governor Vajubhai Vala, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, state ministers, lawmakers and leaders of political parties offered floral tributes to the departed soul. Holding back tears and with folded hands, an emotional Siddaramaiah stood by the cortege and expressed gratitude to all the people who came to the venue for paying respects to Rakesh and sharing his grief over the personal tragedy. Elaborate security arrangements were made by the district authorities to regulate the flow of mourners in thousands and prevent any untoward incident. Apart from people from Mysuru, Siddaramaiah's home city, hundreds of others from his Varuna village and Chamundeshwari, which he represents in the legislative assembly as the ruling Congress lawmaker, made a beeline for a last glimpse of Rakesh's body, which was kept on a raised dais for paying homage. --IANS fb/rn/vm The medical colleges of Safdarjung hospital and the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital will not be brought under the University of Delhi, the Health Ministry said on Monday, prompting the striking students to call off their agitation. The Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical and Research (PGIMER) of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital currently operate under the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIP). A proposal to transfer the two colleges under the University of Delhi was recently initiated, but it was cancelled by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS). "I, Jagdish Prasad, DGHS, Nirmal Bhawan, hereby cancel the proposal of transfer of VMMC, Safdarjung and Ram Manohar Lohia hospitals from the GGSIP University to Delhi University and I also state that this will never happen," said a notice from the Health Ministry. The agitation which started on Monday morning and led to halt of OPD services at both the hospitals, was called off after the notification. According to sources, Health Ministr J.P. Nadda has initiated an inquiry against the DGHS Jagdish Prasad for issuing the proposal without informing him. --IANS rup/py/dg Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said the US was not trustable as, according to him, Washington failed to fulfil its obligations over the nuclear deal titled "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action". The experience of Iranians about the failure of the US in the fulfilment of its obligations pertaining to a nuclear deal signed on July 14 showed that it can never be trusted, Xinhua news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. "The US has violated its obligations (over the nuclear deal) and is busy destroying Iran's economic ties with other countries," he said. Khamenei also accused Saudi Arabia of committing a "grave crime" by bombing innocent people in Yemen. "Raiding Yemen, uninterrupted bombing of homes, hospitals and schools, and the killing of children are a grave crime of Saudi Arabia which is done by the green light of the US," Khamenei said. He described the recent negotiations of Saudi Arabia with Israel as a "dagger from behind", saying "Saudi relations with Israel are a big sin and a treason". In building Saudi ties with Israel, "the US has played a role, as the Saudi officials are obsessed by the whims of the Americans", he said. The Iranian leader said Saudi Arabia had raided Bahrain with the help of the US. --IANS sm/py/dg A fresh tussle between the Centre and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has arisen over the latter's latest order to deregister all diesel vehicles that are over 10 years old in Delhi. The heavy industries ministry has told the tribunal that there is no legal provision to deregister diesel vehicles that are less than 15 years old. Whatever shape the tussle may take in the coming days, the fact is that the implementation of the tribunal's order is bound to cause serious disruptions in people's lives. According to one report, it will result in as many as 70 per cent of the goods carriers and 90 per cent of the private chartered buses being taken off the roads. A large number of ambulances, too, will go out of service. The politically-sensitive issue of statehood for today brought the ruling Shiv Sena and Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) together to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in both the houses of Maharashtra Legislature. Shiv Sena legislators, who wore the traditional Gandhi cap in saffron colour titled Akhand Maharashtra (United Maharashtra), and Opposition shouted slogans against any attempt to divide the state. Amid ruckus, the state assembly and the council were adjourned for the day. In a breather for BJP President Amit Shah, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by social activist and former bureaucrat Harsh Mander challenging his discharge in the alleged staged killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea by Mander, who had challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his plea against the discharge of on the grounds of the former bureaucrat's locus standi to do so. While rejecting the plea by Mander, the bench said: "Where a person genuinely aggrieved moves the court, it takes a different colour, and another person who is not even remotely connected (moves the court)," it takes a different dimension. Vijay Rupani, who turns 60 on Tuesday, might get a surprise gift. Speculation is rife that he is one of the top contenders for the CM's post, after Anandiben Patel said she wanted to quit as the Gujarat chief minister. Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force today arrested 12 employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for allegedly trying to smuggle 6 kilogram of heroin worth over 60 million rupees. A PIA flight PK-203 was ready to leave for Dubai yesterday from the airport here when the ANF staff got it vacated on information that a huge quantity of heroin had been concealed in the aircraft, officials said. After a thorough search of a couple of hours the ANF team seized 6 kg heroin which is worth over Rs 60 million from the toilet of the aircraft, they said. According to officials, ANF arrested at least 12 PIA employees today and launched a thorough probe into the matter. PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani confirmed the arrests saying some PIA employees have been taken into custody in connection with a failed bid to smuggle heroin to Dubai from Lahore. After investigation if these employees are found guilty, strict action will be taken against them, he said. During the last few years there has been a rapid rise in the number of cases in which the PIA employees caught red-handed while smuggling different items like drugs, cigarettes, mobile phones, illegal passports and laundered money abroad. In some cases the PIA employees were caught at Pakistani airports and in others they were intercepted and arrested in other countries, mostly in the European destinations. Pakistani authorities today arrested 13 employees of its national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) here for allegedly trying to smuggle 6 kgs of heroin worth over 60 million rupees to Dubai. PIA flight PK-203 was ready to leave for Dubai on Saturday from the airport here when the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) staff got it vacated on information that a huge quantity of heroin had been concealed in the aircraft, officials said. After a thorough search of a couple of hours, the ANF team seized 6 kg of heroin worth over Rs 60 million from the toilet of the aircraft, they said. Thirteen PIA employees were arrested by the ANF and a thorough probe was launched into the matter. PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani confirmed the arrests saying some of the airline employees have been taken into custody in connection with the failed bid to smuggle heroin. After investigation, if these employees are found guilty, strict action will be taken against them, he said. During the last few years, there has been a rapid rise in the number of cases in which the PIA employees were caught red-handed while smuggling different items like drugs, cigarettes, mobile phones, illegal passports and laundered money abroad. In some cases, the PIA employees were caught at Pakistani airports and in others, they were intercepted and arrested in other countries, mostly in the European destinations. Two persons were killed and 10 others injured in a collision between a car and a tempo on the Raebareli-Varanasi national highway here, police said today. The incident occurred at Gehri Turn area last evening injuring 12 persons. Tempo driver Dinesh Kori (30) and Ramesh Chand Soni (70) succumbed to their injuries on the way as they were being rushed to Allahabad, they said. The injured are admitted at the district hospital, they added. Three members of family died after inhaling a toxic gas while trying to rescue a goat which fell into a well in Ghatampur village here. Police said the incident took place in the afternoon when the goat belonging to Suresh Yadav (45) fell into an abandoned well in the village. Yadav's nephew Shivam (17) jumped into the well in a bid to recuse the goat, but did not come out. Soon after, Yadav and his brother Rajesh (40) jumped into it one after another. When they did not come out of it, the villagers alerted police, who pulled out the bodies. Police said the three apparently died after inhaling the toxic gas formed due to decomposition of organic matter. Police today claimed to have seized 350 kg of red sanders from a house here and arrested one person in this connection. Following a tip-off, police raided the house at Vyasarpadi area and found 40 logs of red sanders hidden there. Ibrahim, 36, was arrested for allegedly hiding the logs in the house, police said in a statement, adding 350 kg of red sanders were recovered. The market value of the seized red sanders was not made public by the police. Red sanders (red sandalwood) is found in the southern Eastern Ghats in South India. AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa, who reportedly slapped DMK lawmaker Trichy Siva at Delhi airport on Saturday, today claimed she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to life in Tamil Nadu, alleging she was being forced to quit Rajya Sabha. Pushpa first rushed into the Well of the House to get permission to make her statement and then broke down several times as she said she faced "life threat" from state government and alluded to her being slapped by a "leader". She however did not make it clear who slapped her and when. A report later said she was expelled from the party by AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa for "anti-party activities". Raising the issue, she said "If an MP is being slapped by a leader, where is human dignity," provoking strong protest from members of her own party AIADMK. As she found support in opposition members who wanted the chair to allow her to make her full submission, A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK) walked into the well and out of it multiple times demanding that her remarks be expunged. "I have life threat... I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post," she said. "Where is women's safety in this country? ... I am being harassed. I need protection. In Tamil Nadu, I don't have safety. There is threat to my life." Pushpa said she was thankful to her party leader for sending her to Rajya Sabha but "if a leader can slap an MP, I need protection. I need government's protection." "I want to serve the country (and not resign)," she said. "I am not here in Rajya Sabha for any benefit." Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and he will protect her too. He however asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. The aggrieved member can write to the Chairman for necessary action, Kurien said. But the opposition benches broke into protest saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Women members of Congress party moved into aisles and vociferously raised the issue of her plight as a fellow member. Naresh Agarwal (SP) said a member could raise his or her personal matter and should be allowed to do so. AIADMK members too were up on their feet demanding expunging of extraneous remarks. "Any allegation made against anybody who cannot come and protect (himself or herself) is expunged," Kurien said. However, Pushpa kept on insisting that her life was under threat. To this, Kurien said she could write to the Chairman. Agarwal said she has stated that she has been slapped and her life is under threat. "She did not say any member of this House or the other House has beaten her or slapped her. She said a leader (did that). If you are mentioning about anyone who cannot come and defend, don't say it," Kurien told Pushpa. But she kept up her rant. "My life and dignity is under threat. Will government save me? A women's life is under threat from state government. Will they give a statement of saving me," Pushpa said. I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said discussing the issue will not add to the glory of the House. Observing that he would not join the issue, Naidu said any member having any problem can write to the Chairman who will take appropriate action. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said she should be allowed to raise the issue. "This can happen with any member... How can a Member of Parliament not be allowed to express her view." Kurien said he allowed her a say. "She can write to Chairman. He will protect her... Government will take care of her protection if necessary." "I can assure on behalf of the Chairman, we will do the needful in the matter. If she needs protection, government will take care of it," he added. The AIADMK today opposed in Rajya Sabha the government move to put in place a single examination for medical and dental courses through NEET while most other parties supported the step, with demands that private colleges should be monitored properly. AIADMK leader Navneet Krishna, while speaking on The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, termed it as "arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional" step and said it will impact rural and poor children who do not follow CBSE syllabus. The bill, which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha, provides for a Constitutional status to the 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) which is intended to be introduced in the academic session next year. The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and the Dentists Act, 1948 and replace the Ordinances that were promulgated by the government to circumvent the Supreme Court order for implementation of NEET examination this session itself. "The rural and poor students of Tamil Nadu will be affected very badly by NEET. There is no need for this bill when the entire issue is under judicial review," Krishna said. Narendra Budania of Congress, while reminding the House that the common entrance test was an idea of the previous UPA government, congratulated Health Minister J P Nadda for pursuing it. However, he urged him to ensure that private colleges are monitored so that the "pure profession becomes purer". T Subbarami Reddy of Congress, who moved a resolution of disapproval against both Bills, wondered why the government was in a hurry to come out with an ordinance in May when they could have waited for a month and half for the Monsoon session of Parliament to start. Naresh Aggarwal of Samajwadi Party supported the bills and asked the Minister to be "bold" and take full control of the Medical Council of India rather than divide it into four parts. He said if there was so much concern about quality of some private medical colleges, then an exit test must be made compulsory. Doctors passing out from medical colleges should be made to serve in rural India for five years, he said. Supporting the two Bills, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said this is "a very good step" by the government which will enable simultaneous holding of (medical) exam across the country. Yadav said that education and health system of the country have totally gone into private sector's hands while education, controlled by the government, is in "dire straits". However, he said, the condition of government medical colleges was relatively better than their private counterparts. Yadav rued that no member of Rajya Sabha spoke about donations in medical colleges and asked "why do we not express concern about this." SP member Naresh Agarwal objected to Yadav's comment and said he had spoken on reservation in private medical colleges and added that his party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was a strong proponent of reservation. Yadav asked the Government to end the system of donation, alleging that those who have black money were opening medical and engineering colleges. "In India, the medical education system has been ruined and it is only because of this donation system," he said. Yadav asked the Government whether reservation will be introduced in private colleges also. K K Ragesh of CPI(M) said "while supporting the very concept of uniform entrance test, I take this opportunity to share anxiety expressed by some". Pointing out that education was a concurrent subject, Ragesh sought to know whether the Government had consulted states while promulgating the Bill. He observed that CBSE students would be on a better footing while state government Board students will have lesser chance of getting admission through the NEET entrance exam. He asked whether the Government can ensure admission of students from backward communities in private colleges. Stating that private colleges are charging exorbitant fee, Ragesh advocated provision of cross subsidisation, differential fee structure, scholarships to help poor students. He also sought to know whether deemed universities are covered under the purview of this Bill and alleged that students were being admitted in private colleges only on the basis of money and not on merit. Dilip Tirkey (BJD) said the condition of medical education in the country was "worse" and added that the mechanism of seats reserved under state quota was not clear. "As per the Bill, NEET will be conducted by CBSE. But there are thousands of schools belonging to Boards other than CBSE. Those students will be hurt," he said. S C Mishra (BSP) supported the Bill and said if the exam has to based on merit, it should be for both government and private colleges. He said the view that Medical Council of India (MCI) has not initiated the uniform exam was not correct. Mishra said there was no case pending against MCI Chairman, to which Congress leader Jairam Ramesh objected saying the MCI should not be given a clean chit. C M Ramesh (TDP) also voiced his party's support for the Bill and said Andhra Pradesh needed more medical colleges and doctors. NCP's Praful Patel too supported the Bill. He also pointed out that there were "far too few" medical colleges in the country and said the criteria for setting up medical colleges was "too stringent". "It should be our endeavour to increase the number of medical colleges," Patel said, adding that strengthening the MCI was important. Patel said the quality of faculty in medical colleges has become a problem, particularly by colleges in small places. Shiv Sena's Anil Desai expressed support for the Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, but said there has to be uniformity in the syllabus for NEET. Speaking on the Bill, Jairam Ramesh (Cong) said there was a comprehensive report of the Standing Committee of Parliament on reform of MCI and alleged that "vested interests" were sabotaging the report. He alleged there was a "systematic attempt to scuttle the recommendations of the Standing Committee". "The Bill being passed today is a very small part of the recommendations of the Standing Committee," he said and sought to know "what is the government's intent on the Standing Committee's report". He also asked whether the Bill covered private colleges and will the one-year exemption given to states be extended. Stating that the Standing Committee report gave a comprehensive blueprint of reform in medical education and elimination of capitation fee, Ramesh said he has little confidence that the Government will demonstrate the courage to stand up against the vested interests at play. Making a short intervention at this stage, Health Minister JP Nadda said "I would like to assure Ramesh that this Government is not going to succumb to any vested interest". Nadda said foolproof arrangements will be put in place under the proposed law and all parties consulted. BJP's Vikas Mahatme claimed "corrupt practices will come to an end", after the proposed legislation is enacted. He, however, said the apprehensions expressed by members should be taken care of. Family members of a fisherman from Gujarat who is languishing in a Pakistani jail want Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take up the issue of his release during his visit to the neighbouring country. Singh will visit Pakistan for the SAARC meeting this week. Bhagvan Sarman Solanki who hails from Tad village of Una tehsil in Gir-Somnath district was apprehended by Pakistani authorities in April 2015 for entering Pakistani waters. Sanjay, his 18 year-old-son, said some other fishermen from neighbouring villages who were released from Pakistani prisons in March this year told the family that he was not well and was in a coma. "Why was my father's name not on the list of 18 fishermen who were released from a jail in Pakistan on June 6?" asked Sanjay, speaking to PTI today. The family had not received any letter or message from his father in the last eight months, Sanjay said, adding that the family hoped that Rajnath would take up the issue of his release during his visit to Pakistan. Veljibhai Masani, senior vice president of Gujarat Fishermen Association, said he was going to request the Union Home Minister to intervene in the matter. Indian fishermen jailed in Pakistan often do not get proper medical treatment, he said. Air Marshal S Neelakantan today assumed charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command. The traditional Guard of Honour was presented to him by the 'Air Warriors.' Air Marshal Neelakantan, who was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force on December 28, 1977, is an alumni of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Tactics and Combat Development Establishment, a defence press release said. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and has flown over 3100 hours on various types of aircrafts and has commanded a frontline fighter squadron and two flying bases. He also led the IAF contingent in Congo as part of the UN Mission in 2006-07. Neelakantan also held important staff and instructional appointments and was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) and Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel at Air HQs before taking over as AOC-in-C, SAC, the release said. He is also a recipient of the presidential awards Yudh Seva Medal and Vayu Sena Medal. Actor Akshay Kumar has said copntrary to media reports he is not doing sequels to his films, "Hera Pheri 2", "Awara Pagal Deewana" and "Baby". Akshay tickled the funny bone of audience with "Hera Pheri" and "Phir Hera Pheri" as funny Raju. He even entertained the audience as the lovable don in "Awara Pagal Deewana". And in "Baby" he played an intelligence officer. Gossip mills have been abuzz that the Khiladi Kumar would be part of upcoming sequels to these three films. The 48-year-old actor, rubbishing the rumours, said in an interview, "I am not doing 'Hera Pheri 3', 'Awara Pagal Deewana 2' or 'Baby 2'." There were reports that the "Airlift" actor will also be doing Nikhil Advani's "Bazaar" and a film with Divya Khosla Kumar but he denied that too. Now, Akshay is looking forward to the release of "Rustom", "Robot 2" and "Jolly LLB 2". In a surprise move ahead of Assembly polls, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who is in the midst of several challenges, today decided to step down, saying it was time for new leadership to take over as she is soon going to turn 75. During Patel's over two-year-old tenure, the BJP for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat has faced multiple challenges including defeat in rural areas in the civic polls, a powerful agitation by Patel community for OBC quota and the ongoing Dalit unrest over the flogging incident after the skinning of a dead cow in Una. Patel took to Facebook to request the party leadership to relieve her of the post though speculation has been rife for quite some time that she is on the way out. Elections are due in later part of 2017. BJP President Amit Shah said the party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the replacement for Patel, who wrote a letter to him offering to resign. Patel will turn 75 on November 21 and is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat. "She has requested the party to relieve her of her post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah told PTI in Delhi. An unwritten age bar of 75 has been set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP leaders to hold positions in state and central governments. A minister in the BJP government since 1998, Patel succeeded Modi as Chief Minister on May 22, 2014. "For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November," Patel said in the Facebook post. "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," she said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she added. Congress claimed Patel has decided to step down due to pressure from the top leadership of BJP, which is "losing ground" in the state and also termed the move as an indication of the saffron party's defeat in the polls. Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said the offer came due to BJP high command's diktat while Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary, tweeted that her resignation is an indication of BJP's "sure defeat" in 2017. Ahead of the Assembly elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today offered to resign requesting the BJP leadership to relieve her from the post as she is soon going to be 75. Under the leadership of Patel, who has been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 and CM from 2014, the BJP for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat is facing a tough challenge from its opponents. Patel, who will turn 75 on November 21, also said the BJP needed a fresh face in the state before the elections due next year. "For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November," the state's first woman chief minister, who succeeded Narendra Modi on May 22, 2014, said in a Facebook post. "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," Patel said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she added. Elections in the state are due in the later part of 2017. The unwritten convention in the party, set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in recent times has been that those attaining the age of 75 have to quit the post. Patel had to faced some upsets as BJP recently fared badly in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015 and the opposition Congress making gains at the cost of the saffron rival. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. Recently, the Dalit uprising after the Una trashing incident had also dented the image of party. Speculation has been rife over Patel's fate ever since the undeclared age bar put by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on retirement from existing posts at 75. Patel, who took over as CM in May 2014 from Modi, will cross the age bar of 75 years on November 21 this year as she was born in 1941. Union Minister Najma Heptulla, who crossed 75 years, was reportedly sounded recently to submit her resignation due to the age bar. Earlier, a couple of ministers in Madhya Pradesh including senior BJP leader Babubal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the state cabinet by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to age bar. In 2014, when the Narendra Modi government came to power, the age bar had apparently come in the way of ministerial berths for senior leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha. Sinha had in the past remarked that BJP has "declared brain dead on May 26, 2014" its leaders above the age of 75. Under the leadership of Anandiben Patel, who has been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 and Chief Minister from 2014, the BJP has faced some tough challenges in post-Modi era in Gujarat, where elections are due in the later part of 2017. The BJP had fared poorly in in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015, which was considered as a major loss for her as opposition Congress was able to put up a good showing after almost 25 years in the state. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. In a sudden move ahead of Assembly polls, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who is in the midst of several challenges, today offered to resign, saying it was time for new leadership to take over since she is soon going to turn 75. During Patel's over two-year-old tenure, the BJP for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat has faced multiple challenges including defeat in rural areas in the civic polls, a powerful agitation by Patel community for OBC quota and the ongoing Dalit unrest over the flogging incident after the skinning of a dead cow in Una. BJP President Amit Shah said the party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the replacement for Patel, who will turn 75 on November 21 and is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat. "She has requested the party to relieve her of her post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah told PTI in Delhi. Patel took to Facebook to request the party leadership to relieve her of the post though speculation has been rife for quite some time that she is on the way out. Elections are due in later part of 2017. An unwritten age bar of 75 has been set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP leaders to hold positions in state and central governments. A minister in the BJP government since 1998, Patel succeeded Modi as Chief Minister on May 22, 2014. "For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November," Patel said in the Facebook post. "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," she said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she added. The move by Patel came a day after thousands of Dalits converged here yesterday and took out a rally where they were called upon to "send a strong message" to the Gujarat government ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls. Soon after Patel went public with her offer to quit, Shah said she wanted her replacement to get adequate time to prepare for Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in January 2017 and the assembly polls later next year. He said Patel had twice offered to resign and also broached the issue in the party's National Executive meet in June and wrote to him again today morning. Referring to reasons, including that she will turn 75 in November, cited by her to quit, he said she has set a "good" precedent. "She has requested the party to relieve her of the post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah said. "She has said that if a new person has to be brought in, then he should get time. Gujarat elections have to take place and there is also Vibrant Gujarat summit, which has been a long tradition, to be held in January. She said if Vibrant Gujarat has to happen in January, then new person should get the opportunity now," he said. Asked about the replacement for Patel, he said the parliamentary board will decide on the new chief minister. The Dalit uprising after the Una trashing incident had also dented the image of party. Congress and other opposition parties has unleashed a nationwide attack on the BJP and its dispensations at the state and the centre over the issue. Patel had faced an upset with BJP faring badly in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015 and the opposition Congress making gains at the cost of the saffron rival. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. It has become an unwritten convention in BJP that those turning 75 have to quit the posts they are holding, which saw Najma Heptulla quitting the Union Cabinet after she was reportedly sounded to do so on attaining the age bar. Earlier, a couple of ministers in Madhya Pradesh including BJP veteran Babubal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the state cabinet by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to age bar. In 2014, when the Modi government came to power, the age limit had apparently come in the way of ministerial berths for old guards like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha. Sinha had in the past remarked that BJP has "declared brain dead on May 26, 2014" its leaders above the age of 75. (Reopens DEL 58) Speaking on the development, Gujarat BJP chief Vijay Rupani said, "Patel has expressed her desire to quit. The decision on her wish will be taken by the party's central leadership." State BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya denied that Patel offered to quit because of the agitations (by Dalits and earlier by the Patidar community). She was only following the party rule of retiring after reaching the age of 75, he said. "The party high command will take final decision on whether she will go, stay or if there will be a replacement," Pandya said. Speculation about her possible exit was rife for the last few months, owing to her age and the unrest in the state. Patel, who took over as the Chief Minister from Modi in May 2014, will turn 75 on November 21. She was born in 1941. Software giant Microsoft has named former Honeywell top executive Anant Maheshwari as the President of its India operations. Maheshwari, who will join Microsoft on September 1, will take over operations of the company from Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik with effect from January 1, 2017, a statement today said. Pramanik will retire in March 2017. Maheshwari will be responsible for Microsoft's product, service, and support offerings across India. "As we continue to transform as an organisation and support our customers' digital transformation, Anant's leadership will be pivotal to our continued growth," Microsoft EVP and President Global Sales (marketing and operations) Jean-Philippe Courtois said. On his appointment, Maheshwari said Microsoft's ambition of a mobile-first, cloud-first world complements India's growth themes of smart cities and Digital India. "The global mission and the ambition of the company are fully aligned with India's needs and priorities and enable a wide range of creative growth opportunities. I am excited to join the company at this transformational point and support the growth objectives globally and in India," he added. Maheshwari joins Microsoft from Honeywell where he was the India President. He has held various business leadership roles at Honeywell for over 12 years. Prior to Honeywell, he has been associated with McKinsey & Company and has worked with clients across industries like telecom, IT and e-commerce, private equity, engineering equipment, automotive, steel and pharmaceuticals. Microsoft, which set up its India operations in 1990, now has over 7,000 employees across sales and marketing, research and development, and customer services and support. The Shyam Benegal-led committee constituted by the I&B ministry to examine the film certification process has said that static warnings that appear during every smoking scene in movies disturb smooth viewing. The panel has suggested that a "meaningful static disclaimer" against smoking should be shown at the beginning of films with standard visual background approved by Health Ministry for a "minimum" time along with a matching audio. In the second part of its report, the panel has said that warnings should be made in all Indian languages and made applicable to all Media Platforms. As an option, producers of such films can make a short visual conveying an anti-smoking message by the same actor who is shown smoking in the film, the panel has suggested. The committee has also suggested that the film industry should produce small films on anti-smoking theme with popular actors on their own for screening in cinemas and TV Channels. These may replace the present anti-smoking clips shown in theatres and on TV after obtaining clearance from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the panel has said. Under the present norms, filmmakers have to carry anti- tobacco warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of a smoking scene. "The static warnings that appear during every smoking scene apart from the disclaimers and anti-tobacco health spots being shown mandatorily in the beginning and interval of every film, disturbs the smooth viewing of the film," the panel said in its report. In present times, depiction of smoking has become less fashionable due to awareness generated about its harmful impact through various programmes and regulations as well, the panel said. (REOPENS DES58) The Benegal panel has also made recommedations regarding depiction of animals in movies aiming to make the rules simpler. The Committee said it is of the view that there should be "licensed suppliers" of Performing Animals (PA) who are qualified to handle various animals and taking care of them as per requirement of the law. They could be hired by the Producers, it said. The Committee suggested that as an interim measure to cut down the time consumed, a directory of "certified (approved) personnel" of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), including veterinary personnel in different parts of the country may be published, enabling producers to intimate them the time of their shooting. Based on the report of such certified personnel, AWBI could issue the NOC, the panel said. It also added that there are numerous instances where animals in normal settings during course of shooting are interpreted as "performing animals" requiring an NOC from AWBI. In order to have some clarity on this, Committee is of the view that "performing animal", in case of films may be defined as an animal which is written into the script of the movie and is required to perform an act which it would not normally do, the panel said. Area under is set to dip 30 per cent in Punjab, on account of low prices fetched by growers and problems faced in sowing of high-yielding 1509 variety last year. Decline in area of premium quality rice will mean area under common varieties and grade-A varieties will go up significantly in the state. Rice exporters have blamed the policies of the government for the plight of growers and dip in area under basmati, despite the state authorities emphasising on enhancing area under aromatic varieties of crop as part of crop diversification programme. "We feel area under crop in Punjab will go down by 25-30 per cent this season," Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, Director, Ashok Sethi told PTI on Monday. Punjab is expecting area of about 5 lakh hectares in current Kharif season, which is about 35 per cent lower than what the state saw acreage in last sowing season. Area under Basmati in Punjab stood at 7.63 lakh hectares and 8.62 lakh hectares in 2015-16 and 2014-15, respectively, an official of Punjab Agriculture Department said. Punjab's major basmati growing areas including Amritsar, Gurdaspur have seen sharp dip in sowing of basmati paddy this year. "Out of the 1.73 lakh hectares of total paddy last year in Gurdaspur district, 60 per cent of area was under basmati. But this year, area under basmati has shrunk to 30 per cent of total sowing area and rest is with other varieties," said an official of agriculture department in Gurdaspur. In Amritsar, area under basmati went down by 25,000 hectares out of total area of 1.80 lakh hectares. "Growers have replaced area under basmati 1509 variety with ordinary varieties of paddy after facing problem in its lifting last year," said Chief Agricultural officer (Amritsar) B S Chhina. Farmers last year felt harassed after PUSA Basmati 1509 variety was not picked up by rice sellers and exporters, citing high broken content which caused its price going even below the minimum support price. "The main reason behind decline in Basmati crop is lower rates fetched by growers and faulty policies of the government," said Sethi adding that government "failed" in helping growers on basmati 1509 variety issue. Last fiscal, farmers got Rs 2,000-2,200 per quintal an average for basmati crop including PUSA 1121 which was far lower than what they had earned in corresponding period of 2014-15, he said. With sowing almost complete, area under paddy in Punjab has reached 30.14 lakh hectares as of now which is one of the highest acreage witnessed in the state. "Total area under paddy has surge to 30.14 lakh hectares due to decline in area under cotton, maize and other crops," said an official Punjab agriculture department. Meanwhile, Haryana, which is also a major basmati growing state, is expecting same acreage under aromatic varieties which was seen last year. "Area under basmati this year will be about 60 per cent of total paddy area in the state. It is the same which was seen last year," an official of Haryana Agriculture department. Basmati area was 8.80 lakh hectares in Haryana last season out of 13.54 lakh hectares of total area under paddy. The Centre in June had announced to raise the minimum support price of paddy by Rs 60 per quintal, following which MSP of common variety had gone up to Rs 1,470 per quintal of A grade variety to Rs 1,510 per quintal for 2016-17 season. Four armed motorcycle-borne men today looted Rs 15 lakhs from a state-owned bank at Kochhar market here, police said. The robbers barged into the branch of Punjab National Bank situated in the thickly populated Kochhar market area and fired in the air to scare away the bank staff, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (D) Balkar Singh said. They fled with the cash, he said. Ludhiana Commissioner of Police, Jatinder Singh Aulukh and DCP Dhruman Nimbley went to the spot after being informed about the incident. Armed robbers struck at posh Green Park area in south Delhi looting cash and valuables aroundRs 50 lakh, police said today. Police said four armed robbers entered the residence of a retired engineer Vimal Nagpal at G Block in Green Park area and caught hold of 12 year old boy Dhananjay on the ground floor and took him to his mother Niyati on the first floor and started looting cash and other valuables by holding them hostage at gun point. The robbers broke almirahs and drawers in the housein search of valuables forcingNiyati to cooperate in locating it as they roamed in the house for half an hour, said a senior police officer. The robbery was reported to police on July 30 evening. Police said that the robbers gained entry to the house after a servant Ranjan opened the door for them. The servant was absconding since the robbery. A case has been registered at Safdarjung police station and teams have been formed to arrest the robbers, said the officer. The family employed Ranjan and a maid who were present when the robbers came. The maid Kavita was tied down while Ranjan fled before the robbers. Role of both of them is being probed, he said. Nearly 60 per cent of the 6,570 complaints received by Haryana Human Rights Commission in the last three-and-a-half years, pertain to the police department like unfair probe and custodial torture. "The commission was set up in September, 2012. During the last three-and-a-half years we received 6,570 complaints, 60 per cent of them pertaining to police, out of which we disposed of 4,604 plaints while 1,966 are pending," its chairperson, Justice Vijender Jain (retd) said here today. This year till July, the Commission had received 1,865 complaints, he said, adding the nature of complaints against the police include unfair investigation, registering false cases, custodial torture among others. The tenure of Justice Jain, who will turn 70 tomorrow, as the chairperson of the Commission ended today. He was appointed as commission's first chairperson in 2012. The commission had issued notices to the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Secretary of Civil Aviation as there were reports that some airlines were charging hefty amount from travellers between Chandigarh and Delhi when the national highway was blocked due to the Jat stir in February. "Nobody can exploit the misery of the citizens. This case is still going on," he said. Asserting that people have right to clean environment, Justice Jain said, the Commission has played a proactive role and sought report from the Deputy Commissioners about the status of village ponds and other water bodies which included information pertaining to if these were polluted or filled up by land mafia and encroached upon. "There is this perception that we do not have powers...In a judgment of the Allahabad High Court, it has been defined that our (State Human Rights Commissions') recommendations are directions...I will also say that in 99 per cent cases, Haryana Government accepted what we recommended," he said. Quoting a Supreme Court judgment, Justice Jain said, "Good governance and human rights, go hand in hand." It is people's right to have a corruption-free, transparent and efficacious regime, where their rights are protected, he said, adding, "If any of the attributes is missing, then it is not good governance. (REOPENS DES 31) "The solution lies not in changing governments, but we have to change the system. Till the time the system is not changed, governments will come and go and citizens of Haryana and the country face the same set of problems...Mindset needs to be changed if we have to give good governance," Justice Jain said. "We received one complaint in which the aggrieved said that a case was registered against him by police for cheating on the grounds that he concealed before marriage that he was impotent. The person also claimed that police had assaulted him," he said. "On our direction, a board of doctors examined him and certified that he was actually potent. In that case, we ordered awarding of compensation and prosecution against the erring cops," Justice Jain said. On provision of filling up the post of the Commission's chairperson, he said, "The government has to form a search committee, it will have to look for a retired Chief Justice (of a high court)...Appointment committee includes the Chief Minister, State Home Minister, Speaker and Leader of Opposition". Till a time a full-time chairperson is appointed, the government can appoint acting chairperson from among the members of the commission, Justice Jain said. Shares of Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland settled with nearly 4 per cent drop today after it reported a 5 per cent decline in total sales at 10,492 units in July. The stock fell 4.03 per cent to settle at Rs 91.60 on BSE. At NSE, shares of the firm sank 3.83 per cent to end the day at Rs 91.60. On the volume front 45.12 lakh shares changed hands on BSE and over 2 crore shares were traded on NSE. The company had sold 11,054 units in July last year. Sales of heavy and medium commercial vehicles declined by 7.39 per cent to 8,182 units last month as against 8,835 units in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. Light commercial vehicle sales grew by 4.1 per cent to 2,310 units compared with 2,219 units last year, it added. Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland today reported a 5 per cent decline in total sales at 10,492 units in July, 2016. The company had sold 11,054 units in July last year. Sales of heavy and medium commercial vehicles declined by 7.39 per cent to 8,182 units last month as against 8,835 units in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. Light commercial vehicle sales grew by 4.1 per cent to 2,310 units as compared to 2,219 units in July last year, it added. Flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim today with three more persons losing their lives, taking the death toll to 34 in the current deluge in which over 11 lakh people have been affected. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), two persons were killed at Bilasipara and Chapar in Dhubri district, and one person lost his life at Barpeta town in Barpeta district. With this, the death toll in the current wave of floods has gone up to 34 in the state. The ASDMA said more than 11 lakh people are suffering across 1,659 villages in 21 districts. Till yesterday, nearly 17 lakh people were affected by floods across 2,266 villages. As of now, the affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nagaon, South Kamrup, Karbi Anglong and Chirang. Among them, Barpeta is the worst affected with nearly three lakh people still suffering, followed by Morigaon with almost 2.7 lakh and Goalpara with 1.4 lakh people hit by the floods. Authorities are running 366 relief camps and distribution centres, where over 1.25 lakh people are taking shelter across 15 districts. More than one lakh hectares of crop area are under the flood water across the state, besides washing away a number of roads, embankments, bridges and other infrastructure. Currently, the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat and Dhubri town, while its tributaries Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat and Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta are flowing above the normal level. Meanwhile, Oil India Limited, as part of its corporate social responsibility, handed over a cheque of Rs 75 lakh to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. The Tamil Nadu Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution asking the Centre to rename Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court and not Chennai HC as proposed in a Bill introduced in Parliament last month. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, besides other parties, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. "Naming the High Court of Judicature at Madras as Tamil Nadu High Court will be most appropriate," Jayalalithaa said, moving the resolution. "This House urges the Union government to alter the name from Chennai HC, proposed in the Bill introduced in Parliament to Tamil Nadu HC," the resolution said, adding "It will be correct to call the High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court which is presently being called as Madras High Court." Giving reasons for seeking the change, the resolution pointed out that the High Courts situated in other states take the respective names of such states, which were formed on linguistic basis in 1956. It said it would be "inappropriate to call the High Court with jurisdiction over entire Tamil Nadu as Chenani High Court." The resolution said a HC bench is functioning from Madurai too. "The name of Madras was changed to Chennai through a legislation in 1996 and according to it, Chennai will mean only the city of Chennai," it said. The Centre had introduced 'High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in Lok Sabha on July 19, according to which Madras High Court will be called Chennai High Court from the date appointed by the Act, the resolution said. (Reopens MDS 4) Listing out the historical reasons behind the name of Madras High Court, Jayalalithaa said the British Parliament had enacted the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 and Letters Patent was granted by Queen Victoria under which the Madras High Court was established in 1862. It was named as "High Court of Judicature at Madras," to mean its location with jurisdiction over the entire Madras Presidency, including regions of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The High Courts established after states were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956 were named after such states. Thus, it was "not appropriate" to call Madras High Court under the same name that was set up on the basis of Letters Patent granted by Queen Victoria, she said. A proposal was sent to the Central government in 1997 to rename Madras High Court as Chennai High Court after Madras city was renamed as Chennai in 1996, the CM added. DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan and Congress floor leader K R Ramasamy were among those who spoke briefly welcoming the resolution. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring terror in India and to rein in groups like LeT and JeM during the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers' conference to be held in Islamabad on August 4. Official sources said Singh is unlikely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan separately as top echelons of the government feel that time is not conducive for a bilateral meeting. However, the Home Minister, in his speech at the SAARC meeting, is expected to raise the issue of Pakistan's support to terror groups operating in India and ask Islamabad to check Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other groups based in that country. Singh's visit comes in the backdrop of growing strain in Indo-Pak ties after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Burhan Wani's killing on July 8. Wani was a wanted terrorist of banned Hizbul Mujahideen. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". Singh is also likely to raise the issue of fake Indian currency notes being circulated at the behest of Pakistani agencies, sources said. Apart from terrorism, other key issues to be discussed include liberalisation of visa, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and small arms and how to make coordinated and concerted efforts to combat such menace. The three-tier meeting will begin at the joint secretary- level and then move on to Secretary and Home Minister-level meetings. The meeting will also focus on strengthening networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and also enhance information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. The last meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers' conference was held in Kathmandu in 2014 when the Home Minister had said that member nations of the group were facing common challenges and they should cooperate with each other to address them. The Home Minister had also voiced concern over the new threats of terrorism and violence to South Asia and asked SAARC countries to chalk out strategies to check radical groups and extremist ideologies. Bank of Baroda has tied up with a fintech start-up Fisdom for personal wealth management services. Besides, the bank has entered into pact with six other fintech companies, proficient in different areas, Fisdom said in a release. These are CreditMantri, FundsTiger, Probe42, Power2SME, IndiaLends and KredX. Fisdom app helps users make financial investments in an easy and paperless manner by blending cutting-edge technology with personalised financial advice. It helps people manage their money with the help of a robo-advisor, it said. * * * * * * Amplus Energy Solutions ties up with Vatika group * Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd has tied up with Vatika group to set up solar rooftop systems in their buildings. The total capacity is 750kW spread across 6 buildings in Gurgaon and would provide on-site renewable power. Out of this, a 100kW system on Vatika Business Park, a state-of-art commercial hub on Sohna Road is already operational, a company statement said. These projects would help Vatika accrue considerable savings on energy in addition to making a tangible impact on the environment by reducing emissions by 25,800 MT of CO2 over the life of the plant which has the same effect as planting 32,000 trees. * * * * * * PFS training in SAARC region to help integrate energy systems * PTC India Financial Services Ltd (PFS) will help integrate energy systems and enhance cross border energy trade among SAARC nations and has finished its first capacity building training. "The programme was meant for promoting integration of energy systems and enhance cross border energy trade among the participating South Asian countries viz Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan," a company statement said. PFS and South Asia Regional Initiative/Energy (SARI) through the United States Energy Association collaborated for this three-module training programme. A stringent Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016, was passed today in the state Assembly by voice vote amidst boycott by Opposition over the state government's rejection of their proposals in the over three hour-long debate on the legislation. Though the new legislation for total prohibition incorporated provisions like production, marketing and consumption of toddy - a livelihood of the Pasis, a Dalit community, the state government allowed them to carry on with their traditional business till a mechanism was put in place for processing 'Nira', an unfermented drink made out of toddy juice. The NDA members, who had unsuccessfully moved 17 amendments to the Bill, and vociferously opposed it in its current form, trooped out of the House ahead of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reply. They later took out a protest march to the Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramnath Kovind in this regard. Earlier, state Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan introduced the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016 for consideration and passage by the Assembly in the post-lunch session. Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary put all 100 sections of the new prohibition law for discussion by the members during which opposition BJP members introduced 17 amendments, all of which were rejected by the House by voice vote. The BJP members had sought division of votes on two of their amendment motions. But both were rejected by the House with the opposition getting 46 votes compared to 150 against after counting of votes on the amendment in section 17 of the Bill, while the amendment motion on section 32 was voted out by the treasury benches with 153 against and only 45 in its favour. During the debate on the Bill, senior BJP MLA Nandkishore Yadav, HAM (Secular) President Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLSP MLA Lalan Prasad and CPI (M-L Liberation) MLA Mahboob Alam spoke against it. They pleaded with the state government to not press for its passage in its current form and described the stringent provisions under it as "draconian", particularly in view of one which sought arrest of all adult family members of a house in the event of recovery of a liqour bottle. The Chief Minister in his reply rebutted all opposition charges of the Bill being "draconian" and said the new law will go a long way in enforcing total prohibition. Kumar took exception to the opposition charge that the new prohibition law will arm the excise, police and other official machinery to harass the common man, particularly the poor people. He said stringent provisions have been made in the Bill to deter government servants from harassing the people on fake charge of consumption of liqour or carrying a liqour bottle with them or at their house. The previous Bihar Excise (Amendment), Act, 2015, passed by the state legislature during the budget session earlier, had provision for three months imprisonment and fine upto Rs 10,000 if excise and police officials harassed people on fabricated charge of consumption and possession of liqour. Under the new law, a stringent provision has been made to increase the quantum of imprisonment to three years, besides penalty of Rs one lakh, he said. Slamming opposition parties, particularly BJP for spreading "false propaganda" against the state government over the new prohibition law being "anti-poor and aimed at ushering in 'police raj' in Bihar", Kumar cited the example of dismissal from service of seven excise officials recently for slapping a fabricated charge of possession of liqour bottle by a motorist travelling to Kolkata. In addition, provisions have been incorporated for initiating action under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act against those excise and police officials found guilty of harassing a common man on fake charge of liqour consumption and carrying liqour bottles, he said. "There will be no police raj in Bihar," he said and put up a strong defence on the need to bring a new law on prohibition. Kumar said legal experts had detected several deficiencies in the previous law and suggested amendments but the state government has gone for a total overhaul by bringing in a new legislation. The old prohibition law will be repealed once the new law comes into being, he said. On the toddy issue, which the opposition parties had harped on, Kumar clarified that those engaged in the business of producing and selling toddy drink for their livelihood will continue to do so till a new mechanism comes in place for processing of 'Nira'. This mechanism will be in place by next summer, he said "You (Opposition) stop bothering about the welfare of those people (Pasis) who have been dependent on toddy business for livelihood ... We are here to take care of them," Kumar said, adding the state government has hired the services of experts from Tamil Nadu and a MOU signed for processing and marketing of various products, including eatables and fancy materials out of various produces of palm trees in Bihar. i(Reopens CAL 6) Kumar said with better harnessing of toddy produces, the lives of those depending on production and marketing of toddy juice will change for good with the marketing of other produces like jam, sweetmeat, jaggery from it. Brooms, mats and fancy items from branches and leaves will fetch good money for them, he said. On the provision of arrest of family members in the event of liqour bottle being found at their house, the CM said only adult members will be penalized on the premise that somebody in the household must be knowing as to who has brought the liquor. To the charge that the state government was allowing production of liqour in Bihar but did not want people to drink and penalise them for doing so, Kumar said the manufacturers were doing legitimate business on licence given by the excise department earlier on an agreement which cannot be scrapped. But no fresh licence was being issued and the manufacturers have been told to market liqour produced at their plants in Bihar in GPS-equipped vehicles with escorts outside the state, he said. With the opposition BJP claiming that there were fissures in the ranks of the ruling Grand Secular Alliance constituents on the prohibition law, Kumar said all legislative and governance-related matters are discussed by RJD, JD(U) and Congress before taking a decision on it. "You (BJP) have made false impression about wedge among the grand alliance constituents on the new prohibition law.... There is none between us," he said. Kumar said the government also tried to take the opposition on board to seek consensus on the new prohibition law by sending three ministers to meet senior leaders of rival parties last night but the offer was rejected. Stating that a lot of public good, particularly that of the poor, was involved in enforcement of prohibition in Bihar, Kumar said he has been visiting other states to impress upon them to ban liqour. On charges by BJP that he was seeking cheap publicity by touring other parts of the country to plead for enforcement, Kumar said there was no harm in doing so. The total prohibition has been enforced in Bihar as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the centenary of his Champaran March in 1917, he said. "I would also like RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify their stand on prohibition ... Modi, in fact had continued with prohibition in Gujarat during his 13 years stint as chief minister," he said. Defending prohibition in Bihar, Kumar said crimes like rape, murder, dacoity, road accidents, theft and extortion had come down since April this year even though there has been sharp rise in cases registered under the excise law. As the protest by Kashmiri Pandit employees entered the 19th day, BJP today expressed grave concern over their migration from the Valley and said that it will prepare a detailed report and will submit it to the Union government. "The party is deeply concerned over the migration of the employees (Kashmiri Pandits)," state BJP chief Sat Sharma said. He said that a Kashmir committee of BJP senior leaders is in regular touch with the employees who have migrated from Kashmir due to the turmoil there. "The team will prepare a detailed report and the same will be forwarded to the Union government to resolve the problems being faced by them due to their migration," Sharma said. Kashmiri Pandit workers employed with the government have refused to return to their jobs in the Valley after alleged stone pelting attacks on their transit camp. The employees, including women, continued their 'dharna' at the Relief Commissioners Office (RCO) today raising slogans against the state and central governments accusing them of "forsaking" the Pandit community. More than 1,600 displaced Kashmiri Hindu youths had been recruited under Prime Minister's Special employment package and posted in Kashmir voluntarily. Most of these employees escaped from Haal transit accommodation in Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara transit camps, Vessu and Mattan KP employees colonies in Anantnag district after the unrest began and managed to reach Jammu. Speaking to the protesters, All Party Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) Chairman, Vinood Pandit threatened to sit on indefinite fast unto death if the government failed to fulfill their demands. "We will take this agitation to New Delhi to wake up the central government over the threat and insecurity to KP employees in Kashmir. We are holding a protest demonstrations in the capital," Pandit said. Meanwhile, National Conference minority cell president M K Yogi, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference president Ravinder Raina, secretaries of AIKS Ashwani Bhat and Aryan Ramesh, Swami Kumar Ji from Geeta Satsang Ashram Muthi and vice president Kapal Mochan Trust (Shopian) Somnath Saraf have addressed to employees on the occasion and extended their full support and cooperation in their struggle. Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh has defended the cow vigilants in the backdrop of flogging of Dalits at Una in Gujarat, saying those who consume cow meat are bringing disgrace to the entire community and should be taught a lesson. In a video uploaded on his Facebook page with the caption, "My comments on recent ?#?Una Dalit incident" the legislator from Gosamahal here blamed Mayawati for "dragging" all Dalits into the issue. "I am asking those Dalits (who kill cows). Is it necessary to murder cow and eat its meat? This is absolutely wrong. It is because of such 'galeez' (dirty or disgusting) Dalits, that the image of whole Dalit community which is patriotic, follows dharma, and worships cows, is tarnished. "I support the beating of Dalits whoever slaughter cows to consume its meat. It is apt. I also support those who taught them a lesson," Singh said in his two-and-half minute video, which was uploaded on July 30 and has so far got 65,000 views. He said there are so many Dalits in Telangana who take part in 'Gau Raksha' along with him. "I want to ask people who proclaim to be secular and Mayawati in particular, why Dalits are being dragged into this? I want to tell everyone, not only Dalits, but all sections of this society, be it Kshatriya, Yadav, if they resort to cow slaughter, we will teach them lesson in the same way. You please remember this," he further said. According to him, 'gau rakshaks' should not keep quiet until the cow is declared as "Mother of the nation". On July 11, four Dalit youths were beaten up by cow vigilantes at Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district when they were skinning a dead cow. Though the youths pleaded that they are from the skinning community, the cow vigilantes thrashed them alleging that they were involved in cow slaughter, sparking an outrage. Opposition BJP on Monday supported demand for of 80 per cent of seats to Bihar natives in state jobs and admission in state-run professional colleges, while hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad for only making "statements" for political gain. "BJP is in favour of of 80 per cent of seats in professional institutions and state jobs as mooted by RJD President Lalu Prasad and in principle supported by CM Nitish Kumar," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. "But, it seems both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are more interested in making statements in this regard for political grounds but not doing anything concrete on the ground," he said in his Legislative Council chamber. BJP state President and MLC Mangal Pandey and Rajneesh Kumar raised the issue in the Legislative Council. In reply to a question that the CM has asked the Centre to intervene on the issue of domicialry allegedly erupting in different parts of the country, Modi, leader of opposition in the state's Upper House, said, "The Centre has no role in such issues." Referring to Lalu Prasad's allegations that outside candidates were getting selected in interviews for the post of Assistant Professor conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) due to lack of domiciliary policy, the BJP leader said the state government was to blame for this. "Despite clear cut guidelines from the Centre that candidates having done PhD before 2009 are eligible for interview for the post of Assistant Professor, the Nitish Kumar government has not put it into practice," he said. State Education minister Ashok Choudhary had in fact assured the Legislative Council that PhDs completed before 2009 would be recognised in BPSC exam in the Budget session early this year, but still it had not come into practise and BPSC was carrying interviews in which 80 per cent of successful candidates were outsiders, he said. "More than 34,000 students of Bihar have their PhD before 2009 who are at loss because of Bihar government's apathy," he alleged. "Moreover, Lalu Prasad, who is now demanding 80 per cent for Biharis had got students who have done their PhD before 2009 seeking his intervention, chased away from his house recently," Modi alleged. The former deputy chief minister asked the state government to stop the ongoing BPSC interview and follow the guideline recognising candidates who have done their PhDs before 2009. A low intensity explosion rocked a court premises here today causing panic among lawyers and litigants and leaving at least two persons injured. The explosion with "bomb blast-like" sound occurred in the toilet located behind the court building, eyewitnesses said. Windowpanes were shattered due to the intensity of the explosion, police said, adding the two persons received minor injuries. Senior police officials who rushed to the court cordoned off the area and pressed dog and bomb detection squads into service. They said the cause of the blast is being investigated. State Home Minister G Parameshwara, who was here today to pay last respects to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Rakesh who died in Belgium on Sunday, visited the spot with DGP Omprakash. "I have seen the place, it has happened in the toilet. Due to the impact, wall and doors have been damaged. No injuries have happened, samples are being collected. FSL (Forensics Sciences Lab) teamis here and are collecting samples. After that investigationwill happen," he said. Asked if there were any similarities to earlier explosions or any kind of suspicion, he said, "Nothing can be said now itself; let the investigation happen and let them find out about the materials used and the purpose." The Minister said though it was a low intensity blast, its impact wasbig because walls, doors and windowpanes have been damaged. To a question about any intentions behind the blast asa large number of people and prominent personalities were inMysuru to pay last respects to Rakesh Siddaramaiah, he said "I can't say anything; I don't want to speculate." He said police would be taking all required preventive and security measures. A teacher of private residential blind school at Kalyani in West Bengal's Nadia district was today arrested for allegedly molesting a teenage girl student, police said. The teacher, who is also the caretaker of the school is blind. The 15-year-old girl, who has been studying in the school for five years, recently had complained to her mother that the teacher, Sushen Sarkar, was sexually harassing her, police said. Her family lodged a police complaint today and the teacher was arrested. He was booked under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, they said. Two brothers have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls and killing one of them in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar area, police said today. "Accused Danish (25) and Ashu (23) were booked for raping a minor girl, while the elder brother was also booked for the gruesome murder of the other 16-year-old girl and burning her body," said Rishi Pal, DCP (east) Delhi. The girl's partially burnt body was found from a 2nd floor flat at Kailash Nagar of Gandhi Nagar area on July 28 by the police which had reached there following a report of fire. During probe police found that she had returned from school around 1 pm on that day and was alone in the flat as her mother and brother had gone out for work, he said. Further investigation led the police to a close friend of the girl who alleged that both of them were being sexually assaulted by Danish and Ashu. "During investigation, Danish's name cropped up as he was trying to contact the girl for some time. He knew the girl as they are both lived in the same locality," said the officer. The girl's friends was counselled and her statement was recorded by a lady police officer. A case under sections 376,376D, 328,506 IPC and section 6 and 12 POCSO Act was registered at Gandhi Nagar police station yesterday and the accused brothers were arrested. Danish had allegedly killed and tried to burn the body with kerosene oil to destroy the evidence of his offence. The investigators found that he was asking for "sexual favours" from the deceased girl, the DCP said. Police have obtained custody of Danish for further probe, he added. An unidentified Pakistani intruder was shot dead by BSF troopers near Border Out Post Kassoke, officials said today. The incident happened yesterday evening when BSF jawans, belonging to 105 Battalion, observed some suspicious movement alongside the international border security fence and asked the intruder to stop. "But he did not pay any heed. Thereafter, the BSF troopers fired in the air but he continued to venture into Indian territory. Later, he was shot by the jawans," BSF officials said. Nothing objectionable was found from his possession, they said. Three accused in the Bulandshahr gangrape case were today sent to judicial custody, even as Governor Ram Naik expressed anguish, saying cases like this have been occurring at different places and there was need to halt recurrence of such incidents. Uttar Pradesh Police had yesterday arrested the three accused -- Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) -- and detained a dozen others after launching a massive hunt for a gang of dacoits suspected to be behind the highway crime. "The trio have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a Bulandshahr court," IG (Law and Order) Hare Ram Sharma told reporters here. Gold ornaments of the victims and Rs 5,500 cash were recovered from the accused, he said, adding a request would be made for trial by a fast-track court. Efforts will be made to file the charge sheet within three months, he said. Seven to eight more names have come up and the police have constituted six teams to nab them, Sharma said. As the Samajwadi Party government faced fresh flak from opposition parties over the "deteriorating" law and order in the state where Assembly polls are barely a few months away, the Governor voiced his anguish over the incident and asked the state government and the police to take immediate steps to ensure that such cases did not recur. "The state government and the police need to follow their duties in ensuring that such incidents do not take place in the state," he said on the sidelines of a programme here. "This is not the first incident...Cases like these have been taking place at different places...There is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said, adding immediate steps are needed in this regard. The Governor, however, expressed satisfaction with the steps taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in rushing senior officials like the DGP of the state police and principal secretary (home) to the scene of the crime. Special directives have been issued by the government to intensify highway patrolling so that such crimes did not take place again, Sharma said. The state government, meanwhile, posted PAC Commandant Anees Ahmad Ansari as the new SSP of Bulandshahr following suspension of Vaibhav Krishna after the gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on Friday night. Deputy SP Maan Singh is the new Additional SP replacing Rammohan Singh, who was among the five suspended officers, an official spokesman said here. Bawariya gang members had brutally gangraped the woman and her 13-year-old daughter on gunpoint after dragging them out of a car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 when they were travelling with their family from Noida to Shahjahanpur. The matter had an echo in Lok Sabha where BJP members hit out at the UP government over the law and order situation and demanded resignation of the chief minister. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Bhola Singh, who represents Bulandshahr, alleged that such incidents were happening in the state as criminals enjoyed the government's "protection". "The police are not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The chief minister should resign," he said, drawing support from other party members, one of whom said, "Uttar Pradesh is burning." Members of Samajwadi party, which is in power in the state, were seen protesting, with Dharmendra Yadav heard asking the treasury benches to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation first. BSP supremo Mayawati demanded resignation of the chief minister on moral grounds, saying there was complete 'jungle raj' in the state and criminal elements were roaming freely. "The SP government and its head must tell the people if they can return the modesty of women in such a painful and heinous crime," she told reporters in Delhi. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) summoned a doctor who conducted medical examination of the minor victim, for allegedly ill-treating her and asking "awkward" questions and also slammed the police for not including sections of POCSO Act in the FIR. NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumarmangalam said the family had told the NCW team, which met the victims in Bulandshahr, that when the girl was taken for a medical examination, "she was abused by the doctor, who asked her a number of awkward questions and berated her". "The FIR in the case did not have sections of POCSO Act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer," she said. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh said that POCSO Act has not yet been added in the FIR. National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman PL Punia and Union Minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal today questioned the actions taken by the Uttar Pradesh government in the aftermath of the brutal gangrape of a mother-daughter duo, and called for administrative steps to prevent such incidents. "Whatever has happened in Bulandshahr is really shocking and shameful. It is a shame on the society," Punia, a senior Congress leader, said. "The state government has taken action and suspended a few policemen. But that is not enough. Some mechanism should have been worked out so that this kind of incident does not happen," Punia said outside Parliament. On Friday night, a group of bandits had waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged the woman and her 13-year-old daughter out of the vehicle to a field, and raped them while the men were tied with ropes. Questioning the role of the policemen on duty, Punia accused the state police of indulging in rampant corruption. "What did they do? They do not perform their duties but collect money. This is happening every day everywhere in UP. Chief Minister (Akhilesh Yadav) must take responsibility." Patel, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare who hails from UP, said: "The CM has a moral responsibility. As a woman, I want to raise this question that whatever action he has taken after the incident is one thing, but the question is why did such an incident take place." She said the UP administration has to ensure the security of women in the state, adding that voters will teach the ruling Samajwadi Party a lesson in the assembly polls in 2017. Asked about the SP's claim that all culprits involved in the incident have been arrested, she said, "My question is why you are not prepared to prevent such incidents in the first place. Why is that the police were so insensitive towards crime against women. It gives a clear indication of the state of law-and-order machinery. What you do post-incident is another point." "As an elected representative from UP, there is a moral responsibility on all of us. But it is the state government who takes care of the law and order situation," she said. "Crimes against women is rising in the state. When will the government start thinking about it? she asked. In a bizarre incident in the US, a burglar was found dead after a 68-year-old mobile homeowner tired of robberies captured the intruder and tied him to a tree with multiple layers of masking tape on his mouth. The accused burglar was found dead following an unusual turn of events after the homeowner caught him breaking into his residence in Leroy, Alabama, Washington County Sheriff Richard Stringer said. Nathanial Johnson, 68, set a trap in an attempt to stop a string of burglaries at his mobile home, Stringer was quoted as saying by AL.Com. Johnson parked his vehicle at a neighbour's place on Friday night, went back to his home and waited. Sometime before midnight, Johnson told sheriff's deputies he heard someone knock on the front door of his home. When he did not answer, the person went to the back door and broke the lock. Johnson told police he came face-to-face with the burglar, identified as Cleveland Jones Gully, 31, at the door and chased him outside. Stringer said Gully, who has a reputation for breaking into houses, then either fell or jumped off the back steps of the mobile home. That is when Johnson jumped on Gully and tied his hands behind his back, he said. Johnson used "multiple layers of masking tape that he had wrapped around his mouth and all the way around his head," Stringer told WALA-TV. He wrapped Gully to the tree with insulated electrical tape and clothesline, he said. Johnson told police he then went back to his neighbour's house and called police. "(Gully) was still alive at that point, and there was no indication that he was dying," Stringer said. When sheriff's deputies arrived about 10 minutes later, though, Gully was dead, he said. Stringer said Gully did not have any visible injuries except for cuts around his body from the wire. An autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death, he said. No criminal charges have yet been filed against Johnson, and Stringer was not sure if any will be in the future. "We will probably present it to the grand jury to see what they say about it," Stringer said. The Centre has sent a team of specialists to probe reasons behind the deaths of 19 children allegedly due to malnutrition in Odisha's Jajpur district in the last three months. The decision to send the team, comprising senior officers and public health experts from the Health Ministry and Ministry of Women and Child Development, was taken following a request from Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday. "A high-level team has been constituted by Union Health Minister J P Nadda to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and investigate the causes that led to the incident. "The team is visiting Nagada village under Sukinda block and will submit a report on the matter to Nadda," an official statement said. The Health Minister has also extended to the Odisha government all possible assistance in terms of preventive and curative measures for managing the situation, it said. An anxious China today asked Britain to decide "as soon as possible" on proceeding with a USD 24 billion nuclear power plant project after the new British government delayed the venture saying that it needed time to consider all aspects of the deal. "I'd like to stress that the project was agreed on by China, Britain and France in the spirit of reciprocity and win-win cooperation," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement. The Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in the UK, finalised by the previous David Cameron government had always been strongly backed by the British and French sides, Hua said. According to an agreement reached last October, the Chinese consortium led by China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) would hold a 33.5 per cent stake in the project, and Electricite de France, or EDF, a 66.5 per cent. A deal was supposed to be inked by the British government, EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp on July 29 but the new government headed by Theresa May put a hold on it. "(We) hope that the British side will make a decision as soon as possible to ensure the project's smooth implementation," Hua said. A BBC report earlier said the British government explained the "shock decision" to delay the deal saying that it needed time to consider all components of the deal. But speculation is growing that China questions may be at the heart of the reassessment, it said. Under the existing terms of the project, a Chinese company is to finance a third of the new Hinkley Point C reactors and may later build a Chinese-designed nuclear power station in Essex. A Xinhua report from London quoted spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May as saying that it was natural for the incoming government to want to look at the plans in detail. But Britain still valued its ties with China, she said. Meanwhile, Chinese state media said today that China "cannot tolerate" accusations that its investment in the British nuclear plant threatens that country's security. Tian Dongdong, a writer with China's official Xinhua agency, said in a commentary that the delay "adds uncertainties to the 'Golden Era' of China-UK ties". Fears over "China planting back doors" during construction to control critical infrastructure had a "groundlessness and sci-fi scent", the article said. "China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation," it said. continues to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a US think-tank has said, expressing concern over export of nuclear materials in violation of norms and established procedures. " has taken significant steps over the past several years to strengthen its export controls. However, Beijing's decision to continue selling nuclear reactors to Pakistan in contravention of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its sales of missile technologies to countries of concern earns a failing grade," Washington-based Arms Control Association said in its latest report. In its updates report card 2013-2016 'Assessing Progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament', it gives China a failing "F Grade" on nuclear weapons related export control. China joined the NSG in 2004, and its national export controls include provisions related to export licensing, control lists, end-user controls, and import controls. At the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference in 2015, China said it carries out "stringent reviews" on its export controls and adjusts its trigger lists according to technical progress and in March 2016, Beijing said it started to implement the Nuclear Export Control List that was updated in January 2016. "Despite progress on its export controls China continues to supply Pakistan with nuclear power reactors, despite objections that the sale of the reactors did not receive a consensus exemption from the NSG," the report said. "Pakistan, which is neither an NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) member nor under full- scope IAEA safeguards, is therefore ineligible to receive such assistance under NSG rules," it argued. "China has argued that the reactor transfer was based on a contract negotiated with Pakistan in 2003, one year before Beijing joined the NSG, and grandfathered in when China joined the regime. However, the 2003 exemption was widely understood to apply solely to the two nuclear power reactors whose sale was completed before China's acceptance into the NSG in 2004," the report said. In February 2013, China is reported to have signed a formal agreement to build the Chashma-3 reactor. In January 2014, there were reports that China and Pakistan were discussing three new reactors. At a February 2015 press conference in Beijing, a Chinese official confirmed that China has assisted in building six nuclear reactors in Pakistan. The report alleged that the 2013 deal on the Chasma-3 also contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which reaffirms that new supply arrangements for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept full-scope IAEA safeguards and legally-binding commitments, not to acquire nuclear weapons. China applied to join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2004, but its membership was blocked. Prior to the MTCR application, China committed in 2000 not to assist, in any way, any country, in the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi will take over Uber's China business, in a deal worth USD 35 billion as the US car-hailing firm gave in after fierce competition from its rival in the world's second largest economy. Uber will take a 5.89 per cent stake in Didi. Didi did not disclose the stake it will take in Uber. Uber China's on-demand mobility (ODM) service will continue to operate independently. The deal follows China's legalistion of ODM services. Uber's founder Travis Kalanick and Didi founder Cheng Wei will sit on each other's company boards. The two companies have been locked in a bitter battle for customers in China marked by huge customer discounts since last year. Post the merger of its Chinese business, Uber is expected to focus more aggressively on the Indian market, its third biggest market after the US and China, at present. Interestingly in India, Uber is locked in an intense battle with market leader Ola which counts Didi as an investor. Didi had picked up a stake in Bengaluru-based Ola last year as a part of the USD 500 million funding round. Last December, Didi Chuxing, along with Ola, US-based Lyft and GrabTaxi had also formed a global pact to share customers and technology across countries to compete with Uber. Uber has been pumping in substantial funds to fuel its growth in India. In July last year, Uber had announced an investment of USD 1 billion in India to expand its services here. It has also set up a response and support centre in Hyderabad with an investment of USD 50 million. India is also expected to be a major beneficiary of the USD 3.5-billion fund raised by Uber earlier this year as the US-based firm looks to overtake local rival Ola. There were also reports suggesting that Uber may buy Ola, though the Indian company rubbished those saying it has "no intentions of selling to Uber". Uber is one of very few foreign tech firms that has been able to compete with domestic rivals head-on in China. While Didi holds a majority share in China's ODM services, Uber has managed to establish a foothold, and has made inroads into lower-tier cities this year to further threaten Didi's dominance. The competition has seen the two companies locked in a discount war in an attempt to poach riders away from each other's platforms. In June, Didi announced it had secured USD 7.3 billion in equity and debt financing, including USD 1 billion from Apple which valued the start-up at around USD 28 billion. Uber has secured over USD 6 billion in its latest funding. Liu Zhen, Uber China head of strategy, said in June that most of the money raised will fund Uber's operations in China. While Uber has generated over USD 1 billion in profit from its top 30 cities worldwide, the company has not yet turned a profit in any Chinese city, even though it provides more trips in China than any other country, Kalanick said. The AAP government today told the Delhi High Court that 'Chinese manja' would be banned soon as it is "conscious of injuries" caused by the kite-flying thread made of nylon. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was informed that the Delhi government was in process of issuing a notification for banning 'Chinese manja' and only allowing kite-flying with a cotton thread or natural fibre, "free from any metallic or glass components". "A draft notification imposing complete ban or sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese manja and any other kite-flying thread that is sharp or made sharp such as by being laced with the glass, metal or other sharp objects in Delhi and allowing kite-flying only with a cotton thread/natural fibre, free from any metallic/ glass components was prepared by the Environment Ministry of the Delhi government and vetted by the Delhi government's Law Department. "The proposed draft notification is under process from the competent authority," the Delhi government said in their affidavit. The AAP government's response came in the backdrop of the court's notice issued to it on a plea seeking prohibition on the manufacture, sale, use and purchase of 'Chinese manja', alleging that it is "razor sharp" and has caused several deaths across the country as it is capable of cutting human flesh. The petitioner, Zulfiquar Hussain, has alleged in his plea that earlier the "victims" of the synthetic thread were birds, "but now humans are also under threat" and referred to the recent death of a 28-year-old man in East Delhi whose throat got slit allegedly by such a thread while he was riding a motorbike. The Kerala government today constituted a committee to sort out issues between media personnel and advocates in the wake of the recent stand-off between them over coverage of an alleged molestation bid by a government pleader. Advocate General C P Sudhakaraprasad will be the Committee chairman, a government press release said. Kerala Bar Council Chairman, Kerala High Court Advocates Association President, Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) State President and General Secretary are among those who will be the members of the committee. In case the issue involves police, the committee will then also have state police chief and district police head concerned as members. Advocates and journalists had clashed outside the Kerala High court two weeks ago following which media was not allowed to enter the High Court and other courts in the state. The media room was also closed. The High Court yesterday made it clear that there was no ban on the entry of media personnel. On Saturday, media personnel were prevented by a Sub- Inspector of Town police station in Kozhikode from entering the district court complex and forcibly taken to the police station. He was later suspended, pending inquiry. Media personnel had taken out protest march against the continued attack on them in various parts of the state. Competition Commission has slapped a total penalty of nearly Rs 73 crore on drug maker Lupin and its two officials for indulging in unfair business practices with regard to supply of medicines in Karnataka. Besides, the watchdog has penalised Karnataka Chemists and Druggists Association (KCDA) as well as its two officials in the case. When contacted, a Lupin spokesperson said the company would be looking at legal recourses, including filing an appeal against the order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Together, the regulator has imposed a total fine of little over Rs 73 crore on six entities -- Lupin, KCDA and four individuals. They have also been directed to "cease and desist" from anti-competitive practices. Lupin has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 72.96 crore, accounting for 1 per cent of its average turnover for three years starting from 2011-12. The company's two officials -- Amit Kumar Dhiman and Nishant Ajmera -- have been fined Rs 5,117 and Rs 8,393, respectively, as per the CCI order. KCDA has been penalised Rs 8.6 lakh while its two officials -- A K Jeevan and D S Guddodgi -- have been fined Rs 56,055 and Rs 4.5 lakh, respectively. In its order dated July 28, CCI said KCDA restrained pharmaceutical companies from appointing new stockists in the Karnataka unless a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) was obtained from it. Further, it was found that Lupin also refused to supply drugs to the complainant in the absence of NoC. With regard to one KCDA official, K E Prakash, who did not furnish his income tax returns despite specific directions, CCI said it would deal with the issue separately. CCI's order has come on a complaint filed by Maruti & Company. "We at Lupin are looking at all legal recourses, including filing an appeal vis-a-vis the order issued by the Competition Commission of India having considered merits, facts and circumstances associated with the case," the Lupin spokesperson said. KCDA could not be immediately contacted for comments. This is the latest clampdown on unfair business practices in pharma industry by CCI, which had earlier also pulled up various firms as well as chemists associations for violating competition norms. "Despite several orders of the Commission proscribing the anti-competitive practices of state and regional chemists and druggists associations in inter alia mandating NoC for appointment of stockists, it is found that these associations are continuing to indulge in these practices," CCI said. As per an official release, CCI's probe arm -- Director General (DG) -- found KCDA was indulging in the anti-competitive practice of mandating NOC prior to the appointment of new stockists by pharmaceutical companies. A court here today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of rebel Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nalin Kotadiya, against whom a police complaint was lodged by a city-based builder for allegedly demanding extortion money. Additional Sessions Judge of Ahmedabad rural D P Gohil dismissed the anticipatory bail plea on the ground that allegations against him were serious in nature and the matter was under investigation. Another judge, P A Patel, had earlier recused himself from hearing Kotadiya's plea, after which the matter was transferred to Gohil. Kotadiya, a sitting MLA from Dhari in Amreli district, had filed the anticipatory bail application after Madhu Vasani lodged the complaint against him at Vastrapur police station. Vasani alleged that Kotadiya came to his office on July 26 and demanded Rs 2 crore for having secured from authorities the construction permission on a piece of land for his real estate firm. As per the FIR, when Vasani refused to pay the money, Kotadiya and his accomplice thrashed him and looted a gold chain and a pendant worth Rs 60,000. Kotadiya, who has been shunned from the BJP for his support to the Patidar reservation agitation in the state and who was recently seen with Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal during his visit to Somnath, has termed the FIR against him a conspiracy to keep him away from the stir. Kotadiya had won on the ticket of Gujarat Parivartan Party, floated by former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel, which merged with BJP two years ago. BJP has now disowned him following his inflammatory comments about the party and its leaders especially in connection with the Patidar reservation agitation. Bhardwaj was arrested by a police team from Sonipat on July 26. He was questioned for several hours in connection with the suicide of the woman, along with Chauhan. The woman had consumed a poisonous substance at her home in north-west Delhi's Narela area and died during treatment at LNJP Hospital on July 19. She had filed a complaint against 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 abetment to suicide and handed over the entire matter to a special investigation team. 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. She had also alleged that the accused was being protected by the local AAP MLA. The woman in a video recording had levelled serious allegations against Bhardwaj, accusing him of pressuring her to "compromise" if she wanted to rise in the party and claimed himself to be "close" to the local party MLA. CPI(M) today alleged that the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the recent spate of incidents involving assaults on Dalits is a "sort of protection" he is "offering" to the attackers. Referring to the incident in Una in Gujarat in which some Dalit youths were attacked for allegedly skinning a dead cow, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury likened the "gau raksha business" to vigilantism and asked Modi to ensure that the law of the land prevails. "The country has been asking the Prime Minister to give an assurance in Parliament that the law of the land will be protected against hate speeches and this sort of vigilantism. "...But it is sad that it has been over two years (since NDA came to power) and not once the Prime Minister said this point either in Parliament or outside. Now, we think, that it is a sort of protection being given to all these groups to continue what they are doing," Yechury said while speaking to mediapersons at Indian Women Press Corps here. To a question on some states implementing cow protection laws, the Marxist leader said the act is meant to protect the animals and "not kill human beings". "Those who are attacking people are violating the existing laws and action should be taken in accordance with the existing law. That's all," he added. The Central Vigilance Commission has red-flagged the setting up of NGOs by employees of public sector banks and enterprises to get donations from contractors or other persons having official dealings with them and has warned them of strict action. The move comes as the Commission has observed instances of associations and organisations, formed or patronised by employees, their spouses, etc, obtaining donations from contractors, vendors, customers or other persons having commercial relations or official dealings with the public sector banks and enterprises. Considering that such contributions may lead to unethical practices and misuse of power, the CVC advised the departments of public enterprises, financial services as well as the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to examine the issue of incorporating suitable and specific provision in the rules governing the conduct of officers or issue necessary instructions to curb such practice, it said in new guidelines issued today. Following this, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has issued instructions to all public sector banks, insurance companies, financial institutions to stop the practise of obtaining donations. The DFS has said violation of these instructions by any official will be viewed seriously and delinquent officials will be liable for disciplinary action for offence of bribery under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has advised all administrative departments to issue necessary instructions to all public sector enterprises under their administrative control to curb the practise, it said. "All Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) of public sector banks and enterprises have been asked to take necessary action in case they come across such instances," a senior CVC official said. The CVOs act as distant arm of the CVC to check corruption in government departments they work with. DoPT had recently asked all central government employees not to misuse their position to secure job in any company or firm for their family members related to them by blood or marriage. Existing rules bar a government servant from giving any contract to a company or a person if any member of his family is employed in that firm. The Delhi Commission for Women will work with the Ministry Of Women and Child Development to develop an action plan for dealing with rising incidents of cyber abuse and trolling on social media. "The DCW had written a letter to Union Minister Maneka Gandhi regarding the rising menace of cyber trolling and proposed formulation of a law to check the crime. Following a meeting between the two, it has been decided that they will work on an action plan," a DCW official said. "It has also been decided that complaints of cyber trolling pertaining to Delhi shall be heard by DCW while those pertaining to the rest of India shall heard by the Ministry of Women and Child Development itself," he added. DCW had last month announced setting up of a cyber cell as part of a pilot project to conduct in-depth research on online harassment of women and girls. "The commission will seek the cooperation of police and social networking sites for redressal of online complaints received by it. We are already in talks with Twitter and Facebook to explore the possibility of directly referring complaints of online harassment to them for immediate action," the official said. With a spurt in dengue cases, the Delhi government today asked all hospitals and nursing homes here to add up to 20 per cent extra beds and ordered them not to deny admission to patients suffering from the vector-borne disease. Hospitals and nursing homes will get permission for increasing their bed strength on the condition that these beds will be used only for admitting fever and dengue patients, a senior official said in a statement. To tackle dengue outbreak, the government said it has also decided to restrict the sale of drugs like "Aspirin, Ibuprofen and Diclofenac" group of medicines which cause "destruction of platelets" in human blood. These will now be sold strictly against prescription by a registered medical practitioner. The move is being seen as part of the preparation to deal with the rising dengue cases as according to a municipal report, 119 such cases have been reported in Delhi this season, with 91 of these recorded in last month alone. "To keep Dengue treatment affordable, the government has put a ceiling on NSI Ag (Elisa based) and Elisa MAC tests at Rs 600 and for platelet count at Rs 50. Any private hospital or lab which charges more than the fixed ceiling price for dengue testing and platelet count will face action," the official said. The government is also aiming to increase the number of dedicated fever clinics from 55 last year to 355. All hospitals have been advised to have "fever corners" which will function round-the-clock. The medical and paramedical staff at these clinics have been sensitised about prevention and treatment of dengue. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today expressed his government's resolve to rid Pakistan of terrorism and make the country a safe place for people of all religions and ethnicities, hours after two Hazara Shia Muslims were shot dead by Taliban militants. "We will make Pakistan secure for every ethnicity and religion," Sharif said while chairing a meeting on internal security and the National Action Plan (NAP). He said the country is on the right track and the government will enable citizens to reap the benefits of a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan. Minorities in Pakistan have faced numerous casualties for more than a decade following the rise of extremism and terrorism in the country. The premier's statement comes just hours after two members of the Hazara minority community were gunned down by unidentified assailants in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, in an apparent sectarian attack. Sharif termed "extremist ideology" a global threat and said that Pakistan as a frontline state in the war on terror had "confronted the blowback of terrorists for several years". Pakistan had suffered socially and economically since it began to fight extremism and terrorism, Dawn quoted Sharif as saying. "No other country has suffered to this extent," he said. The premier said he believed NAP and Operation Zarb-i-Azb military operation have played a major role in cutting down the frequency of terror activities in the country. "The gains in the National Action Plan and Operation Zarb-i-Azb, and progress achieved so far will be consolidated through well-coordinated and concerted efforts at the federal and provincial levels with the backing of the national resolve," Sharif said. A cat fight for control over Britain's corridors of political power turned brutal today with 10 Downing Street's chief mouser coming to blows with its Foreign Office feline neighbour. Larry, the Prime Minister's residence No 10 Downing Street's mouse-catcher, has never really got on with Foreign Office neighbour Palmerston but this morning the two so-called 'chief mousers' had to be physically separated by political photographer Steve Back. "It was utterly appalling, the fighting has been going on for weeks and weeks. This morning Iwas there covering normal political events and suddenly Palmerston appeared from the foreign office," Back told 'The Daily Telegraph'. "Suddenly these two were at each other hammer and tongs. First they were hissing at each other and we didn't think they were going to fight, so we walked off. The next thing we heard there was this terrible screaming. We turned around and they were fighting outside No. 11, literally ripping fur off each other. Palmerston's ear is in a terrible mess and Larry has lost his collar," he said. The photographer, who has been reporting on the cat fights on his Twitter account 'Political Pictures', said he was worried that if no one takes action, their rivalry could end in death. "They are going to end up killing each other -- they were brought in as a PRstunt and now ithas gone too far. No one seems to care -- it's happening outside (Prime Minister) Theresa May's window! There now even are rumours the Cabinet Office is going to get a cat -- it's cat madness on Downing Street as they are all fighting over a small space," Back warned. Pictures of one fight showedPalmerston has a clump of fur missing, and Larry had to have veterinary treatment for a sore paw. The two were both adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats home. Larry in 2011 and Palmerston earlier this year. Members of the public have started taking sides in the fight, calling themselves #teamlarry or#teampalmerston on Twitter. Last month, Palmerstone even sneaked into the Prime Minister's home before being unceremoniously evicted by Scotland Yard officers. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today paid floral tributes to 'Lokmanya' Bal Gangadhar Tilak on his 96th death anniversary here. Fadnavis inaugurated the Lokmanya Mahotsav organised by the Directorate of Cultural Affairs. The Mahotsav is organised as a part of the centenary year celebrations of Tilak's famous slogan 'Swaraj is my birthright'. The CM also released an information booklet on the Mahotsav and appealed to practice the teachings of Tilak. "Swarajya slogan had a huge impact on people's mind and changed the thought of defeat... Now its high time that we convert Swarajya into Surajya," Fadnavis said. "We all must understand and always act keeping in mind our role that's needed for Surajya," he said, while declaring this year as 'Surajya Varsh'. The chief minister also flagged off a 'Swarjya Rath' to spread Tilak's teachings. Five people on board a Russian military helicopter were killed today when it was shot down over Syria, in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime's siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city. Russia's defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government last September. It brought the total number of members of the Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of Islamist and jihadist forces including the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its status as Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. In neighbouring Aleppo province, the Fateh al-Sham Front and allied Islamist rebel groups were fighting fierce battles on Monday against regime troops on the outskirts of Aleppo city. The clashes are part of an assault launched yesterday to try to ease a government siege of the rebel-held east of the city. The heavy clashes left dozens dead on both sides, the Observatory said, without giving a specific toll. It said the rebels had advanced overnight south and southwest of Aleppo but reported ongoing fighting, as well as government air strikes on the battlefield and rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, cutting the sole supply route in and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. A new foundation will be created to help finance mosques in France and keep out radical benefactors, the head of the French Muslim Council said today. Anouar Kbibech proposed the foundation would be used to fund the construction and running of mosques and would be financed by fees paid by actors in the halal food sector. France, home to Europe's largest Muslim community, is a secular state that prohibits the use of state money for places of worship. Prime minister Manuel Valls said yesterday he wants to put an end to the financing from abroad for the construction of mosques. "Almost all Muslims of France are attached to a serene, open, tolerant Islam and they are fully respecting the values and laws of the Republic," Kbibech said on LCI television. After meeting Kbebich, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he wants the foundation to be launched in October. The debate about the financing of mosques in France was revived by last week's slaying of an elderly priest in a Normandy church by two Islamic extremists. Some observers have suggested foreign influence over certain mosques and prayer rooms in France could encourage the radicalisation of attendants. Cazeneuve said 20 Muslim places of worship have been shut down in recent months due to radical views being exposed there. "There's no room in France for those who call for and stir up hatred in prayer rooms or mosques and do not respect the principles of the Republic," he said. He added the government is working on a way to guarantee "total transparency" in the financing of the mosques while at the same time "strictly respecting the secular principles of the Republic." The French Muslim Council, the CFCM, is also working to improve the training of imams in France so that they have a better knowledge of the country's secular history and the institutions of the Republic, Kbebich said. Yesterday, dozens of Muslims in France and Italy attended to Catholic Mass as a gesture of interfaith solidarity following the attack on the priest. A French prosecutor today dismissed a probe into allegations that Cardinal Philippe Barbarin covered up the sexual abuse of Scouts, in a case which shook the country's Catholic Church. Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon in central France since 2002, had been accused of failing to remove a priest from his diocese when he became aware the man had sexually abused young boys 25 years ago. Barbarin has said he learned in 2007 that the priest, Bernard Preynat, had been accused of sexually abusing Scouts in the past. Preynat was only charged in January after a victim who was allegedly abused in the 1980s realised in 2015 that the priest was still in service. Several other victims have also come forward. Barbarin has said that when he learned of the priest's past he immediately called a meeting with him and when he asked Preynat if he had committed further abuses since 1991 the priest swore he had not. "You can reproach me for having believed him... But covering up means knowing and letting it happen," Barbarin said, adding he had "absolutely never" done that. Prosecutors say Preynat -- who was removed from service in 2015 -- has admitted the charges. When complaints were first made against him in the 1980s, he was merely suspended for a few months. The victims have filed complaints against several senior diocesan officials, including Barbarin, accusing them of failing to report the priest or remove him from duty despite being aware of his past. Barbarin has admitted to "errors in the management and nomination of certain priests". After the scandal erupted, he in June relieved four priests of their functions over sexual abuse allegations. The scandal was the worst to hit the Catholic Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a paedophile priest. Barbarin has also been accused of covering up the abuse of a second Lyon priest in a separate case. Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today told the Legislative Assembly that the state government has no plan to change the policy on Medium of Instruction (MoI) in schools. "There is no such proposal presently under consideration of the government," Parsekar told the House in a written reply to a query by Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane. To another question whether grants for English-medium schools would continue or not, the chief minister said the state would go by the resolution adopted in the State Cabinet on June 6, 2012. The resolution copy, which is annexed with the reply, states that English-medium schools will continue to get grants. Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), an organisation, has begun agitation in the state demanding that the grants for English-medium schools be withdrawn. The BBSM, which is headed by state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, has said that they will oppose BJP during upcoming state assembly elections due early next year. Goa will launch a marine plane service in the next tourist season, the state government told the Legislative Assembly today. Replying to a question by independent MLA Naresh Sawal, Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said the planes (flying from the airport) would land in Mandovi river. "Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has conducted detailed audit andrecommended (that the state get)necessary compliancesfor the approval of service," the minister said. "The compliances will be met and submitted to DGCA post monsoon as operations and infrastructure set-up are suspended during the monsoon," he added. "Also, clearance from captain of ports is awaited. Service is likely to be launched commercially in coming season after receiving all permissions," the minister said. A hot-air balloon service has already been launched. It would be available from October to April at Panchayat Ground at Asolda, he said. "The expenditure to introduce the service in Goa is nil as all the investment to start and run the service will be borne by the successful bidder," he said. Goa Tourism Development Corporation will receive a revenue share in the business generated by the private agency, Parulekar said. Government on Monday said it has approved 89 proposals for foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand trading (SBRT) and one in the multi-brand sector up to March. "The government has approved 89 proposals for foreign investment in single-brand trading and one for foreign investment in the multi-brand trading sector up to March 2016," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday. In February 2006, the government permitted 51 per cent FDI in the single brand sector. In 2012, it raised the cap to 100 per cent. The companies whose SBRT proposals got approval include IKEA, H&M, Adidas, Swarovski International Holding and Montblanc. In the multi-brand retail sector, the government has approved the proposal of Tesco Overseas Investments Ltd. Replying to a separate question, she said that at present there is no proposal under consideration of the government to review the FDI policy in local newspapers and magazines. In another reply, the minister said India has improved in FDI inflow list of UNCTAD. The civil hospital in Ahmedabad on Monday discharged the four Dalit youths who were being treated after they were beaten up by cow vigilantes, but reversed the decision as the community members protested. "Upon learning that hospital is forcing these youths to go home, several Dalit leaders rushed. Though doctors claimed all four were fine and could go home, we found none of them was in the condition to even walk. One of them was vomiting," said Jignesh Mevani, a Dalit leader. Ashok Sarvaiya, Vashram Sarvaiya, Bechar Servaiya and Ramesh Servaiya, all residents of Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil of Gir-Somnath district, were beaten up by some cow vigilantes when they were skinning a dead cow on July 11. "We registered a strong protest, after which the hospital authorities said they were ready to keep the four youths till they recover completely," said Mevani. On July 25, these four youths were discharged from Rajkot hospital as doctors said their condition had improved. But they were rushed to the civil hospital in Ahmedabad next day after developing serious complications. "First, they were forcefully discharged by Rajkot civil hospital despite knowing they were not keeping well. Now, Ahmedabad civil hospital meted out same treatment. We suspect authorities are doing this due to political pressure," alleged Mevani. However, hospital superintendent M M Prabhakar defended the decison to discharge the youths. "They have received 21 days of treatment at various hospitals till now. This is enough time for such patients to recover. We did various tests such as CAT scan, MRI, blood test and x-ray. All the tests (results) were normal," he said. "We decided to discharge them based on these reports and doctors' observations. However, some people made an issue and asked us to keep them for some more days. We accepted the demand. Otherwise these patients are doing well and can go home," Prabhakar said. The civil hospital here today discharged the four Dalit youths who were being treated after they were beaten up by cow vigilantes, but reversed the decision as the community members protested. "Upon learning that hospital is forcing these youths to go home, several Dalit leaders rushed....Though doctors claimed all four were fine and could go home, we found none of them was in the condition to even walk. One of them was vomiting," said Jignesh Mevani, a Dalit leader. Ashok Sarvaiya, Vashram Sarvaiya, Bechar Servaiya and Ramesh Servaiya, all residents of Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil of Gir-Somnath district, were beaten up by some cow vigilantes when they were skinning a dead cow on July 11. "We registered a strong protest, after which the hospital authorities said they were ready to keep the four youths till they recover completely," said Mevani. On July 25, these four youths were discharged from Rajkot hospital as doctors said their condition had improved. But they were rushed to the civil hospital here next day after developing serious complications. "First, they were forcefully discharged by Rajkot civil hospital despite knowing they were not keeping well. Now, Ahmedabad civil hospital meted out same treatment. We suspect authorities are doing this due to political pressure," alleged Mevani. However, hospital superintendent M M Prabhakar defended the decison to discharge the youths. "They have received 21 days of treatment at various hospitals till now. This is enough time for such patients to recover. We did various tests such as CAT scan, MRI, blood test and x-ray. All the tests (results) were normal," he said. "We decided to discharge them based on these reports and doctors' observations. However, some people made an issue and asked us to keep them for some more days. We accepted the demand. Otherwise these patients are doing well and can go home," Prabhakar said. The long-pending GST Bill was today listed for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday amidst strong indications that the most far- reaching taxation reform in independent India would be supported by Congress and all other major political parties. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which has been in the making for over a decade, entails introduction of a single indirect tax regime across the country. "The GST Bill is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha and we seek support of all political parties. The mood is in favour of its passage," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. According to top government sources, a fresh round of talks was held today with the main opposition Congress and other parties, including the Left and Samajwadi Party, for building a consensus on the key tax reform legislation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held further consultations with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and chalked out details of the contentious bill aimed at bringing about a consensus on the key bill, sources said. Jaitley also met CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, besides some other leaders. Later, along with Kumar, he met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Another round of talks to clarify on the language of key parts of the bill is likely to be held with Congress tomorrow. Sources added that government was to initially bring the bill on Tuesday, but Congress was not keen on the proposal due to the roadshow of Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi tomorrow which may be attended by some party MPs. The government, sources say, is keen to bring about four key amendments in the Constitution Amendment Bill which will include the scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax provision and grant of more powers to states for providing them full compensation for a period of five years. The key Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to by the government. At the AICC briefing, Congress leader P L Punia said GST is very important for the economy, industry and the business as also for the consumer. "With that objection in mind, it was the Congress party which brought the idea of GST. We have raised certain issues and negotiations are still on. We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect the business, industry and consumer. "There has to be one more round of talks. Party feels the bill should be passed and our best wishes that this bill be passed," he said. A special court today granted bail to two persons, arrested in a graft case involving Delhi Chief Minister's former principal secretary Rajendra Kumar. Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Kumar's close aide Ashok Kumar and Managing Director of a PSU R S Kaushik on a personal bond of Rs one lakh each and one surety of like amount, saying no purpose would be served by keeping them in custody. Meanwhile, CBI opposed the bail plea of four other accused -- Tarun Sharma, former Deputy Secretary in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office, Dinesh Kumar Gupta and Sandeep Kumar, co-owners of a private firm, and G K Nanda, Kaushik's predecessor. The court, after hearing arguments, reserved the order on Tarun's bail plea for tomorrow. The other three accused' bail pleas will be decided by the court on August 3. Both Ashok and Kaushik have sought bail on the ground of parity with Kumar who was recently granted the relief by the court on July 26. Their pleas were, however, opposed by CBI. The agency had earlier claimed that Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL) was floated by Kumar for the award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore. CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others in December last year alleging that the officials had abused their official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments". The accused have been charged under section 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to criminal misconduct for allegedly favouring ESPL in bagging of five contracts. CBI has alleged that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy and caused a loss of Rs 12 crore to the Delhi government in award of contracts between 2007 and 2015, and claimed that the officials had taken "undue benefit" of over Rs three crore while awarding the contracts. This is the same case in which the agency had come under scathing criticism from the court which had directed it to return documents sought by the Delhi government seized during December 15, 2015 search of Kejriwal's office. Arrest of the top state government official had triggered a political storm with the Delhi government accusing the Centre of indulging in "political vendetta" and "paralysing" governance. The Bombay High Court today asked architect Shashi Prabhu to inspect the Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar, large parts of which have been demolished, to ascertain the extent of damage caused to the building and printing press run by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar. Substantial portions of the structure was demolished recently by the People's Improvement Trust, which runs the Ambedkar Bhavan, after it was served a notice by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) that the building was in a dilapidated and dangerous condition. Justice S J Kathawala asked architect Prabhu to inspect the place and submit a report by August 5 on steps to be taken to restore the damaged structure. The matter has been adjourned to August 8 for further hearing. Prabhu has also been asked to submit a report on the inventory lying at the "Budh Bhushan" printing press. According to Prakash Ambedkar's counsel, periodicals and some magazines were being printed at the press. The counsel also said Prakash Ambedkar wanted to visit the premises to ascertain the damage caused to the press. During the hearing, the high court asked People's Improvement Trust and Prakash Ambedkar to redevelop this property jointly. However, Ambedkar's counsel said he was not agreeable to the suggestion of the high court. The counsel said Prakash Ambedkar is of the view that Ambedkar Bhavan should be preserved because of its emotional value as B R Ambedkar had got it built. The high court is hearing an application filed by the People's Improvement Trust against the proposed rebuilding of the demolished structure through 'shramdaan' (voluntary contribution of labour). On July 29, the high court had restrained people from stepping into Ambedkar Bhavan and rebuild or restore it. According to the Trust, on June 1 this year it received a notice from MCGM directing it to demolish the three structures in the premises as they were in a dilapidated condition. As per the notice, the Trust started demolition on June 25. However, the same day, followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar led by Prakash entered the premises and protested against the demolition. Prakash Ambedkar has recently urged the followers of the Dalit icon to assemble at the premises on July 30 and rebuild and restore the structure. According to the Trust, there were three structures in the premises, which have been demolished. Prakash and his brother Anandraj were occupants of them. The Trust had informed the High Court at the last hearing that Prakash and Anandraj would be allowed to occupy the proposed 17-storeyed redeveloped structure. From one structure, Prakash operated and undertook printing press work, while the Trust operated from the other. The open courtyard with a hall was often given on rent for public functions to earn funds for the maintenance of the structure, the Trust said. The Madras High Court on Monday told a man, who sought an Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the mysterious death of his son in 2013, to wait till a compliance report was filed by the state authorities in connected matters. When the petition by T Elango, father of the deceased Ilavarasan came up for hearing, the bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan said it had posted to September 9 the connected matters and asked the authorities to file a compliance report. "The present case relates to the same incident and seeks transfer of investigation to SIT. Once we have the compliance in respect of directions issued in that (earlier) matter, this issue may be examined whether SIT may be necessary to carry out investigation," the court said and asked the petitioner to wait till the compliance report was filed. The petition relates to the death of Ilavarasan, a youth in 2013 whose body was found near a railway track in Dharmapuri District. After Ilavarasan's marriage with Divya, a caste Hindu girl in 2012, some colonies in the district had witnessed violence. Among the connected matters referred by the court included petitions by several persons seeking relief in connection with the attacks on Dalit colonies. Petitions and Public Interest Litigations were also filed in the high court on the same issue, seeking response from departments of the central and state governments to protect, rehabilitate and provide relief to those affected. While dealing with such petitions, the bench had last month said a mindless frenzy had taken place resulting in loss of property including burning down of 326 houses in three villages. "If we may say, it amounted to complete collapse of administration," court had said censuring the Tamil Nadu government over administrative lapses and asked it filed a compliance report on September 9, 2016. HDFC, India's largest private sector mortgage lender, today raised Rs 30 billion by issuing the world's first ever "Masala" or rupee-denominated bond outside India in London Stock Exchange, a landmark event that will boost economic ties between India and the UK post Brexit. UK Chancellor Philip Hammond described the "landmark" listing by the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) as a "major vote of confidence" in London. HDFC is the first company to issue a bond of this type, whichraised Rupees 30 billion, equivalent to around USD 450 million. It has a maturity of three years and an annual yield of 8.33 per cent and was more than four times oversubscribed. "It represents a major vote of confidence in London as the leading global financial centre and is further proof that Britain is a great place to do business," Hammond said. "This deal signifies a strengthening of the already close economic ties between the UK and India and paves the way for further masala bonds to be listed in the UK. It is a taste of things to come. Britain is open for business and one of the most attractive places in the world for foreign investment," he said. Masala Bonds are rupee-denominated bonds issued to overseas buyers. As many as 30 offshore Indian rupee bonds have listed in total on London Stock Exchange, raising equivalent to approximately USD 3.5 billion dollars, according to one of the world's leading stock exchanges. Britain's Indian-origin minister for Asia, Alok Sharma, described the HDFC launch as areaffirmation that the UK is a "natural partner" for India. "The tremendous investor demand demonstrates the UK's pivotal role in financing India's growth and further strengthens the close economic ties between the UK and India. I am confident that this will pave the way for many more Indian companies to raise capital in London to support India's ambitious infrastructure plans," Sharma said. London Stock Exchange last year saw the listing of the world's first-ever green Masala bond on its markets and there have been two further listings in 2016, raising a total of INR 7 billion. The latest bond will help HDFC to diversify its borrowing profile and access global investors. HDFC chairmanDeepak Parekh said thelisting of India's largest private sector mortgage lender's bond on London Stock Exchange was the result of"unshakable trust from international investors" in the exchange. "While we did explore other markets for listing, the responsiveness and efficiency with which the officials at the UKLA (UK securities regulator) and London Stock Exchange responded to our urgent requirements was remarkable. Considering that this was the first issue of its kind in a global financial centre by an Indian company, the authorities were forthcoming and supportive," Parekh said. The listing follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of USD 1 billion dollar equivalent of Masala bond issuance in the UK, made during his visit to London in 2015. Nikhil Rathi, London Stock Exchange CEO, said: "London Stock Exchange is honoured to host the world's first ever Indian corporate Masala bond, a landmark event for Indian finance and looks forward to building a long-term partnership with Indian issuers. "Taking advantage of the efficient listing process and tapping the global markets in London, global issuers can access a new vital channel of international finance and investors around the world without foreign exchange risk." HDFC rang the opening bell for trading at the London Stock Exchange today to mark the launch. Newly-appointed Prime Minister Theresa May's government has been making all efforts to promote the UK's trade ties after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. Britain's House of Lords could delay the process of the UK's exit from the European Union which could lead to a second referendum, a senior Conservative party peer warned today. Baroness Wheatcroft said she hoped that a pause in introducing Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the official trigger for Brexit, could lead to British public potentially changing its mind. "If it comes to a Bill, I think the Lords might actually delay things. I think there's a majority in the Lords for remaining," she told 'The Times'. Asked whether she would support peers in the Upper House of Britain delaying Brexit legislation, theformer editor in chief of the 'Wall Street Journal Europe'replied: "Yes I would. AndI would hope, while we delayed things, that there would be sufficient movement in the EU to justify putting it to the electorate, either through a general election or a second referendum." A legal challenge on whether the UK government can trigger Article 50 without the authorisation of Parliament will be heard in the High Court in the coming months. It follows the June 23 referendum when the British electorate voted 52 to 48 per cent in favour of leaving the 28-member bloc. Once Article 50 is invoked, the process of Brexit is in theory irreversible, with the process itself estimated to take anything between two years and a decade. Theresa May, who took charge as Britain's Prime Minister following the Brexit vote, has indicated that the official process will not start before the end of the year, and also said that the position of the constituent UK countries in negotiations must be made clear in advance. She has repeatedly stressed that "Brexit means Brexit" and that her government's focus will be on securing the best possible deal for the UK outside the EU. Architecture students from IIT Kharagpur and America's MIT will soon conduct a joint study on how to preserve the heritage of Rabindranath Tagore's abode in . The department of architecture and regional planning at IIT Kharagpur has tied-up with the School of Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a course to study urbanisation in the current developing world. A group of 6-8 students, at graduate and undergraduate levels from each institute, will come to this October for their research work. Officials said during this period they will make a proposal regarding an integrated site management strategy for Visva Bharati university. They will also suggest guidelines to control the scattered and unsystematic development in the university campus and tailor it in sync with Tagore's ideology behind the inception of the place. Visva Bharati university authorities have been unsuccessfully trying for the past few years to get the tag of a World Heritage Site from UNESCO. A group of faculty members and researchers across MIT-Harvard Boston community and IIT Kharagpur would be guiding the students. They will also come up with a strategic plan for environmental stewardship and watershed management of the nearby 'Khowai' (canyon created by water and wind erosion and an intrinsic part of Bolpur), officials said. Soil loss, decreasing erodibility, change in morphology and loss of flora and fauna are some of the major issues of this sensitive ecological region. The primary reasons for these problems are often attributed to unstable soil structure, lack of vegetation, climatic condition, proneness to natural disasters and human intervention in an unplanned manner. India is in talks with different countries including Australia and South Africa to boost export of mangoes. Although some varieties of mangoes from northern India are already being exported to Australia, authorities concerned are pursued to consider other varieties as well, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. A delegation from Australia had visited India in June "to verify and certify three irradiation facilities for export of irradiated mangoes from the western and southern parts of India," she said. Approval for certification of these facilities is under process, he said. With South Africa also, the market access efforts are continuing, she said adding in case of South Korea, market access was granted in June. South Korean Quarantine Inspector had arrived in India on June 11 for on-site pre-clearance programme at VHT ( Vapour Heat Treatment) facility at Saharanpur for export of mangoes to South Korea, she added. Similarly for grapes exports, she said, the finalisation of import risk analysis is awaited from the US. "In case of Japan and Vietnam, the import risk analysis with post-harvest mitigation measures is yet to be finalised by them. The matter is being pursued through the Indian Embassies in the respective countries," the minister said. To get access into Chinese market, India has already submitted priority list for market access of five fruits and vegetables to AQSIQ, China. "Out of five products submitted in the priority list, the finalisation of protocol for okra is in the final stage and is pending with AQSIQ, China," she said. India's export of agri and allied products during April- February 2016 declined to Rs 1.43 lakh crore from Rs 1.68 lakh crore in the same period previous year. "The primary reasons for decline are low commodity prices in the international market, shrinking of global demand, high domestic prices as compared to the international prices, which has made our exports uncompetitive, unfavourable currency rate movements as compared to the competing countries," she said. Replying to a separate question, she said in 2015-16 tea exports stood at 232.92 million kg, higher by 33.84 million kg as compared to 2014-15. In April-May this fiscal, tea exports to Pakistan declined by 0.84 million kg. Domestic rating agency India Ratings today downgraded UCO Bank on concerns surrounding its asset quality and funding profile in the aftermath of lifting of global sanctions on Iran. The Long-Term Issuer Rating has been downgraded to 'IND AA-' with a stable outlook on "deterioration in its asset quality as well as continued weakness in its funding profile", it said in a statement. It added that following the lifting of sanctions on India-Iran bilateral oil trade, UCO Bank (which was used to facilitate the trade) has seen a sharp 23 per cent decline in its current account deposits. Even on a standalone basis, UCO's profitability and capital buffers appear weaker than those of its peers. Assuming that the government will continue to support, the outlook has been kept at "stable", it said. It also downgraded United Bank of India's Additional Tier-I bonds to 'IND BBB' with a negative outlook, but affirmed the long term rating on the Kolkata-headquartered bank at 'AA-' with a stable outlook. The bonds have been downgraded on heightened risk of coupon deferral, led by continued pressure on profitability and a negative revenue reserve, it said. It also affirmed Vijaya Bank's rating at 'IND AA-' placing its outlook at stable and Dena Bank at 'IND AA-' with a stable outlook. India's total installed capacity has crossed the 300-Gw mark, which includes 42 Gw of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind. India's total capacity was 3,03,118.21 Mw as on June 30, 2016, which includes 42,848.43 Mw, stated Power Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday. According to the statement, private sector's cumulative installed capacity was 1,24,995.51 Mw as on June 30, 2016 while central plants account for 76,296.76 Mw and state capacities 101,825,94 Mw. The minister also stated that the country has generated 12.01 billion units of electricity from renewable energy sources till June-end this financial year while the output was 65.78 billion units in 2015-16 and 61.78 billion units in 2014-15. The target from clean sources in 2015-16 was 70 billion units. The minister also told the House that 1,107.82 billion units of electricity were generated last financial year. Thermal power constituted 85.19 per cent of the total generation in 2015-16 while hydro contributed 10.96 per cent and nuclear power's share was 3.38 per cent. India imported 5.24 billion units of electricity from Bhutan last financial year, which was 0.47 per cent of the total output. Goyal also said that to meet the rising demand of power, as per 18th Electric Power Survey (EPS), the capacity addition target of 88,537 Mw from conventional sources has been planned during 12th Five-Year Plan. Against this target, 86,565.72 Mw has been achieved till June 30, 2016, he added. The Indian and Chinese armies today decided to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two countries to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir. "Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC," Defence spokesman said. He said two Ceremonial Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) on the occasion of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) day were held at Chinese BPM hut in Moldo and TWD Garrison in Chushul Sector of Eastern Ladakh today. The first delegation was led by Brigadier Navneet Kumar from the Indian Side and Senior Colonel Fan Jun from the Chinese side, he said. At TWD, the delegations were led by Colonel BS Uppal from the Indian side and Colonel Song Zhou Li from the Chinese side, the spokesman said. "The meetings were marked by saluting the National flag of China by members of both the delegations. This was followed by the ceremonial address by the delegation leaders," he said. At both the locations, the delegations interacted in a "free, congenial and cordial environment," the spokesman. "The delegations parted amidst feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the LAC," he added. Indonesia will sink up to 71 impounded foreign boats this month on its Independence Day, a minister said today, ramping up a campaign to deter illegal fishing in its vast waters. The world's biggest archipelago nation has been seeking to stop foreign vessels fishing without permission in its territory, with President Joko Widodo claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually. So far 176 foreign boats captured fishing illegally have been sunk -- after the crews were removed -- since Widodo took power in 2014, with some blown up in spectacular public displays. Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has been leading the campaign, said up to 71 foreign boats caught illegally fishing would be sunk on August 17, the 71st anniversary of Indonesian Independence. She said that they would be sunk at various locations across the country, without specifying which countries the boats were from. Boats from a number of countries, including China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, have already been sunk as part of the campaign. The boats to be sunk later this month will be scuttled and not blown up, Pudjiastuti said. Green groups had complained about the environmental impact of blowing up boats. The plan comes at a time of high maritime tensions between Beijing and Jakarta after repeated clashes in waters around Indonesian islands in the hotly disputed South China Sea. Indian Steel Association has asked the government to extend minimum import price (MIP) on steel products, saying its imposition has marginally improved the industry's viability after a long period of subdued prices. "The Indian Steel Association has urged the government to favourably consider an extension of the minimum import price (MIP) regime pertaining to imports for 173 HS Codes under Chapter 72 of Indian Trade Classification (ITC)...," the body said in a statement. Sanak Mishra, Secretary General, Indian Steel Association said that while MIP cannot possibly be an all-encompassing framework for a complete turnaround of Indian steel industry, it has certainly provided a cushion against surging imports. Accelerating imports of predatory prices from steel surplus countries like China, Japan and Korea has been a major concern area for the domestic industry since September 2014. Post the imposition of MIP in February, the industry has been able to marginally improve viability after a long period of subdued prices and eroded profit margins, the statement said. Another extension of MIP regime will support the industry to manage high debt levels and in turn reduce the spectre of NPAs with the banking sector. "Indian steel industry does not see the MIP as perpetual protectionist step but a necessary temporary measure which will allow time for a path recovery of the sector. Alongside trade remedial measures and an enabling environment supported by all concerned ministries within the government, the domestic industry is determined to counter the distress in the sector and serve the public needs for quality steel," the statement added. In February, the government had imposed MIP on 173 steel products ranging between USD 341 and USD 752 per tonne, giving relief to domestic companies from cheap in-bound shipments, especially from China, Korea and Japan. One militant was killed today as army foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir, in third such incident within a week. "An infiltration bid was foiled in Naugam sector this morning. One militant has been killed in the operation which was going on till reports last came in," an army official said. This is the third infiltration bid foiled in the Naugam sector in the past six days. Four militants were killed and one was apprehended in an anti-infiltration operation on July 26, followed by another operation on July 30, in which two militants and two soldiers were killed. Textile Minister Smriti Irani today launched a campaign on social media to popularise handloom-made cloth and support the weaver community. The launch of the #IWearHandloom campaign on social networking sites witnessed support from several high-profile personalities who posted selfies wearing handloom fabrics. "#IWearHandloom is a campaign to show support to a community which weaves the diverse fabric of our nation's rich heritage and bring international fame to our nation. "It is a tribute to women who contribute to 15 per cent of cloth production in India and 95 per cent of world handloom production, it is saying thank you for their hardwork and dedication for keeping our traditions alive," Irani said in a Facebook post. The minister posted a selfie wearing handwoven silk from Bihar, terming it her #IWearHandloom look. "To show your support, upload a photo wearing handloom with #IWearHandloom and tag atleast 5 friends to upload his/her photo as well," she stated. Power Minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, among others endorsed the campaign. Irani also thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi for their support. Handloom industry is among the top employment generators in India. More than 43 lakh weavers and allied workers are engaged in it, 78 per cent of them being women. A 30-year-old paranoid schizophrenic man was jailed for life today for trying to behead a commuter in an Islamic State inspired knife attack at a London tube station last December. Somali-origin Muhiddin Mire targeted people at random during the attack at Leytonstone station in east London on December 5 and grabbed 56-year-old musician Lyle Zimmerman in an attempt to behead him. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey court in London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard said though Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he was motivated by events in Syria. "In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here. That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause," the judge said, adding that the streets of London would be safer with Mire behind bars. He sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum of eight-and-a-half years, consigning him to Broadmoor high security mental hospital in Berkshire, south-east England, until he is fit to be transferred to prison. Mire has a history of mental illness and psychosis, including the paranoid belief that he was being persecuted for his religion and stalked by Britain's MI5 and MI6 security services, the court was told. The judge praised the heroic actions of some of the commuters on the day of Mire's rampage last year. Judge Hilliard also praised the police officers who "carried out their duties in extremely frightening circumstances". Somali-born Mire came to the UK as a young boy but began having paranoid psychotic episodes in 2006 when he was first admitted to hospital, his trial was told. He moved to Leytonstone in 2011, taking jobs as an Uber taxi driver and a council estate caretaker but was forced to give up work because of anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will soon meet the Directors of IITs and discuss various issues, including funding and vacant faculty positions. "It has been decided that the minister will hold a comprehensive meeting with the Directors of IITs later this month. A range of issues relating to these premier tech schools would be deliberated upon," a senior HRD Ministry official said. Indian Institutes of Technology have been facing various issues over funding and vacant faculty positions. The government has also been actively considering various steps to improve the standing of IITs in international rankings. Recently, Javadekar had visited IIT, Delhi and discussed several issues with the faculty and the management. The HRD Minister has sought ideas for making IITs financially stronger. The government is also in the process of setting up a Higher Education Financing Agency to support institutions of higher learning. Actress Jennifer Garner has paid tribute to the kids around the world, who are suffering from various diseases, at the Teen Choice Awards and said they should never lose hope no matter how hard the battle gets. The 44-year-old star, who received award in Choice Movie: Drama category, for the film "Miracles From Heaven," attended the event to accept the honour with her young co-star Kylie Rogers, 12, reported People magazine. "Thank you, this is for this little lady. That's for you baby. Thank you so much. Thanks to everyone, we were definitely the underdog in this category. That's so exciting," Garner said. The "Dallas Buyers Club" actress continued, "It's amazing to us the impact this movie was able to have, and have all your guys appreciate it means the world to us. "All the kids who are in a hospital waiting for a miracle, don't give up hope!" Directed by Patricia Riggen, "Miracles From Heaven" is a story of a young girl, Anna (Rogers), who has a rare incurable disorder and her mother Christy (Garner) searches out for ways to save her life. The Bombay High Court today asked Rabia Khan, mother of late actress Jiah Khan whose body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her house in 2013, to draw a list pointing out anomalies, if any, in the probe made by police and CBI into the death of her daughter. While Mumbai police and CBI have concluded that it was a case of suicide, Rabia claimed her daughter was murdered and demanded that Jiah's actor boyfriend Suraj Pancholi should be tried for murder and not for abetment of suicide. Rabia is demanding a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) alleging that CBI, currently investigating the case, had concurred with the finding of the Mumbai police that Jiah's death was a case of suicide and not homicide. A division bench headed by Justice Naresh Patil asked Rabia to prepare the list of anomalies and submit it on August 23. The bench said the list should have three columns -- one listing anomalies in police probe, the second enumerating anomalies in CBI investigation and the third mentioning Rabia's views on the points left out in the probe. Rabia's lawyer Dhairyasheel Patil pointed out anomalies saying the probe had not taken into account the BBM (mobile) messages exchanged between Jiah and Suraj. He claimed Suraj had deleted these messages but this aspect was not considered in the probe. Patil also pointed out that the post mortem report had mentioned that Jiah's neck bore an injury mark which indicated she might have been strangulated or assaulted but this too had not been considered by the investigating authorities. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, however, said that CBI had consulted on the injury mark an expert from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) who had ruled out murder while asserting that it was a case of suicide. Singh also said that the probe done by CBI was in the right direction and the allegations levelled by Rabia were baseless. Sooraj was arrested on charge of abetting her suicide on June 10, 2013, a week after the body of the actress was found hanging at her residence here. He was released on July 2, 2013, after the high court granted him bail. (Reopens LGB 2) Rabia had sought the SIT probe alleging that CBI, which is currently investigating the case, had concurred with the findings of Mumbai police that it was a case of suicide case and not a homicide. She had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking SIT probe, but the apex court asked her to move the high court. "The trial in the lower court is not proceeding in a proper manner and there is likelihood of accused (Sooraj) being discharged in the case," Rabia's petition said. According to her, the CBI, "due to reasons best known to it", has been vehemently opposing appointment of special public prosecutor in the case by the Maharashtra government. Rabia's lawyer argued that "investigation should be handed over to the SIT as CBI has also in its charge sheet said the death was not homicidal, despite forensic evidence suggesting otherwise." Rabia's petition further said that they had obtained opinion from three doctors, including a foreign expert. All the three doctors had come to conclusion that Jiah Khan's death was homicidal and not suicidal, her petition contended. CBI, however, opposed Rabia Khan's plea for an SIT probe, saying every angle had been investigated by Mumbai police at the initial stage. Later, CBI had double checked the evidence and come to the conclusion that it was a suicidal death, said Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh on behalf of CBI. Kerala Congress (M), a key ally of the Congress-led opposition UDF, today said the party would consider "all options", including leaving the alliance, in protest against the approach of Congress leaders towards it and its leader K M Mani. "It is a matter of our self-respect. We will seek all options," senior KC(M) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Joy Abraham told PTI when asked whether the party would quit the UDF. Accusing Congress leaders of hatching a 'conspiracy' to weaken KC(M) and Mani, he said the party would decide on all issues at its crucial two-day camp at Charalkkunnu this weekend, including the demand within the party to severe ties with Congress and UDF and sit as a separate block in the state Assembly. "So far no decision has been taken (on the issue of leaving UDF). Everything will be deliberated threadbare in the Charalkunnu camp, being organised on August 6 and 7," he said. The party, which contested the Assembly polls in May this year as a UDF alliance partner, has six MLAs, including Mani and veteran leader P J Joseph. KC(M) leaders alleged that the party was "ignored" by Congress leadership despite it taking extra steps to save the previous UDF government by bringing Kerala Congress (J) to the alliance from the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). "It was because of KC(M) and our leader Mani that the UDF government could rule the state for five years from 2011 to 2016. If Kerala Congress (J)-headed by P J Joseph had not merged with us in 2010, there would not have been a UDF government in the state," a senior Kerala Congress leader who did not wish to be named, said. He alleged that the Congress leadership continued to do injustice to KC(M). "We were not given adequate consideration by Congress and UDF leadership in seat sharing for local body and Assembly polls. Now it is a question of our self-respect," he said. Meanwhile, party sources said Mani had left for a three- day spiritual sojourn at a church-run meditation centre in Kottayam. The already sour relations between the two parties over the bar bribery scam sharpened recently after Congress leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala attended the betrothal ceremony of the daughter of controversial hotelier Biju Ramesh with the son of Congress leader and former minister Adoor Prakash. Biju Ramesh, working President of Kerala State Bar Hotel Owners Association, had levelled the bar bribery charge against Mani, which led to his resignation in November last year. KC(M) has maintained that a "conspiracy" was behind the scam. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today claimed the credit for Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's offer to resign, saying the party's "soaring popularity" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state was the reason behind her move to "relinquish" the post. Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister who has set his eyes on the western state, said it was the "triumph" of AAP's fight against corruption in Gujarat. AAP spokesperson Ashutosh said Patel's offer to resign was a mere drama and that she was actually being "sacked". "Anandiben's resignation is the outcome of AAP's soaring popularity in Gujarat. BJP is badly scared in Gujarat. Her resignation is also the triumph of AAP's fight against corruption in Gujarat," Kejriwal said in a series of tweets. The AAP national convenor has visited Gujarat twice in the recent past. He had met the dalit men who were flogged for skinning a dead cow. In another tweet, he took a swipe at the prime minister, saying people were dying to hear him on a host of contentious issues. "Sir, pl speak on dalit atrocities, gau rakshks, kashmir, akhlak, farmer suicides, daal price. Ppl dying to hear u on these (sic)." Ashutosh said BJP was forced to change Patel as chief minister and that it was looking for a new leader as a "scared" Modi knows he is "losing in his home turf". "Anandi Ben is not resigning. It is drama. She is being sacked," Ashutosh said. He also put out a series of tweets saying Modi is rewarding Patel "with governorship". "BJP has to answer why Hardik (Patel) was in jail for treason? Why thousands of Patel women/kids were beaten in homes? BJP has to answer why dalits were beaten in Una, Rajula so brutally? Why Gau Rakshak Dal is roaming free? Why false cases against dalits?" he said in a series of tweets. Patel has offered to resign requesting the BJP leadership to relieve her from the post as she is soon going to be 75. BJP for the first time is facing a tough challenge from opponents in Gujarat since Narendra Modi moved to the Centre. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today inaugurated a new facility which will produce critical diagnostics for detection of deadly diseases such as dengue, malaria and HIV among others. The factory in Manesar will produce rapid tests for infectious diseases like dengue, malaria and HIV and export them across Asia Pacific, a region heavily impacted by these diseases, Khattar said as he inaugurated the facility in the presence of Namal Nawana, CEO and President of Alere firm. The Manesar facility will initially produce more than 150 million rapid diagnostic tests per year and will have the capacity to expand to 300 million test. Globally, Alere manufactures more than 1.5 billion tests annually and is deeply committed to working with governments, non-governmental organisations and other partners to make the company's rapid tests affordable and accessible. The 180,000 square-feet factory in Manesar will initially employ approximately 300 people. "Alere's new facility will support the goals of our 'Make in India' initiative, which seeks to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. Efforts to foster and expand India's medical device sector are important not only to our economic growth, but also to improve the health of the people of India," Nawana said. "Alere believes in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Make in India' and is committed to improving access to affordable rapid diagnostics in India and throughout the Asia Pacific region through this new world-class manufacturing facility," Nawana said. He said that the Malaria tests manufactured in Manesar will help support the government's goal of eradicating this deadly disease from India by 2020. Despite the odds including Pakistan's opposition to its operation, the 330-MW Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant in Kashmir is likely to be commissioned by this year-end, a top NHPC executive said here today. "We are hopeful of commissioning the Kishanganga project by November or December," National Hydroelectric Power Corporation chairman and Managing Director, KM Singh told PTI. He was here to take part in the Foundation Day celebrations of NHDC, a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh government and NHPC. Singh said the cost of the project has gone up to Rs 5,500 crore "due to different reasons" from initial estimate of Rs 3,900 crore. The CMD said the project was supposed to be commissioned by January this year, but got delayed by a few months. He conceded that NHPC faced "hard conditions" due to Pakistan's opposition and the militancy problem in the Valley. "Though Pakistan went to the International Court against the project, India got some relief from there and restarted the project. We are nearing to impounding the reservoir," he said. Responding to a query, he said, "Certainly Pakistan is creating the problem." Referring to the turmoil in Valley, Singh said, "Due to this law and order problem, movement of the manpower, movement of the material has become very difficult...We are working under hard conditions." The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant is part of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme that is designed to divert water from the Kishanganga river to a power plant in the Jhelum river basin. The project is located close to north of Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir. On the status of the project, whose construction had started in 2007, Singh said, "Right now impounding of dam for power generation is going on. The time for impounding is from June 20 to August 20." An impoundment facility is typically a large hydropower system that uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. The Lok Sabha today passed a law empowering banks to take possession of collateral in the case of loan default, except for farm land, while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised a compassionate view on education loans. He ruled out any waiver in the event of education loan defaults, saying "some compassion" has to be shown if someone is unemployed and till he gets a job, but the loan cannot be written off. The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed by voice vote, seeks to amend four laws -- the Sarfaesi Act, the DRT Act, the Indian Stamp Act and the Depositories Act. The changes in the Sarfaesi Act allow secured creditors to take over a collateral against which a loan had been provided, upon default in repayment. It also provides that the process will have to be completed within 30 days by the district magistrate. Jaitley said the banks must be empowered to take effective legal action against defaulters, and the insolvency, securitisation and DRT laws are steps in that direction. "The present law simplifies the procedure by which there will be quick disposal of pending cases of banks and financial institutions by the debt recovery tribunal," Jaitley said. Jaitley said farm land has been kept out of the purview of the Act. On concerns expressed with regard to education loans, the minister said "some compassion" has to be shown if someone is unemployed and till he gets a job, but the loan cannot be written off. Pitching for speedier recovery of debt, he said, "We cannot have a banking system where people take loans and do not repay." The Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in May, aims at faster recovery of debt by PSU banks, which are grappling with Rs 4 lakh crore of NPAs and Rs 8 lakh crore of stressed assets. The Bill was then referred to the Joint Parliamentary committee. The move assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of the case involving liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owes Rs 9,000 crore to banks, but has left the country to take refuge in England. Jaitley said if loans taken are not repaid, the Centre or state budget will have to provide for the waiver. "If loans are to be waived off, someone has to step in. We should not create a culture that I have taken a loan and I can sleep well and banks should be answerable... Write-off will put banking structure into a position where banks are not able to extend loans," he said. The Bill also empowers the district magistrate to assist banks in taking over the management of a company in case the company is unable to repay loans. This will be done in case the banks convert their outstanding debt into equity shares and consequently hold 51 per cent or more in the company. Jaitley said the changes in the law are aimed at simplifying the procedure for quick disposal of pending cases. The finance minister said loans given by banks induce economic activity and support growth, but what is important is that the loans must be serviced. When the loans are not serviced for 90 days, they become NPAs, he said, adding that "the banks are often faced with Hobson's choice". He saw economic downturn, wrong decision on part of the banks and siphoning off of funds as contributory factors for NPAs. Jaitley also referred to the loans rightly given but which may turn bad because the business cycle takes an adverse turn. He spoke about sectors like steel, power, infrastructure, highways and sugar turning bad in the past and the government as well as RBI have been taking steps to improve the situation. A very large part of Rs 8 lakh crore of stressed assets is because of discoms, which is now being addressed through the UDAY scheme, the finance minister said. Observing that it is important to keep units facing debt problems running and preserve jobs, Jaitley said RBI has taken measures through corporate debt restructuring scheme. To a member's demand of extending Sarfaesi to systemically important NBFCs, Jaitley said the draft notification has already been issued and the government is waiting for stakeholder comments and will then issue the final guidelines. The Delhi Lokayukta has dismissed a complaint challenging allocation of rooms to the 21 Parliamentary Secretaries in the Assembly premises by Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, saying it has "no jurisdiction over the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker". The complainant, RTI activist and BJP leader Vivek Garg, had alleged that Goel had issued the order under the "influence" of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. The office spaces would amount to "wrongful gains", he had said. However, Lokayukta Justice Reva Khetrapal said the forum has "no jurisdiction" to go into any allegations in respect of the conduct or orders passed by the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. The definition of public functionary, as defined by the Delhi Lokayukta and Uplokayukta Act, does not include the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and such arguments if accepted can lead to "disastrous results", the Lokayukta said in a order dated July 27. "The legislature has specifically spelt out that the Lokayukta or Uplokayukta will have no jurisdiction over the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the assembly. "It is not for this forum to go into behind the order and to examine what influence was exerted upon the Speaker or the lack of it or what impelled him to pass the order," it said. The order came at a time when the Election Commission is hearing the office of profit case that seeks disqualification of the 21 AAP legislators. On July 21, the Commission had reserved its order on the issue. The next hearing is scheduled for August 10. The AAP government had appointed the parliamentary secretaries to assist its ministers. Subsequently, the city government had sought to amend the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, to exempt these posts from disqualification provisions in office of profit cases. However, the President refused to give his assent to the Bill. Authorities have received lukewarm response from other states regarding verification of documents for updating National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. "We are not getting good response from other states. We have sent 2.68 lakh documents to 28 states for verification. Out of this, only around 5,000 documents have come back to us verified," NRC Assam Coordinator Prateek Hajela said at a press conference here. The NRC officials were still screening the 6.63 crore documents received from the people and a total of around five lakh would go to other states for verification, he said. "We will raise this issue in front of the Supreme Court also, because all states should cooperate in this process. We will send our persons to other state in future to collect the verified documents," Hajela said. Response from Tripura has been so far the best with the authorities receiving 1,049 documents out of 25,008 sent for verification, while that from Bihar was the worst with no verified copy received so far out of 31,380 papers, he said. NRC authorities have received 30 verified documents out of 64,547 from West Bengal, 542 out of 49,692 from Nagaland, 493 out of 34,438 from Meghalaya, 290 out of 33,486 from Arunachal Pradesh, 479 out of 7,025 from Uttar Pradesh, 858 out of 6,509 from Rajasthan, 103 out of 6,302 from Manipur, four out of 3,025 from Delhi and 345 out of 1,953 from Mizoram. Hajela said authorities have received 47 verified documents out of 100 from Odisha, 47 out of 51 from Sikkim, two out of two from Chandigarh and one out of one from Himachal Pradesh among others. He said out of a total 6.63 documents received from the people, 4.55 crore have been verified. "This is a very complex and time consuming process. We need to check the documents from across the country. But, even if it takes time, we will complete this process efficiently," Hajela said. He said 97 per cent of field verification of people have been completed and the remaining would be over soon. "We have received 68.23 lakh documents for legacy data. We are digitising the documents and hope start verifying the Family Tree within a month," Hajela said adding, 137 cases have been registered against fake and forged documents. When asked about a timeline to complete the entire update process, Hajela said the authorities would inform about the progress of the work to the Supreme Court. "Once the Supreme Court approves the new timeline, we will publish it," he said. Talking about inclusion of names in the NRC, Hajela assured that no original inhabitants would be left out although NRC was for checking the citizenship of a person, not originality. He also clarified that minority refugees would not be included in the NRC and they would be declared citizens only as per existing laws. Asked about fund crunch, Hajela said "If the finance continues, it is good. For some time it was not happening, but now everything has become normal." The NRC authority has received Rs 288.18 crore out of its demand for Rs 793.89 crore, he added. Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today assured to take up the issue of protection of three historical sites- Azad Maidan, August Kranti Maidan and Sardar Gruh- with the state government and said he would urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare them as national monuments. Expressing dissatisfaction over the condition of these three historical sites in the city, Rao said, "How can we keep these places in such a bad condition? In fact, they should be places of inspiration." The Governor was speaking after a presentation was made before him on these sites by Observer Research Foundation (ORF). "As India celebrates its 70th Independence Day, it would be extremely welcoming if we chalk out a time-bound plan for the makeover of all the historic places in Mumbai that had played a critical role in India's freedom struggle," he said. Rao also asked the ORF to start a signature campaign to actualise this mission and said that he will personally visit these places. Currently, Azad Maidan is in the custody of PWD ministry of Maharashtra, August Kranti Maidan in the custody of civic body, while the Sardar Gruh is looked after by a private entity with government's support. Azad Maidan gets its name from its association with India's First War of Independence in 1857, while August Kranti Maidan is where Mahatma Gandhi gave the clarion call of 'Quit India' on 8 August 1942. Sardar Gruh, a building opposite Crawford Market in south Mumbai had hosted Lokmanya Tilak and several other freedom fighters. ORF Mumbai Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni welcomed the Governor's decision to support the cause. "It is a tragedy that the government and civic body have failed to properly maintain these places. The neglect and degradation of the monuments is akin to insult of the heroes and martyrs of the Freedom Movement. It is an insult to the tricolour itself." "This must stop. It is the collective responsibility of the government and people to restore the sanctity of these places so that the present and future generations can derive patriotic knowledge and inspiration from them," Kulkarni said. ORF Mumbai made an appeal to the Prime Minister to personally intervene in this issue and announce a nation-wide plan to save and transform all places that are linked to the Freedom Movement by the end of 2017. On the occasion, the Governor also released the report "India @ 70 - Revival of India's Freedom Movement Heritage" co-produced by ORF Mumbai and Ratan J Batliboi Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (RJBCPL) at the function held at Raj Bhavan, attended by the hosts of NGOs working for the betterment of the city spaces. Intensifying its stir against Chhattisgarh's construction of projects on the upstream of Mahanadi river, Odisha's ruling BJD today said its workers would stop goods trains going to the neighbouring state for half-an-hour on Wednesday. "We will stop all goods trains to Chhattisgarh for half an hour on August 3. We want to show that we can also follow the route Chhattisgarh government has adopted," BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said here. The protest would continue till the Chhattisgarh government stops all construction works being carried out "illegally", he said. On Chhattisgarh's proposal of setting up a Joint Control Board (JCB) to resolve the Mahanadi issue, Deb said they should first stop work. "On moral grounds, the Chhattisgarh government must stop construction work on all ongoing projects so that we can initiate talks for formation of the JCB," the BJD leader said and alleged the neighbouring state has provided false information to the Centre on the projects to obtain approval. BJD general secretary and Odisha industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said as a co-basin state, Odisha has the absolute right to be consulted before the Central Water Commission (CWC) clears any project. "Chhattisgarh has not taken any consent from Odisha government before sending the proposal to Centre. We were also not invited to the meeting convened by CWC while clearing certain projects. We were kept in absolute dark," he said. Supporting the earlier statement of Chief Secretary A P Padhi, Mishra said Chhattisgarh has not sent any letter to Odisha on the Kelo project. BJD supporters would also stage a relay hunger strike in front of the CWC office here protesting the central body not consulting Odisha before clearing projects for Chhattisgarh, he said. Meanwhile, opposition Congress and BJP criticised the ruling party for deciding against attending the all-party meeting convened by Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra on Wednesday. A maid in her twenties allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at the house of her employer in Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi, police said today. The deceased Anshuman Dolma, aged around 24,a native of Himachal Pradesh, was found hanging in a bathroom of her employer Rahul Joshi's house in Vasant Kunj, said a senior police officer. She was working at the house of the father-in-law of her present employer, reportedly a retired army officer, in Hoshiarpur in Punjab since 2005 before being brought to Delhi inJune. Police has informed the family of the deceased and started inquest proceeding into the death. The introduction of a bill to criminalise defamation in Maldives will be a "serious setback" for in the country if it is passed, the Colombo-based foreign missions, including from the EU and the US, said today. In a joint statement, embassies of the US, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands and the High Commission of the UK and the EU delegation said they supported all Maldivians' struggling to preserve democracy and human rights. They said they were concerned about the erosion of fundamental freedoms and the institutions of democracy, including freedom of assembly and press. "We express our support for all Maldivians struggling to preserve their hard won democratic institutions and rights, " the statement said. "We urge President Yameen to reverse the backsliding of the past many months and return to the path of democracy, transparency and rule of law for the well being and prosperity of all the people in the Maldives," it said. The foreign missions said that if the bill was passed it would be a "serious setback" for in the Maldives. The Maldivian journalists groups also said that the bill would have a direct negative impact on the media. "The bill is a threat to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and freedom of press," the groups said. "They have asked that the bill be amended to not give courts of law the authority to formulate the policies and regulation on how media should cover reports and rulings issued by courts and tribunals," they said. Other amendments suggested include exclusion of articles related to national security, religious education and religious sermons and allowing the regulating body to investigate defamation cases against media personnel, prior to taking the cases to court. The ruling party defended the bill last week, saying it will not be withdrawn and that it was not a threat to anyone except journalists who fabricate stories. After decades of autocratic rule, Maldives became a multiparty democracy in 2008. However, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom is accused of reversing the democratic gains by misusing courts, police and the bureaucracy to silence dissent. Street protests are banned in the country and people who post criticise government on social media are arrested. Former president Mohamed Nasheed who travelled to the Britian on a medical leave from prison earlier this year has been given asylum by the UK. Nasheed has also formed a united opposition front with other leaders in exile and supporters of those imprisoned to force Gayoom to resign. Lashing out at the NDA-led Centre for pursuing "divisive politics", West Bengal Chief Minister on Monday urged the minority community not to fall into their trap. India, she said, was like one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers for decades. "The BJP government is disturbing the communal harmony of the country through various means. Its only job is to divide people, conduct cow census and spread of fundamentalism in the country. It is not only about attack on Muslim community, but also on Christians and Dalits. "They (BJP) are not interested in development of the communities but want to divide them," Banerjee said addressing a minority affairs program here. Urging the Muslim community not to fall prey to BJP's communal and divisive politics, she said, "They (BJP) are using Facebook and Twitter to spread communal hatred. I request my brothers and sisters of the minority community not to fall into their trap. "Please don't pay heed to whatever they say. They want you to fall into their trap. India is one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers. If one of our brothers falls sick, other brothers can not stay well," Banerjee said. The Chief Minister announced a slew of projects for the development of students of minority communities. A new girls hostel of Aliah University and a mobile app 'Haj Sathi' were inaugurated by her. Banerjee said the Center has withheld funds for minority development by citing "lame excuses". "Last week when I had gone to New Delhi, I inquired why the funds for the minority development have been withheld by citing lame excuses that the web portal they had developed for allocation of funds was not working. Why are there problems in the portal? There are no problems in the advertisements that you (the Center) give out in newspapers everyday propagating what you have done. "I want to make it very clear either you fix such technical problems or do not stop funds citing such lame excuses," Banerjee added. A 28-year-old man died of electrocution after he accidentally came in contact with a street light adjacent to his house in East Delhi, police said today. Dipak Kumar had come in contact with the street light close to his house in Surya Vihar yesterday. Neighbours had to try hard to separate Dipak from the pole he had clasped and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, a senior police officer said. Dipak, who worked as a data-entry operator with Delhi Nursing Council, was cleaning a window of his house when he accidentally came in contact with the pole. His family members alleged they had complained to the BSES about the 'live' pole and the danger it posed to residents but no action was taken by the agency, said the officer. A case of causing death due to negligence has been registered at Karawal Nagar police station, he said. The body has been handed over to his family after postmortem examination and an investigation is on, he added. A man was arrested for allegedly duping several people to the tune of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of giving them handsome returns on insurance policies and investments, police said today. Sumit Verma, 32, who moved in an Audi car and lived in a posh flat, landed in the police net after an FIR was lodged by Atam Prakash, a retired government employee, who was duped to the tune of Rs 77 lakh by him and his associates, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said. "The accused persons were operating from several companies in Noida and received the cheated amount in company accounts. Several cases of cheating are registered against the accused companies in Delhi NCR, Dehradun and Chandigarh and further details are being verified," he said. Verma, who was director of one such company, had purchased the premium flat in a posh society and the luxury Audi car with his share of the cheated amount. Other co-accused (directors of the alleged companies) are still at large and efforts are being made to nab them, the officer added. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati will on Thursday meet the four Dalits, who were thrashed by 'cow vigilantes' at Una in Gir-Somnath district and are admitted in the civil hospital here. "It has been conveyed to us that Mayawatiji will visit Ahmedabad on August 4 to meet the victims of Una atrocity who are currently getting treated at the civil hospital here," state BSP unit secretary Pradeep Parmar said. The four were shifted to Ahmedabad hospital on Friday last week as their health deteriorated soon after being discharged from Rajkot civil hospital. She will also meet the state team of BSP, Parmar said. A day after being discharged from Rajkot civil hospital, the four Dalits -- Ashok Sarvaiya, Vashram Sarvaiya, Bechar Sarvaiya and Ramesh Sarvaiya -- were rushed to the city civil hospital after they developed serious complications. Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela met the victims at Ahmedabad hospital. On July 11, they were beaten up at Mota Samadhiyala village of Una taluka in Gir-Somnath district by a group of cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. Several political leaders, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, later visited the village and Rajkot civil hospital to meet the victims. Police have so far arrested 26 people in connection with the incident and the probe into the matter is now being carried out by state CID-Crime. Hollywood star Michael Douglas's son Cameron has been released from jail after spending nearly seven years behind bars for drug possession. Cameron, 37, was sentenced to a five-year prison term for possession of heroin and methamphetamine in 2010. After he confessed to smuggling drugs into prison, his sentence was extended and he spent two years in solitary confinement at Maryland's Cumberland Federal Corrections Institute, reported People magazine. He was scheduled for release in 2018, but is now living in a halfway house in Brooklyn, New York. Cameron is son of Douglas, 71, from his ex-wife Diandra. They divorced in 2000 after 23 years of marriage. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's South African interests are witnessing a revival barely a year after fears of closure and its impact on an entire town that depended on one of the plants of ArcelorMittal SA. Among the reasons for the upturn are a 4.5 billion-rand rights issue earlier this year and tariff protection plans initiated by the South African government amid improved relations which had earlier soured because of the high prices charged by ArcelorMittal for local supply at international prices. Mittal had acquired the former state-owned steelmaker Iscor a decade ago as he embarked on his global steel acquisition plans after first coming to the rescue of the ailing company to turn it around. But by last year, a steep decline in profits as global steel prices fell led to threats of closure of some plants, especially the one at Vanderbijlpark, where the economy of the entire region is dependent on jobs at the plant. The demise of ArcelorMittal's biggest South African rival, Evraz Steel and Vanadium, as well as the tariff protection, has led to a turnaround that will now save jobs at both its own plants and those at Evraz. Evraz is currently under business rescue, with insiders saying that discussions are under way for ArcelorMittal to acquire the heavy steel milling operations of Evraz within the next year. Industry analysts said concerns about possible refusal for the acquisition by the Competitions Board were eased by the fact that no other steel manufacturer in South Africa manufactures the products that Evraz used to make. Tariff reviews by the government after reported talks at high level between Lakshmi Mittal and government leaders had led to the tariff protection in terms of which the country now imports only 8 per cent of the African continent's steel imports from China which was exporting steel at far lower prices than ArcelorMittal SA was providing locally. ArcelorMittal SA chief financial officer Dean Subramanian said that there were ongoing discussions to ensure suitable pricing for sustainability of the local steel industry. Days after social activist Anna Hazare demanded liquor prohibition in Maharashtra, the state government ruled out a blanket ban but said it may adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern of disallowing sale of country liquor. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who had followed up the issue of banning alcohol in his home district Chandrapur, said liquor sale generates around Rs 13,000 crore revenue and the government is not considering banning it in any other part of the state. "If there is specific demand for liquor prohibition from a certain district, we will consider it. However, we are not considering a complete prohibition as of now," he said. Mungantiwar said aspects like Excise revenue, economics of the sugar industry, health issues involved with alcohol consumption and pressure from non-governmental organisations as well as activists like Hazare need to be considered before taking any decision over the issue. "We get a revenue of around Rs 13,000 crore every year from sale of alcohol. Officials say that if we adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern and ban country liquor we may increase revenue," he said. Tamil Nadu has banned country liquor and replaced it with a cheaper version of foreign liquor branded by the state. All liquor shops are owned by the government which generates a total revenue of around Rs 23,000 crore, the minister said. Hazare had recently met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and submitted a letter demanding liquor prohibition in Maharashtra. He blamed alcoholism as one of the major causes for the brutal rape of a minor in Kopardi, Ahmednagar. Nationalist Congress Party MLC Prakash Gajbhiye too had demanded prohibition of countrymade and foreign liquor in the state. "If Bihar could decide on banning alcohol thereby suffering Rs 3,000 crore loss, why can't a progressive state like Maharashtra do it as well. Maharashtra ranks 3rd in number of crimes in the country and it is due to alcoholism," he had said. Construction work to increase the height of Narmada dam at Kevadia in Gujarat's Narmada district to 138.72 metres from existing 121.92 metres will be completed by December this year, nine months ahead of the schedule, a top government official said today. In June 2014, soon after Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) had approved the proposal to raise the height of the dam by putting up radial gates on it. The construction work began in October, 2014. "The scheduled time to increase the height of the Narmada dam to 138.7 metres was September next year. Instead of that, we have set ourselves a target to finish the work by December 2016," chief engineer of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL), P C Vyas, told PTI. Even after completion, however, the newly-constructed gates will remain open keeping the operational height of the dam at the existing 121.92 metres, until rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) works for dam-displaced persons is completed. The NCA will have to give a go-ahead to operationalise the gates after it is convinced that all R&R work is completed, as per the orders of the Supreme Court. The state-run SSNNL is the implementing agency of the Narmada dam project. "Construction of piers and bridge have been completed, and all thirty radial gates have been installed on the top of the dam. Only finishing and auxiliary works are left which we will complete by December," Vyas said. He said construction work was expedited to advance the actual target date with both the SSNNL management and construction company making special efforts on their part to finish the work at the earliest possible. Infrastructure major Jaypee Associates is involved in the construction of the dam. "Coordination between the management headed by SSNNL CMD S S Rathore and the contractor helped expedite the work. Engineers worked hard day and night and contractor put extra resources for this," Vyas said. In June 2014, the Narmada Control Authority gave a go-ahead to the state government to raise the height of the dam as per the Supreme Court order. Chief minister Anandiben Patel, while announcing this at a rally, had termed that as a "historic day." A majority of R&R work is to be done by the Madhya Pradesh government. The benefits of increased turbine power production will be shared in different proportions between Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments, while water for irrigation will be shared between Gujarat and Rajasthan. When commissioning the work, the state government had set a three-year target to complete the construction being done at an investment of Rs 270 crore and using 11,000 tonnes of reinforced steel and 1,20,000 cubic metres of concrete. The decision to raise the height of the dam has met with resistance from social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan convener Medha Patkar who termed it as "undemocratic" and alleged that the affected people were not consulted and given a hearing. Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari today gave a fresh call to all political parties to form a majority government after the deadline given to them for forging consensus expired without yielding any results. In a letter sent to the Parliament, the President asked the parties to begin the process of electing a new Prime Minister on a majority basis in accordance with the Constitution. The call by the President to form a majority government was issued after the deadline given to the parties to form a consensus government expired yesterday without any outcome. Bhandari had on July 25 called on all the political parties to elect a new Prime Minister within a week based on consensus to end the political instability in the country, a day after premier K P Oli resigned. It is learnt that the Parliament has started preparation for beginning the procedure of electing the Premier on Wednesday. CPN-Maoist president Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' is expected to become Nepal's 39th Prime Minister with the support of largest party Nepali Congress, the Madhesis and other fringe parties if there is no dramatic development. Oli resigned last month ahead of a no-confidence vote, plunging the country into a fresh political turmoil after last year's crippling Madhesi protests against the new Constitution. Oli, who became prime minister last October heading Nepal's eighth government in the past 10 years, was facing a no-trust motion after the Maoists withdrew support from the coalition government. Nepal's Maoist party led by Prachanda last week decided to initiate discussions and dialogue with all political parties, including the Madhesis, having representation in the Parliament to form a national consensus government. Nepalese travelling to India are now required to carry identity cards with them, amid increased security arrangements at border areas in view of the Independence Day on August 15. "India's Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) made the request to the aspiring Nepali visitors through the Nepal Police," Baitadi District Police Office was quoted by media as saying. DSP Mohan Prasad Pokharel said that those without proper ID cards would be turned back from the border points. According to the SSB, security has also been tightened at Jhulaghat, the border area in Baitadi, according to Nepal's Rastriya Samachar Samiti agency. However, identification is not needed in the bordering markets like Jhulaghat, Dharchula and Pithauragadh. It has been made necessary for other places of India such as Delhi and Mumbai, according to the border security agency. Tokyo's new governor Yuriko Koike today credited her landslide victory to having stood up to the powers that be in Japan's ruling party who didn't want her to run. Koike, 64, was elected Tokyo's first female governor in the yesterday vote, winning more than 2.9 million votes, far outpacing the nearly 1.8 million ballots cast for closest challenger Hiroya Masuda. Masuda, a former governor of Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, was the favoured candidate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner. The LDP spurned Koike, an LDP member, for failing to seek its approval before announcing her candidacy, with a top party official calling her "selfish". Koike, however, had the last laugh after her campaign drew huge crowds during street rallies ahead of the vote. "I fought this race without support from the party, and people joked I was like the sole player in a theatre company," she told reporters early today. "But in the end it allowed us to move freely rather than restricting us." The election was called after previous governor Yoichi Masuzoe resigned over a financial scandal involving the lavish use of public funds on hotels and spa trips -- the second successive Tokyo leader to quit. A key challenge facing Koike will be to get a grip on Tokyo's troubled path to hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, which has been plagued by scandals and cost overruns. She vowed late yesterday to be transparent on the budget and restore the trust of voters in the sprawling metropolis of 13.6 million people. Her defeat of Masuda, a veteran administrator who had won plaudits as governor of northeastern Iwate for 12 years, was a huge embarrassment for the conservative party. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the government's top spokesman, expressed disappointment that Masuda lost but hinted the LDP could work with Koike. "It is important for the central government to cooperate (with the new governor) for the benefit of the Japanese people," he said. The party having backed the wrong horse is also embarrassing for Abe, who has vowed to improve conditions for women in male-dominated Japan so they can better contribute to the economy by taking senior positions in business and government. The newly appointed Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, K G Jagadeesha took charge here today. Zilla Panchayat CEO P I Sreevidya, who was holding charge after outgoing Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim relieved from the post, handed over charge to the new DC. A B Ibrahimwas appointed as the Commissioner for Transport and Road Safety at Bengaluru. Addressing reporters after taking charge, Jagadeesha said that though DK was known as one of the developed districts, there were several challenges to be faced. He sought the support and co-operation of the people, media and elected representatives. Jagadeesha who was a 2005 batch IAS officer was earlier serving as Managing Director of Rajeev Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation, Bengaluru. He had earlier worked asDeputy Commissioner of Kalaburgi district and was the first DC of Yadgir district, official sources said. Additional D C Kumar, Information Officer Khader Shah, DC Office Tahsildar Manikya and others were present at the function. A Nigerian behind an online fraud network, which engineered scams worth more than USD 60 million through email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including India, has been arrested in southern oil city of Port Harcourt, Interpol said today. "The 40-year-old Nigerian national, known as 'Mike', is believed to be behind scams totalling more than USD 60 million involving hundreds of victims worldwide," the international police organisation said in a statement. "In one case, a target was conned into paying out USD 15.4 million," Interpol said, indicating that the arrest was carried out with the support of Nigeria's anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). "The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States," it said. The suspect ran a network of at least 40 people working from Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa which used malware and carried out the fraud, and he also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US who provided bank account details for the illicit cash flow. "Following his arrest in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, a forensic examination of devices seized by the EFCC showed he had been involved in a range of criminal activities including business e-mail compromise and romance scams," it said. The suspect and a fellow fraudster, 38, who was also arrested in the city, face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences. There is no shortage of power in the country to cater to the demands of states and government is trying to fully tap the potential of new and renewable energy to produce 175 Gigawatt of power by 2022, Rajya Sabha was informed today. Power Minister Piyush Goyal also said the government was exploring producing energy from waste and garbage and clearance of certain projects were awaited from National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court, monitoring the use of technology which does not impact on environment. "There is no shortage of power in the country. We have sufficient power and if any state wants to buy power, one can do so from a portal now. "Total potential in India from new and renewable energy is huge and immense and the total potential is certainly not being exploited. This government has embarked on a plan for producing 100 GW planned capacity in solar and an overall five-fold increase in renewable energy to 175 GW by 2022," Goyal told members during the Question Hour. Replying to supplementaries, the Minister said as regards the total amount of energy generated last year from solar power and renewable sources of energy put together was 65 billion units. "In 32 years, the country barely had 34 MW of renewable energy capacity and the total solar power capacity is 2,632 MW but we have added 4,130 MW capacity in last two years. This is almost 1.5 times in two years against what was added in last 32 years," Goyal said. As per the new tariff policy, government has made compulsory grid inclusion for all new projects converting waste into energy, he said. "Government is awaiting clearance of technology for use by certain projects to convert waste into energy. The NGT and Supreme Court are monitoring the technology used for proposed plants for converting waste and garbage into energy. We are in discussion with foreign makers for use of technology,"he said. The Minister also said there was a proposal to tap the potential of wind power along the 7,500 km coastline in the country, but the cost turns out to be higher than in Europe. There is no proposal before the Maharashtra government for creation of a separate Vidarbha state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the state Assembly here today. "There's no such proposal (for a separate Vidarbha state). Carving out small states is a subject handled by the Centre," Fadnavis said. The Chief Minister's said this amid noisy protests by the Opposition, within and outside the Lower House, on the contentious issue of formation of a separate Vidarbha state. BJP's ally Shiv Sena, which is vehemently opposed to any such move, also joined in condemning the proponents of a separate Vidarbha. Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar asked Fadnavis to clarify stand on creation of a separate Vidarbha state. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil alleged there's fixing between Sena and BJP over Vidarbha. The Assembly was adjourned for the day after noisy scenes by Opposition legislators over the separate Vidarbha issue, which had disrupted the House proceedings on Friday too. Shiv Sena MLAs held a protest outside the Assembly building, opposing demand for separate Vidarbha state. "Maharashtra should remain united," shouted the Sena legislators on the stairs of the main entrance of Vidhan Bhawan. They displayed a banner depicting BJP MP Nana Patole as "shekhchilli" (a comic character). Patole had last week moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha, seeking formation of a Vidarbha state. Vikhe Patil said Maharashtra was formed after the sacrifice of 105 martyrs in Samyukt Maharashtra movement. "BJP has insulted people of Maharashtra by making and backing demand for separate Vidarbha," the Congress leader said. (REOPENS BES 7) Earlier in the day, raising the separate Vidarbha issue in the Assembly, Congress-NCP legislators rushed to the well and raised slogans for a united Maharashtra. Shiv Sena MLA from Kolhapur, Rajesh Kshirsagar, picked up the mace in front of the Speaker but he put it down after the Chief Minister objected. The Sena legislators also sought an apology from BJP state unit president Raosaheb Danve for backing the demand of a separate Vidarbha state. "Fadnavis should clarify stand on a separate Vidarbha. The government is trying to cut Maharashtra into pieces," Vikhe Patil told reporters at Vidhan Bhawan. "If the Chief Minister is so honest about his intentions, he should table a resolution on separate Vidarbha in the legislature," he said. Nurses across the country have postponed their nationwide strike tomorrow following assurance by Union Health Minister J P Nadda to look into their demands. The decision was taken after a delegation met Nadda and was assured that their problems will be looked into. Nurses who have been agitating against the recommendations of 7th pay commission and demanding revision in their pay scale and hike in allowances had called a strike tomorrow. "The delegation of nurses met the Minister. The Minister assured them that their demands will be looked into. "They (nurses) have called off their strike," a senior Health Ministry official told PTI. However, All India Government Nurses Federation officials said that they have not called off the strike but postponed it by one month after the Health Ministry assured that they will talk to the Finance minister regarding their demands. "We have postponed the strike by one month. We have got verbal as well as written assurance from the Minister that our demands will be looked into. "He (Minister) has said that he will write to the Finance ministry, " said Federation spokesperson Liladhar Ramchandani. This is the fourth meeting in one week between the federation and the Health ministry. The federation had earlier gone on relay hunger strike to press for their demands. The unions have been protesting demanding a hike in pay grade, nursing allowance, risk allowance and night-duty allowance. For every two deaths due to silicosis in the country from 2012 to 2014, more than one is from Godhra in Gujarat, Rajya Sabha was informed today. As per the data, 24 workers in Godhra have died due to silicosis in quartz crushing industries during 2012-2014 out of a total 42 deaths across the country during the same period. "The Central Pollution Control Board has inspected 16 operational quartz crushing industries in Godhra and found that the industries are not complying with the prescribed norms," Environment Minister Anil Dave said in a written reply. Following this, CPCB has issued directions to the Gujarat State Pollution Control Board to implement the recommendations of the inspection report. In May, the Supreme Court passed an order asking the Gujarat government to pay compensation of Rs 3 lakh within a month to families of deceased migrant workers who died of silicosis, which they had contracted due to working in the unregulated quartz crushing factories of Godhra and Balasinor. According to estimates, there are over 3 million workers exposed to silica dust in India. Opposition members in Lok Sabha today expressed concern over growing attacks on dalits and minorities and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targetting them. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the dalits and Mulsims to uphold secularism and communal harmony. P K Biju (CPI-M) underlined the need for Parliament to take a stern view of the attacks on the dalit community, which is up against the injustice. Raising another issue, Rajeev Satav (Congress) said that the Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad chief's statement that 100 young men from the Marathwada region were in touch with ISIS was alarming. He said this was all the more so as two youths from Parbhani, who had plans to set off explosions at Aurangabad and Nagpur, were arrested recently. Rajya Sabha today witnessed a brief uproar by opposition members over alleged remarks by Manohar Parrikar against actor Aamir Khan even as the Defence Minister denied having said what was been quoted to him. During the Zero Hour, Derek O'Brien (TMC) raised the issue of "dangerous" rise in religious fundamentalism in the country, saying the government, ministers and people associated with the ruling party were "shooting their mouths off every day". "The Prime Minister needs to come and say these are in fact mistakes, this is not thinking of the government. Prime Minister come here and assure us that we can live in the India we know -- Unity in Diversity". As soon as he finished his Zero Hour mention, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted a report which said 'Parrikar takes swipe at actor Aamir; Those who speak like this must be taught a lesson'. "So may I ask him (Parrikar who was sitting in the House) what lesson he is going to teach us...The entire nation should be told what type of action and lesson he is going to teach the minorities of this conuntry," Azad said. To this, Parikar said: "I would only say one thing. Let the members see the video...And make up their mind". However, this did not pacify the agitated opposition. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said what the minister had said was "highly objectionable". "It is a matter that borders on the question of privilege. Tomorrow you are going to threaten me ... You will say there will be a social boycott, we will make them withdraw what they have said," he said. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to pacify the members. "Minister says please see the video. It means he has not said (as quoted in media)". Parrikar said he did not take anyone's name. "What is quoted is not what I have said. I never took the name of anyone, nor threatened anyone," the Defence Minister said. Recent reports had quoted Parrikar as saying that anyone speaking against the country must be "taught a lesson" while referring to alleged anti-national sloganeering at JNU earlier this year as well as remarks by an "actor" who "had said that his wife wants to live out of India". Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) said he has seen the video in question and whatever the minister has said is a "direct threat" to the minorities of the country. Azad again said if Parrikar had threatened Pakistan, everybody would have been with him. Amid uproar, BSP chief Mayawati said ever since the BJP- led government has assumed office at the Centre, religious minorities, especially muslims, have been targeted. "Now, atrocities against dalits are on rise. We want the Prime Minister to come in the House and respond," she said. Azad said that an MP can be "pardoned", but Defence Minister or Home Minister are supposed to protect the territorial integrity of the country. "Is this the way of protecting territorial integrity of the country? You are alienating your own people," said the Leader of Opposition. As the uproar continued, Kurien said members could give a notice for discussion on the issue. He also said if a minister has given a provocative statement, there are rules to deal with it. On a lighter vein, the Deputy Chairman also said he was ready to spend money from his own pocket to supply rule book to every member. Earlier soon after listed papers were laid on the table, Anand Sharma (Cong) tried to raise the issue of continued attacks on dalits and Muslims by cow vigilantes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, should come and give a statement in the House on the issue. Last week during a discussion on the issue, a minister had intervened but outside the Parliament he had praised the organisation involved in the attack, Sharma said, adding the Prime Minister "should come and explain," he said. (Reopens PAR12) Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari raised the issue of death of Bihari labourers at an under-construction building in Pune. Ansari sought Rs 10 lakh compensation for each of the worker who were killed, while alleging that the building that was being constructed was unauthorised. Yadav said that labour laws were being rampantly violated in the country and even in the Parliament House complex, workers have been hired on contract. Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) raised the issue of flooding in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to rivers flowing out of Nepal. Talking about the recent flooding and resultant traffic jams in Gurgaon, Rajiv Shukla (Cong) said "Gurugram (Gurgaon) has turned into Gurujam". The Delhi High Court today sought response of the Centre and Bar Council of India (BCI) on a plea challenging provisions in the law and Supreme Court rules for the designation of lawyers as senior advocates. A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Deepa Sharma issued notice to the Union government and BCI, seeking their reply to the petition by a lawyers' body which has contended that designation of senior advocate creates a different class of lawyers. The court asked the lawyers' body, the National Lawyers' Campaign For Judicial Transparency And Reforms to move an application to make the Supreme Court registry a party as rules of the apex court have also been challenged, and listed the matter for further hearing on September 19. The petition has alleged that designating only some advocates as 'seniors' violates the fundamental rights including that of right to life, free speech and equal opportunity in employment guaranteed under the Constitution as it creates a different class of lawyers. It has also sought that the provisions in the Advocates Act which create this distinction, be declared ultra vires the Constitution and void ab initio. Appearing for the lawyers body, advocate Mathews Nedumpara said there should not be any difference in dress code between designated senior advocates and other lawyers. He claimed that under the Advocates Act, primacy in proceedings is given to senior advocates and alleged that this was unconstitutional. Pope Francis said there were "doubts" over the case being made against Vatican finance chief George Pell, Australia's most senior Roman Catholic, for alleged child abuse. "There are doubts. 'In dubio pro reo'," he yesterday said using a Latin expression meaning that a defendant may not be convicted by the court when doubts about his or her guilt remain. "We must avoid a media verdict, a verdict based on gossip," he told journalists aboard the papal plane during the return trip from Poland, where he had headlined a Catholic youth festival. Explosive allegations emerged against the Australian cardinal last week with two men now in their 40s saying Pell had groped them during the 1970s. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation which aired their claims also alleged Pell was naked in front of three young boys, believed to be aged eight to 10, in a Torquay surf club changing room in summer 1986-87. Pell, 75, has denied the allegations and suggested there was a conspiracy against him. The allegations come just months after Pell admitted he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in Victoria in the 1970s, while giving evidence to a national inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse. He was accused of historic sex abuse claims when he was the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney in 2002, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing. Pell was ordained in Rome in 1966 before returning to Australia in 1971 and rising to become the nation's top Catholic official. He left for the Vatican in 2014 after being hand-picked by Pope Francis to make the Church's finances more transparent, although his powers were reined in earlier this month. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading her Republican rival Donald Trump by seven points following last week's Democratic convention, according to a latest national poll today. Clinton, who last week scripted history by becoming first woman presidential nominee of a major political party, has 46 per cent support among voters. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee has the support of 39 per cent of voters, CBC said in its latest poll. Clinton's popularity increased by four points after Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last week. The race was tied last week after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. With this Clinton returned to her June lead margin. CBS said while Clinton received a four-point bump after Democratic Convention, Trump received a two point increase in his popularity rating after his convention. However, CBS pointed that Clinton's increase in popularity rating is far less than 13 point bump of her husband's Bill Clinton in 1992. In 2008 and 2012, the outgoing President Barack Obama received a similar bump, while Al Gore in 2000 received a popularity increase of 10 percentage points, but he eventually went to lose the election. According to CBS News polls, positive views of Clinton increased by five points among registered voters, from 31 per cent a week ago to 36 per cent. Her unfavourable views dropped six points: from 56 per cent to 50 per cent. On the other hand, over half of voters continue to hold an unfavourable opinion of Trump. Only 31 per cent view him favourably. As per RealClearPolitics.Comm which keeps track of all major nation al polls, Clinton has an average 2.2 percentage points lead over Trump. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu today laid the foundation of the Dhansiri (Dimapur)-Zubza new broad gauge line at Dimapur Railway Station. "More than geography, it is important to bring together different aspirations of the people and to fulfil the long cherished dreams of the citizens by connecting the capital of Nagaland to Delhi," Prabhu said in his address. "A comprehensive plan on how to meet the aspirations of the people of the North East is in the process of finalisation and very soon it will be presented to all the chief ministers concerned," he said. He assured that the present project will be completed in 2019. (REOP CES5) Speaking on the occasion, Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya regretted that despite the abundance of rich natural beauty and resources, the state did not have proper connectivity. "Though a Governor I am finding myself difficult to reach even Delhi when others can reach USA in 12-13 hours," he said. Chief Minister, TR Zeliang termed the day as a red letter day in the history of Nagaland as the foundation stone for the first railway project in the state would connect the commercial hub of the state, Dimapur and the state capital Kohima. The Allahabad High Court today asked the Uttar Pradesh government to produce within two weeks the letter issued by Mathura district administration in which permission was granted to a religious cult for holding a two-day demonstration at Jawahar Bagh. A division bench comprising justices Vikran Nath and Ravindra Nath Kakkar passed the order while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Ashwini Upadhyay and two others, demanding a CBI inquiry into the violence at the public park and the circumstances that had led to it, and fixed August 16 as the next date of hearing in the matter. On July 18, the court had asked the state government to explain why Jawahar Bagh was allowed to remain illegally occupied by members of the aforementioned cult for more than two years despite the fact that permission was granted to stage a demonstration for only two days. Today, when the court demanded a copy of the letter whereby permission for the demonstration was given, Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh sought time so that directions could be issued to officials concerned for locating the document. The court granted two weeks' time for the purpose. The court also referred the matter to Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale, who was sworn in only two days ago, so that a decision may be taken to place the issue before an appropriate bench. Two more PILs connected to the matter have been filed in the high court and they are likely to be clubbed with the other petitions. One of the PILs has been filed by Vijay Pal Tomar, a Mathura-based advocate on whose petition the court had issued orders for getting Jawahar Bagh vacated. Clashes between squatters and police left 29 people dead, including two police officers, at Jawahar Bagh on June 2 following an eviction drive launched pursuant to a High Court order. Later, a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives was recovered from the shanties erected by the members of the cult. Meanwhile, Upadhyay, a BJP leader and Supreme Court advocate, today made a prayer for conducting day-to-day hearings in the matter. He has been alleging that Ram Vriksh Yadav, the deceased leader of the cult, was said to be very close to powerful leaders of the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state. The state government on its part, has set up a commission of inquiry comprising a retired high court judge for investigating the matter. (Reopens LGD 29) Meanwhile, a division bench comprising Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma has decided to hear the PILs, including the fresh ones, wherein a demand has been made for ordering a CBI inquiry into the Mathura episode. The decision was taken by the court "with the consent of all the counsel appearing for the various parties in the case". National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) today approved several projects, including that for the development of ghats, crematoria and riverfront, costing around Rs 400 crore. The government wants to develop ghats and crematoria along the river stretch between Rudraprayag and Guptkashi in Uttarakhand; in Kanpur, Bijnor, Allahabad and Bithur in Uttar Pradesh; Kahalgaon in Bihar and from Sahibganj to Rajmahal in Jharkhand. Ghats and crematoria will be developed in Uttarakhand at Sumari, Tilwara, Silli, Augustmuni and Triveni at a cost of Rs 26 crore, a statement by the Ministry of Water Resources said. Similar works will be undertaken in Allahabad and Bijnor, for which Rs 88.03 crore and Rs 12.19 crore, respectively, have been sanctioned. Rs 63.80 crore has been sanctioned for "interception and diversion of flow" of Sisamau and other drains in Kanpur. Rs 70.11 crore will be spent for developing riverfront in Bithur. For the construction and modernisation of ghats in Kahalgaon, an amount of Rs 23.64 crore has been approved. An expenditure of Rs 42.26 crore will be made on development of ghats and crematoria along the stretch between Sahibganj and Rajmahal. Rs 6.26 crore will be spent on construction of electric crematoria in Bhatpara and Naihati. An amount of Rs 11.16 crore has been approved for afforestation works in West Bengal. The projects were cleared by the Empowered Steering Committee, an apex body that includes secretaries of ministries of water, environment, power and urban development and chief secretaries of the five states of the river's basin. The IRS officers association of the Income Tax department today said that a protest resolution undertaken by its Mumbai unit has been "suspended forthwith" after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had taken a serious view against the development. The Central Association of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of the I-T department had recently met Jaitley in this regard. "In response to the call of the IRS Association (All India Body), vide letter dated 30.07.16, the Executive Committee of the Mumbai Unit of the IRS Association met on July 30 and placed on record its immense respect for the Hon'ble Finance Minister and the Government, and decided to put the protest in abeyance and suspended forthwith. "The communication from the Mumbai Unit has stated that a General Body Meeting of the Unit will be called to ratify the decision of the Executive Committee shortly. Hence, the ongoing agitation at Mumbai has been suspended. The IRS Association (All India Body) expresses satisfaction at the development," the Association's General Secretary Jayant Misra said in a statement here. The delegation while meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week had asked him to ensure that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) gets it "due importance and respect" even as it had advised its Mumbai unit to suspend the ongoing agitation over alleged interference by Department of Revenue under the Finance Ministry in "operational matters". The delegation while meeting the Finance Minister had discussed various issues and conveyed the deep sense of "deprivation and injustice" amongst IRS officers leading to severe discontent and demoralisation. The Association also met newly appointed CBDT Chairperson Rani Singh Nair today and wished her. She took charge today. The Association warmly welcomes Nair as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and hopes that there will be dawn of a new era of positivity and cooperation which will result in justice and motivation for IRS Officers resulting in achievement of all goals of the Government and best services to the citizens, Misra said. Three members of Sri Rama Sene (SRS) have been arrested in connection with the "raid" on a school over alleged forcible teaching of Urdu and Arabic languages. The three were arrested based on a complaint by the headmaster of St Thomas Aided Higher Primary School that the activists barged into the classroom where students were being taught Arabic. A group of around 50 Sri Rama Sene activists had raided the school at Padu Bandanthila on July 30 after locals complained about students being taught Arabic and Urdu "forcibly". City Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar said that cases of trespass and rioting had been registered against the right-wing activists and a few more persons were likely to be arrested. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh today called for innovations and new contemporary methods in the education system to keep students updated and their confidence high. Speaking at the 7th convocation ceremony at MDS University in Ajmer, he highlighted the role and importance of value-based education. "Changes in education and society are taking place rapidly. Character building is the main objective of education and without education, the life is in dark. For character building, education should be value-based," Singh said. With changing times, new innovation and methods should be included in the education system so that our young generation remains high in confidence, he said. Singh asked the students to keep their thoughts positive and to decide their aim and gain success by utilising resources properly. Higher Education Minister Kalicharan Saraf, VC Kailash Sodhani and others were present on the occasion. Rajatshan Minister Prabhu Lal Saini today invited farmers and industrialists from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to partner with the states' agriculture and allied sectors. The Minister for Agriculture and Allied Sectors was here for a road show for the forthcoming Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet-2016 (GRAM) to be held at Jaipur from November 9 to 11, a release from Rajasthan government said. During the meet, Rajasthan shall showcase investment opportunities in the products like pressure irrigation, solar pumps, custom hiring of farm machinery and implements, farm mechanisation, agro-processing, it said. As per the release, the international event - with representations from Netherlands, Israel, Australia and Canada - will be attended by over 50,000 farmers. This event will feature an exhibition showcasing strengths of the Rajasthan agricultural sector, live demonstrations of latest agro-technologies and equipments, B2B and B2G meetings with national and foreign partners, Conference on knowledge sharing and best agri practises and a networking session between the agri industry, academia and policy makers including Government officials, the release added. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Pakistan on Wednesday to attend the SAARC Home Ministers' conference, notwithstanding threat by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and is expected to ask Islamabad to stop sponsoring terror in India. "The SAARC meeting is a multilateral meeting. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or having a separate meeting with (the) Pakistani Home Minister," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters here. He was responding to questions about threats made by the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder over the Home Minister's visit. Saeed warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if Singh arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. Official sources said Singh is unlikely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan separately as top echelons of the government feel that time is not conducive for a bilateral meeting. However, the Home Minister, in his speech at the SAARC meeting, is expected to raise the issue of Pakistan's support to terror groups operating in India and ask Islamabad to check Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other groups based in that country. Singh's visit comes in the backdrop of growing strain in Indo-Pak ties after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Burhan Wani's killing on July 8. Wani was a wanted terrorist of banned Hizbul Mujahideen. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". The Home Minister will reach Islamabad on Wednesday and return to New Delhi the next day after attending the 7th meeting of SAARC Interior/ Home Ministers. Singh is also likely to raise the issue of fake Indian currency notes being circulated at the behest of Pakistani agencies, sources said. Apart from terrorism, other key issues to be discussed include liberalisation of visa, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and small arms and how to make coordinated and concerted efforts to combat such menace. Private sector lender RBL Bank has received capital markets regulator Sebi's approval for its long-pending IPO for which it had filed draft papers nearly a year ago. The bank, which had filed draft papers with Sebi in June last year, seeking approval to float IPO, received clearance from the regulator on July 27, according to the latest update. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) withheld approval to RBL's IPO as the regulator was examining past violation by the private sector lender. RBL's IPO plans was hanging in balance for a long time due to the outstanding cases. The approval comes after Sebi settled an outstanding case against the lender for alleged violation of disclosure norms with regard to an earlier issuance of shares to select investors for over Rs 600 crore. The settlement involved payment of Rs 47.6 lakh towards 'monetary settlement charges', as also a commitment by the bank that it would give an exit opportunity in its IPO to the investors to whom shares were issued earlier in rights issues. As per the draft papers, the IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 1,100 crore and offer for sale of up to 17,568,408 scrips by existing shareholders including Beacon India Private Equity Fund and GPE (India) Ltd. RBL Bank had reportedly raised Rs 488 crore in a pre-IPO round of fund raising last year. The proceeds of the IPO would be used to shore-up the equity capital base, to meet future capital requirements and to ensure compliance with Basel III and other Reserve Bank's guidelines. According to RBL Bank (formerly Ratnakar Bank Ltd), the listing of equity shares will enhance the visibility and brand name among existing and potential customers. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Axis Capital, Citigroup Global Markets India and Morgan Stanley India Company are the global coordinators, while HDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, IDFC Securities, IIFL Holdings and SBI Capital Markets are the book running lead managers of the issue. The Tamil Nadu Assembly today passed a unanimous resolution that the Madras High Court be renamed as Tamil Nadu High Court and not as High Court of Chennai as proposed by the Centre, with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa knocking on the Modi government's doors with the proposal. Jayalalithaa moved the resolution in the AIADMK dominated state Assembly which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, and others, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. Within hours of the Assembly adopting the resolution, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating, "based on overwhelming public opinion in Tamil Nadu, the proposed change of name (of the High Court) was debated in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly." "After a detailed discussion, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution (today), to call upon the Government of India to move necessary amendments to the Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha so as to rename the High Court of Madras as the High Court of Tamil Nadu," she said in the letter. The Chief Minister recalled that the Centre had introduced 'The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in Lok Sabha last month to rename the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Jayalalithaa also appended a text of the resolution to Modi and sought "Government of India to take immediate action" on the basis of it. The English version of the resolution (which was tabled in Tamil in the Assembly) said the House had in 1967 passed a resolution seeking to rename the then Madras state as Tamil Nadu, which was duly done by way of a Central law in 1968. Madras City was renamed as Chennai in 1996 by an Act and accordingly, Chennai denotes only the city of Chennai, the resolution read. "As the High Court, presently known as the High Court of Madras, has a bench functioning at Madurai, it would not be appropriate to name the High Court which has jurisdiction over the whole of Tamil Nadu as the High Court of Chennai; and hence it is befitting that the High Court which is presently called the High Court of Madras be renamed as the High Court of Tamil Nadu," it said. "This House calls upon the Government of India to move necessary amendments to the Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha so as to change the name of the High Court of Madras as the High Court of Tamil Nadu instead of High Court of Chennai," it said. Giving reasons for seeking the change, the resolution pointed out that High Courts situated in other states take the respective names of such states, which were formed on linguistic basis in 1956. Listing out the historical reasons behind the name of Madras High Court, Jayalalithaa said the British Parliament had enacted the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 and Letters Patent was granted by Queen Victoria under which the Madras High Court was established in 1862. It was named as "High Court of Judicature at Madras," to mean its location with jurisdiction over the entire Madras Presidency, including regions of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The High Courts established after states were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956 were named after such states. Thus, it was "not appropriate" to call Madras High Court under the same name that was set up on the basis of Letters Patent granted by Queen Victoria, she said. A proposal was sent to the Central government in 1997 to rename Madras High Court as Chennai High Court after Madras city was renamed as Chennai in 1996, the Chief Minister added. DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan and Congress floor leader K R Ramasamy were among those who spoke briefly welcoming the resolution. Police say an all-terrain vehicle carrying tourists flipped over in southern Bolivia, killing three Belgians, an Italian and a Peruvian. Border Police commander Col. Rodolfo Salazar yesterday told The Associated Press that the driver lost control of the vehicle as it sped on the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat and the main tourist destination in the country's south. Police said that in addition to the five dead, three people were injured. The accident took place Saturday night about 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of La Paz, Bolivia. Days after she reportedly got into a scuffle with a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP at Delhi airport, the Rajya Sabha MP M Sasikala Pushpa was expelled from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) by the party supremo Jayalalithaa on Monday for bringing disrepute to the party. In a brief statement, Jayalalithaa said that Pushpa was being expelled from all party posts, including primary membership, as she had acted in violation of the party principles and ethics. "Her behaviour has brought great disrepute to the party," she said. Jayalalithaa asked party supporters not to have any truck henceforth with the Thoothukudi based Rajya Sabha MP. Last week, Pushpa had reportedly got into a scuffle with her colleague from the DMK, Tiruchi Siva, at Delhi airport. A local court today granted bail to Ruby Rai, a former intermediate arts topper, who was arrested in connection with the Intermediate toppers' scam on June 25 last. The Additional District Judge (ADJ) - I Parvez Alam granted bail to 18 year-old Rai after her advocate K D Mishra pleaded before the court that her remand in juvenile home was wrong and not in the interest of being a teeanager. "It will serve the best interest of the child if she is allowed bail," Mishra prayed and disagreed with the Juvenile Justice Board's contention that she had committed a grave offence by indulging in falsehood to get the top ranking in the intermediate arts examination this year. The vigilance advocate Vijay Kumar, however, opposed her bail plea, but the court rejected his contention before granting bail to Rai. Ruby Rai was arrested by the SIT on June 25 last soon after coming out of re-test by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) which was conducted to check her academic abilities. She was sent to Beur jail, but later got shifted to the juvenile remand home as she was found to be a minor as per details in her birth certificate. Interestingly, it was Rai's reply to basic questions with regard to her subjects which apparently exposed her knowledge. Ruby Rai was a student of Vishun Roy College, belonging to another alleged scamster Bachcha Rai who too has been arrested along with over three dozen other accused persons in the intermediate toppers scam. She had said that political science was one of her subjects but described it as 'prodikal science' which teaches cooking. Without stepping up economic activities in the country's villages, it is difficult to raise the gross domestic product (GDP) beyond the current levels, Jamshyd N Godrej, CMD of Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company said today. "Unless villages of India become productive and centres of economic activity suited for their own purposes, it is difficult to raise India's gross domestic product beyond the stage they have reached so far," Godrej said while addressing the CII Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (VLFM) convention. Referring to the VLFM Village Buddha programme, he said a clear focus of society to go beyond manufacturing industry will help the villages and rural society. "Through the 25 years of reform, there has been a significant difference in the graph in growth of GDP per person, and manufacturing is clearly the engine of growth for India," he pointed out. According to him, it is important to channel time and effort to convert the industries and make them more vibrant to further economic development. Supply chain can make an enormous difference, he said. "Every company in India needs to understand critical importance of supply chain and how it can make a significant difference to win in manufacturing," he said. "We all recognise investment in supply chain has to be a lot more than what it is today. Smaller companies can work with significantly large companies to make a difference on this front," he added. He stressed that Indian industry is quite capable of moving forward in the manufacturing sphere. A Russian military helicopter with five people on board was shot down today over the Syrian province of Idlib, the Russian defence ministry said. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian agencies. "Three crew members and two officers... Were on board," it said, indicating that their fate was unclear. Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP M Sasikala Pushpa today did not give any indication about her joining any political party but thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi for their support. Sasikala, who reportedly slapped DMK lawmaker Trichy Siva at Delhi airport on Saturday, also dismissed suggestions that there was any connection between the incident and her resignation. Earlier in the day, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa expelled her from the party, saying her behaviour had brought "great disrepute" to the organisation. "I want to thank Congress party governed under Soniaji and Rahulji, Because they have supported me today and then I want to thank DMK which has supported me today even though there was an issue," Sasikala told NDTV. Asked if she would now join Congress, the former Tuticorin mayor said,"I don't know." Earlier in Rajya Sabha, Sasikala claimed that she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to her life in Tamil Nadu. She, however, did divulge who slapped her and when. Pushpa first rushed into the Well of the House to seek permission to make a statement and then broke down several times as she said she faced "life threat" from the state government and alluded to her being allegedly slapped by a "leader". Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and he will protect her too. He, however, asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. But the opposition, including Congress, protested, saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Under the law, an MP can retain his seat after being expelled by the party on whose ticket he had won. The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea of Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla, a co-convict and a close friend of Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt, sentenced to five years in jail for destroying an AK-56 rifle of the actor, seeking reduction of his jail term to three years. Nulwalla has claimed that he was wrongly sentenced to five years in jail for possessing a prohibited automatic AK-56 assault rifle, while in charge sheet he was shown in possession of a non-prohibited semi-automatic AK-56 weapon. A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea, saying, "You are unnecessarily casting doubts and that too doubts without proof." During the brief hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Nulwalla, said his curative and review petitions have been dismissed by the apex court, but he is raising a different point that "a grave miscarriage of justice has taken place". "The AK-56 rifle which was shown in my possession is a semi-automatic rifle but it's not a prohibited (weapon)," Salve said while referring to a forensic report which opined that the firearm was a Chinese variant which is not prohibited. To this, the bench said AK-56 rifle is always considered to be a prohibited firearm. It said that when the curative petition has already been dismissed, then how can it set aside the order under writ jurisdiction. Salve said it is a matter of two years of life of an individual and the court must look into it and the minimum sentence of three years should have been given to him. The apex court had upheld the conviction and the five- year sentence of Nulwalla, who was held guilty of destroying the weapon kept at the actor's house. (Reopens LGD30) According to CBI, Nulwalla had picked up the weapons from Dutt's house and taken them to Adjania and destroyed them. The actor was convicted in November 2006 for illegal possession of a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle but was acquitted of more serious charges of criminal conspiracy under the now-defunct anti-terror law TADA. On March 12, 1993, Mumbai was rocked by a series of blasts engineered by fundamentalist elements, which claimed 257 lives and damaged property worth over Rs 27 crore. The Supreme Court had in 2013 brought a closure to the appeals by the convicts and the state in the case and upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, brother of one of the absconding main conspirators Tiger Memon, and life sentences of 16 of the 18 convicts. While Memon was executed on July 30 last year, the death sentence of 10 others was commuted to life term by the court which directed that they will remain in prison till death. The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Centre on the action taken by it on the issue of verification of mobile phone subscribers to avoid fake identities which cause a grave risk to national security. A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur also asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to reply within six weeks to a letter written to them by petitioner NGO Lokniti Foundation giving suggestions on the mobile phone verification issue. The petitioner society had written the letter to DoT and TRAI on August 7, 2014, saying that there was a grave risk to the national security because of lack of verification of mobile phone subscribers and had given suggestions for making systemic improvements to ensure the same. In its petition before the apex court, the NGO sought directions to DoT and TRAI to ensure 100 per cent verification of mobile phone subscribers with regard to their identity, addresses and that no fake or unverified identity is accepted for subscription of mobile phones. It also sought that Aadhaar Card or other biometric identification may be made compulsory for verification of the mobile phone users. It claimed that as of today, around 5.25 crore mobile phone subscribers (about 5 per cent of the total) are unverified, despite the directions given by apex court and instructions issued by DoT itself from time to time to ensure mobile phone subscriber verification. "Unverified SIM cards pose a serious threat to the country's security as these are routinely used in criminal and terrorist activities," the petition said. The plea sought strict implementation of subscriber verification guidelines and that physical verification be made compulsory in future and physical re-verification of existing subscriber base be conducted in a transparent manner. Ex-UP chief ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, will have to vacate their palatial Lucknow bungalows in two months with the Supreme Court today quashing the state rules giving "largesse" only to former CMs without any "element of reasonableness". The verdict may have an impact in other states where former chief ministers are occupying government bungalows for life under the local laws. "It is held that the 1997 Rules (Ex-Chief Ministers Residence Allotment Rules, 1997) so far as they are not in consonance with the provisions of the 1981 Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions Act), are bad in law. "The government bungalows allotted to the respondents is held to be bad in law and the concerned respondents shall hand over possession of the bungalows occupied by them within two months from today and the respondent government shall also recover appropriate rent from the occupants of the said bungalows for the period during which they were in unauthorised occupation of the said bungalows," a three-judge bench headed by Justice A R Dave said. The bench also comprising N V Ramana and R Banumathi, said, "In fact, the impugned 1997 Rules give largesse only to former chief ministers without any element of reasonableness." Dealing with the legality of the impugned provisions, it said, "...In our opinion, the 1997 Rules, which permit the former chief ministers to occupy government bungalows for life cannot be said to be valid. "In the circumstances, respondent no.1 (State of Uttar Pradesh) cannot permit any former chief minister to occupy any government bungalow or any government accommodation after 15 days from the date on which his term comes to an end," it said. The judgement came on a plea filed by a UP-based NGO Lok Prahari, which had sought a direction against allotment of government bungalows to ex-CMs and other "non-eligible" organisations under the state rules. Referring to relevant provisions of the state Act, the apex court said that the the former Chief Ministers are not entitled for an official residence for lifetime. "The term 'Minister' includes the Chief Minister and Section 4 (1) (a) of the Act, permits a Minister to retain his residence for 15 days after he/she demits his/her office. "In view of the above special provisions made, the Chief Minister is not entitled to privileges and protection as are available to the President of India and the Vice-President of India, who are entitled to an official residence for life," it said. The bench trashed the plea of UP government that some former CMs have been given 'Z' plus security by the Centre and hence, it was necessary for it to provide "proper accommodation with requisite infrastructure in a secure locality". "The contention of respondent no.1 (UP) lacks merit and deserves to be rejected for the reason that as the said security is to be provided by Ministry of Home Affairs, UOI and provisions are already made for such persons as per Office Memorandum ...Issued by the Government of India on the recommendations of the MHA, it is the obligation of the Government of India to provide accommodation to such persons in accordance with its own guidelines and it is not for the respondent state to provide any accommodation...," it said. It noted that many of former CMs, who are in occupation of government bungalows, are "either serving as MP or Governors or Cabinet Ministers in central government and they have already been provided another accommodation. It would, therefore, not be proper, in any case, to allot permanent residence at two places to one individual." The NGO, comprising retired civil servants, journalists and other UP residents, had alleged that despite the direction of the Allahabad High Court, the UP government had framed the 1997 Rules which is not "statutory" and rather "executive" in nature and meant to allot bungalows to ex-chief ministers. (Reopens LGD40) The bench agreed with the contention of the NGO and said that the 1997 Rules are not statutory rules and they are in the nature of administrative or executive instructions. "They (1997 Rules) would not stand the test of legality if they are not in consonance with statutory provisions. The said Rules are definitely in contravention of the statutory provisions and therefore, the said Rules can be said to be bad in law so far as they are in contravention of the statutory provisions," it said. "There cannot be any dispute that when the rules and regulations or executive institutions are contrary to any statutory provision, the statutory provision would prevail and the rules or executive institutions, so far as they are contrary to the statutory provisions, would fail," the court said. Regarding allotment of bungalow to private trusts or societies, the bench said it is not in dispute that all those accommodations were allotted to them at the time when there was no provision to allot government bungalows to them. "... Therefore, in our opinion, the said allotment cannot be held to be justified. One should remember here that public property cannot be disposed of in favour of any one without adequate consideration. "Allotment of government property to someone without adequate market rent, in absence of any special statutory provision, would also be bad in law because the state has no right to fritter away government property in favour of private persons or bodies without adequate consideration and therefore, all such allotments, which have been made in absence of any statutory provision cannot be upheld," it said. On the plea that the NGO has no locus standi on the issue, the court said it was formed by retired civil servants, journalists and other UP residents and they have no malafide intention in filing this petition and none of them has any personal grudge against any of the occupants of the government premises or any of the former chief ministers. "So far as the first issue is concerned, in our opinion, the petitioner has locus standi to file the writ petition... "In our opinion, when the petitioner society is challenging the validity of the 1997 Rules, whereby government bungalows have been allotted to former chief ministers, especially when there is an acute shortage of government premises, it cannot be said that the petitioner has no locus standi to file the present petition," it said. The state government today informed the Bihar Legislative Council that the payment of salary to high school and plus two teachers will be made within ten days and efforts are on to regularise the payment. Replying to Opposition BJP members' demand for regular payment of salary to school teachers, state education minister Ashok Choudhary said "The state government shares its concern with opposition on the issue. We are working as how to regularise the payment... Payment of salary to the teachers will be made within ten days." Choudhary said the government was streamlining the process in order to regularise the salary payment to school teachers and it expects to do it in a month or two. As soon as the House assembled in the post lunch session, opposition BJP members raised the issue of non payment of salary to school teachers for the past six months and sought the minister's reply on the issue. Some of the members trooped into the Well of the House insisting on the minister's reply. On this, the presiding officer Haroon Rashid asked the minister to reply. BJP members Nawal Kishore Choudhary raised the issue of non payment of salary to the school teachers, which was supported by his party members Sushil Kumar Modi, Mangal Pandey, Sanjay Mayukh, Rajnish Kumar and others. Choudhary said the government takes work from teachers but failed to give them the salary for past six months. Replying to Choudhary's private member bill to bring transparency for quality education in the system, the education minister said the government was committed to bring transparency in the Bihar School Examination Board, mired in controversy over the toppers' scam, as everything would be made online in the Board on the CBSE pattern. It would take 3-4 months to put in the mechanism to bring transparency in the Board, Choudhary said while adding the government was tightening the noose against mafias who are controlling the education department. As part of its efforts to recover dues, markets regulator Sebi has put up for sale as many as six properties of Maitreya Services, which had raised money illegally from public. The total reserve price of the properties - all of which are land parcels - comes to over Rs 26.28 crore. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had earlier attached some of the company's properties after directives asking them to refund investors' money along with interest did not materialise. In this matter, the watchdog had also attached demat and bank accounts of the firm. The auction of the six properties spread across Maharashtra would be conducted on September 21 and bids for participation would be accepted till September 19. In January, Sebi had asked the company as well as its two directors to pay Rs 82 crore along with returns to the investors within 15 days. Subsequently, the regulator had started the recovery proceedings in March 2016, and attached seven properties in different parts of Maharashtra, after the firm failed to make the required refunds. In a public notice, Sebi said the bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, title of properties put on auction and claims, among others, prior to submitting their bids. Among others, an interested party would be required to provide Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) amounting to 10 per cent of the reserve price. "The properties are being sold with all the existing and future encumbrances whether known or unknown to Sebi. Sebi shall not be responsible in any way for any third party claims/rights/dues, etc," the notice said. Each of the property would be sold in a single lot and should not be sold below the reserve price fixed, it added. : Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today said his government was keen that merchants and traders doing business in the Union Territory should carry on their activities with utmost protection and security. Talking to reporters during his door to door visit to meet merchants and traders in shopping centres in a main thoroughfare, he said they often facedsecurity threat in the past. As soon as his government assumed office, care was taken to ensure that they could carry on businesses with utmost security, he claimed. The CM, who was accompanied by Revenue and Industries Minister MOHF Shah Jahan,local legislators K Lakshminarayanan, (Congress) and R Siva (DMK) during his visit also said his meeting with the merchants was a pre budget initiative. Puducherry's revenue was originating from local sales tax, excise duty and services tax. He said that during his meeting with merchants they had expressed certain grievances which would be rectified in the coming budget. He said government would adopt strategies to ensure convenience to taxpayers by keeping the tax structure at lower level so as to ensure that revenue escalated to the State Exchequer. He said he had asked police to ensure that merchants and public did not face any insecurity while doing business in the shopping centres. Narayanasamy also announced that the annual shopping festival which was discontinued during the previous AINRC regime would be revived and would be held for a month from December this year. He said the festival would help merchants register good business and for the government to net massive revenue. The government would encourage the festival to attract buyers from within Puducherry and from neighbouring districts of Tamilnadu. The Shiv Sena today hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh over his "accident" remark on the killing of Hizbul commander Burhani Wani, saying it amounts to "backing" terrorist and "insulting" the army jawans killed on the borders. The BJP ally said the comment will put Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a fix, who had recently said people speaking against the nation need to be "taught a lesson". "Parrikar has only expressed the sentiments of people but who is it that is discouraging our armymen? If Pakistan mourns the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani it can be understood. But it was (J&K CM) Mehbooba Mufti who first shed tears on his killing and then it was Nirmal Singh, who allegedly termed it as an accident," the Sena said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. On July 30, talking on the encounter of Wani by security forces, Nirmal Singh had said, "Police and security forces told us (the government) that they don't know who the terrorist is. It was an accident. Because when an operation takes place, precautions are taken but we didn't know it would be of such kind. Had we known about it, preparations would have been made." "This is like backing the terrorist on one hand and insulting our martyred jawans on the other. This will make it challenging for Parrikar who talks of teaching a lesson to those who speak against the nation," it added. It further said, "It is easy to teach a lesson to film stars who at times speak irrationally. But, what about those who wear a mask of nationalism and make the same statements?" it said. If killing Wani was an accident then the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is also an accident, it added. "What will you do if people make up their minds that this government in Jammu and Kashmir is an accident?" it asked. Former Union home minister and Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde today hit out at the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the situation in Kashmir, saying it is only interested in "publicity". Referring to the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in the Kashmir Valley, Shinde said "If any militant is killed, why there is a need to make it public that he was a militant. See what has happened after the incident, 47 innocent people have lost their lives unnecessarily". "While handing executions of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab, the previous Congress-led UPA government had maintained secrecy. However, the present government likes to believe in publicity. See, what happened due to the publicity after the execution of (1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict) Yakub Memon as over 50,000 people had gathered for his funeral after his body was taken to Mumbai (from Nagpur)," Shinde said. On solution to the situation in Kashmir where normal life remained paralysed for the 24th consecutive day, he said, "the Centre should have a dialogue with newspapers in Valley and people of Kashmir". "During our (UPA) government, we emphasised on talks and even kept the separatist leaders in control. However, along with dialogue and cordial relations, we should be tight and alert when it comes to the sovereignty of the nation," Shinde told reporters here. On the use of pellet guns by paramilitary forces, he said its use was going on for a long time. "I do not know what the present government (at the Centre) is going to do about it, but during our time, we used rubber bullets. But one thing, there should be a fear in the minds of infiltrators and militants," Shinde said. He said the paramilitary forces are being criticised unnecessarily as they are doing their duty. "During our regime, we had executed Mohammad Afzal Guru for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. Since Afzal was from Kashmir, anticipating sharp reaction after his execution, we had already alerted the paramilitary forces and police in advance and stepped up security in the Valley. "If you see the then press coverage after the execution (of Guru), there were sporadic incidents of stone pelting in some places for two days and thereafter normalcy prevailed and there were no major incidents of law and order," he claimed. Shinde also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being silent on various issues including atrocities against the Dalit community. "Prime Minister should speak on these issues and all these cruelties are happening in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat," he added. Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was today hiked by Rs 1.93 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in one month as the government looked at monthly increases to cut down subsidies. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder will now cost Rs 423.09 in Delhi as against Rs 421.16 previously, according to state- owned oil firms. This is the second straight monthly increase in subsidised cooking gas. LPG rates were last hiked by Rs 1.98 per 14.2-kg cylinder on July 1. The government had recently decided to take the diesel route for eliminating subsidies on LPG and kerosene. Diesel price was deregulated in November 2014 after the previous UPA government effected 50 paise hikes every month to eliminate subsidies. The near Rs 2 per cylinder hike in LPG every month is also aimed at doing so. In case of kerosene, the government has allowed state-owned oil companies to raise the price by 25 paise a litre each month for 10 months. The first hike in kerosene rate happened last month and the second was effected today. A litre of kerosene now costs Rs 15.46 in Delhi. Simultaneously, the oil firms cut prices of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12, by Rs 50.5 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) now costs Rs 487 in Delhi as against Rs 537.50 per cylinder previously. Rates were last reduced by Rs 11 on July 1. Also, the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was cut by 4.2 per cent, reversing a five month upward trend. ATF, or jet fuel, price in Delhi was cut by Rs 2,080.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 4.2 per cent, to Rs 47,206.68, oil companies said. This reduction reverses five straight monthly increases in rates, last being on July 1 when prices were hiked by 5.5 per cent. In the five increases, ATF rates have gone up by 25 per cent, or Rs 9,985.87, per kl since March. (REOPENS DEL19) ATF rates vary at different airports because of differential local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). Jet fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of an airline's operating cost and the latest price reduction will give relief to cash-strapped carriers. No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price reduction on passenger fares. The three fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum -- revise jet fuel as well as subsidised and non-subsidised LPG prices on the first day of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding month. The international Switch Conference on energy sector will be held here in October this year, Gujarat Energy Minister Saurabh Patel has said. The Union Power Ministry is planning to organise the conference here from October 6-10 of power ministers to improve co-operation in the area of energy. The Gujarat government has been making all-out efforts to make it a big success by attracting participants from the country and abroad, Patel told PTI yesterday. The Switch expo represents one of the biggest networks of electrical manufacturers, innovators, technologies and partners in the industry, and a growth opportunity unlike any other for the electrical industry, Patel said. Promoted by the state government, under Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL), this biennial platform is aimed to rev up Indias power sector. "Vadodara city, earlier known as the cultural capital of Gujarat, has emerged as the country's power engineering centre with MNCs and home-grown firms backing India's power dreams," he said. From wires, cables, switch gears, rotating machines to large size high voltage transformers, Vadodara has today emerged as the country's biggest transformers, cable, power equipment manufacturing hub. Vadodara accounts for over 35 per cent of India's power transmission and distribution (T&D) equipment manufacturers, according to Indian Electrical Electronics Manufacturers Association, the apex body for the Indian power equipment manufacturing industry. Vadodara is also home to an estimated 800 ancillaries supporting the big players, Patel said. Two Hazara Shia Muslims were today shot dead by the Taliban militants riding a motorcycle in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, in an apparent sectarian attack. Police said that the assailants stopped the auto rickshaw in which the two Hazara men were travelling and shot them dead and then escaped from the scene. "The two victims have been identified as Ghulam Nabi and Muhammad Nabi. They were apparently coming from Macch area and going home when they were gunned down," police officer Zulfiqar Ali said. He said the victims were going to Alamdar colony where a large number of Hazara community members reside. Both victims were residents of Alamdar Road, an area dominated by Hazaras. Ali said that both were labourers who worked in a coalmine and it appeared to be a sectarian attack. The gunmen didn't attack the rickshaw driver. Noor Baloch, a police surgeon in Civil Hospital Quetta, confirmed that the victims had been shot dead in the head. Shortly after the killing, a breakaway group of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the killing. Members of the Hazara community in Quetta and other parts of the restive Balochistan province have frequently come under attack by militants and sectarian groups. Five Hazara men were killed on Quetta's Circular Road area near Meezan Chowk in June. They were sitting outside a tea shop when gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on them. In May, three Hazara Shia Muslims were killed, including two women, in separate incidents of sectarian violence. In October, 2014 a suicide bomber blew himself up at Hazara Township killing six people and injuring dozens. In February 2013, a bomb blast at the Hazara township in Quetta killed 110 people and injured 200 others. A massive Taliban truck bomb struck a hotel for foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul today, officials said, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. There was no immediate word on casualties from the powerful bombing, which occurred close to a military base next to Kabul's international airport, and rattled windows several kilometres away. The attack on Northgate, a heavily guarded compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive. "A truck packed with explosives struck the entrance of Northgate," an Afghan security source told AFP, without offering any further details. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off. He claimed that more than 100 "American invaders" were killed and wounded in the assault, which began around 1:30 am (2100 GMT Sunday). The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate the toll from their attacks. Afghan commandos cordoned off all arterial roads leading to Northgate, with erratic grenade explosions and gunfire coming from the scene after daybreak, local TV station Tolo said. It added that NATO special forces were overseeing the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. The hotel was not immediately reachable by telephone. Tremors from the powerful explosion, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. The assault comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. A chillingly similar Taliban attack on the compound in July 2013 -- a truck bomb followed by a gun siege -- killed nine people, including four Nepalese and one Briton. Monday's attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. That attack claimed by the Islamic State group, which is less powerful than the Taliban but is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan. Rejecting RBI plea for exempting Tata-DoCoMo deal from foreign exchange Act, the Finance Ministry has said the two firms had entered into a share buyback contract in contravention of prevalent law and the case will now have to be legally settled. Japan's largest mobile phone firm NTT DoCoMo had in November 2009 acquired 26.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs 12,740 crore (at Rs 117 per share). This was as per a 2008 understanding that in case it exits the venture within five years, it will be paid a minimum 50 per cent of the acquisition price. A top Finance Ministry official said the Tata-DoCoMo buyback contract was signed despite Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules barring pre-set buyback pricing. The RBI had in 2007 come out with regulations barring pre-determined share buyback contracts, he said, adding the Tata-DoCoMo contract was signed despite RBI FEMA rules barring such deals. DoCoMo in April 2014 decided to exit the joint venture that struggled to grow subscribers quickly. It sought Rs 58 per share or Rs 7,200 crore from Tatas. But the Indian Group offered Rs 23.34 a share in line with RBI guidelines that states that an international firm can only exit its investment at a valuation "not exceeding that arrived at on the basis of return on equity". The Japanese firm dragged Tatas to international arbitration where it won a USD 1.17 billion award. To honour that award, an application was made to the RBI seeking exemption from the foreign exchange act. The official said the RBI in turn wrote to the Finance Ministry exemption from the rules as such a measure would boost investor confidence. The Finance Ministry, he said, believes monitoring investor confidence is not the matter of a regulator like RBI. According to the ministry, it's not only Tata-DoCoMo but many other legacy issues which will have to be given exemption if one case is allowed. The RBI suggested some middle path for pending legacy issues but the ministry believes buy back contract pricing cannot be in violation of FEMA rules, he said. There are many such contracts of pre-set pricing exit entered into by insurance companies and government fears substantial FDI outflows if Tata-DoCoMo is given an exemption and similar rules are to be applied to all such cases. Government, the official said, is not keen on grandfathering put/call options in violation of FEMA rules and so it cannot grant exceptions for buyback at pre-set price in Tata-DoCoMo case. This case will have to reach logical conclusion in court, he added. Members from NDA partner TDP and opposition YSR Congress on Monday virtually joined hands in Lok Sabha to demand special category status for . As soon as the House met for the day, members of the YSR Congress trooped into the Well holding placards and raising slogans seeking special category status for . Members of BJP-led ruling alliance partner TDP also stood in the aisles with larger placards and raising similar slogans. Despite repeated reminders by the Speaker that placards are not allowed, members of the two parties continued to show banners and raise slogans throughout the Question Hour, which continued in the din. They carried on sloganeering in Zero Hour too. TDP is unhappy at the Narendra Modi government for not providing the desired funds to the state after Telangana was carved out of it. The fissures between BJP and TDP are being seen as so serious that there is speculation that the party led by N Chandrababu Naidu could even walk out of the NDA. The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard had been arrested in Missouri for driving while intoxicated in 2000, police said, and the Better Business Bureau there had warned consumers about doing business with him after complaints about his balloon touring company. Alfred "Skip" Nichols, 49, was identified as the pilot by his friend and roommate Alan Lirette, who said that Nichols was a good pilot. "That's the only thing I want to talk about, is that he's a great pilot," Lirette said, speaking to the AP from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Texas. "There's going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too." Federal investigators said the balloon, which was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas early Saturday morning. One witness who lives a quarter-mile from the site, Margaret Wylie, said she heard popping sounds and saw what looked "like a fireball going up." Authorities have not publicly named Nichols or the victims of the crash. They said identification of the bodies could be a long process. There were reports of foggy weather in the area around the time of the flight. At least two of the passengers, Matt Rowan and his wife Sunday Rowan, posted photos on social media of the preparations, the early morning sunrise and themselves in the basket of the balloon a short time before the crash. Ground crew members told investigators that they launched about 20 minutes after the expected 6:45 a.M. Time. The balloon traveled about 8 miles from takeoff to crash, and the basket was found about three-quarters of a mile from the balloon itself. National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered 14 personal electronic devices, including cellphones, an iPad and three cameras from the crash site, which will be sent to a lab in Washington for analysis. NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said the immediate focus of the investigation would be gathering witness testimony, starting with the ground crew on Monday. "They've been busy trying to collect the maintenance records for us," Sumwalt said of the ground crew, adding that the records may be in Houston. Sumwalt said the pilot had a commercial certificate to fly a hot air balloon and those records are being gathered from the Federal Aviation Administration. Asked if the pilot had any criminal history, Sumwalt said it was too early in the investigation to know. But a Missouri police officer told The Associated Press that Nichols was arrested there in 2000 on a felony driving while intoxicated charge and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in 2002. Thailand's military government announced today that it intends to sue a former prime minister for billions of dollars in losses it alleges were incurred by her administration's rice subsidy program. The Cabinet official in charge of the prime minister's office, Panadda Diskul, said a specially appointed committee has determined that 286.64 billion baht (USD 8.2 billion) in revenues were lost under the scheme, and that former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is liable for about 200 billion baht (USD 5.8 billion) of the total. Yingluck was forced from office in May 2014 when a court found her guilty of abuse of power in a personnel case. The army ousted her government shortly afterward. The military-appointed interim legislature later formally impeached her on charges of mismanaging the subsidy program, barring her from political office for five years. She is currently on trial for alleged dereliction of duty in administering the program, a criminal charge under which she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her supporters believe she is being persecuted by the army and by other political opponents of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup after demonstrations accused him of corruption, abuse of power and insulting the monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. His ouster set off sometimes-violent battles for power between his supporters and opponents, including the military. He has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 to escape a prison sentence on a corruption charge. His supporters say the country's political establishment opposes him because his electoral popularity threatens their entrenched privileges. The rice subsidy program was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck's Pheu Thai party win the 2011 general election. Yingluck has argued it was aimed at helping poor farmers, who were paid about 50 per cent above what they would have received on the world market. The government evidently hoped it could drive up the world price for rice by warehousing vast supplies, but other producers such as Vietnam took up the slack instead, bumping Thailand from its spot as the world's leading rice exporter. Panadda said some 13.3 million tons of rice were purchased and stored by the government, but less than 1 million tons ended up being exported. He said the government would also seek compensation from Yingluck's commerce minister, Boonsong Teriyapirom, and several lower-ranking officials. The US consulate, Kolkata, in association with not-for-profit organisation 'The Butterfly Project' organised a workshop on 'Empowering Young Entrepreneurs' here today. The workshop, which focused on how to start a business and raise funds, was conducted by the US Speaker on Entrepreneurship Juan Sabater. Forty students of leading management schools like IIM-Ranchi, XISS, ISM Dhanbad, St Xaviers College, Women's College Jamshedpur, KIIT Bhubaneswar and IMS -RU participated in the workshop, a press release said. Three minor girls, aged around 4 and 5 years, were raped by persons known to them, in different parts of the city, who have been arrested, police said today. A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 22 year old neighbour in Shahabad area of west Delhi in the afternoon today. "A case under relevant Sections of IPC and POCSO Act has been registered in the case at Shahabad Dairy police station and the accused arrested, said a senior police officer. The mother of the victim had dropped her at a neighbour's place after picking her up from her school in the afternoon. While the woman had gone to bring back her younger daughter from a different school, the girl was taken away by the accused and raped, he said. The accused who lived in the same lane as the victim was caught by the locals who were alarmed by the shrieks of the girl. He was beaten up and then handed over to police who were called by a neighbour. The accused was a school drop out and a jobless local youth who was known to victim as she lived just 2-3 houses apart from him, said the officer. The other incident of rape with a 4 year old girl came from Ranhola area in west Delhi, where a 30 year old neighbour of the victim has been arrested by the police. Police said that the girl and accused lived in the same building. On Saturday evening while mother of the girl was busy in a phone call, she went upstairs to the room of the accused. Later, her mother alerted by the cries of her daughter rushed to find her sexually assaulted by the accused identified as Sanjay, who worked as a labourer. The mother of the girl narrated the incident to her husband who came back from his work in the night. He confronted the accused with other locals and they beat him up before calling the police. A case under relevant Sections of IPC and POCSO Act has been registered at Ranhola police station and the accused arrested by police. In the third incident a five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her 18 year old cousin in Ghazipur area of east Delhi on yesterday, police said. The accused who had visited the residence of his maternal aunt had been caught while assaulting the girl and was handed over to the police. A case was of rape and POCSO act provisions was registered and accused was arrested, said a police officer. "Just met 7 year old girl raped yesterday by 22 year old boy in Ghazipur. Has bled profusely. Delhi is shamelessly rape capital of the world," Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliawal said in her tweet. "Another 4 year old raped by 30 year old man. Another day. Another Nirbhaya. Has system changed? Is anyone trying? Is anyone listening?, she wrote in another tweet. Telecom regulator Trai is planning to start a consultation process to review call connect charges, also known as Inter-connection Usage Charges, for the telecom network -- a move that could bring down call rates. According to sources, the regulator plans to bring out a consultation paper on the same in about a week. In February 2015, during the previous review of IUC, the regulator removed charges that a landline service provider has to pay to other players for transmitting a phone call of its customers. The benefit of the waiver was passed on to consumers by leading fixed line providers. This prompted PSUs BSNL and MTNL to start free unlimited night calling plans. Among private operators, telecom major Bharti Airtel offers unlimited local and STD calls from its landline connection on any network throughout the day for a fixed monthly charge. Trai also reduced network IUC on calls made from mobile phones by about 30 per cent to 14 paise per call, from 20 paise earlier. Telecom subscribers cannot communicate with each other or connect to other networks unless necessary inter-connection arrangements are in place. A telecom company is required to pay inter-connection charges when its subscriber makes a call to a subscriber of other network. The charge gets added up in final price that a subscriber has to pay. Similarly, the regulator waived off fixed termination charges that is levied on calls made from a mobile phone to a landline number. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested the US accept Russia's annexation of Crimea if it would lead to better relations with Moscow and stronger cooperation in fighting Islamic State militants. That view runs counter to the Obama administration, which imposed economic sanctions against Russia for annexing the territory in Ukraine two years ago. The UN also doesn't want countries to recognise Crimea as part of Russia, and some top Republicans staunchly defend Crimea against what they consider Russian aggression. In an interview broadcast yesterday on ABC's "This Week," Trump suggested that the people of Crimea would rather be part of Russia. However, the US hasn't recognised the legitimacy of Russian referendums in Crimea and believes they were not conducted fairly. Trump also said he wasn't involved in the effort that softened support in the Republican Party platform on assisting Ukraine. Although the platform is not pro-Russia, Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from being added. In the past, Trump's campaign manager, political strategist Paul Manafort lobbied on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, a Ukrainian president and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort has said neither he nor anyone with Trump's campaign pushed for the platform changes. On the topic of Putin and Ukraine, the Republican said: "He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not gonna go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want." ABC's George Stephanopoulos said, "Well, he's already there, isn't he?" Trump replied, "OK, well he's there in a certain way." The Clinton campaign pointed to the exchange to question what Trump knows about the subject and argued that the Republican is repeating Putin's talking points on Crimea. "This is scary stuff," Clinton campaign spokesman Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "But it shouldn't surprise us. This comes on the heels of his tacit invitation to the Russians to invade our NATO allies in Eastern Europe. And it's yet more proof why Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief." In response to other questions about US-Russia relations, Trump dismissed suggestions that he has any kind of relationship with Putin, saying he has neither met Putin nor spoken on the phone with him. Asked why he had said several times in the past that he had a relationship with Putin, Trump said he doesn't know what "having a relationship" means. Trump said it would be a "great thing" if the US got along with Russia and if Russia would help fight the Islamic State. "We'll have a better relationship with Russia," he said. "And having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Two persons, including a woman, have been killed in as many incidents of elephant attack in Chhattisgarh's Jaspur district, a forest official said today. A 45-year-old tribal woman, Sukuwari Munda, was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants yesterday while a 62-year-old villager Shrikamal Manjhi was killed by the pachyderm on Saturday, Division Forest Officer (DFO), Jashpur division, C S Tiwari said. The incidents took place at different places in Tapkara forests range of Jashpur forest division bordering Odisha. Munda, a native of Tiklipara village, was attacked by the elephants when she had gone to attend nature's call, he said. Earlier, a herd of elephant damaged the house of Manjhi before killing him in his sleep at Korangamal village, the DFO said, adding that his family members somehow managed to escape from the spot. The kin of the deceased have been given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 each, the DFO added. As many as six villagers have been killed in separate incidents of human-elephantconflict in the Korba district of the state in May this year. Notably, the thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, are notorious for human-elephant conflict incidents. The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue elephants in past years. Ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing will acquire US-based Uber Technologies' operations in China, marking an end to the fierce battle between the two companies for leadership in the Asian country. Post the merger of its Chinese business, Uber is expected to focus more aggressively on the Indian market, its third biggest market after the US and China, at present. Interestingly, in India, Uber is locked in an intense battle with market leader Ola, which counts Didi as an investor. Under the agreement, Didi Chuxing will acquire Uber China's brand, business operations and data. In exchange, Uber will receive a 5.89 per cent share of the combined entity with preferred equity interest, which is equal to a 17.7 per cent economic interest in Didi Chuxing, Didi said in a statement. "As an entrepreneur, I've learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your hear... Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term," Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick said in a blog. He added that Uber is facilitating over 150 million trips a month. According to reports, the valuation of the combined Chinese entity after the merger is pegged at USD 35 billion. Didi had picked up a stake in Bengaluru-based Ola last year as a part of the USD 500 million funding round. Last December, Didi Chuxing, along with Ola, US-based Lyft and GrabTaxi had also formed a global pact to share customers and technology across countries to compete with Uber. Uber has been pumping in substantial funds to fuel its growth in India. In July last year, Uber had announced an investment of USD 1 billion (nearly Rs 6,652 crore) in India to expand its services here. It has also set up a response and support centre in Hyderabad with an investment of USD 50 million. India is also expected to be a major beneficiary of the USD 3.5-billion fund raised by Uber earlier this year as the US-based firm looks to overtake local rival Ola. There were also reports suggesting that Uber may buy Ola, though the Indian company rubbished those saying it has "no intentions of selling to Uber". Didi, which is backed by Chinese Internet behemoths Alibaba and Tencent, has also recently received a USD 1- billion investment from Apple. Former British prime minister David Cameron was under fire today from the opposition Labour party over allegations that he used his resignation honours list to reward colleagues and friends. Cameron had resigned on June 24, the day the results of the Brexit referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union were revealed in favour of an exit from the EU. An outgoing British premier has the right to draw up a resignation honours list although John Major was the last to do so in 1997, with Cameron's recent predecessors, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, having decided against it. Cameron's list, which includes honours such as knighthoods and OBEs, was leaked to the Sunday Times and indicated that he had sought to reward 'Remain' campaigners in the referendum, his Downing Street staff and donors, two of his former drivers as well as his wife Samantha's special adviser-cum-stylist. Opposition Labour deputy leader Tom Watson denounced the leaked list as an example of the "old boys' network". "That Mr Cameron proposes to reward his friends network on such a huge scale will not only bring the honours system into disrepute, it will undermine the reputation of (Prime Minister) Theresa May," Watson said. "It's cronyism, pure and simple and proof the Tories will always put their own interests before those of the country," he said. Labour party leadership challenger Owen Smith said he was disappointed Cameron "should use the system to slap his friends on the back", adding that it justified calls to overhaul the system. Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said the UK Honours Committee should reject the list otherwise it will "destroy any remaining shred of respect for the honours system". Downing Street said all "proper processes" would be followed. "It is standard for an outgoing prime minister to submit a resignation list. The names on the list were at the formerly prime minister's discretion, and they will now go through all the proper processes and committees. It would set a very bad precedent for a new prime minister to interfere in the official processes," a spokesperson for May said. Political honours requests are considered by a committee chaired by Conservative peer and former MP Lord Spicer. The majority of its members are independent. The names then get sent back to the prime minister, who will make any recommendations she sees fit before Queen Elizabeth II formally approves it. Desmond Swayne, a former parliamentary private secretary to Cameron, defended the names on the list. "The reason we have an honours list is because over a period of government, particularly a difficult government in a coalition, a prime minister has to cajole and get the support of a number of people and he builds up a debt of honour. Frankly, an honours list is a relatively light way of paying it off," he told the BBC. Cameron had reportedly recommended honours for 48 people in his resignation list, including knighthoods for pro-EU ministers. British public make thousands of contributions every day including raising concerns about neighbours and friends becoming "more extreme" to help Scotland Yard in the fight against terror, a top counter- terrorism officer said today. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain's senior-most counter-terrorism police chief, said the British public make more than 3,600 contributionsdaily which include use of anti-terrorist hotline calls and reporting suspicious online content. "The information we receive helps our investigations, intelligence-gathering and preventative work; they help us carry out significant protective security operations; they help us get the right support for vulnerable people, and they undermine the plans of terrorists," Rowley told BBC. The terror threat level in the UK is at "severe", meaning an attack is highly likely. Rowley said members of the public were passing information to authorities about people behaving unusually in public places, while others were raising concerns about neighbours and friends becoming "more extreme". "We are drawing people back from a path towards extremism through partnership activity. Even if you take a view that 90 per cent of those people may have self-treated or not gone on to become terrorists, that is still a massive effect," Rowley said. Other examples of the "collective effort" referred to by Scotland Yard include people visiting police and government websites for advice on how to protect homes and businesses or stay safe in the event of an attack. "It has often been said that 'communities defeat terrorism' and now that's more important than ever before," he said. An elderly US citizen, who was staying at a hotel for over three months, died here after he suddenly fell ill, police said today. 87-year old Edward Clinton, a retired US Army captain, came to the city on April 14 and was staying at a five-star hotel on Amber road, said Sub-inspector Shivjiram, the investigating officer. He suddenly fell sick yesterday and was taken to a private hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, the officer said. The body has been kept in mortuary and US embassy has been informed, he said. The post-mortem will be conducted only after the embassy sends a representative, he added. Sales of a pocket version of the US Constitution have soared since the father of a fallen Muslim American soldier brandished a copy to denounce Donald Trump, igniting one of the biggest backlashes against the Republican nominee. Khizr Khan, whose son died in a 2004 suicide bombing in Iraq, has gone head to head with the insult-dishing White House candidate in a confrontation that has dominated the US cycle for days. On Monday, a pocket edition of the constitution was second only to the new "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" script on Amazon's best seller list, and number one best seller in Amazon's US history category. The 52-page paperback, on sale for USD 1 on Amazon, does not appear to be the same edition that Khan whipped out of his pocket in one of the most defining moments of last week's Democratic National Convention. The online retailer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. US warplanes today carried out air strikes on positions of the Islamic State group in the Libyan city of Sirte for the first time, the country's unity government head announced. "The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... In Sirte," prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech. In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government. "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS. The US strikes in Sirte "will continue", Cook added without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes are "consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces", Cook added. "The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya," he said. The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake the IS bastion of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi which the jihadists have controlled since June 2015. Sarraj stressed that the US strikes were carried out in coordination with the military command centre of pro-GNA forces, and that no foreign troops would be deployed in Libya. "This has allowed our forces on the ground to take control of strategic positions," he said, adding that the American involvement would be "limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs". "We asked for this support from the international community, notably the United States, but we want to point out that there will be no foreign presence on Libyan soil. PWD Minister Satyendar Jain today said the Delhi government would soon announce a compensation to the family of the man who was mowed down by a tanker when he fell into a flooded pothole in Vasant Kunj last week. Jain, who had yesterday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, said the SDM concerned will submit the report to the government within one week. "The government will soon announce a compensation to the family of Praveen," the minister said. The AAP government had yesterday held the Delhi Traffic Police "responsible" for the incident, alleging it had halted the repair work of the road by Public Works Department. Delhi Traffic Police had, however, rubbished the contention that its permission is required for repairing potholes in the roads. In its defence, the government had made public two letters written by PWD to police wherein it had sought permission for carrying out repair work of Vasant Kunj road but traffic police did not approve the same. The proposed transfer of medical colleges of Safdarjung Hospital and RML Hospital from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University to has been "cancelled", according to Health Ministry, prompting the striking students to call off their stir. The Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) of Safdarjung Hospital and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital currently operate under GGSIPU, which comes under Delhi government. The proposal to transfer the two colleges under University of Delhi was recently initiated, but was cancelled by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), according to an official notice of the Ministry. "I, Dr Jagdish Prasad, DGHS, Nirman Bhawan, hereby cancel the proposal of transfer of VMMC, Safdarjung and Ram Manohar Lohia hospitals from the GGSIP University to and I also state that this will never happen," the notice from the Health Ministry reads. The agitation that started Monday morning and affected OPD services at both the hospitals was called off after the notification was issued. Resident doctors of VMMC had also staged a protest last week outside Medical Superintendent's office of Safdarjung Hospital over the proposed shifting of the medical colleges. Amplifying its opposition to any move aimed at carving out Vidarbha from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena today questioned if the BJP-led government in state would survive if separate statehood was even thought of. "...Why is the BJP thinking of bringing this misfortune to Maharashtra? Will your government survive if you think of a separate statehood for Vidarbha?" senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told reporters here. Earlier in the day, Sena, a junior ally in the BJP-led dispensations at Centre and in Maharashtra, tried to corner government on the issue in the Legislative Assembly and asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to clarify his government's stand. Raut said, "the Chief Minister is from Vidharbha, half of the Cabinet is from Vidharbha...Then why you want separate Vidharbha?..For the last 60 years, the Sena has pinned people to the mat." Sena, a staunch votary of united Maharashtra, has renewed its aggression in the wake of a BJP MP moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha last week seeking formation of Vidarbha state. Meanwhile, a senior Sena leader said the issue of separate Vidarbha is purposefully brought on the anvil with an aim to divert attention from the allegations of corruption levelled against some BJP ministers. Taking a dig at Fadnavis, Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray in a series of tweets said, "a bill on division of Maharashtra by someone who is part of the government both at Centre-State, doubts the capacity of Governments to govern well. "The people of the state gave this government its strength to rule for development of all regions equally, not to dissect the state. I hope the Chief Minister reassures the people of this State that elected his government, on the unity of Maharashtra for development. Yemen's government delegation to peace talks were leaving Kuwait today after the rebel side rejected a draft peace plan proposed by the United Nations, its representatives said. "We now leave Kuwait... But are not quitting the consultations and not ending them before August 7," said the head of the delegation, Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi. He was referring to the end date set by the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed for the talks that began April but have so far failed to end Yemen's conflict. "We will return any minute... If the other side agrees to sign" the UN proposal, which was accepted by the government but rejected by the rebels, Mikhlafi told reporters at Kuwait Airport. Government delegation spokesman Mohammed al-Emrani earlier told AFP: "We are leaving today after having completed our part in the talks." "The ball is now in the rebels' court," he said. The delegation was returning to Riyadh after informing the UN envoy that it was ready to sign the proposed peace plan, Emrani said. The Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalists, rejected the peace plan yesterday, saying it was incomplete. "The other party now has the key to make the talks fail or succeed... If they agree to the plan, our delegation will return," Emrani said. Mikhlafi lashed out at the rebels for rejecting the peace plan. "This Huthi-Saleh alliance will never accept any peace deal that does not legitimise their coup," Mikhlafi said. The government delegation's decision to leave host country Kuwait came after a meeting with the UN envoy. The government delegation had been due to quit negotiations and leave Kuwait yesterday but cancelled the decision after Ould Cheikh Ahmed presented his draft peace plan. According to the government, the draft plan calls for the rebels to withdraw from the capital Sanaa and two major cities, hand over heavy arms and return state institutions they seized in September 2014. The rebels said that first a national unity government must be formed and a new consensus president appointed to oversee the transition. Yemen, home to what the United States sees as Al-Qaeda's deadliest franchise, descended into chaos after the 2012 ouster of longtime strongman Saleh. Security deteriorated further after the Huthis swept into Sanaa and pushed south, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee into exile in March last year. Keeping police and fire men on tenterhooks for hours, six youths today threatened to jump to their death in front of the state secretariate here protesting 'denial' of appointment in reserve police force despite their names figuring in the rank list six years ago. They gave up their threat after the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, police said. While a youth climbed atop a huge tree in front of the secretariate, five others went up a five-storey building threatening to jump if their demand for getting their appointment letters was not met by the government. The youths said they had been denied appointments even six years after the rank-list for the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) Thunderbolt was published. The rank list, published by the state Public Service Commission, was due to expire soon. After the intervention of Vijayan and other top officials of the Home Department, the person, atop the tree, came down. Fire department personnel were present in large number with a cushion platform below the tree to meet any eventuality. The authorities assured the agitating youths that necessary steps would be taken to solve the issue. However, not satisfied with the government's response, the five youth, who were on top of the building, said they would continue their protest at the roof top itself. The rank-holders had been on an agitation path for some time and conducting a hunger strike in front of the secretariate for the past few days. By Heather Somerville and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - After a bruising two-year battle, ride-hailing firm Uber is selling its China operations to bigger local rival Didi Chuxing in a deal that will give Uber a one-fifth stake in Didi. The merged entity is worth around $35 billion - combining Didi's most recent $28 billion valuation and Uber China's $7 billion worth - said a source familiar with the matter who did not want to be named before the deal was made public. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. In a posting on Uber's website, CEO Travis Kalanick said San Francisco-based Uber Technologies would have a one-fifth stake in Didi, making it the Chinese firm's biggest shareholder. Kalanick will join Didi's board, with Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. "Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development," it said. China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has spent billions of dollars in a price war with Didi. Both firms spent heavily to attract riders with discounts and both also raised billions in recent fundraisings. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: "Sustainably serving China's cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didi's to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities - from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and "doing more than 150 million trips a month." Didi, however, claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing. Richard Ji, Hong Kong-based co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock, said the deal makes "huge sense". "Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage," he said. "This will lead to favourable outcomes for both companies. The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later." Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. INTERNATIONAL AMBITION Analysts said Didi's acquisition signals its readiness to step beyond its home market. "This clearly shows Didi's global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travelers, who are going out in big numbers. There's a possibility the two could work together in other markets," All-Stars Investment's Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its international business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi - itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and social network firm Tencent - has invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. The Didi deal is the latest sign that global Internet and technology companies are struggling to break into China's cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of China's technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu will gain a stake. Apple Inc recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. It was unclear whether the deal would need to be cleared by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the anti-trust regulator. "Given Didi's reported high market share, any increment would attract MOFCOM's attention. But for the parties to seek pre-closing approval, each has to meet the minimum sales threshold. That's where it's unclear whether an anti-trust filing would be required," said Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in SAN FRANCISCO, Denny Thomas in HONG KONG, Rama Venkat Raman in BENGALURU, Jake Spring and Beijing monitoring team in Beijing, and Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) Ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing said on Monday it will buy Uber's China operations, in a deal that will give a stake in the company and end bruising competition between the two. The deal is valued at $35 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter who didn't want to be named before the deal was made public, combining Didi's $28 billion worth and China's $7 billion valuation. Didi confirmed the agreement on its official microblog, but gave no valuation. San Francisco-based Technologies will receive a 5.89 per cent stake in Didi but will have disproportionate "economic interests" of 17.7 per cent with another 2.3 per cent interest going to Uber China shareholders. Uber will continue to operate independently, the Didi posting said. "Cooperating with Uber will give the entire mobile travel industry a healthier order and a period of a higher level of development," it said. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will join Didi's board, while Didi Chuxing chief Cheng Wei joining the Uber board. In an internal message to staff viewed by Reuters, Kalanick wrote: "Sustainably serving China's cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. This merger paves the way for our team and Didi's to partner on an enormous mission, and it frees up substantial resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." He said Uber was operating in more than 60 cities in China and serving more than 40 million rides a week. Challenging China China has been a challenging market for Uber, which has been burning through more than $1 billion a year in a price war with Didi. Uber is profitable in the United States, Canada and about 100 other cities. "It makes huge sense. Uber faces an uphill task in China especially since Didi is multiple times larger by transaction value and city coverage," said Hong Kong-based Richard Ji, co-founder of All-Stars Investment Ltd, which manages about $900 million and owns Didi stock. "This will lead to favourable outcomes for both . The biggest benefit is cost savings, they no longer have to give out subsidies to drivers and passengers. It will give pricing power as the new entity will become the dominant player. That means profitability will come sooner than later," he added. Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said, adding to a series of deals and joint ventures Didi has struck in recent years. ambition Analysts said Didi's latest move is a signal of its readiness to step beyond its home market. "This clearly shows Didi's global ambitions and its desire to work together with Uber to tap Chinese travelers, who are going out in big numbers. There's a possibility the two could work together in other markets," All-Stars Investment's Ji said. Didi said in its posting it will look to expand its business and enter markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Europe and Russia. Didi itself created last year from a merger of two firms backed respectively by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and social network firm Tencent has invested $100 million in Lyft, Uber's main rival in the United States. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, India's ride service Ola and Southeast Asia's ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Uber's global dominance. The deal is the latest sign of a global Internet or technology company struggling to break into China's cut-throat market, where local entrepreneurs have built formidable businesses, partly helped by a supportive government. All of China's technology heavyweights will be stakeholders in Didi, as Uber shareholder Baidu will gain a stake. Apple Inc recently made a rare $1 billion investment in Didi. China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. The AAP government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that 'Chinese manja' would be banned soon as it is "conscious of injuries" caused by the kite-flying thread made of nylon. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was informed that the Delhi government was in process of issuing a notification for banning 'Chinese manja' and only allowing kite-flying with a cotton thread or natural fibre, "free from any metallic or glass components". "A draft notification imposing complete ban or sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese manja and any other kite-flying thread that is sharp or made sharp such as by being laced with the glass, metal or other sharp objects in Delhi and allowing kite-flying only with a cotton thread/natural fibre, free from any metallic/ glass components was prepared by the Environment Ministry of the Delhi government and vetted by the Delhi government's Law Department. ALSO READ: Subsidised LPG price hiked by Rs 1.93 per cylinder "The proposed draft notification is under process from the competent authority," the Delhi government said in their affidavit. The AAP government's response came in the backdrop of the court's notice issued to it on a plea seeking prohibition on the manufacture, sale, use and purchase of 'Chinese manja', alleging that it is "razor sharp" and has caused several deaths across the country as it is capable of cutting human flesh. The petitioner, Zulfiquar Hussain, has alleged in his plea that earlier the "victims" of the synthetic thread were birds, "but now humans are also under threat" and referred to the recent death of a 28-year-old man in East Delhi whose throat got slit allegedly by such a thread while he was riding a motorbike. The court was also told that a similar plea for ban on 'Chinese manja' was before the Supreme Court which has observed that since the issue relates to the protection of environment and wild life, the same should be adjudicated upon by the National Green Tribunal. The high court then asked the counsel for both the parties to produce the Supreme Court order on the issue by tomorrow. It also asked the Delhi government's counsel to inform the court whether the notification will be issued soon or it will take time, observing that the kites are flown on August 15. The plea has referred to deaths allegedly caused by injuries from kite flying thread in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The petition contended that use and sale of the thread has been banned by the Rajasthan High Court and that the Allahabad High Court has issued directions to take necessary steps to prohibit manufacture, use and sale of synthetic kite flying thread like 'Chinese manja'. The plea, filed through advocate Tariq Adeeb, also said that Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh governments have banned this thread. It has contended that use, manufacture and sale of the thread is illegal under Environment Protection Act 1986 and sought directions to the government to "strictly enforce the prohibition throughout Delhi". Tighten your seat belts! Market may soon land into a turbulent phase as earnings released so far failed to confirm recovery, suggesting valuations might have run ahead of fundamentals. Experts believe stock market investors have already priced in the passage of the GST Bill and good monsoon. On top of it, as many as 32 stocks on BSE 500 have outperformed Sensex by five times year-to-date, another signal that market may have turned overvalued. ALSO READ: 25 years of liberalisation and Dalal Street: 8 informative fun facts A look at top-performing BSE 500 stocks Data available with database AceEquity suggest that as many as 32 stocks on BSE 500 have returned five times higher than Sensex this calendar. Stocks of Manappuram Finance, Vedanta, Balrampur Chini and Capital first have rallied up to 175 per cent so far this year, compared to a mere 8 per cent jump in the Sensex. Experts said that while some of the top-performing BSE500 stocks such as Bajaj Finance have risen on strong fundamentals, rally on others such as Vedanta was sheer news-driven and may not sustain for long. Manappuram Finance has gained a whopping 173 per cent year to date against just 11 per cent rise in Nifty Financial Services index during the same period. Other NBFC stocks such as Bajaj Finance, Bharat Financial (erstwhile SKS Microfinance) and Capital First have also made smart gains on the BSE. GST Bill priced in Experts said that the recent rally on the Sensex was largely driven by hopes of the passage of the GST Bill. But the market has largely factored it in, they said. "Currently, the market is factoring in a lot on GST bill passage in the Rajya Sabha. Any disappointment on this front may lead to nearly 5 per cent correction from current levels," said Piyush Garg of ICICI Securities. ALSO READ: Five triggeres that are shaping the market today Earnings recovery out of sight June quarter earnings season has also not been impressive. Even IT companies, for whom the Q1 is seasonally stronger, have disappointed Street with their numbers. Private lender Axis Bank, pharma major Dr Reddy's and FMCG firms HUL, ITC also failed to deliver in the June quarter. The GST may not be as big a cue for the market, as earnings growth is. Unfortunately, that has been missing so far. Slow pick up in earnings growth may only add to valuation concerns. Market appears expensive In a report last week, BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research said that the market appears expensive on most metrics of absolute valuations. It said that valuations are high, even as earnings growth forecasts have not changed meaningfully. The brokerage pointed out that growth for BSE500 stocks slowed to 8 per cent in Q4FY16 from 12 per cent in Q3FY16. For FY17, Bloomberg consensus for NSE benchmark Nifty50 PAT growth has fallen to 17.1 per cent now, from 20 per cent in January, it said. Piyush Garg of ICICI Securities said that the current rally on the Nifty50 may stall in the range of 8,600-8,900 as valuations look toppish. "At the current levels, the benchmark indices are trading at nearly 19 times FY17 EPS, which is quite rich as compared to other emerging markets. Hence, the current move may stall in the range of 8,600-8,900. Any further re-rating on earnings only provides for future upward scope," said Garg. Tripura entered the broad gauge railway map of the country on Sunday with union railway minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurating the Agartala-New Delhi 'Tripura Sundari Express'. The foundation stone for the much awaited railway track to link Agartala to Akhoura in Bangladesh was jointly laid at the programme by Prabhu and his Bangladeshi counterpart Mujibul Haque. 'Tripura Sundari Express' will run once a week, on Sundays, and reach New Delhi in 47 hours after travelling via Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri. Rs 968 crore was spent for the Agartala-Delhi rail link. Addressing the gathering, Prabhu said a regular train service between Agartala and Kolkata will start next month. "Kolkata is the cultural capital of the country and Tripura has a long historic connection with it," he said. On the Agartala-Akhoura railway link, Prabhu said it would be part of the trans-Asian rail connectivity. "We are committed to bring connectivity with Bangladesh. The relation between India and Bangladesh is very cordial and they (Bangladesh) are cooperative in our initiative," he said. The rail track here would be extended to Sabroom, the southern-most town in Tripura, which is only 75 km from the Chittagong port in Bangladesh. "Chittagong port is the best port in Asia. We want to connect an Indian railways track with Chittagong port through Sabroom," Prabhu said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, is very keen to make the northeast region a tourist hub. "We want to develop railway network in the entire northeast and want to make it a tourist hub. We want to bring Bangladesh into the same tourist circuit," Prabhu said. Speaking at the function, Haque said "We always respect the people of India for giving us support and shelter during our Liberation Movement. We want people-to-people contact. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked me to convey our love and respect to the people of India". Bangladesh has now decided to launch a new train between Khulna and Kolkata in addition to the Maitri Express train that plies between Dhaka and Kolkata. Minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain said all northeast state capitals will be linked with railways by 2020 and work is already on in Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar and members of his cabinet were present at the programme. Acquisition of land for the Agartala-Akhoura rail link has already started and Rs 580 crore have been released from the ministry. The laying the 15.054 rail track will be completed by 2017. Of the total track, only five km will be on the Indian side and the rest in Bangladesh. The agreement between the two countries on the rail link was signed during Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010. Advertisers have long used music or snappy jingles to sell their products. Even local businesses in Cache Valley have used and are still employing jingles that are memorable. On KVNUs For the People program, marketing analyst Jessica Dunyon said people can retain more information when its set to a beat. Thats why children sing songs and why its easy to learn the alphabet. Dunyon explained, I learned the counties in the state of Utah, theres a song, and I dont remember the whole song but I sure remembered it in the 4th grade. And setting things like that to music helps something in your brain memorize it better. So theres a rhythm, theres a beat. And when you can tie those two things together it pieces something in your brain that makes it easier to remember, she said. So radio and TV advertisers who use music can help create that memory to associate it with a specific emotion or to a specific brand or a specific action. Dunyon said that music provides the soundtrack to our lives. We remember the songs we danced to in high school, or earlier, and music makes a connection with our brain in a way that mere words cannot. LOGAN A judge has reduced the bail for Jason Summers, the 30-year-old Smithfield man, accused of breaking into a LDS Church and shooting at a neighbor who confronted him. During Mondays bail hearing, 1st District Court Judge Thomas Willmore told Summers that the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to affordable bail. He expressed concerns though with allowing the defendant to return to his home, near where the alleged incident occurred. Defense attorney Ryan Holdaway asked that bail be lowered from $150,000 because when it was originally set, prosecutors were considering charging Summers with attempted murder. That charge was never filed. He also told the court, the defendant has a family and would not be a flight risk. State attorney Aaron Josie told the court, the charges are still considered to be egregious and probably led Judge Kevin Allen to set bail at the higher amount, when Summers was being arraigned. He said the publics safety is at risk if the defendant is allowed to be released on bail. Judge Willmore ordered bail to be reduced to $40,000 but said he would not put anybody in danger. He told Summers that he must have somewhere else to live and stay at least 660 ft. away from the alleged victims home. He also ordered him to wear an ankle monitor and remain sober. Police arrested Summers July 7 after a man called 911, claiming he was shot at while confronting the defendant, attempting to break into a Smithfield LDS Church. He was taken into custody and arrested. Police later found a shotgun, believed to be the suspected firearm. Summers has pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, discharge of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies and four misdemeanor drug charges.

will@cvradio.com Liget Budapest Project A Hungarian museum quarter in the European context Published on August 1, 2016 Story by Marton Vegh en it fr es de pl What is a museum quarter and why are there so many of them in Europe? An what is going on in Budapest's oldest public park? The controversial cultural investment, the Liget Budapest project will reshape the face of the city, so it is definately worth some time to compare it with other similar Europen projects. According to the Swiss-British philosopher, Alain de Botton, our museums of art have become our new churches. If we take a quick look at the contemporary European museum scene, we have to admit, that de Botton was right. The best museums, like the Louvre or the Uffizi attract more people than ever. Instead of holy places, these pilgrims visit the churches of art. As a cause and a consequence of this phenomenon at the same time, most museums try to host at least one blockbuster temporary exhibition per year, where the works of some world-famous artist, like Rembrandt or Picasso are shown. Maybe with lower intensity, but collections of archaeology, history, design, technology or natural sciences also experience a growing public interest towards them. From this phenomenon evolved the renaissance of the idea of the museum district. Some of them, like the Museuminsel in Berlin are considerably older compared to some brand new projects, like the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. Many of them developed over a long period of time, with museums built in different decades or centuries next to each other, but now they all share a common philosophy: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This means that museums standing in the same quarter attract more people, especially tourists, as if they could only be found in different parts of the city. Since the same idea lies behind the concept of malls and shopping streets, it is obvious, that the establishment of a museum district is not only a question of culture, but business too. The Liget Budapest is a governmental project running parallel with the reconstruction of the Buda castle district. It was announced in 2011 and the first construction works have just started. Its aim is - together with the restoration of Budapests oldest public park, the Varosliget (City Park) to create a museum district for Budapest with three main methods. The first method consists of the reconstruction or expansion of present institutions around the Varosliget, like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport, the Hungarian Agricultural Museum and the Zoo. The second is to move museums like the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Ethnography out of their original place from the castle or the city centre to a newly built building in the park. The emptied buildings will be utilized for governmental, administrative and representational purposes. The last way is the creation of new institutions, like the House of Hungarian Music a museum and a concert hall and the City Park Theatre, a building destroyed in the World War II. Nothing will happen to the Kunsthalle standing next to the Liget, but it can also be considered as the part of the museum quarter. The Liget was planned with the aim of boosting the cultural tourism heading to Budapest, since most of the visitors still travel here to get drunk in the cheap bars and not to enjoy some excellent pieces of art. The project was criticised by many museum professionals, urbanists, politicians, public intellectuals and civil organizations. It is highly doubtable, whether Hungary, one of the weakest economies in the EU should spend its financial resources on an extremely expensive prestige investment. Some assume that the hidden aim of the project is to make the place of the National Gallery in the castle free for the representational plans of the right-winged Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. Between the two World Wars the castle was the residence of the autocratic rightist governor Miklos Horthy so using the building for political instead of cultural purposes has a bad connotation. Furthermore, Budapest is quite poor in public parks, which is the reason why so many activists want to protect the green area for the local people, believing that the construction project would irretrievably damage it. The violent actions of the police and security guards against the activists also generated a heated public debate. On the other hand, the plans of the new buildings designed by acknowledged Hungarian and foreigner architects gained outstanding critical success in the media and among professionals. In my opinion, everything that can be said about the above-mentioned critical aspects of the Liget Budapest has already been said. My aim is to examine the project from a new point view, from the point of museology, and to compare it with other European museum districts. In my opinion, this aspect has great importance if we want to predict the future success of the project. European cities have plenty of museum quarters; most of them consist of museums of art, accompanied by concert halls, theatres and other cultural institutions. The concept of the museum districts is especially popular in Germany. There are two bigger ones only in Berlin: the historical Museuminsel built between 1830 and 1930 with museums of art and archaeology, like the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Pergamonmusem and the more modern Kulturforum with museums of arts, crafts and other institutions like concert halls and a library. And the smaller museum quarters around the Charlottenburg Palace and in Dahlem were not even mentioned! The Kunstareal in Munich is an area with older and newer museums, for instance the three world-famous Pinakotheks, all hosting exhibitions of art and archaeology. Additionally, the Museumsufer along the Main is located in Frankfurt with a wide variety of museums ranging from art to architecture and ethnology. Aside from Germany, the Museumplein in Amsterdam is a significant place for art-lovers, even though only three art museums and a concert hall are found there. Another place of particular interest is the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, which is an odd one out, since it does not contain any museum of art or archaeology, only more interactive and entertaining unconventional scientific museums and an opera house and concert halls. The last of these cultural projects is the Museumsquartier in Vienna, completed in 2001. Spaces for performance arts, music, art museums, shops and cafes are located in the building of the formal court stables, next to the world-famous Kunsthistorisches and Naturhistorisches Museum. I think that this is the project, which the Liget Budapest resembles the most, apart from the very different locations. To understand the main concept of the Liget, it is worth mentioning the institutions, which were originally intended to be in the project, but were left out of the final plans. These three were the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, presently located in the building of the Palace of Arts, the yet non-existing Hungarian Museum of Architecture and the Hungarian Museum of Photography, currently located in the provincial town of Kecskemet. The last one could have been one of the most important attractions in the Liget, since a great percent of the best 20th century photographers from Andre Kertesz and Martin Munkacsi to Robert Capa and Lucien Herve were born in Hungary. The buildings for the two latter museums - a black and a white cube - were very similar to the bulidings of the Leopold Museum and the Mumok in Vienna. They also confirm the assumption, that the original inspiration for the Liget was the Museumsquartier. With these museums, the concept of the Liget would resemble more the other above-mentioned museum districts with a main focus on art. But since mostly for financial reasons these plans were withdrawn, the Liget has become a very unique project, which contains art, science and technology in the same proportions, while music and performance arts are also a part of it. This is not a straight way to success, since mostly the art museums are those, who attract the most people. From my point of view, the key to the success of the Liget Budapest is the Museum of Fine Arts, standing on the Heroes Square next to the park. Why? As I have already mentioned, the most popular museums are art museums: the Museum of Fine Arts host collections of Egyptian and Greek-Roman art, furthermore European painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to Modernism. The collection might not be as rich in world-famous works of art as the most famous European museums, but it is still definitely the most popular Hungarian museum, attracting many tourists and organizing successful temporary exhibitions every year. Unlike most other Hungarian museums, it is an acknowledged member of the European museum scene. So no matter how high quality exhibitions will be hosted by the Hungarian House of Music or in the Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Fine Arts will always be more popular. I have never heard of any museum-lover, who, when visiting a foreign city for a short time, would first go to the local museum of agriculture instead of an art gallery. The new National Gallery, which currently contains pieces of art from Hungary, will get the modern collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, which contains works by Monet, Gauguin or Rodin. The motivation of this act is definitely the fundamental need to create another tourist-magnet in the Liget. The most effective argument against the project was its location. Most citizens of Budapest do not want a museum district in the Varosliget. Alternative locations, like rust belts, empty buildings in the centre or the vacant lots of the city and the castle came to mind, but Laszlo Baan, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery and the commissioner of the Liget Budapest still argued, that the museum quarter of Budapest with the new museums can only be built there. Baan is rather a businessman with good political connections, than a professional of art history, but since a museum district is also a business project, this time he was right. All the new museums can be built in another part of Budapest, but then they would not attract many more tourists, because they would still visit the well-known art museums of Budapest. On the other hand, the tourists visiting the Museum of Fine Arts or the National Gallery might also be willing to visit other smaller museums near them. If Budapest wants a museum quarter equal to the greatest European ones, then it has to be built in the Varosliget. Otherwise we cannot have one: it is the museums or the park. And with the backup of Orban's ruling party, the Fidesz, the museums seem to win. Story by Marton Vegh Under the Bridge The new Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge cuts near the once bustling Hillcrest neighborhood. For those who didn't move away this is what life is like now. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Domingo Cardenas (from left), Donnie Setterbo, Sam Cruz, Albert Bernal, and Luis Rodriguez are members of the United Steel Workers, Local 235. They have continued to fight after being locked out of their jobs at the Sherwin Alumina Co. near Gregory for nearly two years. Th company announced Monday it would close the plant, eliminating about 300 jobs. The next fight, union members said will be the retention of pensions and retiree health care plans. SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Domingo Cardenas (from left), Donnie Setterbo, Sam Cruz, Albert Bernal, and Luis Rodriguez are members of the United Steel Workers, Local 235. They have continued to fight after being locked out of their jobs at the Sherwin Alumina Co. near Gregory for nearly two years. Th company announced Monday it would close the plant, eliminating about 300 jobs. The next fight, union members said will be the retention of pensions and retiree health care plans. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Members of the United Steel Workers, Local 235A, have been locked out of their jobs at the Sherwin Alumina Co. plant near Gregory for nearly two years. They have been outside the plant demonstrating ever since. Th company announced Monday it would close the plant, eliminating about 300 jobs. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Adan Salazar, a members of the United Steel Workers Local 235A, signs in at the protest site just inches away from the property line of Sherwin Alumina Co. near Gregory. Members of the union have been locked out of their jobs for nearly two years. They have been outside on strike every day since. Th company announced Monday it would close the plant, eliminating about 300 jobs. Union employees say they never had demands, they just didn't want to continue giving away benefits and pay. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times A rail line into Sherwin Alumina Co.'s plant between Gregory and Ingleside has been disabled. The company announce Monday it would close the plant. By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times GREGORY Sherwin Alumina Co. is closing its Gregory plant, where hundreds of unionized employees have been locked out of their jobs for nearly two years. Sherwin president/CEO Thomas Russell said in a statement Monday closing the plant was a difficult decision, but was the "best available option" for stakeholders after exhausting its alternatives. Roughly 300 jobs will be lost in the move. "We are extremely grateful to all our hardworking, talented employees for over 60 years of dedicated service to Sherwin and saddened at the way our company's story has to end," Russell said. "Throughout this period of uncertainty, our employees have continued to impress, performing their jobs with professionalism. It is thanks to them that Sherwin was able to establish itself as an economic pillar to the Corpus Christi region for so many years." The shutdown is expected to be done in late September. Sherwin Alumina's move extinguishes Donnie Setterbo's hope of returning to the operator job he'd worked at the plant since 1990. Monday was the 661st day he and 449 other union employees have been barred from the facility, after negotiations over cuts in pension, overtime pay and health care benefits fell through. He and others have spent months in a wooden shack outside at the plant's main entrance, trying to raise the public's awareness about the lockout, while also scanning the help-wanted section of the newspaper. "It's extremely disheartening," said Setterbo, 60. "A lot of guys ... gave what they had to the company over the years. I'm not against a company making money, but they tore the heart and soul out of the company when they locked us out." Located on State Highway 361, the Sherwin Alumina plant opened in 1953. It's here that the plant produces alumina, which is used in airplanes, beer cans, fire-retardant carpet, seat cushions, toothpaste, deodorant, antacid and artificial marble. The plant has undergone several expansions through the years, and was acquired by the Swiss multinational company Glencore in 2007. Sherwin Alumina's bottom line has been pummeled recently by a troubling combination of low demand and an oversupply from China; the plant is capable of producing 1.65 million tons of alumina annually, but produced less than 1.4 million tons in 2015. Its projected net operating losses were $42.1 million. Sherwin Alumina filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. Replacement employees have been working the plant since. In April, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Missouri released Noranda Bauxite Ltd. from a long-term contract to supply Jamaican-mined ore to Sherwin Alumina. Noranda argued in court documents it couldn't keep up with Sherwin's demands, and that remaining in the contract also would have complicated its efforts to reorganize. Sherwin Alumina was Noranda's largest customer. The plant's assets went up for auction in April. The Port of Corpus Christi was among those that eyed the property, but Corpus Christi Alumina won the bid with a $54 million offer. In a statement, Ruben Garza, a regional director of the United Steelworkers union, accused Glencore of using the bankruptcy process to serve its own ends, rather than working to meet the needs of employees and retirees. The union would continue to fight through the bankruptcy process for the benefits workers and retirees have earned though the years, he said. "Throughout the past two years, the union consistently offered to continue working while bargaining continued on a new contract. Instead, the company insisted on keeping its doors locked, a decision that has harmed working families throughout the Corpus Christi community. "In the end, this is a story of corporate greed ... This is a company that could afford to treat its workers fairly but has chosen not to do so." Monika de la Garza, a spokeswoman for Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend, said the agency was made aware of the impending layoffs, and that its Rapid Response coordinators were reaching out to offer its services. Setterbo will have to step up his job search soon. He rejected two out-of-town work offers during the lockout. At the time, he said, moving wasn't an option; he didn't want to be too far from his elderly parents. His father died recently in a nursing home. Setterbo has a business degree and believes he can find accounting work in the area. "It's not the same ... but I'm not afraid to move on," Setterbo said. "And it's time to move on." Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam Sherwin Alumina timeline 1950: The Reynolds Metals Company of Richmond, Virginia selects Gregory as a site for a new Bauxite refinery. 1951: A total of 1,660 acres of the former "Taft Ranch" were purchased, and construction of the Sherwin Alumina Plant and its companion, the San Patricio Reduction Plant, begins. 1953: Sherwin Alumina plant opens. 1965: Plant begins expansion. 1991: Plant installs two gas suspension calciners, a move the company says helped modernize the facility. May 2007: Sherwin Alumina acquired by Glencore, a public company that employs around 200,000 people including contractors. September 2014: Labor contract covering 450 of the plant's 650 employees expires. October 2014: Plant employees and their union reject Sherwin Alumina's final contract offer. Employees are locked out of their workplace. January: Sherwin Alumina Co. files Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Corpus Christi Alumina acquires later its assets at auction. Aug. 1: Company announces intention to "wind down" operations at the plant. Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam Sherwin Alumina Commences Orderly Wind Down of Operations by callertimes on Scribd SherwinStatement0801 (002) by callertimes on Scribd By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times The first person convicted of human trafficking in a Nueces County courtroom was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Last week, jurors convicted Jovan Miles, of Missouri City, of continuous trafficking of a person for prostituting a 15-year-old girl out of a Corpus Christi motel. The jury handed down the sentence on Monday. Miles faced at least 25 years and as much as life in prison. Before trial, prosecutors offered him a deal to plead guilty to trafficking, not continuous, in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence. The jury could have convicted Miles, 28, of the lesser included charge. For about two months in 2015 Miles made the girl have sex with hundreds of men for money and advertised the girl on a classifieds website, according to investigators who testified in 94th District Judge Bobby Galvan's court. Miles said he plans to appeal his conviction. He testified that he did not arrange for her to have sex with customers and that he did not know she was under 18. He said he met the girl in Houston through a mutual friend. She now lives in a residential treatment center in Houston. The Attorney General's Office assisted the Nueces County District Attorney's Office with the case. "Human trafficking is an egregious crime, and cases like this one are the very reason my office has launched a section dedicated to combating it," said Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a news release. "Thanks to the hard work of the Nueces County District Attorney's Office and my office's Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime Section, a vile predator is incarcerated and will be unable to harm anyone again. I will continue the fight against human trafficking and will work tirelessly with law enforcement officials and advocacy groups to rid our state of this detestable crime." Twitter: @CallerKMT Jamil Oakford/Caller-Times photo Members of the traditional Mexican dance troupe Kalpulli Ehekatl Papalotzin keep in time with the traditional drumbeat Sunday at Sherrill Park. The troupe's name means "Vulnerable Butterfly of the Wind" in Nauhuatl, a native Mexican language. SHARE Jamil Oakford/Caller-Times photo Speakers and master of ceremonies Nancy Vera (left) prepares for the ceremony at Sherrill Park commemorating the Farm Worker's March of 1966. By Jamil Oakford, jamil.oakford@caller.com Fifty years after 800 supporters gathered in the Peoples Street T-head to fight low minimum wages for farm workers, many gathered to remember a march that inspired change. Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the 1966 Farm Workers March and area residents paid tribute at Sherrill Park. The protest started in Rio Grande City and marched through Corpus Christi to reach Austin. "It was the spirit of the workers who finally had enough of working in those hot fields for 40 cents an hour," Nancy Vera, president of Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers said. Field workers struggled with low wages and through rough working conditions for growers. One of the marchers 50 years ago was present and painted a stark picture about life as a farm worker. "I came to pick cotton in Tivoli, Texas, when I was six," Efrain Carrera said. "We were paid $1.25 for a 100 pounds of cotton. We slept in the dirt." He explained how the bag he would put the cantaloup would sometimes weigh more than him. If there were a large amount of fruit in the bag, he wouldn't be able to bend over without all of them falling out. These conditions inspired many field workers to take the to streets and protest. July 4, 1966, field and migrant workers marched from Rio Grande City to Austin to meet with the governor, John Connally. And while their movement to raise the minimum wage to $1.25 was fruitless, former state representative Alex Moreno said this march was far from a failure. "This was the spark that changed things," he said. Carrera boldly spoke that in his home of Star County, things were rough. He also had strong words for those who called him rebellious. "I am a rebel," he said. "I am a rebel against injustice. We worked hard and for what? A bad back, sickness, exposure to pesticides and insecticides?" Attendees also were treated to free watermelon, chips and water as well as a dance troupe called Kalpulli Ehekatl Papalotzin, meaning Vulnerable Butterfly of the Wind in Nauhuatl, a native Mexican language. City council members Lucy Rubio and Carolyn Vaughn were both present for the ceremony as well, proclaiming July 31 as the official day to commemorate the Farm Worker's March. Twitter: @caller_jamil GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Deckhand Greg Shekell (center) directs traffic into a ferry as the crew prepares to cross to Port Aransas on Tuesday, July 27, 2016, at the Port Aransas Ferry. SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Deckhand Rene Grimes directs traffic onto a ferry as the crew prepares to cross to Aransas Pass on Tuesday, July 27, 2016, at the Port Aransas Ferry. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Deckhand Greg Shekell (center) watches as people stand at the front of the ferry as they cross to Aransas Pass on Tuesday, July 27, 2016, at the Port Aransas Ferry. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Deckhand Jake Cross (right) looks on as a ferry transports several vehicles from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas on Tuesday, July 27, 2016, at the Port Aransas Ferry. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES A ferry transfers vehicles from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas on Tuesday, July 27, 2016, at the Port Aransas Ferry. Related Photos Working the Port Aransas Ferry By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times Every day Rene Grimes guides hundreds of drivers onto the Port Aransas Ferry. Once the vehicles are all in, she pulls up the ramp, locks it, walks around and interacts with passengers. Grimes is there when the weather is nice, when it's hotter than 100 degrees, when it's cloudy, when it rains and she loves it. The 59-year-old is one of about 39 ferry deckhands who make sure the passengers get safely across the ship channel between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas. "I have been doing this for about seven years," Grimes said. "I love it. I get paid to watch the sunset, the sunrise, be out on the water and meet new people every day." Each year, millions of passengers ride the Port Aransas Ferry, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Before becoming a ferry deckhand with Texas Department of Transportation, Grimes, who is from Rockport, worked on shrimp and oyster boats. Her schedule always rotates, she said. "(Working on boats) were not the most luxurious of jobs but it was water time for me and that's what I love," Grimes said. "And when it's extremely hot out, just drink plenty of water and power through it. You have to be able to overcome the bad to be able to appreciate the good." Ferry operations manager Howard J. Gillespie said there are two large ferries, which carry about 28 cars, and six smaller ferries, which can carry about 20 cars. "There were ferry operations here dating all the way back to the 1920s," Gillespie said. "In the 15 years I've been here, we shut down one time and that was for three hours during Hurricane Claudette in 2003." In 1926 the ferry service was owned by the Aransas Dock and Channel company. The ferry was taken over by Nueces County in June of 1951 and later taken over by the state in January of 1968, Gillespie said. Through the years crews of deckhands have come and gone. Some have stayed, become captains of the boats or taken over administrative jobs. Capt. Will Boles has been leading his crew for about 12 years. "We have to be prepared for anything, any fires on the vessel, anyone falling overboard and we really have to make sure the deck crew is prepared for that." Boles said. "We are helping people, we make their journey way shorter, moving the public, and it's a beautiful sight." Greg Shekell, 60, has been a deckhand for about six years. Before joining the crew in Port Aransas, Shekell worked for Direct TV in Florida, then in Kentucky and most recently in Houston. "I used always to come down here to get away from Houston and the job and one day I crossed on the ferry," Shekell said. "Then I lost my house in Hurricane Ike and I said that's it. I came down here and decided to give it a try." Shekell said he's always enjoyed working on boats and being out on the water. To get through college he worked as a deckhand on tail boats in Mississippi and Ohio, he said. "I love this job and my goal is to get up there," Shekell said as he pointed to the captain on the ferry. Twitter: @CallerNatalia Four people died and four were seriously wounded at Pouma, Edea, following a motor accident on July 29, 2016. ADS According to the police, a private Toyota Prado jeep with registration number CE 913 HV collided with a mini-heavy duty vehicle at about 1:30 pm, killing three on-the-spot, while one person later gave up the ghost in Pouma Hospital, raising the death toll to four. The police said the Prado jeep heading to Yaounde from Douala was overspeeding. In an attempt to overtake another vehicle, it collided with the mini-truck. The jeeps driver, Seidou and two other occupants, Nkenye Wakam and Assiatou Sakira, died on the spot. Ibrahim Mamadou, one of the trucks occupants, later died in hospital. The four seriously wounded are being treated in the Pouma Hospital, while the four corpses were kept in the mortuary of the said hospital. ADS | BY Ricki Green | Hunger in Australia will be put front and centre with grocery shoppers in August when Foodbank again holds its national Food Fight campaign via Red Agency, Havas Village and GroupM to raise vital food for people in need. Iconic Australian food brands SPC, Ardmona, Helgas, Vetta, Devondale, Primo, Sanitarium, NESCAFE, Flora, Continental and Mount Franklin have each committed to providing a food or beverage donation to Foodbank when nominated Food Fight products are purchased at Woolworths supermarkets during August. In its first year last year, the campaign saw seven million serves of food donated setting a high target for the 2016 campaign to beat. Hunger is a hidden crisis in Australia which 1 in 6 people experience at some point every year. Half of these, or two million Australians, seek food relief from a charity or community group, and a third of those seeking food relief are children. Each month Foodbank provides food for over half a million people but, despite this, 43,000 of those seeking help are turned away empty handed because demand outstrips supply. Says Brianna Casey, CEO, Foodbank Australia: As Australians we subscribe to the belief of a fair go for all and at Foodbank we think that means being free from hunger. We can, and must, set our sights on achieving this goal. The Food Fight campaign provides us with an opportunity to raise awareness of the issue of hunger in Australia at the same time as securing additional food donations and providing our generous industry partners with much-deserved acknowledgement for their year-round support. Woolworths is increasing its support for the campaign this year ensuring even more exposure in stores including prominent Food Fight point-of-sale material. With the help of GroupM Foodbank has also secured significant support in the form of television and radio commercial as well as outdoor and print advertising. In addition there will be high-profile PR activity which will entail a giant art installation in the form of an empty lunchbox popping up in cities around the country. The public will be asked to take pictures of the purple lunchbox and upload them to social media using #JoinFoodFight hashtag. For each upload an additional meal will be donated to Foodbank by the food partners. Those who cant make it down to the lunchbox can still join the Food Fight by visiting www.foodbank.org.au and registering their support, which will also trigger a meal donation. The Food Fight activation will visit the following locations on the corresponding dates: 6am-6pm Sydney Event (2 August) Brisbane Event (4 August) Perth Event (8 August) Darwin Event (11 August) Adelaide Event (15 August) Melbourne Event (18 August) Hobart Event (22 August) | BY Ricki Green | Cummins & Partners Melbourne and Simplot have today launched the new work for Aussie icon Chiko Roll in a campaign featuring a 2 minute jingle, a doyen of television and a useless piece of plastic. An advanced behavioural insights deep-dive, extensive segmentation audit and rigorous exploration of consumer motivations revealed the compelling observation Aussies still reckon Chiko Rolls are grouse. Says James Bennett, brand detective, C&P Melbourne: Chiko Rolls were the original one-handed snack. But people needed a reminder of the best occasion to enjoy them. We observed peoples behaviour on the way home from the Fish & Chip shop and observed that 86.7% of Aussies stole a chip from the bag before getting home. This was our opportunity for Chiko Roll. This one-handed snack would become the perfect meal before the meal. However, further cultural trend analysis showed that in this modern media landscape, consumers are overwhelmed with messages on a daily basis and the re-launch of Chiko needed a radical approach to cut through. Says Ben Couzens, executive creative director, C&P Melbourne: We needed a jingle and a promotion that enabled more Aussies to enjoy a Chiko Roll more often. The Roll Home With a Chiko work launched this weekend in Fox Footys retro round and continues across a variety of channels including online, TV, PR, radio, social media and in fish n chip shops right around the country. Agency: Cummins & Partners Executive Creative Directors: Jim Jimbo Ingram, Ben Cuzzo Couzens Writer: Adam Slato Slater Art Director: Regina Stroombo Stroombergen Global Strategy Officer: Adam Fezzo Ferrier Brand Detective: James Jimbo Bennet Designer: Jacob Jakko Reading Agency Producer: Katherine Kate-o Muir Group Account Director: Rodney Moose-o Mooseek Senior Integration Director: Katy Peto Peterson Creative Services Director: Steve Stevo Tortosa Roll Home With a Chiko song: Song Composer, musician and vocals: Terry Tezzo Mann Editor: Graeme Grazo Philips, Ed Eddo Gurr Handy Holder: Handy Holder Director: Matt Matto Weston Editor: Matt Matto Weston Online Editor: Graeme Grazo Phillips DOP: Liam Gillo Gilmour Hair/Makeup & Wardrobe: Nadine Mullo Muller Production Designer: Zoe Lofto Lofts Sound Engineer: Dylan Stevo Stephens, Risk Sound Handy Holder Designer: Ed Eddo Croll Handy Holder Manufacturing: Hot Promos Client: Simplot General Manager Seafood, Snacks & Meals Joint Venture: Adam Addso Hanlon Marketing Manager Frozen Seafood, Snacks & Components: Ben Benno Dalla Riva Senior Product Manager: Tim Timbo Bower PR: Mango Account Director: Amanda Sheato Sheat Account Manager: Lauren Hunto Hunt Media: Initiative Client Director: Georgina Georgo Leslie Monday, August 1, 2016 at 12:34AM Uber currently makes uses of Googles mapping technology to power its app. But it looks like that isnt enough for them. According to The Financial Times, Uber wants to invest half a billion dollars into making their own worldwide maps that will be more detailed and show things like traffic patterns, door locations, and other potential pickup locations. The development of this tailor-made map would also help further the autonomous vehicle project of the company. Other moves Uber has made in the past in terms of mapping include hiring former Google employees like Brian McClendon and forging partnerships or acquiring mapping companies such as TomTom and DigitalGlobe. Source: The Verge For Australian women keen to strip away the horror of what happened to our own first woman prime minister, the Hillary ascendancy is glorious. Even though we know what happened to Hillary first time she ran. Even though we lived through what happened to Julia. Even though we see Hillary copping it all over again. Even though it will be neither easy nor straightforward. Even though the only person I know covering the presidential campaigns in the US sends me a message saying we live in dangerous times, that he has no good news for me. There was no attempt to seek context to the material aired on Four Corners, no interrogation of ministers or officials before coming to a decision, no consideration of alternatives, no meeting with indigenous representatives and not even a proper media conference to make the royal commission announcement. More importantly the PM appointed a royal commissioner who prima facie had several conflicts of interest and without understanding that at the very least there should be an Aboriginal co-commissioner. Instead Turnbull's hasty decision echoed the instant overreaction to a TV program of Julia Gillard's panicky suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia. Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. 50 years ago when many did not have a consciousness of mass shootings, people on the University of Texas campus wandered and stood there witnessing the incident taking place, ended up becoming victims of the mass shooting themselves. It was on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman killed 17 people, including an unborn child, and injured more than 30. Known as the UT Tower massacre, it was the first of its kind on a US college campus. Today after 50 years of this unbelievable tragedy, the state of Texa's new Campus Carry law goes into effect. UT Austin leadership has been working from the last year across campus to implement the campus carry law as smoothly as possible. What is Campus Carry law? The Campus carry law is the one where students of age 21 and more who are license holders will be allowed to carry concealed handguns at University of Texas, Austin and other public universities. Limitations put across for the Campus Carry law: The open carry of handguns is not allowed on the campus. Some areas of the campus in which concealed carry of handguns is prohibited including residence halls. It is the responsibility of the individual to carry the handguns at locations that exclude handguns and to plan their daily activities. License holders must carry their handguns on them at all times while on campus. Also read: Hanan, the woman behind a motivating teacher University of Texas at Austin's longtime architecture dean resigns! Another development that came about as a shock to many in reference to the Campus Carry law is the resignation of the University of Texas at Austin's longtime architecture dean Fritz Steiner. He says, the campus carry law is the only reason for him to have considered other options. Fritz Steiner will take over as dean of University of Pennsylvania School of Design on July 1. "I would have never applied for another job if not for campus carry," he said in an interview. "I felt that I was going to be responsible for managing a law I didn't believe in." The departure is a blow for UT-Austin. Its architecture school has consistently ranked among the best in the nation under Steiner. What happened on 1st August 1966? 50 year ago on August 1, the 25-year old Charles Whitman climbed to the observation deck of the Tower of the UT Austin and shot and killed 17 people from the tower. He had killed his wife and his mother earlier that day, as well as three people inside the tower, one a 16-year-old boy before performing the horrific act. Whitman's spree lasted 96 minutes before he was shot dead by police officers who reached the deck. Charles Whitman who was an intelligent student from Florida at age 12 was said to be the world's youngest Eagle scout and was an exceptional marksman. He joined the US Marines at the age of 18 and was honourably discharged from the marines in 1964 and returned to Austin to resume his studies. Earlier, in 1961, he was sent on a scholarship programme to the University of Texas but his behaviour was noted to be erratic and indisciplined. Many argue that the concealed carry law could aid in personal safety. But critics believe that more guns on campus is a recipe for increased danger and confusion. Some state that, citizens responding to a crime in progress in 1966 is the same as responding to a crime in progress in 2016 is just foolish. So what is your opinion about the campus carry law? Is it justified? Let us know in the comments section below. Whenever disaster strikes in the United Statesbe it economic, man-made or delivered by Mother Naturethe global media often contacts Robert P. Hartwig, the president of the New York-based Insurance Information Institute. Few people have more expertise or a clearer mind to eloquently offer up the insurance ramifications of the catastrophe at hand. Now, the 52-year-old Hartwig is packing his bags, getting ready to start teaching in August at the University of South Carolinas Darla Moore School of Business in Columbia, S.C. His loss is a big one. Ive had Bob on speed dial for the 23 years hes been involved in the insurance industry. Ive interviewed him dozens of times, always with the understanding that he would articulate the industrys views with tremendous knowledge, clarity and objectivity. Ive been covering the insurance industry long enough to remember Hartwigs predecessors at the IIIGordon Stewart, Mechlin Moore and its founder, J. Carroll Bateman. Smart people all, but none had his exceptional ability to convey the role and importance of insurance without selling the business at the same time. The industrys reputation was better served as a result. A trained economist with a Ph.D. affirming his credentials, Hartwig was the furthest thing from an industry flack. He could be bold when an event demanded nerve. A case in point is 9/11. Hartwig was a witness to the Twin Towers collapsing. I was in my office in downtown Manhattan and could see the disaster unfolding, he said. Within minutes, The Wall Street Journal was on the phone asking, Are you guys going to pay for this? And I instantly said yes. It was one of my gutsiest calls ever. Had there been a different determination, I could have been fired. His remarks were not completely off the cuff, however. Property/casualty insurance policies exclude acts of war. Hartwig, perhaps alone and certainly before anyone else, understood that the terrorist attacks did not fit the traditional technical definition of war. I was nervous, but I very quickly determined that the industry would pay for the losses, he said. Within 48 hours, the rest of the industry came to the same conclusion. I didnt get any pushback because I was right. The financial impact of the terrorist attacks for P/C insurers and reinsurers was substantial, producing losses of about $32.5 billion (more than $43 billion today). Had Hartwig procrastinated in his comments, the industrys reputation would have suffered along with its financial losses. Coming from an economics background, Bob has a great sense of the political aspects of the industry, said Bruce G. Kelley, president and CEO of EMC Insurance Cos. and the IIIs current chairman. He has a clear call of what the industry will do in an event. A Fast Rise for a Bright Fellow Hartwig began his career in the insurance industry in 1993 with the National Council for Compensation Insurance. He hired on at the NCCI, a provider of workers compensation information, fresh from receiving his Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He had initially planned to follow his fathers path as an academic. (It runs in the blood, he said.) But after working as a statistician for the federal Consumer Products Safety Commission during his years at the university, he decided to venture more broadly into the job market. They offered me the opportunity to apply my analytical skills in a statistically based environment, which I found very appealing, he said. It was my first job in the insurance industry. Hartwig never looked back. Four years later, Swiss Re offered him the chance to join its research group in New York, having decided to expand the group to the city from beyond its historic base in Switzerland. He took the job to learn more about reinsurance and to relocate from Florida (at NCCI) to New York. One of his first tasks was to write one of Swiss Res respected sigma insurance reportsthe first time it was penned in English. After returning to NCCI in their Hoboken, N.J., office for a period of just under a year, the III came calling. Hartwig was hired as the Institutes economist, although he quickly persuaded then-President Gordon Stewart to alter the title to chief economist. I told Gordon that we needed to be on par with individuals having that title in banking and elsewhere in the financial services industry, he said. In 2007, Hartwig succeeded Stewart as the IIIs president. During his tenure as the Institutes chief economist and president, he had to elucidate the insurance industrys response to one disaster after another. He was the go-to guy for media questions when Hurricane Katrina and her evil sisters Wilma and Rita struck in 2005. The devastation was enormous and extraordinary, said Hartwig, who flew to New Orleans to see the destruction up close. I knew the industry would experience historic claims and record losses. I also knew Id have to counter unsubstantiated arguments that the industry was not paying out its fair share of these lossesthat it was leaving policyholders empty-handed by denying and litigating everything. The statistician in him worked overdrive to amass and analyze a vast array of data on filed and closed claims, in addition to the dollars paid by insurers. We maintained this database for the better part of two years, periodically issuing numbers to get ahead of the narrative, he said. Consequently, we could say that we had received 550,000 claims in Louisiana and paid out $12 billion so far. Once the dust settled, the industry received 1.75 million claims, of which less than 1 percent was disputed. I could in all honesty state that this was an industry I was proud of, Hartwig said. Three years later, he coped with another disaster, this one man-made. The financial crisis bankrupted major investment banks like Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns and plunged the U.S. economy into the Great Recession. Other than the giant international insurer AIG, which the federal government ultimately bailed out in a mammoth $85 billion deal, the insurance industry fared remarkably well through the difficult period. It was another impressive moment for the industry, Hartwig opined. We were able to say, despite this crisis, the worst since the Depression, the industry remains financially secure, sound, stable and strong. Insurers made good on all their claimssmall and largeirrespective of what was happening in the economy. Of late, Hartwig often must respond to media questions regarding the survival of the insurance industry, given the many entrepreneurs armed with new technologies changing how insurance is marketed, underwritten and distributed. Perceived in some quarters as a dinosaur, the industry is in the crosshairs of more than one hundred so-called InsuranceTech startups targeting more efficient and cost-effective ways to do what traditional insurers and brokers have long provided. Hartwig does not discount the value of these new businesses or the competitive threats they represent. He also acknowledges that insurers and brokers were slow in developing their own technological solutions. This is no longer the case, he asserted. The industry is investing heavily in technology at the front end and back end of the business while also developing new coverages to address the proliferation in the use of different types of technology, he said. For example, the cyber risk product has enlarged in the last couple of years to address a wider array of risks, such as the liability of directors and officers for cyber-related intrusions and other incidents. Hartwig is quick to point out that the insurance industry may be old, but it is nonetheless resilient. From the advent of Lloyds of London in 1688, this industry has evolved from insuring ships to insuring steamships, airplanes and satellites, he said. Every time a new property or liability risk emerges, the industry develops a product designed to soften its financial impact. Few industries have changed as fundamentally over the centuries, time and time again, as insurance. The same will be true in future. A More Open and Transparent Industry During nearly a quarter century of service to the insurance industry, Hartwig has been its chief spokesperson, regularly quoted in insurance trade periodicals and such leading business publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, CFO, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist and many others throughout the world. His face is a familiar one on business news programs and in the halls of Congress, where he has testified on a great variety of insurance issues. Id like to think that since I came to the III in 1998, weve been able to increase the stature of the organization, he said. This is indeed the case. In the 1970s, the III was perceived as a New York-centric institute, not surprising given the large number of insurers in the city and just north of it in Hartford, Conn. By the 1980s, the III was more of a national enterprise. Today, it is global in scale, having grown its membership ranks to the highest levels in its history. Last year, the III handled more than 6,000 requests for information and contributed to more than 3,700 news stories, most quoting Hartwig. Were a service organizationthats our culturealthough were technically organized as a trade association, he said. My job, as Ive long seen it, is to improve public understanding of what insurance is and does and how it works. The Institutes members are insurance companies, but its stakeholders are consumers, regulators, legislators and the media. We conduct analyses on their behalf and respond to requests the same business day, Hartwig said. In many ways, Ive approached my job academically, the inner professor in me always close to the skin. Now, he gets to be a real professor. Im incredibly excited to be able in my next career to get students excited about risk management and insurance, by way of attracting them to what I am certain will make for great careers, he said. I am very proud to have been a part of this industry, given what it does for people and businesses in their times of greatest need. Bob Hartwig will be missed. But he has promised to still be available to the media next time disaster strikes. I, for one, will be calling. Bernie Ecclestones mother-in-law Aparecida Schunck has been freed by police after her abduction in Interlagos, Brazil. The mother of Ecclestones mother Fabiana Flosi was kidnapped from her home 10 days ago and her captors demanded a $36.5 million ransom be paid in exchange for her release. According to Elisabete Sato from the Sao Paulo police, Schunck was rescued without the ransom being paid after an extensive police operation tracked her down to a farmhouse near Sao Paolo. A raid on the house led to her rescue and the apprehension of two suspects. The BBC reports that Ecclestone had offered to come to Brazil to employ a private security company to track down the kidnappers but was advised by Brazilian police to remain at home in the United Kingdom. It is reported that a peaceful outcome to such a kidnapping without money being exchanged is a rare occurrence in Brazil as typically, wealthy families pay the ransom in order to free their loved ones. Via BBC Photo: Victory Life Church While heading back to school may still seem far off for kids, Victory Life Church is planning ahead. For the 13th year, the church is hosting its Back-to-School Bash at Parkinson Rec Centre, where they'll give away 650 backpacks stuffed with back-to-school clothes to families that need some help. The event is still a month away, but Colleen McCallum, events co-ordinator with Victory Life, says they are looking to get volunteers for the event, as well as collect donations. Volunteers, donations, people to man different booths, that sort of thing, said McCallum. The church is accepting clothing donations, new or used, new school supplies and money to help pay for the backpacks. She says they usually need about 170 volunteers for the Back-to-School Bash. In addition, the church will be giving out free back-to-school haircuts to kids, and they're looking for local hairdressers to come by and help out. We've had up to 20 hairstylists and sometimes we only have four, it depends on who's available, McCallum said. They just give the kids basic haircuts. The church expects anywhere from 800-1,200 people to come out on Aug. 27. Last year was the first year that all 650 backpacks were given out. In addition to the Back to School Bash, Victory Life Church also hosts a Good Friday dinner, which brought about 3,300 guests out this year, and a Christmas Day dinner, which brings out about 500 guests. Clothing and school supplies donations can be dropped at La-Z-Boy Furniture at 1850 Spall Road. Those interested in volunteering can call the church at 250-862-3044. Photo: Cedar Bridge School Cedar Bridge School in Lumby has been given a boost by an anonymous donor. The donor has offered to match donations, received between Aug. 1 through the month of September, to the schools capital campaign up to a maximum of $50,000. "We are very excited about this generous offer and the opportunity to fund our recently launched capital campaign to expand the school classroom space," said Roxanne Brierley, campaign chair. Cedar Bridge is an alternative school inspired by Waldorf education, teaching preschool to Grade eight. It has taken many years of commitment, financial support, as well as many volunteer hours from the founding teachers and families to build the school to its current size, according to a press release from the school. Grades enrolment has doubled in the past year and even more students are expected this autumn, the release stated. Master Builder Robbie McCarthy show us all the hidden secrets of California's Legoland. Photo: Twitter Less than two months after Fort McMurray, Alta., residents were allowed to return to the city after a devastating fire, the municipality has activated its emergency operations centre to deal with flooding. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo tweeted Sunday that people should restrict travel around Fort McMurray, and that anyone whose basements are susceptible to flooding should move their valuables to a safe place. The tweets also pointed out that barricades have been placed on some roads, and warned that driving on flooded roads is dangerous due to the possibility of debris and slippery ground. Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for Fort McMurray and surrounding areas on Sunday morning. The forecast says some areas could receive thunderstorms that deliver up to 100 millimetres of rain. It says heavy downpours are likely to cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. Residents of the oilsands capital began returning in June after a wildfire spread into the city on May 3 and forced more than 80,000 people to leave for nearly a month. It destroyed roughly 2,400 homes and other buildings about one-tenth of the city. The fire in May displaced about 90,000 people in the region and destroyed about 2,400 homes and other buildings. Photo: The Canadian Press Government officials say efforts to activate a temporary water pipeline following an oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River were interrupted by what they suspect was a motorist who drove over the line too fast. Workers have been building the 30-kilometre-long pipeline for more than a week in order to supply Prince Albert with an alternate source of water after the city of about 35,000 shut its intakes to prevent oil from the spill upstream from entering its treatment plant. Duane McKay, Saskatchewan's commissioner of emergency management, says the line crosses a highway in several places. McKay says there are ramps at the crossings, but he says it appears a driver may have failed to obey the speed limit at one of the crossings on Saturday and damaged the line. The city has been relying on stored water from reservoirs and a retention pond since the Husky Energy pipeline near Maidstone leaked up to 250,000 litres of oil and other materials into the North Saskatchewan more than a week ago. McKay says he believes the damage to the water pipeline has been repaired, but doesn't know how much of a delay the incident caused. "These alternative water sources are being pumped in and along the highways," McKay told a phone-in media briefing on Sunday, noting there are workers at various spots along the line. "It's raised the issue of safety and people should pay attention to those limits." McKay said the driver that's suspected to have caused the problem didn't stick around. The temporary line runs to the South Saskatchewan River. Prince Albert has also built a shorter line to the Little Red River. On Sunday afternoon, Prince Albert posted an update on its website saying testing on water from the Little Red was successful and that it has started flowing through city pipes. The province has estimated that the spill has affected the water supply to about 62,000 people in the area. North Battleford, a city which also draws its water from the North Saskatchewan, has relied on well water since the spill and is constructing its own temporary line to the town of Battleford's treatment plant. Husky has said it noticed pressure "anomalies" in part of its pipeline on July 20 and detected the spill the following day, when the line was immediately shut down. Husky Energy and the province both say the cause of the spill is still under investigation. The government has said it expects Husky to submit that full report within 90 days of the pipeline breach. Photo: Contributed Following the grisly discovery of a severed cat's leg in Glenmore, more Kelowna residents are sounding the alarm. Leonie and Don Bennett found the paw and leg in their backyard in Old Glenmore, Sunday morning. They believe a coyote may be responsible and alerted pet owners to keep their animals inside. After Castanet published the story, more reports have come to light. Kevin Weston lives a couple of blocks away from Glenmore Elementary School and says his golden retriever was attacked in the family's backyard about 10 days ago. The incident happened about 11 p.m. and sounded like a raccoon or big cat, he says. "Our dog was cut up and lost quite a bit of fur." Meanwhile, Leanne Kemila says she heard "an awful cat sound" Sunday night near Springfield and Rutland roads. "I am thinking it could be something else. The sound was a terrible screaming sound, sometime between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. "When I heard it I found myself wondering if a person was torturing a cat." Photo: Getty Images Thousands of Kelowna residents were without power for about an hour Monday morning. The lights went out just before 9 a.m. for about 5,300 customers in the downtown north end. FortisBC spokesperson Nicole Bogdanovic said the outage was caused by wildlife. FortisBC crews worked quickly and safely at the substation by Recreation Avenue to fix the problem and had power back on just after 10 a.m., she said. Photo: Contributed The Slovenian Society of the Okanagan is getting to the 'heart' of the matter with a donation to the KGH Foundation. The society recently donated the balance of funds, a little over $14,000, to the foundation. The donation includes $10,000 earmarked specifically for outpatient cardiac services at Kelowna General Hospital, specifically, the purchase of an ECG cart. The balance of the funds will go towards the purchase of a Broda transport recliner chair for Central Okanagan Hospice House. Over the years, we have had many wonderful experiences working together as Slovenians as well as with members of other cultural groups in the area, said founding president Ignac Konte. We are very proud to have this be our final gift to the community, one that we know will have a lasting impact for the people of the Okanagan. The society has gifted more than $22,000 to KGH and its associated residential care facilities. This is a truly generous gift, one that will be put to very specific use at the hospital," said foundation senior development officer, Mischa Mueller. Cemtech Asia and the Philippine growth trail ICR Research By Published 01 August 2016 Cemtech Asias seventh conference and exhibition, which took place in Manila, Philippines, between 19-22 June, provided an exceptional opportunity to take stock of the industrys progress in one of the worlds fastest-growing regions. Ernesto M Ordonez, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP), delivered the keynote address, using the opportunity to highlight the countrys upward momentum in cement consumption. Ernesto M Ordonez spoke of his recent meeting with incoming president Rodrigo Duterte, in which the latter had stated that he was committed to maintaining and expanding investment in Filipino infrastructure. Investment in public works would continue to play a major role in the national budget, Mr Ordonez pledged, with cement consumption growing by 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, buoyed by increased government spending. However, challenges remained: firstly, power supply to producers could be unreliable and prices were 50-200 per cent higher than in neighbouring countries. Secondly, there was the difficulty of supplying bagged cement to a country of over 7000 islands, many of which lacked modern port facilities. Finally, Mr Ordonez expounded on the need to combat the smuggling of substandard cement from abroad. Nestor Arcansalin, director of Resource-Based Industries at the Filipino Department of Trade and Industry, continued the positive focus by noting that construction output had risen by 10.8 per cent YoY in 1Q16. While sluggish global growth had dragged down exports of goods, fixed capital formation rose by 26 per cent in the last quarter, helping to explain the increase in cement consumption. Mr Arcansalin also highlighted the efforts the Filipino cement sector was making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He stated that an increased use of blended cements was reducing the need for clinker and thus helping to cut overall carbon output. Market overviews and forecasts The conference focus then shifted to provide a wider view. David Bowers, International Cement Review economist, presented a forecast of global cement consumption growth from 2016 to 2018. The projection based on in-house macro-economic modelling envisaged that global demand would grow by around 1.5 per cent annually, with some regions notably west Africa and southeast Asia performing substantially better than this average. Further speakers presented in-depth market profiles of Vietnam, Korea and Myanmar. Lan Nguyen of StoxPlus Corporation spoke of the forces driving consolidation within the cement industry in Vietnam. Ms Nguyen noted that the Vietnamese industry was highly fragmented and most of its 62 firms only have control over a single small plant. Average utilisation rates were 50-60 per cent, she said, making consolidation a must. To facilitate this, she explained that the government was prepared to allow firms to be sold at a loss. In the 1Q16 cement plants operated by Viettel and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation had already been transferred to Vicem, ahead of a sell-off of a minority interest. In his overview of Korean cement markets, Jae Young Kim of Tallship Trading predicted that consumption would peak next year, then decline thereafter. While exports held out some promise, Mr Kim noted that at 9Mta they were by now close to their economic limit. With domestic consumption slowing and exports near capacity, Mr Kim said that firms needed to concentrate on improving profitability. This process had already begun, with a round of sell-offs and consolidation having taken place. Further pressure would come from the introduction of an emissions trading system, which would begin operation in earnest from 2017, Mr Kim added. Speaking on the state of the cement industry in Myanmar, Soe Naing of KBZ Industries painted a picture of a sector that had hitherto been insulated from foreign competition. Cement plants, he explained, had historically sold direct to the government and were thus inexperienced at marketing their product. Meanwhile, imports were similarly state-controlled. This would change as Myanmar democratised, Mr Naing said. To develop the economy and improve existing infrastructure, per capita cement consumption would need to rise above its present level of only 138kg. Doing more with less Peter Hoddinott until recently chief executive of Lafarge Africa spoke to methods of improving the sectors capital efficiency. Cement had a much higher capital/turnover ratio than other industries, he said, stating that the impact of recession-induced cutbacks had shown that firms were spending too much on sustaining their operations. Mr Hoddinott observed that since 2007, sustaining capex had fallen by 80 per cent. While it had been feared that this would lead to a decline in reliability, in fact there had been no noticeable impact and sold-out plants saw performance improve. Sustainability and the environment Jim OBrien of CSR Consulting presented the findings of his research on global leadership in sustainability performance. Basing his analysis on the sustainability reports of 20 major producers, Mr OBrien said that there had been improvements on nearly every metric, with the use of both alternative fuels and materials rising. Thermal efficiency was improving steadily, all while CO 2 emissions per tonne fell dramatically. Other environmental impacts, such as water use, biodiversity protection and health and safety, also demonstrated encouraging trends. To illustrate the improvements made to sustainability, Cemex executive Ernesto Felix spoke of the work his company had carried out to reduce carbon emissions in the Philippines. Mr Felix stated that Cemex had achieved a level of 680kg CO 2 /t of cement produced, bringing CO 2 output down by 0.5Mta compared to 1990 levels. On a similar note, Luc Reibel of Walter Materials Handling and Dominador Reyes of Holcim Philippines spoke of how Holcims Lugait plant had been upgraded to utilise rice husks as an alternative fuel. The conference also heard from ABBs Andrew Wilson on energy-efficient technologies, Tahir Abbas of Cinar on developing a cost-effective fuel switching capability and Beumers Macario Yap on the use of AF at Aalborg Portland Cement, Denmark. Andreas Renetzeder of Scheuch gave a presentation on the innovative SCR technologies for NO x , VOC, CO and odour reduction. Technical highlights Dr Hans-Wilhelm Meyer of Cemcon spoke of the opportunities presented by the use of alternative raw materials, particularly in small markets such as those found on the islands of the Philippines or Indonesia. Dr Meyer argued that the key to serving such markets was to employ small mobile grinding units and to make use of locally-available natural additives. This approach was endorsed by Cemengals Moises Nunez, who gave a presentation on the Plug and Grind solutions offered by his company. Phillip Hempel of Gebr Pfeiffer also used the end of his presentation on MultiDrive mills to highlight his firms development of a new small-scale modular grinding unit. International equipment exhibition The Cemtech equipment exhibition held alongside the conference provided a forum for delegates to meet and interact with leading technology providers, including: ASEC Automation, Cemengal, Dal Engineering Group/Fons Technology International, Fives Group, Howden Group, Christian Pfeiffer, Billerudkorsnas, CNBM Engineering/CNBM Smart, Hangzhou Hota M&E Industry, Maize & Blue, Sika, Geometrica Inc, Fritz & Macziol, Koppern, Unicast Inc, Inform GmbH, Beumer Group, CBMI, Walter Materials Handling/ATS Group, Standard Industrie, Tongda Refractory Technologies, ANIVI, Bedeschi SpA/CTP Team, ABB, FLSmidth Pfister, Venti Oelde, Gebr Pfeiffer, Redecam, Mondi, Endress+Hauser II AG, Schenck Process, Scantech International and Scheuch GmbH. Dr Joe Khor of CPB Engineering examined cement grinding systems, noting that the process was inherently inefficient and energy intensive. He made the case for ball mills on account of their reliability and flexibility, stating that they offered lower upfront costs and high-quality outputs. Giving the conference the benefit of his companys experience in the use of large clinker coolers in Asian markets, Justus von Wedel of IKN spoke of the lessons learned in installing and operating such equipment. Additional presentations covered a wide range of subjects including bulk loading operations (Bedeschi), truck dispatch automation (Fritz & Macziol), grinding systems and cement composition optimisation (Chryso) and the Fons Delta Cooler (Fons International). Ghana: ban on imports ICR Newsroom By 01 August 2016 With concerns registered by trade groups in the country, the importation of cement to Ghana will be banned following a change to the Import and Export Regulations Bill. The new Bill will outlaw bagging and importation of cement to Ghana starting from 5 August 2016. Due to Ghanas cooperation with the ECOWAS trade agreements, this new regulation will exempt imports from ECOWAS-member countries. Those looking to import cement from non-ECOWAS-member countries will have to apply for renewable licences. The government will establish a Portland Cement Monitoring Committee (PCMC) to enforce the new regulations. The PCMC will also advise the Trade Ministry on issues such as pricing, quantities and production. Industry players have warned that if there is immediate implementation of the new regulations, a sporadic price increment could be seen. Ghacem, produced by HeidelbergCement, is the only locally-manufactured cement. Published under Im sitting alone in the the Ace Hotels cantina, sipping a glass of blue agave tequila, a seductive witness to the road-weary traveler at the table in front of it. The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity, and Im still having trouble remembering whether it was real, or just a jumbled dream. The 2016 two-week, cross-country pilgrimage known as Mini Takes the States (MTTS) is over, leaving me exhausted and sentimental. Over the course of four days I traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, and then on to Palm Springs, California, where I now find myself braving 115-degree heat indexes. The drive took me through expanses of desert, carved through red rock canyons, traversed wildfire-ravaged mountains, and into the cool breezes from countless tiny lakes. But in the end, I had barely seen anything, because Mini Takes the States winds through 4,397 miles of this country. If you love Minis, and want to see America, this is the way to do it. It all started at Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 9, with a team of parachutists diving 3,000 feet toward a fleet of Mini convertibles. Over the course of the next 15 days, enthusiasts drove through two national parks, onto eight race tracks, and into 14 cities. Along the way over 4,000 participants had jumped on and off to experience stages of the rally, with more than 900 owners sticking around for the entire trip. At some points, the caravan ballooned to more than 1,500 owners and 700 vehicles. I jumped on for the final leg of the journey, where I discovered that this wasnt some impersonal cross-country drive, its more a party on wheels thats filled with every kind of Mini enthusiast imaginable. So if youre an owner of Oxfords best, here are six reasons why you need to experience Mini Takes the States at least once in your life. 1. Customize and let your freak flag fly One of the great things about Mini is how easy it is to build one to your unique tastes, and MTTS is a great way to see a whole ton of customized cars in one place. While tweaking a Mini right from the factory is highly encouraged and almost mandatory, the modifications owners make to their cars before the trip are even cooler. Theres no pressure to keep weight down or focus on aerodynamics here, so participants tend to make their rides as fun as possible. Speckled with everything from crazy hippie paint jobs and styrofoam spoilers, to tasteful nods to Minis early rally days, the cars are as diverse and colorful as their owners are. 2. Youve never seen a drive like this A road trip from one end of America to the other is one hell of a way to experience everything the continental lower 48 has to offer, and with each biennial voyage taking you in a different direction, theres something for everyone on this adventure. From twisting Appalachian trails and the mighty Rocky Mountains, to the humbling skies above the open plains of the Dakotas and alien-like stretches of Nevada desert, drivers get to see virtually all of the great American landscape. 3. Lifelong friends are made here This sums up why events like these are so important: When you get this many like-minded automotive fanatics in one place, the connections made are stronger than steel. Speaking with throngs of MTTS participants, I got all sorts of stories, where friends who come back time and again catch up over of coffee, and trade tales that belong in an anthology. 4. Mini experts abound, so youll learn a lot After four or five overnight stops in small towns filled with sensational food, booze, music, and art, you also pick up a lot of information on Minis. Some drivers specialize in being historians, and can tell you every detail from the companys past and present. Others opt for a more mechanical approach, and focus on components like suspension and brakes, while the guy next to them knows all the turbo and exhaust cheats to turn a John Cooper Works hardtop up to eleven. So if you want to learn more about the brand, this is a great way to dive in. 5. Go ahead and bring the pooch Members of the canine community show up in spades for this trip, and they tend to be just as likable and excited to be here as their owners. Its no secret that dogs love cars, and Mini takes full advantage of this when it comes time to plan the trip. So break out the chew toys and opt for the dealer installed kennel tie-downs, because your furry friend is going to love MTTS. 6. Its for a great cause Like any well-executed cruise-in or weekend group drive, MTTS tends to bring out the best in people, and donations to good causes from start to finish fuel on the notion that being human should mean acting humane. This years targeted charity was Feeding Americas charity partner #DefyHunger, and it raised enough money to provide more than 1 million meals for people facing hunger, crushing its goal of 800,000 meals. The turnout for MTTS 2016 was incredible and we could not be more proud of the MINI community for everything theyve done to help us support Feeding America, said Tom Noble, Department Head, MINI Brand Communications. Our owners not only gained the support of their friends and family at home but they also engaged with people in the local communities along the route. Sometimes, the little things in life can make the biggest difference, especially when lots of like-minded people believe that life isnt just about living, but giving as well. They may drive small cars, but after my short time on MTTS, Im convinced these Mini owners all have very big hearts. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has singled out six international junior researchers between 29 and 44 years of age for one of Germanys most valuable research awards: the winners will each be granted up to 1.65 million. With the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, young researchers receive risk capital for innovative projects during an early stage in their careers. The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award allows them to conduct research at a German university or research institute for a period of up to five years and develop their own research groups at their host institutes. The award is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Thomas Rachel, and the Secretary General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Enno Aufderheide, will present the 2016 Sofja Kovalevskaja Awards to the winners in Berlin on 15 November. An invitation to the media will follow. The recently selected award winners, their respective home country, last country of residence, research area and host institute are: What's it really like to work at Chicago startups and tech companies? Blue Sky's Inside Job lets people on the ground tell us in their own words. Maggie Lyons, 23, People Operations Specialist at LoadDelivered Advertisement We are the middleman between the customers and the shippers. So our customers will give us a call and say they have a shipment that needs to get shipped from Point A to Point B, and they need help getting it there. So we'll call our network of carriers to transport that shipment for them. The way that LoadDelivered fits in is we have a niche in the food and beverage section. We want to have the best service when it comes to perishable goods. It's a lot more risk. It's something in which you need to have perfect service. Advertisement People Operations Specialist is primarily a combination between all of our human resources, our recruiting and the cultural initiatives for the company. And I'll do some things to help the marketing team out. There wasn't one of these before me. I live in Lake View. I take the train, the Brown Line. I was commuting from home in the suburbs, and moving here has been such an amazing change. I was raised in Homer Glen and went to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. I majored in human development. I knew that I wanted to be involved in a small company and work with people. I was talking to Ross (Vigil), who's now the director of client experience, at one of the career fairs in spring semester 2015. And here I am. I started this People Operations Specialist position end of May. I was doing carrier sales, and I loved the company, and I loved everyone I worked with, and I wanted to be involved in the company in a different way. Something great about LoadDelivered is everyone is very open and available and wants to hear your thoughts. You can walk up to the leaders and schedule a meeting. So that opens the doors to communication. You're comfortable, and you're confident in having these important conversations with people, because you know they care. I was directly involved with day-to-day experiences of the whole team, and once I transitioned into this position, I understood what people wanted from our company. Just with conversations among my friends at work, like, "I wish I had time to work out. And we should do a workout class together." Now we have Yoga Tuesdays in our in-house gym. I don't go, because I'm not that flexible and it would be kind of embarrassing. I'm trying to get myself to go. We have Limitless cold brew coffee, a huge keg of it. And matcha tea. We get free lunches on Fridays. We also do Ladies in Logistics it's known within the industry where we'll do different activities for the women in the company. I think it's important to foster the growth of women in LoadDelivered. It's a male-dominated industry and it's a male-dominated company, so we want to value the women that do contribute to the success of our company. There's definitely lots of energy here. The floor is always buzzing. There's people celebrating, there's people high-fiving. There's loud music. I don't know whether that's us being millennials or what, but it's a very high-energy field that's very competitive and motivating. And everyone wants everyone to do well. Advertisement I think a misconception is that millennials arent hardworking, whereas all I see are hardworking people. Were here from early morning to the evening time, and everyone is working together and working really hard to make sure everything is going smoothly so that our customers are happy. Maybe thats something that older generations or the outside world doesnt really see or understand, whereas I get it firsthand. As told to freelance reporter Erin Chan Ding. Stories are edited for length and clarity. Legislation awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature represents the alcohol industry's attempt to protect the so-called three-tier system against unlicensed wine shippers sending booze to Illinois customers and merchants illegally bringing alcohol across state borders without paying taxes. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) Beware, ye bootleggers and illicit e-commerce shippers of booze into Illinois the state law is about to get tougher. Senate Bill 2989, sponsored by state Sen. James Clayborne, D-East Saint Louis, seeks to toughen oversight and enforcement of transportation of alcohol into Illinois. The bill is awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature after passing through the state House and Senate. Backed by the powerful and long-established alcohol wholesalers lobby, the legislation represents the alcohol industry's attempt to protect the so-called three-tier system against unlicensed wine shippers sending booze to Illinois customers and merchants illegally bringing alcohol across state borders without paying taxes. Advertisement "Licensed wineries that have the ability to ship into the market they're following the law. Why is another winery able to not license themselves and ship in? It's really about making sure we're able to cover the laws that are in place and making sure everyone's following the rules properly," said Danny Wirtz, vice chair of Breakthru Beverage Group, the alcohol distributor company formed in January when Wirtz Beverage Group merged with New York-based Charmer Sunbelt. When you buy a six-pack or a bottle of wine or tequila at a store in Illinois, you're participating in the three-tier system in its most traditional format. A wholesaler sold that alcohol to the store after buying it from the manufacturer. Advertisement But of course, consumers have more options these days. You could use an app to order your vino from one of Chicago's several alcohol delivery services, like Drizly or Instacart, which partner with retailers. Or you could buy your booze online, from out of state, via websites likes eBay Wine and Amazon. Or, if really determined, you could drive to Wisconsin and bring back a twelver of New Glarus Spotted Cow, a popular beer not sold in Illinois. This bill doesn't limit any of those options, but it does impose tougher penalties on the "bad actors" of e-commerce and those who illegally transport large quantities of alcohol across state lines with plans of reselling, said Jeremy Kruidenier, vice executive director of the Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois, a trade group funded by the state's two largest wholesalers, Breakthru and Southern Wine & Spirits. Any person transporting into Illinois 108 liters or more of wine, 45 liters or more of spirits, or 118 liters or more of beer would face a felony charge instead of a fine and business offense if the bill is signed into law. Likewise, any nonlicensed wine shipper that's already received a cease-and-desist letter from regulators would also face felony charges. Last year, Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois conducted its own investigation that showed hundreds of cases of wine and liquor entering Illinois illegally. At the time, the trade group calculated that the state had lost $20 million to $30 million in tax dollars over a single year. The legislation also increases the licensing fees across the board for manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, and establishes more of an audit process "to track how product is moving into Illinois," Kruidenier said. "Frankly, I don't think there's been enough enforcement," Kruidenier said. Kruidenier emphasized the association wasn't opposed to e-commerce and declined to name businesses that haven't been adhering to existing state law. Revenue from the increase in licensing fees is intended to help boost enforcement and will be split between the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and the state's general fund, he said. gtrotter@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @GregTrotterTrib Embattled Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is set to explain the secretive science behind the company's blood testing at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. (Glenn Chapman / AFP/Getty Images) It's finally arrived: a moment of truth for Theranos, the blood-testing company that was going to change the world with a technology that it has refused to explain - until now. The Silicon Valley startup has said chief executive Elizabeth Holmes will finally pull back the curtain on its science on Monday afternoon at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Philadelphia. Advertisement But is it too little, too late? Last month, regulators banned Holmes from owning or operating a laboratory for two years, though the company may appeal the decision. Theranos has had to void and correct two years of patient tests conducted on its proprietary Edison device. The company is under criminal investigation, and its major partner, Walgreens, has ended the relationship. In late June, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce wrote a letter to Holmes seeking information about "how company policies permitted systematic violations of federal law." Advertisement Beleaguered Theranos has taken at least one step to restore public trust. In April, the company added respected laboratory experts to their scientific and medical advisory board - and with their guidance, scientists expect the talk won't belly-flop. But what could the presentation actually achieve? "Elizabeth is looking forward to introducing and explaining Theranos' technologies to the scientific community and the public," a spokeswoman wrote in an email. "This is part of the company's efforts to become more open about its technologies and to share its work and data with the scientific community, including submissions to peer-reviewed journals." After months of slow unraveling, punctuated by regulatory missteps and lawsuits filed by consumers that the company has said lack merit, we asked laboratory medicine specialists what they thought Theranos could achieve in 90 minutes on stage - and what would remain to be shown. 1) This talk won't redeem Theranos. Even if the presentation is scientifically impeccable, it won't be enough to singlehandedly redeem Theranos, several experts agreed. Holmes' 45-minute presentation will be followed by 45 minutes of questions from three experts on stage and the audience. That's a start. But it is only a start. "In our clinical laboratory field, it is interesting to show an innovative and revolutionary technology, but if that technology is not robust or reliable enough to pass analytical and clinical muster, no one cares!" wrote K.T. Jerry Yeo, a professor of pathology at the University of Chicago, in an email. Beyond the presentation, scientists will still want to see regulatory compliance, peer-reviewed publications and real-world tests of the technology outside of the company's walls. "It is not enough to just show your own company's data, the system needs to be independently validated by external testing sites, preferably in a multi-center type evaluation by reputable academic teaching hospitals," Yeo said. Advertisement As far back as October, Holmes also promised that her company would publish the scientific data behind its technology. "I think I am learning. We are engineers and scientists, and we have our views of how to create technology and how to invent things, and I think doing so in this medical space, we have to publish our data, and so we are. We were never against that," Holmes said at the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit in October. A spokeswoman said Theranos was "actively working on preparing submissions to peer-reviewed journals," but no timeline was available. 2) No one has any idea what to expect. The abstract describing Theranos' presentation says Holmes will detail the finger-stick blood collection device - possibly the nanotainer that was flagged as an unapproved medical device by regulators last year. She will compare Theranos's technology to samples collected with more traditional methods. The company also plans to mention a diagnostic test for Zika virus. A spokeswoman said the presentation will focus on a newer technology than the "Edison" device that led to voided results. But given the company's track record of secrecy, laboratory specialists aren't sure whether to expect convincing data or more hand waving. Advertisement "The question is: What, if anything does Theranos have in terms of genuinely novel technology? I don't think anyone really knows," said Stephen R. Master, director of the central laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine, one of three experts leading the question-and-answer part of the talk. "The reason people got really excited and interested in them is they made these really bold claims about being able to do really large numbers of tests on a finger-stick sample, and it's still an open question whether that's true. I think this could start to address the question: Do they have any technology that can live up to those claims?" Patti Jones, the president of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, said that the big questions the presentation should answer are straightforward: how the technology works, and how well it works. That means not just how accurate the results are and how they compare to other technologies, but also how consistent and reliable the results are, which tests the technology can do and how wide a range it can measure. 3) The questions about Theranos aren't just about its science. Even if the presentation provides enough detail to answer the many questions scientists have about the technology, Theranos will have to deal with the sanctions regulators have imposed. And if Theranos is able to get back on track with regulators, there's another challenge that looks just as big: restoring its credibility with the medical community that would adopt the technology. "Trust and reputation are VERY important," Jones wrote in an e-mail. "Even if they present convincing science, they have a LONG way to go to convince laboratory professionals that the technology can be used in our labs. Again, they need to begin by publishing the supporting proof." The fear that some scientists have expressed privately is that the company may brandish the presentation, in front of the worlds' experts, as a stamp of legitimacy and approval. Even if scientists are impressed by Holmes, they will still be waiting for more evidence. John Weber (from left), Phil Hahn, Len Bessette, Larry Lane and Chuck Bailley are part of South Shore Brass Band, which performs Aug. 6 at Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton. (South Shore Performing Arts Company / Handout) Two musical events slated to be held at Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton are part of Arts in the Parks, an Indiana Arts Commission-sponsored initiative taking place throughout the state. Two musical events slated to be held at Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton are part of Arts in the Parks, an Indiana Arts Commission-sponsored initiative taking place throughout the state. Advertisement South Shore Performing Arts Company presents South Shore Brass Band on Saturday, while Alphorns perform Sunday at the park's City West Shelter. "Money was delegated by the legislature because it's, of course, the 200th anniversary of the state of Indiana, it's the 100th anniversary of Indiana State Parks and it's the 50th anniversary of the Indiana Arts Commission," said Phil Hahn, who organized the concerts at Indiana Dunes State Park. "They combined that to encourage artists to do programs in the park. They were competitive grants." Advertisement Conducted by Charles Mann, South Shore Brass Band performs the music of Leroy Anderson, the Beatles, Elton John, John Philip Sousa and John Williams. The performance will include popular music and show tunes, classics and marches with solos, small ensembles and audience interaction. The group of 28 musicians includes cornet, fluegelhorn, tenor and baritone horn, euphonium, trombone, tuba and percussion players. "Generally, unlike concert bands, it's one person on a part so everybody's responsible for their own part in the music. This is our 11th anniversary year," said Hahn, who plays solo tenor horn, sometimes called horn, in South Shore Brass Band, whose members include residents of Crown Point and Griffith. "We like to think of ourselves as an educational group to get people to understand what a brass band is. Most of the people in Brass Band, we go in and do clinics with students in the schools and kids in the band programs." The Alphorns concert features Hahn from the Ein Prosit traditional German band and some of his friends. They will educate the audience about the 15-foot-long wooden instrument called the alpine horn, or alphorn. Cowbells will be part of the show, which includes music written and arranged for alphorn solos and ensembles, and attendees can try the instruments for themselves toward the end of the program. "The alphorn was played outdoors in the Alps, and we like to play outdoors every opportunity we get," said Hahn, of Valparaiso. "I take my alphorn when I travel and I love to find places where it will resonate to the woods and off the hillsides. It's just great for harmonizing that way. The sound carries long distances. In the Alps, it was primarily used for signaling. It wasn't used as much for music." Advertisement Hahn said he is looking forward to the two performances that have Lake Michigan as the backdrop. "With the whole grant program and the idea of being outside in nature, music goes along with outdoors. I'd rather play outdoors any day." Indiana Dunes State Park concerts When: South Shore Brass Band at 4 p.m. Aug. 6; Alphorns at 3 p.m. Aug. 7 Where: Indiana Dunes State Park's City West Shelter, 1600 N. 25 East, Chesterton Admission: $7 in-state vehicle; $12 out-of-state vehicle Advertisement Information: 219-926-1390 or www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2980.htm Jessi Virtusio is a freelance writer. Less than a year old, Cantina 1910 has endured enough controversy for a 10-year veteran. The Andersonville restaurant opened in September and quickly attracted a swarm of negative attention from online citizens, who demonized the place for charging for chips and salsa (the housemade salsas more than justify the tariff) and recoiling at some of the less-familiar dishes. It must be fun to be called "inauthentic" by people ill-equipped to do so. Advertisement It got so crazy a backlash, bash-the-bashing-Yelpers emerged. And just as that storm had been weathered (Cantina 1910 placated the critics by adding more margaritas to the drink list), opening chef Diana Davila, whose fearless cooking was being lauded by working critics, abruptly left, as did much of the kitchen team. It took three months for co-owners Mark Robertson and Mike Sullivan to find a replacement, while original pastry chef Andrew Pingul heroically held down the fort. Advertisement California chef Scott Shulman arrived in March, his resume littered with Michelin-starred restaurants; with Shulman and Pingul (who, thankfully, returned to his breads-and-dessert duties), Cantina 1910 has a boast-worthy kitchen team again. The cherry raspado dessert includes cherry shaved ice drizzled with cherry-chile syrup, with sweetened condensed milk nestled in the middle and dotted with cubes of aronia (chokeberry) gel and compressed rhubarb and green apple. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) Shulman's approach, much like Davila's before him, is to interpret Mexican cuisine with local, seasonal ingredients. This permits more than a little creativity, evidenced by Shulman's arroz con pollo, which arrives as a massive fried ball containing chicken mousse, poached egg and ancho puree, supported by a base of risotto with poblano, peas and corn ragu and topped by cilantro-jalapeno gremolata. The online Authenticity Police's collective head may explode, but it's a delicious dish. "When we approached the dish, we thought, 'We're not going to make grandmother's version any better, so let's make it different,'" Shulman said. Shulman's daily "chef's ceviche" might raise an eyebrow or two as well; if there's such a thing as Asian ceviche, this would qualify: rolled-up slices of escolar with shimeji mushrooms, ancho-flavored dashi and red shiso leaf. Again, unexpected, and delicious. Shulman doesn't overlook the familiar. The menu offers more than a half-dozen tacos, served individually or in three- or four-taco flights. They're all well-made, the double tortillas small but piled high with ingredients. I particularly liked the housemade chorizo tacos, topped with apple matchsticks and queso fresco; the turkey carnitas, with radish and a delightful peach salsa; and carne asada, with roasted-tomato salsa and coins of breaded bone marrow. Shulman has a way with scallops, presenting them in a ceviche (more like an aguachile) with halved cherry tomatoes and chayote in a morita-pepper-laced tomato water; it's a restrained preparation that gives the sweet scallops center stage. Scallops divorciados, a play on a traditional breakfast dish, arrays the shellfish, peas and masa dumplings over contrasting corn and pea-poblano sauces. I could make a meal out of the esquites, a corn-three-ways jumble (including barely cooked kernels for a bit of crunch) with queso fresco, mayo and a torched corn pudding on top; and the rich queso fundido, which contains more of that good chorizo within the poblano-Parmesan-mornay sauce. We challenged the chefs behind some of Chicago's biggest, craziest, messiest burgers to eat the monsters they've created. Read the story behind the video here. (Chicago Tribune) Large plates are mostly in the teens and mid-$20s. The big spend is the $36 dry-aged strip steak with sweet corn, spicy tomatillo and stuffed squash blossom, but the well-flavored steak may well suffice for two. Barramundi, served over a banana leaf with pureed hominy, tangy tomato-tamarind sauce and a side dish of roasted potatoes is a good choice, and you'll be happy with the day's pan-roasted fish with "mole fresca" and masa dumplings. Slow-cooked chicken is a butter-soft boneless breast supported by black-bean mole, colorful cauliflower and rutabaga puree. Advertisement Pingul's dishes are delightful, whether you arrive early for his breakfast pastries (the restaurant opens for breakfast/brunch daily), order the savory cheese-and-chili-flecked panecito buns with dinner or dive deep into the dessert list. Among the highlights are the camera-ready tostada, artfully topped with jocoque ice cream (which will remind you of creme fraiche); the flan with pecan crumble; and the hula-hoop-shaped churro with cajeta and vanilla crema dips. The space is beautiful, a brick, steel and glass exterior that gives way to a rustic-looking interior filled with local Mexican art (the works of Victor M. Montanez are in rotation at present), reclaimed-wood tables (made by Square Nail, also in Andersonville) and handsome light fixtures (by local designer Ted Harris). Metal chairs are somewhat uncomfortable; sit on the cushioned banquette if you can. The kitchen's fine cooking is being somewhat undermined by the front-room staff, which doesn't lack for pleasantness but occasionally can't get out of its own way. Nothing egregiously bad, understand, but there's a lack of efficient flow to service that is borne out by the time it takes drinks and even food to arrive. (When they do arrive, the cocktails, especially the smoky mezcal margarita, are quite good.) One visit I checked in with a very cheerful hostess who walked over to the dining room and disappeared for 10 minutes. Cocktails sometimes take an awfully long time to arrive. (The owners might consider adding a bartender or two.) A waiter one night carefully plotted out the order in which my dishes would arrive, only to deliver the dishes in an utterly random fashion. (I get that the kitchen pops out some dishes faster than others, but that's where teamwork comes in.) And the glass of red wine I ordered with my main course arrived after the dish had been eaten, and was so warm it might have been resting on a windowsill. (The waiter should have offered to cancel the wine order.) If this were just a taco-and-salsa restaurant, I wouldn't make a big deal out of these glitches. But Shulman's and Pingul's cooking, and this restaurant's potential, demand more. pvettel@chiacagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @philvettel Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune. Cantina 1910 5025 N. Clark St. 773-506-1910 cantina-1910.com Advertisement Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Tribune rating: Two stars Open: Breakfast, lunch, dinner daily Prices: Entrees $16-$36 Credit cards; A, DC, DS, M, V Reservations: Strongly recommended Noise: Conversation-challenged Advertisement Other: Wheelchair accessible Lollapalooza cleans up Sunday night as the guitars fade away and the crowds disappear. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune) Though Lollapalooza was a day longer this year, the city reported a drop in arrests and citations from last year's three-day event. Twelve people were arrested and 268 concertgoers were sent to hospitals Thursday through Sunday during the Grant Park music festival, which expanded from three to four days this year to celebrate the festival's 25th anniversary. Sixteen citations were also issued, but arrest and citation details were not available at press time. Advertisement The city reported 34 arrests, 61 citations and 238 medical transports during last year's festival, which draws 100,000 music fans daily. The festival is set to be four days long again next year, from Aug. 3-6. Representatives from the city, Chicago Park District and Lollapalooza promoter C3 Presents met over the weekend and decided to continue with a four-day festival, C3 Presents co-owner Charlie Jones said. Advertisement "Everyone thought this year was a huge success, for Lollapalooza and the city," Jones said. "It was viewed as beneficial for everyone the city, the fans, the bands so it was decided to do it again next year." Jones cited favorable reports on the number of arrests and hospital visits as among the contributing factors to the decision. City officials credited stricter safety and security measures, including random magnetic wanding at entrances. A mobile surveillance unit, which allowed police officers to watch the grounds from a platform several feet in the air, was stationed by the main festival entrance. Fewer festival-goers were sent to hospitals each day as well. Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center reported treating 16 people from Grant Park. Most of the concertgoers suffered from alcohol-related ailments, a hospital spokeswoman said. Dr. Patricia Lee, the hospital's emergency medicine department chairwoman, said the weekend's rain and cooler temperatures likely kept the hospital's numbers low. "The fact that it was kind of cool, it was a pretty nice weekend actually, I think it made a huge difference," Lee said. Dr. Karen Mangold, who works in the pediatric emergency room at Lurie Children's Hospital, said many of the patients she saw Saturday and Sunday were 15- and 16-year-olds who suffered from intoxication. Advertisement "We seemed to see a lot more drug ingestions on top of the alcohol," Mangold said. Mangold said some patients reported taking the hallucinogenic drug LSD, and some suffered from drug-related seizures. Mangold said the hospital added staff and equipment to prepare for the additional day of Lollapalooza, which will likely be the case for next year's four-day festival. "On the one hand, (Lollapalooza is) an awesome concert and it brings a lot of people into the city. ... Unfortunately, for some kids, (an extended Lollapalooza) is an additional day to get in trouble," Mangold said. For the city, an extra day of music means at least an additional $500,000 in the Chicago Park District's coffers. C3 Presents is required to give the Park District a percentage of ticket sales each year, with a guaranteed minimum payment of $1.5 million when the festival is three days long. The guaranteed minimum went up to $2 million this year because of the extra day, under a 2015 amendment to the city's multi-year agreement with C3 Presents. Chicago is set to host Lollapalooza through 2021. C3 Presents is also on the hook for repairs to Grant Park after Park District officials assess the state of festival grounds later this week or early next week. Last year's tab was $236,000. Advertisement Tribune music critic Greg Kot contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Lolla's 4-day marathon: At 25, a festival defined, for better or worse, by the youth brigade Lollapalooza day one: Lana del Rey's anti-charisma, J. Cole's momentum issues Lollapalooza day two: Major Lazer loses power, Radiohead closes the night Lollapalooza day three: Red Hot Chili Peppers on cruise control, Vic Mensa rises above Advertisement Lollapalooza day four: From Sir the Baptist's 'church' service to LCD Soundsystem's comeback Best style at Lollapalooza 2016 At Lollapalooza, Loyola students pitching in to highlight composting Best (and worst) things we ate at Lollapalooza Sunday night, I watched a kid get bullied in a school bathroom. The time I was attacked myself in a school bathroom, 30-odd years ago, thus came flooding back into my consciousness. This was not my favorite part of the week. Then I took a standardized test; it was considerably harder than you might imagine. Advertisement And I was inspected by an officer of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps; I stared down at my shabby shoes with their frayed laces, pondered how I had no earthly idea how to march, fall out, carry a rifle, seriously doubted my ability to actually execute the punitive sit-ups that were apparently one lick of the commander's lips away, and generally felt like I fully deserved the zero I was given. All of these experiences took place at Ellen Gates Starr High School, a fictional creation of the youth-oriented Albany Park Theater Project, which is occupying a shuttered former Catholic school in the Avondale neighborhood to offer the kind of immersive experience of a day in the life of a student of the Chicago Public Schools that you only could do inside an actual school building, replete with seemingly working classrooms, a library, an office, security officers and a metal detector. Advertisement In this school, there are 26 scenes taking place in what feels like every corner of the building I experienced 13 of them, I think, and I heard, post-show, about several of the others from my friend Lauren, who was sent off on a different track, once we both had our identification checked. These are not all traumatic, and just how traumatic you find them will probably say a lot about your particular memories of your own high school days. Some were scenes of high school joy time in the library, say, with a caring librarian and a book by Toni Morrison. And although asking people to dances was never this much fun for me, there is a truly joyous participatory moment where a young fellow creates an entire fantasy romance to woo his grinning gal. Created with Third Rail Projects of Brooklyn and with the Goodman Theatre as a partner, "Learning Curve" teaches many things, not the least of which is just how difficult it can be to get through a day in an inner-city school, mostly because students have so little power. We forget that as adults, even if we feel we have little power ourselves. We similarly forget a life in which we're constantly in danger of being revealed in all of our ignorance in my adult life, I avoid being put on the spot assiduously; I'd far rather put people on the spot that be stuck there myself. High school kids are put there all the time usually without regard to personal circumstance. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR The show is a reminder that the school corridors of Burbank and Beverly Hills seen on TV usually populated by atypically good-looking actors who actually have graduated college already hardly have anything to say about one of the few common experiences left in America. Except one of the central points of "Learning Curve" is that high school is not a common experience, since it all depends on what kind of school you attended. All of the various authority figures in the show are played by the teenagers of APTP, whose performances resonate in all kinds of ways. My memory of the night will be seared by a young woman who went flying around the library a magical enclave in this telling in search of the right book for me. I knew such a librarian once. And, of course, by the young man who asked me what I thought he could do to prevent being bullied again. He looked me in the eye and I looked back. I gave the question a lot of thought. "I don't know," I said. For I did not, and all of what had come to me as possible solutions felt either impractical or ridiculous or humiliating, or all three at once. The kid playing the role shot me a look, partly of shared experience, partly critical of the inadequacy of my response. Those were, I thought, as I was ushered through the hallways (without a hall pass) precisely the right responses for an actor in the moment and I marveled, and marvel still, at the sophistication of that young actor's choices. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 Maidenwena Alba, center, and several other Chicago high school students perform a classroom scene during a rehearsal of "Learning Curve" on July 22, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) But then "Learning Cure," which is directed by David Feiner and Jennine Willett with Marissa Nielsen-Pincus, Stephanie Paul, Maggie Popadiak, Edward Rice, Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez and Carlton Cyrus Ward, is a very sophisticated piece of theater. There are, after all, 26 sets, all of which are lit, many of which are filled with complex movement and some of which feel more like art installations. Most high school drama you'll have seen will have inhabited merely a literal plane; "Learning Curve" embraces the symbolic, the inner life of the kid, the deeper context. So, it is not to be missed (if you can snag a ticket; capacity is limited and the show is heavily sold already). I've been staring for the last few minutes at what I wrote on the front of my yearbook or program, if you like. Advertisement It was a note about the scene that took place right before the test. The teacher told us that the school was on probation and that if we did not do well enough, the school probably would close and the teachers would be out of work. I don't doubt for a second that students are told that every day, and it is not a lie. But what I was thinking about in that moment, re-embracing my 16-year-old self, was how I would do. That wasn't selfishness, it is what a student should be thinking, although you could well argue that they should not be taking any such test at all. To say that the only way to save a flawed but beloved school is to do well on a test is not unlike your parents telling you that if you don't behave, they'll get a divorce. It is not something that should be the concern of a young person. Adults should have taken care of it, allowing every student to learn. For the biggest takeaway of all about "Learning Curve" is just how many curveballs adults throw in the way of actual learning, even though the faces you see in this show are upturned with determination, talent and ambition. Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@chicagotribune.com Twitter @ChrisJonesTrib Advertisement REVIEW: "Learning Curve" (4 stars) When: Through Nov. 19 Where: Ellen Gates Starr High School, 3640 W. Wolfram St. Running time: 2 hours Tickets: $40 ($18 for CPS community; more tickets go on sale Wednesday) at 773-866-0875 or aptpchicago.org RELATED STORIES: Advertisement 'Learning Curve' puts you smack in the middle of a Chicago public school day Albany Park Theater Project's 'Feast' to air on WTTW Joshua Henry to play Aaron Burr in 'Hamilton' in Chicago Chicago's 'Hamilton' and other cast members announced Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Harry dies. Just kidding. Advertisement But consider this our dark mark in the sky: If you're looking to read about "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" without any spoilers, read this instead. The book, which is branded as the official eighth story in the "Harry Potter" series, was published Sunday to all the midnight-release and nerds-dressing-in-cloaks fanfare of yesteryear. The "book" is actually the script of a two-part play, which officially opened Saturday in London. Author J.K. Rowling was there, and she confirmed what many fans suspected about this unusual addendum to her masterful seven-part series. "(Harry) goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we're done. This is the next generation, you know," she told Reuters. "I'm thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now." Advertisement Harry is done now. So for the generation of children who grew up with Harry, Ron and Hermione intertwined in their lives like the most dependable of friends, what happens in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," matters. "Was it good?" our moms will ask. "Should I read it?" the muggles will say. Any decision to continue the franchise would have been decried as a blatant money-grab by many, but Rowling knows most of her fans would read anything her fingers touched. She could put her grocery lists on Twitter. An actual eighth book? Unexpected, but we'd take it. A movie? Daniel Radcliffe's aging well, let's do it. A play? In London? Written by Rowling and two guys we've never heard of? And then you'll give us the script? Well, there's an idea. (Here's where we'll choose not to bore you with a quote from a fan who thinks this will ruin her childhood and another who defends Rowling's right to do whatever she wants with the characters she created.) Think pieces abounded, but come midnight, bookstores around the world were packed. We forked over $30 and readied our reading lamps, preparing to spend a long night poring over the pages, trying to capture that feeling of being back in a familiar world. Give us the play! Give us our Magic back! But here's what we forgot to remember about play scripts. They're written like this: "Harry wakes suddenly. Breathing deeply in the night. He waits a moment. Calming himself. And then he feels intense pain in his forehead. In his scar. Around him, Dark Magic moves. Advertisement GINNY: Harry ... HARRY: It's fine. Go back to sleep. GINNY: Lumos ... A nightmare? HARRY: Yes." On stage, perhaps, this would be a delight. To see how J.K. Rowling envisioned Harry as a 37-year-old man, to see magic turned real by invisible theater tricks. Reviews of the play all seemed to think so. "Quite simply, spellbinding," Variety said. A "thrilling theatrical spectacle," the Guardian promised. But as a mere script, where everything besides dialogue is written as bland stage commands ("ALBUS is sleeping in a pew. GINNY is watching him carefully. HARRY is looking out the opposite window"), it feels nothing like the detailed-filled paragraphs of the Rowling we love. It's more like sneaking a peak at her unfinished notes or finding a fetching piece of fan fiction. The magic is stunted. Advertisement The gist of everything you want to know about what becomes of Harry, Ron and Hermione is revealed in the beginning pages. Harry is Head of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic. Ron runs his brothers' joke shop. Hermione is the Minster of Magic. (Good work on the girl power, J.K.) From there, the story is woven around one of Harry's sons, Albus, who, after being sorted into Slytherin, is miserable being a child of the famous Harry Potter. His best friend is Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy, who is also awash in teenage angst because of the rumors that he is really the son of Voldemort. As they get into very typical Potter trouble with the help of a time-turner, a question hangs over the story: Is Voldemort, who Harry vanquished in the seventh book, really gone for good? The plot itself is quite compelling. You can see how the play would be mightily impressive. Maybe we should all fly to London and see it together. Except that it's sold out. But wait: Sometime before or after she uttered the words "Harry is done now," Rowling said at the premiere that they "really hope to take this play as many places as it's feasible to take it. So I hope a lot of (fans) will get to see this play in due course." Maybe there will be magic left in it when "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" makes its way to Broadway. Or Minneapolis. Or your cousin's community theater. Until then, of course, there's the upcoming film spin-off, "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them," due out in theaters this November. You could go to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Florida. Or the one in California. Or the traveling Harry Potter exhibition. You could play "Harry Potter Go," when the "Pokemon Go" creators want to strike it rich again. Gotta catch the Magic. Really, you go ahead. I'm just going to hang back and read the old books again. Advertisement (c) 2016, The Washington Post Melania Trump's nude photos are two decades old, and so is the mindset that led the New York Post to publish them. Sunday's front page was a full-page photo of the would-be first lady, naked, with the headline, "The Ogle Office." Several more images appeared inside the newspaper and on its website, all from a 1995 photo shoot for a French men's magazine. Advertisement She posed for them willingly, and Donald Trump's campaign is fine with the Post, which endorsed him in the GOP primary, publishing them. "They're a celebration of the human body as art, and (there's) nothing to be embarrassed about with the photos," campaign spokesman Jason Miller told CNN. "She's a beautiful woman." Today's cover: Melania Trump like you've never seen her before https://t.co/wkoDGWTF9g pic.twitter.com/V375rBTUEw New York Post (@nypost) July 31, 2016 It's still a shameful, cynical, morally bankrupt decision that cashes in on retrograde ideas at a time when the country could use some fresh ones. Advertisement You can almost imagine the glee among the folks who discovered or leaked the photos, and the editors who decided to run them. Woman for president pshaw! Women are for lusting over, not leading the free world. Whether the photos were intended to help Trump ("This'll shut people up about his bungled Khizr Khan response!"), embarrass Trump ("People were scandalized by Michelle Obama's arms! This will sink him!") or simply sell newspapers (most likely), they have no place in a presidential race. I'm in full support of women voluntarily posing or appearing in whatever state of undress they choose, as I've stated time and again in this column space. Kim Kardashian's breasts threaten neither feminism nor national security. Neither do Susan Sarandon's. And neither do Melania Trump's. But unearthing a candidate's wife's photos from 21 years ago and splashing them across newsstands during a presidential election is tawdry and exploitative. It's off-topic, in a campaign that's dealing with gun violence, global terrorism, economic security and religious freedom. It's tasteless, on a day when many news organizations and their readers were analyzing the historic events of a few days prior, when a woman accepted a major party's nomination for United States president for the first time ever. And it's hostile a way of reminding women that no matter what we accomplish, no matter what barriers we break and ceilings we crack, our bodies are still the public's to ogle. Advertisement The New York Post has long proven itself devoid of a conscience, so I don't expect its editors are feeling much in the way of remorse right now. But I hope the rest of us are able to see the photos not as an invitation to judge or shame Melania Trump a former model who did what models are expected to do but as a craven bid for attention from a shameless outfit not worthy of receiving any. hstevens@chicagotribune.com Twitter @heidistevens13 RELATED STORIES: Michelle Obama taught me how to mother Advertisement Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones stands up to racist, sexist trolls What Trump's marriages may have in common with ours Dmitry Firtash, one of Ukraine's most influential oligarchs, attends a trial on April 30, 2015, in Vienna. (Samuel Kubani / AFP/Getty Images) He's a former business partner of Donald Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort, and a fugitive from U.S. law enforcement. But will Ukrainian billionaire oligarch Dmytro Firtash ever face justice in a Chicago courtroom? Advertisement Indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago in 2014, the 50-year-old Firtash is painted in court papers as a regular Bond villain, accused of masterminding an international titanium-mining racket. With references to Swiss bank accounts, bribes for corrupt Indian politicians and links to Chicago-based airplane manufacturer Boeing, the case reads like a spy thriller. Efforts to extradite him from Austria, however, have been unsuccessful. Freed on an enormous $174 million bond that highlighted his enormous wealth, Firtash last year convinced a lower court Austrian judge that the case was a politically motivated attempt by the U.S. to clamp down on allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin following the Russian annexation of Crimea. Advertisement With close ties to the Kremlin and a history of supporting anti-Western forces in Ukrainian politics Firtash had grounds to make his case. He maintains his innocence. But the U.S. Department of Justice hasn't given up. It has pushed the Austrian Ministry of Justice to appeal to a higher court the decision not to extradite Firtash, an appeal that is still pending. That prompts an intriguing question for the Trump campaign: Would a Trump administration aggressively pursue Firtash's extradition, or might it be tempted to quietly end the U.S. pursuit of a former business partner of Trump's campaign manager? Manafort and the Trump campaign did not respond Monday morning to requests for comment. But Manafort's ties to Firtash are extensively documented in court filings from an unrelated federal case in New York. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Manafort and business partners, including Firtash, in 2008 negotiated an $895 million deal to buy the site of the Drake Hotel in Manhattan, which they hoped to redevelop as a luxury mall and spa called Bulgari Tower. Memos of meetings that Manafort and Firtash attended in Kiev are included in the lawsuit, though the deal eventually fell apart. While Firtash had yet to be indicted at that point, a diplomatic cable sent by U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor during the period in which Manafort and Firtash were negotiating, later leaked by Wikileaks, alleged Firtash had ties to Russian organized crime and described him as "one of Ukraine's most wealthy and notorious oligarchs." Manafort's extensive ties to pro-Russian former President Ukrainian Viktor F. Yanukovych and to Ukrainian business leaders sympathetic to Moscow have become an issue in the presidential campaign, thanks to Trump's frequent statements of admiration for Putin, who Trump has described as "strong leader." Advertisement Trump told ABC host George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Sunday that he had no involvement in removing a provision from the Republican platform that would have called on his administration to arm Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. Should Firtash ever be brought to Chicago to stand trial, his ties to Manafort may add to the intrigue. kjanssen@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimjnews There is no doubt that U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan was a noble young man. His courage was obvious in the way he died at a military compound in Baquoba, Iraq. When Khan saw a taxicab crash through the gates of the base, he quickly ordered his men to take cover. But instead of running away, the 27-year-old soldier stepped toward the vehicle. And the bomb went off. Advertisement Khan's actions that day in 2004 saved the lives of other soldiers, and posthumously, he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Pakistani immigrants Khizr and Ghazala Khan introduced us to their son at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. And from his grave, the brave soldier showed us something that too many Americans refuse to see: that patriots come in every race, color and creed. Advertisement Before then, most of us had never heard of Khan. Some of us, I suspect, were surprised to learn that Muslims even served in the military. But according to the Pentagon, there are more than 5,000 of them. Khizr Khan, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq, speaks at the Democratic National Convention. (Los Angeles Times) After the United States invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I interviewed several Muslims serving in our armed forces. They talked about their unusual position of having to balance their faith and their duty to service. But like the troops who served alongside them, they expressed an unwavering sense of patriotism for a country that is as much theirs as anyone's. In 2001 after the first major terrorist attack occurred on U.S. soil Muslim troops told me that they had done a lot of soul searching. Ensign Ahmed Aslam, then a U.S. Navy officer in the 2nd Medical Battalion at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base about 40 miles north of Wilmington, N.C., said he looked to the Quran for answers. He found peace, he said, in its message and in prayer. So at noontime, Aslam would make his way to a small chapel on the base, transformed for an hour every Friday into a mosque. He removed his pressed camouflage shirt, hung it on a metal folding chair and placed his shiny black combat boots beneath a table in the back of the room. Then he knelt alongside a half-dozen other men on the linoleum floor covered with Persian-like throw rugs and camouflage print mats. Facing Mecca, Aslam would close his eyes, lift his cupped hands to his face and pray to Allah. The Quran was clear, he said, that terrorism has no place in Islam. So for him, there was no conflict in going to war. "It is simple," he told me. "A Muslim looks at what is right and wrong and fights against injustice. What the terrorists did was wrong." Advertisement Some Americans have bought into the bigoted suggestion, promoted by Donald Trump, that Islam is synonymous with terrorism. They look at every Muslim with suspicion and argue anyone who practices the religion should be banned from entering our country. They believe that though Muslims may be American citizens, they are innately un-American. Most Americans, however, know such assumptions are ridiculous. But for anyone who wasn't 100 percent sure, Humayun Khan and his parents should have eliminated any doubt. Khizr Kahn's eloquent speech pierced our core. He showed us up close what it feels like to lose a son to war. Those of us who paid attention saw that his grief was no different from any other American who has suffered the same fate. Humayun Khan, who was born into Islam, had undivided loyalty to his country, his father told us. He dreamed of becoming a military lawyer and an advocate for veterans. Like many Americans, he decided to join the military to pay for law school. The suggestion that his son perhaps did not even deserve to be in America certainly must have added another layer to his pain. His words about Trump were piercingly accurate. "It if was up to Donald Trump, (Humayun) never would have been in America," Kahn said. "Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country." Advertisement But rather than acknowledge the pain and heartbreak of the family of a slain veteran, Trump chose to go on the defensive. For days, he has tried to defend a position that has no reasonable defense. In the process, he has disparaged the parents of a fallen soldier, said U.S. Sen. John McCain, a Republican and former prisoner of war in Vietnam. But more than that, he has disrespected the valor of Humayun Kahn and others who dutifully serve their country. He crossed the line in suggesting that Humayun Kahn's mother stood silently by her husband's side because under Islam, women are silenced. He refused to acknowledge that most likely her silence represented the quiet strength of a heartbroken mother. Trump's petty attacks on the Khan family prove that he wouldn't recognize a true American hero if he saw one. And that, in itself, is truly un-American. dglanton@chicagotribune.com Twitter @dahleeng There currently are no rules that specifically address whether juveniles should be detained in shackles in Illinois courtrooms. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) In courtrooms across the state, some juveniles are ordered to wear shackles around their wrists and ankles while appearing before a judge, even when they are charged with low-level crimes and have no criminal histories. Legal experts and juvenile justice advocates say it's an arcane practice that deprives young people of a fair trial by creating a bias, while traumatizing them and their families. They want the state's highest court to implement a new rule that would restrict the use of shackles for youths. Advertisement "The whole point of a juvenile system is to be more rehabilitative and to help youth overcome their behavior," said Era Laudermilk, deputy director for the Illinois Justice Project, who testified in favor of limiting shackling before the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee earlier this month. "It really offends the dignity of the judicial process to drag someone in chains like that ... yet we do it to kids every day." State Supreme Court justices will weigh testimony from the July 8 hearing while considering whether to enact a new rule. While there is no timeline for when the high court will make a decision, a court spokeswoman said, advocates are hoping to see changes as early as this fall in the way young people are treated during court appearances. Advertisement There currently are no rules that specifically address whether juveniles should be detained in shackles in Illinois courtrooms. Judges who have used shackles for juveniles have done so under the guidance of a 1977 Illinois Supreme Court rule that allows the use of restraints in criminal court for adults when determinations of innocence or guilt are being made. The proposed change would require a judge, before ordering restraints, to determine that they are necessary to prevent physical harm, disruptions that could result in harm or because the minor presents a substantial risk of fleeing the courtroom. The new rule would require a young defendant's attorney to be heard on the issue, and a judge would have to enter an order stating the rationale for using restraints. Even with restraints, juveniles should still have limited movement of their hands in order to read and handle documents and should never be chained to other minors, the wall, the floor or furniture, according to the proposed rule. Twenty-five states already have taken steps to eliminate juvenile shackling some through legislation fully banning it, others through rules or court opinions that restrict shackle use, Laudermilk said. "So much of what happens in the U.S. so-called justice system is: It's always been that way, so you don't see it, you don't think about it," said Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, a statewide advocacy group. "This is one of the practices that could be changed that would certainly make it a little less painful and traumatic for the children and families going through the system." Shackling is a common but unevenly used practice in courtrooms across Illinois' 18 counties, according to the Illinois Justice Project. In Cook County, shackles are not used on youth. In Kane County courtrooms, where juvenile come from Kane and DuPage counties, the shackles are used for some youths and not others at the discretion of each judge. The restraints range in style some go around the wrists, others include ankle shackles connected by a band around the waist. The shackles can weigh up to 25 pounds, Laudermilk said. Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said he will leave it up to the state Supreme Court to decide whether shackling policies should be changed. But he does understand why judges and security provided by the Kane County sheriff's department see a need for restraints in some cases. "We've had situations where juveniles have physically run out of the courtroom while they were being detained and people have been injured," McMahon said. "So there are times when it is necessary to both ensure the safety of people in the courtroom and ... the juvenile." Advertisement But advocates, who say shackles are being used during preliminary hearings and other simple court appearances in addition to trials, contend the practice is unnecessary and extreme given that less than one-quarter of charges brought against juveniles are for violent crimes. And with 97 percent of the state's juvenile defendants being African-American and Latino, shackling affects a disproportionate number of minorities, Clarke said. "We don't think of what's been done and think about the implicit bias of it," she said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Gene Griffin, an attorney and clinical psychologist with decades of experience working with juveniles, said shackling leads to a "freeze" effect on youth, a form of trauma in which the young person becomes detached from a situation as a way to cope. That shutting down could keep a defender from actively engaging with his or her attorney during a trial. Citing his own experience, Griffin said in other cases that young defendants with troubled histories were calm upon entering court but acted out when in shackles, which made them feel like they were being perceived as guilty. To avoid problems, Griffin and his co-workers prepared juveniles for the shackles so they weren't blindsided during an already tense situation, he said. "I think it's bad treatment," Griffin said of the shackles. "It's not understanding the kids developmentally, and it doesn't help them." Advertisement Clarke said shackling is like other punishments she and others argue are unnecessarily hard on youth. "It always seemed like there were bigger battles when you're fighting the death penalty and life without parole," Clarke said. "But there aren't. This is so symbolic of everything." vortiz@chicagotribune.com Twitter @vikkiortiz A lawsuit by a church employee who was fired after getting engaged to his male partner will move forward after a federal judge rejected the Chicago Archdiocese's motion to dismiss the suit. Colin Collette asserts in his lawsuit that his civil rights were violated when he was terminated in 2014 as music director at Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, where he had worked for 17 years. Collette sued both the archdiocese and Holy Family, claiming his firing amounted to "intentional" discrimination and seeking reinstatement of his job, lost wages and damages. Advertisement In its motion to dismiss the suit, the archdiocese cited what's called the "ministerial exception," which restricts employment discrimination claims by church ministers. The motion notes that Collette's job titles were "director of worship" and "director of music." But Judge Charles Kocoras cited case law indicating that a title alone doesn't determine whether a church employee should be defined as a minister. He ruled that further legal arguments would be needed to determine whether the ministerial exception applies here. Advertisement Collette previously told the Tribune that he was "not trying to be anti-Catholic," in filing the suit. "This is an issue the church needs to deal with. There are a lot of good people that are hurting," he said. Collette's firing divided the parish. Many members spoke out in support of him; others said the church should not be forced to employ someone who enters into in a marriage not sanctioned by the church. Collette's suit asserts that many employees, both homosexual and otherwise, are in nonsanctioned marriages. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said the church does not comment on pending litigation. Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks with officers after a news conference at a vacant lot at 4439 W. Adams Street in Chicago. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Footage from police dashboard cameras and body cameras helped lead to the swift sidelining of three officers involved in the latest fatal shooting by Chicago police, but officials acknowledged Monday that the shooting itself was not captured on video. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department is investigating why the body camera worn by the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Paul O'Neal failed to show those critical moments. Advertisement The Thursday night shooting came as the embattled Police Department accelerates its use of body cameras in a bid to improve transparency. Police have expanded a pilot project that started in 2015 in just one district to an additional six districts just last month with the addition of hundreds of cameras. The three officers had begun using the cameras just recently, Guglielmi said. Whatever the reason, the failure to capture O'Neal's shooting shows the technology won't be the panacea that some had hoped. Advertisement "People's hopes and expectations have gotten a little exaggerated," said Samuel Walker, a professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an expert on police accountability. "There is a problem with officers not turning them on. They are refusing to (or) not thinking about it as part of their regular work habit. It is going to take a while for us to get full compliance." O'Neal, who was unarmed, was shot about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the South Shore neighborhood after he crashed a reportedly stolen Jaguar into two Chicago police vehicles and took off running near 74th Street and Merrill Avenue. Two officers had opened fire at O'Neal while he was still in the Jaguar, according to police sources. A police dashboard camera captured one of the officers firing his weapon, a source said. A third officer who had been in one of the police vehicles struck by the Jaguar gave chase after O'Neal fled on foot and fatally shot him. Based on a preliminary review, police don't believe that officer intentionally disabled the body camera, a source said. Rather, investigators suspect the crash or the officer's lack of experience operating the camera played a role in the failure. O'Neal was shot in the back, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. On Monday, O'Neal's mother filed a federal lawsuit against the undisclosed officers, alleging they opened fire "without legal justification." The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the shooting, but police Superintendent Eddie Johnson moved quickly over the weekend to strip the three officers of their police powers, putting them on paid administrative duties. He didn't disclose the specific reasons for his actions other than that they had violated department policies. Advertisement But in 2015, the department revised its use-of-force policy to prohibit officers from firing on a moving vehicle if it was the only threat against the officers or others. The policy, however, states that officers should not "unreasonably endanger" themselves or others to adhere to the policy. The swift action by Johnson won praise from critics who have long accused the Police Department of a code of silence when it comes to dealing with wayward officers. Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied police misconduct for years, said it was noteworthy that Johnson acted against the officers for decisions that led up to the shooting. "There are often shootings that if you were just analyzing what was happening in the last second you might say the shooting is consistent with policy and justified," he said. "But if you take two or three steps backward, there may have been no reason for the situation to have escalated to this point. "That is another piece of the welcome change looking at the decisions and actions that led up to the shooting to see if we can do something better in the future. What do we need to train our officers better?" Still, Futterman said he remained cautious. Advertisement "A circle the wagons (mentality) doesn't change overnight," he said. Attorney Michael Oppenheimer talks to media in aftermath of the fatal police-involved shooting of Paul O'Neal. Aug. 1, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) In a telephone interview Monday night, Dean Angelo Sr., head of the Fraternal Order of Police union that represents rank-and-file officers, said he has talked to two of the officers. They are "concerned about their livelihood" and know they'll undergo intense scrutiny for their split-second decisions, he said. Angelo said there's "a learning curve" to properly using the body cameras and that it can be difficult for officers to remember to activate them "in a heavy-stress situation." Chicago's increased use of body and dashboard cameras comes as the department faces one of worst crises in its history. The court-ordered release of a video in November of a white officer shooting black teen Laquan McDonald 16 times led to widespread protests, the firing of then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy and the launching of a U.S. Justice Department probe of policing practices. According to department policy, the cameras should be activated by officers when they are making stops or responding to calls, including foot and vehicle pursuits. Walker, the policing expert, said most departments allow for some latitude for officers who fail to turn their cameras on under certain pressing circumstances. Advertisement "We have to say that it is possible in the heat of the moment the officer did not think to turn on his camera," he said. But evidence that cameras were intentionally disabled should result in discipline, Walker said. At a news conference at the scene of O'Neal's shooting, a lawyer for his mother, Tanisha Gibson, announced the lawsuit had been filed Monday in federal court. Attorney Michael Oppenheimer accused the officers of exacting "street justice" and expressed frustration at the Police Department's disclosure that no body cameras captured O'Neal's shooting. "Supposedly, it is a new era where we get body cams to make things transparent," he said. "Many, many times police officers get blamed for something they may not have done. The body cams are supposed to correct that to show the truth. All we have asked is for the truth to come out." Asked if his case was hurt by O'Neal being in a reportedly stolen Jaguar, Oppenheimer said the teen didn't deserve to be killed. Advertisement "The penalties for ... those crimes do not include death," he said. Police say Paul O'Neal, 18, was fatally shot after officers stopped a reported-stolen Jaguar on Thursday night in the 7300 block of South Merrill Avenue in Chicago. Three officers were relieved of their police powers following the shooting. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) O'Neal's mother did not attend the news conference, but activist Ja'Mal Green, acting as a spokesman for the family, said Gibson wanted the public to know that her son "wanted to be someone in life." Still, Green said, O'Neal had his struggles. "He lacked a father in his life, he lacked mentors and the resources he needed," said Green, who is free on bail after his own arrest last month on charges he attacked a police commander during demonstrations over fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. "And so he got caught up in a few things with his friends, but he was not a bad kid." The IPRA investigation into O'Neal's shooting will likely take months to complete. But the McDonald scandal, which included allegations that city officials tried to hide the troubling video of the shooting from the public, led to a new city policy that calls for the release of videos of police shootings within 60 days. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > But the release of the video in this case could come even sooner than that. "The superintendent said today he is pushing for the video to be released as soon as the investigation comes to a point where it will not hamper the case," police spokesman Guglielmi said Monday. "... We would defer to IPRA. Ever since this incident happened (Johnson) wanted it to be extremely fact-based, and he wants it to be open. The department has nothing to hide or conceal." Futterman, the U of C law professor, said critical video such as this should be released within two weeks. How soon the department moves on the video will be another strong indication of its commitment to reform, he said. asweeney@chicagotribune.com jgorner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @annie1221 Advertisement Twitter @JeremyGorner Lynn Sapyta, former College of DuPage controller, did not engage in misconduct or intentionally violate school policy, according to a court ruling. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune 2015) A state employment agency dealt College of DuPage another setback in its attempt to deny unemployment benefits to its former controller, who was fired last fall for poor fiscal practices. The Illinois Department of Employment Security's Board of Review upheld an April decision from an administrative appeals court ruling that Lynn Sapyta did not engage in misconduct in her role at COD and was entitled to receive unemployment payments dating to September 2015, when she and then-Treasurer Thomas Glaser were fired. Advertisement Sapyta and Glaser had been on paid leave from their positions for several weeks before they were officially terminated. College leadership gave both administrators nine reasons for their firings, including violating the school's investment rules and shoddy accounting patterns related to the Waterleaf restaurant, which now is being operated by students. The state board acknowledged breakdowns in the financial operations of the college, the restaurant and the campus radio station, whose former engineer was charged with stealing money from the station over several years. But board members also said Sapyta was not in charge of any of those divisions. Thus the college could not establish that Sapyta intentionally defied school policy, a key component in the legal definition of misconduct. Advertisement "An employer must satisfy a higher burden than merely proving that an employee should have been rightly discharged," the review panel wrote in its ruling. "Suffice it to say that recent investigations uncovered significant fraud and mismanagement by those responsible for those entities, namely, the vice president and the general managers of each entity. "While (Sapyta) assisted the vice president and the general managers of those auxiliary entities with their reports, she was not responsible for the data as reported or implemented. Interestingly, the internal auditor that annually issues a clean opinion relating to those entities was not disciplined." Sapyta also is suing the college for wrongful termination, alleging that then-board Chairwoman Katherine Hamilton spearheaded the effort to oust her for political reasons. Sapyta had worked for the college since June 2010. Hamilton quit the board in December. "The appeal board once again completed vindicated Lynn," Sapyta's attorney, Peter Lubin, said in a statement. "This proves what we have always maintained that Lynn was made into a scape goat for alleged problems at COD, which for the most part fell under the alleged responsibility of former interim President (Joseph) Collins." College spokesman Joseph Moore had no immediate comment on the ruling, which the college has just over one month to appeal. cdrhodes@chicagotribune.com Twitter @rhodes_dawn A veteran correctional officer was charged with official misconduct in connection with the Jan. 17, 2014, beating of an inmate at Cook County Jail. July 28, 2016. (Cook County Sheriff) (Chicago Tribune) Lawyers for an alleged victim of a jailhouse attack captured on video criticized Monday how it took 21/2 years before a Cook County correctional officer was charged, and alleged that the same guard assaulted numerous other inmates over the next year. Speaking out for the first time, Litroy Bolton told reporters that during the incident in Cook County Jail in January 2014 he dropped to the floor and offered up his hands to be cuffed. Advertisement "I didn't want to get beat up," said Bolton, who was in custody at the time on a marijuana charge that was later thrown out. The correctional officer, Miguel Ortiz, was charged last week with official misconduct 21/2 years after surveillance cameras showed him repeatedly punching Bolton as the inmate lay on the floor. Advertisement Bolton's lawyers alleged that the sheriff department's Office of Professional Review intentionally dragged out the investigation to try to prevent the filing of a lawsuit over the excessive force allegations. A suit, however, was filed in federal court in May against the sheriff's office, Cook County, Ortiz and others. Bolton's attorney, Vince Field, also criticized the delay in bringing the criminal charges against Ortiz. "The question is, in this case, why did it take so long to do so?" he said at a news conference at his law offices. "That delay can't just be measured in time. It's measured in the assault of other inmates as well." Citing prison records obtained through a public records request, Field alleged that in the 13 months after the alleged attack on Bolton, Ortiz assaulted at least 10 other inmates, including one who was on suicide watch. "Without the video, I don't think we would be standing here today," Field said. Cara Smith, the sheriff's chief policy officer, took issue with the portrayal of Ortiz as what she called "a serial abuser of detainees." "He crossed a line with Litroy Bolton," she said. "This was a bad incident. We recognized it, and we referred it to state attorney's office for criminal charges." Ortiz, 44, who has worked for the sheriff's office since 1995, was charged with one felony count of official misconduct. If convicted, he could receive probation or up to five years in prison. Advertisement Last week Judge James Brown released Ortiz on his own recognizance after viewing the videos in court, authorities said. Asked last week why the charges came 21/2 years after the videotaped beating, Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, said prosecutors only learned of the incident in April 2015 and that Bolton didn't cooperate with investigators early on. Bolton was being transferred within the jail in January 2014 when he overheard correctional officers say his new cell had recently been used to quarantine a sick inmate, prosecutors charged. Bolton dropped the blankets he was carrying onto the floor and told officers he refused to go into the cell, prosecutors alleged. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Ortiz, who was in a control room across from the hall, overheard Bolton's complaints and saw him drop his blankets, prosecutors said. A few minutes later, Ortiz approached Bolton and asked him if he was refusing to enter the cell, according to prosecutors. Bolton said he was refusing and asked for a supervisor. Prosecutors said Ortiz reached for Bolton's arm to escort him into the cell, but Bolton fell to the floor when he pulled away. Advertisement While another officer bent over to handcuff Bolton, Ortiz knelt down and punched the inmate about seven times in the face and head, prosecutors charged. Bolton was taken to the jail's Cermak Hospital and treated for blunt head trauma, prosecutors said. The incident was captured on two of the jail's video surveillance cameras. mrenault@chicagotribune.com Twitter @MarionRenault Kennedi Kimmons, 20, right, holds the hand of Briana Adams, 23, as they approach a vigil to remember Adams' brother, Paul O'Neal, 18, at the 7400 block of South Merrill Avenue on Friday. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Eight months after Chicago was rocked by the Laquan McDonald scandal and its allegations that city officials tried to bury troubling details, the Chicago Police Department moved quickly against three officers involved in the latest shooting death of an African-American teen. Within 48 hours of Thursday night's fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stripped police powers from the officers who opened fire, saying they appeared to have violated department policy. Advertisement Department officials acknowledged that O'Neal was unarmed. On Saturday, the Cook County medical examiner's office said an autopsy determined he had been shot in the back. Many details of the shooting in the South Shore neighborhood were still emerging, but the acknowledgment by top department brass that the officers might have violated policy marked a departure from their handling of previous police-involved shootings. The move by the department comes ahead of the expected release of video from both police dashboard and body-worn cameras that captured parts of the fatal confrontation. Advertisement Late on Friday, Johnson sent out a departmentwide memo explaining his decision one sure to be unpopular with the rank and file for a superintendent on the job only a few months who is trying to find the right balance. But the top cop is trying to restore public trust amid a U.S. Justice Department probe of policing practices. "While the chronology of events is complex and still under review by the department and (the Independent Police Review Authority), I have reviewed the preliminary information of our on-scene detectives and am left with more questions than answers," Johnson wrote, according to a copy of the email shared with the Tribune. "I have been a police officer for nearly thirty years and I am the first one to publicly acknowledge that policing isn't easy. ... Everyday you risk your life, make split second decisions, and rely on the training you received to keep communities safe. ... With every decision I make as Superintendent, I keep these truths in mind to be fair to you as officers, and to every Chicagoan." The confrontation The confrontation between O'Neal and the officers happened about 7:30 p.m. Thursday after officers tried to stop O'Neal as he drove a Jaguar that had reportedly been stolen in Bolingbrook. As O'Neal drove north in the 7400 block of South Merrill Avenue, he struck a responding police SUV and a parked car, police sources told the Tribune. Two officers opened fire as O'Neal continued into the 7300 block of Merrill. O'Neal then collided with another police SUV, causing significant damage, and fled from the car. A third officer chased him and shot him behind a nearby residence, the sources said. O'Neal, of the 1700 block of East 70th Street, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly after 9 p.m. Officials have said that part of the shooting was captured on video, though a source said not the fatal confrontation that was away from the vehicles. Under a new city policy, any video footage of shootings captured by police dashboard or body-worn cameras must be released within 60 days although law enforcement can request an additional 30-day delay. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 8 Chicago police investigate July 29, 2016, a police-involved fatal shooting that happened the day before in the 7300 block of South Merrill Avenue in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) On Friday night, Johnson, after spending the afternoon reviewing details of the shooting with his command staff, released a statement saying that two of the officers involved had been stripped of their police duties and placed on paid desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation by IPRA, which investigates police-involved shootings. By Saturday afternoon the third officer who was involved had also been stripped of his powers, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. Advertisement Dean Angelo Sr., the head of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, declined Saturday to comment on Johnson's actions. Since an accidental police shooting in December, the department has routinely put officers involved in shootings on desk duty for 30 days to allow time for supervisors to monitor the officers and for them to attend training. The policy is not considered punitive, and officers retain their badges and guns. Stripping officers of their police powers, however, is more serious and that it happened within two days of the shooting is notable. In such cases, officers are assigned to "nonoperational" units such as a records division. The three officers' police powers will remain suspended until the conclusion of the IPRA investigation, officials said. Johnson also announced Friday night that it "appears that departmental policies may have been violated." Since the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, officials said they're prohibited from commenting on which policy was violated. In 2015, the department revised its use-of-force policy to prohibit firing on a moving vehicle if it was the only threat against the officer or others. Friends and family of O'Neal gathered at the scene of the shooting Friday night. O'Neal's cousin, Zhivago Short, 20, spoke, imploring the crowd to stay in school and avoid gangs. "He was a good kid," Short said. "He didn't deserve to die." Advertisement Three protesters held up stop signs with words added in black electrician's tape. One said, "Cops, STOP killing us." "It could be your life tomorrow," Lamon Reccord, the 17-year-old protest organizer, told the crowd. Warning: strong language. An activist against gun violence and a relative speak at the vigil for Paul O'Neal, 18, who was fatally shot by police in the South Shore neighborhood Thursday night. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Police climate changing The climate around policing has shifted dramatically in Chicago since the court-ordered release in November of dashboard-camera video showing a white officer shooting 17-year-old McDonald 16 times as he walked away from police with a knife in his hand. The resulting crisis came during an ongoing national debate on policing after several high-profile deaths of unarmed African-Americans. The McDonald video was released some 13 months after the teen, who had PCP in his system, was shot, leading to public outcry that city officials tried to cover up the troubling video. Hours before the video's release, the officer, Jason Van Dyke, was charged with first-degree murder. Public protests in city streets continued for weeks. Former Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fired, and the Justice Department launched its civil rights investigation. The department and city have since made efforts to restore what Johnson, a surprise appointment in March, and others now acknowledge is a broken relationship between police and some Chicago communities. Advertisement Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed a policing task force that has proposed massive changes and overhauls. Among the most critical was the new video release policy. Johnson, meanwhile, has stripped other officers when video of troubling altercations with the public surfaced. But this marks the first time a fatal shooting has resulted in such a swift response by the department to address what could be tactical or training deficiencies. Police say Paul O'Neal, 18, was fatally shot after officers stopped a reported-stolen Jaguar on Thursday night in the 7300 block of South Merrill Avenue in Chicago. Three officers were relieved of their police powers following the shooting. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Longtime St. Sabina pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who has been an outspoken critic of excessive police force, welcomed Johnson's action and said his parishioners attending a Friday night block party were similarly encouraged. "So often nothing happens with police, and there's this feeling like, 'See, nobody's going to discipline (them) anyway, so why should we trust the system?'" Pfleger said Saturday. "I think Eddie doing something like that makes it very clear that if he feels that something was done wrongly that he's going to take an action, and that's very, very important to rebuilding trust. ... We know there's this great divide between police and the community, and one of the things that needs to be done is ... we've got to be able to see that when police do wrong they're going to be disciplined." Johnson's decision to strip the officers earned high marks from Jedidiah Brown, who founded the activist group Young Leaders Alliance. "I think that he gets it, and I'm starting to see a mirror between other people and (police) brass," Brown said. "Officers out there in the past have been very indifferent or disrespectful. This seems like a complete change of leadership." Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > But not everyone is convinced yet that the department is truly reforming. Longtime civil rights attorney G. Flint Taylor suggested that police were merely trying to get ahead of a shooting they know is not justified. "Let's put it this way I think that it goes a little far to commend the Police Department for doing exactly what they should do and what they should have done all along," he said. Taylor called police misconduct in Chicago a systemic problem that can't be turned around by altering a few department policies. Chicago Tribune's Liam Ford and Patricia Callahan contributed. jgorner@chicagotribune.com asweeney@chicagotribune.com Advertisement wlee@chicagotribune.com A judge set bail at $500,000 Sunday for a man accused of sexual assault, police said. Robert Thorne, 27, of the 1000 block of North Pine Avenue, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, police said. Advertisement Officer Michelle Tannehilll, a spokeswoman for the Chicago police, said charges stem from a July 28 incident involving a female of an unknown age. Thorne is slated to appear in court again Monday. Advertisement Check back for details. A 25-year-old man was shot in the head in the 3900 block of West 68th Street on Aug. 1, 2016, in the West Lawn neighborhood. The man was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. (Eric Clark / Chicago Tribune) Two men were killed and at least 11 people, including a 13-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings across the city since late Monday morning. About 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, a 29-year-old man was shot to death in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, police said. Advertisement The man was walking on the sidewalk in the 5200 block of West Gladys Avenue when a male attacker came out of a white sedan and fired shots, striking the man in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. No one was immediately in custody. Advertisement About 2:10 p.m. on the Southwest Side, a 28-year-old man was shot in the head in the 3900 block of West 68th Street, according to Tannehill. The man was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said Chief Joe Roccasalva, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center later in the afternoon. Authorities identified him as Miguel Diaz, of the 3900 block of West 69th Street. Authorities originally said he was 25. In other shootings: Most recently, about 4:45 a.m., a 20-year-old man was wounded in a gang-related shooting in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, police said. The man was shot in the back in the 5400 block of South Albany Avenue. Someone then dropped him off at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition, police said. About 8:35 p.m. Monday, a 27-year-old man was shot in the neck in an alley in the Lakeview neighborhood on the North Side, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago police spokesman. Witnesses told police they heard gunshots and discovered the man lying on the ground in the alley in the 3200 block of North Racine Avenue. The man was shot in the side of the neck. He was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Alfaro said. In the West Town neighborhood about 5:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Wood Street, a 13-year-old boy was shot in the right hand and a 21-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the head, according to Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman. The boy was taken in good condition to Stroger Hospital, while the man declined to be taken to a hospital. The two were outside on foot when an assailant in a dark colored vehicle fired shots, the officer said. Advertisement About 4:45 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in both legs in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in the 4400 block of South Paulina Street, Alfaro said. Someone in SUV fired shots at the man, police said. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > About 3 p.m. three people were shot, one critically, in the 1600 block of West Garfield Boulevard in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. A 15-year-old suffered a wound to his right hand, and a 32-year-old was shot in the left hip. They both were stabilized at St. Bernard Hospital after getting there in a private car, police said. A third victim, a 21-year-old man, is in critical condition. He was transferred to Stroger Hospital in serious condition. Additional details about that shooting weren't immediately available. About 2 p.m. on the West Side, a 48-year-old man was shot in the 3400 block of West Flournoy Street. He was hit in the right leg and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition. Advertisement A 30-year-old man walked into Advocate Trinity Hospital after being shot in the 8300 block of South Saginaw Avenue about 10:30 a.m. About 9:50 a.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the 600 block of South Homan Avenue, about two blocks from the Harrison District police station. He was hit in the lower back and drove to an area hospital. Check back for more information. Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Topspin The Independent Maps group has filed its appeal brief, asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that declared unconstitutional its plan for removing much of the politics from legislative redistricting. Advertisement Last month, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen found the proposal went beyond the narrow window of changes permitted by a petition-driven initiative to amend the state constitution and ruled the proposal ineligible for the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The Independent Map proposal would create a multi-phase plan to come up with a commission to draw the 118 House and 59 Senate districts following the every-decade federal census. Currently, the map-making power resides with lawmakers, leading critics to contend that politicians pick their voters rather than the other way around. Advertisement Larsen ruled that redistricting met the strict test for a citizen-driven amendment to affect the "structure and procedure" of the legislature. But she said the plan went too far by giving new duties to the state auditor general and the Supreme Court, affecting more than just the legislative article of the state constitution. Larsen's ruling was a victory for a group called The People's Map, made up of prominent racial and ethnic minority businesspeople who have fought the proposed constitutional amendment. The lead lawyer for the group is Michael Kasper, who is a long-time ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan and is legal counsel for the state Democratic Party. In the appeal brief, the Independent Maps legal team said one delegate to the state convention charged with writing the 1970 Illinois Constitution noted, "we could hardly expect the legislature ever to propose a constitutional amendment to reduce the size of its membership, to establish a reapportionment commission comprised entirely of non-legislative members, or perhaps even to establish single-member districts." In addition, the Independent Maps group brought up a statement by constitutional convention delegate Louis Perona, the spokesman for the majority on the Committee on the Legislature. Perona said the constitution's drafters did not intend "to limit the initiative just to those things presently contained in the legislative article." The Independent Maps lawyers argue that the Supreme Court has previously held that "an initiative cannot be used to make changes in the General Assembly's powers with respect to substantive issues, like taxes, abortion or the death penalty; nor can an initiative be used as a subterfuge to implicitly amend other articles of the Constitution. But that is not what the redistricting initiative does. Instead, it is entirely and properly limited to the issue of redistricting." (Rick Pearson) What's on tap *Mayor Rahm Emanuel will introduce city Budget Director Alex Holt as she speaks at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. *Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule. Advertisement What we're writing *City budget shortfall smallest in decade, expect tax hike for pensions anyway. *Rauner signs toughened law to punish low-level pot possession with citation. *Public housing tear-downs exacerbate police difficulty handling leaderless gangs. What we're reading *Four firefighters hurt in West Side blaze. *Mosquito-spread Zika cases in Fla. *Ruby Tuesday restaurants abruptly put out of their misery in Illinois. Advertisement From the notebook *GOP picks Sandack replacement: Republican leaders in DuPage and Will counties have picked Downers Grove Village council member David Olsen to serve as the newest member of the Illinois House. Olsen will replace former Rep. Ron Sandack, a key ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner who abruptly resigned a week ago, saying politics have gotten too ugly. Sandack said he decided to step down after several fraudulent social media accounts were set up in his name. He reported the incident to Downers Grove police, who later released a heavily redacted police report on the incident. Sandack was Rauner's floor leader, known for his passionate defense of the governor's policies, which he continued on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. Before joining the legislature, Sandack was mayor of Downers Grove. Olsen also will take Sandack's place on the November ballot. Olsen will resign his council seat when he is sworn into the House on Wednesday, but he will finish out his term as vice chairman of the College of DuPage board of trustees. "David is an exceptional public servant, and he'll be a great state representative for us," DuPage GOP Chairman Brian Krajewski said in a statement. "As Downers Grove commissioner and recently as COD trustee, David fights for taxpayers and brings people together for commonsense solutions." (Monique Garcia) *Kirk and Duckworth play Peoria: Cable viewers in Peoria, Rockford and Champaign are getting a summer taste of the fall U.S. Senate campaign. Advertisement The super political action committee Independent Voice for Illinois, which is backing Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's re-election bid, is spending $51,580 to air 382 advertising spots in those media markets. The campaign of Kirk's challenger, two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, is spending $36,222 in those same markets airing 576 TV spots. (Rick Pearson) *Legislative Democrats going on the air: New cable TV reports show that after weeks of spending by Republicans against Democratic legislative targets, Democrats are going up with their own ads. Details of the ads weren't available, but expect about $37,560 worth of cable ads to show up for state Sen. Melinda Bush of Grayslake airing in Gurnee, Libertyville and McHenry cable systems. That translates into 2,369 ads. Bush is being challenged by Republican Michael Amrozowicz of Gurnee. In addition, cable ads supporting Democratic state Sen. Tom Cullerton of Villa Park also are going up. The $27,350 worth of ads amount to 1,958 spots on west suburban cable. Cullerton is being challenged by Republican Seth Lewis of Bartlett. (Rick Pearson) *Online voter registration back up after hack: The State Board of Elections has restored its online voter registration system after a cyber attack was detected last month involving its vital records system database. Advertisement As a result of the cyber attack, the board shut down various portals, including online voter registration. But in a statement Friday, board officials said the "underlying issues which caused the system to be shut down have been resolved." Applicants can apply to register to vote or update their existing registration by going to: https://ova.elections.il.gov/. (Rick Pearson) Follow the money *Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash Beyond Chicago *Presidential race, Republican side: Trump "Bernie gambit" aims to keep Sanders backers angry. *Presidential race, Democratic side: Kaine breaks from Clinton on abortion provision. Philadelphia Two former Temple University police officers are facing murder charges in the slaying of a woman in Philadelphia. Court records say 47-year-old Aaron Wright and 41-year-old Marquis Robinson were charged Saturday with murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse in the death of a 24-year-old woman last week. Advertisement Police say the woman was found dead Friday morning in the city's Germantown neighborhood. It's unclear how she died. Authorities didn't immediately identify her. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports police have said it's a domestic case. Advertisement A Temple spokesman says Wright resigned in 2012 but didn't disclose why he quit the force. The university says Robinson was on officer until Sunday, when he was fired because of the charges. Court records didn't list attorneys for the men. Associated Press Kathy Stephens, of Kyle, Texas, pauses at a memorial Aug. 1, 2016, at the site of a hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people near Lockhart, Texas. (Edward A. Ornelas / San Antonio Express-News) LOCKHART, Texas The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas, killing 16 people, was able to keep flying despite having at least four convictions for drunken driving in Missouri and twice spending time in prison. Whether the pilot's drinking habits had anything to do with the crash was unclear. A former girlfriend described Alfred "Skip" Nichols as a recovering alcoholic. She said he had been sober for at least four years and never piloted a balloon after drinking. Advertisement Nichols, who had been stripped of his driver's license at least twice, "couldn't drive a car but he could pilot a hot air balloon," said an attorney who represented a passenger who sued Nichols in 2013. The passenger said she was hurt when Nichols crash-landed a balloon in the St. Louis suburbs. Had he been a commercial airplane pilot, Nichols probably would have been grounded long ago. Advertisement The Federal Aviation Administration might allow a recovering alcoholic to fly commercial jets if the pilot could show that he or she was being successfully treated, said John Gadzinski, an airline captain and aviation safety consultant. But the agency is unlikely to accept an airline pilot with convictions for driving under the influence, he said. The 49-year-old Nichols also had a long history of customer complaints against his balloon-ride companies in Missouri and Illinois dating back to 1997. Customers reported to the Better Business Bureau that their rides would get canceled at the last minute and their fees never refunded. When pilots apply for a ballooning certificate with the FAA, they are not required to disclose any prior drunken-driving convictions, only drug convictions, said Patrick Cannon, a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of America trade group, who called that a loophole in the law. He noted that the ballooning certificate specifically says not to include alcohol offenses involving a motor vehicle, as those are covered on the FAA's medical application. However, unlike other pilots, balloon pilots do not have to get regular medical exams from FAA-certified examiners. They are only required to write a statement certifying that they have "no medical defect" that would limit their ability to pilot a balloon. Commercial plane pilots are required to fill out a form that includes questions on alcohol dependence or abuse and convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol. A member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Sumwalt, criticized what he called a "disparity" in the FAA requirements for balloon operators compared to plane or helicopter pilots. Nichols got his commercial license to pilot hot air balloons in Missouri in July 1996. His first drunken-driving conviction came in St. Louis County in 1990, followed by two more convictions in 2002 and a fourth in 2010, according to online court records. He was also convicted of a drug crime in 2000 and spent about a year and a half in prison before being paroled. He was returned to prison in April 2010 after his parole was revoked because of his drunken-driving conviction that year. He was paroled again in January 2012. Advertisement After they receive a license, all pilots are supposed to notify the FAA within 60 days of a drug or alcohol conviction. However, Cannon said there is no oversight of that reporting. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford could not yet say whether Nichols had made any such reports. If he had, according to the FAA's website, he could have lost his license. The former girlfriend, Wendy Bartch, said Nichols "did not fly when he wasn't supposed to. Having other people's lives at stake was Skip's primary concern." Nichols was identified as the pilot by his company, which has suspended operations. Authorities say the balloon, which was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture Saturday near Lockhart, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio. While there were patches of fog on the day of the flight, the ground crew said it was clear when the balloon took off, and there was no sign of any maintenance trouble with the balloon, Sumwalt said. Advertisement Between late 1998 and 2001, the Better Business Bureau said it had received more than three dozen complaints against Nichols' Manchester Balloon Voyages, leading it to twice warn the public about the company. Customers complained that canceled rides cost them $70 to $700. In one case, a Catholic nun celebrating her 50th anniversary of service had lost $364 that she paid toward a ride for her and three friends. Then in 2008, after logging eight more complaints, the bureau issued a third warning about Nichols, who was then operating under the name of Air Balloon Sports. One complaint came from a woman who had paid $1,600 to take her family on a ride as a Christmas gift. The woman said Nichols would repeatedly cancel rides "even when the weather appeared calm and sunny," according to the bureau. In recent years, Bartch said, Nichols was "all about recovery. He became a different person." She described Nichols as lighthearted, a follower of the Grateful Dead whose dogs, Zappa and Joplin, were named after two of his favorite musicians. After she and Nichols broke up, she said, they remained friends, and she helped him move to Texas in 2014. In order to keep his St. Louis business going, he started offering flights in Texas in the winter when St. Louis was rainy and cold. Advertisement FAA records indicate that the Texas company was involved in an accident with same balloon two years ago. On Aug. 3, 2014, the balloon made a hard landing in Kyle, Texas, when the pilot touched down abruptly to avoid striking a ground-crew vehicle that had been parked in the balloon's path. Two passengers were hurt. It was not clear if Nichols was the pilot on that day. In 2013, Nichols and his company settled a personal-injury lawsuit filed by the passenger who said she got hurt after the crash landing near St. Louis. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Carroll Brcic said she and her husband and son used a Groupon coupon to purchase a balloon ride with Nichols on July 13, 2009. They took off from a school near House Springs, Missouri. The family of three and five other passengers were in the air with Nichols when, the family contended, Nichols said he had run out of propane and the balloon began to fall. Nichols contended that the balloon began to drop because of a lack of wind. Because it was drifting toward power lines, he said, he made what he called a controlled landing amid trees. Advertisement "He basically landed in the forest," Brcic's attorney, S. Lee Patton, said. "He called it a controlled landing. My client called it a crash." Patton said the balloon dropped suddenly in the final 20 feet. Brcic injured her neck and back. Her husband and son were unharmed. As part of the case, Patton said he learned from the Missouri Department of Revenue that Nichols' driver's license had been suspended for 10 years due to the 2002 drunken-driving conviction. In a 2013 deposition, Nichols said he received a second 10-year license suspension in Missouri in 2010. Associated Press American politics have hit a new low. Relying on grieving parents who bare their hearts, their sorrows and their souls in front of cheering delegates swathed in red, white and blue, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are guilty of exploiting the grief of parents of American heroes to raise their poll numbers. As a grieving parent, I watch, disgusted, enraged and torn. During the Republican National Convention in mid-July, Patricia Smith addressed the delegates with anger and sadness, telling them and the world that she holds Clinton personally responsible for the death of her son, Sean Smith, a U.S. Foreign Service officer who died in the attack on two U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya. She called for Clinton to be put in prison and "wear stripes" for her crimes against America. Advertisement Patricia Smith, the mother of a Benghazi survivor, criticized Hillary Clinton and blamed the Democratic presidential candidate for the death of her son during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland July 18, 2016. (Washington Post) (Washington Post) A week later, we saw the parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier who died in Iraq while protecting his fellow soldiers, address the delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Khan's father, Khizr Khan, gave an impassioned speech, indignant and angry, accompanied by his wife, telling the world that Trump has never sacrificed for his country and offered him a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution for his edification. Is one parent's grief more potent than the other's? Can a parent's grief be devalued, depending on if you identify as Republican or Democrat? How can we knowingly and willingly leverage the grief associated with Americans killed while serving their country abroad? Will these speeches result in votes? Advertisement I am torn because I am someone who grieves a child, and I know full well the lengths I will go to tell my child's story, to ensure she is not forgotten, to share her name and her image in the hopes that her life meant something. I have willingly and proudly addressed all manner of audiences, from five to 500, when given the opportunity to discuss my daughter and the woeful underfunding of pediatric cancer research in America. Had Clinton or Trump asked me to tell my girl's story at a convention, well, I am certain I would have said yes, if the candidate promised to champion my cause. The grief of the Khans and Smith is something I recognize and understand. Their anger, their invisible wounds, their need to say their child's name out loud, tell their story, see the tears in strangers' eyes as they learn, for the first time, of the child they raised and cared for and then left them too soon. I get all of it. I understand their motivations, and I cast no judgment. Khizr Khan, father of Humayun Khan who was killed while serving in Iraq with the U.S. Army, gestures as his wife, Ghazala Khan, looks on during the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Centerin Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (Timothy A. Clary, AFP/Getty Images) But even so, I shrink at the sight of the delegates, Republican and Democrat, filled with the fever of their chosen candidate, cheering at the words of these parents. The anger associated with grief because, well, there is always anger is welcomed, cheered on, clapped for, validated. The cameras cut away to the delegates, who appear to be moved, of course, tears running down their cheeks. "Go, Donald!" "Go, Hillary!" Then comes the parade of endless talking heads going on about how mobilized the crowd was by Smith's calls for Clinton to be locked up. Or how effective it was for a grieving mother to personally cast blame on the Democratic nominee for the death of her son. Political gold! After Khan's speech, Trump, of course, was unable to stop himself. He dug a deepening hole by suggesting Capt. Khan's grieving mother was silenced against her wishes because of her Muslim faith. Cue the outrage! Cue the interviews! The delegates are pawns, just as these grieving parents are, just as the talking heads are, just as the American voter is. We are all chips in an impressive game of votes and power called the American Political System. Yet as a grieving parent, what I keep coming back to are the men lost in service to America. Sean Smith and Capt. Humayun Khan lived and died in service to all of us. They left behind families and futures unfulfilled. I cannot help but wonder what they might think has come of their sacrifice the cheering crowds, the talking heads, the divided nation. May they rest in the peace that eludes America today. Advertisement Sheila Quirke is a freelance writer who lives in Chicago. She blogs as Mary Tyler Mom on ChicagoNow. Here's what GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said when ABC "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos confronted him during an interview Friday about a particularly harsh line in a speech at the Democratic National Convention by Khizr Khan, the father of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier who was killed in Iraq: George Stephanopoulos: He said you have sacrificed nothing and no one. Advertisement Donald Trump: Well, that sounds who wrote that? Did Hillary (Clinton's) scriptwriters write it? GS: How would you answer that father? What sacrifice have you made for your country? Advertisement DT: I think 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. I've done, I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot. GS: Those are sacrifices? DT: Oh, sure. I think they're sacrifices. I think when I can employ thousands and thousands of people, take care of their education, take care of so many things, even in military. I mean, I was very responsible, along with a group of people, for getting the Vietnam Memorial built in downtown Manhattan, which to this day people thank me for. Here is what Trump should have said: GS: He said you have sacrificed nothing and no one. DT: He's absolutely right. I've made no sacrifices for my country. I've lived a blessed, charmed life enjoying the freedom that has been guarded and guaranteed by those who have sacrificed who have risked and in many cases lost their lives fighting for our great country. My success is built upon and sustained by the sacrifices of others going back 240 years. The same, of course, is true of Hillary Clinton. Of Barack Obama. Of Mitt Romney. Of Paul Ryan. Of you, George Stephanopoulos, and the vast majority of the members of the media who thrilled to Mr. Khan's accusation of me. The Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that a little more than 7 percent of all living Americans about 13 percent of males have ever served in the military. The rest of us may be patriotic. We may pay a considerable sum in taxes to fund our fighting forces. We may advocate on behalf of veterans and salute them at parades. But we cannot claim to have sacrificed for our country. What the fortunate, grateful majority can do, however, is strive to create a world in which far fewer families like the Khans make the ultimate sacrifice in a world that is safe and peaceful, free from the threat of tyranny and terrorism. Advertisement No, my family and I have not sacrificed for the liberty we enjoy. But, like tens of millions of others in the same situation, that does not make us any less grateful for those who have sacrificed or any less determined to serve well that nation to which they gave so much. Twitter @EricZorn Doug Mesner, a.k.a. Lucien Greaves, with the logo for the Satanic Temple's proposed After School Satan Club. (Josh Reynolds / For The Washington Post) It's a hot summer night, and leaders of the Satanic Temple have gathered in the crimson-walled living room of a Victorian manse in this city renowned for its witch trials in the 17th century. They're watching a sepia-toned video, in which children dance around a maypole, a spider crawls across a clown's face and eerie, ambient chanting gives way to a backward, demonic voice-over. The group chuckles with approval. They're here plotting to bring their wisdom to the nation's public elementary school children. They point out that Christian evangelical groups already have infiltrated the lives of America's children through after-school religious programming in public schools, and they appear determined to give young students a choice: Jesus or Satan. Advertisement "It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," said Doug Mesner, the Satanic Temple's co-founder. On Monday, the group plans to introduce its After School Satan Club to public elementary schools, including one in Prince George's County, petitioning school officials to allow them to open immediately as the academic year starts. Chapter heads from New York, Boston, Utah and Arizona were in Salem on July 10 talking strategy, with others from Minneapolis, Detroit, San Jose, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Florida participating online. The promotional video, which feels like a mash-up of a horror movie trailer and a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, will serve to promote the new club along with its website - Afterschoolsatan.com. Advertisement The Satanic Temple - which has been offering tongue-in-cheek support for the fallen angel in public arenas that have embraced prayer and parochial ceremonies - is bringing its fight over constitutional separation of church and state to the nation's schools. But the group's plan for public schoolchildren isn't actually about promoting worship of the devil. The Satanic Temple doesn't espouse a belief in the existence of a supernatural being that other religions identify solemnly as Satan, or Lucifer, or Beelzebub. The Temple rejects all forms of supernaturalism and is committed to the view that scientific rationality provides the best measure of reality. According to Mesner, who goes by the professional name of Lucien Greaves, "Satan" is just a "metaphorical construct" intended to represent the rejection of all forms of tyranny over the human mind. The curriculum for the proposed after-school clubs emphasizes the development of reasoning and social skills. The group says meetings will include a healthful snack, literature lesson, creative learning activities, a science lesson, puzzle solving and an art project. Every child will receive a membership card and must have a signed parental permission slip to attend. "We think it's important for kids to be able to see multiple points of view, to reason things through, to have empathy and feelings of benevolence for their fellow human beings," said the Satanic Temple's Utah chapter head, who goes by the name Chalice Blythe. The emphasis on multiple perspectives is a hint pointing to the Temple's true foe. The group at first intends to roll out the clubs in a limited number of schools in districts that also host an evangelical Christian after-school program known as the Good News Club. Good News Clubs, which are sponsored by an organization founded in 1937 called the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), aim to reach children as young as 5 with a fundamentalist form of evangelical Christianity. For most of their history, Good News Clubs were largely excluded from public schools out of concern that their presence would violate the Constitution. In 2001, in a case that commanded the resources of powerful legal advocacy groups on the religious right, including the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Liberty Counsel, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that to exclude an after-school program on account of the religious views of its sponsors amounted to a violation of free-speech rights. The CEF then went on a tear, and by 2011, it reported 3,560 Good News Clubs, putting them in more than 5 percent of the nation's public elementary schools. Advertisement The Satanic Temple makes no secret of its desire to use that same approach. "We would like to thank the Liberty Counsel specifically for opening the doors to the After School Satan Clubs through their dedication to religious liberty," Greaves explained to the gathering of chapter heads in Salem. "So, 'the Satanic Temple leverages religious freedom laws that put after-school clubs in elementary schools nationwide.' That's going to be the message." The Liberty Counsel agrees that the Satanic Temple has a right to organize its clubs in public schools and takes the view that they can't be banned so long as they're not disruptive or engaging in rituals that put people at risk. "I would definitely oppose after-school Satanic clubs, but they have a First Amendment right to meet," said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel's founder and chairman. "I suspect, in this particular case, I can't imagine there's going to be a lot of students participating in this. It's probably dust they're kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest." The Satanic Temple is eager to compete directly with the Good News Clubs and doesn't hide its belief that its own after-school product is on the right side. "While the Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling children with a fear of hell and God's wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism," Greaves said. "We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of an everlasting other-worldly horror." Advertisement Good News Club leaders have defended their organization's presence in public schools. According to the Good News Club's website, "each club includes a clear presentation of the Gospel and an opportunity for children to trust the Lord Jesus as Savior. Every club also includes strong discipleship training to build character and strengthen moral and spiritual growth." Amy Jensen, a professional educator in Tucson who has a master's degree in curriculum, instruction and teaching from the University of Denver, says she has decided to lead an After School Satan Club after comparing its curriculum materials with those of the Good News Club. Jensen noted that the Satanic Temple's materials say the group encourages benevolence and empathy among all people, and advocates practical common sense. "As a teacher, if I were deciding whether to teach that or the fear and hatred of other people's beliefs, which is what Good News Clubs teach, I would choose what the Satanic Temple has available," she said. Like all ASSC teachers, Jensen is a volunteer. To cover After School Satan Club costs, including facility use fees and curriculum materials, the Satanic Temple is launching a crowdfunding campaign - which is how it covers many of its initiatives. The blend of political activism, religious critique and performance art that characterizes the After School Satan Club proposal is not a new approach for the Satanic Temple. It is just the most recent in a series of efforts that have made the Temple famous and notorious. In 2014, after the Supreme Court ruled that the regular recitation of prayers before town meetings did not violate the First Amendment, provided that towns do not discriminate among religions, the Temple decided to test just how much religious liberty towns allowed. They volunteered to perform a Satanic benediction in an Arizona town where the board had regularly opened with a Christian prayer. In that case, the town preferred to abolish the practice of opening prayers. Advertisement In this and other instances - such as when the Satanic Temple proposed the installation of a statue of Baphomet in Oklahoma in response to a stone monument emblazoned with the Ten Commandments - the thrust of the Temple's activism has been to prevent religious groups from claiming the mantle of implicit state endorsement. The group's activism has much in common with a movement started a decade ago, when Bobby Henderson of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster penned an open letter to the Kansas School Board in 2005, citing fears that the introduction of teaching religious Intelligent Design alongside the theory of evolution would inculcate public school students with Christian thought. Henderson argued that believing that there is a benevolent deity made of spaghetti and meatballs is just as legitimate as believing in God. Believers in the Flying Spaghetti Monster took on the name "Pastafarians." Like the Satanic Temple, the Pastafarians insist that theirs is a genuine religion. According to Henderson, who published The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in 2006, it's inaccurate to say that his church is "purely a thought experiment or satire." "The Church of FSM is legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental," Henderson says on his website. "Let me make this clear: we are not anti-religion, we are anticrazy nonsense done in the name of religion. There is a difference." Greaves likewise insists that the Satanic Temple is much more than satire: "We've moved well beyond being a simple political ploy and into being a very sincere movement that seeks to separate religion from superstition," he said. The Satanic Temple expects to face opposition to its after-school proposal. When the group sought to erect the Baphomet monument, the Oklahoma governor's office dismissed the proposal as "absurd," and right-wing activists joined the attack. Advertisement Given the fight ahead and the long odds of pushing Christianity out of public schools, an important question about the After School Satan Clubs is: Does the Satanic Temple really want religion - even its own - in public schools? Greaves is blunt: "We are only doing this because Good News Clubs have created a need for this. If Good News Clubs would operate in churches rather than public schools, that need would disappear. But our point is that if you let one religion into the public schools you have to let others, otherwise it's an establishment of religion." In the 2001 Supreme Court ruling, Justice David Souter penned a scathing dissent. He suggested that the decision would bring about a world in which "any public school opened for civic meetings must be opened for use as a church, synagogue, or mosque." The Satanic Temple probably wasn't front and center in his thinking. Yet it appears determined to prove him correct. - - - Stewart is a Boston-based journalist. She is the author of "The Good News Club," an investigative book about public education and religious fundamentalism in America. Follow her on Twitter: @kathsstewart Will County Sheriff police caputured the suspect near Sweedler Road and the bike trail near the Manhattan Metra station. (Erin Gallagher / Daily Southtown) Police on Monday morning captured a man they say fled after breaking into a gun shop in southwest suburban Manhattan. Police were told by the shop owner no guns were taken, Manhattan police Sgt. Jamie Cavallero said. Advertisement Police have not identified the man who is in custody but said he was from Manhattan. No charges had been filed as of Monday afternoon. Police also were investigating if other people were involved, Cavallero said. Advertisement Police were dispatched to a burglar alarm about 6:15 a.m. at Gibbs Custom Gunsmithing in the 100 block of West North Street, Cavallero said. A section of U.S. Highway 52, or North Street, was shut down for about an hour as numerous police agencies and canine units responded. Officer Jim Kapsalis was first to arrive and saw a "broken window and door on the east side of the building and could hear the subject inside," Cavallero said. As additional police were called, "the suspect slipped out of that window and bolted onto Trask Street," Cavallero said. Neighbors spotted the man and called police. Despite dense fog, Will County sheriff's deputies captured him on Sharp Drive west of the gun shop, Cavallero said. The man was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox after he was having difficulty breathing. He later was released and taken to the Manhattan police station. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Paula Downs, of Manhattan, who owns the gun shop with Jeffrey Gibbs, said the weapons were locked inside a safe. The store has an alarm and surveillance cameras, she said. "We had a fairly sophisticated security system in place," she said. "From our perspective, everything that we put in place worked like it was supposed to." Advertisement When the alarm went off, Downs and Gibbs got the call from the security company, which alerted police. "(The police) exhibited a great deal of professionalism keeping it from escalating so nobody got hurt," Downs said. "We are very grateful for the extra precautions to be sure everything was safe as possible because it got put to the test." Braidwood and Joliet police brought canine units. Also assisting were Frankfort, Mokena and New Lenox police, New Lenox Emergency Management Services, Manhattan Fire Protection District and Manhattan Emergency Management Service. Highway 52 reopened about 7:30 a.m. Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter. Chicago Police Sgt. Cindy Guerra is honored by Orland Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schofield for helping to save a boy from drowning in a pool in Orland Park. (Ray Hanania / Handout) Chicago Police Sgt. Cindy Guerra was at a graduation party in Orland Park like any other guest. But when an emergency happened, she proved she was not ordinary. Her quick response and training help save the life of a boy drowning in the bottom of a pool. Advertisement "She just went automatic, the way she has been trained her whole career," said Orland Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schofield. Last week, Schofield presented Guerra with the William Bonnar Life Saving Award. The award is named after a long-time Orland Fire battalion chief who started his career as a paramedic. Advertisement "We honor him by giving this award to people who go above and beyond in saving a life," Schofield said. Guerra said her actions were "something that comes naturally" to people who are trained first responders. "You don't do things to expect accolades or praise," said Guerra, a 22-year veteran police officer. "You just do it. You act instinctively. To be recognized like this is overwhelming. I appreciate it and am so grateful." Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > On July 16, she saw the 12-year-old boy in the bottom of the swimming pool and jumped in. Another police officer who was at the party helped her lift the boy out and Guerra administered CPR, officials said in a statement. Guerra credited the boy's sister for alerting an adult to help. Schofield agreed. "We are all partners," Schofield said. "In order for our fire department to be successful, our community needs to be involved." The chief also said that first responders, like Guerra, are always doing good things. Advertisement "It's timely because in today's world, in the press we only hear bad things," he said. "When we're off duty, we are really not off duty." Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 board of education Vice President Christine Glatz, from left, President Dee Molinare and Superintendent Scott Tingley listen during a regular meeting at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox on April 14, 2016. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Federal prosecutors investigating Lincoln-Way High School District 210 have subpoenaed new records from the embattled school district, including emails sent or received by the former superintendent and certain school board members since 2009, records show. The U.S. attorney's office, in its latest subpoena for the school district's records, is seeking half a dozen categories of records in addition to previously requested documents from the district related to Superdog, a controversial dog training school built by former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, and Lincoln-Way's finances. The subpoenas follow a Daily Southtown investigation that, since January, has revealed questionable financial practices at Lincoln-Way, private uses of public resources and deals benefiting insiders at the district. Advertisement A subpoena Lincoln-Way released in response to a Freedom of Information request shows the U.S. Attorney's Office subpoenaed the district on July 13, expanding the scope of documents up for scrutiny to include all emails sent by the former superintendent and certain school board members dating back to 2009. Lincoln-Way landed on the state's financial watch list in 2015, where it remains, after years of overspending despite ostensibly balanced budgets. The district's operating reserves atrophied from more than $26 million in 2009 to about $2.8 million in 2015. Advertisement After landing on the watch list, the school board voted to shutter Lincoln-Way North, even though it is less than a decade old, as a cost-saving measure. A community group's lawsuit to prevent North's closure was dismissed by a Will County judge in June. The school district has faced mounting scrutiny of its financial management all year, including the federal grand jury convened in Chicago and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Previously, the U.S. attorney's office issued a subpoena seeking all records held by the Frankfort Square Park District related to Superdog, which is housed in a barn at Lincoln-Way North, Wyllie, who retired from the district in 2013, created Superdog without the Lincoln-Way school board's knowledge or approval, and it had "no student benefit," Superintendent Scott Tingley has said. Lincoln-Way spent nearly $45,000 on renovations in 2011 and 2012 for the dog school, which is run by a trainer who has worked with Wyllie and his Australian shepherds, records and interviews show. In 2014, the Frankfort Square Park District took over the program. Wyllie did not return a message Monday seeking comment. District officials also did not return a message seeking comment about the latest subpoena. The July 13 grand jury subpoena seeks personnel records and job postings as well as job descriptions for positions held by Superdog's current and former instructors, who also have worked for the school district. It also demands the same records related to another district employee who in 2013 admitted doing private work making signs for Wyllie, though he denied doing it on public time. In 2013, Lincoln-Way's former grounds director admitted ordering an employee to create a memorial plaque for Wyllie's father in an interview with a private investigator hired by the school district, the Daily Southtown reported earlier this year. Advertisement Paul Gonzalez, the former official, also admitted ordering "a few school district employees" to remove a large sign from the entrance to Wyllie's Frankfort subdivision and reinstall it once it had been repainted, according to the investigator's report. Lincoln-Way officials withheld the report from the public until earlier this year, when an attorney for the district released the record after the Southtown filed an appeal with the Illinois attorney general's office. The latest subpoena seeks employment records related to one of the employees interviewed for that report, not Gonzalez. The subpoena also seeks "any and all email communication maintained on District 210 email servers" sent or received by Wyllie, school board President Dee Molinare, Vice President Christine Glatz, current board member Christopher Kosel, as well as former board members Arvid Johnson and Kevin Molloy, both of whom resigned earlier this year. Prosecutors now are also seeking copies of all correspondence between Lincoln-Way and the Illinois State Board of Education regarding driver's education fee waivers. Lincoln-Way earlier this year acknowledged $699,046 in inappropriate driver's education fees charged to district families either before state officials approved a waiver allowing the district to charge $350 for driver's education or after the approval expired. Advertisement The subpoena also seeks records related to Life Safety renovations from 2006-15, records related to student scholarship funds and accounts, and internal discussion records related to the district's operating expense per pupil. For years, Lincoln-Way officials touted the district's low expense per pupil as a sign of the district's strong management. In May, federal prosecutors subpoenaed records related to Wyllie's compensation, which has been spotlighted by the Daily Southtown. Wyllie currently collects the largest teachers' pension in the state: $312,000. The school district also paid $368,148 into a private annuity for Wyllie, with much of that paid into the account even though the annuity wasn't in his contract or discussed publicly. The district opened the annuity in June 2004, and the agent on the policy was Wyllie's son, Christopher Wyllie, account statements released by the district and interviews show. But Lincoln-Way officials did not write Wyllie's annuity into his employment contract until May 2010, and board meeting records show no public discussion of the annuity. Advertisement Shortly before retiring in 2013, Wyllie wrote a memo directing a payroll employee to pay him for 50 sick days, 14 unused vacation days and a $16,000 "retiree stipend." Wyllie received the payment in July 2013, records show. Payment of such a "retiree stipend" was not one of the terms of Wyllie's 2010-15 employment contract with the district, which set his salary and benefits, a Daily Southtown review found. In an emailed response to questions about the $16,000 payment, School Board President Dee Molinare earlier this year said, "The $16,000 was a past practice that aligned with the faculty contract. This practice has not continued with the current administration." As part of the school district's 2012-15 teachers' contract, Lincoln-Way officials offered educators a "retirement incentive program" with 6 percent raises each year and a one-time retirement bonus of up to $16,000 for those who gave four years' written notice that they were going to retire. It's not clear whether Wyllie met the four years' written notice requirement based on the district's response to a public records request. The Freedom of Information Act request was for his written retirement notice, as well as any records showing that the district's board or administrators authorized the retirement bonus. The district turned over only the 2013 memo; Wyllie retired in 2013. The subpoena also ordered the district to turn over "all records related to misappropriation of federal, state and local funds to include bond funds, restricted funds and student activity funds for the time period of 2006 to the present," as well as all expenses from the superintendent's emergency fund. Advertisement Lincoln-Way officials also are dealing with an investigation by the SEC into possible securities law violations at the district. In 2006, voters approved a $225 million referendum to fund two new schools and make improvements at the district's existing campuses, allowing the school district to take out bonds for the expenses. At an April board meeting, Lincoln-Way officials acknowledged depositing millions of bond dollars into the wrong account, using bond funds for "temporary loans" to cover payroll and other operating expenses, and spending funds earmarked for capital projects on items such as school supplies. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Lincoln-Way spent more than $5 million in bond funds on operating expenses from 2008-2012, which made the school district's deficits seem smaller than they were, disguising the full extent of the district's financial trouble until it had grown into a full-blown crisis, a Daily Southtown review of financial records found. Many taxpayers have said they feel mislead by the district's leaders and have called for more resignations during public meetings. Last month, the Daily Southtown reported that the district passed a balanced budget in September 2014 but Tingley, the superintendent, privately told board members in a memo shortly after the vote that he expected a multimillion-dollar deficit. Advertisement That revelation drew criticism from the Illinois State Board of Education and district residents, who saw it as an example of the district withholding key information from the public. Through a spokeswoman, district officials acknowledged that budget "should have been amended" but said the district's poor financial condition was not "a secret." gpratt@chicagotribune.com Twitter @royalpratt As summer starts to wind down, teachers and administrators are gearing up the upcoming school year. Leyden High School District 212 hosted a summer symposium at West Leyden, from July 27 through July 29. According to East Leyden Principal Jason Markey, this is the fourth year that the district has hosted the symposium. Markey said that Leyden started the event because the schools wanted to bring educators together to learn. Advertisement "We've been connected with a lot of schools, and we've been able to visit a lot of schools," Markey said. "We wanted a place around Chicago where conversation can happen every summer." Markey said that at this year's symposium, around 300 people were in attendance. There were about 35 presenters and three keynote speakers every day. Advertisement "We have presenters from Australia to Alabama," he said. "We have attendees from all over the country." Markey said that the symposium advises teachers and administrators about innovative teaching and learning. The symposium focuses on creating teaching and learning opportunities for students. Many of the sessions included incorporating technology into the classroom. "We're mostly focusing on students and the student experience," Markey said. Brett Cooper, Rebecca Hester and Andrew Ruppert came to the symposium from Boyertown Area School District in Pennsylvania. Cooper said they heard about the event through their school district's superintendent. "I thought it would be beneficial for us," Cooper said. "Whenever you go to a conference, you get new ideas." Cooper said that the sessions that his team attended involved a lot of leadership training. The symposium also showed how to educate students at a global level. "We get so wrapped up in our daily [routine], we forget to take a step back and ask the kids how they're doing," he said. "I am impressed by the innovative ideas that the speakers brought to their session," Hester added. "I will take what I learned and take it back to my own district. Coming from Pennsylvania, it's nice to see a different perspective." Advertisement Katie and Scott Sternal came from Elgin Area School District U46. They heard about the symposium because Scott Sternal is a West Leyden graduate. They said that their school district has around 40,000 students, so attending these types of events is important for growth in the classroom. "This conference is where Leyden is trying to teach some progressive ideas that will work for our kids and will enhance what we're trying to build in our community, as well," Scott Sternal said. "It's the problem solving, teamwork and critical thinking," Katie Sternal said. "It's to teach our students to continue asking questions and to keep shooting for the moon." Markey said that the fees that educators paid to attend the symposium will benefit Leyden students. It will lower costs for Advanced Placement testing and ACT prep classes for Leyden students. "It all goes back to our students," Markey said. "I want to give our students the best opportunities at our school." Maryann Pisano is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. What was once an empty lot in Melrose Park is now a park dedicated to Vietnam veterans from the near west suburbs. Since World War I, the park district has dedicated parks to veterans who have lost their lives in wars, said Donna Leoni Peluso, the executive director of the Veterans Park District. The newest of these parks is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, which is at 1800 Riverwoods Drive in the Victory Centre of River Woods assisted living campus. The park district provides recreational and educational programs for residents of Northlake, Melrose Park, Franklin Park and River Grove. Advertisement "Less than a year ago [Melrose Park] Mayor [Ron] Serpico approached the Veterans Park District with an opportunity to develop this park," Peluso said. "The village donated the land and installed most of the infrastructure, like the pavement and the retaining wall. The park district agreed to do all the landscaping and all the maintenance for the property. So, it's a partnership with the village of Melrose Park. " Peluso said the district learned of 16 veterans from the area who died in Vietnam. The park is dedicated to them. Advertisement "One of the things that happened for this to come about was the village was able to acquire the property, and then when the time came to do something with it, we became short on money," Serpico said at the dedication. "So we approached Donna, and of course the people from the park district helped us make this partnership. I was a Vietnam-era person. I did not serve; I was in school. But those veterans were the people who came back and were very much disrespected. So that's why we came up with the idea to celebrate the Vietnam-era veterans. Obviously, the WWII veterans, the Korean War guys, and some of the later wars, those men and women came back and were treated much better than the Vietnam veterans. It's actually probably a disgrace as to how these veterans were treated for a war that they didn't cause." A dedication ceremony on July 27 included a presentation of the colors and rifle salute by American Legion Franklin Park Post 974, a benediction by Deacon Ray Behrendt from Sacred Heart Parish in Melrose Park, and renditions of the national anthem and "God Bless America" by Gianna Capra Uroni. "It's been a long time coming," said George W. Atkins, the commander at American Legion Post 888 from Northlake. "Finally, a tribute to my friends and fellow veterans that's not all the way in Washington, D.C. It's here; it's close by. It's a touching moment, especially when you're personally involved with some of the names up there. I knew some of them well." Atkins is also a U.S. Navy veteran who served from 1966 to 1968. "I spent two years in combat in Vietnam, and I was lucky enough to come home," he said. "And all I can say is God bless them, and God bless this country, and hopefully we'll continue to remember our veterans." The new park is dedicated to the following Vietnam War veterans: Dwight F. Bennett Jr., Marine Corps, Melrose Park James P. Califf, Army, Northlake Advertisement Russell M. Erikson, Army, Franklin Park Russell E. Gedeon, Army, River Grove Frank R. Gilchrist Jr., Marine Corps, Melrose Park Michael J. Havard, Army, Northlake Thomas H. Heise, Marine Corps, Melrose Park Robert E. Johnson, Air Force, Franklin Park Advertisement Charles N. Kowalk, Army, Melrose Park David J. Latoria, Army, Franklin Park Albert L. Lazzarotto, Army, River Grove Joseph A. Maggio Jr., Marine Corps, Melrose Park Matthew P. Malczynski, Army, Northlake Vernon A. Manheim Jr., Marine Corps, Franklin Park Advertisement Olaf T. Olsen, Army, Melrose Park Jon P. Turk, Army, Melrose Park Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Reflected on left in a mirror in her booth, Heather Hambrecht of Milwaukee, Wis., is about to turn to greet a customer on left on Park Avenue in downtown Glencoe on July 30, 2016, at the Glencoe Festival of Art. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Artist Amanda Manning of downstate Argenta is a big believer in spreading positive messages, and for the last 26 years, she said, she has been doing just that. "I just think words are really important," Manning said. "I like positive things around me because life is tough." Advertisement For over a quarter century, Manning has put together boxes, purses, canvases and furniture inscribed with words such as "believe" or "I feel fine" to boost spirits. She also has those same items with images such as the Cubs, or the Beatles - intended to bring happiness. "We want to make people understand that what they have is pretty good, and peace and love never go out of style," Manning said. Advertisement Manning was one of more than 100 artists who displayed their works at the Glencoe Festival of Art on July 30 and 31. Organizers said artists came from around the country to showcase their paintings, photographs, sculptures and other works along Park and Vernon avenues in downtown Glencoe. "Glencoe has a rich history of architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright and people who really appreciate art," said Amy Amdur, the CEO of Amdur Productions, who oversees the Glencoe art fair and others throughout the Chicago area. "We see Glencoe as a unique place where people can really value culture and the arts." From left, Debbie White of Hammond, Ind., and Audrey Mattes of Chicago shop on July 30, 2016, at the Glencoe Festival of Art in downtown Glencoe in the booth of Julie Furgat of Western Springs, a jewelry artist and of Angel Ware Designs. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Amdur, a Highland Park resident whose father grew up in Glencoe, said she was expecting thousands of people to come to what was the eighth incarnation of the festival. Artists apply to be part of the show in November, and then a group of professionals decide which ones are selected. "They are looking for a body of work, so it is someone who is established as an artist," Amdur said. "The show is always changing. The purpose here is to give Glencoe residents their own special art show." Amdur said some of the artists were donating a portion of their profits to PADS Lake County, an emergency housing shelter. Sally Sprowl, executive director of the Glencoe Chamber of Commerce, was thrilled with the large crowds she saw. She noted that the configuration of booths, back to back on Park and Vernon, allowed people to see daily retail opportunities in the village. "That way a lot of businesses have exposure," Sprowl said. "The sidewalks are open in front, and it brings people to our stores as well as visiting art booths." Advertisement Right, Jim Meade, a photographer from Richmond, Ky., confers with clients Eileen and Brad Stern of Buffalo Grove in Meade's Visual Expressions booth on July 30, 2016, at the Glencoe Festival of Art. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Making her initial appearance at the show was Glencoe landscape artist Julia Twomey, whose works showcase outdoor scenes. She was joined in her booth with her sister, Anne Ellis. Twomey noted her mother was an art teacher, and her two children have become artists in their own right. "I think there is a gene for novelty," Twomey said. While Twomey's main career has been as a speech pathologist, first at the Chicago Public Schools and now working with individual children, Twomey said she has always been fascinated by art since she saw a bowl of flowers at the home where she grew up in Evanston. She channeled that passion into her own work, where she engaged in painting on the side for 27 years. "You see something beautiful and you want to translate it in some way," Twomey said. "You lose track of time when you are painting. That's an indication you love it." Through the view of a brick-lined historic building walkway in downtown Glenview, an adult with a stroller looks in the direction of the booth occupied by Jim Meade, a photographer from Richmond, Ky. Clients Eileen and Brad Stern of Buffalo Grove are in Meade's Visual Expressions booth on July 30, 2016, at the Glencoe Festival of Art. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press On right, District 35 Supt. Catherine Wang speaks with PTO co-president Kelly Glauberman, left, before the July 28 School Board meeting. (Daniel I. Dorfman / Pioneer Press) Full day kindergarten, enhanced communication efforts and a new sixth grade science laboratory are some of the items to look for in the 2016-17 school year at District 35. With classes starting in less than a month, the Glencoe District 35 School Board got a preview of things to come at its July 28 meeting. On that date, the village's three schools had an projected enrollment of 1,154 children for the upcoming year, according to district officials, though that number could rise due to pending admissions. Advertisement The biggest change in the upcoming school year will be the switch to full day kindergarten for District 35, which until now has only offered half-day programming. Dr. Kelly Zonghetti, principal at South School, where kindergarten is held, told the Board a team of six teachers has been working with the administration to prepare for the change, with "structured play" incorporated into the full day programming. It had not been a part of the half day schedule. Advertisement "Structured play is an opportunity for children to engage in dramatic play and creative activity," Zonghetti said in a subsequent interview. Zonghetti said "structured play" will be a highlight of the new programming, since as academic content is not being added, though the pace of the day is being altered. "As we are incorporating play, we are teaching the parents what that means because that is an important part of what we do," Zonghetti said. Other changes are slated throughout the system, including a newly installed gymnasium floor at Central School. At West School, home for third and fourth graders, District 35 Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Holaday said there will be an emphasis this year on math education and reaching all students, no matter where they are in their math learning. Holaday said these will be similar efforts to what the school system has done in recent years for language arts education. At Central School, which houses fifth through eighth graders, Principal Ryan Mollet said a team of school officials will for a second consecutive year focus on the science curriculum to ensure proper alignment is taking place with the Next Generation Science Standards, a multi-state directive on science education. "We need to make sure the kids are being exposed to what they need," Mollet said. Mollet said Central School will have a sixth grade science lab this year due to a reconfiguration of space. Advertisement Holaday added the district will also focus on Illinois State Social Science Standards and will begin to align those directives with the curriculum. "We are going to sit down and look at what we are doing with our students and what shifts need to be made," Holaday said. Meanwhile, Supt. Catherine Wang said a new website for the district should be up by August 11, with Holaday saying a secured app will be made available exclusively to parents. "It will be more of a combination of Twitter and Facebook," Holaday said. "It does allow for messaging. It would allow a teacher to share an important document. If I needed to send a permission slip to a family, I could do it through this app." Holaday said the app could be useful in instances such as a snow day or power outage where instant communication is necessary. The first day of school is scheduled for August 25 for first through eighth graders and August 30 for kindergarten. Advertisement Wang told the Board it will be updated about the progress of the various initiatives. "Our goal would be throughout the year to bring some updates back to you," Wang said. Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press Two dogs that escaped and attacked another dog in Lake Zurich earlier this summer have been declared dangerous by Lake County officials, according to a health department spokeswoman. Following requirements in the Illinois Animal Control Act, officials from the Lake County Animal Care and Control Department in July ruled the two dogs must be leashed and muzzled in public, and must be microchipped, said spokeswoman Leslie Piotrowski. Advertisement The dogs' owners, who live in Lake Zurich, must also pay a $50 fine to the department, she said. Health officials haven't disclosed publicly the identities of the owners. The attack happened May 21 while Kurt Humbrecht was walking his dog, Alice, a German shepherd mix, near Old Mill Grove Road and Windemere Lane in Lake Zurich, Piotrowski said. Two pit bulls escaped a fenced yard and attacked Humbrecht's dog, she said. Advertisement Alice's injuries required surgery, Humbrecht said. He told Pioneer Press previously that he even was bitten about 10 times trying to separate the dogs. "Our dog is pretty much recovered at this point," he said recently. "She got lucky. She's growing back the fur from her surgery, and she's in good shape now." Piotrowski said the department considered "owner testimony, witness statements, police reports, medical records and pictures of injuries" to determine if the dogs were dangerous. But Humbrecht said he hoped the county health department would have done more beyond requiring the owners to leash and muzzle the two dogs while out in public. "The concern was that they broke out of the backyard fence, which isn't considered a public space," he said. "I think there's still a risk that the dogs get loose. That's my concern." Piotrowski said there have been four declarations of dangerous dogs in the county this year, including the two in Lake Zurich. The others were in unincorporated Gurnee and Round Lake, she said. The Lake County Animal Care and Control Department has received nearly 1,100 animal bite reports this year, Piotrowski said. Victoria Berkow is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Anna DeMartini, a Libertyville High School junior who took High School Lake Ecology at the Shedd Aquarium last month digs in the sand as part of an experiment. (Courtesy of Anna DeMartini) When it comes to the outdoors, Libertyville High School juniors Anna DeMartini and Joe Recker have different experience levels but share the same passion for lakes and oceans. Recker and De Martini were two of the 20 students who participated in the Shedd Aquarium's High School Lake Ecology program July 6-22 in Chicago and at the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. Advertisement The program provided instruction before and after the students spent a week in the Wisconsin wilderness conducting scientific research and camping, according to Alyssa Firkus, a Shedd learning specialist who was on the trip. Firkus said each student developed an experiment to conduct in the field using the waters of Lake Superior and the surrounding area as their laboratory. She said the object was to prove their concept while making sure they recognized they did not have enough time to prove a theory. Advertisement "There's only a week," Firkus said. "You need a year to gather enough data to draw a conclusion. They have the time to prove their concept." When they were not doing research, Firkus said they spent the time bonding over kayaking, hiking and talking by a campfire at night. De Martini, who spent her early years in Clearwater, Fla., before moving to Libertyville with her family, said she developed her passion for marine life early. She said she already knows it is going to be her career path. "I remember sitting on the dock when I was a little kid watching the (sea life) and knowing science was what I wanted to do," DeMartini said. "I knew I wanted to spend my life by the ocean. I fell in love with it since I was 4 or 5." Since moving to the Midwest, DeMartini said she has also learned fresh water contains an abundance of life worthy of study. Spending time around the water began early for Recker too. He said he is fascinated by marine life and finds ways to be around it as often as he can. He too plans a career in marine and animal biology. "I've always enjoyed the ocean," Recker said. "I like (what I see) when I'm scuba diving. I have an aquarium at home I keep. I love looking at animals in general." Recker is no stranger to the Shedd and camping. He said he has been a volunteer at the aquarium for the last 2 years and has spent years camping. He said those skills came in handy. Advertisement "I helped them set up tents and with the cooking," Recker said. DeMartini said this trip was her first camping experience. She said the Shedd class gave her an opportunity to try something new while learning more about water animal life. "I'd never been camping before," DeMartini said. "I wanted to meet people like me and make some new friends. I wanted to meet people who have the same passion as me and want to go after it like I do." The students might also learn is "Lake Superior is the boss," according to Firkus. She said their original hypothesis developed in an academic environment before heading to Wisconsin could change because of conditions in the wild. DeMartini had that experience. Starting out trying to determine how macroinvertebrates live in different environments, DeMartini found she and those working with her had to make a shift. A macroinvertebrate is an organism visible to the naked eye which does not have a backbone, like a leech, according to Firkus. Advertisement "We tried the sand and we didn't have much luck so we used a special net and (scooped up) leaf packs," DeMartini said referring to clumps of vegetation near the water which can contain organisms. "It was so much fun. We just kept finding more." Recker too was working with macroinvertebrates. He said he wanted to see which ones were living in the part of Lake Superior they were exploring to determine the quality of the water. Some need purer water to survive. "We found the water was not as healthy as it should be," Recker said. "I want to change behavior to pollute less. Think of all the plastic bags our food comes in. We can make the environment better." Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Only a handful of car owners braved the threat of rain, to turn out for Lincolnshire Police Department's third annual car show Friday. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) On a rainy evening this past weekend, Don Zordani surprised himself by finding more than he expected. Zordani was part of a small crowd who visited Lincolnshire Police Department's third annual "Cruisin' with Cops" car show July 29 in the parking lot of the Fresh Market grocery store. Grey clouds and a little drizzle limited the number of display vehicles and visitors, according to organizers. Advertisement But Zordani, a Countryside resident, decided to stop by the show while on his way home from work in Chicago after seeing signs for the car show. While looking at an older Cadillac, he said so many vehicle owners and car enthusiasts typically let weather conditions dictate whether they display their machines in car shows. "Some of these guys, they won't even bring them out if it's cloudy," Zordani said. Advertisement Lincolnshire Police Sgt. Kim Covelli said only about a dozen show cars appeared at the event, which kicks off the local National Night Out festivities this year. The main National Night Out event, designed to enhance community relations, happens from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at North Park, 1025 Riverwoods Road, Lincolnshire. Covelli said that with the rainy weather, many car owners left their display models at home and came in their regular cars drivers just to look around. "When there's even a chance of rain, a lot of them want to protect their vehicles," she said. "That's pretty common." But Justin Pantle, an 18-year-old Long Grove resident, took a chance. He brought his racetrack-ready Ford Mustang, which he purchased from the Ford Performance Racing School after visiting its facility in Grantsville, Utah, he said. Pascal Masset (front) looks at Blackdog Speed Shop's 2015 Z28 Camaro during Lincolnshire Police Department's third annual car show. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) Pantle has taken his Mustang to the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit and several "autocross" courses set up in large parking lots. "I loved how the car threw me back in the seat," he said. "Learning the limits of the car is exhilarating." Lincolnshire-based Blackdog Speed Shop brought several display cars this year, Covelli said. Blackdog fabricator Dick Behrendt drove the business' Chevrolet Cameo. He said the business wanted to be part of the show rain or shine to support local police. Advertisement rwachter@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer A digital rendering of what the new 404 Social apartment complex, set to be built on the parking lot of the Regal theater in Lincolnshire, should look like. (ECD Co. / Handout) The developer of a major apartment complex in Lincolnshire will pay $3 million in fees after reaching a compromise with village officials that clears the way for the proposed residential project to start. Builder ECD Co. agreed to the amount, which will fund park improvements, during a Lincolnshire Village Board meeting July 25. The company has been planning to tear down the south wing of movie theater Regal Lincolnshire Stadium 21 and IMAX and use the space, along with an often empty parking lot, to build 404 Social, a two-building apartment complex marketed toward young professionals and empty nesters. Advertisement "We're moving forward with the village," ECD Co. President Scott Greenberg said after the meeting. ECD representatives have said since May, when village board members approved the project, the targeted demographics likely would cause an insignificant effect on nearby schools and parks. But Lincolnshire officials, like most other area municipalities, typically assess impact fees for large residential projects. Advertisement On May 9, village trustees approved ECD Co.'s plan to build 302 rental units in two, four-story buildings, a project that village officials and developers both said could attract younger Millennials and their desire for rental housing options. Trustees earlier this summer told the developer they had a formula that determined ECD Co. would need to pay $3.8 million in impact fees. Greenberg told the board that he wanted a lower figure. "No developer's ever happy," said Lincolnshire Mayor Liz Brandt. "But we weren't going to make a huge compromise on this because it would be precedent-setting." Village officials negotiated with the developer, focusing on how many likely would occupy the 302 units of the proposed development. Both sides eventually settled on 1.84 occupants a unit and a $3 million impact fee, Brandt said. Greenberg told Pioneer Press he thought the amount still was too high, although he agreed to pay it. "It won't happen," he said. "You won't have that many people occupying this property." He said he expected an average of 1.5 renters a unit. rwachter@pioneerlocal.com Advertisement Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer Retired Niles village attorney Joe Annunzio poses for a picture with Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo and members of the village's board of trustees at a meeting in July in which Annunzio was honored for his nearly 20 years of service to the village. (Lee V. Gaines / Pioneer Press) Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo and the village's board of trustees crowded around retired village attorney Joe Annunzio for a picture at their July meeting after bestowing the long-time employee with a plaque celebrating his nearly 20 years of service to the community. Annunzio retired in mid-June after 18 years as the village's in-house counsel. He was called a "a good friend and a food friend to the village" by Przybylo. Advertisement Soon after Annunzio announced his retirement, the village hired Dusanka Grcic as a part-time attorney for the village. Grcic will be paid $85,000 annually, according to Mitch Johnson, communications coordinator for the village. Annunzio received roughly $139,000 in his last year of full-time legal service to Niles. The 67-year-old Park Ridge resident was first hired by the village in 1996 to aid in the removal an underground storage tank per the state's environmental guidelines from the site of a former gas station that Niles had purchased. Advertisement "It was on the corner of Oakton and Waukegan where the present-day administration building is and where I wound up working for 19 years," he said. Annunzio was, at the time, an environmental attorney with a private practice in Chicago. After the job was completed, he was hired on a part-time basis by former Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase. He became the village's full-time in-house legal counsel in 1998. Annunzio said Przybylo is the third mayor he's worked for in Niles following Bob Callero and Blase, who served nearly a year in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2006 to an insurance kickback scheme. Annunzio said he didn't expect to practice municipal law, but the opportunity Niles provided was a hard one to pass up. As an environmental attorney in the 1990s, he was struggling to compete for business with large-scale firms. While working for Niles, "I began to take on more responsibilities and over time I became a municipal attorney, and a decent one at that," he said. Annunzio began his career as a Chicago Public Schools teacher and a musician. He received a master's degree in music composition from Roosevelt University, he said, and his last job in CPS was teaching band at Hirsch Metropolitan High School on Chicago's South Side. "The music business is a tough business. Thats one reason why I began to look at law school," he said. Annunzio left CPS in 1980 and graduated from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago in 1985. He spent his four years in law school washing windows in the morning, studying in the afternoon and taking classes at night, he said. Advertisement After receiving his law degree, Annunzio spent nine and a half years working for the Illinois Attorney General's Office in its environmental division before opening up his private law practice. Annunzio has also taught environmental and administrative law at his alma mater since 1994. As a municipal attorney, Annunzio touts saving the village money and shielding the municipality from major legal headaches as his biggest accomplishments. "Many times I would pick something up and run with it and take care of it long before it would get to litigation," said Annunzio, who is also a past president of the Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association. Przybylo noted at the village board's July meeting that the former Niles attorney is still aiding Niles through his work on the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission. Annunzio has served on the commission since 2000 and was elected vice-chairman of the organization last year. He said he's currently chairing a committee tasked with working on a method to redistribute take-off and landing routes at O'Hare International Airport. The goal, he said, is for all communities to receive a fair share of air traffic noise rather than having it concentrated in a few suburbs. He said his work on the commission has provided an outlet for his interest in environmental law. Advertisement "You get involved in things like environmental law because you are passionate about it. It's like music. It's the same thing. You do it because of things that go beyond money," he said. Aside from continuing his work on the commission, Annunzio said he's not sure what he'll do as a retiree. Taking on part-time legal work or even joining a band are not out of the question, he said. He said he looks back on his time in Niles fondly, and appreciates that it was a job that allowed him time to spend with his wife and three children something he said wouldn't have been so easy had he instead opted to join a big law firm. "By and large it was interesting work," he said of the job in Niles. "Every day was something new." Lee Gaines is a freelancer. Niles officials say Evanston continues to be the lowest-cost option in the village's ongoing quest for a cheaper water source. The village board approved two measures at its last meeting in July signaling a continued commitment to pursuing a 40-year agreement to buy water from Evanston in partnership with Morton Grove. The two communities have been working together on the effort for the last two years. Park Ridge officials previously expressed interest in joining the effort, but the municipality has since dropped out of the project. Advertisement Niles trustees last week approved an additional $12,500 expenditure for consulting services from Chicago-based Stanley Consultants. Morton Grove will also pitch in an additional $12,500 for the work, according to village documents. Last October, the board approved a roughly $22,000 expenditure for a study from the firm to figure out whether the municipalities could tap into Skokie's water lines in their ultimate bid to purchase Lake Michigan water from Evanston rather than Chicago. The total $45,000 cost of the work was split with Morton Grove. Village coffers have been taxed by significant rate increases on Chicago water in recent years. Advertisement "We have concluded again that Evanston continues to be the lower-cost option," said village manager Steve Vinezeano. He said Morton Grove and Niles officials have approached the Northwest Water Commission, Aqua Illinois, Glenview and Wilmette about buying water from those agencies and Evanston continues to be the cheaper option. Officials did not disclose any tentative quotes from the city in the documents provided to the public. Vinezeano said Niles and Morton Grove representatives continue to meet with Skokie officials to figure out a way to use the village's infrastructure to transport water from Evanston to Niles and Morton Grove. He said the goal is to reduce capital costs for Niles and Morton Grove by using existing water lines while also providing some benefit to Skokie. The costs of the project have been split 50/50 between Niles and Morton Grove thus far, said Bill Balling, a consultant on the project. He said Niles officials will need to approve a cost-sharing formula with Morton Grove sometime in the near future because "as contract values get larger, it's important we have a fair allocation of those costs." As the project moves forward, Vinezeano and Balling said the village will also need to go out to bid for what is estimated to be a $600,000 engineering and route study to determine how exactly water will be pumped from Evanston to Niles and Morton Grove and how much it will cost to construct the necessary infrastructure. Trustee George Alpogianis expressed concern that the village would have to pay for the engineering study before inking a deal with Evanston. "My recommended approach would be to get that contract signed and back to you for a supply of water for a 40-year period before we entertain the contract on design and we think the timing will work on that," Balling said in response to the trustee's query. Balling and Vinezeano also assured trustees that they had been meeting with Skokie officials on a regular basis and they are "optimistic" they'll figure out the best way to transport water through the village to both Niles and Morton Grove. "We are focusing on three different (route) alignments, two of which have been recommended by Skokie," Balling said. "We are trying not to surprise Skokie in any way and maintain a dialogue with them." Advertisement Alpogianis said the amount of money spent up to this point and the amount the village would likely spend in the future on the project made him "a little uneasy" given some outstanding uncertainty. "I think we should have a little more substance before we take that dive no pun intended," he said. Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo said he had received assurances from staff that the multimillion-dollar project will eventually save the village money once water is flowing from Evanston to Niles. Both Morton Grove and Niles staff along with their consultants are combing through the details and approaching every aspect of the project with a large degree of caution and thoughtfulness, Vinezeano said. "This is all very complicated," he said. "There are a lot of moving parts and it's a legacy project so we need to make sure as we move forward it will be a project with long-term benefits to Niles and Morton Grove." Lee Gaines is a freelancer. As kids prepare to head back to school in less than a month, officials at School District 80 in Norridge are wrapping up a summer-long campaign spent working to convince taxpayers to support a permanent tax hike that would give Leigh and Giles schools a $2.5 million annual boost. District 80 Superintendent Paul O'Malley, who has made numerous public appearances at village board and school district meetings since June, says he needs taxpayers' support of a referendum to raise taxes to pay for a funding shortfall that threatens the safety of both schools' infrastructures and programming including band, full-day kindergarten and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), among other academic programs. Advertisement The school board is expected to decide during the Aug. 16 school board meeting which tax rate increase request it will place on the ballot in the November election. School officials have declined to say what the recommended tax increase would be. A survey was sent to 3,755 households where registered voters live, and the results show that most respondents don't support any kind of an increase in taxes. O'Malley said the survey was sent only to households with registered voters to save money on mailing costs. The general election will take place Nov. 8. According to the Cook County Clerk's website, the last day to register to vote is Oct. 11. Grace-period registration and voting runs from Oct. 12 to Nov. 8. Advertisement Among the 572 voters who responded to the school district's survey, 58 percent said they didn't support any of the three options the district has laid out for addressing age-related infrastructure issues at the two schools. Eighteen percent supported an option to renovate both schools at a cost of $37.5 million by raising taxes by about $365 per year for a $100,000 home, while 14 percent said they supported seeing both schools demolished and another combined school built somewhere within the school district, an option that would cost $60.6 million. In that scenario, property owners would pay about $483 more in taxes per year based on a $100,000 home. Only 4 percent of those respondents supported a third option that would raise taxes by $522 per year (based on a property with the same value) to tear down and rebuild both schools for $68.8 million, according to the survey results. O'Malley addressed the survey results at a town hall-style meeting at Ridgewood High School on July 27, where he pointed to a section of the survey that asked respondents to rank how important it is for the district to continue funding sports, band and day-long kindergarten. Between 50 percent and 58 percent of respondents rated the school district's capability to continue funding those activities as being of medium-to-high importance, while a range of 30 percent to 38 percent ranked the future of those programs as being of low to medium importance. "For the 58 percent that said they supported none (of the three options) in other words, 'we believe in your signature programs but we don't believe in being taxed to support the programs,' " O'Malley explained. Survey demographics show 31 percent of people who answered the questionnaire were over age 65, with another 19 percent being between 55 and 64 years old. A total of 78 percent of people who answered the survey have no kids under age 19 living at home. "I'm interested less in the programs and more in what they're doing with the buildings," Norridge resident Lisa Rose said. Advertisement Another resident who spoke at the meeting, Frank Trabuzio, said the tax hike was needed to preserve property values in the community. He said the move could prevent potential Norridge homebuyers from choosing to live elsewhere over concerns about the school district's finances. "No one likes to increase property taxes, but the time has come to face what we must, as districts around us have (already) reached the right educational goals," Tribuzio said. "The current tax rate puts the idea of what we're paying in an outdated bubble, and if we let our schools decline you'll see your property values decrease." School officials will meet for a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 12 to discuss a recommendation on the referendum. Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. The Porter County Regional Airport in Valparaiso once again will be the landing spot for World War II vintage airplanes in an ongoing salute to veterans. The Collins Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour is bringing these rare aircraft for everyone here to come and visit. Highlighting the event will be the B-17 Flying Fortress "Nine O Nine," the B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft," the B -25 Mitchell "Tondelayo" bombers and the P-51 Mustang "Betty Jane" fighter. These four aircraft will fly into Valparaiso for you to visit from August 5 through August 7. Advertisement If you have a family member that has first hand memories of any of these aircraft bring them out for a salute from the team that flies them now. If your relatives who are no longer with us flew in one of these airplanes or worked on the ground taking care of one of these planes you owe it to yourself and your family to come visit. History buffs that don't have a personal connection to these icons of WWII history get a chance in your own back yard of Indiana to come visit. The access to the Airport in Valparaiso is not as packed with traffic as some of their stops closer to bigger cities. This airport is located at 4207 Murvihill Road, Valparaiso. From Crown Point take U.S. Rt. 30 East of I-65 for about 19 miles. The airport is east of the intersection of U.S. Rt. 30 and IN Rt. 49. Continue on Rt. 30 until turning north bound on Montdale Drive it dead ends and Murvihill Road is on the east side and the airport is there. There are lots of signs to lead you to the main entrance to the airport. You can't miss these old warriors of the sky. Advertisement B-25 Mitchell "Tondelayo" bomber will be on display this weekend in Valparaiso. (Wings of Freedom) These are unique and rare treasures of aviation history. The B-17 is one of only 8 planes that are in flying condition in the US. The B-24J and the Full Dual Control P-51C Mustang are the only remaining types of those aircraft flying in the world, according to Hunter Chaney Director of Marketing for owners of the aircraft the Collings Foundation. The B-25, according to Chaney, is best known for the daring Doolittle raid. Just as a reminder according to many writings about the famous Doolittle Raid, it was the first return fire from the U.S. troops after the destruction of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led a bombing raid over Japan and hit Tokyo while they felt untouchable. Doolittle led the raid on April 18, 1942. As raids go it was a small raid of just sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers. Its biggest success was in the terror it inflicted upon the Japanese enemy that they were not safe in their own homes. The Americans could and would bring the war to their island home. You can sit at the airport and just look, or better yet take a paid tour. The ground tours and display are Friday August 5 from 2 p.m. through 5 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday August 6, and August 7 the ground tours start at 9 a.m. and go through 5 p.m. The cost for the up-close viewing and tours through the inside of the aircraft is Adults $12 and Children under 12 are $6 each. For the truly adventurous $450 per person will get you aboard a 30-miniute flight on either the B-17 or the B-24. This could be a once in a lifetime event on these rare aircraft. A 30-minuite flight on the B-25 is $400 per person. B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft" - Original Credit: Post-Tribune (handout / HANDOUT) Now for the totally committed to a full and exciting experience who want to be or actual are pilots that want to get some actual "stick time" it is a lot more expensive. Thirty minutes costs $2,200 or for a full hour it is $3,200. This is done on the P-51C Full Dual Control Mustang. For reservations and information on flight experiences call 1 (800) 568-8924. The flight experiences are scheduled both before and after the ground tour times. The Collings Foundation is a not-for profit educational foundation devoted to spreading living history events. They are teaching more about heritage and history in a hands-on way. The Nationwide Wings of Freedom Tour is 27-years old and visits an average of 110 cities in just 35 states every year. Don't miss your chance to get to see these aircraft close to home. kconley@post-trib.com Gary could play a key role in the future economic development of the Indiana and the Midwest, according to Sen. Joe Donnelly. Donnelly, D-Ind., was presented with a "Spirit of Enterprise" award Monday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at a Gary Chamber of Commerce meeting. He used the occasion to tell local business and government leaders how important their home city was. Advertisement Specifically, Donnelly cited the presence of the Gary/Chicago International Airport and the multiple interstate highways that pass through the city, along with its location near Chicago and right on Lake Michigan. "I'd rather be in Gary, Ind., than in Washington, D.C.," Donnelly told the gathering that took place at the U.S. Steel Yard. Advertisement "I feel we're well positioned and that the next 10 years, the next 20 years, will be Gary's years," the senator said. "It will be a bumpy road, but we're right on the cusp of development." Donnelly particularly praised the airport's potential to be a prominent factor in the shipment of goods to locations across the country. He cited suburban Chicago communities such as Elk Grove Village and Naperville that he says have benefited from their proximity to O'Hare International Airport, and said Gary's airport could provide a similar benefit. When combined with the lakefront and beaches nearby, Donnelly said he could see people thinking of Gary as an alternative to a Chicago lifestyle. "We're blessed with a lot we have," he said. "I think the future is ours, and we have to grab it now." Donnelly did cite problems with the public school system in Gary, but said he had faith in Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and local school officials to make necessary improvements. But he cited the presence of local universities connected to Indiana and Purdue as a strength, because it could encourage young people to want to stay in Gary and have a life in the city. The senator also said people across Indiana should realize how important Gary is to the entire state because the state's traffic ultimately flows upward to the city. A resident of South Bend, Donnelly said, "I live only an hour away; your concerns are also ours." Freeman-Wilson was pleased to hear Donnelly talk up her city, although she said his comments were consistent with what he has said in the past about Gary. "He always talks about our geographical advantages and our natural assets," she said. "He represents our community in a way that makes us stand out." Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Five Lake County Jail corrections officers have been suspended for 15 days without pay and one was demoted after they allowed inmates of the opposite sex in the same jail holding cell. Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said following an investigation into the matter he sought the suspension of the five and demotion of one. The identities of the officers were not released. Advertisement "It was a serious slip up on the part of these officers. They weren't attentive enough," he said. The incident occurred July 23 when Elysia M. Jeronimo, 21, of Hammond, was placed in a holding cell. Several male inmates, including her boyfriend, Richard Campos, 22, of East Chicago, were then placed in the cell because officers were unaware of Jeronimo's presence, Buncich said. Advertisement This is the second time corrections officers were disciplined surrounding an incident involving Campos and Jeronimo. Three corrections officers were disciplined after Campos walked away April 30 from an unsecured part of the jail. Jeronimo picked Campos up in her car, according to a probable cause affidavit. The pair were later captured in San Antonio, Texas. Jeronimo is being held in the Lake County Jail on charges of assisting Campos in his escape. She has been unable to post the $100,000 bond. Campos is in jail on charges of resisting arrest and operating while intoxicated. He is also facing escape charges, according to court records. Buncich initially sought the termination of the three corrections officers involved, Alfonso Rodriguez, Ramon Hines and Kathy Escobedo in May before the Lake County Sheriff's Correction Merit Board. Upon investigation of the incident, Buncich said he decided to seek disciplinary action instead of termination. Two of the officers received reprimands, one received a 15-day suspension. He did not indicate which officer was suspended. Buncich said while both incidents involve Campos and Jeronimo, he said the incidents weren't related. "I had a three-day investigation into this matter," Buncich said, adding the corrections officers involved in both incidents were not the same individuals. He said both the escape and the mingling of the inmates of opposite sex were mistakes. "Obviously, it was just a real screw up by these officers," Buncich said. Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Rescue workers training at the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA) in Glenview learn the best ways to handle a car crash and give victims the best chance of surviving. The 21-acre facility trains first responders from all over the area. (Mike Isaacs / Pioneer Press) It's like a scene out of "Chicago Fire," said a member of a delegation from Indiana when he saw photos of training exercises at the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA) in Glenview. Then the group toured the 21-acre site for first responders, which is run by an intergovernmental agency of municipalities, fire protection districts and other organizations. Advertisement His comparison, however, was a bit too limited considering how NIPSTA has evolved in recent years, according to those who run it. NIPSTA no longer is primarily "Chicago Fire" in TV terms, but also "Chicago Police" and "Chicago Public Works" and "Chicago Paramedics" and "Chicago Emergency Medical Workers" and many other potential shows about first responders in critical situations. Advertisement When Jill Ramaker first became executive director two years ago, she was determined to expand NIPSTA's reach, she said. "When I first came here, about 70 percent of what we did was fire service training," Ramaker said. "Really, the vision that I had for NIPSTA was to fill the plate." The full meal she had in mind included "all the different types of agencies and training that's required for a full-scale disaster response," she said. So in only a couple of years, NIPSTA has become a comprehensive training center for responders in disaster health care, law enforcement, public works and much more. She also wasted no time in bringing in the latest technology to be used in diverse training exercises, said several instructors. One of Ramaker's most ambitious additions was the Center For Disaster and Emergency Medicine. "We really are on the ground floor of this program," Ramaker told her tour group. "There was a gap that existed, and once you get through paramedic school, nothing was really out there to challenge people to use their skills and get really, really good at what they do every day." "Dramatic is an understatement," said Skokie Fire Chief Jim Walters describing the changes in NIPSTA he has seen over the last two years. Walters sits on the NIPSTA executive committee and heads the committee on grounds and facilities. Advertisement "They've been able to get resources to be able to improve the level of training we've been receiving," Walters said. "They've taken it to a new level. Really, we're on track to become a one-of-a-kind training facility." It isn't just a matter of increasing the kinds of first responders that are trained at the facility, although NIPSTA certainly has done that, Ramaker said; it's also about making sure different first responders train together. "What we've tried to do here at NIPSTA is to say, 'Who are all of the different types of agencies and individuals and organizations that are going to be required to respond in a disaster, whether it's a small-scale or catastrophic event,'" Ramaker said. Voting members of NIPSTA include towns from Arlington Heights, Winnetka, Deerfield, Skokie, Evanston, Park Ridge and more nearly two dozen representatives in all. The Indiana visitors, there because they want to develop a public safety training center in their own state, got a full taste of NIPSTA. They saw firefighters working to free "victims" in car crashes in extrication exercises; a new mobile ambulance with state-of-the-art technology; a training room in the new Center For Disaster and Emergency Medicine. They toured the sprawling grounds to see firefighter training towers and an area for trench disasters and an old rusted out commuter train that can serve as a venue for rescue training. Advertisement Inside, they saw how law enforcement personnel work with nifty virtual reality technology. In a demonstration, an officer headed to the backyard of a domestic incident that instantly turned more serious than originally believed; in another, he entered the scene of a school shooting where a student is down and a virtual officer beside him is suddenly shot. A nearby driving simulator allows trainees to hone their driving skills in all kinds of weather conditions and emergency circumstances. Shortly after Ramaker took over the top spot at NIPSTA, she hired former Broadview Fire Chief Tom Gaertner as deputy director. These two make up half of the four full-time staff members at NIPSTA, overseeing some 450 instructors who are experts in their fields, they say. Some of the trainers are retired from public safety jobs, while others do this work in addition to jobs with police or fire departments or other agencies. "There is always a lot going on here," Gaertner said. "Not a lot of time to sleep. But we recognize the importance of the work." Ramaker said this rapid growth spurt is by design. Advertisement "We are about 35 percent higher in revenue than we were at this time last year," she said. "From a business perspective, to me, that says we're growing very fast." And not slowing down. Ramaker said the new Center For Crisis Leadership is on tap for next year. NIPSTA hired a new director of campus safety. The agency will be working with Chicago first responders in a new partnership. Public works employees can now train in techniques to safely plow snow here. NIPSTA is taking on a bigger role working with school districts on their emergency plans. And it can train those in private industry as well. In assessing NIPSTA's activity spike, Walters remembered how people used to say for years that the agency had "great potential." Finally, he said, that potential is being realized. That's because it has to be, Ramaker said. The nature of confronting emergency situations in the 21st century both large and small require proper training and most importantly, a coordinated and comprehensive response, she said. Advertisement "When someone calls NIPSTA and asks if we can help, we respond always with a yes," Ramaker said. "If we don't have a program in place, we build one. We put it together. We won't turn anyone away because every part of society every part of business is impacted by serious changes in our world today." misaacs@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @SKReview_Mike Wilmette police charged a Chicago man with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and criminal trespass to a vehicle on July 27, in connection with the theft last month of a car from the Imperial Motors auto dealership, 721 Green Bay Road. Police reported that Darryl Jones, 34, of the 6900 block of South Jeffery Avenue in Chicago, was in possession of a 2014 Mercedes S550, stolen from the Wilmette car dealership last month, when officers stopped him shortly before 3:30 p.m. July 27, on the first block of East 50th Street in Chicago. Advertisement Deputy Wilmette Police Chief Kyle Perkins said Aug. 1 that Wilmette police were able to charge Jones after Chicago police informed Wilmette investigators where the stolen car had been located in Chicago. In the originating incident, an employee of Imperial Motors told police June 17 that he had delivered the $87,000 Mercedes to a woman, and had provided 100 percent financing to her so that she could buy the vehicle, only to discover later that she had fraudulently used another woman's identification to make the purchase. Advertisement Police said that at the time of Jones' arrest, officers searched the Mercedes and found a loaded semi-automatic handgun in the center console. They said Jones' unlawful use of a weapon charge was an aggravated felony because he was a convicted felon at the time of the July 27 incident. The report didn't given information on his previous conviction. Jones could not be reached for comment on the charge. kroutliffe@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @pioneer_kathy Workers assemble cars at a production line of BYD Co Ltd in Shanghai. BYD is deepening its ties with Correios, Brazil's logistics giant. [Photo by Hu Xi/China Daily] BYD Co Ltd, a major private sector new-energy vehicle producer in China, is firming up plans to further expand into the Brazilian market. Towards this goal, it is deepening its cooperation with Correios, Brazil's biggest postal service group, which is an official partner of Rio 2016. "Correios is absolutely the leader of the country's logistics industry. Its projects will influence not only the whole industry, but other international companies such as DHL and Fedex," BYD told China Daily by e-mail. In March, BYD loaned one of its T3 electric vans to Correios, which is assessing "green" logistics solutions through a series of tests with electric cars from different makers, especially those that feature increased energy efficiency in urban traffic. "Correios is floating an open tender for purchasing vans for its logistics operations later this year," said a person from the public relations department of BYD, who asked not to be identified but said BYD plans to bid. The T3 boasts a cargo compartment with 800 kg capacity, and a driving range of over 200 kilometers. The foray into Brazil would mark its international debut. According to BYD, it is entering Brazilian market step by step. Currently, the company offers some tests and trials to key customers, to help them better know its products and the brand. The company believes such tests and trials are vital to developing the market. BYD entered Brazil in 2013 with its electric buses, which were a new product for the country at the time, the e-car maker said. It introduced its electric taxi, and electric logistic vehicles later. In 2014, impressed by the promising new-energy vehicle market, BYD built a factory in Brazil. The country has formulated several policies in the past two years to support the development of its new-energy vehicle industry. In October 2015, it removed the 35 percent import tariffs on electric and hybrid vehicles altogether. BYD's overseas expansion and marketing strategy includes promotion of electric vehicles like buses and taxis in public transport systems, and localization such as establishing research and development centers and assembly lines, the company said. Founded in 1995 and listed on both the Hong Kong bourse and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, BYD is a private manufacturer specializing in four industries: IT, cars, new-energy vehicles and light rail systems. BYD said it sold about 70,000 new-energy vehicles worldwide last year, up more than 200 percent from 2014, accounting for 11 percent of the world's new-energy vehicle market. By the end of May, BYD's new-energy vehicles have been sold in 200 cities across 48 countries and regions. The company has 24 production bases in China, one in the United States and one in Brazil. In June, it announced it will build a new battery factory in Qinghai Province. Chinese and British securities watchdogs are discussing an agreement that will pave the way for landmark financial services projects between the countries, sources said, easing fears that Britain could be a less attractive partner for such deals after last month's vote to leave the European Union. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority and the China Securities Regulatory Commission are cooperating on a regulatory framework for a scheme for distributing fund products in each other's jurisdiction and a proposed London-Shanghai link for trading shares, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Britain, home to the EU's biggest finance sector, has been pushing in recent years to deepen its financial services ties with China, which has agreed to these and other cross-border financial services schemes as part of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue program. Former UK chancellor George Osborne and Chinese vice premier Ma Kai said at last September's EFD meeting in Beijing that they would explore the creation of a London-Shanghai equity link and mutual funds recognition scheme, but neither government has provided further details. The formal cooperation between the FCA and CSRC signals that the financial projects at least are going ahead, with one source saying the discussions had remained "very positive." Some market watchers had raised concerns that leaving the EU, which puts in doubt the UK's future access to the trading bloc and its "passports" to provide financial services there, could scupper such projects by limiting their potential scope and appeal. "So far none of the cross-border exchange initiatives has been derailed by the risk of Britain leaving the European economic area and the associated passporting rights," said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner at GreySpark Partners in London. "What is clear is that the CSRC and the FCA will not stop cooperating after the vote to leave the EU," he added. The CSRC, UK Treasury and Chinese Ministry of Finance did not respond to requests for comment. A team displays their project at the final of the Starbucks Youth Leadership on Friday in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn] Ten Chinese university students received the title of the "Yearly Starbucks Youth Leaders" on Friday in Beijing at the final of the "Youth, Future" 2016 Starbucks Youth Leadership Project competition. The project on youth leadership development, which kicked off in November of last year, enrolled 500 students from 10 universities across the country in a training camp designed to improve their management skills, perseverance, and charisma, among other traits commonly expected in leaders. The students and their teams made advancements through a series of competitions. The 12 teams that made into the final all exhibited strong entrepreneurship capabilities of implementing classroom knowledge into their field projects, most of which are for public interest, innovation and are internet-based. Tian Xu was among the finalists. He said that he used to be nervous about speaking in public, but the Starbucks training camp "Challenge 21 Days Plus" helped him overcome such difficulties and he could now confidently make public speeches. It is the second year for Starbucks to hold the Youth Leadership Project in China. Its vice president for China market Cui Fuqiu said that Starbucks is delighted to see the growth of young students and the achievements they make. "We are more sure that 'supporting youth' as our community investment strategy is necessary and should be continued," he said. Starbucks managed to invest in Chinese youth leaders through the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF), whose organization effort bridged Starbucks, Chinese students and the social welfare programs they initiated. Jing Dunquan, the CSCLF vice chairman praised the students who made it to the final. He said that these finalists successfully innovated their ideas and actions, and they put such innovation in their programs for public interest. "Guided by innovation, they united their young dreams with public interest, ready to take social responsibilities. They spread their positive energy to society in doing so," Jing said. Starbucks and the CSCLF have planned to train a total of 1,500 students in three batches. The company provides funding of US$1.5 million and the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation is responsible for carrying out the project. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. BYD e6 fleet in Singapore [Photo/China.org.cn] HDT Singapore Taxi is launching a fleet of fully-electric taxis in Singapore during the first quarter of 2017, in Southeast Asia's first fully-electric taxi operation. The fleet is made up of 100 e6 electric crossover sedans supplied by BYD, the world's largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and electric vehicles (EVs), as part of their strategy to introduce e-taxis in Singapore. HDT will begin its taxi service operation in the first week of September, with all 100 e-taxis being progressively introduced until the first quarter of 2017. The company currently operates a private-hire service with an existing fleet of 30 BYD e6, which will continue to provide private on-call and leasing services. Since its operation started in 2014, these 30 BYD e6 vehicles have accumulated a mileage of about three million kilometers, representing a 1,000-ton cut in carbon dioxide emissions. To support its operations, HDT will implement the necessary charging infrastructure incompliance with Singapore's charging standards. This Type 2 charging standard which allows for normal and semi-fast EV charging will enable the BYD e6 taxi to fully charge within 90 minutes. HDT's charging points will bolster the governments efforts to build an EV charging infrastructure that will also support the proliferation of EVs in Singapore. "With its strong research capabilities, great pool of talent and a growing electro-mobility ecosystem, Singapore is an ideal location to deploy our e-taxi fleet to conduct research and development with reputable partners. From Singapore, we hope to co-create new and innovative solutions which we can commercialize in the region," said Mr. Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD Group. Sun Yuting, graduate from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. [Photo / China Daily] Sun Yuting is looking forward to her postgraduate life at Harvard University in the United States after four productive years at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, a joint venture that has produced a surprising number of candidates for the best graduate schools in the world. "We don't have too much pressure, compared with students at most universities on the Chinese mainland," Sun said. "For example, we don't need to pass the English tests that trouble many Chinese students. We can indulge in the fields we're really interested in. "With the inspiring teachers and advanced equipment, you can make great progress if you make an effort at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool." Sun spent nearly two years there. The experience helped her adapt to a foreign environment and school life. "We experienced the cultures and environments of both Chinese and foreign universities," Sun said. "It helps me to think and become what I want to be." Sun said she still remembers how shocked she was when she heard that three of her schoolmates, who lived at the same dormitory, had been admitted to Cambridge University the same year. "I didn't get very high scores on the Chinese college entrance exam. One of my high school and college schoolmates, Zhang Xiaoyu, was admitted by Cambridge University and Columbia University to pursue his studies," she said. "He was excited to know that one of the top students of our high school at Tsinghua University will join him at Columbia this year." "Many of our students can go beyond themselves after four years at the university," said Xi Youmin, executive president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. According to the university, about 80 percent of its bachelor's degree holders pursue studies at foreign universities every year, with many accepted by the world's top universities, including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. Last year, 71.3 percent of its students were admitted by the world's top 100 universities, while 21.5 percent made it into the world's top 10. On July 26, the university celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Janet Beer, president of Liverpool University, Zheng Qinghua, vice-president of Xi'an Jiaotong University, and more than 20 scholars and officials from Britain and other countries attended the ceremony. An international forum for academics to discuss the latest research into Tibetan studies will start in Beijing on Tuesday. The three-day Beijing Seminar on Tibetan Studies, the sixth since 1991, will be attended by 325 scholars and observers from China and abroad, according to the China Tibetology Research Center. The first seminar attracted about 80 experts. Some 308 papers have been selected for the event, covering topics such as religious studies, contemporary politics, social transformation, economic development and the Belt and Road Initiative, said Li Decheng, a researcher at the center. The reincarnation of Living Buddhas will be a main topic, he said, adding that scholars and observers will be invited to view an exhibition on reincarnation in Beijing. Seminar for experts to exchange views on Tibetan studies "As an academic seminar, we welcome different voices," Li said. "We expect to see heated debate as well as discussions in which scholars from China and abroad exchange ideas and deepen understanding on past and current affairs in Tibetan areas." He added that the seminar promotes international academic cooperation - at the event in 2008, Russian and German universities agreed to conduct joint studies with the China Tibetology Research Center - and provides opportunities for young scholars to shine. "We've seen an increasing number of young Chinese scholars presenting their latest studies at the seminars and responding to foreign scholars' questions in fluent English," Li said. Tibetan studies have become more popular among foreign experts, he added, while the Beijing seminar has become a leading platform for academic exchanges between Chinese and foreign scholars. A city in Henan province regularly hit by smog has seen an improvement in its air quality after a controversial crackdown that included the closure of smoky snack stands and restaurants, officials said. The Shangqiu government introduced a series of tough measures after the Ministry of Environmental Protection summoned its leaders, along with those from four other heavily polluted cities, on April 28. According to an official statement, as of Thursday, the city's average concentration of PM2.5 - tiny pollutant particles that can harm human health - had fallen by 3.4 percent month-on-month to 56 micrograms per cubic meter. The average PM10 level was 82 micrograms per cubic meter, down by 19.6 percent month-on-month. "There has been a significant improvement in the environmental quality" after a citywide campaign and "the blue skies with white clouds, unseen for a long time, are now back", the statement quoted an unnamed official as saying. The campaign was based on nine measures, including controlling dust, a ban on burning straw and removing from the roads any vehicles that do not meet the national exhaust emissions standard. However, a move to close polluting restaurants led to complaints online that it had affected residents' lives and had quietened bustling streets. Zhang Hanxin, 28, said she now finds it hard to buy traditional local foods like steamed bread and cold noodles near her home. "There are very few snack stalls left nearby," she said. "The street used to be busy and lively, but now it looks very quiet. The blot left by the barbecue stalls is still there. I don't know how long it will be like this." Zhang Fuyi from the city's publicity department said open roadside markets and outdoor barbecue stands have been cleaned up in the campaign, while restaurants that used coal or did not have the right purification facilities for cooking fumes were ordered to close down until they met the standards. As of Saturday, most of the restaurants affected had reopened, although the environmental protection bureau had still to complete some inspections, he said, adding that residents can still buy steamed bread in markets that meet the standards. A primary student controls a model car during a race at the Vehicles for Sustainable Energy Challenge (VSE) on Sunday, July 31, 2016. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn] A group of 174 students from more than 10 provinces and municipalities gathered in Beijing to compete in the Vehicles for Sustainable Energy Challenge (VSE) on July 30-31. It was a race for model cars, the electrics modules of which had been purely charged by wireless power transfer. These students, coming from primary schools to senior high schools, went to a summer camp the week before, during which they received intensified lectures and training regarding 3D modeling, electric circuits, model car design and 3D printing. The competing cars, all made by the students, were driven by electric motors and the batteries needed to be charged by electromagnetic fields similar to a Tesla coil transformer installed beneath the race circuit, and the model cars were recharged each time they ran above the coils. In this way, an electric car could get continual recharging while cruising along the circuit, instead of having to stop to charge when the battery is about to exhaust. Therefore, such a model car is powered by "sustainable energy" and this way of recharging represents "future energy," according to the organizer, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, the agency that supervises the growth and development of youth. The Beijing Motor Corp. provided the venue and part of the fund for the competition. The company's General Manager Zhang Xiyong said at its opening ceremony that the contest was "an opportunity for the BAIC to fulfill its social responsibility and to educate youth on automobile-related knowledge." He and officials from the Youth League both noted that the competition will be made into an annual event. The competition did not offer prize money for winners, but instead made sure each participant went home taking a trophy to mark the "best single circuit result," "best performance in an endurance race," "best team organization" and even for "best sportsmanship." The organizer said this was to ensure that all participants had an enjoyable experience while encouraging more students to join in the competition next year. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Flash The number of tourism visa application to Pakistan submitted by Chinese in the first half year of 2016 jumped by 37 folds, according to an industry report released on Friday. The visa center of Ctrip, a leading online travel agency in China, said new tourism destinations are increasing as top choices of Chinese mature outbound tourists and Pakistan is "a dark horse" this year. "Driven by the strong relations between the two countries, many Chinese tourists put Pakistan on the top list of their outbound travel plans," said Shi Yuzhuan, marketing director of the hotel division of ctrip.com. Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said earlier that his country firmly supports China's principles and positions on key issues concerning the South China Sea, Taiwan and Tibet, winning wide support and praise from Chinese netizens. In the past, despite the close relations between China and Pakistan, the country in South Asia did not attract too many international tourist arrivals due to security reasons. In 2015, Chinese tourists paid 120 million visits to countries and regions outside Chinese mainland. However, the majority of them went to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, as well as some western countries such as the United States and Britain. Shi Yuzhuan, Chief Marketing Officer of Ctrip, said visits paid by Chinese outbound tourists would keep growing in the following years, however, their preferences have changed. "Many traditional popular tourism destinations are losing visitors. For an example, France has less Chinese visitors because of terrorist attacks," said Shi. "On the other hand, Chinese tourists are getting more mature and they would like to explore new destinations." Besides Pakistan, tourism destinations including Kenya, Finland, Egypt, South Africa, Argentina, Czech, Israel, Iceland, received more visa applications from Chinese tourists in the first half year of 2016. "Many of the visa applications were from second- and even third-tier cities of China," said Shi. "For example, the visa applications to Czech submitted from second- and third-tier cities jumped by five folds after Czech opened more visa centers in five cities." You are here: Home Flash Drone attacks on Taliban hideouts in western Afghanistan's Nimroz province have killed 25 insurgents including a group commander, military corps based in the western region said on Saturday. According to the statement released by the military, in the air strikes which conducted early on Saturday in Charborjak district, a group commander Hafiz Ghulam was among those killed in the raids and four Taliban vehicles destroyed. Attacks by unmanned planes against militants in Afghanistan are proved deadly and security officials said the government forces would largely use the drone strikes against militants and their hideouts on battle grounds. Taliban militants who are active in parts of Nimroz and neighboring Farah and Herat provinces haven't commented. You are here: Home Flash A total of 1,389 pro-coup soldiers including President Erdogan's military aide were discharged from Turkish Armed Forces, the state Official Gazette announced on Sunday. Turkish army soldiers take part in a parade in the northern part of Nicosia, the capital of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), on July 20, 2016 to mark the anniversary of of the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus. [Photo/Xinhua] According to state-run Anadolu Agency, the discharged personnel include Col. Ali Yazici, former aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Lt. Col. Levent Turkkan, former aide to Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar. Out of the total 1,389 names dismissed, 1,196 serve in Turkey's gendarmerie forces. Under the statutory decree, Turkey's land, naval and air forces are now directly answerable to the Defense Ministry. In addition, Deputy Prime Ministers and justice, foreign and interior ministers will also be included to the Supreme Military Council (YAS). The decree also closes all of Turkey's war academies, military high schools that train non-commissioned officers, which will be replaced by a new university called the National Defense University under the Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, the decree assigns Ankara's Gulhane Military Medical Academy and military hospitals across Turkey under the Health Ministry. The new dismissals follow a previous post-coup expulsion of 1,684 military personnel, including 149 generals and admirals. A total of 8,651 soldiers took part in the failed coup attempt of July 15, making up 1.5 percent of the military's total personnel, the Turkish General Staff announced. You are here: Home Flash Nigeria's northeast Borno state will mobilize additional security for aid workers in the state following Thursday's suspected terrorists attack on a convoy of a UN Humanitarian mission near Maiduguri, an official said Sunday. Addressing a news conference in Maiduguri, the restive northeast Borno capital, the state deputy governor, Mamman Durkwa, said government was disturbed about the incident. "We are going to collaborate with all security agencies to mobilize additional security for aid workers in the state to prevent recurrence of what happened on Thursday," he added. Durkwa said he had held meetings with officials of the UN Sub-Office in Maiduguri on the issue. The deputy governor condemned media reports on suspension of aid work by the UN office in the state over the incident. "I met the UN officials and they told me that the attack would not deter them from doing their humanitarian work," Dukwa said. He said the officials never contemplated leaving the state as reported in the media. Flash A Japanese citizen has been investigated on suspicion of endangering China's state security, the Foreign Ministry told China Daily on Sunday. The ministry's spokesperson's office did not elaborate on the identity of the detained Japanese, saying only that the investigation had taken place recently. It said the probe was carried out by government departments, and the Japanese embassy in China had been notified. Japanese media reported on Thursday that the country's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga had confirmed that a Japanese man had been detained. Some Japanese media speculated that the man had been detained on suspicion of espionage. But Suga denied this at a news conference in Tokyo. The Tokyo-based Jiji News Agency quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man, aged over 50, had been scheduled to visit China from July 11 to 15. Japan News Network, a Chinese-language website that reports Japanese news, quoted unnamed sources as saying that the man was a member of the Japan-China Youth Association. According to the association's website, it is a group that helps to develop friendly relations between the two countries. However, the website is currently not accessible as it is "under maintenance". Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said the case may have a negative effect on Chinese public opinion about Japan in the short term. But he also said it will not deal a major blow to overall Sino-Japanese ties. "Most of the time, it is no surprise that Tokyo chooses to deny suspected espionage if there are any allegations," Zhou added. You are here: Home Flash Al-Shabaab militants attacked the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, killing at least six people, and seven attackers were killed, a senior official said. Al-Shabaab militants attacked the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, killing at least six people, and seven attackers were killed. [Photo/Xinhua] Security Minister Abdirizak Mohamed told the media that the militants tried to force their way into the CID headquarters but were repulsed by police. "We have established that five civilians, one police officer and seven Al-Shabaab militants were killed," said Mohamed. Police earlier said twin car bomb blasts hit the gate of the CID headquarters, followed by a shootout. At least 16 people were injured and have been hospitalized, according to medical officers. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. It came barely days after a similar Al-Shabaab attack last week rocked the gates of the UN and African Union mission bases in Mogadishu, killing 13 and injuring 17 others. The Al-Shabaab Islamist group frequently carries out attacks on civilian and military targets in Somalia in a bid to topple the government. Flash Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday that the Syrian army is the most capable of confronting terrorism, according to state news agency SANA. In a statement on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of establishing the Syrian army, the president said Syrian army "will always remain the pillar of security and stability in Syria and the region." "Today we stand at the threshold to a pivotal stage in the homeland's history, which requires that we all be more vigilant and prepared and that we double efforts and work with determination until victory is achieved," he said. The army marks its 71st anniversary on the first of August, while its troops have been stretched out in the battles across the Syrian territory for over five years. The Syrian army engaged in intense battles on Monday, as the rebels unleashed a wide-scale offensive in the northern province of Aleppo. Several jihadi groups, including the Jaish al-Fateh, or the Conquer Army, and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was previously known as the Nusra Front before breaking ties with al-Qaida and changing its name, unleashed a broad offensive in the southern countryside of Aleppo on several fronts to break a siege imposed recently by the Syrian army. The battles were coupled with airstrikes on rebel-held areas and rocket fire by the rebels on the government-controlled parts of Aleppo. SANA said at least 11 people were killed and 52 others wounded on Sunday, when rebels fired improvised rockets on government-controlled districts in Aleppo. Earlier in the day, the al-Fateh Army, or the Conquer Army, which is an ally to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, announced in a video message the beginning of a big offensive to break the Syrian army's recent advance in Aleppo. Late last week, the Syrian army stormed the Bani Zaid area, a main rebel stronghold in the eastern part of Aleppo. The progress came a week after the army severed the last rebel supply route connecting rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, with rebel-controlled parts in the eastern part of the city. Severing the Castello road has dealt a strong blow to the rebels inside Aleppo. Well-informed sources from Aleppo told Xinhua that the army units managed to foil the rebels' offensive that was launched on Sunday amid intense battles. A military source told Xinhua on Sunday that very intense battles are taking place south of Aleppo on several fronts, adding that medium and heavy weapons are being used, as well as airstrikes on the rebel positions. "The intense battles are still raging till now," he said. Politically, the Syrian authorities, once again, stressed readiness to take part in the upcoming round of the Geneva talks on the Syrian crisis. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad reaffirmed the Syrian government's readiness to embark on a new round of Syrian talks in Geneva without preconditions. He made the remarks during his meeting with the visiting Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, who arrived in Syria earlier on Monday for talks with Syrian officials about the political process for Syria. Mekdad pointed out that all concerned parties need to focus on fighting terrorism as a prelude to any political process. He also explained to Ramzy the latest developments in the city of Aleppo and the initiative of President Bashar al-Assad in granting amnesty for militants and settling their status if they surrendered themselves to the authorities. For his part, Ramzy told reporters following his meetings with Syrian Foreign Ministry officials that "During the meeting, I talked about some issues related to the political process, including the political transition and how to make it credible." Previous talks in Geneva between the Syrian army and the opposition ended with no tangible results. Observers believe each party is trying to empower their stance on ground ahead of the talks, and the Aleppo battles are a sign of that. Flash Scores were feared killed and injured after a powerful truck bombing and ensuing gunfire rocked a foreign guesthouse in eastern Kabul in the early hours on Monday, sources and witnesses said. "The massive explosion struck North Gate guesthouse frequented by foreign contractors and international staff of foreign agencies. The heavily guarded complex is located in Pul-e-Charkhi area along Jalalabad road in eastern edge of the city," a security source told Xinhua near the site. "The area is not a populated residential district. But there is still fear of casualties as many people were inside the building before the attack. So far, we have no more details, but we will try to get more information," the source said anonymously. The blast, claimed by the Taliban militant group, occurred roughly at 01:25 local time, when the city was plunged in darkness, causing panic among local residents. It seems that the security forces had the information about a possible terror attack as electricity was shut down across the city before the blast, he said. The Afghan Special Operation Forces arrived at the scene shortly after the incident. Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures. Media and people were not allowed to enter the site and no one knows what exactly is going on inside and around the stricken compound. Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of official statement. "More details would be made public later as investigation is underway to find more facts about the incident," the source added. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that a Taliban suicide squad conducted a complex attack against a foreign guest house and the attack was part of Taliban yearly rebel offensive. He said the explosion and gunfight have claimed the lives of dozens of foreigners. A Vietnamese child poses for a photograph while accompanying his parents, part of a commodity transport team going to Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Yan Zhihong / For China Daily Hanoi - "I am planning to send my son to study overseas and China is certainly topping the list of choices," said Duong Xuan Hang from Vietnam's capital city Hanoi. After touring the Guangxi-China Education Fair in Vietnam's capital city last month, the 40-year-old mother picked up a handful of materials introducing a variety of educational opportunities at universities and colleges in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Located close to Vietnam, Guangxi has become a popular destination for Vietnamese students. According to Lan Tianli, vice-chairman of Guangxi, educational cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnam was established in the 1950s when Vietnamese schools were set up in China. Over the past years, educational cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnam has developed comprehensively, Lan said. So far, as many as 40 universities and colleges in Guangxi have established ties with some 60 universities and colleges in Vietnam. More than 3,000 Vietnamese students studied in Guangxi in 2015. In 2015, there were also nearly 1,000 students of Guangxi studying in Vietnam. Talking about Guangxi, Pham Manh Hung, Vietnamese deputy minister of Education and Training, said: "China's Guangxi has beautiful scenery and very friendly people. It also has a high-quality and advanced educational system." As Vietnam and Guangxi border each other, the convenience in transport has contributed to the development of bilateral cooperation in education, according to the Vietnamese official, adding that these advantages have made Vietnam become a country with the highest number of overseas students in Guangxi. "China's education, including that of Guangxi, is developing so fast that it stands at the same level with Western countries. So, what are the other points that make China a favorable destination for Vietnamese students. It is the two countries' cultural and historical similarity that helps students of the two countries better understand each other," said Hoang Anh Tuan, vice rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under Vietnam's National University. The geographical proximity and the development of Chinese education are among the reasons inspiring Hang, the 40-year-old Vietnamese mother, to select Guangxi for her son's education. "China is close to Vietnam and traveling between Guangxi and Hanoi is very convenient. I want to send my son to study abroad so he can experience a new educational environment. "My son is going to graduate from high school next year and the information and materials I have collected from this education fair will help him and my family have a better understanding about studying in Guangxi." For Phung Minh Toan, a 20-year-old Vietnamese student, becoming a Chinese language teacher in Vietnam is her dream. "I want to go to China to study as I love Chinese culture and Chinese language. I want to become a Chinese language teacher in Vietnam. I will work as a bridge to connect the people of both countries and help Vietnamese people to understand more about Chinese culture. "This will be the next step in the ladder of realizing my dream," the young Vietnamese student told Xinhua, while pointing at the booth of China's Guangxi Normal University at the fair. "I have collected information about Guangxi Normal University and I will go there to study." Since 2014, the Guangxi-China Education Fair has been held six times across Vietnam. The 2016 fair in Hanoi drew the participation of 24 universities and colleges from Guangxi and the attendance of hundreds of representatives from Vietnamese universities, including students and visitors. During the fair, eight universities and colleges from Guangxi signed cooperation agreements with Vietnamese universities and colleges. "This kind of education fair should be held more regularly to promote the introduction of China's education and bring more educational opportunities to Vietnamese students," said Nguyen Van Chinh, dean of the faculty of linguistics under the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi. Two Russians strike a pose at the launch of Lifan's new car model in Moscow. PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Chongqing Lifan hitches its vehicle exports wagon to a star in time-saving railway Chongqing Lifan Co Ltd continues to lead Chinese automakers in the European market, going by their performance in the first half of this year, according to a report from Russia's analytics agency AutoStat. Chongqing Lifan is one of the largest domestic car and motorcycle makers in China. It said it sold 7,565 cars from January to June in Russia, up 63 percent year-on-year. "We have been the No 1 Chinese carmaker in Russia for five consecutive years," said Chen Wei, vice-president of Lifan. Not only in Russia, the company now sells its products in 117 countries and regions including Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. In 2015, Lifan's revenue exceeded 30 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) from sales of 230,000 cars and 1.31 million motorcycles at home and abroad. Since 1998 when Lifan got its license to import and export, it has been expanding in international markets at a fast clip. It set up sales units in the US, Germany, France, Italy and Mexico, built motorcycle production bases in Vietnam, Turkey and Thailand as well as car factories in Russia, Iran, Iraq, Uruguay, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan and Myanmar. Yin Mingshan founded Lifan at the age of 54 in 1992 with only nine employees and 200,000 yuan in seed money. The company first made only motorcycles. In 2006, it produced its first car, the Lifan 520. In 2010, Lifan went public and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the first Chinese private carmaker to do so. Yin says overseas sales are important to the company. "When Lifan was set up, we decided to focus mostly on the domestic market. But we realized that we faced formidable competition in the domestic market from big foreign brands and large State-owned companies. We decided to focus on overseas markets, as that offers higher profit margins even though there are stiffer challenges," he said. "The international market, especially Europe and the US, is hugely significant for us. However, it is more difficult for us to sell our cars in developed regions such as Europe than in Africa. Still, we will work very hard to boost our sales there to gain more brand recognition globally." The company has done many things to establish its presence overseas, with most of its strategies centering on localization, including local hiring and production. In Africa, most of the company's products are made from heat-resistant materials to withstand the hot weather, Yin said. It also sponsors local sports, games and charity events. In Brazil, it uses social media such as Facebook to expand its fan base. After the city of Chongqing launched the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe (Yuxin'ou) Rail in 2011, Lifan gained more advantages than other Chinese carmakers in exporting its products to the European market. The freight train line runs through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland before reaching its final destination in Duisburg, Germany. The 11,000 km inter-continental link from Chongqing to Germany will help the company save a lot of time and money. According to Lifan Vice-President Chen Wei, the company used to rely on sea transportation which usually took about 50 days. Now, however, the Yuxin'ou railway takes only 15 days to ship the cars to Europe. "We can save $5 million in interest every year by using the railway," he said. In recent years, Lifan has invested hugely in new-energy cars. In 2015, it launched its Intelligent Blue strategy to develop a new industrial chain based on internet and new energy. It has an ambitious plan to build the world's biggest car-sharing rental company next year. The company hopes to have 300,000 electric cars in its rental business by 2020, which will help make it one of the leading new-energy vehicle leasing platforms in China, according to Gao Yu, CEO of Lifan-owned Pand Auto. Pand Auto, a car-hailing platform for new-energy vehicles, launched its car-sharing service in November in Chongqing. This year, the service has expanded to Zhengzhou, Henan province, and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. US-based Westinghouse Electric Co expects to begin fuel loading at the world's first AP1000 nuclear plant in November, as the facility in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, edges closer to becoming operational early next year, the company's executives said on Wednesday. Despite being several years behind schedule, Gavin Liu, president in Asia for Westinghouse, said the move will pay the way for more opportunities in a booming nuclear market with more than 100 new nuclear power plants planned in coming decades. "We plan for further expansion and investment here, as we will play a strong role in the market," he told China Daily during a four-day international nuclear event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. He said that Asia accounts for less than 25 percent of the company's overall business, but the figure is expected to rise to 35 percent to 40 percent in the next five to 10 years, driven by growth in countries such as China. Prior to the fuel loading, the company has already completed cold hydro testing at the plant in Sanmen, and the hot functional test will be held in several days. Liu said Westinghouse's investment will cover a wide range of businesses, including new nuclear projects, innovation, maintenance service, fuel supply and decommissioning. The AP1000, a pressurized water reactor, is the latest technology that the Pennsylvania-based nuclear giant is pushing worldwide. It has eight under construction, four of which are in China, and the others in the United States. China, the world's largest market for nuclear power plants under construction, is planning to build more than 100 new nuclear reactors. Not all of them will go to Westinghouse, experts said, but that number means any nuclear company in the world would want a piece of the pie. "We will leave that (the number of AP1000s) to the Chinese government and our customers, but we are very confident that the role of AP1000 in the future expansion of nuclear energy is well-established," said Jeffrey Benjamin, senior vice-president of new plants and major projects at Westinghouse. When asked about competition with the CAP1400, a scaled-up version of the AP1000 from State Nuclear Power Technology Corp, its longstanding partner in China, he said: "I don't necessarily see it as a head-to-head competition. There are certain markets that would require good applications like that, and I think it is a much larger reactor design." Jobseekers submit their resumes to prospective employers at a job fair in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. PHOTO BY GONG XIANMING / CHINADAILY Salaries for experienced and skilled employees in China are expected to rise between 8 percent and 15 percent this year and the next, while talents with additional language skills and experience can expect salary hike up to 25 percent year-on-year, according to a report. The figures are from the China Salary Guide for 2016-17, released by Shanghai-based ZW HR Consulting on July 7. The guide covers wide-ranging industries and sectors across first- and second-tier cities in China: accounting, banking and finance, aerospace, engineering, chemicals, energy, consumer goods, human resources, IT, legal, life sciences, manufacturing, supply chains and real estate. The most popular recruitment roles for 2016 will be in functions like IT, sales, marketing and R&D, while real estate, life sciences and banking are set to be prime sectors of demand this year, the guide reported. Candidates with an R&D and IT product design background are the most difficult to find, and finding talents in Guangzhou, and some second- and third-tier cities such as Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Nanjing can be challenging, it said. According to a survey released in March by ChinaHR.com, an online job-hunting platform, the strong recruitment demand and significant talent scarcity led the average salary of IT industry top the list of white-collar workers' annual pay this year with 98,470 yuan ($14,730). "The national 'Internet Plus' strategy has been carried into an overall development stage, which helped the IT industry lead the average pay list nationwide. Under such high-speed industrial growth, however, the shortage of talent by up to 30 percent is much significant than in other industries," said Wang Yi, deputy general manager of ChinaHR.com. Besides IT, life sciences-related jobs will also see high demand, as multinational corporations and large local firms continue to aggressively expand their presence in China. Life sciences professionals in China can expect a 5 to 13 percent salary growth, the ZW report said. Meanwhile, China's in-house legal counsel hiring trend is on the rise, as market factors push corporations to beef up their internal pool for both legal and compliance counsels. Salaries for supply chain professionals are expected to climb by 10 to 15 percent this year, it said. "Candidates with international exposure, good language skills, market knowledge and who are well-disciplined will continue to receive multiple offers as well as counter-offers from their current employer," said Frank Yu, chairman of ZW HR Consulting. The HR consulting firm found that the majority of candidates are open to hearing about new opportunities, and the mid-level to senior professionals are asking about potential opportunities in the job market. "Even though starting salaries continue to rise, jobseekers are sending out a very clear message that remuneration is not the only incentive they are after," Yu said. Chinese fashion house Trendy International Group Co, owner of the Miss Sixty jeans brand in Asia, is planning a domestic initial public offering as soon as the end of next year, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Guangzhou-based company plans to seek a valuation of about $5 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Trendy International has picked a Chinese investment bank to work on the proposed share sale, the people said. Trendy International will join other Chinese clothing retailers such as Modern Avenue Group Co, owner of the Canudilo brand, and Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion Co in funding their expansion by selling shares. A total of 25 apparel companies held IPOs in China and Hong Kong during the past three years that raised a combined $2.2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shares of Modern Avenue have risen 118 percent in Shenzhen trading since its $109 million IPO in February 2012, outpacing the 107 percent rise in the Shenzhen Composite Index. L Capital Asia, an investment firm backed by French luxury group LVMH, bought a minority stake in Trendy International for nearly $200 million in 2011, according to a press statement. The private equity firm bought about a 10 percent stake, valuing Trendy International at $2 billion at the time, one of the people said. The long IPO pipeline in China could delay Trendy International's listing process, the people said. Several calls to the company's office weren't answered. Trendy International Chief Executive Officer Jacky Xu didn't respond to a private message seeking comment sent to his account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. Trendy International, founded in 1999, owns domestic women's brands Ochirly and Five Plus as well as male casual wear line Trendiano. It later acquired the Asian operations of Miss Sixty, famous for its skin-tight retro jeans, as well as the Energie and Killah denim brands, according to its website. The Chinese fashion group now operates more than 3,000 shops, according to its website. Trendy International set up a joint venture last year with UK clothing chain SuperGroup Plc to expand the "Superdry" brand into the world's second-largest economy. China's official purchasing managers index for manufacturing has dropped into contraction territory, while the Caixin PMI survey showed an upturn in operating conditions in this sector. Analysts said that despite the divergence, the Chinese economy has shown signs of stabilizing. The official manufacturing PMI, released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, fell to 49.9 in July, compared with 50 in June and 50.1 in May. As an indicator gauging manufacturing activity and operating conditions, a PMI reading above 50 on the index indicates expansion of activities, while a reading below 50 signals contraction. The PMI survey mainly monitors medium-sized and large enterprises in China, and the Caixin index mainly focuses on small companies. Although the official index dropped slightly, the bureau said the overall situation is stable. Zhao Qinghe, a statistician with the bureau, attributed the slight decline in July to summer flooding, weak demand and capacity reduction in some traditional industries. According to Zhao, the recent heavy rainfall and flooding nationwide, especially on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, have caused serious losses in production and transportation. Moreover, sluggish market demand indicated by the declining fixed-asset investment growth rate in the first half of the year, especially in the private sector, and the reduction of excessive production capacity in some traditional industries have combined to contribute to the contraction in the manufacturing industry. Zhao said that some subindexes showed positive signs. For instance, the high-tech manufacturing PMI reached 53.2 in July, up from 51.3 in June, marking the highest level since the beginning of this year. This indicates that the leading role of the high-tech manufacturing sector in China's economic restructuring has been further strengthened, Zhao added. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing PMI has risen significantly from 48.6 in June to 50.6 in July, the first expansion in 17 months. "The reading in July indicates that the Chinese economy has begun to show signs of stabilization due to the gradual implementation of proactive fiscal policy," said Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, a subsidiary of Caixin Insight Group. Workers assemble cars at a production line of BYD Co Ltd in Shanghai. BYD is deepening its ties with Correios, Brazil's logistics giant. HU XI/CHINA DAILY BYD Co Ltd, a major private sector new-energy vehicle producer in China, is firming up plans to further expand into the Brazilian market. Towards this goal, it is deepening its cooperation with Correios, Brazil's biggest postal service group, which is an official partner of Rio 2016. "Correios is absolutely the leader of the country's logistics industry. Its projects will influence not only the whole industry, but other international companies such as DHL and Fedex," BYD told China Daily by e-mail. In March, BYD loaned one of its T3 electric vans to Correios, which is assessing "green" logistics solutions through a series of tests with electric cars from different makers, especially those that feature increased energy efficiency in urban traffic. "Correios is floating an open tender for purchasing vans for its logistics operations later this year," said a person from the public relations department of BYD, who asked not to be identified but said BYD plans to bid. The T3 boasts a cargo compartment with 800 kg capacity, and a driving range of over 200 kilometers. The foray into Brazil would mark its international debut. According to BYD, it is entering Brazilian market step by step. Currently, the company offers some tests and trials to key customers, to help them better know its products and the brand. The company believes such tests and trials are vital to developing the market. BYD entered Brazil in 2013 with its electric buses, which were a new product for the country at the time, the e-car maker said. It introduced its electric taxi, and electric logistic vehicles later. In 2014, impressed by the promising new-energy vehicle market, BYD built a factory in Brazil. The country has formulated several policies in the past two years to support the development of its new-energy vehicle industry. In October 2015, it removed the 35 percent import tariffs on electric and hybrid vehicles altogether. BYD's overseas expansion and marketing strategy includes promotion of electric vehicles like buses and taxis in public transport systems, and localization such as establishing research and development centers and assembly lines, the company said. Founded in 1995 and listed on both the Hong Kong bourse and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, BYD is a private manufacturer specializing in four industries: IT, cars, new-energy vehicles and light rail systems. BYD said it sold about 70,000 new-energy vehicles worldwide last year, up more than 200 percent from 2014, accounting for 11 percent of the world's new-energy vehicle market. By the end of May, BYD's new-energy vehicles have been sold in 200 cities across 48 countries and regions. The company has 24 production bases in China, one in the United States and one in Brazil. In June, it announced it will build a new battery factory in Qinghai province. Workers attach an oversized Apple logo to the front of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, June 11, 2016. [Photo/IC] The tech world has been fascinated for months by Apple's work on its own car in a project not-so-modestly dubbed Project Titan. Years before an Apple car might hit the roads, though, the company is hitting some speed bumps. Apple is slightly shifting strategy to prioritize self-driving car technology, though it hasn't given up work on designing and making its own car. Rather than sell an iCar, then, Apple is leaving itself room to license its technology to other carmakers, buy an auto manufacturer or find some other way to bring a little Apple magic into the automotive world. It's clear from this internal shift that Apple is still trying to find the right approach to bring its vision of transportation to market. What is not clear is how Apple will make money from its car project. An iCar is something that would fit with the company's existing business model. Apple has long sold bright, shiny objects and a car would be just another bright, shiny object. But if Apple changes tactics, how does that fit with its business approach? Will it become a software-licensing business like Microsoft? Will it make the self-driving car system available to automakers free - as Google does with its Android smartphone software - in return for getting Apple Music and iMessage into cars? Maybe Apple isn't completely sure yet, which is fine. We want companies to be working on big things and worry about the money-making schemes later. But the company has to grapple with a seemingly intractable problem. If it plunges full bore into the car market, it will be a drain on Apple's famously fat profit margins. Apple's gross margin, or the share of revenue left after paying manufacturing costs for its products, was 39 percent in the last nine months - an unheard of level for a company that makes hardware. Apple's operating profit margin was 29 percent, a key reason why, even in a down year, Apple's $7.8 billion in net income in the June quarter was bigger than the yearly net income of 95 percent of companies in the S&P 500, according to Bloomberg data. And now look at the car business. Among the carmakers with the biggest gross margins is Volkswagen at 20 percent in its passenger car division in the first half of this year. One of the German automaker's biggest contributor to profits, Porsche, pulled in a 17 percent operating margin. At Apple, those levels of profits get you fired. Again, it's too early in Apple's work on a potential car to start modeling permanently lower profit margins. Apple never cares what investors think about its finances, and that has mostly been a good thing. The worry is, along with the financial aspects, that Apple may be doing harm to its car ambitions by fogging the project in its typical tighter-than-the-NSA secrecy. A car isn't a product that Apple can just cook in a lab for 10 years until everything is perfect and then spring it on the world with a dramatic on-stage reveal. No. Look at what Google has been doing with its self-driving car program. It's been talking about it for years. It's conducting test drives under every conceivable condition. It's changed its mind about doing the actual manufacturing of the car on its own. Google is talking to regulators and suppliers and potential factories that could bring the company's designs to life. Granted, Apple is not as far along with its car project, but it's not clear it's in Apple's DNA to do the kind of glad-handing partner discussions and regulatory assurances that Google is doing. During the company's earnings call last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook wouldn't even acknowledge that his company would be releasing a new iPhone in two months. That's how ingrained secrecy is at Apple. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg this year outlined Facebook's 10-year plan. Even another crazy secretive tech company, Amazon, talks about its drone project occasionally to put pressure on regulators, spook its delivery partners and excite the public. Of course, these companies aren't throwing open to the public their board discussions about their next big thing, but they do talk in broad strokes about where they're going and why. If Apple wants to change its stripes and get into new areas of technology, including digital video, automobiles and virtual reality, the company may have to change its attitude and loosen up on its secretive ways, too. Bloomberg An FAW exhibition area at an auto show in Shanghai. FAW is seeing its joint ventures with international automakers grow fast while its own brands, including FAW Car and FAW Xiali, are losing money. Jing Wei / For China Daily Scrapping measure could stall industry momentum and hit companies' profits, warns CAAM boss A senior executive at China's carmaker association has voiced his opposition to any hasty removal of the cap that limits the stake foreign automakers can hold in joint ventures. Dong Yang, executive vice-president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, warned that as international automakers are technologically more competitive than their Chinese counterparts, if the 50-50 cap is lifted too rapidly, Chinese brands will lose their last line of defense in the market and China's auto industry will be robbed of its development momentum. Dong made the remarks at a meeting in Beijing with several major State-owned carmakers on July 22, days after the State Council allowed makers of auto electronic systems and batteries for new-energy vehicles in the country's free trade zones to conduct research and production without partnering with Chinese companies. Analysts see the move as a potential signal that investment restrictions on foreign car makers could soon be lifted. The policy, which China promulgated in 1994, requires all foreign automakers and spare-parts producers that want to localize production in China to establish joint ventures, in which their stake must not exceed 50 percent. Dong is one of the most fervent advocates of the policy, and was once even quoted as saying "whoever supports the cap removal is a traitor to the country". "If joint ventures end up foreign controled or owned, they might stage unfair competition...and China's drive to upgrade its manufacturing, as well its scientific innovation and even national security will suffer," Dong wrote in his blog on July 26. Zhang Zhiyong, an independent auto analyst in Beijing, said: "It is merely a matter of time" for China to remove the cap, especially now that China is coming under increasing pressure from foreign countries during trade talks. In addition, there is growing disquiet with the performance of Chinese automakers. However, despite their lackluster performance, major State-owned carmakers are calling for the government to extend the cap protection. A representative from FAW said at the meeting that lifting the cap would deal a fatal blow to Chinese automakers, claiming that it would rob them of the chance to acquire core industry technologies. Headquartered in Changchun, Jilin province, FAW has joint ventures with several international automakers including Volkswagen, Toyota and Mazda. While those joint ventures are registering steady growth, it is estimated that FAW's two own brands, FAW Car and Tianjin FAW Xiali, will make combined losses of 1.42 billion yuan ($213 million) in the first half of the year due to "less competitive products" and "failure to keep pace with market demands", according to company statements. Dongfeng Group is also worried that removing the cap will turn the joint ventures into OEMs, thus further squeezing the profits of Chinese automakers. The company said that Chinese brands are currently in a critical phase and require stable policy environments. The Wuhan-based automaker said that in principle, it is against the removal of the cap. However, it added that if the cap were to be lifted, it should be done gradually. BAIC Group said that removing the cap would not result in equal benefits for both parties, arguing that it is easier for international automakers to get established in the Chinese market with their funds and technology, while it will remain difficult for Chinese brands to go global. Private automakers are more open-minded about the cap. Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, has long been in favor of removing the protective policy, saying that market competition will force Chinese automakers to improve innovation. The first early education center in Jeminay county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Sareoleng Songyuan Kindergarten, has two volunteer teachers taking care of seven Kazakh children. [Hao Yan / China Daily] Expert instructors have delivered Bosch China-funded summer education classes in western China's less-developed regions to improve local teachers' proficiency. The project demonstrated the company's perseverance in improving people's livelihoods and wellbeing. Bosch China Charity Center funded two five-day teacher education programs from July 18-30 in Sichuan province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region through the China Youth Development Foundation and the China Development Research Foundation. A total of 80 leading village schoolteachers from various provinces gathered in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, to receive further instruction from five professional educators. A few days later in Xinjiang's remote Altay prefecture, another four experts gave early education training to 40 local nursery teachers. The two training sessions were among more than 50 programs run by Bosch China to support educational development and poverty alleviation in the central and western regions. "We are here to help the teachers better understand advanced education philosophy, so they can apply what they learn in their classes," said Zheng Lihui, director of Bosch China Charity Center. "To nurture a better learning environment for the children is part of our vision, and we also are aiming to narrow the gap in early education between rural and urban areas." Nursery teachers at Altay prefecture's day care center now receive a monthly salary of about 1,500 yuan ($225.68). Although not a high salary, it is 500 yuan more than it was before Bosch's support started in June last year. Bosch China has donated 2.3 million yuan since June 2015 for the Village Early Education Center project in Altay prefecture with the aim of accelerating the implementation of improved education in farming and grazing areas, improving the quality of education in Jeminay county, and helping establish 31 preschools and recruit volunteer nursery teachers in Qinggil county. "Education is reaching a very high level despite the confined conditions and limited resources," said Mary Young, director of the child development center of China Development Research Foundation. "The children aged from 3 to 5 stay together, and the teachers instruct the elder children in how to help the younger ones. It emraces the world's leading education philosophy that children interact, learn and grow together best in a real social environment." In December 2012, Eljan Mahsat, a 9-year-old Kazakh boy, was the first child enrolled into the Sareoleng Songyuan Kindergarten in Jeminay. After a preschool education in both Chinese and the Kazakh language, he entered primary school in 2014. His 52-year-old father, Mahsat Islam, said: "I appreciate the village kindergarten not only for preparing my kid for primary school education, but also for taking care of him and helping me concentrate on my border guard job." He patrols 30 kilometers every day along the border between China and Kazakhstan. The German-headquartered company has been progressively devoting resources to China's educational development, and paying close attention to school age children in less-developed regions. More than 23,000 people across 24 administration regions have benefited from the 59 million yuan donation by the company as of the end of last year. Besides, more than 1,800 volunteers in seven cities were registered to participate in the charity programs. haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn A salesman demonstrates an iPhone 6 during its launch in Beijing in October 2014. [Photo/China Daily] Chinese analysts said that the yet unconfirmed new product launch in September will show whether or not the iPhone will be able to generate a new wave in one of the most crucial markets in the world. US tech giant Apple Inc recently announced sales in the Greater China market fell 33 percent to $8.8 billion from $13.2 billion for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter), marking its highest decline among all regions. Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage at the company's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday. [Photo/Agencies] The revenue slump in one of the company's crucial overseas markets generated heated discussions in the industry, while Tim Cook, head of the California-based company reiterated his optimism in China and added that the revenue earnings in the region were affected by the currency headwinds. "We have an incredible lineup of products on our pipeline and I'm very bullish on a better long term opportunity," said Cook. "Our services business grew 19 percent year-over-year and App Store revenue was the highest ever, as our installed base continued to grow and transacting customers hit an all-time record," said Luca Maestri, Apple's CFO. "We returned over $13 billion to investors through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed almost $177 billion of our $250 billion capital return program." People try out products displayed at the Apple Store in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province, April 2, 2016.[Photo/IC] James Yan, research director at research company Counterpoint Technology Market Research, told China Daily, due to the limited upgrades on the existing flagshipiPhone 6s/6s Plus compared with the previous generations and the low demand of the newly launched small-sized iPhone SE, the company has faced a fierce competition with local smartphone vendors in the medium range market priced between 2,500 yuan to 3,500 yuan per unit. According to Counterpoint, home grown smartphone maker Oppo became the No one brand in China for the first time in June, with a record 23 percent market share. It was followed by Huawei with 17.4 percent and Vivo with 12 percent. Apple made its way onto the list at fourth place, with 9 percent market share. Jin Di, research manager at another consulting firm IDC China, also said that, domestic verndors, such as Huawei and OPPO, are still in the mid-market, "not coming into premium market yet, whereas Apple still plays a leading role in premium market." A man passes by the electronics products zone in a Suning store in Nantong, Jiangsu province. [Photo/China Daily] Statistics from IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker in China market show that Apple dropped from the second to the fourth in the first quarter this year, but Apple still remained at the top five ranking in Q2. "These Chinese vendors did provide excellent smartphone -- they look fancy, and really have great sense of touch, and they are offered with advanced and differentiated techs, such as dual cameras, flash charge and revoke 3.5 mm audio jack," said Jin. Jin elaborated that, to a large extent, the cheaper price, improved distribution constriction and increased investments on commercial marketing and branding, does appeal the certain segment of consumers who chase on fancy design and lower price in lower tier cities in China. "The competition still exists but how Apple performs would still depends on the upcoming iPhones launches later this September," said Jin. A long-term bet on the future "The revenue drop in the third fiscal quarter in China market is reasonable as the iPhone SE unveiled earlier this year seems not to catch up with the majority of domestic phablet lovers who are keen on big-sized display to enjoy tablet or even PC experiences on their handsets," said Yan. "Demands from distribution pipelines were also reflected weak for the SE module." The 101-year-old Chinese-born Isabel Crook is among the country's early foreign educators. In her long years here, first as a child of a Canadian missionary family in Southwest China's Sichuan province, and then as a teacher, Crook has witnessed many events: the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the civil war, the founding of New China, the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and China's reforms since the '70s. "I am glad that I kept the records (of major events)," Crook says, while taking a stroll in a park near her apartment in the compound of Beijing Foreign Studies University, where she once taught. She started anthropological research in Sichuan in 1939 after receiving her university degrees in Canada. As part of a social survey in a village there, she got to know many local people. Crook and her Chinese research partner attended celebrations and studied community behavior in teahouses. "The result ... was a human factor, which you can miss out if you just do mechanical investigations," she says. After her retirement as an English teacher, Crook wrote the book Prosperity's Predicament: Identity, Reform and Resistance in Rural Wartime China. She now wants to publish a Chinese version of the book for which the translation is ongoing. In the early 1940s, Crook became interested in communism after meeting her late husband, David Crook, who was an active communist. "He had just come back from fighting in Spain to support the Spanish republic. He had also done some interesting things in China. That made a big impression on me," says Isabel Crook. They married in London in 1942. Inspired by US journalist Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China, the couple returned to China a few years later to write a book about life in Communist-controlled areas. Parts of China back then were ruled by the Kuomintang and local warlords. Fadhhili Mpunji, a radio producer from Tanzania, says he is 'stuck' in Beijing for more than a decade - and is loving it. Liu Xiangrui reports China always made Fadhhili Mpunji curious. The 42-year-old journalist from Tanzania was familiar with Chinese during his childhood: They stayed in his hometown to help operate a railway built by a Chinese company in the late 1970s. Besides, he was intrigued by kung fu movies and watched Chinese gymnasts at the Olympic Games on TV. He briefly studied Chinese history and politics in college. Mpunji worked for the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation before coming to China in 2003 as part of a cooperation program between his former employer and China Radio International. He has been working as a producer for CRI's Swahili service since. He writes reports and records programs that introduce China to African listeners. Mpunji has paid close attention to the deepening of ties between China and Africa. The cooperation and trade between the two sides have benefited African people's lives, Mpunji says. When he got his first cellphone in 1994, he was among some 3,000 people in his country to own such a gadget. Now nearly half of its population of 50 million are using cellphones, lots of which are imported from China. In 2013, Mpunji broadcast programs on President Xi Jinping's visit to Tanzania, among his earliest state visits. Photographer rushes to rescue as part of Army unit, documents unforgettable moments of pain Lu Guilan, a middle-aged woman, is rescued by soldiers after surviving under wreckage for more than 12 days. [Photo by Wang Wenlan/China Daily] The lives of Lu Guilan and photographer Wang Wenlan mingled for a few minutes on Aug 9, 1976. For more than 12 days, Lu, a mother in her 40s, had survived under debris with nothing to eat and drinking her own urine along with rainwater that seeped through the cracks of fallen bricks and mortar. She had become trapped after the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century hit Tangshan, Hebei province, at 3 am on July 28, 1976, killing more than 240,000 and injuring another 16,000. The moment Lu was carried out by rescuers, eyes shut and limbs stretched out, was captured by Wang, then a 23-year-old Army photographer. "The long exposure has given the picture a slightly soft focus. I later used strong film developing fluid in order to heighten the image," recalled Wang, who is today vice-chairman of the China Photographers' Association. "The result is stark immediacy accentuated by a raw sense of history." Editor's Note: China Daily is publishing a series of reports on universities jointly established by education institutions from China and overseas. As the colleges get busy with recruitment, our reporters visited them to talk with principals, teachers and students. Foreign guests visit Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on July 26, as the school celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Provided to CHINA DAILY What makes reform extraordinary is the opportunity it gives to some individualsso long as they keep experimenting and thinking hard. That is the message of Xi Youmin, executive president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, one of the few Chinese-foreign joint-venture universities, which is beginning to be recognized around the world. "Our first goal was to get known in 10 years," Xi told China Daily. "Our second goal is to achieve international fame in 100 years." Founded in 2006, the university is a partnership between Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool. It is based in Suzhou, one of China's most affluent cities. "I took the first national college entrance examination when the system was restored after the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). "That enabled me to become one of the first group of Chinese students to major in management," Xi said. And ever since, being a good manager of education has been his passion. When the government allowed international cooperation at the college-level, the university decided not to be an alsoran. "Most of the joint ventures are teaching centers in China for overseas universities, placed within some Chinese colleges," Xi said. Next are the overseas universities' branch campuses. "But what we wanted, from the very beginning,was an independent, fully-fledged university that can best utilize global resources and resources from its two parent universities," Xi said. Professors and students are recruited internationally. Sun Yuting, graduate from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University CHINA DAILY Sun Yuting is looking forward to her postgraduate life at Harvard University in the United States after four productive years at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, a joint venture that has produced a surprising number of candidates for the best graduate schools in the world. "We don't have too much pressure, compared with students at most universities on the Chinese mainland," Sun said. "For example, we don't need to pass the English tests that trouble many Chinese students. We can indulge in the fields we're really interested in. "With the inspiring teachers and advanced equipment, you can make great progress if you make an effort at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool." Sun spent nearly two years there. The experience helped her adapt to a foreign environment and school life. "We experienced the cultures and environments of both Chinese and foreign universities," Sun said. "It helps me to think and become what I want to be." Sun said she still remembers how shocked she was when she heard that three of her schoolmates, who lived at the same dormitory, had been admitted to Cambridge University the same year. "I didn't get very high scores on the Chinese college entrance exam. One of my high school and college schoolmates, Zhang Xiaoyu, was admitted by Cambridge University and Columbia University to pursue his studies," she said. "He was excited to know that one of the top students of our high school at Tsinghua University will join him at Columbia this year." "Many of our students can go beyond themselves after four years at the university," said Xi Youmin, executive president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. According to the university, about 80 percent of its bachelor's degree holders pursue studies at foreign universities every year, with many accepted by the world's top universities, including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. Last year, 71.3 percent of its students were admitted by the world's top 100 universities, while 21.5 percent made it into the world's top 10. On July 26, the university celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Janet Beer, president of Liverpool University, Zheng Qinghua, vice-president of Xi'an Jiaotong University, and more than 20 scholars and officials from Britain and other countries attended the ceremony. People gather at the starting point of Stage 11 before the race begins in Ningxia Hui autonomous region on July 28, 2016. There is a short ceremony with a local art performance beside the road. Riders have to sign their name on the board before each match, otherwise, their results will be invalid. [Photo by Gao Tianpei /chinadaily.com.cn] The location of Zayu county in Tibet autonomous region. [Photo/tibet.cn] tibet.cn Families who returned to hometown in Tibet from Myanmar three decades ago have been living a well-off life thanks to the country's farmer-friendly policies after their nationality was restored, the news websitereported. These families living in Zhuwagen town of Zayu county moved to northern Myanmar in 1950s as they were oppressed by lords and former local governments before the Tibet's peaceful liberation. However, even though they had been living in Myanmar for decades, the government never granted them citizenship. They became people with no nationality. Between 1984 and 1986, these families started returning to their hometown in Zayu and settled down in Xituola, Zhaga and Zhuwu villages, after learning about Chinese government's new policies and people's life being improved. Tenzin, 48, said that his father was 30 years old when he moved to Myanmar. His father said his family moved there because they could not afford the taxes imposed by the local governments and the oppression of landlords. Tenzin's family lived in a mountainous area that was delineated by Myanmar government, Tenzin said. Ten family members lived in wooden sheds and hunted wild fruits and animals to survive. Tenzin said they were living like savages at that time. In 1985, Tenzin's family returned to Zayu. Families that returned from Myanmar missed the Tibet's reforms after the peaceful liberation, and they could not access land or ID cards because they had no nationality. Their education and employment were also badly hampered. In September 2006, the Chinese government granted these people nationality. Now they could enjoy the country's subsidies for border people, medical insurance and pension, housing projects and other benefits. The three villages now have tap water, power grid and roads. Villagers can watch satellite TVs at home, and take part in cultural activities. Screen shows the photos of the Chang'e-3 moon lander (L) and the Yutu moon rover during the mutual-photograph process, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, Dec 15, 2013. [Photo/Xinnhua] Five momerable moments in China's space probe The latest data collected by China's first lunar probe Chang'e 3 has confirmed speculation that there is no water on the moon, China Central Television CCTVreported on Sunday. Chang'e 3's optical telescope has discovered that no water exists in an ancient lunar "sea" known as Mare Imbrium ("the Sea of Rains"). When Apollo astronauts walked the lunar surface in 1969 and brought back rock samples, they found none of the water-bearing minerals common on Earth. According to phys.org, an internet news portal providing the latest news on science, over the past 10 years, however, several developments had reinvigorated the discussion. In particular, new analyses of volcanic gasses in the sample had inferred the presence of water in the moon's interior. Meanwhile, several new lunar missions were launched. The ones using neutron spectroscopy to search for water came up with mixed conclusions, but those using infrared spectroscopy seemed to reach unambiguous identification of water on the lunar surface. "We've measured the amount of water on the lunar surface and above, but only found the lowest quantities so far, which is in line with the expectations of the experts on the formation of the moon, Wen Jianyan, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said. China's lunar probe Chang'e-3 - named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology - with the country's first moon rover onboard, successfully landed on the moon on December 14, 2013, marking the first time that China has sent a spacecraft to soft-land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body. Chang'e 3 has entered its 33rd dormancy period on July 28, a record for the longest work time for an active lunar probe, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, which is in charge of China's space programs. Chang'e-3 includes a lander and a moon rover called "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit). Yutu's tasks include surveying the moon's geological structure and surface substances and looking for natural resources. The Chang'e 3 mission has provided scientists with valuable details about the lunar surface. Seven terabytes of data collected by Chang'e 3, including pictures and videos, has been shared with thousands of Chinese scientific institutions and universities for laboratory analysis. Chang'e 3 made the first-ever geological map of the moon with lunar penetrating radar, and also discovered a new type of rock - the lunar basalt, providing an insight into the evolution of the moon and the basis to explore its resources. Equipped with the world's first extreme ultraviolet imager, Chang'e 3 has been able to study changes in the plasma sphere to monitor solar storms that could disrupt telecommunications on earth. China will continue its rapid ascent in space science in the next couple of years. The country is planning to send another probe to the moon - the Chang'e 5 robotic lunar sample return mission - which is due to be launched next year. It also plans to launch Chang'e-4, which is similar to the Chang'e-3 but can carry a bigger payload to land the first probe on the dark side of the moon in 2018. A 41-year-old diabetic Dutch man has been hospitalized after spending 10 days waiting at Changsha Huanghua International Airport for a 26-year-old Chinese woman he met online, according to reports. Alexander Pieter Cirk, from Amsterdam, was declared unfit to fly following the prolonged stay at the airport, which doctors said put undue stress on his heart and kidneys. He had met the Chinese woman, surnamed Zhang, two months ago through a social networking application, and decided to come visit her in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan province. But Zhang never showed. She later told Hunan Economic Television that Cirk had not given her advance notice of his visit and she was surprised when she learned about it through media reports. She had undergone plastic surgery in another city and did not want to meet Cirk as her face was covered in gauze, she said. The pair spoke on the phone following Cirk's hospitalization and the exchange was "sweet", according to local media reports. Cirk, whose condition has now stabilized, will soon have to leave China because his visa has nearly expired. Zhang said she would try to continue their relationship. Liang Shuang contributed to this story. Government, fishermen protect environment of islands and sea (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-08-01 16:55 HAIKOU - Huang Hongbo and his colleagues have patrolled the islets and reefs of the Qilianyu Islands in the South China Sea daily for four years to protect sea turtles and their eggs. "If we see eggs on the beach, we usually set up a sign to alert local fishermen to be careful and not to harm them," said Huang, 64, head of the turtle protection station of Beidao, part of the Qilianyu Islands. Huang is a veteran fisherman who knows a lot about the habits of sea turtles. He was invited to head the protection station right after the establishment of Sansha City, which celebrated its fourth birthday last Sunday. Huang's position reflects China's efforts to preserve the environment in the South China Sea. Marine environment protection is high on the Sansha city government's agenda, said mayor Xiao Jie. During the past four years, 469 million yuan (about 70.5 million U.S. dollars) has been poured into environmental protection, said Shi Guoning, head of the city's land resources and environmental protection bureau. MARINE LIFE According to Huang, the Sansha city government has cracked down on the capture and trade of sea turtles and their eggs and banned activities that could affect their growth and reproduction. Last June, two Chinese fishermen were fined and given suspended prison terms for trading endangered sea turtles by the Sansha Islands Court. The culprits, who were captain and chief engineer of a ship, obtained 24 sea turtles from Filipino fishermen in October 2014 in exchange for rice, cooking oil and biscuits. The Chinese coast guard later released 22 of the turtles back to the sea, while the other two died. Strict law enforcement has deterred poaching of sea turtles, Huang said. "Now fishermen know there are consequences to catching turtles. When they find eggs, they call us to help." If the eggs are laid too close to the sea, or during adverse weather, such as typhoons, hatching on the beach is impossible, so staff from the protection station bring the eggs back and release the baby turtles into the sea, Huang said. Huang said local fishermen have also learned to protect fishery resources. On Beidao, fishermen have agreed to release small fish and have set standards for the release of different fish species. Chinese fishermen have followed a seasonal fishing ban in the South China Sea for 18 years. From May 16 to Aug. 1 every year, no fishing is allowed in parts of the sea under China's jurisdiction, except with single-layer gill nets and conventional angling. "To be honest, the fishing ban period is quite tough for us. But we know it's for the sake of better harvests in the future," said fisherman Fu Xiaoming. GREEN ISLANDS Improved infrastructure has helped minimize islanders' impact on the environment. On Yongxing Island, where the city government is located, the exploitation of groundwater has stopped for more than six months due to improved sea water desalination capacity. Desalination facilities have been set up on most inhabited islands and reefs. With a network of more than 9,000 meters, a wastewater treatment plant on Yongxing, which began operating last July, has a daily capacity of 1,800 tonnes. The reclaimed water is used for landscaping. A trash disposal project on the island turns garbage into fertilizer. The visibility of waters surrounding Sansha is about 20 meters, Shi Guoning said. Earlier this month, Chinese researchers announced that they had confirmed the world's deepest underwater sinkhole, or blue hole, on the Xisha Islands. The government has also planted trees on the barren sands to improve living conditions of islanders and shield the coastline from erosion by wind and waves. Last year, the Sansha city government planted more than 300,000 trees and 500,000 are planned for this year. "Years ago, we slept with the wind roaring every night. But now, coconut trees protect us. Only islanders understand how precious the trees are," said Fu Minggang of Zhaoshu Island in Qilianyu. BEIJING -- The Information Website for National Bankrupt Enterprises Recombinational Cases went live Monday, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC). The new site provides services to investors, including debtor company information, investment requirement posting and communication channels with bankruptcy administrators. Through the website, creditors, debtors, investors and other related parties can exercise their legal rights online, including filing cases, reporting claims, filing objections, attending creditors' meetings and voting. The website will expedite bankruptcy proceedings and support legal procedures in bankruptcy cases, the SPC said. Premier Li Keqiang sent a letter of congratulation on Monday to the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week that opened in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. For the past 25 years since China established ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, people-to-people exchanges, including educational cooperation, have become a new force for the relationship and have shown great prospects for further exchanges, Li said in the letter. The ongoing China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Year has nearly 300 events that are hosted in major cities from both sides, and China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to learn from each other and support to build a closer community, the premier said. A traditional ceremony is held to celebrate the opening of the port at Yazhou, about 50 kilometers west of Sanya in Hainan province, Aug 1, 2016. China opened a large fishing port, the closest one to the Nansha Islands, on Monday to handle fishing vessels working in the South China Sea. [Photo/VCG] China opened a large fishing port, the closest one to the Nansha Islands, on Monday to handle fishing vessels working in the South China Sea. Local authorities and thousands of people held a traditional ceremony to celebrate the opening of the port at Yazhou, about 50 kilometers west of Sanya in Hainan province. Monday also marked the end of the annual fishing ban in parts of the South China Sea, which started on May 16. More than 300 fishing vessels flying red flags left the port at noon for nearby South China Sea fishing ground. Those intending to make long journeys delayed leaving because of Typhoon Nida's approach. Gui Junjiang, a fisherman from Sanya, sailed with his colleagues from the port to the Xisha Islands, about 260 km away, where four generations of his family have fished. "The new port will provide a more comfortable, clean environment for fishermen, as well as more convenience," he said. Li Jin, vice-general manager of Sanya Yazhou Port Investment Co, said the port can accommodate 800 fishing boats, but in the long term it will be able to handle 2,000. Zhang Huazhong, head of the Sanya Ocean and Fishery Bureau, said, "We have not had a large and modern public fishing port that performs various functions. We have now filled the gap." The port will be the largest in Hainan. Apart from harboring fishing vessels, it can also shield ships from typhoons and serve as a logistics and studies center for fisheries products. Zhang said earlier that the port has "very important significance in safeguarding China's fishing rights in the South China Sea". It is also designed to be a support base for exploiting fishery resources and will help with supplies for Sansha, the southernmost Chinese city, which administers an area of about 2 million square kilometers in the South China Sea. The city headquarters are located on Yongxing Island, which is the largest of the Xisha Islands. Taiwan actor Eddie Peng stars a rebellious warrior in the upcoming action film Call of Heroes. [Photo provided to China Daily] Taiwan actor Eddie Peng regards his new role in the upcoming action thriller Call of Heroes as a salute to the late American star Marlon Brando. Followed by 21 million fans on Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, the 34-year-old actor is hailed as a heartthrob by many female fans. But in Call of Heroes, he stars as a rebellious warrior with a thick beard and a long scar on his face, sparking complaints about looking "ugly" from some of his fans. But the handsome actor seems to cherish his new role, and describes it as "a coincidence to have a similar look" as his idol Brando in an old American movie. "I take it as a salute to Brando and hope I could one day perform as well as the Hollywood legend," Peng says. Taiwan rocker A-Shin has tailored two theme songs, respectively titled Steal Heart and Call of Heroes, for the $32-million title. The celebrity-studded movie, directed by the award-winning Benny Chan, will open in Chinese theaters on Aug 12. Set in 1914 following the collapse of China's last feudal dynasty, the tale follows a group of people set against a cruel young warlord in the turbulent era. In addition to Peng, the cast also includes A-list actors Louis Koo and Sean Lau, and actresses Yuan Quan and Jiang Shuying. Related: Jackie Chan stars in Australia's most expensive Chinese movie A screen capture from "China's Challenges". [Photo/Weibo] China-US co-production "China's Challenges" has garnered an Emmy Award in Los Angeles, making history for such bilateral collaboration, said the show's producer on Sunday. US expert on China Robert Kuhn, also known for his book "How China's Leaders Think", said he and his team were delighted that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles has awarded an Emmy to their TV series for "pioneering presentation of China's historic transformation and today's challenges." "It is good for the world to understand what is really happening in China," he told Xinhua in Beijing, where he is working on another show with China Central Television. "China's Challenges" explores with unique access and in cinematic detail how China is addressing critical issues, including wealth and education distribution, social problems, environmental protection, competing priorities, and relations between China's rich traditional culture and its rapidly modernizing society. The series was co-produced by The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), an American public broadcaster and television program distributor and The Kuhn Foundation in association with Shanghai Media Group. It was created, written and hosted by Kuhn. "To our knowledge, 'China's Challenges' is the first international television production in association with a major China-based media organization that has won this prestigious Emmy award, re-affirming the special benefits of our unique US-China collaboration to tell the true story of China to the world," Kuhn said. "China's Challenges" has been broadcast on over 210 PBS stations in the United States, reaching 24 of the top 25 US markets and over 120 markets in total. There have been about 4,000 broadcasts of "China's Challenges" in the United States alone. Other countries that broadcast the series include Canada, Germany and Australia. Related: Documentary on China a hit in South Korea The German rock group, the Scorpions, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, will perform two shows in China. [Photo provided to China Daily] The German rock group, the Scorpions, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, will perform two shows in China in Guangzhou on Aug 12 and in Beijing on Aug 14. The band will perform some of its biggest hits such as Big City Nights, The Zoo and Rock You Like a Hurricane, as well as songs from its latest album, Return to Forever, which was released in 2015. A documentary on the band, Forever and a Day, will also be screened at the shows. The German band made its debut in China on May 1, 2015, with a 90-minute performance at the two-day Changjiang International Music Festival, which was held in Zhenjiang, a small city on the banks of the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangsu province. According to Tang Xiaolei, a manager based in Los Angeles, who is the main producer of the festival, which attracted more than 100,000 fans, the band hopes to use the shows to meet more Chinese fans. The band currently comprises Rudolf Schenker from Hannover, who founded the band in 1965; Meine, who joined in 1969; Matthias Jabs, who joined in 1978; and James Kottak and Pawe Maciwoda, who joined subsequently. The band's albums have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful European rock bands. Related: Music giants revel in potential of digital business Taiwan violinist joins Universal Music Zhou Tianyu, 22, has made her name by winning a number of awards and touring the world.[Photo provided to China Daily] A young pianist finds her place on the international concert stage. Chen Nan reports. Chen Nan At first glance, in her white T-shirt and blue jeans, Chinese-Canadian pianist Zhou Tianyu seemed like an overseas student spending her summer vacation in Beijing. However, the 22-year-old had returned to China to give shows and master classes in Wuhan, Hubei province, and Changsha, Hunan province. It's a busy summer for the young classical pianist, who has made her name by winning a number of awards and touring the world. In June, she performed at a concert to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. In August, she will perform at one of Poland's biggest music festivals, the open air Evening of Chopin Concert. And in September, she will give a recital at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. In her programs, Zhou not only performs pieces familiar to Chinese audienceslike Mozart's Sonata in C major and Franz Liszt's Venezia e Napoli: Tarantella, but also works that surprise them, such as Schumann's Kreisleriana Op. 16 and Spanish pianist-composer Enrique Granados' Allegro de Concierto, Op. 46. "I listen to a variety of music, such as opera and symphonies. I also like listening to hip-hop while working out at the gym. So when I play the piano, I am not just playing the instrument but incorporating different musical influences," says Zhou. She is currently pursuing her master's degree at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Poland, an established music school founded in 1929, whose alumni include composer Wojciech Kilar and pianist Krystian Zimerman. In the early 1980s, Chinese parents in big cities started to send their children to learn the piano and violin. And Zhou was one of them. However, unlike millions of children in the country, who learn Western instruments only because they are pushed by their parents, Zhou was keen to learn the piano. Recalling her interest, her mother, Xiang Yaqi, says: "Usually children would fall asleep when they listened to slow and soft classical music, but she was very focused. Jianbing guozi is most common in East China, and they're often made on street corners in carts fashioned to be pulled with a bicycle.[Photo/IC] We arrived in China in 2012 in a blur of excitement and exhaustion. In less than three months, I accepted a job in Shanghai, married my then-girlfriend Delores, and we sold two houses, quit our jobs, and reduced most of our personal belongings to fit into a 3-by-3 meter storage space. After saying our farewells to family and friends, we were ready for a new adventure and a new life. We got on a plane in Los Angeles and landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport. I barely remember the drive to a serviced apartment. Once we finally set our bags down, the exhaustion won out, and we spent most of the next few days sleeping, living off chocolate bars we had intended as gifts. We finally emerged one morning, still in a bit of a daze, to hunt for some real food. After wandering down the street, we ended up in a line of people apparently waiting for something delicious for breakfast. As our turn neared, we watched the cook ladle batter onto a round griddle, crack an egg over it, and add chili paste, chopped scallions, cilantro and spices. Then it was folded up with some crispy wafers. We had discovered the crunchy, eggy, spicy deliciousness of jianbing guozi, a traditional Chinese savory breakfast crepe, often with a rectangular strip of fried, crispy dough placed inside. I told my wife, "I hope McDonald's doesn't get ahold of this - they'd ruin it." Four years later, jianbing have spread to the United States, but not in the form I'd feared. A recent article on the food website Tasting Table says: "The go-to breakfast Chinese students have been downing for years is about to hit big." It cites several entrepreneurs in New York City and San Francisco who are improvising, using such ingredients as Peking duck, tuna and even fried chicken and slaw. It turns out this portable breakfast is quite ancient. TheWorldofChinese website explains: "According to legends, jianbing was invented nearly 2,000 years ago during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) when Zhuge Liang ... was faced with feeding an army of soldiers who'd lost their woks." Zhuge, chancellor of the state of Shu, ordered cooks to mix water with flour and spread the dough onto a griddle suspended over a fire. "The dish lifted his soldiers' morale and they fought their way out of an ambush," the article says. This breakfast of champions is most common in East China, and they're often made on street corners in carts fashioned to be pulled with a bicycle. There are regional variations, with my favorite being Shandong style. The Tasting Table article says the new jianbing phenomenon abroad is particularly popular with overseas Chinese communities, who consider it a comfort food with a taste from home. But more people outside those communities are discovering them, too. The article quotes Brian Goldberg, "proud New Yorker and founder of Beijing street food company Mr. Bing" as saying in Big Apple style: "'It's a bing. Get used to it, people.'" A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the US Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. [Photo/Agencies] While overestimating Beijing's influence on Pyongyang, Seoul has to a greater extent undervalued Beijing's commitment and endeavors to broker peace between the two Koreas. Beijing fully endorsed the UN sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the belief that there is no better way to dissuade Pyongyang from continuing with its nuclear weapons program, and persuading it to return to the negotiating table. And despite the continuous show of defiance by Pyongyang, there are credible signs the United Nations sanctions are beginning to bite. While there is no guarantee a cornered Pyongyang will not make desperate moves, there is an oft-neglected fact that calls for attentionPyongyang, too, prefers negotiations. Its offers of talks have repeatedly been ignored because Seoul and Washington have considered the preconditions it has set unacceptable. However, all this potential for reaching a negotiated solution with Pyongyang may come to naught with the Republic of Korea's decision to deploy the United State's Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system. With Pyongyang constantly rattling its sabers, Seoul's security concerns are legitimate. Beijing understands and respects them. But Seoul does not seem to reciprocate in kind and is ignoring Beijing's own legitimate security concerns. The strongest argument for deploying the THAAD anti-missile system is a sense of security. Yet, as many analysts have pointed out, THAAD's defensive capabilities are limited in the face of Pyongyang's threats to the ROK, which come from its artillery, short-range and lower-altitude missiles, which THAAD does not provide a defense against. And instead of intimidating the DPRK, the decision to deploy THAAD has instead invited more angry responses from Pyongyang, significantly escalating tension and hostility. The security situation on the Peninsula will only worsen hereafter. And that is before taking into account the THAAD's serious divisive impacts on the region. Sizeable as they are, economic ties with China may not be as important to Seoul as its security alliance with the US. Seoul seems to believe the cost of alienating Beijing is worth it, and affordable, and there is little Beijing can do beyond voicing its own security concerns and protesting. But the damage will not stop there. THAAD will substantially change Northeast Asia's security landscape. Since Seoul is helping Washington consolidate its strategic deployment that can be easily targeted against both China and Russia, it is natural for them to act to counter this threat. The ROK may find itself in the middle of a mini arms race, where it will have to follow suit if it does not want to expose itself to further, more dangerous security threats. This will be a road of no return. The restaurants in Shangqiu are shut down to curb air pollution.[Photo/Agencies] The government of Shangqiu in Central China's Henan province issued an order to close most of the small- and medium-sized restaurants in its urban areas "to curb air pollution". That's an absurd move that has brought inconvenience to people's lives, says Southern Metropolis Daily: With most of the restaurants in Shangqiu closed, there is as yet no data about whether the air quality has improved. However, one thing is certain, those working and residing in Shangqiu have few places to go for a meal. Worse, many shops and markets were closed, too, as a result of which people had to travel to suburban areas to buy bread or vegetables. It is absurd for Shangqiu officials to try to curb air pollution in such a way. Their job is to regulate the restaurants and make sure they meet environmental standards, instead of shutting them down. Shangqiu's move comes at a time when a central environmental inspection team has come to inspect the province and evaluate its environmental protection efforts. That arouses further suspicions that the officials are trying to hide their past misdeeds by giving the inspection team a false impression. Therefore, the closing of the restaurants should only encourage the central environmental inspection team to probe deeper. The move should also arouse attention because it shows how de facto powerful some local officials are as they can close shops and restaurants operating legally simply by issuing an order. But actually such an order violates the law and the shop owners can sue the local government. It is time to further shut power in the cage so that the absurdity in Shangqiu is not repeated in the future. A customer checks his smartphone app that eases finding a taxi in October, 2015. [Photo/China Daily] A regulation, jointly issued by several ministries on Thursday, legalized car-hailing service providers and put forward some fundamental principles for their management. Local governments should now issue detailed regulations for the industry, said Beijing News: By issuing the regulation, the central government has taken a giant step toward improving and regulating the online car-hailing industry. Yet the principles of the new regulation must now be fleshed out by local governments, which must draft detailed regulations. That's why the new regulation will come into effect on Nov 1, not now. The new regulation has left space for local governments to properly regulate the new car-hailing industry. For example, the price of car-hailing rides should be decided by the market, but the local governments have the power to issue a standard when they consider it necessary; and they have the power to decide whether to issue permits. As a result, the prosperity of the new car-hailing industry will be largely determined by the detailed regulations implemented by local governments. Whether they can strictly follow the "market-oriented" principle will decide whether the new industry will flourish or decline. Given the popularity of car-hailing services, local governments should ensure the threshold is not too high and simplify their administrative procedures. The central regulation said local governments could regulate the price of rides if necessary, but a market price system is obviously better. Car-hailing apps are a product of market competition and government setting prices might hurt the market. To sum up, the central government has expressed it accepts the car-hailing industry and we expect local governments to do so, too. Protesters attend the rally to denounce deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) near the US embassy on July 13, 2016 in Seoul, the ROK. The ROK's defense ministry announced on July 13, 2016 that it will deploy the US military's THAAD anti-missile defense unit in Seongju county. [Photo/VCG] Despite the strong opposition of China, the United States and the Republic of Korea have agreed to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the ROK. Although the US claims THAAD is aimed at countering the "nuclear threat" posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea", it is actually targeted at China. Why is THAAD's deployment in the ROK strongly opposed by China? THAAD will undermine the regional strategic balance in East Asia and create more obstacles to the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. When the strategic balance of a region is broken, an arms race follows and regional disputes and conflicts intensify. The Korean Peninsula is one of the few places in the world where the fear of war is still real. The peninsula nuclear issue has been threatening security in the region for over a decade, and negotiations, including "the Six-Party Talks", to settle the issue have been stalled. In such a sensitive region, THAAD's deployment could open the door to a military confrontation. One way of rectifying the strategic imbalance is for the US and the ROK to rescind their agreement to deploy THAAD. The second way is for Beijing to strengthen its nuclear capability, for once THAAD is deployed in the ROK, major parts of China will be under its anti-missile system umbrella. The deployment of THAAD in the ROK is part and parcel of the US missile defense system in East Asia, a region of strategic importance to the US where it sees China challenging its "DLP" (dominance, leadership and primacy). The US has singled out China as the target for its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. And THAAD is an indispensable component of that "rebalance". John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard University recently published an article in Foreign Affairs outlining "rebalancing to Asia" strategy as a superior "grand strategy" to be applied seriously by the US in East Asia and Europe. These two neoconservative theorists have identified China as "likely to seek hegemony in Asia" and call on the US to undertake major efforts "to prevent it from succeeding". "Rebalancing to Asia" first calls for the US to "rely on local powers to contain China". Should that fail, the US may "have to throw its considerable weight behind them". THAAD is a case in point. The US' involvement in the South China Sea issuesupporting the Philippines in its political farce of seeking "international arbitration" and the exhibition of force by the US Navy and Air Forceis another example of its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. The US is used to thinking and acting as a hegemonic power. But we live in an era of globalization where countries are more interdependent than ever. No country can be "balanced" or "rebalanced" away as the US wishes. As such, the deployment of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe and East Asia will hurt global stability. THAAD's deployment will worsen the divide in East Asia, where regional arrangements for economic growth are shaped with China at its core while regional security is assumed to be based on the US-centered military alliances. Should this contradictory situation develop further, neither regional economic growth nor security can be sustained. In short, THAAD is detrimental to the regional security of East Asia. No country can expect to achieve absolute security at the expense of other countries' insecurity. East Asia should enjoy peace and stability based on common and cooperative security. Therefore, the countries involved in the power game should reconsider their ill-conceived decisions in order to restore the regional strategic balance. The author is former vice-minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and former vice-minister at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Courtesy: Chinausfocus.com Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, January 28, 2016. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday he wants the new economy minister, Nobuteru Ishihara, to continue the government's efforts to push through structural reforms. [Photo/Agencies] Together with the United States and Australia, Japan has again tried to drive a wedge between Southeast Asian countries and China. Although the three countries have no territorial claims in the South China Sea, they are intervening in the region in the name of "freedom of navigation" and "the rule of law". When, after their meeting in Laos last week, the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not mention in their final statement the ruling in the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by the Philippines, the three countries came up with their own statement chiding China for its claims in the South China Sea. Japan, the US and Australia regard themselves as a "pillar" of stability throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and the foreign ministers of the three countries met on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings, issuing a statement in which they called on countries in the region to uphold the ruling, which China has consistently said it does not acknowledge or accept as it is unlawful. For Japan and its allies, China is inherently in the wrong simply by growing stronger. Any move by China is seen as a challenge to their power, or the existing status quo, which allows no room for newcomers. Even China's vision of interconnecting continents with its Belt and Road Initiative has been deemed as a means for Beijing to take the initiative in defining regional policy, considered by the three as the continental power's strategy for consolidating a sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific area. Japan on the other hand is implementing a strategy that aims at supplementing the aid it provides the region, its traditional tool of influence, with new military cooperation and assistance. Southeast Asia now tops the foreign policy agenda of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration. Abe visited the 10 ASEAN countries in the first year of his return to power, highlighting a new appraisal of the region in Japan's strategic calculations. In Laos, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea. But Japan has not uttered a single word encouraging peaceful resolutions to the disputes through negotiations, instead is seeking to stoke tensions in the region. Japan has sought to strengthen its partnership with Southeast Asian countries through capacity-building and defense cooperation. Japan has enhanced its presence in the region by upping the number of patrols in the South China Sea, increasing its participation in bilateral and trilateral military exercises, and making more port visits to maritime countries in Southeast Asia. Japan joined the US-Australian Talisman Sabre biennial military exercise for the first time in July 2015, a move that showed how Japan wanted to play a role in the Western Pacific. Japan also conducted its first bilateral maritime and air exercises with the Philippines in 2015 and its first bilateral table-top exercise with Vietnam in February 2016. In April, a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces destroyer participated in multilateral naval exercises hosted by Indonesia. Among several ASEAN countries, Abe invited Laos, the grouping's rotating chairman for this year, to an outreach meeting when the world's seven most industrialized nations convened in Japan in late May. Japan intended to draw the Southeast Asian countries to its side, offering them aid and trade. However, the latest meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers drove home the message that Japan's approach is not working. The author is China Daily Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn " We respect the new government's need to familiarize itself with a project as important to the UK's future energy security as Hinkley Point C, and we stand ready to help the government in this respect." A spokesman for China General Nuclear Power Corp commenting on Britain's decision to review plans to build a Chinese-backed nuclear power plant and deliver its final decision in the fall. A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the US Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. [Photo/Agencies] The Americans have successfully coerced the South Koreans to deploy the THAAD missile system in South Korea against the latters objection and protests from China and Russia. The deployment of THAAD increases the risk of war to all the parties concerned except the Americans. Every one of these countries also stands to lose except the Americans. THAADs presence in South Korea only infuriates the North Koreans as well as China and Russia. These countries would now come within the range of American short range missile attacks and the radar coverage to monitor missile and aircraft movements deep inside North Korea, China and Russia. How can it be safer and for peace when these countries would feel threatened and no longer trust the Americans intent and would review all their agreements with the Americans in view of this new threat? To the South Koreans, they have everything to lose and nothing to gain. The threat of a North Korean attack is an American White Lie that has been pounded daily for the last six decades by the Americans to justify the American military presence in South Korea. The North Koreans would never attack the South as it would mean committing nationwide suicide for all the North Koreans. The overwhelming superiority of the American military power could see to the destruction of the whole of North Korea within hours without the need to send in a single American soldier into North Korea. This kind of military superiority of the Americans is enough deterrence to keep any country from attacking South Korea or starting a war against the Americans or their allies. There is thus no threat of a North Korean invasion of the South but an American White Lie. The pathetic thing is that because of this White Lie, the hapless South Koreans would forever be a semi colony of the American Empire. The threat to South Korean independence is the American military presence. And not only that, the South Koreans would have to pay billions for this THAAD system that they did not want, did not ask for it, did not want to pay for it, and the system does not serve their national and security interests but the interests of the American Empire. The South Koreans simply have to go along and pay for it, to live with the American White Lie, while the Americans maintain full operational control of the THAAD system. They would not trust the South Koreans with this technology. This THAAD presence in South Korea would change the status quo in East Asia. The THAAD missile system is really the peripheral early warning system or part of the American's Balistic Missile Early Warning system in the defense of the American homeland. It is the most forward early warning system similar to a parallel system in Northern America to detect Russian aircraft and missiles in the early stages of approach towards homeland America. It has little to do with the defense of South Korea. The close proximity between North and South Korea would render the THAAD completely impractical and useless. And the South Koreans are deceived to pay for the defense of the American homeland, exposing themselves as priority target in the event of war. China and Russia would be forced to adopt the same tough stand like the Americans did when the Russians were deploying missiles in Cuba in the 1960s. Would China and Russia mount a naval blockade of South Korea to prevent the Americans from bringing in this offensive military system? Should they decide to do so, the world would be pushed to the brink of a nuclear war between the Americans on one side and the Chinese and the Russians on the other and South Korea becoming the battle field and the South Koreans as the sacrificial war collateral. The author is a political observer from Singapore. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website. Nestor Matus, a 26-year-old Mexican foreign graduate from the Beijing Institute of Technology, fills in the job application form before haveing the interview. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] "It's difficult to find a job in Beijing, even though there are a lot of both Chinese and international companies, as most firms prefer to hire local people," said Nestor Matus, a 26-year-old Mexican foreign graduate from the Beijing Institute of Technology. As one of thousands of international students in China, Nestor feels lucky to be an intern at a Beijing-based technology company as he can speak fluent Chinese. For expat graduates in China, the language barrier makes them hard to find a job and it's worse if you don't have much work experience. Previously just a foreign passport was enough to get a job. Kao Nou Thao, from the US, with a master's degree in journalism and communication, works as a content analyzer in an English broadcast company in Beijing after a six-month internship. "There is not much information about jobs in English-language media companies online. I emailed my resume many times but got few responses," said Kao Nou Thao. Moreover, the threshold required to get work visa disqualifies many aspirants. According to the Regulations of the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, two-year full-time related experience is required for a foreign graduate to get a work visa. "If the visa policy is relaxed, a great many international students will opt to stay in China to work," Kao Nou Thao added. Ualikhanova Assem, from Kazakhstan, a master's student majoring in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, who dreams to stay in China as a teacher, said she agreed with Kao Nou Thao. "It is impossible to get a job after graduation under the current policy as few students will have the needed experience. We foreigners came here to study, so how can we get the two-year work experience after graduation?" Considering that millions of Chinese graduates each year and the cutthroat job market, the restriction seems understandable to some expats. "Since there are too many Chinese, they have to protect the market and give Chinese students the chance to find jobs after graduation first," Nestor Matus said. Despite the tough situation, many experts think that things are getting better for international students, albeit very slowly. "Starting in March this year, an easing of current restrictions will mean that international students should find it easier to find part-time job and to secure internships in Zhongguancun of Beijing, also dubbed as China's Silicon Valley," said Li Yong, deputy director of career service center in UIBE. "I think the policy is gradually changing towards deregulation and will get better for international graduates in the next five years," said Chen Zhiming, China Daily's International staff office director. When newly-installed UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government surprised everyone, not least China and France, by announcing it was reviewing Chinese-backed plans to build a French-designed nuclear power plant in western England, many assumed it was over fears of too much Chinese involvement in the sensitive area of nuclear energy. The champagne had been laid on, the dignitaries invited and following last Thursday's decision by France's EDF conglomerate to go ahead with its share of funding the 18 million pounds Hinkley Point project, all was set for a quick signing ceremony. All set, that is, until a few hours after an oft-delayed EDF board decision was taken, when UK Energy Secretary Grant Clark, only a few weeks in the job, announced Britain was reviewing the project and would make a final decision in September. Many in the UK jumped to the immediate conclusion that fears over security were involved, and pointed to the malign influence of Nick Timothy, one of her closest advisers, who had previously publicly expressed his fears that "the government is selling our national security to China" because of the involvement of China General Nuclear Power Corporation, which is funding a third of the cost. But what appears to be the main reason for the British government decision is now emerging, and proves that China and CGN were correct in their cautious reaction to the news. EDF, which has been struggling to fund its share of the project, finally got the go-ahead from its main shareholder, the French government. Originally the EDF board had been due to meet in September, but Jean-Bernard Levy, EDF's CEO, wanted to move quickly after securing the funding, and moved the board meeting forward to July. May was apprised of this by President Francois Hollande when she visited him in Paris only a week after taking over as prime minister, and she refused to be bounced into an early decision and told Hollande her government would adhere to the September timetable. May is known in Whitehall as being more cautious that her predecessor, David Cameron, and wanted time to personally evaluate what is after all a controversial project. Another factor to be considered is that the Hinkley Point project will be completed using only EDF technology and China's input is only financial, so the security question doesn't really apply. True, there are concerns about security over China's role in future UK nuclear power projects, when Chinese technology is planned. But these can be addressed in a future agreement, with appropriate safeguards built in. Government officials who don't want to be identified say China was alerted to the UK government's review plan ahead of the French, which probably explains the understanding tone of both the reaction by CGN and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. What this all does point to is perhaps a mishandling of the situation by Downing Street Chancellor Philip Hammond, a close ally of Theresa May, was in China when the announcement was made, and had already talked positively about Britain's future relationship with Beijing, particular over the chances of securing a Free Trade Agreement with China after Britain negotiates its departure from the European Union. He was not aware of the decision to review the Hinkley project, and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was also kept out of the loop. Energy Secretary Clark was only made aware of the announcement he was due to make on Thursday only a few hours after arriving back from a visit to Japan. May is also known to be concerned about the rising cost of the project in 2005 it was put at 9 billion pounds. For China, involvement in the project and subsequent nuclear power stations is seen as boosting the international standards of its own nuclear plants if they pass exacting UK standards, and thus their marketability. British media reports, including The Times, say CGN has a tentative "plan B" if Hinkley's current project fails to go ahead. That would involve building two smaller Chinese-designed reactors on site, but a whole new agreement would have to be negotiated. But little has been said about that. To contact the author: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC] How far will Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen go in her endeavors to estrange the island from the mainland? No one seems to be able to tell from what she has said. But everyone can see where her government is trying to lead the island when it comes to relations across the Taiwan Straits. What has happened since she took over the leadership of the island points to what her refusal to clarify her attitude on the 1992 Consensus portendstrying to do as much as she and her administration can toward a de facto "Taiwan independence". When 24 tourists from the mainland were killed in a bus fire in Taiwan on July 19, Tsai as leader of the island, which has benefitted greatly from a large number of tourists from across the Straits, did not say a word about the perished tourists. Instead, she said elegiac words about the Taiwan tourist guide who was also killed in the tragedy. On the question of Taiping Island, which the arbitral tribunal in The Hague absurdly ruled in July as not being an island but rocks, and on the disputes with Japan over fishing rights at Okinotorishima atoll, Tsai's ambiguity and prevarication not only betrays her true intention. It also points to her hidden motives to pursue her own political ambition at the cost of the interests of people on both sides of the Straits. In the latest move, the "National Museum of History" in Taipei announced last Tuesday that visitors from the mainland would not be allowed to use the documents and archives there. There is no telling whether Tsai and her government are behind the decision. But it is natural for people on the mainland to consider it as a sign of unfriendliness. Despite her prevarication on stating her stance toward the 1992 Consensus, it has become increasingly clear that her endeavor is to lead the island away from the motherland. She does not dare to talk about her pro-independence stance because she knows what she and her administration are trying to do about relations with the Chinese mainland is not in the interests of the island and its people. She also knows that the majority of people across the Straits will not accept her. Yet the dream of making "Taiwan independence" a fait accompli will never come true since it is not difficult for people to tell what Tsai's administration is attempting to do. Shao Weimin(R), the temporary police liaison officer in Rio from Wuxi, hands over pamphlets about consular protection information and safety guidelines in Chinese to Rio's Tourist Police Station chief Alexandre Braga(L) on July 13. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn] With Rio de Janeiro set to host the Olympic Games in just one week's time, China's Ministry of Public Security sent Wuxi police officer Shao Weimin earlier in June to cooperate with local authorities in the city. Shao is tasked with ensuring the safety of Chinese athletes and supporters, and will work as a temporary police liaison officer at the Chinese Consulate General in Rio. Since his arrival in the Brazilian coastal city, Shao has been cooperating with local security staff to deal with safety issues involving Chinese nationals. On July 13, he distributed pamphlets in Chinese detailing information on consular protection and safety guidelines to Rio's Tourist Police Station chief Alexandre Braga. As of February 2016, the Ministry of Public Security had sent 36 police liaison officers to 31 countries around the world, including Canada, Germany and Malaysia, since it sent its first officer to the US in 1998. Security has been a major concern for athletes and tourists, and there have been reports of muggings among Chinese athletes. Chinese hurdler Shi Dongpeng and a cameraman were robbed in what is thought to have been elaborate hoax. When Shi and the accompanying journalist arrived at their hotel, a man reportedly rushed Shi and vomited on him. Their belongings were stolen after Shi went to the bathroom to clean up and the cameraman chased after the man. The Chinese embassy and consulate in Brazil have issued safety warnings to citizens planning on visiting Brazil for the Olympics. Sri Lanka attracts an increasing number of Chinese tourists who enjoy the country's landscape and sites of cultural heritage, such as Sigiriya, or Lion Rock, an old rock fortress and the ancient city of Polonnaruwa (above).[Photo provided to China Daily] Yin Rui and his wife were very excited to see a lion in the forests not far away from their cross-country vehicle. In Sri Lanka's Yala National Park, elephants cast curious glances at tourists like the couple, and monkeys approach the vehicle to beg for food. "It's like being in Zootopia. We loved the experience here. The locals are hospitable, honest and kindhearted," says Yin. The couple also went out to sea to watch whales. In March, the 31-year-old from Xinyang, in Henan province, visited Sri Lanka with his wife for their wedding photo shoot. The 11-day vacation left an indelible memory. "It was not uncommon to see Chinese tourists during our trip. Two of them even traveled with us for a few days and shared a chartered car with us," says Yin. According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the country attracted more than 214,000 Chinese tourists in 2015, an increase of 67.6 percent over 2014. China remains the second-biggest source of travelers for Sri Lanka, next only to India. The country received nearly 1.8 million overseas tourists last year and aims to boost the number to 3 million in 2016 and 4 million in 2020. "Chinese tourists enjoy Sri Lanka's good weather, picturesque coastline and cultural heritage. They love to see animals such as elephants, leopards and peacocks," says V. Ravindran, Sri Lankan Airlines' country manager for China. In June, the company completed 11 years in the Chinese market. It now operates 18 flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Kunming to Sri Lanka every week. Speaking of how it caters to the Chinese market, the country manager says there is always a crew member from China on board to help communicate with Chinese passengers. The passengers can also watch the latest Chinese movies during the flights. According to him, the peak season for the airline in the Chinese market is the Spring Festival holiday, summer vacations and the National Day holiday. During short holidays such as the three-day Dragon Boat Festival, there is a slight increase in passenger loads because the Chinese now take extra days off and extend their vacations. "It's also convenient to travel through Sri Lanka because the country is small," he says. As for security issues, he says: "The airline attaches great importance to the safety of passengers. We try not to inconvenience them, yet at the same time ensure they are well protected." Karunasena Kodituwakku, Sri Lanka's ambassador to China, says that the Sri Lankan prime minister's visit to China in April has strengthened China-Sri Lanka ties. The two countries have a long history of cultural and trade exchanges. The Turkish Stream gas pipeline, with an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, was announced in December 2014. [Photo/Sputnik] Russia's energy giant Gazprom is ready to discuss resuming the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project with Turkey and is waiting for the Turkish side to take the next step, Gazprom Management Committee Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Russian and Turkish officials discussed the project but did not reach a decision. Russian Deputy Energy Minister Yuri Sentyurin said that separate talks on the matter would be held later. "We have already stated that the ball is in Turkey's court," Medvedev told reporters. The Turkish Stream gas pipeline, with an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, was announced in December 2014. The pipeline was expected to run below the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and continue to a hub on the Turkish-Greek border, from where gas could be transferred to Southern Europe. The project was suspended in late 2015 amid the deterioration of Moscow-Ankara relations after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 jet in November 2015. Rapprochement between the two countries began in late June when, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the Su-24 incident and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident. Governments appear to be the ones who are using drones for some fascinating exploits. [Photo/Pixabay] Flying drones or watching them in action can be an exciting and a thrilling experience. When used for good, drones can help capture some amazing images and film some great footage. Sometimes however, they have been used with the intention of doing good, but the outcome was far from helpful. It also seems governments are leading in the crazy stakes, as they appear to be the ones who are using drones for some fascinating exploits. Here are a few strange and perhaps even inspirational examples of how governments across the world have used the flying devices. Tax cheats Spain's Tax Agency has discovered that almost 2 million homes have failed to pay the right taxes thanks to drones. The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) revealed improvements to people's houses that they had failed to declare to the tax office, such as extensions and swimming pools. The drone and satellite search was conducted across 4,340 Spanish municipalities, according to a report in Spanish daily El Mundo. Wasting taxpayers' money As well as catching tax cheats, drones have been known to waste taxpayers' money. What does a US $250,000 experimental drone get you? Apparently not much if, it disintegrates in midair during a SWAT training exercise in Montgomery County, Texas. Granted, the drone's demise - which crashed into a lake - was caused by a rotor blade coming apart. Good thing for insurance! County officials however, plan to replace it, hopefully with something that's a bit more tried-and-tested. Crashing into the White House A small drone crashed on White House grounds, causing a lockdown of the entire complex. According to the New York Times, the drone was being flown by an "inebriated, off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency," who was flying it from a nearby apartment and lost control. Since this incident, DJI - the makers of the drone - have updated the firmware to ban its drones from flying in the nation's capital. Crashing a drone in your neighbor's backyard is bad enough without putting national security in jeopardy. Shopping The UK government is keen for drones to start delivering people's shopping, working with Amazon they hope that companies will eventually start using drones to deliver small parcels within 30 minutes of ordering something online. Now this is probably a very useful thing for humans, but the strangest thing will be seeing all of these flying objects in the sky carrying tiny parcels and shopping bags, as well as spying on any home improvements for the taxman or potentially, just snooping on us for government intelligence services. Adelaide in South Australia will land the first direct flight from the Chinese mainland in December, as China Southern Airlines inked a deal with the South Australia Tourism Commission recently. Beginning Dec 12, three weekly flight services will start between Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province and Adelaide, carried out by the airlines' Airbus A330-200. South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill said having a direct flight from China's mainland "will create jobs that extend well beyond Adelaide Airport". "Three direct flights per week from Chinese mainland to Adelaide would create 135 local jobs, and have flow-on benefits for our hotels, our restaurants and tourism operators across the State," Weatherill said. Tourism is one of South Australia's key economic drivers, which is why the State government committed $35 million over two years in the 2016/17 State budget, in addition to the $35 million committed over two years in last year's budget. China is the state's fourth largest tourism market, welcoming 34,000 visitors in the 12 months leading to March 2016, a five-fold growth from a decade ago. Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags during a pro-government protest in Cologne, Germany July 31, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ANKARA - Turkey on Monday summoned the charge d'affaires at the German Embassy, a day after German authorities prevented Turkey's President Recep Tayyip from addressing by a video link a rally staged by his supporters in Cologne, Turkish media reported. Tens of thousands of Turks living in Germany gathered in Cologne on Sunday condemning the July 15 coup attempt. Germany's highest court, Federal Constitution Court, had upheld a ban on Erdogan's broadcasting a message to his supporters at the rally. German police said the measure was taken for "security reasons," while a local court agreed on the decision and issued the ruling. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that further actions will be carried out in response to the ban. "This is a double-standard by German judicial authority," he said, describing the move as a "ban on the freedom of expression." Turkey demands that Germany extradite supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric Ankara accused of masterminding the failed coup. The German court's decision heightened tensions between Germany and Turkey at a time when Ankara is stepping up its crackdown on suspected coup plotters. This is the second major incident marring bilateral relations in two months. On June 2, Turkey recalled its mission chief after the German parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the 1915 killing of Armenians as "genocide." Khizr Khan, whose son, Humayun S. M. Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving in the US Army in the 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, offers to loan his copy of the Constitution to Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump, as he speaks while a relative looks on during the last night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US July 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON - In a growing dispute between Donald Trump and the parents of a Muslim US Army officer killed in the Iraq war, the father said on Monday that the Republican presidential nominee lacked the empathy to be a leader and chided him for throwing the first salvo in their exchange. Trump responded simultaneously on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan's morning television appearances, saying he was being "viciously" attacked. Asked on CNN what message he could give Trump, Khizr Khan said he wanted to maintain his family's dignity and convey to Trump "that a good leader has one trait ... empathy." "It is basic character, realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people that you wish to lead," Khan said. "And that is missing." The issue has dominated the election campaign in recent days after Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, with his wife standing at his side. The Khan's son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2004, and the father spoke emotionally of the sacrifice his son had made for the country as an American Muslim, specifically criticizing Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. In response to the speech, Trump said Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some traditional Muslims. "There was no need to comment the way he commented," Khan said on Monday. "That initiated this conversation." Ghazala Khan wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday saying that she had remained silent during her husband's remarks to cope with making her grief public during the convention. The parents have appeared on television numerous times over the weekend and several leading Republicans have weighed in to express support for the family and to honor their sacrifice. The dispute is the latest in a series of missteps by the freewheeling, unorthodox campaign of Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected political office but who beat 16 rivals to become the Republican presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. He has made some deeply controversial campaign proposals, including the ban on Muslims and building a wall along the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. In interviews on Monday, the Khans spoke about their son and described the outpouring of support they have received during their very public exchange with Trump. Ghazala Khan said on CNN her family had always felt safe and protected as Muslims in the United States. MCCAIN'S DISAPPROVAL In response, Trump has tried to shift focus from the Khans. "This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US Get smart!" Trump said Monday on Twitter. He has accused Mr. Khan of "viciously attacking him." On Sunday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said Trump had scapegoated the parents. Leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements in support of the family. Trump drew similar opprobrium a year ago when he said US Senator John McCain, who was taken prisoner for five years during the Vietnam War, was not a hero since he had been captured. McCain, a leading voice in the party on military issues, on Monday condemned Trump for disparaging a fallen soldier's parents, saying in a statement his remarks do not represent the views of "our Republican Party." In an open letter, nearly a dozen so-called Gold Star families - families who lost relatives in wars - said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology. "This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency," it said. "That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness.'" ANKARA -- At least five police officers were killed in the bomb attack in southeastern Turkey on Monday, local media Milliyet reported. An explosion took place when a suspected bombing truck of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants hit a police shuttle bus at 17:35 local time (1435 GMT) in the province of Bingol, the report said. Ambulances and firefighters have arrived at the explosion scene. The social media account of a Kurdish fighter "Mitanni" claimed that the attack had killed 10 police and injured six more. The wreckage of a Russian helicopter lies smoldering in Syria's Idlib province after it was shot down on Monday. [Photo/Agencies] All five people on board a Russian military helicopter that was shot down over Syria on Monday are believed to have died, the Kremlin said. The Russian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was shot down over the Syrian province of Idlib. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground in Idlib province after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the ministry said in a statement. "There were three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation center in Syria on board," it said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences over the deaths of the five soldiers. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the Defense Ministry, those in the helicopter died. They died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimize victims on the ground," he said. Photos shared widely on social networks by Syrian opposition activists on Monday purported to depict the smoking aircraft in the desert and personal belongings of those inside, including Russian driver's licenses, passports and insurance cards, as well as Orthodox Christian icons. The authenticity of the pictures could not be independently confirmed. It was the third Russian helicopter lost in action in Syria this year. In July, an Mi-25 attack helicopter was shot down near Palmyra, killing two Russian pilots. The aircraft had been engaging advancing Islamic State militants at the Syrian Army's request when it was taken down, the Russian Defense Ministry said. In April, an Mi-28N attack helicopter crashed while flying near the city of Homs, with the Defense Ministry stressing it was not shot down. The crash killed both pilots, with technical failure cited by Moscow as the likely cause of the accident. Monday's helicopter downing was the deadliest for the Russians since Moscow began carrying out airstrikes in Syria last September. Nice post today over at Asia Business Intelligence on the value (or lack thereof) of US judgments against Chinese companies. The post is entitled, What Happens When Your Chinese Supplier Says: Sure, Go Ahead, Sue Me! [link no longer exists]. The gist of it is that Chinese courts basically ignore US judgments and here is why this is important to know: Here lies an important lesson for American companies doing business with China. Dont expect you can take an American judgment against a Chinese company to China and sue upon it. Your American judgment will not be recognized. Your more likely remedy would exist when the Chinese company has established sufficient presence in the US, such that you can sue the company in an American court. But unless that Chinese company has assets in the US upon which you can levy, you are unlikely to recover very much at all. What implications does this have, exactly? For importers, for example, the Golden Rule is to guard your money carefully before you even enter into a transaction with a Chinese exporter. Do not pay up front and then expect to receive product. You may not receive it once the money has left your hands. You will simply have no recourse. This post is wrong to say You will simply have no recourse, because there is recourse to the extent you can hire a licensed China attorney and sue the Chinese company in China. But it is right to say there is no point in suing in the United States. The China lawyers at my law firm get many calls from United States and European lawyers and companies seeking our help getting their US or European judgments enforced in China against Chinese companies. The below is a typical such call: Caller: I have a two million dollar judgment against Chinese company X in China, can you help me enforce it? China Lawyer: Is it a default judgment here in the United States? Caller: Yes. China Lawyer: The Chinese courts do not enforce United States judgments and though they often at least look at the basis for a United States judgment on the merits, they dont give any credence whatsoever to United States default judgments. Did you discuss this possibility with your U.S. lawyer before you sued here? Caller: [long silence] . Yes. He told me getting a judgment here couldnt hurt? China Lawyer: Did he charge you to get it? Caller: Yeah. I had to pay him and I had to pay all sorts of people to get that company served in China. China Lawyer: Sorry. Bottom Line: Dont bring a lawsuit outside China against a Chinese company without first making sure there is some benefit in doing so. Also, be sure to get your choice of jurisdiction right in your contracts with your Chinese manufacturers. Whats the point in putting in US jurisdiction if it will only add to your litigation costs and reduce your likelihood of ever collecting? At least once a month, one of our international litigation lawyers will get a call or an email from a U.S. lawyer seeking our help in taking a U.S. judgment (usually a default judgment) to China to enforce. The thinking of the U.S. lawyer is that all we need do is go to a China court and ask it to convert the U.S. judgment into a Chinese judgment and then send out the Chinese equivalent of a sheriff to the Chinese company and start seizing its assets until it pays. As we have consistently written, nope, nope, nope. See Chinese Companies Can Say, So Sue Me. But every once in a while, one of our attorneys will get paid to conduct the research proving this on behalf of a U.S. plaintiff who wants to be able to show a court it should be entitled to collect all of its damages from a US-based defendant because it will never be able to collect anything from any potential Chinese defendant. The below is a less legalistic summary of our most recent research on this. Article 282 of the PRC Civil Procedure Law, requires all of the following conditions be met for enforcement of a foreign judgment to be recognized in China: The foreign judgment has taken legal effect in the jurisdiction in which it was rendered. The country where the deciding court is located has a treaty with China or is a signatory to an international treaty to which China is also a signatory or there is reciprocity between the countries. The foreign judgment does not violate any basic principles of Chinese law, national sovereignty, security, or social public interest. Though China is a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, it is not a signatory to any international treaty on the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments. There is no bilateral treaty between China and the U.S. on recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments. There also is no bilateral treaty between the two countries on civil or commercial judicial assistance. Even judgments from countries that have an enforcement treaty with China, are oftentimes not enforced in China. For example, China and Australia entered into an agreement on reciprocal encouragement and protection of investments in 1988 that mandates both countries promulgate laws recognizing and enforcing each others judgments. But in response to a 2007 request by the Guangdong Province High Peoples Court for instructions regarding an application by an Australian plaintiff for recognition and enforcement of an Australian court judgment, the Supreme Peoples Court of China (the SPC) rejected enforcement since there was no international treaty to which China was a signatory nor any treaty between China and Australia on mutual recognition and enforcement of court judgments, nor any reciprocity between the two countries, the application should be rejected. Since China is not a signatory to any international treaty on recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments nor is there any treaty between China and the U.S. regarding judgment enforcement, the only possible way to get a U.S. judgment enforced in China would be if there were reciprocity between the two countries, but there isnt. In considering the question of reciprocity, a Chinese court will consider whether there is any precedent indicating reciprocity. In other words, the court will seek to determine whether there are any prior cases where a U.S. court recognized or enforced a Chinese courts decision. If there are no examples of a U.S. court having enforced a Chinese judgment, the Chinese court will almost certainly rule against enforcing the U.S. judgment because the reciprocity requirement will not have been met. In 1994, the Dalian Intermediate Peoples Court considered a Japanese partys application to recognize and enforce a Japanese judgment and two rulings. The application was eventually referred to the SPC for guidance and the SPC held that given that there was no multilateral or bilateral treaty governing such matters between China and Japan and given that the two countries had not established reciprocity, the Japanese judgment would not be recognized or enforced by a Chinese court. This case confirms China requires factual reciprocity, not presumed reciprocity. But are there any examples of a U.S. court enforcing a Chinese Judgment? On August 12, 2009, the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a judgment enforcing a $6.5 million dollar Chinese judgment against an American corporate defendant under Californias version of the Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act and in 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district courts decision. The plaintiffs in that case were Hubei Gezhouba Sanlian Industrial Co. Ltd. and Hubei Pinghu Cruise Co. Ltd., two PRC companies located in Hubei Province. The plaintiffs won a judgment against Robinson Helicopter Company Inc., a California corporation, at the Higher Peoples Court of Hubei Province. The United States District Court for the Central District of California held that the PRC judgment was final, conclusive and enforceable under PRC laws and the plaintiffs were therefore entitled to an issuance of a domestic judgment in the amount of the PRC judgment. This was the first time a U.S. Court recognized and enforced a PRC judgment, but it does not necessarily mean a Chinese court will automatically invoke the principle of reciprocity and recognize and enforce a U.S. court judgment. First, the enforcing court in that case is in California (though it was federal court), and the laws usually differ from state to state in the U.S., so its uncertain whether a Chinese court will deem the U.S., as a country, to have established a reciprocal relationship with China. Second, since the enforcing court was a federal court, its also not clear whether a Chinese court will deem a state courts judgment enforceable in China. Third, the enforcing court is not the U.S. Supreme Court, thus, a Chinese court may not deem it to amount to reciprocity at the highest judicial level between the two countries. Finally, that case involved a U.S. defendant who had previously argued that only China had jurisdiction over the case, so it hardly could be deemed unfair for a U.S. court to rule on enforcing the Chinese judgment. Chinese courts tend to be more willing to recognize and enforce foreign divorce judgments involving Chinese citizens so they dont have to initiate a separate divorce proceeding. However, since this is not a divorce case, it almost certainly is not relevant. We have not been able to find a single instance where a Chinese court enforced a U.S. non-divorce judgment. This memorandum does not address the possibility of your suing the Chinese company directly in China and there are times where doing so makes sense. In conclusion, a U.S. court judgment against ______________ will almost certainly not be recognized or enforced in China. Unless ___________ has assets in the U.S. or in some country other than China that enforces US judgments, a US judgment will probably not be collectable against this company in any way. (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China's Fosun is planning to purchase up to 30 percent of the shares of Portuguese bank BCP. Advertisement China's private conglomerate Fosun has made an offer to buy a 16.7 percent stake in Millennium Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP), Portugal's largest private bank, which it may increase to 30 percent, according to BCP. In a statement released late on Saturday, Millennium BCP said the offer envisaged a subscription price of not more than $0.02 per share, according to Reuters. With its current market capitalization of $1.32 billion, the proposed deal could potentially be worth around $223.5 million. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "Fosun is also considering increasing its stake through secondary market acquisitions or in the context of future capital increases of BCP, with an aim of potentially increasing Fosun's shareholding to 20-30 percent of BCP," the lender said. The deal has not been finalized yet as BCP executive committee said it would study the proposal first before considering formal talks with Fosun, which already owns stakes in Portugal in the insurer Fidelidade and medical services group Luz Saude. The proposal is also subject to a number of terms set by Fosun, such as clarification from authorities that it will not be called to contribute to the Portuguese bank resolution fund and the implementation and price adjustment of the reverse stock split process approved by BCP shareholders in April, Reuters reported. Currently, Angolan state oil company Sonangol is the largest shareholder of BCP with 17.84 percent of its shares. BCP's share price was placed under pressure in June amid investor voicing concern about capital weakness. The bank posted a second-quarter loss of $272.55 million on Friday because of an increase in bad debts provisions, Channel News Asia reported. Advertisement TagsFosun, BCP, Millennium BCP (Photo : Russian Navy) Russian Navy Leader-class Destroyer model. Advertisement Russia in 2018 will begin construction of the "Leader-class," a huge nuclear powered destroyer that will be the most heavily armed and largest warship of its type in the world. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Described in Russian media as "a strongpoint in the ocean," Leader destroyers will be armed with Russia's latest anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles that will allow it to outfight any destroyer in operation today. The 200 meter-long Leader destroyers will combine into one massive fighting vessel the capabilities of a destroyer, a guided missile cruiser and a large antisubmarine warship. It will be powered by a nuclear engine since Russia has no domestic manufacturer of reliable gas-turbine engines suitable for warships. The nuclear power plant will enable the Russian Navy destroyer to remain at sea for up to 90 days, long enough to conduct long-range patrols of the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the mainstay of its surface fleet, is 150 meters long. And despite its larger size, Leader destroyers will also be faster than the Arleigh Burke-class, with a maximum speed of 32 knots compared to 30 knots. Identified by the Russian Navy as Project 23560, the Leader-class will be manufactured by the Severnoye Design Bureau. More impressive than its sheer size will be the Leader's exceptionally heavy armament. The Leader-class is to be equipped with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, S-500 air defense systems and P-800 Oniks supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. Zircon hypersonic missiles might also be added to its arsenal. A Poliment-Redut vertical launch system (VLS), Russia's answer to America's AEGIS missile defense system, will target short-range aerial threats. The Redut VLS will be controlled by the Poliment active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system. Each Leader destroyer will carry 200 missiles, almost double that on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The Russian destroyer will displace 17,500 tons compared to the 9,800 tons for the newest version of the American destroyer. The Leader's gun armament will be the A-192 130 mm universal artillery system that can be used against warships and aircraft. Leaders might also be armed with two navalized versions of the Pantsir-M SAM/gun system, a combined short- to medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft gun. The Leader-class will replace the Sovremennyy-class destroyers, the main anti-surface warships of the Russian Navy, the Slava-class cruisers and the Udaloy I class anti-submarine destroyers. It will carry either two Kamov Ka-27 or Kamov Ka-32 helicopters for scouting and anti-submarine work. Twelve Leader destroyers are expected to enter service by 2025, with 12 apiece going to the Pacific and Northern Fleets. Advertisement TagsLeader-class destroyer, Russian Navy, Pacific Ocean, U.S. Navy, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (Photo : Liu Qinli/VCG via Getty Images) A woman teaches children the basic training at a children's dance training center on June 26, 2016 in Bozhou, Anhui Province of China. Some Chinese children took interest classes in the summer vocation. Advertisement China played host to more than 100 delegates from around the world who attended the Youth 20 summit 2016 last Wednesday in Shanghai. The event, also dubbed as Y20 China 2016, was attended by representatives from G20 member-states, guest countries and other international organizations, reported the China Daily. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The summit themed "Youth Innovation for Our Shared Vision," is in line with the G20 2016's slogan, "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy." Participated in by youth aged 18-20, the gathering provided a venue for young adults to discuss pressing global issues and concerns affecting their sector. Among the main topics discussed during the Youth 20 Summit 2016 China was the elimination of poverty, joint development, entrepreneurship and creative thinking, social justice, green lifestyles and sustainability, and global governance. At the summit, the views and recommendations of the delegates were gathered, processed, and used as inputs in drafting a statement to be presented to the preparatory committee of the G20 summit. "We want to encourage young people worldwide to boost innovation and contribute to industry," shared Wang Meng, head of China delegation. "The sustainable development goal for 2030 has been adopted by more than 120 UN members, so we want to use this platform to gather with other delegations to find solutions for the future world," Wang added. Another highlight of the Youth 20 Summit 2016 China was a dialogue between the delegates and Vice-President Li Yuanchao Beijing on July 24. During the meeting, Li called on the delegates, particularly those from G20 member-countries to make a difference in the global economy by becoming entrepreneurs and innovators. According to the vice-president, the Chinese government appreciates the work of young people whose goal is to help improve global economic governance. He also urged the delegates of the Youth 20 Summit 2016 China to play an increased role in establishing a more just and equitable international order. Advertisement Tagschina, Youth 20 Summit 2016 China, Youth 20 Summit 2016 (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese state media slammed Australia for telling Beijing to respect the ruling by an international tribunal over the South China Sea dispute. Advertisement Chinese state media lashed out at Australia on Sunday after Canberra urged Beijing to respect the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) over its South China Sea dispute with the Philippines. The state-run Global Times newspaper, in a strongly worded editorial, hit out at Canberra saying that Australia's power means nothing compared to the security of China and if the country steps into the South China Sea waters, it will be an "ideal target for China to warn and strike." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The unofficial mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China also called Australia a "paper cat" and a country with an "inglorious' history." "Australia is not even a 'paper tiger,' it is only a 'paper cat' at best," the editorial said. "Australia was at first an offshore prison of the U.K. and then became its colony, a source of raw materials, overseas market and land of investment," the paper said. "This country was established through uncivilized means, in a process filled with the tears of the aboriginals." The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in its long pending verdict on July 12, rejected China's claims over disputed South China Sea saying that the country has no legal authority to claim the contested territory. Beijing has strongly opposed the verdict while maintaining that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the contested waters. Australia, a close U.S. ally, has urged China to respect the verdict. Aussie foreign minister Julie Bishop also slammed China for its "coercive actions" in the South China Sea. The United States and Japan have also called on China to abide by the court's ruling over its territorial dispute with the Philippines. Advertisement Tagschina, Australia, South China Sea, Tribunal, Global Times (Photo : Getty Images) Afghanistan is unhappy after a Taliban delegation visited China last month. Advertisement Afghanistan is unhappy about a recent visit of a Taliban delegation to China. The Afghan government on Sunday lashed out at China for providing a platform for the Taliban, which is responsible for the killing people in Afghanistan. "Afghanistan and China enjoy strong, friendly relations. We believe our friends in China will always prefer to maintain state-to-state relations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmad Shakib Mustaghani told the Voice of America. "We believe China will not provide a platform to those groups that are responsible for the killing of the people of Afghanistan." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement A group of Taliban negotiators, led by senior leader Abbas Stanakzai, visited China from July 18 to 22. Stanakzai is the head of the Taliban's political office based in Qatar. The radical Islamist outfit on Saturday confirmed the visit saying that their delegation to China deliberated on the prevailing situation in the Afghanistan and informed the Chinese government about the 'occupation' by invading forces and their 'atrocities' against the Afghan people. "We have good terms with different countries of the world, and China is one among them," a senior Taliban functionary told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper. "We wanted the Chinese leadership to help us raise these issues on world forums and help us get freedom from occupying forces." China, on the other hand, is yet to confirm the visit and the details of the meeting between Taliban leaders and Chinese officials. The Afghan-based insurgent group recently declined to continue peace talks with negotiators from the Quadrilateral Coordination Group consisting of United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. Advertisement TagsAfghanistan, china, Taliban, US, Pakistan (Photo : Facundo Arrizabalaga - WPA Pool/Getty Images) (L-R) Dr John Llewellyn, Jim O'Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and Stephen King, HSBC chief economist during a speech at Chatham House in London, United Kingdom. Advertisement The approach of British Prime Minister Theresa May to Chinese investment could lead to British Treasury Minister Jim O'Neill quitting his post. According to a source, May intervened last week to delay the final decision on a nuclear power project partly funded by Chinese investors, Reuters reported. May has reportedly expressed concern in the past over the national security implications of the planned investment from China. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement May was promoted to the Prime Minister post after David Cameron resigned from his post following the historical Brexit. O'Neill is a member of the un-elected Upper House of Parliament and works in the Finance Ministry as the Commercial Secretary. His duties include infrastructure policy and promoting Britain as a source of foreign direct investment. An insider claims that O'Neill was baffled about why he was asked to remain in his post despite the change of Prime Minister. Now, with the changes on the project related to China, O'Neill is reportedly baffled and will quit unless May can explain why he still wants him to keep his job. O'Neill and former finance minister George Osborne have been involved in the project, and he has been pushing for Britain to have a better relationship with China, Business Insider reported. The two have been pushing for a "Golden Era" between the two countries, which is based on wooing the Chinese investment to the British infrastructure sector. China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) is expected to invest around $7.93 billion in the Hinkley Point nuclear project. CGN would have a 33 percent stake in the project. It remains unclear if the project will push through. A decision is reportedly due by September or October. Advertisement TagsBritish Prime Minister Theresa May, British Treasury Minister Jim O'Neill, resignation, Nuclear technology, china, chinese investment, China-funded project, former finance minister George Osborne (Photo : Getty Images) Commander-in-Chief Xi Jinping is under pressure to make a military response to the US and its allies as well as claimant nations in the South China Sea dispute. Advertisement Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly being pressured by high-ranking officers within the military to make an armed response to the United States and its regional allies following an international tribunal ruling denying Beijing's claims to the South China Sea, a source in the military told Reuters over the weekend. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Xi, the current commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), reportedly is reportedly not amenable to this approach, opting for peaceful settlement of the maritime territorial dispute. The source said Beijing has not shown any signs of using military force to settle the South China Sea dispute but instead, has taken the diplomatic route such as the planned bilateral talks with the Philippines. At the same time, China has vowed to defend its sovereignty to the disputed sea. As Beijing pushes for diplomatic measures to resolve the dispute, some quarters in the Chinese military have allegedly been urging Xi to take on a military approach to deal with the US and claimant-nations in the region. "The People's Liberation Army is ready," one source with ties to the military told Reuters. Serious clash The source said the PLA's hardened stance on the Hague-based court ruling increases the likelihood of serious clashes in the region should any provocative incidents occur in the strategic waterway. Another source told Reuters that the PLA is raring to confront the US and claimants nations in the region following Beijing's loss at the arbitration court. "The United States will do what it has to do. We will do what we have to do," the source said. "The entire military side has been hardened. It was a huge loss of face." International law On July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled that there is no legal basis for China's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea under its so-called nine-dash line. The court ruled that Beijing violated international law and the Philippines' rights to explore its exclusive economic zone by building facilities on the Mischief Reef. Beijing boycotted the court proceedings saying the court had no jurisdiction over the case filed by the Philippines. Beijing also rejected the ruling calling it a "complete farce" and "null and void." Advertisement TagsCommander Xi Jinping, People's Liberation Army, South China Sea, United States, china (Photo : Getty Images) Wooly mammoths. Advertisement A team of South Korean and Russian scientists has taken the first key step towards resurrecting the extinct Siberian wooly mammoth that died-off some 3,700 years ago. The team, led by controversial South Korean geneticist Hwang Woo-Suk who was dismissed 10 years ago by Seoul National University for faking stem cell research results, has the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hwang is currently a professor of the South Korean Foundation of Biotechnological Research SOAAM that is undertaking the cloning along with Russia's World Mammoth Center. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Hwang said that as a result of "tireless joint efforts, we have achieved what we call the 'initial stage' on our way to recovering the mammoth." He didn't described what progress in the "initial stage" was but did say the results will be published in scientific journals. Semyon Grigoriev, head of the World Mammoth Center at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) located in Siberia, explained there are two options in mammoth cloning. The first one is through the search for active cells while the second is the artificial DNA synthesis. He pointed out the team is at the initial stage of mammoth recovery and is focusing the search for active cells. Hwang revealed the second step and future research is already being planned by NEFU academics. "We continue the search for new materials and samples. We need (a) cell that could share information. If we could find a sample that is not only well preserved but also in which biochemical processes can take place, we will be able to impregnate it with the help of the Asian elephant materials," said Hwang. Wooly mammoths roamed the planet for over 350,000 years before becoming extinct toward the end of the last Ice Age some 4,500 years ago. The World Mammoth Center has the world's largest collection of frozen ancient mammoth carcasses and remains. It has over 2,000 samples in its possession. Many of the mammoth remains were dug up from the permafrost surrounding the center. Hwang did not set a year for when the wooly mammoth will walk the Earth again. Advertisement Tagswooly mammoth, Hwang Woo-Suk, Vladimir Putin, Semyon Grigoriev, SOAAM, World Mammoth Center (Photo : NASA) Elon Musk presents the Dragon capsule to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Advertisement SpaceX said it might spend up to $320 million to send its unmanned Red Dragon spacecraft to Mars by 2018 at the earliest, an amount 30 percent cheaper than what NASA plans to spend for its two-decades long program to land people on the Red Planet. It gave the estimate to the NASA Advisory Council, which found the figure relatively cheap compared to the billions of dollars it spent on some of its past missions to Mars. The SpaceX mission cost also compares favorably with the planned Mars 2020 rover mission with a projected cost of $2.1 billion. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement And what will NASA spend to land humans on Mars? NASA affirms this cost will nowhere be near $1 trillion, a mythical figure it derided as an urban legend. An expert's panel convened by NASA in 2014 placed the total cost of a 20-year program ending in a manned mission to Mars in the range of $80 to $100 billion. NASA currently spends some $4 billion a year on its exploration programs. Most of this amount is being spent on developing the Orion spacecraft that will house NASA astronauts on their way to Mars and the new Space Launch System rocket that carry these astronauts to Mars or to other deep-space destinations such as asteroids. NASA also spends nearly $4 billion ever year on operating the International Space Station (ISS). Dr. Harley Thronson, a member of the expert panel, said NASA and commercial space companies have gotten better at building and operating rockets for less money. Dr. Thronson is Associate Director for Advanced Concepts and Planning, Astrophysics Science Division at NASA. NASA, however, has finally publicly given its support for the Mars mission of SpaceX, its staunchest competitor for the historic right to be the first organization to send humans to land on the Red Planet. SpaceX hopes to achieve this feat by 2025 at the earliest. On the other hand, NASA expects to get there by 2035. NASA said it will provide SpaceX with advice and technical support. It will also exchange data with SpaceX but won't support Elon Musk's company financially. Advertisement TagsSpaceX, Red Dragon, Mars, v, NASA, Elon Musk 'After School Satan Clubs' modeled after 'Good News Clubs' plan public school launch 01 August, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | SALEM, Mass. (Christian Examiner) The Satanic Temple is planning on launching an afterschool program for children in public schools, the Washington Post has reported. Organizers of the new "After School Satan Club" (ASSC) claim their objective is to counter the large number of "Good News Clubs" established in elementary schools all over the country. That number stands at more than 3,500. "It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," Doug Mesner, co-founder of the Satanic Temple told the paper. Mesner goes by the "professional name" Lucien Greaves as he advocates for the Satanic Temple. He told the paper that Good News Clubs, which teach children Bible stories and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, are indoctrinating children. While the Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling children with a fear of hell and God's wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism. "While the Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling children with a fear of hell and God's wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism," Mesner said. "We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of an everlasting other-worldly horror." The group, which has launched a website with information about the club, already has clubs established in Georgia, California, Florida, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Missouri, Arizona, and Washington, D.C. The area also looking into campuses in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The video, which is supposed to attract elementary school age students on the club's website, isn't exactly enticing to children it is part horror film, part informational video. It features creepy images of crawling spiders, plastic dolls, dimly-lit school hallways and children dancing around a Maypole. Add to that the sound of Satanic chanting and it isn't likely parents will be rushing to encourage Johnny and Sally to attend the club. That isn't exactly the goal anyway, according to the Satanic Temple. They claim they are trying to make a point: if Christians can do it, they can also. That is actually a position with which even conservative Christian attorney Mat Staver agrees. Staver founded and leads Liberty Counsel, the same group that defender Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Staver's Liberty Counsel and the group Alliance Defending Freedom were behind the effort in 2001 to get schools to allow Christian clubs after hours. They won the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled prohibiting Christian clubs after hours violated free speech. Afterward, the Child Evangelism Fellowship began establishing thousands of Good News Clubs in schools across the country. "I would definitely oppose after-school Satanic clubs, but they have a First Amendment right to meet," Staver told the paper. "I suspect, in this particular case, I can't imagine there's going to be a lot of students participating in this. It's probably dust they're kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest." In the letter sent to the schools where the group hopes to establish the ASSC's, the Satanic Temple references Staver's Supreme Court case of 2001. "The decision stated that religious clubs such as the Good News Club must be given the same access to school facilities accorded to any other non-school related group. ... While the Good News Club is 'working together with parents and the schools to build solid moral and spiritual character into the lives of their children' based on their religious point of view, The Satanic Temple (TST) also plans to enrich the lives of children in your district," the letter said. The groups claims it seeks "benevolence and empathy" among people and stresses common sense, justice, individual liberty for secularists and "politically aware Satanists." The clubs will be led by "caring Satanists from local chapters in the community near the school," the letter also stated. To read the full article at the Washington Post, click here. To comment, login below. Christians targeted in Turkish coup 01 August, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | ISTANBUL (Christian Examiner) During the recent coup in Turkey that claimed nearly 250 lives and injured thousands, Christians once again became the target of Muslim extremists bent on the Islamization of the secular country. During the unrest, a storefront church in Matalya, the Matalya Protestant Church, suffered damage when protesters shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great," the battle cry associated with radical Islam smashed its windows during protests there. The church's pastor, Tim Stone, said the attack was "light" but it was clear the church was targeted because it was Christian. "It was the only shopfront attack in those three days," Stone said. "We were the only targets." The reality is that Turkey is neither a democracy nor a secular republic. There is no division between government affairs and religious affairs. Matalya was the location in which three employees of a Christian publishing house were tortured for hours and murdered by five Islamic radicals in April 2007. In the Black Sea coastal town of Trabzon, around a dozen attackers also struck the Santa Maria Catholic Church. They used bricks to break the church's windows and then tried to enter the church. According to Middle East Concern, Muslim neighbors rushed to the site and forced the attackers to leave. They then contacted the priest at the church to come and assess the damage. Santa Maria was also the site of past persecution. Father Andrea Santoro, 61, was shot to death as he knelt in prayer there in February 2006 by a 16-year-old Muslim radical. The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he killed the priest. The UK's Express reports that Turkey, once home to two million Christians, now has only 120,000 (or 0.2 percent of the population). That's fewer than in Shiite Iran. The sharp decline would put the collapse of Christianity there on par with the decline in Iraq, which has been plagued by violence directed at Christians since even before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In fact, Turkey now has almost as many Muslim Imams (117,000) as Christians and they are salaried by the government. "The reality is that Turkey is neither a democracy nor a secular republic," Yuce Kabakci, a pastor in Istanbul, told the Express. "There is no division between government affairs and religious affairs." Kabakci said the minister in charge of the government's religious affairs bureau is appointed directly by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president has expressed Islamist tendencies and has frequently pushed efforts toward a resurgence of Islamic dominance over the once secular state. "There's no doubt that the government uses the mosques to get its message across to its grassroots supporters," Kabakci said. "There is an atmosphere in Turkey right not that anyone who isn't Sunni is a threat to the stability of the nation." Kabakci also said the educated classes have now been indoctrinated to not associate with Christians or Jews. "It's more than suspicion," he said. "it's a case of 'let's get rid of anyone who isn't Sunni." Ihsan Ozbek, who serves as chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches, agreed. He said things improved as Turks debated the idea of a pivot to the West by joining the European Union in 2008. It remains unlikely that it will ever do so, some observers say. Without the incentive of the EU, intolerance is on the rise, Ozbek said. "Erdogan thinks he is the father of the nation. As a father he thinks he is protecting his children by being firm with them," Ozbek said. The incidents of violence during the coup were the only ones Christians suffered in Turkey recently. Earlier this year, a suicide bomber killed at least five people during an attack on a Christian village. Muslims joined together in churches across France for a Catholic Mass on Sunday to show support after the killing of a priest. Rev. Jacques Hamel was killed last week when two French teenagers slit the 85-year-olds throat. The teenagers had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group. A nun from the church of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was also taken hostage during the attack. We are very moved by the presence of our Muslim friends and I believe it is a courageous act that they did by coming to us, Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, said after the Mass. Outside the church, a group of Muslims held up a banner that read: Love for all. Hate for none. Today we wanted to show physically, by kissing the family of Jacques Hamel, by kissing His Grace Lebrun in front of everybody, so they know that the two communities are united, said Mohammed Karabila, president of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mosque. Muslims also held Mass in Paris and in Nice, where more than 80 people were killed by a truck driver loyal to the Islamic State a couple weeks ago. French Muslims also held vigils for the priest and held a brotherhood march, holding banners that read, This is not a religious war and We are all brothers and sisters. Photo courtesy: World Watch Monitor Publication date: August 1, 2016 Texas may be updating a pamphlet that educates women who are considering abortion to better comply with the 2003 Womans Right to Know law. OneNewsNow.com reports that the Texas law requires women to be informed before getting an abortion. This information may be updated to include a pamphlet for women to let them know that their unborn babies can feel pain. Another section of the pamphlet will explain the links between abortion and miscarriage or certain types of cancer. Emily Horne of Texas Right to Life praised the new information pamphlet: They were actually really great to put that in the old booklet, and some of that is going to get updated. We are asking them to put the references to different studies, but the language about the link is in both additions, which I am proud of the Department of doing that 13 years ago, and they're keeping it in again." Another part of the updated requirements is that aborted babies must be either cremated or buried and cannot be treated as medical waste and dumped in sewers or landfills. Both pro-life and pro-choice organizations are expectantly waiting to see the finished updates. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: August 1, 2016 A recent Barna study compiled a list of most generous cities in America, in addition to an earlier list of the most Bible-minded cities published earlier this year, and a survey of churchless cities and post-Christian cities released in 2015. Cities that register the highest percentage of donations are the same as the cities where people give most to the churches, the study found. The most generous city was El Paso in Texas where 92 percent of the residents donated to charities and non-profit organizations, followed by Lexington (91 percent) in Kentucky, Memphis (90 percent) in Tennessee, Charleston-Huntington (90 percent) in West Virginia, and Milwaukee (89 percent) in Wisconsin. The same cities that were most generous gave most of the donations to churches. El Paso and Las Cruces in New Mexico form a combined statistical area, where most of the adults donated through churches (87 percent). In Lexington, about 84 percent gave specifically to churches, followed by Milwaukee (73 percent), Memphis (69 percent), and Charleston-Huntington (64 percent). The results also show that people don't have to be rich to be generous. In El Paso-Las Cruces, only 7 percent of the Americans were "upscale" or had an annual household income of $75,000 or more, and 13 percent were "downscale" with annual income of $20,000 or less. In other cities that were highly generous as well, the proportion of "downscale" people was higher than the "upscale" ones, with the exception of Milwaukee where "upscale" people (12 percent) outnumbered the "downscale" population (10 percent) by a two percent margin. For the survey, more than 76,000 people were interviewed via telephone and internet over a period of ten years which ended in April of 2016. In another multi-year survey published in January 2016, Barna Group listed the top Bible-minded cities in the country. The traditional faith-zone of the South once again emerged as the most Bible-minded region in the country. About 52 percent of the population in Chattanooga, Tennessee identified itself as the most Bible-minded in the country. Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa in Alabama came second with 51 percent of the people calling themselves fervent readers of the Bible. On the other hand, there are some cities in the US which score high in 'churchlessness.' San Francisco tops this list, as about 61 percent of its Bay Area residents are unchurched, which the study defines as not having attended church in the last six months except on holidays or special occasions. Barna Group distinguishes between the "never-churched" and "dechurched" population. "Never churched" group had never regularly attended a church, while "dechurched" individuals used to attend church regularly at some point in their lives, but have not done so in the last six months. West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce in Florida had the highest percentage of unchurched population (17 percent). San Francisco (14 percent) ranked sixth on this list. Among the most "dechurched" cities, California Bay Area again took the top slot with 48 percent "dechurched" individuals. In America, the unchurched population is much lower than the cities ranking high in churchlessness. On average, about 29 percent of America's population is dechurched, and some 9 percent is never churched. A Canadian court dismissed an appeal by Nova Scotia Barristers' Society to ban a Christian university to get accreditation because of its stand on marriage and homosexuality, the school's website reported. The Nova Scotia court of Appeal upheld Trinity Western University's position on accreditation, saying that denying university graduates accreditation based on its admission policy is outside the purview of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society's authority. "The society acknowledges that the [Charter of Rights and Freedoms] does not apply to Trinity Western. It is a private university. The Supreme Court has held that the charter does not apply even to an autonomous public university," the Court of Appeal said in an opinion. The Barristers' Society had refused to give the university accreditation over the school's opposition to homosexuality, on the grounds that it was in violation of Charter of Rights that relate to sexual orientation. But the school also requires its students to abstain from sex outside of marriage, which it defines as between one man and one woman. The society had appealed a previous verdict made in January by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in the university's favor, and the latest decision confirmed the earlier ruling. The court has ordered the society to pay $35,000 in legal reimbursements to the university. "Allowing the NSBS's decision to stand would have a chilling effect on the liberty of conscience and freedom of religion," wrote Justice Jamie Campbell, who had ruled last year that the Society must recognize the university graduates. "Freedom of conscience and religion is the first fundamental freedom upheld in the Charter," said Amy Robertson, a university spokesperson. "As Canadians, we are profoundly privileged to be part of diverse, pluralistic society, committed to respecting one another even when we disagree. Many countries don't enjoy this privilege. Everyone, religious or not, should celebrate this decision, which amounts to a protection of our freedom and our identity." "The Community Covenant is a core part of defining the TWU [Trinity Western University] community as distinctly Christian," she added. "We are not making a statement about LGBTQ people; we are making a statement about traditional Christian marriage, which is sacred to us. The same covenant calls for all members of the TWU community to respect the dignity of others regardless of their background. Loving one another without exception is one of the most important principles of the Christian faith." Two other law school societies in Ontario and British Columbia have denied accreditation to the TWU graduates. The school reported last month that it got a negative ruling from the Ontario court of Appeal. Though the court said that the university's religious rights were violated, but it still upheld a divisional court's decision to permit the Law Society of Upper Canada in Ontario to continue to refuse accreditation to TWU graduates. "The court correctly found an infringement of TWU's rights," Earl Phillips, the executive director of TWU's proposed School of Law, said after the Ontario verdict. "However, we are most disappointed that the court found the infringement to be justifiable. That finding is a serious limitation to freedom of conscience and religion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms." The school will appeal the Ontario ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Campbell of Nova Scotia Supreme Court said that the secular society is redefining freedom in a way that obliterates true values of social liberty. "For many people in a secular society religious freedom is worse than inconsequential. It actually gets in the way. It's the dead hand of the superstitious past reaching out to restrain more important secular values like equality from becoming real equality," he wrote. "The discomforting truth is that religions with views that many Canadians find incomprehensible or offensive abound in a liberal and multicultural society. The law protects them and must carve out a place not only where they can exist but flourish." An Anglican youth festival in South Sudan's capital Juba was coming to an end when it became a battleground for soldiers and rebels who shot at each other from different corners of a ground at Munuki suburb. About a thousand people aged between 18 and 28 were participating in the three-day festival, who were forced to run for cover when the firing started without warning. No one sustained any bullet injuries, but three people were badly wounded as the crowd tried to run to safety. The gun battle lasted for many hours well into the night, and people took shelter at nearby churches. All Saints Anglican Cathedral was hosting the festival on July 7, a day before the fifth anniversary of the country's independence. Church leader David Luate at Diocese of Juba urged the youths to not let incidences such as these to stop them from holding such events and staying strong in faith to spread the Word of God in South Sudan. He asked Christians in Juba and all around the world to pray for the country. The first week of July saw intense violence in Juba, before President Salva Kiir and First Vice President and rebel leader Riek Machar declared a ceasefire on July 12. An estimated 300 people, including civilians, are thought to have been massacred in the clash between government soldiers and rebel group. "It was a massacre although the number of victims is still unknown," church sources in the area told Fides News Agency. "The humanitarian issue is the most urgent, starting from the lack of drinking water. Thousands of people have taken refuge in churches and much is being done to offer them assistance, despite a thousand difficulties. The International Red Cross has managed to send their teams in the two main hospitals." Machar was Kiir's deputy before he attempted a coup to topple the President in December 2013, triggering a civil war which expanded to the whole country and divided people on ethnic lines. Kiir is from Dinka community and Machar is from Nuer tribe. The resulting bloody conflict claimed thousands of lives and displaced over a million people. A deal between the two parties was signed in August 2015, and Machar was re-instituted in the government in April this year. However, a gun battle ensued in Juba last month again. "Those who will suffer most are the poorest, especially women and children. Those who pursue violence will face the judgement of God in answer to the cries of the souls of those whose death they have caused," Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said. "They can still turn back: with our voices and our prayers to Jesus the Prince of Peace, let us call on them to do so," he added. Syria and Russia have announced four more humanitarian corridors into the rebel-controlled city of Aleppo. Dozens of families made their way out of the rebel-controlled areas of the city. The Syrian government holds the western part of the city, while eastern Aleppo is still under the dominion of rebels. "Since the start of the humanitarian operation ... 169 civilians have left the neighbourhoods controlled by illegal armed groups through the exit points," Russian defense ministry said in a statement. "As the UN, and as humanitarians, we welcome any initiative aimed at assisting civilian populations in warzones, particularly in Syria today. We are, in principle and in practice, in favor of humanitarian corridors, under the right circumstances, that allow the protection of civilians," Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told journalists in Geneva. "As for the current situation on the ground ... Aleppo city is now almost completely encircled by Syrian troops ... There needs to be guarantees on the protection of civilians, whether they choose to remain in Eastern Aleppo, or move to other areas of their choice, as offered through the corridors," he added. The governments of Syria and Russia said that the corridors will permit distribution of food and medical aid to civilians. The countries will also give rebels an option to surrender and leave the city through the corridors, CNN reported. Russia said that 69 rebels had surrendered and over 50 people were given medical treatment after the opening of humanitarian corridors. The city of Aleppo is continually under siege and aerial bombardment, and many hospitals were also struck. Reports say the city has severe shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel. "I am deeply alarmed by the disturbing developments in and around Aleppo city. Hundreds of mortars, missiles and projectiles were launched on both eastern and western Aleppo in past weeks, resulting in scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries," said Stephen O'Brien, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. O'Brien expressed his concern about airstrikes in the city: "Strikes, by all sides, continue to be launched on and from heavily populated areas from air and ground without regard for civilian presence. Attacks on other civilian infrastructure remain an almost daily occurrence in some areas." UN had proposed a 48 hour pause in the air bombardment so that humanitarian supplies could be delivered to the civilians. "How do you expect convoys of humanitarian aid to actually reach those people if there is shelling and bombing from the air and from the ground?" said de Mistura. About 250,000 people remain in Aleppo after about four years of intense battle between Syrian government and rebels. The UN had earlier said that the city was at the brink of starvation, as it had not received supplies in weeks before the humanitarian corridors were opened. My first memory is a memory of fear. At four or five years old, alone in my bedroom, I was gripped suddenly by the certainty that something would go wrong. I looked up at the pink bows my mom had painted on the walls, my stomach twisting in knots. The conviction that the future wasnt friendly made itself manifest in my body. It was the beginning of a lifelong relationship with fear. Feelings make excellent servants, but terrible masters, Dallas Willard wrote. This is part of what Jesus is telling us when he commands us, Dont be afraid (Matt. 14:27). The admonition not to fear is the most frequently repeated command in the Bible. Its routinely appealed to as if it were a neat syllogism: Jesus said do not fear; Christians obey Jesus; therefore, I am not afraid. God said it; I believe it; that settles it. Would that it were so simple. Fear in the form of anxiety (owing to Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which I have) is a constant companion. A persistent, irrational fear about the future is the best definition of anxiety I have heard, and it joins me daily as a heavy ball in my stomach or a fluttering hummingbird in my throat. Nothing I can do brings instant relief. Be with me, I pray, even though God is already with me, and it is I who need to be with him. Yet despite fears unbidden presence, I have come to understand fear as a gift. The fear itself is not a gift I want, but it is part of the way I am wired in my very physiology, and try as I might, I cant get rid of it. As hard as it has beenthe panic attacks, the powerlessness, the isolationevery bout of anxiety has driven me closer to the God who is a Great Comforter. If ... 1 You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. I dont want to be married anymore. This refrain propelled Elizabeth Gilbert from her prone position on the bathroom floor into the wondering and wandering that became her 2006 bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. In its pages, she travels the world, gets a divorce, tries everything, rethinks everything, and ends up on the deck of an Indonesian fishing boat in the arms of her future husband, whom she calls Felipe. And now, she doesnt want to be married anymore again. On July 1, Gilbert announced her separation from Felipe in a Facebook post noting that the reasons for the divorce are very personal. In the resulting flurry, public commentators can barely conceal their eagerness at the thought of another Gilbert adventure. The New York Times reported the divorce as a fresh manifestation of Gilberts trademark wanderlust. Elle enthusiastically congratulated her on embarking on the next journey. Apparently, everyone preferred the free-wheeling of Eat, Pray, Love to the plodding of her subsequent book about marriage, Committed. Gilberts divorce-hedonism-remarriage-divorce saga is obviously distasteful to many Christians, but we can be equally fascinated (and misguided) by a very similar narrative. Gilbert wrote a memoir about questioning expectations and leaving her husband; Christian authors are writing about questioning God and leaving the church (for awhile, anyway). These spiritual wanderings are propelled by the refrain: I dont want to be a Christian anymore. Or, at least: I dont want to be that kind of Christian anymore. And thousands of us quickly turn the page, eager to read what comes next. Perhaps were intrigued by the spiritual adventurers ... 1 home Faith Murder of French priest by Muslim extremists shocked the West, but such attacks no longer shake African churches The murder of the French Catholic priest by Islamic extremists may have shocked the West, but to churches in Africa, such things no longer shake them. On July 26, Father Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old parish priest of Saint-Atienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, was killed by two ISIS sympathizers. The two men stormed the church during Mass, took some hostages and murdered the priest by slitting his throat. Hamel's murder is the first documented case of an ISIS attack in a Western church while the Mass was ongoing. While the atrocity both shook and angered many people, Christians in Africa already know that Islamic extremists will not hesitate to end a believer's life even inside a church. "News of the murdered priest in Normandy has shaken many to the core," Open Doors USA president and CEO David Curry said, according to Fox News. "While in Nigeria, an average of five churches are attacked every Sunday." Open Doors USA reported that more than 2,000 African churches were attacked in 2015 alone, leading to the death of more than 7,000 Christians. Barnabas Fund, an organization that helps distribute aid to Christians, said in a report released this month that at least 133 Christians in Nigeria have been murdered by Fulani Muslim herdsmen since June of this year. Among these was Bridget Agbahime, the wife of a pastor based in Kano State, who was beheaded by a group of Muslims in broad daylight while her husband watched. The group claimed she insulted Muhammad. Another pastor's wife was murdered while she was sharing the gospel in her community less than a month after Agbahime was killed. Just a few days later, a large group of more than 100 Muslims attacked a church in Nigeria. A local pastor said the attacks are a form of jihad. He said the attackers have advanced weapons and sometimes even use chemical weapons. The attacks often happen when people let their guard down, especially at night. "They clearly have an agenda: to wipe out [the] Christian presence and take over the land," the pastor said, according to Barnabas Fund. In 2015, another Nigerian pastor, the Rev. Samuel Dali, said almost 8,000 of their church members have died because of the attacks. "Seventy percent of our churches have been destroyed in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states by Boko Haram," he said, according to the Christian Post. home Faith China detains 30 Christians in latest religious crackdown Chinese authorities detained 30 members of a house church in southern Guangdong province last July 10 as the atheist state intensifies its ongoing crackdown against Christians. According to China Aid, a Christian persecution watchdog in the East Asian country, personnel of the religious affairs bureau and the police raided the Olive Tree Church's Sunday worship service on the morning of July 10. The officials took pictures of the congregation, confiscated church property, banned their church meetings, sealed the church doors and then took away 30 of its members to the police station. The police freed the detained house church members after a day but four others spent four days behind bars, including a lawyer in England, Tan Xiuhong, and their church leader Jiang Jianping who faced charges of "conducting activities in the name of a social organization without registration." This became the worst persecution suffered by the house church at the hands of the Communist state after hundreds of police also raided Olive Tree Church and Ark Church on Sept. 21, 2014, and detained six members, including the British lawyer. Authorities then charged the Christian members of the house churches of "using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement." Despite the ongoing religious crackdown against the Chinese Christians, the repressive state might still produce the world's largest Christian population by 2030, according to the mission organization OMF International. "We are overjoyed with what the Lord has already done in China," Robert Pennington, vice president for mobilization of OMF, told The Christian Post. "But that doesn't mean the task is finished." "China will almost certainly have the most evangelical Christians," said Pennington, "and that will greatly shape the global evangelical Church in the coming years. "While 200 million Chinese believers by the year 2030 may seem ambitious, it certainly gives us a strong goal to pray toward," he added. home World Egypt president praises wisdom and patriotism of Coptic Christians Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised the wisdom and patriotism of the country's highly persecuted Coptic Christian minorities as he met with Coptic Pope Tawadros II. According to Agenzia Fides, Sisi declared that all citizens regardless of their religion "have equal rights and duties as established by the Constitution" as he praised the Coptic Christians for their "wisdom and a spirit of patriotism" even as they suffered continued persecution at the hands of those who "try to exploit religion as a means of fomenting division and spreading extremist ideas." Sisi uttered these words as he received at the presidential palace the 63-year-old leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, which represents 10-15 percent of the country's predominantly Muslim population. Delegates of the Bishops of the Copt Orthodox Synod of Bishops also accompanied the Coptic Pope. The Coptic Pope told Egyptians lawmakers to uphold national unity as he met with them July 25. He also cited a report that revealed 37 cases of sectarian attacks against Copts since 2013. "The incidents we heard about are very painful. On my part, I'm patient and enduring, but there have been incidents that warn of danger," a Coptic Church statement quoted the pope as saying, according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA). He reminded the lawmakers that national unity remains part of their "responsibility in front of the world, future generations, history and in front of God." Saad El-Gamal, a lawmaker and the head of the Support Egypt coalition, praised Pope Tawadros II for his "wisdom" and reported that the religion committee already started to draft a legislation for church buildings and another legislation to recognize sectarian attacks as crimes undermining national unity. The head of the religion committee, Dr. Osama El-Abd, also took on the side of the religious minorities. "I have Christian friends, we are partners in [business], and they have never harassed me or subjected me to injustice," stated El-Abd. home US Franklin Graham urges tighter Muslim refugee background checks; 'Unless something is done, only a matter of time until U.S. experiences France style attack' Evangelist Franklin Graham believes that letting in Muslim refugees to the country would subject the U.S. to similar terrorist attacks suffered by France only recently. The president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan Purse linked the current administration's plan to take in Muslim refugees with the recent terrorist attack in France where two young extremists murdered a French Catholic priest inside the Church of the Gambetta in Saint-Atienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy. "President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and some other politicians want to allow tens of thousands of Muslim refugees into this country," the 64-year-old evangelical leader wrote on Facebook on Saturday. "A few days ago two Muslim men went into a Catholic Church in France in the name of ISIS and brutally slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest," continued Graham. "The self-proclaimed ISIS soldiers shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they ran from the church." The son of famed evangelist Billy Graham publicly expressed his support on a temporary ban on immigration for Muslims. He said the country must first have an accurate background check and vetting program before it can take in additional immigrants, particularly those coming from Muslim states. He criticized the current administration for refusing to recognize the attacks in Brussels, Paris and New York on 9/11 as acts of Islamic terrorism and urged Christians to pray that God would give them a strong leader. The presidential contender who endorses to ban Muslim immigration happens to be Republican nominee Donald Trump, who met with around 900 Christian conservative leaders in a closed-door meeting in New York in June. His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, stands on the opposite end as she pledges to help immigrants be integrated into the American society and to refuse any deportation among them. "Unless something is done, it's just a matter of time before we see this happen here in the United States," warned Graham. He attached his post to that of an article denouncing people's tolerance as paving the way for further terrorism to take place. home World French imam renounces Muslim killers of Normandy slain priest as 'not part of civilization and humanity' A French imam renounced the two young men responsible for the Catholic Church attack in Normandy as not belonging to the same civilization and humanity with everyone else. According to a report by the Associated Press, Christians and Muslims from across France gathered in a mosque in Normandy on Friday to show their solidarity. This came about after two radicalized young men attacked a church in Saint-Atienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy during Tuesday's morning mass. The extremists reportedly filmed themselves as they delivered a sermon in Arabic around the altar before they slit the throat of Fr. Jacques Hamel, 85. They also shouted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" when they came rushing out of the church and gunned down by the police. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the church attack as well as the terrorist attack in Nice where 84 people died. "You have the wrong civilisation, because you are not a part of civilisation," declared Abdelatif Hmitou, a French imam, as he addressed the extremists. "You have the wrong humanity, because you are not a part of humanity." "You have the wrong idea about us (Muslims), and we won't forgive you for this," continued the enraged imam. "How 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?" The imam referred to the symbolic gesture by the Sainte Therese church near the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when it apportioned a part of its land for Muslims to build their mosque. Fr. Pierre Belhache, who oversees the relations with the Muslim community, asserted the unity between the two religious communities and that they "won't let anyone divide us. It is so rich to have these differences but still be together." home World ISIS crucifies man for apostasy in Syria The Islamic State militants executed and crucified a civilian man in Aleppo on Thursday after accusing him of apostasy, according to activists and eyewitnesses. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorist group accused 28-year-old Hussein Muhammad of being an apostate after he refused to join the Islamic prayers at the mosque. They arrested Muhammad, executed him by gunfire and then crucified his dead body on an electric pole in central al-Bab for everyone to see. "The Sharia Court accused Muhammad of apostasy for refusing to join prayers at the mosque," an activist, who spoke anonymously, told ARA News. "A Sharia judge decided to execute and crucify the man in public, claiming he was an apostate who refused to perform Sharia duties and violated the basic laws of the Caliphate," the activist added. Thousands of residents in al-Bab gathered to witness the public execution Thursday afternoon, reported Ahmed al-Beik, a rights activist. "The victims' body will remain crucified for three days, and ISIS threatened people that anyone who would try to remove him will be mercilessly punished," al-Beik said. According to Jihad Watch, an organization that exposes jihad theology and ideology to apprise the world of the real situation, the Islamic law includes the capital punishment for those charged with apostasy. Bukhari 9.84.57, a hadith, quotes Prophet Muhammad as saying, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most respected Muslim cleric in the world, said that Islamic judges for both Sunni and Shi'ite Islam agree that apostates must be punished. He added that the four main schools of jurisprudence, namely Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali and the other four (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-'ashriyyah, Al-Ja'fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) all agree that capital punishment must be handed on apostates. "If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn't exist today," Jihad Watch quoted the Muslim cleric as saying. home Faith Muslims in Uganda kill pastor for evangelizing, refusing to sell them land for mosque A group of Muslims in eastern Uganda killed a pastor for converting Muslims to Christianity and for refusing to sell them land where they planned to build a mosque. "They grabbed him, then tied him up and cut him with very sharp pang [sword]," a resident of Bubulanga village, Kibuku District told Morning Star News. The victim, Pastor Robert Bakulubanywa of Victory Church in Bubulanga, disappeared the night of July 24 after concluding the Sunday worship service. His wife, whose name remains concealed for security reasons, started to worry when her husband still did not arrive home at around 9 p.m. Her fear only heightened when a church elder she called up told her that the pastor already made his way home with another church member at 7:30 p.m. She recalled when a Muslim neighbor warned her only a couple of days ago, "Please, things are not good for your family. Tell your husband to be very careful and leave the Muslims alone." The pastor's wife said the Muslims already made several threats on her husband. "The Muslims had issued several warnings to him to stop converting the Muslims to Christ, especially the youth," she said. "For over a month the Muslims have been pressuring us to sell a piece of land to them for the construction of a mosque, but my husband refused." She eventually called the church member who told her that he managed to run away after a group of five Muslim men confronted him and the pastor on their way home. The wife, along with Christian neighbors, found the 38-year-old pastor's dead body lying in a pool of blood at the site of the attack. They reported the incident to a Muslim council chairman, Tyogo Muniru, who reportedly did not take any action. The Kibuku police are still hunting for the suspects. This incident follows a similar case when Muslim villagers also murdered a widow Christian woman in Naigobya village, Kiyunga Sub-County in Luuka District on June 23 after refusing to sell a piece of her land to Muslims who wanted to build a mosque in the area. home World Pope Francis urges youth not to be 'young couch potatoes' as the world reels from terrorism Pope Francis urged the young people during World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland not to be remote or indifferent as many around the world become victims of terrorism and crimes of hatred. The Roman Catholic leader told the hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth gathered for the five-day celebration to shun from living "two-track lives" or to "remain enclosed, out of fear or convenience, within ourselves." He also highlighted the plight of the Syrian people as they prayed for them as well as other victims of war. He condemned the acts of terrorism but also encouraged the young people not to be indifferent to the sufferings of the less fortunate. "Once and for all, may we realize that nothing justifies shedding the blood of a brother or sister," said Pope Francis and added, "The times we live in do not call for young 'couch potatoes'," The pope declared the world at war as he made his flight to the eastern European country after the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the killing of an 85-year-old Catholic French priest in Normandy, France. The church attack became the first of its kind for the Islamic State group when two men, whom the group subsequently hailed as among their soldiers, stormed a Catholic church in Saint-Atienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy on Tuesday morning. They also filmed themselves as they delivered a sermon in Arabic around the altar before they slit the throat of Fr. Jacques Hamel. The pope prayed for peace when he decided to stop by the church of St. Francis of Assisi on the last day of his Poland visit. "Touch the hearts of terrorists so that they may recognize 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," prayed the pontiff. home World Pope Francis warns world is facing World War 3 Pope Francis said the world has already entered World War 3. He gave the comment days after the Islamic terrorists slit the throat of 85-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel in a church in Normandy, France. Speaking before reporters while on a flight from Rome to Krakow, Poland, the pontiff said the world "has been at war for a while now." "The world is at war because it has lost peace. This is war. The world has been at war for a while now," the pope said, according to NBC News. He also alluded that the world is already experiencing the third world war. "We had the war of 1914, then the war in 1939-45, and now this one," he said. However, the pope was quick to explain that the present war is not a war of religions, saying the war is "not an organic war." "All religions preach peace a it's the others who want war," the pontiff said. He explained that there is an ongoing war of conflicting interests, war for resources and money, and war for taking dominion over nations, ABC News reported. The pope's remark mirrors what the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, Andrew White, has been saying since ISIS rose into power. "I have been saying for a long time that World War III is here," White said on a Facebook post. "The terrorist attacks continue on almost a daily basis. We here about those in the Western world but here in the Middle East it is not news." White urged Christians to represent Jesus and stand among the broken at a time like this. Meanwhile, the pope condemned the brutal killing of Hamel. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the attack had a great impact because it took place inside a church, which was supposed to be "a sacred place in which the love of God is announced," News Corp Australia reported. Another gay Anglican priest marries long-term partner Another gay Anglican vicar has married his long-term male partner, defying the Church of England's ban on clergy entering same-sex marriages. Rev Paul Collier has kept his position as priest of St Hugh's in the Diocese of Southwark after he converted his civil partnership to a marriage in early June with a celebratory service in London. Collier admitted his marriage put him at odds with the House of Bishops, the body which issued guidance banning clergy from entering gay marriages. He told Christian Today that he had heard from his bishop, and said he had been dealt with "in accordance with the House of Bishops' pastoral statement on same-sex marriage". He declined to elaborate but said: "My personal reading of the situation is I am unlikely to obtain any other positions within the Church of England." But he said he would continue to serve as a priest at his current church. A spokesman for the Diocese of Southwark confirmed Collier's wedding had taken place and said the Bishop of Woolwich had been "in formal contact with him and acted strictly in accordance with the pastoral guidance issued by the House of Bishops in 2014 on these matters." Bishops have little power to prevent gay clergy from marrying nor to sack them if they do. A panel of three senior bishops has been set up to advise other bishops on how to apply the guidance when clergy dissent. The usual format is an informal letter of rebuke and no further action, meaning more and more clergy are choosing to marry their same-sex partners. The Southwark spokesman refused to say whether Collier would face any admonition, as other priests who have married their gay partners have done. "He disciplined the priest in confidence so we don't know what happened and even if we did we couldn't say," he told Christian Today. A Church of England statement added: "The pastoral relationship between a bishop and a priest under his or her pastoral care is a relationship of confidentiality." Guidance from bishops in February 2014 said getting married to someone of the same sex would "clearly be at variance with the teaching of the Church of England". The guidance went on: "It would not be appropriate conduct for someone in holy orders to enter into a same sex marriage, given the need for clergy to model the Church's teaching in their lives." But a number of clergy have entered same-sex marriages despite the prohibition. Andrew Foreshew-Cain was one of the first to flout the ban when he married his long-term partner Stephen Foreshew in 2014. Others to have done so include Jeremy Pemberton who lost his licence to preach following his marriage to Laurence Cunnington, also in 2014. Most recently a priest in the Diocese of Manchester resigned in order to avoid punishment before marrying his partner. Rev Clive Larsen, 60, quit his post as parish priest in July and celebrated his wedding the next day. It is believed at least four Church of England priests have now rebelled against the ban and entered same-sex marriages. The House of Bishops will meet in the autumn to discuss the Church's next steps after its ruling synod discussed teaching and practice on sexuality in private talks last month. Belgium: Priest 'stabbed at home by asylum seeker' A priest in Belgium was reportedly stabbed in his own home after he let in an asylum seeker in to use the shower. There is no suggestion the incident was terrorism-related. Jos Vanderlee, 65, let the man in after he knocked on the door asking to use the bathroom to get clean, according to local reports. But when the priest refused to give him money as well, he became irate and attacked him, stabbing him in the hands, prosecutors alleged. The incident, in Lanaken, is reported to have taken place yesterday. The Public Prosecutor of Limburg, Coppin Bruno said there was no suggestion of terrorism, according to the local newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. The mayor of Lanake, Marino Keulen said: "Despite the fact that we are shocked, we must stress that this incident can not be linked to terrorist acts at this stage of the investigation." However, the incident comes amid heightened tensions after the brutal murder of French priest Jacques Hamel in Rouen. Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean, both 19, attacked the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church, taking two nuns and two fellow-worshippers hostage before slitting the throat of the priest at the altar. Both men, who were shot dead by police, had pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State. Billy Graham tells Christians to pray and vote: 'It's the most important thing you can do' World-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, 97, believes every Christian in America should exercise their right to vote this November even if they don't like either of the candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties. "The Bible says we should do everything we possibly can to be good citizens and work for the betterment of our society, and one of the ways we can do this is by voting," Graham writes in his column on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website. "God tells us to 'seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you' (Jeremiah 29:7)." The Baptist pastor understands that a lot of Christians are too disillusioned with politics nowadays to even cast a vote. However, Graham says if Christians do not vote, or Christians do not run for office, then America's decline is to be expected. "In other words, staying away from the voting booth may only perpetuate the problems you see," he explains. Before Christians think of who to vote for, Graham strongly encourages them to pray. After doing so, they will have a better grasp of the issues that America needs to address and which candidate will be the best one to solve it. "Beyond that, however, pray for our nation and its leadersnot just the President, but all who've been entrusted with public office," he says. "It's the most important thing you can do." Graham acknowledges that the world will never be perfect, and problem after problem will continue to hound it. "But in the meantime, God wants to use us to overcome sin and establish a more just world for His glory," he says. Meanwhile, Graham's son Franklin is also echoing his father's statements. During his stop in Washington's Capitol as part of the Decision America Tour, he told the crowd to choose between Republican nominee Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton even if Christians have to "hold their nose" while doing so. "You're just going to have to ask yourself which of the two do you think we as Christians will at least have a voice with?" Graham said. "You have to make that choice. Now, you might have to hold your nose." Christians face backlash in Turkey as Muslim protesters attack churches after coup attempt When forces loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quashed a bloody military coup attempt on July 15, hard-line Muslim Sunnis used the event to target Turkey's Christian community, the London Express reports. The pro-government Muslim protesters attacked at least two churches that night. In Malatya, a sprawling city in Anatolia, once the heartland of Christianity in the East, they targeted a Protestant church. Gangs chanting "Allahu akbar" smashed the church's glass frontage. "We were the only targets," church pastor Tim Stone said. In the Black Sea city of Trabzon, mobs attacked the Santa Maria church, smashing windows and using hammers to break down its door. The attacks were not new for both cities. In 2007, three Christian employees of a publishing house for Bibles in Malatya were tortured, their hands and feet tied and their throats cut by five Muslim assailants, according to the Express. A year earlier Father Andrea Santoro, a 61-year-old Roman Catholic priest, was murdered inside the Santa Maria churchshot from behind while kneeling in prayer. Witnesses heard the teen gunman shouting "Allahu Akbar" after the shooting. "There's is an atmosphere in Turkey right now that anyone who isn't Sunni is a threat to the stability of the nation," said Yuce Kabakci, a pastor in Istanbul. "Even the educated classes here don't associate personally with Jews or Christians. It's more than suspicion. It's a case of 'let's get rid of anyone who isn't Sunni,'" the pastor added. In one of the mosques, the imam delivered a sermon warning that Turks should not befriend Jewish people or Christians because they serve the West, he said. Though Turkey is nominally considered a secular republic, he said there is little doubt that the government and Turkey's 117,000 Sunni imams work together. "The reality is that Turkey is neither a democracy nor a secular republic," Kabakci explained. "There is no division between government affairs and religious affairs." He accused the Turkish government of fuelling the apparent hate drive against Christians and other non-Muslims in Turkey. "There's no doubt that the government uses the mosques to get its message across to its grassroots supporters," Kabakci said. Turkey once had a population of two million Christians, but now only 120,000 are left, fewer than the Christian population in Iran, according to the Express. Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of the association of Protestant churches, said prospects are bleak for Christians in Turkey. "Things got better in 2008, but that was when Turkey thought it would join the EU. Now intolerance is growing once more," he said. "Turkey is like Iran in 1975," said one Iranian in Istanbul. "I'm sure we will see it become an Islamic Republic very soon. "But Erdogan is clever. He will survive." France church attack: Two under investigation over murder of priest Two men are being investigated over the murder of a priest in a church in northern France. One of those arrested on suspicion of "terrorist association" on Sunday is the cousin of one assailant who slit the throat of a priest during mass last Tuesday. Both killers were shot dead by police after they held five parishioners hostage in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, murdering the priest and seriously injuring one other. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Farid K, 30, is related to Abdel Malik Petitjean, and the other man under investigation, Jean-Philippe Steven J, 20, allegedly tried to travel to Syria with Petitjean in June. Both men are being held in custody, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. The arrests came after it emerged Petitjean was on the French terror watch list and previously been arrested for trying to travel to Syria and join terrorist forces fighting there. He had worn a tag and police had been looking for him for several days before the attack. The other killer, Adel Kermiche, 19, was also known to the security services. Meanwhile across France and Italy on Sunday Muslims attended Catholic mass as a gesture of solidarity after the attack. France's Muslim council, the CFCM, urged Muslims to show "solidarity and compassion" over the killings. One Catholic woman who attended mass told Reuters: "The sentiments expressed were very, very strong. Some of them were very poignant." A Muslim woman who came to mass with her children said: "This was basically a message of unity, aside from peace, it was really about unity." Franklin Graham targets Pope Francis over Islamic violence Outspoken evangelist Franklin Graham has targeted Pope Francis for saying recent terrorist violence was not religiously motivated. The pontiff told reporters en route to Poland where thousands had gathered for World Youth Day that "the world is at war" but stressed it was not a religious war. "It's war, we don't have to be afraid to say this," he said on board the papal plane. But he late stressed it was "a war of interests, for money, resources. ... I am not speaking of a war of religions. Religions don't want war. The others want war." The controversial son of world renowned evangelist Billy Graham, Franklin criticised the Pope and said "we should call it what it is" in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday. "I agree that the world is at warbut I disagree that it's not a war of religion," he wrote. "It is most certainly a war of religion. Religion is behind the violence and jihad we're seeing in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and here in this country. "It's a religion that calls for the extermination of "infidels" outside their faith, specifically Jews and Christians. It's a religion that calls on its soldiers to shout "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great" in Arabic) as they behead, rape, and murder in the name of Islam." On his return flight Pope Francis caused further controversy when told reporters it was wrong to associate Islam with violence. "I think that in nearly all religions there is a always a small fundamentalist group," he said, adding "We have them," referring to Catholicism. "I don't like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I look at the papers I see violence here in Italy someone killing his girlfriend, someone killing his mother-in-law. These are baptised Catholics," he said. "If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent," he said. He said there were various causes of terrorism. "I know it is dangerous to say this but terrorism grows when there is no other option and when money is made a god and it, instead of the person, is put at the centre of the world economy," he said. "That is the first form of terrorism. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Let's talk about that," he said. Greece: anarchists raid Cathedral, 26 arrested Greek police have arrested 26 protesters who yesterday raided the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the northern city of Thessaloniki during Mass. The culprits were protesting against a police operation in the city on Wednesday in which squatters and refugees were evicted from three illegally occupied buildings. One of the buildings is the property of the Greek Orthodox church and the city's archbishop said that it is being demolished to build a hospice for the terminally ill. The archbishop said that the protesters "destroyed what they could" at the Cathedral yesterday, but did not elaborate. The protesters threw leaflets around the Gregory Palamas Cathedral before those attending Mass managed to drive them out. Police said that the group of those arrested, believed to be anarchists, consisted of 19 men and seven women. Seventeen were Greek and the others were from Germany, England, Austria, Switzerland and Morocco. During Wednesday's police operation, 74 people had been arrested, 64 of them foreigners. Thirty-three refugees were released by police. Early yesterday, an improvised device also exploded outside the offices of the construction company demolishing the church's property, but did little damage. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece after Athens. The Cathedral is named after a 14th-century archbishop of Thessaloniki. Muslims flocked to churches on Sunday after Fr Jacques Hamel murder Muslims in France and Italy attended Catholic masses on Sunday in a gesture of solidarity after the killing of a French priest in Normandy by Islamist militants. The knife-wielding attackers burst into a Catholic church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, on July 26, forced a 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest to his knees and slit his throat. The attack was claimed by Islamic State. Among those who attended Catholic services was the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, who is also the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. He attended a morning service in Notre-Dame cathedral in central Paris on Sunday. The Basilica of Saint-Denis, outside Paris, also gathered hundreds of Catholics but also a large number of Muslims and people of other confessions who showed up after religious authorities in France called on the population to express sympathy to the Catholic community. "I'm very pleased that we invited Muslims. We also share their pain, the pain of all those who suffer, in every way," Danielle Ludon, a Catholic woman who attended mass, told Reuters. "The sentiments expressed were very, very strong. Some of them were very poignant," she said. Among those who attended the service was a Muslim woman called Hayat, who came with her children and husband. "This was basically a message of unity, aside from peace, it was really about unity," she said. At the Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few miles from where Fr Hamel was killed last Tuesday, churchgoers were cheered by their Muslim visitors. Interviewed outside the cathedral in Rouen, one worshiper, Jacqueline Prevot, told AP it was "a magnificent gesture." "Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass," she said. "I find this very heartwarming." French television broadcast scenes of interfaith solidarity, with Muslims and Jews in the front rows of Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais and the Basilica of St Denis. In Italy the head of Italy's Union of Islamic communities, Izzedin Elzir, called on his colleagues to "take this historic moment to transform tragedy into a moment of dialogue". Imams representing their Muslim communities also took part in mass in many Italian cities and towns including Rome's Santa Maria in Trastevere and Milan's Santa Maria in Caravaggio. Ahmed El Balazi, the imam of the Vobarno mosque in Italy's Lombard province of Brescia, told AP terrorists were "tainting our religion and it is terrible to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists. That is not the case." He continued: "Religion is one thing. Another is the behaviour of Muslims who don't represent us." Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter: "Thank you to all those Italians of Islamic religion who direct their communities along the path of courage against fundamentalism." Additional reporting by Reuters. Row escalates between Trump and parents of Muslim soldier In a growing row between Donald Trump and the parents of a Muslim US Army officer killed in the Iraq war, the father said the Republican presidential nominee lacked the empathy needed to be a leader. The dispute has dominated the election coverage since Khan gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, with his wife standing at his side. In the latest retorts, Trump responded on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan's morning television appearances, saying he was being "viciously" attacked. Asked on CNN what message he could give Trump, Khizr Khan said he wanted to maintain his family's dignity and convey to Trump "that a good leader has one trait ... empathy." "It is basic character, realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people that you wish to lead," Khan said. "And that is missing." The Khans' son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2004. His father spoke emotionally of the sacrifice his son had made for the country as an American Muslim, specifically criticising Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. In response to the speech, Trump said Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some conservative Muslims. "She had nothing to say, maybe she was not allowed to speak, you tell me," he said on Sunday. But Khan retaliated on Monday: "There was no need to comment the way he commented," he said. "That initiated this conversation." Ghazala Khan wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday saying that she had remained silent during her husband's remarks to cope with making her grief public during the convention. The parents have appeared on television numerous times over the weekend and several leading Republicans have weighed in to express support for the family and to honour their sacrifice. In interviews on Monday, the Khans spoke about their son and described the outpouring of support they have received during their very public exchange with Trump. Ghazala Khan said on CNN her family had always felt safe and protected as Muslims in the United States. In response, Trump has tried to shift focus from the Khans. "This story is not about Mr Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US. Get smart!" Trump said on Twitter. On Sunday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said Trump had scapegoated the parents. Leading Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, issued statements in support of the family. Trump drew similar opprobrium a year ago when he said US Senator John McCain, who was taken prisoner for five years during the Vietnam War, was not a hero since he had been captured. McCain, a leading voice in the party on military issues, on Monday condemned Trump for disparaging a fallen soldier's parents, saying in a statement his remarks do not represent the views of "our Republican Party." In an open letter, nearly a dozen so-called Gold Star families - families who lost relatives in wars - said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology. "This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency," it said. "That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness.'" Additional reporting by Reuters. Pastor and ex-NFL player Antonio Armstrong and his wife shot dead; teen son charged with murder "It makes no sense." The statement made by one of the victims' relatives underscores the mystery behind the killing on Friday of Pastor Antonio Armstrong, a former Texas A&M and Miami Dolphins linebacker, and his wife, Dawn, apparently by their own 16-year-old son, who was not identified due to his young age. Scant details of the case provided by police authorities appeared to only deepen the mystery. After the shooting, the couple's teenage son and lone suspect dialled 911 around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, according to the New York Daily News. Police arrived at the couple's southwest Houston home and found the body of Dawn Armstrong, 42. Police sources told KTRK-TV that the pastor, also 42, was taken to the hospital in critical condition but was pronounced dead later with a gunshot wound to the head, according to Fox8. Investigators who searched the couple's home found a gun still smoking with an enigmatic note next to it reading, "I've been watching you," KTRK-TV reported. The couple's teenage son was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder, according to KPRC Houston. The couple's two other children were also in the house when the shooting took place but were unharmed, according to reports. "There was nothing left out. There was no neglect or anything. There was nothing that even could possibly have justified this situation," Dawn Armstrong's cousin, Vaun Lee, told reporters. "This doesn't even make sense. It makes no sense." Antonio Armstrong was associate pastor at Spirit and Life Kingdom Center in southwest Houston, which is led by his mother, Pastor Kay Shorter. "This was an outstanding family," Houston Police Department homicide investigator Jimmy Dodson told KPRC2. "The male of the family was an absolute hard-working breadwinner. He was an associate pastor in the area church. He's a great guy. The mother was apparently a great mother, according to family members. Like I said, it was kind of the all-American family." A motive for the shooting has not yet been made public. "Fantastic people. I have no idea why this would be happening to them," said family friend Scott Binkley. "He was one of A&M's top 25 athletes. Served the Lord. Worked in the community. Did nothing but help people constantly. We are just shocked at what happened." Pastor Armstrong was a former professional athlete, physical fitness trainer and motivational speaker. "Antonio grew up in the inner city. We minister to inner city kids. And he was one of the kids that stayed focused. He knew Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior. He moved on with his life and just accomplished things that you couldn't believe," Binkley said. Armstrong played one season for the Miami Dolphins in 1995, according to NFL.com. Before that, he was an All-American linebacker for Texas A&M. A GoFundMe page created to help the family following the shooting has raised over $75,222 in two days. Theresa May's plan to end modern slavery welcomed Theresa May's decision to prioritise ending modern slavery and human trafficking will not have come as a surprise to Christian leaders in the UK. For when she became prime minister last month, Cardinal Vincent Nichols specifically highlighted her work in the area and predicted that she would use her position in Number Ten to pursue it further. Nichols, who attended a Vatican conference on human trafficking with May in 2014, wrote to her: "I thank you for the remarkable work you have accomplished for the victims of human trafficking, including your strong personal support for the establishment of the Santa Marta Group, demonstrated through your presence at its first meeting in Rome. This is a clear indication not only of your determination to use high political office for the protection of some of the world's most vulnerable people..." Also in 2014, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby joined Pope Francis in launching an ecumenical initiative to combat modern slavery and human trafficking. Archbishop Welby said: "We are struggling against evil in secret places and in deeply entrenched networks of malice and cruelty. No one of us is strong enough, but together we are ready for the challenge God is placing before us today, and we know that he will strengthen us so that all people may live in freedom and dignity." Now, May has outlined her plan to end modern slavery in an article for the Sunday Telegraph which announced the introduction of a new Cabinet task-force and 33 million set aside from the aid budget to fund initiatives overseas. The problem is international but also domestic. There are an estimated 45 million victims around the world. Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania and Poland are the most common countries of origin, but in 2013, 90 victims were found to be from the UK. Cardinal Nichols' spokesman told Christian Today: "The Prime Minister's renewed commitment and her announcement of increased resources to fight modern slavery and human trafficking is welcome. Human trafficking is, as Pope Francis said, 'an open wound on the body of contemporary society' and Theresa May's resolve and commitment in this struggle demonstrates principled leadership." May has form in seeking to tackle these dreadful crimes. Last year, as Home Secretary, she brought forward the Modern Slavery Act which introduced tough prison sentences for "slave masters", extended police powers and forced businesses into further transparency over whether such practices are taking place in the work-place. In her article yesterday, she highlighted some of the crimes she is targeting: "From nail bars and car washes to sheds and run-down caravans, people are enduring experiences that are simply horrifying in their inhumanity. Vulnerable people who have travelled long distances, believing they were heading for legitimate jobs, are finding they have been duped, forced into hard labour, and then locked up and abused. Innocent individuals are being tricked into prostitution, often by people they thought they could trust. Children are being made to pick-pocket on the streets and steal from cash machines." She concluded: "These crimes must be stopped and the victims of modern slavery must go free. This is the great human rights issue of our time, and as Prime Minister I am determined that we will make it a national and international mission to rid our world of this barbaric evil. Just as it was Britain that took an historic stand to ban slavery two centuries ago, so Britain will once again lead the way in defeating modern slavery and preserving the freedoms and values that have defined our country for generations." May's Government certainly has much to do. Of the 10,000-13,000 modern slavery victims in the UK in 2014, only 2,340 were officially reported and recorded. Indeed, an independent review of the Act May introduced has found that between April 2015 and March 2016, six of the 43 territorial police forces did not record a single modern slavery crime. In response to this, May also announced that she is commissioning an HMIC Inspection "to make sure that all police forces treat this crime with the priority it deserves". Some remain unconvinced. Sarah Champion, Labour's shadow minister for preventing abuse, said government cuts to police forces and local authorities had left a lack of resources. She cited figures showing that last year, 982 children were identified as victims of modern slavery and taken into local authority care, but within days, 60 percent of those had gone missing, presumed to be back with their traffickers. "We must be doing more to prevent this horrendous crime but, looking at her [May's] track record as Home Secretary, I'm not optimistic," Champion said. But charities who work daily to tackle these crimes welcomed May's intervention. Neil Wain, the European programme director of Hope for Justice, told Christian Today: "We were delighted to hear the Prime Minister saying that her Government will prioritise the fight against modern day slavery. Hope for Justice have been working closely with a number of police forces around the country through training, building capacity and supporting operational efforts to tackle this crime. We welcome the comments she has made and we are looking forward to working more closely with our Government and police forces to eradicate this barbaric evil." Tim Kaine talks faith and kindness: 'I wanted to fight for social justice' Democratic vice presidential bet Tim Kaine is a devout Catholic who is known by many for his strong faith and values, and he says it's all thanks to the loving upbringing of his parents. "My parents, Al and Kathy, taught me about hard work, and about kindness, and, most importantly, faith. I went to a Jesuit boys school Rockhurst High School. The motto of our school was 'men for others.' That's where my faith became vital, a North Star for orienting my life. And I knew that I wanted to fight for social justice," he says, according to The Christian Post. "That's why I took a year off law school to volunteer with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. I taught kids welding and carpentry." It was during his Honduras mission trip that Kaine became fluent in Spanish, and he used this knowledge in beefing up support for his running mate Hillary Clinton. "The next President will face many challenges. We better elect the candidate who's proven she can be trusted with the job. The candidate who's proven she's ready for the job. And, when I say ready, I use 'ready' for a specific reason. When I lived in Honduras, I learned that the best compliment you could give someone was to say they were 'listo' ready," Kaine says. "Not 'inteligente' smart. Not 'amable' friendly. Not 'rico' rich. But 'listo.' Because what 'listo' means in Spanish is prepared, battle-tested, rock-solid, up for anything, never backing down. And friends, Hillary Clinton, she is 'lista,'" he continues. In contrast, Kaine did not have nice things to say about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Kaine says people cannot believe anything that Trump says because his only interest is in himself. At the same time, he slammed Trump as a "slick-talking, empty-promising, self-promoting, one-man wrecking crew" who does not hold any respect for women. "But don't take it from me. Take it from former first lady Barbara Bush. She said she didn't know how any woman could vote for him after his offensive comments about women," he says. Uganda: Pastor 'killed by group of Muslims' for evangelising A pastor was tied up and killed by a group of Muslims in eastern Uganda reportedly for converting Muslims to Christianity and refusing to sell land for the building of a mosque. According to Morning Star News (MSN), 38-year-old pastor Robert Bakulubanywa of Bubulanga Victory Church in the Kibuku District, was on his way home from a church gathering "when a band of Muslims killed him near his house". A local resident told MSN: "They grabbed him, then tied him up and cut him with very sharp pang [sword]". Bakulubanywa was killed n 24 July. His wife said that Muslims in the area had threatened the pastor on several occasions, especially after Friday prayers. "The Muslims had issued several warnings to him to stop converting the Muslims to Christ, especially the youth," she told MSN. "For over a month the Muslims have been pressuring us to sell a piece of land to them for the construction of a mosque, but my husband refused." The newspaper reported that after prayers at the local mosque on 22 July, one Muslim neighbour told Bakulubanywa's wife, whose name has been withheld for security reasons: "Please, things are not good for your family. Tell your husband to be very careful and leave the Muslims alone." She became troubled when her husband did not return home on 24 July, which was a Sunday. After trying to call him without success at around 9pm, she called a church elder who told her the pastor left for home at around 730pm with another member of the church. She then became very scared, she said, because her husband had had "serious confrontations with the Muslims." She added: "I telephoned a neighbour who had accompanied the pastor, and he informed me that some five Muslims stopped them on the way and started questioning Robert on several issues, including taking their young boys to church. The talk got tense, and one of them tightly got hold of him. The neighbour then took off for his life, leaving my husband struggling with the gang." She then set out to the scene of the attack with Christian neighbours. "We found my husband killed and lying in a pool of blood," she said. The couple has four children, ages 3, 6, 8 and 10. According to MSN, some Christians reported the killing to the local council chairman, Tyogo Muniru, a Muslim, "who took no action". Police are now reportedly searching for the killers. MSN said that: "In predominantly Muslim Bubulanga village, the killing has left area Christians confused, frustrated and fearing for their lives." In Uganda, around 85 per cent of the population is Christian, and 11 per cent Muslim. However some areas of eastern Uganda have large Muslim populations. The country's constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate faith and convert from one faith to another. When church lets you down When we first walked through the doors of our new church it was like coming home. We found a welcome, a chance of healing after losing a baby at a few days old, and an opportunity to find our vocation and purpose as well as a community of fellow travellers. For five years that is what we had. We didn't realise then that it would also be the place that almost would destroy our faith completely. It all started with the appointment of a new vicar. He seemed competent, visionary and ready to take a growing and successful church to the next stage. We got on personally with him and felt part of the team. One problem with success is that it often encourages a culture whereby those who cannot keep up are left behind. The gospel might offer hope to the perpetually broken, depressed, sad and limping disciple, but for the church on a mission they can become a hindrance to success. We found that the culture of the church started to shift, and in ways that we struggled with. Although I was in leadership, having been elected as church warden, we didn't really fit in. We asked awkward questions. We home educated our kids in a church that saw the relationship with local schools as an indispensible part of their mission. We looked for nuance and shade when the pulpit offered a simple faith. We wanted radicalism when the church was encouraging normality. One problem with success is that it often encourages a culture whereby those who cannot keep up are left behind. I'm not saying that we were right and they were wrong, simply that the paths were already diverging. However, we still clung to the idea that the church is a diverse group of pilgrims travelling together in spite of their differences. I was still in a leadership position when the problems started to get out of control. One Sunday morning my 13-year-old daughter burst into tears as we entered the building and cried throughout the service. Not spiritual tears of revelation or worship, but sad, angry, lonely tears. She couldn't look at anyone or explain what was wrong. We had no idea what to do. It took a couple of weeks to find out that other girls in the church were bullying her. Normally I would know what to do in this situation, but there was a problem. One of the other girls was the vicar's daughter and attempts to raise gently the issue were ignored. We tried to get her moved into a different group the next age group up (she was old in her school year) but that was rejected as a solution. The bullying continued until we had no choice but to take some time out. It all came to a crisis when the vicar visited us to say that our daughter had disturbed some of the other girls by claiming to be self-harming. To be clear, he didn't come to see how he could help, but to tell us that if she didn't stop saying these things she would be excluded from the youth group entirely. When I suggested that perhaps her experience of bullying had led her to find some way of expressing her hurt by 'boasting' he wasn't interested. She was rocking the boat and that wasn't allowed. That was the last time our daughter showed any interest in Christianity or Christians. At the same time our marriage was going through a very difficult period, and we were just about hanging on. My wife was suffering from depression and life was just feeling unbearable. I stood down from my position as warden and we begged the leadership for some sort of help. No one felt able to offer any advice. The referral to a counsellor for my wife was an abject failure. Any further requests for help and support were ignored. Other problems started to manifest themselves. Dominant personalities among the women's group caused painful hurt through rejection. Insinuations that we were incapable of educating our kids and doing them harm cut deeply and shook who we were as a family. All of a sudden we found ourselves isolated. Those in leadership stopped calling in fact we were being ignored on a Sunday morning, almost as if we were the cause of conflict that had to be avoided. We were, I admit, difficult. We still asked awkward questions, we were sad and frustrated, and we found our church community lacking at the very time we needed them the most. After four further years of trying to remain part of this community we finally, 12 months ago, walked away from it all. We didn't say goodbye, we just stopped going. So far, we haven't had one email or phone call from the vicar or any pastoral volunteers to ask how we are doing or why we left. Awkward encounters in town left the same questions hanging. We still don't have a church to call home. That church is so dominant in the area that there are not many other places that can thrive and we haven't had the emotional strength to be the ones to make it work elsewhere. We have lost so much, but we are still hanging on. Just. The author lives in England along with his family, and his work takes him around the UK and further afield. Not every television show has a huge marketing budget, but that doesn't mean it isn't as good as its competitors. When it comes to what's popular on Netflix, it's not just the shows you know. Some of these programs that you've probably never heard score major points with viewers, including "The Last Kingdom." Akin to "Game of Thrones," this show follows an outcast who is out to claim the throne - and his birthright. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Steel, glass and impressive water views are what make these Texas houses special: The Round Top bridge house The glass house elevated atop pilings in the center of a four-acre lake in Round Top, Texas, is among the state's uniquely modern-rustic, waterfront properties. Built in 2012, the three-story house is attached to the mainland by a small bridge. It has two bedrooms and a loft space on the third floor that offers scenic panoramas. MODERN HOME, RURAL SETTING: A look inside sculptor Robert Bruno's legendary 'Steel House' in Texas The island-like house is connected to more than 23 acres of countryside in Fayette County. On the grounds are three RV stations, a windmill and a commercial irrigation system. Other amenities include a five-car garage with two car lifts, a waterfall with swimming pool at the top of a hill and separate guest quarters. HISTORIC ISLAND HOUSE: Galveston's storied 'Kettle House' history revealed The fascinating structure was originally listed at $5.3 million. It was later reduced to $4 million before seeing another price slash. It's currently off the market. Pottsboro, Texas lakeview house All that separates this home from Lake Texoma views are glass and steel railings. Situated at 5 Lakecrest Drive, this 3,794-square-foot house, built in 2007, just hit the market at $1.6 million. The four-bedroom, five-bath residence features an ultra-modern kitchen, sleek architectural details and beautiful country views. Large garage-style doors open to let the outdoors in for comfortable alfresco entertaining. A large deck overlooking the property's two acres is a respite from the city. Police have identified a 31-year-old man shot to death Sunday night during an altercation in southeast Houston. The shooting happened about 9:15 p.m. at 6604 Madrid near Yellowstone, according to the Houston Police Department. Police identified the victim as Anthony Thomas. When Thomas and a suspect got into a confrontation, police said, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot Thomas more than once. Thomas died at the scene. The suspect left after the gunfire. Police released no other information about the case. No description of the suspect was available. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- University of Texas at Austin President Gregory Fenves on Monday said he expected the school to be as safe as it ever has been following the implementation of the state's campus carry law. The law, which makes the carrying of concealed handguns legal on public university campuses in Texas, went into effect Monday. Almost all of the state's private universities and colleges have opted out of campus carry, as allowed under the law. At the UT flagship campus in Austin, concealed guns will be allowed in classrooms and most public spaces; dormitories will be gun-free and faculty will be allowed to bar guns in their offices. Passage of the campus carry law sparked numerous meetings on the UT campus and is opposed by a group of faculty and students calling themselves Gun Free UT. Three UT professors have sued to block implementation of the law. Fenves at a press conference said the school is still working to make sure the community and licensed holders, in particular, have access to and understand the rules of campus carry. Fenves said he expects the university to still be as safe a campus as it has been in the past. With the law officially going into effect, he said the university would monitor how this impacts faculty and student recruitment going forward. Andrea Gore, chair of the faculty council, said she appreciates the work Fenves and others have done to address the law but she still does not think this is the best thing for UT. "It is a sad day for this campus," Gore said. "Walking over here today . . . everything looked the same but it felt different." Also Monday, UT was slated to hold a memorial ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Charles Whitman tower shooting that left 16 people dead and 32 wounded on campus. Time was when a child became a teenager they were sent out to prove themselves as a rite of passage into adulthood. Perhaps they hunted a tiger, or confronted a week alone in the jungle. Perhaps they go on a vision quest or are tattooed with dull needles. In the United States, the rite of passage is just as daunting: Our teens apply for college. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Here are 10 things to know about the crash of a hot air balloon in Central Texas on Saturday morning: 1. The hot air balloon launched around 7 a.m. Saturday from Fentress Texas Airpark, traveled about eight miles and crashed near Lockhart after striking a power line, killing all 16 on board. 2. The victims included the pilot, Alfred G. "Skip" Nichols, and 15 passengers. Although authorities have not identified the victims and said they will have to use dental records to do so, a Houston-area couple and their friend are believed to be among the fatalities. 3. The operator of the hot air balloon was Heart Of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides in New Braunfels, which has operations in Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The Better Business Bureau gave the company a D+ rating. It has cancelled all flights "for the foreseeable future." 4. First responders and deputy sheriffs responding to a report of a possible motor vehicle accident instead discovered that the fire involved "the basket portion of a hot air balloon." 5. The basket that had been carrying the passengers was found nearly a mile away from the deflated balloon, which covered a swath of field. Aerial images show scorched land beneath a row of power lines. 6. Saturday's crash was the deadliest hot-air balloon crash in U.S. history. Before Saturday, 60 hot air balloon accidents had occurred since 2011, with five resulting in 7 deaths, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. 7. The NTSB had called for further regulation of hot-air balloons, but the Federal Aviation Administration rejected the idea, citing the low amount of balloon activity. 8. Both the NTSB and the FAA are investigating the tragedy. The chief NTSB investigator said his team will look at the weather conditions at the time, as well as the balloon's maintenance records, the pilot and the company that operated the balloon. 9. Investigators also will interview witnesses and examine 14 electronic devices that were recovered, including smart phones and cameras. The NTSB says the pilot was navigating with an iPad and talking to crew via a cell phone. 10. One expert says power lines can be "lethal" for hot-air balloons, and that they are very difficult to steer. They rely on hot air to ascend and descend, and he said Texas' hot climate could have contributed to the balloon veering off course. The San Antonio Express-News and the Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The vice president of the Student Government Association at the University of Houston has been punished by her student senate after she posted on Facebook: "Forget #BlackLivesMatter; more like #AllLivesMatter." Student body vice president Rohini Sethi has been suspended by the SGA and is temporarily barred from participating in group activities. She is also due to attend a diversity workshop per the ruling. She must also attend three cultural events per month, write a reflection letter, and make a public presentation to a senate meeting on Sept. 28, according to KTRK-TV. Sethi could lose her position in student government if she doesnt meet these demands. RELATED: Hashtag demands UH student leader leave office after 'All Lives Matter' post On Monday, the University of Houston released a statement reiterating that the actions taken by the association are those of the student-run group and did not come from the university itself. Actions by SGA, a registered student organization subject to its own governance, are not University actions and do not affect the academic standing of a student at the University of Houston. The University of Houston continues to stand firm in support of free speech and does not discipline students for exercising their Constitutional rights, the school stated in a release on Monday afternoon. In early July, the association vice president came under fire for her comment, which she quickly apologized for and deleted. RELATED: Black Lives Matter Houston: We don't condone violence This all began the night of the deadly shootings at Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas that left five officers dead and nine others wounded. #RemoveRohini was trending in Houston in the days after the posting, with the vitriol towards Sethi palpable. Soon after this, UH Student Government Association President Shane Smith told the Daily Cougar, the UH newspaper, that Sethi's opinion was not SGA's official position. "SGA believes that the diversity of our student body is what has led to our success as a university. While we value each other's differences, there are racial injustices throughout our country that prevent true equality. We all need to work together to be part of the solution." Authorities are searching for a missing 83-year-old man who disappeared a few days ago in Kountze. William H. Gant, Sr. was last seen on Saturday, according to the Department of Public Safety. Gant is described as being about 6 feet, 1 inch tall and he weighs about 220 pounds. He was last seen driving a maroon 2006 Ford F-150 King Ranch pickup with Texas license plate BPS 4945. Anyone with information concerning Grant's whereabouts is urged to contact the Harding County Sheriff's Office at 409-246-5100. Kountze is about 100 miles northeast of Houston. The Texas Department of Public Safety increased the reward for Jose Luis Rodriguez, one of the state's most wanted sex offenders. After three years on the run, authorities this morning increased the reward to $8,000 for information or tips that may lead to his arrest. -- WELCOME TO AUGUST! -- LATEST: Hot-air balloon struck power line before fiery crash, NTSB says, by the Houston Chronicle s Lauren Caruba, Collin Eaton, and Andrea Zelinski -- Austin downtown shooting leaves 1 dead, 4 hurt, by the Chronicles Mike Ward While authorities Sunday were withholding the names of the victims, a relative identified the dead woman as Teqnika Moultrie, 30, a school bus driver in the San Francisco Bay Area who was reportedly visiting her fiance's family in Austin. She was to be married this fall. Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other wounded women were transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge with various injuries, and one refused treatment at the scene, said EMS Cmdr. Mike Benavides. -- 50 YEARS LATER: A sniper's haunting legacy, by the Chronicles Mike Tolson Charles Whitman advanced no known cause and left behind no manifesto, save for the bodies at his feet. The origin of the ex-Marine's murderous rampage lay somewhere in that tangled network of neurons where a few signals mysteriously coalesce, first into a thought and then an inexorable impulse. Belated explanations were offered, even years later, but they did not satisfy. They never do. Which means there is no straight line from Whitman's sniper attack from the University of Texas tower 50 years ago to Columbine or Virginia Tech or Sandy Hook, save for the act itself. There is only a before and after, a time when motiveless massacre seemed unfathomable and one when it had become achingly familiar. And then something odd. Why were people falling to the ground? A drama department stunt? Some sort of protest? The first shots were not really noticed. Students dismissed warnings to stay put, and then more fell. >> Fifty years on, 'Tower Sniper' sheds new light on Texas tragedy, by the Chronicles Alyson Ward -- Cruz in the cross hairs after political conventions, by the San Antonio Express-News Peggy Fikac Any Republican that challenges him better have deep pockets and a lot of time on their hands. Cruz in 12 proved he will go to every pumpkin pulling in the state. Every watermelon thumping. A livestock show. If there were going to be 10 tea-party people there, he was going to go to it, Colin Strother said. -- Presidential race shaping up as a tale of divided loyalties, by the Chrons Kevin Diaz and Bill Lambrecht of the Express-News Now, going forward, either group could hold the margin in what many analysts forecast to be a single-digit race. The advantage in November may well go to the party that best navigates its dissident challenge. -- READ THIS: Is Russia Influencing Trumps Thoughts on Energy? by Texas Monthlys Erica Grieder Perhaps this is Trumps attempt to add some levity to an unusually contentious election cycle, but Im not sure his joke was well advised. Nor was this appeal to the Russian hackers the first detail about the 2016 election that should raise concerns about whether Moscow is trying to meddle in our affairs. So I think its very much worth noting that Trump, who is so poorly informed about the energy industry that he literally asked a coal executive what LNG is in May, is trumpeting a bizarre proposal to take the oil of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors, a tricky plan that would involve various risks for the United Statesbut not for Russia, which would be the direct beneficiary of any success we might have on their behalf. Trumps desire to take the oil may be nothing more than a coincidence. >> Baylor's strict conduct code may have silenced rape victims, by the APs Jim Vertuno -- FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE: Texas Take: The Podcast- Hillary Clinton makes history; Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton stay in public eye SPEED READS State balks at Corsicana plan to use facility for immigrants, Houston Chronicle TEA to launch probe of Harmony charter schools, Houston Chronicle Millions of dollars raked in for some Texas legislative races, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Suit: About 280 mentally ill suspects languish in Texas jails, Austin American-Statesman Child welfare must be front and center at Legislature, San Antonio Express-News Deadly crash comes months after FAA rejected safety recommendations, Austin American-Statesman Texas Democrats Leave Philly With Few Prospects, Texas Tribune Austin Scrambles with Fallout of Closed DNA Lab, Texas Tribune Appeals court orders sex offender back into program, Houston Chronicle Headlong toward November, Houston Chronicle CAPITOL DAYBOOK: No meetings scheduled RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- Donald Trumps Confrontation With Muslim Soldiers Parents Emerges as Unexpected Flash Point, by The New York Times Instead, Mr. Trump appeared to be caught on Sunday in one of the biggest crises of his campaign, rivaling the uproar in June after he suggested a federal judge, Gonzalo P. Curiel, was biased because of his Mexican heritage. By going after a military family and trafficking in ethnic stereotypes, Mr. Trump once again breached multiple norms of American politics, redoubling pressure on his fellow Republicans to choose between defending his remarks or breaking publicly with their nominee. >> How Ohio will be won, by Politicos Katie Glueck >> What we know about Donald Trump and his taxes so far, The Washington Post >> Standoff? Commission defends debate schedule amid Trump complaints, CNN >> Mark Cuban Endorses Hillary Clinton Over "Jagoff" Donald Trump, Texas Tribune The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. 5 Braves land All-Lakes; 6 on All-Academic Cherokee finished atop the Lakes Conference volleyball standings this fall at 5-0 and claimed its first volleyball league title in... Raptors on to finals with win over Titans HOLSTEIN - The Class 2A #15-ranked Ridge View volleyball team hosted South Central Calhoun for the Class 2A Region 2... Warriors end season with win over Rebels SIOUX RAPIDS - The Alta-Aurelia football team traveled to face Sioux Central for their final game of the season and... Cherokee takes down Generals to finish season CHEROKEE - The Cherokee football team hosted Sibley-Ocheyedan on Friday and won 35-28 to finish out their season. The... Achizitie de Servicii Tehnice de creare a plantatiilor forestiere de protectie din cadrul primariei Andrusul de Jos si a primariei Vadul lui Isac, r. Cahul Melissa Hoffmann felt like she was standing on a diving board. She was on vacation the first week of June when she received the big news: Upon returning to work the following Monday, shed assume a wildly different job, one that would position her as one of the linchpins in a corporate restructuring bid to create a destination for international legal news. Hoffmann, then the New York Law Journals deputy managing editor, had no choice but to jump. ALMformerly American Lawyer Mediahad been planning the reorganization for months. They intended to fundamentally alter their business, from a disconnected collection of industry publications like the New York Law Journal to a more unified news organization. While Hoffmann had known shed get a different role in the more centralized structure, she learned exactly what it would be just days before the switch. You know you have icy water below you, and you have that moment of anxiety, Hoffmann says. But you gotta jumpyoure not going to go back down that ladder because youre going to look silly if you do that. So you just jump into the water. Uncharted water, that is. With affluent subscribers and high-end advertising, ALM has weathered the past decade of media turmoil better than some mainstream publishers. Still, it has downsized repeatedly, and many of its mostly small newspapers lagged in the digital transition. The company is now betting that it can make up ground with a more radicaland suddenreorganization. Small wonder Hoffmann felt anxious. She had previously edited New York legal news for a New York audience. But since June 6 shes worked on the litigation deskone of a handful of new, thematically focused editing groupsmanaging journalists covering the topic in Manhattan, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Hartford. They still report in their respective cities, though under Hoffmanns direction theyre now trying to pinpoint stories that may transcend any individual market where ALM has a foothold. The goal is to share more pieces between outlets and, ultimately, consolidate far-flung audiences at a single destination for legal coverage, Law.com. The challenge is to produce local coverage that has national or international appeal. Sign up for CJR 's daily email I went from being a very brand-centric editor to being brand agnostic, Hoffmann says. Its a very different way of looking at news. ALMs creation of what it calls a global newsroom in some ways mimics the strategy mainstream chains like Gannett have pursued by buying up additional titles to create efficiencies and gain scale. ALM is centralizing business operations and editing of its publications in North America, London, and Hong Kong in the hope of creating more digital revenue from farther-reaching advertising and more comprehensive subscription offerings that span topic areas. It was a drastic step for the company, which over the past three decades grew from its flagship magazine, The American Lawyer, to a collection of dozens of publications, a research division, and an events businessseveral hundred employees, including 170 journalists. A private equity firm bought ALM for $417 million in July 2014. Months later it acquired an insurance industry publisher in an attempt to link together two tightly connected industries. More acquisitions could be in the works. The difficulties of managing geographically diverse publications are many. ALMs primary advantage in this regard is that its outlets cover a narrow set of tightly interwoven topics that it organizes into verticals: law, insurance, finance, consulting, and real estate. Still, theres obvious tension in executing such a plan for a network of outposts with deep local ties. The challenge is to produce local coverage that has national or international appeal. While some people want the Texas Lawyer, a lot of people in Texas operate globally, says CEO Bill Carter. Energy, for example, is a global thing. They want to know whats happening with Shell and Exxon. So how I keep the Texas Lawyer while bringing [its content] under one bigger brand is certainly something were trying to figure out. ALM expects its more hyperlocal publications to lose traffic as the company tries to share more content among its outlets and funnel additional readers toward Law.com. The site drew only 231,000 unique visitors in June, according to comScore, though early signs point to growth ahead. Whats more, ALMs targeted audience helps it rake in digital ad rates that are much higher than the industry average. Carter says ALM properties routinely draw an astronomical $60 per thousand impressionsan order of magnitude greater than what many publishers get. The plan is to eventually give local publications their own landing page on Law.com. Carter says the focus is on improving digital ad revenue among ALMs legal publications, while leveraging the companys full breadth of coverage to lure in additional subscribers through non-legal offerings that have significant crossover appeal, like insurance coverage. With subscriptions, the hope is to sell more five- or six-figure site licenses to entire corporations rather than attract individual legal professionals. New digital products are slated for rollout beginning later this year. That they have a career path here is very important; otherwise, were not going to be able to get and keep the talent to build what were talking about. ALM has restructured its editing ranks in order to facilitate the new strategy. Whereas Connecticut Law Tribune staffers formerly reported to that newspapers editor, theyre now part of cross-country theme desks focused on specific topics, such as litigation. Theme editors direct coverage, paying close attention to stories that touch on more universal issues that could appeal to wider audiences. Brand editors, who used to manage individual newspapers coverage, now have the strategicif vaguely describedroles of maintaining a physical presence in their markets and connecting relevant, global-facing content with local audiences. Company brass estimate that a quarter of all ALM stories are cross-published in multiple outlets, though such content sharing varies by publication. The job of the [brand] editors is to figure out what makes sense for their audience in Miami, Editorial Director George Haj says, offering an example. It might be something about Latin American legal issues out of London. It might be something about real estate, since thats so big in Miami. The new structure lets us take advantage of the expertise and think a little more about the big universe of stuff that we can choose from for our readers. The pitfall of similar efforts at mainstream chains has often been an inability or unwillingness to collaborate effectively between publications. Of course, newspapers in particular have changed hands so many times in recent years that its near impossible to get buy-in from newsrooms. Plans for transformation have too often resulted solely in editorial confusion, financial stagnation, and job cuts. ALM comes from a similar starting point: The company has changed hands multiple times in the past decade. Chief Content Officer Molly Miller kept this in mind when she announced plans for ALMs global newsroom in late January. You cant go out and say, from the top down, This is what were going to do, and then expect people to give you ideas and come along with you and stay with you, she says. ALM launched an internal initiative called Stand Up For Content in response to the announcement, allowing employees to form groups, brainstorm ideas to improve the company, and pitch them to top-level managers. About 85 percent of the newsroom volunteered, Miller says. Ideas ranged from the simple, such as adding job postings to weekly corporate newsletters, to the complex. A few have already been instituted. Miller says this internal collaborationmore involvement also adds a measure of transparencyhas been central to how smoothly the transition has gone so far. Its also a place where we saw some previously silent big talent, Miller says. That they have a career path here is very important; otherwise, were not going to be able to get and keep the talent to build what were talking about. As with other companies transitions, any difficulty adapting to the new structure will likely be concentrated among veteran employees accustomed to the old system; brand editors in particular have seen their jobs change considerably. But for reporters, the upside is clear: Stories can find a much wider audience than they would have otherwise. Katheryn Hayes Tucker, a journalist at the Daily Report outside of Atlanta, said her recent story about a Georgia Court of Appeals decision on upskirting was picked up by Law.com and became ALMs most-shared piece of the day. Suddenly, overnight, I went from working for a tiny little paper with a really thin, overstretched staff, to working for a big, national and global company with big resources and plenty of colleagues, more than one editor, and someone who can always help me, says Tucker, 60. Im almost embarrassed how excited I am. Its completely unexpected for me at this point at my career. Hoffmann, the litigation editor, has also seen unexpected benefits. At the moment, shes waiting to hear feedback on her second-round Stand Up For Content pitch to improve ad viewability across ALM sites. Theres these conversations happening between editorial and marketing and sales that were never happening before, she says of such projects. The transition isnt seamless, of course. A universal CMS remains a work in progress. And Hoffmann is still adapting to her new day-to-day editing dutiesshes never met some of her reporters in person and has to learn about new markets on the quick. But to return to the diving board metaphor, jumping right in has forced her and others to change quickly. When you hit the water, it is a shock at first, she says. But then it warms up, and youre just swimming along. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti. A historic Jersey shore pier that was pummeled by Superstorm Sandy, then destroyed in a spectacular fire might finally be done in by building regulations. The owner of the former Funtown Pier says he wont rebuild it if the town sticks to height restrictions it imposed this week on amusement rides on a rebuilt pier. The pier was heavily damaged by Sandy in October 2012, then destroyed by a raging boardwalk fire in September 2013. Owner William Major says he needs thrill rides up to 300 feet tall for a rebuilt pier to work financially. But the town this week set a 100-foot limit on rides. Barring an unexpected override of those limits by the Borough Council, Majors lawyer says, the pier will not be rebuilt, and some other use for it will be sought. Mr. Major is realistic but needs to have some relief so he can afford to rebuild the pier, said his attorney, Stephan Leone. We need that height. Rides that would exceed the 100-foot limit set Tuesday by the boroughs planning board include a swing ride with a pole approaching 200 feet tall and a ride called the Tower of Fear, Leone said. But neighbors accustomed to the former piers lower-intensity rides have lined up to oppose the proposed thrill rides. Many said they dont want Seaside Park to become more like its neighbor to the north, Seaside Heights, which also has an amusement pier but with larger rides and, many say, a much rowdier clientele. Many people love to have a place where they can get that amusement feeling and flavor of the Jersey shore, Mayor Robert Matthies said. But 300-foot thrill rides is a whole different ballgame. You come to the Jersey shore, but that doesnt mean you want to hear screams all night long. Matthies researched amusement rides along the Jersey shore and found that most are 100 feet tall or less and have been thriving for decades. Linda Talbot, a longtime visitor from Toms River, wants the pier rebuilt the way it was. It was cool for the little kids, more than over there, she said, gesturing toward Casino Pier in nearby Seaside Heights. That was where the Jet Star roller coaster plunged into the ocean during Sandy, providing one of the most enduring images of the storms destruction. I like it the way it was before, added Tom Kuchinos, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. We used to come down here every year until the hurricane and the fire hit. The borough council will consider the height rules approved by the planning board, but it shows little enthusiasm for overriding them, Seaside Park officials said. Major operates a private beach on the sand where the pier once stood and would consider other uses for the land, such as a beach club or water recreation that would provide less revenue to the borough, Leone said. Do you want an economic engine at the south end of the boardwalk that brings people into town, fills the restaurants and the motels and gives amusement to the entire boardwalk area? Leone asked. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Floridas insurer of last resort, Citizens, has expanded its efforts to curb increasing water loss claims with a new Water Mitigation Estimate Review Program. Citizens Chief Claims Officer Jay Adams said the new program will provide Citizens with certified and trained professionals to assess contractor expenses and/or invoices related to restoring residential and commercial properties due to water damage. Citizens Board of Governors awarded a contract of up to $1.8 million for three years to insurance claims servicing firm Lynx Services LLC, which will examine whether claim invoices associated with water damage are reasonable and adhere to industry standards. The actual amount of the contract will depend on the number of claims reviewed. The goal is to identify inflated or excessive charges on invoices from contractors that have performed water damage restorations for Citizens policyholders and to contest or adjust invoices so it comports with industry standards, Adams said of the action item presented to the Board on July 19. Citizens, as well as other Florida insurers, allege that unscrupulous contractors and water mitigation firms are taking advantage of the assignment of benefits (AOB) provision on insurance policies and inflating water damage claims. The problem has been dubbed by Florida industry and consumer advocates as an insurance crisis and has led to statewide rate increases for homeowners from multiple insurance companies, including Citizens. The Lynx contract was approved unanimously by the five of eight board members who called in for the teleconference. The yearly spend for the contract is $365,813 and the estimated cost is a budgeted expense that is paid as an Adjusting Expense under the claim file. The contract also features two optional one-year renewals after the three-year base term. Michael Peltier, Citizens Media Relations manager, said the disturbing rise in both the frequency and severity of non-related water loss claims led the insurer to launch a pilot review program in Sept. 2015 to see if it could help the company get a handle on the issue. After seeing success, we decided to go forward and award a contract. We think this will allow us to protect our policyholders while ensuring that repairs are reasonable and reflect industry-recognized standards, Peltier said. Citizens sought vendors capable of providing invoice and estimate reviews by certified IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) experienced and professional staff, the company said. Citizens notified Lynx Services on June 9 of its intent to award the contract, and listed Paul Davis Restoration as the contingent contract. Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lynx will provide objective analysis of estimates, invoices, and related documentation submitted to Citizens by third parties with respect to water mitigation and mold remediation services, as stated in the contract description. According to Citizens contract stipulations, Lynx will perform a comprehensive review of a third party estimate and assess whether it reflects services that are reasonable and customary, and in adherence to IICRC standards, practices and guidelines for water mitigation and mold remediation Lynx will be responsible for providing to Citizens individual written reports of each assessment that compares its findings to the third party estimate. Lynx will also negotiate directly with the third party vendor who submitted an estimate to reach an agreement as to the total fees payable to the third party. If there is a savings based on the negotiated price, Citizens will compensate Lynx a percentage of the negotiated savings. The contract stipulates that Lynx must maintain contact with the assigned Citizens adjuster throughout negotiations with the service provider. Citizens other recent efforts to address AOB abuse included policy contract wording changes regarding emergency services and notification requirements approved by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). The new wording took effect on all new and existing Citizens policies on July 1. At least two dozen other insurers in the state have also filed for policy changes with OIR because of a rise in water claims using AOB. Just last month, Citizens board also approved an overall nearly 7 percent rate increase statewide because of AOB abuse for water loss claims, which has been particularly rampant in South Florida. OIR is expected to hold a public hearing for the proposed Citizens rates at some point this summer. Without significant reform, Citizens policyholders must brace themselves for continued rate hikes as water losses and increased costs surrounding assignment of benefits eat into surplus and force Citizens to repeatedly raise rates to fulfill its statutory obligations to set actuarially sound rates under the glide path, the company said in June. russ_pry.jpeg Summit County Executive Russ Pry is remembered for leadership and collaboration Summit County Council President Ilene Shapiro was today sworn in as Summit County executive following the death of County Executive Russ Pry, who had served as executive for the past nine years. Pry died Sunday after battling colon cancer since June. Shapiro will hold the executive's position until the Summit County Democratic Party nominates a candidate to run in Pry's place at a central committee meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 in the North High School auditorium. Shapiro is serving her third year as county council president and third term as an at-large council member. In addition to several committee positions, Shapiro has been chair of the planning and economic development committee for seven years. Shapiro also heads Shapiro Consulting, a business consulting firm for established and start-up companies. Summit County Council President Ilene Shapiro will serve as interim county executive. Many praise Pry's achievements Summit County Democratic Party Chair and At-large Akron councilman Jeff Fusco said he and Pry formed a friendship working closely as young Democrats on campaigns and had worked together again in their current roles. "His guidance and assistance and advice was wonderful," Fusco said. He also credits Pry with strengthening the relationship between Summit County Council and the executive's office. "When you think of Russ Pry you think of collaboration," he said. Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has worked closely with Pry since taking office, establishing a good working relationship, speaking regularly and keeping one another apprised of their efforts, which Horrigan said can be rare in government. "Russ had built up such a mountain of goodwill and benevolence, it went a long way when he wanted to do a project," Horrigan said. "He knew how to bring people together. People trusted him and they liked him, and Russ liked people. That's a pretty good model for leadership. He had both the public and the servant parts down." Horrigan and Pry had traveled to Columbus and Washington DC to advance local issues. "We lobbied as one as opposed to having different priorities," he said. "Russ was a great friend to the city and townships and other municipalities." Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican from Wadsworth, said in a statement he had often worked with Pry. "Russ was an exemplary public servant who truly cared for the people and community that he had the honor of serving," Renacci said. "I had the pleasure of working with Russ on numerous occasions over the past five years and admired his commitment to Summit County and the rest of Northeast Ohio. He will be missed by all those who knew him and by all of those whose lives were made better due to his service." Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish also praised Pry's collaborative efforts in a statement. "Russ Pry was a devoted public servant who cared deeply about the people in his community," he said. "He understood the powerful benefits of regional collaboration, and I will miss him as a partner and friend." Great strides for the Democratic Party Prior to becoming county executive, Pry served for a decade as Summit County Democratic Party chair. "He made great strides in that position," Fusco said. "He was instrumental in terms of taking a party not doing well at all and moved us into a wonderful direction. Many, many good democrats got elected to many good seats." Fusco also praised Pry's work mentoring and developing Democrats to become future community leaders. "That's truly his legacy in reference to the Democratic Party," he said. "We're going to benefit from that for generations to come." "Summit County, the Ohio Democratic Party and all of Ohio have lost a truly great leader," said former Gov. Ted Strickland in a statement. "Russ will be remembered as a true champion for Ohio families and someone who worked tirelessly to improve his community, and our state. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and I wish them peace." Improvements for children and veterans State Reps. Emilia Sykes and Greta Johnson, both Akron Democrats, issued a joint statement praising Pry's "First Things First" initiative to improve education outcomes for Summit County children ages zero to five, and his work restoring and improving Akron's Veterans Service Commission building. "His passing is a great loss for the people of Summit County, who witnessed firsthand Russ' honesty and dedication to our community," Sykes said. "For nearly 10 years, he fought relentlessly for sustainable jobs, securing the rights of our veterans and ensuring access to quality education for all of our children. He worked tirelessly to secure a brighter future for all citizens of Summit County." "Russ was the lighthouse of our community. We could chart our course to his guiding light, knowing that his wisdom, compassion and integrity would keep us strong and steady," stated Johnson. Remembered for economic and workforce development Pry is also credited by many as integral to keeping Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations Technical Center and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Global and North American Headquarters and Innovation Center in Akron, preserving many jobs. According to Fusco, Pry's workforce and economic development efforts are recognized as among the best in the state. "He got it, in terms of job development and working with communities to figure out how to get infrastructure to locations that needed it," he said. Details on a memorial service and celebration of Pry's life are expected to be announced soon. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A Cincinnati-area man arrested in 2015 after investigators uncovered his plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in the name of the Islamic State pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday. Christopher Cornell, 22, pleaded guilty to attempting to kill government employees, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Cornell faces a minimum of five years in prison. Federal prosecutors will ask for a 30-year prison sentence, the maximum allowed by a plea agreement The judge overseeing his case is bound by this agreement. If she rejects it, Cornell will be able to withdraw his guilty plea. His sentencing is scheduled to begin Oct. 31, and the hearing is expected to take several days. Cornell was arrested in January 2015 after the FBI said he planned to travel to Washington, D.C. to launch an attack during that year's State of the Union Address, according to a news release from the U.S. Justice Department. The FBI said agents arrested Cornell in a gun shop parking lot near his home west of Cincinnati. They said he had just bought two M-15 assault weapons and ammunition and planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs and guns. He admitted that he used the Internet to research weapons, build bombs and pick targets in Washington, D.C., the release says. He did this all while pledging his allegiance online to the Islamic State, also known as ISIL. Cornell wanted to "wage jihad" and sent messages on social media and posted video in support of ISIL and violent attacks by others, the FBI has said. After his arrest, Cornell told WXIX-TV of Cincinnati that he wanted to shoot President Barack Obama in the head. Cornell was arrested as concern was increasing over ISIL's efforts to recruit homegrown lone-wolf terrorists. Federal authorities in Ohio have charged several men with supporting ISIS in ways ranging from purchasing weapons to advocating for the execution of members of the U.S. Military. Martin Pinales, Cornell's attorney, characterized his client Monday as a "keyboard terrorist," or somebody who would not had taken any violent action had the FBI and an informant not gotten involved. He said Cornell was a impressionable young man. "Had there not been an agent or an (informant), I'll bet you my guy would still be sitting in his room, on a keyboard, talking to anybody who would listen, and not doing anything," Pinales said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit Monday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 3-year-old boy died Saturday after spending a week in the hospital with injuries he suffered after his uncle crashed into a utility pole, officials said. Jaycon McDaniel of Cleveland died at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Center. McDaniel had been in the hospital since the June 23 crash on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Union Avenue. Jaycon's uncle, Lawrence Mitchell, 29, was charged in the crash prior to Jaycon's death. Mitchell is charged with three counts of aggravated vehicular assault and two counts of child endangering. He was released after posting $10,000 bond. The case has been bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury, which could add more charges since Jaycon died. Mitchell was driving "well in excess" of the 35 mph speed limit about 3:30 p.m. July 23 on Union Avenue, according to police. Witnesses, including some attending a funeral across the street from the crash, told police they estimated Mitchell was driving between 60 and 70 mph. Mitchell initially told police that he was driving the posted speed limit and later said he was driving 40 mph when he lost control of the car. Mitchell also told investigators he had two shots of tequila and smoked marijuana earlier in the day, police reports say. He gave his consent to have his blood tested in connection with a possible drunken-driving charge, according to police reports. Mitchell was driving on Union when swerved to try and pass a car near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Mitchell then lost control of his 2002 Ford Ranger pickup trying to get back into the curb lane, police reports say. The truck spun counterclockwise through the intersection and hit a wooden utility pole on the passenger side of the truck, police said. Witnesses at the funeral told police that Mitchell tried to run away from the crash scene while Jaycon was still in the truck. Several people from the funeral chased him down and made him go back to the scene, according to police. A woman at the funeral who is first-aid certified tended to Jaycon before the ambulance arrived. She told police Jaycon was continuously coughing up blood. Police initially said three juveniles were injured in the crash. Two juveniles, Mitchell's 8-year-old son and Jaycon were injured, along with Mitchell and his 26-year-old sister, police reports say. Both kids were taken to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. Mitchell was treated and released at University Hospitals. Mitchell was the only one wearing a seatbelt. Both kids were sitting in the extended cab portion of the truck without seatbelts. The truck was totaled in the crash, police reports say. Mitchell has been twice cited for driving with children in his car that did not have seatbelts or proper safety equipment, according to court records. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. clevelandclinic.JPG Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have received $11.8 million in research funding to help those suffering treatment-resistant depression. A Clinic team will study how to help patients who do not get adequate relief in their initial therapies. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent nonprofit, provided the funding. The institute is one of the nation's newest health research funding providers. (The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland Clinic researchers have been approved for $11.8 million in funding to study ways to help patients suffering from severe depression. The Clinic announced Monday that a team in its Department of Psychiatry and Psychology was selected by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in Washington, D.C., an independent nonprofit that helps fund medical studies. It is one of the nation's newest funding providers for health research. The focus of the research will be to examine strategies for treating patients who do not get adequate relief from initial therapy. Through the work of Dr. Amit Anand, vice chair for research in Cleveland Clinic's Center for Behavioral Health, the study will look into and compare the effectiveness of two treatments: electroconvulsive therapy versus ketamine in patients who suffer from severe treatment-resistant depression. "Ketamine is rapidly being adopted around the country for treatment of treatment-resistant depression as an alternative to electroconvulsive therapy,'' Anand said in a statement. "However, no large-scale trials of ketamine's safety and efficacy as compared to electroconvulsive therapy have been conducted. This study will fill this evidence gap." The Clinic's project was selected through a competitive review process. It has been approved, pending the completion of a business and programmatic review by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. In a statement, Dr. Joe Selby, the executive director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, said one reason the project was selected for funding is "its potential to fill an important gap in our health knowledge and give people information to help them weigh the effectiveness of their care options.'' CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A protective services officer in the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department was involved in a shooting in downtown Cleveland early Monday morning. It happened around 8 a.m. The officer shot the suspect in the leg, according to two sources. Multiple media outlets reported the officer was shot at before he opened fire, but those reports have not been confirmed. The extent of the suspect's injuries are unknown. The suspect was taken into custody at the Galleria at Erieview on East 9th Street. Protective services officers provide security at properties owned by Cuyahoga County. They do not have full arrest powers. We have a crew on the scene and will bring you more information. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak extended his policing powers with a tough new security law that took effect Monday, spurring concerns over civil liberties. The law, which Najib said was needed to combat terrorism, was pushed through on the final day of the parliamentary session in December, creating a National Security Council with broad powers to create "security areas" where police can conduct searches without warrants and impose curfews. It also eliminated the need to conduct public inquests into shootings by police in the security zones and gave the new security council the ability to declare emergency rule. The security council, which will include the prime minister and be majority controlled by members of his political party, won't be required to provide explanations or justifications for its decisions. That represented a major expansion of powers for Najib, who has been embroiled in a scandal over funds allegedly funneled away from Malaysian state wealth investment fund 1MDB. Ei Sun Oh, who was political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister's office from 2009-2011, during Najib's tenure, told CNBC in an email interview that it wasn't clear how far the government's new discretionary powers could be pushed. "Under the current oppressive political climate, there is legitimate fear that the law may be abused to stifle dissents, such as expressed in peaceful street protests which should have been a fundamental right to assemble," said Oh, who is currently an adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Others were more specifically concerned about the fresh powers that the law gave to Najib, who has been prime minister since 2009. "A lot of people in Malaysia don't trust Najib. It gives him too much power," noted James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania. "This gives the prime minister the powers of the king. Previously only the king had [this] authority." Not only does the law not allow for judicial review of the security council's rulings, politicians on the council would be selected solely from the country's ruling party and would outnumber administrators such as police chiefs, Chin noted. "There's no way anyone can overrule the prime minister. Effectively, he will get what he wants," Chin said. "It sends a strong signal to the population of Malaysia and also the opposition that he's all-powerful." Chin noted that the law didn't define what constituted a national security threat, which could enable the prime minister to use small incidents to impose emergency rule. Chin was particularly concerned about whether areas currently under opposition party rule, such as Penang, might be targeted. watch now watch now watch now Uber has bowed out of the world's second-largest economy after selling its China business to domestic rival Didi Chuxing. The combined new company is worth $35 billion, according to a source familiar with the situation, and brings an end to the brutal battle in China between the two apps.. While investors and analysts have had a mixed reaction to the news, there are clear reasons why it happened. Burning cash Earlier this year, Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick said the start-up was losing $1 billion a year in China and, a source told CNBC, that the company had spent $2 billion in two years trying to battle Didi. It was an unsustainable way to run the China operation, a fact that Kalanick acknowledged in a blog post circulating around Chinese social media. "Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term," Kalanick said. Uber was also losing to Didi which claimed to have a nearly 80 percent market share, so it appeared to be a good time to leave China. Removes a hurdle for IPO Analysts believe Kalanick has been very vocal that Uber is not looking to go public anytime soon, but when that eventually happens, removing the cash-sucking China business could make the company more palatable to investors. Focus on other big battles With China off of the company's plate, Uber can now focus on the hundreds of other regions it operates in where it is also facing challenges. In Europe, Uber has run into trouble with regulators while in the U.S., the company is in constant debate over whether its drivers are classed as employees or contractors. India is another big potential growth market for Uber and it can now perhaps devote more resource there. But like China, Uber is battling local incumbent Ola in India. "India is the single biggest un-won opportunity, there it is a much more level playing field than in China," Rob Kniaz, partner at London-based venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures, told CNBC by phone. Now that Didi owns Uber China, it's less likely to invest in competitors to Uber around the world, Kniaz added. New products? Uber can also focus its effort on developing some of its other products such as UberEats, the food delivery business. A report in the Financial Times said that the company is planning to invest $500 million into building its own mapping system. Didi international expansion Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing is to acquire Uber's China business, the companies announced on Monday, in a deal, according to a person familiar with the matter, that would value the combined company at $35 billion. Uber global will receive 5.89 percent in the combined company with "preferred equity interest" which is equal to a 17.7 percent stake. Baidu and Uber's other Chinese shareholders will receive a 2.3 percent stake in Didi Chuxing, taking the stake in combined company to 20 percent. The $35 billion is made up of Didi's latest $28 billion valuation and $7 billion value for Uber China. Uber declined to comment on the valuation when contacted by CNBC. An official statement from Didi said that the start-up's founder and, Chairman Cheng Wei, will join the board of Uber. Travis Kalanick, Uber Chief Executive, will join the board of Didi. Uber has been locked in an intense battle in China with Didi, the country's largest ride-hailing service. The U.S. start-up has lost $2 billion over two years in China, the source said, as it tried to get ahead in the market. Under the agreement, Uber China will keep its independent branding and business operations to "ensure stability and continuity of service for passengers and drivers". Didi will also integrate the "managerial and technological expertise" of the two companies. The deal could pave the way for Didi to expand beyond China and into new markets. "Didi Chuxing will also continue to expand its international strategy. We look forward to working with our partners at home and abroad to create more value for drivers, passengers and communities," Jean Liu, president of Didi Chuxing said in a statement on Monday. WHEN: Tuesday, August 2nd at 3pm ET WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell" CNBC's Kelly Evans will broadcast "Closing Bell" (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET) live from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, August 2nd. Guests include: Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian Rapper, entrepreneur and actor Chris Bridges aka "Ludacris" Recording artist and record producer Jermaine Dupri Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart Atlanta Falcons CEO Rich McKay Home Depot CEO Craig Menear UPS CFO Richard Peretz About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 386 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com. watch now Entering August, a historically terrible month for stocks, Jim Cramer noted a change in perspective on Wall Street to value the long-term over the short-term. "Some people might dismiss all of this bullishness as mere froth. But I think it signals that the vicious skepticism that has held down the longer-term growth stocks could be coming to an end," the "Mad Money" host said. Putting aside Cramer's description of Elon Musk's attitude as "I'm smarter than you and I can't bother with you," he actually found logic in the Tesla Motors CEO's long-term vision for the solar industry. Tesla's all-stock deal to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion showed Cramer that Musk isn't playing for this year or even next year. Investors that buy SolarCity must believe that the electric grid will fundamentally change in the next decade, he said. Ultimately these bullish actions could mean the hatred for long-term growth stories is finally over. And if that's the case, Cramer says investors may have finally found a group that can withstand the difficult month of August. Getty Images When Cramer looked at the charts over the weekend, it was almost impossible to tell if the economy is accelerating or slowing down. Rallies in the stock market right now stem from two very different groups of stocks. One group tends to rally when the economy slows. The other performs well when the economy expands. "Yet right now both groups are going higher. As someone who has studied the market for 36 years, I am telling you it's a real conundrum," Cramer said. So, who is right? Perhaps the economy is getting stronger without causing the Fed to raise rates. "Maybe the better answer is that this market is like Washington: there is gridlock right now as we wait for things to resolve themselves one way or another," Cramer said. Ionis Pharmaceutical shares jumped 30 percent on Monday on positive news of phase 3 data for its spinal muscular atrophy drug called Nusinersen, on which it partnered with Biogen . Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the leading cause of infantile death worldwide. Ionis CEO Dr. Stanley Crooke spoke with Cramer on Monday, and estimated 30,000 infants around the world are born with SMA. "You can easily come to the notion of a very large commercial opportunity," Crooke said. "Obviously that's Biogen's area of responsibility, and so I won't be able to comment further, other than we believe this is an enormous commercial opportunity." Dr. Stanley Crooke, CEO of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Source: Stanley Crooke Tesla's all-stock deal to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion showed Cramer that Musk isn't playing for this year or even next year. Investors that buy SolarCity must believe that the electric grid will fundamentally change in the next decade, he said. Putting aside Cramer's description of Elon Musk 's attitude as "I'm smarter than you and I can't bother with you," he actually found logic in the Tesla Motors CEO's long-term vision for the solar industry. "Some people might dismiss all of this bullishness as mere froth. But I think it signals that the vicious skepticism that has held down the longer-term growth stocks could be coming to an end," the " Mad Money " host said. Entering August, a historically terrible month for stocks, Jim Cramer noted a change in perspective on Wall Street to value the long-term over the short-term. The vicious skepticism that has held down the longer-term growth stocks could be coming to an end. Cramer believes that Musk thinks there could be one central place to build a giant solar field to produce all of the power needed, perhaps in Colorado. Musk could try to solve the problem of transmitting power over long distances, and is ready to attempt that with the Tesla-SolarCity combination. "You have to think big to understand his plan. Or, maybe we just can't understand it because Musk is such a visionary, something I hate to say because I haven't seen a lot of visionaries," Cramer said. The next example of a visionary company is Uber, which basically exited China over the weekend when it sold its Chinese business to rival Didi Chuxing. Uber and its Chines shareholders will have a 20 percent stake in the combined company. This was a huge move for Cramer, because it signaled that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick understands how important it is to earn a profit. "This is fabulous news if you own shares in the private Uber because it could pave the way for an IPO," Cramer said. This move demonstrated to Cramer that Kalanick is serious about turning Uber into a company that cares where its stock could be priced at one day. Verizon also shelled out $2.4 billion to buy Fleetmatics , which uses software to manage truck fleets. This deal came right off the back of Verizon's purchase of Yahoo last week, which meant Verizon is thinking about its future not just the cellphone business. "There is a path to faster growth. Verizon is on it," Cramer said. Ultimately these bullish actions could mean the hatred for long-term growth stories is finally over. And if that's the case, Cramer says investors may have finally found a group that can withstand the difficult month of August. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might be king of the cloud, but rivals are looking to take his crown. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud unit, last week reported that revenue surged some 60 percent in the second quarter to nearly $3 billion. The business also boasted all-time-high operating margins of 30 percent. Dave Bartoletti, principal analyst at Forrester, estimates AWS will produce $12 billion in revenue this year. To put that in perspective, that's more than half of all the revenue the entire public cloud market will generate. But the competition isn't sitting idle. watch now Google parent Alphabet last week reported that its 'Other Revenues' segment, which includes its cloud services, jumped more than 30 percent, to $2.2 billion in the second quarter. (The company doesn't break out its cloud earnings separately.) Analysts say CEO Sundar Pichai's company has real advantages of its own. "They have all the core infrastructure in place running Google search and YouTube," said Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Baird, adding, "It's already one of the largest cloud platforms. They are making it available to other third parties and competing with Amazon." Google could catch up with Bezos within a couple years, Sebastian said. However, that would be a tough challenge given current market trends. (Google did not respond to requests for comment.) It's true that Google runs a network of sophisticated data centers. It's won over corporate clients, from Home Depot to Autodesk, and its parent Alphabet now sits on a cash pile of some $80 billion. Still, Pichai's company controls just 5 percent of this cloud infrastructure market, according to Synergy Research Group. In fact, the tech giant that controls the second-highest share of the market isn't Google; it's Microsoft , which retains a big sales force and longstanding client relationships. CEO Satya Nadella's company is well on track to hit its goal of $20 billion in annual revenue from its cloud-computing businesses by the end of fiscal 2018, which includes Azure as well as Office 365. Jeff Bezos, Amazon Getty Images Ahead of the Pope's visit last week to Krakow, Poland, to lead nearly 2 million Catholics in World Youth Day celebrations, news broke that an Iraqi man had been arrested in the Polish city of Lodz three days earlier carrying a small amount of explosives. The news swiftly followed the three Islamic extremist terrorist attacks that have taken place in Germany in recent days including an attempt by a failed Syrian asylum seeker to blow himself up outside a music festival. It might seem as though the terror threat previously associated with France and Belgium is spreading eastward through Europe. Police investigators work at the site of a suicide bombing in Ansbach, southern Germany, on July 25, 2016. Daniel Karmann | AFP | Getty Images Realistic expectations "Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) are stepping up security measures and increasing their investigative powers," Blanka Kolenikova, deputy head of Europe analysis at research firm IHS Markit, told CNBC via telephone. Poland, which held a NATO summit in Warsaw earlier last month as well as World Youth Day, introduced border checks in early July and will keep them until Tuesday. German newspaper Deutsche Welle has reported a significantly increased police presence in Poland and Slovakia, particularly at public transport terminals The Polish Interior Ministry told CNBC via email that nearly 38,000 officers were "in charge of ensuring that the participants of World Youth Day were safe throughout Poland." Kolenikova asserts that western European countries are still more likely to be attacked. But, a base level of risk exists for Visegrad countries because they are all NATO members, and thereby support U.S. interests. "Recent events in Germany do not mean that there is a direct increase in the terrorism threat to central European countries," she said. Nonetheless, countering Islamic extremist terrorism has dominated the political narratives of Visegrad countries. Far-right parties have risen in popularity across the continent. Anti-immigrant rhetoric and security were key issues debated in the Slovakian elections earlier this year, with Prime Minster Robert Fico telling the news outlet TASR in May that "Islam has no place in Slovakia." "Governments are perhaps more nervous than ordinary people," Cvete Koneska, senior analyst for Europe at Control Risks, told CNBC via telephone. watch now The refugee question Security fears have become focused on the increased number of asylum seekers and migrants from the Middle East. This, combined with the increase in terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany, has led to some countries mounting border controls and thereby disrupting the Schengen Agreement, the European Union-wide deal that enables the free movement of people. The Polish Interior Ministry told CNBC that by 27th July, its border checks had resulted in the 226 arrests, the majority of which were individuals attempting to cross the border without the necessary documents. The Interior Ministry also say that, "border checks have resulted in a number of persons sought on the basis of the European Arrest Warrant to be identified." However IHS' Kolenikova believes that the migrant crisis isn't a security concern. "People connect terrorist attacks to the refugee influx, but it is wrong to do so. Take Greece for example, which has one of the highest numbers of refugees but is at a low risk of international terrorism," she told CNBC. watch now JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon took a long-term view on the U.S. economy and talked up the bank's competitive position in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC on Monday. He suggested that his bank makes the world a better place. "I think that JPMorgan makes it a better world," Dimon said Monday. "Every single day in 2,000 communities around the world, trying to do our job well, responsibly lending, opening branches, serving businesses." Dimon also said he's seeing positive signs for the U.S. economy, and he sought to play down legislation brewing that could alter how large financial institutions do business on Wall Street. "I wouldn't be over-sensitive to short-term data," the chairman and CEO said in Irvine, California, on the bank's bus tour, which gives it the opportunity to solicit feedback from staffers. At the same time, Dimon is sensitive to the economy's dependence on data. He said that if the next U.S. president implements the appropriate reform programs, that GDP could rise to 4 percent. And in his bullish outlook for the American economy, he highlighted increasing wages and consumer spending as evidence. But banks still need a little help. Most bank shares are down in 2016, as central bankers have not lifted interest rates as much as market watchers suspected they would. Dimon said that "normalizing interest rates would be a good thing," but he declined to make any specific projections. The global ridesharing wars took a dramatic turn in December when a handful of companies not named Uber joined forces to try and tame CEO Travis Kalanick's quest for world domination. Headlining the group were Lyft in the U.S. and Didi Chuxing (then called Didi Kuaidi) in China. Earlier in the year, Didi invested $100 million in Lyft. John Zimmer, Lyft's president and co-founder, said the consortium, which also included Grab Taxi in Southeast Asia and Ola in India, would provide "the world's best coverage while building upon our shared vision of reconnecting communities through better transportation." So much for that rosy view. On Monday, eight months after the alliance was formed, Didi teamed up with the enemy. Didi agreed to acquire Uber's China unit in a deal that values the company at $35 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, giving Uber and its shareholders a 20 percent stake in the combined entity. Kalanick will join Didi's board, and Didi founder and Chairman Cheng Wei will pick up an Uber board seat. The merger presents yet another challenge to Lyft in its battle against the much larger Uber. With a $15 billion cash stockpile and a $68 billion valuation, Uber has been executing a growth campaign unlike any other, relentlessly recruiting drivers with sweet incentives and subsidizing rides to counter price drops by rivals. By any standard other than Uber, Lyft has been a screaming success, reaching a $5.5 billion valuation in just four years and operating in over 200 U.S. cities and nine in Asia. Uber, however, is all over the world and even spent $2 billion to build its operation in 60 Chinese cities. Moody's Analytics likes Hillary Clinton's economic plan much more than it did Donald Trump's. A little more than a month after Moody's said Trump's proposals would cause a "lengthy recession," the firm took a look under the hood at the Democratic nominee's plans and said the prospects were more encouraging. "Secretary Clinton's economic proposals will result in a somewhat stronger U.S. economy," Mark Zandi, Moody's chief economist, and two others wrote in the report. "Near-term growth is supported by the stimulus provided by her spending plans in combination with much stronger foreign immigration." Indeed, Clinton's proposals call for $2.2 trillion in new spending over a 10-year period, with plans that would allow in about a million more immigrants a year. She's looking to boost spending on infrastructure and education, as well as providing paid family and medical leave, increasing the minimum wage, and investing in economic development and research. To pay for her proposals, she's calling for a near-equal amount of taxation, with the burden placed primarily on the shoulders of corporations and those making more than $300,000 a year. Clinton's plans rely primarily on Keynesian demand-side solutions, while Trumps' are more focused on supply-side tax cuts. "Evident from her proposals is the belief that the country needs to invest more in education, infrastructure and workers, and that the well-to-do, and to a lesser degree financial institutions and businesses, should pay for it," Moody's wrote. "While her budget arithmetic does not completely add up, it is pretty close, and the nation's debt load under her plan is no different than under current law." They called him "Trashanova." It was a fitting moniker for a man who made millions in the waste-management business, cleaning up his native New Orleans during the post-Katrina years. The "trash king," Sidney Torres IV, fully embraced social entrepreneurship last year, when he launched a business to help the city clean up its streets of violent crime. It's something he thinks more business leaders should do. "There was a storm brewing, and it wasn't a hurricane," Torres told CNBC, reflecting on the crime wave he witnessed in New Orleans' French Quarter in 2014, when violent crime jumped 40 percent. Things reached a tipping point for Torres when he was alerted on a business trip that robbers had broken into his own home while his fiancee slept. "I'm thinking to myself, 'This is my home; this is our home; this is where we live. Why isn't the mayor doing anything?'" After Torres' calls to the mayor's office went unanswered, he decided to run ads calling out the issue. It prompted a challenge from Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who called for Torres to "take some of [his] money and do it himself." So he did. Torres app connects residents with a force of off-duty New Orleans police officers who patrol the neighborhood in utility vehicles. NBC Using $500,000 of his own money, Torres oversaw the creation of the French Quarter Task Force, an app dubbed "the Uber of policing" that connected residents with a force of off-duty New Orleans police officers paid to take shifts patrolling the neighborhood in utility vehicles. The system made it easier for community members to provide tips and report crimes. After active patrolling began in March 2015, violent crime fell 45 percent for the quarter, and 15 percent on the year, according to local police statistics. "The government will do its job, but don't expect them to carry out and solve problems," Torres said. "The government needs to work with private individuals because I think we can do so much more together as a private-public partnership, just like the crime app." Sidney Torres created the French Quarter Task Force, an app dubbed "the Uber of policing." NBC Thanks to an increase in tax revenues, Louisiana state troopers are increasing active patrols, and the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau has since taken over funding the task force. But that doesn't mean Torres has stopped contributing. In June, he invested $100,000 to upgrade the patrol vehicles to modified Smart cars and oversaw the creation of a "war room" to monitor crime and the performance of officers. "One of the reasons I like private [solutions] is because I am looking at my bottom line," he said. "I'm not looking at what's politically correct. I'm not looking at what makes sense in how I am going to get to my next office or who's going to vote for me so I can keep my job as a politician." Sidney Torres (right) with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. NBC ClipperData's Matt Smith, who forecast oil prices would fall to $40 a barrel back in June, now says crude could drop even further. Smith made his June call just after crude futures hit 2016 highs above $50. Last week, they fell as much as 20 percent from those peaks. On Monday U.S. crude briefly dipped below $40 a barrel, while internationally traded Brent crude traded below $43. "I see it going lower from here," Smith told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We have this glut here in the U.S. not only in crude but for products, as well. We're actually at record inventories for the two of those." Stockpiles of refined products are brimming after demand proved insufficient to absorb all the gasoline that refiners churned out while crude prices were low. Now, demand for crude is depressed as the market works through those record stocks of gasoline, just as the U.S. summer driving season winds down and refiners prepare to shut down facilities for fall maintenance. The impact is showing up in the national average for a gallon of gasoline, which is sitting at $2.13, compared with $2.66 at this time last year. Powerful oil cartel OPEC has a new secretary-general Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo but analysts doubt he'll have any influence over either the 14-member group's near-term future or oil markets as a whole. Barkindo, a Nigerian oil industry "veteran," is due to take over from Abdalla Salem El-Badri on Monday, ending a long, drawn-out tussle between members of the group over who the next secretary general should be. El-Badri, a Libyan, had been in the role for nine years and had been due to leave the position in 2012, but his term in office was extended due to an impasse between Middle Eastern member countries Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq over a possible successor. Nigeria proposed Barkindo earlier this year, however, and the group finally accepted the choice at its last meeting in June. Mohammed Barkindo Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg via Getty Images Barkindo, described by analysts as having a relatively low profile in the oil world, was seen as a "neutral" appointment for the group particularly as relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran both within and outside the group - remain difficult. Not much is known about the oil producer group's new figurehead but oil markets will have time to get to know Barkindo as he will serve a three-year term at OPEC's helm. He's no stranger to the oil industry, having served as the head of Nigeria's state-owned National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and doing a stint as acting secretary general for OPEC in 2006. However, Barkindo is not coming to the role at a harmonious time for oil markets: Global oil prices are still hovering around $40 a barrel due to a very slow rebalancing of markets due to a glut in supply and a failure of demand to keep pace. No change OPEC largely contributed to the decline in oil prices by refusing to cut production in November 2014, choosing to defend its share of the market rather than the oil price. Analysts believe that Barkindo's appointment will do nothing to change the group's strategy which was seen as a way to put pressure on rival non-OPEC producers, particularly shale oil producers in the U.S. and Canada. Since then, the group has continued its strategy of record-high production despite the damage it has done to its members' economies, in terms of lower oil export revenues. Known as OPEC's "fragile five," Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Iraq and Libya have been most worst-hit by the group's decision to maintain record-high production often above the official limit of 30 million barrels a day. "It's a positive step that OPEC was able to agree on Barkindo's appointment and he's from outside of the main rivalries in the group but we shouldn't overate the role he will play in terms of policy," Richard Mallinson, who leads the analysis of international affairs and energy policy at Energy Aspects, told CNBC on Monday. "His appointment won't make much difference as OPEC policy will still come down to whether individual members can agree on a common position," he added. When OPEC last met in June, its 14 members (Gabon rejoined in June and Indonesia returned to the group last year) failed again to agree on any measures to shore-up prices continuing a policy of non-intervention as it said that markets were on their way to rebalancing. Mallinson sounded an optimistic note that Barkindo's appointment could herald a period of easier relations once the oversupply in oil markets had worked itself out of the system (with expected higher demand coming from India and continued non-OPEC oil supply declines still expected next year). "I do think though that there may be more potential for co-operation once the period of low oil prices and the rebalancing period has passed," he added. Power still with Saudi and Iran Record highs for stocks are often associated with big moves and earth-shaking events. But that doesn't exactly describe Monday's action. The S&P 500 briefly touched an all-time intraday high on Monday morning, as it moderately extended its Friday gains. That was before equities decided to follow oil lower. Interestingly, the recent record levels have been seen even as market volatility has collapsed. Going back to July 14, the S&P has only traded in a 1 percent range from high to low. And throughout the whole month of July, the S&P only enjoyed a single move with a magnitude of 1 percent or more. Yet even the sobriety with which stocks have hit record highs is a bit too much for some. "In our view, equities remain in their 'fat and flat' range and are now just near the upper end. As a result, we downgrade equities to Underweight in our three-month asset allocation," Goldman Sachs equity strategist Christian Mueller-Glissmann wrote in a much-discussed Sunday note to clients. The situation has caused the tactical bears considerable consternation. "We've yet to have the blow-off top accompanied by huge volume that I've been looking for here," Michael Block of Rhino Trading Partners wrote Monday. "So even if I'm negative on this market short term, I have to throw up my hands and say that this situation could persist for quite some time." And with the CBOE Volatility Index trading at levels that imply a lack of anticipation that big moves are around the corner, the market largely appears to believe the same. Translation: Even more mild records may be around the corner. Standing at Gansevoort Park in downtown Rome, New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (RRome), center, announces $200,000 in state funding. The City of Rome will use the money to buy a portable, mobile stage and make improvements to Veterans Memorial Park and Gansevoort Park. Standing with Griffo are current Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo (left) and former Rome Mayor Carl Eilenberg (right). Photo credit: Office of New York State Senator Joseph Griffo. ROME, N.Y. The City of Rome will use $200,000 in state funding for a portable mobile stage and improvements to Veterans Memorial and Gansevoort Parks. New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (RRome) secured the state funding for the two capital projects, his office said in a news release issued Friday. Rome will allocate $150,000 to buy the portable mobile stage, which it will own and operate. Neighboring communities could also use the stage, if the City of Rome would choose to make it available, Griffos office said. Besides the stage, Rome will use the additional $50,000 to help enhance Veterans Memorial Park and Gansevoort Park, twin parks located on opposite sides of the 200 block of North James Street in downtown Rome. As a former mayor, I understand the important role that local parks play in enhancing a communitys appeal to its residents, tourists and newcomers, Griffo said in the release. Parks are central places to gather and host community activities, so we should continuously dedicate resources to help maintain and beautify our parks for people to use. Our veterans have done an extraordinary job working with the City of Rome to modernize Veterans Park as a fitting honor to soldiers on occasions like Memorial Day and Veterans Day, so I am pleased that these additional funds can be used to further enhance this park. Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo on Friday joined Griffo at Gansevoort Park to express her appreciation for the funding. These funds secured by the senator will help improve our park system and the quality of life for our residents. The addition of a portable mobile stage will also greatly enhance the Citys ability to support events like Honor America Days and the various events at our parks and other venues taking place in the city throughout the year, Izzo said in the release. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com HANNIBAL, N.Y. Tops Markets, LLC will acquire the Village Market IGA at 409 Fulton St. in Hannibal. The store will open as a Tops Markets on Aug. 11, bringing Tops overall store count to 172, the company said in a news release issued Friday. Tops expects the acquisition to close on Aug. 8, Andrew Brocato, Tops Markets director of community and public relations, said in an email response to BJNN. The financial terms of the acquisition agreement are not available, he added. Tops plans to offer the Hannibal stores full and part-time workers continued employment with the company. The Hannibal location currently employs about 50 people. Tops is planning significant renovations to the 23,000-square-foot Hannibal store. They include a refreshed interior decor, along with an expanded product selection. Frank Curci, Tops chairman and CEO, contends that the new Hannibal store fits in well with the companys successful overall growth strategy and complements its other stores in both Oswego County and in the Central New York region. Headquartered in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, Tops Markets operates 171 supermarkets in upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania, western Vermont, and north central Massachusetts. Tops has more than 16,000 employees. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com The Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) yesterday said electricity supply to the National Arts Theatre in Lagos was disconnected because its management was owing over N9 million debt. Mr Idemudia Godwin, general manager, Media Communications of EKEDC, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the complex was disconnected after appeals and demand notices went unheeded. According to him, the debt is an accumulation of unpaid bills over time. We dont disconnect without serving notice. Besides, we recently ran a newspaper advertisement informing ministries, departments and parastatal agencies (MDAs) of government that were indebted to EKEDC of our intention to disconnect them. Lincoln Cent Lincoln cent most endearing, popular U.S. coin The Lincoln cent was introduced to honor the nation's 16th president on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Both sides of the coin introduced in 1909 were designed by Victor D. Bre...READ MORE August 1, 2016 Reid Wiseman is back on the surface of the Earth. A NASA astronaut since 2009, Wiseman logged 165 days on the International Space Station two years ago. His most recent landfall Friday (July 29) was not from orbit however, but from under the ocean. "Proud to be the 50th human who has orbited Earth and lived under the sea," Wiseman wrote on Twitter. Update: According to NASA NEEMO Mission Director (and aquanaut) Marc Reagan, Megan McArthur Behnken is the 50th astronaut-aquanaut. When two astronauts who have flown in space become aquanauts in the same mission (as is the case for NEEMO 21), the ordering is based on who was commander. Wiseman served as the commander first, hence he is no. 49, and then Behnken, who is no. 50. Our list (to the right) has been updated accordingly. For eight days, Wiseman traded his title as an astronaut to become an aquanaut, serving as the commander of the NEEMO 21 mission on board the Aquarius Reef Base, the world's only undersea research station. Since 2001, NASA has been sending crews to Aquarius located 62 feet (19 m) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to conduct simulated space missions. "This was the second greatest operational experience of my life. Amazing place, incredible people," said Wiseman. Astronaut Reid Wiseman is accepts his aquanaut certification from Roger Garcia, Aquarius operations director. (@astro_reid) The 21st NEEMO, or NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, expedition began July 21, as Wiseman and his international crewmates splashed down to the school-bus- sized base. The aquanauts also included NASA astronaut Megan Behnken, Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency and Marc O'Griofa of the Veterans Administration. As Wiseman and O'Griofa surfaced, Dawn Kernagis of the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition and Noel Du Toit of the Naval Postgraduate School joined Behnken and Maurer for the second half of the NEEMO 21 mission. During their simulated spacewalks carried out underwater, Wiseman and his crew evaluated tools and techniques that could be used during future missions to the space station and to deep space, including Mars. Inside the habitat, their objectives included testing a medical telemetry device and a DNA sequencer similar to the one now on orbit and soon to be used by station flight engineer (and former Aquarius aquanaut) Kate Rubins. Of the 50 astronaut-aquanauts to date, all but one lived on board Aquarius. The only astronaut to gain his aquanaut status somewhere else was also the first to do so. Mercury astronaut and aquanaut Scott Carpenter on board the U.S. Navy's SEALAB II in 1965. (U.S. Navy) Scott Carpenter, who on May 24, 1962 became the second American to orbit the Earth, followed up his time in space by serving for 30 days on board the U.S. Navy's Sealab II off the coast of California in 1965. One of NASA's original seven Mercury astronauts, Carpenter died in 2013. The area where Wiseman, his NEEMO crewmates, and all Aquarius "spacewalkers" explore is called Carpenter Basin in honor of the pioneering astronaut-aquanaut. Wiseman is the 28th astronaut-aquanaut to have first flown in space before living on the ocean floor. Six out of the 50 astronaut-aquanauts have resided aboard Aquarius twice. There are also seven astronauts who have participated in NEEMO expeditions but are still waiting to make their first spaceflight, including Jessica Meir, who was a member of the NEEMO 4 crew in 2002, 11 years before NASA chose her to become an astronaut. NASA astronaut and NEEMO 21 aquanaut Reid Wiseman prepares for his simulated spacewalk from the Aquarius undersea research station 62 feet below the ocean surface on July 28. (@astro_reid) Wiseman launched to the space station in May 2014 on board Russia's Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft and served as a flight engineer as part of the station's Expedition 40/41 crew. When he returned to Earth on Nov. 9, 2014, it took just three and a half hours for the Soyuz to descend from orbit to land on the steppe of Kazakhstan. By comparison, it took more than 16 hours for Wiseman to ascend from the ocean floor as a result of the time needed to decompress safely. "I will walk away from NEEMO 21 with a vast amount of gained knowledge and incredible experience," Wiseman said the night before he "splashed up," according to a blog authored by Kernagis. "It has been an honor to spend nine days underwater on Aquarius." "The first steps in exploring Mars," he concluded, referring to his NEEMO experience. "It is time to put people on the red planet. Fly NASA." Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form MU swine center to double its space for modified pigs An $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow the swine center to double its space for animals. Explore Six Vintage Buildings That Have Found New Life as Hotels Christian Hampton, 9, gets help adjusting the beard for his Professor Albus Dumbledore costume from his aunt, Kimberlee Norwood, at the Rec Room during Sunday's Potterfest to celebrate the release of J.K. Rowling's newest release, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," as well as the series' namesake character's 36th birthday. Hundreds of fans filled the event, many in costume, for games of Quidditch, a chance to be sorted into the different Hogwarts houses by the sorting hat, gaming, crafts and vendor booths. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE Marley Scott (left), 11, balances a spinning plate on her finger at the Rec Room during Sunday's Potterfest. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) Mason Brown (right), 8, runs with a "quaffle" while riding a broom during a game of Quidditch during Potterfest. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal When Chesleigh Strickland was still in elementary school, she was diagnosed with leukemia. That meant numerous treatments and extended hospital stays, something that would be difficult and frightening for anyone, let alone a 7-year-old. Yet she found a hero to help her through those times, a young boy with dark hair, glasses and a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. "Harry Potter got me through the darkest days," said Strickland, 27, explaining why she drove more than five hours from Mobile, Alabama, to Memphis to take part in Sunday's celebration of everything Harry called Potterfest. "When you're in a hospital room 24 hours a day, it's a friend." Strickland was one of an estimated 1,500 people who attended the event, staged Sunday afternoon at the Rec Room on Broad Avenue. For as much as $20, those in attendance could watch the Harry Potter movies, play Harry Potter video games, answer Harry Potter trivia questions or partake of innumerable other activities centered around the exploits of the boy wizard and his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Potterfest was planned to coincide with Saturday's midnight release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," the latest installment in author J.K. Rowling's Potter empire. Although Rowling officially ended the adventures of The Boy Who Lived after the seventh book in 2007, this latest release essentially the script for the play of the same name has Potter fans around the globe salivating. Bookstores everywhere, including the Booksellers at Laurelwood, had release parties late Saturday, with children and adults donning their best Quidditch robes and Sorting Hats. "We love Harry Potter. We just decided to do a small thing, and it got big," said Miles Kovarik, a Rec Room employee and co-organizer of Potterfest with friend Hayley Milliman. "We both did this from our hearts for Harry Potter fans, and it kinda blew up. And it's awesome." Many of those in attendance Sunday likely agreed with that sentiment. So many people were wearing black robes and carrying magic wands, it almost looked like a day at Hogwarts. Just about every kid there and even a few adults had applied temporary tattoos of a lighting-bolt scar to their foreheads. "Ever since I read the first book, I've been obsessed with it," said 9-year-old Casey Bridges, who didn't hesitate when asked her favorite character. "Hermione. She just shows, like, a lot of girl power and she's really smart." Seth Newbauer brought his 7-year-old daughter Cameron to the event, and she was decked out in her official black Gryffindor robe. She also counted herself in Hermione's camp. "Because she's pretty and she's really good at magic and she smiles a lot," Cameron said. Strickland said she's been in remission for more than 15 years now, but even so, she still loves the boy who helped her through those dark days. When asked why, she gave a simple answer that, frankly, probably said it all: "It's Harry Potter." SHARE By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal Memphis police have arrested a man who allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl. August Thompson, 26, has been charged with rape of a child and aggravated sexual battery. He is being held on $150,000 bond. According to police, this incident happened Friday at a residence in the 1000 block of Merriwether. A resident of the house woke up and saw Thompson raping the child, according to an affidavit. The girl's mother was not home at the time; it's uncertain why Thompson was in the home. Police took DNA swabs from Thompson, and collected a rape kit from the child. According to court records, this is Thompson's first arrest in Shelby County. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal) By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's administration on Monday walked back a new policy that required media to be escorted to interviews in City Hall after blowback last week from members of the City Council and the media. The administration still will require appointments for interviews, which Strickland's new communications division must pre-approve under threat of employees being disciplined or fired, according to another new policy. "We just thought there was a happy medium that allows reporters to do their jobs and allowed us to run City Hall at the same time," city spokesman Kyle Veazey said. No other changes to the new media policies are currently planned, he said. Asked why City Hall common areas weren't open to the public without appointment like at the Shelby County administrative building, the state legislature or the county courthouse Veazey referred the question to Chief Communications Officer Ursula Madden, who was on vacation. The change came after council members publicly criticized the administration last week for requiring the media to notify Strickland's communications team of interviews in the council offices in City Hall. Chief Operations Officer Doug McGowen apologized in a memo to council members and said escorts to council offices would be coordinated by council staff instead. Last week, council members Edmund Ford Jr. and Berlin Boyd said they were primarily concerned that their interviews would be vetted by the administration under the new policies, but also expressed skepticism that appointments were required to visit common areas. In City Hall, each division has its own lobby area manned by an assistant, and Stricklands lobby is sealed off from the elevators by key card access doors. Restricting access to common areas could also raise questions about whether denying access to an office violates the states open records law, which says all records shall be available for inspection at all times during business hours. Among City Halls common areas is the legal division lobby, where in-person open records requests have historically been submitted. Strickland declined through a spokesperson Friday to give an interview on the transparency issues, but dedicated his weekly email for constituents to defending the new communications policies and the escorts to allow employees to focus on "core services ... without interruption." "We'll always evaluate our policies and fine-tune them as needed," he said in the email. Follow more politics and policy coverage from the InforMemphis team on Twitter and Facebook. Curry Todd (left to right), Antonio Parkinson and Johnnie Turner SHARE By Tom Humphrey, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee NASHVILLE In their final disclosures before Thursday's elections, three political action committees advocating vouchers and charter school expansion revealed they spent more than $1.2 million in Tennessee political campaigns with almost all the money coming from outside the state. The reports also show the groups are poised to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more in the final days of campaigning. That spending won't be disclosed until October. In several campaigns for seats in the state Legislature, a PAC spent more in the period covered July 1 through July 25 than the candidates themselves have spent in their entire campaigns. For example, Tennessee Federation for Children reported "independent expenditures" totaling $79,587 in attacking state Rep. Gary Hicks, R-Rogersville, during the period and another $6,339 on a mailer supporting his opponent in the Republican primary, real estate agent Cynthia Bundren Jackson. Under relevant laws, such spending cannot be coordinated with a candidate. For the entire campaign, Hicks has spent $46,123, according to his disclosures dating back to last year, while Jackson has spent $63,266. Much of the criticism directed by the group against Hicks accuses him of "double dipping" by continuing to draw his salary as technology director for the Hawkins County school system while also drawing a legislator's salary and does not mention school vouchers the prime focus of TFC's advocacy efforts. Hicks opposed voucher legislation that passed the state Senate but failed in the House during this year's legislative session. Besides Hicks, TFC also targeted Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, and two Memphis Democrats Reps. Antonio Parkinson and Johnnie Turner with attack advertising. Incumbents supported by the group include Republican Reps. Mike Carter of Ooltewah, Courtney Rogers of Goodlettsville, Mike Sparks of Smyrna, Tim Wirgau of Buchanan and Democratic Rep. John DeBerry of Memphis. TFC also helped candidates in some open seats and a few incumbent challengers. The TFC PAC reported receiving $486,000 in donations during the July period including $270,000 sent from its Washington-based parent organization, American Federation for Children, and $200,000 from James C. "Jim" Walton of Bentonville, Arkansas, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. TFC spent $361,000 during the 26-day period and had $186,000 cash on hand for spending in the final days. That, of course, could be supplemented by post-July 25 donations to TFC. But TFC was outdone in overall political spending during the July period by the Tennessee political arm of Stand for Children, a national group that has focused more on supporting charter schools than on vouchers. Stand for Children operates two PACs in Tennessee, one devoted to independent expenditures and the other to making direct donations to candidates. Together, they have reported spending almost $830,000 on state political operations all but $50,000 of the money flowing into the PACs during the period coming directly from the group's Portland, Oregon, headquarters without disclosure of sources of that money. The exceptions were two $25,000 donations each from brothers John and Orrin Ingram, Nashville businessmen and sons of Ingram Industries founders John and Martha Ingram. The lion's share of Stand for Children spending is listed in its July 1-25 pre-primary independent expenditure disclosure. It reported $713,968 of incoming money and spent $708,080 of that during the period. Unlike TFC, which focuses almost exclusively on legislative campaigns, Stand for Children also gets involved in local school board races most notably disclosing more than $200,000 spent in races for Nashville school board seats, attacking incumbents who have opposed charter school expansion and supporting their opponents. Still, Stand reported about $250,000 in July spending on legislative campaigns with substantial amounts spent in a handful of races. Stand is sponsoring ads attacking incumbent Republican Reps. Judd Matheny of Tullahoma, Jeremy Durham of Franklin and Rogers while backing their challengers. Attacks on Durham, who has suspended his re-election campaign and faces possible expulsion from the Legislature in a scandal involving his alleged sexual harassment of women, total almost $90,000 if combined with spending in support of his primary challenger, Sam Whitson, and expenditures reported before July 1. The group's PACs are in conflict with TFC on at least two races: supporting Hicks and Rogers, who are opposed by TFC. A couple of legislators have suggested and an anonymous political blog contends that Stand for Children is allied with Gov. Bill Haslam in opposing some of the state's most conservative Republicans while pushing more moderate primary candidates. A gubernatorial spokeswoman said in an email that's not true and the governor is not involved, noting Stand for Children was initially established before Haslam was elected. "He doesn't know who their donors are and has never raised money for them," said Jennifer Donnals, the governor's spokeswoman. Haslam used his own PAC to send $150,000 in direct donations to 43 incumbent Republican legislators in July, most of them facing no opposition to re-election. One exception was Hicks, who got $5,000 from Haslam. A third major player in Tennessee education legislation and politics based outside the state, Students First, is undergoing "restructuring" of its state operations after a merger this year with another group known as 50CAN Action, according to spokesman Ted Boyatt. Students First closed its Tennessee PAC, which in past years has funneled more than $1 million into Tennessee legislative races, in June. Instead, the merged organization has set up a new state-level PAC under the name Tennesseans For Putting Students First, which reported in its July 1-25 first disclosure receiving $310,000 from the 50CAN Action Fund PAC in Washington, D.C., and spending just $18,000 in direct donations to candidates leaving $292,000 available for distribution after July 25. Collectively, the three groups thus spent just over $1.2 million within the state during the July reporting period and had more than $680,000 cash on hand available for spending in the last days of campaigning which, of course, could be supplemented by transfers of funds from the parent organizations. SHARE Charles Whitman was a 25-year-old University of Texas student when he began a killing spree on Aug. 1, 1966. (Associated Press Files) By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY AUSTIN, Texas Fifty years ago today, Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old engineering student and Marine, climbed to the top of the tower at the University of Texas at Austin with an arsenal of high-powered weapons and began killing. For 96 terrifying minutes, Whitman fired below at students and passers-by, killing at least 16 people and injuring 31 in what became known as the first mass murder of its kind in America. Since then, the way police and health officials respond to mass shootings has evolved and similar shootings have scarred the nation in places such as Columbine, Virginia Tech University, Newtown and Orlando. But it was the UT tower shooting that ushered the nation into the harsh reality of mass shooters ready to kill and be killed, said Gary Lavergne, author of "A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders." "This was the largest mass murder of its kind up until then," Lavergne said. "We were not used to the idea that a person would do something like this and not give a damn whether he was going to live or die." Today also marks the day when Texas' new campus carry law goes into effect, allowing license holders to carry concealed handguns at public universities in the state, including UT Austin. The law touched off heated debate in Austin, with several professors recently filing a complaint in federal court to block the law before classes begin Aug. 24. Michael Newbern, a spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry, a national advocacy group that supported the Texas law, said the organization will refrain from media events or press releases today in deference to the tower shooting anniversary but will return to defending the law when classes begin. "It's about the individuals' choice to defend themselves," he said. "There's no compelling evidence to suggest campus safety will be hurt." Austin police, like most other departments at the time, were grossly unprepared for such an incident, Lavergne said. They didn't set up an incident command center, assign an assault team or even have handheld radios to communicate with one another. With police officers mostly ineffective, students grabbed rifles from pickup trucks and began firing back at Whitman. Since then, police departments have created specialized SWAT teams to deal with active shooters and ramped up their training of individual police officers to deal with mass shooters, said Pete Blair, executive director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. Students today shooting back at a gunman like Whitman might cause more trouble than good, as specialized police teams could easily mistake them for bad guys, Blair said. "The concern we have is that a concealed-carry person will be mistaken for an active shooter," he said. "It's a high-stress situation, and a lot of things are happening very quickly. There's the potential to make a mistake." During the tower shooting, Austin Police Officer Ramiro "Ray" Martinez was off duty but saw the incident unfolding on TV and called in to see if he could help. He was told to divert traffic, but when he arrived at campus he saw other officers doing that already, and he decided to try to take out the shooter. Martinez took the elevator up to the 26th floor of the tower, where he met another officer and a civilian with a rifle. Martinez and the civilian went to the observation deck and Martinez confronted Whitman and emptied his revolver into him. Another officer also fired a shotgun at the suspect and Whitman slumped to his death. Martinez went on to work as a narcotics investigator for the Texas Department of Public Safety and spent 18 years as a Texas Ranger. He said he's a firm supporter of the Second Amendment but feels campus carry is a bad idea. "It's going to open up a Pandora's box of problems in the future," he said. "We now have well-trained police departments to cope with these problems. Someone running around trying to be a hero will only complicate things." SHARE By Catherine Rampell WASHINGTON If these shenanigans can happen right under the noses of U.S. senators, where else are they happening? We'll never know until we get more cops on the beat. I'm talking about wage theft. That's the catch-all term for when employers pay their workers less than they legally owe them by, for example, forcing them to work off the clock, paying below minimum wage or misclassifying them as independent contractors. Wage theft is not a sexy crime. It rarely makes front-page news, even as it harms so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck. We don't know how prevalent it is, only how often it is discovered which is highly dependent on how much the government invests in enforcement. Last year, Labor Department investigators found $247 million in back wages owed to more than 240,000 workers. That's more than $1,000 stolen from each worker, on average, or the equivalent of about three weeks' pay for a typical maid, janitor or cashier. Every once in a while, there's a chance to capture the public's imagination on this issue such as last week, when it turned out that even in the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate, hundreds of low-wage workers had been shortchanged. For six years. This case involves Senate cafeteria workers, some of whom were so poorly paid that they were homeless, on public assistance or, in one case, moonlighting as a stripper to make ends meet. For about a year, they staged a series of demonstrations to demand a living wage. In December, it looked as if they'd finally secured it. These employees work for a private company on a government contract, which was up for renewal. After great public pressure, senators made sure that the new contract included healthy raises. Victory at last. But immediately after the contract was signed, though, the company found a loophole. See, the wages listed in the new contract were tied to specific occupation titles. The employer, Restaurant Associates, began demoting workers into lower-wage titles -- from "cook" to "food service worker," for example which meant workers would be denied the raises they were promised. Workers' titles changed, but their duties didn't. This turned out to be a potential violation of federal law, which narrowly defines job descriptions for service occupations in government contracts. A complaint was filed by Good Jobs Nation, an organization that has been trying to unionize low-wage federal contract workers. Last week, the Labor Department announced the findings of its investigation. It determined that Restaurant Associates and its subcontractor, Personnel Plus, must pay 674 workers $1,008,302 in back wages. One funny thing about this finding: The Senate cafeteria workers knew they'd been underpaid. But they hadn't realized just how underpaid they were, and for how long. Restaurant Associates had been shortchanging workers not only since the new contract was signed in December. According to investigators, it had been improperly classifying employees, not paying them for all the time they worked, and failing to pay required health and welfare benefits since at least 2010. In a statement, Restaurant Associates attributed the violations to "administrative technicalities related to our Associates' evolving day-to-day work responsibilities." It said that the company had "corrected the classifications." (Workers I've interviewed said that at least nine employees still dispute their classifications.) That hundreds of current and former Senate workers will soon receive back pay is a good thing. But what about other workers who have been victimized who don't know their rights, who fear retaliation if they pipe up, and who don't have third-party groups and the congressional press corps paying attention? "Most workplaces are not the Senate cafeteria," said David Weil, the administrator of the Labor Department division that ran the investigation. "I'm worried about workplaces where workers are really alone, where they're subjected to jaw-dropping violations of basic labor standards." Today, fewer than 1,000 Labor Department investigators are looking into wage and hour law violations. That's fewer than there were when Jimmy Carter was president, even though the U.S. workforce has grown more than 50 percent since. In each of the past three years, the Obama administration has requested funding for more investigators; each time, Congress has said no. Which is peculiar. Enforcement should be a bipartisan issue. If politicians truly care about inequality and fairness, reducing reliance on public assistance, making sure the system isn't "rigged" against the little guy, and, for that matter, "law and order," they should start by enforcing the laws already on the books and by making sure hard-working Americans get every cent to which they are entitled. Catherine Rampell's email address is crampell@washpost.com. SHARE By Kathleen Parker PHILADELPHIA A longtime Republican friend texted just as the Democratic National Convention was burying itself in balloons: "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm a Democrat." Another Republican friend called after President Obama spoke Wednesday night: "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm a Democrat." No apologies necessary. But thanks surely go to Donald Trump and his spineless Republican enablers. The party of Lincoln, a sometimes laughable bragging point for die-hards whose racial attitudes survived the Civil War intact, is long gone. Its dissolution began at least with Richard Nixon, who embraced a Southern strategy that pandered to racists and set the course for today's GOP. The party of angry men and patient women tried to add a little sugar and spice, plunging itself ever-lower on the curve when it embraced a cute little winkin', blinkin' and noddin' gal-gov from Alaska as vice presidential running mate to John McCain and a heartbeat away from the presidency. Next came the tea party movement to which Sarah Palin briefly attached her Winnebago, followed by the government shutdown, and culminating with the glittering, twittering Tower of Trump. That many people on both sides of the aisle are furious and feel marginalized by the pitiless evolutionary march of globalization is understandable. That any one person can make it all better, as Trump has claimed, is a joke that even the mirthless Vladimir Putin surely finds laughable. Trump's lack of cool and couth reminds me of the old quip, "Who'd want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member?" For many Republicans, the question is: "Who'd want to be a member of a party that would have Donald Trump as its leader?" Not I, you may have noticed. At least a few dozen readers have taken note and written to express their disappointment. "You used to make so much sense," they say. Or, "You're obviously a tool of the left." (I was hoping for Satan, but no luck.) The most popular: "You're obviously a member of the liberal media cabal." Yep, that's me. We cabals just sit around plotting our next mass assault on the candidate who, if elected, would keep us employed at least another four years. I suppose it's time for a confession: I've never been a Republican and never said I was. I've been an independent since the early 1980s and was a Democrat before that. If you're disappointed, well, sorry. It's not I who has changed. Although I find Trump reprehensible and have written continuously out of a sense of duty to country, I'm not about to become a Democrat. What for? Parties, clubs and groups hold little interest for a person who delights in her own company and identifies with Florence King, the brilliant curmudgeonly commentator and author who once wrote: "We may be psychopaths in our own fashion, but we behave because we know that prison life is communal." Relax, snowflakes, she was being irreverent. Like King, I'm a conservative, if this means everyone will leave me alone. Its further appeal, as defined by theorist Russell Kirk, is that conservatism is the negation of ideology. In a world gone barking mad in defense of this or that ideology or religion, I'm fine with the blank page and the wisdom of ages. In a lecture called "Ten Conservative Principles," Kirk explained: "A people's historic continuity of experience ... offers a guide to policy far better than the abstract designs of coffee-house philosophers." Hear, hear, though I as much as anyone do love a caffeinated debate about the meaning of squid. Dearest to my heart is Kirk's conviction that conservatives "uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism." This gets at the essence of our debate about the role of government. Decentralized authority to the extent reasonable and practicable seems the obvious preference, given the alternative. But opposing collectivism also means opposing collectivist thought, which has increasingly come to define the GOP. With its acceptance of Trump, the party has implicitly embraced the most un-American of litmus tests for citizens and immigrants based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Republicans are becoming ideologues of exclusion and marginalization, with hints of oppression to come. Who'd want to be a party to that? Not I. Contact Kathleen Parker at kathleenparker@washpost.com. A lot of people will be talking about news this morning that Didi is to buy Uber China in a deal valued at around $35 billion, a deal that puts Apple firmly in the ride-sharing market. Back seat drivers Whats setting speculation free is Apples recent billion-dollar investment in Didi and its widely reported Apple Car plans. Discussing the deal during last weeks financial call, Apple CEO, Tim Cook said: We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn about certain segments of the China market. Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well. Terms of the deal Here is what we know about the deal according to whats crossing newswires this morning: Under the agreement: Uber China will maintain independent branding and business operations to ensure stabilityand continuity of service for passengers and drivers; Didi Chuxing will integrate the managerial and technological experience and expertise of the two teams, to meet Chinas ever richer transportation demands with more value-added solutions; Didi Chuxing will work with regulators, peers and stakeholder groups to continue educating the market to build a healthy environment in support of the growth of Chinas mobile internet industry and the nations economic development program; and Didi Chuxing will continue to work with global partners in connecting local resources to create the best possible cross-border ridesharing experience for their users. (Press Release) Uber gets 5.89 percent stake in the newly merged entity. Uber also gets preferential equity around 17.7 percent Existing Uber China investors get 2.3 percent of the new business. Bloomberg claims Didi will invest $1 billion in Uber globally. Cheng Wei, founder and chairman of Didi Chuxing, joins Ubers board, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick joins Didis board. Ubers Kalanick told staff this morning that the deal was about helping make services profitable. What is also interesting is Didis existing relationships with other Uber competitors including Lyft in the US, India's Ola and Southeast Asia's Grab. What that means is that for the cost of its billion-dollar Didi investment, Apple now has a stake in Uber and relationships with ride hailing services worldwide. Thats a pretty useful position to be in when the company appears to be heavily invested in Apple Car. Its not just cars Why is Apple so interested in the cars? Well, other than the potential to put connected mobile intelligence into vehicles, and to provide services to car users, Tim Cooks people are likely to be very interested in the much wider opportunity of digital transformation in the vehicle and associated industries. These technologies arent confined in impact to the cars you drive or hail; haulage, logistics, agriculture, farm machinery, shipping even aviation are all subject to similar disruptive forces. Apple wants to be a part of all of this change. Im not whistling in the dark in saying this. Ubers Kalanick this morning hinted he has a similar future vision, saying the deal would free up Ubers resources for bold initiatives focused on the future of cities -- from self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." Thats the kind of thing thats at stake. iOS in the infrastructure Within such a wide game it evidently makes a great deal of sense for Apple to focus its connected vehicle efforts on a much wider market than the one for private vehicles. Why wouldnt the company want its carOS software to be providing the intelligence for every kind of road transport, from cars to buses, trucks, heavy machinery, even military applications? (Frankly I think its ambitions go much further). Theres no way the company can create vehicles for all these verticals, so creating and licensing the software to other firms may well be the most logical approach. The opportunity more than compensates for the relatively minor hassle of adopting a fresh approach to Apples business. Ultimately if a huge number of vehicles are already running carOS, Apple can still make good money creating cutting edge vehicles for the premium consumers it works so hard to please. Doing so means it would benefit from both scale of use and design chutzpah. Localization counts How Apples plans may benefit from its association with the new breed of ride sharing services may not be immediately obvious, but I can imagine that being able to call on expert country-by-country knowledge concerning local laws, regulations and customs when it comes to driving can only benefit the company in its efforts to expand into different markets. Being able to test and deploy carOS systems in the real world will also help build awareness and widen proliferation. One thing is for sure. We now know Uber is looking at self-driving technology to the future of food and logistics." Following the Didi deal, Apple now has an investment in exactly the same things. A single move that puts Apple at the very heart of the digital transformation of everything. Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple? Want Apple TV tips? If you want to learn how to get the very best out of your Apple TV, please visit my Apple TV website. Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld. The FBI is investigating a previously unreported cyberattack on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC); like the earlier Democratic National Committee (DNC) breach, Russia denied any involvement. Russia previously called claims that it was behind the DNC hack and trying to influence the presidential election absurd. It has repeatedly denounced the poisonous anti-Russian rhetoric coming out of Washington. Regarding the DCCC attack, a Kremlin spokesman told Reuters, We dont see the point any more in repeating yet again that this is silliness. Then, days after news about the DCCC hack broke, Russia claimed that someone hacked 20 of its government organizations. This weekend, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) released a statement claiming that it had discovered malware designed for cyberespionage on the computer networks of 20 Russian government organizations. According to a Google-translation, the malware was found on Russian networks for public authorities and management, scientific and military institutions, enterprises of the military-industrial complex and other objects of critical infrastructure. The cyberespionage malware had been tailored for specific victims and was delivered by convincing the targets to open malicious email attachments. Once the network was infected, attackers were able to intercept traffic, take screenshots, turn on web cameras and microphones as well as record keystrokes on PCs and mobile phones. Although Russias FSB did claim the hack had been planned and made professionally, and resembled much spoken about cyber-spying, the agency stopped short of assigning blame to any particular country. Nevertheless, ABC News jumped on the chance to report that the NSA was likely hacking back. While thats not precisely what NSA Tailored Access operations chief Robert Joyce said, he did say that the NSA has technical capabilities and legal authorities that allow the agency to hack back suspected hacking groups, infiltrating their systems to gather intelligence about their operations in the wake of a cyberattack. Despite Russias denials, many cyber experts are convinced that the hacker Guccifer is actually two different Russian cyberespionage groups which were responsible for the DNC hack. The FBI was tasked with investigating the breach. A former NSA attorney suggested to ABC that perhaps the FBI gave the NSA the go head to find out for sure. Rajesh De, former general counsel at the NSA, said that if the NSA is targeting the Russian groups, it could be doing it under its normal foreign intelligence authorities, as the Russian government is clearly ... a valid intelligence target. Or the NSA could be working under the FBI's investigative authority and hacking the suspects' systems as part of technical support for investigators, said De. The Russian hack was nothing nearly so payback-dramatic as blacking out internet access to an entire nation, such as occurred in North Korea shortly after the U.S. officially blamed North Korea for the Sony hack. Yet an unnamed former senior U.S. official told ABC that it was a fair bet the NSA was using its hackers' technical prowess to infiltrate two Russian hacking teams. More often than not, the hacking finger of blame is pointed at China. Former Pentagon cyber analyst Kenneth Geers doesnt doubt the Russians were behind the DNC hack, but told ABC that there is the remote possibility that a very clever hacker or hacking team could be framing the Russians. By releasing a statement about 20 Russian government agencies being infected with spy-capability malware, it could be the Kremlin is trying to show that it too gets hacked before the DCCC hack also gets laid at its feet. When it comes to cyberespionage, everybody hacks everybody else and no one admits it. Google, in new federal court papers, is rebutting claims of age discrimination and its handling of two older job applicants who were rejected for positions. Google insisted in a court filing Friday that its policy "rigorously forbids discrimination of any kind," including age discrimination. It is fighting an age discrimination lawsuit brought last year by two plaintiffs who were rejected for jobs. Both are over the age of 40. One plaintiff, Cheryl Fillekes, a programmer, filed a motion in June to make this age discrimination lawsuit a "collective action" case for software engineers, site reliability engineers or systems engineers over the age of 40 who applied for a job at Google, but where rejected. That could broaden the case to include thousands of people. Specifically, Fillekes' motion asks the federal court in California to require Google to provide the names and contact information of engineering applicants who have applied for a job since Aug. 13, 2010, received an in-person interview and were refused employment. But Google said it has received "over one million applications" for those three positions since 2010. It didn't disclose how many people who applied for one of these jobs received an in-person interview. The job application figure for the three types of technical positions involved in Google's lawsuit is an estimate made without regard to age, said Google, "because there is no systematic or reliable way of identifying applicants who were 40 or more years of age when they submitted applications or interviewed in-person since Google does not collect data on the age or birthdate of its applicants." In her lawsuit, Fillekes said that she was recruited by Google four times, in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013, and in each instance was invited for an in-person interview and rejected each time. Fillekes earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Chicago and undertook postdoctoral work at Harvard. But Google questions why it would "waste Google employees' time" with "five or six onsite interviews only to reject the candidate on the basis of age." Fillekes' age was allegedly discerned at her first in-person interview with Google in 2007. Google argues in its motion that neither Fillekes nor the other plaintiff, Robert Heath, "offers a coherent theory" or "substantial evidence" to back up their claims. In an email response to a Computerworld query, Fillekes' attorney, Daniel Low, said that the "courts have recognized that a party seeking conditional certification of an opt-in class bears a very light burden in establishing that the legal requirements for certification are met, and we believe that plaintiffs have met that lenient standard here." Google said it conducts a "rigorous technical evaluation" of potential candidates for the three engineering jobs. The process works like this: Google identifies a "promising candidate" from among the applications. Recruiters conduct a phone interview to assess the candidate's interest in a job and their current roles and responsibilities. If the candidate passes the initial interview, the person is invited to a "Technical Phone Screen." The interviewers, who are engineers, present the candidates "with a series of technical challenges related to computer code or systems design, and the candidate responds -- for instance, by proposing an algorithm or a piece of computer code." Candidates who pass the technical interview may be invited to on-site interviews, which may consist of four or five separate in-person interviews. Google says it tries to match candidates with interviewers who have expertise in relevant areas. These interviewers also "test a candidate's proficiency with algorithms and system design." The recruiting team then evaluates the interview scores, notes and comments and decides whether the candidate should be reviewed by the hiring committee. Hiring committees "are usually comprised of at least four experienced Google employees who have the relevant skillset to assess a candidate," Google said. Google claims that Heath, a software engineer, did not pass the technical test, and wasn't invited to an in-person interview. But it is Fillekes, not Heath, who has filed the collective action. Google also disputed the contention that the average age of its workforce is 29. That number, included in the lawsuit, is based on a Payscale analysis, which is compared to a U.S. government report that puts the average age of computer programmers at 42.8. Google is dismissive of the Payscale age estimate, but didn't offer an alternative. Instead, it said that U.S. data shows "workers age 40 or older are not as available as younger workers" because job tenure increases with age. Fast Forward: Students to participate in alumni-led career preparation week Students participate in a career workshop at Connecticut College. This month, 20 Connecticut College students will participate in Fast Forward, a weeklong intensive college-to-career preparation workshop led by alumni professionals. The five-day, multi-track program will provide a real-world perspective in the areas of finance/entrepreneurship, law, non-profit organizations and health professions. This is another exciting opportunity Connecticut College students have to develop the career and networking skills they need to be successful in todays interconnected and global workforce, said Noel Garrett, dean for academic support and director of the Academic Resource Center. Participants will receive in-depth, interactive training in developing a marketing plan and personal brand; public speaking and presentation; financial literacy; and finance and business practices. They will follow one of four industry tracks: business/entrepreneurship, law, health or non-profit. All sessions will be led by Connecticut College alumni. The program, which runs Aug. 7-12, will begin with an opening dinner and keynote address by Trustee Annie Scott 84, director of information technology at Middlesex Community College and founding member and first president of the Board of Directors of the Brass City Charter School. Throughout the week, students will have opportunities to assess their skills with mentorship and guidance from Conn alumni and employers. They will also receive extensive feedback from professionals in their fields and develop a personalized plan for achieving their career goals. This program is especially appealing to me because it provides the opportunity to get a head start on fine tuning the communication and personal skills necessary in almost any career, while also giving participants a chance to create connections with successful alumni, said Erin Martin 19, who plans to complete Fast Forwards health track. I am particularly excited to meet with Connecticut College alumni who are now experienced in the field I hope to pursue. Fast Forward is sponsored by the Colleges Academic Resource Center. There is no cost for students to participate. The workshop is part of the Colleges four-year career program, an integral part of the Connecticut College experience that complements the academic rigor inside the classroom and prepares students for 21st century careers. Through the program, all students are eligible for up to $3,000 for an internship in the summer before their senior year. Recently, the program was named one of the top 20 in North America by the Princeton Review. August 1, 2016 Andrew Kennedy is the Group Agent & Campaign Director in West Kent. He blogs at www.votingandboating.blogspot.com. If we agree that the primary, if not the sole, objective of the Conservative Party is to win elections, then we can have no complaints about the Partys relentless focus on those very seats which deliver victory. Our 40:40 strategy played a major role in achieving that in 2015, and should be celebrated. But we must also accept that there are unhelpful consequences of allowing the Partys organisation to decline in those constituencies that are the wrong side of 40:40, and also in allowing our traditional majority seats to stumble on without a serious strategy to grow and develop. I entered politics in Merseyside during the late 1970s. The climate then was very different to todays. The Conservative Party held two seats in the city of Liverpool (Wavertree and Garston) and was competitive in two others. We also held Crosby and Wirral West with majorities of 20,000. We held Southport and Wirral South by almost 10,000 and, in Wallasey, Lynda Chalker had a majority of 2,000 in a seat which had been Conservative since its creation. In local government, the Conservative Party controlled Merseyside County Council, held a third of the seats on Liverpool City Council, comfortably controlled Wirral and Sefton Councils, and had representation throughout the county. All that has now gone. There are now no Conservative MPs in Merseyside, no Conservative councillors in Liverpool or Knowsley, three in St Helens and, in Sefton (which is home to some of the countys wealthiest and most exclusive neighbourhoods), we are down to just six out of 66. Only in Wirral do we remain competitive, even though we have not had a majority on the local borough council for 30 years. This story isnt unique to Merseyside. A similar tale of decline could be told of Manchester (with the honourable exception of Trafford), Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastlein fact, any major industrial city or region. Does it matter? After all, we can win a Parliamentary majority without them. In my view, yes it does, for two very important, reasons. Firstly, if we are to be a truly national Party, we must have in place a structure which enables us to hear, absorb and reflect the views of the entire United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland). This cannot be achieved if the Conservative Party does not meaningfully exist in a third of the country. Secondly, we have a duty to give Conservative supporters both candidates to vote for and an organisation to be a part of in every constituency. And this can only be achieved by having no no-go areas for the blue rosette. I am not so starry-eyed as to believe that one big push will deliver new Conservative MPs in areas that havent had them for a generation. However, in every town, city and borough there are sufficient Conservative voters who, if properly motivated and organised, could gain council seats and start a nascent organisation where none has existed for decades. None of this will happen by chance. It will require dedicated effort from CCHQ, investment (in terms of infrastructure and staffing) and, just as importantly, the goodwill and co-operation of what few activists we still have in these areas, many of whom feel so abandoned that they may be understandably suspicious of outside interference. The prize, however, is one worth striving for. One or two Conservative council victories in Liverpool, Manchester or Newcastle would do more for morale than gaining another 20 council seats in Kent, and the very fact that the Conservative Party can come back in areas where we have been written-off would, in itself, breed further success as thousands of Conservative voters came home, realising that we were no longer a lost cause. With those returning voters would come returning members, donors and activists and so we would slowly begin the process of renewal. In 1987, Chalker faced the battle of her political life. The Militant Tendency was in the ascendant in Merseyside. In Wallasey, demographic changes made her seat vulnerable and a Militant-backed Labour candidate was well-financed and attracted committed activists from across the region. Had Wallasey Conservatives had to face this battle alone, they would have lost. I know, I was there, and was part of the team running Chalkers campaign. But we were bolstered by a hundred activists on loan from Wirral West (the Conservative MP accepting he wasnt going to lose), and a hundred further activists from the City of Liverpool (our candidates there accepting that they probably werent going to win, but wanting to ensure that Chalker did). This flood of local support from people who knew the area, understood the issues and implications, and cared about the outcome, enabled the Conservative Party to hold Wallasey by just 279 votes. Last year, the situation had reversed. The atrophy of our organisation in Merseyside took its toll in the harshest way. In a city which in the earIy 1980s boasted over 3000 Conservative members there are now just 80, and of these (according to my friend Tony Caldeira, our Liverpool Mayoral candidate) there are probably no more than 10 activists. As the Conservative Party has died in Liverpool, so Labour has felt sufficiently confident to release en masse their activists to fight elsewhere. It was the flood of Labour activists which enabled Labour to win Wirral West and Chester a complete reversal of a generation ago. And this is why we must rebuild and renew. Small victories at council level will rebuild morale and knock the confidence of the opposition. Councillors and activists in all our major towns and cities will improve the narrative we have with the whole country but equally important is having a local resource to draw on to help defend or gain our nearby target seats. This is infinitely preferable to the cost and effort of bussing activists around the country into areas they do not know, and with which they have no emotional connection. There are some simple procedures that the Party can put in place to help this happen. The early selection of Parliamentary candidates (either through individual constituency selections or the City Seats Initiative) would be a catalyst for activity and campaigning. The appointment of a series of high-profile Ministers with specific city/region responsibilities and overseeing our revival, would ensure our local people had access to media coverage and that our arguments were at least heard. But the above, whilst being helpful, would probably only provide a short-term focus on the next Parliamentary campaign. What we really need are a dedicated team of paid organisers in each area, whose sole focus is the long-term and painstaking task of rebuilding our organisation from the grassroots up. And, given the lack of members and money in so many of these areas, this can probably only be achieved if the Party pursues Lord Feldmans goals of grouping to ensure the project doesnt fail. I wish our new Party Chairman, Patrick McLoughlin, every success. He takes the reins at an exciting time for our Party. New members, a new Prime Minister, an Opposition in disarray, and a 16 per cent lead in the polls could encourage complacency. These factors also provide an opportunity to do something truly radical which will benefit us for generations to come. We rightfully criticised Gordon Brown for failing to fix the roof while the sun was shining on the economy. Lets hope future generations of activists dont blame CCHQ for failing to fix the problems of the voluntary party while the sun is shining on Theresa May. SHARE By John Martin of the Courier and Press Old National Bancorp reported a profitable second quarter, fueled by growth in its new Wisconsin market and elsewhere in the company's footprint. The Evansville-based bank completed its acquisition of Anchor BanCorp of Wisconsin during the quarter while also selling the former Old National Insurance Group. Old National reported net income of $39.1 million (31 cents per share). That compares to net income of $27 million in the first quarter of 2016 and $26.2 million in the second quarter of 2015. "This was a quarter marked by significant milestones for Old National as we closed on our largest partnership to date, completed the sale of our insurance group and ended our FDIC loss share agreement," chairman and CEO Bob Jones said in a news release. "These actions coupled with solid organic loan growth and a continued focus on expense management allowed us to continue to grow our business in spite of the economic challenges facing all U.S. financial companies. Our shareholders also benefitted by the increase in tangible book value even after the closing of our Anchor partnership." Anchor had 46 banking centers, and Jones told investors on a conference call Monday there were no closures associated with the acquisition. Before Anchor, Old National's largest prior acquisition was its 2011 takeover of Integra. Old National expects continued good results in Wisconsin. "The future there is very bright," Jones said. "Production there was beyond anything even we expected ... The morale is excellent." Prime Risk Partners during the quarter closed on its purchase of ONB Insurance Group for $93 million. Old National officials have previously said the insurance group's financial returns weren't as high as with other parts of the company, and keeping it competitive would have required a significant investment in people and technology. The insurance company's sale did not involve the loss of any jobs, according to Old National. The bank plans to use some of its proceeds from the insurance company sale to terminate is pension plan, with lump-sum payouts distributed to participants. Old National reporter net interest income for the second quarter of $99.3 million, compared to $85.6 million in the first quarter, and $92.1 million in the second quarter of 2015. With the presidential election looming in three months, Jones said he sees economic confidence locally, but uncertainty when the national outlook enters the conversation. When we go out and talk to our clients, they feel very good about their business, their pipelines is very strong, they think their economy is doing great, Jones said. When you start to navigate toward the national economy, they start to go, oh, its a challenging time. And its natural, when youve got two (political) conventions, 24/7 news, and everybodys telling us how bad we ought to feel. But there is a disconnect between the national picture and the micro economies that we see in our markets. You look at our loan pipeline, over a billion dollars is a great signal of how strong the economy is in the four states we are operating in (Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconisn). Eric Holcomb SHARE Eric Holcomb has worked closely over the past dozen years with Indiana's two most recent governors. Now, as he seeks to follow those men into the state's highest office, one question looms arguably above all others. Is Eric Holcomb more Mitch Daniels, or more Mike Pence? The answer to that question could help determine the outcome of the November election for governor. And while Holcomb will surely never answer it it's far too politically charged he would be wise to send clear signals that his leadership style, political focus and policy heart are more in line with his former boss, Mitch Daniels, than his current boss, Mike Pence. Much of Indiana doesn't know Holcomb, a longtime Republican staffer and operative who has served as lieutenant governor for only a few months and who has no legislative voting record to scrutinize. But they do know his two most prominent bosses. One, Mitch Daniels, is remembered as a big-ideas conservative leader who kept his focus on the issues most important to Indiana and who made transformational changes to the operation of state government. The other, Mike Pence, has offered four years of lightweight policies and weak leadership while being distracted by damaging and divisive social-issue crusades. Mitch or Mike which one has more influenced Eric Holcomb? The answer is critical, for the state and for the Republican Party. Both Indiana and the GOP could use a protege of Daniels. Neither needs another four years of Pence. Holcomb has worked at high levels alongside both governors; there is perhaps nobody in Indiana who has worked more closely with the two men. As he said Tuesday, after the GOP state committee selected him to be the party's nominee, "We have accomplished so much over the past 12 years, and I have had a front-row seat." Indeed, along with holding various top roles in the Daniels campaign and administration, Holcomb later chaired the Indiana Republican Party, essentially the political arm of the governor's office. Earlier this year, Pence selected him to be his lieutenant governor after Sue Ellspermann resigned. He is forever tied to both governors. But now, with Pence running for vice president, Holcomb has an opportunity to define himself. He has an opportunity to make clear whether Indiana needs a governor focused obsessively on jobs and education, or one who is willing to let Indiana continue to be seen as a home of ridiculous abortion bills and discriminatory legislation. You can bet that Democratic nominee John Gregg will work hard to tie Holcomb to the Pence administration messes. Holcomb secured the nomination Tuesday during a private, secret vote of 22 members of the GOP state central committee. In winning the nod, he defeated two sitting members of Congress, Susan Brooks and Todd Rokita. Afterward, Holcomb wisely promised to focus on economic development, the operation of state government and education. (Of course, Pence said the same things in 2012.) Holcomb declined to offer a position on a much-needed expansion of the state's civil rights laws, and he dodged a question about whether he would ask Republican legislators to take, as Daniels once asked of federal lawmakers, a timeout on social issues. "The General Assembly will focus on what the General Assembly wants to focus on, and I appreciate that," he said, adding that he would focus on "economic development, community development and making sure the state provides good state services." Two Republicans who have worked closely with Holcomb insisted to me that he is more like Daniels than Pence, more pragmatic than ideological, and more focused on issues such as the state's fiscal and economic situation than on social debates. We will see if that is true, but I will say this: In dozens of long conversations with Holcomb over the years, he has talked at length about the core issues of government and Daniels' style of leadership but, as far as I can remember, never about cultural matters. In the end, Holcomb's fate this November likely relies on generating excitement among both those who consider themselves Daniels Republicans and Pence Republicans. And as a current member of the Pence administration who benefited from his boss's endorsement last week, he can hardly be expected to distance himself from the current governor. Still, there are a lot of weary moderates in Indiana, and Holcomb can send clear, comforting messages in the coming weeks about the type of governor he would be. A simple declaration that he supports an expanded civil rights law would be both cheered and a sign that he puts jobs and pragmatic economic considerations ahead of ideological matters. A call to unite Indiana and to be open to ideas from across the spectrum would be welcome. A declaration that Indiana government must stay focused on issues that truly improve our state would be appreciated. "I am going to reach out to everyone, even if I don't agree with their position on a certain issue," Holcomb said. That was a good start, and a good message. Now, with a wink or a clearly defined campaign message, Holcomb needs to answer the question: When it comes to governing, is he more like Mitch Daniels or Mike Pence? Many voters in Indiana would like to know the answer to that question. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Isabelle Tieman, 7, of Boonville (from left), instructor Anna Maria Whetstine, of Evansville, and Cali Carter, 7, also of Boonville, work together to mix paint during a summer art class at 22 Jefferson Avenue Art Studios and Gallery during a recent class. SHARE ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Isabelle Tieman, 7, of Boonville, (from left), and instructor Anna Maria Whetstine, of Evansville, prepare for a summer art class at 22 Jefferson Art Studios and Gallery during a recent class. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Cali Carter, 7, of Boonville, prepares to mix a container of paint during a summer art class at 22 Jefferson Avenue Art Studios and Gallery. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Cali Carter, 7, of Boonville, concentrates on covering a canvas with a base coat of paint during a summer art class at 22 Jefferson Art Studios and Gallery. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Isabelle Tieman, 7, (left) and Cali Carter, 7, both of Boonville, work to cover their canvasses with a base coat of paint during a summer art class at 22 Jefferson Art Studios and Gallery. By Kelly Gifford of the Courier and Press During her three years teaching English in Argentina, Annamaria Whetstine visited cultural centers throughout the city that helped foster a love for the arts. Artists would teach master classes and provide workshops for beginners and children. Everything from oil painting to tango dancing took place in the culture centers, and Whetstine was enthralled by the passion and community created around them. The centers inspired Whetstine's vision for 22 Jefferson Avenue Art Studios and Gallery, a rental studio space and gallery she opened in Haynie's Corner Art District in August 2014. In the two years since opening, the gallery has had more than 40 artists showcase their work through exhibitions, hosted several art classes throughout various mediums of art and is looking to add more classes taught by Whetstine and other local artists throughout the area for students of all ages and abilities. When Whetstine returned from Argentina in 2012, she'd already formed a vision of what 22 Jefferson would eventually be like. She just didn't have the space to help make her vision a reality. In the first two years after her return to Evansville, the city had begun its preliminary work on trying to revitalize Haynie's Corner, which at the time was the last place Whetstine would have thought her dream would take place. After being connected with Phillip Hooper, executive director of Metropolitan Development at the time, Whetstine learned about some of the vacant historic homes in the district that could potentially be used as live-work spaces for businesses. "The stigma surrounding Haynie's Corner was going away, and the district has really worked to make its own identity and move things forward through the city's history and culture," she said. " I thought that environment would be the best fit for what I was looking to do." She saw her vision coming together after visiting the home at 22 Jefferson Ave., built in 1904 and almost completely eaten up by vines and in need of some major interior renovations. She received a grant from the state for historic preservation of the house to help create her studio in 2013 and opened about a year later. Whetstine has seen the space fill with artistic inspiration and learning. Her two studio spaces are regularly rented out by artists on a monthly or weekly basis depending on the artists' need. The artists have access to the downstairs kitchen, a laundry sink and can showcase their work in the gallery and host classes as well. Teaching has always been at the center of her vision for 22 Jefferson. Being a teacher herself, Whetstine said teaching art is the best way to spread it throughout the community. In the coming months, Whetstine is hoping to elevate the class offers at 22 Jefferson. She and other local artists will be offering classes through the studio, and Whetstine is looking for other artists to reach out about any other class ideas. She sees the gallery growing through the kinds of art offered at the studio. She said she could see literary workshops, poetry readings, concerts and event dance lessons being offered in the studio space. "There are so many other kinds of art out there in the city. First Fridays, Funk in the City and all the other festivals show how many talented people there are in the area," she said. "I want those artists to feel like they could use this space to spread their work and teach others their style of art." Throughout the fall, 22 Jefferson will be offering a portraiture class for more experienced artists, a still life art painting class for beginner artists, a craft and art club night on the fourth Thursday of the month and children's art classes. Whetstine said bringing in people with all different skill levels and projects will be a fun way for people to not only explore their creative side but also learn from other people who might have more experience than they do. Whetstine sees the gallery offering even more opportunities to learn and experience art. She hopes to add a back porch and seating to the backyard and possibly a fire kiln too. She envisions arts organizations throughout the area using the gallery as a space for outreach and workshops for the community. After first starting, Whetstine would worry that people wouldn't see 22 Jefferson as a space they'd want to create or learn in. Her brother-in-law gave her some advice she continually reminds herself of now when she worries about the gallery's future. "He told me that the gallery is like a puppy. Raising it can have some hard moments, but in the end it's always worth it," she said. "He helped me see that the gallery would grow in its own time, and I just needed to stay true to my vision." SHARE By Jon Webb All charges have been dropped against the second and final man charged in a May dog-dragging case that led to the bloody death of a Great Dane. Felony animal abuse charges against Jamie McFarland, 44, were dismissed without prejudice on Monday, according to court records. He had been charged with three felony counts of animal abuse and one misdemeanor. Whitney Riggs, a spokeswoman for the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office, said the decision to drop the charges came after another defendant accused in the incident, Brandyn Cox, 24, was found not guilty on Friday. McFarland was accused of tying Hank, a 7-year-old black Great Dane mix, to the back of a truck belonging to Cox, who then drove more than five miles with Hank attached to the vehicle, according to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office. Cox was subsequently charged with felony animal cruelty and intimidation using a deadly weapon. He was found not guilty of those charges, but was convicted of interfering with the reporting of a crime, a misdemeanor. Cox's attorney, John Brinson, argued his client wasn't the aware that the dog was tied to his truck. After Friday's verdict, Riggs said the prosecutor's office decided not to move forward with the charges against McFarland. "For our office, the stronger case was against Brandyn Cox, and as we know, 12 jurors found him not guilty," she said. "We reviewed the case against Mr. McFarland and made the decision to drop the charges." Riggs said the prosecutor's office also had video from the day of the incident showing McFarland chasing Cox's truck to try to stop it from leaving. "We also know he went to a neighbor's house immediately to get help," Riggs said. According to the sheriff's office, Cox was accused of driving the truck from McFarland's Old Henderson Road residence to Pearl Drive on the West Side of Evansville on May 3, reportedly dragging the dog more than five miles. Evansville-Vanderburgh Central Dispatch began receiving calls from witnesses to the incident about 6:30 a.m. "The entire left side of (Hank's) body, down to (his) rib cage, (had been torn) away by road friction," according to investigators. A blood trail reportedly followed the route. Hank's owner, Dale Miller, lived with McFarland but wasn't home at the time of the incident. He told the Courier & Press on Friday that he's been seeing a therapist since the incident. He's since moved to Florida. The cases were handled by the county's animal abuse task force, with attorney Susan Odoyo serving as special prosecutor. The task force was rolled out in 2014 as joint venture between the Evansville Vanderburgh Animal Care and Control, Evansville Police Department and the sheriff's office. Its goal is to reduce animal neglect and abuse through three steps: prevention, protection and prosecution. SHARE Caleb K. Loving By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press Caleb Loving listened quietly Monday as his life history and mental health were dissected in front of a jury in Vanderburgh Circuit Court. A jury began hearing evidence Monday in Loving's trial for reportedly planting a homemade bomb at a local McDonald's and setting fire to an apartment building last year. Loving, 26, is charged with possession of a destructive device or explosive, a level 2 felony; arson, a level 4 felony; criminal recklessness, a level 6 felony; and false informing, a class B misdemeanor. Stephen Owens, the county's chief public defender, told prospective jurors Monday morning that he would argue that Loving is not guilty by mental disease or defect. "He has spent virtually the vast majority of his life in an institution of some sort or another," Owens told the jury in his opening statement. Before prosecutors began their case Monday, Magistrate Kelli Fink called psychologist David Cerling to the witness stand to be questioned about his evaluation of Loving. Cerling was one of two court-appointed psychologists who evaluated Loving and determined he was competent to stand trial. Insanity, in Indiana's legal system, is defined by whether or not a defendant was capable of understanding the wrongness of the crimes of which they are accused when they were allegedly committed. Cerling testified that it was his belief that Loving was able to understand right and wrong on July 23, 2015, when the actions he is accused of committing happened. The charges stem from two incidents on that date, including an early-morning fire at Sugar Mill Creek Townhomes on North Green River Road. Ed Richter testified that he called 911 after seeing Loving walk into the McDonald's on North Green River Road and sit down at a table while wearing what appeared a bulletproof vest and carrying a black bag. When officers questioned Loving inside the McDonald's he gave police a different name and birth date, according to court records. Police found two knives in Loving's boots. Inside his bag, police found a pipe bomb, a Molotov cocktail and a tomahawk, according to an affidavit of probable cause. An investigator said Loving also had recorded a video manifesto and made plans to steal a firearm. The apartment where Loving resided was a group home for Compass Residential Health. Loving lived there with a roommate and caretakers, according to his arrest affidavit. Owens told the jury in his opening argument that Loving was born in Hawaii but was taken from his abusive family at an early age and placed into a system of mental health care and group homes. Cerling testified that he reviewed Loving's records, interviewed him and gave him multiple tests. He said Loving had been diagnosed at various times with post traumatic stress, oppositional defiant disorder and reactive detachment disorder inability to connect with people. He said that Loving tested as having a mild intellectual impairment but that his perceptual reasoning ability to understand physical concepts, such as how to make and do things tested high. "My impression was that he did appreciate what he did was wrong," Cerling said. Screenshot from Evansville police body cam footage of the day SWAT conducted a raid on Milan's home. By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press The City of Evansville paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a Louise Milan whose home was damaged in a botched SWAT team raid in 2012, according to federal court records. Terms of the settlement, signed by Federal Magistrate Judge Matthew Brookman in May, have just now become public. "The settlement is a resolution of disputed claims that is in the best interests of all parties and which dismisses the case and allows the parties to move forward," said Robert Burkart, an attorney for the city. The agreement does not identify any "liability, guilt, fault or wrongdoing" by either police or Milan. It also releases the city, Evansville Police Department, individual officers and Milan from any further legal claims in the incident. "Ms. Milan and myself are very content this matter has been addressed satisfactorily and the issues outlined in the complaint have been addressed," said Attorney Kyle Biesecker, who represents Milan. Milan's lawsuit argued that police violated her Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights when the SWAT team tossed two flash-bang grenades into her home at 616 E. Powell Ave., and forced their way inside to serve a search warrant on June 21, 2012. "From our end, I'd hope it would raise awareness of flash-bang grenades and that level of force," Biesecker said. Neither Police Chief Billy Bolin nor Sgt. Jason Cullum, department spokesman, responded to an email from the Courier & Press asking if the incident had resulted in a change of the department's use of force or other procedures and tactics. Officers were looking for evidence of anonymous internet posts to a message board threatening the police department and Bolin. The officers did not find any evidence in the home. After a judge allowed the case to proceed to trial on Milan's claim that excessive force was used, city attorneys appealed it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which declined to hear it. At issue was whether police use of "flash-bang" grenades inside the house was excessive force. No one was injured in the raid, but police damaged Milan's house, handcuffed her and her daughter and seized their computers, according to the lawsuit. The raid was captured on video by a local television crew. It was later determined the threatening posts were not made from inside the house, according to court records, but were made from someone accessing the home's internet connection. Police arrested Derrick Murray for the threats. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge of transmitting threats in interstate commerce and was sentenced to spend 16 months in prison and then three years on supervised release. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Volunteers look through brush for Aleah Beckerle along Wolf Hills Road in Henderson, Saturday, July 30, 2016. More than 50 people came out Saturday to search for Beckerle who has been missing since July, 17. SHARE By Tori Fater, tori.fater@courierpress.com The search goes on for a 19-year-old Evansville woman reported missing more than two weeks ago, and police are asking anyone with information, "no matter how small it may seem," to speak up. Aleah Beckerle, who is severely disabled and needs constant care and medication, was reported missing July 17. Evansville police are still actively investigating her disappearance, according to a statement released Monday afternoon. The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal's Office and Ohio Valley Search and Rescue have assisted the Evansville Police Department with the search. "Numerous tips have been provided to the task force and every tip has been investigated," the statement reads. "Despite the efforts of law enforcement, search partners, and the community, Aleah Beckerle is still missing." Anyone with information is asked to call Evansville police at 812-436-7979 or the anonymous tip line at 1-800-78-CRIME. National search and rescue organization Texas Equusearch organized a large-scale search during the weekend, but did not find Beckerle. Searchers did find the body of 49-year-old Larry C. Thomas of Harrisburg, Illinois, along Pigeon Creek near First Avenue during Saturday's search. Vanderburgh County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Lockyear said Thomas' death was ruled a suicide after an autopsy this weekend. SHARE From left, Matthew Hoagland and mother Linda Iseler pose for a portrait in Fort Wayne, Ind., Thursday, July 28, 2016. Iseler's ex-husband Richard Hoagland left her and their family unexpectedly in 1993, and was recently found to be living in Florida under the stolen identity of a dead man. Iseler said Matthew has been her rock throughout the experience. (Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar) Richard Hoagland, 63, left his Indiana family 23 years ago and has been living under a stolen identity in Florida, police said. (Photo: Pasco County (Florida) Sheriff's Office) The unusual story of Richard Hoagland spans decades, states and families. By Vic Ryckaert / USA Today Netowrk / The Indianapolis Star FORT WAYNE, Ind. Sitting in a cold room in the Marion County prosecutor's office two decades ago, Linda Iseler was sure the detectives on the other side of that table didn't trust her. Iseler's husband at the time, Richard Hoagland, had disappeared from their Fishers home on Feb. 10, 1993, leaving her alone with 9-year-old Matthew, 6-year-old Douglas and a pile of unpaid bills, she said. "They kept implying that I was guilty, that I was involved in his disappearance," Iseler said. She knew nothing, she told them. They didn't believe her, she said. When the interview was over, one investigator accused her of planning to take the boys to leave and meet up with Hoagland. Hoagland had skipped town not long before law enforcement started investigating him in a theft case. He left behind more than unanswered questions and worried loved ones. He left his family in financial ruin, they said, and his wife under the intense scrutiny of law enforcement. And what had happened to Hoagland was a mystery that went unsolved for more than two decades. Until this past week. Police discovered that Hoagland had started a new family, bought property, registered vehicles and even earned a pilot's license using a name he stole from a dead man. "How can somebody be such a terrible human being," said Matthew Hoagland, now 33. IndyStar met Matthew Hoagland and Iseler, who divorced Richard Hoagland in 1993 and has since remarried, at their attorney's office in Fort Wayne on Thursday. Mother and son spoke candidly about the disappearance and sudden reappearance of a man whose recent arrest has reopened old wounds and thrust the family in the glare of national media. Iseler is a strong and devout woman. She said she's leaned heavily on her Christian faith and support from her family over the difficult years. Her memory of those days remains sharp and, guided by the advice of her attorney at the time, she kept meticulous notes inside a journal. She brought the book with her to the IndyStar interview, thumbing through its pages to read passages aloud. On the day Richard Hoagland left, Iseler had been working at a medical office in Greenfield. It was 4:45 p.m., Iseler said, looking at the notes. Hoagland called, telling her he was ill and headed to the emergency room. She pleaded with him to wait. She said she'd leave work and go with him. He said he would be gone before she got home. Iseler picked up Douglas from day care and was home by 5:25 p.m. Matthew was alone in the house. Fifteen minutes later, at 5:40 p.m., according to her notes, the phone rang. Hoagland was calling to say goodbye. He was never coming home. "I can't live this way anymore," he told her. "I feel you would be better off without me." He called again at 7:30 p.m., Iseler said, with sounds in the background suggesting he might be in an airport or bus station. "I don't want to go to jail," he told her. "I'm never coming back." Police found his van at the airport a few days later. Police told Iseler that Hoagland's name was not listed on any departing flights. Hoagland called a few more times, always collect, on Feb. 14 and 15, 1993, Iseler said. She said the phone bill showed the calls were placed from Aruba and Venezuela. In May 1993, Hoagland sent a card and $50 to Matthew for his 10th birthday. In July, Hoagland sent another card and $50 to Douglas, who turned seven. That was the last they heard from him, Iseler said. Meanwhile, Iseler said that Hoagland had rung up their credit cards and forged her signature to take out a bank loan before he skipped town. In the couple's December 1993 divorce decree, a judge ordered Hoagland to pay 26 different credit cards, loans and debts, along with unpaid taxes and attorney's fees. Their mortgage and car payments were overdue, Iseler said. She said she could not pay either. The police were looking for him, and came to her, believing that Iseler knew where Hoagland was. There was the accusatory meeting with the investigators. For at least the next six months, Iseler said somebody was watching her family. She noticed people following her in public; suspicious cars were parked near her house. Her mail showed signs of being opened and sealed back up, she said. She'd come home from work to find items out of place, like somebody had been inside. On Feb. 15, 1993, she said her father found a recording device attached to the bedroom telephone line. Iseler was terrified. "When you're in that situation you become very paranoid," Iseler said. "My thoughts were he hooked up with the wrong people and he did something wrong and he had to leave." Iseler declared bankruptcy. Creditors repossessed the family's van. The bank foreclosed on the house. In October 1993, Iseler went into hiding in McCordsville. The house, phone and utilities were in her parents' names. The school bus picked up and dropped off the boys at the home of a church friend. They hid for about six months, Iseler said. The family remained wary and lived in fear for a couple years. Hoagland, meanwhile, had made his way to West Palm Beach, Fla., where police say he found Terry Symansky's death certificate in a room he rented from Symansky's father. The real Symansky died in 1991. Hoagland, police said, used the death certificate to get Symansky's Ohio birth certificate. He used the birth certificate to get an Alabama driver's license. He got a Florida license under the new name in 1994, police said, and had been living as Symansky ever since. The deception was uncovered when the real Symansky's nephew searched ancestry.com and found documents showing his uncle had gotten married and earned a pilot's license after he had died. On July 20, Pasco County Sheriff's deputies arrested and booked Hoagland under his real name. Hoagland remained in jail Friday on a charge of fraudulent use of personal identification, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office website. Bond was set at $25,000. Under the new identity, police said Hoagland remarried and fathered another son, who now is 19. Richard Hoagland, 63, left his Indiana family 23 years ago and has been living under a stolen identity in Florida, police said. (Photo: Pasco County (Florida) Sheriff's Office) Hoagland's Indiana family said they have not met the Florida family. When asked if they had contacted them, Matthew Hoagland declined to comment. "My heart goes out to them," he said. "We know what they are going through," Iseler added. "We do express our sympathy and empathy to them. I'm sorry." Marion County prosecutors filed theft charges against Richard Hoagland in October 1993, electronic records show, but officials can't find the original file or the probable cause affidavit that would include detailed allegations of the offense. The records likely were destroyed within the past few years. In Indiana, the statute of limitations theft typically expires in five years. Hoagland, however, may still be called back to an Indiana courtroom. Iseler attorney, Tom Markle, said he will soon ask a judge to order Hoagland to fork over about $2 million in unpaid child support. SHARE Adrian Aurs photo from 2004 case. (Photo: Provided by IMPD) By Jill Disis and Madeline Buckley / USA Today Network / The Indianapolis Star An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer shot at least three rounds at an IMPD special investigations unit detective who was looking into domestic violence allegations against the officer, according to newly released court documents. Adrian Aurs, 42, was charged with attempted murder after officials say he shot Sgt. Robert Pearsey in his right elbow and side around 10:40 p.m. Friday. Court documents say Pearsey was interviewing Aurs' estranged wife at an apartment in the 6700 block of Valley Brook Way about a domestic violence allegation when Aurs forced his way into the apartment unannounced and pointed a gun at Pearsey. The couple's two small children were in the home at the time, documents say. They were not injured. According to a probable cause affidavit, Aurs fired his weapon at Pearsey, who returned fire at least one time before Aurs fled the apartment through a window. After the shooting, Aurs fled in his personal vehicle, a red Chevrolet Silverado. The affidavit says police tracked Aurs to Cincinnati, where he "barricaded himself in the vehicle" at first but later surrendered to Cincinnati police. Another witness told police she saw Aurs standing outside her apartment Friday evening "holding a gun in his hand and having a crazed look on his face." Documents also say Aurs called his wife's father while driving away in his truck to say "he was sorry." Police have not released details about the initial domestic incident. Aurs' estranged wife told police that she had been separated from Aurs for almost seven months. She filed for divorce last November. Court records at the time called the marriage "irretrievably broken." On Dec. 11, Aurs and his wife filed for personal protective orders against each other. His wife wrote in a petition for her protective order that Aurs once "physically harmed me by punching me several times and throwing me against furniture." She also wrote that in August 2015, Aurs put a gun to his head at home and "threatened suicide due to our marital problems." "Respondent put me in fear for my life," she wrote. Aurs' petition for a protective order also indicated that the couple's fights became physical. He wrote that in December his wife kicked and scratched him, prompting him to sleep in his child's room with the door locked due to "fear of other incidents." Shortly after those petitions were filed, the couple requested that they be dismissed. The divorce case is still listed as pending, according to online court records. Lanae Harden, a family law attorney who represents Aurs' wife, said her client had no comment on the recent incident because "it is such an emotional and difficult time right now." Pearsey was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital after the shooting with injuries to his elbow and back. He was reported in good condition this weekend. Pearsey, who was identified for the first time in court documents, is a 20-year veteran of the department. Aurs' 17-year career has had highs and lows. In 2003, Aurs was shot by a suspect after an exchange of gunfire, and only a bulletproof vest protected him from a potentially grievous injury. The 23-year-old suspect who shot him was killed.The president of the Fraternal Order of Police wrote in an IndyStar editorial after the shooting about the risks officers face trying to protect the community. Aurs received praise and an award after he helped pull a woman from a burning car in 2008. A personnel file for Aurs lists several awards and commendations, including a Medal of Valor issued in 2004 and a Medal of Bravery issued in 2008. Aurs was nominated for various other awards in 2008 and 2009, including a national "top cop" award and Northwest District Officer of the Month. In 2004, however, Aurs was arrested for drunken driving. He pleaded guilty and served a probation sentence. Around the time of his drunken driving arrest, Aurs also was suspended without pay for 20 days for violating the department's rules and regulations, according to his personnel file. The file also says Aurs served another unpaid 20-day suspension in mid-2005. Aurs' file says he violated a rule demanding that off-duty, on-suspension or on-leave officers conform to the department's rules, regulations, orders and policies. In 2012, Aurs was involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash while driving with alcohol in his system. A 78-year-old Greenwood man in another vehicle was killed, but prosecutors declined to file charges, finding that Aurs was not intoxicated and not at fault in the crash. IMPD Sgt. Kendale Adams said Monday that the department had no updates on when Aurs is expected back in Indianapolis. IndyStar reporter Michael Anthony Adams contributed to this story. SHARE By Allison Carter / USA Today Netowrk / The Indianapolis Star It's true, Indiana has never been a wild and wacky state. We aren't known for the "live free or die" spirit like New Hampshire, nor the crunchy granola types of California, nor the whatever the heck is going on down in Florida. But according to a new study, we are absolutely the most normal, average and unexceptional state in the union (including the District of Columbia). So how did we learn that we are superlative only in being mediocre? Business Insider conducted a new study that looked at 40 demographic, social, and economic indicators. These include things like demographics (racial makeup, gender makeup, etc.), education and employment levels, housing conditions, commute times, etc. You can see the full list here. They then took the average of these indicators and then saw how closely each state aligned with them. We aligned with them very, very closely. We most perfectly matched up in two areas: Average number of babies born (54 babies per 1,000 women of childbearing age versus 53 nationally) and high school diploma attainment (88.4 percent in Indiana, 88.5 percent nationally). There was only one area in which we significantly differed, and even that managed to be boring. We have the fifth highest rate of detached single family homes relative to other types of housing at 72.1 percent. Yawn. On the bright side, when people are talking about "the real America," we're it. Here in the heartland, we truly are representative of the rest of the nation. So at least there's that. If you're looking for other bastions of normalcy, check out Missouri, Oregon, North Carolina and Michigan. If you're looking for the weirdos, try the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Alaska, and California. See the full list here. SHARE Brandon Harris Boonville State Rep. Wendy McNamara wants to propose a bill in Indiana that would make it a felony to threaten law enforcement organizations online and on social media. I wonder if Rep. McNamara has ever read the words of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Maybe she should read it again. Congress shall not make any law prohibiting free speech of any kind. This bill she is proposing is a direct violation of free speech rights. I am involved in many social media political activist groups and I am involved with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. This is what we say when we protest law enforcement: "People have a right to resist police terror by any means necessary." Does this constitute a threat in Rep. McNamara's eyes? Should I, or anyone else, who says this be charged with a felony? I would hope not and I certainly hope that this bill does not see the light of day. If this bill passes then it puts freedom of speech at risk. No group has ever specifically threatened to directly harm anyone on social media sites such as Facebook because Facebook will take the post down and if it is a direct threat turn it over to the proper authorities. Most people who are activists do not make direct threats to law enforcement organizations because they know better. To me, this is just a reactionary attempt to stifle progressive speech and protest on social media. Continue Reading Below Advertisement When we were children, we thought that tank crews navigated by looking out through the unloaded cannon, as if it were a gigantic metal spyglass. We were very special children. Of course, we're all grown now, and we realize that tanks navigate by ... p-prayer? Albert has the answer: "The driver has three periscopes to see out of. One looks forward, one right, and one left. They're about three inches by six inches." Hold up, though. How does a tank driver navigate the outside world while only glimpsing it through a series of mirror reflections? In the beginning, not all that well: "During my training, a friend of mine accidentally drove his tank into a building ... A good driver gets used to it, but at first it feels like you're driving blind. To back up, the new tanks have a camera and a screen, but the old ones don't even have that, and you just relied on your commander looking out to let you know if you're hitting stuff." Of course, if you're piloting a 60-ton embodiment of God's wrath, by the time you get word that you've hit something, that thing has long since ceased to be. Contando Estrelas/Flickr Same rules as your grandma parking. Continue Reading Below Advertisement "It's not a design flaw. Any opening in the armor is a weak point, so you want to keep them small and few. It takes some getting used to." As does remembering that in some ways, a tank is just like a car. "I once forgot to put a tank's park brake on, and had it roll through a wall." And you thought the time you clipped your mom's mailbox with her Geo Metro was bad. Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Security News Symantec Closes Acquisition Of Blue Coat, Looks To Begin Product Integration Strategy Sarah Kuranda Share this Symantecs blockbuster acquisition of Blue Coat Systems is officially complete, the Mountain View, Calif.-based security vendor said Monday morning, a milestone CEO Greg Clark said marks the beginning of a new era in cybersecurity. The completion of the $4.65 billion acquisition, which was first announced in June, creates a single security vendor with around $4.2 billion in revenue for this year, the majority of which comes from enterprise security, and a portfolio that includes endpoint, email, DLP, data center, cloud security and secure web gateway solutions. Symantec and Blue Coat combined creates by far the best opportunity in the security industry. The brand is phenomenal you combine that with the network and cloud power of Blue Coat, I think the future is massive for us, Clark said in a blog post about the closing. [Related: Q&A: New Symantec CEO Talks Blue Coat Acquisition, Integration Roadmap And Plans For Partners] The announcement also officially puts Clark into the CEO role at the security giant, replacing Michael Brown, who said in April that he planned to step down. Clark had previously been the CEO of Blue Coat. I am honored to lead Symantec as it enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth. As the largest dedicated cybersecurity company on the planet, were eager to get started and we look forward to defining the future of cybersecurity with you, Clark said in the blog post. Symantec also announced in July that Blue Coat President and COO Michael Fey would join the new company in the same role, saying at the time it would unveil the rest of the executive lineup in the months to come. With the closing, Symantec and Blue Coat are able to jump fully into their integration strategy, which centers on a vision for an open platform that will fuel an ecosystem that encourages vendors of all sizes to play a part in tackling our industrys toughest challenges, Clark said in the post. As we shift into execution mode of our integration strategy, we are focused on capturing the strengths of both companies to ensure a seamless and efficient transition. While the opportunity ahead for us is vast, to seize it, we must apply rigor, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly, Clark said in the post. That integration strategy will also include significant cost-cutting efforts, the company said last month, with a target to cut about $400 million in costs primarily from the enterprise security business. The cuts will come from organizational improvements (including around 1,200 layoffs), real estate consolidation, procurement changes, and additional transition costs from the sale of Veritas earlier this year. The cuts are expected to be completed by 2018. Symantec partners have expressed huge support for the acquisition since it was announced two months ago, predicting the combined technology and new leadership will help lead the security vendor to its next wave of growth. This is going to be a brilliant merger of technologies, Steve Barone, president and CEO of Ferndale, Mich.-based CBI, said at the time. Barone also said he is excited to have an information security CEO at the helm. Dimension Data Group Executive of Security Matthew Gyde echoed Barone in a statement, saying the acquisition presents an exciting opportunity for the security industry and the company's clients. The global security landscape is becoming more complex, and threats more pervasive, while at the same time, our clients are looking for business outcomes, Gyde said in a statement. We look forward to working together to help our clients accelerate their ambitions, he said. Clark said in the blog post that he was eager to get started on building that new vision with the companys clients and partners. Im super excited about this time. I think we can create substantial history in the timeline of information security. I think we have a great future ahead of us, Clark said. The Rock Legends Cruise V will set sail in January of 2017 on a full ship charter aboard the Independence of the Seas. In an enterprising business model, the ship is chartered by the Native American Heritage Association (NAHA) with proceeds benefitting Native Americans living on reservations in South Dakota. Pamela J. Myers, president, NAHA, told Cruise Industry News that the model for raising money was evolving past direct mail and baby boomers. The generation of baby boomers has music in common, she said. It has grown into this big and organic event. Myers explained that her marketing was mostly word of mouth, and she was booking performers that passengers asked for. They tell me what bands they want, its really their cruise, she added. $250 from each ticket goes directly to charitable causes, she said, in addition to various auctions and raffles held aboard the ship. The price tag for the charter is believed to be around $2.6 million, according to Cruise Industry News' estimates. Myers said the ship charter and music booking process starts about 18 months out. She also expected to be fully sold out well before sailing. She credited Royal Caribbeans ships with being well-suited for musical performances, of which passengers can expect over 60 on the January sailing. Among the performers confirmed for the 2017 sailing: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, REO Speedwagon, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Thin Lizzy, Don Felder, The Marshall Tucker Band, John Mayall, Todd Rundgren, Leon Russell, Nazareth, April Wine, The Kentucky HeadHunters, Rick Derringer, Paul Barrere & Fred Tackett, Derek St. Holmes, The Weight Band, The Artimus Pyle Band, Gary Hoey, Carolyn Wonderland and Two Wolf. As health professionals, nurses, doctors, and even pharmacists are held to a high standard of making sure everything they do is above board. They can lose license for failing to comply with ethical guidelines. Even though software engineers in health IT have a far greater reaching impact on patients, no equivalent code of conduct exists for developers. The National Institute of Health (NIH) recently granted the Mayo Clinic $142-million to create a biobank as part of the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program. Aiming to enroll at least a million volunteers willing to share their health data in order to advance precision medicine, the program serves as a reminder of the security risks is health IT yet security in the health care sector continues to lag behind. Collecting health data is moving fast, which begs the question should health IT programmers working on similar projects be held to the same ethical standards as doctors and other medical professionals? In order to prioritize security in health IT, programmers should be required to take the Hippocratic oath just as health professionals do, especially as more biobanks are created. "Software engineers and physicians need to work together to ensure the health and safety of patients first and the ingenuity of efficient health technology second," said Dr. Andrew Boyd, assistant professor in the department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Algorithms are literally impacting millions of lives, and there needs to be a better way to empower developers to say this might be legal but this isn't doing right by the patient," said Boyd. A strong advocate for developers being held to the same professional standards of ethics as health care providers, Boyd said that security in health IT is a huge concern. The same conclusion was drawn from a study released by Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) earlier this year. Ted Harrington, executive partner, ISE said, "When I think about what our research demonstrated, it is that the fundamental business function in health care isn't consistent with the Hippocratic oath." In all of the hallways of every hospital Harrington visited, it was clear that those who deliver the care follow this ethical practice in terms of interaction with patients, protocols, and sanitization to ensure that patients don't leave more sick than when they arrived. "In a cyber context, there are so many ways in which a patient could suffer harm or fatality," Harrington said, which is why key parallels pertaining to threat modeling can be drawn between hospitals and biobanks. "The primary assets that I would envision are protected by biobanks--repositories for human samples for use in medical research--could be compromised," Harrington said. Requiring software engineers to take the developers' equivalent of the Hippocratic oath, said Harrington, "Would realign their priorities to patient health. On time delivery, hitting 'go to market' timelines, cost considerations. These are all business decisions related to the development of that solution." Developers need to be cognizant of those things, but the development practices should be considered with an awareness that what they are building could impact patient health. The risks to patient health, explained Michael Borohovski, CTO and co-founder, Tinfoil Security, extent beyond actually causing the patient harm or pain. "Imagine for a moment that there was a test for pancreatic cancer, wasnt well test and the false negative rate was pretty high. 50/50 right/wrong. If that were the case and patients rely on it, now they go for another year potentially living with cancer not knowing that they have it. Not actively harming a patient by being mistaken on diagnosis or testing. Mistakes that are made due to speed with a primary focus on rushing to market, particularly with the study of human genomes, can have serious damages to patients, but the business goal for developers is make a profit in addition to helping people. "The Hippocratic oath might be a bit of a stretch. Its a little different in that doctors are exclusively there to help patients. They dont have a duty to share holders. Their duty is to shareholders not to the patients or to the people whose data they store. Implicit in that duty to shareholders there is the responsibility to find and patch vulnerabilities," Borohovski said. What needs to change, then, is the culture around security. Given that no software can ever have 100% security, "Companies need to adopt a culture of responding to security vulnerabilities quickly and with vengeance," he continued. The current culture and restrictions on security researchers, Borohovski said, "Don't incentivize researchers to be ethical. Reporting a vulnerability could get you thrown in jail." For developers that are working with sensitive data or storing sensitive data, it behooves them to do everything they can to find vulnerabilities. "Redefining the culture to make it easier to report will allow researchers to make more concerted efforts to find vulnerabilities," Borohovski said. Calling for a change in culture as opposed to holding developers to a higher ethical standard might be an easy scapegoat, though. Grant Elliott, founder and CEO of Ostendio said, "We would simply be happy for them to meet general industry standards. Healthcare as an industry is significantly behind. The imperative or incentive to try and meet these basic security requirements doesnt seem to be as urgent for many reasons." In the health care industry, the correlation of security risks are not as clear as they are in other sectors, like retail or banking. People know of the Target breach, so they can avoid shopping at Target, there is an obvious bottom line impact, said Elliott. "That association isn't as clear in health care," said Elliott. "There are a lot of things that are done in the name of good medicine and in the name of the patient. For doctors, nurses, physicians, their first priority is patient wellness, and they need ready access to data. Any security controls can possible get in the way and hinder their core purpose." How do developers go about fixing the issue when there really is no incentive for them to do so? Elliott said, "What is the incentive to impact change? Who is enforcing them to do this well? There is obviously some regulatory component, but who is making sure that when they build product they are building in security from day one?" Unfortunately, there are many developers right now that wont do anything unless they are forced to do it, said Elliott. "Many will do the minimum they have to do. Fundamentally the smaller companies need to try to get larger organizations to have a much more aggressive process that will trickle down," he continued. While vendors continue to profit from rushing products to market, patients--whether it is their data, health, or cells--will remain at risk. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Connecticut students are in luck. According to a WalletHub report, the state has the third best school system in the country. Connecticut also ranked high in reading rest scores (fourth in the country), and landed at the very top of the heap for ACT test scores. Click through the slideshow above to see how Connecticut ranks in specific areas as well as the top 10 best and worst school systems in America. Related: How Connecticut ranks in pretty much everything To determine how a state ranks, WalletHub looked compared the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia across two key categories: "school system quality" and "school system safety." Some of the criteria used to calculate "school system quality" are: dropout rate, high school graduation rate, math test scores, reading test scores, average SAT scores and average ACT scores. View the full methodology at wallethub.com To calculate "school system safety," the site looked at things such as: the percentage of public school students in grades 9 to 12 who reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, bullying incidents and disciplinary incidents. Many of the top 10 best school systems are found in the Northeast and New England. The nation's capital falls at the bottom of the list, ranking as the fifth worst school system. WalletHub writes that "according to an Economic Policy Institute report, income is higher in states where the workforce is well educated and thus more productive. In turn, workers with better earnings contribute greater taxes to beef up state budgets over the long run." TRUMBULL A community forum on race and law enforcement will be held Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. at Frenchtown Elementary School on Frenchtown Road. The community discussion is co-sponsored by the Greater Bridgeport NAACP and the Trumbull police department and is open residents of surrounding towns as well as Trumbull, organizers said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate FAIRFIELD Departing Fairfield University President Jeffrey P. von Arxs new appointment is as superior of the LaFarge House Jesuit Community in Cambridge, Mass. The assignment becomes effective in January. The announcement came Monday from the Rev. John Cecero, provincial of the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus. LaFarge House, named after civil rights pioneer, writer and editor John LaFarge, was established at Harvard University in 1964 as a residence and center of Jesuit activity at the University. The Northeast Province was formed in 2014, combining the New England and New York provinces of the Society of Jesus. In a prepared statement, Cecero said the house used mostly by scholars and advanced doctoral students, and its mission is to foster the spiritual and moral formation of the neighboring academic communities, primarily at Harvard University. Given Jeffs background as president at Fairfield University for more than 12 years, it is clear he has the demonstrated academic and administrative credentials to engage with senior colleagues at a major university such as Harvard, Cecero said. Since it was announced last month he was leaving, von Arx has been unavailable for comment. He said in prepared remarks that he is excited to be undertaking the new mission. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve Fairfield University these past 12 years, the statement said. I am grateful to the Fairfield University Board of Trustees for their confidence and support, and to the entire Fairfield community for all that we have achieved to ensure that Fairfield has remained a leader in Jesuit higher education. I believe Fairfield has a great future ahead. When the Board of Trustees announced von Arxs planned departure, the panel also set the wheels in motion to find a replacement. As we approach our 75th anniversary, this is a wonderful time for Fairfield University, and for a new leader to build upon the success we have seen, said Board of Trustees Chairman Frank Carroll. I want to thank Father von Arx for his years of leadership and wish him well in his next assignment in Cambridge. Carroll said the Boards first priority would be to identify a small group of Fairfield University constituents to serve on a search committee toward the selection of a new president. The president is expected to begin his or her term by July 2017. Carroll said he is prepared to name an interim president once von Arx moves to his new assignment. Nearly all marketers agree on the importance of social media marketing for business growth. And considering that 33 percent of millennials today say social media is one of their preferred channels for communicating with businesses, I expect it will become even more important over time. That said, a lot of brands still dont know how to use social media to engage audiences and help their own bottom line. There is, however, a right -- and wrong -- way businesses can share their content on social media. Right: Selecting the right channels. The average social media user maintains five accounts, but that doesnt mean you should also. Businesses should share their content on the platforms where their target audience spends the most time. I recommend you do some research into the demographics of different platforms to make this decision. Related: 5 Trends Reshaping Social Media You may use several social platforms to promote your content, but dont stretch yourself too thin. One or two active social accounts will look better to your audience than six abandoned brand accounts. Wrong: Not optimizing for platforms. Even if you have the same end-goal for your content across social media, you should optimize it for each platforms characteristics and strengths. For example: Videos tend to outperform images on Facebook. Twitter posts, while no more than 140 characters, should be even shorter if youre including an image. (Luckily, that should be changing soon.) LinkedIn doesnt support hashtags, so dont use them. For Twitter and Instagram, hashtags are a necessity. Each platform also has ideal image dimensions, as this graphic shows: Take the time to format your posts elements to each social platform you share on. In my experience, it has a big impact. Right: Using visuals. Visuals can help your social posts on any platform, so theres no reason not to use them. Sixty-five percent of senior marketing executives believe that visual assets (photos, video, illustrations and infographics) are core to how their brand story is communicated. Moreover, visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. Related: 5 Tips for Running Your Best Social Media Campaign Ever Many marketers fail to take advantage of all the different visual assets available on social media, especially Twitter cards. There are five types of Twitter cards that allow you to include unique visual assets with your tweets: Summary Card, Summary Card with Large Image, App Card, Player Card and Lead Generation Card. Use them to drive more engagement for your organic posts, and be on the lookout for other unique visual assets you can use (e.g. Carousel ads on Facebook and Instagram). Wrong: Not varying your content. Consumers say the three most important characteristics of a brands social posts are (in order): the brand shares new content; the content is relevant to the brand; and the brand engages with followers. And they mean it. Fifty-six percent of people unfollow brands on social media because their content is boring. Here are some best practices to vary your content and avoid being boring: Follow the 70/20/10 rule: 70 percent informative, 20 percent other peoples posts, 10 percent sales Show a personable side to your business Offer value with helpful how to posts Run social contests and giveaways Be a comedian Take a stand on polarizing issues (seriously) If you need some inspiration on how to vary your content and keep followers engaged, I recommend checking out General Electric, Cisco, Oracle, or Siemens on social media. They are all traditionally boring brands sharing great social content. Right: Sharing at optimum times. With the rise of paid social options, its no surprise that organic reach has become more difficult for brands. But you can still get the most out of your organic posts by sharing them at optimum times, which tend to vary by platform. Dont make the mistake of just sticking with the optimum times your social media automation tool sets for you. Those are often based on when most of your followers are online, but research has shown that for Facebook, at least, thats actually the worst time to post. Pay attention to the latest studies on which post times get businesses the most reach and engagement, and use that information to optimize your sharing times. Related: New Study Details Who Is Using Social Media and When Wrong: Spamming news feeds. Back in 2014, Facebook announced a crackdown on what it considered to be spammy content from brands. If they see you making the following mistakes, they may deliberately decrease your organic reach even more. Like-baiting are posts that include a request for likes, responses or other actions. This sample post says it all. Frequently circulated content breeds repetition. KissMetrics research found that sharing content at least three times on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ increases shares by more than 100%, but thats no reason to reshare the same content over and over. Spammy links are posts containing language and formatting designed to trick people into clicking links that arent related. A bad idea all around. Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved WESTPORT Rescuers concluded the search for a possible drowning victim at Sherwood Island State Park shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday with no one located. Rescuers had continued to search the park's East Beach after two near-drowning victims were pulled from the water sometime after 5 p.m. Witnesses said a civilian noticed the pair in trouble, swam out and pulled them back to the beach. Reporters took photographs from a distance of the man identified as the rescuer, but were unable to speak with him or learn his name. The Associated Press identified 31-year-old Shuja Nagi, of New York, and his son as the swimmers pulled from the water. Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas at the scene said both were transported by ambulance to Norwalk Hospital. One, he said, had water in his lungs. Before the search was called off, Koskinas said authorities had a "level of confidence" that there was no drowning victim left in the water. He said no one reported a person missing and no unattended clothes were found on the beach. However, someone reported a possible third person in trouble, so rescuers were called to the park. Koskinas said the rescue personnel were there to assist the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which is responsible for the park's operation. Twelve divers from the Westport police and fire departments conducted the search, along with firefighters aboard the Norwalk Fire Dept. boat and a marine unit from Fairfield, Koskinos said. Later in the search, a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard hovered over the scene. A state lifeguard said five lifeguards were working on the beach at the time of the incident. 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. 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. Oh, the embarrassment. Last Friday there was to have been a grand lunch for 150 in a marquee set up on the Somerset coast, the site of the planned Hinkley C nuclear power station: this was to celebrate the long-awaited go-ahead for a vast project managed by the French state-backed company EDF with funding from the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNC). But with senior employees of the CGNC and EDF already en route to Somerset, salivating at the prospect of their Chinese-West Country fusion banquet with such pre-announced dishes as Cantonese-style pork crackling and Hoi sin local lamb skewers Prime Minister Theresa May called the whole thing off. Sundry dignitaries from the CGNC had to get right back on the next flight to Beijing and which was as humiliating if not so much of a waste of time the chief executive of EDF, Jean-Bernard Levy, had to cancel all the interviews lined up with the British media. It would be very embarrassing for Theresa May to declare that she would be suspending the Hinkley C project until she had made up her mind as the new Prime Minister. But that is precisely what she did Do not feel sorry for Mr Levy. He had been aware that the change at the top of the British Government with Theresa Mays sacking of the main supporter of the Hinkley C Project, George Osborne meant that his 18 billion deal might well be at risk. It had not been due to be approved by the EDF board until September, but Levy rushed his colleagues to give it the final go- ahead last week. The new British PM who in her previous job as Home Secretary was known to have expressed reservations about the involvement of the Chinese state in a security-sensitive project designed to provide 7 per cent of Britains energy was being bounced. It would be very embarrassing for her to declare, even though the Hinkley deal was the high point of the Sino-British co-operation agreed during the state visit of Chinas President Xi Jinping last October, that she would be suspending it until she had made up her mind as the new Prime Minister. But that is precisely what she did: Mrs May seems to have been not in the least embarrassed. At the risk of generalising about the difference between the sexes, I believe this is more a characteristic of women and not just women prime ministers. The absurdly-named weaker sex are much less easily embarrassed than us men. Perhaps this is partly what Kenneth Clarke meant, when he was (inadvertently) recorded during the short-lived Tory leadership campaign saying to his fellow ex-Cabinet colleague Malcolm Rifkind: Theresa is a bloody difficult woman . . . but you and I worked with Margaret Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher, in her encounters with her fellow national leaders in European Council meetings in Brussels, broke all the usual rules about diplomatic politesse: if she felt sufficiently frustrated or ignored, she was quite prepared to throw a wobbly at one of their grand dinners, causing confusion among her exclusively male colleagues. I suspect almost all men will recognise this phenomenon. We are dreadfully embarrassed by any public disagreement in a restaurant, for example; but our wives and girlfriends show no similar reticence. I learnt this as a child. My mother could be terrifyingly blunt in such surroundings. Once at a smart restaurant, I recall, she had found our steaks not to her satisfaction and called over the waiter. He rather snootily asked her to be more specific. I would not feed this meat to a dog, was her immediate response. Typically for a male, I shrank in my chair with embarrassment, wishing I were anywhere else. But she was right to make such a fuss: the steak was inedible. In the world of work, I discovered that this applied in the office as well as at the dining table. As the editor of a newspaper, I found that few of the senior male executives would ever question my decisions openly. If they did object, it would be in the most oblique terms, which I would scarcely notice. The women executives, however, were much more prepared to tell me to my face that I was simply wrong. This sort of behaviour was considered un- collegiate by the men, who had a much stronger sense of the hierarchy of decision-making. But I really welcomed these bloody difficult women, who did not feel part of any mutually back-slapping club of mates. To judge from the abrupt brutality of Mrs Mays clear-out of the entire Cameroon coterie, she had rather resented this chumminess at the apex of British government and from which she must have felt excluded. But Im not sure she would have wanted to be part of it, even had she been made to feel more welcome. Again, I think that the bloody difficult woman simply doesnt want to pretend shes one of the boys, when the whole business seems to her nothing more than a pointless exercise in social preening and even a form of soft corruption. Another example of this was provided last week in an interview given by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez the wife of the former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. She told the Mail on Sunday that when her husband had been Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government, she had refused invitation after invitation to get the [Cameron and Clegg] families together at Chequers. She scorned David Camerons attempt to make the Cleggs part of his government-as-social-set: For me, that is completely alien. The two parties had to work together, but that doesnt mean that we were all over each other or we were developing anything other than a working relationship for the country. Spending every weekend together? Who does that? That might seem discourteous. But there is a great virtue in setting such limits. When groups of politicians become too chummy with each others families, it becomes more difficult to do what is most essential in politics to say no, however embarrassing or awkward it might be. Saying No or at least, Not so fast is what Mrs May has had the necessary detachment to tell the French and Chinese governments. But this abrupt stalling of a gargantuan project which had looked increasingly over-priced will be as nothing to the challenges which face the PM in the negotiations over Britains exit from the EU. Lets hope she maintains her ability to say no, even if it means the delaying or abandonment of any number of premature grand dinners. Honour: But Will Straw's campaign failed Cameron's gongs for failure Id naively thought that honours are awarded to those who have achieved great success in public service. But David Cameron has disabused me of that notion in his resignation honours list: he has recommended for a CBE one of the highest of all awards granted by the Queen one Will Straw. The 35-year-old son of the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was the director of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. This was an epic fail and not just because it lost to the rival campaign, Vote Leave. The latter, under the guidance of Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings, at every turn out-thought and out-manoeuvred Straws more lavishly funded campaign. And if you believe, as I do, that it will be in this countrys long-term interest to be outside the EU, then it is Elliott and Cummings who deserve the highest public honours. Cameron has form in getting Her Majesty to give out baubles to electioneering failures. Two years ago, the PMs mate Andrew Cooper, co-founder of the polling group Populus, was made Lord Cooper of Windrush: and he was duly appointed the official pollster for the Remain campaign. A few hours after voting started for the referendum on June 23, Coopers firm released a final opinion poll: it showed a startling 10 per cent margin of victory for Remain. This vast (fictitious) lead can only have encouraged lazier Remain supporters not to bother to vote. Based on his wildly inaccurate poll, Lord Cooper was so confident of his sides crushing victory he sent gloating texts to his opponents running Vote Leave. And his chum the PM prepared to go to bed on June 23 confident that with the aid of Cooper and young Straw, he had destroyed the prospect of Brexit. Due to the rise of fit mums and women bouncing back almost immediately after giving birth, many new mothers are feeling the pressure to do the same. But Australian 'House of White' blogger, Olivia White, 27, wanted to take some of the pressure off and show off her own 'post baby reality' online. To assist mothers in accepting their post baby bodies, Ms White stripped off and had a number of stunning professional photos taken of her. Scroll down for video 'I'm not the same person I was before': Australian 'House of White' blogger, Olivia White, wanted to take some of the pressure off new mums and show off her own 'post baby reality' online Confident mum: To assist mothers in accepting their post baby bodies, Ms White stripped off and had a number of stunning professional photos taken of her Courtesy House of White 'Puffy face, droopy milk filled boobs, wider hips and belly full of stretch marks!! That's my post baby reality, no "bouncing back" here!' The Melbourne-based mother-of-two wrote on Facebook. 'And you know what? I couldn't give a s**t! Because I'm not the same person I was before I had babies, so why would would I want my body to reflect something and someone I no longer am? 'Those droopy boobs fed my babies and grew them up big and strong. Those hips and rippled belly was home to my little babes for 9 months.' Proud: 'Those droopy boobs fed my babies and grew them up big and strong. Those hips and rippled belly was home to my little babes for 9 months,' she said Happy with what she has: Ms White said while her body might not be the 'transformation body so many ogle or aspire to,' she doesn't mind Ms White said while her body might not be the 'transformation body so many ogle or aspire to,' she doesn't mind. 'And sure, some days I wish it didn't jiggle so much and was a bit "firmer" but then I just remember the awesome s**t it's done and cut myself some slack and go eat a cheeseburger, because we earned it,' she concluded. Ms White's honest post has been shared over 500 times and liked over 2,000 times. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the proud mother said she had never expected her post to be so well received. A positive experience: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the proud mother said she had never expected her post to be so well received 'To be honest nothing prompted me to do it, it was more me wanting to show that while the fit mums and fitness gurus out there work exceptionally hard to bounce back, it's simply not a reality for everyone,' she said. 'People are always talking about bouncing back but you're not the same person you used to be. Your body is different and it's about accepting that... why would you want to hide it?' Ms White, who has two daughters aged two and five months, said she has struggled with accepting her body in the past but has changed her mindset. Own it: 'People are always talking about bouncing back but you're not the same person you used to be. Your body is different and it's about accepting that... why would you want to hide it?' She questioned 'I am mindful of the role model I am to them. They look up to me and if I am placing pressure on myself to look a certain way then they will experience it too,' Ms White said. 'I was scared to post it - you always get those negative comments - but I just left it and it has been overwhelmingly positive. 'I couldn't have posted something like that a year ago but your skin thickens up. At the same time I am not doing it for everyone, I'm mainly doing it for myself.' Ms White advises new mums to enjoy being a mother and not to worry about their bodies. Times have changed: 'I couldn't have posted something like that a year ago but your skin thickens up. At the same time I am not doing it for everyone, I'm mainly doing it for myself,' she said 'When it comes to women who do bounce back it's about us being objective and saying "good on them but it's not a reality for me",' she said. 'Honestly I wouldn't say I am 100 per cent happy and confident with how I look but it's more about being at peace with myself. First there was bee venom, then dragon's blood and most disgustingly, bird faeces. But the latest 'miracle product' to be used for beauty purposes is sure to make even the most devoted make up fans squirm. Australian cosmetics king Napoleon Perdis has released a BBB Cream that contains snail mucus. Perdis calls the Auto Pilot BBB Cream a 'truly multitasking base' and 'a hybrid of a skin perfecting HD foundation, anti-aging moisturiser and sunscreen', claiming it is light enough for a low maintenance, natural look that boasts coverage to perfect and correct skin. 'Truly multitasking base': Australian beauty brand Napoleon Perdis' BBB cream product contains snail mucus Slimy: Snail mucus has beneficial skin properties like hyaluronic acid, glycoprotein enzymes, proteoglycans and antimicrobial and copper peptides Charlotte Cho, founder of Korean beauty brand Soko Glam, said snail mucus has plenty of skin nutrients like hyaluronic acid, glycoprotein enzymes, proteoglycans and antimicrobial and copper peptides, in a report by The Coveteur. Make-up artist Kate Squires reviewed the BBB cream, which retails for AUD$55, for the make-up brand, and said the controversial ingredient was nothing new as it has been used for thousands of years, even by the ancient Greeks because it relieved skin inflammation. 'So what it does for our skin, it rejuvenates so it heals, it conditions if you've got dehydration, uneven skin texture so it's going to start that retexturising process to heal the skin,' she said. Make-up king: Napoleon Perdis, who has been in the cosmetics game for over 20 years, developed the Auto Pilot BBB cream using snail mucus Entire kit: Infused with bee venom and a unique complex of plant stem cells, the Rodial Bee Venom products claim to improve skin tone and reduce appearance of lines and wrinkles Fans: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge are both use Rodial's Bee Venom skin products If you thought that was strange snail mucus is not the only strange ingredient women are willing to put on their face in the name of beauty. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall are fans of Rodial's Bee Venom skin care products (kit retailing for 190). According to the website the products claim to combine the bee venom and a unique complex of plant stem cells to improve skin tone and reduce appearance of lines and wrinkles. Tree derived: Dragon's blood is a red sap that comes from the sangre de drago, or the dragon's blood tree Healing properties: The red liquid, used in face masks and gels, is believed to improve elasticity, redness, dehydration and wrinkles Dragon's blood in another usual ingredient women can't seem to get enough of for their faces. Despite the scary sounding name, the red sap actually comes from the sangre de drago, or the dragon's blood tree which is native to the Horn of Africa region and Yemen. Rodial and Australian skincare company Nip and Fab have caught on to the healing properties of the red sap in their products improves elasticity, redness, dehydration and wrinkles. Bird poo facial: Also known as the Geisha facial, the treatment has been used in Japan for 400 year Soap: The product, made by Uguisu No Fun, uses guanine, urea and proteolytic enzymes found in the Nightingale's faeces Face masks: The Japanese beauty treatment uses the guanine, urea and proteolytic enzymes found in Nightingale bird poo for porcelain smooth, bright glow to your skin Another strange ingredient woman lining up for is the Geisha facial, or the Nightingale poo facial. The bird's poo has a 400 year history of being used as a beauty treatment in Japan using the guanine, urea and proteolytic enzymes from it to get a porcelain smooth, bright glow to your skin. According to Uguisu No Fun, a producer of the product, the faecal matter is collected, purified and sterilised in a using high frequency UV light for two weeks indoors. Afterwards it is ground into a fine powder and made into face masks or soaps which retail for USD$22. Bizarre beauty trend: The anti-wrinkle cream, which Oprah swears by, uses fibroblast cells found in baby male foreskin, founder of Skin Medica Dr Richard Fitzpatrick said the foreskin was obtained 20 years ago Cells: The unusual product uses fibroblast cells found in baby male foreskin But probably most bizarre is the use of cells found in baby male foreskin in an anti-wrinkle cream Oprah swears by, according to a report by Fashion Magazine. The fibroblast cells found in baby male foreskin are used in theSkin Medica TNS recovery complex cream (AUD$220) has 'growth factors, antioxidants, matrix proteins, and soluble collagens'. It also claims to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, dyspigmentation, and improve texture and elasticity. A mummy blogger has described sex with her husband as 'quick and slightly obligated' in an honest post. Mel Watts, known online as The Modern Mumma' penned a Facebook post titled 'Did we just have a quickie' on Saturday. The post detailed a sexual tryst with her husband that could only happen while her children were asleep or at a neighbour's house. 'Did we just have a quickie?' Mummy blogger Mel Watts (right), known as The Modern Mumma, wrote about a 'quickie' she had with her husband (left) Speaking out: The mother-of-three's candid post has received more then 4,100 likes and 550 comments 'With one child at the neighbours and a baby asleep in the cot it seemed like a perfect opportunity,' the mother-of-three wrote. 'I mean I've been turning him down for long enough I actually felt bad. 'Knowing it was only going to take a few minutes and I'll have a day of any food I want to eat, listen to any music I want and an early night. Sounds delightful right?' Alone time: Ms Watts said their 'quickie' happened when the kids were either asleep or at a neighbour's house Adorable: 'With one child at the neighbours and a baby asleep in the cot it seemed like a perfect opportunity,' she said The post has gone on to receive more then 4,100 likes and 550 comments, where many mothers said they could relate. 'Love your honesty. I am sure most of us busy mums feel the same way most of the time,' one woman wrote. Ms Watts said she often turn down her husband's 'charms', but it was not because she was ungrateful bur rather 'tired and exhausted'. She told Daily Mail Australia mothers should be able to talk about sex publicly, but she didn't expect anything from the post. 'If anything I'd be happy for some wife to give her husband a high five and say "look honey I'm better than that",' she said. Worn out: Ms Watts said she often turned down her husband's advances as she was too tired and exhausted She went on to say her husband agreed to her sharing the post, and while some women loved it others felt bad for her husband. 'It's quite funny actually,' she said. 'Sometimes writing things like this either help women or give them an excuse to lash out at me. 'Everyone in the world has sex at one point in their life. So there a billions of different types of sex drives. Not everyone has the same, no everyone has the same needs as someone else.' Not alone: 'As mothers it's hard to get a minute to ourselves let alone thinking about giving our partner some time,' one woman agreed The candid post opened up the floor for discussion for other mothers who mainly said Ms Watts was not alone in her feelings. 'I totally understand being tired, actually exhausted, from daily routine of tidying the house working and looking after kids,' one woman wrote. 'As mothers it's hard to get a minute to ourselves let alone thinking about giving our partner some time.' Another woman offered her advice. From Abel to Zayn and everything in between, choosing a name for your baby can be hard. With trends seemingly changing by the week, it's no longer as simple as reusing the name of your parent or picking whatever you see first in the bible. As one mother found out, even in an era where very few names are off limits, people are still happy to critique your choices. Jocelyn, a first time mum-to-be, posted on popular baby name website Name Sage about the criticism she had received from choosing to name her son 'Riggins'. Big call! Choosing the right name for your baby can be hard, but even in the current age where seemingly anything goes, some names can still face criticism as one mum-to-be recently found out 'Everyone hates it': Jocelyn said she had struggled to convince people that Riggins was a good name for a boy 'Im due in November with out first child a boy,' Jocelyn wrote in her post. 'We have picked the name Riggins Blaine. Blaine is his fathers middle name.' 'Since we've announced his name, several people have commented that Riggins is an "odd" and "strange" name. 'It is making me second-guess our choice. I know I shouldnt care what others think, but Im curious about whether this is a bad choice for a name?' Following her plea for help, the website's experts gave the expectant mother some advice. They told Jocelyn that negative comments or reaction to names were common and told her to back her instincts. 'Youve done all the hard work, and found the right name for your son. But when you joyfully share it with the world, they respond with a dismissive, "Meh." Or worse,' she said. 'The bad news? It happens all the time.' No limits: It may come as a surprise to many that the name 'Riggins' came under fire considering names from Annik to Zayn are commonplace among youngsters 'But that's also the good news, because it reflects how varied the possibilities are for naming children in 2016.' The parenting expert explained that while her son's name will no doubt be 'different' it would be far from 'outlandish'. In fact, she said that considering some of the names currently in vogue, Riggins definitely works. 'Riggins is on the right side of unusual, and here's why,' the expert assured the first time mum. 'We like unusual R surnames. Think of Ryder and Ryland.' Your call: After asking a parenting expert for help, Jocelyn was told that the only opinions that really mattered were those of her and her husband Inspiration? Some commenters said they loved the name and wondered if the inspiration had been Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights 'That 's' ending is heard in rising names like Miles and Brooks.' Some commenters on Jocelyn's post recognised the unique name, saying it reminded them of fan favourite Tim Riggins from television show Friday Night Lights. 'I love Riggins! Friday Night Lights was a great show (not saying this was your inspiration, but still),' one woman wrote. But regardless of their inspiration or the reaction she faced from those close to her, the parenting expert told the mum-to-be that the only opinions that mattered were that of her and her husband. As people age and their bodies change, their self-esteem and body confidence often takes a hit. But as they pass middle age and stop feeling pressure to achieve perfection, many find they are able to love themselves once more. The founder of Body Image Movement, Taryn Brumfitt, from Adelaide, proved this saddening reality in a recent video where she asked people to describe their bodies. Scroll down for video Ultimate confidence: The founder of Body Image Movement , Taryn Brumfitt, has released a new video asking people aged 1 - 100 to describe their body using one word Totally confident: The video begins with a number of young children describing their bodies with words like 'fast' (left) and 'flexible' (right) 'A couple of weeks ago I pulled together (like a miracle) this video, all I can say is Thank goodness I am surrounded by a magical team of "can do" people!' She wrote on Facebook. 'I would love to know what one word you would use to describe your body?' The video sees 100 people aged one to one hundred, describing their bodies using just one word... and the results are both heartwarming and worrying. Innocence: Two young girls described their bodies as 'powerful' (left) and energetic (right) Not happy: As the interviewees became older, their descriptions became more negative, with one woman (pictured) describing her body as 'flabby, fat and yuck' The clip, released to promote Ms Brumfitt's upcoming movie, Embrace, begins with a number of young children describing their bodies with words like 'fast,' 'flexible,' 'powerful,' 'energetic' and 'loveable'. As the interviewees enter into teenage years and their twenties, the responses move from 'unique' and 'healthy' to 'lanky,' 'okay,' 'podgy,' 'neglected' and 'disobedient.' One woman who had just given birth described herself as 'fat,' 'flabby' and 'yuck.' Middle-aged men and woman also used words such as 'embarrassed' and 'ugly' to describe their figures. Not happy: Two young women described their bodies as 'just okay' (left) and 'average' (right) Not positive: A slim dancer had no words for her body shape except for 'disobedient' No words: One woman simply pointed to her stomach and looked disappointed In a heartwarming twist, when senior men and woman appeared on screen they appeared to be just as confident in themselves as when they were children. One woman described herself as 'a ball of energy,' 'succulent' and 'magnificent' while others used the words 'fabulous,' 'adventurous,' 'strong' and 'perfect.' 'It's not a bad old body, it gets me by,' one woman said. 'My body is still going and I love it,' another added. Far from confident: One woman was interviewed while she was breastfeeding and said she was 'embarrassed' by her body A change: As the woman became older they used more positive words like 'unique' (left) and 'a ball of energy,' and 'succulent' (right) Beautiful: This woman said her body was 'above all, magnificent' The video concludes with two powerful sentences. 'Imagine loving your body in the middle of your life like you do at the beginning and end,' the text read. 'Don't you think it's time to Embrace?' The video has been a hit across social media platforms, with thousands praising the movement for sharing such a powerful clip. The beauty of ageing: One woman said her body was 'fabulous' (right) while her husband (left) said 'it is the only one I've got and I intend to keep it for as long as I possibly can' Never better: One elderly lady (left) said her body is 'still going and I love it' while another (right) said 'it's not a bad old body it gets me by' 'I want to click both the LOVE icon and the SAD icon, because both the trailer to your movie and this short clip made me cry but I absolutely love the message and feel inspired,' one woman wrote. 'Usually I would have answered this question with something like fat or ugly. Tonight my first thought was SOFT! It's working,' another wrote. Ms Brumfitt, a mother-of-three, shot to fame in 2012 when she shared a 'before' shot of herself as a size six bodybuilder next to a proud 'after' shot of herself as a healthy size 12. Fast forward four years and Ms Brumfitt, with the support of some very big celebrity names, has become a global phenomenon with her Body Image Movement and her book, also called Embrace, which helps women who are struggling with their body image. Famed shot: Ms Brumfitt, a mother-of-three, shot to fame in 2012 when she shared a 'before' shot of herself as a size six bodybuilder next to a proud 'after' shot of herself as a healthy size 12 (pictured) Honesty is key: Ms Brumfitt has expressed concern about celebrities including the likes of Kim Kardashian and Beyonce who have raised suspicions over their use of slimming filters on Instagram Ms Brumfitt has expressed concern about celebrities including the likes of Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, and - more locally - Sydneys Laura Csortan, who have raised suspicions over their use of slimming filters on Instagram. 'I think its highly irresponsible, they know that they have millions of people who look up to them all around the world. And theyre saying they cant be comfortable in their own skin?' She questioned. 'It really is taking photoshopping to the next level, what kind of message is that sending, that we should be something other than what we are?' Standing up: 'I think its highly irresponsible, they know that they have millions of people who look up to them all around the world. And theyre saying they cant be comfortable in their own skin?' She questioned Making a change: Ms Brumfitt, who has been married for 13 years to her supportive husband Mathew, hopes to help people see that their bodies are a 'vehicle', 'not an ornament' Embrace: Despite ongoing issues with censorship, Ms Brumfitt's inspiring documentary will be available in several cities across Australia Ms Brumfitt said she decided to start on the project after the response to her picture. I got dragged over the coals for looking supposedly unhealthy in that after picture, but there was not any other time in my life I had been healthier than in that photograph,' she said after posting her before and after photo. I could run 10km easily and I was eating really good food, but the difference between that before and after picture, was that in the after shot I had balance in food and emotional health.' Ms Brumfitt, who has been married for 13 years to her supportive husband Mathew, with whom she has three children Oliver nine, Cruz, seven and Mikaela, six, hopes to help people see that their bodies are a 'vehicle', not an ornament. Despite ongoing issues with censorship, Ms Brumfitt's inspiring documentary will be available in several cities across Australia. More than 30 years have passed since my friend Roberts birthday party, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. The year was 1982 or possibly 1983. It doesnt matter. What matters is that it was the first time I had been to McDonalds and, like my school friends, I was beside myself with excitement. Everything about it seemed almost impossibly thrilling. No knives and forks! No plates! You queued up and, as if by magic, your food appeared straight away! But there was more. No sooner had we sat down than Ronald McDonald himself appeared, carrying balloons and grinning crazily beneath his caked make-up. And as if all that were not enough, the party ended with a guided tour of the kitchen. No one personified the social aspiration of the 1980s like Middle England's favourite cook Delia Smith (left). Not even Margaret Thatcher (right) What fascinated us most, I remember, was the rubbish chute, which reminded us of the Death Star trash compactor scene in Star Wars. Never had I believed that life in Shropshire could be this exciting. If you had told me then that I was living through an extraordinary historical moment, I wouldnt have believed you. History was kings and queens, not a Telford fast-food outlet. When I made that first trip to McDonalds, when my parents took me to Malta for my first foreign holiday or when I persuaded them to fork out for the new BBC home computer, it never occurred to me that our lives were part of a bigger trend a historic shift from the collective to the individual, driven by global economic change. And it certainly never occurred to me that one day all this would be the subject of a TV series or that I would be presenting it. Using memorable archive footage of those times, I have set out to show how the powerful new forces of choice and consumerism reshaped our lives. Where we shopped, how we cooked, what we wore its all in there, along with our attempts to establish an identity on the global stage and the growing polarisation between rich and poor. Over the years, the story of the Eighties has been reduced to a parade of stereotypes. Brick-sized mobile phones and overpowering shoulder pads, striking miners and Falklands veterans, Rubiks cube, dole queues and booming wine bars: the images are all too familiar. In Britain we remember the Eighties as a uniquely conflicted decade: the years of the Heysel stadium disaster and Hillsborough, Duran Duran and Culture Club, Brookside and TV quiz Blockbusters. In Britain we remember the Eighties as a uniquely conflicted decade: the years of the Heysel stadium disaster and Hillsborough, Duran Duran and Culture Club. But the Eighties without the Iron Lady? Impossible As the years passed, event piled on event with dizzying speed: the deepest recession in living memory, riots in Brixton and Toxteth, Charles and Dianas wedding, the Falklands War and the miners strike. Then, in the second half of the decade, came a succession of hugely controversial changes, from the privatisation of Britains utilities to deregulation of the City of London, creating shockwaves that reverberate to this day. And presiding over it all was the most compelling and divisive political figure in modern British history. Whether we admit it or not, were still Thatchers children. It would be easy to tell the story of the Sixties without mentioning Harold Wilson or the Nineties without recalling John Major. But the Eighties without the Iron Lady? Impossible. As prime minister from 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher cast a shadow over almost every corner of our national life. Whether she was being lampooned on Spitting Image or harangued by Bob Geldof, she was simply always there, the great she-elephant as Tory dissident Julian Critchley called her lurking at the back of the room. She still dominates our collective memories of the Eighties. The Iron Lady presses a button in Downing Street and a factory explodes in the Midlands. She pulls a lever and a shopping centre materialises on the banks of the Tyne. Like Margaret Thatcher, Delia Smith was a polished media performer Whether you see her as the woman who saved Britain or the woman who destroyed it, there is no getting away from her. Or is there? When I sat down with my production team to chat about Britain in the Eighties, I mused whether it would be possible to imagine a series in which the prime minister never appeared. It seemed a pretty mad idea. And yet: why not? We typically think of Mrs Thatcher as a woman who made her age, Oxford chemistry student turned mad scientist, toiling feverishly in the laboratory before emerging exhausted but triumphant, test tube in hand. But of course she was no less a product of her times than any- one else. Even the Conservatives election victory in 1979 which has been seen as the moment when the gaudy, conflicted Eighties burst into life happened as much despite her as because of her. She won in 1979 only because ordinary voters were furious with the Labour Party after the winter of discontent, when trades union members walked out and bin bags piled up in the streets. In fact, if Labours Jim Callaghan had played his cards more cannily, the Eighties could quite easily have happened without her. And if so, what then? No McDonalds, no home computers, no wine bars, no dole queues? Would I have been going to parties in trades union canteens instead of American fast-food outlets? I dont think so. The truth is that though Mrs Thatcher became the embodiment of the social and cultural trends that transformed Britain, and though she undoubtedly accelerated the economic forces that saw factories reduced to ashes and sent the City of London into overdrive, these things would surely have happened anyway. The reason she was so successful is not that she somehow converted or brainwashed millions of people, but that she understood how much Britain was changing already. To put it very simply, this was an age of aspiration and individualism. People like my parents, who had been born in the mid-Forties and grew up in the heyday of the welfare state, were eager for more. They wanted better cars, fancier appliances, foreign holidays and homes of their own. When my dad brought home his new Mini Metro, when my mum plugged in her new microwave, when I switched on my computer, even when my friend booked that party at McDonalds, we were all unwittingly propelling the great revolution of Eighties Britain. Mrs Thatcher became the embodiment of the social and cultural trends that transformed Britain There is a revealing passage in the autobiography of Spandau Ballets Gary Kemp, who was just beginning to make a name for himself in the first months of 1979, when Mrs Thatcher was preparing for power. Born 20 years earlier, he had grown up in a narrow terrace house with a brick toilet in the yard, like so many working-class children of his generation. Yet by the dawn of the Eighties he was dreaming of a better life, a world of comfort, style and security. After Spandau Ballet tasted chart success, Kemp bought his first home. And then he gazed at the church candles and interior magazines on the black enamelled coffee table with a glass of claret in my hand and something light and choral on the stereo and felt a strong sense of denying everything my family was. But in that, too, he was typical. Millions of other people in the mid-Eighties felt the same way. Did they take their cue from Mrs Thatcher? Were they merely lab rats, jumping to order as she pressed a button? I dont think so. Many of them, in all probability, hardly thought about her at all. And no doubt many of them werent even Thatcher voters. Gary Kemp, incidentally, voted for Labour. In fact, if you wanted to pick a woman who really captured the spirit of Britain in the Eighties, then you might choose another keen Labour supporter. Indeed, for millions of viewers it was Delia rather than Maggie who really incarnated the values of Britain at the dawn of the Eighties Like Margaret Thatcher, Delia Smith was a polished media performer, cutting a supremely poised figure as she lectured the nation in her distinctive clipped tones. Like Mrs Thatcher, she appealed, above all, to suburban Middle England. Indeed, for millions of viewers it was Delia rather than Maggie who really incarnated the values of Britain at the dawn of the Eighties. And when Delia told viewers of her Cookery Course how to pronounce lasagne or advised them how to roll spaghetti on a fork, she was appealing to the same values domesticity, home economy, social aspiration that helped Mrs Thatcher to dominate the decade. That both of them were women tells its own story. I know what its like running a house and running a career. I know what its like having to live within a budget. I know what its like having to cope, Mrs Thatcher told Nationwides audience in 1979. In essence, this was Delias appeal, too. Her simple recipes were perfect for the new breed of professional working women who were too busy to spend hours slaving over the stove. When Delia told viewers of her Cookery Course how to pronounce lasagne or advised them how to roll spaghetti on a fork, she was appealing to aspiration Delia saw nothing wrong with tinned ingredients and nothing wrong, either, with using the latest kitchen gadgets. Despite the collapse of industry and the surge in unemployment, sales of microwave ovens boomed during the early Eighties. You are probably reading this sitting at home, maybe with your family around you. In the living room there is almost certainly a television set, probably a colour model. In the kitchen there is more than likely to be a washing machine and almost definitely a fridge, wrote Mrs Thatcher in her New Years message to the nation, published in the News of the World on December 31, 1979. It was a canny appeal, tapping into ordinary peoples love of home and hearth, their enthusiasm for appliances, their eagerness to keep up with the Joneses. But as Delia Smiths success suggests, Mrs Thatcher didnt create this world. She inherited it. So the story we tell in our series is one in which Mrs Thatcher is no longer the dominant character. Shes in it, of course we were never really going to leave her out. But though our story contains plenty of household names, from Tessa Sanderson and Steve Davis to Arthur Scargill and Roland Rat, the central characters are really the audience themselves. Ours is the story of the millions of people who made council house sales a success, rushed to buy shares in British Telecom and British Gas, bought the first video recorders and mobile phones, enjoyed Boursin, Perrier and Le Piat dOr, and queued to get into the first British branches of Ikea towards the end of the decade. So ours is a history of the Eighties driven not by events in No 10 Downing Street, but by decisions made in millions of other No 10s, No 9s and No 11s up and down the country. For the truth, of course, is that our politicians dont make our history. We do. And if the world we live in today is the world the Eighties made, then we have only ourselves to blame. Or, if you prefer, to thank. They're the $550 (GBP440) boots that celebrities can't get enough of. From Kendall and Kylie Jenner to Bella Hadid, the Spirit Boots by Dear Frances are fast becoming a wardrobe staple for off-duty young Hollywood. 'They're a classic boot with a distinctly modern edge,' the Australian designer behind the hugely successful style, Jane Frances, told Daily Mail. Celebrity style: Boots by Australian label Dear Frances are popular with celebrities such as Bella Hadid (pictured) On trend: The label was founded by Australian designer Jane Frances, and the popular Spirit boots (pictured) retail for $550 'The clean lines, unique details and strong block heel creates a careful balance, making them easy to dress up and down and wear on any occasion.' Despite having launched her label in the US just two years ago, the talented designer, 30, has a already made a name for herself among celebrity circles and fashion influencers, and regularly shares street style snaps of A-listers in her designs on the label's Instagram page. 'Celebrities and style influencers have been incredibly responsive since our launch in the US and this has really helped to drive awareness and momentum for the label,' Ms Frances said. Popular: 'The Spirit Boots have quickly become our most asked about style,' Ms Frances said. Here Ashley Tisdale pairs the boots with a Canadian Tuxedo Kylie's a fan: Kylie Jenner (pictured) wore the boots for a photo shoot alongside her sister Kendall, who has also been pictured in the boots Versatile: Emma Roberts paired the boots with a maxi skirt and yellow jacket 'The Spirit Boots have quickly become our most asked about style and we will soon be introducing them in a range of beautiful new colourways and textures'. The Spirit Boots come in black, port, velvet and crocodile print. Hand-stitched in Italy, the boots feature an elegant silhouette with an on-trend block heel. Kylie Jenner wore the boots in a photo shoot alongside her sister Kendall for a US clothing label. The 18-year-old reality television star paired the boots with a black mini-dress. Street vibe: Us actress Nicola Peltz wore the boots with black skinny jeans and a black singlet Simple: 'From an industry perspective, celebrities and influencers prefer simplistic and refined styles because they're different,' Ms Frances previously told Daily Mail Australia The boots have also been spotted on Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and US actress Nicola Peltz. Bella, who is the younger sister of Victoria's Secret model Gigi Hadid, has been spotted wearing the boots on numerous occasions. On one trip to Rome, Bella paired a pair of black Spirit boots with black skinny jeans and trench coat. Talented: Jane Frances studied fashion in London, Milan and Italy before she launched the successful label Coveted: The boots are hand-made in Italy, and are simplistic in their design Meanwhile, Kendall chose to pair her boots with grey skinny jeans and a navy a navy blazer for a relaxed street look. Ms Frances said she had requests from Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Gigi Hadid, Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne and Kate Hudson for her shoes. 'From an industry perspective, celebrities and influencers prefer simplistic and refined styles because they're different,' Ms Frances previously told Daily Mail Australia. 'When I started I put a lot of emphasis on campaigns and lookbooks and made sure the imagery and exposure was in line with what the brand was... I wanted it to be this very relaxed easy elegance and the type of brand women could wear through the day and into the night.' This 52-year-old single woman has laid claim to being the UK's 'top cougar'. Businesswoman Juney Smith, from St Albans, has dated more than 250 younger men since she turned 30, insisting it keeps her young - adding that men her age either can't offer what young men can - or simply have no idea how to 'date properly'. 'The guys I date range in age from 18 to 45,' she says. 'I meet them at clubs, out grocery shopping, at art galleries, at service stations, and it is always the young guy who hits on me.' Businesswoman Juney Smith, from St Albans (pictured), has dated more than 250 younger men since she turned 30, insisting it keeps her young Juney, who has never married or had children, explains: I have always dated younger but really focused on it from the age of 30, and among the guys I've gone out with were (teenage) lads aged 18 to 20. I haven't looked back since.' She adds: 'I tried dating men my own age but they are boring, bad in bed and frankly not eager to please. Plus, after a divorce they return to the dating scene and simply are out of their depth. 'They have missed out on a generation of dating changes.' However, Juney is quick to clarify that she hasn't slept with all 250 of her conquests. 'Some I've had coffee with, some just drinks, others we've gone to a party,' she explains. 'I have slept with some, and some I have had a longer relationship with.' She insists that while she enjoys dating in 'all its forms' she refuses to be unfavourably labelled. Juney, who is currently working on an amateur comedy theatre production, continues: 'I am definitely not a slut which is what people automatically assume comes with the word cougar. I am "sex positive". Juney, pictured with one of her conquests, says men her age either can't offer what young men can - or simply have no idea how to 'date properly' She says, 'The guys I date range in age from 18 to 45 - I meet them at clubs, out grocery shopping, at art galleries, at service stations' Outspoken Juney, who has never married or had children, adds, 'it is always the young guy who hits on me' She says, 'I tried dating men my own age but they are boring, bad in bed and frankly not eager to please' 'That means I feel sexy, like to look good and enjoy sex with the right man and am not afraid to talk about it. I enjoy sex but before that I have to date. I consider my approach to men very American. Manhattan dating or accepting invitations for dinner and outings with up to three to four men 'separately of course' over a week is how it works. 'You don't just date one guy until you decide to become exclusive. Juney admits that dating men who are younger than her is both an obsession and addition. They make me feel young,' she says. 'I have fun with them, I don't want kids and marriage and they keep me on my toes. They know how to enjoy life and what many women might find surprising is young men are extremely sexually adept and if not they're eager to take direction.' Juney is quick to clarify that she hasn't slept with all 250 of her conquests - some of them have just been dates She says, 'I am definitely not a slut which is what people automatically assume comes with the word cougar' Juney admits that dating men who are younger than her is both an obsession and addition, because it keeps her feeling young She says many people she grew up with have difficulty understanding her decision not to get married and have children Juney, who says men often mistake her for 30 to 35 years old, elaborates: Most of the men I date admire my sense of fun, style and the fact I am not after marriage and kids. 'When you're a cougar you need to date younger guys who know the rules from the start. The main one is the relationship won't be long-term but we will enjoy each other's company and a lot of the time doesn't involve sex. 'I am also into 20-something music, and television shows like TOWIE and am young at heart. However even if you are an intellectual older women then there is always a younger man for you. Juney says she also meets men on girl's nights out when she and her single and married friends go to a meal and dancing. I am a firm believer if you put out a friendly vibe that vibe will be felt,' she says. 'I do some internet dating but I meet men via work and parties, clubbing and even waiting for a train. Juney, pictured (left) and (right) in her 20s says she still likes '20-something music' and TV shows like TOWIE Juney, pictured (left) and (right) in her 30s, says I have always dated younger but really focused on it from the age of 30, and among the guys I've gone out with were lads aged 18 to 20' Juney is also an actress (pictured) who is currently working on an amateur comedy theatre production 'I am fun loving woman and if that means I am Cougar Queen then it makes me proud because I can hopefully share my expertise with men and women. Juney says many people she grew up with have difficulty understanding her decision not to get married and have children. It's the non-traditional route and you have to be super confident this is what you want, she explains. Juney, who keeps her trim size 12 figure by eating healthy and working out three to four times a week, says she is sick of women being labelled cradle snatchers for dating younger men while men who date younger women are hailed as heroes. A COUGAR'S TOP 10 TIPS FOR DATING A TEEN 1. Avoid the one night date guys 2. Don't fall for cheesy chat-up lines 3. If they're bad in bed tell them and help them improve 4. Let them pay for dates, then offer after 5. Have shared interests. Date a teen interested in what you are interested in 6. Be prepared for your mates to be jealous 7. Let the relationship evolve - if you want a long term relationship ensure you make that clear early on 8. Try dating websites first and check the profiles to work out the gold-diggers from serious contenders 9. You may get some odd looks but feel empowered by them - people will be wondering your secret 10. Remain in control and remember the teen is with you because of the person, your age doesn't matter Advertisement For me age is just a number. I would be bored senseless with a man my age. 'I haven't ruled out dating men my age or older but the problem is they don't know how to party, to date and often come with so much baggage it means their moves in and outside the bedroom are way behind the times. Juney, who is considering writing a 'how to manual on being a cougar', or running seminars for older women says many ladies she knows are scared to date 'young'. They're worried about labels and what people think. For me that's rubbish. 'I have tried and tested fashion looks for clubbing, partying, having coffee and diner that takes years off you and makes you look younger and ready for fun. 'After a hard day at the office or a stressful week, a fun date and dancing is just what the doctor ordered for my mates, she explains. She continues: 'It's a shame so many women in their 40's and older are too scared to date younger men. 'So many women who find themselves divorced in their 40s and 50s have to sit back and watch while their ex-husbands marry a new younger wife and they are left desperately bumbling around trying to date an older man. 'I tell these women: "Don't look for a long-term relationship - have a giggle and some fun and surprise yourself and date a younger man. You don't have to sleep with them or even kiss them but have some fun and you'll realise you are good looking and shouldn't be dismissed". Juney says she is sick of women being labelled cradle snatchers for dating younger men while men who date younger women are hailed as heroes She reveals that she keeps her trim size-12 figure by eating healthy and working out three to four times a week Juney is considering writing a 'how to manual on being a cougar', or running seminars for older women, says many ladies she knows are scared to date young men Juney also says older men should take lessons in dating. There is a definite hole in the market. There should be a course for older men on how to date, what to talk about and what women expect. She does have some key advice for would-be cougars. 'For older women who want to date younger guys I say beware the lads who want someone to practice their love skills on, ones who are after a sugar mummy or guys who want a "quick leg over". 'Even if you lack confidence don't fall for flattery straight off, don't jump into bed the first chance they offer and ensure they do the work. She adds: 'A lot of the young men I've had relationships are quite sexually experienced. They've told me they read women's magazines, study what women want and put effort into foreplay. If you give them a suggestion they don't get moody like an older bloke, they take it on board.' Juney, pictured recently, advises, 'For older women who want to date younger guys I say beware the lads who want someone to practise their love skills on' The buxom blonde concludes, 'Anyone who thinks it's taboo to date young and be "sex positive" needs their head read' Surprisingly Juney claims its teen girls that make many teen guys turn to older women. So many guys have told me all women their age are interested in is how they look, what someone's wearing and their weight,' she says. 'They also claim young girls are so desperate to get a boyfriend they "drop their knickers" too easily and are not great in bed. Young men are extremely sexually adept and if not they're eager to take direction I have watched as Caroline Flack who had a dalliance with Harry Styles and Demi Moore who was with Ashton Kutcher took a great deal of criticism, especially from younger women who claimed they were stealing their men. Juney says: Ignore those silly teenage girls threatening you. Don't be frightened. There is nothing wrong with dating a teen. 'Women like Demi Moore have made it cool to date and marry younger guys and ironically teen women seen with older blokes are labelled gold diggers were as an older woman with a younger bloke is given the thumbs up. 'Anyone who thinks it's taboo to date young and be "sex positive" needs their head read. These young men know what they're getting into and do it because they want to and because girls their own age are not providing what they want. Juney says she plans to continue dating unless she finds a man to settle down with. A photograph that shows a little girl camouflaged against a rocky landscape is driving people to distraction on social media site Imgur. The image shows a dramatic boulder-strewn landscape and asks readers to find a young tourist wearing a purple hoodie and waving at the camera. However, such are the cracks and crevices on the honey-coloured stones, it's very tricky to spot her without a helping hand. Scroll down for the reveal! Desperately seeking: This image, posted on social media site Imgur, has foxed internet users with its challenge to find a little girl hiding amidst the rocky landscape - so, can you see her? The shot was posted with the teasing caption: 'Can you find her? Look closely', which only served to infuriate those who couldn't see anything but a weather-sculpted collection of rocks. Some begged for the poster to 'red circle' so they could see the whereabouts of the girl, while another called the teaser 'brutal'. If you haven't yet spotted her in the image above - here are a few clues as to her whereabouts. She's in the first half of the image, perched just above one long, jutting stone. She's also waving like mad at the camera. If you do spot the chameleon-like tourist without any help, congratulate yourself; it's almost impossible without a guiding hand. Between a rock and a hard place: the chameleon-like girl blends in perfectly with her surroundings despite waving and wearing a purple hoodie I'm here! Zoom in on the youngster and you can clearly see her purple jumper and blonde hair against the sand-coloured rocks of the unknown tourist destination It's the latest in a long line of teasing images doing the rounds on the internet. Last week saw the mind-boggling map, which tested geographical knowledge by switiching countries around. The quiz from Playbuzz saw six countries swapped on a map of the world - shown below - but can you spot them all? Do you know your USA from your Canada, your Latvia from your Lithuania and your Cambodia from your Vietnam? In this reordered map, countries that you're used to seeing in their set places on the world map appear to have shifted. The giant land mass stretching from Europe to Asia is now labelled Canada, while the large island continent in the southern hemisphere is called Brazil. So how quickly did you spot the remarkable changes across the globe? How quickly were you able to spot that Canada became Greenland, Russia became Canada and Greenland became Russia? The map test is the latest teaser from the site, that recently challenged the web to spot Disney princesses in a huge crowd scene. Among the faces, including the Seven Dwarfs, the Genie, Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire cat, are the iconic cartoon heroines. But how quickly can you spot Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Ariel? In this crowded scene, princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas,and Ariel are all hidden. But how quickly can you spot them? Although some princesses - including Belle and Pocahontas are fairly easy to spot, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine and Cinderella are a little bit trickier. Some Playbuzz users have even noticed that there are more princesses than the six you have been challenged to find - Auroa from Sleeping Beauty can be spotted in the top and centre, as well as Kida from Atlantis and Mulan. How many did you spot? Some Playbuzz users have even noticed that there are more princesses than the six you have been challenged to find - Auroa from Sleeping Beauty can be spotted in the top and centre, as well as Kida from Atlantis and Mulan Another puzzle recently put film buffs to the ultimate test with a dense crowd scene in which every image references a movie. The challenge is whether you can identify the clues and name the cinematic work that inspired it. Take the test to see how many you get right... The crowded scene created by Playbuzz is set on a tarmac foreground with buildings to the left and right and a backdrop of the Hollywood sign, over which birds wheel through the sky and starships appear to be fighting each other. This crowd scene is filled with clues but can you identify them and name all 50 films it references? A lone turret is up in flames, while a chasm appears to be opening up in the hillside while the rest of the image appears to depict chaos. Some clues are more literal than others, for instance a man playing a violin atop a building brings to mind the famous musical starring Topol. Fingers tightly closed around some US currency, also accurately depicts a classic US film. In fact, the test will appeal to those with a wealth of knowledge about Hitchcock films (five clues) and famous directors Martin Scorese hits (three films) and George Lucas (two). Three cartoons pop up, along with two classic Second World War flicks, musicals also have a place, while a Audrey Hepburn film is included along with one of Patrick Swayze's most loved works. Ridley Scott films are also featured, with one of them providing one of the easiest visual aids. This ultimate film test is just the latest in a slew of optical illusions that are driving the internet wild. Another brain teaser revealed how even photographs are not always what they seem. A picture appears to show a beautiful scene of a lake, with mountains in the distance. But can you spot what is really going on? The image appears to show a beautiful scene of a lake, with mountains in the distance. But can you spot what is really going on? If you look extremely closely you'll see that the landscape doesn't include any water at all. What appears to be a the lake is in fact a concrete wall obscuring part of the scenery, with the shrub growing on the other side. It is one of the trickiest optical illusions on the web, that baffled many who simply couldn't spot what was really being pictured in the image. If you look extremely closely you'll see that the scene is not, in fact, of a lake. Instead, the photograph is showing a concrete wall Back in 2015, the infamous 'dress' divided internet users, who simply could not agree over whether it was black and blue or gold and white - with even Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift joining in on the debate. One year later, the Adidas jacket did the same, with people saying that they saw numerous colour combinations, including blue and white, green and gold, black and brown, and green and brown. And this week a new colour spectrum illusion emerged to frustrate the nation, proving once again that our perceptions of colour can be very different from each other. Is this colour blue or green? When asked to name the colour above, 64 per of respondents said that it was green, with 32 per cent believing it to be blue Optical Express surveyed the UK public with the seemingly simple task of identifying shades of blue and green, as part of a study into our perception of colour. When asked to name the colour, 64 per of respondents said that it was green, with 32 per cent believing it to be blue. However, when asked to name the same colour adjacent to two distinctly blue images, many changed their minds - with 90 per cent then stating that it was green. The shade is indeed more green than blue. According to the RGB colour spectrum, the values of the colour are 0, 122 and 116. However, when asked to name the same colour adjacent to two distinctly blue images, many changed their minds - with 90 per cent then stating that it was green Back in 2015, the infamous 'dress' divided internet users, who simply could not agree over whether it was black and blue or gold and white - with even Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift joining in on the debate. One year later, the Adidas jacket (right) did the same WHY DO WE SEE COLOURS DIFFERENTLY? Every single person is unique and as a result, our brains process information differently. Depending on how you interpret colours, one person might see it one way, while the very next person who looks at it might see it differently. Light enters the eye and hits the retina, which is the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The light is converted to an electrical signal which travels along the Optic Nerve to the Visual Cortex in the brain. The brain makes its own unique interpretation of this electrical signal. It is not surprising that many respondents changed their mind when seeing the colour in contrast to the two blue shades, as we perceive an objects colour based on a comparison to its surrounding shades, not on the actual colour itself. Assessing colour vision is just one of the myriad of examinations that can be undertaken during a routine sight test. Its possible for colour blindness to go undetected depending on severity - as its impossible to see the world through another persons eyes. Conditions such as protanomaly, deuteranomaly and tritanomaly can range from inconvenient to quite dangerous - often preventing those inflicted from pursuing certain careers. If you have any concerns about your colour perception, you should seek an appointment with a registered optometrist. Stephen Hannan, Clinical Services Director at Optical Express Advertisement People also had their brain tested by the 'perception test', that challenged quizzers to answer a series of quickfire questions. The test began by setting out the rules: 'Answer the following questions loudly and as quickly as possible. Don't think too much and don't cheat!' The challenge, tjhat was also created by Playbuzz, went through a series of animal pictures, asking you to name what each one is. Internet users are being challenged to test their brain power in a new quiz - which the majority of people will fail The quiz goes through a series of animal pictures, asking you to name what each one is Quiz takers are required to answer the following questions loudly and as quickly as possible The rules stated at the beginning of the quiz add: 'Don't think too much and don't cheat!' The test surprises the quiz taker by throwing out a completely different question: 'Name one city in the USA' The photographs feature a cute-looking cat, a guinea pic and a cow. The test then surprises the quiz taker by throwing out a completely different question: 'Name one city in the USA.' So what did you say? According to the creators of the quiz, 92 per cent of people answer New York under pressure. But if you're one of the few people that named a different city, it shows you've got a creative and innovative mind. Sometimes the easiest-sounding brain teasers are the most difficult ones. And one of the latest puzzle to sweep the web certainly plays by those rules. Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it that it's up to you to find At first, the secret object is impossible to find. However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it that it's up to you to find. At first, the secret object is impossible to find. However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat. The iPad is well-camouflaged because it's the same colour as the seat, with similar markings. Another brainteaser to have swept the web depicts a happy-looking holiday scene. The latest brainteaser to have swept the web depicts a happy-looking holiday scene A dad can be seen peacefully reading a newspaper while his two children fish beside him - one successfully managing to reel in a big one. But within the scene, six holiday-themed words have been hidden, and the challenge is to spot them all. Four of the six words, including 'tree' and 'boy' are relatively easy to spot. However, the other two are slightly more difficult. The version of the picture with rings around the words shows how many you got right - or simply failed to spot. Within the scene, six holiday-themed words have been hidden, and the challenge is to spot them all Year five pupils at a primary school in Glossop, Derbyshire, were left as stumped as their parents by a question which asked them to 'calculate the perimeter of these composite rectilinear shapes'. One dad, 43, was so baffled that he turned to social media, appealing for help in solving the question. As the Manchester Evening News reported, he wrote on Facebook: 'My sons grandma had spent a while helping him with his homework and most of it was straightforward but this one question left her stumped. The maths puzzle was given to year five pupils at a school in Glossop, Derbyshire 'I then spent an hour or so trying to work it out but found it impossible. 'I really do think it is impossible and it is certainly not something a ten-year-old can answer.' On social media, many have claimed that the answer is 44cm for both - but not everyone is in agreement. Another puzzle recently swept the internet, with many trying to solve it using advanced mathematics then kicking themselves when they realised the real solution. Antley Lamont Staten posted this brainteaser on Facebook, which has been shared more than 370,000 times. The puzzle shows a grid of nine numbers and a sign next to it asking people to share the image when they find the error. Yet another puzzle is sweeping the internet, this time boggling the minds of everybody with its deceptively simple answer, above Lots of people have been trying but failing to solve what they think is a mathematical equation on the right side. One wrote: 'It' s 4 and 5. 3 + 6=9 2+5=7 not 8 and 1+4=5 not 7. That's how I looked at it.' However, the answer is that 'mitsake' is spelled wrong. Theodore O'Connell II wrote: 'This is funny. Most people will pay more attention to the numbers and not the spelling of the sign.' Pat Ireland said: 'Just shows that it's true - most of us only see the first and last letter of a word.' Many have been trying to solve the riddle with advanced mathematics, but were probably left kicking themselves when they realised the real solution. The answer is that 'mitsake' is spelled wrong It came after another very tricky puzzle challenged the internet to find a gherkin hidden among a whole host of burger ingredients. The brainteaser features a solitary gherkin mixed in with beef burgers, fries and other tasty-looking garnishes. The challenge is made even more difficult because of all the other green items featured, including salad leaves, cucumber and avocado slices. The brainteaser features a solitary gherkin mixed in with beef burgers, fries and other tasty-looking garnishes The visual puzzle was created by illustrator Sally-Ann Heron for food delivery service Deliveroo. The 25-year-old said: 'I kept forgetting where it was myself, while I was drawing it. I was really hungry by the time I'd finished it.' The gherkin is actually hidden towards the bottom left of the image, behind an onion ring and a beef burger. It's not the only food-themed puzzle to have internet users scratching their heads in recent weeks. The gherkin is actually hidden towards the bottom left of the image, behind an onion ring and a beef burger In April, popular high street bakers Greggs posted a pasty puzzle that showed a lone cheese and onion bake in a pile of steak slices. The brainteaser was inspired by the Where's Wally-style puzzles challenging people to spot animals amongst throngs of creatures that have been sweeping the net in recent months. For those not familiar with the baker's offerings, picking out the pasty proved difficult. This optical illusion has had pasty lovers scratching their heads - and rubbing their stomachs The eagle-eyed spotted that the difference lies in the patterns of the pasties. While the steak bakes feature diagonal lines, the cheese and onion bake is scored with a V-shaped design. The lone cheese and onion bake is hidden at the bottom right corner of the puzzle. The cheese and onion bake is tucked away in the bottom right hand corner (circled in red) This is the latest brain-teaser taking the internet by storm, inviting people to take on the challenge in fewer than five seconds Internet users were also challenged to see if they could spot what was wrong in this sentence, above, that listed a colourful series of numbers above - in fewer than five seconds. Reading both text and numbers at a quick pace can result in skipping bits out - which many people who failed to spot the mistake have fallen foul of here. The numbers, which are in colour, attract the eye and the reader may automatically find themselves checking those for a mistake. In fact, the error is hidden in the text informing you that there is a mistake to spot. The results, circled in red, show that the mistake is the fact that the word 'the' has been written twice Those with a keen eye for detail, and practised in the art of speed-reading, will have noticed that the word 'the' is written twice. The puzzle is a slight detour from the current trend of Where's Wally-style quizzes. After a spate of illustrations in which a panda was hidden amongst snowmen, Star Wars figures, elephants. The craze was sparked by Hungarian illustrator Dudas in December 2015 with he drew a group of snowmen and sneaked in a lone panda amongst them. Seven months later the craze for puzzles shows no sign of abating, Dudas, or Dudolf as he is known when drawing, spawned the Where's waldo-style internet puzzle craze back in December last year when he asked fans to find the panda hidden in these snowmen The image of the panda was shared hundreds of thousands of times as it captivated internet users who eventually found him here Dudolf followed up with a series of wide-eyed owls and challenged viewers to spot the cat hidden amongst them. Reddit user Oneste stuck with the panda theme, but this time drew the fuzzy creature hiding among a group of Stormtroopers to mark the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There amongst Imperial troops including Stormtroopers, Speeder Biker riders and Snowtroopers, is a single panda with the same black and white colouring as the other figures. His wife Anna, 35, says his attitude gives her 'a kick up the bum' Says when he gets chatted up by other women it keeps his wife on her toes A 56-year-old man who splashes nearly 20,000 a year on his appearance says he does so to force his younger wife to keep up. Donavon Nelson, from London, has forked out thousands on surgical treatments and has three personal trainers to hone his shape - admitting his intense grooming regime forces long-suffering wife Anna, 35, to stay in shape too. The father-of-two claims that as well as enjoying his youthful looks his regime 'also creates pressure for her [Anna] to keep fit, fitness is very important to me. Splashing the cash: Donavon Nelson, 56, spends nearly 18,000 pounds a year on his appearance and says he does it to force his younger wife Anna, 35, pictured, to look good too 'You don't want to marry one wife and find you get one three years down the line when they're twice the size. The whole idea is to try and keep them the same way that turned you on when you first met,' he admitted. Donavon, who has had pectoral implants and several rounds of liposuction, spends three hours a day on his appearance including no less than 20 minutes brushing his teeth each morning. A lot of help: The father-of-two has three personal trainers costing 300 a week, he spends $175 a month on his hair and using expensive cleansing products on his face He also spends 50 a month on flights to return to London from Sweden, where his business is based, to visit his favourite hairdresser where his cuts set him back 175 each month. He said: 'With my wife being 21 years younger than me, I want to maintain my body. At least I know if she ever leaves me I can still go on the market, I won't be left on the shelf.' London-born Donovan claims he has to carry ID around with him because he's been turned away from nightclubs and refused alcohol for looking too young. Working hard: The 56-year-old spends three hours a day working on his appearance Nip and tuck: In the past Donavon has spent 22,000 on plastic surgery including having pectoral implants and liposuction He said: 'I was on holiday in Thailand a few years ago and I was held up by border control for three hours. 'They had to wait for the UK office to open so they could check if my passport had been stolen because they couldn't believe my age. 'I also went to Tramps in London last year and they thought I was trying to get in on my father's membership and asked me if I had a second ID. It's embarrassing when I get turned away when I want to go out or buy alcohol. I'm used to it now.' Motivation: Anna says that although she doesn't feel like the gym her husband inspires her to work out Donavon's wife Anna said his strict regime gives her a 'kick up the bum' to stay on top of her own fitness. While the 35-year-old journalist refuses to get her own personal trainer, she still works out three times a week. She said: 'We both try to stay fit and healthy, and of course Donavon's extensive regime gives me a kick up the bum. I do pig out occasionally though. Daddy cool: Donavon claims to be the 'trendiest dad on the playground' - pictured with his son Damien 'Sometimes I'll have no motivation to go to the gym and he'll be out training. I just think, "I'm getting fatter while he's getting fitter". It's like I'm the older one and he's the younger one." But Anna says that while she struggles to motivate herself her husband does inspire her. She added: "I think everybody should have someone who motivates them to go to the gym. At the time I might think, "Oh God he's on at me again", but once I've gone to the gym I feel fantastic. If I'd never met Donavon I don't think I'd be as motivated. In love: Anna was quick to gush about her husband and said: He has so much charisma and everybody loves him' Active: The couple, pictured on a skiing holiday, try to be active and Anna says it's her husband who helps to motivate her in the gym 'Fitness is such an important part of his life and we've been together so long that it's become a part of me too.You want to do the same things, and his drive rubs off on me.' Speaking about the 21-year age gap Anna said: 'He has so much charisma and everybody loves him. We meet in the middle - he tries to stay young and I have made older friends. I have a lovely husband, and he looks fantastic.' Donavon says he loves being the 'trendiest dad on the playground' to daughter Aspen, 10, and son Damien, 13, and his efforts ensure he gets plenty of attention. Who takes longer to get ready? The 56-year-old spends hours looking good Hectic routine: Donavon spends 20 minutes brushing his teeth in the morning and regularly enjoys mud masks He said: 'All the other dads at the children's school are younger than me, but I'm the only one who can do somersaults on the playground.' 'I get chatted up a lot when I go out, which is very flattering. I never tell them my age, I just smile, but it keeps my wife on her toes when she sees these young girls flirting with me. It's all worth it because I can go to Ibiza and take my top off without being embarrassed.' But while Donavon spends 300 a week on three different personal trainers he's also had several procedures to achieve his shape. Ab-fab: The former marketing manager says he loves that he can take off his top in Ibiza without feeling embarrased Ladies' man: Donavon says he is chatted up by younger women all the time ID needed: Donavon says that he's been refused alcohol because he looks so young DONAVON'S 18,600 A YEAR BEAUTY REGIME 300 a week on three different personal trainers = 15,600 175 a month on his hair (cut, blow dry and colour) = 2,100 50 a month on Ryanair flights from Sweden to England to get his hair done = 600 7 a month on mud masks from Boots = 84 18 a month on Clinique foam cleanser = 216 Advertisement In 2012, Donavon had pectoral implants and then two bouts of liposuction in 2014 to boost his health kick. He spent 22,000 on the procedures, but has ruled out having anything else done. He said: 'There were some areas where I was working out but the fat just wasn't coming off. There's only so much a surgeon can do and the rest is down to you. 'I thought, "I'll let the surgeon get rid of this bit of fat, then I'll work hard to keep it off". I was also lifting really heavy weights to try and build up my chest, but the doctor told me it was bad for me. That's why I had pec implants, for a quick fix.' It's perhaps no surprise that Donavon has turned his obsession into a business and he now runs Scandinavian Boot Camp in Sweden. The former marketing manager runs a 1,500-a-week 'fitness prison', where guests train up to three times a day for anything from one week to six months. A test which could detect dozens of cancers before they become deadly could be widely available within ten years, according to new research. Scientists have trawled through five years worth of studies and have identified a list of 788 'biomarkers' in the blood. These are tell-tale signs that show cancer is present in the body, even when the patient is not suffering symptoms. With this information, researchers hope to develop a single blood test which could check for different types of the disease. The test would allow doctors to identify cancer before it has spread and allow patients to begin treatment immediately. A test to detect dozens of types of cancer before they become deadly could be widely available within ten years, scientists claim The work was carried out on behalf of the Early Cancer Detection Consortium (ECDC), a group of nearly 40 organisations, including universities, hospitals and companies. The team from the Universities of Sheffield, Coventry and Warwick started with over 19,000 scientific studies published over the last five years that investigated blood based biomarkers. They reduced this to 4,000 studies before creating a final list of biomarkers. Professor Ian Cree, a molecular pathologist and director of the ECDC, said next they hope to whittle the list of biomarkers down to 50 and create a test to identify these in patients. He said: 'Our vision is that the screen will pick up even the small amounts of these biomarkers that might be in the blood at an early stage of the cancer, without necessarily identifying which cancer they relate to. 'Patients would then be referred for more specific tests, that could narrow down the tumour type.' He told the Telegraph: 'It would be great if we could pick up 95 per cent of all cancers. 'But we need to make this available to the general population so it has to be accurate. We dont want to worry people unnecessarily or give false reassurance.' The test would allow doctors to identify cancer before it has spread and allow patients to begin treatment immediately, researchers said (file photo) They hope to carry out a trial in humans to check the test is accurate and cost-effective, and imagine the process could take up to seven years, he said. But a test for high risk groups could be ready in as little as three, he added. The ECDC has set up a company, Pinpoint Cancer Ltd, to take the research forward and is actively seeking investment and funding for the next stages of the project. Fiona Osgun, Cancer Research UK's senior health information officer, said: 'Early detection is a vital area of research, and that's why Cancer Research UK is investing in projects exploring its potential. A breath of fresh air is not just good for our health, it can also help us feel confident about how we look. Scientists have found people who spend more time outside have a more positive body image and higher self-esteem. The findings could mean people who suffer from insecurities about their figures or even those with eating disorders could be helped by spending more time outdoors. Studies have previously shown that people who lived near green spaces have higher life satisfaction and less mental distress than those who did not. Experiencing natural environments can help boost the feeling of being an important part of a wider ecosystem, the researchers suggest But this latest research has found a link between spending time outdoors and people's perception of their bodies, as well as their likelihood to bow to social pressure over their looks. The study of 199 women and 200 men aged between 19 and 76 from the US, was led by Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He said that experiencing natural environments could help boost the feeling of being an important part of a wider ecosystem, meaning people felt more respect for their bodies. It could also help people feel further removed from pressures of society and lessen the need to conform to stereotypes, such as being thin or muscular. For the research, participants in an online survey were given a range of statements about their body image and asked to score how strongly they agreed on a five-point scale. Questions included: 'I respect my body', 'When I see good-looking people, I wonder about how my own looks measure up', 'I often check my appearance in a mirror just to make sure I look okay' and 'I feel pressure from family members to look thinner'. They were also asked a series of questions about how exposed they were to nature in their everyday life and how connected they felt to the natural environment. Spending more time outside could also help people feel further removed from pressures of society and lessen the need to conform to stereotypes, Professor Viren Swami said Researchers found clear links between exposure to nature and how much participants appreciated their bodies. Professor Swami said: 'Spending time in a natural environment may help us develop a sense of ownership over our physical selves, give us a greater respect for our bodies, and a better understanding of what our bodies can do rather than what our bodies look like. 'In turn, this may promote a sense of physical empowerment that is characteristic of body appreciation.' He added: 'Spending time in nature also seems to promote better self-esteem and feelings of connection to nature. When we feel part of a larger ecosystem requiring protection, we may be more likely to take steps to protect our bodies from harmful effects.' He cautioned that the research should be interpreted carefully, as it could be that people who felt more confident about their bodies were more likely to seek out natural environments. But he said if further research confirmed the findings, people who had negative body image issues could be treated with therapies such as hiking or camping. Previously, researchers have found that being closer to nature has a calming effect which helps people sleep better. Other studies revealed that living in a tree-lined street can make someone feel around seven years younger, while those in leafy areas tend to be thinner and have fewer heart problems. Research carried out in Chicago found that even in poverty-striken inner-city estates, there was less crime in areas planted with trees or with green spaces such as parks. Hi-tech slippers could lower the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or blood clots in the leg following surgery. The slippers, which are on trial in Japan, are connected to a pump that applies pulses of pressure to the bottom of the foot. This is thought to mimic the effects of walking stimulating blood flow and stopping blood collecting in the legs. This pooling of blood is what causes the dangerous clotting, or DVTs, that affect one in 1,000 people in the UK, Hi-tech slippers could lower the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the leg following surgery A DVT is a blood clot in a vein deep in the body, most commonly in the lower legs or thighs. It is usually associated with immobility for extended periods, such as long hospital stays after surgery and long-haul flights. When we walk, the added pressure from the push on the ground flattens the arch of the foot (the plantar venous plexus), which in turn narrows and squeezes the blood vessels forcing blood upwards, back up the legs towards the heart. Without this action, blood starts to pool in the legs. Clots can form and parts break off and travel through the bloodstream, sometimes becoming lodged in small blood vessels in the lungs, causing a condition called pulmonary embolism, which can be fatal. To prevent DVTs, patients at risk are given blood-thinning drugs or told to wear compression stockings that fit tightly around the legs and squeeze the blood vessels to encourage blood flow around the body. A DVT is a blood clot in a vein deep in the body, most commonly in the lower legs or thighs. It is usually associated with immobility for extended periods However, drugs can increase the risk of bleeding, while compression stockings can be uncomfortable. The latest innovation, the foot pump slippers, could offer a more convenient alternative. RUSSIAN EXPERTS CLAIM TO HAVE A WONDER DRUG Russian scientists say they have developed a way to make injectable drugs dissolve clots up to 4,000 times more effectively than current drugs and with fewer side-effects. The problem with available drugs is that they must be injected in very high doses to ensure enough reaches the blood clot to break it down, but this can cause side-effects such as bleeding. The scientists claim the injection is 4,000 times more effective than current drugs and has fewer side-effects Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the scientists explained how they had developed a magnetic ball structure, which carries the drugs and only dissolves when it reaches a clot. In a laboratory study, these balls were filled with the clot-busting chemicals used in conventional therapy and none of the drugs leaked out until they reached the blood clot. Advertisement They are connected to a pump that releases pulses of pressurised air into the hard sole of the slippers. This in turn puts pressure on the sole of the foot, mimicking the effects of walking, say the researchers from the NHO Nagasaki Medical Center. In a 2009 study of hip surgery patients, those who wore the slippers had no side-effects and reported no DVTs, despite not being on anti-clotting medication, according to a report in the Journal of Arthroplasty. In a new trial, around 70 patients at Nagasaki University Hospital in Japan who are undergoing knee surgery will be given the anti-clotting drug edoxaban daily or the slippers to wear whenever they are sitting or lying down. Patients will be checked for DVTs for a month after surgery. Commenting on the technology, Stella Vig, a consultant vascular surgeon at Croydon University Hospital says: Devices are available that encompass the whole lower leg, but this is cumbersome. Around one couple in six experiences fertility problems. Laura Washington, 32, a hairdresser from Cannock, Staffordshire, underwent a new procedure and is now a mother of one, as she tells ADRIAN MONTI. THE PATIENT After Chris and I married in 2005, we immediately started trying for a baby. Chris, who is in the military, worked away for long spells, so there would be several weeks when we couldnt try but, after a while, it was obvious I wasnt getting pregnant. In spring 2008, I went to see my GP, who referred me to hospital for tests which revealed that I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Laura Washington from Staffordshire was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) This meant that my hormones were out of balance (I had too much testosterone), which, in turn, meant I wasnt ovulating properly. Id had bowel surgery as a baby, too, and, as a result of this, my fallopian tubes had been slightly moved. I was told that because of these complications, my chances of conceiving normally were low. We had always wanted to start a family as soon as we were married I had seen myself as a mum and not being able to have children easily was something we had never thought would be an issue, so it was a big blow. Doctors said our best chance was in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), where the egg and sperm are collected and fertilised in a lab, then the embryos are transferred into the womb. We started IVF on the NHS at the Midland Fertility Clinic in February 2011, and two embryos were transferred into my womb. The first attempt failed and so did a second one six months later. Chris and I were devastated, but determined to carry on trying. But we werent eligible for any more NHS treatment, so we had to go private at the clinic. Laura and her husband We started IVF on the NHS at the Midland Fertility Clinic in early 2011 That attempt failed, too. We were both heartbroken again. Having a baby was now always on my mind the harder it seemed to be to have one, the tougher it was to accept. Over the next year, I underwent more investigations to see what was stopping me getting pregnant. Ultrasound scans showed that I also had hydrosalpinx, where the fallopian tubes retain toxic fluid that would stop embryos developing so I had the fluid removed. Towards the end of 2014, we decided to give IVF one last chance. Heidi Birch, a specialist nurse at Midland Fertility who had been treating me from the start, suggested trying a new procedure called an endometrial scratch. Her daughter, Amber (pictured above) was born on August 27 last year at just under 39 weeks She explained that it involved scratching the uterus wall with a 10 in plastic tube and might help the embryo stick better. After all that wed gone through already, I was happy to try it. The scratch was done five weeks before my egg collection. Heidi inserted a catheter via my vagina and then used it to make small scratches on my uterus wall. It was slightly painful, but the whole thing only lasted ten minutes. I was allowed to drive myself home an hour afterwards and had no pain. In December 2014, I had my eggs collected and fertilised, and the embryos were replanted into my womb. Just over a week later, on Christmas morning, I felt slightly sick and had a feeling that I was pregnant. I did a home pregnancy test and it came out positive we were elated, but knew we still had a long way to go. Because of the new procedure, called an endometrial scratch, Laura could finally have a baby I tried to enjoy my pregnancy but, after the miscarriages, I was terrified that something might go wrong. I had a planned Caesarean and Amber was born on August 27 last year at just under 39 weeks, weighing 7lb 7oz. It was amazing to hold her for the first time. Its incredible that the tiny scratch might have played a large part in us becoming parents. THE SPECIALIST Heidi Birch is a nurse specialist and director of nursing services at Midland Fertility in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Every year, around 52,000 UK women undergo IVF. Today 2 per cent of all babies born in the UK are conceived in this way. There are many reasons why IVF may not work, including genetic problems and autoimmune conditions where the womans immune system rejects the embryo, as it considers it a foreign body. But, often, the failure is unexplained. Every year, around 52,000 UK women undergo IVF. Today 2 per cent of all babies born in the UK are conceived in this way In the past three years, a simple technique has been developed which, trials have shown, can increase the success rates of IVF. Its known as endometrial scratching, where a tiny part of the uterus wall is deliberately disturbed. Essentially, it was discovered by accident. Doctors had found that some women whod had a dilation and curettage (D&C), a procedure where tissue from the womb lining is removed to identify what their infertility problem could be, became pregnant the next month. A D&C is similar to what we now do with the scratch technique. One theory is that scratching the lining causes a repair reaction, where the body releases growth factors and stem cells in the uterus, which then help the embryo to implant and develop. Some studies have also suggested the scratching switches on the genes responsible for ensuring the embryo implants on to the uterus wall. There are ongoing trials in the UK and around the world to identify exactly why it works. Some studies have also suggested the scratching switches on the genes responsible for ensuring the embryo implants on to the uterus wall As an experienced fertility nurse, Im qualified to carry out many procedures that are usually reserved for doctors. I am one of the few nurses in Europe to do endometrial scratches. Its available at many of the 82 UK IVF clinics but not yet available on the NHS because its so new. We carry out endometrial scratches on roughly 20 per cent of our IVF patients women who had good quality embryos but who either didnt get pregnant or experienced early miscarriage for any reason. The procedure is done on day 21 of a typical 28-day menstrual cycle, just after ovulation and a few days before the period is due, a month before IVF treatment. This gives time for the uterus to generate stem cells before the embryo transfer. WHAT ARE THE RISKS? There is a risk of infection, which is always the case when something in this case a sterile catheter is put into the body. Antibiotics are given beforehand to prevent this. There is also a small risk that the patient could faint. The procedure is available at many of the 82 UK IVF clinics, but not yet available on the NHS because its so new Because the patient isnt sedated, they can indicate how painful the procedure is. This makes perforating the uterus very unlikely. The endometrial scratch could play a useful role in helping women undergo successful IVF, but at present its still unclear how useful it is, says Professor Siobhan Quenby, a consultant obstetrician at Coventrys University Hospital. Some trials find its helpful, while others have shown no obvious benefit. 'We dont think it does any harm but we are not sure at this stage if it helps, either.' Advertisement Patients are advised to take two paracetamol tablets beforehand to take the edge off the slight pain. A sterile tube a catheter is gently inserted through the cervix and into the uterus. Using an ultrasound scan I can see where I am; when the catheter is in position on the uterus lining, I make four scratches, each a few millimetres long. Because the catheter is hollow, it creates slight suction when placed on the surface, which pulls little parts of lining away from the uterus wall as I move it this combined with the pointed end of the catheter creates the scratches. Patients usually feel slight discomfort and cramps similar to period pain. It stops after I withdraw the catheter, though. Some women get slight spotting, so I advise them all to wear a sanitary towel for 24 hours after. Its impossible to say if the scratch was the main reason why Laura had Amber. Its probably a combination of factors in her treatment. We only offer it after the second IVF attempt as there is not enough evidence of improved pregnancy rates on a first cycle. Its an interesting development, though, and could address the problem of good-quality embryos failing to implant, and clearly can lead to a successful pregnancY. FiveThirtyEight, Americas best-known poll forecaster, has predicted that Donald Trump has a 50.1 per cent chance of winning the US presidency. It is time to suspend disbelief and assess just what a Trump presidency could mean for the world and India. Trump has divided the US electorate down the middle. He has been attacked for his erratic ways, racism, and questionable business practices. Yet, he bested the powerful Republican establishment to become the party nominee for the presidential elections. Polls now indicate that Donald Trump is the 50.1 per cent favorite to become the new US President Inequality What forces have carried Donald Trump to this stage? Win or lose, they will be around in the US over the coming decade. Most noticeable is the feeling among large sections of the people that the American establishment has colluded with the rich in other countries to impoverish the average American. This has led to a chronic, growing inequality in the US and an exacerbation of the race issue. Make America Great? The time has come to suspend disbelief and assess just what a Trump presidency could mean for the world and India Globally, instead of benefiting from the rise of East Asia, the US has spent a fortune in wars in the Middle East, and is now witnessing the destabilisation of its key ally, Europe, by Islamist terrorism and unchecked migration. Meanwhile China expands its military and economic capacity and could challenge the US, first in East Asia, and then possibly the world. Assuming Trump does not quite live out his persona as POTUS, and that he is a person of reasonable intelligence, it is possible to get a reasonable idea of how he will be different. A lot will depend on the outcome of the Congressional elections, because while the Congress cannot make policy, it has the capacity to obstruct a Presidents agenda just as has happened in the case of Barack Obama. Trump has divided the US electorate down the middle. He has been attacked for his erratic ways, racism and questionable business practices Perhaps the most significant shift will be in the way the US engages the world. The US played a crucial role in setting up the UN, the international monetary and trading system, non-proliferation, arms control, and a host of international agreements that bind the world. It shaped a global environment in which most states believed that following the rules was in their self-interest, and in turn the US paid the primary cost of policing that system. Now, Trump wants out. Many Americans have spoken of free-loading allies, but for Trump it has been an obsession. His world will be much more transactional, where say in the area of security, Europe, Japan and the Middle Eastern allies of the US will be asked to cough up their contributions. Momentum His words and deeds suggest that he will seek to restore the geo-political balance which has been skewed by the Western policy on Ukraine, which has sent Russia into the arms of China. He will take a tough stand on Islamism, with implications for the Gulf monarchies. On the matter of trade, the horse has already bolted. Trump has attacked Mexico and NAFTA, but in recent year many US analysts have averred that the US gave China a free ride in the trading system and by cleverly under-valuing its currency, Beijing sucked away US industries and jobs. Many Americans have spoken of free-loading allies, but for Trump it has been an obsession There is little they can do to reverse this; China has unstoppable momentum. Trump is committed to opposing the brahmastra of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) but he is bound to a tough-line on China on trade and currency issues. Worldview India does not figure in Trumps Manichean worldview - which is for the good. India simply does not impact on the US to the extent that Russia, Europe or China do. IPR and job outsourcing issues are there. But they are minor in the larger scale of problems that the US must tackle to reduce its debt, reform its tax laws, rewrite trading agreements and get on to the path of growth which also benefits the average person. Trump promises to take a tough stand on Islamism, with implications for the Gulf monarchies Whether it is in tackling China, Islamism, or the Russian rift, Trumps policies will benefit India. However, New Delhi will also be on that transactional framework where it will be asked what it has on offer to merit the USs friendship - and we cannot rule out an American decision to knock heads on issues like Kashmir. Every US President since the Cold War have been committed to maintaining the American global hegemony. Trump and his supporters believe that their harsh agenda is the necessary medicine for the US and the world, to save them - and in the process retain Americas number one status. Infamous Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Dujana was spotted at a rally orgainsed by separatists in the Pulwama district of south Kashmir. The rally was organised by the parents and supporters of the militants who lost their lives in clashes against security forces in the Valley. Slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander (and Burhan Wanis father) Muzafar Wani was expected to join the rally, but according to reports he wasn't in attendance. Abu Dujana, an infamous Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist has been spotted at a rally orgainsed by separatists in Pulwama district of south Kashmir. Burhan Wanis father was also expected but wasn't in attendance. Abu Dujana is believed to be one of the key figures in the Pulwama region in South Kashmir. It is believed that Dujana joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba when he was 17 and swiftly rose up the ranks after his detailed planning and execution impressed those above him As soon as Dujana was recognised at the rally he was whisked away by his supporters and was soon lost in crowd. The rally, which saw thousands of supporters joining in to pay their respect to the martyrs, took place despite a curfew in the town. Curfew remains in force in some areas - Anantnag, Pulwama, parts of Baramulla town and Shopian - as restrictions on four or more people gathering continue in the whole of Kashmir. Continued protest Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had to beat a hasty retreat from an examination centre at Women's College on Sunday, after angry parents protested against her visit. Indian paramilitary troopers stop Kashmiri residents to check their identity cards during a curfew She went to Womens College on Moulana Azad Road to check the arrangements for the premedical and pre-engineering test being conducted by the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) in various centres. As soon as her cavalcade reached the exam centre, the parents who had accompanied their wards chanted slogans against her visit. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had to beat a hasty retreat from an examination centre after angry parents protested against her visit This is an unnecessary visit. It will only disturb the candidates", a parent said. Another person said that while the candidates were already tense due to the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley, the chief minister's visit would only disturb them more. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistans conservative political party, has convened an All Parties conference on the Kashmir issue. The party has condemned the Indian government's definition of the Kashmiri freedom struggle as "terrorism", calling it an effort to divert the attention of the United Nations and the international community from the real issue. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of the JUI-F and Chairman of Parliaments Kashmir Committee, attended the meeting, along with PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and others. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed advised the government and traders that all business activities with India should remain suspended until Kashmir gains its independence Hafiz Muhammad Saeed advised the government and traders that all business activities with India should remain suspended until Kashmir gets independence from India. Saeed asked the Pakistan government not to allow Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh to visit Pakistan. However, Saeed said that if Rajnath Singh allows the Pakistan government to visit Kashmir to help Kashmiris, then the Pakistan government should consider the offer. Advertisement Eight people, including four children, have died after a three-storey building collapsed in Bhiwandi town near Mumbai. The incident happened at 9am when most of the building's residents were going through their morning routine. The injured were rushed to hospital immediately. Three were sent home with minor injuries, while the remaining patients are being treated at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. A residential building collapsed due to heavy rains, killing nine people in Bhiwandi. Pictured: survivors of the collapse rest at a hospital in Bhiwandi Rescuers pull out a sniffer dog at the site of the collapsed building Several people are still thought to be trapped under the debris. Twenty people have been rescued so far, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has joined the operation. Dr Amol Sherry, medical officer at IGM Hospital, told reporters: When we got to know about the incident, we called our entire team here. Twenty-two people were treated and eight arrived dead. Abdullah, a six-month-old baby boy, was fortunate enough to survive after he was taken to his grandparents' house the night before the incident took place. But while Abdullah avoided the disaster, his mother was among those who died. Another resident, Mohammed Waqil, was eating breakfast with his family when building collapsed. This incident has brought back the issue of old and dangerous buildings in Mumbai I couldnt understand what happened in fraction of second. When I opened my eye I saw debris around me and heard the cries of my son. Then I also started yelling for help. My friends rescued me and my son who was trapped under a cupboard. This incident has brought back the issue of old and dangerous buildings in Mumbai. According to sources, local authorities have served similar notices to 14 such buildings which are in dilapidated state Maharashtra State Government Cabinet Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters: This building was served notices since last year, but due to their dispute with the owner, they didnt evacuate it. Municipal Authority members had gone with the police to evacuate them but these people refused to do so". According to sources, local authorities have served similar notices to 14 such buildings which are in a dilapidated state. Now the question is, will those buildings get evacuated by authorities before another collapses? Several people are thought to be trapped under the debris. Twenty have been rescued so far, and the injured have been taken to hospital A jilted lover from the Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu attempted to set a teenage girl on fire after she repeatedly rejected his advances. The incident comes a mere month after the similarly disturbing murder of an Infosys techie at a train station in Chennai. Senthil, 32, a driver in a private transport company, had been following teenager Naveena for over a year. Senthil attacked a teenage girl, Naveena, with fire after she repeatedly rejected his advances. The girl was rushed to hospital, where she is in a critical condition with 80 per cent burns. Senthil lost his right arm and right leg in a train accident, and assumed that Naveena was rejecting his love because of his injuries. On July 30, Senthil is believed to have hidden outside Naveenas house and waited for her parents to leave. He then entered the house from the rear door and threatened her brother and sister with a knife. Senthil first tried to set Naveena on fire, but failed. He then poured petrol on himself, set himself on fire, and attacked the girl. Neighbours broke the door of the house down after hearing the terrified screams. A 24-year-old wrestler has died after trying to take a selfie from the edge of a waterfall in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur district. Imran, 24, a native of Bhadohi town in Varanasi, was a blacksmith by profession and a well-known local-level wrestler. His death comes just hours after 20-year-old national-level steeple-chase runner, Pooja, accidentally slipped into a pond and lost her life, also while allegedly taking a selfie. A 24-year-old wrestler has died after trying to take a selfie from the edge of a waterfall in UPs Mirzapur district On Sunday afternoon Imran and his friend Shahid had decided to go for a picnic at the Vindham Falls in the nearby Mirzapur district. According to reports, the duo reached the falls around 2pm and while Shahid was busy arranging the meal, Imran went dangerously close to the edge of the waterfall to take a selfie. Ram Kumar, a local vendor told Mail Today: We alerted him. However, by the time he tried to retrace his steps, he slipped and fell". Imrans friend tried to save his life by diving into the water after him, but he couldn't help. The villagers informed the police, after which divers were called to help in the rescue effort. The police have appealed to people not to be reckless while taking selfies (file pic) Ratan Kumar Srivastava, DIG (Mirzapur Range) told the media: After almost an hour, we recovered both of them. "They were rushed to the district hospital where Irfan was declared dead on arrival and Shahid was referred to Varanasi. His condition is critical. Fraudsters are targeting gullible customers looking for lucrative travel deals, insurance offers, or other attractive services by scouring online directories like Just Dial to get their mobile data. The UP police have busted a gang and arrested 13 people for allegedly running fake call centres. Sources say they earned over Rs 20 crore in the last six months. According to the police, the gang had three call centres - Karol Bagh in Delhi, sector 57 in Noida, and Etawah in UP. (Picture for representation only). According to the police, the gang had three call centres - Karol Bagh in Delhi, sector 57 in Noida, and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. The breakthrough by UPs Special Task Force (STF) came while investigating the insurance fraud case registered by HDFC ERGO general insurance. We were approached by the company, and based on the information we found three illegal call centres being operated from Delhi, Noida and Etawah. Three separate teams conducted the raid and arrested 13 people on July 29. The gang was changing their modus-operandi every month, additional police superintendent Triveni Singh told Mail Today. During the investigation, the police team found data from a different sector. This gang operates on the principal of leaking data. They have confessed that they leaked customers data from justdial.com and other sources. Depending upon the nature of data they used to train their staff to dupe people. After getting the insurance data, they offered bonus or attractive deals to inactive account. Currently, they got car owners data and floated a fake car-breakdown service company, Singh explained. The gang searched online directories like Just Dial for customers looking for lucrative travel or insurance deals (file picture) The company had hired female tele-caller executives who were given training based on the data they procured illegally. The gang would lure the victims to deposit large sums of money into different bank accounts on the pretext of expenses to clear the bonus amounts. The gang was selling road assistance and repair services by floating a non-existing company by the name of Road Race. They charged their customers Rs 1,500 and promised a 24/7 road assistance service - but they had no tie-up with any service station. Members of this gang were arrested earlier this year in Hyderabad, but after coming out on bail they changed their base to another city. Gang members are very sharp as they used to monitor complaints against them. They used to track volume of complaints on various online consumer complaints site and when they realised that the number of complaint is getting too high, they would change their location and business, Singh said. The gang had earlier set up swanky offices, but most recently they were operating from a residential area in Karol Bagh which was their headquarters, while organised call centres were set up in Noida and Etawah. Police are also going to tighten the noose around the companies which failed to hold the customer data securely. We will write to justdial.com asking them to check their data security. It is alarming that the gang had names, addresses and other details like car numbers, bank details, loan and insurance details. It becomes very easy to target such customers as they would always feel that they are getting calls from the company, he said. According to the police, the issue of the data leak is alarming as most companies do not follow stringent norms to secure their customers data - and this illegal business is completely based on customers information. Such fake call centres are mushrooming in Delhi and the NCR. Similarly, the Delhi police Crime branch has busted an insurance scam after an 80-year-old Delhi resident was duped of Rs 77 lakh. Police have arrested Sumit Verma (32), one of the directors of Davis Value Card (DVCPL) that duped several people. A raid was conducted at Vermas office in Sector 38 Noida. The police said the accused received sums from the victims in different accounts owned by DVCPL. Cracking the whip on VVIP encroachers, the Supreme Court on Monday said that former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh are not entitled to government bungalows and asked all six of them to vacate their houses. Those who have to give up the accommodation - which they are still holding on to - include current MPs Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP, BSP supremo Mayawati, BJP leader Kalyan Singh, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Former chief ministers N D Tiwari and Ram Naresh Yadav have also been told to move on. BSP supremo Mayawati (left) and Home Minister Rajnath Singh (right) are among the six ex-CMs who have been asked to vacate their official houses within two months The government bungalows allotted to the respondents are held to be bad under law, and the concerned respondents shall hand over possession of the bungalows occupied by them within two months from today, a bench headed by justice A R Dave ruled, while pronouncing judgment on a PIL filed by NGO Lok Prahari. The bench told the UP government to charge the VVIPs rent for the period when they were "unauthorised" residents. Most of these bungalows are in Lucknows expensive Mall Road and Vikramaditya Marg areas. Former CM Kalyan Singh (left) and Rajnath Singh (right) will have to vacate bungalows located in expensive parts of Lucknow. The 1997 Rules, which permit the former chief ministers to occupy government bungalows for life, cannot be said to be valid. Under these circumstances, the state government cannot permit any former chief minister to occupy any government bungalow or any government accommodation after 15 days from the date on which his term comes to an end, said the bench. Lok Prahari had challenged the validity of the 1997 Ex-Chief Minister Allotment of Residence Rule. Stink bombs, marble-sized chilly grenades, more potent tear-gas shells, long-range acoustic devices, and laser dazzlers are some of the options that a high-level Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) team is considering as non-lethal riot control options for Jammu and Kashmir. With the security forces still clashing with stone-pelting mobs, some of the equipment has already been flown into the Valley. It is being deployed instead of using the pump-action pellet gun. Given the tense situation in the Valley, some non-lethal alternatives to the pump-action pellet gun are already being deployed "The MHA team is also reviewing the design and action of the pellet gun. The review team will rework the standard operating procedures to ensure that injury to the upper half of the body can be minimized. The options include modifying the weapon to reduce the area of impact and force," top-level sources told India Today TV. The MHA team is also looking at a smaller vehicle to mount water cannons. The big water cannons like the ones used in plains cannot be used in smaller lanes and neighbourhoods in the Valley. Therefore, we are looking at smaller size vehicles that will throw water - either with a stink bomb or irritation causing chemicals. There is also the option of using water slugs instead of a jet of water as slugs of water will hit the mob and push them back, sources added. However, the stink bomb has its side-effects. The stink is overpowering not just on the body of the individual who comes into contact with the water, but also the area. It stays for several days and will end up punishing the entire locality for the crimes of the stone-pelters. The chilly grenades or the chilly water, on the other hand, only irritate those who come in contact with the water. Before the water canon is used the people will be warned the irritation and itching effect lasts several days and they will be advised to disperse," another official said. The long-range acoustic devices have already been deployed. The sound is so intense that it disorients the stone-pelters. We have used it and instead of pelting stones, they just ran back. The feed back so far is positive. The security forces are also waiting for laser dazzler lights - which have a sudden blinding effect. Not even wearing sunglasses would help," he added. However, given the number of areas where these non-lethal riot control devices would be required, the J&K police and Central Reserve Police Force are looking for adequate numbers to deploy them. They have also made a request for better riot control protective gear and automobiles. Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is known for withholding his emotions, wept openly as his son Rakesh was cremated in his farmhouse near Mysuru. The last rites took place in the presence of his family members, relatives, politicians, and thousands of followers. Politicians across party lines forgot their rivalry to console Siddaramaiah, and paid their last respects to Rakesh. The last rites of Rakesh Siddaramaiah were performed near Mysuru Rakesh, 39, a businessman, died of multiple-organ failure while on a trip to Brussels on Saturday. The CM and his family members had flown to Belgium after hearing about his deteriorating health condition. On Monday, Rakeshs body was brought to Bengaluru from Brussels. Later, his body was taken in a special aircraft flown from Bengaluru to Mysuru. Siddaramaiah and his family members accompanied his sons body all the way from Brussels. His body was kept at a public ground in Mysuru to enable the CMs followers to pay their last respects. Theresa May better act fast otherwise her promise to outlaw or take a critical look at foreign takeovers will be a waste of time. There will be nothing left to sell. Top of the list for intervention, after the Hinkley nuclear delay, should be Softbanks 24billion bid for Britains chip-design champion ARM. Selling would be a terrible betrayal of Britains investment in a high-tech future. It looks as if the other mega-deal on the horizon, the Deutsche Boerse merger of equals with the London Stock Exchange, may be losing momentum fast after the reluctant approval of Frankfurt investors. But there is other worrying stuff ahead. Challenge: Theresa May better act fast otherwise her promise to outlaw or take a critical look at foreign takeovers will be a waste of time Qatars stake building in IAG, the owner of British Airways, could lead to the UK ceding effective control to a Gulf state. The US Committee on Foreign Investment would have a fit if Qatar, a supporter of Hamas regime in Gaza, were to come anywhere near one of its major carriers. Further down the pecking order the maker of iconic Raspberry Pi computer Premier Farnell has been bid for by US electronics rival Avnet, having gazumped an earlier offer from Switzerlands Daetwyler Holdings. Another technology innovator joins all those already sold, including software writers Logica and Misys and Mike Lynchs Autonomy that was chewed up and spat out by Hewlett Packard. As for creative Britain, one of its glittering jewels Pinewood Studios, home of the Bond franchise, Star Wars and the Carry On films, is about to fall into the hands of US-owned private equity firm Venus Grafton Sarl. The price may seem irresistible but selling the very stage where Harrison Ford nearly came to a nasty end on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is treasonable. Pity the late Carry On matron Hattie Jacques wasnt there to cushion the fall. Downing Street needs to get a move on before our tech, financial and cultural champions are defenestrated and skills, patents and corporation taxes are denuded yet again. Green mail The ugly spat between Sir Philip Green and the chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Frank Field is unedifying. Green should know better than to challenge Field, who is regarded as a saint in the Commons for the tremendous work he has done on pensions and welfare reform over the decades. It is a pity that Field allowed himself to be drawn into a tit-for-tat row with Green and engaged in harsh rhetoric, calling Green evil. Similarly Green should have been restrained by his expensive army of advisers from outrageously accusing a Commons panel, which took thousands of pages of evidence, from being a kangaroo court. It comes as no surprise that MPs are continuing their inquiries into Green, his informal advisers Goldman Sachs on the BHS deal and the long-standing relationship between Goldman and the Green family. It was inevitable that Lady Tina, as the ultimate owner of so many of the Green assets, would be drawn closer into the affair as the complexities of Greens business empire and its tax status came under closer scrutiny. The biggest ongoing concern are the arrangements to keep the BHS pension fund afloat with its 571million buyout solvent. None of this is an academic matter for the 20,000 former employees and retirees who after a lifetime of saving rightly are fearful about the future. Green claims to be negotiating in good faith, but if that were the case he would have put funds into escrow with a chosen custodian months ago when it was clear BHS was heading into administration and wind-up. You cannot bargain with peoples lives as if you are flogging lampshades in a street market. Greens idea that he can simply float away on his yacht the Lionheart if people are not nice to him is a fantasy. As the former recent owner of BHS, he cannot do so. There have been a number of cases, such as Carrington Wire, where the owners have been forced to cough up after a Section 89 notice has been served. The regulator has the powers to take matters to the courts if necessary to force payment. Authoritative sources suggest that Green could be in for a bill of 200million-300million if the matter is to be settled. The King of the High Street still has to make arrangements to properly fund the Arcadia pension fund where the buyout costs have been put as high as 190million. This is a big number and after the BHS affair one can understand why employees from senior executives downwards might be nervous. Greens unfulfilled pledges, threats and the like are unconscionable. He should stop the cruising, put his shirt top back and do the decent thing without delay. Sour taste If anyone ever tells you UK ownership doesnt matter, ask the National Farmers Union. German dairy processor Muller scooped up UK quoted Robert Wiseman dairies in 2012 and Dairy Crest milk production in 2015 with no one saying moo to a cow. Now the NFU is complaining that at a time of rising milk prices Muller has put September prices on hold depriving large numbers of its 1,900 farmer suppliers of income after two desperate years in the doldrums. Senior swung up on a strong update that saw revenues at the engineering solutions firm rise 4 per cent to 450.5million in the first six months of the year, although operating profit fell 24 per cent to 37.5million. The firm said trading in its emissions control products division, Flexonics, was subdued and there were no signs of recovery yet. It is focusing on cost cutting including reducing staff numbers and directing production to its more competitive locations such as Mexico and Malaysia. But the aerospace division is doing well and the firm said it expects a stronger second half of the year. It also announced an interim dividend of 1.95p a share, up 6 per cent on last year. Troubled: Senior said trading in its emissions control products division, Flexonics, was subdued and there were no signs of recovery yet The upbeat update pushed shares up 9.8 per cent, or 20p to 224.9p. Ferrexpo soared after revealing it had made the final repayment on its 318.2million finance facility. It has been paying back the loan for 24 months. Shares climbed 16.8 per cent, or 7.75p to 53.75p. But Keller Group, which specialises in foundations and piling, tumbled. While revenue climbed 12 per cent to 849.7million in the six months to June 30, operating profit fell 6 per cent to 35.6million. Keller said it was on track to deliver its medium-term objectives but that performance in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia had been disappointing. Brokers Peel Hunt cut the shares from a buy and shaved 90p off its target price for the stock to 1140p. STOCK WATCH - AVACTA Avacta provides services to help with biotech research and development. Yesterday the firm climbed on positive preliminary results for the year to July 31. It is developing Affimer, a protein used in diagnosis and treatment for various conditions. Avacta is focused on blood clotting disorders and oncology. These are all at a pre-clinical stage but they aim to be a more effective alternative to antibodies. Revenues had grown 19 per cent to 2.15million in the year, but losses are likely to be around 4.5million. Shares climbed 2.4 per cent, or 2p to 86.5p. Keller acquired two firms in the six months; Brazilian contractor Tecnogeo for 11.8m, and the assets and certain liabilities of Australian marine construction business Smithbridge for 1.8million. Shares fell 10.7 per cent, or 109p to 910p. Meanwhile, the taste for takeovers continues. A deal for plastic products firm RPC Group to merge with British Polythene Industries, which was announced in June, has gone through ahead of schedule. In July some 99.9 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the deal just 17 voted against it. Investors in British Polythene will receive 470p in cash for each share they own as well as 0.6 of a new RPC share, which will start trading today. RPC said in June that the acquisition was an opportunity for it to enter the polythene films market in Europe through an established firm. RPC shares slipped 0.8 per cent, or 6.5p to 856.5p. Security risk management firm Red24 climbed as it was revealed iJet was in preliminary discussions to potentially make an offer for the business. IJet, which is also involved in risk management, has until August 29 to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or declare that it does not want to. Red24 rallied 22.9 per cent, or 4.75p to 25.5p. Back on the FTSE 100 (down 0.45 per cent, or 30.48 points to 6693.95) miners took the top spots. Anglo American advanced 2.2 per cent, or 18.3p to 848.8p as RBC raised its rating on the stock, while BHP Billiton boomed 2 per cent, or 18.6p to 963.3p despite the oil price slipping slightly to $42.11 a barrel. Associated British Foods, the firm behind Twinings Tea and Primark, climbed as Deutsche Bank upped its rating to a buy. It also added 200p to its target price to the stock to 3200p. Shares gained 1.7pc, or 46p to 2737p. Intertek, which provides testing and certification services, was one of the days big fallers. Thats despite the firm reporting that revenues had risen 13.6 per cent to 1.2billion, and pre-tax profit had leapt 7.3 per cent to 149.2million in the first half of the year. The company also said it doesnt believe Brexit will impact on its growth opportunities, with 92 per cent of its revenues coming from outside the UK last year. Investors are set for an interim dividend of 19.4p a share, some 14.1 per cent ahead of a year ago. Sainsbury's launched a trial in China last year, selling 50 different products online Tea might have been an oriental invention but Sainsbury's is now selling it to the Chinese. The supermarket launched a trial selling groceries in China last year, selling 50 different products online. The experiment has been so successful that the range is being doubled to 100 and more could be added later in the year. Business development director Irvinder Goodhew said popular products included granola, shortbread and tea. Coffee and UHT milk have also proved popular with the Chinese. She said: 'It's really interesting to see what sells in the Chinese market for example, British breakfast favourites are among our best-selling lines. 'It also looks like we're helping to make traditional afternoon tea a daily treat in China.' Sainsbury's has been selling its products through Alibaba Group's Tmall Global website, which gives foreign brands access to the mainland market in China. The supermarket sends 40 shipping containers to China every week, each holding 25 tons of produce. Sainsbury's has been under increasing pressure in the UK, with prices driven down by German discounters Aldi and Lidl. On arrival on the tourist island of Crete, I was greeted like a conquering hero at the normally sullen setting of the Enterprise car hire desk. 'Ah from Britain,' said the serious looking, bespectacled man behind the counter. 'You had the strength to vote to leave the European Union. Greece should have the courage to do the same,' he said to the smiling approval of his female colleague sitting next to him. Uproar: Five years of austerity and the refusal in Brussels and Frankfurt to deliver genuine debt relief is still having a devastating impact on the Greek economy and its people Brexit may have horrified the elites of Brussels, and stimulated the sleepy financial centres of Frankfurt and Paris into believing they can capture financial leadership from the City of London, but at the vortex of euroland here in Greece, matters look very different. Five years of economic austerity and the blunt refusal in Brussels and Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, to deliver genuine relief from the country's debt burden, is still having a devastating impact on the Greek economy and its people. If it were not for Brexit and the failed bloody coup attempt in neighbouring Turkey, Greece would once again be up in lights this summer. The Left-wing government headed by Alexis Tsipras must find 3.5billion to make debt repayments that fall due this month and find 85billion by 2018. This is a requirement that is described by the International Monetary Fund as 'highly unsustainable'. What Brussels and Frankfurt have done to the Greek economy and the Greek people since the euroland crisis flared here in 2010 is unconscionable. There was, admittedly, much wrong with the governance of the nation and the management of public finances. Nevertheless, those on the Left who complain so vehemently about cuts in Britain should take a close look at what real austerity means. A former Greek cabinet minister and economics professor at the University of Athens proclaimed in conversation here that he didn't want to sound like the goddess Cassandra, prophetess of doom who predicted the fall of Troy, but there was little other choice. What had begun as an economic crisis had transmogrified into a 'social and political farce' exacerbated by the internal dysfunction of governance in Greece. The Troika of the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank had failed. The scale of that failure is startling. Since the beginning of the eurozone crisis in 2010 the total output of the Greek economy has tumbled by 25 per cent. Personal disposable income has fallen by 40 per cent. Some 410,000 of the most enterprising Greeks have simply packed their bags and left the country. Foreign direct investment had fallen off a cliff. Despite surging unemployment productivity is still falling, the population had been forced to accept 25billion in cuts to wages and pensions and sacrificed 4billion of exports. Challenge: The left-wing government headed by Alexis Tsipras must find 3.5bn to make debt repayments that fall due this month and find 85bn by 2018 The consequence of all this have been a collapse in investment and social disruption. Those with the least have suffered the most, but middle-class incomes have plummeted and the best-off elements of society has suffered even bigger losses: but no one much cares about them. Politically, the economic disruption has handed power to the former Marxists of Syriza and the fascists of Golden Dawn. As one successful Cretan entrepreneur described it to me, 'there is no difference except Golden Dawn wear black T-shirts with fascist emblems, and Syriza tends towards red T-shirts and shabby suits'. Faced with this ghastly picture and banks which are too poor to lend, the last best hope might appear to follow the British example and vote to leave: Grexit. Certainly that might seem the best escape route from the rules, regulations and refusal of debt relief which is still the prevailing mood in Brussels despite a softening of the IMF position. But the feeling among policymakers, financiers and Greek economic gurus is that the boat may have been missed. Devaluation and default on debt may have worked five years ago when the debt crisis first erupted, but it wouldn't be effective any longer. Brexit may seem like a leap in the dark for Britain, lack of trade negotiators or not, but the UK has a durable governance structure that can work its way through the revolutionary change to EU relations. Greece no longer has that luxury. If it restored the drachma (the pre-eurozone Greek currency) and massively devalued it, it is very questionable that it could gain competitive advantage since it has little to sell except for tourism. Even that is hurting because of the terror scares that have affected the whole sector. Indeed, the fear is that a lying, incompetent Left-wing led government, built on the sands of populism learnt at the University of Essex, could turn Greece into Europe's Venezuela a country destroyed by Left-wing extremist and centralist economic policies. What Greece needs is the breathing space afforded by proper debt relief and the support of its Northern European partners in the shape of inward investment and fiscal transfers. Slowly but surely governance reforms, entrepreneurship and a more moderate government might follow. A 540million world-leading medical research centre is to be built in Hertfordshire in a partnership between GlaxoSmithKline and Google. The facility will pioneer treatments in bioelectronics, where small devices are implanted in a patient to monitor and change electrical nerve signals in the body. These typically can be used to target illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma. The joint venture, called Galvani Bioelectronics, will be based in Stevenage with a second research hub in San Francisco. Medical boost: GlaxoSmithKline is joining forces with a unit of Google's parent firm Alphabet to invest 540 million into a joint venture with headquarters in the UK It will be owned 55 per cent by Glaxo and 45 per cent by Verily, the life sciences division of Googles parent company, Alphabet, and will employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians. The partnership has been hailed as a major boost to the UKs science and technology industry, which is renowned as a world leader for innovation. It is also a boost for the country following the controversy of recent takeover attempts where overseas buyers tried to buy British tech pioneers such as ARM Holdings and Premier Farnell. GOOGLE'S MEDICAL IDEAS Contact lenses for diabetics to check their glucose levels. A spoon for people with hand tremors. A major project to collect genetic information to create a picture of a healthy human. Health-tracking and disease-detecting wristbands. Advancements in surgical robotics in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Kris Famm, Glaxos head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said: We have had really promising results in animal tests, where weve shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism. Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years. The implants will consist of an electronic collar that wraps around nerves and could be submitted for regulatory approval by 2023. The first devices will be around the size of a medical pill to be inserted via keyhole surgery, but the aim is to eventually make them as small as a grain of rice. Electrical impulses have been used to treat serious health conditions in the past, using methods such as pacemakers for heart problems and, more recently, deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinsons disease and severe depression. Pioneering treatments: An artist's impression of a close up of a bioelectronic implant 'cuff' wrapped around a bundle of nerves Last year EnteroMedics won US approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite. But Galvani will explore new territory by shrinking the technology down to the size of a pill. These implants will coax insulin from cells to treat diabetes, for example, or correct muscle imbalances in lung diseases. The venture is named after 18th century Italian scientist Luigi Galvani who led the field of bioelectricity when he discovered that he could make the leg of a dead frog twitch using electricity. His findings led to the invention of the voltaic pile, the first electric battery, by Alessandro Volta in 1800. The company will be chaired by Moncef Slaoui, Glaxos head of vaccines. Although Slaoui is retiring from Glaxo next March, he will continue to steer Galvani. The venture marks Glaxos second big investment in the UK since the vote to leave the EU, following an announcement last week that it will spend 275million on drug manufacturing. When she went into the audition to be Cruise's Cathy Schenkelberg, a devoted Scientologist, didn't know she was on Tom Cruise's list of potential love interests when she walked into an audition for the role and said she hated the actor When devoted Scientologist Cathy Schenkelberg looked around the room, all she could see were nervous faces staring back at her. The young women were all waiting in the lobby at the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, about to be given the chance to audition to become Tom's Cruise's girlfriend. Schenkelberg was a great catch for any high-ranking Scientologist - she was a successful actress, had spent $1million on Scientology courses and had the looks to take on Tinseltown. She was also a friend of the stars - her daughter was buddies with Isabella and Connor Cruise, she'd hang out eating burgers with John Travolta and Kelly Preston, and was on first name terms with all the A-list Scientology stars. She even shared a nanny with Tom Cruise's sister, Cass Mapother. But no one knew that being a Scientologist had taken the voiceover actress's whole life savings, pensions, medical insurance, and reduced her to living in her car. But, unlike some others in that waiting room, she genuinely didn't have a clue that she was on Tom Cruise's girlfriend hit list - she thought the audition was for a Scientology training video. It was only on leaving the room that that she found out, by which time the damage was done. Schenkelberg, who left the church in 2009, now explains in a Daily Mail Online exclusive interview: 'I was called into an audition for a video run by Golden Era Productions [Scientology media department]. 'I was on a really high level, I was a successful Scientologist, I was one of America's top voiceovers. I remember there was a load of us in the lobby of the Celebrity Centre. 'I didn't know I was being auditioned [to be Cruise's girlfriend], so I was being asked on camera: ''Where are you from? What level are you on? Then, "What do you think of Tom Cruise?" 'I thought I was auditioning for a training course, so when he asked about Tom Cruise, I said: "I can't stand him, I think he's a narcissistic baby!" I said, "I'm really bummed about him splitting with Nicole". I hate the guy, even before I was in Scientology I didn't like him. 'I then go on a litany about him and I remember saying at the end: "Do I have a script now? What do I need to do?" And they said: "No, you're finished." I was like, "Huh, I thought this was a training video". 'When I left the room, there was another actress outside and she asked: "How did you do?" I said: "What do you mean?" She said: "Well, that's an audition to be Tom Cruise's girlfriend", and I said: "I don't think I got the gig."' When she went into the audition to be Cruise's girlfriend before the star met Katie Holmes, she thought the audition was for a Scientology training video In her interview, Schenkelberg said she 'couldn't stand' Tom Cruise (pictured in November), and even called him a 'narcissistic baby' John Travolta, with Michael Pena attend the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre 44th Anniversary Gala in 2013, was a friend of Schenkelberg A spokesperson for the Church of Scientology said: 'There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the Church to find a girlfriend (by audition or otherwise) for any member of the Church. The Church of Scientology would like to make clear that participation in the Church is purely voluntary.' Schenkelberg was made to pay for her anti-Cruise comments through hours of intensive auditing, as they would 'security check' her to investigate why she had any form of hatred for the Mission Impossible star. She recalls: 'I would have to get audited on this, they'd want to know why I didn't like Tom Cruise. I would get into so much trouble over this. 'Id be like: Nothing, I just dont like the guy. In your security check, it asks you certain questions: Have you committed a crime? Have you raped anyone? Have you practised homosexuality? Have you had an unkind thought about Tom Cruise or David Miscavige? It would come up in one of my auditing sessions, but Id stand firm on it, I dont have to like everybody. I dont care if hes gay or straight, the guy is insecure, I just never got what everyone else saw in him, says Cathy. Although Schenkelberg was friends with most other celebrities, she never met Cruise personally and was always banned from the parties he'd attend. She says: 'John Travolta is a lovely guy. His sister Margaret and I did the voiceover seminars at the Celebrity Centre. I hated them. I hated lying to people, I'm telling them they can do voiceovers with a lisp. 'Course you can, sign up for this course, pay for this, pay for that. I'd see John in Clearwater and we'd have a burger together. Schenkelberg was made to pay for her anti-Tom Cruise comments through hours of intensive auditing 'Cass, Tom's sister, and I shared a nanny, and we were very good friends, we hung out as our kids were the same age. But after the audition things changed. 'I'd get invited because of my daughter to say, Nancy Cartwright or Leah Rimini's party then they'd say: "Sorry, you can't go because Tom doesn't know you." If I was in the party, I'd get uninvited, I was in the B Group.' She did know Isabella and Connor, and says that rumors they 'disconnected' from mother Nicole Kidman after they split up in 2001 were true. 'I used to see them, as my daughter knew them. They'd bad mouth Nicole, and the Church badmouthed Nicole to the kids. Nicole was suppressive, they couldn't see their mom. I said it was not OK for that to happen,' says Schenkelberg. 'Eventually I think those kids came back to Nicole, but they got special treatment at the Celebrity Centre. They took special courses and classes.' Schenkelberg says that celebrities get an easy ride compared to normal Scientologists, who will be charged for every course they do, including being 'fined' if they do anything wrong in the Church's eyes. 'They don't even mingle in the Celebrity Centre, they're in the President's Office, and I'd be there with them until a bigger celebrity showed up, and then I'd have to leave,' says Schenkelberg. 'I'd say hi to Kirsty [Alley]. She's met me five times, and she'd ignore me,' she adds. 'Celebrities get a free pass, they can do whatever. 'One Hollywood celebrity would brag to me about being stoned and f***ing three people at a time, but she'll just 'audit' [Scientology confessional] it out on Monday. I'm like, wait a minute, I just masturbated and had to tell them [in an auditing session] and it has cost me 800 bucks!' Schenkelberg first got involved in the Church in 1991 through an actor friend; she says she was Chicago's best voiceover actress and was making more than $300,000 a year. She also claims that the Church also made life especially difficult as she had a daughter with a non-Scientologist Schenkelberg left the Church of Scientology after being a member for 14 years and spending nearly $1million in the organization Schenkelberg still has many of the receipts from her time in Scientology, which show the mass amounts of money she spent on courses One receipt shows a breakdown of donations Schenkelberg gave to the church annually, totaling in at $47,98 Schekelberg was a member in good standing of the Church of Scientology 'I've six brothers and three sisters, and was raised a Catholic, but my brother died when I was 13, and I started searching as I didn't want to believe in the God who'd taken my brother,' says Schenkelberg. 'I did a commercial with an actress friend and she said I should join this group. They say you're contributing to the world, we're the only hope to mankind. You can help the universe and suddenly the world will be clearer. 'So I began doing all my levels and courses. I didn't mess around. My thinking was that I'll be done in a year. I kept thinking I was changing the world.' Schenkelberg did many courses and levels, called Operating Thetan Levels, the highest being Operating Thetan 8 (OT8). But it was also financially draining, the courses were taking all of her money. In 14 years, she spent $938,000. According to the website thetruthaboutscientology, Schenkelberg has completed 30 courses. CATHY'S $938,000 SCIENTOLOGY BILL INCLUDES Donations to the Church just for one year - $47,098.20 OT V - $26,812.50 OT VI - $10,200 Auditing classes - $22,120.31 Learning How To Learn course - $160.00 Integrity and honesty booklet - $4.00 Advertisement She also claims that the Church also made life especially difficult as she had a daughterwith a non-Scientologist. She says: 'I would always question what I was doing, but I was scared of getting into trouble. I became disenchanted over time, especially when I ran out of money. I did all the levels up to OT7, I've kept every receipt. I've got invoices for these huge bills. 'I kept going back and doing new versions of the same courses, they'd keep making me repeat the same stuff and it'd cost me more and more. 'I bought an apartment near the HQ in Clearwater [Florida] so I could do all the levels, but they'd still want me to stay in a hotel. 'I paid $5,000 to go on a new year's trip on the Scientology ship and I had to sleep underneath the kitchen because some celebrities had taken my room.' Over the years, Schenkelberg saw her fortune dwindle, as she spent more time doing courses at the cost of her voiceover career. She had two homes in her home town of Chicago and one in Clearwater, but she lost bothl of them, and declared herself bankrupt in 2009. 'I lost three homes, a pension and medical and dental insurance. I was on food stamps and was kicked out of my rental house as I was in arrears of over $20,000,' adds Schenkelberg. 'I gave $1million in 14 years, but I wasn't a celebrity, I was a single mom, who believed I was helping mankind. I fell for it hook, line and sinker.' After leaving the church, Schenkelberg had to live out of her car, but later found success with her one-woman comedy called Squeeze My Cans Her one-man play details her time in Scientolgoy, and has already had sold-out shows in Chicago and Los Angeles Following the girlfriend auditions, Cruise found love with Katie Holmes. The couple split in 2012 and Holmes sought full custody of their daughter, Suri Desperate for cash, she even begged the Church for $17,000 she'd paid in advance for a course she never actually did, saying in a letter: 'I am broke beyond broke this is a survival issue. I qualify for food stamps. 'I'm now $20,000 behind in my rent. I have a tax lien of $20,000. I have already gone through bankruptcy and foreclosure in 2009. Remember these services were not used, The money is on my account and I need it returned to me so I and my daughter do not have to move.' She claims it took two and a half years to receive that money and has a receipt to prove it. Schenkelberg, who lives back in Chicago now, says that the Church even tried to recruit her daughter, then only nine years old, into the ultra-hardcore Sea Org, where members sign billion-year contracts. On the Church website, it states: 'Minors are permitted to voluntarily join the Sea Organization, with the consent of a parent or a guardian approved by the parents.' Schenkelberg says: 'I also found out that while I was doing my voiceover seminars, they were trying to recruit my daughter for the Sea Org, she was only nine, and I'd said she was off-limits. 'She actually came home and asked me: "What's emancipation mommy?" They had told her that she can do what she wants at 18, if I did not agree with her joining the Sea Org.' Since those dark days, Schenkelberg has been trying to turn her life around. Her daughter is a talented musician and Schenkelberg cleans houses and housesits cats and dogs. She doesn't have a home, only her trusty car, a Ford Escape. 'The Church raped me. It's not the million dollars, it's the time, that's the hardest thing. I was a successful actress but the roles I would have played I don't get anymore, as I'm older,' says Schenkelberg. But she's still doing theater work and came up with a novel way to solve her problems by talking about her days in Scientology on stage in a one-woman comedy called Squeeze My Cans. She's just finished a sell-out stint in Chicago and Los Angeles, and is booked in to do Edinburgh Festival next year as well as New York, England and Sydney. She talks about the audition with Tom Cruise and how she blew her fortune, but with a smile on her face. She says: 'I've had a blast. Since the gigs in Chicago, we got calls from all around the world. This little piece of theater is making an impact. I feel like I'm helping people. 'We even had two people from Scientology come to see the show, asking for information, one even started filming it in the front row. Even if he did send it back to the church, so what? This is my story.' An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that David Miscavige was the President of the Church of the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. This reference has now been amended. Six in ten British workers believe Brexit will boost their salaries and are confident that quitting the EU will have a positive effect on their career prospects. A major survey of more than 28,000 users of Jobsite handed to MailOnline found that less than a third of people believe the split from Brussels will have a negative effect on their earnings. The results reveal men are more confident about post-Brexit Britain, with 62 per cent of male workers saying they think it will boost their career prospects, compared to 57 per cent of women. Scroll down for video Six in ten workers believe Brexit will boost their salaries, while Initial research into the June 23 referendum suggested there were no major differences in the way men and women voted. Only a third of respondents said they would consider pursuing a career in a different EU country in the wake of the Brexit vote. Those working in the engineering and technical services industries are the most optimistic about post-Brexit Britain, with 62 per cent of both sectors believing the success of the company they work at could improve. Ex-Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) warned people could begin losing their jobs 'very quickly' as a result of the 'economic shock' of a vote to leave The findings from the popular job search website is further proof that the doom mongering warnings on the impact of last month's historic Brexit vote were overblown. Former Chancellor George Osborne warned people could begin losing their jobs 'very quickly' as a result of the 'economic shock' of a vote to leave. But instead major firms last week announced the creation of thousands of new jobs in the UK. McDonald's said it was accelerating plans to create an extra 5,000 jobs by the end of 2017 while pharmaceuticals giant GlaxofSmith Kline announced a 275million investment at sites across the UK, dubbing Britain an 'attractive location for investment' despite Brexit. There were announcements of job losses at Lloyds last week but the banking giant, whose half-year profits more than doubled to 2.5billion - immediately faced a backlash after it blamed the decision on Brexit 'uncertainty'. Experts said the real reason behind the cut in jobs was the rise in internet banking. Nick Gold, chief executive at Jobsite, said the reality in the aftermath of the vote had shown workers to be much more optimistic about the future than the divided opinions expressed. 'Following the UK's decision to leave the EU, opinions have been split. However, as the immediate aftermath of the decision begins to settle, our research shows that people are beginning to be a bit more optimistic about the future,' he said. Shocking, never-before-heard details about one of Americas most talked about cold cases will be revealed when the brother of JonBenet Ramsey speaks publicly about his sister's murder for the first time, Daily Mail Online has leaned exclusively. Burke Ramsey was nine when when six-year-old child pageant star, JonBenet was found dead in the basement of her familys Colorado home in December 1996, Breaking his silence as the 20th anniversary of JonBenets death nears, 29-year-old Burke reveals what he knows about his sisters mysterious murder in a ripped-from-the-headlines exclusive interview with Dr. Phil in a three-part interview that will air beginning September 12. JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled on December 26, 1996, hours after she was reported missing. She had been covered by a white blanket with a nylon cord around her neck, her wrists bound above her head and her mouth covered by duct tape. Her skull was also cracked. Shocking details about one of Americas most talked about cold cases will be revealed when Burke Ramsey, the brother of JonBenet Ramsey speaks to Dr Phil publicly about his sister's murder for the first time, Daily Mail Online has leaned exclusively The body of JonBenet (above in 1996), a child beauty queen, was found bludgeoned and strangled in her basement on December 26, 1996 when she was just six-years-old John and Patsy Ramsey with JonBenet and Burke pose for family Christmas picture Her parents, John and Patsy, had called police to report her kidnapping and said they found a note demanding a ransom of $118,000 - and ordering them to not contact authorities - if they wanted their daughter returned safely. Despite the ransom note, police arrived to their home shortly after in clearly marked vehicles. Burke Ramsey is now 29 years old. He was nine when his sister was murdered Hours after police searched the home, John Ramsey found JonBenets body in a little-used utility room in the homes basement. John and Patsy would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's death for more than a decade, and it was not until 2008 that police finally cleared them of any wrongdoing. At that time, Patsy had been dead for two years after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer. She was initially suspected by many of being the murderer after reports emerged that handwriting on the ransom note was similar to her own, but after she willingly provided a sample to police it was determined she did not write the note. Many also suspected the killer was someone in the family as they claimed there were no footprints in the snow around the house and the ransom amount was the exact amount that John had just received in his annual bonus. No one in the family was ever charged in the death of the six-year-old, but for years tabloids and members of the public believed one or more were the culprits of this unspeakable crime. Most of these stories focused on parents John and Patsy, but some went so far as to claim that JonBenets brother Burke had been responsible for his sister's death - despite the fact that he was only nine-years-old at the time. Parents John and Patsy were the primary suspects in the case for over a decade, but were finally cleared in 2008, two years after Patsy died of ovarian cancer John says that after his daughter's death, he and Patsy did everything they could to clear son Burke from the allegations he killed his sister (John above in 2006 with his father at his mother's funeral) Stories pointed to the fact that Burke was in the house when JonBenet was reported missing, but his parents always stood firm on the fact that he was sleeping the entire time and did not wake up until after they called police. He was exonerated by DNA evidence in May of 1999, a little over two years after the murder. Burke has kept a low profile for the past decade. Private investigator Ollie Gray, who continued to investigate the murder case even after he stopped working for the Ramseys, claimed earlier this year that the child's killer was a local 26-year-old whose family owned a junkyard on the outskirts of the city - Michael Helgoth. On February 13, 1997, Alex Hunter, who was the district attorney at the time of the murder, held a press conference where he spoke to JonBenet's unknown killer, saying; 'The list of suspect narrows. Soon there will be no one on the list but you.' Helgoth died of an apparent suicide two days later at his home. A few years after his death, however, Helgoth was cleared when it was revealed that none of his DNA was found under JonBenet's fingernails or in her underwear. The Boulder, Colordado home where the family lived at the time of JonBenet's murder, which was sold for $650,000 in 1998 In 2006 - ten years after JonBenets death - a 41-year-old schoolteacher named John Mark Karr confessed to killing the little beauty. He was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, but he was never charged with the murder because his DNA did not match that found on the girls body. In 2008, new DNA tests convinced the district attorney that no member of the Ramsey family should remain under suspicion, though in 2010, police sought to re-interview Burke as they continued to investigate JonBenets death. The Interview will air on September 12, 13 and 14. It will premier on the 15th season of Dr. Phil's 15th daytime talk show Reports since emerged that gun used in shooting belonged to the Mayor A gun stolen from the Stockton mayor's home whose theft he failed to immediately report was used to kill a 13-year-old boy, prosecutors said. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said in a report that one of two guns stolen from Mayor Anthony Silva was the murder weapon in the 2015 killing of Rayshawn Harris, The Stockton Record reported Saturday. Harris was standing in his driveway when he was shot to death February 23, 2015, with a 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol registered to Silva, according to a report by the district attorney's office released Friday. Scroll down for video The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said in a report that one of two guns stolen from Mayor Anthony Silva (right) was the murder weapon in the 2015 killing of Rayshawn Harris (left) The report on Silva and his stolen gun was released in response to a California Public Records Act request, The Record reported. The District Attorney's Office said its prime motivation in releasing the report was 'a present request by law enforcement for public assistance' in solving Harris' killing. Silva did not report the theft of the gun that was used to kill Harris until March 22, 2015 27 days after the shooting, the Record reported. On March 25, 2015, The Record reported that Silva had said his unoccupied home had been robbed a second time the previous day. Silva has said multiple items, including a gun safe, were stolen from that house. Silva, 42, has said another gun theft, which he reported this past February, occurred while he was on a Sister Cities tour of the Philippines that same month. Silva took to facebook on July 29 to express his sorrow and shock saying 'I feel awful about the situation' It was stolen from a north Stockton rental home in which he lives. Silva said in April he had 'an idea' who stole that gun. The gun used in Harris' slaying was recovered by the Stockton Police Department on June 9 when officers responded to a domestic disturbance in Stockton, according to the District Attorney's Office. The other stolen gun has not been recovered. Silva, who is seeking re-election and has been involved in multiple high-profile controversies, said in a statement he feels terrible about the teen's death. He added that he couldn't comment on the report because he hasn't been provided any details. A British couple have married in a Croatian hospital - with the groom lying in a hospital bed - after he snapped his leg two days before the planned nuptials in a palace. The planned 36,000 wedding of Steph Murphy and James Goss, of Upholland, Lancashire, reportedly struck trouble after 18 months of careful planning when Mr Goss slipped on the sea shore during a pre-wedding cruise and broke his leg. The disaster - confining Mr Goss to bed for days on orders from medical staff - came as 40 of the couple's relatives and friends had flown to Dubrovnik to attend the ceremony at the town's Sponza Palace. With this ring... James Goss put the ring on his new wife Steph Murphy's finger at the Croatian hospital The couple sealed their union with a kiss before about 40 family and friends who were in Dubrovnik, Croatia A different type of wedding party photo - the happy couple smile in the small hospital chapel with guests All smiles. Despite the couple's difficulties in the lead up to the wedding, they said it was a 'romantic' event Ms Murphy wore her 1200 Mori Lee designer wedding gown while the groom wore the top of his 400 suit The groom - wearing only half his suit from the waist up - receives congratulations from friends and family Dubrovnik's Sponza Palace where the wedding ceremony was supposed to take place The Sunday Mirror reports the couple, both civil servants, were so determined to proceed with their nuptials that that arranged for the hospital chapel to host the wedding - with doctors agreeing to remove pews so Mr Goss could stay in his hospital bed. The newspaper said Ms Murphy wore her 1200 Mori Lee designer wedding gown and the groom even managed to wear the top half of his 400 on his groom's outfit. It had been quite a comeback after Mr Goss had been left with a leg that was 'diagonally broken' and needing a metal plate while doctors had said he could not leave hospital. Mr Goss was said to have held off painkillers so he would not be groggy during the ceremony while the couple's wedding night was spent on a hospital ward. The newspaper said the problem had made them realise what was important - being together and not the cost of everything. 'The staff pushed my bed next to James so we could be together,' Ms Murphy, 30, told the Mirror, adding they were trying to make the best of a bad situation and it was 'incredibly romantic'. The seaside Croatian town of Dubrovnik is a popular place for tourists and weddings Steph Murphy and James Goss had been together since 2009 before he proposed in Fiji during a holiday Here comes the bridge and groom! A different walk down the aisle for the couple on their hospital wedding day Mr Goss is looked after by medical staff after breaking his leg on a pre-wedding cruise before his nuptials Thumbs up. Mr Goss was well enough to wheel down the aisle in a hospital bed after the serious accident Mr Goss during the fast recovery at the Croatian hospital before his wedding day - held in the hospital Mr Goss resisted some medicine as the nuptials approach so they did not make him groggy The ceremony was helped when doctors moved pews to allow the ward bed to fit into the small chapel 'But then they woke us up at 5am to take blood from him, so that kind of ruined the moment! 'In fact, our wedding day was just perfect, because we stripped away all the glamour and the trimmings and it was all about our love.' The ceremony and reception they missed out on cost 16,000 - including 1000 for a seaside reception and a 25000 reception at the Banje Beach Club. But they only received a 1000 refund for unused facilities. A two-week honeymoon in Bora Bora cost 14,000 - though they plan to travel again at no extra cost - while another reception in Liverpool costing 6000 went ahead as planned. In an ironic coincidence, concealed carry laws on college campuses will go into effect throughout Texas today Claire James, who lost her boyfriend and eight-month fetus in the shooting made an appeal to love and respect life Bells tolled and new memorial was unveiled at ceremony today On August 1, 1966, a student and Marine-trained sniper killed 13 people at the University of Texas Austin in what is now cited as the first mass shooting in modern US history. Exactly 50 years later, concealed carry laws will go into effect today, allowing licensed gun holders to bring their weapons on public university campuses throughout Texas. At a memorial service attended by hundreds this afternoon, survivor Claire Wilson James, who lost her boyfriend and unborn fetus in the clock tower shooting, made an appeal to love and respect life. Exactly 50 years ago, architectural engineering student Charles Whitman climbed the 27-story clock tower at UT Austin (pictured, with smoke rising from Whitman's gun) and killed 13 people before he was fatally shot by police Left, Pam Griffith Currie, left, whose sister was killed in the shooting, embraces her daughter at the memorial. Pictured right, Whitman Survivor Claire Wilson James (left, with college president Greg Fenves) who lost her boyfriend and unborn fetus in the clock tower shooting, made an appeal to love and respect life. Bells tolled for the victims, and a new memorial (pictured) replaced a smaller plaque in a ceremony that drew hundreds today Architectural engineering student Charles Whitman climbed to the observation deck of the 27-story clock tower in 1966 armed with rifles, pistols and a sawed-off shotgun. He opened fire at unsuspecting students below for more than an hour and a half before he was fatally shot by the police. The killing spree introduced the concept of a 'mass shooting' outside the context of a military battlefield, coining a phrase in American lexicon that's become chillingly commonplace. As the debate between gun control regulations and the right to bear arms rages on, a concealed carry law on Texas campuses will come into effect today. While Texas has allowed concealed handguns for 20 years, Republican legislators pushed for the new law allowing weapons in public university classrooms and dorms. The rules vary at different schools. Guns will be allowed in dining halls and common areas at UT Austin, with professors given the freedom to ban guns in their classrooms. At Texas A&M University, guns are allowed in dorm rooms and teachers are required to get permission before they can ban them, FOX reported. As the debate between gun control laws and the right to bear arms rages on, a concealed carry law on Texas campuses will come into effect today (pictured, an August 1, 1966 file photo of the shooting) The dean of the University Texas School of Architecture left his position because he disagreed with the presence of guns on campus (pictured, the view of the tower through a bullet hole) While gun rights supporters argue that the increased presence of firearms can help stop shootings by giving gun holders a means of self defense, others oppose the law on grounds that it would escalate incidents of violence. The dean of the University Texas School of Architecture left his position because he disagreed with the presence of guns on campus, FOX reported. Gregory Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at UT Austin told ABC: 'It is a most unfortunate coincidence that we have this new law going into effect the same day we are memorializing the 50th anniversary of the tower shootings. 'We just have to have faith that the people who will carry ... will do so in a responsible way,' he said. At the memorial ceremony this afternoon, the tower clock was stopped at 11.48am when the shooting began. It will resume 24 hours later. Bells tolled for the victims, and a new memorial replaced a smaller plaque. At the memorial ceremony this afternoon, the tower clock was stopped at 11.48am when the shooting began. It will resume 24 hours later Claire Wilson James, who was eight-months pregnant when she was shot in the abdomen before her boyfriend was killed, spoke at the event. She said: 'Let this memorial remain here on this campus and in our minds as a reminder of the power we have to become a community of love and the reverence for life.' State representative Lloyd Doggett mentioned two shootings that occured in Austin over the weekend and said; 'Let us resolve to never become callous to the loss we experienced here or those other losses. Advertisement The 16 hot air balloon enthusiasts killed in a fireball crash in Texas on Saturday shared smiling photos from the trip moments before they crashed to the ground. Images posted on social media and shared with loved ones, show 15 passengers and pilot Skip Nichols excitedly preparing for the doomed flight above Lockhart, Texas. The balloon hit power lines after taking off around 7.05am on Saturday morning - 20 minutes later than intended from a site 20 miles south of Austin. One victim Matt Rowan shared an image of the view from inside the balloon at 7.29am - just 13 minutes before it hit a power line and came crashing down. Gift: Paige Brabson, who just gave birth to her first child, bought tickets to the hot air balloon ride as a Mother's Day present for her own mom Lorilee Brabson. She shared these images before the disaster Final photos: The mother and daughter shared fun, smiling photos moments before they were killed alongside 14 others Rowan, a professor with the US Army Institute of Surgical Research, was on board the balloon with his wife Sunday. She had a five-year-old son from a previous relationship and had bought the trip as a gift to her new husband. The newlyweds who married in February also posted a photo smiling for the camera shortly after take off. Other identified victims include Paige Brabson, who had just given birth to her first child and bought the tickets as a Mother's Day gift to her own mom Lorilee Brabson. The two women shared a series of pictures on board the balloon and it's preparation with loved ones. Witnesses reported the balloon caught fire before it plummeted to the ground but it wasn't clear if the blaze came before or after it collided with the power lines. Another married couple, Tresa and Joe Owens, were among the dead, along with their friend Holly Huckabee. Brian and Tressie Neill, of San Antonio, were also killed, leaving behind two daughters, aged 20 and 16. Tressie Neill shared an image on Facebook as they prepared to take flight. 'Up early heading out for the anniversary surprise Brian's had planned for months! I'm super excited! and sleepy', she wrote. On board: In photos shared with loved ones Paige and Lorilee Brabson showed the balloon set up, left, and the view of the ground below, right. Investigators will use the photos to help them determine what went wrong Tragic last photos: Newlywed Matt Rowan shared these final images with his wife Sunday from inside the balloon to a Facebook group at 7.29am on Saturday just 13 minutes before the balloon struck power lines. Pictured Matt and Sunday Rowan, left, and the view, right Friends of Matt and Sunday Rowan of San Antonio confirmed they were among the dead. They are pictured here on Facebook - not on the day of the crash All of the victims' bodies were recovered in the area of the gondola. As the investigation begins, family members have begun paying tribute to the loved ones they lost. Britney Reeves Hedin wrote a touching tribute on Facebook remembering Lorilee Brabson as an 'excellent example of loving kindness to all.' She also added: 'My heart is completely broken for their family. Her daughter has a very young little girl and life was just starting for them.' Matt Rowan's Iraq war veteran brother Joshua, an Iraq veteran, told NBC. 'They're going to be incredibly missed. They made a difference in so many people's lives.' A GoFundMe page set up in honor of the Owens stated: 'They were wonderful people who loved each other very much. 'I cannot express how great of a blessing they both were to their family and friends. They adored their children and grandchildren, and loved nothing more than spending time with them' Joe, who would have turned 44 next month, worked as a butcher at the grocery store H-E-B, while Tresa enjoyed a long career at the TigerLand Child Care. Victims: Tressie Neill shared this photo with her husband Brian as they set out on the hot air balloon ride. They were both among the 16 killed in the crash Tributes also poured in for Skip Nichols, the balloon pilot and owner of Heart of Texas which was behind the trip. Bianca Szal Storll wrote on Facebook: 'Skip Nichols 24 years ago you took me on my first and only balloon ride. 'Your passion for it was contagious as was your happy go lucky outlook on life. RIP my friend.' William Nelson, a balloon pilot with another company, wrote: 'We lost a long time friend and balloon pilot Skip Nichols in this morning...My heart goes out to his mother and to the families of the passengers that were flying in the balloon.' Nichols' ex-girlfriend Wendy Bartch said the certified commercial pilot cared about safety and had at least 20 years of experience. She also revealed the 49-year-old was a recovering alcoholic who had been sober four years. She insisted he had never piloted a balloon while drunk. However, troubling reports of his past run-ins with the law began to emerge on Monday as well as some complaints about his work. Nichols was allowed to keep flying despite having at least four convictions for drunken driving in Missouri and twice spending time in prison. An attorney who represented a passenger who sued Nichols in 2013 over a crash landing even said in court: 'He couldn't drive a car but he could pilot a hot-air balloon.' When pilots apply for a ballooning certificate with the Federal Aviation Administration, they are not required to disclose any prior drunken driving convictions, only drug convictions, said Balloon Federation of America spokesman Patrick Cannon, who called that a loophole in the law. He noted that the ballooning certificate specifically says not to include alcohol offenses involving a motor vehicle, as those are covered on the FAA's medical application. But balloon and hang-glider pilots, among others, are exempt from having to submit a medical application. Nichols got his commercial license to pilot hot-air balloons in Missouri in July 1996. That predates his 2000 felony drug conviction. His first drunken driving conviction came in 1990. All pilots are supposed to notify the FAA within 60 days of a drug or alcohol conviction. However, Cannon said there is no oversight of that reporting. Nichols pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in St. Louis County in 1990, then twice in 2002 and again in 2010, according to online court records. He was also convicted of a drug crime in 2000 and spent about a year and a half in prison before being paroled. He was returned to prison in April 2010 after his parole was revoked because of his drunken driving conviction that year. He was paroled again in January 2012. Tragedy: The Neills were parents to two young daughters, pictured together Joe and Tresa Owens, were identified as victims of the crash by his sister, Angie Nadolny, the Houston Chronicle reported The 49-year-old pilot also had a long history of customer complaints against his balloon-ride companies in Missouri and Illinois dating back to 1997. Customers reported to the Better Business Bureau that their rides would get canceled at the last minute and their fees never refunded. There have also been complaints against Heart of Texas, according to reports. The Better Business Bureau gave it a rating of D+ and it had a Yelp rating of 1.5 stars mostly over canceled flights. The company has now suspended operation. 'The horrific crash near Lockhart, Texas has taken from us our owner and Chief Pilot, Skip Nichols, as well as 15 passengers, all of whom saw what was planned to be a special day turn into an unspeakable tragedy,' it said. His best friend Alan Lirette added: 'That's the only thing I want to talk about, is that he's a great pilot. There's going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too.' The NTSB is now looking at photos taken by the passengers hoping they will reveal more about the circumstances of the crash. The balloon flew for about eight miles before going down. Authorities found the basket about three quarters of a mile from the balloon itself. Tributes also poured in for air balloon pilot Skip Nichols (center, in a picture posted to Facebook last week), however, there were also troubling reports of his previous run-ins with the law Authorities said there were no survivors after the hot air balloon carrying 16 people caught fire and crashed in Texas. The scene in Lockhart pictured above The NTSB has issued two recommendations asking for greater oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over hot air balloon tours for safety reasons. The FAA's guidelines for hot air balloon rides require a one-mile visibility and a sky clear of clouds. There was a significant amount of fog after the crash. Weather experts are now taking part in the investigation. The NTSB will look into the safety requirements at the company who operated the balloon tour - which could include weighing the passengers beforehand to make sure the aircraft can withstand them. Philip Bryant of Richmond, Texas, who inspects and maintains equipment for other operators said the balloon that crashed had 'very good equipment, very new equipment.' Nichols brought his balloon into his inspection facility in May 2014 and was issued a one-year recertification, Bryant said. The manufacturer of Nichols' balloon mandates an annual inspection, he said, adding that he couldn't do it this year but believes Nichols took it to another inspector. Judge Ken Schawe and a Texas DPS official told CNN investigators believe the balloon hit power lines, causing it to erupt in flames before it crashed. It was pictured before it went down by an onlooker Children have been banned from riding scooters at a theme park after a grandmother was left screaming in agony after a collision with one. Jane Moran, 63, was enjoying a family day out at the Drayton Manor rollercoaster park near Tamworth when a six-year-old boy on a fold-up scooter smashed into her. She was left in shock for 40 minutes with a shattered kneecap and a broken ankle before an ambulance arrived. Children have been banned from riding scooters at a theme park after grandmother Jane Moran (pictured), 63, was left screaming in agony after a collision with one Mrs Moran was enjoying a family day out at the Drayton Manor rollercoaster park near Tamworth when a six-year-old boy on a fold-up scooter smashed into her Mrs Moran, from Nechells, Birmingham, who underwent a heart bypass four years ago, is recovering at Sutton Coldfield's Good Hope Hospital after the broken bone was fused together by wire. Following the accident, the top tourist attraction announced on Friday that it is to ban scooters after a request by Mrs Moran's family. The grandmother was walking with partner John O'Riordan when the collision with a six-year-old boy on a fold-up scooter happened. In agony and suffering from shock, she was taken by ambulance for treatment immediately after the July 22 accident. She was left in shock for 40 minutes with a shattered kneecap and a broken ankle before an ambulance arrived Mrs Moran, from Nechells, Birmingham, who underwent a heart bypass four years ago, is recovering at Sutton Coldfield's Good Hope Hospital after the broken bone was fused together by wire. Daughter Emma Allden demanded a ban on scooters in the park, but claimed her initial call was rebuffed by Drayton Manor management. The 38-year-old said: 'They've told me they can't. 'They say that because they allow pushchairs they can't stop scooters - but the two are very different. 'Drayton Manor is very popular and I think it's dangerous to have children on scooters in that environment. My mum was knocked flying. 'The fall has really knocked my mum about. When she was taken in, she was suffering shock and we were really worried about her heart. 'She's been on morphine and we've been told she'll be in a wheelchair for six to eight weeks.' Mr O'Riordan, a warehouse worker, said the accident happened while the couple were walking around the park's popular Thomas Land attraction with their grandchildren. 'I didn't think staff could've done much more than the did,' added the 50-year-old. 'They gave first aid, put up screens and looked after Jane until the ambulance came. Following the accident, the top tourist attraction (pictured) announced on Friday that it is to ban scooters after a request by Mrs Moran's family The grandmother was walking with partner John O'Riordan when the collision with a six-year-old boy on a fold-up scooter happened 'She was screaming out. She's a lot better now than she was a few days ago. 'I do think fold-up scooters should be banned there, with so many people about.' Steve Lomas, head of park operations at Drayton Manor Park, confirmed that scooters are no longer allowed. He said: 'Following the incident with Mrs Moran a full review of our theme park regulations has been conducted. 'The review is ongoing but we can confirm that scooters will no longer be allowed to be ridden in the attraction going forward.' Appears under her stage name Melania K, short for maiden name Knauss Slovenian-born Mrs Trump was then taking her modeling career to the US One shows Mrs Trump just in heels with her hand over her private parts She has said that she admires her husband's strength and his strong work ethic. But only now can we see what exactly caught Donald Trump's eye when he first met his third wife Melania. A steamy series of pictures show the former model aged 25 as she poses completely naked for a French men's magazine. One of the photos shows Slovenian-born Mrs Trump stands staring at the camera wearing just a pair of black heels with her hand over her private parts. And more images feature her with another female model, both fully naked on a bed, with Mrs Trump's breasts completely bare. Scroll down for video Melania Trump (pictured) appears in a series of steamy pictures as a 25-year-old model. The pictures ran in the January 1996 issue of Max, a French men's magazine that went out of business in 2006 The photos were revealed as Mr Trump, the Republican Presidential nominee, prepares to take on Hillary Clinton in November's US election. They ran in the January 1996 issue of Max magazine, which went out of business in 2006. A first round of images, published by the New York Post, showed Mrs Trump posing naked from different angles. One of the photos shows her with her hands on a wall and turning her head round - as she pouts at the camera. In another image, she once again covers her private parts with her hands, wearing only a row of silver bracelets. The shoot was by French photographer Ale de Basseville, who said that it took place Manhattan in 1995 as Mrs Trump was establishing herself as a model in the US. More photos surfaced in the early hours of Monday, this time showcasing Mrs Trump in the company of another female model. One of the pictures, published by the New York Post, shows them lying down together as the other woman embraces Mrs Trump from behind. Another photo shows Mrs Trump in a long gown while the other woman, wearing stockings and a black negligee, grabs Mrs Trump's arm and brandishes a whip as if to spank her. One of the photos shows Mrs Trump (pictured with her husband) standing and staring at the camera wearing just a pair of black heels with her hand over her private parts De Basseville said that Mrs Trump was 'super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me'. 'This is beauty and not porn,' he told the New York Post. 'I am always shocked by the porn industry because they are destroying the emotion and the essence of purity and simplicity.' Not once did Mrs Trump seem uncomfortable about posing in the nude, said Mr de Basseville, who took inspiration from Renaissance paintings to do the shoot. He also wanted to celebrate the beauty of the female body. Mr de Basseville said: 'I think it is important to show the beauty and the freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melania's beauty. The photos were published by the New York Post, which ran them on the front page with the headline: 'The Ogle Office'. Mrs Trump appears in the images under her stage name Melania K, short for Melania Knauss, her original name. One shows her bathed in orange light wearing just three gold bangles on her left arm - as she stares coldly into the camera. At the time of the shoot, Mrs Trump had only recently arrived in New York having previously modeled in Paris and Milan. Mrs Trump met her future husband in 1998 at a party during New York Fashion Week; Mr Trump recalled thinking to himself: 'Wow! Who is that?' She initially refused to give him her number but he pursued her, won her heart and they married in 2005. The couple have one son together, Barron, 10. Mr Trump has four other children from his first two wives. The shoot was by French photographer Ale de Basseville, who said that it took place Manhattan in 1995 as Mrs Trump (pictured in an earlier snap) was establishing herself as a model in the US During his Presidential run Mrs Trump has been a loyal campaigner for her husband and in her speech at the Republican National Convention she said he was a strong leader. However, she was embroiled in a plagiarism row after it emerged a large chunk of the speech had been copied from one given by Michelle Obama. The pictures are not the only time that Mrs Trump has done a revealing photo shoot. In January 2000, she posed for GQ magazine with just a fur rug to hide her modesty. The following month, she posed wearing a red bikini and gold heels for the now defunct Talk magazine. The photoshoot shows Mrs Trump lying on a carpet on top of what looks like the Presidential seal in a room that was mocked up to look like the Oval Office. Mrs Trump has said that, if her husband becomes President, she use Jackie Kennedy as her example for how to be a First Lady. Along with her modelling she also has a range of jewelry and watches and cosmetics. Mr Trump said in a statement: 'Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photoshoots, including for covers and major magazines. 'This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common'. Meanwhile Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser on Trump's campaign, defended the photos on CNN's Reliable Sources. 'They're a celebration of the human body as art,' he said.' 'There's nothing to be embarrassed about. She's a beautiful woman.' Clueless star Alicia Silverstone has hosted a meeting to promote her 'Kind Life' blog in Sydney. Only eight people showed up to meet the actor on Sunday at waterfront Steyne Park in Double Bay, in Sydney, Daily Telegraph reports. An email invitation had been sent to Australians who follow her The Kind Life blog - where she writes that 'vaccines given to pregnant women could be correlated with autism', that meat and dairy are toxic to pregnant women, and that sunscreen and toothpaste contain harmful ingredients. Scroll down for video Silverstone is pictured with her five-year-old son Bear Blue at Tamarama Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs 'We are trying to organise a kind life meetup so Alicia can connect in person with you all,' an email invitation to her followers said. 'We'd like to keep it low key so please refrain from spreading the word, but if you have a vegan friend who you think would be interested in meeting other veg heads or want to bring your kids, that's totally fine!' Silverstone, now 39, was the star of 1995 cult classic Clueless as ditsy fashionista Cher. She is holidaying in Australia with her musician husband Chris Jarecki and their five-year-old son Bear Blu. Silverstone, now 39-years-old, is pictured in Sydney on Monday at the Boathouse in Blackwattle Bay The actor is pictured with her musician husband Christopher Jarecki and their son Bear Blu at Coachella music festival in April 2012 Silverstone, now 39, was the star of 1995 cult classic Clueless as ditsy fashionista Cher (pictured) Over the last few days, Silverstone has shared images from Tamarama Beach, Coogee, Great Barrier Reef and Byron Bay. Alongside an image of a koala and its baby in Byron Bay, Silverstone spoke against sanctuaries because 'they are just zoos'. Koalas are considered a vulnerable species across Australia because of habitat destruction, dog attacks, bushfires and road accidents, according to Save The Koala. Government departments and bodies have repeatedly refuted claims vaccinations are unsafe or correlate with autism. 'These theories have been extensively investigated and dismissed,' Better Health Victoria describes. 'Serious immunisation reactions are exceptionally rare It is important for parents to understand that the risk of complications from childhood diseases such as measles is much higher than the risk of reactions after immunisation.' Silverstone was also criticised for chewing Bear Blu's food before passing it to him mouth-to-mouth in a video in 2012. Silverstone blogs about veganism and animal welfare at her website The Kind Life The 39-year-old is pictured with her son Bear Blue The wife of a Melbourne nurse who became the first Australian to be jailed for supporting Islamic State says he should be celebrated as a 'hero' and not be facing terror charges. Former paramedic Adam Brookman, 39, claimed he was forced to work for ISIS in Syria when he arrested and extradited from Turkey last July and then charged with terror-related offences. His wife Lina has taken to social media to call for his immediate release and claims he should be applauded for his actions, according to a report in the Herald-Sun. 'My husband returns home and is thrown into prison like a criminal instead of being hailed a hero. May Allah grant him his freedom,' she wrote. Scroll down for videos Adam Brookman, 39, should be 'hailed a hero' according to wife Lina and not be charged with terror offences. He was arrested last July for 'knowingly providing support to a terrorist organisation and performing services with intention of supporting a person to engage in a hostile activity in a foreign state' Adam Brookman's wife Lina has written 'if he is guilty of a crime then charge him and sentence him. If he is innocent then send him home. I have 5 children who love their dad and want him home' Brookman became the first Australian to be brought home to face charges of supporting IS after being taken into custody last July, and now awaits a committal hearing. He was formally charged was charged with one count of 'knowingly providing support to a terrorist organisation and performing services with intention of supporting a person to engage in a hostile activity in a foreign state'. Brookman did not apply for bail and his next court appearance is scheduled for 31 August. His wife said rather than be punished, her husband's actions of standing 'guard' as others slept should be applauded. 'He ran from missiles and was up all night patrolling the skies so the other medics can sleep when it was his turn to stand guard,' she wrote on her Facebook page. 'This is what they want to jail him for? For standing guard over his fellow medics. For helping the injured. Or for saving lives? This is what our justice system is about? Shame. Shame shame.' She also claimed that the nurse of 'over 10 years' was forced to remain in limbo in Turkey for six months because Australian authorities had cancelled his passport. She posted that he had used nursing and paramedic skills 'to save the lives of Syrian civilians who Australia and its allies had been slaughtering with their bombs and support of Assad'. Adam Brookman, from Melbourne, was extradited and charged with terror-related offences last year after claiming he was forced to work with ISIS in Syria The father-of-five reportedly surrendered to authorities after he fled to Turkey from Syria Brookman, a father-of-five, was arrested at Sydney Airport and extradited to Victoria following his voluntary surrender to authorities in Turkey. He has always maintained he went to Syria in 2014 to undertake humanitarian work. 'They only allowed him to return straight into custody like a criminal. He has been in prison for one year and has not had his committal hearing nor gone to trial yet,' his wife continued. 'A whole year and no progress. A year of prison visits. Taking his five children to see him inside a prison. 'Our youngest daughter only knows him in prison and calls the prison "baba's house". Where is the justice? 'If he is guilty of a crime then charge him and sentence him. If he is innocent then send him home. I have five children who love their dad and want him home. 'He is a nurse and a paramedic. He is a father and husband. He is a good man. Never hurt anyone. Never shot or killed anyone. Never harmed anyone. His best friend was a stray cat and a frog he adopted whilst in Syria. He drove ambulances and worked in makeshift hospitals.' His actions helped ISIS fighters 'prepare or foster' an attack, court documents alleged. 'He was at a medic quarter when two missiles were dropped on that house. The first sent him flying across the room and left him with large shrapnel inside his head, arm and legs,' his wife added in her social media posts. Charges were officially laid against Brookman after he was extradited to his home state following his voluntary surrender to authorities in Turkey The Taliban claimed responsibility for a huge truck bomb attack on a hotel used by foreigners in the Afghan capital. Terrorists targeted the Northgate Hotel, which doubles as a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organizations, in Kabul early on Monday. Despite powerful explosion ringing all around the city, only one policeman was killed by the blast as his colleagues shot down the three attackers. The Taliban claimed responsibility for a huge truck bomb attack on a hotel used by foreigners in the Afghan capital Despite powerful explosion from the truck being heard all around the city, only one policeman was killed by the blast as his colleagues shot down the three attackers Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said the incident at about 1.30am local time ended with one attacker killed when his vehicle detonated and two other attackers killed by police. One police officer was killed and four were wounded. As day broke, gunfire and occasional explosions rang out over the industrial zone where security forces had taken up positions near the Northgate Hotel, a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organizations. The attack on a hotel the Taliban said was a 'place of vulgarity and profanity' was the latest in a series against foreign targets in Kabul, underlining precarious security in Afghanistan, even in the capital. It came around a week after the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people. The Taliban, who say that foreign 'invaders' must leave Afghanistan but who often say they want to avoid civilian casualties, said the compound was not near homes and that ordinary people were not harmed. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said the incident at about 1.30am local time ended with one attacker killed when his vehicle detonated and two other attackers killed by police as one of his guards (pictured) looks on standing amid the rubble After the attack, Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, which is east of Kabul's main international airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the capital The Taliban, who say that foreign 'invaders' must leave Afghanistan but who often say they want to avoid civilian casualties, said the compound was not near homes and that ordinary people were not harmed Security officials originally said four attackers were at the site, a walled compound of a type typically used by foreign security and civilian organizations in Kabul, even though police later said that only three attackers had been killed. The Taliban claimed there were 'dozens of dead and wounded'. The Islamist group often exaggerates the extent of attacks it launches against Afghan government and foreign security targets. After the attack, Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, which is east of Kabul's main international airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the capital. Columns of vehicles carrying troops and police were in the area and heavy automatic gunfire could be heard, along with rocket-propelled grenades fired by Afghan security forces. There were also widespread reports of power outages in Kabul after the blast, with electricity cut off in several areas of the city. Princess Beatrice is to become a business consultant after turning her back on her fourth job in five years. The eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife the Duchess of York has left her post with a Manhattan investment firm to pursue her 'entrepreneurial ambitions'. At the moment, however, her business plans appear to be on hold while she holidays in the Greek islands with friends, following a trip a few weeks ago to the South of France. In June well-placed sources said the Queen's grand-daughter had been 'let go' from her role in New York. This was strongly denied by aides who maintained she was only in Britain for the month of June because of a 'work project' and to support the Queen during her 90th birthday celebrations. Princess Beatrice - the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew - is pursuing her 'entrepreneurial ambitions' and will become a business consultant after turning her back on her fourth job in five years In June well-placed sources said the Queen's grand-daughter (left) had been 'let go' from her role in New York. She was photographed at the end of the Windsor Half Marathon in Berkshire in 2010 (right) Sources insisted she had moved to 'another department within the same company', Sandbridge Capital, and would return to work in early July. Last week, however, the Daily Mail was told Beatrice had not been at her desk for two months. Callers to the firm were told she 'is no longer with the company'. Sources close to the princess, 27, say she has now resigned to form her own 'start-up', backed by Sandbridge. Sandbridge advises and invests in fashion, health and consumer businesses and boasts brands including Topshop and Karl Lagerfeld in its portfolio. The source said: 'She is creating a start-up consultancy backed by, and in association with, the group she worked with. She and some other people have set up a consultancy business under the auspices of Sandbridge Capital.' The friend said she had not been sacked, saying: 'She was working, she resigned and is now concentrating her efforts on this start-up. She wanted to be more entrepreneurial, so she has set up her own unit within the group, but as a separate unit.' Beatrice's new role as a business consultant will be her fifth job in as many years. She was seen speaking to work colleagues from Sky when making a video in Soho, London (right) A friend said: 'Beatrice is a young girl making her own way in the world and finding her feet. She should be applauded for striking out on her own, not vilified.' According to her CV on business website LinkedIn, after leaving university Beatrice worked between September 2011 and January 2012 as a 'research associate' for her mother's charity Children In Crisis. She moved to investment firm Cabot Square Capital in February 2012 but quit 16 months later. She took her next job, as an 'international production analyst' at Sony Pictures, in January 2014. But she quit the 19,500-a-year post after a year. Palace aides said afterwards that she was 'exploring her career options' but that didn't stop her enjoying a string of luxury holidays. Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (centre) was pictured with her daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice (right) at the Partners Annual Charity Day in London in 2011 Between December 2014 and December 2015 the princess who receives no government funding racked up 18 foreign jaunts including a trip on Roman Abramovich's 1.5billion super-yacht in Ibiza. Buckingham Palace said: 'Princess Beatrice continues to pursue a career in business. 'Beyond this we have never commented on individual employers. We would not comment on how the princess is spending her private time.' We all know the frustration of trying to remember banking passwords, log-ons and security questions. But now the misery may finally be over for millions. From today, Barclays' telephone-banking customers will be able to clear security with just the sound of their voice. The High Street giant's 'voice-recognition technology' identifies callers by the tone of their voice, removing the need for security questions or passwords. From today, Barclays' telephone-banking customers will be able to clear security with just the sound of their voice It will create a digital profile of customers' voices as unique as a fingerprint over the course of several phone calls. Once the bank has built up a sufficient profile, customers can choose to use voice recognition rather than a password. This profile will be securely stored on Barclays' system, and deleted if customers opt out. The bank claims the system is more secure than passwords as it monitors more than 100 characteristics of voices. It says the system saves time as it takes roughly two minutes to get through alternative security measures. Barclays' Steven Cooper said: 'We can all relate to the frustration of forgetting a password at the crucial moment. Voice security can cut out that part of the call completely and, unlike a password, each person's voice is as unique as a fingerprint.' Barclays said the system can identify someone even if they have a cold as the markers it analyses including accent, pronunciation and cadence do not change even if you are blocked up. The bank also said it would be impossible for fraudsters to mimic a customer and fool the computer as they would have to recreate all the physical and behavioural aspects of their speech. Playing a recording of a customer's voice would not work either as the adviser would pick this up. Barclays said its system is extremely secure. But fraud experts say they are yet to be convinced because the technology is so new. Andrew Goodwill, of the Goodwill anti-fraud group, said: 'Voice recognition is in its infancy with regards to security and it is something that I am looking into.' Although other lenders are also planning to introduce the technology, Barclays is the first major bank to make it available to all its High Street retail customers. Barclays' revolutionary voice-recognition service removes the need for security questions or passwords It began offering the service to a small number of customers in its wealth management and investment division in 2013. Banks have ploughed millions into replacing passwords with some customers able to log into their smartphone banking app by their fingerprint. Barclays' business customers can identify themselves using a biometric reader which scans the veins in their fingers using an infrared beam. James Daley, of consumer finance website Fairer Finance, said he 'tentatively welcomed' the voice-recognition technology. He said: 'If this can cut out the inconvenience of handing over account details and passwords then this is a good thing.' HSBC's online bank First Direct plans to have most of its 1.3million customers up and running with voice ID security by the end of summer. And up to 15million HSBC customers will be able to use voice recognition later this year, while Lloyds is also looking at the technology. Fears of being branded racist meant nobody was willing to help a young woman now being held prisoner by her strict Muslim father, it has been claimed. It comes as a photograph emerged of British citizen Amina Al-Jeffery, 21, next to a cage that she is allegedly locked up in at her fathers home in Saudi Arabia. Fearing for her safety, lawyers have taken her case to the High Court claiming 62-year-old academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery prevents her from leaving the house, after she was arrested for kissing a boy. Miss Al-Jeffery was born and raised in Swansea, Wales, before her father took her to the Middle East aged 16 because he disapproved of her relationships and conduct. Prisoner: UK citizen Amina Al-Jeffery in her fathers house in Saudi Arabia, in a photo she sent to a friend But school friend Robyn Lewis to whom Miss Al-Jeffery sent the image of herself in front of locked steel mesh doors said she could, and should, have been protected and that her pleas for help were ignored. Writing on Facebook, the estate agent from South Wales said: For years I have been in and out of contact with Amina whilst she has been in Saudi, fully knowing what had been going on. Every time I have spoken to her she had been begging for help. Over the last 4/5 years I cant stress enough how many times I have emailed/phoned local MPs, human rights charities and the British embassy in Saudi with no answers and nobody willing to help. Miss Lewis said South Wales Police was told her friend had been taken against her will. She added that Miss Al-Jeffery had discussed her fears with school staff. I am not blaming anyone else other than her father and older brothers and sisters for allowing this to happen but I want people to know that so many people could have done more to prevent this, Miss Lewis wrote. Friends said they have been trying to get human rights authorities to investigate Miss Al-Jeffery's (pictured) case for 'four or five years' Why wasnt anything done sooner to protect her? I think people are way too scared to get involved with cases like this involving Muslim families in case of being branded racist. More needs to be done to protect young female British Muslims. If school staff and the police acted as they should have maybe this wouldnt have happened. Miss Al-Jefferys lawyer, Henry Setright QC, told the High Court last week that her father believed she was someone he has a duty to control, including her freedom of movement. The court heard the 21-year-old was arrested outside a Saudi university for kissing and hugging an American student who was later forced to leave the country. She has since complained of being beaten, starved and locked in her fathers flat in the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast, close to Mecca. The court was told a barrier or partition had been put up at the property, which Miss Al- Jeffery had likened to a cage. Marcus Scott-Manderson QC, representing father-of-nine Mr Al-Jeffery, said the academic could not bring himself to obey the courts order to attend the consulate. The lawyer also said that Mr Al-Jeffery disputed claims made against him. In a letter written earlier this year, the father had said: Regarding returning Amina back to the UK, I am unwilling to do this as I fear she will go back to her old destructive lifestyle. As her father, I fear for her health and safety and only want what is best for Amina, so she may focus on her education. Mr Justice Holman, hearing the case in the family division of the High Court, is expected to make a ruling on Wednesday. Miss Al-Jeffery, pictured in a school photo, was born and raised in Swansea until her father took her to the Middle East when she was 16 He said he might have the power to order Mr Al-Jeffery to facilitate his daughters return to the UK but might have difficulty enforcing such an order. The judge also warned that the jurisdiction of the British courts was not clear because Miss Al-Jeffery was now an adult with dual Saudi and UK citizenship, adding: We have to be careful about asserting the supremacy of our cultural standards. The Pope has said he will wait until justice takes its course before making a judgement on Cardinal George Pell, in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against the Vatican treasurer. Pope Francis made the comments on Sunday on his way back to Rome after a trip to Poland, reported Perth Now. He said Cardinal Pell should not undergo a trial by the media or by any rumours made about the allegations. Pope Francis (pictured) has said he will wait until justice takes its course before making a judgement on Cardinal George Pell, in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against the Vatican treasurer 'Its in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system,' the Pope said in answer to a question. 'Justice has to take its course ... and justice by the media or justice by rumour does not help. After the justice system speaks, I will speak,' he said. However, a report by the ABC revealed the Pope said he has 'doubts' over the case being made against Cardinal Pell. 'There are doubts. 'In dubio pro reo',' the Pope said, using a Latin expression that means a defendant may not be convicted by the court when there are doubts about his or her guilt. On radio on Thursday, Victorian state Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said they had been investigating allegations made against Cardinal Pell for more than a year. Mr Ashton also confirmed an ABC television report on 7.30 on Wednesday that said the accusations of abuse in interviews with alleged victims were from the 1970s to the 1990s. Victims groups have called on the Vatican to sack Cardinal Pell or for him to resign. The ABC's 7.30 program aired details of sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Pell (pictured) last week Cardinal Pell's office issued a statement on Wednesday which said he 'refutes all the allegations made on the program'. The ABC has said it has eight police statements from complainants, witnesses and family members who were involved in the investigation. Cardinal Pell was a priest in Victoria in the 1970s and 1980s before he became the archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. The judge leading the Governments inquiry into historical child sex abuse could cost the taxpayer more than 5million. Dame Lowell Goddard, who admits she is unfamiliar with British law, earns a basic salary of 360,000 from the Home Office. The New Zealand judge receives a 110,000 annual rental allowance, 12,000 for utility bills, and a car and driver for official business. Dame Lowell Goddard, who admits she is unfamiliar with British law, earns a basic salary of 360,000 from the Home Office The New Zealand judge receives a 110,000 annual rental allowance, 12,000 for utility bills, and a car and driver for official business Taxpayers will also cover the cost of four business-class return flights to New Zealand every year for her and her husband, plus two return economy flights a year for her children. The cost of all these flights are expected to reach 55,000 every year. Her extraordinary remuneration package has catapulted her to the top of the public servants paylist. The 66-year-old judge will cost the taxpayer more than 5million if, as predicted, the inquiry into child sex abuse drags on for a decade. 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 said it could now take at least ten years. The independent child abuse inquiry has already spent almost 18million of public money and has yet to publicly question a single witness or victim. It could end up costing taxpayers more than 100million. There are concerns that Justice Goddard is struggling with her task after she appeared to be unaware of the extent of her powers as chairman last week. Asked to make a routine order restricting the reporting of details of a continuing police investigation, the judge had to seek advice on whether she had the right to do so. She asked lawyers at hearing to give her advice on local law and added: I need to know the local scene. Taxpayers will also cover the cost of four business-class return flights to New Zealand every year for her and her husband, plus two return economy flights a year for her children. The cost of all these flights are expected to reach 55,000 every year The incident compounds fears in legal circles that Justice Goddard is insufficiently familiar with British law and institutions to lead an inquiry of this scale and complexity. The inquiry, set up in March 2015 by the then Home Secretary Theresa May, is already behind schedule. Lawyers have privately expressed concern about the delays and the handling of the inquiry by Justice Goddard. At a hearing last 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. Public hearings into other elements of the inquiry relating to abuse within the Anglican and Catholic churches - are not likely to begin any sooner than the second half of next year. 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 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 66-year-old judge will cost the taxpayer more than 5million if, as predicted, the inquiry into child sex abuse drags on for a decade Justice Goddard has said her sincere hope and expectation is that it will be possible to conclude the inquirys work before the end of 2020. A spokesman said: The inquiry is committed to completing its work as quickly and cost-effectively as possible while remaining thorough. It will publish reports on investigations as they are completed during the course of the inquiry, not wait until the conclusion. Harry Davis, of the TaxPayers Alliance, said: Justice Goddard is presiding over a serious and sensitive inquiry, but the financial deal handed to her will rankle with many taxpayers. A man died after falling off a cliff near the Sutro Baths in San Francisco and plunging into the roiling waters below. Vincent Holland, 28, from Merced, somehow fell off a 50 to 100 foot cliff and into the raging surf around 4.35pm Saturday, according to SF Gate. Holland and an unidentified woman apparently went off trail and he fell. Scroll down for video Vincent Holland, 28, was with an unidentified female when they went off path near the Sutro Baths and he plunged down a 50 to 100 foot cliff to his death on Saturday afternoon Vincent Holland fell off the cliffs near the Sutro Baths, which was at one time a large indoor swimming pool until it burned to the ground in 1966, leaving only the remains of the structure The woman was found without injury at the bottom of the cliff. Holland was pulled from the water after 'a very high risk rescue mission' involving San Francisco Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard and National Park Service, according to NBC Bay Area. Holland was pronounced dead once he was brought up to shore. Holland went to a police academy, according to his LinkedIn page, and was often photographed at a shooting range and he worked at Called2Arms gun shop in Modesto The waves in that area are known to be particularly strong. An autopsy and toxicology tests will be done to determine cause of death, said San Francisco Gate. According to his Facebook page, Holland went to Buhach Colony High School, and according to his LinkedIn page, he studied criminal justice at Merced College, and went to the Police Academy at Fresno City College and worked as a security guard. Gun store Called 2 Arms in Modesto wrote on its Facebook page that Holland was an employee. 'We have lost a friend, employee and a amazing soul. A great person that will always help you and that smile he kept on his face daily could melt even the coldest heart,' wrote the gun shop on its wall. A seven-year-old girl who was lost in bush overnight on Saturday with her best friend has described how they got through the ordeal. Marley Aplin and friend Rhianna, both seven, were lost in freezing cold temperatures near Orange, New South Wales, after leaving the campsite they were sharing with family to follow kangaroos, and huddled together to keep warm during the night. Their families had feared the worst, but they were rescued just before noon on Sunday after a large-scale, 20-hour search. Marley told 7 News after they were located: 'We found somewhere to sleep and hugged up with each other to stay warm'. Rhianna (left), and her friend Marley Aplin, both seven, who missing in bush near Orange, New South Wales were rescued on Sunday after a 20-hour search Marley said she and Rhianna had lost their way home but hugged each other for warmth overnight Marley's mother, Mardi, said she had been through a lot while the girls were missing, but that wasn't half of what they had experienced She said the experience was 'scary'. 'We were climbing up a mountain and we fell off the side of it and we fell down this steep hill and rolled down nearly into the water.' The ABC reported Marley had said they had 'lost their way home' but talked during the night about how they would find their way back. They went missing on Saturday afternoon and their families alerted emergency services, initiating a frantic, large-scale search involving hundreds of people. After spending a night in the bush in temperatures which dropped to about zero degrees, they were rescued about 11.30am on Sunday and were taken to Orange Hospital for medical checks after being airlifted. They had tried to walk back to their campsite but weren't as close as they had thought. A massive search involving hundreds of people was launched to find the missing girls The pair were found just before noon on Sunday by a team of searchers Despite having only having light jackets and tights on in the cold weather, they were in 'good spirits' when rescued, 7 News reported. Marley had cuts on her face, knees and hands cleaned while Rhianna had surgery for a wound to her backside. Rescuers told the ABC they were 'amazing, super brave' young girls. Her grandfather, Ron Pearson, said the two girls used grass and leaves to make makeshift pillows to sleep on as the camped overnight in freezing conditions. 'They found them alive and well and everything was OK,' he told The Sunday Telegraph. Marley's mother, Mardi Aplin, said: 'It was absolutely horrific obviously a million things are running through you mind. '[But] we can't compare to what they have been through over the last 24 hours.' During the search, a NSW police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia officers had serious concerns for the safety of the girls after they were last seen near the creek. Male refugees coming to Britain need to be properly taught how to treat women to prevent assault and sexual harassment, according to a senior Labour MP. Thangam Debbonaire, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees, said that by providing formal training, the UK could tackle issues like female genital mutilation and sexual harassment against women. The comments came as Miss Debbonaire launched a cross-party inquiry last week to focus on the experiences of new refugees once they have arrived in the UK and called for a refugee integration strategy so that men claiming refuge in Britain understand what is expected of them. Thangam Debbonaire, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees, said that by providing formal training, the UK could tackle issues like female genital mutilation and sexual harassment against women She said that it would help men whose claims were accepted to become part of the communities that they were settled in. The approach is intended to address fears in the UK of sexual attacks similar to those carried out against women in Germany on New Years Eve last year. Miss Debbonaire told the Daily Telegraph: What I dont want is for the British people to respond to a case of assault or sexual harassment by saying no to more refugees, which seemed to be what the publics response to Germany was in danger of becoming. We need to think about how we have those men understand what is expected of them without pretending we ourselves are perfect. It would need to be sensitively worked out and could be part of a nationwide campaign to help men and boys in general to look at gender equality in a different way. Im not saying theres a little ticket you can give incoming men. It shouldnt surprise us if those from cultures, where gender inequality is an extreme struggle, do not understand social norms and expectations when they get here. All men need this education, our indigenous population is not a haven of gender equality and you could have a situation where boys who have settled, just arrived, or been born here, would all get the same information on how they should interact with women. The Most Reverend Justin Welby launched a new scheme for community groups to support refugees at Lambeth Palace alongside Amber Rudd, who used her first public appearance as Home Secretary to back the move It comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed that refugees were treasured human beings made in the image of God who deserve the opportunity to flourish. The Most Reverend Justin Welby launched the new scheme for community groups to support refugees at Lambeth Palace alongside Amber Rudd, who used her first public appearance as Home Secretary to back the move. Lambeth Palace, the Archbishops London residence, has officially become the first community group to take advantage of the scheme with a Syrian family now living in a cottage on the grounds. Most Reverend Welby said: Refugees, like all people, are treasured human beings, made in the image of God, who deserve safety, freedom and the opportunity to flourish. Miss Rudd dismissed fears about the security consequences of taking in the refugees, saying everyone being resettled in Britain was double-vetted by the United Nations and the Home Office. Britain is to take in 3,000 vulnerable child refugees and their carers in one of the biggest resettlement programmes worldwide from the war-torn Syria region. Attackers who tried to abduct an RAF serviceman at knifepoint may have deliberately chosen their escape route to avoid CCTV, it was claimed yesterday. As police continued their search for the two suspects, a source said they managed to avoid security cameras on at least two of the main routes away from the scene. And it has now emerged that a total of 70 officers including 20 from Scotland Yards counter-terrorism squad are hunting for the men. Attackers who tried to abduct an RAF serviceman at knifepoint may have deliberately chosen their escape route to avoid CCTV, it was claimed yesterday (pictured, e-fit images of the two men) This is despite Norfolk Constabulary insisting again this weekend that there was no credible evidence to suggest that the attempted abduction at RAF Marham was terror-related. The men, who are both described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, tried to bundle the airman into a car as he jogged near the airbase two weeks ago. Police have received more than 150 calls from the public but none have been confirmed sightings of the pair. Officers have trawled through hours of CCTV footage without finding any images of the dark-coloured people carrier they used. Detective Superintendent Paul Durham, who is leading the inquiry, said there are a number of potential entrance routes and escape routes to the scene, and admitted it is really unclear what route they took. He added that the CCTV footage recovered by police so far is very challenging and patchy at best, in terms of geographical coverage. He described it as being hit and miss in quality. One source said that the attackers managed to avoid security cameras on at least two of the main escape routes. There is CCTV by a Costcutter shop close to the base which the police have seized, the source said. The belief is that the attackers avoided driving past it. And when they reached the end of the road they turned left. By doing this they avoided more CCTV cameras to the right. While the force has not ruled out terrorism, it said the attack could also have been a case of mistaken identity over a drugs debt or even a domestic dispute. Norfolk Constabulary insisted again this weekend that there was no credible evidence to suggest that the attempted abduction at RAF Marham was terror-related The married serviceman who is in his late 20s was targeted on July 20 about a mile from the gates of the base, which is home to Tornado bombers flying missions against Islamic State. The airman told police that one of his assailants had a knife with a three-inch blade. He had gone for a run outside the Norfolk military base when the first suspect leapt at him from a parked car. The attacker grabbed the serviceman and tried to drag him towards the dark-coloured people carrier with a degree of force, police said. The airman fought back and knocked the man to the ground, but then saw a second man running towards him with the knife. When the second suspect saw his accomplice on the floor he headed towards him allowing the airman to escape. The running route is often used by base personnel and is just 400 yards from its married quarters, meaning the pair could have been lying in wait for a lone victim to abduct. However, the airman, who was very, very shaken by his ordeal, was wearing running clothes without any military insignia. He said that his first assailant shouted something, but he did not hear what was said as he had earphones in. Within hours of the attack, servicemen at RAF Marham which is around ten miles from Kings Lynn were warned to keep a low profile and not to travel alone amid fears that the attack was a Lee Rigby-style terrorist plot. Fusilier Rigby was killed by two jihadists outside his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, in 2013. The men, who are both described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, tried to bundle the airman into a car as he jogged near the airbase two weeks ago In a Ministry of Defence memo, security chief Rich Curzon told personnel: Following an incident at RAF Marham, it is directed that all personnel keep a low profile and not make themselves vulnerable. Until the threat subsides, no one is to be on their own on foot, or on a bicycle, within the local area in uniform or clothing which might identify them with the military. Both suspects are said to be of Middle Eastern origin and between 20 and 30 years old. The first is about 6ft tall, with dark hair and a beard. The second is younger and about 5ft 10in. Det Supt Durham said: Regarding the search for our suspects, we are not focusing on any specific area. Im keeping an open mind as to where they are from. Its evident the would-be attackers have underestimated the victims ability to fight back. There is no credible evidence this is a terrorist incident, but that remains one of a number of possibilities. A Norfolk Constabulary spokesman said detectives think the attackers avoided the CCTV by luck rather than meticulous planning. Two men matching the description of the assailants were spotted outside an Essex Army base on Friday prompting a security alert. Seattle Police are investigating after a worker fell roughly 30 feet down an elevator shaft to his death. Police said someone called 911 at about 8am on Sunday to say an employee had died at a downtown business, KOMO reported. The Seattle Fire Department wrote on Twitter that medics had responded to the scene of the incident on 1919 5th Avenue and had performed CPR on the worker. Following a rescue operation the victim, identified as only a man in his 40s, was transported to Harborview Medical Center, with life threatening injuries. Seattle Police are investigating after a worker fell roughly 30 feet down an elevator shaft to his death while on the job at a downtown business. Officers pictured at the scene The Seattle Fire Department tweeted medics were at the scene and performed CPR on the victim, only identified as a man in his 40s Authorities said he later died at hospital, according to Q13 News. Police also told the station the victim was an employee at the car rental business. Investigators have not said if anything about the fall seems suspicious, but homicide detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death. Both the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will also be involved. At this time, no other details were available. Theresa May today unveiled a 33 million crackdown on modern-day slavery Wealthy foreigners caught employing domestic slaves in the UK face a visa ban under a determined crackdown on modern slavery. Officials also want to target British families who bring in people from abroad under arranged marriages and then subject them to a life of servitude. Anybody found guilty of one of the offences would never again be able to sponsor a visa to bring a domestic servant or secure a spousal visa ever again to cut the risk of reoffending. Last month, it emerged that a member of the Saudi Arabian embassy was alleged to have committed the offence of human trafficking into the UK for the purposes of exploitation - specifically domestic servitude. The crackdown came as Theresa May promised a three pronged attack on the barbaric evil of modern slavery. She said it has created a sickening and inhuman underworld in which up to 13,000 people are being kept in servitude. The new Prime Minister pledged 33million from the controversial aid budget to be spent in high-risk countries from which victims are regularly trafficked to Britain. Mrs May will also personally chair a new Cabinet task force to drive out the abuse and put pressure on police to treat the issue seriously. Those who are failing to abide by the Modern Slavery Act will face formal investigation. The PM who introduced the legislation when she was Home Secretary said: This is the great human rights issue of our time and I am determined that we will make it a national and international mission to rid our world of this barbaric evil. Just as it was Britain that took a historic stand to ban slavery two centuries ago, so Britain will once again lead the way in defeating modern slavery and preserving the freedoms and values that have defined our country for generations. She added: From nail bars and car washes to sheds and rundown caravans, people are enduring experiences that are simply horrifying in their inhumanity. One year ago, the Modern Slavery Act devised by Fiona Hill, who is now the No10 chief of staff - came into force, creating new penalties to jail slave masters and promising life sentences for those convicted of the most serious crimes. Kevin Hyland (pictured), the countrys anti-slavery commissioner, warned that a previous lack of action against slavery could have led to it becoming a crime of choice An independent review published yesterday by the barrister Caroline Haughey found that progress has been made - with 289 offences prosecuted through the courts in the past year and a 40 per cent rise in the number of victims identified. But police responses are still too patchy - with six of the countrys 43 forces failing to record a single case. Mrs May has ordered an inspection by Her majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary to make sure that all police forces treat this crime with the priority it deserves. Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania and Poland are the most likely countries of origin for victims, but some are from Britain. In 2013, 90 were UK nationals. Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania and Poland are the most likely countries of origin for victims (file photo) Officials say sexual exploitation is the most common form of modern slavery reported in the UK, followed by labour exploitation, forced criminal exploitation and domestic servitude. The Haughey report said there was a case for changing the law to ensure those found guilty of keeping wives or husbands in servitude or employing domestic slaves could not reoffend. It said the way to tackle this was to change the law so those responsible would never be able to sponsor a visa again. The report gave the example of where servitude takes place within the family against a background of an arranged marriage. It went on: Beyond a restraining order preventing the defendant contacting his wife and her family, there is no order in place under these circumstances that would preclude him from applying for a spousal visa to repeat the offending. Similarly, an employee convicted of servitude would not be prevented from applying for a domestic workers visa and so would be free to continue offending at the conclusion of any custodial sentence. Consideration should be given to creating a Visa order preventing the offender for applying and or sponsoring another persons entry into the UK and/ or making it mandatory that the defendant disclose the relevant conviction on any sponsoring/ supporting visa application. rehabilitate dogs that are high risk for euthanization and get them adopted Prison has Paws 4 Life program for inmates who want to help evacuated from their shelter because of monstrous wildfire California prisoners showed dozens of deaf dogs love and affection after they were forced to evacuate their shelter that was threatened by a wildfire. The inmates cared for 45 dogs from the Deaf Dogs Rescue of America who were evacuated last week after flames from a 'sand fire' approached their home, according to ABC News. Lisa Tipton and her husband Mark Tipton called dozens of local centers and other shelters, but no one would take the dogs. The California State Prison in Los Angeles County was the only institution that eagerly agreed to take the adorable canines. Scroll down for video California prisoners showed dozens of deaf dogs love and affection after they were forced to evacuate their shelter that was threatened by a wildfire Forty-five dogs from the Deaf Dogs Rescue of America were evacuated last week after flames from the 'sand fire' approached their home Lisa Tipton and her husband Mark Tipton called dozens of local centers and other rescue centers but the California State Prison in Los Angeles County was the only institution that eagerly agreed to take the dogs. Pictured is one of the adorable pooches The monstrous 'sand fire' (pictured) tore through more than 58 square miles of dry brush, burned 18 homes and temporarily displaced about 20,000 people in Santa Clarita She told ABC News that because of their shelter's location on a hill in Acton, California, they didn't want to 'take a chance' of the place catching fire. The monstrous 'sand fire' tore through more than 58 square miles of dry brush, burned 18 homes and temporarily displaced about 20,000 people in Santa Clarita. The Tiptons drove 20 miles to Lancaster, California, where the prison is located and has a group of inmates who are a part of a program called Paws 4 Life. Paw 4 Life matches inmates with dogs from county shelters that are at high risk for euthanization, Kristina Khokobashvili, a public information officer for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the station. Khokobashvili said that more than 70 dogs taken in to the program have been adopted out to homes within two years. The inmates work with the dogs and professional trainers to teach them obedience and help them pass the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen test. The Tiptons drove 20 miles to Lancaster, California, where the prison is located and has a group of inmates who are a part of a program called Paws 4 Life Paw 4 Life matches inmates with dogs from county shelters that are at high risk for euthanization, Kristina Khokobashvili, a public information officer for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Lisa Tipton told ABC News that when she came to visit the dogs after they spent a night at the prison, 'every single dog had a smile on their face and was enjoying themselves'. She said that the dogs that are usually difficult were 'thriving'. Tipton told ABC that the reason the animals adjusted so well was because of the inmates' 'genuine joy and care'. Some inmates said the interaction with the animals really helped them. David Dougall, an inmate at the prison, told KABC the Paws 4 Life program 'gives me life again'. Another inmate, Jon Grobman, said the program has restored his 'faith in humanity', adding that the situation and the program gave him the 'opportunity to care for something, love something'. The dogs have been safely transported back to their shelter, according to the organization's Facebook page. The Tipton's wrote: 'We are ridiculously happy and grateful to have the dogs back at the ranch. 'Everyone is happy and healthy because they received the best of care and lots of attention. The Ranch is still standing, the fire didn't touch the property.' David Dougall, an inmate at the prison said the Paws 4 Life program 'gives me life again' Another inmate, Jon Grobman, said the program has restored his 'faith in humanity', adding that the situation and the program gave him the 'opportunity to care for something, love something' The dogs have been safely transported back to their shelter, according to the organization's Facebook page A leading private school teacher who was cleared in just 26 minutes of raping a teenage pupil has been left with a legal bill of 195,000. Kato Harris, 37, has been financially ruined by the battle to clear his name after he was accused of repeatedly assaulting the girl in his classroom. Friends said that the ordeal, which has prompted fierce criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service, has left Mr Harris crushed by stress as they launched an appeal to foot his huge debt. The then-head of geography at an 18,000-a-year all-girls secondary was accused of inviting the student to his classroom for lunchtime chats before attacking her. Innocent: Kato Harris pictured with a copy of the Mail reporting how he was found not guilty of raping a pupil When the girl aired the claims a year after they were supposed to have taken place in 2013, Mr Harris was suspended from his role as deputy head at another highly-regarded school. Friends said the teachers 10,000 life savings made only a small dent in his legal fees. His accusers wealthy family, who live in a 7million London townhouse, had employed top legal firm Mishcon de Reya to represent the teenager, as well as former assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard Sue Akers as a private investigator. Her family is believed to have spent 250,000 on legal fees. Their team included Alison Levitt QC, a partner at Mishcon, who charges up to 600 an hour. Miss Levitt previously worked as the principal adviser to Sir Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.teacher Miss Akers met with serving officers about the case, requested court documents and spoke to the girls mother up to a dozen times. Friends of Mr Harris, pictured, have launched an online appeal to help him pay his legal fees Following the conclusion of the case at Isleworth Crown Court last week, friends of Mr Harris set up an online appeal to help pay his costs. Sarah Tate, who started the appeal on the JustGiving website, said: This page is set up by his friends, who desperately want to help Kato rebuild his life. 'The accusations levelled against him were found to be impossible. This is a case that should never have come to court. The appeal, which has raised almost 14,000, will donate any surplus funds to a charity that supports abuse victims. Mr Harris, from Richmond, south-west London, broke down in tears when he was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the girl last week. Speaking after the conclusion he said: There is a beautiful world out there and for 20 months Ive been terrified of it, and Ive been hiding from it. Im now going into it a good man, and a free man. The court heard the rape allegations emerged after the girl changed schools. She initially refused to name her alleged abuser and later attended weekly therapy sessions in New York. Mr Harris, who was arrested at his school, told the court it would have been completely impossible to have attacked the pupil as he would have been seen. He also said medication he was taking for anxiety following the breakdown of his marriage had affected his libido. A friend of Mr Harriss 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. It is unclear whether Mr Harriss legal team has made an application regarding costs. A junior Treasury minister is considering whether to quit the government over the decision to review the decision to build a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, it was reported last night. Jim O'Neill, a former Goldman Sachs executive brought into government by ex-Chancellor George Osborne, has told friends he will leave the government in September unless the Prime Minister, Theresa May, convinces him to stay. A friend told the Financial Times Lord O'Neill, who is Commercial Secretary to the Treasury - was baffled by the government's change of tack on China. Jim O'Neill (left), a former Goldman Sachs executive brought into government by ex-Chancellor George Osborne (right), has told friends he will leave the government in September The friend said: 'He's considering why he has been asked to stay.' Last week Mrs May decided to call in the Hinkley Point decision amid national security concerns over the role of China in the 18billion project. Mrs May also wanted to personally review the deal - agreed by George Osborne - to ensure that it provides value for money for the taxpayer. It comes as a former Cabinet minister claimed last night that plans to protect Hinkley Point from national security threats by giving the government a special share in the project were prevented by George Osborne. Sir Edward Davey, who served as energy secretary during the coalition government claimed that despite assuring MPs worried about Chinese involvement at Hinkley they would have 'a special share in the consortium', the plan was then 'rejected without explanation' by the former Chancellor. The junior Treasury minister could leave in September unless Prime Minister Theresa May convinces him to stay Sir Edward told the Telegraph: 'Concerns on Chinese involvement didn't stand up to scrutiny last time around, but if the Treasury had adopted my proposal for a special share we could have included extra safeguards. 'But Osborne rejected it without explanation.' According to the the Financial Times, Lord O'Neill considered quitting last week, but did not want to undermine a report into anti-biotic resistant superbugs due to be discussed at a G20 meeting next months. Lord O'Neill was heavily involved in courting Chinese investment into Hinkley Point and other investments in Britain. He has told friends he was not told in advance of the decision to delay the deal. A friend told the Financial Times Lord O'Neill, who is Commercial Secretary to the Treasury - was baffled by the government's change of tack on China Last week government insiders said it would be 'irresponsible' not to look at the small print. The decision to delay came barely an hour after the board of French energy giant EDF approved an investment into the deal. The company had to pull the plug on a party planned for 150 VIPs - including Chinese dignitaries - on the Somerset coast on Friday. Mrs May had hinted to French President Francois Hollande last week that she could delay taking a final decision until September - but EDF was kept in the dark, despite the French government holding an 85 per cent stake in the firm. Mrs May is said to have specifically raised concerns with Mr Hollande about Chinese involvement in the deal. The Chinese nuclear industry, run by Beijing, had agreed to take a 33.5 per cent stake. The sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has quietly moved back to Australia after spending more than a decade leading a lifestyle in Bali to be closer to her sibling. Mercedes Corby has returned to the Gold Coast with her three children, Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and nine-year-old Nyoman after splitting with her Balinese husband Wayan Widyartha. The Corby sisters have maintained a low profile since Schapelle was released from Kerobokan Prison in February 2014 after serving nine years for couriering 4.2 kilograms of cannabis. When Schapelle pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs in May 2005, Mercedes moved her life to Indonesia and started a family after refusing to leave the country until her younger sister was freed. 'I didn't have the option of coming home, because I was fighting to clear our family's name and look after Schapelle,' Mercedes told Woman's Day. Mercedes Corby, the sister of drug smuggler Schapelle, has moved back to the Gold Coast with her three children Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and nine-year-old Nyoman after splitting from her Balinese husband Wayan The mother-of-three has teamed up with former professional surfer Trudy Todd (right) to open up a tapas restaurant called Laneway Bar and Dining in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast Schapelle Corby served nine years behind bars in Kerobokan Prison after she was caught with 4.2 kilograms of cannabis in her bodyboard bag in October 2004. She was released from jail in February 2014 'There will always be a shadow over our family, but I'm tired, and as much as I'd love to continue to fight for her, it's time to move on and try and put it behind us.' Despite leaving her sister behind in Bali, Mercedes said she only decided to move back last year when she felt confident Schapelle was well enough to be independent. 'She is in good health physically and mentally. She is coming good, but we take it day by day,' Mercedes said about her sister who is looking forward to turning her life back around in Australia. With just 12 months left of Schapelle's parole, the Corby family are bracing for the daughter, sister and auntie to return home after a trip to Bali cost her nearly a decade behind bars. 'We don't know exactly when she will be eligible to come home, so until we know, we're not talking about it,' Mercedes said. The Gold Coast mother is determined to build a future for her children, who were born and raised in Bali Corby was arrested at Denpasar airport after customs officials found 4.2 kilograms of cannabis in her bodyboard bag (pictured in 2005 leaving the Denpasar District Court following her sentence) And after being by her sister's side through the ordeal, Mercedes said she has since been determined to build a new future for her Balinese family for the first time Down Under. The mother-of-three has moved back into the humble property at Tugun in Queensland's beachside suburb, where Schapelle once called home before she was arrested more than 10 years ago. Mercedes said she feared her children, who were born and raised in Bali since birth, would struggle to fit in at school because of their auntie's widely publicised conviction but the trio have adjusted well to the Australian life. And turning over a new leaf, Mercedes has teamed up with former professional surfer Trudy Todd to open up a lavish tapas restaurant called Laneway Bar and Dining in Coolangatta. The business partners, who are friends, have set up their Gold Coast cocktail bar after Todd approached Mercedes about the hospitality venture. Before Mercedes moved overseas, she worked at her mother Rosleigh's fish and chip store in Southport on the Gold Coast. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mercedes Corby for comment. What a shame Tony Blair failed to speak to people who had actually encountered revolting retailer Philip Green before handing him a knighthood in 2006. One personal assistant, Samantha Watson, tells me she was frequently left fighting back tears after being berated and bullied by the former BHS owner. 'I didn't do anything wrong, but sometimes if I kept him hanging on the telephone for a millisecond, Philip made my life an absolute misery, swearing at me using the most disgusting language possible and calling me a c***,' says Sam, who worked for Green's close friend, the media magnate Richard Desmond. 'I'm glad the public is becoming aware of the type of man he is. I'm not surprised about BHS, because he has no respect for ordinary people, only other billionaires. 'If, through no fault of my own, I kept him waiting, he would start effing and blinding and calling me a 'thick, fat Geordie c***'. I was dead scared of him.' She adds: 'He would turn up at the office regularly. He was a greasy little squirt with his big belly sticking through his shirt buttons. To call a woman 'fat' he must have known was designed to intimidate and hurt, something most girls are sensitive about. The funny thing is I'm slim not to mention a lot taller than him.' One personal assistant, Samantha Watson, has told she was frequently left fighting back tears after being berated and bullied by the former BHS owner (pictured) Much-loved broadcaster Cliff Michelmore has left his two children a fortune. The affable TV presenter, who died in March aged 96, has bequeathed a total of almost 1.4 million to his broadcaster son Guy Michelmore and actress daughter Jenny de Jongh. Probate documents reveal he also left 1,000 to his local church in West Sussex. As anchorman for Tonight, Michelmore introduced a teenage David Bowie to his first TV audience and covered three general elections. Prince Charles and then Prime Minister Harold Wilson were among his countless interviewees. Elizabeth Hurley has failed to find lasting love since splitting up with Indian textiles heir Arun Nayar in 2009 but he's now moved on to model No.2. And not only does Kim Johnson, 30, look uncannily like Hurley, 51, in her younger days, but she tied the knot this weekend with Nayar, 51, in a voluminous layered silk dress that bore a remarkable resemblance to the frothy confection Liz wore at her 2007 wedding. Nayar chose a white jacket as he enjoyed a first waltz with grammar school-educated Kim in the South of France. Goodie bags were handed out containing a hangover kit, flip-flops for sore feet, and an eye mask for the morning after, emblazoned with: 'Ssssh! I partied all night with Kim and Arun!' And not only does Kim Johnson, 30, look uncannily like Hurley, 51, in her younger days, but she tied the knot this weekend with Nayar, 51, in a voluminous layered silk dress (pictured) Nayar chose a white jacket as he enjoyed a first waltz with grammar school-educated Kim in the South of France Goodie bags were handed out containing a hangover kit, flip-flops for sore feet, and an eye mask for the morning after, emblazoned with: 'Ssssh! I partied all night with Kim and Arun!' Veteran Tory MP Sir Bill Cash spent 30 years campaigning for Britain to leave the EU and now he has a second reason to celebrate he's to become a grandfather again. His daughter-in-law, society milliner Lady Laura Cathcart, is 13 weeks pregnant with her second child. 'It's wonderful news,' the 32-year-old's husband, writer William Cash, tells me. 'Laura actually found out she was pregnant at around 8am on June 24 just as the Brexit victory had been announced.' The couple have a one-year-old daughter, Cosima. A five-year-old boy on vacation with his family has died after being struck by lightning on a beach in North Carolina. Emergency crews were called to Carova Beach shortly after 4pm on Sunday, when it was reported the boy had been hit. The boy's family started driving him to hospital immediately, with paramedics meeting them on the way and taking him. A five-year-old boy on vacation with his family has died after being struck by lightning on a beach in North Carolina (stock image) Emergency crews were called to Carova Beach (pictured) shortly after 4pm on Sunday, when it was reported the boy had been struck He was then rushed to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, but he died at the scene. An intellectually disabled woman was the victim of sexual assault during her first date with a man she met on a dating website. Victoria Police are searching for the man who is accused of attacking the 24-year-old in her home in Glen Iris, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria on Sunday, April 24. The woman met her attacker on the dating website Plenty of Fish, who are working with investigators to track the man down. An intellectually disabled woman was the victim of sexual assault during her first date with a man she met on dating website, Plenty of Fish Victoria Police are searching for the man who is accused of attacking the 24-year-old in her home in Glen Iris, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria on Sunday, April 24 After arranging a date, the man came to the woman's home on High Street in Glen Iris, where he allegedly attacked her. A taxi pulled up to her address around 7pm, as the man was leaving. Police are urging the taxi driver to come forward to help with their investigation. The man is described as being aged in his 20s, clean shaven with an olive complexion, brown eyes, short hair and between 172 to 180cm tall. Anyone who has information about the incident or the mans identity is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at After arranging a date, the man came to the woman's home on High Street in Glen Iris on April , where he allegedly attacked her Victoria Police are appealing for taxi driver, who pulled up in front of the woman's house as her alleged attacked was leaving, to come forward A car has smashed into a house after the driver suffered a medical episode and lost control of the vehicle. The man, 37, was driving on Adele Ave in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne's east when his red utility truck ploughed into a home just after 9am on Monday. The vehicle became lodged in the house causing 'extensive damage' to the structure. Scroll down for video A car smashed into a house in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne's east just after 9am on Monday Fortunately the house was unoccupied at the time of the crash, a Victoria Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. The driver escaped the crash uninjured, however he was taken to hospital for observation. Ferntree Gully is located about 30 kilometres east of Melbourne's city centre. People battling cancer and epilepsy are among patients in New South Wales who are now able to have their doctor prescribe medicinal cannabis. Under new laws, which came into effect on Monday, a specialist can make an application through NSW Health to the Commonwealth Therapeutic Goods Administration to import unregistered cannabis-based products from overseas. There is no restriction on which patients can apply but NSW Health states that 'it is expected that prescribers will be specialists in the treatment of the condition'. But Australian Hemp Party secretary Andrew Kavasilas claims it could be '18 months plus' before anyone is legally treated with cannabis in the state. Scroll down for video Patients in New South Wales can be legally prescribed medicinal cannabis by their doctors after new regulations came into effect on Monday Premier Mike Baird (pictured) said the regulatory changes means medicinal cannabis can now be prescribed for patients who have exhausted standard treatment options 'We are still relying on Federal approval after a specially trained group of doctors will already have looked at it in New South Wales, it's just not right,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'There are so many roadblocks - we are looking at 18 months plus, the bare minimum.' HOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRESCRIPTIONS NOW WORK IN NEW SOUTH WALES Seriously ill patients can legally be treated with cannabis-based products Specialists are able to apply on behalf of patients after all other treatments are attempted Request is then considered by a NSW Health panel of medical experts It is then passed onto Commonwealth Therapeutic Goods Administration for consideration If approved the prescription drug may be purchased and imported from overseas at patient's cost Cannabis prescription drugs can come in capsule, oil or vapor form Costs of medicinal cannabis can be between $15-$20 a gram Local pharmaceutical scheme to dispense cannabis drugs not yet available Advertisement Under the new laws treatable conditions will also include multiple sclerosis, AIDS and for other chemotherapy-based therapies where standard pain management has failed. The estimated cost for medicinal cannabis is $15-$20 a gram - and the prescription drugs can come in various forms including capsules, oil and vapor treatments. 'People who are seriously ill should be able to access these medicines if they are the most appropriate next step in their treatment,' NSW Premier Mike Baird said on Monday. 'This change increases the options available for doctors as it means a broader range of cannabis-based medicines can be prescribed - while we continue our evidence-based research looking further into the role medicinal cannabis can play.' New South Wales has also become the first state to be given a licence to grow and cultivate cannabis for medicinal purposes. While that law change brings local pharmaceutical supply one step closer, local legal production could still be several years off. 'This is an important step forward that underpins the potential pharmaceutical supply of cannabis-based medicines made in Australia,' Mr Blair added. 'We are the first state to be authorised by the Commonwealth to conduct cultivation research and this means we can now get on with the job. 'This cultivation research will build the additional evidence required to produce medicinal cannabis in NSW to guaranteed safety and quality standards.' Previously patients could only access cannabis-based medicines through clinical trials, but with the regulatory changes the drugs can now be prescribed for patients who've exhausted standard treatment options. Minister for Medical Research Pru Goward said that NSW was regulating cannabis-based medicines in the same way as any other emerging medicine. Prescribed cannabis-based treatments for serious illnesses including oil products - the Australian Hemp Party says the process of checks and balances will lead to long delays in access to the drugs from overseas It's hoped new NSW laws will prevent patients from turning to the black market to access cannabis-based medicine - the state has also been given the green light to begin the cultivation of marijuana for medical use Earlier this year, about 330 people in NSW took part in a clinical trial, testing medicinal cannabis for chemotherapy patients A medical marijuana patient in the US uses a Herbalizer to fill a bag with cannabinoid vapor - all cannabis prescription medication under the NSW law change will be sourced from overseas in the short term 'Patients wishing to investigate the use of cannabis-based medicines will need to talk with their doctor about suitability,' Ms Goward said. The authorisation under Commonwealth law ensures Australia continues to meet its international obligations under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The cultivation research will be conducted in a new, state-of-the-art, high-security facility, under strict protocols. 'We have invested $21 million in a scientific approach to further our understanding about the safe and effective use of cannabis-based medicines so our patients in NSW have access to the best treatments possible,' Ms Goward added. 'Our end goal is that we will see proven, standardised and legal pharmaceutical cannabis products that can be trusted and prescribed by health professionals.' It's hoped the regulation will prevent patients from turning to the black market or breaking the law to access cannabis-based medicine. Earlier this year, about 330 people in NSW took part in a clinical trial, testing medicinal cannabis in tablet form for chemotherapy patients. The trial, which was announced in February, was the third of its kind in NSW - the other two were for terminally ill patients and children suffering from severe epilepsy. Skydiver Luke Aikins and his wife spent Sunday night at the Teen Choice Awards - just 24 hours after he jumped 25,000 feet without a parachute. Aikins, 42, completed his groundbreaking Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent stunt at the Big Sky movie ranch in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday evening. His wife Monica, also a skydiver who has completed 2,000 jumps, watched him with their four-year-old son Logan. She went to hug him right after he landed in a giant net. And the couple beamed while enjoying a concert at the Teen Choice Awards the next day in Inglewood, California. Scroll down for video Skydiver Luke Aikins and his wife spent Sunday night at the Teen Choice Awards (pictured) just a day after he jumped 25,000 feet without a parachute Monica (pictured with her husband), also a skydiver who has completed 2,000 jumps, watched him with their four-year-old son Logan as Aikins completed his groundbreaking stunt in Simi Valley, California on Saturday Aikins, 42, completed his groundbreaking Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent stunt (pictured) and became the first man to jump 25,000 feet without a parachute Three men jumped with Aikins (pictured in a green jumpsuit). One was in charge of collecting his discarded oxygen tank, another carried a camera and the final one trailed smoke so people could follow his descent Aikins turned on his back at the last minute and landed on a giant net (pictured) about a third of the size of a football field and 20 stories high Monica, Logan and other family members watched as Aikins completed the jump and came in to hug him immediately afterwards on Saturday (pictured) Aikins shared the video on his Instagram account on Sunday evening. He had traded the green jumpsuit he wore during his jump for a black shirt. Monica had opted for a black outfit with lace and had pulled her hair back for the evening. Aikins has become the first skydiver to jump 25,000 feet from a plane without a parachute and land in a net. Monica, Logan and other family members were watching as hit a 100-by-100-foot net perfectly. Aikins (pictured with his wife and son) has completed more than 18,000 jumps in the past and done stunts for the Ironman 3 movie Logan (pictured with his father after the jump) watched as Aikins jumped 25,000 feet without a chute. His father lifted him up afterwards as the family celebrated 'I'm almost levitating, it's incredible,' Aikins said after the jump. 'This thing just happened! I can't even get the words out of my mouth.' Aikins rose his hands over his head as his wife held their son, who dozed in her arms. He thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the net and made sure it worked. Aikins said just before climbing into the plane the Screen Actors Guild required him to wear a parachute but he indicated he wouldn't open it. The requirement was lifted a few minutes before the jump and Aikins left the plane without the chute. Aikins used an oxygen tank for the first 10,000 feet of the fall. One of the three other skydivers who jumped with him was in charge of collecting the discarded tank. Another one carried a camera and the final one trailed smoke so people on the ground could follow his descent. All three trio opened their chutes at 5,000 feet, leaving Aikins alone. The jump lasted about two minutes in total. Aikins flipped onto his back at the last second and landed perfectly to cheers from those gathered to watch. 'My vision was always proper preparation and that if you train right you can make anything happen,' Aikins said in a Facebook post after the jump. Aikins has completed more than 18,000 jumps in the past and done stunts for the Ironman 3 movie. He made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later. Aikins has completed several hundred a year ever since. His father and grandfather were skydivers and his family owns Skydive Kapowsin near Tacoma, Washington. 'I'm almost levitating, it's incredible,' Aikins said after the jump (pictured). 'This thing just happened! I can't even get the words out of my mouth.' Aikins (pictured with Logan on Saturday after the jump) said just before climbing into the plane the Screen Actors Guild required him to wear a parachute but was able to ditch it at the last minute The skydiver thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the net (pictured) and made sure it worked A massive brawl at a packed Lebanese chicken restaurant in Sydney has left one employee with a bandaged head and the owner with a massive bill. CCTV footage obtained by 9News shows customers at D'Roost in Liverpool throwing chairs and swinging shisha pipes as others evacuated the fully booked restaurant on Saturday night. Droost Lebanese restaurant was fully booked on Saturday night when the large fight broke out, according to the Daily Telegraph, and men are seen grabbing each other and destroying restaurant property. Scroll down for video CCTV vision shows a huge all-in brawl erupting at D'Roost in Liverpool on Saturday night The restaurant was fully booked on Saturday night, the large crowd of customers were seen throwing chairs and swinging shisha pipes at each other Owner Tim Abraham says he has been left thousands of dollars out of pocket by the incident A 25-year-old employee was hit in the face with glass, leaving behind a nasty gash. According to his boss Tim Abraham the young man was still eager to make sure customers were okay. Another employee, Mohamad Abdulla, said he could barely comprehend what had happened. 'It's so selfish,' he told 9News. 'Just to grab a chair - grab whatever, and start hitting people.' Mr Abraham claims he has been left thousands of dollars out of pocket from damages and unpaid bills. One 25-year-old employee (pictured) was taken to Liverpool Hospital after the fight with a gash to his head One man holds a shisha pipe just before he throws it with great force at another man Police were called to the incident, however they were too late to make any arrests over the fight. 'By the time officers were called at about 10.30, the groups involved had dispersed,' a spokesperson for NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia. 'One man was taken to Liverpool Hospital with minor injuries.' The D'Roost team don't seem to have been hit too hard by the fight though. Their Facebook page showed them back to business on Sunday night, with live music and another big crowd. No one has been charged over the incident and police continue to investigate. The young mother of a 21-month-old boy who allegedly died after suffering horrific injuries at the hands of his stepfather has been refused bail. Anne-Maree Lee, 27, was remanded in custody when she faced the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday morning over the death of her son Mason Jet Lee. The toddler was found dead at the Caboolture home, north of Brisbane, of his stepfather William Andrew O'Sullivan, 37, in the early hours of June 11. The court heard the mother was in an abusive relationship but she had intended to leave her partner, who had refused to let her see her child, ABC News reported. The little Queensland boy had suffered severe 'head-to-toe' injuries, including a ruptured intestine in the days leading up to his death. Scroll down for video Little Mason Jet Lee was found dead on June 11 after suffering severe injuries, including a ruptured intestine His mother Anne-Maree Lee, 27, (left) and her former partner William Andrew O'Sullivan, 37, (right) have been charged with manslaughter after the little boy allegedly died from severe injuries Her lawyer lawyer Brad Skuse on Monday told the court there was evidence to suggest his client should have known her son was in need of medical attention. 'In terms of the crown case, your honour, certainly there are strengths to it,' Mr Skuse said. 'There are a number of pieces of evidence, your honour, which support that my client should have been aware as to the condition of Mason Lee, her son.' But he also said Ms Lee, who appeared scared and weak during her appearance, had 'limited opportunities' to observe Mason. In refusing bail, Magistrate Graham Lee, of no relation, said the case against Ms Lee was 'very serious' and found there was an unacceptable risk of her not appearing at future court dates. The court also heard police were concerned she could interfere with witnesses if released. The 21-month-old suffered severe injuries, including a ruptured intestine in the days leading up to his death Queensland detectives scoured the surrounding of the Caboolture property following the boy's death in June Magistrate Lee said although there was no criminal history to consider the crown case seemed to be strong. 'In balancing all considerations, you have no history, (but) this is a very, very serious case,' he said to Ms Lee. Ryan Robert Hodson, 17, was also remanded in custody when he faced the Caboolture Magistrates Court over Mason's death on Monday. Mason's stepfather also remains in custody after not applying for bail during his brief appearance in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday. Police allege the trio failed to provide Mason with medical treatment despite his obvious injuries, although they're yet to determine how they were caused. Former Northern Territory chief justice Brian Ross Martin will no longer head a royal commission into the territory's youth detention. Following accusations of a conflict of interest over his daughter's employment as an adviser to the former NT attorney-general, Justice Martin said on Monday he would step away from the seven-month inquiry. His daughter Joanna Martin worked as a justice adviser to former Labor NT Attornery General Delia Lawrie during the same period the royal commission will investigate. Questions were raised whether Justice Martin had a personal conflict, given he may have sentenced young people involved in the inquiry who were potentially abused behind bars. Former Northern Territory chief justice Brian Ross Martin (pictured) will no longer head a royal commission into the territory's youth detention The seven-month inquiry was established this week after Four Corners revealed shocking vision of boys in Darwin's Don Dale detention centre (pictured) Justice Martin said his decision to resign was solely his own, adding that it was 'unnecessary' for the media to bring his daughter's past employment into the conversation. 'My resignation does not imply any criticism of the government, prime minister or the attorney-general,' he told reporters in Canberra on Monday. 'Quite unnecessarily, my family has been drawn into the debate. I am not prepared to allow the unwarranted intrusion into the life of my daughter to continue.' He said it became apparent, 'rightly or wrongly', he would not have the full confidence of sections of the indigenous community that have a vital interest in the inquiry. 'As a consequence, the effectiveness of the commission is likely to be compromised from the outset. I am not prepared to proceed in the face of that risk. This royal commission is far too important to undertake that risk,' he said. Justice Martin said he was standing down from the role because he would likely not have the full confidence of the indigenous community (pictured is a boy being choked at Don Dale detention centre) Justice Martin dismissed suggestions that he would have ignored or not given sufficient weight to indigenous issues. 'This suggestion is wrong,' he said, adding that he had been making plans to consult widely with indigenous organisations and individuals. Given the response to his appointment, Justice Martin believed there was much to be said for the suggestion the commissioner should come from outside the NT. As well, he said, there was some advantage 'both in practice and in appearance' in having an indigenous person as commissioner. 'But, whichever way it goes, it is incorrect to suggest that someone who is not indigenous could not conduct this properly,' he said. This is the terrifying moment a pirate ship jumping castle was torn from the ground and tossed into the air during a wild storm - just two minutes after children were frantically raced off the attraction. Kalgoorlie-Boulder Race Club, inland of Perth in Western Australia, was hosting a race meet when a 'freak' storm front whipped through the region bringing with it damaging gusts of wind. Staff from 'Jump 4 Us' party hire business were able to rush the kids off the jumping castle, just as storm winds ripped out the pegs holding it down and sent it flying for nearly 300 metres. Close call: Children were raced off a jumping castle just two minutes before a wild storm tore it from the ground and tossed it into the air for nearly 300 metres Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club CEO Tim Beaver said he was just thankful no kids had been on the inflatable jumping castle when it took off. 'It could have been a lot worse if a race was on or if someone was in there,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'When we got to it our first concern was that no one was in the castle. 'Everyone was definitely in shock.' Mr Beaver said the castle had been tied to the ground 'as it should have been' - but the wind was too strong and it quickly became wrenched from its mooring and thrown into the air. 'It tumbled up and over the barrier shed,' he said. 'It kept rolling until it reached a drain where it was less affected by the wind- by this time it had become deflated.' Daily Mail Australia has approached Jump 4 Us for comment. Conjoined twin girls who were playing at a Florida beach were rescued from the sea and airlifted to a hospital with neck injuries. The 12-year-old sisters, who are conjoined at the head, were playing in the waters of Playalinda Beach, when one of them was injured, Brevard County Fire Rescue, told the Orlando Sentinel. The incident occurred on the Kennedy Space Center's property Sunday evening. Twin sisters, 12, who are conjoined at the head, were playing in the waters of Playalinda Beach (pictured), when one of them was injured, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue. It's believed the twins may have suffered a possible cervical injury to the neck and are being checked Brevard County Fire Rescue spokesman Don Walker told the Sentinel that it 'appears they were just playing in the water when this happened'. Authorities received a call about a 'water emergency' around 6.30pm, Brevard County Fire Chief Mark Schollmeyer told Florida Today. It's believed the twins may have suffered a possible cervical injury to the neck and are being checked. The twins, who were both conscious and alert when they were rescued and airlifted to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where they are recovering. Before the twins were transported there was a concern that because of their conjoinment, the helicopter would not be able to take them to the hospital. Authorities said the family of the victims were from out of state. Two former Temple University police officers are facing murder charges in the slaying of a woman in Philadelphia. Court records say 47-year-old Aaron Wright and 41-year-old Marquis Robinson were charged Saturday with murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse in the death of a 24-year-old woman last week. Reports say that the unnamed woman was Wright's girlfriend. Scroll down for video Aaron Wright, left, and Marquis Robinson, right, were arrested over the weekend in connection to the murder of Wright's 24-year-old girlfriend The two former Temple University cops were arrested after the 24-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia Friday morning Police were initially called to the woman's house on the 4600 block of Greene Street around 10.40am Friday morning over reports of gunshots. Police found the dead woman inside the house, though contrary to prior reports - they say she was not shot. Wright was arrested at the scene. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports police have said it's a domestic case. A Temple spokesman says Wright resigned in 2012 but didn't disclose why he quit the force. The woman was allegedly former Temple University police officer Aaron Wright's girlfriend The university says Robinson was on officer until Sunday, when he was fired because of the charges. Court records didn't list attorneys for the men. A Muslim woman has shared the touching story of a Jewish man who approached her in a bookstore to deliver a message of compassion. Leena Al-Arian, of Greater Boston, had taken her two daughters, 4 and 1 year old, to Barnes and Noble when a man named Lenny approached them on Thursday. Al-Arian had taken the two little girls to meet characters from the Paw Patrol cartoon - but instead the family received a heartfelt apology and a moving message from Lenny. He began by telling Al-Arian how beautiful her daughters were, then 'conveyed a heartfelt apology for the general anti-Muslim sentiment in our society today,' the mother wrote on Facebook. Leena Al-Arian, of Greater Boston, had taken her two daughters, 4 and 1, to Barnes and Noble when a man named Lenny (pictured with the family) approached them on Thursday to deliver a message of compassion Her post has received 8,300 likes and reactions so far and has been shared 2,687 times. Lenny had tears in his eyes as he told Al-Arian how hard it must be for her to turn on the news, she wrote. He told her how awful he felt thinking about the 'bigotry' she and her daughters might experience, Al-Arian added. Lenny, who turned 90 on Friday, grew up with parents who didn't speak any English, and therefore said he understands what discrimination and rejection feel like. Al-Arian asked if she could give him a hug as he delivered his heartfelt message in the bookstore. 'He looked like he needed one more than me, but I guess I needed one too,' she wrote in her post. 'He wanted to reassure me that most Americans are decent people who don't hate people like me or believe what they hear on the news.' The exchange happened the day before Lenny's 90th birthday. He asked Al-Arian if he could buy her daughters presents as a gift for himself, and she asked him if they could take a picture together instead. That way, she said, she would be able to tell the story of their encounter to her daughters later on. Lenny agreed to be in the picture, but insisted on buying the girls presents anyway, Al-Arian wrote. She called the story 'our modern day chicken soup for the anti-racist soul' in her post - and finished by wishing Lenny a happy birthday. 'There's been so much hostility toward Muslims, and this hateful rhetoric has become mainstream,' she told Yahoo News in a phone interview on Friday. 'I wanted people to know that there's still goodness, kindness, compassion and love of humanity. Love trumps the politics of fear.' Al-Arian (pictured left in a selfie and right with her daughters) said in a Facebook post that Lenny had told her how awful he felt thinking of the discrimination she and the little girls might face one day Donald Trump sought on Monday to clarify comments he made a day earlier about Vladimir Putin after a firestorm of criticism landed on him for appearing not to know the Russian president had invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. 'He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down and you can put it down, you can take it anywhere you want,' Trump said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week' program. Reminded that Putin's tanks were already in Ukraine, Trump said: 'He's there in a certain way.' He said later that the Obama administration's reliance on NATO allies to keep Russia in check hadn't worked: 'With all of these strong ties to NATO, Ukraine is a mess. Crimea has been taken. Don't blame Donald Trump for that.' Scroll down for video Donald Trump generated new controversy Sunday when opponents said his comments about Russia suggested he didn't know the country had already invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea Trump sought to clarify on Monday and framed his statement in the FUTURE tense saying that Vladimir Putin won't advance into the Ukrainian interior under a Trump administration Trump was hammered most of Sunday, and he responded on Twitter Monday morning emphasizing that he was speaking in the future tense and projecting what would happen if he were elected. 'When I said in an interview that Putin is "not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down," I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea!' he tweeted. 'So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push. That's what I said!' a second defensive tweet read. Insisting a President Trump won't allow Putin to march into Ukraine while acknowledging that the Russian leader has already 'taken Crimea' suggests Trump already accepts the annexation of the eastern Ukrainian region as a done deal. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to questions on Monday about whether that's the case. Acknowledging Russia annexed Crimea while insisting Putin isn't yet in Ukraine, Trump seems to be accepting the Kremlin's claim that Crimea is now part of Russia, not part of Ukraine When he was asked on ABC whether he would support the annexation, Trump said: 'I'm going to take a look at it. But, you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.' Most of Crimea is populated with ethnic Russians. But the U.S. hasn't recognized the legitimacy of Russian referendums in Crimea and the Obama administration believes they were not conducted fairly. Trump, though, suggested the U.S. should accept Russia's annexation if it would lead to better relations with Moscow and stronger cooperation in fighting ISIS militants. Obama imposed economic sanctions against Russia for annexing the territory in Ukraine two years ago. The United Nations also doesn't want countries to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, and some top Republicans staunchly defend Crimea against what they consider Russian aggression. Trump also said he wasn't involved in the effort that softened support in the Republican Party platform on assisting Ukraine. Although the platform is not pro-Russia, Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from being added. Trump says letting Russia keep Crimea populated largely by ethnic Russians might be a smart move if it led to stronger cooperation from Moscow in fighting the ISIS terror army Trump's view runs counter to the Obama administration, which imposed economic sanctions against Russia and Vladimir Putin for annexing the territory in Ukraine two years ago In the past, Trump's campaign manager, political strategist Paul Manafort, lobbied on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, a Ukrainian president and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort has said neither he nor anyone else with the Trump campaign pushed for the platform changes. 'Hey George. You know me pretty well, I don't bow, OK? I don't bow,' Trump said during the interview. 'But if we can have a good relationship with Russia, and if Russia would help us get rid of ISIS, frankly, as far as I'm concerned you're talking about tremendous amounts of money and lives and everything else.' The Clinton campaign pointed to the exchange to question what Trump knows about the subject and argued that the Republican is repeating Putin's talking points on Crimea. 'This is scary stuff,' Clinton campaign spokesman Jake Sullivan said in a statement. 'But it shouldn't surprise us. This comes on the heels of his tacit invitation to the Russians to invade our NATO allies in Eastern Europe. 'And it's yet more proof why Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief.' The Republican nominee went on to say Putin's complimentary behavior toward him could be a good thing for the U.S. In response to other questions about U.S.-Russia relations, Trump dismissed suggestions that he has any kind of relationship with Putin, saying he has neither met Putin nor spoken on the phone with him. Asked why he had said several times in the past that he had a relationship with Putin, Trump said he doesn't know what 'having a relationship' means. 'He has said nice things about me over the years,' Trump said of Putin. 'I remember years ago, he said something, many years ago, he said something very nice about me. I said something good about him when Larry King was on. This was a long time ago.' Trump said it would be a 'great thing' if the United States got along with Russia and if Russia would help fight ISIS. Advertisement Unforgiving storms and floodwaters have killed at least two and wreaked widespread damage to homes and businesses in low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said the devastation was the worst he had seen in 50 years, surpassing even that of Hurricane Agnes which caused the river to overflow its banks in 1972. Most homes and businesses along Main Street were affected by the extreme weather and it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to repair the damage, he added. 'It looks like the set of a disaster movie,' said Kittleman. 'Cars everywhere, cars on top of cars, parts of the road are gone, many parts of the sidewalk are gone, storefronts are completely gone.' One of the two people killed was Jessica Watsula, 35, who was simply visiting from Pennsylvania with her family. She died after the car she was riding in was swept away by the raging floodwaters and carried into the Patapsco River, police confirmed. Baltimore County police, who recovered the victims' bodies on the opposite side of the Patapsco, identified Joseph Blevins, 38, of Windsor Mill, Maryland as the other victim. Scroll down for video A submerged car is pictured in the Patapsco River, seen from the Howard County side of Patapsco Valley State Park after the sidewalk caved in due to Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Maryland Workers gather by street damage following the flooding in the town. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said Vehicles are piled on top of each other on Main Street. Ellicott City, about 14 miles west of Baltimore, received 6.5 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service, and most of it fell on Saturday evening between 7pm and 9 pm. Carolyn Sanchez, who lives on upper Main Street, describes the waist high water that sent cars crashing into each other, like the scene behind her on the street Police said Watsula's body was recovered at 2.20am on Sunday and Blevins' body was recovered later that morning at 8.30am. Authorities said Watsula and her family members were trying to drive away from the floodwaters on Saturday when their vehicle was swept away. Her relatives were able to get out of the car but Watsula could not make it to safety. Earlier on Saturday, she had dropped off her 10-year-old daughter at her brother's house and made her way two hours to Ellicott City from Pennsylvania where she was to spend an evening having dinner and painting with her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law, according to The Baltimore Sun. As the she and her in-laws left an Italian restaurant in the historic district, their car caught got swept away in the raging floodwaters, her brother Curtis Brubaker Jr told The Baltimore Sun. Watsula's in-laws were able to escape from the car and clung onto a telephone pole as waist-high floodwaters washed over them. However, Watsula was not able to get out of the car and died in the flood. Blevins, whose family could not be reached for comment, was with his girlfriend when their vehicle was caught in the floodwaters, according to The Baltimore Sun. His girlfriend climbed out and was rescued but Blevins was swept away. Following the death of his sister, Brubaker told The Baltimore Sun it is 'going to be a rough loss.' A group of rescuers formed a human chain in Maryland to help a woman trapped in her car escape the flood Several people joined hands to get closer to the trapped woman as her car was pulled by violent flooding that destroyed Ellicott City The woman, who has not been identified, at first tried to steer her car into safety but was pulled by the rushing waters He described his sister as having an unforgettable laugh and said she was outgoing, full of life and was an 'all-around sweet girl with a big heart.' Brubaker, who said Watsula and her daughter were inseparable, explained she worked a job in retail because the hours allowed her time to spend with her daughter. Watsula, who grew up with two older sisters and her older brother in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, loved to dance, hike camp and roast s'mores with her daughter, according to The Baltimore Sun. Her family said she was active in her church, Living Waters Chapel, and that she loved animals, having four of her own. She enjoyed listening to both country and Christian music, loved summer and the ocean, and was described as a considerate sister, daughter, mother and friend who gave unique gifts for birthday and holidays. One of her favorite movies was The Little Mermaid and she had died her hair red just last week, texting a picture to Brubaker to show him. His wife, Christina Brubaker, who sustained cuts and bruises requiring stitches, said Watsula 'was really easy to get along with, a great aunt and a great mom,' according to The Baltimore Sun. Ellicott City, about 14 miles west of Baltimore, received 6.5 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service, and most of it fell on Saturday evening between 7pm and 9pm. Videos posted on social media showed floodwaters rushing down the town's Main Street, which slopes toward the river, and sweeping away cars. Some vehicles came to rest on top of each other. In one dramatic piece of footage, several people can be seen forming a human chain to rescue a woman from a car that was being swept down the street. The woman thought she wouldn't make it, but she managed to jump out of her car window and was picked up by one of the rescuers One rescuer fell while trying to reach the car and was pulled by the flood. He managed to stay up and reached the car In the a video posted by local business owner, Sarah Arditti, a woman is almost swept away by the fast flowing water as she tries to drive through the deluge. 'Get out, get out,' one person screams to her off-camera. At least four people are then seen linking hands as they desperately edge closer to the stranded driver. 'You're not going to make it!' one of the rescuers tells her. 'I can't get out,' she replies, trying to climb out of her car's window. 'You have to,' another rescuer responds. The man at the end closest to the car is briefly pulled by the water, but manages to hang on to the car. He helps the woman out of the car and carries her in his arms, before they are both pulled back to safety. Sara Arditti's husband, Dave, shot stunning footage of the rescue while he used his other hand to hold on to the human chain. 'Dave was at the top of the human chain holding the next man's hand and filming with the other,' said Arditti, who shared the video on her Facebook page. 'The man who got washed away was incredibly lucky,' she said of the rescuer closest to the car. Arditti's business, Still Life Gallery, was also affected by the flood waters. Entire sidewalks were wiped away after six inches of rain fell in just three hours in low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland Workers gather by the sidewalk of Main Street that caved in after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City A statement from the office of Gov. Larry Hogan said the storms caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure in central Maryland The hill in front of the A.M.E. Baptist Church is seen washed away in the overnight flash flood that hit Main Street in Ellicott City Workers stabilize a building on Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to the overnight floodin 'Our basement frameshop is destroyed,' she wrote on Facebook. County officials said at a news conference that up to five buildings had been completely destroyed and up to 30 more had significant damage. Fire and rescue crews rescued 120 people during the flooding and more than 170 inoperable vehicles were stranded in the Main Street area and along the river. Gov. Larry Hogan toured the damaged area on Sunday along with Kittleman and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who has an office in the town. Hogan declared a state of emergency, which will allow greater aid coordination and assistance. 'No one has ever seen devastation like this in Ellicott City or anywhere in Howard County,' Kittleman said. 'There are a lot of businesses that are going to be hurting for a long time. There are a lot of people that lost their apartments and their homes.' Johnny Breidenbach, the owner and chef of Johnny's Bistro on Main, said he closed his restaurant around 7.30 Saturday night, before the worst of the flooding, and he had not been able to get back there to assess the damage. 'They told me that the door was totally ripped away from the hinges, and I don't know how much water I have inside,' Breidenbach told The AP by phone. A state of emergency was declared in Ellicott City after major flooding destroyed much of its downtown area Scores of businesses were destroyed during the severe flooding in downtown historic Ellicott City The woman's car is seen, still in the middle of the road, following her dramatic rescue during the flood One official said the flooding in Ellicott City was worse than that from Hurricane Agnes in 1972 The heavy rain was part of a system of thunderstorms that moved through the region 'It's just a matter of the heavy rain being that long in duration. It just happened to set up over that area,' Elliott said. With so much rainfall, there was nowhere for it to go other than the street. 'Everything funneled toward that Main Street area. There's hills on both sides, the river's on the third side,' Elliott said. 'In this case the Patapsco River was coming up, too. We believe there's some contributions to the flood from both directions.' Ellicott City was established in 1772 as a mill town along the Patapsco, and many 18th and 19th-Century buildings were still intact before Saturday's floods. Once a home to mill workers, in recent decades it has become known for restaurants, art galleries, antique shops and nightlife. Main Street slopes dramatically toward the river and has long been susceptible to flooding. The county courthouse and government headquarters are located in Ellicott City but are on higher ground. Emergency workers in flooded areas were also dealing with a water main break and a natural gas leak A flash flood warning was issued for much of the region, but the ensuing destruction wasn't what anyone was expecting This satellite image shows a stationary front over the Northeast. Along it is a developing storm and is spreading a rain shield for New England He said Ellicott City would recover eventually, but some business owners may not be able to wait long enough to reopen. 'I could be one of those people,' he said. Jason Elliott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, said the town was hit by a series of strong thunderstorms that dumped heavy rain over a two-hour period. Jessica Alba lead the tribute to victims of gun violence in an emotional speech at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday. Alba walked onstage with family members of the victims of recent gun violence that has rocked the US. She delivered a speech about the tragedy of gun violence and told the audience and millions watching that 'now more than ever we need to stop, feel and ask what's going on'. Actress Jessica Alba lead the tribute to victims of gun violence in an emotional speech at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday. Alba walked onstage with family members of the victims of recent gun violence that has rocked the US Alba (left) delivered a speech about the tragedy of gun violence and told the audience and millions watching that 'now more than ever we need to stop, feel and ask what's going on'. Ne-Yo (right) echoed her message with a rendition of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On Family members of shooting victims stood in unity with Alba including Alton Sterling's son, victims from Orlando's Pulse nightclub mass shooting and family members from Newtown, Aurora and Dallas shooting tragedies. 'A few weeks ago Cameron's world was turned upside down when he learned his father, Alton Sterling, was killed while selling CDs out of a store in Baton Rogue,' Alba said. Each family member introduced themselves as Alba spoke about the people they lost and urged the audience to take a stand against gun violence. 'JT was just like you, until he lost his 6-year-old little brother, Jesse Lewis, one of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown,' Alba said. Three siblings who lost their brother during the Orlando nightclub shooting also stood before the audience. 'They stand here now without their brother, Jason Josaphat, one of the 49 innocent people taken from us in the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting,' Alba said. An emotional Alba continued to address the audience pleading for them to take a stand against gun violence. 'Tonight we stand together with these teens, united in a call for peace and an end to this violence,' Alba said. Ne-Yo also paid tribute to the victims of gun violence after Alba's speech with a rendition of Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On'. Family members of shooting victims stood in unity with Alba and Ne-Yo including Alton Sterling's son, victims from Orlando's Pulse nightclub mass shooting and teen family members from tragedies including Newtown, Aurora and Dallas Alba introduced each loved one and spoke about the people they lost, before urging the teen audience to take a stand against gun violence A photo slideshow of recent shooting victims played behind him. After Ne-Yo's performance Alba again asked the audience to think about the lives of the young people on stage who were affected by gun violence. 'These teens had the courage to come here and share their grief and tonight all of us here need to do the same,' Alba said. 'We need to come together as one,' Ne-Yo said. 'If you feel as we do that we have to do better, we need you all to stand up right now and take out your phones. 'Take a picture of these courageous teens asking for the violence to stop and then post with the hashtag #StopTheViolence.' Immediately following the tributes, the hashtag #StopTheViolence swept the web. After Ne-Yo's performance Alba was brought to tears and asked the audience to think about the lives of the young people on stage who were affected by the gun violence. Alton Sterling's son was one of many victims of gun violence to take the stage with Alba and Ne-Yo Immediately following the tributes, the hashtag #StopTheViolence swept the web A Twitter user applauded the tribute calling it a 'great message' A suicidal man convicted of using his car to murder two people has appealed the verdict on the grounds he was too drunk to be guilty of the crime. Michael Frank Knowles, 38, was convicted of murder after he deliberately caused a head-on collision on the Lincoln Highway, near Whyalla, northwest of Adelaide, in December 2014. Knowles was jailed for life for the murder of 24-year-olds James Moore and Natasha 'Tash' Turnbull, who both died instantly. Michael Frank Knowles (pictured) killed two people when after he deliberately caused a head-on collision on the Lincoln Highway in 2014. He is now appealing his conviction on the grounds he was too drunk to commit murder Knowles crashed his vehicle into another car in 2014, killing James Stephen Moore (left) and Natasha Turnbull right Prosecutors successfully argued that Knowles was attempting to kill himself, as he had threatened to do on social media. Prior to the crash, he posted: 'The pain ends now.' But the Court of Criminal Appeal has granted him leave to contest his convictions, his lawyer arguing that the collision was not deliberate. 'The defence case was always that there was a reasonable possibility that the collision was not deliberate,' Greg Mead SC said, according to News Corp. 'If he was intoxicated, he did not realise the consequences of his actions and would not be guilty of murder.' Ms Turnbull and Mr Moore died at the scene. Their two friends, Amy Jones and Jason Bristow, survived the crash, but both sustained serious injuries. The group of friends snapped a picture just hours before the collision at the water's edge of Coffin Bay, near Port Lincoln, after enjoying a barbeque and pizza and later beginning their drive home. The selfie the group took just hours before the collision. James Moore (left) and Natasha 'Tash' Turnbull (right), both 24, were killed in the head-on collision. Amy Jones and Jason Bristow (centre) were seriously injured Prosecutors successfully argued that Knowles was attempting to kill himself, as he had threatened to do on social media During the victim impact statements read out to the court earlier this year, Ms Turnbull's grieving father Kieren spoke out about his heartbreak over the deaths of his daughter and her childhood friend. 'I feel useless, lost, without direction, angry and full of vengeance... I dream of spending time with you Mr Knowles, just the two of us,' Mr Turnbull said, according to The Advertiser. 'I think of the wonderful young people that you killed or mutilated for life, and for nothing but your own selfish and narcissistic needs.' 'I hope whatever you have left as a soul, truly haunts you for the rest of your life... it haunts my days and it haunts my nights.' The court heard Knowles had set out to kill himself following a breakup and had told his ex-girlfriend, Teri Gelligan, he planned to take his own life by driving into a truck. Ms Turnbull (pictured) and Mr Moore died at the scene and their two friends Amy Jones and Jason Bristow survived the crash but both sustained serious injuries She had phoned the police over fears he would harm himself or others, after breaking up with him for his 'manipulative and childish' behaviour. At the time, Prosecutor Mark Norman said Knowles 'must have known' that driving his car into the other vehicle with sufficient force to kill himself would probably kill or seriously harm anyone in the other car. 'But despite that knowledge, and instead of choosing to drive into a tree or a rock or a brick wall or even an empty parked car, he chose to drive straight into James Moore's Pajero,' the prosecutor said. Knowles admitted causing the crash and being drunk, but disputed prosecution allegations that he was trying to take his own life. Creepy surveillance footage, pictures of her victim's bedroom and fridge as well as a list entitled 'Decision: Kill vs Knockout' have surfaced as a South Australian woman is sentenced to 12 years jail for the attempted murder of her ex-partner's new girlfriend. Amy Kasehagen, of Richmond, broke into 28-year-old Bronson Hayter's Adelaide home and tried to kill her in April last year after months of surveillance and planning. Footage obtained by 9 News shows her surveillance work in the lead up to the horrific murder attempt, as Kasehagen stakes out her victim's house, noting to herself what time the woman leaves and what she is wearing. Scroll down for video Bronson Hayter (pictured after the attack) was hit repeatedly over the head with a hammer and suffocated One note found in Kasehagen's possession, entitled 'Kill Bronson - bitch deserves it', shows a detailed plan of how she could kill her victim Kasehagen stalked Bronson Hayter (pictured before the attack), 28, extensively before enacting her plan As she walks up Ms Hayter's driveway, the 32-year-old is heard muttering to herself 'I still love him, which is stupid of me'. In a later video, Kasehagen says to herself 'Thursday night I'm assuming is when I want to do it'. Other documents tended to the Supreme Court include pictures Kasehagen had obtained of her victim's bedroom and fridge contents. She also had details about Ms Hayter's workplace, and photographs of her car and house, Adelaide Now reported. A list found in her possession showed a plan to kill the woman. The first line read 'Kill Bronson - bitch deserves it' and had the words 'hammer', 'cuff' and 'suffocate' on it. Another photo was taken of a list found at her home, which had details of how she would either kill or knock out Ms Hayter, according to 9News. If she were to knock the woman out, Kasehagen intended to 'shatter her hands' and put caustic soda in her eyes. However, when the woman went through with her final plan in April 2015, she opted for murder. Kasehagen broke into Ms Hayter's home and hid until her victim came home. She then hit her in the head, inflicting up to 10 blows with the hammer before blocking her nose using her fingers and trying to choke her with a plastic bag. A list written by Kasehagen shows she was tossing up between killing or brutally harming Ms Hayter, who was dating her former partner In the Supreme Court on Monday, Justice David Lovell said the attack was brutal, premeditated and terrifying for the victim who was forced to fight for her life. 'Whilst on the floor, you pushed her in the back and then struck at her with a hammer approximately 10 times,' Justice Lovell said. He said Kasehagen had gathered together a large amount of 'chilling' material about her victim, including the USB device which had recordings of Ms Hayter, made while she was under surveillance. The judge said the victim was extremely lucky to have escaped with her life. 'She feels she was hunted down like a rabbit in a spotlight,' Justice Lovell said. Kasehagen pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated serious criminal trespass and had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and as a 'resentful stalker'. Her psychological issues meant she had little remorse, the court heard. Justice Lovell jailed the 32-year-old for 12 years with a non-parole period of seven years. She will be eligible for release in 2022. A mother and two of her children are dead after a shooting and police are hunting for the woman's boyfriend and father of three of her children. Takeeya 'KeKe' Fulton, 39, a mother of six, was killed in her home in Miami-Dade County on Sunday morning along with her daughter, Nuckeria 'Keria' Harris, 19. Her son, Corey CJ Bishop Jr., 17, died later at a hospital, according to the Miami Herald. Family members said that Corey Bishop was asleep when he was shot. They also said that the oldest daughter, Nuckeria Harris, was shot while trying to defend her mother, according to WPLG. Another son, a twelve-year-old boy, remains in stable condition in the hospital after also being shot. A victim is taken out of a house in Miami-Dade county after a mother and her daughter were shot and killed - a 17-year-old-boy later died at the hospital and a 12-year-old boy is recovering there Police say they are searching for Antwon Lamar Fair, 32, who neighbors say was arguing with the mom just before she was shot Daughter Nuckeria Harris (pictured), 19, was reportedly killed while trying to protect her mother The Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement that officers responded shortly before 4am to reports of gun shots being fired at a home along Southwest 203rd Terrace and 115th Avenue. When they arrived, police found four people with apparent gunshot wounds. Police say they are searching for Fulton's boyfriend, and father of three of her children, Antwon Lamar Fair, 32. Family members say the two had gotten into an argument. Police and EMT workers found four people shot in the home along Southwest 203rd Terrace and 115th Avenue, two died at the scene, and another died at the hospital Relatives (above) were devastated to learn that Fulton was dead, leaving behind four young children, including a baby Three of Fulton's other children were not injured, but it is unclear if those are the children of the suspect. Police did not release the ages of the three unharmed children but one is said to be not even one year old. They were reportedly all inside of the house during the shooting, and the two older children ran to a neighbor's house for help. 'We're investigating it to the fullest,' Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Robin Pinkard told the Herald. 'It's really early in the investigation.' 'She was a good person, real quiet, good heart,' friend Evette Woodward told the outlet of the mom. And while she said that Fulton and her boyfriend argued occasionally, it was nothing that would have led her to think this kind of thing might happen. 'I was shocked, so shocked,' she said. 'Never in a million years would I have thought it would end this way.' Former Liberal MP Clement Freud, who died in 2009 aged 84, was exposed as a paedophile last month Child molesting MP Sir Clement Freud got a 17-year-old teenager he hired as a nanny pregnant before throwing her out of his house, it has been claimed. Broadcaster and former Liberal MP Freud, who died in 2009 aged 84, was exposed as a paedophile last month. Now, relatives of the teenage nanny have revealed how he got her pregnant and described how she was forced to leave his home, ending up in a home for unmarried mothers and giving the baby up for adoption. The girl was just 16 when she got the job as a live-in nanny at the Freud's home in north London in 1955, looking after Freud's eldest daughter, Nicola, one of his five children with his wife, actress Jill Flewett. The nanny, Barbara, who was originally from Essex, was left homeless when she revealed she was pregnant, prompting Freud to throw her out of his home, while her horrified parents also refused to allow her to stay with them. She was instead forced to move into a home for unmarried mothers where in 1957 she gave birth to a daughter, Christine. Later, she told an aunt who the father was. Now, one of the nanny's relatives has spoken to The Sun about the ordeal: 'He behaved abominably. 'Every time we saw his face on television you had to pinch yourself to realise what this genial and charming so-called gentleman was really like.' The relative claimed Freud initially tried to marry the teenager off and arranged for her to move to Manchester, where he said a man would look after her and the child. Instead, Barbara went to the home for unmarried mothers and gave the baby up. It is not known if Freud had raped her. She went on to marry and have two more children and died three years ago aged 74. Another of Freud's victims, Sylvia Woosley, told how he had ruined her life after sexually abusing her from the age of ten. Meanwhile Vicky Haynes, 64, who was raped as a teenager by Freud, even alerted the Madeleine McCann investigation after realising that the serial child predator had befriended Kate and Gerry McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where he had a villa. Now, relatives of the teenage nanny have revealed how Freud got her pregnant and described how she was forced to leave his home, ending up in a home for unmarried mothers and giving the baby up for adoption Another woman to come forward, Rosemary Rimmer-Clay, said Freud had lunged at her with a horrible slobbery kiss when she was 19. Mrs Rimmer-Clay, 62, had been a student at Dundee University, where Freud was the 51-year-old Rector as well as being an MP when in 1975 he invited her for coffee one evening. She agreed because he was a bit of a hero of mine. She said: Im older and wiser now but at the time I thought he just wanted to chat about university. They went to her flat and the MP and chef cooked her an omelette before lunging at her. He was all hands, she recalled. And then he gave me this horrible slobbery kiss with his tongue and, literally, I had never been kissed by anyone. And I thought it was a really horrible experience in the worst kind of way. Mrs Rowlersons account chimes with that of Nicky, a woman who called the BBCs Jeremy Vine show to tell how, when she was introduced to Freud as a trainee secretary, he startled her by whisking her to a theatre and holding her hand in the dark. It was 1979, and the married MP was a 55-year-old father of five. She was saved from being groped only because he had to rush off to a Commons vote. A man who pleaded guilty to planning a foiled Anzac Day terror plot in Melbourne, which included strapping a bomb to a kangaroo, said he was like a 'kid with a ticket to Disneyland' in the days before. Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19, revealed his excitement over the impending attack in messages to a teenage boy in the UK. 'I feel like a young kid with a ticket to Disney world cant wait ahahah. Yeh I wanna make sure I get shot too. Not b4 I take out at least 1,' the Victorian Supreme court heard according to a report in the Herald-Sun. The radicalised Melbourne teenager plotted to behead a police officer on Anzac Day after his friend Numan Haider was shot dead in 2014.. Sevdet Besim (pictured), 19, admitted to plotting to run down and behead a police officer in a terror attack on Anzac Day last year. He is reported to have told a UK teenager he felt like 'a kid with a ticket to Disneyland' in the lead-up to the planned assault Haider, 18, was shot dead outside Endeavour Hills police station after stabbing a Victoria Police officer and an Australian Federal Police officer attached to the Joint Counter Terror Team. Crown prosecutor Jeremy Rapke QC on Monday said it was the catalyst for Besim's Anzac Day plans. 'He wanted to emulate Haider,' he told the Victorian Supreme Court. 'He wanted to carry out a terrorist attack here in Melbourne and he was prepared to die.' The 19-year-old has pleaded guilty to a single terror-related charge after he planned to run over a police officer, cut off his head and go on a violent rampage that would end in his own death. In online communication with a UK teenager, he said he chose Anzac Day to 'make sure the dogs remember this as well as there fallen heros (sic)'. Besim said he was 'ready to fight these dogs on there (sic) doorstep'. 'I'd love to take out some cops. 'I was gonna meet with them then take some heads ahaha.' Besim reportedly wrote a martyr note on his Samsung phone a week before he was planning to run over and behead a policeman on Anzac Day last year Besim was arrested in counter-terrorism raids in April last year (pictured) Besim had a pledge to the leader of Islamic State on his phone and had created a 'martyrdom' note discussing his burial wishes, the court heard. The note revealed Besim was motivated by Haider's death, who was shot dead when he slashed two counter-terrorism officers in Melbourne in 2014. The note also showed he believed there was a war between Islam and the West. 'A while ago world leaders declared war on Islam and Muslims, invading our lands, dividing us into separate nations, installing puppets, killing and torturing Muslims,' Besim wrote. 'This war had always had a impact on me, however recently my brother Numan (May Allah accept him) carried out his attack, this opened my eyes up to the reality of who the enemy is. 'Since then a growing feeling within me has led me to decide to carry out my own [attack]. To establish my jihad in Australia ... and put fear into those who are enemies to Allah and his religion,' the note said. His barrister, George Georgiou SC, said the teenager was a young man 'who was unfortunately exposed to the influence of older persons who practised a more extreme form of Islam than that with which he had grown up'. It was a combination of Haider's death and this exposure to extremism that landed Besim before the court, Mr Georgiou said. 'He is a young and impressionable person,' he said. Barrister George Georgiou said Besim was 'a young and impressionable person' Besim spent time with Haider in the hours before the latter's attack on police. He has told a psychologist he remains dedicated to Islam but now rejects violent extremism. Mr Rapke said there should be more evidence on that point before Besim is sentenced over the thwarted attack. If UK authorities hadn't pounced on Besim's teenage associate - revealing the online communication about the Anzac Day plot - there was a real likelihood the attack would have happened, he said. The offence Besim pleaded guilty to - doing acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act - carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He has been in custody since April 18 last year when 200 heavily armed officers swooped on the city's southeast. Up to 25 primary school students have been left on the ground 'shaking' after ingesting a copper-based substance given to them by an older student in a sandwich bag. Paramedics were called to Deception Bay State School, north of Brisbane, about 2.20pm on Monday after students, aged 9 to 10, began vomiting and complaining of a sore stomach. Queensland Ambulance Service have confirmed that the Year 4 students ingested Mystical Fire, a substance that can be purchased from camping stores and is thrown on fire to make multi-coloured flames. Scroll down for video Up to 25 primary school students have been treated for nausea and throat burning after they ingested an unknown chemical hidden in lollies and 'fell down shaking' Queensland Ambulance Service have confirmed that the Year 4 students ingested Mystical Fire, a substance that can be purchased from camping stores and is thrown on fire to make multi-coloured flames A spokeswoman for Queensland Ambulance Service said 25 students were 'experiencing nausea and upset tummies from the ingested substance'. A parent of a ten-year-old child said the Mystical Fire looked like like 'white popping candy,' according to the Courier Mail. The child was reportedly offered the substance from an older student wearing a black hoodie and 'fell down shaking' after taking it. The school was reportedly locked down while paramedics attended to the sick children. Students who were not taken to hospital were sent home with their parents. A spokeswoman for Queensland Ambulance Service said 25 students were 'experiencing nausea and upset tummies from the ingested substance' One young student said she did not consume the 'lollies' as other children told her they felt sick after eating them Paramedics were called to Deception Bay State School, north of Brisbane, about 2.20pm on Monday after students, aged 9 to 10, began vomiting and complaining of a sore stomach A spokeswoman for Queensland Ambulance Service said 25 students at Deception Bay State School, were 'experiencing nausea from an ingested substance' The department is not required to, and has refuted any wrongdoing Border Department did not give him prior notification of visa cancellation Mr Lee has spoken about the conditions at the immigration centre Bernard Lee, 26, was taken to Yongah Hill Detention Centre last Monday An Irishman who claims to be unfairly detained at an immigration detention centre says he often only gets two 'questionable' meals a day and believes people are locked up at a massive waste of tax dollars despite wanting to leave the country. Bernard Lee, 26, was arrested by armed officers one week ago and driven from the Perth home he shares with his girlfriend to Yongah Hill Detention Centre. An application for permanent residency had been rejected and his current working visa was cancelled. But Mr Lee and his lawyer Alisdair Putt were not informed until after he was arrested, an email from the Department of Border Protection to Mr Putt shows. The department is not required to provide notice and the department has repeatedly refuted any wrongdoing. Mr Lee, a bodybuilder and tiler who has lived in Australia for seven years, has spoken about the conditions at the centre while his future remains uncertain. Irishman Bernard Lee, 26, has been detained at Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre (he is pictured with girlfriend Amal Algofiliy) A week after his arrest, Mr Lee has told Daily Mail Australia about conditions at the centre Mr Lee (pictured right inside the centre with fellow detainee Paul Davies) said many of those detained 'just want to leave' but 'are held for months or years on end at a cost of $2,500 per person each week ... wasting taxpayers' money' He told Daily Mail Australia he is fed just two 'questionable' meals a day. 'It's pretty much just curry. I had curry for lunch yesterday and curry for dinner,' Mr Lee told Daily Mail Australia. He said cereal is also left out for breakfast - which would add up to three meals a day - but 'if you're not quick, you don't get any'. Meals are served on a tray 'like prison in the movies'. Mr Lee said many of those detained 'just want to leave' but 'are held for months or years on end at a cost of $2,500 per person each week ... wasting taxpayers' money'. The 26-year-old had ironically earlier booked a flight to Europe for this Wednesday to attend his brother's wedding with his girlfriend. But he has not been allowed to leave the country on the flight and has been told he will spend up to three months in detention before he is deported. He will likely never be able to return to Australia. If he appeals, Mr Lee would need to remain in detention for several years until the long process is completed. 'There's a lot of claims in here that they intentionally drag everything out to stop you wanting to appeal,' Mr Lee told Daily Mail Australia. 'The system is just totally ruined. It doesn't work at all. 'The system, the whole system, is definitely very flawed.' The bodybuilder and full-time tiler has lived in Australia for seven years, since he was 18 'The system is just totally ruined. It doesn't work at all,' he said. 'The system, the whole system, is definitely very flawed,' Mr Lee said Mr Lee said he spends his days in detention 'walking around the yard, basically, that's it' Mr Lee (pictured right inside the centre) said he was not aware of any mental health care at the centre. And if detainees need to see a doctor, they must put in a request and only hear back between 28 and 40 hours later Mr Lee said he spends his days in detention 'walking around the yard, basically, that's it'. 'It's definitely had an impact on my mental health ... There are guys here just walking around talking to walls.' Mr Lee said he was not aware of any mental health care at the centre. And if detainees need to see a doctor, they only hear back between 28 and 40 hours after putting in a request. Daily Mail Australia has seen a copy of the reasons his visa was rejected and his visa was cancelled. Mr Lee was found to not be of good character because of previous convictions which include drink driving, driving without a licence, and obstructing police. The latter conviction relates to being forcibly removed from a music festival when he was mistaken by police for another person they had previously ejected, Mr Lee said. 'In that incident a lot of security guards jumped on me claiming I assaulted someone,' Mr Lee told Daily Mail Australia. 'I wasn't fighting, I wasn't swinging punches or anything.' Mr Lee was fined for his convictions, which he admitted to on his permanent visa application. He had not done so on inward passenger cards when arriving at the airport after holidays, apparently in error. Mr Putt said this was not uncommon for someone who had been sentenced only with fines. But he has been told he will most likely have to spend up to three months in detention before he is deported, and will likely never be able to return to Australia The most recent offence took place in 2013, and Mr Lee now rarely drinks after taking up a healthier lifestyle. Mr Putt has also taken issue with the lack of prior notification of Mr Lee's visa status. 'Why wasn't he given opportunity to leave the country rather than be taken into immigration detention?' Mr Putt said in an interview with Daily Mail Australia. Mr Lee's visa was cancelled on May 4. He was only informed on July 26 the day after he was arrested and detained. Mr Putt admitted the government was not required to send him a letter or prior warning, but said there ought to be a risk assessment because some serious offenders could 'disappear underground'. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson for the Department of Border Protection refuted claims proper process has not been followed. 'This person's visa was cancelled because he was found not to be of good character. He was issued with a notice of consideration to refuse his visa application, to which he responded. Mr Lee's visa was cancelled on May 4. He was only informed on July 26 the day after he was arrested and detained His permanent residency visa was refused and his current working visa was cancelled on grounds he was not of good character and was a risk to the community 'The Department was not satisfied his reasons met the threshold and that he continued to pose an unacceptable risk to the community so it refused that application. His other visa was then cancelled by operation of law. 'This individual has subsequently been detained while arrangements are made for his removal as soon as practicable.' The department declined to answer further questions. Most of the people at Yongah Hill are New Zealanders, and are waiting to be deported after spending years in prison. Some have breached their visa and others are asylum seekers. Mr Lee said there was a Fijian man in the centre who has been married for 19-years to an Aboriginal women. Together they have three children. 'He's been here for four-and-a-half years,' Mr Lee said. 'We've got guys in here who've been in here for seven years.' Many of those who've been in detention for long periods can't be deported until the situation in their home country changes, Mr Lee said, while the government doesn't want to release them into the Australian community. A people smuggler is detained at the centre after spending four years in prison. Mr Lee said he was told the man was paid 250 million Indonesian Rupiah (about AU$25,200) per trip people smuggling, while 'the boss would have gotten US$7,000 (about AU$9,200) for each person on the boat'. Yongah Hill Detention Centre, about 90km northeast of Perth, has been the scene of violent brawls, riots, breakouts and one case of self-immolation. Pictured: Yonga Hill Immigration Detention Centre, where Mr Lee has been detained for the past week Authorities are being asked to cull the shark before someone is attacked Local surfers said the shark had chased swimmers into shore three times A bronze whaler shark has been seen dozens of times off a Perth beach A three-metre shark that has been menacing a popular stretch of surf in Western Australia should be culled before someone is killed, local surfers say. The bronze whaler shark has lingered at Perth's Trigg Point beach for six weeks and had chased beachgoers into shore at least three times, surfers said. 'I don't particularly condone killing anything but this shark has been freaking people out in our neighbourhood for the better part of two months', surfer Glen Buckey told the West Australian. Scroll down for video A group of terrified surfers splash back to shore as the bronze whaler shark lurks nearby Mr Buckey had written to authorities asking them to kill or relocate the shark after a close call of his own last week. 'This one was going to have a go at me. This thing was making a direct play for me,' he said. Surfer Gavin Lilleyman agreed that the shark should be removed from the beach before someone was attacked. 'What does it take for someone to do something? Does it need to kill a kid? Bite a kid's leg off,' he said. It has been estimated that the bronze whaler shark is between 2.5 and 3.5 metres long A local surfer said the shark had chased people into shore at least three times in the past six weeks Western Australia's shark response unit said they would keep a tab on the beach but there was currently no evidence the dozens of sightings were linked to a single shark. 'There is no evidence that it is one single shark,' spokesman Phil Shaw told Seven News. 'It may be a number of sharks being attracted to the area due to some environmental factors.' Bronze whalers are not a particularly aggressive species of shark. A vegan restaurant is serving a halal snack pack inspired meal named after Pauline Hanson to dish some cheek at the outspoken anti-Islam politician. Soul Burger, located in Sydney's Randwick, unveiled the vegan 'Hanson's Halal' snack pack on social media over the weekend, which is available on its menu from Monday. The special snack pack includes fries, plant-based beef strips, triple cheese, holy trinity sauces - garlic, barbecue and chilli, and sprinkled with tabouli on top. Scroll down for video The Hanson's Halal vegan snack pack meal was unveiled over the weekend through social media The controversial dish contains plantbased beef strips, cheese, garlic, chilli and barbeque sauces and is topped with tabouli 'Brothers and sisters! we give you 'Hansons Halal Snackpack!' available Monday, PLEASE OBTAIN!' the fast food joint posted on its Facebook page. Owner of Soul Burger Amit Tewari said the release of the new vegan dish 'seems like we've struck some kind of nerve'. 'The reason we're doing it is to take the piss out of the 'halal hysteria' and show solidarity with the Australian Muslim community,' Mr Tawari told 9Kitchen. 'It's a way for vegetarians/vegans to defiantly eat something 'halal'meaning permissiblein the face of the outrage.' Although the creation is not officially certified, Mr Tawari said the snack pack still meets the requirements. 'It's not halal in the sense that it is literally accredited by an association. It is halal in the sense that it's simply permissible,' he said. The dish was put on the menu to mock the 'halal hysteria' endorsed by Pauline Hanson's political party's platform - which calls for companies selling food in Australia to be banned from paying for the halal certification Soul Burger played up to the controversy the new menu item caused, and told social media users they understood why people were upset, and would double the size of the dish On Monday, the diner revealed they have received backlash for its Hanson-themed food but cheekily put the criticism down to its portion size. 'We've copped quite a bit [of] criticism with the announcement of the release of our 'Hanson's Halal' snack pack and we think we understand the nature of the controversy,' the post reads. 'It was a little small... So as of today, we're doubling the size! Happy eating!' The strange case of Cambodia's 'jungle girl', believed lost in the forests for 18 years, took a new twist today when a new family came forward to say she was their long-lost daughter. Since being found naked and frightened on the edge of the jungle in northern Cambodia in 2007 the young woman has been cared for by a Cambodian village family, who said she was the daughter they lost at the age of nine. The family said her name was Rochom P'nhieng and she had disappeared while tending buffalo near the village of Un. Rochom P'ngieng, dubbed "jungle woman" by Cambodians, lies on a hammock at a village in Rattanak Kiri province Chhay Thi (ADHOC/AFP) Given up for dead, she was finally found by a team of tree-loggers, standing naked on the edge of a clearing in 2007. There were reports that she was accompanied by a long-haired naked man, but if that 'Tarzan' had ever existed he was never found. A family in Un came forward to say that the frightened woman, who could not speak, was their lost child - and they said they were able to identify her by a scar on her arm from an old knife wound accidentally sustained. But she also had wrap-around scars on her wrists, suggesting she might have been tied up for a long time. Remaining with the Cambodian family who said she was theirs, P'nhieng tried running back to the jungle on several occasions, but she was always found again before she could be swallowed up by the forest. Rochom P'ngieng, dubbed "jungle woman" by Cambodians, sits on a hammock as a Vietnamese man who claims to be her real father sits to her left Chhay Thi (ADHOC/AFP) Now a family from across the border in Vietnam has arrived in the village and said the jungle girl was their own missing daughter and they want to take her back to Vietnam. According to the Phnom Penh Post today, a man named Pel, from Vietnam's Gai Lai province, visited the Cambodian family, took a long look at the mystery woman and said her real name was Tak and she had disappeared from the Vietnam village in 2006 at the age of 23 after having a mental breakdown. Pel's story suggests the 'jungle girl' had been roaming the forests for about a year and so could not be the missing child who vanished from the Cambodian village in 1989. The Cambodian woman's purported brother, Rocham Khamphy, admitted that she bore a strong resemblance to the Vietnamese man who was claiming to be her father. 'He recognised her by a spot at the corner of her lip, a scar on her left wrist and a condition with one of her ears,' said Khamphy. 'The father looked like her.' To support the Vietnamese man's claim, he was accompanied in his visit to the village by nine relatives, who brought a handful of documents, the Post reported. The documents included P'nhieng's - or Tak's - birth details and a report about her disappearance. 'If they had no evidence, I would still recognise her as my sister,' said Khamphy. 'But they had evidence and what they said is logical, so it is all right. 'We can give her back to them. If she was not their relative, they would not have come to take her because it is not easy to raise and take care of her. She is like a child.' When MailOnline reached the Cambodian village after a two day journey from the capital, Phnom Penh, after the young woman had been found on the edge of the jungle clearing, she was unable to utter a word in any language. She sat before a bowl of rice and did not eat anything until she tipped the contents onto a mat and then began scooping it up to her mouth - an indication that she was not used to using utensils. The man claiming to be her father at the time, police officer Sal Lou, who has since died, told the Mail he had no doubt she was his daughter because of the wrist scar, her eyes and the fact that she appeared to be familiar with the layout of the modest family wooden home. Now local officials, who agree that the Vietnamese family have a strong case, are looking into making arrangements for 'Tak' to be taken back across the border. But first, settlement has to be reached following the purported brother's claim for $3,000 for looking after the young woman. And there appears to be a great deal of red tape to be cut through, Provincial Court spokesman Keo Pisoth pointing out that the case is entangled in immigration law. There is also one more mystery to be solved. The jungle girl had a younger sister - and she has been missing for 27 years. The hot air balloon owner who crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard had been arrested for drunken driving four times, been to prison twice and charged with drug offences - but was still allowed to keep his pilot's licence. Alfred 'Skip' Nichols, who had also been stripped of his motor license at least twice, 'couldn't drive a car but he could pilot a hot-air balloon,' said an attorney who represented a passenger who sued Nichols in 2013. The passenger said she was hurt when Nichols crash-landed a balloon in the St. Louis suburbs. The 49-year-old pilot pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in St. Louis County in 1990, then twice in 2002 and again in 2010, according to online court records. He was also convicted of a drug crime in 2000 and spent about a year and a half in prison before being paroled. He was returned to prison in April 2010 after his parole was revoked because of his drunken driving conviction that year. He was paroled again in January 2012. He also had a long history of customer complaints against his balloon-ride companies in Missouri and Illinois dating back to 1997. Customers reported to the Better Business Bureau that their rides would get canceled at the last minute and their fees never refunded. Scroll down for video Alfred 'Skip' Nichols (center, in a photo uploaded to Facebook last week) was listed as the owner of HOT on the Better Business Bureau website, which gave the company a D+ rating When pilots apply for a ballooning certificate with the Federal Aviation Administration, they are not required to disclose any prior drunken driving convictions, only drug convictions, said Balloon Federation of America spokesman Patrick Cannon, who called that a loophole in the law. He noted that the ballooning certificate specifically says not to include alcohol offenses involving a motor vehicle, as those are covered on the FAA's medical application. But balloon and hang-glider pilots, among others, are exempt from having to submit a medical application. Nichols got his commercial license to pilot hot-air balloons in Missouri in July 1996. That predates his 2000 felony drug conviction. His first drunken driving conviction came in 1990. All pilots are supposed to notify the FAA within 60 days of a drug or alcohol conviction. However, Cannon said there is no oversight of that reporting. The NTSB have yet to rule on what likely caused the crash or if pilot error was in any way to blame. The former girlfriend, Wendy Bartch, said Nichols 'did not fly when he wasn't supposed to. Having other people's lives at stake was Skip's primary concern.' She added that Nichols was a recovering alcoholic but had been sober for four years and never piloted a balloon drunk. 'That's the only thing I want to talk about, is that he's a great pilot,' his housemate and friend Alan Lirette said from their home in Kyle, Texas. 'There's going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too.' Nichols had lived in Missouri before moving to Texas. He was known as 'Skip' in both places and owned a hot air balloon touring company in St. Louis County at the time. There have also been complaints against Heart of Texas, according to reports. The Better Business Bureau gave it a rating of D+ and it had a Yelp rating of 1.5 stars mostly over canceled flights. The company has now suspended operations and put out a statement confirming the pilot was Nichols. 'The horrific crash near Lockhart, Texas has taken from us our owner and Chief Pilot, Skip Nichols, as well as 15 passengers, all of whom saw what was planned to be a special day turn into an unspeakable tragedy,' it said. The balloon in a photo taken by a witness shortly after take-off before it crashed Skip Nichols (pictured left, with passengers on a 2015 flight and right) has been identified as the balloon's pilot with the company Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides The scene of the fatal balloon crash can be seen from a distance above. The sheriff's office received a 911 call at 7.44am Federal investigators said the balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas early Saturday morning. The balloon fabric was found three quarters of a mile from where the basket hit the ground. NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said the balloon had plummeted to the ground after traveling for eight miles. He also said the type of balloon being used was also employed in another accident, according to NBC. There have been 60 hot air balloon crashes in the U.S. since 2011 with six causing fatalities. One witness who lives a quarter-mile from the site, Margaret Wylie, said she heard popping sounds and saw what looked 'like a fireball going up.' There were reports of foggy weather in the area around the time of the flight. Authorities have not publicly named Nichols or the other victims of the crash. They said formal identification of the bodies could be a long process. Sheriff Daniel Law said people could simply walk up and buy a ticket, making it more difficult to identify the victims. However, many have been identified by family members. Authorities said there were no survivors after the hot air balloon carrying 16 people caught fire and crashed in Texas. The scene is pictured above Investigation: The NTSB is now investigating the cause of the crash Paige Brabson, who just gave birth to her first child, bought tickets to the hot air balloon ride as a Mother's Day gift for her own mom Lorilee Brabson. A family member confirmed their deaths. Britney Reeves Hedin wrote a touching tribute on Facebook remembering Lorilee as an 'excellent example of loving kindness to all.' She also added: 'My heart is completely broken for their family. Her daughter has a very young little girl and life was just starting for them.' They shared a series of photos of themselves boarding the balloon online. Matt Rowan, a professor with the US Army Institute of Surgical Research, was also identified along with his wife Sunday Rowan, by grieving family members. The couple from San Antonio married in February. Rowan wanted to use his work to help soldiers like his Iraq veteran brother Joshua. Joshua told NBC: 'They're going to be incredibly missed. They made a difference in so many people's lives.' The couple shared two tragic photographs from the balloon with relatives. Paige Brabson (left), who just gave birth to her first child, bought tickets to the hot air balloon ride as a Mother's Day gift for her mom Lorilee Brabson (right). A family member confirmed their deaths Britney Reeves Hedin wrote a touching tribute on Facebook remembering Lorilee (left) as an 'excellent example of loving kindness to all.' She also added that life was just starting for Paige (right) Gift: Paige Brabson, who just gave birth to her first child, bought tickets to the hot air balloon ride as a Mother's Day present for her own mom Lorilee Brabson Another married couple, Tresa and Joe Owens, died in the crash on Saturday shortly after they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary, according to his sister, the Houston Chronicle reported. Joe, who would have turned 44 next month, worked as a butcher at the grocery store H-E-B, while Tresa enjoyed a long career at the TigerLand Child Care. A GoFundMe page set up in their honor stated: 'They were wonderful people who loved each other very much. Matt Rowan, a professor with the US Army Institute of Surgical Research, was also identified along with his wife Sunday Rowan, by grieving family members. The couple from San Antonio married in February The Rowans shared photos from the tragic balloon ride on social media Tragic last photo: Newlywed Matt Rowan shared this final image from inside the balloon to a Facebook group at 7.29am on Saturday 'I cannot express how great of a blessing they both were to their family and friends. They adored their children and grandchildren, and loved nothing more than spending time with them. Their friend Holly Huckabee also from Katy was another named among the dead. Ground crew members told investigators that they launched about 20 minutes after the expected 6:45 am time. The balloon traveled about 8 miles from takeoff to crash, and the basket was found about three-quarters of a mile from the balloon itself. National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered 14 personal electronic devices, including cellphones, an iPad and three cameras from the crash site, which will be sent to a lab in Washington for analysis. Advertisement This is the terrifying moment a child was spotted standing inside a zoo enclosure - just yards away from a rhino. The boy is pictured balancing on a rock next to the fence in the enclosure at Dublin Zoo in Ireland while holding the hand of a male companion. A southern white rhino can be seen facing the child a few yards away. Horrified onlookers in the African Plains area of the zoo say the youngster was in the pen for up to 20 minutes. Investigation: Pictures show a child standing on a rock next to the fence in the rhino enclosure at Dublin Zoo while holding the hand of a male companion One told the Irish Daily Mail: I didnt know the people. I only saw the man putting the child in the fence. The child didnt look scared and nobody really passed any heed on what he was doing. The child stood there for a good while and the man kept letting go of his hand and telling him to move further back to pose for a picture, she claimed. She captioned a Twitter picture of the scene with the lines: This man had the child in behind the fence for good 20 minutes. The stupidity of people needs to be pointed out. Dublin Zoo is investigating the incident, which happened on Saturday. Onlookers watched as a man, who was accompanying the boy, lifted the youngster over a wooden fence around the rhino enclosure. The man, who has not been identified, was even seen letting go of the boys hand and encouraging him to move further into the enclosure to pose for pictures for several minutes. A number of images of the incident circulated on social media. It was not known last night if any member of the public nearby. African Plains is an Africa-themed area that covers 13 hectares in Dublin Zoo and was opened in 2001. The main exhibit in African Plains is the African Savanna, which houses ostriches, scimitar-horned Oryx, white rhinoceroses, giraffes and common zebras, all of which share a large, outdoor paddock. Horrified onlookers in the African Plains area of the zoo say the youngster was in the pen for up to 20 minutes. This file picture shows previous pictures of rhinos at the zoo Dublin Zoo (pictured) is investigating the incident, which happened on Saturday. African Plains is an Africa-themed area that covers 13 hectares in Dublin Zoo and was opened in 2001 A spokesperson for Dublin Zoo said: 'The matter is being taken care of internally by Dublin Zoo. Its completely against Dublin Zoos health and safety rules but it is being looked into at the moment.' The controversy over the child in the rhino pen is the latest in a line of incidents involving youngsters getting too close to animals here and abroad. A decade ago at Dublin Zoo, a 16-year-old girl accompanied by a man scaled a two-metre fence to reach the Siberian tiger enclosure. She put her hand through the wire mesh of a third protective fence and the tiger ripped into her limb, causing significant injury. And just three years ago at the zoo, a woman and her two-year-old daughter were mauled by a tapir which attacked suddenly during a supervised close encounter experience. The girl was picked up in the 225kg animals mouth and suffered stomach and arm injuries, leading to a week-long stay in hospital. Dublin Zoo later changed its policies to stop all close encounters. In Morocco last month, a seven-year-old girl died after she was struck by a rock thrown by an elephant at Rabat Zoo. And in May this year, Harambe, a gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo in the US, was shot dead after he picked up a four-year-old child who had fallen into his enclosure. British porn star Candy Charms has revealed that she has travelled to Iran to have plastic surgery on her nose, sparking 40,000 complaints that she was allowed into the Islamic Republic. The 25-year-old adult entertainer from Essex posted a picture of herself on her Instagram account in the back of a taxi explaining she'd visited Tehran for plastic surgery. Wearing a headscarf and dark glasses, Charms described the people she met on her trip as so kind and generous. Scroll down for video British porn star Candy Charms who posted a picture of herself in the back of a cab in Tehran wearing a hijab, after visiting the country to have plastic surgery After posting the picture on Instagram, she praised the people of Tehran, but some were offended she had visited the Islamic Republic Charms, who has 117,000 followers on Twitter and regularly features in the hardcore pornography that she posts, uploaded the image of her wearing a hijab in the cab. She wrote about her flying visit to the Middle East, explaining: 'My nose was not straight and they are the best in the world in nose surgery. I had my nose done.' She added: 'Loved Tehran. The people are so kind and generous. Really overwhelmed by the whole trip. The people are amazing.' However, the news that the porn star, who has 32 LL breasts, had been visiting the country didn't go down well some. Around 40,000 Iranians posted responses, with many using crude remarks to describe the adult star and others questioning why she was allowed to even enter the Islamic country in the first place. Some 40,000 Iranians posted responses to the image in Arabic, with many using crude remarks to describe the adult star, pictured Elsewhere, some also defended Charms, stating that it was actually hard to distinguish her from other more glamorous women on Tehran's streets. The young porn star may actually just be one of many taking advantage of the country's low-cost cosmetic surgery, with a nose job in Iran around 60 per cent cheaper than it would cost in the UK. It's even been dubbed the 'nose job capital of the world' thanks to the amount of procedures that take place their every year, said to be more than in cosmetic surgery-loving Los Angeles. Charms, after seeing the criticism, removed the post but later published it again to a different Instagram account. Charms, has 117,000 followers on Twitter and regularly features in the hardcore pornography that she posts Charms trip to Iran comes as the country's vice-president said earlier this year that the country was 'preparing for a tsunami of foreign tourists. Iran and world powers have started implementing a landmark nuclear deal that will lift sanctions in return for curbs on their nuclear program. With improved relations, Iran's beaches, breathtaking Islamic architecture and incredible food could see the country be top of the 'must-visit' destinations of 2016. A landlord has changed the name of his pub to 'Pubby McPubface' after being inspired by the 'Boaty McBoatface' poll that gripped the nation. When it comes to naming a pub, tried and tested monikers like the Fox and Hounds or the Nag's Head seem like an obvious place to start - but for Peter Daniels, these seemed far too ordinary. Mr Daniels was so taken with the vote to name the new polar research vessel, eventually called RRS Sir David Attenborough, that he decided to 'have a bit of fun' himself. Landlord Peter Daniels has changed the name of his pub to 'Pubby McPubface' after being inspired by the 'Boaty McBoatface poll that gripped the nation The landlord, who runs the Newbridge Arms, in Newbridge, Wrexham, said: 'The reception has been excellent. It has caused so much of a giggle. 'We've got a lot of people stopping to take photos of the sign.' People from as far away as Lanzarote and Cyprus have 'liked' the pub's new Facebook page since Mr Daniels changed the name at the end of last month. Even the local constabulary seem to see the funny side with a policeman telling Mr Daniels' wife Alix that his colleague would have a 'right giggle' at his photo of the sign when he got back to the station, the landlord added. Mr Daniels, 54, of Cefn Mawr, came upon the idea after he decided to re-brand the pub when he took over in early June. A customer mentioned an website that listed potential names for restaurants in London, and Pubby McPubface was among them. An internet search revealed that no other pubs in the country bore the unlikely moniker. 'So I thought if we're going to be daft about it, we might as well be totally daft about it,' Mr Davies added. Pubby McPubface Mr Daniels with chef Lewis Daniels, he said he changed his pub's name for a 'bit of fun' The rebranding was also partially inspired by Boaty McBoatface, the name chosen in a poll to choose a name for the Natural Environment Research Council's new vessel. While the nautical tomofoolery was eventually unsuccessful, the pub's name change is a permanent one, although its sign says 'also known as the Newbridge Arms' in recognition of the pub's past. Mr Davies said giving the pub an unusual new name was 'thinking outside the box'. 'When you've also got the aqueduct in Fron that's painted bright yellow, you've got to stand out somehow,' he said. 'We're not trying to demonise other pubs or put them down, we decided to have a bit of fun and get people talking.' In the dock: David Briggs, 35, from Pontypridd, pictured outside court, threatened to attack his partner after she slapped him during the mid-air bust-up A father-of-four faces jail after he tried to bite his girlfriend on the face in a drunken row on a flight home from Greece. David Briggs, 35, from Pontypridd, threatened to attack his partner after she slapped him during the mid-air bust-up as they travelled back to the UK from Zante. He repeatedly told an easyJet stewardesses to 'f*** off' and told a distressed woman sat next to them: 'Shut up you f***ing bitch'. His girlfriend Samantha Davies and the other woman were so frightened they asked to be moved away from the labourer, who was downing his duty free alcohol. The pilot of the easyJet flight from Zante radioed ahead for police who met it when it landed at Bristol Airport and arrested Briggs. The offence was in breach of a two-year suspended jail sentence imposed at Cardiff Crown Court which also gave him an alcohol treatment order. Magistrates yesterday heard how Briggs and his girlfriend started rowing shortly after the afternoon flight took off from Zante on July 13. Cabin crew asked what was wrong and Briggs, of Pontypridd, Wales, replied: 'Leave me alone, f*** off.' Prosecuting, Lucy Coleman said they continued rowing and added: 'The defendant's partner had slapped him around the face and the defendant was being abusive back. 'The defendant was leaning over and trying to bite the cheek of his girlfriend. 'When told to stop, he said "whatever, f*** off". One woman became increasingly distressed and asked to move seats and Briggs told her: 'Shut up, you f****** bitch.' Ms Coleman continued: 'An hour later, the defendant's partner also asked to be moved seats and was moved to another part of the plane. 'The defendant was found drinking alcohol. The defendant was clearly drunk..' The court heard that Briggs had been drinking before he got on the plane and had also taken his own duty-free booze onboard. Abuse: David Briggs, pictured with his girlfriend Samantha Davies, now faces jail for a drunken attack on a three-hour easyJet flight on July 13 Staff told him to stop drinking his alcohol as it was against company policy. Briggs caused more disruption by wandering around the plane after it landed, despite being told to sit down. The plane was not diverted or delayed during its three hour journey. The case comes as aviation minister Tariq Ahmad announced on Friday he wants a crack down on airport boozing. He pleaded guilty to being drunk on board an aircraft but denied trying to bite his girlfriend's cheek and ignoring staff telling him to sit down. Defending, Nigel Yeo said: 'He is deeply ashamed of his behaviour and would like to apologise to the flight attendants and other passengers given the chance. 'It seems airports are keen to ply people with alcohol. 'He also asked if he could bring his own alcohol on board and was told there would be no difficulty with that.' Fall out: The pilot of the easyJet flight from Zante (pictured) radioed ahead for police who met it when it landed at Bristol Airport and arrested Briggs Chairman of the Bench Bryan Nutter said: 'All too frequently these days we are hearing stories of people behaving inappropriately on planes. 'There are a number of people who are anxious on planes and I suspect behaviour like yours puts people in distress because they can't deal with it. 'It seems more and more people want to get drunk on a plane. It's behaviour that's got to stop. 'Your children can't be too proud of you.' Speaking at the hearing, Briggs, whose four children are aged between seven and 15, said: 'I am ashamed of my behaviour.' Betsy is accused of murdering her daughter-in-law Jenna Wall in Atlanta A Georgia grandmother accused of killing her daughter-in-law searched on the internet for information about wrongful death lawsuits and family murder-suicides before the alleged crime, police told a court. Elizabeth 'Betsy' Wall, 63, has been charged over the fatal shooting of her son's estranged wife Jenna Wall, 35, a kindergarten teacher, inside her home in Powder Springs, northwest Atlanta, on June 23. During a probably cause hearing, Cobb County Detective Shawn Murphy reportedly told the court that investigators had discovered a history of web searches by the elder Wall before the alleged murder. Betsy Wall is accused of shooting Jenna Wall, a teacher, four times 'We did a search warrant on Elizabeth Wall's cell phone and in her web searches on April 19th she has researched several articles regarding killing their family and themselves,' Mr Murphy said, according to a report by WXIA-TV 'We did a search warrant on Elizabeth Wall's cell phone and in her web searches on April 19th she has researched several articles regarding killing their family and themselves,' Mr Murphy said, 'She researched wrongful death lawsuits on that day as well and also the prior day.' Later on April 19, Mr Murphy added, she went out and bought the gun later used in the killing. Police have said Jenna Wall, a kindergarten teacher, was attempt to divorce her husband and was embroiled in dispute with him about custody of their two sons, aged 7 and 8 years old. The New York Daily News reports that Betsy Wall's attorney Jimmy Berry told the court had received treatment at a mental health facility for several weeks before the killing, The scene of Jenna Wall's death on June 23 in northwest Atlanta, Georgia The paper reported that Mr Berry did not seek bond for her from Cobb County jail, where she had been incarcerated without bond since her arrest. Mr Murphy had said Betsy Wall admitted she killed Jenna but wouldn't tell investigators why - instead saying: 'Just let me die. Leave me alone, just let me die.' Betsy Wall has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, two counts of cruelty to children and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. This is the sickening moment ISIS thugs maimed a 'thief' for life by chopping off his hand with a cleaver while a baying crowd watched on. The man was blindfolded and dragged to a square in the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa in Syria before being forced in to a seat while his arm was held to a wooden table. Gruesome pictures show a balaclava-wearing jihadi positioning a cleaver on the man's wrist and preparing to strike down on the weapon with a large metal bar. Sickening pictures show the moment ISIS thugs maimed a 'thief' for life by chopping off his hand with a cleaver while a crowd watched on The man was dragged to a square in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria before being forced in to a seat while his arm was held to a wooden table. Seconds later, another man rushes in to bandage the alleged thief's arm Seconds later, another man rushes in to bandage the alleged thief's arm. A large crowd had gathered to watch the brutal punishment. It is not the first time ISIS have carried out a public amputations. Similar pictures emerged of a man having his hand chopped off in early June in another Syrian city. In February, a man had his hand hacked off in Raqqa in what was described as the 'implementation of the punishment of a thief from Raqqa city'. Cutting off the right hand as a punishment for theft is a strict interpretation of Sharia law, carried out by ISIS, Saudi Arabia and Iran. It comes as ISIS, losing territory and on the retreat in Iraq and Syria, claimed credit for a surge in global attacks this summer, most of them in France and Germany. The wave of attacks followed a call to strike against the West during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in June and July, in an apparent shift in strategy by the jihadist group, which has been hammered by two years of U.S.-led coalition air strikes and ground advances by local forces. Seconds later, another man rushes in to bandage the alleged thief's arm. A large crowd had gathered to watch the brutal punishment Instead of urging supporters to travel to its self-proclaimed caliphate, it encouraged them to act locally using any means available. 'If the tyrants close the door of migration in your faces, then open the door of jihad in theirs and turn their actions against them,' said an audio clip purportedly from spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, referring to Western governments' efforts to keep foreign fighters from travelling to the join the group. In the last 18 months, the group has been pushed off a quarter of the lands it seized in Iraq and Syria in 2014, research firm IHS said this month; other estimates put losses closer to half. Iraqi authorities have pledged to retake Mosul - the largest city still under the group's control - later this year, but the militants will likely maintain safe havens in remote desert areas and revert to more traditional insurgent techniques. An Australian family facing deportation from the UK say they are 'hopeful' that they will be afforded an 11th hour reprieve as the deadline for them to meet visa requirements expires. Kathryn and Gregg Brain moved to Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands from Australia with their son Lachlan, now seven, in 2011 on Mrs Brain's student visa. However, a two-year post-study visa scheme then on offer was later withdrawn by the government, and the family have until midnight tonight to secure an extension that would allow them to stay. They say they have racked up a five-figure debt in their fight with the Home Office, and if they are not allowed to remain, they will be left 'homeless, jobless and significantly in debt'. Kathryn and Gregg Brain, and their son Lachlan, are facing deportation from the UK, and have until midnight tonight to secure an extension that would allow them to stay Mrs Brain has spent months searching for a job that meets visa requirements, and Mr Brain said today that the family were feeling positive that a suitable employer could be found - despite the tight deadline. He said the family has had to move four times in recent months after their landlord accused them of 'criminal activity' despite being legally entitled to live in the UK until their visa expires, and the prospect of deportation has made him physically sick. He BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that he has been 'throwing up' since early on Monday morning. He said: 'We've had correspondence from Robert Goodwill, the current Immigration Minister, who has been quite approachable and solution oriented and we're hoping there will be some flexibility. 'Obviously what we are still wanting is for the UK Government to honour the promise it made to us six years ago when we committed to coming over here, selling our house, selling up just about everything that we owned and investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in the local economy.' He added: 'We were evicted from our house in Dingwall by our landlord who said he didn't want to be part of our criminal activity, even though we still had leave to remain at that point. The couple, pictured giving evidence to members of the Home Affairs Select Committee, are hopeful that they will be able to stay in Scotland WHY ARE THE BRAINS FACING DEPORTATION? Gregg and Kathryn Brain moved to the UK legally in 2011, under a Government scheme designed to encourage people to move to the Scottish Highlands and settle in rural areas. Mr Brain and his son came to Scotland as dependants of Mrs Brain, who was on a student visa at a time when a two-year post-study visa was in existence, while she took a university course in Scottish history. Mr Brain found full-time work in a legal office and his wife had a job at an estate agency. However, in March 2011, just three months before the Brain family arrived in Scotland, this scheme was abolished. According to Mr Brain, the family had applied and been accepted for the scheme in 2010, and did not become aware of the changes to the rules until 2012. The couple were then told they were no longer allowed to work. The Home Office also seized their passports and warned their bank accounts could be frozen. Mr Brain says their lack of funds meant they would automatically fail a visa requirement for families to show 945 in 'maintenance funds' for each family member. In order to stay, Mrs Brain has to find a job which meets tougher Tier Two visa requirements, with a minimum salary threshold of 20,800. Advertisement 'We're living under our fourth roof in as many months, provided by friends and members of our church congregation.' He continued: 'It's not that there is anything that we don't like about Australia, we certainly love the place, but we would be going back homeless, jobless and significantly in debt having racked up a five-figure sum in our dealings with the Home Office to date. 'So, even if we were to get a letter the day we arrived saying "all is forgiven, here's your visa, you can come back", it would be the best part of ten years of paying off the debts before we could even consider returning.' He said the post-study work visa was 'retroactively cancelled' after they moved to Dingwall. 'To add insult to injury, we found our late last night that this post-study work visa, which we are told doesn't exist any more and can't be given to us, has this week been introduced for some prestigious English universities,' he added. The Home Office has dismissed Mr Brain's claim that the post-study work visa had been reintroduced for some universities.On July 25, the Home Office launched a 'carefully targeted pilot scheme' for universities to attract top international students and remain competitive. The two-year pilot will simplify the visa application process for Masters students, and grant them an additional six months leave to remain after the end of the course to find a graduate job under Tier 2 visa rules. Mrs Brain must secure a job in order for the family to stay, but a potential post at a local distillery fell through because it did not meet the necessary visa specifications. Kathryn and Gregg Brain, pictured with their son Lachlan, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and MSP Kate Forbes, who have backed their fight to stay in the UK Mrs Brain said: 'We don't know what will happen after midnight tonight. 'Certainly today, we are just hoping and praying that an employer will come forward to start the process with another visa application.' Mr Brain said: 'There is a cost in terms of applying for the employer sponsor licence and the sponsorship certificate. 'There is probably also, I would suggest, legal costs to get a specialist to make sure that gets done correctly. 'You're probably looking at somewhere in the region of 2,000 to 2,500.' Actor Tom Conti said he would provide money to the Brain family to ensure they maintain a minimum balance in their bank account in order to meet visa requirements, as he compared the Home Office's actions to the Soviet Union. He told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme: 'If you're not allowed to work, how do you maintain a minimum balance? If that would help - I remember the figure 3,000 was mentioned, they have to have that - I would happily give them that if it would help. 'But the Home Office has to really behave properly and not do things that we'd expect of the Soviet Union or Iran and move the goalposts when people have moved their families in good faith.' The couple will not be instantly deported at the stroke of midnight, but will instead be expected to arrange their own departure from Britain. A spokesman from the Home Office said assistance would be offered to someone in these circumstances if required, but said he could not comment on the family's case, or what might happen if someone refused to leave. Mr Brain said earlier today: 'At this stage we are still very much hoping that an employer will come forward and we'll be able to continue moving towards a tier two visa application. 'Of course, what I'd really like is for the Home Office to give us what they promised when we moved here in the first place - a two-year visa with the right to work. 'We have fulfilled our end of the bargain and we still very much want the Home Office to fulfil theirs. 'But failing being dealt with honourably by the UK Government, what I would like is for an employer to come forward and take Kathryn on to enable us to get a permit and be able to stay on in Scotland.' The Brain family sold their home in Australia and moved across the word after being enticed by a 40 million 'homecoming' PR campaign by the Scottish government, as well as the promise of a post-study work visa. The government announced the discontinuation of the visa scheme in March 2011, three months before the Brain family arrived in Scotland. Mr Brain said they applied and been accepted for the scheme in 2010, and did not become aware of the changes to the rules until two years later, shortly before they came into effect. The Brain family sold their home in Australia and moved across the word after being enticed by a 40 million 'homecoming' PR campaign by the Scottish government, as well as the promise of a post-study work visa. Their son Lachlan is now taught in Gaelic and they say his education will suffer if they are forced to move A day before they were due to be deported on May 31 this year, then immigration minister James Brokenshire gave the family leave to remain in the country until August 1 after they argued that Lachlan's Gaelic education would suffer. His successor Mr Goodwill has said he would be willing to look at extending this if a concrete job offer was made, Mr Brain said. Mrs Brain has been trying to secure work which meets tier two visa requirements, including a minimum salary threshold of 20,800. The family have never received a penny in state handouts. The owner of a large employer in the Highlands is understood to be keen to help the Brains but time looks to have run out. Mr Brain said: 'We spent 10 years trying to plan to get here in the first place - it's been a dream of ours since years before Lachlan was born. 'It's not something we can put aside lightly. 'It's the injustice of it, the thousands of students who were robbed when this deal was retro-actively torn up. 'I just cannot accept this, I want the UK Government to give us what they promised us when they enticed us to sell our homes and bring that equity to the UK. 'Neither one of us have been allowed to work since mid-March and we have been living on the charity of friends, the church and strangers.' Mr Brain said the family had been 'stunned' by the response to their plight, with people sending cheques to their local MP to help support them. THE BRAINS' SCOTTISH HOME... The family settled in Dingwall, near Inverness in Ross-shire. Population: 5,491 Education: The Brains' seven-year-old son, Lachlan, is schooled entirely in Gaelic. Foundations: In 2013, archaeologists revealed that Dingwall was likely to have been the location of a medieval Norse parliament. Experts believe Thorfinn the Mighty, a powerful Viking earl who died in 1065, laid the foundations of what would later become the royal burgh of Dingwall. Natural beauty: The Scottish Highlands boast stunning lochs and mountain ranges. Britain's highest peak, Ben Nevis, is just a two-hour drive from Dingwall. Dingwall, near Inverness in Ross-shire Advertisement A reclusive Islamic cleric accused by Turkish president Recep Erdogan of orchestrating a failed military coup in the country has described the uprising as 'like a Hollywood movie'. Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in voluntary exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania since the late 1990s, was initially an ally of Erdogan but the pair fell out over a massive corruption scandal in 2013 that cost the country $100billion. After a military coup last month, Erdogan believes his former ally - now sworn enemy - was the mastermind behind the failed bid to topple his government and has called on President Obama to arrest and extradite him. Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in voluntary exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania since the late 1990s, who says the failed military coup looked like a 'Hollywood movie' Early this morning, the Turkish government rounded up more military commandos they accused of taking part in the failed coup Turkish gendarmeries escort one of the 11 fugitive commandos accused of being involved in the Turkish coup, into a police station But Gulen has strenuously denied the allegations, even suggesting that Erdogan himself could have staged the coup in an attempt to crackdown on critics. And in a new interview with CNN, Gulen has again hinted he thought the failed coup was fake. He said: 'Some people staged a scenario, then someone who is seemingly a fan, has led some people into this. 'It looks more like a Hollywood movie than a military coup. It seems something like a staged scenario. It is understood from what is seen they they prepared the ground to realise what they have already planned.' in a new interview with CNN , Gulen, who trained as a imam has again hinted he thought the failed coup was fake When asked by the interviewer if Erdogan may have planned the coup, Gulen said she considered the claims 'slander'. However, he added: 'I would submit myself to God before I make such an accusation, knowing I am accountable to God.' Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999 and promotes the moderate Hizmet Islamic movement that advocates democracy and secular institutions. Trained as an imam, Gulen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago, promoting a philosophy that blended a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. Supporters known as the loosely organized group Hizmet, meaning 'service', started 1,000 schools in more than 100 countries, including about 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools throughout the US. Supporters of President Erdogan wave flags to show solidarity for the Turkish leader following the failed coup Since the attempted July 15 power grab, Erdogan's government has launched a huge crackdown, detaining almost 19,000 people and sparking international concern In Turkey, they have run universities, hospitals, charities, a bank and a large media empire with newspapers and radio and TV stations. Critics, however, are skeptical of the group's widespread control and allegations have been made accusing Hizmet of trying to indoctrinate students into Gulen's movement. Since the attempted July 15 power grab, Erdogan's government has launched a huge crackdown, detaining almost 19,000 people and sparking international concern. Ratcheting up its clampdown on the military, Ankara on Sunday dismissed nearly 1,400 military personnel, including a top aide to Erdogan, and confirmed it would close military schools and academies. Erdogan, pictured, has also said he will bring the country's spy agency and military chief of staff directly under his control Erdogan has also said he will bring the country's spy agency and military chief of staff directly under his control. Meanwhile, Turkey's state-run news agency said authorities had captured 11 fugitive commandos suspected of being part of a group of soldiers who raided the president's seaside hotel during the failed coup. Anadolu Agency says the 11 were captured early on Monday near the Aegean resort of Marmaris, bringing the number of suspects caught in the operation that began late Sunday to 11. One suspect is still on the run. Pontiff was questioned on his flight back from pilgrimage in Poland He said that 'every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group' Pope Francis has said he will not label Islam as 'terrorism' because it would be unfair and warned Europe was pushing its young into the hands of extremists. The pontiff was asked by reporters why he never mentions Islam when condemning terrorism or violence. 'It's not true and it's not correct (to say) Islam is terrorism,' he said, defending his decision not to name the religion when condemning the brutal murder of a Catholic priest in France in the latest of a string of recent attacks in Europe claimed by the Islamic State group. Scroll down for video Defender: The pontiff was asked by reporters why he never mentions Islam when condemning terrorism or violence and went on to say that it was unfair on the countless peaceful Muilims The pontiff was on a pilgrimage to Poland, and made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the 'devastating wave' of terrorism in many part of the world. He was pressed by reporters on the papal flight from Poland on the subject of Islamic terror, and Francis replied that 'it's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true.' He added: 'I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group.' 'I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law. 'And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence.' Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: 'I know how they think, they are looking for peace.' As for the Islamic State group, he said it 'presents itself with a violent identity card, but that's not Islam.' Warning: The Pope also warned that Europe was pushing its young into the hands of extremists Pope Francis dropped in at World Youth Day 2016 where he warned today's technology had its dangers, chastising 'drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa', and urging them to get out and live life rather than spending it glued to their smartphones. The 'world is at war', Francis said, but the way to 'overcome fear' was to welcome people fleeing conflicts and persecution - a message with particular resonance in Poland, which has taken a hard line against refugees. On Saturday he prayed for God to rid the world of the 'devastating wave of terrorism'. A man has died and two others have been injured after their small watercraft hit a marker buoy off the coast of Miami on Sunday. The vessel slammed into the channel marker near Picnic Island at about 4.30pm, just south of the Julia Tuttle Causeway and Miami Fire Rescue attended the scene. Jorge Rizo, 25, who was identified as the driver, was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, but later died. A man, Jorge Rizo (pictured), has died and two others have been injured after their small watercraft hit a marker buoy off the coast of Miami on Sunday His girlfriend and another woman who were being pulled by the craft, were also taken to hospital, where one remains in a stable condition. Lorenzo Veloz, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman, said: 'They were going in circles at a high rate of speed, and after about four or five circles or loops, as they're called, they didn't realize where they were and they hit a channel marker.' 'When you are out on the water having fun it is not something you expect to happen,' he added. Rizo, who owned a barbershop, hit his head on the marker, according to investigators, and onlookers attempted to administer CPR. When paramedics arrived they found a pulse, but he later died while at the Ryder Trauma Center, part of the Jackson Hospital System. The vessel slammed into a channel marker near Picnic Island at about 4.30pm just south of the Julia Tuttle Causeway (pictured) and Miami Fire Rescue attended the scene Rizo's cousin, Jorge Soto, told 7News outside the hospital: 'When they told me that my cousin died, I couldn't believe it. 'I thought, when I came here, that he had hit himself and that he was still alive, that he was still in a coma, but I didn't know he was actually dead.' Marlin Fajardo, a friend of Rizo's girlfriend, said: 'She's devastated. We're going to go see her right now and see what we can do.' It is unclear whether alcohol or drugs played a part in the accident, and the FWC are continuing to investigate the crash. Samantha Cameron's 'Girl Friday' Isabel Spearman was paid a 60,000 taxpayer-funded salary to style her hair, buy in her wardrobe and even pack her suitcases. And now in return Ms Spearman, 37, a family friend, is set to be awarded an OBE by David Cameron for her diary and fashion services to his wife while working in Downing Street. The former PR executive, who is married to the stepson of the late 2nd Lord Oaksey, was Mrs Camerons most trusted aide between 2010 and 2015. Known as 'Bells' to the Camerons, her 60,000 salary for a four day week at a time of austerity cuts across Britain was hugely controversial. Sources claimed Mrs Cameron also brought her in because she mistrusted her husband's PR man Andy Coulson and told him 'to get lost' when he tried to tell her what to wear in public. Close: Samantha Cameron pictured with her 'Girl Friday' Isabel Spearman at a London Hashio Week event, who is set to be awarded an OBE for her work in Downing Street Fashionista: Isabel, who is called 'Bells' by the Camerons, pictured in Downing Street, was first 'borrowed' by Mrs Cameron from her mother Lady Astor before joining as a No.10 staffer in 2010 Team: David Cameron's spokesman Andy Coulson, pictured leaving Downing Street after his resignation. Mrs Cameron was said to be so hostile to him she brought in Isabel Spearman to handle her affairs and cut Coulson out completely after he tried to advise her on clothes Ms Spearman came in and ran Mrs Cameron's diary, however, a key part of her role was to make sure Sam Cameron was dressed fashionably, but not outrageously expensively. Friends: Isabel, pictured left with Mrs Cameron at a Burberry event in 2011, is set to continue to work with Samantha, who is soon to launch her own fashion brand Isabel moved the Prime Minister's wife away from her favoured Philip Lim and Prada dresses to more reasonable, and quintessentially British high street designers, like Hobbs and Marks & Spencer. Ms Spearman didn't get free clothes for her boss, but is understood to have access to discounted rates of around 20 per cent off with stores such as M&S. She also helped Sam to prepare her outfits for big events - accompanying her on fittings and giving honest advice on whether an outfit was flattering. Isabel herself became well known for her fashionable outfits as she marched down Downing Street for work or at appearances at society parties, or fashion shows, often at Mrs Cameron's side. She became friendly with Samantha through family connections after working with her mother and a sibling. The former high-flying PR executive for handbag designer and Tory funder Anya Hindmarsh joined the inner circle while working for the designer in New York where she became close to Sam's half sister, jewellery designer Flora Astor. When Isabel left the company because she wanted to return to London, she started working for Oka, the fashionable furnishing chain owned by Viscountess Astor - Samantha's mother. Lady Astor then began 'lending Bells out' to her daughter to assist with her wardrobe - and then in 2010 she was put in post as a Downing Street special adviser. Key role: Isabel Spearman was a former PR executive for handbag designer Anya Hindmarch - whose role with Mrs Cameron was to run her diary and pulling together outfits for public events The well-connected Isabel became renowned for being ruthlessly organised and helped Mrs Cameron organise her diary, assist with her image and plan events like drinks parties. Rumours: Mrs Cameron was said to be so hostile to Coulson that she brought in a Isabel Spearman to handle her affairs and cut Coulson out completely, especially after the former News of the World man told her how to dress on a couple of occasions She was said to have regarded packing for official trips as a military operation. Outfits were planned weeks in advance and dry-cleaned. She then rolled everything up for packing to stop creases and used tissue paper to keep silk and chiffon in perfect condition. As well as being in charge of fielding applications from charities and dealing with mail, she was in charge of Sam's diary and sat with David Cameron's team in Downing Street to ensure their diaries matched. The friends were also seen at fashion events together, and photographed at catwalk events including at London Fashion Week. Despite David Cameron's exit from Downing Street it is not the end of Isabel's long relationship with his wife. Isabel, 37, is set to help Mrs Cameron launch her own fashion label. She confirmed to the Mail earlier this year the project was under way and indicated the label had already been given a name. Samanthas sister Emily Sheffield, the deputy editor of UK Vogue, will also be in a strong position to help advise on the labels first collection, which some predict could come as early as next year. In 2011 Isabel married Mark Crocker a computer tycoon and the stepson of the late racehorse breeder Lord Oaksey, who died in 2012. Mr Crocker, a close friend of Jemma Kidd and an investor in her make-up business, was one of Tatler's most eligible bachelors before he proposed to her. Husband: In 2011 Isabel married Mark Crocker, right, a computer tycoon and the stepson of the late racehorse breeder Lord Oaksey, who died in 2012 The couple have children together. Some have claimed that Isabel was brought into Downing Street, in part, as a buffer between Mrs Cameron and her husband's director of communications Andy Coulson. Coulson, once editor of the News of the World, eventually left in shame because of the hacking scandal. The Mail reported in 2011 that Samantha had urged the prime minister to distance himself from the Murdoch empire. A shrewd operator, Mrs Cameron is also said to have pleaded with her husband to end contact with the so-called Chipping Norton set and, in particular, News International chief Rebekah Brooks. Mrs Cameron, a successful businesswoman, was also dubious about Andy Coulson, with whom she clashed repeatedly after he entered Downing Street as her husbands director of communications. In fact, Mrs Cameron was said to be so hostile to Coulson that she brought in a Isabel Spearman to handle her affairs and cut Coulson out completely. Coulson told her that everything she did had to go through him. He even tried to tell her what to wear a couple of times, said one Downing Street insider said in 2011. Sam would tell him to get lost'. A drunk woman went on a furious rampage through a convenience store where she threw stock on the ground and allegedly racially abused staff. The suspect, described by police as a 'large' black woman in her twenties, became angry when shop workers at the Fresh Go in Bethnal Green, east London, said she was too drunk too be served. CCTV footage of the incident saw the woman launching a tirade at the Asian staff members. This woman is accused of racially assaulting Asian shop workers when they refused to sell her alcohol at the Fresh Go in Bethnal Green, east London After swearing and shouting alleged racial abuse, the woman blocked the door preventing customers entering and leaving the store and demanded to be served spirits. When staff still to refused her booze, she continued to verbally abuse the employees and threw stock at them as they were taking a delivery, wrecking the carefully-stacked pallets before walking off. The suspect is described as a large built black woman in her mid 20s, 5ft 5ins tall wearing a grey t-shirt, black trousers, white trainers and a chequered shawl. She had black shoulder length hair and wore black rimmed glasses. Police are keen to hear from anyone who may recognise or witness the woman shown on CCTV. Pictured, the furious woman smashes a palette of soft drinks onto the ground during her furious rampage A baby was heard screaming inside the house where the fight broke out A woman was slashed across the arm as she intervened to break it up It is believed the man was stabbed with a Stanley knife during a fight They found a 29-year-old man with multiple stab wounds in his back Police were called to a triple stabbing in Booval, Queensland, on Monday A baby cried helplessly during a violent fight which ended with a man getting stabbed repeatedly in the back and a woman slashed with a Stanley knife. The fight broke out around 12pm on Monday when a 40-year-old man carrying a stanley knife stormed into a house in Booval, Queensland, a repeatedly stabbed another man, 29. Witnesses said a screaming child could be heard inside the Clifton Street house as police arrived to defuse the bloody altercation, the Queensland Times reported. A 29-year-old man was stabbed in the back with a Stanley knife during a violent altercation. Witnesses heard a baby inside the house where the stabbing took place It is understood the 40-year-old man stabbed the younger man three times in the back and arms. The woman was slashed across her arm as she intervened to break up the fight. A witness heard a man screaming in pain after the stabbing and found blood pouring out of his back when he arrived to help. The witness told the Courier Mail: 'I heard these screams for help and didn't think that sounded good so I came out here and I saw this guy. 'I thought he was wearing a Broncos two-piece but when I got closer I realised what it was. 'There was blood pouring everywhere so I ran inside and got a couple of towels to stop the bleeding.' Police were called to the house on Clifton Street (pictured) in Booval, Queensland, around 12.30pm with reports of a triple stabbing The 29-year-old stabbing victim was taken to Princess Alexandria Hospital with multiple stab wounds in his arm and back The 29-year-old man was rushed to Princess Alexandria Hospital in a serious condition. The 40-year-old was taken to Ipswich Hospital with minor injuries and the woman was treated at the scene. It is believed the two men were known to each other. Police rushed to the scene of the fight after initially receiving reports of a triple stabbing. They said: 'A male received several stab wounds to the back and he also received some stab wounds to his arms. Maggie Barrett was tricked into thinking Stephen Medd was a wealthy war hero. But he took 16,000 from her after proposing A fantasist posed as a wealthy Falklands War hero to steal more than 16,000 from his unsuspecting partner, a court has heard. Stephen Medd took divorcee Maggie Barrett, 68, for expensive dinners and weekend breaks using her credit cards without her knowledge. Medd, 60, lied about serving as a senior officer in the Marines Special Forces and claimed to have a shrapnel injury caused from an explosion during the Falklands War. A court heard Ms Barrett gave up her job as a NHS admin worker after Medd proposed, telling her he wanted to support her financially had a house for their retirement in Jersey. But Ms Barrett discovered he had racked up 16,340 on her credit cards - which have now risen to 20,000 with interest. Police are now hunting Medd, of Ashby, Leicestershire, after a judge issued an arrest warrant when he failed to attend Leicester Crown Court for sentencing last Thursday. He had previously pleaded guilty at Loughborough Magistrates' Court to fraudulently using three of Ms Barrett's credit cards between December 2013 and March 2015. The court heard Medd targeted Ms Barrett, a divorced grandmother, after moving into her home in Coalville, Leicestershire, as a temporary lodger. In a victim impact statement, she said: 'In the four years we lived together he gave me false hopes and dreams, becoming my lover in a very short time, giving me the impression of being wealthy. 'He proposed within five weeks asking me to become his wife. I had no idea he was using my credit cards to maintain his extravagance.' Ms Barrett, pictured with her sister Christine Robb, has compared Medd to Walter Mitty He also told Ms Barrett he was going to fly their friends and relatives to an 'exotic' mystery wedding location. He claimed he was arranging her hen party at a hotel in Birmingham that did not exist Medd backed up his lies about being a Falklands hero with fake phone calls to ex-colleagues. Ms Barrett added: 'He also pretended he was talking to wedding planners, wanting to keep as a surprise for me an exotic destination for our wedding.' Ms Barrett said she later found out from Medd's sister that he had never been in the Royal Marines. She asked him to leave her three-bedroom semi-detached home where he was living rent-free. Ms Barrett told the court: 'After a few weeks he still hadn't found alternative accommodation, in that time he convinced me that he'd never deceive or lie to me again and would be receiving psychiatric treatment to come to terms with why he fantasised. 'I was once again sucked into his make-believe world. During the time I was with this man he prevented me many times from having proper contact with family and friends through his lies and manipulation of my life.' The court heard Medd moved in with Ms Barrett but lied to her that he had a home in Jersey The court heard Ms Barrett confronted Medd after she caught him using her credit card when she was visiting her daughter in Australia. She said: 'Stephen promised me that if I kept up the minimum payment to the credit card companies he would pay all the debt off in November 2014, saying he was due to receive a large lump sum. 'I finally came the conclusion he was never going to honour his promises.' Speaking outside court, she compared Medd to Walter Mitty, the fantasist character in James Thurber's 1939 short story. She added: 'He would have cleaned me out if I hadn't woken up to his clever manipulation of my mind. 'It was a dream that turned into a nightmare. It was, in his words after his arrest, fairy tales. Muhiddin Mire has been jailed for life for an ISIS-inspired knife attack in Leytonstone Underground station A schizophrenic knifeman has been jailed for life after going on an ISIS-inspired rampage at a Tube station. Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year. The 30-year-old was today ordered to serve a minimum eight and a half years behind bars and he will only be released if he can convince a parole board he is no longer a danger to society. He will start his sentence at Broadmoor secure hospital. It emerged today that Mire previously believed he was possessed by Islamic spirits called 'jinns' and was sent to see various imams for exorcisms. The ceremonies involved the holy men reading verses from the Koran to him to try to rid him of the spirits. But the exorcisms failed to stop Mire's decent into paranoia and, last December, he grabbed fellow Tube passenger Lyle Zimmerman, 56, and tried to behead the musician. In the aftermath of the attack, an onlooker shouted at him: 'You ain't no Muslim, bruv', after Mire declared he was going to 'spill blood' for his 'Syrian brothers'. He had images of Fusilier Lee Rigby and British ISIS executioner Jihadi John on his mobile phone, along with material linked to the terror group. He has a history of mental illness and psychosis, including the paranoid belief that he was being persecuted for his religion and stalked by MI5 and MI6. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said that while he accepted Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he was also of the opinion he had been motivated by events in Syria. He continued: 'In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here. 'That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause.' CCTV images from Leytonstone tube station showed Mire's shocking knife rampage Judge Hilliard added that Mire's 'brazen' actions were carried out in order to advance a 'religious and extremist cause'. 'This was an attempt to to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact,' he said. Flanked by several dock officers and wearing a blue tracksuit top, Mire stared ahead as he was sentenced. KNIFEMAN WAS TAKEN TO IMANS TO EXORCISE 'JINNS' Muhiddin Mire's brother took him to a number of Muslim imams who read to him from the Koran in an attempt to exorcise Islamic spirits known as 'jinns', It can be disclosed today. Around 2010, he started to believe he was possessed by Islamic spirits called 'jinns' and, in collaboration with his brother, went to see various imams for exorcism. The exorcisms involved imams of various types reading to the patient various verses from the Koran. Mire said he received relief from his symptoms but when he got the feeling he was getting possessed by jinns or spirits again, he again sought out the services of imams. His family's account is that he got 'a little bit better, a little bit worse,' typical of someone with chronic mental illness but that deteriorated steeply towards the end of 2014. Advertisement Mr Zimmerman said he was 'fortunate' to have received prompt first aid treatment at the scene from a passing junior doctor. In a statement read during a pre-sentence hearing, he said he was 'quite lucky' to have survived. 'I have been left with a scar on my neck which I am aware of only because it pulls when I use my voice but is otherwise superficial and healing well,' he said. 'I am somewhat more cautious about interacting with strangers since the attack - overall I have not been significantly traumatised by the attack psychologically,' he added. Mire had been able to live and independent life and to hold down a job as an Uber minicab driver until four months before the attacks in December last year. He had mental health problems dating back ten years, when he was sectioned because he thought he was receiving instructions from Allah. But he stopped taking his medication soon afterwards and believed the exorcism treatment was working. Nevertheless, his family became increasingly desperate, twice taking him to the accident and emergency department at a local hospital and twice calling the police. They eventually booked him on a flight back to Somalia to see his mother, but Muhiddin's obsession with ISIS took over. He went to see his GP but it took two weeks to refer him to a mental health unit and he launched his attack before he could be seen by a specialist. Muhiddin Mire had a history of paranoia and thought people were monitoring his thoughts Mire became radicalised by reading extremist material in the build-up to the attempted killing Dr Shaun Bhattacherjee, a consultant psychiatrist treating Mire at Broadmoor Hospital, told the court Mire was 'clearly mentally ill at the time of the events' and poses a 'very severe' risk to the public. Cannabis use made a 'significant' contribution to what was 'probably' a case of paranoid schizophrenia, according to consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph. He also suggested that although Mire's state of psychosis might have had an influence on the decision to carry out the stabbing, the link was not definite. The attack has echoes of the Woolwich killing and both Mire and Michael Adebowale, one of the Woolwich killers who also had severe mental health problems, are now inmates at Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital. The benefits-claiming Somali who made a list of 'five things to remember in battle' after watching ISIS videos on his phone The ISIS fanatic in the back of a prison van Mire came to Britain aged 12 and passed four GCSEs at grade B. After leaving school he worked as a steward and a security guard before becoming a cab driver but had spent large periods receiving state benefits. He has a previous conviction for money laundering after receiving 2,500 in stolen funds into his bank account by BACS transfer in November 2004. He was sentenced to 40 hours community service after pleading guilty to dishonestly retaining wrongful credit. In late February 2006, Mire was admitted to St Anne's Hospital under section two of the Mental Health Act in what is thought to have been his first psychotic episode. He was exhibiting disordered thought and delusions of a 'religious, grandiose and paranoid' nature. Mire apparently thought Allah controlled his thoughts and Tony Blair, the former prime minister, was his 'guiding angel.' He was seeing men as women and women as men and was given anti-psychotic medication, leaving the hospital on March 17. He continued to be treated as an out-patient for the next three years until he was discharged back to the care of his GP in 2009. However, on November 4 2015, his GP referred him to the mental health 'access team' because he was suffering from 'paranoid delusions' that people from MI5 and MI6 were following him all the time and watching and listening to what he was saying. Mire lived in a chaotic flat not far from where the attack took place The doctor said Mire thought people were recording his activities and his thoughts. He said Mire felt 'very depressed and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks' and had stopped working as a minicab driver because of the delusions. Mire neither drank nor smoked but said he had used cannabis when he was 16, although he no longer did so. After his arrest Mire was said to have shown 'paranoid behaviour, anxiety agitation and low mood' by the visiting mental health team at Leyton police station. He was washing his face in the toilet in his cell and said to be showing 'vague and odd behaviour' and was judged to be unfit to be interviewed. The jihadist made a list of five things to 'keep in mind in battle' At Mire's messy flat there was a mattress of the floor and a Matalan and Primark bags scattered around. There were a handful of books including an Arabic course, a copy of the Koran and a special edition of Milestones by the Egyptian Islamist Syed Qutb which advocates the return of sharia law. In a notebook at his flat, Mire had handwritten a list 'Keep these five things in battle' which read: 'Steadfast (stand firm); remember Allah; obey Allah and his messenger, avoid dispute; patients [sic].' It finished with: 'Keep these 5 things, will definitely win war against the kuffars [non-believers].' Using his Samsung S4 mobile phone, Mire was researching online for ISIS two days before he launched his attack, searching for ISIS videos on Youtube and for Islamic State. The previous month he was looking for 'Islam vs West' and 'Islam vs Crusade' and in October he searched for the 'Caliphate' His interest in ISIS dated back to at least May when he looked for 'Islamic State Caliphate scares the West' for 'Rise of Caliphate' and 'Islam world domination.' Among the images found on Mire's phone were pictures of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and Salah Abdeslam, the co-ordinator behind the Paris attacks, as well as John Cantlie, the ISIS hostage, and Abu Izzadeen the British-based radical preacher. Throughout November, he conducted numerous searches for topics around the subject of ISIS, including: 'Jihadis post images of children with knives in support of Israel stabbings' and 'What if the Islamic State won?' A CCTV image shows Mire attacking his victim Mr Zimmerman in the station concourse However just four months before the attacks he was searching for Manchester United player Anthony Martial, Aston Villa v Manchester United and 'Manchester United playing style.' He had an interest in the Mayweather vs Pacquiao boxing match and for boxers Amir Khan and Tyson Fury as well as 'Kelly Brook fights highlight.' His other searches included 'top Somali footballers', 'Ronaldo vs Athletic Madrid' and for matches including AC Milan vs Inter Milan and Valencia vs Barcelona, as well as 'footytube.' He had also looked for 'Uber low prize [sic] charge suck for drivers' and for 'Badoo meet new people', a reference to a dating website based in Soho, London. Mire told them he had selected his target at random and used a knife that he had at home and that no one else was involved. Former bikie Lionel Patea, charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, has been accused of pouring boiling water over a convicted paedophile in prison. Court proceedings of his accused murder have been postponed three weeks while prosecutors organise a medical officer to examine the inmate he allegedly assaulted, The Age reported. The alleged incident took place inside Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, a high-security jail for males ordered to be held in custody while they await trial south of Brisbane. Former bikie Lionel Patea (left), charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend (right), has been accused of pouring boiling water over a convicted paedophile in prison Patea, 24, is in custody charged with murdering his former partner Tara Brown (pictured) Patea, 24, is in custody charged with murdering his former partner Tara Brown. CCTV footage, medical notes and a statement from the inmate was reviewed, Brisbane magistrates Court heard on Monday. The former Bandidos member remained in jail while his charge of causing grievous bodily harm was mentioned in court. Campbell MacCallum, his lawyer, confirmed his client has been accused of pouring boiling water on the paedophile prisoner, the publication reported. Acting as an agent for Moloney MacCallum Lawyers in Mr Patea's defence, Xanthe Larcombe-Weate told the court her client was waiting for Legal Aid representation. She asked for an adjournment of two-weeks. The alleged incident took place inside Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre (pictured), a high-security jail for males ordered to be held in custody while they await trial south of Brisbane Police allege Patea (centre) ran Ms Brown's (right) car off the road on a suburban Gold Coast street on September 8, moments after she had dropped their 3-year-old daughter (left) off at daycare But the prosecutors wanted three weeks to arrange a Forensic Medical Officer to examine the victim. Patea was placed in the male high-security correctional centre in September last year, after police charged him with the murder of Ms Brown. Police allege Patea ran Ms Brown's car off the road on a suburban Gold Coast street on September 8, moments after she had dropped their 3-year-old daughter off at daycare. France is set to demand 2.5billion in compensation if Mrs May, pictured with French president Francois Hollande last month, pulls the plug on Hinckley Point France is set to demand 2.5billion in compensation if delays to the Hinkley Point nuclear power project turn into outright cancellation, it emerged today. Theresa May shocked investors at the French-state owned EDF by pausing the project last week hours after the firm's board made its final commitment to the 18billion plant. The new Prime Minister is said to want to review the project amid concerns about Chinese investment in Britain's national infrastructure. Mrs May made the decision shortly after talks with French President Francois Hollande in Paris. China has urged Britain to press ahead with the deal, which is set to be one third funded by the country's state nuclear agency. The demand for compensation comes amid claims George Osborne, who struck the deal as Chancellor during the coalition government, rejected plans to protect national security from the Chinese involvement. Mrs May is due to make a final decision over whether to go ahead with the project in the autumn. A source told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche: 'They would have to support the extra costs in case the negotiations are prolonged and the funds committed by EDF to prepare the site.' A six month delay to the project would add hundreds of millions of pounds to the 2.5billion spent by EDF at the site. French economy minister Emmanuel Macron has insisted he believes Mrs May will go ahead with the project. He said: 'Their nuclear power stations must be renewed in 2025. I don't think they will change their mind because their energy equation has not changed.' China has urged Britain to press ahead with the power station, which would be around one third owned by China General Nuclear Power Corp. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said they had 'noted' the decision of Mrs May to review the project. She said: 'I would like to stress that this project was agreed upon by China, Britain and France in the spirit of mutual benefit and cooperation, and win-win cooperation, and has always had the strong support of Britain and France.' China 'hopes that Britain can reach a decision as soon as possible, to ensure the project's smooth implementation', she added, without elaborating. 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. But China's official Xinhua news agency, in an English-language commentary, took a stronger line. The new nuclear power plant is currently budgeted at 18billion and is due to power six million homes by 2025 if it is built on schedule While China understood and respected Britain's requirement for more time to think about the deal, China would not tolerate 'unwanted accusations' about its investments in Britain, a country that cannot risk driving away other Chinese investors as it looks for post-Brexit trade deals. 'What China cannot understand is the 'suspicious approach' that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement,' it said. The project would create thousands of jobs and generate much needed energy following the closure of coal-fired power plants, Xinhua added, dismissing fears China would put 'back-doors' into the project. 'For a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out,' it said. 'If history offers any guide, many China-targeted suspicions have been boiled down to diffidence and distortion. 'China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but can not tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation.' Former Liberal Democrat energy secretary Sir Ed Davey said Mr Osborne had rejected moves to retain for the UK government a 'special share' in the project. Sir Ed, who was involved in the negotiations on the project, told the Daily Telegraph: 'Concerns on Chinese involvement didn't stand up to scrutiny last time round, but if the Treasury had adopted my proposal for a special share we could have included extra safeguards. 'But Osborne rejected it without explanation.' of difficult intersections will begin in Los Angeles and expand to other cities globally as needs are identified by the Waze community A car dashcam has filmed extraordinary footage of a motorist driving into a gunfight in Boston after being directed to the route by traffic navigation smartphone app Waze. In a video titled 'Waze Brings Us to a Gunfight in Boston' posted to LiveLeak, a man and a woman are seen driving through a neighborhood in the Massachusetts city when gun shots start ringing out. About 10 shots can be heard as several people begin running towards their vehicle. People run away from the area where gunshots were fire in the Boston neighborhood Woman: 'S***!' Man: 'Holy f***!' Woman: 'F******! F***! F***k! Call 911.... Oh my god, don't tell... Oh my god! What the f***!' The LiveLeak user, jizziemoe, posted the video to the site yesterday. 'We called 911 and gave the video to investigators,' the user wrote. 'I don't believe there were any injuries.' The incident has emerged only weeks after the Wazer app announced it would help drivers avoid routes that require turns at 'difficult intersections'. The company said it was also toying with the idea of sending notifications if motorists were headed for a high-crime area. However, the crime alert function was planned to launch in Brazil at a later date after a murder there when a couple were directed to a tourist area which turned out to be a slum where one was shot. The motorists entered the street in Boston and then heard about 10 gunshots ring out Waze announced it will help drivers avoid routes that require turns at 'difficult intersections' and is toying with the idea of sending notifications if you are headed for a high-crime area. Drivers will be prompted to take another route, but the firms says it will add this new feature will add a few extra minutes Waze has coined the term 'difficult intersections' as a way to explain making left turns on busy streets with no stop signs or lights - but now drivers will be prompted to take another route. WHAT ARE THE NEW FEATURES? Waze has coined the term 'difficult intersections' as a way to explain making left turns on busy streets were there are no stop signs or lights. But now drivers will be prompted to take another route, but the firms says it will add this new feature will add a few extra minutes here and there and not every 'difficult intersection' can always be avoided. Waze is allow its users to disable this safety feature if they would rather take their chances. The features is also set to launch in New Orleans, Boston and Washington DC sometime this year Although deemed controversial, this news is less than a year after a couple using the smartphone GPS app followed directions to what they though was a touristy avenue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. But the neighborhood ended up being one of the city's notorious slum areas Regina Mrumura, 70, was shot and killed while traveling with her husband. This feature could launch before the Summer Olympics, and as of yet, there is not new for when it will or if it will hit the US. Advertisement The firm says this new feature will add a few extra minutes here and there and not every 'difficult intersection' can always be avoided, but it will be much safer. Waze had made this feature an option and users can disable it if they would rather save time and take their chances. This setting will launch in just Los Angeles, which has one of the largest communities using the app about 10 percent of LA drivers use the service. 'LADOT applauds Waze for introducing this feature to improve safety on the streets of Los Angeles, LADOT general manager Seleta Reynolds told Gizmodo. 'Vision Zero demands creativity in all our approaches to traffic safety, and technology plays an ever-increasing role in how people chose to get around.' The new safety feature is also set to launch in New Orleans, Boston and Washington DC sometime this year. 'This feature will help guide Angelenos to safer, less stressful routes.' The second service in the announcement was meant to help Wazers avoid areas that are reported to have high-crime rates and would first launch in Brazil. Although deemed controversial, this news is less than a year after a couple using the smartphone GPS app followed directions to what they though was a touristy avenue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. But the neighborhood ended up being one of the city's notorious slum areas Regina Mrumura, 70, was shot and killed while traveling with her husband. Waze has coined the term 'difficult intersections', but now drivers will be prompted to take another route - this is only available in Los Angeles at the moment. The second service in today's announcement is meant to help Wazers avoid areas that are reported to have high-crime rates and would first launch in Brazil 'We're working with the government, we're working with local community groups who are able to identify which neighborhoods have safety issues,' Waze head of brand Julie Mossler told CBS News. This feature could launch before the Summer Olympics, and as of yet, there is not new for when it will or if it will hit the US. Waze is the brainchild of Waze Mobile, an Israel startup, which was acquired by Google in 2013 and is currently used by more than 50 million people. Elias Hussain Mahmud, 22, knocked his victim to the ground from behind, threatened to kill her and raped her twice, in broad daylight Mahmud was born in Ethiopia and entered the UK as an illegal immigrant An illegal immigrant raped a terrified woman on her morning commute to work. Elias Hussain Mahmud, 22, knocked his victim to the ground from behind, threatened to kill her and raped her twice, in broad daylight. Mahmud was born in Ethiopia and entered the UK as an illegal immigrant last year and was granted leave to remain in the country until 2020. However, months after he was granted asylum, Mahmud attacked the lone woman as she made her morning walk to her office. The woman, who cannot be named, is now said to be too scared to leave her own home ever since the attack in April. Swansea Crown Court heard the asylum-seeker knocked her over from behind as the pair struggled on the ground. Mahmud overpowered his victim and raped her twice as she lay pinned down to the pavement in Swansea city centre. He then ran off, but was was arrested just 45 minutes later after police received calls about a man acting suspiciously in a nearby residential area. Mahmud, from Mount Pleasant, Swansea, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by penetration, two counts of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making a threat to kill when he appeared in court. He was jailed for 12 years. Detective Chief Inspector Esyr Jones said after the sentencing: 'This was a very serious incident which understandably caused a lot of public concern. 'A lone female was walking to work when she was assaulted and raped in terrifying circumstances. 'This incident has had a life-changing impact on the victim and our thoughts first and foremost are with her. 'Stranger attacks, such as this one, are rare in Swansea but when they do occur we have specialist officers to thoroughly investigate these crimes and with independent partner agencies are able to provide support and care to victims.' The feisty feline feud between the pets of Westminster continues to rage as the cats clashed in another violent showdown. Downing Street is no stranger to seeing egos battle it out for supremacy, but usually with a war of words than of claws and teeth. However, in recent weeks the epicentre of British politics has played host to running battles between Larry the Downing Street cat and his arch-nemesis Palmerston, who belongs to staff at the Foreign Office. Scroll down for video Cat clash: Larry the Downing Street cat was seen clashing with his arch-nemesis Palmerston in Westminster today Feline feud: Palmerston bares his teeth and goes to swipe Larry with their claws during their latest fight Brutal: Black cat Palmerston looked to get the better of his Westminster rival during the latest violent chapter of their on-going saga Larry was seen exchanging vicious blows with Palmerston on the steps outside No10 during the latest bout in their ongoing war today. The scuffle saw Larry, a brown and white tabby, suffer a bite to the face as his acrobatic rival leapt into action, with Palmerston following his rapid attack with a swiping paw to the face. Such was the ferocity of the clash that Larry lost his purple collar in the process, with Palmerston suffering a number of deep scratches from his Westminster rival. Larry was also seen thrown on his back during the clash as Palmerston ended the bout on top. It is not known if either of the cats suffered injuries in their clash - but it is certainly not the first time they've come to blows. Last week a scrap turned vicious when the territorial Foreign Office moggy attacked Larry as he tried to enter the grounds of the department. Mere days later mischievous Palmerston - named after the former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister - took the opportunity to try and sneak past the famous door of Number 10 and into the new home of Theresa May. Vicious: Agile Palmerston leaps up to strike Larry who counters by arching up onto his hind legs and swiping Power play: Larry finds himself on his back as Palmerston takes control of the bout, before the Number 10 moggy attempts to bite into his rival Face off: Palmerston and Larry stare each other down after a violent clash leaves tufts of fur on the pavement However, the black and white cat was spotted by a security guard who quickly grabbed him and unceremoniously dumped him outside on the pavement. Palmerston then came face to face with Larry again and the pair had a small stand-off before he padded back home to ponder his next move. This is not the first time Larry has been involved in feline skirmishes and he has a history of troubled relations with his neighbours. Westminster war: A collarless Larry steadies himself as the pair battle it out during their brutal encounter Grapple: The feline pair are locked in battle as they wrestle next to Larry's broken collar on the pavement Ripped: Larry's broken collar lays strewn on the ground after his clash with Palmerston outside Number 10 Battle scars: Palmerston is left with two nasty scratches on his back after going head-to-head with his rival The so-called 'chief mouser', entrusted with the rat-catching portfolio, had a full-scale fight with the silver tabby from No 11 Freya, outside the Prime Minister's front door in October 2012. The two learned to co-exist, but Freya was eventually exiled to the Kent countryside to live with a member of Mr Osborne's staff in 2014. Larry, who arrived at Number 10 in 2010, also took a vicious swipe at television reporter Lucy Manning in his first few days in Downing Street. Rivals: Larry and Palmerston have a stare off under the watchful eye of a police officer outside Number 10 earlier this month Territorial: Larry had a vicious fight with Freya, the No11 cat, in 2012 outside the Prime Minister's house Covert cat: An eagle eyed security guard spotted Palmerston as he tried to sneak into Number10 during a mission last week - the feline was quickly removed from the premises Following David Cameron's resignation he issued a picture of him stroking Larry to prove his love for the cat. He said: 'Sadly I can't take Larry with me, he belongs to the house and the staff love him very much - as do I.' After taking office, Theresa May confirmed Larry would be staying at No10. Advertisement A Russian military helicopter has been shot down by rebels in Syria killing all five people on board, it has been revealed. The aircraft, carrying three crew and two officers, crashed down in the Idlib province in north western Syria on its way home to a Russian airbase. Gruesome pictures have since emerged showing what is believed to be the body of a Russian pilot being dragged through the dirt and loaded on to a truck. It comes as mystery surrounded the discovery in the wreckage of an identification card showing a picture of a blonde woman. Crash site: The aircraft, carrying three crew and two officers, was shot down down in the Idlib province in north western Syria today Gruesome pictures show what is believed to be the body of a Russian pilot being dragged through the dirt after the aircraft was gunned down Mystery surrounded the discovery in the wreckage of an ID card showing a picture of a blonde woman Russia's Ministry of Defence said the helicopter was returning to the its main air base in the western province of Latakia following a delivery of humanitarian aid in war-torn Aleppo The image was found along with a haul of personal belongings of those inside, including Russian drivers' licences, passports and insurance cards, as well as Orthodox Christian icons. Russia's Ministry of Defence said the helicopter was returning to the its main air base in the western province of Latakia following a delivery of humanitarian aid in war-torn Aleppo. Two activist groups - the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees - say rebels shot down the Mi-8. 'A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo,' the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. 'Three crew members and two officers... were on board.' In a later statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added: 'As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground.' Videos uploaded online by Syrian opposition activists show the burning wreckage the helicopter seemingly taken in the first few moments after it crashed. In one film, a rocket pod can be seen next to the wreckage. People standing nearby are seen taking cellphone photos and shouting 'Allahu Akbar,' or God is great in Arabic. A Russian helicopter has been shot down by rebels in Syria, it has been revealed. Pictures show what is believed to be the wreckage The body was piled on to the back of a truck after being dragged through the dirt in Syria Two activist groups - the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees - say rebels shot down the Mi-8 The helicopter appears to have broken up as it crashed. In another video, its tail can be seen lying separately from the aircraft's body in flames The helicopter that crashed near Aleppo was a Russian Mi-8 (file picture) which had reportedly been on an aid mission to the city The helicopter appears to have broken up as it crashed. In another video, its tail can be seen lying separately from the aircraft's body in flames. Russian air forces are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war. Around 25 miles north-east of the crash site, rebel groups are staging an offensive to break a government siege on rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo city. Pro-government forces on the ground are being supported by heavy air strikes in the area. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the helicopter incident. Idlib province has a strong presence of both fighters for the al-Qaeda branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and rebels. Around 25 miles north-east of the crash site, rebel groups are staging an offensive to break a government siege on rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo city There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the helicopter incident. Idlib province has a strong presence of both fighters for the al-Qaeda branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and rebels Syrians gather around the burning wreckage of a helicopter, belonging to Russian military, after it was shot down by anti-regimist opposition forces in Tell Sultan town In one film, a rocket pod can be seen next to the wreckage. People standing nearby are seen taking cellphone photos and shouting 'Allahu Akbar,' or God is great in Arabic Pictures taken in the aftermath of the crash show how the helicopter burst into flames in the crash The group announced last week that it was changing its name and relinquishing ties with al-Qaeda in an attempt to undermine a potential US and Russian air campaign against its fighters. The group is part of a coalition of insurgent groups called Jaish al-Fateh, or Army of Conquest, which has captured most of Idlib. In July, two Russian airmen were killed in the central Homs province when their Mi-25 helicopter was shot down by what the Defense Ministry said were ISIS fighters. An Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed near Homs in April, killing both crew members, but the Russian military said there was no evidence it came under fire. Syrians living nearby flocked to the scene of the crash with pictures showing the burning wreckage of the helicopter Inspection: A group of men examine part of the Russian helicopter while one man takes pictures on his mobile telephone Rebels posted pictures online showing documents and identification photos found in the wreckage Russian air forces are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war and have been providing aerial support Images shared on social media purportedly showed a dead body stripped of his clothes and Russian identity documents taken from the crashed helicopter. Grim pictures have emerged online showing men trampling on dead crew members near the crash site A Russian warplane was shot down by a Turkey along the Syrian border in November, and one of the two pilots was shot and killed from the ground after ejecting. Earlier on Monday, a Syrian military official said that government forces repelled an attack by insurgents that was an attempt to break the siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo. The development came a day after Syrian rebels launched the offensive to break up the government's siege of eastern, rebel-held part of the city. The U.N. estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. The U.N.'s special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. Opposition activists said intense fighting was still ongoing in Aleppo on Monday. The Syrian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, did not elaborate. The U.N. estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. Pictures show a building hit by Assad's regime in Aleppo on Sunday The mother of a leading Thai anti-military junta activist has been charged with insulting country's royal family on a one-word Facebook post and could face 15 years in jail. Patnaree Chankij was brought before a military court in Bangkok after the country's attorney general decided to press charges, despite police deciding to drop the case. According to her lawyer, Patnaree is charged with violating Thailand's royal insult laws for writing the word 'ja', which means 'yeah' in Thai. Patnaree Chankij, who was brought before a military court in Bangkok after being charged with insulting country's royal family on a one-word Facebook post It came in response to a private Facebook message which was sent to her, that was critical of the Thai monarchy. She was released on bail. Anon Numpa, her lawyer said: 'The court accepted the case from the attorney general and freed Patnaree on bail,.' Under Article 112 of the criminal code, anyone who 'defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent' faces up to 15 years in prison. The case has drawn international criticism since May, when police first issued an arrest warrant for Patnaree and charged her with defaming the monarchy. According to her lawyer, Patnaree is charged with violating Thailand's royal insult laws for writing the word 'ja', which means 'yeah' in Thai in response to a message that was critical of the royal family The United States and several rights organisations, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, condemned Patnaree's arrest and the charges brought against her. The State Department in May said it created a 'climate of intimidation'. The junta has clamped down on dissent ahead of a referendum next week on whether to accept a military-backed constitution that critics say is designed to enshrine military power. Patnaree's son, Sirawith Seritwat, is a student activist with the New Democracy Movement and Resistant Citizen, groups that the authorities have regularly targeted because of their activities, including handing out leaflets urging people to reject the draft constitution. During its two-year rule, the military government has taken a hardline stance against perceived royal insults and has handed down record sentences. Under Article 112 of the criminal code, anyone who 'defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent' faces up to 15 years in prison. Pictured are the Thai royal family with King Bhumibol Adulyadej centre stage Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who also heads of the junta, has said he would show zero-tolerance to insults of the monarchy. For more than a decade, Thailand has been bitterly divided between rival camps, one led by former populist premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a 2006 coup, the other dominated by the royalist and military establishment who accuse Thaksin of corruption and nepotism, charges he denies. Distracted Pokemon Go players could be slapped with a $200 spot fine under a new proposal aimed at slashing the pedestrian death toll. The policy is being pushed by the Pedestrian Council of Australia who said the number of people walking around distracted by their phones was reaching an epidemic. 'It's only a matter of time before a driver playing Pokemon runs into a pedestrian playing Pokemon,' spokesman Harold Scruby told the Courier Mail. Scroll down for video Distracted Pokemon Go players could be slapped with a $200 on the spot fine under a new policy by the Pedestrian Council of Australia Pokemon Go is a virtual reality game where users travel the streets to find and catch Pokemon monsters In the past year 228 pedestrians have been killed in Australia, an increase of 14.5 per cent on the previous year. The rise of virtual-reality smartphone games such as Pokemon Go could lead to an increase in this number, Mr Scruby said. To combat the rise of pedestrian deaths, the Pedestrian Council was calling for councils to fine people who were walking while distracted by their phones. Mr Scruby said: 'Along with a national offence called driving while distracted, handing out $200 fines to people who are seen to be distracted, and putting others in danger as a result, would be the first logical step in addressing this.' Tanami Nayler was killed by a hit and run driver as she crossed the road just after playing Pokemon Go Last Saturday 22-year-old Sydney woman Tanami Nayler was killed in a hit-and run as she crossed the road just after playing Pokemon Go. Ms Nayler, 22, had been playing Pokemon Go with a friend when they decided to get some food shortly after 2am. She had her phone in her pocket when she was hit by the stolen silver Toyota Corolla after the driver allegedly sped through a red light before crashing into a tree. Detective Inspector Stuart McGregor described the tragedy as 'an absolute waste of life'. 'All she did was just walk across the pedestrian crossing, legally, and [she] has unfortunately paid with her life because of someone else's behaviour,' he said. Michael Douglas' son Cameron has been released from prison after seven years behind bars. Cameron Douglas, the oldest child of the Oscar-winning actor, was arrested in 2009 after police found him with almost a pound of methamphetamine in a New York City hotel, enough to charge him with intent to distribute. A judge sentenced him to five years behinds bars in April of the following year, but his prison time was extended by four-and-a-half years in 2011 when he pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into jail. Cameron, 37, is now in a halfway house following his early release. Free man: Cameron Douglas, 37, has been released from prison after seven years behind bars (above with his father Michael at a 2009 Los Angeles premiere four months before his arrest) Troubled past: Douglas first began using drugs when he was just a teenager and was addicted to heroin at the time of his arrest (above in a 2007 booking photo following his arrest for possession of cocaine) Page Six reports that Cameron now plans to write a memoir about his time in prison and struggle with drug addiction. 'Cameron will talk about his struggle being the son and grandson of Hollywood icons, and then his bad decisions which led him to jail, and then solitary confinement,' said a source. 'He is staying low-key after his release and plans to spend time with his father and mother. He believes this is a new start, and a chance at a new life.' Cameron's drug use began early in his life, and was detailed in a 2012 Brief of Amici filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after his conviction for unlawfully possessing the painkiller Suboxone and heroin while behind bars. Dan Abrahamson, the director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, wrote that Cameron 'has misused drugs since at least age 13, began using heroin at age 20 and who by age 25 was opioid- dependent.' He went on to write that Cameron 'ingested heroin five to six times a day in the five years prior to his arrest and was under the influence of heroin at the time of his arrest.' Cameron's addiction became a problem following his arrest due to the fact that he was not placed in a drug rehabilitation or treatment program. He was initially placed under house arrest while awaiting trial in 2009 following his methamphetamine arrest at the Hotel Gansevoort. That privilege was revoked however when a month into his home confinement his girlfriend, Kelly Scott, was caught by a court-appointed security guard keeping watch over Cameron of trying to smuggle him heroin in a tooth brush. Troubles: Cameron was arrested in 2009 after he was found in a New York City hotel with close to a pound of methamphetamine (Cameron's father and mother Diandra leaving court after he was sentenced in 2010) More time: Cameron received an additional four-and-a-half years behind bars after he was found with more drugs in prison, while his lawyer Jennifer Ridha (above) was caught sneaking in Xanax to the prisoner Soon after, Jennifer Ridha, who was Cameron's lawyer at the time, began to smuggle the anti-anxiety medication Xanax into prison for the struggling drug addict. She said in an interview with the New York Post last year that it was after she saw him drenched in sweat and covered in hives that she first brought him pills, claiming she smuggled two into the Manhattan Correctional Center in her back pocket at their next meeting. The next time, she placed 30 of the pills, which she also had a prescription for, in a party balloon, which Cameron stored behind bars by hiding it in his rectum. It was also around this time that their relationship became physical, with the two both telling one another they were in love. Ridha was eventually busted by federal agents for supplying her client with drugs, and while she did not have to serve any time she did lose her job. Cameron however had his sentence extended and was put in solitary confinement for close to two years at the Cumberland Federal Corrections Institute in Maryland. His punishment was far more harsh that the two additional years federal prosecutors had been seeking, with Federal District Court Judge Richard Berman lashing out at Cameron in court. Judge Berman said that Cameron had been 'continuously reckless, disruptive, and non-compliant' while handing down his sentence, which was reported to be one of the longest ever given to an incarcerated prisoner for simple drug possession. Family: Cameron is the son of Michael and grandson of Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas (three men above in 1991) Battle" Cameron began using heroin at the age of 20 and was opioid-dependent by 25 (above in 2004 during a DJ performance at the Betty Ford Klinic in Germany) Looking out: Cameron is seen above near his NYC apartment just one month before his 2009 arrest Cameron's famous father spoke about the need for prison reform in the wake of his son's second conviction, saying at the 2013 Emmy Awards while accepting his Best Actor trophy for his performance in the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra: 'Im questioning the system. At first I was certainly disappointed with my son, but Ive reached a point now where Im disappointed with the system.' Cameron was originally not set to be eligible for parole until 2018, but that was moved up to 2017 around the same time he was transferred from his medium-security Maryland prison to the low-security Danbury Correctional Facility in Connecticut last December. That is the same facility where Real Housewives of New jersey star Teresa Giudice was also serving time behind bars. It is not clear if he is now at a halfway close near Danbury or closer to his father and mother Diandra in New York City. Cameron is the son of Michael and his first wife Diandra, who divorced in 2000 after 23 years of marriage. Michael, 71, went on to marry actress Catherine Zeta-Jones that same year and the couple have two children, Cameron's half-siblings Carys and Dylan. Cameron is also the grandson of 99-year-old Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas. He had shown an interest in the industry as well prior to his arrest, starring in the 2003 film It Runs in the Family opposite his father and grandfather as well as his grandmother Diana. She passed away last July at the age of 92 while her grandson was still behind bars. This is the dramatic moment Dutch police held up a bus passenger at gunpoint on a motorway after he yelled 'bomb' as the vehicle headed towards Amsterdam airport. The bus had been full of passengers travelling to Schiphol airport this morning when a man shouted the word. The bus driver immediately pulled his vehicle over on the side of the A4 motorway and alerted the police. This is the dramatic moment Dutch police held up a bus passenger at gunpoint on a motorway after he yelled 'bomb' as the vehicle headed towards Amsterdam airport The bus had been full of passengers travelling to Schiphol airport this morning when a man shouted the word and the driver immediately called the police Armed officers raced to the scene and the man took off his clothes and emerged from the bus with his hands in the air as he had guns pointed at him Armed officers raced to the scene and the man took off his clothes and emerged from the bus with his hands in the air as he had guns pointed at him. The other passengers of the bus were evacuated while police searched the vehicle for explosives. Police later said that the detained man just appeared to be confused. The arrest was streamed live by a public motorway camera but police asked authorities to turn the it away from the road and since then images have gone all black. The bus is operated by the Dutch national railways, which are using bus transport to the airport as rail replacement service due to engineering works on the track. Police are warning that the motorway has not been reopened yet as they are investigating the scene, and are advising people heading towards the airport to take alternative routes. Police are warning that the motorway has not been reopened yet as they are investigating the scene, and are advising people heading towards the airport to take alternative routes Amsterdam Schiphol airport has been under heightened terror alert for three days with all inbound cars halted and their luggage checked at the access roads due to a potential terror risk Amsterdam Schiphol airport has been under heightened terror alert for three days with all inbound cars halted and their luggage checked at the access roads due to a potential terror risk. Passengers arriving by public transport were not subject to a full check, but have been under increased supervision by the police. The extra checks have led to huge traffic jams in what is the busiest weekend of the year for the airport due to the start of the summer holidays in Holland. Many people were seen abandoning their cars on the access roads and walking up to the terminal, afraid of missing their flights. Jeremy Corbyn has been branded a 'threat to national security' by the Tory government but that was nothing compared to the founder of the Labour party - Keir Hardie. Newly-published classified documents reveal he was seen by ministers as an enemy of the state in the early 20th century. The Conservative Government at the time put the Labour pioneer under surveillance by the security services and considered jailing him. Newly-published classified documents reveal Keir Hardie (archive picture, left) was seen by ministers as an enemy of the state in the early 20th century. It was a much more severe threat faced by current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured right on Friday) Ministers even considered trying Mr Hardie under an 18th century law that would have landed him a life sentence in prison. But they eventually decided against the move because it would have proven too controversial and could have caused unrest. Mr Hardie was a miner from Lanarkshire who founded the Independent Labour party and went down in party folklore for successfully building a broad coalition by uniting a Labour alliance between socialists, trade unions and the growing working class. The Scot called for 'a broad and tolerant catholocity' - leading some to contrast his achievements with the current civil war within the party and deep splits generated by Mr Corbyn's refusal to step aside despite 80 per cent of the party's MPs signing a vote of no confidence in his leadership. Official files from 1912, seen by The Times, reveal that the Home Office considered Mr Hardie a danger because of his radical agenda. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in central London today) has been branded a 'threat to national security' by the Tory government - but that can't be compared to the threat Keir Hardie posed according to the Government in 1912 The Conservative Government at the time put the Labour pioneer Keir Hardie (pictured speaking in Trafalgar Square in 1910) under surveillance by the security services and considered jailing him They stated that he was causing class war and attempting to 'promote ill will' through his demands for workers rights and anti-capitalist rhetoric. One document suggested he be arrested under the Incitement to Mutiny Act of 1797, which originally carried a death sentence but in 1857 was reduced to 'penal servitude' but with no chance of parole. After surveillance officers attended a speech Mr Hardie made in Bristol in 1912, they reported he was calling for the 'murderous international capitalist system' to be abolished. An internal government document from the same year, which has now been placed in the National Archives at Kew, stated: '[Keir Hardie's] language is well calculated not only to raise discontent or disaffection amongst HM's subjects and promote feelings of ill will and hostility between different classes, but also to incite subjects to a disturbance of the peace and to excite them to attempt to bring about changes in the law otherwise than by lawful means.' Syrian children stuck in besieged Aleppo are burning rubber tires in a desperate bid to create a smoke screen to stop the daily airstrikes. Across the towns and villages - as well as in Aleppo city itself - children were filmed rolling rubber tyres down the streets and into piles and setting fire to them. Footage showed the skies above the city as clogged with thick black smoke as activists said civilians were celebrating the success of their new tactic. Scroll down for video New tactic: Children in Aleppo are burning tyres in a bid to create a smokescreen to stop air attacks Districts in eastern Aleppo have come under intense bombardment after it was surrounded last week Smoke curtain: Kids from rural Aleppo also joined in and burned tyres hoping the wind would carry the smoke over the city Children from the village of Qabtan al-Jabal, western Aleppo helped men burn the tyres to create a smokescreen It was not a city-wide success however as regime airplanes bombed the Ansari neighbourhood of the city as well as Bustan al-Qasr, al-Mashhad, al-Sekkary, which killed 10 people according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, although activists reported that the intensity of the bombings had lessened. Government forces took the Castello Road - the main supply line into the rebel controlled part of the city last week and fighting has raged between government forces and the rebels since. It is thought between 200,000 and 400,000 people are trapped inside the besieged areas with most refusing to leave by the 'safe passage' routes promised by the Syrian government. Footage was taken by Halab News, an activist news network based in Aleppo, Syria Children rolled tyres down the street - footage from the western village of Qabtan Al-Jabal also showed children burning tyres Civilians report mistrust of the government that has been bombing them and fear the promise of an escape route is a trap. Meanwhile Syrian government has also been dropping food packages into the city after the blockade has stopped food from entering the eastern part of the city. There have been reports of civilians taking the packages to hospitals to get it checked for fear that it could be poisoned. Rebels have launched a series of violent counter attacks over night, with early reports indicating a push in regime held west Aleppo. A provocative street mural of Hillary Clinton in Melbourne has been covered up following complaints by local council . 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. After protest from Maribyrnong Council, who requested the artwork be removed, the artist has chosen to instead cover his work in a niqab, a full body covering typically worn by Muslim women. Lushsux, who is behind a number of controversial murals throughout Melbourne, said he believed this could have been a solution to the council's protests. 'This is no longer a wall of a supposed 'offensive and near naked' Hillary Clinton, it's a depiction of a beautiful Muslim woman,' said Lushsux. Scroll down for video A racy mural portraying Hillary Clinton in swimwear has been covered up with a traditional Muslim niqab 'No reasonable individual would consider this offensive. If you do consider it offensive you are a sexist, racist, islamophobic, xenophobic, uncultured and ignorant bigot.' Lushsux claims council are now contacting real estate, police and other organisations in an attempt to 'intimidate' the owner of the business attached to the wall. He says their actions are 'pathetic'. Maribyrnong Council 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 the council saga was 'over the top' and 'political correctness gone 'haywire'. 'I can't 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 temporarily deleted. Melbourne street artist Lushsux, who painted the mural, said he believed the Clinton mural was the reason why his Instagram account was temporarily 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 ban did not last long. After he and his fans reached out to Instagram, the account was back online just two days later. 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 Britons should run away as far as possible if Islamic State terrorists hit London, the countrys most senior counter-terror police officer said today. Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said people should flee rather than ducking down where they are - and then hide once they cannot flee any further from the attack. He said it was important for people to call police once they are in a safer location, adding that following the run, hide, tell advice could help save lives if terrorists try to cause mass casualties. Warning; Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said people should flee rather than ducking down where they are during an attack from Islamic State terrorists in Britain Mr Rowley told the London Evening Standard: It may seem blindingly obvious, but some people dont run, they will duck down where they are, do all sorts of different things in the panic. So lets be really clear - run as far away as possible and when you cant run any further, hide, and then tell - call the police because weve got the people, the resources, the firearms to deal with it. It comes after Mr Rowley said the public make more than 3,600 contributions to the fight against terrorism every day and that cooperation between the police and the public is a great advantage. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe warned in The Mail On Sunday yesterday that a terror attack in Britain is a case of when, not if. And in a blog post for the National Police Chiefs Council, Mr Rowley said he couldn't agree more with Sir Bernard's assertion that Britain is a hostile environment for would-be terrorists. He added the UK's counter-terrorism advantages include tight gun laws and a close working relationship between police and the security services. Armed: Mr Rowley said the public make more than 3,600 contributions to the fight against terrorism every day and that cooperation between the police and the public is a great advantage Mr Rowley said: But for me our greatest advantage is the cooperation between the public and the police. It has often been said that communities defeat terrorism and now that's more important than ever before. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe warned that a terror attack in Britain is a case of 'when, not if' The true scale of that collaboration is impressive, but rarely explained. The fact is that we see at least 3,639 contributions from the public every day, helping keep us all safe in our collective effort against terrorism. Members of the public assisted police by calling the confidential anti-terrorist hotline on average 32 times a day and making on average five referrals of extremist material online and two of potential radicalisation. Mr Rowley added that, every day, some 300 people visit the Prevent Tragedies website, 1,750 National Counter Terrorism Security Office sessions - where specialist officers advise how to protect homes and businesses - are recorded and 1,550 people either take part in anti-terror briefings or watch a Stay Safe film. Every call, every referral, every briefing is part of our joint fight against terrorism, he said. All of these contributions are critically important to our ability to keep each other safe. Yesterday, Sir Bernard said that he could not promise an attack will not take place. Writing in The Mail On Sunday he said: I feel and understand that fear, and as the police officer in charge of preventing such an attack I know you want me to reassure you. I am afraid I cannot do that entirely. Our threat level has been at Severe for two years. It remains there. It means an attack is highly likely - you could say it is a case of when, not if. Explaining the work of the police, he pointed to the number of terror plots that had been foiled since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, including one to murder officers at Shepherd's Bush police station in West London, and another to carry out a Lee Rigby-style attack on US soldiers in East Anglia. A vile mother was jailed for five years today for filming home-made porn movies with her own schoolboy son. The mother, 36, was filmed having sex with her 14-year-old son - and sent the mobile phone clips to a family member living abroad. A court heard she made a video of her carrying out sex acts with the teenager - and also other images of her three-year-old daughter. A vile mother was jailed for five years today at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court (pictured) for filming home-made porn movies with her own schoolboy son The home-made pornography was sent to her cousin in Pakistan who allegedly had asked her to make the material. The mother-of-four's 'shocking' crime only came to light when another of her daughters borrowed her son's phone - and came across the vile videos. Prosecutor Ian Kolvin said the first of the videos of the mother and her son contained images of oral sex and other sex acts. 'She was telling him to take the video. It showed full intercourse. It showed the son with his naked mother, rubbing her breasts and vaginal area,' said Mr Kolvin. When the police seized her mobile phone they discovered indecent images not only of her son but also of her three-year-old daughter. Mr Kolvin said the woman, of St Mellons, Cardiff, told police in interview that she had agreed to video herself having sex with her son to please her cousin in Pakistan. Her son, in a victim impact statement read to the court, said: 'I feel upset and ashamed of what she did. She should not have done it but I miss her very much.' Her elder daughter told the court: 'I worry about my mum.' Ruth Smith, defending, said her cultural background had made her particularly vulnerable and 'highly suggestible'. Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees (pictured) called the sex offences 'truly shocking' She said the mother was forced to leave education at the age of 13 to work in the family business and into an 'abusive and violent' arranged marriage Miss Smith said she had accepted the situation and 'her lot in life'. She said: 'She appears to be a person that is very anxious to please and she will change accounts in order to satisfy what somebody is asking of her. She is highly suggestible of others. 'She was subjected to abuse by her husband and that is something she has accepted as her lot in society.' Miss Smith told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court that social services had given her a stark choice - to leave her husband or lose her children. 'She has lived her life within her culture as one that is expected of her - a devoted daughter and loving wife. 'She has been subjected to significant abuse. That coupled with her suggestibility may have resulted in a vulnerable individual. 'She was expected to do what she was told and she did not want to create conflict. 'It is clear she is a lady who deeply loves her children despite these offences. She is worried about the future and what will happen to them.' Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees said: 'These are truly shocking offences. Your duty was to your children. To that you failed in the gravest possible way.' The woman admitted six counts including sexual activity with a family member, taking and distributing indecent images of a child reflecting 119 images and three movies. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has told a group of visiting American politicians that the country will wish they were 'friendlier' to him if Donald Trump wins the presidency. Two Democratic politicians - Congressman Adam Schiff, from California, and Senator Chris Coons, from Delaware - have revealed a bizarre meeting with the Zimbabwean head of state during a recent trip with a delegation examining wildlife conservation issues. Mr Schiff explained the strange turn of events that confronted them during a meeting with Mr Mugabe which he was unaware they had even requested. Scroll down for video Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to be a favorite of controversial Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has joked about the billionaire during a meeting with visiting US politicians 'As a matter of protocol, when you request a meeting with top ministers, you request a meeting with the President - but nobody has a meeting with Mugabe so there was little danger of it being accepted,'' he said during a discussion held by political website Politico. 'So no one was more surprised when we got late word it had been accepted. I wasn't even aware we'd asked.' Mr Coons said he had been to 24 countries in Africa but never had a more bizarre meeting with a head of state. 'It was like having thanksgiving with a crazy uncle you hadn't seen in years where he says: Why aren't we friends?' he said, 'How did we come unglued? Why is your President so uninterested in talking to me?' Congressman Adam Schiff, of California met with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe during a recent trip to the troubled African nation The group then explained why - the United States had begun imposing sanctions on the country from 2001 while condemning the government's record on human rights and the rule of law and flawed elections. Mr Coon continued the story of the meeting: 'This produced a very awkward silence after which he looked at us and looked at his advisers and said: ''What about that Donald Trump, hey?'' 'And they all laughed uproariously and he said: ''Once he's your president you'll wish you had been friendlier to me''.' The Zimbabwean President has enjoyed relations with some leaders during his time, despite his controversial background. Then Cuban President Fidel Castro met Mr Mugabe in Havana in 2005 A demonstrator shows a poster during a protest against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe during the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, December 8, 2007 Holiday makers have been warned volcanic ash is affecting flights to and from Bali. A number of flights between Australia and Bali have been cancelled after Mount Rinjani in Lombok erupted on Monday sparking safety concerns. Virgin fights from Brisbane and Sydney were forced to turn around. A number of flights between Australia and Bali have been cancelled after Mount Rinjani in Lombok (pictured) erupted on Monday sparking safety concerns (stock image) Perth Airport tweeted on Monday afternoon that flights to and from Bali have been impacted by volcanic activity Virgin fights from Brisbane and Sydney were forced to turn around (stock image) Tiger flights from Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide have been cancelled, ABC News reported. Perth Airport tweeted on Monday afternoon that flights to and from Bali have been impacted by volcanic activity. 'Passengers travelling to Bali should check with their airline for updates,' the airport said. Virgin said on Twitter: 'Safety is our number one priority and we are working to have guests on their way as quickly as possible.' Tigerair said it would provide hotel accommodation compensation for all passengers left stranded overnight. Tiger flights from Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide have been cancelled (stock image) TIGERAIR FLIGHTS CANCELLED Tigerair flights cancelled between Bali and Australia: TT001 Melbourne Bali TT018 Bali Perth TT019 Perth Bali TT010 Bali Adelaide TT011 Adelaide Bali TT008 Bali Melbourne Source: Sydney Morning Herald Advertisement Disgruntled travellers have taken to social media to voice their anger. 'Well... the latest... now they're not letting us go to Bali at all, Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger, none are flying into Bali because of the volcanic ash cloud,' Trish Aumann from Darwin wrote on Facebook. Elise Saron from Mandurah, south of Perth wrote: 'Sorry about the language in advance but...f***... please volcano ash cloud, please lift so I can fly to Bali tomorrow.' Mondays eruption is the third time volcanic ash from the volcano has affected travel to Indonesia since November. A millionaire who was a person of interest in the case of the missing Beaumont children has been running a lady boy bar with his Cambodian partner and is under investigation for alleged sex offences overseas. After reportedly spending eight years in Siem Reap, the Glenelg man, 71, returned to Adelaide in June and was questioned by major crime detectives over the 1966 disappearance of Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont, 7News reported. It is believed the man, who cannot be named, funds a number of orphanages in Cambodia and Burma where local police have interviewed children over alleged abuse. A millionaire who was a person of interest in the case of the missing Beaumont children has been running a lady boy bar with his Cambodian partner (both pictured) and is under investigation for alleged sex offences overseas After reportedly spending eight years in Siem Reap, the Glenelg man, 71, returned to Adelaide in June and was questioned by major crime detectives over the 1966 disappearance of Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont (pictured) According to police, the man was charged in June with a range of crimes including buggery and indecent assault against several victims between 1962 and 1983. He fronted Adelaide Magistrates Court last month but asked for an adjournment and will next appear in October. Pictures have emerged of the man with his reported Cambodian boyfriend spending time at costume parties and posing for photos at a picturesque lookout. He has also been questioned over the disappearance of Grant, Arnna and Jane after the trio failed to return from a day out to Glenelg Beach. He was in Adelaide when the children went missing but there is no evidence to link him to their suspected murder. The man was previously jailed for sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in 1990. The 71-year-old was reportedly renting out a lavish apartment in Siem Reap with his partner before he returned to Australia in June. WHO ARE THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN? The Beaumont children, Jane, Arnna and Grant disappeared from Glenelg beach near Adelaide on Australia Day in 1966. Jane was nine, Arnna seven and their little brother Grant was four. The children, or their bodies have never been found. The children had taken the five-minute bus ride to the beach without their parents. They left home at 10am and never returned. Police were called at 7.30pm. The children were last seen at 3pm that day by a postman. They were walking towards their home. Advertisement Hillary Clinton received a dreaded 'four-Pinocchio' rating from the Washington Post the worst score possible for truthfulness after claiming on Sunday that the FBI defended her honesty in the classified email scandal that has plagued her presidential campaign for more than 16 months. FBI director James Comey testified in a July 7 congressional hearing that multiple statements the Democratic presidential nominee made to the public were untrue. But in a rare Fox News Channel interview on Sunday, Clinton claimed that Comey 'said my answers were truthful, and what Ive said is consistent with what I have told the American people.' The Post's fact-checker pored over the record and found 'Clinton is cherry-picking statements by Comey to preserve her narrative' about why she sent and received classified documents on a private email server in her house. This, the paper concluded, 'allows her to skate past the more disturbing findings of the FBI investigation.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS PINOCCHIO, PINOCCHIO, PINOCCHIO, PINOCCHIO: The Washington Post called Hillary Clinton a liar on Sunday after she claimed that the FBI director said she had been honest about her classified email scandal 'THAT'S NOT TRUE': FBI Director James Comey testified in Congress last month that some of what Clinton told the public and the press about her unprotected private email setup was false Clinton's claim that the FBI found her 'truthful' is also undermined by the fact that she was never placed under oath during hours of interviews with federal investigators. Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, told MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' on Monday that Clinton remained apologetic about using a private system for her only email address while she was secretary of state, but insisted she was blind to the fact that thousands of messages she sent and received contained state secrets. 'She said this was a mistake multiple times. She's apologized for it,' Mook said. 'What Director Comey said was that he believes there was no basis for her to believe that the emails in question, that you're referring to, that she had any reason to believe they were classified at the time she got them.' Host Joe Scarborough shot back that Comey concluded that 'any reasonable person in Secretary Clintons position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known' that an unsecured system was the wrong place to have sensitive conversations. The Post highlighted an exchange during the July 7 hearing between Comey and South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy that showed the FBI director disagreeing with what Clinton has said in public interviews. PASS THE BUCK: During a Sunday TV interview, Clinton blamed career officials at the State Department for her classified email scandal 'Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails, either sent or received. Was that true?' Gowdy asked? 'Thats not true,' Comey replied. 'Secretary Clinton said, "I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material." Was that true?' Gowdy continued? 'There was classified material emailed,' said Comey. Comey ultimately decided not to recommend criminal charges to the Justice Department, despite calling her actions 'extremely reckless' and negligent. Some Republicans cried that the fix was in, especially when it emerged that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had had a private meeting with Bill Clinton days earlier on an airport tarmac in Arizona. WISHFUL SPIN: Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook insisted the FBI had concluded his boss had no reason to think the sensitive messages she was sending and receiving contained classified information Clinton on Sunday ultimately blamed career officials at the State Department for her classified email scandal, suggesting they should have known better than to send her documents that could be considered classified. 'I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked,' Clinton said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'And so, in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, well, among those 300 people, they made the wrong call. 'At the time, there was no reason in my view to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country.' Clinton's decision to use only an unclassified email account, however, left her underlings with no other option when they wanted to communicate with her over long distances. She originally claimed in a 2015 press conference that no classified materials at all were present on her server. Arizona Sen. John McCain is the latest Republican to run away from comments made by Donald Trump, who criticized a Muslim-America Gold Star family who shamed the GOP nominee from the Democratic National Convention stage. McCain told Khizr and Ghazala Khan, 'thank you for immigrating to America,' while expressing how much he disagrees with Trump over his call to ban non-American Muslims from entering the United States. The Khans' son Humayun was killed serving in the U.S. Army during a deployment to Iraq in 2004 and Khizr Khan spoke about his family's sacrifice Thursday night at the DNC quoting Hillary Clinton who called the late soldier 'the best of America.' 'If it was up to Donald Trump he never would have been in America,' Khizr Khan said. After a weekend's worth of cringe-worthy responses from Trump, Republicans like McCain and also vice presidential nominee Mike Pence are trying to mitigate the damage from the scandal. Scroll down for video Sen. John McCain (pictured) was the latest Republican to take Donald Trump to task for an eyebrow-raising response to comments made at the Democratic National Convention by a Gold Star father On Monday Donald Trump again said he was 'viciously attacked' by a Muslim-American Gold Star father from the Democratic National Convention stage Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (left) called Captain Khan a 'hero' in his statement, in which he backed his running mate Donald Trump's (right) plan to ban immigration from countries linked to terrorism Ghazala Khan (left) and Khizr Khan (right) appeared again on television this morning to talk about the brewing controversy with Donald Trump 'In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service,' McCain wrote in a statement released Monday morning. 'I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do no represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.' McCain, who is in a tough re-election battle, said he was 'morally bound' to stand up for 'the things that command my allegiance' the Republican Party and the United States of America. 'I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree,' McCain added, likely realizing that publicly condemning Trump could help Clinton win the presidential election. McCain then asked Trump to 'set an example for our country and the future of the Republican Party.' 'While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,' McCain said. Trump has had a number of things to say about the Khans after Khizr delivered one of the fiercest rebukes of Trump at last week's Philadelphia-based convention. 'Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America -- you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities,' he said. 'You have sacrificed nothing and no one.' Mr Khan was given a standing ovation at the DNC after he took out a copy of the Constitution and questioned whether Trump had ever read it Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he was 'viciously attacked' at the Democratic convention by the parents of a slain Muslim soldier Khizr Khan, a lawyer by trade, then pulled from his pocket a copy of the U.S. Constitution saying, 'Have you ever read it?' offering to lend the Republican nominee his copy. Since Saturday, Trump has released a statement calling Humayun Khan, but disputing his father's characterization. '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,' said Trump. Trump has also implied that Ghazala Khan stood speechless on the DNC stage because her Muslim faith wouldn't allow her to speak. '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.' She refuted that claim again this morning during an appearance on Morning Joe. 'My religion teaches me whatever I feel, I could say it. I can say anything,' she said. The grieving mother didn't speak at the DNC because she feared she would break down in tears and did so today when talking about her late son on television. 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. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence called Captain Humayun a 'hero' though said he agreed with Donald Trump's immigration ban for certain parts of the world Trump said early Sunday that he was 'viciously attacked' by Khizr Khan at the DNC and used the same phrasing Monday morning as the Khans made their television appearances. 'Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!' Trump tweeted. 'This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart!' Trump also said. Republicans were slow to respond to this latest bout of word vomit as their candidate presses on toward the White House, though Pence, along with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell eventually spoke out Sunday. Pence's statement was the most friendly toward Trump, as the Indiana governor is The Donald's running mate. It began by calling the late Captain Khan 'an American hero.' 'And his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American,' Pence said. Pence said the 'disastrous decisions' by President Barack Obama and Clinton were responsible for the Middle East's current ISIS problem. 'By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS at its source and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family,' Pence continued, sticking to the more recent campaign line that Trump was interested in banning immigration from countries that might export terror, rather than banning immigrants based on their religion. 'Donald Trump will support our military and their families and we will defeat the enemies of our freedom,' Pence concluded. House Speaker Paul Ryan wasn't as friendly toward Trump, with the Wisconsin congressman saying a 'religious test for entering our country is no reflection' of American values. 'I reject it,' Ryan said. 'Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example,' he added. 'His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honored. Period.' McConnell's office put out a statement Sunday evening, misspelling the Khans last name on one reference. 'Captain Khan was an American hero, and like all Americans I'm grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror,' McConnell said. Jeremy Corbyn's bid to be re-elected as Labour leader was boosted today by the backing of another major trade union. The Communication Workers Union represents 200,000 people, many of whom have the right to vote in the contest, and they will be advised to back the Labour leader. Mr Corbyn is fighting to keep his job after MPs revolted, resigning on mass and passing a vote of no confidence, over claims he was incompetent and would never win a general election. CWU general secretary Dave Ward today said: 'We need a fundamental change in Labour politics and Jeremy Corbyn recognises this.' Jeremy Corbyn, pictured today with Communication Workers Union chief Dave Ward, today won the union's endorsement in his battle to keep his job as Labour leader Speaking at the union headquarters today, Mr Ward continued: 'He is the candidate to drive through the change that ordinary people are crying out for - opposing damaging austerity measures and tackling the housing crisis which is causing misery for so many. 'It's policies like Jeremy's announcement on extending the recognition for trade unions which we believe will make a real difference to the working lives of millions. 'Jeremy is a leader for the millions, not the millionaires, and the CWU is proud to support him.' Despite the walk out by Labour MPs in the aftermath of the EU referendum, Mr Corbyn has refused to resign and is now going head to head with Owen Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, in a new leadership contest less than a year after he won a stunning victory. Mr Corbyn has already secured the powerful support of Unite leader Len McCluskey and been backed by other unions including the train drivers' Aslef and construction workers' Ucatt, CORBYN VS SMITH: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Anyone who is a registered supporter, was a Labour member, or registered to an affiliate, before January 12, can take part. The two candidates have embarked upon their campaigns around the country. Much like last year, there are expected to be many hustings and rallies - but regular constituency Labour Party meetings are banned. On Monday August 22, ballot papers will be issued to all eligible voters. The election is a one member, one vote poll. With with only two candidates is a simple race for votes. On September 21, the deadline for returning votes is reached. Labour will hold a special conference on Saturday, September 24, the eve of its main party conference, to announce the winner. Advertisement The CWU has members in the Royal Mail, Post Office, BT and other firms. Today's decision is not a surprise as the CWU also backed Mr Corbyn in his first leadership election campaign last year. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who has demanded Mr Corbyn resign, played down the decision of the CWU to endorse Mr Corbyn. He told the BBC World at One programme: 'Ultimately this is a members' election'. As he won the endorsement, Mr Corbyn told a meeting of CWU activists that a Labour government would tackle the 'injustices' in UK workplaces, such as banning zero-hours contracts. He also pledged to increase the living wage and repeal the controversial Trade Union Act which places restrictions on strike ballots. 'Are we to sit back and let the rich get richer? It is time to end rip-off Britain,' he said. The endorsement comes hours after it emerged Mr Smith won over two leading economists who had previously served on Mr Corbyn's economic advisory committee. The group quit their posts amid Mr Corbyn's leadership turmoil in protest at their belief their advice would never be implemented in Government under his stewardship. Mr Corbyn told CWU members today he would increase the living wage, repeal the Trade Union Act and 'end rip off Britain Mr Corbyn arrived at the CWU headquarters today to be endorsed by the trade union in his race to keep his job as Labour leader Danny Branchflower and Simon Wren-Lewis today Mr Smith had a better chance of victory in 2020. Mr Branchflower told The Guardian Mr Corbyn was 'absolutely, completely unelectable' and said: 'With the economy in the state it's in, it needs all hands to the pump businesses, unions, workers, government, opposition.' In a blog post, Mr Wren-Lewis said: 'In the UK to have any chance of building a mass social democratic party you need a parliamentary party to provide a voice that will be heard. 'That means MPs on your side, not against you.' The contest over Mr Corbyn's future is due to run until September 24. He twice managed to beat the disease despite being given just months to live but it returned last year on The Weather Channel had been battling Stage II pancreatic cancer for 10 years Weather Channel meteorologist Dave Schwartz passed away on Saturday at the age of 63 following a decade-long battle with cancer. The popular television personality was given only months to live after first being diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer 10 years ago, but managed to defy the odds by beating the disease not just once, but twice. His cancer returned however last year for a third time, and claimed his life over the weekend. Scroll down for video Tragic loss: Dave Schwartz died Saturday at the age of 63 after battling Stage II pancreatic cancer for 10 years Brave: Schwartz revealed his diagnosis live on-air this past February during World Cancer Day 'It is with a heavy heart and great sadness to let you know that Dave Schwartz has passed away. Dave spent 22 years at The Weather Channel,' the channel said in a Facebook post on Sunday; 'He was a fan and staff favorite because he so obviously loved what he did and had a unique ability to draw viewers into the fascinating world of weather. His passion for weather was contagious and inspired many to enter the field of meteorology. His love of weather will never be forgotten, he will be greatly missed.' Schwartz spoke publicly about his battle earlier this year, revealing his cancer diagnosis on-air in February. 'I want to let you know the reason why I have lost 35 pounds in the last five months is that I am being treated for cancer,' said Schwartz on World Cancer Day. He then tried to make light of the situation by joking: 'Stomach cancer, of all things, for a foodie.' That clip was part of a tribute video made in honor of Scwartz that aired on the network Monday morning. He grew up in Philadelphia and attended Temple University and then Mississippi State where he studied meteorology, something that had long been a passion for him even as a young boy. 'Ive always been a weather "geek,"' read his bio on The Weather Channel's website. 'Skywatching, and watching The Weather Channel. I built a weather forecasting kit from Radio Shack my father bought me. The tornado scene from The Wizard of Oz really turned me on.' Strong: Schwartz twice managed to beat the disease despite being given just months to live but it returned last year He was remembered by his good friend and co-worker Jim Cantore over the weekend as well, who said in a statement: 'Everything was genuine about this wonderful man. He was everybodys friend and thats what he really wanted to be. 'He made so many of us laugh, smile, and wish we were like him. He was so genuine and trustworthy things that come from the soul and cannot be taught.' Cantore closed his remarks by stating: 'Dave loved doing the weather on TV and he was fantastic at it. Im so thankful he was on our team doing what he loved till the end of his time. Reynolds Wolf, another one of Scwartz's Weather Channel co-worker's, wrote on Facebook: 'Dave was a husband, a father, a mentor, and friend. His grand voice held a timbre - majestic and captivating - spell-binding to the listener, and a mystical lasso to his viewers and peers. He owned us all. 'And we loved him so.' He claims the two attacking dogs were unleashed at the time Owner Paul Agostino said pictures do 'no justice' to extent of dog's injuries Perry suffered deep puncture wounds to his back and lost clumps of fur A man could do nothing but watch as his beloved dog was viciously attacked in Western Sydney on Thursday. Paul Agostino was walking his dog Perry along a popular bike path in Toongabbie when the pup was attacked by a german shepherd and a wirehaired pointer, both allegedly off their leads. Mr Agostino said in an emotional Facebook post that he felt powerless to help during the attack, which pictures show left his pet with deep puncture holes in his back and huge clumps of hair missing. He says the pictures do 'no justice to how bad his injuries truly are'. Perry (pictured) was viciously attacked by two other unleashed dogs near a park in Western Sydney He suffered deep puncture wounds to his back and owner Paul Agostino says pictures don't show the full extent of his beloved dog's injuries Mr Agostino (pictured) says the owners threatened to 'let the f***ing dogs' on him if he didn't let them leave the park 'The attack was brutal,' he said. 'It was painful to watch my peaceful gentle giant cry for my help with no power in my hands.' Mr Agostino said he called the police before trying to confront the owners of Perry's attackers at the park they were all walking through. 'I requested that the couple produce some ID's and wait for the police,' he said. 'That seemed to only annoy the owners who then threatened to 'let the f***ing dogs on me'. Luckily, I was able to get some photos of them before that threat was made.' The Western Sydney man says ultimately he is just grateful his young son wasn't present to see the altercation. Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that they were contacted after the dog fight, and have passed the matter on to local council, who were not able to comment immediately. Mr Agostino said it was painful to watch Perry be attacked and be powerless to help him A Walmart worker from Georgia has drawn widespread admiration on social media after he was photographed without shoes at work, having given away his sneakers to a homeless man. Phil Bravin Powell was working a shift at the Lithia Spring Walmart on Friday afternoon when he spotted a barefoot vagrant and offered the man his custom-made Converse sneakers. Walmart shopper Myrna Kines witnessed Powell's extraordinary act of kindness and photographed him smiling into the camera, wearing his yellow Walmart vest, a pair of pink socks and no shoes. Sole-ful: Georgia Walmart employee Phil Powell was photographed on Friday at work without shoes, having given away his sneakers to a homeless man Big-box store: Powell works at this Lithia Springs Walmart in Georgia Kines later posted the photo on Facebook, where it has been shared more than 660 times as of Monday morning. The woman wrote in a post that accompanied the image she was planning to contact Walmart 'to tell them the[y] have an awesome employee!' Powell's supervisor, Mike Kastensmidt, shared Myrna Kines photo and explained what had inspired his employee to give away his shoes, reported WSB-TV. According to Kastensmidt, Powell revealed to him that he had been living on the streets for most of his life and knew how that homeless man felt. I told Phil that was a tremendous gesture and that the world needed a lot more of them, Kastensmidt wrote on his Facebook page. The Walmart manager then took his barefoot employee to the stores shoe department and offered him any pair of shoes he wanted free of charge. Powell's manager, Mike Kastensmidt (left), has offered the worker any pair of shoes at the store for free, and the young man (pictured right) chose $13 slippers He chose a $13 pair of slippers, Kastensmidt said in his post. That's all he "needed". I learned a lesson from this selfless act today. Great job Phil. Powell's mother, Brenda Patterson, also has reached out to Kines on Facebook saying that her son has a heart of gold. A Hillary Clinton supporter was arrested outside the Democratic nominee's rally in Pittsburgh on Saturday for attacking an elderly man. Joshua Sturman, 23, walked over to a group of protesters holding Donald Trump signs across the street from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and attempted to light an American flag on fire before tackling a man to the ground according to the criminal complaint in the case. He was apprehended by police on the scene soon after and is now facing charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct, causing or risking catastrophe and recklessly endangering another person. Scroll down for video Not good: A Hillary Clinton supporter attacked a pro-Trump protester in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon (victim Richard Dillon above) Culprit: Joshua Sturman (above with bandana around his neck) went after Richard Dillon when the man tried to rip a flag he was trying to burn from out of his hands CBS Pittsburgh reports that the group of Trump supporters were standing shoulder-to-shoulder when Sturman approached the group around 5pm on Saturday afternoon. Sturman, who is originally from California, had on a backpack and bandana, and red paint all over his hands. He lit the American flag on fire as he neared the group, and the protesters quickly attempted to put out the flame, with many saying they feared it could have been doused with an accelerant. This made Sturman angry according to the criminal complaint, and at that point he threw a man to the ground when the elderly gentleman tried to get the flag out of his hands. Video of the incident shows Sturman as he is getting off the man and his friends try to get him to leave the scene, but it is too late, with police already there and quickly taking the young man away. The Pittsburgh-Tribune Review interviewed Richard Dillon, the 67-year-old man who was attacked by Sturman, shortly after the incident. 'Symbolically, he was saying, "I will burn down everything you stand for" - beginning with the flag, Old Glory,' said Dillon, who is a Tea Party organizer in the area. 'We cannot let the country be commandeered by people like that.' Jail time: Police who were patrolling the area quickly apprehended Sturman (above) and took him into custody Off they go: Sturman is now facing charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct, causing or risking catastrophe and recklessly endangering another person (above being led away) Another prop-Trump supporter who was at the scene, Tricia Cunningham, said: 'You ain't burning our flag. I'm the daughter of a Marine. There is no First Amendment when it comes to destroying the United States, as far as I am concerned.' Sturman was later photographed sticking his tongue out at the group after being put in handcuffs by police. Police in Colorado were caught in an hours-long standoff on Sunday with a wanted man who climbed to the top of a tall tree and refused to come down. The man was wanted on charges of attempted murder and climbed up the pine tree in Colorado Springs after officers came to arrest him. The incident occurred at the corner of Lelaray Street and Eagle View Drive, NBC News reported. Standoff: The man was wanted on charges of attempted murder and climbed up the pine tree in Colorado Springs after officers came to arrest him Video taken at the scene shows the man clinging to the top of the tree and refusing to come down The man climbed a tree in east Colorado Springs and refused to come down for several hours Police evacuated some homes in nearby neighborhoods as a SWAT team was brought in to negotiate with the man, KRDO reported. He was wanted in connection to an attempted murder in Alamosa. However he refused to cooperate with negotiators. Police said the man yelled down several threats against officers. Officers didn't know whether the man in the tree was armed. Lt. Howard Black with the Colorado Springs Police Department said one of their biggest concerns during the standoff was the suspect hurting himself. 'That's why we've been out here for so long, just ensuring that he didn't fall out of the tree,' Black told KKTV. 'Time is always on our side when dealing with these types of situations.' Scene: he suspect was wanted on several warrants out of Alamosa. He climbed the tree as a way of escaping A SWAT team used gas pellets and water to coax the man down. He eventually surrendered Black is still not sure why the suspect ended up in a tree. 'I don't know. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.' Officers used tear gas and sprayed the suspect with water, among other tactics, to convince him to come down. The water was to make the suspect 'uncomfortable', not to make him fall down, Black said. The trick appeared to work, with the man climbing down after about five hours. She will be buried in the New Cathedral in Romanian city Curtea de Arges Former Queen Anne of Romania has died in a Swiss hospital at the age of 92, the royal house announced. Anne and her husband, former King Michael of Romania, have lived in Aubonne, Switzerland, since 2004. The couple, who visited Romania during the holidays and for official functions, had been married for 68 years. Former Queen Anne of Romania has died in a Swiss hospital at the age of 92, the royal house announced Former Queen Anne and her husband, former King Michael, had been married for 68 years Anne died at the hospital surrounded by her family, according to the royal house's statement. She will lie in state for a day in the Hall of Honour at Peles Castle and then for a day in the Throne Room at the Royal Palace in Bucharest. She will be buried in the New Cathedral in the central Romanian city of Curtea de Arges. The former king, who is 94, was forced to withdraw from public life due to illness earlier this year, after undergoing surgery for leukaemia and cancer. Michael, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth and a descendant of Germany's old Hohenzollern dynasty, was forced to abdicate in 1947 after the post-war Communist takeover of Romania. Anne died at the hospital surrounded by her family, according to the royal house's statement While there is no popular demand for a restoration of the EU state's monarchy, Romanians widely respect Michael and Anne as historic figureheads He lived in exile in the West for decades, only returning to Romania in 1992. They visited for three days but were later denied entry from 1993 until 1997. He and Anne, who have five daughters, married in 1948 in Athens. She was born in Paris and belonged to the house of Bourbon-Parma. Then told her 'I'm going to f*** you later' as they showed sea cadets round Lieutenant Basil Purdue, 26, has accused the woman of making things up in the knowledge 'it will damage his career'. He is alleged to have groped the woman's breast during a tour of a nuclear submarine to sea cadets A Royal Navy lieutenant was today sacked and given a suspended jail sentence for a 'bullying' sexual assault on a female colleague while giving sea cadets a tour of a nuclear submarine. Lieutenant Basil Purdue, 26, groped a fellow soldiers breast then told her 'I'm going to f*** you later' as he was showing youngsters around HMS Vanguard at Helensburgh, Scotland, in February last year. He was found guilty at a court martial trial at Portsmouth Naval Base and dismissed with disgrace, given a three-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay the victim 750 compensation. Purdue will now have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years. Judge Advocate Robert Hill said: 'This was a sexual assault by an officer in circumstances where there was an element of bullying by saying you could get away with it because of your rank. 'This has affected her significantly. She was already miserable because of the sexualised banter of those of her own rank. You have gone in and calmed that down for her, that doesn't sit well with what happened on the day in question.' He added: 'This was a gross dereliction of duty to behave in this way.' Captain Alison Towler, prosecuting, told the court that the victim had been left 'humiliated and ashamed' by the assault and questioning her career in the Navy because she had lost her trust in men. Reading from the victim's impact statement, she said: 'I have become frustrated and angry and do not know where to turn. 'I feel like I am falling into vicious circle of being angry and sad and feel like I need to lash out. I wonder if the Royal Navy is for me I am wondering if this could happen again. 'I have constantly battled to argue that women are equal in the Royal Navy but now I feel they are not.' Previously, Purdue had claimed the woman made up the claim of sexual assault and 'wanted to damage his career' because he had previously told bosses that other sailors were sharing sexual images of her. The court heard she found out about the images when a colleague told her about it. Purdue suggested to the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that he report it but she told him not to, he claimed. He told the court he did however report the abuse to senior sailors, who then assembled all of the base's company to warn them about bullying female staff. Purdue described the evening he had a curry with the victim a few weeks before he is alleged to have sexually assaulted her and she opened up to him about how sailors had shared the pictures and called her names. Talking about the alleged incident, he then claimed: 'She is making things up in the knowledge that it could damage my career, she is lying. Lieutenant Purdue told the court he reported other sailors to senior officials after he discovered they were sharing 'suggestive' pictures of the woman. He denies one count of sexual assault 'I would never risk my career by sexually assaulting someone. There's no way I would do something like that. 'We were never stood outside the room together. We were in the room for around 30 minutes with the sea cadets who were asking us questions.' Donald Findlay QC, defending Purdue, who has served in the Navy for seven years, said she made up the allegation because of the embarrassment he caused her. He said: 'I suggest the incident did not happen and this comes back to the complaint.' He added: 'Is this really a man who puts his navy career in jeopardy for the sake of touching a woman's breast over a jumper and uniform? I certainly don't think so. 'He is a married man, of good character and of no previous offences.' Today, Damian Hayes, defending, said the conviction had destroyed his reputation as a man of 'integrity, trustworthiness, support of others, Christian faith and positive attitude to life'. He added that Purdue had been supported throughout the trial by his parents and his wife, Helen, who had written a letter to the court describing the 'happiness and strength of their marriage'. Hillary Clinton has seized back the lead over Donald Trump in a new CBS poll, which appears her to show her getting a 'bounce from the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Clinton leads the Republican real estate mogul by 46 to 42 per cent, according to the survey. It restores the lead she held back in June, when she was up over Trump by 43 to 37 per cent. Much has happened in between, including the Republican convention in Cleveland where Trump dominated the airwaves for days but also suffered some stumbles. When that convention was over, Trump had pulled to a tie with Clinton, with each getting 42 per cent support. He got a two-point bounce from his convention in the poll. A new Morning Consult survey has Clinton leading Trump by 43 to 40 per cent a seven point swing. Trump had held a 44 to 40 per cent lead in the survey. Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump by 46 to 42 per cent, seizing an apparent 'bounce' out of her political convention Clinton and Trump were tied at 42 per cent the week before the Democratic convention The poll was conducted entirely after the conclusion of the convention, which slightly trailed the GOP in viewership according to early results of the final night on Thursday. The CBS bounce is about what President Obama got out of his two conventions. He got a 5 point bounce in 2012, when Bill Clinton sang his praises just like he did for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia. Obama got a 3 point bounce from his historic convention in Denver, when he spoke to an adoring crowd in a packed outdoor arena adorned with Greek columns. Al Gore got a 10-point bounce from his convention in 2000, but that didn't turn out so well for him, as he lost to Georg W. Bush after the Florida recount controversy. MAYBE IT'S THE BALOONS: Candidates typically get some kind of bounce out of their convention, thanks to loads of free publicity and nationwide attention to their message and biography. In Bill Clinton's case in 1992, it was a 13-point swing Republican Donald Trump appears to have gotten a bounce out of his convention, but spent the weekend after Clinton's convention battling over the airwaves with a Gold Start family who lost their son in the war and spoke at the DNC Bill Clinton got a 13-point bounce in 1992, and went on to win with a plurality with billionaire Ross Perot in the race. When 'leaners' get tipped one way or the other in the CBS poll, Clinton's lead rises to 6 points, and she also maintains a lead with Libertarian Gary Johnson in the race. With all of the messaging, Hollywood endorsements, political speeches, balloons, confetti, videos, and other pomp, Clinton's unfavorable rating has ticked up only slightly. Her approval was 31 per cent a week ago, and stands at 36 per cent int he latest poll. Her disapproval was a dismal 56 per cent a week ago, and rose to 50 per cent. With their conventions behind them, both candidates are hitting the campaign trail this week, with Clinton bussing through Ohio and Pennsylvania to try to counteract Trump's plan to capture the White House with a play to the Rust Belt. A USC / LA Times poll, which takes into account a rolling average going back a week, still has Trump up over Clinton by four points, 46 to 42 per cent. The poll still factors in a seven-point lead Trump held July 27. A new Gallup survey shows Trump pushing people out of the way with his convention. The poll had 36 per cent of adults more likely to support Trump, compared to 51 per cent less likely to back him. The minus-15 rating is the worst for a Republican nominee since 1984. The crash left a hole in the wall A cannabis crop has been accidentally discovered after a car smashed into a house, leaving a hole in the wall and revealing the pot stash. The rouge vehicle crashed into parked cars before running into a house on Oak Avenue in Clovelly Park, Adelaide about 3.15pm on Monday. The male driver of the car was taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries, and may face further charges. A cannabis crop has been accidentally discovered after a car smashed into a house, leaving a hole in the wall and revealing the pot stash (pictured) Part of a wall of the house collapsed, revealing cannabis being grown hydroponically inside (stock image) The rouge vehicle crashed into parked cars before running into a house (pictured) on Oak Avenue in Clovelly Park, Adelaide about 3.15pm on Monday Part of a wall of the house collapsed, revealing cannabis being grown hydroponically inside. No one was inside the house at the time of the crash. According to neighbour Kerrie-Ann Moon, 21, who saw the crash, the driver hit two cars, a tree and a pole before slamming into the house. 'It was pretty scary. We thought he was going to come through and hit us, she told The Advertiser. She said she was shocked to find out there was cannabis inside. A cannabis crop was accidentally discovered following a car crash (stock image) The male driver of the car was taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries, and may face further charges Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, was also surprised. 'It's funny [the] things going on in your street,' he told the publication. A woman who lied to police to protect her boyfriend who murdered a debt collector with a machete has been re-sentenced and will spend more than 12 months behind bars. Phi Ngoc Phu Le, 27, stabbed debt collector Amin Asrawe with a filleting knife and a machete 24 times at his Paradise home in Adelaide's north-east in August, 2013. Le's girlfriend, Ngoc Linh Anh Bui, 33, told police he was with her the night of the murder 'through to the next day,' but had her jail term suspended after arguing she needed to prepare her three children, The Advertiser reported. Ngoc Linh Anh Bui (pictured, centre) has been re-sentenced to 12 months behind bars for her role in the murder of a debt collector in 2013 In February 2015, Le pleaded guilty to the murder in the Supreme Court and received a life sentence, with a non-parole period of 20 years. The court heard he sliced Mr Awrawe's neck, face, chest, arms and back using the knives. Bui was also charged for her role in the murder of the debt collector and immediately served five months behind bars and a further four months on home detention. During Le's sentencing in 2015, Judge Paul Muscat ruled the six-month sentence he would have imposed on Bui had been 'accounted for'. But in October 2015, a successful prosecution appeal left Bui facing jail once again. On Monday, the Court of Criminal Appeal re-sentenced Bui and ordered her to serve two-years jail with a non-parole period of 12 months and 15 days. Phi Ngoc Phu Le, 27, stabbed debt collector Amin Asrawe (pictured) with a filleting knife and a machete 24 times at his Paradise home in Adelaide's north-east in August, 2013 Mr Asrawe's widow Dounia (pictured in 2015) was unhappy with Le's 20-year sentence as the killer was given a discount of six years for an early guilty plea Mr Asrawe's widow Dounia was unhappy with Le's 20-year sentence as the killer was given a discount of six years for an early guilty plea. She said murderers should not get sentencing discounts. 'It's still confusing to me that this man who stood at our wedding was then charged with killing my husband,' she said. According to the judge, Le has owed Mr Asrawe $30,000 and confronted him outside his home. Mr Asrawe sustained 24 wounds inflicted with a machete and filleting knife (stock image) Ms Asrawe told the court last year she was a wife for only 46 days, saying Le had been at their wedding and visited them at their home Ms Asrawe told the court last year she was a wife for only 46 days, saying Le had been at their wedding and visited them at their home. 'You shook my hand and smiled at me - that very hand slaughtered my husband a few days later,' she said. The customer then pushes the man out the store after he gets his refund She demands the man leave the shop before This is the bizarre moment a man goes to a salon to complain about a haircut and gets verbally attacked by a customer who pushes him out the shop. The video was captured by the man, who began filming after he walked into the hairdressers in Escondido, California, and was set upon by the loyal customer. In the clip the man explains that he is at the barbers to get a refund for a 'terrible haircut' as the woman - who appears to be in the process of getting a trim - confronts him. The man goes to the salon to complain about a haircut and is confronted by a loyal customer She tells him she has a law degree before saying: 'You need to leave. Get out, your language is disgusting. I am a customer and you have offended me.' The man replies by telling the woman that he is not talking to her and she responds: 'Get off of me, stop hitting me,' despite his hands being by his side. Baffled, the man makes this point clear by pointing out where his hands are, as the woman begins pushing him towards the door. He then announces that the woman is grabbing him as she shouts for him to 'get out' and suddenly starts screaming wildly. The man says: 'Look at this lady, this whole thing is being recorded you psychopath,' as she complains that her rib is hurting. The woman accuses the man of 'hitting her' before she starts pushing him out the hair salon The woman shoves the man towards the door before she later complains that her rib is hurting The video maker continues: 'Your rib? You slammed into me. My hands were over there.' Later in the clip one of the staff members hands the man his refund and he goes to exit the shop. He says to the woman: 'You are insane,' and she responds: 'Let's get out here and have it out,' before shoving him out the door. The clip concludes with the video maker threatening to ring the police as the woman calls him a 'maniac' and a man, who is apparently her husband and who had been filming, intervenes. A team of fishermen battled for more than an hour to land what is believed to be the biggest thresher shark ever caught in British waters. The anglers caught the beast, which weighed in at 368lbs, off the north Cornwall coast yesterday, while fishing on board Ilfracombe-based charter boat, Reel Deal. Fisherman Nick Lane enticed the shark onto his hook with mackerel, before the team worked together for an hour and 20 minutes to pull it on board. A team of fishermen battled for more than an hour off the coast of Cornwall to land what is believed to be the biggest thresher shark ever caught in British waters After posing for a photograph with the creature, smashed the previous British best of 323lb that goes back to 1982, they released it back into the sea. The boat skipper's Dan Hawkins, 33, described it as a catch of a lifetime. 'The shark was tempted using a whole mackerel hook bait and was landed after a powerful struggle lasting over an hour,' said Mr Hawkins. Angler Tim Warren-Short with the team's catch of the day 'The fish leapt from the water twice before eventually being brought into the boat where it was measured and photographed before being released. 'It swam away strongly, a wonderful sight for all on board. 'It is a new British record beating the previous one from 1982.' Mr Hawkins said it was a tough battle but one the anglers were delighted to win. He added: 'Within 15 minutes of the rod being out it just screamed off - and the next thing we saw was this thresher shark jumping 20ft out of the water. 'Battle then commenced and they spent one hour and 20 minutes before getting it into the boat. 'It was a hard and fast battle and we covered about two miles during it. 'It was just sheer jubilation when we got it on board. 'It is one thing hooking it - but another to land it.' Mr Hawkins has been running the shark fishing trips for a year. Skipper Dan Hawkins tries to control the shark after the team managed to haul it onboard 'The thresher shark is very rare in UK waters and the chances of seeing one and hooking it are extremely rare so I feel very privileged to have been involved in one,' he said. 'It is the fish and catch of a lifetime. I have had many experienced anglers who have never come close to getting one who have contacted me telling me how lucky I am. The mother of a Tennessee school student has filed a lawsuit against an officer who handcuffed her daughter. Elexecia Martin filed the lawsuit Friday, accusing Murfreesboro Police Department officer Chrystal Templeton of falsely arresting and maliciously prosecuting her daughter. Martin is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial. The lawsuit says that Templeton signed a petition in April to detain several Hobgood Elementary School students on charges of criminal responsibility following an off-campus fight caught on video. A lawsuit accuses Murfreesboro Police Department officer Chrystal Templeton, pictured, of falsely arresting and maliciously prosecuting the daughter of Elexecia Martin who is an elementary school student Templeton was the officer who investigated a cellphone video where a small child allegedly punched a larger child away from Hobgood's campus in mid-March, the lawsuit stated. Eleven other children were in the area of the scuffle, though not all were visible in the video, according to the complaint. 'Based on her investigation, the review of the video, and her meeting with Ms. Martin and (the child), Officer Templeton should have known that there existed no probable cause to arrest (the child),' the complaint stated. Martin's daughter was not visible in the video, but could be heard telling the smaller child to 'stop swinging at the larger child.' Officer Templeton ended up detaining 10 children from the Hobgood Elementary school but the charges were later dropped Templeton allegedly went to Martin asking for help to identify the children who were present at the fight 'so she could deal with the situation 'informally', even assuring Ms. Martin that the children were not in trouble.' Yet just days later, Templeton sought petitions against Hobgood students. Templeton then told Hobgood Elementary School Principal Tammy Garrett telling her that some of the students would be taken into custody. She promised that everything would be kept low-key and that handcuffs would not be used. Despite being given advance notice of the arrests, Templeton told the Principal not to alert any parents of the impending arrests. When the arrests began at the end of the school day, the girl was taken back into the office and held in custody. '(The child) begged for her mother,' according to the lawsuit. 'She cried and vomited on the floor.' Mom, Martin, who had been told about her daughter's forthcoming arrest was told she couldn't drive her daughter to the Rutherford County Youth Detention Center but that a police officer would have to do it and handcuff her. Months later, the charges were dropped and although the Murfreesboro Police Department was not named as a party in the lawsuit, the major in charge of Templeton's division was placed on paid leave during the investigation. The lawsuit states that a juvenile court judge later dismissed the charges against the students. The suit comes more than three months after the 10 children were charged by Murfreesboro police, including four handcuffed while on campus at Hobgood. Martin argues that based on her investigation, Templeton should have known that there was no probable cause to arrest the girl. Cat killer: Anthony Appolonia, 58, who had served five years in prison for torturing and killing 19 cats is now suspected of going on another animal cruelty spree A New Jersey man who had served five years in prison for torturing and killing 19 cats is now suspected of going on another animal cruelty spree following his release. Anthony Appolonia, 58, of Aberdeen, was sentenced to prison in December 2008 after he pleaded guilty to killing 19 kittens and cats he had adopted through newspaper ads. Appolonia described in graphic detail how he broke the animals' bones, stomped on them and kept them suffering for up to several hours before drowning the kittens in the toilet and the larger cats in the tub. He would then wrap the furry corpses in newspapers and throw them in the Dumpster. The animals bodies were never recovered. Appolonia justified his actions at the time by claiming that he turned on the animals because they became angry with him and stopped being his friends, reported NJ.com. The cat killer also told a psychologist conducting his court-ordered evaluation that he was under stress because he was out of work for more than a month and fighting with his brothers. As part of his sentencing, Judge Edward Neafsey prohibited Appolonia from owning any animals or being in the presence of cats without supervision. But in recent months, Appolonia may have adopted at least five new cats, which he now cannot account for, according to four people who say they handed over the pets to him not knowing the mans dark past. Speaking to an NJ.com reporter from his townhouse in Dover, Delaware, Appolonia has vehemently denied accepting any cats and accused animal rights activists of trying to set him up. The reporter noted that there were no cats in the man's home during the interview conducted on July 7. Missing: This black-and-white 2-year-old cat named Tony was allegedly adopted by Appolonia last September, but his whereabouts are currently unknown I've done nothing wrong, said Appolonia. I did the crime. I did the time. If people say they gave me cats, they're fabricating it. Addressing his past misdeeds, the 58-year-old man said he was 'remorseful' for what he had done. The former owners of the allegedly missing pets claim that Appolonia, using his own name as well as various aliases, had responded to Craigslist ads offering cats free of charge or for a low price. They now suspect that the cats they had given to Appolonia are dead. Rumors about Appolonia's alleged animal hoarding began spreading on social media sites as far back as January, prompting the Delaware Office of Animal Welfare to launch an investigation into his activities, which has stalled because the lead investigator has been out of commission for several months due to an injury. While he was still living in New Jersey, Anthony Appolonia had responded to dozens of ads offering cats for adoption. In the course of just eight weeks in 2007, he took into his home, and then killed, a total of 19 felines. The killings came to a stop after members of the animal rescue community tipped off the Monmouth County SPCA about Appolonia's adoptions. When questioned by an SPCA investigator following his arrest, Appolonia said he loved the cats he took into his home and treated them like his friends, but then he would look at them and think they were mad at him. 'He developed an anger, and as he described it, he had to hurt them,' former SPCA investigator Stuart Goldman told NJ.com. 'He would have to punish them.' Appolonia pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in September 2008 and was handed a five-year sentence. He was released from prison in 2012 and moved to Delaware. Speaking to the NJ.com reporter last month, the 58-year-old man insisted that her has not owned or harmed a cat since his incarceration. 'I'm not doing it anymore,' Appolonia said. 'I'm trying to get my life together. I just want to be left alone.' But four concerned pet owners are of a different opinion. James Waite and Heather White claimed that Appolonia responded to their ad offering their 2-year-old calico named Tony up for adoption in the summer of 2015. The couple said they drove their cat to Appolonia's home in Dover and even asked him if they could check up on Tony to see if he was settling in well. Everything was going smoothly until earlier this year the coupe found out about Appolonia's criminal past. White said that when she contacted the 58-year-old asking if her cat was OK, the man angrily responded that she should not text or call him anymore. Tammy Elliott, 48, described a similar experience in which she delivered an orange tabby kitten to Appolonia's townhouse after he responded to her Craigslist ad last October. Two days later, Elliott said she got a call from Appolonia telling her the kitten was too skittish, and that he ended up giving it to a woman with a little girl. According to Elliott, Appolonia then asked if she knew of another kitten up for adoption, and the woman arranged for her friend to give the man a cat. Myra Hitchens and her husband, of Smyrna, Delaware, also allegedly gave Appolonia two kittens after he contacted them about their Craigslist ad. A woman accused of killing her daughter and two grandchildren before committing suicide believed she was freeing seven-year-old Xavier Neff from hell, her journal reveals. Nilda Sheffield killed herself after fatally shooting daughter Elizabeth Flores, Xavier Neff and Sofia Chiddo, aged two, in Greenacres, Florida, last year, police said. Authorities recently closed the case and Sheffield's journal has been made public, revealing her belief that she would meet Xavier after they were reincarnated, the Sun Sentinel reported. Nilda Sheffield, 53, is suspected of killing her daughter Elizabeth (left and right, center) her grandson Xavier, 7 (right, left), and granddaughter Sofia, 2 (right) Sheffield believed she was freeing seven-year-old Xavier Neff (center, with Flores, left, and Sofia, right) from hell, her journal reveals. Sheffield, 53, shot her daughter in the back of the head while the 30-year-old was asleep in their home, according to court documents cited by the local newspaper. Xavier, who Sheffield believed had psychic abilities, died instantly after she shot him in the kitchen the same day on June 27, 2015. The grandmother was unaware that Sofia had survived a bullet behind her ear and Sheffield killed herself in the living room before the toddler bled to death, leaving bloody footprints throughout the home, investigators found. The murder suicide rocked the quiet neighborhood, and one year later, Sheffield's journal reveals the disturbing thoughts she had despite loving her grandson dearly. Sheffield believed Xavier was a special child, and recounted one instance where he predicted his mother was pregnant before Flores knew she was carrying Sofia. She also wrote: 'No one will ever love Xavier as much as I do. I don't know how to breathe without him, my heart is so heavy.' But the 53-year-old also also wrote about instances of domestic violence between Flores and her fiance David Chiddo, as well as a custody battle between her daughter and Xavier's father, Derek Neff. Chiddo was accused of hitting Flores in front of their daughter, but the charges were dropped after investigators concluded Sofia was properly looked after. Sheffield shot Flores, Xavier and Sofia, not realizing the two-year-old had survived a bullet behind the ear. The grandmother committed suicide before Sofia bled to death in the Greenacres, Florida home (pictured) Sheffield also told people she thought Xavier was mistreated by Neff, who had primary custody of his son. Neff denied the accusations, saying Flores had fed her mother lies about him. In the journal, the grandmother compared herself to Abraham of the Old Testament, who was asked to sacrifice his son in the Bible. Sheffield wrote: 'I have asked God to please stop me if this is not the right thing to do. 'But in my heart I hear him saying You Must And like Abraham I will show my faith to God. 'Xavier is the sacrificial lamb. I will free him from the hell he did not ask to be born into, and I pray to God he returns to a better world with better parents.' This is the dramatic moment villagers rescue a young elephant from a construction well after its mother stood by her baby throughout the night. The calf got trapped while a herd of more than 60 elephants passed through a stretch of the Ramgarh district in India. Throughout Wednesday night the mother relentlessly kept trumpeting and tried to pull the calf out. This is the dramatic moment villagers rescue a baby elephant from a construction well (right) after the it got trapped in the Ramgarh district of India (left) As she kept trying and continued wailing the whole night, a herd of eight tuskers remained on standby. And for the duration of the night the villagers of Sutri also remained wide awake, praying the herd would return to the nearby forest without causing any destruction. As daylight broke people started gathering near the well, and the mother elephant made a peaceful retreat and joined the herd waiting behind the bushes. Moved by her plight, a few brave and kind-hearted people decided to help. Lakra Mahto, an eye-witness, said: 'We chopped off a few bamboo poles and put it near the well so that the elephants don't come chasing towards us. 'We also lowered a few bamboo poles to help the calf stay afloat till the forest officials arrived.' The calf was freed and walked towards the bushes where its family, and mother, were waiting The forest officials, who were informed around 3:30am, reached the site around 6am armed with an earth mover. Forest ranger Ramlakhan Paswan, who led the rescue operation, told MailOnline: 'We widened the well's mouth with the earth mover to make a slope and helped the calf come out of the pit after an hour-long operation. 'The calf then started walking towards the bushes where its family was waiting.' Last year, a similar incident happened when the mother of a baby elephant struggled for 11 hours to pull her baby out of a pit with the help of villagers Last year, a similar incident happened when the mother of a baby elephant struggled for 11 hours to pull her baby out of a pit with the help of villagers. Hill was appointed May's joint chief of staff at Downing Street last month Rules are in place to stop ex-aides benefiting from privileged information Theresa May's chief of staff Fiona Hill (pictured last month at Downing Street) broke government rules to take a top job at a Westminster last year Theresa May's chief of staff broke government rules when she took up a job at a top lobbying firm last year. Fiona Hill, who was appointed joint chief of staff at Downing Street by the new Prime Minister last month, took up a job at Lexington Communications a year after resigning as Mrs May's special adviser at the Home Office. But she did not ask permission from the department's permanent secretary a requirement under rules stopping ex-ministers and advisers using privileged information gained in government to benefit themselves. Under the rules, they must inform their former department's top civil servant if they wish to take up a job at a lobbying firm within two years of leaving Whitehall. Applications are almost always approved but often come with conditions to stop them lobbying government or using privileged information to the benefit of their new employers. Ms Hill left the Home Office in June 2014 and began work at Lexington 11 months later. Among the firm's clients are top investment bank Goldman Sachs, fracking firm Cuadrilla and rail company First Group. It is not known which account Mrs Hill worked on during her time at Lexintgon. She was only there 10 months, however, as Mrs May brought her back into government after her swift move to No 10 to replace David Cameron last month. Ms Hill's contract stated that 'special are required to submit an application to the head of their former department for a new appointment or employment they wish to take up after leaving the Civil Service . . . for two years after leaving the Civil Service'. The revelation was discovered in an investigation by The Times, which also found that ministers quietly relaxed rules on aides working for lobbying firms after leaving government. Months before the 2015 General Election ministers dropped requirements for all new lobbying jobs taken up by former special advisers to be scrutinised and approved by the Government's independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). The restrictions were put in place by the Coalition to improve lobbying transparency in 2011. Fiona Hill (pictured with then Home Secretary Theresa May as her special adviser in the last Parliament) broke lobbying rules by taking up a new role at Lexington Communications without asking the Home Office's permanent secretary for approval It made it much easier for the scores of special advisers and ministers who lost their jobs after the 2015 General Election to take up lucrative jobs at top lobbying firms. All they needed was approval from their former department's permanent secretary. If Ms Hill had taken up her job at Lexington a year earlier she would have had to seek permission from the Acoba committee. The new rules do not open up the appointments to the same level of scrutiny and are only published twice a year on government department websites. A staggering 39 senior civil servants applied for permission from their old departments to take up new roles in the lobbying industry, according to analysis by The Times. A Whitehall source confirmed to the newspaper that Ms Hill had not asked for permission and blamed it on the long period between jobs for the failure to do so. The source suggested it was unfair to demand special advisers remember the rules and said Whitehall should ensure the rules are better policed. A government spokesman said: 'We do not routinely comment on matters dealing with individual staffing, but the business appointment rules are publicly available and set by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.' It came as Mrs May faced backlash from her own Tory MPs today after refusing to intervene to block David Cameron's resignation honours list, insisting she wants to avoid setting a 'very bad precedent'. A leaked draft suggests David Cameron (pictured left delivering his resignation speech outside No 10 last month) will shower knighthoods and other honours on a staggering 48 aides, allies, donors and four Cabinet ministers with knighthoods. Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson (right) has demanded Theresa May step in to whittle down the list as the awards 'undermine' her pledge to end government 'for the privileged' She faced demands to stop her predecessor showering knighthoods and other gongs on a staggering 48 aides, allies and donors as part of his resignation honours list. The new Prime Minister was warned that failure to prevent so many awards going to his 'cronies' would undermine her pledge to end government 'for the privileged few'. Tory MP Tania Mathias said the remarkable number of honours handed to Mr Cameron's aides and allies 'makes me sad for politics'. And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lashed out at Mr Cameron for rewarding his 'mates,' calling for an honours system that is 'fair, that's fair, that's more democratic. He wants members of the public to be able to nominate people for honours. But despite growing calls for her to act, Downing Street said this morning she would not block any of the honours as it would set a bad precedent for a new Prime Minister to interfere in official processes. Only serving prime ministers can officially make recommendations for honours to the Queen but it is convention they do not intervene to block nominations from their predecessors. Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne (pictured on Sky News this morning) - himself a recipient of Mr Cameron's generous honours rewards - defended his former boss, saying the awards were a 'relatively light way' of paying off 'debts of honour' The scale and audacity of Mr Cameron's list led to calls for Mrs may to make exception and whittle down the list, which would have been humiliating for Mr Cameron. The former PM has risked ruining his legacy by recommending gongs for scores of pro-EU campaigners, political cronies, donors, knighthoods to four Cabinet ministers and even an award for his wife's personal stylist Isabel Spearman. WHO'S ON THE HONOURS COMMITTEES CHARGED WITH APPROVING CAMERON'S GONGS? An outgoing prime minister has the right to draw up a resignation honours list on leaving office, but the names are sent through a set of checks before being sent to the Queen for Royal approval. The names are sent to the relevant honours committees - which range from arts and media, the economy, health and education. Many of Mr Cameron's nominations will be checked by the parliamentary and political service committee, which is chaired by the independent Lord Spicer. Both main parties' chief whips sit on this committee - meaning Labour's Rosie Winterton and government chief whip Gavin Williamson - who is one of the names down for an award. It is also made up of four other independent members, including Dianne Bevan, chief operating officer in the National Assembly for Wales, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler, former Speaker of hte Lords Baroness Hayman and the former Commons clerk Lord Lisvane. Each of the honours committees has a majority of members who are independent, mainly made up of senior civil servants from the relevant departments. A representative from No 10 is invited to attend all committee meetings. After making their checks, the names are sent back to the Prime Minister, who then makes recommendations to the Queen. Her Majesty then formally recognises the names. Advertisement One ex-Cabinet minister accused the former Prime Minister of 'sticking up two fingers' to the country by lavishing gongs on Remain campaigners after their failure to win the EU referendum. Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham demanded all the recommended honours be turned down by Mrs May, in particular the rewards for Remain campaigners because they would only deepen public anger at the 'out-of-touch elite'. 'If they are accepted, they will destroy any remaining shred of respect for the honours system,' he said. 'Many people voted Leave out of sheer frustration at an out-of-touch political elite. 'This Honours List reads like a two-fingered salute back to the public. It sums up everything that is wrong with Westminster politics.' But Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne - himself a recipient of Mr Cameron's generous honours rewards - defended his former boss, saying the awards were a 'relatively light way' of paying off 'debts of honour'. 'The reality is with any honours list there are names that will warm our hearts and names that will send us into an apoplectic rage,' he told the BBC. However deputy leader of the Labour party Tom Watson called on Mrs May to prove her actions matched her rhetoric by blocking the nominations. On the steps of Downing Street minutes after being appointed Prime Minister last month, Mrs May promised: 'The Government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours.' Mr Watson said last night: 'I hope Theresa May is not going stake her reputation on David Cameron's old boys network. 'That Mr Cameron proposes to reward his friends network on such a huge scale will not only bring the honours system into disrepute, it will undermine the reputation of the Theresa May. 'It's cronyism, pure and simple and proof the Tories will always put their own interests before those of the country.' Samantha Cameron's aide and fashion confidant Isabel Spearman, left, is reportedly set to be appointed an OBE while George Osborne's aide Thea Rogers, right, is also set for the same honour Deputy leader of the Labour party Tom Watson (pictured on Sky News today) called on Theresa May to prove her actions matched her rhetoric by blocking the nominations But responding to calls for Mrs May to step in, a Downing Street spokeswoman said this morning: 'It is standard for an outgoing prime minister to submit a resignation list. 'The names on the list were at the formerly prime minister's discretion, and they will now go through all the proper processes and committees. 'It would set a very bad precedent for a new Prime Minister to interfere in the official processes.' Tory MPs also launched furious attacks on the ex-Prime Minister and to the rage of many key figures in the Conservative Party, only one of those he plans to reward campaigned for Leave during the EU referendum. Senior Government figures said they were stunned by the scale of his 'cronyism' which apparently also includes nominations for his wife's personal stylist Ms Spearman, and ex-Chancellor George Osborne's close aide Thea Rogers, who is said to have encouraged him to lose weight. Tory MP Tania Mathias (pictured left as she won the Twickenham constituency at the 2015 General Election) said the remarkable number of honours handed to Mr Cameron's aides and allies 'makes me sad for politics'. Tory sources said ex-party chairman Lord Feldman (pictured right), Mr Cameron's old university friend, had played a key role in compiling the resignation honours list despite being entirely unelected himself Commenting on Mr Cameron's resignation honours list this lunchtime, Mr Corbyn said: David Cameron seems to have found a lot of friends he wanted to reward and thats upset everybody. Im sure hes got a lot of mates who need rewarding. 'I want to see an honours system thats fair, thats open, thats more democratic and people can nominate to it. 'I do not believe in honours for politicians who are in office because I think to be in office, to be elected to parliament, to a council is an honour itself and so I dont make nominations for political honours.' Criticising Mr Cameron for undermining the honours system, Tory MP Ms Mathias told the BBC today: 'If my non-political friends have to ask why somebody gets an honour that makes me nervous and the contrast is when people in the community have had honours nobody ever asks why, its usually "wow, how amazing and well-deserved" so that part of the honours system I would want to keep because its so precious. 'I notice since I was a councillor people sometimes wear the little lapel pins and its usually a very, very modest person at some event and you say whats that for? and they say gosh, its for 30 years of public service or something and youre blown away and I think thats a very British way of honouring people, which is great. The boy's mother, Jessica, is also accused of doing nothing to protect him His stepfather, Richard Lyle, has been charged with causing his death Documents stated the state of the house was a 'hazard for children' Police went to the home at least twice in the two weeks before he died But they and local officials claim they didn't do enough to help Died in October 19, 2014, covered in bruises and had been Child services in Oregon are being sued for $10million after a two-year-old boy died in his violent stepfather's care. Welfare workers in the city of Dallas were repeatedly warned about bruises Hayden Henry suffered weeks before he died on October 19, 2014, the lawsuit states. His body was covered in horrific injuries and had been vomiting blood in the hours before he passed away, but no one sought treatment for the helpless toddler. Welfare workers in the city of Dallas were repeatedly warned about bruises Hayden Henry (pictured) suffered weeks before he died on October 19, 2014, the lawsuit states Stepfather, serial felon Richard Tyle (pictured with the boy's mother Jessica), had been convicted three times of assault and strangulation. But he was still allowed to care for the boy The youngster's parents told the police about the suspected abuse - and now local officials claim they should have done more to protect their son. Stepfather Richard Tyle, a serial felon, had been convicted three times of assault and strangulation. The human services department had filed petitions in juvenile court saying Tyle as a danger to his biological children. But he was still allowed to care for the boy. On his Facebook, he has seemed to embrace his criminal past by uploading pictures of himself while in prison. The home where the child was being cared for was also in a shocking condition. On his Facebook, Tyle (left) has seemed to embrace his criminal past by uploading pictures of himself while in prison Jessica Tyle, then 20, and her new husband Tyle, then 25, were raising Hayden and his 10-month-old sister in a home covered with human and dog feces, according to documents seen by The Oregonian. Marijuana was also said to have been within reach of the toddler. Hayden's mother took Hayden to a Dallas emergency room just two weeks before his death. He had bruising around his neck. Both child workers and the police were notified, according to reports. Mrs Tyle, now known as Anderson, said the injuries happened in the boy's father's care. Jessica Tyle (pictured with Hayden) has been charged with not doing another to seek medical treatment for the toddler in the hours before he died But he told police the youngster wasn't hurt when he dropped him off at the home she shared with Hayden's stepfather. Richard Tyle was indicted on six felony charges - including accusations he injured and failed to seek medical help for the boy - a year after his death. His trial for manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, criminal mistreatment and assault will start on September 13 and is set to last two weeks. A Polk County grand jury also indicted Jessica Tyle for her inaction in the hours before her son died. She has been charged with a single felony count of criminal mistreatment for withholding necessary physical care for Hayden on the evening of Oct. 18. Richard Tyle (pictured with Jessica) was indicted on six felony charges - including accusations he injured and failed to seek medical help for the boy - a year after his death The lawsuit in Marion County seeks $6 million in damages for the boy's pain and suffering, $2.5 million for the parents' loss of their son and $1.5 million for the boy's loss of future earnings. It also seeks to compel the Department of Human Services chief, Clyde Saiki, to examine and publicly report what happened. Lawyers representing Hayden's estate have filed court documents requesting that his father and a professional money-manager be given control of any money the estate may win from the lawsuit. and let the group go After questions police said they were not Police say two men and a woman with semi-automatic weapons and body armor went to a Kentucky Walmart to prepare for doomsday. Lexington Police Lt. Jackie Newman tells the Lexington Herald-Leader that officers were called to the Walmart on Saturday night after people reported seeing men inside a car wearing body armor and holding weapons. A six-month old baby was also in the car. A 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman, who brought their six-month-old baby along, met up with a 19-year-old man who said they were preparing for the end of times and needed supplies. A 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman, who brought their six-month-old baby along, met up with a 19-year-old man at this Walmart in Lexington, Kentucky, to show off weapons as they prepared for doomsday The 26-year-old had just purchased a bulletproof vest, a semi-automatic AK-47 and a .357 Magnum revolver, authorities said. The man was wearing the vest and both guns were visible and loaded. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, the 26-year-old had recently won a settlement from a car accident and used to money to purchase the weapons. The group met at the Walmart so the younger man could see the older man's new gear, but no one in the group entered the Walmart. Police asked the three to come back to the station and all three complied and cooperated with officers during questioning. The 26-year-old had just purchased a bulletproof vest, a semi-automatic AK-47 (stock image, pictured) and a .357 Magnum revolver, authorities said Police asked them to come back for questioning and all three voluntarily went to the station. Officers determined the group was not a threat and was really just preparing for a doomsday scenario (bulletproof vest stock image, pictured) Authorities found marijuana in the car and cited the men for the drugs, but did not charge them with any other violations. Photos were taken of the car and the weapons to complete a report for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services due to the presence of a child. In the state of Kentucky, a license is not needed to have semi-automatic weapons in the car. Lexington Police spokesman Richard Willoby says the men were not doing anything criminal with the weapons. 'There appeared to be nothing criminal,' Willoby told the Lexington Herald Leader. A 26-year-old mother in Louisiana shot and killed her 5-year-old daughter and then committed suicide Sunday, cops said. Officials in Lafourche Parish found the bodies of Nakesha Carrere and her daughter Abigail Creamer in the 900 block of Burma Road, KHOU reported. The girl's father, veteran Charles Creamer Jr., discovered the gruesome scene just before noon and called 911, cops said. Officials say mother Nakesha Carrere, 26, shot and killed daughter Abigail Creamer, 5, (both pictured) Detectives in Lafourche Parish say Carrere killed Abigail with a single shot to the head and then turned the gun on herself The girl's father, military veteran Charles Creamer Jr. (center), discovered the gruesome scene Creamer, a sergeant in the US Marines who served in Afghanistan, found his wife and daughter shot in the head. 'This is a tragic incident, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to the family,' Sheriff Craig Webre told KHOU. 'Investigators are still processing evidence, but we are confident in our determination of a murder-suicide.' Creamer, a sergeant in the US Marines who served in Afghanistan, called 911 shortly before noon on Sunday Creamer (pictured) was honorably discharged after serving in Afghanistan in 2014 Sheriff's deputies said investigators are still processing evidence at the home Sheriff's deputies also found a letter inside the home believed to have been written by Carrere. The contents of the suicide note remain unreleased. Creamer was honorably discharged from the US Marine Corps. in November 2014. Cops say Carrere left a suicide note behind, which was found by her distraught husband Turkish special forces have captured 11 fugitive commandos it claims were part of a plot to seize President Tayyip Edrofan during the recent failed coup. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but rushed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. All but one of those suspected of being involved have been detained with their capture coming after Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 more members of its armed forces. Pictures show the 11 men stripped and handcuffed and covered in cuts and bruises as they were taken away in cars. Turkish special forces have captured 11 fugitive commandos it claims were part of a plot to seize President Tayyip Edrofan during the recent failed coup Pictures show the 11 men stripped and handcuffed and covered in cuts and bruises as they were taken away in cars An interior ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a 'death squad' and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers. The country stacked a top military council with government ministers on Sunday in moves to tighten control of the military after the coup. 'Eleven of them were captured in Ula,' Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a press conference after a cabinet meeting, referring to a town near Marmaris. He said one soldier was still at large. Erdogan earlier said his swift escape had saved him from being killed or taken hostage. An interior ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a 'death squad' and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. 'There was an exchange of fire during the operation,' the official added. 'Drones and helicopters were used to pinpoint the location.' Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed. Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed Turkish gendarmeries escort one of the 11 fugitive commandos who were involved in a bid to seize President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup attempt last month Dozens of protesters gathered and jeered outside the gendarmerie outpost where the commandos were first held before being taken to a police station in the area Dozens of protesters gathered and jeered outside the gendarmerie outpost where the commandos were first held before being taken to a police station in the area. A total of 37 soldiers were reportedly involved in the operation to seize Erdogan in Marmaris and 25 of them had been caught earlier, Anadolu said. The scale of Erdogan's crackdown since the coup attempt - more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended or placed under investigation - has unnerved Turkey's NATO allies, fuelling tension between Ankara and the West. The half-sister of one of the Islamic State terrorists shot dead after murdering a Catholic priest in France is 'capable of taking revenge' against police or civilians, her father has claimed. Franck Petitjean remains in a 'state of shock' after 19-year-old Abdelmalik Petitjean, whom he formally adopted in 1997, carried out the barbaric attack a week ago. Now Mr Petitjean fears that his daughter, Laura, who is also a teenager, is so angry that she may want to hurt innocent people too. The half-sister (pictured) of one of the Islamic State terrorists shot dead after murdering a Catholic priest in France is 'capable of taking revenge' against police or civilians, her father has claimed Franck Petitjean (pictued) remains in a 'state of shock' after 19-year-old Abdelmalik Petitjean, whom he formally adopted in 1997, carried out the barbaric attack a week ago 'She told me that God alone frightened her,' said Mr Petitjean, who lives in the south west city of Bordeaux. 'She is able to take revenge on an innocent, a police officer, a woman, anyone,' adding that he 'fears she may be radicalised.' Mr Petitjean made his shocking claims to French media outlets soon after Laura was released from custody without charge. She had been arrested along with a number of other family members and friends of Petitjean soon after he murdered Father Jacques Hamel in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, last Tuesday. Abdelmalik and his accomplice, Adel Kermiche, also 19, were gunned down by police commandoes as they ran out of the church once Father Jacques was dead. Now Mr Petitjean fears that his daughter, Laura, who is also a teenager, is so angry that she may want to hurt innocent people too Mr Petitjean, who is not thought to be a Muslim, said his adopted son had hidden his radicalization extremely well, and he feared that Laura might be doing exactly the same thing. 'I was in contact with him by phone at the beginning of July, he was with his cousin in Nancy,' said Mr Petitjean. 'He said he wanted to come on holiday to Bordeaux in August. 'He'd passed his baccalaureate, he ought to have got his driving licence, to work in distribution. He had a future, he ought to have had children. 'He went to the mosque, and had observed Ramadan from a young age. I was proud of him, because he was a true Muslim, but he fell in with a bad crowd who got into his head.' Mr Petitjean said radicalisation probably started soon after Abdelmalik's parents divorced in 2011. 'Malik was adorable. Credulous. Daesh got into his head, invaded his brain,' said Mr Petitjean. 'Three and a half months ago, my ex wife called me and said she was called by an Imam in Aix-les-Bains, with Malik. 'She told me he was hanging out with the bearded ones. When I wanted to look after my son, he told me that I was racist. In three months, he'd allowed them to get into his brain. Nobody in his immediate family or circle of friends saw anything.' The 'Nancy cousin' is Farid Khelil, 30, and he has been placed under formal criminal investigation for a range of terrorist-related charges including murder and kidnap. Khelil not only put his cousin up in Heillecourt, a suburb of Nancy, before the savage attack, but knew something violent was about to happen, prosecutors allege.. Khelil, who has just one previous conviction for a minor road traffic offence in 2009, turned himself into police soon after Petitjean and Kermiche struck. All are alleged to have been in contact each on Telegram, the encrypted message application which is particularly popular with terrorists. Kermiche had even boasted about his plans on the service, saying: 'You take a knife, you go to church, you create carnage, bam! Police had also received a warning that Petitjean was going to strike last Friday, although it only contained a picture of him, rather than his full name. The pair of killers were both on so called S-file terrorist watch lists, after they were caught running away to Turkey to try and join the Isis caliphate in Syria. Petitjean lived more than 400 miles away from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, with his mother in the Alpine spa town of Aix-les-Bains. The presidential hopeful is reportedly getting styling tips from her good friend, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, while on the campaign trail Clinton's suit was also remarkably similar to the ivory look vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro wore at the 1984 Democratic convention Clinton's color choice was a clear nod to the dresses worn by suffragettes as they protested to get women the right to vote 100 years ago last July with a rally on on Roosevelt Island Lauren also designed the cobalt blue suit that Clinton wore when she kicked off her The designer of the ivory suit worn by Hillary Clinton last week when she accepted the Democratic nomination for president has been revealed. Ralph Lauren, a close friend of Clinton, created the widely-praised look, with a member of his press team confirming his involvement over the weekend. It is the second big look that Lauren has designed for the presidential hopeful, having also created the cobalt blue suit she wore last July when she kicked off her campaign with a rally on New York City's Roosevelt Island. Clinton chose the American designer for a speech in which she attacked Trump for making many of his products overseas. 'Please explain to me what part of America First leads him to make Trump ties in China, not Colorado. Trump suits in Mexico, not Michigan. Trump furniture in Turkey, not Ohio. Trump picture frames in India, not Wisconsin,' said Clinton. 'Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. Well, he could start by actually making things in America again.' Scroll down for video Mystery solved: Ralph Lauren has been identified as the designer of the ivory suit Hillary Clinton wore Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention (above) Friends: The designer has been close to Clinton for decades, and donated millions to the Smithsonian when she was First Lady (pair above in 2014) Lauren was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrant parents and briefly attended Baruch College to study business before dropping out and joining the US Army. It was after his time in the armed forces that he began to work in design, first as a sales assistant at Brooks Brothers. He got his start designing menswear and then expanded to women's clothing, home goods and fragrances, creating a multi-billion empire. Lauren has been designing looks for Clinton for the past three decades, and the two have a close relationship, with the Democratic nominee presenting the designer with the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal two years ago in Washington DC. The annual honor is given to individuals have made 'distinguished contributions to the advancement of areas of interest to the Smithsonian.' In Lauren's case that involved a $10million donation to restore the famed Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the national anthem. He also donated $3million to support the museum's preservation programs, with both of those generous gifts coming while Clinton was First Lady. It is not clear why Lauren did not reveal himself as the designer of Clinton's look after Thursday night's speech, but his silence likely had to do with not wanting to taking away from the historic moment. The American fashion house was also busy promoting the fact that they had once again designed the outfits that would be worn by the United States Olympic team later this week in Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremony parade. The uniforms were all made in America this year after a controversy in the wake of the 2012 London Games when it was revealed some of the items were made in China. Go-to guy: Lauren also designed the cobalt blue suit that Clinton wore when she kicked off her campaign last July with a rally on on Roosevelt Island (above) Watchful eye: The presidential hopeful is reportedly getting styling tips from her good friend, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, while on the campaign trail (pair above in 2013) Clinton also appeared to be making a sartorial statement on Thursday, with her ivory suit a clear nod to the dresses worn by the suffragettes as they marched in the streets to get women the right to vote in the country. The women chose the wear white to demonstrate their purity against the verbal - and at times physical - attacks they endured during their protests. Clinton's suit was also remarkably similar to the ivory look Geraldine Ferraro wore to the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco. Ferraro made history of her own on that night as the first female to ever become the vice presidential nominee of a major political party. Clinton's look also earned high praise from her the newest member of her team - freelance fashion consultant Anna Wintour, who is also close friends with Lauren. 'Clintons look tonight is one of subtle, streamlined elegance,' declared Vogue of Clinton's suit. 'Her outfit tonight picked up that thread, allowing her speech and spirit to take center stage, with her clothing and simple accessories - a golden pendant necklace and nude kitten heels - highlighting the woman herself.' Herstory: Clinton's color choice was a clear nod to the dresses worn by suffragettes as they protested to get women the right to vote 100 years ago (above a 1912 march) Historic lady: Clinton's suit was also remarkably similar to the ivory look vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro wore at the 1984 Democratic convention (above) Business of Fashion reported on Thursday morning that Clinton was being styled by Wintour for select events on the campaign trail. The longtime Vogue editor's work definitely seemed to be on display when she hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic nominee at the California home of CAA chief Bryan Lourd and The Palm owner Bruce Bozzi this past May. Clinton was outfitted for the event in a fashion forward Armani jacket that earned her high praise from the fashion community, but left some members of the public in disbelief when they learned of the jacket's $12,495 price tag. Wintour, like all celebrity stylists, has also reportedly been busy approaching designers to gather looks for Clinton's campaign wardrobe. A teacher who claimed she missed school while flying back from Australia because she was 'confused' about term dates then didn't return for two months has lost her wrongful dismissal claim. Secondary school teacher Jennifer Smith had been flying back on January 7 - when she was meant to be in class - and failed to return or answer letters about her absence until March. Ms Smith claimed she had forgotten the term dates as she was too busy caring for her sick father and took Bilton School, in Warwickshire, to court for wrongfully sacking her. Secondary school teacher Jennifer Smith had been flying back on January 7 - when she was meant to be in class - and failed to return or answer letters about her absence until March But a judge at the Birmingham tribunal Bryn Lloyd today slammed her 'total lack of regard for her school' as he threw out her claims for wrongful dismissal, breach of contract and unpaid wages. Ms Smith, from Coventry, West Midlands, admitted she was on a plane coming back from a holiday in Australia on January 7, when she should have been at school. She said: 'I did not know what time I was arriving back - it was a genuine mistake. 'I later intended contacting the school but I was at the hospital bedside of my father who was ill, and I was confused. I did send the school an email.' But Jonathan Meichen, representing the school, alleged the school did not hear from Ms Smith until March and had expected her to be back at work on January 7. He accused her of unauthorised absence from the school during January, failing to contact the management and ignoring letters from the school about her absence. Ms Smith claimed she had forgotten the term dates as she was too busy caring for her sick father and took Bilton School, in Warwickshire, to court for wrongfully sacking her Mr Meichen said: 'You failed to give a reason for your absence - you could have telephoned the school at any time. You ignored the school's letters. 'It was a strange and irresponsible thing to do.' Most teachers would have been falling over themselves to co-operate with their schools Judge Bryn Lloyd Mr Lloyd told Ms Smith she was an intelligent and well-educated professional teacher - but said her evidence had not been credible, and accused her of having scant regard for her employment. He said: 'Most teachers would have been falling over themselves to co-operate with their schools.' Mr Lloyd said he did not accept the claimant had been confused, and rejected all her legal claims. Stop Donald, STOP. Im not a political strategist but if I was, then my first rule for running a presidential campaign would be this: never pick a fight with the grieving family of an American soldier slain whilst serving his country. Its a fight, as Trump is now discovering, that you cant possibly win, not least in the court of public opinion. This savagely effective master of aggressive, populist rhetoric and feuding has seen off everyone from his 17 rivals for the Republican nomination to Pope Francis. But in Khizr and Ghazala Khan he has finally met his match. Trump has finally met his match in Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who have dominated the news agenda for the four days since the powerful DNC speech Now Trump needs to stop digging. He badly misplayed his hand trying to counter-attack them in a very bad way For four days now, ever since Khizr made his stunningly powerful speech at the Democratic convention, the Khans have dominated the election news agenda. Trump has badly misplayed his hand by trying to counter-attack them in a manner which has rightly drawn widespread opprobrium by people on all sides of the political divide. I watched Mr Khans speech live and understood immediately the potential scale of its importance. He is a man of rare nobility and extraordinary eloquence who speaks in a simple, direct manner which cuts to the heart of anyone who listens to him. The agony of losing a son in the Iraq War twelve years ago is still deeply and demonstrably embedded in both him and his wife. When he pulled out his copy of the Constitution and brandished it at the cameras, I felt like standing and cheering myself. Not because I hate Donald Trump. I dont, hes a good friend of mine. No, it was because I share Mr Khans anger that millions of decent, law-abiding U.S. Muslims have been unfairly denigrated and abused in the debate over Islamic terrorism. Most notably those Muslim families, like the Khans, who lost children or other relatives on the battlefield as these heroes fought to safeguard the lives of their fellow Americans. ISIS, it is worth repeating, kill many more Muslims than they kill people of any other creed. If Captain Humayun Khan were still alive, ISIS would target him as the ultimate infidel a Muslim fighting for America against them. There is self-evidently a massive problem with Islamic terror and Trumo identified it Every single Muslim whom I have spoken in recent months loathes and detests these murderous medieval monsters as much as non-Muslims do. If Captain Humayun Khan were still alive today, then ISIS would specifically target him as the ultimate infidel a Muslim fighting for America against them to protect a democracy and freedom that they abhor. There is self-evidently a massive problem with Islamic terror and Trump was right to identify and prioritise it. I didnt agree with his proposal after the appalling San Bernadinho attack to initiate a short-term ban on all Muslims coming into America. That smacked of unfairness, bigotry and over-reaction. But I do agree with his apparently revised position, as espoused by his VP running mate Mike Pence, that people, particularly Muslims, travelling to the States from terror-strewn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan should be subjected to far more rigorous background checks on entry to the U.S. Every country should be doing this; its just common sense given the dreadful ISIS-inspired attacks weve been seeing across Europe in recent weeks. As the FBI director James Comey warned last week, current successes in the conventional war against ISIS on military battlefields across the Middle East will inevitably lead to increased terror attacks on civilian targets in Western Europe and the United States as these Islamic State soldiers disperse to safer ground. So Trumps essential message to Americans is correct: were in a very dangerous war with people who want to do immeasurable harm to us and weve got to make damn sure we know who were letting into the country. Where there is dispute is over how best to deal with it. Trump's essential message may be right, but the Khans have drawn a clear dividing line between the targeting of violent Muslim extremists and victimising peaceful, law-abiding Muslims and those serving their country in the fight against ISIS What the Khans have done so brilliantly is to draw a clear dividing line between the targeting of violent Muslim extremists and victimising peaceful, law-abiding Muslims or those serving their country in the fight against ISIS. This is absolutely vital to encouraging the latter to root out and expose the former. ISIS will never be defeated without the active co-operation of the wider Muslim population, among whom its followers and fighters live. Donald Trump should have recognised this bigger picture and responded to the Khans criticism with good grace and understanding, not with his usual defensive Alpha male bombast. His suggestion that Ms Khan had been silenced due to her husbands presumed Muslim male misogyny was particularly distasteful, and factually inaccurate as the powerful op-ed column she wrote for the Washington Post yesterday proved. So yes, Donald Trump got this spectacularly wrong and I urge him to stop digging an even bigger hole with the Khans. But hes not the only villain here. Trump isn't the only villain. Hillary Clinton voted for the war and is using the Khans as a political weapon - which is despicable Hillary Clinton, lest we forget, voted for the war which killed Captain Khan. She was thus directly responsible for his death and the deaths of the thousands of other U.S. servicemen and women who died in Iraq. Their blood, including Captain Khans, is on her hands. And please dont give me all this guff about her being the innocent victim of a pack of lies spun by President Bush and his neo-con mates Rumsfeld and Cheney. She was a United States Senator, and it was her fundamental duty to ensure the merits of Bushs case for war were legitimate. Indeed, I can think of no greater duty for any Senator than to microscopically and forensically examine the case for committing any American troops to any war. Hillary failed that duty, the Iraq War was an absolute shambles, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and the Middle East turned into a blazing tinder-box from which ISIS emerged emboldened to terrorise the world. I made a mistake, she explained later. You think????? This was one of the biggest mistakes made in the history of modern America. One of the victims of that mistake was Captain Khan. It thus takes some shameless gall, having made such a lethal error, to then invite his two grieving parents to appear at your convention and act as your political attack dogs doesnt it? Theres a stinking hypocrisy to Hillarys very deliberate deployment of the Khans as vote-winners for her election campaign. So yes, be offended by Donald Trumps reaction to the Khans. That is deserved. But reserve some of your scorn for the despicably two-faced conduct of Hillary Clinton. I dont know where the bottom is, sneered Hillary yesterday as she milked Khan-gate like a ravenous dairy farmer. Let me help, Mrs Clinton. Convicted drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby could enjoy hassle-free employment when she returns to the Gold Coast next year from Bali, where she has spent almost a decade behind bars. Her sister Mercedes Corby has quietly moved back to Australia after spending more than a decade leading a lifestyle in Bali to be closer to her sibling, and is opening a tapas bar on the Gold Coast. With Schapelle due to finish her parole in Bali and return home in the next 12 months, working in the bar could be just what she needs to stay busy. Schapelle Corby(pictured) is expected to return to Australia next year once she has completed her parole in Bali Schapelle served nine years behind bars in Kerobokan Prison after she was caught with 4.2 kilograms of cannabis in her bodyboard bag in October 2004. She was released from jail in February 2014 Mercedes returned with her three children, Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and nine-year-old Nyoman after splitting with her Balinese husband Wayan Widyartha. The 42-year-old has teamed up with former professional surfer Trudy Todd to open up a lavish tapas restaurant called Laneway Bar and Dining in Coolangatta. The pair have spent about $500,000 in fitting out the new venue, which Ms Todd says will serve as a 'social networking hub and clothing boutique in the day time and groovy bar with live music, DJs and a marketta at night'. She told Glitter Strip Bare the menu would be 'healthy tapas' - inspired by the pair's world travels. Her sister, Mercedes Corby (left) has teamed up with former professional surfer Trudy Todd (right) to open up a tapas restaurant called Laneway Bar and Dining in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast Mercedes has moved back to the Gold Coast with her three children Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and nine-year-old Nyoman after splitting from her Balinese husband Wayan The business partners, who are best friends, set up their Gold Coast cocktail bar after Todd approached Mercedes about the hospitality venture. Todd said she been best friends with the Mercedes 'forever', but is reportedly good friends with her younger sister as well. Despite leaving her sister behind in Bali, Mercedes said she only decided to move back last year when she felt confident Schapelle was well enough to be independent. 'She is in good health physically and mentally. She is coming good, but we take it day by day,' Mercedes said about her sister who is looking forward to turning her life back around in Australia. The mother-of-three has moved back into the humble property at Tugun in Queensland's beachside suburb, where Schapelle once called home before she was arrested more than 10 years ago. Mercedes said she feared her children, who were born and raised in Bali since birth, would struggle to fit in at school because of their auntie's widely publicised conviction but the trio have adjusted well to the Australian life. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mercedes Corby for comment. Schapelle could find herself working behind her sister's bar on the Gold Coast Glitter Strip when she returns to Australia next year (pictured in 2005 leaving the Denpasar District Court following her sentence) Gold Coast mother Mercedes has always been incredibly family oriented, moving to Bali to support her sister and now she is determined to build a future for her children, who were born and raised in Bali julian assange, whose Wikileaks site published the thousands of emails that rocked the Democratic National Committee on the eve of the party's convention, says his group is in possession of 'a lot' of material related Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and that it will come out as the campaign proceeds. 'Well we have quite a lot of material so I think we will stagger it in different batches as we are ready to publish each batch,' Assange told CNN, asked whether the material might come out for example before a big presidential debate. Assange refused to say whether Russia was behind the hack that dug up the material that ended up in the hands of Wikileaks. 'Well, what sort of question is that? I am a journalist we don't reveal our sources,' he lectured host Poppy Harlow. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says his group has 'quite a lot' of material on Hillary Clinton's campaign, and is in the process of reviewing it for dissemination Asked whether his group was being used to manipulate the U.S. politics, he continued: 'So what is the accusation here precisely? No one disputes even a single email that we have published ... The goal of Wikileaks as a media organization is to educate the public, to turn a dark world into a lighter world through the process of education. And we're doing it.' He indicated his team was reviewing the material for proper presentation and has already verified its accuracy. Assange seized the attention of the political world once again Friday when he told CNN, 'We have more material related to the Hillary Clinton campaign.' Assange hinted that the material was 'extremely interesting,' and said cryptically: 'We will see what will come of them in due course.' Assange disputed the notion that his group was putting out unflattering information about the Democrats as any kind of personal animus for Hillary Clinton. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says his group has 'more material' on Hillary Clinton, following its publication of 19,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee 'It is false reporting,' he said. 'I never said that I wanted to harm Hillary Clinton, anything like that,' he said. In a June interview with Britain's ITV, Assange said upcoming leaks would be 'great.' He said of Clinton: 'She has pushed for the prosecution of WikiLeaks. So we do see her as a bit of a problem for the freedom of the press more generally.' Assange told CNN the release of information is 'what our readers demand, but it's also our basic principles. Wikileaks, which has revealed a trove of diplomatic and other information about the internal workings of the U.S. government, published 19,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee Assange spoke from the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has been granted political asylum. He is facing extradition related to sexual assault allegations The DNC leaks ended up being the last straw for chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned her post on the eve of the party convention Wasserman Schultz got heckled by her own Florida delegation after emails showed staffers appearing to work to undermine Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders He on Friday defended the DNC leak which ultimately led to the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz after internal emails showed staffers trying to undermine Clinton rival Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders just as Democrats were gathering to nominate Clinton. 'That's when we knew there would be maximum interest by readers, but also, we have a responsibility to,' Assange said. 'If we published after, you can just imagine how outraged the Democratic voting population would have been. It had to had to have been before,' he said. Reuters reported last week that a computer program the Clinton camp used to analyze voter data was penetrated by the same group what hacked into the DNC. Although the Clinton camp's internal emails weren't compromised, it could reveal details about how the campaign identifies its supporters. 'It's the same adversary,' a source involved in the investigation of the DNC hack told the New York Times. California cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike published a blog post pointing to Russian military and intelligence services as being behind two separate hacks on the DNC. Clinton spoke about the Hack on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, to support Putin,' Clinton said. 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 Clinton added: 'For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues.' Muhammad Ali's daughter-in-law has told how the boxer's troubled son walked out on her and their two daughters just days after he inherited his share of his father's millions. In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Online Shaakira Ali, 47, spoke of her disbelief and pain. She described how her husband trashed their apartment before he left, told of his fractured relationship with his famous father and long term substance abuse but said she was prepared to forgive the man she still loves in spite of it all. Speaking from her parents' home in Chicago, where she and daughters Ameera, eight, and Shakera, seven, are currently living she said: 'We've had our problems and I'm doing my best to see if we can work things out. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Shaakira Ali, 47, spoke to Daily Mail Online of her disbelief and pain after her husband, Muhammad Ali's son, Muhammad Jr, walked out on her and her two daughters Muhammad Jr, had a fractured relationship with his famous father and suffered long term from substance abuse, left his wife and daughters just days after inheriting his share of his father's millions Shaakira said that Muhammad Jr had a difficult relationship with his famous father, who left Muhammad Jr's mother when he was just five years old Shaakira and her daughters Ameera, eight, and Shakera, seven, are currently living in Chicago with her parents 'All I know is that I came home and everything was gone. Just like that. No warning call, "I'm leaving. I'm gone". 'I really don't know what's going on and I do care for him. He's the father of my kids and right now he's just lost his dad and I'm sure he's still hurting over that. But the way it looks, it looks bad.' According to Shaakira's mother, Raheema, who looked on as her daughter spoke, Muhammad Jr 'punched holes in the wall, tore the doors off' the couple's apartment and 'took what little there was' when he left two weeks ago. Shaakira admitted: 'He just blows up like that sometimes.' Since he walked out on his life and apartment in Chicago's notorious Southside, Muhammad Jr, 44, had not returned any of his wife's desperate telephone calls until the very day that Shaakira sat down with Daily Mail Online. Daily Mail Online was present when Shaakira received the call during which Muhammad Jr screamed at his wife incoherently leaving her distraught and bewildered. After the call she said: 'I just don't know what's going on. I don't know where he is. I haven't heard from his family - nothing.' Fighting back tears she said: 'He's left before. He was gone for eight months. He went to California to be with his sister. That was three, maybe four years ago and he came back. Shaakira's mother said that Muhammad Jr 'punched holes in the wall, tore the doors off' the couple's apartment before leaving Muhammad Jr and Shaakira met at an Islamic convention and have been married for 11 years 'But this is different. He just lost his father and all. I don't know if he has money but they say he has money. I'm not after that. I just want to keep my marriage together. I don't want my kids growing up without their father. 'I just want some closure. I don't know if he wants a divorce. If he does I need him to be a man and say so. But it's not what I want.' Reports have suggested that Muhammad Jr has struggled with addiction to crack cocaine, marijuana and heroin. Shaakira, at pains not to bad mouth her husband, declined to detail the extent of Muhammad Jr's substance abuse but admitted: 'He does struggle with substance abuse. Has he ever tried to get help? No. 'And I know people have said he's been "drugging it up". But I don't know about that.' Sighing, she continued: 'There's so much negativity out there, people say break up your family, move on. But I don't want to. My parents have been married for 50 years. I like being married. I want to be married.' Yet the fact that Muhammad Jr appears to have abandoned his family just days after inheriting his share of his late father's fortune is a particularly bitter pill for Shaakira to swallow, given that as a couple they struggled financially for years. Throughout their 11 year marriage, she admitted, they have lived on the poverty line - barely keeping their heads above water as nurse technician Shaakira was the only one working while Muhammad Jr failed to hold down a steady job. She said: 'Our problems were mainly due to financial reasons. I was the only one working. He really didn't have a paying job where you could pay the rent. Shaakira said that the Ali family never provided support for her and her husband, and that they often lived on the poverty line 'He had odd jobs, cutting grass, but it wasn't enough to support the family or pay a bill.' As a couple they used to talk about how their lives would change if they ever came into money. Shaakira said: 'The sad part about this is that before his father passed away we used to talk about it. He would say, "If I ever get hold of some money I'll get us a home". 'That's what's got me really all choked up. He would say he would get us out of where we are, a bad neighborhood with lots of shooting, and get us a home somewhere good. 'I guess people say things when it's not in their hands but when they have things it's different.' Reflecting for a moment, she continued: 'He cares for me. He cares for the kids. I care for him. But financially the only help we had was from my parents. We never got any help from his end at all. 'I think back in the beginning I may have asked for something but sometimes you ask just to get a little help - not for someone to take care of you. 'But it would come out like, "Oh you want money. You're a gold digger". You ask and people look at you in a different way but I was thinking we're family. 'Eventually I just stopped asking. Me and my mom, we took the initiative. We do what we got to do but it's a struggle.' According to Shaakira much of her husband's issues stem from his fractured relationship with his own father - a disconnect between him and his family that impacted on Shaakira's relationship with the clan. Shaakira said that she and Muhammad Jr planned on buying a house if they ever came into money She said: 'I know his father left when he was about five and he used to talk about that and struggle with that but there comes a point when you've got to say the past is the past. Move on. Make your own family.' And where Shaakira would have loved her children to have a close bond with their famous grandfather she admitted that Muhammad Jr's conflicted relationship with his father saw him put up barriers between him and his grandchildren. She said: 'He always seemed to want to keep them away from his father. Like he was jealous of them having a relationship or something so they really didn't know their grandfather very well and really don't have much of a relationship with the family at all.' According to Shaakira's mother 'this was never a marriage where two families came together. It was a marriage where two families got further and further apart.' Shaakira said that the first indication that familial tensions would be an issue came on the very day of their wedding. Shaakira and Muhammad Jr were married in Chateau Bu-Sche in Alsip, just outside Chicago. Pictures from that day show her a blissful bride with her husband very much in love with her. She recalled: 'We met at an Islamic convention and we were just attracted to each other form the start. He gave me his number but I lost it, the he called me a couple of weeks later and it all started from there.' They dated for around six months she remembered before becoming engaged. Instead, Muhammad Jr left Shaakira and their daughters just days after receiving his inheritance. Shaakira said that the family has been living on the poverty line 'But right from the day of the wedding something wasn't right,' she said. 'Usually at a wedding people bring gifts and they leave them on a table but I noticed that some gifts were going straight into Muhammad's pocket. 'But I just brushed it off because I wanted to be married and happy.' Over the years Shaakira has come to accept that her relationship with her in-laws is far from perfect. But she admitted she was unprepared for how quickly it would deteriorate following Muhammad Ali's death on June 3. She said: 'It just got worse after that. To that point the kids' great grandmother would send them something on their birthday - $10, $20. But after he died that all stopped.' And tensions and distrust were writ large at Muhammad Ali's funeral and in its immediate aftermath. In the days after she attended the funeral, Shaakira received a text from Muhammad Jr's sister, Maryam. It read: 'I just got a call that law enforcement will be arresting the person that is trying to sell a videotape of my father's burial. Only two people taped the burial. 'We know you did and another lady that was standing close to my mother. It would be sad to see you go to jail so I hope it's not you. Beware of this.' Shaakira is adamant that she did nothing of the sort and did not reply to the text. Later she received a further text: 'I'm appalled you would stoop so low to disrespect our father at his burial. I know now why you never sent me the video because you were negotiating the price of it. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali died on June 3, and tensions were writ large at Muhammad Ali's funeral and in its immediate aftermath Following Ali's funeral (pictured above, as Bill Clinton speaks), Muhammad Jr's sister accused Shaakira of filming the ceremony in an attempt to make money 'I feel so sorry for your soul especially during this Glorious month of Ramadan. Allah sees all and he is all knowing.' Again Shaakira insisted she had no knowledge of any attempt to sell video footage and that the only reason she had not been able to send the video she took was that she couldn't figure out how to transfer and send it. Whatever the truth the allegations show just how damaged Shaakira's relationship with her husband's family truly is. And it is a distance she feels most keenly now that he has gone and she is left, helpless and in the dark, unable to reach out to family members who, she is certain, know where her husband is and know what his intentions are. For now all she can do is sit and wait. She is hesitant to seek legal advice though has considered it and acknowledges that she may, in the end, have little option. She said: 'I've never been through nothing like this in my life. I just don't know. I'm hurting. 'I've got to try to get myself together for these kids 'cause we do need a house to live in and I can't just breakdown. If I do what will they do? 'I have to be strong for them but it's not easy, what I'm going through. I try to look like I'm okay and hold it together but I'm struggling and I don't know what to do.' She said: 'As far as I know we're still married but I don't know what's going on. I haven't done anything to him. I've never been unfaithful. People have their misunderstanding but they work them out. 'Am I bitter right now about this whole ordeal? Yes I am. I'm upset about it but I'm trying to keep myself together for my kids. 'The whole situation's just sad. Can we work things out and move forward? I don't know. I just want him to do the right thing. Whatever's done is done. You can't change the past. I'm still in disbelief like, is this real? An Ohio man on Monday pleaded guilty to plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs and faces up to 30 years in prison. Christopher Cornell, 22, dressed in black-and-white striped jail clothes and shackled, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati to attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State militant group. A fourth charge of solicitation to commit a violent crime will be dismissed at his sentencing on October 31, said one of his attorneys, Eric Eckes. Cornell, who mainly answered the judge's questions with 'yes ma'am' and 'no ma'am' responses, faces five years to 30 years in prison. Scroll down for video Christopher Cornell, 22, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State Another Cornell attorney, Martin Pinales, said after the hearing that the guilty plea was in the best interest of his client. Cornell, of Green Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati was arrested in January 2015 and accused of plotting an attack using pipe bombs and bullets. He initially pleaded not guilty. In April, U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith in Cincinnati ruled that Cornell, who has been held without bond since his arrest, was competent to stand trial. Last November, the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Cornell after his attorneys questioned his mental competence. Cornell researched the construction of pipe bombs, purchased a semi-automatic rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition, and made plans to travel to Washington to carry out the plot, according to the original indictment. He was arrested in January 2015, just moments after purchasing the rifle and ammunition from Point Blank Indoor Shooting Range & Gun Shop. Cornell's father John (pictured) was shocked when he learned of his arrest last year. He said his son was a 'mommy's boy' whose best friend was his cat Authorities called the shop about 10 minutes before Cornell showed up, instructing them that someone would be coming in to purchase a rifle and that that person would be taken into custody after the sale was made. The FBI first began tracking Cornell in the summer of 2014, when he began using the alias Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah to express support for ISIS on social media websites. And in the fall, an informant working on another case gave FBI agents a tip about Cornell's secret identity. The informant said Cornell reached out to him about his plans for an attack. In one instant message, Cornell said: I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything...We already got a thumbs up from the brothers over there and Anwar al Awlaki [American-born leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen who was killed in a 2011 drone strike] before his martyrdom and many others.' Cornell met with the said informant in October, allegedly telling him his plans to wage jihad as soon as December - and suggesting targets in Washington, DC. While Cornell expressed support for ISIS online, authorities don't believe he was actually connected to the terrorist organization. His father has stood behind him steadfastly during the past year. After his arrest, Cornell's dad John said he was misled by a 'snitch'. 'Everything youre hearing in the media right now, theyve already painted him as some kind of terrorist,' Mr Cornell said. 'Theyve painted him as some kind of jihadist. [Christopher] is one of the most peace-loving people I know.' His family say he was a avid video-gamer who rarely left the apartment he shared with his parents. His dad called him a 'mommy's boy' whose best friend was 'his kitty cat'. Mr Cornell added that his son showed a sympathy for the plight of Muslims. 'He said, "Dad, you just have to let people believe in what they believe. I have my beliefs, and you just have to let people believe what they believe in,"' Mr Cornell told WCPO-TV. About two months before his arrest, Mr Cornell caught his son praying and discovered for the first time that he had converted to Islam. Far from being concerned, Mr Cornell said his son 'found peace in the religion,' according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. As for his plans to wage jihad on the nation's capital, Mr Cornell still finds it hard to believe. 'I believe he was really vulnerable,' he told WCPO-TV. 'I believe he was coerced in a lot of ways. A married father-of-two from Tennessee has died after he was struck by a car while mowing the lawn in his backyard. Roger Lawson, 50, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday in a Knoxville hospital after being hit on July 23 in Alcoa. Alcoa police said in a statement that Lawson was on a riding lawn mower in his yard in the 1600 block of Middlesettlements Road at around 1pm when 25-year-old Doris Ashley Hurst, of Maryville, drove her 1995 Honda Accord off the roadway and struck him. Fatal crash: Roger Lawson, 50 (left), passed away on Sunday, a week after Doris Hurst, 25 (right), hit him with her car as he was mowing the lawn outside his Alcoa, Tennessee, home Hurst was taken into custody after investigators say she gave officers a false name at the scene. Hurst also had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court. Lawson was rushed to the University of Tennessee Medical Center suffering from critical injuries, which ultimately proved fatal. Hurst was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Two people who were riding in the woman's car at the time of the crash escaped unharmed. One of the passengers, 33-year-old Christopher DeVault, was also arrested on an outstanding warrant. Wendell Wilson, a friend of Lawson's, tells The Daily Times that the 50-year-old, better known as Rusty, had a wife, two grown children and several grandchildren. Lawson worked as a deliveryman for a building company and in his free time was active in the CB radio community, spending a couple of nights each week talking on the airwaves. Family man: Lawson, pictured here with his daughter Jessica, leaves behind a wife, two grown children and several grandchildren Wilson said that his and Lawson's friend witnessed the accident and later described how the 50-year-old man was knocked off his Husky lawnmower while doing yardwork and thrown 60 feet in the air. While in the hospital, Doris Hurst agreed to a voluntary blood draw to determine if there was alcohol or drugs in her system. The results of those tests are still pending. The US has launched air strikes on ISIS strongholds in Libya, causing 'heavy losses' among jihadists. The Pentagon announced the military intervention, which is the first co-ordinated with the Libyan government. It comes as a growing ISIS presence in the country causes concern among Western powers. The US has launched air strikes on ISIS strongholds in Libya, causing 'heavy losses' among jihadists. Pictured, fighters of Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government fire weapons at Islamic State fighters during a battle in Sirte It comes as a growing ISIS presence in the country causes concern among Western powers. Pictured, Libyan fighters in Sirte The strikes focused on the coastal city of Sirte. 'The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... in Sirte,' prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech. In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government. 'At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya,' Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for ISIS. Libya's Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj emphasised that the government had asked for the US support and that no foreign troops would be deployed in the country In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government The US strikes in Sirte 'will continue', Cook added without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes are 'consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces', Cook added. 'The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya,' he said. The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake the ISiS bastion of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi which the jihadists have controlled since June 2015. Prime Minister Sarraj stressed that no foreign troops would be deployed in Libya. President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials This has allowed our forces on the ground to take control of strategic positions, he said. He added that the American involvement would be limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs. We asked for this support from the international community, notably the United States, but we want to point out that there will be no foreign presence on Libyan soil. The fall of Sirte, 280 miles east of the capital Tripoli, would represent a major setback for ISIS, which has also faced losses in Syria and Iraq. Some 280 pro-government forces have been killed in the battle for Sirte, with more than 1,500 wounded. The port is considered one of ISIS most important bases outside of Syria and Iraq. Meanwhile little Disney, who lives in the West Midlands, can make do with just enough food to fill a single egg cup The massive pooch gets through six eggs daily along with a two-kilo bag of mince and more than three pints of milk , who barely reaches past Major's paws at three inches tall Major stands at an incredible 7ft 1ins compared to Disney Advertisement A dog believed to be the world's tallest has met up with Britain's smallest pooch. Great Dane Major was visited by tiny Chihuahua Disney at his home in Wales. Major stands at 7ft 1ins while at just three inches tall, Disney barely reaches past mighty Major's paw. Major's owner Brian Williams, 55, from Penmaen, near Swansea, said: 'He might weigh 12st, but he's the loveliest dog in the world. 'He wouldn't hurt a fly - and that goes for a dog as little as Disney too.' Great Dane Major was visited by Chihuahua Disney at his home near Swansea, Wales in an eye-opening meeting The massive pooch gets through six eggs daily along with a two-kilo bag of mince and more than three pints of milk Major stands at an incredible 7ft 1ins compared to Disney , who barely reaches past Major's paws at three inches tall Major's owner Brian Williams from Penmaen, near Swansea, said: 'He might weigh 12st, but he's the loveliest dog in the world' Disney's owner Natalie Vane, a 28-year-old dog groomer, took her from her home in Bilston, West Midlands, to visit Major Disney, 19 months, weighs just over 27oz and hasn't got any bigger since she was eight weeks old. Major is hoping to be named as the world's tallest dog after experts from Guinness World Records run the tape over three challengers in the next few weeks. He gets through six eggs daily along with a two-kilo bag of mince and more than three pints of milk - while Disney makes do with just enough food to fill an egg cup. Her owner Natalie Vane, a 28-year-old dog groomer, took Disney from her home in Bilston, West Midlands, to visit Major. She said: 'I can't get a collar to fit her so I walk her on a ferret harness. Dogs in the park will just knock her over and she's so small they could do a bit of damage.' Natalie said: 'I can't believe how well they get on - it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.' Major's owner Brian Williams said that the mighty pooch 'wouldn't hurt a fly' - which is good news for little Disney Standing to the left, Disney's owners Natalie Vane, 29, and Summer Vane, aged 6, with Major's owners Brian Williams, aged 55, and Julie Williams, aged 49 Major is hoping to be named as the world's tallest dog after experts from Guinness World Records run the tape over three challengers in the next few weeks Limichael Shine (pictured) wrote an apology note to the police officer he goaded into shooting him A knife-wielding suicidal teenager wrote a letter of apology to the police officer who he goaded into shooting him. Limichael Shine, 18, of Toms River, New Jersey, called 911 on Sunday and said he wanted a police officer because he was going to kill himself. When authorities responded, Shine told Manchester Township police to shoot him, according to the Ocean County Prosecutors Office. Police arrived at the home on Robin Street shortly before 2pm on Sunday, the Ashbury Park Press reports. The teenager walked toward officers brandishing a large knife, despite orders to drop the weapon. An officer shot Shine once and he died at a hospital. Capt. Jack Sramaty, who leads the county prosecutors Special Operations Group, told the Park Press: Mr Shine asked the responding officers to shoot him. The officers gave Mr Shine commands to relax, surrender and to drop his knife. Mr Shine refused to obey repeated commands by the officers to surrender and to drop his knife. The officer has not been named and Sramaty did not elaborate on whether the cop has been placed on leave while the investigation proceeds. Officers responded to a home on Robin Street (above, file photo) shortly before 2pm Sunday A note was found near Shine in which he said his goal was to have an officer take his life. He had written the note to apologize for using the officer in his suicide. The shooting is under investigation by the prosecutors office and the Ocean County Sheriffs office will the co-operation of the Manchester Township Police Department. Kun Shan Chun (pictured outside court today) pleaded guilty to acting as Chinese agent An FBI electronics technician who had access to classified information pleaded guilty to secretly acting as a Chinese agent during a court appearance today. Kun Shan Chun, who was born in Guangdong, China and became a naturalized US citizen in 1985, was also accused of making false statements when he failed to disclose his foreign ties. The 46-year-old was accused of giving a Chinese official photos of documents displayed in a restricted area of the FBI's New York office. Prosecutors said he also provided an FBI organizational chart and revealed the identity and travel plans of an FBI agent. Chun, a 19-year veteran with the FBI, claimed in security clearance questionnaire that he had not had close contact with a foreign national in seven years, according to a March 2016 criminal complaint that was unsealed today. Chun was connected to 'one individual whom Chun understood to be affiliated with the Chinese government,' and had ties to the Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company, the document stated. He not only maintained his connections, but also lied 'as part of a longstanding and concerted effort to conceal these relationships,' prosecutors said. Chun also admitted to the undercover agent in a wiretapped conversation that he failed to report his foreign connections, the NY Daily News reported. He met with a Chinese associate during a trip to Europe in July 2015 and told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to introduce him to his contacts in China, according to the documents. Chun also expressed interest in passing sensitive US information to his foreign contacts associated with the Chinese Government, the document states. Kun Shan Chun, an FBI employee since 1997 who had access to classified information has been accused of acting as an agent of China (pictured, the FBI headquarters in DC) During his court appearance in Manhattan on Monday, Chun pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general. His attorney said, 'Today Joey Chun accepted responsibility for some mistakes in judgment that he deeply regrets,' the NYTimes reported. He added: 'The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm. He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life.' Chun's job as an electronics technician in the FBI's New York office involved 'accessing sensitive, and in some instance classified, information. Malia Obama was spotted letting loose over the weekend with friends at the annual Lollapalooza music festival in her hometown of Chicago. President Obama's oldest daughter could be seen twerking and grinding with a few gal pals on Sunday while enjoying a performance from rapper Bryson Tiller. Malia, who was wearing a midriff-baring tube top and pair of cutoff jean shorts, even posed for a few photos while she danced. The 18-year-old had some fun on Friday as well when she and her friends caught rapper Mac Miller's set, with the teenager photographed as she playfully lifted up her skirt while dancing at one point to reveal a pair of boy shorts underneath. Malia did not get too crazy however, and was accompanied to the festival every day with her Secret Service detail, who stood out slightly in the sea of teenagers. Scroll down for video Got the moves: Malia Obama attended the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago from Thursday through Sunday Dancing queen: On Sunday, she was spotted twerking and grinding with friends (above) while they listened to rapper Bryson Tiller Pose: Malia, who was wearing a midriff-baring tube top and pair of cutoff jean shorts, even posed for a few photos while she danced Malia was also spotted dancing up a storm with her friends on Thursday night, catching a performance from Norwegian DJ Cashmere Cat at around the same time Hillary Clinton was preparing to take the stage and accept her party's nomination for president in a historic moment for the country. Her presence was not required at the Democratic National Convention for the first time since her father became the Democratic nominee back in 2008, and the recent high school graduate seemed to be taking full advantage of this by skipping out on the scene in Philadelphia to head to Chicago. This is not Malia's first trip to Lollapalooza, having been spotted at the festival back in 2014 as she took in Chance the Rapper's set. Malia is currently taking a gap year after making the decision to push back her acceptance to Harvard University by one year as her family prepares to transition out of the White House and back into public life. President Obama shared how difficult it was to sit through the ceremony during a speech he delivered a few days later at the United States of Women Summit. 'Some of you may know that on Friday, my elder daughter Malia graduated from high school. And I sat in the back and wore dark glasses,' said President Obama. 'And I only cried once, but it was, I made this weird sound because I was choking back, and people looked at me. People sitting in front of us turned back, and then I suppressed it.' The First Lady was also at the event, and spoke about her daughters growing up in the White House during what was billed as an 'armchair conversation' with Oprah Winfrey. 'So you remember Malia and Sasha were little itty-bitties when we came into office. I mean, it still moves me to tears to think about the first day I put them in the car with their Secret Service agents to go to their first day of school. And I saw them leaving, and I thought, "What on earth am I doing to these babies?'' the First Lady said to Winfrey. 'So I knew right then and there my first job was to make sure they were going to be whole and normal and cared for in the midst of all this craziness. And then I started to understand that if I was going to protect them, I had to, number one, protect myself and protect my time.' The family will be staying in Washington DC rather than returning to their native Chicago when President Obama leaves office they have revealed, at least until Sasha completes high school. Video courtesy: WGCI.com Feel the beat: The 18-year-old was also spotted twerking on Friday while watching a performance from Mac Miller (above) Letting loose: Malia also playfully lifted up her skirt while dancing at one point to reveal a pair of boy shorts underneath (above) Malia has already built up an impressive resume thanks to summer internships on the set of the Halle Berry television series Extant and Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls. It seems though that she will be taking a break from the grind of show business this summer. Malia, who now has only five months left in her second term as first kid, has not spoken publicly about who she plans to vote for come November, when the 18-year-old will cast her ballot for the first time in her life. Clinton however very publicly voiced her admiration for Malia and Sasha along with their parents during a campaign stop in North Carolina where she was joined by President Obama. 'I happen to think those two young women may be the most impressive accomplishment of all,' Clinton said while speaking about Obama's legacy. Shocking footage shows the moment a Chinese fisherman was killed by a bolt of lightning while on his boat. The man, who has only been identified by his surname Han, had been standing on his boat in Suzhou, eastern China, when he was killed in the freak accident. Traffic cameras captured a large white flash before the fisherman is seen falling backwards on his boat. A fisherman was killed by a bolt of lightning while on his boat in Suzhou, China Han's boat was among many docked near a bridge in the district of Wujiang, Jiangsu Province, during the storm, which brought large amounts of rainfall and thunder. Despite the risk, locals said they had not expected the lightning strike which killed Han. One witness, who was driving across the bridge at the time of the accident, said: 'The fisherman was standing at the front end of his boat when he was hit by lightning. 'It was silent and came very suddenly.' Traffic cameras captured a large white flash before the man, identified only by his surname Han, is seen falling backwards Paramedics arrived at the scene minutes later and rushed Han to hospital Paramedics arrived at the scene minutes later and rushed Han to hospital, but he was later pronounced dead. Initial reports claimed that Han was cooking a meal on his boat before he was struck by the lightning bolt. It is unclear whether he had been using any electrical appliances that might have attracted the lightning. The woman who exchanged the explicit text messages with Anthony Weiner that brought down his candidacy for mayor of New York City in 2013 is incensed that the would consider running for political office again. 'I think Weiner's downfall is his delusional narcissism,' Sydney Leathers, the 26-year-old woman at the center of the second sexting scandal involving the disgraced congressman tells Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview. 'Even though he knew he was running for office, he thought he could get away with what he was doing. But when voters discovered he was once again engaging in what they considered to be questionable behavior, his mayoral bid was over,' she added, Scroll down for video Sydnet Leathers, who exchanged the explicit text messages with Anthony Weiner that brought down his candidacy for mayor of New York City in 2013, is incensed that the would consider running for political office again Weiner, the husband of Hillary Clinton's top aide Human Abedin, came forward last week to say he would 'come out of political retirement, to thwart a potential mayoral bid by Republican Donald Trump Jr. 'Now he thinks that because he stayed in the background for a few years, he can jump back into the political arena and run for mayor of NYC all over again, and all will be forgiven. 'But when a person isn't repentant and doesn't take responsibility for his actions, people don't trust him and the only job he's really qualified for these days is a NYC dog catcher.' The husband of Hillary Clinton's top aide Human Abedin came forward last Tuesday to say he would 'come out of political retirement, to thwart a potential mayoral bid by Republican Donald Trump Jr. and would beat him like a rented mule,' should Trump decide to run in 2017. Trump Jr. responded to Weiner's statement by Tweeting, 'Too soon Anthony. You probably shouldn't be talking about beating anything ever again. Go back to your cave!' In 2011 it was discovered that Weiner, 51, had been sexting a former adult porn star and sending her lewd photos. When confronted, he denied the allegations, insisting his private email account had been hacked. But when it later came out that he had been exchanging sexy messages with the woman, he was forced to admit the truth, apologize to his wife, family and colleagues, and resign his congressional post. In 2013 Weiner claimed he was a changed man, and he resurfaced as a candidate for mayor of New York City. He was leading in the polls until a second sex scandal came to light. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, followed by her top aide Huma Abedin 'I was in awe of Anthony and it was exciting when he contacted me,' Leathers revealed to Daily Mail Online ' Leathers wrote Weiner in 2012, shortly after it was discovered he lied about his 2011 sexting affair, telling him she'd always admired him but was disappointed he hadn't told the truth about the situation. A few months later she was surprised to get a response, and even more surprised when they began their own sexting relationship. 'I was in awe of Anthony and it was exciting when he contacted me,' Leathers revealed to Daily Mail Online. 'For the first three months we talked, wrote each other sexy messages and exchanged naked photos almost every day,' she said. 'He liked when I'd send him nude photos of me in sexy heels and whenever we had phone sex the first thing he would ask is what shoes I was wearing. 'After three months, we both became busy and we cut back on our correspondence, speaking just a few times a week. But he was always very affectionate and even talked about setting me up in a condo in nearby Chicago.' In 2013 Leathers decided to give a blind item to thedirty.com after learning Weiner was #1 in the mayoral polls. At the time he was giving interviews saying he was a changed man. The steamy texts from Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, to Sidney Leathers Leather says Weiner like her to wear nothing but her heels when they had phone sex Sydney was contacted by Vivid Films the same company that released Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton's sex videos. 'They wanted me to do a porn video for them,' she tells Daily Mail Online But Sydney knew better. Then someone she knew 'outed her,' revealing her name. That was when her world changed. Once the cat was out of the bag, she stopped hearing from Anthony. 'I was just about to start college in a paralegal program when my name hit the news,' she said. 'I was devastated that my friends and family now knew my private business, and I was so upset and embarrassed that I considered suicide. 'I decided I couldn't start college with this dark cloud hanging over my head, so I dropped out,' she confided. 'I was called horrible names and a classmate of mine even sent me a message telling me I should think about killing myself.' Sydney said she began therapy, and it helped her learn not to be so hard on herself. A short while later she was contacted by Vivid Films the same company that released Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton's sex videos. 'They wanted me to do a porn video for them,' she said. 'At first I turned them down not wanting to jump into something without considering the consequences. They allowed me to do a nude photo shoot prior to doing the movie, and that made me realize being naked in front of the camera wasn't a big deal.' Sydney said she also sat down with her family and they were okay with her doing the film because they love her unconditionally. Since then, she's found new 'SEX-cess' in the porn industry. 'I ended up starring in my first porn video called Weiner and Me, and it's done very well,' she shared. 'You can still view it on Vividceleb.com. And I've appeared in about 25 other videos since then, some produced by a company called Naughty America. Sydney is also one of several women on a porn site called Dreamlover.com where men pay a fee to text her, or have phone sex- a service Weiner once got for free. 'And I have been trying my hand at writing and I'm currently considering having my own line of sex toys,' she said. 'I was eventually able to learn to love myself again, and be okay with the choices I made, and in May I graduated from college with an Associate's degree in TV and Film Production. 'I know I can't do porn forever, but someday I would like to use my education and work behind the scenes.' There is no evidence to prove that either of these claims are true They also suggest he could have been behind the DNC email hack Reddit users have claimed he was on the way to the FBI when he was shot But his family say his cell phone, watch and wallet were found on his body Police have found no new information in the murder of popular Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, prompting a flurry of conspiracy theories. The 27-year-old was gunned down in the affluent Washington D.C. neighborhood of Bloomingdale three weeks ago while he was on the phone to his girlfriend. Internet sleuths are now coming up their own stories about how Rich died while police are offering $25,000 for anyone with information about the death. Cops said he may have been the victim of an attempted robbery, but his family insist the killers didn't take anything from him. The police report seen by DailyMail.com also states the circumstances surrounding Rich's homicide are 'unknown'. Police have found no new information in the murder of popular Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, prompting a flurry of conspiracy theories Internet sleuths are now coming up their own stories about how Rich died while police are offering $25,000 for anyone with information about the death His body was found covered in bruises - but he still had his watch, cell phone and wallet on him. Among the theories posted online, there are claims that he was on his way to speak to the FBI when he was shot. There have also been suggestions he fed Wikileaks the 3,000 DNC emails that were released at the start of the party's convention last week. Reddit user The_Donald also constructed a timeline that links Rich to the Clintons, as pointed out by Heat Street. He then says Rich developed a relationship with environmentalists supporting Bernie Sanders. They then suggest this relationship was somehow connected to his death. There is no evidence to suggest any of these claims are true. Cops said he may have been the victim of an attempted robbery, but his family insist the killers didn't take anything from him A spokesman from DC Police told DailyMail.com there were no updates in the investigation, but wouldn't elaborate on whether they had uncovered any new leads. DailyMail.com has also contacted the FBI for comment. Julian Assange suggested the DNC leak may have been the work of an insider. But he told DemocracyNow he didn't know their identity, and wouldn't reveal if he did. In an interview with Britain's ITV, he also suggested that anyone within the Democratic organization could have had access to the trove of emails. Rich was killed on July 11, two days after he appealed on Facebook to end gun violence. Flowers are left on the street near where Rich's bruised body was found He wrote: 'I reiterate back to people stop hating each other. Too much pain to process. We have to be better and defend each other more true. 'A life is exponentially valuable. I have family and friends on both sides of the law. Please, stop killing each other.' His death came after a spate of robberies in the neighborhood and DC police are now investigating if the murder is connected to those. According to Fox 5, just an hour before the shooting there was a violent robbery in the 900 block on N Street, where police said three suspects pistol whipped, beat, kicked and robbed three people. There were no witnesses to Rich's shooting, police said. The attack took place across the street from a convenience store on the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW, three blocks away from Howard University Hospital. Rich was killed on July 11, two days after he appealed on Facebook to end gun violence It was not far from where Rich lived in a brownstone with three or four roommates, according to the Washington Post. One of his roommates told the Post that Rich was likely walking home from his girlfriend's house at the time. Describing himself on LinkedIn, Rich wrote: 'I have an enormous interest in public service and working towards making the world a better place.' Rich graduated with a BA in political science from Nebraska's Creighton University in 2011. While studying, he worked for the US Census Bureau and the Nebraska Democratic Party, and interned for Senator Ben Nelson. His first job out of college was as a research associate for the opinion research firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. In 2014, he took up his position at the DNC, which starts its all-important convention on July 25. Rich lived in a brownstone with three or four roommates. It was close to where he was shot He grew up in Omaha, where his family played a strong role in the Beth El Synagogue. His grandfather was a founding member of the synagogue and his father was head of the congregation until recently. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign will hold a fundraiser Wednesday night at a computer cyber-security conference just days after government officials said hackers broke into computers at her own campaign headquarters. The stunning juxtaposition will unfold at the Black Hat conference, an annual event that draws thousands of active hackers, corporate computer security experts and government officials. The same group of digital intruders who infiltrated the Democratic National Committee's email server also hacked into a computer program that Clinton's campaign uses to analyze voter data. Hillary Clinton's campaign will try to rake in cash on Wednesday night from computer hackers and cyber security experts, despite the embarrassment of having been the victim of overseas hacker attacks just last week A computer program that Hillary Clinton's campaign used to analyze voter data was hacked, but she's still collecting money from the cybersecurity community Clinton's campaign website advertises a 'Hillary for America Cybersecurity Fundraiser at Black Hat with Jeff Moss, Michael Sulmeyer, and Jake Braun.' The Las Vegas event was first flagged by The Weekly Standard. Moss founded the Black Hat conference series. Sulmeyer is Clinton's cybersecurity working group coordinator. Braun was formerly a White House public liaison with the Department of Homeland Security. Ticket prices range from $100 to $2,700 per person. The cyber attack on Clinton's campaign added fuel to allegations that the Russian government may be behind the hacks in an attempt to sway the presidential election toward Donald Trump. Clinton aides say their internal systems weren't compromised. But Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, said Monday that his organization has received a wealth of information related to Clinton's White House bid, and plans to release it to the public on a rolling basis. The attack on the Clinton campaign's software was carried out by the same group behind the DNC emails, an official involved in the forensic investigation told The New York Times 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 Clinton campaign's 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 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 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. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned last week after the DNC hack led to the release of 19,000 emails 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'. 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. 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 (pictured, the Clintons at the DNC) 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.' flock to Thailand every year to experience the nation's nightlife - and its Advertisement Three women wearing skimpy hot pants try to cover their faces as they dance on the busy strip in Pattaya, Thailand - where the government is trying to ban the nation's infamous sex trade. Thousands of tourists flock to the county in Southeast Asia every year to experience the nation's bustling nightlife. But they also descend on cities such as the capital Bangkok and Pattaya to enjoy the sex trade which is a huge business in the country. In a set of eye-opening photographs taken in Pattaya, on Thailand's south coast, women - known as bar girls - can be seen pole dancing in the busy city. It comes as the country's sex industry is under fire as its first female tourism minister vows to shut down the brothels and go-go bars. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul wants rich holidaymakers to flock to Thailand for its beauty and luxury and not its seedy red light districts. But those working in the industry say curbs on commercial sex services would hurt a flagging economy that has struggled to recover after political turmoil took the country to the brink of recession in 2014. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but the law is almost invariably ignored and there are around 123,000 sex workers in the country, according to a 2014 UNAIDS report. Three women wearing white hot pants attempt to cover their faces as they dance on Walking Street in Pattaya, Thailand A ladyboy stands on the busy street in Thailand - which is home to an extensive sex industry, largely catering to Thai men Three women dance and entertain men at a bar along Walking Street in the south coast city where sex scenes are a commonplace Women that work in the bar talk to the men that come in and also pole dance as the football is shown on the big screens A woman wearing white shorts and a black top leans up against a metal post and strikes a sexually suggestive pose Two women step out into Walking Street in Pattaya to try and encourage punters to come and drink in the bar they work for A woman who works in a popular bar in the busy city dances to the music as a colleague behind her moves around a pole A young woman waits for people at a bar in Pattaya, Thailand. The country's first female minister of tourism would like the sex trade to be banned A bar girl wearing a long white dress leans back and dances from inside one of the busy bars and is seen by people on Walking Street Thousands of tourists flock to the country in Southeast Asia every year to experience the nation's bustling nightlife Huge signs advertising the busy and popular bars and clubs can be seen along the famous Walking Street in Pattaya Bar girls can be seen holding up signs to let people know where to go for a drink on the busy strip in the city A bar girl wearing small denim shorts and a pink top was spotted speaking to a man on Walking Street in the Thai women sit at one of the bars along the busy street where sex scenes are a commonplace in Pattaya, Thailand Hundreds of people could be seen walking along the popular street where there are ample bars and clubs Donald Trump's not the only candidate who may have to explain to the American people his complicated relationship with Russia. In the Wall Street Journal author Peter Schweizer articulated Hillary Clinton's connections to giving Russia's tech industry and perhaps military a boost, all the while helping Clinton Foundation donors put more money in their coffers. The moves 'may have substantially undermined U.S. national security,' Schweizer warned. Scroll down for video Both presidential candidates Donald Trump (left) and Hillary Clinton (right) have some bizarre entanglements with Russia As part of the 'Russian reset' in 2009, Clinton, as secretary of state, helped get a project off the ground that would build up Russia's version of 'Silicon Valley,' a Moscow suburb called Skolkovo. The Kremlin committed $5 billion to the project, while Clinton's State Department looked for American companies that might want to invest. In turn, the American State Department also fingered companies worthy of Russian investment through the Russian State Investment Fund, which is funded by the Russian state. Schweizer noted that dozens of American companies, who also happened to be Clinton Foundation donors, threw money at Skolkovo, including Google, Intel and Cisco. In 2012, of the 28 key partners of the project, 17 or 60 percent had donated to the Clinton Foundation or hired former President Bill Clinton to speak. Republican nominee Donald Trump denied having any relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin - saying he's never met or spoken to him on the phone The 'Clinton Cash' author was careful to say that there was no smoking gun, indicating any sort of pay-to-play, noted the New York Post, but suggested that of all the people involved it was the American people who lost out. 'The Clintons, they get their donations and speaking fees in the millions of dollars,' Schweizer said. 'The Russians get access to advanced U.S. technology. The tech companies get special access to the Russian market and workforce.' 'But the American people get nothing. In fact, we get a rival Russia with enhanced technological capabilities,' the author pointed out. In the Journal he wrote that 'amid all the sloshing of Russia rubles and American dollars, however, the state-of-the art technological research coming out of Skolkovo raised alarms among U.S. military experts and federal law-enforcement officials.' A 2014 Boston Business Journal op-ed by Lucia Ziobro, an assistant special agent at the FBIs Boston office, warned that Skolkovo 'may be a means for the Russian government to access our nations sensitive or classified research development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial application.' Some of the technology to come out of Skolkovo included hypersonic cruise-missile engines, radar surveillance equipment and a the Atlant hybrid airship, capable of delivering a 'mobile army.' Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle Trump is distancing himself from Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who he's complimented in the past, as fingers point to Russian involvement in the Democratic National Committee hack. Democrats floated the idea that Putin would like to see the general election tilted in Trump's favor. Talking to George Stephanopoulos for an interview that aired in full Sunday, Trump repeated a claim that he first made Wednesday, that he has no relationship with the Russian leader. When the ABC Newsman mentioned that 'on three different occasions' Trump had linked himself to Putin including one instance where The Donald said he spoke 'indirectly and directly' with the Russian president Trump said he was unclear about the definition of 'relationship.' 'Well, I don't know what it means by "having a relationship,"' Trump told Stephanopoulos on 'This Week.' Trump also denied having debts or really any business dealings with Russians, except to say that some of Putin's countrymen may have purchased condos from the billionaire businessman. When Stephanopoulos asked Trump who softened the Republican platform at last month's convention to be more pro-Russian, the nominee shrugged. 'I wasn't involved in that. Honestly, I was not involved,' Trump said. Trump also found himself in trouble during that interview for seemingly not knowing that Russia had annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine. 'He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can make it down and you can put it down, you can take it anywhere you want,' Trump said of Putin on ABC. But Stephanopoulos reminded Trump that Putin had already driven tanks through Ukraine, with the Republican nominee responding, 'He's there in a certain way, but I'm not there yet' He then blamed President Obama, and NATO, for allowing Putin to enter Ukraine. Trump clarified his comments Monday, saying that he was speaking in the future tense, and that Putin wouldn't be taking over more Ukrainian turf if the Republican won the White House. 'When I said in an interview that Putin is "not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down," I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea!' he tweeted. 'So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push. That's what I said!' a second tweet said. Advertisement The lava flow from Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano vent has attracted thousands of visitors since it began oozing down in May and finally reached the ocean this week. Keaka Hunter, a security guard patrolling the area, said about 2,000 people came to see the flow Monday night, hours before the lava entered the ocean for the first time in nearly three years. Previous days drew an average of about 1,000 people. The U.S. Geological Survey is cautioning visitors about safety risks, which include flying debris and acidic plume containing fine volcanic particles that can irritate the eyes, skin and lungs. The new land may also be unstable because it's built on unconsolidated lava fragments and sand, which can easily be eroded by surf. Hitting the waves: The 6.5 mile-long lava flow has been moving down the south flank of Kilauea since May and this week hit the Pacific Ocean This is the main ocean entry of current lava flow from Mount Kilauea eruption, showing the accumulation of lava and black sand at the base of the sea cliff Turning to rock: The lava flow continues to stream into the ocean on the south flank from Mount Kilauea eruption, Hawaii Kilauea has been active since 1983, but this is the first time in three years that lava has reached the ocean Visitors hoping to catch the picturesque views have hiked the more than 4-mile route along a gravel road to get a closer look. Signs posted at the Kalapana entrance warn visitors to bring plenty of water and 'be ready a long hard hike.' Derek Scott, a 16-year-old visitor from Canada, was one of those who made the journey through the county viewing area and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to catch a glimpse of the lava flow from Kilauea's Puu Oo vent. 'It was nice with the wind, but it was still really hot, so it was a long walk for us,' Scott told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. 'But it was really cool seeing the lava flow. I've never actually seen it that close by. The heat that radiates off the body when you're that close to it is amazing.' Aerial video shows Kilauea's lava reaching the coast as it flowed down its slopes in the rugged Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on earlier this week. The video which was taken by Paradise Helicopters show the volcano appear to form a giant smiley face as it pumps out lava into the sea. The Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has erupted, however the volcano appears to be 'smiling' when seen from the air Pictures from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, also show lava reaching the ocean for first time since 2013 The pictures of what look like eyes and a smile can be seen from above the volcano's crater. Authorities have said the lava poses no threat to any towns, but have cautioned tourists to keep their distance Kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It is a shield-type volcano that makes up the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii, according to LiveScience. The volcano rises 4,190 feet above sea level and is about 14 per cent of the land area of the Big Island. The 6.5 mile-long lava flow has been dribbling down the south flank of Kilauea since May and finally reached the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday morning. According to the USGS, the flow is about 20 meters (66 feet) wide when it finally spills over the cliff into the sea. Sometimes Mother Nature takes your breath away and makes you smile. Lava from the volcano, located in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, began erupting in late May and has been continuously moving on a six-mile journey toward the coast For the first time since 2013, one of Kilauea's lava flows this week reached the Pacific Ocean producing spectacular scenes as the red-hot lava cascaded off cliffs on Hawaii's Big Island A photographer captured incredible footage of a Hawaiian volcano's lava flow as it engulfed a forest The aerial video shows Kilauea's lava engulfing a forest on it slopes in the rugged Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on July 9 The red-hot lava creates huge plumes of steam as it hits the water and begins cooling into rock, delighting locals and eager tourists. The USGS warns that getting too close can be extremely dangerous, and even deadly. The agency has released a pamphlet listing the risks from collapsing ledges, acid fumes, steam vents that can toss rocks and jets of hot lava not to mention the risk of heat stroke, sprained ankles and other injuries on the hike. Kilauea has been active since 1983, but this is the first time in three years that lava has reached the ocean. The Puu Oo vent of the active Kilauea volcano has seen recent and ongoing eruptions of lava snaking across the volcano's south flank toward the ocean In the video, the crackle of the burning wood can be heard as the photographer captures different angles of the snaking lava Lava from Kilauea advanced along the flatter coastal plain, a little less than a mile from the ocean Kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It is a shield-type volcano that makes up the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii The volcano rises 4,190 feet above sea level and is about 14 per cent of the land area of the Big Island Visitors can view the lava flow at the Kalapana Lava Viewing Area at the end of Highway 130, near the eastern edge of the national park, offering many the chance to enjoy a good look at the lava The number of migrants arriving on the Greek islands has doubled since the failed military coup in Turkey. More than 1,170 have crossed the Aegean in the fortnight following the attempted putsch on 15 July, compared to just 560 in the two weeks before. The surge of people comes as the Turkish government threatens to aggravate the crisis even further by pulling out of its six billion euros (5bn) deal with the EU to stem the influx. Syrian refugees arrive on an inflatable boat with other refugee after crossing the sea from Turkey to Lesbos (stock image) European leaders in March agreed to hand over the cash and ease visa restrictions on travellers from Turkey if it took back all those arriving on the Greek islands, including the popular holiday destinations Lesbos and Kos. But Brussels has said Turkeys 80 million citizens will not be granted visa-free travel until it fulfils a list of benchmarks including revising its anti-terrorism laws. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday said the country will walk away from the agreement unless EU leaders back down risking a massive new rush of people to the continent. If there is no visa liberalization, we will be forced to distance ourselves from the readmission agreement, he told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It can be the beginning or the middle of October, but we expect a firm date. The increase in the numbers arriving into Greece comes as thousands continue to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy on a daily basis. More than 1,170 have crossed the Aegean in the fortnight following the attempted putsch on 15 July, compared to just 560 in the two weeks before (stock image) Groups of soldiers involved in the coup attempt in Turkey surrender on Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge with their hands raised The Italian coastguard said that 6,500 were rescued in the four days from Thursday to Sunday, with five dead bodies also recovered. According to the latest figures from the UN's refugee agency, more than 89,000 people, most from sub-Saharan Africa, have arrived in Italy by sea since the start of the year. The tally is comparable to the total of 93,000 recorded for the January-July period last year. More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing, an increase of more than 50 per cent compared to the same period in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The mayor of Sabratha in western Libya yesterday said more than 120 bodies of migrants had washed up on the citys coast in the past month including 53 on one single day last week. European leaders in March agreed to hand over the cash and ease visa restrictions on travellers from Turkey if it took back all those arriving on the Greek islands (stock image) Hussein Thwadi said authorities in the troubled country were unable to properly tackle the issue as calmer weather encourages more people to attempt the crossing. He said: The whole coast of Sabratha is open. There are patrols but they do not have enough capacity to tackle this crisis. Illegal migration existed before, but with insecurity and the lack of state authorities the crisis has become worse and worse. Spain's maritime rescue service has also reported a rise in the number of people attempting to reach there as well. On Sunday they saved 74 migrants crammed into three small boats that were spotted as they approached the countrys south east coast. The International Organization for Migration said Spain received about 3,850 migrants via sea crossings and rescues in 2015. President Barack Obama praised gold star families Monday in emotional remarks clearly aimed at Republican Donald Trump, who has been embroiled in a controversy over his criticism of a mother and father who lost their son Humayun Khan in Iraq. Speaking to the Disabled American Veterans association in Atlanta Monday, Obama explained his own decision to be introduced by a gold star mother at the Democratic convention the same event where father Khizr Khan blasted Trump as a threat to the nation. Obama said he sough the introduction, ' Because I understood that our gold star families have made a sacrifice,' adding that they represent 'the very best of our country.' He said he wanted it, 'Because I understood that our gold star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine.' The remarks were an obvious shot at Trump, though the president didn't mention either Trump or the Khans by name. President Obama addressed the annual convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta Monday, where he hailed 'gold star' families in a rebuke to Donald Trum[ Obama noted that he and First Lady Michelle Obama have focused on delivering care and job opportunities to the nation's vets. 'They continue to inspire us every day every moment. They serve as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them,' he said. Obama was referencing a convention speech by Sharon Belkofer, whose son Lt. Col. Thomas Belkofer died in 2010 in Afghanistan. Obama spoke after Donald Trump has been engaged in a multi-day imbroglio with the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan's, who died a hero in Iraq in 2004. The 27-year-old was buried at Arlington Cemetery. Eleven gold star families have written Trump to protest his remarks following the convention, telling him: 'Ours is a sacrifice you will never know.' Scroll Down for Video Obama spoke at the national convention of Disabled American Veterans Obama also hailed Veterans Affairs secrary Robert McDonald, Obama said he requested Sharon Belkofer, who losed her son Lt. Colonel Thomas Belkofer in Iraq in 2010, introduce him at the Democratic convention, because gold star families, 'represent the very best of our country' With his wife Ghazala standing by his side, Khizr Kahn during the convention took out a pocket copy of the Constitution , and waived it, urging Trump to read it, kicking off an imbroglio that carried on over the airwaves. The commander in chief also came to a rousing defense of the military, after Trump has painted a portrait of decay, repeatedly reminding listeners on the stump that the U.S. needs to salvage spare parts from grounded aircraft. 'Lets get some facts straight,' Obama intoned. 'Americas Army is the best quipped best trained land force on the planet. Our Navy is the largest and the most lethal in the world. The precision and reach of our Air Force is unmatched. Our Marines are the worlds only truly expeditionary force. We have the worlds finest Coast Guard,' to cheers. He continued: 'We have the most capable fighting force in history and were going to keep it that way.' Ghazala Khan (left) broke down in tears Monday morning as she remembered her son, who died fighting for the U.S. during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 Trump continued to speak out against the Khans via his Twitter account Monday morning, as they were giving an interview on the Today show Donald Trump claims he was 'viciously attacked' at the Democratic convention by the parents of a slain Muslim soldier President Obama boards Air Firce one en route to Atlanta to address an association of disabled veterans President Obama hailed the U.S. military as 'the most capable fighting force in history' 'No ally or adversary should ever doubt our strength and our resolve,' Obama said. Obama, who hasn't shied from going after Trump even on overseas press conferences, also appeared to reference Trump when he mentioned the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in a war Obama opposed. Trump at a rally in early July called Hussein a 'bad guy,' but then noted: 'He did well He killed terrorists.' And after a series of remarks by Trump indicating the U.S. might not jump to defend NATO members who might not do their fair share, Obama said: 'No ally and adversary should ever doubt our strength and our resolve.' With Trump back on his heels for a statement on ABC Sunday about Ukraine after already raising doubts about the U.S. commitment to allies that don't pay their share, Obama said: 'In he face of Russian aggression, were not going to turn out back to our allies in Europe.' 'Were going to stay united in NATO, which I the worlds strongest alliance,' Obama said. 'From the Asia Pacific [region] to Africa to the Americas the United States and our allied forces will remain the greatest force for freedom and security and peace that the world has ever known. That is your legacy.' Obama described a soldier's commitment to defend the nation, and the nation's responsibility to take care of its veterans, a 'covenant' and a 'moral imperative.' German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived at the opera seemingly without a care in the world, just days after thousands marched through the streets calling for her resignation. Ms Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer attended Wagner's opera 'Tristan and Isolde' at the Bayreuth Festival in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. The month-long cultural institution launched on July 25, but has been overshadowed by the deadly attacks in Ansbach, Munich and Wurzburg. Carefree: German chancellor Angela Merkel arrived at the Bayreuth Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, to enjoy Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde Organisers cancelled the lavish banquet that traditionally follows the first performance of the festival out of respect for those killed or wounded. They also cancelled the usual red carpet procession. Meanwhile inside the theatre, a message projected on the curtain said: 'The Bayreuth festival dedicates today's performance to all victims of the violent acts in recent days and to their loved ones.' The festival, which runs until August 28, opened the day after a man set off a bomb outside a music festival in the southern town of Ansbach - killing himself and wounding 15 people. It comes as Germans demand the leader step down, blaming her 'open-door' migration policy for a spate of violent attack in the country. Memory: Organisers cancelled the lavish banquet that traditionally follows the first performance of the festival on July 25 out of respect for those killed or wounded in a spate of deadly attacks across Germany Concern: The month-long cultural institution launched on July 25, but has been overshadowed by the deadly attacks in Ansbach, Munich and Wurzburg Uproar: More than 5,000 protested in Berlin and thousands more throughout Germany over Ms Merkel's 'open door' policy that many have blamed for four brutal terrorist attacks. Images also shared online show Ms Merkel with blood on her hands Protest: Several hundred people demonstrate with a banner that reads 'Berlin! Better without Nazis' against a right-wing populist march in Berlin on July 30 But the leader vowed not to allow violent acts guide her political decisions. An axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing left 13 people dead, including three assailants. Merkel must go has been trending on Twitter, with users posting pictures of the leader with blood on her hands. A survey found 83 per cent of Germans see immigration as their nations biggest challenge, a figure that has doubled since a year ago. Attack: German-born teenager Ali David Sonboly opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself Honour: 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 The Bayreuth festival, which dates back to the 19th century, is dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner. Security around Green Hill, on which the world-famous Festspielhaus festival theatre stands, has been tightened in the wake of the violent attacks across the country. Unlike past editions of the festival, all bags and cushions have been banned from the auditorium and cloakrooms while patrons have to carry photo ID with them at all times. 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. 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 After killing nine people, the gunman turned the weapon on himself. 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 July 24, 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. Mr Renzi is asking Theresa May to intervene and force varsity to cooperate Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has condemned Cambridge University for its 'inexplicable silence' during the murder investigation into student Giulio Regeni Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has condemned Cambridge University for its 'inexplicable silence' during the ongoing investigation into a student who was found mutilated and murdered in Egypt. The 41-year-old Italian leader criticised the prestigious university for its delay in providing information to help with the case as he revealed he has asked the British Government to intervene. It comes as investigations into the death of Giulio Regeni continue. The 28-year-old was found battered to death and his body dumped near a highway in Cairo nine days after he was reported missing in January. The Cambridge University student was said to have suffered 'inhuman animal-like violence' and an autopsy carried out in Italy found that the PhD student had all of his finger and toe nails pulled out. He also had his neck twisted or struck with such force that it broke a vertebra and left him unable to breathe. In the aftermath of his death, Italian police launched a murder inquiry but it has caused ongoing tension between Mr Renzi's government and Egypt's president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi with allegations of the Egyptian state being 'obstructive'. It has also caused friction with Cambridge University, where Mr Regeni's parents and his PhD supervisor, Maha Abdelrahman, allegedly refused to be questioned. Police investigators have suggested that the doctoral student's politically-sensitive research on labor unions may have led to his death, possible at the hands of the Egyptian state. Ms Abdelrahman reportedly gave Mr Regeni his union contacts in Egypt and put him in touch with professor Rabab El Mahdi from the American University in Cairo. However, the lecturer apparently refused to answer questions from Italian investigators and they claim the family and professor instead sent an 'absolutely insufficient' email days later. Mr Renzi is now calling on Theresa May for help in solving the case, as he hit out at the University of Cambridge for its ongoing 'silence'. Speaking to Italian newspaper La Repubblica today, he said: 'I have asked British Prime Minister Theresa May to use her authority to ask professors of Cambridge to collaborate with Italy's judicial authorities. 'I don't understand why professors of such a prestigious global university think Italy can accept their silence. It is inexplicable.' PhD student Mr Regeni had been in Cairo for just a few months when he disappeared on January 25. He had left his flat with a plan to meet a friend but was found dead nine days later He added that 'anyone with even a little piece of it needs to help right away.' Mr Regeni, a student of Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies, had been in Cairo for just a few months, as part of his PhD research into Egyptian labor movements, when he disappeared on January 25. He had left his apartment with a plan to travel by subway to meet a friend in the city, but was never seen again. Prosecutor Ahmed Nagi, who is leading the investigation team on the case, previously said that the student suffered 'inhumane violence' with 'all of his body, including his face' being covered in bruises, cuts from stabbings and burns from cigarettes. He said it appeared to have been a 'slow death'. An Egyptian friend of Mr Regeni, who was from Fiumicello in the north-east of Italy, said that shortly before his death the student had been seeking contacts for trade union activists to interview as part of his research. This political research had been the main focus when the friend was questioned by police following the Italian student's disappearance, he said. Another friend explained he was travelling to downtown Cairo on the day of his disappearance. 'A friend called him after he didn't show up. His cell was off then,' he told MailOnline, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added: 'We briefly talked on the day of his disappearance, about two hours earlier. He was happy and cheerful, he was about to meet a friend. No indication of any worries whatsoever. 'I just feel terrible for his family, his girlfriend and all his friends.' On the day Mr Regeni went missing, residents took to the streets to mark the fifth anniversary of the Arab Spring. Pictured, supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi march in Cairo The University of Cambridge has denied that it is refusing to cooperate with the Italian authorities and said it 'continues to use every avenue to discover the truth about the brutal murder of Giulio Regeni'. In a statement, the institution said: 'To be clear, the central University authorities did not receive any request for help from Italian prosecutors and has reached out to offer assistance. 'One individual academic at Cambridge received a request from Italian prosecutors and has already responded to all their questions on two occasions. 'The University remains ready to react quickly to any request for assistance from the Italian authorities. Any other suggestion is both distressing to Giulio's family and friends and does not take us closer to understanding who committed this brutal and senseless murder of one of our cherished PhD students. Donald Trump renewed his complaints on Monday about fire marshals limiting the size of his rally crowds, telling reporters in Columbus, Ohio that thousands of fans were kept out of the city's convention center 'purely for political reasons.' The local fire marshal disagreed, telling reporters that the event was always to be limited to 1,000 audience members something he insisted Trump's own staff knew ahead of time. 'We've had thousands of people outside. Thousands,' Trump told pool reporters as he entered the Greater Columbus Convention Center. 'They were turned away by for political reasons purely for political reasons.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO FURIOUS: Donald Trump blasted a fire marshal in Columbus, Ohio on Monday after his crowd size was limited 'purely for political reasons' WIDE OPEN SPACES: The cavernous exhibit hall Trump's campaign rented inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center had large empty spaces when people outside were turned away ONLY HALF: A blue curtain cut the hall in half, leaving room for thousands more Trump fans inside ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Crowds stood in line for hours, only to be told they couldn't enter 'They said in this massive building you're not allowed to have any more than a thousand people. And that's nonsense,' Trump vented. 'We could've had four, five, six thousand people. Theyve all been turned away.' 'It's a disgrace,' he added. 'Look at the size of this place!' he said as he began his town hall meeting. 'Is the mayor a Democrat? Is he a Democrat over here? That's what I heard. He ought to be ashamed of himself.' Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Stave Martin, the agency's public information officer, said in a statement that cutting the crowd off at 1,000 people 'was the plan all along.' 'We feel disappointed that Mr. Trump wasn't aware of how that number was reached and that it was agreed to by his own people,' Martin added. But the exhibit hall allocated to Trump's town hall event inside the convention center included large empty spaces. And a curtain dividing the room left half of it completely unused. NOT AMUSED: Trump blasted the Columbus City fire marshal and asked if the mayor is a Democrat while he showed off a picture of a largely empty room that he said was a recent crowd in the same city ROOM TO ROAM: Even with the blue curtain sectioning off half the room, there was plenty of space as Trump began to speak NOT SO FAST: Some photos of the town hall showed views like this, making it seem like the space was full The entire hall is a 72,000 square-foot behemoth that can seat 4,140 people at banquet tables without running afoul of the fire code, according to the convention center's event planning guide. With rows of chairs instead of tables, the capacity would be larger. Even with half-the room curtained off, the convention center would rent Monday's Trump event for 2,070 fans. 'So that's for political reasons they were turned away,' Trump fumed. 'And that's too bad. So we have a thousand people in there they wont allow any more.' 'The fire marshal said he's not allowed to allow any more even though the building holds many thousands of people, so I just want to tell you that.' 'That's politics at its lowest you oughta check it out.' 'But it's really politics at its lowest,' Trump concluded. 'Come on, lets go have a good time.' OUT OF LUCK: People waited for hours to see Trump this line wrapped around a city block only to be turned away when they reached the door ENTHUSIASM: Trump supporters clamored to see him, including the owner of this truck that proclaims 'Stop Obama!' and 'Hillary for prison!' Trump complained on Friday about a fire marshal in Colorado Springs, Colorado who shut the doors on his crowds, forcing thousands into an overflow room and leaving still more outside. Trump said at the time that Fire Marshal Brett Lacey was 'probably a Democrat.' Lacey, it emerged later, was honored for bravery after a pair of 2015 shootings, including one outside an abortion clinic. But an irritated Trump boomed that 'we have thousands of people trying to get in and we have a fire marshal that says "No, we can't allow more people in"' 'And the reason they won't let them in is because they don't know what the hell they're doing,' he said Friday. 'Hey, maybe they're a Hillary person. Could that be possible? Probably,' he said. American Sniper widow Taya Kyle has been hired as a contributor for Fox News. She is pictured on Monday, on her first day as a network employee The widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle has been hired as a contributor at Fox News. In a press release, the network said that Taya Kyle 'will provide military and family commentary across FNC's daytime and primetime programming'. Taya Kyle made her debut as a Fox News commentator on Monday, appearing on Fox $ Friends to discuss whether or not retired senior military officials should endorse political candidates. The issue was in response to two retired generals who spoke at the DNC and RNC conventions over the past two weeks. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said high ranking officers should be kept 'off stage' - but Mrs Kyle disagreed. 'These guys are retired,' Kyle said. 'They spent their careers fighting for all of our right to freedom of speech, so I think once they're out, they should be the first in line to exercise their right to free speech.' Kyle was the wife of the late U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most decorated sniper in U.S. military history. Scroll down for video Chris Kyle (left) was the most decorated sniper in U.S. military history. He was shot dead at a gun range in 2013 by another soldier dealing with PTSD. He's pictured above with his wife in 2012 The movie American Sniper was based off of Kyle 2012 autobiography of the same name. Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller play the roles of Mr and Mrs Kyle Kyle's 2012 biography American Sniper was the basis for Clint Eastwood's 2014 film of the same name, starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller as Chris and Taya Kyle. Kyle was tragically shot dead at a Texas shooting range in 2013 by another soldier struggling with PTSD, who he was trying to help. Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Since her husband's death, Mrs Kyle has set up the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation - a charity designed to benefit members of the military and first responders, as well as their partners and families. She has also published her own autobiography, called 'American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service Faith and Renewal'. Mrs Kyle has been an outspoken advocate for military families and has also taken a stance against gun regulation. At a town hall event on gun control this past January, Mrs Kyle spoke to directly to President Obama and suggested that putting more restrictions on gun ownership would not lead to less gun violence in the U.S. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has revealed that he keeps a little black book containing the names of his political foes. And following his clashes with Nigel Farage after the Brexit vote, it seems likely the former Ukip leader's name is at the top of the list. Although he didn't reveal the names inside, Mr Juncker admitted that the book is called 'Little Maurice'. Rivals: Jean-Claude Juncker and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage are famous for their clashes during European Parliament sessions Spat: The European Commission president revealed he keeps a little black book with the names of his political rivals But he insisted the book 'doesn't have many entries because people rarely betray me', and that he doesn't bear grudges. 'It's where for 30 years I've made a note when someone betrays me,' he told Belgain daily Le Soir. 'The book' name comes from a common German expression: The bitterness of little Maurice. In Luxembourg, when someone was irritating me, I would say, "Careful, Little Maurice is waiting for you".' Betrayal: But he insisted that there aren't many entries 'because people rarely betray me' Infamous: Mr Farage and Mr Juncker's relationship has further soured after Britain's referendum vote for Brexit Mr Juncker and Mr Farage are notorious for their spats during sessions of the European Parliament. The pair clashed particularly fiercely during a session on June 28, when Mr Juncker asked Mr Farage 'Why are you here?' following the referendum. A Virginia bail bondsman is currently behind bars without bail after allegedly freeing women from jail on the condition they performed sexual favors for him. Vladimir Tarabey, 60, of Fast Bail Bonding in Richmond, was arrested and charged with two counts of threat, intimidation for money and forcible sodomy. Investigators say that Tarabey targeted women who couldn't afford their bond, and released them in exchange for sex. 'Inmates that didn't have enough money to get their self out of on bond, he would accept a small amount or sexual favors ,' Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade told WTVR. Charged: Vladimir Tarabey, 60, has been charged with two counts of threat, intimidation for money and forcible sodomy 'Inmates that didn't have enough money to get their self out of on bond, he would accept a small amount or sexual favors ,' Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade told WTVR Wade continued: 'It's something we've heard of and tried to investigate in the past, but until we got these two women who came forward, and agreed to cooperate, it really started the ball rolling.' Police say that Tarabey would go through the terms of his 'deal' in jail. Most of the alleged acts occurred at Tarabey's home in South Richmond. Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor said the alleged crimes have been going on for some time. Scene: Police say the alleged sexual acts took place inside Tarabay's home in Richmond 'Warrants that could be executed to get this gentleman off the streets, and in a situation where he can no longer conduct this business that is, in my opinion, very offensive. And allow us to continue our investigation,' Taylor said. According to his website, Tarabay is a former U.S. Air Force officer and competitive body builder. Tarabay owns and operates Fast Bail Bonding. The business was created in 2013 and serves the Richmond area as well as Suffolk, Newport News and Charlottesville, according to the business' website. A New York woman has been rushed to hospital in a serious condition she was shot by cops chasing a suspected burglar through Queens. The male suspect was also shot as he wrestled with an officer over a gun, NBC New York reported. A resident of Hull Avenue and 68th Street called police around 1.45pm after she saw the man break into her home. Scroll down for video A suspected burglar and woman in New York have been rushed to the hospital in serious condition after a police-involved shooting in Queens A police officer enters the building as another one rounds the corner A woman is seen entering the building and leaving with a baby. It is unclear if she was involved in the incident The woman caught the intruder walking through her child's bedroom and then make his way through the rest of her house via a remote surveillance system, the New York Daily News reported. It is unclear if the woman who called police is the same one who was shot. The suspect made a run for it as police cars arrived on the scene, forcing cops to chase him through the neighborhood. 'I saw a guy running out of the house and police running after him,' neighbor Kevin Faughey told the New York Daily News. 'The police were chasing him up the block and he ran into a house. I heard a shot fired but didn't see if it hit police.' Initial reports indicate a resident of Hull Avenue and 68th Street had called police about 1:45pm after she saw the suspect break into her home through a remote security camera Authorities said two people were taken to Elmhurst Hospital in serious condition Police dogs sniff the scene as cops dig up more evidence after a police-involved shooting that sent two people to the hospital In a video of the incident, a woman is seen walking into the building and then running out with a baby. As the woman runs away, a loud gunshot rings out through the residential street, followed by a woman's screm. Police shot the burglar. The woman was hit in the head, according to the Daily News. The Fire Department said two people were taken to Elmhurst Hospital in serious condition. Both are expected to survive. On Twitter, NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald would only confirm there had been an officer-involved shooting. The spokesman did not comment further. The suspect tried to run down Hull Avenue (pictured) but cops gave chased and eventually shot him Amanda Knox penned a piece about moving in with her new boyfriend, saying that the experience reminded her of when she was in prison in Italy. The 29-year-old wrote about how she was preparing herself to combine her belongings with another person, including her clothes and books, when she began to think about her time behind bars. 'Im reminded of how my cell in Capanne prison transformed in character with the arrival or release of even just one prisoner,' wrote Knox in a blog post published on the West Seattle Herald's website. 'While none of us was allowed much in the way of material possessions, our combined emotional baggage, when bashed together without consideration, could make an already inescapable situation insufferable, even dangerous.' Scroll down for video Two become one: Amanda Knox, 29, is moving in with her new author boyfriend Christopher Robinson (couple above on Fourth of July) Tough time: She wrote about how the experience of combining all their things and creating a new home made her think about her time in an Italian jail (above in 2007) Knox's new boyfriend is Christopher Robinson, a writer whose book War of the Encyclopeadists received a rave review from Knox last May on her blog. Knox wrote that the book was a 'hilarious and heartbreaking, investigation of the truth of two lives through fiction.' She makes no mention of knowing Robinson in the review and appears to have met him after writing the post. Knox was newly engaged to musician Colin Sutherland at the time, but the two split at some point in the past year. Knox also spoke about her struggle to begin leading a normal life now that all charges have officially been dropped against her in an Italian court, nearly one decade after she was arrested and accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher. 'Slowly, bit by bit, Im recovering. It may still be the case that, when I call Puget Sound Energy to set up a new utility account, Im reminded that Im That girl in Italy?! That Amanda Knox?!" Yeah, Im her,' wrote Knox. 'Im also the Amanda Knox who is so excited to be living my life alongside people I love and respect, lugging furniture, scooping cat poop, paying the bills, moving on.' Wordsmith: It is unclear when Knox began dating Robinson (above), but she did write a rave review of his book War of the Encyclopeadists in May of last year Former flame: Knox was newly engaged to musician Colin Sutherland (on left with Knox and her mother) at the time she wrote the review but the two have since split Tragedy: It has been almost a decade since Knox and then boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito (left) were accused of murdering Meredith Kercher (right) Italy's highest court last year overturned the conviction in the brutal murder and sexual assault of Kercher against Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaelle Sollecito. However, the court did uphold Knox's slander conviction for wrongly accusing Congolese-born bar owner Diya Lumumba in the murder. It reduced the slander sentence to three years. In May, the European Court of Human Rights agreed to hear Amanda Knox's case challenging her slander conviction. Knox spent nearly four years in jail after being convicted and sentenced to 26 years in her initial trial. The court battle went on for seven and a half years, with flip-flop decisions that saw her return to the United States after being acquitted only to face another trial after the acquittal was thrown out. When he was just two-years-old, Humayun Khan came to the United States with his Muslim parents. As a child growing up in Silver Springs, Maryland, he read extensively about Thomas Jefferson and planned to be a lawyer, like his father, after graduating from the University of Virginia. He joined the Army to pay his way through law school and joined up just after 9/11. While serving his country in Iraq in 2004, at the age of 27, he was killed as he ran towards a suicide bomber who had burst into his base in a taxi - and probably saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers. Khan was just three months into his first tour of duty as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has posthumously been awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. But his story, and his legacy, hit the headlines again last week when his parents Pakistani-American parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, gave a powerful speech to the Democratic convention - that was then slammed by Donald Trump. Scroll down for video Humayun Khan moved to the United States with his Muslim parents when he was just two years old. When he was 27, the UVA-graduate Army Captain was killed when he ran towards a suicide bomber who'd burst into his base in a taxi - probably saving hundreds of lives They slammed the Republican presidential nominee for not having the empathy to run the country, and said he he had never made any sacrifices. Khizr Khan told the crowd of delegates: 'Like many immigrants, we came to this country empty-handed. 'We believed in American democracy; that with hard work and goodness of this country, we could share in and contribute to its blessings'. Later on Mr Khan pulled a copy of the Constitution out of his suit pocket and offered to lend it to Donald Trump. He said: 'Look for the words "liberty" and "equal protection of law". Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery? 'Go look at the graves of brave Americans who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing.' Since then the billionaire businessman has been criticized for saying the grieving parents 'viciously attacked' him. Gold Star families have demanded he apologize, but Trump has stood firm in his position. Khan was born in the United Arab Emirates on September 9, 1976. He was the middle of three brothers. His mother revealed in an op-ed for the Washington Post that he helped disabled children learn to swim while he was at high school. He would say: 'I love when they have a little bit of progress and their faces, they light up. At least they are that much happy.' After graduating from John F. Kennedy High School, he went to UVA. He even quoted Jefferson in his acceptance essay. During his studies he signed up for the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). In 2004, he was sent overseas for the first time to join the invasion that led to the toppling of Sadam Hussein's regime. He was an ordnance officer with the 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. His unit made sure the camp was safe and day-to-day business ran smoothly. As a child growing up in Silver Springs, Maryland, he read extensively about Thomas Jefferson and planned to be a lawyer, like his father, after graduating from the University of Virginia. He joined the Army to pay for law school and joined up just after 9/11 Capt. Khan's story, and his legacy, hit the headlines again last week when his parents Pakistani-American parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, gave a powerful speech to the Democratic convention While serving, he also participated in a U.S. Army program that helped Iraqi citizens earn money to support themselves. On June 8, 2004, near Baqubah, Khan was inspecting a guard post when a spotted a cab coming towards the gates. It was coming at them very quickly, so he ordered his subordinates to stay back. As his comrades retreated, Khan ran towards the vehicle. The car exploded, killing Khan and two people inside. It detonated before reaching a mess hall were hundreds of soldiers were eating breakfast. Khan's actions probably saved their lives. They did not call him Captain Khan... They called him 'our captain.' We wonder how we got so lucky Captain Humayun Khan's father, Khizr, speaking in 2004 On June 15, Khan was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His father first spoke to the Washington Post in 2005, almost a year after his death. He said he would often tell their three sons why they moved to the United States. There was military rule in Pakistan, so they wanted to try and find somewhere with more freedom and opportunity. After college, Mr Khan said his son believed the next logical step was signing up for the Armed Forces. 'Because he wanted to complete the journey -- he felt that ROTC had completed him as a person, and he wanted to give back,' he said. 'That's what he wanted to do.' He had actually served for four years and was about to head to law school when the Army asked him to go to Iraq. 'They did not call him Captain Khan,' his told the Post. 'They called him "our captain."' 'We wonder how we got so lucky,' he added. His devastated mother reveals the last time she spoke to her son was on Mother's Day, 2004. Khan was just three months into his first tour of duty. He has posthumously been awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Hear. His gravestone can be seen at Arlington National Cemetery While talking to Morning Joe on MSNBC, Ghazala Khan broke down in tears while remembering her son 'We had asked him to call us collect whenever he could. I begged him to be safe. 'I asked him to stay back, and not to go running around trying to become a hero, because I knew he would do something like that. Mom, these are my soldiers, these are my people. I have to take care of them What he said in the last phone call to his mother in 2004 'He said: "Mom, these are my soldiers, these are my people. I have to take care of them." 'He was killed by a car bomber outside the gates of his base. He died trying to save his soldiers and innocent civilians.' Since his death, his mother has said she struggles to hold back her emotions when she sees his picture. It was one of the reasons why she didn't speak during their appearance at the DNC. Ghazala told her husband she couldn't, as it was too hard for her. Trump was then slammed for asking why she stayed silent during their moving address. She has since spoken in a number of TV interviews since then. While talking to Morning Joe on MSNBC, she broke down in tears remembering her son. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been criticized for saying the grieving parents 'viciously attacked' him during their DNC speech The same veterans organization in which members happily cheered 'Lock her up!' alongside Donald Trump during his appearance at its national conference six days ago is now taking him to task. The Veterans of Foreign Wars put out a statement today saying that Trump was 'out-of-bounds' for attacking Ghazala Khan, a Muslim-American Gold Star mother whose husband spoke out against Trump's Muslim ban at last week's Democratic National Convention. 'Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech expression,' said Brian Duffy, the newly-elected leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization. Scroll down for video Republican nominee Donald Trump is in hot water with the Veterans of Foreign Wars - a group he spoke before six days ago - receiving a standing ovation and people cheering 'Lock her up!' The new leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars sent out a statement today saying that Trump's criticism of a Gold Star mother is 'out-of-bounds' 'There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed,' Duffy continued. 'Giving one's life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard,' he added. VFW STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR GOLD STAR FAMILY Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has a history of lashing out after being attacked, but to ridicule a Gold Star Mother is out-of-bounds, said the new national commander of the near 1.7 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Auxiliary. 'Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,' said Brian Duffy, of Louisville, Ky., who was elected July 27 to lead the nation's oldest and largest major war veterans organization. 'There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed,' he said. 'Giving one's life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.' Advertisement Less than a week before, Trump was given a standing ovation by the group during a conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The controversy began when Khizr Khan arrived on the convention stage in Philadelphia Thursday night and pulled out a copy of the American Constitution. The Khans had lost their son, an Army captain, in 2004 when he was deployed to Iraq. 'Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America -- you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities,' he said. 'You have sacrificed nothing and no one,' the grieving father said with his wife Ghazala standing by his side. A lawyer by trade, Khizr Khan used the Constitution as a prop saying, 'Have you ever read it?' offering to lend the Republican nominee his copy. He noted that Democrat Hillary Clinton had called his son 'the best of America,' in contrast to Trump's view. 'If it was up to Donald Trump he never would have been in America,' Khizr Khan said, referencing Trump's plans to ban non-American Muslims from the United States. Since then, Trump has responded several times each time facing broader backlash. '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,' said Trump. Trump has also implied that Ghazala Khan stood speechless on the DNC stage because her Muslim faith wouldn't allow her to speak. '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.' She refuted that claim again this morning during an appearance on Morning Joe. 'My religion teaches me whatever I feel, I could say it. I can say anything,' she said. The grieving mother didn't speak at the DNC because she feared she would break down in tears and did so today when talking about her late son on television. 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. Trump said early Sunday that he was 'viciously attacked' by Khizr Khan at the DNC and used the same phrasing Monday morning as the Khans made television appearances. Mr Khan was given a standing ovation at the DNC after he took out a copy of the Constitution and questioned whether Trump had ever read it On Monday Donald Trump again said he was 'viciously attacked' by a Muslim-American Gold Star father from the Democratic National Convention stage 'Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!' Trump tweeted this morning. 'This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart!' Trump also said. A number of top Republicans have slammed Trump for his remarks including Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war who Trump said last July wasn't a 'war hero' because he had been captured. 'I like people who werent captured,' the businessman said at the time. Many political prognosticators believed those comments would be the end of Trump's surprising presidential bid. They were wrong. A Michigan woman who lost her engagement ring in Lake Michigan was overjoyed when a stranger found it for her in the waters two days later. Jamie Kennedy, of Decatur, Michigan, was at the beach with her sons and a friend when she reached down to brush some sand off her leg. She said she was in chest-deep water when the ring slipped off her finger. Jamie Kennedy (left), of Decatur, Michigan, was overjoyed after John Dudley (right) found her lost engagement ring in Lake Michigan and returned it to her 'When I got the sand off my legs, it was in between in my fingers and in my ring. I pushed up with my thumb to get it out and I must've pushed up hard and I lost it,' she told Yahoo News. Kennedy said she thinks her fingers shrunk in the cold water, causing the ring to slip off. She tried to catch it but in seconds it was gone. 'I told my friend and we both started looking immediately with our feet and hands. 'Our 10-year-old boys had goggles and we searched and searched and searched for about 45 minutes,' she said. With large waves rolling in, they eventually gave up on finding the 1.3-carat ring. Kennedy posted on social media in one finally effort to have the ring returned. 'Feeling beyond sad, sick, and disappointed that I lost my wedding ring IN Lake Michigan today. Kennedy (left) was swimming in Lake Michigan when she went to brush some sand off her leg. While in chest-high water, the ring slipped off 'I don't usually believe in miracles but if anyone sees any posts on Facebook or hears anything about found rings in South Haven let me know,' she wrote. Her post got more than 2,400 shares and soon it made its way to John Dudley, the president of the West Michigan Detector Club. Dudley reached out to Kennedy and said he'd go out with a metal detector to hunt down the ring. 'She lost it on a Friday and I didn't go out until Sunday. It was two days later, which makes it even more bizarre. 'The waves were terrible. I'm a pretty good-sized guy and the waves were knocking me over. But 30 to 45 minutes later I got a good signal in the water about waist deep. 'I scooped up whatever the signal was and there was a ring in the bottom. I went, "Oh my gosh". 'When I turned the ring over I knew it was hers because she had shown me a few pictures. 'I gave a thumbs up to her and she just came running out to the water. I gave her ring back and she just started bawling and gave me a great big hug,' he said Dudley (pictured), the president of the West Michigan Detector Club, went out with Kennedy two days later and after 45 minutes found her ring Kennedy said her heart skipped a beat when she realized her ring had been found. 'I jumped up and ran out there. When he first gave me a thumbs up I thought maybe had detected something, and then after he held my ring up I just ran. 'He said I practically walked on water to get out to him. I instantly I started bawling of course,' Kennedy said. Dudley said it's his best day detecting so far and Kennedy said she now believes in miracles. A 31-year-old Michigan woman was shot dead while out for an afternoon jog along a rural road in Oakland County on Saturday. State police identified the victim on Monday as Alexandra Nicolette Brueger, of Holly Township, saying that it is possible she was familiar with her killer. Brueger's body was found on the front lawn of a home in Rose Township at around 2pm. Her relatives told investigators she regularly ran along Fish Lake Road. Scroll down for video Gunned down: Alexandra Brueger (left and right), 31, was killed while out for a jog in Rose Township, Michigan, Saturday afternoon. She was a registered nurse and a college student Left for dead: Brueger was found bleeding on the front lawn of a home along Fish Lake Road Hunt: Police are searching for a white or light-colored four-door sedan that may have been speeding on Fish Lake Road A neighbor who spotted Brueger bleeding on the grass called 911 and administered CPR to her until first responders arrived on the scene, reported the station ClickOnDetroit. Brueger was rushed to Genesys Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police are now searching for a white or light-colored four-door sedan that may have been speeding on Fish Lake Road between 2-3pm on Saturday. According to an online fundraiser launched by the victim's father, Alexandra Brueger, known to her loved ones as Ally,' was her parents' only child. Franz Brueger wrote on GoFundMe.com that his daughter was a registered nurse at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Michigan, and that she was also working on a Master's degree in creative writing. Police say Brueger was possibly familiar with the person who shot her in the back four times Friends and family described the 31-year-old (pictured left and right) as witty and kind Brueger's father wrote that it would have been his daughter's wish to have all of her organs donated, but the extensive damage to her body has made it impossible Mr Brueger's post also offered additional details on the manner of his daughter's death, stating that the 4-foot-9, 98-pound young woman was shot four times in the back while taking her daily 10-mile run. 'Her wish would have been to have all of her organs donated, but because of the senseless way she perished that was not possible,' Franz Brueger wrote of Alexandra, describing her as 'very serious-minded' and 'mighty in spirit' despite her small stature. Sameera Buzo, a friend and former colleague of Brueger's, eulogized her in a Facebook post Monday, describing the 31-year-old as 'the happiest, wittiest, and kindest person' she's ever known. 'I'll never understand who would want to take her life. You will be missed by many, Alex,' Mrs Buzo wrote. I hope that now you will be able to run free, without any worries or fears.' The Waffen SS was branded 'criminal' for carrying out public massacres Officers in Adolf Hitler's notorious Waffen SS are living in the UK and drawing government pensions, it has been revealed. Two Ukrainian members of the Galizien division, which has long been suspected of war crimes, have admitted their commissions in the unit but denied any illegal activity during the Second World War. The Waffen SS was formed in 1933 as a militant organisation that was initially only open to people of 'Aryan' ancestry until 1940 when the rules were relaxed during the war and people of other ethnicities were allowed to join or were conscripted. It was condemned as 'criminal' in the post-war Nuremberg Trials due to a number of wide-scale civilian and prisoner massacres committed in France, Italy, Belgium and Russia between 1940 and 1944. There are thought to be around 25 Waffen SS officers and soldiers still living in Britain today. Myron Tabora, 90, left, and Ostap Kykawec, 92, were both lieutenants in the mainly-Ukrainian Galizien division of the Waffen SS but have denied committing war crimes The Galizien division, pictured here swearing an oath to Adolf Hitler, was accused of war crimes during the war but nothing was ever proven The Waffen SS as a whole was branded a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg Trials for the number of massacres it carried out during the Second World War According to The Sun, Myron Tabora, 90, of Lichfield, Staffordshire, and Ostap Kykawec, 92, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, were both lieutenants in the Galizien. The unit was condemned as 'criminal' in the post-war Nuremberg Trials due to a number of wide-scale civilian and prisoner massacres committed in France, Italy, Belgium and Russia between 1940 and 1944 Retired engineer Mr Tabora told the paper: 'I never fired a rifle. I went to the Austrian front but I didn't know of any men committing crimes.' Mr Kykawec added: 'I never fought the British and Americans. I fought the Russians. We didn't take part in any crimes.' But Jaroslaw Wenger, 93, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, admitted he 'rounded up' partisans and 'took them to the German army police', but claimed he did not know what subsequently happened to them. The men were tracked down by Dr Stephen Ankier - who has traced the soldiers across the UK and the world. Dr Ankier made international headlines after he discovered one of the units commanders, Michael Karkoc, living in Minnesota in the USA. Karkoc commanded a unit in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion - also known as the 31st Punitive Battalion - accused of burning villages filled with women and children, then lied to American immigration officials to get into the U.S. a few years after World War II. In 2014 One member of Karkoc's ULS company, a great-grandfather living in a quiet Lancashire street, was named as a former soldier in a notorious Nazi SS-led unit responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Jewish and Polish civilians in the Second World War. Jaroslaw Wenger, 93, left, and Mychajlo Ostapenko, 88, right, are also among around 25 former Waffen SS soldiers still living in the UK today Mychajlo Ostapenko has lived in Britain for more than 65 years but documents discovered by Holocaust researcher Dr Ankier reveal that he served in the feared 31st Punitive Battalion. The unit carried out appalling atrocities, including the murder of more than 100 prisoners in 1944 and the destruction of the Polish village of Chlaniow, when 44 civilians, including five children, were killed. When contacted by The Mail on Sunday in 2014, Mr Ostapenko said he could not remember joining the battalion and insisted he had done nothing wrong. The Galizien division was formed in 1943 and was initially made up of Ukrainian volunteers but later expanded to include Czechoslovakian and Dutch recruits. It also included former concentration camp guards. It was never found guilty of war crimes by any court or tribunal but was accused of slaughtering civilians in Polish villages. Holocaust researcher Dr Stephen Ankier has criticised British involvement in a war crime inquiry into the Galizien following the war. He said: 'According to war crime inquiry studies British screening during 1947 of the Waffen-SS and Galizien Division held in Rimini was woefully inadequate. 'Although the Galizien has never been found guilty of war crimes, accusations have persisted for years that they were responsible for atrocities against civilians in Huta Pieniacka and in Nizna Boca. 'For these Ukrainians, fighting for Nazi Germany rather than Soviet 'Bolshevik' Russia was the lesser of two evils. 'Their hope seems to have been to finish on the winning side and then to gain an independent Ukraine. 'But being a fragile old man must never be a reason to gift an amnesty to a murderer.' Scotland Yard reopened an investigation into the division in 2006, but it is understood to have since been closed. It is believed the UK allowed around 8,000 members of the Galizien to re-settle here after they surrendered, with around 25 still living today. Heinrich Himler, pictured inspecting Galizien troops, oversaw the Waffen SS for Hitler An American Airlines pilot tackled an intoxicated man to the ground after he tried to force his way off a taxiing plane and attacked a flight attendant. In footage posted online, the pilot is heard yelling 'you don't put your hands on my flight attendant!' as he forced the belligerent passenger to the floor after the plane landed and came to a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. Michael Kerr, 25, from Kentucky, was banned from flying after appearing in court on charges of being intoxicated and disruptive, assault on a female and communicating threats, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. He also face charges of interfering with the duties of a flight crew or attendant following the incident which occurred on July 21. 'You don't put your hands on my flight attendant!': Video footage shows the pilot pushing an intoxicated Kerr to the ground after he repeatedly refuses to take a seat and tries to force his way into the flight deck In the video, the pilot of the flight from Lexington, Kentucky and a female flight attendant can be seen and heard repeatedly asking Kerr to have a seat as he tries to leave the aircraft. 'Move, move, move,' Kerr said repeatedly as the flight attendant and pilot stood in the aisle blocking him from leaving. The pilot says: 'Take a seat. I said take a seat sir.' Kerr, who had drunk three whiskeys on the plane, then told the pilot that he didn't want to take a seat and the pilot said: 'I don't care what you want to do, you're going to take a seat right now.' They went back and forth with Kerr until he pushed through them and shoved a flight attendant to the floor. The pilot then tackled the man to the floor and restrained him. In the video, the pilot and a female flight attendant patiently asked Kerr to have a seat. Kerr was attempting to exit the aircraft when the flight crew tried to get the insolent man to calm down. He's pictured right sitting on the arm rest of a seat The pilot and Kerr argued for a bit until he pushed through them and shoved the flight attendant to the floor. The pilot then tackled the man and restrained him. Pictured is the incident before Kerr pushed the hostess down Michael Kerr (pictured), 25, from Kentucky, was tackled by a pilot on an American Airlines flight after he attacked members of a flight crew Passenger Brian Colon, 23, shot the video. In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, he said: 'I was very scared. I felt like the flight attendant's life was in danger and I felt like someone else needed to step in.' Mr Colon, who is himself a flight attendant for Norwegian Airlines, said the crew had to restrain Kerr for 15 minutes until the police arrives. The video footage shows Kerr restrained on the plane gangway, warning the pilot that he'll regret the move when the incident is 'put on Facebook'. He is out on $25,000 bond, according to the US Attorney's Office. The court ordered that Kerr cannot fly on commercial airlines and must not make contact with the flight attendant he attacked, according to the Observer. An FBI affidavit obtained by the Observer said that Kerr remained standing and when an attendant interceded, he threatened to break her jaw. Kerr, who had three Jack Daniels during the flight, refused to sit down as the plane taxied to the gate. The document said he kicked one attendant in the leg and shoved another to the floor. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police took Kerr into custody. Kerr (pictured) is out on $25,000 bond, according to the US Attorney's Office. The court ordered that Kerr cannot fly on commercial airlines and must not make contact with the flight attendant he attacked The flight attendant's friend Tanise Love told the Observer the hostess is currently in physical therapy about three to four times a week. 'She's as angry as anyone would be, but she's also very forgiving,' Love told the newspaper. 'I don't think she's so much focused on the assailant or his wrongdoing, she's just focused on getting better.' The mother of a toddler who suffered 'head to toe' injuries including a ruptured intestine was sent a photo of her child laying face down in vomit the day before he died. Mason Jet Lee was found dead at the Caboolture home, north of Brisbane, of his stepfather William Andrew O'Sullivan, 37, in the early hours of June 11. This week, as his mother Anne-Maree Lee, 27, was refused bail, it was revealed she was sent a text message by her child's step-father showing the boy laying in bed in 'volumes of vomit', the Courier Mail reported. Scroll down for video Anne-Maree Lee (left) was sent a photo of her baby boy Mason Jet Lee (right) face down in vomit the day before he died The image was taken a day before Mason died. It was part of a correspondence between O'Sullivan and Lee over who should take the child to see a doctor. O'Sullivan, Lee, and 17-year-old Ryan Robert Barry Hodson are all charged with the toddler's manslaughter. Hodson was denied bail in the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Monday on the grounds he is an unacceptable flight risk. The court heard Hodson, who had been living in the same house as Mason, refused on multiple occasions to get the child medical help when asked. Hodson allegedly told one person who said the toddler needed to see a doctor to 'f*** your mouth up, it's not our business, it's not our problem'. He also allegedly told another person that he wouldn't take Mason to see a doctor because he 'wasn't his child'. Little Mason Jet Lee was found dead on June 11 after suffering severe injuries, including a ruptured intestine The court heard Hodson was captured on CCTV verbally abusing the child on three occasions leading up to his death. On separate occasions Hodson told Mason 'you walk like a spastic, hurry up and grab your f***ing bottle' and 'shut up c*** or I'm going to hit you in the head'. Police prosecutor Aaron Murray said Mason suffered widespread injuries including scarring and bruising to his legs, abdomen and head. The connective tissue between his scalp and skull had also been torn indicating his hair had been pulled. Sergeant Murray said while there were no allegations Hodson physically abused Mason, he clearly showed 'no care, compassion or consideration in any way'. He also suggested Hodgson should remain in custody for his own protection, given the publicity surrounding the case. Hodson will appear in the same court on September 28. Also on Monday, Mason's mother was remanded in custody when she faced the Toowoomba Magistrates Court. His mother Anne-Maree Lee, 27, (left) and her former partner William Andrew O'Sullivan, 37, (right) have been charged with manslaughter along with Ryan Robert Barry Hodson, 17 The 21-month-old suffered severe injuries, including a ruptured intestine in the days leading up to his death The court heard the mother was in an abusive relationship but she had intended to leave her partner, who had refused to let her see her child, ABC News reported. Her lawyer lawyer Brad Skuse on Monday told the court there was evidence to suggest his client should have known her son was in need of medical attention. 'In terms of the crown case, your honour, certainly there are strengths to it,' Mr Skuse said. 'There are a number of pieces of evidence, your honour, which support that my client should have been aware as to the condition of Mason Lee, her son.' But he also said Ms Lee, who appeared scared and weak during her appearance, had 'limited opportunities' to observe Mason. In refusing bail, Magistrate Graham Lee, of no relation, said the case against Ms Lee was 'very serious' and found there was an unacceptable risk of her not appearing at future court dates. Queensland detectives scoured the surrounding of the Caboolture property following the boy's death in June The court also heard police were concerned she could interfere with witnesses if released. Magistrate Lee said although there was no criminal history to consider the crown case seemed to be strong. 'In balancing all considerations, you have no history, (but) this is a very, very serious case,' he said to Ms Lee. Mason's stepfather also remains in custody after not applying for bail during his brief appearance in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday. Police allege the trio failed to provide Mason with medical treatment despite his obvious injuries, although they're yet to determine how they were caused. Donald Trump's campaign, which has already blasted Hillary for failing to contain ISIS, is now charging she is 'linked' to the group because of a French company's contribution to the Clinton foundation. More than any major presidential nominee in modern history, Hillary Clinton is tied to brutal theocratic and Islamist regimes,' according to a statement by Trump campaign senior advisor Stephen Miller. 'Now we learn she has accepted money from a company linked to ISIS. All the while, she refuses to tell the truth about radical Islam's war against people of different beliefs, lifestyles and values. The campaign cited as evidence for its charge a June 21 report in France's Le Monde, which catalogues efforts by cement company Lafarge's efforts to maintain operation and protect workers at its Jalabiya cement works, near Aleppo. Scroll down for video Donald Trump's campaign cited a donation by cement giant Lafarge's donation to the Clinton Foundation, and said Monday that Hillary Clinton 'has accepted money from a company linked to ISIS.' It referenced a report in LeMonde charging that Lafarge had paid taxes to ISIS middlemen to secure its operations Clinton 'refuses to tell the truth about radical Islam's war against people of different beliefs, lifestyles and values,' Miller added. According to a translated report by TV station France 24, the company opened the plant in 2010, before the civil war broke out in Syria, and while the country was under the control of president Bashar al Assad's regime. "Until 2013, production kept up despite the growing instability in the region due to the civil war," according to the report. The report states that the company paid taxes to ISIS middlemen to secure its operations, and sent a man named Ahmad Jaloudi on a mission on its behalf to "to get permission from IS group to let employees past checkpoints". It also cites a pass ' stamped with an IS group stamp' and signed by the group's finance chief in Aleppo as evidence that it made a deal to allow its goods to circulate. Lafarge recently merged with Swiss cement giant Holcim. Donald Trump's presidential campaign on Monday pointed the finger at Hillary Clinton for the French firm's alleged ties to ISIS The French company opened a cement plant in 2010, before the civil war took off Civilians try to rescue people in Aleppo after Bashar al Assad's forces hit residential areas The old Lafarge plant in Milwaukee in 2013 Lafarge has been named as the largest building materials manufacturer. It has merged with Swiss giant Holcim Hillary Clinton spent two years on the company's board of directors from 1990 until 1992, according to media reports The company evacuated the plant in September 2015. About 100 people were working there at the time. Reuters reported that the Islamic State had taken control of the plant after a suicide bomb exploded at a Kurdish-controlled checkpoint for workers. Clinton served on the board of directors of Lafarge from 1990 until 1992, when she resigned to devote herself full time to her husband's presidential campaign, the Washington Post reported at the time. During his speech at the Republican convention, Donald Trump placed the chaos in the Middle East at Clinton's feet. "In 2009, pre-Hillary, ISIS was not even on the map," Trump said at the convention July 21. "Libya was stable. Egypt was peaceful. Iraq was seeing, really a big big reduction in violence. Iran was being choked by sanctions. Syria was somewhat under control. After four years of Hillary Clinton, what do we have? ISIS has spread across the region, and the entire world,' Trump said. The Clinton Foundation and Lefarge didn't respond immediately for requests for comment. Simon Danczuk has been accused of bringing his hometown into disrepute after allegedly having sex with a woman half his age at his taxpayer-funded constituency office. The MPs critics said the latest in his catalogue of scandals was damaging the reputation of Rochdale and that he should not be allowed to get away it. Father-of-four Mr Danczuk, 49, is said to have spanked the unnamed blonde woman over his desk. Tryst: Simon Danczuk with the blonde woman, who has not been named He reportedly exchanged thousands of flirty messages, culminating in trysts at his former marital home and his office in the town for which he has received more than 22,000 of public money in expenses this year. It is yet another public embarrassment for the politician who has campaigned against child sex abuse. He is still suspended from the Labour Party after he was caught sending lewd text messages to a 17-year-old in January. Following the latest claims, Andy Kelly, prospective parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Rochdale, said the average worker would be sacked for similar behaviour. Its just one thing after another with Simon Danczuk and you simply dont know whats coming next in this catalogue of scandals, he said. Hes creating a media circus and its bringing Rochdale into disrepute. I hope this is the straw that breaks the camels back. Divorce: Claims about the relationship come eight months after a string of revelations about Mr Danczuks personal life following his divorce from second wife Karen (pictured) Describing Danczuk as the 'perfect gentleman', who was 'complimentary and charming', the woman said the MP told her he wanted to marry her, and hoped for more children Responding to the allegations of Mr Danczuk having sex in the constituency office, Mr Kelly added: He cant get away with doing such things in a publicly-funded office. If you or I had done something like this, we would be out of a job. Mr Danczuk is said to have exchanged 6,000 messages with the woman, now 23, after giving her his mobile number when they met on Twitter in June, and their conversation appears to have quickly become flirty. Texts sent between Mr Danczuk and the woman, according to The Sun The politician told her youve got my imagination running wild after she revealed she was in her nightwear. They also discussed fetish outfits after she confessed to having a big thing for latex. When she expressed her concern about the impact on the Eurovision Song Contest following Brexit, he suggested that if she had sex with him you wont even think about it. Four days after exchanging numbers, they are said to have had sex in Mr Danczuks constituency office something that could be viewed as gross misconduct by senior government officials. The woman told The Sun: He had me over his desk and was spanking me. He was sex mad. 'I felt quite privileged to be in there with such a well-known MP. 'Looking back, it was so irresponsible. He shouldnt have been using his office as a sex pad. 'But I just went along with it because I fancied him. Mr Danczuk who previously admitted younger women are his Achilles heel is said to have invited her to stay at his London flat and Spanish villa before meetings at Manchesters Lowry Hotel, an Italian restaurant and a jazz club. He also allegedly messaged the woman asking about her stockings while he was at an Armed Forces Day ceremony at Rochdale town hall. Simon Danczuk pictured opening his Rochdale office in 2010 with Gillian Duffy (right), a pensioner from his constituency Claims about the relationship come eight months after a string of revelations about Mr Danczuks personal life following his divorce from second wife Karen. He was caught sexting a teenager, accused of historical rape, and labelled an alcoholic by former girlfriends. Two months later, the Labour MP agreed to repay more than 11,000 after he was found to have claimed extra accommodation expenses for two of his children even though they were not living with him. Mr Kelly said: What is worse is that the Labour Party has yet to properly condemn his behaviour. Hes still suspended months on and nothing seems to have happened. If he was standing today in Rochdale, he wouldnt have a hells chance of winning, but hes protected by a cabal within the Labour Party in Rochdale. China last night warned that its golden era of co-operation with Britain could be over following the decision to delay plans for a nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. The countrys state-run news agency Xinhua which reflects official views in Beijing blasted the suspicious approach to Chinese investment in the 18billion project. Theresa May last week put plans for the nuclear reactor in Somerset under review amid national security concerns over the role of China in the scheme. Co-operation: David Cameron with President Xi Jinping at a pub near Chequers last year It marked a dramatic shift in tone from the UK government after David Cameron and George Osborne spent years fostering closer relations with Beijing. Officially the Chinese government said it hoped for a speedy resolution to the Hinkley situation. But Xinhua reacted more strongly in a commentary that said China would not tolerate unwanted accusations about its investments in the UK. It said the delay not only draws queries from the international community about its openness towards foreign investment, but also adds uncertainties to the golden era of China-UK ties. Xinhua went on: Giving the green light to a $24billion project can never be an easy decision, and China fully understands and respects the British governments requirement for more time to ponder. However, what China cannot understand is the suspicious approach that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement. Controversial: A computer-generated image of the HInkley Point reactor The news agency said China could wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win co-operation. Pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister to approve the Hinkley plans. As well as anger from China there are fears the French could claim 2.5billion compensation if the project is scrapped. French energy firm EDF has been contracted to build the plant in a joint venture with China General Nuclear. Last week EDF approved funding only to be told the Government would need until September to review the plans further. In a rare statement Chinese officials yesterday called for the Government to give Hinkley the go-ahead as soon as possible. Foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said: I would like to stress that this project was agreed upon by China, Britain and France in the spirit of mutual benefit and co-operation, and win-win co-operation, and has always had the strong support of Britain and France. President Xi Jinping: In a rare statement Chinese officials yesterday called for the Government to give Hinkley the go-ahead as soon as possible The 18bn project: A CGI image of Hinkley Point. Pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister to approve the Hinkley plans She added that China hopes that Britain can reach a decision as soon as possible, to ensure the projects smooth implementation. The Hinkley project has been mired in controversy. Originally slated to cost 10billion, the Government claims it will now cost 18billion. But critics say the final bill for building the power station could reach 29billion. And while it is now planned to be up and running in 2025, this is several years later than originally promised. There are further worries about the type of reactor because similar ones being built in Finland and France are years overdue and well over budget. The project is also controversial because it is, in effect, being built by foreign governments. EDF is 85 per cent owned by the French state, while one-third of the cost is being provided by Chinese investors. Meanwhile it has emerged that the French are expected to demand compensation for the 2.5billion they have already spent on Hinkley if the plans are scrapped. A source told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche: They would have to support the extra costs in case the negotiations are prolonged and the funds committed by EDF to prepare the site. The family of a Spitfire pilot who died after an attack on an NHS ward say they are dismayed no one has been held to account over his death. Kenneth Tyrer, 90, died after he hit his head and broke his hip when he was kicked to the ground by another dementia patient. But police yesterday said charges would not be brought against the 85-year-old suspect following the assault at Yeovil Hospital in Somerset in June last year. Kenneth Tyrer, 90, died after he hit his head and broke his hip when he was kicked to the ground by another dementia patient The Second World War pilots son Bill Tyrer, 59, last night said a series of failings had led to his fathers death and he was dismayed no one had been criticised for it. He said: We were expecting it. It has been dragging on for so long. It is like they can sweep it under the carpet if they leave it long enough. The hospital did not seem to have anything come back to them no repercussions. Former salesman Mr Tyrer who flew Spitfires and Hurricanes during the war was treated for an infection at the hospital in May last year. But his family said that despite making a recovery, he could not leave for a month because neither the council nor NHS would agree to fund a care home place for him. They also said he had been attacked by the same patient days before he was assaulted and suffered the fatal fall on June 12. He died two days after the second attack. The Second World War pilots son Bill Tyrer, 59, last night said a series of failings had led to his fathers death and he was dismayed no one had been criticised for it. Pictured, Yeovil District Hospital, where Mr Tyrer died His son noted: He was perfectly safe at home, it was at the hospital where he was not safe. While Bill Tyrer praised the polices major crime team, he said it felt unfair that no one had been brought to justice. He said: The (suspect) has dementia and they had a psychiatric report saying that he was not culpable for reason of ill health so they are not prepared to progress it further. It has been dragging on for so long. It is like they can sweep it under the carpet if they leave it long enough. Son Bill Tyrer But if you kill somebody, you kill somebody. There is a feeling that something should happen, but how do you punish someone who does not know what day of the week it is? He said he had been told the suspect was now having one-on-one care, adding: If my father had been given care he would have been out of (the hospital) before he was attacked. The pilots son asked police about bringing a corporate manslaughter charge against the hospital but was told this was not possible. He said: It is a bit unfair but I do not see what else we can do about it. Avon and Somerset Police yesterday said the decision that no further action will be taken was made following discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service. The pilots son asked police about bringing a corporate manslaughter charge against the hospital but was told this was not possible. Pictured, Mr Tyrer in 2009 (left) and (right) during the Second World War Detective Inspector Richard Ocone said: This was a tragic incident involving two elderly in-patients at Yeovil District Hospital that required careful consideration. Mr Tyrers family have been informed and our thoughts remain with them. This matter will now be submitted to the coroner. Mr Tyrer, who was deaf and going blind, had lived alone in the Somerset village of Milborne Port until he was admitted to hospital. He had been due to join Sheila, his wife of 66 years, at a care home after leaving hospital. This is the horrifying moment a man in China stabbed his estranged wife 23 times after she threatened to divorce him. The shocking video footage captured the moment the woman, surnamed Zheng, was ambushed by her husband after she finished work at a factory in Shenzhen, southern China, on July 31. Zheng is currently in a stable condition in hospital while her husband has been detained by police, reports Huanqiu, an affiliate of the People's Daily Online. Terrifying: Video footage shows the horrifying moment a husband ambushes his wife and stabs her Sickening: He pushed her to the ground and started his attack on his wife who had threatened a divorce Zheng Ganggang left the factory gate after finishing work at midday and was ambushed by her husband of ten years according to the report. In the footage, the attacker can be seen pushing over Zheng as she made her way out from the gates of her work. As she laid on the floor, he gets out a knife and launches into a sustained assault. A security guard went over to stop the man but the attacker reportedly told him not to interfere and that he would stab anyone who did. The security guard ignored the womans husband and called for backup. Zheng was found by police lying in a pool of blood and was later rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. Tragic incident: Zheng was stabbed by her husband more than 20 times and her liver was pierced as a result of the assault Help: After the security called for help, police arrived at the scene very quickly and the man was apprehended Her husband was arrested at the scene. Zheng was stabbed by her husband more than 20 times and her liver was pierced during the assault. According to staff, she is still in a serious condition. She told local reporters that she had asked her husband for a divorce after moving out of the marital home. He reportedly sent her a message threatening to kill her family. Dr Hu, who treated Zheng at the hospital, told reporters that she is suffering from shock and has serious wounds in her chest, back and abdomen. She is also suffering from liver lacerations and has several broken bones. Chinese media reports that the husband is still in detention and that police are currently investigating the incident. Police have now intervened and taken her to hospital for further treatment She was locked up by family after she reportedly showed violent behaviour A woman suffering from a severe mental illness has been found locked in a cellar by the police. The 45-year-old from Xixia, in China's Sichuan province, has been in and out of hospital for her condition since 2012. The family of the woman, surnamed Peng, said they had no other choice but to lock her in the cellar after previous treatments had failed, reports Huanqiu, an affiliate of the People's Daily Online. Tragic: A woman suffering from a severe mental illness was locked in a home-made cage by her family Rescued: After these images emerged, the woman was rescued by police and sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment Peng is classed as severely mentally disabled by the government according to the report. Her mental illness only developed after a car accident according to news.com.au. She has visited four psychiatric hospitals since 2012 and following several treatments, her condition seemed to improve. According to reports, once she returned home, her condition suddenly worsened. She reportedly smashed up cars and broke her neighbours' windows, forcing her family to lock her in the stairwell of the building's first floor. They say they were concerned for the safety of fellow villagers. On July 28, a resident in the area took pictures of the woman in the cellar and posted them to social media, hoping to help find a solution to her situation. Peng was rescued by local police after the photographs emerged online. Chinese media reports that Peng was taken to hospital by local officials and her mother for further treatment. Upsetting: These images were posted online to social media accounts by a resident who was alarmed It's a question which has intrigued scientists for centuries why do women have orgasms? But a team of Yale researchers claim to have finally discovered the answer and its all to do with ovulation. They believe that in the past, our female ancestors only released an egg after being stimulated by a male just before or during sex. This is still the case for numerous species of mammals including rabbits, ferrets, camels and cats. Once stimulated, the prehistoric female would have released certain hormones causing her to ovulate and the egg was then fertilised by sperm. But over hundreds of thousands of years their bodies evolved to ovulate by themselves once a month. Actress Meg Ryan performed a fake orgasm in a famous scene in the hit 1989 film When Harry Met Sally WHY DO SOME WOMEN STRUGGLE TO ORGASM DURING SEX? Along with the evolution of a females monthly cycle, the clitoris was relocated from its ancestral position inside the copulatory canal, the study revealed. This anatomical change made it less likely that the clitoris receives adequate stimulation during intercourse to lead to the reflex known in humans as an orgasm. Dr Wagner explained: For women to not have an orgasm during intercourse is natural i.e. a natural result of our evolutionary history. Orgasms are extracurricular and require special effort. But the important point is that there is nothing wrong with the woman nor with her partner if intercourse is not sufficient to cause orgasm. Advertisement This means a womans orgasm famously simulated by Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally now has no reproductive function, and this is what has baffled scientists. Professor Gunter Wagner, who specialises in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, believes that in the past all female mammals ovulated after having an orgasm. It was only later on that some species such as humans, dogs, cows and rats evolved to ovulate by themselves during cycles. Professor Wagner, whose discovery is published in the journal JEZ-Molecular and Developmental Evolution, focused on the hormones released by different female mammals during sex. Most release a surge of the feelgood hormones prolactin and oxytocin and in many cases this triggers ovulation. This led him and his colleagues to believe that in the past, ovulation was always triggered by an orgasm. Dr Mihaela Pavlicev of the Centre for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, in the US, who was also involved in the research said: We think the hormonal surge characterises a trait that we know as female orgasm in humans. This insight enabled us to trace the evolution of the trait across species. [Similar] traits in different species are often difficult to identify, as they can change substantially in the course of evolution. Other scientists have come up with other controversial explanations as to why women have orgasms when they perform no function. Once stimulated, the prehistoric female would have released certain hormones causing her to ovulate and the egg was then fertilised by sperm (pictured) One of the most obvious is that they simply encourage them to have more sex, and reproduce, as it is so enjoyable. Another theory is that they create a stronger bond between the woman and the man, making it more likely they will stay together and have more children. Finally, some scientists claim it is down to the mate-choice hypothesis whereby females chose a mate on the basis of sexual satisfaction. Theoretically, a male which gives them a better orgasm has stronger sperm and will help her to produce more offspring. The Archive of Sexual Behaviour also found in a study that women who pretended to orgasm did so as part of a strategy of mate retention. The study found women who thought that their partner was likely to cheat on them were more likely to fake it. Could fly payloads into busy cities or airspace unless regulation improves Experts have warned delivery drones in wrong hands could be dangerous During the tests the drones will be only allowed to fly an altitude of 400ft Amazon plans to test its delivery drones in Britain, meaning customers in the UK could soon receive their packages from the internet giant by air, rather than post. The move is the result of a deal with the British government and could see customers in the UK trial the new service before those in the US. But experts have expressed fear that dangers drones could be hijacked and cause 'disasters' if the proper controls are not put into place. Scroll down for videos Amazon plans to test its delivery drones in Britain, meaning customers in Britain could soon receive their packages from the internet giant by air, rather than post. One of the company's prototype drones is pictured THE DANGERS OF DRONES Colin Bull, a consultant at Software Quality Systems, said despite the obvious benefits of drones, they ' must be embraced and feared in equal measures'. 'They might look pretty innocent, but on closer inspection, what you find can be terrifying. Combined with 3D printing these can be easily configured and adapted into support any kind of use case,' said Mr Bull. 'Putting it bluntly, these devices are in fact a flying payload system with the ability to deliver anything including incendiary devices or grenades in to uncontrolled airspace in the way that only Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have been able to do in the past,' he said. Advertisement The world's biggest online retailer, which has laid out plans to start using drones for deliveries by 2017, said last week that a cross-government team supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority has provided it with the permissions necessary to explore the process. But Colin Bull, a consultant at Software Quality Systems, said despite the obvious benefits of drones, they ' must be embraced and feared in equal measures'. 'They might look pretty innocent, but on closer inspection, what you find can be terrifying. Combined with 3D printing these can be easily configured and adapted into support any kind of use case,' said Mr Bull. 'Putting it bluntly, these devices are in fact a flying payload system with the ability to deliver anything including incendiary devices or grenades in to uncontrolled airspace in the way that only Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have been able to do in the past,' he said. He added the government should standardise the radio frequencies on which drones can operate. 'We have to take care. Falling in to the wrong hands, there's currently nothing to stop someone flying a payload laden drone into a busy city or even airspace,' he said. Experts have expressed fear that dangers drones could be hijacked and cause 'disasters' if the proper controls are not put into place. To avoid attacks from hackers the government should standardise the radio frequencies on which drones can operate, one security expert said. Stock image THE US AND UK DRONE RULES Last month, the US Federal Aviation Administration unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial drones to operate across US airspace. Under the FAA's rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 55 pounds (25kg) during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The White House cites industry estimates suggesting drones could generate more than $82 billion (63 billion) for the US economy over the coming decade, creating some 100,000 jobs. Wal-Mart Stores said last month it was six to nine months from beginning to use drones to check warehouse inventories in the United States, suggesting drones will soon become part of our everyday lives. But in the UK, drones are regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority. These rules apply to unmanned vehicles not more than 44 pounds (20kg) without their fuel, and states they can be flown up to 400 feet in the air. 'A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property,' the regulation says. Some experts say this regulation is not enough. But Amazon said its UK partnership aims to understand how drones can be used safely and reliably, and identify the best regulations to put in place. Advertisement 'Ensuring there are strict regulations in place means that the use of drones can be better controlled. Alongside putting regulations in place should be security measures. 'CAs with any connected technology, drones are at risk of being hacked by cybercriminals, meaning software programming needs to be considered more seriously in the development phase,' he said. Mr Bull said strict regulations should be put in place to help control drone use, and that system developers consider security and privacy in the lifecycle 'before a disaster happens'. Cesare Garlati, chief security strategist at the non-profit prpl Foundation, has also drawn attention to the increasing popularity of these aerial vehicles. 'As of now they're not regulated. But the potential for these flying consumer electronics products to cause serious harm to others is undeniable. Just think about the havoc that one could cause if it were dropped onto a freeway, or flown into a plane on take-off,' he wrote in a blog post. 'Are we confident they can't be hacked? No especially as systems with far more R&D spend like connected cars, smart rifles and aircraft guidance systems have already been hacked by researchers.' But Amazon said its partnership aims to understand how drones can be used safely and reliably, and identify the best regulations to put in place. More excitingly for impatient shoppers, it could also speed up the process for allowing small drones to makes deliveries. The plan is for Amazon's PrimeAir service to eventually deliver small packages weighing up to 5lbs (2.27kg) in 30 minutes or less. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: Flying drones that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas, having one person operate several highly automated drones and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles. During the test the drones will be only allowed to fly an altitude of 400ft (122m) and kept away from operating near airport flightpaths. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: Flying drones (one shown) that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas, having one person operate several highly automated drones and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles 'Britain is a leader in enabling drone innovation; we've been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time,' said Paul Misener, Amazon's Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications. AMAZON'S 30-MINUTE SERVICE In June, Amazon told Congress its plan to use drones to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less will be ready in a year. But the FAA regulations need to change before this is possible. Paul Misener said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly.' 'If a consumer wants a small item quickly, instead of driving to go shopping or causing delivery automobiles to come to her home or office, a small, electrically-powered (drone) vehicle will make the trip faster and more efficiently and cleanly,' he told the House Oversight Committee. Advertisement 'This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world.' 'Using small drones for the delivery of parcels will improve customer experience, create new jobs in a rapidly growing industry, and pioneer new sustainable delivery methods to meet future demand,' said Misener. 'The UK is charting a path forward for drone technology that will benefit consumers, industry and society.' He previously said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly.' He told the House Oversight Committee in the US in June: 'If a consumer wants a small item quickly, instead of driving to go shopping or causing delivery automobiles to come to her home or office, a small, electrically-powered (drone) vehicle will make the trip faster and more efficiently and cleanly.' Tim Johnson, CAA Policy Director said: 'We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system. Amazon Global Public Policy Vice President Paul Misener Paul Misener (pictured) has previously said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly' 'These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach.' Amazon has previously unveiled a video last year showcasing how an unmanned drone could deliver packages, narrated by former Top Gear TV host Jeremy Clarkson. Last month, the US Federal Aviation Administration unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial drones to operate across US airspace. Under the FAA's rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 55 pounds (25kg) during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The White House cites industry estimates suggesting drones could generate more than $82 billion (63 billion) for the US economy over the coming decade, creating some 100,000 jobs. Ma says sexy robots will become commonplace within the next 50 years Ma plans on creating handbook so people can make their own sexy android The life-size robot looks exactly like Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson It may be many mens dream to have Scarlett Johansson tend to their every need. But one man has come close to making this fantasy a reality by building a look-a-like robot. He now plans on sharing his designs in a handbook, so other fans can create their own sexy androids too. Scroll down for video The life-size robot was created by Hong Kong designer Ricky Ma, based on a famous Hollywood actress. Although he refuses to say who his inspiration was, it bears uncanny similarities to Scarlett Johansson HOW DOES THE ROBOT WORK? A 3D-printed skeleton lies beneath Mark 1's silicone skin, wrapping its mechanical and electronic parts. The robot responds to a set of programmed verbal commands spoken into a microphone. Commands can also be programmed using a connected computer. Besides simple movements of its arms and legs, turning its head and bowing, Mr Ma's robot can move its face using tiny motors hidden beneath the silicone skin. In response to the compliment, 'Mark 1, you are so beautiful', its brows and the muscles around its eyes relax, and the corners of its lips lift, creating a natural-seeming smile, and it says, 'Hehe, thank you.' Advertisement Ricky Ma Wai-kay, 42, built his life-sized robot, dubbed Mark 1, from scratch, for a sum of HK$380,000 (37,103). While his outlay would have bought him a luxury car, he is convinced realistic androids will be big business in years to come, with other experts predicting sex bots will become the norm. The robot responds to a set of programmed verbal commands spoken into a microphone. Besides simple movements of its arms and legs, turning its head and bowing, Mr Ma's robot, which has dark blonde hair and realistic eyes, and wears a grey skirt and cropped top, can create detailed facial expressions. In response to the compliment, 'Mark 1, you are so beautiful', its brows and the muscles around its eyes relax, and the corners of its lips lift, creating a natural-seeming smile, and it says, 'Hehe, thank you.' Ricky Ma Wai-kay, 42, built his life-sized robot (pictured), dubbed Mark 1, from scratch, for a sum of HK$380,000 (37,103). While his outlay would have bought him a luxury car, he is convinced realistic androids will be big business in years to come, with another experts predicting sex bots will become the norm Ma, a graphic designer, was inspired to build the robot after growing up watching animated films as a child. The robot responds to a set of programmed verbal commands spoken into a microphone A video showing the uncanny creation in action also shows Mark 1 thanking ts owner when he compliments it and giving him a wink. A 3D-printed skeleton lies beneath Mark 1's silicone skin, wrapping its mechanical and electronic parts. About 70 percent of its body was created using 3D printing technology. Mr Ma adopted a trial-and-error method in creating the robot and encountered obstacles ranging from frequent burnt-out electric motors to the robot losing its balance and toppling over. In response to the compliment, 'Mark 1, you are so beautiful', the corners of the robot's lips lift, creating a natural-seeming smile, and it says, 'Hehe, thank you.' A video showing the uncanny creation in action also shows Mark 1 thanking ts owner when he compliments it and giving him a wink. Though Ma has refused to divulge who he built the robot based on, it looks eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson WILL SEXBOTS STOP SEX CRIME? Many people can see a variety of benefits that sexbots have to offer. Behaviour therapist Nicolas Aujula sees them as a mechanism for helping fetishists explore extreme sexual fantasies, which could help fight sex crime. Mr Aujula said: 'Over the next few years, sex bots I believe could commonly provide a safe and discreet solution for exploring fantasies offering the possibilities of simply having more creative sex, through to satisfying extreme fetish behaviour. Advertisement 'When you look at everything together, it was really difficult,' said Mr Ma, who had to master unfamiliar topics from electromechanics to programming along the way, besides learning how to fit the robot's external skin over its components. Mr Ma, from Hong Kong, plans on creating a handbook to allow others to create life-sized robots and will use the money he raises from this endeavour to build a second more sophisticated female robot with a larger range of facial expressions and more natural movement, South China Morning Post reported. He reportedly chose to build a female robot for commercial reasons because there is more demand for them than for males. Ma's pet dog stares up at his owner and his life size Scarlett Johansson robot. He reportedly chose to build a female robot for commercial reasons because there is more demand for them than for males A 3D-printed skeleton (pictured alongside the robot) lies beneath Mark 1's silicone skin, wrapping its mechanical and electronic parts. About 70 percent of its body was created using 3D printing technology Computing expert Dr David Kreps, told the newspaper sexy robots will become commonplace within the next 50 years and China is expected to lead the way. He is not the only one to make this prediction, with another expert on future technology, Dr Ian Pearson, claiming human-on-robot sex will be more common than sex between humans by 2050. He predicted the bots will use artificial intelligence, will look just like humans and people will be happy to shell out thousands for them, like cars. Computing expert Dr David Kreps, said sexy robots will become commonplace within the next 50 years and China is expected to lead the way. mr Ma's robot is shown above 'Most people will obviously buy androids that they think are attractive and even sexy, and some will be bought specifically because of that,' he said. 'With the advanced AI they will have, even functionally targeted androids will become valued members of the home, and people will form strong emotional bonds with them. 'Some people will buy their robots with sex as a key purpose. Mr Ma adopted a trial-and-error method in creating the robot and encountered obstacles ranging from frequent burnt-out electric motors to the robot losing its balance and toppling over. Its hands are pictured Verbal commands are used to control the life-size robot are listed on a laptop computer. An example of a sequence of commands is shown above WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND They survey asked people what they would do with a robot: Make them clean/cook - 45 per cent Have a conversation - 41 per cent Make them do my work - 38 per cent Have sex with them - 21 per cent Play a sport - 12 per cent Advertisement 'Others will find that they become sexually attracted to them later, but either way, sex with very smart and sexually attractive androids will become common, very common,' he said. Last month, a survey revealed 21 per cent of British people would have sex with a droid, and one in three would go on a date with one of the uncany machines. The survey was done VoucherCodesPro who asked 2,816 sexually active Brits aged 18 to describe which activities they would then carry out with a cyborg. Researchers asked those participants who said they would have sex with a robot why they would do it. Seventy two per cent said they thought the robots 'would be very good at it' while 28 per cent said it would be a new experience. Ma used trial-and-error to overcome problems that included balancing the robot on her two feet Mr Ma, from Hong Kong, (pictured with his robot) plans on creating a handbook to allow others to create life-sized robots and will use the money he raises from this endeavour to build a second more sophisticated female robot with a larger range of facial expressions and more natural movement 3D printers were used to build the robot, including a life-size rib cage and pelvic bones Last month, a survey revealed 21 per cent of British people would have sex with a droid, and one in three would go on a date with one of the uncany machines Uber has announced it will invest half a billion dollars (380m) for its own version of Google maps. The ride-hailing firm is set to wean itself off of Googles cartographic offering in order to develop a more relevant version for its drivers, according to a recent blog post. It claims the new maps will enable drivers to more accurately pinpoint pickup and dropoff locations, as well as to see average traffic conditions of routes in order to plot the best route. Ride-hailing firm Uber (stock image pictured) is set to wean itself off of Googles cartographic offering in order to develop a more relevant version of maps for its drivers UBER'S OWN STREET MAPS The San Francisco-based ride hailing firm has announced its plans to spend 380m ($500m) to produce its own street maps worldwide. Uber has said the maps will contain more relevant information for drivers than Google maps, including traffic flow and improved accuracy for pickups. Head of the project, Brian McClendon, offered hints that the new maps could help to progress automated technologies. He wrote: Mapping innovation has disrupted industries and changed daily life in ways I couldnt have imagined...That progress will only accelerate in the coming years, especially with technologies like self-driving cars. Advertisement Uber has all the expertise it needs for the project, which is being headed by former Google vice president Brian McClendon who worked on Google Earth and joined Uber last year. In a blog post, McClendon said the firm was doubling down on its investment in mapping, with camera cars already driving the length and breadth of the United States and Mexico and plans to roll out the efforts to other countries soon. He wrote: Existing maps are a good starting point, but some information isnt that relevant to Uber, like ocean topography. There are other things we need to know a lot more about, like traffic patterns and precise pickup and dropoff locations. Moreover, we need to be able to provide a seamless experience in parts of the world where there arent detailed maps or street signs. By boosting the accuracy of its street maps, Uber could enable drivers to know whether the pickup is from outside the main entrance of a building, or a smaller, unmarked side entrance. The firm hopes that this will improve the overall experience for riders. The Californian firm claims the new maps will enable drivers to more accurately pinpoint pickup and dropoff locations (illustrated), as well as to see average traffic conditions of routes in order to plot the best route The mapping project will see the ride-hailing firm wean itself off of Google maps (central London pictured) The San Francisco company has expanded the reach of its smartphone-based service around the globe, but has also revealed ambitions to use driverless car technology for automated rides. In 2015, it emerged that Uber had partnered with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to develop driverless car technology. According to reports, the firm secured an enormous warehouse space in order to house and test its driverless taxi project. While Uber has not officially confirmed its plans for automated vehicles linked with the mapping project, McClendon did offer hints that the maps could help to progress automated technologies. By boosting the accuracy of its street maps, Uber could enable drivers to know whether the pickup is from outside the main entrance of a building, or a smaller, unmarked side entrance. The firm hopes that this will improve the overall experience for its riders (stock image) He wrote: Over the past decade mapping innovation has disrupted industries and changed daily life in ways I couldnt have imagined when I started. That progress will only accelerate in the coming years especially with technologies like self-driving cars. Last month, Uber announced its intentions to partner with space imagery geospatial data firm, DigitalGlobe, in an effort to boost the precision of pickup points. According to a statement from DigitalGlobe, the multi-year project will see the firm supply Uber with high resolution satellite data to improve the experience for riders. Somewhere in the far reaches of space lies an object that is pulling everything, including our galaxy, towards it with a gravitational force equivalent to a million billion suns. When it was discovered in 1970 it was named the 'great attractor because of its effect on everything nearby, although exactly what it is made of has remained a mystery because the disk of our own galaxy blocks our view to it. But now scientists have come a step closer to understanding what the great attractor is, and one expert reassures us it will not destroy our galaxy, because of the mysterious force of dark energy. Exactly what the great attractor is made of has remained a mystery because the disk of our own galaxy blocks our view to it. An artists impression of the galaxies found in this Zone of Avoidance behind our Milky Way THE GREAT ATTRACTOR MYSTERY Somewhere in the far reaches of space lies an object that is pulling everything, including our galaxy, towards it with a gravitational force equivalent to a million billion suns. When it was discovered in 1970 it was named the 'great attractor because of its effect on everything nearby, although exactly what it is made of has remained a mystery because the disk of our own galaxy blocks our view to it. But now scientists have come a step closer to understanding what the great attractor is, and one expert reassures us it will not destroy our galaxy. The greatattractor is not an object but a instead point in the centre of the supercluster of galaxies in which our Milky Way sits, Dr Paul Sutter, an astrophysicist at Ohio State University, said in an article for Space.com. Advertisement At 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km) an hour, the speed of the Milky Way through the cosmos is 2,500 times faster than a cruising airliner. But exactly what is dragging the Milky Way has been unknown for years. Astronomer Alan Dressler, of the Carnegie Institution, famously dubbed the missing concentration of matter the 'great attractor.' Now astronomers believe the great attractor is not an object but instead a point in the centre of the supercluster of galaxies in which our Milky Way sits. Dr Paul Sutter, an astrophysicist at Ohio State University, explained why researchers think this in an article for Space.com. Astronomers have mapped the majority of the large structures in the universe, but a selection of these are hidden from their view by the junk inside the Milky Way. This region, named the Zone of Avoidance, is obscured by the gas and dust in our galaxy so is difficult to see, and the great attractor sits in the centre of this zone. The Milky Way and Andromeda are headed toward the centre of the Local Group as it condenses. Every galaxy in the Virgo Supercluster is falling toward its centre- the Virgo Cluster (Virgo Cluster pictured) WHAT IS DARK ENERGY? Dark energy is a phrase used by physicists to describe a mysterious something that is causing unusual things to happen in the universe. The universe is not only expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster as time goes by, Dr Kathy Romer, scientist at the Dark Energy Survey told MailOnline. What we'd expect is that the expansion would get slower and slower as time goes by, because it has been nearly 14 billion years since the Big Bang. Coming up with an equation of state would give the researchers clues about what is making up this mysterious force. At the moment the favourite candidate is called the cosmological constant which has a relatively boring equation of state. But, despite its simplicity, the cosmological constant is not the "something" that scientists are hoping for, Dr Romer said, a cosmological constant then messes up other parts of physics. Its like a table plan at a wedding: you think you've got it all sorted out and then you notice that, because the caterers gave you a round table instead of a long one, your Dad is now going to be sitting next to your Mum's new boyfriend.' Advertisement Development in technology like X-ray telescopes have allowed researchers to peer into the zone for the first time this year. Hundreds of these hidden nearby galaxies were spotted for the first time thanks to a highly-sensitive telescope in Australia. A total of 883 galaxies were found in a region of sky normally hidden from view by our own Milky Way, and a third of these were previously unknown to science. Scientists have been trying to solve the mystery of the great attractor since major deviations from universal expansion were first discovered in the 1970s and 1980s by looking at the cosmic microwave background. But by looking at how galaxies within superclusters move, astronomers have now discovered what the great attractor really is. Instead of just being a "large blob of galaxies," studies of the velocities of galaxies in our local neighbourhood of the universe have led to a better working definition of "supercluster: a volume of space where all the galaxies in that space are "flowing" to a common centre, Dr Sutter said. There is already a huge cluster of galaxies at this point, the Norma Cluster of galaxies, but these galaxies are not pulling us with their gravity, Dr Sutter said. 'Imagine you woke up to find yourself rolling down the side of hill in the middle of an avalanche,' Dr Sutter told MailOnline. 'There's already some stuff piled up at the bottom of the hill, and you're falling towards it. But that stuff isn't what's causing you to fall down the hill; you're just caught up in a larger process.' He says neighbouring galaxies are also moving towards the centre of their own clusters. It is 'the end result of a process set in motion more than 13 billion years ago, and the natural result of the flows and buildup of matter in our universe,' he said. The Milky Way and Andromeda are headed toward the centre of the Local Group as it condenses. All the stuff in the Virgo Supercluster is falling toward its centre the Virgo Cluster. 'Fortunately, the great attractor won't destroy our galaxy because we'll never reach it. About 5 billion years ago, dark energy began to dominate our universe.,' Dr Sutter told MailOnline. 'We don't know what dark energy exactly is, but we do know that it's causing the expansion of our universe to accelerate. 'While gravitationally-bound structures like the solar system, the Milky Way, and the Local Group will remain cohesive, anything larger will get ripped apart.' When physicists study the dynamics of galaxies (pictured) and the movement of stars, they are confronted with a mystery. If they only take visible matter into account, their equations simply don't add up: the elements that can be observed are not sufficient to explain the rotation of objects and the forces America's stealth submarines and being used to carry out cyberattacks and listen in on enemy computer networks, two US Navy officials have revealed. The secret offence capabilities were revealed 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 U.S. Navy's program executive officer for submarines, at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington. Scroll down for video It has previously been revealed the USS Annapolis (pictured) is among the submarines being used. '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 pair also plans to use drones to extend the stealth sub's reach even further, by launching into enemy territory to 'extend the arms' of the subs cyberwarfare systems. The underwater drones would manoeuvre 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 has previously been revealed the USS Annapolis is among the submarines being used. HOW A SUBMARINE CAN CONDUCT A CYBERATTACK Included in the National Security Agency documents leaked by Edward Snowden is a classified Powerpoint training presentation for workers at the Naval Information Operations Command Marylandthe Navy component of the NSA. It reveals computer network exploitation (CNE) 'to change or collect information residing on or transiting computer networks.' The heavily redacted presentation includes an example of a 'tailored access operations' target for these military hackers: an unidentified nation's president, Parliament, and military leaders: One diagram shows how the network works, from antenna to collection platform to satellite transmission to analysis and final exploitation. Targeted signals are captured by antennas, run through an NSA software program known as 'BLINDDATE,' and sent off to the analysts. At the center of that flowchart from the Snowden trove is a single shipthe conduit for all this clandestine activity, and the home base for those antennas and the computer that runs BLINDDATE - the USS Annapolis. One diagram shows how the network works, from antenna to collection platform to satellite transmission to analysis and final exploitation. In a typical week, according to NIOC-Maryland's 2013 briefing, the U.S. ran about 2,600 network exploitations. The Navy ran nearly 700, or 26 percent, of those opsalmost as many as the other military services combined. Advertisement Adam Weinstein and William Arkin, writing last year for Gawker's intelligence and national security blog, Phase Zero, revealed a leaked slide revealing in a typical week, the Navy performs hundreds of so-called 'computer network exploitations'. '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.' Officials said the robot pods floating to the water's surface to release various payloads could perform some roles now carried out by submarines, which are much more expensive to operate. HOW THEY WOULD WORK The UFP concept centers on developing deployable, unmanned, nonlethal distributed systems that lie on the deep-ocean floor in special containers for years at a time. These deep-sea nodes could be remotely activated when needed and recalled to the surface. Advertisement Navy bosses have previously revealed plans for drones that could spend months on the seabed, hibernating in special pods before emerging and flying into battle. US defence chiefs have revealed radical plans for 'pods' to hold naval drones on the sea bed for years at a time. If a threat emerged nearby, the pods are simply released remotely, and float to the surface to open and unleash the drone within. The pods could launch surveillance drones in the air or at sea or provide a communications link when American forces are facing electronic jamming, said Jared Adams, spokesman for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 'The motivation is to enable timely deployment of unmanned distributed systems to distant locations by pre-deploying the assets years in advance and then triggering their release for rapid effects at future times of our choosing,' Adams told AFP. The program has been dubbed 'Upward Falling Payloads,' or UFP. And officials said the robot pods floating to the water's surface to release various payloads could perform some roles now carried out by submarines, which are much more expensive to operate. Other sub projects incluse a plan for 'supersonic' subs that travel in a bubble. The new sub envelops a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag SUPERCAVITATION The new sub is based on Soviet technology developed during the cold war. Called supercavitation, it envelopes a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag. A Soviet supercavitation torpedo called Shakval was able to reach a speed of 370km/h or more - much faster than any other conventional torpedoes. In theory, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h, which would reduce the journey time for a transatlantic underwater cruise to less than an hour, and for a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes, according to a report by California Institute of Technology in 2001. Advertisement The new idea is based on Soviet technology developed during the cold war. Called supercavitation, it envelopes a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag. A Soviet supercavitation torpedo called Shakval was able to reach a speed of 370km/h or more - much faster than any other conventional torpedoes. In theory, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h. This would reduce the journey time for a transatlantic underwater cruise to less than an hour, and for a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes, according to a report by California Institute of Technology in 2001. However, the technique also results in a bumpy ride - something the new team has solved. 'Basically supercavitation is used to significantly reduce drag and increase the speed of bodies in water,' said Grant M. Skidmore, recent Penn State Ph.D. recipient in aerospace engineering. 'However, sometimes these bodies can get locked into a pulsating mode.' To create the bubble around a vehicle, air is introduced in the front and expands back to encase the entire object. However, sometimes the bubble will contract, allowing part of the vehicle to get wet. The periodic expansion and contraction of the bubble is known as pulsation and might cause instability. Photograph of a second order pulsating supercavity in the Penn State ARL Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel facility's 12-inch diameter water tunnel. The circular object is a window mounted hydrophone. 'Shrinking and expanding is not good,' said Timothy A. Brungart, senior research associate at ARL and associate professor of acoustics. 'We looked at the problem on paper first and then experimentally.' The researchers first explored the problem analytically, which suggested a solution, but then verifying with an experiment was not simple. The ideal outcome for supercavitation is that the gas bubble forms, encompasses the entire vehicle and exits behind, dissipating the bubble without pulsation. The researchers report the results of their analytic analysis and experimentation online in the International journal of Multiphase Flow. In theory, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h.. Pictured, a BAE Systems artists impression of next generation submarine. The ARL researchers decided to use the Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel facility's 12-inch diameter water tunnel to test their numerical calculations. 'The water tunnel was the easiest way to observe the experiment,' said Brungart. 'But not the easiest place to create the pulsation.' Creating a supercavitation bubble and getting it to pulsate in order to stop the pulsations inside a rigid-walled water tunnel tube had not been done. 'Eventually we ramped up the gas really high and then way down to get pulsation,' said Jules W. Lindau, senior research associate at ARL and associate professor of aerospace engineering. They found that once they had supercavitation with pulsation, they could moderate the air flow and, in some cases, stop pulsation. 'Supercavitation technology might eventually allow high speed underwater supercavitation transportation,' said Moeney. China is also developing a'supersonic' submarine that could travel from Shanghai to San Francisco in less than two hours. Researchers say their new craft uses a radical new technique to create a 'bubble' to surround itself, cutting down drag dramatically. In theory, the researchers say, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h. The technology was developed by a team of scientists at Harbin Institute of Technology's Complex Flow and Heat Transfer Lab. Li Fengchen, professor of fluid machinery and engineering, told the South China Morning Post he was 'very excited by its potential'. The new sub is based on Soviet technology developed during the cold war. Called supercavitation, it envelopes a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag. A Soviet supercavitation torpedo called Shakval was able to reach a speed of 370km/h or more - much faster than any other conventional torpedoes. In theory, the researchers say, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h. It envelopes a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag. In theory, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h, which would reduce the journey time for a transatlantic underwater cruise to less than an hour, and for a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes, according to a report by California Institute of Technology in 2001. The Chinese system constantly 'showers' a special liquid membrane on its own surface. Although this membrane would be worn off by water, in the meantime it could significantly reduce the water drag on the vessel at low speed. After its speed had reached 75km/h or more the vessel would enter the supercavitation state, Li said. However, Li admitted problems still needed to be solved before supersonic submarine travel became feasible. A powerful underwater rocket engine still needs to be developed. The technique could even be used to aid swimmers, he believes. Bathrooms of the future could soon be transformed into lifesaving devices. Google's latest patent describes using ultrasonic bathtubs, pressure sensing toilet seats and other devices to monitor people's cardiovascular health. This new technology would embed noninvasive health-monitoring devices in bathrooms that sense the persons health and notify a professional if necessary. Scroll down for video Google's latest patent describes using ultrasonic bathtubs, pressure sensing toilet seats and other devices to monitor people's cardiovascular health. This new technology would embed noninvasive health-monitoring devices in bathrooms to actively sense the persons health WHAT ARE GOOGLE'S HEALTH MONITORING DEVICES? A pressure and electrical-sensing mat is designed to sense a pulse wave velocity of the person's blood, which will measure their artery health. In addition to, a heart's electrical conduction system through electrical impulses generated by the polarization and depolarization of cardiac tissue, and then translates this to a wave form. The pressure sensing toilet seat would also be used to measure the patient's blood pressure, as well as monitor the individual's health through their bowel movements. Another device is a colour-sensing mirror that records colours in a person's skin to determine a photo-plethysmogram, which measures variations in a size or colour of an organ or limb. An ultrasonic bathtub is setup to generate high-frequency sound waves and gather an echo from these waves in order to investigate the internal body structure blood flow, tissue movement, and could create 3D measurements of the internal structure. And a radar field device would reflect radiation from human tissue to measure skin temperature, heart rate, and skeletal movement, among others. Advertisement Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that occur in the body when narrowed or blocked blood vessels form, which can lead to heart attacks, chest pains or stroke. And according to the American Heart Associate, this condition is linked to one of every four deaths in the US, which is about 610,000 Americans each year. The search engine's latest patent, filed in January 2015, describes technology that determines the 'functional states and trends for human physiological systems' in order to catch life threatening states before it is too late. `Various noninvasive health monitors can be used to sense a person's health,' reads the application title 'Noninvasive Determination of Cardiac Health and Other Functional States and Trends for Human Physiological Systems, which was published on July 21, 2016. 'With these trends, a person can know if the effort they are expanding to improve their heart health is actually making a difference'. The patent begins by setting up the environment for the futuristic, lifesaving bathroom that includes a pressure and electrical-sensing mat, colour-sensing mirror and an ultrasonic bathtub. Each of these devices would provide a remote server or computing device, such as a fitness band or laptop, with sensor data in the form of sound waves or electrical signals. Although the patent is focused on cardiovascular disease, Google isn't limiting the technology and says it can be used for other physiological systems like the nervous, endocrine, muscular, skeletal and integumentary systems. The firm does go into more detail about the technology behind each of the 'smart' bathroom fixtures. For example, the pressure and electrical-sensing mat is designed to sense a pulse wave velocity of the person's blood, which will measure their artery health. Each of these devices would provide a remote server or computing device, such as a fitness band or laptop, with sensor data in the form of sound waves or electrical signals. Google isn't limiting the technology and says it can be used for other physiological systems 'Mat may also measure a heart's electrical conduction system through electrical impulses generated by the polarization and depolarization of cardiac tissue, and then translates this to a wave form,' explains the patent. The pressure sensing toilet seat would also be used to measure the patient's blood pressure, as well as monitor the individual's health through their bowel movements. The patent describes environment for the futuristic, lifesaving bathroom that includes a pressure and electrical-sensing mat, colour-sensing mirror and an ultrasonic bathtub. Each would provide a remote server or computing device with sensor data Another device is a colour-sensing mirror that records colours in a person's skin to determine a photo-plethysmogram, which measures variations in a size or colour of an organ or limb. The ultrasonic bathtub is setup to generate high-frequency sound waves and gather an echo from these waves in order to investigate the internal body structure blood flow, tissue movement, and could create 3D measurements of the internal structure. And a radar field device would reflect radiation from human tissue to measure skin temperature, heart rate, and skeletal movement, among others. DR. GOOGLE WILL SEE YOU KNOW: SMART 'SYMPTOM SEARCH' RESULTS DIAGNOSES YOU AND GIVES YOU TREATMENT Google is aiming to help people who turn to its search engine for medical advice with a new service that lets them search for their symptoms. The technology firm has announced that when users type in symptoms from now on it will show a list of related conditions. It will also provide information on self-treatment and whether you might need to visit a doctor. Google introduced symptom search to provide information on health conditions related to symptoms. However, this patent suggests technology that will monitor your health and notify specialists if necessary 'By doing this, our goal is to help you to navigate and explore health conditions related to your symptoms and quickly get the point where you can do more in-depth research,' Google said in a blog post. Users type in search terms like 'headache on one side'. This will then reveal a list of related conditions like 'migraine', 'tension headache', 'cluster headache' and 'sinusitis'. For each it will give a more detailed description of the causes and risk. For individual symptoms it will also offer some basic advice for treatment or how to seek further medical advice. Google said it has worked with experts at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to help ensure the related conditions it suggests are as accurate as possible. It has also checked their list of symptoms for health conditions against high-quality medical information collected from doctors. Advertisement If the technology detects problems in the patient's health, it will then alter their medical professional before the functional state exceeds a safety threshold. The line between pharmaceuticals and technology is blurring as companies join forces to tackle chronic diseases using high-tech devices that combine biology, software and hardware. Google has been working in the healthcare industry for some time now and its most recent venture is a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, a New Jersey firm that researches and develops products in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare. The duo plans to market bioelectronic devices to fight illness by attaching to individual nerves. This pressure-time diagram shows a cardiac cycle for a heart at various actions as the patient uses different devices in the bathroom, which is what is sent to the computing devices or specialists for further analysis Technology and pharmaceutical companies alike believe accurate monitoring using wearables will dovetail with a drive to offer so-called value-based healthcare. The aim is to prove that medicines can keep large groups of patients healthy, thereby improving their appeal to cost-conscious insurers. That gives drugmakers a major incentive to offer services that go beyond routine drug prescriptions. GOOGLE TEAMS UP WITH GLAXOSMITHKLINE TO FIGHT ILLNESSES WITH CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY The line between pharmaceuticals and technology is blurring as companies join forces to tackle chronic diseases using high-tech devices that combine biology, software and hardware. Google has been working in the healthcare industry for some time now and its most recent venture is a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, a New Jersey firm that researches and develops products in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare. The duo plans to market bioelectronic devices to fight illness by attaching to individual nerves. Technology and pharmaceutical companies alike believe accurate monitoring using wearables will dovetail with a drive to offer so-called value-based healthcare. The aim is to prove that medicines can keep large groups of patients healthy, thereby improving their appeal to cost-conscious insurers. That gives drugmakers a major incentive to offer services that go beyond routine drug prescriptions. Real-time feedback on how patients are doing is one of the benefits of bioelectronics, according to Kris Famm, the GSK scientist who has been appointed president of the new jointly owned GSK-Alphabet company Galvani Bioelectronics. 'It will really help us hone the intervention,' he said. 'This is almost the epicentre of convergence because the technology is not only helping you to monitor a disease but it is also actually the therapy.' There are still plenty of hurdles ahead, including the need for multi-year clinical trials to prove that the new technologies are safe, effective and can deliver the kind of benefits to overall clinical outcomes that proponents hope. Regulators such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also need to be convinced of the case for radically new ways of treating and monitoring patients. 'The challenge will be to make sure that regulators are on board, although the FDA is much more innovative than it was 10 years ago about accepting different endpoints for treating disease,' said KPMG's Thomas. Advertisement Real-time feedback on how patients are doing is one of the benefits of bioelectronics, according to Kris Famm, the GSK scientist who has been appointed president of the new jointly owned GSK-Alphabet company Galvani Bioelectronics. 'It will really help us hone the intervention,' he said. 'This is almost the epicentre of convergence because the technology is not only helping you to monitor a disease but it is also actually the therapy.' There are still plenty of hurdles ahead, including the need for multi-year clinical trials to prove that the new technologies are safe, effective and can deliver the kind of benefits to overall clinical outcomes that proponents hope. Regulators such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also need to be convinced of the case for radically new ways of treating and monitoring patients. Its hoped that Nasas Orion spacecraft will one day spearhead human exploration to the red planet but, a recent review of the program reveals this might not come as soon as expected. The report from the US Government Accountability Office analyzes the many aspects of the Orion program, finding issues with both cost and scheduling. Nasa has plans to launch its first crewed flight in 2023, spending a total of $16 billion in preparation, but according to the report, these figures are not reliable. Scroll down for video Its hoped that Nasas Orion spacecraft will one day spearhead human exploration to the red planet but, a new review of the program reveals this might not come as soon as expected ORION'S FIRST MISSION During the uncrewed test, Orion traveled twice through the Van Allen belt, where it experienced periods of intense radiation, and reached an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth. However, this was not enough to cause any significant damage to the computers on board the spacecraft. Future missions will be subjected to higher levels of cosmic radiation, though, as the spacecraft moves further out into the solar system. On its return, the spacecraft hit speeds of 20,000 mph (32,000 kph) and weathered temperatures approaching 2,200C (4,000F) as it entered Earth's atmosphere. Advertisement The GAOs lengthy Report to Congressional Committees compares the Orion program to the development of the James Webb Space Telescope. The JWST has far surpassed its initial 10-year plans, growing to a 20-year, $8.8 billion project set to launch in 2018, according to Ars Technica. The Orion program began in 2006, and in 2015, Nasa established a commitment baseline of $11.3 billion, with an April 2023 launch plan. But, the GAO has found this estimate met less than half of the best practices for cost, and just 1 in 8 of the best practices for scheduling. Despite Nasa announcing this launch date with 70 percent confidence, the GAO says this could be off by six months, based on an internal Nasa review. 'Technical challenges are inherent in complex programs such as Orion, but if not carefully managed, they could result in cost overruns and schedule delays,' the report warns. 'For example, the program has identified software development as an area of substantial risk with a potential cost impact of more than $90 million and which may result in schedule delays. Not only have there been delays in building, but the reports analysis of the contractor data reveals potential overruns of up to $707 million by 2020. This means that the work is costing more than expected and not being accomplished as scheduled. Orions primary contractor is Lockheed Martin. Now, Nasa is working to accelerate the program and achieve an even earlier launch date for Exploration Mission-2, in August 2021. While working toward a more aggressive goal is not a bad practice, the report explains, it may not be a beneficial strategy. The GAOs lengthy report compares the Orion program to the development of the James Webb Space Telescope, pictured. The JWST has far surpassed its initial 10-year plans, growing to a 20-year, $8.8 billion project set to launch in 2018 Doing this could lead to the deferral of work on the craft in order to stay within budget. While Orion has already overcome several technical risks, the report says there are likely to be more challenges ahead. Overall, the report says the programs estimates are unreliable, and recommends it performs a new analysis in line with the best practices. Nasa established a cost and schedule baseline for the Orion program in 2015, but the estimates used to inform those baselines are not reliable based on not meeting best practices because of a lack of documentation, the absence of a separate independent cost estimate to validate the results, and a schedule that has logic errors, among other issues, the report explained. It's about as far from an average office job as you can get, so what is it really like guiding guests around an African safari all day? Hard work, with some clocking up to 19 hours a day for weeks on end, but ultimately rewarding, with the promise of thrilling wildlife encounters on a daily basis. MailOnline Travel spoke to one of the best guides in the business, Brian Rode, a 47-year-old ex-Special Forces soldier and survival expert raised in Johannesburg, and currently based at the Singita Lebombo camp in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Brian Rode (pictured) is a 47-year-old ex-Special Forces soldier and survival expert raised in Johannesburg, and currently based at the Singita Lebombo camp in South Africa's Kruger National Park Mr Rode's military background has earned him many experiences - he's survived being alone in the desert eating nothing but scorpions, he's been stuck adrift in a raft for three days in the freezing Atlantic, he's a black belt in Tae Kwon Do - but being a safari guide is undoubtedly his true calling. 'Despite the long hours and low pay, there is nothing bad about my job,' he remarks. 'I just love it.' Mr Rode works as a senior guide at Singita - consistently voted the most luxurious safari in Africa - for six weeks straight at a time, weekends and public holidays, rising at 4am and working through until almost midnight. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are known to have honeymooned at Singita but Mr Rode remains tight-lipped as to names of the camp's impressive clientele, acknowledging he has guided 'presidents, royals, and film stars.' Guests are taken on their first safari drive of the day at around 5am, when the sun is just rising and the animals are most active. Mr Rode drives the 4X4 vehicle and his 'spotter' Charles Ndhlovu perches on a seat affixed to the bonnet scanning the landscape for any sign of wildlife. Mr Rode, pictured with girlfriend and fellow guide Chantelle, works as a senior guide at Singita for six weeks straight at a time, weekends and public holidays, rising at 4am and working through until almost midnight Guests are taken on their first safari drive of the day at around 5am, when the sun is just rising and the animals are most active, then again between 4pm and 7pm Mr Rode drives the 4X4 vehicle, and his eagle-eyed 'spotter' Charles Ndhlovu (pictured) perches on a seat affixed to the bonnet scanning the landscape for any sign of wildlife A huge part of a guide's job description is to keep guests entertained during these long and bumpy rides. We saw a cloud of steam emanating from the mouth of a huge-maned male lion, who was walking directly towards us 'You have to capture their attention and imaginations,' he says. 'All of us have had some amazing experiences during our days in the bush, and story-telling is a great way to engage with your guests.' And for people like Mr Rode, there's no need to embellish his tales. Asked to recount his closest call with a dangerous animal, he's ready with several. 'At a camp in Botswana, my girlfriend Chantelle - also a guide - and I were sleeping in a flimsy tent full of holes. At night, we felt the stomp of elephant herds passing within meters of the shade-cloth walls, like grey ghosts moving in the dark.' He goes on: 'We were also in big cat territory. One night Chantelle and I both sat bolt upright and stared at each other in the bright moonlight wondering why we had both suddenly awakened. 'Then we saw a cloud of steam emanating from the mouth of a huge-maned male lion, who was walking directly towards us. Mr Rode has had several close encounters with lions, one night sleeping in a broken tent just inches from a male like the one pictured, who could have struck at any time Most people, Mr Rode says, are not prepared for how scary it is to be in an open-topped vehicle parked just metres from such dangerous animals Chantelle, pictured looking remarkably calm as a potentially deadly beast strolls towards the camera Mr Rode continues: 'A second shadow emerged and transformed into another large male lion, right behind the first. They both started roaring - the trembling noise grabbed us right in the gut. 'The lions then walked right up to the front of the tent and lay down next to the entrance, their bodies causing the cloth sides to bulge inwards. We remained there stock-still for hours until they fell asleep and then we lay back down on the bed, careful not to make a sound. We were hardly breathing. 'Just before it got light the lions got up, roared again and loped off into the darkness. We quickly got dressed and managed to gather all the guests into the vehicles, then we tracked the lions down for everyone to see.' Most people, Mr Rode says, are not prepared for how scary it is to be in an open-topped vehicle parked just metres from a pride of lions or a herd of elephants. 'What I usually do is stop and explain the behaviour of big cats and what they can expect to see before we move closer,' he says. 'I often feel the vehicle tip slightly to one side, as guests instinctively lean away when lions stride past.' Mr Rode, pictured with Charles, must always carry a rifle when he departs the vehicle on foot, but has never had to use it - despite having been charged by lions several times over the years He says, 'I often feel the vehicle tip slightly to one side, as guests instinctively lean away when lions stroll past' A pride of lions approaches the 4X4 but almost always ignore it as long as the passengers stay quiet and still Most dangerous safari animals - lions, leopards, hippo, elephants, buffalo - will generally ignore the vehicles. They're used to seeing them as non-threatening entities. But not always. 'In winter of 2003 the Linyanti area was overrun with elephants,' Mr Rode recalls. 'We typically had at least one serious charge from an irate female every day. On one occasion, I accelerated quickly to avoid our car being crushed but we hit a patch of thick sand and the wheels started spinning. 'The guests were screaming as the elephant caught up, the car creeping forward, pushing through the sand inch by inch.' Fortunately, he just managed to escape, but not after being chased for several more kilometres - a speedy drive he describes as a 'Ferrari Safari'. Mr Rode is trained to appear absolutely calm in these situations. 'But my heart had been right in my throat the entire time,' he confesses. In addition to twice-daily drives - guests return to camp for lunch at around 11am and then head back out for the evening drive at 4pm - Mr Rode supervises 'bush walks' on foot, armed with his rifle. Mr Rode's vehicle was once charged at by an enraged female elephant and upon getting the wheels stuck, only narrowly avoided a collision In addition to twice-daily drives, Mr Rode supervises 'bush walks' on foot in order to closer admire the scenery During one such walk, not pictured, he had to fend off a lion who was charging his group by stepping towards it and swearing as loudly as he could - a tactic that ultimately saved their lives 'Nature walks with guests are not really about seeing animals, but rather a way to look at all the tracks, plants, birds, and geology,' he says. Which is not to say it's always drama-free. Once, when guiding a group of university students through the bush, Mr Rode encountered yet another a huge male lion. 'He was crouched down ready to pounce, with his ears backwards, his tail swishing, baring his long teeth, when suddenly he came running towards us. 'I took a few rapid paces towards the beast as the students huddled behind me, swearing at it in Afrikaans as loudly as I could, trying to bluff the lion. He goes on: 'I loaded a bullet and stared down the barrel at the approaching feline. I knew I would only shoot at the last moment, and only if I absolutely had to. Lions are known to give warning charges. 'Suddenly it ground to a halt a mere three meters in front of me, kicking sand against my shins. I carried on shouting obscenities and the lion then turned and quickly trotted away before turning around and charging again.' This went on repeatedly until the lion backed further and further away, before eventually retreating. 'All the group was wide-eyed but completely exhilarated by the near-death encounter that they had just experienced,' he says. 'What a rush!' A magnificent male captured in the evening, bearing the battle wounds he's amassed from fighting his rivals Human attacks on safari are rare, but big cats killing their prey is a daily occurrence (pictured) - one which upsets some guests and transfixes others A hungry pride of lions feast on the carcass of a recent kill, observed by Brian from the safety of his vehicle Human attacks on safari are rare, but big cats killing their prey is a daily occurrence. 'Seeing kills in real life, particularly of large animals, can be upsetting to guests,' he states. 'It's not like watching a Discovery documentary. 'When you are actually there you get to hear the grunting, the squealing, bellowing, screaming death calls. You see the fear in the eyes before the life spark fades away.' Seeing kills in real life can be upsetting to guests - it's not like watching a Discovery documentary Many guests, understandably, cover their ears and close their eyes, while others stare riveted. He adds: 'Sometimes, it's better to see the predator stalk and chase, but the prey narrowly escape. 'Then you have the best of both worlds. You get the excitement of the hunt and the interesting tactics involved, without having to watch the sad part.' So does he ever have to deal with difficult guests? Children are always worth keeping a close eye on, he explains. 'Small kids are very vulnerable. Predators are much more interested in them over adults. The sound of child whining can sound very similar to a young animal in distress - easy prey. 'They also get tired quickly and struggle with the early mornings and late nights.' It is not uncommon for animals to enter public areas of Singita's lodges, since they aren't fenced off, as in the case of this leopard who dropped in to say hello Mr Rode spends all day with his guests on safari, serves them cocktails in the car at sundown (pictured), then often dines with them in the evening before finally getting to sleep between 11pm and midnight At the end of every six-week run, Mr Rode enjoys two weeks of well-earned rest, which he spends at the home he built with Chantelle (pictured together) - who he says he's been 'hopelessly in love with' for 27 years Other than that, Mr Rode sees himself as fortunate to have guests that are almost always agreeable. He spends all day with them on safari, serves them cocktails in the car at sundown, then often dines with them in the evening before finally getting to sleep between 11pm and midnight. Indeed, he forms bonds and keeps in touch with many of his guests long after they've packed their bags and set off home. At the end of every six-week run, Mr Rode enjoys two weeks of well-earned rest, which he spends at the home he built with Chantelle - who he says he's been 'hopelessly in love with' for 27 years - on a small nature reserve west of the Kruger border. 'At this stage in my life there is not much that really bugs me,' he says. A passenger plane skidded off the runway and onto the grass causing the airport it landed at to close for four hours. German air officials said that the Sun Express plane, arriving from Bulgaria, left the tarmac and obstructed the runway after landing in Stuttgart, disrupting services at the airport. Airport manager Walter Schoefer told news agency dpa the plane stopped on grass as it turned off the runway. A Sun Express Boeing 737 slid off the runway when landing at Stuttgart Airport at the weekend It is believed there were around 200 passengers on board the Boeing 737, but none are believed to have been injured as a result of the accident on Sunday. Schoefer said the plane was too close to the runway for other aircraft to take off or land safely, so arriving flights were being diverted to other airports in southern Germany for a few hours. It is believed there were around 200 passengers on board the Boeing 737 when it came off the runway at Stuttgart Airport The accident happened on Sunday after the aircraft had arrived in from the city of Varna at about 11.30am local time. The airline has not disclosed what caused the plane to slide off the tarmac. However, aviation account AirLive.net reported that an airport official said the aircraft 'skidded due to heavy rain and aquaplaning'. And aerotelegraph.com reports that 20 flights were cancelled and '50 were delayed or diverted'. The next time you check into a hotel room and it's spotless, spare a thought for the hotel maids who find the unthinkable when they clean up after rude, messy or forgetful guests. In a new thread on Reddit, housekeeping staff have revealed the most disturbing things left behind by guests, plus tales about some of their worst experiences in uniform. One worker said she quit after walking into a room with vomit on the ceiling and blood stains all over, while another said they walked in on a man who was fully naked in the bathtub. Hotel housekeeping staff have gone on Reddit and shared some of their worst tales from the job (file photo) Dead bodies Several Reddit users who work at hotels wrote that travellers would be shocked at how often guests are found dead. User Tang_Fan worked as a cleaner and was setting up her trolly when a man in his underwear stumbled out of a room 'in an absolute state'. They wrote: 'He was crying and could hardly breathe. He was in such a panic it was scary. He ran at me sobbing "He's dead, he's dead".' She said the man had found his friend dead after they attended a music festival the previous day. Another user said their colleague quit after finding a woman dead in a hotel room. Sex toys One Reddit user, greyhoundpaws, said they spent a summer cleaning rooms at a hotel in Sweden. Her colleague entered a room and found three sex toys with a note saying 'Please wash' and a tip of 20 Swedish krona (1.75 or $2.30). 'She didn't,' the user added. Several other Redditors described finding sex toys under mattresses, in drawyers, under beds and even in a mini-fridge. One Reddit user said a hotel room was so disgusting she decided to quit the job on the spot (file photo) The room that made an employee quit Reddit user GGoDDeSS, a former housekeeper, told the story of the disgusting room that made her quit the profession. It was the last room she had to clean that day, and it was covered in bodily fluids, rubbish, cigarette butts, liquor bottles and used needles. She wrote: I open the door only to be greeted by a grotesque display of everything that is considered repulsive and dangerous to touch.' There were used condoms, stains on the bed, vomit on the ceiling, blood throughout the room, burn marks and crack pipes. The Reddit user added: 'I noped out of the room and called the front desk and asked them to call the police. The cops came to investigate the blood and drug use in the room and probably the people who had rented it and checked out.' The following day, the room was in the same condition, 'minus the drug stuff,' she added. 'I call the manager and tell them I'm not doing it. Its a job for a biohazard team,' she wrote. Naked men Redditor allthecatsplease said they encountered a naked and aroused man - and apparently a paedophile - when she entered the guest's bathroom at a holiday cottage. Her post revealed how dangerous and unsettling the job can be for women and underage workers. 'I was 16, knocked and called loudly before I walked in,' she wrote. 'He sat there with a big creepy grin on his face.' 'Fumbled my way out the door, turned the colour of beetroot while saying sorry repeatedly. Then ran out of the house with the other girl who was working with me.' Another user, leicanthrope, said they worked as a hotel security guard and heard many similar stories from colleagues. The Redditor wrote: 'This absolutely happens. Usually sprawled out on the bed, versus the bathtub. 'Universally they're strategically deaf and "didn't hear" the maid announcing themselves before entering the room around lunchtime, when nobody would ever expect a room to be serviced.' A Reddit user who cleaned hotels at a hotel in Nevada said they once found an entire toenail in a bathtub An entire toenail User LaVieLaMort worked for a chain hotel in a small town in rural Nevada. They wrote: 'I found all kinds of weird stuff but the thing that takes the cake was the entire toenail of someone's big toe. 'Found it in the bathtub. I almost vomited.' Human excrement Housekeeping staff can find themselves in some truly disgusting situations. User WaterWitchOfTheNorth worked as a housekeeper at a small hotel and once had to clean a room that was covered in human excrement. They wrote: 'On the bed, on the towels. Everywhere but the toilet. The towels were twisted, and covered like they had been shoved up someone's rectum. 'And to top it all off, when I asked about being able to use gloves, I was told no.' Meth labs Reddit user cnwilks, who worked at the front desk for a hotel chain, said: 'More than a couple of rooms were used as meth labs and completely trashed. 'One time a woman got the c*** beat out of her during breakfast hours, and paramedics were wheeling her through the lobby on a stretcher. 'Tons of cats' A hazardous materials team had to be called to a motel in Daytona Beach, Florida, after a fire broke out inside a room that had 'a horrible stench,' wrote Reddit user el_malamor. They wrote: 'We're all expecting some wild and crazy Florida man meth-head action or something. But instead of speed, they started charging through the smoke and bringing out tons and tons of cats. Just tons of them.' The room was rented by a long-term occupant who was a hoarder, they added. Creepy guests In addition to revealing their most disturbing discoveries, workers told tales of some of the worst guests they've encountered. User childofwolves said they worked as a hotel maid as a teenager and was hit on by a 'creepy old man'. A Chinese tourist was detained at Los Angeles Airport after she allegedly slapped a duty free shop worker twice in the face. The incident is believed to have happened after the woman became upset that her credit card was moved when she left it at the till. Chinese media have reported that the woman, with the surname Liang, is now waiting to appear in a US court. The Chinese passenger is alleged to have slapped a shop worker at Los Angeles Airport after her card was misplaced The Shanghaiist reports that the woman left her credit card at the counter when she was informed that in order to qualify for a discount, she had to purchase more items. The offer was for people using a China-issued bank card. They were told that if they spent at least $400 they would be in line for a $20 discount. As she returned to pay for the goods, there was some confusion over where the card had been left. After staff and the woman searched for it, the card was eventually found at the side of the till. However, Ms Liang lost her temper and, after being handed her card back, is believed to have slapped the cashier twice across the face. As a result of the incident in Los Angeles, the woman missed her China Eastern flight to Shanghai After security were called, the woman missed her China Eastern flight to Shanghai, which had already been delayed for an hour. Hong Kong news-site EJinsight reports that the woman can expect a fine of up to $1,000, and 'might have difficulty entering the US again if the incident makes it to her immigration record'. The Chinese government announced a new 'blacklist' last year that would contain the names of citizens who misbehaved or broke the law while travelling. It appears Spain has become the destination of choice for nervous holidaymakers who are staying away from France, Egypt, Turkey and other countries where tourists have been targeted by terrorists. Nearly 33million people visited Spain between January and June, an increase of nearly 12 per cent on the same six-month period in 2015, the country's national statistics office reported. Sun-seeking British tourists are driving the increase, representing the largest number of Spain's foreign visitors as the country expected another record-setting year for tourism. Spain's beaches helped it to lure nearly eight million sun-seeking Britons between January and June Just under eight million Britons visited Spain during the first six months of 2016, an increase of 16.5 per cent from the same time last year. German tourists were second with 4.9million visitors, followed by 4.5million visitors from neighbouring France. In terms of the most popular destinations from January to June, Catalonia ranked first thanks to the lure of Barcelona and Costa Brava beaches on the Mediterranean. Catalonia was followed by the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, including Majorca and Ibiza, and Andalucia on the southern coast. Barcelona propelled to top spot as the most popular region (pictured: La Boqueria market) But the most popular destination in June was the Balearics, with nearly two million visitors, according to Spain's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Last month, 2.1million Britons visited Spain, accounting for 28 per cent of the total number of foreign visitors (7.5million), an increase of 17.5 per cent on June 2015. While there was good news in Spain's tourism industry, there was bad news for operators in France, where multiple terror attacks have taken their toll, The Local reported. In the week after 84 people were killed in a truck attack in the southern city of Nice, arrivals fell 8.8 per cent on the same week in 2015. Bookings to Nice dropped by 57 per cent, according to ForwardKeys, which analyses airline data. France's tourism industry had already suffered a downturn after multiple attacks in Paris. A travel firm left a widow devastated after it claimed her dead husband had in fact travelled on a flight to Spain. The massive blunder made by Thomas Cook came after grieving Pauline Pritchard had tried to claim for compensation for a holiday she cancelled when her husband, James, became gravely ill with liver disease. Thomas Cook at first refused a refund because it said its insurance didn't cover liver disease, then wrote to Mrs Pritchard after James had died making the extraordinary claim that compensation wasn't possible because he'd actually travelled on one of its flight to Mallorca and been refused entry. Thomas Cook wrote to Pauline Pritchard saying that her husband had travelled and that the family couldn't get a refund - but Mr Pritchard had died days before This is the letter, by email, that Pauline Pritchard received from the holiday company Mrs Pritchard has described the two mistakes made by Thomas Cook as 'horrendous', and described how it felt like 'a sick joke'. Before James Pritchard's passing, his wife decided to call the company and explain his worsening condition meant that the couple and their 12-year-old son Callum would not be able go on a four-star Alcudia holiday they'd booked. The 49-year-old said that Thomas Cook initially refused to refund the holiday - because their gold insurance policy did not cover liver disease. However after a three-week long battle, it eventually apologized for the mishap and gave her a voucher refunding the 1,347.97 booking. But then Mrs Pritchard received the astonishing email from Thomas Cook claiming that Mr Pritchard had travelled to Palma Mallorca on one of its flights on May 21. In fact, Mr Pritchard had died a week earlier on May 14. In the letter, sent by email, Thomas Cook alleged that he was 'refused entry into the country by Border Control Authorities', and so because of this they 'aren't able to give a refund of 1,347.97'. Pauline said: 'It is shocking. To make one mistake is bad enough but to make two is horrendous - especially seeing as they know what I am going through. 'They said that he was on a flight when he was lying dead in a morgue. 'There was no reason behind it, I don't understand why we would ever be refused into Spain. 'They knew my husband was dead when they wrote that voucher out - it was like some kind of sick joke.' Thomas Cook told Pauline Pritchard that her husband had flown to Mallorca (pictured) on May 21 Thomas Cook has since apologized and amended the error. Mrs Pritchard added: 'My husband and I have been using that company for ten years and I have never felt so let down. 'I don't trust them at all and will never trust another holiday company again. 'I have to fly next year with Thomas Cook because of the voucher but after that I am done. 'Not only did my son lose his dad, he lost a holiday that he was really looking forward to as well. 'These last three months have been pure hell, I can't wait to put it all behind me and look forward to taking my little man on the holiday of a lifetime next year.' Pauline received a letter of apology from Thomas Cook, in which the spokesperson said: 'While the initial incident was human error it is certainly not good enough and understandably would have caused you great anguish. 'This service is not good enough and I will be liaising with the senior management of the area to ensure this does not happen again and the correct protocols are adhered to. 'It was and will continue to be a distressing time for you and Thomas Cook should have been helping you quickly and with compassion which I am deeply sorry for.' A second spokesperson for Thomas Cook added: 'We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Mrs Pritchard and her family. 'The letter sent out to Mrs Pritchard was sent in error and we are sorry for the distress it has caused. Katie Holmes enjoyed a mother-daughter outing with 10-year-old Suri on Sunday. The 37-year-old showed off her long legs in floral shorts with a chambray top while out with her daughter, who also wore flower patterned bottoms, in New York City. The actress and her mini me were see grabbing a hot dog before heading to the Museum of Modern Art together. Devoted mom: Katie Holmes enjoyed a mother daughter outing with 10-year-old Suri on Sunday Katie sported black, red, green and white shorts that revealed her toned stems, pairing it with a light wash denim button up. The Dawson's Creek star hit the pavement in flip flops while carrying a Tod's laser cut tote bag. The mother of one rocked reflective sunglasses with a diamond pendant necklace, ring and watch for added sparkle. The Batman Begins actress, who held her smart phone in her hands, also carried a floral umbrella as a precaution. Pretty ladies: The 37-year-old showed off her long legs in floral shorts with a chambray top while out in New York City with her daughter Having a blast: The actress and her mini me were see grabbing a hot dog before heading to the Museum of Modern Art together Wearing her dark brunette tresses back into a bun and going makeup free, Katie flaunted her natural beauty. The actress welcomed her daughter on April 18, 2006 with her ex husband actor Tom Cruise; the twosome were married from 2006 until they divorced in 2012. Suri looked sweet in a floral skirt, adding a summer appropriate white blouse and pink and green ballet flats. She styled a large green bow in her tresses as she stayed close to her mother. The twosome were seen stopping at a hot dog stand where Katie purchased a beverage for herself and a hot dog for her daughter. Day out with mom: The twosome were seen stopping at a hot dog stand where Katie purchased a beverage for herself and a hot dog for her daughter Stunning: They made their way to the Museum of Modern Art; she later shared a snap of a piece she admired while there Stepping out: Katie was later seen clutching a coffee as she headed out for the day They made their way to the Museum of Modern Art; she later shared a snap of a piece she admired while there. On Saturday, the dark haired beauty shared a black and white shot of desserts they enjoyed at Serendipity 3 in New York City, including a frozen hot chocolate. She captioned it: 'We came. We conquered! #serendipity3 #familylove #graititude.' The screen star also posted a gorgeous selfie while lounging at home, writing: 'Happy weekend!!!!' Fancy: On Saturday, the dark haired beauty shared a black and white shot of desserts they enjoyed at Serendipity 3 in New York City, including a frozen hot chocolate There can surely be few higher compliments than being likened to a world famous supermodel. So no doubt Sailor Lee Brinkley-Cook will be delighted to be described as a mini-me of glamorous mother Christie Brinkley after the pair were spotted in New York on Sunday. The glamorous duo looked more like sisters than mother and daughter as they headed into a Big Apple hotel. Mini-me, you complete me: Christie Brinkley looked delighted as she stepped out with daughter Sailor in New York on Sunday The 62-year-old supermodel was effortlessly turning heads, despite being dressed in a casual fashion mode. Ageing like the finest of wines, Billy Joel's ex-wife looked almost flawless as she smiled at fans as she headed into their upmarket lodgings. And her 18-year-old model daughter, whose father is architect Peter Cook, looked like quite the chip off the old block in a simple combo of blue denim dress and white trainers. Christie recently shocked the world when she admitted her timeless looks are not entirely natural, confessing she gets botox in her neck. She said: 'It sounds terrible. It actually doesnt hurt at all, and it also doesnt wander. Ageing like a fine wine: When it comes to anti-ageing potions, Christie must know a Perth claret from a Beaujolais Falling behind: But perhaps age is catching up with the famed beauty as Sailor started to pull ahead Latest model: A successful career in the world of modelling is on the cards for the glamorous 18-year-old 'So in words, it doesnt affect anything like it's not going to wander and make your eyebrows droop or an eye droop. However she added she does not get it in her 'forehead or that whole region' because she doesn't like how it alters the appearance of her face a lesson she learned the hard way. She said: 'The time that I did do it there just to see because everybody else looked all serene and rested and amazing, so I thought well let me give it a shot, literally, and I did and my left eyebrow dropped,' she said. 'It flat lined. It was like my arch was gone, and I hated it.' Contrast in styles: It is easy to tell them apart as Christie wears a perma-smile and Sailor goes for a more pouty look A beauty for the ages: The busty beauty would give the storied Rebecca de Winter a run for her money TV presenter Sally Obermeder has slammed Australia's surrogacy laws after she was forced to go to the U.S. to find a woman to carry her second baby. The Daily Edition host, who was told she would never have another child after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, said she almost lost hope when she was down to her last embryo for IVF. But she is now close to having the miracle second baby she and her husband Marcus have dreamed of, thanks to the kindness of their surrogate, Rachel, from Wisconsin. Scroll down for video Final hope: TV presenter Sally Obermeder (pictured) has slammed Australia's surrogacy laws after she was forced to go to the U.S. to find a woman to carry her second baby Speaking to Sam Armytage on Sunrise on Monday, Sally called for commercial surrogacy to be legalised in Australia - so the women carrying the children have a financial incentive. 'I think we are discriminating against people who for health reasons or for relationship status reasons can't have their own children, so why don't we make it commercial,' she told the show. She pointed out that although Rachel - a pediatric nurse - was not paid in her case, she has previously been given money in exchange for acting as the surrogate. Relief: She is now close to having the second baby she and her husband Marcus have dreamed of, thanks to the kindness of their surrogate, Rachel, from Wisconsin Taking a stand: Speaking to Sam Armytage on Sunrise on Monday, Sally called for commercial surrogacy to be legalised in Australia - so the women carrying the children have a financial incentive She said: 'Why not make it legal? Why do we bury our heads in the sand and put it in the too hard basket. Australia's one of the biggest users of surrogacy as a nation.' Sally, 42, also spoke about the heartbreaking moment she found out from Rachel she had lost the baby after their first try with IVF. Months later, Rachel tried again but Sally's second and third embryo did not take - leaving her with one last embryo left over from her previous IVF treatment to conceive her first child Annabelle. 'There's no words: The Daily Edition's Sally Obermeder broke down in tears meeting the US surrogate who is carrying her baby - after doctors told her she could not carry another child after breast cancer treatment But thankfully the fourth embryo was a success. Rachel is expecting to give birth in November or December. 'When the baby didn't make it and embryos two and three didn't work we thought, maybe this just won't happen for us,' Sally told Sunrise. She then spoke about the 'scary moment' she realised she was down to her final embryo. 'It almost got to the point where I didn't want to use the last one because I thought if this doesn't work, then that's it,' she said. Speaking out: The 42-year-old TV personality shared her incredible story on Sunrise 'We can think about the future': After three attempts using embryos left from Sally's previous IVF treatment, and her husband Marcus' sperm, Rachel invited the couple to visit her in the US at 20 weeks pregnant Sally, who was diagnosed with breast cancer diagnosis at 41 weeks pregnant in 2011, said she always wanted to have a second baby. She also shared her story on Channel Seven's Sunday Night and was filming breaking down in tears when she met her surrogate. Only altruistic surrogacy, which occurs without financial benefit to the surrogate, is legal in Australia. In Western Australia and South Australia, altruistic surrogacy is legal only for straight couples. In both these areas, surrogacy is not legal for single people or same sex couples. In Tasmania, the law states that the surrogate must be at least 25 years old and it cannot be her first pregnancy. It is illegal to pay a surrogate in Australia. Survivor: The day before she gave birth to daughter Annabelle in October 2011, Sally was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer - and was later warned another pregnancy could risk her life They were full of joy when she gave birth aged 45 to a son after multiple grueling rounds of IVF. But the baby boy Emily Symons and Paul Jackson wanted so badly may have been their four-year relationship's undoing, as their differing lifestyles and social scenes tore them apart. The couple had reportedly been living separate lives for six months before their split was revealed a week ago, with the Home and Away star 'going it alone' at home as Paul was out working or socialising. Scroll down for video Split: Home and Away star Emily Symons and Paul Jackson have called it quits because the radio excutive was always out working or at social events 'Everything was going great when she and Paul first got together, but then she got pregnant and he wasn't around as much,' an anonymous source told Woman's Day. 'He was always working or out socialising at work events.' 'The gossip magazine claimed it was not just their one-year-old son Henry she looked after, but Paul's son Tommy and daughters Georgia and Grace from a previous relationship. 'Em loves being a mum, but it was almost like she became a single parent of four overnight, which would be tough on anyone, eventually she had enough,' the insider said. Miracle: The 46-year-old gave birth to her much-longed-for baby Henry after two unsuccessful IVF attempts The Nova radio executive has moved out of their Sydney property to another house with the three older children, and while Emily has remained in the house it is up for sale, the publication claimed. Though the source said the 46-year-old has no family in Sydney for emotional support, she has hired a nanny and is leaning on co-stars Lynne McGranger and Georgie Parker. Baby daddy: The radio executive welcomed his fourth child less than a year ago At the time of the breakup, the couple said they planned to co-parent Henry. 'They remain proud parents of Henry,' a representative for Jackson confirmed to the publication. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the couple's representatives for further comment. The shock separation comes after the bubbly blonde underwent repeated rounds of IVF in the desperate hope of becoming a mother. In a 2012 interview, she said her mother's death from breast cancer had made her come to terms with the possibility of never having children. 'I spent a lot of my 30s being so anguished about not having a baby,' she told News Corp. 'But the flip side is that IVF can take over your life. It gets to the point where you're so desperate to have a baby, everything else falls by the wayside.' After two unsuccessful IVF treatments with Jackson, the bubbly blonde described the process as 'soul-destroying' and 'gruelling'. New leaf: Jackson has moved out of the couple's home with his three children from a previous relationship, Tommy, Georgia and Grace First child: Symons announced the news that she was expecting her first child with her partner February 2015 But the soap star revealed she owed her strength to Jackson after he persuaded her to make one last attempt to have a baby. Symons - who spent years longing for a child - feared she would never fall pregnant, but said she was 'extremely grateful' when her greatest wish finally came true. She delivered Henry two weeks early via caesarean at Sydney's Mater hospital on August 3 last year, weighing 2.6 kilogram. Mother-of-one: The bubbly blonde spent years longing for a child but her greatest wish came true when she fell pregnant after repeated rounds of IVF treatments The cast of TOWIE are renowned for the stylish outfits and knowing how to stay forever glam. Arriving at Faces nightclub in Essex for filming on Sunday, the cast were no different as Kate Wright packed on the razzle-dazzle as she appeared in vibrant orange crop top alongside Courtney Green in a dress the shade of her namesake. Flaunting her taut stomach, blonde bombshell Kate displayed her buxom bust as she flashed her shoulders in the cut-out long-sleeved top that oozed summer vibes. Scroll down for video Orange you glad to see her? Kate Wright flaunted her enviable figure in a vibrant orange crop top with daring shoulder cut-outs while filming a night out at Faces nightclub in Essex on Sunday Highlighting her tiny waist, Kate donned a pair of high-waisted navy palazzo pants that grazed the pavement below as she posed for photos. Adding to her allure, Kate swept half her neatly blow-dried golden tresses into a chic ponytail as she boasted a dramatic bronzed smokey eye. Also adding a pop of colour to the evening was Courtney, who sizzled in a short aqua green mini-dress that clung to her every curve. In the navy! The blonde bombshell displayed her long legs while donning a pair of navy palazzo pants Vibrant! Courtney Green donned a plunging aqua green crochet mini-dress that hugged her every curve Strutting their stuff! Courtney opted for a pair of nude sky-high platforms, while Chloe Lewis rocked a pair of black caged heels Spot the difference! The brunette beauty wore a leopard print wrap around dress that exhibited her tiny waist Ramping up the sex appeal, the brunette beauty's crochet ensemble donned a plunging neckline that displayed her ample assets. Taking a leaf out of Kate's book, Courtney styled her long chestnut locks into a half ponytail as she teased her tresses into a glamorous curl. Meanwhile, Chloe Lewis was on hand to flex her style muscle in a simple leopard print wrap dress. Chloe paired a classic skinny black belt that cinched in her tiny waist as she kept her accessories chic with a black handbag before teetering into the venue in a pair of sky-high caged heels. Sticking to an all black ensemble, Georgia Kousoulou paraded her lithe limbs in a chic pair of nineties inspired pedal pushers. Chic! Georgia Kousoulou, 25, wore a coordinating two piece that displayed her flat stomach All about the accessorises! Georgia and TOWIE newbie Amber both channelled nineties vibes with stylish chokers Showing off her toned abs, the 25-year-old reality star worked a sexy bardot crop top with daring slit flared sleeves while she paired a shoe-lace choker with her simple silver bangle. Georgia was joined by her best friend and new co-star Amber Dowding at the nightclub who wowed in a demure peach wrap dress that she tied to the side. Part-time hairdresser Amber - who made her debut in TOWIE last week as the girlfriend of Chris Clark - added a cream choker to her look as she choose to carry her pointed nude Christian Louboutin stilettos, opting to walk into the venue in her Chanel espadrilles. Leggy display: Chloe Meadows paraded her toned tanned pins in a tiny orange mini-skirt Meanwhile Chloe Meadows upped the style stakes in a vibrant brunt orange mini-skirt, that skimmed her thighs as she injected some height into her look with a pair of lace up sandals. The blonde beauty donned a simple white Zara tie top to her ensemble as she swept her golden tresses into a high ponytail. Chloe's appearance at Faces comes after she got into a blazing row with BFF Megan McKenna after she went on a night out with the brunette's sworn enemies Lydia Bright and Chloe Lewis on Sunday's episode of the ITVBe series. The two attempted to patch things up but both ended up in tears after getting a number of issues off their chests. She's got one of the most distinctive voices in the classical music world. And mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins was taking a backseat on Sunday night as she headed to the Neil Simon Theatre in New York City to see musical CATS return to Broadway. The Welsh beauty, 36, certainly stood out among the theatre fans in a canary yellow dress that showed off her enviably-slender figure. Scroll down for video Bold: Katherine Jenkins put in a very bold appearance at the revival of CATS on Broadway on Sunday night in New York City Katherine joined the likes of Titus Burgess, Jack Antonoff and the legendary composer himself, Andrew Lloyd Webber, for the hotly-anticipated revival. She walked the red carpet in nude pointed heels, cutting a simple silhouette with a high neckline on her sophisticated dress. The musician pulled her hair back into a high ponytail, which only served to highlight her exquisite beauty. Singing sensation: The blonde looked gorgeous with her hair swept back to expose her pretty features Goes who's back: Legendary omposer Andrew Lloyd Webber (centre) celebrated with Leona Lewis (as Grizabella in Cats, right), Alex Brightman (as Dewey Finn in School of Rock, left), and James Barbour (as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, back centre) The real star: Andrew will no doubt be delighted to finally see the show return home CATS is back to celebrate three shows on Broadway, where it opened in 1982 and originally ran for 18 years. Leona Lewis is now the star of the show, taking on the role of Grizabella, even though former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger had been due to take on the role. Nicole was the last star to play Grizabella in the West End, having initially taken on the role in London in 2014 and she did in fact agree to do the revival in the US, too. Thankfully now, Sir Andrew and his former leading lady Nicole have patched things up after she quit his Broadway musical to take back her judging seat on The X Factor, this Christmas. Broadway fan: Kimmy Schmidt star Titus Burgess was beaming for the revival on Sunday She told The Mirror: 'I don't have to prove anything to anybody. I love Andrew and I want to work with him again. But I make my own decisions I am a big girl. 'The same way that everyone else makes their own decisions and does what is best for them. We are going to hopefully work together again soon.' Previously, the 68-year-old reacted to Nicole's decision with fury saying it had left him looking like like 'an absolute tw*t'. 'Im furious because I really believe shes a really fantastically talented girl' he said. 'And I really went out on a limb to get her into the London Palladium here and it makes me look like an absolute tw*t.' In attendance: Lena Dunham's partner Jack Antonoff (right) and his sister Rachel were keen to see the show Meanwhile, his big star Leona told The Guardian on Friday that she adores the 'heart' of the show, as she shared her excitement at joining the cast. 'When people come and see a show I hope that they take away something from it. The shows got a lot of heart. 'Grizabellas someone thats been outcast and the storyline is about acceptance and love. That is a deeper reason as to why I do music. I dont think its escapism at all, actually. 'I think its really meaningful. Its about people coming away feeling moved and having a bit more love in their heart.' Glam: Emma Myles hit the red carpet in a classic little blue dress and black heels There's still a month before filming begins on The Real Housewives Of Sydney's first season. But Lisa Oldfield has already taken on the role as the show's 'villain', exchanging blows with her own co-star. Lashing out at fellow Sydney housewife Victoria Reese, the 41-year old told New Idea magazine: 'She's already slagging off at me. Apparently I'm annoying. I'll give her annoying! I'm going to pull that ponytail so tight that it will be like another facelift for her!' Scroll down for video The claws are out! Lisa Oldfield (L) has already ignited a feud between herself and fellow RHOS co-star Victoria Rees (R) ahead of the show Lisa's comment was met with shock as Victoria reveals the pair had never met before the show's launch party last month. Branding Lisa as 'the troublemaker' out of the cast, Victoria had her own jibe to throw back. 'It's unbelievable. She's 41 - she doesn't look so good for 41!' Drama! The RHOS cast was revealed on July 22 and there are already personality clashes between the stars Tensions are set to soar between the co-stars, who will join Melissa Tkautz, Athena Levendi, Nicole Gazal ONeil, Matty Samaei and Krissy Marsh for the city's spin-off of the popular franchise. But Lisa's beef doesn't just stop with her Sydney co-star. The wife of One-Nation founder David Oldfield previously slammed the Melbourne cast, saying: 'I wouldnt compare myself to any of those girls.' Outspoken: The wife of One-Nation founder David Oldfield is the 'troublemaker' of the cast, according to her co-star Victoria 'The benchmark is so low. The best thing that came out of Melbourne is probably Underbelly so really we are starting very low,' she told Pedestrian TV. The comments caused an enraged Gamble to hit back, writing on Facebook: 'Good luck riding off our ratings you stupid old cow. Blood sucking ticks like you wouldn't survive in Melbourne.' The blonde beauty continued: 'I have a better looking mop at home that I clean my floor with.' 'The benchmark is so low': Lisa has previously lashed out at her Melbourne counterparts, sparking outrage from the cast members Gamble also claimed that she'd 'never heard' of Mrs. Oldfield, causing Lisa to hit back. 'I'm not surprised she hasn't heard of me. I made my name in the boardroom, she made hers in the bedroom,' Lisa told the Daily Telegraph. The fiery brunette added: 'This is just a desperate grab to remain relevant.' Teresa Giudice shot down rumors about the state of her marriage on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey. The 44-year-old reality TV star used the show to firmly deny gossip that her marriage to Joe Giudice was in trouble and that she was planning on leaving him when he goes to prison. 'You know, we are together because we want to be together. Yeah, I have old school values but I am not just going to stay with someone if I wasn't happy,' she told her lawyer James Leonard. Happily married: Teresa Giudice said she was happily married on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey 'Listen, I am sure by now the girl would have come out, it's like, alright, put it to rest. You know we are together, we are happily married, it's like nonsense,' Teresa said. The lawyer then told her that he had made her last restitution payment to the government and she now owed them nothing as part of her plea deal on federal fraud charges. 'It's a big relief,' she admitted as they travelled to her audio book recording. In New York City, Teresa went into a recording studio to tape her audio book. Sexy yoga: Joe and Teresa kissed after doing some yoga togehter Big relief: Teresa was relieved after lawyer James Leonard said her restitution was fully paid 'There were days when I was away that I cried over my children, like I missed Gia's eighth grade dance, writing my book made me realize that I am a survivor and that I love the person that I am,' she told the cameras. Teresa struggled to keep her emotions in check and cried as she began to read the book and relive her prison experience. She then sat in on an editorial meeting where she again spoke about her prison days. Audio recording: The reality star recorded audio for her book Turning The Tables 'Before I went to prison I thought that the people there were bad people, but they are just human beings like us that have made mistakes in life,' she explained. 'I always try to look at the positive, like God wanted me to have this time to myself,' she added. She told the group that Joe had continually emailed her telling her that he no longer took her for granted. Cover reveal: Teresa got her first look at the cover of her book 'We connected on another level,' she said. 'Every marriage goes through phases where you can either improve the relationship or people get divorced, in Joe and I's case, thank God, it has gotten even better. 'You know, I have heard ''I can't believe she is still with him'' and it is like ''mind your business, that's my husband.'' Tabloid gossip: The reality star was forced to confront tabloid reports about her marriage Teresa was then shown the front cover of her book for the first time. Back at the house Teresa helped cut Joe's toenails before they did a risque yoga session together. During it she took the chance to remind Joe that if he ever cheated on her there would be no coming back for their relationship. No forgiving: Teresa made it clear to Joe that cheating would end their relationship 'No forgiving, you know that right?' she said as she told him about tabloid stories about their marriage. 'If we did not want to be with each other we would not be with each other, right?' she asked. 'I would hope not,' he replied. Yoga time: Joe got into the yoga session with his wife 'Good, I am glad we are on the same page with that,' replied Teresa. 'When you get married it says for better or worse, through sickness and health, till death do us part,' Teresa said. Melissa Gorga meanwhile was preparing for the opening of her new fashion boutique Envy. New boutique: Melissa Gorga was preparing for the opening of her boutique Envy Joe Gorga struggled to cope with the family while Melissa was out and he lamented that women now worked rather than stay at home 'to cook the bacon.' 'I am a caveman, that's what we do,' he proudly told the cameras as he called himself an Italian Stallion. With the house descending into chaos Joe called Melissa and begged her to come back as he had work to do. Tough time: Joe Gorga called himself a caveman as he lamented his wife working so much 'I have got a multi-million dollar project going and you are dealing with clothes,' he told her bluntly. 'Come on this was not our deal, our deal was that I get married to you and you watch the kids and I go to work,' he told her. Melissa told him that she was a 'little insulted' by his attitude. Point of contention: Melissa was insulted by Joe's attitude toward her boutique 'The queen can have her job back because it is over,' he told the cameras as his kids washed their dog in the kitchen sink. Melissa then took Joe through her marketing plans for the store and he asked if she was sure she wanted to do it. 'What do you think, you are the only person in this house who knows how to make money?' she asked him as he told her she was 'taking away' from his time. Money maker: The reality star was confident that Envy would start making money and silence Joe 'I could be sitting on the couch watching Oprah, would that make him more happy?' Melissa complained. 'He taught me to have a set of b***s, and here I am finding my set of b***s and now he is going to doubt me? He should be proud, he made me this way,' Melissa said. Dolores Catania told the cameras how much her life was shaped by her parents but that her lack of formal education continued to motivate her to do right by her own daughter, Gabby. Educational moment: Dolores Catania encouraged her daughter Gabby seeking a higher degree Good times: Gabby squealed while washing pets with Dolores Jacqueline Laurita and husband Chris then discussed the launch of their new popcorn company The Little Kernel. 'It is important that this brand works, it has been difficult financially over the past few years and I don't have a plan B right bow,' Chris told the cameras. 'I need this to work. We have tried to sell the house so many times but every time we do something happens and we have to take it off the market to repair this and that. I really hope that within the next 24 months we are going to have a different life and it is going to be much better,' he said. Business venture: Chris Laurita was banking on a new popcorn line Popcorn designs: The Little Kernel was Chris and wife Jacueline Laurita's business venture Not for money: Jacqueline insisted that she didn't marry Chris for his money Jacqueline insisted she had not married her husband for money and they would be staying together 'no matter what.' Siggy Flicker and Jacqueline got together for a glass of wine and Siggy admitted she had enjoyed meeting Teresa for the first time. 'She doesn't really think about what she is saying, she just says it,' she said. Cautious note: During a wine outing Jacqueline warned Siggy Flicker about questioning Teresa 'But I feel bad for Teresa with all these articles that are coming out every day that her husband and her husband are saying goodbye to each other,' Siggy said. Jacqueline advised the relationship counsellor to be careful in bringing up such a personal topic. 'If I am going to have a real relationship with Teresa and it is not going to be phony why shouldn't I ask what I am thinking?' she said. Relationship expert: Siggy said she was going to ask Teresa hard questions to have a 'real relationship' At home Siggy and daughter Sophie, 13, had a run in over her use of make-up and the inappropriate outfit she wanted to wear to a party. 'At the end of the day nobody is going to remember where you worked, it is what kind of mother were you, and for me my life is about my children,' she told the cameras. Teresa and her daughter Gabriella spent quality time together rock climbing with Siggy and Sophie. Nice try: Siggy had issues with her teenage daughter Sophie's choice of outfits Up there: Teresa scaled a climbing wall during an outing with her daughter Gabriella Watchful eye: Gabriella watched her mother scale the climbing wall Ziggy told Teresa that she wanted to 'cut through the bull***' and brought up the tabloid rumors about her marriage. Teresa seemed surprised at the approach but later told the cameras she could handle it. 'I am OK with Siggy asking me. Many years ago I would have got offended but Siggy is just asking me something about my husband and I have no problem answering,' she said. Candid conversation: Siggy asked Teresa about the tabloid rumors No problem: Teresa said she didn't have a problem with Siggy asking about her marriage Siggy told Teresa that she was available if she wanted to talk and to get an opinion from her with 'no ulterior motives.' 'Today feels like normal, it feels really good,' Teresa admitted after showing off her ankle tag to Siggy at the climbing center. Melissa prepared for the opening of her store and admitted that she was sad that her dad, who died in a car accident when she was age 17, would not be there to see it. Getting emotional: Melissa got emotional talking about her late father 'I might not be able to hear him tell me he is proud, but I know he is proud,' she said tearfully. All the ladies were present, including Teresa who was making her first public appearance, and she got to reconnect with Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri. 'There was a time I had a relationship with Kathy and Rosie but they have hurt me throughout the years. I am just emotionally detached,' she said. Mother and daughter: Gia accompanied her mother Teresa to Melissa's boutique opening Together again: Rosie Pierrri and Teresa reunited at the opening Joe got into the spirit of the evening and told Melissa that in the end he was happy for her new venture. And with the ladies helping with an impromptu fashion show Joe slipped into a figure hugging dress to strut his stuff. In scenes from next week Joe and Teresa went for dinner at Jacqueline and Chris's home and it did not end well, with Teresa and Jacqueline getting into a fight about her conviction. Proud of her: Joe during the opening told Melissa he was proud of her Invitation extended: Chris extended an invitation to Teresa to come over and visit 'I own it,' Teresa could be seen angrily telling her. 'You aren't owning it you blame it on everybody else,' Jacqueline shot back. 'Now she is crazy, come on Joe lets go. Big mistake,' said Teresa as she walked out of the house in anger. They are touted as being among the most controversial presidential nominees in a recent election cycle. And John Cena and Victoria Justice took to satirizing presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during their hosting duties at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday. John, 39, took on Democratic nominee Hillary as he wore a hot pink pants suit and pearl necklace, while Victoria, 23, assumed the role of Republican nominee Donald, clad in a black suit and glossy blonde wig. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Talking politics: Audience members at the Teen Choice Awards in Inglewood, California on Sunday were in for a surprise when hosts John Cena and Victoria Justice came on stage, impersonating presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Keegan Michael-Key introduced the candidates while impersonating President Barack Obama. The actor wore a black leather jacket, flannel shirt, and jeans - an outfit he said he could pull off now that he was in the 'home stretch' of his presidency. 'I'm dressed more on the fleek,' he said. 'I've got no tie and I'm totally commando.' 'So tonight, POTUS is gonna go with the FLOTUS,' he added before announcing the first Teen Choice Presidential Election, which allows fans to voice their choice for president on an app or Twitter, and introducing the two candidates. Dressed the part: John was clad in a hot pink pants suit, while Victoria sported a suit and a shiny blonde wig Patriotic: The stars arrived to the sound of Hail To The Chief against the backdrop of the American flag The stars arrived to the sound of Hail To The Chief against the backdrop of the American flag. Victoria took on a deeper voice as she told John, 'Nice pants suit. It's huge.' 'Nice head badger!' John replied. 'It's ridiculous!' Getting in character: Victoria took on a deeper voice and Donald's hand gestures as she told John, 'Nice pants suit. It's huge' Striking back: 'Nice head badger!' John replied to Victoria, 'It's ridiculous!' 'Guys, guys,' Keegan said, attempting to diffuse the situation. 'You both look great!' 'Donald,' he added. 'I thought you'd be taller.' 'What do you mean? I'm huge!' Victoria replied. 'Huge!' John broke from character as he doubled over briefly before spinning around in a circle, laughing. Smackdown! Victoria and John got the show started off with a hilarious sketch that saw the actress challenge the wrestler to a match as she entered the arena Put 'em up! The actress, wearing a pair of DKNY tights, climbed onto Cena as he attempted to begin the show 'You seem taller on TV to me!' Keegan adds. Victoria and John got the show started off with a hilarious sketch that saw Victoria, wearing a pair of DNKY fishnet tights, challenge the wrestler to a match as she entered the arena, carried on a surfboard by muscular men. Yet John had no interest in actually fighting Victoria, and the wrestler effortlessly hoisted the actress over his shoulders as she attempted to take him down. Getting a lift! Yet John had no interest in actually fighting Victoria, and the wrestler effortlessly hoisted the actress over his shoulders as she attempted to take him down Making quite the entrance: Justice entered the arena, carried on a surfboard by muscular men The Bachelor Australia contestant Marja Jacobsen has opened up about her battle with anxiety. Speaking to TV Week magazine, the 34-year-old yoga teacher said her parents splitting when she was just a teenager, followed by her father's shocking death, left a detrimental impact on her, but turning to the practice of yoga has helped her get through the tougher times. 'I remember going to yoga classes and just crying,' the Channel Ten reality show contestant and now professional yoga teacher told the publication about her grieving period four years ago. Scroll down for video Opening up: The Bachelor Australia contestant Marja Jacobsen has opened up about her battle with anxiety 'When someone close to you dies, your world is turned upside down,' she continued, before adding that her parents splitting when she was just 15 years of age was also 'a huge core-shaker'. Marja relocated to Australia from Hong Kong when she was eight-years-old, and the big move as well as her parents' split was not something easy to deal with. 'At the time, I never labelled what I had as anxiety. But now, I know that's what it was,' she said. Marja is one of the 22 women who entered The Bachelor mansion during Wednesday night's premiere episode, vying for the heart of eligible hunk Richie Strahan. Bachelor: Marja is one of the 22 women who entered The Bachelor mansion during Wednesday night's premiere episode, vying for the heart of eligible hunk Richie Strahan Coping mechanism: Marja says turning to yoga has helped her through tough times The Channel Ten reality show won't be the first time that Marja has been on screen, with the brunette stunner already having a background in acting before settling into her current career as a yoga master and Reiki healer. In addition to completing several courses at The Australian Film & Television Academy, Marja has starred in commercials for Choosi Insurance and P&O Cruises. While the starlet unfortunately never made it to the A-list, she did manage to book a very minor one-episode guest role on the ABC legal drama, Rake. Personal battle: The 34-year-old yoga teacher said her parents splitting when she was just a teenager, followed by her father's shocking death, left a detrimental impact on her The business-savvy beauty has already launched her own line of 'healing candles' via her official website. The soy candles are 'Reiki infused with abundance of love & support,' and come in delicious flavours like 'coconut & lime' and 'lemongrass & green tea'. In addition to yoga and candles, the mystical brunette also performs Reiki healing on clients in which she promises to 'transfer energy from my body, through my palms, to you, to perform hands on healing'. For confidential help, call Lifeline at 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au/ Aspiring star: Marja has been working on her acting career for years, having previously starred in a commercial for Choosi Insurance Not quite the A-list: The trained actress also did a commercial for P&O Cruises Business savvy: Marja is already cashing in on her upcoming fifteen minutes of fame by hocking her own line of candles He may have accepted that he is never getting back together with ex-wife Danielle Spencer after they split in 2012. But Russell Crowe is still reportedly coming to terms with her new man Adam Long spending more time with his sons Charles, 12, and Tennyson, 10, than he does. The thought that someone else is spending more time with them than he is and is slotting into life with his entire family anyone would feel jealous, a source allegedly told Womans Day. Scroll down for video Jealous: According to Woman's Day magazine, Russell Crowe is still coming to terms with his ex-wife Danielle Spencer's new man Adam Long (pictured together on Saturday) spending more time with his sons Charles, 12, and Tennyson, 10, than he does Its never easy to watch someone move on and be happy with someone else, but everyone knows Russell has and will always love Danielle. The 52-year-old is regularly seen with his pride and joy kids, this weekend taking the younger child to a South Sydney rugby league match. The Hollywood star even took most of the past year off acting to spend more time with them in Australia after only seeing them for about 30 days in 2012. But now, according to the magazine, he is worried that the growing attention on his exs new relationship will affect the boys, whom he has always tried to shield from the public eye. Doting dad: The 52-year-old is regularly seen with his pride and joy kids, this weekend taking the younger child to a South Sydney rugby league match This was especially considering Adam has started to spend more time at Russells $10 million house in Rose Bay, Sydney, where Danielle lives at with the children. Russell has never wanted them to be brought up in the public domain. He really wants them to have a normal upbringing, a friend told the gossip magazine. The Gladiator star in May said despite the 47-year-old being the love of his life he was craving some sort of intimacy in the future. Family dynamics: Tennyson (left) and Charles (right) live with Danielle in Sydney - where Adam has been spending increasingly more time Co-parenting: Russell takes the kids on weekends when he is in Sydney, such as to this Rabbitohs match in March, and sometimes to his farm near Coffs Harbour on school holidays 'I really need that. I thought I could just tough it out and not worry too much. But you just want the feeling that you have someone you can make a plan with,' he told Sunday Style. However, he did not think he would get married again because of the affect it might have on his children. 'I have what I feel is an obligation to my kids, to not confuse their lives too much. Its already pretty tricky for them. Theres life itself, then theres life as a famous persons kids, he said. Taking time out for his family became more important after barely seeing them in 2012 in the wake of the split because he was away working all the time. 'I think I saw my children 30 days in the year because they are not allowed to travel to where I'm working at this point, he told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'So that was a tough year. However, he went on to note that he is happy with the arrangement he and his estranged wife have come to, where he takes them on weekends when he is in Sydney and sometimes to his farm near Coffs Harbour on school holidays. New love: They started dating earlier in the year, with a source saying the cartoonist and crime writer was the 'typical arty type she goes for Separated: The pair had been in a relationship since 1989, married him in 2003 and they split in 2012 'The home environment we have created around them is very stable, so I can go to work, but it does get more and more difficult to get on a plane, he said. Danielle introduced her new beau to her family in Sydney in June after they started dating earlier in the year, with a source telling Daily Mail Australia the cartoonist and crime writer was the 'typical arty type she goes for. 'She's really happy, it's still quite early days, but she's content. And Russell is apparently pretty cool with it. He's accepted they're not going to get back together, they said. The couple met years before while they were both still married, as Russell his wife had looked at buying a property from Adams then-mother-in-law. 'I haven't met Russell, but I have no problems with him. I love his movies and Charles and Tennyson [their children] are a credit to him and Danielle,' he told New Idea in June. She's had a busy night as the co-host of the Teen Choice Awards with John Cena on Sunday. But Victoria Justice did not skimp on fashion as she hit the stage in Inglewood, California rocking five different looks throughout the night. The 23-year-old actress began her night on a high note by slipping into a Versace patterned mini dress that showcased her toned legs and svelte figure. Scroll down for video Wow: Victoria Justice did not skimp on fashion as she hit the stage in five different looks throughout the night as a co-host of the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday in Inglewood, California Victoria's frock had green, purple, white and black hues with cut out elements on the thigh and chest. The former Nickelodeon star complemented the bright look with metallic strappy sky high heels and multiple rings adorning her fingers. The dark haired beauty sported a braid on the crown of her head while rocking dark pink matte lipstick with defined brows. She's got the look: The 23-year-old later swapped the look for a colorful matching set and also a velvet blue and silver wrap dress Fancy: The 23-year-old began her night on a high note by slipping into a Versace patterned mini dress that showcased her svelte figure Pretty: Victoria's frock had green, purple, white and black hues with cut out elements on the thigh and chest The Rocky Horror Picture Show star swapped the textured piece for four other looks after the show started. Victoria looked lovely in a bright pastel colored crop top and skirt set with mesh paneling down the sides. The off-the-shoulder top and mini skirt had lavender, orange, light blue, green and blush hues in striped form. Stylish star: Victoria looked lovely in a bright pastel colored crop top and skirt set with mesh paneling down the sides; pictured with her co-host John Cena Strike a pose: The former Nickelodeon star pictured with Justin Timberlake while rocking the two-piece set The stunner complemented the ensemble with sleek locks and pink glossed lips. The Victorious actress also wowed in a velvet blue and silver striped wrap dress that featured a low-cut neckline and thigh slit. For the sultry look, the beauty wore her locks in a braid, adding bold red lipstick for pop of color. Good taste: The Victorious actress also wowed in a velvet blue and silver striped wrap dress that featured a low-cut neckline and thigh slit; pictured with Keegan-Michael Key and John In another winning ensemble, Victoria chose a silver and navy turtleneck dress that hugged her curves perfectly, finishing it off with patent black thigh high boots. For the fun look, she rocked sleek tresses with smokey eye makeup and pink lips. The Florida-born actress showed some skin in a purple and blue crop top and high-waisted bottoms, adding a matching bomber jacket. In the moment: In another winning look, Victoria chose a silver and navy turtleneck dress that hugged her curves perfectly, finishing it off with patent black thigh high boots Having a blast: For the fun ensemble, she rocked sleek tresses with smokey eye makeup look ank pink lips Bright: The Florida-born actress showed some skin in a purple and blue crop top and high waisted bottoms, adding a matching bomber jacket Enjoying the night: She complemented the bold look with calf-length combat boots and mesh nylons They will appear in the TV movie-musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And Laverne Cox made an appearance at the Teen Choice Awards in LA on Saturday, where co-star Victoria Justice was presenting. The 32-year-old appeared to have a great time, snapping selfies and spritzing show co-host John Cena with water later in the broadcast. Promotional venture: Laverne Cox, 32, made an appearance at the Teen Choice Awards in LA on Saturday, where co-star Victoria Justice was presenting The Orange Is The New Black star wore a long-sleeved, black jumpsuit. Laverne's accessories included a gold chain belt, a bangle and stud earrings. The Alabama native's hair was parted down the middle and styled straight. Blonde locks: The Alabama native's hair was parted down the middle and styled straight Evening look: The Orange is the New Black store wore a long-sleeved, black jumpsuit Work gig: The talent's attendance at the Fox awards show was to help promote the upcoming comedy, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will air on the same network The talent's attendance at the Fox awards show was to help promote the upcoming comedy, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will air on the same network. Laverne plays a transsexual scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter who wants to create a bodybuilder. The fall TV movie will also star Victoria Justice, who also co-hosted the TCA's. He's got this: The Doubt star sprayed wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, 39, with water as he stood there and took it like a champ Important: Later, Laverne made time for selfies At the event, Laverne went on-stage and engaged in some playful antics with her co-star. The Doubt star sprayed wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, 39, with water as he stood there and took it like a champ. Later, Laverne made time for selfies, joking around with both Teen Choice Award winner John Stamos, 52, and Lana Parrilla, 39. Khloe Kardashian jetted to Cuba on Sunday's episode of the family's reality show but spent the whole trip worried that Lamar Odom was planning to 'run away.' The 32-year-old reality star struggled to enjoy the Havana vacation with sisters Kim and Kourtney's families as she stressed out that her estranged husband would disappear while she was out of the country. Her fears were compounded when she got a call telling her that Lamar had asked for cash as soon as she and her sisters left Los Angeles for Cuba.. Vacation worries: Khloe Kardashian worried about Lamar Odom during a family vacation to Cuba on Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians During dinner a worried Khloe told pal Malika Haqq that she had got a call saying that Lamar had been asking for cash. Malika told her that Lamar would do whatever he wanted to do and Khloe revealed she was worried he may 'run away' while the family was out of town. 'What a f*****, he was waiting for this,' said Khloe. 'Every time I left town when we were married this would happen, I just didn't think he would still do the same thing,' she said. Feeling bad: Kim Kardashian felt bad that her sister was stressing out over her ex Lamar The show kicked off with Kourtney taking a joke Snapchat video of her catching Scott and Kendall in bed together. Khloe called Lamar's eye doctor to speak to him and told her friend Malika Haqq that she had also got him a manicure, a massage and a dermatologist appointment. 'I don't know what he would do without you,' Malika told her. Practical joke: The episode started with Kourtney recording a joke Snapchat video of her ex Scott Disick in bed with her model sister Kendall Jenner Taking care: Khloe was shown on the phone making appointments to take care of Lamar 'He doesn't know,' agreed Khloe. 'Lamar has definitely come a long way since his whole hospital situation. I have put a lot of my life on hold to try and help Lamar and get him on a great track but internally there is still so much that Lamar has to fix about himself,' she told the cameras. Khloe told her that she did not mind as she wanted Lamar to get better. Long way: The reality star noted that Lamar has come a long way since his overdose but still had work to do The girls then organized a trip to Cuba to see Kendall Jenner walk in the Chanel fashion show. But Kris Jenner was not joining because the island has poor Internet connection. 'I'm not going to Cuba. I can't if there is no communication, I have work to do,' said Kris. Not going: Kris Jenner told Khloe and Kim that she wasn't going to Cuba because of the poor Internet connection 'You don't communicate either way,' joked Khloe. 'You guys can go down to Cuba, have fun,' said Kris as she said she would enjoy some peace and quiet from the rest of the clan. It emerged that Kendall dropped out of the show before they flew but the girls kept their plans and jetted to Cuba, where they met Kim and Kanye. Trip planning: Khloe and Kim told their momager they were going to Cuba together Khloe revealed that not being able to use her phone did bother her as she wanted to talk to her friends while the other sisters had their families. 'It is scary to go to another country and not have any access to back home. Lamar knows it is not easy to reach me,' said Khloe who said the lack of Internet was 'nerve-wracking.' Khloe and Malika rolled into Havana in a classic 1957 Chevy, after spraying themselves with mosquito repellent. Nice ride: A classic 1957 Chevy came with a driver for Khloe and best friend Malika Haq Kanye and Kim got a hot pink ride into the city through a lightning storm as they were both wowed by the country. The girls walked the streets before going to a dinner as Kanye brought along his own personal videographer to shoot the trip. Kris meanwhile fretted about the girls being out of communication. Lightning strike: Kim and husband Kanye West were treated to a lightning show upon arrival with daughter North excited about it 'I can't believe they are out there having this great time and probably not giving me a second thought and I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear anything,' she said. In Cuba the group loaded up into vintage cars and visited a Cuban art studio and gallery. Kanye seemed to be really taken with the country saying 'It feels like we are in a dream' before saying he would come back to shoot a music video. Getting excited: Khloe got Kourtney's son Mason pumped up about the trip Mother and son: Kourtney took a picture of son Reign on the private plane to Cuba Video diary: Kanye brought his personal videographer to Cuba The group then visited the Havana Club rum distillery where they drank and smoked cigars. 'Even though I am not that big of a drinker I am enjoying all the memories we are going to have and it is really cool to soak up what the culture is here,' said Kim. 'I am actually super into this because I like fire and I like alcohol. And I really like cigars,' Kanye told the girls as they lit up huge cigars. Family portrait: Kim, Kanye and North wore matching white outfits Group dinner: Kanye and Kim sat down to dinner with the family Cigar time: Malika was enjoying the post-dinner cigar Khloe revealed that she was struggling to stay in the moment while away from the hotel and unable to communicate with Lamar. 'Being unreachable is not like a settling feeling,' she said. Back at Kylie's house the youngster had a product photoshoot with momager Kris on hand. Travel fan: Kourtney was having a blast on the trip and broke out her college Spanish Having fun: Mason and Kourtney rode up front together 'All my sisters are in Cuba and she does not know what to do with herself so she is harassing me,' said Kylie. Over lunch Kim told Kanye about Lamar's request for cash and Khloe told the rapper that her ex's motor skills 'are not what they used to be.' 'He was such a great athlete and didn't even try, like that was him not trying. When he got off the Clippers is when he started doing that and he didn't finish his therapy, that was his choice,' she told Kanye. Family drama: Kanye got an update on the drama surrounding Lamar from his wife Kim Surprise visit: Kris was missing her daughters so she made a surprise visit to Kylie Jenner's house Kim told the cameras that she found it hard to see her sister so stressed about Lamar. 'I wish she would not put that much weight in this situation on her shoulders but that is just who she is,' said Kim. 'I wish she would just enjoy herself and not put herself through that.' Stressed out: Khoe could barely enjoy the vacation due to her worries about Lamar Back at Kris's house Kylie and her mom cooked pasta together, with Kris telling her she was the only child who actually listened to her. 'I know you are missing everyone in Cuba so I wanted to spend time with you,' said Kylie. 'Kylie is the cutest most sensitive child in the world and she can feel how much I am missing the other kids so she wants to come over and keep me company and that means everything to me,' said a happy Kris. In the kitchen: Kylie realized her mom was missing family so she visited her Good observation: Corey Gamble noted that Kylie really listens to her mother In Cuba, Kim and Kourtney visited Ernest Hemingway's house and museum. It emerged that Kim and Hemingway had something in common as he he took note of his weight every day and scribbled it on his bathroom wall. 'I wish Khloe could see this, I just want her to love life and enjoy herself and not worry about it all. It breaks my heart as it is the same cycle all over again and that really sucks,' said Kim. Earlier this month she inked her hand to mark the seven-year anniversary since the passing of her father, Michael Jackson. But on Sunday Paris Jackson took to Instagram to proudly show off a brand new tattoo behind her right ear. 'Couldn't ever ask for better ink than from my man @dermagraphink!' the 18-year-old captioned an image of two beaded feathers. 'Couldn't ever ask for better ink': Paris Jackson took to Instagram to proudly show off a brand new feather tattoo behind her right ear on Sunday The colourful ink was created by tattoo artist Justin Lewis at his shop Timeless Tattoo in Los Angeles. It shows two feathers tied together at the quill with a red ribbon, and each is finished with a bead at the other end. Paris is also wearing a large rainbow-coloured tapered earring, a stud, and small blue metallic hoop. The beauty paid tribute to the late King of Pop just weeks ago with a tattoo on her hand which she also debuted on social media. Honoured: The 18-year-old daughter of the late Michael Jackson paid tribute to the King of Pop just weeks ago with a tattoo on her hand which she also debuted on social media 'I f***ing love you,' she captioned the snapshot of her right hand with 'Bad' inked in red; the single from his seventh studio album of the same name. Paris also shared a snapshot with her brother Prince, 19, who also got a tattoo by artist Justin Lewis in support of his martial arts institute, the Gracie Academy Beverly Hills. 'It's truly an honor and a privilege to call myself their student they've taught me so much about not only the sport but also life,' he wrote alongside the close-up image of the colourful tattoo. 'I f***ing love you': Paris got a tattoo on her right hand with 'Bad' inked in red; the single from his seventh studio album of the same name Paid tribute: She also got a tattoo of the iconic lightning bolt to represent the late David Bowie, and Prince's purple 'Love Symbol' to honour the legendary late musicians, as well The beauty also got a tattoo of the iconic lightning bolt to represent the late David Bowie who passed in at the age of 69 in January. Prince's purple 'Love Symbol' was also newly inked on the top of her hand, along with the band Van Halen's logo. Paris dressed in her typical edgy rocker style in ripped skinny jeans with a vintage black cropped top that showcased her toned tummy. She wore a red and black flannel around her slender waistline and finished her street chic look off with lace-up boots. 'Tattoo buddies': Paris and her brother Prince Jackson, 19, (L) both got inked by tattoo artist, Justin Lewis (center) earlier this month at his shop Timeless Tattoo in Los Angeles She's a busy mother of three young children. But Kourtney Kardashian was enjoying some 'me time' on Sunday, kicking back and relaxing at the pool as she topped up her tan in a maroon bikini. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians favourite then completed her day of leisure by partying at The Nice Guy to celebrate her half-sister Kylie Jenner's early 19th birthday party. 'Sundaze': Kourtney Kardashian was enjoying some 'me time' on Sunday, kicking back and relaxing at the pool as she topped up her tan in a maroon bikini Kourtney made her followers jealous by sharing a snapshot of her sunbathing session, which she captioned 'Sundaze'. The 37-year-old reality star can be seen reclining on a large red inflatable, one hand propped behind her head. She shows off her flat stomach and toned legs in the rust coloured two-piece, while shielding her eyes behind a pair of shades. Hitting the town: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians favourite then completed her day of leisure by partying at The Nice Guy to celebrate her half-sister Kylie Jenner's early 19th birthday party Later that evening, Kourtney was seen arriving at West Hollywood hotspot The Nice Guy, clad in head-to-toe leather. Kourtney showed off her fabulous figure in a skin-tight dress, which she paired with peep toe mesh boots. The thigh-high footwear made the most of her slender pins and she accessorised with a simple black clutch bag. Hell for leather: Kourtney showed off her fabulous figure in a skin-tight dress, which she paired with peep toe mesh boots Making an exit: Mother-of-three Kourtney went for an uber sexy look in her leather dress and racy boots Killer outfit: The thigh-high footwear made the most of her slender pins and she accessorised with a simple black clutch bag Kourtney styled her dark tresses in a funky high plait which cascaded over one shoulder. The previous day, the straight-talking star took her two eldest children Penelope and Mason Disick to join their cousin North West for a day of trampoline fun on Saturday. Along with North's dad Kanye West, the family stopped by Sky High trampoline centre in Woodland Hills, California. Snap happy: Kourtney treated her social media followers to some Snapchat action en route to the club Sister act: Kim Kardashian was also in attendance as the sisters attended their youngest sibling's early birthday celebrations The lads: Kourtney's ex-partner Scott Disick with his R&B singer friend Chris Brown left together They dramatically confirmed their EastEnders exit earlier this year, after capturing the nation's hearts as lovable couple Kat and Alfie Moon. But heart-broken fans can rejoice as the first look for spin-off BBC One drama Redwater has been released, with the soap favourites - played by Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie - looking positively worlds away from Walford in the stripped-back image. Although relocating to Ireland will prove to be anything but tranquil as Kat's main focus will be to search for her long lost son. Scroll down for video They're back! The first look for spin-off BBC One drama Redwater has been released, with soap favourites Kat and Alfie Moon - played by Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie - looking positively worlds away from Walford Proving to be equally as glamorous as her time in Albert Square, Kat dons a bright yellow tiered coat, while Alfie looks like her perfect other half in his casually cool ensemble. Filming for the series began at the end of the March and the storyline sees the couple travel to Ireland in search of the barmaid's long lost son who was taken away from her at birth and put up for adoption. Speaking about the new series on This Morning, Shane said: 'It's a really dark story. I read the first episode and I kept thinking Wicker Man [Robin Hardy's 1973 cult classic starring Christopher Lee]. 'It's a standalone drama, it has nothing to do with EastEnders apart from Kat and Alfie. It's not a spin-off, it's six stand alone dramas.' Fan favourites: The pair confirmed their exit on Eastenders earlier this year, after capturing the nation's hearts Elaborating on what exactly set his mind racing to horror films when he read the script, Shane described how the first episode sees Kat and Alfie arrive in a secluded and strange village in the Irish countryside. Redwater is a tiny, picturesque Irish harbour village, a quiet rural idyll by the sea where the Kelly and Dolan families have lived for generations. The series also stars Game of Thrones actor Ian McElhinney and Downton Abbeys Maria Doyle Kennedy and it's scheduled to air in 2017. Family reunion: Filming for the series began at the end of the March and storyline sees the couple travel to Ireland in search of the barmaid's long lost son who was taken away from her at birth and put up for adoption Filming has already wrapped on the series which will be directed by multi-award winning Danish director Jesper Nielsen from Borgen and Through A Glass Darkly fame. Meanwhile, Shane and Jessie recently opened up their EastEnders chemistry, claiming that filming love scenes wasn't quite as effortless as they make it appear. Speaking on Ireland's The Late Late Show, Jessie revealed: 'Kissing Shane is like kissing my brother. It just feels weird and we are just close friends.' Whilst Shane chimed in: 'We are sick of the sight of each other. When I snog Jesse it's like kissing my nan.' She delightedly announced the arrival of her first child in January. And Cat Deeley, who shares her son with husband Patrick Kielty, now found a subtle way to announce the tot's name as she attended the Teen Choice Awards in California on Sunday. The 39-year-old So You Think You Can Dance host wore a dazzling name plate necklace adorned with the name 'Milo' in homage to her eight-month-old offspring. Scroll down for video Denim diva: Cat Deeley, who shares her son with husband Patrick Kielty, now found a subtle way to announce the tot's name as she attended the Teen Choice Awards in California on Sunday The clue's in the name: The 39-year-old So You Think You Can Dance host wore a dazzling name plate necklace adorned with the name 'Milo' in homage to her eight-month-old offspring Despite both Patrick and Cat taking to Twitter to announce the arrival of their son, the necklace is the first hint at the name they have bestowed on their first born. Cat looked simply sensational as she hit the red carpet at the star-studded ceremony and while her ensemble was flawless, her accessory was the true head-turner. Her dainty necklace boasted the name Milo in diamonds sitting on a delicate gold chain, making for the perfect announcement for the low-key couple. Aside from her jewels, which perfectly coordinated with her gold bangle, she opted to take inspiration from the Seventies in her sartorial choice. Stunner: Despite both Patrick and Cat taking to Twitter to announce the arrival of their son, the necklace is the first hint at the name they have bestowed on their first born Her gym-honed physique was clad in an A-line denim midi dress featuring a button-down front and pockets at the hips which she slung her hands in. She paired the look with a chic pair of lace-up brown suede heels with a mid-height back and an ankle strap woven around her slender pins. As ever, Cat's tresses were simply flawless, as she exhibited just how she has been the face and hair of Pantene for six years with volumunious waves and bright highlights. In keeping with her retro-inspired ensemble, Cat went for smudgy dark eyes with a slick of nude gloss while her ageless complexion was emphasised by highlighter and foundation. Denim diva: Her gym-honed physique was clad in an A-line denim midi dress featuring a button-down front and pockets at the hips which she slung her hands in Cat certainly had the glow that comes with motherhood, and she previously revealed she is 'besotted with the baby.' 'People keep asking me if I've been hitting the gym, but I haven't! I think breastfeeding is key and it's worked well for me,' the British blonde recently told Closer magazine. 'Add to that running around after a new baby and you don't need to work out.' The happy couple: Cat certainly had the glow that comes with motherhood, and she previously revealed she is 'besotted with the baby' The first time parents have been well-supported by Cat's parents who flew to the couple's Los Angeles home before Christmas to be on hand when the baby arrived. Cat said: 'You have to listen to advice, then it's all about learning on the job. Nothing can prepare you for motherhood.' Patrick talked about getting married to Cat in the Belfast Telegraph in an interview conducted last year. Parents' night out: The first time parents have been well-supported by Cat's parents who flew to the couple's Los Angeles home before Christmas to be on hand when the baby arrived He said of the surprise nuptials: 'I know, it was such a shock for me as well. We were going out together and next thing I'm standing there and Cat turns up in a wedding dress and I'm like "What the hell is this about?" 'The thing is we didn't want a big wedding. In our business, we get to go to a lot of functions in big rooms with round tables and gold-painted gold chairs. 'A lot of people, when they have a wedding, want all that. But that type of thing would've just seemed like work to us. We didn't want to get married, we wanted to be married. There's a difference.' She caused a stir in Love Island with her phenomenal good looks and fiesty attitude. And Kady McDermott is continuing to wow despite the conclusion of the ITV2 series as she headed to Manchester's Fumo restaurant with fellow alumni Cally Jane Beech on Sunday night. The 20-year-old make-up artist looked sensational in a nude gown as she hit the town with her co-star boyfriend Scott Thomas, 28, as well as the raven haired stunner, 24. Scroll down for video Sensational: Kady McDermott (right) is continuing to wow despite the conclusion of the ITV2 series as she headed to Manchester's Fumo restaurant with fellow alumni Cally Jane Beech (left) on Sunday night Kady, lovingly dubbed a 'pocket rocket' by her beau, showed off her phenomenal figure in the slinky gown which boasted a stretchy material and ruching to highlight her frame. The wraparound detail of the dress meant that the Kent-born beauty's waist was nipped in to perfection while she gave a glimpse of thigh with the split hemline. Her dress was also sure to make the very most of her frame as the gown boasted a plunging neckline atop the high hemline. Boosting her diminutive height was a pair of thin strap nude heels which perfectly complemented the outfit alongside her chic yet basic clutch bag. Stunner: The 20-year-old make-up artist looked sensational in a nude gown as she hit the town with her co-star boyfriend Scott Thomas, 28, as well as the raven haired stunner, 24 Happy couple: Kady, lovingly dubbed a 'pocket rocket' by her beau (pictured), showed off her phenomenal figure in the slinky gown which boasted a stretchy material and ruching to highlight her frame Her stunning tresses were worn in glossy waves cascading over her shoulders, which helped to highlight the reddish hues she had added upon her departure from the house last month. With her make-up artist credentials, Kady's beauty regimen was understandably flawless, with lashings of highlighter emphasising her high cheekbones while her eyes were framed with liner. Cally, who starred in last year's series of the show, meanwhile went for pared back beauty while also showing off her incredible frame - gym-honed to perfection. Her black Bardot neck crop top flashed a hint of her taut abs, both tanned and toned to perfection atop her slender shoulders which the top fell off. Stunner: Cally, who starred in last year's series of the show, meanwhile went for pared back beauty while also showing off her incredible frame - gym-honed to perfection Perky posterior: Her black Bardot neck crop top flashed a hint of her taut abs, both tanned and toned to perfection atop her slender shoulders which the top fell off She added in high-waisted khaki trousers which clung to every curve and boosted her height with snakeskin lace-up heels - the perfect boost for her five foot frame. Injecting a superstar touch into the ensemble was her Louis Vuitton handbag, while she coordinated with a delicate choker comprising of an intricately looped tie. Scott meanwhile stuck to his tried and tested suit jacket and black jeans combo, while opting for loafers without socks - making for a dashing ensemble. Chilling out: Prior to the night out in his native city, the handsome star took to Instagram to share a snap with his Emmerdale star twin brother Adam alongside Kady Happy couple: He went on to share a sweet snap with his stunning girlfriend as they posed on a balcony outside his flat while enjoying some quality time together in his hometown Prior to the night out in his native city, the handsome star took to Instagram to share a snap with his Emmerdale star twin brother Adam alongside Kady. It seems the group were enjoying some booze-soaked bonding time as Kady and Scott clutched cocktails while he added the caption: 'Special moment with me, the missus and the twin @adamthomas21'. He went on to share a sweet snap with his stunning girlfriend as they posed on a balcony outside his flat while enjoying some quality time together in his hometown. She's been promoting her latest flick Pete's Dragon in London. And looking anything but jet-lagged, Bryce Dallas Howard stepped out in style for an appearance at BBC Radio 2 studios in the capital on Monday morning. The 35-year-old actress showed off her enviably curvaceous figure in a body-hugging monochrome ensemble. Scroll down for video Monochrome magic: Bryce Dallas Howard stepped out in style for an appearance at BBC Radio 2 studios in the capital on Monday morning The wrap style neckline kept her ample assets in place, while the patterned skirt skimmed her hips before falling at knee level. Accentuating her frame, the star opted for a chic pair of black heels while her signature fiery red mane made quite the statement. Bryce - who is the daughter of director Ron Howard and made her film debut as an extra in Parenthood in 1989, aged eight - looked in high spirits. The actress voices the lead character Grace in the film, who discovers a young boy Pete and his dragon, and strives to find out their story and true identities. Dressed to impress: The 35-year-old actress showed off her enviably curvaceous figure in a body-hugging monochrome ensemble Red hot: Her signature fiery red mane made quite the statement Elegant: The wrap style neckline kept her ample assets in place, while the patterned skirt skimmed her hips before falling at knee level Plenty to smile about: Bryce - who is the daughter of director Ron Howard and made her film debut as an extra in Parenthood in 1989, aged eight - looked in high spirits Talking of her new role in the heart-warming live action remake of the cherished family film last week, Bryce told CBC Radio: 'This is really a story about what it takes to find your family. 'I would say the takeaway is: be a good egg.' Bryce grew up with the original movie playing on a loop, but says another reason for taking the part of forest ranger Grace was the opportunity to spend six months in New Zealand. Bryce, who is the mother to son Theo, nine; and daughter Beatrice, four; with actor husband Seth Gabel, will be on our screens a lot more as the year continues. Hard-worker: The actress is in town to promote her latest flick Pete's Dragon, which she shot in New Zealand for six months Plot: The star voices the lead character Grace in the film, who discovers a young boy Pete and his dragon, and strives to find out their story and true identities Not giving away too much: Speaking of the film she revealed, 'This is really a story about what it takes to find your family' She is due to appear alongside Matthew McConaughey in dramatic thriller Gold which, set for Christmas Day release, follows a team of explorers who embark on a hunt for gold in the Indonesian jungle. The actress is also set to return to screens in the Jurassic World sequel in 2018, after the huge success of the first installment last summer. Bryce has previously told of how she hoped to carve out her own niche in the industry rather than relying on her famous father. Pete's Dragon is scheduled for release on August 12. Talented genes: Bryce is the daughter of famed director Ron Howard and the duo arrived in style at last week's London premiere of Pete's Dragon She plays a psychotic super-villain in her latest film Suicide Squad. But Australian actress Margot Robbie was looking perfectly angelic as she left her hotel to promote the action movie in New York City on Monday. Dressed in a Bardot-style black and white top, and matching handkerchief skirt, the 26-year-old was off to talk about her role in the film on the Today Show. Classic look: Australian actress Margot Robbie was looking perfectly angelic as she left her hotel to promote Suicide Squad in New York City on Monday With black ankle-strapped stiletto sandals to amp up the glamour, the Antipodean beauty wore her golden hair loosely tied back, and added a real pop of colour with pillar box red lipstick. In her new film, based on the DC Comics characters, Margot plays the kooky but dangerous loyal protegee of The Joker - Harley Quinn. 'They have a dysfunctional relationship, but she loves him anyway,' the star told Shortlist. No colour here: Dressed in a Bardot style black and white top, and matching maxi handkerchief skirt, the 26-year-old was off to talk about her role in the film on the Today show Sweeping steps: With black ankle-strapped stilettos to amp up the glamour, the Antipodean beauty wore her golden hair loosely tied back, and added a real pop of colour with pillar box red lipstick Margot didn't hold back when it came to describing Jared 'The Joker' Leto and the effect he had on her during filming. She actually 'loved' working on set with the method actor, who sent her a token of his affection in the form of a live rat. 'I was... surprised,' Margot revealed, 'I was surprised. There's an understatement. 'I loved that stuff. Jared was doing half my work for me. Harley is very much a part of a relationship. All smiles: In her new film, Margot plays the kooky but dangerous loyal protegee of The Joker - Harley Quinn Velvet crush: English model and actress Cara Delevingne was also in New York to promote the film, in which she plays another female super-villain, Enchantress Cute Collar: Wearing a maroon crushed velvet mini-dress, stockings and Doc Martin's the 23-year-old joined Margot on the Today show 'To have such commitment from the other half made my job a thousand times easier, and a thousand times more fun. 'I didn't know what was going to happen when we got on set. It's exciting to act opposite that.' English model and actress Cara Delevingne was also in New York to promote the film, in which she plays another female super-villain, Enchantress. Wearing a maroon crushed velvet mini-dress, stockings and Doc Martin's the 23-year-old joined Margot on the Today show. Suicide Squad opens in US theatres and worldwide on Friday. Cindy Crawford is certainly making the most of her family's summer vacation. The 50-year-old is currently enjoying a getaway on Lake Muskoka with her husband Rande Gerber and their two children, Kaia and Presley. On Monday, Cindy decided to cool off with a dip in the water, sharing an Instagram photo which showed her mid-jump after stripping to a bikini. Scroll down for video 'Jumping into the week': Cindy Crawford shared an Instagram photo on Monday which showed her plunging into a lake while sporting a bikini 'Jumping into the week like...' she captioned the snapshot, in which she could be seen showing off her incredible supermodel figure. Over the weekend, Cindy shared a precious picture with her dad, John Dan Crawford, who dropped by to visit his daughter. The mother-of-two captioned the photo: 'So nice to have my dad visit! #DanTheMan.' The model looked radiant in a natural, make-up free look as her pretty brunette hair blew in the summer breeze. Bonding with dad! The previous day, the supermodel had shared a picture with her father, John Dan Crawford She wore a long, form-fitted dress that complimented her figure, which featured a thigh-high slit, brown and green-colored patterns, and a criss-cross tie along the cleavage. Cindy threw over an oversize hooded black jacket and held sunglasses in her hand. It's no surprise to see the brunette beauty in high spirits as she's also been posting highlights of her trip in Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada with her entire family. Daddy's little girl: The mother-of-two shared this photo on her Instagram on Father's Day Generations: Cindy's mom, Jennifer, modeled with her daughter and granddaughter in 2012 for JC Penney. Cindy's parents got divorced when Cindy was in her early years Cindy, Rande, Presley, 17, and Kaia, 14, have been vacationing for the past two weeks staying at their Gerber Point Lodge, relaxing by the lake and enjoying their boat. Cindy's parents, Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf and John Crawford, got a divorce when she was a child. In March of 2015 her mother remarried. How fun! The family of four has been vacationing in Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada for the past two weeks Scrabble diaries: Cindy was enjoying her summer vacation by the lake with her two children and husband The supermodel opened up earlier about the divorce on Oprah's Master Class and the importance of being financially independent. 'When they finally did really get divorced, my father would give my mother money every week for child support. But if he was mad at her because she'd gone out on a date or done something else, he wouldn't give her the money that week,' Cindy said. She added: ' And I saw that and I was like, "This will never happen to me. I will never be in that situation where I can't take care of myself.'" Australian actress Harriet Dyer has expressed her concerns about her upcoming film, Down Under, which focuses on the 2005 Cronulla riots. During her latest interview with the Daily Telegraph, the 28-year-old actress admitted she was worried viewers of the new film will interpret scenes differently. 'What makes me most nervous about it is that in the day and age of Snapchat and people taking 15 second videos of things, it could be taken out of context,' the Love Child star said. Voicing her worry: Australian actress Harriet Dyer has expressed her concerns about her upcoming film, Down Under, which focuses on the 2005 Cronulla riots 'If you take any part of this film out of context, it could look like a completely different film.' She went on to add: 'I just hope people watch it with a big open heart.' Harriet plays the role of foul mouthed Stacey who is pregnant in the film. In June, the film's director, Abe Forsythe said he avoided shooting the upcoming movie in the Sydney beachside suburb where the race-based brawls occurred. Concerned: During her latest interview, the 28-year-old admitted she was worried that if viewers of the new film 'took any part of this film out of context, it could look like a completely different film' In character: Harriet plays the role of foul mouthed Stacey who is pregnant in the film Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 34-year-old Australian film writer admitted he was aware of the sensitive storyline and therefore wanted production to fly 'under the radar.' 'We kind of avoided Cronulla. We got to Kurnell, that was as close as we got,' he said, referring to the suburb adjacent to Cronulla. 'The film mainly takes place at night so we just thought it was kind of good to keep away from there. Switching it up: In June, the film's director, Abe Forsythe said he avoided shooting the upcoming movie in the Sydney beachside suburb where the actual race-based brawls rolled out Cautious: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 34-year-old Australian film writer admitted he was aware of the sensitive storyline, and therefore wanted production to fly 'under the radar' 'When we shot this movie, we really flew under the radar. We didn't want people to know we were making it.' Instead Abe and his cast and crew filmed the flick in Botany, Maroubra and Lakemba in addition to Kurnell, with the storyline showing the two racial groups retaliating after the initial riots. Despite avoiding the Cronulla area, controversy wasn't too far away for his team during production. Other locations: Instead Abe and his cast and crew filmed the flick in Botany, Maroubra and Lakemba in addition to Kurnell, with the storyline showing the two racial groups retaliating after the initial riots Arresting sight: Despite avoiding the Cronulla area, controversy wasn't too far away for his team during production 'with one of our Middle Eastern cast members' being harassed by a passing by while on set 'We had one incident with one of our Middle Eastern cast members where they were getting out of a car being dropped to set, and a car of people drove past and screamed 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' when they saw him,' Abe revealed. He added: 'Conversely there was an incident too when we were shooting in a Middle Eastern area, where we encountered some confrontation because they didn't know what we were making as well.' 'Obviously it is a very dark topic,' he went on to confess. 'It's not the kind of thing that should be taken lightly and even though it is a comedy and you can take certain things lightly, there's a lot of things involved with the Cronulla Riots and what's happening in the world generally that I kind of find absurd and I'm using this film to highlight that.' Down Under: Rahel Romahn (L) and Lincoln Younes (R) play Nick and Hassim, young men of Middle Eastern descent in the flick Series of events: The Cronulla riots in 2005 were the result of boiling community tensions, which were ramped up when a group of surf lifesavers were attacked by a group of young Middle Eastern men on December 4 The Cronulla riots in 2005 were the result of boiling community tensions, which were ramped up when a group of surf lifesavers were attacked by a group of young Middle Eastern men on December 4. Rumours that young Muslim Australian men were leering at 'Aussie ' girls in bikinis fueled tensions. On the morning of December 11, around 5000 people gathered on Cronulla Beach to protest against the violent attacks. The Cronulla riots resulted in the arrest of 16 people on 42 charges against Australians on both sides of the conflict and led, briefly, to an overseas warning against people travelling to Australia. She is a woman of extremes, who can be seen either visiting refugees camps as part of her duty as Goodwill Ambassador For The UN Refugee Agency or hitting the red carpet for dazzling movie premieres in Hollywood. But on Sunday Angelina Jolie acted like a regular Jane as she took three of her children - Zahara, 11, as well as twins Knox and Vivienne, aged eight - on a shopping trip to the Westfield mall in the Topanga neighborhood of Los Angeles. The 41-year-old Oscar winner skipped regular mall attire, however, for a more glammed up mom look with a black dress, gold-rimmed aviators and designer purse. Not your average mom: Angelina Jolie wore a long black dress to take three of her six children shopping at a Westfield mall in Topanga, California Haute to trot: The 41-year-old actress carried a designer purse as well as a shopping bag from the Apple store The four were seen with a nanny and a bodyguard as they strolled through the mall relatively unnoticed. They stopped at the Apple store - Jolie held onto a white bag from the shop - and it appeared as if they visited a few other stores as well as their bodyguard and nanny held shopping bags in their hands. The family looked as normal as can be as they walked past Kiehl's and Nordstrom. The brood: The By The Sea director held onto daughter Vivienne's hand as Zahara followed and Knox was to her right Jolie appeared sophisticated for her outing with a long black dress that hid her covergirl curves. Beige flat shoes looked nondescript but her matching beige purse appeared as if it could be from French luxury house Hermes. The wife of Brad Pitt added slick aviators and delicate earrings as well as a diamond wedding band from her Mr And Mrs Smith and By The Sea co-star. Check out that man behind her: Though spouse Brad Pitt was not along for the outing, a bodyguard in a blue shirt and khakis was All three children were dressed down for the occasion. Vivienne, who appears to have long blonde locks now, wore a pink tank top with an elephant on the front and light grey leggings with Ipanema sandals. She held onto a stuffed animal that looked well loved. Vivienne was holding her mother's hand for much of the trip. Knox had on a white T-shirt with a pirate drawn on the front and the words 'Arghhhhh' as well as black shorts, socks and sneakers. Zahara was the most understated in a dark grey shirt, black leggings and coral colored flip flops. The couple also has sons Maddox and Pax as well as daughter Shiloh. In white to get it right: The looker had on a blazer and skirt to pose with William Hague in 2014 at the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence conference in London This sighting comes after Angelina and Brad were seen taking their twins to breakfast at The Griddle Cafe in West Hollywood to celebrate turning right years old. Jolie and Pitt tried to fly under the radar with their sunglasses on and it appeared as if they were not recognized as other restaurant goers didn't turn their heads when they left. According to TMZ, Knox ordered pancakes with Oreos and powdered sugar on top. Knox and Vivienne are the second and third of the couple's biological children, with their elder sister Shiloh being born in May 2006. Her great love: Here the Oscar winner is seen with Brad at the 2012 Pal Springs Film Festival The couple have six youngsters in total when their adopted children are included. Angelina gave birth to Knox Leon, and Vivienne Marcheline on July 12 2008 at La Fondation Lenval Hospital in Nice, France via Cesarean section. The first pictures of the twins were sold to People in the US and Hello in the UK for a reported $14 million, making them the most expensive celebrity photographs ever taken. However the big-hearted couple were not cashing in to line their own pockets, as all proceeds were donated to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation Her time may be over on Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills, but Roxy Sowlaty is still living a luxurious life. The Persian beauty touched down in Capri, Italy, on Friday with her beau, Nicolas Bijan, the son of late Pakzad Bijan who owned the expensive House of Bijan store on Rodeo Drive. He is also close friends with Scott Disick and has appeared on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The duo took a private helicopter over the island Marina Piccola in Capri as they arrived at their lavish destination. The good life: Roxy Sowlaty modeled in a two-piece, high-waist bikini as her and beau Nicolas Bijan spent a lavish vacation in Capri, Italy; she posted this picture to Instagram on Saturday Like a postcard: In the background a town could be seen as well as a steep cliff The 28-year-old former reality star has been sharing highlights of her trip on social media, giving her followers a peak into her first-class vacation. Her first post portrayed her laying on the front of their large boat as the two were headed to Fontelina Beach Club, a place frequented by high-profile politicians and stars. Roxy modeled in a high-waist, two-piece black bikini, printed in colorful floral and a straw fedora hat. Travel diaries! The former reality star took a helicopter over Marina Piccola island in Capri Boyfriend with a view: Roxy's boyfriend, Nicolas, is the son of late Pakzad Bijan, who owned House of Bijan on Rodeo Drive Breathtaking: The two spent their time at Fontelina Beach Club, a luxurious spot where high-profile politicians and A-list stars frequent The interior designer also posted pictures of her night out with Nicolas as the couple dressed up for their Italian dinners. The brunette beauty rocked a blue, off-the-shoulder crop top and darker blue soft pants with black sandal heels and a fedora hat. Her other night-out outfit was a spaghetti strap bra top that was covered in green banana leaves. She paired it with a high-waist white skirt, showing off her petite figure. When in Capri: The duo dressed up for the night out. Roxy rocked a blue cropped, off-the-shoulder top, soft pants and fedora while Nicolas looked handsome in a striped sweater, white sneakers, and glasses Heaven: Roxy shared a picture of her delicious Italian spaghetti meal on Sunday; the couple ate at a restaurant called Ristorante Paolino Banana chic! The 28-year-old former reality star showed off her svelte figure in a crop top and a white high-waist skirt Gorgeous: The Persian beauty showed off her make-up free look as she lay relaxed on her boat Roxy left the E! reality show after a fallout with her good friend Morgan Stewart. Morgan's fiance, Brendan Fitzpatrick, and Nicolas were involved in a real estate business deal that cost Branden a fortune after he was cut off, forcing Roxy to side with her boyfriend over Morgan. Now the Beverly Hills native is keeping busy with her business as an interior designer and writing in her blog where she shares tips, design styles, and products. Fallout: Roxy had a fight with her good friend, Morgan Stewart, on last season's Rich Kids of Beverly Hills over their respective partner's business deals Designer: Roxy keeps busy with her business as an interior designer. She captioned this photo a week ago saying: 'Painting walls the palest pink for @theprettymess new playhouse!!! Stay tuned for how amazing this place will turn out!!!! He has been documenting his transformation from Hollywood hunk to the Wolverine on social media for the past two months. And on Monday, Hugh Jackman was unrecognisable as he posed for a close-up selfie with a thick two-toned beard. His grown-out facial hair covered a large portion of the 47-year-old's lower face as he attempted to disguise himself beneath a pair of black sunglasses and a cowboy-styled hat. Is that you? Hugh Jackman was unrecognisable on Monday as he posed for a close-up selfie with a thick two-toned beard In the Instagram-shared image, the Australian actor dressed in a simple navy T-shirt as he posed for a photo at the top of a cliff edge which overlooked a sea of bushland. Alongside the snap, he simply captioned: 'Just awesome!' Days earlier, Hugh shared a quick 30 second video of himself performing a range of exercise routines in a gym. Working hard or hardly working? His post comes just days after the Australian actor shared a quick 30 second video of himself performing a range of exercise routines Getting technical: He showed off his bulging biceps in the clip, as he took part in a push-up before lifting his hands off the ground and clapping He showed off his bulging biceps in the clip, as he took part in a push-up before lifting his hands off the ground and clapping. Last month the successful actor wanted the world to know he's a 'proud husband' as he gave a shout-out to wife Deborra-Lee Furness' new television drama, Hyde & Seek, on Instagram. Sharing a screenshot from the Channel Nine show, he wrote: 'Australia! Check out the new trailer to Hyde & Seek. Featuring the amazingly talented Deborra-lee Furness! #ProudHusband' Making it a weekly thing: Hugh has been sharing images of himself in the gym over the last two months as he prepares for his next movie role as the Wolverine Loving: Last month he wanted the world to know he's a 'proud husband' as he gave a shout-out to wife Deborra-Lee Furness' new television drama, Hyde & Seek, on Instagram The show marks the 60-year-old actress and producer's first time starring in an Australian production in 10 years. The blonde star joins an all-Australian cast in the new crime thriller, fronted by Underbelly actor Matt Nable and Love Child's Mandy McElhinney. In a post shared on her Facebook page, Deborra-Lee teased fans of the first trailer for the series, which will be premiering soon. Proud: Sharing a screenshot from the show, he wrote: 'Australia! Check out the new trailer to Hyde & Seek. Featuring the amazingly talented Deborra-lee Furness! #ProudHusband' She's back! The show marks the 60-year-old actress and producer's first time starring in an Australian production in 10 years The show will follow Matt Nable's character, Detective Gary Hyde looking for justice following the murder of his best friend. Together with his new partner Claire McKenzie (played by Emma Hamilton), the detectives uncover a criminal underbelly that will threaten lives, young families and make them question everything they believe in. Also joining the all-star cast is Home and Away hunk Tai Hara, Packed to the Rafters actress Zoe Ventoura, Claire Lovering, Andrew McFarlane, Aaron Faaoso and Stephanie Panozzo. Star-studded cast: The show is fronted by Underbelly actor Matt Nable and also features Love Child's Mandy McElhinney The beginning: Deborra-Lee met Hugh on set of Correlli back in 1995 and the loved-up couple married the following year in Melbourne Deborra-Lee met Hugh on set of Correlli back in 1995 and the loved-up couple married the following year in Melbourne. After 20 years together, Deborah and Hugh jetted to the Caribbean island of St. Barts in April to celebrate their milestone. The trip comes after Hugh and his family were recently in Australia for the premiere of his new movie Eddie The Eagle. This was not the first time this reality star found herself not on the list to mark a milestone with her loved ones, but no doubt that did not make it any easier. As her family members were excitedly preparing for Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday, Caitlyn Jenner was alone doing her weekly grocery shop. The 66-year-old looked a little down in the dumps as she stopped by a supermarket in Malibu, California, on Sunday. Not in the party mood? As her family members were excitedly preparing for Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday, Caitlyn Jenner was alone doing her weekly grocery shop in Malibu, California Even as fans came up to the reality star and asked for pictures with her, Caitlyn struggled to muster a smile. Cait - who had returned from London the day before - kept her head down as she pushed a trolley loaded up with essentials back to the car. Clearly planning a night in for one, the Olympian also picked up a personal pizza at Vintage Grocers. For the trip, Caitlyn threw on a blue leopard print mini dress with a pair of T-bar sandals. Table for one: Cait - who had returned from London the day before - kept her head down as she pushed a trolley loaded up with essentials, including a personal pizza, back to the car Feeling blue: For the trip, Caitlyn threw on a blue leopard print mini dress with a pair of T-bar sandals with gold chains The short print dress looked very much like one that her ex Kris Jenner used to wear, albeit in a different colour. Cait's copycat dress sense is no doubt not loved by her former wife but clearly there is something else going on that is again causing tension. While Cait was at home eating her pizza for one, the rest of her family was all together partying for daughter Kylie's 19th. Copy-Cait: The short print dress looked very much like one that her ex Kris Jenner (pictured 2011) used to wear, albeit in a different colour Most teens probably would not invite their parents to their big birthday bash, but the Kardashian/Jenner clan always celebrates as a family unit. On Sunday evening, Kylie was surrounded by mom Kris and sisters Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian plus Kendall Jenner. Kylie's half-brother Rob Kardashian also did not score an invite nor did his on and off again pregnant fiancee Blac Chyna, who has a son with Kylie's boyfriend Tyga. Big night: While Cait was at home eating her pizza for one, the rest of her family was all together partying for daughter Kylie's 19th The cool mom: Most teens probably would not invite their parents to their big birthday bash, but the Kardashian/Jenner clan always celebrates as a family unit Caitlyn previously was not invited the Kylie's graduation party last year which nearly lead to all-out war between the star and her ex. The party came as Caitlyn unveiled her transformation from Bruce to the world. At the time Kris explained: 'Usually people that get a divorce don't do everything together. Sister act: On Sunday evening, Kylie was surrounded by mom Kris and sisters Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian plus Kendall Jenner Sharing the love: Khloe even gave a big speech at the party in West Hollywood, California 'It wasn't malicious, it didn't intend to hurt anybody's feelings, but my feelings still weren't healed.' Cait also came close to not being invited to Kylie's 18th, with the teen fearing her parents would fight. While Cait did get to go to that one, both she and Kris traded barbs at the dinner which made the birthday girl uncomfortable. Ballet star Misty Copeland had another reason to dance Sunday - this time, with her new husband. The 33-year-old San Pedro, California native and her boyfriend of 10 years, lawyer Olu Evans, tied the knot at Laguna Beach, California's Montage Hotel with about 100 people in attendance. Copeland - who broke barriers in June 2015 in becoming New York City's American Ballet Theatre's first black female principal dancer in its 75-year history - exchanged vows in what one source described as a 'small and intimate wedding' on the oceanfront. Perfect pair: Misty Copeland and Olu Evans looked like a happy duo in April 2015 when they attended the Time 100 Gala at New York City's Lincoln Center Misty resembled an 'ethereal goddess' in an Inbal Dror gown paired with Christian Louboutin shoes, a source told E!, adding that the room was packed with white and pink roses, and pink hydrangeas. Copeland, who rocketed to fame last summer with her ballet breakthrough, became engaged to Evans during that time, telling Essence in August 2015, 'I can't believe my life right now.' The 5 ft 2 in dancer wanted to keep her nuptials simple and classy, as her time in the ballet had provided her with enough glitz and glamour, she told E! last October. Glam gal: Misty said that she'd rather go simple and classy for her wedding, as her ballet career and other endeavors provide her the chance to dress over-the-top Multi-talented: The ballet beauty made her Broadway debut in On The Town in August 2015 'It's interesting that I'm a ballerina, which is so girly and feminine and what every little girl dreams of, but it's a character I'm playing and that's so much fun to be that. It's, I guess, how people envision their wedding days and that's my life,' Misty explained. 'So I feel like I get to become a fairy princess on stage and wear incredible costumes and gowns to galas.' Copeland said that she envisioned her wedding as an 'easy-going day' and did not want to 'have it be a big show,' adding, 'I just want it to be simple and classy and not feel like I'm in a tutu.' The toned stunner explained how she was aiming for an understated, 'romantic and elegant' wedding gown. Beauty and grace: The New York City's American Ballet Theatre's first black female principal dancer showed off her agile moves on The Late Show last autumn So happy together: The couple, who exchanged vows in Laguna Beach Sunday, looked inseparable at a Broadway event last year 'I dont think I want to go super poofy or anything like that,' she told Vanity Fair last year. 'Its very different for a performer, a ballerina, someone who is on stage a lot and wears big costumes. 'So it's not like this is my chance to be that way, because that's something I do every day, almost. I want to feel like myself - but more beautiful than I do every day.' Evans initially met Copeland in 2004 at a New York City club after his cousin, Private Practice star Taye Diggs, pointed out the stunning dancer to him. She came to verbal blows with Megan McKenna, who furiously called time on their friendship on Sunday night's episode of TOWIE. And the next day, Chloe Meadows, 23, used the excuse to let out her frustration as she made their way to Pro SW Gym in Essex for filming with gal pal Courtney Green, 20. Working up a sweat for the ITVBe show, the two besties looked ready to put their abs to the test in stomach baring crop tops. Scroll down for video Working up a sweat! TOWIE stars Courtney Green (left) and Chloe Meadows (right) put their best fitness foot forward as they arrived for filming at Pro SW Gym in Essex on Monday Displaying her enviable curves, blonde bombshell Chloe flaunted her taut stomach in a Pink Soda crop top with white triangular panels on the sleeves. Parading her lengthy legs, Chloe donned a pair of matching full-length gym leggings from the active wear brand that hugged her tiny waist with their logo emblazoned on the waist band. Tying a simple black jumper around her pert posterior, Chloe put a pep in her step with a eye-catching purple trainers with vibrant red laces. The reality starlet channelled her inner tough girl as she separated half of her golden tresses into three boxer plaits before leaving the rest of her neatly blow dried locks fall straight. Helping hand! The two friends stylish walked hand-in-hand together as they got ready to work up a sweat Meanwhile, Chloe's gal pal Courtney exhibited her svelte frame in a daring grey marl crop top that displayed her amble assets. Flashing her incredible abs, the brunette beauty cinched in her tiny waist with a light grey hoodie with a logo emblazoned across the chest. Not shy in parading her pins, Courtney rocked a pair of skin-tight dark grey full-length leggings that cupped her pert derriere as she strutted her stuff in fuchsia pink Nike trainers. Jazz hands! Brunette beauty Courtney looked excited for a day of energetic filming Carrying her chic moss green Mulberry bag, Courtney looked uber-glam as she swept her chestnut locks into a high-ponytail as she sported heavy eye make-up. Not alone at their day of filming, TOWIE newcomer Amber Dowding, 23, was a ray of sunshine as she arrived in a vibrant yellow tied which she tied to side, flashing her toned abs. Giving the British weather the cold shoulder, the blonde beauty - who made her ITVBe debut this month - displayed her enviable pins wearing a funky pair of gym leggings with yellow and purple accents as she carried her black Gucci tote to the venue. Ray of sunshine! Amber donned a bright yellow t-shirt as she arrived for filming on Monday New kid on the block: ITVBe newbie Amber Dowding flaunted her toned legs in a pair of funky gym leggings The part-time hairdresser completed her active ensemble by sweeping her golden tresses into workout ready ponytail. Meanwhile, Chloe's appearance at the fitness venue comes after she explosively ended her friendship with Megan on Sunday night's episode after Megan claimed she had 'lost her best friend'. The two girls met up in the park, after Chloe received a text from her brunette pal saying that she needed to see her 'alone'. Going their separate ways! Megan McKenna and Chloe explosively ended their friendship on Sunday night's episode of TOWIE, as Megan claimed she had 'lost her best friend' Megan was offended after Chloe and Courtney joined the other girls for a 'single ladies' night out', the previously evening - even though she wasn't invited. Feeling betrayed, Megan told Chloe: 'When I've been put in situations where people have had it out with you and Courtney I have had it out and screamed and shouted at them. 'But you have never done that for me.' Tense! The two girls met up in the park, after Chloe received a text from her brunette pal saying that she needed to see her 'alone' 'Left out': Megan was offended after Chloe and Courtney joined the other girls for a 'single ladies' night out, the previously evening But despite an emotional Chloe claiming that she would never let the other girls say anything bad about her, Megan maintained that she should have stayed loyal, as she shouted: 'It's normal. That's what you're meant to do when you're friends. You're being a s*** friend.' Getting defensive, Chloe retaliated by saying she believed that Megan was simply jealous of her relationship with Courtney. She also riled an increasingly fiery Megan as she accused her of not letting her know when she had moved into her new flat, and instead had to find out through Snapchat. 'You're being a s*** friend': Megan blasted Chloe for not standing up for her against the other TOWIE girls Frustrated: Chloe said that she thought Megan was jealous of her relationship with Courtney This was the final straw for Megan, as she announced: 'I told all the girls in the girl chat, you're such a liar. 'You've been a s*** friend to me. Do you know how upset I've been about s*** you don't listen to me. 'If you listened to me you wouldn't go out with them with they're being ***** to me.' 'You're a liar': Megan branded her former pal a liar as she stormed off into the distance Things then escalated as Megan continued her tirade and said: 'Why wouldn't you have my back then? 'Because you're too scared to say anything. You're turning it round onto the house thing. You've got nothing else to say, you're a s*** friend. I've lost my best friend.' Chloe agreed: 'I've lost my best friend.' But Megan wasn't about to hang around as she swiftly cut all ties with the blonde beauty and stormed off, saying: 'Well f*** off with someone else then. You're a liar.' Heated: Things got emotional between the girls and Chloe soon began to cry The girls were later brought together again for Danni's fashion show, in celebration of her boutique being open for two years. However, they kept their distance following the fight and Chloe confided in Courtney about what had happened. She said: 'I'm not trying to be horrible, I'm not trying to dog her I'm not trying to snake her. It's like being controlled. 'I've been through everything with her and to call me a s*** friend after all those years, that hurt. I literally cannot go through what I went through earlier again.' Khloe Kardashian had a little fun on Monday morning. The 32-year-old reality star cut and pasted her face onto the head of runway models to see what she would look like in some fall fashions. The post was titled 'KOKOS CLOSET: I Tried the Best Fall Runway Looks' and shared on her paid site khloewithak.com. Scroll down for video A little Photoshop fun! Khloe Kardashian pasted her face onto the head of a model from the Balenciaga 2016 runway to see how some fall fashions would look on her for a Monday khloewithak.com posting The original: Here is a look at the model in the same outfit; the show was in March in Paris Slide me The fake and the real: The TV siren in her doctored version (left) and the model (right) The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star wrote: 'The outfits that Kendall wears for her job on the runway are SO over the top, compared to what she wears in everyday life. 'It got me thinking, what would I look like in the biggest Fall 2016 runway looks??? The answer: Pretty crazy. LOL!' In the left photo the model has on a beige sweater worn off her shoulders with a belted caramel coloured rain coat, also worn off the shoulders, a brown skirt, black leggings and large gold hoop earrings. The second one: The 32-year-old reality star with her face on the model of this Marc Jacobs gown and down jacket The original for the second one: Here is the model at the Jacobs show in February in NYC Slide me Double take! The sister of Kim and Khloe looked stunning here (left) as did the model (right) In her hand in a structured light grey computer bag. The look was captured on the Balenciaga runway. Khloe commented: 'I would actually totally wear this.' The image on the right saw Khloe in a large grey and black sequined gown with a down jacket that had black feathers. The outfit looked challenging. The image came from the Marc Jacobs runway. 'Khlo$ goes glam-goth, LOL,' she wrote. Her fun in the sun: The star also wrote about her trip to Cuba on her site. The headline was ' XOXO: I Detoxed in Cuba ,' and the beauty broke down the vacation. and the beauty broke down the vacation She was into it: 'Cuba is a beautiful country. The hospitality and kindness of the Cuban people even inspired me to learn Spanish again!' wrote Khloe; here she is seen with a friend during Sunday night's episode But there was a downside: The E! vet added: 'The one thing that got a little getting used to was the pace of their technology' The star also wrote about her trip to Cuba on her site. The headline was 'XOXO: I Detoxed in Cuba,' and the beauty broke down the vacation. and the beauty broke down the vacation. 'Cuba is a beautiful country. The hospitality and kindness of the Cuban people even inspired me to learn Spanish again! But, one thing that got a little getting used to was the pace of their technology. We bet Kim hogged all the Wifi time! 'We had WiFi in our hotel, but if too many people were on it, it kicked you off,' added Khloe 'We had WiFi in our hotel, but if too many people were on it, it kicked you off. We were all feening to get online, but as soon as someone else would connect to it, I'd get kicked off, LOL. 'And social media is monitored by the government! Snapchat isn't allowed. Everything you post using WiFi has to be approved. 'They can even remove posts from your Instagram page. Snapchat is so instantaneous that it would be impossible for them to monitor so it's not even allowed.' Interesting details: The ex of Lamar Odom also said: 'Everything you post using WiFi has to be approved' in Cuba She ended: 'That week, I learned nothing is really that urgent or dire.' This comes the day after the single E! star partied her heart out at Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday party at The Nice Guy with sister Kourtney. The reality diva looked pretty in a black dress, though it was surprising to see the former PETA spokesperson in a fur coat. She also had her hair in dark and long braids, which is a departure from her short blonde bob. Out again: This comes the day after the single E! star partied her heart out at Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday party at The Nice Guy with sister Kourtney She's just returned from a sun-soaked holiday in Mallorca. And on Monday Lottie Moss was spotted on King's Road showing off her modelsque legs in a chic ensemble in London's Chelsea. The 18-year-old model, who is following in her sister Kate Moss' legendary footsteps, showed off her golden tan as she visited a restaurant with her gal pals. Scroll down for video Legs for days! On Monday Lottie Moss was spotted on King's Road showing off her modelsque legs in a chic ensemble in London's Chelsea Wearing thigh-skimming shorts and a black top she showcased her long lithe legs. Adding a splash of colour- and shielding herself from the London rain, she completed the outfit with a pale pink oversized satin bomber. Keeping it casual, the teen model teamed her ensemble with silver trainers, and carried a black holdall. Hot! The 18-year-old model, who is following in her sister Kate Moss' legendary footsteps, showed off her golden tan as she visited a restaurant with her gal pals Sheltering: Wearing thigh-skimming shorts and a black top she showcased her long lithe legs Leaving her sun-kissed shoulder-length blonde hair loose and tousled around her pretty face, she flaunted her model bone structure. Looking flawless, Lottie went for bold brows and porcelain skin, adding a touch of blusher. Sheltering from the rain with her gal pal, the duo waited for a car to collect them. Stylish: Keeping it casual, the teen model teamed her ensemble with silver trainers, and carried a black holdall Chic: Adding a splash of colour- and shielding herself from the London rain, she completed the outfit with a pale pink oversized satin bomber Lottie soared to fame at the tender age of 16 when she signed with Storm Model Management after previously being scouted at sister Kate's wedding to Jamie Hince in 2011. Despite coming from a famous family, Lottie told Vogue that she felt under no pressure to live up to her sister's reputation. Gracing the cover of the prestigious style bible earlier this year, she explained: 'I am who I am and I do what I want, whether that is modelling or anything else. The success of my sister does not affect me in my choices. I feel no pressure in that respect.' Understated: Keeping it casual, the teen model teamed her ensemble with silver trainers, and carried a black holdall The talented teenager also spoke out about juggling her blossoming career with her education, as she admitted she felt like she was living in 'two worlds'. She explained: 'One minute I'm in a Dior suite in Cannes and then the next I'm in a classroom in Sussex. I feel like I'm Hannah Montana. 'Its important to me that I manage school and my modelling. I'm now able to fund my own schooling through any jobs I book.' She recently announced she was expecting her second child. And Kimberley Walsh continues to glow through her pregnancy, seen on Monday in a chic boho-inspired maxi skirt while enjoying a day of pampering in London. The 34-year-old looked every inch the yummy mummy as she sauntered through the streets in a bump hugging ensemble after visiting her local beauty salon. Scroll down for video Blossoming! Kimberley Walsh, 34, displayed her blossoming bump in a chic boho maxi skirt as she left a beauty salon in London on Monday Oozing hippy vibes, The Promise hitmaker donned the mixed print floor length maxi skirt that proudly displayed her enviable hourglass figure and blossoming bump. Equipped with stylish side slits that flaunted her shapely pins, the honey haired stunner teamed her eye-catching skirt with a simple and chic white Tee. Ditching the heels in favour of comfort, Kimberley completed her look with a pair of on-trend metallic sandals as she flashed her vibrant neon orange manicure which complemented her healthy glow. Boho babe! The former Girls Aloud singer flaunted her tiny bump while out and about Wearing a pair of Jackie O inspired sunglasses, the former Strictly Come Dancing star kept her make-up to a minimum as she swept her short locks into a relaxed ponytail for the full laidback look. Kimberley announced that she was expecting her second child with husband Justin Scott earlier this month. The pair - who have been together since 2002 - tied the knot in Barbados in February and share a 21-month-old son together, Bobby. Shortly after walking down the aisle, Kimberley realised that she was pregnant again, bringing her closer to her dream of having four children. Yummy mummy: Kimberley is already mum to 21-month-old Bobby and is expecting her second with her husband Justin Scott Speaking to Hello! magazine, she said: 'We knew soon after we got married that we'd be very happy for baby number two to come along. When I first met Justin 14 years ago, I told him I wanted four children. We're both over the moon.' She went on to discuss the discovery: 'Before I had even taken a test, I knew it instinctively. I wasn't suffering from morning sickness but telltale changes in my body made me certain I was expecting. 'When I took a home test early one morning to make sure, it confirmed what I'd already sensed. I was thrilled. The first thing I did was to wake up Justin and tell him, "You're going to be a daddy again!"' Georgia Harrison wasn't skimping on the glamour when she hit the beach recently, slicking on a deep red lipstick and braiding her hair for a casual dip in the sea. The former TOWIE TV stunner, looking gorgeous in a pink Aztec two-piece, was enjoying a solo day in Ibiza when she was pictured cooling down in serious style. Though well-turned out on the make-up front, the blonde bombshell was forced to keep a constant check on her teeny bikini and rearranged it with care as she paddled in the surf. Scroll down for video Bikini babe: TOWIE's Georgia Harrison showed off her bikini body in Ibiza recently as she spent a solo day sunning herself in the sea Georgia, who joined the cast of The Only Way Is Essex in 2014 for just one series, was looking lithe in a halterneck top and drawstring bottoms which hung off her frame. With her hair glamorously parted into two of-the-moment braids, the starlet drew attention to a heavy make-up look. While peeping behind summery, oversized shades, Georgia had chosen to offset her relaxed beachy vibe with a red carpet ready lipstick. Beach babe: The tall blonde was looking sensational in an Aztec-inspired bikini Cooling off: She splashed herself with sea water to cool down but kept a check on her teeny bikini Shades in hand: She was careful not to get her stylish sunglasses too salty Top tan: Georgia was golden from some time spent sunning on the White Isle Careful: She risked a wardrobe malfunction with her teeny triangle top Easy: She used her hands to check her tan lines as well Shake it off: After taking a dip, it was easy for Georgia to dry off her braids with a shake of the head Bond Girl moment: She emerged like a total glamazon, showing off her fabulous figure Gorgeous Georgia obviously seemed to be missing her gal pals as she was seen Tweeting some old co-stars from Spain. She wrote: 'Wish you was here (sic)' to girlfriend Francesca Parman, who would not be joining the Ibiza getaway. George had been sharing her excitement over attending Ocean Beach Ibiza's pool party on Friday when she took to social media. Party time: George shared her excitement over the forthcoming Ocean Beach Ibiza party Wish you were here: Francesca Parman was 'gutted' not to be joining the beauty abroad Golden girl: The stunning star reclined on the sands to top up her tan Glamorous: Looking lithe as she lay on her back, Georgia outstretched her long limbs Francesca and Georgia, who have known each other since Primary School, both made their TOWIE debut in 2014 and have remained good friends. Unfortunately, the latter was dropped from filming after just one series following a weak storyline featuring Tom Pearce. However, Georgia is still a regular face among the familiar ITVBe crowd, having known Lewis Bloor since the age of 14. Taking a stroll: Georgia cut a lonely figure by the rocks as she spent some time alone Keeping an eye out: Georgia pulled at the strings of her bikini to keep it in place The water's nice: She obviously enjoyed the refreshing spot just on the water's edge Looking leggy: Georgia let her feet just touch the waves as they curled in Saucy snaps are nothing new for this family but that does not mean you want your parent seeing your most provocative poses and pouts. Kylie Jenner now knows first-hand how uncomfortable it can be when your mom is also your manager. On Sunday night's Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the 18-year-old was left mortified when Kris Jenner unexpectedly stopped by a shoot. Scroll down for video Mom's not the word: Kylie Jenner was left mortified when her mom Kris turned up to a photo shoot, it was revealed on Sunday night's Keeping Up With The Kardashians It's a cinch: The star wore a waist corset and a loose-fitting white tank which she wore without a bra Another 10 per cent in the bank! The momager looked nonchalant while her teen put on a sexy show While most of the episode was dedicated to Kendall, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney's trip to Cuba, viewers also got an insight into Kylie and Kris' relationship. In the scene, Kylie was posing up a storm before she gets interrupted. While the photo shoot was just at her home and for her lip kit, it saw the teen wearing a rather risque look. The star modelled her new shade in a pair of panties, a waist corset and a loose-fitting white tank which she wore without a bra and kept provocatively posing in. Fashion focus: In the scene, Kyie was posing up a storm before she gets interrupted In her element: While the photo shoot was just at her home and for her lip kit, it saw the teen wearing a rather risque look Playing up to the camera: The star posed provocatively in the flimsy number Just before she was about to hop into the pool to turn up the heat on the shoot, her mom decided to drop by. Immediately the mood changed as the 60-year-old cheerfully popped her head around the corner. While Kris did not seem the least bit concerned, Kylie was very obviously uncomfortable. Cringe: While Kris did not seem concerned, Kylie was obviously uncomfortable She's a pro: Kylie, who turns 19 next week, certainly wasn't feeling shy in front of the camera In a piece to camera, Kylie says: 'My mom shows up, I didn't invite her and all my sisters are in Cuba so she doesn't know what to do with herself so she's harassing me.' Kris sees it a little differently: 'Everyone has been in Cuba now for a few days and I have a little more free time on my hands so I can focus on Kylie a little bit.' Her focus is not on Kylie entirely though, as Kris cannot help but prattle on about not hearing from Kylie's sisters while they are in Cuba. Nothing to do: As Kendall, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney are in Cuba, Kylie says her mom is 'harassing her' 'You're acting a little crazy': Her focus is not on her youngest child entirely though, as Kris cannot help but prattle on about not hearing from Kylie's sisters while they are in Cuba Kylie does her best to ignore her, but finally says: 'I mean you want to have a conversation? Mom you're acting a little crazy.' But showing just how close the pair are, while her mom is annoying her, after her shoot Kylie pops over to her mom's house so they can cook together. 'I know you've been missing everyone in Cuba so I want to spend some time with you,' the teen tells her mom Sweet gesture: Despite her mom is annoying her, after her shoot the teen pops over to her mom's house so they can cook together Her little girl: Kylie stopping by really meant a lot to Kris, 'Kylie is the cutest most sensitive child in the world' Kris shows Kylie how to make her famous pasta primavera dish, saying that Kylie is 'the only one who listens to me'. Kylie stopping by really meant a lot to Kris: 'Kylie is the cutest most sensitive child in the world. 'I think she can feel that I'm missing the other kids so much so she wants to come over and keep me company and that means everything.' Taliban truck bomb rocks hotel for foreigners in Kabul A Taliban truck bomb blasted through a hotel for foreigners in Kabul early Monday, killing at least one policeman just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. The powerful bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres (miles) away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility, close to Kabul's international airport. The attack on Northgate, a compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive. The powerful bombing occurred close to the US-run Bagram air base north of Kabul Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) "A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer wall of the hotel," Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told AFP. "Afghan special forces subsequently entered the compound, killing two armed attackers. One policeman also lost his life and three others were wounded." Rahimi did not reveal the exact number of attackers, saying clearance operations were still ongoing more than six hours after the attack started. Afghan commandos cordoned off all arterial roads leading to Northgate, with erratic grenade explosions and gunfire coming from the scene after daybreak. The hotel was not immediately reachable by telephone. But local TV station Tolo cited a source inside the facility as saying that all the staff and guests -- including 11 foreigners -- were unharmed as they hunkered down in safe rooms. It added that NATO special forces were overseeing the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the massive truck bombing, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off. He claimed that more than 100 "American invaders" were killed and wounded in the assault. The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate the toll from their attacks. The assault comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. - Growing insecurity - A chillingly similar Taliban attack on the compound in July 2013 -- a truck bomb followed by a gun siege -- killed nine people, including four Nepalese. Monday's attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. That attack claimed by the Islamic State group, which is less powerful than the Taliban but is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan. Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes have since intensified an offensive against IS jihadists in their eastern stronghold of Nangarhar. The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which has resulted in large civilian casualties. The UN last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as the conflict escalates. Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded -- a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. Monday's assault illustrates the report's finding that suicide bombings and complex attacks are now hurting more civilians than roadside bombs. Truck bomb in Kabul Twin bombings left 80 people dead in Kabul on July 23 Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) South Korea says North hacked government e-mails Seoul prosecutors on Monday accused North Korea of hacking into the email accounts of dozens of South Korean government officials this year, the latest in the series of suspected cyber attacks by Pyongyang. Investigations showed a "suspected North Korea-operated group" attempted to hack into the emails of 90 people -- including officials at the foreign, defence and unification ministries -- from January to June, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said in a statement. "The passwords of 56 accounts were stolen," the statement said. North Korea operates an army of more than 1,000 hackers who stage hacking or cyberattacks targeting Seoul's major institutions or key officials, according to the South's spy agency The hackers set up 27 phishing sites in January posing as popular portals like Google and South Korea's Naver, as well as government and university websites, to steal the passwords. The prosecutors said the malicious codes used in the latest attack were the same as the ones used by North Korea in previous attacks on the South. An investigation is still ongoing to see if any confidential information may have been leaked. The latest cyber attack comes just days after South Korean police said the North stole the personal data of over 10 million customers at South Korean online shopping mall Interpark. Interpark was unaware about the attack until July 11, when it was blackmailed with threats to publicise the leaked data unless the company paid three billion won (US$2.7 million). The National Police Agency said the North's main spy agency -- the Reconnaissance General Bureau -- had organised the hack in a bid to earn hard currency. Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have been running high since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile tests. The provocations have put North Korea under the toughest sanctions yet from the United Nations as well as mounting individual sanctions by countries like the US, South Korea and Japan. Seoul has in recent years blamed the North's hackers for a series of cyber attacks on military institutions, banks, state agencies, TV broadcasters, media websites and a nuclear power plant. The North operates an army of more than 1,000 hackers who stage hacking or cyber attacks targeting Seoul's major institutions or key officials, according to the South's spy agency. Gabon president warns of election unrest Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba has warned of possible unrest during the August 27 election which he said was the "strategy" of the opposition challenging his eligibility to seek a second seven-year term. "It is to be feared, because it is the opposition's strategy for many years," Bongo said in an interview with the weekly "Jeune Afrique" published Sunday which asked him if he feared "abuses and even violence" after the vote. The opposition "has started to heat things up by announcing that the election will not be transparent, that we will steal victory," the president said. Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba was elected for a first term in a disputed 2009 vote following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had steered Gabon from 1967 Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File) Bongo described as "nonsense" the arguments of critics who have opposed his re-election on the grounds that he was a Nigerian who was adopted in the 1960s by his father, long-ruling former president Ali Bongo, and was therefore ineligible as a foreigner under the constitution. "If they come to this kind of argument -- challenging my eligibility, my birth and other nonsense -- this proves that they recognise that my record is good (...) They fear an honest campaign, programme against programme, and obviously prefer slander," he said. Gabon's constitutional court last week rejected appeals lodged by three opponents against his candidacy. The representative of the EU election observation mission on Thursday called on politicians to "do everything" to "avoid any violence or any form of provocation" with tensions high ahead of the presidential polls. As the elections approach, the security forces have had a greater presence in the capital Libreville, with road checkpoints at night. Assessing his seven-year term, the president regretted "not having maintained the pace of reforms", particularly to diversify the economy of the oil-producing west African country. "I was talking one day with President Obama on the difficulty of reform, the pitfalls ... He replied: "In that situation, the best advice I can give you is to speed up, step on the gas", this is what we will do." Bongo was elected for a first term in a disputed 2009 vote following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had steered Gabon from 1967 and was described by critics as a corrupt despot. This rule saw the country tap its new found oil wealth that led to a per capita income four times that of most sub-Saharan African nations. China manufacturing contracts in July: govt China's manufacturing shrank in July, the government said Monday, blaming the deterioration on rainstorms that wreaked havoc across large swathes of the country. It was the first time since February the official purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed contraction, and according to a Bloomberg News survey it missed economists' expectations it would flatline. The official PMI came in at 49.9 for July, down from 50.0 the month before and underlining problems in the world's second-largest economy. The key manufacturing sector has been struggling for months in the face of sagging global demand for Chinese products A reading above 50 signals expanding activity, while anything below indicates shrinkage. The National Bureau of Statistics attributed the slowdown to summer downpours, which hit the industry-heavy middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River particularly hard. "Production and transportation of relevant areas were massively impacted," said NBS analyst Zhao Qinghe, adding that slowing expansion and overcapacity also dragged. Investors watch the PMI figures closely as the first reading on the health of the economy each month. The key manufacturing sector has been struggling for months in the face of sagging global demand for Chinese products and excess industrial capacity left over from the country's infrastructure boom. ANZ economists said July's figures "do not bode well" for China's economic growth in the second half of the year. "The traditional manufacturing sector is likely to continue to face strong headwinds as efforts to reduce overcapacity continue," they said in a report. China is a vital driver of global growth, but its economy expanded only 6.9 percent in 2015 -- its weakest rate in a quarter of a century -- and has slowed further this year. Beijing has said it wants to reorient the economy away from relying on debt-fuelled investment to boost growth and towards a consumer-driven model, but the transition has proven challenging. Unusually, the private Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index, which focuses on small companies, was more positive than the official figure. Its reading jumped to 50.6 in July from 48.6 in June -- the first expansion since February 2015 -- the Chinese financial magazine said in a joint statement with data compiler IHS Markit. Its sub-indexes for output, new orders and buying activity all returned to growth on "stronger domestic demand," even though export sales declined marginally. "This indicates that the Chinese economy has begun to show signs of stabilising due to the gradual implementation of proactive fiscal policy," Caixin analyst Zhong Zhengsheng said in the statement. "But the pressure on economic growth remains, and supportive fiscal and monetary policies must be continued." Clinton's 'Rust Belt' tour courts white working class Hillary Clinton took a bus tour across the US "rust belt" region this weekend in a quest to win over white, working class voters who tend to support populist Republican Donald Trump. With her husband ex-president Bill Clinton in tow, the former first lady, top diplomat, ex-senator and now Democratic presidential candidate took her seat on a blue bus that meandered over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio. Here on this green and hilly landscape steel mills have been closing since the late 1970s, and many factories have shuttered since the 1990s. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally at Fort Hayes Vocational School on July 31, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio Justin Sullivan (Getty/AFP) The 2008-2009 recession further aggravated despair, and the following economic recovery has produced only a fraction of jobs that pay as much as the lost industrial ones. "I understand that there are people who feel like the economy is not working well for them," Clinton said at a rally in Harrisburg on Friday. "But I understand that. Because I'm not satisfied with the status quo, are you?" she asked, joined by Bill Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine. - First tour as nominee - If elected, Clinton promises to implement what she says is the biggest jobs program since World War II, focused on manufacturing and infrastructure. Nevertheless "there's a lot of mistrust of Hillary Clinton, and it comes from Bill," who signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said John Russo, a labor expert from the region currently at Georgetown University. "The working class has been pretty angry on trade issues given the many manufacturing-related jobs that have been lost because of NAFTA," Russo said. Few anticipated the massive loss of US manufacturing jobs -- mostly to lower waged Mexico -- after Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law in December 1993. In time many of those same jobs moved to even lower wage countries in Asia. US manufacturing jobs continued to hemorrhage in the following years. In Pittsburgh, a historic steel city that has largely shifted to being a medical and educational center, Clinton slammed Trump for doing nothing for working class Americans. She even quipped that his Trump brand ties are made in China. "So Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again. He can start by actually making things in America again," Clinton said at a rally in Johnstown. - From Kennedy to Trump? - Trump has broken with the Republican Party's age-old free-market orthodoxy and gone protectionist, cashing in politically on this region's malaise over lost industrial jobs. Trump blames the losses on Bill Clinton and his trade deals, and claims that it will be the same under Hillary Clinton. Ohio and Pennsylvania are key "swing states" in November's presidential race. Winning one or the other, or both, could be crucial to a Republican or Democratic White House victory. By increasing white voter turnout, Trump could counter Clinton's lead in large cities like Philadelphia or Cleveland, where African-American voters who tend to vote Democratic are concentrated. Near Pittsburgh, which Hillary Clinton visited Saturday, lies Monessen, population 7,500 -- a shadow of what the town was when two huge steel plants were open there, employing some 22,000 people. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy made the trip in this Democratic stronghold to praise its industrial strength. In June, it was Donald Trump's turn -- and he came to declare "US economic independence" in a vitriolic speech decrying globalization. "We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our country. This alone will create massive numbers of jobs," Trump said. From his office overlooking the Monongahela River, Monessen Mayor Louis Mavrakis, 79, tries to stay positive as he mentions that some 400 vacant homes set to be razed. Mavrakis is a Democrat who has never voted Republican. But he refused to say whether he would vote for Trump in November. "I'm disgusted with both sides, with our government with the way they give the foreign countries that hate us," Mavrakis said. "You're giving them billions of dollars, and they hate us, and you can't even take care of your own people? That's stupidity." According to Mavrakis "there's a revolution going on in this country right now, and these idiots in Washington, DC don't even know it." Mavrakis predicted that Trump "is going to get more Democrat votes than any other Republican president that ever ran, just from this area right here." A young supporter wears an "I'm With Her" shirt during a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton at Fort Hayes Vocational School on July 31, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio Justin Sullivan (Getty/AFP) Australia's Fairfax Media flags $760 mn in writedowns Leading Australian publisher Fairfax Media said Monday it would post nearly Aus$1 billion in writedowns in the year to July, while it announced the creation of a new reporting segment for its lucrative online real estate division. Like its global peers, the group, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, has had add to slash jobs and costs owing to falling circulation and advertising revenue. Most of the Aus$989 million (US$750 million) pre-tax impairment charges for the 2016 financial year come from major Australian metropolitan newspapers, accounting for Aus$484.9 million. Impairments for smaller, community media amounted to Aus$408.8 million. Fairfax Media, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, has had to slash jobs and costs Peter Parks (AFP) Fairfax said its property listings division Domain Group would form a separate reporting segment. Chief executive Greg Hywood said the adjustments "reflect the market realities that the metro business is facing", adding that the media divisions in the rural, regional and New Zealand divisions were also experiencing challenges. But with speculation swirling that the Domain separation could eventually lead to the group selling the real estate division or newspapers, Hywood said the unit "remains an integral and growing part of Fairfax". "We have no plans for that to change," he added in a statement. Fairfax, which has newspaper, radio and digital interests, is the main rival in Australia to News Limited, Rupert Murdoch's Australian empire, which is also suffering from falling revenues. The group has shed thousands of staff and restructured its operations in recent years to be more digital-facing as the internet and new publishers such as Google disrupt its business model. "The traditional business of Fairfax is facing all the same challenges as in the UK and America; that that side of it is probably not worth very much money now," media analyst Peter Cox told AFP. "Therefore they've written off on it in that regard, and Domain is where their value lies at the moment." Fairfax reported net profit after tax of Aus$27.4 million for the six months to December 31, 2015. Domain recorded operating profits of Aus$65.7 million for the period, out of a total of Aus$161 million for the whole group. Fairfax's New Zealand division, which is currently in talks to merge with publisher NZME, is set to record a writedown of Aus$95.3 million. The company reports its full-year results on August 10. Taiwan apologises to indigenous people for first time Wearing traditional dress from feather headdresses to loincloths, members of Taiwan's indigenous community met President Tsai Ing-wen Monday as she made a landmark apology for centuries of suffering including the loss of ancestral lands. Tsai, the island's first leader with aboriginal heritage, will personally head a committee to investigate past injustices as part of government efforts to ease tensions with the native community. "I apologise to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, offering our deepest apology for the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years," she said in speech. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (R) greets representatives dressed in traditional clothing of each of the island's 16 recognised tribes, at her office in Taipei on August 1, 2016 Presidential Office (Presidential Office/AFP) "We need to look at history seriously and speak the truth," she said, adding that apologising was "another step forward". The indigenous community -- which makes up about two percent of Taiwan's 23.5 million people -- have seen their traditional culture eroded since immigrants started arriving from China centuries ago. Much of their land is now designated national park, leading to clashes over hunting, fishing and foraging in areas where permits are needed. Aboriginals have also complained of developments on their ancestral land, which campaigners say make up two-thirds of the island, were approved without seeking their views. Tsai pledged to increase the autonomy of aboriginal communities, restore their lost land rights and protect tribal languages. But for dozens of aboriginals protesting outside the presidential office Monday morning, her promises were not enough. "The apology was well said and very touching, but her proposals for action don't meet our expectations," said Mayaw Biho, an indigenous activist from the Amis tribe, who had camped out overnight. Since coming to power in May, Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not made legislation promoting indigenous rights a priority in parliament, he said. "It's unfair. It's not being taken seriously," he told AFP. - Deliver on promises - Indigenous people remain a marginalised group in Taiwanese society, with wages about 40 percent below than the national average, as well as a higher rate of unemployment. Tsai on Monday listed numerous wrongs done to the indigenous population, including storing nuclear waste on Yami tribe's land on Orchid Island. "We have been protesting for over 30 years," said Capen Nganaen, an 80-year-old Yami representative wearing a loincloth, who spoke after Tsai. "I hope Taiwan's government and the president will truly deliver on the promises made in this apology," he said. Tsai and the DPP came to power after winning a landslide victory in January over the Kuomintang (KMT). The Indigenous Peoples Basic Law was adopted in 2005, during the DPP's last reign, but critics say actions to amend relevant laws have stalled. This means many aboriginals have been arrested or fined for "illegal" hunting or fishing, which is allowed in the basic law. Earlier Monday, tribe members who had been invited to Tsai's speech burned millet stalks in front of the presidential office as part of a traditional ceremony welcoming the ancestral spirits to join them. Tsai greeted the representatives from each of the island's 16 recognised tribes, who were all wearing their traditional tribal clothing. In a deviation from her usual plain blazers, Tsai wore a grey suit made by an indigenous designer, which featured a black butterfly pattern. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen poses with 80-year-old Yami leader Capen Nganaen as she welcomes indigenous community members to her office in Taipei on August 1, 2016 Presidential Office (Presidential Office/AFP) A representatives of Taiwan's indigenous communities arrives at the presidential office in traditional dress on August 1, 2016 Presidential Office (Presidential Office/AFP) New Malaysia security law debuts as PM fights critics Tough new security legislation came into force in Malaysia Monday, with critics saying the "draconian" law threatens democracy and could be used against opponents of the scandal-tainted premier. The National Security Council Act was pushed through parliament in December by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who for more than a year has faced calls to resign over a huge alleged corruption scandal. The legislation gives the government power to declare virtual martial law in areas deemed to be under "security threat". Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has faced calls to resign for more than a year over an huge alleged corruption scandal Mohd Rasfan (AFP) Critics accuse Najib and his government of enacting the law, and other tough recent legislation, to ward off political and legal challenges. "The law will definitely put fear in people planning to participate in street protests," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian think tank. "The public perception in terms of the timing of the draconian law is that Najib wants the law in order to stay in office." - Absolute authority - The legislation allows a National Security Council headed by the prime minister essentially to suspend civil liberties in designated "security areas", giving security forces sweeping powers of search, seizure and arrest. Najib has defended the law as necessary to combat terrorism, but its passage came amid the ongoing furore over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state investment fund he founded and oversaw. The corruption scandal swirling around Najib has spawned a cross-party alliance, including even members of his own ruling party, demanding he be removed and investigated. Najib and investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) deny wrongdoing. Amnesty International said the National Security Council Act "empowers the Malaysian authorities to trample over human rights and act with impunity". "There is good reason to fear that the act will be yet another tool in the hands of the government to crack down on peaceful protests under the guise of national security," said Josef Benedict, its deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific, in a statement. Authorities in several countries are investigating allegations that 1MDB was looted over several years. Najib has stifled domestic pressure by cracking down on critics within his ruling party, scuttling domestic probes, and arresting whistleblowers and journalists. The UN's human rights agency and other rights organisations have pilloried the National Security Council Act as a potentially frightening step backward. "We are gravely concerned that... the act may encourage human rights violations," Laurent Meillan, acting head of the UN Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia, said in a statement last week. Last month the US Justice Department launched a move to seize more than $1 billion in assets which it says were purchased with money stolen from 1MDB, including by a person identified only as "Malaysian Official 1" -- a reference to Najib, according to media reports. The US move has heightened expectations of further anti-Najib protests in Malaysia, but there are concerns the security law could be used to prevent them. Last August tens of thousands of people paralysed the capital Kuala Lumpur demanding he stand down. Najib's ruling party has tightly controlled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 but increasingly faces accusations of corruption and repression. Najib came into office in 2009 pledging an end to ruling-party graft and authoritarianism, but he has dramatically reversed course following a 2013 election setback and the 1MDB scandal. What is Malaysia's 1MDB scandal? A demonstrator is detained during a protest against Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on August 1, 2015 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File) Hopes new wing part could reveal MH370 clues: Australia Australian MH370 search authorities are hopeful a wing part found in Tanzania will shed light on how the flight crashed, amid a lack of public information on debris found a year ago. As the underwater hunt far off Australia's west coast draws to a close without any sign of the plane, there has been speculation the flight's final resting place may be outside the current search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysia Airlines jet was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. A poster showing cabin crew from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is displayed during a prayer at a school in Petaling Jaya Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File) The first debris linked to MH370 -- a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part known as a flaperon -- washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a year ago. But it has remained in the hands of French investigators, leaving questions unanswered on how the airliner entered the ocean. "We have also seen some analysis from the French that suggests that it's a possibility that (the flaperon) was in a deployed state," Peter Foley, the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB)'s head of MH370 search operations, told Channel Nine late Sunday. A deployed state, which means the flaperon was extended for landing, could suggest that someone was at the controls -- the "rogue pilot" theory -- when the aircraft entered the water. Investigators have considered all scenarios, but alternative possibilities could potentially have debris fields three times the current search zone, ATSB's former chief Martin Dolan told AFP in March. The current area was defined under the "most likely" scenario that no-one was at the controls and the plane ran out of fuel. But Foley told the commercial broadcaster that if the pilot was still in control of the plane or control-ditched the aircraft, it could potentially have had an extended range of flight. A team of Italian scientists said last month the debris zone may be a further 500 kilometres (310 miles) north. Foley said he was hopeful the wing part found off Tanzania, which is in Canberra for analysis and was confirmed by Australia on Friday to be "highly likely" from MH370, could reveal how the plane crashed. "We are looking to see whether or not we can work out whether that flap was extended at the end of flight... it suggests a different end-of-flight scenario," he said. The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments, where most of the passengers were from, have agreed that when the target area is fully searched, expected around December, they will pull the plug unless "credible new information" emerges. Sole Afghan woman governor in a man's world Surrounded by male advisors and condescending "mansplainers", Masooma Muradi holds her own against a deep underswell of sexism in a society unaccustomed to women exercising authority. Breaking new ground as Afghanistan's only female governor, Muradi's ascent to the top post in remote Daikundi province is a remarkable feat in Afghanistan, where stubborn patriarchal traditions are at odds with progressive ideas about a woman's place in the world. But barely a year after President Ashraf Ghani appointed Muradi, her job hangs by a thread, with growing calls for her ouster from religious conservatives and opponents. Daikundi governor Masooma Muradi (L) spoke to prisoners at a female detention centre in Nili, the province's capital, in May 2016 Shah Marai (AFP/File) It highlights the travails of being the only woman in an overwhelmingly male preserve. "People claim to be open-minded but many cannot bear having a woman in this position," Muradi, 37, told AFP, sinking into an overstuffed sofa in her office in the capital Nili, decorated with faux sunflowers and a large portrait of a pouting child. "I won't allow men to hush me up -- society is not used to that from a woman," she added. Barely five feet tall, Muradi's diminutive frame and soft demeanour belies her steely instinct for survival. The mother-of-two was handpicked by Ghani in Kabul to lead Daikundi, a mosaic of rolling hills and boulder-strewn ridges in central Afghanistan, hemmed in by insurgency-wracked provinces. But protests erupted even before she arrived in Daikundi, with political opponents -- almost all men -- pillorying her lack of governance experience. Muradi has since managed to hold on to the job, but the resentment was palpable when she recently stepped out in Nili with AFP, trailed by Kalashnikov-toting guards. "Useless," one man barked as she passed by. "Maybe she should be a governor just for women," another growled. - Boys' club - Women have made giant strides since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, but they are still so absent from public life that the social media hashtag #WhereAreTheWomen has gained traction in Afghanistan. "The attitudes throughout Afghanistan still are such that not everyone is ready to be governed by a woman," said Douglas Keh, Afghanistan country director at the United Nations Development Programme. "Women leaders need all the support they can get," he added. Daikundi's administration has long been a boys' club, which was apparent at a recent provincial council meeting, attended by more than a dozen men but just one woman. Swaddled in a blue scarf, she sat at the edge of the room doodling on the sofa upholstery using her finger as an imaginary pen. When she tried to talk, the man chairing the meeting stuck his palm up to make her stop. Only when a woman UNDP official attending the meeting asked for her view, was she able to speak. "I recently replaced a man in the provincial council," she began. A council member interjected with a smirk. "Say something about men's problems too," he said, setting off a ripple of titters. "We really are worried about men's rights." - Sexist wisecracks - "Paying lip service to women's empowerment is one thing but real empowerment comes with deference to a woman leader's authority," the UNDP official later said, referring to Muradi's struggles. Muradi, who holds a degree in business administration but lacks political clout, stands in strong contrast to warlords and strongmen who govern other provinces amid a deep-rooted system of patronage politics. The antipathy towards her, observers say, highlights not just sexism but also clashing political interests. Daikundi is among the most challenging of Afghanistan's 34 provinces to govern. Cut off from the outside world by heavy snow for several months of the year, its meagre almond harvests, mainstay of the local economy, are dependent on the brutal vagaries of weather. Rampant joblessness is a ticking time bomb and most development plans are just on paper. "There are schools but most don't have buildings, there are hospitals but many don't have doctors," said Haji Rasouli, a grocery seller in Nili. "I support women's empowerment but will having a woman governor solve all these problems?" Ebbing international donor funding has exacerbated Muradi's struggles. "Anyone in that position -- man or woman -- would struggle with dwindling resources," said Habibullah Radmanesh, Daikundi's deputy governor. For his part, Ghani has appointed four female ministers since he came to power in 2014, risking political capital. Last year, for the first time in Afghanistan's history he nominated a woman to the supreme court, but when she was rejected by parliament he appointed a man instead. He also dismissed the only other woman governor, of central Ghor province, after protests from religious conservatives. "To genuinely give women a role in governance, Ghani needs to push forward when he encounters opposition," said Heather Barr, a women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "This hasn't been happening." There are fears that Muradi might meet the same fate. But she can count on the unbridled support of at least one person -- her husband. Late one evening, after Muradi returned home, Khalil Hashem walked into the room and said something you would seldom hear an Afghan husband, traditionally blind to domestic details, say to his wife: "Dinner has been served." But he has also been at the receiving end of sexist wisecracks. "People call me her secretary, her baby sitter," he said. "But I am very proud of her." Masooma Muradi (C) was picked to lead Daikundi, a province of rolling hills in central Afghanistan, hemmed in by insurgency-wracked areas Shah Marai (AFP/File) President Ashraf Ghani appointed Masooma Muradi as governor, but has since come under fire from religious conservatives and opponents Noorullah Shirzada (AFP/File) Riders on the plateau: Tibetans gather for horse festival Thundering across the vast Himalayan plateau in their traditional finery, Tibetan horsemen gather for an annual riding festival which is a colourful feast for the eyes. Multicoloured prayer flags inscribed with religious texts flutter in the breeze and tents line the green hills surrounding the racing ground in Yushu, in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai. The area is home to many of China's eight million strong Tibetan minority, some of whom chafe against Chinese rule. Ethnic Tibetans in traditional dress show off their skills in the saddle at a local government-sponsored festival in Yushu, in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai Nicolas Asfouri (AFP) Spectators at the event -- including local Tibetan women in traditional dresses known as chuba, and monks in red robes -- filed past state security personnel in green uniforms to enter a stadium built by the local government. But the atmosphere was relaxed and jovial. One woman in a blue and orange dress stood in front of a pyramid of prayer flags, brandishing an umbrella to protect herself from the harsh sunlight of the high-altitude plateau. The real draw are the horses -- brown steeds bedecked in yellow and green ribbons, mounted by riders whose long hair flows in the wind beneath azure skies. The festival held since the 1990s lasts for around five days. It was suspended for several years following a 2010 earthquake in Yushu which killed some 2,700 people. The Tibetan people of the area -- known as Kham -- are famed for their equine skills. Shows of horsemanship and archery are the festival's main events, drawing hundreds of spectators. Government officials say that they hope to use the festival to showcase Tibetan culture and bring tourism to the remote region. "You can see the Tibetan fashion show, the jewellery, the nice clothes and dancing," said one Tibetan spectator. "A lot of Chinese tourists and foreigners come to watch." But entry to the stadium for the opening ceremony was by ticket only even for locals, with a cordon and metal gates keeping out some would-be attendees -- in contrast to the free access of times past, when the event was held on open grassland. Beijing says its troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 and insists it has since brought development to a previously backward region, where serfs were exploited. But many Tibetans accuse officials of repressing their religion and eroding their culture, adding that natural resources are exploited to benefit China's ethnic Han majority at the expense of the environment. -- This story accompanies a photo essay by Nicolas Asfouri -- The Tibetan festival in Yushu, in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai has been held since the 1990s and lasts for around five days Nicolas Asfouri (AFP) A Tibetan Buddhist monk with an elaborate headdress takes part in a festival in Yushu, in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai Nicolas Asfouri (AFP) NY Post runs naked pics of Trump's wife... again The New York Post on Monday ran a front-page picture of potential first lady Melania Trump naked, prompting criticism on social media and charges of misogyny. It was the second day in a row that the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid ran a front page nude image of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's wife from her years as a young model. "Menage a Trump," ran the headline, touting the paper's "exclusive photos." The nude images of Melania Trump were taken in 1995 Kena Betancur (AFP/File) The picture shows a nude Melania being hugged by another nude woman as she lies in bed. On Sunday, the Post ran a front-page picture of a nude Melania, with stars covering her breasts, under the title "The Ogle Office." The Republican's presidential campaign appeared to shrug off the pictures. Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN on Sunday that there was "nothing to be embarrassed about with the pictures -- she's a beautiful woman." Both sets of photos were taken in 1995 when the 46-year-old Slovenian-born Melania was 25 and working as a model, before she met Trump. The pictures were published the following year in Max, a now-defunct French magazine. The New York Post endorsed Trump for president in mid-April, describing him at the time as "a potential superstar of vast promise, but making rookie mistakes." The reaction to the pictures on Twitter was mixed. "Shame on you #NewYorkPost for slut-shaming Melania Trump. The US needs no more neanderthal input to this already disgraceful election," read one tweet. "I am appalled and outraged" by the cover photo, read another tweet, adding: "Misogyny is misogyny." Several other tweets decried the "attempts to shame" Melania. Some wondered how conservative evangelical Christians would react, while others wondered if Murdoch, who also holds conservative views, had turned against Trump. Thai mother indicted over one-word 'royal slur' Facebook message The mother of a prominent student activist was indicted by a Thai military court on royal defamation charges Monday over a one-word Facebook message in what rights groups have described as a new low for the junta's crackdown on dissent. Patnaree Chankij, 40, was initially arrested in May by Thai police for violating Thailand's severe royal defamation law, which bans disparaging the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison on each count. Her lawyers say the charge stems from writing "ja" -- the Thai equivalent of "yeah" -- in response to a private Facebook message from someone else that allegedly insulted the royal family. Patnaree Chankij, the mother of pro-democracy activist Sirawith "Ja Niew" Seritiwat, arrives at a military court in Bangkok on August 1, 2016 Lilian Suwanrumpha (AFP) The case has been seized upon by activists as a terrifying example of how the military authorities have broadened their interpretation of the crime to include even vague references to the monarchy. Police eventually dropped the charges after an outcry but they forwarded the case to prosecutors from the military who have pressed ahead. "A military court today accepted the case filed by the military prosecutor (on 112)," lawyer Anon Nampa, told AFP, adding his client was granted bail ahead of an upcoming plea hearing. Use of both Thailand's lese majeste law and military courts has skyrocketed since former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in May 2014 sparking international condemnation, including from the United Nations. Record breaking 25 and 30 year sentences have since been handed down for people over Facebook posts while a man even found himself arrested for making sarcastic comments about the king's late dog. Many convictions occur behind closed doors while media must also heavily self-censor when reporting cases to avoid falling foul of the law. Reporters were not allowed into the military court on Monday and the court did not answer telephone calls. Police had earlier defended Patnaree's arrest telling reporters that "implying agreement" to unlawful web comments, through 'likes' or other means, is grounds for legal action. The latest indictment comes ahead of a crunch referendum vote this weekend on the junta's new constitution, the first time Thais will head to the polls since the coup. The generals say their charter -- the kingdom's twentieth -- will curb political corruption and bring much-needed stability after a decade of political turmoil. But critics deride it as a naked attempt to perpetuate the military's grip on power. Security is being ramped up ahead of Sunday's vote. Earlier Monday police announced that they had launched a pre-referendum crime crackdown in the northeast, an impoverished but populous region where many of the junta's fiercest critics reside. Prominent Chinese rights lawyer released on bail: report A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer detained over a year ago in a sweeping crackdown has been released on bail, Hong Kong media said Monday, as it showed her praising her jailers. Wang Yu was among one of more than 200 lawyers and legal activists held last July in a swoop on those who had taken on civil rights cases considered sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party, which tightly controls the court system. She was bailed "in recent days," Phoenix TV said. Such releases are rare in China, and usually signal a suspect will continue to be closely monitored but will not face trial. Chinese human rights activist Wang Yu was among one of more than 200 lawyers and legal activists held last July in a swoop on those who had taken on civil rights cases Philippe Lopez (AFP/File) "I experienced the legal civilisation of China and humane care," Wang was shown saying on Phoenix, which has ties to China's government. The exact circumstances in which the interview took place on Sunday were not clear. AFP was unable to contact Wang for comment, nor authorities in Tianjin, where she had been held. Chinese state-run media often show televised "confessions" from suspects in detention or on bail, in what lawyers say violates their right to a fair trial. Phoenix TV is privately owned but was founded by a former general in China's army. Its reporters have said in interviews that the government closely oversees its content. Working as a lawyer, Wang defended victims of sexual abuse as well as Ilham Tohti, an intellectual from the mostly-Muslim Uighur minority who was jailed for life in 2014 for separatism after he criticised government policies. Wang's husband Bao Longjun, also a lawyer, remains under detention and cannot contact family members, she said in the interview. She expected to meet her teenage son Bao Zhuoxuan, the broadcaster said. Bao was held under a form of house arrest last year, family friends said, after he was seized by Chinese agents while trying to escape overland to neighbouring Myanmar. China's President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of controls on civil society since assuming power in 2012, closing avenues for legal activism which emerged in recent years. Like more than a dozen lawyers and legal activists, Wang was held in an undisclosed location for six months, before being transferred to a detention centre following her formal arrest in January. The EU, the US and the United Nation's human rights representative have all called for the lawyers to be released. China has not laid out detailed charges against them, but state media called the Fengrui firm where Wang worked a "criminal gang" which organised protests outside courthouses. While under detention, Wang received an award from the American Bar Association, and the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Prize for her work defending human rights. But in the brief TV interview Wang said the awards were intended to "blacken the reputation of the Chinese government". India in talks to bring home workers stranded in Saudi India said Monday it is negotiating with authorities in Saudi Arabia to repatriate thousands of migrant workers after they lost their jobs, leaving them destitute and with no money to return home. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that around 10,000 workers had lost their jobs and been left to starve. Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress. Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses . Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File) Many of the companies employing them have suffered from the drop in oil revenues from falling prices, prompting a downturn in construction and layoffs. The Indian consulate in Jeddah has been providing free food for its nationals since their plight came to light last week, but Swaraj said the situation could not be allowed to continue. "This can't be a permanent solution, we will have to bring them back," Swaraj told the lower house of the parliament Monday. However that is being hampered by a Saudi requirement that workers provide a no-objection certificate from their employers before they can leave the country, she said. Junior minister V.K. Singh will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to try to sort the situation out, she said. Among those stranded are some 2,450 workers laid off by Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon's billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri. "No jobless Indian will sleep hungry. If they want to come back home, the government will ensure their safe return...we have a collective responsibility towards our citizens," Swaraj said. Nearly three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India. Five dead as Russian military helicopter downed in Syria A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian rebel shelling left 28 civilians dead and dozens wounded in government-controlled southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo. Russia's defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. Syrian rebels gather around the wreckage of a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter after it was shot down on August 1, 2016 Mohamed al-Bakour (AFP) "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy called the downing a "terrorist act" and said the defence ministry was still trying to confirm the fate of the Russian servicemen "through all possible channels". It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government last September. It brought the total number of members of the Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of Islamist and jihadist forces including the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its status as Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. - Aleppo rebel assault - In neighbouring Aleppo province, shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians -- including six children and eight women -- over the last 24 hours, the Britain-based Observatory said. Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods. The city's southern edges have been ravaged by fighting in recent days as the Fateh al-Sham Front and allied Islamist rebel groups seek to ease a government siege of the rebel-held east of the city. The Observatory said the rebels had advanced overnight south and southwest of Aleppo, but reported ongoing fighting, as well as government air strikes on the battlefield and rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, cutting the sole supply route in and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. The primary goal of the rebel assault is to seize the Ramussa neighbourhood on the city's southern outskirts. "The road that runs through Ramussa is the main supply route for regime forces going to the areas they control in western Aleppo," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. It is also used by civilians to enter and leave government-controlled districts of Aleppo. Taking a detour from the north would be too dangerous, he added. Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham said on Twitter it was involved in fierce clashes near Ramussa and advancing towards the route. - 'Humanitarian corridors' - SANA said people were using the route as usual, but residents of western Aleppo expressed fears that the assault could cut them off. "If the militants break the siege, they will besiege us and cut the Khanasser route, which is the only artery we have," said Hossam Qassab, a 32-year-old pharmacist. A Syrian security source acknowledged the assault but said government forces had repelled it. The encirclement of eastern Aleppo has raised fears of starvation for remaining residents, who have reported food shortages and spiralling prices since the government siege began on July 17. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. On Saturday, Moscow and Syrian official media reported dozens of civilians had fled via these corridors, but residents and rebels on the ground dismissed the reports as "lies". Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, advanced inside the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij on Monday, the Observatory reported. The SDF hold approximately 40 percent of the town, and are fighting to take it with support from the US-led coalition against IS. Five dead after Russian helicopter shot down in Syria Iris Royer De Vericourt (AFP) Smoke billowing above the wreckage of a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter after it was shot down along the administrative border between Idlib province and neighbouring Aleppo Mohamed al-Bakour (AFP) Indonesia to sink scores of boats in fishing fight Indonesia will sink up to 71 impounded foreign boats this month on its Independence Day, a minister said Monday, ramping up a campaign to deter illegal fishing in its vast waters. The world's biggest archipelago nation has been seeking to stop foreign vessels fishing without permission in its territory, with President Joko Widodo claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually. So far 176 foreign boats captured fishing illegally have been sunk -- after the crews were removed -- since Widodo took power in 2014, with some blown up in spectacular public displays. Indonesian navy personnel arrest a Chinese fishing boat in waters around the Natuna islands in June 2016 Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has been leading the campaign, said up to 71 foreign boats caught illegally fishing would be sunk on August 17, the 71st anniversary of Indonesian Independence. She said that they would be sunk at various locations across the country, without specifying which countries the boats were from. Boats from a number of countries, including China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, have already been sunk as part of the campaign. The boats to be sunk later this month will be scuttled and not blown up, Pudjiastuti said. Green groups had complained about the environmental impact of blowing up boats. China 'cannot tolerate accusations' on Britain investment: Xinhua China "cannot tolerate" accusations that its investment in a British nuclear plant threatens that country's security, state media said Monday, after London surprisingly delayed the giant project. Beijing has a one-third stake in the plan to build Britain's first nuclear plant for decades at Hinkley Point in southwest England, along with French company EDF, which gave the scheme the go-ahead last week. The deal had been seen as a cornerstone of a "golden era" of Chinese-British ties pushed by then-prime minister David Cameron and finance minister George Osborne. But the new administration under Theresa May said Friday it would suspend a decision to build the plant until the autumn. A computer-generated image of EDF's two proposed nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in southwest England British media said the move was a sign that May took a more sceptical view on ties with China than her predecessor. Tian Dongdong, a writer with China's official Xinhua news agency, said in a commentary that the delay "adds uncertainties to the 'Golden Era' of China-UK ties", adding that future Chinese investment in Britain could be suspended unless the deal went ahead. Fears over "China planting back doors" during construction to control critical infrastructure had a "groundlessness and sci-fi scent", the article added. "China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but cannot tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation," it stressed. The project has been criticised for committing British taxpayers to paying above-market rates for electricity for decades to come. Former British cabinet member Vince Cable, who worked with May when she was home secretary, told media at the weekend that at the time she had been "anxious" about Chinese involvement. He told Sky News that when Osborne was in charge of the economy Britain had been "uniquely open to Chinese investment". Bangladesh attackers' bodies still in morgue a month on The bodies of five Islamists behind a deadly attack on a Bangladesh cafe have still not been claimed a month later, police said Monday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against extremism. Relatives of the men have spoken of their shock and horror at learning of their involvement in the siege in Dhaka's Gulshan neighbourhood, in which 20 hostages were killed -- many of them hacked to death. On Monday tens of thousands of university and college students across the country stood in silence and formed human chains in front of their schools. "We stand with the bereaved", a reference to the deadly attack on a cafe in Dhaka that killed seventeen foreigners and five Bangladeshis, including two policemen Roberto Schmidt (AFP/File) "No terrorism, we want peace. We want life without fear," read one banner at a women's college in Dhaka. Authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to shame those behind the attacks. Clerics at the mainly Muslim country's more than 300,000 mosques have been asked to give sermons on why Islam forbids killing. Police said the bodies of nine other men allegedly from the same group who were shot when police launched a raid on a militant hideout on July 26 are also still being stored at a state hospital. "No relatives came to us or officially applied for the bodies of the 14 extremists," Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP. Sohel Mahmud, a forensic doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said several families had come to identify the bodies. "But no one wanted to take them home for burial," he said. Police gave no official reason, but officers speaking on condition of anonymity said the parents of the extremists were overwhelmed with guilt. Six of the young men were from well-off Dhaka families, among them 18-year-old Rohan Imtiaz. His father Imtiaz Khan Babul told AFP he was "stunned and speechless" to hear of his only son's involvement in the carnage and apologised to the nation. Abdus Salam said his brother Mohammad Abdullah, one of the nine killed in the shootout with police, had betrayed the family and his country. McCain slams Trump for disparaging family of slain soldier Republican Senator John McCain slammed Donald Trump Monday for disparaging the Muslim family of a slain American soldier, and demanded that his party's presidential candidate set an example for the country. "While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," McCain said in a statement. It was the latest in a mounting Republican backlash against Trump's bristling response to Khizr Khan, the Pakistani immigrant who galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the billionaire Republican nominee as having "sacrificed nothing" for the country. Khizr Khan addressed delegates during the recent Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Saul Loeb (AFP/File) Army captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, in an explosion at a military compound. McCain, whose heroism as a former prisoner of war Trump once put down, stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of the Republican nominee, but said he could not "emphasize enough how strongly I disagree with his statement." "It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party," he said. He praised captain Khan as a "shining example" of bravery and valor. "When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger. "Then he ran toward it," McCain said. "The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan -- and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters," he said. He thanked the Khan family for immigrating to America, saying, "We're a better country because of you." In one of several tweets he has fired off in recent days over the controversy, Trump wrote Sunday: "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!" Trump was referring to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Yemen government team quits talks until rebels accept deal Yemen's government delegation to peace talks left Kuwait on Monday after the rebel side rejected a draft peace plan proposed by the United Nations, its representatives said. "We now leave Kuwait... but are not quitting the consultations and not ending them before August 7," said the delegation head, Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi. UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed set August 7 as the date for winding up the talks that began April but have failed to achieve any breakthrough towards ending Yemen's conflict. Yemen, home to what the United States sees as Al-Qaeda's deadliest franchise, descended into chaos after the 2012 ouster of longtime strongman Saleh Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP/File) "We will return any minute... if the other side agrees to sign" the UN proposal, which was accepted by the government but rejected by the rebels, Mikhlafi told reporters at Kuwait airport. Government delegation spokesman Mohammed al-Emrani earlier told AFP: "We are leaving today after having completed our part in the talks. "The ball is now in the rebels' court." The delegation was returning to Riyadh, where it is based, after informing the UN envoy that it was ready to sign the proposed peace plan, Emrani said. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he has received a letter from the government delegation agreeing to a "draft peace agreement proposed by the United Nations to resolve the conflict in Yemen". "The departure of the government of Yemen delegation from Kuwait is not a departure from the peace talks," the envoy said in a statement. He said he will hold intensive talks with the Huthis and their allies. The Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalists, rejected the peace plan on Sunday, saying it was incomplete. "The other party now has the key to make the talks fail or succeed... If they agree to the plan, our delegation will return," Emrani said. Mikhlafi lashed out at the rebels for rejecting the peace plan. "This Huthi-Saleh alliance will never accept any peace deal that does not legitimise their coup," Mikhlafi said. The government delegation's decision to leave host country Kuwait came after a meeting with the UN envoy. The government delegation had been due to quit negotiations and leave Kuwait on Saturday but cancelled the decision after Ould Cheikh Ahmed presented the draft peace plan. According to the government, the draft plan calls for the rebels to withdraw from the capital Sanaa and two major cities, hand over heavy arms and return state institutions they seized in September 2014. - Rebels want unity govt first - The rebels said that first a national unity government must be formed and a new consensus president appointed to oversee the transition. Yemen, home to what the United States sees as Al-Qaeda's deadliest franchise, descended into chaos after the 2012 ouster of longtime strongman Saleh. Security deteriorated further after the Huthis swept into Sanaa and pushed south, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee into exile in March last year. The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since then, when a Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign in support of Hadi. On Monday, shelling from Yemen killed four people in the Jazan border region of Saudi Arabia, authorities in the kingdom said. Taliban truck bomb blasts hotel for foreigners in Kabul A Taliban truck bomb blasted a hotel for foreigners in Kabul Monday, triggering a seven-hour gun and grenade assault that highlighted growing insecurity in a city still reeling from its deadliest attack for 15 years. The guests and staff of the Northgate hotel escaped unharmed, but one policeman was killed after the suicide truck bomber paved the way for two other armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility near Kabul airport. The massive explosion reverberated through the Afghan capital, leaving a huge muddy crater and piles of scorched debris strewn at the compound, which was previously attacked in July 2013. An Afghan policeman keeps watch near the site where a truck bomb exploded targeting a hotel used by foreign contractors, on the outskirts of Kabul on August 1, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP) "A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer (perimeter) wall of the hotel," said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. "One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt. Three Taliban fighters including the truck bomber were killed." The attack came days after the Islamic State group claimed twin bombings that left 80 people dead in Kabul, the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Afghan commandos set up a tight security cordon around Northgate, which is used by military contractors and other foreigners, as sporadic grenade explosions and gunfire shook the area after the truck bomb struck around 1:30am (2100 GMT Sunday). Local TV station Tolo cited a source inside the facility as saying that all the staff and guests -- including at least 11 foreigners -- hunkered down in safe rooms throughout the night. It added that NATO special forces had overseen the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the bombing rattled windows across the city. It also cut a power line that supplies electricity to half of Kabul, according to the city's main utility. - Growing insecurity - "The blast was so strong that it startled everybody out of their beds," Abdul Mohib, a resident of the neighbourhood, told AFP. "The children were shocked. We all left the house screaming and shouting as our windows were shattered." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns blasted their way into the compound housing "American invaders" after the truck bomb went off. He said the attack was meant to avenge the killing of former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike inside Pakistan in May. The militants are intensifying their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. The previous attack on the hotel compound in 2013 also involved a Taliban truck bomb followed by a gun siege. Nine people were killed, including four Nepalese. The IS twin bombings on July 23 tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. But officials have denied that it marked a turning point for IS in Afghanistan, saying the group has been under heavy pressure in its eastern strongholds from both US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim reminder of growing insecurity in Afghanistan since most foreign troops withdrew in 2014. The rising violence has resulted in large civilian casualties. The UN last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with 1,601 civilians killed and 3,565 wounded -- a four percent increase compared to the same period last year. The guests and staff of the Northgate hotel were unharmed by the truck bomb in Kabul The powerful blast from the Taliban's latest attack rocked much of the Afghan capital Wakil Kohsar (AFP) The explosion left a huge muddy crater and piles of scorched debris strewn at the compound in Kabul Wakil Kohsar (AFP) The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim reminder of growing insecurity in Afghanistan Wakil Kohsar (AFP) Saudi says four dead in shelling from Yemen Cross-border shelling from war-torn Yemen killed four people in Saudi Arabia on Monday, authorities in the kingdom said. Three others were wounded and hospitalised after the incident in the Jazan region, the civil defence agency said on Twitter without giving details. Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government in its fight against Iran-backed rebels since March last year. Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes inside the kingdom's borders since a Riyadh-led coalition launched its campaign in Yemen Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File) The rebels have in recent days intensified cross-border attacks on the kingdom as peace talks in Kuwait have failed to achieve a breakthrough. Border clashes left a Saudi army officer and six soldiers dead on Saturday. On July 25, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar clashes. 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. US conducts anti-IS strikes in Libya after official request: Pentagon The US military conducted air strikes in Libya on Monday following a government request to target the Islamic State group's Libyan stronghold of Sirte, the Pentagon announced. While the Pentagon has carried out two previous air attacks on high-value IS targets in Libya, Monday's action marked the first US strikes in Sirte itself. "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using an acronym for the IS group. US warplanes took part in the 2011 military intervention in Libya Senior Airman Julianne Showalter (USAF/AFP/File) One strike destroyed an IS tank that been targeting civilians, and a second strike hit two IS vehicles that "posed a threat" to local forces, Cook said. US strikes in Sirte "will continue" in coordination with the GNA, Cook added without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorized the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes were "consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces," Cook said. "The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya," he said. Monday's action comes after a US strike targeted an IS training camp in a rural area near Sabratha, outside Tripoli, in February, likely killing an IS leader called Noureddine Chouchane and dozens of other jihadists. In November, a US strike killed Abu Nabil, another IS leader who was also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. A US senior administration official said US action would be limited to strikes and information sharing to support these, and that American troops would not take part in any ground operations to support the GNA. The official said precision strikes would target key IS military infrastructure such as tanks, high-caliber weapons and command and control nodes. Libya spiraled into chaos after longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted and killed in October 2011, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control vast energy resources. Exploiting Libya's power vacuum, IS jihadists established a foothold in Libya, especially in Sirte. The Pentagon estimates fewer than 1,000 IS fighters are in Sirte. South Sudan minister resigns, calls for regime change A South Sudanese minister and opposition figure resigned on Monday saying a peace deal designed to heal the troubled young nation was dead, while calling for President Salva Kiir's unity government to leave power. Lam Akol was agriculture minister in Kiir's administration and also announced he was quitting as longtime leader of the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party. "There is no more peace agreement to implement in Juba," Akol said at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Lam Akol, leader of the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party, says the regime in Juba "must change" Ashraf Shazly (AFP/File) "All of us agree that the regime in Juba must change," he added. Akol was the president's only serious challenger in a regional election held in 2010, the year before the semi-autonomous region known as Southern Sudan seceeded and gained full independence. He has also long opposed rebel leader Riek Machar, whose forces clashed in recent weeks with government troops loyal to Kiir. In December 2013, a skirmish in Juba between troops loyal to to Kiir and Machar degenerated into a ruinous civil war. The latest in a series of deals designed to end the conflict was signed in August 2015. It was under that agreement that Machar attained the position of first vice president and that 30 ministerial posts were distributed between the two and to other parties. Machar has not returned to Juba since fighting broke in early July, and a week ago Kiir named another member of his SPLM/A (IO) party to replace him as first vice president. On Monday Akol left open the possibility that he could join forces with Machar in some configuration after leaving his own party. "We are consulting as I speak how to organise so that the opposition to the government is consolidated," he said. Trump under fire over clash with hero's family Veterans groups and Republicans Monday savaged Donald Trump's war of words with the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier, the latest example of the presidential nominee making statements considered beyond the pale. The feud has shaken the US presidential campaign, becoming a flash point 99 days before the November election that pits the Republican against Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom Trump on Monday called "the devil." Criticism has poured in from outraged veterans groups, relatives of soldiers killed in action and even President Barack Obama. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen on day three of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016 Jim Watson (AFP/File) The episode has dominated US headlines since last Thursday, when Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the Republican nominee for having "sacrificed nothing" for the country. In an interview aired on ABC Sunday, Trump insisted he had made "a lot of sacrifices" while suggesting that Khan's wife, who stood silent on the convention stage as her husband spoke, had not been allowed to talk. On Monday, Trump renewed his assault, tweeting: "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same - Nice!" The families of 23 other slain US soldiers berated Trump for remarks they called "repugnant and personally offensive." "We feel we must speak out and demand you apologize to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments," they said in an open letter. Army captain Humayun Khan was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest US war veterans group, heaped scorn on Trump's "out of bounds" criticism of a fallen soldier's mother. "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," VFW leader Brian Duffy said. Trump broke precedent again on Monday, lambasting Clinton's nomination rival Bernie Sanders for giving in to her nomination, saying the Vermont senator "made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil. It's true." - Republican backlash - Trump's running mate Mike Pence attempted to walk back the billionaire's war of words with Khan Monday, telling an angry Air Force mother whose son is serving in the military that "Captain Khan is an American hero." "We honor him and honor his family as we do all Gold Star families," Pence told the woman in Carson City, Nevada, after she asked the vice presidential nominee how he could tolerate Trump's "disrespect." Few high-profile Republicans have backed Trump in his battle with the Khans. The mogul's sustained hostility toward the couple -- alarming partly because criticism of Gold Star families has traditionally been off-limits in American political discourse -- incensed Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war once mocked by Trump for being captured in Vietnam. "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr Trump's statement," McCain said in a lengthy and scathing statement. "While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," he added. Former 2016 White House candidate Jeb Bush blasted Trump's statements as "incredibly disrespectful," while the chairman of the Republican National Committee signaled he, too, was shocked by the billionaire. "I think this family should be off limits," Reince Priebus told CNN. - Ultimate sacrifice - With the two sides slinging criticism, Khan accused Trump of Islamophobia, assailing his "ignorance and arrogance," expressing exasperation on NBC that the provocative billionaire "can get up and malign the entire nation." Obama issued his own thinly veiled attack on Trump, telling a group of disabled veterans he was tired of some people "trash-talking" America's military and troops. "No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," the president said. Ghazala Khan, whom Trump questioned for standing quietly as her husband talked about their son, spoke out in Monday's Washington Post. "Without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain," she wrote. Trump scrambled to pivot away from taking on military families, tweeting Monday that the issue was "not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US. Get smart!" For months, Trump warned that the Democratic primary system was "rigged" against Sanders, but on Monday, he stoked distrust about the larger election. "I am afraid the election is going to be rigged. I have to be honest," he told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. A CNN poll Monday showed Clinton with a nine point lead over Trump, 52-43, reflecting a seven-point bounce in support after her party's convention. Meanwhile, a CBS News Poll found that six in 10 voters believe Trump is not prepared to be president, while 60 percent believe Clinton is prepared for the job. Clinton on Monday welcomed the endorsement of American billionaire and investment pioneer Warren Buffett, who joined her onstage in Omaha, Nebraska to berate Trump for not releasing his tax returns because he is being audited. "You're only afraid if you got something to be afraid about," Buffet told the crowd. "He's not afraid of the IRS. He's afraid because of you." 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) Donald Trump Laurence SAUBADU, Simon MALFATTO (AFP) With 14 local Zika cases, Florida asks for emergency aid Florida now has 14 people who likely contracted the Zika virus from mosquitoes in the Miami area, and the state needs emergency help from the federal government, officials said Monday. Governor Rick Scott announced 10 new cases of locally transmitted Zika, in addition to four made public by the department of health on Friday. The cases mark the first time the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and is considered particularly dangerous for pregnant women, is known to be spreading via local mosquitoes in the United States. Sharon Nagel, a Miami-Dade County mosquito control inspector, walks through the Wynwood neighborhood looking for mosquitos or breeding areas where she kills the mosquitos with larvicide granules or a fogger spraying pesticide Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File) Over 1,600 cases of Zika have been previously reported in the US, but most were brought by travelers who were infected elsewhere. The virus can also spread by sexual contact. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are expected to issue "a notice to women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to avoid unnecessary travel to the impacted area that is just north of downtown Miami," Scott added in a statement. Officials still believe the transmission is confined to a square-mile area north of Miami, a popular arts and restaurant district known as Wynwood. Scott asked for the CDC to dispatch an emergency team of specialists "to augment our response efforts to confirmed local transmissions of the Zika virus." Two of the 14 cases involve women and the rest are men. Funding for the Zika response has been a source of dispute among US lawmakers. President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February, but Republicans protested, saying the money should be taken from funds previously set aside for Ebola. Congress went on summer recess last month without approving any legislation for Zika funds. Nigerian inquiry censures army over killing of 347 Shiite Muslims A public inquiry on Monday accused the Nigerian army of killing 347 Shiite Muslims and dumping them in a mass grave in the northern city of Kaduna late last year. Two days of violence began on December 12 when Shiite worshippers attending a religious ceremony obstructed the convoy of Nigeria's chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai. "The Nigerian Army used excessive force," said the 193-page report seen by AFP. A man walks in the rubble of the destroyed religious centre of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), destroyed following two days of clashes with Nigerian soldiers in December 2015 Aminu Abubakar (AFP/File) In total 349 people were killed including one soldier and one Shiite worshipper who died later in custody. The commission, setup by the Kaduna state government, said those responsible for the killings should be prosecuted, confirming the conclusions of an earlier Amnesty International report. "The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings... with a view to prosecuting them," it said. Amnesty International accused the army of deliberately shooting dead the Shiite followers of pro-Iranian cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky, burying them in mass graves and destroying evidence of the crime. The military maintains that its soldiers acted according to the rules of engagement after the crowd attempted to assassinate Buratai. Zakzaky, who lost an eye and was left partly paralysed in the violence, has been held since December. Zika travel warning issued for Miami neighborhood: US Zika fears prompted US health authorities on Monday to issue a travel warning for a small section of Miami where local mosquitoes have spread the virus to 14 people, officials said. "We advise pregnant women to avoid travel to this area," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Tom Frieden, noting that the virus can cause the birth defect, microcephaly. The area to avoid is inside a one-mile section north of downtown Miami, a popular arts and restaurant district known as Wynwood. Miami-Dade mosquito control worker Carlos Vargas sprays to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae at a home in Miami, Florida, on June 8, 2016 Rhona Wise (AFP/File) Women who are pregnant and live in or may have traveled to the area since June 15 should talk with their doctor, Frieden added. Pregnant women in the area are also urged to use barrier protection during sex, or to abstain in order to lower the risk of transmission from a partner. He also recommended people use mosquito repellant, wear long sleeves, repair screens and drain any standing water to prevent the spread of the mosquitoes. "In Miami, aggressive mosquito control measures don't seem to be working as well as we would have liked," said Frieden. He said it was possible that mosquitoes are resistant to insecticides currently being used, or that they may have hidden breeding areas that haven't been found yet, or that this type of mosquito -- the Aedes aegypti -- is simply difficult to control. Frieden said most people with Zika do not show any symptoms. "Nothing that we have seen indicates widespread transmission but it is certainly possible there could be sustained transmission in small areas." - First local cases in US - On Friday, Florida officials announced the first locally transmitted cases of Zika in the United States with all four linked to the same area in Miami. Early Monday, Governor Rick Scott said the number of identified cases had jumped by 10 to 14. The cases mark the first time the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and is considered particularly dangerous for pregnant women, is known to be spreading via local mosquitoes in the United States. In Wynwood, there was no sign of panic. Merchants said they sensed no decrease in customers, while many tourists and residents learned of the outbreak because of the unusual presence of several news media in the heart of the Art District. "So much crazy stuff happens in the city I don't think people will freak out over it," said Michaela Castro, a 19-year-old student. Others simply said they knew but were not bothered by the news. Over 1,600 cases of Zika have been previously reported in the US, but most were brought by travelers who were infected elsewhere. The virus can also spread by sexual contact. - Emergency team en route - The CDC is sending an emergency team of specialists to help the Florida response, Frieden said. Two of the 14 cases involve women and the rest are men. At least six were not showing any symptoms but were identified during door-to-door surveys and testing. Frieden said the decision to issue a travel warning is an unusual measure for the continental United States. "We can find no similar recommendation in recent years," he told reporters on a conference call. A travel warning for the US territory of Puerto Rico was issued in January when Zika began to circulate there. According to the World Health Organization, 67 countries and territories have reported mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission since 2015. Brazil has been particularly hard hit, with more than 1,700 babies born with unusually small heads, a key feature of microcephaly. Frieden said that each child born with microcephaly can require $10 million in medical costs over a lifetime, but convincing people to take strong measures against Zika can nevertheless be a challenge. "The tragedy of a preventable case of a severe birth defect is something I think we have to make very clear to people," he said. "It is truly a scary situation but it is not immediately apparent to people that it is this kind of significant risk." Funding for the Zika response has also been a source of dispute among US lawmakers. President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February, but Republicans protested, saying the money should be taken from funds previously set aside for Ebola. Congress went on summer recess last month without approving any legislation for Zika funds. Miami-Dade mosquito control worker Carlos Vargas points to the Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae at a home in Miami, Florida, on June 8, 2016 Rhona Wise (AFP/File) Zika and microcephaly Vincent LEFAI, Jean Michel CORNU, Alain BOMMENEL, Philippe MOUCHE (AFP) Iraq minister accuses parliament speaker of corruption Iraqi Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi accused the parliament speaker and several lawmakers of corruption and blackmail on Monday, prompting the prime minister to order an investigation. The political row surrounding the defence minister comes as Iraq prepares for a drive to retake second city Mosul, the biggest operation yet in the country's war against the Islamic State jihadist group. Obeidi made the accusations as he appeared in parliament for questioning over corruption allegations brought by Alia Nasayif, a lawmaker whom the defence minister asserted was herself corrupt. A conflict between Iraqi Parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, pictured on May 27, 2015, and the country's Defence Minister reached a fever pitch when Obeidi accused Juburi of corruption Sabah Arar (AFP/File) The session broke down after Obeidi made the accusations, and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi then held a press conference denying them. Obeidi said that he was facing questioning as retribution for his rejection of corruption in connection with the supply of food for the military, saying that lawmaker Mohammed al-Karbouli was involved. Karbouli also sought to inflate the price of armoured vehicles, Obeidi said. And Obeidi said that a businessman had asked him in Juburi's presence to replace the head of the air force because he was "not cooperating with us." The minister also accused Nasayif of requesting that the ministry illegally transfer ownership of 127 properties that had belonged to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's regime. And he said that a former lawmaker told him that "we will shut up MP Hanan al-Fatlawi in exchange for $2 million," referring to a member of parliament who has been critical of the minister. Posts on Obeidi's official Facebook page generally outlined his accusations, including one that said he told parliament that Juburi was "involved in attempting to pass corrupt armament contracts". Another charged that Juburi and three lawmakers had sought to blackmail the minister "for the purpose of passing corrupt deals and contracts at the expense of Iraqi blood". - 'Theatre' - Obeidi later took to Twitter to make similar points, saying he had revealed the "names of MPs and politicians who practise acts of blackmail against him to pass corrupt contracts, among them the (speaker) of parliament." Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi responded by ordering Iraq's anti-corruption commission to investigate the allegations and to cooperate with a parliamentary investigative committee on the issue, his office said in a statement. "No one is above the law," the statement said. Following the session, Juburi held a news conference rejecting the accusations against him and the MPs. "Everything that was raised today is theatre" aimed at allowing Obeidi to avoid questioning by parliament, Juburi said. Corruption is widespread in Iraq's government, from senior officials to low-level functionaries, and while Iraqis have repeatedly demonstrated for change over the past year, little in the way of real reform has taken place. The latest parliamentary acrimony follows weeks of deadlock in the legislature over Abadi's efforts to replace the cabinet earlier this year. And it comes as Iraqi forces conduct operations to set the stage for an assault on Mosul, which has been held by IS jihadists since June 2014. UN prepares proposal on Western Sahara talks The United Nations is preparing a formal proposal to jumpstart talks on settling the decades-old conflict over Western Sahara, a spokesman said Monday. UN envoy Christopher Ross is ready to travel to the region to discuss the proposal on "re-invigorating the Western Sahara negotiating process," said spokesman Farhan Haq. "A formal proposal is being made to the parties and neighbouring states,' he added. After United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, pictured speaking on July 18, 2016, described the status of Western Sahara as an "occupation," Morocco reacted angrily and expelled dozens of staff from the UN mission in the territory Four rounds of UN-sponsored talks held between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which is campaigning for a referendum on self-rule, have failed to make progress since 2007. The UN Security Council nevertheless said in a resolution adopted in April that the parties must prepare for a fifth round. No date has been announced for Ross's trip, which follows months of strained relations between the United Nations and Morocco following Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to the region. After Ban described the status of Western Sahara as an "occupation", Morocco reacted angrily and expelled dozens of staff from the UN mission in the territory, known as MINURSO. Some of the UN personnel have been allowed to go back and discussions are continuing on the return of the remaining staff to allow MINURSO to operate fully. "It is his belief that he can return to the region at any time," Haq said of Ross' planned diplomatic mission. Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom despite UN resolutions that task MINURSO with organizing a referendum on self-determination. MINURSO was established in 1991 after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975 and fought Sahrawi rebels of the Polisario Front. The IS in Libya: key dates Key dates since the Islamic State group (IS) moved into Libya in 2014 amid the chaos that followed the ouster of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. On Monday, US warplanes carried out their first air strikes on positions in the IS bastion of Sirte. First jihadist attacks Members of a brigade loyal to Libya Dawn, an alliance of Islamist-backed militias, sit on a pick up truck mounted with a machine gun on March 15, 2015 in Libya's coastal city of Sirte Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File) - November 19, 2014: The US says it is "concerned" by reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to IS are destabilising eastern Libya, having already seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. - December 27, 2014: A car bomb claimed by IS explodes outside the diplomatic security building in Tripoli without causing casualties. - January 27, 2015: IS claims an attack on Tripoli's luxury Corinthia Hotel that kills nine people, including five foreigners. Since then IS has carried out multiple suicide attacks, including in February 2015 in Al-Qoba, near the eastern town of Derna, that killed 44 people and in January 2016 at a police school in Zliten, east of Tripoli, which killed more than 50. IS videos of killings - February 15, 2015: IS releases a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one Egyptian, that it says was filmed in January. Egypt carries out air strikes on IS in its then stronghold of Derna. - April 19, 2015: A new video shows the execution-style killing of 28 Christians originally from Ethiopia. Sirte seized - June 9, 2015: IS announces it has captured Sirte, hometown of Kadhafi, east of Tripoli. - July 12, 2015: The group acknowledges it has been pushed out of Derna after weeks of fierce fighting with the town's Mujahedeen Council. First US strikes - November 13, 2015: The US bombs IS leaders in Libya for the first time and says it killed Abu Nabil, an Iraqi also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. Libyan officials identify him as the IS chief in Derna. - February 19, 2016: A US air strike on a jihadist training camp near Sabratha, west of Tripoli, kills about 50 people. - February 24, 2016: Some 200 jihadists briefly occupy central Sabratha, before being ousted by militias. Offensive on Sirte - March 30, 2016: The head of Libya's UN-backed unity government, Fayez al-Sarraj, arrives in Tripoli, despite the hostility of rival authorities. - May 12, 2016: A vast offensive begins by forces loyal to the unity government to retake Sirte. - June 4, 2016: Unity government forces say they have retaken a jihadist air base south of Sirte. - June 9, 2016: Government forces enter the centre of Sirte and besiege the jihadists. - July 23, 2016: Loyalist forces say they have seized a building used by the IS to manufacture explosives. - August 1, 2016: Sarraj says the US has carried out air strikes on IS positions in Sirte for the first time, at the unity government's request. US launches first anti-IS air raids in Libya's Sirte US warplanes Monday carried out air strikes on positions of the Islamic State jihadist group in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte for the first time, the country's unity government announced. "The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... in Sirte," prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech. In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from Sarraj's Government of National Accord. A handout picture taken on July 31, 2016 shows members of forces loyal to Libya's unity government taking part in the military operations against the Islamic State group in Sirte "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS. Monday's action came after a US raid targeted an IS training camp in a rural area near Sabratha, outside Tripoli, in February and a targeted strike last November. One strike on Monday destroyed an IS tank that been targeting civilians, and a second hit two IS vehicles that "posed a threat" to local forces, Cook said, adding that US strikes in Sirte "will continue", without elaborating. President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the strikes are "consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces", Cook added. "The US stands with the international community in supporting the GNA as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya," he said. - 'No foreign presence' - The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake the IS bastion of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi which the jihadists have controlled since June 2015. Sarraj stressed that the US strikes took place in coordination with the military command centre of pro-GNA forces, and that no foreign troops would be deployed in Libya. "This has allowed our forces on the ground to take control of strategic positions," he said, adding that the American involvement would be "limited in time and will not go beyond Sirte and its suburbs". "We asked for this support from the international community, notably the United States, but we want to point out that there will be no foreign presence on Libyan soil." Italy, which has supported the anti-IS offensive in Sirte by providing medical care for seriously wounded GNA forces, said it welcomed the US strikes. "This took place on the request of the Government of National Accord, in support of forces loyal to the government, with the shared objective of contributing to the reestablishment of peace and security in Libya," the foreign ministry said. Italy has offered to lead an international peacekeeping force in Libya if the fledgling unity government requests such an intervention. A US senior administration official said Monday that US action would be limited to strikes and information sharing. - Precision strikes - Precision strikes would target key IS military infrastructure such as tanks, high-calibre weapons and command and control nodes. A Libyan military source told AFP that Monday's raids followed negotiations that led to a signed agreement. The accord covers "specific" technical issues, such as informing the Libyan side in advance of the time and location of US strikes. The fall of Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, would be a major blow to IS, which has also faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq. The battle for Sirte has killed around 280 pro-government fighters and wounded more than 1,500, according to medical sources at the unity forces' command centre. The GNA advance slowed after an unexpectedly rapid initial breakthrough into the Mediterranean city on June 9. There are between 2,000 and 5,000 IS fighters from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Mauritania deployed in Sirte, Tripoli and Derna, according to a report which UN chief Ban Ki-moon submitted to the Security Council last month. The pro-GNA forces are mostly made up of militias from western Libya established during the 2011 revolt that overthrew Kadhafi. A militia set up to guard the country's main oil facilities has also been advancing on IS. The GNA was the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement struck in December, but it has yet to be endorsed by Libya's elected parliament based in the country's far east. US air raids against Islamic State group in Libya Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq (AFP) Eyeing Trump, Obama slams 'trash-talking' of military President Barack Obama tore into those "trash-talking" the US military and disrespecting the families of fallen soldiers Monday, in a thinly veiled attack on Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump. "As commander-in-chief, I'm pretty tired of some folks trash-talking America's military and troops," Obama told a Disabled American Veterans convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump, who is vying with Democrat Hillary Clinton to succeed Obama, has called the US military a "disaster" and caused outcry by repeatedly disparaging the family of a slain Muslim American soldier. US President Barack Obama addresses the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans August 1, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Khizr Khan -- whose son Humayun was killed in Iraq in 2004 -- accused Trump of smearing Muslims and having "sacrificed nothing" himself. That met a barrage of criticism from the Manhattan real estate mogul, who claimed he was "viciously attacked." Trump's response has prompted outcry from fellow Republicans, who have praised so-called "Gold Star families" -- those who have lost loved ones in war. Democrats have been quick to seize on the comments as evidence Trump is ill suited to be commander in chief. "No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," said Obama. "Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine." Frank Ocean new album comes out of woodwork After months of suspense on Frank Ocean's long-awaited new album "Boys Don't Cry," the artist on Monday shared some news -- that he can saw wood. The mellow hip-hop star put on his website a mysterious livestream that appeared to show him doing woodwork next to two tables and amplifiers. Little else was clear about the livestream, which by afternoon showed the room was empty and the only sound was static. Artist Frank Ocean, pictured on February 20, 2013, put a mysterious livestream on his website that instead of announcing the release of his long-awaited new album, appeared to show him doing woodwork Ben Stansall (AFP/File) Fans on social media speculated about the meaning, with one theory being that Ocean was explaining that he was still working on the album. Ocean has revealed little about "Boys Don't Cry" other than the title. His website shows a library due-date card with a series of dates; the only future one is November 13, raising speculation that is the album's release date. Ocean won wide acclaim for his 2012 debut album "Channel Orange," which defies easy classification by bringing together R&B, jazz and funk with Ocean's gentle, often-falsetto voice. Much of the album revolves around feelings of first and unrequited love. Ocean later revealed that his first love was a man, a rare openness in the often macho world of hip-hop that led stars including Jay Z to applaud him for coming out. At least one sign was unambiguous on his website's livestream -- the logo of Apple Music, the streaming service of the tech giant. Apple Music has sought out exclusives as it tries to challenge streaming leader Spotify, although it was unclear if "Boys Don't Cry" will be among them. Canadian rapper Drake initially made his "Views," the top-selling album released this year in the United States, an exclusive on Apple Music and Apple's iTunes. Central Africa's president to hold talks with rebels The Central African Republic's president said Monday he would soon hold talks with rebel groups as he seeks to restore security after years of sectarian violence. "Either this week or next week, we will initiate an exchange with representatives of the armed groups, in order to clarify some points," President Faustin-Archange Touadera told local radio station Ndeke Luka. "There are many weapons in the country, a lot of banditry," said Touadera, adding that in parts of the impoverished nation "people cannot go to the fields". President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera looks on during his meeting at the European Union Council building in Brussels, on June 14, 2016 Thierry Charlier (AFP/File) Referring to a campaign dubbed the "DDR" (disarmament, demobilisation and social reintegration), Touadera said "the process must begin very soon". A total of 3,152 former fighters have registered in the DDR programme in the past year, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Central Africa said in late July. The Central African Republic descended into bloodshed between Christian and Muslim militias following a coup in March 2013 that ousted long-time leader Francois Bozize. Thousands died in the violence and more than 418,000 people remain displaced within the country. More than 480,000 refugees, a large number of whom are Muslim, have fled to neighbouring countries. Touadera was elected in a peaceful vote in February, helped by a 12,000-strong UN force. But the country has seen a resurgence of violence since mid-June. The UN Security Council on July 26 voted to task peacekeepers with supporting Touadera's government just as France prepares to end its military mission in the country, which involved nearly 2,500 French troops at its peak. Up to 30 people have been killed in the last 24 hours after rebel groups in the Syrian city of Aleppo fire shells over government-controlled neighbourhoods. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that among the dead were at least six children and eight women and that dozens were also wounded. The city's southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the Assad regime's own access route into the rest of the northern province. Up to 30 people have been killed in the last 24 hours after rebel groups in the Syrian city of Aleppo fire shells over government-controlled neighbourhoods Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods. It said nine people - among them three children - were killed on Monday and 11 people died in the attacks on Sunday. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of 'humanitarian corridors' from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that morphed into a brutal civil war. Meanwhile a former British international development secretary has said that Aleppo is the 'new Srebrenica' adding it will 'forever be a symbol of international shame.' Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell also accused the international community of having stood by while 'appalling slaughter' takes place in the country's second largest city. The United Nations believes between 250,000 and 275,000 people are trapped in besieged areas of Aleppo as it attempts to ensure aid reaches those in need. UN Security Council weighs trip to Sudan, South Sudan The UN Security Council is considering a visit this month to Sudan and South Sudan to push for a return to peace efforts after a flare up of violence in Juba, the council president said Monday. Malaysia's Ambassador Ramlan bin Ibrahim said a final decision on whether to go ahead with the visit will hinge on a security assessment. "The intention is (to visit) Sudan and South Sudan if the security situation enables us to undertake a visit," the ambassador told reporters. Makeshift graves at the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), in Juba on July 22, 2016 Charles Atiki Lomodong (AFP/File) "The situation in Juba has deteriorated and I think that the council visit could be very helpful in terms of implementing the peace agreement," he 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. Machar signed a peace deal with President Salva Kiir in August last year that has failed to take hold. Ibrahim, who holds the presidency in August, said the council would try "to see openings where we could persuade parties to abide by what was agreed." Diplomats said the visit could take place around August 15. On Friday the council adopted a resolution extending the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan until August 12, giving diplomats time to negotiate an arms embargo and authorizing a regional force for Juba. African leaders last week agreed to dispatch the intervention brigade to the capital to shore up the UN peacekeeping mission, but they asked the council to authorize the mission. Trampoline park injuries jump 12-fold as the trend spreads CHICAGO (AP) Trampoline park injuries have soared as the indoor jumping trend has spread. That's according to a study that shows annual U.S. emergency room visits jumped 12-fold for park-related injuries from over five years. Injuries included broken legs, neck sprains and concussions but 90 percent of the injured children and adults were treated and released. The study by researchers at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford was published Monday in Pediatrics . They analyzed a national injury database. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against children using trampolines at home or parks and says injury rates at trampoline parks should be monitored. THE NUMBERS In 2010, there were 581 ER visits for injuries from trampoline parks versus 6,932 in 2014. During those years, the number of parks multiplied from 25 to 350 nationwide. Last year, there were 460 in North America, mostly in the U.S., and another 220 around the globe, the industry says. Most trampoline injuries occur at home, not in indoor parks, and the researchers cite data showing that ER visits for home injuries were mostly stable during the study years, totaling about 60,000 each year. ___ WHO'S INJURED? Two-thirds of the trampoline park injuries were in kids aged 6 to 17, while about 1 in 5 were in ages 18 and up. Only 14 percent were younger than age 6, while that age group accounted for 30 percent of those injured on home trampolines. Injuries were most common in boys and whites. ___ INDUSTRY RESPONSE The International Association of Trampoline Parks says the rate of injury is very low less than one per 10,000 jumpers at a typical park. In a statement, the group said safety "is always a priority" and that it advocates supervision and protective padding. Many parks have padded walls. ___ Online: American Academy of Pediatrics' advice: http://bit.ly/2awIpvz ___ Five tourists have been killed while visiting Bolivia's famous salt flats after the vehicle they were travelling in flipped over. Police have confirmed that three were Belgian, one was Italian and one was Peruvian. Border Police commander Col. Rodolfo Salazar told the Associated Press on Sunday that the driver lost control of the vehicle as it sped on the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat and the main tourist destination in the country's south. Three Belgians, one Italian and one Peruvian have been killed at the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia when their tour vehicle flipped over (file photo, not actual vehicle) Police said that in addition to the five killed, three people were injured, and they were transported to a hospital 125 miles away. The accident took place on Saturday night about 86 miles south of La Paz, Bolivia. The Local.It reports that four of those killed were women, and that the vehicle 'was not speeding'. Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat and the main tourist destination in the country's south (file photo) Salar de Uyuni stretches 6,500 miles and the salt flats are even larger than Lake Titicaca, the vast stretch of water shared by Bolivia and neighbouring Peru. The South American geological wonder is so flat Nasa uses its surface to calibrate satellite orbits. As well as being stunning, the Salar also contains the highest concentration of lithium - vital for computer and phone batteries - in the world. Pope will let justice take its course on Pell allegations ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) Pope Francis told reporters Sunday he won't address child molestation allegations against a top Vatican cardinal who is one of his most-trusted aides until justice officials in Australia have made a determination. Francis said as far as he's concerned, accusations against Cardinal George Pell, Francis' top financial adviser, "are in the hands of justice." He said that the accused deserved the benefit of the doubt, adding that "once justice has its say, I will speak." "You can't judge before they decide. We must wait for justice and not make judgments ahead of time," the pope said. He was responding to a question posed by an AP reporter aboard the papal plane on a late evening flight to Rome after a pilgrimage in Poland about what would be the right thing to do in the Pell case. Pope Francis answers reporters questions on board the flight from Krakow, Poland, to Rome, at the end of his 5-day trip to southern Poland, Sunday, July 31, 2016. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP) Pell has long been dogged by allegations of mishandling cases of abusive clergy when he was archbishop of Melbourne and later Sydney. More recently, the prelate has been accused of child abuse himself when he was a young priest. Two men, now in their 40s, said he touched them inappropriately under the guise of play at a swimming pool during the late 1970s, according to Australian media, which reported the men have given statements to Victoria police. Separately, a businessman this week told Australia's public broadcaster, ABC television, that he saw the cardinal exposing himself to three young boys in a surf club changing room in the late 1980s. Pell was at the time a senior priest in Melbourne. Pell, 74, has denied any inappropriate behavior. The pope indicated he wouldn't weigh in on the accusations. "If I said something for or against Cardinal Pell that wouldn't be good." Francis cautioned against what he called doing "justice by gossip" concerning the allegations against Pell. In a long-distance video hookup from Rome, the cardinal testified in February about clerical sex abuse, telling an Australian inquiry that he should have done more when a boy raised abuse allegations against a cleric in the 1970s. Pell told the commission that the church had "mucked things up and let people down" and for too long had dismissed credible abuse allegations "in absolutely scandalous circumstances." But he also acknowledged that he too had made mistakes in often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse. "I must say in those days, if a priest denied such activity, I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial," he said. Pell led the Australian church until Pope Francis named him the Vatican's top finance manager in 2014. Pope: not right to talk about a 'violent, terrorist' Islam ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) Pope Francis on Sunday said he won't label Islam as "terrorist" because that would be unfair and not true. Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him home after a pilgrimage to Poland that began the day after extremists slit the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a French church, asked him why he never uses the world "Islam" to describe terrorism or other violence. While in Poland, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the "devastating wave" of terrorism in many part of the world. Pope Francis speaks to journalists on board the flight from Krakow, Poland, to Rome, at the end of his 5-day trip to southern Poland, Sunday, July 31, 2016. Francis announced that the next World Youth Day will take place in Panama in 2019. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP) Francis replied that "it's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true." He added: "I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group." "I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who kills his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law," Francis said, in apparent reference to crime news in the predominantly Catholic country of Italy. "And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence." Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: "I know how they think, they are looking for peace." As for the Islamic State group, he said it "presents itself with a violent identity card, but that's not Islam." ___ This story has been corrected to show that the quote should say "this man who kills his girlfriend." Pope Francis wears a sombrero from Panama which was donated to him by a journalist on board the flight from Krakow, Poland, to Rome, at the end of his 5-day trip to southern Poland, Sunday, July 31, 2016. Francis announced that the next World Youth Day will take place in Panama in 2019. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis answers reporters questions on board the flight from Krakow, Poland, to Rome, at the end of his 5-day trip to southern Poland, Sunday, July 31, 2016. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP) US Capitol plot suspect pleads guilty to 3 counts in Ohio CINCINNATI (AP) A man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group during President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address pleaded guilty Monday to three federal charges. Federal prosecutors dropped a fourth count and said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the Oct. 31 sentencing hearing for 22-year-old Christopher Lee Cornell. U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith cautioned Cornell that she could reject the plea agreement depending on the findings of a presentencing report. FBI agents arrested Cornell in the parking lot of a gun shop in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. They have said he planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs, then shoot people as they fled. This Friday, July 29, 2016, photo made available by the Boone County Jail in Burlington, Ky., shows Christopher Lee Cornell of Green Township in suburban Cincinnati. Cornell, accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group, has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after he previously pleaded not guilty to four charges including attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees. (Boone County Jail via AP) He was arrested Jan. 14, 2015, less than a week before Obama's scheduled address in Washington, which a federal terrorism task force detective said in court Monday was Cornell's intended timing for attack. Last year, Cornell told WXIX-TV that he wanted to shoot Obama in the head. Cornell's father had said his son was misled and coerced by "a snitch." Cornell's attorneys said Monday they would highlight the role of a government confidential informant at the sentencing hearing. Federal investigators said Cornell made an Internet post after his arrest in which he identified the man he believed he was the informant and added personal details about him. They said he also appealed for other fighters to join a violent "jihad." U.S. authorities have expressed deep concern over Islamic State militant efforts to recruit homegrown "lone wolf" terrorists. Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman praised the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Mangan, saying their investigation and the plea agreement were "important to protect the public." Glassman said the case underscored the need for the public to be alert to signs of potential conversions to support of terrorist groups. "As you can see, people can be radicalized just by Internet," Glassman said. "It can happen anywhere." Defense attorney Martin Pinales called Cornell "very fragile." Cornell has trimmed the long hair and beard he had when he was arrested and no longer insists on being called Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, which he had adopted as his name. "He has evolved. ... He has matured since his arrest," Pinales said. Cornell replied firmly with "yes ma'am" when the judge asked him questions about his decision to change his pleas. His hands and ankles shackled, he at times chuckled nervously, and Pinales put his hand on his back in a calming gesture. "We love Christopher very, very much and he has a lot of family and friends that support him," his father, John Cornell, said afterward. Cornell pleaded guilty to attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees, to offering material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and to a firearms-related charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and potentially up to a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors are dropping a count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Beckwith last year appointed Pinales and Candace Crouse to represent Cornell after a federal public defender asked to withdraw from the case. The same lawyers represented Michael Hoyt, a former Cincinnati-area country club bartender who was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge he threatened to kill then-Speaker of the House John Boehner. The attorneys filed a motion last November saying there was "reasonable cause to believe" Cornell was mentally incompetent. However, Beckwith ruled in April he was competent for trial after hearing testimony. ___ Associated Press writer Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati contributed to this report ___ Follow Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell PICTURED: Editor selections from the past week in Asia At least 19 people were killed last week in a knife attack at a facility for the disabled in a city just outside Tokyo in the worst mass killing in generations in Japan. The 26-year-old man accused of carrying out the attack had written a letter in February to parliament's lower house speaker, outlining what was similar to the bloody attack, and expressing his disturbing views. In other images from the Asia-Pacific region last week, Indian authorities tried to rescue thousands of people stranded in flooded villages after a week of heavy rain killed dozens and uprooted tens of thousands from their homes in the states of Assam in the remote northeast and Bihar in the east. Vast tracts of Kaziranga National Park, home to the rare one-horned rhino, were under water. In his first state of the nation address before Congress, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral cease-fire with communist guerrillas. But he lifted the cease-fire order five days later, after the rebels killed a government militiaman and failed to declare their own truce. In this July 29, 2016 photo, a diver performs with sardines as part of summer events at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea. The aquarium features 40,000 sea creatures from over 600 different species. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Indonesia executed four people convicted of drug crimes despite international protests and said it would decide later when as many as 10 others who got an unexpected reprieve are put to death. Relatives, rights groups and foreign governments had urged Indonesia to spare all 14 lives but it was unclear whether that had any influence on the decision to not carry out all the executions at once. ___ This gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editor Karly Domb Sadof in Bangkok. In this July 26, 2016 photo, a police car patrols at night in front of the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disables where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo. A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at the facility where he had been fired, officials said, killing 19 people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) In this July 30, 2016 photo, an Indian motorcyclist drives through a flooded street during a rainstorm in New Delhi, India. Indian authorities are trying to rescue thousands of people stranded in flooded villages after a week of heavy rains killed at least 52 people and uprooted tens of thousands of others from their homes in Bihar state in the east and Assam in the northeast. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) In this July 26, 2016 photo, a forest guard keeps vigil at the flooded Kaziranga National Park, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India. 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) In this July 25, 2016 photo, Filipino women activists perform during a rally of activists and supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte near the gates of the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines . President Duterte delivered his first State of the Nation Address July 25. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) In this July 27, 2016 photo, a man with a flower prays for the victims of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in front of a memorial wall at the Tangshan Earthquake Ruins Memorial Park in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province. Local people paid a visit Thursday, July 28 to the memorial park to mark the 40th anniversary of the devastating earthquake which killed more than 200,000 people. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT In this July 28, 2016 photo, an activist lights candles arranged around a poster containing the names of death row inmates who are facing imminent executions during a vigil against death penalty outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia rebuffed appeals from distraught relatives, rights advocates and foreign governments to abandon plans to execute the 14 people for drug crimes as preparations intensified at the prison island holding the inmates. Writings on the poster read: "Those who are about to be killed by the state" and "Jokowi (popular nickname of Indonesian President Joko Widodo), stop the executions!". (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) In this July 24, 2016 file photo, Kashmiris march shortly after a day long curfew in central Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. "Azadi," a Kashmiri word for freedom, and "India go home!" are long-time slogans. People shout them during street protests and spray paint them on walls, although Indian authorities often paint over them. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File) In this July 30, 2016 photo, an Indian policeman is seen through broken windshield of a vehicle during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Curfew was still in effect in parts of Indian-held Kashmir on Saturday, with shops closed across the region in response to a separatist call for a shutdown until Sunday amid outrage over the killing of a top rebel leader by Indian troops earlier this month. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Pilot was able to keep flying despite drunken-driving record LOCKHART, Texas (AP) The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas, killing 16 people, was able to keep flying despite having at least four convictions for drunken driving in Missouri and twice spending time in prison. Whether the pilot's drinking habits had anything to do with the crash was unclear. A former girlfriend described Alfred "Skip" Nichols as a recovering alcoholic. She said he had been sober for at least four years and never piloted a balloon after drinking. Nichols, who had been stripped of his driver's license at least twice, "couldn't drive a car but he could pilot a hot air balloon," said an attorney who represented a passenger who sued Nichols in 2013. The passenger said she was hurt when Nichols crash-landed a balloon in the St. Louis suburbs. This undated photo provided by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides shows Alfred "Skip" Nichols. Nichols was identified by friends and colleagues as the pilot of the downed hot air balloon, operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Investigators said the balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing Saturday, July 30, 2016, into a pasture near the Central Texas town of Lockhart. (Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides via AP) Had he been a commercial airplane pilot, Nichols probably would have been grounded long ago. The Federal Aviation Administration might allow a recovering alcoholic to fly commercial jets if the pilot could show that he or she was being successfully treated, said John Gadzinski, an airline captain and aviation safety consultant. But the agency is unlikely to accept an airline pilot with convictions for driving under the influence, he said. The 49-year-old Nichols also had a long history of customer complaints against his balloon-ride companies in Missouri and Illinois dating back to 1997. Customers reported to the Better Business Bureau that their rides would get canceled at the last minute and their fees never refunded. When pilots apply for a ballooning certificate with the FAA, they are not required to disclose any prior drunken-driving convictions, only drug convictions, said Patrick Cannon, a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of America trade group, who called that a loophole in the law. He noted that the ballooning certificate specifically says not to include alcohol offenses involving a motor vehicle, as those are covered on the FAA's medical application. However, unlike other pilots, balloon pilots do not have to get regular medical exams from FAA-certified examiners. They are only required to write a statement certifying that they have "no medical defect" that would limit their ability to pilot a balloon. Commercial plane pilots are required to fill out a form that includes questions on alcohol dependence or abuse and convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol. A member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Sumwalt, criticized what he called a "disparity" in the FAA requirements for balloon operators compared to plane or helicopter pilots. Nichols got his commercial license to pilot hot air balloons in Missouri in July 1996. His first drunken-driving conviction came in St. Louis County in 1990, followed by two more convictions in 2002 and a fourth in 2010, according to online court records. He was also convicted of a drug crime in 2000 and spent about a year and a half in prison before being paroled. He was returned to prison in April 2010 after his parole was revoked because of his drunken-driving conviction that year. He was paroled again in January 2012. After they receive a license, all pilots are supposed to notify the FAA within 60 days of a drug or alcohol conviction. However, Cannon said, there is no oversight of that reporting requirement for balloon pilots. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford could not yet say whether Nichols had made any such reports. If he had, according to the FAA's website, he could have lost his license. The former girlfriend, Wendy Bartch, said Nichols "did not fly when he wasn't supposed to. Having other people's lives at stake was Skip's primary concern." Nichols was identified as the pilot by his company, which has suspended operations. Authorities say the balloon, which was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture Saturday near Lockhart, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio. While there were patches of fog on the day of the flight, the ground crew said it was clear when the balloon took off, and there was no sign of any maintenance trouble with the balloon, Sumwalt said. Between late 1998 and 2001, the Better Business Bureau said it had received more than three dozen complaints against Nichols' Manchester Balloon Voyages, leading it to twice warn the public about the company. Customers complained that canceled rides cost them $70 to $700. In one case, a Catholic nun celebrating her 50th anniversary of service had lost $364 that she paid toward a ride for her and three friends. Then in 2008, after logging eight more complaints, the bureau issued a third warning about Nichols, who was then operating under the name of Air Balloon Sports. One complaint came from a woman who had paid $1,600 to take her family on a ride as a Christmas gift. The woman said Nichols would repeatedly cancel rides "even when the weather appeared calm and sunny," according to the bureau. In recent years, Bartch said, Nichols was "all about recovery. He became a different person." She described Nichols as lighthearted, a follower of the Grateful Dead whose dogs, Zappa and Joplin, were named after two of his favorite musicians. After she and Nichols broke up, she said, they remained friends, and she helped him move to Texas in 2014. In order to keep his St. Louis business going, he started offering flights in Texas in the winter when St. Louis was rainy and cold. FAA records indicate that the Texas company was involved in an accident with same balloon two years ago. On Aug. 3, 2014, the balloon made a hard landing in Kyle, Texas, when the pilot touched down abruptly to avoid striking a ground-crew vehicle that had been parked in the balloon's path. Two passengers were hurt. It was not clear if Nichols was the pilot on that day. In 2013, Nichols and his company settled a personal-injury lawsuit filed by the passenger who said she got hurt after the crash landing near St. Louis. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Carroll Brcic said she and her husband and son used a Groupon coupon to purchase a balloon ride with Nichols on July 13, 2009. They took off from a school near House Springs, Missouri. The family of three and five other passengers were in the air with Nichols when, the family contended, Nichols said he had run out of propane and the balloon began to fall. Nichols contended that the balloon began to drop because of a lack of wind. Because it was drifting toward power lines, he said, he made what he called a controlled landing amid trees. "He basically landed in the forest," Brcic's attorney, S. Lee Patton, said. "He called it a controlled landing. My client called it a crash." Patton said the balloon dropped suddenly in the final 20 feet. Brcic injured her neck and back. Her husband and son were unharmed. As part of the case, Patton said he learned from the Missouri Department of Revenue that Nichols' driver's license had been suspended for 10 years due to the 2002 drunken-driving conviction. In a 2013 deposition, Nichols said he received a second 10-year license suspension in Missouri in 2010. ___ Schmall reported from Fort Worth. Associated Press writers Reese Dunklin and Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Jim Salter in St. Louis and Joan Lowy in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. A crew hoists a bag holding the remains of a hot air balloon that crashed Saturday onto a waiting truck at the scene near Lockhart, Texas, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Sixteen people were killed in the incident. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman via AP) A crew hoists a bag holding the remains of a hot air balloon that crashed Saturday onto a waiting truck at the scene near Lockhart, Texas, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Sixteen people were killed in the incident. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman via AP) An impromptu memorial stands outside the home of Tresa and Joe Owens in Brookshire, Texas, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Family members told the Associated Press the couple died in the hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people on Saturday near Lockhart, Texas, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio. (AP Photo/John Mone) Officials work at the scene of a hot air balloon crash near Lockhart, Texas, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Sixteen people were killed in the incident on Saturday. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman via AP) A DPS trooper talks with men at a checkpoint near the scene of Saturday's hot air balloon crash near Lockhart, Texas, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Sixteen people were killed in the crash. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman via AP) This undated photo provided by Josh Rowan shows Matt Rowan and his wife Sunday Rowan. A hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines on Saturday, July 30, 2016, before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, including Matt and Sunday Rowan. (Josh Rowan via AP) This undated photo provided by Josh Rowan shows Matt Rowan and his wife Sunday Rowan. A hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines on Saturday, July 30, 2016, before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, including Matt and Sunday Rowan. The photo was not taken the day of the crash. (Josh Rowan via AP) Taiwan president apologizes to aboriginals for suffering TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Taiwan's president on Monday apologized on behalf of the government to the island's aboriginal peoples for 400 years of conquest and colonization, saying the facing of difficult historical facts was necessary for society to move forward. Tsai Ing-wen said her government wished to "take a further step" and offer its "fullest apology." "If we wish to declare ourselves as a country of one people, we need to face these historical facts. We have to face the truth. Most importantly, the government must truly reflect on itself and that is why I'm standing here today," Tsai said at a ceremony at the presidential office building in the capital, Taipei. In this June 29, 2016 photo, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen talks during a ceremony at the Gen. Andres Rodriguez school in Asuncion, Paraguay. Tsai on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016 apologized on behalf of the government to the island's aboriginal peoples for 400 years of conquest and colonization, saying the facing of difficult historical facts was necessary for society to move forward. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz) A "justice and historical justice commission" would be established to deal with the problems of the past, Tsai said. She was speaking on Taiwan's official aboriginal people's day before representatives of the island's 16 officially recognized native tribes. Taiwan was inhabited by a variety of tribes for thousands of years before Dutch colonizers began importing Chinese laborers in large numbers during the mid-17th century. The Dutch were expelled from the island by Chinese privateer Koxinga, whose successors were then defeated by the Manchu Qing dynasty as part of their conquest of most of China. It was loosely administered from the mainland until becoming a province in 1885 under foreign pressure and was made a colony by Japan in 1895. At the end of World War II, Taiwan was handed to Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China, whose government relocated to the island in 1949 after being driven from China by Mao Zedong's communist forces. Turkey navigates tense relations with key allies ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey summoned a German diplomat Monday over a court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany, while the top U.S. military official visited Ankara as Turkey navigated through increasingly strained relations with key allies. The government has expressed growing annoyance over what it sees as a lack of support from its allies in the European Union over its response to the failed July 15 coup, saying it expected solidarity rather than criticism for the widespread crackdown on those suspected of links to the coup plotters. The attempted coup left 271 people dead in a night of violence when renegade sections of the military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to try to overthrow the government. Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, left, and The U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford shake hands following a meeting in Ankara Turkey, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Dunford visited U.S. military personnel stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base Monday. He will later meet Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Turkey's Chief of Staff, Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was briefly held captive by the coup plotters during the putsch. (Hakan Goktepe/Pool Photo via AP) Erdogan has accused the United States of harboring Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and who the president says masterminded the coup. Ankara has demanded Gulen's extradition, but Washington is asking for evidence of the cleric's involvement and says the extradition process must be allowed to run its course. Gulen was once an Erdogan ally until ties soured several years ago. In a sign of efforts to shore up relations, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, visited Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was briefly held captive by the rebels during the coup, as well as with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Ahead of the meetings, U.S. joint staff spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks said Dunford would "deliver messages condemning in the strongest terms the recent coup attempt." Hicks said the general would also reaffirm "the importance of our enduring partnership for regional security," citing operations out of the Incirlik air base against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and Turkey's contributions to NATO and the fight against the Islamic State group. While in Ankara, Dunford was taken on a tour of the Parliament building, which was bombed during the night of July 15. At a small protest held near the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, demonstrators held up placards reading "Dunford go home, send us Fethullhah," and "Get out coup plotter Dunford." A statement from Yildirim's office said during talks, the Turkish prime minister told Dunford that his country wanted the U.S. to display its stance against the coup in a "clear and determined" way and renewed Turkey's expectation that Gulen and U.S.-based members of his movement be extradited to Turkey soon. The Turkish statement said that for his part, Dunford strongly condemned the coup attempt and said he was visiting Ankara in a show of solidarity with the Turkish government and people. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry summoned Germany's charge d'affaires in Ankara to discuss a German court decision that prevented Erdogan from addressing via video link a Sunday rally in the German city of Cologne denouncing the coup attempt and showing support for Erdogan. The court ruled that messages from speakers elsewhere, such as politicians in Turkey, could not be shown on a video screen at the rally, which was attended by about 30,000-40,000 people. A message from Erdogan was read out instead. Germany is home to roughly 3 million people with Turkish roots. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Germany's action was contrary to freedom of speech. Kurtulmus said German courts normally address cases very slowly, "yet the German Constitutional Court prohibited our president addressing the rally via teleconference in less than 24 hours. . This is a clear double standard." German officials insist there was no wrongdoing. "The decision not to allow the broadcast was absolutely OK and also lawful," German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Monday. Relations between the two countries have soured since the German Parliament voted June 2 to label the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide. European officials and human rights groups have expressed increasing concern with the Turkish crackdown, in which nearly 70,000 people have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in sectors including the civil service, education, the judiciary, health care and the media. Authorities say they are suspected of involvement with Gulen's movement, which runs schools, charities, hospitals and businesses across the world. More than 18,000 people have been detained, most of them from the military, while the government has issued decrees bringing the powerful armed forces more under civilian control. About 3,000 officers suspected of involvement in the coup or of links to Gulen's movement have been discharged from the armed forces since the failed attempt and Defense Minister Fikri Isik told CNN Turk television in an interview Monday that the purges from the military would continue. Isik said 311 military personnel believed to have participated in the coup were still on the run including nine generals. Turkey had also canceled this year's Aug. 30 Victory Day military parades because of the "extraordinary situation," the minister said. Kurtulmus said anyone associated with Gulen's movement would be purged from the public sector and his government "will show no mercy" toward suspects linked to the coup. "Citizens who don't have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear," the deputy prime minister said. "Sorry, but everything has a price." ___ Cinar Kiper in Istanbul and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed. Two men drive in a German made Volkswagen Beetle with a Turkey on the back, in Istanbul, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Turkey slammed a German court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany denouncing Turkey's failed July 15 coup, and summoned a German diplomat in protest. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, right, and U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford talk during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Dunford visited U.S. military personnel stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base Monday. He will later meet Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Turkey's Chief of Staff, Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was briefly held captive by the coup plotters during the putsch. (Hakan Goktepe/Pool Photo via AP) Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, center, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar talk during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Dunford visited U.S. military personnel stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base Monday. He will later meet Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Turkey's Chief of Staff, Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was briefly held captive by the coup plotters during the putsch. (Hakan Goktepe/Pool Photo via AP) A woman feeds the pigeons next to the Ortakoy Mosque in Istanbul, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Turkey slammed a German court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany denouncing Turkey's failed July 15 coup, and summoned a German diplomat in protest. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) In this grab made from video, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, center, inspects damage done to the parliament building during the coup attempt on July 15, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is visiting Turkey to address U.S. troops and meet senior Turkish military officials, in the most senior visit by an American official since last months failed coup attempt. The Pentagon said Gen. Joseph Dunford arrived in Turkey on Monday and delivered messages condemning the coup and stressing the importance of Turkeys contributions to the fight against the Islamic State group and as a NATO ally. (NTV via AP) Women wearing headscarves look out at the Bosphorus sea in Istanbul, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Turkey slammed a German court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany denouncing Turkey's failed July 15 coup, and summoned a German diplomat in protest. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Qusai Abtini (pictured) was killed in a missile strike while trying to flee from Aleppo in Syria A child actor who starred in a sit-com based in war-torn Syria has been killed in a missile strike trying to escape from besieged city of Aleppo. Qusai Abtini was a central character in the comedy 'Um Abdou the Aleppan' which first aired in 2014, taking a light-hearted look at life in the ravaged city. But the 14-year-old, who has been dubbed a 'little hero' by his fans, was killed when a rocket hit the car he was in as he tried to flee from the city. The sit-com featured a comic housewife who bickers with her husband with children playing all the roles. Fresh-faced Abtini played the husband and had become a local celebrity. It took place in one of the historic stone houses in the old city of Aleppo, besieged by government forces in one of the worst battlegrounds of Syria's civil war. The show was the first of its kind to be produced out of rebel-held parts of Syria. Aired in 2014 on a local Aleppo station, it was a light-hearted look at life in the war-ravaged city, finding comedy as it showed residents dealing with everything from cut-offs in electricity and water, to factionalism among rebels, to bombardments and violence. The child actors, even as they mimic characters of a traditional Aleppo neighborhood, provide a tone of innocence. But the tragic reality shattered that innocence earlier this month when Abtini was killed. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial centre of Syria with a thriving, unique culture but has now been torn to pieces by fighting, with whole neighbourhoods left in ruin. Tens of thousands in the city have been killed since the summer of 2012, when Aleppo split into rebel and government-held districts and the two sides turned on each other. In recent weeks, government forces have tightened their siege of rebel-held sections, trying to cut off the last escape routes. Days after Abtini's death, several dozen men marched through his home district in a symbolic funeral, waving opposition flags and chanting 'Qusai has gone to heaven. Bashar is the killer of my people.' Qusai Abtini (left) was a central character in the comedy 'Um Abdou the Aleppan' which first aired in 2014, taking a light-hearted look at life in the ravaged city The 14-year-old, who has been dubbed a 'little hero' by his fans, was killed when a rocket hit the car he was in as he tried to flee from the city 'Umm Abdou the Aleppan' aired in nearly 30 episodes, each about 10 minutes long, on the opposition station Halab Today TV. It was filmed in Aleppo, even as it was subjected almost daily to bombardment. In one outtake, three girls performing a scene jump at the sound of an explosion, then go on with their lines. Bashar Sakka, the director, said he cast children because children are the witnesses to 'the massacres committed by Assad against childhood.' The show is steeped in the atmosphere of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, taking place in the stone alleyways of one of its old neighborhoods, with the dialogue in the city's distinct accent of Arabic. The title character, Um Abdou, was played by a young girl named Rasha, while Abtini played her husband, Abu Abdou. Both show a talent for comic timing, playing a stereotypical traditional husband and wife. He's domineering and patriarchal. She's clever, ambitious and a bit ditzy, dealing with neighbouring families living on top of each other in close quarters. In one episode, the mother of a rebel fighter visits, looking to marry her son to Umm Abdou's daughter. Bashar Sakka, the director, said he cast children because children are the witnesses to 'the massacres committed by Assad against childhood' The sit-com was filmed in Aleppo, even as it was subjected almost daily to bombardment. In one outtake, three girls performing a scene jump at the sound of an explosion, then go on with their lines Over tea, Umm Abou tells her all her daughters are married to members of the Free Syrian Army, the comparatively secular rebel umbrella group. When she learns that the prospective groom is a 'mujahid' - an Islamic militant fighter - she slyly demands a high dowry to intentionally foil the negotiations. In another episode, Um Abdou decides with her girlfriends to form an all-female rebel faction. Abu Abdou teases her, saying, 'You want to go to the front lines when you're afraid of cockroaches.' Then he tells her there's a mouse under the couch and laughs as she jumps up and screams. Another scene has Abu Abdou going with rebels on a raid, but Um Abdou gossips about it to all her neighbors - and her husband comes back wounded from an ambush by government forces who learned of the planned attack. 'I wonder how everyone found out!' Umm Abdou muses. 'Qusai was a very talented boy,' Sakka told The Associated Press. 'We were looking for an intelligent boy,' he said from southern Turkey via Skype. 'We wanted him to be free with ideas, and without fear of Bashar Assad's regime and its ruthlessness.' Abtini was 10 years old when mass protests first erupted against the rule of President Bashar Assad erupted in March 2011. He became quickly entangled in the uprising, taking part in anti-Assad demonstrations, often sitting on his older brother's shoulders. He spoke in opposition videos, criticising Assad's government and describing Aleppo's destruction. At the same time, he acted in school plays. Afraa Hashem, his school's director, saw his talent and introduced him to Sakka. 'He was very ambitious. Once he moved from acting in plays to TV, his dreams broadened and worked on transforming what he was living through' into his performances, she said, speaking from Aleppo via Skype. After the TV series, Abtini had roles in local theater. Last summer, he played a rebel killed in fighting. As his mother weeps over his body, a man tells her: 'Be happy for him. He wanted martyrdom and got it.' During recent shelling, Abtini's home was hit and his father was wounded, left bound to a wheelchair. On July 8, Abtini's father decided to send his children out of Aleppo. But as the car Abtini was in made a run down the one road out of rebel-held parts of Aleppo, a missile struck it. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. Australian government considers appeal to extend majority CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia's razor-close election could end up in court, with the re-elected government on Monday holding out hope of extending its single-seat majority. The candidate whom Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative government hoped would deliver it a 77th seat in the 150-seat House of Representatives, Ewen Jones, conceded defeat Monday in his Queensland state electoral district of Herbert, a month after the July 2 election. But Jones said his Liberal National Party, which is part of Turnbull's coalition, should appeal the result, which was the closest of the election. The Court of Disputed Returns could give the seat to Jones or order a new election in Herbert. The party has until Sept. 17 to make its case. Jones lost his seat to center-left opposition Labor Party candidate Cathy O'Toole by 37 votes after 88,337 votes were counted, then recounted. "The decision on whether we mount a court challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns is a decision of the party, but I would be agreeing with it if we did take it to the Court of Disputed Returns," Jones told reporters. Turnbull on Monday confirmed that his government was considering appealing the result, but has declined to detail on what grounds. Treasurer Scott Morrison said potential grounds included complaints that soldiers based in Herbert were unable to vote because they were away on a military exercise. There were also complaints that some hospital patients were denied opportunities to cast ballots, he said. The court could give the seat to Jones if it found sufficient votes had been incorrectly tallied for O'Toole or wrongly disregarded as invalid because of mistakes on ballot papers. It could also order a new election in Herbert if enough eligible voters had been denied a ballot through some error by election officials. Turnbull's majority is made more precarious because the government is likely to appoint a speaker from its 76 lawmakers when Parliament sits on Aug. 30. The speaker can only vote to break a tie, which means the government can usually only rely on 75 votes in the House of Representatives. Paradox nation: Norway, a climate leader making money on oil STAVANGER, Norway (AP) Norway wants to get rid of gasoline-fueled cars, plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and spends billions on helping poor countries reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, it's pushing ever farther into the Arctic Ocean in search of more oil and gas. "We know there is a paradox," admits Vidar Helgesen, Norway's climate and energy minister. "We have been living well from oil and gas. But there is no country in the world that has done more to undermine the oil and gas industry than Norway." The mountainous Scandinavian country of 5 million people is torn between its ambition to be a global leader on climate change and the awareness that its wealth is linked to the world's dependence on fossil fuels. FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2014 file photo electric cars queuie in the bus lane, left, on the main road to Oslo. Norway wants to get rid of gasoline-fueled cars, plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and spends billions on helping poor countries reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, it's pushing ever farther into the Arctic Ocean in search for more oil and gas. (Lise Aserud/NTB Scanpix via AP, File) This apparent contradiction is particularly striking in Stavanger, Norway's oil capital. The west coast town is the hub of an offshore industry that has made Norway the world's eighth biggest exporter of oil and third biggest exporter of natural gas. Norway's $875 billion oil kitty is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, and hydrocarbons account for 40 percent of Norwegian exports. But very little of those fossil fuels are used at home. Like the rest of the country, Stavanger gets almost all its electricity from hydropower. And the streams of Teslas driven by oil workers through the streets of Stavanger attest to the rich subsidies the government has poured into the electric car market. E-cars have zero import duty, sales tax is a quarter less than for conventional vehicles and most roads are free. Some 29 percent of new cars sold in Norway are electric or hybrid. The government in June introduced a target of 100 percent by 2025. Helgesen says Norway's example is spreading around the world, with once-skeptical car manufacturers investing in green technology and speeding the transition away from hydrocarbons. In June, lawmakers forced through a commitment for Norway to become carbon neutral by 2030 some 20 years ahead of schedule. Norway is also one of the most generous donors to international initiatives to maintain rainforests, which help fight climate change by absorbing some of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels. It has already spent $1 billion saving trees in Brazil and is committed to spend up to $350 million a year preserving trees in places like Indonesia and Guyana. But Norway is accused of environmental hypocrisy, grandstanding overseas with environmental projects while allowing its domestic oil and gas industry to pump ever larger quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. Plans for carbon neutrality involve buying credits for helping reduce emissions abroad. In fact, Norway was one of the few Western countries to see a rise in domestic carbon emissions in 2015. That was mainly due to the fact that its aging North Sea oil fields require ever more energy to tap depleting reservoirs. "The plan has always been to buy carbon credits to allow us to continue polluting as a country," says Lars Haltbrekken, chairman of the Norwegian chapter of Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group. "That is why we don't think carbon neutrality is the most important factor in combatting climate change," he says. "We can buy credits in developing countries. It doesn't require us to reduce emissions here in Norway." A tougher European Union scheme will set emissions reduction targets within the next two years. But Norway, which is not an EU member, will still be able to trade emissions credits with European neighbors to reach its reduction quota. Meanwhile, environmental activists bristle at exploration permits handed out to 13 oil companies in May to drill in a new area of the Norwegian Arctic. Critics say the technology to safely explore in such remote areas is not properly tested and claim plunging prices make Arctic oil unaffordable without hefty Norwegian subsidies. While companies pay 78 percent tax on hydrocarbons they produce in Norwegian waters, they can claim back the same amount on costs for exploration. "We absolutely regard this as a subsidy," says Ellen Viseth, a political advisor at the Bellona environmental group. Viseth says the Barents Sea north of Norway is already one of the most expensive places in the world to produce oil. "The price and the risk make it uneconomical," she says. "But the Norwegian government is heavily supporting the oil and gas industry. The oil companies don't take much of a risk but their upside is huge." Norway's state-owned energy company Statoil scooped up the largest share of exploration rights in the latest licensing round. Chevron and ConoccoPhillips also secured permits. In June, Norway became one of the first countries to ratify last year's Paris Agreement on climate change, which seeks to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) compared with pre-industrial times. Haltbrekken says that any Norwegian contribution to this target that does not involve a reduction in oil and gas is empty. Helgesen disagrees. "We are living in a time of tremendous energy transformation," he says. "We want to play a part whether it is in electrification, bio-energy, hydropower, or any other green energy. But Norway has the cleanest hydrocarbons anywhere in the world. And as long as the world needs oil and gas, we will provide it." FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2016 file photo, a supply ship at the Edvard Grieg oil field, in the North Sea. Norway wants to get rid of gasoline-fueled cars, plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and spends billions on helping poor countries reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, it's pushing ever farther into the Arctic Ocean in search for more oil and gas. (Hakon Mosvold Larsen, NTB scanpix via AP, File) A general view of Oil company Statoil's head quarter in Fornebu, on the outskirts of Oslo, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. Norway wants to get rid of gasoline-fueled cars, plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and spends billions on helping poor countries reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, it's pushing ever farther into the Arctic Ocean in search for more oil and gas. (Lise Aserud/NTB scanpix, via AP) Central California homes threatened by 2 major wildfires BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) Crews contended with blistering temperatures Monday as they tried to beat back a wildfire that burned rural homes and forced hundreds of evacuations in California's Central Valley, while cooler weather gave firefighters a break as they battled a 10-day-old blaze on the coast. The newer fire northeast of Fresno damaged some of the 400 homes that were evacuated just outside the Sierra National Forest, but it was not yet clear how many, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Meanwhile, a wildfire north of scenic Big Sur near the Central Coast held steady at 62.5 square miles, state fire officials said. Firefighters got help from a low marine layer that brought a spike in humidity and dropped temperatures into the 60s and 70s. A helicopter flies in to make a water drop while fighting a wildfire on a ridge above Rancho San Carlos in Carmel Valley, Calif., Saturday July 30, 2016. Fire officials say a wildfire burning near California's dramatic Big Sur coast has destroyed dozens homes and is threatening over a 1,000 more. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT The blaze that broke out July 22 has destroyed 57 homes and is threatening 2,000 additional structures. It was less than 20 percent contained Monday. A bulldozer operator working the fire lines was killed last week in a rollover accident in steep, forested ridges. The fire, which is about the size of San Francisco, also has scared away tourists. They are canceling bookings after officials warned that crews will likely be battling the flames for another month. About 200 miles to the northeast, hundreds of dead trees fueled the central California fire amid triple-digit temperatures and low humidity that was expected to last for several days. Residents of the rural area surrounded by rolling hills told reporters that they scrambled to evacuate with their animals as the wind-driven blaze swept through dry slopes. "We watched it explode, coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger," Dana Bays told KFSN-TV. The nearly 3-square-mile blaze started Saturday afternoon in steep, rugged terrain. It was 15 percent contained Monday, Cal Fire said. Further south, crews had nearly surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze on the outskirts of Los Angeles that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. It comes 10 days after the fire broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest, officials said. Authorities have not determined the cause. Timber faller Jeff Turpin hikes up a hillside with his chainsaw while cutting a fire break for a wildfire in Carmel Valley, Calif., Saturday July 30, 2016. Fire officials say a wildfire burning near California's dramatic Big Sur coast has destroyed dozens homes and is threatening over a 1,000 more. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Timber faller Jeff Turpin hikes up a hillside with his chainsaw in while cutting a fire break for a wildfire in Carmel Valley, Calif., Saturday July 30, 2016. Fire officials say a wildfire burning near California's dramatic Big Sur coast has destroyed dozens homes and is threatening over a 1,000 more. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Historic Maryland town faces long recovery after flooding ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) The picturesque main street of Ellicott City quaint with brightly colored storefronts was in shambles Monday, two days after a catastrophic storm ripped through town, shattering glass windows, swallowing cars, demolishing structures and devouring their foundations. Severely damaged were antique shops, restaurants, a toy store and a beloved bar steps from the Patapsco River that local officials say opened their doors to feed rescue crews who responded to a fatal train derailment, the small city's last disaster. This disaster though, was different: The magnitude of the storm threatened to wash away the historic boulevard, leaving behind waterlogged remnants of what stood there before. Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) The storm claimed the lives of two visitors, Jessica Watsula and Joseph Blevins, whose cars were swept into the Patapsco River's raging waters. As the rain fell and the waters rose, residents rushed into harm's way to rescue each other. One group formed a human chain to save a trapped motorist; Jonathan Butkus, 37, raced into the waist-deep water and carried a teenager out of a car on his shoulders. "It was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my entire life," he said. "On Sunday, I woke up shaking. We could have all died. It was like Armageddon." Butkus lives on Main Street, above a carpet shop, and said that about 7:30 p.m. Saturday water began rushing through his back door with alarming force. When he went downstairs, he found the streets flooded. Cars, he said, "were like napkins blowing in the wind." When he noticed a teenager stuck in a car he immediately jumped into the water and raced toward him. "It was a fight or flight situation; I didn't even think about it." As he ran back across the street, debris was rushing toward them, he said. "It was like a warzone." Watsula cried, "God help us!" moments before she was lost to the flood waters, her brother said Monday. In a telephone interview, Curtis Brubaker relayed his wife's Christina's account of the ordeal. He said she and two other family members were with Watsula but survived. Brubaker, of Dover, Pennsylvania, said Watsula had left her 10-year-old daughter Sarah with him while she went to dinner Saturday with Christina, Brubaker's mother-in-law and his sister-in-law. He said Christina told him the women left the restaurant during a downpour and got into Watsula's Ford Focus compact car. Within seconds, a wave up to the car doors started pushing it down the street, Brubaker said. He said Christina told him the women climbed out of the car and grabbed a utility pole but Christina couldn't hold on. "My wife said the last thing she heard was my sister saying, "God help us! God help us!" Brubaker said. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan toured the damaged area Sunday along with Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman and U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who has an office in the town. Hogan declared a state of emergency, which will allow greater aid coordination and assistance. "No one has ever seen devastation like this in Ellicott City or anywhere in Howard County," Kittleman said. "There are a lot of businesses that are going to be hurting for a long time. There are a lot of people that lost their apartments and their homes." On Monday construction crews crowded Main Street, using cranes to clear debris. A tree had fallen directly into one store, bisecting it. A hair salon's display window remained intact, with rows of shampoos and conditioners and a sign advertising ammonia-free hair color. But below the floorboards, its foundation had been entirely demolished. The sign hanging above Joan Eve Classics and Collectibles antique shop was in pristine condition, but the shop itself had been ripped apart; on Monday, a giant slab of brick lay across a chunk of concrete, the entryway and walls crumbled to the ground. Just outside, a massive hole had opened up in the sidewalk. Three colorful bird and butterfly mobiles hung from the rafters outside of the Forget Me Not Factory hobby shop down the street, where a cherubic fairy with pink, purple and mint green wings clutched a magic wand on its painted sign. But the doors were flung open to expose a mud-caked floor and the shop's contents toppled, broken and strewn across the store. Johnny Breidenbach, the owner and chef of Johnny's Bistro on Main, said he closed his restaurant about 7:30 Saturday night, before the worst of the flooding, and he hadn't been able to get back there to assess the damage. "They told me that the door was totally ripped away from the hinges, and I don't know how much water I have inside," Breidenbach told The AP by phone Sunday. He said Ellicott City would recover eventually, but some business owners may not be able to wait long enough to reopen. "I could be one of those people," he said. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski toured the affected area Monday and said she and Hogan are working together to apply for federal funds for individuals, business and the local government. The acts of bravery during the storm, she said, "took my breath away." Ellicott City was established in 1772 as a mill town along the Patapsco, and many 18th and 19th century buildings were still intact before Saturday's floods. Once a home to mill workers, in recent decades it has become known for restaurants, art galleries, antique shops and nightlife. Main Street slopes dramatically toward the river and has long been susceptible to flooding. Kittleman did not say how many of the businesses had flood insurance, but Megan Clark, who owns a toy store on Main Street, said she decided against purchasing a policy because it would have cost her $300 a month. "Flood insurance was just insane down here," she said. "Fifty percent of the owners probably didn't have insurance, so it's going to be left to whatever we can come up with together to help everyone get back in their stores." Ed McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, said officials won't have a comprehensive damage estimate until building inspectors say damaged structures are stable enough for closer examination. On Monday evening, Kittleman hosted a packed community meeting to share resources with residents who suffered damage. He pledged to develop a master plan to prevent future flooding disasters. "I don't think anything could have stopped this tragedy," he said, "but, as you know, we have flooding. Now, unfortunately, in some ways, it's an opportunity for us to make some changes." ___ Writer David Dishneau contributed reporting from Hagerstown, Maryland. This 2013 photo provided by the University of Baltimore shows in his office at the University of Baltimore. Blevins, director of financial aid at the school, died in a flash flood in Ellicott City, Md., Saturday, July 30, 2016. (University of Baltimore via AP) This undated photo provided by the Universal Church Directories shows Jessica Watsula and her daughter Sarah. A catastrophic storm Saturday, July 30, 2016, that ripped through Ellicott City, Md., claimed the lives Jessica Watsula and Joseph Blevins, whose cars were swept into the Patapsco River's raging waters. (Universal Church Directories via AP) Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Maryland is seen Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along Main Street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Maryland is seen Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along Main Street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Criticism grows for Trump's assailing of Muslim vet's family WASHINGTON (AP) Angry and anxious, Republican lawmakers and veterans groups hastened to disavow Donald Trump's repeated criticism of a bereaved military family Monday, but the GOP presidential nominee refused to back down. He complained anew that he had been "viciously attacked" by the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war, led the charge, saying Trump did not have "unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation's oldest and largest veterans organization, called Trump out of bounds for tangling with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in 2004. "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," VFW leader Brian Duffy said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall campaign event, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio . (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Democratic President Barack Obama chimed in, too, addressing the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He said of families who have lost family members in the military service: "No one has given more to our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families. ... They represent the very best of our country." A growing chorus of GOP lawmakers chastised Trump for sparring with the Khans, who appeared at the Democratic convention on behalf of Hillary Clinton. But like McCain, none revoked his support of the GOP nominee in the White House campaign. In an emotional appearance at last week's convention, Khizr Khan criticized Trump for proposing to temporarily freeze the entry of foreign Muslims into the U.S. and accused him of making no sacrifices for his country. The billionaire businessman challenged that assertion and also implied Ghazala Khan's religion prevented her from speaking. On Monday, he tweeted that "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same." In his first rally after the controversy blew up, Trump spoke at length and took several questions at a town hall rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday never once mentioning the Khans. Nor did he mention them at a Monday night rally in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. But when asked about Khizr Khan on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," Trump responded, "I guess it's part of my life." "His son died 12 years ago," Trump added. "If I were president, his son wouldn't have died, because I wouldn't have been in the war, if I was president back then." His running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, was confronted at an event in Nevada by a woman who said her son serves in the U.S. Air Force. The woman asked Pence how he can tolerate what called Trump's constant disrespect of American service members. As the crowd jeered the woman, Pence tried to quiet them down. He called the Khans' son "an American hero" and said, "We cherish his family." For some of Trump's allies, the dispute is just the latest example of a troubling pattern: The real estate mogul hitting back at perceived slights or insults, regardless of the political implications. He has stunned rivals with his ability to survive self-created controversies during the GOP primaries but faces a broader set of voters in the general election. Indeed, some Republicans said privately that it was the timing of this flare-up that had them on edge the spectacle of their candidate tangling with a military family just three months before Election Day. McCain was among several lawmakers many facing re-election this fall who distanced themselves from Trump's comments Monday. Rep. Mike Coffman, a vulnerable Republican in a competitive Colorado district, said he was "deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war." Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt said, "My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton." Trump advisers have spent months trying to help the political novice do just that. Aides say Trump often professes to understand the risks of fueling a controversy, but he can get drawn back. "It's just who he is," said Stuart Jolly, a former campaign staffer and current national political director for the pro-Trump Great America PAC. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has advised Trump, said, "He'll have to learn to grow out of it." While Trump and his allies often blame the media for keeping controversies alive, the businessman himself often fans the flames. After winning the primary, he spent days criticizing a U.S. district court judge's Mexican heritage. He also refused to disavow a campaign tweet about Clinton that appeared to feature the Star of David. In spite of those storms, Trump remains in a close race for the White House with Clinton. And few Democrats appear ready to declare Trump's criticism of Khan a turning point. Democratic pollster Paul Maslin said that while "ninety-nine percent of me says this is devastating for Trump," Clinton backers can't assume that another few days of bad headlines will sink a candidate who "simply defies all natural laws of American politics." Thursday night, the Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told the story of his son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, and questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution. During the speech, Ghazala Khan stood quietly by his side. Trump responded in an interview with ABC's "This Week," saying: "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say." Asked Monday on MSNBC if Trump should apologize, Ghazala Khan said, "I don't want to hear anything from him and I don't want to say anything to him." ___ Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Bill Barrow, Jonathan Lemire and Scott Sonner contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC The tombstone of US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan is seen in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Fellow Republicans are joining the rising chorus of criticism of Donald Trump for his disparagement of the bereaved parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was awarded a Bronze Star after he was killed in 2004 in Iraq. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) FILE - In this Thursday, July 28, 2016 file photo, Khizr Khan, father of fallen US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan and his wife Ghazala speak during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because they are Muslim. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Two different visions of America emerge from conventions 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 of 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 shape 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. ___ What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz ____ Associated Press writers 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 Obama: Strides on helping veterans but more work to do ATLANTA (AP) President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. has made serious strides in improving services for military veterans, but work remains to overcome shortcomings in the delivery of health care, housing and mental health services. He called the nation's commitment to its veterans a "sacred covenant." "I don't use those words lightly. It's sacred because there is no more solemn request than to ask someone to risk their life, to be ready to give their life on our behalf," Obama said at the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans. President Barack Obama speaks at the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) It was Obama's final major address to a gathering of veterans before he leaves office in January after eight years as president. He was greeted with a rousing welcome, including cheers and a standing ovation. Obama said the Department of Veterans Affairs has hired more doctors, nurses and staff and opened more clinics since the recent scandal over long wait-times for VA services, the demand for which keeps growing as more veterans come into the pipeline. Benefits are available to more than 2 million veterans who didn't have them before, he said. Services are reaching more veterans, including those who live in rural areas through telemedicine. Homelessness has been cut nearly in half, by 47 percent, though still far short of the president's long-held goal of reducing it to zero. More veterans are finding jobs. More than a half-million veterans have donated their health and genetic data to a research database that Obama said eventually will benefit not just former military members, but all Americans. But shortcomings remain, Obama said. He cited mental care for veterans, including the 20 per day who commit suicide. Quicker processing of disability claims and appeals is also needed. A staggering backlog of disability claims has been whittled from more than 600,000 three years ago to below 80,000, but some 450,000 appeals are pending. Veterans wait an average of three years for a decision, which the White House called "unacceptable." Obama called on Congress to pass legislation to overhaul the system. Care for America's veterans is a top issue in the presidential campaign, with the nearly 21 million veterans in the U.S. making up a critical voting bloc. Republican Donald Trump has repeatedly blasted the VA under Obama; Democrat Hillary Clinton has been less harsh. Both candidates promise to overhaul the department, including its health care system. Trump has proposed allowing veterans eligible for VA health care to take their ID cards to any doctor or facility that accepts Medicare. Clinton would make changes to the existing system. Despite the problems, demand for VA health care grew 13 percent in the past year, said DAV Executive Director Garry Augustine. "We know that even though the access is a problem, health care in the VA is very good," Augustine said in an interview. The health care side "remains to be fixed," Augustine said. A congressionally mandated commission recently concluded that the department continues to have "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to veterans. VA already has been making changes in line with the commission's recommendations, including helping more veterans get care outside the VA. Augustine said he'd like to see VA establish an approved network of private doctors who know how to treat veterans. He also expressed concern, shared by the White House, over a backlog of appeals but said that overall, veterans appreciate the support they have received from Obama. Among other issues, Augustine cited increased spending on veterans, expanded and better health care for female veterans, tax credits for hiring veterans and strides toward reducing veterans' homelessness. ___ Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap President Barack Obama waves as he concludes his speech at the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Koch network focuses on Senate, turns away from Trump COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has declared that his expansive political network would not support Donald Trump, questioning whether the Republican presidential nominee believes in free markets. During an exclusive gathering with some of the nation's most powerful Republican donors Sunday, the 80-year-old conservative icon also dismissed as "a blood libel" any suggestion he might support Democrat Hillary Clinton. "At this point I can't support either candidate, but I'm certainly not going to support Hillary," Koch told hundreds of donors gathered for a weekend retreat in a luxury hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. FILE - In this photo May 22, 2012 file photo, Charles Koch speaks in his office at Koch Industries in Wichita, Kansas. Billionaire industrialist and conservative benefactor Koch is hosting hundreds of the nation's most powerful political donors this weekend in Colorado. The exclusive gathering at the foot of the Rocky Mountains is open to donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to Koch-approved groups. The Koch network has avoided supporting Donald Trump's presidential campaign so far. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP, File) With Election Day just three months away, Koch and his chief lieutenants openly refused to support the Republican presidential nominee, focusing their tremendous resources instead on helping the GOP win competitive Senate contests in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Details on Koch's decision emerged Sunday, the second day of a three-day gathering for donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners a network of education, policy and political entities that aims to promote a smaller, less intrusive government. The ambitious Koch network has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to influence politics and public policy over the last decade. The network planned to invest heavily in the 2016 presidential contest, but sharply changed its course after Trump became the Republican standard-bearer. The decision was welcomed by many of the 400 donors who attended the weekend retreat, even though "a reasonably significant" number of attendees wanted the Koch network to support Trump, said Chris Wright, a Colorado-based energy entrepreneur. "Terrible and truly awful are the two choices," Wright said, suggesting that even if he voted for Trump in November and that's not decided he wouldn't go any further. "We're not going to give any money to support Donald Trump," Wright explained. Timothy Busch, a California-based donor, said he'd vote for Trump but do nothing more on his behalf. "He doesn't have enough civility and he's not a man of humility," Busch charged, citing specific complaints about Trump's positions on immigration and trade. Charles and David Koch have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but usually in private. A few of reporters, including one from The Associated Press, were invited to attend some of the forums. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any donors without their permission. Koch addressed the presidential contest in a general way on Sunday when reporters were present, but went further during a closed-door meeting later in the day. He outlined two primary criteria for deciding whether to support a candidate, Wright said: whether the candidate would "believes in and will fight for free markets" and whether he or she has a viable chance to win. Both Clinton and Trump failed the first test, Wright said. With reporters on hand, Koch described his first priority as "to preserve the country's financial future and to eliminate corporate welfare." "Since it appears that neither presidential candidate is likely to support us in these efforts," he said, "we're focused on maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will." Trump has been embraced by many Republican voters, but David and Charles Koch have deep policy differences. The libertarian-leaning Koch brothers oppose Trump's position on immigration, trade, minimum wage and criminal justice reform, among others. The day before, Trump thumbed his nose at the Koch gathering from Twitter. "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch," the New York billionaire tweeted. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!" The weekend's agenda featured a series of policy discussions and appearances from at least three governors, four senators and four members of the House of Representatives, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Asked about the Koch decision not to endorse Trump, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said, "I certainly respect their point of view on this." "I don't endorse everything about him. I certainly don't endorse everything he says," Walker told The Associated Press during a brief interview. But "In the end, choosing between the two, I still believe that any Republican including Donald Trump is better than Hillary." Koch has put the network's budget at roughly $750 million through the end of 2016. A significant portion was supposed to be directed at electing a Republican to the White House. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida. "To address the current political crisis, our first objective is to stop the worst federal policies regardless of who is the next president," Koch said. "We've got to remember that Republican presidents advance a lot of bad policies, just like Democrats do." ___ Israel nabs Palestinian security officer for weapons dealing JERUSALEM (AP) The Israeli military says security forces have arrested a "major weapons dealer" who is a member of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank. The military says it arrested Mahayub Borhan Rashad Knaza in the West Bank city of Nablus early on Monday and confiscated weapons manufacturing equipment. Recent Israeli raids have seized weapons, shuttered arms-making factories and arrested weapons dealers as part of a crackdown meant to quell a spate of Palestinian attacks. The military says seven weapons-manufacturing machines were seized this year in the Nablus area. Rogue ex-UBS trader says he was pressured to take risk LONDON (AP) A former UBS trader jailed for fraud has warned that former colleagues are at risk of the same behavior because of the pressures to make money. Kweku Adoboli apologized for mistakes that led to losses of 1.4 billion pounds for the bank. But during an interview with the BBC broadcast Monday, he says it could happen again. The 36-year-old trader convicted in 2012 says that ex-colleagues are "struggling with the same issues, the same conflicts, the same pressures to achieve no matter what." Prosecutors say Adoboli, who was released last year, racked up huge losses and then faked records to cover his tracks. It was described as Britain's biggest-ever bank fraud. Air France warns of flight cancellations due to strike PARIS (AP) Air France has warned about potential last-minute flight cancellations and delays due to a seven-day strike by cabin crew. The company has cancelled 5 percent of its long-distance flights Monday, less than in previous days. Air France plans to operate 80 percent of domestic flights and European flights to and from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport. FILE - This Thursday, June 13, 2013 file photo shows Air France planes parked on the tarmac at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, France, during an air traffic controllers strike. Air France has cancelled 10 percent of its long-distance flights Friday due to a strike by cabin crew amid mass departures for summer vacation. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File) China restates sovereignty claims amid S. China Sea tensions BEIJING (AP) A look at some recent key developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest key developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. In this Sunday, July 31, 2016 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan addresses a reception held by the Ministry of National Defense to celebrate the 89th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing. China has reiterated its commitment to defending its sovereignty amid new tensions over its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea. Chang told the reception on Sunday that China would firmly safeguard its "state sovereignty, national security and development interests." "Territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests will be defended, Chang was cited as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. (Ding Lin/Xinhua News Agency via AP) NO SALES ___ CHINA REITERATES DETERMINATION TO DEFEND SOVEREIGNTY CLAIMS China has reiterated its commitment to defending its sovereignty amid new tensions over its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea. Defense minister Chang Wanquan told a reception on Sunday that China would firmly safeguard its "state sovereignty, national security and development interests." "Territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests will be defended," Chang was cited as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. However, Chang also said China's military is "destined not to fear war, but will definitely cherish peace." China has not fought in a major confrontation since its 1979 invasion of Vietnam that ended in a stalemate. Chang's remarks follow a heightening of tensions in the region after a U.N. arbitration panel ruled July 12 that Beijing's claim to most of the South China Sea has no legal basis. Beijing rejected the decision in the case, which was brought by the Philippines, and said it would have no effect on its moves to increase its military and civilian footprint in the crucial water body. Chang was speaking ahead of Monday's Army Day, which marks the 89th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, which has been vastly increasing its firepower and technology in recent years. The PLA is a chief driver behind the construction of man-made islands in the South China Sea built by piling sand on top of coral reefs, and is firmly in alignment with President Xi Jinping's more muscular foreign policy. ___ CHINA, RUSSIA TO HOLD JOINT EXERCISES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA China's military said it would hold joint exercises with Russian forces in the South China Sea sometime in September. The exercises were aimed at deepening relations between the two militaries and boosting their capacity to respond to maritime threats, ministry spokesman Col. Yang Yujun said at a monthly news briefing. Yang said the exercises weren't targeted at any third parties. He didn't disclose the specific location, and some areas of the South China Sea are not disputed. Chinese ships have challenged vessels from the U.S., the Philippines and other nations in disputed waters, and China considers the Hague-based tribunal's recent ruling to be invalid. Russia and China have held numerous joint drills in recent years, united in a desire to stem American power in the Asia-Pacific region, despite their own lingering mistrust over territory and influence in Central Asia. Russia has also spoken in support of China's rejection of the case before the international arbitration body, and argued that countries without a direct claim to territory should stay impartial a clear reference to the U.S., which is a treaty ally of the Philippines and has called on China to accept the ruling as binding. Six governments in all claim territory in the South China Sea. China says all disputes should be settled bilaterally through negotiations. ___ KERRY URGES TURNING OF PAGE IN SEA DISPUTE After months of confrontations in the South China Sea and days of high-stakes diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the time has arrived to "move away from the public tensions and turn the page." Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of a regional gathering of Southeast Asian countries. China had scored a diplomatic victory when a watered-down joint statement from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not criticize China for its actions in the South China Sea and did not mention the arbitration panel's ruling. Kerry said at a news conference that the U.S. is not taking sides on the substance of maritime disputes, but believes "rule of law must be upheld." China leaned on Cambodia and other close allies to prevent ASEAN from making a critical statement, saying the disputes should be handled in one-on-one negotiations and not by the regional bloc. ___ VIETNAM VOICES SUPPORT FOR BILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHINA While Vietnam aims to settle its South China Sea dispute with China through bilateral negotiations, it doesn't rule out applying international laws, the country's deputy foreign minister said. "Our consistent policy is to settle disputes through peaceful means in accordance with national laws and United Nations (conventions and laws), and we attach quite (a lot of) importance to bilateral negotiations," Le Hoai Trung told The Associated Press. "For us, all means of peaceful settlement are important. All means. So you can count (international arbitration), but we attach importance to bilateral negotiations," he said on the sidelines of a regional security meeting hosted by Laos. "The important factor is you need to have the goodwill, and you need to base your claims on international law, the relevant international law." French Muslims to create foundation to finance mosques PARIS (AP) A new foundation will be created to help finance mosques in France and keep out radical benefactors, the head of the French Muslim Council said Monday. Anouar Kbibech proposed the foundation would be used to fund the construction and running of mosques and would be financed by fees paid by actors in the halal food sector. France, home to Europe's largest Muslim community, is a secular state that prohibits the use of state money for places of worship. Prime minister Manuel Valls said Sunday he wants to put an end to the financing from abroad for the construction of mosques. FILE - In this July 29 2016 file photo, Muslim worshippers attend the friday prayer at the Yahya Mosque, in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Friday, July 29, 2016. four days after the hostage taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The head of the French Muslim Council says a new foundation will be created to help finance the construction and running of mosques in the country and keep out radical benefactors. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File) "Almost all Muslims of France are attached to a serene, open, tolerant Islam and they are fully respecting the values and laws of the Republic," Kbibech said on LCI television. After meeting Kbebich, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he wants the foundation to be launched in October. The debate about the financing of mosques in France was revived by last week's slaying of an elderly priest in a Normandy church by two Islamic extremists. Some observers have suggested foreign influence over certain mosques and prayer rooms in France could encourage the radicalization of attendants. Cazeneuve said 20 Muslim places of worship have been shut down in recent months due to radical views being exposed there. "There's no room in France for those who call for and stir up hatred in prayer rooms or mosques and do not respect the principles of the Republic," he said. He added the government is working on a way to guarantee "total transparency" in the financing of the mosques while at the same time "strictly respecting the secular principles of the Republic." The French Muslim Council, the CFCM, is also working to improve the training of imams in France so that they have a better knowledge of the country's secular history and the institutions of the Republic, Kbebich said. On Sunday, dozens of Muslims in France and Italy attended to Catholic Mass as a gesture of interfaith solidarity following the attack on the priest. South African ruling party faces challenge in elections JOHANNESBURG (AP) South Africa's ruling party faces a robust challenge in municipal elections on Wednesday from opposition groups seeking to capitalize on scandals linked to President Jacob Zuma. Early voting began Monday for the elderly, disabled and others unable to vote at their polling stations on election day. The ruling African National Congress, formerly the main anti-apartheid movement, has dominated South African politics since the first all-race elections in 1994. However, it has seen some erosion of support from South Africans who say their hopes for jobs and other opportunities have not been fulfilled since the end of white minority rule. The South African economy has stagnated since the global financial crisis in 2008. A woman, left, walks near an African National Congress, ANC, political poster fixed on a toilet door, that call South Africans to vote during municipal elections in the township of Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2016. South Africa's ruling party faces a robust challenge in municipal elections on Wednesday from opposition groups seeking to capitalize on scandals linked to President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) "The ANC is in danger of losing big cities" and has increasingly been falling back on rural support, said Daryl Glaser, an associate professor of politics at Wits University in Johannesburg. He anticipated, however, that opposition parties might not win majorities even if they do well, forcing them to decide whether to form ruling coalitions despite differences that are extreme in some cases. The opposition Democratic Alliance party, whose roots lie in white liberal opposition to apartheid decades ago, hopes to make gains in key metropolitan areas controlled by the ruling party, including Johannesburg, Tshwane, which is the greater metropolitan area of the capital, Pretoria, and Nelson Mandela Bay, a municipality on South Africa's east coast. The Democratic Alliance already runs the city of Cape Town. A more radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, advocates the nationalization of industry and other measures that it says would help the poor. It is contesting the local elections for the first time. On Sunday, a convoy of vehicles carrying noisy EFF supporters drove past restaurants serving affluent, mostly white clients in the Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst, reinforcing the party's message that South Africa's white minority should relinquish its hold on economic power. Lawmakers of the Economic Freedom Fighters have disrupted parliamentary sessions several times to protest a scandal over state upgrades to Zuma's private home. The case went to the Constitutional Court, which said Zuma had violated the constitution and instructed the president to reimburse the state for $507,000. Many South Africans are also concerned over allegations that Zuma is heavily influenced by the Guptas, a wealthy business family of immigrants from India. The president has denied any wrongdoing. A large crowd of ruling party supporters gathered Sunday at a stadium rally in Johannesburg, where Zuma touted his party's record in leading the country for more than two decades. He cited data showing that 95 percent of South Africans have access to clean, piped water, compared to just over 50 percent of households in 1994. "In the past, our people lived in dirty, dusty townships and villages, and many still do," Zuma said. "The future entails the creation of viable small towns and vibrant metro cities where our people can earn a living." ___ Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris Children leave their school, which is being used as polling station, at the end of day in Johannesburg, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. South Africa's ruling party faces a robust challenge in municipal elections on Wednesday from opposition groups seeking to capitalize on scandals linked to President Jacob Zuma. Early voting began Monday for the elderly, disabled and others unable to vote at their polling stations on election day. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) A man passes an African National Congress, ANC, political poster, right, in the township of Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. South Africa's ruling party faces a robust challenge in municipal elections on Wednesday from opposition groups seeking to capitalize on scandals linked to President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) A woman folds her ballot before casting her vote at a polling station opened for voting by the elderly and disabled for the municipal elections in the township of Khayelitsha on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2016. South Africa's ruling party faces a robust challenge in municipal elections on Wednesday from opposition groups seeking to capitalize on scandals linked to President Jacob Zuma. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) Chinese interest fires up Portuguese bank's share price LISBON, Portugal (AP) Shares in Portugal's Banco Comercial Portugues were volatile Monday after China's Fosun made a surprise offer to take an almost 17 percent stake in the country's largest listed bank by assets. BCP S.A.'s share price jumped 7 percent in early trading before falling back to trade 2 percent higher at 0.02 euros ($0.02) a share. The bank's board announced the proposal from Fosun Industrial Holdings Limited on Saturday, saying it had "many positive aspects" and would be analyzed in coming days. It added that Fosun is considering ultimately buying up to 30 percent of BCP. No cash value was put on the stake. Like much of the Portuguese banking sector, BCP has struggled to make a profit in recent years amid low interest rates and soured loans. The international financial crisis and Portugal's economic woes after needing a 78 billion-euro bailout in 2011 have also taken their toll, with BCP's share price falling from more than 3 euros a share in 2008. Analysts expect the Portuguese financial sector to consolidate, either through mergers or alliances with banks in neighboring Spain, and Fosun's interest was a surprise. The Shanghai-based conglomerate owns Club Med and other businesses in Europe, including Portugal's biggest insurance company, Caixa Seguros. Uganda police chief summoned to court over alleged torture KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) Uganda's police chief has been summoned to court over torture charges related to alleged police brutality against supporters of an opposition leader who faces treason charges. The charges against Gen. Kale Kayihura were brought by rights lawyers acting independently of the public prosecutor, who has powers to take over the case at some point if he becomes interested, said Solomon Muyita, a spokesman for the judiciary. Criminal summonses were issued last week against Kayihura and seven other police commanders operating in the capital, Kampala. They have been ordered to appear in a magistrate's court on Aug. 10. "If Kayihura doesn't show up in court, then the prosecutors can ask the court to issue an arrest warrant," Muyita said. Ugandan police have drawn wide condemnation recently over their tactics against supporters of Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate who was charged with treason after he publicly said he had won a disputed presidential election held in February. In one incident last month, police wielding sticks were seen roughing up civilians who had gathered at the roadside to see Besigye after a judge had given him bail. Kayihura later praised the perpetrators of the beatings, saying the officers had acted to prevent chaos in the city. In another incident in July, a police truck was driven into the back of a man waving at Besigye. Kayihura, a close ally of long-time President Yoweri Museveni and who trained as a lawyer, was appointed to lead the police in 2005 amid concerns by rights activists and opposition leaders that Museveni was actively militarizing the police. A coalition of more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement has issued a list of demands calling policing and criminal justice reforms. The list comes just ahead of the second anniversary of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, that touched off a wave of protests nationwide. The agenda, titled 'A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice' was released Monday by the Movement for Black Lives. A coalition of more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement has issued a list of demands calling policing and criminal justice reforms This comes near the second anniversary of the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown (left) in Missouri, and more than four years since the death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin (right) The groups says it has issued its list seeking 'radical transformation, not reactionary reform' The platform also comes after both the Republican and Democratic conventions, during which Black Lives Matter activists were noticeably absent from protest lines. 'We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform,' Michaela Brown, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Bloc, one of the group's partner organizations, said in a statement. 'As the 2016 election continues, this platform provides us with a way to intervene with an agenda that resists state and corporate power, an opportunity to implement policies that truly value the safety and humanity of Black lives, and an overall means to hold elected leaders accountable.' The agenda outlines six demands and offers 40 recommendations on how to address them. To address criminal justice reform, for example, movement organizers are calling for an end to the type of militarized police presence seen at protests in cities like Ferguson, and the retroactive decriminalization and immediate release of all people convicted of drug offenses, sex work related offense and youth offenses. The group also is calling for the passage of a bill that would create a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves. Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement stand during remarks from the Mothers of the Movement on the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center This is the first time Black Lives Matter has articulated its demands and has faced pressure to do so. The Black Lives Matter movement dates to 2012, but ignited two years later when 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, on August 9, 2014. The incident followed by other killings of black men and boys by police in cities including Baltimore and Cleveland sparked racial tensions and weeks of protests that evolved into a national conversation about disparities in policing. Fueled largely by social media, the movement has grabbed the attention of elected officials, including President Barack Obama who has invited activists to the White House to discuss their grievances and possible solutions. The Latest: Victim's brother says 3 family members survived WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on flash flooding in central Maryland (all times local): 4:40 p.m. The brother of a woman who died in a flash flood in Ellicott City, Maryland, says his wife and two other relatives were with her at the time but survived the ordeal. Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Maryland is seen Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along Main Street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) Curtis Brubaker of Dover, Pennsylvania, said Monday that his sister Jessica Watsula left her 10-year-old daughter Sarah with him Saturday while she went to dinner with Brubaker's wife, his mother-in-law and his sister-in-law. Brubaker says his wife Christina told him the women left the restaurant during a downpour, and got into Watsula's compact car. He says the car was hit by a wave that pushed it down the road, and the women climbed out but soon lost track of each other. He says his wife remembers Watsula saying, "God, help us! God, help us!" before she disappeared. ___ 3:50 p.m. A man killed by flash flooding in Ellicott City, Maryland, over the weekend was the director of financial aid at the University of Baltimore. University President Kurt Schmoke (shmoke) and Provost Darlene Brannigan Smith said in a statement Monday that they are shocked and saddened by the death of 38-year-old Joseph Blevins of Windsor Mill. Police say Blevins and his girlfriend were in a vehicle that got caught in the floodwaters Saturday night. She was rescued but he was swept away. The university officials say Blevins started working for the school in 2008. They say he was known for his calm demeanor, sense of humor and helpful attitude. They say Blevins believed strongly in the role of financial assistance in transforming students' lives. ___ 2:10 p.m. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland is praising the bravery of those who formed a human chain Saturday to help rescue someone caught in the flood waters Mikulski said Monday it "took my breath away." She toured Main Street in Ellicott City, where catastrophic flooding devastated local businesses and claimed two lives. Mikulski said she is working with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to submit a request for federal assistance for individuals, businesses and the local government. The Democratic senator addressed the media alongside Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, a Republican. Kittleman said local authorities are working to open a disaster response center where residents hit by the flood can gather information. He said they will make sure Ellicott City rises up to be even stronger and more vibrant." ___ 1:20 p.m. Maryland's lieutenant governor says state and federal officials are discussing disaster relief for Ellicott City after severe flash flooding. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said Monday officials are still assessing the damage so they can give information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rutherford, who has seen the damage and spoke to reporters outside the statehouse in Annapolis, says officials are looking at the structural integrity of buildings damaged by the flooding on Saturday. He says some buildings may not be repairable. He also points out that much of the damage has been borne by small business owners, some of whom live above their stores and haven't been able to return home. He says state and local officials are working to help displaced residents. ___ 10:00 a.m. A pastor says a woman killed by flash flood waters in Ellicott City, Maryland, was the single mother of a 10-year-old girl. The Rev. Dean Cover (COH'-ver) shared his memories of 35-year-old Jessica Watsula on Monday in a telephone interview from Living Waters Chapel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He says Watsula and her daughter Sarah joined the Christian congregation about eight years ago. He remembers her as a gracious, upbeat woman. Cover says Watsula worked in a shoe store in Lebanon. He says she was thrilled when she got the job in the past year because it enabled her to spend more time at home and at the church, where she volunteered in a child-care program. Cover says Watsula also enjoyed working out at an area gym. ___ 9:25 a.m. Thirty-five-year-old Courtney Weglein was headed to Ellicott City's historic downtown in Maryland to meet friends Saturday night. But as she prepared to make a run for a friend's apartment in the rain, water rushing down the steep street suddenly became more furious, knocking her against the car and locking her keys inside. When she got to Jonathan Butkus' second-floor apartment, Weglein says water was coming in and the landlord soon said people had to get out. Outside, they found choppy water up to the hoods of cars and watched as Weglein's car slammed into another. They realized a teenage boy was in a nearby car and she captured video of Butkus carrying him to safety on his shoulders through knee-high water. As water continued rising, Weglein says she hugged the others there and feared she'd never see her 2-year-old son again. When the water went down, they walked out to find incredible damage. "Then we found out people died and then it hit us." ___ 7:10 a.m. County and state officials in Maryland are gathering recovery resources for people affected by flooding over the weekend in Ellicott City. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford plan to attend the recovery and information session for residents and businesses Monday afternoon with representatives of county and state agencies and nonprofits offering resources. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water within hours Saturday night. Kittleman said in a statement that more than 200 properties were inspected Sunday and four to five of them are considered destroyed and another 20 to 30 suffered substantial damage. He says many structures, sidewalks and roadways are still unstable and it's not clear when people will be allowed to return. Utilities have been shut down in the area while repairs are made. In the meantime, county and state police have secured the area. ___ 3:15 a.m. The picturesque Main Street of Ellicott City, Maryland, faces a months-long recovery that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars after devastating flooding that damaged nearly every home and business along the road. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water Saturday night, most of it between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The floodwaters swept away hundreds of cars, tore up sidewalks and wrecked storefronts and building foundations. Police say a Pennsylvania woman visiting the town with her family was one of those killed after their car was caught in the raging floodwaters and carried toward the Patapsco River. Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) This undated photo provided by the Universal Church Directories shows Jessica Watsula and her daughter Sarah. A catastrophic storm Saturday, July 30, 2016, that ripped through Ellicott City, Md., claimed the lives Jessica Watsula and Joseph Blevins, whose cars were swept into the Patapsco River's raging waters. (Universal Church Directories via AP) This 2013 photo provided by the University of Baltimore shows in his office at the University of Baltimore. Blevins, director of financial aid at the school, died in a flash flood in Ellicott City, Md., Saturday, July 30, 2016. (University of Baltimore via AP) A submerged car is visible in the Patapsco River, seen from the Howard County side of Patapsco Valley State Park after the sidewalk caved in due to Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Cars are piled on top of each other in the Meadow Mill parking lot along the Jones Falls in Baltimore on Sunday, July 31, 2016, following Saturday night's storms. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP) The hill in front of the A.M.E. Baptist Church is seen washed away in the overnight flash flood that hit Main Street in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Carolyn Sanchez, who lives on upper Main Street, describes the waist high water that sent cars crashing into each other, like the scene behind her on the street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Vehicles collide each other on Main Street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A worker carries lumber to shore up one of the stores on Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to overnight flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Police seeking Miami man suspected of killing woman, 2 kids MIAMI (AP) Police say they're searching for a 32-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting a mother and two of her six children in their South Florida home. Miami-Dade police investigators said late Sunday they are looking for Antwon Lamar Fair. The shooting followed an argument at the home early Sunday between 39-year-old Takeeya "KeKe" Fulton and Fair, who is the father of three of her children. The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2aIveHA ) reports Fulton and her 19-year-old daughter Nuckeria "Keria" Harris died at the home. Two sons were flown to a hospital where 17-year-old Corey "CJ" Bishop Jr. died and a 12-year-old is in stable condition. Fulton's three other children weren't injured. Police haven't said whether the children who were killed or wounded were Fair's. Philippines, rebels want peace talks despite feud over truce MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday his government would pursue peace talks with communist guerrillas despite an initial setback when he withdrew a ceasefire order after the rebels killed a militiaman in an attack. Duterte also announced he would release a top rebel couple, Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, from detention in another move to bolster the resumption of peace negotiations scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. "It's always a rocky road. There is no negotiation that comes easy to us, especially given the turmoil of our country," Duterte said in a speech before swearing in new officials at the presidential palace. "We are hoping that we could just talk, maybe we did not understand each other. And so, the best way is really is to talk again and find out whether it is reachable or beyond our reach," he said. Duterte declared a ceasefire on July 25 but withdrew it five days later after the rebels killed a militiaman in a landmine attack in southern Davao del Norte province and failed to declare their own truce by Saturday. The president held a Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss how his government would pursue talks with the communist insurgents and two groups of Muslim rebels in the country's south, while excluding the brutal Abu Sayyaf extremist group. The Maoist guerrillas said in a statement on Sunday that they still fully back the resumption of long-stalled talks and were willing to declare a unilateral cease-fire simultaneously with the government when the talks resume. Duterte withdrew his truce order before the guerrillas could announce their own ceasefire on Saturday, the rebels said, adding it was "quite capricious" for the president "to have imposed such ultimatums of a few hours or several days for the Communist Party of the Philippines to act in accordance with his whims." "It is advisable for (Duterte) to exercise a little more prudence and display more measured temperament ... in order to avoid such impulsive acts as imposing ultimatums by the hour on a conflict that has spanned nearly fifty years," the rebels said. Following the lifting of the government ceasefire, army troops and police killed a New People's Army rebel in a clash Monday with up 20 guerrillas who were reportedly extorting money from villagers in Malimono town in southeastern Surigao del Norte province, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said. Duterte suggested Monday that he was open to declaring a new government ceasefire with communist insurgents. 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. Koch-backed group targets Dems in 3 Senate races COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) A group backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch is investing nearly $4 million in an advertising campaign attacking Democrats in three of the nation's top Senate contests. The Freedom Partners Action Fund is targeting Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the television and online advertising blitz. The states are considered top battlegrounds in the fight for control of the Senate this November. Democrats could regain the Senate majority if they pick up four or five new seats, depending on which party wins the White House. Republican incumbents Rob Portman in Ohio and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania are trying to hold onto their seats, while both parties are fighting for the open seat created by Democrat Harry Reid's retirement in Nevada. Freedom Partners is spending $1.2 million in Nevada airwaves claiming Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto "drove Uber out of Nevada" while serving as state attorney general. In Ohio, another $1.4 million is going to attack former Gov. Ted Strickland's economic record while he led the state. And in Pennsylvania, Freedom Partners is spending $1.3 million charging that Democrat Katie McGinty will look out for "the favored few" if elected. "These candidates are promising more of the same," said Freedom Partners' spokesman James Davis in a statement announcing the details. The investment comes as the Koch brothers refuse to invest their tremendous resources in the presidential contest. Charles Koch and his top lieutenants told donors this weekend they would not support Republican nominee Donald Trump, focusing their attention instead on helping the GOP maintain control of the Senate, House and some governorships. Interpol arrests Nigerian accused of $60 million cybercrime LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) A Nigerian accused of scamming $60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails has been arrested after months of investigation, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency said Monday. One company paid out $15.4 million, according to an Interpol statement . The ringleader of a global scamming network, identified only as 40-year-old Mike, was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt, in June, the statement said. He is on administrative bail, which implies that officers do not yet have enough evidence to charge him. The man is accused of leading a network that compromised email accounts of small and medium-sized businesses around the world including in the United States, Australia, India, South Africa and Thailand. The statement didn't name any targets. The network involved about 40 people in Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa who provided malware and carried out the frauds, with money-laundering contacts in China, Europe and the United States providing bank account details. A supplier's email would be compromised and fake messages sent to a buyer with instructions for payment to a bank account under the network's control, the statement said. Or an executive's email account would be taken over and a request for a wire transfer sent to an employee. Lawyer Gary Miller of the International Fraud Group said the amount was "minuscule, a drop in the ocean" in a cybercrime industry estimated to be worth $1 trillion to $2 trillion. He said it is "quite unusual" to track down a cyber-criminal because "they're usually protected by a few tens, if not hundreds, of zombie servers which hide their identity." His group traces looted funds for individuals and companies. Khamenei: Average Iranian not benefiting from nuclear deal TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday that the Iranian people have not seen any benefit from the nuclear deal with world powers, state media reported. The report quoted Khamenei saying: "Weren't the supposed sanctions lifted to change the life of the people? Is any tangible effect seen in people's life after six months?" He said the sanctions were supposed to be lifted swiftly. "But now the issue of a gradual lifting of the sanctions has been raised," he said. "Why?" In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Khamenei said that average Iranians have not seen any benefit from the nuclear deal with world powers. The deal, which went into effect in January, limited Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting some sanctions. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the U.S. has continued to thwart Iran's economic relations with other countries despite the landmark accord. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the U.S. has continued to thwart Iran's economic relations with other countries despite the landmark accord. He said Tehran will refuse to engage in any further talks with Washington due to what he described as U.S. violations of the deal, though he has previously ruled out further negotiations in other speeches. "They tell us 'Let's talk about regional issues, too.' But the experience of the nuclear deal suggests this is deadly poison and in no way can the Americans be trusted," Khamenei was quoted as saying. "Negotiation with such a government means diversion from the correct path of advancement of the country, giving constant concessions and allowing a bullying policy in practice." The deal, which went into effect in January, limited Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting some sanctions. Iran has repeatedly complained that it has fulfilled its end of the deal while all the agreed-upon sanctions have not yet been lifted. Tehran is still struggling to attract large-scale foreign investment and many multinational companies remain fearful of U.S. prosecution or fines for doing business with Iran. The U.S. government still maintains some of its own sanctions against doing business with Iran that are outside the scope of last year's deal. The U.S.-based company Boeing Co. signed a deal with Tehran involving dozens of planes and worth as much as $25 billion. But the agreement has been criticized by both republican and democratic politicians. In July the U.S. House of Representatives passed two measures that would block the sale, but the issue has not yet reached the senate. Khamenei also described a rare recent visit to Israel by a delegation of Saudi nationals as "treason" to Islamic nations while adding that the U.S. was behind the visit. "This job by Saudis is a great sin and treason but in this big wrongdoing, Americans have played a role since the Saudi government is possessed by the U.S. government while following and listening to Washington." The group, including former Saudi military general Anwar Eshki, visited Israel in July, and Eshki met with a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official and a group of Knesset members. Saudi Arabia distanced itself from the visit, saying it did not reflect the views of the Saudi government. Rival Iran and Saudi have no diplomatic relations since January and support opposite sides in conflicts Syria and Yemen. In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Khamenei said that average Iranians have not seen any benefit from the nuclear deal with world powers. The deal, which went into effect in January, limited Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting some sanctions. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the U.S. has continued to thwart Iran's economic relations with other countries despite the landmark accord. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) The Latest: Pence defends military mom's criticism of Trump WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT): 12:10 a.m. Mike Pence defended a military mom's right to criticize Donald Trump's comments about the Muslim parents of a slain U.S. Army veteran during one campaign stop in Nevada then lashed out at the media's coverage of the controversy at the next. Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., addresses supporters during a campaign event in Carson City, Nev., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Lance Iversen) Pence quieted a crowd that was booing a woman who asked Pence at a town hall meeting in Carson City Monday how he could tolerate Trump's disrespect for American servicemen. In Reno a few hours later, Pence said that both he and Trump have stated that "Capt. Humayun Khan is an American hero." Pence said he understands and appreciates the attention given to Kahn's family. But he doesn't understand "why the media maligned and continues to ignore the moving mother of fallen Air Force veteran and diplomat Sean Smith." Pence said much of the same media criticizing Trump earlier condemned Patricia Smith's speech at the GOP convention about the U.S. information officer killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi. "Let's demand the media listen to and honor all of the families of the fallen in this country," he said. ____ 9:00 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan is refusing to respond to Donald Trump's kind words for Ryan's Republican primary opponent. So says Ryan's spokesman Zack Roday, who emails: "Rather than engage in a back-and-forth, the speaker is going to remain focused entirely on ensuring we deliver strong Republican majorities this fall." Trump earlier had tweeted praise by name to Ryan's opponent, businessman Paul Nehlan, who has been supportive of Trump. Ryan earlier in the day had referred to Trump, without mentioning his name, as a "different kind of nominee." Speaking to a donor gathering hosted by the Koch brothers network, Ryan warned against running a "a vague, platitude election" or "a personality contest" and then expecting "transformational, once-in-a-generation reform." Trump has offered few details on his policy proposals. Additionally, Ryan has not backed up Trump in his spat with the Muslim parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq in 2004. ___ 8:25 p.m. Donald Trump says Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is, "the devil." Trump, speaking in Pennsylvania on Monday, derided Bernie Sanders' capitulation in the Democratic primary race and decision to support Clinton. Trump said of Sanders: "He made a deal with the devil. She's the devil." Trump in recent days has taken to categorizing the agreement as a "deal with the devil" but this was the first time that he went so far as to specifically equate Clinton with Lucifer. Trump's supporters packed a Mechanicsburg high school gymnasium and thousands more were left outside or forced to watch in a spillover room. ___ 7:54 p.m. Republican presidential nominee is Donald Trump is tweeting kind words on the GOP race for House Speaker Paul Ryan's Wisconsin seat. But not for Ryan. Trump on Monday tweeted Monday his thanks to Ryan's primary opponent, Paul Nehlan for his "kind words, very much appreciated." It was not clear what prompted the tweet. But Nehlan, a businessman, has been supportive of Trump. Other potential clues include the fact that Ryan earlier in the day had referred to Trump, without mentioning his name, as a "different kind of nominee." Speaking to a donor gathering hosted by the Koch brothers network, Ryan warned against running a "a vague, platitude election" or "a personality contest" and then expecting "transformational, once-in-a-generation reform." Trump has offered few details on his policy proposals. Additionally, Ryan has not backed up Trump in his spat with the Muslim parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq in 2004. ___ 7:53 p.m. Hillary Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine attacked GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for clashing with the parents of a slain Army officer. Speaking at a rally in his adopted hometown of Richmond, Virginia, Kaine said Trump is a "trash talker" unfit to be president who had made "stupid" comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims from Virginia whose son was killed in Iraq 2004. "I mean, is there no limit to which this guy will descend?" Kaine said. Kaine also mocked Trump for incorrectly identifying Kaine's home state as New Jersey at a news conference last week. "That's your best?" Kaine said. "Give Donald a break, he's new at this." Kaine also attacked Trump's business record, saying the billionaire businessman had unfairly stiffed small business owners, retirees and students. ___ 7:18 p.m. Mike Pence quieted a campaign rally crowd that booed a woman who had asked how he can tolerate what she said was Donald Trump's disrespect of American servicemen. The woman said her son serves in the U.S. Air Force. She asked Pence Monday during a town hall at Carson City Casino in Nevada about Trump's treatment of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son, a decorated Army veteran, was killed in Iraq in 2004. Pence, who is Trump's vice presidential running mate, asked the crowd to quiet down, then said about the questioner: "That's what freedom looks like. That's what freedom sounds like." He continued: "Capt. Kahn is an American hero. We honor him and his family...we cherish his family." Pence added that he's never spent time around someone who is "more devoted" to military and to veterans. Earlier in the evening in Columbus, Ohio, Trump did not mention his spat with the Khans that began on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention when they said the billionaire had sacrificed nothing and no one. ___ 6:28 p.m. Warren Buffett is suggesting that fellow billionaire Donald Trump is afraid to release his tax returns. At an event with Hillary Clinton in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett criticized Trump for breaking with decades of presidential campaign tradition by keeping secret documents that can reveal much about a candidate's charitable giving, assets and spending priorities. Trump says he'll release the returns after the IRS is finished auditing him. But Buffett suggested the real reason is fear, saying, "You're only afraid if you have something to be afraid of." He added that he would be "delighted" to meet Trump between now and the election. Buffett says, "I'll bring my tax return, he'll bring his tax return... and just let people ask us questions." Clinton has released eight years of recent tax filings. ___ 6:15 p.m. Donald Trump is suggesting that if his daughter Ivanka were the victim of workplace sexual harassment she should find another job. Trump, in an interview published Monday in USA Today, continued to defend his friend Roger Ailes, who was ousted from his position atop Fox News after charges of serial sexual harassment. The Republican presidential nominee said it was "sad" that women were "complaining" about Ailes. Trump was then asked about his own daughter. He replied: "I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case." ___ 4:57 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan is warning the Republican Party that Donald Trump may struggle to bring about transformational change. Ryan, who has endorsed Trump, described a "fight for the soul of the Republican Party" on Monday while appearing at a donor retreat in Colorado hosted by the Koch brothers' network. Without using his name, Ryan referred to Trump as "a different kind of nominee." He warned against running "a vague, platitude election" or "a personality contest" and then expecting "transformational, once-in-a-generation reform." Trump has long cast himself as an outsider who can bring dramatic change to Washington. Ryan drew a standing ovation after addressing hundreds of Koch network donors. The expansive policy and political organization has refused to endorse Trump, citing major policy differences. ___ 4:18 p.m. Donald Trump did not address his ongoing clash with the parents of a slain Army veteran in his first campaign appearance since the controversy erupted. Trump spoke for nearly an hour Monday in Columbus, Ohio but did not mention his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. The Khans spoke out against Trump and questioned his familiarity with the Constitution last week at the Democratic National Convention. Trump struck back by questioning whether Ghazala Khan had been allowed to speak. She said she is still too grief-stricken by her son's death. Trump criticized the family in an interview Sunday and again in a pair of tweets Monday morning. ___ 4:09 p.m. Donald Trump says he raised $35.8 million from small donors last month. Speaking at a town hall in Columbus, Ohio, Trump says his average donation was $69 and that he has more than 500,000 contributors. Trump has been emphasizing his efforts to raise money in small increments online, comparing himself to onetime Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, who funded his presidential bid that way. Trump says the money both of them have collected is evidence of "a movement." Trump also raises larger contributions through a fundraising partnership with allied Republican parties. He did not say at the rally how successful that effort was in July. Trump and opponent Hillary Clinton both must report their July fundraising information to federal regulators by Aug. 20. ___ 3:50 p.m. Donald Trump is suggesting that he's "afraid the election is going to be rigged." Trump, speaking Monday in Ohio, said that he felt that the Democrats had fixed their primary system so Hillary Clinton could defeat Bernie Sanders and claimed that the Republican nomination would have also been stolen from him had he not won "by such tremendous margins." But Trump then suggested that November's general election may not be on the up-and-up. "I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged," the Republican nominee told a town hall crowd in Columbus. ___ 3:42 p.m. Donald Trump is boasting about his "tremendous support" from the nation's veterans just hours after one of the nation's most prominent veterans groups condemned him for clashing with the parents of a slain Army veteran. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, which has 1.7 million members, released a statement Monday that called Trump out of bounds for tangling with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son was killed in Iraq 2004. The Khans spoke out against Trump and questioned his familiarity with the Constitution last week at the Democratic National Convention. Trump struck back by questioning whether Ghazala Khan had been allowed to speak. She said she is still too grief-stricken by her son's death. Trump boasted about his support from veterans at a Monday town hall in Columbus, Ohio, his first campaign appearance since the flap began. ___ 3:35 p.m. President Barack Obama is headlining his first fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. But the only people who'll hear what he says are the 30 or so people who handed over a minimum of $33,400 for a seat at the round-table at the Atlanta home of Andy Prozes and his wife, Laura Heery Prozes. They were early financial backers of Clinton's 2008 presidential bid; Andy Prozes is the former CEO of LexisNexis. Clinton's campaign says the event will benefit the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between her campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties across the country. The fund is being used to help register voters, recruit volunteers and help turn out Democrats to vote for candidates up and down the ballot in November. Co-hosts of Monday's event contributed at least $66,800; co-chairs paid a minimum of $100,000. ___ 3:25 p.m. More Senate Republicans up for re-election are weighing in to praise Army Capt. Humayun Khan and his family, and criticize Donald Trump's comments. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida says Trump's criticism is "unfortunate." He says Khan and his parents are heroes, "and they have a First Amendment right to speak out on their politics, as all Americans do. Their son died for the Constitution and I honor that." Trump has faced widespread condemnation for criticizing the parents of Khan, who was killed in Iraq. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says: "Mr. Trump's comments are not in line with my own beliefs about how the members of the military and their families should be treated." Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina says: "Captain Khan is an American hero in every sense of the term and the Khans deserve our sincerest gratitude." And Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who in June withdrew his endorsement of Trump, says: "To Mr. Trump, I would simply say hands off Gold Star families." Gold Star families are those that have lost a close relative in military service. ___ FILE - In this Friday, July 29, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because they are Muslim. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at the American Legislative Exchange Council annual meeting in Indianapolis, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) President Barack Obama speaks at the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. gestures as he visits a campaign office Richmond, Va., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, July 31, 2016. Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine are on a three-day bus tour through the rust belt. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Russian court rules not to jail opposition leader Navalny MOSCOW (AP) A Moscow court has refused to send prominent Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny to prison. Navalny is serving a 3-year suspended sentence handed down in late 2014 after he was convicted of defrauding a French cosmetics company, a case widely seen as political retribution. The court on Monday denied an appeal by the federal penitentiary service for Navalny to serve the remainder of his sentence behind bars. Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny , foreground, smiles as he sits in a courtroom in Moscow on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Russian court did not approve prosecutor's appeal to change Alexei Navalny's suspended sentence into a jail term. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) By not sending Navalny to prison, the Kremlin avoids making him a martyr and potentially provoking protests. The frequent appeals against the suspended sentence, however, serve to remind him and the opposition as a whole that they are vulnerable. Navalny's younger brother, Oleg, was convicted in the same case and sent to prison to serve out his sentence. Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, center, undergoes security check at an entrance to a courtroom in Moscow on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Russian court did not approve prosecutor's appeal to change Alexei Navalny's suspended sentence into a jail term. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) Serbia protests against Croatian statue of assassin BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Serbia protested strongly Monday against the unveiling of a statue in Croatia honoring an extreme nationalist who was convicted of assassinating a Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden in 1971. The monument for Miro Baresic was unveiled in a seaside Croatian village on Sunday with two Croatian government ministers and numerous prominent public figures attending. European Union-member Croatia has seen a surge of far-right sentiments, including admiration for the World War II Ustasha Nazi puppet regime that was responsible for the death of tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies in concentration camps. Baresic, a declared pro-Ustasha who strived and fought for Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia, shot Ambassador Vladimir Rolovic inside the Yugoslav embassy in Stockholm. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by a Swedish court. But another group of Croatian far-right radicals hijacked a Scandinavian Airlines passenger plane in 1972, forcing the release of Baresic and five others who took part in the attack. Baresic found refuge in Paraguay, but was eventually captured again and extradited to Sweden in 1980, where his life sentence was converted to 18 years. He returned to Croatia in 1991 where he was killed in fighting against Serb-led forces fighting against Croatia's independence. In Serbia, Baresic is considered a terrorist, while Croatian nationalists revere him as a hero who devoted his whole life to Croatia's statehood. "Miro Baresic is a great Croatian patriot whose devotion and sacrifice we have to respect," Croatian Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said during the life-size statue's unveiling in the village of Drage in central Dalmatia. The Serbian foreign ministry demanded Monday that the statue be removed. "The Ministry considers the erection of a monument to a convicted terrorist (sentenced) for the gruesome murder of the Yugoslav ambassador in Sweden Vladimir Rolovic, as an improper and uncivilized act unprecedented in modern Europe," the Serbian protest stated. Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Monday he has written to EU officials urging reaction and warned that Croatia's "anti-Serb" policies could endanger peace and stability in the Balkans which was engulfed in bloody civil wars in the 1990s. "We expect a reaction from the EU," Vucic said. "How is it possible that the terrorist Baresic, who was convicted by a democratic Swedish court, has turned into a hero?" Croatian officials said they will no longer accept diplomatic protests from Serbia, which has issued many recently. Croatia has threatened to block Serbia's accession talks with the EU if Belgrade continues to deliver "lessons on democracy." ___ Republic of Congo opposition wants political prisoners freed BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) A Republic of Congo opposition party has called for the unconditional release of political prisoners and easing of arbitrary arrests. The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy's statement issued overnight Sunday follows a similar request last week by Amnesty International. Gen. Jean Marie Michel Mokoko, an independent candidate in the March presidential elections, is under provisional house detention. Paulin Makaya, president of the opposition United Party for Congo, was sentenced last week to two years in prison for inciting public disorder and insurrection. Makaya was detained after participating in an October protest of a referendum allowing the country's longtime president to seek another term. The referendum ultimately passed. The Latest: Crews keep 2 major California fires from growing BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) The Latest on California wildfires (all times local): 8:30 p.m. A wildfire in Central California burning in blistering heat has destroyed three homes and grown to more than 3 square miles. Timber faller Jeff Turpin hikes up a hillside with his chainsaw in while cutting a fire break for a wildfire in Carmel Valley, Calif., Saturday July 30, 2016. Fire officials say a wildfire burning near California's dramatic Big Sur coast has destroyed dozens homes and is threatening over a 1,000 more. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT The three destroyed homes and two other buildings were confirmed Monday, though they had burned over the weekend. Fire officials hadn't been immediately able to assess the damage. The blaze that broke out Saturday in the Fresno County town of Prather has grown 3.1 square miles and is 20 percent contained. About 300 people are under evacuation orders. ___ 9:10 a.m. A destructive wildfire near California's Big Sur region is holding steady at more than 62 square miles (161 square kilometers). The fire command said Monday that crews weren't able to increase containment on the blaze, but it didn't expand overnight. It's less than 20 percent contained. Firefighters hope to get a break this week with cooler temperatures and increased humidity. The fire has been burning for 10 days, destroying 57 homes and threatening 2,000 additional structures. Another fire northeast of Fresno also was held overnight to just under 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers). It has damaged homes is 15 percent contained. ___ 8:15 a.m. Crews working around the clock kept a wildfire from growing after it damaged homes in California's Central Valley. But firefighters will contend with triple-digit temperatures Monday. The fire command says the blaze in steep terrain northeast of Fresno is threatening about 400 structures. Officials said Sunday that some of the evacuated homes have been damaged, but it isn't yet clear how many. The fire near the town of Prather is just under 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers) and is partially contained. Meanwhile, firefighters are still battling a massive blaze north of Big Sur that has grown to more than 62 square miles. The fire has destroyed 57 homes and is threatening 2,000 more structures. It's partially contained. ___ 6:25 a.m. Crews worked through the night protecting neighborhoods from a wildfire in California's Central Valley that damaged homes and forced hundreds of evacuations. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said late Sunday that the blaze northeast of Fresno had charred 3 square miles of dry brush. That number is expected to grow when officials get a better look at the fire lines Monday. Officials also will try to determine how many of the 200 evacuated homes have been damaged by the fire that broke out Saturday. It's just 5 percent contained. Meanwhile, firefighters are still battling a massive blaze north of Big Sur that has grown to more than 62 square miles. The fire has destroyed 57 homes and is threatening 2,000 more structures. It was 18 percent contained Sunday. Small emirate in UAE accuses businessman of embezzling $1.5B DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) A small sheikhdom in the United Arab Emirates on Monday accused a businessman who once had ties to its ruler of stealing $1.5 billion while serving as the head of its local sovereign wealth fund. The allegations against Khater Massaad, who also helped Ras al-Khaimah create a major, eponymous ceramics company, came in an unusually strongly worded dispatch carried by the UAE's state-run WAM news agency. Massaad could not be immediately reached for comment. Cynthia Beudjekian, a marketing employee for one of Massaad's businesses based in Lebanon, said his organization planned to respond to the allegations. The WAM report described Massaad as fleeing the UAE "as soon as questions arose concerning his business activities in 2012." It described him as continuing to run businesses in Bangladesh, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia despite "corrupt dealings he has been involved in across the globe." It's unclear why authorities decided to finally make a formal announcement about the case after four years. The WAM report said Massaad had "ended negotiations" with Ras al-Khaimah over the accusations. Massaad at one point ran the Ras al-Khaimah Investment Authority, which the Las Vegas-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute estimates is worth $1.2 billion. The National, a state-owned newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, also described in him in 2008 as being an adviser to Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who now is the emirate's ruler. Ras al-Khaimah is one of seven sheikhdoms in the UAE. Overshadowed by oil-rich Abu Dhabi and the skyscrapers of Dubai, the small northern emirate borders Oman and is near the Strait of Hormuz. ___ Serbia arrests 11 people for smuggling migrants to Hungary BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Serbian police say they have arrested 11 people suspected of smuggling dozens of migrants across the border to EU-member Hungary. Serbian police said Monday the arrests were the result of "intensive operational work and exchange of information with the Hungarian police." The statement says two of those arrested were the suspected organizers of the smuggling operation, while the others allegedly transferred the migrants to Hungary and then on to Austria. People smuggling has been on the rise in the Balkans since nations closed their borders for migrants in March in a bid to stem the flow after more than 1 million asylum-seekers entered Europe in 2015. Puerto Rico hit with new power bill increase amid crisis SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Puerto Ricans have been hit with another increase in electric bills as the U.S. territory's power company struggles to stay afloat. The heavily indebted Electric Power Authority says the increase implemented on Monday will generate some $94 million this fiscal year. Clients on average will see a $6 monthly increase in bills, which already average twice those on the U.S. mainland and have been blamed for suppressing economic development. Officials: Officer trying to break up argument shoots man CLEVELAND (AP) Authorities say a county protective services officer breaking up an argument on a downtown Cleveland street shot a man wielding a sharp object. A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office said the suspect held either a knife or a screwdriver when he lunged at the officer, who is assigned to the county courthouse and saw the argument from his car Monday morning. The spokesman says the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave and the suspect was taken into custody after being treated for a leg wound. The Cleveland police department is investigating. The circumstances differed from earlier reports. Earlier Monday, a county spokesman confirmed incorrect media accounts that said a robbery suspect fired a shot at a sheriff's deputy and the deputy returned fire. ___ Not up for biking and kayaking? Plenty of options in Maine NORTHPORT, Maine (AP) We left for Maine with three bicycles on the back of the car. One for him, one for her, one for any house guest who cared to ride along. There were other modest recreational plans for our three-week vacation on the coast. Twice-weekly yoga at a local community center, a little kayaking, a little hiking maybe, and certainly walking the hilly streets of Bayside and admiring its gingerbread-house architecture. That was all before my wife's broken ankle. On the second day of the trip. By the end of the vacation, only one bike had been taken out. Only one of us had paddled the Penobscot. Mount Battie remained unconquered. And the yoga mat remained coiled and unused in a closet. This July 20, 2016 photo shows a lighthouse as seen on a lighthouse tour operated by Monhegan Boat Line out of Port Clyde, Maine. The tour included a demonstration of lobstering by a guide and third-generation lobsterman. (Debbie Galant via AP) But as vacation disasters go, this was a relatively small one. The broken bone was Debbie's fibula, so she didn't need a cast, just a walking boot. Still, she couldn't walk much. So we had to rewrite our expectations and create a Maine vacation that was friendlier to the differently abled. ___ NERVOUS NELLIE'S JAMS AND JELLIES A wise friend who has vacationed in Maine countless times mentioned that some of her best times in the state had been just driving around. Sitting in the passenger seat did turn out to be a boundless source of pleasure for the injured one: the abundant Queen Anne's lace and tiger lilies that decorate the landscape, antiques stores and lobster shacks around every bend, wonderful vistas of inlets with bobbing boats, bridges connecting islands and peninsulas. On one outing, to the 17th century French settlement at Castine, waiting for lobster rolls to arrive, a fellow diner at our picnic table recommended a stop on neighboring Deer Isle: Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies, which Google correctly categorizes as an art gallery. Yes, there are jams, but the big attraction is the sprawling installation by metal artist Peter Beerits, which evokes an old Western town, complete with saloon, jail and 24 slightly menacing life-size characters. No charge, although they take donations, and you do feel honor-bound to purchase a jar of something. There's a nice little cafe with coffee and tarts too. ___ FARNSWORTH MUSEUM AND OLSON HOUSE The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland is a well-polished gem, with a collection of American works, especially Maine-influenced ones. In this part of Maine, that means three generations of Wyeths: N.C., Andrew and Jamie. Equally important for our injured traveler, little walking was required. Both the main museum and an annex in a converted church have elevators? galleries easily accommodate available wheelchairs, which, thankfully, we didn't need. The Farnsworth also runs the Olson House in Cushing, about 20 minutes' drive away. The modest clapboard farmhouse is where Andrew Wyeth painted his most famous work, "Christina's World," in 1948. No elevator, but there's a delightful docent-led tour of the first floor (you can sit for most of it), chock-full of details about Wyeth's relationship with Anna Christina Olson and her brother Alvaro. The high, wavy grass in the painting can be seen in a patch in the front yard, where everyone takes pictures, occasionally in the prone. We didn't. Too hard to get up. Museum admission is $15, another $5 gets you in the Olson House. ___ MONHEGAN BOAT LINE Double kayaking was out. But we wanted to be on the water, so we chose a 2 -hour lighthouse survey out of Port Clyde with Monhegan Boat Line, $30 per passenger. Easy to board, even on only one good ankle. It came with a fascinating demonstration of lobstering by a 19-year-old tour guide and third-generation lobsterman. At a lighthouse now owned by Jamie Wyeth, someone came out we were told it was Wyeth himself and fired off a cannon as a salute. At that distance, it could have been anyone. But he's in our story and we're sticking with it. ___ ANTIQUES AT 10 MECHANIC STREET A throbbing ankle can be a good way to judge Maine's many antiques shops. After a while, you've had your share of distressed buoys and shellback lawn chairs, and clomping through another store with a clunky orthopedic boot can feel more like a chore than an adventure. Not so, however, with Antiques at 10 Mechanic in Camden, a former movie house where "Peyton Place," which was filmed nearby, had its world premiere. Antiques at 10 Mechanic feels like a grandfather's attic crossed with Beatrix Potter's pantry and, perhaps, an old set shop from MGM. You can't walk 2 feet without wanting something. The day we visited, Lou Bega's "A Little Bit of Mambo" was playing on the stereo, and broken ankle girl was practically dancing through the store. Bonus: Saturday Cove, a popular spot for Flax clothing, housewares and art in Northport, which closed this spring, has an outpost in the back of the store. This July 20, 2016 photo shows the Olson House, a National Historic Landmark in Cushing, Maine. The house was where artist Andrew Wyeth painted his famous "Christina's World." Visitors can tour the house today to learn the story of Wyeth and the family that lived there. (Debbie Galant via AP) This undated photo shows a horse figure that is part of an art installation at Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies in Deer Isle, Maine. The attraction depicts characters with an old Western theme. (Anne Beerits via AP) French cardinal's case dismissed in sex abuse-related probe PARIS (AP) A French prosecutor has thrown out the case of a prominent cardinal who was under investigation for alleged failure to report suspected pedophilia by a priest under his watch. Lyon prosecutor Marc Cimamonti told The Associated Press on Monday that there wasn't sufficient evidence against Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and the statute of limitations had expired for some of the allegations. Barbarin had been questioned in June by investigators in the case of Rev. Bernard Preynat, a priest charged with sexual aggression and rape of a minor and accused of abusing boy scouts in the 1980s. Barbarin said he was convinced the priest reformed in 2007-2008 when they met. FILE - In this April 3, 2016 file photo, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, leads a mass for migrants in the Saint-Jean Cathedral, in Lyon, central France. A French prosecutor on Monday Aug.1, 2016 threw out the case of the prominent cardinal who was under investigation for alleged failures to report on suspected pedophilia by a priest under his watch. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File) Preynat retired in August 2015 after being relieved of his duties by the diocese. He was charged in January with sexual aggression of minors for a person in a position of authority. Syrian child actor who rose to fame killed in city of Aleppo BEIRUT (AP) The sitcom is a little like "I Love Lucy," starring a comic housewife who gets into shenanigans and bickers with her husband. Except children play all the roles. And it all takes place in one of the historic stone houses in the old city of Aleppo, besieged by government forces in one of the worst battlegrounds of Syria's civil war. "Umm Abdou the Aleppan" is a small curiosity of the 5-year-old war, the first sitcom produced out of rebel-held parts of Syria. Aired in 2014 on a local Aleppo station, it was a light-hearted look at life in the war-ravaged city, finding comedy as it showed residents dealing with everything from cut-offs in electricity and water, to factionalism among rebels, to bombardments and violence. The child actors, even as they spot-on mimic characters of a traditional Aleppo neighborhood, provide a tone of innocence. This undated frame grab from video provided by Bashar Sakka, producer of the sit-com, Um Abdou the Aleppan, shows Syrian actor Qusai Abtini, right, while filming an episode with Rasha, left, known as Umm Abdou, in Aleppo, Syria. Fresh-faced with a toothy grin and thick black hair, Abtini found a curious path in Syrias civil war: He became a child actor who rose to local celebrity depicting the traumas of rebel-held areas of his home city, Aleppo. In the end, the 14-year-old boy fell victim to those traumas. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial center of Syria but has since become one of the most grueling battlegrounds of the civil war. (Bashar Sakka via AP) The tragic reality intruded on that innocence this month. Qusai Abtini, the 14-year-old boy who played the husband, was killed when a missile struck the car he was in as he tried to escape Aleppo. Fresh-faced with a toothy grin and thick black hair, Abtini had become a local celebrity. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial center of Syria with a thriving, unique culture but has now been torn to pieces by fighting, with whole neighborhoods left in ruin. Tens of thousands in the city have been killed since the summer of 2012, when Aleppo split into rebel- and government-held districts and the two sides turned on each other. In recent weeks, government forces have completely besieged the rebel-held sections, cutting off the last escape routes. Days after Abtini's death, several dozen men marched through his home district in a symbolic funeral, waving opposition flags and chanting "Qusai has gone to heaven. Bashar is the killer of my people." "Umm Abdou the Aleppan" aired nearly 30 episodes, each about 10 minutes long, on the opposition station Halab Today TV. It was filmed in Aleppo, even as it was subjected almost daily to bombardment. In one outtake, three girls performing a scene jump at the sound of an explosion, then go on with their lines. Bashar Sakka, the director, said he cast kids because children are the witnesses to "the massacres committed by Assad against childhood." The show is steeped in the atmosphere of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, taking place in the stone alleyways of one of its old neighborhoods, with the dialogue in the city's distinct accent of Arabic. The title character, Umm Abdou, was played by a young girl named Rasha, while Abtini played her husband, Abu Abdou. Both show a talent for comic timing, playing a stereotypical traditional husband and wife. He's domineering and patriarchal. She's clever, ambitious and a bit ditzy, dealing with neighboring families living on top of each other in close quarters. In one episode, the mother of a rebel fighter visits, looking to marry her son to Umm Abdou's daughter. Over tea, Umm Abou tells her all her daughters are married to members of the Free Syrian Army, the comparatively secular rebel umbrella group. When she learns that the prospective groom is a "mujahid" an Islamic militant fighter she slyly demands a high dowry to intentionally foil the negotiations. In another episode, Umm Abdou decides with her girlfriends to form an all-female rebel faction. Abu Abdou teases her, saying, "You want to go to the front lines when you're afraid of cockroaches." Then he tells her there's a mouse under the couch and laughs as she jumps up and screams. Another scene has Abu Abdou going with rebels on a raid, but Umm Abdou gossips about it to all her neighbors and her husband comes back wounded from an ambush by government forces who learned of the planned attack. "I wonder how everyone found out!" Umm Abdou muses. "Qusai was a very talented boy," Sakka told The Associated Press. "We were looking for an intelligent boy," he said from southern Turkey via Skype. "We wanted him to be free with ideas, and without fear of Bashar Assad's regime and its ruthlessness." Abtini was 10 years old when mass protests first erupted against the rule of President Bashar Assad erupted in March 2011. He became quickly entangled in the uprising, taking part in anti-Assad demonstrations, often sitting on his older brother's shoulders. He spoke in opposition videos, criticizing Assad's government and describing Aleppo's destruction. At the same time, he acted in school plays. Afraa Hashem, his school's director, saw his talent and introduced him to Sakka. "He was very ambitious. Once he moved from acting in plays to TV, his dreams broadened and worked on transforming what he was living through" into his performances, she said, speaking from Aleppo via Skype. After the TV series, Abtini had roles in local theater. Last summer, he played a rebel killed in fighting. As his mother weeps over his body, a man tells her: "Be happy for him. He wanted martyrdom and got it." During recent shelling, Abtini's home was hit and his father was wounded, left bound to a wheelchair. On July 8, Abtini's father decided to send his children out of Aleppo. But as the car Abtini was in made a run down the one road out of rebel-held parts of Aleppo, a missile struck it. It was impossible to tell whether it was a targeted or random attack. In a video of the symbolic funeral a few days later, his father in his wheelchair watches the marchers go by, holding a placard reading, "Qusai, Abu Abdu the Aleppan. You are a little hero. You scared the regime with your giant acts so they killed you." ___ Associated Press writer Nadia Ahmed in Cairo contributed to this report. This undated frame grab from video provided by Bashar Sakka, shows Syrian actress Rasha, background, playing the role of a mother who lost her son, a rebel killed in fighting, played by Qusai Abtini, laying on the ground, in Aleppo, Syria. Fresh-faced with a toothy grin and thick black hair, Abtini found a curious path in Syrias civil war: He became a child actor who rose to local celebrity depicting the traumas of rebel-held areas of his home city, Aleppo. In the end, the 14-year-old boy fell victim to those traumas. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial center of Syria but has since become one of the most grueling battlegrounds of the civil war. (Bashar Sakka via AP) This undated frame grab from video by Bashar Sakka, shows Syrian child actor Qusai Abtini, left, playing the role of an opposition fighter while acting in a play, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Syria. Abtini, who became well known in northern Syrian after playing the lead role in 2014 TV sit-com "Um Abdou the Aleppan," was killed on July 8, 2016, when the car he was in while trying to flee Aleppo was hit by a missile. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial center of Syria but has since become one of the most grueling battlegrounds of the civil war. (Bashar Sakka via AP) This undated frame grab from video provided by Bashar Sakka, producer of the sit-com, Um Abdou the Aleppan, shows Syrian actor Qusai Abtini, right, while filming an episode with Rasha, left, known as Umm Abdu, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Syria. Fresh-faced with a toothy grin and thick black hair, Abtini found a curious path in Syrias civil war: He became a child actor who rose to local celebrity depicting the traumas of rebel-held areas of his home city, Aleppo. In the end, the 14-year-old boy fell victim to those traumas. His life and death underscored the suffering of Aleppans, whose city was once the commercial center of Syria but has since become one of the most grueling battlegrounds of the civil war. (Bashar Sakka via AP) Teens ask for jobs to avoid gangs, get hired on the spot LAGRANGE, Ga. (AP) An official in the west Georgia city of LaGrange is praising four teenagers for taking the initiative to find jobs instead of succumbing to the pressure to join gangs. News outlets report that LaGrange Housing Authority CEO Zsa Zsa Heard wrote in a widely shared Facebook post that she hired the 13-year-old and 14-year-old boys on the spot last week when they asked her for a job so they could avoid being approached by gang members. Heard tells WXIA-TV (http://on.11alive.com/2amo2ok ) that the boys had asked her for jobs during prior school breaks last year, but at that time she hadn't understood why. Groups affiliated with Black Lives Matter release agenda A coalition of more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement called for policing and criminal justice reforms in a list of demands released ahead of the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The agenda was released Monday by the Movement for Black Lives after both the Republican and Democratic conventions, during which Black Lives Matter activists were noticeably absent from protest lines. "We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform," Michaela Brown, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Bloc, one of the group's partner organizations, said in a statement. "As the 2016 election continues, this platform provides us with a way to intervene with an agenda that resists state and corporate power, an opportunity to implement policies that truly value the safety and humanity of black lives, and an overall means to hold elected leaders accountable." The agenda outlines six demands and offers 40 recommendations on how to address them. To address criminal justice reform, for example, organizers are calling for an end to the type of militarized police presence seen at protests in cities like Ferguson, and the retroactive decriminalization and immediate release of all people convicted of drug offenses, sex work related offense and youth offenses. The group also is calling for the passage of federal legislation, already proposed in Congress, that would create a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves. This is the first time Black Lives Matter has articulated its demands. A year ago, groups held a two-day meeting in Cleveland in the wake of several high-profile killings of black men and boys by police. The shootings sparked racial tensions and protests that evolved into a national conversation about disparities in policing. Since then, the groups met to come up with the final agenda. Fueled largely by social media, the Black Lives Matter movement has grabbed the attention of elected officials, including President Barack Obama who has invited activists to the White House to discuss their grievances and possible solutions. Several police departments are currently under Justice Department review or reform. Their efforts also have forced criminal justice reform and policing disparities to become election issues, and were credited, in part, with the ouster of district attorneys in Illinois and Ohio earlier this year. Black Lives Matter also has drawn criticism and faced backlash from groups who say the organization is unfairly critical of and even endangers law enforcement. The counter slogan Blue Lives Matter has become a rallying cry, and even led to the passage of legislation in Louisiana to include the targeting of police officers in the state's hate crime law, which was passed this spring and took effect Monday. The Black Lives Matter movement dates to 2012, but ignited two years later when 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, on August 9, 2014. Releasing the platform near the anniversary of the Ferguson shooting is a powerful statement, said Dara Cooper, an organizer with the National Black Food & Justice Alliance, one of the partner groups. "It's us saying that we're not backing down," she said. "In the tradition of our ancestors and elders who have been in this very long struggle, we're going to keep working toward what we deserve." The platform represents an articulation of the collective state of black people that goes beyond policing, presented by the people who are being directly impacted in communities, Cooper said. "Black life is undervalued and assaulted in myriad ways," Cooper said. "Policing and mass incarceration has so much to do with it, but it's also the education we receive, the type of food we have access to, the ability to be self-determining through land ownership. ... We fight against things, but we also need to be fighting for something." ___ Errin Haines Whack covers urban affairs for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emarvelous and read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/errin-haines-whack ___ Online: "A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice": http://policy.m4bl.org Spokesman for Rio Olympics: Athletes can compete in safety RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) The chief spokesman for the Rio Olympics says, "I can guarantee in the name of Rio 2016 that the athletes can compete in safety." Mario Andrada was responding Monday to the publication of the latest water study by The Associated Press, which found severe viral contamination in all outdoor aquatic venues for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Some of the worst pollution is in Rio's Guanabara Bay, which will host the sailing competition. Andrada says: "We could and should have done a little better. But it does not remain a threat to the athletes. The athletes will compete in safety." In this July 11, 2016 photo, Brazil's national flag decorates the boat used to collect water samples from Guanabara Bay for an ongoing water quality study commissioned by The Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The AP published the first results of its 16-month study over a year ago, showing levels of viruses that cause stomach and respiratory illnesses and more rarely heart and brain inflammation at levels up to 1.7 million times what would be considered worrisome in the United States or Europe. Since then, athletes have been taking elaborate precautions to prevent illnesses that could potentially knock them out of the competition. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) US joint chiefs chair visits Turkey with anti-coup message WASHINGTON (AP) The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is visiting Turkey to address U.S. troops and meet senior Turkish military officials. It's the most senior visit by an American official since last month's failed coup attempt. The Pentagon said Gen. Joseph Dunford arrived in Turkey on Monday. He delivered messages condemning the coup and stressing the importance of Turkey's contributions to the fight against the Islamic State group and as a NATO ally. Some in Turkey have complained that the United States has not been forceful enough in condemning the coup, which Turkish leaders have blamed on a cleric who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. Nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine seized in Kenya, police say NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Nearly 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of cocaine have been seized at the country's main seaport by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials and police, Kenyan police officials said Monday. The cocaine was seized from a container delivered by ship from Brazil, said a senior police official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. A British national and two Kenyans are being questioned, the official said. The drugs were seized last week in containers supposedly carrying sugar destined for Uganda, officials said. The seizure was a rare one in Kenya, which the U.N. and the U.S. say has become a cocaine distribution hub in recent years. Traffickers from South America are said to take advantage of Nairobi's extensive air links to Europe and Asia. Traffickers also exploit Kenya's long Indian Ocean coastline and lack of adequate security controls at the port of Mombasa, the State Department's 2016 drug control strategy report says. Stemming this flow of drugs is a challenge for Kenyan authorities, the report says. "Drug trafficking organizations take advantage of corruption within the Kenyan government and business community, and proceeds from drug trafficking contribute to the corruption of Kenyan institutions. High-level prosecutions or large seizures remain infrequent." 17-year-old arrested in 3 murders in Mexico City MEXICO CITY (AP) Authorities in Mexico City said Monday they arrested a 17-year-old boy on murder charges in the deaths of three people, some of whom he allegedly killed because of the way they looked at his girlfriend. The bodies were found mutilated in an empty lot in the southern part of the capital on Thursday. City prosecutors said authorities are still searching for an accomplice. The suspect's 16-year-old girlfriend told investigators that her boyfriend got angry because one of the victims had leered at her, another had pulled open a curtain while she was changing and another entered her room. The victims were found with their hands and ears cut off. And in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, a pair of running gun battles between soldiers and drug cartel gunmen left five dead and six wounded. The government of the border state of Tamaulipas said the Sunday night gun battles came amid a turf battle between two gangs for control of the city, a valuable trafficking route across the border from Laredo, Texas. The government said army patrol came under fire on two separate occasions. One soldier was killed and six others wounded in the first attack. Later, another army patrol was attacked and returned fire, killing four suspects. Car bomb attack in Turkey kills 5 police officers ANKARA, Turkey (AP) An official says Kurdish rebels have detonated a car bomb in southeast Turkey, killing five police officers traveling inside a police vehicle. Yavuz Selim Koser, the governor for Bingol, said four other police officers were seriously wounded in Monday's attack in the mainly Kurdish province. He blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for Kurdish autonomy since 1984. Clashes between the PKK and the Turkish security forces resumed a year ago after a fragile peace process collapsed. The renewed conflict has led to the death of nearly 600 security personnel and more than 5,000 Kurdish militants. Ohio's Cedar Point park closing famed wooden coaster SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) Ohio's Cedar Point amusement park says it's shutting down what was once the world's tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster after 25 years. Mean Streak will permanently close on September 16 in order to make room for future development of the FrontierTown section of the park. A memorial ceremony for the coaster will be held that evening. Cedar Point says more than 26 million people have ridden the 161-foot high ride since it opened in 1991. Indictment: Engineering firm altered Sandy damage reports MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) An engineering firm that was hired by insurance companies to evaluate damage caused by Superstorm Sandy was charged Monday with illegally altering reports prepared by inspectors in the field. HiRise Engineering and one of the company's project managers, Matthew Pappalardo, were charged with felony fraud. Pappalardo also faces charges of practicing engineering without a license. He and the company have denied wrongdoing. They pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Nassau County. The charges are the result of an investigation opened in 2014 by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman after lawyers for scores of New York and New Jersey homeowners filed civil lawsuits claiming that altered engineering reports had led to them getting less insurance money than they deserved. HiRise Engineering was one of several companies working for insurance companies that came under scrutiny. The company hired many subcontractors to inspect flooded homes and help insurers determine whether problems such as cracked foundations, sloping floors or buckled walls were caused by the storm surge or other factors not covered by flood insurance, such as strong winds or old age. In at least 25 cases, prosecutors allege that Pappalardo who was not an engineer had employees heavily edit field reports, sometimes in ways that substantially changed conclusions about the extent or cause of damage. The altered reports were submitted by HiRise without the approval of the engineers who actually inspected the homes, the attorney general's office said. Schneiderman said the alterations of the reports undermined the integrity of the federal flood insurance program. He added that his investigation also "uncovered evidence of other crimes which fall outside the scope" of his jurisdiction and that he referred those findings to federal prosecutors. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Pappalardo was released on $20,000 bail Monday. He declined to comment as he left court. His attorney, Avi Moskowitz, said his client looked forward to proving his innocence. Republicans declare support for Khans in spat with Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Prominent Republicans are speaking out Monday against their own presidential candidate after he chose to scuffle with the grieving parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq. Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in 2004, have refused to back down from their criticism of Trump even as he has complained of being "viciously attacked." Republicans, from Trump's staunch supporters to those who have previously been reluctant to engage with Trump, have spoken out overwhelmingly in support of the Khans. None, however, has withdrawn an endorsement of Trump. Here are some of their comments: ___ "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statements. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates... While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a prisoner of war in Vietnam who Trump has derided for being captured. ___ "I am dismayed at the attacks Khizr and Ghazala Khan have endured after they spoke about their son's service and sacrifice. There is never enough honor we can show to the families of those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Service to our country is above politics." -- House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas. ___ "I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage (the Khans) and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family." -- Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. ___ "I think it's unfortunate. Look, Sergeant Khan is a hero, for every measure." -- Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. ___ "There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics - that you don't do - like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you. If you're going to be leader of the free world, you have to be able to accept criticism. Mr. Trump can't." -- Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. ___ "The Khans have made the greatest possible sacrifice for our country; they deserve to be heard and respected. My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton." -- Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri. ___ "First of all, I just think that anyone that has died in the service of our country is a hero. And I think that (Trump's approach) was a mistake. I believe the focus needs to be on the differences that he has with Hillary Clinton in terms of policies."--Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. ___ "Capt. Khan was killed-in-action while honorably serving his nation, and as a country, we are forever indebted to him and his family for his dedication to duty. Heading into November, our party must have a laser focus on the issues that will defeat Hillary Clinton. Period." -- Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina _ "Capt. Humayun Khan, and all the Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, deserve our deepest respect and gratitude." -- Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin __ "The Khan family, like all Americans who lose loved ones in the defense of our country, deserve our gratitude and honor. Anything else is inappropriate." -- Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who has not endorsed Trump. ___ Sen. Rob Portman, does not agree with Donald Trump's remarks and believes that Captain Khan was an American hero who gave his life for his country. As he has said previously many times, Rob does not agree with the idea of banning people from entering the country based on their religion." -- Michawn Rich, spokesperson for the Ohio senator. ___ "Having served in Iraq, I'm deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war." -- Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. ___ The Latest: Ex-LA sheriff withdraws plea, will go to trial LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on the corruption case against former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca (all times local): 1:42 p.m. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has withdrawn his guilty plea in a corruption case and will go to trial. FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2014, file photo, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announces his retirement at a news conference at Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, Calif. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca, who pleaded guilty to trying to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and must decide whether he spends the best remaining days of his life fighting to stay out of jail or behind bars. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) The decision was announced Monday after last-minute attempts to reach a new plea bargain. Baca had pleaded guilty in February to lying to federal authorities about efforts to stifle an investigation of civil rights abuses of inmates in the county jail system. But U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson subsequently rejected the plea agreement with prosecutors, saying a six-month sentence wasn't tough enough even though the 74-year-old Baca is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. More than 20 members of the Sheriff's Department have been convicted on charges ranging from assault to obstruction of justice, including Baca's former second-in-command, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison. A Sept. 20 trial date has been set. ___ 10:10 a.m. Negotiations are continuing between prosecutors and defense lawyers to reach an agreement on how much time in prison former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should serve for lying to federal authorities. Attorneys said Monday morning in federal court that they negotiated through the weekend but did not reach a deal. The judge adjourned proceedings until the afternoon to give lawyers more time to try for a deal. Baca pleaded guilty in February to lying to federal authorities about efforts to stifle an investigation of civil rights abuses in the county jail system. But U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson subsequently rejected the plea agreement, saying a six-month maximum sentence wasn't tough enough. The 74-year-old Baca is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The Latest: Senator praises bravery in face of flooding WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on flash flooding in central Maryland (all times local): 2:10 p.m. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland is praising the bravery of those who formed a human chain Saturday to help rescue someone caught in the flood waters A submerged car is visible in the Patapsco River, seen from the Howard County side of Patapsco Valley State Park after the sidewalk caved in due to Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Mikulski said Monday it "took my breath away." She toured Main Street in Ellicott City, where catastrophic flooding devastated local businesses and claimed two lives. Mikulski said she is working with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to submit a request for federal assistance for individuals, businesses and the local government. The Democratic senator addressed the media alongside Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, a Republican. Kittleman said local authorities are working to open a disaster response center where residents hit by the flood can gather information. He said they will make sure Ellicott City rises up to be even stronger and more vibrant." ___ 1:20 p.m. Maryland's lieutenant governor says state and federal officials are discussing disaster relief for Ellicott City after severe flash flooding. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said Monday officials are still assessing the damage so they can give information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rutherford, who has seen the damage and spoke to reporters outside the statehouse in Annapolis, says officials are looking at the structural integrity of buildings damaged by the flooding on Saturday. He says some buildings may not be repairable. He also points out that much of the damage has been borne by small business owners, some of whom live above their stores and haven't been able to return home. He says state and local officials are working to help displaced residents. ___ 10:00 a.m. A pastor says a woman killed by flash flood waters in Ellicott City, Maryland, was the single mother of a 10-year-old girl. The Rev. Dean Cover (COH'-ver) shared his memories of 35-year-old Jessica Watsula on Monday in a telephone interview from Living Waters Chapel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He says Watsula and her daughter Sarah joined the Christian congregation about eight years ago. He remembers her as a gracious, upbeat woman. Cover says Watsula worked in a shoe store in Lebanon. He says she was thrilled when she got the job in the past year because it enabled her to spend more time at home and at the church, where she volunteered in a child-care program. Cover says Watsula also enjoyed working out at an area gym. ___ 9:25 a.m. Thirty-five-year-old Courtney Weglein was headed to Ellicott City's historic downtown in Maryland to meet friends Saturday night. But as she prepared to make a run for a friend's apartment in the rain, water rushing down the steep street suddenly became more furious, knocking her against the car and locking her keys inside. When she got to Jonathan Butkus' second-floor apartment, Weglein says water was coming in and the landlord soon said people had to get out. Outside, they found choppy water up to the hoods of cars and watched as Weglein's car slammed into another. They realized a teenage boy was in a nearby car and she captured video of Butkus carrying him to safety on his shoulders through knee-high water. As water continued rising, Weglein says she hugged the others there and feared she'd never see her 2-year-old son again. When the water went down, they walked out to find incredible damage. "Then we found out people died and then it hit us." ___ 7:10 a.m. County and state officials in Maryland are gathering recovery resources for people affected by flooding over the weekend in Ellicott City. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford plan to attend the recovery and information session for residents and businesses Monday afternoon with representatives of county and state agencies and nonprofits offering resources. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water within hours Saturday night. Kittleman said in a statement that more than 200 properties were inspected Sunday and four to five of them are considered destroyed and another 20 to 30 suffered substantial damage. He says many structures, sidewalks and roadways are still unstable and it's not clear when people will be allowed to return. Utilities have been shut down in the area while repairs are made. In the meantime, county and state police have secured the area. ___ 3:15 a.m. The picturesque Main Street of Ellicott City, Maryland, faces a months-long recovery that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars after devastating flooding that damaged nearly every home and business along the road. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water Saturday night, most of it between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The floodwaters swept away hundreds of cars, tore up sidewalks and wrecked storefronts and building foundations. Police say a Pennsylvania woman visiting the town with her family was one of those killed after their car was caught in the raging floodwaters and carried toward the Patapsco River. Cars are piled on top of each other in the Meadow Mill parking lot along the Jones Falls in Baltimore on Sunday, July 31, 2016, following Saturday night's storms. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP) The hill in front of the A.M.E. Baptist Church is seen washed away in the overnight flash flood that hit Main Street in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Crew members work near the railroad trestle at the end of historic Main Street, where flood damaged vehicles block the street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Carolyn Sanchez, who lives on upper Main Street, describes the waist high water that sent cars crashing into each other, like the scene behind her on the street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Vehicles collide each other on Main Street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A worker carries lumber to shore up one of the stores on Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to overnight flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Recovery and cleanup is underway on historic Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to overnight flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers stabilize a building on Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to overnight flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Review: A poignant tale of everyday drama in 'Little Men' When a generous patriarch dies, the lives of two families are altered in Ira Sachs' beautifully poignant slice of life drama "Little Men ." In the film, Brian Jardine (Greg Kinnear), a struggling actor, his wife, Kathy (Jennifer Ehle), a psychotherapist and the breadwinner of the family, and their 13-year-old son Jake (Theo Taplitz) uproot their Manhattan lives and move into Brian's late father's home in Brooklyn. On the ground floor of the residence is a tiny store that sells handmade dresses. The owner, a Chilean woman, Leonor Calvelli (Paulina Garcia) also has a young son, Tony (Michael Barbieri), who Jake quickly befriends. This image released by Magnolia Pictures shows Theo Taplitz in a scene from, "Little Men." (Magnolia Pictures via AP) Jake is an old soul with an artist's eye and sensitivity. Tony is a charismatic neighborhood kid with a thick Brooklyn accent and acting ambitions. They're both angling to get into the same art school too. Their friendship is pure, immediate and quite charming these two kids are some true talents. But there's an unspoken tension lingering below the surface in Leonor's interactions with the Jardines. She knows what's coming even if the audience can't quite see it yet. They live side-by-side in relative peace for a time, and then the conversation happens: Brian tells Leonor that she needs to sign a new lease and pay more rent. Leonor had been shielded from the changing tides of the neighborhood under the charity and protection of Brian's father. They were friends, and he liked the "glamour" of having the shop there, she explains. But Brian is not his father and he and his sister are thinking practically about the space. What do they owe this woman, after all? And hasn't she gotten by for longer than she would have under any other circumstance? But even at a discount, Leonor can't afford the new rent. Leonor lashes out in her reserved, but piercing way, telling Brian that she was more his father's family than he was. She was there the day he died. She was there every day. Brian responds appropriately that that's a ridiculous thing to say. Both are right, and both are wrong, but the die has been cast and there is no turning back from this. Alone, it's a good story, but it's the very different-on-paper little men at the center, Jake and Tony, who give it that extra weight of tragedy, as they watch their parents unravel with greed and pride and vow to stop speaking to them until they work it out. It's not about gentrification, Kathy tries to tell Leonor. They aren't the ruthless rich, colonizing a new neighborhood. Brian doesn't make any money and hasn't in a while and they need the rent money from the store, she says. Again, it's partially true and partially not. You get the sense that the Jardines would be OK. The stakes for the Calvellis are so much higher. But you also can't necessarily fault the Jardines for wanting to claim the full value of what is now rightfully theirs. The adult actors are all excellent Kinnear especially delivering elegant lines from Sachs and his longtime co-writer Mauricio Zacharias ("Love is Strange," ''Keep the Lights On") with a lived-in realism. "Little Men" unfolds like a play in a taut 85 minutes. Its smallness makes it grand and moving. These are the things, these little moments, decisions and consequences that most human lives are made of, after all. "Little Men," a Magnolia Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "thematic elements, smoking and some language." Running time: 85 minutes. Four stars out of four. ___ MPAA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr This image released by Magnolia Pictures shows Greg Kinnear, left, and Jennifer Ehle in a scene from, "Little Men." (Magnolia Pictures via AP) This image released by Magnolia Pictures shows Michael Barbieri in a scene from, "Little Men." (Magnolia Pictures via AP) The Latest: Lawyer for teen in killings questions gun sales EVERETT, Wash. (AP) The Latest on a shooting at a small party in Washington state that left three people dead (all times local): 3 p.m. A lawyer representing a 19-year-old accused of fatally shooting three other teens at a party in Washington state over the weekend says the case raises troubling questions about the availability of guns. Tim Leary, a defense attorney from Seattle, says that if his client, Allen Ivanov, had tried to go into a convenience store to buy a six-pack of beer he'd have been turned away. But police allege he was able to purchase an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle a week before the attack in suburban Mukilteo. Police have not said where Ivanov bought the gun, but they did say he purchased a second ammunition magazine Friday at a sporting goods store. Leary says it's concerning that nothing prohibits a depressed 19-year-old from buying a semi-automatic rifle, especially considering research that shows how the brains of young adults continue to develop into their 20s. ___ 1:35 p.m. A judge has ordered a 19-year-old man held without bail in the fatal shooting of three people at a party in Mukilteo, Washington, over the weekend. The Seattle Times reports (http://goo.gl/DmhJXa0 ) that Allen Ivanov appeared Monday by video link from the Snohomish County Jail. He is being held for investigation of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of his former girlfriend, Anna Bui; two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Jake Long and Jordan Ebner, and attempted first-degree murder in the wounding of Will Kramer. Ivanov was also ordered not to have any contact with the families of the victims. ___ 10:55 a.m. Court documents say a 19-year-old man who shot and killed three people at a party in Washington state was so unfamiliar with his newly purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that he parked his car across the street from the party and read the firearm's instruction manual just before the attack. Authorities say Allen C. Ivanov was arrested by state troopers on Interstate 5 about 100 miles from the bloody scene he left in Mukilteo, a well-off Seattle suburb. In a probable cause statement released Monday, they say he confessed to the killings and that he did it because he was angry that his ex-girlfriend seemed to be moving on with her life after their recent break-up. She was one of the victims. The document also says Ivanov had texted someone in Tennessee about his plans a couple of days before the shooting. It's unclear whether the recipient of those texts tried to report them to anyone. ___ 8:47 a.m. A 19-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting three people at a party in a Seattle suburb over the weekend is expected in court Monday afternoon. Allen Ivanov is being held in the Snohomish County Jail. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the three 19-year-olds who were killed at the party early Saturday in Mukilteo as Jordan Ebner, of Lake Stevens; Jacob Long, of Everett; and Anna Bui, of Everett. They died of gunshot wounds. A fourth person was also seriously injured. Hundreds attended a vigil Sunday at a local church to remember the victims. The Daily Herald of Everett reports they were recent graduates of Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, a waterfront city of 21,000 north of Seattle. FBI employee pleads guilty to being illegal Chinese agent NEW YORK (AP) An FBI electronics technician with a top security clearance pleaded guilty on Monday to funneling photographs of FBI documents and other sensitive information to China. Prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan charged Kun Shan Chun a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by "Joey Chun" with making false statements in connection with his security clearance to cover up his connections to Chinese associates that included at least one unnamed government official. Chun, 46, threatened American security by acting as an unauthorized foreign agent, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in statement. Because he was an FBI employee, the threat "was all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," the prosecutor added. Chun, who was released after the plea, declined to speak to reporters as he left the courthouse. Defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny said in a statement that his client "deeply regrets" what he did. "The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm," the lawyer said. Court papers allege that after beginning work for the FBI's Computerized Central Monitoring Facility, Chun cultivated a relationship with Chinese associates seeking technological data and other information. In 2013, Chun downloaded an FBI organizational chart from his FBI computer in Manhattan and later turned it over to an unnamed Chinese official, the papers say. About two years later, he "took photographs of documents displayed in a restricted area of the FBI's New York Field Office, which summarized sensitive details regarding multiple surveillance technologies used by the FBI," the papers say. He later used his personal cellphone to send the photos to China, they add. Authorities say Chun was rewarded with cash, free travel and other favors for himself and his family. The court papers cite one email exchange in which a Chinese associate wrote about treating Chun and his future wife to a trip to France and Italy with "five-star hotels the entire way." During a conversation with an undercover investigator, he claimed his associates also sometimes paid for prostitutes for him, the papers say. Intel briefings for Clinton, Trump could begin this week WASHINGTON (AP) The political conventions were laced with tales of foreign espionage and intrigue. Now, it's time for the official spy work of the presidential campaign to begin. As early as this week, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will start getting top-secret intelligence briefings from the national intelligence director's office. This year, though, the more than 60-year-old tradition of providing presidential candidates classified briefings has prompted vicious backbiting between Democrats and Republicans about whether each other's candidate can keep a secret. Clinton supporters and some intelligence officials say the New York business magnate has loose lips and often shoots from the hip. FILE - In this July 30, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks in Youngstown, Ohio. As early as this week, Clinton and Donald Trump will start getting top-secret intelligence briefings from the national intelligence directors office. This year, though, the more than 60-year-old tradition of providing presidential candidates classified briefings has prompted vicious backbiting between Democrats and Republicans about whether the candidates can keep a secret. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) Trump backers point to Clinton's use of a private email server and FBI Director James Comey's rebuke of her "extremely careless" handling of classified information while she was secretary of state. Trump tweeted: "Hillary Clinton should not be given national security briefings in that she is a lose (loose) cannon with extraordinarily bad judgement (judgment) & insticts (instincts)." In a letter to National Intelligence Director James Clapper, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said many questions remain about how Clinton handled her email and requested that she not get classified briefings for the rest of the campaign. Clapper rejected the request, saying, "I do not intend to withhold briefings from any officially nominated, eligible candidate." As secretary of State, Clinton held a high security clearance and received a copy of the President's Daily Brief the highest-level U.S. intelligence document, filled with sensitive intelligence and analysis from across the world. Trump, as a career businessman, has never held a government security clearance and is a novice when it comes to intelligence briefings. The term top secret intelligence is thrown around a lot, but there is grave danger to U.S. national security if some of this information is disclosed, said David Priess, author of "The President's Book of Secrets," a history of the President's Daily Brief. "It could pertain to the ways of defending the United States that our adversaries don't know," he said. "Or it could pertain to what we know about foreign countries that they don't know we know. So any time that there is someone who is not familiar with this, there is some anxiety." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., argued that Trump should not be trusted because he talks recklessly about world issues. Reid suggested that intelligence officials "fake it" pretend they are briefing Trump, but don't really tell him anything classified. Trump is far less well-versed in world affairs than Clinton. He has suggested that the U.S. abandon its NATO treaty commitments to allies who haven't kept up with their payments, and has expressed his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has also said he would consider as president recognizing Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian province of Crimea. And he said that Putin is "not gonna go into Ukraine," even though Russian troops have been photographed in eastern Ukraine. Clapper insists the intelligence community feels no hesitation about briefing either candidate. He says a briefing team is ready to begin and that both candidates will be provided the same information. "This is a long-standing tradition that goes back to Harry Truman," Clapper said. "There is a long tradition that the intel community at the appropriate time and now is the appropriate time since both candidates have been anointed that that both camps will be ... offered briefings, and then it will be up to them to decide whether to accept them." At the Aspen Security Forum last week in Colorado, Clapper said the briefings will be fairly general, but classified nonetheless. While details of the topics cannot be publicly disclosed, Clapper said the top three issues headlining the briefings would likely be Islamic extremism, Russia and cyberattacks by state and nonstate actors and the threat they pose to the United States. Once a candidate is elected president, he or she will get more detailed briefings and information on U.S. covert operations The briefings begin as the FBI is investigating a hack of the Democratic National Committee computer that resulted in a WikiLeaks posting of embarrassing internal communications on the eve of the Democratic convention. President Barack Obama and cybersecurity experts have said Russia was almost certainly responsible. Washington state files $100 million suit against Comcast OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday filed a $100 million lawsuit against Comcast, saying the cable and internet giant deceived customers into paying tens of millions of dollars in fees for a "near-worthless" service protection plan. Ferguson, who filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court, said at a news conference that in addition to its misleading service protection plan, Philadelphia-based Comcast committed more than 1.8 million violations of the state's Consumer Protection Act by charging improper service call fees and using improper credit screening practices. "This case is a classic example of a big corporation systematically deceiving Washington state consumers and putting profits above those consumers," said Ferguson said. According to the lawsuit, Comcast misled 500,000 customers in Washington state by having them pay a $4.99 monthly fee to avoid being charged if a technician visited their home to fix an issue covered by the plan. But Ferguson said the company didn't reveal that the plan didn't cover repairs to wiring inside a wall. As part of the investigation, customers contacted Comcast numerous times. Ferguson said that 75 percent of the time, Comcast representatives falsely told the customers that the plan covered all inside wiring. More than $73 million of the amount that Ferguson is seeking is for restitution to customers who paid for the protection plan over the past five years. "Comcast needs to pay that money back," he said. The remainder of the amount he is seeking is for restitution for charging improper service call fees and for penalties related to violation of the state's consumer protection act. The lawsuit says that Comcast violated that act to all of its nearly 1.2 million customers in the state because of its deception. He noted that the Washington lawsuit was the first on this issue in the country, though the company's service protection plan is a nationwide program. Ferguson said he's not yet aware of any other states planning to sue the company. "Over and over and over again, Comcast most certainly did not play by the rules," Ferguson said. Ferguson said that the investigation began after an employee of his office brought the credit screening issue to his attention. Comcast requires a deposit for equipment, but customers can have that deposit waived if they undergo a credit check and have a high credit score. However, Ferguson said that on more than 6,000 occasions, deposits were paid by people who still had their credit checked, meaning that either Comcast wrongfully ran a credit check in spite of the customers paying the deposit or else the company still made the customers pay the deposit despite their high credit score. Comcast officials said Monday they were "surprised and disappointed" about the lawsuit. In a statement, Comcast said the protection plan covered 99 percent of consumers' repair calls. The company said it made several improvements based on the input of Ferguson's office. The company said "we stand behind our products and services and will vigorously defend ourselves." Ferguson said Comcast should not have been surprised, because they knew as of last week that litigation was imminent. "It took the filing of our complaint before correcting some of the steps," Ferguson said. "That doesn't change the fact that for the better part of a year they did nothing." Ex-Los Angeles sheriff opts for trial in corruption case LOS ANGELES (AP) Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca withdrew his guilty plea Monday to lying about efforts to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran, saying he wants to "set the record straight" at trial before he declines from Alzheimer's disease. The decision came after negotiations to reach a new sentencing deal collapsed because there was no certainty what kind of term Baca would face after a judge rejected a plea deal as too lenient because it called for no more than six months behind bars. Defense lawyers said they offered to have Baca serve no more than a year, but they believed the judge wanted a sentence of several years and that was too much given the 74-year-old's prognosis and his desire to emerge from incarceration without having lost too much mental capacity. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca speaks to the media after leaving federal court in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Baca withdrew a guilty plea Monday and chose to go to trial on a charge of lying to federal authorities in an effort to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) "We have a very, very small window of time that we believe Mr. Baca's life will be normal," attorney Michael Zweiback told reporters. "There's a good likelihood that he'll be suffering very dramatically from the disease at issue. So if there was a possibility that he was going to go beyond his good years in prison, then he should go out and fight." Judge Percy Anderson set a trial date for Sept. 20 in U.S. District Court, although that's likely to be postponed after prosecutors seek an indictment that could allege more serious offenses. Zweiback said prosecutors told him they would seek obstruction of justice charges if Baca decided to withdraw the plea and go to trial, though he said their evidence is weak. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney declined to comment on future charges or the plea deal because the case is pending. Jurors in the case will not be able to hear about the guilty plea, but widespread publicity about it could make it harder to seat a jury. The prospect that Baca will face a public trial as he declines from Alzheimer's is another dramatic twist in a corruption scandal that blossomed after deputies discovered an inmate was an FBI informant gathering evidence about civil rights abuses by jailers. Even as his underlings were being charged with crimes ranging from assault to conspiracy to obstruct justice, Baca remained steadfast that he played no role in the corruption. Baca, who resigned abruptly in 2014 after a wave of indictments were announced, said his faults were limited to being out of touch with the day-to-day operations of the nation's largest jail system that he ran for 16 years. But earlier this year, as prosecutors prepared for trial against his top lieutenant, Baca pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators and acknowledged he had played a role in trying to derail the probe, even telling deputies to intimidate a female FBI agent with the threat of arrest. Two weeks ago, a remorse-filled Baca said in court that he had failed to lead and had let down the department and the public. That wasn't enough for Anderson, who has overseen four trials related to the corruption and sentenced Baca's second-in-command for five years in prison. Anderson said it was "one thing to lie ... another thing entirely" for the county's top cop to be "involved in a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up abuse and corruption." That left Baca three options: cut a new deal with prosecutors and hope Anderson would accept it; allow Anderson to sentence him up to five years in prison; or withdraw the plea and go to trial. Baca, who wore a gray pinstriped suit, white shirt, pink necktie and matching handkerchief in his breast pocket on Monday, took exception with the judge's remarks as he addressed reporters outside court and explained his reasoning for withdrawing his guilty plea. "I made this decision due to untruthful comments about my actions made by the court and the U.S. attorney's office that are contradicted by evidence in this case," he said. "While my future and my ability to defend myself depends on my Alzheimer's disease, I need to set the record straight about me and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on misleading aspects of the federal investigation while I'm capable of doing this." Baca's condition will play a role in his defense because the "arc of the disease started well before" he lied to the FBI and federal prosecutors in 2013, Zweiback said. "We will be able to prove that in court," he said. Prosecutors said in court briefs that they do not think that Baca's condition had any impact on his lies. Baca lied to authorities in April 2013 and didn't consult a physician about memory issues until a year later, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox wrote in a sentencing brief. ___ This story has been corrected to show defense attorneys agreed to have Baca serve no more than a year, instead of one year. Attorneys for former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Nathan J. Hochman, left, and Michael Zweiback, center, talk to the media on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Los Angeles. Negotiations are continuing between prosecutors and defense lawyers to reach an agreement on how much time in prison former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should serve for lying to federal authorities. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Attorneys for former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Michael Zweiback, center, and Nathan J. Hochman, second from left, and talk to the media on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Los Angeles. Negotiations are continuing between prosecutors and defense lawyers to reach an agreement on how much time in prison former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should serve for lying to federal authorities. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2014, file photo, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announces his retirement at a news conference at Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, Calif. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca, who pleaded guilty to trying to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and must decide whether he spends the best remaining days of his life fighting to stay out of jail or behind bars. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and his wife Carol leave federal court in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Lee Baca withdrew a guilty plea Monday and chose to go to trial on a charge of lying to federal authorities in an effort to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Police: Man read gun manual just before attack on party SEATTLE (AP) A 19-year-old man who shot and killed three people at a party in suburban Seattle was so unfamiliar with his newly purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that he parked his car across the street and read the firearm's instruction manual just before the attack, police wrote in a probable-cause statement made public Monday. Allen C. Ivanov was arrested by state troopers on Interstate 5 early Saturday more than 100 miles from the bloody scene in Mukilteo, a north Seattle suburb, authorities said. They said he confessed to the killings and that he did it because he was angry that his ex-girlfriend, Anna Bui, seemed to be moving on with her life after their recent breakup. She was one of the victims. Allen Ivanov appears at Snohomish District Court in Everett, Wash., via video link from the Snohomish County Jail, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. A lawyer representing the 19-year-old accused of fatally shooting three other teens at a party in Washington state over the weekend says the case raises troubling questions about the availability of guns. (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times via AP) The document also indicates that Ivanov gave a few indications of his troubling intent: He texted someone last week in Tennessee "regarding committing a mass shooting"; he posted on Twitter, "What's Ruger gonna think" an apparent reference to the manufacturer of his rifle; and he told his supervisor at an electronics store on Friday that the previous night he had put the rifle in the trunk of his car and gone to a quiet spot and just sat. Ivanov made a court appearance by video link Monday from the Snohomish County Jail and a judge ordered him held without bail, said Dave Wold, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to file charges. Ivanov's attorney, Tim Leary, did not contest the state's request that his client be held without bail. Ivanov had bought the assault-style weapon about a week before the attack, saying he planned to use it for target practice and that he had signed up for a gun-safety class this month, Mukilteo Police Detective John Ernst wrote in the probable-cause statement. Police haven't said where he bought it, but Ernst wrote that Ivanov said he went to a sporting goods store on Friday to buy a second magazine for it. "Ivanov stated that he showed up to the homicide scene at approximately 2200 hours, and parked across the street and watched," Ernst wrote. "He said that he creeped up toward the house and saw A with another male and got angry. He said that he returned to his car, read the instruction manual for the rifle, loaded the magazine, placed the magazine in the rifle, and sent the rifle's selector switch to 'safe.' He then returned to the victim house property." Ivanov told detectives he creeped around the back of the house and hid near the living room windows, where he was eventually discovered by one of the young men attending the party. "The male said, 'No, no no,'" Ernst wrote. "Ivanov stated that he was 'scared,' he flipped the selector switch to fire and shot the male. He stated that at that point it was too late to turn back, and once he had pulled the trigger his adrenaline kicked in." Ivanov said he entered the house through a side door, found Bui and shot her twice, then continued through the house, saw through the front door another man running toward the house and shot him, according to the probable-cause statement. From a balcony off the master bedroom, he said, he shot at two more men in the driveway before going onto the roof, realizing his magazine was empty and fleeing. Ivanov's attorney questioned why it's legal for a depressed 19-year-old to buy a semi-automatic rifle, especially given research that shows the brains of young adults continue to develop into their 20s. "If he would have walked into a 7-Eleven and tried to buy a six-pack of beer, he would have been turned away," Leary said. "When you look at someone who's 19, what they can and can't do is very troubling, and the consequences of that could not be any greater for the victims, for my client and for the community at large." In addition to Bui, of Everett, Jordan Ebner, of Lake Stevens, and Jacob Long, of Everett, were killed. They were all 19 and recent graduates of Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, a waterfront city of 21,000 people. A fourth person, 18-year-old Will Kramer, was wounded and remained in serious condition Monday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Bui and Ivanov were students at the University of Washington. A friend of the Mukilteo shooting victims reacts as Allen Ivanov appears at Snohomish District Court in Everett, Wash., via video link from the Snohomish County Jail, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Everett, Wash. A lawyer representing the 19-year-old accused of fatally shooting three other teens at a party in Washington state over the weekend says the case raises troubling questions about the availability of guns. (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times via AP) Sultan Akbar, friend of Mukilteo shooting suspect Allen Ivanov, is interviewed by the media about Ivanov following a bail hearing at Snohomish District Court in Everett, Wash., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. A lawyer representing Ivanov, the 19-year-old accused of fatally shooting three other teens at a party in Washington state over the weekend, says the case raises troubling questions about the availability of guns. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP) Court victims advocate Christina Harkness speaks with Mukilteo resident Terry Thomas, left, and friends of both the victims and suspect Sultan Akbar, second from right, and Andre Nguyen, right, after hearing for Allen Ivanov at Snohomish District Court in Everett, Wash., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. A lawyer representing the 19-year-old accused of fatally shooting three other teens at a party in Washington state over the weekend says the case raises troubling questions about the availability of guns. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP) People mourn at a memorial in the parking lot of Kamiak High School Sunday, July 31, 2016, after a community vigil for the victims of a shooting that occurred early Saturday morning at a house in Mukilteo, Wash.,killing three teenagers and wounding one. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP) Hundreds gathered for a community vigil Sunday, July 31, 2016, for the victims of a shooting that occurred early Saturday morning at a house in Mukilteo, Wash.,killing three teenagers and wounding one, at the Mukilteo Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP) Joseph Song, long-time friend of victim Anna Bui, mourns Sunday, July 31, 2016, at a memorial in the parking lot of Kamiak High School after a community vigil honoring the victims of a shooting that occurred early Saturday morning at a house in Mukilteo, killing three teenagers and wounding one. Song and Bui recently reconnected at UW Bothell where they were both students. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP) As Syria transition date passes, US makes no policy change WASHINGTON (AP) The United States outlined no change in its Syria policy as a target date for a political transition passed Monday, despite warning a few months ago that no progress would lead to a more muscular approach for ending the 5-year-old civil war. At a news conference in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would press on with a multi-month effort to prod Syrian President Bashar Assad and moderate opposition groups into a lasting truce and talks on a unity government. Kerry's tone was dramatically different from early May, when he issued an Aug. 1 ultimatum to Assad and his main backer Russia and warned of "repercussions." He said at the time, "Either something happens in these next few months, or they are asking for a very different track." FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2012 file photo, smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district, in Aleppo, Syria. The United States is outlining no change in its Syria policy as an August 1 target date for a political transition passes. In May, Secretary of State John Kerry issued an Aug. 1 ultimatum to Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and its main backer, Russia. "Either something happens," he said, "or they are asking for a very different track." But on Monday, Kerry said the U.S. would continue its effort to "get a cessation of hostilities in place that is meaningful." (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo, File) But on Monday, the top American described a U.S. strategy for Syria that is stuck where it started. "Almost all of the time from the moment of the announcement of the target date until today has been consumed by trying to get a cessation of hostilities in place that is meaningful," Kerry said. "And that is precisely what we are engaged in right now." Although it was never likely that the Obama administration would confront Assad directly, Kerry's comments three months ago implied a clear policy change would come. One feasible option diplomats discussed involved U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia giving the rebels new weapons to fight Assad, such as portable surface-to-air missiles. That could still be happening, but Kerry provided no such hint Monday. Instead, he seemed to share the blame for Syria's standstill, pointing to offensive operations by both Assad's government and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, for preventing a truce from sticking. Several Syrian opposition groups are embedded with Nusra, and Kerry said Washington had a responsibility to control them. Russia, he said, must restrain itself and Assad's government. "Now, my hope is that we can arrive at that," Kerry said, before issuing a new, if vaguer, suggestion of a potential U.S. breaking point. "If we can't, nobody is going to sit around and allow this pretense to continue." The war has killed as many as a half-million people since 2011, contributed to a global migration crisis and created a vacuum that allowed the Islamic State to capture territory and emerge as a global terror concern. In that time, the U.S. has issued various, unfulfilled threats of its own, from declaring Assad's days "numbered" five years ago to famously promising military action if chemical weapons were used and then backing down. Syria's violence continued Monday as a Russian transport helicopter was shot down in an opposition-held part of the north of the country, killing all five crew and officers onboard. It was the Russian military's deadliest incident since entering the conflict 10 months ago. The U.N., too, said Monday it was discouraged with the lack of movement toward a transition. But spokesman Farhan Haq said the world body would push for Syrian "negotiations than can accomplish something" by the end of the month. ___ Advocate: 13-year-old in Mexico denied abortion in rape MEXICO CITY (AP) Officials in northern Mexico have denied an abortion to a 13-year-old girl who was raped by a family acquaintance, an advocacy group said Monday. Abortion is legal in Mexico in cases of rape. But Regina Tames, director of the Group for Information on Reproductive Choice, said officials in Sonora state are relying on a judge's decision to classify the assault on the girl as a crime in which consent was obtained through deception or seduction, reasoning it falls short of rape. "She has the right as the victim of sexual aggression to end the pregnancy," Tames said. "The classification of the crime doesn't matter." The attack occurred in May, but the group did not become aware of it last week, Tames said. The family reported the assault to state investigators the same day it occurred. The girl was not offered emergency contraception upon reporting the rape, Tames said. A representative in the communications department for the Sonora state health agency said officials were meeting about the case and would comment later. Federal judge grills GOP lawyers over need for bathroom law WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) A federal judge lobbed tough questions at GOP lawyers Monday as he considered whether to block a North Carolina legal measure governing transgender bathroom access, asking pointedly how the law was making people safer. The Republican lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder to deny the preliminary injunction sought by transgender plaintiffs, but the judge said he'd issue a ruling later. His request for more written briefs indicated a decision was at least days away. "How does this law make bathrooms and changing rooms safer in North Carolina?" the judge asked Butch Bowers, an attorney for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, a defendant in legal challenges to the law. The state's Republican leaders argue the law is needed to protect privacy and safety by keeping men out of women's restrooms. Transgender residents challenging the law known as HB2 argue that restroom safety is protected by existing laws, and they say the North Carolina measure is harmful and discriminatory. The law passed in March requires transgender people to use the restrooms in schools and many public buildings that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates, rather than their gender identity. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections. Trial is scheduled for November. Schroeder, known for his thoroughness, grilled both sides about the premises underpinning their arguments, but his most pointed questions came when Bowers stood to address the court. Schroeder asked Bowers why existing trespassing, voyeurism and indecent exposure laws aren't sufficient to protect restroom privacy. Bowers said some traffic laws are redundant, but that doesn't mean they aren't needed. He said society has long favored separate restrooms for men and women, adding: "HB2 simply amplifies that." The judge asked how a transgender woman who had been born as a male could offend others in a women's restroom that had separate stalls and no urinals. "I'm at a loss as to the circumstances unless someone strips down naked," he said. He then asked if it would be better for such a transgender woman to walk into a men's room dressed in female attire. "How on earth is that supposed to work? So we are now going to have people dressed as women using the men's room?" he said. Bowers responded: "My guess is that some transgender people will use the restrooms they always have, and no one will notice." The U.S. Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the transgender plaintiffs, argued for a preliminary injunction to block the restroom provision of the law. Defending the law are McCrory, Republican legislative leaders and a citizens' group. Several cases seeking to challenge or defend the law were assigned to Schroeder, while another case is pending in a separate federal court. Schroeder also questioned lawyers representing the transgender plaintiffs, asking whether the injunction they're seeking could create a situation in which 12-year-old students would wind up showering next a 17-year-old transgender teen with different anatomy. Plaintiffs' lawyer Paul Smith said that would be an "extraordinarily unusual event," but that transgender North Carolina residents must choose each day between breaking the law and using restrooms that don't match their identity or appearance. "They're essentially left with no option," he said. The plaintiffs' arguments that HB2 violates the federal education law known as Title IX were bolstered by a recent decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia. The appeals court ruled in favor of a transgender teen seeking to use the boys' restrooms at his high school. But Kyle Duncan, a lawyer working on that case as well as representing North Carolina legislative leaders, told Schroeder that the Obama administration is espousing a "novel understanding of what Title IX requires." Military families to Trump: Apologize for comments to Khans Their sons were killed in Iraq about a week apart. So when Karen Meredith heard the grieving parents of a decorated Muslim Army officer being belittled by Donald Trump, she cried. Meredith said she hadn't wept over her son's death for a long time, but the Republican presidential nominee "ripped the wounds right open again." Karen Meredith holds a photograph of her son, Army 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, who died in Iraq in 2004, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was also killed in Iraq. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) "You don't attack one Gold Star family, because if you do, you're attacking a lot of us," Meredith, 62, of Mountain View, California, said Monday. Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. Trump stoked outrage by implying that Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because of their Muslim faith. And he disputed their right to question his grasp of the Constitution. Some of America's Gold Star families, or those who lost loved ones in war, have demanded that Trump apologize. Meredith organized a letter to Trump that has been signed by 23 families so far. She said she did so after seeing so much "hurt and anger" among Gold Star families on social media. Trump refused to back down Monday, complaining anew that he has been "viciously attacked" by the Khans. Meredith's son and only child, Army 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, was killed during a firefight in Iraq on May 30, 2004, at age 26. "Most people in this country, before this, did not know what a Gold Star family was, let alone what our sacrifice was," Meredith said. "For him to attack a Gold Star family and not understand the grief that Mrs. Khan was going through and why she wouldn't have spoken, just validated my feelings toward Mr. Trump as an unfeeling, empty person." The letter was released publicly on Monday by VoteVets.org, a left-leaning group dedicated to electing liberal veterans to Congress. Meredith is a Democrat but said this is a nonpartisan issue. Celeste Zappala, who also signed the letter, said the grief that Gold Star families suffer earns them the right to say whatever they want. Zappala's son, Army Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, was also killed in Iraq in 2004. She said she cried after hearing Trump's comments, too. "Mr. Trump has made a firestorm happen that didn't need to happen and that insults everybody who served," said Zappala, of Philadelphia. "Nobody should say anything other than 'Thank you for your service.'" Both Zappala and Meredith stressed that they aren't speaking on behalf of all Gold Star families, and that there are others who back Trump. Ryan Manion Borek, a Republican from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, said she is happy the Khans got to share their son's story and hopes the backlash prompts both candidates to address Gold Star issues. Her brother, Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion, was killed in Iraq in 2007. Gold Star families represent such a small fraction of the population, "it's super important that the people making the decision to send men and women off to war understand what that means," said Borek, who hasn't decided which candidate she will vote for. Prominent Republicans spoke out Monday against Trump. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said that while the party has bestowed upon Trump the nomination, "it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." The Veterans of Foreign Wars said it won't tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right to free speech. President Barack Obama addressed the Disabled American Veterans' annual conference in Atlanta on Monday. He didn't mention Trump by name but implicitly rebuked him for criticizing the Khan family. "No one no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," Obama said. "They continue to inspire us every day, every moment." Ami Neiberger-Miller, of Purcellville, Virginia, knows the Khans because her brother is buried near their son at Arlington National Cemetery. Army Spc. Christopher Neiberger was killed in Iraq in 2007. She said she emailed the Khans after the Democratic National Convention speech, telling them how brave they were. As for Trump's response, Neiberger-Miller said she found it "very disturbing and distasteful." "The comments about Mrs. Khan because she didn't speak on stage, that seemed very cruel," she said. "I actually saw her standing there as a kind of strength. As a bereaved parent, that might be what she could do that day." Neiberger-Miller said the one positive thing to come out of this may be that Americans are learning more about Gold Star families. "We're the families who really live with the price of war, who live with the price of service and honor and duty to country, and all of the things that go with it," she said. "There is a sense of disconnect at times between us and the rest of the country." ____ Associated Press radio correspondent Julie Walker in New York and White House reporter Josh Lederman contributed to this report. McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Adcox reported from Columbia, South Carolina. FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, Ami Neiberger-Miller, whose brother Army Spc. Christopher Neiberger was killed in Iraq in 2007, visits her brother's grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. Neiberger-Miller said she emailed the Khans after the Democratic National Convention speech, telling them how brave they were. As for Trump's response, Neiberger-Miller said she found it "very disturbing and distasteful." (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File) FILE - In a Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 file photo, Ami Neiberger-Miller, is photographed in Washington. Neiberger-Miller's brother, Army Spc. Christopher Neiberger, 22, of Gainesville, Fla., died in Iraq in 2007. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. Neiberger-Miller said she emailed the Khans after the Democratic National Convention speech, telling them how brave they were. As for Trump's response, Neiberger-Miller said she found it "very disturbing and distasteful." (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File) FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2005 file photo, Celeste Zappala, whose son was killed in Iraq, cries after speaking during a protest rally in Salt Lake City. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. Zappala said the grief that Gold Star families suffer earns them the right to say whatever they want. "Mr. Trump has made a firestorm happen that didn't need to happen and that insults everybody who served," said Zappala. (AP Photo/Fred Hayes, File) Trial set Nov. 7 for Ohio mayor who's a standup comedian HILLSBORO, Ohio (AP) A judge on Monday scheduled a Nov. 7 trial for the mayor of a small Ohio city who's also a veteran standup comedian. A judge entered "not guilty" pleas Monday for Drew Hastings after the defense waived readings of the charges against him. Retired Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove is hearing the case after a local judge recused himself. Cosgrove also warned those involved in the case about engaging in pretrial publicity, including in comments on social media. FILE In this Feb. 19, 2016, file photo, Hillsboro, Ohio, Mayor Drew Hastings, who is a veteran standup comedian, pauses during an interview at his office in Hillsboro, Ohio. Veteran standup comedian Hastings was scheduled to appear Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, before former Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove in his first court hearing since an indictment on four felony counts. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) "There has been a lot of publicity," she said. "We're going to try this case in the courtroom." Cosgrove set a pretrial hearing for Oct. 12 Hastings, a Republican, is Hillsboro's second-term mayor. He was indicted last month on counts including election falsification and theft in office. Hastings has said he has done nothing wrong other than try to lead the city without the consent of the "established political structure." The election falsification charge concerns his residency in the city of 6,600 residents, where he has a downtown apartment. He also has a farm outside of town. Other charges stem from a $500 city fee refund for a vacant building he owned and the alleged use of city trash bins for private debris disposal. Civil War vet's ashes are on motorcycle ride across America SALEM, Oregon (AP) Jewett Williams served in the 20th Maine Regiment in the Civil War. When he died in 1922 at an Oregon insane asylum, he was cremated and his ashes were stored and forgotten along with the remains of thousands of other patients. With a color guard in Civil War-era uniforms present, Oregon State Hospital officials handed over Williams' ashes to a group of motorcycle-riding military veterans for a journey across the country to his home state. "He was a son, a brother, a husband and a father. At the end of his life, however, he was alone and institutionalized here," Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney said at the ceremony. "When he died, nobody came. Nobody came to honor him. Nobody came to take him home. Nobody came. Until today." Patriot Guard Riders, from left to right, Steve West, Milt Harden and Dan Halverson salute the cremated remains of Maine Civil War soldier Jewett Williams in Salem, Ore., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, before the ashes are handed over for a motorcycle journey across the country to Williams' home state where he will be buried with military honors. Williams served in the 20th Maine Regiment and died in 1922 at an Oregon insane asylum. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group that attends the funerals of U.S. military veterans, firefighters and police, then solemnly received the ashes, started their Harleys and began the long journey to Maine. Wearing leather vests festooned with patches describing their branches of service and American flags flapping from their bikes, the group will escort the remains in relays across America. The ashes of hundreds of other patients remain at a memorial on the grounds of the hospital made famous in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," a film starring Jack Nicholson and adapted from a novel by Ken Kesey. It was in 2004 that Courtney, on a tour, found the ashes of more than 3,600 people who died at the Oregon State Hospital and other institutions, stashed away in a shed in corroding copper cans. In 2014, the memorial was opened with the remains of patients unclaimed by relatives kept in urns labeled with names, birth and death dates and embedded in a wall. A gap now exists where Williams' urn had been. Over 300 other remains have been claimed. "Here we are in this honored spot with all these unclaimed souls," Geno Williams, a U.S. Army special forces veteran and Patriot Guard Rider from Vancouver, Washington, murmured to a reporter after blinking away tears. "It is an emotional moment for me." The 20th Maine famously prevented a Union defeat at Gettysburg with a bayonet charge at Little Round Top. Williams, of Hodgdon, Maine, joined in October 1864, more than a year later, but many engagements remained. His regiment was at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, and in battles with the rebels right up to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, in April 1865, said Maine historian Tom Desjardin. "The New Englanders were actively engaged with Grant's army in the long siege of Petersburg and the running fight with Lee to Appomattox," said James I. Robertson Jr., retired professor of Civil War history at Virginia Tech. Jewett shared a tent with his cousin, Albert Williams, who, in a letter reflecting his rudimentary education, described long marches in bad weather and sleeping in the open, according to a family history published online in 2005 by Barbara Ann Estabrook. He also described a scorched-earth campaign. "i didnt have a chance to get a shot at a reb when we on the rode but i made the Cattle and Sheep and hogs suffer. You bet we killed every thing that we see and burnt every thing as we went," Albert Williams wrote on Dec. 18, 1864, less than four months before he died of fever at age 21. Jewett Williams was married and divorced, then remarried and moved to Michigan, then to Minnesota where he was a carpenter. His first child died after only 19 months. He and his wife had five more children and moved to Washington state, where the couple separated. In the 1920 census, Williams was listed as a widower in Portland, Oregon. In April 1922, Williams was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital for the Insane in Salem, as the hospital was then known. He died on July 17, 1922, at 78, of cerebral arteriosclerosis. None of Jewett's descendants has been found. His remains are scheduled to arrive in Maine on Aug. 22 and will be buried with military honors in Togus National Cemetery in Maine on Sept. 17. A period-correct white marble veterans headstone will mark the spot, said Dave Richmond, deputy director of the Maine Bureau of Veterans' Services. "He will rejoin his comrades-in-arms in Maine," said Greg Roberts, the superintendent of Oregon State Hospital. Also buried at Togus are five other 20th Maine veterans, including one from Williams' Company H. The cremated remains and a photo of Maine Civil War soldier Jewett Williams are displayed in Salem, Ore., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, before the ashes are handed over for a motorcycle journey across the country to Williams' home state where he will be buried with military honors. Williams served in the 20th Maine Regiment and died in 1922 at an Oregon insane asylum. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) Civil War re-enactors prepare to participate in the handover of the cremated remains of Maine Civil War soldier Jewett Williams at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Ore., Monday Aug. 1, 2016. Willliams' ashes will be transported by motorcycle across the country to his home state where he will be buried with military honors. Williams served in the 20th Maine Regiment and died in 1922 at an Oregon insane asylum. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) Court docs: Indiana cop fired at least 3 times at detective INDIANAPOLIS (AP) An Indianapolis police officer accused of shooting a fellow officer allegedly forced his way into his estranged wife's apartment and fired at least three rounds as she was being interviewed about a domestic violence incident, court documents released Monday show. Police said Saturday that Officer Adrian Aurs, who faces an attempted murder charge in the shooting, left his wife's apartment after an alleged domestic dispute Friday evening and opened fire when he returned about two hours later. A probable cause affidavit released Monday states Aurs, 42, forced his way unannounced into his wife's apartment, pointed a gun at a detective as he was interviewing her about the domestic violence allegations "and fired at least three rounds directly at him at close range." This photo provided by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016 shows Indianapolis police officer Adrian Aurs. Accused of shooting a fellow officer, Aurs allegedly forced his way into his estranged wifes apartment and fired at least three rounds as she was being interviewed about a domestic violence incident, according to court documents released Monday. (Hamilton County Sheriff's Office via AP) The detective, who suffered non-life-threatening wounds when he was struck in the right side and arm, fired at least once at Aurs, missing him. Aurs' two young children were inside the apartment but they and their mother were not injured. After the shooting, Aurs fled the apartment through a window and left the scene in his truck. He called his wife's father shortly thereafter to say "he was sorry," the affidavit states. Aurs' wife told officers she and her husband separated about seven months ago, after which she moved to the apartment where the shooting occurred. Other court documents show that the couple was in the middle of a divorce. Just before Friday's shooting, a woman told officers, she opened her apartment door slightly and saw Aurs standing outside with a gun in his hand and "a crazed look on his face," the affidavit states. Aurs was arrested early Saturday following a short standoff by Cincinnati police who pulled over his truck near that Ohio city. He's being held at a jail in Cincinnati. The 17-year veteran of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has been suspended without pay, pending termination from the department. Aurs faces a Tuesday morning extradition hearing before a judge in Cincinnati on efforts to return him to Indiana, said Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Robison. Grand jury doesn't indict Mississippi officer in shooting JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A prosecutor says a Mississippi grand jury has declined to indict a Tupelo police officer in a June 18 shooting that left a man dead. District Attorney John Weddle said Monday that Lee County grand jurors cleared Officer Tyler Cook, whom officials say shot Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert four times when Shumpert attacked him after emerging from a hiding place under a house. Cook is white. Shumpert was black. Shumpert's family members have alleged the shooting was unjustified, suing the city in federal court and seeking $35 million in damages. Hundreds of demonstrators protested Saturday in Tupelo, seeking changes in the city's police department. Man takes to tree to avoid police, surrenders after 5 hours COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) A suspect in an assault tried to avoid police by climbing a Colorado tree and staying there for hours. The 30-year-old man camped out in the Colorado Springs tree for about five hours Sunday evening, climbing down after police used tear gas and sprayed him with water. Police say Lane Malouff was wanted on suspicion of assaulting the mother of his children and trying to strangle her in June in the small southern city of Alamosa. In this photo taken July 31, 2016, Lane Malouff runs out of tree after climbing a pine in Colorado Springs, Colo. Malouff was trying to evade being arrested by the police. Malouff stayed in the tree for hours before being coaxed down. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP) During the standoff, officers didn't know if Malouff was armed and evacuated several nearby homes as a precaution. But residents seemed more amused than alarmed. Colorado Springs news station KKTV (http://tinyurl.com/hrq9qbv ) reports that a crowd formed along the line of crime tape, with many taking videos and photos. It's not clear if Malouff has a lawyer yet. Unions seek ouster of Southwest CEO after IT breakdown DALLAS (AP) Two major unions at Southwest Airlines are demanding that the carrier replace its CEO because of the technology outage that caused the airline to cancel or delay thousands of flights in July. Technology experts are questioning whether Southwest fell short in designing and testing its computer systems. A top Southwest executive told The Associated Press on Monday that the July 20 outage will cost the airline "into the tens of millions" of dollars a huge increase in the original estimate of between $5 million and $10 million. FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, file photo, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly speaks during a preview of the new international concourse at Houston Hobby Airport in Houston. Two major unions at Southwest Airlines are demanding that the carrier replace Kelly because of the technology outage that caused the airline to cancel or delay thousands of flights in July. The unions representing pilots and mechanics said Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, that Southwest is spending too much on buying back shares and not enough on updating its technology. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) The company will recover many bookings that were lost while its website was down, said Robert Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president and chief commercial officer. But it will lose money from a "couple hundred thousand people" whose flights were canceled and from refunds to stranded passengers, he said. Jordan said the outage was the worst he could recall in his 28 years at Southwest, the nation's fourth-biggest airline. It has become a rallying point for unions who believe they deserve raises while Southwest Airlines Co. earns record profits. The pilots' union said that its board voted 20-0 to ask that Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly and Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven be removed. Union President Jon Weaks said the company had focused too much on controlling costs and buying back its own shares and not enough to upgrade "critically outdated IT infrastructure and flight operations." The leader of the mechanics' union, Louie Key, said the outage was the "final straw" on top of unsettled contract negotiations and other disappointments. Southwest's senior vice president of labor relations, Randy Babbitt, said union demands were just part of the contract-bargaining process. "Their maneuvering is not about our leaders. It's not about 'IT infrastructure,'" Randy Babbitt said in a statement released by the company. "This is about the union's approach to contract discussions and its attempt to gain leverage in negotiations." Southwest officials blamed a faulty router for a July 20 outage that briefly grounded all flights. Southwest struggled for several more days with unusually high cancelations and delays. The outage briefly caused Southwest to delay all departures and hold planes at their gates. Passengers couldn't check in for flights electronically, and customers couldn't book new flights. The outage lasted about 12 hours, but Southwest said that it canceled 2,300 flights 12 percent of its schedule over five days as it struggled to recover. Southwest did not say how many flights were delayed during that period, but tracking service FlightStats put the number at more than 8,000. Independent experts in information technology said the outage was probably more complex than a single failed router. Routers connect networks and help sections communicate with each other, and networks are designed to avoid so-called single points of failure. "You can't blame the router. The router triggered a chain reaction that should not have happened," said Doron Pinhas, chief technology officer of Continuity Software Inc. He said it was likely that Southwest didn't test its system adequately to see what would happen when that part failed. Lev Lesokhin, executive vice president of Cast, a software-analysis company, said Southwest's explanation "doesn't add up." "When you have an outage like this that lasts as long as this one did and takes as long to put back on track, that's typically a software issue," which is much more complex, he said. Jordan, the Southwest executive vice president, said that a Cisco router, one of about 2,000 in the airline's network, failed "in a very abnormal way." The router did not send messages to other parts of the network or connect with backup systems, he said. Jordan said Southwest's routers are designed to last seven years but are replaced more frequently. He said the airline's network had plenty of redundancies built in, but that the company was still studying the outage. Oversight of computer systems "is primarily done by Southwest Airlines now," Jordan said, "and as we transition to a new data center over the next year, that will change" and mostly be handled by contractors. The decision to contract out much of the data center work was made long before last month's outage, he said. Shares of Southwest fell 3 cents to close at $37.04. They have fallen 14 percent in 2016. ___ David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter Details of DC mayoral investigation to remain under seal WASHINGTON (AP) Federal prosecutors are seeking six months of home confinement for the architect of a campaign finance conspiracy in the District of Columbia, and they're not fully explaining their reasoning to the public. Businessman Jeffrey Thompson pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and admitted funneling millions of illicit dollars into city, state and federal campaigns. He set up a $660,000 slush fund that aided Democrat Vincent Gray's 2010 election as Washington's mayor. Several other people who worked on Gray's campaign pleaded guilty to felonies. Gray was not charged. AP EXPLAINS: Gold Stars are symbols of a war's ultimate cost Donald Trump's criticism of the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq 12 years ago has drawn attention to Gold Star families. For decades, buttons and flags adorned with Gold Stars have been displayed by American families as symbols of the ultimate sacrifice. Below is a brief description of the program and its history. ____ HOW LONG HAVE GOLD STARS REPRESENTED TROOPS KILLED IN COMBAT? The tombstone of US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan is seen in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Fellow Republicans are joining the rising chorus of criticism of Donald Trump for his disparagement of the bereaved parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was awarded a Bronze Star after he was killed in 2004 in Iraq. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Flags or banners with a blue star were first flown by families during World War I, according to information posted on the Army's website. The number of stars represented every immediate family member serving in combat. If one of them died, a gold star replaced the blue star. "This allowed members of the community to know the price that the family had paid in the cause of freedom," according to the Army. ___ WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE A GOLD STAR? Congress in 1947 approved use of the Gold Star lapel button to recognize the families of U.S. service members killed in combat, according to the Army's Survivor Outreach Services. The Gold Stars may be worn only by immediate family members, including parents, spouses, siblings and children. The pins are normally presented prior to the service member's funeral. ___ WHAT DOES THE GOLD STAR BUTTON LOOK LIKE? The button consists of a gold star on a purple background bordered in gold and surrounded by gold leaves. Surviving families also may display Gold Star service flags and bumper stickers. These emblems consist of white rectangular fields bordered in red, with a gold star in the center. ___ DO GOLD STAR RECIPIENTS RECEIVE ANY SPECIAL BENEFITS? Authorities: Missing Ohio baby girl found dead near river LOVELAND, Ohio (AP) Authorities found a 4-month-old Ohio girl dead along a riverbank on Monday and her father, who reported her missing, was charged in her death. The remains, believed to be those of Kaylynn Crawford, came less than 24 hours after her father told police someone snatched her from his parked car in a northern Cincinnati suburb and fled. The girl's father, Charles Crawford, has been arrested on a charge of murder, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. He's being held at the Clermont County Jail. Crawford reported Sunday night that Kaylynn was taken from his vehicle while it was parked at a dollar store in Loveland, but investigators said they believe that story was fabricated. Authorities found the remains and the girl's car seat near the Little Miami River, a few miles from the store. An autopsy has yet to be completed. Loveland police, the FBI and special agents with the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation had helped in the search for the girl. The Latest: Maryland official pledges flood prevention plan WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on flash flooding in central Maryland (all times local): 6:15 p.m. After deadly floods in central Maryland, Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman says he's tapped the county's planning department to draft a master plan to address flood-prone areas in order to prevent future disasters. Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Maryland is seen Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along Main Street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) He said he believes nothing "could have stopped this tragedy," but that "it is an opportunity to make some changes." Kittleman hosted a meeting Monday for residents impacted by severe flooding in Ellicott City. So many people crowded into the community center Monday that attendees spilled into each of the rooms in the building to watch feeds of the meeting livestream on social media. Kittleman said despite extensive storm and flood damage, "make no mistake: we will rebuild." ___ 4:40 p.m. The brother of a woman who died in a flash flood in Ellicott City, Maryland, says his wife and two other relatives were with her at the time but survived the ordeal. Curtis Brubaker of Dover, Pennsylvania, said Monday that his sister Jessica Watsula left her 10-year-old daughter Sarah with him Saturday while she went to dinner with Brubaker's wife, his mother-in-law and his sister-in-law. Brubaker says his wife Christina told him the women left the restaurant during a downpour, and got into Watsula's compact car. He says the car was hit by a wave that pushed it down the road, and the women climbed out but soon lost track of each other. He says his wife remembers Watsula saying, "God, help us! God, help us!" before she disappeared. ___ 3:50 p.m. A man killed by flash flooding in Ellicott City, Maryland, over the weekend was the director of financial aid at the University of Baltimore. University President Kurt Schmoke (shmoke) and Provost Darlene Brannigan Smith said in a statement Monday that they are shocked and saddened by the death of 38-year-old Joseph Blevins of Windsor Mill. Police say Blevins and his girlfriend were in a vehicle that got caught in the floodwaters Saturday night. She was rescued but he was swept away. The university officials say Blevins started working for the school in 2008. They say he was known for his calm demeanor, sense of humor and helpful attitude. They say Blevins believed strongly in the role of financial assistance in transforming students' lives. ___ 2:10 p.m. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland is praising the bravery of those who formed a human chain Saturday to help rescue someone caught in the flood waters Mikulski said Monday it "took my breath away." She toured Main Street in Ellicott City, where catastrophic flooding devastated local businesses and claimed two lives. Mikulski said she is working with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to submit a request for federal assistance for individuals, businesses and the local government. The Democratic senator addressed the media alongside Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, a Republican. Kittleman said local authorities are working to open a disaster response center where residents hit by the flood can gather information. He said they will make sure Ellicott City rises up to be even stronger and more vibrant." ___ 1:20 p.m. Maryland's lieutenant governor says state and federal officials are discussing disaster relief for Ellicott City after severe flash flooding. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said Monday officials are still assessing the damage so they can give information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rutherford, who has seen the damage and spoke to reporters outside the statehouse in Annapolis, says officials are looking at the structural integrity of buildings damaged by the flooding on Saturday. He says some buildings may not be repairable. He also points out that much of the damage has been borne by small business owners, some of whom live above their stores and haven't been able to return home. He says state and local officials are working to help displaced residents. ___ 10:00 a.m. A pastor says a woman killed by flash flood waters in Ellicott City, Maryland, was the single mother of a 10-year-old girl. The Rev. Dean Cover (COH'-ver) shared his memories of 35-year-old Jessica Watsula on Monday in a telephone interview from Living Waters Chapel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He says Watsula and her daughter Sarah joined the Christian congregation about eight years ago. He remembers her as a gracious, upbeat woman. Cover says Watsula worked in a shoe store in Lebanon. He says she was thrilled when she got the job in the past year because it enabled her to spend more time at home and at the church, where she volunteered in a child-care program. Cover says Watsula also enjoyed working out at an area gym. ___ 9:25 a.m. Thirty-five-year-old Courtney Weglein was headed to Ellicott City's historic downtown in Maryland to meet friends Saturday night. But as she prepared to make a run for a friend's apartment in the rain, water rushing down the steep street suddenly became more furious, knocking her against the car and locking her keys inside. When she got to Jonathan Butkus' second-floor apartment, Weglein says water was coming in and the landlord soon said people had to get out. Outside, they found choppy water up to the hoods of cars and watched as Weglein's car slammed into another. They realized a teenage boy was in a nearby car and she captured video of Butkus carrying him to safety on his shoulders through knee-high water. As water continued rising, Weglein says she hugged the others there and feared she'd never see her 2-year-old son again. When the water went down, they walked out to find incredible damage. "Then we found out people died and then it hit us." ___ 7:10 a.m. County and state officials in Maryland are gathering recovery resources for people affected by flooding over the weekend in Ellicott City. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford plan to attend the recovery and information session for residents and businesses Monday afternoon with representatives of county and state agencies and nonprofits offering resources. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water within hours Saturday night. Kittleman said in a statement that more than 200 properties were inspected Sunday and four to five of them are considered destroyed and another 20 to 30 suffered substantial damage. He says many structures, sidewalks and roadways are still unstable and it's not clear when people will be allowed to return. Utilities have been shut down in the area while repairs are made. In the meantime, county and state police have secured the area. ___ 3:15 a.m. The picturesque Main Street of Ellicott City, Maryland, faces a months-long recovery that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars after devastating flooding that damaged nearly every home and business along the road. Two people were killed when the town about 14 miles west of Baltimore took on 6.5 inches of water Saturday night, most of it between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The floodwaters swept away hundreds of cars, tore up sidewalks and wrecked storefronts and building foundations. Police say a Pennsylvania woman visiting the town with her family was one of those killed after their car was caught in the raging floodwaters and carried toward the Patapsco River. Damage along Main Street in historic Ellicott City, Md., is viewed Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, after the city was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing two people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Virtually every home or business along the street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) A submerged car is visible in the Patapsco River, seen from the Howard County side of Patapsco Valley State Park after the sidewalk caved in due to Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Cars are piled on top of each other in the Meadow Mill parking lot along the Jones Falls in Baltimore on Sunday, July 31, 2016, following Saturday night's storms. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP) The hill in front of the A.M.E. Baptist Church is seen washed away in the overnight flash flood that hit Main Street in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Crew members work near the railroad trestle at the end of historic Main Street, where flood damaged vehicles block the street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Carolyn Sanchez, who lives on upper Main Street, describes the waist high water that sent cars crashing into each other, like the scene behind her on the street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Vehicles collide each other on Main Street after Saturday nights flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A worker carries lumber to shore up one of the stores on Main Street after the sidewalk caved in due to overnight flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Workers gather by street damage after Saturday night's flooding in Ellicott City, Md., Sunday, July 31, 2016. Historic, low-lying Ellicott City, Maryland, was ravaged by floodwaters Saturday night, killing a few people and causing devastating damage to homes and businesses, officials said. (Kevin Rector/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Wildfires burn in 7 Western states, prompt evacuations Wildfires were burning Monday in seven Western U.S. states, from California's famed Big Sur region to tribal towns and hamlets near Reno, Nevada. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in Montana, and evacuations were ordered in Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. Firefighters were trying to stop a Washington blaze from reaching a thickly forested security zone at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Here's a look at some of the fires: CALIFORNIA Traffic rolls east along Hwy 82 with a backdrop of brown smoke from a fire just outside Prosser, Wash., that grew to an estimated 1,000 acres and was threatening homes according to the Washington State Patrol Sunday evening, July 31, 2016. Level 3 evacuations were in effect for 50 threatened homes. Level 3 means that residents are notified that a fire is nearby and they should be ready to leave if necessary. /Walla Walla Union-Bulletin via AP) Higher humidity and lower temperatures on Monday helped firefighters battle a destructive wildfire that has scorched more than 63 square miles near the scenic Big Sur coast, while firefighters in Central California faced blistering heat as they worked to contain a blaze that burned rural homes and forced hundreds of evacuations near the small Fresno County town of Prather. A layer of ocean air that arrived in the mountainous Big Sur region was credited for the better conditions in an area where a fire that started July 22 has destroyed 57 homes and is threatening 2,000 more structures. A bulldozer operator working for the firefighting operation died in an accident last week. It is 18 percent contained. The blaze near Prather has damaged three homes just outside the Sierra National Forest, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. About 300 people are under evacuation orders. That fire started Saturday and by Monday had grown to over 3 square miles with just 20 percent of it surrounded by firefighters. Just north of Los Angeles, a 65-square-mile wildfire in wilderness just north of Los Angeles was almost fully contained and only active with isolated pockets of vegetation burning within a fire lines. A man who refused to evacuate from a home was killed and the fire also prompted the evacuation of about 20,000 people. ___ IDAHO A southwest Idaho wildfire burning timber in rugged terrain and pushed by winds grew to 60 square miles Monday. Temperatures in the 90s, wind and low humidity caused significant expansion on Sunday. Firefighting aircraft were grounded for about 45 minutes because of people flying their drones in the area. The fire closed a section of State Highway 21 between Idaho City and Lowman and destroyed two outbuildings. A firefighter suffered burns during the weekend when fuel spilled on his arm and it ignited. ___ MONTANA At least 14 homes were destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire in the Bitterroot National Forest in western Montana, authorities said Monday. Ravalli County authorities ordered residents of about 500 homes to leave the area after the fire began Sunday afternoon southwest of Hamilton. It had burned nearly 5.5 square miles by Monday night. "I've talked to homeowners who said we had 200-foot flames coming off those trees. This thing really blew up, and I've never seen anything like it in the years that I've been" with the Bitterroot National Forest, spokesman Tod McKay said. Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman said he could not immediately provide details about the number of homes or buildings destroyed. ___ NEVADA About 800 firefighters were battling a series of fires that had threatened a tribal town and hamlets near Pyramid Lake, north of Reno. The fire zone totaled about 78 square miles Monday, said fire spokeswoman Jesse Bender. Residents of about 30 homes in Cottonwood Creek and Fish Springs Ranch were warned they would receive 30 minutes notice to evacuate if necessary. About 600 people were ordered out of the shoreline town of Sutcliffe over the weekend, and 200 were evacuated from beach areas. Flames destroyed six houses and mobile homes, two vehicles and several out-buildings at historic Hardscrabble Ranch, according to Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal officials. ___ OREGON Eastern Oregon residents urged to evacuate over the weekend because of a wildfire were allowed to return home. About 20 structures remained threatened by the fire east of the town of Pendleton, the Oregon Department of Forestry said. The East Oregonian reports that columns of smoke were rose Sunday after the blaze scorched about 500 acres of grass and timber along Interstate 84. It was 25 percent contained by Sunday evening. ___ WASHINGTON A wildfire burning toward the Hanford nuclear reservation has scorched about 273 square miles of brush and grass as it spread from Yakima County into Benton County in south-central Washington. The blaze, the largest of several wildfires in central and eastern Washington, began Saturday on the U.S. Army's Yakima Training Center and quickly grew in size over the weekend. But fire lines set overnight and low winds Monday are helping to slow the fire's progression, said Randall Rishe, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Officials said Monday night better mapping allowed them to determine the fire had burned significantly more acreage than previously thought. About 250 residences are at risk, officials also said Monday night and the fire is 10 percent contained. The cause is being investigated. The Department of Energy said Monday on its website that Hanford work schedules were not immediately affected by the fire. ___ WYOMING Firefighters made progress in their effort to contain several fires burning in western part of the state. An approximately 2-square-mile blaze that destroyed eight homes and prompted the evacuation of about 140 others in southern Uinta County was 25 percent contained. Northwest of Dubois, a 21-square-mile blaze was 40 percent surrounded and some residents who evacuated seasonal homes were allowed to return. In neighboring Bridger-Teton National Forest, a fire that has burned about 45 square miles was 81 percent contained. In this Friday, July 29, 2016 photo provided by Vince O'Daye, smoke and flames are visible from a wildfire burning in the community of Sutcliffe, Nev., about 35 miles north of Reno, Nev. The wildfire was deterred Sunday from burning the tribal town that had evacuated hundreds of residents. (Courtesy of Vince O'Daye via The AP) No will: Star Trek's Anton Yelchin did not leave instructions on how to distribute his near $1.4 million estate in case of his death He only had a short spell as a big name in showbusiness before his sad death. But court documents have revealed Star Trek's Anton Yelchin left behind a nearly $1.4 million estate, though he failed to make a will. His parents Victor and Irina Yelchin filed to become administrators of the actor's estate on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The 27-year-old actor was crushed to death by his Jeep Grand Cherokee in the driveway of his Studio City home in June. According to the filing he left behind at least $641,000 in personal property and had $731,000 in equity in his home. An attorney representing Yelchin's parents announced on Monday they are planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler, which made the Jeep that killed their son. The company has extended sympathies to Yelchin's family in a statement, but said it could not comment on their plans for a lawsuit. The actor's vehicle was subject to a recall because the gear shifters have confused drivers, causing the vehicles to roll away unexpectedly. The SUV was part of a global recall of 1.1 million vehicles by automaker Fiat Chrysler in April. Taking action: His parents Victor and Irina Yelchin filed to become administrators of the estate Lawsuit: His parents are also suing Fiat Chrysler after it emerged the Jeep that killed their son was subject to a recall A government investigation into the gear shifters found 266 crashes that had injured 68 people as of late June. Fiat Chrysler has said it is speeding up its recall of the vehicle. The actor shot to fame as the young Pavel Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek film series, and makers have confirmed his part will not be recast. Crushed: He died after being pinned between his SUV and this security fence at his LA home Big break: He became a star after being cast as Pavel Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek films Yelchin was found pinned against the gate of his home in Studio City, California, by his Jeep Grand Cherokee at around 1am on June 19. The Jeep crushed his lungs and investigators believe he died within 60 seconds of the impact, sources told TMZ. Yelchin's death was ruled an accident by the Los Angeles medical examiner after an autopsy was performed. Dethroned Miss Florida USA sues pageant for defamation MIAMI (AP) A former Miss Florida USA winner is suing the pageant after organizers took her crown and accused her of cheating. The Miami Herald (http://goo.gl/IPv586) reports that attorneys for 24-year-old Genesis Davila filed the suit Monday, asking a Miami-Dade circuit judge to issue an emergency injunction restoring her title. The suit also seeks $15 million for defamation. Davila was crowned July 16 in Fort Lauderdale and then dethroned six days later. Pageant director Grant Gravitt Jr. cited an Instagram post showing Davila getting professional hair and makeup help, a violation of pageant rules. Davila's lawyer, Richard Wolfe, presented an enlarged photo of the post during a Monday news conference. It showed the photo was dated more than a week before the contest. Former Venezuelan officials indicted on US drug charges NEW YORK (AP) U.S. prosecutors on Monday formally charged the former head of Venezuela's National Guard and a former anti-drug official there with colluding with cocaine traffickers. An indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn accuses Nestor Reverol and Edilberto Molina of taking bribes in exchange for helping the traffickers by tipping them off about future raids. It also alleges that from January 2008 to December 2010, they deliberately allowed cocaine shipments to leave Venezuela and returned seized drug money to them. Reverol, 51, once ran the National Guard, which is charged with securing the country's borders, and had been a spokesman for Venezuela's anti-drug efforts. He also is the former head of Venezuela's anti-drug agency and ally of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. Reverol has denied the U.S. accusations, which were first reported late last year. Molina, 53, who once worked for the anti-drug agency, hasn't spoken out. Neither is in custody. The indictment comes as the U.S has been stepping up pressure on high-ranking members of Venezuela's socialist government for their role in making the country an important transit zone for narcotics. Several Venezuelan officials, including a former defense minister and head of military intelligence, have been indicted or sanctioned. Brexit vote sees more shoppers crossing the border The Brexit vote has boosted business in Northern Ireland from shoppers across the UK's only EU land border, a leading retailer has said. The number from the south visiting Newry in Co Down is up 50% since the June referendum as the pound slid in value against the euro, Buttercrane shopping centre manager Peter Murray added. Other cities on the UK's western fringe benefited from the currency fluctuation as bargain hunters from the Republic head north. Declan McChesney, owner of the Cahill Brothers shoe shop in Newry, which is among importers from the eurozone counting the cost of the Brexit vote The car park at Newry's Buttercrane included vehicles with Dublin registrations and even further afield. Mr Murray said: "Their euro is going further because of the soft exchange rate against the pound. "The devaluation of the pound makes their euro in their pockets go further and prices in Newry are the same." The value of the pound fell to levels not seen since 1985 immediately following the UK's referendum vote to leave the EU. Currently a pound equals 1.19 euro. Mr Murray said the proportion of Irish car registrations using the Buttercrane had increased from about 11% or 12% pre-referendum to about 18% since - a 50% rise. However, importers from the eurozone are counting the cost. Northern Ireland's second oldest shoe shop is nestled in one of the bustling main streets of Newry. Cahill Brothers is having a sale - but as an importer of footware from Spain, Italy, France and Portugal the strengthening of the euro means costs will go up. Owner Declan McChesney said: "It is not possible to suddenly turn around and find a new location of expert manufacturers. "Sixty per cent of the population of Ireland live within one hour of Newry so basically I am cutting my hinterland in half and for me to compete with towns across the border. I must now look to my margins to maintain my competitiveness I must reduce my margins." Newry is around five miles (8km) from the frontier. It is hilly and rural, isolated in parts but a good road leads south towards neighbouring Dundalk and on to Dublin. Old currency exchange signs are still in evidence, even though most transactions now are plastic. Former border posts lie abandoned, gathering rubbish from passing motorists rather than customs duties. The only indication the driver has passed from north to south is when the road boundaries are marked in yellow rather than white and the signs turn from miles per hour to kilometres per hour. Two decades ago, British army watchtowers looked down on traffic, soldiers checked vehicles for weapons and commerce was disrupted. The Irish and British Governments, including Prime Minister Theresa May, have said there must not be a return to the borders of the past. Mr McChesney said: "That is what we call in Newry a politician's promise and, let's be honest, that does not give us much room for hope." He recalled the border lined with trucks waiting to carry goods across. "I cannot see how they are going to have free passage and free movement of goods if they don't have a record of it and if you don't have a record of it there will have to be a way of finding it and there will have to be some sort of checks, we suspect, which means a hard border. "A hard border is desperately dangerous for the peace of Northern Ireland and desperately difficult if you are in business." Paddy Malone, a Dundalk accountant, said there were fewer northerners in town but not too many locals had gone north. "I would like to think that sterling would track the euro and we could settle down to peaceful coexistence. "I would prefer to think that we could actually live together without this disruption of trade because neither Newry nor Dundalk is benefiting from this boom and bust cycle. "It does not help either of us to survive." Labour MP calls for women's equality lessons for male refugees Male refugees settling in Britain should be given lessons in women's equality, a Labour MP has insisted. Thangam Debbonaire, who chairs the all party parliamentary group on refugees, said the move could be part of a national drive to improve male attitudes towards women generally. Ms Debbonaire said that new arrivals would need a "sensitive" introduction to a different culture. Thangam Debbonaire chairs the all-party group on refugees. The MP for Bristol West, who has just launched an inquiry into the experiences of new refugees in the UK, drew parallels with concerns in Germany after some migrants were accused of sexual assaults at New Year's Eve celebrations. "What I don't want is for the British people to respond to a case of assault or sexual harassment by saying 'no' to more refugees, which seemed to be what the public's response to Germany was in danger of becoming. "We need to think about how we have those men understand what is expected of them without pretending we ourselves are perfect. "It would need to be sensitively worked out, and could be part of a nationwide campaign to help men and boys in general to look at gender equality in a different way," the MP told the Daily Telegraph. Ms Debbonaire said the lessons could be like personal, social, and health education (PSHE) classes in school. "I'm not saying there's a little ticket you can give incoming men. But I do believe we need compulsory PSHE classes in schools for all young people, and an appropriate version for new arrivals. "It shouldn't surprise us if those from cultures, where gender inequality is an extreme struggle, to get here to understand social norms and expectations. "All men need this education, our indigenous population is not a haven of gender equality and you could have a situation where boys who have settled, just arrived, or been born here, would all get the same information on how they should interact with women," she said. Bernie Ecclestone helicopter pilot arrested over mother-in-law kidnap plot One of Bernie Ecclestone's helicopter pilots was behind a plot to kidnap his mother-in-law in Brazil for a 28 million ransom, according to police. Aparecida Schunck, the mother of the Formula One boss's wife Fabiana Flosi, 38, was abducted from her home in Sao Paulo more than a week ago. Police said they rescued the 67-year-old after finding her tied up but unharmed in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo on Sunday. Bernie Ecclestone and his wife Fabiana Flosi Pilot Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria, who works for Ecclestone in Brazil, is one of three men arrested in connection with the kidnapping, said police. It is believed investigators monitored phone calls between the family of Ms Schunck and the captors, tracing them to the location where she was being held. She was was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping division. Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police told the BBC that the ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid. Ecclestone, 85, married Ms Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Brazilian magazine Veja had reported that the ransom for Ms Flosi's mother had been demanded in pounds sterling and divided into four bags of cash. Ecclestone has declined to comment on the abduction. It is understood he wanted to fly to Brazil to assist police and also offered the use of a private security company to deal with the abductors. Brazil is hosting this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which starts this week. Security has emerged as the top concern, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during competition. A spokesman for Sao Paulo police said da Silva Faria was arrested "red handed" with two other men, Vitor Oliveira Amorim and David Vicente Azevedo. Arsenal too hot for Mexican opponents in Los Angeles Arsenal continued their preparations for the forthcoming season with a 3-1 win over Club Deportivo Guadalajara in Los Angeles. Goals from Rob Holding, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chuba Akpom had the Gunners in control, before their Mexican opponents pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with 17 minutes remaining. Holding opened the scoring in the 34th minute at StubHub Center after Calum Chambers had created the opening for his central defensive partner - and it was 2 -0 five minutes into the second half courtesy of an impressive individual goal from Oxlade-Chamberlain. Chuba Akpom was among Arsenal's goalscorers in Sunday's victory in Los Angeles. England Under-21 international Akpom, whose late goal gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory over the MLS All-Stars i n San Jose on Thursday, made it 3-0 six minutes later. Guadalajara pulled a goal back through Angel Zaldivar's penalty, awarded after Mathieu Debuchy had fouled Alex Zendejas. Bank fraud could happen again, freed rogue trader warns A former UBS trader jailed for fraud after losing the bank 1.4 billion has said it could happen again. Kweku Adoboli, 36, was released from prison last summer after serving half of his seven-year sentence for two counts of fraud. He told the BBC he was sorry for his mistakes but warned his former colleagues were still under the same pressure he was to make money. Kweku Adoboli served half of his seven-year sentence (City of London Police/PA) He said banking had not changed since he was found guilty in 2012. Prosecutors said Adoboli racked up the largest loss in British banking history by disguising underlying positions with late bookings of real trades and the booking of fictitious trades. Adoboli admitted the enormous losses but claimed he was pressured by staff to take risks, culminating in a catastrophe which wiped 2.8 billion off the bank's share value at the time. Speaking about the current state of banking he said: "I think the young people I've spoken to, former colleagues I have spoken to, are still struggling with the same issues, the same conflicts, the same pressures to achieve no matter what. "And this goes back to the structure of the industry. People are required to take risk to generate profit, because yields in the industry are consistently compressed." Boy of 12 among four on murder charge after town centre assault A 12-year-old boy is among four people charged with murder after the death of a man who was assaulted in a town centre. The boys - aged 12, 16, 16 and 17 - who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear at Oldham Magistrates' Court on Monday, Greater Manchester Police said. Police were first called shortly before 10.50pm last Wednesday to an assault, which reportedly began outside the McDonald's in Warrington Street in the centre of Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside. Greater Manchester Police said the four boys will appear at Oldham Magistrates' Court Officers attended and discovered an injured man in his 40s who was taken to hospital, where he died in the early hours of Thursday. Arsene Wenger wants Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to realise full potential Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain must add extra self-belief to reach his full potential in an "important" season with Arsenal, according to Arsene Wenger. Oxlade-Chamberlain has finally made his playing comeback from the knee injury that kept him out of Euro 2016, with Gunners boss Wenger optimistic on the 22-year-old's full recovery. The England forward hit the net as Arsenal saw off Chivas de Guadalajara 3-1 on their USA pre-season tour, with Wenger then challenging his player to realise his rich promise in the coming campaign. England and Arsenal forward Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is back after injury "This is a very important season for Alex," Wenger told Arsenal's official club website. "He was out for a very long time, I'm cautious with him at the moment but he's getting better in every game and that's good to see." Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a knee injury in Arsenal's 2-0 home Champions League loss to Barcelona on February 23. The 24-cap England man has been accelerating his recovery across Arsenal's pre-season however, with Wenger now expecting a fruitful term ahead. "Power and penetration - he has it all," said Wenger. "That's why I would like him to get to the level he can go to. "Maybe he doesn't completely believe himself how good he can be and that's the final step for him." Arsenal will conclude their pre-season schedule by facing Manchester City in Gothenburg on Sunday, before opening their Premier League campaign against Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on August 14. Three warned they face jail over flagship academy fraud The founder of a flagship free school and two staff members have been warned they could be jailed after being found guilty of fraudulently obtaining around 150,000 from government grants. Sajid Hussain Raza, 43, Shabana Hussain, 40, and Daud Khan, 44, were convicted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of making payments into their own bank accounts from Department for Education grants given to help set up the Kings Science Academy in Bradford in 2011. The defendants showed no emotion as they stood in the dock and listened as the jury foreman returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all charges. Sajid Hussain Raza (centre) with then Prime Minister David Cameron and Tory candidate Jackie Whiteley during a visit to the Kings Science Academy in March 2012 The jury of five men and seven women had been deliberating for just over one day after hearing evidence in the six-week trial. Judge Christopher Batty told the defendants: "You have been convicted of serious offences and I am very much considering custody in each of your cases." The academy was praised by then prime minister David Cameron during a high-profile visit in March 2012. It has since become part of the Dixons Academies Trust and is now called Dixons Kings Academy. The trial heard that Raza, the founder and principal of the school, used some of the money to make mortgage repayments on rental properties he owned to alleviate his own financial problems. But he told the jury the suggestion he used public money to cover his debts was "unbelievable''. The fraudulent activity continued for three years, between November 2010 and December 2013, despite senior civil servants expressing concern about his leadership and financial management. Raza was found guilty of four counts of fraud, three counts of false accounting and two counts of obtaining money by deception. Hussain, a teacher at the school and Raza's sister, was convicted of one count of fraud and one count of obtaining property by deception. Khan, the financial director at the school, was found guilty of two counts of fraud and three counts of false accounting. Kings Science Academy was among the first wave of free schools set up as part of a flagship education policy introduced by the government following the 2010 general election. The court heard that Raza made an application for a 500-place secondary school to open in September 2011. The proposal was approved and grants were given by the Department of Education to cover the costs incurred during the setting up of the school. But Raza and Hussain, both from Bradford, made a series of payments into their own personal bank accounts from these grants. Khan, from Thornbury, Bradford, did not receive any payments but helped Raza by submitting inflated or fabricated invoices for rent, fees for heads of department and recruitment services. Raza also made false claims about his income and job on mortgage application forms in 2004 and 2008, when he began having financial problems. Rental properties owned by Raza were making a loss and he began missing direct debit and mortgage payments due to having insufficient funds in his bank accounts. A number of county court judgments were entered against him, which he did not disclose to the Department of Education, and he was unable to become a signatory to the school's bank account. Raza opened a bank account in 2010, which had a balance of 28,000 in July 2011 after it was used to receive three large credits from the Kings Science Academy. Almost half of that balance was used, in the same month, to make large mortgage repayments. The jury heard that a number of meetings took place between Raza and the Department of Education, at which he was said to be "incredibly rude and dismissive", appeared to "pluck financial figures out of the air" and threatened to call the then education secretary Michael Gove when challenged. All three defendants denied any fraudulent activity. The trio were granted bail until a sentencing date in September. The Crown Prosecution Service said Raza, who was photographed alongside Mr Cameron during the former prime minister's visit to the school in 2012, was motivated by his financial difficulties. Peter Mann, head of the complex casework unit, said: "Far from being a model school, Raza treated the academy like a family business, employing his relatives there and, for at least the first 12 months, operating with no proper governance. "His co-defendants were also drawn into this criminality. Hussain, Raza's sister, received unlawful payments, and Khan helped to falsify documentation. "The defendants treated public money as their own and, when challenged, fabricated documents to cover their tracks." Detective Superintendent Jon Morgan, of West Yorkshire Police, added: "Raza, Hussain and Khan were in positions of trust, stealing thousands of pounds of public money which was intended for the development of a newly formed academy. "They acted selfishly and dishonestly in obtaining these funds and I would like to thank everyone who has helped uncover their unscrupulous activities and brought them to justice." David Moyes: Premier League's TV deal has put prices up for foreign players David Moyes has admitted England's cash-rich Premier League clubs are being forced to pay over the odds in the transfer market. The Premier League's record 5billion television rights deal kicks in this season, leaving England's elite boasting even more financial might than ever before. The English clubs' European rivals are all too aware of the extra spending power though, with new Sunderland boss Moyes admitting Premier League clubs are faced with inflated fees to secure their top targets. New Sunderland boss David Moyes returns to England in a very different transfer environment Moyes revealed his stint at Real Sociedad last term opened his eyes to just how willing continental clubs are to hike up asking prices when dealing with their English counterparts. "I remember last year at the end of my time in Spain I was taking a couple of trips into France to see some games," said Moyes. "I bumped into a lot of the sporting directors and they were all looking forward to the British clubs coming with their money." Paul Pogba's expected transfer from Juventus could cost Manchester United as much as 100million, while the Red Devils have already shelled out 30million on defender Eric Bailly. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger this week branded the potential Pogba transfer fee as "complete madness" but even the Gunners have indulged in the big-money action this summer. Arsenal were willing to go as high as 35million to land Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach, while Chelsea had to weigh in with 33million for Marseille's Michy Batshuayi. Moyes believes the sheer buying power of England's top flight has inflated the transfer market to the point where even the Premier League clubs themselves now struggle to discern a good value deal. "The prices have gone up with the extra money," said Moyes. Barry Humphries unimpressed by modern-day celebrity culture Barry Humphries, best known as Dame Edna Everage, has said he is bored with the antics of celebrities like Kim Kardashian West. During an interview with the Press Association, the Australian was asked what he thought of the reality TV star's penchant for nude selfies. Humphries said: "I feel a little bored by it. All we see really is narcissism in these phony celebrities. In fact, I'd rather not be a celebrity." Barry Humphries in character as Dame Edna Everage The Melbourne-born comedian was speaking ahead of the broadcast of A Granny's Guide To The Modern World - an irreverent look at life as a pensioner in today's world. The three-part Channel 4 series, presented by Humphries, sees a group of game senior citizens undertake a variety of investigative trials to find out if this generation can learn to fit into a world that prizes youth. In the first episode, which will premiere on August 3, three elderly women visit Amsterdam to try marijuana for the first time. Talking about the participants, Humphries said: "We have on this programme some wonderful old folk and they are all great comedians too. "I haven't enjoyed myself more I think on any show." The 82-year-old also said some aspects of 21st century living were not as appealing. "I've always tried to preserve a liberal view until the producers of this programme asked me to drink a kale smoothie and to simultaneously listen to a form of music called grime." He added: "I thought to myself, I'd really rather be in a nursery home having my meals pureed!" Humphries, who first came to London in 1959, reflected on the changes in British society. "(The) most negative thing is that the younger generation feel no need to add up in their heads, or spell or use correct grammar or good manners. "If I were pregnant and a lady and I was in the underground, the only person who would stand up and offer their seat to me would be Polish or Eastern European. "No English people do that any more." Ruth Davidson to take 'positive message' of gay marriage to Belfast Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson will give the "positive message" about gay marriage during a speech in Belfast. Northern Ireland is the only part of the British Isles where same-sex marriage remains outlawed, and Ms Davidson insists people living there should be "afforded the same rights as everybody else". The MSP, who recently became engaged to her partner Jen Wilson, will discuss the issue when she gives a lecture as part of Belfast's Pride celebrations. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson poses in front of a mural called Love Wins in Belfast Ms Davidson said she is "honoured" to have been invited to give the Amnesty Pride lecture. "As a practising Christian, a protestant and a unionist who is engaged to a Catholic Irishwoman, for me, equal marriage isn't about one religion, country or community," she said. "It is about people in Northern Ireland being afforded the same rights as everybody else. "Scotland is a better place today because of equal marriage and I want to take that positive message from our experiences here to Belfast and beyond." Last year, Ms Davidson was involved in the successful campaign for equal marriage to be introduced in the Republic of Ireland. However, Northern Ireland's devolved Stormont Assembly has repeatedly refused to legislate on the contentious issue. Although a slim majority of MLAs voted in favour of lifting the ban when it was debated for a fifth time last November, the proposal fell when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deployed a controversial voting mechanism to effectively veto it. Those opposed to gay marriage argue that same-sex couples already have the ability to enter into civil partnerships and claim there is no appetite for further change. The matter is also being contested through the courts where two same-sex couples have challenged the current law under human rights legislation. Ms Davidson visited a new Belfast mural depicting a married lesbian couple. The five-storey artwork has been painted on a gable wall in Hill Street in the vibrant cathedral quarter close to the city centre. The work, entitled Love Wins, shows two local women who wed in the United States because Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK or Ireland where same-sex marriage remains outlawed. The Scottish Tory leader also visited an LGBT support centre nearby and met activists, even supping from a can of Irn Bru. She said there was a higher incidence of self-harm in the LGBT community and stressed the importance of providing an appropriate healthcare response. John O'Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project which helps LGBT people, said they provided training for mental health professionals around working with those they represent. He said: "It is getting better is the best way to put it." We must do more: Ewan McGregor's plea for refugee children after Iraq trip Ewan McGregor travelled to northern Iraq last week in his role as Unicef Ambassador and has said more must be done to "protect the extraordinary number of children who have been torn from their homes by violent conflict". The actor met families at the Debaga camp to discover how the conflicts in Iraq and Syria have affected the lives of children who have been forced to uproot their lives. The father-of-four, 45, also spent time with displaced Iraqi families and Syrian refugees who are living in camps in the nearby Erbil area. Unicef ambassador Ewan McGregor walks through the Debaga refugee camp in northern Iraq (Unicef/PA Wire) The ongoing unrest in Iraq and Syria has left tens of thousands of children separated from their families, forced into work at a young age, recruited into fighting or killed. During his excursion, McGregor saw how Unicef is helping those fleeing IS-held city Mosul by giving them supplies of water and food as well as access to healthcare and child protection services. He said that "the world is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis" as he pressed for more to be done to address the issue. The Trainspotting star said: "Children uprooted by conflict can find themselves alone, without family and in grave danger. "No child should be alone. Many of the children I've met in Iraq have been forced to flee their homes, risking their lives on dangerous journeys and have been exposed to unimaginable horrors. "One girl I met, called Mirna, told me how her family slept in a disused, half-constructed shopping mall for over a year. "The community donated food, clothes and supplies to her family and really came together to welcome displaced people." The Scottish actor said that "this act of humanity should be replicated everywhere, especially on our own doorsteps". He added: "It's up to us to tell our friends, our neighbours and our governments that refugees are welcome." McGregor has been a Unicef Ambassador since 2004 and Peru, India, Nepal and the Congo are among the countries he has visited with the charity. Around 3.6 million children in Iraq are at risk of being abducted and recruited into armed groups, and face the constant threats of death, injury and sexual violence. September will see world leaders come together to discuss the global refugee crisis and Unicef is keen for a resolution to bring more help and protection to children forced to flee their homes. Economic strategy to look towards regions, No 10 says Theresa May's economic and industrial strategy is set to focus on boosting growth in Britain's regions, and in particular areas that have "not shared in recent industrial success", Downing Street has said. At the inaugural meting of the Prime Minister's Cabinet committee on economy and industrial strategy, Mrs May stressed the Government should focus on delivering "an economy that works for all". A No 10 spokesman said much of the discussion among Cabinet ministers was about how they could drive economic growth in different areas of the country. Theresa May stressed the Government should focus on delivering 'an economy that works for all' They also discussed the importance to the strategy of championing business, increasing productivity, investing in skills and "playing to the country's strengths" while creating an economy "open to new industries", particularly those that innovate. Following the meeting, the spokesman said: "At the first meeting of the economy and industrial strategy committee earlier this afternoon, the Prime Minister emphasised that the objective of the Government's new industrial strategy should be to deliver an economy that works for all. "Cabinet ministers discussed the principles that should be at the heart of this new strategy and agreed on the importance of championing business and enterprise; increasing productivity and closing the gap between different areas of the country; investing in skills; and playing to the country's strengths while also creating an economy that is open to new industries, particularly those that will shape our lives in the future. "Much of the discussion focused on ways the Government could support economic growth in different areas of the country. "The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and the Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark) pointed out that the Government should do more to support cities outside of London contribute more to the economy. "In that context, the Chancellor (Philip Hammond) noted that if the productivity gap between London and the South East and the rest of the country could be halved, then it could increase GDP by 9%, adding over 150 billion to the economy. "They agreed that an effective industrial strategy must build on the advantages and recognise the disadvantages of different places, and establish how areas of the country that have not shared in recent industrial success can have a positive economic future "The discussion also underlined that Britain is open for business, we continue to seek investment from around the world and we will continue to be a strong advocate for free trade. "Moving forward, we should be encouraging British businesses to seize the opportunities of Brexit." Brexit vote 'created perfect ecosystem for fraud' The Brexit vote has created the "perfect ecosystem" for fraud despite the cost of the crime falling over the past six months, a report said. The value of prosecuted fraud eased back to 328 million in the first half of the year, down from 385 million over the period in 2015, according to KPMG's Fraud Barometer. But it said Britain's decision to ditch the European Union had created an environment of uncertainty and economic volatility where the crime could flourish, as fraudsters look to "exploit people's vulnerabilities and confusion about the future". KPMG's Fraud Barometer reported that Britain's decision to ditch the European Union had created an environment of uncertainty and economic volatility where the crime could flourish The report said recent cases included a charlatan who posed as a billionaire banker to the Pope to fleece a shipping company out of 73 million. The firm, which had been looking to bolster its capital in order to buy a new ship, was tricked into handing over the funds after a bogus banker claimed he could secure a 1,200% return using a secretive Papal trading platform. The barometer measures fraud cases reaching the UK courts with losses of 100,000 or more. Hitesh N Patel, UK forensic partner at KPMG, said companies were coming under threat as they looked to drum up new business following a slowdown in the UK economy. He said: "While economic conditions remain soft, it is unsurprising that commercial enterprises and investors are looking for new ways of making money, often dealing with people they have not encountered before. "For commercial businesses, two of the biggest frauds recorded this year progressed so far because the fraudsters were able to create a reputational illusion, convincing victim companies to hand over large amounts of money - often sums that materially impacted their ability to operate. "As the environment for business continues to be tight and competitive, fraudsters are able to hide easily among genuine businesses." The report said the fall in the value of fraud was triggered by a drop in the number of small value cases. As a result, it caused the average value of fraud per case to step up to 2.9 million in 2016, compared to 2.4 million the year before. However, it said the decline in the overall value would be temporary because the UK authorities are currently embroiled in a series of complex fraud investigations worth more than 100 million. It added that the level of fraud waged against the health sector had spiked by more than 88% to 7.2 million in the first half of 2016. The study also revealed that fraud against charities totalled just shy of 6 million over the period, as criminals pocketed donations and gift aid. In one case, a software programmer capitalised on the death of a charity founder who launched a scheme helping women and children in crisis. The fraudster stole more than 5 million by faking donations and sending tens of thousands of gift aid repayment claims to the HM Revenue and Customs. Mr Patel added: "Private and corporate donors can play their part in stamping out these frauds in remaining alert and taking simple steps such as checking the track record of a charity. Aid groups fear hold up in relief as UN suspends aid in Nigeria after attack By Kieran Guilbert DAKAR, July 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Major aid agencies in northeast Nigeria said on Friday their operations could be hampered after an attack on a humanitarian convoy prompted the United Nations to temporarily suspend aid deliveries in Borno state, the former stronghold of Boko Haram. Unknown attackers struck yesterday as the convoy returned to Borno's capital Maiduguri after delivering aid in Bama, injuring a U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) employee and an International Organization for Migration contractor, according to UNICEF. "For now, movement of U.N. personnel outside Maiduguri is suspended for three days while the incident is investigated, hampering delivery of aid," UNICEF's regional director, Manuel Fontaine, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "UNICEF continues to urge partners to join the humanitarian response in Borno ... to avoid affected populations, including children, being left without assistance," Fontaine added. Nearly 250,00 children in Borno suffer from life-threatening malnourishment and around one in five will die if they do not receive treatment, UNICEF said earlier this month. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Wednesday that malnourished children were dying in large numbers in the northeast, where food supplies have almost run out. Troops were escorting the convoy when it was attacked by "suspected remnants of Boko Haram", said Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman. Two soldiers and three civilians were wounded. The Red Cross said while its activities would continue, it would be more vigilant and adapt its operations in the region. "We are suspending our movements in some areas of Borno State for a few days," said Elodie Schindler, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Oxfam's country director described the humanitarian situation in Borno, where the attack took place, as "desperate". "Our work continues, but the level of violence, even in newly accessible areas, means we are struggling to get help to all those that need it," said Jan Rogge of Oxfam in Nigeria. A regional offensive last year drove Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria, undermining its seven-year campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate. But the Islamist militant group has since struck back with suicide bombings and hit and run attacks on civilians. U.S.-backed forces in Syria wrest control of most of Manbij city - spokesman BEIRUT, July 31 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed forces waging an offensive against the Islamic State held city of Manbij in northern Syria now have control of almost 70 percent of the city after rapid advances in the last two days, a spokesman said on Sunday. Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) has cornered the ultra hardline Sunni militants in the old quarter and was fighting them in some parts of the city after seizing most of the western, eastern and southern parts of the city, Sharfan Darwish of the SDF-allied Manbij Military Council told Reuters in Beirut by telephone. Pope says it wrong to identify Islam with violence By Philip Pullella ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, July 31 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that it was wrong to identify Islam with violence and that social injustice and idolatry of money were among the prime causes of terrorism. "I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence," he told reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip to Poland. "This is not right and this is not true." Francis was responding to a question about the killing on July 26 of an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest by knife-wielding attackers who burst into a church service in western France, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. The attack was claimed by Islamic State. "I think that in nearly all religions there is a always a small fundamentalist group," he said, adding "We have them," referring to Catholicism. "I don't like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I look at the papers I see violence here in Italy - someone killing his girlfriend, someone killing his mother-in-law. These are baptised Catholics," he said. "If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent," he said. He said there were various causes of terrorism. "I know it dangerous to say this but terrorism grows when there is no other option and when money is made a god and it, instead of the person, is put at the centre of the world economy," he said. "That is the first form of terrorism. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Let's talk about that," he said. When he started the trip on Wednesday, Francis said the killing of the priest and a string of string of other attacks were proof the "world is at war" but that it was not caused by religion. He told reporters on the plane that lack of economic opportunities for young people in Europe was also to blame for terrorism. California firefighters struggle to slow Big Sur blaze By Michael Fiala CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif., July 31 (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled on Sunday to slow a deadly wildfire that has raged for 10 days near California's Big Sur coast, destroying dozens of homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents and campers, authorities said. The so-called Soberanes Fire, which erupted on July 22 just south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, has grown to 40,000 acres (16,187 hectares) of parched chaparral and timberland in and around the Los Padres National Forest. "Firefighters are meeting challenges due to topography, fuel load, and dry humidity," said Katherine Garver, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). "The fire is making runs into inaccessible areas." Officials ordered evacuations for the famous Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and other areas on Sunday afternoon. They had hoped that favorable weather conditions would allow progress to be made in containing the blaze, with strong winds that had been driving the fire for days starting to abate. By Sunday night, 18 percent of the fire's perimeter was contained, a slight increase from earlier in the day, officials said. Extremely hot, dry weather is still hampering the efforts of some 5,300 firefighters, 16 helicopters, a half dozen air tankers and 500 fire engines. Officials do not expect the fire to be fully contained until the end of August because parts of it are burning in steep and inaccessible terrain. Its cause is under investigation. Flames have already destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, with at least five other structures damaged, according to the latest tally. Another 2,000 structures were threatened, with an estimated 350 residents displaced by evacuations unrelated to those in the area of the Zen Center, officials said. The fire threat has prompted authorities to close a string of popular California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Point Lobos Natural Reserve. The blaze took a deadly turn on Tuesday when a bulldozer operator hired by property owners to help battle the flames was killed when his tractor rolled over. It was the second California wildfire-related death in a week. TABLE-South Korea July exports fall 10.2 pct y/y, worse than expected SEOUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Following are South Korea's preliminary export and import figures for July, released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday (rounded): JULY *JUNE Balance ($ billion) 7.8 11.5 Exports ($ billion) 41.0 45.3 (pct growth vs yr ago) -10.2 -2.7 Imports ($ billion) 33.3 33.8 (pct growth vs yr ago) -14.0 -7.7 * Revised June figures released on July 15 NOTES: - Reuters poll: Exports were seen down 4.6 percent in July over a year earlier while imports were seen falling 9.5 percent. - The average export value per working day stood at $1.75 billion in July, down from $1.97 billion in June, Thomson Reuters calculations show. - China is South Korea's largest export market, taking about one-quarter of shipments, followed by the United States. - By product, semiconductors topped the list in the first half of 2016, followed by machinery and automobiles. (Reporting by Christine Kim and Cynthia Kim) S.Korea July exports fall for 19th straight month By Christine Kim SEOUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's July exports fell at the fastest annual rate in three months to record a 19th straight month of declining exports, trade ministry data showed on Monday. All South Korea's top 13 export industries saw declines in July. With the exception of computers, exports to key trade partners, notably China, the U.S. and the European Union, all fell. Exports of ships, also part of the top 13, had fallen 42.5 percent alone on-year, the trade ministry said. Exports to China, South Korea's biggest trade partner, have fallen for more than a year as China restructures its economy and manufactures more products that South Korea previously supplied. A strike at Hyundai Motor Co, the world's fifth-biggest carmaker, bit into July exports. Exports fell 10.2 percent on-year to $41.0 billion while imports slumped 14.0 percent to $33.3 billion. Exports posted the biggest fall since April this year. In June exports and imports fell 2.7 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively. The trade surplus fell to $7.8 billion in July from a revised $11.5 billion surplus in June. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 4.6 percent drop in exports and a 9.5 percent fall in imports. South Korea is the first major exporting economy to report monthly trade data and is home to global suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Inc. The average value of exports per working day was $1.75 billion in July, less than a revised $1.94 billion in June, Reuters calculations showed. July this year had 1.5 fewer working days than July 2015. The trade ministry said it saw little prospect of an improvement in exports anytime soon, and planned to expand financial aid to exporters, including loans and a cut in insurance costs. However, it still hoped for exports to rebound in August, a ministry official told a news conference. "It's imperative for exports to China to turn around," said Lee Sang-jae, an economist at Eugene Investment & Securities." South Korea may need a another interest rate cut to offset the drag from weak exports, he said. South Korea's policy rate currently stands at 1.25 percent after the Bank of Korea lowered it in June. A majority of economists polled by Reuters currently see at least one more cut by year-end. China's regulator reins in guaranteed funds - The Economic Observer SHANGHAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - China's funds regulator circulated draft rules that impose stricter controls over the country's guaranteed funds, The Economic Observer reported on Sunday. The move comes amid attempts to clamp down on the country's poorly regulated fund management sector, which has been dogged by runaway managers and misappropriation of investments. The Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), the self-regulatory body that oversees private funds, is seeking opinions on a set of draft rules that would prevent some funds from guaranteeing principal, the paper reported. The draft rules also set limits for fund allocation, and require fund managers to have at least 2 years of experience in managing equity or bond funds, added the paper. "The new regulations are really strict," the paper quoted a Shanghai fund manager as saying. New rules introduced by AMAC which took effect in July, require fund managers to fully disclose their investment risks, review the identities of investors, and set up special accounts to manage capital. Brazil police free mother-in-law of Formula One empresario By Andrew Downie SAO PAULO, July 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian law enforcement agents stormed a hideout near Sao Paulo on Sunday and freed the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, police said. Aparecida Schunk was found safe and police arrested two men. Sao Paulo's Anti-Kidnap squad "freed the mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone," police said in a one-paragraph statement. "She was unharmed. Two men were arrested at the hideout near the city of Cotia. The operation continues." Sao Paulo police did not comment further on the operation or the kidnapping. But local news reports said they were searching for other members of the gang. The 67-year old Schunk was kidnapped on July 22 and her captors asked for 120 million reais ($36.5 million), according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine. Schunk is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, a 38-year old marketing executive who met Ecclestone at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. Ecclestone, whom Forbes magazine estimates - along with his family - is worth $3.1 billion and is one of the most powerful men in sport, married Flosi in 2012. Ecclestone, 85, divorced his wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, in order to marry the young Brazilian. The couple lives in England. Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars. A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer. OFFICIAL-North Korea's only foreign-founded law firm suspends operations By James Pearson SEOUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - North Korea's first and only law firm set up by a foreigner, Hay, Kalb & Associates, will suspend operations, the firm's principal said in a statement on Monday, as the country grows increasingly isolated. The firm is a joint venture between the North Korean state and British-French citizen Michael Hay, who has represented foreign clients in the capital, Pyongyang, for 12 years. Hay said he had made the decision based on "business and geopolitical principles". "This decision has been taken only after lengthy and thorough deliberation and an examination of the continuing deterioration of inter-regional relations pertaining to the Korean peninsula," Hay said in a statement. "It is not unreasonable to assume that no meaningful change or indicator of change in relations shall occur, if at all, until well after the United States Presidential Inauguration, on January 20, 2017," Hay said in the statement. North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to a new U.N. Security Council resolution in March that tightened sanctions against Pyongyang. The majority of Hay's clients are foreign investors, many of whom have been negatively affected by the sanctions, Hay told Reuters. "Sanctions are hurting legitimate foreign investors. There still is no credible, consistent evidence I see of DPRK companies hurting," Hay said. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official title. Very few foreigners live or work in North Korea. Those who do are usually members of the diplomatic or NGO community, although a small group of foreign investors have maintained a quiet and steady presence inside the country. The suspension takes effect from midnight on Monday, Hay said, with an official suspension scheduled for Aug. 14, the firm's 12-year anniversary. Hay, who bills his firm as the only foreign-invested firm in North Korea, said he will still maintain an office in Pyongyang. China praises Afghanistan for fight against Chinese separatist group BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) - China's defence minister met the head of Afghanistan's army, thanking him for Kabul's support in fighting what Beijing says is an extremist group that seeks to split off its western region of Xinjiang. China has long been concerned that instability in Afghanistan will spill over into violence-prone Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, where hundreds have died in recent years in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist extremists. The United States and the United Nations have listed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist group, though some experts have questioned its cohesiveness and say China's policies in Xinjiang have contributed to unrest. "I thank Afghanistan for its valuable support in combating ETIM terrorist forces and on issues related to China's core interests," Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told Afghan army chief of general staff Qadam Shah Shaheem. "I hope the two militaries can continually enrich the shape and content of cooperation and make greater contributions to safeguarding both countries' security and creating a favourable environment for joint development," Chang said according to the official Xinhua news agency late on Sunday. Afghanistan is willing to continue fighting ETIM by "deepening cooperation on personnel training and joint exercises and other means", a statement on China's defence ministry website cited Shaheem as saying. The report and the statement did not give further details. China is working with Pakistan and the United States to broker peace talks to end a Taliban insurgency that has raged for 15 years in Afghanistan. That effort never got beyond exploratory talks 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. Sources in the Taliban told Reuters that a Taliban delegation visited China earlier this month, though Chinese officials have not confirmed it. In public statements, the Taliban have said that they wish to have good relations with Afghanistan's neighbours. China says it does not seek to fill a security void created in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led NATO mission ceased combat operations there at the end of 2014. But it has promised to play a "huge" commercial role in helping rebuild the country. Romania - Factors to watch on August 1 Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday. FX RESERVES Romania's central bank will release FX reserves data for July. DEBT TENDER Romanian debt managers to tender 500 million lei ($125.09 million) worth of July 2027 treasury bonds. CENTRAL BANK Anti-graft prosecutors arrested Romania's deputy central bank governor Bogdan Olteanu on Friday, saying they had charged him with accepting 1 million euros ($1.12 million) in 2008 to influence the government over a key appointment. Olteanu's lawyer said the deputy governor denied any wrongdoing, but would resign on Monday - the first time such a senior officer in the central bank has been arrested and left his job over such allegations. CEE MARKETS Central European currencies eased slightly on Friday in edgy global sentiment before a first estimate for Q2 U.S. growth, with the forint getting some support from news of Daimler expanding its plant in Hungary. UNEMPLOYMENT Romania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate eased to 6.4 percent in June from May's 6.6 percent, the National Statistics Board said on Friday. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on China stocks fall on speculation crackdown, IPOs; Hong Kong shares rise SHANGHAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - China stocks slumped more than 1 percent on Monday morning as a crackdown by regulators on speculation led investors to dump small caps ahead of a fresh wave of initial public offerings (IPOs). But Hong Kong shares rose sharply, as Asian shares hit a one-year high after disappointing United States economic growth data reduced expectations of imminent U.S. rate hikes. China's blue-chip CSI300 index fell 1.1 percent, to 3,167.65 points by lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.3 percent, to 2,942.24 points. Small-caps were among the worst casualties, with Shenzhen's start-up board ChiNext tumbling more than 2 percent. "We have seen an escalation in regulatory oversight," said Wu Kan, head of equity trading at investment firm Shanshan Finance. "It's good for the market in the long term, but it hurts sentiment in the short term." China's top securities regulator Liu Shiyu, who took office in February, has started to show its teeth with the launch of a series of tightening measures over the past weeks. The watchdog has tightened rules over hedge funds, limited shadow banking business of mutual fund houses, and is drafting rules aimed at curbing money flows from banks into the stock market through wealth management products. In addition, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges issued 29 letters of enquires to listed companies over the past week alone, questioning the logic of their restructuring plans or other corporate activities, a move seen as a crackdown on speculative trading. Traders also attributed Monday's market weakness to a flood of nine IPOs this week, including relatively big share sales by Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd and Bank of Guiyang Co. Investors remain pessimistic about China's economy in the second half, even as a private business survey showed on Monday that China's manufacturing activity expanded for the first time in 17 months in July. But Hong Kong shares followed Asian markets higher. The Hang Seng index added 1.3 percent, to 22,178.73 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 2.1 percent, to 9,143.82. U.S. crude breaks below $40 as oil ends down 4 pct on glut By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude tumbled below $40 per barrel on Monday for the first time since April, as oil prices settled down nearly 4 percent on heightened worries of a crude glut despite peak summer fuel demand. A nearly 15-percent slump in U.S. crude prices in July, the worst monthly loss in a year, also triggered liquidation as trading began for August. Monday's slide in crude prices also came after Marathon Petroleum unexpectedly shut its lone crude unit and an associated unit at its 212,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Robinson, Illinois, at the weekend, according to a source. The cause and duration of the outage were not clear. "It's stop-loss technical selling combined with sheer liquidation by those fearing we'll soon be swimming in oil again," said Phil Davis, trader at PSW Investments in San Diego, California. "We've had crude builds during the summer, when we were supposed to be having runaway draws from record driving." U.S. West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude plumbed $39.86, its lowest since April 20, before settling at $40.06, down $1.54, or 3.7 percent. Brent crude closed down $1.39, or 3.2 percent, at $42.14 a barrel, after a session low of $41.87. Not all oil statistics are bearish. A Reuters poll on Monday showed U.S. crude stockpiles likely fell last week, after a surprise rise in the previous week ended nine straight weeks of drawdowns. Still, market focus was on reports such as the Reuters survey on Friday which showed that output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries likely rose in July to its highest in recent history as Saudi Arabia pumped at near record level, Iraq raised production and Nigeria boosted crude exports. Other data from last week showed the United States added 44 oil drilling rigs in July, the most for a month in two years, intensifying concerns that global production could again get to unmanageable levels like in 2014-2015. Crude prices remain nearly 55 percent above 12-year lows of $26 to $27 hit in the first quarter. But WTI and Brent have also slipped into bear market territory since last week after losing more than 20 percent from the 2016 highs above $50 that were hit in June. Hedge funds slashed their positive bets on U.S. crude to a five-month low during the week to July 26, while holding a record net short, or bearish position, on gasoline, data showed on Friday. Barclays noted that Brent averaged $46.50 a barrel so far into the third quarter and could fall further. "With the macroeconomic picture worsening and Saudi Arabia unlikely to exhibit much restraint as Iran seeks incremental market share, refineries are going to find themselves in the line of fire," the British bank said in a research note. Poland - Factors to Watch Aug 1 Aug. 1 (Reuters) - Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours): CPI EXPECTATIONS Poland's central bank to release July CPI expectations at 1200 GMT. PMI Markit is to publish its July PMI index for Poland at 0700 GMT. ENEA Poland's No.3 state-run energy firm, Enea, has started talks regarding its potential investment in ailing state-controlled coal group KHW, it said on Friday night. WIND FARMS Foreign investors engaged in wind farms in Poland may sue the country for changes in the conditions of doing business after the government decided to change the law concerning this sector, Rzeczpospolita daily said. Companies unhappy with the changes are CEZ, RWE, EDF, and Energix, it also said. VAT New laws enforced by Poland will improve tax collection by 18-20 billion zlotys ($4.62 billion-$5.13 billion), per year within 2-3 years, the finance ministry was quoted as saying by Rzeczpospolita. BANKS The Polish banking sector is one of the most stable in Europe, the European Banking Authority said after it conducted a series of stress-tests, Rzeczpospolita reported. In the first quarter, Polish banks earned 3.2 billion zlotys after taxes. CO2 European Commission's proposal regarding cutting CO2 emission in Poland are unfair and harmful, Polish Environment Minister Jan Szyszko was quoted as saying by Rzeczpospolita. The UE executive arm wants Poland to cut emission in construction, agriculture, and transport by 7 percent until the end of the next decade in comparison with the year 2005. CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL President Andrzej Duda signed on Saturday a new bill regarding changes to the Constitutional Tribunal criticised by lawyers and the opposition. The bill is inconsistent with the constitution, Gazeta Wyborcza daily said. WAGES Poland is to catch up with Europe in terms of wages in less than 20 years, according to Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's development plan, Gazeta Wyborcza said. ****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** Mahrez 'distracted' by transfer talk, says Ranieri Aug 1 (Reuters) - Speculation about a possible transfer to Premier League rivals Arsenal has unsettled Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez, manager Claudio Ranieri has said. The 25-year-old Algeria international, who signed from Ligue 2 side Le Havre in 2014, has become a hot property after scoring 17 league goals and winning the PFA Player of the Year during Leicester's remarkable title-winning campaign. Leicester have already had to fight off advances from Arsenal to keep striker Jamie Vardy, but lost midfielder N'Golo Kante to Chelsea for a reported fee of 32 million pounds ($42.38 million). "Maybe Riyad is distracted a bit by all of these rumours and speculation," Ranieri told British media. "But that is also an experience for my players. It is important that he understands that he should stay with us. "He has to improve his fitness and play for the team as well as last season." Iran says crude market oversupplied, balance to be restored By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Iran's Oil Minister said on Monday the oil market was oversupplied but predicted balance between demand and supply will be restored, Iranian state television reported on Monday. "The oil market is oversupplied now but there are expectations that there will be balance between demand and supply in the market," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Iran's state TV, without saying when that may happen. A Reuters Survey on Friday showed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' oil output was likely to reach its highest in recent history in July as Iraq pumps more and Nigeria manages to export additional crude despite militant attacks. Supply from OPEC rose to 33.41 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from a revised 33.31 million bpd in June, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from industry sources. Since a landmark nuclear deal was reached with major powers in 2015 leading to lifting of sanctions, Iran has been planning to raise its crude production to the pre-sanctions level of four million barrels per day (bpd). To regain the production level, Iran has sweetened the terms it offers on oil development contracts to draw the interest of foreign investors. Iran needs $200 billion in foreign money to reach its goal. Zanganeh said that the first of Iran's new oil and gas investment contracts for international companies will be launched this week. "The government will approve the new contracts on Wednesday," Zanganeh told reporters, state TV reported. The launch of Iran's new oil contracts, the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) has been postponed several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani resisted any deal that could end the buy-back system. Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that no new oil and gas contracts for international companies will be awarded without necessary reforms. "Iran's priority is developing jointly owned oil and gas fields, as well as those in which we are after improved oil recovery." Zanganeh said Oil majors have said they would only go back to Iran if it made major changes to the buy-back contracts of the 1990s, which companies such as France's Total or Italy's Eni ) said made them no money or even incurred losses. Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Aug 1 PRAGUE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================== Real-time economic data releases.................... Summary of economic data and forecasts........... Recently released economic data.................. Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview ==========================NEWS================================== BUDGET: The Czech central state budget ended July in a surplus of 73 billion to 75 billion crowns ($3.10 billion), almost three times more than a year ago, Finance Minister Andrej Babis was quoted as saying on Saturday. Story: Related stories: ECONOMY OUTLOOK: The Czech Finance Ministry lowered its forecast for economic growth this year and cut its estimate for the 2016 public deficit on Friday. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: Central European currencies eased slightly on Friday in edgy global sentiment before a first estimate for Q2 U.S. growth, with the forint getting some support from news of Daimler expanding its plant in Hungary. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2016 vs Euro 27.017 27.035 0.07 -0.07 vs Dollar 24.196 24.255 0.24 2.67 Czech Equities 881.74 881.74 -0.62 -7.8 U.S. Equities 18,432.24 18,456.35 -0.13 5.78 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500 GMT For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX For updates on CEE currencies TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com ($1 = 24.1940 Czech crowns) (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) GSK and Google parent forge $715 mln bioelectronic medicines firm By Ben Hirschler LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabet's life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a novel field of medicine called bioelectronics. Verily Life Sciences - known as Google's life sciences unit until last year - and Britain's biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million pounds ($715 million) over seven years to Galvani Bioelectronics, they said on Monday. The new company, owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, will be based at GSK's Stevenage research centre north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. It is GSK's second notable investment in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union in June. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million pounds on drug manufacturing. Galvani will develop miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. GSK believes chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma could be treated using these tiny devices, which consist of a electronic collar that wraps around nerves. Kris Famm, GSK's head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said the first bioelectronic medicines using these implants to stimulate nerves could be submitted for regulatory approval by around 2023. "We have had really promising results in animal tests, where we've shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism, and now we are bringing that work into the clinic," he told Reuters. "Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years." GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in a paper in the journal Nature three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. Verily already has several other medical projects in the works, including the development of a smart contact lens in partnership with the Swiss drugmaker Novartis that has an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. GRAIN OF RICE Famm said the first generation of implants coming to market would be around the size of a medical pill but the aim eventually was to make them as small or smaller than a grain of rice, using the latest advances in nanotechnology. Patients will be treated with keyhole surgery and the hope is that bioelectronic medicine could provide a one-off treatment, potentially lasting decades. Major challenges including making the devices ultra low-power so that they function reliably deep inside the body. The idea of treating serious disease with electrical impulses is not completely new. Large-scale electrical devices have been used for years as heart pacemakers and, more recently, deep brain stimulation has been applied to treat Parkinson's disease and severe depression, while EnteroMedics last year won U.S. approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite. Galvani, however, is taking electrical interventions to the micro level, using tiny implants to coax insulin from cells to treat diabetes, for example, or correct muscle imbalances in lung diseases. Galvani will initially employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians. The company will be chaired by Moncef Slaoui, GSK's vaccines head, who pioneered the drugmaker's drive into the bioelectronics field. Slaoui is retiring from GSK next March but will continue to steer Galvani after that date, a spokesman said. Galvani will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements, following the model of the group's majority-owned ViiV Healthcare business, which sells HIV medicines. Italian yields hit 17-month low after Monte dei Paschi unveils rescue plan By John Geddie LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Italian government borrowing costs fell to a 17-month low on Monday after the country's third largest bank unveiled a privately-backed rescue plan to prevent it from being wound up by regulators. Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, announced the plan moments before European banking regulators revealed the results of their stress tests late on Friday which predicted that the lender's capital buffers would be entirely wiped out if there was a severe economic downturn. The solution should also allow Rome to avoid having to inject public cash to recapitalise the bank, which under EU rules would entail politically unpalatable losses for Monte dei Paschi's bondholders and depositors above 100,000 euros. "Monte dei Paschi presented a recap plan (no bail-in, no bail-out) which should reduce pressure from this widely expected outcome," Mizuho International's head of European rates strategy Peter Chatwell said. As expected, Monte dei Paschi fared the worst in the latest EU stress tests which also unveiled weakness in lenders from Ireland, Spain and Austria and showed there was still work to do in order to boost credit to the bloc's economy. Italian 10-year government bond yields fell slightly on Monday to 1.16 percent, the lowest since March 2015, while most other euro zone equivalents were slightly higher on the day. German 10-year yields, the euro zone benchmark, edged up 2 bps to minus 0.10 percent, according to Reuters data. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Sunday ruled out the need for any extraordinary budget measures this year even as concern grows economic growth may fall short of government targets. Asked about Monte dei Paschi, Renzi said the government had worked for a market solution to its problems since any state aid would have meant ordinary people would have had to pay. "I don't want citizens to have to pay for mistakes made by politicians and bankers in the past," he said. But while the solution unveiled on Friday appears to have taken the onus off the government, Monte dei Paschi faces a Herculean task convincing investors to back a third recapitalisation in as many years and avert a banking crisis that would send shockwaves across Europe. The two-pronged rescue scheme hinges on Monte dei Paschi raising 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in a cash call to be completed by the end of the year - a tall order for a lender that is worth less than 1 billion on the market and has burned through 8 billion euros from share issues since 2014. Global investment banks have made a preliminary agreement to underwrite the rights issue by Italy's third biggest bank. But this is subject to conditions, including that the second prong of the bank's plan is successful: the sale of 9.2 billion euros of bad loans via a mammoth securitisation, whose sheer size is unprecedented in Italy. Shares in Monte dei Paschi rose around 6 percent on Monday to their highest price in two weeks. PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Aug 1 MOSCOW, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. VEDOMOSTI www.vedomosti.ru - President Vladimir Putin has appointed three former security officials as governors of Russia's Kaliningrad, Tula and Yaroslavl regions. - Putin has appointed his representative in the Volga region, Mikhail Babich, as Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine. Babich is known for his tough methods of work, the daily says. - Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has signed a document aimed to fight corruption in awarding state order orders to local companies on contracts financed from the budget. - Chaika's elder son, Artyom, has become the owner of the Tyretsk salt mines, Russia's second largest producer of cooking salt, the daily writes citing official documents. KOMMERSANT www.kommersant.ru - The Quatar Sovereign Fund Investment Authority (QIA) will buy part of the stake in the managing company of Russia's airport Pulkovo controlled by Germany's company Fraport. - The Energia fund of Russia's former energy minister, Igor Yusufov, intends to take part in the privatisation of Bashnef oil company, but analysts doubt that the fund will have enough weight and influence to be allowed to buy the stake on sale. - A subsidiary of state holding Rostec, Technopromexport, has become Russia's first company to fulfil a contract in post-sanctions Iran on launching a thermal power plant in Bandar Abbas. - Almost a half of all road accidents with casualties in Russia was caused by poor conditions of roads in the first six months of this year, according to prosecutors' reports. ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA www.rg.ru - Russia will considerably cut the price for licences for wine making this month, in a hope to encourage the development of its vineyards. European shares little changed; UniCredit leads weak banks sectors after tests By Danilo Masoni MILAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - European shares were little changed on Monday, with higher mining stocks offset by losses in banks such Raiffesen and UniCredit which performed poorly in a Europe-wide stress tests. By 0845 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 percent, while the FTSEurofirst 300 also rose by the same amount. The STOXX 600 banking index fell 0.9 percent, reversing earlier gains as enthusiasm for the results of stress which delivered little negative surprises was short-lived. Austrian bank Raiffeisen, which emerged among the four worst perfomers in the tests along with Monte dei Paschi, Banco Popular and UniCredit, fell 7.3 percent, making it the biggest loser in the sector. UniCredit fell 6 percent as the poor showing in the tests highlighted the need for Italy's biggest bank by assets to strengthen its capital, while Banco Popular fell 3.2 percent. "The stress test results confirm the necessity for UniCredit to reinforce its capital position" Banca Akros analyst Luigi Tramontana said in a note. Monte dei Paschi however rose 2.3 percent, as some optimism over a last-minute rescue plan offset the Italian lender's bad showing in the tests, where it fared the worst. Europe's STOXX 600 Basic Resources index which includes mining stocks, rose 1.6 percent as copper prices rose after a report showed that activity picked up at China's small-to-medium size factories in July. Among other gainers, Legrand rose 4.7 percent on the back of its well-received results at the French power switch maker, whose sales growth in the first half beat expectations. Four killed in Saudi Arabia in cross-border shelling from Yemen DUBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Four people were killed and three wounded in Saudi Arabia when a shell fired from inside Yemen exploded in a town close to the border, Saudi civil defence said on Monday. The shell hit Samtah, in the southwestern Saudi border region of Jizan, a tweet by the Saudi civil defence said. Seven Saudi soldiers and dozens of Houthi fighters were killed in heavy fighting on the border with Yemen on Sunday, as the main combatants in Yemen's war prepared for a further week of peace talks in Kuwait. The U.N.-sponsored negotiations had been on the verge of collapse after a new row erupted last week between the Saudi-backed government and its Iranian-allied Houthi foes and renewed fighting broke out. U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the talks between the Houthis and their General People's Congress party allies and the internationally-recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had been extended by a week. Maurel et Prom chief sells out to Indonesia's Pertamina By Benjamin Mallet and Wilda Asmarini PARIS/JAKARTA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina plans to buy a one quarter stake in France's Maurel et Prom from its boss and extend the offer to take over the rest of the Africa-focused oil company in a deal that could value it at close to $1 billion. Pertamina said the acquisition of the 24.5 percent stake from Maurel et Prom (M&P) Chairman and Chief Executive Jean-Francois Henin would fit well with plans to bolster its upstream business globally. M&P, one of many independent oil exploration and production companies suffering from weak oil prices, has been looking for a partner for several years, but may have been able to fetch a much higher price had it agreed to a buyout earlier. Back in 2013, Henin confirmed he had been in talks with potential buyers for the whole company. On Monday, he told Reuters Pertamina had been among them, but that discussions had foundered on price. Three years ago the company was worth close to four times more than it is now. Nevertheless, Henin said he was happy with the deal to sell the company which can trace its roots back to 1831 and the development of shipping lines and trading posts in West Africa. "They (Pertamina) can achieve something that corresponds with my dreams for Maurel et Prom because they give the company a means for development," he said. Henin holds his stake through a company called Pacifico, which is selling out for 4.20 euros a share, plus a potential 0.50 euro earnout linked to the price of crude oil next year. P&M's shares closed at 2.85 euros on Friday and were suspended from trading on Monday morning. The full offer, to be made on the same terms as for Henin's stake, should come later this year, Henin said. At that price it would value the whole company at up to 891.9 million euros ($996 mln) based on a total 189,764,042 shares in issue. Its market value was about 541 million euros at the close of business on Friday. Italian yields hit 17-month low on Monte dei Paschi rescue plan By John Geddie LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Italy's government borrowing costs touched a 17-month low on Monday after its third largest bank unveiled a privately-backed rescue plan to prevent it from being wound up by regulators. Monte dei Paschi announced the plan less than an hour before European banking regulators revealed the results of their stress tests late on Friday which predicted that the lender's capital buffers would be entirely wiped out if there was a severe economic downturn. The solution should allow Rome to avoid having to inject public cash to recapitalise the bank, which under EU rules would entail politically unpalatable losses for Monte dei Paschi's bondholders and depositors. But market moves were modest and partially unwound towards the end of the day as concerns persisted about another banking crisis in the bloc's third largest economy. "There is some crumb of comfort in terms of the results and a potential plan for one particular bank but there is a broader issue at play here that needs to be addressed... and will take time," Credit Agricole strategist Orlando Green said. As expected, Monte dei Paschi fared worst in the latest EU stress tests, which also demonstrated weakness in some of Italy's other lenders and in banks in Ireland, Spain and Austria. Italian 10-year government bond yields edged up 1 basis point to 1.18 percent, having fallen as low as 1.16 percent, their lowest since March 2015, while most euro zone equivalents were flat or a touch higher on the day. German 10-year yields, the bloc's benchmark, rose 1.5 bps to minus 0.16 percent. Asked about Monte dei Paschi, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the government had worked for a market solution to its problems because any state aid would have meant ordinary people would have had to pay. But while the plan unveiled on Friday appears to have taken the onus off the government, Monte dei Paschi faces a Herculean task convincing investors to back a third recapitalisation in as many years. The two-pronged rescue scheme hinges on Monte dei Paschi raising 5 billion euros in a cash call to be completed by the end of the year - a tall order for a lender that is worth less than 1 billion on the market and has burned through 8 billion euros from share issues since 2014. Global investment banks have made a preliminary agreement to underwrite the rights issue by Italy's third biggest bank. But this is subject to conditions, including that the second prong of the bank's plan is successful: the sale of 9.2 billion euros of bad loans via a mammoth securitisation, whose sheer size is unprecedented in Italy. Monte dei Paschi shares rose on the day and at one point were up 7 percent. However, Unicredit, another Italian lender that made a poor showing in the tests, was the worst performing stocks on the STOXX 100 index, down 9.4 percent. Novo Banco H1 loss widens on provisions, operating side improves LISBON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Portugal's Novo Banco, which the state is trying to sell after a 2014 rescue, swung deeper into the red in the first half but operating income rose and it said the overall result was in line with its restructuring plan. Novo Banco is the "good bank" of viable assets rescued from Banco Espirito Santo (BES), which collapsed under the weight of its founding family's debts in 2014. It reported a net loss of 363 million euros for the first half, 44 percent wider than a year ago, on higher provisions for bad loans and restructuring costs, it said in a statement on Sunday. The loss in the second quarter showed an improving trend over the previous three-month period, it added. Operating income was 142 million euros, as its net interest income increased 22 percent while operating costs fell 23 percent, but new provisions more than doubled to 577 million euros. The share of overdue loans in the total loan portfolio rose to 17 percent in June from 15.5 percent at the end of last year. The Portuguese government is attempting to sell Novo Banco for a second time to try to recover as much as possible of the 4.9 billion euros injected in to the lender in 2014. The first attempt failed last year as bids came in too low. In late June, the Bank of Portugal received four offers for the bank. Copper retreats from one-week high, manufacturing disappoints By Pratima Desai LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Copper prices retreated after hitting one-week highs on Monday as the dollar rose, U.S. factory activity slowed and data from China's manufacturing sector indicated sluggish growth. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange ended down 0.9 percent at $4,882 a tonne. The slide in the U.S. Institute for Supply Management's index of national factory activity triggered a sell-off after New York opened, traders said. Activity in China's manufacturing sector eased unexpectedly in July as orders cooled and flooding disrupted business, an official survey showed, suggesting overall industrial activity remains sluggish at best. A similar private survey showed business picked up for the first time in 17 months, but the increase was only slight. "It's a case of bad news being good news, the manufacturing surveys suggest Chinese authorities might have to look at further stimulus," said SP Angel analyst John Meyer. Expectations of more stimulus from China was behind copper's earlier rise to $4,965 a tonne. A higher U.S. currency makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for non-U.S. firms, which might mean less demand. Elsewhere, three-month nickel closed up 0.9 percent at $10,730 a tonne, compared with an earlier $10,800, its highest in more than a week. The stainless steel ingredient has been boosted by worries about ore supply from the Philippines, which were reinforced by President Rodrigo Duterte warning mining firms to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down. But analysts say high stocks mean nickel's gains of more than 20 percent so far this year are probably overdone. Reported and unreported stocks, are thought to account for half of global consumption estimated at around 1.9 million tonnes this year. They also expect any shortfall from the Philippines to be covered by higher supplies from elsewhere. "Increased shipments from Indonesia, Myanmar and New Caledonia this year will likely amount to a bit over 100,000 tonnes in contained nickel, fully offsetting even the most dramatic estimates of the declines in Filipino exports," JPMorgan analysts said in a note. "In fact, we estimate total nickel supply in China increased 37 percent in the first five months of the year, further expanding Chinese nickel surpluses." Aluminium fell 0.5 percent to $1,635, zinc gained 1.1 percent to $2,268, lead ended little changed at $1,822 from Friday's close at $1,823 and tin gained 0.1 percent to $17,875 a tonne. 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 India to attend regional meet in Pakistan amid Kashmir tension NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - India's interior minister will travel to Pakistan for a regional gathering but will not hold bilateral talks at a time when a surge of violence in disputed Kashmir has escalated rivalry between the nuclear-armed neighbours, officials said on Monday. Fifty people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded since protests erupted in Indian-administered Kashmir after security forces killed a separatist militant leader last month. Burhan Wani, 22, was a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a separatist militant group whose leader is based in Pakistan. He has been declared a martyr by officials in Islamabad while India has branded him a "terrorist". India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence over Kashmir, which each rules in part but claims in full. The line of control dividing the Himalayan region still broadly runs along the front when the guns fell silent in 1948. Interior Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Islamabad on Aug. 3 but will not have a separate meeting with the Pakistani host of the meeting of interior ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). "Pakistan easily finds a reason to start violence in Kashmir and we don't want to engage with them at this juncture," a senior interior ministry official in New Delhi said. The Foreign Ministry in Pakistan could not be reached for comment and the Interior Ministry had no immediate comment. Wani's death has revived separatist sentiment, violence and the absence of political engagement has heightened unease between the nations. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in May, "We are waiting for the day Kashmir becomes Pakistan." The rivalry between India and Pakistan has hampered efforts to transform SAARC into a meaningful platform for integration in South Asia, which accounts for a fifth of the world's population but less than a tenth of its economic output. U.S. general seeks to soothe Turkey ties strained by coup purge By Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones ISTANBUL, Turkey, Aug 1 (Reuters) - America's highest-ranking military officer sought on Monday to soothe strained ties with NATO ally Turkey, which was angered by the West's response to a failed military coup and an apparent U.S. reluctance to hand over the cleric it says was responsible. The fallout from the abortive coup on July 15, in which more than 230 people died as mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks, has deepened a rift between Ankara and its Western allies. President Tayyip Erdogan and many Turks have been frustrated by U.S. and European criticism of a government crackdown in the aftermath of the attempted putsch in a country vital to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State and to stopping illegal migration to Europe. They have accused Western leaders of being more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat to a NATO member. More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the coup, prompting fears that Erdogan is cracking down on all dissent. "It is important that the United States, our friend and ally, display a clear and decisive stance against this terrorist coup attempt against our nation and democracy," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford during their meeting in Ankara. Condemning the failed coup in Turkey, Dunford, the principal military adviser to the American president, said his visit was to show solidarity and added that the United States supports Turkish democracy, a statement from Yildirim's office said. Earlier on Monday, about 150 protesters marched to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to protest Dunford's visit. "Coup plotter Dunford get out of Turkey," the crowd chanted. "Dunford go home. Send us Fethullah," said one banner, in reference to U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose network of followers in the military and state institutions are blamed by Erdogan for orchestrating the coup plot. The 75-year-old cleric, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies involvement in the failed coup. President Barack Obama has said Washington will extradite him only if Turkey provides evidence of wrongdoing. Dunford also met his Turkish counterpart and U.S. personnel stationed at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against Islamic State. The scale of the purges, which have seen around 40 percent of generals and admirals dismissed, along with suggestions from officials that the death penalty may be reintroduced, have alarmed Western states nervous about Erdogan's tightening grip. In Washington, Turkish lawmakers from the ruling party and the two largest opposition parties visited the U.S. Justice Department on Monday, the first stop on a weeklong trip in which they will try to persuade U.S. officials to support Gulen's extradition. Turkey will send the United States new evidence within weeks, "if not days," proving that Gulen ordered the coup, said Taha Ozhan, the head of the delegation. The evidence will be more recent than the documents Turkey has sent the U.S. Justice Department so far, which all date from before July 15 and will include testimony and intercepted messages from alleged plotters who have been detained in Turkey, according to Ozhan. "Through their messages, through their hidden communications, Turkish intelligence actually captured many (pieces of) evidence" that directly implicate Gulen, he said. Senior Turkish officials rounded on Germany for preventing Erdogan from addressing a rally on Sunday of his supporters in Cologne via video link. Berlin's foreign ministry spokesman acknowledged relations were going through a "bumpy patch". "'KILL US', THEY WILL BEG" Turkish special forces overnight captured a group of 11 rebel commandos who had tried to seize or kill Erdogan during the coup. Drones and helicopters pinpointed them in forested hills around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris after a two-week manhunt, an official said. They were part of a group that attacked a hotel where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the July 15 coup. Video footage showed a dozen or so anti-coup demonstrators jeering the 11 detained soldiers, some of whom had swollen faces and bruises. The demonstrators waved Turkish flags and chanted "Traitors! We want the death penalty!" Erdogan's crackdown after the failed coup has made European leaders even more uneasy about their dependence on the country to help stem illegal migration, in return for which Turks have been promised visa-free travel to the European Union. CIVILIAN CONTROL OVER MILITARY The coup attempt shocked Turkey, which last saw a violent military power grab in 1980, and shook international confidence in the stability of the country. Nearly 1,400 more members of the armed forces were dismissed, and the top military council was stacked with government ministers on Sunday, moves designed by Erdogan to tighten civilian control over the military. Turkey's defence ministry has changed the postings of 167 generals within the army on Monday, reshuffling senior ranking officers in key positions. Defence Minister Fikri Isik said expulsions from the army were not over. "There will be more if necessary," he said in an interview with CNN Turk television. He added that a total of 311 soldiers were still at large following the coup attempt. More than 1,700 military personnel were dishonourably discharged last week for their role in the putsch. Erdogan has said Gulen harnessed his 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. However, the cleric has condemned the coup, and in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday repeated his denial that he had been involved in it. Angolan rebels claim more casualties in oil-rich Cabinda LUANDA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Two rebels and 17 Angolan soldiers were killed in two incidents in the oil-producing province of Cabinda at the weekend, the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) said on Monday. Authorities in the southern African, currently Africa's biggest oil producer, declined to comment. On Friday the government also did not respond to a FLEC claim that nine Angolan soldiers had been killed in the region. Luanda rarely responds to such claims in a region where separatists have been waging a low-intensity guerrilla campaign for several decades. The latest clashes broke out on Saturday and Sunday near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, FLEC said in a statement. FLEC, which wants independence for a territory that accounts for half of Angola's oil output, has been more vocal since the death this year of its 88-year-old founder, Nzita Tiago, in exile in France. Men claiming to be rebels boarded an offshore Chevron gas platform in late May and threatened foreign petroleum workers in a rare sign of the simmering instability in heavily guarded Cabinda. Mother of Nigerian schoolgirl rescued from Boko Haram fears for her future By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA, Aug 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Held for months by the Nigerian government and confined to a house in the capital for the foreseeable future, Amina Ali, a schoolgirl who was rescued after two years in Boko Haram captivity, may never be the girl she once was, her mother fears. Amina, one of more than 200 girls abducted from a school in Chibok in April 2014, and her four-month-old baby were rescued in May near Damboa in the remote northeast, by soldiers working together with a civilian vigilante group. After a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in the hope she would shed light on the fate of the other kidnapped girls, Amina has since been held in a house in the capital Abuja for what the Nigerian government has called a "restoration process". But her mother, Binta Ali, who has spent the last two months in the house, is concerned about Amina's welfare and future. "Before she was kidnapped, she wanted to further her education," Binta told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Chibok, having briefly returned there to seek medical treatment. "But now she is afraid of schooling, and she wants to be close to me at home," said Binta, adding that Amina wants a sewing machine so that she can start a business making clothes. Binta said she was also worried that her daughter was being pressured into following Islam, having been forced to convert from Christianity to Islam by Boko Haram militants during her captivity. "Amina herself does not want to remain a Muslim," Binta said, explaining how an Islamic teacher had visited the house several times and told her daughter to maintain her new faith. "She did not want to see him," Binta said, adding that the teacher had stopped visiting after she complained about him. Garba Shehu, Buhari's spokesman, said that Amina's confinement in the house had nothing to do with religion. "NO LONGER AFRAID" Boko Haram kidnapped 219 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, as part of their seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. Some girls escaped in the melee but parents of those still missing accused former President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's then leader, of not doing enough to find their daughters, whose disappearance sparked a global campaign #bringbackourgirls. Binta said she was shocked to hear about the hardships faced by her daughter as a captive of the Islamist group. Amina and the other girls, starving and with nothing to cook with, resorted to eating an entire bag of beans and maize raw. "I cannot imagine how a human being can eat raw maize and beans like a goat," Binta said. Amina also told her mother how some of the kidnapped girls had died in captivity, while others suffered broken legs or went deaf after being too close to explosions. But she pleaded with her mother not to break the news to the families in Chibok. "Other parents have been coming to visit me since I returned," Binta said. "But I have not told them anything, even though I know some of those whose daughters have died." Despite her fears over Amina's religion and education, and uncertainty over when she will be allowed to return home, Binta said she still had reason to be positive about her daughter. "She used to be very afraid," Binta said, explaining how Amina would talk to herself during the night prior to her kidnap. Nigerian inquiry says army killed 348 Shi'ites in northern city By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Nigeria's army killed 348 people from the minority Shi'ite Muslim sect last December in a series of clashes for which troops involved should be prosecuted, a judicial inquiry has concluded in a report. How the authorities respond to the inquiry's findings may indicate the extent to which reform is being implemented under a drive by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, to root out human rights violations by soldiers. The United States blocked arms sales to Nigeria and ended training of troops there under Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, partly on concerns over human rights such as the treatment of captured suspected insurgents. The report published on Sunday confirms claims by human rights groups such as Amnesty International that the army killed hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims during three days of clashes in the northern city of Zaria. The army has repeatedly denied this. "The Nigerian Army used excessive force," said the report by a commission appointed by Kaduna state, where Zaria is located. "The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings of 12th - 14th December 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them," it said. The army has said Shi'ites had blocked its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, and tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him. "We are aware that the report has been made public and we are studying it," Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said on Monday. The commission's findings contained in the report said 349 people - including one soldier - were killed. "Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave," said the report. The commission said it had received 3,578 memoranda - 132 letters and 3,446 emails - along with 39 exhibits and 87 witnesses testimonies in the course of the inquiry and the writing of the 193-page report Africa's most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shi'ite Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shi'ite Iran. Leader of Indian Prime Minister Modi's home state resigns NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The chief minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat and a long-time confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi resigned on Monday, as protests by the low-caste Dalit community threatened to hurt the standing of the ruling party. Anandiben Patel, who served as the state's first woman chief minister, posted the resignation letter on her Facebook page. She said the decision was driven by the fact that she was almost 75 years old, the age at which Modi expects ministers to retire. Modi appointed Patel as his successor in Gujarat, his home state, in 2014. He had run the state for 13 years - an era of rapid industrial growth that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) successfully pitched to voters as a "model" to bring prosperity to India's 1.3 billion people. But Patel's standing weakened after a series of caste-driven protests, which could be politically damaging for Modi. They have also disrupted parliamentary proceedings and may affect state elections in Gujarat and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in 2017. About 25,000 member of Dalit community have staged protests since four young Dalit men were stripped and beaten in public after they were seen skinning a cow. The youths said the cow was dead. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus. Killing them is banned in Gujarat, although villagers said the animal that sparked the attack on the youths had died of natural causes. South Sudan's opposition says nine killed in renewed fighting By Denis Dumo JUBA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed in South Sudan over the weekend in renewed clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his longtime rival Riek Machar, a spokesman for Machar said on Monday. Machar, the former vice president, and his SPLM-IO group have been caught up with more than two years of on-and-off, ethnically charged fighting with supporters of Kiir. Machar returned to the capital Juba in April after a shaky peace deal but left again last month when new clashes broke out. Kiir replaced Machar as vice president last week with Taban Deng Gai, after Machar ignored Kiir's request to return to Juba, further deepening a split in Machar's SPLM-IO party. Nyarji Jermlili Roman, the deputy spokesman for Machar, said the nine died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya county in Central Equatorial state. "The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre," Roman said. Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was "small fighting" between the SPLA and Machar's forces. "We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations," Koang said. Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling the government military positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions. Nothing has been heard from Machar since and Kiir replaced him as vice president. In a further sign of trouble for the peace deal, Lam Akol, head of the opposition Democratic Change group, stepped down from his post as agriculture minister that he assumed after Kiir named a new unity cabinet following the peace deal. "One side has decided to abrogate (the peace deal)," Akol told a news conference in the capital of neighbouring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on Monday. Zimbabwe court frees war veteran, police arrest another By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean court on Monday freed a senior official of a war veterans association on bail but police arrested another official, in what lawyers say is a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe against former allies who have asked him to step down. Senior officials in the ruling ZANU-PF party are positioning for a post-Mugabe era, which has divided the party along two factions, one backing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and another rallying behind First Lady Grace Mugabe. The secretive Mnangagwa, nicknamed "Crocodile" in the Shona language, held a news press conference with state media reporters on Saturday, where he denied having any presidential ambition and re-affirmed his loyalty to 92-year-old Mugabe. Douglas Mahiya, information secretary of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), which backs Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe, was released on $300 bail. Harare magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe refused a request by state prosecutors to keep Mahiya in detention for another 48 hours while they appealed the court decision to free him. Dozens of anti-riot police lined outside the court house wielding batons and AK-47 assault rifles. The association of former liberation war fighters, who have acted as a backbone of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party since independence from Britain in 1980, last month accused him of running down the southern African state, eliminating rivals and being divisive in politics and manipulative in general. Outside the Harare Magistrates Court, police arrested Victor Matemadanda, the secretary general of the ZNLWVA as he attended Mahiya's hearing, along with dozens of other war veterans. Matemadanda will face the same charge levelled against Mahiya of insulting and undermining Mugabe's authority, which carries a jail term of up to one year upon conviction, his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told Reuters. Police have up to 48 hours to take Matemadanda to court. Outspoken chairman of the ZNLWVA, Chris Mustvangwa, who was fired from his job as cabinet minister and from the ruling ZANU-PF party last month, also attended Monday's court session, alongside former vice president Joice Mujuru. Yemen govt leaves Kuwait talks after agreeing to UN proposal-FM DUBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The Yemeni government delegation said it was leaving peace talks in Kuwait on Monday, a day after agreeing to a United Nations peace proposal aimed to ending the country's civil war, Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said. "We've agreed to the initiative ... we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of Kuwait but we're not leaving the talks," Mekhlafi said. "We'll return at any moment, even an hour after our departure, if the other side agrees to sign this document which the (U.N.) envoy presented," he added. Consumed by abuse, UK's Labour faces deepening divisions with leadership contest By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Death threats, a brick through a window and one lawmaker even installing a panic room in her office; less than a year after Britain's Labour elected socialist Jeremy Corbyn leader on a promise of 'kinder politics' the party is mired in civil war. The brutal infighting threatens Labour's 116-year existence and risks leaving Britain without a strong opposition party for years to come, just as the government goes about negotiating the country's exit from the European Union. Britain's June 23 EU referendum brought simmering tensions within Labour to the boil, resulting in a leadership challenge. On one side are hundreds of thousands of vocal grassroots loyalists who are fiercely protective of Corbyn's left-wing principles. On the other are most Labour lawmakers, who say he did not do enough to prevent Brexit and is not a capable leader. Corbyn now faces leadership rival Owen Smith in a contest so divisive it could ultimately lead to the party splitting if he is re-elected leader, as the bookmakers expect. The debate has become so poisonous that most local party meetings have been suspended and Labour lawmakers say they have faced abuse ranging from rape threats to vandalised cars. While most of the abuse happens online, the June killing of lawmaker Jo Cox on her way to a public meeting in her electoral district means colleagues are not taking any chances. Her murder is not however thought to be linked to Labour's internal woes. "I'm upgrading my home security, my office security, there is going to be a panic room in my office. I have to carry around a thing that I can press so the police can find me," Labour lawmaker Jess Phillips told Reuters. "I've had people putting my face on (a picture of) somebody with an arrow through their heart, a spear in their side. I've had people wishing that I was dead ... all to protect Corbyn." Angela Eagle, who triggered the leadership contest by challenging Corbyn but has now pulled out to boost Smith's chances, has been advised by police not to hold open drop-in sessions with her constituents due to safety risks. A brick was thrown through a window at her office in Wallasey, north west England, she has said, and police have arrested and bailed a 44-year-old man on suspicion of making threats to kill after an email was sent to the lawmaker. Eagle, who is gay, has also faced homophobic slurs. Others have experienced anti-Semitism, and some have said members of Corbyn-supporting grassroots movement Momentum have been intimidating staff and constituents outside their offices. A spokesman for Momentum said the party must settle its disputes democratically "without abuse, intimidation or coups". CULTURE OF HATRED Corbyn, a pacifist whose dissenting colleagues have described him as a "nice" and "decent" man, has condemned the abuse and urged members and supporters to "act with calm and treat each other with respect and dignity". The 67-year-old says he has also received death threats. But many of his lawmakers say they do not think he is not doing enough to match his words with action. Eagle told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that Corbyn had created a permissive environment where abuse is tolerated. "Jeremy, this is being done in your name," 44 female Labour lawmakers wrote in a letter to Corbyn, asking him to do more to tackle the behaviour of those involved. "The culture of hatred and division that is being sown does not benefit anybody." Paula Sherriff, the lawmaker who organised the letter, told Reuters she had seen a significant increase in abuse since Corbyn's leadership was challenged, and the majority of it was coming from people who identified themselves as supporting him. Sherriff said comments like those from finance spokesman John McDonnell to a rally in July that those plotting against his ally Corbyn were "fucking useless", were encouraging abuse. "It is just so divisive and they need to take some responsibility for some of the behaviour that has come as a result of that," she said. "Is there any wonder that some of the activists are going out and doing the same to us on Twitter?" With Corbyn the favourite to win when the result is announced on Sept. 24, the party faces a struggle to re-unite. Party donor Assem Allam is reported to have offered rebels funding to defect and form a new party or movement. While Labour lawmakers say they are focussed on saving the party rather than splitting, they also acknowledge it will be difficult. "There are massive wounds to heal ... Unless something is done, something directly happens, then I just can't see how I could stay," said Phillips. Sherriff agrees, saying there will need to be mediation. "I am not saying we can't come back from this and I desperately hope there isn't a split ... I want to try and bridge the divide that definitely exists. It will be really hard," she said. LONG, HARD STRUGGLE Corbyn has tapped into an appetite for change, winning support among disillusioned young voters and socialists who had drifted away from the party during two decades battling for the political centre ground. But critics say the leader, who has described Labour as a social movement, cannot win an election due in 2020. Some say his supporters are not even interested in doing so. "Democracy gives power to people, 'Winning' is the small bit that matters to political elites who want to keep power themselves," Momentum Chair Jon Lansman said on Twitter in July. Leadership contender Smith has warned that on its current path, the party risks being "consigned to history". "I feel horrified that we are such a low ebb, horrified that we are where we are, that this party could be split," he told a rally in London last month. "If we split, the forces of darkness, the forces of the radical right will flood into the gap that we leave. And in many parts of Britain we would be out of power for a long, long time." Historical precedents for a new party don't bode well, said Steven Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, predicting any split would only involve a small number of lawmakers rather than a wholesale walk out. Most are more likely to bide their time and either wait until Corbyn loses an election, or launch another leadership bid when a rival has had more time to become established, he said. An ICM poll last month gave Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives a 16-point lead over Labour, who on 27 percent support were at their lowest in that series since 2009. "Labour has been divided for such a period that you just write off the next general election even under Owen Smith ... he has had the backing of the parliamentary Labour Party but then what will Momentum do?," said Fielding. UAE's Utico doubling water capacity with $185 mln investment ABU DHABI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates' only privately owned utility, Utico Middle East, will invest about $185 million to more than double its water desalination capacity in two years, aiming to chip away at state-owned rivals' market dominance, it said on Monday. Demand for water and power in the UAE is expected to grow by 5 to 6 percent annually in the next few years on the back of a growing population and industrialisation, according to estimates by state-owned utilities. They account for nearly all of the country's water desalination and power generation capacity, leaving Utico with a very small market share. Utico has 600 customers including manufacturing companies, port operators, government utilities in the small UAE states, hotels, palaces, quarries and private entities. However, it currently has capacity of only 31 million gallons per day (mgpd) of desalinated water, from four plants in the northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah. To more than double capacity it is building a new plant and upgrading two existing plants. The new plant is under construction in Ras al Khaimah with a capacity of 24 mgpd, in a joint venture with Spain's Grupo Cobra, for an investment outlay by the partners of $196 million. The Utico plants being upgraded will add a total of 10 mgpd with investment of $68 million, Managing Director Richard Menezes told reporters. "The new plant as well as the two upgrades will be operational at full capacity by October 2018, when Utico's total capacity will be 65 mgpd," he said. Financing for the plants will be partly through a $150 million club loan from three local banks - Emirates NBD, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Commercial Bank of Dubai - and the remainder through equity, Menezes said. An infrastructure fund incorporated in the Bahrain Financial Centre is taking a minority stake in Utico valued at around $50 million, he said without elaborating. The company has won regulatory approvals to build a clean coal power plant in Ras al Khaimah at an estimated cost of $500 million in a joint venture with Shanghai Electric Group Corp . U.S. warplanes launch bombing campaign on Islamic State in Libya By Goran Tomasevic and Yeganeh Torbati SIRTE, Libya/WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city. "The first air strikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing severe losses to enemy ranks," Prime Minster Fayez Seraj said on state TV. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes did not have "an end point at this particular moment in time". Forces allied with Seraj have been battling Islamic State in Sirte - the home town of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - since May. The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq. But they are now besieged in a few square kilometres of the centre, where they hold strategic sites, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, the central hospital and the university. Seraj said the Presidential Council of his Government of National Accord, or GNA, had decided to "activate" its participation in the international coalition against Islamic State and "request the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on Daesh (Islamic State)." The air strikes on Monday - which were authorised by U.S. President Barack Obama - hit an Islamic State tank and two vehicles that posed a threat to forces aligned with Libya's GNA, Cook said. In the future, each individual strike will be coordinated with the GNA and needs the approval of the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, Cook added. This was the third U.S. air strike against Islamic State militants in Libya. But U.S. officials said this one marked the start of a sustained air campaign rather than another isolated strike. The last acknowledged U.S. air strikes in Libya were on an Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha in February. Although it does not include the use of ground troops beyond small special forces squads rotating in and out of Libya and drones collecting intelligence, the air campaign opens a new front in the war against IS and what American officials consider its most dangerous component outside Syria and Iraq. Obama authorised the strikes after a recommendation by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Washington took part in air strikes in 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya which helped topple Gaddafi. The country has struggled since then and Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine in April that the intervention "didn't work". OPERATIONS IN SIRTE AND SUBURBS "I want to assure you that these operations are limited to a specific timetable and do not exceed Sirte and its suburbs," Seraj said, adding that international support on the ground would be limited to technical and logistical help. "GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL (Islamic State) thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," said Cook, the Pentagon spokesman. The White House said U.S. assistance to Libya would be limited to air strikes and information sharing. "There are unique capabilities that our military can provide to support forces on the ground and that's what the president wanted to do," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One on Monday. But that coordination will be a challenge, experts said. Local forces in Libya fighting Islamic State are diffuse and fragmented, with no single centre of command, said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who recently spent three days with fighters in Sirte. "U.S. and Western diplomatic strategy has been to try to boost this GNA, but I think there are certain limits," Wehrey said. "It's not the sort of conventional military operation we would think of where there's a central point of contact." U.S. and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte. Brigades mainly composed of militia from the western city of Misrata advanced on Sirte in May, but their progress was slowed by snipers, mines and booby-traps. Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialise. At least 350 of their fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the campaign. Libyan fighter jets have frequently bombed Sirte, but they lack the weapons and technology to make precision strikes. Islamic State took advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to start expanding into Libya in 2014. It gained control over about 250 km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline either side of Sirte, though it has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in the country. The GNA was the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them. But it is having difficulty imposing its authority and winning backing from factions in the east. Western powers have offered to support the GNA in its efforts to tackle Islamic State, stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean and revive Libya's oil production. But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help. U.S. officials were developing military options in Libya earlier this year. But enormous hurdles, including struggles in the formation of a unified Libyan government strong enough to call for and accommodate foreign military assistance, stood in the way. Turkish defence minister says expulsions from military not over ISTANBUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Expulsions from the military are not entirely over and more personnel will be dismissed if necessary, Turkish defence minister told CNN Turk television on Monday, following the dismissal of thousands of soldiers after a failed coup. Should Union home minister Rajnath Singh lead India's delegation at the SAARC home/interior ministers' meeting in Islamabad on August 3-4? The short answer: no. Pakistan has everything to gain from Rajnath's visit. It gives Islamabad credibility. It allows Islamabad to accept the dossier on Pathankot that Rajnath will bring and days later dismiss it as "more literature". The Indians say they will hand over "additional proof" of Pakistan's involvement in the Pathankot terror attack. It is astonishing, after seven decades of dealing with a renegade country which treats incontrovertible evidence with cavalier disregard, that Indian politicians still expect Islamabad to act on such evidence. The 26/11 terror attack on multiple locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Hotel, took place nearly eight years ago. Irrefutable evidence of direct complicity of the Pakistani army has been given to Islamabad by both Indian and American investigating agencies. (Several US citizens were killed in the Mumbai attack. Under US law it is obligatory for Washington to deliver justice for every citizen killed in a terror attack.) Rajnath is an honourable man. But he is hopelessly outmatched in the dark arts that the Pakistani establishment practises. He will receive a cordial welcome when he arrives in Islamabad on August 3. The spike in attacks in the Kashmir Valley in recent months points to a shift in Pakistan's strategy. The Pakistanis will assure him of their intent to act against terrorism. They will deny any involvement in the Pathankot terror attack and ask for more evidence - just as they have been doing for eight years over the 26/11 Mumbai attack. They will deflect Rajnath's insistence on a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team visiting Pakistan to probe the Pathankot attackers - a promise Pakistan made but never intended to keep. At the end of two days of a largely meaningless SAARC summit on South Asian security, Pakistan's role as a haven for terrorists will be sidestepped. High sounding resolutions will be passed enjoining SAARC member nations to combat terrorism "in all its forms and from wherever it emanates". Pakistan's slick ISI-trained media and PR machinery will repeat the lie that Pakistan too is a victim of terrorism, without adding the obvious caveat that it is the victim of its own terrorism. India, in sharp contrast, is the victim of Pakistani proxy terrorism. The equivalence that Pakistan always attempts to draw is a false equivalence but few, even in the Indian media, call Islamabad out on that lie. Rajnath's voice, even if he says all that he should say as robustly as he can, will be drowned in the cacophony Islamabad will engineer. At the end of the SAARC summit, India will look like a pleading supplicant, Pakistan the patient victim waging war against the Taliban and other (non-Punjabi) terror groups. Does this mean Rajnath should not go to Islamabad for the SAARC summit? Yes. Does it mean India shouldn't be represented? No. India should be represented at this multilateral forum by home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. This would deliver a clear message to Islamabad which takes India's woolly-headedness for granted and exploits it to the hilt. That message is simple: stop terror; conclude the Pathankot and other probes; only then will we talk to you at the ministerial level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Pakistan policy lacks both coherence and clarity. His early overtures were well-founded. Even the impromptu Lahore drop-in last Christmas on Nawaz Sharif's birthday could be justified - just about. But inviting a Pakistani joint investigative team (JIT) to "probe" Pathankot was a strategic error. It gave the Pakistanis the precedent they wanted: joint investigations for all future ISI terror attacks on India will now be de rigueur. It's like asking Dawood Ibrahim to send Chhota Shakeel to help the Mumbai Police "jointly" investigate the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. This is where the prime minister and national security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval's Pakistan policy has descended from the sublime to the ridiculous. And sublime it was for a while. The mortar-for-mortar retaliatory fire by the BSF has silenced Pakistani Ranger guns across the line of control (LoC) and international border (IB) since September 2015. Cornered and out-gunned, Pakistan has changed its tactics: infiltration. The spike in attacks in the Kashmir Valley in recent months points to this strategic shift. While Kashmiris resent the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) and a heavy Army presence in the Valley, the attempt by Punjab-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and their thuggish leaders Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar respectively have failed to radicalise ordinary Kashmiri Muslims. The Hurriyat, which was created by the ISI in the early-1990s to foment trouble in the Valley, and Punjab-based militants are the two weapons Pakistan deploys in Kashmir. The Hurriyat is fraudulently projected by Islamabad as the political voice of the Kashmiris. The Punjab-based terrorist groups complement this with violence to intimidate and indoctrinate ordinary Kashmiris. The Kashmiri youth are used as cannon fodder. They hurl stones at the security forces. Their women and children are placed in front by ISI handlers to face pellets and bullets and form a shield for the cowardly militants behind them. Splintering Pakistan Pakistan is meanwhile being torn apart by the same demons it has tried to unleash on India. Balochistan and Sindh are in revolt. Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line are in ferment. Afghanistan and Iran have turned hostile to Pakistan. So has Bangladesh. It is only the rump of west Punjab comprising 110 million Pakistanis (roughly the population of Bihar and half of Uttar Pradesh) that remains locked in its schizoid proxy war against India. The generals of the Pakistani army are nearly all Punjabi. They harbour a deep grudge against India over military losses in Bangladesh and Kargil - and their own failed State. They are corrupt and use Kashmir as an excuse to prolong their low intensity proxy war against India. They want this war to continue interminably for only then will their US/Chinese funds and their own relevance in Pakistan be protected. If Kashmir is resolved, the generals will pick another issue to fight India over - water treaties, for example. They have no interest in the welfare of the people of Kashmir as the dismal status of the residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) demonstrates. What should India do? The prime minister has only to replay an interview he gave to a television channel in April 2014. When asked about talking to Pakistan, he said coldly: "You can't hear each other over the sound of gunfire." Kerala has been witness to a rather disturbing development over the past ten days. The vibrant media in India's most literate state is being kept out of various courts in the state since July 20. Though no provocation or clashes have been reported in the past few days, the incidents on July 19, 20 and 21 in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram which saw lawyers clashing with journalists seem to have widened the fault lines between the media and the judiciary. What is astonishing is that the judiciary seems to be in no hurry to restore the status quo that prevailed prior to July 19, possibly deferring to the sentiments of the lawyers. Lawyers clashed with journalists at the Kerala High Court premises. To understand the situation in detail, one has to go back to the events that eventually led to the skirmish. July 14-15 On Thursday, July 14, after 7pm, a lady was allegedly molested by a man near Convent Junction in Kochi. Alerted by the lady's cry, a few passers-by chased the culprit who tried to flee and nabbed him. He was handed over to the police who arrived at the spot from the nearby police station. Soon it emerged that the man in custody was Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran, a government pleader practising in the Kerala High Court. Manjooran's arrest was registered but he got bail subsequently when his relatives influenced the complainant to get her to sign on an affidavit citing mistaken identity. While the matter would have ended there, Manjooran then went on to target the sub inspector of police who had arrested him and dashed off complaints to the authorities. The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) too got involved on July 15 and forwarded a complaint to the advocate general calling for action against the officer. Sensing trouble, Vimal V, the officer who had got the pleader arrested, managed to take the lady to a magistrate, where she recorded her 164 (Cr.PC) statement implicating Manjooran and describing her ordeal in detail. The media got hold of the lady's statement and soon it went viral on social networking sites. July 18 On Monday, July 18, the pleader Manjooran gave an interview to an online news agency that he was framed in the case. However, Kochi police commissioner MP Dinesh shortly released a statement that said, "The colleagues and relatives of the accused met the complainant and told her that Manjooran's wife had attempted suicide after the news of her husband's indiscretion appeared in the media, and that his child was terminally ill. "They compelled the complainant to back off from the case and it was agreed that the victim would not identify the accused in court. Later, an affidavit was prepared in English and the complainant was made to sign on it, after convincing her that the affidavit was a document to be submitted before the court. The affidavit was submitted before the judicial first class magistrate's court when Manjooran was produced there." The same day, KHCAA unanimously passed a resolution protesting against the action of the police. July 19 On Tuesday, July 19, Deccan Chronicle carried a report by legal reporter Rohit Raj that the above resolution passed by the KHCAA was not unanimous, citing sources. The same day, an advocate approached Rohit in the court premises and cornered him on his report. A dozen other advocates assembled showering abuses at Rohit and even pushing him around. When Rohit's media colleagues got wind of it, they began to prepare a petition in the media room to be submitted to the chief justice, registrar and the advocate general. Soon, a few lawyers began heckling the media persons. Nandagopalan Nambiar, a lawyer doubling up as Asianet's legal correspondent and trying to calm tempers, was also in the thick of it. Soon after that, around 20 media persons took out a protest march from the Ernakulam Press Club to the KHCAA office protesting the behaviour of a group of lawyers and the treatment meted out to their fraternity in the court. The media also boycotted a press conference called by the KHCAA in the evening to register their protest. On the same day, the KHCAA had planned to take out a protest march of their own against the police but was prevailed upon by Manjooran to call it off as it would have affected his case in the high court that was up for hearing. The KHCAA maintains that they called it off on their own volition. The high court, while hearing Manjooran's plea, refused to stay the proceedings in the case. Additional judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice Sunil Thomas, also asked the state government to submit its stand on the case. July 20 On Wednesday, July 20, Deccan Chronicle published a correction of its report the previous day on KHCAA's resolution and regretted its error. In the afternoon, a group of lawyers threatened three senior women legal reporters present in the high court media room. They claimed that there has been a violation of an unofficial communication by the registrar that the media room should not be used until further notice. However, the lady reporters had no intimation and the agitated lawyers locked these women inside the room before they were escorted out by female lawyers safely to the registrar's office. This led to a sit-in by almost 50 media persons in front of the high court complex, which is against the law. The advocates complained that the police stood as spectators when the rule prohibiting protests within close proximity of the court premises was being flouted by the media. What followed soon was something extremely disgraceful as a group of lawyers clashed with the heavily outnumbered media persons. The lawyers claimed that the media had blocked the exit gate which is contradicted by the version given by the media. July 21 On Thursday, the venue of the clashes shifted to Thiruvananthapuram and in the Vanchiyoor court premises; the media room here was plastered with stickers of "No entry for Fourth Gender". The same stickers were also pasted on some media vans parked in the court premises. In what seemed like a conspiracy, the media crew that went to report this was trapped inside the gates and pelted with stones and beer bottles. Apart from a couple of journalists, a clerk and a senior female lawyer too got injured in the clash. July 22-23 On Friday, July 22, lawyers called for a strike and refused to appear in cases in the high court paralysing the proceedings. Kerala Human Rights Commission chairperson, Justice Jacob Benjamin Koshy, called it illegal and unconstitutional. In the aftermath of the clashes in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, a meeting was held between the representatives of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and the KHCAA in the presence of the advocate general where a judicial inquiry into the matter was agreed upon. Two judges from the high court visited Thiruvananthapuram and met with the representatives of the lawyers and the media. On Saturday, July 23, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan chaired a meeting attended by the advocate general, senior police officers and the representatives of the KUWJ and KHCAA. Though Vijayan responded in a lighter vein to the question on whether status quo prior to the incidents would be restored, he expressed his helplessness in dealing with matters inside the court premises as the chief justice is the custodian. The impasse persists On Monday, July 25, Arshi Quraishi and Rizwan Khan associated with the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) were presented in the Ernakulam sessions court in the case related to the 21 people from Kerala suspected to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS). The media was asked to stay outside the court premises by the police to prevent an incident though no official order of any judge existed to stop them entering the court premises. On Wednesday, July 27, as the verdict in the sensational murder case involving Aadu Antony was pronounced, it was a sad sight to see the media waiting outside the Kollam court premises and depending on a police officer's briefing to report on live TV. On both occasions, the self-restraint of the media prevented any untoward incident from happening as the lawyers formed a human chain to prevent the media's entry. With large police deployment in the court complex that also houses the civil station, general public were greatly inconvenienced as well. Politics at play? People have begun to wonder if the pressure tactics of the lawyers have the tacit support of the government and the chief minister as the deadlock seems to be persisting and with no end to the stalemate in sight. Allegations of this nature by independent legislator PC George have also lent credence to these doubts. George alleged the involvement of MK Damodaran, who had to quit as the legal advisor to the chief minister in the wake of relentless pressure exerted by the media in particular. Vijayan had also refused to answer questions from the media on this matter for the better part of this week. The Poe Museum announced plans to host the first International Poe Film Festival from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24 at the Byrd Theatre. The festival aims to "showcase the best in Edgar Allan Poe movies of the past ninety years from around the world," according to the release. "There have been hundreds of cinematic adaptations of Poes works and biopics of his life. These films, featuring Hollywood stars like Vincent Price, Jack Nicholson, and Sir Christopher Lee, have become part of our cultural heritage. Yet, so far, there has never been a film festival devoted entirely to Poe movies," according to the release. The three-day event will begin at the Poe Museum on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 6-9 p.m. with a special Poe Goes to the Movies Unhappy Hour, attended by special guest Victoria Price, daughter of Vincent Price. On Friday, Sept. 23, the Byrd Theatre will show two feature-length adaptations of Poes works, "Stonehearst Asylum" (2014) and "House of Usher" (1960) hosted by Victoria Price. On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Byrd will screen a series of short films, followed by panel discussions with film experts such as Raul Garcia, director of "Extraordinary Tales", Scott Peeples of the College of Charleston, John LaTier, director of "The Tell-Tale Heart", Sean Kotz of Radford University, and many more. On Saturday evening, the Poe Museum, in partnership with the Berkeley Hotel will host a special ticketed event called an Evening with Victoria Price. For more information visit poemuseum.org. The Fluvanna County Sheriffs Office has arrested two men who are accused of stealing jewelry and firearms from a home at Lake Monticello. Deputies said that on July 8 several firearms and jewelry items were reported stolen from a home in the Edgewood section of Lake Monticello. Deputies charged Kevin Katoen Smith, 35, of Winchester, and Bryant Lamont Hawkins, 43, of Dumfries, with grand larceny and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Smith is currently being held at the Fauquier County Adult Detention Center and Hawkins is being held at the Prince William County Adult Detention Center. Over the course of the investigation, Fluvanna deputies received assistance from the Lake Monticello Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the Pennsylvania State Police. Deputies said one of the suspects vehicles and one of the stolen firearms were found in Pennsylvania. Authorities said they do not believe this case is related to other recent thefts in the Lake Monticello area. NEWARK, N.J. Its been five years since a Charlottesville teacher on a visit to her New Jersey hometown of Newark was fatally shot while waiting for a takeout order at a Chinese restaurant. On the anniversary of 29-year-old Dawn Reddicks death, the Essex County Sheriffs Office on Saturday offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information on the person or persons responsible. Reddick was apparently the unintended target of the June 30, 2011, shooting that injured three others, including a child. She was raised in and around Newark and graduated from Newarks Arts High School. Reddick taught third grade at Clark Elementary School in Charlottesville. Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose urged anyone who might have information about the crime to contact the Essex County prosecutor or Newark police. Back in the good old bad days when the Soviet Union was around, nuclear deterrence developed its own peculiar logic. Offensive weapons were good in the sense that they deterred a first strike. But offensive weapons that were too good were bad, if they raised the possibility of taking out the other sides ability to retaliate. To make matters worse, defensive weapons such as the Reagan administrations Strategic Defense Initiative were bad, too. Sure, they had the potential to save millions of people from nuclear immolation. But precisely because they could do that, they were deemed destabilizing to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction. If a country could defend itself against a retaliatory nuclear strike, then it could launch a first strike without fear of reprisal. Those curious if not repugnant considerations were brought to mind the other day by a recent Wall Street Journal story on how Civilian Access to Body Armor Stirs Debate. Body armor, you see, remains relatively unregulated and as we all know, anytime anything is unregulated even relatively so it must be problematic. The obvious worry is that criminals might avail themselves of body armor, making them harder to apprehend. Omar Mateen, the Islamist maniac who killed 49 people in Orlando, tried to buy body armor, but was rebuffed. Some of the arguments over body armor control sound a lot like the arguments over gun control. Its not clear why civilians would need military-style body armor, Cory Salzillo, legislative director of the California State Sheriffs Association, told the WSJ. True, true. It is not clear why anyone needs more than three pairs of shoes, either. In America we have a fine tradition of letting people buy what they want, even when some other people think they dont need it. Mike Honda, a Democratic congressman from California, introduced a bill to ban the sale of body armor to civilians. In justifying the measure, he managed to shoehorn two of the tritest cliches in politics into a single sentence: If my bill saves even one life, he says, this common-sense effort will make a difference. Granted, body armor wouldnt be needed if nobody had any firearms. Congress isnt about to confiscate Americans 300 million guns, however though some probably would like it to. Ban both firearms and body armor, and leave everyone completely defenseless thats the way to make everyone safe. The gnomes who worked out nuclear deterrence theories would surely agree. Richmond Times-Dispatch "Don't ever let anybody tell you our country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again. This country is the greatest country on Earth!" Michelle Obama, Democratic National Convention speech, July 25, 2016 For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. Michelle Obama, campaign speech, Feb. 18, 2008 While wondering why it took her so long in the first place, I am glad that Mrs. Obamas eight-year-old epiphany endures. But, then again, her husband did promise that he would fundamentally change America though, perhaps, not in the way the Obamas would like us to believe. For example, since President Obama took office seven-plus years ago: Race relations in America are at their lowest point in decades. Income stagnation persists through a languishing economic recovery. The Middle East remains aflame with mass refugee migration, while ISIS spreads its terror to America and globally. Russia continues its revanchist dreams, attacking Americas allies and threatening others. Cuba, Iran and others have been advantaged to Americas detriment, while our allies have been undercut, earning the open contempt of Americas adversaries and the distrust of its friends. The future? Of the two major party candidates for president, the dismal track record of one, the crude and shameless ignorance of the other, and the ethical impoverishment of both all suggest that things will get worse before they get better. Carl R. Huebner Albemarle County The Bedford County Sheriff's Office is looking for an 18-year-old autistic man who walked away from his home Sunday. Timothy Kilpatrick walked away from his home at 1272 Jopling Road around 2 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff's office said. Kilpatrick is a black man and was last seen wearing a blue shirt, tan shorts and slippers. Anyone who seems him should call 911 immediately. On Monday morning, the sheriff's office said in a news release: "The search for Timothy Kilpatrick continued through the night with the assistance of a Virginia State Police Helicopter with no success. "The search will continue today and the area of the search will be extended. "The public traveling in the area of Big Island Highway/Jopling Road is asked to use extra caution, in case Kilpatrick is located walking in the roadway. ASHLAND, Ohio Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Donald Trump repaid the ultimate sacrifice of a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq with insults and degrading comments about Muslims, as the soldiers bereaved father pressured Republican Party leaders to distance themselves from the GOP presidential nominee. Clintons comments came after Trump refused to back down from his criticism of the Gold Star parents remarks. Am I not allowed to respond? Trump had tweeted. Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! It was the latest bitter rhetorical volley between the defiant Republican candidate, Clinton and the family of a fallen soldier since the two parties concluded their major conventions last week and the nation looked ahead to a close election this November. He is a black soul, said Khizr Khan, of Charlottesville, whose son Humayun, a University of Virginia graduate, received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in Iraq in 2004. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country. Speaking on CNNs State of the Union, he said, It is majority leaders and speakers moral, ethical obligation to not worry about the votes, but repudiate him, withdraw the support. Likewise, Clinton told Republicans on Sunday: This is a time to pick country over party. In statements released Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned any criticism of Muslim Americans who serve their country and rejected the idea of a Muslim travel ban an idea proposed by Trump earlier in the campaign. But neither statement mentioned Trump by name or repudiated him. McConnell praised Capt. Khan as an American hero, while Ryan noted that many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in the U.S. military. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan should always be honored. Period, Ryan said. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, issued a blistering statement of his own, saying anything short of revoking their endorsements of Trump was cowardice on the part of McConnell and Ryan. This shouldnt be hard, Reid said. Donald Trump is a sexist and racist man who insults Gold Star parents, stokes fear of Muslims and sows hatred of Latinos. He should not be president and Republican leaders have a moral responsibility to say so? At last weeks Democratic National Convention, Pakistan-born Khan told his sons story and questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said you have sacrificed nothing. During the speech, Khans wife, Ghazala, stood quietly by his side. 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, Trump said, in an interview with ABCs This Week. Ghazala Khan responded Sunday in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post, saying talking about her sons death 12 years ago is still hard for her. When her husband asked if she wanted to speak at the convention, she said she could not. When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant, she wrote. At one point, Trump had disputed Khans criticism that the billionaire businessman has sacrificed nothing and no one for his country. 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. Trump, who had no campaign events scheduled this weekend, released a statement late Saturday night calling Humayun Khan a hero but disputing his fathers characterization. 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, said Trump. Culpeper County Public School students head back to class in just a week, and many will be well-prepared thanks to the efforts of various community members. Nearly 1,000 local school children received free school supplies Saturday as part of Antioch Baptist Churchs annual Back to School Jam at the State Theatre. Earlier last month, City on a Hill Church partnered with Mountain View Community Church, His Village and Journey Church for a similar giveaway in Yowell Meadow Park. Both events were supported with community donations and by local law enforcement. Students return to Culpeper public schools on August 9 and all schools will be open on Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. to allow parents and students to meet with teachers and get information about the coming school year. In the five-county region, Culpeper public starts school the earliest. Culpeper Christian School students head back August 22 while the first day at Epiphany Catholic School is August 29. Rappahannock County Public Schools start August 11 and in Madison County on August 15. Fauquier County Public Schools start August 17 and in Orange County on August 29. This page may be updated if the event is repeated Past Event - Friday, August 5, 2016 This page may be updated if the event is repeated Get ready to experience your city in a whole new way! Whether you're taking flight on a downtown zipline, testing your skills on giant board games, or watching people rappel over the side of the 27-story KeyBank Tower during the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley's Over The Edge fundraiser, there will be plenty of action waiting for you on Courthouse Square during Downtown Adventure Night. The zip line is open to the public and priced at $7 per ride. It's also the return of the popular Great Dayton Adventure Race, featuring a timed scavenger hunt for cash prizes and a casual "fun run" for other prizes. There will be activities on Courthouse Square, on Second Street, along Second to Jefferson Street, at RiverScape MetroPark with Pickin in the Park & Food Trucks, and inside businesses throughout downtown! Follow the official facebook event page for more details. Download a map here. Skip to main navigation The Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count The Great Hudson River Fish Count is an annual event, sponsored by the DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each summer, organizations all along the Hudson River and New York Harbor participate at riverfront sites to collect, count, and catalog fish species. During the fish count, participating organizations encourage visitors to help collect fish using seine nets, minnow traps, or rods and reels. Seining involves pulling a 30-foot net through the water and checking out the fish, crabs, and other river-life caught in the mesh. The fish are identified, counted and released back into the river. Watch a short video about seining in the Hudson River (leaves DEC website) and check out our other clips on DEC's YouTube Channel. What Sorts of Fish are Found? Have you ever wondered what's hidden below the surface of the Hudson River? With fresh water upriver and saltwater at New York City, the Hudson River estuary and its watershed (tributaries) are home to more than 200 fish species. So far, 70 different types of fish have been recorded during the annual counts. A full list of species found each year from 2012 can be found here. What Can the Fish Count Tell Us? Participating groups share results during the day to see how the Hudson's range of habitats and salinities (levels of fresh vs. salty water) supports a wide array of fishes, and to appreciate the estuary's vitality in both urban and rural settings. Much of the catch is young fish, underlining the importance of the river's nursery habitat. Skip to main navigation Hunting Licenses Hunter Safety Education Requirement All first-time hunters must pass one or more courses before they can get a hunting license in New York. Visit the Hunter Education page to learn more and find a free course near you. Purchase Your Hunting License/Privilege/Permit At a License Issuing Agent Location Online or by Phone **IMPORTANT: When making an online/phone purchase, you must wait 14 business days to receive your license/tags by mail before going hunting. To get licenses/tags instantly, visit a license issuing agent location. NOTE: Transactions that cannot be made via the links above: Permits for hunters with disability, the Harvest Information Program, Migratory Duck Stamp, and some reduced fee/free licenses require a separate application system or process. Please follow the links provided on this page for details on how to apply to these permits, stamps or licenses. License Types & Fees Annual Hunting License (View residency qualifications) With this license you can hunt big game and small game. ***This license is required before other privileges (i.e. bowhunting, muzzleloading & turkey permit) can be purchased.*** Resident Fee Nonresident Fee $22 (ages 16-69) $5 (ages 70+) $5 (ages 12-15) $100 (ages 16+) $5 (ages 12-15) (Note: It is not necessary to purchase a separate bear tag when buying a hunting license. Small game and big game hunting is now included in the annual hunting license for both residents and nonresidents.) Additional Annual Hunting Privileges/Permit/Stamps (View residency qualifications) An annual hunting license (above) must be purchased before purchasing the following privileges/stamps. Type Resident Fee Nonresident Fee Needed For Bowhunting Privilege $15 (ages 16-69) No fee (ages 70+) $4 (ages 12-15) $30 (ages 16+) $4 (ages 12-15) To know when you need a privilege, permit or stamp, visit the Hunting Licenses/Privileges Needed page. Muzzleloading Privilege $15 (ages 14-69) No fee (ages 70+) $30 (ages 14+) Turkey Permit $10 (ages 12+) $20 (ages 12+) Harvest Information Program No fee (ages 12+) No fee (must register in New York even if registered in another state) Federal Duck Stamp (link leaves DEC website) $25 (ages 16+) Deer Management Permit $10 (ages 16+) No fee (ages 12-15) No fee (holders of lifetime sportsman licenses purchased prior to October 1, 2009) Harvesting antlerless deer (antlers less than 3" long) in select Wildlife Management Units. Permits for Hunter's with Disability No fee Using specialized equipment to aid in discharging a bow, or to discharge a firearm from a motorized vehicle. Valid Dates of Annual Licenses/Privileges Annual hunting licenses and privileges are valid from September 1 through August 31 each year. The Harvest Information Program and Federal Duck Stamp is valid July 1 through June 30 annually. Free/Reduced Fee & Lifetime Licenses Who Needs a Hunting License You need a hunting license if you are: 12 years and older and using a firearm or bow to hunt or take wild game. Persons under age 12 cannot hunt. Junior Hunters (12-15): review regulations and information for junior hunters, ages 12-15. Additional Privileges/Permits: depending on the season and species you are hunting you may need additional privileges or permits. These are listed in the table above. You do not need a hunting license if you are: A resident landowner primarily engaged in farming (including lessees and members of their immediate families) when small game hunting on farm lands they are occupying and cultivating. hunting on farm lands they are occupying and cultivating. A Native American living and hunting on reservation land. Hunting on a licensed shooting preserve or big game shooting facility.. Note: To hunt turkey, all hunters must purchase a turkey permit. There are no exceptions. General License Information Other Helpful Links/Resources More on hunting in New York State More about Hunting Licenses: Hunting Licenses/Privileges Needed - Quick reference for the types of hunting licenses or privileges required based on the species you are hunting. Permits for Hunters with Disabilities - New York State hunting permits for people with disabilities. Total revenue during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal rose 9.7 per cent to Rs 4,741.45 crore as compared to Rs 4,211.54 crore in Q1FY16. New Delhi: Inter Globe Aviation Ltd, which owns budget carrier IndiGo, on August 1 reported around 7.4 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 591.77 crore for the second quarter ended June saying it was due to competitive ticket pricing. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 638.89 crore in the same period last fiscal. Total revenue during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal rose 9.7 per cent to Rs 4,741.45 crore as compared to Rs 4,211.54 crore in Q1FY16, IndiGo said in a release. "Profitability was lower than last year primarily because of competitive fare pressures. We have reduced our debt by Rs 458.9 crore during the quarter," IndiGo President and Whole-time Director Aditya Ghosh said. In the quarter ended June 30, the Gurgaon-based budget carrier reported a 6.9 per cent increase in passenger revenue at Rs 3971.73 crore while ancillary revenues spiked 20.8 per cent at Rs 580.57 crore as compared to Q1FY16. The seat occupancy during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal declined 4.7 per cent to 83.3 per cent compared to 88.0 per cent in the same period last fiscal. The airline's total debt reduced to Rs 2785.7 crore on June 30, from Rs 3244.6 crore on March 31, primarily due to retirement of debt of three aircraft on finance lease, according to the release. "The entire debt for IndiGo is aircraft related and the airline does not have any working capital debt," it said. The new company, owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, will be based at GSKs Stevenage research center north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. London: GlaxoSmithKline and Google parent Alphabets life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a novel field of medicine called bioelectronics. Verily Life Sciences known as Googles life sciences unit until last year and Britains biggest drugmaker will together contribute 540 million ($715 million) over seven years to Galvani Bioelectronics, they said on Monday. The new company, owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, will be based at GSKs Stevenage research center north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco. It is GSKs second notable investment in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union in June. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million pounds on drug manufacturing. Galvani will develop miniaturized, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. GSK believes chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma could be treated using these tiny devices, which consist of a electronic collar that wraps around nerves. Kris Famm, GSKs head of bioelectronics research and president of Galvani, said the first bioelectronic medicines using these implants to stimulate nerves could be submitted for regulatory approval by around 2023. We have had really promising results in animal tests, where weve shown we can address some chronic diseases with this mechanism, and now we are bringing that work into the clinic, he told Reuters. Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years. GSK first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in a paper in the journal Nature three years ago and believes it is ahead of Big Pharma rivals in developing medicines that use electrical impulses rather than traditional chemicals or proteins. The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. Verily already has several other medical projects in the works, including the development of a smart contact lens in partnership with the Swiss drugmaker Novartis that has an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes. Famm said the first generation of implants coming to market would be around the size of a medical pill but the aim eventually was to make them as small or smaller than a grain of rice, using the latest advances in the nanotechnology. Patients will be treated with keyhole surgery and the hope is that bioelectronic medicine could provide a one-off treatment, potentially lasting decades. Major challenges including making the devices with ultra low-power so that they can function reliably deep inside the body. The idea of treating serious disease with electrical impulses is not completely new. Ind-Ra believes the survey results reflect broader investor concern over high-profile global sources of risk such as Brexit. New Delhi: Brexit is likely to impact global growth and capital flows, which will have implications on India's currency, trade and current account, says a survey of fixed-income investors in the country. The survey by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) also said that majority of investors expect the bad loan stress in the banking system to end. According to survey, a majority of investors expect the bad loan stress in the banking system to end by FY 2017-18. However, 26 per cent (investors) believe it would end only in FY 2018-19 and 22 per cent see it ending after FY19. "Investors are concerned that geopolitical tension could upset credit markets globally. 29 per cent of investors ranked this as a high risk in FY17," said Fixed-Income Investor Survey 2QFY17. It further said the global growth is likely to remain weak, which will impact India's trade and the current account. Ind-Ra believes the survey results reflect broader investor concern over high-profile global sources of risk such as Brexit, uncertainty of the future of EU, debt and forex volatility as a fallout of the globally protracted crises, rather than domestic issues," the rating agency said in a statement. Ind-Ra said investors believe the most important domestic factor to watch out for in FY 2016-17 is the progress of monsoon. "24 per cent of investors rate monsoon as the key factor to watch out," it explained. According to the rating agency, respondents believe that the deterioration in asset quality of banks poses the highest risk to credit markets in FY 2016-17. According to Ind-Ra survey, investors choose government securities (G-sec) over all other assets and least prefer to hold on to cash in the current market. The survey garnered 46 responses during the period May 23 to June 24, 2016. A majority of the respondents were decision makers of active fixed income investment institutions, namely mutual funds, pension and insurance funds, while 17 per cent were major domestic bond investors from banks. "34 per cent of investors rank G-sec as the most preferred asset to invest into relative to others," it said. New Delhi: Government on August 1 said it has approved 89 proposals for foreign investment in single brand retail trading (SBRT) and one in the multi-brand sector up to March. "The government has approved 89 proposals for foreign investment in single-brand retail trading and one for foreign investment in the multi-brand retail trading sector up to March 2016," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on August 1. In February 2006, the government permitted 51 per cent FDI in the single brand sector. In 2012, it raised the cap to 100 per cent. The companies whose SBRT proposals got approval include IKEA, H&M, Adidas, Swarovski International Holding and Montblanc. In the multi-brand retail sector, the government has approved the proposal of Tesco Overseas Investments Ltd. Replying to a separate question, she said that at present there is no proposal under consideration of the government to review the FDI policy in local newspapers and magazines. In another reply, the minister said India has improved in FDI inflow list of UNCTAD. Section 68 of Income-Tax Act has a loophole to convert black money into white through penny stocks which is not considered bogus or is treated as cash credit. Hyderabad: As many as 12,000 people in TS and AP have come under the scanner of the income-tax department for using the stock market to legalise their stash. The 12,000, businessmen, merchants and realtors among them, were identified in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and Central investigation agencies like the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. An official from the I-T department said these people approached stock brokers to convert their black money into white. Penny stock companies in Mumbai and Kolkata have low share values and their price zooms suddenly, sometimes by as much as 2,000 times after one year, he said. Going only by this count, a Rs 100 of stash turns into Rs 20,000 of legal money. 12,000 persons identified by I-T officials in Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh whose investment in stock markets returned 1,000-time profits in the last one year. We have identified thousands of entities but we are concentrating on those who have dealings of Rs 1 crore and above. We will focus on the others in phases, the official said. The official said profits from shares with long term capital gain of more than one year do not come under the I-T net. These 12,000 attempted false claims under the LTCG. As per the IT Act and Rules, withdrawal of investments is considered as white money, he said. The issue came to light when penny stock companies were monitored by various agencies. Kolkata topped with about 36,000 respondents followed by the Telugu states. About Rs 15,000 crore of black money was converted into white, the share of the Telugu states is about Rs 500 crore, another officer said. I-T officials will serve notices on these 12,000, seeking applications under the income declaration scheme by September 30. Once the deadline ends, the investigative wings would organise raids and register cases against them. The cases would be referred to Sebi for action. The B&W tax games I-T officials have identified a few B&W Games Invoicing: Company X supplies `10 lakh goods to Company Y. It presents a bill of Rs 6 lakh including taxes; the other Rs 4 lakh is in cash, and turns into stash. Borrowing: Company X lends `1crore in cash to Company Y through a convertible debenture. Y uses the cash to pay vendors, but accepts payments only by che-que. It repays X in cheques for equity. Charity: Form a charitable trust with dummy executive body. Donates black money as charity and the trust converts it. Cash income: Cash paid for tuitions, professional fees or commissions can convert black into white. Real estate: People fake a deal, cash changes hands and then the deal is cancelled citing non-payment. RBI had last issued guidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector on February 22, 2013. Mumbai: As a parting gift before his departure from the RBI in September, governor Dr Raghuram Rajan announced his promised major reform of on tap licences for Universal Banks. Large industrial houses have been excluded from applying for on tap licences but they can invest in banks up to 10 per cent while foreign shareholding in the bank would be 74 per cent as per the existing FDI limit. Others who are eligible include those entities or groups in the private sector that are owned and controlled by residents and have a successful track record for at least 10 years. These entities must also have total assets of Rs 5,000 crore or more and the non-financial business of the group does not account for 40 per cent or more in terms of total assets or in terms of gross income. Universal banks are a better choice compared to payment banks or small banks because it can provide full-fledged banking, said George Antony, managing director, UAE Exchange India on RBI guidelines, adding We at UAE Exchange India find it really encouraging for NBFCs like ours which has completed over 10 years and is compliant to all other submissions. In its much awaited Guidelines for on tap Licensing of Universal Banks in the private sector, RBI has stipulated that the initial minimum paid-up voting equity capital for a bank should be Rs 500 crore and thereafter, the bank should have a minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore at all times. There is a Fit and Proper criteria that applicant would have to pass for the licensing and the promoter or promoting entity including non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) that are controlled by residents would have to have a minimum 10 years of successful track record in banking and finance at senior level, apart from sound financials, credentials and integrity. RBI had last issued guidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector on February 22, 2013. The RBI issued in-principle approval to two applicants and they have since established the banks. It its monetary policy statement in April 2014, RBI had indicated that after issuing in-principle approval for new licences, the central bank will start working on the framework for on-tap licensing as well as differentiated bank licences. On approval process, RBI said that the applications will be referred to a Standing External Advisory Committee (SEAC) to be set up by the Reserve Bank. Mumbai: The wait is finally over as the makers have finally unveiled Randeep Hoodas first look from their film Battle of Sargarhi. The film, which will go on floors on September 12 at Saragarhi Gurudwara in Amritsar, stars the actor as Havaldar Ishar Singh, the military commander of the 36th Sikhs, today known as the 4th battalion of the Sikh regiment in the magnum opus. The film will be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and is being produced by Group Chairman Raju Chadha under the banner of Wave Cinemas confirms award winning film maker producer CEO Wave Cinemas Rahul Mittra. Sources close to the unit reveal that Randeep will be going through rigorous training and will be studying Sikh history to prep for his role. The film will be shot on locations of Chandigarh, Punjab and other northern regions and international locations. The makers have signed Randeep Hooda for a 3 film deal. Mittra and Battle of Saragarhi will be the first to go on floor. Battle of Saragarhi deals with the historic battle which was fought on September 12th, 1897, between the British Indian Army and the Afghan Orakzai tribesmen in North - West India, which we now know as the Khyber - Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The 4th battalion of the Sikh Regiment, led by Havaldar Ishar Singh, was stationed at the army post when they were attacked by 10,000 Afghans. They fought till the last man before the post was recaptured, 2 days later, by another British Indian contingent led by Sikhs. Mumbai: Jacqueline Fernandez was out and about with Dishooms promotions and now the film has hit the theatres, Jacqueline Fernandez packed her bags and took off with her mother for a quick vacation in Maldives. In case you are thinking that the actress is enjoying the breezy wind near some beautiful beach with a soothing mocktail by her side, youve got it all wrong. Being the peppy adventurous diva that Jacqueline is, the actress swam alongside the whale shark and also went snorkelling. Jacqueline took to her Instagram page and shared the pictures, and even urged fans to not pollute the oceans and harm the sea creatures. One off the bucket list!! Meeting and swimming alongside the #whaleshark What a privilege and honour! Thank you big guy!! Just wanna take this opportunity to say pls lets be respectful to Mother Nature, let's not pollute her beautiful oceans and harm her children, a lot of sea creatures are becoming endangered and suffering for no fault of their own, you may be one person but you will make a difference #natureloverforlife, wrote Jacqueline. Greetings from the Maldives @kimfernz77 A photo posted by Jacqueline Fernandez (@jacquelinef143) on Jul 31, 2016 at 8:09am PDT Jacqueline Fernandez also shared her vacation pictures on her Snapchat account. The actress was last seen in Rohit Dhawan's 'Dishoom'. Mumbai: Nargis Fakhri, whod recently quashed all rumours of her having quit Bollywood, will soon be seen in another international film, after playing a minuscule yet consequential part in the critically and commercially acclaimed British comic-thriller, Spy. The Rockstar actress whos holidaying in Greece will soon return to India to wrap up her pending commitments. Also read: Nargis Fakhri is vacationing in Greece and giving us some serious travel goals The film christened 5 Weddings, being helmed by actor turned director-producer Namrata Singh Gujral, will have the New York born beauty share screen-space with Academy award nominee Candy Clark as well as Golden Globe nominee Bo Derek. The movie reportedly is based on Bollywood weddings and is from the perspective of an American journalist who comes to India to cover them. Nargis had previously played a journalist in Shoojit Sircar's political thriller 'Madras Cafe'. '5 Weddings' is slated to go on the floors by year-end and will be shot primarily in the U.S. and India. Mumbai: Bollywood had historically been averse to on-screen kisses, until a few years back. On-screen kissing and intimacy would primarily be associated with B-grade cinema and the lead stars who might have dared to do it at all would receive major flak with accusations of attempted sensationalisation. But with the advent of audacious filmmakers and with them, equally bold concepts, the taboo surrounding on-screen intimacy has subsided radically, with voyeurism not being the primary intent on most occasions. Lead actors have bravely embraced on-screen intimacy in recent years to enhance their movies as well as their performances. Here are the 8 best kissing scenes of the rising, and unabashedly bold Bollywood actresses, who've taken the onus upon themselves to let their directors fulfill their respective visions. 1. Sunny Leone - Hindi cinema's crowned personification of all things bold, Sunny Leone has featured in a lot many bold ventures. Here's a clip from 'Jism 2', featuring her alongside Randeep Hooda. 2. Alia Bhatt - The actress, who's proven her sassiness and acting chops with equal panache, also doesn't shy away from doing intimate scenes in her movies. The following scene from '2 States' features her alongside Arjun Kapoor. 3. Parineeti Chopra - The actress who featured opposite Arjun Kapoor in 'Ishaqzaade' had some very bold scenes in the movie with the then debutante Arjun. 4. Shraddha Kapoor - The actress who'd debuted in 'Teen Patti', shot to fame co-starring Aditya Roy Kapoor in the musical monster-hit, 'Aashiqui 2'. She, like her contemporaries, hasn't shied away from doing bold lip-locks, be it 'Haider' or 'Ek Villain' or the very recent 'Baaghi'. 5. Jacqueline Fernandez - The Sri Lankan beauty rose to fame with 'Murder 2', a franchise known for its boldness, opposite Emraan Hashmi, a man synonymous with on-screen lip-locks. 6. Nargis Fakhri - The U.S. born actress, who debuted opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Imtiaz Ali's 'Rockstar', has never been the one to steer clear of intimate scenes, be it her very hyped debut, 'Main Tera Hero' or the recent Emraan Hashmi starrer, 'Azhar'. In a room full of people, it is difficult to spot Hrithik Roshan, the star. He is humble with no starry tantrums and has no qualms to be the first one to share the greetings and get a conversation started. On a visit to Hyderabad, Hrithik recalls the fond memories of the city. I spent a lot of my childhood in Hyderabad. My friends and I would travel from Mumbai to Hyderabad for summer and winter vacations and meet our friend Pinky Reddy, who would host us, says Hrithik, adding, I love the city. I had come here two years ago for Bang Bang, and its good to be back. Two years has also been the time he stayed away from the silver screen. After Bang Bang, he will be seen in Ashutosh Gowarikers upcoming period movie Mohenjo Daro. I told Ashutosh that he should try and make Mohenjo Daro in 80 days and he said he will make it in 95 days. And the shooting took 200 days to complete. How much do I push him? Sometimes the vision is so big that you have to leave it to the filmmakers satisfaction, says Hrithik. So what made him say yes to Mohenjo Daro? I said yes because somebody was trying to do something different. It is not a run-of-the mill contemporary love story or an action film. It takes people back to the ancient civilisation. Who makes films like these, on a huge scale! We are all running around the same subjects and music be it Dhoom or Krrish; those are also great films, but films like Mohenjo Daro also need to be made. Our cinema should have a representation of different stories from our culture and history. Our ancestors intrigued me. I want to see how people from this age look at those from that era who were very simple and had no technology or fast-paced romance, he says. The actor also disagrees with historians who blame Ashutosh for not portraying facts. Fans dont react. These are a set of historians who have pointed out that this could not have been or that could not have been true, but even that could not be proved, because there is no much evidence. All we have is a variety of theories different historians have put forward. So the directors job is to pick one theory to suit his story and make a film based on it. He cant satisfy all of them. When I did Jodhaa Akbar, a section of historians said Akbar was only 4 feet 10 inches tall and Hrithik is six-foot tall. Hrithik has light eyes but Akbar didnt have those. This cannot be tolerated. Films are made to entertain and Mohenjo Daro is completely in tune with factual history. The doting dad also makes sure that his kids watch his movies and he eagerly awaits their feedback. So far, they have reacted best to Bang Bang. I hope they will love Mohenjo Daro too, he says. In a competitive Bollywood industry, we see Hrithik constantly praise his contemporaries and their works through tweets. Isnt he bothered by the competition? I consider someone a competitor if thats going to help me push myself further. I will look at something that could give me an impulse to be better. At other times, it doesnt matter. I have to do the best I can. There is enough space in Bollywood for every single person who is doing his best, he adds. Actor-director-choreographer Prabhu Deva, who has been missing in action in KTown since 2004, is now back. The actor is starring in director Vijays trilingual venture Devi(l) in which he is sharing the screen with Tamannaah and Sonu Sood. He opens up to DC about the film and his plans in Kollywood. When quizzed about how the film came his way, he says, Vijay narrated the story to our production house for a different actor, and it was the first story we listened to when we started Prabhu Deva Studios. When other actors turned down the offer, Vijay and others insisted that I do it. Impressed by the directors patience and calmness, Prabhu is all praise for him The movie has one of the best screnplays in recent times. It has family sentiment, love, thriller, and horror elements. I dont want Titanic or Avatar like films for my comeback. I wanted to do an entertaining film and thats why I chose it. This film is open for all age-groups. Calling it an interesting incident, the ace choreographer would enact a scene thrice in three different languages in single shot. Prabhu has only good things to say about his co-stars. I know Sonu for a long time since I signed him for my Hindi films. This is the first time I am joining hands with Tamannaah. She is a very sincere and disciplined actress, he added. Fascinated by Tamannaahs village belle look, Prabhu reveals that it is completely magical to see her transform for the role. However, he was not happy when Vijay suggested changing his look My trademark is my curly hair and till date I havent experimented with my looks. So, will he have a proper introduction song? Vijay and cinematographer Manush were adamant in having an introduction number. The song is peppy and choreographed by Paresh, who was a part of my Hindi film ABCD, Prabhu says. A couple of videos featuring the lead lady rehearsing were also posted by the actor. She allotted 15 days for the rehearsals, and according to me, I have never seen anyone dance like her in recent times, he smiles. When we ask him about the hiatus in Tamil, he stated, I dont know what to say. Though I was not active in Tamil films, I was always connected to the audience. Now, I am back. Prabhu also disclosed that he will be directing a Tamil film soon Things have to fall in place for my Tamil project. I will be acting in another Tamil-Telugu bilingual, and will direct a Hindi film by November or December. When queried if he would choreograph for other films, he answers in an instant Nobody is calling me (he laughs). I am open to choreograph for other directors. I think they assume that I am busy, Prabhu sums up. Diandra Soares is not an unfamiliar face to namma ooru. One of the most well-known models in the country, she achieved instant stardom after her successful stint on the reality show Bigg Boss. Her style statements were closely followed by fans and she decided to take that and turn that into her web-series Do It Like Diandra, that encompasses everything to do with her looks; inside and outside the house. She tells us about her recent visit to Chennai I made an appearance at a restropub in the city to be able to meet all my Bigg Boss fans. We had fun contests for the best-dressed people and gave out gifts to winners. It was lovely meeting my fans here because Ive always loved the city. My co-host Karun Raman and I have been friends for several years now. and I used to visit frequently when I still did shows. The people here are incredibly sweet and I absolutely adore the food. But now, my fans from other cities are complaining and want me to pay them a visit as well! Talking about her latest venture, she says, Do It Like Diandra is a series in which I talk about everything to do with my style be it makeup, hair or accessories. These are the things I am known for and Ive done styling and makeup in the past. Lots of people believed that there were makeup artists for us in the Bigg Boss house, but we did it all ourselves. Many asked me about the shade of lipstick I was wearing in a certain episode or how I do my contouring and the show addresses all of them. Its very informal and unscripted, so I get to talk about getting ready when you have a hangover or when your skin is in bad condition. She also believes that her sense of style cant be described because its mood -dependent I could wear a simple racer-back top with shorts one day and shift to a complete glam look or an Indian look the next. The only thing that is constant is that my style will always be out-of-the-box. So whats next for Diandra? I have a new web series called Love, Life and Screw-ups alongside Zeenat Aman, Dolly Thakore and Sushant Divgikar coming out soon. Besides that, my first Bollywood movie X-Zone is slated to release soon too. Looks like she has her hands full for now, alright! In March this year, the Nigerian government signed into law a new version of the HIV/AIDS Anti-Discrimination Act. (Representational Image) Abuja: Sitting in his dimly-lit office in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, surrounded by files and boxes of condoms, matchmaker Ugochukwu Michael talks passionately about the part he has played in the marriages of around 100 couples in recent years. While the popularity of dating apps and websites may make Michael's efforts to play Cupid seem old-fashioned, his matchmaking service stands out from the rest. All of his clients are living with HIV. "Sometimes, I spend days without sleeping," he said, his phone ringing non-stop as he explained how most calls come in the middle of the night when it is cheaper to call. The 45-year-old started his service in 2012 with the desire to help those he describes as Nigeria's "rejects" after becoming disillusioned with widespread stigma towards people with HIV. Michael says he has some 7,000 clients on the books, ranging in age from 19 to 72. Six in seven of them are women. He charges a one-off fee of 2,000 naira ($6) for people who work, but his service is free for the unemployed. "You will see a lot of improvement," Michael tells one caller. "Let's see how it will be before the end of the month." The prevalence of HIV among adults in Nigeria is relatively low for sub-Saharan Africa, around one in 30 compared to one in five in South Africa, said the U.N. AIDS programme UNAIDS. Yet discrimination towards Nigeria's some 3.5 million HIV-positive people is rife, and many struggle to enter university or find work, health experts and human rights activists say. "Stigma is the obstacle to achieving the 90-90-90 agenda," John Idoko, director general of Nigeria's National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. By 2020, UNAIDS wants 90 percent of people with HIV to know their status, 90 percent of diagnosed people to be on treatment, and 90 percent of those on treatment to have suppressed levels of the virus in their bodies. "HIV-POSITIVE SUGAR MUMMY" After a failed attempt to migrate to Europe six years ago and the loss of his life savings from his job as a technician, Michael decided to volunteer with a Catholic organisation. Helping out at a state hospital where nurses were reluctant to get too close to HIV-positive patients made Michael aware of the discrimination they faced daily. "I encouraged the patients to help one another do things, like go to the toilet, since they all had one thing in common." When the threat of Boko Haram forced him to move from the northeastern city of Damaturu to Abuja in 2012, Michael decided the time was right to launch his HIV matchmaking service. Weary of trying to persuade government agencies to invest in his idea, he headed out into the streets of Abuja at night, hanging up around 100 banners to advertise his project. "By the following morning, my phone started ringing - so many people were calling me," Michael said, scrolling through the dozens of texts he receives from his clients each day. Some of the texts ask for medical or fertility advice, while one comes from a man looking for an "HIV-positive sugar mummy". Yet not everyone approves of Michael's matchmaking efforts. When people started tearing the banners down, Michael turned to bright red spray paint. Signs reading: "HIV positive? Need husband/wife?" can be seen alongside many major roads in Abuja. "Strangers call me to express disdain for my work ... they accuse me of encouraging promiscuity," said the husband and father-of five, who declined to disclose if he has HIV or not. HEALTH BEFORE LOVE After an initial telephone conversation, most of Michael's clients insist on coming to see him in person to talk further. "When they come, we just sit and chat," he said, adding that many of his patients are suicidal because of their HIV status. Beyond setting up dates, Michael also ensures that every person he works with is registered with a specific hospital and that they are regularly taking their antiretroviral drugs. "I cannot match-make anyone who is not on drugs - it is a lot of risk," Michael said, sitting in his office in front of a decorative wall hanging that reads: 'May hope encourage you'. Michael also provides his clients with free condoms and booklets about HIV, and teaches them about safe sex. For people seeking medical advice, he refers them to a doctor. Although based in Abuja, a photo of his advert posted on Facebook means people stretching from Rivers state in the south to the Borno in the northeast have signed up looking for love. Flicking through several folders, Michael explains how he has a separate file for clients who have started seeing each other, another for those who have graduated to a serious relationship, and a different one for those who have married. "I never attend weddings, he said, explaining how he was once embarrassed by the recognition he received at the marriage ceremony of one of the couples who met through his matchmaking. In March this year, the Nigerian government signed into law a new version of the HIV/AIDS Anti-Discrimination Act, which is designed to make it easier to understand. Yet Michael said the law has had no impact on his service, or the thousands of HIV-positive people that he works with. "Many people don't even know where to access drugs," he said. "They hear about these things but have no information. "The enlightenment is not there - it is just not there." All parents should remember that their children will get the best crash protection from age-appropriate restraints that are used correctly. (Photo: Pixabay) Restraints in infant car seats fit most newborns poorly, and low-birthweight infants in particular may not be well protected, Australian researchers say. In their small study, fewer than one in five normal- and low-birthweight babies achieved a proper fit. Historically, the smallest childrens car seats were designed for babies weighing between 6.5 and 9 pounds (about 3 to 4 kg) and do not account for lower-weight infants, said lead author Julie Brown, a senior research scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia in Randwick. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies children born weighing less than 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg) as low birthweight and says 8 percent of U.S. babies fall into this category. New car seat harnesses have become available for smaller infants, but there has been little research about how well they actually fit smaller babies, Brown told Reuters Health by email. Good harness fit is important for crash protection so we wanted to confirm that these new restraints would actually provide better harness fit, Brown said. Her team conducted the study with 84 normal-weight and low-birthweight infants within a week of their discharge from a major hospital in Sydney. The researchers weighed each infant and the placed the baby in two different types of car seat: a rear-facing restraint generally recommended for younger infants and a convertible rear or front-facing restraint in its rear-facing mode. Some of the infants were also placed in specialized low-birthweight harnesses. The research team adjusted the straps snugly enough so two adult fingers could fit between the strap and the baby. Then they assessed how well the harnesses fit the infants, including how well the shoulder and crotch straps fit the children and where the buckles sat on their bodies. Only one in five normal-weight infants and one in eight low-birthweight infants had a good overall fit in the car seat restraints, the study team reports in Injury Prevention. Among normal-weight infants, 84 percent had a good shoulder strap height, while only 67 percent of low-birthweight infants had a good score on this measure. Additionally, only 51 percent of normal-weight babies and 42 percent of low-birthweight babies had a good fit of the crotch strap. For both normal- and lower-weight infants, the rear-facing only restraints tended to have better scores for overall fit, shoulder strap height, buckle position and crotch strap gap, while the convertible restraints scored five times better on shoulder strap width. All the low-birthweight infants achieved good scores for shoulder strap height and buckle position in the specialized low-birthweight harnesses and they were more likely to have good scores on crotch strap gap than in regular restraints. Rebecca Ivers, a professor at the University of Sydney who studies infant car safety, noted that parents can help keep their children safe by knowing what the right seat is and how to use it. Appropriate use of child car seats significantly reduces the risk of death and serious injury in the event of a crash, said Ivers, who was not involved in the study. This means having straps tight enough, making sure no straps are twisted, that the seatbelt and buckles are fastened, and that any tether straps are correctly anchored, Ivers advised by email. All parents should remember that their children will get the best crash protection from age-appropriate restraints that are used correctly, Brown said. Making sure the harness is always used and adjusted firmly is important for all children in all restraint systems. When industrial tycoons G. V. Prasad, Suresh Chitturi, Gautam Birudavolu and Gopi Raju set off on a trip, one might think they were on a business tour, not until they spot the fifth team member Dhevin, a class VIII student and Gopis grandson. Away from the madding money talks, the five travelled towards the end of the world Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago not so far from the North Pole. An expedition taken up with great effort and strategic planning, the city-based businessmen embarked on the journey a month ago to rejuvenate themselves and to rekindle their bonds. Remembering their cruise along the Arctic Ocean, G.V. Prasad, CEO of Dr Reddys Laboratories, says, A group of polar bears woke us up in the middle of night. We quickly got up and focused our cameras to capture the moment. There was a mother and two cubs strolling past and when the male came close, they ran away. It was not just him who had dreamt of catching polar bears in action. My grandfather wanted to cruise and watch the polar bears. Svalbard has the highest concentration of polar bears, says Dhevin, who had a great time bonding with Gopi, while watching polar bears moving across ice sheets. Top industrialists from the city recently went on a 10-day gruelling trip to Svalbard We all had a great time. Every year, we plan an outing. Last year, we went to Alaska and earlier, it was to Africa, says Gopi, who is into construction business. Suresh Chitturi, chairman of CII-Andhra Pradesh and also the vice- chairman and managing director of Srinivasa Hatcheries, too had much to say. It was an eight-day cruise; it was a comfortable journey with no major challenges. Each day was a different experience with different highlights. It was a well-curated trip by Lindblad expeditions and National Geographic guides. Gautam, Prasad and I have been doing these trips for the last five years; we all are like-minded and willing to take hardships. Most importantly, we are very understanding while travelling together. There were real fun moments. There was a frozen river over which we all had a snowball fight, it was awesome, shares Dhevin. White snowy premises offered them great photographic moments. And the photographs of the trip were exhibited at a city hotel recently, which, quite interestingly, excelled like those clicked by a professional. All of them share a passion for wildlife and photography as well. I love nature and wildlife. It was Suresh, who introduced me to the nuances of photography, reveals Prasad. And for Suresh, it is a hobby-turned passion. I have been into photography since I was eight and now, a 10-day gruelling trip with the team has made it all better. Many shots were similar as everyone was clicking at the same point of time. However, each of us gets a different angle, different composition and a different perspective based on our viewpoint, creativity and equipment, adds Suresh. A physically taxing trip like this requires special arrangements and everything was put in place, including fitness. You need to have decent physical fitness. This was not very taxing, but normally, you need to carry about 15-20 kilos of gear and be prepared for changes in the climate. This journey was quite comfortable, except a few times when you had to dress up for onshore trips. We loved the fried rice and pickles the chef specially made for us beyond the regular meal, remembers Suresh. The globe-trotters have ample support from their families. I didnt give them a choice, laughs Gautam Birudavolu, owner of Green Park Hotels and Resorts. So, wheres the team headed for the next year? And Suresh says, May be Antarctica! Lucknow: The UP Tourism department in Uttar Pradesh has decided to move away from the practice of appointing celebrities as ambassadors of the tourism sectors. The department will now appoint priests, known as pandas in the local parlance, for places of religious significance in the state. For the Ramayana, Krishna and Buddha circuit in Uttar Pradesh, the tourism department will focus on local people as brand ambassadors. They could be Buddhist monks in Sarnath, pandas in Vrindavan and even boatmen in Ayodhya. The idea is to cultivate the local people and ensure job opportunities for them. This will also increase their involvement in the tourist activities in their areas, said principal tourism Secretary Navneet Sehgal. The department is also toying with the idea of getting taxi drivers, porters, hotel workers and even rickshaw puller to serve as brand ambassadors. These are the people who interact regularly with the tourists and if they can double up as guides, they will not only earn more money but the tourist will also be comfortable with them, the official said. The three circuits in the state are spread across Kapilvastu, Kaushambhi, Kushinagar Sarnath, Shravasti, Mathura, Vrin-davan, Ayodhya and Chitrakoot. Training for tourist ambassadors has been started in over ten cities. We are training the local ambassadors to communicated with tourists both Indian and foreign and also the basics of etiquette. Information about the place and temples in the areas and its religious and historical significance is also been given. Some such ambassadors have expressed a desire to learn some foreign language and we are making arrangements for this, he said. According to tourism officials, the presence of a celebrity in the tourism campaign does attract eyeball but people also are aware that the celebrity is no directly involved with the place and is doing the campaign for money. It has been thought that Larry may be missing his mentor David Cameron and be facing stress due to the move-in of the May family. (Photo: Twitter/ tufre80) London: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's cat has made a dramatic bid for power by sneaking into Prime Minister Theresa May's 10 Downing street residence while the chief mouser there was away but was unceremoniously evicted by police officers. Mr Johnson inherited a new feline colleague at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as well as his new role in the Cabinet and his cheeky streak appears to have rubbed off on the cat. Palmerston took his Downing Street ambitions further by sneaking in to Theresa May's new residence while no one was looking. 10 Downing Street chief mouser Larry is believed to be "away" for a few days and power hungry Palmerston took the opportunity to dash into the home, media reports said. The black-and-white cat, who was appointed Chief Mouser to the Foreign Office earlier this year after being adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was unceremoniously evicted by police officers, The Telegraph reported. He then sat outside the building, looking furious and even appeared to have a stand-off with a police officer. Amid the post-referendum upheaval within the government, Palmerston and his No 10 rival Larry have been at each others' throats recently. One violent clash outside the Foreign Office is thought to have resulted in a paw injury to Larry which required veterinary treatment. No 10's cat was put on bed rest for a few days as he licked his wounds. It has been thought that Larry may be missing his mentor David Cameron and be facing stress due to the move-in of the May family. Although recent comings and goings in Downing Street have been linked with the feline skirmishes, Larry does have a history of troubled relations with his neighbours. He often came to blows with the cat from No 11, Freya, who was then exiled to the countryside. Police were previously forced to step in to break up a cat fight between Larry and Freya, former Moggy of the Treasury. Larry arrived at No 10 in 2011, having been picked out by staff from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. According to a report by Helen Thomson from New Scientist, the womans mother said she had no idea that her daughter suffered from what should be a fatal condition, saying that she had problems walking until she was seven years and didnt speak intelligibly until six years. Back in 2014, doctors in China were shocked when they discovered that a 24-year-old woman was living without her cerebellum, a vital section of the brain that holds up to 50 percent of a persons total neurons. Even crazier, the woman who remains unnamed had no idea of her condition and had been living out a pretty normal, full life, proving just how little we know about the brain and how it can adapt to cope with what should be a debilitating condition. The womans story started in 2014, when her mother brought her into a Chinese hospital in Shandong Province because she was complaining of nausea and dizziness. Since these are not uncommon issues, doctors proceeded as normal, conducting a CAT scan to see if there was anything abnormal. To their shock and awe, they found that the woman had a giant gap where her cerebellum should be. In fact, the cerebellum the part of the brain that controls balance, voluntary movement, and the ability to learn motor skills and some speech accounts for roughly 10 percent of a persons total brain mass. According to a report by Helen Thomson from New Scientist, the womans mother said she had no idea that her daughter suffered from what should be a fatal condition, saying that she had problems walking until she was seven years and didnt speak intelligibly until six years. Other than that, she lived a normal life. She is married with a daughter, and her pregnancy and delivery were described as uneventful. Her parents had no history of neurological disorders, the doctors led by Feng Yu from Chinese PLA General Hospital wrote in a case study of the woman. According to her mother, she was four-year-old before she could stand unassisted, and did not begin to walk unassisted until the age of seven, with a persistently unsteady gait. She never ran or jumped. Her speech was not intelligible until six years of age and she did not enter school, they continued. Researchers call this shocking condition complete primary cerebellar agenesis. www.sciencealert.com Sammy, a fur seal being released back into the wild after he had been found napping in the toilets. (Photo: AFP) Sydney: A woman using the toilets at a local cemetery in Australia had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal napping in the cubicle. The discovery of the 120-kilogramme (264-pound) animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometre (mile) from the nearest water. "We thought it was a practical joke when we were told," Karina Moore from Devonport Council in northwest Tasmania state said. "It's a big mystery. It's very unusual to find a seal so far inland." 'Sammy', a fur seal in a cage after he was found napping in toilets at a cemetery in Devonport. (Photo: AFP) "There's a small creek about half a kilometre away but he would still have had to cross a busy road and several paddocks to make it to the cemetery." The council called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him to a local beach and releasing him. Wildlife biologist Rachel Alderman told ABC radio Australian fur seals were common around Tasmania. "They're a really abundant species all around Tasmania, particularly in Bass Strait, and we've had them turn up in paddocks, people's backyards, and now we can add a toilet block in a cemetery to the list," she said. Uttar Pradesh Police had on Sunday arrested the three accused -- Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) and detained a dozen others after launching a massive hunt for a gang of dacoits suspected to be behind the highway crime. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI) Lucknow: Three accused in the Bulandshahr gangrape case were on Monday sent to judicial custody, even as Governor Ram Naik expressed anguish, saying cases like this have been occurring at different places and there was need to halt recurrence of such incidents. Uttar Pradesh Police had on Sunday arrested the three accused -- Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) and detained a dozen others after launching a massive hunt for a gang of dacoits suspected to be behind the highway crime. "The trio have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a Bulandshahr court," IG (Law and Order) Hare Ram Sharma told reporters here. Gold ornaments of the victims and Rs 5,500 cash were recovered from the accused, he said, adding a request would be made for trial by a fast-track court. Efforts will be made to file the chargesheet within three months, he said. Seven to eight more names have come up and the police have constituted six teams to nab them, Sharma said. As the Samajwadi Party government faced fresh flak from opposition parties over the "deteriorating" law and order in the state where Assembly polls are barely a few months away, the Governor voiced his anguish over the incident and asked the state government and the police to take immediate steps to ensure that such cases did not recur. "The state government and the police need to follow their duties in ensuring that such incidents do not take place in the state," he said on the sidelines of a programme here. "This is not the first incident, cases like these have been taking place at different places. There is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said, adding immediate steps are needed in this regard. The Governor, however, expressed satisfaction with thesteps taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in rushing senior officials like the DGP of the state police and principal secretary (home) to the scene of the crime. Special directives have been issued by the government to intensify highway patrolling so that such crimes did not take place again, Sharma said. The state government, meanwhile, posted PAC Commandant Anees Ahmad Ansari as the new SSP of Bulandshahr following suspension of Vaibhav Krishna after the gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on Friday night. Deputy SP Maan Singh is the new Additional SP replacing Rammohan Singh, who was among the five suspended officers, an official spokesman said here. Bawariya gang members had brutally gangraped the woman and her 13-year-old daughter on gunpoint after dragging them out of a car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 when they were travelling with their family from Noida to Shahjahanpur. The matter had an echo in Lok Sabha where BJP members hit out at the UP government over the law and order situation and demanded resignation of the chief minister. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Bhola Singh, who represents Bulandshahr, alleged that such incidents were happening in the state as criminals enjoyed the government's "protection". "The police are not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The chief minister should resign," he said, drawing support from other party members, one of whom said, "Uttar Pradesh is burning." Members of Samajwadi party, which is in power in the state, were seen protesting, with Dharmendra Yadav heard asking the treasury benches to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation first. BSP supremo Mayawati demanded resignation of the chief minister on moral grounds, saying there was complete 'jungleraj' in the state and criminal elements were roaming freely. "The SP government and its head must tell the people if they can return the modesty of women in such a painful and heinous crime," she told reporters in Delhi. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW)summoned a doctor who conducted medical examination of the minor victim, for allegedly ill-treating her and asking "awkward" questions and also slammed the police for not including sections of POCSO Act in the FIR. NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumarmangalam said the family had told the NCW team, which met the victims in Bulandshahr, that when the girl was taken for a medical examination, "she was abused by the doctor, who asked her a number of awkward questions and berated her". "The FIR in the case did not have sections of POCSO Act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer," she said. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh said that POCSO Act has not yet been added in the FIR. A bag snatching incident in Foreshore Estate a couple of weeks ago had even led to the death of two people including a woman who was a victim of snatching. Chennai: As many as eight incidents of chain, bag and mobile phone snatching were reported in Chennai city limits since Saturday evening. In two cases of snatching of mobile phones, the people managed to catch the suspects. The police are trying to identify and track down criminals involved in the other six snatching incidents. The sudden spurt in snatching incidents since Saturday evening also forced the police to think of increasing the patrolling and better deployment of manpower in vulnerable areas. A bag snatching incident in Foreshore Estate a couple of weeks ago had even led to the death of two people including a woman who was a victim of snatching. On Sunday, a woman identified as Anjala was her on a morning walk in Mylapore when she was robbed of her 5-sovereign gold chain by a dup on a bike. In another incident of chain snatching at Nochikuppam in Mylapore, Mallika, who was drawing kolam, was relieved of her 1-sovereign gold chain by a man who escaped from the scene even as she cried out for help. The third snatching in Mylapore took place on Karneswarar koil street in which Amudha lost her gold chain to a biker. In an incident of bag snatching on Kamarajar Salai, Pankajam, who was on the pillion of her husbands bike, was relieved of her bag containing her mobile phone and cash by a duo on a bike late on Saturday evening. The couple was returning home after visiting their relatives in Puzhal when the incident happened. Pravin Kumar, a software professional, was relieved of his mobile phone even as he was talking on it in Thoraipakkam after parking his two-wheeler on Saturday evening. He was on his way back from his office in Sholinganallur when he parked the bike near Thoraipakkam police station due to rain and was talking on his cell phone when a criminal took his gadget and money at knife point. At Moolakadai bus stand, people managed to catch hold of two men who snatched a cell phone from a woman, a resident of Korukkupet. The two were later handed over to the police. In another incident of mobile phone theft, a 16-year-old boy was caught and handed over to the police when he took a gadget from his fellow passengers bag in MTC bus in Velachery. Four militants were killed and one was apprehended in an anti-infiltration operation on July 26, followed by another operation on July 30, in which two militants and two soldiers were killed. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Srinagar: One militant was killed on Monday as army foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir, in third such incident within a week. "An infiltration bid was foiled in Naugam sector this morning. One militant has been killed in the operation which was going on till reports last came in," an army official said. This is the third infiltration bid foiled in the Naugam sector in the past six days. Four militants were killed and one was apprehended in an anti-infiltration operation on July 26, followed by another operation on July 30, in which two militants and two soldiers were killed. The stepmom gave the child some toys to play with but she threw them away. The irate woman then banged the childs head on the wall two or three times to stop her cries. (Photo: Representational Image) Mumbai: A 26-year-old woman was arrested Sunday morning for killing her one-and-a-half-year-old stepdaughter. The woman had rammed the childs head against the wall, as she was irritated by her crying. According to police officials, the woman has been identified as Rajiya Shaikh. Rajiya is the second wife of Abdul Shaikh and had got married to him a year ago. Abdul, who has two children from his first marriage, a girl and a boy, had decided to divorce his first wife. His first wife left to stay with her parents, leaving behind her two children at Abduls place. Abdul has his own catering business in Chembur, and is always busy with work. While he worked, his second wife Rajiya had to look after his two children and was not pleased to do so. She would sometimes leave them alone at home with no food to eat and visit relatives, said a police official. On Saturday, Abduls one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Rajiya was crying as she was unwell. She refused to eat food. Her stepmother, who wanted to sleep, tried hard to stop her bawling. Rajiya then gave the child some toys to play with but she threw them away. The irate woman then banged the childs head on the wall two or three times to stop her cries. The child became unconscious. Rajiya immediately took her to a nearby hospital, but during treatment the child was declared dead, said the police officer. The police then arrested Rajiya after the postmortem report that stated the cause of death as head injuries. Rajiya then confessed to the crime. (This story originally appeared in the Asian Age) Hyderabad: The KPHB police detained the owner of a job consultancy who allegedly cheated around 70 job aspirants. Chandrashekar Reddy, owner of Lora Jobs Consultancy, allegedly offered jobs abroad and collected huge amounts from the victims. As many as 70 aspirants from TS and AP, who paid Chandrashekar Reddy, approached the police. Police said Chandrashekar Reddy, a native of Hyderabad, posted ads on internet about providing jobs. He offered training and placement for unemployed youth and collected money ranging from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh each, police said. Whenever applicants approached him, he would send them away with excuses, police said. The victims belong to Guntur, Vijayawada, Warangal and Hyderabad, KPHB inspector Kushalkar said. Tamil Nadu Assembly said it would be inappropriate to call the High Court with jurisdiction over entire Tamil Nadu as Chennai High Court. (Photo: PTI) Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution asking the Centre to rename Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court and not Chennai HC as proposed in a Bill introduced in Parliament last month. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, besides other parties, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. "Naming the High Court of Judicature at Madras as Tamil Nadu High Court will be most appropriate," Jayalalithaa said, moving the resolution. "This House urges the Union government to alter the name from Chennai High Court, proposed in the Bill introduced in Parliament to Tamil Nadu HC," the resolution said, adding "It will be correct to call the High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court which is presently being called as Madras High Court." Giving reasons for seeking the change, the resolution pointed out that the High Courts situated in other states take the respective names of such states, which were formed on linguistic basis in 1956. It said it would be "inappropriate to call the High Court with jurisdiction over entire Tamil Nadu as Chennai High Court." The resolution said a HC bench is functioning from Madurai too. "The name of Madras was changed to Chennai through a legislation in 1996 and according to it, Chennai will mean only the city of Chennai," it said. The Centre had introduced 'High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in Lok Sabha on July 19, according to which Madras High Court will be called Chennai High Court from the date appointed by the Act, the resolution said. Listing out the historical reasons behind the name of Madras High Court, Jayalalithaa said the British Parliament had enacted the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 and Letters Patent was granted by Queen Victoria under which the Madras High Court was established in 1862. It was named as "High Court of Judicature at Madras," to mean its location with jurisdiction over the entire Madras Presidency, including regions of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The High Courts established after states were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956 were named after such states. Thus, it was "not appropriate" to call Madras High Court under the same name that was set up on the basis of Letters Patent granted by Queen Victoria, she said. A proposal was sent to the Central government in 1997 to rename Madras High Court as Chennai High Court after Madras city was renamed as Chennai in 1996, the CM added. DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan and Congress floor leader K R Ramasamy were among those who spoke briefly welcoming the resolution. The amendments to the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016, were tabled in the Assembly on Friday and will be taken up for discussion on Monday. (Photo: PTI) Patna: The Nitish Kumar government is bringing in several amendments to tighten the prohibition law in Bihar, which came into effect on April 1 this year. According to a report in The Indian Express, one of the amendments includes making culpable all adults of a family if any member is found drinking, possessing or selling liquor from the premises they occupy. The amendments are being introduced despite protests by JD (U) ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and main opposition party BJP. Other stringent changes being made to the law include provisions to confiscate property and impose collective penalty on a village or town, said the report. Even company owners will face legal action if alcohol is consumed, stored or distributed in their premises by any person. The amendments to the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016, were tabled in the Assembly on Friday and will be taken up for discussion on Monday. The BJP has described the proposals as draconian and disproportionate to offence, said the report. BJP legislature party leader Sushil Kumar Modi slammed the proposed amendments, saying they contravene fundamental rights of an individual by blaming the whole family for the mistake of one of its members. In a jibe at the grand alliance, Kumar said Nitish Kumar should be asked whether the police would arrest Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi and their children if someone throws an empty liquor bottle into their compound. LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the proposed amendments were an an act of madness, said the report. The Nitish Kumar government however, has kept toddy out of the liquor category and allowed its personal use under a 1991 rule. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has invited Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi to study the impact of prohibition in the state, which Satyarthi has accepted. The Nobel laureate had earlier praised the CM for bringing in prohibition, claiming it would also reduce child abuse and child labour. On Friday night, a group of bandits waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged the women, including the 13-year-old girl, to a nearby field and raped them. (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: BJP members in Lok Sabha on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the rape of a woman and her daughter in Bulandshahr as they hit out at the state government over the law and order situation there. Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, Bhola Singh, who represents Bulandshahr, alleged that such incidents were happening in the state as criminals enjoyed the government's "protection". "Police is not able to work. The situation in the state is very serious. The Chief Minister should resign," he said, drawing support from other party members. "Uttar Pradesh is burning," one of them said. Members of Samajwadi party, which is in power in the state, were seen protesting, with Dharmendra Yadav heard asking the treasury benches to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation first. On Friday night, a group of bandits waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged the women, including the 13-year-old girl, to a nearby field and raped them while tying up the men accompanying them with ropes. New Delhi: Even before the BJP could confirm if they have accepted Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patels resignation, Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was quick to claim credit over her exit. Anandibens resignation in Gujarat is a major win for Aam Admi Partys fight against corruption in the state, Kejriwal tweeted on the popular micro-blogging site just minutes after news about her quitting the top job poured in. Kejriwal claimed that Anandibens exit was due to the increasing popularity of his party in the state, indicating that the BJP wanted to appoint a fresh face as the CM to combat the alleged AAP wave in the state. Anandibens resignation is the result of AAPs growing popularity in Gujarat. BJP is completely scared in the state, he tweeted. Earlier in the week, Kejriwal had targeted Anandiben over the flogging of Dalits in Una and had accused of her creating a divide between people and police in the state. Gujarat fed up of Anandiben Patel's corrupt mal-administration. Huge support for AAP. Sources- BJP will replace Anandiben wid Amit Shah Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 9, 2016 He has repeatedly attacked the Gujarat CM in the past and even claimed that BJP president Amit Shah would be replacing her. Patna: Opposition BJP on Monday supported demand for reservation of 80 per cent of seats to Bihar natives in state jobs and admission in state-run professional colleges, while hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad for only making "statements" for political gain. "BJP is in favour of reservation of 80 per cent of seats in professional institutions and state jobs as mooted by RJD President Lalu Prasad and in principle supported by CM Nitish Kumar," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. "But, it seems both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are more interested in making statements in this regard for political grounds but not doing anything concrete on the ground," he said in his Legislative Council chamber. BJP state President and MLC Mangal Pandey and Rajneesh Kumar on Monday raised the issue in the Legislative Council. In reply to a question that the CM has asked the Centre to intervene on the issue of domicialry allegedly erupting in different parts of the country, Modi, leader of opposition in the state's Upper House, said, "The Centre has no role in such issues." Referring to Lalu Prasad's allegations that outside candidates were getting selected in interviews for the post of Assistant Professor conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) due to lack of domiciliary policy, the BJP leader said the state government was to blame for this. "Despite clear cut guidelines from the Centre that candidates having done PhD before 2009 are eligible for interview for the post of Assistant Professor, the Nitish Kumar government has not put it into practice," he said. State Education minister Ashok Choudhary had in fact assured the Legislative Council that PhDs completed before 2009 would be recognised in BPSC exam in the Budget session early this year, but still it had not come into practice and BPSC was carrying interviews in which 80 per cent of successful candidates were outsiders, he said. "More than 34,000 students of Bihar have their PhD before 2009 who are at loss because of Bihar government's apathy," he alleged. "Moreover, Lalu Prasad, who is now demanding 80 per cent reservation for Biharis had got students who have done their PhD before 2009 seeking his intervention, chased away from his house recently," Modi alleged. The former deputy chief minister asked the state government to stop the ongoing BPSC interview and follow the guideline recognising candidates who have done their PhDs before 2009. Army personnel carry the coffin of Sepoy Hasansab Khudavand who was killed in a mine blast at LOC in J & K, in his village Saidpur in Hubli. (Photo: PTI) Bengaluru: The mortal remains of two soldiers from Karnataka who were killed during a landmine blast in Kargil sector along LoC last week were on Monday laid to rest at their native villages. Subedar Basappa Patil and Sepoy Hasansab Khudavand were killed on July 29 while patrolling when they were caught in a mine blast, the Army had said. Both their bodies were brought to their native villages via Goa, where they were laid to rest with full military honors. Hundreds of villagers from neighboring areas also bid a tearful adieu to the martyrs raising patriotic slogans, while their families were inconsolable. Due to the effect of the blast Subedar Patil, who was the patrol leader and Sepoy Hasansab, the leading scout, suffered injuries which proved to be fatal, officials had said. Subedar Patil hails from a village in Gokak taluk in Belagavi district and is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. Sepoy Hasansab is from a village in Navalagunda taluk in Dharwad district and is survived by his mother, father, a younger sister and brother. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has condoled the death of the two soldiers. "My heartfelt salutes to martyrs Subedar Basappa Patil and Sepoy Hasansab who were killed in a landmine blast in Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir." "My deepest condolences to the bereaved families of these two brave soldiers," a post on Chief Minister's official Facebook page said. New Delhi: The Centre on Monday sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government on alleged gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter in Bulandshahr that created huge uproar in the Parliament. In a communication, the Home Ministry asked the state government to provide details of the incident and steps taken to nab all those involved in it, official sources said. The Uttar Pradesh government has been told to send the report as early as possible, sources said. A gang of dacoits had brutally raped a woman and her 13-year-old daughter at gunpoint after dragging them out of a car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 when they were travelling with their family from Noida to Shahjahanpur on Friday night. Uttar Pradesh Police had yesterday arrested the three accused -- Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) and detained a dozen others after launching a massive hunt for the dacoits suspected to be behind the highway crime. Facing flak from opposition, the state government had suspended five officers, including district SSP Vaibhav Krishna. Kozhikode: JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Monday alleged that US Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were speaking in one language against "Muslims and other minorities". "Both are speaking against Muslims. In America, Trump says Muslims and Blacks should go out and in India, Modi's leadership is also speaking in the same line against the Muslims, Dalits and other minorities", Kumar, who is also leader of All India Youth Federation (AIYF), said. Speaking at the inaugural function of the three-day National General Council meeting of the AISF in Kozhikode, he alleged "Facist spokespersons of RSS are propagating anti-Mulsim politics." He also took a swipe at Modi for his comparison of Kerala with Somalia. Kerala being a developed state in education, social and economic sectors and its hospitality attracts people from other states and many parts of the world as well, he said. But Modi had compared such a state to Somalia. "BJP's national council meeting is going to be held in Kozhikode soon and when Modi comes closer to know about Kerala he will realise what he said was a mistake", the AIYF leader said. On the campaign against beef eating, he alleged that "without addressing the basic problems faced by the youth, RSS and BJP are punishing people in the name of cow and flaring up communal feelings in order to divide the people." Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Monday asked the state government and police to take immediate steps to ensure that incidents like the Bulandshahr gangrape do not recur. "The state government and police need to follow their duties in ensuring that such incidents do not take place in the state," the governor said on the sidelines of a programme in Lucknow. "This is not the first incident, cases like this have been taking place at different places, there is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said, adding immediate steps are needed in this regard. The Governor however expressed satisfaction with the steps taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in rushing senior officials like the DGP of state police and principal secretary (home) to the scene of the crime. Late on Friday night, a group of bandits had waylaid a family, dragged a woman and her 13-year-old daughter out of their car, took them to a nearby field and raped them while the male members of the family were tied with ropes. The family was traveling from Noida to Shahjahanpur when the incident occurred in Bulandshahr on NH-91. Panaji: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his recent visits to Goa refused to stay in the state guest house, and only a meagre Rs 500 was spent by the government in the trips, the Legislative Assembly was told on Monday. "The Chief Minister of Delhi was provided vehicles and accommodation at the state guest house. He was received and seen off at the airport. However, he did not avail the accommodation at the state guest house," State Protocol Minister Dilip Parulekar told the House. "The state government had presented a flower bouquet amounting to Rs 500 on his first visit," the minister said. The question about the expenses on Kejriwal's visits was tabled by Goa Vikas Party MLA Fransisco Miccky Pacheco. Delhi Chief Minister had visited Goa twice on May 22 and June 28, during which he addressed a public meeting and also interacted with cross section of society. AAP has already announced that they will fight on all the 40 seats for the upcoming Goa polls due before March 2017. Hyderabad: Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh has defended the cow vigilants in the backdrop of flogging of Dalits at Una in Gujarat, saying those who consume cow meat are bringing disgrace to the entire community and should be taught a lesson. In a video uploaded on his Facebook page with the caption, "My comments on recent ?#?Una Dalit incident" the legislator from Gosamahal here blamed Mayawati for "dragging" all Dalits into the issue. "I am asking those Dalits (who kill cows). Is it necessary to murder cow and eat its meat? This is absolutely wrong. It is because of such 'galeez' (dirty or disgusting) Dalits, that the image of whole Dalit community which is patriotic, follows dharma, and worships cows, is tarnished. "I support the beating of Dalits whoever slaughter cows to consume its meat. It is apt. I also support those who taught them a lesson," Singh said in his two-and-half minute video, which was uploaded on July 30 and has so far got 65,000 views. He said there are so many Dalits in Telangana who take part in 'Gau Raksha' along with him. "I want to ask people who proclaim to be secular and Mayawati in particular, why Dalits are being dragged into this? I want to tell everyone, not only Dalits, but all sections of this society, be it Kshatriya, Yadav, if they resort to cow slaughter, we will teach them lesson in the same way. You please remember this," he further said. According to him, 'gau rakshaks' should not keep quiet until the cow is declared as "Mother of the nation". On July 11, four Dalit youths were beaten up by cow vigilantes at Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district when they were skinning a dead cow. Though the youths pleaded that they are from the skinning community, the cow vigilantes thrashed them alleging that they were involved in cow slaughter, sparking an outrage. New Delhi: AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa, who reportedly slapped DMK lawmaker Trichy Siva at Delhi airport on Saturday, claimed on Monday that she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to life in Tamil Nadu, alleging she was being forced to quit Rajya Sabha. Pushpa first rushed into the Well of the House to get permission to make her statement and then broke down several times as she said she faced "life threat" from state government and alluded to her being slapped by a "leader". She however did not make it clear who slapped her and when. Later, she was expelled from the party by AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa for "anti-party activities". Read: Jayalalithaa sacks MP Sasikala Pushpa for slapping DMK leader Raising the issue in the Upper House, she said, "If an MP is being slapped by a leader, where is human dignity," provoking strong protest from members of her own party AIADMK. As she found support in opposition members who wanted the chair to allow her to make her full submission, A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK) walked into the well of the House and demanded that her remarks be expunged. "I have life threat... I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post," she said. "Where is women's safety in this country? I am being harassed. I need protection. In Tamil Nadu, I don't have safety. There is threat to my life." Read: Sasikala thanks Sonia, Rahul but gives no hint if she will join any party Pushpa said she was thankful to her party leader for sending her to Rajya Sabha but "if a leader can slap an MP, I need protection. I need government's protection." "I want to serve the country (and not resign)," she said. "I am not here in Rajya Sabha for any benefit." Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and will protect her too. He however asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. The aggrieved member can write to the Chairman for necessary action, Kurien said. But the opposition benches broke into protest saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Women members of Congress party moved into aisles and vociferously raised the issue of her plight as a fellow member. Naresh Agarwal (SP) said a member could raise his or her personal matter and should be allowed to do so. AIADMK members too were up on their feet demanding expunging of extraneous remarks. However, Pushpa kept on insisting that her life was under threat. To this, Kurien said she could write to the Chairman. Agarwal said she has stated that she has been slapped and her life is under threat. "She did not say any member of this House or the other House has beaten her or slapped her. She said a leader (did that). If you are mentioning about anyone who cannot come and defend, don't say it," Kurien told Pushpa. But she kept up her rant. "My life and dignity is under threat. Will government save me? A women's life is under threat from state government. Will they give a statement of saving me," Pushpa said. I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said discussing the issue will not add to the glory of the House. Observing that he would not join the issue, Naidu said any member having any problem can write to the Chairman who will take appropriate action. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said she should be allowed to raise the issue. "This can happen with any member... How can a Member of Parliament not be allowed to express her view." Kurien said he allowed her a say. "She can write to Chairman. He will protect her... government will take care of her protection if necessary." "I can assure on behalf of the Chairman, we will do the needful in the matter. If she needs protection, government will take care of it," he added. They also agreed to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two countries from time to time to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders. (Photo: DC) Srinagar: Senior Indian Army officers and their counterparts in Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday pledged to show respect to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and rest of the Sino-Indian border. They also agreed to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two countries from time to time to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders. Two ceremonial border personnel meetings (BPM) were held to mark the raising day of the PLA-one at Chinese BPM Hut in Moldo Garrison in Chushul sector of eastern Ladakh and the other at TWD (Ten Wen Den) in Daulat Beg Oldie sector of the landlocked region. At both the meetings attended by senior officers from the two armies, interactions took place in a free, congenial and cordial environment, said Indian defence spokesperson Colonel S.D. Goswami. He said, The delegations parted amidst feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the LAC. He added, Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC. The PLA which is now the world's largest military force with a strength of approximately 2,285,000 personnel was founded on August 1, 1927 during the Nanchang uprising. At Moldo Garrison in Chushul sector, the delegations were led by Brigadier Navneet Kumar from the Indian side and Senior Colonel Fan Jun from the Chinese side and at those at Ten Wen Den in Daulat Beg Oldie by Colonel BS Uppal and Colonel Song Zhou Li, respectively. The ceremonial border personal meetings were marked by saluting the national flag of China by the members of both delegations. This was followed by the ceremonial address by the delegation leaders and exchange of greetings, wishes and vote of thanks and "reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border". Thereafter, a cultural programme showcasing vibrant Chinese culture and traditional grandeur was organized, the spokesperson said. Tamil Nadu has banned country liquor and replaced it with a cheaper version of foreign liquor branded by the state. (Photo; Representational Image) Mumbai: Days after social activist Anna Hazare demanded liquor prohibition in Maharashtra, the state government ruled out a blanket ban but said it may adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern of disallowing sale of country liquor. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwa, who had followed up the issue of banning alcohol in his home district Chandrapur, said liquor sale generates around Rs 13,000 crore revenue and the government is not considering banning it in any other part of the state. "If there is specific demand for liquor prohibition from a certain district, we will consider it. However, we are not considering a complete prohibition as of now," he said. Mungantiwar said aspects like Excise revenue, economics of the sugar industry, health issues involved with alcohol consumption and pressure from the NGOs and activists like Hazare need to be considered before taking any decision over the issue. "We get a revenue of around Rs 13,000 crore every year from sale of alcohol. Officials say that if we adopt the Tamil Nadu pattern and ban country liquor we may increase revenue," he said. Tamil Nadu has banned country liquor and replaced it with a cheaper version of foreign liquor branded by the state. All liquor shops are owned by the government which generates a total revenue of around Rs 23,000 crore, the minister said. Hazare had recently met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and submitted a letter demanding liquor prohibition in Maharashtra. He blamed alcoholism as one of the major causes for the brutal rape of a minor in Kopardi, Ahmednagar. NCP MLC Prakash Gajbhiye too had demanded prohibition of country made and foreign liquor in the state. "If Bihar could decide on banning alcohol thereby suffering Rs 3,000 crore loss, why can't a progressive state like Maharashtra do it as well. Maharashtra ranks 3rd in number of crimes in the country and it is due to alcoholism," he had said. Kolkata: Lashing out at the NDA-led Centre for pursuing "divisive politics", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the minority community not to fall into their trap. India, she said, was like one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers for decades. "The BJP government is disturbing the communal harmony of the country through various means. Its only job is to divide people, conduct cow census and spread of fundamentalism in the country. It is not only about attack on Muslim community, but also on Christians and Dalits. "They (BJP) are not interested in development of the communities but want to divide them," Banerjee said addressing a minority affairs program here. Urging the Muslim community not to fall prey to BJP's communal and divisive politics, she said, "They (BJP) are using Facebook and Twitter to spread communal hatred. I request my brothers and sisters of the minority community not to fall into their trap. "Please don't pay heed to whatever they say. They want you to fall into their trap. India is one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers. If one of our brothers falls sick, other brothers can not stay well," Banerjee said. The Chief Minister announced a slew of projects for the development of students of minority communities. A new girls hostel of Aliah University and a mobile app 'Haj Sathi' were inaugurated by her. Banerjee said the Center has withheld funds for minority development by citing "lame excuses". "Last week when I had gone to New Delhi, I inquired why the funds for the minority development have been withheld by citing lame excuses that the web portal they had developed for allocation of funds was not working. Why are there problems in the portal? There are no problems in the advertisements that you (the Center) give out in newspapers everyday propagating what you have done. "I want to make it very clear either you fix such technical problems or do not stop funds citing such lame excuses," Banerjee added. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tasked five of his top Cabinet colleagues with conveying to him the mann ki baat, including grievances, of BJP parliamentarians. Flooded with requests for appointments by party MPs, Modi, it is learnt, has asked five Cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Manohar Parrikar, to regularly meet the party MPs and convey their inputs, suggestions and grievances to him. Sources said though the PM himself meets party leaders and others as often as he can, his schedule doesnt let him keep up with the number of requests from party leaders for appointments. Most BJP MPs, sources said, prefer taking up grievances, whether related to their constituencies or about their state government, and inputs on other issues with Mr Modi. The PM had asked the MPs to review the implementation of the governments schemes in their constituencies and to keep his office informed about them. Sampark aur samvaad (connect and dialgoue) was the first mantra Mr Modi had asked all party leaders to follow after the NDA came to power in 2014. This mantra is often reiterated by him at his meetings with party leaders. It may be recalled one of the party MPs had raised the issue of Central ministers not being accessible to them at a parliamentary party meeting where the PM was present. Many MPs, sources said, had raised this issue with the leadership and there was growing discontentment among saffron legislators on this subject. After Mr Modis suggestion, some senior ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and Maneka Gandhi had met MPs in batches ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament. Party MPs were also asked to give their inputs for the Union Budget. However, sources said the party MPs prefer to meet the PM himself even to discuss organisation-related issues. Though these ministers are likely to meet the MPs in batches, most MPs want these meetings to be held on a one-on-one basis. Mumbai: There is no proposal before the Maharashtra government for creation of a separate Vidarbha state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the state Assembly here on Monday. "There's no such proposal (for a separate Vidarbha state). Carving out small states is a subject handled by the Centre," Fadnavis said. The Chief Minister's said this amid noisy protests by the Opposition, within and outside the Lower House, on the contentious issue of formation of a separate Vidarbha state. BJP's ally Shiv Sena, which is vehemently opposed to any such move, also joined in condemning the proponents of a separate Vidarbha. Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar asked Fadnavis to clarify stand on creation of a separate Vidarbha state. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil alleged there's fixing between Sena and BJP over Vidarbha. The Assembly was adjourned for the day after noisy scenes by Opposition legislators over the separate Vidarbha issue, which had disrupted the House proceedings on Friday too. Shiv Sena MLAs held a protest outside the Assembly building, opposing demand for separate Vidarbha state. "Maharashtra should remain united," Shouted the Sena legislators on the stairs of the main entrance of Vidhan Bhawan. They displayed a banner depicting BJP MP Nana Patole as "shekhchilli" (a comic character). Patole had last week moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha, seeking formation of aVidarbha state. Vikhe Patil said Maharashtra was formed after the sacrifice of 105 martyrs in Samyukt Maharashtra movement. "BJP has insulted people of Maharashtra by making and backing demand for separate Vidarbha," the Congress leader said. Earlier in the day, raising the separate Vidarbha issue in the Assembly, Congress-NCP legislators rushed to the well and raised slogans for a united Maharashtra. Shiv Sena MLA from Kolhapur, Rajesh Kshirsagar, picked up the mace in front of the Speaker but he put it down after the Chief Minister objected. The Sena legislators also sought an apology from BJP state unit president Raosaheb Danve for backing the demand of a separate Vidarbha state. "Fadnavis should clarify stand on a separate Vidarbha. The government is trying to cut Maharashtra into pieces," Vikhe Patil told reporters at Vidhan Bhawan. "If the Chief Minister is so honest about his intentions, he should table a resolution on separate Vidarbha in the legislature," he said. ANANTAPUR: Rayalaseema is incensed by the Centre having denied special category status to the state and also special packages to the region, which it had assured it would at the time of the state's division two and a half years ago. Anantapur MP J.C. Diwakar Reddys allegations against the Centre has sent a serious message to TD cadres, expressing disappointment against the BJP, its ally, for not listening to a series of representations that the state government had made. After the MP stressed the need to opt out of the alliance with the NDA government, pro-Rayalaseema organisations became quite vocal about the state government not taking appropriate steps to settle issues at the time of the states division. Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samiti founder Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy accused all parties in the Rajya Sabha of failing to expose centuries-old problems that had been endemic to the backward region. We need special packages to establish industries and also for the irrigation and farming sectors. The state and central governments should concentrate on the development of backward districts, he said. IT minister Palle Raghunath Reddy demanded that the Centre accord a special package to the state. We will not let the Centre overlook the assurances that it gave us. It should immediately announce packages for the state and the region, he said, adding that the state government would fight for a genuine cause. Rayalaseema Hakkula Vedika founder and TD Rajya Sabha member T.G. Venkatesh recalled that the Congress had cheated the people of AP by taking a decision hastily. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also assured us during his election campaign that he would grant special status to the state. Mr Naidu postponed his decision to quit from the NDA government after senior members asked him to wait for a few more months, he recalled. Congress activists burnt an effigy signifying the Central government at Penukonda, demanding special category status for the state. Ruby Rai was sent to Beur jail, but later got shifted to the juvenile remand home as she was found to be a minor as per details in her birth certificate. (Photo: File) Patna: A local court on Monday granted bail to Ruby Rai, a former intermediate arts topper, who was arrested in connection with the Intermediate toppers' scam on June 25 last. The Additional District Judge (ADJ) - I Parvez Alam granted bail to 18 year-old Rai after her advocate KD Mishra pleaded before the court that her remand in juvenile home was wrong and not in the interest of being a teeanager. "It will serve the best interest of the child if she is allowed bail," Mishra prayed and disagreed with the Juvenile Justice Board's contention that she had committed a grave offence by indulging in falsehood to get the top ranking in the intermediate arts examination this year. The vigilance advocate Vijay Kumar, however, opposed her bail plea, but the court rejected his contention before granting bail to Rai. Read: 'Told papa to get me passed but they made me top': Bihar topper Ruby Rai Ruby Rai was arrested by the SIT on June 25 last soon after coming out of re-test by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) which was conducted to check her academic abilities. She was sent to Beur jail, but later got shifted to the juvenile remand home as she was found to be a minor as per details in her birth certificate. Interestingly, it was Rai's reply to basic questions with regard to her subjects which apparently exposed her knowledge. Ruby Rai was a student of Vishun Roy College, belonging to another alleged scamster Bachcha Rai who too has been arrested along with over three dozen other accused persons in the intermediate toppers scam. She had said that political science was one of her subjects but described it as 'prodikal science' which teaches cooking. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh over his "accident" remark on the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhani Wani, saying it amounts to "backing" terrorist and "insulting" the army jawans killed on the borders. The BJP ally said the comment will put Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a fix, who had recently said people speaking against the nation need to be "taught a lesson". "Parrikar has only expressed the sentiments of people but who is it that is discouraging our armymen? If Pakistan mourns the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani it can be understood. But it was (J&K CM) Mehbooba Mufti who first shed tears on his killing and then it was Nirmal Singh, who allegedly termed it as an accident," the Sena said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. On July 30, talking on the encounter of Wani by security forces, Nirmal Singh had said, "Police and security forces told us (the government) that they don't know who the terrorist is. It was an accident. Because when an operation takes place, precautions are taken but we didn't know it would be of such kind. Had we known about it, preparations would have been made." "This is like backing the terrorist on one hand and insulting our martyred jawans on the other. This will make it challenging for Parrikar who talks of teaching a lesson to those who speak against the nation," it added. It further said, "It is easy to teach a lesson to film stars who at times speak irrationally. But, what about those who wear a mask of nationalism and make the same statements?" it said. If killing Wani was an accident then the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is also an accident, it added. "What will you do if people make up their minds that this government in Jammu and Kashmir is an accident?" it asked. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition challenging the discharge of BJP President Amit Shah in Sohrabuddin Sheikh 'fake' encounter case. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also killed allegedly by the police in 2006. A preliminary inquiry indicated that the encounters were 'fake' and carried out by the police at the behest of the then Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah. He however was given a clean chit by the Bombay High Court. "Rejected," a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said after nearly a half-an-hour hearing on the plea filed by former bureaucrat and social activist Harsh Mander challenging the clean chit to the BJP chief. Mander had filed a petition in Supreme Court in July this year, which sought quashing of the December 30, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. The petitioner has also questioned the findings of the sessions court which was endorsed by the high court exonerating him in the Tulsiram Prajapati killing case, holding that there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". The bench, while giving relief to Shah, said, "When the person is genuinely aggrieved then the issue takes a different colour but when the person is not remotely connected and wants to revive the case then its a different matter". Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, said, "Public must get the feeling that nobody is above the law". To this, the court said it does not consider anyone "above the law". Sibal said, "CBI has filed the charge sheet but I am unable to understand why did they turn turtle. Even his (Sohrabuddin) brother who filed the case against Shah withdrew his case later." He said that it is a high profile case which was transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra and added that justice to the people of India should be done. At the outset, the bench questioned the locus standi of Mander in the case. Sibal cited some earlier judgments of the apex court and said any member of society can have a locus in the case. He said that the high court should not have dismissed Mander's application and could have taken suo motu cognizance of the issue. He said, "CBI has filed a charge sheet and had made Shah accused number 16. It is a case of murder." Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Shah, cited various judgments of the apex court and questioned the locus of Mander in the case. He said, "This court has already held that if one is not connected with the case, he cannot interfere with anyone's trial." Salve further said, "It cannot be a case that if State is not going to file an appeal, I will file the appeal." He also said this court has held that a third party cannot be allowed to interfere in the trial unless it is an aggrieved party. In the petition, Mander had sought quashing of the December 30, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. The petitioner had questioned the findings of sessions court which was endorsed by the high court exonerating Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati killing case, holding that there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". Mander had approached the high court against the sessions court order which was dismissed by the Bombay High Court in March this year. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also killed allegedly by the police in 2006. New Delhi: Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan on Sunday announced launching of a political party by October 2 to provide an "alternative political vehicle" even as they hit out at AAP, saying it has a "supremo" culture. The political party will be launched by October 2 and a six-member committee has been formed for this purpose, Yadav said. Addressing the concluding session of a two-day Abhiyan national convention in New Delhi, Yadav said, "We were never secretive about going political. A decision to launch a political party was taken with nearly 93 per cent of the delegates at the convention overwhelmingly supporting it. "Of the 433 delegates, 405 voted in favour of launching the party," he said, amidst chanting of slogans 'Vande Materam', 'Inquilab Zindabad' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' by the volunteers. Yadav, however, clarified that Swaraj Abhiyan will continue to exist even after the new political party is launched. Although the decision to launch a party has been taken by the delegates, the two will function independently. The duo, however, parried questions on whether the new party will contest the Assembly elections in five states, including Punjab, which are going to polls next year. Yadav and Bhushan were sacked from AAP in April last year for "anti-party" activities. They had hit out at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal questioning his "supremo style of working" and "lack of transparency" in the party. "Even if we are championing clean politics, people will not vote for us unless they feel we can win elections. This was precisely the case with AAP. It took birth out of movements like India Against Corruption, Janlokpal and these helped get public support. "We should fight elections when we have done enough groundwork, be visible so that people can identify with us. We should contest polls only when we think we can win," Bhushan said. Yadav, however, said this does not mean that it will not contest polls at all. "We will look for alliances, but that will be only with people's movements or party that have taken birth from such movements," he said. Suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi was present at the event, but he left before the announcement of launching of a party was made. "I am not a part of this (Swaraj Abhiyan) political party. I have extended my support to alternative politics, which is not a forte of any single political party. Anyway, I have been suspended by the AAP," Gandhi said. He, along with another party MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, was suspended by AAP for aligning with Swaraj Abhiyan. Elaborating about functioning of the new outift, Mr Yadav said it will not repeat the mistakes which the AAP made and ensure transparency. New Delhi: Members from NDA partner TDP and opposition YSR Congress on Monday virtually joined hands in Lok Sabha to demand special category status for Andhra Pradesh. As soon as the House met for the day, members of the YSR Congress trooped into the Well holding placards and raising slogans seeking special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Members of BJP-led ruling alliance partner TDP also stood in the aisles with larger placards and raising similar slogans. Despite repeated reminders by the Speaker that placards are not allowed, members of the two parties continued to show banners and raise slogans throughout the Question Hour, which continued in the din. They carried on sloganeering in Zero Hour too. TDP is unhappy at the Narendra Modi government for not providing the desired funds to the state after Telangana was carved out of it. The fissures between BJP and TDP are being seen as so serious that there is speculation that the party led by N Chandrababu Naidu could even walk out of the NDA. New Delhi: Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed a brief uproar by opposition members over alleged remarks by Manohar Parrikar against actor Aamir Khan even as the Defence Minister denied having said what was quoted to him. During the Zero Hour, Derek O'Brien (TMC) raised the issue of "dangerous" rise in religious fundamentalism in the country, saying the government, ministers and people associated with the ruling party were "shooting their mouths off every day". "The Prime Minister needs to come and say these are in fact mistakes, this is not the thinking of the government. Prime Minister come here and assure us that we can live in the India we know -- Unity in Diversity". As soon as he finished his Zero Hour mention, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted a report which said 'Parrikar takes swipe at actor Aamir; Those who speak like this must be taught a lesson'. "So may I ask him (Parrikar who was sitting in the House) what lesson he is going to teach us...The entire nation should be told what type of action and lesson he is going to teach the minorities of this country," Azad said. To this, Parrikar said: "I would only say one thing. Let the members see the video...and make up their mind". However, this did not pacify the agitated opposition. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said what the minister had said was "highly objectionable". "It is a matter that borders on the question of privilege. Tomorrow you are going to threaten me...you will say there will be a social boycott, we will make them withdraw what they have said," he said. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to pacify the members. "Minister says please see the video. It means he has not said (as quoted in media)". Parrikar said he did not take anyone's name. "What is quoted is not what I have said. I never took the name of anyone, nor threatened anyone," the Defence Minister said. Recent reports had quoted Parrikar as saying that anyone speaking against the country must be "taught a lesson" while referring to alleged anti-national sloganeering at JNU earlier this year as well as remarks by an "actor" who "had said that his wife wants to move out of India". Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) said he has seen the video in question and whatever the minister has said is a "direct threat" to the minorities of the country. Azad again said if Parrikar had threatened Pakistan, everybody would have been with him. Amid uproar, BSP chief Mayawati said ever since the BJP-led government has assumed office at the Centre, religious minorities, especially Muslims, have been targeted. "Now, atrocities against dalits are on rise. We want the Prime Minister to come in the House and respond," she said. Azad said that an MP can be "pardoned", but Defence Minister or Home Minister are supposed to protect the territorial integrity of the country. "Is this the way of protecting territorial integrity of the country? You are alienating your own people," said the Leader of Opposition. As the uproar continued, Kurien said members could give a notice for discussion on the issue. He also said if a minister has given a provocative statement, there are rules to deal with it. On a lighter vein, the Deputy Chairman also said he was ready to spend money from his own pocket to supply rule book to every member. Earlier soon after listed papers were laid on the table, Anand Sharma (Congress) tried to raise the issue of continued attacks on dalits and Muslims by cow vigilantes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, should come and give a statement in the House on the issue. Last week during a discussion on the issue, a minister had intervened but outside the Parliament he had praised the organisation involved in the attack, Sharma said, adding the Prime Minister "should come and explain," he said. Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari raised the issue of death of Bihari labourers at an under-construction building in Pune. Ansari sought Rs 10 lakh compensation for each of the worker who were killed, while alleging that the building that was being constructed was unauthorised. Yadav said that labour laws were being rampantly violated in the country and even in the Parliament House complex, workers have been hired on contract. Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) raised the issue of flooding in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to rivers flowing out of Nepal. Talking about the recent flooding and resultant traffic jams in Gurgaon, Rajiv Shukla (Cong) said "Gurugram (Gurgaon) has turned into Gurujam". Hyderabad: The Centre has conveyed to TD MP T.G. Venkatesh that during the last two years the Centre had has released Rs 6,403 crores to Andhra Pradesh towards the Polavaram project and for construction of the capital city at Amaravati. In a written reply to the MP, Union minister of state for statastics and programme implementation Rao Indrajit Singh stated that though the AP Reorganisation Act did not specify the quantum of funds to be released to the state, the Centre was providing funds under various projects. He said Rs 2,803 crore had been given towards bridging the revenue deficit, Rs 700 crore towards seven economically backward districts (four in Rayala-seema and three in north coastal AP), Rs 2,050 crore towards capital construction and Rs 850 crore for Polavaram Dam, till March 31. Similarly with the 14th Finance Commission recommendations AP will get Rs 22,212 crore annual grants for a period of five years, he said. Outside Parliament, there was not much headway over the demand for special category status for the state, after TD president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus directions to his party MPs to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides raking up the issue in both Houses of Parliament. After getting a hint from information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, TD MPs under the leadership of Union minister Y.S. Chowdary met finance minister Arun Jaitley in the evening to know the Centres mind on their demand. It is reliably learnt that Mr Modi, who was briefed by Mr Venkaiah Naidu about Mr Jaitley rejecting the demand in the Rajya Sabha and subsequent reactions in AP, including that of the CM. Mr Modi reportedly asked Mr Venkaiah Naidu whether the three-member committee comprising Mr Jaitley, Mr Venkaiah Naidu himself and BJP president Amit Shah did not talk to the CM about the special package for the state. After Mr Venkaiah Naidu replied in the negative, Mr Modi directed him to speak to Mr Jaitley as well as with TD MPs to sort out the special package. TD MPs did not get an appoint to meet Mr Modi in the evening. Visakhapatnam: With more than 2.7 lakh pending cases, the Hyderabad High Court, which has jurisdiction over Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ranked the fifth in the backlog of cases in the country. In south India, the Hyderabad High Court is second only to the Madras HC, which reported 2.84 lakh pending cases. As per data with the government, over 38.7 lakh cases are pending in all the 24 high courts in the country and 62,657 cases were pending in the SC. District and subordinate courts in AP and TS have reported a backlog of over 10.3 lakh cases. At the national level, around 2.7 crore cases are pending with district and subordinate cou-rts and it would take over a decade to clear all pending litigations. Of the 2.7 crore pending cases in lower courts, 62.8 lakh (23.2 per cent) are on wait for more than five years. Similarly, 16 lakh out of the total 38.7 lakh pending cases in all the High Courts are pending for more than five years. In the SC, the number of cases pending for the last three years, stood at 27,184. A senior judge said that they can issue warrants against accu-sed and thereafter it is the duty of the police to execute the warrant. Sometimes, it takes time to arrest an accused on the run. It may take days to years, and as a result many cases are pending with courts, he said. Senior advocate and Forum of Legal Profe-ssionals president K. Muralidhar, however, feels that there were many reasons behind the pile up of cases in courts. Absence of witnesses and accused (in case of more than one invol-ved in offences) for hearing in the courts is also adding to delay in dispensation of justice and to the workload, with the shortage of judicial staff being another reasons for pending cases. SRINAGAR: Senior Indian Army officers and their counterparts in Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday pledged to show respect to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and rest of the Sino-Indian border. They also agreed to uphold the treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two countries from time to time to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders. Two ceremonial border personnel meetings were held to mark the raising day of the PLA-one at Chinese BPM Hut in Moldo Garrison in Chushul sector of eastern Ladakh and the other at TWD (Ten Wen Den) in Daulat Beg Oldie sector of the landlocked region. At both the meetings attended by seniors interactions took place in a free, congenial and cordial environment, said Indian defence spokesperson Colonel S.D. Goswami. Visakhapatnam: India has just 18 judges for every ten lakh people as against 40 in other developing countries. Over 477 posts of judges in various high courts are vacant as on July 25, 2016 and over 4,400 judge posts in district and subordinate courts are vacant as on December 31, 2015. According to the government, three judge posts remained vacant in the Supreme Court and 477 judge positions vacant across all the high courts. The Allahabad HC appears to be the worst affected with 83 judge positions vacant followed by the Punjab and Haryana HC with 41 vacancies, the Madras High Court 37 and the Hyderabad High Court 36. Centre puts Hyderabad CJ name on hold The Supreme Court collegium has repor-tedly recommended Justice K.M. Joseph, the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand HC, for heading the Hydera-bad High Court after the elevation of Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale. According to sour-ces, the Centre withheld the appointment of Justice K.M. Joseph, though it has cleared the elevation of Justice Bhosale on July 28. Bhopal: Social activist Medha Patkar has sparked protests from the saffron brigade by allegedly describing Narmada river as a prostitute that is being abused by private companies. The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, however, on Monday clarified that she never meant to defile the holy river and her statement was wrongly presented by the media. Earlier on Sunday, in an informal chat with media persons here, Ms Patkar had said several private firms were abusing the river like a veshya (prostitute). She had claimed that the private companies were being fed 172 crore liters of water every day. Irked over Patkars reported remarks, local BJP leader Amrit Lal Agrawal and several other NGOs approached Barwani police station to lodge a complaint against her. However, police did not accept the complaint advising them to file it in Bhopal police station where she reportedly made the statement. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday posted for hearing on August 8, petitions relating to the grant of remission to the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who are in jail for the last 25 years. A three-judge bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi, P.C. Pant and A.M. Kanwilkar posted the matter for further hearing on August 8 after brief submissions from senior counsel Rakesh Diwedi for Tamil Nadu, requesting that the matter may be heard after disposal of a review petition filed by the State. He told the court that a review has been sought against the findings of the five-judge Constitution bench that TN can release the convicts only after consultation with the Centre and consultation will mean concurrence or approval. In December 2015 a five-judge Bench had held that the State has no power to order suo motu release of seven convicts, serving life term by granting remission. New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh will go ahead with his Pakistan visit for the Saarc home/interior ministers conference this week despite a threat by Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed to organise countrywide protest rallies. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said: The Saarc meet is a multi-lateral one. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or have a separate meeting with the Pakistan home minister. Sources said while Indian security agencies were in touch with their Pakistani counterparts for the ministers visit, it was primarily the host countrys responsibility to provide foolproof security to visiting leaders. The Indian minister has Z-plus security cover provided by the NSGs Black Cat commandos. In a statement issued in Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed said, I want to ask the Pakistani government: will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath, who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris. Hafiz Saeed is the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack. In his statement, Saeed added: If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protests to tell the world that Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive the Kashmiris killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris. He also accused the home minister of being responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris" Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin has, meanwhile, urged Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall his ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India. Chennai: The views expressed by the authors and the artistes in their articles and creations in Pondicherry University students council magazine is purely theirs and the university administration has absolutely no role in it, the university administration said in a press release. The magazine, released on Wednesday, contained strong criticism of the Modi-led NDA government which reportedly provoked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Sangh Parivar organisations. The state president of BJP Puducherry unit, V. Saminathan will organise a protest in front of the university gate on Monday against the magazine and the university administration for giving permission to publish a magazine which is intended to defame the Central government. The magazine brought out by the Pondicherry University Students Council tilted WIDERSTAND was an activity that was taken up by the outgoing Students Council of Pondicherry University of the academic year 2015-16, The organisers of the workshop Students Welfare in Digital India: Prospects and Problems had invited the Vice Chancellor to inaugurate the workshop and the release of the magazine was an impromptu act of the organisers, the press release said. Chennai: With classes for first year students in engineering colleges set to begin on Monday, Anna University has asked the first year students to use the wi-fi facility available on the university campus for academic purposes. When asked whether the use of social media is banned on campus, Anna University registrar S.Ganesan said, We only the asked the students to use the internet facility for education purposes. We advised students to use ICT technologies for academic purposes like downloading books and reading online journals instead of wasting time on social media, he said. P. Narayanasamy, Dean , College of Engineering, Guindy said, We used to share the information about the events in WhatsApp. There is no ban on the use of social media at the campus. The University has also asked the students switch off their phones while attending the classes. On anti-ragging measures, he said, All preparatory works have been done for reopening of our colleges. Senior faculty members including lady staff will be watching students at the bus stand, canteen and hostel. To prevent any ragging incidents at CEG campus hostels the authorities have deputed the teams to do the rounds until midnight. The anti-ragging van which will be used for campaign and surprise visits is also made available at the campus. We had taken an undertaking from the parents of the students regarding the ragging. Students are made aware of the punishments for violating the undertaking, he said. Ragging will attract Rs 2 lakh fine with imprisonment.They also could not join in any other colleges. According to him, police swinging their lathis against old and pregnant women is certainly not an act of bravado and certainly as Home Minister, he can not endorse any such act. Bengaluru: Following widespread condemnation of the alleged police atrocities in Navalgud taluk, Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar on Sunday announced that the home department had constituted internal inquiry panel, headed by ADGP Kamal Pant, to look into the matter. Speaking to reporters at his residence here, Dr Parameshwar also apologised people of Navalgund Taluk for Saturdays police action. It is unfortunate that police had indulged in such an act. I have certainly taken very serious note of this. Therefore, I have ordered the ADGP Pant to prepare a report within a weeks time. I have also directed the officials concerned to suspend Circle Inspector Arun Happalgi and transfer DySP Olekar with immediate effect, he said. According to him, police swinging their lathis against old and pregnant women is certainly not an act of bravado and certainly as Home Minister, he can not endorse any such act. I will certainly take action against erring officials, he said. In response to a question, Dr Parameshwar warned that those who had been posting messages in social media about Rakesh Siddaramaiahs death. There must be self regulation and one must follow it religiously. Death is not to be celebrated. Cyber crime police will look into these messages and deal appropriately, if anyone is violating them, he said. Chennai: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has urged the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre to implement a reservation policy for Dalits in the private sector. Stating that his party had included the Dalit reservation issue in its 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto, the former Chief Minister said the DMK had adopted resolutions in this regard in the past as well. We have clearly stated that we will prevail upon the Centre to compulsorily follow job reservation in the private sector too, he said. Referring to reports that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is taking up several initiatives to protect the Dalit community and provide reservation for them in private sector, Mr Karunanidhi said it appeared that the Centre is taking such steps with an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Welcoming it, he said, I urge the Centre to come up with a detailed execution plan on implementation of the scheme that does not remain on paper. Vijayawada: Telugu Desam MPs and senior leaders have suggested to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that there was no use of continuing in the NDA government nor retaining the partys ties with the BJP. At a four-hour meeting with Mr Naidu, several MPs expressed their anger over the BJP leadership, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They said that if the TD did not act firmly, people would misunderstand and would soon express their anger if the situation continued in the same manner. The CM said that it was best not to criticise anyone personally. TD MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy told the media that Mr Modi viewed Mr Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as his competitors. He felt that the partys only option was to step out of the alliance, an eventuality that would surely occur one day, and something that he had told Mr Naidu too. Party MP Kesineni Srinivas said he was even ready to resign from his membership of the Lok Sabha for the sake of special status. This was very important to them, but both MPs said that they would follow the CMs instructions. Mr Naidu expressed displeasure over the performance of TD MPs when the debate was held in the Rajya Sabha. All the MPs were present, including Telangana representative Garikipati Mohana Rao. Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president Dr K. Laxman on Monday accused the TRS government in the state and non-BJP governments in other states of not giving enough publicity to the schemes initiated by the Central government. He said Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was ignoring the administration to focus on the defection of legislators and leaders from other parties to the TRS. KCR garu has been busy luring legislators and leaders from other parties ignoring state administration. Eamcet and other issues are the result of this lack of focus. He should immediately sack deputy CM and education minister Kadiam Srihari and take stringent action against all those involved in the scam, Dr Laxman said, accusing the TRS government of causing mental agony to 60,000 students. Dr Laxman said though the Central government was providing huge aid to states and implementing schemes, non-BJP ruled states, including Telan-gana, do not give due publicity to the Central schemes. Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modis first visit to Telangana will be a shot in the arm for the BJP, Dr Laxman said that the party is making all arrangements to make Mr Modis visit memorable. To a question, he said the BJP would take up a series of agitations and programmes after August in the State. Thiruvananthapuram: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday to hold talks with vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The AICC leadership summoned them for talks on party revamp at a time when their cup of woes is full with KC (M) chief K. M. Mani deciding to sit as a separate bloc in the Assembly. They will take a decision on forming a high power committee to strengthen the party. Already Mr Gandhi had met more than 80 leaders from the state and heard their views on strengthening the party after the poll debacle. The majority of them were of the opinion that party should be revamped right from the block level. A high power committee will be formed to decide the future course of action. Though a final decision will not be taken on Thursday, senior leaders like A. K. Antony will have a say in it, said a Congress leader. A plethora of senior leaders cutting across the two factions had demanded to the AICC leadership that the party cannot go forth with KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran at the helm, putting them in a dilemma. Mr Antony had recommended retaining Mr Sudheeran. Similarly, the AICC leadership had come out with a stern directive that under no circumstances should the leaders hold group meetings. Despite this, Mr Chennithala called the meeting of I group only to get a rude jolt when P.P. Thankachan, the UDF convener, alone turned up. Mr Chennithala has been on damage controlling measures initiating meetings with prominent I group leaders in various districts. The drums of war sound distantly muffled in Norways mist-shrouded Naeroy Valley as Europeans speculate on Americas role in shaping world events after US President Barack Obamas term ends. But the war drums arent altogether silent as the prospect of Donald Trump inching towards the White House raises new hopes and fears. This idyllic retreat is not unfamiliar with belligerent rulers. A stone memorial commemorates the 1894 visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II who is blamed for starting World War I. However, the immediate worry is not that Mr Trump might kindle the fires of war but that he might not be sufficiently energetic in upholding the North Atlantic Treaty Alliances self-appointed mission to defend what it calls the free world against Russian designs. Norwegian historian Olav Riste calls Norway Natos neutral ally. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, had complimented Norway on not contributing soldiers to Nato. The Norwegians invented dynamite but they also invented the indispensable paper clip. They might earn handsomely from exporting small arms and war material but the Nobel Peace Centre overlooking Oslo harbour testifies to their commitment to world peace. The perceived threat Mr Trump is accused of not taking seriously enough is not to Norway, Sweden or Denmark. It is to the three smaller Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that experienced Moscows control during the Cold War. Now, they fear they may be victims of the kind of campaign Russia is accused of orchestrating to annex Ukraines Crimea peninsula in February 2014. Seeing themselves in the frontline of any potential conflict with Russia, they are putting their armies on war footing. Asked at the convention that anointed him the Republican candidate about the possibility of aggression, Mr Trump said if Russia attacked the Baltic states he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing if those nations have fulfilled their obligations to us. He added: If they fulfil their obligations to us, the answer is yes. Europeans dont consider this good enough. They believe Natos purpose is to pre-empt an attack on any member nation. It must forestall a situation where the US President needs to undertake a review. Its his job to convince any potential aggressor that the reprisals for aggression will be swift and severe. The Baltic states would be swallowed up, it is argued, by the time Mr Trump reviews the situation and decides they deserve to be defended. Convinced that Natos plans are too small and symbolic to deter the Russians, the Baltic states and their southern neighbour Poland want a sophisticated anti-missile shield for protection. Article 5 of Natos charter Attack against one... shall be considered an attack against... all implies aggression in the Baltics would automatically trigger a response by all Nato members, including the US. It seems inconceivable after the reckless military adventurism of a President like George W. Bush that the US would not go to the aid of an ally who is genuinely threatened. Europeans have warned about the Russian threat to the Baltic states since 2014. The Estonian defence ministrys recent report claimed Russia was the only external force presenting a threat to the countrys constitutional order. Similar warnings were issued by respected European think tanks like Londons Chatham House which also draws attention to Vladimir Putins push to modernise Russias military. Unable to forget the isolationist Monroe Doctrine, sceptical Europeans also recall the famous letter Lyndon Johnson wrote to Turkeys PM, Ismet Inonu, during the Cyprus crisis. Johnson implicitly warned Inonu that Nato might not come to Turkeys assistance if Turkish involvement in Cyprus led to a Soviet invasion of Turkey. Intended to warn Ankara not to meddle in Cyprus, this was seen by some as evidence of the non-binding nature of Natos security guarantees. It seemed like a precedent for America to stand back from what other nations see as its treaty obligations. Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of Natos military committee, doesnt yet take an specially alarmist view of the Russian threat to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But although he is not contemplating a major troop buildup in East Europe, there are plans for a new Nato force in Poland and the three Baltic nations. Gen. Pavels four battalions of up to 1,000 troops each are part of a wider deterrent force that might act as a political rather than a military deterrent. A bigger force isnt needed yet, he says. It is not the aim of Nato to create a military barrier against broad-scale Russian aggression, because such aggression is not on the agenda and no intelligence assessment suggests such a thing. The deterrent force would ensure there was no repetition of Crimea. This time, it would produce a collective Nato response. All this has led to a rise in tension that is palpable even amid the pine-shrouded hillsides that sweep precipitously down to the still waters of Norways fjords. What the West ignores is that Natos eastward push has added to Russias security concerns. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became members in 2004, and some analysts cite Ukraines flirting with Nato as the reason for Moscows annexation of Crimea. Which side began this escalation is like the old chicken-and-egg argument. The point is that the ideological Cold War may have ended but the old-fashioned rivalry between the great powers for influence, political control, access to resources and domination of trade routes remains as intense as ever. It would appear as the mists begin to clear above the Norwegian mountains that the race between the US and Russia was never anything else. Dhakas Gulshan is a combination of New Delhis Connaught Place and Diplomatic Enclave. On the evening of July 1, seven young men sporting checked Arab kaffieyeh and armed with weapons, including an AK-22, a low-cost, locally manufactured, sub-calibre lookalike of the iconic AK-47, stormed into the Holey Artisan Bakery. They barricaded themselves inside with hostages, including an Indian girl. All efforts at negotiation by the police were futile and finally they were eliminated by Bangladeshi forces which used BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers as battering rams to breach the restaurants walls. When the smoke and dust cleared, the body count at was 29 dead including six terrorists, 20 hostages and two policemen. Four of the dead terrorists were identified by the Bangladesh police counter-terrorist unit as Akash, Bikash, Don and Badhon, typical Bangla nom des guerre reminiscent of the violent Naxal era of Kishanji in West Bengal. The IS never claimed responsibility for the Gulshan attack, which media reports suggested were carried out by cadres of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), that was already on the radar of the Indian intelligence agencies over the Khagragarh bomb blasts in Burdwan district in October 2014. The ripples from the Gulshan attack will impact India as well. Any major metropolis, with a dense population, and police forces, generally undermanned and inadequately equipped, is the ideal urban jungle, where problems of law and order are imposed on social unrest. In eastern India, Kolkata, located not too far from the Bangladesh border and with a substantial floating population of visitors from that country fits this profile admirably. Bangladeshi criminals on the run from the police in their country have been known to exploit densely populated Kolkata for hideouts. This heightens the possibility of JMB trying to seek sanctuary in WB. The security of Indias borders is the task of the Government of India, but in practice this must be an integrated working arrangement between the Central and state governments, with the state police and intelligence agencies giving backup to Central forces in the first tier of integrated border management. Management of the West Bengal-Bangladesh border follows the same organisational format, though in the overall perception at the national level, the threat levels across Indias eastern borders with Bangladesh are a relatively lower priority in contrast with the western and northern ones adjoining Pakistan and China. This is not surprising as India has fought four wars with Pakistan since 1947. The focus briefly shifted eastwards during the Bangladesh operations in 1971, but the priorities were pulled back towards the western border after Russian intervention in Afghanistan in 1979 and then, much later, after America intensified its operations in the Af-Pak region. The liberalism brought to Bangladesh by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, after the victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, was deliberately eroded after his assassination by a series of military regimes that took over and was replaced by ultra-radicalised Wahhabi Islam, with major financial incentives for propagation of jihad provided by Islamic charities based in Saudi Arabia. A network of mosques and madrasas have been built with Saudi funds in India too, and also, disturbingly, in the Terai belt on the India-Nepal border. The Gulshan attack in Dhaka by terrorists is a warning that India can ignore only at its own peril. The spread of Wahhabi Islam in Bangladesh is a danger signal to the entire subcontinent, and calls for a major politico-military effort by Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh. India must continue to fully back Sheikh Hasina and her government. Things are fluid in Bangladesh, and New Delhi must constantly review its policy options there. All varieties of radical religious sentiments are unacceptable in the secular Indian milieu. Aberrations like violence over caste, beef-eating, and cow slaughter have the potential to metamorphose into full-blown security crises if they are allowed to ferment. Puritanical opposition to so-called symbols of Western decadence like Holey Artisan Cafe reveals a medieval mindset that has no place in any modern society. Irom Sharmila Chanu, the iconic symbol in the fight against the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, surprised everyone by announcing she would end her 16-year-long fast on August 9, contest the Manipur Assembly polls, and also get married. If her 800-week fast created history by being the worlds longest hungerstrike, and, perhaps, the most talked-about democratic protest by a lone individual, her decision to plunge headlong into electoral politics demonstrates her faith in the nations democratic process. The incident that changed Irom Sharmilas life was the November 2, 2000 killing of 10 civilians waiting at a bus stop at Malom, near Imphal, by the Assam Rifles. The security establishment contested the claim that the deceased were civilians. Thats a different debate, but the alleged cold-blooded killings led Sharmila to launch a hungerstrike on November 5, 2000. She wouldnt break her fast ever since, forcing the authorities to charge her with attempts to commit suicide and forcefeed her with nasal drips to keep her alive. A cabin at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal has become her home. She has, of course, been in judicial custody. Now she has decided to break her fast, apparently as the Government of India paid no heed to her protracted fast demanding AFSPAs repeal. Her decision to contest next years Manipur Assembly polls as an Independent is aimed at raising the demand for AFSPAs repeal within the House. Obviously, she wants to continue her fight against AFSPA as a part of the Indian political system. Irom Sharmila is well within her rights as a citizen to fast, end her fast, to contest elections or enter into matrimony with the person of her choice. Now her supporters, and perhaps even family members, appear opposed to her move to not only end her fast but also to her proposed marriage to a Goan-born British national who kept her spirits high for many years with gifts, letters and wishes, along with a whole lot of Manipuris and other Indians. Those unhappy with Sharmilas decision feel the move will dilute the movement for AFSPAs repeal. But no genuine movement or dissent can wither away simply as the person seen to be leading it as a mascot decides to move on. In any case, Sharmila is not withdrawing from her fight against AFSPA; she has only decided to chart a new path to raise the issue and others that may concern her. I have to ask a question, however bitter it sounds: were these people waiting for frail Sharmilas health to deteriorate further from not eating for 16 years and then take to the streets, call strikes and create an uprising? From a young woman of 28 in 2000, when she began her fast, Irom Sharmila is now in her mid-40s. In all this time, no one really tried even relay hungerstrikes seriously to give her company. Therefore, today, they have no right to oppose her decision to call off her fast. If these people are so bothered about the movement getting retarded, some of them can choose the path Sharmila has shown and launch any democratic and peaceful form of protest. There are two key issues here: one is that of human rights violations, the other is politics over an issue. Human rights have been violated in Manipur and elsewhere by both the security forces and the militants. But violations by men in uniform hogs media attention as they are law enforcers, and that surprises no one. In politics, however, the real cause for concern over AFSPA is that militants and their supporters actually thrive on excesses by the armed forces whose members get immunity under this law. Significantly, Sharmila decided to end her fast at a time when AFSPA has, for the first time since its inception in 1958, hit a roadblock put up by none other than the Supreme Court. In an unprecedented ruling on July 8, the nations highest court said, rather unambiguously, that the members of the armed forces cannot simply shoot to kill militants engaged in internal disturbances by treating them as enemies. The court also said armed forces members would face criminal prosecution if found using excessive force even in areas where AFSPA is in force. The judges delivering the order said: If members of our armed forces are deployed and employed to kill citizens of our country on the mere allegation or suspicion that they are the enemy, not only the rule of law, but democracy would be in grave danger. This observation debunked the general view that AFSPA provides complete immunity to armed forces personnel from facing trial over their acts, particularly over charges of excessive use of force. There is no concept of absolute immunity from trial by criminal courts, the judgment noted. There is no doubt Sharmila has achieved what she set out to do: raise the nations consciousness against draconian measures to contain rebellions. Look at AFSPA all that the authorities need to do to enforce this law is to declare an area disturbed. Once this is done, AFSPA comes into force and members of the armed forces can search, detain and question anyone without a warrant, and even shoot to the extent of causing death, merely on suspicion that the person is a militant. To top it all, court action against an accused soldier can proceed only after the Centres prior approval. If these provisions arent against citizens fundamental rights, what is? The British Raj had used similar powers to maximise executive authority and try to contain democratic protests against colonial rule. Is AFSPA really the sole effective instrument to tackle insurgencies? I would argue that in a state like Manipur, AFSPA is actually helping the militants cause. That is because whenever soldiers commit excesses under the shadow of this law that provides them legal immunity, the masses take to the streets and vent their ire against the Indian state. That helps the insurgents, but who bothers? The Army top brass wants AFSPA to stay and the Centre cant summon the courage to dilute its provisions. That is one side of the story. But the other is equally strong: what should the armed forces do when armed insurgents train their automatic weapons at them? They cant simply wait and think of alternative options. The debate over AFSPA is, therefore, not going to end any time soon. The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it's confident the full court will affirm the panel's previous ruling. New York: Cable and telecom industry groups want a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling on "net neutrality" that preserved regulations forcing internet providers to treat all online traffic equally. The Wireless Association, an industry trade group also known as CTIA, and other groups on Friday filed petitions for the case to be reheard by all of the court's judges. Last month, a three-judge panel from the court upheld the government's net neutrality rules that treat the internet like a public utility and prohibit blocking, slowing and creating paid fast lanes for online traffic. The 2-1 ruling was a huge victory for the Obama administration and the consumer groups and internet companies that have pushed net neutrality for years. The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it's confident the full court will affirm the panel's previous ruling. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Sony has said that it will only sell premium devices in India. (Representational image) In a bid concentrate on lucrative regions, Japanese consumer goods manufacturer Sony said that they will de-focus on a number of regions including India. Now the company has confirmed that it will only sell its premium band of Xperia devices in the country. According to media reports, Vijay Singh Jaswal, Head of Xperia business, Sony India, in a statement pointed out that the company is trying to make its operation sharper and only focus on selected profitable products. The new marketing strategy will now encompass offering premium products in the smartphone segment, considering a recent change in their business tactic. As a valid justification, Jaswal said that things have no gone according to plan for the company but its premium smartphone strategy has helped keep the business afloat with 55 per cent average selling price in the first quarter of FY16. In the past it has shuffled many strategies to keep its business profitable but has been disappointed every time with the arrival of cheaper smartphones with more functionality. In such a scenario, the best ploy for the company is to only operate in the higher segment where it has been successful in the past. For instance, the Xperia Z series had been immensely popular in the market but has now come to a halt; the company now plans to introduce a new Xperia X series which will concentrate on enhanced camera, battery life, and software. However, it will still be a challenge for the company to match other reputed smartphone manufacturing companies such as Samsung, Apple, OnePlus, and Xiaomi who have climbed the ranks due to their myriad product offerings. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Speaking at a church service, Clinton said Trump had been insulting to a family who had sacrificed so much. (Photo: AFP) Washington: US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump on Sunday of scapegoating the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq , after the Republican nominee took issue with remarks the soldier's father made at the Democratic National Convention. Trump, in an ABC interview that aired on Sunday, questioned why Ghazala Khan, mother of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, stood quietly by her husband, Khizr Khan, as he took the stage at last week's Democratic convention in Philadelphia . Trump suggested the mother might not have been "allowed" to speak. Speaking at a church service, Clinton said Trump had been insulting to a family who had sacrificed so much. She also used the episode to contrast her own religious faith with that of Trump, who has spoken of religion on the campaign trail infrequently. "I don't begrudge anyone of any other faith or of no faith at all, but I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability," Clinton said in remarks at the Imani Temple Ministries, an African-American church in Cleveland Heights , Ohio . "It's just not how I was raised, that's not how I was taught in my church," said Clinton, who grew up as a Methodist. "Tim Kaine and I are people of faith," she said, referring to her vice presidential running mate, who is a Catholic. Top Republican lawmakers House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also condemned Trump's remarks in separate statements, although they did not mention their presidential candidate by name. "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example," Ryan said. "His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honoured. Period." he said. Earlier on Sunday, Ghazala Khan took up her own defense in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying her husband had asked her in advance whether she would want to speak at the convention but that she had decided she would be unable to do so on stage because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son. "Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn't allowed to say anything. That is not true," she wrote. "When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant." In a statement issued on Sunday evening by the Trump campaign, Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, said that he and the Republican nominee "believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero" that his family, like other families of fallen soldiers, "should be cherished by every American." Police across the country, and especially in Texas, remain on edge after a rash of shootings, including one on July 7 in Dallas which saw five officers killed by a black extremist. (Photo: Twitter) Washington: Police in Texas has said they were seeking a person of interest in an overnight shooting that killed a young woman and wounded four other people. The Austin Police Department on Sunday said it was seeking Endicott McCray, a slender 24-year-old black man. Police across the country, and especially in Texas, remain on edge after a rash of shootings, including one on July 7 in Dallas which saw five officers killed by a black extremist. The incident in Austin began shortly after 2:15 am (local time) in an area filled with bars and nightclubs. Police warned people to avoid the area, tweeting: "Active shooter incident downtown, multiple victims. Stay away from downtown." A woman in her 20s was killed, authorities said. They have not named any of the victims, three of whom were treated at a hospital while the fourth was treated at the scene and released. It was unclear whether the shooter knew any of the victims. At a press conference broadcast via Periscope, Austin Police Chief of Staff Brian Manley said that when officers arrived they found "a very chaotic scene." There appeared to have been a disturbance during which an individual pulled out a gun and fired into a crowd, he said. A second shooting nearby was apparently unrelated. No one was hurt. Sam Vedamanikam, 26, told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper that he and several friends were leaving a dance club when they heard four or five gunshots. "There were just tons of people on Sixth Street and I see all of them jump toward the ground," Vedamanikam said. "A lot of people were screaming." The National Security Council Act was pushed through parliament in December by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has faced calls to resign for more than a year over an huge alleged corruption scandal. (Photo: AP) Kuala Lumpur: Tough new security legislation came into force Monday in Malaysia, with critics saying the "draconian" law threatens democracy and could be used against opponents of the scandal-tainted premier. The National Security Council Act was pushed through parliament in December by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has faced calls to resign for more than a year over an huge alleged corruption scandal. The legislation gives the government power to declare virtual martial law in areas deemed to be under "security threat". Critics accused Najib and his government of enacting the law, and other tough recent legislation, to ward off political and legal challenges. "The law will definitely put fear in people planning to participate in street protests," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian think tank. "The public perception in terms of the timing of the draconian law is that Najib wants the law in order to stay in office." The legislation allows a National Security Council headed by the prime minister to essentially suspend civil liberties in designated "security areas", giving security forces sweeping powers of search, seizure and arrest. Najib has defended the law as necessary to combat terrorism, but its passage came amid the ongoing furore over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state investment fund he founded and oversaw. The corruption scandal swirling around Najib has spawned a cross-party alliance, including even members of his own ruling party, demanding Najib be removed and investigated. Najib and 1MDB deny wrongdoing. Authorities in several countries are investigating allegations that investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, was looted over several years. Najib has stifled domestic pressure by cracking down on critics within his ruling party, scuttling domestic probes, and arresting whistleblowers and journalists. The UN's human rights agency and other rights organisations have pilloried the National Security Council Act as a potentially frightening step backward. "We are gravely concerned that... the act may encourage human rights violations," Laurent Meillan, acting head of the UN Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia, said in a statement last week. Last week, the US Justice Department launched a move to seize more than $1 billion in assets it says were purchased with money stolen from 1MDB, including by a "high-ranking Malaysian government official", clearly referring to Najib. The US move has heightened expectations of further anti-Najib protests in Malaysia, but there are concerns the security law could be used to prevent them. Last August tens of thousands of people paralysed the capital Kuala Lumpur demanding he stand down. Najib's ruling party has tightly controlled Malaysia since 1957 but increasingly faces accusations of corruption and repression. Taipei: Wearing traditional dress from feather headdresses to loincloths, members of Taiwans indigenous community met President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday as she made a landmark apology for centuries of suffering, including the loss of ancestral lands. Tsai, the islands first leader with aboriginal heritage, will personally head a committee to investigate past injustices as part of government efforts to ease tensions with the native community. I apologise to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, offering our deepest apology for the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years, she said in her speech. London: Britain's House of Lords could delay the process of the UK's exit from the European Union which could lead to a second referendum, a senior Conservative party peer warned on Monday. Baroness Wheatcroft said she hoped that a pause in introducing Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the official trigger for Brexit, could lead to British public potentially changing its mind. "If it comes to a Bill, I think the Lords might actually delay things. I think there's a majority in the Lords for remaining," she told 'The Times'. Asked whether she would support peers in the Upper House of Britain delaying Brexit legislation, the former editor in chief of the 'Wall Street Journal Europe' replied: "Yes I would. And I would hope, while we delayed things, that there would be sufficient movement in the EU to justify putting it to the electorate, either through a general election or a second referendum." A legal challenge on whether the UK government can trigger Article 50 without the authorisation of Parliament will be heard in the High Court in the coming months. It follows the June 23 referendum when the British electorate voted 52 to 48 per cent in favour of leaving the 28-member bloc. Once Article 50 is invoked, the process of Brexit is in theory irreversible, with the process itself estimated to take anything between two years and a decade. Theresa May, who took charge as Britain's Prime Minister following the Brexit vote, has indicated that the official process will not start before the end of the year, and also said that the position of the constituent UK countries innegotiations must be made clear in advance. She has repeatedly stressed that "Brexit means Brexit" and that her government's focus will be on securing the best possible deal for the UK outside the EU. The Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Moscow: All five people on board a Russian military helicopter that was shot down over Syria on Monday are believed to have died, the Kremlin said. The Russian defence ministry said the Russian military helicopter was shot down over the Syrian province of Idlib. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground in Idlib province after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the ministry said in a statement. "There were three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation centre in Syria on board," it said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences over the deaths of the five soldiers. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," he told journalists. Photos shared widely on social networks by Syrian opposition activists on Monday purported to depict the smoking craft in the desert and personal belongings of those inside, including Russian drivers' licences, passports and insurance cards, as well as Orthodox Christian icons. The authenticity of the pictures could not be independently confirmed. The Monday downing brought the toll for Russian soldiers killed in the Syrian conflict to 18. In the most recent death, contract soldier Nikita Shevchenko was killed in a mine blast in Aleppo province while accompanying an aid convoy, the ministry said on July 22. The terror threat level in the UK is at "severe", meaning an attack is highly likely. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) London: British public make thousands of contributions every day including raising concerns about neighbours and friends becoming "more extreme" to help Scotland Yard in the fight against terror, a top counter-terrorism officer said today. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain's senior-most counter-terrorism police chief, said the British public make more than 3,600 contributions daily which include use of anti-terrorist hotline calls and reporting suspicious online content. "The information we receive helps our investigations, intelligence-gathering and preventative work; they help us carry out significant protective security operations; they help us get the right support for vulnerable people, and they undermine the plans of terrorists," Rowley told BBC. The terror threat level in the UK is at "severe", meaning an attack is highly likely. Rowley said members of the public were passing information to authorities about people behaving unusually in public places, while others were raising concerns about neighbours and friends becoming "more extreme". "We are drawing people back from a path towards extremism through partnership activity. Even if you take a view that 90 per cent of those people may have self-treated or not gone on to become terrorists, that is still a massive effect," Rowley said. Other examples of the "collective effort" referred to by Scotland Yard include people visiting police and government websites for advice on how to protect homes and businesses or stay safe in the event of an attack. "It has often been said that 'communities defeat terrorism' and now that's more important than ever before," he said. ISIS uses brutal methods of punishment, including chopping off limbs for theft, throwing homosexuals off the top of buildings, beheading for apostasy and so on. (Photo: Twitter) Baghdad: ISIS terrorists blindfolded and dragged a man into the public square in the groups stronghold city of Raqqa in Syria, and chopped off his hand with a cleaver even as a crowd looked on. According to a report in the Daily Mail, after being dragged into the street, the man was forced into a seat while his arm was held to a wooden table. A balaclava-wearing terrorist then positioned a cleaver on the man's wrist and struck down on the weapon with a large metal bar, cutting off the mans hand above the elbow. After the man's hand was chopped off, it was quickly bandaged by another ISIS militant as the crowd watched. A baying crowd, which included children, watched as a man then rushed forth to bandage the thiefs stump of an arm. It is not the first time ISIS have carried out public amputations in front of a cheering crowd. Similar pictures emerged of a man having his hand chopped off in early June in another Syrian city. In February, a man had his hand cut off in Raqqa in what was described as the 'implementation of the punishment of a thief from Raqqa city'. ISIS uses scripture to justify its brutal punishments. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia and Iran also prescribe amputation of limbs for thievery. The new images have emerged even as ISIS has claimed responsibility for a wave of terror attacks in Europe during the month of Ramadan and after. But the terror group has been fast losing territory to US-led coalition forces in Syria and Iraq over the last year. Therefore, IS are now encouraging volunteers to carry out lone-wolf attacks in Europe and America. 'If the tyrants close the door of migration in your faces, then open the door of jihad in theirs and turn their actions against them,' said an audio clip purportedly from spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani on Saturday. Mosul in Iraq, and several areas of Syria still remain under ISIS control. The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Istanbul: Turkey has arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hotel during the night of the failed coup, the deputy prime minister said Monday. Erdogan was staying in the western seaside resort of Marmaris on July 15 but dashed to Istanbul just before the hotel came under attack from rebel soldiers determined to oust him from power. "Eleven of them were captured in Ula," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a press conference after a cabinet meeting, referring to a town near Marmaris. He said one soldier was still at large. Erdogan earlier said his swift escape had saved him from being killed or taken hostage. An interior ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a "death squad" and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers. The soldiers had been hiding in the wild landscape above Marmaris since the military action, and the villagers spotted them while they were out boar-hunting. "There was an exchange of fire during the operation," the official added. Drones and helicopters were used to pinpoint the location. Since the coup, Erdogan has launched a massive purge of Turkish institutions, especially the military, with more than 3,000 armed forces personnel dismissed. Mohammad Karim, said to be aged around 60, was held in central Ghor province as he claimed her parents gave him the girl as a "religious offering", officials said. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Kabul: An elderly Afghan cleric has been arrested after he married a six-year-old girl, officials said on Friday, in the latest case highlighting the scourge of child marriages in the war-battered country. Mohammad Karim, said to be aged around 60, was held in central Ghor province as he claimed her parents gave him the girl as a "religious offering", officials said. But they cited the family of the girl, believed to be in shock, as saying that she was abducted from western Herat province, bordering Iran. "This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: 'I am afraid of this man'," said Masoom Anwari, head of the women affairs department in Ghor. The girl is currently in a women's shelter in Ghor and her parents are on their way to the province to collect her, the local governor's office said. "Karim has been jailed and our investigation is ongoing," said Abdul Hai Khatibi, the governor's spokesman. 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," Sima Samar, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said this month. Afghan civil law sets the legal age of marriage at 16 for girls, yet 15 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. The mob killing triggered angry nationwide protests and drew global attention to the endemic violence facing Afghan women. Samia Shahid, 28, was killed in July 20 in Pandoori village of Mangla area of Jhelum in Punjab district. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Islamabad: The first husband of a Pakistani-origin British woman who is accused of killing her for allegedly converting to Shia Islam, was previously jailed for his involvement in a gun attack over a land dispute. Samia Shahid, 28, was killed in July 20 in Pandoori village of Mangla area of Jhelum in Punjab district. Chaudhry Shakil, a cousin and former husband of Samia, had a criminal record, Dawn quoted local people of the area as saying. He is one of the suspects in the murder case. They said Shakil had faced 18-month jail on charges of firing and injuring a resident of Dhok Sahi near Pandoori. Their claim was confirmed by police officer Aqeel Abbas who said the shooting had taken place over a land dispute. Shakil had also contested the last local bodies elections for the post of a general councillor of his village in November 2015 but lost. Samia, from Dhok Pandori village, Jehlum, had come to Pakistan from Dubai over two weeks ago to see her ailing father and was allegedly murdered on July 20. Syed Mukhtar Kazim, second husband of Samia, told police her wife had been killed by her family members for marrying against the will of her parents. The villagers Dhok Pandori village said a paternal aunt of the deceased woman had also died under identical circumstances nearly 25 years ago since she had also sought divorce from her husband which her family was not ready to accept. That aunt was later found dead at her parents home but her brother Chaudhry Shahid, the father of Samia, and other family members had then declared that she (aunt) had committed suicide. They said the matter went unnoticed at that time as nobody approached police. Shahid, also a suspect in the case lodged by Syed Mukhtar Kazim, the second husband of the deceased woman, had initially told police that her daughter had died of heart attack. Later he said that she committed suicide. The inquiry team had grilled Shakil, on an interim bail till August 6, during his personal appearance on Saturday torecord his statement. The investigation team had also recorded the statements of Shahid and complainant Kazim. Two female suspects in the case, including Imtiaz Bibi, the mother and Madiha Shahid, the sister of the deceased, are yet to record their statements. Jhelum police had requested the Lahore Forensic Laboratory to complete its analysis of Samia's body samples to determine the cause of her death. They said since the case was under international spotlight, they wanted to conclude investigation at the earliest. Lahore: Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the Home Minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government, will it add insult to the injury of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement here. "It will be ironical as on one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting over Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday. Read: Hafiz Saeed warns of nationwide protests if Rajnath Singh visits Pakistan The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said, "If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies will taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3. Saeed, who is carrying a USD 10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML-N government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis." Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing. The Pakistani government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference, he said. "Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing the 'Azadi Kashmir March' yesterday evening. He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir for the past 23 days and the Valley had turned into a 'volcano for India that could explode any time'. "It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not invited the Indian home minister for the SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said. Islamabad: A three-day conference of Pakistan's envoys to key multilateral institutions and countries, including India, began here today to deliberate on a host of issues like the Kashmir situation, Indo-Pak ties and relations with the US. Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz inaugurated the Envoys' Conference for discussing how to confront multiple challenges faced by the country. Nine envoys of Pakistan accredited to various capitals and multilateral institutions have been invited to participate in the third annual conference being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Aziz, in his address, said the envoys should focus on protecting the country's interests and project its point of view on vital issues of national importance. Details of his address were not immediately available. The situation in Kashmir will be discussed in the conference in addition to the current stalemate in ties with India, sources said. Other issues to be discussed, include Afghanistan, relations with the US and the progress on the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that will provide access to China to the Arabian Sea. The upcoming SAARC summit and the issue of India's efforts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, disarmament affairs and terrorism was also expected to be discussed during the conference. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in statement that the Envoys' Conference is a regular feature in which Pakistan's representatives in various regions brief the government on important developments in their respective areas of accreditation and challenges and opportunities arising out of such developments. "The envoys also present their recommendations towards existing foreign policy with a view to review, adapt and recalibrate policy in accordance with the prevalent strategic, political and economic trends," he said. The envoys invited for the conference include Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani (Washington DC), Ambassador Masood Khalid (Beijing), High Commissioner Abdul Basit (New Delhi), Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi (UN ) and Ambassador Qazi M Khalilullah (Moscow) among others. Surprisingly, envoys to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have not been invited for the conference. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will preside over the concluding session of the conference during which he will be briefed on the outcome and he will share his foreign policy vision, Zakaria said. China refused to participate in the South China Sea case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. (Photo: AP) Beijing: China's leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an international court ruling against Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the United States. China refused to participate in the case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It denounced the emphatic July 12 ruling in favour of the Philippines as a farce that had no legal basis and part of an anti-China plot cooked up in Washington. The ruling has been followed in China by a wave of nationalist sentiment, scattered protests and strongly worded editorials in state media. So far, Beijing has not shown any sign of wanting to take stronger action. Instead, it has called for a peaceful resolution through talks at the same time as promising to defend Chinese territory. But some elements within China's increasingly confident military are pushing for a stronger - potentially armed - response aimed at the United States and its regional allies, according to interviews with four sources with close military and leadership ties. "The People's Liberation Army is ready," one source with ties to the military told Reuters. "We should go in and give them a bloody nose like Deng Xiaoping did to Vietnam in 1979," the source said, referring to China's brief invasion of Vietnam to punish Hanoi for forcing Beijing's ally the Khmer Rouge from power in Cambodia. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. President Xi Jinping has assiduously courted and thoroughly cemented his leadership over the PLA and faces no serious challenges to his command. While he is overseeing sweeping military reforms to improve the PLA's ability to win wars, he has said China needs a stable external environment as it deals with its own development issues, including a slowing economy. And few people expect any significant move ahead of Xi's hosting of a G20 summit in September. Read: Amid South China Sea tensions, Xi pushes 2.3 mn-strong army to win wars But the hardened response to The Hague ruling from some elements of the military increases the risk that any provocative or inadvertent incidents in the South China Sea could escalate into a more serious clash. Another source with ties to the leadership described the mood in the PLA as hawkish. "The United States will do what it has to do. We will do what we have to do," the source said. "The entire military side has been hardened. It was a huge loss of face," he said, declining further comment. Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, asked whether the PLA was pushing for a stronger response, repeated that the armed forces would resolutely defend China's territory and maritime rights, and peace and stability, while dealing with any threats or challenges. Retired military officers and army-linked academics have pushed home a strongly martial message. "The Chinese military will step up and fight hard and China will never submit to any country on matters of sovereignty," Liang Fang, a professor at the military-run National Defence University, wrote on his Weibo microblog about the ruling. It is not clear exactly what steps military hardliners are considering. Much attention has been focused around the potential establishment of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the South China Sea, which would require international aircraft to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. Other options floated by those linked to the PLA include putting missiles on bombers patrolling the South China Sea capable of hitting targets in the Philippines or Vietnam. Yue Gang, a retired colonel, said China's announcement promising regular air patrols over the region showed it was seeking to deny the US air superiority afforded by aircraft carriers. China should be confident enough to provoke an incident and drive the US out, he added. "China is not intimidated by US carriers and is brave enough to touch off an inadvertent confrontation," Yue wrote on his Weibo account. China's military build-up in the region looks set to quicken regardless of any action. "We must make preparations for a long-term fight and take this as a turning point in our South China Sea military strategy," Li Jinming of the South China Sea Institute at China's Xiamen University wrote in the Chinese academic journal Southeast Asian Studies. Despite the saber rattling, there have been no firm military moves that could cause an escalation of tensions. Diplomats and sources said the Chinese leadership was well aware of the dangers of a clash. "They're on the back foot. They're very worried by the international reaction," said one senior Beijing-based diplomat, citing conversations with Chinese officials. "They are genuine about wanting to get talks back on track. The leadership will have to think long and hard about where to go next." Within China's armed forces there is a recognition that China would come off worst in a face-off with the United States. "Our navy cannot take on the Americans. We do not have that level of technology yet. The only people who would suffer would be ordinary Chinese," said the source with ties to the military. Those voices appeared to have the upper hand for now, the source said, pointing to a realization that the 1979 border war with Vietnam did not go as well for China as the propaganda machine would like people to believe. Even setting up an ADIZ, like the one Beijing set up over the East China Sea in 2013 to anger from the United States, Japan and others, would be difficult to enforce given the distance from the mainland. China has repeatedly said it has the right to set up an ADIZ but that the decision depends on the level of threat it faces. A second source with leadership ties put it bluntly: "War is unlikely". "But we will continue to conduct military exercises," the source said. "(We) expect US naval vessels to continue to come," and "miscalculation cannot be ruled out". Foreign Minister Wang Yi has stressed the importance of dialogue, saying it now was the time to return things to the "right track" and to "turn the page" on the ruling. The United States has responded positively to these overtures, sending US National Security Adviser Susan Rice to China this week with a call for calm. Washington is also using quiet diplomacy to persuade other regional players not to move aggressively to capitalize on the ruling. China has been angered by US freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, but its forces have responded only by shadowing US vessels and warning them, showing China's unwillingness to goad the US military unnecessarily, according to Western and Asian diplomats. China is also wary of any incident overshadowing the G20 summit in Hangzhou in September, the highlight of this year's diplomatic calendar for Xi when he will be host to the leaders of most of the worlds economically most powerful countries, the sources said. The Beijing-based diplomat said it was more likely China would choose the period between the end of the G20 and the US presidential election in November to make any move. "But that is a misjudgment if China thinks the United States will just sit back and do nothing," the diplomat said. The attack on Northgate hotel, a heavily guarded compound for foreign contractors with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs, underscores the worsening security situation in Afghanistan. (Photo: AP) Kabul: A powerful Taliban truck bomb struck a hotel for foreigners in Kabul on Monday, triggering a seven-hour gun-and-bomb assault that highlighted the deteriorating security situation in a capital still reeling from its deadliest attack for 15 years. The guests and staff of Northgate hotel were unharmed but one policeman was killed after the bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres (miles) away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility close to Kabul airport. The compound housing foreign contractors was previously attacked in July 2013. Earlier this month, the Islamic State group claimed twin bombings that left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital, the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. "A truck bomb packed with explosives struck the outer wall of the hotel. One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt. Three Taliban fighters including the truck bomber were killed," said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. Read: Taliban claims responsibility for truck bomb blast in Kabul Afghan commandos set up a tight security cordon around Northgate as erratic grenade explosions and gunfire rocked the area after the attack began around 01.30 am local time (2100 GMT Sunday). Local TV station Tolo cited a source inside the facility as saying that all the staff and guests, including 11 foreigners hunkered down in safe rooms all through the night. It added that NATO special forces had overseen the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the massive truck bombing, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off. He claimed that more than 100 "American invaders" were killed and wounded in the assault. The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate the toll from their attacks. The assault comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. Growing insecurity A chillingly similar Taliban attack on the compound in July 2013, a truck bomb followed by a gun siege killed nine people, including four Nepalese. The July 23 Islamic State group bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. The Islamic State group is less powerful than the Taliban but is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan. Afghan forces backed by US air strikes have since intensified an offensive against IS jihadists in their eastern stronghold of Nangarhar. The latest attacks in Kabul are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which has resulted in large civilian casualties. The UN last week said civilian casualties rose to a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as the conflict escalates. Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded, a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. Monday's assault illustrates the report's finding that suicide bombings and complex attacks are now hurting more civilians than roadside bombs. Days after she reportedly got into a scuffle with a DMK MP at Delhi airport, Rajya Sabha MP M Sasikala Pushpa was today expelled from the AIADMK by party supremo Jayalalithaa for "bringing disrepute to the party". In a brief statement, Jayalalithaa said that Pushpa was being expelled from all party posts, including primary membership, as she had acted in violation of the party principles and ethics. "Her behaviour has brought great disrepute to the party," she said. Jayalalithaa asked party supporters not to have any truck henceforth with the Thoothukudi based Rajya Sabha MP. Last week, Pushpa had reportedly got into a scuffle with her Rajya Sabha colleague from DMK Tiruchi Siva at Delhi airport. A large number of Indian workers in Saudi Arabia who have lost their jobs and cannot even buy food due to severe financial hardship will be brought back home, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, asserting that not one of them will go hungry. In a statement in Parliament amid concerns by members in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said her deputy V K Singh is leaving for Saudi Arabia to oversee the evacuation process. She said the Indian embassy in the Gulf nation was running five camps to feed the affected people. "Not one worker of ours will go hungry. This is my assurance to the country through Parliament... We will bring all of them back to India," Swaraj said. Issues like logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of the workers who want to return to India will be worked out during Singh's visit. Official sources said approximately 10,000 Indian workers have been affected by the economic slowdown in the Gulf and the situation was "fluid and dynamic". They said the situation varied from company to company. Sources said 3,172 Indian workers in Riyadh have not been paid their salary dues for several months but are getting regular rations. Separately, 2,450 Indian workers belonging to the Saudi Oger Company are housed in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. Since July 25, the company had stopped providing meals to the workers besides defaulting on their salaries, the sources said. The Indian Consulate in Jeddah, with the assistance of the diaspora, has provided rations to the workers which should be sufficient for the next 810 days, they said. The government, Swaraj said, was in touch with the foreign and labour offices in Saudi Arabia to ensure early evacuation of affected Indians. Swaraj noted that the law there does not permit an emergency exit visa without no objection certificate from the employers who, she said, have shut their factories and left the country, leaving these employees stranded. The government has requested the Saudi authorities to give them exit visas without NoC from employers and also urged it to clear the dues of workers who have not been paid for months, whenever they settle the accounts with the companies concerned. Swaraj said she recieved the last report at 2.45 AM and informed the Lok Sabha that ration for 10 days had been distributed to people in all the five camps. "I am personally monitoring the situation." MoS in the External Affairs Ministry M J Akbar is liaising with the Saudi authorities to ensure that the claims of all Indian workers with unpaid dues are lodged and processed in accordance with law. He has also sought Saudi assistance in arranging exit visa for all Indian workers who wish to be repatriated, said the sources. "VK Singh would be proceeding imminently to Saudi Arabia to visit the worker camps and make an on the spot assessment of the ground situation. Logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of those workers who want to return will be worked out following MoS' visit," the sources said. Swaraj has been monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. The Tamil Nadu Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution asking the Centre to rename Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court and not Chennai HC as proposed in a Bill introduced in Parliament last month. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was welcomed by the main Opposition DMK, besides other parties, including Congress. The resolution was adopted unanimously after members spoke on the appropriateness of renaming Madras High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court. "Naming the High Court of Judicature at Madras as Tamil Nadu High Court will be most appropriate," Jayalalithaa said, moving the resolution. "This House urges the Union government to alter the name from Chennai HC, proposed in the Bill introduced in Parliament to Tamil Nadu HC," the resolution said, adding "It will be correct to call the High Court as Tamil Nadu High Court which is presently being called as Madras High Court." Giving reasons for seeking the change, the resolution pointed out that the High Courts situated in other states take the respective names of such states, which were formed on linguistic basis in 1956. It said it would be "inappropriate to call the High Court with jurisdiction over entire Tamil Nadu as Chenani High Court." The resolution said a HC bench is functioning from Madurai too. "The name of Madras was changed to Chennai through a legislation in 1996 and according to it, Chennai will mean only the city of Chennai," it said. The Centre had introduced 'High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016' in Lok Sabha on July 19, according to which Madras High Court will be called Chennai High Court from the date appointed by the Act, the resolution said. Listing out the historical reasons behind the name of Madras High Court, Jayalalithaa said the British Parliament had enacted the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 and Letters Patent was granted by Queen Victoria under which the Madras High Court was established in 1862. It was named as "High Court of Judicature at Madras," to mean its location with jurisdiction over the entire Madras Presidency, including regions of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The High Courts established after states were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956 were named after such states. Thus, it was "not appropriate" to call Madras High Court under the same name that was set up on the basis of Letters Patent granted by Queen Victoria, she said. A proposal was sent to the Central government in 1997 to rename Madras High Court as Chennai High Court after Madras city was renamed as Chennai in 1996, the CM added. DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan and Congress floor leader K R Ramasamy were among those who spoke briefly welcoming the resolution. Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was today hiked by Rs 1.93 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in one month as the government looked at monthly increases to cut down subsidies. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder will now cost Rs 423.09 in Delhi as against Rs 421.16 previously, according to state- owned oil firms. This is the second straight monthly increase in subsidised cooking gas. LPG rates were last hiked by Rs 1.98 per 14.2-kg cylinder on July 1. The government had recently decided to take the diesel route for eliminating subsidies on LPG and kerosene. Diesel price was deregulated in November 2014 after the previous UPA government effected 50 paise hikes every month to eliminate subsidies. The near Rs 2 per cylinder hike in LPG every month is also aimed at doing so. In case of kerosene, the government has allowed state-owned oil companies to raise the price by 25 paise a litre each month for 10 months. The first hike in kerosene rate happened last month and the second was effected today. A litre of kerosene now costs Rs 15.46 in Delhi. Simultaneously, the oil firms cut prices of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12, by Rs 50.5 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) now costs Rs 487 in Delhi as against Rs 537.50 per cylinder previously. Rates were last reduced by Rs 11 on July 1. Also, the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was cut by 4.2 per cent, reversing a five month upward trend. ATF, or jet fuel, price in Delhi was cut by Rs 2,080.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 4.2 per cent, to Rs 47,206.68, oil companies said. This reduction reverses five straight monthly increases in rates, last being on July 1 when prices were hiked by 5.5 per cent. In the five increases, ATF rates have gone up by 25 per cent, or Rs 9,985.87, per kl since March. ATF rates vary at different airports because of differential local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). Jet fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of an airline's operating cost and the latest price reduction will give relief to cash-strapped carriers. No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price reduction on passenger fares. The three fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum -- revise jet fuel as well as subsidised and non-subsidised LPG prices on the first day of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding month. Five people on board a Russian military helicopter were killed today when it was shot down over Syria, in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime's siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city. Russia's defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. "A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead. "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The incident was the deadliest single attack on Russian forces in Syria since Moscow began its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government last September. It brought the total number of members of the Russian forces killed in Syria to 18. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the northwest and neighbouring Aleppo. Idlib is held almost entirely by a powerful coalition of Islamist and jihadist forces including the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its status as Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. In neighbouring Aleppo province, the Fateh al-Sham Front and allied Islamist rebel groups were fighting fierce battles on Monday against regime troops on the outskirts of Aleppo city. The clashes are part of an assault launched yesterday to try to ease a government siege of the rebel-held east of the city. The heavy clashes left dozens dead on both sides, the Observatory said, without giving a specific toll. It said the rebels had advanced overnight south and southwest of Aleppo but reported ongoing fighting, as well as government air strikes on the battlefield and rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, cutting the sole supply route in and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested the US accept Russia's annexation of Crimea if it would lead to better relations with Moscow and stronger cooperation in fighting Islamic State militants. That view runs counter to the Obama administration, which imposed economic sanctions against Russia for annexing the territory in Ukraine two years ago. The UN also doesn't want countries to recognise Crimea as part of Russia, and some top Republicans staunchly defend Crimea against what they consider Russian aggression. In an interview broadcast yesterday on ABC's "This Week," Trump suggested that the people of Crimea would rather be part of Russia. However, the US hasn't recognised the legitimacy of Russian referendums in Crimea and believes they were not conducted fairly. Trump also said he wasn't involved in the effort that softened support in the Republican Party platform on assisting Ukraine. Although the platform is not pro-Russia, Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from being added. In the past, Trump's campaign manager, political strategist Paul Manafort lobbied on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, a Ukrainian president and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort has said neither he nor anyone with Trump's campaign pushed for the platform changes. On the topic of Putin and Ukraine, the Republican said: "He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not gonna go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want." ABC's George Stephanopoulos said, "Well, he's already there, isn't he?" Trump replied, "OK, well he's there in a certain way." The Clinton campaign pointed to the exchange to question what Trump knows about the subject and argued that the Republican is repeating Putin's talking points on Crimea. "This is scary stuff," Clinton campaign spokesman Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "But it shouldn't surprise us. This comes on the heels of his tacit invitation to the Russians to invade our NATO allies in Eastern Europe. And it's yet more proof why Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief." In response to other questions about US-Russia relations, Trump dismissed suggestions that he has any kind of relationship with Putin, saying he has neither met Putin nor spoken on the phone with him. Asked why he had said several times in the past that he had a relationship with Putin, Trump said he doesn't know what "having a relationship" means. Trump said it would be a "great thing" if the US got along with Russia and if Russia would help fight the Islamic State. "We'll have a better relationship with Russia," he said. "And having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing." Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP M Sasikala Pushpa today did not give any indication about her joining any political party but thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi for their support. Sasikala, who reportedly slapped DMK lawmaker Trichy Siva at Delhi airport on Saturday, also dismissed suggestions that there was any connection between the incident and her resignation. Earlier in the day, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa expelled her from the party, saying her behaviour had brought "great disrepute" to the organisation. "I want to thank Congress party governed under Soniaji and Rahulji, Because they have supported me today and then I want to thank DMK which has supported me today even though there was an issue," Sasikala told NDTV. Asked if she would now join Congress, the former Tuticorin mayor said,"I don't know." Earlier in Rajya Sabha, Sasikala claimed that she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to her life in Tamil Nadu. She, however, did divulge who slapped her and when. Pushpa first rushed into the Well of the House to seek permission to make a statement and then broke down several times as she said she faced "life threat" from the state government and alluded to her being allegedly slapped by a "leader". Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and he will protect her too. He, however, asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. But the opposition, including Congress, protested, saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Under the law, an MP can retain his seat after being expelled by the party on whose ticket he had won. Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi will take over Uber's China business, in a deal worth USD 35 billion as the US car-hailing firm gave in after fierce competition from its rival in the world's second largest economy. Uber will take a 5.89 per cent stake in Didi. Didi did not disclose the stake it will take in Uber. Uber China's on-demand mobility (ODM) service will continue to operate independently. The deal follows China's legalistion of ODM services. Uber's founder Travis Kalanick and Didi founder Cheng Wei will sit on each other's company boards. The two companies have been locked in a bitter battle for customers in China marked by huge customer discounts since last year. Post the merger of its Chinese business, Uber is expected to focus more aggressively on the Indian market, its third biggest market after the US and China, at present. Interestingly in India, Uber is locked in an intense battle with market leader Ola which counts Didi as an investor. Didi had picked up a stake in Bengaluru-based Ola last year as a part of the USD 500 million funding round. Last December, Didi Chuxing, along with Ola, US-based Lyft and GrabTaxi had also formed a global pact to share customers and technology across countries to compete with Uber. Uber has been pumping in substantial funds to fuel its growth in India. In July last year, Uber had announced an investment of USD 1 billion in India to expand its services here. It has also set up a response and support centre in Hyderabad with an investment of USD 50 million. India is also expected to be a major beneficiary of the USD 3.5-billion fund raised by Uber earlier this year as the US-based firm looks to overtake local rival Ola. There were also reports suggesting that Uber may buy Ola, though the Indian company rubbished those saying it has "no intentions of selling to Uber". Uber is one of very few foreign tech firms that has been able to compete with domestic rivals head-on in China. While Didi holds a majority share in China's ODM services, Uber has managed to establish a foothold, and has made inroads into lower-tier cities this year to further threaten Didi's dominance. The competition has seen the two companies locked in a discount war in an attempt to poach riders away from each other's platforms. In June, Didi announced it had secured USD 7.3 billion in equity and debt financing, including USD 1 billion from Apple which valued the start-up at around USD 28 billion. Uber has secured over USD 6 billion in its latest funding. Liu Zhen, Uber China head of strategy, said in June that most of the money raised will fund Uber's operations in China. While Uber has generated over USD 1 billion in profit from its top 30 cities worldwide, the company has not yet turned a profit in any Chinese city, even though it provides more trips in China than any other country, Kalanick said. Amid reignited fears about lead poisoning in the US, the key to identifying solutions could lie in the common city pigeon. A study published Monday in the journal Chemosphere found that New Yorks Manhattan neighbourhoods that had many children with elevated blood lead levels also had pigeons with elevated lead. The research suggests that scientists may be able to use the birds to predict lead contamination in the environment. The principal author of the study, Rebecca Calisi, examined data on 825 pigeons from various neighbourhoods from 2010-2015. Rebecca found that elevated lead levels in pigeons correlated positively with elevated lead levels in children in those neighbourhoods, as identified by New York Citys health department. The link indicates that pigeons could be used to detect areas of pollution across the country. Theres a potential to be able to circumvent health problems in humans before they begin, said Rebecca. The researchers drew on data compiled by the Wild Bird Fund, a New York City non-profit organisation that rehabilitates sick, injured or orphaned birds. Rebecca recognised that pigeons would be ideal birds for making comparisons with human health, she said, because they live in proximity to people and eat much of the same food. And unlike many other birds, they tend to spend their entire lives within the same square mile. Whether the information from this study will be practically useful is up for discussion. But for Rebecca, the findings present opportunities that extend well beyond New York and even lead. Researchers in her lab in California intend to use pigeons to monitor other heavy metals, as well as pesticides and fire retardants, in urban areas worldwide. Were just getting started, Rebecca said. This is kind of the beginning of whats going to be a really big field of study. Clouds get high on climate change Clouds are moving up, up and away. An analysis of satellite data has found that, since the early 1980s, clouds have shifted toward Earths poles and cloud tops have extended higher into the atmosphere. The changes match what climate models predict and are a rare step forward among much scientific uncertainty about how clouds will behave in a warming world. Its really the first credible evidence that we have of climate change and clouds in the observed record, says Joel Norris, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, USA. Clouds are both hard to observe and difficult to simulate in climate models, says Katherine Marvel, a climate researcher at NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, USA. This is because researchers have to cobble together data on cloud patterns from existing satellite observations. Joels team tried to get around this issue by purging satellite data of misleading readings, such as those produced by sensors that have degraded over time. The scientists used two long-term databases of cloud cover, along with measures of water content over the oceans and of Earths reflectivity or how much sunlight the planets surface throws back into space. By 2009, the team found that there were fewer clouds over the mid-latitudes than there had been in 1983. That finding meshes with climate predictions that dry zones will expand out of the subtropics and push storms toward the poles. The team also found that cloud tops rose higher in the atmosphere by the end of the 2000s, again as predicted for a warming atmosphere. Joel and his colleagues have done a great job using the satellite record in an appropriate way, says Ryan Eastman, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. In 2013, he and a colleague used ground-based observations of clouds to describe some of the same trends. Their study also noted that clouds were declining in middle latitudes as storms shifted poleward. The new work meshes well with the earlier findings, Ryan says. The fact that observations match the model predictions is worrying, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who was not in the team. If models really are starting to get clouds correct, it suggests that the planet may warm on the higher end of estimates over the coming century, he says. Still, the story remains complicated. The cloud shifts match what scientists would expect from increasing greenhouse-gas emissions, but also what happens in the aftermath of large volcanic eruptions that spew particles into the atmosphere. Researchers need to dig a little more to tease out the relative roles of greenhouse gases and volcanoes, Katherine says. Joel aims to do that next. The data arent hopeless, he says. Theres more here than we thought. Alexandra Witze Lake Baikal in Russias Siberia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the object of a scientific effort intended to keep the water clean, protect the unique flora and fauna and its surroundings besides limiting human and industrial pressure on the worlds oldest and deepest freshwater lake. If Lake Baikal suffers large-scale pollution, it will affect not only Siberia but also Mongolia and Northern China. Weather systems will be altered and water in connected rivers will become contaminated, said our guide Olga as she took around a group of journalists to the tourist-end of the lake near the Russian city of Irkutsk. The total volume of water in Lake Baikal is said to be more than that of the five great lakes of America together. It contains about 23,000 cubic km or approximately 20% of Earths fresh water, is 1.6 km deep, 636 km long and 79 km wide. It has a surface area of 31,500 sq km. The first sight of the lake does not live up to its tourist-information-brochure image with shimmering water in the foreground and snow-capped mountains in the background. However, on closer look the clean water in such a large water body takes one by surprise. I saw more of the bottom of the lake than in any other lake I have visited. Even in the dim light, fish swimming between the rocks and pebbles could be noticed. This was from a part of the lake alongside a village called Listvyanka. How clean could the water be in the uninhabited parts of the lake, I wondered. As if she was reading my thoughts, Olga handed me a bottle of water marked Baikal. The water has been drawn from the deepest part of the lake and bottled without filtration, she said. And sure enough, the water tasted nice, unlike any other mineral water I had drunk. Research & safeguard Keeping the lake water clean is the task of the Baikal Limnological Museum (BLM), a research institution that also has a museum. The institute does a variety of research from measuring how much of hydrocarbons trickle to the bottom from boats plying on the surface to what type of pollutants are getting into the water. It also keeps a watch on the flora and fauna in the lake and recommend corrective measures to the various authorities involved in the lakes management. Florina, a researcher at the institute explained that the role of BLM increased after Baikal was declared a world heritage site in 1996. It gathers and stores collections of Baikals aquatic organisms and preserves the gene pool of its endemic flora and fauna. A quarter of the plant and animal species present here are found nowhere else. Using military-grade technology such as high-resolution satellites and unmanned submarines, BLM is able to conduct real-time surveys of Baikals underwater life. Its major success was a series of dives by deep-water manned submersibles to the bottom of the lake which allowed researchers to detect areas of chemosynthetic life, methane and gas hydrate accumulations besides detection of new biological species. This led to a set of recommendations to the government on where and when to allow tourism, fishing and to severely limit the plying of large tourist boats. Most tourists go to view the showpiece aquatic animals of Lake Baikal, the Nepra seal, a species endemic to the lake and surrounding waterways. Hunted to near extinction during the two world wars, the Nepra seal has made a remarkable comeback in the last 50 years. Among the conservation measures is one which led to the installation of remote controlled video cameras in the seal rookeries of Ushkan Islands in the middle of the lake and beam images to screens in the museum. This serves a two-fold purpose: monitor environmental threats to the seal population and to prevent tourists from boating up to the rookeries for seal watching. This is something that Indian tiger sanctuaries can implement to avoid disturbances to the tigers. Following the World Heritage Site tag, dumping of garbage, emptying raw effluents and industrial activity within 10 km from the shore has been banned. A paper mill near the lake has been shut and garbage is collected and systematically disposed elsewhere. Fishing and tourism activity is extensively regulated. While conservation measures have helped the lake, environmental pressures in the vast areas of Siberia, Mongolia and China are affecting the lakes ecology. Locals say that a drought in Siberia for over three years now has led to a rise in temperatures affecting the size of the ice sheet which accumulates on the lake in winter. A story goes that ice on the lakes surface was so deep in the beginning of the 20th century that the Russian army set up a rail road on its surface during the Russia-Japan war in 1905. A looming threat is a dam which Mongolia wants to build across River Selenga, the largest of the rivers which flow into Lake Baikal. The China-funded project is being bitterly opposed by Russia. Another threat is growing tourism, which has increased from 3,00,000 in 2009 to 1.3 million in 2015, according Russian tourist information. With so many threats affecting the future of the lake, it is imperative that conservation takes a stronger stride. After all, its future is in our hands and we must do everything in our power to protect it. The raid began at dawn. In four small wooden boats, the forest rangers and Peruvian marines, checking and rechecking their automatic weapons, headed silently downriver toward the illegal gold miners. They did not have to go far. Around the first bend was a ramshackle mining settlement, tarps stretched over tree poles. Soon, the marines were firing into the air, the miners and their families were on the run, and the rangers were moving in with machetes. They speared bags of rice and plastic barrels of drinking water, kicked aside toys and smashed tools before setting everything on fire. High above the Amazon rain forest, home to trees that are more than 1,000 years old, heavy plumes of black smoke spiraled towards the clouds. Trying to protect one of the most biologically diverse places on earth from an army of illegal miners that has carved a toxic path through the rainforest, the Peruvian government is setting up outposts and stepping up raids along the Malinowski River in the Tambopata Nature Reserve. But some experts wonder whether it is far too little too late. To get the border of the Tambopata Reserve in Peru, a remote frontline in Latin Americas battle against illegal mining, I hiked 9.5 hours through the jungle, at times in water up to my armpits. But any sense of being in a pristine wilderness was lost at the rivers edge. Already, the miners had done so much damage that the water ran the colour of milky coffee. The landscape was worthy of a Mad Max movie. Huge sandy craters, mounds of pebbles and poisoned waterways were everywhere. Garbage rags, plastic bags, plastic foam food containers clung to the freshly cut tree branches piled up in the rivers nooks and crannies. Ballooning industry With the price of gold high for years, illegal mining has blossomed in many parts of Latin America, not just in Peru. But in this country, one of the worlds major gold producers, the problem has gotten particularly bad. The amount of gold collected by unlicensed miners is far larger than elsewhere in Latin America. And it is ballooning so quickly that environmentalists fear that even a remote reserve like this one home to thousands of species of plants and animals, some perhaps not even identified by humans has little chance of survival. For all the environmental damage done by corporate mining, illegal miners are far more destructive, experts say. While mining companies tend to concentrate on areas with rich underground veins of gold, illegal miners move swiftly across vast amounts of territory. They cut down broad swathes of jungle, sifting through perhaps 200 tonnes of topsoil to find enough flecks of gold for a single wedding ring. Without help, some experts say, the areas they leave behind robbed of all topsoil and loaded with mercury could take 500 years to recover. The miners use so much mercury to process the gold that the government declared a health emergency in much of the Madre de Dios region in May. Tests in 97 villages found that more than 40% of the people had absorbed dangerous levels of the heavy metal. Mercury poisoning affects people in many ways, from chronic headaches to kidney damage, but it is most harmful to children, who are likely to suffer permanent brain damage. The next generations will pay for what we are doing now, said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who heads the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment. Statistics undercount the amount of illegal mining. But Victor Torres Cuzcano, an economist, calculated that unregistered and informal mining increased by 540% between 2006 and 2015, while production from legal mining, which brings in tax revenue, fell 28.5%. I fear that illegal mining is crowding out the legal activities, said Guillermo Arbe Carbonel, another economist. You see social protests against the legal mining all the time. But the illegal is growing, and it is the worst kind of mining when it comes to the environment. Deforestation from gold mining accelerated from 5,350 acres per year before 2008 to 15,180 acres each year after the 2008 global financial crisis that rocketed gold prices. Less than a year ago, the Tambopata reserve, a roadless area about the size of Rhode Island, part forest and part savanna, was untouched. Now satellite photographs show telltale patches of wasteland in the reserve, and so much mining that the river on its edge the Malinowski, named after a Polish explorer has been pushed off its course, made wider and more shallow. In areas where the miners work, the rangers say, the water is so polluted that the fish are all gone. Some advocates say the reserve is all but lost. Little success Early indications suggest that it is rich with gold, especially when compared with other parts of this remote state, including the area officially reserved for artisanal mining and the buffer zone bordering the Tambopata Reserve. They are getting about 12 to 18 grams a day in the official mining corridor, said Victor Hugo Macedo, who oversees the reserve. They are getting 60 to 80 grams in the buffer zone, and they are getting 150 to 200 in the reserve. The miners care more about that than what happens to Tambopata. The government has tried varied policies to contain illegal mining, including controls on the amount of fuel coming into the region, Manuel said. But he conceded that these efforts had little success. The Peruvian tax authority recently estimated that more than one billion dollars worth of gold had been smuggled out of the country just between February and October 2014. Manuel hopes the constant presence of armed marines and a stream of raids will persuade the miners to leave the reserve alone. Up close, the raids look doomed to failure. The marines and rangers are outmanned and under-equipped. Even getting to their outposts is a challenge. The best routes are controlled by the miners and considered too dangerous, even for armed soldiers. So on a rainy day, we walked down a narrow path from daybreak through afternoon, but the soldiers had no radios to call for help when it quickly became flooded for vast stretches. In rushing water full of debris, we all took baby steps looking for solid footing as the rain forest suddenly turned into a turbid lake. Weighed down by backpacks filled with water, the soldiers carried their weapons over their heads and tried to keep from going under, not always successfully. (With additional inputs from Andrea Zarate in Lima, Peru) An Uttar Pradesh Police officer, who is said to have got complainants to give him a leg massage before listening to their problems, was suspended on Monday. The state government took action after a video showing Sub Inspector Ramyajna Yadav, deployed at the Mohanlalganj police station on the outskirts of Lucknow, being given a leg massage went viral on social networking sites. The video clip showed a barefooted man sitting on the ground and massaging Yadavs leg, while the officer was talking on his cell phone. We are trying to ascertain if the man is a complainant or whether he was brought to the police station in connection with some other case, a police official said. The officials said that a probe had been ordered into the matter. The investigation has been handed over to a circle officer. Stern action will be taken against the sub inspector if he is found guilty of wrongdoing, an official said. This incident comes in the wake of another video showing a Dalit cobbler polishing the shoes of officers at a police station in UP's Muzaffarnagar district a few months ago went viral. The cobbler Sittu, a resident of Haibatpur village in the district, had approached the Charthawal police station to lodge a complaint after his cell phone was stolen. The officer concerned asked Sittu (50) what he does for a living. On hearing that he was a cobbler, the officer asked him to polish the shoes of all the policemen in the station if he wanted his complaint to be registered. The hapless cobbler went back home and returned to the police station with his shoe-polish kit. He polished the shoes of almost all the police personnel in the station. One of the most powerful ironies in a political season full of perversities is a paradox that now defines Hillary Clintons campaign: The first female presidential candidate to overcome the obstacles that sank every single woman before her now confronts criticism for overcoming those very same difficulties. Lets start with money. Women have long been pushed aside for not having enough to run a presidential campaign. In 1987, Patricia Schroeder of Colorado concluded her brief presidential campaign by admitting, The bottom line is, the moneys not there. Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine tried to take the high road in 1964 by eschewing campaign donations, a decision that crippled her ability to compete effectively in the Republican primaries. She lost handily. Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, despite a sterling resume, bowed out of a 2000 Republican presidential race shaped by money in the bank and ads on the airwaves, as she put it, that could not be combated with inadequate funding. Clinton, by contrast, has twice built a sizeable war chest through prodigious fund-raising from Wall Street donors and super PACs, just as her male counterparts and opponents have always done. But her success in doing so has fuelled charges that she is a captive of financial interests and all too willing to exploit a corrupt system of campaign financing. Part of what made fund-raising so difficult for women were the prevailing doubts that they could secure the nomination of their party, let alone win a national campaign. There were good reasons for such scepticism. When Smith ran for president, over 40% of Americans said they would not vote for a woman for president even if she was well qualified and nominated by their own political party. Clinton decisively changed that assumption with her strong showing in 2008. Yet the confidence invested in her by party leaders and elites now stokes criticism that she is too establishment, too cosy with Washington insiders and too comfortable with those who have sought to leash insurgent forces within the Democratic Party. Her determined effort to overcome the impediments that waylaid other women who have sought the presidency now offers fresh evidence to critics that she is driven by a craven thirst for power. Then there is Clintons career in public service, unrivalled by any female presidential candidate and almost any male president. Even Smith, who served in the Senate longer than any woman in the 20th century, never acquired such clout or standing within her party. Yet Clintons pathway through public life has also tied her to what some consider the mistaken domestic policies of her husbands administration a forestalled health care reform initiative, a crime bill that contributed to mass incarceration, and an overhaul of welfare that further impoverished some of the poorest Americans. The first woman to be truly competitive as a presidential candidate is thus tagged as an old school insider more often than as a path breaker. Foreign policy issues One of the most insidious obstacles confronting female candidates, historically, has been the belief that they lack by nature or experience the capacity to oversee foreign policy. Clinton broke through in 2008, when primary voters, according to polling, said she would be a better commander in chief than her opponents in the Democratic race. As secretary of state, she played a central role on the Obama foreign policy team. In the current campaign, however, her critics blame her for what they portray as failures in the foreign policy of the Obama administration. Their dismay over her handling of her email supposedly demonstrates that she cannot be trusted with national security. One doesnt have to defend her decisions to suggest that men who have made similar choices in similar situations former secretary of state Colin Powell comes to mind have been spared this sweeping judgment. Time and again, Americans have deemed men worthy of the White House if they could succeed on the national political stage, raise sufficient money, rally the support of party leaders, appeal to voters and point to domestic and foreign policy experience. That these assets are suddenly negatives, at the very moment that a woman finally achieved them, is curious, to say the least. In 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to seek the presidency. Her campaign was greeted with curiosity, enthusiasm and a firestorm of complaints from her critics. Among them was Harriet Beecher Stowe, who asked if a woman who survived the rigor of a campaign an ordeal that kills a man was the kind of a woman that we would want to see at the head of our government? A century and a half later, we may have a woman running for president, but she continues to face that same question in 2016. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday reiterated that he wont scale down any of the penal provisions that the Opposition had termed draconian in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016. The Bill was tabled in the Assembly on Monday. Even if I am decimated, I will not compromise on the strict penal provisions incorporated in the new prohibition law, Kumar said. Dispelling the BJPs apprehensions that the draconian provision to jail all adult members of a family if liquor is found in their house, Kumar said: This provision has been made as it would serve as a deterrent. But let me clarify, that only those adult members who are present in the house at that time will be liable for prosecution. This law wont be applicable to an adult child who is studying in a college or staying in hostel or a woman who has gone to some other district. Refuting the Oppositions charge that the new law would usher in police raj, Kumar said any police or excise official, who even remotely tries to fix an innocent person, runs the risk of losing his/her job. Any officer who misuses this law will lose his job and will go to jail (for three years), he added. Earlier, the BJP, which protested the provision, moved an amendment, but it was defeated with 46 members supporting it, while 150 members from the ruling party were against it. Kumar later clarified that there was a 12% decline in criminal incidents in Bihar after the prohibition was imposed in April. In fact, now I want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who supported prohibition when he was Gujarat chief minister) as to what his is stand on prohibition today and when he will ask the BJP-ruled Jharkhand to follow in Bihars footsteps, said Kumar. Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister: Any police or excise official, who even remotely tries to fix an innocent person, runs the risk of losing his/her job. Any officer who misuses this law will lose his job and will go to jail (for three years) A district court in Bulandshahar on Monday remanded to 14-day judicial custody three people suspected of raping a minor and her mother on the Delhi-Kanpur highway. According to sources, Raees, Shahbez and Jabar Singh, who were arrested on Sunday, were produced before the court amid tight security. The police had on Sunday identified the three suspects as Raees, Bablu and Naresh. However, it was not clear if Bablu and Naresh were also arrested or the police had changed their names. Bandits belonging to the notorious Bawaria gang had on Friday waylaid a Noida family on the busy highway in Bulandshahar district, about 500 km from here. They dragged the 14-year-old girl and the 35-year-old mother into a nearby muddy sugarcane field and gang-raped them while holding the other members of the family hostage at gun point. The police said that a massive manhunt had been launched to nab the other culprits. Seven police personnel, including district police chief Vaibhav Krishna, were suspended in connection with the incident. The minor victim has gone into shock and is being counselled, even as the horrific incident has exposed the apathetic attitude of the state police. According to police officials here, the family members felt humiliated by the incident and have threatened to commit suicide if they do not get justice. Reports said that the girl had tried to resist the rape attempt, but gave in after the bandits threatened to shoot her father and brother. The hapless father had begged the bandits to spare his daughter and wife, but his pleas were ignored. The family members, who were on their way to Shahajahanpur district by road to attend a function, returned to Noida after the incident. The victims claimed that they kept calling the police control room on 100, but got no response. The in-charge of the police control room was suspended for laxity. The victims had also tried to talk to officer Vaibhav Krishna on Saturday morning, but he refused to meet them. The officers, who had reached the spot after the incident, did not bother to collect crucial evidence. A gold chain and a purse, which belonged to the victims, were found in the field several hours after the incident by some locals. UP ADGP (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary admitted laxity on the part of the police. Patrolling on the highway could have prevented the incident, officials said. DH News Service India has put the onus on Pakistan to ensure security of Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Islamabad, following threats by Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Singh is set to represent India in the meeting of the Home or Interior Ministers of Saarc nations in Islamabad. The terror organisations based in the neighbouring country threatened to protest Singhs visit to Islamabad in order to denounce atrocities on Kashmiris by security forces in India. New Delhi, however, on Monday reaffirmed that the home minister would attend the meet to be hosted by Pakistan. Sources said India had taken note of the comments made by Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed on the proposed visit by Singh to Pakistan. It is the responsibility of the government of the host nation to ensure security of the visiting dignitaries and the delegations, an official said in New Delhi, making it clear that the onus of ensuring security of Singh was on the Government of Pakistan. Singh is unlikely to hold a bilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan during his visit to Islamabad. As he prepares to travel to Pakistan for the SAARC meet, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a meeting with top security officials. Though the meeting was described as routine in nature, official sources said that the security aspect with regard to the trip was reviewed. The meeting was attended by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and top officials of intelligence agencies among others. The Centre has made it clear that Singh will be visiting Pakistan for the meeting of SAARC Interior Ministers beginning August 3 but there will be no bilateral meetings with his Pakistani counterpart. His visit comes in the midst of protests in Jammu and Kashmir over the killing of self-styled commander of Hizbul Mujhaideen Burhan Wani and remarks made by the Pakistani government on the issue. New Delhi is also upset over Pakistan not reciprocating and inviting an Indian investigation team to visit Islamabad to probe the Pathankot airbase terror strike. India had allowed five Pakistani officers, including one from the ISI, to visit New Delhi and Pathankot to conduct the probe. At the SAARC meeting, Singh will also raise Pakistans sustained support to cross-border terrorism and its role in fuelling unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. Singhs visit will be the first by a top Indian minister to Pakistan after the Pathankot attack. Anandiben Patel's decision to quit as Gujarat chief minister through a Facebook post was unprecedented. It also brought to close a six-month-long campaign against her leadership within the BJP that had its national president Amit Shah in direct line of fire with her. Party leaders openly acknowledged that Anandiben managed to fend off Shahs plans because of support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The last few days saw invisible BJP pressure on her reach a new level. A Dalit agitation across Gujarat on the issue of skinning a cow had left her position indefensible. Her aides said this was the "last straw" for her. She decided to quit, citing her age (she will be turning 75 in November) and asking the BJP to go with a younger face for the 2017 polls. Seven months ago, Anandiben had responded negatively when Modi had himself sounded her on taking up a gubernatorial assignment. She had, instead, sought the Modis support to complete her term. She suggested that the BJP could project a chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 polls. As a Gujarat BJP leader put it, Anandiben had thrown a gauntlet at Shah to try and succeed her in Gujarat at this juncture in pursuit of his ambition. The big question that arises before Modi is whether he can spare Shah from the central role, particularly when he is preparing the BJP for the do-or-die elections in Uttar Pradesh. For many BJP leaders, it is inconceivable that she would have made the announcement on the social media without the Modis approval or intimating Shah, who, in fact, announced that he had got her letter. Party insiders say, for Shah too, the present moment is very crucial. If Shah wishes to go back as Gujarat chief minister, now is the best time. The future may not be in his hands, said a senior BJP functionary. However, the final call on Shah's future will be taken by the prime minister, BJP insiders said. Anandiben was made the chief minister by Modi after he shifted to Delhi in May 2014. BJP to select Anandibens replacement Hours after Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced on Facebook her offer to quit, BJP president Amit Shah said the partys parliamentary board will decide on her replacement, DHNS reports from New Delhi. I have received Anandiben Patel jis letter. Her letter will now be kept before the BJP parliamentary board for further decision, Shah said. The final call on Patels replacement would be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said BJP sources. The parliamentary board is slated to meet on Tuesday at partys Ashoka Road office to stamp Modis choice. Though her resignation was in the offing for long since the top BJP leadership was not happy over her inability to control Patel and Dalit agitations, Shah said she cited her growing age for calling it a day. She will turn 75 in November an undeclared upper age limit Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set for leaders to continue in office. Union minister Najma Heptulla and two Madhya Pradesh ministers Babulal Gaur and Sartaj Singh had to resign because of that. However, another Union minister, Kalraj Mishra, still remains in office due to Assembly election in his native state of UP. A section of Rajya Sabha MPs on Monday opposed replacing the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a medical commission, as proposed by a Niti Aayog panel. The lawmakers were not in favour of substituting the MCI with a new body, though they admitted that the government could have better control on the medical education regulator which is riddled with allegations of corruption. Samajwadi Party member Naresh Aggarwal asked Health Minister J P Nadda to be bold and take full control of MCI, rather than dividing it into four parts. A Niti Aayog panel had suggested setting up a National Medical Commission with four independent boards, one each for undergraduate medical education, postgraduate medical education, medical assessment and accreditation, and registration and ethics. An independent advisory council with representatives from states and Union territories has also been proposed to guide the 20-member commission. The members would be picked through a search-cum-selection method. The panel, headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, is yet to submit its report. It was set up soon after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health recommended scrapping MCI for its failure as a regulator and for not being responsive to Indias healthcare needs. While BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra said there were no pending cases against former MCI president Ketan Desai, who was arrested by CBI on graft charges, TDP member C M Ramesh said: Where is the evidence of corruption in MCI. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, however, pointed out that despite widespread corruption in MCI, the regulator could not be cleaned up because of the nexus between MCI officials and the political establishment. Nadda said the government would not succumb to vested interests and will take all parties into confidence before initiating changes in the MCI. We will make foolproof arrangement and will consult all parties. We are not under any pressure, Nadda said. DH News Service The government will launch a massive evacuation operation for Indians who lost jobs in Saudi Arabia, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament on Monday. The minister said the government will also try and ensure that their salary dues are cleared. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Sushma said her ministry was working out the modalities with the Saudi government to to get the stranded Indians, who are in dire financial condition, back home. According to estimates, about 10,000 Indians have been affected by the economic downturn in Saudi Arabia and have been staying in camps. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh will visit Saudi Arabia to work out the logistics. Sushma told Parliament: Not a single Indian worker, who is unemployed will remain hungry. This is my assurance to the country through Parliament... We will bring all of them back to India. She said the Saudi government has agreed to allow India to evacuate its citizens without the mandatory No objection Certificate (NoC) from the employers. Since their employers have fled, who will grant them NoC? We have asked the Saudi government to authorise us to evacuate Indians (who have lost their jobs), Sushma said. Salary dues She said the government has also asked the Saudi Labour Office to pay the salaries of the workers through the dues owed by the Saudi government to their employers. Members in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha expressed concern over the fate of the stranded Indians. The minister said she was receiving hourly updates on their status. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and several Opposition MPs lauded Sushmas efforts. She has done everything, No one could have done so much work, the Speaker said. DH News Service New Delhi may invoke agreement With thousands of Indians losing jobs in Saudi Arabia, New Delhi is likely to invoke its agreement with Riyadh to seek intervention of the government of the kingdom, DHNS reports from New Delhi. New Delhi is relying on the agreement with Riyadh on labour cooperation to seek the intervention of the Saudi Arabian government to help over 10,000 Indian workers, whohave been rendered jobless in the kingdom due to fall in oil prices and economic downturn. Prodded by India, the Ministry of Labour and Social Development of Saudi Arabia has already initiated legal proceedings against the Saudi Oger Limited a construction company which had not been paying wages to its workers for several months, but also stopped providing meals to them. The affected workers include 2,450 Indians, living in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. Riyadh, according to the sources, conveyed to New Delhi that the Saudi Oger Limited will be subjected to legal proceedings and will have to pay fines for violating the Wage Protection Laws of the kingdom. Besides, according to the reports received in New Delhi, 3,172 Indian workers living in Riyadh had not been paid their wages for several months, though they were still getting regular rations. Sources in New Delhi said that Minister of State for External Affairs, M J Akbar, has been liaising with the Saudi Arabian government to ensure that the claims of all the laid-off Indian workers, who had not been paid wages, could lodge complaints and their claims were processed in accordance with the laws. He also sought the Saudi Arabian governments assistance in arranging exit visa for all Indian workers who wish to be repatriated. A gang of eight men hacked a history-sheeter to death in front of his house on Vijayanandanagar 4th Main Road in Nandini Layout on Sunday night. The deceased is identified as Vijay Kumar, 27. There were cases against him in Nandini Layout and Mahalakshmi Layout police stations. He had given up criminal activities a year ago. Around 10 pm on Sunday night, he was having dinner with his wife when he heard some noise outside the house. When he came out raising his voice, the suspects attacked with him lethal weapons. They soon fled after the attack. Police have detained three men in connection with the murder. The police arrested a man from Assam and recovered a 400-gram brass item (in pic) shaped like a boat from him. The suspect is identified as Gazbur Rehman, 24, a native of Assam. He works as a cook at a hotel in Koramangala. He was planning to sell the article, claiming it to be a gold boat, for Rs 2.5 lakh. Rehman moved to the city a few years ago in search of a job. He worked as a waiter and was finally employed as a cook, said the police. He had befriended with many women. He had affairs with some of them. Rehman spent money lavishly to project himself as a rich man, so as to befriend the women, said the police. He found it difficult to manage his expenses and ran into heavy debts. He had heard hotel customers saying that there was a belief that the Chinese-made gold brass articles would bring good fortune if they are kept at home, said the police. He bought a gold-coated brass boat for Rs 9,500. Rehman planned to sell it to overcome his financial problems. He had discussed his intention with some people and was searching for customers, said the police. DH News Service More than 25,000 devotees witnessed the historic celebrations of the proclamation of the shrine of St Lawrence as Minor Basilica on Monday. It is the second basilica in Karnataka and 22nd in India. Prior to the solemn Eucharistic Mass, rector of the shrine, Fr George DSouza conducted the novena service in preparation for the titular feast of St Lawrence which would be celebrated on August 10. The grand eucharistic celebration commenced at 10 am with the procession of priests, followed by bishops and cardinals. Prior to the mass, Udupi diocese bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo welcomed Archbishop of Mumbai, Oswald Cardinal Gracias, the chief celebrant of the Holy Eucharist. Archbishop Oswald Cardinal Gracias, in his introductory remarks, said the elevation of the Shrine of St Lawrence as Minor Basilica is a great honour not only to the diocese of Udupi, but also for Karnataka and India. He also said that St Lawrence, who is regarded as the Saint of Miracles would shower his blessings on his devotees. Oswald Cardinal Gracias began the mass in Konkani. Prior to the singing of Gloria, Baselios Cardinal Cleemis, the Major Archbishop-Catholicos of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church, Thiruvananthapuram and president of CBCI, read the proclamation decree in Latin. Thereafter, he handed over the decree to Fr George DSouza, who read it in Konkani. Archbishop of Bengaluru Bernard Moras in his homily said the elevation of St Lawrence shrine to the status of Minor Basilica and its proclamation and dedication is a historic and spiritual event and conveyed his compliments to the devotees of Karkala and the diocese of Udupi. He added that there are 1,740 minor basilicas in the world out of which 22 are in India including the newly proclaimed St Lawrence Minor Basilica. There was exemplary discipline and devotion during the entire Eucharistic celebration. Over 15,000 devotees participated in the Holy Mass. Nearly 200 priests and 15 bishops along with three cardinals concelebrated the Holy Eucharist. Thousands gathered at the Mysuru Exhibition Grounds on Monday to pay their last respects to Rakesh, the elder son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who died in Belgium on Saturday. Rakesh (39) died of multiple-organ failure at the University Hospital in Belgium. Siddaramaiah, wife Parvathi, younger son Dr Yathindra and Rakeshs wife Smitha accompanied the cortege from Brussels. The body was flown from Brussels to the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru earlier in the day. The body, which arrived at the Mysuru airport in Mandakalli at 11.10 am, was kept for public viewing between 12.45 pm and 2.30 pm. Later, it was shifted to the chief ministers farmhouse in T Katur near Udbur. The last rites were performed at 5.30 pm by Rakeshs son Dhavan at the farmhouse. Only family members and close relatives were allowed to partake in the burial ceremony, owing to space constraint. A teary-eyed Siddaramaiah stood beside the cortege and expressed gratitude to all the people who had come to the grounds to pay their tributes to Rakesh. When Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, who had lost his elder son a decade ago, approached him, Siddaramaiah could not hold back his tears. Besides Governor Vajubhai Vala, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretaries Digvijay Singh and Oscar Fernandes, many ministers; and former chief ministers S M Krishna, H D Kumaraswamy, Jagadish Shettar and B S Yeddyurappa; K S Eshwarappa and C T Ravi; and actors Ramkumar and Shashikumar, among others, paid floral tributes to the departed soul. Home Minister G Parameshwara, Mysuru District In-charge Minister H C Mahadevappa and Cooperation Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad accompanied the hearse vehicle to the grounds from Mandakalli. Apart from political leaders and ministers, people from the chief ministers native Siddaramanahundi and other villages under the Varuna Assembly constituency came to Katur to catch a final glimpse of Rakesh. Katur comes under the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency, which was earlier represented by Siddaramaiah. Dignitaries like Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami of Suttur mutt, Someshwaranatha Swami of Adichunchanagiri branch mutt and others who could not see the body in Mysuru went to the farmhouse. DH News Service The Supreme Court on Monday held that the former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh cannot be allotted government bungalows for life, saying the state cannot fritter away public property in favour of private persons. A three-judge bench, presided over by Justice Anil R Dave, noted that other constitutional post-holders like Governors, Chief Justices, Union ministers, Speakers and others held only one official residence during their tenure. Allotment of government property to someone without adequate market rent, in absence of any special statutory provision, would also be bad in law because the state has no right to fritter away government property in favour of private persons or bodies without adequate consideration and therefore, all such allotments, which have been made in absence of any statutory provision cannot be upheld, the bench said. It directed the state government to get such premises vacated within two months and recover appropriate rent from the occupiers. The bench, also comprising Justices N V Ramana and R Banumathi, relied upon the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1981, and found the 1997 Rules framed thereunder as bad in law, which enabled the former chief ministers to continue with the accommodation for life. When the 1981 Act enables the Chief Minister to have residential accommodation only during his tenure and for 15 days after completion of his tenure, the 1997 Rules providing for an accommodation for life to the Chief Minister cannot be said to be legal and valid, the bench said. The courts ruling on a petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari would affect as many as six former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Ram Naresh Yadav, Narayan Dutt Tiwari and Kalyan Singh, as they were ordered to vacate their bungalows within two months. The order is likely have its effect on the former chief ministers in other states as well. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, however, said the state government would file a review petition against the judgement. UP govts stand The state, for its part, said the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in its executive decisions. It denied any preferential treatment as former chief ministers were treated as a class of persons under the Rules. It said some of them enjoyed Z-plus security and required proper supporting infrastructure. It further argued that if former Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers were given the facility, why not the Chief Ministers in a federal structure. DH News Service Dengue cases hit a five-year high in the capital this July, as the South Delhi Municipal Corporation reported 91 patients. Official data collected till July 30 revealed 29 cases have been reported last week alone, though individual cases from hospitals could increase that figure. Safdarjung Hospital has handled 144 dengue cases so far, while RML treated 16 positive patients. The Corporations data also failed to register the death of a 17-year-old girl who succumbed to the disease at Lok Nayak Hospital. The SDMC data also revealed 16 Malaria cases have been treated in the capital. While 36 dengue cases were recorded in July 2015, the figure was seven for 2014. The number of cases for 2012 and 2013 were 11 and seven respectively. Last year, the capital saw the worst dengue outbreak since 1996. Dealing with the increasing cases, the Delhi government has allowed all the hospitals by 10 to 20 per cent for the next three months. The government directive has said the additional beds can only be used for fever and dengue cases. The hospitals will be held responsible for turning away dengue patients. Capping lab tests for dengue at Rs 600 and platelet count at Rs 50, the government has also warned severe action against private hospitals charging more. The mohalla clinics have been geared up to handle dengue cases, while all hospitals have been advised to set up round-the-clock fever corners. Medical and paramedical staff at the clinics have been sensitised about prevention and treatment of dengue. The government has also curbed sale of drugs reducing platelet counts such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen and Diclofenac group of medicines, which can be bought only with prescriptions. Besides, Students of government and private schools have been brought into spread awareness on dengue. DH News Service By Charles Iceland, Betsy Otto, and Richard Waite 25 July 2016 (WRI) A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planets food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, Australia and Chile. As WRI-Aqueducts future scenarios for water supply show, diminished water supplies will be apparent in these areas by 2020 less than four years away and are expected to grow worse by 2030 and 2040. Now a new study in the journal Nature provides some of the first evidence that this widely-predicted phenomenon the movement of clouds and rainfall from the mid-latitudes towards the North and South poles is already taking place. Just like the retreat of glaciers and polar sea ice, now clouds and rain are retreating poleward. This will have huge implications for agricultural production, industrial and energy output, and municipal water provisioning. Many irrigated agricultural areas are already facing water stress. The climate-driven shift of clouds and rain known as Hadley Cell expansion will put those areas under even greater stress in the future. Rain-fed agriculture, which many poor people depend upon, will also suffer as a result of reduced rainfall in the mid-latitude regions. A recent WRI study finds that sub-Saharan Africa will need to more than triple crop production by 2050 in order to feed its growing population. This hard-to-reach target will become more difficult in places like southern Africa and the western Sahel, where water supply is projected to fall. In addition to worsening water stress and undermining food security, decreasing water supply in the worlds mid-latitudes may also help destabilize nations in these regions, adding to pre-existing political tensions, and helping contribute to armed conflict and migration, as we have seen in places like Syria. [more] Silicon Valley icon brings extensive experience as Flex Logix enters its next phase of growth MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., August 1, 2016 Flex Logix Technologies, Inc., the leading developer of reconfigurable RTL IP cores and software, today announced that it has appointed industry-veteran and Eclipse Ventures General Partner Pierre Lamond to its board of directors, effective immediately. Lamond joins the growing list of well-known executives at Flex Logix, a fast-growing Silicon Valley start-up that has developed an innovative reconfigurable RTL platform that will change the way chips are designed today and in the future. Pierre is well known in Silicon Valley for his instrumental leadership roles in many successful companies, said Geoff Tate, co-founder and CEO of Flex Logix. We look forward to having his contributions at Flex Logix. This is an exciting time in our companys history as we embark on our next phase of mainstream commercialization. Pierres experience and industry connections will be key as we execute on the aggressive business plan we have in place. Lamond is a pioneer of the semiconductor industry. He started his career as an engineer at Transitron Electronics before joining Dr. Gordon E. Moores R&D team at Fairchild Semiconductor. While at Fairchild, Lamond oversaw the development of advanced, high-frequency transistors and the first generation of digital integrated circuits. Lamond left Fairchild to co-found the National Semiconductor Corporation (NSM), where he was vice president and general manager, integrated circuits. In 1981, Lamond joined Sequoia Capital as a General Partner, where he played a pivotal role in the expansion of the semiconductor, systems, and software portfolios. While at Sequoia, Lamond was chairman of the board at Cypress Semiconductor, Microchip Semiconductor, Vitesse Semiconductor, Open-Silicon Inc., Redback Networks, Verisity, and Plumtree. He was also a director at Mellanox Technologies, YouTube, and Xoom. Lamond ran, on a temporary basis, engineering departments at Cisco Systems and C-Cube. Flex Logix has the unique combination of technology, talent, value proposition, and business model to build a multi-billion dollar market cap business, said Lamond. Now, just nine months after our initial investment, we see the company making incredible progress in both engineering and customer acquisition. Im excited to have the opportunity to work with Geoff and the team. About Flex Logix Flex Logix, founded in March 2014, provides solutions for reconfigurable RTL in chip and system designs using embedded FPGA IP cores and software. The company's technology platform delivers significant customer benefits by dramatically reducing design and manufacturing risks, accelerating technology roadmaps, and bringing greater flexibility to customers hardware. Flex Logix is backed by $7.4 million from leading investors including Lux Capital and Eclipse Ventures. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has sales rep offices in China, Europe, Israel, Taiwan and Texas. More information can be obtained at http://www.flex-logix.com. About Eclipse Founded in 2014, Palo Alto based Eclipse Ventures supports iconic entrepreneurs building vertically-integrated, full-stack companies, incorporating hardware, software, and data. The team is comprised of passionate and experienced individuals with both investment and operational backgrounds. Eclipse has made 27 investments to date. 30 Bollywood Movies That Have Been Banned In Pakistan! Wipro has launched a three-year Corporate Social Investment project in South Africa. In partnership with the countrys Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the initiative aims to set up 29 computer laboratories that will benefit 28,000 students from rural areas. The labs will be set up in 29 schools adopted by IDC in provinces across the country, and will be used primarily by students from grade 7-12. The program will first be rolled out in the Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape regions. Most of these schools are located in places where the need for technology education is paramount. The programme will provide fully-equipped and connected computer labs to each school, supported by a sustainable programme of computer education for approximately 800 teachers as well as school students. IDC will appoint and train one unemployed youth from the community to help each school run its computer lab. Gavin Holme, Business Head, Wipro Africa said, Many rural schools in the region continue to be disadvantaged by limited levels of access to technology resources, resulting in lower levels of information and communications technology literacy among both teachers and students. Our partnership with the IDC will provide thousands of learners with the access and skills that are essential for the digital age. He further added, We are committed to provide a broad range of hardware, software, connectivity, education and programme management resources to ensure that we deliver the real impact we have envisioned. Zama Luthuli, IDCs Divisional Executive for Corporate Affairs, said, Wipro is the ideal partner for this initiative given their extensive experience in launching education-based technology projects. Wipros approach mirrors our own, in that both organisations are passionate about making a sustainable difference in the South African education system. Wipro is a Level 2 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) contributor in South Africa. The company runs several initiatives under its flagship programme Siyapha, including a popular Graduate Internship Programme to train tertiary level graduates. To date, Siyapha has provided technology training and access to over 4,800 people in South Africa. The government has asked email service like Google, Microsoft, and Rediff providers to allow users to sign up for email addresses in local languages Internet users in India may soon be able to create an email address in their native language. According to a report by Economic Times, the government has asked email service providers like Google, Microsoft and Rediff to let users sign up for email addresses in local languages, starting with Hindi. The report noted that this is in line with the aim of making the internet accessible in semi-urban and rural areas. Rajiv Bansal, Joint Secretary to the Ministry of Electronics and IT said, The Bharat Net project will connect 250,000 gram panchayats through high-speed Internet in the next few years, and people should be able to utilise it when it reaches them. He added that an email address is needed to access basic internet services. However, the companies feel that the government should lead by example instead for forcing this change. Venki Nishtala, Chief Technology officer of Rediff said, What is stopping our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officers in government from sending out emails to the public from a Hindi email address? Rediffs CEO, Ajit Balakrishnan said that the company can implement such email addresses easily, but the government needs to bring down the cost of internet access to about Rs. 50. Microsoft has said that the latest versions of its software support such email addresses, while Google has posted a blog back in 2014 in which it stated that Gmail had started recognising IDs that contain non-Latin characters such as Chinese or Devanagari. Leakster Evan Blass also said that Nexus 5 will not be updated to the new OS. Google seems to be in a hurry to release the next version of its mobile operating system, Android Nougat v7.0. According to a tweet by Evan Blass, the company may release the OS this month itself, along with the months security update. However, owners of the Nexus 5 smartphone may be disappointed as it may not receive the update. To recall, Google had also released the beta preview of Android Nougat 7.0 before Google I/O. The new OS adds multi-window support to phones and tablets, along with the ability to reply to notifications from within the notification interface. Further, the company also announced that the new OS would check for malware when it boots up on a device. If it detects the presence of malware, it will not boot initialise. If the company does release the new OS this month, then it may also release the next generation of Nexus devices alongside. The two devices is reportedly being manufactured by HTC, and are codenamed Marlin and Sailfish. The HTC Marlin is tipped to be the successor to Nexus 6P, with a 5.5-inch QHD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and 4GB of RAM. It may also feature 12MP-8MP cameras. On the other hand, HTC Sailfish is speculated to be the successor to last year's Nexus 5X, and reports suggest that it may also come with similar specifications such as Snapdragon 820 SoC, 4GB RAM and 12MP, 8MP cameras. However, it is expected to sport a smaller, 5-inch Full HD display. The new Nexus devices may not be the only ones to come preloaded with Android Nougat. LG has also announced that the successor to the V10 will be named V20, and that the device will be launched with the new OS. Details of the phone were not revealed, but the company said that the phone would feature expanded multimedia capabilities. For the three months ended 30 June, the company reported that its 75% owned subsidiary Montepuez Ruby Mining in Mozambique produced 6.2m carats of ruby and corundum with an average grade of 75 carats per tonne. Annual ruby and corundum production is anticipated to to be 10.3m carats and is about 2.3m carats ahead of expectations. The Montepuez mines operating costs for the quarter increased by about 6% to $7.4m in comparison to the same period last year. The Kagem emerald mine in Zambia produced produced 7.2m carats of emerald and beryl, which was down about 11% from the same period last year. The company, which last month secured a $65m financing facility, had a record $101.3m from an emerald auction. Chief executive Ian Harebottle, who wants to expand annual production to 20m carats of rough rubies and more than 40m carats of rough emeralds within the next three years, said: "Demand for our products and the way in which they are presented continue to rise, achievable prices are on the increase and costs are well contained while the level of work and output has increased significantly. "This is an exceptional achievement in itself, but is even more impressive when considered against a backdrop of market uncertainty in a number of jurisdictions and Gemfields' ever expanding operating footprint." The AM listed company's luxury brand Faberge reported a strong financial year as sales were up 14% in the quarter, transactions more than doubled and total operating costs fell 25%. Shares in Gemfields were up 9.12% to 40.38p at 1452 BST. Nanoco has agreed a non-exclusive licence with Merck for the German chemicals giant to immediately begin marketing the UK minnow's products as part of its display screens offering for LCD TVs and smartphones. The material supply and licensing agreement will allow Merck to immediately start marketing Nanocos cadmium-free quantum dots, which are a relatively new technology used in LCD display screens, and to ultimately establish its own production facility as demand builds. Although the financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, Nanoco said it will receive a licence fee and royalties on Mercks sales of the Nanoco cadmium-free quantum dots Merck manufactures. Merck will begin marketing Nanocos technology in the near term by selling cadmium-free quantum dots manufactured at Nanocos expanded production plant in Runcorn, UK, before establishing its own production facility at a later point in time, depending on global market demand. Nanoco previously agreed a similar deal with Dow Chemical, which took around 18 months to reach productive capacity, but house broker Canaccord said management expects Merck to achieve this on a shorter timescale given recent advances and experience in technology transfer. Nanoco chief executive Michael Edelman said the agreement was "another major endorsement of the world-class quality of our cadmium free quantum dot technology". Notably, Merck's chief of Performance Materials said cadmium-free quantum dots "enable a remarkable increase in the colour range and a significant reduction in power consumption can be achieved". He said Merck was signing the deal to enable it to "sustainably secure its position as the global market and technology leader in display materials". Analysts at Canaccord noted that Nanoco's existing non-exclusive deal with Dow was focused predominantly on the Korean market and Monday's agreement was a "game changing deal". "Today's deal not only provides a second source of supply into the important Korean market (Samsung and LG) but also opens up the potential for global supply, including the whole of the Far East where Merck already has extensive sales and distribution capability." $35bn deal will see Uber investors gain a 20% stake in Chinese ride-hailing firm Uber has finally put to an end the battle between its Chinese operations and main rival Didi Chuxing, agreeing to a $35bn deal for the sale of its business in the country, as confirmed by Bloomberg. In the deal, China's biggest ride-hailing service will acquire all of Uber China's business in the region, and provide investors with a 20% stake in the new company. Pressure had been coming on Uber to resolve the competition battle as billions of dollars were being spent to try to win more market share against Didi, with investors in the US-based company increasingly viewing it as an unwinnable contest. In May Didi claimed to have 87% of the market share in China, and has also invested in Uber's US competitor Lyft. Both companies were engaging in mass fundraising in order to increase their market share, with Didi collecting $7bn in debt and equity in June, while Uber were able to raise $3.5bn from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The complex arrangement includes a $1bn investment from Didi towards its US rival, according to Bloomberg. In a blog post released to the financial news website, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said that he believed it was the right decision. As an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart," confessed Kalanick. "I have no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together. The Chinese firm was created after a similar merger deal between Didi and former competitor Kuaidi, allowing it to have the biggest market share for the business. American jets struck at Islamic State positions in Libya for the first time at the request of the UN-backed government. The strikes targeted positions at the port city of Sirte, the BBC reported citing the Pentagon. They marked the first such attack by the US in co-ordination with the Libyan unity government. Japanese giant Panasonic has reportedly expressed an interest in buying UK hair straightener maker GHD , which is being sold off by its private equity owner Lion Capital. GHD, which stands for 'good hair day' and has enjoyed strong growth thanks in large part through celebrity endorsements from the likes of Victoria Beckham, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry and Jennifer Aniston, is thought to be valued by Lion at more than 400m. Panasonic has emerged as one of the most likely buyers of GHD, according to reports from Sky News, though there is also interest in the auction from private equity group CVC Capital Partners, a US-based investment firm and another trade buyer. Last year Leeds-based GHD, which was set up by Yorkshire entrepreneurs Martin Penny and Gary Douglas and hair stylist Robert Powls in 2001 when they bought the rights to hair irons developed South Korean inventor Tae-Cheol Kim, grew sales 9.5% to 181.2m and made 33.7m in pre-tax profit. Analysts suggest the weakening in the pound since the Brexit vote will see a raft of overseas buyers swoop for relatively cheaper UK companies, with SoftBank's proposed takeover of chipmaker ARM another to have benefitted from sterling's fall. European stocks reversed earlier gains to trade lower on Monday, with banks under the cosh as investors digested the results of the latest stress tests and oil stocks weighed down by a sharp drop in crude oil futures. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index finished 0.59% lower at 339,86, Germanys DAX was flat, off by just 0.07% to 10,330.52 and Frances CAC 40 was down by 0.69% to 4,409.17. At the same time, oil prices were in the red. West Texas Intermediate was off 3.896% at $40.04 a barrel and Brent crude was down by 3.59% lower at $42.02, sending the Stoxx 600 gauge of Oil&Gas stocks lower by 1.65% to 274.09. Equity markets had kicked the session off in the black, with bank shares seemingly shrugging off the release of the European Banking Authoritys latest stress tests on Friday. However, by the close the Stoxx 600 sub-index for the sector was in the red by 1.64% to 131.01 points. Italys Monte dei Paschi which announced a 5bn recapitalisation just minutes before the stress test results were released gained a bit ground despite faring the worst out of the 51 banks tested; analysts at Societe Generale said that with a rescue in place, the stress test was "something of an afterthought". Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were both in the red, while UniCredit shares were temporarily suspended as investors rushed to ditch the stock. By the close of trading stock in the Italian lender had surrendered 9.40% to 1.99. Despite the losses, SocGen said all the banks other than Monte performed acceptably. Investors were also digesting mixed data out of China, where the official manufacturing purchasing managers index for July fell to 49.9 from 50.0 the month before. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction. Economists had been expecting a reading of 50.1. However, the private PMI survey by Caixin/Markit came in at 50.6 in July from 48.6 in June, beating expectations. Meanwhile, the official non-manufacturing PMI nudged up to 53.9 in July from 53.7 in June. On the European data front, Markits final Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers index nudged down to 52.0 in July from 52.8 in June. Still, the reading came in above the flash estimate of 51.9 and marked the 37th consecutive month of expansion. Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: Although signalling an easing in the pace of expansion in July, the PMI points to steady manufacturing growth. The problem is that growth is looking increasingly lop-sided, which will worry policymakers and add to calls for further stimulus from the ECB. The surveys suggest that euro area factory output is expanding at a near-2% annual pace, which has encouraged firms to take on extra staff at the fastest rate for five years in recent months. Deflationary pressures are also easing, with costs showing the first rise for a year and selling prices stabilising. In corporate news, Heineken was in the red after the brewers first-half sales growth missed analysts expectations. French industrial gas company Air Liquide was also on the back foot after saying net profit in the first half fell 4.5% to 811m. Burberry was weaker after it said it has taken full control of its retail business in China. On the upside, Veolia gained ground as the water and waste utility posted a drop in first-half profit and said it was selling the stake in its transport unit. GlaxoSmithKline edged higher after announcing a new agreement with Verily Life Sciences - formerly Google Life Sciences, an Alphabet company - to form Galvani Bioelectronics. Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS banker who lost the Swiss bank 1.4bn through rogue trading, said that it could happen again as banks had not learnt from the financial crisis. Adoboli, 36, said traders are still pressured to make profits at all costs and the banking industry has not done enough to reform since the 2008 financial crisis. He told the BBC that behaviour in banking had not changed. "I think the young people I've spoken to, former colleagues I have spoken to, are still struggling with the same issues, the same conflicts, the same pressures to achieve no matter what. "And this goes back to the structure of the industry. People are required to take risk to generate profit, because yields in the industry are consistently compressed. And if investment banks continue to chase the same level of profitability as they have in the past, the only way to generate those profits is to take more risk. But from a politics angle, the desire is to limit that risk taking, to limit the profitability, but you have these conflicted goals. And where the conflict comes is where people fall into this grey zone, and so I think it can absolutely happen again. Especially as we go into what could be the next phase of the great financial crisis over the next 12 to 24 months." He said the lack of reform is partly due to bosses staying out of jail while junior traders take the blame. The industry doesnt learn Perhaps there are bad people in the industry. I think its about culture. The culture is set at very senior levels of the industry. They have as much responsibility for what the outcomes are as those pushing the buttons. Adoboli, the biggest rogue trader in British history, was convicted of fraud in November 2012. He was described by the prosecution as a master fraudster and sophisticated liar, and was released in July 2015 after serving about have of the seven year sentence. He was born in Ghana and has lived in the UK since he was 12, and is currently fighting deportation, as foreign nationals who have been sentenced to more than four years in prison are automatically considered for deportation. On 20 July he lost his deportation appeal. Adobali, one of the few bankers to be jailed since the financial crisis, said he was sorry for what happened. "I unreservedly apologise for what happened - it was a huge failure and part of the redemption is about that. Part of rehabilitation is about facing up to your choices, what was wrong with them, and how do you move forward." GlaxoSmithKline announced a new agreement on Monday, with Verily Life Sciences - formerly Google Life Sciences, an Alphabet company - to form Galvani Bioelectronics . The FTSE 100 firm said the partnership would enable the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic medicines, with GSK holding a 55% equity interest in the new jointly owned company and Verily holding 45%. Galvani Bioelectronics will be headquartered in the UK, with the parent companies contributing existing intellectual property rights and an investment of up to 540m over seven years, subject to successful completion of various discovery and development milestones. The agreement to establish Galvani Bioelectronics represents an important next step in GSK's bioelectronics research, its board explained. It said the new company will bring together GSK's world class drug discovery and development expertise and deep understanding of disease biology with Verily's world leading technical expertise in the miniaturisation of low power electronics, device development, data analytics and software development for clinical applications. Initial work will centre on establishing clinical proofs of principle in inflammatory, metabolic and endocrine disorders, including type 2 diabetes, where substantial evidence already exists in animal models; and developing associated miniaturised, precision devices. Many of the processes of the human body are controlled by electrical signals firing between the nervous system and the body's organs, which may become distorted in many chronic diseases, said Moncef Slaoui, GSK's chairman of global vaccines. Bioelectronic medicine's vision is to employ the latest advances in biology and technology to interpret this electrical conversation and to correct the irregular patterns found in disease states, using miniaturised devices attached to individual nerves. If successful, this approach offers the potential for a new therapeutic modality alongside traditional medicines and vaccines, Slaoui added. Verilys chief technology officer Brian Otis called it an ambitious collaboration, which will allow the two companies to combines forces and have a huge impact on the emerging field. Bioelectronic medicine is a new area of therapeutic exploration, and we know that success will require the confluence of deep disease biology expertise and new highly miniaturised technologies. This partnership provides an opportunity to further Verily's mission by deploying our focused expertise in low power, miniaturised therapeutics and our data analytics engine to potentially address many disease areas with greater precision with the goal of improving outcomes, Otis explained. Galvani Bioelectronics will be headquartered within GSKs global research and development centre at Stevenage, the board confirmed, with a second research hub at Verilys facilities in San Francisco. It will initially employ around 30 expert scientists, engineers and clinicians, with Kris Famm, GSK's vice president of bioelectronics R&D, appointed president of the new company. A seven-member board, chaired by Moncef Slaoui, will also be appointed and will include Andrew Conrad, CEO of Verily. The new company will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements. Petrofac reported on Monday that it has concluded the independent investigation commissioned by the board into allegations in the media related to the historical provision of services to the company by Unaoil , a Monaco-based company. The board of the FTSE 250 company said no evidence was found that any director of the company was aware of the alleged misconduct that is the subject of the allegations. The independent investigation has thoroughly investigated the allegations, based solely on the information available to the company, and recognising their historical nature and wider context beyond Petrofac, the board said in a statement. The company confirms that it engaged Unaoil for the provision of local consultancy services primarily in Kazakhstan between 2002 and 2009. The independent investigation did not find evidence confirming the payment of bribes, it explained. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with the support of forensic accountants at KPMG, carried out the independent investigation and reported to a sub-committee of the board comprising the chairman and three independent non-executive directors. The board said it considers it appropriate to share the findings of the investigation with the Serious Fraud Office and any other relevant authorities, and has noted the SFO's general request for information in relation to its ongoing investigation into the activities of Unaoil. Petrofac enforces strict anti-bribery and corruption standards and a compliance programme focused on training, monitoring, risk management and due diligence, the board said. The programme mandates compliance with all anti-bribery and corruption and anti-money laundering laws, rules and regulations. Treasury minister Jim ONeill threatened to quit over Theresa Mays handling of Chinas involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant project, as Chinas news agency questioned whether Britain was truly open for business post-Brexit. According to the Financial Times, Lord O'Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist, told friends that unless May can explain why she wants him to stay, he will leave the government in September. Lord ONeill was brought to the Treasury by former Chancellor George Osborne to build economic relations with China and was confounded by the decision to postpone plans to go ahead with the Hinkley Point C reactor, as the government post-Brexit was keen for foreign investment and trade ties with China. The decision, thought to come from the top of government, came hours after Frances state owned utility provider EDF narrowly agreed to go ahead with building Hinkley Point C. May said she had security concerns over Chinas investment in the project. Chinese companies CGN and CNNC agreed to invest 6bn in the 18bn nuclear reactor. Last year, Lord ONeill told the Financial Times in Beijing that Britain had to get over one of its perpetual problems of being a fair-weather friend. China also has ambitions to build another nuclear power plant in Bradwell, Essex and Hinkley Point was seen as an important precursor to this. Meanwhile Xinhua, Chinas official news agency, said on Monday that China would not tolerate unwanted accusations regarding investment in Britain and since Brexit, the UK could not afford to drive-away foreign investment. In an English-language commentary, the news agency said it understood that Britain's new government needed time to think but objected to security concerns. For starters, for a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out. As the initiator of the free trade theory and full implementor of free market economy, Britain has long been known for its extraordinary attractiveness to foreign investment with its openness. The suspicious approach towards Chinese investment pervading in the postponement actually triggers much concern that Britain might be thinking of erecting a wall of protectionism, which will surely stain its credibility as an open economy and might deter possible investors from China and other parts of the world in the future. The commentary, although not an official statement, does give insight into Chinese government, and said security suspicions could add uncertainties to the golden era of China-UK ties. "China can wait for a rational British government to make responsible decisions, but can not tolerate any unwanted accusation against its sincere and benign willingness for win-win cooperation. After all, the hard-won momentum in China-UK relations cannot be wasted, and the golden era cannot afford to be delayed. David Cameron's government encouraged ties with China and last year hosted president Xi Jinping on a state visit. The UK also participated in the Asian infrastructure bank, proposed by China. A tough six months in the US for Aerospace engineering firm Senior's Flexonics division saw half year pre-tax profits fall 28% to 32.6m. Group revenue increased by 3.7% to 450.5m, including a favourable exchange rate impact of 21.5m and a beneficial incremental impact from acquisitions of 18.6m. In aeropsace, Senior's most important market is large commercial aircraft where Boeing and Airbus collectively delivered 673 aircraft in the first half of 2016, 1.8% less than the prior year. Senior's sales in the large commercial aircraft sector increased by 12.3% during the six-month period to 30 June 2016, with organic growth, excluding acquisitions, at 9.6%. The company said it benefited from increased production of the Airbus A350 and A320neo, which began customer deliveries in January 2016, and from higher deliveries of the 787; however, these increases were partly offset by the comparative impact of the decline in A330 build rates. In the Flexonics Division, which produces 28% of group revenue, market conditions in North American truck and off-highway and oil and gas markets remained challenging, Senior said. The division's adjusted operating profits fell 53.4% to 10.8m. Production of North American heavy-duty diesel trucks is forecast to decline in 2016 and 2017, and the off-highway market is expected to remain weak, Senior said. Oil and gas related markets remain challenging in the near term as investment in the sector is reduced or postponed. Chief execuitve David Squires said there were no clear signs of recovery yet visible in the unit's markets. Overall the Group remains well positioned for the future with Aerospace production programmes continuing to ramp-up and many new business opportunities in discussion with key customers, he said. In Flexonics, despite the challenging conditions, we have continued to secure positions on new programmes and platforms, and therefore are well positioned to resume growth when markets recover. As previously announced, the board expects the group's performance in the second half of 2016 to be stronger than the first half and is confident of progress in 2017 and beyond." UK Prime Minister Theresa May would not block the resignation honours list submitted by her predecessor David Cameron 'because it would "set a very bad precedent", the BBC reported citing a Downing Street spokesman. The comments come after after the Sunday Times newspaper published what it claimed to be details of the recipients, including his wife Samantha's special adviser. Downing Street said all the "proper processes" would be followed. After initially declining to comment, a spokesperson for May's office said: "It is standard for an outgoing prime minister to submit a resignation list. The Sunday Times report said the ex-PM had chosen to reward members of the official campaign to remain in the European Union. The UK voted to leave in June's referendum. Opposition MPs called for an overhaul of the system, but one former parliamentary aide to Cameron waved away concerns by saying the bestowing of honours was a relatively light way of paying off political debts. Others among the 48 recipients include staff at Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence, Cameron allies and Tory donors, the paper added. Top of the donors are Ian Taylor, a businessman who has handed the Tories more than 1.6m and contributed at least 350,000 to the Remain campaign, and Andrew Cook, who has donated more than 1m to the Conservatives and another 300,000 to Remain. Four cabinet members who also backed the campaign Philip Hammond, Michael Fallon, David Lidington and Patrick McLoughlin are among nine proposed knighthoods. An outgoing prime minister has the right to draw up a resignation honours list on leaving office although Sir John Major was the last to do so in 1997, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair having decided against. Cameron left office on July 13. Cameron is also poised to create two dames: former cabinet minister Caroline Spelman; and Arabella Warburton, chief of staff to former prime minister Sir John Major, who campaigned strongly for Remain. Will Straw, the director of the Remain campaign, who was a Labour candidate and is the son of party grandee and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, has been nominated for a CBE. George Osborne, the former chancellor and Camerons closest political friend, is in line to become a companion of honour. Osbornes closest aide, Thea Rogers, is set to receive an OBE. Some 24 members of Camerons Downing Street retinue are recognised for their efforts in the list circulated in Whitehall. They include his wife Samanthas stylist Isabel Spearman, officially listed as an adviser, who has also been nominated for an OBE. Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson attempted to drag new Prime Minister Theresa May into the row by suggesting she would not want her reputation undermined by approving rewards for Cameron's 'old boys network'. Its cronyism, pure and simple and proof the Tories will always put their own interests before those of the country, he said. However, Sir Desmond Swayne, himself knighted by Cameron this year, dismissed the criticism. Over a period of government, particularly a difficult government in a coalition, a prime minister has to cajole and get the support of a number of people and he builds up a debt of honour and I think that frankly, an honours list is a relatively light way of paying it off, Swayne told BBC radio. I think we get far too excited about these things. The reality is with any honours list there are names that will warm our hearts and names that will send us into an apoplectic rage. Khizr Khan appeared at the DNC last week criticising Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has engaged in a back-and-forth war of words with the father of a US Army captain who was killed in Iraq, after the man criticised the Republican nominee during the Democrtaic National Convention in Philadelphia last week. Khizr Khan, a Muslim immigrant to the US, appeared at the convention to criticise the policy of the billionaire to ban Muslims from entering the country. Khan brandished a copy of the US constitution and asked if Trump had ever read the document. Trump responded to the man by defending himself, and also calling into question the actions of his wife, who was present on stage at the convention, but never spoke. "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 you look at his wife, she was standing there," he continued. "She had nothing to say... Maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything tosay. You tell me." Both Khan and his wife have responded to Trump's interview with ABC at the weekend, with both claiming that they have no affiliation to either political party. If Republicans invite me [to speak at an event] I have no problem at all. Ill go and speak.," Mr. Khan said after supportive comments from Republicans in the House and Senate. He says my wife is not allowed to talk because of our religion, said Mr. Khan, 66 years old. Now who is attacking whom? Khan's wife Ghazala also responded in a column written for the Washington Post on Sunday that she was too stricken by grief to speak at the convention. "Walking on to the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?" she wrote. Trump has faced severe criticism for his comments, from his own Republican party as well as those on the other side of the aisle. Presidential competitor Hillary Clinton also berated Trump for his insensitivity on the matter surrounding the Khans and their fallen son. "He has throughout the course of his campaign consistently insulted and demeaned individuals, groups of Americans, people around the world. And one doesnt know where the bottom is, Mrs. Clinton said while campaigning in Ohio on Sunday. The accumulation of it all is just beyond my comprehension. Shares in the oil majors proved a drag for the Footsie on Monday after Saudi Arabia over the weekend announced a steep cut in the price of its cargoes for export to Asia. On Sunday, Saudi Aramco, the Middle Eastern Kingdoms state-owned oil company cut its price for shipments of Arab Light crude oil in September by $1.30 a barrel to $1.10 below the regional Asian benchmark. As of 17:45 BST Brent crude oil futures for October were down by 3.668% to $42.00 per barrel on the ICE, alongside a drop of 3.974% to $40.01 for the September 2016 West Texas Intermediate contract. In the specific case of Royal Dutch Shell, analysts at Citi sounded a cautious note on the outlook for the oil majors performance in the short-term. Were all the companys dividends to be paid out in cash that would mean paying out 80% of its cash flow from operations as dividend over the first half of the year, Alastair R. Syme said in a research report sent to clients. The slump in oil prices also took its toll on the likes of Weir Group, which in turn weighed on the industrial engineering space. Miners on the other hand were on the up on the back of generally better than expected economic data out of China and a raft of positive analyst commentary on Anglo American. The official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers index for July fell to 49.9 from 50.0 the month before. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction. Economists had been expecting a reading of 50.1. However, the private PMI survey by Caixin/Markit came in at 50.6 in July from 48.6 in June, beating expectations. Meanwhile, the official non-manufacturing PMI nudged up to 53.9 in July from 53.7 in June. Prices for most industrial metals, with those for copper being one notable exception, registered large gains on the back of the data. Shares in Anglo American got a boost from an upgrade out of analysts at RBC from "sector perform" to "outperform". HSBC and UBS also stepped in with supportive commentary. In a research note dated 29 July, the former lifted its target price on shares of the miner from 880p to 930p, referencing an improved operating performance, while keeping its recommendation steady at a 'hold'. Nevertheless, analysts Derryn Maade, Emma Townshend, Vidhya Sreelan also said the investment case "was not yet compelling". "Better-than-expected performance faces headwinds in H2 on slowing diamond sales and fading bulk commodity prices [...] while restructuring strategy looks questionable given non-core divisions contributed c44% to underlying EBITDA." Top performing sectors so far today Mining 11,821.32 +1.28% Food Producers & Processors 8,111.36 +1.22% Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 14,780.95 +0.52% Mobile Telecommunications 5,186.78 +0.47% Forestry & Paper 16,523.26 +0.26% Bottom performing sectors so far today Industrial Metals & Mining 1,620.11 -3.91% Oil & Gas Producers 7,057.14 -2.19% Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,645.02 -1.40% Real Estate Investment & Services 2,409.00 -1.17% Industrial Engineering 9,146.78 -1.11% Diversified food business Real Good Food swung to a full-year profit thanks to the sale of its sugar division Napier Brown, but revenue dropped sharply. In the year to the end of March, the company generated a statutory pre-tax profit of 12.9m compared to a loss of 3.5m the year before. The disposal of Napier generated a profit of 9.1m and helped reduce net debt from 30.1m to 5.1m. However, revenue was much weaker, falling to 113.7m from 232.9m the previous year. The company attributed this to unprecedented commodity price deflation, particularly in sugar and dairy and said both these markets experienced record low levels of prices. Sugar was hit not only by weak world prices but also in Europe ahead of the ending of quotas in 2017, while dairy, where quotas have already ended, was affected by the Russian export ban. Executive Chairman Pieter Totte said: The hugely successful disposal of Napier Brown transformed our balance sheet and has enabled us to begin a strategy of investing in our core markets. We have spent the time since reviewing our strategy, clarifying our focus and restructuring the business accordingly. The company said it has now restructured into three pillar markets: cake decoration, food ingredients and premium bakery, with the objective of building scale and strategic positions in each of these through organic growth, targeted investment and bolt-on acquisitions. Real Good Food said the outlook for the food industry remains challenging but trading in the first three months of the year been satisfactory and the company is confident that it is in a good position to build three strong businesses. At 1245 BST, shares were down 12.4% to 31.10p. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. The penetration of 5G is rising faster than 4G, and the number of global 5G users will top one billion by the end of 2022, two years faster than the corresponding pace for 4G, according... 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. Subscriber content preview Prineville's turnaround is all the more remarkable because it's a three-hour drive from Portland and light years from its liberal, hipster culture. By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press PRINEVILLE, Oregon It was not long ago that Crook County had five major lumber mills. Timber was king, and the rural Oregon county was the nation's top producer of ponderosa lumber. But amid restrictions on harvesting from federal lands, logging started to freefall around 1990. The county's mills began closing. The global recession hit a few years later. Unemployment soared to around 20 percent, the highest in Oregon. . . . Subscriber content preview SPOKANE,(AP) A former dockmaster with the Coeur d'Alene Resort marina has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing from his employer. KREM-TV reports that Tony Parks on Thursday was sentenced for one charge of grand theft after previously accepting a plea agreement. Parks was accused of stealing $467,800 from the resort by pocketing cash refunds for boat rentals. . . . Subscriber content preview OLYMPIA (AP) The Washington Attorney General's Office has come out against a crude oil terminal being proposed in Vancouver. Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the potential benefits of the project are dramatically outweighed by the potential risks and costs of a spill. . . . Subscriber content preview SEATTLE A University District parcel that is zoned for apartments up to 65 feet tall has sold for $4 million, according to King County records. Located at 4734 15th Ave. N.E., the 4,320 square-foot site has a small 1944 house on it. The seller is University Christian Church, which acquired the property in 1987 for $165,000. The buyer is listed as University District Apartments LP. . . . China, which had blocked India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) saying it is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has itself broken the consensus of nuclear non-proliferation by supplying nuclear reactors to Pakistan a non-signatory to the NPT. Commentators say China is playing a double game in blocking India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), while it continues to supply nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a country which is not under IAEA safeguards. According to a report by the Arms Control Association, while China continues to hail NPT as the cornerstone of a global non-proliferation regime, Beijing itself violates the NPT, making itself ineligible to be a member of the NSG. In its latest report assessing progress on non-proliferation, the Arms Control Association says that China's 2013 deal for the Chasma-3 reactor in Pakistan contradicted the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which "reaffirms that new supply arrangements" for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept NPT. To be eligible for nuclear trade, the recipient ''should have full-scope IAEA safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons". Islamabad has accepted neither. China, on the other hand, is creating procedural hurdles for India's NSG membership, saying India has not signed NPT. India, however, continues to remain engaged with Beijing over the issue, hoping that it will review its position at some stage. China had effectively blocked India's bid for NSG membership by writing to the NSG chair Rafael Mariano Grossi that NPT membership should be one of the "prerequisite factors" for consideration of NSG participation and that more discussions were needed before any "specific non-NPT" state could be allowed in. China continues to be a member of the NSG since 2004 despite its supply of as many as 6 nuclear reactors to Pakistan's Chasma nuclear power complex. Beijing has invented a pre-2003 agreement with Pakistan to defend its action of supplying nuclear reactors to a non-NPT nation - even though, as the report says, the exception should have been applicable only to the first two Chasma reactors whose sale was completed before China joined NSG. By helping Pakistan with its nuclear energy programme, China has clearly violated NSG guidelines and shown disregard for the reservations expressed by its members who control international nuclear commerce, says the report. "Despite progress on its export controls China continues to supply Pakistan with nuclear power reactors, despite objections that the sale of the reactors did not receive a consensus exemption from the NSG. Pakistan, which is neither an NPT member nor under full-scope IAEA safeguards, is therefore ineligible to receive such assistance under NSG rules," says the report by Arms Control Association. The report also points to China's violation of the Missile Technology Control Regime+ (MTCR) guidelines and not keeping its commitment in 2000 to not help any country in developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. This has kept China out of the MTCR while India has now become a member of MTCR. Home minister Rajnath Singh's plan to attend this week's Saarc summit in Islamabad remains unchanged despite threat by the chief of terror group Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin to stop Singh's visit. The Indian government on Monday said there is no change in the home minister's scheduled visit to Pakistan to attend the Saarc summit as it is for the Pakistani government to ensure Singh's safety. "The home minister is going to Pakistan for multilateral meeting. Terrorism will figure in talks... If any security issue arises, it's Pakistan's responsibility to deal with it," minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said. Salahuddin made the threat at a rally in Lahore on Sunday and warned Pakistan government against welcoming Singh who "deployed soldiers in Kashmir to shed the blood of innocents.'' Islamabad has not reacted to the threat so far nor has it commented on Rajnath Singh's visit. Earlier, Pakistani Prime minister had also made provocative comments on Kashmir after the death of terrorist Burhan Wani in a shoot-out with security personnel. Praising Wani, Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif had said, "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan." The home minister's visit comes amid tension between the two countries over Pakistan's provocative comments on Kashmir and the unrest in the aftermath of terrorist Burhan Wani's killing on 8 July. New Delhi has made it clear that there will be no bilateral meeting between Singh and Pakistani leaders during the Saarc ministerial conference on Thursday. Burhan Wani, 22, was a most-wanted terrorist commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Home ministry sources say Singh is expected to raise the issue of Pakistan sponsoring acts of terror in India. He is also likely to take up the slow pace of investigations into the Pathankot airbase terror attack, which was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Hafiz Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah(JuD), another terror group, has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan if the home minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the Saarc ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement here. "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". Ferrero tables bid to buy Belgian biscuit maker Delacre Italian confectionery group Ferrero has tabled a bid to buy Belgian biscuit maker Delacre, owned by Pladis, a subsidiary of Turkey-based Godiva chocolate maker Yildiz Holding, Italian daily newspaper La Stampa reported. "This is an opportunity to establish ourselves in a market in which we are not yet present and has a significant growth potential," Ferrero said in an internal communique, which Stampa was able to obtain, but, the communique did not give any financial details of the transaction. Yildiz, which also owns brands McVitie and Nutella, said last month that it plans to list Pladis in London by 2020, but retain a majority stake. Delacre, which was founded in 1891 by Brussels pharmacist Charles Delacre, makes high quality pastry biscuits like "Marquisette", "Biarritz", "Delichoc, and others. The company was acquired in 1998 by British group United Biscuits, which in turn was acquired in 2014 by Yildiz Holding. It has two production sites located at Lambermont in Belgium and Nieppe in France, employs around 300 people, and posted a turnover of 120 million last year. Founded in 1944 and based in Istanbul, Yildiz exports 160 brands and 2,700 products to 110 countries. The Istanbul-based company has 53 plants around the world, including 44 in Turkey and 9 abroad. The group employs more than 33,000 people and has annual turnover of around 13 billion Tukish Lira. Yildiz is preparing to launch confectionery and biscuits company Pladis by combining United Biscuits, Godiva Chocolatier, Ulker Cikolata Sanayi A.S. and DeMet's Candy Company and list it on the London Stock Exchnage. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays will replace liquid crystal display (LCD) screens as the leading smartphone display technology in 2020, according to a media report, IANS reported. Samsung Electronics had already adopted OLED displays for its flagship smartphones including the Galaxy S7 and there was increasing demand for OLED displays from Chinese vendors Huawei, OPPO Electronics, Vivo, Meizu Technology and others, business website investors.com reported yesterday. Apple is likely to switch to OLED displays with iPhone 8. Universal Display Corporation, a supplier of materials and technology for OLED products, would see demand for its products rise. Its stock had shot 40 per cent in the past 12 months, according to the report. LCD screens had dominated mobile phone displays for over 15 years but OLED displays were flexible, thinner and more power efficient. Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays with a low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) backplane would account for over a third (36 per cent) of all smartphone displays shipped in 2020, and become the most used display technology in smartphones. It would surpass a-Si (amorphous silicon) thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD and LTPS TFT LCD displays, the report added. Meanwhile, LG is looking to make a major investment in flexible screens, with plans to spend around $1.7 billion on producing flexible OLED smartphone screens, The Verge reported. Flexible screens had already been used in phones such as the curved Galaxy S7 Edge and could become a leading smartphone feature in the coming years. Production of the new screens would start at the new OLED display factory that LG announced it would build last November. According to rumours, the plant will be used in the near future to make iPhone screens, as the company planned to move from LCD to OLED displays beginning in 2018. New method for making green LEDs enhances their efficiency and brightness 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. "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," says 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 (eg.detection) and networking (eg communication) to enable smart (ie 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," explains 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, ""Maximizing Cubic Phase Gallium Nitride Surface Coverage on Nano-patterned Silicon (100)", appearing Applied Physics Letters. 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. Enhanced green LEDs aren't the only application for Bayram's cubic GaN, which could someday replace silicon to make power electronic devices found in laptop power adapters and electronic substations, and it could replace mercury lamps to make ultra-violet LEDs that disinfect water. In a glittering ceremony which was broadcast live to locations as distant as Dubai and Perth by IRISH TV on Sky the Gaeltacht Mary, Eva Ni Dhoibhlinn, was crowned the 2016 Mary from Dungloe last night. Such was the popularity of the show presented by Malachi Cush that it actually trended on Twitter and had reached the top spot just prior to the announcement of the new Mary. Eva was a most popular choice. A beautiful looking young woman, Eva has a great personality and an extremely talented musician with Crannog, a traditional group that performs tri mheain na Gaelige. With her command of the Irish language, there is no doubt that she will prove a great ambassador, not only for Donegal but for Ireland. The festival, which celebrates it's 50th birthday next year, attracted thousands of visitors to the capital of the Rosses this year with the King of the Roses Daniel ODonnell making himself available to the voluntary committee almost 24/7. Pictured above - The newly crowned Mary from Dungloe 2016 Eva Ni Dhoiblinn is congratulated late on Sunday night by Daniel O'Donnell and Malachi Cush from Irish TV. Photo; Matt Britton. The Chairman of the Donegal ICSA has said that the meeting which was held in Letterkenny to discuss the implications of Brexit on the farming and business community was a huge success. Donegal Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) in conjunction with Donegal Quality Beef Producers Group hosted the meeting titled Brexit..where to now? Chairman Malcolm Thompson said that the high calibre of speakers at the meeting inspired people to think differently. Among the guests at the meeting which was held in the Mount Errigal Hotel was the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) spokesperson on agriculture, Stuart Agnew. The Chairman said: There was very good attendance. People were delighted with the standard of speakers in attendance. Other speakers included Luke Ming Flanagan MEP, Michael Fitzmaurice TD, Paddy Kent, ICSA President as well as local and public representatives. Speaking following the meeting, Mr. Thompson said that a number of interesting points were made and that people who had come to the meeting with preconceived opinions would have left without them. He said that Mr. Agnew had addressed those gathered in a commanding fashion and declared that he believed that the Irish would leave the European Union. Mr. Thompson said: He said, you may not follow by choice, you may be forced out. The meeting, which addressed the concerns of both those in the farming and business communities, had a positive outcome with people striving to understand the best manner in which to address the current situation, he said. Mr. Flanagan told the meeting that the European Union has an agenda in place and said that he felt that as Irish people "we would not like it. " He envisaged a European Union with fiscal unity across the board and said that the number of Irish MEPs representing the needs of the Irish people would be vastly overshadowed by greater representation in other countries. Mr. Thompson said that the meeting was positive and one that had inspired positive thought which would be conducive to planning the direction in which farmers must go as a result of Brexit. It was very positive. I think that everyone will have plenty to think about following the meeting and perhaps may think in a different manner, he said. 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. Ronald Moede was born on December 21, 1934, in Rio Creek, WI. The son of the late Fred and Emily (Hanamann) Moede, he married Bonnie Neinas in Brussels on June 4, 1960, and they were married for 62+ years. He was a life-long resident of Rio Creek and was an innovative dairy farmer. He owned and managed a large dairy operation, Meade Manor Farms, which had been homesteaded by his grandfather, August Moede, in 1895. The log cabin home, barn, and herd grew to become one of the larger dairy farms in Kewaunee County under his guidance. Upon his retirement, it evolved into Meade Manor Pet Clinic, a vet service for small animals, but the land continued to flourish and produce. Ron graduated from Casco High School, Class of 1952 and Graham School for Cattlemen, Kansas. He was a member of the Wisconsin Holstein Breeders, Kewaunee County Holstein Breeders, and the National Holstein Association. He was a charter member of the Algoma FFA Alumni. His family exhibited champion dairy cattle at local, state, and national dairy cattle shows. In 1984, in Madison, the Wisconsin FFA named him Outstanding Farmer and in 1995, he was named and honored at the Wisconsin State Fair as a Century Farmer. He served as an elder in his church for many years as well as a trustee and various committee appointments. In his younger days, he was active in dartball and also high school sports. He received the Algoma Honorary Chapter Farmer Award, and the Unified Board Business Award. In his retirement, he drove school bus for 15 years for the Algoma School District and was a member of the Great Lakes Sports Fishermen. A hobby later enjoyed was his chicken farming. He raised a small flock of chicken, and he enjoyed passing out extra eggs to friends and relatives when the supply was greater than the family could handle. He was an avid sports fan and he and Bonnie attended both Packers Super Bowl games in 1996 and 1997, and also the Milwaukee World Series in 1983. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, both here and in upper Michigan and Minnesota. He even got Bonnie to go along with him to Lake of the Woods on the Canadian border to do some ice fishing. He held Packers season tickets since 1960 and at the time they bought their tickets they were allowed to pick out where they wanted to sit on the sidelines --there were no end zone seats yet-- and the tickets cost $5.00 a piece! He traveled through most of the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii as well as traveling to the Caribbean and Europe. He enjoyed a summer place in Door County for 20 years. He told many stories of farming with his dad and the fact that at the age of 12, he had his own team of horses to work with on the farm. Responsibility came early as he was left in charge whenever it was necessary for his parents to be gone for a few days. He learned to drive a truck at an early age and often drove himself to school in 8th grade and parked the vehicle a few doors down at a relatives. This was because chores need to be done before and after school. The first tractor purchased was in 1937. In his retirement, he had it restored and displayed in local fairs and tractor shows. He would tell of shocking grain and threshing crews traveling from neighbor to neighbor and the wonderful table his mother would set full of food. A vivid memory was the day WWII ended. The whole neighborhood and working crew quit in the early afternoon (unheard of) and celebrated With beer and music! Even the clergy arrived and joined in. It was a day to remember! In his lifetime he went from horses and the depression, to the digital age and unimagined luxuries. There was no electricity and no running water in his youth and now he had wireless phones, computer screens in his vehicles, along with heated steering wheels and heated seats. Who would have thought that back then. Ron is survived by his wife Bonnie; son Robert (Debbie Harms) Moede; grandson Michael and granddaughter Megan; siblings, Terry (Jane) Moede, Paul (Roxie) Moede; sisters-in-law, Diane Fontaine, Sheila (Don) Baudhuin; and brothers in-law, Dan (Mary) Neinas. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Emily Moede; sister, Marilyn (Arno) Schneider; father- and mother-in-law, Herman and Madeline Neinas, and brother-in-law, Gary Fontaine. Visitation will be held at Kinnard Funeral & Cremation Services Algoma, on Friday, October 7, 2022, from 4-7:30 pm with a prayer service at 6:30. Visitation will continue on Saturday, October 8th at St. Johns Lutheran Church Rankin, from 9-11:00 am. Funeral service will be held at 11:00 am with Dr. Rev. Christopher Jackson officiating. Burial to follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Online condolence message may be shared at KinnardFCS.com. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Kewaunee County 4-H Dairy Fund and the Projection Screen Fund at St. Johns- Rankin. Google and its parent company Alphabet are facing new charges in the European Commissions ongoing investigation of allegations that Googles comparison shopping and online advertising platforms violated antitrust laws. The EC on Thursday alleged that Google had abused its dominant position by systematically favoring its own comparison shopping service in search results. Further, it artificially restricted the ability of third-party websites to display search ads from Googles competitors. While Google has developed many innovative products, it doesnt have the right to deny other companies the right to compete and innovate, said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Today we have further strengthened our case that Google has unduly favored its own comparison shopping service in its general search results pages, she said. It means consumers may not see the most relevant results in their search queries. The Commission also has raised concerns that Google has hindered competition by limiting the ability of its competitors to place search adverts on third-party websites, Vestager said. Google responded to the allegations via Twitter. In reaction to EC: We believe our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for EU consumers and promote competition (1/2) Google in Brussels (@GoogleBrussels) July 14, 2016 Well examine the Commissions renewed cases and provide a detailed response in the coming weeks (2/2) Google in Brussels (@GoogleBrussels) July 14, 2016 Google and Alphabet have 10 weeks to respond to the charges. Merchant Links The Commission made a detailed examination of Googles prior argument: that it shouldnt consider comparison shopping services in isolation, but together with services provided by merchant platforms such as Amazon and eBay. The EC has received several complaints about Google in a range of areas, including the companys advertising business, according to an EU official who asked not to be identified. The charges involving AdSense cover an area that the Commission already was aware of when it opened the investigation in November 2010, the official told the E-Commerce Times. Dominant Position Google has controlled about 80 percent of the market for search advertising in the European Economic Area over the past 10 years, according to the Commission. A large percentage of the companys revenue stems from agreements with Direct Partners, which might result in antitrust violations. Among the arrangements the EC considers problematic are exclusivity deals that prohibit search ads from Google competitors; premium placement of a number of search ads; and giving Google the right to authorize competing ads. The EC charges are another step in leveling the playing field to achieve fair competition, said Foundem CEO Shivaun Raff, the lead complainant in the EC case against Google. The Commission should be wary of Googles attempts to use delaying tactics to reinforce its dominance in the market, he warned. While the Commission is clearly heading towards a robust prohibition decision, Raff said, we are concerned that if it does not act conclusively in the near future, there may be little competition left to protect. Officials at the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits in U.S. banks, made false statements to Congress and failed to make timely notification of serious cybersecurity breaches, according to a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technologys interim staff report. FDIC CIO Lawrence Gross has created a toxic work environment, misled Congress, and retaliated against whistle-blowers, the report claims. The FDIC deliberately evaded congressional oversight, it also says, further noting that the agency has a history of cybersecurity deficiencies that continue into the present. The FDIC effectively controls the finances of the country, observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. Every U.S. company and every U.S. citizen is at risk if the FDIC fails. I dont think theres any possibility of overstating how bad this is, he told the E-Commerce Times. FDIC Breaches The FDIC has experienced seven major cybersecurity breaches, starting in 2010, according to the interim report. FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg in 2013 got a memo from the agencys then inspector general, which included notification of an advanced persistent threat, probably from the Chinese government, compromising an FDIC employees desktop computer in October 2010, according to the committee report. The memo reportedly noted that the same threat had compromised FDIC computers in 2011 and 2013. FDIC Chairman Gruenberg testified that the FDICs IT department did not fully inform him or other members of the agencys board and senior executives about the breaches in 2010 and 2011. This kind of thing is far more common in firms and government organizations than most realize, said Enderle noted. Typically, however, the top executive is still held accountable. Gruenberg earlier this year notified committee Chairman Lamar Smith about a breach that took place in Florida last fall, saying that an employee leaving the FDIC inadvertently had downloaded sensitive information onto a thumb drive including customer data for over 10,000 individuals and taken it away. The committee since has learned that the employee had downloaded more than 100,000 files, impacting more than 40,000 individuals and almost 31,000 banks and other entities. The FDIC earlier this year notified the committee that an employee had obtained sensitive data of 44,000 individuals before leaving the agency. This spring, it retroactively reported five additional major breaches, including one in which a retiring employee took three portable storage devices containing nearly 50,000 individuals personal data. In all, sensitive personal information of nearly 160,000 individuals likely was exposed, according to the committee report. The FDIC decided to offer credit monitoring to the breaches victims this spring, following a hearing by the Oversight Subcommittee. Holy cow, said Jim MacGregor, a principal analyst at Tirias Research. The fact that a quasi-government agency let this go on didnt report breaches, didnt react to them and didnt notify consumers is terrible, he told the E-Commerce Times. For an organization that oversees the banking sector to be hacked and react like this is completely unacceptable, MacGregor emphasized. Who Should Carry the Can The committees allegations showcase a level of mismanagement that should result in criminal charges for the CIO who put the nation at risk to protect their negligence, suggested Enderle. This was likely due to the fact that security was underfunded, which put that CIO between a rock and a hard place, but they should have resigned and disclosed the breaches. [Blame] should also flow to Congress, because they have been repeatedly warned that their tendency to underfund security is putting the nation at high risk, he said. The problem is, we punish the folks who were given an ugly choice but not those that put them there, Enderle added. Threat Level Theres always a degree of high drama when these kinds of things are aired in a public forum, but the threat is real, noted Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. The revelations are especially troubling since were on the verge of an Internet of Things, he told the E-Commerce Times. Potentially every system, service and device will be network-connected and potentially vulnerable to attack. 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. Consumer Reports on Thursday urged Tesla to disable the automatic steering function and change the name of its Autopilot driving assist feature. Questions recently have arisen over whether Teslas Model S vehicles can operate safely without regular human intervention. Consumer Reports change request sprang from concerns over a number of recent test crashes, including a fatal accident involving a tractor-trailer in Florida, which is the subject of a federal investigation. The organization questioned whether the Autopilot feature lulls drivers into a false sense of security, and whether Autopilot-equipped cars can function safely without drivers paying close and consistent attention to potential safety hazards and road conditions. In the long run, advanced active safety technologies in vehicles could make our roads safer, said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for Consumer Reports. But today, were deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology. Hands on the Wheel The Autopilot feature cannot drive the car, but it allows drivers to have their hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time, said MacCleery. Until the company updates the program to verify that hands should be on the wheel, Consumer Reports recommendation is that the feature should be disabled. Consumer Reports tested semi-autonomous features from Audi, BMW and Mercedes, and those systems require the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel, noted Jake Fisher, CRs director of auto testing. Statistically Safer Tesla is constantly introducing enhancements proven over millions of miles of internal testing to ensure that drivers supported by Autopilot remain safer than those operating without assistance, a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Keely Sulprizio. We will continue to develop, validate, and release those enhancements as the technology grows. While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data, not speculation by media, the spokesperson added. Model S vehicles have driven 130 million miles on Autopilot with one confirmed fatality. That compares to one fatality per 94 million miles for all vehicles in the U.S. and one fatality for every 60 million miles driven worldwide, Tesla pointed out. Federal Probe The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week sent a letter to Tesla seeking documents regarding the May 7 crash of the 2015 Model S vehicle. Questions have arisen about whether the forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking systems worked properly. NHTSA called the request a standard step in its preliminary investigation of the design and performance of Teslas automated driving systems that were in use at the time of the crash, administration spokesperson Rebecca Grapsy told the E-Commerce Times. The investigation may raise questions about potentially wider safety concerns surrounding the entire autonomous vehicle industry, and autonomous vehicle advocates may have to scramble to counteract growing worries. Our coalition was founded with the express purpose of increasing road safety and dramatically reducing the over 35,000 road fatalities that occur in the U.S. each year, said David Strickland, counsel for the Self Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. We remain dedicated to developing and testing fully autonomous vehicles in order to bring the promise of self-driving vehicles to roads and highways, he told the E-Commerce Times. Accident Reports The company may have a growing problem on its hands due to the rolling nature of the disclosures about its safety record, suggested Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. I think even more telling than the fatality that weve now learned about, or Consumer Reports or the NHTSA stance, is that were starting to hear about more accidents, he told the E-Commerce Times. The level of driver error in those incidents indeed may be quite high, Brauer acknowledged, but he questioned whether drivers actually were given clear and honest disclosure about the Autopilot features capabilities. Having technological limitations is OK as long as consumers know about the technological limitations, he said. Entry Price The Consumer Reports request comes at a critical time for Tesla. The company on Wednesday introduced the Model X 60D SUV, for US$74,000 a more consumer-friendly price than its other models. The announcement of the lower-priced model follows news that Teslas recent sales failed to meet expectations. It also follows a public spat with Fortune over Teslas handling of information concerning the fatal crash. Tesla took vehement exception to a critical report Fortune published, saying it was fundamentally incorrect. The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly is investigating whether Tesla disclosed the crash to investors with a proper filing in a timely manner. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. Microsoft on Thursday won its nearly four-year battle against a New York district court judges warrant requiring it to turn over customer emails held on a server in Ireland. Microsoft had complied with demands to turn over account information stored on its servers in the United States, but it had refused to give up the emails themselves, contending a U.S. judge did not have the authority to issue warrants for information stored abroad. Microsoft two years ago lost its bid to vacate the warrant; it subsequently lost an appeal filed with the District Court for the Southern District of New York. It then appealed to the Second Circuit Court, which ruled in its favor. The Second Circuit Court reversed the district courts denial of Microsofts motion to quash the warrant, vacated its order holding the company in civil contempt of the court, and remanded the case with instructions to quash the warrant insofar as it demanded user content stored outside of the U.S. The Courts Rationale In essence, the Second Circuit Court ruled that the Stored Communications Act does not explicitly or implicitly envision the application of its warrant provisions overseas. When Congress passed the SCA in 1986, the intent of its warrant provision was to require that a neutral third party provide predisclosure scrutiny of a search-and-seizure request in order to afford heightened privacy protection in the U.S., Circuit Court Judge Susan L. Carney wrote in the ruling. Congress did not abandon the instruments territorial limitations and other constitutional requirements, she found. The governments interpretation of the term warrant would require us to disregard the presumption against extraterritoriality that the Supreme Court re-stated and emphasized in two earlier cases, which the Second Circuit Court is not at liberty to do. One Giant Leap for Privacy This is a groundbreaking decision that helps protect privacy rights around the world, said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The court recognized the vital privacy protections under the SCA, and correctly ruled that the government cant use a U.S. search warrant to force Internet service providers to reach email stored outside the U.S., he told the E-Commerce Times. The ruling is undoubtedly a major win for citizens and companies alike, remarked Yasha Heidari of the Heidari Power Law Group. It reaffirms the notion that no matter how badly certain government agencies want to apply domestic laws abroad, theyre prohibited from doing so, he told the E-Commerce Times. The ruling is laudable, according to Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The U.S. government should have sought access to the information through a mutual legal assistance treaty rather than a warrant, he told the E-Commerce Times. The very fact that the ruling is being proclaimed as such a big victory indicates the sad state of affairs now prevailing, Heidari observed. Implications of the Ruling In a concurring opinion, Judge Gerard Lynch urged Congress to update the SCA, which he described as badly outdated, to better balance current law enforcement needs and users privacy. The law lets Microsoft get around an otherwise justified demand to turn over emails by simply storing them outside the U.S., he noted. The courts ruling could impact decisions for business to host and store information abroad to escape the governments intrusive behavior, noted Heidari. It provides a big incentive to have servers and data centers abroad. Law enforcement agencies long have voiced concerns about their inability to access suspects electronic communications. The International Communications Privacy Act, introduced this spring in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, addresses the issue. It seeks to amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to reform the MLAT, allowing law enforcement to obtain electronic communications relating to foreign nationals in certain circumstances. Monsantos experimental genetically engineered wheat has been found growing in a field in Washington state, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed last week. This discovery not only raises concerns over GMO contamination, it could be another legal headache for Monsanto, as the agritech giant has paid millions to settle recent lawsuits over illegal GMO wheat. GMO wheat is not allowed to be grown anywhere in the world. Monsanto has had to pay millions to settle lawsuits over GMO wheat scares in Oregon. Flickr Reuters reported on Friday that a farmer found 22 unapproved GMO wheat plants in a field that has not been planted since 2015. Federal and state officials are now conducting an investigation. According to the Associated Press, Federal officials said they were working with the farmer to ensure that none of the modified wheat is sold. Out of caution, the agency said it is holding and testing the farmers full wheat harvest, but so far it has not found GMOs. The GMO wheat, or MON 71700, is resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsantos flagship weedkiller Roundup. The USDA found no evidence of the wheat in commerce and the Food and Drug Administration concluded that the wheat poses no threat if it turned up in our food supply. Monsanto said in a statement to the AP that the wheat plants were used in field trials in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001 but never commercialized. It is currently unclear how the plants got to the field in Washington State. Safe or not, GMO wheat is not allowed for commercial use or production in the U.S. or anywhere in the world for that matter. And yet this is the third such discovery of Monsantos rogue GMO wheat in the U.S. in the last three consecutive years. Illegal GMO wheat from Monsanto was found again in the US! The 3rd time in recent years. It's shut down some https://t.co/PRxLtfIWuT Mamavation (@Mamavation) July 29, 2016 As the AP pointed out, unapproved GMO wheat was found at a university research center in Huntley, Montana in 2014 where it was legally tested by Monsanto in the early 2000s. In 2013, another unapproved strain of Monsantos GMO wheat was found on an eastern Oregon farm even though there had been no tests in the area. To this day it is unclear how the wheat got there. As EcoWatch noted back in 2013, because pollen naturally blows or migrates to neighboring fields, contamination of farmers fields is both predictable and unavoidable. Additionally, many farmers incur considerable costs in testing their crops and seed supply for transgenic contamination or actually forgo planting of certain crops in order to maintain seed purity. GMO wheat contamination is somewhat of a sore subject for Monsanto. In 2014, the agritech giant paid $2.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by U.S. wheat farmers over the GMO wheat scare in Oregon. Last year, the company paid another $350,000 to farmers in seven states over the same issue. Monsanto told the AP that the type of GMO wheat found in Washington state is similar to the one discovered in Oregon in 2013. The latest discovery of GMO wheat could also impact global trade, as many countries have strict regulations over GMOs and GMO imports. India's Food Supply at Risk of GMO Contamination After Lifting 16-Year Corn Import Ban https://t.co/XfmEfQLTKa @drvandanashiva EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) February 19, 2016 Three years ago, several Asian countries temporarily banned U.S. wheat imports after GMO wheat was found in the aforementioned Oregon field. In fact, shortly after word got out about the latest crop of unapproved GMO wheat, South Korea announced it will increase quarantine measures for U.S. milling and feed wheat. We plan to strictly inspect imports of U.S. wheat and flour and clear customs only for the wheat products that are confirmed not to have any genetically modified wheat, an official at the food ministry said Friday. South Korea, the fifth largest market for U.S. wheat, noted that it was unlikely the GMO wheat would appear in imports since it has not been put into commercial production in the U.S. According to Reuters, The discovery comes as the latest blow for the U.S. wheat market as prices hover near multi-year lows amid record-large stocks and stiff competition in global markets from low cost suppliers. Bayer will no longer sell glyphosate-containing products to U.S. home gardeners, the company announced on Thursday. The move comes as the company currently faces around 30,000 legal claims from customers who believe use of these products including the flagship Roundup caused them to develop cancer, as AgWeb reported. Bayers decision to end U.S. residential sale of Roundup is a historic victory for public health and the environment, Center for Food Safety executive director Andrew Kimbrell said in a statement. As agricultural, large-scale use of this toxic pesticide continues, our farmworkers remain at risk. Its time for EPA to act and ban glyphosate for all uses. The antithesis of eco-friendly lawn care, Glyphosate is a controversial ingredient because it has been linked to the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as Cure noted. The World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that it was probably carcinogenic to humans, in 2015. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former President Donald Trump ruled that the chemical did not pose any risk to human health, the Biden Administration later admitted that the review was flawed and needed to be redone, as Common Dreams reported. Still, it refused to take it off the market in the meantime. Bayers decision comes in response to the many lawsuits related to glyphosate that it inherited when it acquired Monsanto in 2018. Juries sided with the plaintiffs in three highly-watched trials before Bayer settled around 95,000 cases in 2020 to the tune of $10 billion. That settlement, which was one of the largest in U.S. history, allowed Bayer to continue to sell Roundup without any warnings. However, the company still faces further litigation, and said it decided to pull the product from residential use in order to prevent more. More than 90 percent of recent claims come from the residential home and garden market, AgWeb reported. This move is being made exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns, the company said when it announced its decision. The products will be replaced with different active ingredients beginning in 2023, following reviews by the EPA and state regulatory bodies. January 2023 was the earliest the change could reasonably be implemented, Bayer Crop Science Division president Liam Condon told AgWeb. This is from a regulatory and logistical point of view (of whats) possible, Condon said during a conference call with investors, as AgWeb reported. For an expert review of companies that use environmentally friendly lawn care practices, be sure to check out our lawn care companies guide. Elon Musks Master Plan: Part Deux is already coming to life. Tesla Motors announced it has bought solar panel installer SolarCity for $2.6 billion in shares to create a seamless clean energy company. Or as Reuters puts it, consumers will now be allowed to buy solar panels, home battery storage systems and electric cars under one roof. Tesla and SolarCity have created the worlds first and only vertically integrated sustainable energy company. Bloomberg tweeted that announcement was the solar industrys biggest deal to date. In the solar industry's biggest deal to date, SolarCity approves $2.6 billion Tesla buyout https://t.co/93ppWWiHlb pic.twitter.com/10JxUmoX0V Bloomberg (@business) August 1, 2016 Tesla touted the merger in a blog post: Just over a month ago, Tesla made a proposal to purchase SolarCity and today we are announcing that the two companies have reached an agreement to combine, creating the worlds only vertically integrated sustainable energy company. Solar and storage are at their best when theyre combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed. The enigmatic businessman perhaps poked fun at the historic vertical integration of the two companies in a classic Musk tweet: We are definitely patenting this idea pic.twitter.com/N46cvN9uX9 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2016 According to MarketWatch, SolarCity stockholders will receive 0.11 shares of Tesla for each SolarCity share, valuing them at $25.83 apiece. Musk, who has long advocated for a sustainable transportation future, clearly stated in his Part Deux blog post that he wants his electric car company to provide solar power. No kidding, he added. This has literally been on our website for 10 years. We cant do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies, Musk continued. That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together. Tesla first announced the offer last month at a slightly higher price of $2.8 billion. Musk stressed the importance of curbing use of dirty energy as quickly as possible. Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better, he wrote. Tesla said it expects that the merger will save customers money by lowering hardware costs, reducing installation costs, improve manufacturing efficiency and reducing customer acquisition costs. The deal will now go to Tesla and SolarCity shareholders for approval. Musk, who is chairman of SolarCity and the largest investor in both companies has recused himself from the vote. Last week, Tesla held a grand opening celebration of its massive Gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada. The Gigafactory, which will be the worlds largest building by footprint once construction is complete, will manufacture lithium-ion batteries for Teslas electric cars and Powerwall products that store solar energy for homes and businesses. (Photo: REUTERS / Stoyan Nenov)Pope Francis releases a white dove prior to delivering a Holy Mass at the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul November 29, 2014. Pope Francis began a visit to Turkey on Friday with the delicate mission of strengthening ties with Muslim leaders while condemning violence against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. Muslims have attended Catholic Sunday mass in churches around France to express solidarity and sorrow following the brutal jihadist murder of a priest in Normandy, the latest in a series of attacks. More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of Rouen where two jihadi teenagers slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel, Agence France-Presse reported. "I thank you in the name of all Christians," Rouen Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told them July 31. "In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God." In Nice, Otaman Aissaoui, Nice's top imam, led a delegation to a Catholic mass in the Mediterranean city where a jihadist had carried out a rampage in a truck on July 14, claiming 84 lives and injuring 435 including many Muslims. "Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism," he said. The Notre Dame church in southwestern Bordeaux also welcomed a Muslim delegation, led by the city's top imam Tareq Oubrou. On the papal plane returning from World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, Pope Francis denied that Islam itself is violent and insisted that the potential for violence lies within every religion, including Catholicism. Pope Francis answered reporters questions on board a flight from Krakow, Poland, to Rome, at the end of his 5-day trip to southern Poland, July 31. AVOIDANCE OF TERM 'ISLAMIC VIOLENCE' Francis defended his avoidance of the term "Islamic violence" by suggesting the potential for violence lies in every religion, including Catholicism, Crux News reports. "I don't like to talk about Islamic violence, because every day, when I read the newspaper, I see violence," Francis said. He gave this answer when asked about why he never speaks of Islamic terrorism or fundamentalism when condemning attacks such as the murder of the French priest in Normandy, who had his throat slit by an Islamic terrorist as he was celebrating Mass. The Pope said that when he reads the newspaper, he reads about an Italian who kills his fiance or his mother in law. "They are baptized Catholics. They are violent Catholics," Francis said, adding that if he speaks of "Islamic violence," then he has to speak of "Catholic violence" too. The pontiff made his remarks after the five-day visit to Poland in which Francis presided over World Youth Day, a gathering of Catholic youth from all around the world in Krakow, Poland. He said that in every religion there are violent people, "a small group of fundamentalists," including in Catholicism. "When fundamentalism goes as far as murdering ... you can murder with your tongue and also with the knife," he said. "I believe that it's not fair to identify Islam with violence. It's not fair and it's not true," note Francis, saying that he's had a long conversation with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based Islamic university often described as the Vatican of the Sunni world. "I know how they think. They look for peace, encounter," he said. A UK university offers an MSc Environmental Entrepreneurship degree for those who wish to contribute to environmental improvement and learn how to identify and evaluate business opportunities. Open to students from a science, engineering, technology, social science or business background, the programme is a collaboration between the University of Strathclydes department of civil and environmental engineering and Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship. The course has contributions from the law school as well as from the design, manufacture and engineering management, mechanical and aerospace engineering, economics, naval architecture and marine engineering, and management science departments. Students can learn about the circular economy and managing societys environmental and natural resource problems. The course is designed to train management, consultancy, engineering and technology professionals who have reached a stage in their careers when they are seeking or achieving more responsibility or who would like to refocus their careers on environmental entrepreneurship. It is meant to teach how to identify, assess and shape environmental ideas and insights into business opportunities. It is supposed to help students develop skills required to launch ventures, strategies and products. Modules, optionals Students follow a curriculum of four core modules and a range of optional modules from eight departments in three faculties -- business, engineering and law. Each module is taught for two or three hours per week over eight to 11 weeks. The compulsory class, Client-Based Environmental Entrepreneurship in Practice, is only offered to students in the MSc in Environmental Entrepreneurship. This is client-based project work, where students carry out a project of interest to a client while contributing to environmental entrepreneurship in practice at the same time. Adds Elsa Joao, course leader, MSc students from all our programmes can choose to take the class, Independent Study in Collaboration with Industry, where they gain credits while developing transferable professional skills to prepare for and to gain future employment. In May each year, students present their industry work at an Engage with Strathclyde public event. Among others, projects include the SME Carbon Audit with training from the Carbon Trust, overseas development and hydrogeology projects with NGOs and government agencies (such as Water for People, Unicef, Wateraid, the Malawi government and the World Bank), and other projects with industry. Career avenues Students may follow a consultancy path or choose to start their business. If graduates intend to launch a business, the Strathclyde Entrepreneurial Network (SEN) group offers help as it is supposed to support the universitys alumni with new business creation and business growth. The course is not only for graduates who see their future in small and medium-sized enterprises. It can also lead to traditional graduate employment in large companies in need of employees who can think entrepreneurially and make a positive contribution to environmental issues. Fee: 17,500 Eligibility : Candidates need to provide an English IELTS certificate with a minimum overall band score of 6.5 (no individual test score below 5.5). Applicants with slightly lower scores have the opportunity to attend the university's Pre-Sessional English classes. Detailed eligibility criteria are available at http://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/environmentalentrepreneurship/ Student intake: 25 Kelly, Pastore debate inflation, energy policy in congressional race Kelly and Pastore went head-to-head in a debate Tuesday that was organized by WQLN and Erie News Now, which first aired the taped debate Thursday. Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. 13:33, 25 OCT 2022 A family's vacation at Carova Bear on the Outer banks, North Carolina took a tragic turn on Sunday, as a 5-year-old boy died after being struck by lightning. The incident happened while the family was spending some time on the beach. According to Chief Ralph Melton with Currituck County Fire-EMS, authorities and emergency services were made aware of the incident at about 4:11 p.m. on Sunday. Officials who responded to the incident have stated that the family had been on the beach when the thunderstorm rolled in. The family, whose names have not been released as of writing, did attempt to take shelter. However, before they got to safety, their 5-year-old boy was struck by lightning. Upon calling for emergency services, the boy's family promptly placed him on their SUV to meet emergency crews halfway. The family drove south on the beach, ultimately meeting rescue personnel about a mile north of a rental property which is fondly dubbed as "Laughing Gull." The boy was rushed by paramedics to the Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, a medical facility in Virginia Beach, where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later. The United States has been battered by lightning strikes more often than usual this year, with the boy's death being the 21st lightning-related fatality for 2016. Among those 21 deaths, 12 of them happened this July. The thunderstorm that tragically killed the boy did not come out of the blue, however. On that day, popular weather app AccuWeather forecasted that there was a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms in Carova on the day of the incident. Just last week, a man filming a thunderstorm in New York perfectly captured the moment when a bolt of lightning struck the Empire State Building. The man, Henrik Moltke, stated that incident happened last Monday evening, when he decided to take a video of an ongoing thunderstorm in the New York skyline. The Empire State Building has always been prone to lightning strikes, with the popular structure being struck about 23 times a year. Popular US publication The New York Post courted some controversy due to its Sunday issue, whose cover featured aspiring First Lady Melania Trump during her days as a model. That is, very young, very daring, and very nude. Featuring the headline The Ogle Office -- You've never seen a potential First Lady like this!, the publication featured a number of the former model's nude photos, which were taken 20 years ago, nine years before she met Republican nominee Donald Trump. Though the publication was quite successful in the fact that top conservatives were indeed outraged, the Trump camp has been remarkably relaxed about the otherwise racy feature. In fact, Jason Miller, the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser, even remarked in an interview with CNN's Reliable Sources that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the racy photos. "They're a celebration of the human body as art. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. She's a beautiful woman," he said. In a lot of ways, there really is nothing wrong with the fact that the aspiring First Lady used to be involved in the fashion scene during her 20s. After all, the nude photos were taken and published in a European magazine during the peak of her career as a model, long before she met Donald Trump, and long before she became involved in the U.S. presidential race. Nevertheless, the contents of The Post's feature did incite debate among rival groups, with some denouncing the publication for attacking the potential First Lady and others being appalled at Melania Trump's actions during her modeling days. Thus, considering the sure-fire way the former model's nude photos would incite, and the fact that Trump's camp has been incredibly relaxed about the matter, many are speculating that the photos were released to The Post by Trump himself. The possible reason? Trump's ongoing feud with the Khans, who have recently criticized him during the Democratic National Convention. The Khans are parents to U.S. Army captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq back in 2004. Khizr Khan, the former soldier's father, gave a scathing criticism of Trump, stating that the billionaire had "sacrificed nothing" in his life. True to form, Trump hit back through social media, retorting that he did sacrifice many things in his life. After this, however, trump went a little bit too far, pointing out that the fallen U.S. soldier's mother was silent during her husband's entire speech. Trump further alleged that she was probably not allowed to speak, due to her being a Muslim woman. Unsurprisingly, Trump's retorts against the Khans were received very negatively by the public. After all, it is one thing to talk back to critics, but if those critics are the parents of a fallen U.S. soldier, things become a little bit different. If the Trump camp is indeed behind The Post's leaked nude photos, one could not help but feel sorry for the aspiring First Lady. After all, it seems like she is being thrown under the bus once more. Less than two weeks ago, she incited controversy after her speech was found to have been plagiarized from no less than U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. The production of the third season of Tokyo Ghoul might be on hiatus due to the development of the franchise's live-action movie, but rumors about the upcoming third season of the anime continue to emerge. Among these, of course, is the speculation that there might very well be a Tokyo Ghoul Season 4. If rumors about the upcoming anime prove accurate, the third season of Tokyo Ghoul would most certainly stay very close to the manga's events, taking a route that is completely opposite of what the anime's second season took. Indeed, Tokyo Ghoul Root A diverged completely from the manga, and it resulted in a lot of fans being dissatisfied with the results. Thus, rumors have recently emerged that the Studio Pierrot is currently looking into a more manga-centric adaptation for the anime's third season. Over the last few months, the Tokyo Ghoul:re manga has been building up for what seemed to be the climax of the franchise, as protagonist Kaneki Ken, who is now known as Haise Sasaki, battled his mentor, the seemingly unbeatable Arima. The battle of master and student lasted a number of issues in the manga, and from the sheer epic scope and immensely high stakes of their battle, it seemed to be the perfect ending to the Tokyo Ghoul storyline. If Tokyo Ghoul Season 3 would indeed stick close to the manga, the anime would probably feature the Sasaki vs. Arima rematch as the final battle. Doing so would make Tokyo Ghoul Season 3 into one intense ride, as the story of Kaneki Ken practically goes full circle with his rematch with the strongest ghoul investigator. If any, ending Season 3 with their rematch would make the third season into the best Tokyo Ghoul adaptation yet. However, if the manga's events are anything to get by, there is a lot more to the story after the conclusion of the Kaneki vs. Arima rematch. In fact, after epic their fight, creator Sui Ishida appeared to be introducing yet another arc for the manga. With another arc starting after the rematch between Kaneki and Arima, the story of Tokyo Ghoul would definitely expand some more. With this said, it is quite safe to say that there would probably be more than enough material to warrant yet another season of the Tokyo Ghoul anime. This would only happen, of course, if Studio Pierrot will listen to the franchise's fans and stick close to the plot of the manga. If the anime studio decides to pull a Naruto Shippuden instead, then Tokyo Ghoul fans would have to muster a whole lot of patience once more. Will John Hinckley have voting rights restored by Virginia Governor McAuliffe? By John W. Lillpop Just as the Democrat Party was in the final stages of nominating Hillary Clinton for the US Presidency, liberal mainstream media types are celebrating the fact that the glass ceiling is finally being shattered in yet another US first! Indeed, Mrs. Clinton is the first known, practicing criminal to be the standard bearer for either party! She is also a woman. which apparently is more important than her incompetence and wretched criminal history. To highlight this special, historic event, attorneys loyal to Clinton and progressive principles in general, arranged for John Hinckley, the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, to be released from a government mental hospital where the would-be-killer has been detained for the past 35 years. As reported: John W. Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, will be allowed to live permanently with his elderly mother in Williamsburg, Va., leaving the psychiatric hospital where he has been imprisoned for several decades, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Judge Paul L. Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in his opinion that Mr. Hinckley, 61, no longer posed a danger to himself or others. The release should begin no sooner than Aug. 5, the judge said. Although Mr. Hinckley has been living part time in Williamsburg for years, family and friends of Reagans said they were outraged that he would be allowed to reside there permanently. It is worth noting that Hinckley may be eligible to have his voting rights restored by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe who has a world-class talent for turning convicted felons into Hillary Clinton voters. Although McAuliffe's attempt to restore voting rights for 200,000 felons with a single Executive Order was ruled unconstitutional, the determined Democrat continues to add convicted felons to the Democrat voting block on an individual basis. John Hinckley would appear a perfect candidate for the McAuliffe scheme, given the fact that Hinckley did his damned best to end the Reagan revolution before it really got started! John W. Lillpop is a California-based writer. 2016 John W. Lillpop Home Ethnic opposition to Iran's regime is on the rise By Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall Since June 2016 and to a lesser extent before then as well, Iran has been enduring terror attacks and assassinations by ethnic-opposition elements operating within its territory and adjacent to it. These include Kurds in the north and near the Iraqi border, Salafi Sunnis near Iran's eastern border with Pakistan, and Sunni Arabs in the Khuzestan province near the Iraqi border in the southwest. The Growing Arab Opposition Early in June, a Sunni group called Suqour al-Ahvaz (Hawks of Ahvaz) took responsibility for an explosion that caused a fire at the Bou-Ali-Sina Petrochemical Complex in Bandar-E Mahshahr, Khuzestan. Iran denied their boast and claimed it was a leak that had led to the explosion. The complex where the explosion occurred is known for protest demonstrations over the difficult employment conditions there. The group also issued a statement calling for continued resistance to the Iranian occupation of Arab lands, which had "crossed a red line." The statement also said the explosion was a reaction to Iran's repressive policy against the Arab minority in Ahvaz, including ongoing arrests, trials, executions, and expulsions of young people in the area, and warned of further attacks on vital infrastructures and strategic facilities in Iran. The group's spokesman said this was a new tactic aimed at damaging the Iranian economy, which thrives at the expense of the people of Ahvaz who live under the poverty threshold. Furthermore, in an appeal to a target audience in Arab countries that is fearful of Iran, the group emphasized that it condemned Iran's involvement in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia and averred that it also intended to take action in the "Iranian interior" and to continue the "legitimate struggle until the Arab people of Ahvaz receive their full rights to their land." On July 11, the group said it had attacked another oil facility in the area. It was the gas and liquid gas pipeline of the Marun Oil and Gas Exploitation Company at the Marun oil field in Khuzestan. One worker was killed and another wounded. Subsequently, a state of emergency was reported in Ahvaz. On July 17, 2016, the al-Farouq Battalion of Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) targeted oil pipelines in the Johar as-Sabaa' (Haftkel) district (75km northeast of Ahvaz). According to the group's statement, the perpetrators managed to escape despite IRGC efforts to capture them. ASMLA reported that IRGC set up a security cordon around the area A commander in the al-Faruq Battalions said that that the operation came in response to the ongoing transgressions of the Persian occupation state against the Arab people of Ahvaz and the spreading sectarian strife and immoral intervention in the affairs of neighboring countries including Saudi Arabia. He threatened further attacks, adding that the al-Faruq Battalions performed a careful study of the strategic target points on the oil pipelines stretching from the Johar as-Sabaa' area to the inside of Iran, and they had managed to infiltrate the security cordon on this important economic region and successfully carry out this special attack. Social media reacted to the attacks with the hashtag #TheAhvazisshakeIran trending on Twitter and praising the resistance. The Elaph newspaper claims that the ASMLA recently warned that they will begin targeting foreign oil companies that work with Iran, and that invest in the oil of the Ahvaz region In March, ASMALA called on all international oil companies not to legitimize and collaborate with the "Iranian regime's oppression of the Ahwazi people by rushing to invest in the Iranian oil sector following the lifting of international sanctions." ASMLA stressed that "the profits attained by the Iranian regime from the sale of the oil and gas resources in Ahwaz are used both in the brutal oppression of the Ahwazi people, who are denied any share in or profit from their own resources, and in funding terrorist entities which actively work to destabilize security and stability in the Arab world and elsewhere." Over three million Arabs live in oil-rich Khuzestan. Unemployment has risen and air pollution is measured at very high levels. If the attack was indeed perpetrated by this group, then the Arab opposition has dealt a very hard blow to Iran's oil and gas industry. In mid-June, another Sunni opposition group, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), announced that it had attacked an oil pipeline in the Zarqan area of Khuzestan. The group claimed it had also carried out additional, similar attacks. Its military wing, the Martyr Mohye al-Din al-Nasir Battalions, posted a short video showing the pipeline that was blown up and asserted that the attack was a reaction to Iranian security forces' activities in the area. The statement issued by the group read: In conjunction with the 11th anniversary of the founding of ASMLA, the Martyr Razi al-Zarqani Battalion conducted a special operation targeting oil pipelines in the Zarqan area of the provincial capital [that] crippled the flow of oil from Ahvaz toward Tehran [dubbed "the capital of the occupation"]. [T]he targeting of the main oil pipelines came in response to the arbitrary Persian occupation arrests against Ahvazi activists as well as its continuing crimes against the rights of the Arab Ahvazi people and its profaning of the Arab nation. The Martyr Mohye al-Din al-Nasir Battalions will continue its special operations against the centers of the occupation state and its oil installations until the liberation of the last inch of Ahvazi soil. The Iranian media gave the event almost zero coverage, and Iranian security forces imposed a closure on the area where it had occurred. Global Jihad In eastern Iran near the Pakistani border, groups affiliated with global jihad continue to act against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Border Guard Command forces stationed in the area, sometimes hitting them hard. In June the global-jihad group Jaish al-Adl attacked Iranian forces operating in the Sistan and Balochistan Province. Ansar al-Furqan, a jihadi organization active in the Balochistan area, claimed it had killed dozens of Iranian soldiers in a suicide bombing in the city of Khash. Near the Pakistani border in Sistan and Balochistan, five members of the Border Guard Command were killed in a clash with armed Sunni elements who fled back into Pakistan. The Iranian Kurds Along with the intensified activity of the separatist forces in Khuzestan and the jihadi groups along the Pakistani and Afghani borders, June also saw stepped-up activity by the Kurdish opposition in Iran. In June, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) attacked IRGC patrols along the Iran-Iraq border in the area of Oshnavieh and Sarvabad, cities that neighbor the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. Several IRGC members and Kurdish fighters were killed in the clashes. In another incident in June some fighters of another Kurdish group, PartiyaJiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK), were killed. The PJAK has links with the Turkish PKK near the city of Sardasht along the Iraqi border. Currently, six to seven million Kurds live in Iran. Although they are part of the Iranian state, they are distinct from the Shiite minority in several major regards, including language and religion (most Kurds are Sunnis). The Kurds, who are mainly concentrated along the Iraqi border, are poor compared to Iranians who live in the large cities. At the end of May 2016, President Hassan Rouhani visited some Kurdish areas and promised that centers for the study of the Kurdish language would be established and that Kurdish-populated parts of northwestern Iran would be developed after years of neglect: According to Rouhani, The Islamic Republic of Iran heed [sic] the problems of its diverse people; our security now is far more than the territories located beyond the borders but having the same ethnic population; Kurds enjoy better situation [sic] in terms of security than their counterparts in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria; it is an honor for the Islamic Republic not to succumb to religion and ethnicity in providing its people with the same level of development and welfare. The KDPI has long striven for independence in the Kurdish regions of northern Iran. The increased activity stems from growing awareness of possible Kurdish independence in Syria along the Turkish border, and of the freedom and relative independence enjoyed by Kurds in northern Iraq. The group's military arm, which numbers thousands of fighters, is based in northern Iraq but has not been absorbed by the Kurdish population there. The KDPI is trying to pursue an independent agenda but appears to be caught between conflicting interests; to some extent, the Kurdish groups in the four main countries with sizable Kurdish populations (Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran) are waging struggles against each other. For example, the Kurds in northern Iraq's Kurdish enclave are trying to maintain open channels for oil exportation both to Turkey and Iran and certainly, do not want to open a front with Iran despite the KDPI's growing military activity. Likewise, the Kurds in northern Iraq are maintaining a careful policy of nonintervention in Turkey's difficult and bloody struggle against the PKK, which sometimes includes Turkish bombing of Kurdish targets in northern Iraq. Iran, too, in the wake of clashes with the KDPI, has threatened that the IRGC will not hesitate to act against "terrorists" in their main strongholds in northern Iraq if they do not cease their activity, saying that "they will be targeted wherever they are." In sum, last month Iran had to deal with subversive activity though so far of low intensity by a number of ethnic elements on all its borders in the northwest, the southwest, and the east of the country. The Arabs (in Khuzestan) and the Kurds are trying to pursue a separatist national agenda, and they are inspired by the geostrategic changes in the Middle East and the efforts to reshape it. The Arab Sunni fighters' targeting of the oil facilities, if it gains momentum, could pose a problem for Iran just as it is trying to renew its oil exports after the lifting of sanctions. Attacks on energy infrastructure for gas and oil could foster an unsafe, unstable environment for international energy companies. Such companies are in any case concerned about Iran's intention to renew contracts using the buyback system, which is more beneficial for a state than for foreign companies. Iran has been reporting little on the attacks on its energy infrastructure, which have mainly been occurring in the Khuzestan province. Meanwhile, Iran's security forces have been cracking down on the Arab minority there augmenting this population's discontent along with its separatist aspirations. It may be early to envision the mounting ethnic-religious protest in Iran causing a substantial change in the regime's behavior. It is, however, clear that the Iranian regime, which so far has been spared the regional repercussions of the Arab Spring or Islamic Awakening as the regime calls it is now starting to feel its effects. IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Alcyon Risk Advisors. Home Is it time for a new decentralism in Canada? By Mark Wegierski The problem of center-periphery relations in a society, and of how a geographically extensive country extending beyond the confines of a city-state, is to be effectively governed, are some of the most pressing problems in political theory. One of the failures of the Ancient Greeks was that they found it difficult to extend their political units beyond the city-state. One of the reasons for the prominence of Athens was that the surrounding area, Attica, had been forged into a quite unified entity, a solid home base for the empire. However, the Athenian Empire did not meet the challenge of governing divergent cities beyond Attica, successfully. Some political thinkers have believed that democracy outside of a small city of tens of thousands of citizens, was virtually impossible, and mostly meaningless. Certainly the ancient empires ruled geographically extensive areas through various kinds of governors, with little popular consultation. As more republican as well as (eventually) democratic societies arose in the West, representative rather than direct democracy became more widely practiced. With the establishment of what eventually became continent-wide polities such as the United States of America, and the Dominion of Canada, there arose the necessity of federalism. Such continent-wide polities have had to balance the interests of the various states or provinces, against the general national interest, not always successfully. Indeed, the fratricidal American Civil War/War Between the States arose out of many factors, not the least of which were different conceptions of the balance between federal and states' interests. The Dominion of Canada arose in the wake of the American Civil War, and its Constitution (the British North America Act) (1867) consciously sought to avoid some of the constitutional problems which were seen to have led to the American Civil War. Ironically, the two polities may have moved in somewhat divergent directions in subsequent decades. While America, which was founded with a largely decentralist focus, could be seen to have moved towards a powerful federal government, Canada, which had been founded with a somewhat centralizing focus, moved towards a polity with relatively powerful provinces. In the BNA Act, the federal and provincial powers have been very explicitly separated and listed, thus allowing for less ambiguity between what are "properly" the federal or provincial spheres. The fact that most of the Canadian provinces are territorially far larger than most U.S. states, and hold a much larger share of the population than most U.S. states in relation to the American polity, means that they would constitute something like "regions" in America. This has meant greater power for the provinces. Indeed, one province, Quebec, may be something close to a "nation" itself. However, the Canadian Constitution also had the effect of allowing a successful Prime Minister to become a virtual "dictator". One of the reasons for this is that executive and legislative powers are conjoined in the Canadian system, in the House of Commons. Also, if a Prime Minister were able to win continuous majorities in the federal Parliament over several elections, his power would far exceed that of an American President. (There are no term limits in the Canadian constitutional system.) The highly determined Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Liberal Prime Minister from 1968-1984 (except for nine months in 1979-1980), was able to impose his highly transformational vision on Canada to a remarkable extent. Indeed, he capped his career with the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) into the Canadian constitutional structure, which essentially enshrined virtually his entire agenda as the highest law of the land. The Charter was characterized by both its supporters and opponents as a virtual coup d'etat. Indeed, the decades after 1984 could be seen as little more than a "mopping up" of any "small-c conservative" opposition. In Canada, the term "small-c conservative" is usually meant to refer to "ideological" conservatives. The "big-C Conservative" Party actually officially called (since 1942) the Progressive Conservative party -- was, ironically, often dominated by "small-l liberals". "Small-c conservatives" were sometimes pejoratively called "cashew conservatives" (i.e., "nuts") within the ostensibly "big-C Conservative" party of Brian Mulroney (Prime Minister from 1984-1993). Indeed, Mulroney once snidely declared that all the ideological conservatives in Canada could easily fit into a telephone booth. Thoroughly alienated "small-c conservatives" and Western Canadians founded the Reform Party of Canada in 1987, under the leadership of Preston Manning in opposition to the federal Progressive Conservative party. In 1993, the Liberals won a majority under Jean Chretien, a protege of Trudeau (while the Reform Party won 52 seats, and the P.C.s, 2). The Liberals won the 1997 election against the Reform Party, and the 2000 election against the Canadian Alliance (which had been at attempt to broaden the Reform Party). The long awaited merger of the Canadian Alliance and the federal Progressive Conservatives occurred in December 2003 and the "progressive" adjective was dropped from the name of the new unified Conservative party. The Liberals were reduced to a minority government (a plurality of seats in the House of Commons) in 2004; the Conservatives won a minority government in 2006 and 2008 and were finally able to win a majority in 2011. However, the years since 2011 have been profoundly disappointing to "small-c conservatives" there simply wasn't even the whiff of transformational politics in a different direction. And now, Canada has delivered itself, as a result of the October 19, 2015 federal election, to a roaring tide of "progressive" change under Justin Trudeau, the son of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. If Stephen Harper could be perceived to have failed in "reforming the system" while holding a majority government at the federal level, perhaps this could be an impetus for various regionalist, decentralizing tendencies at the provincial level, particularly in the Western Canadian provinces. It could be argued that in Canada, large, centralized federal bureaucracies and the juridical apparatus, have for far too long stifled voices of popular dissent, especially those emanating from Western Canada. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home The solutions to our broken institutions are in the Constitution By Dr. Robert Owens America is facing a crisis. As a matter of fact we are in such a constant state of crisis that I should be using the plural crises but that sounds silly and looks improbable. As do the policies which have pushed us to this point. Open borders erase what being an American means. Strangulation regulation that prohibit growth and punish productivity. Free Trade giveaways that send our industry and jobs overseas. Taxation that makes us long for the tax rates that started the Revolution. Attacks on police, on every right guaranteed, not granted, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. An internal war on our own energy sector in the name of a mythical man-made global warming. An administration that fans the flames of racial and social divides for political advantage. A political class made up of the perpetually re-elected of both parties that sits like a twin headed bird of prey atop a corporatism system rigged to reward the connected and ignore the rest. How could any of this fail..to end America's 240 year old experiment in human freedom? The institutions of our government are broken. However, there is a solution, and it is in the Constitution. First of all the system was built to provide checks and balances. Each branch, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial were meant to counterbalance each other so that no one branch could usurp the power of the other two. The Evansville Bar Association in its annual recognition of Constitution Day in 2015 summed it up well; Although the terms "Separation of Powers" and "Checks and Balances" are not found in the Constitution, these principles are key to its vitality. As George Washington wrote in February of 1788, the two great "pivots upon which the whole machine must move" are: (1) "the general Government is not invested with more Powers than are indispensably necessary to perform the functions of a good Government[,]" and (2) "these Powers are so distributed among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, that [the Government] can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy or any other despotic or oppressive form, so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People." As recently as 2011, the Supreme Court affirmed that these principles were "intended, in part, to protect each branch of government from incursion by the others. The structural principles secured by the separation of powers protect the individual as well." Congress has abdicated its powers to unelected bureaucrats and the courts have decided that is the order of the day. Generation Opportunity covers this well when they say; One of the reasons that elections are such so important is because legislative representatives are responsible to create federal laws that impact every one of their constituents. This is not a task to be taken lightly, which is why voters must dedicate time to research candidates before heading to the voting booth. But few people realize that there are unelected individuals who create regulations that govern everything from what type of light bulb you are allowed to use, as well as how much water your toilet may flush. According to an article published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), no one is entirely sure how many government agencies actually exist, not even the government knows the exact number. For instance, in the appendix of the Administrative Conference of the United States, there are 115 agencies listed with a disclaimer saying, "[T]here is no authoritative list of government agencies." The federal government has grown so large that no one can even keep track of it anymore. Worse still, each of these agencies are filled with unelected people who take on legislative authority to interpret laws passed by Congress. Although Congress is prohibited from "delegating" its legislative function to another branch of government, Courts have consistently held that federal agencies may create their own rules as long as an "intelligible" principle can be discerned from the original statute in question. In other words, if Congress passes a law that regulates a particular industry or action, unelected federal bureaucrats are given almost unchecked power to create whichever rules (or crimes associated with the conduct in question) that they please. Here's an example: When Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, it mandated that certain environmental standards must be imposed on the states, but it hardly clarified what those standards were, or how they were to be enforced. One of the components of the Act mandated states to establish a permit program that regulates, "new or modified major stationary sources" of air pollution. That seems simple enough, except that Congress never properly defined what qualified as a "stationary source." Therefore, the Environmental Protection Agency was left with the task of defining what a "stationary source" meant. Additionally, the original legislation never detailed what the penalty would be for breaking any of the statutes created by the new amendments, leaving it open to interpretation by the EPA. This predicament led to the 1984 landmark case of Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., where the Supreme Court held that federal agencies have authority to interpret statutes which they are in charge of administering. This meant that the EPA now had legal authority to determine what would be considered a "stationary source" of air pollution. Since the Chevron Doctrine applies to all government agencies, the opportunities for abuse are endless. Government is only legitimate when it derives its powers from the consent of the governed. When we give legislative powers to unelected government officials we completely disregard the core American belief of consensual representation. In other words we elect legislators to make laws and they make general laws like, "We want clean water," and then they let unelected bureaucrats fill in the blanks with the force of law. Here is how it works. Everyone wants clean water so the legislators pass their "We want clean water," law and they come back to their constituents and campaign on "I brought you clean water." Then the EPA issues a regulation that says you can't build on wet lands. The EPA gets to decide what wet lands means which consequently gives them De Facto control over any piece of property they say is a wet land. Then when voters complain to their congressional representative, who voted for the law and bragged about it, that they can't build their house on a lot that is obviously dry the legislator becomes indignant. They tell their constituents, "We'll just see about this!" Then they have an aide send a strongly worded letter to the EPA that makes no difference whatsoever. Problem solved. Pat the denizens from fly-over country on the head and leave the matter in the hands of the commiczars who have inherited the rule of what was once a representative republic. This way the hack can get back to his real job of raising money and getting re-elected. This abdication of responsibility on the part of the legislature is the root cause of our problems because it has led to or facilitated the rise of the imperial presidency wherein many presidents have expanded the power of the executive until today we have an elected monarch who rules by decree unchallenged by Congress and unfettered by the will of the people. Although the imperial presidency by no means began with the present occupant of the White House, to many Barack Obama has pushed the envelope beyond any discernable constitutional limits and has become the prime example of this phenomenon. According to the Christian Science Monitor; President Obama's use of executive action to get around congressional gridlock is unparalleled in modern times, some scholars say. But to liberal activists, he's not going far enough. Obama, a former constitutional law lecturer, was once skeptical of the aggressive use of presidential power. During the 2008 campaign, he accused President George W. Bush of regularly circumventing Congress. Yet as president, Obama has grown increasingly bold in his own use of executive action, at times to controversial effect. The president (or his administration) has unilaterally changed elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); declared an anti-gay-rights law unconstitutional; lifted the threat of deportation for an entire class of undocumented immigrants; bypassed Senate confirmation of controversial nominees; waived compliance requirements in education law; and altered the work requirements under welfare reform. This month, the Obama administration took the highly unusual step of announcing that it will recognize gay marriages performed in Utah even though Utah itself says it will not recognize them while the issue is pending in court. Early in his presidency, Obama also expanded presidential warmaking powers, surveillance of the American public, and extrajudicial drone strikes on alleged terrorists outside the United States, including Americans going beyond Mr. Bush's own global war on terror following 9/11. But more recently, he has flexed his executive muscle more on domestic policy. In the process, Obama's claims of executive authority have infuriated opponents, while emboldening supporters to demand more on a range of issues, from immigration and gay rights to the minimum wage and Guantanamo Bay prison camp. To critics, Obama is the ultimate "imperial president," willfully violating the Constitution to further his goals, having failed to convince Congress of the merits of his arguments. To others, he is exercising legitimate executive authority in the face of an intransigent Congress and in keeping with the practices of past presidents. It also leads to the tyranny of the courts. Unelected lawyers with life tenure decide what is and what is not constitutional often with the vaguest references to the Constitution itself. Disregarding what are clearly enunciated rights such as the one to keep and bear arms while finding such nonexistent rights such as the right to dispose of unborn children. The Justices of the Supreme Court have abrogated unto themselves unlimited power to turn our Constitution which was supposed to be written in stone into a living letter written in sand. Or as one Chief justice said, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes once said, "We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is." Or as the website Western Journalism describes it; Our federal judiciary has become, arguably and disturbingly, an oligarchy. When they rule on the "constitutionality" of an issue, it is assumed to be the final say in whether a vote of Congress or the vote of the people via referendum or initiative is legitimized or annulled. This is not how the Supreme Court and its substrata of appellate courts were intended to operate, nor is it de facto the way it should be. The federal judiciary, as it has evolved, has unchecked and unlimited power over the nation by either of the other branchesthe executive or the legislativeor even the people. Its members are not accountable to the citizenry, since most of their appointments are for life, and they cannot be removed from the bench by a vote of the people they purportedly serve. Their ruminations and the results of their decisions are insular, and they often trump the will of the people with regard to key social issues. Their decisions are presumed to be final, even though they may be at odds with the democratic majority of our citizens. Herein lies the fundamental problem about the present construct of our federal judiciary as it has evolved since the founding. If, as stated in the 10th Amendment, all "rights and powers" not specifically itemized in the Constitution are held by the people collectively or by the states, what right does a court have to negate the will of the people? As it relates especially to key cultural issues like abortion, public religious displays, and definitions of marriage, should not the final court be the court of public opinion, rather than an oligarchy of judges insulated from, and not accountable to, the citizenry? In most of these cases, state courts have ruled, and appeals are then made to the federal judiciary. Thomas Jefferson portended this judicial despotism: "To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men and not more so. They have with others the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem [good justice is broad jurisdiction], and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control." These situations exist because Congress abdicates its authority to unelected bureaucrats of the federal nomenclature, it refuses to stand up to the runaway executives and refuses to reign in the Supreme Court. The first could be accomplished by passing a law rescinding the ability of bureaucracies to issue regulations that have the force of law without congressional approval. The second could be accomplished as they were with President Nixon, hearings which could lead to impeachment. And the third is constitutionally provided for in Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2 which states, "In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." Congress should exercise its power to limit the jurisdiction of the courts. The Constitution provides that Congress is authorized to establish those federal courts subordinate to the Supreme Court and set forth their jurisdiction. Congress also has the power to limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and regulate its activities. Accordingly, Congress should exercise this authority to restrain an activist judiciary. If Congress would step up and be what we elect them to be We the People could once again become more than just an empty phrase from History in a discarded document that once sought to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. If our representatives will represent us instead of themselves and their cronies we would find that the solutions to our broken institutions are in the Constitution. Dr. Robert Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com 2016 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens Home Split decision By Daniel M. Ryan Sometimes its easy to admit that youre wrong. With Ethereum Classic, the fork of the cryptocurrency Ethereum undertook for reasons of principle, I had presumed that it would quickly fall by the wayside. As I explained last week, the case for the hard fork not only had a lot of practical reasons behind it but also had natural justice on its side. Although the blockchain-altering hard fork to save buyers of The DAO from a bug-exploiting theft did plant the seeds of moral hazard, its the type of seed that takes a very long time to grow. At this stage, every supporter of the hard fork sees it as an emergency measure that required a radical and temporary revaluation of priorities. Once the emergency was over, as it is in the Ethereum ecosystem, everyone would return to normal standards. Thats how a lot of American viewed the interventions of the New Deal: temporary measures that would either be scaled back or repealed once America got back on track. Once the breadlines disappeared, so would the relief programs et. al. With the luxury of hindsight, we know that those hopes proved not to be true. But, we also know that the bread and circuses took a very long time to develop. So much so, that there are legitimate arguments that the bread-and-circuses deterioration was not caused by the New Deal but by later cultural decay. From this angle, the inner-city types were not degraded by the welfare state but by feminism, feel-good liberalism and Cultural Marxism. Analogously, there are those who argue that the housing bubble and the resultant mortgage crisis were not caused by early-1990s forced lowering of lending standards to benefit certain protected classes. They were caused by greedy and unscrupulous bankers, mortgage lenders, etc. who cynically exploited the high-minded anti-discrimination goals to make exorbitant and reckless profits. Had there been no Angelo Mozillo, James A. Johnson or Franklin Raines, so this argument goes, the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 and the tightening-up of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act would have not led to any disaster. This argument is more questionable than the one that exculpates the New Deal, but the main difference between the two is the span of time between spring blossoms and fall cankers. Empirically, its easy to observe that moral-hazard seeds planted by help the helpless programs take a long time to germinate and grow. So long, that the connection between the seeds and the fruits is often obscured - and theres always cause to say that the cankers were caused by changing soil or unexpected weather. Thats why historical analyses of moral-hazard processes are controversial. Who dares say that thered be a Hood if the two-parent family had not broken down? Would there be a welfare crisis if a critical mass of left-wing activists not succeeded in pushing the new-fangled idea that welfare was not a government-orchestrated help-the-needy program but a civil right? Would we have seen Welfare County emerge nonetheless? There are arguments on both sides. Both sides illustrate the ambiguity of a process that takes a long time to unfold. Other events do intervene. Because of the natural-justice undergirding of the Ethereum rollback, plus the fact that the bulk of the Ethereum talent were going along with it, I had concluded that the alternative blockchain Ethereum Classic would fade away. More specifically, Ethereum Classic had five obstacles that I thought would have sealed a sorry fate: Since each holder of Ethereum got an equal amount of "new" Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, there was the risk of them dumping the latter for what they could get: treating it as "free money." Since Ethereum Classic didn't change anything in re The DAO, the hacker's "Dark DAO" contained ~3.7 million Ethereum Classic which was slated to be withdrawable as of last Wednesday. Since I assumed that the hacker was in it for a quick profit or the lulz, I concluded that the 3.7 million presented a supply-overhang shadow that could wreck its price. (In fact, the hacker has not done this.) Ethereum Class is technically an altcoin: specifically, a de facto clonecoin. Clones typically have values of about 1-2% or even less of the original. Assuming economically-rational miners, a low value means low hashpower and therefore low security. Given that Ethereum Classic stuck the middle finger at Ethereum, a low hashrate would make it vulnerable to a hostile 51% attack by a swarm of Ethereum miners that would leave it wrecked. Because of the above four risk factors, I had concluded that no major exchange would take the risk of listing it. This reticence was the case as of the time I wrote my last piece. As of Saturday before last, the only exchange that had listed it was a minor peer-to-peer exchange. The above risk factors, so I supposed, would dampen demand for Ethereum Classic to the point where it would fade away. Thats precisely where I went wrong. As Murphys luck would have it, the time my last piece went live coincided with Ethereum Classic getting listed on one of the biggest altcoin exchanges: Poloniex. Much to my surprise, the trading volume of Ethereum Classic quickly became much greater than Ethereums. Soon, other altcoin exchanges got on board; so did bigger Bitcoin-with-alts exchanges like Kraken. As I write, the 24-hour volume of Ethereum Classic across all major exchanges is more than $10 million - and even more than Ethereums $9 million. Ethereum Classics price had stabilized at about 12% of Ethereums until it jumped up. More than the price, the volume has made Ethereum Classic viable. Rational miners can see that they can dump whatever Classic they snap up from mining rewards without disturbing its price. Inevitably, the hash power commanded by Ethereum Classic is a heathy percentage of Ethereums; as I write, the ratio is a bit bigger than the price ratio between the two. Classics hashpower is so large, an entire pool has only a faint hope of 51%-attacking it. Theres not only been at least one threat to do so, but theres also publicly-available code to modify Classic miners to do exactly that. Scroll down this article, look for Changed ApplyTransaction to only produce an error, and youll see a code modification for a rogue mining program that would reject each and every transaction on Ethereum Classics blockchain. If enough miners deploy enough hashpower to command ~51% of its total hash rate while using that rogue-miner program, theyll make the blockchain useless. Their lock-down will be the consensus, which means that users of Ethereum Classic wont be able to use their holdings for anything. Even though that first threat was rescinded, theres now an Ethereum mining pool dedicated to launching a 51% attack on Classic once it gets enough hashpower. Despite those threats, Ethereum Classic is thriving. So much so, that the rumour mill is grinding out speculation that some Bitcoin whales have deployed their wealth to make a whale-sized statement in favour of blockchain immutability. Ethereum Classic is in the odd position of being like a breakaway city built over a fault line, and the citizens of the de-amalgamated city they broke away from have a working earthquake machine. All they lack is the power to make that machine wreak its worst. But that breakaway city is not helpless. If you clicked the last two links, youll see the attack pool is protected by Cloudflare. When I last clicked it, I got Clouldflares Website Is Offline 522 page. In the announcement post, theres a revealing warning: ****Server is experiencing issues********** So it seems that the worthies of the breakaway city know about the earthquake machine. Im actually glad I was wrong about Ethereum Classics viability, because its thriving does show a unique facet of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. As youre about to find out, its like an alternate-universe scenario that boggles the mind. If you think whats about to follow is strange, its actually handicapped in accuracy to keep it strange within normal parameters. A less inaccurate analogy would take us into a realm of hard-geek science fiction that normal folks would find unbelievable. Split Conventions Imagine being shot into an alternate universe wherein the Republican Party has a little-known rule that forbade anyone who had registered with another party from receiving the nomination. Despite that rule being extant, its known by few; the ones who know it are mainly trivia hounds. There are rules like this in the real world. Case in point: a section in the Constitution of Canada that enables the "Royal Prerogative of Disallowance" It allows Queen Elizabeth II to strike down a law passed by Canadas Parliament up to two years after its been enacted. It also allows the strike-down of a provincial law one year after its enactment. Although its hardly been used at all, and has never been used in more than eighty years, its still part of Canadas Constitution. Its still there. The Republican-or-independent-only rule in that alternate universe is like that Prerogative. In Pubbie circuits, it's generally agreed to be unenforceable: a set of dead letters like those fustian laws mandating that the driver of a "horseless carriage" be preceded by someone on foot waving a red flag by day and a red lantern by night. Other than the presence of this new rule, the 2016 primary continues in the same way as it has in the real world. The Trump Train barrels towards victory. There are Never Trumpers fuming about it, but by all measures Trump's gonna win it. Some pundits bring up that alternate rule, but mostly in the spirit of "Howz about that." None of the other candidates so much as mention it. In mid-late May, a few pundits publicly worry about it being used by malicious litigants to throw Trump off the ballot. But the consensus continues to believe that these pundits were merely illustrating a theoretical vulnerability. No-one believes that anyone would actually do it. Until June 1st, that is. On that day, its is seized upon by a group of rogue lawyers from the Democrat party. They publicly vow to use it to sue the Pubbies in all 50 states to get Trump - i.e., the Republican party - off the Presidential ballots. Legal beagles conclude that they won't succeed in most states, but they will succeed in enough states to hand the presidency to Hillary. That theoretical vulnerability is now a real, live danger. Reince Preibus et. al. now have a real crisis on their hands. After working night and day fora month, they cobble together a find-and-replace gimcrack that makes Donald Trump the legitimate candidate for President. In effect, they roll back the rules to render that bothersome one effectively void. They bat away the rule-immutability complaints on the sensible grounds that theyre not being employed to hand the Presidency to the Dems. Nor are they employed to thwart the will of all those Republicans whove given Trump his majority delegates. Although the bigwigs convince themselves that theyve satisfied every sane Republican, theyve tindered and lit a revolt. The Never Trumpers, now fed up, snap to action. Seizing upon the gimcrack as a railroading job, they push with all theyve got for the convention held with the original rule still in force: a convention where Donald Trump is disqualified because he was once registered with Reform and the Democrats. All the time Priebus & Co., were working on a fix, the Never Trumpers were very publicly grumbling. When the fix is pushed through, they show theyre serious. Serious enough to push the fight to formal arbitration. The arbitrators in this alternate universe are not like the ones in the universe we know. They hand down a decision that's mind-bogglingly odd in the normal world but not in the cryptocurrency world. They decide that both sides have an equal right to "inherit" the Republican party. And the result? An even stranger political world wherein every paid-up member of the Pubbies is now a member of two parties: the Republican Party (who will nominate Trump, in accordance with the gut-level justice of majority rule) and the Republican Classic party (who will nominate another candidate who qualifies under that rule.) Just like the holders of pre-fork Ethereum, every paid-up Pubbie is a stakeholder in both parties. Every privilege they enjoyed as members of the original Republican Party, they enjoy in equal measure in both Republican and Republican Classic. Since both offshoots are bound by the agreements of the original Republican Party, both of them are bound to the same timelines for each of their respective conventions. The Republican Classic forces hastily rent a different stadium and get it ready. This is where things get dicey for the delegates. Each selected delegate - they'd all be selected at this point - is now a voting delegate in both conventions. The trouble is, each convention is held in a different location but has exactly the same schedule. So, all the delegates that exercise their voting power in one convention cannot do so in the other convention. They cant be in two places at once. The convention-watchers and handicappers immediately grasp the fustercluck now opened up. Everyone realizes that the Trump delegates would be nutso to attend the Republican Classic convention. But the dilemma in front of the Cruz delegates is palpable. Should they go to the Republican Classic convention and get Cruz nominated, even though Republican Classic might well be a colossal waste of time and energy? Is Cruz better off losing gamely at the Republican convention, even though he would betray a lot of his Never-Trump stalwarts, or should he bull through and shoulder the risk of being the nominee of a fringe party? Could he leverage a nomination so that Republican Classic becomes the true Republican Party? Does he have the reach, particularly with the down-ticket candidates, to make the Trump-nominating Republican Party the new Whig party? Or is his best bet to lever against Republican Classic, to throw it to the fringes in exchange for (say) the VP slot on the Republican ticket? In all those speculations, theres an undertone of assumption that Republican Classic isnt going to last long. Both Trumpers and the Priebus circuit treat it as nothing more than a joke. They dub the Republican Classic convention the Cry-Baby Convention. Virtually everyone believes that Republican Classics gathering will only attract the lesser ranks of new media and sundry bloggers. The mainstream media and top-tier new media like Drudge will stick to the Republican convention. Until CNN announces that it will provide simultaneous coverage of both. So does Fox News, and Drudge himself Alternate Universes At this point in the drama, the analogy more-or-less breaks down. Mainly, because competing cryptocurrency ecosystems are a poor fit for competitive elections. Theres no cryptocurrency equivalent to you either vote for Donald or youre voting for Hillary. There are no cryptocoin rules comparable to the winner-takes-all finality of a general election. Still, it gives a good idea as to whats going on in the battle of the blockchains. That malicious pack of Democrat lawyers are like the hacker; the gimcrack fix of the Republican Partys (imaginary) rule is like the hard fork to excise the hackers gains; the imaginary adjudication creating both Republican and Republican Classic is like Ethereum Classic starting with the same blockchain as Ethereum without the blockchain-altering hard fork; the rule-sticklers who get behind Republican Classic are like the principled blockchain-immutability folks supporting Ethereum Classic. The 51%-attack pool is like a band of Trump delegates plotting to use their rightful votes in the Republican Classic convention to nominate Oprah Winfrey or Bernie Sanders. And of course, CNNs shock announcement is like Poloniex agreeing to list Ethereum Classic. The real world of cryptocurrency makes more accurate analogies stranger. Since both networks started with the same one, a more accurate analogy is more like a fantastical episode of Star Trek where the Enterprise gets marooned in a region of space that flickers between two different universes. Captain Kirk and the others have to watch their step extra-carefully if they dont want their fixes to go to waste because they took effect in an alternate universe. The private keys of Ethereum holders prior to the split are exactly the same and equally valid on both blockchains. These stakeholders now have to worry about whether or not the transaction that sends out their Ethereum will also send out their Ethereum Classic and vice-versa. Known as a replay attack, there are already guides to protect against it: guides explaining how to tease the Ethereum into a different address while leaving the Ethereum Classic alone. More vulnerable are the exchanges, which have had to take steps to make sure that the Ethereum Classic they received isnt drained by a clearly malicious version of that attack. This intrepid cryptonaut hypothesized a step-by-step plan to take advantage of exchanges in that way, and a CoinDesk article relates that those attacks have been working. Its gotten to the point where one heavyweight exchange, BTC-e, has stated that Ethereum Classic is a scam. The split into two blockchains, one for natural-justice pragmatics and one for blockchain-immutability stalwarts, can be adduced to show that cryptocurrency heralds a new kind of freedom: a right-of-exit that simply does not exist in the bricks-and-mortar world. But of course, the new details have summoned up new devils. New freedoms have come with new costs. In the cryptocurrency frontier, you better learn quickly that freedom aint free. Daniel M. Ryan, as Nxtblg, is shepherding the independently-run Open Audi Initiative Prediction Market Shadowing Project. He has stubbornly assumed all the responsibility and blame for the workings and outcome of the project. Home To Trump or not to Trump? By Rachel Alexander The GOP civil war that took place over Donald Trump becoming the party's presidential nominee was painful and damaging to the Republican Party. Conservative leaders who were once cordial now publicly slam each other. Friends who worked on political campaigns together get into nasty feuds on social media, resulting in defriending incidents. Instead of respectfully disagreeing, many Republicans on both sides accuse those who differ with them of attempting to destroy the country. First, those who opposed Trump during the primary race accused those who chose to back him of supporting Hillary Clinton, because he was polling so poorly against her. After he was certain to get the primary nomination, his supporters turned around and did the same thing right back, accusing Republicans who do not want to vote for Trump in the general election as supporting Clinton. While both accusations could be valid, whatever happened to free choice? This is why we have private, anonymous ballots in this country. Some disgruntled conservatives believe they are being principled by not voting for Trump, and would rather gamble with the risk of Clinton getting into office instead, in order to send a message to the GOP that the party better promote someone for president seen as more conservative next time. While I don't think that is a viable solution primarily due to how it will finally swing the Supreme Court to the left if Clinton gets to appoint the next justices, and also due to all the damage she could cause by implementing executive orders and using the DOJ to target conservatives and their causes it doesn't mean those who take this position are unpatriotic or deserve cruel remarks. Now, did Ted Cruz go too far by giving a speech at the GOP Convention last week telling Republicans to "vote your conscience," instead of "vote for Trump?" Perhaps. But there are two sides to every story. There was still a slight chance at the convention that someone else could have won the nomination; if the rules had been changed and enough delegates had been convinced to change their vote, etc. Reasonable conservatives can disagree on whether Trump is sufficiently conservative enough, capable of beating Clinton and can be trusted to stick to Republican principles once in office. They shouldn't be beaten over the head either way. A recent poll in Utah found that Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is in a virtual tie with Trump and Clinton. Trump is at 29 percent, Clinton at 27 percent and Johnson has 26 percent. The third supporting Johnson cannot all be wishing the country goes down the drain. Nor can the third supporting Trump all have deserted their conservative principles. Similarly, there is a long list of prominent conservatives who oppose Trump, many who say they will not vote for him as recently as this month. They cannot all be dismissed as establishment Republicans, and likewise, Trump has plenty of establishment Republicans supporting him, such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Arizona Senator John McCain. Conservative up-and-comer Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah both have not endorsed Trump, and conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has said he may have difficulty voting for Trump. Talk-show host Glenn Beck has been very vocal in his opposition. Talk-radio host and writer Michael Reagan opposes Trump and says if his dad were alive, the former legendary conservative President Ronald Reagan would oppose him as the GOP nominee. Nevertheless, it cannot be dismissed that Trump has tapped into a wave of resentment against the GOP establishment. It seems every year the party's elected officials and leaders move further to the left, betraying conservative principles, ignoring the grassroots efforts that got them elected and who contributed to their campaigns. One of the most conservative members of the US Senate, Raul Labrador of Idaho, is supporting Trump, although he earlier backed Cruz. The Christian leader James Dobson is a member of Trump's evangelical advisory board. It is not productive to make enemies of each other within the Republican Party, when we need to continue to work together in the future on many things unrelated to Trump. Clinton and the Democrats are sitting back cackling to see the GOP in disarray. The situation in this country is likely just going to get worse in the future as Christians who read the biblical book of Revelation believe and at some point, there may even be a need to engage in civil disobedience. But until then, attacking each other and destroying the GOP over reasonable differences is just going to take us faster down that path. I am not a fan of Trump, and have written quite critically about him in the past. I started my website Intellectual Conservative in the style of one of the greatest conservative icons of all the time, the late William F. Buckley, Jr.'s, and his National Review - and that magazine is monolithically opposing Trump. Yet even I have been attacked for allegedly betraying conservative principles by writing critically about Trump (I have written critically about virtually every Republican candidate for president during this election). But will I end up voting for Trump in the general election? Very likely, although as a writer who often writes hard news pieces these days, I try to remain somewhat neutral and not endorse candidates who I write about. In 1996, I felt otherwise. I was so disappointed with the GOP for selecting moderate Senator Bob Dole as the Republican nominee, that I voted for the conservative-leaning Libertarian presidential candidate instead, Harry Browne, and switched my voter registration to Libertarian for awhile. But everyone is different, and I feel somewhat differently now because I am so concerned how quickly the country has gone downhill in recent years. Especially, as a recovering attorney, I can not bear the thought of Clinton appointing Supreme Court justices and transforming the court to the left. I used to think the pro-life movement was one of the few areas remaining where conservatives are getting somewhere, in part by cleverly using Republican-controlled state legislatures and Republican governors to make incremental changes but the number of judicial decisions striking down those laws over the past year or so is now reversing those gains. Prominent, influential conservatives have been working on influencing Trump. I hear he is receptive and they are seeing gradual changes. He is now essentially tied with Clinton in national polls, he has considerable cross-appeal to moderates and even Democrats, and new information continues to break about Clinton's Servergate scandal, her Clinton Foundation and just this past week the DNC email scandal broke. With so many of the top conservative minds split over Trump, isn't this evidence that supporting him or not now is not a black-and-white question, and perhaps we should view our fellow Republicans who disagree with us respectfully? Just don't ask me to stop retweeting DeepDrumpf. However .. where's the equivalent for Clinton? Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. Home Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel Extraordinary things happen to ordinary materials when they are subjected to very high pressure and temperature. Sodium, a conductive metal in normal conditions, becomes a transparent insulator; gaseous hydrogen becomes a solid. But generating the terapascal pressures -- that's ten million times the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface -- needed to explore the most extreme conditions in the laboratory has been possible only with the use of shock waves, which generate the pressure for a very short time and then destroy samples. Now an international team working at the U.S. Department of Energy' (DOE) Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, has devised a method for achieving static pressures vastly higher than any previously reached. "Achieving ultra-high pressures opens new horizons for a deeper understanding of matter," said Leonid Dubrovinsky, a scientist at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, who was one of the developers of the new method. "It is of great importance for the fundamental sciences, for modeling the interior of giant planets and for the development of novel materials with unusual properties for technological applications." Using an innovative new device that employs transparent nano-crystalline diamonds developed for this application, Natalia Dubrovinskaia, who led the study, Dubrovinsky and collaborators achieved pressures almost 50 percent higher than the highest static pressure reached previously with standard single-stage diamond anvil cells. "It is a huge step," said Vitali Prakapenka, a scientist at the Center for Advanced Radiation Sources at the University of Chicago who worked on the experiments. Dubrovinsky and colleagues designed a version of a double-stage diamond anvil cell typically used to generate high pressures. The traditional apparatus works like a vice that squeezes the sample between two single-crystal diamonds. In the new device, a miniscule ball of nano-crystalline diamonds sits atop each single-crystal diamond. As the diamonds are squeezed together, the load is transferred from the larger diamond to the nano-ball. The nano-diamond balls compress and actually get harder, allowing them to both generate and withstand extreme pressures. The researchers further extended the capabilities of the apparatus by introducing a gasket assembly that acts as a secondary pressure chamber inside the cell, allowing them to work with gases and liquids as well as solids. The transparency of the new nano-diamond balls opens the possibility for achieving high pressure and high temperature simultaneously. "We can shine the high power laser through the diamond anvil and through the nano-diamond as well, and heat the sample when it's already pressurized," said Prakapenka. "And we can then probe the sample properties in situ with synchrotron X-ray techniques." This ability to probe matter at ultra-high static pressures has important implications for understanding the physics and chemistry of materials. The most direct immediate application is to the study of the materials under tremendous pressure on the interiors of the giant planets. But Prakapenka suggests other possibilities. "We can synthesize absolutely new materials with unique properties that we would never have predicted," he said. "And we believe that there still exist some materials that we can synthesize only at high pressure, like superconductors, and then quench down, bring to ambient conditions and use. In this case it's a very small amount -- it's only microns -- but for the future application in nanorobotic technology, who knows." The group worked at the GeoSoilEnviro Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources (GSECARS) beamline, which is operated by the University of Chicago at Sector 13 of the APS. The high intensity and energy of the APS's X-ray beams were crucial for the experiments. "The beam should be intense enough to go through the diamond anvil and through the one- or two-micron sample and give you enough statistics to see diffraction from the sample," said Prakapenka. "You need very high-intensity, high-energy X-rays to do that. It's only possible at third-generation synchrotrons like APS." Also critical were GSECARS's monochromator, optics and imaging systems, which bring the beam to the sample position, focus it down to a spot less than three microns and let the scientists see and analyze the sample in situ. The paper, "Terapascal static pressure generation with ultrahigh yield strength nanodiamond," was published July 20 in Science Advances. ### Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website. 1. Patients with "nonfunctional" adrenal tumors at significantly higher risk for diabetes Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0547 URL goes live when the embargo lifts Patients with nonfunctional adrenal tumors have a significantly higher risk for diabetes compared to patients without adrenal tumors. These findings suggest that a classification of "nonfunctional" may not adequately describe the continuum of hormone secretion and metabolic risk associated with benign adrenal tumors. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Adrenal tumors are typically benign and affect up to 10 percent of the population. While benign adrenal tumors are commonly thought to be nonfunctional, a substantial proportion may be functional in that they secrete detectable adrenocortical hormones. Known as subclinical hypercotisolism, the condition is associated with hypertension, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, and obesity. In recent studies, subclinical hypercotisolism was linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular events and death compared to nonfunctional adrenal tumors. Therefore, screening for hypercortisolism is recommended for all patients with adrenal tumors. However, emerging evidence suggests that nonfunctional adrenal tumors may be associated with cardiometabolic disease. Researchers compared medical records for 166 patients with benign nonfunctional adrenal tumors to those of 740 patients with no adrenal tumor to look for development of cardiometabolic outcomes, such as hypertension, diabetes, or cardiovascular events. They found that patients with nonfunctional adrenal tumors were significantly more likely to develop diabetes than those without adrenal tumors. These findings suggest that nonfunctional adrenal tumors may warrant more clinical attention and should be considered an independent risk factor for diabetes. Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. To reach the lead author, Dr. Anand Vaidya, please contact Haley Bridger at hbridger@partners.org or 617-525-6383. 2. Trend report: No increase in overall prevalence of late stage chronic kidney disease over the past decade Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0273 Editorial: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-1649 URL goes live when the embargo lifts In a reversal of previous trends, no increase in the prevalence of stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been seen in the U.S. population over the most recent decade. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. CKD is recognized as an important risk factor for end-stage renal disease, acute kidney injury, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. As such, national health programs, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2020 initiative, have set a target of a 10 percent proportional reduction in CKD prevalence in the U.S. population. While peer-reviewed publications have mostly reported that the overall prevalence of CKD in the U.S. population had been increasing by as much as 5 percent per year, it has been noted that the incidence rate of end-stage renal disease, which is almost always preceded by CKD, have been decreasing since the early 2000s. However, an important limitation in the peer-reviewed literature is that CKD prevalence in more recent years has not been analyzed. Researchers analyzed data from the national Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to estimate the trends in CKD prevalence overall and in subgroups of the population, with particular attention given to more recent years. They found that stage 3 and 4 CKD has not increased appreciably in the U.S. population overall during the most recent decade. The lack of increase was noted in most subgroups examined when data were stratified by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and diabetes status, except for among non-Hispanic black persons. The authors express concern over these findings and suggest further research to better understand potentially important differences in patterns by racial/ethnic subgroups. The research could help to inform strategies for improving CKD prevalence trends for all population groups. Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. The lead author, Dr. Chi-yuan Hsu, can be reached through Katherine "Leigh" Beeson at Katherine.Beeson@ucsf.edu. 3. Patients should weigh benefits and risks when medication to reduce breast cancer risk is recommended Annals of Internal Medicine and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center go "Beyond the Guidelines" to discuss pharmacological interventions to reduce breast cancer risk Free content: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0940 URL goes live when the embargo lifts Should a 51 year-old woman with a strong family history of breast cancer be offered medication to reduce her own breast cancer risk? An oncologist and an internist debate the topic in a multicomponent educational article being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Clinical guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend that physicians discuss treatment with selective estrogen receptor modulators (tamoxifen, raloxifene) with their postmenopausal patients that have an increased 5-year risk for breast cancer, as the benefits of treatment may outweigh the potential harms. Similarly, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that women aged 35 years or older at increased risk for breast cancer discuss the use of preventative medications, including the aromatase inhibitor exemestane, which is not approved by the FDA for this purpose, with their primary care providers. In this Beyond the Guidelines article, an oncologist and a primary care physician debate whether or not to prescribe pharmacotherapy for a premenopausal patient who does not fit exactly within guideline parameters. Both physicians agree that shared decision making is essential and must include informing the patient of the specific benefits and risks associated with treatment. All Beyond the Guidelines papers are based on the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Each session focuses on care of a patient who "falls between the cracks" in available evidence and for whom the optimal clinical management is unclear. Such situations include those in which a guideline finds evidence insufficient to make a recommendation, a patient does not fit criteria mapped out in recommendations, or different organizations provide conflicting recommendations. Debates are presented in a question and answer format, and include video interviews with the patient and physicians. A list of topics is available at http://www.annals.org/grandrounds. Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. To interview the lead author, please contact Lizzie Williamson at erwillia@bidmc.harvard.edu or 617-632-8217. Also in this issue: Bioequivalence of Biosimilar Tumor Necrosis Factor-_ Inhibitors Compared With Their Reference Biologics: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Francine Chingcuanco, MHS; Jodi Segal, MD, MPH; Seoyoung C. Kim, MD, ScD, MSCE; and G. Caleb Alexander, MD Review Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0428 The Biosimilarity Concept: Toward an Integrated Framework for Evidence Assessment Issam Zineh, PharmD, MPH; Leah A. Christl, PhD Editorial Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-1559 Annals Graphic Medicine - I'd Want a Natural Death Nathan Gray, MD Graphic Medicine Free content: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/G16-0002 Visceral Vistas: Basil Hirschowitz and the Birth of Fiberoptic Endoscopy Ian S. Campbell, MD; Joel D. Howell, MD, PhD; and H. Hughes Evans, MD, PhD History of Medicine Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0025 ### HOUSTON - (August 1, 2016) - In a set of papers published last week in Cell Systems, Dr. Erez Lieberman Aiden, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics and McNair Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Center for Genome Architecture (TC4GA), and his colleagues introduce Juicer, an open-source tool used in three-dimensional (3-D) genome sequencing (Hi-C) processes. Hi-C, invented by Aiden and collaborators in 2009, explores the three-dimensional structure of the genome, creating terabases of sequencing data resulting in high-resolution contact maps that comprehensively chart the loops that form when the genome folds up inside the nucleus of a cell. In previous Hi-C experiments, Aiden and his team identified the sheer bandwidth of the data as a central challenge. Existing hardware and software simply could not process and analyze the massive amounts of data produced in these experiments, with a single map spanning billions of reads and trillions of base pairs. To alleviate this bottleneck in data analysis, Aiden and his team at Baylor, led by Dr. Neva Durand, Muhammad Shamim and Ido Machol, designed Juicer, a fully-automated pipeline that allows users with little to no computational background to transform raw sequencing data into genome-wide maps of looping with a single click. Juicer produces the Hi-C file with loops and contact domains automatically annotated, which facilitates the visualization and analysis of the map and its structural features. "The studies published in Cell Systems describe our team's new, end-to-end system for analysis of 3-D genome sequencing data. It is the first system of its kind, making it possible to map the loops in a mammalian genome in a fully automated fashion," said Durand, a senior scientist at TC4GA and co-first author on both new studies. As a demonstration of the power of the new tool, Aiden and his colleagues created the deepest 3-D maps of the genome to date, spanning over three terabytes of data drawn from a single experimental condition. But improvements in software weren't enough: adequate hardware is also a central challenge. The researchers tracked the performance of Juicer on four cluster systems, including a system based on Edico Genome's DRAGEN Bio-IT processing platform coupled with IBM's Power8 architecture. Edico's DRAGEN platform accelerated the analysis of the massive data sets derived from this study of 3-D structures of DNA by nearly 20 fold, a dramatic speedup from all of other systems tested. Machol, a co-author on both studies, noted that, "When we ran our pipeline on a hybrid DRAGEN/Power system, the data analysis was 20-fold faster than running the pipeline on an industry standard cluster. That kind of difference opens the door to many analyses that would have been very impractical before." DRAGEN generates accelerated implementations of genome pipeline algorithms using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The platform is reconfigurable and flexible through remote downloads, allowing users to create custom algorithms and refine existing pipelines. "Given the dramatic acceleration that we observed, we are excited about the extraordinary potential of FPGA technology in 3-D genomics." said Shamim, an M.D./Ph.D. student at Baylor and co-first author on the Juicer study. Aiden, who is also a faculty member at Rice University, in the department of Computer Science and at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, commented on the experiment, saying, "The partnership between TC4GA and Edico Genome is a game-changer. The results that are possible using DRAGEN are more than a one-off exercise: they are a strong indicator of the future of the 3-D genomics field as a whole. We are confident that our collaboration will lead to a great deal of innovation both within the Texas Medical Center community, and beyond." Added Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Edico Genome, "Dr. Aiden and his team's application of DRAGEN to accelerate Juicer is a great example of DRAGEN's effectiveness in processing massive amounts of raw sequencing data in minimal time, and without requiring any additional training or a post-graduate degree. We are continually working to optimize DRAGEN and expect the next version to be even faster than the speed we have already achieved." Juicer is available as open source software and is compatible with multiple cluster operating systems, Edico's DRAGEN, and Amazon Web Services. It may be downloaded on the web at http://aidenlab.org/juicer/. ### Other contributors to this work include James T. Robinson, Jill P. Mesirov, and Eric S. Lander of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Suhas Rao and Miriam Huntley, from The Center for Genome Architecture. This work was supported by an NIH New Innovator Award (1DP2OD008540-01), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (P50HG006193), an NVIDIA Research Center Award, an IBM University Challenge Award, a Google Research Award, a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas Scholar Award (R1304), a McNair Medical Institute Scholar Award, the President's Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, and a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics Frontiers Centers (Center for Theoretical Biological Physics). The authors received grants from the Welch Foundation (to E.L.A.), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS R01GM074024 to J.P.M.), and NHGRI (HG003067 to E.S.L.). The Center for Genome Architecture is grateful to Janice, Robert, and Cary McNair for support. Read the full papers online: Juicer Provides a One-Click System for Analyzing Loop-Resolution HI-C Experiments: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2016.07.002 Juicebox Provides a Visualization System for Hi-C Contact Maps with Unlimited Zoom: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240547121500054X Argonne, Ill. (July 29, 2016) -- As scientists and policymakers around the world try to combat the increasing rate of climate change, they have focused on the chief culprit: carbon dioxide. Produced by the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and car engines, carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, warming the planet. But trees and other plants do slowly capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it to sugars that store energy. In a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Chicago, researchers have found a similar way to convert carbon dioxide into a usable energy source using sunlight. One of the chief challenges of sequestering carbon dioxide is that it is relatively chemically unreactive. "On its own, it is quite difficult to convert carbon dioxide into something else," said Argonne chemist Larry Curtiss, an author of the study. To make carbon dioxide into something that could be a usable fuel, Curtiss and his colleagues needed to find a catalyst - a particular compound that could make carbon dioxide react more readily. When converting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into a sugar, plants use an organic catalyst called an enzyme; the researchers used a metal compound called tungsten diselenide, which they fashioned into nanosized flakes to maximize the surface area and to expose its reactive edges. While plants use their catalysts to make sugar, the Argonne researchers used theirs to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. Although carbon monoxide is also a greenhouse gas, it is much more reactive than carbon dioxide and scientists already have ways of converting carbon monoxide into usable fuel, such as methanol. "Making fuel from carbon monoxide means travelling 'downhill' energetically, while trying to create it directly from carbon dioxide means needing to go 'uphill,'" said Argonne physicist Peter Zapol, another author of the study. Although the reaction to transform carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide is different from anything found in nature, it requires the same basic inputs as photosynthesis. "In photosynthesis, trees need energy from light, water and carbon dioxide in order to make their fuel; in our experiment, the ingredients are the same, but the product is different," said Curtiss. The setup for the reaction is sufficiently similar to nature that the research team was able to construct an "artificial leaf" that could complete the entire three-step reaction pathway. In the first step, incoming photons - packets of light - are converted to pairs of negatively-charged electrons and corresponding positively-charged "holes" that then separate from each other. In the second step, the holes react with water molecules, creating protons and oxygen molecules. Finally, the protons, electrons and carbon dioxide all react together to create carbon monoxide and water. "We burn so many different kinds of hydrocarbons - like coal, oil or gasoline - that finding an economical way to make chemical fuels more reusable with the help of sunlight might have a big impact," Zapol said. Towards this goal, the study also showed that the reaction occurs with minimal lost energy - the reaction is very efficient. "The less efficient a reaction is, the higher the energy cost to recycle carbon dioxide, so having an efficient reaction is crucial," Zapol said. According to Curtiss, the tungsten diselenide catalyst is also quite durable, lasting for more than 100 hours - a high bar for catalysts to meet. The study, "Nanostructured transition metal dichalcogenide electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction in ionic liquid," is published in today's issue of Science. Much of the experimental work was performed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, while the computational work was performed at Argonne. ### The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website. For more information, contact Jared Sagoff at jsagoff@anl.gov or 630-252-5549. A genomic study using a novel method of enrolling participants has identified for the first time 15 regions of the genome that appear to be associated with depression in individuals of European ancestry. Results of the study, which utilized data gathered by the consumer genomics company 23andMe, are receiving advance online publication in Nature Genetics. "Identifying genes that affect risk for a disease is a first step towards understanding the disease biology itself, which gives us targets to aim for in developing new treatments," says Roy Perlis, MD, MSc, of the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, co-corresponding author of the report. "More generally, finding genes associated with depression should help make clear that this is a brain disease, which we hope will decrease the stigma still associated with these kinds of illnesses." While it is well known that depression can run in families, most previous genetic studies have been unable to identify variants influencing the risk for depression. One study did find two genomic regions that may contribute to disease risk in Chinese women, but those variants are extremely rare in other ethnic groups. Perlis and his colleagues note that the many different forms in which depression appears and affects patients imply that, as with other psychiatric disorders, it is probably influenced by many genes with effects that could be too subtle to be found in previous, relatively small studies. Unlike traditional methods of recruiting study participants - which involve seeking and enrolling prospective participants and then conducting comprehensive interviews before actually genotyping each individual - this study utilized data collected from customers of 23andMe, a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company, who consented to participate in research. Participation includes responding to surveys and completing information about medical history, as well as physical and demographic information. 23andMe's researcher platform uses aggregated non-identifying data. For the current study, the investigators first analyzed common genetic variation using data from more than 300,000 individuals of European ancestry from the 23andMe database, more than 75,000 of whom reported having been diagnosed with or treated for depression and more than 230,000 with no reported history of depression. That analysis identified two genomic regions - one containing a poorly understood gene known to be expressed in the brain and another containing a gene previously associated with epilepsy and intellectual disability - as significantly associated with depression risk. The research team combined that information with data from a group of smaller genome-wide association studies enrolling around 9,200 individuals with a history of depression and 9,500 controls and then more closely analyzed sites of possible risk genes in samples from another group of 23andMe clients - almost 45,800 with depression and 106,000 controls. The results identified 15 genomic regions, including 17 specific sites, as significantly associated with a diagnosis of depression. Several of these sites are located in or near genes known to be involved in brain development. "The neurotransmitter-based models we are currently using to treat depression are more than 40 years old, and we really need new treatment targets. We hope that finding these genes will point us toward novel treatment strategies," says Perlis, who is an associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "Another key takeaway from our study is that the traditional way of doing genetic studies is not the only way that works. Using existing large datasets or biobanks may be far more efficient and may be helpful for other psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety disorders, where traditional approaches also have not been successful." ### The co-corresponding authors of the Nature Genetics paper are Ashley Winslow, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; and David A. Hinds, PhD, of 23andMe. The lead author is Craig Hyde, PhD, Pfizer Global Research and Development; and additional co-authors are Mike Nagle, PhD, Xing Chen, Sara Paciga, MA, and Jens Wendland, MD, Pfizer Global R&D; and Chao Tian, PhD, and Joyce Tung, PhD, 23andMe. Perlis's work is supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health/National Human Genome Research Institute grant P50 MH106933. Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH Research Institute (http://www.massgeneral.org/research/) conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with an annual research budget of more than $800 million and major research centers in HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, photomedicine and transplantation biology. The MGH topped the 2015 Nature Index list of health care organizations publishing in leading scientific journals, earned the prestigious 2015 Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service and returned to the number one spot on the 2015-16 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals." EAST LANSING, Mich. - If Paul Simon were to write a song about the bacteria in Richard Lenski's long-term evolution experiment, or LTEE, it could be titled, "Still Changing After All These Years." In a paper published in the current issue of Nature, the Michigan State University John Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and an international team of researchers used cutting-edge technology to study tens of thousands of generations of E. coli bacteria. They sequenced the entire genomes, or genetic code, of the bacteria to pinpoint the genes with beneficial mutations that gave the bacteria a competitive edge over their ancestors. The bacteria from different generations of the LTEE have been stored in freezers for nearly 30 years, but they were brought back to life to look for the changes in their DNA. Being able to go back into the freezer to study samples from years ago is one of the reasons Lenski calls the LTEE "the experiment that keeps on giving." "One of the nice things about such a long-term experiment is that new technologies come along that didn't exist when I started the LTEE in 1988," said Lenski, who's part of MSU's BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. "The first bacterial genome was not sequenced until 1995, and now, in this single paper, we've sequenced 264 complete genomes from this one experiment." The team sequenced hundreds of E. coli genomes to examine how the bacteria had changed in their DNA over 50,000 generations. The researchers found more than 14,000 changes across the LTEE's 12 populations. Each population changed in different ways, but there were some important commonalities as well. Most significant, and most simply, the mutations were concentrated in a subset of the genes -- those where mutations gave the bacteria a competitive edge. One of the striking differences that arose between populations is that half of them evolved to mutate at much higher rates than the other populations, even though they all started from the same ancestral strain that had a low mutation rate. "Even in the simplest microcosm we can imagine to study evolution -- a single bacterium kept in the laboratory under monotonous conditions for years -- we are learning new things about the rates and processes of evolution," said Jeffrey Barrick, an assistant professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. "This quantitative information is important for human health, as it improves our ability to predict how bacteria evolve, particularly in chronic infections and in our microbiome." This paper is the product of several wonderful collaborations, Lenski said. Noah Ribeck, MSU postdoctoral researcher, developed some of the mathematical theory used to interpret the data. Barrick, a former MSU postdoc in Lenski's lab, created software for analyzing the genomes. ### Olivier Tenaillon, with Universite Paris Diderot (France), helped lead the study. Researchers from University of Massachusetts, ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Universite Grenoble Alpes (France), Institut de Genomique (France), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) also contributed to this research. Lenski's long-term evolution experiment has now surpassed 65,000 generations. His research is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges. For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews. SILVER SPRING, Md. - A team of researchers, led by Drs. Merlin Robb and Jintanat Ananworanich of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, has found that when antiretroviral therapy (ART) is initiated during early acute HIV infection, it can significantly reduce total HIV DNA levels in the body, which may have implications for the goal of achieving long-term HIV remission. HIV is difficult to cure because it infects long-lived cells in the body, laying down a reservoir of latent virus that can become reactivated long after treatments clear active virus from the body. "HIV reservoir size is pertinent to the goal of HIV remission - that is, undetectable viral load without treatment - because the size of the reservoir may predict time to viral load rebound after ART cessation," explains Dr. Ananworanich, MHRP research physician and a leader in HIV cure research. "It is hypothesized that people with a smaller reservoir size will have a greater chance of achieving HIV remission." This study compared HIV DNA in two well-characterized groups of individuals in Thailand who were diagnosed within a few weeks of contracting HIV and either received treatment immediately or did not. Researchers longitudinally measured the frequency of cells in the blood with HIV DNA, which served as a marker of HIV reservoir size. Findings, published online this week in the journal EBioMedicine, show that without ART, HIV DNA peaked early and established a set-point level during the first 6 weeks of infection and changed little over time without HIV medications. However, if ART medications are started early, the reservoir size declines rapidly. ART reduced total HIV DNA levels by 20-fold after two weeks and 316-fold after three years. "This would indicate that, currently, the most effective way to significantly lower the HIV reservoir size is with very early treatment," said Dr. Robb, MHRP co-director and a leading researcher in the fields of acute HIV and HIV vaccines. "Identifying timing of HIV DNA set point will inform when to intervene." In order to better understand how the immune system responds during the critical moments of early acute infection, MHRP launched two innovative cohort studies in Thailand and East Africa, RV217 and RV254, which provide a foundation for follow-on studies such as this one. MHRP's acute cohorts provide insight into crucial stages of early HIV infection. By focusing on the earliest stages of infection, scientists hope to understand what's needed to create an effective HIV vaccine and possibly inform future investigations into a functional cure. ### Funding information This work was supported by cooperative agreements between The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., and the U.S. Department of the Army and by an intramural grant from the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization, Thailand, Gilead, Merck and ViiV Healthcare provided support for antiretroviral medications. Jintanat Ananworanich was partially funded by NIAID. About MHRP The US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research conducts research to develop an effective HIV vaccine and integrates prevention, treatment, diagnosis and monitoring as part of a global effort to protect troops and reduce the impact of HIV worldwide. MHRP has six clinical research sites in the US, Africa and Asia. The program successfully collaborates on HIV prevention care and treatment services, funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), with African militaries and in the communities where it conducts research. For more information, visit http://www.hivresearch.org or find MHRP on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/hivresearch, and Twitter at @MHRPInfo. SHARE By , Madison-based Alliant Energy Corp., which owns utilities serving four U.S. Midwestern states, plans to spend $1 billion over the next five years to expand its wind power in Iowa by as much as 500 megawatts. The company is seeking regulatory approval to enlarge its Whispering Willow Wind Farm in Franklin County and potentially build developments elsewhere in Iowa, Alliant said in a statement Wednesday. The move is part of a broader initiative by Alliant to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. Iowa is the second-largest wind-energy producing state in the United States, with more than 6,000 megawatts of capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Alliant CEO Patricia Kampling announced the project Wednesday with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Cedar Rapids, headquarters of Alliant's Iowa utility, Interstate Power & Light. "Our customers expect low-cost, clean energy, which is exactly what this project will bring to our communities," said Doug Kopp, president of Interstate Power & Light. "Wind has no fuel costs and zero emissions, making it a win-win for Iowans and the Iowa economy." The project will add enough energy to power about 215,000 Iowa homes, the utility said. In April, Warren Buffett's Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy Co. announced it would spend $3.6billion to build a 2,000-megawatt wind farm in Iowa. The Des Moines Register of the USA TODAY NETWORK contributed to this report. A remnant population of woolly mammoths on a remote Alaska island was likely pushed to extinction by rising sea levels and a lack of access to fresh water, according to a newly published study. By analyzing layers of a dated sediment core from a lake on St. Paul Island, researchers determined that mammoths went extinct on the island roughly 5,600 years ago, thousands of years after remnant mainland populations died off. The study also indicated that the Bering Sea island experienced a phase of dry conditions and declining water quality at about the same time the mammoths vanished. The results were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Matthew Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a co-author of the study, said past events on St. Paul Island provided a unique opportunity for research. Mammoths were trapped there when rising sea levels submerged the Bering Sea land bridge, and survived about 5,000 years longer than isolated mainland populations. There is no evidence of people having lived on the island during the era. In 2013, a team of researchers collected a sediment core from the bed of one of the few freshwater lakes on St. Paul Island. Wooller and fellow UAF researcher Kyungcheol Choy measured the stable oxygen isotope ratios of the prehistoric remains of aquatic insects preserved in the sediment from before, during and after the extinction of mammoths from the island. The remains of aquatic organisms living in lakes retain water isotope signatures within their bodies, which allowed researchers studying their exoskeletons to determine that lake levels had diminished. The remains of diatoms and aquatic invertebrates from the core also changed over time, indicating decreasing lake levels and water quality leading up to the mammoth extinction. Nitrogen isotope analyses of dated mammoth bones and teeth also signaled progressively drier conditions leading up to the extinction event. Wooller said these "multiple lines of evidence" of decreasing lake levels provide a strong case for what led to the animals' extinction. "It paints a dire picture of the situation for these mammoths," Wooller said. "Freshwater resources look like the smoking gun for what pushed them into this untenable situation." The study not only determined one of the best-dated prehistoric extinctions, using state-of-the-art techniques on ancient mammoth DNA preserved in the lake core from St. Paul Island, it also showed the vulnerability of small island populations to environmental change. St. Paul Island gradually shrank to its current size of 110 square kilometers as sea levels rose, reducing the opportunities for mammoths to find new areas with water. Conditions incrementally changed for about 2,000 years before mammoths went extinct. Modern climate change could shift conditions more rapidly, which could make the story of prehistoric St. Paul Island relevant today, Wooller said. ### The project included a collaborative group of researchers from across the U.S. and Canada, led by Russ Graham from Pennsylvania State University. It included contributions from a UAF team that included Wooller, Choy, Ruth Rawcliffe and Emilie Saulnier-Talbot. Beth Shapiro and Peter Heintzman of the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed mammoth DNA from the St. Paul Island lake core. The work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Matthew Wooller, 907-474-6738, mjwooller@alaska.edu Irvine, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 -- Using new and innovative immune-therapeutic approaches to silence "don't eat me" signaling proteins recognized by specialized cells of the immune system, University of California, Irvine molecular biologists and their colleagues have identified an effective way to combat metastatic melanoma. Led by Alexander D. Boiko, UCI assistant professor of molecular biology & biochemistry at the Ayala School of Biological Sciences and the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Center, the researchers discovered that blocking the cell surface protein, CD47 (known as a "don't eat me" signal), on melanoma cells, increased the degree by which these cells were phagocytosed, or "eaten," by macrophages. The team further discovered that blocking CD47 in combination with targeting a second cell surface protein, CD271, previously found to be expressed on melanoma initiating cells, resulted in virtually complete inhibition of metastases arising from human melanoma tumors transplanted in mice. The full study appears Aug. 9 in Cell Reports. (Link to study: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(16)30890-7) The cell surface protein CD47 was found to be overexpressed by metastatic melanomas, which helps them avoid being eliminated by the organism's immune system. CD271, on the other hand, had been previously shown by Boiko to mark a cell population in melanomas responsible for tumor initiation and metastatic spread of this aggressive cancer. For the current study, Boiko and his team conjectured that metastatic melanomas relied on the overexpression of both proteins to fool the immune system and spread to other areas of the body. To test this hypothesis, Boiko and his colleagues used specific blocking antibodies against CD47 (to activate macrophage phagocytosis) and CD271 (to selectively target the most aggressive melanoma cell population). When mice bearing human metastatic melanomas were treated with this antibody regimen, researchers discovered that simultaneous application of antibodies against CD47 and CD271 resulted in near complete elimination of metastasis from all organs of experimental mice. Boiko's group has further discovered that this therapeutic effect was mediated by profound alteration of the microenvironment surrounding the tumors, causing immune cells to fight cancer more effectively. "Further research is needed to determine the full anti-metastatic properties of the dual CD47/CD271 antibody therapy and the safety of its application in human patients," Boiko said. "However, combining this therapy with other emerging treatments that also modulate the immune system represents a new approach that may offer increased benefit against metastatic melanomas. These are very exciting times for the cancer immunotherapy field and we are aiming to add an important component to this type of treatment, which will hopefully translate into a more effective outcome for patients." ### Michael Ngo, Arum Han, Anita Lakatos and Stephanie Hachey from UCI; Debashis Sahoo from UC San Diego; Kipp Weiskopf and Irving Weissman from Stanford University; and Andrew Beck from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston contributed to the study. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant R00 CA154960, F30 CA168059 and T32 GM007365), a Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award, the J.M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research. About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu. Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists. CINCINNATI -- Marilyn Cotter recently needed a stress test following a bout of chest tightness. Unable to withstand exercise because of foot problems, Cotter, a 68-year-old grandmother from Delhi Township, wasn't a candidate for a normal stress test that uses a treadmill. Instead, her physicians at University of Cincinnati Medical Center used a space-age option: an anti-gravity treadmill. "I really don't do much exercise," says Cotter. "I walk in the living room with Leslie Sansone's tape because my feet aren't the best, and I don't want to get out on the pavement. I do have custom orthotics, but I have to put pads on the boney parts of my feet." Cotter is now one of 50 patients expected to take part in a randomized, single-blind, controlled study at UC Medical Center testing whether an anti-gravity treadmill is safe for heart patients and if its use can provide better tests to diagnose heart disease. Cotter was placed in neoprene shorts and zippered into a pressurized airtight enclosure from her waist down and suspended over the surface of the treadmill. By inflating the enclosure, UCMC staff were able to reduce Cotter's weight by as much as 50 percent. She was able to reach 121 heart beats per minute, which is less than the 129 heart beats per minutes doctors hoped she would achieve, but still good by her accounts. "Now, in my younger years I did use a regular treadmill; it's been a long time since I've done it, but that was amazing," said Cotter. "It was like half my weight was gone. Nothing hurt, but I was really getting tired toward the end because I am not used to exercising all that long. With my walking at home if I get too tired, I can stop for a second and then go on." Patrick Daly, MD, a principal investigator who recently finished a cardiology fellowship at UC, says Cotter was able to exercise for six minutes on the anti-gravity treadmill. "The important thing to remember is even in patients who did not get to their target heart rate on the anti-gravity treadmill, they still achieve a significant amount of exercise which enables us to better predict clinical outcomes," explains Daly. Normally, a patient such as Cotter would initially be given regadenoson, a coronary vasodilator used in pharmacologic stress testing. But UC Health physicians believe that exercise as part of a stress test may be more beneficial for assessment of the patient's long-term health prospects and in obtaining better cardiac imaging. Once the heart is stressed, a gamma camera is used to take pictures of your heart to show how well it is supplied with blood. "Coronary artery disease is still the No. 1 cause of death in the United States," says Myron Gerson, MD, a principal investigator, UC Health cardiologist and emeritus professor of internal medicine in the UC College of Medicine. "The No. 1 approach to diagnosis is stress testing with imaging." The anti-gravity treadmill is made by AlterG, Inc., a Fremont, California, company that adapted the technology originally developed at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. A similar device was created to offer astronauts on the International Space Station a way to exercise in a weightless environment. AlterG is providing the anti-gravity treadmill for the study, which is sponsored by the University of Cincinnati. There are no conflicts of interests involving physicians participating in the clinical study. "For those of us who tried it out, the anti-gravity treadmill feels like walking on the moon I suppose," says Gerson, also a member of UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. "The sensation of gravity is much less and we can un-weight the patient by 25 percent, 50 percent or even more. In our study, patients are randomized between the default which involves using regadenoson as a pharmacologic stress, or to exercise on the anti-gravity treadmill. "On the anti-gravity treadmill, we are finding many of these patients can reach target heart rate. We are testing two hypotheses: First, is the anti-gravity treadmill safe for these people, and second, can use of the anti-gravity treadmill improve image quality?" Gerson says that improved image quality might be achieved when patients reach target heart rates during their stress tests. During the trial, those patients who do not reach target heart rates will be given regadenoson, which is standard of care. UC Health cardiologists say they can get a lot of information when a patient exercises that's not available with a pharmacologic stress alternative. The anti-gravity treadmill helps reduce pressure and pain on knees, the back and other areas that make exercise simply not possible for up to half of the cardiovascular patients physicians are seeing at UC Health, says Daly. Physicians can also examine a patient's cardiovascular capacity or fitness level using the anti-gravity treadmill. "Research shows that exercise capacity is a stronger correlate with long-term survival and cardiovascular mortality," says Daly. Stress tests using regadenoson are accurate, but you can't learn the patient's aerobic capacity, says Gerson. "How long can they walk on a treadmill on a standard protocol? You don't learn what heart rate they can go up to," says Gerson. "For that reason, the national guidelines of the American Heart Association and the College of Cardiology strongly recommend when possible the patient should exercise and only do the regadenoson stress if they can't exercise and get their heart rate up to target." ### Drs. Aravinda de Silva and Matt Collins hope to use blood samples from people who have been previously diagnosed with or potentially exposed to specific viruses as part of their vaccine development work CHAPEL HILL, NC - Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine are conducting studies that utilize blood donations from individuals who have been diagnosed with or potentially exposed to mosquito-borne viruses as part of ongoing dengue and Zika research and vaccine development. Aravinda de Silva, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, and Matt Collins, MD, PhD, an infectious diseases fellow, are among more than 10 groups studying and researching Zika at UNC. De Silva's lab received supplemental funding on two existing grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study Zika, and is now seeking blood donations from people who have been diagnosed with or potentially exposed to arboviruses such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. Specifically, de Silva is seeking participation from people who have traveled to tropical areas such as Southeast Asia, India, Central and South America, and Africa. "Research studies of participants' immune cells and antibodies may help us develop vaccines and better clinical tests to diagnose these viral infections," de Silva said. While many people don't realize they are infected - 85 percent of people believed to have Zika are asymptomatic - common symptoms of these viruses include fever, rash, joint paint, muscle aches, and headaches. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to Zika infection because of potential birth defects. The main birth defect associated with Zika is microcephaly, a rare neurological condition in which an infant is born with a much smaller head -- an effect of abnormal brain development. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 65 countries and territories have reported cases of Zika virus. UNC researchers are currently working with state and federal health officials, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NIH. The NIH has supplemented current grants so researchers can broaden the scope of their work to expedite the research and response to Zika, de Silva said. The UNC School of Medicine has a decades-long history of studying arboviruses. "There's real expertise here," de Silva said. "My group and others, we have been studying dengue viruses for many years. Dengue is very closely related to Zika, but distinct. And we have a program that includes epidemiology, human immunology, and pathogenesis, and this work includes a lot of international work in South Asia, as well as in the Americas." A vaccine for Zika could be developed based on previous work to successfully develop Yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue vaccines, de Silva said. Currently, there are three phase-three clinical trials for a dengue vaccine and UNC is collaborating with vaccine developers to understand data from these trials. According to the WHO, an estimated 390 million people are infected with dengue worldwide each year. "There's a tremendous amount of work going on right now on dengue vaccines," de Silva said. "Our group at UNC has been working very closely with all the leading vaccine developers." Participation requires a one-time blood donation. The study is open to all healthy adults, including pregnant women. ### Ender Finol, associate professor of biomedical engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has been honored with the American Heart Association's Collaborative Sciences Award. The award includes a $750,000 grant to continue his aneurysm research, which involves "freezing" aortic aneurysms before they burst and cause serious damage. An aneurysm can be a time bomb, medically speaking, since people don't know they have one until either a doctor detects it or it ruptures. In the latter case, there's about an 80 percent fatality rate. If it's caught in time, doctors will generally observe the aneurysm until it grows to about 5 cm in diameter, which requires surgery to give the blood vessels relief from the pressure. "The status quo is that you can't stop the growth of an aneurysm, so checking in until it's time to intervene surgically is the only option for many people," Finol said. Just last year, Finol received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research in predicting when aneurysms will need surgery by thoroughly mapping them with magnetic resonance images. Now, Finol is taking that research a step further by joining forces with Dan Simionescu, associate professor of bioengineering at Clemson University and Satish Muluk, system director of vascular surgery at Allegheny Health Network. The trio of researchers are using a chemical compound, pentagalloyl glucose, to "freeze" aneurysms in the aorta once they've been detected. "The compound binds to two proteins in the aorta called elastin and collagen and stabilizes the artery by keeping the aneurysm from growing," Finol said. "The aorta remains stable and we hope its biomechanical environment is also stabilized." Finol is now beginning work with Simionescu and Muluk as well as Eugene Sprague, Geoffrey Clarke, and Beth Goins, all professors at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, to find a way to apply the chemical non-invasively to human subjects. For now, this award will support a 3-year animal trial. Like Finol's previous work to prevent unnecessary aortic surgery that could be costing lives, he hopes his research will pave the way for a new approach to aneurysm treatment. "It's a serious medical problem that requires an innovative, elegant approach," he said. "As engineers, we can make a difference." ### Chemists at The University of Texas at Arlington have invented a method to quantify water content in solid pharmaceutical drugs that is faster, cheaper, more accurate and more precise than Karl Fischer titration, the method currently recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and widely used worldwide. Quantifying water content is one of the most common chemical tests, with more than 130 million processes carried out each year globally. Testing pharmaceutical drugs is required by the FDA and represents an important and costly investment on the part of drug manufacturers. "Every therapeutic drug has a narrow range of optimal water content, which needs to be controlled to avoid potential adverse effects on patients," said Daniel Armstrong, UTA's Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry and leader of the project. "In addition to other advantages like speed and lower costs, our new system can also be automated, reducing labor costs for manufacturers with potential economic benefits for consumers." In a paper published recently in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences on "Water determination in Solid Pharmaceutical Products using Ionic Liquids and Headspace Gas Chromatography," Armstrong and his graduate student Lillian Frink described using a headspace gas chromatography analytical method with ionic liquid tubular capillary gas chromatographic columns, which were only commercialized this year. For the detector, they used the new Shimadzu Scientific Instruments Tracera GC-2010 Plus, which is extremely sensitive to water. Chromatography is the process of separating a chemical mixture to measure its components. It's used in the fields of forensics, food and drug regulation, athlete testing as well as to solve critical medical problems like determining the antibodies that are more effective in neutralizing Ebola during the last epidemic. Headspace gas chromatography or HSGC involves the measuring of volatile analytes, or chemical components, as they diffuse into a "headspace" at the top of a sealed vial containing the sample, including solids. The new method combines HSGC with the use of two different ionic liquids, one as a solvent in the tube of sample and one to line the ionic liquid column. Ionic liquids consist of a mixture of positively and negatively charged molecules and enable the separation. The researchers compared the effectiveness and accuracy of their new method against two established methods, Karl Fischer titration and "loss on drying," which involves putting the sample in a vacuum oven over a period of hours to measure water content. They found that loss on drying took many hours to complete, where their method could analyze samples in a total of 10 minutes, five minutes to heat the samples before analysis and a five-minute chromatographic run time. At the same time, Karl Fischer titration produced inaccurate results in many of the samples of household solid pharmaceutical drugs tested, which included vitamin C, Excedrine Migraine medicine, and acetaminophen from Target and Walgreens. In addition, using the Armstrong method, only 10 milligrams of sample was needed due to the high sensitivity of the Shimadzu detector, creating an additional advantage for manufacturers. Ten milligrams is roughly equivalent to a light dusting of powder on a finger tip. Frederick MacDonnell, chair of UTA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, underlined the importance of this new method to improve drug testing methods as the university increases its focus on Health and the Human Condition within the Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions|Global Impact. "This is an example of where basic research on ionic liquids led to a very practical outcome with clear business implications for the pharmaceutical industry," MacDonnell said. "This may be the first new method that can really take aim at Karl Fischer titration, which has been the mainstay for measuring water content for more than 80 years." The new paper builds on a initial research published in The Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis in 2014 that focused on measuring water content in active pharmaceutical ingredients. Armstrong has been a leader in characterizing and synthesizing ionic liquids. He also holds patents on several open tubular capillary gas chromatography columns that utilize ionic liquids, including those used in the current research. He has received numerous awards over the course of his career, including the American Chemical Society Award in Separations Science and Technology in 2014 and the ACS Award for Chromatography in 1999. He was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2015 and an ACS Fellow in 2013. He has authored more than 550 publications and holds 23 U.S. patents. Armstrong was ranked No. 8 in the Power List 2015 of the Top 100 most influential people in the world of analytical science by the monthly journal The Analytical Scientist. ### This research was funded by the Robert W. Welch Foundation and used Shimadzu Scientific Instruments technologies, adapted specifically for this research. UTA's Shimadzu Institute for Research Technologies was established in 2013 following a historic philanthropic gift to UTA from Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, the U.S. subsidiary of worldwide scientific instrument maker Shimadzu Corp., and support from the University of Texas System. The Institute has the largest collection of Shimadzu scientific instrumentation in the U.S. and has wide-ranging analytical capabilities, ranging from the defining the properties of biomolecules, to materials science, brain imaging, or metals analysis in water, among others. About The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php. August 1, 2016 - Should children be considered for facial transplantation? While there are some special ethical and psychological concerns, these shouldn't rule out the possibility of performing face transplant in carefully selected children, according to an expert review in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). "Our analysis finds no physical, psychological, or ethical barrier that disqualifies children from undergoing face transplantation," comments Alexandre Marchac of Hopital Europeen Georges-Pompidou, Paris, lead author of the new report. He adds, "Pediatric face transplantation will likely occur in the near future." Time to Consider Face Transplant in Children? Experts Review the Issues While facial transplantation remains uncommon, the procedure has advanced rapidly, with several transplant teams around the world reporting excellent results. From the earliest debates over face transplantation, children have been excluded from consideration. And yet, there are children with severe facial disfigurement who could potentially benefit from facial transplantation. Toward considering the possibility of expanding their face transplant program to include children, Dr. Marchac and colleagues performed a review and analysis of the clinical, psychological, and ethical issues that would be involved. An expert panel including transplant surgeons, medical ethicists, and a child psychologist identified and debated issues related to offering facial transplantation in children. Out of twelve possible patients included in an in-depth review, three were identified as potential candidates for face transplant. All had severe facial disfigurement--caused by congenital malformations, diseases, or burns or other trauma--with "very poor" expected outcomes from conventional reconstructive surgery. In children as in adults, the decision to perform facial transplantation would depend on the balance of risks and benefits. Because they heal faster, children might be expected to have even better recovery of facial sensation and movement than adults. Because of continued growth of the facial skeleton, some children may need additional craniofacial surgery years after the face transplant. Children being considered for facial transplantation would undergo a rigorous selection process, including evaluation of psychological status, behavioral maturity, and social support. Psychological assessment must include not only the child, but also the family--parents must be prepared to assume responsibility for the child's care, including the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. A young patient's ability to follow this demanding treatment regimen into adolescence and beyond is "the great unknown," the researchers note. Informed consent would mean not only that the surgical team judges that face transplant is appropriate and the parents agree that surgery is in the child's best interests--but also that the child understands and "positively expresses the wish to have the procedure." Dr. Marchac and colleagues also raise concerns related to the donation process and the publicity and media exposure accompanying face transplantation. To preserve anonymity, they advocate an "ethical media blackout," with no publication of any pictures of the patient. The researchers believe the question is not whether children should be considered for facial transplantation, but whether any there are any ethical barriers should preclude them as candidates, Dr. Marchac and coauthors conclude: "After a careful consideration of the physical, psychological and ethical aspects of such a procedure, we find no such barrier that would either disqualify such vulnerable subjects...or conflict with their best interests." ### Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is published by Wolters Kluwer. Click here to read "Ethical Issues in Pediatric Face Transplantation: Should We Perform Face Transplantation in Children?" Article: "Ethical Issues in Pediatric Face Transplantation: Should We Perform Face Transplantation in Children?" (doi; 10.1097/PRS.0000000000002387) About Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery For more than 60 years, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has been the one consistently excellent reference for every specialist who uses plastic surgery techniques or works in conjunction with a plastic surgeon. The official journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery brings subscribers up-to-the-minute reports on the latest techniques and follow-up for all areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery, including breast reconstruction, experimental studies, maxillofacial reconstruction, hand and microsurgery, burn repair, and cosmetic surgery, as well as news on medico-legal issues. About ASPS The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the world's largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons. Representing more than 7,000 Member Surgeons, the Society is recognized as a leading authority and information source on aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. ASPS comprises more than 94 percent of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. Founded in 1931, the Society represents physicians certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery or The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. ASPS advances quality care to plastic surgery patients by encouraging high standards of training, ethics, physician practice and research in plastic surgery. You can learn more and visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeons at http://www.plasticsurgery.org or http://www.facebook.com/PlasticSurgeryASPS and http://www.twitter.com/ASPS_news. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information services. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwer's market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world. Wolters Kluwer reported 2015 annual revenues of 4.2 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, and employs over 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY). Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry. For more information about our products and organization, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow @WKHealth or @Wolters_Kluwer on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, or follow WoltersKluwerComms on YouTube. August 1, 2016 - African American women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer are more likely than white women to undergo autologous breast reconstruction using their own tissue, rather than implant-based reconstruction, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). "African-American race remains the most clinically significant predictor of choice of autologous-based breast reconstruction, even after accounting for other important characteristics," according to the study by ASPS Member Surgeon Terence Myckatyn, MD, Ketan Sharma, MD, MPH, and colleagues of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. While further studies are needed, the researchers suggest that the difference might reflect patient preferences. African-American Race Linked to Twofold Increase in Autologous Breast Reconstruction The researchers analyzed data on more than 2,500 women undergoing either autologous or implant-based breast reconstruction after mastectomy. Fourteen percent of the women were African American while 82 percent were Caucasian. Overall, 18 percent of women underwent autologous breast reconstruction. In this type of procedure, the breast is reconstructed using a tissue flap, typically from the abdomen. In most of the remaining women, breast reconstruction was done using implants. African American women had a higher rate of autologous breast reconstruction: 23 percent, compared to 17 percent of white women. The two groups differed in some key characteristics: African-American women were more likely to have Medicaid insurance coverage and to live in a low-income area, and had higher rates of smoking, obesity, and diabetes. On analysis adjusting for all of these differences, African American race was still significantly associated with autologous reconstruction. African American women were about twice as likely to choose autologous reconstruction, independent of other factors. Racial disparities have been found in many areas of healthcare, including plastic and reconstructive surgery. "Since the breast represents a symbol of femininity, breast reconstruction is critical to mitigating the psychosocial stigma of a breast cancer diagnosis," Drs. Myckatyn, Sharma, and coauthors write. The study is one of the first to look at whether women of different races have equitable access to breast reconstruction. Based on controlled analysis in a large sample, the results strongly suggest that African American race predicts a higher rate of autologous breast reconstruction. While the study can't determine the reasons for this racial difference, other evidence suggests that access to care is not the sole cause. Based on his experience at a large referral center, Dr. Myckatyn believes that "patient-based factors" are the main contributor to the difference. It may be that African American women prefer to undergo reconstruction using their own tissue rather than "foreign" implants. They may also prefer autologous reconstruction, usually performed immediately after mastectomy, over two-stage reconstruction using implants. Dr. Mycykatyn emphasizes the need for further research to confirm the higher rate of autologous breast reconstruction in African American women, and to evaluate potential reasons for the discrepancy. He adds: "If the difference is related to system-based rather than patient-based factors, interventions may be needed to alleviate racial disparities in breast reconstruction." ### Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is published by Wolters Kluwer. Click here to read "Race and Breast Cancer Reconstruction: Is There a Health Care Disparity?" Article: "Race and Breast Cancer Reconstruction: Is There a Health Care Disparity?" (doi; 10.1097/PRS.0000000000002344) About Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery For more than 60 years, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has been the one consistently excellent reference for every specialist who uses plastic surgery techniques or works in conjunction with a plastic surgeon. The official journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery brings subscribers up-to-the-minute reports on the latest techniques and follow-up for all areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery, including breast reconstruction, experimental studies, maxillofacial reconstruction, hand and microsurgery, burn repair, and cosmetic surgery, as well as news on medico-legal issues. About ASPS The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the world's largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons. Representing more than 7,000 Member Surgeons, the Society is recognized as a leading authority and information source on aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. ASPS comprises more than 94 percent of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. Founded in 1931, the Society represents physicians certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery or The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. ASPS advances quality care to plastic surgery patients by encouraging high standards of training, ethics, physician practice and research in plastic surgery. You can learn more and visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeons at http://www.plasticsurgery.org or http://www.facebook.com/PlasticSurgeryASPS and http://www.twitter.com/ASPS_news. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information services. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwer's market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world. Wolters Kluwer reported 2015 annual revenues of 4.2 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, and employs over 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY). Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry. For more information about our products and organization, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow @WKHealth or @Wolters_Kluwer on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, or follow WoltersKluwerComms on YouTube. Female orgasm seems to be a happy afterthought of our evolutionary past when it helped stimulate ovulation, a new study of mammals shows. The role of female orgasm, which plays no obvious role in human reproduction, has intrigued scholars as far back as Aristotle. Numerous theories have tried to explain the origins of the trait, but most have concentrated on its role in human and primate biology. Now scientists at Yale and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital have provided fresh insights on the subject by examining the evolving trait across different species. Their study appears Aug. 1 in the journal JEZ-Molecular and Developmental Evolution. "Prior studies have tended to focus on evidence from human biology and the modification of a trait rather than its evolutionary origin," said Gunter Wagner, the Alison Richard Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary biology, and a member of Yale's Systems Biology Institute. Instead, Wagner and Mihaela Pavlicev of the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children's Hospital propose that the trait that evolved into human female orgasm had an ancestral function in inducing ovulation. Since there is no apparent association between orgasm and number of offspring or successful reproduction in humans, the scientists focused on a specific physiological trait that accompanies human female orgasm -- the neuro-endocrine discharge of prolactin and oxytocin -- and looked for this activity in other placental mammals. They found that in many mammals this reflex plays a role in ovulation. In spite of the enormous diversity of mammalian reproductive biology, some core characteristics can be traced throughout mammalian evolution, note the researchers. The female ovarian cycle in humans, for instance, is not dependent upon sexual activity. However, in other mammalian species ovulation is induced by males. The scientists' analysis shows male-induced ovulation evolved first and that cyclical or spontaneous ovulation is a derived trait that evolved later. The scientists suggest that female orgasm may have evolved as an adaptation for a direct reproductive role -- the reflex that, ancestrally, induced ovulation. This reflex became superfluous for reproduction later in evolution, freeing female orgasm for secondary roles. A comparative study of female genitalia also revealed that, coincidental with the evolution of spontaneous ovulation, the clitoris was relocated from its ancestral position inside the copulatory canal. This anatomical change made it less likely that the clitoris receives adequate stimulation during intercourse to lead to the neuro-endocrine reflex known in humans as orgasm. "Homologous traits in different species are often difficult to identify, as they can change substantially in the course of evolution," said Pavlicev. "We think the hormonal surge characterizes a trait that we know as female orgasm in humans. This insight enabled us to trace the evolution of the trait across species." Such evolutionary changes are known to produce new functions, as is well established for feathers, hair, or swim bladders, etc., which originated for one purpose and were coopted into secondary functions later. ### SHARE By of the A coalition of aviation and aerospace companies, industry associations and Wisconsin colleges, have formed a partnership to explore the establishment of an aviation and aerospace center in Milwaukee. The proposed Center of Excellence for Integrated Aerospace and Defense Technologies would bring together industry and academic researchers, engineers and programmers to develop and test new aerospace and cybersecurity systems in one location. It would be the first independent facility of its kind in the nation, according to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC), which made the announcement Thursday at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Wisconsin has more than 200 companies with ties to the aerospace sector, including more than 140 suppliers to Boeing Corp. More than 24,000 people are employed in Wisconsin by companies that support the aerospace sector, according to the WEDC. "Many of Wisconsin's aerospace companies are on the cutting edge of the industry and are developing technologies already in use worldwide," Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch said in a statement. "The establishment of this center will enable the inventors and innovators in the private sector to work closely with our universities to ensure the state maintains and advances its position in this key industry." Plans call for the center to be located on the Milwaukee campus of Astronautics Corporation of America, which has played a leadership role in the effort. The coalition includes DRS Technologies Inc., B/E Aerospace Inc., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and other industry partners. A timetable for construction is still to be determined, as is the cost and funding. The bulk of the money would come from the participating companies, according to the WEDC, and the agency could provide a grant of up to $1 million. "We generally have grants available for facilities of this nature," said Gail MacAskill, WEDC director of sector development. The center, which would be used by partner companies and universities, would have advanced open-source cockpit and navigational systems simulators and security penetration testing for the development of aircraft controls. Milwaukee-based Astronautics, involved in the design, development and manufacture of avionics equipment and systems, would provide flight displays, airborne systems and other equipment for the center. As aircraft systems become more digitally connected, there's a lot of concern in the industry about security. "The unique competitive advantage of this center will be the blending of aerospace and cybersecurity solutions that will benefit both industry and higher education," said Astronautics President Chad Cundiff. This would be a place where university professors and companies could pursue research dollars, knowing they have a world-class facility to do the work. "We can attract and develop talent and really allow companies in Wisconsin to do more," Cundiff said. The coalition will work with the newly formed Wisconsin Aerospace Partners to reach out to regional and national industry partners and secure their participation as plans move forward for the center. The goal is to have the facility up and running within a year, MacAskill said. The EUR to GBP exchange rate trended off best conversion levels seen in 3 weeks after the announcement that Greece was relaxing capital controls and the latest mixed PMI results has unnerved euro investors. Tuesday's EUR/GBP exchange rate fell back from its three-week best as investors priced a better-than-expected construction report into the Pounds value. While Euro sentiment remained solid due to recently optimistic Eurozone ecostats, Tuesdays Producer Price Index report was not enough to keep Sterling down. Producer prices improved more than expected in June, climbing from 0.6% to 0.7% and bringing the yearly score up from -3.8% to -3.1%. The Euro's Appeal Slips Despite the latest Eurozone Producer Price Index results bettering forecast the appeal of the Euro exchange rates remained diminished, with investors still preoccupied by fears of weakness within the local banking sector. As a result the Euro to Pound exchange rate returned to a downtrend, pushed lower by the positive market reaction to a more limited decline in the UK Construction PMI. While the euro to pound sterling exchange rate slipped slightly from its three-week-high on Monday afternoon, the pair remained in a good position to continue its steady advance if the weeks data continues the recent trend of Eurozone stats being better-than-expected and UK stats being worse. The Euro was slightly weighed down by news that Italys Manufacturing PMI had come in below expectations afterall. Wednesdays Final July Composite PMIs will be the next big mover for the Euro. Foreign currency markets have not reacted particularly positively to the results of the European bank stress tests, the results of which were released after the close of markets on Friday. This failed to allay concerns over the weakness of the Italian banking sector, which has continued to edge towards crisis, limiting any impact from the more upbeat assessment delivered by the European Banking Authority. The Greek finance ministry has revealed that it will be relaxing strict capital controls in an attempt to attract Euros back into the banking system; news which has unnerved euro investors today. Capital controls were imposed more than a year ago to ensure the banking system remained sufficiently capitalised, but now the Guardian reports that; New deposits will not be subject to capital controls; limits on withdrawals of money brought in from abroad will also be higher; and ATM withdrawals will be raised to 840 every two weeks in a reversal of the policy that allowed depositors to take out no more than 420 every week. The Euro to British Pound exchange rates rebounded after finalised manufacturing PMIs for Germany and the Eurozone were revised to show a smaller slowdown in growth than initially estimated. Latest Euro/Pound Exchange Rates On Friday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1 FX markets see the pound vs pound exchange rate converting at 1. At time of writing the pound to swiss franc exchange rate is quoted at 1.15. Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.154. NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 28th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks. British Pound (GBP) Extends Losses vs Euro (EUR) on Today's Weaker-than-Forecast UK Manufacturing PMI An updated Markit manufacturing PMI for the UK caused the British Pound (GBP) exchange ratesto tumble recently after being revised significantly lower. The initial release of the July Markit manufacturing PMI last month had been the silver lining in an otherwise gloomy set of PMIs showing a more severe-than-expected reaction to the UKs vote for Brexit. However, the recently-released final version of the index weakened the British Pound after being revised lower, against expectations of no change and slight hopes of an upward revision. Julys flash estimate of 49.1 was downgraded to 48.2, showing a much more solid contraction in the sector than was initially presumed. Best Euro Exchange Rate Ahead? Sterling to Face Renewed Pressure Ahead of Super Thursday Sparse data tomorrow could see the Euro moved by external developments, with downside risks to the British Pound potentially boosting EUR/GBP. The only Eurozone data set for release tomorrow is the Producer Price Index for June. On the month, PPI is expected to see growth slow from 0.6% to 0.4%, while the current contraction on the previous year is expected to improve from -3.9% to -3.4%. With little else to focus on, developments in Greece and Italy are likely to affect market sentiment tomorrow. UK Construction Index Likely to Weaken Pound to Euro Exchange Rate Forecast A dovishly forecast Markit/CIPS construction PMI for July is likely to weigh on GBP. Junes PMI caused severe market consternation after slumping into contraction territory in the run-up to the referendum. Julys index is likely to create strong downside risks for the British Pound thanks to the forecast drop from 46 to 44; given that Julys other PMIs largely contracted further than was expected, there is the potential for an even weaker result. Also creating downside risk is the possibility of further policy easing from the Bank of England (BoE) this week, which will weigh on British Pound exchange rates. Good morning, Myself and my fiancee have visited Cyprus a couple of times already in the last two years and we have fallen in love with the place. We have stayed at Paphos and also Protaras recently and they both are special in their own special way. We are planning to move to Cyprus permantely in September 2017 as we will be in a good position to use the income from our buy-to-let properties in the UK. Our plan is to rent at first to make sure we can build our business up first before purchasing a permanent place. We teach Taekwondo full time in the UK and we have over 50 years of experience between us. We carry all the qualification requirements to teach either in schools or to the general public by renting at a sports centre. Could anyone advise us on which would be a better location for us to teach Taekwondo and how do we approach schools in offering our services? Also does anyone know if there is a demand for Taekwondo in Cyprus especially for Expats as we are looking at running a successful family club like we have in the UK. Kind Regards Donnacol. Abenson and Western Appliance carry a few. When I was shopping for a dryer I think Western had a Maytag gas. Abenson currently has this:I assume these are set up for LPG??? They are expensive.Electric should be fine but you have to get a big one, 10 kg +. I went the cheapie route with an Electrolux electric 7 kg, and it is terrible. Don't get a small dryer. The clothes need room to tumble properly.You can find big U.S. brand electric dryers for 30-40 k. Well, it's really Ok to mention torrent downloading clients here! There are a number to choose from. Bitlord is not the most popular. The problem with torrents is that they can get taken down. Also, if one is looking for recent TV programmes you can usually only find popular, mainstream ones, after a delay. I only watch live on Filmon when my internet is too slow to watch on the BBC iPlayer. I don't watch ITV much, but when I do I find it is more difficult to watch on its hub, so I then have to try Filmon (or its other version viewabroad.com). As it's usually football matches I watch on ITV there are plenty of other options on free sports sites to try. I know there is a record facility on Filmon, but to my mind, if one wants the most convenient way to catch up or download BBC programmes one can't beat their iPlayer and Downloader combination. Which you need to unblock. By the way, I tried one VPN last year which would unblock the BBCiPlayer but when one tried to download from it one was blocked. Last, apart from SmartDNS there's also Unotelly. It's also good, just a bit more expensive. Due to abortion ban, 'Wisconsin can no longer train its own physicians' Wisconsin has three OB-GYN residency programs. Two are sending residents across the border for rotations in abortion care. The other is weighing its options. Monday, August 1, 2016 Federal Craft Beverage Trademark Protection May Be In Peril The Flatizza mark was applied for by Readi Spaghetti, a restaurant in Washington. Two months later the Subway franchise Doctors Associates Inc. applied for the same mark and filed an opposition to Readi Spaghettis application arguing the single restaurant location did not qualify as interstate commerce. It won. The TTAB held that Yelp reviews, internet advertising, and social media activity did not impact interstate commerce enough to qualify for federal registration. Neither did a location close to major interstate highways. Doctors Associates Inc. v Janco LLC, Opposition 91217243. This case reflects a clear change in Trademark Office policy. It casts doubt on whether craft beverage producers who dont yet distribute their product in other states can federally register their marks. The TTAB proceeding noted several things about the evidence of interstate commerce used by Readi Spaghetti: There was a no proof customers used the interstate highways to travel to the restaurant There was no proof of actual access of the website or social media by out of state residents There was no proof any customers were from out of state It is too early to tell what impact the decision will have because it is non-precedential. However, I am recommending to my clients to act conservatively or as if they need a plan B. Heres my takeaway, albeit it could be overkill: Ask your online reviewers to leave their city and state Document Google or Yahoo directions to your establishment from nearby interstate roads Ask customers who your establishment where they are from, and document out-of-state visitors with name, address, and date of visit Require customers who follow you or want discount coupons to leave a city and state in their account identity (name and street address can be anonymous) Trademarks are one of a craft beverage producers most important assets. We encourage craft beverage producers in this situation to consult with trademark counsel for their unique circumstances and to create a custom brand protection strategy. A special shout out or thank you to Scott Slavik for reporting this decision on Law 360. About Tracy Jong Tracy Jong has been an attorney for more than 20 years, representing restaurants, bars, and craft beverage manufacturers in a wide array of legal matters. She is also a licensed intellectual property and patent attorney. Her book Everything You Need To Know About Obtaining and Maintaining a New York Retail Liquor License: The Definitive Guide to Navigating the State Liquor Authority will be available next month on Amazon.com as a softcover and Kindle e-book. Her legal column is available in The Equipped Brewer, a monthly publication giving business advice, trends, and vendor reviews to help craft breweries, cideries, distilleries and wineries build brands and succeed financially. She also maintains a website and blog with practical information on legal and business issues affecting the industry. Follow her, sign up for her free firm app or monthly newsletter. www.TracyJongLawFirm.com TJong@TracyJongLawFirm.com Facebook: Tracy Jong Law Firm Twitter: @TJLawFirm LinkedIn: Tracy Jong Tracy Jong Law Firm Welcome to the News Release Wire Selection Control Panel. Instant News Wire From: Jack Marshall -- ProEthics, Ltd. For Immediate Release: Dateline: Alexandria , VA Sunday, July 31, 2016 Ethics Alarms has been tracking the increasing political bias exhibited by Snopes, once the definitive Urban Legends web source to identify false stories on the internet, e-mails hoaxes and other pollution of public information. The website has made the disastrous decision to wade into political topics and to hire some new social justice warriors and wanna-be Democratic Party operatives to cover them, resulting in the site becoming bad imitation of PolitiFact. The disturbing trend really established itself this month, but it was in evidence earlier. For example, Snopes rushed to defend Hillary Clinton when the story of her defense of a child rapist was used to smear her. (Ethics Alarms explained, correctly, unlike Snopes, what was unethical about the attacks on Clinton (all defendants deserve a zealous defense, no matter what the charge, and a lawyer isnt endorsing or supporting a clients crimes by doing her professional duty). The Snopes defense, in contrast, was dishonest and misleading. Quoth Snopes, via its primary left-biased reporter, Kim LaCapria. Claim: Hillary Clinton successfully defended an accused child rapist and later laughed about the case. MOSTLY FALSE WHATS TRUE: In 1975, young lawyer Hillary Rodham was appointed to represent a defendant charged with raping a 12-year-old girl. Clinton reluctantly took on the case, which ended with a plea bargain for the defendant. WHATS FALSE: Hillary Clinton did not volunteer to be the defendants lawyer, she did not laugh about the the cases outcome, she did not assert that the complainant made up the rape story, she did not claim she knew the defendant to be guilty, and she did not free the defendant. Notice that the TRUE and FALSE sections dont match the claim. Thats because Snopes is playing the logical fallacy games of moving the goalposts and using straw men. The claim, as stated by Snopes, is 100% true. Clinton did successfully defend her client; very successfully, in fact. Getting a beneficial plea bargain that is the best outcome a client can hope for is a successful defense. LaCapria is displaying her ignorance. Acquittal isnt the only successful defense. Clinton also laughed about the case. What would you call this? ( from FactCheck.org) In 2014, the Washington Free Beacon published the audio of an interview that Arkansas reporter Roy Reed conducted with Clinton in the 1980s. In the interview, Clinton recalls some unusual details of the rape case, and she can be heard laughing in three instances, beginning with a joke she makes about the accuracy of polygraphs. Clinton: Of course he claimed he didnt. All this stuff. He took a lie detector test. I had him take a polygraph, which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs. [laughs] At another point, Clinton said the prosecutor balked at turning over evidence, forcing her to go to the judge to obtain it. Clinton: So I got an order to see the evidence and the prosecutor didnt want me to see the evidence. I had to go to Maupin Cummings and convince Maupin that yes indeed I had a right to see the evidence [laughs] before it was presented. Clinton then said that the evidence she obtained was a pair of the accuseds underwear with a hole in it. Clinton told Reed that investigators had cut out a piece of the underwear and sent the sample to a crime lab to be tested, and the only evidence that remained was the underwear with a hole in it. Clinton took the remaining evidence to a forensic expert in Brooklyn, New York, and the expert told her that the material on the underwear wasnt enough to test. He said, you know, You cant prove anything, Clinton recalled the expert telling her. Clinton:I wrote all that stuff and I handed it to Mahlon Gibson, and I said, Well this guys ready to come up from New York to prevent this miscarriage of justice. [laughs] That is certainly laughing about the case. Then Snopes tries equivocation, saying that Clinton didnt laugh about the outcome of the case. I see: she laughed (three times!) while talking about the case, but wasnt laughing about the cases outcome, justthe case. Ridiculous. Similarly ridiculous is Snopes claim that Hillary did not assert that the complainant made up the rape story.' She pleaded not guilty. She claimed that her client was not guilty of rape while the victim was saying he raped her. Again from FactCheck.org: Clinton filed a motion to order the 12-year-old girl to get a psychiatric examination. I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing [and] that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body, according to an affidavit filed by Clinton in support of her motion. Clinton also cited an expert in child psychology who said that children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences and that adolescents with disorganized families, such as the complainants, are even more prone to such behavior, Clinton wrote in her affidavit. If Scopes is arguing that Hillary didnt use the precise words made up the rape story, thats deceit. Obviously her defense was that the child said there was rape when there wasnt one. In the meme Snopes was using in its post, made up is reasonable short hand for falsely claimed that she was raped. Hillary also made it clear, in the quotes in the interview, that she thought her client was guilty. What else could I had him take a polygraph, which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs mean? No, she didnt volunteer for the case, and saying that she freed him is self-evidently sloppy in describing any criminal defense representation. Judges, juries and prosecutors free defendants; no defense lawyer has that power. Did Clintons efforts on behalf of the rapist make him a free man long, long before he would have been without Clintons efforts? Unquestionably. He was sentenced to just one year in a county jail and four years of probation, according to the final judgment signed by the judge. Now, as I explained here, there was nothing wrong, unethical or hypocritical about Clintons work in this case. Her laughter in the interview is a little unsettling, but Hillarys laughter is often unsettling. She did her job as a defense lawyer. The accusation that what she did was unethical is ignorant, but Snopes deceitful and misleading denial of what she did are just partisan spin. In June, Snopes decided that the outrageous story about a school calling the police to grill a fourth grader about something he said at a class party warranted undermining; cant have people thinking that the schools abuse students based on hysterical political correctness and race-baiting! Snopes titled its post dishonestly: Police Called Over Racist Brownies? No news reports claimed that the police were called because of the brownies. None. Police were called because a student made some statement about brownies that another student deemed racist, and the school staff called the police. Its really easy to debunk a claim that was never made. Does the Snopes story prove that the story is false in any way? No. Why was it written then? In July, we learned that the trend was no aberration. Snopes apparently felt that the inspiring Facebook post by officer Jay Stalien needed to be discredited, so it had LaCapria write this, which suggested by the inherent innuendo of presenting such a post on a hoax-exposure site that readers should be skeptical. After all, the Stalien post expressed anti-Black Lives Matter sentiments. And Kim couldnt prove that Stalien exists. When did Snopes start fact-checking Facebook opinion posts? It started when the site decided to choose sides, thats when. Last week, several sources, all so-called conservative news media, noted that the American flag was conspicuous by its absence on the set of the Democratic National Convention on its first day. Liberal media went into full-spin mode, scoffing at the criticism. Ethics Alarms concluded that the omission was intentional, at least to some extent: the Democratic Party has morphed into an organization that is increasingly dependent on the pleasure and approval of anti-American groups. The supporters of illegal immigration, some of whom advocate returning the Southwest to Mexico; angry black liberation movement activists, who regard the United States as a racist nation and culture; radical internationalists, who believe the United States should not only behave like other first world nations, but allow itself to be governed by them; progressives whose view of the United States, nourished by indoctrination in the public schools and colleges dominated by far left faculties, is relentlessly negative; growing numbers of socialists, anti-capitalists, anti-law enforcement activists and fans of soft totalitarianism-these are increasingly the voting blocs that the professional politicians who run the Democratic Party feel they must pander to and satisfy.These groups that the Democrats feel they have to prostrate themselves before dont like the Constitution, free speech or the separation of powers; they dont respect or care about democracy, as the conduct of the Democratic National Committee revealed in the leaked e-mails proved; they dont honor the sacrifices of veterans in foreign wars; and they view the history of the United States as nothing better than a parade of genocide and discrimination. The United States flag is affirmatively offensive to the Democrats core constituencies, so the Democratic Party has apparently decided that so few of its members or supporters have a genuine love of country and respect for its history that the central symbol of both is no longer welcome at its national celebration. I believe my interpretation is valid. Flag imagery is so central to the history of political conventions that its sudden reduction by 2016 progressives could not have been an oversight. Protests from commenters that Democrats dont care about symbolism were belied by the recent Democrat-led efforts to purge the Confederate flag from the cultural scene, even to the extent of banning the sales of memorabilia and souvenirs bearing the symbol in Civil War battlefield gift shops. I also made two observations: Lets see how many mainstream media journalists notice the missing flags, or care that they are gone and If there is sufficient criticism, watch how the DNC will suddenly makes sure the flags re-appear, because forgetting to show the flag in a traditional celebration of American democracy is a mistake anyone could make. Observation #1 was borne out by the near total denial of the issue, or rationalization for it, in the mainstream media and from Democrats. #2, my prediction, came true by the second day of the convention, when more physical flags suddenly appeared. Then Snopes, in full spin mode, issued a rebuttal of the no-flag observation, compete with a couple of photographs showing when the flag appeared in digital form, a bunch of flags stuffed away somewhere, and a few individual Democrats in flag-themed garb. I expressed my skepticism about Snopes proof. It turned out that it was worse than I suspected. They were just busted by The Daily Caller, which checked the photos. The DCs findings: the photos offered by Snopes consisted of a screenshot from PBS coverage of day one, taken during the pledge of allegiance at the very beginning of the convention, before the flags were removed, and a screenshot of C-SPANs day two coverage. Snopes claimed that photo was from day one of the convention. Mallory Weggemann, the paralympic swimmer who gave Tuesdays pledge of allegiance, is seen to the left of the C-Span logo, sitting in her wheelchair as the flag-bearers walk past her. The verdict: Snopes lied. It deliberately presented a Day 2 photo as being taken on Day 1, because it was desparate to disprove the claims by right wing sites that the Democrats were minimizing the presence of the American flag.Thats the end for Snopes. Even one example of bias-fed misrepresentation ends any justifiable trust readers can have that the site is fair, objective and trustworthy. Snopes has proven that it has a political and partisan agenda, and that it is willing to mislead and deceive its readers to advance it. Can it recover? Maybe, but not without Getting out of the political fact-checking business. Firing Dan Evon, who used the misleading flag photos, as well as Kim LaCapria. Confessing its betrayal of trust and capitulation to partisan bias, apologizing, and taking remedial measures. With all the misinformation on the web, a trustworthy web site like Snopes used to be is essential. Unfortunately, a site that is the purveyor of falsity cannot also be the antidote for it. Ill miss Snopes, but until it acknowledges its ethics breach and convinces me that the cites days of spinning and lying were a short-lived aberration, I wont be using it again. Share this: CANFIELD, Ohio Every county fair has a tradition, a time-honored landmark or event that people flock to every year, because without it, their fair is not complete. For the regulars of the Canfield Fair, one of these yearly traditions is a trip to the Pop Shop Restaurant, celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. Humble beginnings The Pop Shop, founded by Tony and Ellamae Carrera in 1970, was based on simplicity and a focus on an inexpensive product. Initially housed in a trailer on the north end of the fairgrounds, they served pop and snacks to junior fair families with the hope of providing an affordable meal that brought money back to the youth. The Carreras daughter, Kim Moff, current Mahoning County junior fair coordinator, grew up working in the Pop Shop. For junior fair families, eating concession food all week gets expensive, Moff said, and her parents and other organizers wanted an alternative that also gave the youth a chance to serve the community and work toward money for college. Growth Since that first year, the Pop Shop has grown, and the original trailer, tent, and a larger trailer have all become too small for the numerous customers the Pop Shop serves. Because of its popularity, a permanent building filled with updated equipment now houses the Pop Shop. You can find it near the North Saddle Horse Ring. To complement the improved space, the Pop Shop is now called the Pop Shop Restaurant, and is able to serve many times the amount of people it did in the beginning. Along with a new look, the Pop Shop has added some new items to their menu. While hot dogs and pop are here to stay, the breakfast, lunch, and dinner courses now feature full meals of eggs, bacon, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot soup, and a new 4-Her favorite, milkshakes. Giving back For 45 years, junior fair members have worked in the Pop Shop alongside other volunteers, helping to serve customers, cook, and clean tables. Never, said Carrera, have we refused any youth that wanted to take a shift. Because of the Pop Shops success, the Carreras wanted to give back and thank all the junior fair members who had volunteered their time, so they tapped into their founding principles. The Pop Shop was founded on two simple things: economical food and the providing of economical assistance to junior fair youth, said Moffs husband, Duane, who also helps with the restaurant during fair week. With continued volunteer and customer support of the Pop Shop, an assistance award was able to be created for members who work at least three years in the Pop Shop. Over the years, that scholarship program has provided nearly $20,000 to assist junior fair members with the cost of college, said Martha Shaefer, head of the Pop Shop assistance fund committee. Some of those recipients even come back to serve a shift with other alumni, just because they want to keep giving back, said Moff, Community For the Moffs, Carrera and Shaefer, the Pop Shop is a tradition, and is something they hope will become a tradition for generations to come. One big, happy family is how Carrera describes the Pop Shop. Everyone enjoys working, and there is no greater feeling than when a young member comes up to you, and asks to work at the Pop Shop. SHARE By New York Software mogul Larry Ellison once famously mocked cloud computing as a fad. Now his company, Oracle, will spend $9.3 billion to acquire cloud upstart NetSuite. NetSuite is just the latest cloud acquisition by Oracle, and its biggest splurge in more than a decade. It paid $11.1 billion for PeopleSoft in 2005. More businesses are switching to the cloud model because it provides flexibility and saves on the cost of running their own computers. Oracle and its leading competitors, including Microsoft and IBM, are increasingly trying to beef up their cloud offerings. NetSuite, which was founded by a former Oracle executive, makes business software that runs in NetSuite's "cloud," or its own data centers, rather than on its customers' computers. Oracle is a commercial tech giant that has traditionally sold software programs to customers who installed them in their own data centers. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd said in a company release Thursday that the two companies' cloud tools fit well together and that Oracle will continue to invest in them. Despite public jibes about cloud computing, once aimed at rivals like NetSuite and Salesforce.com, the colorful and combative Ellison eventually recognized the potential and became an early backer of both. NetSuite was started in 1998 by Evan Goldberg, a former Oracle executive. Ellison, Oracle's chairman (he stepped down as CEO in 2014), is NetSuite's largest shareholder. NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson also worked for Oracle in the 1990s. Investors of NetSuite Inc. will receive $109 per share, a 62% premium to the company's Wednesday closing price of $67.42. Shares of the San Mateo, Calif., company popped 18% higher to $107.98 in midday trading. Shares of Oracle Corp., based in Redwood Shores, Calif., slipped 19 cents to $40.74. The transaction is expected to close this year. High tunnel crops to be featured during educational short course Growers, educators and industry personnel can learn more about the aspects of high tunnel crop production during a short course Nov. 9 offered by ISU. The Bishop of Salisbury will speak at the Dorset County Show urging the UK to protect the UK's environment and to move to a low carbon future. Churches will be urged to move to a low carbon future to combat climate change, the Rt Rev Nicholas Holtam said. Bishop Nick will speak about the need for society to help governments deliver the climate change agreement signed at the United Nations by 175 world leaders earlier this year. Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, will urge people to do all they can to protect UK's countryside and environment He is to speak at the traditional harvest service in the sheep shearers arena, will say that while there has been real progress in recent months, the journey is still at an early stage. He said he was looking forward to the Dorset County Show: "It will be an opportunity for us to celebrate, think and pray about the life and work of our very beautiful but nevertheless fragile and precious home. "What has to happen globally also has to happen locally," he added. Bishop Nick, who is the Church of Englands lead Bishop for the environment, will speak about two key areas of work taking place both nationally and in Dorset the Eco Church initiative and the Living Churchyards scheme. "This is about the way we live using renewable energy and being efficient so that we dont waste precious resources." The Living Churchyards project, managed in the county by the Dorset Wildlife Trust, is designed to provide sanctuary for species whose living space has been cut back. "It is a marvellous way of caring for Gods Acre in such a way as to care for the diverse ecology of our common home," added Concerns around the impact of the UK leaving the EU were top of the priority at a recent meeting between Ulster Farmers Union and the Irish Farmers Union (IFA). Border trade has been hugely important in developing agri-food into the largest industry in both NI and ROI. Future Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and the EU must consider this, both trade unions explained. UFU deputy president, Victor Chestnutt said: "Given that the farmers in the south are our closest neighbours, understandably there are common concerns that will affect everyone on this island and perhaps the most prominent issue at the minute is the impact of Brexit." Brexit concerns and rural development main focus of Union cross border meeting Mr Chestnutt went on to highlight that historically there have been strong links between the farming industries north and south of the border. And that over the years this trade has been hugely important in developing agri-food into the largest industry in each of the respective economies. "Any future trade negotiations between the UK and the EU must take this into consideration," he said. Areas of natural constraint The meeting also gave the two unions the chance to explain how the EU requirement to designate areas of natural constraint (ANC) is another example of how a 'one size fits all policy does not work in practise.' In light of Brexit, the Northern Ireland has strongly questioned whether this requirement should be relevant anymore. "The ANC maps that have been drafted do not accurately reflect the true areas of natural constraint," Mr Chestnutt explained. "This goes against the very principles of the EU regulation, which is to define disadvantaged areas that require additional support. "We dont believe the government is entirely to blame for this, such is the complexity of this process. "However, in the context of the circumstances surrounding Brexit we would now strongly question whether this requirement should be relevant anymore," he said. Mr Chestnutt continued: "Farmers have become accustomed to the existing severely disadvantaged areas map and we see no reason to change. "This is an early opportunity for the DAERA Minister to make a break from EU regulations by challenging the Commission on this requirement. "Pushing for a derogation or at worst seeking an extension on the date we are due to designate by would reduce the burden for both farmers and DAERA, allowing us to concentrate on more important priorities such as trade." The number of agricultural to residential property conversions in England has dropped by 24% over the last year, from 563 in Q2 2015 to 413 in Q1 2016 as developers continue to 'suffer from a lack of funding'. Saving Stream, the peer-to-peer property funding platform, says that there is considerable appetite amongst farmers concerned about EU subsidies after the recent Brexit vote to target alternative ways to diversify income. The conversion of agricultural buildings, including barns and stables into residential property, has been one of the most popular options for farmers. Saving Stream says that despite concerns about the potential effects of Brexit on the UK property market, agricultural-to-residential property conversions could still make significant financial sense for farmers. Agricultural to residential conversations (Figures according to Office of National Statistics) It explains that the shortage of funding to the property sector is cutting off the supply of new housing that is vital to filling the UKs housing gap which can be as acute in some parts of the countryside as in urban areas. Banks are continuing to de-risk their balance sheets as much as possible, driven by the capital holding requirements placed on them by regulators in the wake of the credit crunch. Private investors are stepping in to help finance projects as they are attracted to the competitive annual returns of 12% on offer for secured loans at a maximum loan to value ratio of 70%. 'UKs chronic rural housing shortage' Liam Brooke, Co-Founder of Saving Stream, explains: "Converting agricultural buildings such as barns are one of the most effective ways of combating the UKs chronic rural housing shortage. "In the uncertain post-Brexit climate, UK farmers are looking to ramp up activity in this area. "It is important that access to funding is improved, developers are keen to take-up the large number of opportunities available to them but time and time again a lack of funding is holding them back. Recent research shows that outstanding lending by UK banks to property developers plunged from 32.5bn in April 2014 to 14.9bn in April 2016 a fall of 54%. Liam Brooke adds: "There are housing shortages across the UK, in both urban and rural areas, and with increasing numbers of possible developments available, this is a perfect opportunity to reduce the housing gap. "Private investors are helping bridge the funding gap that the UKs property market has suffered from but there are still plenty of projects struggling to secure the finance needed to get off the ground. "There is an eagerness from all sides to increase the number of conversions to help meet demand, however, the biggest issue remains access to funding." Good biosecurity and sourcing safe seed is required as weed infestation could be devastating for farmers, NFU Scotland has said. As many Scottish growers gear up for harvest, and make plans for planting this autumn, NFU Scotland and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds are warning them to be on the look-out for signs of black-grass. Black-grass is a weed, often resistant to normal herbicides, and once established can be one of the biggest challenges for an arable farmer to control. The Union has been contacted by a number of members in recent weeks, particularly from the Lothians area, reporting that they have discovered black-grass in recent batches of seed. There are populations of black-grass weeds present naturally in Scotland NFUS and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds are urging Scottish arable farmers to be on their guard against the weed, which can spread quickly. Although problems in Scotland with black-grass are nowhere near the magnitude found in England, there are populations of black-grass weeds present naturally in Scotland. Warmer winters and more autumn cropping, combined with reduced tillage, is likely to encourage these populations to spread. Some may carry a degree of herbicide resistance if they have been regularly treated with black-grass active herbicides. 'Be vigilant' Ian Sands, NFU Scotlands Combinable Crops Committee Chairman, who grows crops in Perthshire commented: "Thankfully the prevalence of black-grass in Scotland is a lot lower than that faced by our counterparts in England and Wales. "Catching the weed early can ensure its spread to other cropping areas, or indeed onto neighbouring land, is prevented. "We ask members to be vigilant and to also report any sightings of the weed to the relevant bodies. "By asking merchants to supply seed specifically from Scotland, the risk of black-grass being discovered within the batch can be kept to a minimum." Gavin Dick, AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds Scotland Manager, said black-grass is a weed that farmers need to worry about. "Even if you havent yet got it on your farm, so good biosecurity measures should be in place just as with animal diseases. "The impact of getting an infestation on your farm could be devastating. "We need to be extremely vigilant if these small, isolated populations of black-grass are to remain just that, rather than risk them spreading across the country as the weed has in England." SHARE By The MegaBrew deal is set to be tapped. The board of London-based SABMiller said Friday that it will recommend shareholders accept Anheuser-Busch InBev's improved offer to acquire the No. 2 global brewer. Earlier in the day, the two companies cleared the last large international hurdle in the $105 billion deal when Chinese regulators approved the merger, contingent on AB InBev's plan to sell SABMiller's stake in China's Snow Breweries to the state-backed China Resources Beer Co. for $1.6 billion. With shareholders concerned about the changing value of the deal with declines in the U.K. pound in the wake of the Brexit vote, AB InBev on Tuesday increased its offer from 44 pounds (about $58) per share to 45 pounds (about $60). The SABMiller board said that the 79 billion pound deal ($104.94 billion) offer was at "the lower end of the range of values considered recommendable," said SABMiller Chairman Jan du Plessis in a statement. "In reaching its decision, the Board has considered the best interests of the company as a whole and has taken into account all salient facts and circumstances." Now all that remains is a shareholder vote. For that, the board said it would recommend that SABMiller's two biggest shareholders, Altria and BEVCO, be treated as a separate class of shareholders. To gain U.S. regulator's approval of the deal, Belgium-based AB InBev has agreed to sell its SABMiller's U.S. business to Molson Coors. Molson Coors will pay $12 billion to acquire AB InBev's 58% stake in MillerCoors and will make and sell Miller Lite, the No. 4-selling beer in the U.S., as well as No. 2 seller Coors Light, in the U.S., and will have the rights to the Miller brand outside the U.S. The boss of a recruitment company specialising in agriculture says that the Brexit vote has not yet impacted on the jobs market. However, he fears there could be a negative impact as the United Kingdom gets nearer to leaving the European Union. Farmers leaders are now trying to assess what impact Brexit will have on the agricultural industry in the long term. They are seeking to ensure that the UK retains access to European markets and that financial support for the industry is maintained outside the EUs Common Agricultural Policy. In the short term the impact on farming appears to be fairly limited, despite a fall in the value of Sterling. In the wider economy, recruitment specialist Reed Group has reported a jobs boost since the referendum, but Joe Rowe, managing director of Farm Solutions, which specialises in farm workers, says he has seen no change so far. Joe, whose company is involved predominantly in providing workers for the dairy sector, said there had been a little bit more confidence in dairying recently, with prices a little better. But he said he had seen no evidence to suggest that the Brexit vote had brought an increase in jobs. 'Nothing will change for another two years' "The economy was growing anyway; economic growth is happening. Nothing has changed negatively since the referendum, but why would it? Reed says the figures show that the UK jobs market remains resilient "Nothing is going to change for another two years," said Joe, pointing to the two-year process that will be invoked once the UK formally gives the EU notice of its intention to leave the bloc. "The reality is that cows still have to be milked in the morning." Reed Group says that, across the UK, the number of new jobs added to its web site in the three weeks following the referendum was more than 150,000 up by eight per cent on the same period the previous year. The company said 83 per cent of companies had said they were not intending to freeze recruitment following the Brexit vote. There had been fears that uncertainty following the referendum decision would make businesses nervous and cause them to hold off on recruitment. But James Reed, chairman of reed.co.uk, said: "Theres been a lot of conjecture, most of it negative, about the impact of Brexit on jobs. Decline in value of Sterling 'would have a negative impact' for dairy farmers "I was very surprised to see data last week from CEB Global Consultancy claiming that the number of job vacancies advertised had fallen by 700,000 following the referendum. "Our data tells a very different story. In the three weeks since the Brexit vote, the number of new jobs added to reed.co.uk is well up on this time last year. "Britains employers seem determined to continue with business as usual," he said. British workers 'undeterred' Reed says the figures show that the UK jobs market remains resilient and that British employers are undeterred by the referendum result. It says that a total of 151,836 new jobs were added in the three weeks following the vote. The sectors benefiting most from the post-referendum boost include education (+12,773), IT and telecoms (+12,002) and sales (+10,834). The cities benefiting most include London (+14,803), Manchester (+4,843) and Birmingham (+3,701). In the run-up to the referendum, some 66 per cent of recruiters said that they were backing the Remain campaign, says Reed. Despite this, in the wake of Britains decision to leave, UK employers are still optimistic. In the days following the announcement of the result, more than 80 per cent of companies surveyed said that they did not plan to freeze recruitment. Joe Rowe said that the dairy sector the most important sector for his business had experienced a very difficult period, with milk prices depressed and farmers struggling to make a living. "We have been through a very difficult period over the last 12 to 18 months in dairy. "We are now seeing a positive outlook because there is a slight trend upwards in milk prices; there is some hope." However, he said it would be some time before anyone would be able to assess the impact of the UKs decision to leave the European Union. Value of sterling bad for dairy farmers Joe said that the decline in value of Sterling would have a negative impact for dairy farmers. "If you are exporting stuff from the UK theres an advantage, but most dairy products produced here are consumed in the UK. "Imports needed by dairy farmers will be more expensive because of the fall in Sterling, so the result is a bit negative." Joe said that there would inevitably be a period of adjustment as the UK and EU negotiated the terms of the UKs exit and the terms of the future relationship between the UK and the remaining members of the EU. There was no real effect at the moment because nothing had changed so far, but he said there would eventually be an effect, and his own view was that the effect would probably be negative for the UK. The Scottish rural economy has benefited from another 10.3 million in Common Agricultural Policy funding during July, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy Fergus Ewing has confirmed. Figures show a total of 313 million has now been paid out in Scotland. Mr Ewing called on the UK Government to provide urgent clarity on plans for the future of subsidy payments which are considered vital to farmers and the rural economy in Scotland. Funding payments made in July include 4.3 million made at the end of last week under the sheep support scheme, 3.9 BPS Greening and Young Farmer payments in July and 2.1 million from the Rural Priorities Scheme since July. Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy Fergus Ewing 'European funding is vital to our farmers' Speaking at the Turriff Show, Mr Ewing said: "My utmost priority is to complete 2015 CAP Pillar 1 payments as quickly as possible and good progress is being made with 313 million having been paid out so far. "European funding is vital to our farmers, as these figures show, and it also makes a valuable contribution to the fishing industry and the wider rural economy. "That is why we want to protect Scotlands place in the EU, but we also want to know what will happen with subsidy payments in the future and I am calling on the UK Government to provide urgent clarity about their plans. "Meanwhile, the Scottish Governments focus on processing remaining payments is unwavering and I can confirm that now the vast majority of beef and sheep scheme payments have been made we will turn our attention to other schemes. "We will continue to work through the remaining Basic Payment Scheme and Greening payments and will now be in a position to prepare for LFASS payments. "Around 11,000 farmers and crofters have already received 54 million in national LFASS loans and we will begin settling outstanding payments from this 65.5 million scheme in a few weeks. "I remain determined to put the system on a proper footing for 2016 payments and will update Parliament in September." The threat of Swine Respiratory Disease (SRD) and its control in UK pig herds has been highlighted by Merial Animal Health. The company used its presence at the 24th International Pig Veterinary Society Congress (IPVS) in Dublin to discuss the 'significant problem' it has for UK pig industry. Associated production losses include 30-70% morbidity, a mortality rate of 4-6% (and even higher in severely affected units), decreased feed efficiency and reduced growth rates. Findlay MacBean, Merials Head of Livestock Business explained that efficient and effective control of SRD requires fast action from herdsmen and vets. He said: "Normally an antibiotic treatment will be required to control SRD, prescribed by the pig units veterinary surgeon. 'Sudden death' SRD-causing bacteria can affect pigs of any age, but growing pigs are the most affected and experience the biggest production loss. Infections of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) can cause sudden death, and if not treated immediately can cause severe lung damage and mortality. Haemophilus parasuis (Hps) bacteria can cause lung damage, and outbreaks in young pigs can lead to rapid and high mortality rates. While Pasteurella multocida (Pm) is often a secondary bacterial infection, usually found in association with App, Hps and viral infections, it causes loss of condition and reduced growth rates. Merial Animal Health said preventing SRD is complex, but farmers can help do so by reducing the level of aerial pollutants, use of strict on-farm hygiene, single sourcing of piglets and attention to biosecurity. Vaccination may be useful, particularly on breeder-feeder farms where there is a continuous flow of piglets reaching an age where maternally-derived immunity is lost and they become susceptible to disease, allowing disease to perpetuate within the herd. Returning pigs that have suffered with SRD to the main herd is often ill-advised. Sick pigs are often chronically affected and can act as a source of infection. Leave campaigners and Conservative Party donors earned 4 million from EU farm subsidies last year and are set to gain again if the government goes ahead with plans to link any post-Brexit deal with the EU, environmental organisation Greenpeace have said. Donors to Defra secretary Andrea Leadsom and other members of the Conservative Party gained from the EU policy last year due to their large estates, the organisation said. Supporters and donors of Vote Leave, could benefit from large pay-outs to their estates, including Lord Bamford and Sir James Dyson. "As the new environment secretary, Andrea Leadsom has a crucial decision to make for the future of our environment," Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven told the Huffington Post. "She can allow wealthy landowners to keep millions of pounds worth of taxpayer farm subsidies or she can use this opportunity to finally sort out this broken system. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom "Its hard to imagine people accepting that money promised to the NHS from Brexit campaigners, including some big landowners, could be lavished instead on the country estates of the super-rich. "These public funds need to be targeted on helping farmers facing real hardship and in supporting schemes that protect our wildlife, prevent floods and store carbon." Last month, the group entered into the debate on post-Brexit farm subsidy policy by being a signatory to a letter which urged any subsidy policy to be linked to environmental performance. In a letter sent to Prime Minister Theresa May, the signatories said better food, farming and trade policies can help cut greenhouse gas emissions within those industries by 80% by 2050. 'We provide thousands of jobs and benefits to the environment' But in a joint statement to Mrs Leadsom just hours after her appointment, leaders of the UK's farming unions issued a call for the maintenance of subsidies at EU levels. "We provide thousands of jobs and deliver countless benefits to the natural environment," they said. "To be able to do this, and more, we are looking to all UK governments to commit to maintaining current levels of farm support." During their referendum campaigns, Leadsom and farm minister George Eustice said that current levels would be kept. "I have made it clear that I will guarantee the current level of support under a UK Agricultural Policy," Leadsom told the Countryside Alliance echoing similar statements made by Eustice that countries outside of the EU were able to give more to their farmers than the UK currently does. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the Treasury select committee that "all farmers will continue to receive the current levels of subsidy, it would be at the level that they currently enjoy and that level of support would be perpetuated." A spokesperson for the Department for Environment said: "The Secretary of State has been very clear that we now have an unparalleled opportunity to make sure all our policies are delivering for Britain and to grow our world-leading food and farming industry. "She has underlined the need for continuity for farmers and is looking forward to working with industry and the public to develop new proposals that provide tailored support for our agricultural industry as we leave the EU." Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, told Energydesk that the Blagdon estate is a business supporting jobs in Northumberland. "All CAP subsidies received by the Blagdon estate are re-invested on the estate, including in environmental conservation such as the creation of new flower meadows, new hedgerows and new environmentally friendly field margins, for which the estate has won awards. "In campaigning for the UK to leave the EU I was arguing in the broader public interest, and against my own immediate interest." A Wiltshire farming business is poised for further growth following a 1.2m investment deal overseen by Trethowans. Solicitors from the law firms agricultural team acted on behalf of Clydesdale Bank to value the assets of Steve Benson Farming, which underpin the significant funding package. Steve Benson Farming operates over 10,000 acres of land in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire and has a thriving grain storage facility at Wroughton, where its duo of 30,000 square feet grain stores has a capacity of 19,000 tonnes. The investment from Clydesdale Bank includes a refinance of term debt funding used to purchase and fit out the grain stores, as well as asset finance, credit card and overdraft facilities. Marcus Thorpe, partner and head of agriculture and rural property at Trethowans, said the deal heralds positive news for farmers in the post-Brexit climate. He said: "There has been a great deal of uncertainty in recent months and it is encouraging for farmers to know that they are being supported by the banks. "This is a great example of a lender having a good relationship with an agricultural business and supporting them with access to finance that will allow them to expand." A new business relationship forged by a Driffield poultry supplier and a top north London butchers has boosted listings in the capital for the Yorkshire company. Middleton on the Wolds business, T.Soanes & Son now supplies Finsbury Park and Highbury Barn butcher Godfreys with its Yorkshire reared chickens and has been a key supplier of free-range chickens since February. Sales manager at T.Soanes & Son, Tom Kingston, said: "Our heritage and provenance is part of what makes our poultry so unique and London is the place to market this. Jeremy Godfrey, managing director at Godfreys "This listing at Godfreys, as premium quality butchers in London, is extremely encouraging for us as we're actively looking to sell to businesses in London." The family owned chicken business has recently invested in a 26 tonne truck to service its twice weekly deliveries to Godfreys and other outlets in the capital. Godfreys is a traditional butcher with a 100-year history that is run by the fifth generation brothers Jeremy, Christopher and Phillip Godfrey. 'A truly bona fide product' Jeremy Godfrey, managing director at Godfreys, said everything they sell is of the highest quality, including the poultry they get from T.Soanes & Son. "This truly is a bona fide product, and we're very pleased we're working with the poultry supplier because we know the team will deliver. "So far, the feedback from customers has been positive. We've done blind taste tests on this chicken ourselves, and I can tell these chickens are of a superior quality because they are one of the few suppliers that air-dry their chickens. "The company is big enough to deal with our demand and small enough to get it right - now we just need them to produce more for us!" Poultry from T.Soanes & Son is supplied by Godfreys to prestigious restaurants, chefs and food writers in London in addition to many Super Yachts' kitchens. Family-owned business T.Soanes & Son was established in 1947 and employs nearly 100 people. Third series of Clarkson's Farm in production, Amazon confirms 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 U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) will be resigning as the Democratic National Committee Chair after emails were released by WikiLeaks which indicated Shultz and fellow officials within the DNC strongly favored former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Credit: Alex Wong By , Philadelphia On the heels of a tumultuous Republican convention, Hillary Clinton arrives in Philadelphia eager to show off a forward-looking Democratic Party united behind her steady leadership. To do that, she must overcome lingering bitterness among supporters of defeated rival Bernie Sanders and clean up a resurgent political mess of the party's own making. The resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee made for a rocky start on Sunday, as the Florida congresswoman heeded Sanders' long-standing call to leave as party chief. Her departure comes a few days after the publication of 19,000 hacked emails, which Sanders said confirmed his belief the national party played favorites for Clinton during the primary season. "The party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people," Sanders said. Wasserman Schultz's abrupt departure was undoubtedly an effort to keep the Democrats' gathering from devolving into the tumult that marred last week's GOP meeting, when runner-up Ted Cruz pointedly and publicly refused to endorse nominee Donald Trump. As he demanded Wasserman Schultz's resignation, Sanders made clear he wants to see Clinton in the White House. "I'm going to do everything I can to defeat him, to elect Hillary Clinton and to keep focusing, keep focusing on the real issues facing the American people," Sanders said on CNN. Clinton and President Barack Obama both quickly praised the departed party chief, hoping to move past the ugliness and onto Monday's launch of an optimistic celebration featuring high-powered elected officials and celebrities who will try to reintroduce Clinton to a general election audience. Never one to miss an opportunity to poke at his rivals, Trump appeared to relish the Democratic chaos Sunday, writing on Twitter: "The Dems Convention is cracking up." His campaign chief, Paul Manafort, went further and called on Clinton to drop out of the race altogether. At the Republican convention, Trump cast himself as the law-and-order candidate in a nation suffering under crime and hobbled by immigration, sticking to the gloom-and-doom theme. As he accepted the Republican nomination, Trump said: "The legacy of Hillary Clinton is death, destruction, terrorism and weakness." In return, Clinton seized upon what she called the "fear and the anger and the resentment" from Trump and Republicans, dismissing Trump's declaration that only he could fix the problems that afflict the nation. "Donald Trump may think America's in decline, but he's wrong. America's best days are still ahead of us, my friends," Clinton said during a campaign event Saturday in Miami. Sanders will address the convention Monday night, and Obama will speak on Wednesday night. Other high-profile speakers include first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. They will try to overcome party disunity that seems certain to also be a factor in Philadelphia, given Wasserman Schultz's departure and the general unhappiness among many Sanders supporters intensified by both the emails and by Clinton's pick of Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate. "If they think they can win without half the party, let them lose," said Andrew Fader, 27, of New York, who was wearing a "Bernie" T-shirt on Sunday near the Liberty Bell. "And I'll move to Canada." Norman Solomon, a delegate who supports Sanders, said Wasserman Schultz's removal was unlikely to soothe those who back the Vermont senator. He said there is talk among Sanders' delegates of walking out during Kaine's acceptance speech or turning their backs as a show of protest. Sanders' supporters believe Kaine is not liberal enough. Sanders endorsed Clinton two weeks ago after pressing for the party platform to include a $15-an-hour minimum wage, debt-free college and an expansion of access to health care. Sanders supporters pushed for changes to the party nominating process at a meeting of the convention rules committee Saturday. They did not succeed in passing an amendment abolishing superdelegates, but they did win a compromise deal with the Clinton camp a "unity commission" that will review the overall procedures and will seek to limit the role of superdelegates in future elections. 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. SHARE Robert Amstadt, who saw a man drown his infant son in a pond Saturday, started a memorial there on Sunday. Sam Caravana By of the Robert Amstadt witnessed "the most evil thing I've seen" from his apartment window Saturday when a young father holding his crying infant son walked into a pond and sat down so the water was up to his chest and the baby could not be seen. "That baby cried all the way out into the water," Amstadt said. "Then the crying stopped." The 25-year-old suspect "didn't try to hold the baby up" out of the water, he said. Another man had followed him into the pond. "He was pleading, 'Let the baby go, give me the baby,'" Amstadt said, describing the second man's attempt to save the infant. Amstadt, a resident of the Glenbrook Apartments in the 7400 block of W. Glenbrook Road, said he was talking to a police dispatcher around 8:45 p.m. Saturday when the suspect jogged away from a crowd of relatives and other people and went into the water. The suspect, a Milwaukee man, is in custody on a pending homicide charge, accused of drowning his 3-month-old son in the northwest side storm-water pond after an argument with the child's mother, Milwaukee police said Sunday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is not identifying the suspect because he has not yet been criminally charged. A man with the same name and date of birth had been the subject of a domestic violence restraining order petition filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in April 2015. But the suspect was not properly served, and the court denied the restraining order and dismissed the case. It was not clear Sunday whether the petitioner who sought the restraining order was the mother. According to police, the child's parents were arguing Saturday when the father grabbed the infant, went to the pond and walked in. A witness followed the man but was unable to retrieve the child, police said. "I yelled at him 'where's the baby? Where's the baby?' a man identified as Joey Griffin told Fox6 News. "And then I saw a baby floating in the water. I grabbed it. I tried to swim away with it. He lunged at me and took the baby again and swam farther, deeper," the witness said. Officers ran into the pond in an effort to rescue the boy, but the father was no longer holding him. Police arrested the suspect and began searching for the child, who was found unconscious within minutes, the department said in a statement. Milwaukee firefighters tried unsuccessfully to revive the child. He died at the scene. Amstadt had heard a loud argument outside an adjacent apartment building, but trees blocked his view, he said in an interview. A woman screamed, "Give me back my baby," Amstadt said. Then he saw the suspect holding the infant walking along an asphalt path between the pond and the apartment building. A crowd was following him. "It was a hornet's nest of people moving around ... crying and screaming," Amstadt said. Another man tried to take the infant away from the suspect, he said. The suspect yanked the baby's arm out of the other man's grasp, and the infant started crying. That is when Amstadt called 911. The suspect jogged toward the pond and stopped, Amstadt said. "People yelled, 'Don't go in the water.'" Then Amstadt told the dispatcher: "He just walked into the water with the baby," he said. The other man followed them. After the suspect sat down in the water, "the other guy was able to get the baby from him," Amstadt said. "But he snatched it back." "People were screaming, 'He's drowning the baby.'" On Sunday, Amstadt returned to the pond shore withballoons, stuffed animals and an angel figurine and started a memorial. He tied a few stuffed animals to a maple tree with ribbons and a string. Other residents added to the memorial, while others started a separate one, with a teddy bear and candles. Amstadt said he prayed for the family. "I can't imagine what they're going through." Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report Image courtesy of EmbraerBrazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer SA said Friday it booked a $200 million loss contingency in connection with allegations of non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The reserve for a possible settlement of an FCPA enforcement action caused the worlds third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer to report a surprise quarterly net loss of about $102 million. Embraer trades on the NYSE under the symbol ERJ. The company said talks with the DOJ and SEC have significantly progressed. It said any resolution could include monetary penalties that it estimated at $200 million, and a deferred prosecution agreement with an independent compliance monitor. Three years ago, Embraer disclosed an investigation for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It said in U.S. filings that it received a subpoena from the SEC in September 2010. In late 2014, Brazil prosecutors filed a criminal action against eight Embraer SA employees for an alleged $3.5 million bribe to an official in the Dominican Republic in return for a $92 million contract for attack planes. Embraer said that case is under seal and it couldnt comment. In June, Embraer said in an SEC filing its CEO, Frederico Curado, 55, was departing after leading the company for nine years. In a statement emailed to the FCPA Blog, the company said: Embraer reinforces that the CEO succession is a planned process, and there is no relationship between that theme and the mentioned investigations. The Wall Street Journal said the DOJ and SEC were investigating Embraers sales practices in the Dominican Republic and other countries. The U.S. agencies shared the evidence with law enforcement authorities in Brazil, the report said. Embraer said Friday the allegations involve three countries. It didnt name them. The company said it has enhanced compliance by appointing a chief compliance officer reporting to its general counsel. It has also developed a whistleblower procedure and a comprehensive training and education program. * * * Embraers full FCPA disclosure in its Q2 2016 earnings release (pdf) said: The Company received in September, 2010 a subpoena from the SEC and associated inquiries from the U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, concerning possible non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, in relation to certain aircraft sales outside of Brazil. In response, the Company retained outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation of sales in three countries. In light of additional information, the Company voluntarily expanded the scope of the internal investigation to include sales in other countries, reported on these matters to the SEC and the DOJ and otherwise cooperated with them. In May 2015, the Company has begun discussions with the DOJ for a possible resolution of the allegations of non-compliance with the FCPA. In 2016, the negotiations with the U.S. authorities for the settlement of the allegations of non-compliance with the FCPA have significantly progressed, to the point that Embraer recognized a US$200 million loss contingency in the quarter ended June 30, 2016, reflecting the likely outcome of this matter. The amount of the contingency is an estimate and has not been finally determined. In addition to the monetary consequences, a final settlement with the DOJ and the SEC is likely to include: (1) a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), under which the prosecution of criminal charges against Embraer will be deferred for the term of the DPA, and dismissed upon the expiration of the term of the DPA, and (2) an imposition of an independent monitor to assess the Companys compliance with the terms of any agreement that may be reached with the U.S. authorities. These may not be the only non-monetary consequences contained in any final settlement. The negotiations with the U.S. authorities are ongoing and thus subject to change. There is no assurance that Embraer will ultimately reach a final settlement of these matters with the U.S. government agencies. Related proceedings and developments in other countries are ongoing and could result in additional fines, which may be substantial, and possibly other substantial sanctions and adverse consequences. The Company believes that there is no adequate basis at this time for estimating accruals or quantifying any contingency with respect to these matters. The Company will continue to cooperate with the governmental authorities, as circumstances may require. In light of the internal investigation, we embarked on a comprehensive effort to improve and expand our compliance program worldwide. This multi-year task involved reexamining every aspect of our compliance systems, and where appropriate, redesigning or adding to them. Some of the key enhancements include the creation of a Compliance Department; the appointment of a Chief Compliance Officer reporting to Embraers general counsel, which, for these matters, reports directly to the Risk and Audit Committee of the Board of Directors; the development of a program to monitor engagement of and payments to third parties; improvements to compliance policies, procedure and controls; the enhancement of anonymous and other reporting channels; and the development of a comprehensive training and education program designed to maintain and reinforce a strong compliance culture at all levels of Embraer globally. The Company will continue to promote enhancements and update its compliance program. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. A former saleswoman for medical device maker Acclarent was awarded $3.5 million as her share of an $18 million settlement of a whistleblower suit alleging false marketing claims. Melayna Lokosky made the claims in a complaint filed in federal court in Massachusetts in 2011. Johnson & Johnson bought California-based Acclarent in 2010. Acclarent agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that it made false claims about its sinus spacer for use as a drug delivery device without U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The company didnt admit liability. The False Claims Act allows private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the governments recovery. Acclarent sold medical devices used in sinus surgeries, including a device known as the Relieva Stratus MicroFlow Spacer (Stratus). In 2006, Acclarent received FDA clearance to market the Stratus as a spacer to be used only with saline to maintain sinus openings following surgery. The suit alleged that Acclarent intended for the Stratus to be used instead as a drug-delivery device for prescription corticosteroids, including Kenalog-40, and that the device was specifically designed and engineered for that use. The government joined Lokoskys False Claims Act suit. The FDA rejected Acclarents 2007 request to expand the approved uses for the device, according to the allegations. Acclarent continued to market the Stratus for drug delivery even after adding a warning label in 2010 that it shouldnt be used that way, the government said. For example, Acclarent employees trained physicians using a video that demonstrated the Stratus being used with prescription corticosteroid Kenalog-40 and also used a white, milky substance resembling Kenalog-40 when demonstrating the Stratus. The company has now stopped selling the Stratus device. On July 20, two former Acclarent executives were convicted by a federal jury in Boston of ten misdemeanor counts for introducing adulterated and misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce. Former CEO William Facteau, 47, of Atherton, California and former Vice President of Sales, Patrick Fabian, 49, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota were found guilty after a six-week jury trial. They were acquitted of 14 felony charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. The co-founder and former head of the Global Sustainability Foundation was sentenced in Manhattan federal court Friday to 20 months in prison for bribing John Ashe, the 68th President of the UN General Assembly. Shiwei Yan also known as Sheri Yan pleaded guilty in January to paying Ashe more than $800,000 in bribes. The bribes were intended to help Yan and Chinese businessmen land deals in Antigua. Yan, 60, is a naturalized United States citizen. She lived mainly in China before her arrest. Ashe served as the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations. He died in June, five days before a hearing in his own bribery case in federal court in New York City. The DOJ indicted him in October of last year. Ashe was President of the UN General Assembly from September 2013 to September 2014. He died after reportedly dropping a barbell on his neck during a gym workout. He was 61. Yan starting bribing Ashe in 2012. Ashe shared a portion of the bribe money with other Antiguan officials, the DOJ said. Yan paid Ashe $400,000 through one payment of $200,000 and two $100,000 payments. She also paid him $20,000 a month for his service as Honorary Chairman of the Global Sustainable Development Foundation, later known as the Global Sustainability Foundation or GSF. Yan founded GSF purportedly to promote the UNs sustainable development goals. She sent Ashe the $200,000 payment in exchange for his attending a private conference in China hosted by a Chinese real estate developer. Yan also arranged for Ashe to receive tens of thousands of dollars in custom suits and clothes, the DOJ said. In imposing sentence Friday, Judge Vernon Broderick said: To those bent on perverting decision-making through bribery, this simply will not be toleratedthere are consequences to these actions. Judge Broderick also ordered Yan to forfeit $300,000. ____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. It's putting a human face on history. My parents came to England right after WWII, after having been deported from Poland by the Soviets to a labor camp in Siberia (in my mother's and sister's case). As a Polish Army officer my father was captured by the Soviets and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Russia. In the turmoil that followed, my parents met briefly in Russia and later in Uzbekistan. My father went on to fight with the Polish Army under British care while my mother and sister waited out the war in India where my mother worked as a Red Cross nurse. After the war, neither of my parents wanted to return to Communist Poland so they each travelled to England where they met again, and that's where I was born. In 1952 we came to America. Their story is the basis of my new book, My Sister's Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin's Siberia (University of Wisconsin Press, April 2016). I learned that a good grasp of history, thoroughly researched, provides valuable detail to humanize a story. Donna Solecka Urbikas Retrospect is critical. I started writing over 30 years ago. Always wanting to be a writer, I began writing their story only when I became a mother myself. As a child I had been annoyed by my mother's stories of her life in Poland and during the war in the labor camp with my sister, who was 5 years old at the time of their deportation. As an adult, their story tugged at me and I wanted to write about it, but my mother was reluctant at first. When my first son was born my mother felt I could understand her trying to save my sister during all those challenges of severe cold, little food, diseases, and fear. Later, upon encouragement from teachers at the University of Chicago's Writing Program, I incorporated my part-growing up with a mother and sister who had gone through all that. I learned that retrospect is critical in good memoir and it's never too late to start writing. Going back to my roots provided needed perspective. In 1976 on my first return, I visited my birthplace in Coventry and then travelled to Poland which was still under Communist rule and on the cusp of major political upheaval-the seeds of the Solidarity movement. Due to violent strikes all over the country, particularly in my mother's birthplace of Radom, I was unable to visit her home town, but I got a good sense of what life had been like during the war in the labor camps and the prisoner-of-war camps in Russia and Siberia under Soviet Communism. Writing memoir is a catharsis. My mother finally stopped talking about all that had happened to her during the war. I made amends with her for all her crazy behavior as I was growing up in America. The effects of trauma are in our genes. No matter how we try to disassociate ourselves from past family traumas, the effects persist. I learned that new studies show how war and other traumas can get passed on to us even two generations later. This finding explains much of how I was affected by my mother's wartime experiences and how I parented my own children. Bringing this insight into my memoir provided a deeper layer of interest to a complex story. Thus, what began as only a WWII story ended up as also my story in My Sister's Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin's Siberia. www.danutaurbikas.com Kim Kardashian West won't cook greens for her husband Kanye West because they take too long to make. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West The US rapper loves to indulge in a plate of vegetables but doesn't get his way if his wife is in the kitchen because she refuses to spend three hours of her precious time rustling up the foodstuff for her significant other. He said: "When my wife cooks for me I will always ask for greens and she never wants to cook the greens because they take three hours to cook." While the 'Bound 2' hitmaker, 39, hasn't been able to convince Kim, 35, to cook him up some vegetables with his evening meal, he is hopeful of persuading America to vote him in as US president one day, despite openly admitting he "doesn't have views on politics". When asked why he wants to run for president, he said: "We are numb, we're numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, we're numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July... "We're numb to places on the earth that we don't live - like our life is OK but it's OK for other people's lives to not be OK. "When I talk about the idea of being president, I'm not saying I have any political views, I don't have views on politics, I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. "If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while I'm alive I'm going to try to do it." As well as planning to one day run the country, Kanye - who has daughter North, three, and seven-month-old son Saint with Kim - has dreams of becoming a designer for Swedish furniture company IKEA. Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac, he added: "I have to work with IKEA - make furniture for interior design, for architecture and I know that if I do a minimalist apartment inside of a college dorm where the TV goes on the side of the wall... "Yo IKEA, allow Kanye to create, allow him to make this thing because you know what, I want a bed that he makes, I want a chair that he makes - I want more products from Ye." Hear the interview tonight (01.08.16) on Annie Mac's 7-9pm Radio 1 show. Please tell us about your brand of comedy- what can audiences expect? Lucy Porter It's a little bit of everything really. Mostly silly, chatty stories about my life as a suburban mum of two but there is also a little bit of politics. At the moment, there's quite a lengthy discussion of falconry and sheep shearing but those may get a bit more brief as the show goes on. Which comedians have been your biggest influence? The brilliant Irish comedian Dave Allen was the person who got me interested in comedy. Victoria Wood was my childhood heroine. When I actually started doing comedy myself Jo Brand was my role model. What random things make you laugh in everyday life? Some of the things my kids say and do are pretty random. They've got a game where they pretend to be cats and I'm the cat show judge. It always starts off with us laughing and having fun but in the end I get too involved my role, turn into Simon Cowell and make them cry. Please tell us about your best and worst moment on stage so far. Best was probably playing Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Worst was probably when I fell over at a gig in Brighton If was an awful onstage moment that became a really embarrassing off-stage moment because I fell into a man's lap on the front row. Do you still get nervous when you do a gig? Nope. Since I had kids being onstage is the most relaxing part of my day. No one's asking me for anything and I get to talk without interruption. Why is Edinburgh Fringe Festival such a great platform for comedians? It's just a great laugh for comedians. We all love being in the same city as our mates and there's a great creative buzz about the city. Who are you looking forward to seeing as an audience member? I have lots of lovely regulars who come and see me every year, so I am looking forward to seeing them. I'm looking forward to not seeing my husband in the audience - he has to stay at home and look after the kids whilst I'm at work so it means I get to say whatever I like about him onstage. What is your advice to aspiring comedians? You will look back on those terrible early gigs and laugh. Even the ones where nobody turns up or you forget everything you wanted to say. It might take a while to see the funny side but eventually you will. What is the oddest heckle you've ever received? "I defer the egg". You had to be there. What is next for you? A sitcom I've written called The Fair Intellectual Club will be on Radio 4 this Autumn. I'm writing a children's book and a play too. Lucy Porter's new stand up show 'Consequences' will be at the Pleasance Courtyard Forth for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on A year ago, Tamika Holmes was settling into her new home in Phoenix when she got the call that too many Milwaukee mothers receive. Her 20-year-old daughter, Jahara Kennedy, was dead. Kennedy was celebrating her sister's birthday at the Days Inn on N. 6th. St. in Milwaukee when four men tried to rob them. Kennedy barricaded herself behind a closed door. One of the men shot through the door, and a bullet hit Kennedy in the head. Holmes was devastated by her daughter's death. "I just could not believe this was happening," she said. Afterward, Holmes, who moved to Phoenix for a new job, tried to persuade her son, 19-year-old Rahkei Washington, to join her there. He told her he couldn't leave the city where his sister was buried. A few years earlier, Washington had gotten into trouble with the law and spent time at Lincoln Hills School for Boys. But since then he had graduated from high school, taken the SAT and applied to college. Just five months after her daughter was killed, Holmes got another call, this one about her son. He was found shot to death inside a car near N. 62nd St. and W. Villard Ave. The day of his funeral, Holmes' phone rang again. It was a college in Texas checking to make sure Washington had received his acceptance letter. Holmes' children were two of the 145 homicide victims in Milwaukee last year. It was the highest number of homicides since 1993, when 160 people were killed in the city. The spike was a nearly 69% increase from 2014 a year-to-year increase higher than the headline-grabbing changes reported in Baltimore, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. The yearly change in Milwaukee is so stark, in part, because the city recorded one of its lowest homicide totals in a generation in 2014: 86 victims. The 2015 total, following federal guidelines for recording homicides, does not include six other fatal shootings that authorities ruled were self-defense, nor does it include the death of one man who suffered heart failure after a robbery. The question plaguing Milwaukee and other cities with rising homicide totals is the same: Why? "That is the million dollar question," said Mallory O'Brien, an epidemiologist who leads the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission, which analyzes homicides and nonfatal shootings in the city looking for causes and possible solutions. Several trends have remained constant: Some families have multiple victims, some people could be a perpetrator one day and a victim the next, most of the victims are African-American men and most victims die from gunfire. Some of the killings on average 1 in 3 go unsolved. Preliminary numbers show a quarter of homicides in Milwaukee last year stemmed from arguments and fights. A lesser share were the result of domestic violence, drug activity and robbery. Authorities are not sure what led to nearly one-third of the killings. No one has pinpointed a single reason for the increase. Ask anyone in Milwaukee and they'll have a different answer: Deep systemic problems of poverty, unemployment, segregation and education. Easy access to firearms. Lack of personal responsibility and the breakdown of the family. An ineffective criminal justice system. Lax sentencing. A pursuit policy critics say too often limits police chases. Too much policing. Not enough policing. Nationally, some commentators and politicians have theorized the so-called "Ferguson effect" is behind the homicide spike in some cities. The theory is this: After high-profile police shootings like that of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., prompted a national dialogue on police uses of force and race, officers felt hamstrung, worried each encounter could become the next viral video to prompt protests and intense media attention. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn suggested officers didn't back down, but there was a perception they did and that perception fueled more reckless behavior on the streets people interfering with arrests, for example. "The difference they've seen post-Ferguson disturbances is an emboldening of the same group of people that already are shooting each other," he said, citing anecdotal information from Milwaukee officers. Flynn freely acknowledges this is just a theory and more data is needed. He has called for rigorous study into what happened in Milwaukee and cities with similar demographics that saw similar spikes in homicides in 2015. Milwaukee already has an apparatus for studying every homicide and nonfatal shooting: the city's Homicide Review Commission. The commission gathers data from police, prosecutors, probation officers, corrections officials, federal agencies, child welfare, court systems, community nonprofits and others. During monthly reviews with those agencies and other partners, the commission seeks to identify trends and find ways to prevent more deadly violence. Not even the commission has definitive answers yet for what caused last year's spike, but officials expect to have more insight in the annual report for 2015. Researchers continued to collect and verify more data in the new year and the review for December homicides occurred last week. "The numbers are just that numbers and we really need to get behind the numbers and get to the stories," O'Brien said. Homicide Tracker The Journal Sentinel is tracking homicides in Milwaukee to memorialize the victims and better understand deadly violence in the city. The tracker is updated as regularly as possible. Milwaukee homicide locations: Search all 2015 UCR reported homicide locations: Gun-related homicides in cities like Milwaukee often appear random, at first. Take the case of Lennair Davis. Her family described the 56-year-old woman as a sweet grandmother who took care of her family every way she could. Police believe her son was the target of the shooting, but she was hit instead. It began, authorities say, two years ago when her son, Howard Davis, was shot by Raymond Harris Jr. The next year, Harris was shot dead. Davis and another man were charged in the homicide. Davis was on trial when his mother was fatally shot. His mother climbed in a van the morning of Feb. 27 to accompany him to court when another car pulled up. Someone inside that vehicle opened fire and sped away. Davis' sister, Callie Jones, who also was in the van the day of the shooting, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she is certain the bullet was meant for Davis. Davis was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison in Harris' death. No one has been arrested in the death of his mother. Three months after Lennair's death, Jones' cousin, Pedrell Davis, was fatally stabbed in a domestic violence incident. "It's been an overwhelming year," Jones said in December. "I can't wait for it to be over." Victims in more than 80% of last year's homicides died by gunfire. Those shootings, while tragic, are often not random, according to sociologist Andrew Papachristos. Papachristos argues outbreaks of gun violence spread like a blood-borne pathogen such as HIV/AIDS. It's not just about risky behavior, it's about the relationship between individuals who are engaging in that behavior, he said. In a study of one high-crime Chicago neighborhood, Papachristos and other researchers found that more than 40% of all gun homicides occurred within a network of 3,100 people, about 4% of the community's population. Simply being among the 4% increased a person's odds of being killed by a gun by 900%. When it comes to gun homicide, Papachristos says, seemingly innocent victims end up in the "wrong place at the wrong time" by indirect exposure, such as getting a ride from a friend's cousin or by going to the party of a friend of a friend's. In the short term, analyzing those social networks could help identify people who are in harm's way and help others try to reach them before a shooting. Flynn has said the Police Department's crime analysts are capable of doing that work and have done so before, calculating risk factors including whether a person has been arrested, has been shot, shot someone else or witnessed a shooting. "It's a little depressing how predictable it is," Flynn said. "The challenge is, who are the right messengers to pierce that environment of acceptable violence?" Papachristos, who has taken part in violence-reduction efforts in Chicago, says police probably shouldn't take on that role. Rather, he said, it could be people who work with youth, such as teachers, nurses and social workers. "My dream is having sort of public injury prevention or monitoring," he said. "A shooting happened in this part of the network, let's go see how people are." "You experience trauma, your family does, your friends do and simply providing services to those people could help diminish the effects of a shooting, on top of what police might do to stop retaliation." Papachristos cautioned short-term tactics must be balanced with long-term solutions for the "big things" underlying gun violence. "We know that the big things like poverty and education and unemployment actually set the stage and are really responsible for the way the networks look the way they do, and how people get in that network in the first place," he said. In 2002, Laron Ball was fatally shot by a detective in a Milwaukee courtroom after being found guilty of felony murder, stealing a deputy's gun and firing it while trying to escape. Thirteen years later, his brother, Latrail Ball, was shot and killed, but in very different circumstances. Latrail Ball Latrail Ball, 26, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Feb. 8, 2015. Earlier this month, a jury convicted Christopher Ross, 26, who police say was a member of the Wild 100s gang, in the younger Ball's slaying. From court documents, it appears Ball may not have been the intended target. Ross had gotten into a dispute with another man at a bar. After he left, the man's truck got stuck in the snow. Ball stopped to help the man, whom he knew. Ross drove up a short time later and opened fire, according to a criminal complaint. Police recovered the murder weapon when a police informant bought it on the street. Ten years before Latrail Ball was murdered, he and another brother were arrested in the brutal mob beating of a 50-year-old man. Latrail, 17 at the time, was convicted of battery and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Assistant District Attorney Grant Huebner was involved in the prosecution of Latrail Ball for the 2005 beating. A decade later, Huebner prosecuted his killer. Terrance Anderson (left) and Desha Robertson. Before Terrance Anderson was fatally shot during a dispute at his brother's bar, he worked on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig and would ask friends back in Milwaukee, "How many people you know take a helicopter to work?" Anderson was a cook on the rigs for months at a time, but didn't get sent back out after his last home leave in late 2014 because his blood pressure was too high, his brother Durrell Anderson said. So Terrance, 38, returned to Milwaukee and was helping out at Durrell's bar, New Entertainers Lounge. Durrell, 54, said his brother was shot while trying to keep order. Four men were walking out near bar time, Durrell said, and they seemed to be pressuring a woman to come with them. Terrance went over to ask the men to move on. As they neared the door, one fired a shot into the ceiling, then blindly pointed back inside and fired again, hitting Terrance twice. It was all caught on video. Next, the shooter killed another patron, Desha Robertson, in the entryway to the bar. Pierre Cardell Brown, 29, pleaded guilty to the killings and will be sentenced next month. He has prior convictions for robbery and delivery of cocaine. A year before the bar shooting, Brown was charged with shooting at people in a car in what police think was an ongoing feud. In that exchange of gunfire, Brown was wounded four times. Charges against him ultimately were dismissed after witnesses could not be located to be served subpoenas. None of them appeared for the trial. Terrance's brother, Durrell, said he doesn't know what to make of people who resort to gun violence. "This is a like a plague," he said. "They're like suicide bombers without any religion." The aftermath of Ferguson could have added fuel to a sense of "legal cynicism" already present in many communities, according to Thomas Abt, former New York deputy secretary for public safety and a senior research fellow with Harvard Kennedy School of Government. If people view the criminal justice system as illegitimate or unable to help them, it can lead to more violence, Abt wrote in a recent opinion piece for The Marshall Project, a criminal justice website. Experts also have suggested legal cynicism can be exasperated when killings go unsolved the status of nearly one in three homicides nationwide. The national average homicide clearance rate was 64% in 2014, the most recent year available. A case is considered cleared when an arrest is made or when a suspect has been identified without the possibility of arrest. The suspect, for example, may have died. Milwaukee's clearance rate was just over 60% in 2015, putting it slightly above the 56% average for similar-sized cities. Clearance rates in Milwaukee have fluctuated in the past decade, reaching a high of 93% in 2008, but in the early 2000s were routinely 70% or higher. Under FBI guidelines, clearance rates include all homicide arrests in a given year, regardless of when the crime occurred. Flynn has cited lack of cooperation from witnesses, intimidation of witnesses who do cooperate, high standards for prosecution and an overwhelming workload as factors in the 2015 rate. Regardless, detectives work relentlessly to try to bring justice to families, he said. He said he couldn't vouch for how clearances were calculated before he was chief. The Milwaukee Police Association, which represents the department's rank-and-file, has long criticized Flynn's leadership. Union president Michael Crivello says the chief's reorganization of the department deserves much of the blame for higher levels of violence and lower clearance rates. "(An) abandonment of the fundamentals of policing have caused the out-of-control spiral of criminal behavior," Crivello said. When no one's held accountable for a homicide, the victim's family and friends suffer, said Tory Lowe, a Milwaukee activist and Common Council candidate. "When it goes unsolved, that anger sits right there in the community and causes a form of hopelessness," he said. How we reported this story The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sought information about each homicide last year to better understand the spike in deadly violence in the city and to memorialize the victims. Journal Sentinel reporters reached out to victims families to request photos of loved ones. Reporters also searched public images available on community Facebook pages and public online fundraising pages. In some cases, if a relative could not be reached, the Journal Sentinel sought photos from court files and arrest records. Reporters used information from victims relatives and friends, law enforcement, the medical examiners office, the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission and court records in this article. The 2015 homicide total of 145 victims follows federal guidelines for totaling homicides. It does not include six other fatal shootings that authorities ruled were self-defense, nor does it include the death of one man who suffered heart failure after a robbery. Those seven other victims, however, are included in the Journal Sentinels online homicide database. Anyone with information about these homicides cases can call Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360. Callers can remain anonymous. Share your thoughts To comment on this story, email a letter to jsedit@jrn.com . Letters will be considered for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinels opinion page. Letters generally are 200 words or less. Milwaukee police are still searching for the person who shot and killed Jeremy J. Hollins last May. The shooting left his brother, Bryan, reflecting not only on his brother's life, but on the wider question of community. Last winter, Jeremy and Bryan were driving when they spotted a middle school-aged boy standing at a freezing cold bus stop. "My brother had on a peacoat, and the kid had on a thin windbreaker," Bryan recalled. "Jeremy gave him his jacket. We rolled off, and that little boy was looking at him like, 'What just happened?' He was startled, but we could tell it was a blessing." Although Jeremy, 28, had spent time in prison for armed robbery, there were other sides to him that not many people knew about, his brother said. The two brothers had many conversations about Greek mythology, history and larger-than-life political figures, such as Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The death of his brother, who was fatally shot after taking a phone call and stepping outside a house, has caused Bryan, 26, to contemplate a move out West, away from his close-knit family and the city where he grew up. "I just feel it's a broken system here, but then again it starts with us," he said. "I'm disappointed with my community, with my culture as well. If we're not holding hands together, why are we staying? I'm just fed up. I'm angry." "This community needs to see the greater good in people." Advertisement Whenever Lowe, an activist, posts a photo of a homicide victim online, he uses the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. "People think Black Lives Matters is just about injustice," said Lowe, who also has led protests against police misconduct. "Black Lives Matters is about homicide and violence. It's not one-sided." Lowe helped nearly 80 families of homicide victims last year, organizing vigils and guiding efforts to raise money for funerals and reward funds. Nothing will change, he says, until there are permanent job opportunities and an effective educational system in Milwaukee. Two separate studies last year found unemployment among African-Americans in Wisconsin was the highest in the country and Wisconsin's gap in graduation rates between black and white students was the largest in the country. "These are contributing factors to violence they're huge," Lowe said. "I can march all day, but if we don't provide the certain elements to the equation, it will get worse." The damage caused by homicides is long-lasting and ripples outward. The economic effects spread to the public in the form of police, court, incarceration and medical costs. Families of both suspects and perpetrators are permanently altered. Many relatives and friends of homicide victims told the Journal Sentinel last year that they felt forgotten. There may have been an initial burst of interest and support, but it quickly faded. Everyone else returned to their daily lives; they couldn't. Mark Hoffman Tamika Holmes wears a bracelet (left) in memory of her daughter, Jahara S. Kennedy Tamika. Holmes shares a hug with daughter, Maelizah, 16, at her home in Phoenix, Ariz. Holmes two older children, Jahara S. Kennedy, 20, and Rahkei Washington, 19, were shot and killed in Milwaukee in separate, unrelated homicides in 2015. Holmes, whose two children were killed last year, felt alone. She wasn't prepared to pay the funeral costs of one child, let alone two. She wasn't prepared to make multiple trips from Phoenix to Milwaukee as four men charged in her daughter's death made their way through the court system. She wasn't prepared for her daughters to lose their brother, the only constant male figure in their life. "When I lost my kids, nobody reached out to me at all," she said. "And I struggled so hard, so hard." Gina Barton, John Diedrich and Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. twitter.com/aluthern aluthern@journalsentinel.com Channing Tatum is to star in a remake of 'Splash'. Channing Tatum Tatum will take on the mermaid role made famous by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 original, while his '22 Jump Street' co-star Jillian Bell will take on the part first played by Tom Hanks in Disney's upcoming twist on the tale, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed. Imagine's Ron Howard and Brian Grazer will produce, alongside Channing, Reid Carolin and Peter Kieran via his Free Association banner. Anna Culp will executive produce. Marja-Lewis Ryan is to write the script for the production. The 1984 movie starred Hanks as a man who was saved from drowning as a child by a mermaid. 20 years later, the mermaid returned to find him and gave him the option of continuing his life as it is, or living under the sea with her. Channing - who has three-year-old daughter Everly with wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum - will next be seen in 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' and recently revealed his will direct a 'Magic Mike Live' show in Las Vegas alongside choreographers Alison Faulk and Teresa Espinosa. He said: "What I'm getting at is we're going to start Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas at The Hard Rock, March 2017. "God knows, we have enough gentleman's clubs in this country so let's start the first gentleladies club. Or maybe not so gentle. Depends what you're into. So please leave your comments and let us know what you want. We're going to create it for you." The live show will start in March 2017 at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and Channing is looking forward to the prospect of possibly returning to the stage himself. He said: "Casting, directing, we're gonna do it all. If I'm ever in shape enough to do it [perform] again, I absolutely want to do that. Actually, it would be really fun ... "For so many years now, I think male revues have told women what they should think is sexy, and when you really look at it, it's kind of misogynistic a little bit. Like [male dances are] all dominant doctors and lawyers and fireman and construction workers and all women's archetypes are like nurses and maids and subservient things, and we just want to turn all that up on its ear and talk about it and just start a conversation between women and men." Matt Damon is one of the busiest actors in Hollywood and he is set to return to the big screen at the beginning of 2017 with new film The Great Wall. The Great Wall The Great Wall marks the return of Yimou Zhang to the director's chair in what will be his first English-language feature. Zhang has brought us movies such as House of Flying Daggers and Hero and it is great to see him back in the director's chair. The Great Wall will be the filmmaker's first collaboration with Damon and the largest film ever shot entirely in China. The brand new trailer for the film has arrived and we have it for you to take a look at: Damon leads and all-star cast and is joined by Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Kenny Lin, Junkai Wang, Zheng Kai, Cheney Chen, Xuan Huang, and Andy Lau. The film will be a mix of Hollywood actors and Chinese stars and looks set to be one of the early must see films of 2017 - yes, we are going to have to wait until the beginning of next year before we get the chance to see it. The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world's most iconic structure. The Great Wall is released 24th February 2017. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Princess Charlene has been named as patron of the South African Red Cross Society. Princess Charlene The 38-year-old Monaco royal - who grew up in South Africa and represented the country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics - will follow in the footsteps of her late mother-in-law Princess Grace, who was president of the Monaco Red Cross. Chief executive Derick Naidoo said: "With her ties to South Africa, she decided to get involved with Red Cross. We couldn't have wished for anyone better. We are excited she is on board." Charlene and her husband Prince Albert invited Derick and chairwoman Connie Motshumi to a recent Red Cross Ball in Monaco where she praised the charity for its work in war-torn countries. Derick said: "She commended Red Cross for being one of the most responsive organisations when it comes to disaster-relief programmes and maintaining peace in war-torn countries." Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that former Olympic swimmer Charlene will not be attending the 2016 Rio Olympics because of the risk of the Zika virus. Her husband Prince Albert, 58 - with whom she has 19-month-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella - explained: "First, she has decided not to go because she couldn't stand to be away from the babies for two weeks and they're really not old enough to support the trip. "She has important health concerns. She doesn't like what she has been reading, hearing, about the Zika virus and some other health issues." 'Doctor Who' producers are set to cast a disabled actor. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie In an attempt by BBC bosses to "reflect the world we live in", the show's casting director is making a concerted effort to nab an actor with an impairment to play a major role in the forthcoming series of the popular sci-fi series. Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, the show's casting director Andy Pryor said: "The area where I haven't pushed hard enough is disability. "That's something I want to address in the 2017 series." And he isn't the only one who wants to have a disabled character in the show as the head writer Steven Moffat, who will step down as producer next year, is also on board. He said: "He's very much on board with that." Andy's new plan comes just a few weeks after it was revealed that only black actresses were auditioned for the Doctor's (Peter Capaldi) new companion Bill (Pearl Mackie). He said: "I wholeheartedly approved of the decision to only audition non-white actresses. You don't do it for the sake of it. You do it because it's the right thing to do. Most actors in this country are white. Unless you are conscious about not always going in that direction you're going to end up with the same cast all the time. And that's not OK. "I always want to cast the best actors but I want the show to be interesting, to be attractive to a diverse audience and to reflect the world we live in." Michelle Gomez may not return to 'Doctor Who'. Michelle Gomez The 49-year-old actress has revealed she hasn't been told whether her alter-ego Missy, also known as The Doctor's nemesis The Master, will make an appearance in the next series of the popular BBC sci-fi show early next year. She said: "I just don't know. I mean, I don't even know if she's coming back this season to be honest. "As a freelancer which is what I am, I try to bag the next job, do it as well as I can and then move on to the next one." However, although her fate is not yet known, the brunette beauty would love to bag a role in the spin-off 'Class'. Speaking to the RadioTimes.com, she said: "I am an actor for hire, so if I'm free and it seems like the right thing to do at the time I'd grab it with both hands." 'Class' already stars former 'Coronation Street' actress Katherine Kelly and rising actor Greg Austin, as well as Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah. The new BBC Three drama is set in Coal Hill school, which has a long history with the sci-fi series and was most recently featured in several episodes as the school at which the Doctor's former companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) taught at in Shoreditch, east London. The programme - which is aimed at young adults - has been penned by 'A Monster Calls' author Patrick Ness and will consist of eight episodes, each lasting 45 minutes. It is also believed that Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi will making an appearance in the series. The plot of the drama focuses on the frequent visits by the Doctor to Coal Hill School which have made the walls of space and time become thin and now something from another world to bring war and fear to Earth. The school was the setting of 'An Unearthly Child', the very first episode of 'Doctor Who' which was first broadcast in November 1963. 'Class' is expected to air on BBC Three later this year. I was a stupid teenager then, almost unaware of outside world, well protected under my parents' shadow. Had no idea about how life's going to turn out for me. But that day something different happened, I met him for the first time at college. He was my senior. We chatted for a while and parted. He took my number and then series of endless talks and meetings began. It was the first time, I got so close to someone in this way. My world began to change by the day. When he kissed me for the first time, I was spellbound. I loved that feeling of falling in love. The frequency of our meetings increased so much that it was difficult to imagine a day without him. A year later, the day of separation came- he left college to pursue his career, leaving me behind crying alone at the railway station. He left with no promise. Our daily talks became weekly and sometime later, we almost lost touch with each other. For me, he was my first love and I was never able to forget him completely, but since life moves on, so did I. Unaware about the fact that my fate had different plans for me, I came to Pune to join a software firm and there our paths crossed once again. Old forgotten love got revived again and this time, I surrendered myself totally to him, thinking he is the one for me, but I was so wrong. I came face to face with reality soon, this world is cruel. Everything was good till I asked for a commitment. Everything changed suddenly, this guy was no more the one I fell in love with. I was just another girl for him! I cried my lungs out, spent so many sleepless nights. When I questioned him about whether he loved me? He answered, "I don't love you anymore." He left me once again, this time to join a new company in Bangalore. Surprisingly, when he reached the new city, he started calling me out of his loneliness. He said, "I can't marry you because of my family constraints, but I love you." I was blindly in love, I believed him once again. He started coming to meet me from Bangalore to Pune, every now and then. Seven years passed by with so much uncertainty about our future together, but I didn't give up on him. I never asked about our much impending marriage, as I was sure he wanted to spend his life with me after spending almost a decade together. But I had little idea that behind my back, he was looking for another girl to get married to. Meanwhile, his US visa got approved and before leaving for US, he came to meet me and told me he is getting married this January. All of sudden, the ground below my feet slipped away and I lost my senses. This time, he was firm on his decision and he left me in tears, to never come back. It took me a while to stand on my feet once again. But then, life is much better and brighter for me now, as it used to be when I was with him. Now, I never fall in love, but only rise in it. I've learnt to love other people in my life, who've always been there for me, but I never noticed them earlier. I have better plans for my future now. I smile more often as I used to, I have realized one thing- bad things happen in life for good reasons! -By Anuradha Pandole Next Story : Not Your Average Gift: Our Handpicked Thoughtful Diwali Gifts Shopkick, the leading shopping app that makes in-store shopping more personal and rewarding, has announced a new partnership with specialty women's fashion apparel and accessories retailer, New York & Company.In over 170 New York & Company stores across the country , the company's fashion-forward customers can now earn Kicks for walking in, visiting the dressing room, and making purchases in-store. With this partnership, Shopkick will install at least two shopBeacon devices in participating New York & Company stores one at the front door to reward customers for the simple act of visiting the store, and another at the dressing rooms, to reward customers for trying on clothing. New York & Company's affordable apparel and accessories are targeted to fashion-conscious females, who are interested in receiving rewards as well as information on deals, fashion trends and more. Shopkick's mobile app and in-store beacon technology is a way to reach these shoppers with contextually relevant content and engaging in-store experiences. Greg Scott, chief executive officer, New York & Company said, We are constantly gathering feedback from our customers, and know that they are increasingly interacting with our brand via mobile and digital. By partnering with Shopkick, we will drive incremental sales by bringing both new customers into our stores, as well as inspiring our existing loyal customer base to visit our locations more often. Shopkick's chief executive officer, Bill Demas said, New York & Company is helping to create the in-store experience of the future by utilising digital marketing tools to make shopping more personal and rewarding. Consumers want to be rewarded for their everyday shopping behaviours, while retailers want to increase consumer loyalty and foot traffic to their stores. Shopkick's large-scale user base, proprietary location technology and personalised app experience positions us as the mobile shopping platform of choice for top brands, retailers and consumers. (GK) Fibre2fashion News Desk - India Actor Akshaye Khanna, who has returned to the big screen after four years with a role in Dishoom, says he is looking at doing small parts in a few films for now. He says he chose to feature in Dishoom, as he really liked the script and as it was an interesting concept. "The role really excited me and we had a great cast. Since I had taken such a long break, the first three to four films... I wanted to do substantial roles but smaller parts just to get back into the rhythm," Akshaye told IANS here. Akshaye also said he was also approached for a role in Season 2 of 24. "Anil Kapoor wanted me to do a small part, but that part didn't excite me. He is a good friend and I am a very good friend of his. So he did ask me, but I just didn't feel it was right for me," the Dil Chahta Hai actor said. However, he is impressed the way Anil has managed to make 24 despite the budget constraints in India. "Initially, he (Anil) told me he has got the rights of 24, but I was a little skeptical, because if you see the American show... It's so big and their production value is so huge. Karan Johar Reveals How Saif Ali Khan Has Changed Kareena Kapoor's Life Post Marriage! "I know our TV budgets in India cannot support and afford that kind of production value. Besides, the writing is so good there. So, I wondered if we can really adapt it without compromising on the quality. "But when I saw the first season of 24, I was really impressed because I know the kind of budgets they are working on. I thought that as a production house and team, they have done a damn good job. The writing is not as good as in the west, but it's not bad at all," he added. The Jason Bourne star, Matt Damon, says, he has been tired, with a hectic work schedule this year and so intends to take an year off from work, to regain his stamina, to work in movies further. "I took a bunch of roles in a row. I've done four straight movies in a row and I have one more to go," he said. The 45-year-old , who is making a comeback in his iconic role as 'Jason Bourne' in the movie titled the same, is worried about dragging his family to almost every part of the world for his work, and shooting for the movies. "They're really good sports. They're great travelers. But I'm excited to finish out this year of work and take a year off and be at their behest for once," he said. Damon is currently lined up with a few movies this year, the first to come is the much anticipated release of this year Jason Bourne which is expected to release this weekend. Then he has The Great Wall release coming next which has unfortunately faced a lot of criticism regarding white-washing in Hollywood. Then his other film, Downsizing is scheduled to release which is still in the production line. Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. last week announced Blue lives matter! at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. On Tuesday, Maria Hamilton will take the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She is the mother of Dontre Hamilton, who was killed by a Milwaukee police officer in 2014 during a confrontation that occurred after the officer awoke him while he was sleeping in a park. Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY NETWORK / MICHAEL SEARS By of the In a summer when tensions between police and black communities have led to protests and clashes around the country, the two major parties are addressing the issue in starkly different ways at their back-to-back national conventions. Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. last week announced "Blue lives matter!" from the Republican National Convention stage in Cleveland a shoutout for the police meant as a rejoinder to the Black Lives Matter movement that has arisen in response to police shootings of African-Americans. On Tuesday, Maria Hamilton is set to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Hamilton is the mother of Dontre Hamilton, who was killed by a Milwaukee police officer in 2014. She will join other mothers of those killed by police and gun violence. "The issue of Black Lives Matter, which was largely ignored or overlooked at the Republican convention in favor of emphasizing Blue Lives Matter, shows the gap between the parties in how they view this," said political scientist Charles Franklin. "This reflects the deep division between the parties in the way they see the use of force by police officers, and how they have different views about how justified or not justified that use of force is." Franklin, who is director of the Marquette University Law School poll, said the choice to feature speakers from Milwaukee also shows "the critical importance of Milwaukee turnout and particularly African-American turnout in statewide Wisconsin elections." Convention kicks off Maria Hamilton said she wants to deliver the message that silence is not an option during her speech at the Democratic convention, which runs Monday through Thursday. "I hope they really and truly hear us," Hamilton said. "It's not OK to sit by and be silent anymore." Hamilton will appear Tuesday night with other Mothers of the Movement, a group composed of mothers of young black men and women who have either been killed by gun violence or in the custody of the police. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee, who will also speak at the convention, has worked closely with the Hamilton family since the shooting. "She has turned her pain into action," said Moore, who has written legislation that would require police to get training in how to de-escalate tense situations. "Mothers are grieving over the deaths of their sons, but they're also calling for guns to be out of the hands of the wrong people, they're also calling for police training, they're also calling for positive steps and solutions," she said. "We want the police presence in our community. We rely on police officers to serve and protect. It's not anybody in Hillary (Clinton's) campaign that's articulating anything other than a need for police and the community to work together." Clarke sees it differently. He has repeatedly called the Black Lives Matter movement "Black Lies Matter," and predicted it would even join forces with terrorist groups like the Islamic State. In his speech at the Republican National Convention, and in a talk with GOP delegates, Clarke stressed the importance of safety and law enforcement officers. Police 'under attack' "The American law enforcement officer is under attack," he told delegates. "The American law enforcement officer's character, service, sacrifice, commitment has been maligned and mischaracterized by some very powerful forces in the country. ... These are subversives that are doing this." His comments hit on themes similar to those real estate mogul Donald Trump made in his speech Thursday accepting the GOP presidential nomination. Trump repeatedly called himself the law-and-order candidate. "The Democrat Party has gone so outside the mainstream that they have abandoned the middle class both black and white in favor of becoming the party that abhors law and order and the police," Clarke said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel. "The Democrat Party views criminals as victims while encouraging the furtherance of the American ghetto through government dependency." Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said it is frustrating to hear political rhetoric that pushes people to one side or the other either for cops or for those who have been unjustly shot by them. Palmer whose police union has endorsed candidates from both parties over the years said having speakers like Hamilton at the Democratic convention "exacerbates the divisiveness." Republicans have been more staunchly behind law enforcement, but they have been dismissive of the Black Lives Matter movement to the point that "it has actually created a more divisive environment," he said. Police officers should engage with people who have concerns about their practices, while critics should learn more about the use of force and training standards for law enforcement, he said. "Until we can bridge that gap, we're in trouble," he said. Palmer said politicians need to find common-sense policing solutions, such as the 2014 Wisconsin law that requires outside law enforcement agencies to investigate when people die in police custody. Wisconsin was the first state to pass such a law, and since then two others Illinois and Connecticut have followed suit. President Barack Obama's administration included the measure in its recommendations on law enforcement reforms. Palmer also called for the use of more body cameras and better collection of data about police stops. "We have a discourse that's an emotional discourse on policing in America," Palmer said. "But we don't have the information needed to really seriously evaluate the problem." Shot in park Both conventions are being held in the wake of a wrenching summer that has seen deadly police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, followed by fatal attacks targeting police officers in Texas and Louisiana. Five police officers were killed in the ambush in Dallas, then three officers were killed in Baton Rouge just one day before the GOP convention's opening day. Dontre Hamilton, 31, was killed in Red Arrow Park by then-Milwaukee police officer Christopher Manney. After Manney arrived at the park and began to pat down Hamilton, Hamilton fought him, and a confrontation ensued. Manney tried to use his baton to subdue Hamilton, but Hamilton got control of it and swung at Manney, hitting him on the side of the neck, according to Milwaukee police internal affairs. Manney shot Hamilton 14 times during the confrontation. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney for his actions leading up to the shooting, but not for his use of force. Maria Hamilton met Clinton after a speech in September at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was also among a group of mothers who met with Clinton in Chicago in November. Hamilton said Clinton spent two hours listening to the group and incorporated some of their thoughts into her proposals for police reform and gun violence. "I'm grateful that Hillary Clinton gave me a platform to speak so that I could tell my story and my voice is heard," Hamilton said. "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else at this point in my life." She also credited Clinton with taking an interest in the mothers' lives and the work that they're doing, even when they're not campaigning with her. "She has been very vocal in giving us opinions as to how we can better the work and serve the community," Hamilton said. "So it's a learning experience, as well as her giving her personal support to all of us." For Hamilton, that work includes building a network of mothers across the nation to advocate for changes to hold police officers accountable, such as changing how the U.S. Department of Justice reviews cases and requiring a special prosecutor to investigate all deaths in police custody. "The contrast between the two speakers from Milwaukee could not be clearer in terms of the sort-of policy priorities of each of the parties," said Mordecai Lee, a UW-Milwaukee political science professor and former Democratic state legislator. "And that they practically are living in parallel universes." Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. MAIN CONVENTION SPEAKERS Monday: Sen. Bernie Sanders; first lady Michelle Obama Tuesday: Former President Bill Clinton; Mothers of the Movement Wednesday: Vice President Joe Biden; President Barack Obama Thursday: Daughter Chelsea Clinton; Hillary Clinton Kajal Aggarwal has reportedly backed out of Vikram's much anticipated project Garuda, being directed by Thiru of Naan Sigappu Manithan and Samar fame. It is said that the project couldn't go on floor in June as expected earlier, prompting Kajal to back out of the film. The Thuppakki actress chose to sign Ajith's Thala 57 instead and is now officially onboard Siva's film. Meanwhile, the team of Garuda is on the look out for a female lead and going by speculations, Trisha might be roped in. Garuda is being filmed at Oman and reports have it that the team will move on to places like Ladakh, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Pollachi and Coimbatore among other Indian cities. Girinandh will be making his debut as a music director. "Glad to announce d title of our movie with Chiyaan Vikram sir s #GARUDA & music by debutant C.Girinandh," (sic) Thiru had posted. Actor Mahesh Manjrekar of Arrambam fame has been roped in to play the main villain. Stay tuned for more updates. Also Read: Experts Disagree With Thanu, Say 'Kabali' Entered 200 Crore Club On Its Fifth Day! In the upcoming episodes of Swaragini, Swara (Helly Shah) will get to know about Dadi's secret. It has to be recalled that Dadi was responsible for Sharmista's accident. She had also bribed the nurse in the hospital. She had asked the nurse to hide Sharmista's baby, and tell Sharmista that her baby is dead! Swara observes Dadi's strange behaviour. She also catches Dadi giving money to a nurse in the market and gets suspicious about her. Check Out The Spoilers With Pictures In the upcoming episode, Dadi will again hide and meet the nurse at the temple. Swara and Ragini would also be in the same temple, while Dadi is unaware of it. While Swara is worried about her mother Sharmista, Ragini has double worries - her mother's health as well as Parineeta's threat. In the previous episode, we saw Parineeta repeatedly disturbing Ragini, as she wanted the latter to stop Adarsh from divorcing Parineeta. She also blackmails Ragini with a video. Apparently, the video will be of Ragini's, where she would be seen involved in wrong act, to save her family. Although she wanted to hide the matter, somehow Parineeta gets to know about this and starts threatening her! Meanwhile, in the temple, Swara watches Dadi speaking to a lady. Seeing Dadi tensed, Swara decides to follow her, but Ragini interrupts. Dadi's plan backfires as the nurse join hands with another lady and starts demanding more money to hide the secret! The nurse snatches money from Dadi as the other lady threatens Dadi with a knife. Swara somehow manages to find out about the lady to whom Dadi was speaking to, and follows her to the hospital. The nurse panics seeing Swara. The nurse reveals to Swara, the whole story of how she hid Sharmista's baby on a lady's (Dadi) instruction! PUNE, India, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Marketby Grade (Optical and General Purpose), Form (Extruded, Cast Acrylic, Pellets, and Beads), and Application (Signs & Displays, Construction, Automotive, Lighting Fixtures and Electronics) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size is projected to reach USD 5.56 Billion by 2021, registering a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 84 market data Tables and 53 Figures spread through 149 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/polymethyl-methacrylate-pmma-market-715.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The increased demand of plastics with high strength, durability, chemical and UV resistance, and high light transmission among others are some factors that are driving the PMMA market. Signs & displays is thelargestapplication The signs & display segment accounts for the largest share of the PMMA market. This is due to the favorable properties such as high strength, durability, resistance to chemicals and weathering, and ease of processing, which makes them suitable for making instruction boards, advertising boards, display boards, and signage. Electronics is the fastest-growing segment of the PMMA market. Increasing growth in this sector has paved the demand of PMMA for various applications such as appliances parts, LED/LCD screens, laptop & mobile phone screen, touch screens, and cover panels. PMMA beads are expected to witness the highest growth PMMA in beads form is expected to witness the fastest growth in the PMMA market during the forecast period. Their demand is increasing due to the increasing demand for various high-performance plastics. PMMA beads are preferred in the industry, as they are used to enhance the various properties of thermoplastics such as UV resistance, toughness (impact modifiers), optical properties, and chemical resistance. Thermoplastics made from PMMA are suitable for automotive, construction, lighting, electronics, and other application. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=715 Asia-Pacific is the largestPMMAmarket Asia-Pacific dominated the global PMMA Market in 2015. The demand of PMMA in the Asia-Pacific region is mainly driven by the rising demand for high quality plastics from end-use industries. Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest-growing market for PMMA, in terms of value. This high growth is because of the increased demand from the automotive and electronics segments in the region. Moreover, the growing infrastructural development is increasing the demand of PMMA in the region. Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd (Japan), Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd (Japan), and Chi Mei Corporation (Taiwan) are some of the major players in the global PMMA market. Browse Related Reports: Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) Adhesive Market by Material Type (Composites, Metals, Plastics, and Others), by Application (Commercial Vehicle, Marine, Wind Energy, General Assembly, and Others), & by Region - Global Forecasts to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/methyl-methacrylate-adhesives-market-74536936.html Acrylic Resin Market by Type (Methacrylates, Acrylates & Hybrids), Solvency, Property (Thermoplastic & Thermosetting) & Application (Paints & Coatings, Construction, Industrial & Commercial, Paper & Paperboard, Textiles & Fibers & Adhesives) - Trends & Forecast to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/acrylic-resin-market-246195771.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr.Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - SM Fish Corp. of Far Rockaway, New York, is voluntarily recalling OSSIE'S brand ready-to-eat Herring Salads due to potential contamination with the deadly bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products and their UPC Code and 'Best By' date codes are as follows: - OSSIE'S PICKLED LOX DAIRY, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885114136 - OSSIE'S HERRING IN SOURCREAM, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885114174 - OSSIE'S TAAM SHABBOS HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109057 - OSSIES'S STIGLITZ HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109064 - OSSIE'S WASABI HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109088 - OSSIE'S SWEDISH MATJES HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109101 - OSSIE'S DUBLIN HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109002 - OSSIE'S HONEY MUSTARD HERRING; NET WT. 7 OZ. 739885109019 - OSSIE'S PICKLED LOX & CREAM, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885104113 - OSSIE'S SHMALTZ HERRING, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885104182 - OSSIE'S ROMAN SHMALTZ HERRING, NET WT. 7 OZ., UPC 739885109026 - OSSIE'S PICKLED HERRING, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885104175 - OSSIE'S PICKLED HERRING CLEAR, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885104205 - OSSIE'S PICKLED LOX, NET WT. 8 OZ., UPC 739885104137. Packed in plastic deli containers, the above listed products were sold at the firm's eight retail outlets located in New York and New Jersey. Consumers who have purchased any of the above affected products are urged not to consume them and promptly return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Estonia's industrial production declined for the second straight month in June, figures from Statistics Estonia showed Monday. Industrial production fell a working-day-adjusted 4.6 percent year-over-year in June, which was worse than the 2.0 percent drop in May. Production in the mining sector tumbled 57.4 percent annually in June, led by the oil-shale mining decline due to low demand caused by the low price of oil and oil-shale products. Manufacturing output decreased 1.4 percent, while energy production logged a growth of 14.2 percent. On a monthly basis, industrial production slipped a seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent in June, following a 3.2 percent fall in the prior month. It was also the second consecutive monthly drop. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Winners to be announced at the IFS Partner Network Summit on October 24, 2016 in Gothenburg, Sweden IFS (http://www4.ifsworld.com/l/5332/2015-08-10/2qts7r) (STO:IFSA)(STO:IFSB) the global enterprise applications company, is pleased to present the finalists of the inaugural IFS Partner of the Year Awards (http://www4.ifsworld.com/l/5332/2016-03-08/38kynl) that recognize outstanding partner achievements, innovation and excellence in service delivery. Held in conjunction with the IFS Partner Network Summit, the IFS Partner of the Year Awards is a global initiative that celebrates the success driven by partners throughout the global IFS partner ecosystem. The awards recognize outstanding partner achievements across seven prestigious categories. Award winners will be announced on Monday October 24, 2016, at the IFS Partner Network Summit, held in conjunction with the IFS World Conference 2016 in Gothenburg, Sweden. "We set up the IFS Partner of the Year Awards to recognize and celebrate the remarkable work that our partners are delivering, and are thrilled with the high volume of exceptional nominations that have been submitted," said IFS Vice President of Global Alliances, David Eager. "Our global partner ecosystem is thriving and actively contributes to the growth of IFS, so this award initiative is not only a great showcase but also demonstrates what can be achieved by investing and commiting to partnering. I would like to congratulate our finalists, and thank all our partners who took the time to share their unique stories of success as part of this initiative." The following companies have be shortlisted as finalists of the IFS Partner of the Year Awards: IFS Channel Partner of the Year Addovation Field Service Management Ltd. NEC NovaCura IFS Services Partner of the Year Enterprise Accenture Infosys L&T Infotech Tech Mahindra Midmarket Astra Enterprise Consulting Envecon Eqeep IFS Software Partner of the Year Cedar Bay ClickLearn Pagero Radley IFS Technology Partner of the Year 2Conciliate Business Solutions Logicalis Microsoft Oracle IFS Innovative Partner of the Year Americas Astra ClickLearn Logicalis Nayo Technologies Asia Pacific Beiming BMSoft Zhengsi Technology Co, Ltd NS Solutions Corporation PT IFS Solutions Indonesia (IFSSI) EMEA 2Conciliate Business Solutions Cooper Software ISE Information Systems Engineering GmbH NovaCura IFS New Partner of the Year Affecto Capgemini GCubed Technologies GEC Development IFS Customer's Choice Award Cooper Software DinERP Enterprise Consulting Infosys For more information about the IFS Partner Network, please visit: http://www.ifsworld.com/corp/partners/ Due to a high volume of quality entries in the IFS Services Partner of the Year category, IFS will recognize and award both an enterprise and midmarket partner About IFS IFS (http://www.ifsworld.com/en/) is a globally recognized leader in developing and delivering enterprise software for enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise service management (ESM). IFS brings customers in targeted sectors closer to their business, helps them be more agile and prepare for what's next in their industry. IFS is a public company (XSTO: IFS) founded in 1983 and currently has over 2,800 employees. IFS supports more than 1 million users worldwide from its network of local offices and through a growing ecosystem of partners. For more information visit: IFSworld.com (http://www.ifsworld.com/en/). Follow us on Twitter: @ifsworld (http://www.twitter.com/ifsworld) Visit the IFS Blogs on technology, innovation and creativity: http://blogs.ifsworld.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160731005082/en/ Contacts: IFS Anna Claesson Partner Communications Phone: +1 520-396-2126 press@ifsworld.com Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 1 August 2016 Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company') Technical Update on Licensing Options 16/20 and 16/21, Offshore Ireland Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused on Europe, is pleased to provide detailed technical information on the recently awarded Licensing Options ('LO') 16/20 and 16/21. Europa has a 100% interest in, and is operator of, seven licences in the Atlantic basins offshore Ireland including LO 16/20 and LO 16/21, which cover 945 km2 and 832 km2 respectively in the Greater Corrib play in the Slyne Basin and are near the producing Corrib gas field. Highlights Several large gas leads identified across both LO 16/20 and LO 16/21 in the Greater Corrib area of the Slyne Basin - a hydrocarbon play proven by the Corrib gas field Gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 1 TCF identified in LO 16/20 Gross mean un-risked indicative resources of 0.5 TCF identified in LO 16/21 The Greater Corrib play comprises Triassic sandstone reservoirs in tilted fault block structures with hydrocarbons generated from Carboniferous source rocks Water depths range from 300 - 2000m and the licences are already partially covered by historic 3D seismic data as well as extensive 2D seismic Strategy to expedite exploration by securing a farm-in partner(s) with which to reprocess historic 3D seismic over LO 16/20 and LO 16/21 and to mature leads to drillable prospect status Europa CEO Hugh Mackay said, "Not everything offshore west Ireland is high risk, deepwater, frontier exploration. LOs 16/20 and 16/21 are in the greater Corrib area of the Slyne Basin and represent exploration in a proven play, in the vicinity of a gas field that is newly on production and with substantial gas infrastructure already in place. Clearly we are at a very early stage in the exploration cycle, however, equally clearly we have a well defined work programme to de-risk the play. In particular it is hoped that successful reprocessing of historic 3D seismic might allow us to mature existing leads to drillable prospect status without the need to acquire new seismic data. "We are excited by the diversity of play type and risk profile that LO 16/20 and 16/21 in the Greater Corrib area brings to our Atlantic Ireland portfolio. Out of the gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf of gas we have so far identified across our seven offshore Ireland licences, LO 16/20 and 16/21 account for the 1.5 tcf of gas. We feel there is an excellent balance between these two LOs and our four licences in the South Porcupine Basin and our Padraig Basin licence. We look forward to providing further updates in due course." A map can be found on Europa's website detailing the location of all seven of Europa's offshore Ireland licences. Please click on the link below or copy and paste this into your browser: http://www.europaoil.com/documents/160607EuropaIrishLicences_002.pdf. An updated concession map for Ireland can be found on the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) website at: http://www.dccae.gov.ie/natural-resources/SiteCollectionDocuments/Oil-and-Gas-Exploration-and-Production/A0_Concession_Map_Jul2016.pdf Further Information LO 16/20 and 16/21, were awarded to Europa as part of Phase 2 of the 2015 Atlantic Ireland licensing round (see announcements of 3 June and 8 June 2016). The duration of LO 16/20 and LO 16/21 is three years, effective from 1 June 2016. Following the completion of a work programme, Europa has the option to apply to the Irish authorities for their consent to convert the LO into a full Frontier Exploration Licence ('FEL'). During the period of the Licensing Option, Europa will further mature the prospect inventory and will seek a farm-in partner with which to convert to an FEL, reprocess a 3D seismic survey and in due course drill an exploration well (subject to a positive technical and commercial outcome from the 3D seismic programme). LO 16/20 LO 16/20 comprises 945 km2 in the Slyne Basin immediately to the northwest of, and sharing a common border with, the Corrib gas field. Water depths range from 300-2000m and our principal lead 18/19-TR1 is a tilted fault block in 500 m of water depth and approximately 16 km to the northwest of the Corrib gas field. The main objective is the Greater Corrib Play, i.e. Triassic fluvio-lacustrine sandstones ("Sherwood Sandstone") sourced by Carboniferous gas and capped by late Triassic mudstones and evaporites ("Mercia Mudstone"). The principal lead 18/19-TR1 is estimated to have gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 1 TCF. The principal leads are covered by a Veritas 3D seismic survey originally acquired in 2002 for Enterprise Oil as well as historic 2D seismic. It is hoped to significantly uplift seismic quality with successful reprocessing of the historic 3D seismic data and that it will be possible to mature existing leads to drillable prospect status without requiring additional seismic acquisition. LO 16/21 LO 16/21 comprises 832 km2 in the Slyne Basin some 40 km to the northeast of the Corrib gas field. Water depths range from 500-2000m. The main obective is the Greater Corrib Play, i.e. Triassic fluvio-lacustrine sandstones ("Sherwood Sandstone") sourced by Carboniferous gas and capped by late Triassic mudstones and evaporites ("Mercia Mudstone"). A number of leads have been identified with gross mean un-risked indicative resources of 0.5 TCF. The principal leads are covered by a Fugro 3D seismic survey originally acquired in 2000 for Statoil as well as historic 2D seismic. It is hoped to significantly uplift seismic quality with successful reprocessing of the historic 3D seismic data and that it will be possible to mature some of the existing leads to drillable prospect status without requiring additional seismic acquisition. Corrib Gas Field The Corrib gas field lies some 83km off the north west coast of Ireland, approximately 3,000 metres under the seabed and in waters 350 metres deep. The Corrib Field was discovered in 1996 by Enterprise Oil. Enterprise Oil was acquired by the Shell group in 2002 who took over operatorship of the Corrib project. The Corrib project is a joint venture between operator Shell E&P Ireland Ltd. (45%), Statoil Exploration Ireland Ltd. (36.5%), and Vermilion Energy Ireland Ltd. (18.5%). Corrib started gas production in December 2015. The Corrib field has been developed as a subsea-to-shore tieback solution with six production wells, a 20-in. pipeline leading from the subsea wellheads to landfall near the village of Glengad and onwards through an onshore pipeline to the Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal in northwest Mayo about 9 km inland. The gas is then transferred into the Bord Gais Eireann national grid for distribution to Irish markets. The field is believed to contain approximately 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in Triassic sandstone reservoir. Europa understands peak production at Corrib is expected to reach 260 MMscfd of gas. At peak levels, the potential exists to meet as much as 60% of Ireland's gas needs. Atlantic basin portfolio Europa has seven licences in three basins in the Atlantic basins offshore Ireland. The combined gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion boe and 1.5 tcf gas. gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources Licence Europa equity area km2 Basin Term Oil millon boe Gas TCF FEL 2/13 100% operator 768 South Porcupine Phase 1 of 15 yr 595 FEL 3/13 100% operator 782 South Porcupine Phase 1 of 15 yr 1,500 LO 16/2 100% operator 523 South Porcupine 2 yr 895 LO 16/19 100% operator 976 South Porcupine 2 yr 700 LO 16/20 100% operator 945 Slyne Basin 3 yr 1 LO 16/21 100% operator 832 Slyne Basin 3 yr 0.5 LO 16/22 100% operator 992 Padraig 3 yr 500 total 5,818 4,190 1.5 * * ENDS * * For further information please visit http://www.europaoil.com/ or contact: Hugh Mackay Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Phil Greenhalgh Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Matt Goode finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Simon Hicks finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Notes Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and development interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer attractive terms. In 2015 Europa produced 141 boepd. Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development (targeting production start-up in H2 2016 at up to 500 bopd gross) in the UK; 100% owned gas exploration prospect (107 bcf) and appraisal project (CPR 277 bcf) in onshore France, a joint venture with Vermilion Energy also in onshore France; and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas across all seven licences. Qualified Person Review This release has been reviewed by Hugh Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, who is a petroleum geologist with 30 years' experience in petroleum exploration and a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Fellow of the Geological Society. Mr Mackay has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears. NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - August 01, 2016) - ICMediaDirect is a public relations and online reputation management agency that is transforming the way high-profile individuals and companies manage brand information. The award-winning firm recently revealed the key pillars of managing online reputation while many organizations are struggling to formulate viable, responsive digital media campaigns. The company's strategic efforts not only suppress unfavorable publicity in search engine results, but they have given hope to hundreds of companies and individuals who wish to project a positive message online. See your Online Reputation Report now, by visiting http://www.icmediadirect.com Reputation experts at ICMediaDirect recommend that companies monitor online activities regularly so that a reputation management plan can be implemented as quickly as possible. By keeping a close eye on brand mentions and online reviews, brands, individuals, and agencies can be proactive in their approach to online reputation management. Using a variety of monitoring tools will make the task easier and more efficient. Google Alerts allows users to receive email updates on the latest Google results featuring brand mentions. To monitor activities connected to a brand on various social media platforms, entities should use the Social Mention tool that keeps track of selected keywords. Managing information appearing on the internet is a key pillar of online reputation management. Professionals at ICMediaDirect recommend claiming all online listings connected to the brand on various platforms, including local directories, Google Places and other locations that provide such information. Although companies have little control over what other people say on social media, they can influence the conversation by focusing on proactive brand messaging. ICMediaDirect team advocates the incorporation of the latest marketing technologies, such as storytelling techniques and videos. A combination of innovative photography and building a coherent narrative raises engagement and creates an opportunity for businesses to build trust and the right image. ICMediaDirect is an online reputation and content marketing agency with offices in New York City and Washington, DC. A leading firm in the industry, it has helped clients all over the world improve their brand's potential with online reputation management since 1996. It was awarded the New York Excellence Award by the SBIEC yet again this year due to its knowledge and experience in SEO and creating compelling content. ICMediaDirect attends a variety of marketing conferences and events throughout the year, including Affiliate Summit, SES, and LeadsCon, often sharing its expertise and marketing methods with individuals and corporations from all over the world. To see your Online Reputation Report, visit http://www.icmediadirect.com IC Media Direct -- PR and Marketing News: http://icmediadirectnews.com Reputation-Control.com -- 100% Reputation Control: http://www.reputation-control.com ICMediaDirect -- Reputation Management -- ICMediaDirect Attends CSEW 2016 Conference: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/icmediadirect-reputation-management-icmediadirect-attends-063506039.html Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/31/11G108747/Images/IC_Media_Direct_-_Reputation_Management_-_ICMediaD-08dc6ae2e330aed0b11b38a52c0759fb.jpg Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QHOeY8qAM Contact Information ICMediaDirect.com TEL: 1.800.595.0821 www.ICMediaDirect.com pr@icmediadirect.com MOSCOW, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- PJSC MTS (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS), the leading telecommunications operator in Russia, announces the decisions reached at the meeting of the Board of Directors ("BoD" or "the Board") held on July 29, 2016. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121115/AQ14468LOGO ) At the meeting, the Board took the following decisions: To set September 30, 2016 , as the date of the Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders ("the EGM"); , as the date of the Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders ("the EGM"); To set the record date for the Company's shareholders entitled to participate in the EGM for September 5, 2016 ; ; To recommend that the EGM approves semi-annual dividends of RUB 11.99 per ordinary MTS share ( RUB 23.98 per ADR), or a total of RUB 23.96 billion (RUB 23,960,595,084.25) , based on H1 2016 financial results; per ordinary MTS share ( per ADR), or a total of , based on H1 2016 financial results; To recommend that the EGM set the record date for shareholders entitled to receive dividends for H1 2016 for October 14, 2016 ; ; Approval of the cost for audit services; Approval of the agenda for the EGM, as well as procedures surrounding the preparation and organization of the EGM, which will include approval of participation of MTS PJSC in non-profit organizations; and Approval of certain related-party transactions. About Mobile TeleSystems (MTS): Mobile TeleSystems PJSC ("MTS" - NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS) is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe. We provide wireless Internet access and fixed voice, broadband and pay-TV to over 100 million customers who value high quality of service at a competitive price. Our wireless and fixed-line networks deliver best-in-class speeds and coverage throughout Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. To keep pace with evolving customer demand, we continue to grow through innovative products, investments in our market-leading retail platform, mobile payment services, e-commerce and IT solutions. For more information, please visit: http://www.mtsgsm.com . Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at http://www.mtsgsm.com/blog/ For further information, please contact in Moscow: Joshua B. Tulgan Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations Mobile TeleSystems PJSC Tel: +7-495-223-2025 E-mail: ir@mts.ru Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of MTS, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might," and the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not undertake or intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. We refer you to the documents MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Company's most recent Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the severity and duration of current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the impact of Russian, U.S. and other foreign government programs to restore liquidity and stimulate national and global economies, our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so, strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions and our success in integrating acquired businesses, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, our competitive environment, dependence on new service development and tariff structures, rapid technological and market change, acquisition strategy, risks associated with telecommunications infrastructure, governmental regulation of the telecommunications industries and other risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks. SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/01/16 -- Youngevity International, Inc. (OTCQX: YGYI) (www.YGYI.com), a global direct marketer of nutritional and lifestyle products and also a vertically-integrated producer of gourmet coffees for the commercial, retail and direct sales channels, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, CLR Roasters, has entered a three year agreement with Bread Partners Inc to provide 18 Au Bon Pain locations, an internationally recognized leader in the fast-casual restaurant category, with CLR Roasters strictly high-grown, washed, Arabica coffee and Organic coffees, which are grown on CLR's wholly owned Siles Family Plantation Group's properties in Nicaragua. The restaurants are located in South Florida. The agreement provides that Au Bon Pain will sell Cafe La Rica, the Company's unique espresso brand, which is designed to create a captivating aroma and bold flavor that is true to the authentic Cuban coffee roasting tradition. At the same time, Youngevity is also announcing that CLR Roasters will support the launch of its growing Food Service Division in the South Florida market by deploying 3 Company owned and branded coffee trucks. In addition, to supporting its expansion in South Florida, CLR Roasters has made an initial purchase of 100 espresso machines and milk dispensers, representing an initial investment of over $250,000. The trucks offer delivery and installation support to select areas in South Florida and are expected to expedite coffee delivery to the Company's commercial customers. Ernesto Aguila, President of CLR Roasters, stated, "The unique flavors of our coffees, specifically Cafe La Rica, has been embraced by many specialty coffee drinkers. We have found that there is a great affinity for Cafe La Rica by the Hispanic Community since Cafe La Rica has been blended in the authentic Cuban coffee tradition. Hispanics represent over 70 percent of Miami's (South Florida) population, with Cuban Americans still comprising over 50% of Miami's population. The Hispanic community continues to grow. After extensive market research, we decided to bring our first class line of coffee to this market in restaurants and cafeterias. Bread Partners Inc has indicated that its Au Bon Pain locations are experiencing growth in coffee sales in those restaurants which are currently serving our coffees. Coffee drinkers in South Florida have access to our products at various retailers and a growing number of restaurants and cafes. Cafe La Rica espresso and CLR's other brands are roasted in our Miami plant allowing for the freshest possible, high quality coffee." Dave Briskie, President and CFO of Youngevity stated, "As a vertically-integrated producer of gourmet coffees for the commercial, retail and direct sales channels, our coffee is sourced from our properties in Nicaragua and our coffees are Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest and Bird Friendly, as well as UTZ certified. This allows us to bring our coffees from Central America with a unique value proposition. Working with Ernesto and his team, we have decided to greatly expand our marketing in the South Florida market, while we simultaneously supply coffee into commercial and retails channels in 25 other U.S. States. By producing quality gourmet coffees and having the capacity to bring the rich flavor directly to a growing group of cultivated consumers, we know we have great potential to expand our growing customer base." About Youngevity International, Inc. Youngevity International, Inc. (OTCQX: YGYI) (www.YGYI.com) is a fast-growing, innovative, multi-dimensional company that offers a wide range of consumer products and services, primarily through person-to-person selling relationships that comprise a "network of networks." The Company also is a vertically-integrated producer of the finest coffees for the commercial, retail and direct sales channels. The Company was formed after the merger of Youngevity Essential Life Sciences (www.youngevity.com) and Javalution Coffee Company in the summer of 2011. The company was formerly known as AL International, Inc. and changed its name to Youngevity International, Inc. in July 2013. Safe Harbor Statement This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995on our current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions and include statements regarding our coffee design creating a captivating aroma and bold flavor that is true to the authentic Cuban coffee tradition, the Company's plan to significantly expand its sales in South Florida, the size of the South Florida market and Hispanic community, the continued growth of the Hispanic community, the growth of coffee sales at Au Bon Pain locations, and the expected ability of the branded coffee trucks to expedite coffee delivery to the Company's commercial customers. These statements are based upon current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and include statements regarding and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict, including the Company's ability to successfully expand our coffee sales in South Florida including to the Hispanic community, the Company's ability to successfully market the branded coffee trucks, the Company's ability to successfully partner with Bread Partners Inc and the other factors described in the Company's Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including subsequent periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release based on new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS: INVESTORS: Chuck Harbey Managing Director, Corporate Advisory PCG Advisory Group Phone + 1 646 863 7997 MEDIA: Sean Leous Public Relations Phone +1 917 715 3765 SHARE Frank Greguska Sr. Family photo By of the Frank J. Greguska Sr., who with his wife, Irene, turned a mom-and-pop liquor store into the Milwaukee fixture Discount Liquor, died Wednesday from a heart condition. He was 80. A Milwaukee native, Greguska had been married a few years and managing a Clark Oil station when he and Irene bought a small liquor store in 1960 on Forest Home Blvd. "It was those Rat Pack days, so liquor was a good business that was exciting and ever-changing," said his daughter, Marie Greguska. Frank and Irene had to figure out the ropes by themselves, she said, after the former owner reneged on a promise to help the couple get the store up and running. Business boomed, and they expanded the original store a few times before opening a second location in Waukesha in 1978. They moved their Milwaukee store to 5031 W. Oklahoma Ave. about a decade later. Greguska was on a first-name basis with most of his customers, and handed out pretzels to kids who came to the store with their parents. One year, Greguska bought 500 cases of Fleischmann's gin the largest purchase of its kind in the state at the time and displayed them stacked one on top of the other in the store windows with a palm tree. Son Frank Jr. said it proved a huge success, and the store continues the tradition. Discount Liquor is a perennial favorite on national and local "best of" lists. And GQ magazine touted it in its 2004 list of 50 Best Wine Stores in America, saying "the unoriginal name belies an inspired selection." The son of Slovakian immigrants, Greguska was born in 1936 and grew up with strong ties to the local Slovakian community. As a boy, he and his mother traveled to her homeland on the oceanliner the RMS Queen Mary. Greguska and Irene married in 1957, and Frank Jr. was born a year later. The couple would have five children, who remember their father as a quiet man with a dry sense of humor. As his children grew up, Greguska involved them in the family business. Frank Jr., who began sorting bottles as a kid, now manages the business. All of Greguska's children, and even some of his grandchildren, work at Discount Liquor. "He was a very family-oriented, hardworking man," said Frank Jr. In his free time, Greguska enjoyed riding motorcycles, playing the accordion and taking his kids to see James Bond movies. He was active in the Slovak Catholic gymnastics society and served as an usher in the former St. Stephen Martyr Parish. As he got older, Greguska began having trouble with his heart, but still came into the office every day. "He still signed paychecks to the very end," said Frank Jr. Frank Greguska Sr. is survived by his children Frank Jr., Michael, Barbara Nash, Marie and Thomas, and his 12 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Irene. Frank J. Greguska Sr. There will be a visitation on Monday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church from 3 to 7 p.m., and a committal prayer on Tuesday at Holy Cross Cemetery at 11 a.m. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following last week's Democratic National Convention, the results of a new CBS News poll show Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has climbed back into the lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump. Forty-six percent of registered voters said they support Clinton, while 39 percent said they prefer Trump. Another 7 percent of those surveyed said they won't vote. The seven-point lead compares to a poll conducted after the Republican National Convention showing the race tied at 42 percent. CBS News noted Clinton's 4-point bounce is similar to those President Barack Obama saw after the Democratic conventions in 2008 and 2012 but short of the 13-point jump seen for her husband Bill Clinton in 1992. Clinton has also seen an improvement in her favorability rating, as 36 percent said they have a positive view of the former Secretary of State versus 31 percent a week ago. Fifty percent continue to view Clinton unfavorably, but that is down from 56 percent. The poll showed Clinton has expanded her lead among women, although she continues to trail Trump by a large margin among men. The CBS News survey of 1,131 registered voters was conducted by SRSS from July 29th through 31st and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. By mid-2016, the total capacity of renewable energy plants in Ukraine reached 1,028 MW. According to a report released by the SEF-2016 KYIV International Forum of Sustainable Energy in Ukraine, as of July 1, the country had 453 MW of solar plants, 426 MW of wind farms, 31 MW of biomass power and 118 MW of small hydro power plants. About a year ago, the Ukrainian government established new FIT compensation rules; in early 2016, it approved the new feed-in premium rules for domestic content. It seems to have given a new push to Ukrainian renewable development. "After the establishment of the new tariff rules a year ago, we witnessed the beginning of the new renaissance in the Ukrainian renewable energy sector," Vitaliy Daviy, CEO of Innovative Business Centre (IBCentre), the organizer of SEF-2016, told pv magazine. "Today, we clearly see the interest of some new investors from the U.S., some European countries and especially from Turkey." In the first six months of 2016, 14 renewable energy plants totaling 39 MW went online in Ukraine, representing a total investment of over 42 million ($46.9 million). 12 out of the 14 newly developed projects are solar power plants with a total capacity of 37 MW; the remaining two are biofuel facilities. 22.2 MW of PV projects have been developed by Podilskiy Energoconsulting based in Vinnitsa, in central Ukraine. According to the ministry of environment and natural resources, 34 more solar plants totaling over 120 MW are to be completed in the second half of the year. Seven of these projects will have a capacity of 5 MW or more. The new feed-in tariffs in Ukraine are set at 0.1599/kWh ($0.18) for ground-mounted solar power plants commissioned in 2016 ... Den vollstandigen Artikel lesen ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., released a strongly worded statement Monday criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's attacks on the family of a fallen Muslim soldier. In the statement, McCain argued that the GOP's nomination of Trump does not give the real estate tycoon the right to defame the parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan. 'In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents,' McCain said in the statement. 'He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States - to say nothing of entering its service.' 'I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement,' he added. 'I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.' Khizr and Ghazala Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week, attacking Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. CHARLESTON, SC -- (Marketwired) -- 08/01/16 -- Charleston payroll and human capital management (HCM) firm AAP announces it has appointed Janet Kacer as chief operating officer, effective immediately. In this role she will support AAP's team of professionals while helping to grow the company. Ms. Kacer has 25 years' experience in finance, accounting and operational management. Prior to joining AAP, she spent 10 years in increasingly responsible positions with a McDonald's franchise in Central Florida, culminating in the position of CFO, at which time she oversaw operations of 24 restaurants with 1,500 employees. "Janet has walked the walk. She brings not just operational experience but a proven record of streamlining operations and innovative thinking to help drive growth," said AAP president Andrew Osborne. "She will be a great asset to AAP." Ms. Kacer is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management, ARETE Executive Women of Influence, and a passionate supporter of Ronald McDonald Children's Charity. Ms. Kacer has relocated to Summerville, South Carolina, from Titusville, Florida, along with her husband and two children. About AAP AAP, celebrating its 20th year in business, serves clients in all 50 states, providing human capital management (HCM) services integrating payroll, human resources, time and labor management, and payment solutions to businesses. AAP provides secure solutions for a proficient payroll system with additional services handling workers' compensation, 401(k) and flexible spending accounts, and health insurance as well as ACA compliance. Its corporate headquarters are in Summerville, South Carolina. For more information, visit www.aappayroll.com. CONTACT: Sylwia Majewski Adamus 843.388.7982 Email Contact RZESZA"W, Poland, LONDON and HONG KONG, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- G2A.COM the world's fastest growing digital marketplace, has played a key role in the first Forum Polonii Amerykanskiej (Polish-American Congress) convened outside of the United States. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160731/394393 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160731/394394 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160731/394395 ) Bartosz Skwarczek, the CEO and co-founder of G2A.COM, represented the company at the Congress Exhibition Centre in Rzeszow, Poland, on Tuesday and impressed the participants with the G2A story, detailing the company's journey from humble beginnings to becoming an award-winning international brand, as well as outlining G2A's goals, plans for the future, opportunities for further development, and the company's policy to always have an "open door" for collaboration with partners and developers. Top US business decision-makers learned about the top worldwide brands that work with G2A today and that over a million transactions are made on the G2A Marketplace every month. There was also keen interest in the story of the company which in five years has transformed from just a handful of employees to one which now employs over 640 professionals from 31 countries. This is the first time that the Polish-American Forum has taken part in this event in Poland. Participants of the congress included the Polish-American Contractor Builders Association and the Polish-American Chamber of Commerce. G2A presented their 3D printing solution G2A 3D+ and their Virtual Reality project called G2A Land which features a thrilling roller coaster experience, shooting range, cinema and an underwater world. The experience is enhanced through wearing the Oculus Glasses for a 3D impact. The final part of the event - the Open Discussion Panel: "How to make Poles leaders in the digital revolution". CEO, Bartosz Skwarczek, stated: "If we consider the near future, especially through the perspective of digitalization, we are not able to foresee what will happen in the next five or 10 years. This is because the internet is expanding rapidly and exponentially. The only thing we can do is to open our minds and interact with technology, embrace it and try it out." "G2A sees great potential in the Polish-American Congress, especially concerning its reach to people. When we started six years ago, we had to carve our own path. Now there is an amazing source of help and support for Polish people who want to start a global business, whether in the US, or any other country where there is a Polish community present." Emphasising the size and popularity of the digital gaming marketplace, The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York - Ms Sabina Klimek added: "The video game, The Witcher makes up five percent of Polish exports to the US." G2A's involvement with Polish-American initiatives is expansive and includes youth, with the success of young scientists from a local Subcarpathian, Polish school - Franciszek Leja State School- who came in the top ten in an edition of "BotBall" - an educational robotics program sponsored by NASA. This talented team from Grodzisko Gorne (Poland), sponsored and supported by G2A.COM, were recognised in two categories: Outstanding Engineering and Outstanding Robot Collaboration/Synchronisation. The final stage of the competition took place in Florida, US, and one of the biggest challenges for them was to fund the costs of traveling to the US. With this in mind, G2A seized the opportunity to support the initiative, as Bartosz Skwarczek said, "Money should never stand in the way of achieving goals". G2A.COM is the world's fastest growing digital gaming marketplace and a multi-award winning international company, scooping seven international awards so far in 2016. http://www.gbeawards.com http://www.stevieawards.com http://f-x-a.co.uk/ Contact info: Jacqueline Purcell, jpurcell@g2a.com (2) Reflects the number of positions in issuers in which the Company has previously publicly disclosed an investment, which occurs after the Company has completed its accumulation. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. Multiple financial instruments (for example, common stock and derivatives on common stock) associated with one (1) issuer count as one (1) position. A position that is included in the number of positions will be removed from the table only if the Company has previously publicly announced a disposition of the investment or if the investment becomes 0.0% of the portfolio. (3) For the purpose of determining the equity and debt exposures, investments are valued as follows: (a) equity or debt is valued at market value, (b) options referencing equity or debt are valued at market value, and (c) swaps or forwards referencing equity or debt are valued at the market value of the notional equity or debt underlying the swaps or forwards. Whether a position is deemed to be long or short is determined by whether an investment has positive or negative exposure to price increases or decreases. For example, long puts are deemed to be short exposure. (4) Includes all issuer equity, debt, and derivatives related to issuer equity and debt, and associated currency hedges. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. The market values of associated currency hedges are included as part of the associated investment. In the event that there is a change in market cap category with respect to any non-publicly disclosed position, this information is not updated until such position is publicly disclosed. (5) Portfolio composition is reflective of the publicly disclosed portfolio positions as of the date of this report. A position in an issuer is only assigned to a sector once it has been publicly disclosed. (6) "Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. AUM" equals the assets under management of Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Any performance fees crystallized as of the end of the year will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (7) "Total Strategy AUM" equals the aggregate assets under management of Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square International, Ltd., Pershing Square II, L.P. and Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Redemptions effective as of the end of any period (including redemptions attributable to crystallized performance fees/allocations, if any) will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (8) "Total Firm AUM" equals the aggregate of the Total Strategy AUM and the assets under management of PS V, L.P., PS V International, Ltd. and affiliated entities (collectively, "PSV"), less amounts invested in PSV by the core funds HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 10/28/16 -- Nobilis Health Corp. (NYSE MKT: HLTH) (TSX: NHC) ("Nobilis" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into a new $82.5 million five-year credit facility with BBVA Compass Bank consisting of a $52.5 million term loan and a $30.0 million revolving credit facility. The new facility is led by Compass Bank as administrative agent with BBVA Compass as sole lead arranger and book runner, and Legacy Texas Bank as documentation agent. Four other banks participated in the facility. Legacy Texas Bank, who participated in the previous credit facility at $10.0 million, increased their participation in the new credit facility to $21.0 million. Proceeds from the credit facility will be used to refinance all previously held debt and lines of credit currently under Healthcare Financial Solutions, LLC (formerly known as GE Capital Corporation) and fund the previously announced acquisition of Arizona Vein and Vascular Center ("AVVC") and its affiliated surgery centers. The new facility bears interest at a rate of 3.00% to 3.75%, plus LIBOR, based on the Company's consolidated leverage ratio, versus 4.00% plus LIBOR under the previous facility. "The expansion of our borrowing capacity and refinancing of existing debt enhances our ability to continue to implement our long-term growth strategy, lowers our overall borrowing costs and further increases our liquidity position," said Harry Fleming, Chief Executive Officer of Nobilis. "The support of our new bank syndicate led by BBVA Compass enables us to utilize this new source of credit to continue our ongoing execution of fundamental organic growth, while funding acquisitions in new and existing markets." Additional details regarding the Company's credit facility agreement will be included in a Current Report on Form 8-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nobilis is also pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of AVVC and its four affiliated surgery centers operating as "The Arizona Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery" ("ACMIS"). The purchase price for the acquisition was $22.0 million, comprised of $17.5 million of cash, $2.25 million in the form of a convertible note (payable in three years in cash or stock, at the then current stock price, at the option of the Company) and $2.25 million of restricted stock, plus a performance-based earn-out based on growth in EBITDA(1). AVVC's 2015 audited financial statements disclosed $20.0 million in revenue, $7.9 million in EBITDA(1) and $7.1 million in net income. The acquisition expands Nobilis' presence in two high-growth geographic markets, Phoenix and Tucson, and increases its multi-specialty offering with a new vascular surgical division. Dr. L. Philipp Wall, an award-winning, board-certified vascular surgeon, and founder of AVVC and ACMIS, will join Nobilis as President of the newly created Nobilis Vascular Division. "We are pleased with the successful completion of this acquisition and are looking forward to further expanding our new Clarity brand to Houston and Dallas, while driving additional volume to the AVVC facilities," said Harry Fleming, Chief Executive Officer of Nobilis. Nobilis' new vascular division offers specialized procedures to treat a variety of vein conditions. Nobilis will market vein and vascular procedures under the existing, highly-respected AVVC brand within the Arizona market, and under a new brand, Clarity, which has already commenced in the Houston and Dallas markets. "The addition of 5 clinical locations and 4 surgical facilities in the Arizona market will enhance our existing marketing efforts, increase conversion rates and lower the acquisition costs of current Direct to Consumer Marketing brands while allowing a broader sales offering to area physicians," said Kenneth Efird, President of Nobilis. Updated Full Year 2016 Guidance The Company raised its full year 2016 guidance for total revenues and adjusted EBITDA(1) to reflect the closing of the acquisition of AVVC and ACMIS. Full year 2016 total revenues are now expected to be $281 million, up from $275 million. Full year Adjusted EBITDA(1) is now expected to be $53 million, up from $51 million. About Nobilis Health Corp. Nobilis (www.NobilisHealth.com) is a full-service healthcare development and management company which currently owns or manages fourteen surgical facilities and six clinics, partners with thirty-six additional facilities throughout the country, and markets seven independent brands. Deploying a unique patient acquisition strategy driven by direct-to-consumer marketing, Nobilis is focused on a specified set of procedures that are performed at our centers by local physicians. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities laws, including the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts and may be identified by the use of words such as "may," "believe," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan" or "continue." These forward-looking statements are based on current plans and expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which could significantly affect current plans and expectations and our future financial condition and results. These factors, which could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those anticipated, include, but are not limited to our ability to successfully maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting; our ability to implement our business strategy, manage the growth in our business, and integrate acquired businesses; the risk of litigation and investigations, and liability claims for damages and other expenses not covered by insurance; the risk that payments from third-party payers, including government healthcare programs, may decrease or not increase as costs increase; adverse developments affecting the medical practices of our physician limited partners; our ability to maintain favorable relations with our physician limited partners; our ability to grow revenues by increasing case and procedure volume while maintaining profitability at the Nobilis Facilities; failure to timely or accurately bill for services; our ability to compete for physician partners, patients and strategic relationships; the risk of changes in patient volume and patient mix; the risk that laws and regulations that regulate payments for medical services made by government healthcare programs could cause our revenues to decrease; the risk that contracts are cancelled or not renewed or that we are not able to enter into additional contracts under terms that are acceptable to us; and the risk of potential decreases in our reimbursement rates. The foregoing are significant factors we think could cause our actual results to differ materially from expected results. However, there could be additional factors besides those listed herein that also could affect us in an adverse manner. We have not undertaken any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All of our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are made or, if a date is specified, as of such date. Subject to a mandatory requirements of applicable law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to provide any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions, circumstances or information on which the forward-looking statement is based. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing factors and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, filed on March 15, 2016, as updated by other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (1)Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA ("Adjusted EBITDA") are defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash compensation expenses, change in fair value of warrant and stock option derivative liabilities, acquisition expenses and non-recurring expenses. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a measure of financial performance required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP"). Items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA is an analytical indicator used by management and the health care industry to evaluate company performance, allocate resources and measure leverage and debt service capacity. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income, cash flows generated by operations, investing or financing activities, or other financial statement data presented in the consolidated financial statements as indicators of financial performance or liquidity. Because Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and is thus susceptible to varying calculations, Adjusted EBITDA as presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Net income attributable to Nobilis Health Corp. common shareholders is the financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP that is most comparable to Adjusted EBITDA as defined. Kolin Ozonian Vice President, Corporate Development kozonian@nobilishealth.com 713-355-8614 CreditEase has appointed Ms. Anju Patwardhan, Former Global Chief Innovation Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, as Venture Partner for its Fintech Investment Fund and Fund of Funds, Effective 1 August 2016. Based in Silicon Valley, USA, Ms. Patwardhan will work closely with CreditEases fund management team in China to support its global investment strategy, deal sourcing and investment management. She will play a key role in accelerating the funds position as a preeminent global Fintech investment platform by leveraging her deep expertise of the global financial services industry, Fintech ecosystem and regulatory engagement. Ms. Patwardhan has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry, having worked at Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in global and regional leadership roles in Innovation, risk management, operations, digital banking and internal audit across Asia, Africa and Middle East. Her last role at SCB was as Global Chief Innovation Officer until July 2016. She was also a member of banks global leadership team, member of global Technology and Operations Management Group and Non-Executive Director on the Board of SCB Thailand. Ms. Patwardhan is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), with further professional qualifications in risk management, board directorship and art appreciation. Established in 2006 by Mr. Ning Tang, CEO, CreditEase is a Fintech company in China, specializing in small business and consumer lending as well as wealth management for high net worth and mass affluent investors. Its wholly owned subsidiary Yirendai (NYSE: YRD), an online consumer finance marketplace, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Since 2012, the company has set up a series of funds to invest in venture capital funds in China and globally. It established the Fintech Investment Fund in 2015 which shall raise, in several tranches, an equivalent of USD1 billion to identify global leaders in the financial technology industry. Other funds include a credit fund to invest on international marketplace platforms and an Israel Innovation Fund to invest in specialized innovative companies. FinSMEs 01/08/2016 Byndr, a Philadelphia, PA-based mobile-first learning management platform, raised $700k in seed funding. Backers included the Education Design Studio (Ed-tech accelerator at the University of Pennsylvania), Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and a group of angel investors. The company intends to use the funds to expand its sales and development team and grow the product scope in terms of giving more access to educational content for students and providing more administrative features for colleges. Launched in March of 2015 by Joseph Freed, Praveen Vangeepuram and Marc Garabedian in Philadelphia and Satish Nampally and Prashanthi Vangeepuram in Hyderabad, Byndr provides a learning management platform that allows colleges to collaborate with their students, administer their coursework, and connect their students to the educational resources they need. It is currently used by over 50,000 students in higher education and colleges ranging from small set-ups to those amongst the 100 most prestigious institutions and universities in India, including Osmania College of Engineering and Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology. FinSMEs 01/08/2016 Campaign signs regarding ethanol are seen in this Jan. 28 photo taken in Des Moines just before the Iowa Caucuses. Credit: Getty Images SHARE Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) dont agree on much but then again, U.S. senators from different parties rarely seem to agree on anything these days. Thats why it was encouraging to see democracy at work, when leaders from across the political spectrum recognized the importance of the Renewable Fuel Standard, and decided to work across the aisle to make the program a success. Thats exactly what happened last month among 39 bipartisan champions of the RFS including Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) who sent a joint letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging the administration to stay true to the goals of Americas best renewable energy policy. In the letter, lawmakers from Connecticut to Hawaii made a simple request to the EPA: follow the law. Since 2005, the RFS has required oil companies to offer consumers renewable fuel blends at the gas pump. As a result, 97% of the fuel in every tank contains some amount of ethanol or other biofuel, grown right here in the United States. That renewable share is meant to grow, weaning America off foreign oil, while keeping the air clean and supporting a flourishing homegrown energy sector to replace exporters in the Middle East. The strategy has been a clear success. Thanks to the RFS, growth in the biofuels sector now reverberates throughout our economy. Americas ethanol industry supports 28,000 manufacturing jobs across the United States, and many of those jobs are among manufacturers of equipment farmers use to grow, maintain and harvest feedstocks for ethanol production. It also turns out that ethanol is the least expensive way to boost the octane in fuel, allowing for more efficient engine performance and eliminating the need for the kind of poisonous additives that refiners used in the past, such as MTBE and lead. Fortunately, our senators seem to see the advantages of not relying on oil from the Middle East, if for different reasons. Some like that it attracts investments that would otherwise go to China or Brazil and that it gives America greater leverage against petroleum ministers in Russia and Iran. They also like that it supports American jobs and saves consumers anywhere from 50 cents to $1 per gallon during periods of high oil prices. On the other side of the political spectrum, the RFS is part of the green energy revolution. Biofuels are helping to decarbonize Americas transportation sector and clear the air of smog, particulates and ozone. The average corn-based ethanol slashes greenhouse gas emissions by 34% compared to gasoline, while some of the newer cellulosic biofuels are essentially carbon neutral, according to Department of Energy-sponsored research. Whatever their motivations, these senators demonstrated that good policy doesnt always have to fall prey to partisan power struggles. The question now is whether the EPA is listening. Earlier this year, the agency proposed cutting 2017 conventional biofuel targets by 200 million gallons. The proposal is still under review, and with the end of an official comment period this week, regulators have until Nov. 30 to issue a final rule. The choice policymakers make now will determine how painful the next spike in gasoline prices will be. When that happens, itll be too late for new oil drills or fresh windmills to protect our economy, but those who reached across the aisle to support Americas most successful green energy program will deserve our thanks for thinking ahead. Thats good news for both consumers and the manufacturers across America who support thousands of jobs thanks to the RFS. Jim Wessing is president of the Kondex Corp., an equipment manufacturer in Lomira. New Delhi: Software giant Microsoft has named former Honeywell top executive Anant Maheshwari as the President of its India operations. Maheshwari, who will join Microsoft on September 1, will take over operations of the company from Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik with effect from January 1, 2017, a statement today said. Pramanik will retire in March 2017. Maheshwari will be responsible for Microsoft's product, service, and support offerings across India. "As we continue to transform as an organisation and support our customers' digital transformation, Anant's leadership will be pivotal to our continued growth," Microsoft EVP and President Global Sales (marketing and operations) Jean-Philippe Courtois said. On his appointment, Maheshwari said Microsoft's ambition of a mobile-first, cloud-first world complements India's growth themes of smart cities and Digital India. "The global mission and the ambition of the company are fully aligned with India's needs and priorities and enable a wide range of creative growth opportunities. I am excited to join the company at this transformational point and support the growth objectives globally and in India," he added. Maheshwari joins Microsoft from Honeywell where he was the India President. He has held various business leadership roles at Honeywell for over 12 years. Prior to Honeywell, he has been associated with McKinsey & Company and has worked with clients across industries like telecom, IT and e-commerce, private equity, engineering equipment, automotive, steel and pharmaceuticals. Microsoft, which set up its India operations in 1990, now has over 7,000 employees across sales and marketing, research and development, and customer services and support. Karjat (Maharashtra): Global hospitality major Carlson Radisson Rezidor Hotel Group, in partnership with Hill Crest Resort and Spa, has opened its 29th Radisson Blu Resort & Spa in Karjat near Mumbai and has another 11 in the pipeline under the upscale brand. "This is our 29th property under the Radisson Blu brand, which is located in Raigad district (Maharashtra) and we have another 11 hotels under this brand in the pipeline. With 102 keys, we are mainly targeting corporate retreats, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions/events), destination weddings and individual leisure for this property," Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group CEO, South Asia, Raj Rana, told reporters. The resort's owner, Debasish Chakraborty, who has a background in courier and logistics business and has co-founded courier brand DTDC, said, "The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has a better understanding of the consumer needs. With the property under this brand, we are expecting it to become a favourite destination soon and give good returns. We have spent over Rs 130 crore in developing this property, which is a beautiful balance between modern design and enveloping natural beauty," he said. Globally, there are 300 Radisson Blu hotels in operation in 69 countries and territories. With the opening of the Karjat property, the group now has 77 hotels in India, with another 41 in the pipeline. "Our target of 170 operating hotels by 2020 in India is well on track as we already have 77 properties in operation and another 41 in pipeline. On an average, we aim to open 8 hotels every year," Rana said. He said with demand emerging in tier II and III cities, the global hospitality group is looking at more properties under its Park Inn, Country Inn and Radisson RED brands. "We are seeing demand in tier II and III cities. So our focus is to expand to these areas with our Park Inn, Country Inn and Radisson RED brands. We are mainly looking at locations with good connectivity, by air or road, economic zones providing tax concessions with good corporate demand and religious destinations. We are more focused on locations in the southern region and the north east," Rana added. About introducing the Quorvus Collection in India, Rana said the hospitality group is careful about its luxury brand as it is a niche product. "We are looking at conversion of either a heritage property in Rajasthan or water resort for the Quorvus Collection in India and we are hoping see one property under this brand in next two years," he added. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has 1,400 hotels in operation and under development with more than 220,000 rooms and a footprint spanning 115 countries and territories. The group's portfolio includes seven global brands, including Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. Hyderabad - Increasing automation would shave off 10 percent of incremental jobs in India's IT sector each year even as half of middle-level managers would also bear the brunt in the era of artificial intelligence, says industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai. "I think in the IT sector, may be 10 percent minimum of incremental jobs that are created will disappear. That means every year if they do (create) 2 to 2.5 lakh jobs, 25,000-50,000 jobs will disappear," said the former CFO and HR Head at Infosys. According to him, middle-level managers account for 10 percent or 450,000 people of the 4.5 million (45 lakh) strong IT industry in India. Half of them (2,25,000) would lose jobs over the next one decade as their work would get automated. "There are today lots of people (middle-level managers) earning between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 70 lakh (per annum). Half of them will lose their jobs in the next ten years," Pai told PTI in an interview. The tech investor said the new breed of IT engineers should have better skills and deep technical knowledge, adding, prospects for those having just a bachelors degree (B. Tech) are going to be less and less in IT. Stressing that IT hiring would become more and more specialised with companies looking for higher and greater levels of expertise, Pai said he would recommend the aspirants to do masters (post-graduation). "An ordinary B.Tech is like 10th standard today because you have to go ahead for the next 30 year," the chairman of Manipal Global Education said. "For lower-level jobs (entry-level), hiring will keep reducing by 10 per cent every year. Ordinary graduates who are trained to go up the ladder will have less prospects. Out of the total number of people hired, fresher level doing ordinary work, there will be 10-15 per cent reduction in the category year-by-year," he said. But there will be 10-15 percent increase in the category of masters (post-graduates) and skilled people because there is a great need for that, added Pai, a prominent angel investor. He said automation, machine-learning (artificial intelligence) and robotics would create a new kind of specialised workforce. "People who have got skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning and new coding languages like Python, Android and those in mobile area would do very well in the next five years," he pointed out. Only 2 lakh-2.5 lakh IT engineers out of the total 6.5 lakh who come to the market every year get jobs in their chosen field. "Many of the engineers who come out of bad colleges... there are good jobs like Ola and Uber waiting for them. I am not joking. In Bengaluru, many of the software engineers are giving up their jobs and driving Ola and Uber and making more money. It's much more lucrative. Why work for 14 hours a day (in an IT company) and earn (only) Rs 3.5 lakh (per annum), when you can earn Rs six lakh to Rs 7 lakh (per year) driving a car?" he said. The Head of Aarin Capital Partners said Indian IT companies are ahead of the curve as far as automation is concerned and "they are winning the battle." "Five of the top 10 globally competitive (IT) service companies are Indian," added Pai. SHARE By of the Madison In a summer filled with state legislative primary races, Democratic candidates in the Milwaukee area are hoping to appeal to voters by painting themselves as more progressive and outspoken than their incumbent opponents. There are eight state Senate and Assembly primary races in the Milwaukee area Aug. 9, with the victor all but guaranteed the seat. Perhaps hoping to appeal to Democratic voters frustrated by years of Republican dominance, first-time candidates challenging incumbents are explicit in their characterization of them as passive or ineffective. "We as a Democratic Party are failing to outline a progressive vision about what reform looks like," said Stephen Jansen, a first-time candidate running for the 16th Assembly District. Like many of his fellow candidates, Jansen called for reforms to the educational and criminal justice systems, often calling to inject funds into the state's budget. While incumbent Democrats often tout those same visions themselves, they acknowledge that many of those goals simply can't come to fruition given the reality of a Republican-held governorship, Assembly and Senate. "My opponent seems to think I have not been progressive enough on education and on labor," Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) said, referring to teacher Julie Meyer. "I don't understand how (challengers) think they can do better than us when it comes to standing up for the people we represent. It's very difficult to get anything done when you're as deep in the minority as we are."Republicans control the Assembly 63-36 and the Senate 19-14. "There is no grand scheme of things. We're outnumbered," said Rep. LaTonya Johnson, vacating her seat to run for state Senate. "I understand I'm a Democrat coming to the table, I may not get everything that I want. But what can I get? In Milwaukee, there's so much need, if you can get something then you're off to a start." The race that has garnered the most attention is Rep. Mandela Barnes' (D-Milwaukee) challenge to Sen. Lena Johnson (D-Milwaukee). In that election, Barnes has sought to portray himself as a young progressive upstart; Taylor in turn has touted her years of experience. Other races: 6th Senate District. Three candidates are battling to fill Sen. Nikiya Harris-Dodd's seat after she announced she would not seek re-election. Johnson is vacating her Assembly seat for the race, touting her experience in the lower house and presenting herself as a strong advocate for early childhood education and criminal justice reform. Michael Bonds, a member of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board and a former board president, has also entered that race, and points to his background in education and over two decades of policy and budget analysis experience as giving him the edge over his opponents. Thomas Harris, a former staffer for Taylor, is also running. Harris, who is not related to Harris-Dodd, emphasized his experience and relationships with legislators. He said he would look to repeal mandatory minimum sentences and address the partisan divide in Madison. 11th Assembly District. Two hopefuls are looking to fill Barnes' seat. Jason Fields, who represented the north side district from 2003 to 2013, is seeking to win back his seat. He was defeated after Barnes ran a campaign that focused on Fields' support for voucher schools. In a July interview, Fields said that he would advocate for increased science, technology and math programming in schools and focus on training and job placement to help bolster the economy. Fields was charged with his second drunken driving offense in 2014. In a statement released this spring, he acknowledged that he had struggled with alcoholism. Darrol Gibson, a community organizer, has won support from area legislators. Gibson said he is ideologically similar to Barnes but would be more outspoken on issues of racial injustice. 17th Assembly District. Two Democrats are vying for the seat Johnson is vacating. David Crowley, Harris-Dodd's policy director, said he hopes to reform the criminal justice system, raise the minimum wage, and bridge the urban-rural divide. He also called on Gov. Scott Walker's administration to better address problems at the troubled Lincoln Hills School for Boys, a youth prison. Marcus Hart, a business consultant, minister, and Iraq war veteran, said he is running because he believes Wisconsin is at a pivotal point. He said criminal justice efforts should be focused on crime prevention and improving and expanding mental health resources. Hart pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree sexual assault in 2010. He said the incident was a "misunderstanding" that occurred while he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq. Kim Burns is also running but could not be reached for comment. 16th Assembly District. Rep. Leon Young, who has served in the Assembly since 1992, is facing three challengers Jansen, who works with at-risk children; Milwaukee public defender Edgar Lin; and community organizer Brandy Bond. Young touted the Bucks' arena agreement and allocating more money toward job training as achievements from last session, and said he looks forward to continuing to fight for jobs and higher wages next session. Lin cited criminal justice reform and education as being among his top priorities. He is critical of voucher schools and is in favor of the community schools model. He also has called to decriminalize marijuana. Jansen said he wants to get big money out of politics and hold a statewide referendum on whether money is speech. He also said that "too much attention has been spent on prioritizing downtown" Milwaukee. He wants to direct some of those resources to fixing boarded-up homes. Bond could be reached for comment. 8th Assembly District. Rep. JoCasta Zamarippa (D-Milwaukee) is facing a challenge from activist Laura Manriquez, who has unsuccessfully run for that seat twice before. Zamarippa cited the passage of a bill she co-authored allowing local distilleries to distribute small samples of their products to consumers as an important win allowing small businesses to compete with national brands. Manriquez did not respond to requests for comment. 9th Assembly District. Immigration attorney Marisabel Cabrera is challenging Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee), who was first elected in 2002. Cabrera, the chair of the Latino Caucus of the state Democratic Party, touted her public safety expertise Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appointed her to the city's Fire and Police Commission in 2013. Zepnick said he was proud of securing millions of dollars to rebuild Milwaukee's historic Layton Blvd. He said he was also pleased that wages for jobs at the Bucks arena in Milwaukee had increased. Zepnick was arrested for drunken driving in October. 20th Assembly District.Sinicki, who was first elected in 1998, is being challenged by Meyer. Meyer said she would use her 29 years as a public school teacher to advocate for education and criticized both voucher schools and a Republican-backed law allowing the takeover of failing Milwaukee schools. Though Meyer characterized her beliefs as similar to Sinicki's, she said she felt Sinicki was failing to engage her community. Sinicki dismissed that charge. She listed as her top priorities boosting education funding and rolling back the "right-to-work" law that bars labor contracts that require workers to pay union wages. Thane: Nine persons, including four children and three women, were killed and 10 others injured when a residential building collapsed in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi in Thane on Sunday morning amid heavy rains, police said. The two-storey structure, housing seven to eight families at Gaibi Nagar under Shanti Nagar police station limits in the town, crashed at around 9.30 am, Bhiwandi tehsildar Vaishali Lambate said. Among the deceased were a woman and her four sons. Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde has asked civic authorities to immediately shift the occupants of Bhiwandi's "most dangerous" buildings to transit camps. Shinde, who is Thane's Guardian Minister, visited the site of the building collapse and also met the injured at the hospital. "I have directed the civic authorities to immediately shift the occupants of the most dangerous buildings in Bhiwandi to safer places and transit camps," Shinde told reporters. "I spoke (Maharashtra) Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the need to give compensation to the families of the deceased and the injured," said the PWD Minister. Initially, five persons had died in the incident, but the toll rose after more bodies were pulled out from the debris of the collapsed building. An emergency meeting was convened by Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde at Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation office in view of the incident. District Collector Mahendra Kalyankar and Municipal Commissioner E Ravindran were present at the meeting. The collector had earlier rushed to the site to supervise the relief and rescue operation which was hampered by the heavy rains that lashed the district today. Eight of the deceased were identified as - Shahjahan Khurshid Aalam Ansari (42), her four sons Muddashir Khurshid Aalam Ansari (20), Saif Khurshid Aalam Ansari (17), Khalid Khurshid Aalam Ansari (15) and Shakib Khurshid Aalam Ansari (11), and Aayesha Mobin Ansari (38), Suphiya Shahnavaz Shah (19) and Yehem Ejaz Shah (10). One of the deceased is yet to be identified. Nine of the injured were rushed to Thane Civil Hospital where they were being treated for their injuries, the tehsildar said, adding that one person has been admitted to a hospital in Bhiwandi. It was yet to be ascertained whether the structure was in the list of dangerous buildings, sources said. Following the heavy rainfall since early this morning, many low-lying areas were waterlogged in Thane city and surrounding areas. Thane Municipal Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, after visiting the disaster control cell, issued a warning to residents of the city not to step out of their houses unless it was absolutely essential. A day after a 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were gangraped by a group of dacoits near Bulandshahr, three suspects have reportedly been arrested. They have been sent to 14 days of judicial custody. The three have been brought in for questioning and may be arrested soon, Hindustan Times quoted Uttar Pradesh DGP Javed Ahmed as saying. They were identified by the mother and daughter from a stack of photographs pulled from the police database of tribal criminals. The police identified the three accused as Babloo, a resident of Faridabad, Naresh from Bhatinda in Punjab and the third as Raees Ahmad, who belongs to Sutari village. Around 17 tribals from nearby villages have also been detained. The Akhilesh Yadav government also suspended Bulandshahr senior superitendent of police Vaibhav Krishan for dereliction of duty. Along with him, six other officers too have been suspended, reported The Times of India. A special team of 300 police personnel from Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur and Meerut with experience in dealing with tribal criminals has also been formed. According to latest reports, Anis Ansari will be posted as the new SSP of Bulandshaher. FLASH: Anis Ansari to be posted as the new SSP of Bulandshaher (UP) ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 1, 2016 Director General of Law and Order Daljeet Chaudhary said that a total of 15 police teams were now involved in the operations, and that the case will be solved soon. Yadav has given a deadline of 24 hours to arrest all the culprits. The gangrape occurred when the victims car was stopped on NH91 by a group of dacoits. The family was on its way to Shahjahanpur on Friday night when their car was waylaid near Bulandhsahr. The women were dragged to a nearby field and the family was robbed at gunpoint. As Firstpost had reported earlier, the victims had approached the Dehat Kotwali police station to file an FIR. However, the SHO did not respond to the complaint. According to reports, the police also did not answer calls on the emergency helpline number. DGP Ahmed however, rubbished these claims and said that the police reached the spot in 20 minutes. The National Commission for Women (NCW) also sent a three member team to probe the incident. NCW member Rekha Sharma said, The incident is a result of lackadaisical attitude of police and we will seek report from the UP government. Right now, the minor victim is traumatised and is also running fever. Her rehabilitation is our primary concern. Once she is a little better, we will conduct counselling sessions for her. One of the members said that under the present state government, the compensation of a lost honour was Rs 1 lakh". Opposition parties were quick to attack the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati demanded stern action against the accused and claimed that there was "complete jungleraaj" in Uttar Pradesh. She also said such heinous crimes indicate the law and order in the state is deteriorating. Congress spoesperson DP Singh called the incident shameful. The manner in which the crime was committed on a national highway indicates poor law and order situation in UP," he said. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar said the Bulandshahr incident was yet another blot on UP. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi too expressed his shock over the incident and demanded quick action. Shocked to learn of the brutal rape of a minor girl &her mother in Bulandshahr. Swift action must be taken to punish the guilty Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) July 31, 2016 BJP state unit general-secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak also claimed law and order has derailed in UP and the police administration has become lax. "It's a slap on the face of police administration, which makes tall claims of ensuring safety of the people," he said. Opposition parties on Monday also demanded Yadavs resignation. With inputs from agencies. Nothing accentuates a crime more than a panic reaction. And yet, panic it is that seems to be dictating the actions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav following the rape of a mother and her daughter on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Bulandshahr on Saturday. The alacrity with which the state police claimed to have solved the crime reeks of suspicion of political pressure. In a crime of this nature, highway gangs are rarely local and very nimble of foot. In police parlance, such gangs are known as challemar gang- those whose signature is the use spare cycle parts as to be used as weapons of crime. In the Bulandshahr case, the crime scene does indicate a clear imprint of the Bavaria gang, a nomadic criminal tribe that operates in Rajasthan, Western Uttar Pradesh and Bundlekhand region. Senior police officers, who have served long in west UP point out that such crimes are often not reported for fear of social stigma. In this case, the family proved to be courageous enough to come out and file a case. According to experts, Bavaria gangs rely on the tribe and they rarely trust outsiders. However in the process of unraveling the case at super-sonic speed, the UP arrested a mix of people from the tribe and outside, making the arrests extremely suspect. Prima facie, the manner in which the case is being handled, seems guided less by professionalism and more by politics. The fact is that the Bulandshahr double-rape reinforces the impression that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav presides over a regime with the worst law and order record. With the state Assembly elections barely six months away, Yadav, who has been flooding the airwaves with advertisements claiming to be a governance superstar, it seems has delivered an ultimatum to his police force to "solve" the case in double quick time. Sources in the government say that Yadav threatened to change the entire top brass of the police if they failed to solve the case within 24 hours. This is the worst way of solving a crime which is not an ordinary open and shut case like fratricides, said a senior police officer at Lucknow. Obviously, a mature reaction to this horrific crime would have served purpose of justice better, said police officers acquainted with the modus operandi of the Bavaria and other criminal tribes. Though there have been attempts to bring in these tribes to the mainstream, particularly in areas like Muzaffarnagar, and introduce them to the new education system, it has not met with much success. Interestingly, these gangs thrive on patronage by local police officers with whom they share one-sixth of their booty. In the past, most of these gang members used to walk on foot and were easier to apprehend. Police investigations in eastern Uttar Pradesh have, however, found that these gangs now drive cars and cover large distances within their areas of operation in 24 hours. "In a case in Jaunpur, next to Varanasi, the gangs were found to be coming straight from Jaipur and committing crimes in the region and getting away easily," an officer, who investigated the case told Firstpost. What is quite worrisome is the fact that though police officers are aware of the complex nature of this crime, they seemed to be yielding to political pressure and to the whims of a chief minister who is keen to acquire the image of a governance superstar overnight at the expense of policing. In the 'Dalit versus cow' controversy, which side looks stronger? Well, its a no-brainer. Its the cow. The Dalits have to fight their own battle, while the holy cow is backed by an ideology the adherents of which dominate the power ecosystem. In the current ideological-political complex Dalits come low on the list of priorities while the cow sadly and for little fault of its own, we can no more call it humble stays somewhere at the top. The cow vigilantes do not operate in a vacuum; they have the tacit sanction to operate with impunity in the name of gau mata. The Dalits, unfortunately, do not have the political or social heft to take them on. Its no surprise that the usually loquacious voices in the ruling dispensation have gone silent on the attacks on Dalits by gau rakshaks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not uttered a word, neither have his senior ministers. BJPs Dalit leader Udit Raj makes a pertinent point when he asks When such incidents happen why does the entire society does not raise its voice? Why do only Dalit leaders speak up?" Its perhaps a question that should be asked to the BJPs leadership. Its interesting to note that some of the partys leaders at lower levels have actually defended the actions of the cow protectors. The silence at the top, Raj perhaps fails to understand, reflects the confusion over the approach to the Dalit community general. In the cow-Dalit conflict they dont know where to stand. The latter cannot come superior to the animal; its more or less settled ideologically. But Dalits are important from the political perspective, unlike the Muslims imagine the reaction from BJP leaders and the intellectuals backing the party if the people thrashed mercilessly at Una in Gujarat were Muslims and not Dalits and they cannot be kicked to the margins. What they lack in political weight, they have the potential to make up through sheer numbers. Plus, Hindu society in general wont take atrocities on Dalits kindly. Its not without reason that there is a lot of respect for the latter, but a simpler rationale is that nobody knows who the vigilante crowd will target next. An ideology that survives on inventing hate objects and fighting them and is low on humane content makes everyone insecure. Politically, theres the threat of all aggrieved communities coming together, which appears to be happening in the prime ministers home state. The BJP is trapped in a curious man-animal conflict, and it can hardly do anything about it. In the Bihar Assembly election, the party itself and its ideological fellow travellers sought to make cow and beef the big electoral talking point. It backfired badly. In Assam, it put effort to stay clear of the gau debate and focussed on human matters. And it won big. In Uttar Pradesh, if the design was to unleash the cow and polarise communities, it has unleashed a problem of a different kind. It has set the Dalit community against itself this after trying to cultivate it assiduously for long. The party has perhaps realised by now that cow is more a political liability than an asset. However, as part of an ideological brotherhood that thinks otherwise, its hands are tied. Of course, we are no fools and we know that the party will keep mum as it has done always in case of social conflicts created and fanned by fringe elements. Actually, if you observe keenly, its an arrangement of mutual tolerance and acceptance at work. It is up to the party resolve its internal matters, but it must spare the rest of India the torture in the name of the cow. In the man-animal conflict, man should not emerge inferior. The monsoon-rain-induced flooding of Gurugram the so-called millennium city led to miles-long traffic gridlock last week throwing normal life out of gear. It was a symbolic display of what a corrupt, decadent and incompetent administration can do. If the city that houses hundreds of multinational companies, a city that is located in the National Capital Region, and more importantly, a city that is the milch cow for the Haryana government, witnessed such dismal civic maintenance, one can only imagine the criminal neglect of the civic amenities in the smaller cities of the state. This situation has a lot to do with the incompetence of the state authority as much as the defalcation of public money. If thousands of crores of rupees spent ostensibly for the planning and upkeep of cities have gone down the drain, then the leaders of the state should be held accountable. Some of them should go to jail. But what is actually happening? Hardly a fortnight before the mayhem due to the waterlogged streets in different parts of Haryana, we were given the big news: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has decided to gift himself, at public expense, a Toyota Land Cruiser worth Rs 1.35 crore. The Times of India report said that another Rs 35-40 lakh would be spent for bullet-proofing the car. When the humble and the austere chief minister was confronted with this news by the newspaper, he had this to say: I had not made any demand that I want this car or that one. It was decided by those officials who look after matters related to the chief minister. Well, the officials decided on a two-crore-rupee bonanza for their chief and the obedient boss reluctantly accepted the decision! The RSS pracharak, who was catapulted to the chief ministers chair after the BJPs victory in the state elections last year, is not alone in this sordid display of hypocrisy. His predecessor, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Congress chief minister, who must take a larger part of the blame for the corruption and incompetence that the Haryana government has come to symbolise (he ruled the state for 10 years) had also trotted out a similar explanation when he decided to switch from a Honda CRV to a Mercedez Benz (costing Rs 95 lakh plus bullet-proofing cost) around five years ago. My security officers take all such decisions, he had curtly said. As a matter of fact, Hooda bought for himself two Mercedez Benz S-Class cars, one for movement in Haryana and another in the National Capital. Khattar is bound to follow suit, as he is turning out to be just an extension of the diabolic Hooda version in the Haryana politics. When the chief minister decides to splurge on himself, can other ministers be far behind? The Haryana cabinet ministers had earlier been given Maruti Dzires or Ciaz. But when Hooda bought himself a Mercedez Benz, they also insisted on an upgrade. It was granted; each of them was given a Honda CRV or a Toyota Fortuner. But that was not enough to satiate them; each minister demanded a second car for the family. Again, that was granted; they were given a choice for another CRV or a Fortuner. The BJP government, that had claimed to usher in a different era, has been following the exact footprint of the Congress; it has continued the practice of two luxury vehicles for each of the ministers. All these leaders being driven around in luxury sedans have forgotten about the man on the street; that explains the chaos in the streets of Gurugram and other cities that we witnessed last week. Another city that was in the news in the last weeks flooding of the streets was Bengaluru, the much-touted Indias Silicon Valley. The metropolitan commissioner of the city who travelled to the affected areas last Friday had this to say, Our priority is to move residents from low-lying areas to safe places, after which storm water drains will be widened to clear water-logging. Why on earth were the storm water drains not widened before the monsoon set in? The official did not have an answer. The fact is that hundreds of crores of rupees were routinely allocated and officially it was spent for the civic planning and maintenance, but evidently it went into a few pockets, which is why large parts of the city turned into a lake last week. The political leadership must be held accountable for the malfeasance. Some of them ought to go to jail. That should include the state leadership of the BJP that ruled for five years and the Congress that has been in power for the past three years. But have these leaders been punished for the siphoning of the public money on their watch? On the contrary, they have been rewarded with better perks and bigger amenities. In the past six years (2010-16), the Karnataka government has bought 217 luxury cars (Toyota Camry and Honda CRV) for its ministers, of which 94 were bought during 2010-13 (BJP rule) and 123 were purchased during 2013-16 (Congress regime). BS Yeddiyurappa (BJP) and Siddaramaiah (Congress) have turned out to be birds of the same feather as far as misusing large sums of the public money for the private comfort of a few leaders. The taxpayer would not possibly begrudge such self-indulgence of the leaders if the latter performed their duty honestly to give the former his or her due as a tax-paying citizen. But as the events of the last week demonstrated and there are many other incidents to corroborate it the political class just looked the other way when the taxpayers money was siphoned off the public works that were not carried out or, at best, only a make-believe job was done. We, the taxpayers, should demand criminal action against such leaders who have a blank cheque attitude towards the public money. Pakistani flags were waved and pro-militant slogans raised at a rally organised by separatists in Pulwama district to pay tributes to the militants and civilians killed recently in the Kashmir Valley. In the rally, alleged top terrorist of the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abu Dujana was spotted. News reports remain unconfirmed, however, NDTV reported saying the Dujana was spotted at the rally, even though police officials said they have not come across any evidence to support these claims. Dujana is also the LeT's Kashmir chief. According to reports, people were rallying and shouting slogans around him on Sunday. Thousands of people had assembled at Kareemabad graveyard in Pulwama district, 32 km from Srinagar, on a call given jointly by the Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, moderate faction head Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik. The rally was one among many held for the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed during a military offensive on 8 July. Dozens of Pakistani flags were also waved at the rally as people raised slogans eulogising militants like Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin and Dujana. While people offered prayers at the slain militant's grave, reports claimed that LeT flags were also waved during the procession. India has always been trying to create sectarian discord among us to fulfill their evil designs. We have to defeat it by getting united for one goal which is to seek freedom from Indian occupation, the speakers said. Greater Kashmir reported that there were hoardings of Burhan, Naseer Pandit, Aafaq Bhat and other slain militants from Pulwama and Shopian during the rally. Graffiti reading Mujahids (militants) are our heroes; Pakistan Zindabad was also spotted at various places. Videos of the rally, posted on social media, have gone viral showing people chanting pro-freedom slogans. "We are looking into the matter," an official said. Several top Hizb militants killed in recent anti-militancy operations including Naseer Ahmad Pandit, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Afaq Janbaz and Abdul Rashid Bhat hailed from Kareemabad and adjoining areas. Dujana reportedly attended the gathering wearing a mask and was seen surrounded by a lot of people. Dujana's presence at the rally is crucial in the wake of Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed claiming that his men are behind fanning violence in Jammu and Kashmir. Normal life remained paralysed in the Valley for the 23rd consecutive day due to the separatist-sponsored strike as also curfew and restrictions in parts of Kashmir where the unrest death toll rose to 49 with one more youth succumbing to injuries sustained a week back. Curfew remained in force in five police station areas of capital Srinagar, Anantnag town, Pulwama town, parts of Baramulla town and Shopian town. Restriction on assembly of four or more people also continued in entire Kashmir, which has been witnessing unrest ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on 8 July. "Curfew is in place in five police station areas of Srinagar city Nowhatta, Khanyar, Batamaloo, Safakadal and Maharajgunj," a police official said. Mobile Internet services continued to remain snapped in the Valley where the postpaid mobile telephony services have been restored across all networks. The incoming facility on prepaid connections has also been restored, but the outgoing calls are barred on such numbers. With inputs from PTI Ahmedabad: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati will on Thursday meet the four Dalits, who were thrashed by 'cow vigilantes' at Una in Gir-Somnath district and are admitted in the civil hospital. "It has been conveyed to us that Mayawatiji will visit Ahmedabad on August 4 to meet the victims of Una atrocity who are currently getting treated at the civil hospital here," state BSP unit secretary Pradeep Parmar said. The four were shifted to Ahmedabad hospital on Friday last week as their health deteriorated soon after being discharged from Rajkot civil hospital. She will also meet the state team of BSP, Parmar said. A day after being discharged from Rajkot civil hospital, the four Dalits -- Ashok Sarvaiya, Vashram Sarvaiya, Bechar Sarvaiya and Ramesh Sarvaiya -- were rushed to the city civil hospital after they developed serious complications. Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela met the victims at Ahmedabad hospital. On 11 July, they were beaten up at Mota Samadhiyala village of Una taluka in Gir-Somnath district by a group of cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. Several political leaders, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, later visited the village and Rajkot civil hospital to meet the victims. Police have so far arrested 26 people in connection with the incident and the probe into the matter is now being carried out by state CID-Crime. The suicide of a 12-year-old girl in Delhi on Saturday after attending a parent teacher meeting (PTM) with her mother at a government school, once again highlights the failings of the Indian education system. Ironically, the PTM that she attended was part of the Delhi govts initiative to hold a Mega PTM at over 2500 government schools for more than 16 lakh students on the same day so that the quality of education can be brought up to par with that imparted in private schools. The girl, a student of class VII had accompanied her mother Shahjahan to the government senior secondary school where she was a student in the morning to attend the PTM. At the PTM, teachers told her mother about her weakness in studies and she was scolded by her mother, said a senior police officer. After returning to her home in Khayala, she hanged herself from a ceiling fan at around 12.30 pm, said the officer. "We got the call about the suicide by the girl at around 12.45 pm and a team reached there and recovered the body of the girl and sent it for post mortem. Preliminary enquiries hint that the girl might have taken the extreme step due to her helplessness and humiliation," said the officer. Inquest proceedings have been started under Section 174 to enquire the incident, he added. As any parent or child will tell you, a parent-teacher meeting is quite a traumatic experience especially when it is held after a set of exams and if the child has not done well in them. The blame-the-student meeting can be quite humiliating for parents and children, especially when it happens in front of other parents and students who are waiting for their turn. The Harvard Family Research Project, a part of Harvards Graduate School of Education, actually released a tip sheet for principals, teachers and parents on how to tackle these meetings. One of its points for teachers is to start with the positive aspects of the children. Let families know about their childs ability level in different subjects and in relationship to his or her peers. Help families understand student data to demonstrate progress against learning goals and to identify areas that need to be addressed. It also suggests that teachers ask parents for their input on student strengths and needs, the opportunities the child has outside the school to learn, and what the parents dreams are for their child. But the most important point it makes is to seek solutions in collaboration with the parents. Avoid judgments about what they should do and instead emphasise how we can work together to resolve any problems, the sheet suggests. The sheet also lays some onus on the parents, advising them to tell the student what theyve learned from their teacher. But it doesnt mention any thing about scolding the child. Show him or her how you will help with learning at home. Ask for his or her suggestions, it advises the parents. The US body is not the only one that is suggesting ways to make the experience more productive and less humiliating. New Zealand governments education department has similar suggestions for parents, when it comes to talking to the child about the meeting. Share the positive things that the teacher said and give them plenty of praise. Then talk about anything the teacher suggested you could do at home to help them, the official website advises. It also describes these meetings as useful, positive meetings which will enable the parents and teachers to become partners in your child's education. On the other hand, the website for the Indian governments Human Resource Development Ministry has no resources for parents about the parent teacher meetings. Its attitude is quite clear from a circular issued in 2015. The notice made parent teacher meetings compulsory for government schools, reported The Times Of India. During the meeting, the circular said, parents must be informed about the shortage of attendance of their wards and all parents of children from Class VI onwards must be told that scoring 15 marks out of 60 is must for passing Class IX examination. The situation is the same on the website of the Delhi governments Directorate of Education. Indian schools could learn from Brittni Daras, a teacher in Colorado, US. She realised how much of an impact a teacher can have on his or her students during a parent teacher conference in March 2016. A parent told her that the reason her daughter had been missing Daras classes was because she was in hospital, after she attempted suicide and the police broke into her house to save her. Darras recalled in a Facebook post in May that she cried when she heard the story. As her mom sat across from me, we both had tears streaming down our faces. Feeling helpless, I asked if I could write my student a letter to be delivered to her at the hospital; she said her daughter would love that. My student got the letter; her mom said that her daughter cried, turned to her mom and said, How could somebody say such nice things about me? I didnt think anybody would miss me if I was gone. It made me realise that I was way too close to losing another student to suicide, she wrote. Darras, determined that her other 100 students should not take this step, spent two months writing a letter to each of her students, telling them what she felt was unique about them. Suicide is growing to be more and more common, and I cant help but to think that its a direct result of the pressure we put on these kids to be successful, to fit in, to be the best in their class/sport/etc. We need to remember that each human being is unique, and that is what makes them special. Instead of trying to change it, we need to embrace it, because together, we can make a difference, and we can save lives! she wrote on her Facebook page. With inputs from PTI New Delhi: Opposition members in Lok Sabha on Monday expressed concern over growing attacks on Dalits and minorities and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targetting them. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the dalits and Mulsims to uphold secularism and communal harmony. PK Biju (CPM) underlined the need for Parliament to take a stern view of the attacks on the Dalit community, which is up against the injustice. Raising another issue, Rajeev Satav (Congress) said that the Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad chief's statement that 100 young men from the Marathwada region were in touch with IS was alarming. He said this was all the more so as two youths from Parbhani, who had plans to set off explosions at Aurangabad and Nagpur, were arrested recently. The Supreme Court of India and the Narendra Modi government seemed to be deadlocked over the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the appointment of judges. The Times of India reported on Monday that the government has proposed a secretariat to receive and process complaints against the judiciary. Although the government is working on the MoP on the directions of the Supreme Court, the two have serious differences over the terms being suggested by the government. The Supreme Court has already rejected the governments MoP once and it seems unlikely that the two might arrive at an agreement any time soon. And even though the differences over the MoP with regard to the complaints redressal mechanism are known, the bone of contention is the process of appointment of judges by the collegiums of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts of the country. One of the biggest roadblocks in this is the issue of what may be called judicial dynasties or collegiums appointing relatives, friends, former colleagues and juniors. The government is deeply concerned over this because it strikes at the very root of merit and transparency in judicial appointments. This is a known phenomenon in legal and judicial circles, despite it rarely being discussed openly. In 2013, for example, the Punjab and Haryana High Court collegium sent in the names of eight advocates for elevation to the high court. The high court collegium, comprising the then chief justice (now Supreme Court judge) AK Sikri and Justices Jasbir Singh and SK Mittal, recommended the names of eight advocates for judgeship. Those recommended for elevation included Manisha Gandhi (daughter of former chief justice of India AS Anand), Girish Agnihotri (son of former justice MR Agnihotri), Vinod Ghai, BS Rana (former juniors of justice SK Mittal), Gurminder Singh and Raj Karan Singh Brar (former juniors of Justice Jasbir Singh), Arun Palli (son of former justice PK Palli) and HS Sidhu (additional advocate-general in Punjab). Soon after the collegium cleared these names, around 1,000 advocates sent in a signed memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee, the prime minister and the chief justice raising serious questions about it. The memorandum stated: Independence and integrity of Indian judiciary has been put at stake by the collegium of Punjab and Haryana High Court while recommending the names of advocates for elevation as judges. The reason for recommending such names puts a big question mark on the decision of the collegium which seems to have based (them) on considerations other than merit and integrity of the candidate It has now become a matter of practice and convenience to recommend the names of those advocates who are the sons, daughters, relatives and juniors of the former judges and chief justices. The memorandum pointed out serious deficiencies in the selection as in the case of Manisha Gandhi whose sole qualification is that she is daughter of former CJI AS Anand. She has appeared in only 36 cases in the year of 2012. Among them two were CRMs, eight were CWPs and other 26 were company appeals. In 2013 she appeared only in seven company appeals, till today. Recently she was appointed additional advocate-general of Punjab and Haryana High court so that she could be considered for elevation by the collegiums. The fact that Justice SK Mittal was part of the high court collegium and still recommended persons directly linked to him raised serious issue of conflict of interest and propriety. Following the uproar, the Supreme Court rejected six recommendations and returned the names of Palli and Sidhu for reconsideration. The most recent case of alleged nepotism in judicial appointments has emerged from Allahabad High court. According to a Times of India report published on 9 June, the Centre put on hold the appointment of 44 judges for the Allahabad High Court, sent to it by the high court collegium in April. At least seven of the 44 names recommended were related to serving or retired former judges of the court. Although its been knocked out of the process of judicial appointments by virtue of the Supreme Court judgement in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case, the Central government wants to ensure the process to eliminate nepotism in judicial appointments. Eminent constitutional expert, Professor Upendra Baxi, currently emeritus professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick, told Firstpost, You and I dont know what the facts are. Either the allegations are manifestly true or something that need to be proved. However, those being part of collegium should not recommend for elevation names of their children or those who are close to them or have worked almost continuously with them. Beyond that one cannot be disqualified for the appointment just because he comes from a family of judges or eminent lawyers. Ideally in high courts they should judge the members of bar or district judges on the basis of merit. Selection is collegium's prerogative and selection calls for certain amount of discretion. The question is that what method you will adopt to ensure fair treatment. Even if you ensure maximum fair treatment, the element of choice will remain. On how to avoid bad appointments, Baxi said, The chief justice in a state is now from outside the state because of the transfer policy justified initially as promoting national integration. But chief justices from other states do not usually know the bar well. They rely upon the information provided by other justices who are originally from the same state. In case of appointment of judges how the chief justice overcomes these limitations is a question that needs to be answered. In case of appointment of justices the rules provide that government must verify the credentials of the person whose name is proposed. In this respect, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) plays an important role. The justices only ascertain the competence of the judge and they recommend a name. If IB report has some adverse remarks, I feel the CJI and the collegium will take necessary action. After all, in case of adverse remark, the president and CJI, as exalted constitutional functionaries of the country, will surely deal with the matter seriously and not casually. Anupam Gupta, senior advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, was scathing in his criticism of the judiciary with regard to nepotism in judicial appointments. I am totally opposed to the appointment of judges relatives as judges. Inbreeding and nepotism has long been the bane of the Indian judiciary all over the country. The problem is truly endemic and pan- India and very little, if at all, has been done by the judiciary to mitigate it. The 2015 NJAC judgement of the Supreme Court conveniently steers clear of the problem. The judgment stretches the conflict of interest principle (in relation to the executive participation in judicial appointments) far beyond any known jurisprudential boundaries but turns a blind eye to the problem within the judiciary itself. It is definitely a brave judgement but only politically, not morally. Unless and until judges cleanse themselves, judicial independence will lack a truly firm foundation. The first effective step towards such cleansing is a prohibition on judges relative being appointed as judges. The prohibition should cover all sitting judges (of high courts and also the Supreme Court) and retired judges for up to a certain period after their retirement (say, 10 years). The prohibition should be complete and allow of no exceptions. He added, Judges relatives who are professionally competent should continue to enrich the bar without any sense of loss over denial of an inheritance that is but feudal. Rather than wrangling over the MoP, let the Government of India move a Constitutional Amendment to effectuate this prohibition. For all my naivety, I doubt very much if the Supreme Court would have the moral confidence to strike it down. Another constitutional luminary, Soli Sorabjee, too, admitted there is a problem: It is true that there can be some cases of nepotism. If the collegium finds some substance in them they will surely review the decision. But the final word regarding the appointment should rest with the collegium and not the government; otherwise there will be lot of complications. Sorabjee, however, is against a blanket ban on appointment of relatives. Just because someone is related to a judge, he or she cannot be disqualified. The collegium should take other inputs too. I am not saying that other inputs should be completely neglected but after taking into account if the collegium maintains it decision, then it has to be accepted. He further added, I do believe that government should have a voice in appointments but not veto. The ultimate authority should rest with judiciary. If there is a clear case of nepotism then surely make a representation to collegiums and trust that they will address the issue. The government should have say in appointments to the extent of bringing material to collegiums which the collegium would otherwise have no accessed to. But they (the government) cannot say that we have brought to your notice this fact and now you have to accept it. When asked whether he thought that the collegium is a perfect system, Sorabjee replied, This is the least imperfect system. It may not be perfect system but we cannot mistrust it. Get the politicians or legal community into appointments and there will be big problem. And yet, there is no denying that family is an important factor in judicial appointments and inbreeding and nepotism are facts. Consider this: Around 15 judges of the Allahabad High Court come from families of judges. This is not to suggest that they lack credentials but just to state that like in politics and the film world, families rule the roost here as well. Indira Jaising, senior advocate, Supreme Court, minces no words in admitting that strong lobbies exists that promote nepotism. The appointment of judges to constitutional courts or indeed to any court needs to be totally transparent, to be truly considered independent. A judiciary which claims independence from the executive must also be independent from vested interests and powerful cast and class lobbies. Today, I cannot say with confidence that such independence exists. The data from previous appointments shows that children of judges become judges, that even within the judiciary, lobbies exist. These lobbies are invisible but they sometimes surface during periods of tension or when critical decisions are taken. So entrenched are vested interests that even at the stage of designation of Senior Counsel the aristocracy of the legal profession gets preference, she said. However, she added, This does not mean that the government should act on the basis of anonymous complaints. It is the system that needs to change, that is the proposed appointment must be justified on the basis of equal opportunity to all to get into the judiciary. Nepotism destroys the judiciary; it begins with the lowest rung of the judiciary. The trick is to introduce friends and relatives at the level of district judge then get them to the high courts and then the Supreme Court. In the continuing stand-off between the Modi government and the Supreme Court on the MoP, it remains to be seen if this very touchy issue of judicial dynasties is addressed, if at all. Caste violence in Gujarat's Una district has triggered a revolution among the Dalit community. On Sunday, thousands of Dalits took out a massive rally in Ahmedabad, sending out a strong message to the BJP government. Around 30 Dalit groups across Gujarat, who had come together at the rally, took a pledge not to lift cow carcasses from the streets. Dalit leader and convener of the event Jignesh Mevani asked his community to take a pledge to stay away from their traditional work of disposing dead cattle. "To give a strong message to the government, I urge all Dalits to discontinue the work of disposing dead animals. I also want you to take a pledge of discontinuing the work of cleaning sewer lines. We no longer wish to do this work and want the government to allot agriculture land to us, so that we can live a respectable life," he said. 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." They also put forth other demands, including people involved in assaulting the Dalit youths in Una to be arrested under Prevention of Anti-Social Activity Act (PASA) and permanent posts for sanitation work and payment as per the 6th Pay Commission. On 11 July, seven members of a Dalit family in Gujarat's Una town, involved in leather trading, were attacked and brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed gau rakshaks. Four of them were stripped half-naked, tied to a car, dragged for about a kilometre and then beaten up with iron rods and sticks by the cow vigilantes. The state "must provide us licenced firearms to protect ourselves since the government has failed to provide us security", said Mevani. "We have had enough. We will break their hands and legs if the upper caste exploiters torture us any more," he added. Demanding justice against these cow vigilantes and the violence practiced by them, Muslims too joined the rally. Three Muslim leaders from Ahmedabad attended the rally. Many Muslim activists were also seen in the rally. Members of the religious body Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind were also present. Maulana Mahmood Madani, general secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind told The Times of India that the Muslims, Dalits and the tribal communities are feeling threatened in India. "An attempt is being made to paint everyone in one colour," he said. "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," said Mohammed Hanif, vice-president of Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind. The Dalit uprising in Gujarat, and Muslim support, come at a time when the BJP is trying to woo the Dalits votes in poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. In fact, Mevani's statement, "If atrocities on Dalits do not stop, we will show our strength in the 2017 Assembly polls," should make the Centre and Anandiben Patel-led Gujarat government rethink it's strategy of handling caste violence and the cow vigilantes. The party is also feeling the repercussions. BJP president Amit Shah had to cancel a rally in Agra on Sunday after the UP BJP failed to gather a crowd of 40,000 Dalits. Amit Shah's rally was supposed to coincide with the arrival of the Dhamma Chetna Yatra. Though the local BJP leaders claimed that the rally was cancelled due to bad weather, reports suggest that the gathering was cancelled due to poor response from the Dalit community and possible threat of protests. According to sources, the party's Dhamma Chetna Yatra was only attended by its party workers and a few other monks. A local eyewitness in Agra was quoted in The Indian Express as saying, "It was quite shocking that most people in the hall were either monks or BJP workers. They even called street children and beggars to the venue as the older audience wasnt available." There is simmering anger within the party with the BJP government's inability to curb the violence carried out gau rakshaks. "Why do only Dalits come forward in case of atrocities of Dalits? Do the proponents of Indian nationalism not consider them to be a part of Indian society? Or are they not a part of the ideal Indian nation," said BJP MP Udit Raj during a national conference in Delhi. The Dalit protests are not likely to die down anytime soon even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to remain silent on the issue. Dalit leaders, on Sunday, announced a plan to organise a foot march from Ahmedabad to Una town in Gir-Somnath district, where four Dalits were brutally thrashed by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. They said the march will be organised from 5 August. With inputs from agencies An analysis of 54 new cancer drugs found that over the last decade the FDA allowed 74% of them on the market without proof that they extended life. And in some cases, the drugs designed to keep patients alive may have hastened death. Read Full Article On Sunday morning, an empty hall greeted BJP leaders in Agra. Just a few days ago, the BJP had dreamt of filling up the hall with 40,000 Dalits and giving a rousing welcome to party chief Amit Shah. But, its inability to gather even 1000 Dalits in a city that has them in huge numbers, set off a quick chain of political events. The first casualty has come from Gujarat. The state's chief minister Anandiben Patel quit, interestingly, after a posting a note on Facebook. Now, state BJP chief Vijay Rupani will likely take over as CM. Coincidentally, it is Rupani's birthday on Tuesday. Anandiben Patel's resignation was not a question of 'if' but 'when'. But, the failure of BJP's Dalit outreach programme in UP, underlined by the Agra disaster, hastened her exit. Under her watch, Gujarat was slipping rapidly away from the BJP's hand. Since the ramification of losing Narendra Modi's bastion would have set off a chain of events that would have been politically disastrous, the BJP just couldn't have continued to twiddle its thumbs in the state. It also needed to give a message to Dalits, especially those in UP, that the BJP was concerned about the growing unrest in the community. Anandiben had to go. In a message posted on her Facebook page, the Gujarat CM on Monday announced she has asked the central leadership to relieve her of her duty. Patel said she had tendered her resignation two months ago to give enough time to the new incumbent to prepare for important events like the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat summit. The CM said she has asked the party to relieve her a few months before she turns 75. Patel then proceeded to meet the Gujarat Governor. She also gave a detailed statement on Monday evening. Gujarat had turned into a veritable mess since last year's Patidar Andolan for reservation that led to massive protests and violence throughout the state. In the aftermath of the protests, Gujarat's Patidars appeared to be drifting away from the party they had supported for almost two decades. Their 15 percent votes had been the bedrock of the BJP's successive electoral wins in the state. But, the recent local bodies elections in Gujarat showed that ground beneath the BJP's feet is shifting. In Saurashtra, the BJP suffered major losses in the polls, ceding ground to the Congress. The very fact that the BJP had failed to retain the support of the Patels in spite of having a politician from the community as the chief minister meant Anandiben's days were numbered. While the dust was yet to settle on the Patidar Andolan it is still alive and kicking in Gujarat, ready to erupt when the time is right Anandiben was rocked by a series of allegations of corruption, especially against her daughter Anar. For years, BJP had thrived in Gujarat on the reputation of Modi as an incorruptible CM. His 'na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' slogan had paved the way for a mini electoral revolution across India, leading to the UPA's demolition in 2014. Though the BJP brazened out the charges against the CM and her daughter, there remained an undercurrent of discomfort within the party. Anandiben may still have ploughed on, creating the impression that she would make way for someone else after the next assembly polls, due in around 18 months. Since Modi believes in giving his trusted lieutenants a long run and doesn't easily give in under pressure, it was widely believed that Anandiben will survive till the elections. The BJP was toying with the idea of retaining her and simultaneously projecting a young leader as her successor after the polls. But, the Dalit agitation in Gujarat forced the BJP's hand. For the past 15 days, massive protests by Dalits against oppression by upper castes and cow vigilante groups had been giving sleepless nights to the BJP, not just because of the impact on Gujarat but also in many other poll-bound states. Dalits are just 7 percent of Gujarat's electorate. They have traditionally supported the Congress in Gujarat elections. On paper, their revolt did not appear a big setback to the Gujarat BJP. But the ongoing stir ruined its plans of a massive Dalit outreach in Uttar Pradesh, and effectively demolished the dream of uniting the virat Hindutva parivar in a political coalition. Somebody had to pay the price for this. Anandiben did. Ironically, like Smriti Irani, Anandiben was handpicked by Modi for the job. Both have fallen to Dalit politics. One a victim of her inability to handle the aftermath of Rohith Vemula's suicide. The other of the BJP's dangerous ploy of trying to run with Dalits and hunt with gau rakshaks. New Delhi: BJP President Amit Shah on Monday said that the party's parliamentary board will decide on the replacement for Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who has offered to resign. Soon after Patel went public with her offer to quit, Shah said she wanted her replacement to get adequate time to prepare for Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in January 2017 and the assembly polls later next year. He said Patel had twice offered to resign and also broached the issue in the party's National Executive meet in June and wrote to him again today morning. Referring to reasons, including that she will turn 75 in November, cited by her to quit, he said she has set a "good" precedent. "She has requested the party to relieve her of the post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah told PTI. "She has said that if a new person has to be brought in, then he should get time. Gujarat elections have to take place and there is also Vibrant Gujarat summit, which has been a long tradition, to be held in January. She said if Vibrant Gujarat has to happen in January, then a new person should get the opportunity now," he said. Asked about the replacement for Patel, he said the parliamentary board will decide on the new chief minister. The Bulandshahr gangrape has added another shameful chapter to the horrific crime graph in Uttar Pradesh. It has also renewed focus on a miraculous Teflon coating that provides immunity to the ruling Samajwadi Party and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav from all accountability for every act of lawlessness that occurs within the premises of India's largest state. For a state which ranks among the worst in India in terms of criminal activity and has consistently been the most unsafe for women, UP gets an inexplicable short shrift from national media. In an age of hyper media activism, Akhilesh Yadav somehow manages to remain supremely unsullied despite presiding over some of the most outrageous incidents of violence since assuming office in 2012. From the death of Mohammad Akhlaq to the burning alive of journalist Jagendra Singh, from Badaun sisters' gangrape and murder to the brutal rape and murder of a Class XII student this year in Lucknow, the Chief Minister and his inept police force have always escaped media scrutiny. Some noise and arrests have been made following the gut-wrenching gangrape of a mother and daughter but it is anybody's guess whether the focus is due to impending Assembly elections or a genuine intent to restore law and order in a state where even cops fear to tread in the badlands after dark. The media attention, too, could be short-lived, lasting only as long to see whether Friday's crime acts as an election prop. It may be a deeply cynical view, but facts speak for themselves. Even a full day after a dozen assailants gang raped for three hours a 35-year-old Noida woman and her 14-year-old daughter near Bulandshahr after waylaying the vehicle in which the family of six was travelling on the Delhi-Kanpur highway, Indian Express reported that a golden necklace and a small, soiled dark blue purse still lay abandoned in the damp portion of a millet field where the actual crime took place. Picking these up, local villagers pointed out how the police have failed to recover these crucial pieces of evidence even 24 hours after the incident. The rape survivors were driving down the Delhi-Kanpur National Highway 91 with four other family when muggers threw an axe to stop their car and then dragged the women at gunpoint off the highway into an adjoining field. With one street light every 10 km and no police personnel in sight, the family remained stranded on a deserted stretch, their car stuck in the slush. A Firstpost report also pointed out how the SHO, Ramsen Singh, at Dehat Kotwali police station did not respond to the complaints when the distraught family approached the cops to file an FIR on Saturday and police also did not answer calls on the emergency helpline number. According to data released in 2015 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against women across the country increased by around 10 percent in 2014. A total of 3,37,922 cases were registered as against 3,09,546 in 2013. Uttar Pradesh (38,467), shows data, topped the chart for being the state least safe for women with West Bengal (38,299), Rajasthan (31,151 cases), Madhya Pradesh (28,678) and Maharashtra (26,693) making the top five. UP earned the dubious distinction in 2013 as well with maximum number of 32,546 cases. MP, however, topped the list in consolidated crime chart in 2014. NCRB data also showed that most gangrapes took place in Uttar Pradesh with 573 cases being registered; followed by Rajasthan, 414 cases; Delhi, 147. The report also stated that in total 58,592 cases of kidnapping of women and girls were registered in 2014, with the maximum number of cases being reported in Uttar Pradesh at 10,628. UP's 'consistency' is alarming. In 2013, NCRB's 'Crime In India 2013', showed incidents of rape in UP had increased by over a whopping 50% compared to 2012. UP has reported 3050 rapes last year compared to 1963 rapes reported in the state in 2012. While going through these statistics, bear in mind that the actual number of crimes could be even higher because many cases go unreported due to the deadly cocktail of social stigma and atmosphere of fear. "The actual incidence of crimes has increased so much in UP that it has created a climate of fear in the society that impels people not to report. There is intense fear of the perpetrators, who are almost always from the same locality," Dr Pradeep Singh, associate professor of law in Banaras Hindu University, told The Times of India in a 2014 report. His views found resonance with Professor Ravi Srivastava of JNU. "In the case of UP and Bihar, often the instructions from the top are clear that cases should not be registered to keep the crime figures down. So official crime figures have a lot more to do with what instructions go down to the police stations from the top." One part of the problem is the paltry, outdated police force. For over 20 crore UP residents, there are only 1.8 lakh police personnel stretched thin over an area of 2.5 lakh square kilometers. In some cases, cops become complicit in crimes as the burning alive of a journalist in Shahjahanpur last year showed. Family members of Jagendra Singh, who succumbed to burn injuries, claimed that a police officer set him on fire allegedly during a police raid in his residence on 1 June for a "derogatory Facebook post" against then UP minister Ram Murti Varma. Just before his death, Singh was quoted, as saying: "Why did they have to burn me alive? If ministers and goons had something against me, they could have beaten me up instead of pouring kerosene and torching me." The shocking incident led to the booking of an FIR against the minister, Inspector Rai and four others but Akhilesh Yadav administration faced no persistent media or civil society activism. If police apathy is the first part of the problem, sheer insensitivity displayed time and again from senior SP netas are the second part. It is a reflection of the arrogance the party and its administration suffer from, cocooned in the knowledge it can somehow justify gravest criminal acts and emerge unscathed. Shortly after journalist Jagendra Singh was burnt alive, a cabinet member of the UP government presented a bizarre defence for colleague Ram Murti Varma. Parasnath Yadav went on record saying the journalist's death must have been written in his destiny. The brazenness mirrored a similar statement from SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who in 2014 amid growing criticism over deteriorating law and order in Uttar Pradesh following the gang-rape and murder of a 30-year-old woman in Lucknow, had said that the state government should not be expected to keep a check on each and every crime. "The population of Uttar Pradesh is 21 crore. The least number of rapes take place in Uttar Pradesh. Every crime cannot be checked in the state. The police take action against the criminals if such cases take place." How many column spaces have been spent in articles outraging against such acts of brazen defiance? It must be the handiwork of that inexplicable, invisible Teflon coating. Kolkata: In a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi-led central government over the attacks on Dalits in Gujarat by cow vigilantes, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused it of not even sparing the Hindu community and isolating them. She also slammed the Centre over a students' scholarship portal not being functional for a year, and accused it of not being serious about giving scholarship money to minority students. "The only thing you (the Centre) do is propagate fundamentalism, do ads and cow census. They are just dividing people. Sometimes there are attacks on Dalits, sometimes on Christians, sometimes on Muslims," Banerjee said in her address at a programme on minority development. "They don't even spare the Hindu community from attacks. They isolate the Hindu community more. I am saying as a Hindu that we don't want this anymore. We want to walk together with all," she said. Stressing on equality of religions, the Trinamool Congress supremo flayed the Centre for failing to rectify technical problems in a portal that deals with scholarships for students, including from the minority community. "When I went to Delhi last week I told the Prime Minister that students are being deprived due to technical problems with the scholarship portal. The Centre has created a portal where applications aren't getting submitted. It is not working since a year. If the portal is not working then why should our students suffer. Either they can repair it or they are not giving the money to the minorities citing the breakdown of the portal as the reason. This is most unfortunate," she said. She also took pot shots at the Centre for the profusion of advertisements. "You do no work but advertisements run from day to night. So how come the portal breakdowns when you have to give scholarship to students. It's your responsibility to rectify the problem immediately," she pointed out. Alleging that the ruling BJP was instigating people via social media, Banerjee urged the minorities in Bengal to "not be provoked by the BJP". Kolkata: Lashing out at the NDA-led Centre for pursuing "divisive politics", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the minority community not to fall into their trap. India, she said, was like one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers for decades. "The BJP government is disturbing the communal harmony of the country through various means. Its only job is to divide people, conduct cow census and spread fundamentalism in the country. It is not only about attack on Muslim community, but also on Christians and Dalits. "They (BJP) are not interested in development of the communities but want to divide them," Banerjee said addressing a minority affairs program here. Urging the Muslim community not to fall prey to BJP's communal and divisive politics, she said. "They (BJP) are using Facebook and Twitter to spread communal hatred. I request my brothers and sisters of the minority community not to fall into their trap. Please don't pay heed to whatever they say. They want you to fall into their trap. India is one big joint family where several religions have been living as brothers. If one of our brothers falls sick, other brothers can not stay well," Banerjee said. The Chief Minister announced a slew of projects for the development of students of minority communities. A new girls hostel of Aliah University and a mobile app 'Haj Sathi' were inaugurated by her. Banerjee said the Center has withheld funds for minority development by citing "lame excuses". "Last week when I had gone to New Delhi, I inquired why the funds for the minority development have been withheld by citing lame excuses that the web portal they had developed for allocation of funds was not working. Why are there problems in the portal? There are no problems in the advertisements that you (the Center) give out in newspapers everyday propagating what you have done. "I want to make it very clear either you fix such technical problems or do not stop funds citing such lame excuses," Banerjee added. The Bihar government has taken meaning of the word 'ban' to a new level. According to the amended Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016, the state government can now prosecute a woman if her husband secretly consumes alcohol even without her knowing it. The amended bill says that it must be presumed that every adult member of the family is in the know if someone is drinking, making, selling or distributing alcohol in "one's premises". According to reports, the draconian changes in the new bill was circulated before the opening day of the five-day monsoon session, for feedback, and has already been cleared by the Nitish Kumar cabinet. The bill will also seek punishment for liquor advertisements in the media and social media with a jail term of five years, a Rs 10-lakh penalty or both. "Charity begins at home. If we are making a law, then we should unanimously pass a resolution from here itself. The message of unity in the form of a resolution that we will neither drink and nor promote drinking should go out to the people," Nitish reportedly said at the state Assembly while intervening in a debate on the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The proposed Excise Amendment Bill which intends to provide more teeth to the existing prohibition law was circulated among members on the opening day of five-day monsoon session for their comments. The draft has already been cleared by Nitish's cabinet and the government aims at getting it approved by the Assembly in the current monsoon session itself. It also has a provision of life sentence for those engaging minor below the age of 18 or a woman for sale, hide, transportation and distribution of intoxicant. The bill also prescribes collective fine on a town/village or community if there are habitual offenders of prohibition. Calling the provision 'draconian', opposition BJP said it would protest it. The amendment has incorporated a stringent provision that if liquor or any other intoxicant is found, consumed, manufactured or sold from a house, all the members above 18 years of age would be liable for punishment, which will include sending them behind bars. According to reports, the contentious provisions have not gone down well with several leaders, including Mastan, who has admitted to media, Financial Express reported, that some of the "provisions of the bill are wrong". Interestingly, toddy was not covered under this amendment. Merely 24 hours within tabling of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill 2016, toddy was removed from the list of 'banned intoxicants' in state, The Times of India reported. Reports said that the Nitish Kumar governmnent buckled under the pressure of its mail ally in the state, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was vehemently opposed to banning toddy sales in Bihar. State excise and prohibition minister Abdul Jalil Mastan told IANS that there will be no ban on sale and consumption of toddy in the state. "Ban on toddy has been lifted," Mastan said. In April, after Bihar imposed a total liquor ban in the state, it also banned the sale of 'toddy'. But the decision to ban toddy was not lauded by Lalu Prasad. According to RJD leaders here, Lalu was not in favour to ban toddy. For millions of people in rural Bihar toddy, locally called 'tadi' is considered the poor man's beer. For ages, toddy has been a favourite of villagers as a natural drink from the palm tree. Prohibition of liquor has been the favourite among political parties and their leaders, especially in 2015 and 2016 during the Assembly election season. We have had Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, and now Uttar Pradesh (set to go to the polls early in 2017) is also gearing up for many rallies promising a ban on alcohol. Since the rural population, especially the women, are so sick and tired of a drunk man in the family, it works when a politician comes bearing the good news of a sober household. Nitish made this a reality in Bihar. In fact, detractors were critical of his decision saying that the move, which was dubbed as a political one, will drain the state coffers. What was more strange that Nitish dared to make it a reality with its main ally in the state Lalu's RJD a party that never supported blanket ban on liquor. The Telegraph in this article, dated 5 May, 2016 said: "RJD boss Lalu Prasad, who has officially supported prohibition, misses no opportunity to oppose it in private conversations. He revealed on the condition of anonymity that he had advised Nitish and his aid, Prashant Kishore against prohibition when the duo met him ahead of imposing it." In fact, most reports suggested that the Nitish government had first included toddy in list of intoxicants to be banned in the state while tabling the new amended bill in the Assembly, but others suggested that Lalu's intervention compelled the government to take a U-turn. And the Opposition is not letting this opportunity go. "If someone throws an empty bottle of liquor into Lalu's and Rabri Devi's house at night, both Lalu and Rabri along with their minister sons will have to go to jail. Why should the entire family face punishment for the crime of one person?", BJP leader and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi was quoted as saying. "In the last three-and-a-half months, Lalu has publicly expressed his displeasure over the government decision to ban toddy and urged the government to lift the ban and make it free as it was introduced during his tenure as chief minister in the early 1990s," a leader close to Lalu said. Lalu Prasad as chief minister had declared toddy tax-free in Bihar to help people engaged in the business, particularly the 'Pasi' caste. The amendment proposed by the Nitish government is a strange one. With an eye on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election and then the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Nitish might be pushing the ban-on-alcohol agenda a bit too far. Even with total prohibition, there have been reports which said that people from Bihar are crossing over to neighbouring states to buy and consume liquor. Furthering that, few new liquor outlets have even come up on the borders of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh where sale of liquor is said to have grown after the imposition of ban in Bihar. As was argued earlier, giving up alcohol shouldn't be one man's decision or a political agenda. With bordering states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal not banning alcohol, it's not a big mystery as to why prohibition, on the ground, does not work. "Do you truly cross-my-heart believe that the politicians and bureaucrats, the police and other government officials and the wealthy civilians dont have booze stocked away? You have to live in La La land to believe that dry states dont have booze by the barrel. The less affluent simply make do with alcohol of dubious quality... The reality is that prohibition actually causes more social problems than we want to admit." It may sound great for all those who have been dealing with domestic abuse for a long time and it might have even helped a few families dealing with alcohol abuse, but the new suggested amendments do more bad than good. Even though the provisions are meant to engage communities/families to ensure prohibition, the proposed amendment if passed, will not just be unjust for the families but also has better chances of being misused. With inputs from agencies New Delhi: Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa on Monday did not give any indication about her joining any political party but thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi for their support. Sasikala, who reportedly slapped DMK lawmaker Trichy Siva at Delhi airport on Saturday, also dismissed suggestions that there was any connection between the incident and her resignation. Earlier in the day, on Monday, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa expelled her from the party, saying her behaviour had brought "great disrepute" to the organisation. "I want to thank Congress party governed under Soniaji and Rahulji, Because they have supported me today and then I want to thank DMK which has supported me today even though there was an issue," Sasikala told NDTV. Asked if she would now join Congress, the former Tuticorin mayor said,"I don't know." Earlier in Rajya Sabha, Sasikala claimed that she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to her life in Tamil Nadu. She, however, did divulge who slapped her and when. Pushpa first rushed into the Well of the House to seek permission to make a statement and then broke down several times as she said she faced "life threat" from the state government and alluded to her being allegedly slapped by a "leader". Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and he will protect her too. He, however, asked her not to mention anyone's name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself. But the opposition, including Congress, protested, saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Under the law, an MP can retain his seat after being expelled by the party on whose ticket he had won. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh over his "accident" remark on the killing of Hizbul commander Burhani Wani, saying it amounts to "backing" terrorist and "insulting" the army jawans killed on the borders. The BJP ally said the comment will put Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a fix, who had recently said people speaking against the nation need to be "taught a lesson". "Parrikar has only expressed the sentiments of people but who is it that is discouraging our armymen? If Pakistan mourns the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani it can be understood. But it was (J&K CM) Mehbooba Mufti who first shed tears on his killing and then it was Nirmal Singh, who allegedly termed it as an accident," the Sena said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana. On July 30, talking on the encounter of Wani by security forces, Nirmal Singh had said, "Police and security forces told us (the government) that they don't know who the terrorist is. It was an accident. Because when an operation takes place, precautions are taken but we didn't know it would be of such kind. Had we known about it, preparations would have been made." "This is like backing the terrorist on one hand and insulting our martyred jawans on the other. This will make it challenging for Parrikar who talks of teaching a lesson to those who speak against the nation," it added. It further said, "It is easy to teach a lesson to film stars who at times speak irrationally. But, what about those who wear a mask of nationalism and make the same statements?" it said. If killing Wani was an accident then the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is also an accident, it added. "What will you do if people make up their minds that this government in Jammu and Kashmir is an accident?" it asked. A painful discussion took place on television recently about how elephants are abused in captivity in India. We saw close-ups of cruel owners burning the soles of elephants feet, beating them, tying them up in chains, and allowing their wounds to fester, or even worse, applying inadequate medication roughly to their injured eyes. A few days ago, we witnessed a bizarre social media spectacle of two medical students in Chennai filming themselves throwing a small stray dog off the roof of a house. Miraculously, the dog survived, was rescued, and is now known as Bhadra. Soon after that, we saw scenes that shredded whatever hope we might have still had for a miracle that decency might exist among humans. We saw that horrendous video of a group of boys in Hyderabad burning a bunch of puppies alive. What we forget about animals, we forget about ourselves. Jonathan Safran Foer wrote in his influential book Eating Animals. And as for what we forget about humans We have seen more than one horrendously degrading video of young men (and now some women too) being beaten by mobs fancying themselves to be cow protectors. If a cow could speak, what would she say to them? If a puppy could speak, what might it say to those burning them, just out of sheer malice? If an elephant could speak, what would it say? And if we humans, we privileged masters of the planet and all its lives, could speak the truth for a change, what would we say then about our relationship to animals? Can we say that we are speaking in their name only out of compassion, or are we guilty at times of using their pain and suffering to advance some painful and cruel agendas of our own, since we are human, and use our gift of intelligence to divide ourselves into races, castes and religions. In the case of the cow, used historically as a symbol of conquest, coercion, conversion, resistance, compassion, anti-colonialism, nationalism, and unfortunately, communalism and casteism too, this tendency is obvious. Cow politics are human politics. Cows have been used as an excuse to malign whole groups of people. It is clear. But what is less obvious perhaps is the very strange way in which the discourse on the elephant is now being spun into an attack on another group of people altogether. A discussion on the abuse of elephants in captivity, some part of which arguably has a context of captivity in temples, has turned instead into a one-pointed attack on Hinduism as if elephant abuse is chiefly a problem with Hindu temples and nowhere else. While no one can fault the animal rights activists trying to help the captive elephants, a closer look at the sensational and selective manner in which Rajdeep Sardesai presented his show raises some questions about intent and integrity. Consider the follow ways in which the programme was framed: First of all, the programme was presented on social media at least not as a general investigation of elephant abuses, but specifically as a problem with tradition: https://twitter.com/IndiaToday/status/757847688494800896 And once on air, Sardesai framed the issue right at the beginning not so much as a problem with the capture and abuse of wild animals, but specifically as a problem with temples. Assaulted, starved, shackled, blinded in our temples, he starts, and, in the next line, goes on to say that all of this abuse is happening in the name of tradition (and after a pause) and tourism. The brief nod to tourism is important, not because it broadens the picture, but simply because it seems to allow the easy conflation of the abuses being done by the tourism elephant owners (whose motive is clearly commercial rather than religious) with what is allegedly happening at some of the temples in Kerala. Throughout the programme, we witness a video loop of elephants being abused without a clear indication of what is happening where, even as the conversation shifts entirely to a discussion of temples, religion and tradition. The first question asked by Sardesai is interesting. It is not about how many elephants are in captivity, or in what quarters the abuse is taking place, such as circuses, zoos, private owners, and so on. He jumps right into a dramatic performance of anti-religious outrage, asking what kind of religious rituals are these, and talking about double standards. The rest of the conversation, not surprisingly, follows the same theme to the end, with several more probing interventions from the host on how critics of his programme might blame him as being anti-tradition. One of the guests calls for a ban of elephants in temples, and says its a form of barbarism. Another guest calls for the confiscation of temple elephants and their removal to a sanctuary. The host concludes, once again, with a turn to Lord Ganesha, asking what the point in observing Ganesh Chaturthi might be if elephants continue to be in chains in temples. Naturally, the incessant imagery of elephants being tortured by cruel and callous human beings and the whole diatribe on temples, led to expected reactions from viewers. One famous viewer tweeted, unsurprisingly enough, in strongly anti-religious terms: https://twitter.com/Simi_Garewal/status/758667774495494144 The question we need to ask is simply this: Is a singular demonisation of Hinduism on this particular issue really the most honest way to go about it? By all means, one can have a debate on the meaning of tradition, and the place of animals in religion; whether it is ceremonial displays of elephants in a few Hindu temples or mass slaughter of other animals on the streets and alleyways of India during other festivals. But in this particular case, when the real issue was the capture and abuse of elephants for a wide range of contexts, why is it that the debate somehow narrowed down to some kind of a trial for Hinduism, as if elephant-abuse is written in the Vedas as some sacrosanct custom for all Hindus in the manner of other abuses of animals and humans in other traditions? It is telling that in the entire programme, neither the host nor the reporters share any pertinent facts on the nature and extent of elephant capture, captivity and abuse: How many elephants are actually in temples, especially when compared to those held by private tourist operators, wedding and political rally touts, circuses, and poorly maintained zoos for example (some of that information is in this article, which says that out of 3,500 captive elephants in India, about 2,500 are privately owned and the rest include wildlife boards, circuses, zoos, and temples.) If the majority of captive elephants in India are not in temples, then why did we not hear from Rajdeep Sardesai on the condition of elephants in all these other places? Why was it temples and traditions throughout? Perhaps Sardesai is unaware that there are viewers of this show who wholeheartedly support freedom for elephants and indeed all animals and cannot be dismissed as mere fundamentalists who defend elephant abuse in the name of tradition. There are viewers who can support a world in which freedom from pain for animals and human is more important than any religious prerogative, or even secular prerogative for violence either (I dont know where to put Sardesais famous comment from some time ago that he enjoys his beef and his Gayatri Mantra on this spectrum, since beef doesn't come without abuse, torture, and murder either). Elephants are wild animals and should not be in captivity, in my view. Yet, at the moment, we do have them, in zoos, in temples, in circuses, and in innumerable tourist attractions. If we truly feel for them, then we must do what we can, and first of all avoid the temptation to go sit on them for joy rides, for one thing, and then engage precisely with their owners, caretakers, or abusers, as each case may be, and work towards an appropriate form of rehabilitation. That would be the right thing to do. Yet, what the latest TV and social media campaign for the elephant seems to have done is to merely use the suffering of elephants as a pretext to presume that somehow Hinduism is to blame for their pain, and heap abuse and condemnation on the religion in tones spanning from the seemingly factual to the bizarrely hysterical. Tradition can and must be debated, especially by those who live it and respect it. But setting up elephant abuse as Hindu tradition for the sake of a predetermined agenda is not simply Hinduphobic, but a sign of a virulent anti-Hindu fanaticism that has become normative in a certain class of Indian elites. We need to get over the violence that is being done to humans and animals right now because of a seriously warped climate of selective identity-politics. We dont need to be nice to cows in the name of a religion or nation, nor do we need to attack a whole religion in order to be nice to elephants. We do need to be better at being human, though, and for that, some degree of honesty in how we use the pain of animals to advance our own agendas and superstitions should be something we think about carefully. Vamsee Juluri is a professor of media studies at University of San Francisco and has authored many books including Becoming a Global Audience: Longing and Belonging in Indian Music Television. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced Vijay Rupani as Gujarat's 16th chief minister to succeed Anandiben Patel and Nitin Patel as the state's deputy chief minister. With Anandiben Patel resigning, Vijay Rupani, who belongs to the Jain community and hails from Rajkot, was considered as the frontrunner. Incidentally, Rajkot is the heartland of Saurashtra and the stronghold of Patels, the same community whose virulent agitation exposed the caste fault lines in the state. Rupani's birthday falls on 2 August. If he takes over as the chief minister, it will be a birthday gift by the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a senior BJP leader from Ahmedabad. Rupani comes across as an affable leader, and his proximity to Modi and BJP President Amit Shah is well-known. But that's not the reason why he is most likely to be chosen as chief minister as in Modis politics such a conventional metric does not work. Rupani who handles several portfolios in the Anandiben Patel government has proved to be a deft administrator known for his conciliatory approach to a problem. That is the precise reason why he was elevated as the BJPs state unit chief while retaining his status as the minister. Highly placed sources admit that Rupanis conciliatory traits and his malleable personae are the main attributes that would see him through as the possible successor of Anandiben. Apart from her age (she is almost 75), Anandi Patels biggest handicap was her inability to have a firm grip on the administration. She was found to be wanting in arresting that drift of social groups which formed a strong support base for the BJP in the past. At the same time, the overwhelming influence of her family members on the state administration was also frowned upon by top leaders of the Sangh Parivar. Rupani has had a long stint with the Sangh Parivar and he is considered to be the man who can overcome the deficiencies of Anandiben Patel. Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has asked the Pakistani government not to allow Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh to visit Pakistan and has warned of a nationwide protest if Singh does visit the country. According to India Today, Saeed said that if Rajnath Singh's visit to Pakistan should only be considered if India allows the Pakistani government to send people to Jammu and Kashmir to help the Kashmiris there. He also said that Pakistan should stop the export of onions and potatoes to India and should instead send relief materials to Kashmir. Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the home minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the Saarc ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government: Will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris?" he asked in a statement in Lahore. "It will be ironic as on the one hand, the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand, the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris." He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on 3 August. Saeed, who is carrying a $10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML-N government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis." Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing. The Pakistani government should not have invited Singh to the Saarc conference, he said. "Ailing prime minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing the 'Azadi Kashmir March' yesterday evening. He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir for the past 23 days and the Valley had turned into a 'volcano for India that could explode any time'. "It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said. With inputs from PTI New York: A city tabloid caused a major stir when it published nude photographs of Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, during her modelling days in the 1990s. "You've never seen a potential First Lady like this," the New York Post said on its front page on Sunday below a nude photograph of Melania. The "some rarely seen and others never published" pictures were taken during a shoot in 1995 in Manhattan for a photo spread for a now-defunct French men's magazine, the paper said. The pictures, obtained exclusively by The Post, were shot by French photographer Ale de Basseville. Slovenian-born Melania was then 25 years old and known by her professional moniker Melania K. She had then recently arrived in the city after doing modeling stints in Paris and Italy. When asked about the photos, Trump told The Post: "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common". The photos show Trump's wife in nothing but high heels. "Melania was super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me," de Basseville told The Post, adding the former model never once felt uncomfortable posing for the nude pictures. "I was quite surprised when I saw the pictures because it was a racier shoot than I expected," said a fashion-industry insider who was present for one of the photo sessions. "But Melania seemed very comfortable with the whole thing, and she was very professional," De Basseville said the photos "show the beauty and the freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melanias beauty". She was introduced to the billionaire Trump during a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. The two wed in 2005 in a ceremony at Trump's resort in Florida. Key adviser to Trump Jason Miller said there's no problem with the Post's publication of the nude photograph of his wife on its Sunday cover. "They're a celebration of the human body as art," Miller said on CNN's 'Reliable Sources'. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Miller said. "She's a beautiful woman." But Bougainville is furious it was not given all the shares, and that Rio Tinto said it is was no longer obliged to do anything about the environmental damage caused by the Panguna mine, which sparked a civil war that lasted through the 1990s. Rio Tinto split its equity between the autonomous provincial government and the national government in Port Moresby to give them an equal shareholding. THE Autonomous Bougainville Government is to press global mining giant Rio Tinto on several fronts after its divestment of its majority shareholding in Bougainville Copper Ltd. The ABG hopes to reopen the mine as a way to generate revenue should it vote to become independent from PNG after a referendum scheduled for 2019. Last month, the ABG held an emergency session of its parliament (pictured above) which made a number of resolutions. "My government, and all Bougainvilleans, oppose the shares in BCL being transferred to the PNG government, Bougainville president John Momis told parliament. The justification for the transfer advanced by Rio has no basis. "Equal PNG shareholding with the ABG raises the grave dangers for the future of peace in Bougainville," he said. "Moreover, its decision on allocating shares was clearly made in close consultation with PNG, and without consulting the ABG. Perhaps they both forgot that the mineral resources BCL was established to mine are located in Bougainville. Perhaps they forgot that Bougainville is autonomous, and has full power over mining. " Bougainville accepted its 36.4% of BCL and will negotiate with the PNG Government for it to surrender the Rio Tinto shares it was given. "There is a deep history of conflict and bitterness in Bougainville over the impacts of the Panguna mine. Since 2014 I have been advising the prime minister in the strongest terms that it is impossible for Bougainvilleans to accept national government control of Panguna through control of BCL," said Dr Momis. The ABG called for Bougainville-wide unity as it launched what it said would be the strongest possible international campaign to pressure Rio Tinto to accept its responsibility for the mine's legacy issues and that it would pursue the company in the courts. "It is grossly unjust - completely unacceptable - for Rio to now refuse any responsibility for the long-term impacts of the operations of its subsidiary, BCL, Dr Momis said. They told me they can walk away because they operated the mine under the PNG legal standards of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But it was clear in the 1980s, at least, that the standards of the day were appalling. It was the injustice of those terrible standards that caused the conflict," he said. Bougainville also intends taking up the legacy issues with both the PNG and Australian governments. Nepal is all set to elect its new prime minister based on majority votes as the deadline given by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for the formation of a new government by an all-party consensus expired on Sunday. Voting will be held in Parliament on Wednesday to elect the new PM after Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-MC) decided to be in the Opposition. Prachanda, Chairman of CPN-MC, said it was impossible to install a government based on national consensus, reported The Hindustan Times. Prime Minister KP Oli had to resign after the key coalition partner, CPN-MC, withdrew its support from the government. The new government will be the ninth in the last eight years, reported The Diplomat. Olis government of CPM (Unified Marxist-Leninist) was formed soon after the promulgation of Nepals constitution and has served for nine months. Prachanda is backed by Nepali Congress the largest party in Parliament as the sole candidate for the position of the Prime Minister. Both these parties have agreed to form the government on a rotational basis. CPN-MC demanded leadership even while supporting the Oli government. As the report in The Diplomat states, Prachanda and the Nepali Congress had reached a consensus on toppling the government in May. However, soon after Oli promised the post of Prime Minister to Prachanda, he withdrew his offer to the Congress. Oli refused to acknowledge any such agreement. This incited tension between the two parties and put the government in danger. Soon after Oli refused to hand over the leadership to Prachanda, they withdrew support to the government and Oli had to resign. Nepali Congress, which held the maximum number of seats under the Oli government felt isolated because all the major positions were held by CPN-UML and CPN-MC. Olis government has not been hugely popular among the common people. His cabinet, as The Kathmandu Post points out, had many internal contradictions. People had no hope that this group would remain in power for long. Oli also failed to deliver on his promises. Indias support to the Madhesis demands pulled Nepal closer to China. Oli brought in China to counter Indian intrusion. The Kathmandu Post reported that this may have prompted Indians to conspire with some politicians to topple the Nepal government. The instability within the government seems to have been caused by a want of greater power by all political parties. Kathmandu: Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday gave a fresh call to all political parties to form a majority government after the deadline given to them for forging consensus expired without yielding any results. In a letter sent to the Parliament, the President asked the parties to begin the process of electing a new Prime Minister on a majority basis in accordance with the Constitution. The call by the President to form a majority government was issued after the deadline given to the parties to form a consensus government expired yesterday without any outcome. Bhandari had on 25 July called on all the political parties to elect a new Prime Minister within a week based on consensus to end the political instability in the country, a day after premier KP Oli resigned. It is learnt that the Parliament has started preparation for beginning the procedure of electing the Premier on Wednesday. PN-Maoist president Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' is expected to become Nepal's 39th Prime Minister with the support of largest party Nepali Congress, the Madhesis and other fringe parties if there is no dramatic development. Oli resigned last month ahead of a no-confidence vote, plunging the country into a fresh political turmoil after last year's crippling Madhesi protests against the new Constitution. Oli, who became prime minister last October heading Nepal's eighth government in the past 10 years, was facing a no-trust motion after the Maoists withdrew support from the coalition government. Nepal's Maoist party led by Prachanda last week decided to initiate discussions and dialogue with all political parties, including the Madhesis, having representation in the Parliament to form a national consensus government. SIRTE, Libya U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold in the city of Sirte. "The first air strikes were carried out at specific locations in Sirte today causing severe losses to enemy ranks," Prime Minster Fayez Seraj said on state TV. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes did not have "an end point at this particular moment in time". Forces allied with Seraj have been battling Islamic State in Sirte - the home town of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi - since May. The group seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it its most important base outside Syria and Iraq, but its militants are now besieged in a few square kilometres of the centre where they hold strategic sites including the Ouagadougou conference hall, the central hospital and the university. The last acknowledged U.S. air strikes in Libya were on an Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha in February. Seraj said the Presidential Council of his Government of National Accord (GNA), had decided to "activate" its participation in the international coalition against Islamic State and "request the United States to carry out targeted air strikes on Daesh (Islamic State)." "I want to assure you that these operations are limited to a specific timetable and do not exceed Sirte and its suburbs," he said, adding that international support on the ground would be limited to technical and logistical help. U.S. President Barack Obama authorised the air strikes, the White House said. "GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL (Islamic State) thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," said Cook, the Pentagon spokesman. He said strikes on Monday targeted a specific tank location and two Islamic State vehicles that posed a threat to GNA forces. U.S. and Libyan officials estimate that several hundred Islamic State fighters remain in Sirte. Brigades mainly composed of militia from the western city of Misrata advanced on Sirte in May, but their progress was slowed by snipers, mines and booby-traps. Those forces have complained that assistance from the government in Tripoli and external powers was slow to materialise. At least 350 of their fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the campaign. Libyan fighter jets have frequently bombed Sirte, but they lack the weapons and technology to make precision strikes. Islamic State took advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to start expanding into Libya in 2014. It gained control over about 250 km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline either side of Sirte, though it has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in the country. The GNA was the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December to end a conflict between two rival governments and the armed groups that supported them, but it is having difficuly imposing its authority and winning backing from factions in the east. Western powers have offered to support the GNA in its efforts to tackle Islamic State, stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean, and revive Libya's oil production. But foreign intervention is politically sensitive, and the GNA has hesitated to make formal requests for help. Small teams of Western special forces have been on the ground in eastern and western Libya for months. Last month France said three of its soldiers had been killed south of the eastern city of Benghazi, where they had been conducting intelligence operations. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Yeganeh Torbati and Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Richard Balmforth) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Its a problem lately with lots of Hollywood movies and some not-Hollywood movies, too. The same sorts of stories often literally the same stories, as with reboots and remakes are getting told over and over again, and with little apparent notion that what is required is a good reason to tell those same stories again. And here we go again. To say that tales of Tarzan have been told before is an almost absurd understatement: he has been a mainstay of cinema since the silent era. And while The Legend of Tarzan is only very loosely based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, screenwriters Adam Cozad (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) and Craig Brewer (Footloose, Black Snake Moan) have managed to come up with a version of his story that is even more retrograde than anything the author invented. Its as if they went out of their way to avoid any pretense of relevance or significance to modern audiences , and then took a longer detour to be as offensive as possible. Clearly, Cozad and Brewer have some idea that retelling an already oft-told tale is not acceptable on its own: they skip right over Tarzans origins to, as the film opens, introduce us to a John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skarsgard: Zoolander 2, The Diary of a Teenage Girl), who has already settled back into his ancestral home in England with American wife Jane (Margot Robbie: The Big Short, Focus); a few flashbacks fill in the details of his childhood among apes, but its not a significant part of the story here. Instead, the movie has to work hard to get Clayton back to Congo on a mission for the British government to investigate some nefarious doings there that the king of Belgium seems to be behind. Clayton doesnt want to go, and the convincing that American agent George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson: The Hateful Eight, Barely Lethal) does to get him onboard the US government is also worried about the Congo situation is never actually, you know, convincing. Not to Clayton he just sort of gives in, because thered be no movie if he didnt and certainly not to us. We have no idea why Clayton agrees to go back to Africa, nor any idea what he hopes to get out of the trip. The man we are supposed to be identifying with is a bland nonentity, the fault of both the script, which doesnt bother to give him much in the way of motivation, and of Skarsgard, who gives him no personality. The actor exerts no presence at all ; he may be very pretty, but thats no substitute for the sort of charisma we expect from the hero of would-be escapist fantasy action adventure. Once in Africa, some very tedious procedural stuff uncovers Christoph Waltz (Spectre, Big Eyes) as a baddie who is after Congos diamonds on behalf of the Belgians. Its all very solemn and very dull, including the often incoherent action sequences. (Director David Yates, whose previous credits include the final four Harry Potter films, cannot seem to figure out why hes here either.) Janes insistence that she is no damsel in distress is entirely undercut by the scripts casting of her as nothing else; Waltz kidnaps her to lure Tarzan into a trap hes set. Yawn. But the worst thing is the movies unironic indeed, seemingly utterly oblivious treatment of the local people and the local landscapes as a battleground for warring white men. The only explanation for setting this movie a generation before Burroughss Tarzan stories its around 1890 here, but the Tarzan of the novels wasnt even born until 1889 is to exploit the theme of colonial Europeans stealing the regions natural resources, a motif that could, theoretically, certainly still have relevance for today (and, indeed, could have also worked had the movie adhered to the novels chronology and was set during or just after World War I). But its handled in such a desultory manner that it barely even registers as anything other than an excuse to have Tarzan come to the rescue of generic Africans; even the members of the one tribe that Clayton (and Jane) have past and apparently loving relationships with are barely characters. The finale, in which hordes of nameless African tribal warriors stand around and cheer as Clayton singlehandedly thwarts Waltzs scheme, and hence the Belgians, is insulting. It isnt just the epitome of the embarrassing white-savior narrative that no filmmaker should have dared to deploy in the 21st century, but it also lacks even the iota of historical hindsight required to realize that the troubles of an Africa bedeviled by Europeans were very, very far from being defeated. 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In this case, the Malaysian national who offered the bribe was deported but Tomuriesa (pictured) admitted that many people, especially foreigners in the forestry industry, had tried to "entice" him in the past. WHEN Papua New Guinea Forestry Minister Douglas Tomuriesa last week confirmed an attempt to bribe him with a bagful of money, it once again brought to light the illegal exploitation of PNGs forests by foreign interests. This is the kind of stance Im taking at Forestry and I wish to leave a legacy of a corruption- free office during my term, Tomuriesa said, saying he was cleaning up a mess in the office including and the deportation of the foreign national who tried to bribe him. In PNG, the Land Act facilitates much forest clearance in addition to much illegal logging. The Act was supposed to help customary landowners convert forested land into agriculture, in partnership with investors but logging companies, mainly from Malaysia and Australia, saw it as a potential bonanza. According to a Greenpeace report, between 2003 and 2011 over five million hectares of land, mainly along the Papuan coast and the islands of New Britain and New Ireland, was leased under Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs). This equates to more than 11% of the countrys land area and over 16% of its accessible forests. Exports of logs grew by 20% in 2011 alone, mostly from within SABLs and mostly headed for China. Because of growing international concern over the improper leasing of customary land, the PNG government in early 2011 issued a moratorium on issuance of SABLs and ordered a commission of inquiry. This inquiry made recommendations but left existing SABLs in place. Unfortunately, the improper leasing of customary land -- referred to by many in PNG as 'land grabs' -- is still playing out. One example is the 200,000 hectares of Musa Pongani land in eastern Papua. This area was gazetted as Special Agriculture Land in 2010 so opening it to SABL processes. While a legal SABL requires full and informed consent by all customary landowners, this was not done. Two customary landowner-incorporated bodies and their Asian development partners are now wrangling in the courts for control of title to the whole area. The majority of the customary owners in PNG are illiterate or nearly so and have no understanding of the impacts of these multimillion dollar developments. Many are pressured into signing papers after glib promises of good roads, education, health services and cash in hand. The prognosis for these lands and their customary owners is bleak. So bleak that the world is starting to pay close attention to the dodgy dealings going on in PNG. According to a 2014 report from Chatham House in the United Kingdom, which monitors illegal logging, the findings of PNGs commission of inquiry into the SABLs and associated logging showed that over 90% of them were illegal and that the process was entirely corrupt. Sony is planning to change its strategy for smartphones in India. The company will sell only premium in the country. Sonys India head of Xperia business Vijay Singh confirmed the same to TOI. Vijay Singh Jaswal, head of Xperia business, Sony India, Sony Mobile drove transformation in FY15 towards a profitable and sustainable company globally including the areas mentioned. As part of our transformation, we are sharpening our focus on select products and sales channels. Considering the recent shift, our marketing strategy will now revolve around offering premium products in the smartphone segment. The average selling price has soared by 55% in Q1 of FY 16 as compared to the same period last year owing to Sonys premium strategy in India, added Jaswal. Sony also plans to launch flagship products in India that will enhance its presence in the market. The company plans to make use of the upcoming festive season to offer its products at special offers. Just last year, the company had announced that it will foray into entry level smartphone market in India. Sony also reportedly said its global average annual growth dropped by 1.4% and the growth in India, Brazil, China and Indonesia slowed to 0.3%. As Sony claims to offer premium handsets, it can be derived that Xperia M or Xperia E series of handsets may not launch in the country in future. Qualcomm and OPPO have entered into a new 3G and 4G patent license agreement for China. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted OPPO a royalty bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G (WCDMA and CDMA2000) and 4G, including 3-mode (LTE-TDD, TD-SCDMA and GSM) complete terminals. This is not the first time Qualcomm has entered into a 3G/4G patent license agreement. Last year, the chipmaker inked a similar deal with QiKu, Haier and Tianyu in December and with Lenovo in February this year. Adler Feng, Director of Intellectual Property, OPPO said, The art of technology is what inspires us to create the most beautiful devices inside and out that fit everyones unique lifestyle. This license agreement will allow us to have access to the most advanced technologies in the mobile industry and enable us to craft elegant devices with extraordinary experience for the consumers. Alex Rogers, senior vice president and general manager, Qualcomm Technology Licensing said, Qualcomm is very pleased to sign a license agreement with OPPO. As an R&D engine for the industry, we are excited to see companies such as OPPO build on our patented technologies to drive further development and innovation and create compelling products. OPPO joins more than 100 other Chinese companies that have signed license agreements with Qualcomm that are consistent with terms of the rectification plan submitted by Qualcomm to the NDRC. Highlanders now trade and chew betel nut. Every day along the Highlands Highway truckloads of buai make their way from the coastal buying areas of Lae and Madang into the mountains. The betel nut trade is no longer a coastal phenomenon; it has become a major money earner for grassroots Papua New Guineans in the informal sector. There are no formal statistics on the number of betel nut chewers in PNG but we can safely say that two-thirds of the population chew it regularly, from children as young as eight to the elderly. It was previously only sold in the areas where it grows, but it has become a commodity and has found its way into almost all parts of Papua New Guinea. Buai is often the first thing given to visitors to your home, friends you meet or at large gatherings like funeral feasts or weddings ceremonies. IN Papua New Guinea today, it is normal to offer and accept betel nut (buai) without question. Highlanders have been known to hire boats and planes for betel nut buying trips to Popondetta, Wewak, Vanimo, Rabaul, Kimbe and Kavieng. The commercial value of buai is determined by ready ripe nuts not too soft, not too strong. A 10kg rice bag full of ready ripe nuts commonly referred to as meat buai will cost K100. The cost of a single nut ranges from 20-50 toea. At times when supply is low, this can go up to K1 or K1.50 for a nut. Transportation and handling costs also increase prices. At Porgera in Enga Province, for example, three nuts will cost K5. When supply is low this can go up to K10. Medical studies show that chewing betel nut causes mouth cancer. And a study done at the Sir Buri Kidu Heath Institute has shown that betel nut chewing can cause heart attacks in some individuals. A similar study showed that betel nut chewing reduces the blood supply to the heart which may precipitate irregular heartbeat which can cause a sudden spasm in the heart blood vessels leading to a heart attack. Betel nut chewing also increases the heart rate which can exacerbate this process. Betel nut chewing can also precipitate an acute attack of asthma in people prone to this disease. This is due to the action of betel nut on the smooth muscle of the windpipe, probably by the same mechanism which causes the blood vessels of the heart to go into sudden spasm. Studies on this were also conducted in Papua New Guinea. The active chemical in buai is Arecoline, a chemical similar in structure to a naturally occurring chemical in the body called Acetylcholine. Acetylcholine has many functions but, importantly for buai users, one of the main areas of the body on which it acts is on smooth muscles. The chemical reaction between betel nut, daka and lime causes an increase in pH in the mouths of chewers. This change in pH increases the rate at which Arecoline is absorbed from the mouth straight into the blood stream thus the effects can be immediate (and sometimes fatal). It was rumoured a few years back that lime producers were mixing fibro (asbestos) with coral to produce lime. Was this true? We may never know because no one bothered to sample the lime from markets and test it for the presence of asbestos. Asbestos is a well-established carcinogen, that is, it can directly cause cancer by damaging DNA. To the Westerners eyes, betel nut chewing is a dirty habit as it involves expectorating red spittle everywhere. But the notice on the wall Reminder, betel nut chewing is strictly prohibited isnt really ordering you to stop chewing altogether; it is telling you chew your buai elsewhere. In schools, teachers stop students from chewing buai. In hospitals, doctors and nurses advise buai is not good for health. In some churches, chewing buai is sin. In some professional code of ethics such as that of the PNG Defence Force, chewing buai is prohibited. For generations the betel nut was part of our traditional way of life, but now its commercialisation has seen it go beyond traditional boundaries. In general Papua New Guineans seem little concerned about the health risks or the filth and littering. National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop imposed a ban on betel nut in Port Moresby. It was meant to trigger a change in attitude towards chewing. But the attitudes of chewers remains a problem there has been minimal change from 2012 so far. The spitting of red stains, the throwing of husks and the overall hygiene of the betel nut chewing in the public places is still a problem and a challenge for authorities. The years-long legal battle between Samsung and Apple over smartphone patents plods on, but Apple on Friday submitted to the US Supreme Court the legal equivalent of "we've had enough." A jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple nearly $1 billion in 2012 for copying parts of Apple's iPhone and iPad design. Through multiple appeals, Samsung has succeeded in getting various courts to reduce the amount it must pay to $548 million, though it argued that even that amount was excessive. In Friday's legal brief, Apple indicated that it is tired of Samsung's multiple appeals, and wants the Korean giant to pay up. Apple argued that Congress has been clear on the issue of design patent damages, and there is no reason the Supreme Court should allow Samsung to make additional arguments, according to Reuters. Samsung wants the Supreme Court to remand the case back to a lower court for further proceedings, arguing that design patent damages should be decided on one component of a smartphone, rather than the entire product. Apple maintains that a case involving multiple patents for parts of single device is not what Congress intended when it designed the patent system. "Samsung cobbles together out-of-context citations to out-of-record materials in an attempt to paint itself as a thought leader in the smartphone industry," Apple's lawyers wrote in Friday's brief. "But the real recordas played out in the actual marketplace and in this litigationtells a very different story. Apple innovated; Samsung copied." Apple's refrain mirrors the approach it has taken against Motorola and many other smartphone makers that use Google's Android operating system, which Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs famously labeled a copy of Apple's own software design. "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs said. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. It can be justly said that, without Social Security, a lot of today's retirees would be in big trouble. Although the program is designed to provide coverage to the disabled and survivors of deceased workers, the primary purpose of Social Security is to supply income to retired workers to assist them in meeting their month-to-month expenses. According to Gallup, nearly six in 10 retirees count on Social Security income to be a "major" source of income in retirement; thus, without this source of income, America's retirees would likely be in bad shape financially. Yet, the biggest way seniors can influence what they're paid by Social Security, other than working for at least 35 years and earning as much as possible, is by choosing the age at which they'll claim benefits. Seniors can begin claiming benefits as soon as age 62. When you file can greatly influence your payout The formula that determines what you'll be paid in benefits is based on your full retirement age, or FRA, which is a dynamic number that entitles you to 100% of your benefits and changes, based on your birth year. For future retirees, your FRA is going to be between 66 years and 67 years. If you retire at any point before you reach your FRA, your monthly benefit will be lower than the full benefit you'd have received if you'd waited until your FRA to sign up. Conversely, waiting to file for benefits until after your FRA can boost your benefit above and beyond 100%. For each year you hold off on signing up, your benefit increases by about 8%. This means claiming benefits at age 62 with an FRA of 66 years could result in a 25% haircut from your full benefit. Comparatively, waiting until age 70, the last year where waiting increases your payout, could boost your payout to 132% of your FRA benefit. CHART BY AUTHOR. DATA SOURCE: CENTERS FOR RETIREMENT RESEARCH AT BOSTON COLLEGE VIA 2013 DATA FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. What do most Americans do? Based on SSA data from 2013 that was analyzed by the Centers for Retirement Research at Boston College, about 45% of seniors claim benefits at age 62. Overall, three in five people choose to claim benefits early, before hitting full retirement age. Nearly a third of seniors wait until their FRA to claim benefits. Finally, approximately 10% of retirees claim Social Security after their FRA when their payout has grown to more than 100% of their FRA benefits. Nearly a quarter of seniors regret doing this However, according to a recently released annual survey from Nationwide Retirement Institute (NRI), nearly a quarter (23%) of surveyed people aged 50 and up regret the age at which they filed for Social Security benefits. Another 24% of seniors told NRI that their retirement benefits were lower than expected. Admittedly, this means three-quarters of those surveyedwouldn't change when they filed for benefits, but 39% of seniors also noted that a life event forced them to begin taking Social Security benefits. In other words, quite a few seniors are either unhappy with their decision to claim benefits early, or were forced into claiming benefits when their intention would have been to wait. It's important to know that there is a "do-over" clause built into Social Security -- if you realize, relatively quickly, that you're not happy with your decision to sign up for benefits. You can fill out a form, known as Form SSA-521, to request a withdrawal of application. Regardless of when you first filed for benefits, as long as you file Form SSA-521 with the SSAwithin the first 12 months of claiming benefits, and you repay every cent of benefits received up to those first 12 months -- which could include benefits paid to your spouse or children -- it'll be as if your original claim never occurred, and your benefits will be able to grow once more at 8% per year. This do-over clause can come in especially handy for those seniors who've filed for benefits early, only to take up a full-time, or well-paying part-time, job within the first year of receiving Social Security benefits. Seniors with wage income may not need the boost in income provided by Social Security, and could be better served by waiting to file. Additionally, seniors really need to take the time to understand their claiming options, and have a plan in placebefore hitting retirement. Whether this means sitting down with a financial advisor and discussing your options, or reviewing your options with your significant other and immediate family, it should be done well before hitting your golden years. Lastly, when a lot of seniors admit that a life event forced them to claim benefits, it suggests that they may not have properly budgeted for emergencies or unplanned expenses. A simple solution (for workers and retirees) is to stick to a budget, which should help apportion more money for emergency funds and retirement accounts. Budgeting tools online can make setting up a plan a breeze, with the biggest challenge nowadays being that you have to formulate measurable goals that hold you accountable for your saving/spending habits. Getting your family involved, and setting aside money for an emergency fund or investment account on a monthly basis, can help improve your chances of being accountable and staying on track. The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. RIF6 Cube A cheap, portable projector is invaluable to startup execs and salespeople who need to make quick, effective presentations from anywhere. The RIF6 Cube ZTE Axon 7 For the startup IT department looking to furnish its workforce with powerful company smartphones not made by Apple, the ZTE Axon 7first phones APPS Evernote (for iPhone) The recently updated Evernote LogDog (for Android) Hacking is a real and present threat for every business. LogDog Zoho Notebook Zoho appears twice in this month's tools roundup, this time with a new free notetaking, syncing, and productivity app. Zoho Notebook Startup Tool of the Month Microsoft Windows 10: Windows 10missed your chance This article originally appearedPCMag.com Image source: Getty Images. American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) is set to release second-quarter earnings on Aug. 3. Finding yourself interested but equally worried about drowning in a flood of facts and figures? It's not uncommon during earnings season. Let's prepare by keying in on three things we can expect management to address in its report. Let the good times flow Amid Brexit concerns, market volatility, and political uncertainty, the S&P 500 has struggled to keep its head above water; currently, it's up about 4% over the past 52 weeks. Investors, consequently, have been gushing over American Water Works. Shares have steadily floated up about 60% since last summer, but Wall Street doesn't necessarily agree with the direction of thing=, as Merrill Lynch downgraded of the stock from "buy" to "neutral." Shares may seem pricey, but the company's fundamentals are strong. And though its peers may seem more attractively priced, American Water Works has demonstrated a superior ability to consistently and effectively use of one of its many tools -- equity -- to provide returns to shareholders. Currently, American Water Works doesn't sport the best return on equity (ROE) among its peers, including Aqua America (NYSE: WTR), American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR), and California Water Services Group (NYSE: CWT). But it has proved to be far better at improving its ROE over the past five years. Company ROE (Trailing 12 Months) ROE % Change American Water Works 9.43% 37.82% Aqua America 11.93% 2.53% American States Water Company 12.30% (1.68%) California Water Service Group 6.75% (27.2%) Data source: YCharts. Look for the company to continue the trend and improve upon the currentROE of 9.43%. Of course, you can do the calculations yourself by referring to the company's 10-Q, identifying the net income, and dividing the shareholders' equity. You may find it a lot more practical, though, to use some of the available Foolish tools. Swimming upstream Though it accounted for only $0.03 of the company's total EPS of $0.46 in Q1, the market-based business is an important area to watch. Growth from this side of the business enables the company to mitigate risk as it represents diversification in the company's revenue sources. When evaluating the market-based businesses, it's essential to take note of Keystone Clearwater -- a $133 million acquisition in 2015 that provides water and related services to natural gas exploration and production companies in the Appalachian Basin. Earlier in the year, management had forecast that Keystone would be accretive to earnings for fiscal 2016. Puddles has been the company's mascot since 1996. Image source: American Water Works. Recognizing the downturn in the oil and gas industry, however, management revised its estimate and suggested that Keystone would not contribute to earnings per share, though it would be operating cash flow-positive. Another important facet of the segment is the military services group. In Q1, American Water reported a $45 million increase year over year in operating revenue. Of that amount, management attributed $15 million to incremental revenue from the military services group and contract growth in the homeowner services group. The future doesn't look as bright, though. On the conference call, Linda Sullivan, executive vice president and CFO, suggested that the company was facing headwinds in the military services group because of federal budgetary constraints. But most importantly: swimming efficiently One figure that will surely show up in the earnings release is the company's operations and maintenance (O&M) efficiency ratio. The company relies heavily on this non-GAAP metric, which is similar to the operating margin, to assess its ability to control costs. As of March 31, American Water achieved a ratio of 35.6% for its trailing-12-month period. Management has the long-term goal of achieving a 34% ratio by 2020. And it seems as though the company is on track, steadily improving upon this measure from 2010 through 2015. Look for the ratio to fall again in the earnings release. Should management fail to report an improvement, it may be an indication of a much greater problem. The takeaway Management, in the first quarter, affirmed its guidance for fiscal 2016, forecasting EPS to fall between $2.75 and $2.85 per share. I'd be surprised if the company didn't affirm this again; however, if it provides a downward revision, it may suggest management is doubtful of achieving its long-term goal of an EPS compound annual growth rate of 7% to 10% (anchored in the $2.38 it reported for fiscal 2014) from 2016 to 2020. But equally important, investors should monitor the company's return on equity, market-based businesses segment, and O&M efficiency ratio as additional signs of the company's financial well-being. 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. Scott Levine 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. Worldwide shipments of tablets fell 12% in the second quarter, according to a new report from IDC. Roughly 65% of tablets shipped this past quarter were run on Alphabet Inc.'s Android operating system, followed by Apple Inc.'s ioS, which captured 26% of the market. Apple's shipments fell by 9% year-over-year, but the launch of a new iPad Pro earlier this year helped to increase average selling prices for iPads, lifting Apple's total share of the market from 25% last year. Samsung Electronics Co.'s share decreased to 15.6% from 18.2% a year ago, as its shipments plunged 25% during the quarter. Lenovo, Huawei and Amazon.com Inc. rounded out the top five, with Amazon recording growth of 1,208%, thanks to strong sales of Fire tablets on Prime Day. That growth spurt helped to lift Amazon's market share to 4% from 0.3% in the year-earlier period. Shares of Apple rose 0.6% to $104.79 in Monday morning trade, pushing them up nearly 12% in the past three months. Those of Amazon rose 0.1% to $759.59, pushing them up 15.3% in three months. The S&P 500 , meanwhile, has risen 5% in three months. Copyright 2016 MarketWatch, Inc. Bank of America's debt rating is weighing it down. Image source: iStock/Thinkstock. Even though Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has slashed $15 billion in annual expenses over the last five years, it's still not as profitable as Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). The problem, as I've discussed in a series of recent articles (see here,here, and here), is that Bank of America's revenue also lags its peers. And one reason it does is because its debt rating puts it at a disadvantage. Banks generate revenue in two ways: by earning interest income from their portfolios of loans and fixed-income securities and by collecting fee income from such things as overdraft charges, credit card interchange fees, and trading commissions. What we're concerned about here is the first type -- interest income, which is Bank of America's single largest source of revenue, accounting for a little less than half its top line. A bank's net interest income is a function both of how much it earns on its portfolio of loans and securities as well as how much it pays to borrow the money that's used to buy the assets -- this is why it's called net interest income as opposed to just interest income. The objective is to maximize interest income and minimize interest expense. Line Item Bank of America (2Q16)* Wells Fargo(2Q16) Interest income $12.9 billion $13.5 billion Interest expense $2.5 billion $1.4 billion Net interest income $10.5 billion $12.0 billion Net interest margin** 2.24% 2.86% *Adjusted for non-cash accounting charge. **The net interest margin shows how much a bank's asset portfolio yields, after interest expenses are deducted. Data source: Second-quarter financial filings. While Bank of America struggles on both fronts, its high interest expense is particularly troubling, as a bank's ability to borrow money inexpensively is a competitive advantage. Consider this: Bank of America and Wells Fargo each borrowed roughly $1.3 trillion from depositors and institutional investors in the second quarter, but Wells Fargo paid $1 billion less to do so. This means that Wells Fargo is not only more profitable than Bank of America, but also that Wells Fargo and others in a similar situation can compete more aggressively on the price of financial products and services, which should enable them to take market share away from banks with lower credit scores. The reason that Wells Fargo can borrow money for less than Bank of America is because it has a higher debt rating. An "A" rating in the table below, which shows Moody's ratings of 10 major banks, is a middle-of-the-road investment grade rating with "low credit risk." A "Baa" rating, by contrast, while still investment grade, suggests "certain speculative characteristics." Bank Moody's Long-Term Senior Debt Rating U.S. Bancorp A1 Bank of New York Mellon A1 Wells Fargo A2 BB&T A2 JPMorgan Chase A3 PNC Financial A3 Bank of America Baa1 Fifth Third Bancorp Baa1 SunTrust Banks Baa1 KeyCorp Baa1 Data source: Bank websites, Moody's. Of course, none of this is a secret to Bank of America. "Our borrowing costs and ability to raise funds are directly impacted by our credit ratings," the bank says in its latest 10-K. "In addition, credit ratings may be important to customers or counterparties when we compete in certain markets and when we seek to engage in certain transactions." This may seem like it would be easy to fix -- after all, when a person needs to improve their credit score, they just pay down debt and make sure they aren't late on future debt payments. Unfortunately for Bank of America, however, the issue with its rating is more fundamental. This is because the bank's trading units, which deploy a quarter of its assets, are one of the principal reasons the North Carolina-based bank has a lower debt rating than Wells Fargo, which has more modestly sized trading operations. Moody's made this clear in its latest update on Bank of America's credit rating. The report singles out the bank's two credit challenges, the first of which is its "large capital markets franchise, which entails significant wholesale funding, opacity of risk taking, a more volatile earnings profile, and a confidence-sensitive customer base." The second is its "high historic earnings volatility." The net result is that Bank of America's desire to provide a complete suite of universal banking products, trading in particular, is hindering its ability to compete on a level playing field in the commercial banking space -- which, it's worth pointing out, is Bank of America's bread-and-butter business. 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. John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Getty Images. A slowing global economy is sapping demand for commodities and industrial goods, and that is weighing on rail shipments. That slowdown had a noticeable impact on Genesee & Wyoming's (NYSE: GWR) second-quarter results, which were released before the market opened on Monday. That said, the company did exceed its muted expectations by successfully pushing down costs. Genesee & Wyoming results: The raw numbers Metric Q2 2016 Actuals Q2 2015 Actuals Growth (YOY) Revenue $501.4 million $542.2 million (7.5%) Operating income $87.2 million $99.5 million (12.4%) Earnings per share $0.83 $0.92 (9.8%) YOY = year over year. Data source: Genesee & Wyoming. What happened with Genesee & Wyoming this quarter? Slumping volumes weighed on Genesee & Wyoming results: Revenue in North America slipped 2.1% to $304.6 million primarily due to declining coal, grain, and pulp and paper shipments. Foreign currency headwinds also weighed on revenue, cutting $5.2 million from the top line. That said, operating income actually rose 3.1% due to its cost management efforts. Sales in the company's Australian segment dropped 17.3% to $55.2 million due to weaker metallic ore shipments. FX headwinds, likewise, added further weight by cutting revenue $8.8 million. Meanwhile, operating income slid 37.7% due to the overall weakness in Australian rail shipments. Finally, sales in the company's U.K./Europe segment slumped 13.9% to $141.5 million due to declining coal, minerals, and stone shipments. Currencies, again, weighed on the top line and cut revenue by $7.1 million. Because of all this, the segment operated at a loss of $1.2 million, which was a sharp decline from the $7.7 million operating profit from the year-ago quarter. Despite slumping shipments and weak profitability, Genesee & Wyoming generated strong free cash flow during the quarter of $85 million. That was actually up 4.6% from the second quarter of last year. What management had to say CEO Jack Hellmann,commenting on the company's results, said: The rail industry is under tremendous pressure right now, with the coal market, in particular, continuing to weigh heavily on results. Last quarter, for example, Genesee & Wyoming's freight revenue from coal plunged 40% over the prior year's second quarter while rival Norfolk Southern's (NYSE: NSC) coal revenue slumped 25%. That said, it is not just the coal segment that is proving problematic. Weak paper and forest product shipments, for example, drove a 5% decline in revenue from those product groups at both Genesee & Wyoming and Norfolk Southern. Railroad companies are combating these weaker shipments by attacking their cost structure. Genesee & Wyoming, for example, managed its costs to drive an improvement in profitability in its North American segment. Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern is on pace to push $200 million in costs out of its business this year through productivity savings. These initiatives are critical to improving profitability amid the currently uncertain business environment. Looking forward Given the harsh operating conditions, Genesee & Wyoming will continue to focus on improving its costs during the second half of the year. As Hellmann also warned, "At the same time, this economic uncertainty continues to provide acquisition and investment opportunities that we are carefully evaluating in multiple geographies within our global footprint." With robust free cash flow generation and a solid balance sheet, the company certainly has the financial capacity to take advantage of the current conditions to make investments in its future. 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. Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Genesee & Wyoming. 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. U.S. crude tumbled below $40 per barrel for the first time since April as oil prices fell nearly 4 percent on Monday on heightened worries of an oil glut after a survey suggested OPEC output reached record highs last month. A Reuters survey on Friday found that output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries likely rose in July to its highest in recent history as Iraq pumped more and Nigeria squeezed out additional crude exports despite militant attacks on oil installations. Data on Friday also showed the United States added 44 new oil drilling rigs in July, the most for a month in two years, intensifying concerns that global production could once again get to unmanageable levels like in 2014-2015. U.S. West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude plumbed $39.86, its lowest since April 20, and by 12:34 p.m. EDT (1634 GMT), was trading $1.51, or 3.6 percent, lower at $40.09. Brent crude was down $1.43, or 3.3 percent, at $42.10 a barrel, after a session low at $41.87. "It's stop-loss technical selling combined with sheer liquidation by those fearing we'll soon swimming in oil again," said Phil Davis, trader at PSW Investments in San Diego, California. "We've had crude builds during the summer, when we were supposed to be having runaway draws from record driving." (By Barani Krishnan; Additional reporting by Nina Chestney Henning Gloystein; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Steve Orlofsky) Image source: Getty Images. What: Shares of auction and real estate company Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) jumped 18% in the month of July, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after reporting some positive operating results and getting a new investor. So what: Sotheby's won't report second-quarter earnings until Aug. 8, but we got a small look into how the company is performing in Asia in mid-July, when management said auction sales in Asia jumped 22% to $461.5 million. If this is an indication of where overall operating trends are headed, we could see a great second quarter. Chinese firm Taikang Life Insurance Co. also revealed that it has taken a 13.52% stake in Sotheby's. This means that activists now own about 43% of Sotheby's shares and growing. It's not clear how they plan to unlock value, but they're betting big on the company. Now what: I would take more from the strong operating conditions in Asia than the activist shareholder stakes. If operations improve, it will help the company's stock long-term, something activists can't necessarily do on their own. Investors should watch earnings and management comments next week for an indication of where the company is headed, but with operations going in the right direction and big investors betting heavily on the stock, it could be a great year for Sotheby's. 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. Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Sotheby's. 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. Tomorrow the ACLU in North Carolina is arguing against the anti-transgender bathroom bill. And so that is something we are talking about in social media, she told FOX411 at the Teen Choice Awards. I was tweeting about that earlier today... Everyone should be voting this year and you should use social media to have your voice be heard. Cox wasnt the only one who got political at the Teen Choice Awards. Hosts Victoria Justice and WWE star John Cena did impersonations of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, respectively. Keegan-Michael Key also brought his President Obama impersonation skills to the stage. We loved having "Hillary Clinton" and "Donald Trump" stop by! Don't forget to vote for #ChoicePresident! #TeenChoice pic.twitter.com/TYymzbpq1i Teen Choice Awards (@TeenChoiceFOX) August 1, 2016 Cox raved about Justice at the show. The two worked together on The Rocky Horror Picture Show remake, coming to Fox on Oct. 20. Im super psyched to be here. My girl Victoria Justice is co-hosting, she said proudly. It was amazing working with her. She is so talented and her work ethic is incredible. We got to do so many fun things together; we got to dance together, we got to roll around in bed together, and I got to terrorize her, and she was always a really good sport. As Florida reports additional Zika infections from local mosquitoes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising pregnant women to avoid travel to a small section of Miami where active transmission is taking place. A CDC Emergency Response Team (CERT) has been activated to assist state health officials in stopping the spread of the dangerous virus. Despite aggressive mosquito control efforts in Miami, public health officials are still finding high levels of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the species that most readily carries the Zika virus. In Miami, aggressive mosquito control measures dont seem to be working as well as we would have liked, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. Frieden said scientists are looking into whether local mosquitoes have developed resistance to insecticides, whether the mosquitoes are breeding in small, hidden pockets of standing water or whether the complex urban environment makes conventional mosquito control difficult. In addition to their advice to travelers, CDC officials are urging pregnant women and their partners who live or work in the affected area to take measures to avoid mosquito bites and prevent the sexual transmission of Zika. Such measures include spraying with DEET insect repellant and the use of condoms during sex. Frieden said pregnant women who traveled to the area on or after June 15 should talk with their health care providers to be tested for Zika, even if they display no symptoms. Protecting pregnant women from Zika is of significant concern because the virus has been linked to microcephaly and other serious birth defects. Today, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced that state health officials had identified 10 additional people who likely contracted the Zika virus through mosquito bites. This brings the total number of non-travel related Zika cases in Florida to 14. Scott said six of the 10 new cases had no symptoms and were identified by a door to door survey that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) is conducting. Despite the increasing number of cases, state health officials believe active mosquito transmissions of the virus are still limited to a one square mile area just north of downtown Miami. Mosquitoes that carry Zika generally travel less than 150 meters (164 yards) over their lifespan. Frieden said Zika spreads by hitchhiking in the blood of human travelers who are bitten by infected mosquitoes in one location and then transfer the virus to mosquitoes in another location. Because four out of five (Zika) infections are without symptoms, its unlikely that well ever know exactly who brought it in and where they brought it in from, Frieden said. Thats why its so important that anywhere in the U.S. there are Aedes aegypti mosquitoes pregnant women take steps to protect themselves. Florida is the first U.S. state in which local mosquitoes are believed to be transmitting the Zika virus. However, public health officials warn that additional cases, or small clusters of cases, are likely to appear in areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are prevalent. Eighteen-year-old Swift Myers has been battling cancer since the seventh grade and is now fighting for his life. On Friday, the high schooler married his girlfriend of two years in a ceremony that was live streamed on Facebook. Myers has beaten Ewing's sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, six times, but it recurred again and hes been in intensive care for more than a month, Tulsa World reported. He and his now-wife, Abbi Ruicker, 18, met as students at Charles Page High School. Though Myers was unable to buy an engagement ring and get down on one knee to propose, he did call Ruickers father to ask for her hand in marriage. I knew I was going to ask her to marry me when I woke up that morning, Myers told Tulsa World. When nurses at Saint Francis Childrens Hospital learned about the upcoming nuptials the first at the hospital they joined in by helping decorate the lobby, ordering cake, hiring photographers and making decorative bows out of bed sheets. I was super excited, Emmy Ralston, a pediatric oncology nurse who has been with Myers since his first diagnosis, told Tulsa World. Swift has so many friends and family, it was awesome they thought of us. Myers even got a bachelor party the night before the ceremony, which Tulsa World reported involved a lot of Chick-fil-A and Mountain Dew. Ive never seen my best friend happier in his entire life, and I trust Abbi to give him many more smiles, groomsman Dakota Spears told Tulsa World. Although women who plan to give birth at home end up with fewer medical interventions during labor, their babies have a higher risk of death and seizure soon after birth, experts warn. Hospitals and accredited birth centers are still the safest place for a woman to give birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). In a newly published Committee Opinion, the College describes times when home birth should not be considered, such as when the fetus is in a breech or transverse position rather than head-down, when the mother is pregnant with multiples or when she's had a Cesarean section in the past. The last ACOG Opinion on this topic was published in 2011. Since then, a number of studies have cleared up some uncertainties about birth outcomes, particularly as home birth is practiced in the U.S., said primary author Dr. William H. Barth Jr., chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. "For example," he told Reuters Health by email, "a large study of planned home birth versus planned hospital birth in Oregon, a state that probably leads others in the organization and reporting of planned home birth, has shown that planned home birth is associated with fewer labor inductions, fewer labor augmentations, fewer operative vaginal deliveries and importantly, significantly fewer cesarean deliveries." "However, this and other more recent studies conducted in the U.S. confirm that planned home birth is also associated with higher rates of low Apgar scores, neonatal seizures or serious neurologic disorders and neonatal death," he said. "The absolute rates of these are low, but they are consistently higher with planned home birth." Planned hospital births more often involve labor induction, Cesarean section, severe perineal lacerations and other complications compared to planned home birth. But babies born by planned home birth are twice as likely to die in the process and three times as likely to experience a seizure as those born in a hospital, according to the statement. For every 1,000 planned home births, four babies die, versus two of every 1,000 born in a hospital. The data in the statement show "that potential for harm to mothers and babies exists in childbirth in all settings," said Dell Horey of La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, who was not part of the ACOG statement. "I think ACOG has been pretty consistent that we believe the safest place for child birth is in a hospital or accredited birthing center," Barth said. "At the same time, there is a growing body of evidence to help women make the decision that is right for them and their families." A safe planned home birth requires the absence of any preexisting disease in the mother, the absence of any disease or complications arising during pregnancy, a singleton fetus, a head first presentation, gestational age of at least 36 and not more than 42 weeks, spontaneous labor, arrangements for emergency transport within an integrated healthcare system, and the availability of physician, a certified nurse midwife, certified midwife, or a midwife whose education and licensure meet International Confederation of Midwives' Global Standards for Midwifery Education, according to the statement. Ole Olsen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who was not part of the ACOG statement, told Reuters Health by email, "If things in the U.S. are as they are in Canada and Denmark (and probably everywhere else), doctors are generally reluctant to inform pregnant women about home birth as an option (which may only be relevant in parts of the U.S. as it has to be well organized to be relevant to bring up)." "If home birth is well organized as it is in several countries and areas, home birth carries no additional risks; actually it decreases some risks for the mother," Olsen told Reuters Health by email. A sushi restaurant employee believed to have been infected in a hepatitis A outbreak on the island of Oahu is recovering while almost all other staff members are cleared for work. All workers were tested after the employee was diagnosed, West Hawaii Today reported (http://bit.ly/2a7JFqV ). Two Shiono Sushi Waikoloa workers are waiting for test results, and two others who were negative for the virus need health department approval to return to their jobs. The infected employee has to test negative for the virus before being allowed to return to work, a restaurant manager said. Health officials say people without a hepatitis A vaccination should contact their doctors if they dined at the restaurant July 5-8, July 11-15 or July 18-21 when the employee worked. The health department said in a statement that the risk of infection was low for customers, but that they should contact their doctors as a precaution. There have been no reports so far of customers becoming infected, according to restaurant management. The outbreak's source is unknown. There are 93 confirmed cases so far. Symptoms can include fever, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, among others. Health officials confirmed that a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store employee and a Taco Bell worker were also infected. The suntan was born as a fashion accessory in France in 1923or so legend has it. The French like to claim Coco Chanel started the trend after she turned an accidental sunburn into a fashion statement while sailing with her lover, the duke of Westminster. But the Americans have an equal shot at the title with Gerald andSara Murphy, wealthy expatriates who fell in love with the French Riviera and established themselves in Cap DAntibes the same year. A glittering roster visited them there, from Picasso to the American writer John Dos Passos, helping to turn the sleepy backwater into a glamorous destination. F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized the Murphys in his book, Tender Is the Night. Saras fictional counterpart, Nicole Diver, is described as having a hard, pitiful face and a perfectly tanned back that was a ruddy, orange brown, set off by a string of creamy pearls. The likes of Coco Chanel and the Murphys have a lot to answer for. Tanning and skin cancer too often go hand in hand, not unlike smoking and lung cancer. Of course, melanoma existed long before 1923. Skin-cancer lesions have been found on 2,400-year-old Inca mummies.The Greek physician Hippocrates (460-375 B.C.) described patients with the disease. But such documented cases are relatively rare. Keeping ones skin as tan-free as possible was once a snobbish pursuit shared by elites all around the world, asCaroline Chang, Era Caterina Murzaku and colleagues wrote in an American Journal of Public Health paper published in 2014. Only peasants and slaves spent their lives in the glare of the sun. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. There won't be a Democratic primary in the 54th Senate District after all. Charlie Evangelista, a member of the Ontario County Board of Supervisors who declared his candidacy in June, announced Monday he's "lost his fight" to land a spot on the Sept. 13 primary ballot. Two Canandaigua Republicans filed objections to the petitions Evangelista submitted to the state Board of Elections. A hearing was held Thursday in Albany to review the objections. Evangelista said the challenge was backed by "high-priced downstate lawyers" linked to the state Senate GOP. Last week, Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate Republicans, confirmed that they were assisting parties challenging Evangelista's petitions. The Senate Republicans also supported efforts to invalidate petitions filed by Democratic candidate Kenan Baldridge to appear on the Working Families Party line. The purpose of the challenges, Reif said, was "to preserve the integrity of the electoral process and to ensure this seat stays in Republican hands. To be eligible for the primary, Evangelista needed to submit 1,000 valid signatures. He said signatures were tossed out on technical grounds. Evangelista said he returned home from Albany Thursday to find a lawsuit taped to his front door. The legal challenge was filed in case the Geneva Democrat succeeded at the board of elections hearing. "Ultimately, it is on me and my campaign to have the 1,000 necessary signatures," he said. "So I apologize for the scores of people that went out and collected for me, but it's obvious based on who the objectors are that the (Senate Republicans), in concert with their endorsed candidate, will do everything possible to narrow the field, whether they are a Democrat or Republican." With his removal from the primary ballot, Evangelista is support Baldridge's campaign. Baldridge was endorsed by the six county Democratic committees in the 54th District. Baldridge will face the winner of a crowded Republican primary. There could be as many as six candidates on the ballot for the Sept. 13 contest. Two GOP candidates Joe Geiger and Bobby Massarini had their petitions challenged by a pair of Canandaigua Republicans. Geiger decided to drop out of the race on Monday. Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1966 sniper shooting that left 14 dead at the University of Texas at Austin. The killer, a former marine, murdered his wife and mother before going to the UT campus and shootings his victims from the clock tower. On Monday, the school will unveil a new memorial to those who were killed. Also on Monday, Texas becomes the eleventh state to mandate that permitted concealed handguns be allowed on public university campuses (21 other states leave that decision up to the individual schools). The coincidence of the dates was accidental, but many are outraged by what they consider the callousness of legislators marking this anniversary by allowing more guns on college campuses. Others, such as University of Texas at Austin President Greg Fenves, say that the two events are separate issues. We are not connecting them in any way. But if America has learned anything from past mass public shootings, it is that August 1 is precisely the day to implement the new law. The only thing that is really outrageous is that it took 50 years to pass it. Gun control advocates think that gun bans will make people safer. But banning guns only ensures that law-abiding good citizens are disarmed, not the killers. Instead of bans improving safety, these bans attract killers and make it easier for them to commit crimes. My new book, The War on Guns, shows that all mass public shootings in Europe have occurred in places where law-abiding citizens were prohibited from carrying guns. The same is true for over 98 percent of the attacks in the U.S. Few people seem to know the actual history of the 1966 University of Texas attack. It occurred three decades before Texas allowed permitted concealed handguns anywhere in the state, let alone on college campuses. The University of Texas also forbade the carrying of guns on campus, except with special permission. When the attack started, though, many people retrieved their guns from their locked, off-campus cars. How important were these armed citizens? Ramiro Martinez, one of two Austin police officers who shot and killed the UT gunman, explained in his 2005 autobiography, They Call Me Ranger Ray: I was and am still upset that more recognition has not been given to the citizens who pulled out their hunting rifles and returned the sniper's fire. The City of Austin and the State of Texas should be forever thankful and grateful to them because of the many lives they saved that day. The sniper did a lot of damage when he could fire freely, but when the armed citizens began to return fire the sniper had to take cover. He had to shoot out of the rainspouts and that limited his targets. I am grateful to the citizens because they made my job easier. Another civilian, Allen Crum, was loaned a gun by a police officer. He used it to join Martinez in storming the clock tower observation deck. Crum was able to draw the killers fire and make Martinezs task significantly easier. Others have gleaned a different lesson from this attack. Professor Pete Blair at Texas State University told USA Today last week: The concern we have is that a concealed-carry person will be mistaken for an active shooter. Its a high-stress situation and a lot of things are happening very quickly. Theres the potential to make a mistake. So much of the gun control debate involves mere hypotheticals. But instead of speculating, lets look at the actual data. No permit holder has ever shot a bystander when stopping a mass public shootings (and there have been many dozens of such cases). Nor, in these cases, have the police ever accidentally shot a permit holder. Over the decades, accidents have proven exceedingly rare. There have been five accidental discharges by teachers or staff one at a K-12 school in Utah and one each at universities in Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, and Utah. All of the cases involved very minor injuries. None involved non-permitted individuals getting a hold of the guns. At colleges, fears are raised that substance abuse and gun abuse will go hand-in-hand. However, college-aged permit holders have been just as law-abiding as permit holders generally. That is to say, extremely law-abiding. Despite the uproar about what might go wrong with allowing permitted concealed handguns, I predict that in a year from now these concerns will have subsided. There is a reason that even the most ardent gun control advocate would never put Gun-Free Zone signs on his home. Lets finally stop putting them elsewhere. Editor's note: The following column originally appeared on the website US Defense Watch. It is reprinted with permission. Dear Mr. Khan, I, like millions of Americans saw your speech at the DNC on Thursday night. I wish to offer my sympathy for the death of your son, Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq. As a former US Army officer, and a veteran of the Gulf War, I can certainly understand the pain and anguish that you and your wife endure every day. Your son died saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. As Jesus told his disciples, according to the Gospel of John, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Captain Khan is a hero. I am sure the soldiers he served with regard him as one. I know you and your wife do. Rest assured that millions of veterans regard your son as a hero as well. To paraphrase from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, your sons name liveth for evermore. Your son made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, a country that was new to you and your family and one which you openly embraced and certainly love. When you and your family arrived to America from Pakistan, you assimilated into our country. You adopted American ways, learned our history and apparently you even acquired a pocket Constitution along the way. Good for you sir. But, there are many Muslims in America who not only have no desire to assimilate, but wish to live under Sharia Law. That is unacceptable to Americans. There is only one law of the land. That is the U.S. Constitution. As you well know, Mr. Khan, we live in violent times, dangerous times. Muslim madmen from ISIS and other radical Jihadi groups are on a murder and terror spree across the globe. Your religion of peace, Islam, is anything but that in 2016. That is a fact that is confirmed every time a Muslim shoots, bombs, beheads and tortures innocent men, women and children. This does not mean that every Muslim is a terrorist, but most terrorists, sir, are indeed Muslims. A Muslim terrorist attack has become the sign of the times. Regardless of what the feckless, naive, leftist ideologue Barack Obama and his dimwitted colleagues John Kerry, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel state, the United States and the West are at war with Radical Islam. It is the job of the president of the United States to protect his nation from all enemies; foreign and domestic. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama romanticizes Islam and refuses to accept reality, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people across the world. Groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda have one goal, the complete destruction of the Judeo-Christian culture, our religions and our way of life. Many Americans have families that have been here for decades, even centuries. Many families like mine have relatives who fought in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. Some families have relatives who fought in the American Revolution. We dont plan on letting our country be devoured by Muslim maniacs. We are Americans sir, and not unarmed, socialist European zombies. We will do what is necessary to protect the United States. While many Democrats and liberals see the world through rose colored glasses, conservatives understand that there is good and evil in this world. Evil must be destroyed before it destroys us. Strong measures, wartime measures, must be taken to protect this country from those that wish to annihilate us and our way of life. Mr. Trumps plan to temporarily halt immigration from Muslim countries that are known to either support terrorism or harbor terrorist groups is not only pragmatic, but indeed it is constitutional. It is the constitutional duty of the president of the United States to protect this nation. There is simply no way to vet hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from war zones like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Europe is being destroyed because reckless leaders like Angela Merkel have opened the continents doors to a flood of over one million undocumented Muslims arriving with nothing more than a bad attitude and a haversack of Jihad. Do you think Americans are stupid? While the left lives in a dream world, the right does not. Mr. Trump understands the threat to his nation and the threat, sir, is not from Swedish Lutherans named Anna and Lars. The threat, sir, is from radical Islam. How in Gods name are U.S. immigration authorities supposed to know the true intentions of a 22-year-old Syrian man? It is impossible. You know it is impossible. How in Gods name are U.S. immigration authorities supposed to know the true intentions of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and thousands of other sundry Muslims who wish to arrive on our shores? It is impossible. You know it is impossible. Whether you, your wife, the Muslim world and millions of Democrats are offended by Mr. Trumps realistic view of the world is irrelevant. Whether you, your wife and son would have been prohibited from emigrating from Pakistan to America under Mr. Trumps wartime plan is irrelevant. The security of this great land supersedes your desires and the desires of others who wish to come here now. The United States of America has no obligation to open its doors in order to placate foreigners and liberals in our government. To adopt any other course but Mr. Trumps would be a cause for further endangering the lives of Americans every day. That, sir, is unacceptable. You attacked Mr. Trump in front of a worldwide audience, yet you cant understand the fact that he defends himself against attacks from you, Hillary Clinton and the left. What else is one to do sir? We must live in a world of reality, not a world of denial, delusion and fantasy the Democrats inhabit every waking day of their lives. Radical Islam is the enemy of everyone on this planet who believes in freedom and justice. Until it is destroyed, this nation must protect itself from enemies both foreign and domestic. Sincerely, Ray Starmann Ivanka Trump has shown her strength as a surrogate for her father in the boardroom and on the campaign trail. But as Election Day draws closer, the Donald Trump team faces a decision on how to balance the 34-year-olds weighty responsibilities as executive vice president of The Trump Organization, and top campaign adviser and advocate. If the response to her recent convention address is any gauge of her impact, pollsters suggest the Trump campaign may want to do whatever it can to get Ivanka on the trail. She [was] off the charts, Lee Carter, a pollster with Maslansky + Partners, told Fox News in reviewing the focus-group reaction to Ivanka right after her speech. The bottom line is she is an amazing spokeswoman for him. Ivanka is seen as someone who could make a powerful case for her dad, potentially softening his image among female voters and others with whom the Republicans numbers have lagged. Asked for comment on what's next for the influential Trump daughter and mother of three the campaign did not elaborate but suggested she'll play an important role. She will be an incredible asset to the campaign and we are grateful for her support, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told FoxNews.com. The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. Ivanka Trump's convention address in Cleveland was a clear message to independents and especially female voters as she touted her fathers record on hiring women, favoring quality over quotas and embracing talent. My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color blind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period, she told the audience at Quicken Loans Arena. For many voters, it was their first chance to really hear from Ivanka. But she's been an integral part of her father's business empire for years, and now the inner political circle dual roles that could complicate efforts to deploy her on the trail. Inside the Trump Organization, Ivanka primarily manages the real-estate components and is seen by many as the emerging face of the Trump brand. She is considered one of the few individuals Trump trusts to make deals on his behalf. I think her father really listens to her, and when I say listens to her I mean I think her father respects her a great deal, and not just because shes his daughter, businessman Carl Icahn told The New York Times. Ivanka has publicly defended her father from claims of sexism and racism, while privately her influence over major campaign decisions is virtually unrivaled, a source with intimate knowledge of campaign operations told FoxNews.com. The source confirmed she played an influential role in the dismissal of former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. She is less concerned about the politics of the campaign and more focused on protecting the Trump brand, the source said. Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner also played a critical role in his selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as Trumps running mate, according to Time magazine. Sarah Lenti, a Denver-based Republican consultant, suggested the Trump daughter proved an asset in Cleveland and should be deployed to whatever extent possible. I think [Trump] needs to play the womans card as much as possible. She was highly relatable and is extremely well-liked among working- and middle-class women, Lenti said. During a recent focus group of women, Lenti found a majority of them disliked both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump -- but related to Ivanka. They wanted to hear more from her on the issues. They were really impressed with her grace and what she has accomplished in life, Lenti told FoxNews.com. Older and middle-aged women dont want to hear about abortion. They want to hear about how to balance work and life. [Ivanka] is a mom of three, she works a full-time job and she has her own business. She gets it. A clearer picture will emerge in coming weeks, but a CNN/ORC post-convention poll found Donald Trump made gains both in terms of his personal image and his ability to manage foreign policy. He still has ground to make up with women. A post-convention CBS News poll showed Clinton expanding her lead among women (though trailing among men). The Trumps may have a chance, however, to shift those numbers. A pre-convention, six-week Morning Consult poll found while Clinton led Trump 44-36 percent among women, as many as 21 percent were undecided. Ivanka Trump's presence on the campaign trail inevitably creates a rivalry of sorts with the famous daughter on the other side of the aisle, Chelsea Clinton, who introduced her mother for the Democrats' closing convention night in Philadelphia last Thursday. Two days earlier, Chelsea Clinton was asked during a Facebook Live event what she would like to ask Ivanka. Clinton said it would be how her father would pay for his proposals. How would your father do that given its not something hes spoken about. There are no policies on any of those fronts on his website. Not last week. Not this week. The how question is super important, she said. When you look at those issues that certainly affect our generation so strongly, I think my mom has stronger plans and a stronger record for actually delivering for women and families, Clinton added. In a recent interview with Politico, Ivanka acknowledged voters may view her as a product of heritage, not hard work: I dont have a problem if somebody who has never met me wants to say that I wouldnt be where I was today without my family because you know what? They may be right. They probably are right. Who the hell knows? Its an impossible argument. As Donald Trump and the father of a fallen Muslim U.S. soldier continued trading barbs on Monday morning, Hillary Clintons spat with the mom of an American who died in the Benghazi terror attack continues to take a back seat. The dustup between the Republican presidential nominee and Khizr Khan has gotten the headlines, but some are beginning to wonder why equal time isnt being given to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has challenged Pat Smiths claims that Clinton told her the Benghazi attack started because of an anti-Muslim video. That origin story has since been proved false and emails sent by Clinton soon after the attack show the then-Secretary of State was aware the Sept. 11, 2012 assault was a coordinated terror strike. Why was Pat Smiths grief minimized? Trump pollster and senior advisor Kellyanne Conway told Bloomberg Politics on Sunday. Media cover this election as a referendum on Trump while voters see it as a referendum on Hillary. That wont change voters perspective. Meanwhile right-leaning sites such as Town Hall have published headlines blaring Have we forgotten that Hillary Clinton pretty much called a Gold Star Mother a liar? Smith, the mother of Foreign Service officer Sean Smith, made a passionate speech at the Republican National Convention two weeks ago, mournfully remembering her dead son and laying the blame for his murder at Clintons feet. Pat Smith has repeatedly said Clinton blamed the anti-Muslim video for inspiring the Benghazi attacks, a charge Clinton has denied. Since then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to explain to me the real reason why my son is dead, Smith said during her RNC speech. Im still waiting. But Clinton said during a Sunday interview on Fox News Sunday that Smith must not have correctly remembered their conversation during the 2012 ceremony. As other members of families who lost loved ones have said, thats not what they heard, Clinton said. I dont hold any ill feeling for someone who in that moment may not fully recall everything that was or wasnt said. Clintons response is nothing new. During a March Democratic debate, Clinton said of Smith, I cant imagine the grief she has about losing her son. But shes wrong. Shes absolutely wrong. But the Clinton-Smith back-and-forth has seen little coverage as opposed to the attention given to the aftermath of Khans Thursday speech at the Democratic National Convention, when the father of dead soldier Capt. Humayun Khan rebuked Trump for his proposed Muslim immigration ban. The squabble between Trump and Khan has morphed into a multi-day drama as Khan has continued appearing on news shows criticizing Trump and Trump has responded via his Twitter account, TV interviews and official campaign statements. Khan has said Trump is a black soul and Trump has responded that Khan had no right to criticize him on a national stage. The public quarrel has drawn strong reactions from many top Republicans, who have praised Capt. Khans sacrifice and scolded Trump for his rhetoric. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., delivered a stinging critique on Monday morning, saying that while our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Glenn Greenwald, the uber-liberal journalist who obtained the NSA leaks from Ed Snowden, says that anti-Trump bias in the media is utterly complete and total. The U.S. media is essentially 100 percent united, vehemently, against Trump, and preventing him from being elected president, he told Slate. Greenwald says he has no problem with that because Trump poses extreme dangers, and I think hes overstating the case when it comes to bias. But the comment is telling. Kathleen Parker, the moderately conservative Washington Post columnist, says two Republican friends called to tell her during the Democratic convention: Im sorry. Im a Democrat. Parker, who never considered herself a member of the GOP, says: With its acceptance of Trump, the party has implicitly embraced the most un-American of litmus tests for citizens and immigrants based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Republicans are becoming ideologues of exclusion and marginalization, with hints of oppression to come. I cite these examples because I think the core argument that Hillary Clinton and her allies pushed at the Democratic conventionthat Trump is beyond the paleresonates with plenty of folks in the press. The New York Times described the effort in Philadelphia as attempting to portray Mr. Trump as a dangerously unstable figure, built on the notion that the American system was designed to prevent the rise of a dictator. And the paper gave that theme front-page play. Even Clintons media supporters didnt argue that she gave a great convention speech, or made progress in fixing her problems on likability and trustworthiness. She drew the most praise for her anti-Trump mockery. The press mostly panned Trumps speech as a dark exercise in fear-mongering. Since he focused so heavily on the problems facing America, most pundits said, he allowed Clinton to seize the mantle of optimism and uplift. But heres the thing: Plenty of voters are angry, as Hillary acknowledged in her speech. For them, Trump is the candidate of change. Clinton, despite her husbands insistence that she is a change-maker, is the candidate who literally and figuratively embraced Barack Obama, meaning she wants to build on the last eight years. So the election may turn on how frustratedor satisfiedthe country is. The media underestimated the success of the Cleveland convention, which gave Trump a significant bump in the polls. (Early indications are that Clinton is getting a similar bump from Philly.) One thing Clinton didnt do is attack Trump for wanting to abolish Social Security and Medicare. Hes also for a boost in the minimum wage. Both sides recognize this isnt a classic left-right election. Its about strength and personality, insider vs. outsider, and who can make the sale on generating jobs and fighting terrorism. Trumps theme is that Hillary is weak, beholden to special interests and, well, crooked. Clintons theme is that The Donald is crude, reckless, inexperienced and ignorant, while she sweats the details. Now that the conventions are behind us, well see which of these arguments gets more traction in the press. Several people were carried out on stretchers and treated for heat-related health issues Sunday as they waited and waited on a sweltering Ohio afternoon for Hillary Clinton to show up at her Columbus campaign stop. One report said up to 50 people were treated for heat-related illness as they awaited the Democratic presidential nominee, who ended up getting there 90 minutes behind schedule. Columbus Division of Fire official Rebecca Diehm could not confirm that number, but told FoxNews.com that EMS resources were on-scene to treat dehydration -- and in some cases transport people via stretcher inside to cool their body temperatures. The Clinton-Kaine rally, which was scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET, did not start until almost 4:20 p.m. During that time, thousands of supporters endured temperatures in the high 80s while waiting outside the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus. According to The Toledo Blade, after arriving late, Clinton delivered remarks lasting 21 minutes. Running mate Tim Kaine's speech was 15 minutes. Earlier in the day, Clinton and Kaine were busy with other stops on their post-convention bus tour. On Sunday morning, Clinton stopped in Cleveland Heights to surprise the congregation at the Imani Temple Ministry. Her entourage also stopped in Ashland for ice cream on the way to her afternoon rally, the Mansfield News Journal reported. The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. FoxNews.com's Liz Torrey contributed to this report. NASAs Juno spacecraft made a flashy arrival at Jupiter on July 4, and now, the probe has just passed another turning point in its mission. Before Juno can start studying Jupiter up close as it orbits, it has to complete two big orbits, each of which lasts 53.5 days long. Currently in its first orbit, it has just made its way past the point most distant from Jupiter five million miles away and is now falling back towards the gas giant, with an arrival date of August 27. Juno will be coming very close to the gas giant at the end of this month, cruising only 2,600 miles over Jupiters clouds. In fact, thats the closest the craft will ever get to the planet during its mission. After this coming pass, each orbit will be just a little bit further away from Jupiter, according to NASA. The altitude increases quite slowly at first, but during the last few orbits it ticks up a lot more, a spokesman from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory told FoxNews.com in an email. Even so, Juno's closest approach distance never exceeds about 4,900 miles. And while the crafts scientific instruments werent switched on for its arrival, they will be during this coming close approach. "We're in an excellent state of health, with the spacecraft and all the instruments fully checked out and ready for our first up-close look at Jupiter," Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. Junos mission includes studying the gas giants structure and magnetosphere, and because the planet is so ancient, scientists hope that understanding Jupiter will help them better understand how the solar system formed. Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger A huge asteroid hurtling through space at 63,000mph could one day hit Earth causing "immense suffering and death", astronomers say. The space rock was discovered in 1999 and is likely to blast in between the Earth and the moon in 2135 - a little too close for comfort. But on a return trip later in the century, it is estimated the asteroid known as 101955 Bennu could actually strike our planet. Dante Lauretta, the NASA expert in charge of a new mission to analyse the asteroid, said: "That 2135 fly-by is going to tweak Bennu's orbit, potentially putting it on course for the Earth later that century." More on this story on Sky News. A day at the beach doesn't have to drain your bank account. But it all depends on where you're headed. Fortunately, thanks to TravelBird's 2016 Beach Price Index, travelers can find out just how much a day at the beach will cost before they leave home. TravelBird's 2016 Beach Price Index factors in the average cost of sunscreen, a bottle of water, a beer, ice cream and lunch at 250 of the world's best beaches. French Polynesia's La Plage de Maui, Tahiti and Mareto Plage Publique, Moorea are the two most expensive beaches for a day trip, with the former's average cost coming in at more than $60. New Caledonia (a French island chain located in the South Pacific), Seychelles and Japan are also represented multiple times among the top 10 most expensive. Here's how the top 10 breaks down: 1. La Plage de Maui, Tahiti French Polynesia ($60.13) 2. Mareto Plage Publique, Moorea French Polynesia ($58.36) 3. Anse Vata, Noumea New Caledonia ($56.11) 4. Anse Georgette, Praslin Seychelles ($54.25) 5. Anse Soleil Beach Seychelles ($54.18) 6. Beau Vallon, Mahe Seychelles ($53.13) 7. Poe Beach New Caledonia ($52.99) 8. Nishihama Beach, Okinawa Japan ($52.09) 9. Yonaha Maehama Beach, Okinawa Japan ($50.75) 10. Main Beach, East Hampton, New York U.S. ($48.85) On the opposite end of the list, the 12 cheapest beaches for a day trip were located in either Vietnam or India, with the latter nation possessing eight of the cheapest destinations. Interestingly, the most affordable bottle of water was found in Palolem Beach, Goa (India), where travelers can quench their thirst for just $0.22. Meanwhile, it only costs $2.01 to protect your skin from the sun in Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An (Vietnam). No other destination on the Index featured more affordable suncare products. The U.S. was well-represented on TravelBird's Index as well with 18 American beaches making the cut. More from TravelPulse Better Not Smoke on This Cruise Ship A Floating Hotel for 2016 Olympics in Rio Living The Mayan Culture Experience Amazing Greece All-Inclusive Luxury In Ocho Rios East Hampton, New York's Main Beach took home the title of most expensive, ranking 10th overall with an average cost of $48.85 a day. West Palm Beach, Florida, wasn't far behind, though, ranking 11th overall with an average daily cost of $47.45. Point Dume, Malibu ($45.27) was the only other U.S. beach among the top 25 most expensive worldwide. Daytona Beach, Florida ($43.61) just missed out at 26th overall, while South Beach Miami, Florida ($42.49); Kailua, Hawaii ($42.12); Naples Beach, Florida ($42.09) and Waikiki, Honolulu ($40.93) ranked among the top 50 most expensive day trips. According to the Index, for less than $40 a day, travelers can enjoy Cape Cod's Sandy Neck Beach ($39.75); Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida ($39.50); Santa Monica State Beach ($38.93); Coronado Beach, California ($38.82); Myrtle Beach, South Carolina ($38.44) and Smathers Beach in Key West ($37.34). Ranking 87th overall, Myrtle Beach was recently named America's favorite beach in a Tipspoke survey. Ranking outside the top 100 were Venice Beach, Los Angeles ($37.14); Mission Beach, San Diego ($36.56); Hendrys Beach, Santa Barbara ($35.43) and Gulf Shores, Alabama ($34.74). Despite coming in as the cheapest U.S. beach, Gulf Shores was found to be more expensive than 134 other beach destinations in TravelBird's Index. "In order to have the best holiday experience, it helps travelers to have as much information about their destination as possible. This is why we came up with the Beach Price Index." said TravelBird CEO Symen Jansma in a statement. "The Beach Price Index is a great barometer for not only the expected costs at a certain beach but can also be used as an indicator of costs in that region at large." "It helps travelers manage their budgets, expectations and ultimately get the most from their experience." With the anniversary of the shooting death of a Vermont social worker approaching, the state employees' union is asking again for donations to a fund to support Lara Sobel's children. The 48-year-old Sobel was the Department For Children and Families social worker shot to death in Barre last Aug. 7, allegedly by 40-year-old Jody Herring, who authorities say was upset the state had removed a child from her home. Herring has pleaded not guilty to charges that she killed three of her own relatives as well as Sobel and is being held as she awaits trial. The Vermont State Employees' Association is hoping the anniversary might prompt some who've not donated to the fund to do so. Details can be found online at www.vsea.org/donate . With a shock of white hair pushed to the side, Andy looked at me with an intense blue-eyed gaze and asked, What do you think about the future of libraries today? Im writing this column from the road, spending the weekend at a family reunion. I had originally planned to write about road trip books and audiobooks, but answering Andys question seems more important today. I cant seem to separate Andys question from the work Ive been doing for the last two weeks: the 2015 Seymour Library Annual Report. I look at numbers like 101,210 items checked out last year, and think about those items. Yes, we check out a lot of books but we also loan out a telescope, voltmeters to help you learn about energy efficiency, Learning Backpacks for young children and a slide converter to digitize those old family slides. I see 13,693 active library cards (about 40 percent of our service area), and think about the difference that library card makes: access to digital content (e-books, e-audio, magazines) which is not dependant on the ability to physically walk into our building, as well as access to over 500 online classes through Universal Class and much more. I look at these numbers and think about the public-private partnership that funds our library. While approximately 75 percent of the 2015 budget is from taxpayers, the remaining 25 percent is a combination of support from the Seymour Library Foundation and the Friends of Seymour Library, fines and fees, and grants from New York state and local foundations. Weve more than doubled the number of programs we offer to the community due in large part to the increased amount of grant support. Weve taken advantage of grants to invest in our beautiful building and began the important process of updating our technology infrastructure. The 2015 Seymour Library Annual Report will be available on our website and in print at the library on Aug. 1. I had to pause before I could answer this spry 80-year-old. Eight-year-old Canon interrupts our conversation to ask me about the newest Geronimo Stilton book, while my sister-in-law is talking to a cousin about a book suggestion for her book club. I can hear Aunt Jane telling family stories, and Im thinking about finding a grant to create a Family History Learning Backpack to help families capture oral histories and work on genealogy. I turn back to Andy. "Libraries arent going away,' I tell him. For those libraries working to support their community, the future of libraries is wide-open. Libraries have always been about connecting people and information, and thats still the case. Believe it or not, managing a business is, in many ways, the same as visiting Disney World or a city youve never been to before. Its thrilling to think of all the possibilities that lie ahead, but before you can embark on your journey, its important to understand where you are, what your current conditions are and what surrounds you. Failing to understand where you stand as you begin your journey would, at best, make it difficult to reach your destination. At worst, you could waste your time running around in circles - never achieving your goals. The first step toward building your business is asking the right questions to thoroughly define your current business environment and brand situation. The answers you gather will ultimately help you decide how to build, manage and market your brand. The great news is that you dont need a consultant. You can simply answer the questions yourself, interview people or conduct a team exercise to answer the questons together. Here is a set of simple yet powerful questions to ask that will help you assess your business, both internally and externally. Conduct an internal assessment. In this step, you gather the points of view from people inside of the organization, such as employees or business partners - people who are close enough to the brand to care about its success. Gathering this information consists of posing two simple questions: What is working for your business; and therefore, what should you continue doing? What is not working for your business, and what should you stop doing? Probing for unbiased viewpoints not only generates a more accurate picture of the brand, but it also helps the respondents to think more objectively, providing more open and honest responses. Answers to the first question will highlight areas of the business that people are proud to be a part of. You might learn about recent successes, particularly strong contributions from certain individuals or activities with consistent and proven results. Related: The 21st Century SWOT Analysis The second question will highlight fissures in your brand - problems that could exponentially spiral out of control if not attended to. To dig deeper on problem areas, this question can be preceded with more direct questions. For example: If you were the leader of the brand, what would you focus on? These questions will likely get the most passionate answers. Asking someone what he or she would do if they were in charge will typically reveal their No. 1 frustration - the one thing they feel should be immediately addressed. Asking these questions across a broad spectrum of stakeholders is a great way to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of your business. Once you have a consolidated list of the perceptions of the business, you can rank the issues based on their potential impact on the business. Once the internal assessment is complete, the next step is to answer some questions about your business in relation to the market place. This will help you gain the big picture of your business. Related: Use SWOT To Kick-Start Your Planning Conduct a market assessment. In the second step, you will assess the key environmental forces that affect your brand and its overall health and ability to do business. You can do this by conducting a simple SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Step one is to define your brands competitive set - the products or services that could easily replace what your brand is offering. With your list of competitors you can begin to populate the following four quadrants by answering how well your brand stacks up against the competition as well as the key market dynamics across these vectors. Strengths: What are the brand elements most helpful in driving growth? What are the brand elements most helpful in driving growth? Weaknesses: What are the brand elements that are setbacks to growth? What are the brand elements that are setbacks to growth? Opportunities: What market conditions can accelerate growth? What market conditions can accelerate growth? Threats: What market conditions can significantly limit growth? Related: How to Research Your Business Idea With the quadrants populated, you can derive key insights to select a growth strategy that uses your strengths to tap into opportunities and consider any weaknesses and threats that might jeopardize your growth. This analysis will increase your chances of success in the market. Completing these two steps will give you the best assessment of your business. After, you'll know what your brand needs to begin doing, what it needs to stop doing and what practices to continue. The clarity gained from this exercise will serve as a solid foundation on which to build your business. Clad in a flak jacket and flanked by security guards, I recently spent a week in Baghdad -- just 40 miles from ISIS territory -- as part of a branding research project. That's what I do: My U.K.-based Seven Brands specializes in creating, designing, marketing, advertising and managing international brands that appeal to multi-cultural audiences. Related: 20 Factors to Consider Before Going Global We help global businesses reach the least accessible audiences in the world -- like the audience in Iraq, where the lesson, it seemed to me, was that, at its best, branding is hope. Why, for example, in a place where the roads are pockmarked from car bombs and the detritus of war litters the streets, would 17-year-old girls be obsessed with Michael Kors handbags? Why do brands matter in a city where practically every resident has a personal story of tragedy? Where a suicide truck bombing in early July killed over 200. The director of news at Alsumaria TV described the Iraqi mentality this way: Twenty people will die in a car bomb and everyone cleans up and then gets on with their lives within half an hour," he said. They want to live. This desire to restore normalcy, recover and rebuild is evident in small pockets of affluence across Baghdad. In Iraq's capital, brands like Timberland, Mont Blanc and Ray Ban are starting to appear. Apples iPhone 6 was a sell-out when it launched in Iraq at the beginning of last year. Why is this? Aspirational brands represent hope. People associate these world-famous names with the better lives they hope to build. The implication here is that it's up to brands to decide whether they should exploit this hope or seek to live up to it. Opportunities exist where others fear to go. Western brands have struggled for years to resonate with shell-shocked Iraqi consumers in this war-ravaged country. In Iraq, the period of United Nations-imposed sanctions, from 1994 to 2003, prevented most international companies from doing business there. And the security situation since the sanctions were lifted has deterred many from entering the market. So the gap created has been filled, to some degree, by brands from the Muslim world, like Tche, a Jordanian dining chain; Papa Roti, a snack bar from Malaysia; and Saipa, an Iranian car brand that is the preferred vehicle for Iraqi taxis. Places where global brands cannot or will not operate are an opportunity for regional brands. Hopefully, the future will also see the emergence of local Iraqi brands that target their own people and offer a uniquely Iraqi vision of lifestyle in post-reconstruction Baghdad. Related: International Business Etiquette Rules for Entrepreneurs Trademarks are tricky. Fakes abound in Baghdad. For example, fast food chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds, which were originally set up in the Iraqi capital for the U.S. and British military, disappeared when the troops withdrew. But their influence lives on in the numerous rip-offs which have appeared throughout the city. Specifically, there are KFG (Kentucky Family Group), Kentucky Chicken (complete with an image of Colonel Sanders) and MgDonalds outlets everywhere. Young girls carry fake Michael Kors handbags. There is also a large "gray market" for mobile phones that includes fake iPhones, in order to avoid the 18 percent duty that the government puts on telecoms in Iraq. Trademark protection? The traditional methods will not be strong in places like Iraq for some time. Global companies need to decide whether to expose their brands to such a market. Some will chose to go ahead, knowing that the gray market in the long run is creating demand for the real thing. Others may create brands especially for new frontier markets in order to establish themselves without exposing their valuable international brands to an unregulated market. Dont advertise. Make the world a better place. Visually, Baghdad is chaos. The detritus of destruction is everywhere. Piles of bricks, like anthills, pockmark the pavements. Architectural aesthetics have given way to fortifications, occasional traces of past beauty assaulted by barricades. Everything seems random, jumbled, as if an earthquake had occurred. In the city center, local brands (and some international ones) have plastered billboards above disheveled shops, in a chaotic mosaic that replicates the general landscape of the city. But people don't seem to mind because, right now, the main thing on the minds of most Iraqis is the hope for a peaceful future where they can resurrect their devastated country and their families' future within it. Any marketer who adds another billboard is simply adding to the general noise and chaos. Yet there are small green shoots of recovery. In places like Mansour Mall and Mado cafe, a visitor sees glimmers of the emergence of a new city, a Baghdad filled with color, lights and sparkle. So, if your brand wants to stand out, dont put up another billboard. Be a part of the reconstruction story, rebuilding the devastated infrastructure and bringing beauty and order back to peoples lives. How to do that? A brand that put in street lighting (maybe branded with illuminated logos) or built (branded) bus shelters or lifestyle cafes would win hearts much more successfully than a brand that simply advertised. Related: Iraq On The Agenda: Paris Gallery Opens Its First Iraqi Outlet In Baghdad This is a lesson that applies to brands seeking entry in many parts of the world: Dont put up another billboard. Instead, make the world a better place. Concealed handgun license holders in Texas can carry their weapons into public university buildings, classrooms and dorms starting Monday, a day that also marks 50 years after the mass shooting at the University of Texas' landmark clock tower. The campus-carry law pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican legislative majority makes Texas one of a handful of states guaranteeing the right to carry concealed handguns on campus. Texas has allowed concealed handguns in public for 20 years. Gun rights advocates consider it an important protection, given the constitutional right to bear arms, as well as a key self-defense measure in cases of campus violence, such as the 1966 UT shootings and the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. Opponents of the law fear it will chill free speech on campus and lead to more campus suicide. The former dean of the University of Texas School of Architecture left for a position at the University of Pennsylvania because of his opposition to allowing guns on campus. Officials told the Austin American-Statesman it was a coincidence that the law took effect 50 years to the day after the UT shooting. Marine-trained sniper Charles Whitman climbed to the observation deck of the 27-story clock tower in the heart of UT's flagship Austin campus, armed with rifles, pistols and a sawed-off shotgun on Aug. 1, 1966, killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others before officers gunned him down. Whitman had killed his wife and mother before he headed to the tower, investigators said. One victim died in the hospital a week later and medical examiners eventually attributed a 17th death to Whitman in 2001 -- a man who had been shot and wounded in his one functioning kidney and elected to stop dialysis treatment. Texas has more than 1 million concealed handgun license holders. People who wish to get a license must be at least 21 (18 if in the military) and pass both classroom and gun range training courses. There are also restrictions on convicted felons, people charged with felonies and high-level misdemeanors or people with a history of mental illness. The open carry law in Texas specifically does not apply to college campuses. Any handguns on campus must be holstered and kept out of sight. Officials at UT were set Monday to rededicate a new memorial to the 1966 shooting: a chunk of granite more than six feet tall, replacing a much smaller plaque. Crews sand-blasted the names of the victims onto the boulder, The Daily Texan reported. Generally, the new Texas law allows guns in buildings, classrooms and dorms, but rules may differ from campus to campus, as each school is required to map that out. For example, at the University of Texas at Austin, teachers will be allowed to declare their offices as gun-free zones, but most will post signs announcing it. Dorm residents can have guns in common areas, such as dining areas and lounges, but not sleeping rooms, where no storage of weapons is allowed. Exceptions to the room restrictions will be made for visiting family members who are licensed to carry handguns. At Texas A&M University in College Station, guns are allowed in dorm rooms and teachers must get permission from the administration to ban guns from their office. State law still bans weapons from some campus areas, such as hospitals and sporting events. Private schools like Baylor, Rice, Texas Christian and others can ban guns under the state law. Currently, Amberton University, which doesn't allow students under 21 and has a total enrollment under 2,000, is the only private school that has opted to allow guns. As for community colleges, they have until August 2017 to allow weapons, giving them more time to adjust for security and other measures. The killing spree in Texas helped introduce the nation to the concept of a "mass shooting" outside the context of a military battlefield. The Associated Press contributed to this report. College is an exhilarating time for incoming freshmen. It provides young adults with the first chance to live away from home, and the first real opportunity to learn to live with others in tight (sometimes very tight) quarters. So how do colleges match up roommates anyway, and what can families do to ensure as good a roommate match as possible? "I was in a forced triple (three students in a room designed for two) my freshman year, and one of my roommates was bipolar, and off his meds," said a millennial who graduated in 2010 from a New England university. "It was a nightmare. When I reported it to our RA [resident assistant] and our dorm director, they both kept saying, 'Work it out -- keep trying.' Finally, our parents had to get involved -- which is very important. Freshmen should alert parents to any serious problems," he advised. Colleges and universities work hard to match freshmen roommates to avoid this type of serious issue within the four walls of a college dorm. "Colleges have different systems for matching roommates," Sally Rubenstone, co-author of "Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions" wrote on Collegeconfidential.com. "Typically, however, pairings are based on your responses to a series of questions that you'll submit during the summer before your freshman year. These questions may ask about your sleep patterns (are you a morning person or a night owl?), your housekeeping skills (are you a neatnik? a slob?) and, above all, your smoking habits (unless there is no smoking in any dorm, in which case the question is moot)." She added, "Sometimes the questionnaires are longer, more like those used by dating services -- and explore your tastes in music, movies, literature, etc. Occasionally, even freshmen have the opportunity to live in 'theme houses' (vegetarian, substance-free, French-speaking, etc.), and thus, if you do, too, you'll know that your roommate will share at least one of your interests." Justin Lavelle, chief communications officer for PeopleLooker.com, an online background check platform that runs background checks on college roommates for families, offered LifeZette these important steps for college freshmen to take before they move in. It's based on the experiences of the many families Lavelle has worked with over the years. "Plan ahead," he said. "There's one key factor that can lead to a very difficult living situation and that's a lack of planning. Whether you choose your own roommate or leave it to the school to decide, make sure you communicate with your future roommate before move-in day. Even if you're friends, you need to make sure you're on the same page when it comes to expectations and living styles. It's important to talk things out in advance and make sure you're both in agreement about how things will be handled." It is critical, Lavelle said, to openly discuss personalities and living habits early on. "Talk about things like sleeping habits, social activities, plans for entertaining friends, and housekeeping skills. No one will be a perfect match, but honestly ask yourself if these habits are things you can live with." One recent graduate from Harvard University also advises checking out social media to gather more information on a future roommate. "Check your new roomie's Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram photos before meeting in person," she told LifeZette. "This will give you a sense of their priorities, their likes and dislikes, and the 'face' they present to the world." It's common today, said Lavelle, to even run a background check on a roommate. "In today's world it's totally acceptable and just plain smart to run a background check on a potential roommate. Doing so can help ensure you're not moving in with a questionable person. You'll be able to check out their criminal record, if they have a concealed weapon license, history of domestic abuse, their credit history, and more. Looking for a potential roommate is like dating, only more intimate. Don't dismiss the red flags." Many schools will provide official roommate agreements that help students discuss key issues of co-habitation. "If your school doesn't, or you're moving into a house or apartment, it might be a good idea to draw one up so that you are both on the same page and have something to reference back to when disagreements arise," said Lavelle. Today's technology can help find that perfect freshman roommate, too. "Students can come to our site, fill out a questionnaire about themselves and their roommate preferences, and we show them their compatibility results with other students attending the same school," Dan Thibodeau, COO and founder of Roomsurf.com, told LifeZette. Roomsurf has had over 900,000 students from more than 1200 colleges sign up since the website's 2010 launch. "They can then submit a mutual request through their schools established methods, or choose to live together off-campus," said Thibodeau. "In our match results, we display all other students going to that school and the compatibility percentage -- so students can look through and interact with all their matches," he explained. "The interacting is what solidifies students' choices to live together. While we don't actively have the final say of which students live together (that's the school's domain) and therefore don't have the stats to show the number of pairings -- research has shown that students who choose their own roommates are more likely to work through conflict than students who have been paired randomly." Most important thing two new roommates can do? Keep good lines of communication open -- and talk through small issues before they become big ones. "Communication works two ways: talking and listening," Merrimac College in North Andover, Massachusetts, advises on its residence life web page. "Neither one is effective without the other ... This doesn't mean you should share everything, but you need to talk actively with your roommate." A veteran FBI electronics technician who had top secret clearance pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of acting as an agent of China, and faces up to 10 years in prison. Kun Shan Chun, who also went by the name Joey Chun, was born in China and began working for the FBI in 1997. Chun's duties with the FBI included "accessing sensitive and, in some instance, classified information." He's set to be sentenced in December. Chun, 47, was originally charged with four counts of working to "falsify, conceal, and cover up by trick, scheme, and device a material fact." He allegedly did not disclose his ties to foreign organizations and individuals in a written questionnaire submitted to the FBI for his security clearance, and did not disclose to the FBI that he made contact with "foreign nationals during a trip to Europe." The criminal complaint against Chun was unsealed Monday, but dated March 2016. The documents contend that Chun and some of his relatives "maintained relationships" with individuals who worked for a Chinese technology company and at least "one individual whom Chun understood to be affiliated with the Chinese government." Chun was allegedly tasked with consulting work in the U.S. for that Chinese company, for which he was given financial and travel "benefits." He allegedly met with a Chinese associate in Europe in July 2015 and, around the same time, told an undercover FBI Special Agent that he wanted to introduce the agent to some of his Chinese associates. "Chun also expressed a willingness to facilitate the passage of sensitive United States government information from the [undercover agent] to one or more of his Chinese associates, including individuals associated with the Chinese government," the document states. During one meeting, Chun is alleged to have told the undercover agent that he "expected a 'cut' of any payment that the [agent] received for providing information to the Chinese government." Chun and the undercover agent also met in New York in August 2015 during a meeting that was recorded, the charging documents said. "I could get you connected and then I'm going to stay off," Chun is alleged to have said. "You know, you do your thing, you make your money, I don't really care, but...if you make any money, just give me a little bit..." During the same conversation, Chun is alleged to have acknowledged that he knew he was supposed to have disclosed his meetings and relationships with foreign nationals. Grand jurors on Monday cleared a northeast Mississippi police officer of wrongdoing in a June 18 shooting that left a man dead. District Attorney John Weddle told reporters that a Lee County grand jury declined to indict Tupelo Officer Tyler Cook in the shooting of Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert. An autopsy found Shumpert, who died at a hospital, was shot four times. "The grand jury found Officer Tyler Cook acted lawfully and has cleared Officer Cook of any wrongdoing," Weddle said. Cook is white. Shumpert was black. Shumpert's family members have said the shooting was unjustified, seeking $35 million in damages in a federal lawsuit against the city. They've also called for a federal civil rights investigation into Shumpert's death and the broader practices of the Tupelo Police Department. "While we are incredibly disappointed that the officer who killed Antwun 'Ronnie' Shumpert will not be charged with a crime by the state of Mississippi, we will continue to monitor the investigations currently being conducted by the FBI and Department of Justice," said Carlos Moore, a lawyer for Shumpert's family. Hundreds of people seeking changes in the city's police department protested Saturday in Tupelo. Weddle refuted claims by Shumpert's family and their attorney that Shumpert had suffered improper violence at the hands of Cook and a police dog. "There are no wounds described in the autopsy that are consistent with a dog bite," Weddle said in a news conference at the Lee County Justice Center. Weddle said physical evidence showed Shumpert was shot four times at close range, consistent with Cook's version of events that Shumpert had emerged from under a house and attacked the officer, leading Cook to shoot Shumpert when the officer feared for his life. Weddle also refuted claims that Shumpert had been bitten in the groin by Cook's police dog, saying that was a gunshot wound. He also said cuts on Shumpert's back came from efforts to remove the bullets and were not seen in pictures taken at the scene. Finally, he refuted Moore's claims that he had found an eyewitness who had recorded video, saying the woman in question was held by a police officer near the scene of the original traffic stop and could not have seen the altercation in the backyard of a house. The version of events compiled by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and recited by Weddle mirrors an account given last month by Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton. ___ Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy. Read his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/jeff-amy Black Lives Matter has taken offense at police saying Blue Lives Matter and others who say All Lives Matter, but now a Wisconsin school is risking ire by branding a class on environmentalism Green Lives Matter. The course at University of Wisconsin at Green Bay will encourage students to support the environmental justice movement by the merging of civil rights and environmental concerns. But even Scott Furlong, the dean of social sciences at the school, acknowledged that the class name plays on what has become a loaded term. Timing is everything, he told FoxNews.com in an email. When developedpoliticizing the name of the class was not front and center for us. Furlong said the universitys diversity director and course professor, Elizabeth Wheat, chose the title earlier this year, as the Black Lives Matter movement built strength and members began to take umbrage at variations on the phrase. Although Furlong admitted the world landscape since that time has changed, the university will stand by the title, but remain open to an adjustment if pressed by offended students. The name doesnt come across as very sensitive to me due to the BLM movement and the controversy, said recent UWGB graduate Nathan Fiene, who organized an anti-Donald Trump rally last semester that was heavily attended by Black Lives Matter protesters. However, Chrissy Bartelme, former environmental affairs chair of the UWGB Student Government Association, said the school should politicize what it calls the green lives movement. The name Green Lives Matter should not push away students, but rather encourage them to learn about those impacted by environmental hazards, she told FoxNews.com in an email. The class name should have no effect on what the students will learn. Taught mostly by instructors of color, women, and blue collar sectors of society, the course fulfills a general education requirement for incoming freshmen, who will learn about topics like migrant farm worker pesticide exposure and urban environmental harms. Although he disagrees with the highly questionable title, Fiene applauded the content of the course material for shedding light on perceived racism within environmental policies. Environmental consultant Tracy Thomas agreed, adding that green causes support the very goals of the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter and Green Lives Matter share one common thread-contiguity, she told FoxNews.com, pointing to a historical tendency for blacks to live in worn and neglected environments. Green Lives Matter isnt the only eccentrically named course offered at the school-university administrators encourage faculty to develop creative titles for mandatory freshmen seminars, according to Furlong. Freshmen can also choose to enroll in Food Politics, The Science and History of Monsters and From Disneys Pocahontas to the NFL: Stereotypes and the Realities of the First Nations People. Theodore and Aspasia Kiapos lived together as a married couple for nearly 64 years, and on Saturday evening, they died together, too. Elderly couple killed in Sun Valley fire had been married for 64 years, relative says https://t.co/Eorg4cASu7 pic.twitter.com/TRFR2q6H1x KTLA (@KTLA) August 1, 2016 A devastating house fire in Sun Valley, Calif. killed the sweethearts of six decades. Neither had a pulse when firefighters were finally able to pull them from the smoldering structure, though both were revived en route to the hospital, The Los Angeles Times reported. However, the reprieve was short lived and both died a little while later at the hospital. One other person, who has not been identified, was seriously injured by smoke exposure and burns to her hands. A firefighter was also hurt but was later released from medical care. It took firefighters about 40 minutes to extinguish the flames that killed Theodore, 91, and Aspasia, 90. The husband had worked in a family-owned business, Omega Shoe Polish Co., and his wife was an elementary teacher. Ted and Aspasias love for one another is a testament to what true love, pure love, and unconditional love is, the couples granddaughter, Sophia Kiapos, wrote on a GoFundMe page. They passed in body together, but live on in spirit as they dance their way through eternal peace. Illinois authorities were searching Monday for a suspect who shot a police officer during a pursuit Sunday evening. Police in Carbondale were patrolling around 11:40 p.m. Sunday when they heard gunshots, KSDK reported. While driving toward the gunfire, officers saw a tan, four-door vehicle, speeding away from the area and began to pursue the vehicle. During the chase, police say the suspect fired several shots from the fleeing vehicle at the officers cruiser, hitting the car and one of the officers inside. The cops ended their pursuit and drove the wounded officer to the hospital. The officers did not return fire, KSDK reported, citing a police press release. The officer, who was not identified, is in serious condition. Anyone with information should report it to the Carbondale Police Department at 618-457-3200, or anonymously through CrimeStoppers at 618-687-2677. Carbondale is about 150 miles south of Springfield. SKANEATELES After an effort that began in 2011 by a committee that started more than 30 years ago, a wall paying tribute to Skaneateles veterans who served from the Persian Gulf War to the present is slated to go up in August. During the July 21 Skaneateles Town Board meeting, Kurt Reilley the chairman of the Skaneateles Veterans Memorial Committee told the board construction of the new wall, honoring men and women who lived in Skaneateles at the time they joined the military, is slated to begin Monday, Aug. 1 and last about two weeks. Noting that he and Town Historian Beth Batlle organized the Korean War and Vietnam War memorials, Reilley said the new memorial for Shotwell Park will recognize those who served from 1991 to the present. He said the wall will be built behind a pool that is part of the Shotwell Park landscape, noting that is the only spot to balance to new memorial with the existing ones. There was no way we wanted to disturb the view of the lake when youre standing down there, he said. The main center portion of the wall will measure 10 feet long by 4 feet high to the top of the cap, Reilley said, while the wing walls on the side will measure 3 feet high. Along with Janice Miller as the architect on the project, Reilley said the committee obtained a contractor and an excavator for the work instead of using town or village employees. We are not using any town services or village services, he said. This will all be done by the committee. Were going to do what we can. Though the committee tried to acquire limestone similar to that used in the other memorials, Reilley said it instead acquired concrete-based stone that matches almost exactly the existing walls. This wall will match almost perfectly the walls that are there, he said. Reilley said the new memorial will contain 55 names, but he noted the committee has had trouble locating people and getting them to come forward in an age when people move around more and use cell phones instead of landlines. We know theres more than that, he said. Our biggest problem is names. Weve had a heck of a time finding names. That means the committee will likely add names to the wall even after it is built, but that is an expensive proposition the ribbons on which the additional names go cost $19 each when the committee started but now cost $81 apiece. Thats why we dont really want to have to add a lot of names, Reilley said, noting that the committee has added names to the World War II wall and even the Korean and Vietnam walls. That tells you how some of these people are not paying attention or not being available. But, Reilley noted, with the Global War on Terror still going on around the world, new names will inevitably have to be added to the memorial. This thing is still going on today, and it may go on another 10 years, he said, noting the Korean and Vietnam conflicts both had set end dates. We cant stop putting names on. The committee includes Reilley and Batlle, both Vietnam veterans, former Village Mayor Bob Green who is also a Vietnam veteran, Vietnam veteran Dan Bangs, Operation Desert Storm veteran Bob Herrmann and Town Justice Charlie Major, who appointed the original committee 30 years ago as town supervisor. Reilley said the current committee was formed Feb. 3, 2011. That shows you that weve been working five and a half years on this permanent memorial at this time, he said. There are about eight of them (conflicts covered on the memorial) under different names. Authorities are continuing to investigate after a female jogger was found shot to death on the side of the road in Rose Township, Michigan. The 31-year-old's body was found Saturday on the front lawn of a home just after 2 p.m. State police Lt. Mike Shaw says it's possible that the woman, who has been identified as Alexandra Brueger, was familiar with the shooter. Shaw says Brueger's relatives said she regularly ran on Fish Lake Road. He says investigators are trying to determine if there's someone she "might have been having some kind of difficulties with." She lived in the Holly area. "We will start working what's known as victimology, everything about her to see who her friends who, who she's dated, everybody in her past, her family. And then we'll start looking at that to see if we develop a suspect," Shaw says. The stretch of Fish Lake Road where the victim was found in Rose Township is in northern Oakland County, approximately 10 miles southwest of Mt. Holly Ski and Snowboard Resort. Click for more from Fox 2. A law professor with a history of taking prosecutors to task has set his sights on the Baltimore states attorney, who failed in her bid to put six cops in prison in connection with the racially-charged death of Freddie Gray. George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf has filed complaints against Marilyn Mosby with the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland. He alleges Mosby and two deputies committed ethics violations, used fraudulent or misleading tactics," withheld evidence from the defense and brought charges without probable cause against the Baltimore police officers involved in the April 12, 2015 arrest of Gray, who died of injuries suffered inside a police van. My concern is that this will encourage other prosecutors from other large cities to do the same, Banzhaf told FoxNews.com. The line she [Mosby] is giving her supporters is that the case was a success and that she has been victimized in just bringing them up on charges. I think her supporters, which she depends on to be re-elected, support what she did. Mosby announced last week all charges against the police officers would be dropped. The bombshell announcement came after three were found not guilty and anothers case declared a mistrial. In the complaint, Banzhaf alleges that Mosby violated state rules of professional conduct for attorneys. He also alleged that Mosby violated rules of conduct with public statements about the case. In addition to being a law professor, Banzhaf is an activist and watchdog when it comes to the actions of those who work in the court of law and public service. During his career, he has filed complaints against Geraldine Ferraro, Barney Frank and former Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew, who went on to be Richard Nixons vice president. He also threatened to file a complaint against former North Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong, who was disbarred after his conduct in handling the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, in which three members of the schools mens lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The charges were eventually dropped by Nifong just days after Banzhaf publicly said that he was considering bring forth a lawsuit against the prosecutor for violating the civil rights of the students. The case sparked a national discussion on due process and led to Nifongs resignation and subsequent disbarment. Banzhaf says that he sees similarities between Nifongs conduct and Mosbys, and that her career may see the same fate. Both of them violated rights of the defendants by not providing exculpatory evidence [to the defense], he said. Second, both continued cases long after it was determined who may win. The law professor says that in some respects, Mosbys handling of the Freddie Gray trial may have been the more egregious. When Nifong first brought forth the case it was solid, and as time went on, it was not, he said. With Mosby, the moment she filed the case, it was known that it couldnt be brought forward. Now that a complaint has been filed, an investigation into the claims will be launched by the state and charges could go forward in 90 days unless its determined that the allegations are frivolous. The fallout from the dropped charges in the Freddie Gray case has already sent shockwaves through the States Attorneys office. Veteran prosecutor Lisa Phelps, who was assigned to try two of the cases against the police officers and had objected to their continued prosecution, resigned from her post on Monday according to the Baltimore Sun. "Her refusal to continue with a doomed-to-failure criminal case was apparently the straw that forced Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to finally drop all of the remaining Freddie Gray cop cases," said Banzhaf, "and her reluctance to continue may have been caused by my threat to seek her disbarment if she did." Mosby did not immediately return calls for comment. Banzhaf said the State Attorneys motivations may have been greater than just pursuing justice. When Nifong filed his case, it was widely suspected that he brought it forth for political purposes, he said. In Mosbys case she virtually said so. A woman in Oklahoma was arrested Saturday after police said she mixed apple vodka with baby formula and gave it to her infant child, Fox 25 reported. Monique Bibbs, 36, was booked into Tulsa County Jail on a charge of child neglect. Her child is in good condition but remains in the hospital for observation, officials told Fox 25. Bibbs had allegedly partied the previous evening and filled up a water bottle with apple vodka. When she came home, she put the bottle in her refrigerator. The next morning, police said, Bibbs accidentally mixed the baby formula with the alcohol, mistaking it for water. Bibbs noticed something was wrong when she smelled alcohol on the childs breath, authorities said though she first took the baby to her house and the babys fathers house before finally bringing the infant to the hospital. Bibbs also allegedly disposed of the alcohol bottle and water bottle before police arrived at her home to investigate. Doctors said the baby had a .19 blood alcohol content level, which likely would have been far lower had the baby been brought to the hospital immediately. Click for more from Fox 25. An Arizona couple was arrested after they allegedly left their 2-year-old son home alone for up to 90 minutes to play Pokemon GO. The Pinal County Sheriff's Office identified the suspects as 27-year-old Brent Daley and his wife, 25-year-old Brianna Daley. Deputies responded to the home at 10:30 p.m., on Sunday night after a neighbor called 911 saying she had found the 2-year-old boy outside and no one appeared to be home. The boy was found outside the home and was barefoot, red-faced, sweaty and dirty. The house was unlocked and when deputies contacted Brent Daley to say they had found his son abandoned outside, he allegedly replied, "Whatever," and hung up the phone on deputies. When the couple returned to their home, deputies say they admitted to leaving their son asleep inside their home near Chandler Heights and Gantzel while they played Pokemon GO in nearby neighborhoods. "Our agency and many other law enforcement agencies have been warning people about personal safety while playing this interactive Smartphone game, but we never would have imagined that parents would abandon a child to play Pokemon Go," Sheriff Paul Babeu said. "The deputies found the child locked out of his home in 96-degree weather with no water while his parents were gone interacting with their smartphone game." Click for more from Fox 10. A strong explosion took place early Monday near a guesthouse for foreigners in Kabul, an Afghan police official said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, which shook much of the capital at 1:25 a.m. on Monday. It was followed by widespread power outages. Gul Agha Rohani, Kabul's deputy chief of police, said the explosion happened east of the city's international airport. Rohani named the Northgate Hotel, which houses international contractors, without further details. An email message from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents had attacked that hotel. The message to media outlets said the hotel was targeted by a truck bomb and casualties were high. The Taliban regularly exaggerates the impact of attacks. A man who answered the phone at the hotel said there had been a large explosion at the facility. "We have 100 percent accountability," he said, before cutting the line. Foreign guesthouses have been a regular target of insurgent attacks since the Taliban began their war to topple the Kabul government. The Northgate is typical of many pre-fabricated compounds that offer secure accommodation to foreign workers. It is near the Bagram Air Base and has been attacked by insurgents at least once before, in July 2013. Monday's blast follows a suicide attack on a peaceful demonstration on July 23 that killed more than 80 people and wounded hundreds. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, its first in the Afghan capital and the biggest in Kabul since the Taliban launched their insurgency in 2001. The interior and defense ministries were not immediately available for comment. The mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone has been freed after being kidnapped in Brazil last month, according to local media. Aparecida Schunck was taken from her home in Interlagos, San Paolo, with her captors demanding $36.5 million in ransom. The 67-year-old is the mother of Ecclestone's wife, Fabiana Flosi, whom the entrepreneur married in 2012 - three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Their marriage followed Ecclestone's divorce from his then wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic. Globo News reported that Mrs Schunck was found at a home in Sao Paolo on Sunday night after a police operation. No ransom was paid, according to police. "She is in good health (and) two people have been arrested," the head of the Sao Paolo police, Elisabete Sato, said. Click for more from Sky News. European governments are losing track of significant numbers of children who have entered the continent without their parents as refugees from war-torn areas in the Middle East and beyond. In Belgium, authorities cant account for 156 migrant children who entered the country unaccompanied since January 2015, and the number is growing. This year, 90 unaccompanied migrant children have been reported missing to Child Focus, Belgiums center for missing and sexually exploited children. The Belgian government has ensured that any minors in difficult circumstances have received assistance, said Sharon Beavis, a spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry. The federal department of Justice remains committed to track, identify, register and assist any unaccompanied minors as best as possible, she said. The figures from Belgium and other parts of Europe show unaccompanied children slipping through the cracks in Europes social-safety net. Lone children, according to officials and advocates, remain at the greatest risk of falling victim to labor and sexual exploitation. Some officials also worry young refugees, including those who have disappeared, could be targeted for recruiting by Islamic State and other extremist groups. In 2015, 88,245 unaccompanied children91% of them boyssought asylum in the European Union, and officials estimate that there are as many as 10,000 missing migrant children. This year, 90% of migrant children arriving in Italy were unaccompanied. Advocates say the families of children often pay smugglers in advance but often this depends on their nationality, with poorer migrants from Afghanistan or Eritrea forced to work for smugglers to pay for their passage. Thirteen-year-old Eritrean Samuel Senai arrived in Europe in May without his family. While crossing the Mediterranean, he witnessed some 100 migrants drown when the boat behind his own capsized. Hospitalized for shock in Italy, after a week he ran away and a fellow migrant paid for a smuggler to transport them to Milan. But once there, the migrants sister demanded he reimburse her $277 for the ride, and refused to let him leave. Samuel was allowed to go after his brother wired money to the woman, and he made his way alone to the Netherlands. He remains haunted by the entire experience, especially the sea crossing. Rather than being alone, it would have been better to have been with them, dead in the sea, he said in an interview. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. In the new edition of its full-color, glossy magazine, ISIS mocks those who claim Islam is a peaceful religion, and even wades into the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and the parents of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier. The 15th issue of Dabiq, published on July 31, is titled Break The Cross and appears to be primarily directed at those that ISIS considers its enemies, particularly Christians. One section is devoted to the words and actions of Pope Francis and is headlined In The Words Of Our Enemies. An editorial titled Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You takes aim at Westerners and apostate Imams in the West who refuse to define ISIS motivation as being Islamic. ISIS calls this rhetoric purely political. Many Westerners, however, are already aware that claiming the attacks of the mujahidin to be senseless and questioning incessantly as to why we hate the West and why we fight them is nothing more than a political act and a propaganda tool, the article says. The politicians will say it regardless of how much it stands in opposition to facts and common sense just to garner as many votes as they can for the next election cycle. The argument echoes a current debate in the U.S. between some on the right who have been vocal about challenging high-ranking left-leaning politicians to specifically label the ISIS threat as radical Islamic terror. President Obama has said on multiple occasions that he has refused to use the term in an effort to avoid lending religious legitimacy to the terror group. The ISIS author of the Why We Hate You piece aims to settle the argument, and clarify in unequivocal terms that ISIS is Islamic. The author says that those on the social fringe who identify Islam with ISIS are correct. There are exceptions among the disbelievers, no doubt, people who will unabashedly declare that jihad and the laws of the Shariah as well as everything else deemed taboo by the Islam-is-a-peaceful-religion crowd are in fact completely Islamic, but they tend to be people with far less credibility who are painted as a social fringe, so their voices are dismissed and a large segment of the ignorant masses continues believing the false narrative, the article says. Showing just how quickly the magazine was produced and how intently members of ISIS watch U.S. politics an image in the publication shows the grave of Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khans parents rebuked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during a speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, prompting Trump, in turn, to criticize their right to censure him in front of a national audience. Adding its own voice to the debate, ISIS declares in a caption below Khans grave that the soldier is an apostate of the Muslim religion and urges other Muslims to beware a similar fate. Police in Turkey Monday captured all but one member of a so-called military "death squad" suspected of taking part in the failed coup against the country's president, a government official announced. Eleven of the soldiers were nabbed in Ula, near the resort town of Marmaris where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staying on the night of the attempted coup, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said, adding that one soldier remained on the loose. Boar-hunting villagers in Ula tipped off investigators about the "death squad" there before the overnight operation, an interior minister told AFP. Since the failed coup on July 15, Erdogan has responded with a harsh crackdown. Nearly 70,000 people have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in sectors including the civil service, education, the judiciary, health care and the media. Authorities say they have suspected links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and who the president says masterminded the coup. Ankara has demanded Gulen's extradition, but Washington is asking for evidence of the cleric's involvement and says the extradition process must be allowed to run its course. More than 18,000 people have been detained, most of them from the military, while the government has issued decrees bringing the powerful armed forces more under civilian control. Some 3,000 officers suspected of involvement in the coup or of links to Gulen's movement have been discharged from the armed forces since the attempt. Turkey also canceled this year's Aug. 30 Victory Day military parades because of the "extraordinary situation," the minister said. Kurtulmus said anyone associated with Gulen's movement would be purged from the public sector and his government "will show no mercy" toward suspects linked to the coup. "Citizens who don't have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear," the deputy prime minister said. "Sorry, but everything has a price." The Associated Press contributed to this report. The United States launched a new round of airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Libya on Monday, Pentagon officials confirmed, opening a more persistent front against the terror group that had no specific "end point" as long as the fragile Libyan government needed U.S. help. President Obama authorized the strikes after the United Nations-backed Libyan government made its first request for this type of aid, the Pentagon said. It marked the third round of U.S. strikes in Libya since November. "I don't want to predict the pace" of any future strikes, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters at a news briefing. He denied the U.S. was leading from behind, describing the strikes as "providing military support for a partner on the ground." Fayez Serraj, the head of the U.N.-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the ISIS bastion of Sirte, "causing major casualties," adding that no U.S. ground forces were deployed. The precision strikes targeted an ISIS tank and two vehicles, officials said. Cook said the U.S. would vet its specific targets as part of a "collaborative process" with the Libyan government. He also said the two nations would share intelligence and surveillance. The number of ISIS fighters in Libya has grown over the past year to more than 5,000, according to estimates, although the United Nations reported that many of those fighters may have left Sirte over that time frame. Sirte represents the terror group's only remaining stronghold along Libya's northern coast. "[The strikes] are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces," Cook said. "These actions and those we have taken previously will help deny ISIL a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies." Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 ouster of Moammar Qaddafi and has in the past years become bitterly divided between rival factions and competing governments. Top Pentagon officials have repeatedly said that while ISIS is getting squeezed in Iraq and Syria, the group will spread out and find safe haven. For months, top Pentagon officials have said they would wait for a new government in Libya before ramping up operations against ISIS there. Pentagon officials confirmed recently that teams of special operations forces had been going in and out of Libya in the past few months to meet local forces on the ground. Cook would not reveal what type of U.S. military aircraft were used in Monday's strikes. The U.S. military has been flying armed drones out of Sicily since this past winter. In February, U.S. Air Force F-15s flying out of the United Kingdom bombed an ISIS training camp outside the Libyan capital of Tripoli killing up to 50 ISIS fighters. In November, one day after the attacks in Paris that killed more than 125 people, U.S. jets killed the top ISIS leader in Libya, Abu Nabil, in the port city of Darhna. Nabil was a longtime Al Qaeda operative before leading the ISIS affiliate in Libya. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on July 19 that ISIS fighters in Libya were facing the "distinct possibility" of defeat in their last stronghold and were likely to scatter elsewhere in the North African country and the region. Ban said one member state recently reported between 3,000 and 4,000 ISIS fighters in Sirte. But he said as a result of the recent offensive against ISIS, by forces aligned with the U.N.-brokered government and others, "the current number of those in Sirte is now likely well under 1,000," with large numbers of those who have recently fled the city likely relocating and regrouping "in smaller and geographically dispersed cells throughout Libya and in neighboring countries." According to one unnamed U.N. member state, Ban said dozens of Tunisians fighting for ISIS already returned home "with the intent to conduct attacks." The secretary-general said the current political divide in Libya continued to make the country attractive for foreign fighters who are actively recruited by ISIS and Al Qaeda-linked groups to boost their military capabilities. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes. A U.N.-brokered deal in December to create a unity government has reached a deadlock, due to political jockeying and the new government's inability to put together an action plan to provide basic services. Ban said ISIS propaganda in March 2015 and again in April 2016 called for supporters to travel to Libya instead of Iraq or Syria. He said the largest group of foreign fighters currently operating in Libya are individuals linked to ISIS, and they dominate the extremist group's top leadership. Foreign fighters have also joined Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which periodically infiltrates Libya and uses the country as a rest stop and for training and buying arms, he said. Another prominent group of foreign fighters in Libya are members of Ansar Al-Sharia in Tunisia, another Al Qaeda affiliate, which continues to train its forces in Libya near the Tunisian border, the secretary-general said. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Owasco Yacht Club's bathing beach, which had been closed since Wednesday after blue-green algae was found, reopened Monday. The Cayuga County Health Department said there is currently no evidence of an active bloom in the area, and test strips indicate that toxin levels are no longer detectable. Samples had been collected in two locations on the northeast side of Owasco Lake, causing the Health Department to close the bathing beach to swimming. But just as that beach was cleared, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation contacted the Health Department Monday with confirmation that a new bloom has appeared on the west side of the lake from samples collected on July 28 and 29. Eileen O'Connor, the county's director of Environmental Health, cautioned that despite the beach reopening, those recreating on the lake should remain vigilant. "These blooms can pop up," O'Connor said. "People should be aware of what a bloom may look like, and avoid it. Just because the yacht club is now clear, that doesn't mean that there's not a bloom somewhere else along the lake." Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, has a filmy, paint-like appearance on the surface of water bodies. The bacteria is known to produce toxins, which if swallowed or touched while swimming, could cause negative effects to the liver and nervous systems, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose and throat, and inflammation of the respiratory tract. The Health Department said if any person or pet has diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, irritation of the skin, eyes or respiratory system after exposure to a bloom to contact a health care provider or veterinarian. Another Cayuga County water body, Lake Como, had confirmed blue-green algae on July 11. Lake Como blooms were listed as ended under the DEC's Harmful Algal Blooms Notifications Page. The DEC updates its list of blue-green algae surveillance typically on Fridays, O'Connor said. A full listing of where the blooms have been spotted is available at dec.ny.gov/chemical/83310.html. If anyone suspects a bloom may be harmful, report it to HABsinfo@dec.ny.gov or harmfulalgae@health.ny.gov. If the bloom is present on Owasco Lake, report it to the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection Program at (315) 427-5188 or (315) 237-2066. Jamba Juice Continues Franchise Expansion in the Portland Market The leading health and wellness brand opens its sixth location in Portland EMERYVILLE, Calif. - July 29, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Offering freshly made fruit juices, signature smoothies and better-for-you food options, Jamba Juice is expanding in Portland and announced today it has opened a new store in the city. The new store is located on 13565 N. Cornell Road, on the corner of Cornell Rd. and Murray Blvd. The store is owned by Jamba franchise group The Cinnamon Bums, Inc. which is based in Oregon. The Cinnamon Bums owns 20 additional Jamba locations in Oregon and in Southwest Washington. Were thrilled to continue to grow in the Portland market, and bring the goodness of Jamba Juices nutritious and delicious offerings to our community, said Steve Foltz, a principal at The Cinnamon Bums. The new location provides shoppers and visitors a convenient location to enjoy our better-for-you menu offerings on the go. The opening continues Jamba Juices tradition of providing a wide variety of nutritious and freshly prepared menu selections that are wholesome and healthy. The Jamba Juice menu offers beverage choices for every palette and taste, with strong roots in their hallmark freshly squeezed juices, made to order with whole food ingredients. Jamba Juices signature Smoothies are blended masterpieces made with real fruit. Jamba isnt just about beverages - guests can also enjoy Jambas steel-cut oatmeal, Baked Goods, and Energy Bowls. The Cinnamon Bums has been a long-time philanthropic partner in the community and participates with many charitable organizations throughout the region. Hours of operation for the new location: Monday through Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. About Jamba, Inc. Jamba, Inc., owns and franchises Jamba Juice stores through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jamba Juice Company. Jamba Juice Company is a leading restaurant retailer of better-for-you, specialty beverage and food offerings, which include great tasting, whole fruit smoothies, fresh-squeezed juices and juice blends, and a variety of food items including, hot oatmeal, breakfast wraps, sandwiches, Artisan Flatbreads, Energy Bowls, baked goods and snacks. As of March 29, 2016, there were 885 store locations globally. There were 68 Company-owned and operated stores and 752 Franchise-operated stores in the United States, and 65 Franchise-operated international stores. Jamba Juice Company expanded the Jamba brand by direct selling of consumer packaged goods (CPG) and licensing its trademarks. CPG products for at-home enjoyment are also available online, through select retailers across the nation and in Jamba outlets in the United States. Fans of Jamba Juice can find out more about Jamba Juice's locations as well as specific offerings and promotions by visiting the Jamba Juice website at www.jambajuice.com or by contacting Jambas Guest Services team at 1-866-4R-FRUIT (473-7848). SOURCE Jamba, Inc. Contacts: Mike Fuccillo Jamba Juice Dir. Corporate Communications (510) 596-0100, X-7 mfuccillo@jambajuice.com Kasey Richter The Cinnamon Bums, Inc. HR & Marketing Manager 503-639-2747, Ext. 3 kaseyr@bumsinc.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus City Jack W. Ferrin, 29, 7445 County House Road, Auburn, was picked up on a warrant July 31 and charged with second-degree burglary and petit larceny. Whitt White Jr., 33, 13 Easterly Ave. Apt. 1, Auburn, was picked up on a warrant July 31 and charged with first-degree criminal contempt, forcible touching, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Joseph T. Wendt, 37, 1135 Heckler Road, Waterloo, was picked up on a warrant July 29 and charged with second-degree criminal contempt. Tiffany M. Thompson, 24, 11 Mann St., Auburn, was charged July 29 with third-degree falsely reporting an incident. Matthew J. Bell Jr., 25, 27 Case Ave., Auburn, was charged July 30 with second-degree criminal trespassing. Bruce D. Gilfus, 23, 982 Creager Road, Springport, was charged July 29 with first-degree criminal contempt and two counts of resisting arrest. Shawn W. Ward, 34, Transient, Auburn, was charged July 31 with petit larceny and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Shawn D. Ford, 43, 122 Washington St., Auburn, was charged July 31 with two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. County Shane M. Hartmann, 26, Fulton, was charged July 9 with third-degree assault. Francis R. Cox, 46, Aurelius, was picked up on a warrant July 11 and charged with resisting arrest and second-degree criminal obstruction of governmental administration. Scott W. Kahabka, 46, Sempronius, was charged July 16 with fourth-degree criminal mischief. Kathleen M. Marsella, 57, Aurelius, was charged July 17 with petit larceny. Harold J. Chism, 18, Montezuma, was charged July 17 with petit larceny. William R. Larrabee, 45, Cato, was charged July 18 with unlawful growth of cannabis. Scott R. Morey, 26, Moravia, was picked up on a warrant July 18 and charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Kenneth J. Kemp, 29, Moravia, was charged July 20 with third-degree menacing, second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Ronald P. McConnell, 49, Auburn, was picked up on a warrant July 21 and charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Majel D. Sheffield, 19, Auburn, was picked up on a warrant July 22 and charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief. Alyssa M. Sheffield, 20, Elbridge, was charged July 23 with driving while intoxicated and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Tyrone P. Williams, 53, Fleming was charged July 23 with petit larceny. Aaron R. Smith, 37, Baldwinsville, was charged July 26 with endangering the welfare of a child. Valentina Espinosa, 22, Skaneateles, was charged July 28 with driving while intoxicated. State Breanne M. Lunn, 29, Sterling, was charged July 29 with making a punishable false written statement and third-degree falsely reporting an incident. Brian J. Lamond, 32, Martville, was charged July 29 with making a punishable false written statement. Bonnie M. Mandurano, 34, Oswego, was charged July 30 with fourth-degree criminal mischief. Donald C. Weber, 22, Hannibal, was charged July 30 with fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana. Christopher D. Demaria, 21, Auburn, was charged July 31 with second-degree assault. Uber For The Lawn Care Industry A new tech startup in Atlanta, GA is looking to revolutionize the way homeowners get their lawns mowed. LawnTap is an On-Demand service that connects a home owner to vetted lawn care professionals within minutes. The same way you would request a ride on Uber, is the same way you would request lawn care service with LawnTap. View as PDF Print View July 24, 2016 (FPRC) -- Launched in 2015, the idea was conceived by Founder and CEO Wilkinson Egwu. While driving down Interstate 75 he counted over 35 F150s pulling a trailer and lawn mower. He then realized there wasnt a way for these lawn care professionals to market themselves. More importantly, homeowners had no way of vetting who mowed their lawns and were forced into iron clad contracts. Thats when he hooked up with CTO Jeremy Fox and LawnTap was born. LawnTaps goal is to make it easier for a homeowner to find lawn care services. Everything is done on your mobile device. No more lockdowns in contracts or worrying how youll mow your lawn. Once the job is completed, the homeowner pays via his or her mobile phone. For the homeowner this eliminates security concerns, writing checks, and you get a vetted professional. For the lawn care professional, this helps avoid bounced checks, theyre paid instantly and have a steady stream of business based on their location. For more information, visit www.lawntap.com. ABOUT LAWNTAP LawnTap is a mobile app that uses your phones GPS to detect your location and connects you with the nearest available lawn care professional. You request a service on your mobile device and its sent to local lawn care professionals to review and compete for your business. Once service is completed you approve payment by a simple tap on your phone, then rate the service on a five star scale. For more information, contact Wilkinson Egwu at wilkinson@lawntap.com. ### Send an email to Wilkinson Egwu of r 9179296870 Recent Press Releases By The Same User Steve Mayer Recognized 19 Years of Distinguished Service In Insurance Industry Steve Mayer has today been recognized with 19 Years of Distinguished Service in the Insurance Industry. Mayer has shared his reflections and advice in an interview. Further information can be found at http://oclifehealthmediadvantageplans.com/ -- Insurance Industry Executive Steve Mayer has today been recognized with 19 Years of Distinguished Service in the Insurance Industry This recognition is, in part, a result of Mayer's work within the Health Insurance and Medicare Advantage arena, specifically diligently working Completing Enrollment of 1000 partners in coordinating health care benefits and improving the quality of life of clients. Industry Executive Mayer, a native of Huntington Beach California, has been involved with the Health Insurance and Medicare Advantage world for 19 Years, getting a start in a Garage in Costa Mesa, California. Like all people that want to become a successful entrepreneur, industry executive Mayer had to start someplace, with low overhead and expenses. In response to a question on the driving force behind success and longevity, Executive Mayer explained how it really boiled down to an innate desire to want to help people and put them in better positions for long term financial rewards and eliminating the stress of making financial mistakes. The driving success boils down to talking to a lot of people to gain information and "turnover cards" to see if there is a match to help them reach their goals. Reflecting on the recognition, Insurance Executive Mayer is quoted as saying: "Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made an statewide reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week." In a recent one-to-one interview,Insurance Executive Mayer reminisced on other past achievements, which helped build momentum towards the present day. Notably, one of the proudest was receiving the World's Best Grandpa Award and It Hangs Proudly in the Corporate Headquarters. In the same interview, Insurance Executive Mayer stated intentions for the future. The primary goal for the next 12 months, Mayer states, will be Planning on taking the next step, with 200 enrollments for Open Enrollment October 2016- Dec 2016. Looking farther ahead, the aim is personally wanting to have the highest digital presence in the insurance industry on the internet searches. When asked more personally about how one wants to be perceived and remembered, Mayer said: "Be more concerned with character than your reputation, because your character is who you really are, while your reputation doesn't fully show who you are as a loving human." Insurance Executive Mayer closed the interview by sharing recommendations for anybody who wanted to follow in this career path in some fashion, perhaps taking the achievements even further. According to Steve Mayer, the key is- The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows and putting action and commitment behind efforts.. Further information can be found at http://oclifehealthmediadvantageplans.com/ For more information, please visit http://oclifehealthmediadvantageplans.com/ Contact Info: Name: Steve Mayer Email: salesandsupport@oclifehealthmediadvantageplans.com Organization: Allcoast Address: 18601 Newland Phone: 949-689-0857 Release ID: 125773 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) Moxie SEO Announces Opening Of Newest Location In San Antonio, Texas Moxie SEO, a Texas leader in SEO consulting, has opened a new branch in San Antonio in order to offer comprehensive search marketing solutions to more businesses than ever. -- Search Engine Optimization is the most important strategic tool a business can have when looking to make sales online. Traditionally preferred by national heavyweights for its broad strokes approach, local SEO has now enabled consultancies to offer the same great results in highly targeted regional markets, ideal for small businesses. Moxie SEO is a search engine marketing consultancy based in Texas, and offers unbeatable SEO services to SME's. The business has been so successful in Texas that they are now opening a brand new branch in San Antonio, in order to serve more people than ever before. Moxie SEO San Antonio will enable the company to expand into new territories, offering businesses in San Antonio and the surrounding area the very best in locally optimized online marketing solutions. In order to do this, Moxie SEO has headhunted the very best SEO consultants and online marketers in San Antonio, and trained them to be able to deliver Moxie's unique approach. To encourage new customers, they are even offering a free SEO audit to identify opportunities and areas for growth in a business' current online strategy. The opening of the new branch marks a major expansion for the company, which is already looking to grow out of state into more new territories next year. The new office will offer small to medium sized businesses proven ways to increase their online visibility, help them become an authority online, and enable them to passively attract a constant stream of new customers. A spokesperson for Moxie SEO explained, "We are thrilled to be able to announce the opening of a new branch of our business. This has been made possible only thanks to the hard work and success of our existing teams, and by the willingness of San Antonio's finest to join with us under one banner to offer unbeatable service, results and value to customers. The new branch will surely be a game changer for us, and for businesses in and around San Antonio." About Moxie SEO: Moxie SEO specializes in providing search marketing consulting for small to mid-market businesses. The company offers a result-driven, ROI focused approach designed to improve their clients' online visibility, website traffic and sales conversions. Their experienced and expert teams are committed to providing the very best experience for the best value. Moxie SEO San Antonio 4007 McCullough Ave Ste 298 San Antonio, TX 78212-2420 210-960-5877 For more information, please visit http://www.moxieseo.com/ Contact Info: Name: Chandler Smith Email: getranked@moxieseo.com Organization: Moxie SEO Address: 1101 W 34th St #660 Phone: 512-900-7660 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/moxie-seo-announces-opening-of-newest-location-in-san-antonio-texas/125812 Release ID: 125812 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) LA Splash Cosmetics Selects Top Tier Distributors For Product Launch In India LA Splash launches its' collection in the cosmetics marketplace in India. The company will start out with a limited selection of its products and roll out their full line in the future. -- California-based make-up brand LA Splash has officially launched in India. LA Splash, creator of high quality, colorful cosmetics for trendy, modern and fashion-forward consumers, knows that India is an ideal marketplace for its products, and the explosive sales experienced since launching in India serve to support these expectations. The brand is imported by Wizaman Impex Private, a well-regarded importer of many high quality consumer brands. LA Splash has also joined forces with Smytten for the launch. Smytten is an online premium discovery service that allows its users to discover the best premium brands, enjoy free trials and own them by requesting an exclusive invite. "LA Splash has been a very successful global brand having presence in 36 countries because of its fresh and bold collections. We are confident that it will be loved by Indians and will create its own very successful niche in the cosmetics marketplace," Arjun Khurana, Director of Wizaman Impex, told India New England News. LA Splash has an extensive color library that helps them stand apart and above other major cosmetic brands, since less than a handful cater to as wide an array of consumers as LA Splash Cosmetics. LA Splash Cosmetics caters to a wider range of consumers than other cosmetic companies by utilizing more vibrant, trendy and fashion-forward colors. To start, LA Splash will offer a limited range of its popular products, including Nail Splash, Glitter Splash and Lash Splash Liquid Mascara, with plans to roll out the full collection in the near future. Lash Splash Liquid Mascara is a best seller because it thickens, lengthens, and nourishes to create astonishing lashes and is created with a formula that is proven to be long-lasting and water-proof. With LA Splash's Glitter Splash product line, glitters are precision laser cut and blended for maximum reflection. They are the finest in cosmetic grade body and face glitter and can be worn anywhere, anytime. Long Nguyen, Vice President of Sales for LA Splash, says, "We're excited to bring our Glitter Splash line to India, and expect it to be in huge demand from the fashion-forward women of India." For more information, please visit http://www.lasplashcosmetics.com Contact Info: Name: Long Nguyen Organization: LA Splash Cosmetics Address: 9440 Gidley St, Temple City, CA 91780 Phone: 626-941-6558 Release ID: 125841 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) Skypax Limited Introduces Their Concierge Service The company can place orders on behalf of customers who want an easier way to shop internationally, reports http://www.skypax.com. -- Skypax, a premier UK parcel forwarding service, has announced the introduction of their concierge service. Skypax has been providing shipping services worldwide since 2009. The introduction of their concierge offering takes their level of service up a notch and allows them to cater to international shoppers who cannot use their card at a UK retailer because of their physical location or currency type. Just like their parcel forwarding service, Skypax's concierge service is available via their website. Dan Birch, a spokesperson for Skypax Limited, commented "Anyone who has ever tried to shop internationally knows how frustrating things can quickly become. This frustration is compounded when a person finds out that a store that has something they want won't accept their payment card. Fortunately, our concierge service solves that problem for them. All transactions are detailed by Skypax, and customers can rest assured that everything will be handled with the utmost care. We're located conveniently in London, which is one of the greatest shopping cities in the world, and our concierge service is making sure that no one misses out on the items they want most." Taking advantage of the Skypax Concierge service only requires a simple sequence of steps that any shopper can complete. First, shoppers will fill out the official Skypax order form, specifying the colours, sizes, and product codes for the items they would like to purchase. The Skypax concierge team will then place the order on behalf of the client, notify them when the order is received at their shipping facility, and provide them with a choice of international shipping options right to their door. Shoppers should note that in-store purchasing and collection is also available. As Birch continued, "Shopping internationally can be a hassle, but we strive to make it easy for our customers. Our concierge service allows us to do this on an even greater scale. We're proud to be offering expanded capabilities that give us the opportunity to serve our customers well and give them the level of care they truly deserve." Customers can learn about Skypax and their concierge and parcel forwarding services at skypax.com. About Skypax Limited: Shipping globally since 2009, Skypax provides individuals and business with a UK address at their secure London premises. Whether it's an international customer looking to purchase products from UK stores and have them safely receive and forward them or a business looking for a UK depot to hold and handle their inbound or outbound shipments, Skypax's shipping experts can accommodate any requirements with complete capability and the utmost care. For more information, please visit http://www.skypax.com Contact Info: Name: Dan Birch Organization: Skypax Limited Phone: 44 (0)20 3318 0220 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/skypax-limited-introduces-their-concierge-service/125877 Release ID: 125877 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) D&G Smith Properties LLC Introduces 24-Hour Offer Guarantee Now, Houston residents who need to get rid of their homes quickly can get an all-cash offer for their properties within the day, reports http://www.bettercallsmith.com. -- D&G Smith Properties, LLC, a Houston-based team of professional house buyers, has announced the introduction of their 24-hour offer guarantee. Right now, homeowners in the Houston area who are looking to sell their houses quickly can get a free, no-obligation, all-cash offer for their house within 24 hours of placing an inquiry with the company. All that's needed to take advantage of the opportunity is to visit the company's website and fill out the short form on the homepage. George M. Smith, the owner of D&G Smith Properties, LLC, stated "No matter what type of market fluctuations take place in the real estate industry, some houses are just a difficult sell. Unfortunately, these same houses are often a legal and financial burden for the owner. For those with houses that are hard to sell with traditional methods, we're offering the ultimate solution to sell your house fast Houston. Instead of enduring the frustration associated with the normal sales process, homeowners can simply come to us. We make cash offers for even the most undesirable properties, and we make the process quick and painless for everyone involved." For those who need to stop foreclosure Houston or get rid of an unwanted property they've inherited, one visit to bettercallsmith.com is all it takes. The investment company buys houses in any condition, and there are no commissions, agents, or fees involved. The team at D&G Smith Properties strives to make the fairest offer possible on each house so that each transaction is a win-win situation for all parties. As Smith continued, "For anyone who needs to sell house fast Houston, we want them to know that we're here to help. We invite them to visit our website or give us a call to see how we can turn their burdensome property into cash, all in the span of one day. We love what we do, and we look forward to the opportunity to help more Houstonians get rid of their unwanted properties so they can finally get on with their lives." Those who need to sell their house quickly and would like to get a fast quote from D&G Smith Properties, LLC can visit their website at http://www.bettercallsmith.com/ for more information. About D&G Smith Properties, LLC: D&G Smith Properties, LLC is a team of professional house buyers. Because of their experience and expertise in the real estate industry, the company has 12 ways to buy houses that are difficult to sell with standard methods. For more information, please visit http://www.bettercallsmith.com Contact Info: Name: George M. Smith Organization: D&G Smith Properties, LLC Phone: +1 (832) 773-0081 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/dg-smith-properties-llc-introduces-24-hour-offer-guarantee/125789 Release ID: 125789 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) Digital Marketing Agency Perfect Viral Becomes A Certified Google Partner Company Southeast Asian digital marketing firm Perfect Viral Marketing gets recognition from Google as the firm enters a partnership with Google. -- Headquartered in Penang, Malaysia, Perfect Viral Marketing is now pleased to announce their latest achievement. The digital marketing agency has recently become a certified Google partner. According to the company, they offer noteworthy Google AdWords management services, Pay Per Click (PPC), social media marketing, search engine optimization and more. The full list of services can be seen on the official company website. Apparently, the firm is offering their services to small and medium sized businesses all across Malaysia. In addition to online marketing, the firm also offers web design services so that businesses can sell their products/services online and gain a larger clientele. Chong Wee, Co-founder of Perfect Viral Marketing, made an official statement for the press release. "Here at Perfect Viral Marketing, we are a very client oriented firm and strive to give the best results to our customers. Our services have helped many businesses create a name for themselves in the cyberspace. We offer an array of services ranging from Facebook promotion and SEO to web design and much more. Perfect viral has helped businesses establish and gain visibility across major search engines, we have the best advertising packages our customers can get around.," stated Chong Wee while talking about the company's business ethics and customer support. He further added to his statement when questioned about the company's Google partnership "Obviously we are absolutely delighted with yet another major achievement this year. Our goal as an agency is to obtain important industry accreditations and credentials as required to best serve our clients." More details about the company's work and their contact details/address can be seen on their official website at https://www.perfectviral.com/ For more information, please visit http://www.perfectviral.com Contact Info: Name: Chong Wee Email: info@perfectviral.com Organization: Perfect Viral Marketing Address: 29A-14-5 Maritime Suite, lebuh sungai Pinang 5, 11600 Penang, Malaysia Phone: +6043762195 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/digital-marketing-agency-perfect-viral-becomes-a-certified-google-partner-company/125911 Release ID: 125911 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) Quiddi Compare Launches Redesigned Website Quiddi Compare is the leading price comparison site in the United Kingdom. The website offers information about the best rates for loans, cards, accounts and more. -- Quiddi Compare and Marc Ferguson are pleased to announce the relaunch of their redesigned and updated website. The price comparison site features a new designs and some new features to benefit users. The top price comparison location in the United Kingdom helps users find the most attractive rates for accounts, loans, and cards. The features of the simple loan comparison site help users save time and money. Rather than spending time shopping around for the best loans, the site features the best loan providers in the country and the tables permit users to search, compare and save money. The construction of the comparison tables permits potential borrowers to look at the Representative APR and repayment example in order to learn how much the total cost of repayment will be. The Clever Search tool uses the answers to a few basic questions to create a personal recommendation to the providers with the highest approval rates. The definitions of terms such as Payday Loans, Guarantor Loans, Long Term Loans, Logbook Loans and Peer-to-Peer Loans are explained. Examples of the top companies for each of these loan types are given. Customers can use the site to find and compare rates for mortgages or car, motorbike or van loans. Obtaining the services of a credit check agency for a free thirty-day trial helps to improve credit history elements. Other types of financial products are listed on the website. Checking rates for credit cards, current accounts and savings accounts may help users to find a new organization to work with, or to establish an account that better fits personal needs and preferences. The site encourages the comparison of the best prepaid credit cards in the United Kingdom. According to a spokesperson for the site, "We are committed to offering the best loan rates in the UK. Our dedicated team updates the comparison tables on a regular basis and we are always looking for new partners to ensure our customers have access to the best loan and financial products available in the UK." For more information, please visit https://quiddicompare.co.uk/ Contact Info: Name: Marc Ferguson Organization: Quiddi Compare Address: 44-46 Windsor Road, Slough SL1 2EJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 1244 676732 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/quiddi-compare-launches-redesigned-website/125865 Release ID: 125865 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) Reverse Phone Lookup Reviews Announces Top 2 Cell Phone Directories The Top 2 Cell Phone Directory Comparison website offers the latest information on listings. The purpose of the website is to guide searchers to the most current and accurate information about reverse call phone look ups -- Reverse Phone Lookup Reviews and author, Will Madison are pleased to announce that it has launched a website which offers reverse phone directories for cell phones. Cell phone lookup is a service which is necessary in today's world when most people have one or more cell phones. There are dozens of online cell phone lookup services available today, but many of them are expensive to use, and do not necessarily contain accurate and current listings. According to Will Madison, speaking to an interviewer recently, "People turn to reverse phone directories for accurate and timely information. Unfortunately only a few of the directories for cell phone numbers have information which can be trusted. Unlike land-line directories for U.S. consumers, people who have cell phones can typically only be found with online search tools." There are important reasons for accessing a reverse phone directory. These include finding out who is behind an unknown number that appears on caller ID, and finding out who their children are associating with. It may be helpful to learn background information about a new date or to learn if a spouse is cheating. Accuracy in such information is critical before acting on the data. Mobile numbers are not published in public phone books to protect the privacy associated with mobile phones. Some people change their mobile phone numbers occasionally or frequently. Such actions affect the accuracy of a directory listing. When an unknown number shows up on a caller ID, there are many reasons why it can be important to learn the owner's name and location. In addition to providing comprehensive reviews of the top mobile phone look-up directories, the website owners also have publishes tips for ensuring accurate lookup results. These tips will help a searcher to determine whether or not a specific company is likely to provide reliable results. For more information, please visit http://reverselookupanything.com/ Contact Info: Name: Will Madison Organization: Reverse Phone Lookup Reviews Address: Chicago IL Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-2-reverse-cell-phone-033800229.html Release ID: 125915 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) Bedroom Solutions Announces Top Ten Memory Foam Mattresses Bedroom Solutions has prepared a ten point comparison to reveal pros and cons of budget-friendly and luxury gel memory foam mattress options. The publication educates consumers on the characteristics of top mattresses. -- Bedroom Solutions and Belinda Palmer are pleased to announce the publication of "Top 10 Memory Foam Mattress Review and Comparison" prepared to educate buyers about the characteristics and advantages of mattress options. The memory foam mattress choices today are extensive. Today's memory foam is available in many firmness levels and is far more durable. In addition, modern versions spring back more quickly and heat up less. That being said, there are some issues which remain in even the best-known mattresses from some manufacturers. The review and comparison publication is devoted to educating consumers on the positives and negatives of popular products so that a low-quality mattress can be quickly recognized. The review compares mattresses based on ten features. These include density or firmness; thickness of gel memory foam layers; heat retention; CertiPUR-US safety certifications; motion transfer between partners; suitability to different sleeping positions; hypoallergenic properties; price; user reviews and warranty period. The list of top brands is broken into two categories: luxury products and budget-friendly mattresses. The top luxury brands include Simmons Beautyrest, Serta iComfort, and Tempur-Pedic. The budget-friendly line-up includes Perfect Cloud Ultra Plush, Ultimate Dreams, Sleep Innovations, Signature Sleep, Classic Brands, Amerisleep, Dynasty Mattress, and Lucid. According to spokesperson Belinda Palmer, "The decision-making process is exhausting, taking into consideration the type of mattress composition and choosing between air, water, innerspring, latex and memory foam. Educational materials in the comparison look at the four major mattress types such as support on pressure points, motion transfer, sagging, the need to rotate, how cool or hot it sleeps, use on adjustable beds, odor, weight, lifespan, and cost. This comparison clearly shows the benefits of latex and memory foam." Other features which affect the final decision include the firmness of the mattress, thickness of the mattress, size and whether to purchase locally or online. The information in the consumers' guide also emphasizes the sleeping style in selecting a mattress. For more information, please visit http://bedroom.solutions/memory-foam-mattresses/ Contact Info: Name: Belinda Palmer Organization: Bedroom Solutions Address: Chicago IL Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-10-best-memory-foam-015400316.html Release ID: 125917 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) Expropria Releases Their Guest Posting Guide For Real Estate Agents Real estate agents can now have a list of guest posting opportunities delivered straight to their inbox, reports http://expropria.com/. -- Expropria, an agency that provides SEO support services exclusively for the real estate industry, has recently announced the release of their guest posting guide. The guide, which is available in .PDF format, gives real estate agents the opportunity to obtain a list of 26 real estate agency blogs that are currently looking for content and are willing to accept well-written guest posts. Alan Allsopp, a representative of Expropria, commented "In expropria's real estate industry report, agents should take note that the top real estate websites online have one thing in common: they focus intensely on their online marketing strategy, which usually includes heavy link building and social media efforts. For agents who expect to be successful in today's tough markets, it's a good idea for them to be doing the same things. However, it's important for agents to note that it's not just the quantity of links that matters - it's the quality. Expropria's guest posting guide is going to help them tremendously in that regard, showing them why, where, and how to get backlinks through guest posting." The team at expropria sees it as their mission to help real estate agents develop online marketing strategies that get them found by their target audience. Their SEO experts understand how Google and other search engines rank their sites and are committed to helping agents figure out what they need to do to reach the top. Their guest posting guide gives agents yet another tool for their SEO arsenal and has the potential to assist agents in climbing the rankings for relevant keywords. As Allsopp goes on to say, "It's no secret in the world of search engine optimization that guest posting is a great addition to any good strategy. Not only does it help build backlinks, but it has the added benefit of positioning an agent as an authority in their field. It is our hope that agents will take this guide and run with it as they work to create an enduring online presence that will get them noticed and help them take their business to the next level." Agents who are interested in boosting their SEO efforts and expanding their reach through guest posting are encouraged to visit expropria.com to learn how to have Expropria's guide delivered to their inboxes. About Expropria: Expropria provides SEO support for those who are in the real estate business. The company helps agents looking to expand their business and build their online presence find the marketing solutions and strategies and guest posting opportunities that will help them accomplish that goal. For more information, please visit http://expropria.com/ Contact Info: Name: Alan Allsopp Organization: Expropria Phone: 447725487150 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/expropria-releases-their-guest-posting-guide-for-real-estate-agents/125924 Release ID: 125924 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) Understand Preschooler Confidence Development Eleanor Wint New Book Launched "I Like Me", a book for parents about the development of young children struggling with self confidence, has launched. Written by Dr Eleanor Wint, it is designed for parents and caregivers wanting to better understand how to build preschooler self confidence and self esteem. -- A new book has been launched aimed at helping parents who are worried about how to parent 4, 5, 6 year olds. It helps parents to raise preschoolers who feel awesome about themselves. The new book "I Like Me" by Dr Eleanor Wint teaches parents what to do when the 4 or 5 year old needs a boost in his or her self-confidence. "I Like Me" provides parents with five easy steps to follow to help parents succeed in understanding preschooler development. It helps to improve the confidence of the parent, so they can in turn improve the confidence of their child. Dr. Wint shares "Becoming a grandmother is an awesome experience!", it means she has more knowledge, is acting with authority, blending experience with common sense and real, actual learning. The book was written putting together experience from research and observation along with real life learning. Dr. Wint wrote this book for moms, dad, grandparents, who she feels all need to realize that they are doing the right thing, and that remaining positive and implementing a few simple steps can improve their daily interaction with their preschooler and in the end positively encourage the preschooler self-confidence. Dr. Wint shares some key signs to look out for and writes with the intent to simply teach understanding a 5 year old building self-esteem. As parents and caregivers there is always uncertainty about what one is doing and this can can strike at any time, therefore the book helps encourage and boost positive thinking as a way to improve self esteem. Dr Eleanor Wint's book is a valuable resource for parents and caregivers aiding in preschooler development in a variety of different ways. It underscores that self esteem is a very important part of development for young children, and it helps parents to avoid making the common mistakes when it comes to their child's development. The book uses a simple method known as the SHINE technique, which takes parents and caregivers through five stages to understand and grow and succeed in parenting preschoolers. Self-confidence leads to positive self-esteem and the author underscores that early development of positive self esteem is a key deterrent to deviant behavior later in life. Therefore, using this book will aid parents, caregivers and grandparents to build positive self esteem in preschoolers, with the end goal of raising successful and respectful adults. More information can be found on the "I Like Me" website at: http://kids31.com. For more information, please visit http://www.kids31.com Contact Info: Name: eleanor wint Organization: kids31.com Phone: 4166052191 Release ID: 125838 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. Perfection Fresh acquires rights to Calypso Mangoes from OneHarvest Australias largest family-owned fresh produce company, Perfection Fresh, has acquired the exclusive rights to sell and market Calypso Mango. It acquired the rights from OneHarvest, a fresh produce supplier to supermarkets and green grocers. The acquisition now gives Perfection Fresh control over the supply of more than a third of Australias domestic mango sales. Chief Executive Officer of Perfection Fresh, Michael Simonetta, said his company is now looking to increase the consumption of the fruit, both domestically and abroad. We are thrilled to bring Calypso Mangoes into our family of products and brands and will work closely with the Calypso grower network and supply chain to ensure we deliver a consistently high quality product with full season availability for the major chain stores and independent retailers, Simonetta said. We plan to drive sales with tailored and targeted consumer campaigns focussing on the unique attributes of Calypso Mangoes and the health benefits of consuming mangoes, he said. About Calypso Mangoes Calypso Mangoes, scientifically known as B74 Mangoes, are regarded for being vibrant in colour, containing a large amount of flesh and having a long shelf life. The mangoes are grown in the northern regions of Australia. Ten million kilograms of Calypsos were grown last mango season. Production is expected to significantly grow this coming summer season. Perfection Fresh already owns the rights to Kensington Pride, Pearl, Keitt and R2Ed mango varieties. The company was founded by Tony Simonetta and employs more than 500 full-time workers. It is responsible for introducing a variety of new fruit and vegetables to Australia including broccolini, baby snacking cucumbers and The Kumato tomato. Private label deals: MG replaced by Bega for Woolworths in dairy, while Coles locks in a ten-year lamb deal Murray Goulburn (MG) has lost its contract to supply a number of private label dairy products to Woolworths supermarkets, with the work instead going to Bega Cheese. At the same time, Coles supermarkets has locked in a ten-year meat supply contract with the Australian Lamb Company (ALC). ALC will supply Coles with at least 1.1 million lambs per year. MG said it lost the contract, which includes manufacturing and packaging cheese, adult milk powder and cream, after a competitive tender process. The company however noted that it will still be producing Woolworths private label mozzarella shred cheese and butter. Under the new contract Woolworths private label butter range has been expanded. It is expected MG will lose approximately AUD $108 million in revenue because of Woolworths decision to change over to Bega. MG however maintains that the contract lost will have limited impact on its 2017 financial year results because of the timing of existing contracts being completed. It says it will also adjust its future manufacturing to redirect efforts to other markets so there will be limited impact on future revenue and earnings. Interim Chief Executive Office at MG, David Mallinson, said that MG continues to enjoy a strong ongoing relationship with Woolworths. We believe our tender to retain this business was competitive, whilst balancing acceptable returns for our products given the current environment for our farmer, suppliers and investors, Mallinson said. I can also re-assure our valued consumers that ranging of MGs Devondale and Liddells products are not impacted by this decision and continue to be available at Woolworths nationally, he said. Bega Cheese to take over from January 2017 Bega Cheese said it was pleased to be taking over the production of the dairy products. Bega Cheese Limited is please to advise that it has reached agreement with Woolworths Supermarkets for the supply of a significant component of Woolworths own label cheese range commencing in January 2017, the company said in an Australian Securities Exchange statement. The MG contract lost comes after MG and other dairy companies made headlines earlier in 2016 after deciding to cut the farmgate milk prices paid out to its farmers. Coles signs ten-year lamb contract with ALC Coles supermarket ten-year lamb contract with the Australian Lamb Company is its first ten-year meat supply contract. ALC has two processing facilities, one in Melbourne and one in Colac in regional Victoria. The company exports to over 60 companies worldwide. It is a privately-owned family business headed by John Verrall and Denis Zarpellon. ALC owns multiple brands including Ambassador Premium Lamb, Sovereign Lamb, 1788 Mutton and Everdene Oak lamb. Julys property fund freeze has sparked renewed debate over the future of daily dealing portfolios after Aberdeen chief executive Martin Gilbert said he favoured an overhaul for non-liquid funds but suggested change must be led by regulators. After a week which brought more evidence that the commercial property sector is stabilising, attention has turned to the longer term implications. Asset management chief executives presenting interim results last week were quizzed by analysts over the potential repercussions of last months fund suspensions. Mr Gilbert, head of a business whose property arm suffered 1.5bn of outflows in the second quarter, said regulatory intervention would be the only way for change to happen. The regulator hopefully will tell the industry to go to weekly [or] monthly liquidity on non-liquid funds. It has to be regulator-led because no one in the industry is going to voluntarily go to monthly to make themselves non-competitive, he said. Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson whose property fund is still suspended told analysts that regulatory intervention on the asset class was possible, albeit only in the medium term. Mr Gilberts comments echo findings from Fitch published last autumn, focusing on bond illiquidity risk. The ratings agency noted the potential commercial consequences of moving away from daily dealing would stymie providers appetite to adjust liquidity terms in the absence of regulatory intervention. Some fund buyers, however, have shown signs of warming to this idea, and urged asset managers to take the initiative. Louise Babin, portfolio manager at Charles Stanley, said fund managers should lead the way in reforming dealing practices. James Calder, head of research at City Asset Management, added: As a fund buyer, do you end up in a situation where you get a choice of funds with different liquidity profiles? The worst case scenario would be to ban retail investors from these funds. FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey has already said property funds structure will need to be reviewed. Any attempt to introduce similar moves for less liquid areas of other asset classes, however, would likely be more difficult for fund selectors to stomach given how integral a role the likes of high-yield bond funds now play in many portfolios. A shift away from daily dealing for any type of open-ended fund would also, in effect, make permanent the kind of administrative issues now being faced by platforms attempting to deal with suspended property funds. The Lang Cat consultancys Michael Barrett said: It would be very clunky, hence the need to clearly communicate to advisers and their clients whats going on. Ms Babin added: Each platform is going to have different issues with a move to weekly dealing. Some will be back-office related and others will be more related to portfolio rebalancing and withdrawals. The best thing platforms can do [is] consolidate and then invest heavily in their underlying systems. Reassuring signs for real estate funds A month on from a welter of retail property fund suspensions, and the commercial real estate market appears to be functioning more healthily. M&G said it had been able to sell assets at pre-referendum prices, L&G twice reduced the fair value adjustment on its still-open fund last week, while Kames Capital said its fund, which has also avoided suspension, was now seeing inflows. Almost half - 44 per cent - of Britons aged 18 to 39 and eligible to take out a Lifetime Isa say they would be most likely to use it to save for retirement. A total of 14 per cent of the 1,018 such adults questioned in June by YouGov for Zurich said they would use the Lisa to put away money for a first home. Despite assurances by the government that the Lisa is not a replacement for a pension, thousands of younger people could be drawn to it as the main way of saving for retirement, stated the pension provider. Zurich pointed out those who opt for a Lisa over a workplace pension will miss out on valuable employer contributions. In March this year, an inquiry into auto-enrolment by the Work and Pensions Committee re-opened to consider new evidence on whether the new Isa could undermine workplace pensions. Meanwhile in May, it was revealed the vast majority of self-invested pension providers viewed the Lisa as a direct attack on the pensions industry. Now, research by Zurich has shown that a basic-rate taxpayer saving 100 a month into a workplace pension over 20 years would build up a nest egg of 45,231, on the assumption the growth rate for equities of 2.5 per cent and the employer contribution is 3 per cent. The same person saving into a stocks and shares Lisa would see their pot fall by almost a third, to 31,097 - again assuming the growth rate for equities is 2.5 per cent - leaving them 14,000 worse off. Savers who withdraw their money from the Lisa before age 60 will have to repay the government bonus, plus a 5 per cent exit fee, unless they use the cash to buy a first home. However, Zurich found this would fail to deter 14 per cent of people from dipping into a Lisa, with a further 22 per cent unsure, meaning over a third - 36 per cent - could withdraw their savings prematurely. Alistair Wilson, Zurichs head of retail platform strategy, said the Lisa is a valuable extra option for people who can afford to put more aside for retirement, or those saving for a first home; but it is not a replacement for a pension. Young people who opt out of auto-enrolment would lose valuable employer contributions, resulting in a substantially lower income in old age. He added that if used as the sole savings vehicle, the Lisa could undermine the UKs long-term savings culture, with the worry being that young people will treat it as a piggy bank pension, which they can dip into when they need extra cash. Its concerning that as many as a third of people could withdraw their long-term savings in a Lifetime Isa ahead of retirement, which may leave them without an adequate income in old age. Daren OBrien, director at London-based Aurora Financial Solutions said along with choice and access to saving comes responsibility. An analysis of calls made to EmployeeCare Canada Life Group Insurances Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), provided alongside Group Income Protection products has revealed over a quarter (28 per cent) of calls made to the service between January and May 2016 were regarding mental health issues (anxiety, depression and work-related stress). This is an increase of five percentage points compared to the same period in 2015. Work-related stress is the fastest growing mental health concern, with the number of calls rising by almost two fifths annually (37 per cent). However, anxiety is the most prevalent mental health issue: nearly half (45 per cent) of all mental health calls were regarding anxiety and the number of calls seeking help for this has risen 15 per cent year-on-year. Depression is the only type of mental health concern to have seen an annual reduction in calls. The number of calls regarding depression fell 4 per cent in the period January May 2016, and now represents 26% per cent of all calls about mental health compared to 31 per cent a year earlier. It could be that more efforts are being made to tackle depression in the workplace: however, there is also the possibility that fewer people are seeking help for this issue. Calls to EmployeeCare Work related stress Depression Anxiety % change in number of calls (annual) +37% -4% +15% % of total calls to EmployeeCare 8% 7% 13% % of mental health related calls 29% 26% 45% Based on calls for Jan May inclusive in 2016, provided by Health Assured Use of an Employee Assistance Programme visibly improves mental health While calls about mental health concerns may be on the rise, the counselling and support services provided by an EAP are proven to significantly reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. By asking a series of questions based on the Goldberg methodology both before and after a course of counselling, counsellors revealed that the proportion of employees experiencing feelings of anxiety fell 45 percentage points after counselling (from 73 per cent to 28 per cent). Similarly, 66 per cent reported feelings of depression before counselling, which fell to 23 per cent afterwards. Crucially, of those who were not at work when they first requested support, 66 per cent had returned to work by the end of the counselling. Earlier research from Canada Life Group reveals over four in five (82 per cent) employees agree getting back to work as quickly as possible after an extended illness or injury would be important, with 62 per cent of these saying they would need to return to have an adequate income. EAPs are a valuable additional service, as staff can benefit from them on a daily basis without having to be at the stage of making an insurance claim. Often used as a work/life support service, EAPs are also essential when it comes to supporting staff with mental health problems. The negative impact of stress at work has been well documented, yet employers often dont know how to respond. It is clearly not an issue that is going away, with a significant annual uplift in the number of stress-related calls. Figures from the Investment Association show Asian equity funds saw net retail outflows of 70m in May, while Japanese equity funds did not fare much better, with net retail outflows of 41m in the month. There are a number of reasons UK investors are abandoning the region, but the main worry is Chinas slowing economic growth. Falling commodity prices also contributed to the exodus from Asian funds. Eric Moffett, portfolio manager of the T Rowe Price Asian Opportunities Equity fund, calls China the beating heart of Asia. He points to a sharp increase in the countrys debt pile in the first quarter of this year and cautions there is a risk China could suffer from Japan-style stagnation, although he is quick to add the Chinese government recognises this. The failure to implement decisive reform has exacerbated problems in the debt-laden engines of Chinas economy, infrastructure and real estate Kunjal Gala, Hermes Investment Management Kunjal Gala, senior investment analyst on the Hermes Global Emerging Markets fund, says: Fears are escalating over a Japanification of China, as deflationary pressures rise and reforms are considered too gradual. The failure to implement decisive reform has exacerbated problems in the debt-laden engines of Chinas economy, infrastructure and real estate. China needs to move away from deploying mass stimulus projects and embrace painful, but necessary, supply-side changes to remove overcapacity issues. The slow pace of reform has been a perennial failing of Chinese policymakers. He believes president Xi Jinping is firmly in the camp believing supply-side reforms are critical but questions how the reforms will be implemented. There is more to Asia than China, though, and investors may need to look beyond the Chinese economy to find other sources of return. Mr Moffett observes dividend yields in Asia are higher than most other regions. He highlights Taiwan, which he says has a large investable universe and offers yields between 5 and 7 per cent. David Jane, manager of Mitons multi-asset fund range, explains one of the key themes in Asia is that of the emerging consumer. He is playing this in his own portfolios with a focus on domestic companies set to benefit from rising incomes rather than global trade and commodities, in order to play this theme more directly now that the headwind had been greatly reduced, with a more settled commodity outlook. While commodity prices have recovered, there is the fallout from the UKs majority vote to leave the EU to contend with. It promises to add to the global uncertainty but will Asian markets be affected? Aidan Yao, senior emerging Asia economist at Axa Investment Managers, says: We do see Brexit having a negative impact on Asia but, if our baseline case of an orderly muddle-through materialises, the direct economic effect should be modest. Negative contagion via the financial market could be more worrisome, but central banks in the region are standing by to offer liquidity to keep systemic risks at bay. We think the uncertain external environment has increased the chances of a policy easing in Asia, which could provide a buffer for the economies and financial markets. As John Yakas, Asian Financials fund manager at Polar Capital, observes: Although there are worries in Asia, they pale in comparison to some of the fears found in other parts of the world and we would not be surprised if it continues to outperform other regions. Ellie Duncan is deputy features editor at Investment Adviser The chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority has dismissed concerns Lloyds Banking Groups decision to call in more than 3bn of high income-paying bonds breached prospectus rules. Andrew Bailey had been asked whether the FCA would take any action following the Supreme Courts decision to back Lloyds last month . The investment terms meant Lloyds could redeem the enhanced capital notes early at face value, as they no longer counted towards the banks capital buffer. Investors believed the bonds were worth more than par and the terms did not allow for them to be called in early. Mark Taber, a researcher at Fixed Income Investments, said the Supreme Courts judgment made no reference to arguments made in court over the statutory requirements that prospectuses should be accurate and contain all the information investors need to make an informed decision. Responding to Mr Tabers concerns, Mr Bailey said: The FCA has considered whether Lloyds acceptance that the drafting of certain clauses in the underlying trust deed were, following changes to the capital rules, unclear and amounted to a breach of our prospectus rules and has concluded that it did not. I am satisfied that is the right decision, the risk of a capital disqualification event occurring was disclosed in the prospectus. I do not share your view that even more explicit disclosure of the stress-test level, as it was in 2009/10, would have made the risk of a CDE easier to understand, Mr Bailey stated in correspondence. The recent legal process was based on the stress test in 2014, which was different to 2009/10. In March 2009, the bank failed a stress test carried out by the regulator, showing it had a shortfall in core tier one capital. Your position akin to claiming that no action should be taken if a pedestrian is run down by a drunk, speeding motorist just because they know there is a risk involved in crossing the road. Lloyds therefore implemented a strategy to raise the necessary core tier one capital, involving a rights issue and a restructuring of some of its securities as enhanced capital notes, which provided an advantage in the context of the regulators stress tests. Mr Taber has since written to Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, about this issue. Writing back to Mr Bailey, he said: Your response suggests that issuers can circumvent the prospectus rules by including an endless list of general risk factors in a prospectus while neglecting to disclose specific material information relevant to those risks. Your position akin to claiming that no action should be taken if a pedestrian is run down by a drunk, speeding motorist just because they know there is a risk involved in crossing the road. The Flagstaff Police Department is looking for missing Flagstaff resident Gary Lawrence. Lawrence, who is reported to suffer from dementia and is known to become confused, walked away from his east Flagstaff residence on Friday, July 29, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. He has not been seen since. According to police, he is not known to associate with a vehicle, and is not in possession of a cell phone. Officers & Directors Altrusa International of Corvallis installed its officers for the 2016-17 year at a meeting on June 2. Installed were Julie Livingston, president; Karen Grant, president elect; Helen Wilhelm, vice president; Tammy Skubinna, secretary; Helen Kupeli, foundation treasurer; Mary Lou McLocklin, operations treasurer; Alice Glass and Maryam Ghasemi, directors; and Carolyn Powers, past president. Club service projects in the upcoming year include the Career Closet, a range of projects at College Hill High School, other literacy projects, scholarships, Habitat for Humanity, Make a Difference Day, and support for projects in Haiti and Uzhhorod. The National Association of Educational Procurement, the organization focused on procurement in higher education, has announced the election of Kelly Kozisek, chief procurement officer of Oregon State University, to the office of board president. She took office May 25 at a ceremony held during the associations 95th annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Currently the department head for Procurement, Contracts and Materials Management, Kozisek has 28 years of experience in higher education procurement. Her volunteer work for NAEP includes service as chair of its 2016 annual meeting program committee and workshop presenter at the associations regional and annual meetings. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration at Western Oregon University. Founded in 1921, the NAEP is based in Columbia, Maryland. More than 4000 procurement professionals representing 1,500 educational institutions are actively engaged in the association. Dedicated to professional development, community development and collaborative development, NAEP has on-staff resources and a peer network available to all members to aid in the modeling of cutting-edge, cost-effective, socially responsible procurement practices and programs. Downtown Corvallis Association members elected board members at its annual meeting on June 15. Elected were Lu An Carone-Rhodes (Running Princess Apparel), Frederick J. Edwards (Knight Vision Security), Marianne Fox (ReStyle), Christine Hackenbruck (Corvallis Fall Festival), Rachell Hoffman (IOOF Lodge), Randy Joss (KEZI9) and Jennifer Moreland (The Arts Center), who will join Steve Hessel (downtown property owner), Dianna Howell (Blue Sun), Ann Schneider (Tried and True Coffee) and Greg Teune (Holiday Inn Express on the River). People on the Move Peter Tsai and Upper Hand Orthopaedics in Corvallis recently welcomed a new therapist specializing in upper-extremity rehabilitation services, which focuses on the treatment of fractures, amputations, tendon and nerve injuries, cumulative trauma, custom splint fabrication, arthritis and tendinitis. Kathleen Adams is a physical therapist who received her degree from Pacific University in 1986. She is a Corvallis native who recently worked for Samaritan Health Services and has more than 25 years experience working with upper-extremity injured patients. She obtained her certified hand therapist designation in 2004. Central Willamette Community Credit Union has announced that Amanda Lunger has been hired as chief marketing and sales officer. Lunger brings with her 12 years experience in marketing and sales, including branding, community engagement and membership development. She earned her bachelors degrees from Pennsylvania State University in business marketing and political science. Central Willamette Community Credit Union is headquartered in Albany. The local not-for-profit financial cooperative has more than 22,000 members and has been serving communities in Linn, Benton, Marion and Polk counties since 1955. The credit union offers a suite of financial service products from mortgages and auto loans to investment and insurance services. Its mission is to improve the financial lives of its members and communities it serves. Training & Development Hong Wolfe, principal broker and co-owner of Windermere Willamette Valley in Corvallis, has earned the certified international property specialist designation sponsored by the National Association of Realtors. To obtain this designation, Wolfe was required to attend a five-day course, pass an examination and have had previous international experience in real estate sales. Wolfe also holds the certified commercial investment member, certified negotiation expert and certified residential specialist designations, and has a doctoral degree from Stanford University. She can be reached at 541-740-9497 or hong@hongwolfe.com. LEBANON Mother-daughter team Janice and Janelle Jackola thought it would be a good idea to open a doughnut shop in downtown Lebanon. Now they know it is. For the past couple of weeks, customers have been flocking to Sugar Vibes Donut Co., which opened on July 16, to get their fix of sugary treats and coffee. "The lines have been out of the door nonstop," Janelle said. "It's a good problem to have." The shop offers fresh pastries, made daily; so fresh, in fact, it's not unusual for a customer to receive a doughnut still warm from the oven. "There's no frozen dough here," co-owner Janice Jackola said. "It's scratch made every day. Most places aren't doing that anymore." The two wanted to own a business downtown, and were looking to start a business that Lebanon needed. They previously had looked into starting something like a bakery, and realized there were no doughnut shops in town. But they weren't expecting to be this busy so soon. "The biggest surprise is the community's reaction to this, and trying to keep up," Janice said, adding that an early challenge is not being able to get face time with their customers because they are so busy making doughnuts. Sugar Vibes sells classic doughnuts such as maple bars and old-fashioneds, while also creating modern styles that have cereal or candy on top. "They're so pretty," Janice said of the modern-style doughnuts. "They're fun to make." A project in the works is creating a more savory type item so there aren't just sweets, which could include selling a breakfast sandwich. And the shop also offers a coffee bar with growlers of Morning Moonshine for sale, which is a cold brew coffee made from the beans from a roastery in Colorado. "People are really liking the coffee," Janice said. "That's been a total surprise." Sugar Vibes' location used to house Nancy's Floral and Candy shop, so the Jackolas had to install a full kitchen with a hood system in the back and completely remodel the front. The decor in the front was designed to make everyone feel welcome, Janice said. "We want this to be a fun place to come. That's part of our vibe, being upbeat," Janice said. With minutes left before the release of the first Harry Potter book in their lifetimes, 9-year-old Reese Pifer and 8-year-old Sonja Minarsich decided they couldnt stand the wait. So, without a time-turner on-hand, the pair broke out their wands and had a wizard duel outside of the entrance of Grass Roots Books & Music. Reese and Sonja joined their families and nearly 100 more Harry Potter fans many dressed in wizard robes and costumes for Sundays release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at Grass Roots in downtown Corvallis. The book is not a novel, but the official script of a two-part stage play for the production at a London West End theater. Even thought it was the first major Harry Potter book release in nearly 10 years, dozens of adults and children celebrated all things Harry Potter at Grass Roots together. For Reese and Sonja, who also dressed in robes Sunday, celebrating their love for Harry Potter is a daily occurrence. Its fun to dress up like this, we do it every day, Reese said. She added that shes read each of the seven major Harry Potter books at least five times twice in Spanish, and shes seen the movies more times than she can remember. But she cant decide whether she likes the movies or books better. I like them both because you can see what theyre doing in the movies, but in the books you can know what theyre thinking. Reeses parents, Syd and Kyle Pifer, said the children often host Harry Potter picnics and parties and begged to be there for the newest books release Sunday. We had plans to go to the lake today, but we had to postpone them so we could come here first, Syd Pifer said. I think we all might be fighting over the book. Im pretty excited about it too. Syd Pifer added that she and Kyle read and enjoyed the first books more than a decade ago and were excited to introduce the world to their children and see the love for reading grow in them also. Were a big Harry Potter family, Syd Pifer said. Its exciting to have something we all like and want to do together. Sonjas mother, Kijrstin Minarsich, said shes been happy to support her daughters love because it has gotten her interested in reading. Ive always loved the Harry Potter books and couldnt wait to read them to her. I think (Harry Potter creator) J.K. Rowling is brilliant for all age levels. Its a treasure shell continue to enjoy for years and maybe read to her kids someday, Minarsich said. Reese and Sonja are Harry Potter soul mates. Their first play date they made a Hogwarts train, The script for the book was written by Jack Thorne and based on an original story from Thorne, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany. Because it wasnt a Rowling novel, Grass Roots co-owner Jack Wolcott said he had no idea how many fans would turn out for the release Sunday. But after hearing the crowd of nearly 100 people cheer when he held up the book, it was clear to Wolcott that Pottermania was alive and well in Corvallis. When we release the books, we see the love and magic in the kids. Their eyes light up, they hold it to their hearts, and they immediately sit down right where they are to read the books, Wolcott said. And the best part is, once a child finds a book they love, they look for another book. Thats the key to us, not just selling a book, but watching kids move into reading books. Grass Roots hosted the celebration, which coincided with Potter creator J.K. Rowlings and Harry Potters birthday, in a similar fashion to the midnight book releases held at the store for the major novels in the series. To make the event special, employees decorated the downtown Corvallis store to match the Potter universe, complete with Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Butterbeer, music from the film series, raffle drawings, coloring books and trivia games. When we held those other parties, it was a whole other generation that came to celebrate with us and almost all of the little children werent born yet when we had the last one, Wolcott said. Thats what I think is really special about this. It doesnt matter that its been years since the last one, were getting to see a whole new generation become book lovers for a lifetime. As an added bonus for Wolcott, Sundays sale also helped the independent bookstore stay alive. I think you can feel the magic and love here, and we dont get that every day, Wolcott said. As independent book sellers, this nourishes us for a long time. Google has recently pushed out a number of new 3D areas. Of special note is Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States of America. Google usually takes its time releasing capital cities as there are often a lot of landmark buildings and bridges in capital cites that Google pays special attention to. With Washington, D.C. we had assumed the delay was likely getting appropriate flying permission to fly over very security-sensitive areas. However, the imagery was captured sometime around October 2014. Not included in the 3D imagery are the most security-sensitive areas, the area known as the National Mall and surrounds, which includes the White House, the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial. We dont know whether this means that it is still being worked on, or will never be added. When looking around Washington, D.C. we felt that the trees seem to look more realistic than they used to in older 3D imagery. We believe this is because Google has got better at dealing with overhangs in the 3D imagery processing. It is difficult to do comparisons of Googles progress on 3D imagery, as they dont date the imagery and many areas have been reprocessed or updated over time. However, there was a water tower in Paris that we looked at a couple of years ago and the improvement is clear. At that time almost all objects with overhangs had vertical sides down to the ground, which caused trees to look like large bushes. A water tower in Paris, France, as seen in Google Earth 3D. Left: September 2014, Right: as it looks now. Now, trees and other objects seem to have quite significant overhangs, with the trunk of the tree either visible or non-existent, but still a much better effect than vertical sides. Although Google still cant image the underside of trees, the overhang and level of detail of the road under the trees is impressive. When Google adds 3D to an area they turn off the old type of 3D buildings, and often turn them off for a region around the new 3D area. This is also the case for Washington, D.C., but it seems to have been somewhat selective. The White House, for example, is missing but fountains on either side of it are still there. This is not censorship, as the old 3D models are still available if you switch to historical imagery. Also of special interest, parts of Cape Town, South Africa are now in 3D. The Cape Town imagery was captured around January 2015. To see whats new see our KML file or for the very latest finds see the comments at the end of this post. Once again, thank you to all those GEB readers who contribute to finding new areas and/or drawing the outlines. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. The content you are looking for has either been removed or requires you to login to view Please login below or register for an account With Naijapals.com Ziox Mobiles Launches Two Feature Phones at Rs. 1,343 & Rs. 1,443 News oi -Akansha Srivastava While, developing countries are migrating from feature phones to smartphones, there's still a huge chunk of consumers in the market who are still loyal to feature phones, thanks to their ultra-cheap price tag. To meet the demands of the segment in India, Delhi-based smartphone maker Ziox Mobiles has launched two new feature phones in the market priced at Rs. 1,343 & Rs. 1,443. Did You Know How Xiaomi Redmi Pro Dual Camera Works? Check Out 10 Camera Samples! Dubbed as the Z 214i and the Z 314 both the devices are equipped with multiple functionalities, decent battery and as the company claims they come with sturdy built quality. Z 214i and Z 314 - Key Specifications Ziox Mobiles have powered the Z 214i and the Z 314 with 1400 mAh battery and 1700 mAh battery specs, further both a Dual-SIM phones sporting 2.4 inch display with decent viewing angles. The new feature phones from Ziox Mobiles also come with 16GB internal storage and also have expandable storage option. Both devices are also supported with Auto-Call recording feature that lets users relive great conversations with friends using the several pre-installed applications. Z 214i and Z 314 - Key Differences The main key difference is the phonebook capacity, the Z 214i supports 500 contacts and 300 SMS' while the Z 314 stands strong with 1000 Contacts and 500 SMS'. Further, the Z 214i also comes with Wireless FM as a standard feature, which is not present in Z 314. Also, the Z 214i is available in four color options including gold-black, black-gold, white-gold and black silver, while the Z 314 is available in black, grey and gold. Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Scheduled for September 16 Launch! [Hands-on Video] Those interested to buy, both the feature phones will be available in all the major retail stores across India. Commenting on the launch of two new devices, Deepak Kabu, Chief Executive Officer at Ziox Mobiles says, "Both of these devices provide superior value to consumers based on its features, intuitive performance and design. The whole team at Ziox aims to bring the best to our consumers at optimum prices and the newest additions, resonate the brand philosophy of being function driven devices without any let-down on quality parameters." Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications World order in 2035: US could lose ability for global dominance, DoD paper says Published time: 30 Jul, 2016 14:30 By 2035, the US could find itself in an environment where Russia or China may match or even exceed the West's military and economic might in some areas, taking advantage of a "disordered and contested world," the Pentagon's research unit said. In just 20 years, the US and its allies will live in a world where shaping a global order the way they have since the end of the Cold War would be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, Pentagon's research division, the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), warned in a new foresight report. "The future world order will see a number of states with the political will, economic capacity, and military capabilities to compel change at the expense of others," reads the paper entitled "The Joint Force in a Contested and Disordered World." "Rising powers including for example, China, Russia, India, Iran, or Brazil have increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with their roles, access, and authorities within the current international system," it states. "Russia will modernize its land, air, and sea-based intercontinental nuclear forces" and make use of deterrent operations such as "snap nuclear exercises, bomber flights, and strategic reconnaissance overflights into US territory," the Pentagon's researchers predict. The report admits Russia and China are among countries dissatisfied "with the current Western-derived notion of international order." Russia, China, India, and others, labeled "revisionist states" in the report, would promote alternate international alliances, while the West's shrinking resources would also have an impact on Washington's dominance across the globe. "Although seemingly insignificant today, organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union could grow as China, Russia, India, and others turn to these multinational groups to reorder international rules in their favor." "Demographic and fiscal pressures will continue to challenge NATO's capacity and capability," the paper warns. "In Asia, perceptions of reduced US commitment may encourage current allies and partners to pursue unilateral military modernization efforts or explore alternative alliances and partnerships." However, though the Pentagon's report states that "no power or coalition of powers has yet emerged to openly oppose US global influence and reach," it claims "the United States will operate in a world in which its overall economic and military power, and that of its allies and partners, may not grow as quickly as potential competitors." A number of states "can generate military advantages locally in ways that match or even exceed that of the Joint Force and its partners," while American technological superiority "will be met by asymmetric, unconventional, and hybrid responses from adversaries." Offering a vision of the world in 2035, the paper says in conclusion it is unclear if the US "can be simultaneously proficient at addressing contested norms and persistent disorder with currently projected capabilities, operational approaches, and fiscal resources." "There may be times when it is more appropriate to manage global security problems as opposed to undertaking expensive efforts to comprehensively solve them." Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of it harboring global ambitions as opposed to that of the US. Russia "is not aspiring for hegemony or any ephemeral status of a superpower," President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last year, adding: "We do not act aggressively. We have started to defend our interests more persistently and consistently." Earlier this year, Russia adopted a new edition of its foreign policy doctrine, which mentions a shift towards a multipolar and a "polycentric" world. "A transition to polycentric architecture should be ideally based on the interaction of leading centers of power," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in April. He added however, that he was not sure if that was achievable. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIL Strikes in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, July 31, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria: -- Near Raqqah, four strikes destroyed six ISIL excavators. -- Near Manbij, eight strikes struck eight separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions. Strikes in Iraq Coalition forces, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government, conducted eight strikes in Iraq, using attack aircraft and rocket artillery: -- Near Mosul, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, degraded an ISIL tunnel, suppressed an ISIL mortar system and destroyed an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL assembly area. -- Near Qayyarah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 15 ISIL rocket rails, 13 ISIL rockets, seven ISIL mortar tubes, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL artillery piece, and an ISIL supply cache. -- Near Sinjar, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar system. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike struck an ISIL headquarters. -- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL cave entrance and an ISIL tunnel. 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 a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Calm Before Storm as Counter-ISIL Coalition Plans Mosul Offensive By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity BAGHDAD, July 31, 2016 Right now there is a tactical pause in Iraq, but not an operational pause, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said on background today. Officials briefed the press traveling with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is meeting with U.S. and Iraqi leaders here about the counter-ISIL campaign. Iraqi security forces and partnered forces in Syria have made unmistakable gains against the Islamic State of Levant and the Levant, officials said. Iraqi forces have bridged the Tigris River near Qayyarah and secured the airfield there. In Anbar province, Iraqi forces are pushing west, clearing pockets of ISIL fighters as they move toward Qaim. That city is on the border with Syria. Coalition Cooperation Coalition airpower has been decisive in the campaign. Strikes have constrained resources and hit key leaders. In coordination with indigenous forces, they are pressuring ISIL and taking territory from the terrorist group, officials said. Coalition trainers are also doing their parts. More than 27,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained and equipped by the coalition. There are approximately 4,500 Americans in the theater and more than 2,800 coalition partners. There are more than 60 countries in the coalition. In Syria, the coalition is providing "logistic assistance, advice and a little bit of training" to Syrian democratic forces. In Syria, anti-ISIL forces are also making progress. The ISIL stronghold of Manbij is now surrounded and that is cutting the number of foreign fighters that are able to get into Syria and Iraq. Facing the growing coalition is about 20,000 to 27,000 ISIL fighters, officials said, adding that the number of foreign fighters is reduced, but it is hard to assess. "At the heyday, we think about 2,000 a month were coming in to Syria. We think 200 to 500 are coming in per month now," an official said. "We have not assessed this since cutting off Manbij." Mosul is the ISIL headquarters in Iraq, and Raqqa is its headquarters in Syria -- and those two cities are where the largest portions of the ISIL units remain. Operations in Iraq are aimed at retaking Mosul -- Iraq's second-largest city. Qayyarah West airfield has been seized and planners expect that will become the logistics hub for the operation against ISIL forces in Mosul. Iraqi forces also put in a bridge across the Tigris in the strategic region that connect two major Iraqi units: the 9th Division on the west side of the river and the 15th on the east. It is the only bridge across the river in the region and ISIL forces have to depend on small boats to ferry across, leaving them open to attack. Still it is difficult because civilians also need to cross the river and officials are careful to hit ISIL boats and not carrying non-combatants, officials said. "It is not a free fire zone," an official said. Prep Steps With all this accomplished, there is a tactical pause in Iraq. Part of this is the environment; it is typically over 120 degrees in the summer, and officials said the fighting seasons are traditionally in the spring and fall. Another part is the Iraqi security forces are generating the forces needed to take Mosul. Officials estimate they will need between eight and 12 brigades to assault the city. "We are at a point right now with the campaign, where the campaign is not tied to the speed of our partners' operations on the ground," an official said. "We've got enough to hit [during] the shaping operations toward Mosul and then against ISIL writ large. We've got plenty of things to bomb even if they take an extra day." While Iraqi forces are refitting and training for the operation in Mosul, the campaign doesn't stop. The operation against ISIL in Mosul is conditions-based and won't begin until all is ready. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pacific Partnership 2016 Departs Vietnam Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160731-02 Release Date: 7/31/2016 4:44:00 PM From Commander, Task Force 73 Public Affairs DA NANG, Vietnam (NNS) -- Service members taking part in Pacific Partnership 2016 departed from Da Nang, Vietnam, July 28 after completing two weeks of disaster response training, medical and engineering subject-matter expert exchanges, cooperative health engagements, and community relations events. This year marks the seventh time the mission has visited Vietnam in the past 11 years and the first time that three ships, including USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), Japanese Ship Shimokita (LST 4002), and Vietnam People's Navy ship Khanh Hoa (K-123) participated in the Da Nang mission. For the first time, Khanh Hoa hosted Vietnamese and U.S. Navy doctors in dental and surgical cooperative health engagements alongside other Pacific Partnership medical personnel. "With nearly dozens of complex medical engagements completed, Pacific Partnership 2016 was a resounding success due to the incredible planning and the delivery of world-class medical care by our Vietnamese colleagues," said Capt. Peter Roberts, commanding officer, Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) USNS Mercy. "Working collaboratively, side-by-side, the Vietnamese and Mercy teams made significant strides in our mutual understanding and management of complex burn, spine, and orthopedic patients. The skilled providers of Vietnam, aboard Khanh Hoa, delivered medical, surgical and dental care in a shipboard environment while our doctors learned how their skills could be quickly integrated if required." Also new this year, was a disaster relief workshop, co-hosted by Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue, and Pacific Partnership 2016. The workshop discussions included disaster management organization, early warning signs and incident command system, and search and rescue efforts in disaster relief. The workshop concluded with a search and rescue field exercise on Han River and aboard hospital ship Mercy, the command ship for Pacific Partnership 2016. Vietnamese and Japanese service members, U.S. Navy Seabees and Marine combat engineers completed four separate engineering projects at the Hoa Phu Primary School, Chin Gian Medical Station, Rang Dong Kindergarten School and Tuong Lai School. Pacific Partnership personnel from Mercy and Shimokita painted the Tuong Lai School as part of a community relation project. Around the city of Da Nang, a nine-member component of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band performed at various schools and gave two public performances at Bach Dang Street and Bien Dong Beach Park, and at a joint reception aboard Shimokita. "It's an opportunity for us to reach out to the people of Vietnam in a way that transcends language and culture," said Chief Musician Ian Charleton, the chief in charge of the Pacific Fleet Band detachment aboard Mercy. "The audience we had at the Bach Dang Street performance was very involved and engaged, and very interested in meeting us. This is the most rewarding part of our job; interacting with the people of Da Nang." "We strongly believe our engagements between Pacific Partnership 2016 participants have improved capacity and enhanced regional partnerships and increased multilateral cooperation with the people of Vietnam," said Capt. Takeshi Okada, commander, Landing Ship Division 1, Joint Maritime Self-Defense Force, embarked aboard Shimokita. "After sailing out of Da Nang, Japan will lead a mission in the Republic of Palau, where we will also engage in medical exchanges, engineering projects, and cultural exchanges with our partners in Palau." U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, participating in events in Da Nang, commented, "I have witnessed results that occurred during the past two weeks ... from the smooth coordination of the search and rescue exercise to the repairs and renovations completed at sites across Da Nang. I believe that whether renovating a school, delivering needed health services, or discussing disaster response, we, together, build the trust and foundational relationships for effective coordination that benefits real Vietnamese people." Pacific Partnership 2016 is focused on enhancing relationships and multinational interoperability through knowledge exchange and cooperative training, ensuring partner nations are prepared to collectively and effectively respond when disaster strikes. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Armenia gunmen surrender after two week standoff with police Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:7PM A two-week-long standoff between Armenian police and a group of anti-government gunmen who had seized a police station has come to an end after the armed group surrendered. The gunmen laid down their guns and gave themselves up on Sunday, one day after police threatened to storm the building in the capital Yerevan. "The security forces' anti-terrorist operation has ended after the members of the armed group laid down their weapons and surrendered to the authorities," said the country's national security service in a statement. It noted that twenty "terrorists" were arrested and the police station has been fully liberated. Earlier, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, Anahit Haytayan, announced that the two remaining hostages, both medics, had been released. Two police officers were killed during the situation, but the gunmen claimed one of them could have been shot by police snipers by mistake and that the medical staff hostages were in the compound to treat the wounded of their own volition. Before surrendering, the group released a statement announcing that they were ready to lay down their guns. "We will continue our struggle from prison. We believe that we have achieved our goal: we became the spark that allowed people to rise up and it makes no sense to spill blood," it said. Several anti-government protests have been held in Yerevan in support of the gunmen since they seized the Regiment of Armenian Patrol-Guard Service building in Yerevan and took hostages on July 17. The gunmen had demanded the release of Zhirair Sefilyan, a jailed Lebanese-born Armenian military commander and main political opposition figure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemen's Houthi movement rejects UN peace plan Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:40PM Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies have rejected as unacceptable a United Nations peace plan for the country, saying the plan lacks any initiative for establishing a unity government in the war-torn country. "What was presented by the [UN] envoy was no more than just ideas for a solution to the security aspect, subject to debate like other proposals," said a Sunday statement by the delegation representing Houthis and their allies in ongoing peace talks in Kuwait. The statement further criticized the opposite side, representing the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, for resorting to "media stunt" techniques in announcing that a draft settlement had been reached in the talks based on the UN proposal. The Houthis had earlier expressed surprise at the peace proposal, saying the UN has altered the terms of a draft agreement earlier worked out in Kuwait. They said late Saturday after the announcement of the plan by UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, that the roadmap was a non-starter, because it merely constituted a framework, far from being a peace deal for signing. In the Sunday statement, Houthis and their allies in the General People's Congress said any peace plan must first forge an accord on a new consensual executive authority, including a new president and government. However, Houthis welcomed Ould Cheikh's proposal to extend the talks for another week. The Hadi delegates said earlier Sunday that they had accepted the UN plan which stipulated that Houthis and allies withdraw from three major cities they control in Yemen, including the capital Sana'a, and hand over their heavy arms. That plan said if Houthis met those conditions, political dialogue on a final solution could start. Yemen peace talks began on April 21 in Kuwait City. The warring sides had agreed on a ceasefire before the negotiations began although the Houthis have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia, which backs Hadi through air strikes and ground operation in Yemen, of violating the truce agreement. About 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Yemen began in late 2014. Yemenis say most of those dead have been civilians killed in Saudi air strikes. The attacks by Riyadh are meant to reinstate Hadi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taliban attacks kill two dozen Afghan police officers in Helmand Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:13PM At least two dozen Afghan police officers have been killed in a series of attacks by the Taliban militants in the southern province of Helmand in 48 hours, local officials say. Kareem Atal, the director of Helmand's provincial council, said on Sunday that the policemen were killed during clashes with the militants in Kanashin district. The fighting intensified late Friday, when the Taliban took control of the troubled district. The clashes have spread to some other districts, where militants are targeting checkpoints, Atal added. The official said the government compounds in Nad Ali district have been surrounded by the militants. The fall of Kanashin to the militants and the subsequent threats to other districts were due to a "lack of coordination among Afghan forces," Atal said, adding, "The Afghan national army is not doing their job." Helmand, a Taliban heartland, has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as the militants have stepped up attacks in the province. The militants have intensified attacks following the appointment of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new leader of the Taliban. According to a report by Amnesty International, at least 1.2 million Afghans have been internally displaced due to violence in the past three years. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At least nine killed in twin car bombings in Mogadishu Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:53AM Al-Qaeda-linked militants have attacked a police base in Somali capital with two car bomb blasts, leaving at least nine people dead, including four attackers. Al-Shabab gunmen stormed the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Mogadishu after the blasts on Sunday, triggering a fighting which was ongoing. The assault started with twin car bombings at the gates of the security facility after which at least two gunmen on foot fought their way inside. Witnesses said heavy gunfire rang out inside the police base for about half an hour after the first blast. It was the second major attack in the city this week by the militants who have kept up their war on the Western-backed government in the face of US drone strikes and African peacekeeping forces. The attacks come as Somalia is campaigning for a presidential election due in August. The country, situated on the Horn of Africa, has been the scene of brutal fighting between al-Shabab and government forces for a decade. Government troops joined by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces have driven out the Takfiri terrorists from Mogadishu and other major cities but al-Shabab has continued to carry out sporadic attacks in the capital. Victims of the attacks have included international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union peacekeepers. In June, an al-Shabab bomber first detonated an explosives-laden car at the gate of a hotel in Mogadishu that was often used by politicians and tourists, then, more militants moved in and killed at least 14 people at the scene. The al-Shabab militants have also attacked targets in neighboring Kenya, killing people, including officers, and looting government building there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela's attorney general seeks annulment of MPs' reinstatement Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:9AM Venezuela's attorney general has asked the country's parliament to cancel the reinstatement of three opposition lawmakers who had been suspended by the Supreme Court over allegations of voting fraud. The National Assembly's move to reinstate the lawmakers "has generated an absolutely unconstitutional and unlawful situation," the attorney general's office announced on Saturday, demanding that the move be annulled. The Supreme Court, Venezuela's highest judicial authority, had suspended the three lawmakers in January after they were accused of buying votes in legislative elections last December. The opposition-controlled National Assembly, however, swore in the three suspended lawmakers again on Thursday. National Assembly Speaker Henry Ramos addressed the Thursday session, defying the Supreme Court, whose ruling he said "violates the Constitution." Pro-government lawmakers shouted out "fraud" and turned their backs in protest to the move during the raucous session. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been embroiled in a series of crises, including acute economic problems that have turned many in the country against him. The opposition is seeking to oust Maduro through a recall referendum. On Wednesday, opposition supporters gathered outside the headquarters of the National Electoral Council, pressuring the body to set a fixed date for the recall vote. The ruling Socialist Party says the country's election board should dismiss the opposition's push for the recall referendum. Maduro's supporters have previously staged demonstrations of their own to back the embattled president. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tunisia parliament votes to oust PM Essid Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 4:11AM Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid has been voted out of office by the country's parliament. Out of the 191 lawmakers present for a no-confidence vote late Saturday, 118 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion against Essid, who had been in office for 18 months. Only three MPs supported him. Others abstained. Essid, 67, had told lawmakers before the motion was even passed that he already knew he would be put aside. "I didn't come to obtain the 109 votes" needed to remain in power as prime minister, he had told parliamentarians earlier on Saturday. Essid's coalition government comprised an amalgam of representatives from prominent parties in the parliament. He had been under fire by all the parties for what they deemed as his incompetence to resolve economic and political issues in the country. Talks on choosing his successor are now expected to get underway on August 1. Analysts say the talks may take months, plunging the country into an even deeper economic abyss. The unemployment rate in Tunisia was 15% in 2015. In addition to unemployment, Tunisia has been plagued by violence ever since the 2011 uprising that ousted the country's long-time dictator, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Last year, the Daesh terrorist group, which is active in Iraq, Syria and parts of neighboring Libya, carried out deadly terrorist attacks in Tunisia, killing 59 foreign tourists. The country has been in a state of emergency since November 2015, when another attack claimed by Daesh on a bus transporting presidential guards killed a dozen people in the capital, Tunis. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Remaining Gunmen In Armenia Standoff Surrender July 31, 2016 by RFE/RL's Armenian Service 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. "Twenty terrorists have been arrested." 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 Parliament's jailed leader, Zhirayr Sefilian, and step down. They had also briefly held nine people 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. 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 Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/armenia-yerevan-standoff-police-killed/27890220.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 Kabul Slams China Over Reported Taliban Visit by Ayaz Gul July 31, 2016 The Afghan government has shown its displeasure over reports that a Taliban delegation visited China, saying Beijing should not provide "a platform" to groups that are involved in the killing of Afghans. Afghan security forces meanwhile have retaken control of a southern district they briefly lost to Taliban insurgents. American military officials confirmed to VOA they also carried out airstrikes in support of local forces in the overnight counter-offensive. Taliban negotiators are reported to have visited China on July 18-22 at the invitation of the Chinese government to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan. The delegation was reportedly led by Abbas Stanakzai, the head of Islamist insurgency's so-called political office in Qatar. Afghanistan and China enjoy "strong friendly relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shakib Mustaghani told VOA when asked for his reaction. "We believe our friends in China will always prefer to maintain state-to-state relations and will not provide a platform to those groups that are responsible of the killing of the people of Afghanistan," Mustaghani noted. No comment Beijing has not yet commented on whether it received and entertained the Taliban delegation. But senior members of the insurgency on condition of anonymity have confirmed and released some details of the meetings in China, saying the Taliban regularly holds such talks with countries it maintains "good terms." The main spokesman for the insurgency, Zabihullah Mujahid, when contacted by VOA on Sunday for comments, said he "can neither confirm nor deny" the visit to China. China is part of a four-nation group along with Pakistan, the United States and Afghanistan that tried to restart talks between Kabul and Taliban officials earlier this year. But those efforts could not succeed beyond exploratory talks and critics do not anticipate resumption of the peace process in the foreseeable future. Chinese concerns Beijing's engagement in Afghan peace efforts stems from concerns that continued instability in Afghanistan could spill over into its far western restive Xinjiang region where separatist violence blamed on indigenous Islamist extremists has killed hundreds of people in recent years. Meanwhile, the Taliban has stepped up battlefield attacks against Afghan security forces and made territorial gains, particularly in the southern province of Helmand. On Sunday, provincial authorities confirmed Afghan security forces backed by U.S. military airstrikes have retaken control of the Khanashin district, a day after it fell to insurgents, and inflicted heavy casualties on the retreating Taliban. Local officials requesting anonymity also confirmed killing of at least 24 Afghan security personal in the fighting. "I can confirm that U.S. forces did conduct multiple air strikes in Helmand yesterday [Saturday] in support of our Afghan partners. The current operations in Helmand are still ongoing, so for operational security reasons I really can't discuss the details at this time," U.S. military spokesman Michael Lawhorn told VOA. Helmand is Afghanistan's largest of the all the 34 provinces and is a key poppy producing and smuggling region bordering Pakistan. United Nations estimates about 90 percent of the world's heroin is produced from Helmand opium and income from the illegal drugs is funding the Taliban insurgency. Fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban rebels was also raging in at least two other districts in Helmand and in parts of northern as well as northeastern provinces of Faryab, Balkh and Badakhshan. A U.S government oversight agency informed the U.S. Congress on Friday that Afghan security forces lost approximately five percent of the country's territory to the Taliban in the first five months of this year, including several districts in Helmand. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Sudan Appointed Delegation to UN Questioned by Peter Clottey July 31, 2016 A spokesman for Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar has called on the international community not to engage or acknowledge Taban Deng Gai, who recently replaced Machar as the deputy to South Sudan President Salva Kiir. Machar's spokesman James Gadet Dak says the peace accord signed between President Kiir and Machar has collapsed following Kiir's decision to appoint Taban Deng Gai. Deng was the chief negotiator for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in opposition (SPLM-IO) in talks with the government in Juba to end the country's recent conflict. "The peace agreement is collapsing because we are at war now As fighting is going on now around Juba. They have attacked our positions around Juba for the last number of days. So fighting has been continuing and President Salva Kiir has been violating the cease-fire which they declared So there is no peace agreement and implementation," said Dak. "We have been calling for a deployment of a third force in Juba so that the situation can be corrected. But if that does not happen, then we would be forced to move on to Juba and take control of the capital, so this is the situation we are in now." South Sudan has been ripped apart by political and ethnic violence since fighting erupted between pro-Kiir and pro-Machar army factions in December 2013. Tens of thousands of people have died and more than two million have been displaced from their homes, many to neighboring countries. A peace deal between the government and opposition signed last August led to creation of a transitional government with Machar as first vice president. But the agreement was severely tested this month by several days of fighting in Juba that killed at least 300 people. Machar has not been seen in public since attending a news conference at the presidential palace on July 8. South Sudan's second Vice President James Wani Igga said Deng would soon lead a delegation to the United Nations in New York to explain the new changes made to the opposition party. He also said President Kiir has encouraged the SPLM-IO members currently In Juba to meet officials of regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to dispel any suspicions that may have arisen from the replacement of Machar. "The United Nations should not give him an audience because he is illegitimate; his nomination was illegal and his appointment was illegal. So he should not be given an audience in New York by the United Nations to try to justify his nomination," said Dak. Last week, Machar said his forces are ready to march to Juba and take control. This, after accusing Kiir and the national army of attacking the positions of troops loyal to him in various parts of the country. But supporters of President Kiir sharply condemned Machar's statement saying it is a call to war, which could create instability and plunge the country into yet another civil war. Dak disagreed. "Not a call for war, it is about a war which has been re-imposed on the people of South Sudan by President Salva KiirBy saying that we can move on to Juba it means that it is in defense of ourselves and of course to take control of Juba where there is lawlessness comes from," said Dak. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DPRK condemns THAAD deployment on Korean Peninsula People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:03, July 31, 2016 PYONGYANG, July 30 -- After Seoul and Washington decided in early July to introduce the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense, or THAAD, onto the Korean Peninsula, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) immediately voiced strong condemnation and even threatened to take "physical countermeasures" to deal with the missile system. Pyongyang has in response emphasized that the introduction of the anti-missile shield would only exacerbate tension in the region, encourage a new round of arms race and even provoke another Cold War. Official media outlets have reported extensively protests and opposition within South Korea. The DPRK's National Peace Committee of Korea said that fierce opposition and large-scale protests in South Korea were "an eruption of hatred and resentment" toward Seoul's decision to host the THAAD system. "Owing to the Park group's foolish decision to deploy THAAD, South Korea is now being reduced to a U.S. outpost for aggression and a hotbed of a nuclear war," the committee said in a statement criticizing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her government regarding the missile interceptor. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the DPRK, a committee in charge of handling inter-Korean relations, even bluntly called Park "a traitor," blaming her for selling off interests of the whole Korean nation and harming regional peace and stability by making the decision on THAAD deployment. The committee accused Park of catering to the U.S. demand and offering the Korean Peninsula to foreign forces by agreeing to deploy the anti-missile shield. The state-run news agency KCNA earlier slammed Park's decision on THAAD in a commentary, claiming that deploying the battery in South Korea gives Washington an excuse to maintain its military presence on the peninsula, which has existed for more than seven decades, and will further the split of the Korean nation. The KCNA also rebuffed South Korea's assertion that THAAD is simply of defensive nature, stressing that "with no rhetoric can it cover up its aggressive nature as a harasser of global peace and stability." The Korean Central News Agency called the THAAD deployment "a risky military move that may bring a new Cold War to Asia Pacific," saying that it aimed to "upset regional strategic balance and contain China and Russia by force directly." "It is the U.S. ulterior purpose to neutralize the attack capability of rapidly developing Asian countries, specifically the regional powers, through its missile shield and thus hold political, economic and military hegemony in the region," it said. The state media also expressed concerns that the move may spark an arms race, create a military bloc, and spark a new Cold War in the Asia Pacific. Rodong Sinmun, the most influential newspaper in the DPRK, rebuked Seoul's claim that THAAD does not target any third country and only serves to protect the country from the North's missile and nuclear threat, saying that the rhetoric was "sheer sophism." The party newspaper said that behind the deployment of THAAD to South Korea was the U.S. aim to "hold supremacy in Northeast Asia and contain countries around the Korean Peninsula with a military edge," and that judgement is broadly shared around the world. Minju Joson, an official newspaper with the DPRK's cabinet, held the opinion that the Park government made such a rush decision to introduce the anti-missile shield in order to find a way to tide over its severe ruling crisis by hyping up threats from the North and confrontation between the two sides of the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, the THAAD deployment will be of no help at all in addressing the denuclearization issue of the Korean Peninsula. In the wake of the THAAD decision, Pyongyang has repeatedly stressed that the DPRK will further bolster nuclear deterrence in quality and quantity and will "do everything it can to defend its sovereignty and dignity." Deploying THAAD in South Korea makes the already intense situation on the Korean Peninsula even more complicated and more unpredictable. But one thing is sure: this move, as said by the DPRK official media, renders South Korea itself a primary attack target and all South Korean cannot but fall victim to the South's dangerous act. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese Media: Australia an 'Ideal Target to Strike' Over South China Sea Sputnik News 22:00 31.07.2016(updated 00:40 01.08.2016) The state-run Global Times issued a scathing editorial calling for war between Beijing and Canberra if Australia continues to meddle in the South China Sea dispute. Chinese state-run media declared Australia "an ideal target for China to warn and strike" if it ventured into the contested South China Sea in a scathing call for war laced with insults against the country. The Global Times, known for a hardline nationalist editorial line, blasted Canberra on Saturday, in an opinion piece titled "'Paper Cat' Australia Will Learn its Lesson," for supporting the July 12 ruling by the international arbitration tribunal at The Hague countering Beijing's historical claims to the South China Sea. Beijing denounced the decision and has refused to abide by the tribunal's findings arguing that the court lacked requisite jurisdiction because China never submitted to bilateral arbitration a position supported by legal scholars who argue that the Philippines unilateral call for judgment was not binding. Australia, joined by the United States and Japan, immediately called on Beijing to act in accordance with the ruling claiming it was China's responsibility under international law despite the fact that Canberra, Washington, and Tokyo are not parties to the territorial dispute. Chinese nationalists have not taken to this outward exertion of pressure for the country to relinquish control over the valuable South China Sea waters and islands, through which some $5.3 trillion or 30% of the world's maritime trade passes through and under which lies some of the world's largest underwater oil deposits the loss of which would represent a major setback for Beijing's ambitions. The Global Times struck back calling Australia a "country with an inglorious history" that was "first an offshore prison of the UK" and was "established through uncivilized means, in a process filled with the tears of the aboriginals." The paper also blasted Australia's vocal position in opposition to Beijing on the South China Sea dispute as a blatant attempt to curry favor with the United States saying that Canberra "intends to suppress China so as to gain a bargaining chip for economic interests." "China must take revenge and let [Australia] know it's wrong," the editorial said. "Australia's power means nothing compared to the security of China. If Australia steps into the South China Sea waters, it will be an ideal target for China to warn and strike." The editorial closed with one final insult saying that "Australia is not even a 'paper tiger,' it is only a 'paper cat' at best." Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Lowy Institute in Sydney said the editorial "ratchets up the insulting, menacing rhetoric by several notches" and that he hopes "it will wake up some people in Australia to the dark side of China's chauvinism." The security analyst, however, did not believe that the commentary rose to the level of requiring a response by the Australian government despite its undeniable belligerence. "It doesn't merit an official response from Australia, though in the days to come some message of alliance reassurance from the US might be welcomed here," he said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian MPs Warn Government to Take Chinese Military Incursion Seriously Sputnik News 14:36 30.07.2016 While India's Defense Minister has described Chinese troops' latest intrusion into Uttarakhand as merely a "transgression", members of parliament have warned that the matter should not be taken lightly. New Delhi (Sputnik) Indian MP Jyotiraditya Scindia's allegation that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) China had not only intruded into the northern state of Uttarakhand but also claimed that the land belongs to them and that they recognized it as "Wu Ye," has prompted angry responses from lawmakers, who are warning the government not to take the matter lightly. Scindia told Parliament, "When our revenue officials went there to stop the Chinese PLA, the Chinese troops shouted at them and said, 'This is our land, go back.' This was on July 22, but again on July 25, Chinese helicopters entered India's territory, violating air space law." Mulayam Singh Yadav, India's former Defense Minister, reacted by saying "the real threat to India is from China. China is a back-stabber. It considers India as an enemy. So, we have to be careful about China." Chief Minsiter of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat has described the matter as "something to worry about." Another Parlimentarian, Gaurav Gogoi, compared the Chinese incursion to Uttarakhand with China's assertive approach in South China Sea. However, in his response, Manohar Parrikar, India's Defense Minister, tried to play down the matter. "Indian civilians in the area warned the PLA patrol to go back and the PLA patrol returned to the Chinese side. There was no incursion, only a transgression, which has already been settled. There are about 400-500 such transgressions annually. This year, the number of transgressions has been reduced." Major General R K Arora (Retired), Chief Editor of Indian Military Review, says, "The way we are tackling incursion and transgression, you could say that we are maintaining a soft line. Chinese incursions, whether in the central sector or in the eastern sector, are happening regularly. This is because we have an agreement with China on how to tackle incidences on the border; that is why both the side refer to the provisions of the agreement and most of the time those things are settled amicably. Perhaps, the Indian government does not want to precipitate any situation on the border unless the Chinese stay on and don't go back. It is a good approach but it is concerning that large number of incursions is taking place, and there is no progress on border talks between India and China." "I do not think we should compare the incursions with China's assertive approach in the South China Sea. In the South China Sea, China has made artificial islands and then claimed the area around them. This law doesn't apply to artificial Islands. As far as border disputes and incursions go, it has settled its boundary disputes with all other nations except with India. We also keep in mind that one is land territory and other is maritime territory. In the South China Sea, China is trying to protect itself from any threat from the South China Sea and keep other forces away from that area. Here it is bilateral, and the South China Sea dispute is multilateral," says General Arora. The India-China border has not been formally demarcated. There are areas where both sides patrol up to their respective perceptions of where the border is, due to which temporary transgressions occur. Bara Hoti in Uttarakhand is one such area where there are differing perceptions. On July 22nd, two Chinese PLA personnel reportedly transgressed 200 meters into Indian Territory. Uttarakhand shares a 350 km boundary with China. Meanwhile, China responded by saying it needs to verify the "authenticity of the report" about the incursion and asserted that PLA soldiers always abide by agreements to maintain peace and stability along the border. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fire contained at IRGC garrison in southeast Tehran IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, July 31, IRNA -- A huge fire caused by short circuit at the Shahid Pazoki garrison in Varamin's Pishva district near Tehran was controlled successfully with no casualties due to the on-time presence of firefighting squads, it was reported on Sunday. The garrison, belonged to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), located some 45 km southeast of the capital city of Tehran. The fire began with the sound of a huge explosion caused by short circuit at one of the garrison's fuel reservoires early Sunday morning. An official in Pishva district told IRNA that the region has been 'back to normal condition due to rapid reaction' of the firefighting units present in the area. 'The region is safe now,' the official stressed. 1483**1394 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 3 states behind leaking data on Iran nuclear program: Official Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:1AM A senior Iranian official says three countries were involved in the leak to the media of confidential information about the country's long-term nuclear program, which prompted a strong protest from Tehran. "Our assumption is that three countries have a role in leaking this data and we have also lodged a protest over the issue," spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said on state television on Saturday. Earlier this month, the Associated Press cited a classified document which said Iran's scaling back of its nuclear program under last year's agreement with the P5+1 group of countries "will start to ease years before the 15-year accord expires." Iran held the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) responsible for the leak, saying it had asked the agency to keep the data confidential. The IAEA, however, denied disclosing the confidential data. Kamalvandi further said Tehran is "not afraid of" the disclosure of the entire documents but they were not supposed to be available to international media "so quickly." The official added that Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) is in possession of the document on Tehran-IAEA cooperation, which is "highly confidential, while relevant authorities are also aware of the content. Iranian "lawmakers will be provided with the document if the SNSC deems it necessary," Kamalvandi stated. He said even the disclosure of the entire information "cannot harm our security and nuclear activities." Elsewhere in his remarks, Kamalvandi accused Washington of having a hand in the leak, saying such actions are "politically-motivated" amid heated election campaigns in the US. The IAEA has protocols to protect confidential data, but the agency is "under the influence of political powers like the [United Nations] Security Council," Kamalvandi said. He added that Israel is under fire by members of the IAEA Board of Governors over its nuclear work, but the regime refuses to publicly declare the number of its nuclear warheads, which is estimated to stand between 200 and 400. On January 16, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany started implementing the JCPOA which they reached on July 14, 2015. Under the nuclear agreement, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program and provide enhanced access to international atomic monitors in return for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic. On the same of inking the JCPOA, Iran and the IAEA signed a road map for cooperation on Iran's nuclear program. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh leaders, families fleeing Mosul: Iraqi minister Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 12:31PM The Iraqi defense minister says some Daesh Takfiri commanders have fled Mosul in northern Iraq as the army and allies push forward to liberate the city form the grip of militants. "A number of ... leaders (of Daesh) in Mosul, they and their families sold their belongings and withdrew towards Syria," Khalid al-Obeidi said late Saturday. The official, who was speaking to Iraqiya state television, said some Daesh commanders and families sought to infiltrate into Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, located north and east of Mosul. Iraq is preparing for an offensive into Mosul, the country's second largest city which fell into the hands of Daesh in the summer of 2014. The city is the last remaining bastion of Daesh in Iraq as the military and allies have managed to retake key towns and villages from the militants over the past months. Iraqis managed to recapture the city of Fallujah, west of the capital Baghdad, in late June. The city was a main hub of Daesh militancy in Iraq and its liberation boosted hope for Iraq's final push toward Mosul. Earlier reports had suggested that Daesh was relocating many of its militants from western and northern Iraq into neighboring Syria. In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Friday, Obeidi commended Iran Iran's "continuous support" for Iraq in its war against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, noting however that only Iraqi forces would participate in the liberation of Mosul and the Iraqi government would not allow any foreign country to intervene in the operation. Obeidi criticized Turkey for sending its troops to Iraq, warning of a war greater than the one against Daesh if Turkey do not draw its forces from northern Iraq. "The presence of Turkish troops in Bashiqa obstructs the observations to liberate Nineveh. This is a fact. When Prime Minister [Haider al-Abadi] warned of a war greater than the war on Daesh, he made his statements based on information he had," he further said. "If Turkish troops intervene, then the city of Mosul and the province of Nineveh will become an arena for regional conflicts and this is what the premier predicts. Therefore, I second his opinions," Obeidi added. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh began a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014, when they overran Mosul and declared it their so-called headquarters in Iraq. The Daesh terrorists have gained notoriety for their barbarity, heinous atrocities and sacrilegious acts. The militants have been accused of committing gross human rights violations and war crimes in the areas they control in Iraq and neighboring Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 4 killed as militants storm two energy facilities in N Iraq Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:46AM Militants have attacked a gas facility and an oil station near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least four of its employees. In the first assault, four gunmen carrying hand grenades broke through the external door of the AB2 gas compressor station at around 0300 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on Sunday. According to security sources, during the attack, the militants killed four staff in a control room of the facility and planted explosives charges there, five of which went off. Two security guards, who sustained injuries in the attack, are in critical condition, the sources said. Forces from Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service, however, managed to regain full control of the place and freed 15 other employees who had hidden in the facility. Later, militants used the same strategy to enter the Bai Hassan oil station, where they blew up an oil storage tank, the sources said. Clashes are still ongoing between the militants and security forces, while the number of casualties is not immediately clear. The Daesh Takfiri terror group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. Kurdish Peshmerga forces have controlled Kirkuk and surrounding areas over the past two years. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists launched a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014. Iraqi government forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization units, have been pushing the militants out of the country's territory. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh Commanders Fleeing Mosul Amid Iraqi Army's Liberation Campaign Sputnik News 20:33 31.07.2016(updated 20:34 31.07.2016) Daesh warlords are leaving Iraq's Mosul amid a large campaign to obliterate the terrorists, the country's defense minister said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Daesh commanders are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul with their families to the Syrian territory amid an army campaign to liberate the Nineveh province from the terrorists, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi said Sunday. "A large number of IS [Daesh] officers and the families sold their property and headed toward Syria, while some attempted to enter the region [of Iraqi Kurdistan]," the minister told the Al Iraqiya television channel. Obeidi added that he had received such information from his own sources and from intelligence agencies. Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city, populated by about 500,000 people, was turned by Daesh, outlawed in many countries including in Russia, into one of its stronghold in 2014. Iraqi forces supported by Kurdish Peshmerga militia are carrying out operations in the ancient city of Nineveh in preparation for an assault on Mosul, which is set to be carried out with the aerial support from the US-led international coalition. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Modification of Tigr Armored Vehicles Tested in Russia Sputnik News 20:32 30.07.2016(updated 20:33 30.07.2016) The latest modifications of Russian-made Tigr all-terrain armored combat vehicle recently underwent a series of trials at the Arzamas Machinery Plant testing range. The Gaz-2330 Tigr (Tiger) is a family of Russian off-road vehicles, developed in the early 2000s and put into production in early 2004 at the Arzamas Machinery Plant, part of the Military-Industrial Company (VPK LLC). The vehicle is produced in a variety of configurations, and is available for both civilian and military use. The vehicle's modular structure basically allows for a variety of modifications, be it a command vehicle or an anti-tank weapons platform. "Chassis, engine, suspension, transmission they're the same for all of the vehicle's modifications. We just change hulls; the type of the hull we use essentially determines what kind of vehicle we get," Sergei Suvorov, spokesman for VPK LLC, explained. Also, unlike its predecessors that featured US-made motors, the latest iteration of Tigr features a domestically manufactured 215 horse-power 4-liter diesel engine with turbocharger, Russian TV channel Zvezda reports. The vehicle can navigate virtually any type of rough terrain and can be equipped with a vast assortment of weapons, ranging from high-caliber machineguns to anti-tank rocket launchers. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Military Forces in Crimea Possess Modern Air Defense S-400 Systems Sputnik News 11:55 30.07.2016(updated 13:39 30.07.2016) Russian military forces in Crimea are in possession of modern air defense S-400 systems, a source from military in Crimea told RIA Novosti Friday. SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik) Russian military forces in Crimea are in possession of modern air defense S-400 systems, a source from military in Crimea told RIA Novosti Friday. "Russian military in Crimea is armed with the latest air defense systems S-400," the source said. In, S-300 Air Defense Systems left in Crimea in Ukraine will be conserved and not used by Russian forces, a source from military in Crimea told RIA Novosti Saturday. "S-300 systems remaining in the Crimea after Ukraine, will be preserved and will not be used by the Russian army," the source said. Air defense forces were tasked with detecting the enemy, identifying aircraft types and carrying out electronic missile launches. Su-35, Su-30, Su-24 and Su-25 planes, as well as S-400, S-300 and Pantsir-S1 mobile surface-to-air missile systems took part in the exercise. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Bio Warfare Force Heads to Arctic as Zombie Anthrax Hospitalizes 40 Sputnik News 22:00 31.07.2016(updated 00:40 01.08.2016) The infection appears to have spread among the local deer population as the virus was unleashed when the unseasonably hot summer heat thawed its host. An anthrax outbreak has overtaken the remote Yamalo-Nenets district of western Siberia killing 1,500 reindeer since Sunday and forcing the hospitalization of 40 people in the first epidemic of the deadly pathogen since 1941 causing international health experts worry. Spokesman for the Governor of Yamalo-Nenets, Dmitry Kobylkin cautioned the public that there is still some small possibility that the virulent pathogen is not anthrax saying, "As of now, there is no single diagnosis of the dangerous infection." The cause of the anthrax outbreak that forced 63 local residents to be relocated is believed by authorities to have been sourced to a frozen carcass of a reindeer that died decades ago but that thawed in an unseasonably warm Siberian summer causing the Bacillus Anthracis bacteria to be released. Temperatures in the Yamal tundra above the Arctic Circle have soared to highs of 95 degrees (35 degrees Celsius) compared to an average of 77 degrees (25 degrees Celsius) causing the melting of permafrost and long deceased animals. The deadly pathogen continues to spread among the Nenet community's reindeer causing them to die in droves as people stopped vaccinating reindeer against anthrax about a decade ago, after the region had gone half a century without any outbreaks. It is believed to be too late for the local deer population because anthrax kills the animals within three days of infecting them, according to biology professor Vladimir Bogdanov of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Local authorities are now puzzled as to the best way to dispose of the dead, anthrax infected reindeer. The usual method of burning the carcass possesses substantial risks this season with much of Siberia already engulfed in wildfires. Anthrax carries a mortality rate of 25% to 80% depending on the virulence of the particular strain. Russian officials say that due to the remote location of the outbreak and its tendency to kill its host before they can spread the infection to others that the outbreak has been contained. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Nears Completion of Military Compounds' Construction in Arctic Sputnik News 20:13 31.07.2016(updated 20:15 31.07.2016) Russia is completing the construction of the Northern Fleet's compounds on two Arctic islands. MURMANSK (Sputnik) The construction works at the Russian Northern Fleet's administrative and residential compounds on Kotelny Island and Alexandra Land in the Arctic region are nearing completion, fleet's Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Nikolai Evmenov said Sunday. "Unique residential complexes 'Arctic Trefoil' and 'Northern Shamrock,' are being built on the Kotelny and Alexandra Land islands. The decree of their readiness is reaching 100 percent," Evmenov said, noting that the Arctic region is one of priorities for the Northern Fleet. The construction of modern stationing system of the fleet is underway, he added, stressing that it was very important to preserve the unique northern nature when building the fleet's units. "That is why, our activity in the Arctic is in line with the environmental security. This concerns not only the construction works, but military training in this region as well," Evmenov outlined. Russia is currently the world's most advanced nation in developing Arctic military infrastructure, according to the US Defense Department assessment made earlier in July. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Northern Fleet Warships to Go on Trip to Arctic Islands in September Sputnik News 19:06 31.07.2016 A detachment of Russia's Northern Fleet warships will carry out an expedition to the Arctic islands on the Northern Sea Route in September, the fleet's commander told reporters. MURMANSK (Sputnik) According to Vice-Adm. Nikolai Evmenov, the detachment will be composed mainly of the Kola Flotilla, whose crews are experienced in high-altitude sailing. "Atomflot icebreakers, with which we have had successful cooperation, will help the detachment in the passage of difficult ice sections," Evmenov told reporters. During the Arctic campaign of the Northern Fleet, which will be the fifth of its kind, the navy troops will hold a series of defense-oriented exercises, the commander said. Arctic motorized infantry brigade units will take part in the drills. The troops are also set to interact with the forces of Russia's Pacific Fleet. The detachment is set to return from the Arctic islands in October, according to Evmenov. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Borei-Class Nuclear Subs Can Penetrate Any Missile Defense System Sputnik News 18:33 31.07.2016(updated 21:23 31.07.2016) The Borei-class (NATO reporting name Dolgorukiy class) nuclear-powered submarines are capable of penetrating any missile defense system owing to its advanced weaponry, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Borei submarines are equipped with the Bulava (NATO SS-N-30) submarine-launched ballistic missiles. "These missiles provide an adequate response to any missile defense system, wherever it is. Regardless of which ocean, [they] would try to lock us, 'Borei' will break through this defense," Rogozin told the Russian Channel One in an interview dedicated to the Russian Navy Day. By 2020, the Russian Navy plans to operate a total of eight submarines of this type. The Borei-class nuclear-powered subs are to become the mainstay of the naval component of the country's strategic nuclear deterrent. Moreover, according to Rogozin, foreign-made components are not used in manufacturing of the Russian strategic submarines. "We do not use foreign components in the strategic nuclear forces," Rogozin told the Russian Channel One in an interview dedicated to the Russian Navy Day. Over 2,000 Russian enterprises are engaged in cooperation for the building of the ballistic missile submarines, he added. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Black Sea Fleet to Receive 3 New Guided Missile Frigates by Year-End Sputnik News 11:51 31.07.2016(updated 14:12 31.07.2016) Russia's Black Sea Fleet will receive three new guided missile Project 11356 frigates by the end of the year, Fleet Commander Adm. Aleksander Vitko said on Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to Vitko, the Admiral Grigorovich, the lead warship of its class, arrived at the navy base in Sevastopol in 2016. "The Admiral Essen ship which has already passed tests is scheduled to arrive in fall, after participating in parade on the Russian Navy day it will leave the Baltic Fleet for the Black Sea Fleet. By the end of the year the project's third Admiral Makarov ship is expected to arrive in Sevastopol," Vitko said. A total of six Project 11356 frigates were planned to be delivered to the Black Sea Fleet by 2020, however construction of three warships was suspended after Ukraine's refusal to supply gas turbines. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia to open 4 more humanitarian corridors out of Syria' Aleppo Iran Press TV Sat Jul 30, 2016 6:38PM Russia has announced that four additional "humanitarian corridors" will be opened for Syrian civilians to leave the besieged city of Aleppo. "Four humanitarian corridors are being opened, in addition to those prepared earlier for the exit of civilians from Aleppo neighborhoods controlled by militants," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. It added that three corridors had already begun working in the area. Some 169 civilians have been able to get out of "the neighborhoods controlled by illegal armed groups through the exit points," since the start of the humanitarian operation, the statement noted. The Russian ministry also said that 85 civilians left the eastern parts of Aleppo on Friday, with 52 more on Saturday, adding that the Syrian government has "prepared six humanitarian aid centers which can accommodate three thousand people." The ministry further said that 69 militants have laid down arms and 59 people received medical treatment. The announcement comes as dozens of Syrian families are leaving militant-held neighborhoods of Aleppo through safe passages created by the Syrian army. Syria's state news agency, SANA, reported on Saturday that among those evacuating the eastern areas of Aleppo were armed militants who handed over their weapons and surrendered to authorities. Some of them have arrived in temporary shelters set up by the army in the western part of Aleppo, the report said. State television broadcast footage showed civilians, mostly women and children, walking under the watch of government troops and boarding buses. It also showed a handful of young men, who were surrendering to government forces. All had covered their faces, and most were carrying weapons aloft. Earlier this week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offered an amnesty to militants who lay down their arms and surrender to authorities in the next three months. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that around 20 people had crossed into government-controlled territory during the evacuation on Saturday. The latest developments come after the Syrian army and allied forces cut off all supply routes through the Castello Road used by militants into eastern Aleppo. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Military: Four More Humanitarian Corridors Will be Opened in Aleppo Sputnik News 03:37 31.07.2016 Russian and Syrian military are going to establish four more humanitarian corridors in the besieged city of Aleppo, in addition to three existing corridors that already helped hundreds to reach safety. According to Lieutenant-General Sergey Chvarkov, the head Russian reconciliation center in Syria, four more humanitarian corridors will be established in the Syrian city of Aleppo in the near future by joint efforts of Russian and Syrian military forces. "In addition to the existing corridors, we are organizing four more humanitarian corridors," the general said. Chvarkov said that the existing three corridors have already helped 169 civilians and 69 militants who chose to lay down arms, to escape the besieged city. "In the areas of those humanitarian corridors we have equipped stations with hot food and medical assistance. The Syrian authorities have prepared six centers of humanitarian assistance, which can accommodate and satisfy needs of more than 3,000 people," he stressed. Russia has also prepared 14 tons of humanitarian cargo for those fleeing the militants, with 2.5 tons of food and essentials already supplied, he added. According to the civilians who managed to reach safety, living under militants is horrible. "We left with our remaining children. May God punish the rebels. They did not allow us to leave, they deprived us of gas, water, electricity and bread. We were not allowed to leave. There were no medicines. They used to tell us you live with us or die with us," one of escaped women said. "We suffered and walked a lot, may God curse the rebels. They did not leave food or medicine and by the time we left it was not easy," another resident added. Russian-Syrian humanitarian operation in Aleppo began on Thursday when three humanitarian corridors were opened in the city. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Diplomat: Syria Ready to Resume Peace Talks Without 'Preconditions' by VOA News July 31, 2016 The Syrian government says it is ready to resume United Nations-sponsored peace talks with the opposition in Geneva at the end of August, "without preconditions without any external interference." Sunday's announcement, reported by Syria's state news agency, followed talks in Damascus between U.N. special envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy and Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mikdad. Mikdad did not offer details, and it remained unclear late Sunday whether the talks yielded progress on the impasse over the future of embattled President Bashar al-Assad -- an impasse that helped scuttle two earlier rounds of talks. Western governments have insisted that Assad leave the presidency as part of any enduring peace deal, while Assad allies, most notably Russia, are battling alongside Syrian forces to preserve Assad's hold on power. Two weeks of peace talks in April and an earlier truce crumbled when no deal on Assad's future could be reached, and when fighters on both sides of the country's deadly civil war largely ignored cease-fires. The failed April talks also led the chief peace negotiator for Syria's mainstream opposition, Mohammed Alloush, to quit his post weeks later. Alloush linked his departure to ongoing violence, which he blamed on the Assad government and Assad's Russian military allies. Monitors cite gains by U.S.-backed forces near Turkish border In other developments, the Britain-based London Observatory for Human Rights says U.S.-backed forces have driven Islamic State extremists from 70 percent of the besieged city of Manbij near the Turkish border. An Observatory statement Sunday said the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces had seized most of the eastern city, and says an estimated 2,300 civilians have been able to flee in the past 24 hours. U.S. analysts describe Manbij, located about half way between war-ravaged Aleppo and the border town of Kobane, as one of the most important pieces of real estate in the war. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has called it a pivotal corridor from the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa to the outside world through Turkey. The monitor also quotes activists and residents who have reported dozens of civilian deaths from airstrikes linked to the U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish fighters and Arab allies. The alliance, backed by U.S. Special Forces, launched a campaign in June to drive Islamic State fighters from their last positions on the Syrian-Turkish frontier. Aid workers report hospital bombing in south Separately, the International Rescue Committee said airstrikes targeted a hospital in the southern opposition-controlled town of Dara'a, killing at least six people. The reports offered few details, and the identity of the aircraft was not clear late Sunday. However, the New York-based Physicians for Human Rights says more than 90 percent of attacks on medical facilities in Syria have been carried out by government forces. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Erdogan announces closing of all military academies following coup Iran Press TV Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:25PM Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says from now on all military commanders will report directly to the country's defense minister and that all military academies will be closed. During an interview with the Turkish broadcaster A Haber on Saturday, Erdogan said that the new measures were aimed at bringing the military under full civilian control. He added that the military academies would be replaced with a national defense university. "We are going to introduce a small constitutional package (to parliament) which, if approved, will bring the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and chief of staff under the control of the presidency," he said. Erdogan also announced cuts in the size of the country's gendarmerie security forces along with upgrades to their weaponry. He also noted that his lawyers had started work on withdrawing lawsuits against persons who had insulted him. The Turkish president has filed hundreds of court cases against critics, including many journalists, for insulting him since he took office in August 2014. On Friday, he had announced that in the spirit of "unity" following the coup he would revoke the said lawsuits. Earlier, Turkish authorities announced the release of over 750 soldiers who were detained following the failed coup, noting that 231 soldiers still remain in custody. On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the country had succeeded in purging the military from all elements linked to US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the failed coup attempt. "Those who show tolerance to traitors are also traitors themselves," he said. The putsch began overnight on July 15, when rebel soldiers declared they were in control of the country and the Ankara administration was no more in charge. Tanks, helicopters and soldiers then clashed with police and people on the streets of the capital and Istanbul. The coup was gradually suppressed by military forces and people loyal to Erdogan. Over 60,000 people have been removed, suspended or detained over suspected links with the putsch. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Erdogan Plans to Close All Military Schools, Create National Defense University Sputnik News 23:14 30.07.2016(updated 23:23 30.07.2016) Erdogan announced that all Turkish military schools will be closed and a national defense university will be established on their basis. ANKARA (Sputnik) All Turkish military schools will be closed and a national defense university will be established on their basis, country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Saturday. "Military schools will be closed, this will be published in the official newspaper Resmi Gazete within several days. They will be united under the University of National Defense," Erdogan told in an interview with the A Haber broadcaster. On July 15, an attempt to overthrow the government took place in Turkey, it was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured during the failed coup excluding the victims among the plotters, according to the country's authorities. Almost 9,000 military were detained after the attempted coup, according to country's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 4 Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with PKK militants Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:29PM Clashes between Turkish army and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have claimed the lives of four Turkish soldiers. Officials said Sunday that three soldiers were killed as PKK militants opened fire on forces stationed in a forested area of Ordu province in northern Turkey. The provincial governor, Irfan Balkanlioglu, said in a statement that two soldiers were also injured in the skirmishes, adding that a large contingent of troops were sent to the area to assist an ongoing operation against militants. Security sources said another soldier was killed and six more were wounded as Turkish forces launched a security operation in a remote corner of Hakkari province in southeast Turkey. For about a year, Turkey has been carrying out a large-scale military crackdown on suspected PKK militants in the southeast. The military claims it has killed thousands of PKK members, although rights campaigners and Kurdish political parties challenge the figure, saying most of those killed have been civilians. On Saturday, the army launched a counterattack on militants who were attempting to storm a military base in Hakkari. Sources said 35 PKK militants were killed in the clashes. Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with the PKK over the past months. Five soldiers were killed Friday after militants attacked troops on a road near Cukurca district in Hakkari. Turkey has expanded its anti-PKK attacks into the Syrian and Iraqi territories, despite fierce opposition by the two Arab countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey dismisses nearly 1,400 military personnel over botched putsch Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 10:2AM Turkey sacked nearly 1,400 military personnel suspected of having links with US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the recent botched coup in the country. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday that a number of senior military officials were among the 1,389 personnel dismissed, without providing further details. The new dismissals follow a previous post-putsch expulsion of 1,684 military personnel, including 149 generals and admirals. The dismissals were the latest in a series of purges related to the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey. So far, over 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been detained, removed or suspended over suspected Gulen links. At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,100 others sustained injuries when an army faction, using hijacked helicopters and tanks, clashed with government troops and people on the streets of the capital, Ankara, and the city of Istanbul. Shortly after the coup bid was declared over on July 16, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Gulen of being behind the coup attempt. The opposition figure has, however, denied any role in the foiled putsch. The new measure came only a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he plans to introduce amendments to the constitution, and put the Turkey's spy agency as well as the military chief of staff under his own control. Erdogan added that he wants to close the nation's military academies, stressing that the proposals would be brought before parliament. "We are going to introduce a small constitutional package which, if approved, will bring the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and chief of staff under the control of the presidency," Erdogan told Turkey's A Haber television news network. "Military schools will be shut down... we will establish a national defense university," he said. The Turkish president noted that the size of the country's gendarmerie security forces would be cut, but their weaponry would be upgraded. He also said that in future the heads of the land, sea and air forces will report directly to the defense minister. Erdogan expressed discontent with the information received from the MIT and its chief Hakan Fidan on the night of the putsch. "There was unfortunately in all of this a serious intelligence failure," the Turkish president complained. The Turkish president would now need a two-thirds majority in the parliament to push through the constitutional changes, meaning that he has to secure support from opposition parties. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Says FBI and CIA Behind Failed Coup, Gulen 'Only a Pawn' Sputnik News 22:00 31.07.2016(updated 00:40 01.08.2016) The Erdogan regime continues to play with fire renewing accusations that the United States spearheaded a complex conspiracy to overthrow the Turkish government. A Turkish prosecutor claims that the CIA and FBI provided training to followers of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara initially called the "mastermind" of the failed attempt to overthrow the Erdogan regime on July 15 that left hundreds dead and thousands more wounded. An indictment, prepared by the Edirne Public Prosecutor's office and submitted to the local Second Heavy Penal Court, seeks the harshest possible punishment for 43 suspected coup plotters. In the indictment, the prosecutors allege that members of "the Fethullah Terrorist Organization" (FETO) were trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "The CIA and FBI provided training in several subjects to the cadre raised in the culture centers belonging to the Gulen movement," read the indictment. "The operations carried out by prosecutors and security officials during the Dec. 17 process can be taken as a good example of this." The "Dec. 17 process" refers to a high profile corruption probe that targeted senior government officials in 2013. "The [failed coup] attempt aimed to weaken the state with all its institutions by getting rid of the government completely," stated the document. "Those in the Gulen movement who work in the judicial and security institutions and who received the aforementioned training, took on the task and moved into action." The prosecutor's claims were alluded to in part by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said Friday in response to criticism by US CENTCOM Commander four-star General Joseph Votel, "My people know who is behind this scheme they know who the superior intelligence behind it is, and with these statements [condemning the post-coup purge] you are revealing yourselves, you are giving yourselves away." The statement was interpreted as an accusation against US intelligence agencies. On Saturday, the Turkish President continued the theme of subtle accusations calling US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen "a pawn" backed by a "mastermind" which has also been interpreted as suggesting that the US agencies supported the failed putsch. US military and intelligence officials have been the target of scorn and accusation from Turkish leaders in the wake of the failed coup starting with the country's Labor Minister who said on July 16 in an interview with HaberTurk that "the United States is behind the coup." These accusations were forcefully denounced by the State Department which called the claims "utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations." However, on July 17, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the country was ready to go to war with "any" country that backed Fethullah Gulen, viewed as a reference to America's refusal to extradite the suspected coup leader. These accusations have grown in recent weeks with Erdogan alleging that CENTCOM commander General Joseph Votel was siding with the coup plotters and with the country's leading pro-Erdogan Islamist newspaper Yeni Safak printing a picture of American three-star General and commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) John F. Campbell under the headline "The Man Behind the Failed Coup in Turkey." The result of the shocking allegations has been an emboldening of anti-American fervor in the country with over 5,000 protesters marching towards the Incirlik Air Base on Thursday chanting "death to the US" and demanding that the United States leave. That incident came on the heels of a massive fire near NATO's Izmir base with officials suggesting the cause was "anti-American sabotage" as reported by Turkey's T24 News. On Saturday, 7000 armed police officers supported by heavy vehicles blocked all access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base. Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported that Adana Police received a tip of a brewing second coup attempt, but the country's European Affairs Minister Omer Celik downplayed the sudden show of force calling it a "general security check" and asserting that "nothing is wrong." During the temporary blockade of the Incirlik Air Base, a group of several hundred anti-American protesters assembled near the scene chanting for the base to be shut down as confirmed by video accounts on the scene although some Western outlets have provided conflicting reports that the protesters preceded the blockade and that Turkish police were there to disperse the crowd. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey-EU Refugee Deal Dead as Ankara Demands Visa-Free Travel or They Walk Sputnik News 22:00 31.07.2016(updated 00:40 01.08.2016) The Turkish Foreign Ministry demands that the European Union provide immediate Visa-free entry throughout the Eurozone or Ankara will back away from a deal to stem the flow of migrants. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told German daily newspaper Frankfurther Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that "if there is no visa liberalization, we will be forced to distance ourselves from the (migrant) readmission agreement." The Minister also required the European Union to provide a set time for visa-free entry saying that "it can be the beginning or the middle of October, but we expect a firm date." The agreement for Turkey to take in as many as 1 million additional Syrian refugees in return for substantial financial compensation and a fast-track approach to the country's accession into the European Union has long rested on the issue of Visa-Free travel for Turkish citizens. Conditions on the ground have fundamentally changed since the agreement was first penned on March 18 at the behest of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself under siege by domestic opposition to her "open door" policy that has seen some 2 million war refugees flood into the country. Since the agreement, Turkey has faced a number of major security incidents including the terror attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport and the failed coup attempt of July 15. Europe's mood towards cooperation with Turkey, which was already a good deal wanting, has all but collapsed in the wake of the post-coup purge that has seen over 60,000 soldiers, police officers, teachers, and judges forced to resign from their positions. Additionally, some 18,000 individuals have been arrested in the aftermath of the coup and have been forced to reside in prison conditions that have raised alarms for international human rights groups. The situation between the West and Ankara has further devolved in recent weeks with the Erdogan regime bombarding the United States and NATO forces with repeated claims that they aided and abetted purported coup leader US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. The original deal also faced considerable scorn from the human rights community in that it calls for Europe to keep those refugees who can provide in a skilled-labor economy while relegating migrants lacking specialized training to questionable conditions in Turkish camps with sporadic reports that Ankara has forced hundreds of refugees back to Syria to die. At the time of the agreement, former British Prime Minister David Cameron scoffed at the notion that Turkish residents would receive visa-free travel and EU membership asserting that they would not be prepared to be a part of the European Union for at least another thousand years. In the wake of the coup, the security situation inside of Turkey is such that the cost-benefit for Europe of admitting Turkish residents without a visa requirement has fundamentally shifted with the EU bound to worry whether opening their border to Ankara may, in fact, increase the threat of terror. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Theresa May delays China-France nuclear plant at Hinkley Point Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:26AM British Prime Minister Theresa May has personally intervened to delay the construction of a controversial nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C to further review the costly project. May's predecessor David Cameron promoted the 18 billion project by French energy company EDF with financial backing from China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) as a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment. The two companies behind the initiative were shocked when the British government refused to give final approval for the nuclear reactor hours before a signing ceremony was due to take place on Friday. May has reportedly discussed her plans to review the project with French President Francois Hollande, when they met in Paris last week and later during a phone conversation. Britain's former business secretary Vince Cable said that, as home secretary, May was unhappy about Cameron's approach to Chinese investment in Britain and had clashed with Cabinet over the Hinkley Point project. "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," he told BBC Radio. Sources said French officials took the about-turn more easily than officials close to the Chinese consortium who said they were "bemused at the turn of the events." Greg Clark, the new secretary for business, energy and industrial strategy, met with the chief executives of the French and Chinese companies behind the project to reassure them that the UK's energy policy had not changed. Security experts are concerned about the involvement of the Chinese in the project which would give them access to computer systems of Britain's energy production. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Air Force, Navy plan near total replacement of nuclear weapons Iran Press TV Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:29AM The US Air Force has solicited industry proposals to build a new fleet of land-based nuclear missiles and also replace its air-launched nuclear cruise missiles in a bid to almost entirely rebuild the country's nuclear arms. The Air Force asked industry contractors on Friday to submit their proposals for a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and further announced plans to award the first contracts by next summer, the Associated Press reported Saturday. It intends to substitute the US military's existing fleet of nearly 450 deployed Minuteman 3 ICBMs, beginning in 2027 with an estimated cost of $62.3 billion, added the report, citing the spokeswoman for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Leah Bryant. Both projects, the report said, are part of a broader modernization plan for US nuclear weapons and are expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over 30 years. According to the report, the air force also solicited contractor proposals for a new-generation nuclear cruise missile to replace the existing AGM-86B cruise missile, which was deployed in the early 1980s. The US Navy also intends to build new nuclear-missile submarines to replace its aging fleet of Ohio-class submarines, while the air force is planning to replace its B-52 bombers with a new fleet of nuclear-capable long-range bombers. According to the director of the arms control association, Daryl Kimball, the extensive restructuring of the American nuclear arsenal would be "financially unsustainable." "The air force could save billions by refurbishing and extending the life of the existing Minuteman 3 well beyond 2030 rather than building a completely new and more deadly missile," said Kimball. "The air force does not need a costly new and more capable nuclear-armed cruise missile, especially if the new long-range penetrating bomber is truly penetrating. We are seeing a return to the days of nuclear excess and overkill," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Never miss the latest local news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter A baby boy that was in hospital with serious injuries has died, with a man and woman now arrested on suspicion of murder. The boy's mother, a woman aged 20, and the man, 26, had been suspected of attempted murder but this has now escalated following the death of the three-month-old child on Sunday evening. Medics had called police after the baby was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with serious injuries at 11am on Saturday. A spokeswoman for the police said: "The baby has sadly died at Bristol Children's Hospital yesterday evening (Sunday 31 July). "The man and woman arrested for attempted murder have now been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the case. "They are still in custody." On Saturday police moved in to tape off a city centre property at Archdeacon Street in Gloucester. Forensic scientists in white suits later went into the property which is close to Gloucester Cathedral. Goa News online offers latest Goa news from Goa including sports, politics, cultural and local news from Goa. The impressive main entrance to the former Stratford College still graces the corner of Main and Rison streets, but since 1988 the building has housed Stratford House, an assisted living center for seniors. As announced last week by the centers board of directors, ownership of the property is expected to change hands in September, with Commonwealth Assisted Living buying the site with plans to make improvements, expand services and add jobs. Richard Brewer, president and CEO of Commonwealth Assisted Living said the company plans to invest $3.5 million in the property some for updates, such as new paint, carpet and furniture, but also to add memory care services to the programs it offers, which he anticipates will add 25 new jobs. Plans are not complete yet we dont close on the sale until September, Brewer said. Were studying whether we will have to expand the footprint of the building as part of adding the new program. Brewer said the company, headquartered in Charlottesville, purchased its first assisted living center in Tidewater about 15 years ago. Since then, 21 other sites have been purchased, with the first Southside location established in South Boston in 2013. The Danville center will be the companys 23rd location. The memory care program, named Sweet Memories, is something Brewer feels strongly about implementing in each of their centers. Providing care for people with dementia and other memory issues is an important part of the services they provide, Brewer said. Awarded a Best Practice Award from the Virginia Assisted Living Association, the program is personalized for each resident and their needs. They will have access to services if they ever need them, Brewer said. Brewer said he is excited about adding Stratford House to their growing roster of assisted living centers. It has a wonderful history and a great community, Brewer said. We hope to be good stewards of the mission started by the board of directors. In its early history, Stratford House was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Memorial Hospital of Danville, the by Danville Regional Medical Center. Stratford House became a nonprofit and, when LifePoint purchased DRMC, the center became independent. Charles H. Major, vice chairman of the board of Stratford House, said the board had been looking at options and talking to different people about the future of Stratford House, and concluded the sale to Commonwealth Assisted Living was the right choice to make. We feel very good about it; its the right thing for the resident, staff and the community, Majors said. They have financial resources we dont have its a really important facility and the board was anxious that it would remain the premiere retirement community. We think this is the way to do it. Majors said he is especially pleased that Commonwealth Assisted Living will be adding the memory care services. Its an important thing to provide to the community, Majors said. Sydney - FINANCE VIDEO: Blackham Resources Ltd (ASX:BLK) executive interview with Managing Director Bryan Dixon discussing the company's recent mining activities.Questions:1. Mining at the Matilda deposit recently commenced. Can you comment on this and other activities at site?2. Can you comment on the exploration program and results at the Matilda deposit?3. Can you comment on the exploration program and results at the Golden Age deposit?4. What other exploration work has been on-going in recent months?5. You are about to commence work on a study that examines increasing the plant throughput, which could see production increase to more than 200koz pa. Can you provide further information on this?Mr Dixon has substantial experience in the mining sector and in the management of public and listed companies. Previously, Mr Dixon has been employed by KPMG, Resolute Samantha Limited, Societe Generale and Archipelago Resources plc Mr Dixon also holds non executive director roles with Hodges Resources Limited and Midwinter Resources Limited. Mr Dixon is a Chartered Accountant and brings additional project development, project acquisition, financing and corporate skills to the Company. Mr Dixon is also Chairman of the Scaddan Energy JV Committee.To view the video, please visit:http://www.abnnewswire.net/press/en/84334/BLKBlackham Resources Limited (ASX:BLK), is an emerging gold producer focused on its Matilda Gold Project in Western Australia where mining and production is imminent. Matilda s resources of 48Mt @ 3.3g/t for 5.1Moz, all within a 20km radius of its gold plant currently being re-commissioned. The Matilda Gold Project incorporates over 780 square kilometres of tenements and cover around 55 kilometres of strike along the Wiluna and Coles Find Mine Sequences. The Project has historically produced 4.3 million ounces of gold.The Sophisticated Investor is a new equity investment tool which seeks to assist investors in becoming more informed in their investment decision making. We show and tell investors about a company in a series of short, informative videos. We possess specialist equity analyst skills and are complemented by video professionals. We conduct site visits and interview management, in a way most investors simply arent able to access. We promote long term value creation for investors by employing detailed financial analysis and intrinsic value calculations.Source: Blackham Resources Ltd / The Sophisticated InvestorAdam Kiley DirectorTSI Capital Pty LtdE: adam.kiley@tsicapital.com.au SHARE Summit registration deadline is today The 13th Annual West Texas Legislative Summit is set to get underway this week. The event kicks off with a reception and dinner with legislators Wednesday evening at Christoval Vineyards & Winery, 5000 Cralle Road The summit is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Angelo State University's C.J. Davidson Conference Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive. Call 325-655-4136 for more information. TimeClock Plus now Oracle ready TimeClock Plus announced Thursday its timekeeping software products are now fully integrated with the widespread human resources systems made by Oracle. The Oracle certification means that firms using Oracle's PeopleSoft systems will now be able to include Time Clock Plus time management products in their suite of services. "PeopleSoft doesn't provide a time collection device, so those companies using it have to find a clock they can tie into that system," Scott Turner, vice president of marketing and sales for Time Clock Plus said. "Our devices are best of breed, and this is a really big deal for customers. "Oracle is one of the largest companies in the world, and since we are now more aligned with them, our road map strategies can be more aligned with theirs." "Our enterprise solutions combined with Oracle's PeopleSoft Time and Labor is a natural fit and one that the industry needs. This Oracle Validated Integration can offer an exceptional user experience to our customers," Jordy Moorman, president of TimeClock Plus said. "We are very excited about the future of our TimeClock Plus Direct product and its strong value proposition to our customer base." TimeClock Plus is a provider for more than 60,000 small business and enterprise level organizations. The firm recently moved into a new 64,000-square-foot space on Southwest Boulevard. Local tech wins elite designation Reinke Mfg. Co. conferred their prestigious Platinum PLUS Certified Technician Award on Mark Ewing with Ewing Pivot & Pump Svc. in San Angelo. "Being recognized as a Platinum PLUS Certified Technician is a remarkable accomplishment," a spokesman for the company said. "Mark has completed the most extensive technical service training available to Reinke dealers and is to be commended for his hard work." The Platinum PLUS (Proven Leaders in Unmatched Service) program consists of a series of six technical service training classes and tests. Ewing received the award by scoring more than 90 percent on all six tests. Reinke Inc. is the world's largest privately held manufacturer of center-pivot and lateral-move irrigation systems. The family-owned business, which opened in 1954, is headquarter in Deshler, Nebraska. Attorney Hogg to speak at luncheon The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce will host their monthly membership luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 9 at the McNease Convention Center, 500 Rio Concho Drive. Jon Mark Hogg, with the law firm of Jackson Walker, LLP will discuss the impact of new rules governing overtime compensation for salaried workers, which take effect this December. Hogg has practiced law in San Angelo since 1992 and is board certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He served on San Angelo City Council from 2006 to 2010 Leadership San Angelo mixer slated for Aug. 11 Leadership San Angelo Alumni Association will host a mixer for members at 5 p.m. Aug. 11th at the ASU LeGrand Alumni and Visitor Center, 1620 University Ave. Alumni are encouraged to come out and mingle with fellow graduates. Call 325-655-4136 for more information. Brown Bag luncheon set for Aug. 16 A free business training workshop will be held at noon August 16th at the San Angelo Visitor Center, 418 W Ave B. Cathy Ballard, director of planning at the Workforce Development Board will discuss "Your Business Is My Job: Free Resources to Grow Your Business." There is no charge to attend, but an RSVP is needed to ensure adequate seating and materials. Attendees may bring a lunch, or order a $10 box lunch, when making a reservation. Business Brown Bag is jointly sponsored by the Chamber, ASU's Small Business Development Center and The Business Factory. contributed photo The Tower at the University of Texas at Austin, epicenter of the shootings on Aug. 1, 1966. SHARE Getty Images The cover of LIFE magazine showing a victim's view of the tower in Austin, TX on Aug. 1, 1966. contributed postcard A postcard from Mt. Vernon Motor Courts in Austin, TX. By Matthew Mcdaniel, matthew.mcdaniel@gosanangelo.com It happened on a hot and sunny Monday. August 1, 1966, dawned bright and clear in central Texas; and in the state capital, folks were going about their daily routines with no idea the first televised mass shooting was about to rock the nation. Some of the University of Texas students who knew Charles J. Whitman were aware of the emotional and physical struggles he was contending with, but to the outside world, there was nothing about the strapping young man to suggest anything other than vigorous youth and a good nature, according to historical accounts. But in the early hours of Aug. 1, something inside of Whitman snapped, leading him to kill his mother and his wife in separate incidents, before loading up his foot locker with firearms, food, and more than 700 rounds of ammunition. Headed for the tallest tower in downtown; he proceeded to shoot 43 people, killing 16. Witnesses like Blaine Shields, of Mertzon, and Mickey McMurtrey, of San Angelo, say they can remember it like it was yesterday. Blaine Shields grew up in Llano, but went to high school in San Angelo. After high school, she married and worked while her husband attended classes at San Angelo College. After graduating from SAC two years later, he was accepted at UT and the couple made their way to Austin on Aug. 1,1966, to get registered for school, look for a place to live and scout jobs. "I was really excited about the trip," she recalled. "I worked for Wallace Labs in San Angelo, and had an interview at Gilmore's Studio set up for Tuesday we thought that was great because Gilmore's was right there by the college, and we would be able to share the car." Having been to Austin regularly in her youth, she said it was always a treat to come to the capital. "Looking back on it, Austin was very rural back then," she said. "You could drive down Congress and get a parking spot with no problem but as far as Texas towns go, Austin had fancier restaurants and theaters, so everybody liked to go there ... we were pretty excited. "We were late getting to Austin that day," she recalled. "We were staying at the Mt. Vernon Motor Courts on Highway 81 ... we checked in as fast as we could, because he needed to be at the registrar's office that afternoon." Blaine said her husband freshened up quickly and left. "I turned the AC on, but I was tired, so I laid down and never turned the TV on," she said. Blaine recalled snoozing for just a few minutes when the telephone rang, startling her awake. "It was my mother-in-law calling," she said. "She asked me if everything was OK and I thought she was just asking if the trip went well I (started talking) and she cut me off, telling me to turn on the TV. "She said, 'There's a man with a gun shooting kids at the college. Where's Dennis?' and I just froze for a few heartbeats I told her he was downtown, and she screamed." Blaine said she remembers turning the TV on in the hotel room, and sitting on the edge of the bed as the set warmed up, bringing live footage of the carnage taking place a few miles away. "I just thought 'God, please don't let him be there.'" Blaine's suspense lasted another 20 minutes, before her husband arrived back at the room, having been turned back as he neared the campus. "I am so glad we were running late that day," she said. "Otherwise, he might have walked right in front of that tower. "It is to this day the most awful thing I have ever seen there was just nothing to prepare us for something like that," she said. "I grew up going to Central High School half the trucks in the parking lot had guns in the back window some of us used to hunt after school, so I've been around guns my whole life ... but to see all those scared people and the police helpless trapped down there like that, it was just heartbreaking." Blaine said, in looking back, the helpless feeling of the day is what she remembers most vividly. "You have to remember there was no such thing as a SWAT team in 1966 nobody ever did this kind of thing and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop him." Blaine remembers sitting "completely still" as the couple watched the news that afternoon. She described the following day as "very surreal." "There we were downtown, the next day and you could see where they put sand down to soak up the blood," she said. "And we're busy getting him registered for school ... looking at apartments but somehow, everything was different and everybody knew it." The Drag, Monday morning Mickey McMurtrey, Bobcat '60, was co-owner and operator of Mickey & Helen's Style Shop at 2604 Guadalupe St. back in '66. "It was the coolest place to have a beauty shop," he recalled of the street known as The Drag. "We were right there, northwest of the Tower, with kids going up and down the street all day and night. "Things were a little wild in Austin back in 1966 ... but you have to remember, it was just like any other small town in Texas; everybody knew everybody else, and it was a great place to live and work and go to school ... the perfect college town." Mickey said while beauty parlors are usually closed on Mondays, business was booming and Tuesdays were busy at the shop, prompting him to go downtown around noon and catch up on side work. "I was coming up from Town Lake in a brand new shiny Cadillac, and had been on the interstate for a few minutes, when all of the sudden three troopers in separate cars passed me going 150 miles an hour their whip antennas were straight back, they were going so fast." Mickey said, being young and impetuous, he "floored it" and came into downtown not long after the squad cars. "I didn't know any better," he said. "But when we rolled into downtown it was like a war zone; I flat-footed it inside and locked the door behind me." The beauty salon was leased from an adjoining flower shop, and Mickey said the florist had a couple of scoped rifles he'd just brought in from his truck; the pair watched from up the street as the shooter selected targets, and fired on them with impunity. "I watched the SOB through a scope the whole time nearly," he recalled. "I could tell every time he was going to pull the trigger I had a really clear view, and he would get to looking around and then he'd get someone in his sights and I could see him squint his eyes; there would be a little puff at the end of the rifle then we'd hear the shot. McMurtrey said while many area residents were "literally running home to get their guns," he and his neighbor had no ammunition to return fire with. "At one point, we watched those troopers bring up two armored cars, and drive them right over the curb onto the campus," he said. Mickey said the armored cars were equipped with dual .30 caliber Browning light-machine guns, but they didn't help the situation. "They were on the north side of the tower," he explained. "The Capitol is on the south side so they figured out that wasn't going to work pretty-darn quick." Mickey said at one point during the shooting rampage, he saw three students walking toward campus and stepped outside to tell them what was happening. "I thought I had better tell them what was going on," he recalled. "I pointed and told them 'there is a man with a gun shooting people down there,'" he said. "By the time I turned back around, there was another shot and they were nowhere in sight." When asked about the events of that day, Mickey said he often thinks about the courage shown by some of the real heros of that day; war veterans at the scene who were able to keep their wits about them when the killing began. "The cops and the ambulance drivers were under their cars," he said. "One ambulance driver was shot, but there were several vets down there who were actually picking up the dead and the wounded, and taking them to the ambulances. "Meanwhile, a man was shot at the barber shop just down the street, and they couldn't get to him." Mickey said he feels very fortunate to have escaped injury that day. "It's not something you can forget," he said. The Standard-Times Files: Interview with Houston McCoy (Editor's Note: The following interview by Standard-Times editor emeritus Perry Flippin was published on Jan. 7, 2008, as several heros of Aug. 1, 1966 prepared to be honored by the Austin City Council for their bravery.) By Perry Flippin After 41 years, Houston McCoy of Menard will return Thursday as Austin's City Council honors his heroism during the darkest episode in the history of the University of Texas campus. "It wasn't me alone," the 67-year-old ex-policeman said last week in a telephone interview from the home of his daughter in Copperas Cove. "A lot of people were involved in stopping the killing." Indeed, McCoy's daughter, Monika, pressed the Austin City Council to present Distinguished Service Awards to 14 key participants ? some now deceased ? who braved Charles Whitman's deadly sniper fire from the 28th-floor observation deck Aug. 1, 1966. The council's action is intended to pay tribute to the brave officers and civilians who risked their lives to protect students and others in harm's way that day. McCoy, then 26, is credited with killing the former Marine sharpshooter, whose bloody rampage left 17 people dead, including Whitman, and 31 wounded. It has been conclusively determined that McCoy fired the fatal shot that ended Whitman's rampage. Both McCoy and fellow policeman Ramiro Martinez ? along with 12 other unsung heroes ? will receive awards and the city's thanks during ceremonies Thursday in Austin's council chambers, 301 W. 2nd St. For McCoy, a Menard native who returned home in 1973, memories of that dramatic day have never faded. He can still recount, almost minute-by-minute, how he drove to the north side of the university tower and listened to gunfire ricocheting around the Forty Acres. After conferring with other officers and civilians at the campus police station on Speedway, McCoy and four others were led through underground maintenance tunnels into the tower building. "I was the only one with a shotgun, so I led the others," McCoy recalled. The lawmen were still thinking an army of revolutionaries might be barricaded atop the tower. They found two people dead and two wounded in the hallway between the 27th and 28th floors. "When we got up there, I saw Officer Allen Crum and Officer Martinez," McCoy said, adding that Martinez was on his knees. Martinez tried to kick open a door to the observation deck, but it was blocked by a dolly. "Crum and I went out the south side," he continued. Martinez was kneeling next to the door on the south side. McCoy told Crum to stay by that door and shoot anything coming around the southwest corner. "When I turned back around, Martinez had disappeared," McCoy continued. "The only place he could be was the east side. "When I went around, he started crawling on all fours toward the northeast corner. I was with my back to the wall kinda hunched down, scooting one foot in front of the other about 3 inches from his feet. "His position allowed me to shoot over him without worrying about him being in the way." At the northeast corner, Martinez jumped out and rapidly fired all six shots he had. "While he was doing that, I was jumping outside of him, which put me to his right," McCoy said, adding that big light standards running down the parapet walls partially blocked his view. "I saw this head looking right at me with a white headband around it," he continued. "I just shot that white headband, and his head started bouncing. I didn't like the shot. I stood up a little taller and got better angle and fired again. "His head was still bouncing when I hit him in the left side. I hit him full in the face the first shot. "He kinda slithered down in slow motion and was laying on his back," McCoy said. Martinez grabbed McCoy's shotgun, stood beside the body and fired another round point-blank into the body of the 25-year-old shooter. "I got him! I got him! I got him!" Martinez exulted. With ground fire still ricocheting off the tower, McCoy directed another officer to notify the police dispatcher and announce to Austin's news media that the bloody siege was over. University of Texas officials dedicated a memorial pond in 1999. Family members of the victims organized a memorial service to pay their respects Wednesday on the 41st anniversary of the shooting. McCoy and his daughter came to pay their respects. Heroes Following are the names of people to receive Distinguished Service Awards during ceremonies Thursday in Austin, followed when applicable by the name of the person taking their place: * Officer Billy Paul Speed, the only peace officer slain Aug. 1, 1966. Jennie Speed Shone, widow. * Officer Phillip Conner of Austin, ex-Army medic administered first aid and covered the west window while officers went onto the observation deck. Phillip Conner Jr., son. * Officer Jerry Day of Universal City, moved a wounded victim out of the line of fire and went to the top of the tower alone. * Lt. Marion Lee, the gunner in the airplane piloted by Jim Boutwell. An Austin Police Department representative. * Officer Ramiro Martinez of New Braunfels, made his way onto the tower deck and was the first to spot and fire upon the sniper. * Officer Houston McCoy of Menard, fired the fatal shots into the sniper, thereby ending the UT Tower tragedy. * Officer Harold Moe of Marble Falls, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims and used the only portable two-way radio to notify police that the siege was over. * Officer George Shepard, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims. Vicky Shepard, widow. * Officer Milton Shoquist of Fair Oaks Ranch, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims. * Department of Public Safety Agent W.A. "Dub" Cowan, made his way to the top of the tower and was instrumental in setting up communications and removing people from harm's way on the 27th floor. Kay Cowan, daughter. * Civilian Jim Boutwell, volunteered his airplane and piloted it slowly above the tower to gather information and to help subdue the sniper. Louise Boutwell, widow. * Civilian Allen Crum, first-floor supervisor of UT Co-op, made his way atop the UT Tower and, with Agent Cowan's weapon, assisted Officer Martinez and backed up Officer Day on the south side of the observation deck. Brian Jewell of the Co-op. * Civilian Frank Holder, elevator mechanic for Otis Elevator Co., led officers up the tower and assisted them in negotiating the stairs leading to the observation deck. Danny Holder and/or Frank Holder Jr., son. * Civilian William Wilcox, engineer for UT Physical Plant, led officers through the underground tunnels to safely enter the tower building, assist the wounded and subdue the sniper. John Wilcox, son. SHARE Newlyweds Matt and Sunday Rowan perished in the balloon crash Saturday in central Texas. By Federico Martinez, federico.martinez@gosanangelo.com/@Federico_SAST A San Antonio couple married less than six months were among 16 people killed Saturday when the hot air balloon they were riding in caught fire and crashed in central Texas, according to family members who came forward Sunday. Newlyweds Matt and Sunday Rowan, formerly of College Station, were onboard the balloon when it crashed in a pasture around 7:40 a.m., in Maxwell, 30 miles southeast of Austin, according to the Bryan-College Station Eagle newspaper. Sunday Rowan bought a balloon flight for her husband as a birthday gift last year, and it had taken them a while to schedule it, Brent Jones, the father of Sunday's 5-year-old son, Jett, told CNN. Eric Weiss, a public affairs spokesman for National Transformation Safety Board, on Sunday said the accident is still under investigation and he could not confirm the identity of anyone that might have been aboard the balloon. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating. NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt told CNN on Sunday that the FBI has found 14 personal electronic devices from those aboard the crashed balloon, including cellphones, three cameras and an iPad. Sumwalt said the cameras are destroyed, but NTSB lab technicians hope to recover images from the devices. According to The Associated Press, the pilot, Alfred G. "Skip" Nichols, who also died in the accident, was the owner of Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. The death of 16 people makes this the most fatal hot-air balloon crash in U.S. history, according to information from the NTSB. The land near the crash site is mostly farmland, with corn crops and grazing cattle. Cutting through that farmland is a row of high-capacity electrical transmission lines about 4 to 5 stories tall. The site of the crash appears to be right below the power lines, though authorities haven't provided further details about what happened. Aerial photos showed burned pasture underneath the power lines. Investigators confirmed Sunday they were having trouble identifying who was aboard the balloon when it crashed, because a list of passengers was not maintained by the hot-air balloon company. The measure is required for airplanes, but not balloon operators, Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel C. Law noted in a news release. Calls to Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides were not returned on Sunday. According to Matt Rowan's Facebook page biography, he was promoted in July to serve as chief over clinical trials for burns and trauma at the Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio. Sunday Rowan was working at a kids' clothing store in San Antonio. The Associated Press contributed to this report. SHARE By Jerry Lackey, Special to the Standard-Times President Barack Obama signed into law the GMO labeling bill, which originated in the Senate and was sent to him by the House of Representatives before their summer recess. According to the new rules, companies are required to disclose the presence of genetically modified ingredients. Companies will have the option of how they want to do that, which could be done by text, phone number, website link or smartphone code. What perhaps pushed action forward was a Vermont law that became effective July 1 requiring GMO labels on food entering that state. The law has fines of $1,000 per day per product for infractions. "Due to these actions, interstate commerce will be severely threatened; small, family-owned food companies faced penalties," said Mike Conaway, San Angelo's congressman who is chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. A handful of other states also wanted some kind of labeling. "First, we can't have a patchwork of different labels for every different state," said former Agriculture Secretary John Block. "We have been more than two years trying to get new legislation. It became necessary when Vermont passed its own law." The Vermont legislation required package labeling that specifically indicated if the food product contains genetically modified ingredients. "As I understand the bill, you have to have a smartphone with a bar code reader to see (the ingredients) or you call an 800 number," said Vermont Attorney General Sorrell. "How many consumers do you think are going to do that when they're standing there with two cans of soup trying to decide which one to buy?" Collin Peterson, ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, disagrees with Sorrell. He suggests most consumers will not pay attention to what's on the label. "However, the labeling train has already left the station," Peterson said. "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack already has a task force set up and he already has people working on it. I think he will have most of this mechanism set up before a new secretary gets put in place." Genetically engineered crops have not hurt the environment and are not adversely affecting human health, according to a 420-page comprehensive study "Genetically Engineered Crops, Experiences and Prospects," published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. The committee compared disease reports from the U.S. and Canada with Western Europe and the United Kingdom. The difference is, in the U.S. and Canada we have been eating GE foods for more than 20 years. But in Europe and the U.K., GMOs are not on the table. The review found no long term pattern of increases in health problems in the U.S. and Canada. David Stelly, research plant breeder in the Texas A&M University soil and crop science department in College Station, was on the team of 20 scientists from universities and organizations across the United States. He said the report was written to provide unbiased assessments to the public and policymakers regarding varying claims and research about purported benefits, risks and apprehensions posed by genetically engineered crops and foods. "While there has been a plethora of literature about GMOs and GE crops, a need remained for a contemporary broad-scoped study to carefully examine the evidence on what exists now and seems likely in the future, given how quickly genetic engineering tools are improving," Stelly said. Important findings by the committee included "no persuasive evidence of adverse health effects directly attributable to consumption of foods derived from genetically engineered crops." Statistics show genetically engineered crops can be found in more than 25 countries and on 12 percent of the world's cropland. The Grocery Manufacturers Association reports that 70 percent of packaged food in the U.S. contains GMOs, as does 92 percent of our corn, 94 percent of cotton, 94 percent of soybeans, and 99 percent of sugar beets. Island Districts With the Largest Disparities In the middle of the Columbus, Ohio, school district lies another district serving the small city of Bexley. Only a few thousand students attend Bexley schools, and they're more than four times less likely to live in poverty than their peers in Columbus.Bexley is somewhat unique in that it's one of 180 school districts across the country completely surrounded by a single larger district. Known as "island districts," they're often characterized by stark socioeconomic disparities compared to their larger neighboring district, according to research by EdBuild, an education reform nonprofit group.Most island districts were established several decades ago, but they're still being formed today. "There's an ongoing movement from wealthier areas to secede from large urban school districts," said Rebecca Sibilia, EdBuild's CEO. "School district lines should not serve the purpose of segregating wealth."While some island school districts resemble Bexley in that they're more affluent and possess more resources than their larger districts, it's more common for island districts, particularly in the South, to be poorer than their surrounding districts. Sixty-three of the 180 island districts identified by EdBuild report student poverty rates more than 10 percentage points higher than their surrounding districts. Another 18 districts are wealthier, with student poverty rates at least 10 percentage points less than the larger district.Inequities tend to be most apparent in areas where school revenue is more directly tied to property taxes. "An overreliance on local funding creates the incentive for these districts to be created or sustained," Sibilia said.Groups like EdBuild advocate for more funding equity across school districts. To help offset funding disparities, some districts participate in different types of revenue sharing agreements. States like New York, for example, apply funding formulas intended to equalize schools revenues. Similarly, some counties levy an additional tax on all residents thats used to fund lower-income schools. But in other cities, like Bexley, residents don't contribute any property or income tax revenues to neighboring districts.Island school districts, because they tend to be small, are often the subject of merger discussions . Such attempts are rarely successful, however, as residents aren't keen on ceding local control of their schools. Small districts, accordingly, are widespread throughout not just rural America, but urban and suburban areas as well. A Governing analysis of federal data earlier this year found about a third of all local districts operate only one or two public schools and just under half of districts serve fewer than 1,000 students.5.7 percent student poverty rate35.6 percent student poverty rate dallas-schools-map.png The Highland Park Independent School District serves an affluent area of Texas, spanning Highland Park, University Park and parts of North Dallas. Its consistently ranked as one of the states top schools, and less than 6 percent of its students live in poverty. The district is surrounded by the much larger Dallas Independent School District, where about 36 percent of students live in poverty, a difference of 30 percentage points.A Texas law requires wealthier districts to contribute a portion of tax dollars to the state thats then distributed to other districts. Since 1991, Highland Park school district taxpayers have contributed $1.2 billion in funding, or nearly 7 percent of the total payments recaptured under the law, according to the district 9.3 percent student poverty rate38.3 percent student poverty rate columbus-schools-map.png Over the past several decades, the city of Columbus annexed more and more neighboring jurisdictions, eventually growing to become Ohios largest city. Many of the school districts, however, remain independent.The small city of Bexley is one of the regions wealthier enclaves. Its school district spends over $2,000 more per pupil than Columbus, according to EdBuild.Some suburban school districts in the region maintain boundary lines that extend beyond their municipalities into the city of Columbus. Nine participate in what are called win-win agreements requiring them to contribute revenue to Columbus city schools in exchange for preserving their boundaries from annexation.30.7 percent student poverty rate4.7 percent student poverty rate feehold-schools-map.png Freehold Borough was established nearly a century ago as a result of a state law permitting town centers to incorporate. In recent decades, the borough of about 12,000 has suffered slow economic decline while the once predominately rural surrounding township has welcomed much more affluent residents. The boroughs student poverty rate in 2014 was 31 percent, while only 5 percent of the surrounding townships students lived in poverty.The district has struggled with overcrowding at its schools -- about 1,600 students are enrolled at facilities intended to hold no more than 1,148 -- and voters have rejected two recent revenue-raising ballot measures . Unable to fund construction, the district pays rent to the township district. In all, the island district spends roughly $5,000 less per pupil annually than the township, according to EdBuild.36.3 percent student poverty rate10.8 percent poverty rate lebanon-schools-map.png The Lebanon School District is another poorer urban island district thats surrounded by seven wealthier municipalities making up the Cornwall-Lebanon School District. Lebanon schools register a student poverty rate about 25 percentage points higher than the surrounding district, with about the same enrollment. Theres also a stark disparity in state standardized test scores: Cornwall-Lebanon schools rank in the top quarter of all districts statewide, while Lebanon district students consistently score among the lowest in the state.Lebanon schools have received more help in recent years as Gov. Tom Wolf has pushed to boost education funding. The latest state budget includes a $2.8 million increase in basic and special education funding from two years ago.40.8 percent of students in poverty17.1 percent of students in poverty thomasville-schools-map.png The Thomasville City School District serves some of the North Carolinas poorest students. Nearly 41 percent of students in the small community live in poverty, compared to 17 percent in the much larger Davidson County School District. The county district serves more than 20,000 students, while only about 2,500 students are enrolled in Thomasville city schools. One of the most important political stories in recent years has been the growth of the Hispanic electorate. This year, the question is not only how many Hispanics will vote, but whether the GOP is at risk of losing their support for a generation.The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) predicts that 13.1 million Hispanics will vote this fall, up from 11.2 million in 2012. Thats a big increase. Still, it means fewer than 50 percent of eligible Hispanics are voting.Even as their share of the electorate continues to grow, Hispanics are not voting at the same rate as other racial or ethnic groups. In 2014, only 27 percent of eligible Hispanics voted. Thats their worst single showing ever in a midterm election.Hispanics tend to vote at lower numbers for several reasons. For one thing, the median age among Hispanics born in the U.S. is just 19. As with their Anglo or African-American peers, Hispanic youth are harder to mobilize than older voters. Latino turnout has a lot to do with demographic factors -- a higher percentage of young, low-income and less-college-educated people, says Cristina Beltran, director of Latino studies at New York University. All of these factors depress turnout for all citizens.Another factor is that the concerns of Hispanic voters are often ignored by national candidates -- at least, those who dont live in swing states, says Arturo Vargas, NALEOs executive director. This year, Democrats are gearing up to spend $15 million on Hispanic outreach in the swing states of Colorado, Florida and Nevada. Where you have seen upticks in mobilization is where you have seen outreach by particular candidates, mostly on the Democratic side, says David Damore, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Democrats are hoping that Hispanics nationwide will be mobilized by the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, who has made a number of insulting comments about immigrants and Hispanics in general. Theres even evidence suggesting many Hispanics are motivated to become citizens in order to vote against Trump. Applications for naturalization are up 14.5 percent this year.The real growth in the Hispanic vote, however, comes from young people turning 18 -- 800,000 of them each and every month. There are 4 million more Latinos eligible to vote in November than there were in 2012, Vargas said. Of those, 3.1 million are Latinos who have turned 18.Whether the source of new voters is naturalization or adulthood, Republicans have to worry about losing their support. The GOP share of the Hispanic vote has gone down every four years since 2000. In 2012, Mitt Romney took just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. An official Republican report after that election stressed the need to appeal to Hispanics, but the party nominated Trump instead, whose polling numbers among the group are dreadful. Latinos are a permanent part of the political landscape in this country, Vargas says. Candidates that dont recognize that and dont act on that are not going to be successful. Congressional inaction on Zika funds has hampered efforts on the local level to stop the spread of the disease. That was more or less proven Friday when Florida Department of Health officials said it's highly likely that four new cases in Miami were the first to be contracted by infected mosquitoes in the U.S.To date, there have been 1,658 cases of Zika in the continental United States. But so far, they've all involved someone who had traveled to a foreign country or had sex with someone who had recently been to a Zika-affected country.President Obama in May proposed $1.9 billion to help combat the spread of the virus. Congress, however, was unable to agree on that number and left for recess without allocating any extra money for state and local governments.Even if Congress does allocate Zika funding, local officials say they may already have missed an important window for combatting the virus.The real tragedy is that now is the time when you need the extra money and resources: July and August is mosquito control time all across the U.S., said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. Everything from here on out is just going to be damage control.In the absence of federal funding, localities have been left to fend for themselves.The Centers for Disease Control is not going to fight this disease. This is going to be a fight almost exclusively at the local level, said Hotez.Beyond mosquito control, which is hardest in the summer months, Hotez says local health centers must start being constantly on the lookout for possible cases.If people come in with a rash or a fever, they need to get tested for Zika. Its very labor intensive to test everyone with Zika symptoms," he said, "but it just has to get done.There's one problem: resources."We need more money, and we need it now," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, adding that he's "almost certain were going to see more locally transmitted cases."Staffing and supplies at both mosquito control units and health departments vary widely county-to-county, so the fight to prevent Zika could look quite different from one ZIP code to the next.There are such disparities on the state and local level," said Fauci, "and thats what is going to get us in trouble."Many localities have engaged in public awareness campaigns about the virus. Houston has been aggressive about teaming up with local media, and there are informational signs on all of the buses and trains. The city has also been clearing out empty lots since the spring -- where heavy trash like tires are often disposed -- which is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.I dont know how the mayor found the money to keep that effort going, but he has, said David Persse, medical director for the city of Houston.In a handful of counties, mosquito control officials have been going door-to-door offering information on mosquito abatement -- and offering to spray residents' properties.But that approach isn't foolproof: One of the counties engaged in door-to-door outreach is Miami-Dade, the site of the most recent cases. Up against a midnight deadline before formal legislative sessions ended for the year, House and Senate lawmakers reached a deal on rules governing ride-for-hire like Uber and Lyft late Sunday night.The two chambers each quickly approved of the compromise bill, bringing a hurried close to one of the states most high-profile political debates and sending a bill to Gov. Charlie Bakers office that would establish the first statewide laws for the services.The final product came from a six-member committee of House and Senate negotiators who ironed out the differences between the chambers dueling Uber bills, settling on a state-run driver background check and establishing a 20-cent-per-ride fee on the companies.Uber and Lyft which have left cities across the country over regulations they consider overly burdensome supported the Senates approach to the bill while decrying the Houses proposal in the weeks leading up to the compromise. Federal appellate judges on Friday struck down a 2013 law limiting voting options and requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, declaring in an unsparing opinion that the restrictions "target African-Americans with almost surgical precision."The three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law was adopted with "discriminatory intent" despite lawmakers' claims that the ID provision and other changes were designed to prevent voter fraud.The ruling _ which could have implications for voting laws in other states and possibly for the outcome of close races in the swing state of North Carolina _ sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, who in April issued a 485-page decision dismissing all claims in the legal challenge."In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees," the ruling states. "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."The ruling prohibits North Carolina from requiring photo identification from voters in future elections, including the November 2016 general election. It restores a week of early voting and preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and ensures that same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting will remain in effect.State Board of Elections officials immediately began to pull back advertising campaigns that had been designed to air on TV, radio and other media in the coming months to educate North Carolina voters about what they would need to cast ballots in the coming election.Challengers of the elections law overhaul _ which was shepherded through the Republican-led General Assembly in 2013 and signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory _ quickly lauded the ruling. Republican leaders criticized the ruling, noting that IDs are required to board airplanes, enter federal courthouses, cash checks and more. They announced their plans to appeal.U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who leads the U.S. Department of Justice that was a party in the lawsuit challenging the law, praised the appellate panel for striking down a law "that the court described in its ruling as 'one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history.'" Lynch described the law as one that placed "barriers between citizens and the ballot box.""And it sent a message that contradicted some of the most basic principles of our democracy," Lynch said in her statement. "The ability of Americans to have a 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 and who we aspire to be. Going forward, the Department of Justice will continue our work to protect that sacred right for all."Lynch and many others echoed phrases from several lines in the 83-page ruling that bats back contentions by advocates of the law who claimed IDs were needed at the polls to prevent voter fraud."Although the new provisions target African-Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist," the 4th Circuit judges wrote."This ruling is a stinging rebuke of the state's attempt to undermine African-American voter participation, which had surged over the last decade," said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "It is a major victory for North Carolina voters and for voting rights."North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County, and state House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, issued a joint statement questioning the motives of the three-judge panel _ Judge Diana Motz, a Bill Clinton appointee, Judge JamesWynn Jr., a Barack Obama appointee, and Judge Henry Floyd, an Obama appointee to the 4th Circuit bench but a George W. Bush appointee to the U.S. District bench."Since today's decision by three partisan Democrats ignores legal precedent, ignores the fact that other federal courts have used North Carolina's 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," Berger and Moore said."The voter ID law ensures any North Carolina citizen who wants to vote will have that opportunity," Berger and Moore contended. They pointed to provisions in state law that allow someone without ID to obtain a Division of Motor Vehicles card at no cost as well as offering people who have been unable to obtain one of the six acceptable forms of ID the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot.McCrory, in a statement, accused "three Democratic judges" of "undermining the integrity of our elections while also maligning our state."North Carolina's law is the third with an ID provision courts have rejected in the past two weeks.A federal district judge found Wisconsin's ID law too restrictive. The full 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals found that Texas' voter ID law violated the Voting Rights Act by making it more difficult for minorities to vote and opened the door for putting the state under federal supervision again."We applaud the appeals court for recognizing the discriminatory intent behind the monster voter suppression law," Bob Hall, director of Democracy N.C., a voting rights organization, said in a statement about the North Carolina case. "The ruling makes clear that the North Carolina General Assembly cherry-picked the law to suppress African-American and young voters because of the 2008 election. Today's ruling begins to right that wrong."In North Carolina, the state could ask the full bench of the 4th Circuit to review the ruling. But attorneys and others speculate that even if the full court agreed to review the case, the 2013 election-law changes would not be restored before the November elections."Because of this ruling, North Carolinians will now be able to register and vote free of the obstacles created by the legislature in 2013," said Southern Coalition for Social Justice senior attorney Allison Riggs.Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, questioned whether the law had been defended well. Though North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's office represented lawmakers in the case, Republican leaders also hired private attorneys."This is an effort to overthrow the will of the people on voter ID and ballot security, and it is led by the Democrats and, we believe, by Roy Cooper, who did a really lackluster job of defending voter ID while at the same time publicly criticizing it," Woodhouse said Friday afternoon.But Cooper's campaign noted that Cooper, the Democrat running for governor, had advised McCrory in 2013 to veto the bill.North Carolinians were not the only ones commenting on the decision Friday. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, tweeted her support for the ruling.The Rev. William Barber II, fresh off of addressing the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, admonished lawmakers for changing North Carolina's election laws that had made the state a "model for the nation in encouraging people to vote."Barber is president of the state NAACP that participated in the legal challenge, and the architect of the Moral Monday movement that has protested the voter ID law and other legislation from the Republican-controlled legislature and governor's office."Today the 4th Circuit's decision gives North Carolinians back an electoral system that allows the people of North Carolina to vote freely this fall," Barber said in a statement. Finding that Republican lawmakers had discriminated against minorities, a federal judge Friday struck down parts of Wisconsin's voter ID law, limits on early voting and prohibitions on allowing people to vote early at multiple sites.With the presidential election less than four months away, GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel said he plans to appeal the sweeping decision by U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson.Peterson also turned back other election laws Republicans have put in place in recent years."The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities," U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote."To put it bluntly, Wisconsin's strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease."The ruling came the same day a federal appeals court struck down numerous voting laws in North Carolina and a week after a different appeals court ruled a photo ID law in Texas violates voters' rights. Last week, a federal judge in Milwaukee determined voters in November could cast ballots without showing ID if they submitted statements at polling places saying they could not easily get a state-issued ID card.Friday's 119-page decision in Madison is broader than the Milwaukee ruling and resets the rules for voting less than four months before the presidential election.Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett praised the ruling, saying that "without a question" the city would take advantage of it to help more of its citizens vote."Gov. (Scott) Walker and the Legislature wanted to create a bottleneck in the city of Milwaukee to make it more difficult for people to vote," Barrett said.The decision deals with a swath of election laws that have been modified in recent years by Walker and Republican lawmakers. Peterson, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, concluded many of them violate the First Amendment right to free speech, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law and the Fifteenth Amendment protection of the right to vote.He struck down:--Limits on early voting Republicans have put in place in recent years. GOP lawmakers restricted early voting to weekdays during the two full weeks before elections, thus eliminating weekend voting that was popular in Milwaukee and other urban areas.--A requirement that cities can have only one place for early voting. Critics have said large cities such as Milwaukee should be able to have multiple voting sites because not everyone can get downtown easily.--A requirement that people must live in their voting ward 28 days before an election. Previously, people had to live in a ward for 10 days before an election.--The system the state uses to determine if people with the most difficulty getting IDs should be provided identification for voting. He ruled anyone in that system must immediately be granted an ID for voting within 30 days.--Part of the voter ID law allows people to use certain student IDs to vote, but those IDs cannot be expired. Peterson found that aspect of the law is unconstitutional, ruling that expired student IDs can be used at the polls -- just as expired driver's licenses can be used for voting.--A requirement that dorm lists provided to poll workers include citizen information. Universities provide the lists of those living in dorms to poll workers so they have an easy way to check whether students are voting in the right wards; lawmakers put in a requirement that those lists show whether the students are U.S. citizens.--A prohibition on providing voters with absentee ballots by email or fax is unconstitutional, the judge ruled.The ruling will not change any of the rules for the Aug. 9 primary. But -- if kept in place -- it will reshape how the Nov. 8 general election is run. Further rulings higher courts could change that, however.The law limiting early voting "intentionally discriminates on the basis of race," Peterson wrote. "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 Legislature's immediate goal was to achieve a partisan objective, but the means of achieving that objective was to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee's African-Americans."The ruling drew praise from the executive director of One Wisconsin Institute, one of the liberal groups that brought the lawsuit."As the eyes of the nation are focused on the accomplishments and legacy of our nation's first African-American president and first lady, Governor Walker and his legislative allies refuse to accept the expanding diversity of our nation," Scot Ross said in a statement. "Republicans instead chose to rig the laws to rig the ballot box."Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) dismissed the ruling, saying that Peterson overstepped his authority."Another in a long line of judicial overreaches that usurp states' rights. One more example of why (the U.S. Supreme Court) is critical," Steineke tweeted.A key part of the case dealt with the system the state has used to provide IDs to people who are qualified to vote but who have trouble getting them because they don't have birth certificates or have errors on them. Walker made changes to that system on the eve of the May trial before Peterson, but for years people without birth certificates have had to go through a lengthy process to try to get IDs, and even then many of them failed to get them even though they were considered eligible voters.Those who have had the most difficulty getting IDs are overwhelmingly minorities, and Peterson called the system created for them a "wretched failure."Most people have been able to get free IDs from the state with little trouble after a single visit to the state Division of Motor Vehicles.The decision comes at a time when voting rights cases are making their way through the courts.Peterson issued his decision just hours after a federal appeals court struck down a similar requirement in North Carolina that voters there show ID at the polls. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va., also reinstated one more week of early voting in North Carolina, concluding that lawmakers had sought to discriminate against certain voters in passing those measures.The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law in 2008 and since then such laws have flourished around the country. Many of those states, including Wisconsin, have passed laws that are more stringent than Indiana's, sparking a new wave of litigation.Wisconsin's voter ID law was blocked for years by court orders, but revived last year after rulings by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.Even after those decisions, one of the cases remained alive as those opposed to the voter ID law argued some people needed another method of voting because they had great difficulty in getting IDs because they lacked birth certificates or had errors on them.U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman embraced those arguments last week and ruled that in the Nov. 8 election voters who don't have IDs can cast ballots if they submit affidavits at the polls saying they can't easily get IDs.A former Democratic state senator, Adelman was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton.That decision has been appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which has shown it is equally divided when it comes to Wisconsin's voter ID law. The same court will hear an appeal of Peterson's decision.A panel of three 7th Circuit judges upheld the voter ID law in 2014. The full court then split 5-5 on whether the law should be overturned, leaving the earlier ruling in place.Bruce Vielmetti of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. On Sunday, in the afternoon, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey returned to Brisbane from an official visit to Townsville. Description GIS - 01 August, 2016: A Budget that boldly plans the future while at the same time addresses the present day to day concern of the population . This, in the words of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, is the driving force of the 2016-2017 budget which was presented at the National Assembly on 29 July 2016. The Minister stressed that the tough challenges ahead compounded by the pressures of global trends and the Brexit event, called for bold action. The challenges of tomorrow cannot be met with our mind set, policies and actions locked in the paradigm of yesterday, he said. Thus the focus in this budget is on a new course that breaks with the past, while also building on, consolidating and modernising the existing setup. Geared on ushering Mauritius in A New Era of development, the 2016-2017 budget is framed around ten key strategies meant to draw the economy and the country forward. These strategies are accompanied by a forceful and wide-ranging set of measures for implementation. The ten Key Strategies - Fostering a wave of modern entrepreneurs - Creating more job opportunities for all - Entering a new economic cycle focusing on innovation, boosting exports and private investments - Moving towards a full-fledged digital society - Reforming business facilitation and expanding our economic horizons - Building the infrastructure that fits into the future - Lifting the quality of life for one and all - Addressing the root causes of poverty - Launching a major public sector reform programme - Ensuring macroeconomic stability and sound public finances. The Budget in Figures The 2016/17 budget amounts to Rs 117.4 billion, of which Rs 103.3 billion for recurrent expenditure and Rs 14.1 billion for capital expenditure. Total revenue is estimated at Rs 102.4 billion, of which tax receipts would be Rs 84.7 billion and external grants Rs 6.4 billion. Budget deficit is projected at Rs 15 billion, representing 3.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) against 3.5 percent for 2015/16. A GDP growth rate of 4.1 percent is targeted for 2016/17, while nominal GDP would amount to Rs 451.4 billion. Revenue Input will be boosted by, among others, an increase in excise duties on alcoholic products (+10%) and tobacco products (+25%), and in customs duty on spirituous products (from 15% to 30%). Moreover, a 2 percent levy will be charged on the net stakes of all gambling operators. Standout Measures Job creation and Employability Projected creation of some 20,000 jobs ; Enlistment of 4,000 persons and 2000 unemployed under the National Skills Development Programme for training in technical skills in high demand and the Youth Employment Programme respectively; Placement of 200 trainee engineers in public sector bodies; Spending on a modern education system that is more responsive to the aspirations of the young and to the future needs of the economy. Business facilitation and SMEs Overhaul of procedures for the delivery of Building and Land Use permits and other clearances, with drastic cuts in processing time; Development of a national e-commerce platform to connect consumers from the rest of the world directly to Mauritian exporters. Selected measures for SMEs include: Suspension of payment of trade fees for licences of Rs 5 000 and below for SMEs for a period of 3 years; Broadening of the fiscal incentives in terms of tax-holiday; Creation of SME Industrial Parks and of a pilot Agri-Business Park; Improved access to finance. Housing - Rs 1 billion for the construction and completion of 1,900 units of up to 50 metre2 each, on 16 sites across Mauritius; Rs 155 million for the rehabilitation programme of NHDC housing estates; Full exemption from registration duty for acquisition of new house/apartment not exceeding Rs 6m, with no age restriction. Vulnerable groups Launch of the Marshall Plan against Poverty geared towards empowering vulnerable families to break away from the poverty cycle and stand on their own feet. Every adult on the Social Register will be entitled to a monthly subsistence allowance based on a minimum threshold of Rs 2,720 with a maximum threshold of Rs 9,520 for a family of two adults and three children. Introduction of a Support to Education programme with cash awards for those students successfully completing the 9-year schooling, the SC and the HSC. Pension System - A high level Committee will review the National Pensions system as well as look into ways and means to improve the contributory retirement pension benefits of private sector employees. Public Transport - Project for a Metro Express, with Indian financial assistance Major reform of the public sector Merging of institutions operating in inter-related segments for greater synergy and efficiency and better results. Description GIS - 01 August, 2016: The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, listed out the measures to deal with the root causes of poverty while presenting Budget 2016-2017, on 29 July 2016. According to him, this strategy was chosen because Government has pledged to fight poverty and empower families at the lower rung to move up the ladder. This commitment underpins the core philosophy of this Government, he said. The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, listed out the measures to deal with the root causes of poverty while presenting Budget 2016-2017, on 29 July 2016. According to him, this strategy was chosen because Government has pledged to fight poverty and empower families at the lower rung to move up the ladder. This commitment underpins the core philosophy of this Government, he said. This Budget is concretely launching the Marshall Plan Against Poverty, the Finance Minister stated, adding that it includes a variety of programmes and actions that interlock to assist and empower poor families. As from December 1st 2016, a new scheme will be introduced under which every adult on the Social Register of Mauritius (SRM) will be entitled to a monthly subsistence allowance based on a minimum threshold of Rs 2 720 with a maximum threshold of Rs 9 520 for a family of two adults and three children. This is higher than the current threshold of Rs 6 200 and an amount of Rs 500 million over the transition period of two years will be required to implement this measure. For Mr Jugnauth, another major programme to empower these families to break away from the poverty cycle and stand on their own feet is on improving educational achievements. Consequently, to encourage students from poor families to achieve higher levels of education, Government will give them a cash award as follows: Rs 15 000 for successfully completing the grade 9 level under the nine year schooling; Rs 25 000 for successfully completing the School Certificate level or equivalent vocational certificate; and Rs 35 000 for those successfully completing the Higher School Certificate or equivalent technical qualification. Moreover, to give a second chance to students from poor families for exam resit at the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate levels, their examination fees will be borne by Government. As regards the creche voucher scheme for poor families, the monthly grant is being increased from Rs 1 500 to Rs 2 000 per child, to allow these children to get a good start in life. Poverty Government believes that a decent shelter is the next most important lever to lift families out of poverty. In the context of the Marshall Plan, a programme of decent shelters for the absolute poor that will comprise the construction of at least 800 housing units that will span over the next three years is being launched. For low income families, this Budget is providing: Rs 1 billion for the construction and completion of 1 900 units of up to 50 square meters each, on 16 sites across the island; and Rs 155 million for the rehabilitation programme of National Housing Development Company Ltd (NHDC) housing estates. Furthermore, the monthly income limit for eligibility under the NHDC social housing scheme is being raised from Rs 10 000 to Rs 20 000. Budget 2016-2017 also states that all arrears of interest on loans contracted by individuals from NHDC and Mauritius Housing Company Ltd, and whose monthly household income does not exceed Rs 15 000 are being waived, provided the capital amount outstanding is duly repaid. This measure is expected to protect these families from facing the tough and traumatising Sale by Levy experience. The Basic Invalidity Pension which was provided only to persons above 15 years who suffer from disabilities is now being extended to children below 15 years of age and with disabilities. Moreover, Government is granting an additional sum of Rs 100 million for around 3 130 cases. Under the current Budget, Government is launching a special scholarship scheme for five students with disabilities for pursuing tertiary studies locally. The scholarship will cover the fees as well as a monthly stipend of Rs 5 000. Concerning Special Education Needs, the grant-in-aid to NGOs in that sector is being increased by more than 50 percent to Rs 90 million. Furthermore, in line with the recommendations of the Marshall Plan against Poverty, the National Empowerment Foundation will be restructured for effective service delivery to the poor and vulnerable groups. There will be a shift of focus to proactive case management and sustainable empowerment programmes. Corporate Social Responsibility As regards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) , a National CSR Foundation will be set up and managed jointly by the public and private sectors. Businesses will be required to contribute at least 50 percent of their CSR money to that National Foundation. This will go up to at least 75 percent the following year. The remaining balance may be used to implement their CSR programmes in accordance with their existing framework. The NGOs will therefore continue to benefit from contributions from the private sector and any unspent balance from the 50 percent will be channeled to the National CSR Foundation. In addition, the money endowed to the Foundation will be allocated to support civil society actions in six priority areas: Poverty alleviation; Educational support; Social housing; Supporting persons with severe disabilities; Dealing with health problems resulting from substance abuse and poor sanitation; And family protection. As regards poverty alleviation, educational support and social housing, the CSR support will be for families in the SRM. Description GIS - 01 August, 2016: Budget 2016/17- A New Era of Development makes provision for a low and simple fiscal regime aimed at rebooting the economy in the midst of major challenges facing Mauritius hence laying the foundation to steering the economy to the next level of development. Budget 2016/17- A New Era of Development makes provision for a low and simple fiscal regime aimed at rebooting the economy Emphasis has been placed on the competitive advantage of Mauritius with the reintroduction of the concept of tax holidays and improved investment tax credits for companies in view of boosting investments and create employment. Duties have been abolished on some 368 tariff lines, bringing the percentage of duty-free tariff lines from 89 to 95 percent on a number of products such that only few products are now subject to custom duties, thus positioning Mauritius to be a duty free island in the near future. Moreover, measures have also been announced to tighten up tax administration with a review of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) Act together with an increase in taxes on alcohol, sugar and tobacco. With regards Income Tax, the Income exemption threshold has been increased by Rs 10,000 for all categories as well as an increase in income eligibility criteria for secured housing loans up to Rs 4 million. The time limit for submission of amended income tax returns has been revised to two years. In the same line, definition of fraud has been reviewed to include cases of non-submission of tax returns while VAT liability now triggered even without issue of invoice or receipt of payment. Among the Corporate Tax measures: VAT removal on breakfast cereals as from 1st September 2016; reduction in the price of cooking gas from Rs 330 to Rs 270 for a 12-kilo cylinder; eight-year tax holiday extended to new enterprises set up by individual and cooperative and four-year tax holiday for existing enterprises registered with SMEDA; exemption from the payment of corporate tax for cooperative societies on all non-sugar agricultural activities; introduction of a 15 percent levy on specific pesticides, herbicides and fruit ripeners, to curb the excessive use of these products; tax holiday of five years applicable to certain entities licensed by the Financial Services Commission; eight-year tax holiday to industrial fishing companies; removal of VAT on 3D printers and providing customs duty exemptions on materials used in the manufacture of medical devices; review of the taxation on motor cars with the rates of excise duty on motor cars between 1,001 to 1,600 lowered from 55 per cent to 50 percent while duty on hybrid motor cars has been brought to 30 percentage points for all cylinder capacity; revamping of VAT refund scheme regarding the construction of new dwelling or acquisition of a newly built apartment up to a cap of Rs 500,000; decrease from 55 to 25 percent on a hybrid car below 1,600 cc and zero duty on electric cars of up to 180 KW while the adjustment factor used at customs in the determination of the import value of a second hand car is being lowered to 5 percent; increase in the refund on qualifying production expenditure under the Film Rebate Scheme up to a maximum of 40 percent and clarifying that production of films for export will be zero-rated for VAT purposes; no VAT on Photovoltaic Inverters and batteries; no registration duty on secured housing loan not exceeding Rs 2 million; first-time home-owner is allowed to deduct from his taxable income, the interests paid on a secured housing loan contracted on or after 1st July 2006. Other measures pertain to the setting up of an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism at the MRA to expedite tax appeal cases exceeding Rs 10 million while at the same provision has been made to enable the MRA to request high net worth individuals to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities. (TNS) -- Clendenin, W. Va.'s s Koontz Cemetery has nearly 1,500 graves and is as old as the town itself. Just about everyone in the town has a relative buried there. The town owns and maintains that cemetery and Mary Osborne Cemetery, which has about 300 graves.On June 23, when flash floods swept through the first floor of Clendenins town hall, records for both cemeteries were lost.Everything related to the cemetery was destroyed, said Mike Stout, a 33-year town councilman. And some of these records were so old. We did use them. We really depended on them.With the help of an Iowa technology company, the town is recreating records for the cemeteries. Des Moines-based NewCom Technologies is donating its services to create interment records for both of them.NewCom field technicians Daniel Petro and Matt Vande Kamp came to West Virginia for the job earlier this week. They said the work will take about two weeks in the field and two weeks to a month in the office after that.Were going to be walking each cemetery, taking GPS points and photos of all graves, Petro said. Then well send that information back to the NewCom office in Iowa and, together with information were gathering from citizens here and government officials, were going to be composing ancestry data and putting it all together on a digital map [geographic information system].Microsoft and GPS-mapping company Esri also contributed, donating equipment and software, respectively.Clendenin Mayor Gary Bledsoe said his son, Erik, of Virginia Beach, contacted NewCom after hearing that the cemeteries records were destroyed by the flooding.There are generations and generations of people from Clendenin from the very incorporation of the town to the present day buried here, Bledsoe said of Koontz Cemetery. Almost everyone that lives in the town of Clendenin now, Im sure, has a relative here. I have several relatives here. So its a very important part of our community.When someone dies, the funeral home calls the town government to arrange to have the proper grave opened, Bledsoe said.Without the maps and ledgers, we were going to have a [difficult] time coming up here and finding just exactly what plot needs to be opened, he said. With this mapping that these gentlemen are going to do, well be able now to just go to our computer and put the name in.Petro said the company took on the project for free because, as Iowans, they know what its like to live through a devastating flood. The state was hit hard in 1993 by floods that killed 50 people in the Midwest and caused $15 billion in damage across the region, according to reports.Theres been a few [floods] since then, but weve all experienced some kind of tragedy like this, Petro said. Even if we didnt experience it, its easy to feel the pain that people are going through here. So we just wanted to do what we can to help.Stout said the town of Clendenin would never have been able to pay the $25,000 to $30,000 it would cost to have the remapping done. Cemetery upkeep is run on donations.During this flood, Ive seen a whole lot of people come in from all over the United States and donate their time and money to help our community, he said. That kind of renews my faith in humanity, that theres some good people out there. (TNS) -- In 2004, Konstantinos Papamichael began commuting from his Berkeley home to UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center, where hed started working as an associate director and professor. The drive took him along Interstate 80 past the newly built Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, but while his college degree was in architecture, his attention wasnt focused on the buildings glass paneling or sandstone facade.Instead, Papamichael thought about the Mondavi Centers parking lots. In the evenings, they were fully illuminated despite being largely vacant, wasting lots of energy. There had to be a better way to create a safe environment while conserving energy, he thought. He and his colleagues ended up targeting the parking lots in a campaign that has revolutionized lighting on the UC Davis campus and elsewhere in California.Papamichael recalls sending out graduate students with cameras at all hours of the night to photograph the brightly illuminated lots. The photos sparked a dialogue with UC Davis administrators, who eventually agreed to retrofit one parking lot with smart lighting technology as part of a pilot study, he said.The pilot was a success, and in 2009, smart lighting was unveiled at the South Entry Parking Structure serving the Mondavi Center. The technology used 115 watts of power at high mode and adjusted to 35 watts at low mode when no motion was detected. Compared with the previous lighting system, which had used 175 watts continuously, the new lights reduced energy consumption by more than 50 percent.Today, Papamichael is the centers co-director, along with Michael Siminovitch, on the south edge of campus. The center was established by UC Davis, in collaboration with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy.The center develops energy-efficient lighting with market-friendly design, said Papamichael, who studied window design and daylight harvesting after immigrating from Greece. Ongoing projects at the center involve a range of indoor and outdoor lighting that reduces energy costs, meets customer approval and promotes better health. The centers state-of-the-art equipment helps with product testing and demonstrations, while providing unique training opportunities for students from UC Davis and international universities interested in working on lighting applications.We are like a greenhouse, said Papamichael, smiling through his stubbly beard. Growing and preparing scientists and industry workers of tomorrow is one of the main missions at the center.One of the centers first students was Keith Graeber, who joined in 2004 as an intern. Nearly 12 years later, he now serves as the centers engineering director managing personnel and resources. Graeber said he continues to be motivated by the impact of lighting technology and its real-world applications, especially as the world races to find clean energy alternatives that can reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.Theres a lot of gratification when everything we do results in a tangible outcome that you can see in the world, Graeber said.The center not only works with the university and other government agencies, but also has formed strategic partnerships with manufacturers, designers and other stakeholders in energy-efficient lighting applications. The centers demonstration showrooms allow retailers to compare old and new lighting technologies side by side to evaluate product appearances before making a large investment.Retailers know lighting plays a critical role in a products appearance in a store or showroom. Papamichael highlights that by asking students to look at posters of different colored squares hung from the walls of a classroom. Papamichael then turns knobs and dials, adjusting the indoor lighting to contain more red, green or blue light. The light reflects and transmits different colors within objects, at one point causing color squares that appeared red to look a more convincing blue.Colors dont exist, Papamichael said. They are perceptions in the brain.In general, stores are illuminated using soft lighting, emphasizing the reddish end of the spectrum, to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Dressing rooms and display cases often use cool lighting that contains more blue light to help bring out a products true colors.Another hot area of research has been LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, which are energy-efficient, solid-state light sources that illuminate when electric current passes through semiconductors such as the materials used in computers.Over just the past few years, LED technologies have advanced at an astounding pace. An LED bulb that sold for upwards of $25 in 2013 cost only $5 in 2015, factoring in utility rebates and manufacture incentives. The life expectancy of an LED bulb is many years longer than an incandescent bulbs, with only a fraction of the energy use.LEDs have seen widespread use in traffic lights, car headlamps and advertisement displays. But a few challenges must still be overcome before residential and commercial spaces transition to LED technologies.One challenge for Papamichael and his team is overcoming the lingering stigma of compact fluorescent lights. In the 2000s, the lights were heavily marketed for their substantial savings in cost and energy. But customers didnt like the buzzing, flickering and, most of all, what many said was the unnatural feel of the light.The human eye has evolved to sunlight. Everything else is a crude substitute, said Gabriel Taylor, an engineer at the California Energy Commission.Still, both Taylor and Papamichael said they were optimistic about LEDs. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the L Prize and its $10 million award to the Philips company for developing a high-quality, high-efficiency LED to replace the incandescent light bulb, which emits a softer, more flattering glow.The winning bulb was lined with yellow sections along its top to convert light from red and blue LEDs into soft white light. The Philips LED had a reported color temperature of 2,727K, which approximates the 2,500K of incandescent lights.Lighting may have major implications for human health. One growing concern is nighttime exposure to blue light and its suppression of melatonin, a hormone produced in the evening that provides sleep signals to the body. Perhaps just as important as regulating sleep, melatonin is also a potent antioxidant, scavenging free radicals that may otherwise damage DNA and result in cancer.Scientists have reported links between all-day exposure to blue light and increased rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. During the day, blue light is beneficial for boosting mood and alertness, but in the evenings, it disrupts circadian rhythms and prevents our bodies from achieving rest.Papamichael sees a government role in creating lighting quality standards that can protect consumers in much the same way that protections exist for air and water quality. Current lighting standards primarily focus on reducing energy use to lower costs and carbon footprint.No doubt, lighting represents a tremendous source of potential savings in energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Of the electricity used by California households in 2009, about 44 percent was for lighting, electronics and appliances. Electricity production in California produces about 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, one of the states largest sources of carbon emissions.In the years since the Mondavi project, the center has improved lighting in other UC Davis parking lots as well as in dormitories, building corridors and office spaces. In 2010, UC Davis launched its Smart Lighting Initiative, which has installed efficient lighting and advanced controls across 42 campus buildings. Energy savings are estimated at about 12.5 million kilowatt-hours per year.Papamichael said the lighting revolution is catching on at college campuses throughout the state.Michael and I have been doing this for 35 years, he said. The most important thing is that we continue to effect change that affects energy efficiency. (TNS) -- PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state's new online voter registration was unveiled today on Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea's website.Residents can now update their voter information, or register to vote without mailing forms or going into an office. All one needs is a computer or smart phone with internet connections."The next important date that is coming up fast and furious is Aug. 14, which is the deadline to register to vote for the Sept. 13 primaries," Gorbea said at the recent ballot placement lottery for the upcoming primaries and general election.The last day to register to vote for the Nov. 8 general election is Oct. 9.When I ran for office, I pledged to Rhode Islanders that I would utilize the latest technology to modernize elections in our state," she said in a news release today. "I am pleased to make good on that promise today by launching online voter registration for eligible voters across the state. This technology makes it easier for voters to register to vote and update their voter information while improving the accuracy and integrity of Rhode Island's voter rolls. Legislation enabling the online process was sponsored this past legislative session by Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, and Rep. Aaron Regunberg, D-Providence. Rhode Island joins 31 states, plus the District of Columbia. Arizona was the first state to implement such a system in 2002.To register online, state residents need their Rhode Island DMV issued driver's license or state identification number; their name as it appears on that license or identification card; and their date of birth. There are also minimum eligibility requirements, such as checking off, "I am not incarcerated in a correctional facility upon a felony conviction" and "I am not presently judged 'mentally incompetent' to vote by a court of law."To update one's voter registration, a state resident puts in their name, address and date a birth before pressing "look up my voter information." It then brings the voter to a page that shows personal information - such as who the voter's elected official is, status and affiliation. At the top right hand corner is a button that says, "edit record."The website also includes, among others, additional dates important to the upcoming election, who the candidates are and a guide for military and oversees voters. (TNS) -- The city of Santa Fe is adding another high-level, high-paying job to its central administration at the same time its executives say theyre cutting staff through attrition and streamlining government operations.City Manager Brian Snyder soon will be conducting a national search for what is being called a deputy city manager manager of innovation. The job will pay about $125,000 to $130,000 a year, Snyder said Thursday.I believe firmly that we need to drive the conversation on how we can better improve business processes, streamline operations, said Snyder, whose annual salary is $142,804.This person is going to really be getting into the details of how we do what we do, why we do what we do, from the standpoint of working with staff directly and mapping those processes out and asking some simple questions on: Why do it this way? Is there a way that we could do it better? he added.Questions about the job remain unanswered, including what the new hire will do when the city switches to a full-time mayor after the 2018 election.Is there really enough work at that time for three top administrators to have to do? Councilor Chris Rivera asked. That I dont know the answer to.Said Councilor Joseph Maestas: Were going to have to discuss that and delineate those responsibilities between the mayor and the city manager after March 2018 if Im still there.The job, which Snyder has pushed for during the last two budget cycles, was approved by the City Council in the current fiscal year budget.When the deputy manager was approved in the budget, along with an [organizational] chart that said what the deputy city manager would be in charge of, the council tried to put a condition on that position but were told by [City Attorney] Kelley Brennan that they could not because it would be usurping the managers authority on personnel decisions, said former Councilor Karen Heldmeyer, who closely monitors decisions at City Hall.What was agreed to instead, she said, is that Snyder wouldnt be able to hire a deputy city manager until after Snyder had received a performance evaluation by the council. Snyders evaluation happened recently in a closed session.Councilor Ron Trujillo said Snyder is in a position to know whether a deputy city manager is needed.Im trusting him to make that decision, Trujillo said.Snyder said at the end of Wednesdays council meeting that he had sent councilors a draft job description and asked for their feedback. According to documents obtained under an open-records request, only two councilors Maestas and Mike Harris provided any input.Harris recommended a review for proper punctuation, which the draft document lacks. He also recommended including familiarity with an implementation of a successful ERP process, or an enterprise resource planning software system the city is implementing that integrates various functions, such as human resources and technology, into one system to streamline processes and information.In an interview, Harris said he supported the idea of hiring a well-qualified deputy city manager after he became familiar with the operations of the city through the budget process.Quite frankly, I think its too big of a job for one individual, said Harris, a Finance Committee member who was elected to his first term in March. Its really that simple.Maestas agreed that Snyder has a lot on his plate.I also feel like many of the initiatives that come out of the mayors office detract from a lot of the long-standing core priorities that the city manager should be focusing on, he said.In an email to Snyder, Maestas recommended making the deputy city manager responsible for reorganizing the citys constituent relations process and resources.I think that it would be a benefit to you if we had more of an established protocol for responding to inquires from constituents, Maestas told Snyder on Wednesday night.According to a draft job description, the deputy city manager will be the citys second-highest administrative officer and will automatically serve as the acting city manager in the city managers absence.The duties of this position include assisting city manager in finding innovative and creative solutions to operational issues and championing new and existing initiatives that streamline operations, enhance performance and improve customer service across the city, directing the activities of city departments and offices based on general direction and policy of the city manager, the draft document states.Snyder said he sees the new position as an extension of himself.So often we get caught up in providing a level of service to this community and just getting the job done, he said. What I wanted to drive is have somebody really be looking at the way were providing that service or further opportunities for us to streamline the services. All this kind of fits into the conversation of strategic planning, looking at how we move forward as a city. (TNS) PEKIN, Ill. A ride in a police car doesnt have to cost a trip to jail anymore. Not since an area police department began broadcasting live streaming video from inside its squads on social media."It kind of gives people a more inside look on the things that we deal with on a daily basis," said Pekin police Det. Mike Eeten, the department's public information officer.Monthly " virtual ride-alongs " through Facebooks Livestream application began as a pilot program for the Pekin Police Department two months ago, and it's just one of the ways Pekin police, and other law enforcement agencies, connect with their communities. Over the last few years, daily updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become a large part of Eetens job description. Two other officers now help him run the accounts by creating posts that detail local news, current crime and emergency announcements.And Pekin is listening.Since the department created its Facebook page almost five years ago, nearly 21,000 people have started to follow it. Analytics monitored by the department show an average post will create 150,000 "impressions" the total number of times a piece of content is displayed online and each one often becomes a catalyst for community-wide discussion."Its become one of the biggest assets we have," Eeten said.Every felony arrest made by Pekin police is documented online with a short summary and a mugshot. When a case is getting cold and detectives are looking for leads, they turn to the community for help, Eeten said. They often receive messages about crimes online within minutes of creating a post.Educational videos about ongoing investigations and preventative measures for how to keep from becoming the victim of a crime. Most recently, the department launched a video series titled "Faces of Heroin" to chronicle the lives of people affected by heroin abuse and bring awareness to an issue Eeten said is all too prevalent in the community.And as the conversation continues to move online, most area police departments are following suit.About 65 percent of American adults are active on social media platforms, an increase of tenfold in 10 years, according to a 2015 study of social media habits by Pew Research Center. The study found young adults are most likely to use social media, but use by seniors age 65 and older tripled since 2010.Broader uses of social media by local police and other emergency service agencies increased steadily on the national scale during the last five years. A survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2015 found 96 percent of law enforcement agencies now use social media in some capacity. Most common applications of the tool were criminal investigations, notifying the public of ongoing crime problems and community outreach, according to the survey of 553 law enforcement agencies in 44 states.Usage guidelines implemented by local law enforcement agencies mirror others around the country with respect to monitoring the conversations generated on social media and removing content that contains profanity, racist remarks or offensive material. To put it simply, said Washington Police Deputy Chief Jeff Stephens, its about keeping people engaged with content while keeping it civil.But, he said, part of it is about having fun, too.An emergency weather update was sent out July 21 on Washington Police Departments Facebook page asking residents to stay cool amid the heat."Its kinda hot. And humid, relatively speaking. Please dont do anything stupid. Thanks," the post read.It was "liked" more than 750 times and shared by users more than 500 times, making it one of the most widely seen posts the department has put up, Stephens said. Some of the success the department has had with the page, he said, can be attributed to being funny when it's appropriate to get noticed, so people recognize that the page is there for them.It has been a good way to talk to people that we wouldnt otherwise have a conversation with, Stephens said.Chris Helle, director of the Fulton County Emergency Services Disaster Agency, agreed.We get the community involved and we give them a chance to feel included, because its their page, he said.Residents of Fulton County often turn to the ESDA Facebook page as the initial information resource for potential weather disasters, Helle said, and having a direct line of communication to the public during a severe storm is invaluable.You take a large disaster, and you have to call 30 people ... It takes a lot of time, he said.While many other agencies are getting involved on the web, the Pekin Police Department has a larger Facebook following than any other law enforcement page in Greater Peoria. Creating daily content, staying tuned to what people are saying and keeping current are all important aspects of doing the job, Eeten said.We work very hard to be a department thats transparent with what we do, and I think thats important to policing today, he said. Reports that the Sachsenring could be in the running to rescue the German GP for 2017 have been played down. Germany's Auto Bild reported at Hockenheim that the well-known MotoGP venue has been targeted by Bernie Ecclestone as a potential venue to take over from struggling Hockenheim and the Nurburgring -- perhaps with a reduced fee. But track chief Ruben Zeltner told Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper: "The track is not suitable for it (formula one)." He said the Sachsenring would need millions in renovations, so "Who should bear this risk?" he added. (GMM) Archived Results for August 2016 Newer Older Entries Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Delphi and nuTonomy were shortlisted from several participants which submitted proposals for autonomous mobility-on-demand concepts under the Request for Information (RFI) issued by LTA in June last year. (Besides mobility-on-demand services, LTA is also exploring SDVs for other public transport applications, such as self-driving buses.) In addition to Delphi ( earlier post ), Singapores Land Transport Authority (LTA) has also selected nuTonomy to begin trials of an autonomous mobility-on-demand transportation service. The partnership will expand and accelerate the nuTonomys development efforts in Singapore as it progresses towards the launch of a commercial autonomous vehicle (AV) service in 2018. LTAs collaboration with Delphi and nuTonomy comes under the Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI), which oversees and manages AV research, test-bedding, and the development of applications and solutions by industry partners and stakeholders. If the trials of the Delphi and nuTonomy self-driving vehicles prove successful, the projects would be developed into full-scale mobility solutions for towns in Singapore. Commuters will then have access to an even wider range of public transport options, especially for first-and-last-mile travel, thereby further reducing the reasons to move around in a private car. Commuters will be able to summon autonomous shuttles or pods using their smartphones, and the shuttles or pods will bring them in air-conditioned comfort from point to point, for example, from their doorsteps to the train stations. This provides a more comfortable option for first-and-last-mile connectivity. It will also bring greater mobility to the elderly and other commuters who may have difficulties in taking present-day public transport such as buses. Singapore-based nuTonomy is the first, and to date, only private enterprise approved by the Singapore government for the testing of AVs on public roads. The company has been conducting AV tests on a daily basis since April in Singapores one-north business district. Under the partnership with LTA, nuTonomy will conduct a program of enhanced trials that will simulate the experience of an autonomous mobility-on-demand service by allowing select users to request, interact with, and ride in a nuTonomy AV. Founded in 2013 by Drs Karl Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, nuTonomy has been conducting on-road testing with its Mitsubishi i-MiEV in one-north. nuTonomy is currently working to launch an autonomous mobility-on-demand service with a fleet of five to ten vehicles in Singapore in 2018, whereby commuters will be able to summon a vehicle through a smartphone application to bring them from their doorsteps to their selected destinations. Delphi Automotive Systems has been testing its self-driving technology in the United States, where an Audi SQ5 prototype completed a coast-to-coast drive from San Francisco to New York in 99%autonomous mode last year. As part of their proposal, Delphi aims to trial and operationalize a fleet of five shared self-driving vehicles for first-and-last-mile travel, with the potential to scale up the technology for self-driving shuttle services to serve an entire town. To enable Singapore to move closer to its goal of deploying self-driving vehicles (SDVs) for shared transport, the LTA and JTC, in partnership with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), launched the Center of Excellence for Testing & Research of AVs NTU (CETRAN) and Test Circuit at CleanTech Park. JTC Corporation, formed in 1968, is the lead agency in Singapore to spearhead the planning, promotion and development of a dynamic industrial landscape. CETRAN will spearhead the development of testing requirements for SDVs, as there is no existing international standard. This would allow SDVs to be integrated with existing road traffic. These efforts will be supported by the 1.8-ha CETRAN Test Circuit, jointly developed by LTA and JTC to provide a simulated road environment for the testing of SDVs prior to their deployment on public roads. Although many countries and cities are testing self-driving vehicles, we have yet to see international standards and regulations suitable for large-scale deployment of SDVs. The launch of CETRAN and the Test Circuit will put Singapore at the global forefront to develop such standards, to safely integrate SDVs into our transport system. Its also a significant step towards realising our vision of SDVs being used for first- and last-mile connectivity in our towns. Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo NTU will lead research activities at CETRAN, operate the Test Circuit and evaluate the SDV prototypes to be tested there. The Test Circuit will also be open to industry players for the development and testing of their own SDVs as they work towards meeting the standards set by CETRAN. The Test Circuit is expected to be operational in the second half of 2017. CETRAN will also house a research team formed by NTU that will perform testing in a computer-simulated environment representative of Singapores traffic conditions, to complement the tests being performed in the test circuit. The LTA-NTU agreement will see CETRAN being operated by NTU for a period of five years, during which NTU will collaborate with various international Testing, Inspection and Certification bodies, research institutions and industry partners on global standards and test requirements. These include BMW Group, testing body TUV SUD, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and TUM CREATEa joint research collaboration between NTU and the Technical University of Munich. Updated at 9:57 a.m. GREENSBORO Before visiting Greensboro Wednesday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine plans to visit a business in High Point. At 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Kaine will make his first stop at Amerifab International, a small business that manufactures bedding and window equipment. Due to space limitations, the High Point event won't be open to the public. However, Kaine plans to speak to the public at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday in Greensboro. He will discuss plans for economic growth at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot at 236 E. Washington St. GREENSBORO Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine will be in Greensboro Wednesday to speak at the Greensboro Transit Authority, 236 East Washington St. . Kaine will speak at 1:30 p.m., about the Democratic nominees' plans to build the economy. The time and topic were announced on the website for Hillary Clinton. Clinton announced Kaine as her running mate on Twitter July 22. The pair made their first appearance together in Miami the following day. Kaine was elected as a U.S. Senator from Virginia in 2012. He previously served as Virginias governor, lieutenant governor and as mayor of Richmond, the state's capitol. Greensboro Police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said the Secret Service will lead Kaine's security detail visit but Greensboro officers will assist. She said local police help the Secret Service with their knowledge of the city, the routes taken, the venue and potential threats. Shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, Danielsen said officers had yet to be notified of the event venue. The campaign didn't announce the stop until later in the afternoon. Danielsen said without information about the venue, police did not have an estimate on how many officers would work, but that the short notice wouldn't be a problem. "We have folks who provide this type of support routinely," Danielsen said. Doors open for Kaines speech at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. An RSVP on the candidate's website is required for attendance. The Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also plans to make a stop in North Carolina to speak in Raleigh Thursday. The location of his speech has not been announced. GREENSBORO Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine is heading to Greensboro Wednesday to speak at the Greensboro Transit Authority. Hillary Clinton's campaign office announced the location of Kaine's speech will be at 236 E. Washington St. shortly after 2 p.m. today. Kaine will to discuss plans to build the economy, according to the campaign website. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. It is still not known when Kaine will speak. The writer of a recent letter was very upset that some parents of the people killed at Benghazi had spoken at the Republican National Convention. He said something about exploiting a tragedy. So I would think this writer is equally angry that the Democrats convention featured some women whose children were killed by police. It seems this exploitation is no different from what Republicans did. Well, actually there is a difference. The people in Benghazi were serving their country. And, while anyone would feel very badly for a mother who lost her child under any circumstances, a lot of these kids killed by police would be alive if they had just obeyed the initial instructions of the officers. Fred Pearlman Greensboro In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic? Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm. Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 / Show More Show Less 2 of 3 / Show More Show Less 3 of 3 GREENWICH With support from some former Greenwich families, Emilia Rivera, who teaches English for speakers of other languages in Greenwich, traveled to Japan in July for a tour and reunion with Japanese students she taught in Greenwich public schools. To read more, click here or below. Since 2001 Americans have been focused on the danger of radical Islamic terrorism. Samuel Huntington calls the current conflict part of a broader "clash of civilizations," one in which al-Qaida, ISIS, and others wish to destroy our culture and ideas.But it is difficult to see this threat as existential, even if it does give us a severe and constant security headache. It is sometimes hard to believe it, but there are potentially greater challenges to Western values of liberty and democracy than an Islamic caliphate supported by a network of terrorists.China seems the main candidate.As a result of massive state investment in infrastructure and exports buoyed by currency devaluation, subsidies, and frequent dumping, its economy has grown spectacularly over the past 20 years. In 1997 China's gross domestic product was less than $1 trillion; today it is nearly $11 trillion. It certainly represents an economic threat.Even though the Cold War is over, China also might challenge the U.S. militarily. It has more than 2 million troops and currently is shifting its military focus away from manpower and toward technology. Its defense budget is only about one-fourth of America's, but it has had nuclear weapons since 1964, is rapidly revamping its navy and air force, and recently has acquired sophisticated cyberwarfare capabilities.Recent actions in East Asia and the Pacific suggest it is willing to "mix it up" with rivals to extend its regional influence. North Korea and Taiwan always have the potential to provide flashpoints in the Sino-American relationship.We were led to believe that China would be a partner rather than a rival, particularly after the Soviet Union collapsed. The roughly 20-year rule of premiers Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao that followed seemed to confirm the impression.But under Xi Jinping, America's relationship with China has worsened. Trade disputes continue, and China's dollar currency peg has not waylaid accusations of manipulation.In 2015 the U.S. trade deficit with the country hit a new record of $366 billion. President Xi has centralized power greatly, if that sounded possible, by granting himself new civilian and military powers. The green shoots of freedom of speech, association, and religion that emerged under his predecessors have been trampled, often in the name of the president's admittedly admirable efforts to extinguish corruption. Potential opposition seems, like many of the Chinese people, to be mesmerized by Xi's "cult of personality" and his glamorous wife, Peng Liyuan.We can overestimate the Chinese challenge, however. The possibility was revealed to me during a recent visit to Shanghai. The downtown of this sprawling city gleams with the rewards of capitalism. It has towering skyscrapers and a first-class rail system. But the vast majority of its 20 million residents, especially those of its enormous and chaotic suburbs, seem unhappy.The city is frenetic - it has a distinctive "Western" vibe - but people seem stuck in place. Their working lives are unrewarding. They cannot own houses, so they live in shacks or Soviet-style high-rises, generally alone or with aging parents.Most public services are decrepit, particularly health care and education. Success seems dependent upon connections rather than talent. The lives of Shanghai residents are devoid of the civic institutions that give ours meaning like family, church, book clubs, the local tavern. Their communist society, ironically, is atomistic.And, of course, they have little opportunity to speak out or organize politically to bring about change. There's no Facebook or Google in China. The government's "Great Firewall" largely blocks access to them and many other Western websites.The city has a growing globalized class largely made up of educated, tech-savvy millennials. They seem content at the moment, but at some stage surely they will insist on political reform and multiparty democracy, freedom of speech, and a more concerted effort to end corruption and bring about meritocracy.We know from 1989 and the events in Tiananmen Square that this will be resisted. It is hard to know what will happen, but the process will set China back a great deal economically, and probably militarily.Our presidential election this year is, according to Donald Trump, about making America great again. That might be true. But for now we are - at least in a comparative sense - if not great, certainly top of the pile. Soon to be just about the grocery stores only label-free zone. Photo: Photographer: david/This content is subject to copyright. As promised, President Obama has signed Congresss bill into law requiring the countrys first labels on foods that have genetically modified ingredients. Companies will now have to indicate products that contain GMOs with either a text label, a universal logo of some as-yet-undetermined design, or a third option that includes adding a 1-800 number or QR code that requires a smartphone to read. It gives the USDA two years to hammer down the specific rules, which will override the ones Vermont just enacted, of which many of the biggest food companies have already reluctantly complied. The bill itself was controversial, and passage came despite loud objections from members of Congress like Bernie Sanders and (somewhat ironically) label advocates themselves, who argue the rules are full of too many loopholes, the penalties for not complying are too lax, and the QR-code option is too easy of an out. Critics believe that if given those three label choices, companies will pick the one involving a bar code that resembles a printing glitch and requires an expensive cell phone to access. (Vermonts law forced companies to put Produced with genetic engineering on packaging, then permitted QR codes as a way of providing additional information.) The fight leading up to the bills passage got acrimonious enough that organic-food producers even turned on their own, slamming pro-label members of their own group. The Organic Consumers Association, for instance, started circulating an image of Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb and Stonyfield founder Gary Hirshberg that called them traitors and showed QR codes stamped on their foreheads, Mark of the Beaststyle. Theres no indication foods with GMOs are necessarily dangerous, but groups that want labels argue its still the publics right to know when products contain them. They claim this national labeling standard wont do a whole lot to change that. Quite a few stories broke out during the weekend and there were a few that I felt would be wrong not to cover. First, the Chinese company Dongxu Optoelectronics launched the first graphene battery pack for consumers and it's nothing short of impressive. The graphene batteries are often viewed as the next generation of power supplies for the mobile devices, as they allow for super-fast charging and there's no risk of explosion. The Dongxu's G-King Battery Pack has a capacity of 4,800 mAh - far from impressive capacity and it is bulkier than a regular Li-Ion 10,000 power bank. But this particular graphene battery recharges in about 13 minutes. Indeed, it seems the future is closer than we thought. By the end of last week some quarterly reports were made available as well. LG announced its Q2 earnings of $503 million - a 140% increase over Q2 in 2015. The growth is attributed to the strong sales of air conditioners worldwide and overall steady performance in Asia and Europe. As far as LG's mobile department is concerned, it saw a revenue of $2.86 billion - that's 12% better than Q1, but down from Q2 2015. Due to the increased market expenses the division posted an operating loss of $132 million. Sony's financial results for its Q1 (April-June) bring some good news. Sony Mobile posted a total profit of $4 million which may not be much, but the division is no longer operating at a loss thanks to trimming and reorganization of its business. This also means it's no longer in jeopardy of closure, at least for now. It's not all roses, though, as Sony needs to sell more phones. Sales are down 33.7% and its expenses are rising because of the stronger Japanese Yen. Well, if it all falls apart, the PlayStation department is always there to bring some nice numbers to Sony and keep the investors happy enough. Microsoft saw some trouble last week - in order to trim its Nokia losses down even more, the company laid off 2,850 workers. A few months ago another batch of 1,850 workers were dismissed in continuing efforts to keep the losses from Nokia's somewhat manageable. And finally, a report from China explored the state of the Chinese mobile makers throughout Q2 this year. Huawei is the top selling Chinese brand globally with more than 32 million phones sold, followed by Oppo with 22 million, and Vivo with 16.4 million. Xiaomi tumbles down to the fourth place with 15.2 million sales. Oppo still has cause for celebration - Oppo leapfrogged Huawei in the final month of the quarter when it commanded 23% market share and dominated Huawei's 5.5% share. Source (Dongxu) Source (LG) Source (Sony) Source (Microsoft) Source (Xiaomi) Via 1 Via 2 Haiti - Music : Towards a Mapping of the Haitian music industry For the first time Haiti won the call for proposals of International Fund for Cultural Diversity of UNESCO, through the Association "Ayiti Mizik" and its project "Mapping of the Haitian music industry". Note that the project "Ayiti Mizik" will allow the Haitian music industry to adopt a critical impact study for its development. This study will enhance the music industry by providing it with numerical data, while ensuring the conciliation with the National Conference on Culture 2011 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-3478-haiti-culture-our-culture-is-our-force.html This mapping of the Haitian music industry will also be the starting point for the development of cultural policy in this sector and having a multiplier effect for other Haitian cultural sectors. The field survey, combined with consultation meetings and online questionnaires will be conducted during the summer period (August-September) by the company Ayiti Nexus. Along with the realization of this important study, a field survey (combined with consultation meetings and online questionnaires), will be conducted with stakeholders throughout the country and in the diaspora, with the support of partners among others: the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and creative Industries, the Investment Facilitation Center (CFI), the French Institute and the network of French Alliances in Haiti and the Swiss Embassy in Haiti . Learn more about the music industry in Haiti : According to Pascale Jaunay, music expert of the project "The size of the music sector is estimated at more than a third of the cultural sector as a whole and its influence embraces very diverse expressions strongly inspired by traditional knowledge. It generates an economy based on a potential market of over 12 million inhabitants (including the diaspora). However, the very informal nature of this economy greatly limits its development." HL/ HaitiLibre Free-market-oriented Libre Institute working with other groups to promote alternatives to incarceration and cleanup of criminal code A recent event hosted by the Libre Institute highlighted an issue that's gaining support across the ideological spectrum: Reforms in the criminal-justice system that would clean up the legal code, not only reducing penalties for nonviolent offenses but also removing many crimes from the books.said Libre Institute spokeswoman Marilinda Garcia, who noted that there are tens of thousands of laws on the books. The Libre Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic freedom, limited government, property rights, and the rule of law with a focus on Hispanics, sponsored the panel on "overcriminalization" on July 16 at Carmen's Cuban Cafe. About 50 people attended the bilingual event.Overcriminalization is a topic that is gaining steam among some politicians and policy organizations. Heritage Foundation researchers describe overcriminalization asThe effort to reduce the effects of overcriminalization includes sentencing reform, as displayed in North Carolina's "justice reinvestment" program, along with efforts to get some laws taken off the books.A 2014 report by the Council of State Governments Justice Center showed that North Carolina's 2011 Justice Reinvestment Act resulted in a $48 million savings for the 2013-14 fiscal year alone, and contributed to the closure of 10 prisons.However, criminal-justice reformers say more needs to be done to slow the increase in criminal offenses being enacted while taking outdated and unnecessary laws off the books.said Rafael Mangual, project manager for legal policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in New York City. He added that they weren't necessarily high-level criminal offenses requiring long sentences. They're mostly misdemeanors and low-level felonies, he said.Nevertheless, these crimes can have "collateral consequences" for small business owners and family farmers whoMangual said.Mangual said.There are more than 300,000 criminal laws and rules at the federal level.Mangual said.Mangual said the Manhattan Institute examined the criminal codes in a number of states, including North Carolina. The Tar Heel State'sMangual said.He said North Carolina added a net 34 crimes a year between 2008 and 2013.Mangual said the Manhattan Institute has some recommendations for state legislatures to consider to help reduce overcriminalization. One is to enact a "default criminal intent" standard for people to be charged with a crime. That standard could include proving an offender knowingly violated the law, was reckless, or was negligent, he said.The Manhattan Institute also recommends that the state create a bipartisan legislative task force to focus on overcriminalization. The state also should create a commission to comb through the statutes and regulatory code to look for laws that are outdated."Kansas has the office of the repealer," an executive branch office that recommends regulations, laws, and executive orders for repeal, he said. Its recommendations can be forwarded by the governor to the legislature, which then votes to repeal or retain the measures.Meanwhile, in 2014, Minnesota had an "unsession" of the legislature that did nothing but repeal laws. Mangual added that whileAt the Libre Institute gathering, Garcia said that overcriminalization takes an especially heavy toll on people who are less well-off financially because they are unable to afford adequate legal assistance or even come up with the money to post bail.Angela Hight, criminal justice policy analyst at The Civitas Institute, echoed the suggestion that many laws need to be repealed.Hight said, adding that incarceration should be reserved primarily for violent offenses and for people who pose genuine threats to others.said Debbie Walsh, a board member of a number of prison ministries.Ivette Diaz, the Libre Institute's head of family policy, said that while the organization fights for criminal-justice reforms, families need to take responsibility for their own actions.Garcia said that the effort to reduce overcriminalization is part of the Libre Institute's mission.Garcia said. Haiti - FLASH : End of 6 months of occupation to the Rectorate of UEH Friday, the office of Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) and of the Directorate of Post-Graduate Studies (DEP), illegally occupied by a group of alleged students since 5 February, were finally emptied of their occupants rebels by officers of the Corps for Intervention and Maintenance of Order (CIMO), following a court ruling in favor of the UEH intervened after months of legal procedures... Premises vandalized, soiled, graffiti on the walls, dirty floors, old mattresses, liquor bottles, condoms among files and documents and materials of the administration destroyed... This is the sad spectacle of occupation that have left these "students" who had promised to respect the enclosure of offices, which clearly was not the case. It must be said that out of 13 young people arrested, only 3 had student cards and the majority had not even a National Identification Card (CIN). Six months of negotiations, blackmail, promises, threats and several months of legal proceedings by the University before obtaining a judgment in favor of the institution and to vacate the premises. This proves if necessary, the weakness and failure of our justice, even if the leaders of the University, saw in the release of their premises, a victory of law over violence and the intransigence of a group of young "students". In response, of "students" supporters of their colleagues expelled from the premises of the University, drew up in solidarity and protest, of In response, of "students" supporters of their colleagues expelled from the premises of the University, drew up in solidarity and protest of the UEH, heavily disrupting traffic and causing panic among residents... Note that the 13 youth after having been auditioned to the prosecution of Port-au-Prince have been released and barely out, promised to re-offend ! See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17850-haiti-flash-students-attacked-the-ueh-research-house.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17486-icihaiti-flash-violence-to-ueh.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17344-icihaiti-politic-of-students-illegally-occupying-the-ueh-for-more-than-3-months.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17153-icihaiti-security-police-brutality-in-ueh.html TB/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... Investigation commissions of CEP at work The Executive Board of the Provisional Electoral Council informs that by resolution of the Board members, 3 administrative investigation commissions were formed. Members of these commissions are responsible to gather in particular evidence of false declarations, of proven fraud and violence in the following constituencies : Limbe/Bas-Limbe, Terrier-Rouge, Fort-Liberte, Cabaret, Camp-Perrin/Maniche, Baraderes/Grand Boucan, Pilate, Ferrier /Perches, Gonaives, Bombardopolis / Baie de Haine, Savanette, Petit-Trou-de-Nippes, 1st circonscription of Port-au-Prince. Commissioners will have to submit an administrative inquiry reports within 5 to 15 days from the date of publication of this note July 29, 2016. Kishore Singh advocates the elimination of school fees The UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Education (Dhe), Kishore Singh, whose mission in Haiti ended Sunday called on Haitian authorities to regulate the private sector (90% of schools) for the education does not become a commercial product. A private sector that benefits from laws, policies, programs and policies to the detriment of public schools. For Kishore Singh, it would be necessary to eliminate school fees. This would, according to him ensure access to education for all citizens, as provided for by Haiti's Constitution. Rain of discharge certificates in the Senate The senators met in plenary session, issued last Thursday, over 20 clearance certificates for accounting of public funds including Senators Riche Andris and Fritz Carlos Lebon, respectively former President and Quaestor Senate candidates to their succession, said the Senator Jean-Baptiste Bien-Aime who invited the deputies to follow the example of senators, to promote the participation of those concerned by a discharge, to participate in the next elections. Finance : for a simultaneous vote of commissions Senator Nenel Cassy Chairman of the Senate Committee permanante "Economy, Finance and Budget" proposed that the Commissions of the two branches of Parliament vote on draft amending budget 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017 finance law at the same time. Assessment of the BED and BEC continues Richardson Dumel, Communication Director of Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has confirmed that the process of evaluation of Departmental Electoral Offices (BED) and Communal (BEC) continued throughout the national territory. Stating that changes will take place at these decentralized structures, depending on the situation. Agenda... On Friday, the Citizen Protection Office (OPC) received the visit of Kishore Singh, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education; Carmithe Israna Gemain, the Deputy Director General of Fund of Economic and Social Assistance (FAES), chaired the 13th Board of Directors. The meeting focused on the monitoring of previous meetings, the cohesion of the work within the institution, the inauguration of the school of Furcy and the status of programs : of Support for the Reconstruction of the Education Sector (ARSE), of Support for the Implementation of the Sectoral Plan for Education and the Educational Reform (AMOPERE), of Access Program for Quality Education in Haiti (ACEQH), of Support Program to the Intervention Plan in the Housing Sector (SPISH) and the Support Programme for the Reconstruction of Leogane (RELEO); NOTICE: the National Identification Office (ONI) informs that its call center is in operation and encourages to call for free *8484 for any information you need on its various services. HL/ HaitiLibre 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 of the worlds most influential HR personalities, Lazlo Bock, stepped down from his role as head of people operations at Google last Wednesday (27 July).Holding the role for ten years, Bock transformed Googles workplace and culture: helping the company grow into the 65,000-strong workforce it is today.His influence has also reached beyond Google with his policies changing the fundamentals of how todays modern tech firms operate. His book, Work Rules! Insights from Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead, has also inspired HR leaders outside of the tech world.Part of the reason I wrote Work Rules! was to open source what weve been doing so that others can borrow, tweak, and adapt what weve done that works, he told Lifehacker.Bock radically changed Googles hiring processes from clunky methods such as using brain teasers on billboards into a much smoother system.I hate brainteasers, he told Forbes a few years ago. Theres no evidence that they suggest how people will perform on the job. Some of our interviewers still ask them. Im trying to get them to stop.He also brought in employee-friendly policies such as free meals, shuttle buses and take-your-parents-to-work days.His views have often gone against typical HR knowledge as well. For instance, he has said paying for outside training wastes money and is personally against performance reviews which he says are stacked.One of his most controversial policies was to fracture the pay structure by offering office superstars much more than their peers. One much publicised example involved two workers in the same area: one receiving a stock award of $10k while another received $10m because he was seen as an elite worker.Its hard work to have pay ranges where someone can make two or even 10 times more than someone else, he told Business Insider previously.But its much harder to watch your highest-potential and best people walk out the door. It makes you wonder which companies are really paying unfairly: the ones where the best people make far more than average, or the ones where everyone is paid the same.He is being replaced by Eileen Naughton, Googles vice president for sales and operations for the UK and Ireland. Naughton joined Google in 2006 after working at Time.Bock will continue to help Google in an advisory role while also consulting with other companies. Story and Photos By Jessica Isaacs | [email protected] The Rev. Gordon Noble 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. At Home in the Hills The little rock church in downtown Boone has been a landmark in the town for generations. Its doors have always been open to anyone seeking a place to worship, no matter their background or denomination. The same man has led that church, Boone Advent Christian, for the last half century, and, although hes recently retired from the fulltime pastorate, his heart for Jesus, his great big smile and his kind, loving spirit remain fixtures in the community. In the late 1950s, a young Gordon A. Noble from West Virginia had recently earned a degree in architectural engineering from the Maryland Institute of Art. Until his father, an Advent Christian pastor, brought him along to help lead an evangelistic youth camp, he had plans of his own. My dad talked me into going with him. I was planning to go into the navy, but I didnt know he and God had been talking about this, Noble said. I was sitting with this little girl on the last day of camp. I dont know what my dad preached, probably didnt hear a word he said. The first thing I remember hearing him say was, Okay, this is the night that were inviting you to come forward and give your life to fulltime Christian service. Thats when my light went out. They say I bout broke her arm turning her loose and I was pushing over people. I ran down the aisle and they said I prayed and prayed and prayed. I heard someone say, Well, Gordon, what are you going to do now? I answered, I must go to school to prepare myself for the ministry. And that he did. He began studying right away at Berkshire Christian College in Lenox, Massachusetts. It was there that he met Jane, a classmate from Ferguson, North Carolina, who would later become his wife and partner in ministry. After his graduation from Berkshire in the early 1960s, Gordon and Jane were married and moved to his home state for his first fulltime pastorate in Dunbar, West Virginia. Theyd been serving there for three years when they received an invitation from that little congregation in Boone, North Carolina. Before officially accepting the offer, the young preacher made sure to confer with his wife, who was happy to be in West Virginia but feeling homesick for the comforts of Carolina. I went down to ask Jane about it and she said, Thats not my choice. Thats between you and God. Youre the one He called to preach, Noble explained before letting out a good laugh. But sometimes I like to tell people that she said, You and the Lord can do what you want to, but Im going home to start packing. At the time, he had recently been in town to preach revival at the church. Even before I came for revival, I supplied there a couple of times for the former pastor. My mom and dad lived in Hickory at the time, so Id go through Ferguson to pick Jane up and bring her up here, he said. One time, on the way back I told her, wouldnt it be great if we could stay in the ministry, stay in the Appalachian region until its getting up late in our lives and we could come to Boone, pastor here and retire here? Well, late in life didnt work, and I was 30 years old when we came here. Accepting the Challenge Before making the move, Noble was careful to consult with his predecessor and find out why he was leaving. The answer surprised him, and what had disheartened the former pastor quickly lit a spark in the new preachers heart. He told me that there were about 27 people in the church at the most in any service and most of them were senior citizens. Hed been to four funerals in a row and said he just couldnt stand to sit any longer and watch the church die, said Noble. I thought, right here in Boone? When Appalachian State University is growing like it is, why should a church ever die? That was a challenge to me. Jane and Gordon soon relocated, and he brought his first message as pastor at Advent Christian on New Years Day 1966. His first order of business was to take Advents mission outside the four walls of the church. He made the decision to begin his Sunday evening services at 6 p.m., an hour earlier than most congregations in the area. Id get out of the six oclock and Id go to a different church just to make myself known and let the people know about our church, Noble said. Id say, Come on, were the same as you are. From the front door of the sanctuary, with the campus of Appalachian State University right across the street, Noble saw the mission field set clearly before him and made strides over the next several years to get involved in on-campus outreach. Seven years later, God opened the door for Advent to host one of the first college ministries in the county. Its a miraculous story, and its one that Noble loves to tell, although it still brings tears to his eyes. You have to realize that the number seven in the Bible means completion and fulfillment. One Sunday morning, we started at a quarter to 10, so Id already started the service when I saw these two college girls come in through the door, he explained. I ran back there to them and I grabbed those girls and hugged them. I had to try not to cry, because Id been praying for something like this for so long. They were barefooted. They had blue jeans with cut-off places in them, sloppy looking blouses, and you could tell they werent wearing any undergarments, and their hair didnt look too good; but I hugged them and I just welcomed them to this church. As the Nobles later learned, those two visitors were part of a blind experiment through which students dressed in disheveled clothing and attended various churches to see how they might be treated. They reconvened later to share their experiences, and the two who visited First Advent had quite a different story to tell than their peers. People told them not to come back if they couldnt be more respectful, if they couldnt be cleaner, all this kind of stuff. Jill and Sue, who came here, said to them You aint gonna believe this and told them how they were treated here. I get choked up even now just thinking about it. That next Sunday, we had 18 of them in church. So began Boone Advents college ministry, which thrived for many years under the Nobles direction. The church offered associate memberships to participating students so they wouldnt have to renounce association with their home churches. The group, called the Adventurers, drew in up to 60 student members at a time at its height. One Sunday a month was college Sunday. They did the whole service, and, when they did, theyd bring others over to hear it, said Noble. They did the choir, they did everything, and it made them feel such a part. We just loved having them. Today, with a growing number of outreach programs popping up around the county, Advent sees smaller numbers of students in service than it did during the heyday of its college ministry; but the Nobles say the churchs doors, and its heart, will always remain open to its neighbors at Appalachian State. And He Called Her an Angel Over the past five decades of their ministry, Jane and Gordon Noble have seen their fair share of divine appointments and interventions. Even in the wake of their own personal tragedies, God sent his messengers to remind them that He is always in control. We lost a grandchild, Tyler, before he was born 14 years ago. He was carried for eight months. That was a traumatic experience on all of us, Noble said. On me, as a pastor, that was one of the times I kept wanting to say, Why, God? That child didnt even have a chance to breathe air in this world. Noble, who has always called himself a bivocational pastor, was working part-time at the nearby Hamptons Funeral Home when his grandson passed away. Too devastated to stand at the pulpit for several weeks, he mustered the energy to work receiving at the funeral home one night. He stood by the front door when an elderly woman approached him; hed never seen her before, but he was soon convinced she was Heaven sent. Their exchange was curious: Youre Rev. Noble, arent you? Yes, maam. You just lost a grandson, didnt you? Yes, maam, I did. And youre from West Virginia, arent you? I started choking up, he said. I thought, who is this woman? In West Virginia, did you ever sing that song called Gathering Flowers for the Masters Bouquet? Yes, we used to sing that all the time. Have you ever thought maybe God just wanted a bud in his bouquet to watch it bloom? Then she went away. We couldnt find her and nobody could identify her. She just wasnt around, said Noble. From that moment on, it just all left me. It just all left me. That was my angel. Today, if you ask Jane and Gordon about their family, theyll tell you they have two children, Kimberly and Mark, and six grandchildren, five on earth and one in Heaven. Welcome to Our Family Jane and Gordons ministry at Boone Advent Christian remained centered on an open door policy. While their doctrines align more closely with Baptist beliefs, all denominations are welcome to worship at Advent. That doesnt matter here. Weve developed this church over the years to be more of an interdenominational church a community church, he said. Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics you name them, weve had them and we have them now. The Bible says, study to show yourself approved unto God. I dont care what church you belong in, study the word of God to prove yourself to God not to me and not to a denomination and, if youre satisfied with your studying and your belief, youre welcome here. Recognizing the Bible as the inspired word of God is first and foremost in the Advent Christian beliefs, and all who share that are considered part of the family of Christ. Some people say, if its interdenominational, then what do you ask people before they can join? Well, heres what I ask them: Do you believe the word of God is the holy, inspired word of God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe that Jesus Christ can forgive your sins? Have you accepted him as your personal savior? When they say yes, I say, Welcome to our family! Since Gordons first message in 1966, the Nobles have seen the church grow from 27 members up to 120, 140 and sometimes 160 in a typical Sunday morning service. In late October of 2015, just two months shy of the half-century mark, Noble followed the Lords direction and chose to retire from the fulltime pastorate. I knew I couldnt stay for another two months just to make a name for myself, and I heard a little voice telling me it was time to retire, he said. A friend of mine, a retired Lutheran minister, said hed like to use me on a circuit of churches. I asked God if Hed let me preach maybe once a month somewhere. I dont know how many Sundays its been since then, but its been more than once a month. Its just a good experience. Jane and Gordon have touched the lives of many people in the High Country over the years, and many look forward to showing their support at the community-wide pastor appreciation event in August when the couple will be recognized. Its a bigger deal than I thought it was going to be, but I am very flattered and very honored. I felt humbled, he said. Im not really good with recognition, and shes not either. I dont like to be given some type of honor for what Ive done for God. Im 79 years old and most of that time Ive been working for God. Thats been a blessing and hes taken care of and done so much for us. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket (Bizjournals) A Woburn, Mass. investment adviser has been sentenced to seven years in prison for helping to convince clients to invest more than $1.3 million in a bogus hedge fund company and using their money for personal expenses. Rosalind Herman, 61, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and to pay $1.8 million to the investors. To read this article: The evidence presented in the media signifies a strong link to Russia. If the accusations prove to be true, it would be a question of a foreign nation deliberately seeking to influence the outcome of presidential elections in the United States, he writes in his blog for Iltalehti . Russia is probably to blame for hacking into and leaking thousands of e-mails from the database of the US Democratic Party, estimates Jarno Limnell, a professor of cyber security at Aalto University. The United States will in that scenario presumably respond firmly, even though its previous public counter-measures to data breaches have been curiously moderate. A lack of response would signal a de factor approval of such activities. The hackers leaked roughly 20,000 sensitive internal e-mails on the eve of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, indicating that the party leadership supported the newly-confirmed presidential nominee, Hilary Clinton, throughout the nomination process. Limnell reminds that some of the documents and e-mails circulating in the media may have been manipulated. There is hardly a shortage of information, and I recommend that everyone is very critical of sources. The case on the whole is a good example of the Russian Gerasimov Doctrine, which relevantly expands the definition of a military target and highlights the importance of diversion and (dis)information in contemporary warfare. Expect more headlines, he says. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Robyn Beck AFP / Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Police officers stood outside a courtroom as detention hearings for six members of the national volleyball team of Cuba were held at the District Court of Pirkanmaa in Tampere on 5 July, 2016. A pre-trial investigation into a rape allegedly committed by six members of the national volleyball team of Cuba in Tampere on 2 July, 2016, has been wrapped up, reveals a spokesperson for the Inner Finland Police Department. All of the six athletes remain in detention on suspicion of aggravated rape, the spokesperson says in a press release. LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Annexation is right policy at Upward interchange There will be much caterwauling at the Hendersonville City Council meeting next week when a developer appears to ask for annexation and a zoning permit for an 84-room Fairfield Inn & Suites on Upward Road. The background, as the Hendersonville Lightning reported last week, is this: Several weeks of miscommunication led to a conflict between the city and contractor Chris Cormier, of Carolina Specialties, and the applicant, Satis Patel. Cormier and Patel, and land seller Bob Quattlebaum for good measure, say they proceeded with the application and development plans without knowing they would have to be annexed. City zoning regulations are costing them money because of landscape and traffic requirements, they say. City Council members readily admit that someone dropped the ball when Cormier first started the zoning application. There was a lag in communication at 100 North King between the permitting and zoning, Mayor pro tem Steve Caraker said. Thats when the stuff hit the fan. Everyone agrees that at the start, the applicant should have been told that a request for city sewer service in an unincorporated outside the city requires annexation. Cormier and Quattlebaum also raise an equal protection argument, saying some other properties have received sewer hookups without being annexed. Caraker concedes that a couple of industrial buildings had fallen through the cracks. But in another non-annexation case that Cormier cites Dodd Meadows Caraker and two other council members defend the citys position for good reason solid we think. The city exempted the Habitat for Humanity development in keeping with a policy that encourages affordable housing. Its not as if the city has responded to Cormiers complaint with a heavy hand. It has worked with him on two variance requests. One reduces the tree planting requirement in the common area from nine to zero. There was a little bit of a dustup in the beginning, and frankly he took us to task, Caraker said. But we stood our ground and came up with a good compromise. The city was right to stand its ground on this very important point. After the food-palooza at our south gateway, Upward Road is the next development boom. The General Assembly has outlawed involuntary annexation. But annexation in exchange for requested city services is allowed. In fact its a way to help pay for the cost of growth; without annexation, existing city taxpayers underwrite the cost for new business development. Yes, the Fairfield Inn will pay city property taxes. It will also get the lower rate on its water bill because its in the city. And it will welcome guests who are here to visit the nearby city that was built and is sustained by the purse of city taxpayers. Were confident that the current City Council, which is as pro-development as any Hendersonville has had in a generation, will oversee an orderly and business friendly pattern of growth on this next interchange frontier. Council members owe no apology for asserting the citys right to make commercial development on its borders a part of the city. HELENA The discord over debates between two candidates for Montana's lone seat in Congress is over mostly. U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke and Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau have agreed to three debates. The first will be on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Frazer on Aug. 29, the second Sept. 1 in Billings and the third Oct. 5 in Great Falls. Zinke and Juneau had previously sparred about a debate schedule, with Juneau first proposing six debates, including one on an Indian reservation. Zinke responded later by proposing five debates, including two in towns near reservations. On Monday Zinke said in a press release he was glad to have the debates scheduled and highlighted their locations on reservations. "Eastern Montana and the sovereign nations are equally as important as Billings, Great Falls and other population centers, but they often don't get the attention they deserve. I'm looking forward to speaking directly with voters from these communities about how we can work together to get America and Montana back on the right track." Juneau also released a statement saying she was pleased the debates were scheduled but called for more in Missoula or Bozeman. "Its time Congressman Zinke explain why hes voted to cut public lands funding, voted to transfer management of our lands to politically appointed boards, voted to slash funding for Pell grants, and voted to limit health care for Montana women. Unfortunately, Congressman Zinke has declined invitations from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and MontanaPBS, and I encourage him to reconsider." Libertarian candidate Mike Fellows has been invited, and the campaigns are still discussing the possibility of more debates. Both campaigns said they would like to hold a debate on the Crow Reservation. Debate specifics: 7 p.m., Sept. 1, Petro Theatre, Montana State University Billings campus. Panelists: Tom Lutey of The Billings Gazette, Jackie Yamanaka of Yellowstone Public Radio and KULR 8. 7 p.m., Aug. 29, Frazer School, Fort Peck Reservation, sponsored by the McCone, Roosevelt and Valley Montana Farm Bureaus, moderated by the Glasgow Courier and Yellowstone Public Radio. Oct. 5, Heritage Hall at Great Falls College MSU, debate to be hosted by the Montana Farmers Union and the Great Falls Tribune. Yellowstone Public Radio is planning to carry the Billings and Great Falls debates live and will make a feed available to other state media. YPR is working with the sponsors at the other two locations to see if those debates can also be carried live or tape delayed. The three top banking executives jailed for their role in the Anglo conspiracy are likely to spend their jail time in the Training Unit attached to Mountjoy Prison. John Bowe (52); Willie McAteer (65), of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary; and the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent Denis Casey (56) are deemed low-risk prisoners. The trio were processed in the main jail on Friday, but they are now in the more comfortable Training Unit, where more "hardened" prisoners are generally moved to as their sentences are coming to an end. McAteer was given a three-and-a-half year sentence, Casey - of Raheny in North Dublin - received two years and nine months, and Bowe was handed two years for their roles in the 7.2 billion fraud. Strict Judge Martin Nolan told Bowe - of Lindsay Road in Glasnevin - the lower sentence was because his role was "lesser" and he was not a board member. The three spent one night in the main jail's single cells but were moved on Saturday. "These guys are not likely to be any sort of a threat in prison," said a jail source. "By their nature they'll be anxious to keep the heads down and get on with things," the source added, indicating that the bankers won't need the same level of security as other prisoners. "But they will still be on a strict regime and it's not like they are being segregated from 'lifers' or more hardened criminals - there are a number of them in the unit coming to the end of their sentences." The source said the prisoners could theoretically be moved at a later stage to a more open prison environment, such as Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow or Loughan House in Co Cavan. However, such a move might make it harder for family visits and so it was more likely they would stay in Dublin. "While they are in prison they will be encouraged to engage in training or courses," added the source. "They won't be forced to do them but often prisoners engage in these activities because the time passes quicker when your mind is occupied with something, otherwise you spend a lot of time in your cell." The Training Unit is seen by inmates as a more comfortable and modern place than the older main prison. Appeal The three men now have 26 days to lodge a notice of intention to appeal the sentences. Cells are unlocked at 8.15am every morning in the Training Unit and the prisoners go and pick up their breakfast of cereal or toast, with fruit, before going back to their cells. Inmates spend more time out of their cells in the contained unit than those in the main prison. Montana Rescue Mission workers ran four large water pumps through Saturday night to remove an estimated 2 million gallons of water from the basement of its mens facility. Only then were they able to assess the damage left by a Saturday morning flood. Between about 7 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. Saturday water gushed from a broken pipe connecting the former Grannys Attic building to city water lines. The kitchen and dining area under the mens shelter was flooded with about 18 inches of water. The fresh concrete of the newly renovated space was littered with sand, and the tiled of the dining room was split down the middle by the underground water pressure, said Glenn Fournier, MRM program director. When all the water came up it wrecked all the Sheetrock we just hung up, Fournier said. So well have to do that all over again. The food service area was in the final stages of a remodel following a septic line issue. The kitchen was about a week away from reopening. MRM administrators were waiting for the new concrete to dry enough to pass moisture testing and the process will take even longer after the flooding, Fournier said. He said the kitchen renovation and sewer line repair was originally estimated to cost about $50,000. The new water damage will add about $20,000 to the projects total expense after the floor is addressed and waterlogged Sheetrock is replaced. We were just that close to reopening that thing. You could get black mold or something behind (the Sheetrock), and you just cant risk it, not in a food service environment, Fournier said. The flooding also damaged materials MRM stored in the old Grannys Attic building including donated clothes and 30 to 40 bicycles. A majority of those goods will be taken to the landfill. Fortunately about 30,000 pounds of food stored in commercial refrigerators was able to be saved and is currently loaded in a refrigerated semi-trailer borrowed from Food Services of America, Fournier said. About 30 men staying at the shelter were displaced after the electricity was cut off to the building. Fournier said they might be able to return early this week, but in the mean time cots and sleeping mats are setup in the administrative building across the street. The City of Billings also has issues to address after the incident. A section of on-street parking in front of the affected Minnesota Avenue buildings was blocked off Sunday with caution tape and signs. Fournier said when the 12-inch pipe burst it dumped enough water to carve out a five-foot-deep pocket under the street measuring about 20 feet by 20 feet. Folks who want to help can volunteer to assist with the cleanup effort throughout the week. MRMs public meal program has also been halted. The shelter is also need of water and food that can be served cold such as sandwiches, salads or fried chicken. The scene of the aggravated burglary which occurred in Kettles Lane, near Swords A man who shot a convicted thief after he was caught raiding his father's home has said it makes his blood boil when he hears about elderly people being burgled. Graham Lowndes (51), from Swords in north county Dublin, was speaking after receiving the Probation Act after admitting having a firearm without a certificate on the day he shot Matthew Fahey (36) in the left arm on April 12, 2012. Lowndes walked free from Dublin Circuit Court last Friday, but warned others who are put into his position to contact gardai and not act rashly in the heat of the moment. Fahey, who has 61 convictions for theft, burglary and car theft, was hit in the arm after he was caught raiding the house of Graham's elderly father, Richard, in the townland of Kilsallaghan, Swords. He is now suing Graham Lowndes in a civil case after being treated for having 17 shotgun pellets in his arm. "I'm delighted with the result. It has been a long time and I am relieved now that the criminal element of it is finished with," Mr Lowndes said. "However, it still makes my blood boil when I hear about other burglaries and attacks on elderly people. I still worry about my father, and I wouldn't wish that worry on anyone." But Mr Lowndes said that following his court case he would urge others to be cautious if they ended up in a similar situation where they are confronting trespassers or burglars. powerless "I would advise people not to be rash in the heat of the moment, but to call the gardai," he said. Mr Lowndes said hearing that a man in his 80s who was living alone in the Swords area and was burgled in a separate and unrelated attack last Friday has made him realise that people are powerless against this type of crime. The latest victim is recovering after being attacked by a gang of three masked thugs who broke into the pensioner's farmhouse on Kettle's Lane near Swords between 3am and 4am on Friday morning. They were armed with weapons, described as bats and sticks, and threatened the man. Gardai say the gang then demanded money from the frightened farmer, and assaulted him. "The three male offenders were wearing dark clothing and balaclavas," said a garda spokesman. "They then fled the scene with a small amount of cash, but the direction they went and the mode of transport they used is unknown," he added. A young man caught during a garda sting operation selling diazepam to undercover officers has struggled since his father and his stepfather were murdered. Dean Glennon (21) sold the drug to undercover officers on three occasions last year. His lawyer told Blanchardstown District Court that Glennon has had difficulties since his father was murdered a decade ago. His mother subsequently entered into a new relationship, and that man was also murdered, said barrister Ciaran MacLoughlin. The matter was before Judge David McHugh for sentencing after he ordered a probation report. Mr MacLoughlin said the defendant failed to keep an appointment with the probation services after he had a seizure caused by his drug taking. Glennon admitted to three counts of possession of diazepam for sale or supply at The Crescent Shopping Centre in Mulhuddart on May 25, June 25 and September 3, 2015. Vulnerable Sergeant Maria Callaghan said Glennon sold diazepam to undercover gardai on three occasions. The total value of the drug was 65. The court heard that Glennon, of Dromheath Avenue in Mulhuddart, has no previous convictions. Mr MacLoughlin said that Glennon was selling the diazepam to feed his own addiction, and he was "quite a vulnerable young man", whose father was murdered when Glennon was 11 years old. His mother subsequently entered a new relationship and that man was also murdered. The court heard the defendant was looking to get into a drug treatment centre. Mr MacLoughlin also said Glennon was "not a master criminal", the drug dealing all took place at the same location, and it was a mystery to him how he had not learnt his lesson the first time he was caught. Adjourning the matter for a probation report, Judge McHugh said he would give Glennon "one last chance". The judge warned Glennon he faced going to jail unless he co-operated with the probation services. A former semi-finalist on The Voice of Ireland sexually assaulted a former colleague during a night out. Alan Fitzsimons (40), was a senior product manager at Eir, formerly Eircom, on September 16 2015, when the incident took place on the dance floor at the company's rebranding launch. Gda Kevin Lawless told Dublin District Court that there was a free bar at the event in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, which was attended by some 200 Eir staff. He said the defendant took the victim's arm, in an invitation to dance. Gda Lawless said that Fitzsimons then groped the victim's genitals and leaned in for a kiss, which the victim avoided. Just over two weeks later, on October 1 2015, the victim reported the sexual assault to gardai. Boyband Fitzsimons was a semi-finalist on RTE's The Voice in 2012, and was mentored by Brian Kennedy. He was also a member of chart-topping Irish boyband, OTT, who had three top 10 singles in the 1990s. Two witness statements were presented to the court, with one witness describing the defendant as "jovial, very drunk, but not falling over" at the time of the incident and stated the defendant "cupped his (the victim's) nuts". Another witness described the sexual assault as occurring "within a split second", and said she believed Fitzsimons possessed "no malice or forethought". The court heard the defendant and the victim were unknown to each other, but had mutual friends and colleagues at Eir. During a victim impact statement the court was told that the injured party "was not on alert" and believed himself "to be in a safe environment" on the night the sexual assault took place. The victim has suffered anxiety, headaches and disturbed sleep in the months since the incident. Fitzsimons' lawyer told the court that the defendant wished to offer the victim both an oral and a written apology. He said Fitzsimons, who has no previous convictions, was immediately suspended pending an internal investigation by Eir. He subsequently had his employment with the company terminated. Fitzsimons, of Holywell Meadows, Feltrim Road, Swords, had worked at Eir for three years and told the court he has "no clear memory of the incident due to the alcohol he had taken". He said that he was, therefore, unable to challenge the victim's version of events. The defendant described the sexual assault as "stupid" and said he had always been respected in both his professional and personal networks, adding that he had been through a difficult time since the incident. Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned the matter until a date in September and ordered that a probation report be completed. "I don't want to prolong the matter unduly, but I have to be fair to both sides," he said. The 92 million sale of the iconic Gresham Hotel is the first step on the path to making O'Connell Street the "crown jewel" of Dublin city. This is according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, who welcomed news that the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) had sold the renowned hotel to Spanish firm RIU Hotels and Resorts. "It is a step in the right direction. O'Connell Street should be the jewel in the crown for Dublin city centre, and I think it's fair to say it's far from it," said Graeme McQueen, Public Affairs Manager for the Dublin Chamber. Different "There's huge potential in the street - and five to 10 years from now, I believe when you walk down it, it will be a very different place." NAMA declined to comment when asked by the Herald about the Gresham, which it bought from the former Anglo Irish Bank for less than 35m, but it is understood that its sale generated almost 60m profit. "The deal is a vote of confidence for the northside of the city," said DublinTown CEO Richard Guiney. The RIU group, which is part-owned by TUI - the world's largest travel group - edged out Irish hotel firm Tifco to secure the 92m bid. The Spanish company has just opened a 280m hotel in New York, and is among the fastest-growing hoteliers in recent years. It already operates 105 hotels and resorts in 19 countries. The Gresham's board is expected to approve the takeover tomorrow. A spokesperson for RIU said "further investment in the hotel could be expected" but declined to comment whether the hotel group planned to take advantage of planning permission allowing for the 323-bedroom hotel to be enlarged to 465. Irish hotel sales have been booming so far in 2016, with 29 properties changing hands in first six months of the year. "Redeveloping [O'Connell Street] has been challenging due to the different motives and needs of the owners of its buildings, but there is a real opportunity now for the area," added Mr McQueen. Tributes have been paid to leading Dublin publican Oliver Hughes after his sudden death over the weekend. A co-founder of the Porterhouse Group and owner of VIP haunt Lillie's Bordello, he passed away from a suspected heart attack at his home in north Dublin on Saturday night. The Glasnevin native, a former criminal barrister, is survived by his wife Helen and his two children Holly (21) and Elliott (24). The businessman, who once fronted an RTE show called The Master's Apprentice, had been treated for a heart condition in recent weeks. He eas convalescing at home when he took ill suddenly. He was 57. Dave Morrissey of the Porterhouse Group, said that everyone had been left "devastated" by the news, and added that the industry had lost a true pioneer. Partner Mr Morrissey said he had only seen his business partner on Saturday afternoon as they checked out possible venue sites in north Dublin. "We have lost a very good friend and partner," he said. "He was such a great character and hugely intelligent. He was a pioneer in the business - a true visionary. He accomplished so many things during his lifetime. "We are gutted with the loss. It's such a shock for his whole family and we'll miss him dearly," he added. The Porterhouse company that Mr Hughes co-founded with his cousin Liam LaHarte back in 1989 incorporates seven bars, five restaurants, Dingle Distillery and its brewing operation. A former Licensed Vintner's Association chairman, Mr Hughes set up the first Porterhouse bar in Bray in 1989, followed by the first Dublin venue in Temple Bar in 1996. One of the pioneers of craft beers, he then set his sights abroad as he opened up another bar in London in 1999 as the company continued to grow. The Porterhouse Brewery now supplies craft beer to all its venues and exports to America. Venue The group took over VIP haunt Lillie's Bordello and the adjacent venue, formerly known as Judge Roy Beans, which became Porterhouse Central. In 2011, they opened a venue called Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan, housed in one of the city's oldest buildings. Mr Hughes recently opened Dingle Distillery, which was the first purpose-built distillery for whiskey in Ireland for over 200 years. Just last month saw the group complete the refurbishment of their Glasnevin venue, turning it into the Whitworth Dining and Bar, where Mr Hughes's daughter Holly works. Many of the stalwarts of the hospitality industry paid tribute to the late Mr Hughes. Lillie's Bordello promoter Garret Brady described him as the "greatest visionary the hospitality world has ever seen". "The godfather of craft beer, charismatic, witty and always on the ball. Most important of all, a wonderful husband and a super father," he said. The Mission of the State of Palestine in Ireland is applying to open an embassy in a protected building in upmarket Dublin 4. A planning application was submitted to Dublin City Council last month by the office for the change of use of 8 Upper Leeson Street, in order to use it as an embassy. In September last year, the Georgian Dublin address was listed for sale with a guide price of just under 1.5m. It was touted as a perfect family home, with its owners describing how they purchased it 11 years previously and spent a year on refurbishments before moving in. However, if permission is granted, the property will become the official embassy office in Ireland for the troubled Middle East state. In December 2014, the Dail agreed a motion officially recognising Palestine and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. Ambassador to Ireland Ahmad Abdelrazek was in the public gallery to watch that debate. The country's Irish office is currently located at Mount Merrion Avenue in Blackrock. The planning application for its permanent office said only minor works were required to the listed building to make it suitable for its use as an embassy. According to the application, the work would involve minor internal alterations to unite the basement and ground floor of the building, to include a new timber staircase. Modifications It proposed alterations to the existing electrical systems, installation of a smoke detection and fire alarm system, as well as the installation of security cameras and a burglar alarm system. There would also be fire safety upgrading to staircase doors and also modifications to the rear area to provide for disabled access. Finally, the application requested permission for the erection of a flagpole, flag and a plaque to the street side. The property is located just before Leeson Street Bridge. When put on the market, it boasted 2,230sqft of living space as a three-storey over-basement property, dating from the 1850s. The previous owners said it was in a terrible state when they purchased it. There were multiple flats and bedsits, and squatters occupied the basement. The house was not derelict, but it was in a state of disrepair and there was plenty of work to be done. They started with a new roof, and set about repairing and restoring the period features where possible. Many original features remain - including window shutters, original floorboards, dado rails and fireplaces. Dublin Zoo have launched an investigation into how a little boy came to be inside the rhino enclosure. It's believed the young boy was lifted over the fence into the rhinoceros enclosure, with an adult holding his hand. It's understood that the incident took place on Friday afternoon. A number of pictures of the event were taken and shared on social media over the weekend. Rhinos are known for their unpredictable nature. A male rhino weighs around 2.3 tonnes and can charge at speeds of up to 40kph. Gillian Bird, of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the organisation "totally and utterly condemned" the action taken by the zoo visitors. "This is horrendous, from the point of view of what is being done to the child, but also from an animal welfare point of view," she told the Herald. Unpredictable "Generally, it's just shocking that an adult could put a child in harm's way like this," she added. Ms Bird added that rhinos can be unpredictable animals, but stressed that other creatures in captivity, such as zebras, can also be dangerous to curious visitors. But she also praised Dublin Zoo, adding that keepers "care greatly for each animal". "Even if the animal approaches the child out of curiosity, it could end up hurting a person or stamping on them unintentionally." A spokesperson for Dublin Zoo said an investigation had been launched. "The matter is being taken care of internally by Dublin Zoo," she said. "It's completely against Dublin Zoo's health and safety rules but it is being looked into at the moment." HAMILTON A minimum of 500 homes are under orders to evacuate due to a fast-moving fire southwest of Hamilton that has already claimed a number of structures. Were just trying to get people out of the way now, said Bitterroot National Forest spokesman Tod McKay. We can rebuild homes. We need to get people out of this area. The fire started about 1 mile up Roaring Lion Road near a national forest trailhead. It was first noticed probably at about 2 p.m., and by a quarter to 3 it was encroaching on homes, said Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman said. We skipped stage one evacuations and went immediately to stage two, which is get out of here. By 9 p.m. Sunday, strong winds had pushed smoke from the fire to Butte. The acrid smoke was so thick that the Highlands could no longer be seen from Uptown. Hamilton Fire Chief Brad Mohn said the fire has been so volatile that volunteer firefighters have been forced to fall back several times. We have had limited opportunities to put out spot fires near homes, but the conditions are very volatile, Mohn said. Its not safe to directly attack the fire. There are several hundred structures threatened. There have been some lost, but I wont have a count until morning. Hoffman said the fire apparently started near the bottom of the drainage and just took off immediately. At this point, we dont know how it started, Hoffman said. Obviously, we have had no lightning. It took off too hard and too fast for anyone to investigate that at this point. At 6 p.m., Hoffman said he had received verification of structures on fire in the Judd Creek area. We are asking for people to cooperate, he said. We cant let people back up there this is a big area. If you pull the radar, youll see the plume is huge. Weve got fairly steady high winds up in the canyons, and this fire has just launched. McKay said he has never seen a fire spread so quickly. In the seven seasons that Ive been here, I have never seen a fire take off and burn so quick. Its a combination of terrain and fuels and the winds we have had today. The fire guys are up against it. Its all about firefighter and public safety. Today they are really being put to the test. The fire moved so fast that the initial attack team had no chance of catching it. By the first call, it was already ripping, McKay said. It got on the face with some wind behind it, and then there were 200-foot flame lengths with fire crowing in the trees all way up the face. It was incredible. A Type 1 team is expected to take over management of the firefighting effort Monday. This is a bad one, McKay said. They are on their way. We already have put every resource that we have on the fire, and everything that we can order, weve ordered. The last estimate put the fire at 1,000 acres, but McKay said its hard to know for sure due to the large amount of smoke being generated by the blaze. Hoffman said there have been a couple of ambulance calls, with one for a person needing CPR in the Owens Creek areas. My guess is thats fire related, Hoffman said. Hoffman said the community has had an incredibly good response from valley volunteer fire departments and law enforcement from as far away as Missoula. A portion of Highway 93 south of Hamilton has been closed to traffic. Hoffman said people living near the fire need to be prepared. Evacuation notices are changing by the minute as this fire spreads, he said. The Ravalli County Sheriff's Office has put in place Stage 2 evacuations for the west side of Highway 93 from Owings Creek to Hayes Creek. That includes all of Roaring Lion Road, Lupine Ridge Trail, 2 Horse Lane, Highland Drive, North Gold Creek Loop, Owings Creek south to Roaring Lion Road, and Gold Creek Loop to Camas Creek Loop. Stage 1 notifications were added from Owings Creek to Westside Road west of Wyant Lane. Stage 1 alerts homeowners that there is a high probability that they may need to evacuate. At 6:30, the Stage 1 alert was expanded to include both sides of Lost Horse Road. "It's horrible," said Pamela Caughey, who lives on Roaring Lion Road and had evacuated and was heading toward Highway 93 as of 4 p.m. Sunday. "Our house is probably gone, as well as several others. Firefighters told me they were going to do everything they can." She said the fire started at about 3 p.m. Sunday. She estimated there are about 50 homes on Roaring Lion Road, "probably more." She said the road is about 4 miles long. "When a fire gets going, it's just going to go," Caughey said. "We could see it coming so fast." This is the one we didnt want to happen, said Bitterroot National Forest public affairs officer Tod McKay. Weve got all our resources on it. Firefighters are on scene. McKay said a Type 1 incident command team was called in. Two helicopters are headed to the fire. Five air tankers were ordered and were waiting on a lead plane to arrive from the Pacific Northwest as of 5 p.m. Sunday. The Red Cross has set up two shelters for evacuees at the First Baptist Church at Lewis and Cooper lanes and at The River Church at 354 Cooper Lane in Hamilton. Gates are open on the Ravalli County Fairgrounds for livestock. ABC Acres in Hamilton is also accepting livestock displaced from the fire. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality reported at about 5 p.m. Sunday that smoke from the fire was lifting above Hamilton and that air quality was good. Tasha Adams: I still sometimes feel like I released him out into the world. I think of him like a grenade where I was always putting the pin back in." ST. REGIS Firefighters held the South Tamarack fire at 13 acres Saturday. The fire burning 6 miles north of St. Regis in the Superior Ranger District had grown slightly, 10 to 13 acres, from Friday into Saturday. The U.S. Forest Service reported Sunday afternoon that despite windy conditions, the fire remained at 13 acres. "They will continue today reinforcing the handline and saw line they have established over the last 48 hours," according to a Sunday news release. Windy conditions were expected again Sunday, "and firefighters will remain vigilant against both falling snags and new spot fires outside the fire perimeter." Hot shot crews from Flathead, Lolo and Helena, a Grangeville hand crew, two fixed-wing air attack planes and two engines are assigned to the fire. Three helicopters are supporting firefighters on the ground as needed. The lightning-caused fire is still 5 percent contained. 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. In the days when coal mining was robust and utilities paid top dollar for the fuel, few people worried about whether the mining companies would be able to afford reclamation. After coal is mined from an area, companies are expected to push dirt and topsoil back into the massive holes they dug into the ground some as large as 90 square miles in Wyomings portion of the Powder River Basin and plant new trees and grass. The requirement is to restore the earth to conditions as they existed before mining. The state and federal government have allowed mining companies to operate in the prairies from the Gillette-Campbell County Airport to the border of Converse County without securing surety bonds on all their reclamation responsibilities. Bonds are purchased to pay for the reclamation if the unthinkable happens a coal mining company goes out of business, halts operations and leaves the state. Wyoming has an estimated $2 billion in unsecured reclamation costs, relying on self-bonding more than any other state, according to the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowner group. Now that coal prices and production are down, more people such as members of the council and even federal regulators want coal companies to secure more of their reclamation responsibilities. After all, three of the four coal companies operating in Campbell County have been in bankruptcy court. And some of the candidates for the Wyoming Legislature who will represent Campbell County if they prevail in the election said they are concerned about the issue. But most of them live in Gillette, where coal is king, and none was too critical of the practice. Am I worried about it? No, said Rep. Eric Barlow, a Gillette Republican running for re-election in House District 3. Im hoping the mines can stay profitable and stay current with their reclamation. I do think the bonding should be looked at, especially in the twilight of a mine where theyre not going to have the cash on hand. They should take care of that reclamation liability. Barlows opponent in the Republican primary, Frank Eathorne of Douglas, also said in a message to the Star-Tribune that more bonds could help. But the newspaper and the candidate were not able to connect by press time to discuss specifics. Any abandoned mine would affect residents of the Powder River Basin more than other residents of the state. Scars left by mining would be an eyesore. Abandoned mines would be a danger to people in the area and prevent cattle grazing and wildlife habitation. There are concerns with groundwater pollution, since the water table is close to the coal seam, said Shannon Anderson of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, which has researched the issue and wants more bonding. Mines closing and leaving before reclaiming the land would be a disaster so large it would surpass the states ability to pay, said Democrat Dylan Czarnecki of Gillette, a candidate in HD31. Its a scenario that would require federal help. Czarnecki doesnt expect all the mines to close at once, but he still has other concerns. When a mine is working, the water is contained, but if companies pull out, he worries about it seeping out and contaminating the land and other water, he said. In the coal mines defense, many of them do the right thing, or as close to it as they can, he said. I dont think they are a bunch of mustache-twirling bad guys. The Star-Tribune tried to reach Czarneckis opponent, Republican Scott Clem, the incumbent, three times. He didnt return messages. Despite coals decline, Republican Don Dihl of Gillette, a candidate in HD32, has faith in the companies and the industry. He sees no problem with how the state has worked with the companies. It seems to be working, he said. My thought is that the coal companies here have proven to be environmentally responsible for 30 some years, so Im not going to be quick to say all of a sudden that we need to change and we need bonding. Critics of such a mentality point to abandoned mines throughout the state, especially in the Rock Springs area. If a company abandoned a mine without performing reclamation, the burden would fall on the state to clean it up, he said. He wasnt sure exactly how the state could pay for it, but he would look at all possibilities for paying reclamation costs, including levying a tax to cover costs. But he doesnt think it will come to that, he said. For as much as Dihl defends the industry, his GOP opponent Grant Lindblom has concerns. Lindblom said he is frustrated with the state for allowing and companies for misusing self-bonding. Lindblom works as an electrical engineering intern at one of the mining companies, which he declined to identify. He thinks some of the large companies werent fully reporting assets and liabilities to the state. Self-bonding rules allow subsidiaries to present financial information to prove solvency. A subsidiary might have a healthy balance sheet, while its parent company is collapsing, he said. Despite his concerns, now isnt the time to change policy, he said. With so many companies on the brink of bankruptcy, he said the focus needs to be on keeping them open. Mines shutting down would hurt Campbell County far worse than companies shirking on reclamation. We need to transition away from self-bonding and go to surety bonding, but right now thats not something mines can afford to do, Lindblom said. So we have to keep on this delicate balancing act. Its better for us if we keep allowing them to slip on it, for the time being. The states No. 1 priority should be keeping the mines open, said Tim Hallinan, the third Republican in the race, who held the seat from 2007 to 2010. Hallinan believes with self-bonding, the state is keeping Campbell Countys best interest in mind, which includes keeping jobs. I think the state will make sure we are well taken care of, he said. The mines have always done good reclamation work in the past and he said he doesnt see why they wouldnt continue to do so, despite low revenues for coal. If they cant, the state could use rainy day funds to cover costs, he said. But he doesnt think it will come to that, especially if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November. I think the mines will struggle through this process and eventually emerge from the bankruptcy situation they are in, and the coal markets will be restored, he said. The race for HD32 has four Republicans, as incumbent Norine Kasperik, R-Gillette, is not seeking re-election. The fourth Republican in the race for HD32 is Jarik Dudley, a dozer operator at Eagle Butte. He thinks that instead of requiring traditional bonds for mines, the state should use federal Abandoned Mines Land funds to pay for the bonds. However, there have been periods in which Wyoming has not received the federal money, due to politics in Washington. And persuading lawmakers in Cheyenne to use the money to buy coal company bonds may be tricky. In the state legislative session that ended in March, lawmakers decided over $150 million of the states $240 million in abandoned mine money will go to highway funding over the next two years. Lawmakers justify spending the cash on highways since just about everywhere in Wyoming is affected by mineral development. But Dudley isnt too worried about holes in the Earth. People know the mine is not going to abandon it, he said. Why wouldnt you protect your investment? And (the mines) are stewards of the community and environment itself. In the end, self-bonding may become an issue of the past, said Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, chairman of the Wyoming Senate Minerals Committee. His opponent in Senate District 24, Rod Mathis, didnt return a message. Companies with enough assets or a long enough history mining get to choose self-bonding. Von Flatern used Alpha Natural Resources as an example. The first company in the basin to emerge from bankruptcy, a new company, now controls the Wyoming operations. And in the bankruptcy process, the U.S. Department of Justice required it to secure its reclamation bonds in Wyoming. With that in mind, theyll have to buy a bond, he said. Details of a Republican plan to address a nearly $310 million projected budget shortfall unveiled on the eve of a special legislative session contain a combination of budget cuts, use of contingency funds and profits from the Bank of North Dakota. A 2.5 percent budget cut, amounting to $152 million, to most state agencies will be ordered, Gov. Jack Dalrymple told reporters Monday afternoon. Other proposals to shore up the state budget include tapping into the remaining $75 million in the Budget Stabilization Fund as well as a contingency transfer authorizing up to $100 million in Bank of North Dakota profits. The proposal would tap $44.3 million from the Foundation Aid Stabilization Fund in order to hold K-12 education harmless. A total of $33 million in Department of Human Services will be restored through the general fund, preventing the agency from experiencing any additional cuts. Also, $3 million in Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation funds will be restored, limiting its cuts in the proposal to 1 percent. Agencies were informed Monday they have until Aug. 15 to submit to the Office of Management and Budget their plans for making additional cuts. We have faith that this bill will pass, Dalrymple said. No funds from the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund will be used in the plan, Dalrymple said. I would really prefer to have as much funding as possible in the next session, Dalrymple said of the SIIF. A continued decline Earlier this year, a $1.074 billion shortfall was addressed through a 4.05 percent budget cut, Budget Stabilization Fund dollars and ending balance dollars from the previous biennium. A total of $497.6 million from the Budget Stabilization Funds $572 million balance was approved for future use at that time. The Budget Stabilization Fund was really created to go with the allotment process, Dalrymple said. The Bank of North Dakotas profits for 2015 total $130.7 million. Dalrymple in May also ordered state agencies to craft 2017-19 budgets at 90 percent levels of ongoing spending approved for the current biennium. Delayed communication? Democrats decried the delay by the Republican majority to reveal their proposal, saying theyve kept lawmakers in the dark with little time to prepare. The majoritys hide-the-ball approach has prevented North Dakota citizens from providing any meaningful input or engaging with their elected representatives regarding the critical choices that will be made at the special session this week, Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks, said in a Monday email. Its certainly no way to enact public policy that affects important priorities. Democrats released their proposal for a budget shortly after Dalrymples July 13 announcement that he was calling the special session. The Democrats plan calls for transfers to the state general fund of about $249 million from the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund, $25 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund and $25 million from Bank of North Dakota profits. Democrats say this would leave small reserves in place in each for use in the 2017 session. They claim these transfers would protect from further cuts in human services and corrections. In addition, they say it would preserve a 12 percent state-paid property tax credit to residents, preserve federal Medicaid matching dollars and help fund mental health and addiction treatment services. Dalrymple said it would be premature to address the 12 percent state-paid property tax credit. He said, if theres a shortage, lawmakers could deal with it early in the 2017 session. This weeks three-day special session is the 15th in state history and first to be convened since 2011. Republican leadership intends on maintaining a narrow focus solely on the budget issue; other bills on topics including delaying the construction of a new governors residence are among those that may come before the Delayed Bills Committee. 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 logjam over the Goods and Service Tax (GST) is half broken. Decks have been cleared for the mandatory amendment to the Constitution. Differences nevertheless persist over the quantum at which the omnibus indirect tax will be capped and applied across the country. From all available indications, theres no consensus yet on the taxation rate between stakeholders: within the central government; Treasury and the Opposition; Centre and states and between states. Sources privy to talks between the government and the Opposition at the Centre were gung-ho about the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill later this week, most probably on Wednesday. But subordinate GST legislations that will legally ring-fence the taxation rate might be delayed until Parliaments winter session. The Congress team negotiating with the NDA regime comprises Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram and Anand Sharma. They are credited with the view that theres no clarity yet on the GST rate that, as per the understanding they reached with the government, has to be ring-fenced. The confusion essentially is over divergent inputs on the prospective rate from the chief economic advisor (revenue neutral rate of 15-15.5%), the national institute of public finance and policy (standard rate ranging from 23-25%), the department of revenue (thats yet to give out a figure) and states (ranging from 23 to 27%). The revenue loss between the aggregate of existing state and central taxes and the GST cap could run into several lakh crore rupees. A lot of work is required to reconcile the gap, remarked a negotiator. He pointed to the lack of consensus on the GST rate in the empowered committee of finance ministers of states. The committee will eventually evolve into the GST council for dispute resolution on ratification of the Constitution amendment by fifty per cent of state legislatures and passage of three GST laws: central GST, state GST and inter-state GST. Though the Rajya Sabha was originally slated to amend the Constitution on Tuesday, the debate and the passage of the bill have been rescheduled for Wednesday on the Congresss request because Opposition leader Azad wont be in town. Based on its experience on the GST issue, the Congress has set up another panel of senior leaders to formalise the partys stance on legislations before the two Houses. It includes P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh (all RS members) and KV Thomas and Rajiv Satav (Lok Sabha). The panel will submit reports on individual legislation to the Congresss floor leaders in both Houses. The exercise will eliminate divergent voices towards a considered party stance on the governments legislative business. Over the weekend a proactive ministry of external affairs, led by minister Sushma Swaraj, worked to help more than 10,000 Indian workers who had lost their jobs and were short of food supplies. Swarajs appeal, on Twitter, to the 3 million Indians in Saudi Arabia to help fellow brothers and sisters paid off. Ministers of state VK Singh and MJ Akbar are looking into the matter in Saudi Arabia and in Kuwait, where a similar situation has been reported. Swaraj deserves all praise for her various interventions to address the problems non-resident Indians (NRIs) have faced in the past two-and-a-half years. She has used social media platforms to directly intervene and help NRIs in June when a Class 10 girl tweeted that her father was jailed in Saudi Arabia, Swaraj comforted the girl that the Indian embassy in Riyadh was on the case, and united the girl with her father. Read | India may airlift 10,000 workers stuck in Saudi There is a personal touch and reassuring urgency that Swaraj brings when it comes to addressing such problems but is that enough? With more Indians set to return from West Asia over the next few years does the Government of India have a plan on how to absorb this wave of returnees? There are mainly two reasons why it can be anticipated that more NRIs will be returning. One, the fall in oil prices have meant that governments across West Asiaincluding Saudi Arabiahave initiated austerity measures, and some forecasts say that oil prices will remain at current rates till the end of 2017. That would force governments and private companies to further tighten their belts, which in effect would see more NRIs losing their jobs. Read | Money or dignity: The dilemma of Indians in the Gulf Two, many governments are now making it mandatory for companies to hire local labour like the Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia. The impact of labour localisation policies adopted by many Gulf Cooperation Council countries on India is not fully understood. At the same time while the Saudi Arabia story was in the headlines, about 76 Indian nurses working in Oman were asked to leave. The return of the unemployed NRI has severe social and economic consequences, many of which India is not prepared for. Read | Two Saudi nationals among 3 inmates killed in Manipur jail clashes The economic implications of more NRIs returning are that there would be a dip in the foreign remittances, and this would decrease the disposable income with households. This would, in turn, spike the unemployment levels and soaring unemployment levels often have an adverse effect on law and order. The MEA deserves praise for its alacrity in reaching out to NRIs in distress. But thats half the job, and leaves the question: Is the Centre and state prepared for the return of large numbers of unemployed NRIs? Twitter: @vijucherian SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As Aung San Suu Kyi-led government completed its first 100 days in power recently, its evolving foreign policy approach particularly relations with the immediate neighbours deserves a close appraisal. Of the triangular relationship involving China, Myanmar and India, the China-Myanmar arm has been marked by dynamism; the Myanmar-India equation has been less active; and China-India ties have come under new stress in recent months. The triangle has thus been undergoing perceptible movements before it assumes stability and a set pattern. Rulers change in Myanmar, but China remains its most important consequential and problematic partner. Well-known scholar Thant Myint-U characterises Myanmars history with China as complex and troubled. The northern neighbour, sharing the largest land border, has immense resources, and ambitious plans over and above what it has already achieved in the domain of infrastructure linkages, trade, investment, projects and defence cooperation. Read | The grand dream could become a nightmare Concerning the new governments two priorities economic development and ethnic reconciliation, China can do much to help as well as to hurt. Latest reports indicate that the Chinese are pushing hard for the revival of $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project, suspended by the previous Thein Sein government. Besides, they seek a clear confirmation of support for new mega projects, already sanctioned, such as a special economic zone and deep sea port in Kyaukpyu, a huge refinery in Dawei near the Thai border, and a large business district in Muse in northern Myanmar. Read | To secure Myanmars confidence, India must play cards in good faith Myanmar is apparently weighing how much of the above package would be in its interest. The government has to factor in the unpopularity of the Chinese due to the massive inroads and dependence created in the past. Chinas leverage on Burmese ethnic groups like the Kokang and Wa, which are periodically engaged in armed conflict with the Burmese military, is highly relevant. They can be reined in or unleashed, depending on how much accommodation Myanmar is willing to show on economic proposals. For long, the Chinese have played both sides, as a western publication put it aptly, signing deals with the Junta while funding rebel groups. In order to expand the room for manoeuvre, Naypyitaw under Suu Kyi and with the armys support, will continue the Thein Sein approach of forging close economic cooperation with Japan and ASEAN partners Thailand and Singapore. In this context, Myanmar-India interactions could have been more active. By itself, India cannot match Chinese resources, gains and advances in Myanmar, but in conjunction with US, Japan and ASEAN, it is in a position to contribute more for enhancing the relationship and empowering Myanmar. The Indian authorities are justifiably anxious about border security issues and interested in trade expansion, but the canvas of conversation needs to be expanded. The triangles third arm, China-India relations, has been marked by some tensions due to divergences on several important issues, particularly in the aftermath of discussions regarding Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The groupings session in Seoul was a setback, but not a disaster. The forthcoming BRICS Summit in Goa presents an opportunity for the two sides to change course and improve the bilateral equation. On the US-China geopolitical rivalry, also known as the Great Game in the East, which has been unfolding in recent years, the Suu Kyi government can be expected to be sufficiently non-aligned. It would not take sides nor would it offend either party. On this larger question as well as on ties with China and with India, it will promote an equilibrium that suits its own interests. In the 1950s Prime Minster U Nu used to say that Burma was hemmed in like a tender gourd among the cacti. Well, this gourd has a mind of its own and seems to know where it is heading. Read | Book review: An interesting discussion of complex India-Myanmar ties Rajiv Bhatia is a former ambassador to Myanmar and distinguished fellow, Gateway House The views expressed are personal Sharad Pawar is perhaps the only leader in India who has never been given to disaster tourism. When Mumbai came under attack in March 1993, with one of the 12 serial blasts--at the Air India building--close to his office in Mantralaya at Nariman Point, Pawar did not rush to the blast site. Instead, he chose to stand at his sixth floor window in the chief ministers office and watch silently the fire engines, police officers and dog squads arrive and conduct rescue operations. It was a similar story with the massive earthquake in Latur in September that year. Pawar, as chief minister, even prevented then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao from visiting the disaster spot. He told the PM that his visit would unnecessarily divert the attention of police and investigators towards VIP security and interfere with their investigation and rescue work. So for a man never known to visit disaster sites or crime scenes even when in power, it is surprising that he should now take interest in visiting the family of a rape victim in Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district 20 days after the incident. The rape and murder should have been treated as a pure crime but it is fast acquiring caste dimensions. Ahmednagar district is notorious for Maratha atrocities against Dalits: in the past Dalit boys courting Maratha girls have been lynched, murdered, hung from trees, sometimes even chopped into pieces and buried in septic tanks. But neither did Pawar or any other leader in the Congress or NCP, even the Shiv Sena or BJP, whether in power or in the opposition, feel it prudent to visit the crime scene and offer sympathy to the victims. The Kopardi rape, however, has prompted a series of leaders wishing to drop in on the family of the victim, and this is preventing the police from investigating the case without the pressure of other considerations. Last week, the authorities prevented the president of the Bhartiya Republican Party, Prakash Ambedkar, from visiting the district. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stopped his party affiliate, Ramdas Athawale, a minister in the union cabinet, from doing the same. The rape victim was a Maratha while her alleged brutalisers were Dalits. Marathas have always ruled Maharashtra even in modern times, but in the past couple of years they have been slipping in importance. Moreover, the Nationalist Congress Party, which is considered mostly a party of Marathas and sugar barons, has been losing base among their own community members. The three politically significant castes in Maharashtra are that of Marathas, Dalits and Brahmins in that order. However, ever since Devendra Fadnavis was installed as chief minister of Maharashtra, there has been a Brahminical assertion in the states politics and Pawar, who was never casteist and prided himself on his socialist ethos, has been making many divisive statements of late. When it became apparent that Fadnavis would soon be the chief minister of the state, Pawar asked the people if they wanted to return to the Brahminical domination that they had overthrown a couple of centuries ago--the reference was to the Peshwai. Peshwas were prime ministers to the descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj but they were the de facto rulers with just a token deference to the Maratha kings. They were overthrown by the British and during the freedom struggle the Marathas joined hands with Mahatma Gandhi in the Congress in opposition to Lokmanya Balagangadhar Tilak who was the Brahmin face of the party. After Independence Marathas successfully managed to keep Brahmins at bay: the state in its long history has had only one Brahmin chief minister under the Congress (BG Kher, 1947-52) but both the Shiv Sena in 1995 and the BJP two decades later chose to install Brahmins (Manohar Joshi and Fadnavis) as chief minister. That has been rankling the Maratha politicians who are conscious that the BJP is desperately trying to build bases with the two significant political communities with whom they have so far had little connect: Dalits and Marathas. Athawale, whose base among Dalits is, however, questionable was made a minister for that very reason. That did not bother Pawar much for, as Prof Ramesh Kamble of the Sociology department at Bombay University, says, Daiit leadership has always been at the mercy of the mainstream political parties. Athawale was first an ally of the Congress and then of the NCP, later of the Shiv Sena before becoming a minister in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, running true to Kambles observation about needing upper caste patronage to remain politically significant. However, when Fadnavis recommended Sambhaji Raje, a scion of the Kolhapur branch of Chhatrapati Shivajis descendants, who had contested the Lok Sabha polls (and lost) in 2009 on a NCP ticket, for nomination to the Rajya Sabha, Pawar saw red. In an unusual statement for a veteran, mature and astute political leader like him, Pawar surprised all by saying, While Chhatrapatis used to once upon a time appoint Pashwas, now a Peshwa is appointing a Chhatrapati. It was meant to rile Maratha pride but by and large left the people cold. Now, in Ahmednagar, this casteist politics is playing out to the maximum in the shadow of a brutal rape--each community is trying to maximise its gains even as fresh cases of rape and molestation are reported and desperate attempts are made to give them as well a casteist colour. The dilemma for Pawar is that even Dalits are a huge voter base for his party. Marathas are upset at the number of cases registered against them - they claim falsely for atrocities against Dalits under the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act. Dalit atrocity, however, is a reality in Maratha country. There has been a long standing demand, recently articulated by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray for abolition of the act. That, however, is the only protection and safety valve afforded to Dalits. Perhaps that is why Pawar tried a tight balancing act by speaking out against the abolition of the act without parliamentary consensus. He is clearly running with the hares and hunting with the hounds on the very slippery slope of caste politics. One slip could very well turn him into mince meat. Pawar is too shrewd not to be aware of that pitfall. (The views expressed are personal.) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Nitish Kumar governments decision to further tighten its draconian prohibition law in Bihar is bound to raise many eyebrows. Tabled in the state assembly on Friday, the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed on Monday amid walkout by the BJP-led opposition. The amended law is simply bizarre for it seeks to punish all adult family members, if any one consumes or stores liquor. It also shifts the burden of proof on the accused. Have a look at some of the provisions. Read | Nitish govt wants revised anti-alcohol law with more teeth Bihars draconian excise law Bihars prohibition law is the most draconian in India as it prescribes even capital punishment for a certain category of cases, a minimum 10-year jail or life imprisonment being the norm as punishment for consumption of liquor. Read | Bihar liquor ban: Experts say draconian new excise bill may face legal test The Supreme Court has been restricting the use of death penalty even for murders. The Bihar law goes against this judicial trend that has emerged since 1980 when the top court propounded the rarest of rare theory to minimise the use of death penalty. The proposed amendments defy principles of criminal jurisprudence, logic and common sense. Perhaps its for this reason that Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan has termed them an act of madness. First, the concept of vicarious liability is alien to criminal law. To say that all adult members of a house can be punished if even one person stores or consumes liquor, is tantamount to turning entire criminal jurisprudence on its head. One is reminded of justice JS Verma Committee report that recommended that an Indian Army officer should be punished if a soldier under his command committed rape, only to be rejected by the government. Under the criminal law followed in India, a person, who has not directly committed a crime, can be punished only under three circumstances if he is part of a criminal conspiracy or has a common intention to commit a crime or he is part of an unlawful assembly that has committed a crime. The Indian Penal Code does not envisage any other circumstance under which one can be punished for an illegal act done by someone else. Second, an extremely harsh law cant be a substitute for a proper enforcement of normal laws. Its simple case of a government weak on enforcement taking shelter under a harsh law. Ever since the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal(United) government took over in November last, law and order, in general, has been on the decline in the state. A similar argument for prescribing the death penalty for rape cases, in general, has not been accepted by the government. Third, giving too much power to the police is bound to be abused for falsely implicating innocent people in a state like Bihar where enforcement has been a perennial problem. The populism generated by the prohibition law might prove to be short-lived as its misuse will potentially generate anger and frustration against the state government. Fourth, any punishment has to be based on the doctrine of proportionality i.e. the punishment has to be commensurate with the gravity of the offence. Fifth, an accused is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. Its for the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and benefit of doubt, if any, goes to the accused. To substitute the presumption of innocence with the presumption of guilt and to shift the burden of proof on the accused is fraught with serious consequences. While supporting prohibition in general, former deputy chief minister of Bihar and state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has expressed reservations on the proposed amendments. Read | Nitish govt may face tough time over revisions to Bihars liquor law Several of these contravene fundamental rights of an individual. How can one be blamed for the mistake of his family member? Will family of murderers and rapists also be arrested? Most proposed amendments are disproportionate to the offence. It is turning out to be a Tughlaqi law, Modi said. It was Nitish Kumar who liberalised liquor policy to generate revenue needed for development projects. Whats to be noted is that prohibition has been a failure in many other states, including Gujarat where liquor is available despite a total prohibition in place. The only difference is that the revenue generated is going to organised gangs and policemen. Bihar is incurring an estimated revenue loss of around Rs 4,000 crore. The only silver lining appears to be a provision prescribing a maximum three-year jail term or Rs 1 lakh fine or both for policeman/excise officer found guilty of framing any individual on wrong or motivated charges for vengeance or misuse of authority. One wonders if new law would withstand judicial scrutiny. August 1 marks the 84th birth anniversary of the exceptionally intriguing Bollywood actor, Meena Kumari. Known as a tragedienne -- an actor who specialises in tragic roles, Meena Kumaris life was filled with sadness both onscreen and off screen. From childhood struggles to fighting diseases and failed relationships, she truly became a tragedy queen. Meena Kumari played a courtesan in Pakeezah, opposite Ashok Kumar and Rajkummar, one of her best movies. Born in a Mumbai chawl to a family unable to pay the clinics fee, Meena was abandoned at birth. Her real name was Mahajabeen, and her maternal grandmother, who had left home after being widowed and remarried, was the daughter of Rabindranath Tagores brother. Even in death, the 39-year-old lived her tragedy; though she was wealthy like none other of her times, she was couldnt even afford her hospital bills when she died. See pics: Tragedy queen Meena Kumari Lesser-known facts Meena Kumaris first role was in the 1939 film Farzand-e-Watan. In his biography of Meena, Vinod Mehta wrote that Kamal Amrohi first met the actor when she was six years old and he was looking for a child artiste. Fourteen years later, he married her, ironically, on February 14, Valentines Day. Meena was also a poet who wrote under the pen name Naaz. The actor took to drinking initially because she was exhausted. Her physician had prescribed a peg of brandy as a sleeping pill. Amrohi would later discover that the bottles of Dettol in his bathroom were actually filled with brandy. We bring some of the best melodies picturised on her: Ajeeb Daastan Dil Apna Aur Pret Parayi (1960) Na Jaao Saiyaan Sahib, Biwi Aur Ghulam (1962) Ruk Ja Raat Dil Ek Mandir (1963) Tora Mann Darpan Kaajal (1965) Entire Pakeezah album Pakeezah (1972) Read: Latest updates from Bollywood Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After Varun Dhawan, his co-star John Abraham expressed disagreement over banning their latest outing Dishoom in Pakistan. I have told it even earlier that this film is not anti-Pakistan. Our antagonist in the film Wagah is not someone from India or Pakistan. We have clearly said that in the film. So I dont think theres any point to ban the movie in Pakistan, he said. Read: Dishoom movie review Varun, who is seen playing Junaid Ansari, took to Twitter on Saturday to post, Really upset that Dishoom is banned in Pakistan. I dont think the film eventually shows any country in a bad light. Its a wrong decision. Really upset that #Dishoom is banned in pakistan. I don't think the film eventually shows any country in a bad light. It's a wrong decision Varun JUNAID dhawan (@Varun_dvn) July 30, 2016 The movie, which is getting a good response in the nation due to its masala-content, is about abduction of Indias top batsman Viraj before Indo-Pak match and two police officials from either side of the Arabian Sea team up for a 36-hour manhunt. Read: Dishoom has Bollywoods most expensive chase sequence Follow @htshowbiz for more This relaxed, diverse town in the east Midlands called Little India has a history of manufacturing and enterprise, but the June 23 Brexit vote has led to a slowdown in economic activity, mainly due to uncertainty about how exiting the EU will play out. Often held out as a poster city for Britains multiculturalism, Leicester received thousands of Indian-origin migrants from Uganda in the early 1970s, when Idi Amin expelled the Indian and Asian community at short notice. It has since revitalised local economy and is seen as the most integrated of immigrant communities in Britain. Leicester is twinned with Rajkot, and has close business and cultural links with Gujarat and lother parts of India. But while Leicester city barely voted to remain in the EU with a 51 per cent vote, the Midlands region voted strongly in favour of Brexit, mainly on the issue immigration. Nothing seems to have changed overtly in the citys relaxed air, but business leaders are wary. Uday Dholakia, chairman of the Indo-British Trade Council, told Hindustan Times that business activity has definitely decreased, and noted a paradigm shift in recent years in the ease of communication of a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs outside India. Language is no longer a barrier to new generation of Indian entrepreneurs and Germany, France and the Netherlands offer attractive investment destinations. Hubs like Frankfurt, Paris and Milan are more attractive to them, he said. The challenge now is for Britain to develop closer trade, investment and academic links with countries like India. This will have to be led by the Indian diaspora as the government apparatus has gone beyond its sell-by date, Dholakia added. Nik Kotecha, CEO of Morningside Pharmaceuticals based in Loughborough, was against Brexit, but now hopes to turn the outcome to Britains advantage by being open to countries like India. Initial steps of the Theresa May government were encouraging, he said. We are not yet out of the woods, but the May government is giving some comfort. There is already promise of lowering the corporation tax. But there is definitely a slowdown, with business leaders holding off investment at the high level, Kotecha said. Kotechas company has a manufacturing base in India and mainly exports to Europe and supplies medicines to the National Health Service and aid agencies. Currency was the biggest concern in the short term, he said, noting recent fluctuations in the pounds value. Priyesh Patel, managing director of popular snacks company Cofresh, was very disappointed with the Brexit vote and said uncertainty was the biggest issue facing the business community in the Midlands. He regretted that the emotional issue of immigration swayed the Brexit vote. Business leaders have hedged until September, October; no one knows how retailers will react. We employ many Romanian and other EU workers. It is worrying, but cant believe that they will be asked to leave after Brexit happens, he said. I told my people not to panic. The key issue is uncertainty: nobody knows what will happen. There will always be immigrant communities working in entry level jobs, so it is fine that EU workers take up jobs that Indians or other settled immigrant communities wont do, Patel added. Several Indian businessmen based in and around Belgrave Road - the hub of Indian/Asian business and culture - said before the referendum that they would vote for Brexit because they did not want more immigration from eastern Europe. The Midlands region is the base for several Indian companies, including the Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover and Royal Enfield. Dholakia said the Birmingham airport is a major point for business activity related to India, including air cargo. Now we really have to gear up and compete with the world. The opportunities and threats around academic links with India are interesting. In the new world, Indian and other Asian academic institutions will steal the march on historic centres of excellence. The challenge is to forge meaningful Indo-British ties Dholakia said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chinas dominant ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing will merge with Ubers business in China in a $35 billion deal that will end bruising competition between the two firms, according to a source familiar with the matter. The deal between the pair -- which have been spending heavily to gain market share and battling fiercely for passengers -- is nearly complete and could be announced as early as Monday, said the source, who declined to be identified because the deal is not yet public. The new entity combines Didis most recent valuation of $28 billion and Uber Chinas $7 billion valuation for the $35 billion market capitalisation. Uber China investors will have a 20% stake in the new company, the source said. Uber declined to comment. In addition, Didi will invest $1 billion in San Francisco-based Uber, which operates globally outside China, the source said. Didi last year invested $100 million in Lyft, Ubers main rival in the US. It has also formed an alliance with Lyft, Indias ride service Ola and Southeast Asias ride-hailing startup Grab in an effort to compete with Ubers global dominance. But China has been a challenging market for Uber. The company was burning through more than $1 billion a year there in a price war with Didi. Uber is profitable in the US, Canada and about 100 other cities. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported the deal earlier. The deal comes after China last week issued guidelines that establish a long-awaited framework for the booming ride-hailing industry and remove uncertainty for firms such as Didi and Uber. Didi itself was created last year from the merger of two companies backed separately by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and social network firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. Flyers, who are more often than not at the receiving end of the arbitrary practices followed by most of the Indian carriers, now have reason to cheer as the new rules notified by the aviation regulator relating to cancellation charges, refunds, denied boarding due to overbooking, kick-in from Monday. According to the new rules framed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), ticket cancellation charges shall not exceed the basic fare and fuel surcharge charged by airlines on a particular route. Till last month, the cancellation charges varied from Rs 1,500 to 100% fare of the ticket depending upon the class, price level and time before the departure. The regulator has ordered that airlines shall not levy any additional charge to process the refund and must refund all statutory taxes and fees to passengers in case of cancellation, non-utilisation of tickets and no-show. This provision is also for all types of fares offered, including promos/special fares and in cases where the basic fare is non-refundable. Also, the DGCA has said that the airlines will be penalised heavily if they deny boarding to passengers due to overbooking of flights, or fail to inform them about cancellations in advance. As per the revised aviation rules, airlines would be liable to pay up to Rs 20,000 for denying boarding to passengers, and up to Rs 10,000 for failing to inform in time about flight cancellations. HT had first reported on June 2 that the government was reviewing the rules relating to denied boarding and cancellation charges. Till now, passengers were entitled to a compensation of only Rs 2,000-4,000 in case denied boarding. It had become necessary for the government to take action to ensure appropriate protection for the air travellers in case of flight disruptions, denied boarding, flight cancellations and delays in view of the increasing complaints, said Rajji Rai, former chief of the Travel Agents Association of India. If a passenger is not informed about the flight cancellation up to 24 hours of the scheduled time of departure, the airline shall provide compensation in addition to the refund of air ticket and up to Rs 10,000, or booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, whichever is less for flights having a block time of more than two hours. In case of credit card payments, airlines will be required to refund the money within seven days of the cancellation. In case of cash transactions, refund shall be made immediately by the airlines office from where the ticket was purchased. In case of purchase of tickets through a travel agent or portal, the onus of the refund shall lie with the airlines, the DGCA has said, as agents are their appointed representatives. The option of holding the refund amount in credit shell by the airlines shall be the prerogative of the passenger and not a default practice of the airline, the rule says. Airline shall not levy any additional charge for correction in name of the same person, when error in the spelling is pointed out by the passenger after booking the ticket, the DGCA has said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At a time when a team from World Bank is conducting its survey on the Ease of Doing Business in India, country director Onno Ruhl told HT that lawsuits and repeated appeals are proving to be roadblocks for businesses here. One of the key concerns is the societal behaviour related to lawsuits. Repeated appeals are not encouragingthey prove to be costly for businesses and this is a knotty issue in India, which needs to be addressed, he said. In India, the typical reaction is to appeal to higher courts if you lose in the first instance, and the irony is that in 98% cases the outcomes have been upheld. The government and the judicial system in India are very alive to the problem of time-consuming and costly litigation process in the country. There is a lot of emphasis being given to address this through the process of courts and also through alternate dispute resolution. The CII has been working very actively in this space, said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The bankruptcy code approved by Parliament in Maywill, however, have a significant impact on this years much-awaited survey. With the critical legislation coming into effect, Indias rank in the survey is expected to move up . While the government has taken several steps to boost investment and simplify procedures, a lot would also depend on the level of awareness on the ground, said Ruhl. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 has replaced a string of archaic legislations with a modern contemporary law, and helps companies to opt for easy exits. The passage of the bill was cheered by industry. It will structurally strengthen the identification and resolution of insolvencies in India...the code will also significantly improve Indias ease of doing business ranking, ratings agency Crisil had said after both Houses of Parliament passed the bill. India ranks 130 out of 189 countries according to the Doing Business report for 2016, a rise of four positions over 2015. In South Asia, India lags Bhutan (71), Nepal (99), Sri Lanka (107) and Maldives (128). Neighbour China ranks 84th. The team conducting the survey will soon hold meetings with government officials. We will have talks with them (World Bank officials) to explain the measures undertaken and the ground realitythings have changed and this needs to be noted, a senior government official said. My take is that there has been significant progress and they (authorities) are working very hard, but at the same time, the process is complex, so we will have to wait, Ruhl said. 130 Indias rank on the Ease of Doing Business index in 2016, up four places from 2015 The World Bank uses a 10-parameter methodology to evaluate the ease of doing business in a country The parameters include: Starting a business; dealing with construction permits; getting electricity; registering property; getting credit; protecting minority rights; paying taxes; cross-border trades; enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency WB conducts surveys across 189 countries with over 10,000 respondents in each country. The responses form the basis of the doing business parameters Since resolving insolvency is one of the parameters, the enactment of bankruptcy bill is likely to boost Indias rank SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Officials representing charities say granting North Dakotas five American Indian tribes exclusive rights to host online gambling could effectively end charitable gambling in the state. The tribes want Gov. Doug Burgum to approve the idea under tribal-state agreements known as compacts. The current compacts expire at the end of this year and only Burgum can approve them. The tribes argue that their casinos have been hurt by the explosion of the charities Las Vegas-style pull tab machines. Burgum heard arguments from the charities and tribes on Friday. He says the terms of the compacts are still being negotiated and should be completed next month. In May, Kunal Bahl felt deja vu, when the founder and CEO of Indias third largest e-commerce marketplace read reports that Snapdeal will survive only by merging with rivals Flipkart or Paytm; else, it will die a slow death. It was like December 2011 all over again, when Bahl and his co-founder, Rohit Bansal, decided that their company, which sold deals online, would pivot to an e-commerce marketplace, on the lines of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The shift came when the deals business in India was burgeoning, with over 70 companies in it. Articles said its a bad move... These guys will die Who does a marketplace... everyone does inventory... recalls Bahl. Fast-forward six years. Only a few deals websites remain, contributing little to the countrys $16 billion e-commerce industry. All the big online retailers are marketplaces. Snapdeals name is taken in the same breath as Amazon and Flipkart. Of late, though, Amazon has overtaken Snapdeal to move to the second place. Flipkart, the largest, and Amazon have taken a significant lead over it. Bahls prediction of last year, when he said Snapdeal would overtake Flipkart by March this year on gross merchandise value (GMV), which is the value of all goods and services sold without factoring in discounts, looks misplaced. Snapdeal has become a me-too company, said an analyst with a Swiss financial services holding firm. There is very little they offer that is different from Amazon or Flipkart. These are questions Bahl himself had been asking himself and his team for the last three months. Who is Snapdeal? What is its place in Indian e-commerce? The answers, he says, will be apparent to all in a month. Meantime, here is a sneak preview. India has more than 300 million internet users, but only about half of them have regular, reliable, 3G-like connections. Of these only a third, or 50 million, regularly shop online. These are the affluent and savvy internet users. The rest are in small towns, with wavering internet connections. The challenge is to increase the number of those who buy online regularly. Many of them will be in small towns and villages, who will use the internet for the first time, and do so on their mobile phone. Snapdeal will go after them. The growth for e-commerce in India, Bahl says, will come with the next 200 million online shoppers. To tap them, e-commerce companies will have to look at gender, geography, socio-economic demographic, purchase frequency, and purchase pattern in terms of categories. The melting pot of all this will tell who you should go after, where and how, says Bahl. Of course, it will not be easy. If you are looking at the the next 200 million, you need to go beyond the metros. That will need language capability, interoperability, and much more localisation. Whoever does this will have to go back to their business model, says Ashvin Vellody, partner at consulting firm KPMG. JD.com, the second largest online retailer in China after Alibaba, has a customer that is 20 to 30 year old, urban, office-going, mostly male, buying mostly electronics. For Alibaba and its online market place, Taobao, the customers are 20 to 40 year old, working females, living outside the main cities, largely buying fashion, and products for home and children. The Indian e-commerce market may also evolve with different companies catering to different segments, be it the working male, working female, stay-at-home mom, or college student? If your target is large enough to magnify, you look at what they really want, says Bahl. Flipkarts acquisition last week of fashion retailer Jabong, for which Snapdeal was also in the reckoning, gives an idea of Bahls plan. Over 90% of the fashion business in India is unorganised. Jabong is all about branded fashion. Bahl will spend the $100 million saved by not buying Jabong to build Snapdeals fashion business by focusing on the unorganised segment. But, there are three things that Bahl cant forego: experience, revenue and profitability, and growth. Snapdeal is already the fastest in shipping products to its customers, and also the quickest in refunds. After last Diwali, it started focusing on actual revenue, instead of GMV. Bahl says Snapdeals revenue has been growing at 300% (between November 2015 and June 2016) We are not a large public company that can fund itself in perpetuity. We should have the right financial trajectory, which will give us staying power, Bahl says. This is just the beginning of the new e-commerce battle, in which Bahl sees a new Snapdeal very different from what it is now. And, for that matter, very different from Flipkart and Amazon. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In Philadelphia last week, Hillary Clinton was confirmed as the first female presidential candidate to represent a major party in American history. At the same time, a much unlikelier bid for the White House officially came to an end. Bernie Sanders tested the bounds of plausibility in his race against Clinton, winning over 40% of the Democratic national primary vote. Its hardly a surprise that Sanders a humourless, self-described socialist of Jewish heritage failed to beat one of the most powerful and determined figures in American politics. But the tremendous support he received is a sign of deeper political changes in the country. I confess to have followed his campaign with a deal of sympathy, even if his imperfections as a candidate were always apparent. Like many others, I found his candour refreshing, how he eschewed pieties about god and family and harangued Wall Street in his Brooklyn brogue. Unlike Clinton, he was resolutely against the Iraq War, the single most important action taken by a US government in decades. His criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and gentle defence of the rights of Palestinians also marked a departure from the norm. What really struck a chord with Democratic voters, of course, was his unwavering, stubborn assault on economic inequality. That tireless message left its mark. At the most immediate level, Sanders tugged Clintons campaign to the left. His allies helped devise the platform adopted at the Democratic convention last week. Clinton took Sanders-esque positions on tuition in public universities, the minimum wage, blocking the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and healthcare. In speeches, she echoes Sanders rhetoric about the insidious role of corporate money in politics, even though she has long been a recipient of Wall Street largesse. While her husband Bill Clinton announced twenty years ago that the era of big government is over, she insists now on the role of the state in bringing fairness to the economy and in reducing inequality. Read | Democrat convention: Sanders supporters boo as he urges support for Clinton Clinton realises that the Democratic party is much changed from the party that twice elected her husband to the White House. Sanders campaign made visible a significant shift in political beliefs. According to polls, the proportion of Democrat voters who consider themselves very liberal (American parlance for left-wing) has grown sharply in the last eight years to fully one quarter of the Democrat electorate. In that same period, the percentage of those who deem themselves moderate or conservative has shrunk from over half the electorate to 39%. Given that Sanders romped away with the votes of young Democrats, its clear that the base of the party will skew further left in future election cycles. Progressive candidates for congressional seats are already gaining ground. Figures like Jamie Raskin in Maryland and Timothy Canova in Florida are threatening to upset the Democratic party establishment. Like Sanders, Canova raised money for his campaign solely through small individual contributions, refusing to court the traditional elite donor class of American politics. As Canova told the New York Times, Bernie Sanders could disappear from the scene and what he has helped to ignite is going to keep going on. Read | Young and Bernie-ing: Americas untypical presidential candidate A look back helps bring Sanders contribution into greater perspective. From the 1980s into the 2000s, the Democratic and Republican parties converged significantly on economic matters (thanks in large part to Bill Clinton and his New Democrats). New York and Silicon Valley blossomed, but in that same period, income tax rates were slashed, manufacturing jobs dwindled, middle class and working class wages stagnated, and inequality mushroomed. In the absence of great disagreements on economic policy, cultural issues like gay rights, gun rights, and abortion delineated Republican from Democrat. Read | Michelle, Sanders make a pitch for Hillary as Democrats struggle for unity That has changed. The 2008 recession shook public confidence in the prevailing economic status quo. The right-wing Tea Party movement pushed Republican politicians into previously fringe ideological territory. With the flaring of the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and now Sanders unexpected rise, an equivalent popular and political leftward retrenchment is underway. According to the economist Thomas Piketty, we are witnessing the end of the politico-ideological cycle opened by the victory of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections. Read | Bernie Sanders still around, but US presidential race has moved on What will take its place? Clinton will likely battle Republican nominee Donald Trump for the votes of Sanders supporters in several key states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, where globalisation has hollowed out once-booming manufacturing industries. But she has been reluctant to tackle head-on the main question bedevilling politics in America and Europe: How can Western societies, which encouraged a borderless world of capital and the flight of jobs overseas, revive the moribund fortunes of their working and middle classes? Sanders relentless and uncompromising answer the strengthening of the welfare state may not be the solution, but its considerably more promising than the racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia offered by right-wing authoritarians like Trump. Kanishk Tharoor is the author of Swimmer Among the Stars: Stories and the presenter of the BBC radio series Museum of Lost Objects @kanishktharoor SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: At around 4.53 am on Sunday, within 300-metre radius of two police stations in Central Delhi, two men broke into a shop and fled with at least 100 new laptops. They spent around half-an-hour packing the laptops and fled successfully. More than 12 hours later, police are yet to make any breakthrough in the case. Within a minute of entering the shop, the two burglars spotted three CCTV cameras inside and turned them to the other direction to ensure that they were not captured stealing. The two, however, failed to spot a fourth camera, which caught them. The two their faces covered with handkerchiefs spent around half-an-hour inside the shop. One of them is also seen talking on a mobile phone, while the other is busy packing the laptop. Nishant, the owner of the shop said, I am surprised how they could break in. They spent so much time inside and yet no one raised an alarm. They broke the shutter and another thick glass before taking the laptops. Police said they have collected fingerprint samples from the shop and are scanning CCTV footage from other shops. Investigating officers said there might have been more than two people involved. We suspect the role of an insider or they conducted a detailed recee posing as customers. They knew the position of the CCTVs. They also must have got a car, which they parked near the shop. Taking 100 laptops is not possible. We have registered a case and are looking into it, an officer said. The store on DBG road is less than 300 metres away from Karol Bagh and DBG road police station. NEW DELHI: Civil aviation regulator DGCA suspended 62 pilots in the last six months for safety violations, up 30% from the corresponding period last year, an RTI query by HT has found. The Director General of Civil Aviation took action against 93 pilots in 2015 an average monthly suspension rate of less than eight. This has gone up to 10 in 2016. Suspensions can last 15 days or go up to several years, depending on the severity of the offence. The regulator declined information on the break-up of violations, but sources said in 45% of the cases, pilots failed the breathalyser test that checks alcohol levels in blood. This was followed by runway violations (30%), flight and duty time limitations (20%) and miscellaneous violations (4%). The details of airlines cannot be provided as the information is exempt from disclosure, the DGCA said, while a senior official added, If we start disclosing airlines names, they will start hiding violations. However, minister of state for civil aviation Dr Mahesh Shrama had told Lok Sabha in May that of 122 cases in three years of pilots failing alcohol tests pre-flight, Jet Airways, Indigo and SpiceJet topped with 33, 25 and 20 cases, respectively. Aviation experts said the DGCA was not dependent solely on airlines for reports on safety violations. It also received information from air traffic control, aerodrome operators and flight crew. In the era of the Right to Information Act, there should be no opaqueness. If an airline has defaulted, the regulatory body should make it public, said former Air India executive director Jitender Bhargava. DGCA spokesperson Lalit Gupta declined comment. The experts believe the high suspension rate is linked to the United States Federal Aviation Administrations move to downgrade Indias safety ranking in January 2014. After the downgrade, the DGCA is doing its work more earnestly, said Bhargava. A source said, In 2012, we acted against 109 pilots. The figure dipped to 89 in 2013 but rose to 92 and 93 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. It looks significantly high till now in 2016. Its because we are seeking out violations more minutely. The source said breathalyser tests were earlier conducted randomly on 60% of crew of scheduled (regularly operated) airlines but since August 2015, all crew and non-scheduled airlines had been covered. A civil aviation ministry source, however, said the higher suspensions were due to a 20-25% jump in flight operations and stricter enforcement. Some pilots accused the DGCA of punishing them for reasons beyond their control and sometimes, in minor cases. If the breathalyser reads 0:01 instead of 0:00, we are served a suspension order. Such a reading could be due to several factors, not just because you have consumed alcohol, said one pilot. Another said, There are circumstances where a pilot has to deviate from maintaining a particular descending speed while approaching the runway. But the DGCA takes punitive action without asking the pilot for the reason. He added that frequent rule changes by the regulator also complicated matters. But the DGCA official said the body took action only in cases of major violations that put flyers lives at risk, leaving the small issues to airline operators. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON MEERUT: Police suspect the involvement of the Bawaria gang in the gang rape of a 35-year-old woman and her teenage daughter on the Ghaziabad-Aligarh highway near Dostpur village in Bulandshahar district late on Friday. The modus operandi of criminals brings suspicion on the Bawaria gangs. We have been working on all possible angles to crack the case, said Bulandshahar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishan. He said the Bawaria gangs adopt similar techniques to trap moving vehicles on roads. In Fridays incident, the accused allegedly threw axles at the car to stop it. A similar incident occurred in the districts Rabupura village last year. Later, the Bawaria gang was found involved in it. The SSP advised people not to stop their cars on highways even on hearing sounds. BULANDSHAHR/LUCKNOW: A team from the National Commission for Women that arrived at Bulandshahr on Sunday afternoon alleged that the police were apathetic towards the victims family. Panel member Rekha Sharma and her two colleagues said Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Javeed Ahmed was busy taking the guard of honour when he reached the Bulandhshar police line to enquire into the incident. We met all the members of the victim family alone. They told us that police emergency number 100 was not picked up when they dialled after the robbers left them in the fields near Dostpur village, said Sharma. Sharma said the teenager was in pain and hadnt eaten for long when she met her. We offered her food and gave her a shawl to cover herself as she had fever and was under trauma. The UP Police did not send any psychological counsellors to help out the two victims. The Commission will also send counsellors to help out the victims. But police did not pay proper attention. Even the action was initiated only at around 5.30am on July 30 when senior superintendent of police arrived at the police station, said Sharma. NCW team members said the state government officials handed over two cheques of Rs 50,000 each to the victims. However, DGP Ahmed said the victims family met the NCW team in his presence and did not raise any objection over the treatment. Even I did not observe any guard of honour when I got off the chopper. I walked straight to office to meet the family. Police immediately swung into action after information, the DGP said. UP WOMENS PANEL CHIEF HEADS TO BULANDSHAHR Meanwhile Uttar Pradesh Women s Commission chairperson Zarina Usmani leading a team left Lucknow for Bulandshar to meet the rape victims. Usmani said, The family has moved to Noida from where they hail, but the police are bringing the girl to the police station for investigations We will meet the girl and join her in her fight for justice. The incident is alarming and raises a question on the safety on highways. The commission will issue a notice to the police to give regular updates about the proceedings in the case and speed up the investigations, said Usmani. A member of the Commission from Ghaziabad too will join Usmani in Bulandshahr. (With inputs from HTC) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The government is considering evacuating about 10,000 Indian workers laid off in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, who are grappling with hunger as they have little money to buy food, let alone for tickets home. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said the condition in Saudi Arabia was worse and the government had asked the consulate in Riyadh to provide free ration to the unemployed Indians. Sources said a decision on airlifting the stranded workers will be taken after junior foreign minister VK Singh visits the west Asian kingdom, possibly next week. Thankful dat Saudi authorities hv assured @ IndianEmbRiyadh Exit visas of our Indian workers will be processed Wage claims will be registered, tweeted MJ Akbar, the second junior minister in the external affairs ministry. The consulate in Jeddah distributed more than 15,000kg of food to their distressed countrymen over the past three days in association with the Indian community. Necessary assistance continues to be provided to our distressed citizens with the heartening support of Indian community in Saudi Arabia, Akbar tweeted. The crisis happened after low oil prices have forced the Saudi government to slash spending, putting pressure on the finances of local construction firms which rely on state contracts. As a result, struggling companies laid off thousands of foreign workers, leaving many with no money. The Saudi government says it investigates any complaints of companies not paying wages and if necessary, obliges them to do so with fines and other penalties. BULANDSHAHR/MEERUT: The UP police have identified three suspects involved in robbing a Noida family and raping two of its members a 13-year-old girl and her mother in Bulandshahr. A 300-strong task force was set up on Sunday to arrest their accomplices within the 24-hour deadline issued by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, whose government suspended seven policemen in the wake of an outcry over yet another brutal crime against women. Five to six armed men waylaid the familys car on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Dostpur village at 1.15am Saturday, said an FIR registered later that day. The gang dragged the victims to nearby fields, tied up the three male members and an elderly woman and raped the teen and her 35-year-old mother. The assault lasted over two hours before the attackers fled with cash and valuables, it said. One of the family members managed to free himself by gnawing at the ropes with his teeth, police sources said. He called the police from his mobile phone, which the attackers had left behind with the car. It was 4.15am by the time the victims were rescued, rain-soaked and in shock. Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmad, who visited the crime scene, said the police had raided nearby areas and detained 15 people, including the three suspects who are in their 20s. He said the other members will also be arrested soon. The girl and her mother picked out the three suspects from 200 photographs we pulled out of our database of local criminals, said Meerut DIG Laxmi Singh. Both officers indicated the involvement of local nomadic criminals. Their modus operandi and the fact they fearlessly committed such a crime 40-50 metres from the highway indicates some of them must be locals, Singh said. Two of the attackers apparently discouraged their partners from raping the women, he said, adding that the victims were hit with hammers when they protested the sexual assault. He said two iron axles, which the gang had thrown at the car to stop it, had been recovered. Arrest all those involved and the state government will pursue the case strongly in court, CM Yadav was quoted as saying by his spokesperson. His Twitter handle said he would meet the family soon. The remarks came as opposition parties attacked his Samajwadi Party government, saying there was jungle raj in the state which goes to polls early next year. The SP government and its head must tell the people if they can return the modesty of women in such a painful and heinous crime, BSP chief Mayawati said. Union minister Mahesh Sharma of the BJP said, When will this end? It shows the state government has collapsed on every front. It cannot save the honour of a daughter. A police officer said the attackers disappeared into the darkness on foot and hid the car under blades of jowar (sorghum) so it couldnt be seen by police patrol vans. The victims spotted one patrol car at around 3am but could do nothing about it, he said. The 300-strong police team drawn from Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur and Meerut is experienced in dealing with nomadic criminals, the sources said. In their statement, the victims who were driving to Shahjahanpur for a relatives tehravi (ritual for the dead) when they were attacked said the criminals were dressed in half-sleeved T-shirts and jeans and trousers, which they had folded to avoid the muck in the fields. A case of rape, illegal confinement, robbery and dacoity, and under the provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, has been registered. A Delhi court dismissed on Monday the bail plea of AAP MLA Sharad Chauhan, who was arrested along with five others in connection with the suicide of a woman party worker, and sent him to 14 days judicial custody till August 15. During the argument on Chauhans bail plea, his defence counsel told court that he was falsely implicated in the case on account of political rivalry. The Delhi Police opposed his bail plea on the ground of pendency of investigation which is at initial stage and the possibility of the accused person that he can influence or threaten witnesses. The court also remanded other arrested accused - suspended Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector Mukhtiyar Singh, Sonu alias Virendra Mann, Mohan Lal Verma, Sanjay Kumar, Amit Kumar, Rajnikanth alias Rajni and Ramesh Bhardwaj to 14 days judicial custody. All, except Bhardawaj, were arrested on Sunday and presented before court on Monday after expiry of their one day custody. Bhardwaj, who was arrested last week, was presented before court after expiry of his five days police custody. The woman worker committed suicide on July 19 after being allegedly harassed by Bhardwaj. The mother of two daughters had left behind a self-shot WhatsApp video in which she claimed I was denied justice. According to police, in her video clip, the woman accused Bhardwaj, Amit Kumar and Rajnikanth of torturing her to withdraw a sexual harassment complaint she filed against Bhardwaj on June 2. In her police complaint, the woman alleged that Bhardwaj harassed her continuously and asked for sexual favours. She even raised the matter within the party but no action was taken, she said. Taking a break from his hectic and demanding work conditions, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday arrived in Dharamsala to attend a 10-day meditation course. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader landed at Gaggal airport at 1.10pm and was received by Kangra deputy commissioner Ritesh Chauhan and Dharamshala sub-divisional magistrate Shrawan Manta, besides, AAP leaders from Himachal. He will stay at Vipassana Centre in Dharamkot. Otherwise known to rake up controversies through his media statements, Kejriwal today chose to stay away from making any remark. I am here just for meditation, he said. Meanwhile, Pawan Sharma, in- charge of Vipassana Centre, said that the course will begin on Tuesday and end on August 11. No participants will be allowed to use any electronic gadgets, not even newspaper or TV, as the camp rules are about completely cutting oneself from the outside world and finding time to introspect and recharge oneself. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With the recent growth of downtown Bismarck comes an old event made new: a weekend of summer sales at local businesses. The Downtown Business Association of Bismarck is bringing back Crazy Days on Friday and Saturday, with more than 20 retailers participating. Its been more than a decade since the event was held, said Kate Herzog of the Downtowners, but the organization has long wanted to hold another event. Small Business Saturday has been a success, she said, so theyre hoping there are now enough retailers to interest shoppers in a second sale weekend. Troy Barber, business manager of Red Wing Shoes, is waiting with anticipation. His 30 years of service to the business have seen various "summer sale" and "small business" events, but those had tapered off -- until this year. "It's been awhile since any cohesive event like this (occurred), so I thought it was a good idea," Barber said. "We want to move product to make room for the new in the fall." Chad Faass, owner of Bombshell Salon, is looking forward to this secondary event. "Maybe new clients will stumble upon our deals. As the school season is nearing, Faass will have gift cards and special products for back-to-school shoppers. "We've done (summer retail) for the last few years, and it's been getting better and better," he said. Faass values the surge in the interest of shopping local, having been operating his store for nearly three years. "Local shopping stays part of the community," he said. "We support local activities, volunteering ... your neighbor can be part of that. It keeps Bismarck alive." Red Wing has been open on the same corner for 46 years, so it has built a strong customer base, Barber said. "We provide a lot of income for people around here, in the area. If you don't keep it (local), people just look at this as being uncaring -- and we care about this," he said. "Being friends with the customers is important," he added. "We've been here a long time because customers trust us ... we have integrity." The Crazy Days sales Barber remembers may be similar in goals, but a new aspect has been introduced: Facebook and other forms of social media. Barber has been busy in his efforts to attract interested buyers, going through traditional routes like radio -- but he's also advertising on his social media sites, since he realizes their prevalence. "It'll be a little different now. I'll get online requests and orders from people ... but it's just a different ballgame," he said. For more information on the sale, go to www.downtownbismarck.com. A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped before being killed and set on fire inside her home in Delhi last week by two men related to her, police said on Monday. Two accused have been arrested, and police say they have confessed to raping and killing the Class 9 student in eastern Delhis Gandhinagar area on Thursday. Police said the girls body was found on a bed in her house that was locked from outside. Her body was burnt below the waist and an autopsy report revealed that she was raped before being strangled to death. They suspect her body was burnt to cover-up the sexual assault. According to the girls mother, the two men had been stalking her for the past six months and her daughter had rejected the advances by one of them. Reports said the two were arrested after another girl from the area claimed that they had gangraped her and tried to kill her as well in July, but she had managed to escape. She did not tell anyone about the incident as they had threatened her with dire consequences. The accused were picked up on the basis of her statement. The victim lived with her mother and brother. Last month, a 14-year-old Dalit girl was brutally raped, tortured, and forced to drink acid allegedly by a man who had repeatedly assaulted her earlier. She was allegedly kidnapped from her home by the accused. She died on July 26 after a month in the hospital. Greater Kailash-I was the Capitals first residential locality to be developed by a private player. Prime location, bustling markets and well planned blocks made it one of the most happening localities of the city. The colony has come to be known for its bustling markets in M and N blocks besides well-planned houses. However, over the last decade the area has been ridden with multiple civic problems. HT South Delhi traced the colonys journey over six decades. How it began Greater Kailash-I was once an agricultural land that gave rich Kharif yields. From both the villages Zamrudpur and Devli Gaon the land of GK , spread over hundreds of acres, was owned by around 90 farmers. It was acquired by the Centre under a large scale land acquisition plan in 1955. In 1959, the land was handed over to DLF to carve out a colony. This was probably for the first time that the Delhi administration had granted such permission in the city to a private real estate firm. According to revenue records, GK-I was known as Yakutpur village which was later renamed. Greater Kailash was among the five colonies which were set up by a private colonizer then. At that time, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had not come into existence. The permission was granted by Land and Building Department of Delhi Administration. The area was perhaps named Greater Kailash because of an old Shiva temple situated on a hillock there, said AK Jain, commissioner (Planning), DDA. Despite being developed by a private player, the locality remained isolated due to poor housing demand. It was in the 70s that the free hold status of the colony and proximity to prestigious institutes like IIT, JNU and AIIMS brought working class residents here. When the land was earmarked for a colony, compensation rates were better than rest of Delhi areas. Because of this, the farmers sold their lands and shifted to the villages of Haryana, said Hans Raj, 73, a farmer of Zamrudpur. The residential colony and M block market were developed at the same time by the real estate developer. However, at that time the market used have shops on the ground floor and homes on the first floor. This changed when the market was fully commercialised in 2010. Read: Neglected for years, storm water drain turns into a sewer Commercialisation A local real estate agent said that in the early 60s, the rate of 300 square yard (sqy) land was Rs 45,000 whereas now a square yard in GK costs Rs 4 lakh approximately. The rise in property rates took place in 1998, when builder culture came in and people allowed these developers to convert plotted houses into multi-storeyed buildings with flats. The opening of some guest houses and offices here led to commercialisation of the residential area. Over the last five years, several houses have been converted for commercial purposes while the residents have shifted to areas like Gurgaon and Noida. Read: Defunct high mast lights in GK park raise security concerns Spread of civic mess What was once a planned locality is now a civic mess. Beauty expert Shahnaz Hussain who opened her first herbal salon here 1971 said the locality was once one of the most organised places in Capital. I have been living in GK-I for about 45 years. It was one of the most organised places in Delhi, now many problems have come up. Sometimes there are long traffic jams just to enter the market. It needs to be managed, she said. Residents also point out that commercialisation is one of the root causes of problems here as it has put more pressure on the limited civic resources of the area. Commercialisation is rising in GK-I and authorities are not keeping a check. Earlier, there were only three guest houses, now houses in each lane have been converted into guest houses, said Bimal Kapoor, general secretary of GK-I RWA. Parking in the area is also a big challenge. To resolve the problem, the civic agency had planned a multi-level parking lot near M block, but the authorities are yet to take a call on the project. In all the eight blocks of the colony, lanes have not been blacktopped for the last four years. As the infrastructure is old, sewage pipelines have burst at various stretches. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chinese manja, the kite-flying thread made of nylon, is set to be banned in Delhi given the high number of fatal injuries it has caused across the country, the AAP government told the Delhi high court on Monday. The government in an affidavit informed a bench headed by chief justice G Rohini of its plans to issue a notification banning the Chinese manja and threads with metallic or glass components. Only threads made of natural fibres like cotton will be allowed, the government said. The affidavit was filed in response to a city residents plea that sought a ban on the manufacture, sale, purchase and use of Chinese manja so called because of its widespread use in flying huge dragon kites in China. In his petition, Zulfiquar Hussain said the synthetic thread was earlier killing birds but of late humans are also under threat and referred to the recent death of a 28-year-old man in east Delhi who died while riding his motorbike when a string of synthetic thread slit his throat. The governments decision comes days before Independence Day when tens of thousands of kites dot the citys skyline. Several localities organise kite-flying tournaments on August 15 and revellers resort the use of to sharp, synthetic threads to bag competitors kites for lucrative prizes. In his plea, the petitioner pointed out that the synthetics threads were already banned in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Allahabad high court had issued directions for necessary steps to prohibit the manufacture and sale of such manjas. The court was told that a similar plea was placed before the Supreme Court which held that the petition should be adjudicated upon by the National Green Tribunal since the issue was related to the protection of environment and wildlife. The court then asked counsel of both parties to produce the top courts order on the issue by Tuesday. It also asked the governments counsel to inform the court whether the notification will be issued before August 15. (With PTI inputs) More than 300 students of medicine from Delhis Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, Bara Hindu Rao and Army College of Medical Sciences stopped work at the outpatient department in Safdarjung Hospital from 8am till noon on Monday. The strike, which was to protest against authorities plan to shift the affiliation of 112 post graduation seats from Indraprastha University to Delhi University, was called off after the students received written assurances that the transfer would not happen. The hospital receives around 7,000 patients daily in its OPD clinic. The strike caused inconvenience to many patients, who had come there for checkup or had been referred to the tertiary care hospital from other hospitals. Asha Devi, 35, travels from Moradabad once every month to get her husband treated for stomach tumour. She, however, faced the closed gates when she came on Monday. Now I will have to come again for his check up. Every time I come here, I have to leave my 6-year-old daughter at home, she said. She also faces a loss of R150 which she earns everyday by doing odd jobs. We have been telling the patients that the emergency is functioning and they should go there if they are very unwell, said a students representative. All other services, including the emergency, were functional at the hospital. I was authorised to give in writing to the students that the seats will not be moved to Delhi University, said Dr AK Rai, the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital. He claimed that the delay in giving the written assurance was because the students prevented him from entering the office. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Maharashtra education department has asked school students to search their neighbourhood for mosquito-breeding sites and hold rallies for a fortnight as part of a dengue awareness campaign, which starts from Monday. Schools are worried whether it is safe to send the children into areas that could be infested with the disease-causing mosquitoes. A circular issued on July 28 states that dengue is spreading unchecked across the state and hence students and teachers participation is needed to create awareness about the disease. The campaign is seeking the participation of students of Classes 5 to 12 in schools and junior colleges. Read more: Mumbai is also the dengue capital of Maharashtra Schools said that some aspects of the campaign could expose children to danger. Students have been asked to find places where mosquitoes have laid their eggs and larvae are hatched. This is dangerous as students run the risk of getting bitten themselves, said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Marys School (ICSE), Mazgaon. Teachers also said it will not be possible to conduct rallies during the monsoon. There are potholes and uncovered manholes and hence it is not the best time to carry out a rally with students, said Rajesh Pandya, teacher, Fatimadevi English High School. They added that schools will be busy with their first unit tests in the first and second week of August. Students definitely need to be educated on vector-borne infections such as dengue but instead of conducting a campaign, it should be included in the school syllabus, said Pandya. Education officials said that they hope all schools will take part in the campaign but it is not compulsory. It will be extremely beneficial for the students and so we expect a majority of the schools will observe the campaign, said BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai region. He added that they can conduct even a few activities from the programme as well. We understand that owing to the rains, it will not be possible for schools to hold rallies so they can choose any activity at their level, he said. Pune boy Aalok Sathe, studying in Class 12 in Sir Parashurambhau College, has won Bronze medal at the 14th International Linguistics Olympiad promoted by Microsoft Research India. I am extremely elated at this achievement and would wish to carry forward the learnings to next years competition. My experience at this years Olympiad has helped me widen my horizon to understand that global languages vary to a considerable extend and hold different perspectives. One can undoubtedly learn more about global languages and gain analytical skills by studying linguistics. Linguistics is a logical discipline and is increasingly becoming an important study in fields such as cognitive science and artificial intelligence, Sathe told HT Education. One of the 12 international science olympiads held globally, the contest evaluated participants computational thinking, analytical reasoning and logical deduction. Jaeyeong Yang from Republic of Korea, James Wedgwood from USA and Liam Robert McKnight from UK emerged as individual scorers while the teams from Sweden, Australia and UK took the top three positions in the team contest. The global competition is aimed at secondary school students and has been held annually since 2003. More than 170 students from 30 different countries, including India, the US, Japan, Germany and Singapore participated this year to test their skills in tackling some of the toughest puzzles in language and linguistics. Read more: Indian Americans declared joint winners of US Spelling Bee India was represented by 10 students shortlisted through the Panini Linguistic Olympiad, the national programme for selection and training of the candidates for the International Linguistics Olympiad. Microsoft Research India has been one of the key drivers in establishing Linguistic Centres in five cities across India. After selections, students are trained for the global meet at these centres. The group is also involved in promoting awareness among students and schools by hosting various events periodically, and by driving interest within institutes and companies in the country, a press statement said. The five-day long event saw two competitive individual tests, team contests, jeopardy-style quizzes and cultural performances introducing global students to the rich and diverse (cultural) heritage of India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON National Geographic Channel has acquired the worldwide rights to an untitled climate change feature documentary produced by Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio. The cable network made the announcement at their Television Critics Association summer press tour panel here on Saturday, reports variety.com. NatGeo plans to release the film in theatres in New York and Los Angeles in October, followed by a global premiere on National Geographic Channels worldwide preceding the US election in November. Read: Leonardo DiCaprio gives a stellar speech at the UN climate signing The film presents an account of how society can prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the globe. And it might be the same film for which the Hollywood actor came to India. The Wolf of Wall Street actor reportedly shot parts of the documentary on climate change in the country in October last year. In the film, DiCaprio interviews individuals from every facet of society in both developing and developed nations who provide their views on what must be done today -- and in the future -- to transition our economic and political systems into environmentally friendly institutions. Read: Nobody creates a narrative around climate change: Amitav Ghosh Subjects include President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State John Kerry, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis, as well as top NASA researchers, forest conservationists, revered scientists, community leaders and fervent activists working to save the world. National Geographic has a long history of inspiring others to care about the planet, said Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks. Climate change is the most fundamental threat facing our planet, said DiCaprio. We must work together as a collective voice to demand major action now. Our very survival depends on it. This documentary translates the symptoms and solutions of climate change before information is distorted, as it often is, by those with a financial interest in fossil fuel production. The project is produced by RatPac Documentary Films, Appian Way and Insurgent Media. It is produced by DiCaprio, Brett Ratner, Stevens, James Packer, Jennifer Davisson and Trevor Davidoski and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The deal was negotiated by John Sloss of Cinetic Media with Tim Pastore, President of Original Programming and Production for National Geographic Channel. NatGeo also announced that the channel and National Geographic Studios will partner with Katie Couric Media to produce a two-hour documentary with the working title Gender Revolution, an in-depth look at the role of genetics, brain chemistry and modern culture on gender fluidity. Follow @htshowbiz for more Three men have been arrested for allegedly raping a woman and her 13-year-old daughter during a highway robbery in Bulandshahr, Meerut DIG Lakshmi Singh said on Monday. The Uttar Pradesh Police, widely criticised for failing to respond to the emergency calls made by the victims family during the three-hour ordeal on Saturday morning, had a day later zeroed in on the three suspects who are in their early 20s. The men were brought in for questioning and a 300-member task force set up to arrest their accomplices. The girl and her mother picked out the three suspects from 200 photographs we pulled out of our database of local criminals, Singh said on Sunday. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, whose government suspended seven policemen in the wake of the outcry and is under pressure over law and order situation in the state, had set a 24-hour deadline for the force to nab the culprits. Five to six armed men waylaid the Noida-based familys car on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Dostpur village at 1.15am Saturday, the FIR said. The men dragged the victims to nearby fields, tied up the three male members and an elderly woman and raped the teen and her 35-year-old mother. The assault lasted over two hours before the attackers fled with cash and valuables, it said. One of the family members managed to free himself by gnawing at the ropes with his teeth, police sources said. He called the police from his mobile phone, which the attackers left behind. It was 4.15am by the time the victims were rescued, rain-soaked and in shock. DGP Javed Ahmed, who visited the crime scene, had said the police raided nearby areas and detained 15 people, including the three suspects. Both officers indicated the involvement of local nomadic criminals. Their modus operandi and the fact they fearlessly committed such a crime 40-50 metres from the highway indicates some of them must be locals, Singh said. She said two of the attackers tried to dissuade their partners from raping the women, who were hit with hammers when they protested the sexual assault. Two iron axles thrown at the car to stop it had been recovered. Arrest all those involved and the state government will pursue the case strongly in court, CM Yadav was quoted as saying by his spokesperson. His Twitter handle said he would meet the family soon. The remarks came as opposition parties attacked his Samajwadi Party government, saying there was jungle raj in the state, which is due for elections early next year. Union minister Mahesh Sharma of the BJP said, When will this end? It shows the state government has collapsed on every front. It cannot save the honour of a daughter. A police officer said the attackers disappeared into dark on foot and hid the car under blades of jowar (sorghum) so it couldnt be seen by police patrol vans. The victims spotted one patrol car at around 3am but could do nothing about it, he said. The 300-strong police team drawn from Ghaziabad, Noida, Hapur and Meerut is experienced in dealing with nomadic criminals, sources said. In their statement, the victims, who were on way to Shahjahanpur for a relatives tehravi (a religious ceremony held on the 13th day for the dead) when they were attacked, said the criminals were dressed in half-sleeved T-shirts and jeans and trousers, which they had folded to avoid the muck in the fields. A case of rape, illegal confinement, robbery and dacoity, and under the provisions of the prevention of children from sexual offences act, has been registered. Read| Noida woman, daughter raped near Bulandshahr highway, 15 detained A fast track court in Bulandshahar has sent three accused in the highway gangrape case to 14 days of judicial custody on Monday. Police produced the three accused - Raees, Shavej and Jabar Singh in the court of additional district judge Dhruv Kumar Tiwari amid tight security on Monday afternoon. The accused were arrested on Sunday evening. There was a massive anger against the accused and hundreds of people including lawyers gathered outside the court when the accused were brought in. Meanwhile, addresses of two more accused Naresh and Bablu have turned out to be fake. Police teams have been sent to verify their new addresses in Bharatpur, said the DIG (Meerut) Laxmi Singh said. Police nabbed 15 suspects for the gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter on Saturday near Bulandshahr on the Delhi-Kanpur highway. The incident sparked outrage across the country when a family of six three men, two women and a 13-year-old girl were stopped by five to six armed men on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Dostpur village at 1.30am Saturday, according to a first information report filed later that day. The group allegedly dragged the victims to nearby fields where they tied up the men and an elderly woman and raped the teen and her 35-year-old mother. The family was attacked while driving to Shahjahanpur village for a relatives tehravi a ritual for the dead. The police filed a case of rape, illegal confinement, robbery and dacoity, and under the provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act in this regard. A new excise bill in Bihar that will add more teeth to the states crackdown on alcohol may have to face a legal test sooner than expected. A revised bill was introduced on the opening day of the Bihar assemblys monsoon session on Friday, and MLAs were asked to submit their amendments. However, some MLAs, cutting across party lines, dubbed the proposed act as draconian for its tougher penalties over violating the prohibition. The proposed bill seeks to punish all adults in a family for liquor consumption by an individual member, or if liquor were recovered from the house. The changes to the bill also include making any movable or immovable premise liable for confiscation if found storing or preparing liquor as well as being used as a place for consumption. Vinod Kanth, a senior lawyer in the Patna high court, said that any law divorced from logic would not stand for a second in the court of law, as it would amount to infringement and invasion to right to privacy. If such a law is passed, which is quite possible as Grand Alliance comprising JD(U), RJD and the Congress have the numbers, it will certainly be challenged in the court, as it is against the fundamental right. How can my wife and children be punished for my offence? How do they know if I have or somebody else has hidden a bottle or two somewhere in the house, he said, adding he himself could challenge it. Kanth said that the very concept of such a law reminded him of Draco, the 7th-century legislator of Athens in ancient Greece who came up with harsh laws even for minor crimes that later draconian become the adjective for unforgiving rules or laws. Another senior advocate Rajendra Giri said that even after the bill is passed in the House, the governor would have to take a call on it. He will also have to take a legal view. After all, he would see if it is legally tenable, as there cannot be any punishment under law merely on presumption, he said. Giri said that in a civilised society, punishing anyone on the presumption of crime is not allowed. Besides, the quantum of punishment would also come under judicial scanner if challenged in the court. After all, in modern times, even an 18-20-year-old boy can hide liquor and the prospect of the entire family getting booked seems too harsh, he added. Read | Nitish govt may face tough time over revisions to Bihars liquor law Chief minister Nitish Kumar, however, has dismissed the argument that the imposition of a total prohibition impinged on the fundamental right of citizens and pointed to the directive principle to justify the ban on alcohol in the state. A few persons in urban areas question prohibition, saying how come the state was concerned what a citizen eats or drinks, Kumar said at a function in Saharsa recently. Maintaining that consumption of liquor could not be the fundamental right of a citizen, he said, Article 47 of the Constitution gives direction that the state should protect health and nutrition of its citizen and strive to achieve total prohibition. Liquor does not come under the purview of Article 19 of the Constitution providing the fundamental right to citizens. The government passed the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016, during the last assembly session that amended the Bihar and Orissa Act II of 1915 with new stringent penal provisions, including life imprisonment and death sentence. Thousands of people, including legislators, were arrested under the provisions of the new laws but many of them got bail later. A single-judge bench of the Patna high court, presided over by the then acting Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, in its order categorically observed that mere possession of foreign liquor was not unlawful as per the government notification, paving the way for the release of Janata Dal(United) MLC Manorama Devi. She was jailed after liquor bottles were recovered from her residence during raids in search of her son, wanted in a road rage case. Another ruling by the bench of justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh in a bail case stated that mere possession could not be an offence, as per the government notification. The new bill has plugged the loopholes, making possession of even a bottle of liquor a non-bailable offence. If the new law comes into force, all prohibition-related offences would be non-bailable. There is no looking back on the new excise bill beyond lifting the ban on the sale and consumption of toddy in the state. The government is firm on prohibition and is confident of taking the Grand Alliance (GA) along after relaxation for toddy. The BJP was also on board and there is no reason why it should not this time, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar. The law has been made more stringent only after studying the positive impact as well as the loopholes that gave unscrupulous elements an opportunity to exploit. The government is prepared to answer for all counter views on the floor of the House, he added. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that his party would continue to protest against the draconian provisions. Nitish Kumar had to take U-turn under pressure from BJP, HAM-S, LJP and RJD. I will urge Lalu Prasad to once again use his pressure for toning down of the provision under which all adult members of the family will be booked if one consumes liquor. After all, it was the fear of losing RJD support that prompted Nitishs U-turn, he added. JD(U) sources said that the CM categorically said during the GA legislature party meeting on Friday that the clause of action against adult members was meant to create psychological pressure on boozers from the family, not to harass innocent people, as the opposition apprehends. Read | Drunk mans logic: Bihars alcohol ban wont really empower women If any instance of harassment of innocent people comes to light, the erring officials would face four types of action. There will be action against the anti-corruption law as well as departmental proceedings. It may lead to three-year jail and in proven cases sacking from service, the CM told the leaders. Besieged by criticism from the opposition over the governments bid to bring several amendments to tighten the prohibition law, three senior ministers met National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders on Sunday and sought their support for the passage of the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill 2016 in the assembly. Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the BJP was never opposed to prohibition, but it did not like the stringent measures the proposed act envisages. However, I apprised him about the partys objections to certain draconian provisions and urged the government to amend them suitably, he said, citing confiscation of property in case of liquor consumption among his other objections. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The names of two of the three suspects arrested for the gangrape of a woman and her daughter near Bulandshahr on the Delhi-Kanpur highway on Saturday, dont match with the names disclosed by UP director general of police (DGP) Javed Ahmad on Sunday. Deputy inspector general (Meerut) Laxmi Singh said that the three arrested accused were identified as Raees, Jabar Singh and Shavez. Raees hails from Bulandshahr while Jabar Singh resides in an area near the Delhi/Noida border. The third accused Shavez hails from Hapur district. They belong to a certain tribe and some teams have also been sent to Bharatpur to trace the other suspects, she said. On Sunday evening, during the visit of UP principal secretary (home) Debashish Panda, DGP Ahmad had disclosed three names - Bablu from Faridabad, Naresh from Bhatinda and Raees from Bulandshahr - who were detained by the police and who were identified by the family members of the victims. Read: Let our women shoot Bulandshahr culprits in public: Rape victims family However, only Raees figures among the three persons arrested on Monday. According to Singh, the DGP had said that the three suspects were yet to be interrogated and their real identities needed to be confirmed. The suspects are tribals and live with fake identities and fake addresses. They also keep on moving from one place to other, changing addresses. After questioning, their identities were confirmed as Raees, Jabar Singh and Shavez. They were arrested from Vair railway station, she added. The UP Police have deployed a massive force, including two special teams from Ghaziabad and Noida police to nab the culprits. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Central government has provided an Rs 6,403 crore to the Andhra Pradesh government as financial assistance under various provisions of the Andhra Reorganisation Act, 2014. ... having considered resources available with the state and availability of funds with the Union government within Gross Budgetary Support (GBS), since the enactment of AP Reorganisation Act 2014, up to March 2016, central assistance of Rs 6,403 crore has been provided, planning minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. The assistance has been provided under various provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. The minster also told the House that the provision made under the Act does not specify the quantum of the financial assistance to be provided to the states after bifurcation (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). The Act provides for a special development package for the backward region of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, particularly for Rayalaseema (four districts) and North Coastal (three). According to the statement, Andhra Pradesh had requested for special development package (SDP) assistance for the backward area, particularly Rayalaseema and North Coastal region, for an amount of Rs 24,350 crore over five years (2014-15 to 2018-19) in a letter dated October 16, 2014. The minister also said, The 14th Finance Commission also recognised that the Andhra Pradesh state is revenue deficit state... the chief minister requested vice-chairman NITI Aayog during May 2015 to release Rs 5,000 crore during 2015-16 for continuing the activities as per the special development package. The central government has advised the state to revise the proposal as per discussion of the meeting. A comprehensive SDP proposal for Rs 24,350 crore was submitted to NITI Aayog on January 6, 2016. Singh also told the House that as per the assessment made by the 14th Finance Commission, Andhra Pradesh is set to receive Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant of Rs 22,122 crore over its award period (2015-2020). A Class 4 student was allegedly shackled by his teachers at a madrasa in Bambepur village of Khijrabad block in the district. The matter came to light when Ayub Khan, the father of the boy, visited the Nusrat Ali Islamic madrasa on Saturday and found his son tied with a shackle in the class room. He made a video of his son, raised the matter with the teachers of the madrasa and filed a police complaint. Ayub said, When I reached the madarsa, I found my son tied up with a chain whereas other students were sitting normally. He said when he took up the issue with the teachers, they said the child was not focusing on his study and used to run before finishing his homework and they tied him so that he could finish his homework before leaving the class. On Ayubs complaint, the police booked two teachers, identified as Mubarak and Shabeer, under Sections 23 and 26 of the Juvenile Justice Act and 323, 342, 506 and 34 the IPC. However, the police have so far failed to arrest the accused. We went to arrest them, but villagers came in their support. Some villagers even came to the police station and asked us not register a case, but we are making searches to arrest the accused, said Khizrabad police station in-charge Virender Singh. He said the accused belonged to Mirzapur of Uttar Pradesh and the police will arrest them soon. Investigation officer Roshan Lal said the police recovered two shackles with locks from the madarsa. The investigations were on. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Communal tension gripped Uttar Pradeshs Bahraich town on Sunday night after Hindus and Muslims clashed over an alleged incident of sexual harassment of a few girls, police said on Monday. Reports said some Muslim boys had been allegedly harassing girls enrolled in a dance school in Qazi Katra locality under Dargah police station of Bahraich, 130 km north of state capital Lucknow. The girls informed their parents who in turn lodged a complaint with the police but no action was taken against the boys. On Sunday evening, when the girls arrived at the school to attend their classes, a group of boys asked for their mobile numbers and addresses. The girls refused and alerted their parents. Soon members of the girls families arrived at the spot and challenged the boys, who started pelting stones. Members of the other community came out in support of the hoodlums. Finding themselves outnumbered, the girls and their family members took shelter in a nearby temple. Later, police dispersed the mob and rescued the girls and their family members. At least three people were injured in the clash. The police arrested four people and raids are being conducted to arrest the main accused who is absconding. An adequate police force has been deployed in sensitive localities and the situation is normal, superintendent of police, Shaligram Verma told Hindustan Times. An FIR has been registered against five people and over 100 unidentified people under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 336 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), IPC, Verma added. The injured were sent to the district hospital and two of them, who were seriously injured in the clash, have been referred to Lucknows King Georges Medical University (KGMU) for treatment. The parents and the girls have lodged several complaints with the police regarding eve teasing by the boys of a particular community but the police turned a blind eye to the harassment. The anti-social elements got encouraged and started harassing the girls, Shiv Kumar Gautam, a school teacher, said. Statewide agitations by Dalits over the flogging of four Dalit youths in Rajkot might have been the trigger behind Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patels resignation on Monday, but BJP party leadership had been preparing to replace her for the last seven months. The partys poor show in local bodies elections last December had alarm bells ringing at the BJPs Ashoka Road headquarters in Delhi. The Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel threatened to weaken the BJPs sway in rural pockets of Gujarat, forcing the partys top brass to start thinking about a change of guard. The nationwide outrage over atrocities against Dalits in the state, which threatened to damage the partys prospects in assembly elections early next year, sealed Patels fate. The BJP had bagged over 50% of the vote share to wrest 30 of the 31 district panchayats in 2010. But last year, it could win just six district panchayats and its vote share dipped by 7 %. The Congress increased its tally from one to 24 district panchayats. The results of elections to the taluka panchayats were equally distressing for the BJP - from 150 (with 48.51% votes) in 2010 to just 67 (with 42.32% votes) in 2015. There were problems even during the rule of Narendra Modi, but he never allowed them to get out of hand. She (Anandiben)could not step into Modis giant boots, a BJP leader said. Party sources told HT that it was BJP chief Amit Shah who prevailed upon Prime Minister Modi for a leadership change in Gujarat. Shah wanted the change to happen much earlier but Patel dug in her heels. But she gave up once the message was clear that even Modi was unhappy with the current situation in Gujarat. It was communicated to her last month that she will have to make way for a younger leader, a source said. State BJP chief Vijay Rupani (59), health minister Nitin Patel (60), and assembly speaker Ganpatbhai Vasava (45) are frontrunners to replace Anandiben. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal during his recent visits to Goa refused to stay in the state guest house, and only a meagre Rs 500 was spent by the government in the trips, the Legislative Assembly was told on Monday. The chief minister of Delhi was provided vehicles and accommodation at the state guest house. He was received and seen off at the airport. However, he did not avail the accommodation at the state guest house, state protocol minister Dilip Parulekar told the House. The state government had presented a flower bouquet amounting to Rs 500 on his first visit, the minister said. The question about the expenses on Kejriwals visits was tabled by Goa Vikas Party MLA Fransisco Miccky Pacheco. Kejriwal had visited Goa twice on May 22 and June 28, during which he addressed a public meeting and interacted with cross section of society. AAP has already announced that they will fight on all the 40 seats for the upcoming Goa polls due before March 2017. Congress said on Monday the resignation of Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel was overdue and accused the BJP leadership of trying to protect her in spite of growing unrest among Dalits and the Patidar community over her handling of issues related to them. Congress general secretary Gurudas Kamat said if she is made a governor of any state or accommodated into the Union cabinet, then it will amount to rubbing salt to the wounds of Dalits and the Patidar community. Patel offered to resign through a Facebook post on Monday, requesting the BJP leadership to relieve her from the post as she is soon going to be 75. BJP president Amit Shah said he will place her letter before parliamentary board which will take the final decision. The state has been witnessing agitation by the Patidar community to fulfil their quota demand while Dalits are up in arms after seven of the members were flogged by a group at Una for skinning a dead cow. Leaders of religious and extremist groups, including Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, have warned of protests against Indian home minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Pakistan on August 3, putting the Nawaz Sharif government in an embarrassing position. India said on Monday Singh would go ahead with the visit to attend a meeting of interior ministers of SAARC nations in Islamabad though officials ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart. Saeed on Monday threatened the JuD will organise demonstrations and rallies across Pakistan if Singh went ahead with the visit, alleging the minister was behind the killings of innocent Kashmiris. The Jamaat-e-Islami, which too is protesting against the visit, said it will organise processions and block roads in Islamabad so that the Indian minister gets the message over the violence against innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir. Read: Lashkar militant at Pulwama protest rally? Police refuse to confirm Sources in Islamabad said the government was in a bind as there is considerable public support for the stand adopted by groups such as the JuD in view of the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, which has claimed nearly 50 lives. The state has witnessed widespread violence since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces last month. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju played down the threats by Saeed and told reporters Singh would attend the SAARC meet as scheduled. The SAARC meeting is a multilateral meeting. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or having a separate meeting with (the) Pakistani home minister, he said. The external affairs ministry had last week ruled out bilateral meetings during the visit by Singh, who will be the first Indian leader to visit Pakistan since a sharp downturn in ties following the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in January. The assault was blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Jamaat-e-Islami and JuD have said they will hold protests under the umbrella of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council, a platform comprising dozens of religious and extremist groups. Members of the council have opposed the normalisation of relations with India in the past. In a statement issued in Lahore on Monday, Hafiz Saeed accused Singh of being responsible for the killings in Jammu and Kashmir. I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris? he said. Read: Senior leader quits NC, pledges support for Kashmir freedom struggle It will be ironic, as on the one hand, the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand, the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh, he added. He said the Pakistan government might have compulsions to receive the Kashmiris killers but the people are siding with oppressed Kashmiris. Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, said protests and rallies will be organised in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities on August 3. The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit. The PML-N government must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis, he said. Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall Pakistans envoy from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India because of the unrest in the Kashmir Valley. Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistans high commissioner from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India, Salahuddin said while addressing the Azadi Kashmir March in Lahore on Sunday. Salahuddin said Pakistan should not have invited Singh to the SAARC meet. The organsiers of the Azadi Kashmir March originally intended to go up to the Wagah border with India but security forces stopped the protesters on the outskirts of Lahore. Observers pointed out that the government of Punjab province, which is led by Prime Minister Sharifs younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, had done little to tamp down anti-India protests in recent weeks. The spike in violence in Jammu and Kashmir has escalated the rivalry between the two countries. India was angered when Pakistani leaders referred to militant commander Burhan Wani as a Kashmiri leader and described his death as an extrajudicial killing. Following back to back visits to Pakistan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj last December, the two sides had agreed to launch a comprehensive dialogue. Efforts to normalise ties went into a tailspin after the Pathankot attack and the lack of political engagement has heightened tensions. (With inputs from HT Correspondent in New Delhi.) Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel sprang a surprise on Monday by offering to resign from her post, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) needed a fresh face in the state before elections next year. Considering Prime Minister Narendra Modis affinity to social media he has often been critical of ministers who do not aggressively use digital platforms to tout the governments achievements it wasnt completely unusual that Patel chose Facebook to convey the news. With this she probably became the first CM to announce her resignation on social media. Anandiben Patel has submitted a copy of facebook digital resignation to modi ji. #FailedAnandiSacked pic.twitter.com/4OPT2uDAxs JHNGR NSR (@ittefaq_se) August 1, 2016 Twitter, of course, responded to the news with its trademark levity. Anandiben Patel was nearly as clueless as Pratibha Patil. Let us kid ourselves not Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) August 1, 2016 A CM posts her political intent to quit on Facebook.Anandiben Patel does not know Modi Ji 's or Amit Shah's phone number? #InternalDemocracy Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) August 1, 2016 #AnandibenPatel resigns via Facebook. A new achievement under Digital India initiative ! Saket Aloni (@SaketAloni) August 1, 2016 Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who had predicted Patels exit, jumped on the opportunity to gloat, claiming responsibility of the move. Another prediction of @ArvindKejriwal comes true. #Anandibenpatel to resign as Guj CM..lol...coward and psycho feku pic.twitter.com/K8wY18aO2V Mayur Panghaal (@mayurpanghaal) August 1, 2016 Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel posted her resignation on Facebook. Arvind Kejriwal Liked it Joy (@Joydas) August 1, 2016 But not everyone took the 75-year-olds decision lightly while some appreciated her decision as a sign of a quality leader, others urged her to reconsider. Haters gonna hate ... Sensible move by a quality leader ... #AnandibenPatel vaibhav sharma (@vaibhav17sharma) August 1, 2016 Read | Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel offers to resign, says BJP needs fresh face A hotel, a museum or just scrap with the metal used in a motorbike? The fate of INS Viraat, Indias only operational aircraft carrier that retires later this year, is uncertain. Navy chief Sunil Lanba on Monday talked about a proposal to convert Indias oldest warhorse into an aircraft carrier museum. Docked at the Cochin Shipyard for decommissioning refit, Indias oldest warhorse is steeped deep in history. 1 | Oldest aircraft carrier: The 57-year-old INS Viraat is the oldest in the world and has served two navies -- the British navy as HMS Hermes and the Indian Navy since February 1987. Completed and commissioned in 1959, it served as the flagship of the Royal navy during the Falklands war in 1982 and was decommissioned three years later. Inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 after extensive refits, Viraat was the countrys only aircraft carrier for over a decade 2 | The Mother ship: The 13-storey high aircraft carrier, affectionately called Mother, was also mobilised during Operation Parakram, the months of military standoff between India and Pakistan following the attack on Parliament in December 13, 2001. 3 | The Giant: In its 29 years with the Indian Navy, Viraat, or the giant in Sanskrit, received 14 refits to prolong its operational life. It returned to the Cochin Shipyard on July 28 but this time to remove all valuable equipment such as engines, radars and guns. It will be towed back to Mumbai where it will be decommissioned. 4 | Sea Harrier era ends: There were plans to retire the 28,000-tonne ship before 2010 but the delay in induction of INS Vikramaditya forced the navy to keep the carrier going for a few more years. The last extension came in 2008 but its integral fleet of Sea Harrier jets was getting increasingly unserviceable. Viraats retirement also marks the end of Sea Harriers. Capable of vertical take-off and landing, these aircraft will now be used for training. However, its Sea King helicopters will continue in service. 5 | Defence worries: Viraats retirement leaves India without an operational carrier as INS Vikramaditya will only be available for action after eight months. Admiral Lanba has said the under-construction Vikrant, being built at the Cochin Shipyard, the first carrier to be made in India, is due to inducted by December 2018. India desperately needs to strengthen its naval power with China looking to expand influence in the neighbourhood through ports and military presence. 6 | What lies ahead: It is still not clear what will happen to Viraat. Media reports have said the Andhra Pradesh government wants to turn it into a 500-room hotel or resort. There is also a proposal to develop it into an adventure tourism but no decision has been taken so far. Military experts and enthusiasts hope that Viraat will not go the INS Vikrant way. The ship, which took part the 1971 war, was sold as scrap. Pune-based maker Bajaj Auto has launched V15 range of motorcycles, which, it says, uses metal from Vikrant in its fuel tank. The government plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for a flight home. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Monday the government is trying to arrange exit documents for those workers who wish to return to India. The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction companies and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry caused by low global oil prices. About 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have lost their jobs. The plight of the laid-off workers was raised by lawmakers in Indias Parliament on Monday. Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress. In March, a special report in Hindustan Times had warned that the Gulf dream was becoming a nightmare for thousands of Indians who work in the region or are dependent on remittances. A recap of our report: Falling oil prices and a flood of cheap labour from other countries is turning sour the dreams of millions of Indians in the oil-rich Gulf and threatening to choke the stream of remittances their families depend on. Money or dignity: The dilemma of Indians in the Gulf Fewer Indian workers are travelling to the Gulf, stung by practices such as nitaqat (employing local people), cheap migrant labour from countries such as Bangladesh, stricter crackdown on illegal workers and a slump in the once-booming construction sector. Raging conflict in neighbouring countries such as Yemen, Libya, and Iraq is also contributing to the problem. And the worst may not be over yet for the seven-million strong Indian diaspora and their families in states such as Kerala that draw a major chunk of revenue from remittances, say experts. The crisis is hurting employment prospects for Indian emigrants such as Neha DSouza*, who has been looking for opportunities in Dubai for a month. I still havent found a job. My cousin, who works in that country, said the job scenario in Gulf countries is really bad at the moment, and people are being laid off. In fact, my cousin is also planning to come back, she said. The job squeeze is triggering a rise in cases of Indians duped by unscrupulous job dealers in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Some of us are forced to send back families due to economic reasons and losing jobs for many of us have become a reality, said Prashant G, who works in an oil firm in Bahrain. Amit Desai* moved from Bengaluru to Saudi Arabia just a year ago but is disillusioned with falling subsidies and a burgeoning local young population replacing outsiders in jobs. With oil prices falling by 70% in two years, revenues in Gulf countries have fallen, forcing governments to slash budgets and generous subsidies. With the geopolitical situation worsening, many governments have scaled up defence spending, said Desai. If oil stays at such levels, the situation looks grim for expats. The crisis has serious implications for India, the largest recipient of remittance in the world and the biggest exporter of manpower to Gulf nations for decades. Govt plans to evacuate 10,000 laid off Indians in Saudi amid food crisis The Gulf countries account for more than 50% cross-border remittance. More importantly, those who work in Gulf send back almost all of their savings back home. A fall in remittance from these countries will have larger implications back home, said an Indian diplomat. Driving the slump is an oil glut that has pushed down prices to around $40 a barrel, the lowest in two decades. This has come at a bad time for Gulf countries that have been trying to diversify but are still heavily dependent on oil. My parents just moved to Dubai, and only in the third month my mum faced a cut in her salary. The company claims she will be reimbursed next month but Im not sure how true that is considering the scenario, said Shamak Irani*, a Mumbai-based writer. It wont be long before they reassess their situation and maybe move back to India. There have been other reports of job cuts, shelving of expansion plan by firms and pruning of perks. A Qatar state company had cut 1,000 jobs though many found jobs elsewhere, the Parliament was told last session. We often get complaints about non-payment of salaries these days, said an Indian diplomat in a Gulf country. India retains the top slot in receiving remittance but the flow of money is stagnating. In 2014-15, the remittance was $69.8 billion against $69.6 billion a year ago. Any stagnation or fall in remittance from the Gulf doesnt augur well for India, considering the remittances from United States and Europe dont look encouraging. What we witnessing is an alarming scenario for the Indian migrant workers. They are at the receiving end due to cheaper labour from countries like Bangladesh, slump in the construction sector, and lack of any booming economic activity in the Gulf region, says Ginu Zacharia Ommen, honorary associate, Centre for International Migration, University of Poitiers, France. He says the worst is yet to come. The larger question is how Indians are losing out on the job pie in Gulf to others. The six countries account for around 96% of the annual labour export from India. Last year, 781,000 Indian workers migrated abroad as against 817,000 in 2013, shows external affairs ministry data. The jobs are shrinking in Gulf. But the Indians taken for a ride by the employers for non-existent jobs are also going up, calling for a course correction from all those concerned, said Kundan Srivastava, an activist. * Names have been changed. With inputs from Aayushi Pratap in Mumbai (This story was first published on Mar 27, 2016.) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Missed the biggest stories of the day? Dont worry, because weve got you covered. Read on to get your news fix for the day. National Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel offers to resign, says BJP needs fresh face Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel offered to resign on Monday, a decision seen prompted by mounting pressure over her governments handling of a string of political protests. She said in a Facebook post that she told the BJP leadership about her plan to step down two months ago. She will be setting down after completing two years at the helm in November. 3 Bulandshahr gangrape accused sent to jail for 14 days A fast track court in Bulandshahar has sent three accused in the highway gangrape case to 14 days of judicial custody on Monday. Police produced the three accused Raees, Shavej and Jabar Singh in the court of additional district judge Dhruv Kumar Tiwari amid tight security on Monday afternoon. The accused were arrested on Sunday evening. Hafiz Sayeed, Pak Islamic groups threaten protests against Rajnath visit Leaders of religious and extremist groups, including Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, have warned of protests against Indian home minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Pakistan on August 3, putting the Nawaz Sharif government in an embarrassing position. My leader slapped me: Expelled AIADMK MP breaks down in Rajya Sabha Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa expelled MP Sasikala Pushpa from the AIADMK on Monday, prompting the Rajya Sabha member to claim in Parliament that her leader slapped her and that her life was under threat. The dramatic developments came two days after Pushpa slapped DMK MP Tiruchi Siva at the Delhi airport, triggering a controversy and delaying a flight. Assam floods: Death toll climbs to 34, over 110,000 people affected Three people died on Monday in Assam, taking the death toll to 34 in the deluge that has as affected more than 1.1 million people. The state disaster management agency said 1,659 villages in 21 districts were affected by the floods, down from 1.7 million people affected across 2,266 villages till Sunday. World Unfazed by Brexit vote, Goans revel in London festival There is anxiety among European Union citizens about their future in Britain after the June 23 Brexit vote, but not much of it was evident as more than 12,000 Portuguese citizens of Goan-origin revelled at a festival here on Sunday. The UK Goan Festival London was celebrated in characteristic susegad (contented) style with a colourful carnival parade, music, alcohol and traditional cuisine, with Britains exit from the EU rarely in the air. New York Post publishes nude pictures of Trumps wife Melania... again The New York Post on Monday ran a front-page picture of potential first lady Melania Trump naked, prompting criticism on social media and charges of misogyny. It was the second day in a row that the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid ran a front page nude image of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps wife from her years as a young model. Sports Nada gives clean chit to Narsingh Yadav, clears him of doping charges Wrestler Narsingh Yadav was cleared of doping charges by an anti-doping disciplinary panel on Monday, which said he was a victim of sabotage, but his Olympic dream rests on clearance from the sports global governing body and the Rio Games organisers. The 26-year-old had tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid, but he pleaded innocence saying his supplements and water were spiked. Arsenal wrap up US pre-season tour with impressive win over Chivas Guadalajara Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a second half goal on a brilliant solo effort as English giants Arsenal earned their second win of their US tour by defeating Chivas Guadalajara 3-1. Oxlade-Chamberlain scored just five minutes into the second half, using a back heel flick to loose a Chivas defender, and then cut to the middle before hammering a left-footed shot into the far corner. Business Indias largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki hikes prices by up to Rs 20,000 Indias largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India hiked prices of its various models by up to Rs 20,000 on Monday. The increase in price for the newly-launched compact SUV Vitara Brezza will be Rs 20,000, while that of new premium hatchback Baleno is Rs 10,000. On a select range, the price hike will be between Rs 1,500 and Rs 5,000, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a regulatory filing. Subsidised LPG price hiked by Rs 1.93 per cylinder Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was hiked on Monday by Rs 1.93 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in one month as the government looked at monthly increases to cut down subsidies. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder will now cost Rs 423.09 in Delhi as against Rs 421.16 previously, according to state- owned oil firms. Entertainment Salman Khan gets emotional, breaks down at Rajjat Barjatyas prayer meet Notwithstanding his tough exterior, Salman Khan is known to be soft-hearted. But, no ones really seen that side of him in public. However, on Sunday, the actor broke down at his friend, Rajjat Barjatyas prayer meet. An inconsolable Salman, who was accompanied by his sister, Alvira Agnihotri, was seen hugging Rajjats cousin, filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya, and sobbing. Varan Dhawan, John Abrahams Dishoom punches its way to a Rs 37 crore opening Director Rohit Dhawans Dishoom, starring Varun Dhawan, John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez, minted Rs 37.32 crore in its opening weekend. Dishoom, which collected Rs 11.05 crore on its opening day on July 29, received good footfalls over the weekend and minted Rs 12.02 crore on Saturday and Rs 14.25 crore on Sunday, read a statement issued on behalf of the producers. Lifestyle Think about a future with your partner to tackle relationship woes Instead of reacting in the heat of the moment and regretting it later or doing an irreparable damage, it is better to sit back and think about your future with your partner in times of crisis, suggest researchers. Beer lovers, weve found you your dream job. You can thank us later It cannot get better than this for all the avid beer drinkers out there. We have found you your dream job. What, you ask? Well, you have got to travel across the United States drinking all sorts of brews and youd be paid for it $64,650 (over Rs 43 lakhs) a year. No, we are not kidding. Technology Harman Kardon Esquire 2 review: Powerful, high bass all round Bluetooth speaker Since 2000, Harman Kardon has also dabbled in computer audio. With personal audio emerging as one of the largest segments of the market for audio equipment, firms like Harman Kardon are now trying to play catch up with other companies that are already well established in the field. How to get an Uber, food, flights, free data and more on Snapdeal app I havent been a fan of Snapdeal and prefer Amazon for buying things online, but the Snpadeal app sudden seems like the most eligible e-commerce app to have on your phone at all times after they announced the ability to book an Uber on it. It recently added a range of services on its platform, allowing customers to book tickets, flights, plumber, order food and even pay bills directly through its platform. A Noida-based man whose wife and minor daughter were gang-raped by highway robbers in Uttar Pradesh said on Monday that the family of three will commit suicide if police fail to give them justice in three months. My daughter and my wife are not in a position to speak. For 18 years we have lived in Noida and now we are not able to return to our homes because of the shame. I appeal to the Noida Police to deliver me justice. I give them an ultimatum of three months. Post that, we will commit suicide, he told newsmen. The ultimatum by the family comes amid allegations of police laxity that allowed the gang to waylay five members of the family on the Ghaziabad-Aligarh highway on Friday night when they were headed to their native place in Shahjahanpur in a car. The gang looted cash and other valuables before dragging the 13-year-old girl and her mother to a roadside field and raping them, the family said in its complaint. Read | Let our women shoot Bulandshahr culprits in public: Rape victims family Two people raped my wife and daughter. My elder brothers wife was spared because the rapists thought she was too old. We even appealed to them to kill us before they rape themthen they started beating us...They also took Rs 21,000 and jewellery from us, he said. The crime in Bulandshahr has shocked the country and raised questions about law and order and the role of police in the state. The UP government has suspended seven policemen and set up a 300-member task force that arrested three suspects on Monday. They were remanded in police custody for two weeks. The family said the initial response of police on Saturday morning was pathetic and that a police van had driven past the spot during the assault. The uncle of the minor said when they called the police helpline 100, the emergency helpline was busy at first and then no one picked up for a long time. They then contacted a relative in Noida and after some time, the local police station called on their phone. Read | 3 Bulandshahr gangrape accused sent to jail for 14 days But then, the officer on the other side of the line repeatedly asked questions instead of rescuing the family. Earlier in the day, the family even demanded that the two survivors be allowed to shoot dead the rapists in public. The minors uncle said the family will never come out of the trauma of the rape but an example needed to be set to avoid such incidents, reigniting the debate around stricter punishment for crimes against women. The National Commission for Women (NCW) also summoned a doctor for allegedly abusing the minor and asking her asking her awkward questions during the medical examination. NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumarmangalam also criticised Uttar Pradesh police for not invoking sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) against the accused. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh said the Pocso Act was yet to be added in the FIR. Kumarmangalam said the NCW members were counselling the victims, as they were traumatised and had not been offered any such assistance by the UP Police. Read | Centre seeks report from UP govt on Bulandshahr gangrape Poll strategist Prashant Kishor said on Sunday that Kashi was the best model of the failure of Modi governments functioning. There has been no development in Varanasi in last two years. The condition in other parts of the country can be easily gauged from the plight of Prime Ministers constituency, he said. Kishor visited Varanasi on Sunday ahead of the proposed roadshow of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 2. He met Congress members at the party offices in Maidagin and Englishia Line and in Pindra assembly constituency represented by MLA Ajay Rai. Looking at Kashi, one can easily guess the condition elsewhere in the country. If the BJP wins the assembly election, the entire UP will meet a similar fate, said Kishor while addressing Congress workers here. Congress is the only party that can counter the BJP. It has openly protested against the BJP in Varanasi. There are several political parties which make tall claims about launching campaigns against the Modi government but have not been able to muster courage to dare the BJP in Kashi, he said. Kishor exhorted the Congress workers to work hard for the assembly election and assured them that the party would form the government in the state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A video of a masked man with hundreds of people ringing him and shouting pro-Kashmiri freedom slogans at a rally in south Kashmir has created a stir with many identifying him as Abu Dujan, a top commander of Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Police refused to confirm the mans identity but unconfirmed reports said many militants of the Hizbul mujahideen were also spotted at the rally in Pulwama district. Pakistani flags were waved and pro-militant slogans were allegedly raised at the rally. We are looking into the matter, an official said. The death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8 sparked waves of violent protest in the Valley that have killed 50 and injured nearly 2,000 people. The rally was organised following a call by separatists to pay tribute to Wani and other militants gunned down by the army. Thousands of people visited the Martyrs Graveyard at Kareemabad village in Pulwama, 32 km from Srinagar, Many top Hizbul militants, including Naseer Ahmad Pandit, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Afaq Janbaz and Abdul Rashid Bhat, belonged to this village. Reports said banners eulogising the militants were put up across town and residents decorated the graveyard and erected food and water stalls for those visiting the area. Read: Its yesterday again: Kashmirs old wounds need political healing Authorities sealed the main town but people managed to reach the venue from different local link roads. Leaders of both moderate and hard-line factions of the Hurriyat Conference, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, remained under house arrest. Meanwhile, separatist leader and JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik was shifted to Srinagars Central Jail after remaining under police custody at the Kothibagh police station since July 8. The Valley remained tense as curfew was re-imposed in many parts of south Kashmir and the old city in Srinagar. Clashes continued in many parts of the Valley with at least 20 people injured in Srinagar on Sunday. (With agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The government should allow the men who gangraped a 13-year-old girl and her mother in Uttar Pradeshs Bulandshahr to be shot in public by the victims, the family demanded on Monday. The 13-year-olds uncle said the family will never come out of the trauma of the rape but an example needed to be set to avoid such incidents, reigniting the debate around stricter punishment for crimes against women. The familys car was waylaid early on Saturday morning on the Delhi-Kanpur highway by a gang, who tied the male members and raped the mother-daughter duo for three hours, before fleeing with cash and valuables. The uncle alleged that a police van drove past the crime scene without intervening, hours before the family was finally rescued. Only we can understand how it feels when a woman and her daughter get beaten and raped in front of your eyes. I would request the government and judiciary to allow our women to shoot the culprit in public, said the uncle. This was a gruesome human rights violation. But people raise cries of human rights violation when rapists are hanged. One of them even told his group not to abuse women, but some of them did not listen, said the uncle. Read: Three arrested in Bulandshahr gangrape case, seven cops suspended Six crimes against women are reported every minute in India with many saying lax prosecution and punishment encourages perpetrators. The country tightened its anti-rape laws after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape but many activists have called for stricter punishment for heinous crimes such as the death penalty. The crime in Bulandshahr has shocked the country and raised questions about law and order and the role of police in the state. The UP government has suspended seven policemen and set up a 300-member task force that arrested five suspects on Monday. But this might not satisfy the family, which said the initial response of the UP Police on Saturday morning was pathetic and that a police van had driven past the spot when the rape was happening but didnt bother to check. The uncle said when they called the police helpline 100, the emergency helpline was busy at first and then no one picked up for a long time. They then contacted a relative in Noida and after some time, the local police station called on their phone. But then, the officer on the other side of the line repeatedly asked questions instead of rescuing the family. I even abused the cop out of frustration and told him to rescue us and understand the pathetic situation we were in, he said. Senior officials were sensitive to our plight and they were quite helpful. Some have even promised strict and exemplary action against the accused. The crime scene where a family was robbed and a woman and her teenage daughter were gangraped. (Sakib Ali/ HT Photo) Read: Noida woman, daughter raped near Bulandshahr highway, 15 detained The uncle alleged that one of the suspended police officers -- senior superintendent of police Vaibhav Krishna had immediately arrived at the spot but had to be sacrificed for the incident. We are partially satisfied with UP police action till now, he said. The family said the girl has high fever and her mother is in a state of mental and physical shock. We will take them to the hospital as they need further treatment. But we will fight it out. We want all agencies to understand our plight and we demand arrest of all those 7-8 men who assaulted our women, the uncle added. The girl may not be able to attend her class for months now. She is severely traumatised and shattered. The family recounted the horror of their ordeal that began around 1.15 am when their car was hit with iron rods by robbers on the highway. We were taken to fields and we were not allowed to raise our heads. We repeatedly pleaded them to take our belongings but to release our women but every time, they hit us with sticks, rods and hammer, he said. They even did not listen to the cries of woman and my niece... I cannot narrate the incident. He added that the two women identified three suspects who were brought face-to- face before them on Sunday. Even the gold chain and the purse which some local politicians were claiming belong to us were not ours. All the accused seemed to be around aged 22-35 years and spoke in local dialect, said the uncle. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann, who is under scrutiny for making a video on Parliament security, is reluctant to change his reply to a Lok Sabha panel nailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And his move has put the BJP in a spot. In his two letters defending his act, Mann has accused Modi of compromising national security by allowing Pakistans ISI to enter Pathankot airbase in the garb of doing a probe. He also cited how a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP violated security in 2005 by bringing his Mercedes into the Parliament complex with a false car-pass. Manns letter will be mentioned in the committees report to Lok Sabha. The BJP is uncomfortable to have references about the PM in an official document that will be a part of the House records, said a member of the panel. On Monday, Mann got another days time to consider changing his reply. Last week, the committees chairman Kirit Somaiya had given Mann two days to change his report but the lawmaker refused to edit his reply. When the meeting began, Mann replied in the negative on whether he wanted to change his letter. But towards the end, when Somaiya asked if he would like to take a day more to consider changes, Manns reply was, Yes. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi asked Mann to reveal details of his recent foreign trips. The Sangrur MP, first denied any trip, but later admitted going to Singapore, San Francisco and Canada. Lekhi wanted Mann to explain his visit to Canada, where many former Khalistani terrorists are believed to have taken shelter. Somaiya also questioned Mann for his flip flops. In your letter, you have said the ambit of the panel should be expanded to call the PM. In another paragraph you have concluded that the panel should be scrapped. Which is the correct answer? Some MPs even wanted to know who was guiding Mann. The Sangrur MP and the AAPs face in Punjab maintained that nobody has guided him. Read | Defiant Mann tells panel he has done no wrong; most members want strict action Read | Bhagwant Mann gets 2 days time to change reply given to Parliament panel SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON All higher education institutions run by the Madhya Pradesh government have been asked to hoist the national flag and display the pictures of the president, the Prime Minister and three national icons. An order to this effect was issued on Sunday by the higher education minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and is aimed at fostering a love for the country among the academic communities. It said the state government-run institutions of higher education should hoist the tricolour and display the pictures of the current president, the current prime Minister, as well as Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekanand, and BR Ambedkar. In hoisting the tricolour, the flag code of India must be diligently complied with, said the order to the college principals and additional directors of higher education. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa expelled MP Sasikala Pushpa from the AIADMK on Monday, prompting the Rajya Sabha member to claim in Parliament that her leader slapped her and that her life was under threat. The dramatic developments came two days after Pushpa slapped DMK MP Tiruchi Siva at the Delhi airport, triggering a controversy and delaying a flight. Sasikala Pushpa sacked from the party for bringing ill fame to the party, the AIADMKs official Twitter handle read. Raising the matter in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Pushpa who shares her name with a close associate of Jayalalithaa -- broke down, saying that she had been slapped by the leader. My life and dignity is under threat. Will the government save me?... I am being harassed. I need protection. In Tamil Nadu, I dont have safety, she told the Rajya Sabha. Where is womens safety in this country? Pushpa said Siva was a decent man and had apologised to her but she was now being pressurised to resign from the Upper House. I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post I will not do it, she said. Pushpa said Siva was a decent man and had apologised to her but she was now being pressurised to resign from the Upper House. I will not do it, she said. The rivalry between Tamil Nadus big parties the AIADMK and DMK had led to a scuffle between two parliamentarians on Saturday. Pushpa slapped 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. Pushpa is one of the few prominent women leaders in the AIADMK and was nominated by the CM to stand for Rajya Sabha elections in 2014 -- the conclusion, many thought, to her meteoric rise through the party ranks. Pushpa began her political career as a party worker, before climbing up the ranks to become a ward councillor in Thoothukdui, and finally mayor. This is not the first time that the two have been at loggerheads: Jayalalithaa had removed Pushpa from as president of the partys womens wing as well as forced her to step down as deputy leader of the AIADMKs Rajya Sabha party in January. Rumours indicated her alleged support of a sand mafia tycoon in Thoothukudi and proximity to DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi had vexed Jayalalithaa. But the six-time chief ministers mercurial temper is well known: And this, exacerbated by Saturdays bout of fisticuffs with Siva, appears to have put a brake on Pushpas fledgling career. The Nitish Kumar government is likely to face a tough time over the passage of the new excise bill, to be tabled in the ongoing monsoon session of assembly, with the opposition calling its proposals draconian and allies of the ruling party divided over it. Besieged by criticism from the opposition over the governments bid to bring several amendments to tighten the prohibition law, three senior ministers of the Grand Alliance (GA) met National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders on Sunday and sought their support for the passage of the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill 2016 in the assembly. Read | Nitish govt wants revised anti-alcohol law with more teeth Among other provisions, the proposed bill seeks to punish all adults in a family for liquor consumption by an individual family member, or if liquor were recovered from ones house. The bill also puts toddy in the category of country liquor and makes tapping of toddy as serious an office as preparation of country liquor. The amendments to the bill were tabled in the assembly on Friday and will be taken up for discussion on Monday. A team of parliamentary affairs minister Shravan Kumar, excise minister Abdul Jalil Mastan and art and culture minister Shiv Chandra Ram called on senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and ex-CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi. Manjhi has been one of the most vocal leaders against the new excise legislation, primarily on the premise that lakhs of families would be rendered jobless if the bill is enacted in the present format. The BJP leaders, including Modi and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Prem Kumar, have already sought amendments to various draconian provisions of the act. The provisions to which they sought amendments include jail term to all adult family members for the fault of an individual and giving unbridled power to police and excise officials to harass the common man in the name of prohibition. Read | Bihar MLAs unanimously pledge not to drink, bill on prohibition passed After the meeting, Shravan Kumar said they urged the NDA leaders to support the government on the enactment of different legislations, including the excise and prohibition bill. We have conveyed chief minister Nitish Kumars message and urged them to show unanimity over the new bill to be tabled in the House during the ongoing monsoon session, Kumar said, adding that their (NDA leaders) response would be known only on the floor of the house. The governments bid to reach out to the opposition assumes considerable significance as the BJP has decided to boycott the bill over its draconian nature. Modi said the BJP was never opposed to prohibition, but it did not like the stringent measures the proposed act envisages. Modi said the ministers assured him of amending the clauses related to toddy and bhang. However, I apprised him about the partys objections to certain draconian provisions and urged the government to amend them suitably, he said, citing confiscation of property in case of liquor consumption among his other objections. Taking a swipe at the bill, BJP leader Nitin Navin said the premises of CM and other VVIPs should also be governed by the act the same way a family head or the entire village will face a penalty for letting any of its members consume or store liquor. The CM should also be held accountable if liquor finds its way into the state illegally, he quipped. Divided Allies The governments move to enact the new excise law with harsher provisions has evoked sharp resentment within the GA with some Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress leaders venting their opposition to certain clauses of the bill. Read: Why Bihars decision to tighten liquor law has triggered a debate Contrary to the unanimity over the amendment to the prevalent excise act during the last budget session, there are fissures within the ruling alliance on several provisions of the new bill. Concerns within the GA were apparent at a joint meeting of legislators where RJD and Congress MLAs opposed some stringent provisions in the new law on Friday. RJDs Bhai Birendra, Ramanuj Prasad and Bhola Yadav, reportedly, voiced their concern over the clause pertaining to punish all adults in a family for liquor consumption by individuals. They also opposed categorising toddy tapping under the same provisions that govern liquor. Even former chief minister Rabri Devi said she had reservations over the punishment clause. Prompted by discontent across allies, Kumar discussed the contentious provisions of the bill at the cabinet meeting on Saturday. However, it was not known, if the cabinet agreed to modify the disputed provisions. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Vendors at the North Dakota State Fair said sales dipped slightly this year as attendance dropped by 4 percent. "The less people that are there, the less people in the building, the less people spending money," said Marissa Iverson, who owns Exceptionally Nuts. Iverson said her sales of almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds dropped a bit after climbing over the past few years. Likewise, Bonnie Ripplinger said she sold fewer vehicle covers, a higher-ticket item than nuts. "The less trucks in the Bakken mean a little less business for us," Ripplinger said. Fair manager Renae Korslien said 293,123 people attended the Minot event this year, down from 305,093 last year. Attendance peaked in 2013 and has declined a bit each year since. "Were pretty pleased with the 4 percent," said Korslien, who cited the state's struggling economy. "We were really afraid it might be more." The fair remained a success for many of those who rely on it as a marketing event. Al Mueller, the owner of Home Sweet Home, a gift shop specializing in Pride of Dakota products in Minot, said he got eight to 10 new leads at the fair, including people who want to stock his products in their stores. He also tested a new spicy cracker on the fair-goers; people tended to like it, a sign he should market it more widely. It's a great place to gauge response, said Mueller. The fair, which featured musical acts, including Kenny Chesney, KISS and Fall Out Boy, ended its nine-day run on Sunday. Mumbai may have taken strides in bolstering security after being bloodied in the 2008 terrorist attacks but its airport is vulnerable to militants who can use nearby slums and poor lighting to sneak into the premises in the heart of Indias financial capital. The airport has grown from a small building to a massive complex but authorities havent scaled up its security apparatus adequately, exposing the premises to strikes like at the airports in Brussels in March and Istanbul last month. The current security apparatus is nothing but pro-forma security. The key problem is the lack of imagination to think ahead on the possible situations or contingencies that could arise in the future, said V Balachandran, former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and member of the two-member commission probing the 26/11 attacks. A senior police officer told HT that the airport could be under threat under four different scenarios, including one involving militants entering the premises through the periphery fencing (see graphics). Or storing arms and ammunition at hidden sites within airport land, or attacking a sentry post to distract attention of security forces or attacking a loading aircraft for maximum casualties including foreigners, said the officer. He said the airport was made vulnerable by the ring of slums around it, poor lighting and an absence of commandos guarding loading aircraft that are the most vulnerable. Read | Chinks in the security armour of this popular Shia mosque in Lucknow Read | Mumbais international airport four times more crowded than others Ironically, the much-hyped T2 is among the most susceptible to strikes because of a lack of security checks at its arrival or departure terminals. When Hindustan Times visited T2, the road to the departure or arrival terminals was freely accessible. Only one armoured vehicle was seen under the flyover before entering the airport, four pickets on the way to the departure terminal were empty, and four Mumbai policemen chatted away at a supposed barrier right before the departure terminal. At the terminal, 11 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were strategically positioned to man the outer periphery. The arrival terminal had hardly any security personnel stationed outside, and one could find easy access to the complex from at least two different locations. There were no security personnel in the parking areas. The authorities formed a new standard operating procedure for terror strikes after 2008, including a clear chain-of-command and deputing specific tasks to senior officials. The guidelines call for an inner and outer cordon to deal with militants and crisis management groups for hostage situations. But many of the recommendations werent enforced fully. Read | Unmanned immigration counters, hour-long queues at Mumbai airport Experts said the Mumbai Polices strength had increased from 17,000 to more than 45,000 in recent years but their mind-set was stuck in the British era with little imagination to tackle the constantly evolving dynamics during a terrorist strike. DAY 1 | Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A video of a senior National Conference (NC) leader, who fought an election against chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, pledging his support to the Kashmiri freedom struggle and quitting his party has gone viral in the Valley. I pledge my support to the ongoing freedom struggle and announce my resignation from mainstream politics and the NC, Iftikhar Hussain Misger is seen as saying in the video, surrounded by hundreds of young men. He is also seen shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Misger fought and lost against Mehbooba in the Anantnag bypolls in June. The region is one of the worst affected by the ongoing unrest in the Valley that have already claimed 50 lives and injured nearly 2,000 people. If he formally quits, it will be a big setback for the NC at a time its rival, Mehboobas Peoples Democratic Party, is rapidly becoming unpopular in the Valley following nearly a month-long cycle of violence, triggered by the death of insurgent Burhan Wani. In the video, Misger is seen telling a cheering crowd that he has given up his security and will soon make his decision to quit public. Misger is seen shouting slogans like, Hum le ke rahengay Azaadi, Bharat Ka Jo Yaar Hai Gaddar Hai Gaddar Hai and Bharat Ke Aiwanon Ko Aag Laga Do. HT couldnt independently verify the video. Sources said the video was shot near Misgers residence, near the volatile Cheeni Chowk area of Anantnag, and that he was taken to a mosque by the mob and asked to quit mainstream politics. Misger was not available but senior NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar said he couldnt comment on the circumstances the video was shot in. I have been trying to contact him but he is not available. We dont know what has happened outside his residence. We are trying to contact him to ascertain facts, Sagar said. Sources in the party said a crowd of protestors entered Misgers home and forced him to pledge support to ``freedom movement. The NC fielded Misger against late chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed from the Anantnag constituency in 2014 assembly polls. He lost the election. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former National Advisory Council (NAC) member and social activist Harsh Manders petition challenging BJP president Amit Shahs discharge in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, saying he has no locus standi in the matter. A small-time gangster, Sheikh and his wife, Kauser Bi, were killed while travelling from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra near Gandhinagar in 2005. Mander had sought the quashing of the December 30, 2014, order of a Mumbai sessions court discharging Shah in the murder case. He then approached the Bombay high court against the sessions court order but the HC in March this year refused to go into the merits of the discharge order on the ground that Mander was not an aggrieved party in the case. The former bureaucrat petitioned the HC after Sohrabuddins brother withdrew his appeal against Shahs discharge, which was not even challenged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Only a genuinely aggrieved person can challenge the discharge under the criminal jurisprudence. One must realise the impact of allowing such a petition, which is this person can be interminably prosecuted, a bench headed by justice SA Bobde told Manders counsel senior advocate Kapil Sibal. With the SC order and none of the affected parties standing against the trial court verdict the relief given to Shah appears to be final. When the person is genuinely aggrieved then the issue takes a different colour but when the person is not remotely connected and wants to revive the case then its a different matter, the bench noted after hearing Mander and Shahs advocates for over half an hour. But Sibal underlined public faith to argue Manders case. He said: Public must get the feeling that nobody is above the law. To this, the court said it does not consider anyone above the law. Sibal argued that the HC must decide Manders plea on merits without getting into technicalities such as the petitioners locus. Let the CBI find out why the CBI turned turtles. Even his (Sohrabuddin) brother who filed the case against Shah withdrew his case later, he said. Sibal contended the CBI filed a charge sheet and named Shah as accused number 16. It is a case of murder, the senior counsel said. Shahs counsel, senior advocate Harish Salve, questioned the locus of Mander in the case. This court has already held that if one is not connected with the case, he cannot interfere with anyones trial, Salve told the bench. Opposing the prayer, Salve said, It cannot be a case that if State is not going to file an appeal, I will file the appeal. Read| Resurgent Gujarat ATS back in thick of things with key arrests Read| Gujarats history is replete with fake encounters Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was hiked on Monday by Rs 1.93 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in one month as the government looked at monthly increases to cut down subsidies. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder will now cost Rs 423.09 in Delhi as against Rs 421.16 previously, according to state- owned oil firms. This is the second straight monthly increase in subsidised cooking gas. LPG rates were last hiked by Rs 1.98 per 14.2-kg cylinder on July 1. The government had recently decided to take the diesel route for eliminating subsidies on LPG and kerosene. Diesel price was deregulated in November 2014 after the previous UPA government effected 50 paise hikes every month to eliminate subsidies. The near Rs 2 per cylinder hike in LPG every month is also aimed at doing so. In case of kerosene, the government has allowed state-owned oil companies to raise the price by 25 paise a litre each month for 10 months. The first hike in kerosene rate happened last month and the second was effected Monday. A litre of kerosene now costs Rs 15.46 in Delhi. Simultaneously, the oil firms cut prices of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12, by Rs 50.5 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) now costs Rs 487 in Delhi as against Rs 537.50 per cylinder previously. Rates were last reduced by Rs 11 on July 1. Also, the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was cut by 4.2 per cent, reversing a five month upward trend. ATF, or jet fuel, price in Delhi was cut by Rs 2,080.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 4.2 per cent, to Rs 47,206.68, oil companies said. This reduction reverses five straight monthly increases in rates, last being on July 1 when prices were hiked by 5.5 per cent. In the five increases, ATF rates have gone up by 25 per cent, or Rs 9,985.87, per kl since March. ATF rates vary at different airports because of differential local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). Jet fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of an airlines operating cost and the latest price reduction will give relief to cash-strapped carriers. No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price reduction on passenger fares. The three fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum -- revise jet fuel as well as subsidised and non-subsidised LPG prices on the first day of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding month. Party workers still remember the time Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel spoke at a public function in South Gujarat on April 17, when Mehsana the home district of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was gripped by the Patidar quota agitation. Everybody expected her to reassure the agitating hordes, bringing the community back to the saffron fold. But Patels response was curt, bordering on cold. Such agitations happen my job is to serve the people of Gujarat, she said. Many believe the 74-year-old chief minister couldnt stop acting like a headmistress even 30 years after she quit the Mohiniba Girls School in Ahmedabad for a career in politics. And it was this attitude that did not go down well with the people she had to deal with be it party cadre, government officials or members of the Patidar community. Patels two-year tenure as Gujarats first woman chief minister seemed bumpy almost from the start. Though she had carefully cultivated the image of a good administrator over the years, everything came crumbling down when the Patidar agitation started within a year of her assuming office. Failure to curtail the stir cost the BJP dearly in the November 2015 local body elections. Later, her governments delay in taking stern action in the Una incident resulted in a major controversy that jolted the BJPs electoral chances in Gujarat as well as Uttar Pradesh. Adding to her woes were accusations of her daughters business partners getting undue favours in a huge land deal. For the first time in 30 years, Anandiben had to work without direct guidance from Modi. She, quite obviously, couldnt handle the situation, a senior BJP leader pointed out. Ever since she was made BJP state women wing president in the late eighties, Patel had worked closely with Modi. After he replaced Keshubhai Patel as the chief minister in 2001, she continued as the women and child development minister in the new cabinet. Even Patels detractors cant deny that she introduced a few revolutionary changes in the state such as providing 33% reservation to women in all government departments, 50% seats for women in local bodies, and a host of health and education schemes. But all her good work came to naught when she failed to make the right political moves when it mattered the most. FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS AUGUST 2015, Patel agitation: Anandiben failed to efficiently handle the Patel agitation. This resulted in loss of lives and property, and a loss of face for the BJP. The agitation is likely to take away the BJPs strongest and most loyal vote bank, the Patels, who constitute about 12-14% of the population. Anandiben failed to efficiently handle the Patel agitation. This resulted in loss of lives and property, and a loss of face for the BJP. The agitation is likely to take away the BJPs strongest and most loyal vote bank, the Patels, who constitute about 12-14% of the population. NOV 2015, Municipal poll debacle: Out of power for 20 years, the Congress made a comeback in the rural areas of Gujarat. Though the BJP retained its hold over urban pockets the poll outcome was a loud wake-up call for the party Out of power for 20 years, the Congress made a comeback in the rural areas of Gujarat. Though the BJP retained its hold over urban pockets the poll outcome was a loud wake-up call for the party MARCH 2016, Charges of nepotism: Anadiben mired in controversy following allegations of her government favouring her daughter Anars business partners by giving 422 hectares of land at throwaway prices. Anadiben mired in controversy following allegations of her government favouring her daughter Anars business partners by giving 422 hectares of land at throwaway prices. JULY 2016, Flogging of Dalits in Una: Trouble deepened for Gujarat CM after four Dalit men were beaten up on suspicion of cow slaughter. Subsequent protests took a violent turn, igniting fresh worries within the BJP about its political fallout in next year November-December election. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A fast track court in Bulandshahar has sent three accused in the highway gang-rape case to 14 days of judicial custody on Monday. Police produced the three accused - Raees, Shavej and Jabar Singh in the fast track court of additional district judge Dhruv Kumar Tiwari amid tight security on Monday afternoon. The accused were arrested on Sunday evening. There was a massive anger against the accused and hundreds of people including lawyers gathered outside the court when the accused were brought in. Read: Let our women shoot Bulandshahr culprits in public: Rape victims family Meanwhile, addresses of two more accused Naresh and Bablu have turned out to be fake. Police teams have been sent to verify their new addresses in Bharatpur, said the DIG (Meerut) Laxmi Singh said. Police nabbed 15 suspects for the gang-rape of a woman and her teenage daughter on Saturday near Bulandshahr on the Delhi-Kanpur highway. The anti-caste protests by Dalits in Gujarat have made national headlines for weeks now as thousands refuse to skin cows and speak out against centuries-old oppression. But it is not the only state where such demonstrations are happening. Hundreds of Dalit villages and activists in Karnataka have come together over the past week after alleged Bajrang Dal members thrashed five members of a Dalit family last month in a village in Chikmagulur district, famous for its coffee plantations. The details are eerily similar to the incident in Gujarats Una that has rocked India: The 40-member gang acted on rumours of cow slaughter, beating up the five men one with an orthopaedic disability with iron rods. The police allegedly didnt help the victims -- Muthappa, 26, Dhanush, 24, Palaraja, 56, Ramesh, 35 and Sandeep, 20 -- and booked them under Karnatakas anti-cow slaughter law. 30 Bajrang Dal people beat us up and police just stood there. If police doesnt protect us, what is to be said? My hand is broken, but now they claim they didnt do it, said Palaraja. Palaraja (seen in the green shirt in centre with a fractured arm) leads the protest in Shantipura, Karnataka. (Gee Imaan Semmalar) The Dalit residents in Shantipura A village with about 600 houses -- say the cow was brought legally from a local resident a purchase the police has verified in its preliminary report. The incident has galvanised activists, who travelled 300-odd kilometers last Friday from Bengaluru to Shantipura, and told local villagers that no caste oppression will be tolerated. No work in houses, fields, roads will happen without us Dalits. If you attack us, we will hit back. It is happening in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and now in Chikmagulur. We will not tolerate this, said Dalit Sangharsha Samithi activist Sekhar said. The police are working for the Bajrang Dal. But we have the numbers, so the BJP and all other parties who target us better watch out. After activists and lawyers intervened, police registered cases under the scheduled caste prevention of atrocities act against seven Bajrang Dal members, who are out on bail. Human chain by activists at Shantipura, Karnataka. (Gee Imaan Semmalar) But many activists fear the prosecution will be stuck in a stalemate in a state where the conviction rate under the SC/ST act is 4.9%, almost a fifth of the national average. The conviction rate under the act in the district is just 3%. Is the police following Manus laws or Dr Ambedkars Constitution? asked Gowri, a member of the Karnataka Jan Shakti, as others condemned the incident and emphasised the right to choice of food. The incident has also brought under focus what activists call ambiguous language in the 1964 Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, which mandates certificate from a competent authority for killing a bovine animal. Experts say the law effectively makes cow slaughter without certification in an unauthorised place illegal but does not make the consumption of beef illegal. But in 1966, the Karnataka high court said as the state government hadnt appointed a competent authority to license beef selling, such a permit couldnt be given. When HT asked Shantipura villagers whether there was a competent authority that they could approach, many appeared confused with no clear answer. Also, the man -- Nagappa Gowda -- who reportedly sold the cow to one of the five Dalit men beaten up, hasnt been booked for for abetment under the act. This, activists, say, indicates selective prosecution of already vulnerable Dalit villagers. The troubled relations between the ruling allies in Maharashtra saw another flashpoint on Monday when Shiv Sena members disrupted the state legislatures proceedings protesting the Bharatiya Janata Partys support for statehood to Vidarbha. Sena members, donning saffron Gandhi caps with Akhand Maharashtra written on them, stormed the well of both houses, shouting slogans in support of the state remaining united. The days proceedings were a washout. The sight of Sena legislators disrupting proceedings against a government they are a part of had been witnessed once before, when the then state advocate general Shrihari Aney backed statehood for Vidarbha and called for a referendum. He had to quit on the issue. Mondays protests came after the BJPs Nana Patole moved a private members bill in Parliament on Friday demanding statehood for Vidarbha. And on Sunday, the BJP state chief Raosaheb Danve said the party would decide on the division of the state at an appropriate time. The opposition parties, however, alleged Mondays protests were orchestrated to ensure there was no debate on the allegations of corruption against ministers. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, leader of the opposition in the assembly, said, You [the BJP and the Sena] have clearly had a setting to ensure that the house doesnt run and that we dont ask you tough questions. Following two adjournments, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis finally said there was neither an immediate proposal to carve out Vidarbha, nor was it under the States consideration currently. For the Sena, Patoles bill and Danves statements suggested that the BJP would continue to push its oft-stated agenda to carve out Vidarbha from Maharashtra. There is a larger trend weve seen on this issue -- while the government stays mum, it has other players which keep demanding statehood for Vidarbha. First, it was Shrihari Aney and now its Patole along with Danve, said Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe. Speaking on the issue, Fadnavis tacitly acknowledged the demand for statehood by pointing out that the states reorganisation committee of 1956 had recommended it. However, it is not in the state governments purview and currently the issue is not even under consideration. There is no such proposal. The decision lies with the Central government. Fadnavis also accused the Congress-NCP of creating divisions between the two ruling parties. The Sena and the BJPs stands on the issue have always been clear. The Congress and the NCP need to come out clean on the issue and not indulge in double-speak. The events over the past few days have managed to, once again, derail the Sena-BJP relationship. The two have most recently been at loggerheads over the control of two cash-rich temple trusts, Shirdis Sai Baba Sansthan and Mumbais Siddhivinayak Trust, a tussle that has not yet ended. British Indian rapper Hard Kaur, who released her single, Sherni on Tuesday, got the idea for the song after the horrific gang rape in Delhi on December 16, 2012. Kaur has since been working on the song. Read: Hard Kaur to release single on womens empowerment The idea actually came after that incident and I had written the first verse of the song after that. But I didnt want to release this song just after the incident. I didnt want it to look like I am selling myself or the song. So, I decided to not do anything about it then and kept on working on all these years, she says. However, when some of the biggest music labels in the country refused to release her song, rapper Hard Kaur decided to release it on her own. The rapper who turned 37 on Friday, says she is not worried about money, since she is making music in Bollywood which will help her produce real hip-hop music independently. Read: Stop dissing girls in your songs: Hard Kaur to Indian male rappers I am still working for Bollywood, so I am not worried about making money. I am getting money from there. Thats why I am not worried about how I will release this kind of music and make money out of it. This music comes from the heart and as an artist I want to do it. I want to tell people here what real hip-hop music is, she says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Use of regional slurs and discriminating against students from other states will be considered ragging, according to the new anti-ragging measures suggested by Gautam Budh Nagar administration. The move comes in the wake of colleges in Knowledge Park starting off their academic session from Monday. According to University Grants Commission (UGC) report of 2015, there are nine universities in the district and thousands of students join these universities and affiliated colleges every year. In a meeting between district magistrate NP Singh and student welfare deans of Knowledge Park colleges on Saturday, anti-ragging, anti-drugs, anti-tobacco and women empowerment measures were discussed. Deans have been told to adopt a strict policy against ragging in their colleges. Use of derogatory regional slurs such as such as Bihari, Purabiya, Madrasi, Kashmiri Pakistani towards students from other states will be considered ragging. Discrimination on the basis of caste or religion will also be considered ragging, Singh said. We have asked the administrations to round up senior students who indulge in such discriminatory acts and if they dont mend their ways, they should be ready to face strict action from the college administration. If the administration is unable to control the students, we will take action, Singh said. Colleges in Noida and Greater Noida have been asked to counsel their staff and senior students to be sensitive towards the students who will arrive in large numbers from Monday. To avoid regional clashes or incidents of discrimination, we have asked colleges to conduct workshop for their staff to sensitise them. Senior students should also be counselled separately. Orientation programme for freshers should be held to sensitise them, Singh said Orientation programme and workshops for students from rural background were also suggested. Many students who come from rural background are not fluent in English fall into depression after coming to colleges. To help them, colleges should conduct workshops and orientation programmes and take special care of them so that they can catch up with other students, Singh said. The administration also asked colleges to set up women grievance redressal and women empowerment cells. Anti-tobacco and anti-drug measures were also suggested by the District Magistrate. Every college should teach at least 50 girl students Judo, Karate as a step towards women empowerment. Colleges have been asked to not let any tobacco shop set up within 200 metres of their campus. Vigil will be kept at chemist shops that are near colleges to deter students from using drugs, Singh said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Daljinder Kaur, who hit the headlines in April by becoming a mother at 72 with the help of science, is back in news. A gang tried to extort Rs 60 lakh from her. Two accused Deepak Kumar and Akhil Sharma are under arrest and another, Simranjit Singh, is on the run. They called up the Ranjit Avenue woman to say theyll kill her husband and son, if she didnt pay up, said sub-inspector Nishan Singh. They used a number obtained on a fake address. Akhil, a family acquaintance, knew she had some land that shed be quick to sell to save her loved ones. Two accused in the extortion case in police custody in Amritsar on Monday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo) The guidance of police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal and help from the cyber crime cell helped us solve the case, said the police officer. All the accused belong to Tarn Taran district. Daljinder Kaur had delivered a boy with the help of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Also read | When science plays God: Meet the grand old new parents in the age of IVF The Congress high command should declare state party chief Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate for the coming assembly elections in Punjab, said partys state vice-president Manpreet Singh Badal. Talking to the media on the sidelines of a Congress rally at Chamkaur Sahib on Sunday, Manpreet, who heads the partys manifesto draft committee, said the draft would be submitted to the party by August-end and the manifesto would be released on October 1. He said the document will present a roadmap for creation of a new Punjab. Congress will present a vision for the youth, education, unemployment and health sector, improving the fiscal deficit and more opportunities for the new industry to invest in Punjab, said Manpreet. Saying that nepotism and factionalism had harmed the Congress, Manpreet said that party should give tickets on merit. Speaking on the occasion, Indian Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said youths, who were wooed by the Aam Aadmi Party, were returning to the Congress fold. He said the youths of the state would be taken to Delhi to make them aware about the failure of the AAP government there. General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh, who retired on Sunday, said glorification of terrorism was not fair and people should contribute to dealing with it firmly. He was speaking during his retirement ceremony at the base of 63 Cavalry of army in Amritsar. Replying to a query on the Operation Bluestar memorial set up in the Golden Temple complex, he said: Terrorism by anybody or in any form is not acceptable. Lieutenant general KJ Singh being given farewell on his retirement at Khasa Cantonment in Amritsar on Sunday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo) Lt Gen Singh bade farewell to arms by returning to his first love in 63 Cavalry garages. He was received by his senior subaltern of yesteryears Colonel Manbir Singh Hundal (retd), who received him when he joined the regiment at Ambala in 1977 and then when he came on posting at Chandimandir as the army commander. Read: Army role in Dinanagar anti-terror op underplayed, police got credit Acting on a tipoff, a special team of Haryana health department sealed a private clinic in Sultanpur Lodhi for conducting sex determination tests on Saturday. A three-member team, including medical officer Dr Pawan Chaudary, Dr Vipin Bhandari and Dr Mandeep Sachdeva raided the Amanpreet Hospital and found a lady doctor performing a sex-determination test on a woman. Following the information, Kapurthala health officials, led by Sultanpur Lodhi senior medical officer (SMO) Harpreet Kaur, also reached the spot. On Kapurthala health departments complaint , police have booked seven persons, including Dr Sandeep Kaur, the duty doctor of the Amanpreet Hospital under sections 420 (fraud), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Pre-Conception and PreNatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. While five persons have been arrested, two, including Dr Sandeep, is on the run. Those arrested have been identified as Ashok Kumar, Varinder Singh, both from Ambala, Rinkal Kumar, Ravinder Pal and Shamsher Singh, all Ludhiana residents. All five are touts and used to crack deals between the couples and the hospital doctor, said police sources. Rinkals driver is among those absconding. Harpreet said a team of Ambala health officials informed them about illegal sex determination tests being conducted at the hospital. Officials said a woman decoy was sent to the hospital by the special team and `17,000 given to Dr Sandeep Kaur by her were also recovered. IndiGo Airlines will launch its daily flight from the Chandigarh international airport on September 26, a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the terminal. The airline will be the first to start international operations from the city. IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said, We are excited about the flight launch from Chandigarh to Dubai. We look at Chandigarh as a promising market as city residents have been demanding international flights for long. It will also fulfill our commitment to the people of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. We are committed to expand our footprint across the country and addition of these new flights reflects the same, he said. On July 19, IndiGo had sought permission to start international flights from Chandigarh to Dubai. On July 29, the airline told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it did not receive permission from the Centre to operate international flights. Chandigarh international airport chief executive officer (CEO) Sunil Dutt said, Indigo Airlines has got the permission to start international operations and they will launch their flights on September 26. Missing since Thursday evening, Block Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar Youth Congress president Arun Kumar alias Anu was found dead on Sunday. The 27-year-old Sunet residents body was found floating in Sidhwan Canal near Ayali bridge. Sarabha Nagar station house officer (SHO) Satwant Singh said, Some passers-by noticed the body floating in the water and informed the police. Police have sent the body to the civil hospital for conducting the postmortem. Meanwhile, kin of the deceased alleged that he was murdered. Though the family has accused a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor of killing him, the police are awaiting post-mortem examination report before lodging any FIR, said Singh. Victims brother Sunny said, On Thursday evening, a man came to our house and took Arun along. When he did not return till night, we started searching for him. And later at the night, his motorcycle was found abandoned on the banks of Sidhwan Canal. So, we filed a missing report at Sarabha Nagar police station. The SHO said, On Sunday morning, police informed the family about a body found floating in the canal near Ayali village. The family identified the body as Arun. My brother had enmity with a SAD leader, who had threatened us with dire consequences several times. The SAD leader conspired his murder and threw his body in the canal after killing him, alleged Sunny. The SHO said, Police are investigating the matter. Appropriate action will be taken after receiving the post-mortem examination report. Arun Kumar had contested youth Congress elections for the post of ward president. The Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT), the regions first air-conditioned terminal, has missed the July 31 launch deadline, with the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) maintaining that the facility is likely be inaugurated on August 15. The Rs 500-crore project, also called Mohali junction, has already missed four launch deadlines. It was first to get operational in October 2011. Sources said the GMADA will take a call within 10 days to make the facility operational. Delhi-based C&C Constructions Ltd, which executed the project under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, said it the project is complete on its part and it is ready to hand it over to the Punjab transport department anytime. Firms chief general manager Col CVS Sehgal (retd), when contacted, said the ISBT-cum-commercial complex is ready and it is up to the state government (transport department) when to inaugurate it. During the transition period, we will facilitate and work in tandem with the government authorities for starting operations of the bus stand. The rest of the project will be completed by December 2018, Sehgal said. GMADA chief administrator Amit Dhaka said, We will take a call on the projects inauguration within 10 days. The terminus spread over 6.6-acre at Phase 6 near Verka Chowk on National Highway-21 will improve connectivity of the tricity with northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. This has been a dream project of Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Work on the facility started in April 2009. With the Punjab assembly elections scheduled in early 2017, the state-of-the-art facility is likely to be projected as an achievement of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government in the state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON No TV, no newspaper, no gadgets, and simply no contact with the outside world -- Thats the plan for Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal till August 12, as he arrived here on Monday for a 10- day mindfulness and meditation course at a centre in Dharamkot near McLeodganj, about 12km from here. He got a grand welcome amid cheers by supporters at the airport in Gaggal, 15km from here, where he landed in the regular SpiceJet flight at 1.10pm. As a state guest, he was received by Kangra deputy commissioner Ritesh Chauhan and Dharamshala sub-divisional magistrate Shrawan Manta, besides AAP leaders from Himachal. I am here just for meditation, is all he said to the media. Looking to recharge amid an increasingly gruelling poll campaign schedule in neighbouring Punjab and also Goa, he will stay at the Vipassana meditation centre in Dharamkot, a village less than two kilometres from McLeodganj, the abode of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. It is also known as the Tel Aviv of the Himachal hills for being a favourite destination among Israeli tourists. The 10-day course begins on Tuesday and ends on August 11, said centre in-charge Pawan Sharma. Kejriwal will go back to Delhi on August 12. AAPs national organisation-building head Durgesh Pathak, who is a key figure in the partys preparations in Punjab, will also participate in the course. Also read | Confident of sweep anyway, AAP not keen to project CM face in Punjab The Delhi CM (and others) will stay minus any personal staff at the centre located in a deodar forest with the majestic Dhauladhar ranges of the Himalayas in the backdrop, and will remain incommunicado to outside world, said Sharma. Daily activities will start at 4am and continue till 9.30pm. Like others, Kejriwal will have to follow the strict schedule. All participants are not even allowed to interact with each other except with trainers at specific intervals. Kejriwal waves to supporters at Gaggal airport in Kangra district, about 20km from the meditation centre in Dharamkot near McLeodganj, on Monday. (HT Photo) No participants will be allowed electronic gadgets like mobile phones, and not even newspaper or TV is allowed, as the camp rules are about completely cutting oneself from the outside world and finding time to introspect, Sharma added. The inmates get simple meals of rice and dal. The centre was set up in the early 1990s by SN Goenka, and held its first 10-day course in April 1994. Two 10-day courses are held every month from April to November. A PACKED DAY 4:00 am: Wake-up bell 4:30-6:30 am: Meditation in the hall or in the room 6:30-8:00 am: Breakfast break 8:00-9:00 am: Group meditation in the hall 9:00-11:00 am: Meditate in the hall or room allotted to the participants according to the teachers instructions 11:00-12:00 noon: Lunch break 12 noon-1:00 pm: Rest and discussions with the teacher 1:00-2:30 pm: Meditate in the hall or in the room 2:30-3:30 pm: Group meditation in the hall 3:30-5:00 pm: Meditate in the hall or in room according to the teachers instructions 5:00-6:00 pm: Tea break 6:00-7:00 pm: Group meditation in the hall 7:00-8:15 pm: Teachers discourse in the hall 8:15-9:00 pm: Group meditation in the hall 9:00-9:30 pm: Question time in the hall 9:30 pm: Retire to the room; lights out Also read | Sidhu will not be CM candidate, declare Punjab AAP leaders SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) president Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad has demanded an independent probe to find out the role of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other Hindu right-wing bodies in sacrilege incidents in Punjab. Addressing a press conference here, he said those arrested in connection with the Quran sacrilege at Malerkotla had confessed to their association with the Hindu right-wing organisationsVishwa Hindu Prishad and Bajrang Dal. The police did not pick the clues. The role of these groups in the sacrilege of the Quran and Guru Granth Sahib needs to be probed, he said. He also criticised the parallel jathedars appointed by radicals Sarbat Khalsa for their failure in doing enough on this count. Also read | Malerkotla Quran sacrilege: AAP MLA gets bail, alleges torture by cops Signature campaign from Aug 5 He said victim families of the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 were yet to get the justice and the culprits were roaming free. The AISSF will launch a signature campaign on August 5 from outside the Golden Temple and after collecting one-lakh signatures, a petition will be sent to the White House by August 15, he said. Bibi Jagdish Kaur, one of the riot-affected and a witness, said they will boycott the Independence Day celebrations as a mark of protest against the injustice. After bagging third position in the reality series Indias Got Talent and leaving their mark at the Asian edition of the show, Bir Khalsa Gatka Dal based in Tarn Taran will be performing the Sikh martial art at Germanys Got Talent this week. The team, which has also featured in the Guinness World Records thrice and is often invited to perform gatka during religious processions in many countries, left for Germany on Sunday. They along with teams arriving from different countries will be taking part in the reality show that begins on Wednesday. Gatka is the traditional art initiated by the gurus to create Sikh sipahis (soldiers), who could fight against those committing atrocities against the humanity. We are making efforts to retain this rich tradition among the youth and popularise gatka at international level, said team captain Kanwaljit Singh, before leaving for Germany. Kanwaljit Singh, 33, said he started performing gatka when he was 7-year old. It is because of our hard work that we have participated in many international competitions, and with blessings of the God, our team has qualified for the contest being held in Germany. Though the completion will be very tough, we hope to return victorious, he said. Bir Khalsa Gatka Dal wants to further promote the traditional martial art among youths in the district, which is battling drug menace. A number of local personalities gave a warm farewell to the team by presenting siropas to the captain and members Gagandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh, Sandeep Singh, Balwant Singh, Karamjit Singh, Gurjit Singh and Jasmeet Singh, who at 17 is the youngest. Unauthorised vendors got back to work at Ludhiana Railway Station, when Northern Railways chief commercial manager (CCM) went back to Delhi after a three-day inspection, on Sunday. Fearing raid, over 400 unauthorised vendors took leave from their business when Seema Dhir, CCM, arrived on July 28. Waiting for officer to return, not a single unauthorised vendor was observed selling the stuff in these three days. But as Dhir left for Delhi on Sunday at 2pm immediately the vendors were back with their stuff on the platforms. Although, the check didnt materialise this time but Dhir said that she would come back to city soon for the inspection. Dhir said that it is the duty of local authorities to curb the menace of unauthorised vendors. If the local authorities are not performing their duties properly, I will ask divisional railway manager (DRM) to penalise them, she said. However, it is the duty of Railway Police Force (RPF) to control and prevent the movement of unauthorised vendors but they have failed to do it. Praveen Kumar, ASI, RPF, said, We are penalising unauthorised vendors on regular basis but all in vain as they come to sell stuff again. When asked him, why the vendors were not seen in these three days, Kumar replied that they must have got information about the arrival of the officer and they didnt come. Actor Adivi Sesh has clarified that his next Telugu film called Goodachari will not be directed by Ravikanth Perepu of Kshanam fame. The film will be jointly directed by Rahul Pakala and Sashikiran. Sesh and Ravikanth had worked together in this years critically-acclaimed Telugu sleeper hit Kshanam. Contrary to reports, Ravi is not directing my next film which has been titled Goodachari. Debutant directors Rahul Pakala and Sashikiran will helm it and we are currently busy locking the script, said Sesh. Read: Adivi Sesh gets Bollywood offers after Kshanam success The genre of the film, going by the title, could be a thriller. However, Sesh said its too early to classify it into a genre. Read: Prominent Telugu stars praise Adivi Sesh-starrer Kshanam Since we still havent locked the script, it is subject to change. Hence, I think its too early to talk about the genre, he said. The film will be produced by Abhishek Pictures. Watch the trailer of Kshanam here: ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The upcoming Tamil film, Chennai to Singapore, is planning a rather unique way to promote its songs. The film, which features six songs, will be unveiled as part of the music composer Ghibrans sojourn across six countries. The musical journey will begin here on August 12 and will go through Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and will finally halt at Singapore. Each track will be released in one country. Starring newcomers Gokul Anand, Anju Kurian and Rajesh in the lead roles, the film is directed by debutant Abbas Akbar. Read: Dont want to be known as Dalit filmmaker, says Pa Ranjith August 12 is the big day for our Chennai to Singapore team and we are ready with our big black beast, Ford Endeavour. Most people think that travelling from Chennai to Singapore is possible only by air but we can also travel through roads, said Ghibran. Read: Nagarjuna croons a love song for his new film, Nirmala Convent The films six songs will be released through the course of the 22-day journey. (Chennaisingapore/Facebook) Since it is a twenty-day journey, the steering should be handled by two persons. Our director Abbas is an expert in driving but I have learnt driving only a few months before, he said. The film is very special to Ghibran. With new script, new director and new lead actors, we also wanted our music to be fresh. Hence, this idea to release the music across six countries, he added. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Actress Nayantharas next film in Tamil, which is still to get a name, will address problems associated with water scarcity. In the meanwhile, the actor awaits the release of two big-ticket films -- Babu Bangaram and Iru Mugan. We are making this film with lot of social responsibility. It will create an impact in the minds of the audience because its about water scarcity and it happens to be one of the major problems faced by people nowadays, said films director Gopi Nainar in a statement. Read: Nayanthara turning producer for a woman-centric film Read: Nayanthara, Vikram to work together for the first time In the film, Nayanthara will be seen as a district collector. The film also stars child artists Vignesh and Ramesh, known for critically-acclaimed Tamil film Kaaka Muttai. The movie has completed its first schedule. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The New York Post on Monday ran a front-page picture of potential first lady Melania Trump naked, prompting criticism on social media and charges of misogyny. It was the second day in a row that the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid ran a front page nude image of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps wife from her years as a young model. Menage a Trump, ran the headline, touting the papers exclusive photos. The picture shows a nude Melania being hugged by another nude woman as she lies in bed. On Sunday, the Post ran a front-page picture of a nude Melania, with stars covering her breasts, under the title The Ogle Office. The Republicans presidential campaign appeared to shrug off the pictures. Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN on Sunday that there was nothing to be embarrassed about with the pictures -- shes a beautiful woman. Both sets of photos were taken in 1995 when the 46-year-old Slovenian-born Melania was 25 and working as a model, before she met Trump. The pictures were published the following year in Max, a now-defunct French magazine. The New York Post endorsed Trump for president in mid-April, describing him at the time as a potential superstar of vast promise, but making rookie mistakes. The reaction to the pictures on Twitter was mixed. Shame on you #NewYorkPost for slut-shaming Melania Trump. The US needs no more Neanderthals input to this already disgraceful election, read one tweet. I am appalled and outraged by the cover photo, read another tweet, adding: Misogyny is misogyny. Several other tweets decried the attempts to shame Melania. Some wondered how conservative evangelical Christians would react, while others wondered if Murdoch, who also holds conservative views, had turned against Trump. Melania met Trump in 1998, and became the real estate tycoons third wife in 2005. To understand what the Kremlin thinks about the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming the US president, it was enough to watch Russian state television coverage of her accepting the Democratic nomination. Viewers were told that Clinton sees Russia as an enemy and cannot be trusted, while the Democratic Party convention was portrayed as further proof that American democracy is a sham. In her acceptance speech, Clinton reaffirmed a commitment to Nato, saying she was proud to stand by our allies in Nato against any threat they face, including from Russia. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (AP file photo) In doing so, she was implicitly rebuking her rival, Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has questioned the need for the Western alliance and suggested that if he is elected president, the United States might not honour its Nato military commitments, in particular regarding former Soviet republics in the Baltics. While Trumps position on Nato has delighted the Kremlin, Clintons statement clearly stung. She mentioned Russia only once, but it was enough to see that the era of the reset is over, Channel One said in its report. As US secretary of state, Clinton in 2009 presented her Russian counterpart with a red button intended to symbolize a reset in relations between the two countries, one of US President Barack Obamas initiatives. In Russia, the gesture is best remembered for the misspelling of the word in Russian, while the reset itself failed in the face of Putins return as Russian president in 2012 and Russias seizure of Crimea from Ukraine two years later. Clinton once compared the annexation of Crimea to Adolf Hitlers moves into Eastern Europe at the start of World War II, a comparison that was deeply offensive in Russia, where the countrys victory over Nazi Germany remains a prime source of national pride. Trump, on the other hand, told ABCs This Week in a broadcast Sunday that he wants to take a look at whether the US should recognize Crimea as part of Russia. You know, the people of Crimea, from what Ive heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were, Trump said. This runs counter to the position of the Obama administration and the European Union, which have imposed punishing sanctions on Russia in response to the annexation. And as far as the Ukraine is concerned, its a mess. And thats under the Obamas administration with his strong ties to Nato. So with all of these strong ties to Nato, Ukraine is a mess, Trump said. Crimea has been taken. Dont blame Donald Trump for that. President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton waves to delegates at the conclusion of President Obama's speech during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (AP) Putin was outraged by US support for Ukraine and by US military intervention around the world, particularly in Libya, on Clintons watch. But it was what he saw as interference in Russia that really rankled. When Clinton described Russias 2011 parliamentary elections as rigged, Putin said she was sending a signal to his critics. He then accused the US State Department of financially supporting the protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the streets of Moscow to demand free elections and an end to Putins rule. In the years since, the Kremlin has defended Russian elections in part by implying they are no different than in the United States, a country it says promotes democracy around the world while allowing its business and political elite to determine who wins at home. The Democratic Convention, which ended Friday morning Moscow time, was given wide coverage throughout the day on the nearly hourly news reports on state television, the Kremlins most powerful tool for shaping public opinion. Channel One began its report by introducing Clinton as a politician who puts herself above the law, who is ready to win at any cost and who is ready to change her principles depending on the political situation. The anchorwoman couched the description by saying that was how Clinton is seen by Trumps supporters but it was a nuance viewers could easily miss. 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. (AP) The reports ran excerpts of Clintons speech, but the camera swung repeatedly to a sullen Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her Democratic challenger, and his disappointed supporters. The Rossiya channel also showed anti-Clinton protesters outside the convention hall who it said felt they have been betrayed after the email leak that showed Bernie Sanders was pushed out of the race. Russia is a prime suspect in the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers, which led to the release of emails showing that party officials favored Clinton over Sanders for the presidential nomination. The Kremlin has denied interfering in the US election. A columnist at Russias best-selling newspaper, however, said it would have been a smart move. I would welcome the Kremlin helping those forces in the United States that stand for peace with Russia and democracy in America, Israel Shamir wrote in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Trump, meanwhile, has encouraged Russia to seek and release more than 30,000 other missing emails deleted by Clinton. Democrats accused him of trying to get a foreign adversary to conduct espionage that could affect this Novembers election, but Trump later said he was merely being sarcastic. Almost 70% of the fighters of the Islamic State in Afghanistan are from the ranks of the Pakistani Taliban who have switched allegiance to the group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a top US Army general has said. The IS formed its Wilayah Khorasan a branch encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India in January last year and numerous reports have suggested that members of several Pakistan-based jihadi groups have defected to it. Gen John W Nicholson, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, estimated the current strength of the IS in Afghanistan at between 1,000 and 1,500. So 70%, roughly, of those fighters are from the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) and many of them are Pakistani Pashtun from the Orakzai Agency, Nicholson said during a news briefing at the Pentagon last Thursday. Many of the Pakistani Taliban fighters were forced out of Pakistan by Pakistan military offensive operations, he added. Afghan officials have for long complained that fighters escaping from the Pakistan Armys operation Zarb-e-Azb, a campaign against terrorists in the lawless tribal region, simply sneaked across the porous border into Afghanistans Nangarhar province. Nangarhar is one of the regions in Afghanistan where the IS has a sizeable presence. In the case of the IS fighters in southern Nangahar, we see that many of them come from the Orakzai Agency, which is south of NangaharAnd they were former members of the TTP, complete with their leadership, who wholesale joined Islamic State, pledged bayat (allegiance) to Islamic State and joined them earlier this year, he said. Nicholson said the IS original strength in Afghanistan was 3,000 but this had been roughly cut in half. Though the IS killed about 80 people in a suicide attack on a demonstration by Hazara Shias in Kabul last month, this didnt mean the group is getting stronger, he added. The fact that they could conduct a high-profile attack should not be perceived as a sign of growing strength Indeed, their area is shrinking, he said. The Wilayah Khorasans hold on territory has been reduced from 10 districts in southern Nangarhar province to parts of three or four districts, Nicholson said. US forces in Afghanistan are currently involved in counter-terrorism operations and training and advising Afghan forces. We have helped the Afghan security forces to reclaim significant portions of the territory that was previously controlled by (IS), Nicholson said. We have killed many (of its) commanders and soldiers, destroyed key infrastructure capabilities, logistical nodes, and (IS) fighters are retreating south into the mountains of southern Nangahar. Nicholson said US forces will continue to stay after (the IS) until they are defeated here in Afghanistan because the fight against the group is critical. Its nested within a larger global strategy against the Islamic State (and) in fact, coincides with ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria, he said. By fighting groups like (IS) nand al-Qaeda here in Afghanistan, we deny them sanctuary and we inhibit their ability to conduct transnational attacks from here. US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Donald Trump repaid the ultimate sacrifice of a US Army captain killed in Iraq with insults and degrading comments about Muslims, as the soldiers bereaved father pressured Republican Party leaders to distance themselves from the GOP presidential nominee. She also accused Trump of scapegoating the soldiers parents. Clintons comments came after Trump refused to back down from his criticism of the Gold Star parents remarks. Am I not allowed to respond? Trump had tweeted. Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! It was the latest bitter rhetorical volley between the defiant Republican candidate, Clinton and the family of a fallen soldier since the two parties concluded their major conventions last week and the nation looked ahead to a close election this November. Trumps stand has once again left Republican leaders facing demands to denounce their party nominee and overshadowed Clintons campaign message with controversy. He is a black soul, said Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in Iraq in 2004. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country. Speaking on CNNs State of the Union, he said, It is majority leaders and speakers moral, ethical obligation to not worry about the votes, but repudiate him, withdraw the support. Likewise, Clinton told Republicans on Sunday: This is a time to pick country over party. Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun S M Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving in the US Army in the 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, offers to loan his copy of the Constitution to Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump at a Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In statements released Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned any criticism of Muslim Americans who serve their country and rejected the idea of a Muslim travel ban - an idea proposed by Trump earlier in the campaign. But neither statement mentioned Trump by name or repudiated him. McConnell praised Capt. Khan as an American hero, while Ryan noted that many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in the US military. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice - and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan - should always be honored. Period, Ryan said. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, issued a blistering statement of his own, saying anything short of revoking their endorsements of Trump was cowardice on the part of McConnell and Ryan. This shouldnt be hard, Reid said. Donald Trump is a sexist and racist man who insults Gold Star parents, stokes fear of Muslims and sows hatred of Latinos. He should not be president and Republican leaders have a moral responsibility to say so?. On a post-convention bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, Clinton said Trump has a total misunderstanding of American values and has inflamed divisions in American society. I dont know where the boundaries are. I dont know where the bottom is, she told reporters during a campaign stop at a cheese barn in Ohio. I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, she told parishioners in a Cleveland church on Sunday morning. Thats just not how I was raised. In this photo taken July 1, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Denver. (AP) Read: What did Donald Trump sacrifice? Twitter has some funny, sarcastic answers At last weeks Democratic National Convention, Pakistan-born Khan told his sons story and questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said you have sacrificed nothing. During the speech, Khans wife, Ghazala, stood quietly by his side. 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, Trump said, in an interview with ABCs This Week. Ghazala Khan responded Sunday in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post, saying talking about her sons death 12 years ago is still hard for her. When her husband asked if she wanted to speak at the convention, she said she could not. When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant, she wrote. At one point, Trump had disputed Khans criticism that the billionaire businessman has sacrificed nothing and no one for his country. 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. Trump, who had no campaign events scheduled this weekend, released a statement late Saturday night calling Humayun Khan a hero but disputing his fathers characterization. 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, said Trump. Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally with democratic vice presidential nominee US Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA) at Fort Hayes Vocational School in Columbus, Ohio. (AFP) Trumps rebuke was unusual in the world of politics where officials only speak well of families whose loved ones die in service to their country. When Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, staged prolonged protests on the war, then-President George W. Bush responded by saying that the nation grieves every death. When asked about the mother of a State Department official killed in Benghazi, Libya, who blamed Hillary Clinton for her sons death, Clinton told Fox News Sunday that her heart goes out to the families and that she didnt hold any ill feeling for someone who has lost a child and recalls events differently. Across the country, veterans and their families closely watched the political back-and-forth. It was inappropriate on both sides, said Mark Farner of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, as he stood a few feet from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. For one to use it as it as the Democrats intended it to be used, and I dont think Trump handled it the way he should have on his end. Farner had just made a rubbing of the name of his cousin, Calvin Wilson, who was killed in action in February 1967. Romell Short of Washington, a US Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, said he has no problem with veterans families being politically active and speaking about their experiences. America should know the suffering and the cost of war and part of that is the sacrifice of American troops and the sacrifice of American families, Short said. But he cautioned that the views of families should be read separately from their family member who served. The bodies of five Islamists behind a deadly attack on a Bangladesh cafe have still not been claimed a month later, police said on Monday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against extremism. Relatives of the men have spoken of their shock and horror at learning of their involvement in the siege in Dhakas Gulshan neighbourhood, in which 20 hostages were killed -- many of them hacked to death. On Monday tens of thousands of university and college students across the country stood in silence and formed human chains in front of their schools. No terrorism, we want peace. We want life without fear, read one banner at a womens college in Dhaka. Authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to shame those behind the attacks. Clerics at the mainly Muslim countrys more than 300,000 mosques have been asked to give sermons on why Islam forbids killing. Police said the bodies of nine other men allegedly from the same group who were shot when police launched a raid on a militant hideout on July 26 are also still being stored at a state hospital. No relatives came to us or officially applied for the bodies of the 14 extremists, Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Masudur Rahman told AFP. Sohel Mahmud, a forensic doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said several families had come to identify the bodies. But no one wanted to take them home for burial, he said. Police gave no official reason, but officers speaking on condition of anonymity said the parents of the extremists were overwhelmed with guilt. Six of the young men were from well-off Dhaka families, among them 18-year-old Rohan Imtiaz. His father Imtiaz Khan Babul told AFP he was stunned and speechless to hear of his only sons involvement in the carnage and apologised to the nation. Abdus Salam said his brother Mohammad Abdullah, one of the nine killed in the shootout with police, had betrayed the family and his country. Thats why we dont want to take his body, he told reporters last week. China braced for Typhoon Nida and issued a red alert ahead of its landfall in the southern areas on Tuesday, with hundreds of flights cancelled on the mailnland and Hong Kong. Chinas State Oceanic Administration (SOA) issued the red alert for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida, packing winds of 130 kilometers per hour, approaches the mainland. From Monday night, sea waves as high as 11 metres are expected in the northern South China Sea, while the southern Taiwan Strait will witness waves as high as seven meters. The SOA also issued a red alert storm tides and estimated that the sea level off the Pearl River estuary will rise up to 220 cm. Typhoon Nida is expected to land in Guangdong Province early tomorrow, probably around the Pearl River Delta, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Local authorities in the provinces of Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have been asked to closely monitor the typhoon and publicise early warning information in a timely manner, according to a circular on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The China National Commission for Disaster Reduction has asked people in typhoon-affected areas to stock daily necessities for at least one to three days, the circular said, adding that emergency mechanisms for disaster relief will be activated if necessary. Typhoon Nida will make landfall in south Chinas Guangdong Province tomorrow. At least 124 flights scheduled for today and tomorrow had been cancelled earlier in the afternoon as Nida edged closer, the South China Morning Post reported. Ferries between Hong Kong and the gambling strip of Cotai in Macau have been suspended. Several Chinese provinces suffered heavy damages due to heavy rains during the past few weeks. At least 173 people were killed and 126 people listed missing in last weekss rains. US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Russian intelligence services hacked into Democratic National Committee (DNC) computers and questioned Republican rival Donald Trumps overtures to Russian president Vladimir Putin. We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin, Clinton said in an interview with Fox News Sunday. The White House has declined to speculate on who was behind the hack of Democratic Party computers, referring to an ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cybersecurity experts and US officials, however, said they believed Russia engineered the release of the emails to influence the November 8 presidential election. Reuters reported that a computer network used by Clintons campaign was hacked as a part of the broad cyber attack on Democratic political organisations. The United States would not tolerate that from any other country, especially one considered an adversary, Clinton said. For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election I think raises national security issues, she said. Asked if she believed Putin wanted Trump in the White House, Clinton said she was not going to jump to that conclusion. But I think laying out the facts raises serious issues about Russian interference in our elections, in our democracy, Clinton told Fox in the interview, taped on Saturday. The Republican presidential nominee has praised Putin, saying he was a stronger leader than US president Barack Obama, a Democrat. Trump last week invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of missing emails from Clintons time at the US State Department. Russia, if youre listening, I hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, Trump told reporters. He later said he was being sarcastic in his comments, which raised concerns among intelligence experts and criticism that Trump was urging a foreign government to spy on Americans. Senator Jeff Sessions, a supporter of Trump, criticized Clinton for leaving her email system vulnerable to Russian penetration and defended Trumps comments. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refused to answer questions on Sunday about whether a foreign government leaked the DNC emails to the group. Its an interesting speculative question for the press, he told NBCs Meet the Press. Trump alarmed allies this month when he indicated he might abandon NATOs mutual defense guarantee in the face of potential Russian aggression if members had not paid their bills. He also suggested he would consider easing sanctions on Russia and recognizing its annexation of Ukraines Crimea region. On Sunday, Trump referred to that annexation again in a way that appeared to justify it. The people of Crimea, from what Ive heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were, he said on ABCs This Week. He also said Putin was not going to go into Ukraine, prompting a rebuke from Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan. Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that? Sullivan said in a statement. Dutch police, on alert for a security threat to Amsterdams Schiphol airport, on Monday detained a confused man who yelled Bomb! on a bus, but found no evidence of a serious threat, a spokesperson said. Police have been conducting vehicle searches near the airport, one of Europes largest, since last week after receiving intelligence about a possible threat. The man, who took off his clothes, was held at gunpoint by the side of the highway while the bus was searched. The incident brought traffic on one of the Netherlands main highways to a standstill. After attacks by Islamist militants in France, Belgium and Germany, the Netherlands is considered a potential target, because it supports US-led military operations against the Islamic State jihadist militia in the Middle East. Sunday was a big day for the Indo-Canadian LGBT community as the Vancouver Pride Parade was led by Alex Sangha, the first-ever Sikh to be the grand marshal of an event of this nature. While the appearance of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the first person in his office to take part raised the parades profile higher, just as significant for the community was the presence of Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan. Sangha, who was in driven along the parade route in a car painted in the colours of the rainbow, was its Role Model Grand Marshal. He told Hindustan Times after the march, It was amazing. Its very meaningful to see a brown person leading the Parade. That sent a message of diversity within the queer community. Sangha, who runs Sher Vancouver, a non-profit that works on LGBT issues within the community, is a resident of Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver and also the unofficial capital of the Sikh population in Canada. In that sense, his presence was particularly symbolic as the matter of homosexuality remains taboo within the Sikh community, as he pointed out. You need role models in this world, he said. That made Sajjans participation at the parade important. The Minister tweeted images of walking with the crowds, noting: Excited to be marching in #Vancouver Pride today. Were #Forever Proud. Sajjan is in a prominent situation. Hes a role model for the community. This makes the work I do easier; its easier when we see these high-profile leaders, Sangha said, referring to his outreach and activism on gay issues within the community. Sangha was driven in the special Pride car at the head of the parade, surrounded by supporters of Sher Vancouver and other participants. Trudeau joined the march later. Its really interesting it took till 2016 for a prime minister to march in our parade. Things are changing, times are changing, Sangha said. Trudeau had also marched in Torontos Pride Parade last month, becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister to attend that event as well. This years Pride parade in Vancouver wasnt without controversy. The Black Lives Matter movement boycotted the parade due to the participation of Vancouvers police force in the celebration, and that led other groups like Salaam, consisting of gay Muslims, and Trikone, a South Asian group, to also withdraw. But Sangha was not fazed by their protests: Yes, there is racism in the queer community. But there needs to be solidarity, we need to work together, he said. Most importantly, he may have blazed a trail for Sikhs in the country as he piloted the Pride car. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Wearing a traditional dress from feather headdresses to loincloths, members of Taiwans indigenous community met President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday as she made a landmark apology for centuries of suffering including the loss of ancestral lands. Tsai, the islands first leader with aboriginal heritage, will personally head a committee to investigate past injustices as part of government efforts to ease tensions with the native community. I apologise to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, offering our deepest apology for the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years, she said in speech. We need to look at history seriously and speak the truth, she said, adding that apologising was another step forward. The indigenous community -- which makes up about two percent of Taiwans 23.5 million people -- have seen their traditional culture eroded since immigrants started arriving from China centuries ago. Much of their land is now designated national park, leading to clashes over hunting, fishing and foraging in areas where permits are needed. Representatives, dressed in traditional clothing, from some of Taiwan's 16 recognised indigenous tribes, attending a ceremony inside the Presidential Office building in Taipei. The indigenous community -- which makes up about two percent of Taiwan's 23.5 million people -- have seen their traditional culture eroded since immigrants started arriving from China centuries ago. (AFP/Taiwanese Presidential Office) Aboriginals have also complained of developments on their ancestral land, which campaigners say make up two-thirds of the island, were approved without seeking their views. Tsai pledged to increase the autonomy of aboriginal communities, restore their lost land rights and protect tribal languages. But for dozens of aboriginals protesting outside the presidential office Monday morning, her promises were not enough. The apology was well said and very touching, but her proposals for action dont meet our expectations, said Mayaw Biho, an indigenous activist from the Amis tribe, who had camped out overnight. Since coming to power in May, Tsais Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not made legislation promoting indigenous rights a priority in parliament, he said. Its unfair. Its not being taken seriously, he said. Deliver on Promises Indigenous people remain a marginalised group in Taiwanese society, with wages about 40% below than the national average, as well as a higher rate of unemployment. Tsai on Monday listed numerous wrongs done to the indigenous population, including storing nuclear waste on Yami tribes land on Orchid Island. We have been protesting for over 30 years, said Capen Nganaen, an 80-year-old Yami representative wearing a loincloth, who spoke after Tsai. I hope Taiwans government and the president will truly deliver on the promises made in this apology, he said. Tsai and the DPP came to power after winning a landslide victory in January over the Kuomintang (KMT). A member of Taiwan's indigenous population taking part in a ceremony in front of the Presidential Office building in Taipei. President Tsai Ing-wen is the country's first ever leader with aboriginal heritage. (AFP/Taiwanese Presidential Office) The Indigenous Peoples Basic Law was adopted in 2005, during the DPPs last reign, but critics say actions to amend relevant laws have stalled. This means many aboriginals have been arrested or fined for illegal hunting or fishing, which is allowed in the basic law. Earlier on Monday, tribe members who had been invited to Tsais speech burned millet stalks in front of the presidential office as part of a traditional ceremony welcoming the ancestral spirits to join them. Tsai greeted the representatives from each of the islands 16 recognised tribes, who were all wearing their traditional tribal clothing. In a deviation from her usual plain blazers, Tsai wore a grey suit made by an indigenous designer, which featured a black butterfly pattern. Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the brutal murder of a priest, the latest in a string of attacks. More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of Rouen, near the Normandy town where two jihadi teenagers slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel. Muslim worshippers stand up as clerics arrive in the Saint-Pierre-de-lAriane church in Nice. Muslims across France were invited to participate in Catholic Sunday service to mourn the murder of a priest by jihadist teenagers, sparking fears of religious tension. (AFP) I thank you in the name of all Christians, Rouen Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told them. In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God. A few policemen and soldiers stood guard outside but did not conduct searches, seeking to reassure a jittery population after the second jihadist attack in less than a fortnight. In the southern city of Nice, where a jihadist carried out a rampage in a truck on July 14, claiming 84 lives, local imam Otaman Aissaoui led a delegation of Muslims to a Catholic mass. Iman Sami Salem (C) and Imam Mohammed ben Mohammed take part in a mass in the church Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome on Sunday. (AFP) Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism, Aissaoui said. Notre Dame church in southwestern Bordeaux also welcomed a Muslim delegation, led by the citys top imam, Tareq Oubrou. Its an occasion to show (Muslims) that we do not confuse Islam with Islamism, Muslim with jihadist, said Reverend Jean Rouet. Muslims take part in a mass at the Church Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome on Sunday. (AFP) Pope Francis, on the plane back to Rome after a trip to Poland, said Islam could not be equated with terrorism. Its not true and its not correct (to say) Islam is terrorism, he said, defending his decision not to name Islam when condemning the brutal murder. If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother-in-law, and these are baptised Catholics. Iman Sami Salem (L) and Imam Mohammed ben Mohammed (R) stand during a mass in the Church Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome on Sunday. (AFP) Muslims were responding to a call by the French Muslim council CFCM to show solidarity and compassion over the priests murder on Tuesday. Said a woman wearing a beige headscarf who sat in a back pew at a church in central Paris: Im a practising Muslim and I came to share my sorrow and tell you that we are brothers and sisters. Giving her name only as Sadia, she added softly: What happened is beyond comprehension. At the Saint Leger church in the northern city of Lens, around 30 Muslims attended mass wearing T-shirts emblazoned with messages such as, Terrorism has no religion or identity. People attend a mass in tribute to priest Jacques Hamel at the Saint-Leu Saint-Gilles Bagnolet's Church, near Paris, on Sunday. (AFP) Father Hubert Renard told the congregation: We are not alone; our Muslim brothers are here too. Many were moved to tears during the sign of peace, a regular part of the liturgy when the faithful turn to greet each other in the pews, either shaking hands or kissing. Muslims also attended Catholic masses in Italy, notably at Romes Santa Maria di Trastevere church, in response to a call by the SantEgidio community known for its international mediation efforts. Other joint services were held in Milan, Naples and Palermo, Sicily. People pray during a mass in tribute at the Saint-Leu Saint-Gilles Bagnolet's Church. (AFP) The killing of Father Hamel fanned fears of religious tensions in France and renewed recriminations over perceived security lapses. Both of the 19-year-old attackers -- Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean -- had been on the intelligence services radar and had tried to go to Syria. Muslims participate in Catholic ceremonies in churches of Italy, as in France, in solidarity after the jihadist murder of French priest priest Jacques Hamel, the latest in a string of attacks. (AFP) Jihadists cousin charged Prime Minister Manuel Valls called Sunday for a new pact with the Muslim community in France, Europes largest with around five million members. Also Sunday, dozens of prominent Muslims published a joint letter pledging: We, French and Muslim, are ready to assume our responsibilities. Meanwhile, Petitjeans 30-year-old cousin was charged with criminal association in connection with terrorism, the Paris public prosecutor said. The suspect, named as Farid K., was fully aware of his cousins imminent violent action, even if he did not know the precise place or day, the prosecutor said in an earlier statement. Media reports say Petitjean and Kermiche met through the encrypted messaging app Telegram. In a separate case Sunday, 20-year-old Jean-Philippe J. was charged with trying to travel to Syria with Petitjean last month. The Samuktya Loktantrik Madeshi Morcha (SLMM) has sought a credible political commitment from Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) ahead of Wednesdays prime minister election, in which it will vote for leading candidate Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. A nine member task force of the three parties are busy hammering out a new political roadmap to accommodate demands of SLMM. A tripartite political deal is likely to be sealed on Tuesday, which will pave the way for Madeshis to vote for Prachanda but will not give them room to join the government, leaders involved in the negotiations told Hindustan Times. We will vote for Prachanda but will not join the government, said Raj Kishor Yadav, chairman of the Forum Ganatantrik. But we need a credible, written political commitment from the NC and the Maoists to vote for him. The SLMM wants to know if the other two parties are ready to revisit the demarcation of the seven provinces, a major source of their discontent. Besides making the Constitution more inclusive, the SLMM demands dissolution of the Local Body Restructuring Commission and setting up of a new one that can reflect the true spirit of federalism. The work of restructuring commission should be stopped immediately, said Rajendra Mahato, a prominent Madeshi leader. But dont think we will join the government. If we get assurance that our grievances will be heard, we will definitely support the government from outside. The commission had suggested 565 local units across the nation in the new political and administrative setup, which the SLLM strongly opposed. The SLLM is demanding that demarcation of the local units be based on population. Over 51% of Nepals population live in the southern plain called Madesh or Tarai, and the proposed local units do not match their population ratio. To protest this, the SLMM had held an agitation since last September. At least 59 people died and hundreds were injured and many traders in the southern plains lost their business due to the prolonged protests. Demarcation of the provinces and local bodies is a key issue because local, provincial and central-level elections should be held within the next 18 months. Madesh-based parties are of the view that demarcations should be based primarily on population and not geography. Other demands of SLMM include declaring as martyrs those killed in the Madeshi agitation, compensation to their families, free medical treatment for the injured and withdrawal of cases against Madeshi people. They also want formation of a judicial commission to probe the states alleged atrocities during the agitation and resolving the issue of citizenship and equal representation of Madeshi people in various state organs. Republican Senator John McCain slammed Donald Trump on Monday for disparaging the Muslim family of a slain American soldier, and demanded that his partys presidential candidate set an example for the country. While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us, McCain said in a statement. It was the latest in a mounting Republican backlash against Trumps bristling response to Khizr Khan, the Pakistani immigrant who galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the billionaire Republican nominee as having sacrificed nothing for the country. Army captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, in an explosion at a military compound. McCain, whose heroism as a former prisoner of war Trump once put down, stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of the Republican nominee, but said he could not emphasize enough how strongly I disagree with his statement. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party, he said. He praised captain Khan as a shining example of bravery and valour. When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger. Then he ran toward it, McCain said. The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan -- and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters, he said. He thanked the Khan family for immigrating to America, saying, Were a better country because of you. In one of several tweets he has fired off in recent days over the controversy, Trump wrote Sunday: I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! Trump was referring to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Surrounded by male advisors and condescending mansplainers, Masooma Muradi holds her own against a deep underswell of sexism in a society unaccustomed to women exercising authority. Breaking new ground as Afghanistans only female governor, Muradis ascent to the top post in remote Daikundi province is a remarkable feat in Afghanistan, where stubborn patriarchal traditions are at odds with progressive ideas about a womans place in the world. But barely a year after President Ashraf Ghani appointed Muradi, her job hangs by a thread, with growing calls for her ouster from religious conservatives and opponents. It highlights the travails of being the only woman in an overwhelmingly male preserve. People claim to be open-minded but many cannot bear having a woman in this position, Muradi, 37, told AFP, sinking into an overstuffed sofa in her office in the capital Nili, decorated with faux sunflowers and a large portrait of a pouting child. I wont allow men to hush me up -- society is not used to that from a woman, she added. Breaking new ground as Afghanistan's only female governor, Muradi's ascent to the top post in remote Daikundi province is a remarkable feat in Afghanistan, where stubborn patriarchal traditions are at odds with progressive ideas about a woman's place in the world. (AFP) Barely five feet tall, Muradis diminutive frame and soft demeanour belies her steely instinct for survival. The mother-of-two was handpicked by Ghani in Kabul to lead Daikundi, a mosaic of rolling hills and boulder-strewn ridges in central Afghanistan, hemmed in by insurgency-wracked provinces. But protests erupted even before she arrived in Daikundi, with political opponents -- almost all men -- pillorying her lack of governance experience. Muradi has since managed to hold on to the job, but the resentment was palpable when she recently stepped out in Nili with AFP, trailed by Kalashnikov-toting guards. Useless, one man barked as she passed by. Maybe she should be a governor just for women, another growled. Boys club (AFP) Women have made giant strides since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, but they are still so absent from public life that the social media hashtag #WhereAreTheWomen has gained traction in Afghanistan. The attitudes throughout Afghanistan still are such that not everyone is ready to be governed by a woman, said Douglas Keh, Afghanistan country director at the United Nations Development Programme. Women leaders need all the support they can get, he added. Daikundis administration has long been a boys club, which was apparent at a recent provincial council meeting, attended by more than a dozen men but just one woman. Swaddled in a blue scarf, she sat at the edge of the room doodling on the sofa upholstery using her finger as an imaginary pen. When she tried to talk, the man chairing the meeting stuck his palm up to make her stop. Only when a woman UNDP official attending the meeting asked for her view, was she able to speak. I recently replaced a man in the provincial council, she began. A council member interjected with a smirk. Say something about mens problems too, he said, setting off a ripple of titters. We really are worried about mens rights. Sexist wisecracks Masooma Muradi (R) speakswith prisoners at a female detention centre in Nili (AFP) Paying lip service to womens empowerment is one thing but real empowerment comes with deference to a woman leaders authority, the UNDP official later said, referring to Muradis struggles. Muradi, who holds a degree in business administration but lacks political clout, stands in strong contrast to warlords and strongmen who govern other provinces amid a deep-rooted system of patronage politics. The antipathy towards her, observers say, highlights not just sexism but also clashing political interests. Daikundi is among the most challenging of Afghanistans 34 provinces to govern. Cut off from the outside world by heavy snow for several months of the year, its meagre almond harvests, mainstay of the local economy, are dependent on the brutal vagaries of weather. Rampant joblessness is a ticking time bomb and most development plans are just on paper. There are schools but most dont have buildings, there are hospitals but many dont have doctors, said Haji Rasouli, a grocery seller in Nili. I support womens empowerment but will having a woman governor solve all these problems? Ebbing international donor funding has exacerbated Muradis struggles. Anyone in that position -- man or woman -- would struggle with dwindling resources, said Habibullah Radmanesh, Daikundis deputy governor. Muradi walking through a bazaar in Nili with delegates and security personnel. (AFP) For his part, Ghani has appointed four female ministers since he came to power in 2014, risking political capital. Last year, for the first time in Afghanistans history he nominated a woman to the supreme court, but when she was rejected by parliament he appointed a man instead. He also dismissed the only other woman governor, of central Ghor province, after protests from religious conservatives. To genuinely give women a role in governance, Ghani needs to push forward when he encounters opposition, said Heather Barr, a womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. This hasnt been happening. There are fears that Muradi might meet the same fate. But she can count on the unbridled support of at least one person -- her husband. Late one evening, after Muradi returned home, Khalil Hashem walked into the room and said something you would seldom hear an Afghan husband, traditionally blind to domestic details, say to his wife: Dinner has been served. But he has also been at the receiving end of sexist wisecracks. People call me her secretary, her baby sitter, he said. But I am very proud of her. President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on Nepals political parties to form a new government based on majority votes after repeated bids to install a regime on the basis of consensus failed. Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who is supported by the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the House, is poised to become the new premier. The election of a new prime minister became necessary after the incumbent, KP Sharma Oli, resigned on July 24 after opposition parties moved a no-confidence motion against him. The presidents office sent a letter to Parliament, urging it to begin the process for electing a new prime minister on the basis of majority as the seven-day deadline given to political parties for forming a consensus government expired on Sunday. Babin Sharma, press adviser to the speaker, told journalists the speaker had received a letter from the presidents office regarding the election of the next prime minister in line with Articles 305 and 299(3) of the Constitution. The Parliament is preparing to begin the election procedure on Wednesday. A panel headed by the secretary general of Parliament will conduct the polls. According to parliamentary procedure, aspiring candidates have to register their nominations on Tuesday. The second largest party, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), will also field a candidate for the post. Deputy parliamentary party leader and former speaker Subash Chandra Nembang is expected to contest the election. Oli, who is also chairman of CPN-UML, is unlikely to contest. Former speaker Nembang will contest from our party, said CPN-UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari. Prachanda is unlikely to face problems in his bid to make a comeback as the prime minister. He needs 298 votes in the 595-member Parliament to win but his aides believe he will secure 366 votes. Besides the Nepali Congress and the Maoists, an alliance of parties from the Madhes region bordering India and several other smaller parties are expected to vote for Prachanda. A Nigerian behind an online fraud network, which engineered scams worth more than $60 million through email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including India, has been arrested in southern oil city of Port Harcourt, Interpol said on Monday. The 40-year-old Nigerian national, known as Mike, is believed to be behind scams totalling more than $60 million involving hundreds of victims worldwide, the international police organisation said in a statement. In one case, a target was conned into paying out $5.4 million, Interpol said, indicating that the arrest was carried out with the support of Nigerias anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States, it said. The suspect ran a network of at least 40 people working from Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa which used malware and carried out the fraud, and he also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US who provided bank account details for the illicit cash flow. Following his arrest in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, a forensic examination of devices seized by the EFCC showed he had been involved in a range of criminal activities including business e-mail compromise and romance scams, it said. The suspect and a fellow fraudster, 38, who was also arrested in the city, face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences. Nigerias army killed 348 people from the minority Shia Muslim sect last December in a series of clashes for which troops involved should be prosecuted, a judicial inquiry has concluded in a report. How the authorities respond to the inquirys findings may indicate the extent to which reform is being implemented under a drive by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, to root out human rights violations by soldiers. The United States blocked arms sales to Nigeria and ended training of troops there under Buharis predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, partly on concerns over human rights such as the treatment of captured suspected insurgents. The report published on Sunday confirms claims by human rights groups such as Amnesty International that the army killed hundreds of Shiite Muslims during three days of clashes in the northern city of Zaria. The army has repeatedly denied this. The Nigerian Army used excessive force, said the report by a commission appointed by Kaduna state, where Zaria is located. The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings of 12th 14th December 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them, it said. The army has said Shiites had blocked its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, and tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him. We are aware that the report has been made public and we are studying it, Nigerian army spokesperson Sani Usman said on Monday. The commissions findings contained in the report said 349 people - including one soldier - were killed. Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave, said the report. The commission said it had received 3,578 memoranda - 132 letters and 3,446 emails - along with 39 exhibits and 87 witnesses testimonies in the course of the inquiry and the writing of the 193-page report Africas most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shia Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shia Iran. The majority of the countrys tens of millions of Muslims are Sunni - including the Boko Haram jihadist militants who have killed thousands in bombings and shootings mainly in the northeast since 2009. China vowed to protect its maritime rights and is fully confident and capable of addressing security threats and provocations, amid escalating tensions over the disputed South China Sea after a UN-backed tribunal struck down Beijings claims over the strategic waters. The Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) will unswervingly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, including territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests, state councillor and defence minister Chang Wanquan said. It will always stand ready to be called upon and be able to fight and win, state-run China Daily quoted him as saying while addressing an event to mark the 89th anniversary of the PLA. The 2.3 million-strong army, the worlds largest and part of the ruling Communist Party of Chinas liberation struggle, turned 89 on Monday. China will staunchly protect the countrys maritime rights and interests and is fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations, he said. Chang did not directly refer to the South China Sea situation during his remarks on Sunday, but tensions heightened this year by increased US patrols and the arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China, according to official media. Last month, the PLA conducted two military drills in the South China Sea ahead of the tribunal verdict on July 21 and later announced regular air patrols over the area. China, which boycotted the tribunal, has rejected the verdict on the strategic waters over which the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims. The US that has carried out air and naval patrols in the area to assert freedom of navigation has asked Beijing to accept the verdict, saying it is binding. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the increased US military patrols and joint drills with allies have imposed military intimidation (on China) and fuelled regional tension. However, Chinas recent drills in the South China Sea are of a totally different nature, as the PLA drills in Chinese territory, while the US, an outsider to the region, covers thousands of miles to come to Chinas doorstep, Zhang told the Daily. Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said some senior US defence officials have made hardline comments about the region recently, and Washington will possibly continue its tough gestures. A New York tabloid has published nude pictures of Melania Trump from her modelling days and her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is not complaining. Melania was one of the most successful models, and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines, Trump told the tabloid, New York Post. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common, he added. His campaign spokesman Jason Miller told CNN: Theyre a celebration of the human body as art, and (theres) nothing to be embarrassed about with the photos. Shes a beautiful woman. There was speculation that Trump may have provided those pictures himself to divert attention from his ongoing row with the Khans, parents of a fallen American Muslim soldier. The Post ran the pictures in two lots. The first debuted in its Sunday edition with a front-page picture of Melania Trump in the nude, with The Ogle Office as the headline. A pitch-line added alluringly, You have never seen a potential First Lady like this! Melania Trump is indeed in the nude, completely, with stars covering some body parts. The second lot ran in the late edition of the Sunday paper under the headline: Melange A Trump, with Melania in the nude held from behind by another woman who is also naked. These pictures were shot in Manhattan in 1995 and first ran in a French mens magazine. Melania Trump was 25 then and was known as Melania Knauss or just Melania K. Melania was super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me, Ale de Basseville, French photographer who shot those pictures, told the Post. The publication doesnt give details of how it acquired these pictures, but the fact that it has endorsed Trumps campaign gave some people reasons to speculate about the circumstances. Also noteworthy was Trumps understated response almost approving of it compared to the storm he raised over nudes of Melania Trump that had surfaced during the primaries and caucuses. Trump had blamed his leading rival Ted Cruz for it, and had retaliated by re-tweeting a post carrying an unflattering picture of Cruzs wife alongside one of a glamorous Melania Trump. The pictures carried by the Post are distinctly more revealing and racier specially the second girl-on-girl lot but the nominee and the campaign dont seem to care much this time. Donald Trump reignited his very public feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of a fallen American Muslim soldier, saying in a tweet on Monday he was viciously attacked. He continued to be criticised for it, with Republican senator John McCain telling him that party nomination did not give him unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. And the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading advocacy group, demanded an apology from the Republican candidate for disparaging the Khans. On day four of the controversy triggered by Khizr Khans stinging rebuke of Trump at the Democratic convention, Trump tweeted: Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same - Nice! Though the controversy has not played well for Trump, he continued to engage with it and stoke it with provocative remarks, perhaps because it keeps him in the headlines. Trump has both courted and weathered such rows before in the campaign and emerged surprisingly unscathed, specially among his supporters and a Republican party mostly too weary to resist. But his disparaging and insulting remarks against the Pakistani-origin Khans, whose son Captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, have appalled many in his own party. McCain said in a statement, While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. The senator added it was time for Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. McCain is a war hero himself, jailed for years during the Vietnam war. Earlier in the race, Trump had insulted him too, questioning his status as a war hero and saying he doesnt think much of people who get captured. It was a race-ending move, but he survived. As he probably believes, Trump will survive this one too. But it wont be easy, with the American-Muslim community, for long at the receiving end of his divisive diatribe, fighting back. CAIRs Roula Allouch urged Trump on Sunday to apologise for his shameful remarks disparaging the Khans and for his repeated use and promotion of anti-Muslim stereotypes. The council also announced the launch of a Twitter chain hash-tagged #CanYouHearUsNow, inviting American Muslim women to post about who they are and how they speak out. This is a pushback from the community to Trumps criticism of Ghazala Khan for standing by silently during her husbands speech at the convention on July 28. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say, the Republican nominee had said. Maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. There is anxiety among European Union citizens about their future in Britain after the June 23 Brexit vote, but not much of it was evident as more than 12,000 Portuguese citizens of Goan-origin revelled at a festival here on Sunday. The UK Goan Festival London was celebrated in characteristic susegad (contented) style with a colourful carnival parade, music, alcohol and traditional cuisine, with Britains exit from the EU rarely in the air. The day at Cranford Community College ground in west London began with mass by Bishop Gracias of Mumbai and hymns in Konkani. Savio Menezes, a young Wembley-based worker who arrived from Goa last year, said as he jived to live music by a Brazilian group: Polou-ya kide zata (Lets see what happens), nothing will happen for two to three years. If I have to leave, I can always go to France or Germany. The British government has so far refused to confirm that nearly 3 million EU citizens in Britain will be allowed to stay after Brexit, a process that is yet to commence. Prime Minister Theresa May wants to link their future to that of 1.5 million Britons living in EU countries. The festival saw senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is of Goa origin, promoting his diabetes charity Silver Star, which is supported by Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty. Prominent individuals at the festival included Valerie Vaz, Labour MP, and noted writer Selma Carvalho. Panaji-based Armando Gonsalves and Shaeen Gomes at their Goa ForGiving charity stall at the festival. (HT Photo) Organised by the Goan Association UK (which was set up in 1966), the festival saw one of the largest gatherings in recent years, with people arriving from London and Leicester. There was a large contingent from Swindon, where many Goans have settled in the past 15 years. Ravi Vaz, president of the Goan Association, told HT: They seem to be relaxed about the Brexit vote but there is some worry. It will be a mistake if new migrants from Goa go to France, since race relations there are nowhere as good as they are in Britain. Nobody knows what will happen after Brexit but I think those already here will be fine. My advice to Goans thinking of taking Portuguese citizenship is to think twice. Job prospects are not exactly bright here, and Portugal itself has tightened rules for acquiring citizenship, he added. Panaji-based Armando Gonsalves, chairman of the prominent NGO Goa ForGiving, said: Brexit is a sizzling topic back home but I got the feeling that most Goans here are not too upset about Brexit even though things may turn out for the worse. Unifying the Goans is of utmost importance now, it can actually be the turning point for Goans across the world, a time when we can show we are more than just fun-loving and honest people, that we have it in us to create employment opportunities as well as brands across the world, especially in the tourism and restaurant industries. Britain currently has three MPs of Goa origin - Keith Vaz, Valerie Vaz and Suella Fernandes - and several councillors. The government has been under pressure to stop what is called the backdoor entry into the country of Goans with Portuguese passports. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pope Francis said on Sunday that it was wrong to identify Islam with violence and that social injustice and idolatry of money were among the prime causes of terrorism. I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence, he told reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip to Poland. This is not right and this is not true. Francis was responding to a question about the killing on July 26 of an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest by knife-wielding attackers who burst into a church service in western France, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. The attack was claimed by Islamic State. I think that in nearly all religions there is a always a small fundamentalist group, he said, adding We have them, referring to Catholicism. I dont like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I look at the papers I see violence here in Italy - someone killing his girlfriend, someone killing his mother-in-law. These are baptised Catholics, he said. If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent, he said. He said there were various causes of terrorism. I know it dangerous to say this but terrorism grows when there is no other option and when money is made a God and it, instead of the person, is put at the centre of the world economy, he said. That is the first form of terrorism. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Lets talk about that, he said. When he started the trip on Wednesday, Francis said the killing of the priest and a string of other attacks were proof the world is at war but that it was not caused by religion. He told reporters on the plane that lack of economic opportunities for young people in Europe was also to blame for terrorism. I ask myself how many young people that we Europeans have left devoid of ideals, who do not have work. Then they turn to drugs and alcohol or enlist in ISIS, he said, referring to the militant group. AUSTIN : A gunman killed a woman and seriously wounded three others in Austin on Sunday when he shot into a crowd as people streamed out of nightclubs in the Texas capitals downtown area, police said. The unidentified gunman opened fire at about 2.15 am local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. It was a very chaotic scene, Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The shootings in the Texas state capital follow several recent major acts of gun violence in America. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON LONDON: A terror attack on UK is a question of when, not if, the countrys top cop said on Sunday, while detailing several steps taken to deal with a situation similar to the attacks in Paris in November 2015. Britain has been under a terror threat level of severe for some years, which means an attack is highly likely. The last terror attack in the country was in May 2013, when Lee Rigby, a fusilier in the British army, was murdered in Woolwich, south-east London. After every terror attack in Europe, there was a greater sense of fear that Britain will be the next victim, Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan-Howe said. People wanted him to give reassurance, he said adding he could not do that entirely. I realise that some of what I am telling you today is not reassuring. I hope that some of it is more so, he said in a statement. The threat we all face is very real, no one watching events in Europe can think otherwise, but it is important that we have a shared understanding of the work that goes on every day to stop attacks happening and to prepare for the time when we are faced with this terrifying threat. Hogan-Howe listed the counter-terror mechanism, including the relationship between MI5, MI6 and the police, which he described as world-beater. Gun controls and the fact that Britain is an island mean terrorists would struggle to get the firearms required to repeat attacks similar to those in Europe. This gives a solid base as it means the UK environment is immediately hostile to the terrorist. I would also add to this the British way of life and culture Our approach to Muslims is no different because these attacks purport to be committed in the name of Islam. We dont stigmatise the millions of British Muslims whose values and faith completely reject the terrorists litany of hate, he said. But even with this solid foundation to prevent attack, I have renewed our focus on what we will do when terrorists breach these defences. Within hours of the terrible events in Paris last November, I recognised that the attack we had witnessed just 200 miles from London required a huge response, Hogan-Howe added. Britain has increased the number of specially trained and equipped officers to confront heavily armed terrorists, and is also training hundreds of extra officers to supplement numbers during an attack similar to that in Paris. For the first time our team of Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers who train for the very highest attack risk are ready 24 hours a day. They have the rope, marine and other advanced skills needed to tackle the toughest of challenges, Hogan-Howe added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday announced the setting up of a task force that will coordinate government action to deal with modern slavery in Britain and across the globe. In her previous role as home secretary, May had piloted the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to address the scourge, whose victims include Indians brought to UK as domestic staff and others forced into prostitution or workers in fields, factories and fishing boats. May wrote in a signed article in The Sunday Telegraph that the government will work collaboratively with law enforcement agencies across the world to track and stop the pernicious gangs who operate across borders and jurisdictions. Noting Britains role in getting the eradication of modern slavery into the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, she said her government will use 33 million from the aid budget to create a five-year International Modern Slavery Fund focused on high-risk countries. It is hard to comprehend that such sickening and inhuman crimes are lurking in the shadows of our country. But the most recent estimates suggest that there are between 10,000 and 13,000 victims in the UK alone and over 45 million across the world, May wrote. Just as it was Britain that took a historic stand to ban slavery two centuries ago, so Britain will once again lead the way in defeating modern slavery and preserving the freedom sand values that have defined our country for generations, she added. TUNIS : Tunisian lawmakers voted on Saturday to dismiss Prime Minister Habib Essid from office during a no-confidence ballot in Parliament, clearing the way for a new government that must push through delayed economic reforms. Essid had been under fire for lack of progress on a financial reforms package to create growth. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: After 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee were hacked and posted online last week, there are now reports of online breaches of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a Hillary Clinton campaign analytics programme. Western cyber security experts say the needle of suspicion points to Russia. With the national security division of the US Department of Justice being chosen to head the investigation, Washington clearly believes a foreign player is responsible. The New York Times reports that US intelligence agencies have told the White House they are relatively certain these cyber intrusions were done by two Russian hacking entities, dubbed Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, both linked to GRU, the Russian intelligence agency. That Russia has the capability to carry out such a straightforward hack is not in doubt. The question is whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin has sufficient motive. Governments, including the US, regularly hack each other, but they rarely let this spill out into the public domain. Handing over the hacked emails to Wikileaks, an organisation head by Julian Assange who has long disliked Clinton and would be expected to post them, was unusual for a state actor. The motive being touted is a Russian preference for Clinton s Republican rival, Donald Trump, as the next US president. Putin is known to have no love for Clinton who, as US secretary of state, supported dissidents against Putin in Russias 2011 and 2012 elections. She remains a strong critic of his takeover of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. During her convention speech, Clinton said, Im proud to stand by our allies in NATO against any threat they face, including from Russia. Trump, on the other hand, has expressed admiration for Putin s style of leadership, questioned the purpose of NATO and spoken in favour of Russia s intervention in Syria. Most strikingly, lines calling for the US to arm anti-Russian Ukrainian fighters were removed from the Republican Party platform by Trump aid es. Also, many of his advisors have had close business ties with Moscow. KATHMANDU: With the expiry of a deadline given by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for formation of a new government based on consensus, Nepal is set to elect its new prime minister based on majority votes. A voting will be held in Parliament on Wednesday to elect the new premier in the wake of the second largest party Communist Party of Nepal (Unified MarxistLeninist) deciding to sit in opposition. The results of the election will be out on the same day. The parliament will form a panel headed by secretary general of the House to hold the elections and call for nomination from candidates on Tuesday. According to the Constitution of Nepal, parties should make an effort to form a national consensus government, bringing on board at least the major parties in the House. If the process fails, a new government will be installed based on majority votes. The president decided on the election after holding a meeting without going PMKP Oli, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, PM-in-waiting Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar. Prachanda, chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre), said it was impossible to install a government based on national consensus. KUWAIT CITY: The Yemeni government on Sunday said it has accepted a UN-proposed peace agreement to end more than a year of armed conflict, but there has been no word from the rebels. The announcement by Saudi-backed government came after a meeting in Riyadh chaired by Yemens President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON James G. Zumwalt is the younger son of Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., who became commander Naval Forces, Vietnam in 1968. James and brother Elmo III served in Vietnam during their fathers command. Admiral Zumwalt approved the use of Agent Orange during the war and, after his eldest son succumbed to cancer caused by dioxin in 1988, he became a leading advocate on behalf of veterans afflicted with diseases stemming from exposure to the defoliant. Deeply affected by the loss of his brother, James Zumwalt overcame his internal conflicts and anger about the war by developing extensive relationships with his former enemies during 50 visits to Vietnam from 1994 to 2004. His just-released book, Bare Feet, Iron Will: Stories from the Other Side of Vietnams Battlefields, stems from the hundreds of interviews he conducted and presents fascinating perspectives of the war from the other side of the battlefield. Zumwalt retired from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel and now is a consultant and frequent writer on national security issues for a variety of major newspapers. When and where were you in Vietnam? Before I transferred to the Marine Corps from the Navy, I had a tour on the destroyer Perkins in 1969. In 1971 I served in a battalion landing team of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines. We were offshore as a reaction force. I was initially a platoon commander, then became a company commander. Why did you switch from your fathers Navy to the Marines? My dream was to have command of a ship. But I didnt find out until my physical that I was colorblind. So I went into intelligence, and after about 13 months I decided that wasnt my cup of tea. It was my fathers suggestion that I switch to the Marines. Did you see any combat action? Not really. It was kind of a lonely tour floating off the coast. One of the ironic things was that when I first joined the company, we were briefed on a CIA facility that was on a piece of land jutting into the sea down at Vung Tau. We studied this on the map; in the event it ever was attacked, we would go secure it and get the people out. That never happened, and it took me about 20 years to ever get to my objective. It still looked just like it did on the map. What inspired you to write Bare Feet, Iron Will? My fathers ability to embrace the enemy and the perspective of the war opened up to me by NVA Maj. Gen. Nguyen Huy Phan. That really caused me to look at things differently. Really, it was like someone hit me over the headwhat about what these guys went through? I started this in 1994 after a trip my father and I made to Vietnam. He was trying to get the president of Vietnam to conduct a joint study on Agent Orange. On that trip I met General Phan, who had been a doctor during war. Your father remained active in issues related to Vietnam until his death? My father was an amazing man. He had quite a humanitarian side to him. He felt that a wartime commanders responsibility to his men survived the war. So he fought diligently to address the Agent Orange issue. It was really because of his involvement in the issue that the Veterans Administration went from not recognizing any cancers related to Agent Orange exposure to gradually recognizing many more. In 1994 you went back to Vietnam feeling angry. What changed? After losing my brother Elmo in 1988 to cancer that was caused by Agent Orange, I had a lot of animosity toward the Vietnamese and anger about the war. When I met with Phan, the first thing he did was extend his condolences for the loss of my brother. As he started talking of the war and its impact, he became misty eyed when he told me he lost his brother in the conflict, too. This created an immediate bond between us. I was more fortunate than he, as I was with my brother when he died. Phan didnt know how his brother died and then spent 17 years trying to find his remains. It was basically an epiphany. It was as if a light went on and I asked myself: Was the loss of a loved one any less significant just because it occurred on the other side of the battlefield? It was devastating to both of us. If I could feel my sense of loss, sadness at my brothers loss, why couldnt I recognize the fact that this gentleman had similar feelings. It just opened my eyes to the fact that we have to recognize that our suffering is mirrored on other side. And that recognition can help you move on? Yes, if you can replace anger with a sense of purpose. So I thought I really needed to talk to more of their vets to find what the war was like from their standpoint. Over time, many became good friends. Ill never forget this one retired colonel. When we had our first meeting at the Veterans Association building, he sat very erect, gave short, terse answers, almost like it was an inconvenience. Each time I visited, I would call and ask to see him. On about my sixth trip, I called and he suggested I come to his house. I knew I had broken through. He met me at the door in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms. I knew then there was no longer a front between us. When did you realize stories about the enemy might help other veterans? When I had this moment of enlightenment with Phan, I didnt necessarily see it as something that would help Vietnam vets look forward rather than back. But once I heard their stories, particularly their stories of survival, I began to believe it could. One story was of a couple of Vietnamese caught in a tunnel collapse. Ive gone in those tunnels and you get claustrophobic. Now, imagine both ends collapsed and you are in there with limited air. Why shouldnt the story be told of how they dug themselves out, what they were feeling, not knowing once they dug their way out if they would find themselves surrounded by the Americans who caused the collapse and who might shoot them on sight. Their fear was tremendous. Fear was a constant on each side of the battlefield. Why not share those emotions? As I heard more of these stories I thought this helped me move on past my brothers death. I thought it might help some other vet to move on as well. Is seeing the enemy as brave and heroic still hard from veterans? There are those who say they really respected the job the enemy did and that they were tremendous fighters. You have others who dont share that view. I think those are ones who really need to go over and try to experience what I did and see what these people did and endured on their side. Was the Vietnamese government open to your visits? The first trip was to focus on Agent Orange and working that issue. Once I heard these stories, I asked to come back and do some writing about it. There were some early problems. On the second trip I wanted to hit the ground running but had to come to a screeching halt because they said I needed certain authorizations, which I thought I already had. A lot of what is involved is building a comfort zone. It took some time to do that. But your father had established a good relationship? Yes, he did, but when I made my second trip, one of the first places I went to was the Hanoi war museum. And there they had a section devoted to war criminalsone of whom was my father for his use of Agent Orange. How did he react to being a war criminal? He kind of smiled and said, Well its a good thing they didnt arrest me when I was there. Beyond Agent Orange, how did he try to heal wounds? My fathers humanity was evident to me on the first trip we made together to Vietnam in 1994. He had helped a South Vietnamese gentleman who had escaped to the United States after the fall of Saigon. He had done well in the U.S. and felt he needed to give something back. He wanted to set up prosthetics device manufacturer in Vietnam. So my father worked with him to get USAID funding to set up the facility. On our 1994 trip, we went to see the factory. There I watched as my 73-year-old father picked up a Vietnamese man who had no legs and put him in his first wheel chair. My fathers humanity embraced the enemy and our allies we left behind. He tried to get his counterpart in the South Vietnamese navy, Admiral Chon, out before the fall, but Chon decided to stay with his elderly parents. He was captured and put in a re-education camp for 12 years. All the while, my father worked with Red Cross to try to get him released. After his release, he was still not allowed to travel for three years. When he was finally allowed to leave to join his family in California, my father was among those waiting to greet him at the airport. With your brothers death attributed to Agent Orange, did you feel personal bitterness toward those who allowed its use in Vietnam? Well I remember accounts during the Civil War of civilians who would go on the battlefield and strip the dead of whatever they could. It is hard to believe people have that mentality. Similarly, as I started learning what some of the defense contractors were doing, it angered me that there was no thought about the people who are going into harms way to defend them by making sure that the environment they would be exposed to was as safe as it could be by things we controlled on our side of the battlefield. Before my father decided to use Agent Orange, he checked with the companies manufacturing it to ensure that there were no adverse effects. After the war, we learned that at the time they did have evidence that indicated there were problems. The defoliant had been used by farmers, and a lot of farmers were coming down with various cancers. It was clear that our chemical companies knew a lot more than they let on about the dangers of Agent Orange. What led your father to play such a key role in the VA recognition of Agent Orange diseases? My father was asked by secretary of the Veterans Administration to head up an Agent Orange study in 1990. He examined dozens and dozens of medical studies that had been done to determine whether there was a causal relationship between the chemical and various diseases veterans were experiencing. He found how a number of the studies were seriously flawed. For example one study group excluded any veteran with more than one tour, and in another they focused on battalion-size units and largereven though it was actually company-size and smaller units that were chiefly in the areas where Agent Orange was sprayed. And the VA had set up a panel of doctors to review the medical evidence every three years. My father found most of doctors on the review board had worked for the chemical companies. He recommended the board be disbanded and only doctors with no relationship to the chemical companies be appointed to the panel. The first review the new board conducted in 1991, they immediately found three cancers that were related to Agent Orange exposure. Was the government as responsive as it should have been? I think once it was established there was a causal connection, the government did much better to meet its responsibility to review the science each three years to see what other diseases should be added to the list. My father hoped he would see all of the illnesses believed caused by Agent Orange recognized by the VA before he died, but unfortunately that didnt happen. Yet there are those who remain skeptical about the Agent Orange connection. Ive read articles saying that, and I have been told that I was accepting junk science but I think it is clear that we know now that there is a causal relationship. In a similar vein, some still believe PTSD is overblown? Weve come a long way from the incident with General George Patton in World War II where the solider was suffering from PTSD. The problem is soldiers, Marines and sailors get tagged with being less than manly by trying to address those concerns. That is a mindset we have to get rid of. The suicide rate in the Army today is the highest ever. Clearly there is a problem that must be addressed at the command level. You say the fundamental principle of Americans embracing their enemy after a war didnt happen after Vietnam. Why? The main reason is we lost. I was born three years after World War II ended, and as I grew up I cannot remember one time when I heard any animosity or hatred against the Germans or Japanese. It seems to me America fought the war, won it and then people got on with living their lives, making contributions to society and not dwelling on the past. I didnt see that same result after the Vietnam War ended. To this day I have friends who experienced combat and who have trouble sleeping at night. They acknowledge the fact they have trouble letting go of the war. After meeting Phan, I realized for first timeto me anywaythat the enemy had a face. I think it is something very difficult for many Vietnam veterans to accept; that the enemy we lost to is an enemy with a face. It was an enemy that, just like us, had hardships. The sacrifice and suffering we experienced on our side of battlefield was mirrored on their side. If anything, it was amplified because of the conditions they had to fight under. Part of what enabled us after World War II to embrace the Germans and Japanese was the fact we were providing them with aid, and in the case of Japan, we helped institute a new government. So we were rubbing shoulders with them and were invested in their reconstruction. Because we lost in Vietnam, there was not that similar evolution in relations. Between the two countries, we didnt establish relations until 1995, so there was a 20-year gap in time that could have been part of a healing process but wasnt. Was the recognition of the universality of suffering in war lost in Vietnam? In a combat environment, soldiers cannot think about the suffering and fight effectively. That was true of our fathers and grandfathers in Korea and WWII. I dont think it is a question of losing it but a question of recognizing and regaining it after the guns have fallen silent. And I just think that has been a tremendous problem for those who were in Vietnam. What about those who say their job was to kill the enemy, they did it well and have no bad feelings about it? Those veterans who are able to do that do a very good job at isolating their emotions: one set of emotions that motivate them while fighting, replaced by another set that motivates them after the war. I think the problem is that others havent been able to effectively isolate their emotions like that, so they spill over into some of the other boxes, if you will. For those, I really wish it were possible for me to take them over there and just have them spend an evening with some of the people I have visited. Are you getting flak for extolling the enemys virtue? I understood when I was writing that this would be the situation. When I shared with some veteran friends what I was doing, they were concerned I was glamorizing the enemy. But my effort is not to glamorize but to humanize the enemy. You are never going to help those having difficulty putting war behind them, never going to bridge the gap, unless you look at the enemy in human terms. I dont think that has been fully accepted yet. It was indeed an all-consuming struggle for them and they accepted that? It is interesting about the view of time. When many came south to fight, they didnt know how long they would be there. While our tours were basically one year or a second volunteer tour, they had no idea how long they would be gone. In one case, a doctor told his wife he would probably be gone for six months to a year. He was gone for eight years, and only got back to visit his wife once during that time. Another interesting facet of the conception of time, many of those I interviewed had difficulty pinpointing particular years, but they could tell me if it was in dry or monsoon season. That was the way they looked at it. The year didnt matter. That shows the mindset they operated under. Their MIA wounds remain staggering? The point we must recognize about MIAs is that we now basically have about 2,000 we are still trying to locate. The number for the Vietnamese is still 300,000. In comparison, using 1975 population numbers, in the U.S. one in every 168,000 Americans were affected by the loss of an MIA. In Vietnam that ratio is one in 83. It cut much broader in Vietnam than the U.S. The iron will you describe was motivated by what? The enemy had a large dedicated fighting force that was definitely motivated by patriotism, the driving force for them. Im sure many were forced into the military, but no doubt there was also a large element committed to reunifying their country and would make any sacrifice to as necessary. The scope of that sacrifice is often lost among Americans. It is very difficult for us to come up with a number of Vietnamese casualties. In 1994, that was one of the pieces of information I tried hard to verify. In a meeting with General Giap, he estimated there was about 1 million Vietnamese who died to reunify their country during the American phase of their war. Subsequently, other reports have given the same number. I also interviewed civilians, including mothers who lost sons. One woman sent four sons off to war and three never came back, one was badly disfigured. There were some 1,400 mothers who lost three or more sons in the war. I think wed be hard pressed in this country to find more than a handful of mothers who lost more than one son in Vietnam. They considered it a sacrifice they had to make. How did they keep it all in perspective? They looked at this as a long war. They didnt go into it thinking it would be a short war. There is an intriguing story of an early battle that the U.S. Army Big Red One fought against the NVA. When the battle was over and the Americans moved on, the NVA went out to survey the field to see if they could find anything of intelligence value. One thing they found was an anatomically correct blow up doll left in a fighting hole. It was most likely sent as a joke to a soldier. But the NVAs intelligence assessment was: While they had already fought the French and been away from their families for years and they were now willing to do that in fighting against us; the Americans had just gotten here and after just a few months they couldnt handle being away from their wives for more than a few weeks without one of these anatomical dolls. While they were totally off the wall in their intel analysis, turns out in the long run, they were right. What have you learned that we didnt recognize about the Vietnamese during the war? The thing I think that many of us didnt realize at the time we couched it in terms of containing communism, but in the interviews I did with hundreds of NVA/VC I asked them what their motivation was. It was not communism but rather it was nationalism and the desire to reunify the country. The interesting thing about Vietnam is that it had 1,000 years of independence from China and every century it was invaded by a foreign power, mostly China. The common denominator of each event is that they were eventually driven out. It took longer with the French but eventually all were driven out. I believe it is part of the Vietnamese peoples DNA. To them, there was never any alternative, they just had to prevail. Did we have any idea of the ingenuity and resilience of the enemy in Vietnam? No. One of Sun Tzus principles is: never engage an enemy on the battlefield unless you know that enemy first. If you keep that in mind and think about what Tom Brokaw wrote about our World War II generation, then look at the Vietnamese who defeated the Japanese in 1945, the French in 1954, the Americans in 1975, and again the Chinese in 1979, I dont think we realized we were probably fighting against Vietnams own Greatest Generation. In fact, the enemy we fought in Vietnam was basically a lot like us. They were fighting to preserve their country, survive on the battlefield and return to their families and loved ones. You can order James Zumwalts Bare Feet, Iron Will at www.HistoryNetShop.com. My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth That Led to an American Tragedy by Nora Titone Free Press, 2010, $30 This new book by first-time author Nora Titone is so intrepidly original in its research and interpretations that intense arguments and heated debates are certain to accompany its inevitable success. Titone redefines the character of John Wilkes Booth and his motivations for assassinating Abraham Lincoln. She also shines a long-neglected light on the fascinating life and achievements of acclaimed Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, the assassins older brother, who has been wrongly eclipsed from history and from his brothers story. My Thoughts Be Bloody is a Booth family saga rather than an examination of the Lincoln assassination. As Titone has said, The aim of the book is to add a new dimension to a familiar perspective on John Wilkes Booth by showing that the Booth clans wildly varying fortunes in the U.S.especially Edwins unprecedented careerwere not irrelevant to the course of John Wilkess life. The book begins with a look at patriarch Junius Brutus Booth, the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation, and his astounding personal and professional lives. She chronicles all 10 of his children by his mistress Mary Ann Booth, but especially Edwin and John: their relationship, their rivalry and their acting careers. While Edwin became his fathers traveling companion, theatrical assistant and chosen heir for the stage, John was left at home with his mother and sisters and given no training or encouragement as a thespian. As Edwins success as an actor grows to unmatched heights, the reader sees Johns untrained, undisciplined and unimpressive attempts to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother. Titones excellent narrative style, above all, shows the Booths as human. Edwin comes alive as a miserable child, heir to an eccentric alcoholic, with a large talent suffused with vanity, ambition, selfishness and even ruthlessness. John wallows in resentment, entitlement and a surprising lack of acting talent that all fuel his unrealistic ambition to equal and ultimately surpass his more famous sibling. As the rivalry between Edwin and John takes shape, we see not only how but also why they became such different men. And it is in this that the audacity and originality of this book reveals itself. While Titone does not explicitly declaim motives for John Wilkes Booths ultimate mad act, she clearly intimates that the murder of the president was motivated more by fraternal antagonism than by politics. He wanted to outshine and spite his more-famous and Union-loving brotherand to kill the president he so loathed and blamed for the Souths loss was the perfect way to achieve both his personal and political goals. My Thoughts Be Bloody is an impressively researched and smoothly written narrative that demands a reassessment of the Booths as a family and as individuals. It will become essential reading on the Booth family and the Lincoln assassination. An excerpt from Shermans March from Savannah to Bentonville. From Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. BY UNION MAJOR GENERAL HENRY W. SLOCUM The fall of Savannah resulted in the adoption of the plan which Sherman had contemplated. In a letter dated December 24th Sherman says: Many and many a person in Georgia asked me why I did not go to South Carolina, and when I answered that we were en route for that State, the invariable reply was, Well, if you will make those people feel the utmost severities of war we will pardon you for your desolation of Georgia.' About one month was spent in Savannah in clothing the men and filling the trains with ammunition and rations. Then commenced the movement which was to make South Carolina feel the severities of war. The right wing, with the exception of Corses division of the Seventeenth Corps, moved via Hilton Head to Beaufort. The left wing with Corses division and the cavalry moved up the west bank of the Savannah River to Sisters Ferry, distant about forty miles from Savannah. Shermans plan was similar to that adopted on leaving Atlanta. When the army had started from Atlanta, the right wing had moved direct toward Macon and the left toward Augusta. Both cities were occupied by Confederate troops. The movements of our army had caused the Confederate authorities at each of these important cities to demand not only the retention of the troops at each place, but had induced them to demand help from every quarter. Sherman had had no thought of attacking either place, and at the proper time the movements of both wings of the army were so directed as to unite them and leave both cities in our rear, with little or no force in our front. On leaving Savannah our right wing threatened Charleston and the left again threatened Augusta, the two wings being again united in the interior of South Carolina, leaving the Confederate troops at Augusta with almost a certainty that Charleston must fall without a blow from Sherman. On the arrival of the left wing at Sisters Ferry on the Savannah, instead of finding, as was anticipated, a river a few yards in width which could be easily crossed, they found a broad expanse of water which was utterly impassable. The continuous rain-fall had caused the river to overflow, so that the lowland on the South Carolina side was covered with water, extending nearly half a mile from the river. We were delayed several days in vain efforts to effect a crossing, and were finally compelled to await the falling of the waters. Our pontoon-bridge was finally constructed and the crossing commenced. Each regiment as it entered South Carolina gave three cheers. The men seemed to realize that at last they had set foot on the State which had done more than all others to bring upon the country the horrors of civil war. In the narrow road leading from the ferry on the South Carolina side torpedoes had been planted, so that several of our men were killed or wounded by treading upon them. This was unfortunate for that section of the State. Planting torpedoes for the defense of a position is legitimate warfare, but our soldiers regarded the act of placing them in a highway where no contest was anticipated as something akin to poisoning a stream of water; it is not recognized as fair or legitimate warfare. If that section of South Carolina suffered more severely than any other, it was due in part to the blundering of people who were more zealous than wise. About February 19th the two wings of the army were reunited in the vicinity of Branchville, a small village on the South Carolina Railroad at the point where the railroad from Charleston to Columbia branches off to Augusta. Here we resumed the work which had occupied so much of our time in Georgia, viz., the destruction of railroads. Having effectively destroyed over sixty miles of railroads in this section, the army started for Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, each corps taking a separate road. The left wing (Slocum) arrived at a point about three miles from Columbia on the 16th, and there received orders to cross the Saluda River, at Mount Zions Church. The Fourteenth Corps moved to the crossing, built a bridge during the night, crossed the river next day, and was followed by the Twentieth Corps and Kilpatricks cavalry. The right wing (Howard) moved direct to Columbia, the Fifteenth Corps moving through the city and camping outside on the Camden road. The Seventeenth Corps did not enter Columbia. During the night of February 17th the greater portion of the city of Columbia was burned. The lurid flames could easily be seen from my camp, many miles distant. Nearly all the public buildings, several churches, an orphan asylum, and many of the residences were destroyed. The city was filled with helpless women and children and invalids, many of whom were rendered houseless and homeless in a single night. No sadder scene was presented during the war. The suffering of so many helpless and innocent persons could not but move the hardest heart. The question as to who was immediately responsible for this disaster has given rise to some controversy. I do not believe that General Sherman countenanced or was in any degree responsible for it. I believe the immediate cause of the disaster was a free use of whisky (which was supplied to the soldiers by citizens with great liberality). A drunken soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other is not a pleasant visitor to have about the house on a dark, windy night, particularly when for a series of years you have urged him to come, so that you might have an opportunity of performing a surgical operation on him. An excerpt from The Battle of Bentonville By Confederate Lieutenant General Wade Hampton When Sherman cut loose from Atlanta, after expelling the inhabitants and burning a part of the city, it was evident to every one who had given a thought to the subject that his objective point was a junction with General Grants army. The Army of Tennessee, after its disastrous repulse before Franklin, was, with its shattered columns, in rear instead of in front of Shermans advancing forces, and thus he was allowed to make his march to Savannah a mere holiday excursion. At this latter point there was no adequate force to oppose him, and when Hardee, who commanded there, withdrew, the city fell an easy prey. The situation then was as follows: Sherman had established a new base, where communication with the sea was open to him, while Hardees line extended from the Savannah River to James Island, beyond Charleston, a distance of 115 miles. Outside of the garrison of Charleston he had but a handful of unorganized troops to hold this long line, and our true policy then would have been to abandon Charleston, to concentrate every available man in front of Sherman, and to dispute the passage of the rivers and swamps which were in his line of march, and which offered most admirable positions for an inferior force to strike a superior one. The garrison of Charleston consisted, I think, of about sixteen thousand well-equipped, well-drilled infantry, fully supplied with excellent artillery. Stevensons division, Army of Tennessee (Confederate), consisting of 2600 men, reached Columbia before the appearance of the enemy. In addition to the troops already mentioned, there were here Wheelers and Butlers commands of cavalry, and several unattached bodies of State troops and reserves. A rapid concentration of these forces would have put from 25,000 to 30,000 men in front of Sherman, and an attack upon one wing of his army, when separated from the other, would either have resulted n a victory to our army or would have encumbered him with so many wounded men that he would have been forced to retreat to the sea, at Charleston. The views I have here expressed were entertained at the time spoken of, for as I happened to be in Columbia then,not on duty, however,I urged upon General Beauregard, who had assumed command about that time, the abandonment of Charleston and the concentration of his whole force at the first-named city. I pressed the same views on Governor Magrath, telling him that, important as Charleston was to us, Branchville, the junction of the railroads from Columbia, Augusta, and Charleston, was far more important. In these opinions, my recollection is that General Beauregard concurred, but why the movements suggested were not made I have never known. At all events Charleston was evacuated, February 17th, and its garrison was sent to Cheraw on the Pedee River, and thence by a long march to North Carolina. When the Federal army appeared before Columbia, the only troops in and around the city were Stevensons division, Wheelers cavalry, and a portion of Butlers division, in all about five thousand of all arms. Practically there was no force in the city, for the troops were on picket duty from a point three miles above Columbia to one twenty miles below. Of course no defense of the place was attempted, and it was surrendered by the mayor before the enemy entered it, with the hope that, as no resistance had been offered, it would be protected from pillage and destruction. Sherman, in his memoirs, tells its fate in these brief and suggestive words: The army, having totally ruined Columbia, moved on toward Winnsboro.' Seven long-overdue Medals of Honor are testaments to the heroism of African-American veterans. On November 16, 1944, Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers was in the thick of a fierce fight with the Germans. Rivers and the rest of the all-African-American 761st Tank Battalionknown as the Black Pantherswere advancing toward the small town of Guebling, France. The men of the 761st were no strangers to combat. They had already fought their way through several French towns, taking part in the offensive of General George S. Patton, Jr.s Third Army. On this day in November, however, Rivers ran into some bad luckhis tank struck a Teller mine. The force of the explosion blew off the tanks right track and severely injured Rivers. When the medics arrived, they found jagged bone protruding from his bloody combat trousers. They offered Rivers morphine for the pain and advised his commanding officer that he should be evacuated immediately. Sergeant Rivers would not accept either suggestion. He gathered himself up as best he could and moved toward another tank. Just then, an artillery barrage began, and orders were given to disperse. Rivers temporarily got lost in the shuffle. There was a river between the 761sts location and Guebling. From Guebling, the Americans were to assault the town of Bougaltroff. As combat engineers worked feverishly to complete a Bailey bridge across the water, the 761st fought German troops. On the afternoon of November 17, Rivers was at the head of the column crossing the completed bridge. Although he had lost a great deal of blood and was in tremendous pain, he was able to knock out two German tanks that challenged the American advance and force another pair to retreat. Early the next morning, Rivers again refused to be evacuated, even though it was obvious that infection was likely and could cost him his leg. Rivers would not leave the men of Able Company. The attack on Bougaltroff began on the morning of November 19. German resistance was fierce. Almost from the moment they moved out, the men of the 761st came under anti-tank fire. Rivers spotted the area from which the heaviest concentration of German fire was coming and sacrificed himself to allow his comrades to reach safety. His steady, accurate fire distracted the Germans but also gave away his position. Several German rounds were seen striking his tank. Trezzvant Anderson, a war correspondent from the Negro Press who was attached to the 761st, recorded his observation of Rivers brave fight. From a comparatively close range of 200 yards, the Germans threw two HE [high-explosive] shots that scored. The first shot hit near the front of the tank, and penetrated, with ricocheting fragments confined inside the steel walls. The second scored inside the tank. The first shot had blown Rivers brains out against the back of the tank, and the second went into his head emerging from the rear. And the intrepid leader, the fearless, daring fighter was no more. Rivers commanding officer, Captain David J. Williams II, requested that the brave sergeant receive the Medal of Honor. The recommendation was denied. On January 13, 1997, Vernon Baker, a 77-year-old veteran from St. Maries, Idaho, was welcomed at the White House. Baker received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the mountains of Italy in April 1945. He had killed nine German soldiers and knocked out several gun emplacements. Of the seven black men who received their long-overdue Medals of Honor earlier this year, Baker was the only one alive to have his award placed around his neck by President Bill Clinton. Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers, 1st Lt. John R. Fox, Pfc Willy F. James, Jr., and Private George Watson were killed in action. Staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter died in 1963, and 1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas died in 1980. Although their medals had been denied them for more than half a century, it is never too late to right a wrong, to correct an injustice. Weve all been vindicated, remarked Baker. Those that are not here with me, thank you, fellas, well done, and Ill always remember you. President Clinton lauded the selfless courage of the recipients. They were prepared to sacrifice everything for freedom, even though freedoms fullness was denied to them. Now and forever, the truth will be known about these African Americans who gave so much that the rest of us might be free. The medals were certainly a long time coming, but the recognition is richly deserved. True bravery and willing sacrifice know no racial boundaries. Michael E. Haskew, Editor, World War II It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Robert L. Johnson, Executive Chairman of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ), today announced that the Board of Trustees has appointed Ross H. Bierkan as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Leslie D. Hale as Chief Operating Officer of the Company. In addition, Mr. Bierkan has been elected to the Companys Board of Trustees. Mr. Bierkan was initially appointed as interim President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2016 following the departure of Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr. In response to Mr. Bierkans appointment, Robert L. Johnson, Executive Chairman of the Company said, I have known Ross for over 17 years. He was a principal participant with Tom and me in the founding of RLJ Development, LLC and he continued to play a strategic role in our movement towards the creation of RLJ Lodging Trust. Ross is exceptionally prepared as an executive based on his deep knowledge of the hotel industry and the confidence that the Board and management team have in his leadership as CEO of RLJ Lodging Trust. I am convinced that Ross will continue to grow the Company as Tom did with an intense focus on maximizing shareholder value. Mr. Bierkan has served as the Companys Chief Investment Officer since the Companys formation in 2011 and will continue to serve in that role for the time being. Mr. Bierkan served as a Principal and Executive Vice President of the Companys predecessor, RLJ Development, LLC, from 2000 until the Companys formation. Previously, Mr. Bierkan was an original member and senior executive of The Plasencia Group, a hospitality transaction and consulting group. Prior to joining The Plasencia Group, Mr. Bierkan worked with Grubb and Ellis Real Estate, a commercial real estate brokerage firm, and held various operational and sales management positions for Guest Quarters Hotels (now the Doubletree Guest Suites). Ms. Hale will serve in the dual role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Company. She will continue to oversee all financial matters, investor relations, and remain significantly involved in the daily operations of the Company. In her dual role, Ms. Hales responsibilities will be expanded to include the management of the Companys operating platform, primarily comprising the Asset Management and Design and Construction functions. Leslie, like Ross, has been an integral part of the RLJ success story for over 11 years, commented Mr. Johnson. She demonstrated in her role as CFO that she commands the knowledge and expertise needed to develop, execute, and communicate the RLJ Lodging Trust financial strategy. As a result of her efforts, we have created one of the best balance sheets in the lodging REIT sector, while also enhancing the Companys commitment to transparency and integrity. In her expanded role as COO, I am certain that she will continue to be an invaluable asset to Ross and the entire Company. Ms. Hale joined RLJ Development, LLC the Companys predecessor in 2005 as its Director of Real Estate and Finance and was promoted to Vice President in 2006. In 2007, she was promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President and, in 2013, she was promoted to Executive Vice President. Prior to Ms. Hales tenure at RLJ, she held several positions within General Electric Capital Corporation (GE), including Vice President in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of GE Commercial Finance and Associate Director in the GE Real Estate Strategic Capital Group. Before GE, Ms. Hale was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust focused on acquiring premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The Company owns 125 hotels with nearly 21,000 rooms across 21 states and the District of Columbia. The boutique PR agency was charged with publicizing Knowlands acquisition of Meeting Intelligence (formerly known as HIS) from Newmarket International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amadeus. The New York City-based public relations agency, Abelow PR, was recently awarded the Knowland account, a leading hospitality technology company in the meetings and incentives industry and globally recognized provider of group data. The boutique PR agency was charged with publicizing Knowlands acquisition of Meeting Intelligence (formerly known as HIS) from Newmarket International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amadeus. Selecting Abelow PR to spearhead such an important PR campaign for us at Knowland proved to be an extremely effective and highly successful choice, said Jim VanDevender, Chief Marketing Officer at D.C-based Knowland. Leading the account with her colleague Joanna Allen, Lorraine Abelow, provided expert media strategy consulting, press interviews, and campaign coverage. Mr. VanDevender also added that Ms. Abelow gave her personal attention on a daily basis to Knowland each step of the way, and created vital relationships with the leading hospitality trade publications. Straight out of the starting gate, Abelow PR secured over 150 stories on this news in the major hotel industry media outlets as well as newspapers across the country and websites of TV stations. Knowland has a distinguished reputation in the field of meeting and group data technology for hotels and we are honored to add this pioneering brand to our client list, said Lorraine Abelow, President of Abelow PR. Established twenty-five years ago, the agency has represented an elite roster of clients in the hotel and travel industries. In recent years, the firm has taken on a number of travel technology accounts, including Gogobot, one of the worlds top consumer travel sites based in Menlo Park, California. About Lorraine Abelow Over the course of her thirty years in the hotel and travel field, Ms. Abelow has represented blue-chip companies like Four Seasons Hotels and Hilton International, as well as boutique properties all over the world. In addition, the travel PR firm has promoted a number of tour operators including Kensington Tours and Asia Transpacific Journeys. Since she knows the hospitality industry inside and out, Ms. Abelow is able to provide a number of different perspectives to news generation and as a result the clients are often featured in such top outlets as the New York Times and key trades such as Hotels Magazine. A regular columnist for HotelExecutive.com, Ms. Abelow provides commentary on strategy for media relations and social media campaigns. She is also an honorary judge for HSMAIs Adrian awards for marketing. For further information about the agency, see AbelowPR.com or call 212-941-9247. Drakes VIEWS, released at the end of April, is still the No. 1 album in the US. The album has earned its 12th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. After going No. 1 for its first nine weeks of release, VIEWS briefly gave up the top spot to Blink-182s California three weeks ago. Now back at No. 1 for a third straight week, VIEWS beat out the new entry from Gucci Mane, Everybody Looking, his first album in five years. VIEWS sold 85,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 28, reports Nielsen Music. That sum marks a five percent decline from last week. Everybody Looking made its debut at No. 2 with a reported 68,000 equivalent albums sold in its first week. Though he couldnt dethrone Drake, Everybody Looking has given Gucci the highest-charting debut of his career. His previous best was the No. 4 debut of 2010s The Appeal: Georgias Most Wanted. With 12 weeks at No. 1, VIEWS has now spent more weeks at the top than Taylor Swifts 2014 album 1989. VIEWS has achieved the most weeks at No. 1 since the Frozen soundtrack accumulated 13 chart-topping weeks in 2014. Not including soundtracks, the last artist to better Drakes total weeks at No. 1 was Adele, whose 21 album sat at No. 1 for a total of 24 weeks in 2011-2012. The last male artist to attain more than 12 weeks at No. 1 was Billy Ray Cyrus with the release of his 1992 album Some Gave All, which was No. 1 for total of 17 weeks. Only nine albums in the last 25 years have spent 12 or more weeks atop the albums chart. Drake This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As she sat overlooking a hotel lobby in Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention this week, Alexandra Pelosi said she spied three of the wealthy men featured in her HBO documentary, "Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk?" For her sake, it's fortunate that the film premieres 8 p.m. Monday, presumably after everyone has left town. "I think they expected me to come to them and say they could vet this, and I didn't do that," Pelosi said. "So now all that I'm doing is hiding behind bushes." Pelosi, best known for her 2002 fly-on-the-wall "Journeys With George" documentary about George W. Bush's first presidential campaign, takes us into the fundraisers to meet the people who write big checks for the people who run for president. She deals in a limited way with the corrosive impact of special-interest spending on government action, but wanted to stay mostly out of Washington and to make sure the story wasn't boring. Must be entertaining More Information 'Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk?' When: 8 p.m. Monday Where: HBO 'Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk'When: 8 p.m. Monday Where: HBO See More Collapse "This is not a PowerPoint presentation that will be presented at a Harvard review of campaign finance reform," she said. "This is an HBO documentary for a Monday night, when you're competing against 'Undercover Boss.' " Many of the big donors wouldn't talk to Pelosi. But a surprising number did. Pelosi, daughter of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, already knew many of them from accompanying mom on the canape circuit. Some wanted to demystify the process, annoyed at being vilified as the "billionaire class" by Bernie Sanders, and suggest their influence is exaggerated. Cat's out of the bag The point was made to comical effect by Brad Freeman, who has given more than a million dollars to the Bush family. He got a call from George W. Bush shortly after he was elected, and visions of grandeur danced in his head; Freeman dreamed of a chance to run the C.I.A. Instead, the conversation turned to Bush's cat, which Freeman had taken a liking to. Bush couldn't bring the cat to the White House. Would Freeman want it? When people wonder what he got in return for his donations, Freeman says ruefully, "I got the frickin' cat." What's almost sad is the revelation of how much life is like high school, even in the high-rent district. Elizabeth Bagley, a donor whose loyalty to the Clintons earned her an ambassadorship to Portugal, proudly displays framed pictures of herself with Bill and Hillary. "Elizabeth - you're the best! Love, Hillary," was inscribed on one. A cardiologist, Bruce Charash, also exhibits photos of himself with politicians including President Barack Obama. "The more you have pictures of powerful people in your office," he says, "the more powerful people think you are." Billionaire grocery magnate John Catsimatdis talks about wanting to "pee with the big dogs." He gives to candidates from both parties. "I want to be in a position where I make a call, it will be picked up," he says. "There are a lot of rich people who aren't the most interesting people," Pelosi said. "This is a way of buying friends, of getting people to show up at your parties." Many donors have strong feelings about issues and want to be listened to. Pelosi talks to broadcasting executive Stanley Hubbard, her first boss, a conservative who rails about "too many tree-hugging fruitcakes" and dismisses global warming. "I have never, ever called a politician for help," Hubbard tells her. "But, yes, I can get in to talk to him. I get access." Donors who host fundraising parties often get the same stump speeches a candidate gives publicly. For the most part, the donations pay for commercials that are effectively canceled out by ads another rich person buys. "Maybe the donors are suckers," Pelosi said. "If you want to see a candidate, you go to a diner in Iowa and see them for free." But don't be naive. Oklahoma billionaire T. Boone Pickens believes his funding of the Swift Boat commercials against John Kerry in 2004 was a factor in Bush's re-election. He also thinks that legislation he supported failed not because of its merit, but because the deep-pocketed Koch brothers were able to spend more to oppose it. Pelosi also profiles people like Vin Ryan, disgusted by democracy's turn. He's taking the seemingly contradictory stance of only spending money on behalf of candidates who support efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics. Her conclusion: if there's a way to get some of the money out of politics, perhaps it would bring more voters in. NEW YORK - As Baz Luhrmann walks on set for the press day of his first television series, "The Get Down," he can't separate his professional self from his personal self and settles in by directing his own interview. Ever so apologetically, he makes suggestions to the crew and even asks for a monitor to see how the shot is being framed. After gesturing to the camera operator that it was a little wide, he suggests that the reporter move closer to the right to create the optimal eye line. It's that attention to detail that Luhrmann has been associated with throughout his career, evident in such films as "Moulin Rouge!" and "The Great Gatsby." Now he's tackling the early years of hip-hop as told through the mythical eyes of several young people living in the mid-1970's south Bronx. The 13-episode series , which premieres Aug. 12 on Netflix, takes place before a hit record made its way into the mainstream. Luhrmann serves as the show's executive producer, writer and director. He worked closely on the project with writer Nelson George, executive producer Nas and Grandmaster Flash, portrayed in the show. Q: How did you decide to take on this story? A: I was just driven to answer this question, which was, 'How did so much pure and new creativity come out of a moment where this city seemed to be on its knees, in such trouble.' And just pursuing this question led me down a road where I met Nelson (George) and I reached out to (Grandmaster) Flash and (DJ Cool) Herc, Kurtis Blow, and Crash and Daze, the legendary Lady Pink. Q: What did you see that you could add your to touch the organic years of hip-hop? A: The more I went down that road into the story looking for the answer, the more I wanted to find a way to not put my touch on it, but just to curate a way for that story to be told because most people, as Flash says, most people think this form of music came out in the 80s. Q: Do you feel hip-hop is a tale of American ingenuity? A: In this country, particularly, actually in times that are difficult, or from corners of America where you least expect it, unbelievable pure creativity has welled up. Generally because of the cross-fertilization ... a Scott Joplin tune becomes jazz, becomes blues and becomes rock 'n' roll. Q: What were your earliest memories of the era? A: What was so fascinating was it was more my recollection of New York. In 1977, I was probably about 15. I remember Elvis dying. I had a friend that came back from New York, and I said, 'What's it like?' and he said, 'Oh man. It's amazing. Just wear a coat and don't look anyone in the eye because it's that dangerous.'... Disco was huge. ... And there was punk. So that really stuck in the back of my mind. And then years later, I went on to work with great people from the hip-hop world. I made a record with Jay Z. That was one of the greatest collaborations I've ever been involved with. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Galveston County man contracted the Zika virus while on a July trip to the Caribbean island of Dominica, the first such infection recorded in the county, officials announced Monday. Officials with the Galveston County Health District said the man, who is between 60 and 70 years old, is expected to make a full recovery. There is no evidence of local transmission of the virus. No other information about the patient will be released. Official said they have no reason to believe local mosquitoes are affected by the virus but Galveston County Mosquito Control monitors the local mosquito population. Most people infected with Zika will have no symptoms. But those who display symptoms will likely have mild cases of fever, rashes, joint pain or conjunctivitis. Severe illness requiring hospitalization is uncommon. The Zika virus, however, has been linked to microcephaly, a serious birth defect of the brain, as well as other problems in fetuses and infants. Pregnant women should avoid travel to areas where Zika virus is found, and all travelers should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. People with Zika symptoms should see a healthcare provider if they visited an area where the virus is present or if they had sexual contact with someone who traveled to such an area. While sexual transmission of Zika virus is possible, the virus is primarily transmitted to people by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The best protection against mosquito-borne illnesses is to apply EPA-approved insect repellent; wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants outdoors; and drain standing water near homes so mosquitoes don't have a place to breed. Texas Department of Public Safety The Texas Department of Public Safety increased the reward for Jose Luis Rodriguez, one of the state's most wanted sex offenders. After three years on the run, authorities this morning increased the reward to $8,000 for information or tips that may lead to his arrest. James Wayne Lee was born Oct. 19, 1948, at his grandparents home in Raymondville, Mo., to Gail (Merckling) Lee and James William Lee. He died July 27, 2016, while undergoing Hospice Care at Texas County Memorial Hospital following a long battle with cancer. Jim attended church as a child at Friendship Community Church. He accepted Christ into his life at a young age and was baptized by Brother Rado Wilson. Most of his spiritual life was spent at Wildwood House of Prayer where he attended services as his health allowed. Jim received his first five years of education at the two-room Friendship School just up the road from his home. When Friendship consolidated with Raymondville, Jim attended there and graduated as valedictorian of his eighth grade class. He attended Houston High School and graduated with the class of 1966. Due to a tragic car accident, Jim was unable to serve in the military. The injuries he received affected his life choices from that time on. As a child, Jim worked with his dad developing skills in farming, the timber industry, heavy equipment operation, and auto mechanics; all of which he would use in careers later in his life. At age 16, Jim began to work with his grandfather, Wayne Merckling, operating heavy machinery. He used this apprenticeship to master the trade and later assume ownership of the custom bulldozing company. During this time he was noticed by forestry department officials who were impressed with his techniques in land clearing, and the care he took to preserve standing timber. This resulted in Jim being featured in Forestry magazine articles in the 1970s. Jim also spent some time with the Brown Shoe Company training to become a manager. He worked several years as an over the road trucker. His last occupation was working with his brother, sister-in-law, and other family members at Lees Salvage where Jims magnetic personality and quick wit made him a favorite with customers. Jim married Delaina Lois Morgan on Jan. 5, 1979, at Wildwood House of Prayer. They made their home in Raymondville with their sons, Lonnie Dale and Darrell James. Later they were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Caroline Alicia. Jim loved his family and was never happier than when they all spent time together. Jim was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Wayne and Sylvia Merckling; his paternal grandparents, Fred and Dove Emma Lee; his father-in-law, Victory Morgan; his daughter, Carrie; brother, Darrell Lee; brother-in-law, George Heath; great-nephew Aedon Heath; his uncles, Doyle and Norman Merckling and Leon Lee; and aunts, Bonnie Burch and Bettie Jones. He is survived by his wife, Delaina of Raymondville; son, Lonnie Dale and wife, Jeramy, of Houston and their children, Taylor, Cameron, Ethan and Amber; his son, Darrell and wife, Jackie, of Summersville and their children, Brooklyn and Seth, Madison, Noah and Stetson; great-grandchildren, Cooper and Rynlee; son-in-law, Michael Goforth with he and Carries children, Allyssa and Peyton. Also left to miss him are Jims parents, James and Gail Lee of Raymondville; his mother-in-law. Eula Morgan of Houston; his siblings, Becky Heath of Houston, Beth Ann Cooper of Nixa, Don Lee of Foristell, Kathy and husband, Dennis French, of Raymondville and Shirley and husband, Mark Hester, of Mountain Grove; sister-in-law, Michaelle Lee and brother-in-law, Jackie Ray Cooper, both of Raymondville; his brother-in-law, Donald Morgan and wife, Brenda, of Bucyrus; brother-in-law, Marion Morgan and wife, Linda, of Cabool; and brother-in-law, Ben Morgan and wife, Christine, of Colorado. Jim will also be missed by his aunts and uncles, nephews, nieces, great-nephews, great-nieces, cousins and many, many friends. Jim will most definitely be remembered as a people person who had a song for every occasion and was able to put a smile on your face with a quick joke or a humorous insult. Thanks for all the good times, Jim. We love you. Services were 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, at Evans Funeral Home with Pastor Paul Murray officiating. Burial was in Friendship Cemetery. Pallbearers were Lonnie Lee, Taylor Lee, CJ Lee, Noah Lee, Darrell Lee, Marty Merckling, Nicki French, Michael Goforth and Bryant Cooper. Honorary pallbearers were Eathan Lee, Stetson Lee and Peyton Lee. Arrangements were under the direction of Evans Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the James Lee Memorial Fund c/o Evans Funeral Home. Online condolences may be sent to www.evansfh.com. 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. by guest blogger Marketa Trimble With the July 14, 2016, decision in Microsoft v. United States (Microsoft) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the question arises as it usually does in cases involving technology in general and the internet in particular: Is the decision good news for internet users? Though the outcomes of some technology and internet cases may be heralded (initially) as victories for users, closer examination can reveal otherwise. Speaking about the Microsoft decision specifically, Jennifer Granick has warned that, while the decision may be a short-term victory for privacy advocates its larger implications are far more complex. The Second Circuits Microsoft decision at first seems to mark a victory for internet users, particularly those who welcome any decision that denies a government access to individuals data (whatever the circumstances), or those who are concerned about the U.S. governments access to data of persons outside the United States jurisdictional reach. In Microsoft, the government requested the data of an individual that were stored by Microsoft, and Microsoft was successful in having the Second Circuit quash a search warrant issued by the district court (the warrant having been issued under the Stored Communications Act (the Act)) by arguing that a U.S. court-issued search warrant could not compel Microsoft to produce data that Microsoft had stored outside the United States (in this case, in Ireland). This apparent victory for at least some internet users is tainted by the effects that the decision might have in the future. I will focus here on the effects of the rule that is suggested in dicta by the majority in the decision that jurisdiction over data should depend on the location of the data. The decision of the Second Circuit panel states that U.S. courts may not issue a search warrant under the Act to compel a service provider to produce data stored on servers outside the United States; the majority determined that the Act has no extraterritorial reach, and because the data lies within the jurisdiction of a foreign sovereign (p. 40 of the decision), a search warrant requiring their production would have an extraterritorial reach. The result of the decision is that if a U.S. law enforcement agency wants access to data stored outside the United States, the mechanisms of international mutual legal assistance must be utilized and foreign authorities must be engaged even if the data are stored by a U.S.-based service provider. Only after foreign authorities sift through the potential reasons for the denial of a request and comply with the request will the U.S. agency be permitted access to the data. Is it good for internet users if the location of data determines jurisdiction? We might ask about the expectations of internet users and the effect of the new rule on legal certainty. If I as an internet user utilize the services of a service provider based in the United States such as Microsoft my assumption is that U.S. laws will govern whatever Microsoft does with my data, to some extent at least. If I use Microsoft as a service provider and I am domiciled outside the United States, particularly in a country with strong pro-consumer legislation, such as Ireland or another European Union country, I might hope that the laws of my country will also apply and require Microsoft to honor my rights, as protected by the country of my domicile. I as a user have no idea where Microsoft, or any other service provider for that matter, stores my data; I assume that Microsoft stores my data wherever it wants in the world, as it sees fit, in places where it locates its servers (particularly when, as concurring Judge Lynch noted, Microsoft does not promise me that my data will be located in any particular country). One thing that I the user do not expect, and really do not want, is for my data to be subject to the laws of the country in which the Microsoft server that contains my data is located (i.e. the country of whatever Microsoft data center Microsoft has chosen to locate the data). Microsoft stated that it stored data only in the region where a user has declared himself or herself to be located. But a region is not a jurisdiction, and may, depending on the definition, comprise multiple legal jurisdictions with not only differing rules, but also differing legal practices and political structures. Further, some service providers will be unwilling and/or incapable of limiting the location of my data to a certain region or country (on difficulties of data location verification see here); redundancy of data storage is important for reliability and the security of data in the cloud. If jurisdiction over my data is to be governed by each of the countries containing the servers on which my data are located, my data may be exposed to the laws, courts, and law enforcement agencies of countries that are unexpected by me, and which may be multiple, or many, countries. Perhaps the uncertainty about and the multitude of jurisdictions poses no problem as long as the countries have strict rules that protect my data from unjustified intrusions by governments. But what if these countries rules and/or practices are or one day become less protective? And what of other laws of the foreign jurisdictions that might be applicable to my data, such as copyright and defamation laws that might not afford a suficient level of free speech protection to users? The Microsoft rule would change the status quo; so far, courts have accepted only in exceptional circumstances the notion that jurisdiction arises in the location of a server (see, e.g., here and here). Typically, the location of a server plays a minimal role, if any role, in courts decisions on jurisdiction. Enforcement under the suggested rule poses another problem. If jurisdiction over data were to lie in the courts and agencies of a country where data are stored, this would be so even in cases where a service provider has no presence in a country other than some of its servers being located there. In the absence of any other provider assets in the country, enforcement in the country where the data is stored would necessarily be directed only at the servers where the data were stored. Enforcement abroad against the provider itself would require that the domestic decision be recognized by a foreign court, and foreign enforcement might not be available at all if it involves a criminal or similar penalty (e.g., a contempt order). One has to wonder whether data centers, particularly those not owned and/or operated by service providers but by data center companies that only rent space and/or equipment to service providers, should be the target of law enforcement activities concerning data stored on third-party servers. Exposing data centers to enforcement actions directed at data that are stored on their premises or their equipment would disrupt confidence in and could discourage the expansion of cloud-based services. For service providers it is advantageous if they may utilize data centers anywhere they choose. The draft Trade in Services Agreement that is being negotiated apparently contemplates a provision that would prohibit countries from mandating that service suppliers locate data on their servers in any particular country (Article 9 of the leaked draft Annex on Electronic Commerce). But if jurisdiction over data is to be based on the location of the data, do I as a user really want countries to lose their ability to influence (or mandate) where my data are located? The provision in the Annex prohibiting the mandating of the location of a server should be without prejudice to countries provisions in a number of areas of law, including privacy law (Article 1 of the draft Annex), and perhaps my country may therefore request that service providers, in order to comply with its privacy laws, locate my data within the country. But what if a country has no data location requirement? Or suppose that limiting the location of and movement of my data in the cloud is technically unachievable and/or undesirable? Microsoft has another important international dimension. The recently concluded EU-U.S. Safe Harbor/Privacy Shield negotiations have highlighted the EUs concerns about the data of its residents. From this perspective, the outcome in Microsoft should improve both relations between the EU and the U.S. and the prospects for U.S. service providers who want to do business in the EU. Nevertheless, the suggested jurisdictional rule that would be based on data location should alarm users on both sides of the Atlantic. Judge Lynch pointed out that it will be foreign, non-U.S. users who will gain from Microsoft, as they will be shielded from U.S. government direct access to their data when it is stored outside the United States. The problem with the Second Circuits suggested rule on jurisdiction based on data location is that its application would negatively affect all internet users, including EU users, because it would expose their data to unknown, and possibly multiple, jurisdictions. The rule might cause some pressure to be put on service providers to be transparent about the location of users data, but not all service providers might be able to adhere to specific data location limitations. Merely revising the Act (which Judge Lynch in his concurrence calls a badly outdated statute) might not suffice. As I suggested elsewhere, enhanced cooperation among countries in procedural matters, meaning enhanced mutual legal assistance, seems essential. Whether the recently proposed legislation is the best way forward is for a separate discussion. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- A Mobile man was arrested shortly after midnight Monday after his wrecked vehicle caught fire on the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge and he left it there to burn. According to Ocean Springs Police Capt. Chuck Jackson, patrol officers responded to the bridge after receiving a report of a one-vehicle accident which caused the vehicle to be engulfed in flames. After immediately checking to ensure there were no occupants in the vehicle, officers spoke with witnesses who said the vehicle had been driven by a black male who had fled the scene on foot and into a wooded area not far from the eastern foot of the bridge. A about an hour later and about a half mile from the bridge, police apprehended 47-year-old Marvin Bernard McMillian of Mobile in another wooded area off Porter Avenue. McMillian was booked into the Ocean Springs Municipal Jail, charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving without insurance and having a switched tag. Total bond for the three misdemeanors is $1,240. Anyone with additional information on the incident is asked to contact the Ocean Springs Police Department at 228-875-2211 or Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898. Tags : disreputable businesses references Threatening marketing materials stating, "Important Open Immediately" and "Final Notice," which appear to come from governmental agencies get your attention and increase your blood pressure. For some businesses, profit is sweet even if it is the result of deception. Disreputable companies are tough to find too. Most threatening mailers fail to contain a phone number and the P.O. Box listed on the mailer is simply a conduit address. Though many industries have their bad apples, the bad actors in the labor postings industry are particularly aggressive. Disreputable labor poster companies often purchase the government lists for new business entities and automatically mail threatening and deceptive marketing materials to those new businesses. This practice is especially reprehensible considering the fact that the majority of such businesses have no employees and usually do not even need labor posters. The cost of purchasing labor posters from companies who employ scare tactics is usually very high. What is more, if you order one, it may never be delivered. Further, our investigations have found that the people responsible for these activities have been in trouble in the past for other scams. The human resource industry is quickly becoming wise to these scams. As a consequence, the new target has become the naive small business startup. Before doing business with a company, consider following these simple rules: Do you... One of the biggest security threats organizations face today is the compromise on the credentials of their employees or contractors. Headless worms, machine-to-machine attacks, jailbreaking, ghostware, ransomware, zombie botnets etc. whats the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear these terminologies? Its fear. The language of cybersecurity certainly incites a level of fear, given all that's at stake. Cyber intrusions are becoming more commonplace, more dangerous, and more sophisticated. Majority of the companies are targeted for their corporate data, pioneering research and development. Our cover article Fighting Cyber Threats by Eyal Benishti talks in depth about how HR departments can step in to create a secured environment by enforcing a long-term security awareness plan and policies. The 10 commandments, discussed in the article, will help you conduct a successful phishing assessment process. Eyal has also shared a few important guidelines that will assure a constructive assessment process by engaging employees who are can appreciate and relate to the process. If there was any doubt the LGBTQ community is the subject of disrespect and criticism, the Orlando massacre shattered that illusion in the most devastating way. The slaughter of 49 people inside a popular gay nightclub has ignited fierce debates over gun laws, terrorism, and prejudgment directed at LGBTQ people. Discrimination against the LG... Rob Huntley via Getty Images Sunset on Black Lake near Perth, Ontario. So you feel like youve done all road trips Ontario has to offer? Think again, my friend. There are always roads less travelled and new destinations to discover. Weve partnered with Ford Fusion to create your summer road trip list. So pile the family into a reliable car and hit the road -- the provinces hidden treasures await! Advertisement European Road Trip At Home Did you know that you can drive from London to Paris and Zurich all in a day? Maybe not in Europe but in southwest Ontario youll find their Canadian counterparts located within three hours of each other. Tour the Grand River in Paris, voted one of the prettiest small towns in Canada, or stop by Wincey Mills, a new urban market well stocked with food and gifts. In Zurich, pick up homemade pies and doughnuts at Tasty Nu Bakery and while in London, visit the London Childrens Museum for some family fun. Gooey Goodness In Peterborough If you love sweet treats and really, who doesnt? youll want to head to the Peterborough area to embark on a butter tart tour. Try these treats at Doo Doos Bakery in Bailieboro, where their cheesecake version won best in show at the Ontario Butter Tart Festival. And while the Whistle Stop Cafe in downtown Peterborough might be known for its poutine, it also offers award-winning butter tarts. Advertisement Lakefront Lounging Many people have heard of Port Dover, a famous gathering place for motorcycle enthusiasts. But just a short drive down the road youll find the less crowded option of Port Stanley. It has a gorgeous stretch of beaches and is one of the cutest towns youll ever see. After youve soaked up some sun on the sand, drive to Steed and Company, a lavender farm that sells lavender-infused ice cream. The Birth Of Perth Head to Lanark County, about an hour away from Ottawa, to explore back roads and quaint towns like Perth, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Located on the Rideau River Canal System, it was once a military settlement created to protect Canada from American invaders after the War of 1812. Its also the site of the last fatal duel fought in Canada in 1833 and was once home to the worlds biggest cheese, a 22,000 pound slab produced for the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Less than 30 minutes away, Foley Mountain Conservation Area is a piece of heaven for those who love hiking natural trails and spotting wildlife. While Britain's political landscape is still in turmoil, Brexit is inevitable. Article 50 is yet to be triggered, but new Prime Minister Theresa May, has made it very clear that it will eventually happen. Remainers should feel free to continue expressing themselves. Leavers must understand that, while they won the battle, freedom of speech is our democratic right as British citizens. Admitting defeat and simply "getting over it" is far easier said than done. Fundamentally, there is still room for error. If negotiations don't go smoothly, people could lose their jobs, homes, and ultimately, their livelihood, especially those working in sensitive industries, such as British steel. Now is the time to stop taking sides and pull together, not only for the sake of damage control, but to grab the bull by the horns and take advantage of the new opportunities that are on offer. In the buildup to the referendum, the British steel industry was a hot topic. Community (the trade union for steel workers), David Cameron, and the Business Secretary all stated that the economic uncertainty could crumble the industry, while senior leave campaigner, Michael Gove, claimed that Brexit would save the industry. It was hard to know what to believe. While the true damage/opportunities have yet to present themselves, the topic of British steel (post-referendum) seems to have taken the back-seat, overshadowed by May's baffling decision to make Europe's most hated man, Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary. But was anybody right? Advertisement In short, it's really too early to accurately determine how and when the industry will be affected. We can make sensational claims all we like, but in truth, there are no experts. A seasoned economist will be the first person to tell you that even THEY don't understand the economy, so the odds are, the average Tom, Dick or Harry won't have a clue. So let's take a step back and look at the facts... Since the 1970s Britain's steel production has been on the decline, moving from roughly 23 million tonnes per year to around seven. When looking at these stats it's easy to understand both sides of the argument: "Why take a chance with what little we have?" Versus "The industry is in decline anyway, so why not try to salvage it?" -- there really is no right or wrong; it's simply a matter of risk. That said, Port Talbot in South Wales, is already suffering from the side effects. While 57 percent of the residents voted leave, many are now regretting their decision. The town is known for housing Britain's longest surviving steel plant -- Port Talbot Works -- which also happens to be the town's largest employer. The plant's owner, Tata Steel, who bought the business in 2007, was planning to sell off the plant before the referendum. The government even offered loans of up to 1 billion (for a 25 percent stake in the business) to support the 700 million pension deficit. The sale has now come to a stalemate, leaving the 4,000 employees in a state of limbo. Tata have since held talks with Germany's Thyssen Krupp about the possibility of a joint venture; however, many economists believe that consolidation could run the industry into the ground. The reality of losing the plant is starting to sink in as residents come to the realisation that it would be a major blow to the local economy. Advertisement While Port Talbot is just one of many companies operating in the steel sector that has been affected, the short-term results don't seem too encouraging. While it's easy to point the blame at Brexit for the steel industry's problems, it's important that we (as a European society) don't ignore the bigger picture. According to steel manufacturing business, Custom Fittings Ltd, "For years the flood of cheap Chinese steel exports has been making is harder and harder for businesses to make money. Brexit isn't necessarily the biggest issue." How Europe as a whole can combat China's rapid growth and undervalued currency is the real underlying problem. You don't need to have a degree to understand mental health. We all have one and we all need to look after it. You don't need to be a psychologist to be educated on the matter, however I don't disagree that it probably helps. Although there are many different mental illnesses, depression is one of the most common with 4-10% of people in England alone suffering at some point in their lifetime. So why is it that so many of us are clueless about something that is so common? According to the Office of National Statistics, 6,233 aged 15 and over took their lives in 2013; a 4% increase from 2012. 4,858 (78%) of suicides registered in 2013 were male. Male suicide rates were three times higher than those of women, with the highest suicide rate by broad age group being men aged between 45 and 59 years. I featured a quick poll on my twitter profile with a time limit of 2 hours asking "who has it harder in society?" just to include a (very) rough example within this piece. The poll came back with 47 votes which inevitable favoured that women have it harder in society with 65% of votes cast. Advertisement So if women are the ones that live a harder life thanks to societal expectations... why are men three times more likely than women to take their own life? I'll let you think about that one for a little while because clearly we're going wrong somewhere. Are we so caught up fighting for women's rights that we've forgotten to look after the other 50% of the human population? Why is suicide still the single highest killer of men aged 20-49? Depression comes in all different shapes and sizes and unfortunately more often than not goes hand in hand with suicide. Around 13 men will kill themselves today. It's time we started to address the fact that society is killing our men - suicide just gets the job done. The thing with mental health is that you can't see it, which ultimately leads to the confusion and lack of education among the majority of people. You look at someone, such as Robin Williams, who had a fantastic career, a bank account full of money, a loving family, a happy marriage - things had to have been going great for him. But then one day, he commits suicide. That's when the questions start to circulate. "What did he have to be depressed about?", "so many other people have it worse than he did", "how could he be so selfish?", "how could he do this to his family?" - And the questions keep coming and going with every birthday and anniversary of his that passes. People start to think maybe he "wasn't all there", maybe he'd gone a bit loopy. You know, because mental illness isn't visible, it HAD to be something in his biological wiring that had gone wrong. Advertisement The very root of the problem is that our culture and our society tells people with mental health issues that there's something wrong with them. That there's an imbalance of chemicals in their brain and the only thing that could possibly help to sort this out is medication. The amount of prescriptions issued for anti-depressants has increased by 5 times since 1991 and with that, male suicide is at a 14-year high - so surely biology can't be the cause? Why aren't we turning to our environment for answers? The frightening escalation in male suicide rates only emphasises the animosity society has towards men. Depression is the mind's way of alerting us that something in our environment is very wrong, meaning the devastating increase in male suicide rates only screams at us that something is very wrong with our society. This all makes sense when you take a step back and just look at the environment you live in. We live in a society that not only has no idea how to grasp the concept of basic empathy but our society also doesn't care. In early 2015, Oxfam deliberated that one percent of the world's population owns almost HALF of the world's wealth. The political, social and economic state of our country is well on its way to completely alienating people and dividing opinions. And with that comes the stress men are put under by economic expectations. Men have been conditioned to believe that their financial worth is synonymous with their value as a human being, that to be in competition with one another is healthy and that emotional and empathetic understanding are emasculating. These of course are considered "traditional male values" however society has changed so much in the wake of equality that men no longer want to conform to these social norms that are expected of them. This forces them to face two sets of opposing values, which thanks to society, they often fail at achieving - resulting in making them feel more worthless than ever. Don't lie to yourself, it makes sense. Advertisement There is still so much that needs to be done with regards to men's mental health, the stigma surrounding the subject still needs to be tackled and dramatically reduced and support needs to become more widely available. I believe it's time for us all to revaluate the beliefs we have with regards to social expectations and accept that men need help just as much as women do, if not, more. Instead of believing that women HAVE problems and men ARE problems, we should be encouraging environments in which men feel comfortable enough to seek help for their problems. The solution starts with you and what you can do to help tackle the stigma. If the fact that men are committing suicide at an astonishing rate isn't making you ask serious questions about our society after reading this, I don't know what will. Samaritans UK & ROI: 116 123 (24 hr / 365 days) website Men's Health Forum: website MIND - Mental Health Charity: mind.org This month I spoke with the brilliant Matt Smith, an artist and curator based in Hove, UK. Matt discussed the links between art and curatorship and the opportunities artistic residencies can give to both artists and museums. As both artist and curator how do these two disciplines interact and interlink? I worked in museums for about ten years before I started a practice as an artist. Both fields often (but not exclusively) work with material culture and as both an artist and a curator I am very interested in how objects can speak about the human condition, and help us understand both ourselves and others. There are some incredibly creative curators who I would argue practice as artists within institutions as well as artists whose practice is so nuanced it could easily fall within curatorial practice. I find both these approaches very interesting. Advertisement My movement from curator to artist was in part due to the constraints I felt having to work with existing material in order to communicate with visitors. As an artist you have a greater freedom to make objects when the existing material culture leaves silences. Being removed from an institution allows you an unmediated, independent voice but is also an exposing place to be. Can you describe your relationship with 'the museum' as an institution? There are obviously many museums, and each one is made up of many individuals with different motivations, so to try and generalise about 'the museum' is problematic. However, museums occupy a very particular place in my life. The selecting, preserving and interpreting of our shared culture mean that museums can act as gatekeepers to history and - consciously or not - decide whose lives are recorded and whose are not. In the 1990s I became interested in institutional critique and artists who explored how museums operate. Fred Wilson in particular had a huge influence on me with his work which repositioned museum collections from an African American viewpoint. The work of artists such as Fred Wilson, Joseph Kosuth (The Play of the Unmentionable) at the Brooklyn Museum and Hans Haacke (Give and Take at the V&A/Serpentine) fundamentally shifted my relationship with museums and made me much more questioning of how they operate and who they privilege within their narratives. How have you approached museums and cultural institutions to ask to work with them to achieve artistic interventions / residencies? Advertisement I was incredibly fortunate that my first interventionist project - Queering the Museum at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2010-2011) - was brokered by Shout! Festival in Birmingham. Shout! were interested in commissioning me and asked where I would like to show. I had a long history of visiting the museum and was fortunate that the exhibitions manager, Andy Horn, was willing to take a risk and push the project though. Since then, a number of organisations have approached me to work with them, which is a very fortunate position to be in. Last year I was awarded an artist residency in the ceramics galleries at the V&A. The museum operates these on an open call basis. Do you have any advice for artists looking to secure funding to support a project, intervention or residency in a museum? I think that if the project is strong and the partners are in place, the hardest work is done. The Arts Council are often willing to fund artist interventions and residencies and are good at being very clear about what they need to see in order to release funding. It is important to remember that there are three parties involved - the artist, the museum and the funder - each with separate but hopefully overlapping needs. What general advice can you give to artists and curators who want to work in or with museums? I think there is a lot of advice for curators who want to work in museums, so I'll concentrate this answer on artists who want to work in museums. Advertisement I think it's really useful to keep in mind that artist interventions and residencies are seldom the core function of the museum and no matter how important the project may be to you personally, the care of the collections will, and should, take priority. Therefore, unlike white cube spaces, there are constraints to working with museums and museum collections, in addition to the great joys and opportunities. The more you understand these constraints, and listen to the museum staff, the easier the working relationship will be and often the more freedom you will be allowed as an artist. Artistic residencies are becoming increasingly common in museums. What are the best museum residency programmes you are aware of? I think it really depends on the artist's practice, areas of interest and what they want to get out of the residency. Larger, more prestigious, residencies may not allow artists the same level of risk taking and freedom as those in smaller organisations. However, I think the main issue is finding a collection that you really want to spend the time exploring and responding to. Did you always want your art to interact with museums? Did you do anything specific to influence your artwork to interact with museum collections? Advertisement A lot of my work as an artist involves casting readymade objects and repurposing them. This mirrors my curatorial experience of taking disparate objects from a collection and using them to create order or convey narratives. It was possibly unsurprising that this led to working in the interface between art and museums. Much of your recent work has explored the relationship of LGBT communities with museums, galleries and historic houses. What have been your breakthrough findings and how are these new and important interpretations going to change our institutions in the years to come? The idea of an LGBT community has problems. Whilst it is certainly useful to team up to address discrimination, any overarching grouping has the potential to erase differences of experiences within the group and homogenise it, often giving white men the largest voices. Museums often use objects to represent groups of people - Jewish metalwork, Benin bronzes, medieval manuscripts. Unlike many groups whose culture is passed down from parents to children, there are few objects which can stand in for LGBT lives. Rather than universalising the group using totemic objects, museums need to work differently with interpretation about LGBT lives. It has been likened to detective work, looking into the cracks and fissures of collections since historically, the LGBT links with objects would often have been undocumented. I have been particularly interested in how museums have made (in)visible lives which fall outside the majority. This lack of diversity in interpretation takes place for many reasons. Heteronormativity, like racial and gender bias privileges who we expect to see reflected in museums and so, unless we are told otherwise, we assume that objects were made, relate to, or were owned by straight, white men. This means that an alternative way of discussing and interpreting objects and their contexts might be needed to allow links between the collections and those people who live outside that mainstream to be heard. Advertisement We can all learn a lot from what Matt is saying. His final points on LGBT have already made me think differently and widened my mind. He has also perfectly outlined the opportunities and challenges involved in working as an artist with museums. To really explore museum objects we must reimagine their meanings and their messages and to do this we must ourselves embrace artistic thinking. Where the object may not communicate easily with visitors, or where a reimagining is more difficult could be one of the perfect places for artists to further our connections with the objects. Artists - get out there and approach museums, heritage institutions and funding bodies with your intervention and/or residency projects and see what happens. Everyone - let's all support artists and promote the increase of artistic programmes and residencies in museums. You can read and see more on Matt's website here: http://mattjsmith.com/ Crisis - BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner's action-packed debut novel A "dirty" bomb is acquired by Nelson "El Pobrecito" Garcia, an immensely powerful South American drug baron and delivered (by sea) to the heart of the UK in an attempted revenge attack. It may not be actually ticking, but the clock certainly is. Our hero, Luke Carlton, a former Special Boat Service commando, is the key player in a gruesome and violent battle to save London. Being the BBC's Security Correspondent is a serious business, so it must have been deeply satisfying and refreshing for Frank Gardner to be able to create more than 450 pages of nail-biting fiction - dotted with a few risque words and phrases that he could never get to use in his TV or radio broadcasts. His vast experience of matters of global security, terrorism (himself a victim, of course) and military matters enables him to offer the reader engrossing behind-the-scenes detail. A non-stop flurry of excitement pervades the book. This passage is typical: "No mission was supposed to set off without a stack of escort aircraft ready to race to their rescue if they hit trouble. Sometimes the response would be a pair of Warthogs: squat, ugly US Airforce A10 Thunderbolt jets that came screaming out of nowhere, spitting 30mm shells from a rotating Gatling cannon in their nose, a rate of fire so fast it made a noise like an angry chainsaw. Sometimes it would be a pair of Apache helicopter gunships, under-slung with cannon and Hellfire missiles that could lock onto a target eight kilometres away, and sometimes it would be 'fast air': RAF Tornados or NATO F16 fighter jets or the like, dropping their 500-pound bombs, then disappearing over the horizon. And sometimes it would be a Reaper drone, a UAV, hovering unseen and heard, controlled and directed by a pair of 'pilots' in a windowless cabin on a base in Nevada". Advertisement There's humour too, such as the toe-curlingly embarrassing scene when Luke Carlton, on a top-secret mission, lands - hopefully under cover - at Bogota airport, where he is greeted by Colombian police. Having reassured himself that none of his fellow passengers or airport staff are paying him any inappropriate attention he suddenly hears a voice saying: "Luke! Luke Carlton? Is that you?" Oh, Christ, this was all he needed, writes Gardner. "It is you!" says the man. "Oh my God, I don't believe it. It's Steve! Stevie Monk! Bella, I was at uni with this guy." Advertisement Carlton is fuming. Steve Monk, a "total arse" approaches, "grinning from ear to ear, a Union Jack T-shirt beneath his fleece. "His companion, Bella, was in a pair of uncomfortably tight white jeans above purple-and-mauve striped socks. "'They are with you?' asked the Colombian police officer, looking questioningly from Luke to the backpackers. 'No!' replied Luke, a little too emphatically. 'Absolutely not'." But Monk had "whipped out his phone and snapped a photo". "Didn't you join the SAS or something?" continues the wretched Monk. "And what brings you to Colombia? You're not under arrest already, are you? Been indulging in a bit of the old Bolivian marching powder, already, have we?" Monk, says Gardner, "laughed at his own crass joke". The snapshot of Carlton ends up on Monk's Twitter account. But our hero is relieved when HQ tells him they've "shaded" the account. "It's just a little trick the tech people can do" they tell him. "It means Monk can use his Twitter account to his heart's content but nobody else can see what he's posting. He won't know that of course. His account is effectively frozen." Advertisement There's more fascinating and realistic detail when we read about the contents of Carlton's rucksack. Apart from the Swiss-made Sig Sauer P229 pistol, there's a phial of quick-clot blood coagulant, a combat tourniquet, a gel-based body-armour vest which, "when hit with sudden force, hardened in a fraction of a second", a prismatic compass, HF radio comms equipment, a hunting knife, torch, water purification tablets, survival kit and emergency rations. Later it emerges that a so-called "zero-day bug" enables the drugs cartel to use a sort of reverse USB stick to suck information out of British military operations computers rather than inject information into them - in this case the latest positions of all Britain's naval vessels in the Atlantic and the English Channel . It's helpful and encouraging that rather like the thriller writer Peter James, Gardner divides his novel into short chapters - 112 of them counting the prologue and epilogue. So when you finish a chapter of two or three pages and notice that the next chapter is roughly the same length it's a huge incentive to keep reading! Will London survive? Not telling. The book's title scarcely does justice to such a thrilling read. Bloomberg via Getty Images As Daesh continues to lose territory and credibility, a dangerous new phase is taking shape in its online communications. Where once their propaganda showcased victory parades and new cities under their control, now facing daily humiliating defeats, they attempt to reframe success. And this new phase of Daesh brand communications is even more deadly and dangerous than the last. The past few months have been some of the bloodiest in recent history; there were more than 175 attacks during the holy month of Ramadan alone. Many were inspired, motivated or co-ordinated by Daesh. And just in the past fortnight we've seen a spate of appalling attacks in Germany and France claimed by the terrorist group. These events coincide with a decisive change in Daesh communications and strategy. Advertisement As its physical state reduces, its virtual state expands. The terror group, known to be an adept digital producer of content and communications, is now recalibrating its online message changing their emphasis from lofty ideals of state-building to provoking acts of external terrorism everywhere in its name. In this phase Daesh's influence rests not its claim to be a state - but in a 'state of mind'. A toxic brand that operationalizes vulnerabilities in a new breed of digitally supported terrorism. These vulnerabilities are exploited not just in the group's slick official propaganda, but increasingly prominently through the words and deeds of its online support base, the so-called Baqiyah Family. For many young Muslims in the Western world, this new offer is appealing. In a world portrayed as institutionally Islamophobic, they feel they have no stake - no way to fit in, belong or succeed. The new Daesh messaging proposition offers to make them 'somebody' in a world where they feel like nobody. It's a fantasy world where, in a single dramatic event, a 'victim' can transform into central character in a world struggle. Their method remains the weaponization of the vulnerable through social media. And the new tactic employed by Daesh appeals to an even larger audience - placing greater emphasis on those who are angry and disaffected enough to perpetrate terrorist acts in their own communities. Advertisement Recent attacks are terrifying, not just in their ultra-violent nature but the staggeringly brazen use of social media by the perpetrators in real-time to communicate their so-called successes. In Orlando, in between murdering forty nine people and wounding 53 others at the Pulse nightclub, a Daesh gunman reportedly put down his weapons, picked up his phone and logged on to Facebook. Less than 12 hours later, in Magnanville, France, another French Daesh terrorist murdered police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his partner Jessica Schneider in a brutal knife attack at their home, he too used his phone to live stream and document his crime while the couple's three year old child sat terrified in the frame. Most recently, on Tuesday morning, two young men carried out a horrific and cowardly attack against an unarmed 85-year-old priest in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the name of the terrorist group. Reports claim that the two men filmed parts of the attack. They, like the Orlando and Magnanville attackers, used the internet to share their pledge of allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with the group's online supporters, who subsequently used social media to share it with the world. These killers likely knew they would die, but used online networks to ensure they could enjoy their moment of fulfillment and affirmation before doing so. In a strange world of bravado, friendship and horror, reminiscent of high intensity interactive game play, it is this community with whom Abballa and Mateen sought to share their horrific five minutes of fame. How this new phase of communications plays out on social media platforms is also changing. If mainstream social media networks are the store front for Daesh's propaganda, peer-to-peer messaging applications are the supporters' back office. Official Daesh guidance suggests supporters use encrypted platforms like Telegram for more specific instructions, while online outreach for recruits is still conducted on open social media networks. Advertisement Daesh will continue to find new ways of reaching their intended audience online, so we too must evolve our collective approach. Countering this new phase will require a pace and scale of innovative counter messaging that we've not seen before. Communications that must be better targeted than any before and based on a better understanding of how all those channels are being used and how audiences respond. Where there is more propaganda directing people to kill, we must act to remove it quickly. Where there are new networks promoting radicalisation, we must disrupt them. We need to work with industry to improve solutions that automate the identification and removal of dangerous extremist content at scale and tools that better tackle automated bots and other techniques that support these propaganda machines. This must be done as quickly as possible before people, particularly sympathisers and the vulnerable, get the chance to see it. And we must work with civil society to offer a brighter and more compelling path to young people who feel they have no hope of changing their circumstances. There is no panacea, no single piece of technology, intervention or public policy that will solve this. But we can make it harder for terrorist and extremists to use the Internet to recruit, inspire and incite. It only takes one individual to see sense in the Daesh fantasy for this bloody trail of terrorist destruction to continue. And it must be stopped. This week Hillary Clinton was officially announced as the Democratic presidential nominee, this has led to frequent discussions about Clinton's achievements and how her nomination is breaking down barriers for women and girls all over the globe. As a young student, First Lady, Senator of New York, Secretary of State and now the Democratic Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has dedicated her life to women's rights and smashing down the hypothetical glass ceiling which has been barring equal rights for centuries. As Hillary Clinton defined it herself, "the subjugation of women [is] a threat to the common security of our world and to the national security of our country." But what has Hillary Clinton actually done to improve the lives of women all over the world? 1) "Women's Rights Are Human Rights" The phrase "women's rights are human rights" has become synonymous with Hillary Clinton following her 1995 speech on women's rights at the UN world conference on women in Beijing during her time as First Lady. Clinton addressed the lack of women's rights around the world calling global attention to these issues in a landmark call for worldwide justice and equality. The speech made global waves inspiring female activists around the world to take up the cause of women's rights, planting the seeds of progress towards a fairer society. After the conference Clinton then established the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative in order to promote the advancement of women as a key foreign policy goal for America. 2) Women's Rights to Choose Hillary Clinton has constantly battled Republican efforts to undermine the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v Wade which legalised abortion for women within the United States. Since supporting the Roe v Wade decision at the time, Clinton has been a strong advocate of a woman's right to choose. Whilst in the Senate, Clinton waged a multi-year effort to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter. She has constantly voted for and co-sponsored legislation that expands women's reproductive rights, making sure women have choice by expanding access to birth control, family planning and sex education. Advertisement 3) Office of Global Women's Issues The Office of Global Women's Issues within the State Department was created by Hillary Clinton whilst serving as Secretary of State. Through this Clinton ensured that women's issues including women's healthcare, the advancement of women and the education of women were a foreign policy priority. This has since been made a permanent position by President Obama, advancing the rights and progress of women on a global scale. 4) Vital Voices Global Partnership Following her time as Secretary of State when Clinton frequently addressed women's issues all over the world to improve the status of women and girls globally, Clinton founded the Vital Voices Global Partnership. This is a non-governmental organisation designed to promote the advancement of women all over the world both economically, socially and politically. 5) Democratic Presidential Nominee By clinching the Democratic Presidential nominee Clinton has inspired women and girls all over the world, emphasising that anything is possible. She has shattered the glass ceiling that has shrouded the political realm as a patriarchal field for so long, indicating that women are just as capable as men. Hillary Clinton may have already made momentous progress for women all over the globe throughout her long career, but this nomination is her biggest achievement for women. This nomination has made leaps and bounds for women, forcing a society based on equality. When I started my legal career in the 1970s, it was a lonely place for a young, female, working class barrister. Discrimination was rife and there were few female role models. I ended up finding guidance from a male mentor who showed me the ropes, gave me one-to-one tuition and imparted nuggets of wisdom that I still find useful today. Later on, when my husband was elected Prime Minister, I found support from another mentor, Hillary Clinton. Her advice on negotiating the double act of being a working mother and first lady was both inspiring and invaluable. Advertisement So, I understand a thing or two about the benefits of being mentored. But I also know that mentoring is never a one-way street. This is the message I get from the 2,000-strong community of mentors my foundation has created since it was established in 2008. This group of men and women joined our online mentoring programme to support women entrepreneurs in developing and emerging economies. Each mentor is matched with an aspiring woman entrepreneur; together the pair work online over the course of a year on specific goals to boost the woman's enterprise. With support from the Qualcomm Wireless Reach initiative, Bank of America and Marsh & McLennan Companies, we recently released a report which captures the experiences of the programme's first five cohorts of mentee and mentor graduates. The report confirms my belief that mentoring not only catalyses success for others, but also brings incalculable benefits for mentors. Here are three ways I think mentoring can make you a more productive employee and a better person. 1. Mentoring opens your eyes to different realities Mentoring guides often stress the importance of finding a mentor from a different context. Our programme follows this logic. We connect mentors with mentees who are often at opposite ends of the earth - quite literally. Matching is based on the needs of the mentee and the expertise of the mentor. Gender is not a factor, and neither is industry or role. Mentors also come from both developed and developing countries. This means that our mentors often find themselves embarking on a year-long relationship with a woman from a completely different culture, business environment and life experience. Forging a close partnership with this person can be eye-opening and sometimes life-altering. One of our American mentors, for example, worked with an Argentinian woman who set up her own shipping and logistics company after spending many frustrating years struggling to progress in her male-dominated industry. As a senior banking executive, the mentor said the experience made him appreciate how difficult it is for women entrepreneurs to succeed in countries which do not have the legal or social structures to support them. Advertisement Julian, from the UK, is one of our longest-standing mentors. He is currently mentoring his third mentee, who runs a digital agency in Azerbaijan. When they were first matched, Julian had to use Google Maps to find out exactly where Azerbaijan was. On a recent Skype call, all talk of business planning was thrown aside as his mentee told him stories of gunfire and failing diplomacy: her country was at war again. Julian said the mentoring experience makes him realise that, though he is separated from his mentees by culture, distance, politics and religion, he has learned to form bonds of trust over the small commonalities: shared photos, jokes about difficult clients, and stories over finding the right Star Wars gift for a son or nephew. Mentoring is often a lesson in the truth that we have far more in common than that which divides us. 2. Mentoring gives you skills which are useful for your work As well as broadening your horizons, mentoring can also hone your strategic thinking - a crucial skill in any professional role. Supporting another person along the rocky road of entrepreneurship, for example, requires you to think carefully about solutions. You need to draw on your own personal experiences but also put yourself in the other person's shoes. What may work in your own workplace may need to be adapted for a woman living in an area where internet connectivity is patchy and access to networking opportunities is limited. Mentoring someone who operates in a different industry or environment can also teach you about new markets or business opportunities. Communicating with this person can also shape the way you interact with others around you. As one mentor commented, "I have been able to influence colleagues in a more subtle and effective way by trying to lead them to answers rather than simply imposing it." 3. Mentoring can inspire you to aim higher One common thread runs throughout the feedback we receive from our mentors. Inspiration. Women entrepreneurs in developing and emerging economies often face huge hurdles on their path to success. Some set up businesses without the support of family members; others struggle to access the finance and skills they need to grow their enterprises beyond the micro level. The same is doubtless true of any mentoring relationship; people seek mentors precisely because they face barriers. Advertisement Helping someone to achieve success against the odds can be incredibly powerful. Witnessing the courage and perseverance of the person you are mentoring can also drive you to recalibrate your own mind-set. As one mentor, Marianne, told us: "When you work in a big corporation you get stuck doing the same thing day in day out. My mentee has inspired me to be a bit more innovative, take some risks and get out of my comfort zone." Read the full report on the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Mentoring Women in Business Programme: Empowering Women, Broadening Horizons. Channel 4 Peep Show, my favourite TV comedy, is to be adapted for audiences in the United States. And what should be an exciting prospect, is something I'm instead meeting with a sentimental sigh and the thought: "Here we go again..." In 2005 an American pilot for Peep Show was created, in which The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki was cast as socially awkward hero Mark Corrigan. The most notable thing about this was the absence of the point-of-view camera shots that made Peep Show so fresh and exciting in the first place, a decision that I fear will find its way into its newest American incarnation. Advertisement Eli Jorne, the executive producer who will be writing all the episodes of this fresh attempt to 'bring' Peep Show to the States has said: "I'm grateful to Sam [Bain] and Jesse [Armstrong] for entrusting me with nine seasons' worth of insightful, darkly hilarious material that I can hopefully pass off to American audiences as my own." - This to me is baffling. Why is there a need to 'pass off' an award winning series? McDonald's didn't have to 'pass off' the Big Mac to me. Fans of The IT Crowd will understand my fears, and reel in horror as they remember the American pilot for that, which had the same set, the same script and the same world renowned sex icon Richard Ayoade as Maurice Moss, but replaced the character of Roy with the clean, stereotypically beautiful Joel McHale - a far cry from the lovable, strangely alluring and average employee that Chris O'Dowd had played so perfectly. I also haven't forgotten the infamous "bus turds" rewrite from the American version of The Inbetweeners. It's an insult that studios charged with these shows believe that American audiences are so closed-minded that they can't possibly relate to characters that are not also American. I remember watching Parks and Recreation and connecting with virtually every main character in one way or another, I didn't need Jack Dee to grow a stellar moustache and play Ron Swanson in order to empathise with the character that Nick Offerman brought to life, so why should it be the case the other way around? Would I want Sarah Millican to play Leslie? Knope. So then why is it necessary to have anyone else play Mark and Jeremy other than David Mitchell and Robert Webb, American or otherwise? I also wonder how some of the scenes in Peep Show will translate across the pond. It feels strange to even write about the episode where Jeremy eats a dog he's accidentally killed, before professing to its owner that it's 'just turkey!' because he wants to sleep with her, never mind discussing how to put that on screen for a second time. I also doubt that there's anyone who can portray crack addled maniac Super Hans - the same Super Hans who had The Shamen's 1991 smash hit Move Any Mountain as his wedding vows - and do it justice the way Matt King does. Advertisement America's brand of comedy has, for the most part, always worked here in the UK, so why do we feel the need to repackage our favourite shows and warp them into something that they're not before sending them Stateside? It does feel sometimes that the USA is where great British TV comedy goes to die. Maybe there are reasons for it that I just can't understand, but I do know that in the age of the internet, platforms like Netflix have made things more accessible than ever. I've seen countless comments on YouTube videos of Peep Show, from people outside the UK citing their love for the dark British brand of humour that it provides. At some point in our lives we will either experience or know someone who has experienced some form of mental health issue. In fact, according to the mental health charity, Mind, 1 in 4 experience a mental health problem each year. Mental health faces many barriers. Not only is the root cause of most mental illnesses difficult to determine, but they are not as obvious as physical conditions, which means that they can often go undetected. Mental health appears to be facing one of its toughest challenges within the workplace. Research released by the CIPD revealed that in the past 12 months, 31% of employees have experienced poor mental health at work, with only 44% feeling confident in sharing this with their managers. Whilst strides have been made in tackling the stigma attached to mental health, more needs to be done to create an open and supportive culture surrounding mental health at work. The belief that talking about our feelings somehow equates to weakness is something that has been a longstanding feature in society. As with any deep-seated beliefs, breaking the cycle requires turning off the auto-pilot response, changing our behaviour and opening channels of communication. Of course all of this takes time. Whether you believe the stigma exists in your workplace or not, if there is a perceived level of stigma attached to mental health in your organisation, then this can be detrimental to the wellbeing of your employees. Advertisement We are constantly exposed to stressors in the workplace. From excessive workloads and impending deadlines to challenging professional relationships, the workplace is a demanding environment. Whilst exposure to stress in the short term can be positive by increasing our motivation, long term exposure to these stressors, particularly for those already experiencing poor mental health can have serious consequences. How can we address the issue? 1.Communication Mental illness feeds on a person's feelings of loneliness and isolation. People who are experiencing mental health issues may feel embarrassed, so much so, that they feel too ashamed to come forward. This is where a change needs to happen. Assessing how mental health is discussed at work is an important part of creating an open culture when it comes to increasing positive mental health and wellbeing. Perception is everything. If employers believe that their employers approach mental health in a negative light, then the cycle created by the stigma will never be broken. Having strong leadership who prioritise the creation of an open working culture by including their employees in key decision-making will go a long way in establishing a workplace which values positive mental health. 2.Education Mental health is often misunderstood. Common misconceptions include the belief that people are in control their mental illness and that they will feel better if they cheer up and stop worrying. It is these misconceptions that can actually increase the feelings of shame felt by those experiencing mental illness. Advertisement Employers may never fully understand the complexity of mental illness. However, what employers can do is educate themselves and their employees regarding mental health. This may include bringing in professionals to speak about the importance of mental health, including how to spot the signs of poor mental health and what methods can be used to proactively manage stress. Education is one of the best defences against ignorance surrounding mental health, breaking down any barriers that may block the progression of supporting people with mental illnesses. 3.Monitoring How can we work towards improving mental health if employers aren't aware of its presence in the workplace? Gauging a sense of how your employees are feeling can start with something as simple as a conversation. This will help establish a stronger employer-employee relationship, whilst opening up clearer channels of communication. As a long term strategy, implementing staff satisfaction surveys, which cover mental health and wellbeing can help determine areas which areas need to be addressed and the scale of any potential mental health issues in your organisation. Additionally, mental health should included in any appraisal or staff feedback process to ensure there is a consistent dialogue between managers and employees. 4.Access to support Employers may need to be multifaceted in business, but sometimes, particularly in areas regarding an employee's health, extra support is needed. Giving employees access to confidential support from trained counsellors via a telephone service, for example, can provide a secure place for employees to discuss their issues and seek advice. Not only will this encourage people to come forward about mental health concerns, but it will also ensure that any issues raised are being addressed and dealt with in a professional manner. So often we are told that women who regret their childlessness only have themselves to blame - that they are too career-focused or unrealistic about the perimeters of their own fertility. But it's a lazy stereotype - and an unfair one. What about men in this equation? In my many years working as a consultant in reproductive medicine I've seen women in their late 30s or 40s who may have longed for a baby for years; but it is their partners who've delayed matters. Both genders are subjected to the all-too encouraging examples of famous men and women who've become mothers in their 40s and fathers in their 60s - yet the glossy magazines don't tell you that often these parents undergo many rounds of IVF or use donor eggs or sperm. These examples can cause both men and women to think they have all the time in the world, even if their partner thinks differently. Advertisement I've seen many happy relationships put under unbearable strain when partners' 'fertility clocks' are out of synch, through the stress of IVF and the pain of disappointment. The tragedy is, it's so easily preventable. For while men know women have a 'biological clock', some are unaware of how steeply female fertility declines after the age of 35. Many men also fail to realise that their own fertility has an age-related decline: from the age of 40 there can be a reduction in the quality of sperm that can make it harder to conceive. That's why I was surprised to hear Professor Adam Balen of the British Fertility Society saying recently that girls as young as nine should be advised not to leave it too long to start a family. I believe fifteen is a more mature age to start fertility education and we should also teach boys. In today's modern age not all families are comprised of a man and a woman, and there are a number of women who may choose to embrace motherhood alone. However when a man and woman decide to embark on parenthood, it should be a joint decision and joint responsibility. Therefore, both girls and boys need to have the right information to be able to make a responsible decision, to give them the best possible chance of having a healthy family when they're ready. Advertisement And there are many important messages that we need to get through to boys. Their own biological clock is discussed less, I think, because it starts a bit later and because men make sperm all their lives so can potentially remain fertile for longer - whereas women are born with a finite number of eggs. But delaying fatherhood can increase the risk of having a child with autism and ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) particularly after the age of 45 if the sperm quality is reduced. That's why it's so important for men to be educated about the effect of their age on fertility. Boys also have to be taught that alcohol, drugs, smoking, obesity and occupational hazards like working with pesticides can all compromise their fertility, too. They should know that fertility varies according to the woman - you can't make assumptions your wife or partner will be fertile into her early 40s. For example, if her mother had an early menopause, she might too. On average one in seven couples have fertility problems and this rises to one in three when the woman passes 35 (and two in three if she's over 40). This is not about saying men are in any way responsible, but rather about making sure that both men and women know that if you want children then you need to ensure you have all the information and do not involuntarily leave it too late. By ensuring that both young men and women properly understand how their fertility changes over time, we can help avoid a situation where couples and women come to fertility clinics looking for help to conceive simply because they have missed their fertility window. Advertisement I've become so concerned by the situation that last year I wrote to Nicky Morgan, former education secretary, about the need to include fertility education in the curriculum. I have subsequently met with head teachers and developed fertility modules already being taught in two schools - with plans to roll it out further. It's really unfair to make fertility only a woman's issue. Women are trying to do their best - they should be able to have everything they dream of in their lives. To be able to have a successful career and a family if they wish. For that to happen both men and women have to own up to that responsibility. Starting a family is very much a personal choice but it's a choice that both men and women have to make. A couple of weeks ago I composed this post. Then I decided that I couldn't post it. Why? It was a little too honest. Here I was admitting how I had failed as a parent. Surely, that is something I should be keeping under my hat: wrong! I have spoken about the pressure to be the perfect parent before. We have the toolbar of shame on the Daily Mail, where one minute they are criticising celebrity parents for spoiling their children, and the next minute they are criticising the same celebrity parents for not helping their children enough. Then there is social media which again can make us feel like we live in a world of perfect parents. I am equally guilty of this. I like to take nice photos for my Instagram feed. They often feature a happy looking Youngest or Oldest. What you can't see is what happened on the morning/afternoon that the picture was taken. I have made a lovely film from our weekend. However, this is an edited version of life. I chose not to include the moment Oldest pelted out of the sea, shouting about Youngest "She has done a poo in the sea." This was shouted loud enough for the whole of Jersey to hear. The shame. However, I shouldn't feel the shame. This is life. This is parenting. Some days everything goes swimmingly; we even allow ourselves to feel smug. Other days, it becomes more like an endurance match, and we are counting the time down to bed. We love our children, but it can be unpredictable and sometimes is like living with two mini dictators. Therefore, I am going share my parenting failures with you all. I am confessing how I failed at parenting. Advertisement - When Youngest kept demanding a lolly at 9am in the morning. I caved in and let her have it. I consider this a win though because she stopped moaning for all of 10 minutes. - On Tuesday, we were about to leave the house for school when I realised that Oldest was in her summer dress when she should have been in her PE kit. There was much panic, and some muttered swear words under my breath. I then located PE kit. Debated not ironing PE kit. Decided that I should iron it; spent 10 minutes wrestling with the ironing board before I gave up. - I then sent Oldest to school in a PE kit that wasn't ironed. On the way to school I realised that the shirt had a weird stain on it. I briefly contemplated trying to hide the stain with an oversized brooch but realised that this would just draw attention to it. I then wondered if I could fashion a scarf around Oldest that would hide the stain but then remembered that it was summer time. In the end I ordered Oldest to keep her PE tracksuit top on all day, so that the creased, stained shirt was hidden from view. It was a win though because we were not late for school. - On Thursday I forgot that Oldest had a school trip. I didn't remember until I picked up Oldest and she told me about it. I need to invest in a calendar, pronto! Advertisement - When I had to drag a grumpy Youngest to Waitrose I bribed her with the promise of a trip to the coffee shop. She wasn't good. However, we still went because I needed coffee. Don't judge! - I didn't clean the house. The girl's bedroom looked like it had been in some sort of hurricane and there were piles of toys all over my living room floor. The kids were happy though. Mr C was not as happy and rather bemused because his seat on the sofa had been taken up by a life-sized tiger called 'Bertie'. On the other hand I found Bertie to be the perfect TV companion. He happily watched Pretty Little Liars with me without a roar of complaint. - Last Sunday we stayed in our PJs all day and it was glorious. - I ate the last of the Jaffa Cakes as I hid in the toilet - whoops! I then told the girls that they must have eaten them all - whoops again. - I paid Youngest 1 to put my mountain of washing away. Oldest then tried to bribe a pay rise from me. What followed were boardroom type negotiations that would have made Alan Sugar proud. I resisted the urge to shout "you're fired". - I let Oldest watch back to back episodes of the Famous Five. She loves it and doesn't seem to realise that it is set in the 1970s. She hasn't cottoned on to the fact that there is a distinct lack of mobile phones, iPads or iPods. However, my affection for the Famous Five was abruptly cut short by Oldest. She was fascinated by the women wearing pinnies and cleaning the house. Oldest questioned where my pinny was and why I didn't clean our house? The feminist in me was outraged. I tried to switch the programme off mid-episode; this caused Oldest to shout very loudly (as there is no other volume for Oldest) Advertisement "But I want to know where DICK is". I should have explained why we don't really shorten the name Richard to Dick because the next day she told her friend, "I watched a brilliant new TV programme. I can't remember what it was called but it had a DICK in it" Cue horrified look from parent. I then hastily explained that she was talking about The Famous Five, and that she was referring to a person called Dick, not male genitalia. Last week, might have been hard and I might have felt that I was failing on so many levels but really I wasn't. As a parent there will be times when we feel overwhelmed. There will be times when we look back at our day and realise that we could have handled things better, but that is the joy of hindsight. However, (here comes the cheese) I didn't really fail because despite all of these little failures my children are happy. Therefore, I had a successful week Let's embrace our parenting failures, how did you fail at parenting last week? Fiona Chandler Like many children of generation X I loved to travel and took off after University wearing Doc Martens, armed with a back pack to see the world. Returning to focus on a career in Graphic Design. With the idea of more travel in the years to come. Then came marriage and family. While it was all I was hoping for, there was not enough time to enjoy it. The stress of the juggle. Career, family, and relationships. I seemed to spend more time getting organised than enjoying what we were in the middle of. Plus a lot of time shouting about socks. A seemingly spur of the moment decision, we decided to escape and have an adventure with our four little ones. I knew only too well that life was too short to put it off Advertisement This decision changed the way we lived immediately. For all of us. A sense of freedom and purpose. The idea evolves as the journey did. Grappling with technology or the lack of it. Learning new skills: Crochet, Balinese cooking and home schooling. Rediscovering old ones: papier mache, sketching daily, photography and printmaking. Talking and playing everyday with nowhere we had to be. Becoming the mum you hoped to be and accepting the one you are. An ordinary Sydney family Oliver, three, Owen, six, Holly, eight, Noah turning ten on the day we arrive. The little blue house is rented. The car sold. Chooks, cat and rabbit are billeted out. A small backpack each and off we went. Very quickly it became obvious what was important to each of us. Many books and pencils were packed. Clothes weren't. Finding our way as parents was a little tricky too. Initially providing fresh food in an out of the way environment wash't the stroll to the market in the village that I hoped. Letting our ideas go about what was important. Time was a significant game changer. It was not quite as relaxing as I first supposed, although enjoyable. With kids I think you are always busy. Always the next game of uno or boggle, gang (Balinese for lane) to explore. The elasticity of time is different though. If I look back over a day I see how many things we have done; the changes are less about how many but more about how much time spent. In the first week all of the boys including Nick ( my husband) were sick in pretty quick succession with high fevers for days at a time. They all needed mum, so not a lot of sleep was had on my part. With the upside being I didn't have to rush the others to school. A day of sleeping for Noah did not require a phd in time management like it may have at home. I could read to him and the others for hours at a time... it's little things like that ... the world of difference. We discovered a birds nest with chicks slowly tracked their progress from the out door bath often.. with mama bird watching closely. At home it would have been quick glimpses.Four4 years later the children still talk about the day the swallows flew. Advertisement We swam and snorkelled most days, learned to ride motorbikes to travel the island. Learned to let go and have the children ride with us. Bravely tackled big surf breaking on a reef. Learned together as a family how easily it was to mistakenly swim in a sharks' nursing ground and the run to the beach when we realised. We learned to ask questions of our surroundings and listen to the children. We weren't the chiefs any more and they weren't the indians. We sat silently one day and saw a snake stalk a frog and finally catch it's dinner. This was written about and illustrated, incorporated into their schooling. Of course there were still fights and squabbles between the siblings. We came to know their strengths and personality traits. As a family we learnt how tenacious nits are... and how huge they are and their life cycle... incorporated into homeschooling. Along with praying mantis, monkeys, hinduism, sustainable building with bamboo, architecture, nyepi and oga ogas, sonar and bats and so many other things. We had time to find out the answers to all the questions. The kids had time to create. Together they made an amazing city out of found materials un prompted over a week. It was amazing. They wrote stories, painted and drew. There was no television and only Skype once a fortnight. Our bow to modernity was the deliveries from the book depository and their kindles. Books became truly important . Books were swapped and characters came to play. Percy Jackson was prominent. Time solved the questions about what we are going to do when we get home. For the kids they wanted to be less busy. For me I wanted to live a creative life - make things rather than run a business. Pursue art. For Nick to work for himself so he had more flexibility around family. Four years later we have continued as we set out. We still read aloud to the kids. Two of them are going bravely to travel with a school they visited in Bali. They do less organised activities and drive their own interest projects.I am a full time artist. Nick works for himself. Advertisement You can find Fiona at fionakate.com.au or on instagram @fionakatesimplegorgeous This summer The Huffington Post UK is spearheading an initiative helping families thrive, with a focus on parent wellbeing, the challenges facing stay-at-home and working parents, friendships and navigating the landscape of modern parenting beyond the 2.4. To kickstart the campaign, Jamie Oliver guest edited the site, bringing a focus on feeding healthy families. Scottish MP Kirsty Blackman was recently censured for bringing her children to a committee hearing. She normally leaves her children in Scotland with her husband when she travels down to London for work, but her family faced childcare issues because Scottish schools and nurseries close for the summer at the end of June, weeks before parliament's summer recess. So she faced a choice - stay home and miss out on vital votes, or bring her kids to work with her. She chose the latter. Us working mums like to think that we can separate our Professional Woman Selves from our Mum Selves. Our Professional Woman Selves wear heels and a suit. Our Mum Selves wear trainers and jeggings covered in snot stains. Our Professional Woman Selves drink hot coffee while working at a desk. Our Mum Selves drink half a mug cup of lukewarm tea while simultaneously trying to stop a toddler from drawing on the couch. Our Professional Woman Selves have serious professional discussions with other similarly serious people. Our Mum Selves have read That's Not My Lion a dozen times before 10am. They are two distinct personas. But, as Kirsty Blackman found out, it's not always that simple. Sometimes our Professional Woman Selves and our Mum Selves collide. It happened to me just last week. Advertisement I dropped off my daughter at nursery at 8:00, and at 9:30 I got a message from them saying that the nursery was flooded and I needed to come collect her. I rang my husband and asked if he could take on childcare duties for the day. He said that he could, but it was going to be a while before he could get into city centre to pick her up. So I left my desk, walked down the street to the nursery, got my daughter and brought her back to my office. Suddenly, all of my colleagues who had only known my Professional Woman Self got to meet my Mum Self. They seemed to like her. They told Mum Self how adorable her daughter was and asked her all kinds of questions about mum things - did her daughter like nursery? Could she walk yet? Was she teething? They were nice, but it felt kind of wrong. Professional Woman Self tried to assert herself. "Look, Hootsuite!" she said brightly to the toddler, pointing at her computer screen. "Do you want to help mama manage some social media accounts?" The little girl shook her head and started to whimper. Mum Self had to step back in and scoop up her daughter into her arms. She carried her around the office, pointing out plants and filing cabinets, until her husband arrived to take their daughter home. Professional Woman Self could take charge again. Mum Self was gone. Advertisement Or was she? I'm not sure that Mum Self ever really goes away, even at work. Professional Woman Self still has nappies in her handbag and dark circles under her eyes, after all. She keeps her mobile phone within arm's reach and checks it constantly, just in case the nursery calls looking for Mum Self. "Is this Popple's mum?" they ask. Professional Woman Self doesn't hesitate. "Yes," she says. Christopher Biggins, already the favourite to win this year's Celebrity Big Brother is best known as a media personality and pantomime favourite. But what a lot of people don't know is that Biggins was once a successful Shakespearean actor. And to celebrate that achievement he is one of the sitters in a new exhibition The Shakespeareans: Portraits in Paint and Words by writer Laura-Jane Foley and artist Janet Lance Hughes opening at The Club at the Ivy on August 12th 2016. The exhibition displays written portraits next to visual portraits so that the viewer obtains a fuller sense of the sitter than is usually obtained through word or image alone. And for those who can't get to the exhibition, here's a sneak peek at Biggins' portraits - in words and paint. Advertisement (Image by Janet Lance Hughes) "Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest". (Fool, King Lear) It's hard not to like Christopher Biggins. I've met him several times over the years and he always greets you like a long lost friend. His face breaks into a wide smile at the slightest provocation, even his resting face is jovial. He's warm, friendly and whilst he enjoys a good gossip, holds more secrets than the secret services. He's trusted and kind. When we meet, he is currently in the fun, but time-consuming, process of assembling 70 gifts for a close friend's 70th birthday; every inch of his dining table is covered with trinkets. Biggins lives in a modern townhouse in East London. Although he's lived here for over 30 years, the house is very well-kept and has been recently updated. The sitting takes place in his kitchen: sleek and white, with stylish appliances, what looks like a fitted in microwave is actually a television. Throughout the house, art lines the walls. He started collecting about 50 years ago and he has an eclectic taste: "the one thing we don't need is wallpaper - because you wouldn't see it," he chuckles. Christopher Biggins likes to be called Biggins. Whilst his partner and close friends call him Chris, he likes the affection with which people use his surname: "everyone calls me Biggins. My agent thought about making it official a few years ago and changing my name by deed poll, but of course I didn't. It's my name anyway." Interviewing Biggins is an easy task, as he admits "I love talking" and he has a lot of stories from a career in showbusiness that stretches back over 50 years. Biggins grew up in Salisbury and left school at 16, "I went to Salisbury Rep and I went for one play and I stayed for two years. I started off as a student Assistant Stage Manager then progressed. It was the actress Stephanie Cole who said I must go to drama school and she suggested I went to Bristol." Biggins thrived at Bristol. It was the first time he'd ever mixed with his own age group. He'd been the youngest at Salisbury Rep and he'd grown up close to his parents: "I was an only child until I left home at 18 when my mother announced she was pregnant! But we never grew up together so my brother's a friend really." Advertisement Biggin's first encounter with Shakespeare was at school but his first stage role came at Salisbury Rep when he performed in Romeo and Juliet, "I played Potpan - which is very rarely done, a little character that's usually cut. Funnily, I went on to do a television film of Romeo and Juliet and I played the same part." Later, Biggins played Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, "it was great casting because it was so against type because usually Puck is played by a small person and I played it and I had a huge success with it, I'm pleased to say." He also played Stephano in The Tempest, a role he also reprised in a later film version. Biggins has also directed Shakespeare. He directed the retired ice skater John Curry in another production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre: "I loved doing it. I really did, it was fantastic." "The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight." (Puck, A Midsummer Night's Dream) Biggins tells a slightly risque story about the time the Queen visited the Open Air Theatre to commemorate its 50th anniversary, "a few of us were allotted places to meet the Queen and I was allotted the dressing room, which was very small. There was no room for Prince Philip to come in so he stood in the doorway and the Queen came in and was introduced to me, this is Christopher Biggins and he's playing Puck and she said, 'how lovely' and then I showed her my costumes and she said 'how lovely, I've just seen Tittyana's.' I didn't say a thing!" Biggins has no desire to return to Shakespeare, "the last Shakespeare I did was in the 90s. I wouldn't care if I never saw another Shakespeare ever again because I've been there, done that got the t-shirt. I've starred in them, I've directed them I've done everything and I loved it." Recently, Biggins nearly did sign up to see another Shakespeare play though - the rarely performed Pericles, "I was having a coffee recently and spotted a friend, he said he was doing Pericles in the West End, 'in the West End?' and he said 'yes at the Palace Theatre'. The Palace Theatre's doing Pericles? I was absolutely stunned. And then, another friend came in and I said, 'what are you doing?' and he said 'well, we have to tell everyone it's Pericles, but it's Harry Potter!'" Biggins was relieved, because in true generous Biggins style, he'd promised to go and see it, "I was thinking, 'oh my God, I'll have to sit through Pericles!' I don't mind Harry Potter!" "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." (Gratiano, The Merchant of Venice) (Biggins with Laura-Jane at the sitting) (Biggins with Janet at the sitting) The Shakespeareans: Portraits in Paint and Words From Friday 12 August to Friday 19 August. At The Club at the Ivy, 9 West Street, London, WC2H 9NE One of the arguments most beloved of the anti-fur lobby is that fake fur is actually better for the environment than the real thing. That argument, however, is as fake as the apparel it supports. And some new research has thrown the whole issue around man-made fibres more generally into the limelight. Specifically, researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara have found that, on average, synthetic fleece jackets release 1.7 grams of microfibers each wash. and that this is having a devastating effect on our rivers, oceans and marine life. It also uncovered that older jackets shed almost twice as many fibres as new ones. What are these microfibres? They are tiny bits of plastic with the potential to poison the food chain. Their size allows them to be readily consumed by fish and other wildlife and from there they can bioaccumulate, concentrating toxins both in those fish and in the bodies of larger animals higher up the food chain. Advertisement But this new study is only part of the story. PETA and the like have often trotted out the research by Dutch consultancy CE Delft from 2011, which said real fur had a higher environmental impact than the fake alternative. What the activists have notably left out, however, are the gaping flaws in that research, not least the fact it was commissioned by three European anti-fur groups. But that aside, the research claimed it took 563kg of feed (meat and fish offal) to make 1kg of mink fur. On the one hand, we can prove this figure is vastly over-inflated. On the other, CE Delft completely ignored that other uses would have to be found for this meat and fish waste -- or it would go into landfills or be incinerated -- if mink weren't eating it. It's actually an environmental benefit. It also conveniently ignored that mink manure is used as fertiliser and biofuel, and, most importantly, that real fur lasts a long, long time. Advertisement This last point is perhaps the crux of the matter. A real fur coat can last for 30 years and with a bit of clever restyling need never go out of fashion. Plus it offers extraordinary comfort and warmth. Fakes on the other hand are 'disposable fashion' and hang around in most wardrobes for no more than five years or so, if they're lucky. So while the fake furs sit on landfills alongside plastic rubbish bags poisoning the world, natural fur either stays in the coat closet (perhaps being updated by a furrier from time to time - and what fake fur can claim to receive that sort of attention?) or quietly biodegrades. And, lest we forget, fake fur, comprising polyacrylates, requires the extraction and fractionating of petroleum as well as the subsequent conversion into fibres and mass manufacturing into products. These are not only incredibly energy-intensive but also produce a lot of extremely unpleasant chemical compounds. That's not to say that the production of fur garments isn't without environmental issues of its own, particularly with regards to the chemicals that are involved in the dressing and dyeing of pelts. We openly acknowledge this and are working hard to mitigate the impact of the production process. John Moore via Getty Images 1. The polls are tight In the words of polling savant Nate Silver: 'It's a close election right now.' We are yet to see if Hillary Clinton will get a convention bump (the uptick in the polls that often follows a candidate's extended airing on primetime television). But both national and battleground-state polls show that Donald Trump is now a competitive candidate - and this after he enjoyed only a moderate convention bump of his own. There was a moment in midsummer when it looked as though the presidential election could be a blowout, with Trump flailing in response to a lawsuit brought against his ersatz university, and his campaign machinery looking not just disorganised but practically non-existent. That moment is over. Advertisement 2. #NeverTrump never stood a chance Some leading Republican figures have decided that Trump is so toxic as to be unacceptable as a presidential nominee. A hundred foreign-policy thinkers signed a letter saying so; the political scientist Robert Kagan wrote a scathing op-ed; Weekly Standard editor William Kristol waged a doleful, doomed campaign to find a last-minute alternative candidate; and some senators and congressmen, such as Nebraska's Ben Sasse, have stuck their heads over the parapet to voice their opposition. But this rearguard effort has not gained the support of anything like the majority of the party, nor, crucially, does it enjoy the support of key Republican office-holders. For RNC chairman Reince Priebus, Trump is 'someone that's going to go to Washington and shake things up'. House Speaker Paul Ryan believes, in starkly utilitarian terms, that 'not supporting the duly elected nominee of our party ... basically helps deny us the White House and strong majorities in Congress'. Senior party figures take to the airwaves after each of Trump's rhetorical excesses to explain them away. Newt Gingrich, for example, claimed in March that Trump's antipathy towards NATO was nothing more than 'the Bush-Rumsfeld position, which is that the Europeans ought to pick up more of the slack'. Trump has been mainstreamed by men who have decided that a Republican, any Republican - a Republican who might not actually be a Republican, a Republican who might hasten the downfall of the republic - is better than Hillary Clinton. There will be no bipartisan coming together against the Trump threat. This extraordinary election will be fought in the ordinary way. 3. A positive message could fail to persuade Trump voters One of the many ways in which Trump is an exceptional candidate for president is that he speaks the language of American weakness, not American strength. Trump's public words tell a story of America bullied by China and Russia, hoodwinked by Iran, beset by terrorists, destabilised by protesters, menaced by criminals, and, most importantly, left adrift in a changing global economy. Advertisement His opponents, both Republican and Democrat, have reacted much as one might have expected. 'America is already great', President Barack Obama told the DNC in response to Trump's famous campaign slogan. But there is much danger in this approach. One hesitates to draw close comparisons to the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom, but it is worth pointing out that Remain's warnings of economic catastrophe failed to win over those for whom the British economy had already been personally catastrophic. As Bob Dylan put it, 'When you ain't got nothing, you ain't got nothing to lose'. Trump has followed generations of demagogues before him in realising that mob fury grows from the sense that a once-mighty country is going to the dogs. Clinton faces a difficult task in acknowledging the prevalence of such feelings, in a country where globalisation and demographic change have left behind a bewildered social rump, without legitimising the dark nativism that accompanies them. She is not helped by the fact that, in substance, her potential presidency looks less like a moment of change or renewal than something close to a third Obama term. 4. There could be more email leaks to come Whoever was responsible for hacking and then permitting publication of the DNC's emails, there appears to be an actor with advanced cyber capabilities, an interest in damaging Clinton's candidacy, and the willingness to disseminate stolen documents. We can guess, as others already have, that the same actor might have had access to Clinton's private email server while she was secretary of state - or access perhaps to internal campaign emails, or to the emails of prominent Clinton fundraisers and surrogates, or other sensitive materials. It does not take an enormous leap of imagination to think that another damaging document dump closer to the election - the equivalent, say, of the video in which Mitt Romney wrote off 47% of Americans as indolent malcontents - could be decisive. 5. Outrage fatigue is normalising Trump's extremism Staying on the subject of emails, in an ordinary campaign, a call by the Republican candidate for a foreign country to hack his Democratic rival might have been treated as disqualifying, if not treasonous. But a year of successive Trump outrages - from his anti-Mexican campaign announcement, to his mocking of a disabled reporter, to his egging on of violence at his rallies, to his promotion of a ban on Muslim immigration, etc., etc., ad nauseam - has widened the boundaries of acceptable political discourse in the United States, and not for the better. The American media is now in a cycle of reporting not so much the content of Trump's calumnies so much as the controversy surrounding them. Not only does this provide Trump with the free publicity on which his shambolic campaign depends, it gives the impression that objecting to naked prejudice in a presidential candidate is something that Democrats, rather than Americans, do. Clinton will need to find a way to incite voters' disgust without appearing partisan, prissy or monotonous, and do so in a way that leaves space in the news cycle for her own campaign themes. Many of Trump's opponents to date have tried to do this; none have yet succeeded. Advertisement Last week I had to disable my social media apps on my phone for a while. I realised I was becoming infected by the relentless waves of anger and cataclysmic thinking that had become my news feeds. It was like a tsunami of despair. There was a joke Australians used to tell when I lived there. Q: "How do you know when a plane load of British have landed at the airport?" A: "You can still hear the whining when the engines have been turned off." Now, not wanting to get distracted by what this says about the quality of Australian humour, it seems like the trait my Aussie friends were pointing at has become globalised. The end is nigh, said the Internet! Sans social media I headed for the park. Incredibly the sun was up, the sky was blue, and as far as I could see society was still functioning. It was nice to sit in the light. Advertisement Then I noticed something odd happening. Two French guys with gym toned torsos and tight fitting vests were doing a strange form of Tai Chi, moving their hands around and pointing at nothing. Eventually one squealed with laughter and they both looked at his phone. On the other side of the park a group of people were wandering through some bushes, shrieking with laughter, again they were pointing at nothing. In fact when I looked around I realised it was like a silent disco, where loads of people were dancing to some common song that I couldn't hear. It was charming, and very weird. Then I realsied what was going on. They were playing Pokemon Go and the park was clearly a high density Pokemon part of the world. Perhaps the Hong Kong of Pokeworld. It was just a joy to watch. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Sometimes they bumped into each other. No one cared. My spirits were lifted. This week I heard the news that Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, are negotiating for the rights to create Harry Potter Go. This news reminded me a bit of the moment in the movie 'Her' when the Operating System suddenly gets Scarlet Johannson's voice. Before that moment I was like 'whatever', after I was totally engaged. Advertisement When it comes to Pokemons I am like 'whatever', but the idea of turning the whole world into Hogwarts, now that is interesting. When I read about J K Rowling, one of the many things that comes over as impressive about her is her social conscience. There is a deep, deep humanity in the magical world she created - a magic that has gone missing from the cynical world of politics. Engagement is the key word here. If we are to change the world for the better we need to give people good things to actively engage in together. Without that we all fall into toxic finger pointing and opinion trading. Perhaps Harry Potter Go is just what the world needs. The books were a global phenomenon, connecting children (and adults) across cultures and language. JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images Of all the sights and stories to emerge from the wreckage of the Syrian civil war and the refugee crisis spreading across Southern Europe, one stands out as unexpected. Advertisement The images of people dressed as clowns, in bright colours and face paint, doing handstands and playing saxophones in refugee camps dotted all over Greece might confound some. The non-profit organisation Clowns without Borders runs free shows to entertain children living in crisis, to make them laugh and offer them some respite from the chaos they experience every day. In many cases, parents report back that interaction with the clowns is the first time they have seen their children laugh since being forced to flee their homes. As any parent can attest, playing is a fundamental part of childhood. Children 'play' by imagining reality and in so doing learn to master it by imagining controlling it. Children who are traumatised may play in different ways from their peers, termed 'post traumatic play behaviours'. This can include unusually intense play, or patterns where children re-enact the same scenario over and over again. They might also seem deeply sad or angry while playing. We hypothesise that trauma disturbs the healthy progression of a child's development, which then also impacts on the normal symbolic play that children engage in. For the traumatised child, reality has become simply too serious (or even dangerous) a subject to permit being played with. Trauma is adversity that is experienced alone. Adversity becomes traumatic when it is compounded by a sense that one's mind is alone: normally an accessible other mind provides the social referencing that enables us to frame a frightening and otherwise overwhelming experience as manageable. All the more important that they recover the capacity for putting themselves in charge, to re-join a community which imagination and playfulness allows. Apes laugh, and dogs - even rats do, if you tickle them the right way. But animals only laugh in response to tickle and touch. Charles Darwin seriously appreciated the importance of laughter, and it was he who first observed that only humans laughed at ideas, at jokes, at general silliness. He called this 'the tickling of the mind. ' Our ability to tickle the mind is what that makes the human brain - with all its capacity for darkness and distress - also so magical. It helps us keep perspective, stop arguments, and reassure ourselves about the world. Advertisement Being able to laugh together in the way that only humans can, allows us to access and connect with other people's minds. Anyone who has swung a giggling baby in their arms, or delighted in sharing an absurdist joke with a chortling toddler recognises that laughing together is a uniquely wonderful way of recognising and enjoying another person's mind. Children who have seen the worst that humans can be capable of, who have experienced directly what it is like to be in in a world where their mind is not recognised as valid, as human, as deserving of comfort and safety may, quite rightly find it hard to laugh. Physical security and safety are of course the immediate and overriding needs for these children. But in laughing with them we are also recognising their humanity, we get closer to their thoughts and feelings, and through this, we address their need for support, for restoration, for reassurance. We create a community of spirit and invite them to join. And laughter matters because it is one - fundamental - way in which we communicate engagement, affection, connection. We know that laughter plays a crucial role in the development of bonds between parents and children; there is evidence of a connection between laughter and resilience. One study found that humour can enhance mental health across the general population and specifically for persons experiencing mental health challenges. We need more research in these areas. But we do know that resilience is not something that we can expect anyone to simply have or not have - it is a process that is borne out of supportive relationships. We have many tools at our disposal to help people in overcoming mental health problems and we have come very far in developing effective treatments. But we can - and must - go further. Rigid seriousness can exaggerate threats, amplify slights and close down our openness to different ways of responding to things. Humour can protect us; it gives us the ability to see a situation from another point of view, and gives perspective when we might feel overwhelmed. Mental health professionals must keep this quintessentially human experience in mind for patients during treatment. In the words of Clowns without Borders volunteer Linn Holm, 'Food and shelter will keep you alive but it will not give you the power to fight for life'. Indeed. Scientific enquiry may yet prove her words to be true. It is tempting, as we head into August, to gaze across the Channel at the continent of Europe and despair. Some of us will be about to take our holidays in France, Spain, or Italy - others will stay at home and wonder what is to become of us. In the past two weeks, a series of attacks in France and Germany has left those countries reeling. In Nice, Wurzburg, Munich, Reutlingen, Ansbach and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, where an 86-year-old priest was murdered by men who had pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State group, dozens of people have been killed and injured. Three of the attacks in Germany were carried out by recent immigrants - two from Syria and one from Afghanistan; the fourth, in Munich, where nine people were killed, was carried out by an 18-year-old Iranian-German who was said to have become obsessed by violence. But Europe's problems go much deeper than how to deal with a spate of attacks by deeply disturbed young men. Those of us of a certain age will remember the 1970s and 80s when the Basque separatist group ETA, the Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany, the Red Brigades and sundry neo-Fascist groups in Italy, as well as the Provisional IRA, all spread death and destruction across the continent. Then, as now, there were calls for crack-downs to catch the killers. And then, as it will be now, it was careful, methodical intelligence work that beat them. Advertisement Europe's deeper malaise stems from a process that has been under way for at least three decades, a process that enables goods, services, capital and people to flow across borders unhindered, disrupting national economies and creating deep social fissures between those who have benefited from this process and those who have not. We call it globalisation, and I remember once asking someone to define exactly what it meant. 'Globalisation,' I was told, 'is what we call anything that we don't understand.' We certainly didn't understand the fundamental changes it would bring with it, or the political tensions that would result. Britain is not immune from these tensions, as we saw all too clearly in the result of the EU referendum. In a fascinating essay in the London Review of Books, the journalist and novelist John Lanchester wrote: 'To be born in many places in Britain is to suffer an irreversible lifelong defeat - a truncation of opportunity, of education, of access to power, of life expectancy.' Once, he said, people who grew up in these areas were equipped for reasonably paid unskilled or semi-skilled jobs in the same industries that their parents had worked in. But now those jobs have gone, and in their place are new jobs that are unsatisfying, insecure and badly paid. The proletariat have been replaced by the precariat, and they resent the process that has destroyed the things they most valued. Advertisement As Lanchester wrote: 'People hate to have things taken away from them. But whole swathes of the UK have spent the last decades feeling that things are being taken away from them: their jobs, their sense that they are heard, their understanding of how the world works and their place in it. The gaps in our society have just grown too big.' In the US, a similar process is under way. How else could a lying, ignorant demagogue like Donald Trump - a man who this week became the first presidential candidate for 40 years to refuse to publish his tax returns and who called on Russia to hack into the emails of his Democratic party opponent, Hillary Clinton - be the chosen candidate of millions of American voters? The New York Times columnist Tom Friedman divides Americans into Wall People and Web People. The Wall People are those who want a president to build a wall to protect them from what he calls the 'violent winds of change that are buffeting every family.' It is not, he says, just about race and class. 'It is also about a yearning for community -- about "home" in the deepest sense -- a feeling that the things that anchor us in the world and provide meaning are being swept away, and so they are looking for someone to stop that erosion.' They are the same people whom John Lanchester calls the precariat. On the other hand, according to Friedman, Web People embrace change and focus on empowering more people to be able to compete and collaborate in a world without walls. They are in favour of expanding trade and of more, managed immigration to attract the most energetic and smartest minds from overseas. Here in the UK, the Web People would have voted to stay in the EU; the Wall People would have voted to leave. Advertisement Across Europe, as in the US, the Wall People are rising up. They are angry and frightened, and with every new attack in a shopping mall, a concert hall or a church, they become more angry and more frightened as they search for political leaders who will give voice to their anger and promise to assuage their fear. Here, a new political movement has just been launched - it is called More United UK, a deliberate echo of the words of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, who said in her maiden speech in the House of Commons: 'We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.' Among its early backers are the historian Simon Schama, the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the environmentalist Jonathon Porritt, the feminist activist Caroline Criado-Perez, the former High Court judge Janet Smith, and the former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown. It calls itself a tech-driven political startup and says its aim is to harness the power of crowd-funding to offer financial support to any political candidate who shares its principles. It wants to 'get more progressive MPs from all parties elected and shift the balance of Parliament away from extremism.' This time last year, during the nominations process for our third annual OUTstanding and FT Power Lists, there was a sense of progress and celebration surrounding the LGBT+ community. We had achieved marriage equality, tighter anti-discriminatory laws had been put in place and - as the publication of our first 'Future Leaders' list proved - more people were standing up to be counted as visible role models. Sadly, it feels like we're regressing in 2016. From the unspeakable events in Orlando, to hate crimes in post-referendum London, the bruising of the LGBT+ community on the world stage is a reminder that full LGBT+ acceptance has not yet been realised. Less violent acts have been equally destructive. Whether it's the divisive arguments across the US about which bathroom trans* people can use or the disappointing realisation last month that, following Christopher Bailey's departure from Burberry's CEO position, there are again no openly gay CEOs in the FTSE 100. That's why it's more important than ever to celebrate the inspirational leaders who prove sexuality or gender identity need not be a barrier to success. It is at these moments when the voices of big business and government have the power to catalyse change and alter public sentiment. PayPal achieved something incredible earlier this year by taking a stand in North Carolina. And internally, globally responsible companies can create environments that allow LGBT+ people to feel safe to be themselves. Advertisement As we open nominations for our fourth Power Lists - we will once again be celebrating 100 LGBT+ executives, 30 Ally executives, and 30 fantastic LGBT+ future leaders - I am encouraged by our successes at OUTstanding and our phenomenal members who take diversity in business seriously. Since our launch, membership has grown to over to 60 businesses, including 24% of the FTSE 100! Last year's lists were our most diverse and global lists to date - but if 2016 has taught us anything, it is that we must push harder. 75 countries still criminalise homosexuality and, even in more liberal societies, 62% of LGBT+ graduates who were out at University go back in the closet when they start their first job. But true inclusivity is more than sexuality. We want to champion more BAME leaders, more women and more trans* representatives, from more companies and across more industries. As last year's no. 1 on the Top 100 Inga Beale, CEO Lloyd's of London commented, "Inclusion is the foundation of innovation, and having an open, accepting, and diverse workforce will enable us to succeed in a changing and challenging world." Please help us celebrate something good and drive the cause of inclusivity forward in 2016 by nominating either yourself or a LGBT+ business leader, future leader or executive ally. Advertisement About the OUTstanding Power Lists: For the Top 100 LGBT+ and Top 30 Ally lists, celebrated business leaders will be at the executive level in business (two or three steps from the CEO); a positive and Out (i.e. visible) role model; and/or actively contributing to the LGBT+ agenda. For the LGBT+ Future Leader list, nominees will be high potential employees who are helping make the workplace a more welcoming environment for everyone. The final lists will be organised according to equally weighted scored questions on the themes of career, company and activity that would contribute to an environment where LGBT+ executives can succeed and will be ratified by an independent judging panel. Nominations are officially open, you can nominate your leaders via the OUTstanding website (www.out-standing.org/nominations) Each nominee will then be contacted for supporting information. Nominations close on September 2nd. And the deadline for supporting information is September 12th. Legal notices 1) The material on this blog has been created by W. Blake Gray, is protected under US copyright law and cannot be used without his permission. 2) To the FTC: In the course of my work, I accept free samples, meals and other considerations. I do not trade positive reviews or coverage for money or any financial considerations, unlike certain famous print publications which have for-profit wine clubs but, because they are not classified as "bloggers," are not required by the FTC to post a notice like this. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire It is a classic Whitehall power grab carried out while the chaos caused by Brexit is still unfolding. While Cabinet members familiarise themselves with their new roles, the Government Digital Service (GDS) is under threat, with a Whitehall plan to undermine it already well advanced. Unless it's stopped, a decade of digital progress in central government could be undone. The Home Office has already quietly removed its most senior digital leader and similar positions in the Cabinet Office, DWP and HMRC are reportedly under threat. The mandarin machine is taking advantage of the summer hiatus to launch a minor coup, with the Sir Humphreys of Whitehall effectively trying to repatriate powers to their respective departments. The new cabinet office minister, Ben Gummer, must not allow them to succeed. Advertisement The Government Digital Service was set up by the Coalition Government immediately after the 2010 general election with a simple but radical objective; to use the groundbreaking tools and techniques of the internet era to redesign public services around the citizens who use them. Until then, their interests had too often been subservient to government departments that habitually think and act in isolation. As a former Minister for Digital Engagement I'm glad it's succeeded. According to the Treasury, it saved 4.1billion of public money in four years, and the digital approach it inspired helped transform Government services like the DVLA. DVLA digitisation has allowed us to ditch pink paper copies of driving licences. The tax disk has gone and motorists can pay easily and quickly by direct debit. Behind the scenes, DVLA have hired and trained their own developers in South Wales, partnered with local universities and removed themselves from costly outsourced contracts. There are many other examples. GDS made it far easier to give power of attorney to a family member so ailing relatives can be well cared for. The gov.uk website enables users to download all the relevant legal documents, saving them up to 1,000 in legal fees. The Digital Service has instituted a myriad of clever tricks that dramatically improve public services - like making the Minister responsible for a new initiative use it before it goes live. Yes, it sounds obvious but sometimes common sense is often in short supply in Whitehall. The UK is now genuinely world-beating in this area. In 2014 the Wall Street Journal described GDS as "the gold-standard in the global world of digital government". The gains are huge. Public services improve and, just as importantly, a far smaller number of Whitehall IT projects end in expensive failure. The GDS commands huge respect in government and put a stop to a number of potentially disastrous IT initiatives - including the launch of Universal Credit. As a result, the Government new employs some of the UK's best digital and technology talent across Whitehall and beyond. They challenge the cosy status quo formed by a well-established cabal of mandarins, IT directors and large technology suppliers, and the country benefits as a result. Advertisement This citizen-centric digital movement has made tremendous progress. A new generation of civil servants has emerged, attracted by the prospect of applying digital techniques to make a difference to the lives of millions. I know because I follow many of them on Twitter. They believe that by being more open and transparent about the decisions they make and the reasons they make them, they'll make things better - and they are right. The GDS has flung open the heavy curtains of Whitehall and allowed sunlight to illuminate the workings of Government. By doing so, it has also shed new light on how the politics of the future will be conducted, at a party level as well as nationally. I made digital reform a key part of my pitch for Labour's deputy leadership job because I believe it has the potential to transform politics. After thirty years as a party member, I'm done with slates, factions and bovine line taking from MPs. Labour will only flourish again when we remove decision-making from the party HQ and hand it to members. To do that, Labour needs to become a digital-first party. We need to build online resources that will allow members to work collaboratively so that they can organise and improve their communities. The era of taking instructions from London-based apparatchiks is over. For the same to be true in Whitehall it requires Gummer, whose Cabinet Office department oversees GDS, to act. Only a strong Cabinet office Minister with the authority of the Prime Minster, can preserve its legacy. He must safeguard the digital reformers across government and protect Whitehall's digital revolution from a counter-insurgency led by powerful private secretaries. If he fails to do so, a major opportunity will have been missed. Despite the success of the Digital Service, our country's digital journey is still at an early stage. We should aim to build a new digital civic infrastructure on which a radically equitable, empathetic and efficient state can be built. But to do that, we need talented technologists who can understand the implications of setting Google's Deepmind algorithms loose on NHS health data, or unpick the DWP's ill-advised experiment to place the benefits system on the blockchain. It planned to use the cryptographic payments system pioneered by digital currencies like Bitcoin to restrict the items claimants could spent their money on - so no cigarettes or alcohol, for example, only food and other essentials. Thankfully, there is a simple way to prevent the good work from being undone. Theresa May's new Government must renew the Digital Service's political mandate for this Parliament and beyond. If it does so, I guarantee that Labour will continue to support its work. Government services shaped by the needs of citizens should never be at the mercy of the whims of Whitehall mandarins. Advertisement Tech from Vets is a mobile application, website development, and advertisement company that is helping small businesses establish a digital presence. It is a technology business owned and operated by veterans of the United States Military. The President of Tech from Vets, Dr. Jeff Shuford is a decorated US Army combat veteran and an award-winning software developer. He loves serving his community and he is on a mission to help grow businesses around the world. As an executive with Fairways for Warriors, he influentially impacted the lives of Northeast Florida veterans. According to Breakaway Daily, "they are on a mission to teach ambitious individuals to shape our society for a brighter tomorrow. They are dedicated to teaching new entrepreneurs the right way of using technology to their advantage while also applying that technology to their businesses." Advertisement Tech from Vets offers mobile application development, web development, and TV advertisement services to corporations and organizations. Two of their original mobile applications has been featured on IntellectuApp as "App of the Day" and "App of the Week". They are being recognized for their efforts as they have won two major technology awards as well as a humanitarian award this year. Tech from Vets is also the winner of the 2016 Technology Business of the Year Award. Tech from Vets is not profit driven as they are focused on the success of their clients and has thus maintained a high success rate. Their motto is "we keep our prices low to help your business grow" and this statement is a representation of what they stand for. In an interview with Dr. Jeff Shuford where he discusses about customer service, his recommendation for new startups in technology is to "learn as much as coding as you can and always put your customer needs over financial gains". Advertisement He went further to explain that his multiple degrees has nothing to do with his career. But it has made him to understand that the needs of his clients are important for a successful business. This basic understanding is the driving force behind the entire company. He has a Master of Theology (Th.M.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Religious Studies, an accredited Bing Ads professional, and certifications in Google Analytics, Google Ad Words, Google Mobile and Google Advanced Video Advertising. Their secondary goal is a very important one as well. They provide small businesses with the exact same useful, and sometimes even essential, technology that only large corporations were previously able to afford. With no-cost consolidations and an active body in the local community, Tech from Vets is helping small businesses throughout the country to increase their revenue statistics. All of the former service members involved with the company know that small businesses are an essential part of the American economy, and they aren't ready to see it be smothered out by the big name brands. On Friday afternoon July 29, 2016, New York State released the results of student test scores on Common Core aligned standardized tests administered last spring. If you missed the announcement, that's probably why scores were released on a Friday afternoon the day the Presidential campaign went into full swing. The New York Times reported on the release in Saturday's paper on page 18. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is facing a tough reelection battle in 2017 was ecstatic with the test results. The percentage of New York City students who passed state English exams was up by nearly eight percentage points to almost 38 percent passing. For the first time this matched the overall state passing average. According to de Blasio, "These results represent important progress and outline real improvements across each borough of our city. We congratulate our students, families and devoted educators for this critical step forward." Advertisement Carmen Farina, de Blasio's Schools Chancellor, was also pretty happy. "We have seen incredible improvement on these exams and it's so important that we've seen it in every single school district -- a testament to not only the hard work of students, but the importance of having strong educators at the helm: our superintendents, principals and teachers." Of course these results mean that 62% of New York City students still failed the English tests, but why point a damper on improvement? Over a third of the city's students passed the math test, which was a slight improvement. Unfortunately, State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia also put a damper on the test scores. Because significant changes were made to the tests this year, comparisons with previous scores are invalid. The tests may have better. They were certainly shorter and were administered without a time limit. But they are clearly not the same. Even with the changes, scores on the English test for students who are non-native English speakers did not improve. Fewer than 5% passed the exam. The performance of students with disabilities on the English test barely improved. Their passing rate was 9%. Another problem with the rise in tests scores is that much of it can be attributed to charter schools where students are continually drilled for the tests. At New York City charter schools the percentage of children who passed the English test rose from 29% to 43%. Advertisement State officials also made efforts to down play the opt-out movement that is campaigning against high-stakes assessments. Statewide, over one-fifth of students did not take the tests, despite efforts by state and local education officials to convince families that students, teachers, and schools would not be punished because of test scores. Statewide the opt-out figure remained high although it was much lower in New York City where parents fear opting-out will affect the ability of children to get into better middle schools and high schools. Writing for NY State Allies for Public Education, Bianca Tanis defended the opt-out movement and challenged the state's testing regime. According to Tanis, "tests are STILL based on inappropriate standards that lack a foundation in research or best practice;" "Teachers continue to have little meaningful input into the construction of state tests;" "State tests continue to be too long and continue to rob students of valuable learning time while diverting financial resources from school programming;" "State tests continue to lack instructional value;" The focus on test scores continues to narrow the curriculum;" and "Many children continue to be denied equitable, fairly funded public educations." Recently, the Coombsville Vintners and Growers (CVG) hosted their first-ever media tasting in the sprawling new caves of the magnificent Covert Estate. This tasting marked a big step forward for the Coombsville AVA and will sharpen the focus on the newest, and for many, the most individualistic of Napa Valley's sixteen AVAs. In 2010, I became personally involved with Coombsville when I began to work on the development and launch of Shadybrook Estate - then the newest of the fine properties that call Coombsville home. Despite visiting Napa Valley dozens of times since 1979 and residing in Napa since 2001, I was unfamiliar with the area or the bountiful vinous treasures it produced. The CVG now has 52 members and virtually all are growers representing the history of Coombsville. An increasing number are now also vintners representing the future, selling their wines to a growing community of ardent followers. Since the district was officially recognized with an AVA status in December 2011, more than 300 labels have proudly displayed the Coombsville name and that number will surely continue to grow exponentially. Advertisement For many years, Coombsville was a growers' paradise and "bread basket" of optimum fruit for many of the most prestigious up-Valley producers. While this demand remains steady, more growers are now producing wine and creating brands from all or part of their crop. Early Coombsville pioneers and stalwarts such as Tom Farella (Farella), John Caldwell (Caldwell Vineyard) and Bill Cadman (Tulocay Wines) have welcomed several highly regarded winemakers that were very much attuned to the treasures of Coombsville and have more recently established roots in the area, including Paul Hobbs (Nathan Coombs Estate), Augustin Huneeus (Faust), Bill and Dawnine Dyer (Meteor Vineyard) and many others. Coombsville is a true expression of terroir -- a French term with no direct English translation but connoting each vine's total growing environment. Coombsville soils are a mix of volcanic ash and rock consistently present throughout its 11,000 acres (1,400 under vine). It has a cooler climate moderated by fog and vigorous breezes off the San Pablo Bay. Often the first to experience bud-break and among the last to harvest, Coombsville is representative of a very long, cool and steady growing season yielding wines of superb balance and grace. In addition to its harmonious soil type and climatic conditions, Coombsville is geographically unique given its west-facing horseshoe silhouette of mountains, rolling hills and plateaus offering exposures from northeast to southwest. The caldera was formed many millions of years ago by the collapse (not explosion) of an ancient volcano pushing the exceptional soils outward in distinct colluvial fans. Advertisement Our tasting began on the crush-pad of Covert Estate amid breathtaking views of the caldera and surrounding mountains with a splendid glass of Tournesol Sauvignon Blanc and an introduction to the area by Coombsville veterans Ken Bernards (Ancien), Tracey Reichow (Black Cat Vineyard) and Julien Fayard (Covert Estate and Azur Wines). We next entered the cave for a seated tasting of eleven wines each from a different Coombsville producer. Ken, Tracey and Julien along with CVG President Jimmy Kawalek led a discussion that delved further into the AVA, its wines and people. Nine of the eleven wines were cabernets (with one Bordeaux-style blend) as this is the dominant varietal planted in Coombsville. Also included were outstanding examples of pinot noir and syrah to demonstrate the AVA's diversity. Since my introduction to this appellation, I have tasted several hundred Coombsville wines representing many producers, vintages, vineyards and varietals. While each wine is a stylistic reflection of the individual vineyard and winemaker I've noted a certain "commonality" that is an expression of the terroir and unique character of the AVA. This commonality clearly presented itself to me and the other tasters throughout the menu of wines introduced. There is a consistent sense of elegance, balance and minerality that underlie the individual character and personality of each wine. The bracing but fully integrated symmetry of bright acidity and firm tannins combine to create a core structure surrounded by a graceful fruit presence that bodes for early enjoyment with the potential for further development over time. We freshened our palates after the tasting with an excellent Caldwell Chardonnay before enjoying a delicious lunch served with an abundant array of additional Coombsville wines. A highlight was the 1991 Farella Cabernet Sauvignon (in magnum) that fully demonstrated what a bit of time in the bottle can do to enhance the treasured wines of Coombsville. Advertisement As a family therapist with many years of practice under my belt, I've had the occasion to see quite a few women -- and men -- who have lost their voice in their intimate relationship. Interestingly, sometimes this "invisibility" disguises itself as anger, and becomes hard to recognize. A case from my office illustrates how this can work: (All identifying data has been changed.) The Case: I first saw Amelie and Bob when they came to see me at the advice of their family doc. They had been fighting a lot lately, and they worried about the toll on themselves and their two daughters. Bob made the initial phone call, saying Amelie was "reluctant" to come in, but could probably be persuaded. Amelie, a Swiss-born fashion designer, and Bob, a poet and "house-husband" had been married about ten years. When I first saw them, Bob-a wispy, rather effete guy, complained mostly about how Amelie "picks" on him. He described how when she arrives home she finds fault with his housekeeping, pointing to "smudges on the wall", which he found "minuscule." He made it sound like he quivered in anticipation of her rebuke. Advertisement As I observed this couple, I saw a duet that looked different than the one Bob described. While he saw himself as the victim of his wife's domestic tyranny, Amelie looked to me like a depressed and defeated woman. When she tried to answer his charges that she "berated"him, she came across like a woman without much power in the relationship. With her prominent French accent, she acknowledged that she "over-reacted"to the messiness of the house. But she said with a sigh, "I feel like the house is the only thing I have." She went on to describe how Bob is so busy with their two daughters when she gets home that she doesn't want to "interrupt" his schedule with them. The only bread-winner, she works a demanding schedule at her design firm, often arriving home at seven or eight p.m. As she haltingly talked about what family life is like for her, it sounded to me like she didn't have a place in this family, that somehow she had become marginalized over time. I made a comment to this effect, and she nodded. I think she felt relieved that someone understood her pain. Bob looked on as I talked to Amelie. This wasn't the conversation he expected, but he seemed interested. I asked for the kids to come in for the next session. Family Session: The parents walked in with two adorable-looking little girls, aged five and seven. These girls looked European in their neat dresses, and, in fact, they went to a Swiss school and spoke French with their mother at home. Bob spoke with them in English, though he had a decent understanding of spoken French. I asked these little girls about their family, and they acknowledged that they worried about their parents' frequent arguments. I noticed how, in the session, Bob freely criticized his wife in front of the kids, though Amelie did not respond. Both daughters climbed on their Dad, clearly enjoying an intimacy with him, which he obviously encouraged. He was a "magnet" Dad. Advertisement As we talked and I observed their dynamics, it became clear that Amelie did not know how to enter this cozy trio. And it looked like there was no room for her. At one point the oldest daughter, Claire, had to go to the bathroom. When Mom offered to take her, Claire refused, saying she wanted Dad to take her. Mom backed off and Dad moved to take her. This family was used to the kids openly rejecting Mom and opting for Dad. No one questioned it. When they returned I commented on this strange thing, that Mom's qualifications as loving parent had become suspect. Dad proceeded to criticize Mom as "too picky" or "not involved enough," but I stopped him. I said it looked like both these little girls needed some body warmth with Mom. I then asked Mom to spend a few moments with her little daughters, one at a time, in the session. (I wanted to stretch these rather rigid family patterns to see how the family would respond.) As we watched, Mom gathered Lola to her, and put her on her lap. They quietly began speaking in French, each absorbed in the other. Dad busied himself with Claire while watching Mom; this kind of intimacy between Mom and child stood in stark contrast to their usual patterns. Mom and Lola blossomed like flowers. Mom's body softened, and they looked like they could have remained locked together for hours. Soon Claire clamored to be let in; the coziness looked inviting, and Mom took her on her lap. It got too crowded, so Lola got down from the chair and went to the corner and began drawing. The session was drawing to a close, and I commented on Mom's beauty as she cuddled with her kids. Mom responded quietly, almost apologetically, "That felt good. I don't get to do that too often." Dad, to his credit, did not use this as a chance to attack Mom. Instead, he seemed like he enjoyed what happened. This was not the family he came in with, but this different version seemed to satisfy him. Follow-Up: Amelie and Bob returned for a follow-up visit before they left for Switzerland with their kids to visit the grandparents. Advertisement The previous session initiated some new movement in the family. Amelie commented that Bob had begun leaving her with the girls in the morning, so she was able to get them dressed and off for school. Amelia said she "loved" this time with them, and said she "wanted more". For his part, Bob said it was "easy" for him to stay out of the way, and he had used the time to do some of his own writing. I congratulated Bob on his "mini-retirement," and he chuckled, saying "no problem." Clearly the patterns of this couple and family had begun to shift, in small but important ways. As I saw it , Amelie's fussiness about the house represented the only way she felt she had a voice in this family. Her irritation masked a depression at feeling marginalized as a mother, and Bob's prize-winning, non-stop parenting has contributed to her feelings of second-class citizenry. Until then, Amelie only knew how to become visible through her anger and upset. She only knew how to complain about "the smudge on the wall", not about the pain of feeling unwanted. She did not know how to talk to her husband about what it felt like to be an outsider in her own family. And he, like all of us when we're in it, did not know how to recognize her anger as pain.But now, her distress at feeling unloved had begun to acquire a voice. And Bob appeared to be listening. Social media has made everyone a brand and everyone a brander. Do you register on your social graph as snarky or heartwarming? What reflects you better, driving a Jeep or a BMW? Audiences have an innate understanding that a brand's public expressions, the company it keeps, and what others say about it imbue it with characteristics and attributes. Presidential candidates are the ultimate American brands. In pre-literate eras, their brands were expressed through cartoons and posters. They've since evolved to campaign buttons, brochures, ads, logos, taglines, and theme songs. Like all brands, candidates reflect a coherent set of concepts that are the sum of: Identity - what they stand for Image - what they represent Aspiration - how they make audiences feel BRAND DISCOVERY THROUGH ARCHETYPES To understand a brand's essence you must find its true brand personality or persona. A simple, intuitive, and clarifying construct to reveal personas taps the long-standing storytelling character device -- the archetype. Archetypes have been prevalent through our earliest oral and written storytelling traditions, populating mythology and literature. Plato wrote about seminal characters, which have recurred in some of the greatest stories of all time. Achilles, from Greek mythology and Superman are both "The Hero." Little John in Robin Hood and Chewbacca in Star Wars are both "The Regular Guy." Advertisement Carl G. Jung identified and described seven universal archetypes in his Archetypal Theory that symbolize basic human needs, aspirations, and motivations. In 2001, Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson applied Jungian archetypal storytelling and psychology to brand identity in The Hero and the Outlaw, identifying 12 familiar brand archetypes or personas. Check out all 12 archetypes -- mapped along two continua along the Y and X axes -- revealing four groupings of human motivations. Courtesy of Azure Media; Design: Elles Gianocostas Where do the presidential nominees and their VP picks land among these archetypes? The candidates' true personas blend their personalities with their core ideologies. You may identify more than one archetype at play in each candidate, but one persona is always dominant. And you'll see that both the Republican and Democratic nominees have chosen running mates who complement their personas. (For details of all 12 archetypes and to learn how to discover a brand's identity, see Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media.) PERSONAS OF THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES Donald Trump - "The Ruler" Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trump is clearly "The Ruler" persona - a powerful leader who can be either good or evil. Trump runs his business empire (and ran The Apprentice reality show) with absolute power. To make America prosper, he expects to rule the county in the same top-down, authoritarian style. Advertisement Trump's unabashed about his singular power, claiming "I am the only one who can make America truly great again!" And, he sees himself as the only one who can stabilize an unsteady ship: "No one knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." David Boaz, EVP of the Libertarian think tank, Cato Institute, supports this autocratic designation. "We have one candidate who's not even pretending -- he is promising to be a one-man ruler." Trump boldly plays out this persona by uttering un-PC criticisms and ad hominems about his enemies and people he sees as "other" or a threat. This is particularly attractive to America First-ers. His critics view his leadership style as too extreme, calling him a "dictator," "bully," and "demagogue." These reproaches are fueled by his public admiration of leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein. You might see elements of the "The Jester" (the comical truthsayer) in Trump because of his over-the-top comments. Or, you may see his disruptiveness as signs of "The Outlaw" (anti-establishment freedom seeker, which Bernie Sanders truly embodies). But in the end, Trump's dominant persona is "The Ruler." "The Ruler"- an archetype of Security and Control: Stability A powerful leader. Part of the establishment. Sets the rules that others play by. Can bebenevolent or evil. Motto: Power isn't everything; it's the only thing Core desire: Control Goal: To create a prosperous, successful family or community Greatest fear: Chaos or being overthrown Strategy: Exercises power Gift: Responsibility or leadership Trap: Authoritarianism or dictatorship; inability to delegate AKA: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager, or administrator Fits if it: Is a high-status brand used by powerful people to enhance their power; Makes people more organized; Offers a lifetime guarantee; Empowers people to maintain or enhance their grip on power; Has a regulatory or protective function; Is moderately to high priced; Can be differentiated from more populist brands or one that is a clear leader in the field; Is a market leader that offers a sense of security and stability in a chaotic world Examples: Star Wars character -- Darth Vader, Microsoft, The New York Times, Universal, IBM, Mercedes, American Express, British Airways, Barclays Mike Pence - "The Sage" Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Given the concerns about Trump's despotic and loose cannon persona, it's no surprise that Trump (or his party) chose a safe, more predictable running mate in Mike Pence. Pence is "The Sage" persona -- a provider of intellectual solutions through research and diligence. Advertisement A former Indiana staffer bolsters this persona, saying Pence "likes to chew over an issue extensively before presenting it to the public, and wants to hear from multiple sides before making up his mind." In addition to the social conservative cred and ties to the Koch brothers that Pence lends to the Trump ticket, he offers an almost "boring" offset to Trump's flamboyance. "He balances Mr. Trump out in terms of personalities," says political science professor Andrew Downs, director of the Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne. "He is Midwestern polite. He's also very good at staying on message." But as an absolute ruler, will Trump mine the considerable value of and give voice to Pence's "The Sage"? "The Sage" -- an archetype of Independence and Fulfillment: Individualism Provides intellectual solutions to problems. Offers expertise and advice. Has serious objective tone. Finds truth through research, objectivity, and diligence. Motto: The truth will set you free Core desire: To find the truth Goal: To use intelligence and analysis to understand the world Greatest fear: Ignorance, or being duped or misled Strategy: Seeks out information and knowledge; self-reflects and understands thought processes Gift: Wisdom or intelligence Trap: Dogmatism or studying details forever without acting AKA: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, or contemplator Fits if it: Provides expertise or information to others; Encourages audiences to think; Is based on new scientific findings or esoteric knowledge; Is supported by research-based facts; Can be differentiated from others whose quality or performance is suspect Examples: Star Wars character -- Yoda, CNN, Ask.com, Intel, Gallup, McKinsey & Co., Harvard University, Oprah's Book Club, Philips, HSBC, Albert Einstein PERSONAS OF THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES Hillary Clinton -- "The Hero" Alex Wong/Getty Images Hillary Clinton's appearance at the Democratic National Convention crystallized her "The Hero" persona -- a strong change maker who benefits others. She exuded the "White Knight" -- literally and figuratively -- when she accepted the nomination. Throughout the election, Clinton has touted her legacy of public service -- including law school service projects, children's health care reform, and post-9/11 funding -- as improving the world. Forbes attributes her achievement of that track record to "persistence, strong will or sheer determination." Bill Clinton reinforced this crusader persona in his spouse-in-chief speech, recalling her accomplishments and naming her "the best darn change maker I ever met in my life." But Clinton's extensive service record can play as a recitation of her resume, rather than a heartfelt expression of her deep-seated empathy. Her critics call her "cold" and "arrogant" -- possible results of her single-minded focus or falling prey to the "The Hero's" trap of hubris. Clinton acknowledges that disconnect: "Throughout all these years of public service, the service part has always come easier to me than the public part." So, it's no surprise that Chelsea Clinton introduced her mother to the DNC as a warrior, but wrapped in a highly personal package. "My mother, my hero, our next President: Hillary Clinton." You may see elements of "The Sage" in Clinton because of her serious tone and command of facts, or "The Explorer" (challenges themselves and others to do new things) because of her never-ending causes. Still, she and her machine have cast her dominant persona as "The Hero." Advertisement "The Hero" -- an archetype of Risk and Mastery: Change Proves self through amazing physical acts. Strong, but uses a controlled strength to benefit others. Motto: Where there's a will, there's a way Core desire: To prove one's worth through courageous acts Goal: Expert mastery in a way that improves the world Greatest fear: Weakness, vulnerability, or being cowardly Strategy: Is as strong and competent as possible Gift: Courage or competence Trap: Arrogance or always needing another battle to fight AKA: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, soldier, dragon slayer, winner, or MVP Fits if it: Has inventions or innovations that will have a major impact on the world; Helps people be all they can be; Solves a major social problem or encourages others to do so; Has a clear opponent to beat; Is an underdog or challenger brand; Is strong and helps people do tough jobs exceptionally well; Can be differentiated from competitors that have problems following through or keeping their promises; Has audiences that see themselves as good, upstanding citizens Examples: Star Wars character -- Luke Skywalker, Jerry Bruckheimer's programming, US Army, Nike, FedEx, BMW, Home Depot, Ford, Tag Heuer, Duracell, Land Rover Tim Kaine -- The Regular Guy nbcchicago.com To counter the uncharismatic and harsher aspects of her persona, Clinton has reinforced the "heartland" roots and values she shares with her warm and easy-going Veep running mate, Tim Kaine. Kaine is "The Regular Guy" persona -- a friendly, humble, guy next door. Kaine's accessibility is evident in his natural speaking style and quick smile, appealing to the working man and woman. When describing his considerable public career during his DNC speech -- from mayor to U.S. Senator -- he visibly fought his corn-fed humility. Social media latched on to his good-guy persona with a rash of "Dad jokes." @ericschroeck Tweeted, "I just want Tim Kaine to make me some scrambled eggs when I'm sad and ask me, 'What's wrong, scout?'" A huge value of Kaine's avuncular persona is that he's the antithesis of a braggart or bully. That allows him to extol the virtues of Clinton's accomplishments and to take down Trump-the-bully with good-natured impunity: "You know who I don't trust? Donald Trump. The guy promises a lot. He has a habit of saying the same two words right after he makes his biggest promises: Believe me. His creditors, his contractors, his laid-off employees, his ripped-off students did just that, and they all got hurt." Advertisement So far, Clinton and her party have quarried the benefit of Kaine's "The Regular Guy." "The Regular Guy" -- an archetype of Belonging and Enjoyment: Community Is down-to-earth and accessible. Bonds with others by being humble, hard working, and friendly. Motto: All men and women are created equal Core desire: Connecting with others Goal: To belong Greatest fear: Being left out or standing out from the crowd Strategy: Develops ordinary solid virtues; is real; applies the common touch Gift: Equality, realism, empathy, or humility Trap: Blending in or becoming a lynch mob AKA: The Average Joe, good-ole-boy, girl-next-door, everyman, working stiff, solid citizen, good neighbor, mensch, realist, or silent majority Fits if it: Gives people a sense of belonging; Offers everyday functionality; Is low to moderately priced; Is produced by a solid company with a down-home organizational culture; Can be positively differentiated from more elitist or higher priced brands Examples: Star Wars character -- Chewbacca, Disney (later), eBay, Lowes, Dunkin' Donuts, Miller Beer, Sonic, Walmart, Cover Girl, Chevy, Wendy's What's most noteworthy about this campaign is that the "negative sentiment" for both of the presidential nominees is the highest in any modern presidential election in the past seven decades -- since Barry Goldwater. These polarizing negatives reflect voters' concerns and distrust of the nominees falling into their personas' traps. The Achilles' heel for Donald Trump, "The Ruler," is authoritarianism or dictatorship and inability to delegate. The Achilles' heel for Hillary Clinton, "The Hero," is arrogance and always needing another battle to fight. But in the end, our next president will be determined in the general election by how much voters believe that each candidate can deliver on their persona's brand promise. Advertisement Happy Birthday month to me and the National Park Service! This first day of August we both enter a month of symbolic birthdays. On August 21 I turn 65 and become Medicare eligible, though I still feel the youthful enthusiasm and zest I felt as a child, largely because of the experiences I've had in our stupendous national parks. On August 25 our National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday and enters its second century as caretaker of our national treasures in a country that is vastly different by race, ethnicity, gender and age than in 1916, and sorely in need of the lessons from our parks to help unify us. From the perspective of age 65, I can see the long arm of destiny in my life. As a little girl growing up in Jamaica in the 1950s, slipping away to sit by myself on the banks of the stream that ran through our village, how could I have known that I was being prepared for the role I would play in my life? Sitting quietly under cool shade trees, watching schools of tiny fish darting and turning in the water and shrimp backpedaling on their tailfins, I dreamed of someday becoming a tour guide and introducing people to stunningly beautiful and historic places. I had no concept of America, and no idea there was such a thing as a National Park System in the world. Yet for the past 20 years my husband Frank and I have been at the forefront of a movement that has made America's national parks household words in homes where they'd never been uttered before, and growing numbers of ethnically diverse Americans have been drawn to visit and stand up for our parks. Advertisement From the perspective of 21 years ardent involvement with the National Park System, I can see the long arc the Park Service has traveled from its inception by passionate conservationists in 1916 to where it is today. The first director of the Service, Stephen Mather was also instrumental in its creation. His passion for nature and for protecting treasured spaces for Americans into perpetuity mirrors mine and can be deduced from how he left no stone unturned to achieve those goals. According to PBS, Mather "counted as one of the highlights of his life meeting the legendary John Muir on a hike in Sequoia National Park in 1912. When he visited Sequoia and Yosemite in the summer of 1914, Mather was disgusted by the poor condition of the parks. "He wrote a letter of complaint to his college friend, Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane, who invited Mather to come to Washington and do something about it himself. Mather accepted the challenge. As assistant to Lane in charge of the parks, he began a crusade to mold a haphazard collection of national parks into a cohesive system and to create a federal agency solely devoted to them: the National Park Service. "Mather took on staff, paying their salaries out of his own pocket, and began a public relations and political lobbying campaign to build awareness of the parks and increase their size and number. He raised funds from his wealthy friends to purchase new park lands and he often purchased land himself and donated it to the National Park Service for protection. He joined forces with the budding automotive industry to 'democratize' the parks by making them more accessible to a broader cross-section of Americans. He and his assistant, Horace Albright, professionalized the corps of superintendents and rangers in the parks. . ." Today, the current office holder in Mather's position is fronting a proposal that, for the first time in 100 years, would allow greater commercial/corporate presence in our national parks and require park staff to raise funds, completely foreign to their job description. As I discuss in this blog, the order has been criticized by the National Parks Conservation Association, the Coalition of Retirees and is the subject of multiple online petitions, but still today is shrouded in secrecy. It is scheduled to go into office in 2017 when the current director will have left office. Advertisement As the Service enters its much-heralded Centennial month, we remain far short of Mather's goals of "democratizing" the system and making it accessible to a broader cross section of the public. Many millions of people still have not been reached with the message that there are such things as national parks, that they represent our collective legacy and history, that they belong to us and that we have the duty and privilege of protecting them for the future. To help accomplish these goals Frank and I, along with legions of other people including members of the Diverse Environmental Leaders Speakers Bureau that we formed in 2014, are among the catalysts for a growing nature movement of racially diverse Americans. As members of the Next100 Coalition, we are striving to help shape a new vision for the Park Service's Next 100 years by asking President Obama to issue a Presidential Memorandum with policies to ensure a more diverse system, workforce and stream of visitors. Like Mather, this week we're heading to Washington, DC to do what we can for the parks and their future, including helping inspire young leaders in the Historically Black Colleges & Universities Initiative (HBCUI) for public lands, accompanying them to meet with Members of Congress and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. What we saw in Turkey on the night of July 15, 2016 was reminiscent of the movie "Olympus Has Fallen", in which terrorists mounted an air and ground assault that resulted in the take-over of the White House. A fraction within the Turkish Armed Forces directed by the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) - a group classified as a terrorist organization within the Turkish National Security Policy Document -attempted a coup d'etat on July 15. Over the course of the night, F-16 fighter aircraft and military helicopters made strikes against the Turkish Parliament - the core institution of Turkish democracy - the Presidency, the National Intelligence Service Headquarters, Special Forces Units, various municipality police headquarters and municipality councils. This bloody coup attempt resulted in 240 civilian deaths and left a further 1,491 people injured. Democracy in Turkey has in the past been interrupted by a military intervention in 1960, a "half coup" in 1971, a military takeover in 1980 and "postmodern coup d'etat" in 1997, although this latest attempt was like nothing experienced in Turkey to date. Advertisement Following this most recent failed coup attempt, tens of thousands of employees who had managed to infiltrate state organizations over the last 40 years have been removed from military and government positions. Turkey, which is a founding member of the Council of Europe, then took the decision to suspend the European Convention on Human Rights and implemented a three-month state of emergency in order to eradicate the FETO organization from state institutions. Police Force was Still Divided The government had already taken precautions to prevent further infiltrations of Gulen Movement to the state institutions, and had already removed many police and prosecutors from their positions after the December 17, 2013 wiretap scandals. During the Ergenekon (2008) and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) (2010) prosecutions, in which an alleged network of Kemalist officers and civilians were accused of orchestrating a coup d'etat, secrets of the army's plans were revealed by the media and leaked by the same sources - a "parallel state" - a network of police and prosecutors who were acting on behalf of the Gulen Movement, the largest and the most influential of all Nurcu groups in Turkey. The AKP government's once-good relationship with the Gulen Movement started to deteriorate after the removal of Kemalists from the army and administration, which both had perceived as a threat. The power struggle that then emerged between the AKP and the Gulen Movement was exacerbated after the AKP's decision to close the Movement's preparatory schools (dershane) - a major source of its income - and its establishments for the education of young conservative Muslims, after which the AKP faced the largest corruption scandal in Turkish Republican history on December 17. Advertisement President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's response was to deny the allegations, and then to issue a new directive related to the judiciary prohibiting press and journalists from approaching police departments without prior authorization, halting the second wave of the investigation, attempting to change the structure of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSJP) and police involved in these investigations, and proposing curbs against the HSJP's powers. The battle between the AKP and the Gulen Movement continued within the judiciary, with the AKP submitting a draft law increasing its control over the justice department. After the March 2014 local elections, which resulted in an AKP victory, the Erdogan administration stepped up their fight against the Gulen Movement and its affiliates in the state. The second round of the battle began with the arrest of police officers involved in the leaking of wiretap recordings of phone calls by politicians and civil servants related to the corruption scandal, and other issues related to national security. Yet, among the majority of new personnel of the police force that are deployed after 2013 wiretap scandal still belongs to Nurcu groups such as the Menzilciler, Okuyucular (readers), Yazclar (writers) that are divided over the methods for teaching the Risale. The emerging picture within the police force has been described as a "polyphonic incompatible choir" (cok sesli uyumsuz koro). The Nurcu emerged as a civil society initiative at the time of Turgut Ozal, a Naqshabandi Khalidi follower, when he abolished the criminalization of the propagation of Sharia with changes to Article 163 of the Turkish Penal Code in 1991. Importance of Neutral Competence in Public Administration Turkey is experiencing some of the worst days in its history, and a tough test awaits Ankara that will require a delicate balance of not only freedom of expression and national security, without damaging democratic principles such as the rule of law and personal freedoms, but also the essential values of public administration, such as neutral competence. In Herbert Kaufmann's definition, neutral competence is a concept that has long been regarded as an essential value in the field of public administration. He defines the concept as "the ability to do work of government expertly, and to do it according to explicit objective standards rather than the personal or party or other obligations and loyalties." Advertisement The politicization of bureaucracy, whether through the "parallel state" with loyalties to the Gulen Movement or the possible placement of new civil servants who are loyal to another person or a party rather than a state, is against the spirit of the concept of "neutral competence" in public administration. There is always a fear that such parallel states will occur once the number of these people increase and consolidate power within government institutions. What Turkey needs is to deploy personnel that have the ability to do the work of the government expertly, and to do it according to explicit objective standards rather than for personal or party benefit, or for any other obligations and loyalties - and more overtly, without loyalty to any tarikat (religious order) leaders. Whether or not one has religious affiliations should not be a criteria in the selection of people for public service, since it is clear that representatives of these kinds of movements in civil service are more interested in power than democracy. In the Nicole Kidman movie The Interpreter, it turned out at the end that the plot to assassinate the tyrannical president Edmund Zuwanie -- whom the U.N. was considering to indict to stand trial in the International Criminal Court -- was only a false operation created by Zuwanie himself to gain credibility that his rivals are terrorists and to deter potential supporters of his removal. I don't know why this scene popped into my mind when I read the news about the attempt of Coup d'Etat in Turkey. Some stories suggested that this coup might have been staged by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself. A theory that may or may not be true, but even when ruling it out, Erdogan seems to be the ultimate winner in this failed coup. On the very next day of the coup attempt, there were news that thousands of "traitors" were arrested, a thing that was very surprising because it makes you wonder when exactly did investigations take place to reveal all the names of the traitors. Or was it perhaps a ready-made list? Johannes Hahn, The EU commissioner dealing with Turkey's membership bid, had doubts on the speed the arrests were made. Advertisement What was more disturbing is that the list of the traitors grew monstrously big that at the end it made 60,000 soldiers, judges, civilians suspended, detained or are under investigation. 21,000 teachers were sacked from their jobs, 1,600 university deans were asked to resign from state and private universities. Turkey also banned academics from leaving the country for academic purposes. 42 journalists were subjected to arrest warrants. While Turkish Airlines fired more than 100 employees, including management and cabin crew. Additionally, Erdogan ordered the closure of 1,043 private schools, 1,229 foundations and associations, 35 medical institutions, 19 unions, and 15 universities that are claimed to be linked to Fethullah Gulen, the exiled cleric blamed for the failed coup. But the list of traitors appear to include anyone the Erdogan government views as a potential threat to its power and not only those related to Gulen. The widespread crackdown made Human rights group Amnesty International says it received evidence of Turkish detainees being subjected to beatings and torture, including rape. My way or high way "Has nothing to do with democracy. He killed thousands of his own people." These were the words of Erdogan about the Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, but these words seem only true about Erdogan himself who made a recent statement saying: "Democracy, freedom and the rule of law... For us, these words have absolutely no value any longer. Those who stand on our side in the fight against terrorism are our friend. Those on the opposite side are our enemy". Advertisement When Egypt was suffering many terror attacks by islamists related to the Muslim Brotherhood -- strong allies of the Turkish president -- and Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group that claimed allegiance with ISIS, Erdogan was issuing fiery statements attacking Egypt and the crack-down on Islamists. Now he has no problem doing the very things he claimed to criticize in the past. Not only that, he shamelessly allows the arrest of those who "insult the president" -- a crime that carries a penalty of up to four years in prison - and says out loud that he doesn't respect court ruling that denounces the detention of journalists. Seems that democracy to Erdogan is what is of benefit for himself, his authority and his allies only. "An almost-assassinated leader gets so much credibility, so he can stay in power and gets to stick around to enjoy it" -- The Interpreter. The 2016 Democratic convention concluded with Hillary Clinton's paean to American exceptionalism. She contrasted "morning in America" with Donald Trump's "the barbarians are at the gates." In addition to the stark contrast in the vision of the two candidates, we learned five things at the conventions. 1. Hillary Clinton was able to unite Democrats. Republicans came to Cleveland promising to unite around Trump. That didn't happen. Cruz, Kasich and the Bush family didn't endorse Trump and he denounced them all. The Democratic convention started on low note with the DNC email scandal followed by the resignation of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. For a few hours on Monday it looked as if Democrats would battle on the convention floor. Then the Monday program started and comedian Sarah Silverman -- previously a Bernie Sanders supporter -- ad-libbed: "Can I just say, to the Bernie or bust people, you are being ridiculous." Her mocking words punctured the Bernie or bust balloon. While a few Bernie supporters continued to be disruptive, the vast majority got behind Hillary Clinton. (A Washington Post poll indicated that 90 percent of Bernie backers would support Clinton.) By Thursday night, the Democratic Party was unified. Advertisement 2. Clinton did a much better job organizing the Democratic convention than Trump did organizing the Republican convention. Each day of the Republican convention saw some epic screw up such as Melania Trump's plagiarism or Ted Cruz failing to endorse Trump. In contrast each day of the Democratic convention worked well. Speakers kept to the script and stayed within the allotted time. As a result, the TV ratings for each night of the Democratic convention exceeded those of the Republican convention. The success of the Democratic convention is another indication that Hillary Clinton is a better manager than Donald Trump. 3. If Trump doesn't get the attention he wants, he will do something crazy. After the Republican convention, I wrote, "The GOP convention may give Trump a modest ratings bounce but it won't last because he can't stop acting crazy." Advertisement On Wednesday -- evidently starved for attention -- Trump asked Russia to hack Clinton's emails. On Thursday, Trump said he felt like hitting convention speakers who disparaged him. (He followed this with a fundraising email begging recipients to not watch Hillary's acceptance speech.) Clinton denigrated Trump's character in her acceptance speech: "Imagine [Donald Trump] 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." 4. Hillary has the credentials for the job, Trump doesn't. During the Republican convention, The New York Times reported that Trump's son, Donald Junior had approached Ohio Governor John Kasich about being Trump's running mate. Trump Junior reported that, if he accepted, Kasich would be "the most powerful vice president in history;" Trump Junior explained that Kasich would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy. When queried what job "President" Trump would do, Trump Junior explained, "Making America great again." Wednesday night at the Democratic convention, billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg observed: "Trump says he wants to run the nation like he's running his business? God help us." Bloomberg went on to recommend voting for Hillary Clinton, "a sane, competent person." 5. Democrats have become the Party of Reagan. The conventions witnessed an unexpected role reversal: Republicans became the Party of godless pessimism. Democrats became the Party of hope and optimism; the Party that believes, like Ronald Reagan, that "it's morning in America." Advertisement Unique to a modern Republican presidential speech, Trump never mentioned God. Instead he mentioned himself, over and over; notably "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." At the Democratic convention, participants chanted, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, touted their religious background and their lifelong commitment to public service. Michelle Obama reminded us all America "is the greatest country on earth." Barack Obama reintroduced the "audacity of hope." And Hillary said Americans face a choice, "We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together." No use. can't convince anyone, otherwise. FYI - a sense of decency Trump campaign asks Capitol Hill for backing in Khan controversy By Richard Cowan and David Morgan,Reuters ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Donald Trump rages against CNN after Fareed Zakaria calls him a 'BS artist' on air Dylan Stableford In veiled hit on Trump, Obama says U.S. must honor Gold Star families Olivier Knox Like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email President Obama speaks at the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans, Aug. 1, 2016, in Atlanta. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton more threatens the Constitution's separation of powers and celebration of liberty than does her vulgar Neanderthal opponent, Republican Party nominee Donald Trump. Justice Louis D. Brandeis explained in Olmstead v .United States (1928): "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." Mr. Trump is a would-be, evil-minded ruler. Among other things, he has embraced torture, the extermination of families of suspected terrorists, concentration camps for American Muslims and their demotions to second-class citizenship, punishment of Trump detractors, vigilante justice, warrantless military spying on American citizens, and bigotry towards Americans with Mexican heritage. But Trump's notoriety has awakened a figurative Paul Revere against himself. If he is elected president, the media, Congress, the judiciary, and the public would be eagle-eyed watchdogs to frustrate Trump's wish-list to further pulverize the Constitution. Advertisement Ms. Clinton is a woman of "zeal, well meaning but without understanding." She would be more dangerous to liberty and the Constitution in the White House than Trump would be. The first woman President would provoke less scrutiny and media or political opposition to her counter-constitutional convictions and actions because she is less overtly feral than Trump and presumptively less ruthless or megalomaniacal because she is female. During her acceptance speech in Philadelphia, the Democratic presidential nominee warned: "Remember: Our Founders fought a Revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power." True enough. But coming from Ms. Clinton, the statement was as risible as would have been Napoleon during his 1804 self-coronation as Emperor warning the audience against the French Bourbon dynasty because it lusted for too much power. Clinton's words and public actions for more than two decades as First Lady, United States Senator, Secretary of State, author of Hard Choices, and presidential candidate betray a conception of the presidency as an elected monarchy endowed with more unchecked authority than was exerted by King George III. It was that power that provoked the American Revolution which she purportedly celebrated. Advertisement Ms. Clinton champions multi-trillion dollar unconstitutional presidential wars or other offensive uses of the military without congressional declarations or authorizations required under Article I, section 8, clause 11. Examples include Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) everywhere on the planet. During her 2008 presidential candidacy, Ms. Clinton declared that if she were elected president she would unilaterally "obliterate" 80 million Iranians if Iran attacked Israel. She salutes unconstitutional United States treaty commitments to fight wars on behalf of scores of other nations without required congressional declarations. Speaking through Justice Hugo Black, the Supreme Court declared in Reid v. Covert (1956) that treaties cannot override constitutional prescriptions: "There is nothing in this language [of the Supremacy Clause] which intimates that treaties and laws enacted pursuant to them do not have to comply with the provisions of the Constitution. Nor is there anything in the debates which accompanied the drafting and ratification of the Constitution which even suggests such a result." Justice Black added that if unforeseen developments in weapons technology or otherwise argued in favor of constitutional change, the remedy would be a constitutional amendment, not constitutional lawlessness: "If our foreign commitments become of such nature that the Government can no longer satisfactorily operate within the bounds laid down by the Constitution, that instrument can be amended by the method which it prescribes." The Constitution's authors would have impeached Ms. Clinton as Secretary of State and removed her from office for complicity in high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution, which Lord Gladstone acclaimed as "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." President George Washington, who presided over the constitutional convention, repudiated Clinton's claim of presidential power to wage war without congressional authorization. He elaborated: "The Constitution vests the power of declaring war with Congress. Therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they have deliberated upon the subject, and authorized such a measure." Every delegate present at the creation of the Constitution agreed. Advertisement Alexander Hamilton, who was a delegate to the constitutional convention, underscored in Federalist 69 that the Constitution had denied the President power of a monarch: "The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature." James Madison, renowned as the father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, secretary of state, and twice President of the United States, explained in a letter to Thomas Jefferson: ""The constitution supposes, what the History of all Govts demonstrates, that the Ex. is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legisl." James Wilson, delegate to the constitutional convention and future Justice of the United States Supreme Court, emphasized to the Pennsylvania ratification convention that neither the President alone or in conjunction with treaties ratified only by the Senate could embroil the nation in war: "This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large: this declaration must be made with the concurrence of the House of Representatives: from this circumstance we may draw a certain conclusion that nothing but our interest can draw us into war." United States Chief Justice John Marshall, who served as a delegate to the Virginia ratification convention, Member of Congress, and as secretary of state, lectured in Talbot v. Seeman (1801): "The whole powers of war being, by the constitution of the United States, vested in Congress, the acts of that body alone can be resorted to as guides to this inquiry." Nothing Ms. Clinton has ever written or spoken is worthy of a semicolon in the writings or speeches of these constitutional giants. They brought forth a Miracle at Philadelphia, in the words of Catherine Drinker Bowen. We know Clinton is a constitutional ignoramus from her own testimony and past lawyering. Among other things, her reading list excludes not only Aristotle, Plato, Thucydides, Pericles, Cicero, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius, Dante, Machiavelli, Erasmus, Locke, Gibbon, Voltaire, Hume, and Rousseau, but also James Otis, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Adam Smith, the Federalist Papers, and George Washington's Farewell Address. Advertisement Additionally, Ms. Clinton wrote a brief as a House Judiciary Committee lawyer arguing that President Richard Nixon should be denied legal counsel to oppose articles of impeachment. She ignored or concealed the then-recent precedent regarding Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who was permitted a lawyer during the impeachment attempt against him in 1970. The Committee's chief Republican counsel, Franklin Polk, recalled, "Of course the Republicans went nuts. But so did some of the Democrats--some of the most liberal Democrats." Jerry Zeifman, general counsel and chief of staff to the Judiciary Committee and lifelong Democrat, called Ms. Clinton a "liar" and an "unethical, dishonest lawyer." He fired Clinton from the staff when the Watergate probe concluded. Ms. Clinton champions the use of executive agreements in lieu of treaties to circumvent the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds Senate majority for ratification. A recent example was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions. It was fashioned as an executive agreement because, as Secretary of State John Kerry told the House Judiciary Committee, "you can't pass a treaty anymore." In other words, if the President can't get his way by complying with the Constitution, then the Constitution must be tortured to accommodate the President, i.e., to borrow from President Nixon to David Frost, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal." In flagrant violation of constitutional due process, Ms. Clinton also supports limitless presidential power to play prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill American citizens anywhere on the planet not engaged in hostilities that the president decrees based on secret, unsubstantiated information threatens national security. In exercising this awesome power, according to Clinton, the president is not accountable to any other person, branch of government, or to the public. But Justice Black explained in Reid v. Covert: "[W]e reject the idea that, when the United States acts against citizens abroad, it can do so free of the Bill of Rights. The United States is entirely a creature of the Constitution. Its power and authority have no other source. It can only act in accordance with all the limitations imposed by the Constitution. When the Government reaches out to punish a citizen who is abroad, the shield which the Bill of Rights and other parts of the Constitution provide to protect his life and liberty should not be stripped away just because he happens to be in another land." Candidate Clinton supports presidential use of the military to spy on American citizens in the United States without warrants to gather foreign intelligence under Executive Order 12333 in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. She supports presidential authority to classify congressional documents and to prohibit their publication. She supports presidential signing statements tantamount to unconstitutional line-item vetoes according to the Supreme Court's decision in Clinton v. New York. She supports presidential power to spend in violation of limits established in appropriations bills. She supports presidential invocations of state secrets to frustrate congressional oversight or judicial review of government assassinations, kidnappings, or torture. She supports presidential power to refuse to take care that the laws be faithfully executed to advance a political agenda not shared by Congress. Advertisement If elected president, Donald Trump might wish to better the instruction of Hillary Clinton's past constitutional vandalisms and imperial convictions, but his chances of success would be remote. The media, Congress, and the public would be on high alert. A President Clinton, on the other hand, would confront little resistance to her constitutional transgressions. She would be our first female commander in chief, and thus detractors would risk stigmatization as misogynists. Further, she would have her lawlessness accompanied by disarming and dulcet string instruments rather than brass or percussion associated with Trump. We have already witnessed this phenomenon. President Barack Obama took the constitutional abuses of President George W. Bush to new levels while the media, Congress, and the public slumbered. Mr. Obama was our first black president, he speaks eloquently, and his style is non-gladiatorial. Mr. Bush had none of this armor. Two potential calamities for the United States are looming on the horizon: wars with China or Russia over spheres of influence in Asia and Europe thousands of miles away from our borders and irrelevant to the Constitution's foreign policy of invincible self-defense. The candidate most likely to embroil the United States in unconstitutional presidential wars against either or both is Hillary Clinton. Lowell McAdam, Verizon Communications' Chairman and CEO, second quarter, 2016 earnings call, July, 26th, 2016: "You saw the first fruits of this strategy in April, when we announced our One Fiber strategy for the city of Boston." In April, 2016, Verizon announced that it was going to spend $300 million over six years to bring FiOS, the company's fiber to the home cable TV and broadband service, to the city of Boston, finally. Boston had been begging the incumbent phone company, Verizon New England, to get off its butt and upgrade the existing copper wires with fiber optics for years - and Verizon just shrugged. Advertisement But Verizon never mentioned this 'One Fiber' strategy in April, and it is now becoming known as "Faux FiOS", because it is really a plan to have the wired customers of Massachusetts pay for a bait-and-switch, in plain site, to fund and roll out Verizon's wireless services. In fact, Boston is the focal point for Verizon's plans - to put in a fiber optic wire , which is really for 'fixed wireless', with lots of antennas, also known as "DAS", -- and to NOT wire the City of Boston with fiber to the home--but focus on 'fiber to the antenna'. Read our previous articles: More Exposed: Verizon's FiOS-Wireless Bait & Switch in Boston And while we've written a number of articles already about this, new documents have surfaced, and new statements were made by Verizon senior management that should piss of the entire East Coast of America--Verizon has no plans to wire cities anymore with fiber to the home, and is holding off on doing any other city until this 'test' in Boston is underway. In short: There will be no major deployment of fiber to the home, FTTH, in Boston. The company will do the first few areas and then evaluate whether they will go forward. The company supplied no maps, no timeline for completion, and it appears will sign no major long term contract to do the entire city. The company will lay the fiber as part of 'Title II', telecommunications so that it can get the wireline side phone customers-- including low income families to rural areas, etc., as well as 'broadband data services" (BDS) customers, in the entire state, to pick up the construction for the wires to the cell sites. (BDS are also known as 'special access'; these are the wires used for everything from bank ATM machines to security and alarm systems, etc., to handle the traffic from cell sites or for Wifi hot spots. And Verizon's other goals include killing off the unions and competitors. Worse, this is a model for the rest of Verizon's East Coast state utility holdings; and AT&T is doing similar, if not identical things. Some background In 2010, Verizon had announced that it was stopping their FiOS deployments, which had only started around 2005-2006 and it would only finish areas where there was an existing franchise agreement. And, I note that this doesn't include all homes and businesses in the municipality since the franchises that were granted do not require universal service to all, unlike their wireline utility service agreements with the states. Verizon is the incumbent phone utility for the East Coast, from Massachusetts to Virginia and it left a trail of broken promises - passing less than 50% of locations in their territories - a 'location' being a home or business. But it's worse because Verizon also stopped properly upgrading and maintaining the copper networks as well, causing complaints up and down the East Coast about service quality problems. And this was all done on purpose as in 2010, Verizon decided to become a 'wireless first' company. It appointed Lowell McAdam to be the CEO, who was then the CEO of Verizon Wireless, (which is actually named "CellCo Partners" and was a joint venture with Vodaphone, the British telecom firm.) And unknown to most, Verizon started diverting the wireline capital expenditures to have the wireline company pay for the build out of wireless towers, which needed to be upgraded with fiber to offer 4G service, throughout the East Coast. Thus, low income families, customers in rural areas, and anyone else with phone or special access service was subsidizing these build outs. Advertisement In New York, we tracked how Verizon was granted multiple rate increases on basic phone service and ancillary services for 'massive deployment of fiber optics' and losses, starting in 2006. By 2010, the deployments, as attested to by the New York Attorney General's Office, had been diverted mainly to fund the capEx for the wires to the cell sites; the losses were created based, in part, on this financial cross-subsidy. So, in April 2016, (and timed to influence the Verizon worker's strike) Verizon announced it was going to spend $300 million in the City of Boston over the next six years to bring fiber optic FiOS to homes. "Verizon to build $300M fiber network in Boston" "Verizon will bring its fiber-optic FiOS network to Boston over the next six years, city and company officials announced..." Verizon also said that it was not going to do any other cities until the work was underway - i.e., a $130+ billion dollar company is going to spend $50 million a year on Boston --chump change, and was not planning on doing the entire East Coast. Ironically, as we pointed out, Verizon has announced its intent to purchase Yahoo for $4.8 billion and bought AOL for $4.4 billion last year. We argue that this should never be allowed until the states are upgraded and maintained properly. Advertisement There is also an ugly truth - Verizon Massachusetts had made commitments to replace the existing copper networks with fiber optics starting in 1995--yeah, 20+ years ago, and got state laws changed to give the company additional financial 'incentives' to do the work. The company pocketed billions and the state never went back and said - Excuse me--but where's the fiber optic future?--or have the company pay back the billions collected. Here is an excerpt from Verizon's original Massachusetts fiber optic plan that was filed with the State-- and was finalized in 1995. Verizon MA was supposed to have 330,000 lines of fiber optics to the home by the year 2000. In 1999, a group of us filed a complaint with the State claiming that Verizon (then Bell Atlantic) had overcharged customers by over a billion dollars from 1995-1999, including taking a massive one-time tax deduction to bring 'fiber optic' broadband to the entire state - including the City of Boston. Exposed: Verizon's Cable Franchise Filings with the City--They don't care about wireline. Verizon never mentioned this 'One Fiber' strategy to the citizens of Boston, much less the politicians, but now it is clear--the wires being deployed are for wireless, first. Lowell McAdam pointed out in the latest second quarter investor calls that - I paraphrase: 'Well, wireless is so much cheaper (and more profitable), why bother doing fiber to the home? ("ONT" is an "Outside Network Terminal".) "From a pure cost perspective, again I think it's a little too early to tell, but what I will tell you is about half of our cost to deploy FiOS is in the home today and the next biggest thing outside the home is the drop. And so our take is that with the router roughly costing the same -- and, remember, we wouldn't have to have an ONT as we think about it today. "So when we deploy 4G and densify the small cell cantennas (to provide) 5G (service) for very little incremental cost. With the router in the house being probably less than an ONT and router combination today and losing the wiring in the house and losing the drop, we expect there to be a significant cost reduction." During the writing of the articles a number of documents have surfaced about Verizon's real intentions and their dealings with the city. Verizon originally filed to offer FiOS by taking years old materials from other filings-- and the city noticed. The City of Boston wrote: "(c) Form 100 and Exhibit F: The Fiber-to-the-Premises ("FTTP") Network description appears to be a number of years old and includes information that appears to have been phased out. Please identify any outdated elements in Exhibit F and describe what is in use currently now." The Boston Faux-FiOS Bait and Switch First, Verizon is doing three areas first with fiber to the home and then will do a 'wait and see'. These areas were selected because a) Mayor Walsh lives in one and b) the wires are on poles, as opposed to having to do a lot of digging to put them into underground conduit. Boston asked: If the proposed service area is not the entire municipality, specify the nature of the area (e.g., neighborhood) and explain why the entire municipality will not be served. Advertisement Verizon Response - If successful we may 'seek to amend' the license and add other sections. "The initial service area is for the Dudley Square area of Roxbury and the West Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods of the City. If Verizon is granted a cable License for the initial service area and is successful in providing cable service to that area, it may seek to amend its License with the City to add other sections of the City consistent with 207 CMR 3:07." The Boston Globe, in April, 2016, wrote that this deployment was for the whole city and it was supposed to be wired fiber optic service. "Verizon is finally ready to offer its high-speed fiber optic service to Boston -- a victory for city officials who have long sought meaningful competition for high-speed Internet and TV service in a city dominated by Comcast Corp. "Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the Verizon move Tuesday, a $300 million investment that will roll out in select neighborhoods beginning this summer but will take six years to cover the whole city. Boston has also agreed to speed up permitting for the infrastructure upgrade and to begin the process of licensing Verizon as a cable TV provider." Next, Verizon was asked to provide maps of the areas. Verizon response is that this is just a network upgrade of the existing copper "Title II" networks, and it doesn't have to provide maps. Then, Verizon appears to have just lied to the City. The City asks whether there will be any other 'non' fiber to the home -FTTP, components - meaning-- Are you planning on using wireless? Verizon claims it is doing FTTP - when its plan is to substitute the fiber to the home with fixed wireless. Advertisement Lawyers could parse this as 'Well, the initial three locations are FTTP so, technically... Verizon does provide one map where they state that they are 'considering' all or part of other adjacent areas and it shows other areas but the map says it is only 'illustrative' of potential future deployments. And Verizon continues saying it is considering all or part of some neighborhoods for the next deployments. And then we have the kicker - Verizon doesn't want to be tied down to any serious commitment. The word 'disingenuous' does not begin to cover Verizon's responses. In contrast, in our last article, we uncovered that Verizon was more interested in fixed wireless than wireline to the premises. On March, 31, 2016, Verizon Cellco Partners, D/B/A Verizon Wireless, signed a full, 71 page, detailed agreement (and appendixes) to offer wireless services, including DAS, (Distributed Antenna System; small cell, fiber-to-the-antenna)--in the City of Boston. Getting Rid of those Pesky Competitors and the Unions--Paid for by Low Income Families, Rural Areas, etc. 5G doesn't exist today. Period. It may or may not ever show up, and who knows what it will be able to do as currently it has a distance limitations of 300-500 feet and can't go through walls and has trouble with even lots of trees. Advertisement And 4G LTE was supposed to originally do 100 Mbps and the US average is less than 10 Mbps, according to multiple sources. But that doesn't seem to matter. Verizon's plan is to shut off the residential and business end user wires, keep the 'broadband data services' for private use - for wireless, and in the end, charge more for less. However, the 'cost savings' and getting rid of the unions are a high priority. If there are no fiber optic wires to be installed or maintained -- i.e., if the fiber to the home and the wiring in the home, etc., or to maintain and provide services over the copper wires (as the majority of wires are still copper) --are all going away--then the union jobs are slashed. Moreover, getting rid of the wires gets rid of competitors who rely on the wires. Who's paying for the wireless deployments? And the kicker here is that the fiber optics that will be installed are part of the state utility as "Title II" and are funded via local rates and special access excess profits - i.e., the wireline side of the business has been and will continue to 'cross-subsidize' the wireless expenses. Interestingly, the reality of what happens in Boston has implications in both Massachusetts as well as the rest of the East Coast. Advertisement "As Verizon moves forward with its Boston plans, the call to get FiOS in more cities will grow even louder. "Calls to bring FiOS to other Massachusetts towns and cities continues to rise. The mayors of Peabody and Salem sent Verizon a letter pleading with the telco to build out its FTTH service in their towns. With Comcast and satellite services being the only two service options, the city leaders of these North Shore towns say they continue to get requests from residents for an alternative service choice. "Outside of Massachusetts, 14 mayors on the East Coast called on Verizon previously to expand its FiOS FTTH network into more areas that have limited access to high speed services." And it appears that what's going on in Boston will make a whole bunch of cities that care about broadband and cable competition have a serious 'wake up' call. Unfortunately, this is the plan for the entire East Coast of America, and most of the country, as AT&T has similar, if not identical plans. Donald Trump's full-throated embrace of Putinism and Russian revanchism, with his comments that if the people of Crimea would like to secede from the Ukraine and become part of Russia that's an argument for letting Putin seize it by force - is a shocking flip-flop from his earlier complaints that President Obama was not resisting Russia effectively enough. Trump has now validated Putin's core theme - which was Hitler's in the 1930's - that a great power is entitled to seize from its neighbors areas inhabitated by ethnic relatives. It is hard to beat the mind-bending reality that Trump, who, along with campaign chair Paul Manafort and advisor Roger Stone was mentored by Roy Cohn, Joseph McCarthy's consiglieri in the 1950's red-scare, is now cozying up to former KGB Lt. Colonel Putin. During the Cold-War such an alliance would have provoked instant dismissal of Trump as a candidate, and heated debate over the exact nature of his alliance with the Kremlin. Fellow-traveler? Useful idiot? Agent of Influence? Mole? Or, in the case of John Frankenheimer's 1962 movie the Manchurian Candidate, a brain-washed Korean war veteran whose mission is to assassinate a President. Since Trump never served in the military, much less in a POW camp, we can rule brainwashing out as the source of his infatuation with Putin. Is it money? Moscow recently has relied on paid agents instead of leftist ones, so if Trump is driven by profit, this would not leave him an outlier among Moscow's Western assets. Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, raked in big dollars serving as the campaign manager for Putin's ally, Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych. Trump's key campaign advisor on Europe and Russia, Carter Page, has focused on investments in Russia with deep and continuing financial and employment ties to Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly through which Putin leverages Russian influence over the Ukraine and Europe. Page has taken the position that in spite of a Treaty signed by Russia, the Ukraine has no genuine right to independence, and that what Putin did in the Crimea was a "so-called annexation." Trump has repeatedly praised Russia's state-managed, kleptocratic economy as a great place to invest, a judgment in harsh contrast to the bitter experience of most Western companies. His son, Donald Jr. also differs, commenting that in Russia "It is a question of who knows who, whose brother is paying off who. . . . It really is a scary place." Trump does not appear ever to have landed a major Russian project. And Fortune pointed out that during most of the years Trump was trying to land hotel mega-projects in Russia, the hotel business was "sometimes quite literally-murderously competitive" with Western and Russian hotel developers alike being gunned down - not quite The Donald's cup of tea. But Donald Trump Jr. revealed in 2008 that Russian oligarchs are a major source of finance for Trump projects in other countries. "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." For example, in 2007, heavy Russian backing flowed into the Trump Soho mega project, including, according to court records, "a $50 million investment in Trump SoHo and three other Bayrock projects by an Icelandic firm preferred by wealthy Russians 'in favor with' President Vladimir V. Putin." Trump typically acts for his own financial bottom line. So even though Manafort this week denied that Trump had any financial interests in Russia or Russian funders, we should remain skeptical until Trump releases his tax returns. But money is not the only possible motivation, (beyond brain-washing), for Trump to serve as Putin's lap-dog. There is social climbing and status-seeking for one thing. Trump has lusted after a relationship with Putin for years. He mused on how marvelous it would be if Putin would reach out to him, repeatedly mentioning gifts Putin had sent. Typically, Donald cannot keep his stories straight on how close he got to Putin. In a Moscow 2013 interview Trump told MSNBC, "I do have a relationship, and I can tell you that he's very interested in what we're doing here today". In 2014 Trump reasserted, "I spoke indirectly and directly with President Putin, who could not have been nicer." In 2015 he claimed, "I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes." But last week he demurred. "I never met Putin. I don't know who Putin is. He said one nice thing about me," And "I have nothing to do with Putin. I've never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me." Putin, of course, knows whether Trump has met him. So if Trump is currently telling the truth, and his previous comments were BS, Trump is pathetically deluded when he asserts that "Putin will respect me." The third possibility is that Trump genuinely admires Putin's authoritarian style, cult of hyper-macho personality and chauvinistic nationalism. Trump's praise for Putin's Russia is long-standing, repeated and extensive. In 2007 Pravda picked up Trump's praise of Putin on the Larry King show. "Look at Putin - what he's doing with Russia - I mean, you know, what's going on over there. I mean this guy has done ... he's doing a great job." By Gabrielle Boucher of University of Tampa Three locations across Britain that offer amazing hiking experiences. When thinking of the British countryside, many picture smooth, rolling green hills and quaint little cottages. While this image is definitely accurate for the majority of the area, the region also possesses magnificent, majestic mountains that make for adventurous exploration sites. Great Britain can be defined as the island in the North Atlantic, composed of England, Scotland, and Wales. The temperate climate, high precipitation levels, and wide range of biodiversity help make the terrain rich with wildlife and geographically unique. Whether you're an adrenaline fiend who loves rugged landscapes and heart-dropping views, or a more mellow hiker who enjoys peaceful strolls and scenic views, Great Britain has it all. These three specific hiking destinations can cater to any type of hiker, whether you want a full weekend of hardcore adventure or just a nice place to enjoy a gorgeous afternoon walk. It is important to keep in mind that these places are quite secluded and difficult to reach by public transport. Major railways provide access to nearby local towns, but it is wise to plan a journey far in advance, as you will most likely need to book buses, ferries, or car rentals. Paying attention to the weather is also essential, as Great Britain often decided to throw rain, hail, snow, wind, fog, and ice at its inhabitants. Especially when climbing up to high elevations, it is pivotal to dress appropriately for cold temperatures and be prepared for any inclement weather. Keeping transportation and climate in mind, embarking on a trip to one of these gorgeous destinations is absolutely worth it, as incredible scenery and extraordinary adventures are inevitable. Advertisement Lake District, England Northwest England is home to the Lake District, a stunning area filled with forests, national parks, mountains, valleys, and of course, lakes. The vast land lies in the Cumbria region, where you can find numerous small villages in addition to natural beauty. A perfect place to absorb some classic English countryside, the Lake District is complete with spacious green fields, tumbling rivers and streams, and thriving wildlife. For those who crave a challenge, the tallest mountain in England also resides in this region. Scafell Pike stands at 3,209 feet, and can take an entire day to hike for those who are daring enough. However, the Lake District is packed with countless mountains and hills at different elevations, so rather than dedicating lots of time to trekking up one massive peak, it's easy to either hike a couple small mountains or just spend a few hours roaming through the endless hills. But no matter what type of hike you choose, you will undoubtedly experience the peaceful sense of serenity that lingers throughout the region. Snowdonia, Wales This national park resides in northern Wales, and is named after Mount Snowdon, the region's highest mountain. At 3,560 feet, hiking this enormous peak allows one to endure a challenging yet enjoyable journey up rocky slopes, around deep valleys, and over glassy lakes. The scenery of Snowdonia is absolutely breathtaking, and on a clear day, the mysterious yet magical landscape reveals itself in full. On lower grounds, one can witness sheep and wild ponies meandering lazily through the thick grass. From slightly higher lookout points, one can gaze at the panoramic view of the nearby villages and watch a tiny steam train chug through the mountain. At the height of the summit, one can marvel at the endless stretches of monstrous mountains on the horizon and admire the vibrant colors of the radiant earth. Advertisement Isle of Skye, Scotland Scotland is famous for its rugged highlands, but a true gem of this country is the largest island of the Inner Hebrides, known as the Isle of Skye. The hauntingly beautiful Cuillin Mountain Range dominates the center of the island, but these dramatic cliffs are only one of the natural attractions on Skye. Numerous hiking and exploring opportunities are scattered throughout the area, but there two exceptionally unique places are definitely worth visiting. First is The Storr, a famous hill located on the island's northeastern Trotternish peninsula. This rocky hike begins with manageable paths that wind smoothy through the earth, and can occupy more low-key hikers for a couple hours. Towards the middle of the incline is the well-known Old Man of Storr, or collection of gigantic, jagged, rocks that jet upwards from the hill. Continuing to climb upwards past this iconic scenery is great for the more ambitious hikers, as the highest point can eventually be reached at 2,359 feet. By Amanda Hackney of Pennsylvania State University Taking a Step Back in Time Via Ireland's Hidden Gem. The Aran Islands are hands-down home of Ireland's best attraction, and perhaps best-kept secret. They are composed of three different islands- Inis Mor (Inishmore), Inis Meain (Inishmaan) and Inis Oirr (Inisheer)- and are situated in Galway Bay in County Galway. Because they are not a part of mainland Ireland, many people do not take up residency on them. The largest island, Inis Mor, had a population count of 845 in 2011. In total, the islands are home to a mere 1,200 residents, making them a virtually untouched gem smack dab in the middle of the Wild Atlantic Way. They are so removed that the people who live on them speak and use the Irish language in their daily lives, but are fluent in English when tourists come along. They also must travel mainland for a majority of resources. So, how does one get to these remote islands? From Galway, the options are taking an hour-long ferry, or 8-minute plane ride to Inis Mor, the most popular island. Keep in mind that this is not a typical plane; it is best described as a van with wings and is available through Aer Arann. There are four rows (one row for the pilot) and the passengers sit directly behind him. It is very possible to pat the captain on the head- that is how small this plane truly is. But, it is worth the 8-minutes of questionable comfort to reach the island in a timely fashion. And the incredible view makes for a great distraction. Upon arriving on the island of Inis Mor, it is best to either hop into a bus or rent a bike in order to sightsee. There are an abundant amount of Celtic monuments and churches, wildlife, stonewalls, and cliffs to be seen and appreciated. Dun Aonghasa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the most popular tourist attraction. It is a fort situated on 300-foot cliffs and the view out into the never-ending ocean is absolutely stunning. Advertisement The cliffs are so intense on Inis Mor that is has been named as a location for the Red Bull Cliff Diving competition. Along with that competition, many festivals are hosted here throughout the year, including the popular Ted Fest in Feburary, which celebrates a popular TV character in Ireland. While this may not make sense to people who do not live in Ireland, Ted Fest is so popular that it usually sells out in September, the month that tickets go on sale. So while many may not know who Ted is, his festival is obviously a good time. Besides taking in the views and exploring historical ruins, there is plenty to do on the island for the day. The Aran Islands (surprise, surprise) are home to the Aran Sweater. Shops featuring this super warm wool are sprinkled throughout the islands, and offer sweaters, hats, gloves and scarves, amongst other things. There are also authentic, rural pubs that serve amazing homemade food and play legitimate traditional Irish music, usually in the native Irish language. There are a few Bed and Breakfasts, hostels and even camping accommodations. Many tourists do not stay for the night, but it is rumored t hat those who do receive special treatment from the locals in terms of drinks, laughs and stories. A day exploring the Aran Islands, especially Inis Mor, gives visitors the chance to experience old-school Ireland. This is the land where the Celts planted their roots, and it is apparent all over the islands. The Irish language is still very prominent. The ruins are untouched by litter or tourists. They are no fancy bars, restaurants or shops. The air is so clean that simply breathing it in makes air everywhere else in the world seem questionable. Not many people have the chance to experience such a magical place, either because it's simply not on their radar or because they are terrified of tiny planes. Take the chance and visit these remote islands. Breathe in the air. Take in the views. Drink a Bailey's hot chocolate while overlooking the ocean. It is impossible not to have an unbelievable experience on the Aran Islands. By Evan Przesiecki of Carleton University The accessible 170km route traditionally encircles Western Europe's highest mountain, crosses through 3 different countries and introduces walkers to some of the most dramatic alpine scenery in the world. The Tour du Mont Blanc encircles the Mont Blanc massif - the so-called "Monarch of the Alps", that serves as an ambitious feat for almost 20, 000 ambitious climbers every year. While the mountain itself, often cited as one of the deadliest in Europe, is not for the faint of heart, the routes that surround the massif, beg adventurers from all walks of life to explore its mighty slopes. The scenery is imposing, dramatic and undeniably spectacular, but most importantly is also accessible. The Tour du Mont Blanc is a walk that doesn't require technical skills, has plenty of accommodation and is well-marked for the tens of thousands that walk the trail every year. For the adventurous solo traveller that is looking for a ten-day getaway and good introduction to long distance walking in the alps, there is nowhere to look further. Advertisement Here are six reasons why we think the Tour du Mont Blanc should be your first solo hike: 1) The trail is well-marked The main route is the most popular long distance alpine walk in Europe. Walkers have been encircling the mountain's well-trodden trails since the 1760s. The main trail itself is visible and difficult to stray off of, but most importantly for first-time walkers doesn't require a heavy reliance on the use of a compass or map reading - so long as the weather is cooperative. Yellow signs are labelled at the intersection of every trail on the TMB. There are plenty of way-markers too, on trees, rocks and even buildings, that are painted white with a red horizontal line across the middle to mark the main route. Those who live in the villages along the TMB are all too familiar with questions from walkers in the summer months and are more than familiar with the trails and waymarkers. They are also very friendly and very willing to help tourists from all over the world. Out of all the problems to occur on a Mont Blanc trek, getting lost is rarely one of them. I recommend purchasing what I fondly remember many trekkers calling, "The Bible": Kev Reynolds' The Tour of Mont Blanc: Complete Two-Way Trekking Guide. I can guarantee almost every English speaker on the trail has this book in their backpack. It's the definitive and standard guide to the route, filled with day-by-day maps, accommodation lists and info about the varying routes. You don't need to be skilled with map-reading for this book. It's a very detailed and concise guide. Advertisement 2) It's a walk The trail and its alternatives are underneath the shadows of Mont Blanc's mighty peak, but there isn't any actual technical climbing involved. Each day you'll be walking up to high alpine ridges, but there isn't any need for expensive gear. There's no helmets needed, no harnesses and no ropes necessary. The Tour du Mont Blanc ultimately isn't a steep trek. This may come to the surprise of some because of its location in moderately high alpine territory. Nonetheless, you will be walking up high ascents for hours - do some training and come physically prepared for the long walk. Also, be prepared to invest in some good hiking boots with solid ankle support. 3) There's plenty of accommodation A number of mountain huts have been built around the mountain, which creates numerous benefits to those attempting to complete the long distance route. For one, those who want to pack light don't need to bring extra baggage for a tent, cooking utensils or too much food. There's on average a mountain hut every 10 kilometres on the route which will provide hearty, local cuisine and comfortable accommodation each night. You can actually drink water from some streams that flow from alpine glaciers. You don't get that in the city, do you? The variety and multitude of the huts also allows walkers a lot of lee way to customize their itinerary. The beauty of the TMB that makes it attractive to first-time walkers is that it can be done in a variety of ways - clockwise around Mont Blanc, counter-clockwise, or you don't even have to do the entire route at all. At the halfway point of each route are two cities -- Courmayeur, Italy, and Chamonix, France. You can start or end your trip here. Each have accessible public transport to major cities and airports. The TMB attracts tens of thousands of people every year. It's no wonder there is so much accommodation. Despite the immense popularity of the route, I walked the TMB in high season (early August) and was able to book accommodation when I arrived at the huts on the day-of. I didn't have to be bound by a reservation, which gave me ease of mind during my hike (I'm not an Olympian, after all). I truly could go at my own pace. But for peace of mind, you can always request a hut owner to call another hut for next-day or same-day reservations. 4) You cross through 3 different countries Three. In one walk. It doesn't matter where you start your hike, whether it's in France, Switzerland or Italy. There's no formal start or end point. In the morning, you could be eating French cheese and in the evening you could be having a hearty plate of pasta in Italy. The closeness of all three cultures is a symbol of what makes travel through Europe truly spectacular. Since all countries are all a part of the European Union, you don't need to cross a formal border or apply for any special visas. You could literally ascend over a mountain in one country and descend into another country without noticing. Advertisement 5) The views are breathtaking The TMB is a high route. Rather than walking through the valleys between the peaks surrounding the Mont Blanc, you're on the slopes of the mountain itself. You're at level with some of Europe's highest alpine peaks and some of the most picturesque alpine lakes in France. The vastness and isolation from city life is something you would only think you can read about in adventure novels. It's a dramatic, ambitious landscape. It's no wonder thousands come here every year. 6) You're never really alone There's long stretches on the trail, but because of the popularity of the TMB worldwide, you're always bound to find another walker. You might even see the same people everyday if they're following an itinerary similar to yours. If you're ever lost, there's almost always an experienced hiker on your trail. Yet, because the trails are so many and vast, the popularity of the route never really shows. You won't see hundreds of people on the trail at a time, so there's a bit of solitude too, if you'd like. Notes -The Tour du Mont Blanc is first and foremost a walk, not a climb. Climbing the Mont Blanc massif is a whole other story and should never be attempted unless you have serious mountaineering experience under your belt. The Mont Blanc takes lives every year - most often because of unpreparedness. -That being said, any hike through mountainous terrain poses risks. Despite the well-marked trails and the amount of accommodation and people on the trail, weather conditions can increase the difficulty of the trail in a second. Always have a map, a guidebook and don't brave a day's walk if there is thunder. PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 26: Bernie Sanders supporters gather at FDR Park on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to listen to the nominations results being announced on July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The convention is expected to attract thousands of protesters, members of the media and Democratic delegates to the City of Brotherly Love. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) This past week has been a veritable rollercoaster ride leading up to and during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Here's the run down: It began with the WikiLeaks DNC email revelations which confirmed what many Bernie Sanders supporters, and even the candidate himself, have been saying for months: the primaries were rigged by the Democratic establishment to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton. Advertisement The resignation and exclusion of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC chair was a purely symbolic, face-saving attempt by the DNC which failed at reconciling with Bernie supporters and assuaging any of their concerns. Instead those concerns were doubled by the selection of TPP Fast Track supporter, Tim Kaine (D-VA) as the vice-presidential nominee. This, along with the recent assertion by Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) that Hillary would flip flop back to her original TPP support, does not bode well for attempts at unification with progressives. Their sentiment was on national display day one of the convention. Hundreds of Sanders delegates inside Wells Fargo Arena, and tens-of-thousands of supporters outside, let their outrage be seen and heard by turning their backs to the stage, holding up anti-TPP signs and booing nearly every time Clinton or Kaine's names were mentioned (save Michelle Obama's speech, naturally, nothing against FLOTUS). Not even Bernie Sanders could convince his supporters to fall in line with the Clinton coronation, as earlier in the day he heard boos when endorsing the Democratic ticket. Of course, that didn't mean they'd lost their support for him. During his keynote speech, Bernie received the longest and loudest ovation of the night, lasting nearly three minutes, typically the response reserved only for Party nominees. Advertisement Day two was just as bumpy. Following rousing, impassioned speeches by Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), and other Sanders surrogates (former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner was removed from the speaking list) the much-anticipated and largely ceremonial roll call vote was held. In that vote (decided earlier that morning during a DNC sponsored breakfast) superdelegates were included in pledged delegate totals to once again create the optics of a much larger Clinton victory. Nearly 90 percent of superdelegates cast their vote for Hillary, meaning, without their votes, she was 177 delegate votes shy of the 2,383 required. This spectacle culminated with Bernie Sanders' home state of Vermont electing to read their votes last and Bernie himself proposing to concede his delegates and the nomination to Hillary Clinton by acclamation, as she did for then-Senator Obama in 2008. Bernie then proceeded back up the stairs of the arena. (The following day, Bernie said he would be leaving the Democratic Party and returning to the Senate as an Independent saying, "I was elected as an Independent.") Unknown to Bernie, many of his delegates, and many of his supporters nationally, did the same. Immediately following the formal roll call nomination of Hillary Clinton, a majority of Sanders delegates rose from their seats and exited the arena, some having their credentials stripped as they left. For them, the convention is over, and so is their Democratic Party membership. DNC officials were scrambling to find ways to fill in the empty delegate seats to keep the Hillary love-fest running as smoothly as possible from here on out. Thanks to their MSM friends not showing the hollowed out sections on day two and most of the Sanders delegates seats being filled by Clinton-supporting spectators on day three, they'll probably succeed in their optical illusion to a unengaged public. The progressives and Independents who overwhelmingly supported Bernie this primary season, however, are not fooled. They will not be led down the corrupt Clinton path. They will not hold there noses any longer to vote for a lesser evil. They will seek out the greater good instead. They are, ironically, taking the advice of angry Clinton supporters and Democratic party elites by leaving the party their ideals were never welcome in to begin with. Perhaps Jill Stein and the Green Party will be more inclusive. Advertisement The Democratic Party's progressive base, its ideological soul, has walked out. Good luck getting it back. Dear Mr. Vice President: I am a teacher, and teachers made me who I am. The teachers who Jill knows who take money out of their own pockets to buy pencils and notebooks for their students who can't afford them. Why? Because being a teacher is not what they do, it is who they are. You know what I know, for real. These are the people that are the heart and soul of this country. You are right. Teachers are the heart and soul of this country. What other profession has so much influence over our young people? Children enter our schools in kindergarten, often unable to read, write, or understand that eating glue sticks is a bad idea. They leave as adults, ready to contribute to their own communities. Over their thirteen years in school, students encounter teachers whose interest in their development goes far beyond standardized test scores. Advertisement Every adult can look back at a teacher who made a positive impact. Sometimes that impact is a passion for a specific subject area. Mrs. Nugent and Mr. Pitcher sparked my love for Latin, the subject I now teach. Sometimes that impact transcends content and curriculum. In 2014, nearly 30 years after she had me as a social studies student, Mrs. Winstead attended the sentencing of my childhood perpetrator and supported me as I gave my victim impact statement in court. In that moment, I was still her student; she was still my teacher. Teachers are the voice that drowns out childhood insecurity and self-doubt, transforming "I'm not good enough" into "I believe in myself." Teachers show children what the world should be, promoting in their classrooms the respect, equity, and empathy that is often missing in their students' communities. My own teachers made me feel special and valued when I was an awkward kid with a unibrow and a perpetually stuffy nose. Even more fundamental, their classrooms were safe when my home wasn't. My experience is not unique. It is part of growing up and attending school in America. Thank you for using your platform to explain what teaching is all about. I am a teacher, and teachers made me who I am. Best, As the tug-o-war pulling apart Europe's political, social and economic cohesion plays out on the fringes -- with the improbable Brexit vote on one side and the failed coup in Turkey on the other -- forced solidarity is being called into question by an increasing number of once loyal countries. The once minuscule cracks in the European edifice are becoming chasms of national sentiment auguring a right-wing resurgence sweeping across the continent. Nonetheless, with Brexit now a done deal and Turkey's prospects of becoming a fully-fledged EU member diminishing, a leaner, right-sized EU can emerge. Financial centers like Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt are at the centre of this transformation, as they jockey to respond to economic uncertainty in the City of London and among global financial institutions. The central countries of France and Germany are ever more important to Europe's continued integration. Critically, the ability of Europe's political leaders to offer their citizens a vision beyond status quo is key in this debate. The Brits, not unlike the Scandinavians to the north, have always had a degree of "separate but equal" in terms of popular attitudes towards Europe's core, as well as tepid adoption of the EU's strictures. Proving that values matter most when they are least convenient, Europe's fragmentation began in earnest with the onset of the global financial crisis, whereby spendthrift countries like Greece exhausted financial goodwill in Brussels giving rise to deep national sentiments. The migration crisis, which has been exacerbated by Europe's inability to mount a principled and coherent response to its humanitarian obligations, shows the depth of these challenges. Denmark, for example, has passed a controversial law seizing migrant's valuable articles to help finance their stay in the country. Denmark went as far as running ad campaigns in the Levant warning would be migrants that Denmark was no paradise. Whether this has been enforced matters less than the signal it sends to Europe's already vilified Muslim populations and its neighboring countries in the Middle East and Levant. Indeed, this type of law and the lack of cohesion in the EU's response to the migration crisis reveals dangerous fissures in pan-European security. Advertisement Indeed, real and perceived threats to public safety are a top most concern for law enforcement and security professionals fueling further tendencies for disintegration. Set against a background of increasingly audacious terror attacks, like the November 13 Bataclan massacre in Paris, the airport bombings in Brussels and Ankara and, most recently, the tragic attacks in Nice and Munich, it would appear Europe is in the cross-hairs of homegrown sleeper cells, disaffected citizens and trans-national terror. Motivated by a vile ideology of hate promulgated by ISIS and its social media strategy, proves that 21st century threats do not recognize borders. The EU is also falling prey to more traditional geopolitical threats from an increasingly belligerent Russia. Emboldened by its successful annexation of Crimea, Moscow exerts its hard and soft power over the region through its steadfast backing of Assad's regime in Syria to its "paycheck persuasion" as a chief energy supplier, Europe is very much feeling the frostbite of a low-grade Cold War. All the while the deterrent force behind NATO, Europe's pax guarantor, is showing perilous signs of amnesia and inefficacy in the face of unprecedented man-made risks. Indeed, across the Atlantic in a much less United States' roiled by its own internal strife, Trump's latest campaign promise to have the U.S. leave NATO is perhaps his most ominous yet. When political figures reveal who they are, we must believe them the first time and these dangerous campaign pledges would be a profound setback to global security and integration. As more and more countries question the value of integration, Europe's political will to quite literally hold it together and its people's ability to abide by social change may once again set an example for the world. This phase need not be a tale of winners and losers, but rather a tale of the EU's right-sizing and improved alignment to the vision and values of the EU charter. Selling this bill of goods to an increasingly skeptical public requires offering a vision beyond status quo of what it means to be European, what long range social cohesion looks like and which cities will emerge as global economic centers. Advertisement Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton accepts the nomination on the fourth and final night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young The scale and character of U.S. military action overseas didn't figure much in the Democratic Party's internal debate on the choice of a presidential candidate, but with that choice resolved it needs to figure now. Indeed, the question of what constitutes a progressive foreign policy needs to move center-stage -- and to do so with as much haste as we can muster. Why? Partly because, as we saw in Cleveland, the Republicans are going to make defense policy a big issue in the fall. They are going to present themselves as the party of "peace through strength," as Ronald Reagan did before them, promising a bigger military and a more bellicose foreign policy - all in the name of greater American security. The 2016 Democratic Party platform may have been uncharacteristically brief on foreign policy, largely offering more of the same if Hillary Clinton replaces Barak Obama; but the equivalent Republican platform was not. It was long. It was angry. It was critical, and it was bellicose. Advertisement Partly because the overseas role of the US military since 2008 is among the least satisfactory elements in the Obama legacy. It is acceptable neither to progressives wanting a degree of military disengagement nor to conservatives wanting the Obama administration to carry on where the Bush Administration had left off. So the overseas role of the US military has become the one part of the legacy that needs to change most if the next president is to reduce US exposure abroad and weakness at home. And partly because Hillary Clinton's past record suggests that by temperament she is more hawkish on foreign policy than is the president she served as Secretary of State. (Certainly that was the way she chose to present herself in Philadelphia: as a strong and steady commander-in-chief with a partially military solution to ISIS in her sights.) So unless she is persuaded to change her stance, her presidency is likely to compound rather than to rectify a set of foreign policy weaknesses that stretch back through all previous presidents from Reagan on. Leading Republicans regularly tell us that the Obama Administration is directly responsible for the existence and growth of ISIS, and that the US is threatened by radical jihadists now because of a failure by the Obama Administration to maintain a sufficiently large and active military role in the Middle East. John McCain has even gone so far as to tie the contemporary threat posed by ISIS to the Administration's decision to pull US forces out of Iraq. But he, and they, could not be more wrong; and because that is so, all of us would do well to reflect instead upon the following. I The current problems of the Middle East are not the fault of the Obama administration, no matter how often Donald Trump says or implies that they are. The problems of the Middle East run far back in time, as any serious reflection on history must demonstrate: arguably stretching back at least to the years of the Ottoman Empire if not further, and certainly to the artificiality of the states created in the region under British and French leadership after the First World War. The United States is now the dominant imperial power in the region, but it is not the first: and the most recent American contribution to Middle Eastern politics - the role of US foreign policy in entirely destabilizing the region - only really began with the Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq in 2003, the illegitimacy of which has just been underscored in London by the publication of the Chilcot Inquiry Report. ISIS was not created by Obama-style military weakness. Donald Trump is quite wrong on that. ISIS was formed out of al Qaeda-in-Iraq on George W. Bush's watch and well before McCain's much-vaunted surge of troops, first in Iraq under Bush and then in Afghanistan under Obama. Advertisement Far from being too inactive abroad militarily, the US is currently trapped by excessive amounts of military action into a series of on-going wars, no one of which is in any military sense being won. Obama's opposition to the Iraq War, and his initial hope for a rapprochement with the Islamic world, have not prevented the US military - on his watch - from being sucked back into Iraq, from being trapped still in Afghanistan, and from being now heavily engaged in a series of proxy wars in Libya, the Yemen and the horn of Africa. As recently as July 12, the Obama administration added another 560 troops to the 3,500 US special forces already in Iraq; and this is just the latest example of a now clearly established trend that will, among other things, keep thousands of US troops in Afghanistan through 2017. America's wars in the Middle East may be becoming less visible at home, but they remain nonetheless very real on the ground. President Obama came into office expecting to roll back American military commitments overseas, and indeed won the Nobel Peace Prize for his good intentions. But perhaps to his own surprise, and certainly "to the deep disappointment of his former supporters," he has ended up "overseeing the largest military budget since WWII, an eight-fold increase in drone strikes" and the authorization of "special forces operations in at least 134 countries." The human and financial costs of this string of overt and covert military operations have been, and remain, enormous. They are enormous in financial terms. The United States alone has spent $6 trillion on military activity in the Middle East since 2001, and will continue to spend massively there in the future unless policy is fundamentally changed. The human cost is more enormous still - a cost borne, it should be noted, primarily by the civilian populations of the region. (Even in the recent ISIS-related terrorist outrage in Nice, one-third of those who died were Muslims.)The western press goes into hyper-drive whenever a terrorist attack kills civilians in Belgium, France or the United States - indeed, that hyper-drive is one reasons for the attacks being made - but is now almost immune to the far more regular and large-scale slaughter of the innocents being experienced in Arab towns and cities in the Middle East and in Muslim communities around the world. The US military have lost 6000 dead in the Middle East since 2003 and at least 100,000 wounded, and maybe as many as 500,000 veterans are continuing to suffer physical and mental illnesses linked to their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. But terrible as those numbers are, they are nowhere near the figures we have (or can safely conjecture) for civilian deaths in the region, for civilian mental trauma there (especially among children), and for long-time civilian disabilities directly related to the on-going military conflicts. If recent reports are accurate, the number of civilians killed in the Middle East since 2003 is probably running somewhere between one and two million in total. The Obama solution to fighting wars without American boots on the ground continues to raise profound moral issues, and to tarnish America's image abroad. Instead of putting large numbers of American soldiers into the field of battle, the US has settled into a series of air-strikes to degrade ISIS's capacity on the ground, supplemented by executive-authorized judicial killings, the widespread use of military drones, and the expansion of black-ops by US special-forces. But waging war invisibly and from a distance in this manner does not make that way of waging war in some new sense "clean." On the contrary, these new forms of US military engagement remain morally problematic, or even "dirty." For air-strikes are doing more than degrading ISIS. They are degrading the physical fabric of entire Arab cities. They, and the drones that accompany them, are killing innocent citizens just as effectively as they are killing ISIS militants. The Administration may low-ball the number of such collateral casualties - the real numbers are likely far higher than the Administration has reluctantly conceded - but the existence of such collateral damage is not itself in dispute. All that collateral damage might be worthwhile (or at least tolerable in American eyes) if US military expenditure and activity produced the direct results required. But it doesn't; and it won't. The track record of the US military since 1945 is not an impressive one. Korea was a draw. Vietnam was an outright loss. The invasion of Iraq simply generated a quagmire, and "after 13 years, two wars and trillions in military spending, terrorist attacks are rising sharply....worldwide from less than 1,200 in 2000 to nearly 10,000 in 2013." Even countries once thought secure, like Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban, are now in doubt again. For as Richard Falk has wisely argued, "the truth is that the forces of national resistance in country after country in the South can outlast their Northern interveners despite their military inferiority and subjugation...as the Afghan saying goes, 'you have the watches, we have the time'." America learned that lesson in Vietnam, and is learning it again now. Instead of success in any obvious military or political terms, almost 15 years of permanent warfare by the United States in both the Middle East and parts of Africa have left only "an expanding series of failed states, spreading terror movements, wrecked cities [and] countries hemorrhaging refugees." If this is success, then what would failure look like? This set of outcomes can hardly have been what George W. Bush had in mind when he announced "mission accomplished." Moreover, to a significant degree we are a target for ISIS because ISIS is a target for us. They are attacking us because we are attacking them, in the process helping to sustain their central narrative and claim for legitimacy - that of warriors against a crusader west. ISIS-inspired attacks against France and Russia can and should be similarly explained. For it is surely time for us to recognize that there is no way in which we can prevent isolated terror attacks by radicalized jihadists here at home unless we stop adding to their number with every military action we take. Nor can we easily prevent disturbed individuals getting hold of lethal armory and using it to kill and maim US citizens, unless we block access to those weapons by the native-born disturbed and the radicalized. And we do need to keep a clear sense of scale here, if only to lower the level of fear and panic. From the start of 2002 to the end of 2015, at most some "38 Americans have been killed in the U.S. by Islamic terrorists, lone wolves, or whacked-out individuals professing allegiance to Islamic fundamentalism," while more than 400,000 Americans died from gun-related crimes in that same period. The United States is currently pursuing a military strategy against ISIS that Fareed Zakaria characterized as "whack-a-mole:" pounding ISIS strongholds from the air with huge quantities of munitions. But to the degree that whack-a-mole is working, it is not destroying ISIS. It is simply pushing ISIS back onto the very guerrilla tactics that make civilian life in potential western city-targets ever more insecure. Advertisement The biggest threat to the safety of US citizens at home does not come from radical jihadists. It comes from home-grown terrorists of a racist or homophobic disposition. For contrary to the impression often given by Donald Trump and his conservative allies, not all overseas terrorist incidents are ISIS-related. Nor does the main source of violent death in US towns and cities these days come from foreign fighters, or even from radicalized misfits at home. The evidence is clear: "since September 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims." Which is why yet another argument for pulling back from so major a role in the fight against ISIS is the distraction one: namely that current US military action abroad is compounding a danger at home that already exists, and in doing so is merely distracting policy-makers from the more urgent need to address domestic internal sources of violence and insecurity. II I realize that the relative silence on these matters at the 2016 Democratic Party convention was not simply a product of short-term electoral concerns. It was also a reflection of the difficult underlying reality in play here: namely that - whether progressives like it or not - ISIS is now a threat, that the threat which ISIS poses is now growing, and that policy to reverse that threat is neither easy to design nor obvious to spot. But what is obvious, at least from a progressive perspective, is that containing ISIS will require a fundamental resetting of US military policy abroad, since the one thing that we do now know is that present American policy is only making the ISIS problem worse. Several things follow. One is that here in the United States we do now need - and need as a matter of urgency - a renewed and extensive public conversation about the character and scale of US military involvement overseas, focusing particularly on the adequacy of drone warfare and of covert operations. We need a public debate that is sufficiently wide as to allow us to explore the possibility that airstrikes, drones and special ops are collectively counter-productive in the fight against ISIS. As Richard Falk recently put it: "this is the Rubicon that no Democrat, including Sanders, has dared yet to cross: the acknowledgement that military intervention no longer works as an instrument of American foreign policy and should not be used as the first line of response to challenges emerging overseas, especially in the Middle East." Advertisement We need to return to a foreign policy that anchors US military activities inside existing legitimate international agencies, alliances and institutions, instead of disregarding those institutions in favor of ad-hoc US-initiated and led "coalitions of the willing." Prior to 2003, turning to institutional institutions was often the first and normal response by US presidents to major international flare-ups. We went to NATO about Kosovo. We went to the United Nations about Afghanistan. We even went to the UN for a second resolution authorizing military action against Saddam Hussein. We did so then, and we need to do so again now: not least in order to bring US policy into line with what ISIS has now become - a problem of significance for all major powers, and not just for the United States and its immediate allies. One corollary of that use of NATO and the UN was a sharing of global power with other significant international players. That is a sharing that was commonplace before 1989. Before 1989, the United States recognized a division of global authority that left huge swathes of Eastern Europe and northern Asia beyond its control and responsibility. It is only since 1989, with the Cold War over, that policy-makers in Washington DC seem to have settled into the mindset that every global problem is America's, and that being America's, is theirs alone to solve. It is a mindset from which we need to step back. Because all the problems out there in the world are not America's alone to own and to solve, and those that are ours are often compounded whenever the US makes a predominantly military and unilateral response to them. We need to replace our current governing imperial mind-set with a foreign military stance that prioritizes intelligence gathering at home and abroad - intelligence gathering designed to monitor and check the development of radical Islamic networks. We need to replace a preoccupation with nation-building overseas with the rebuilding of our national infrastructure at home; and we need incrementally to shift the center of gravity of our manufacturing and engineering sectors away from military to civilian production, and away from the export of high-quality arms to the export of high-quality non-lethal consumer goods. We need, that is, incrementally to retreat from the mind-set of Empire. Changing direction in this fashion will not be easy. Political memories are short, and the majority of American voters are now too young to remember the Cold War at its height, let alone the world before Pearl Harbor. It is so easy to "sell" to the American electorate the idea of the United States as the world's only global policeman because, for most Americans, that policy stance is all they have ever known. But there is a strong, if little discussed, case for changing that policy stance: for pulling the United States back from an ever-expanding military role overseas, for returning the problems of the Middle East to the United Nations for their resolution, and for sharing the governance of the international order with other international agencies and with other great powers. As the rhetoric of the presidential campaign reinforces the drift to permanent war, it is a case that progressives need to make - and make loudly and on a very regular basis. Philadelphia Sen. Patty Murray D-Wash, is just ecstatic about the prospect of working with a possible President Hillary Clinton on expanding access to early-childhood education, she said in an interview here during the Democratic National Convention. The two share a passion for the policy. Murray, a former preschool teacher and the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, pushed hard for the inclusion of the Preschool Development Grant program in the Every Student Succeeds Act. But it sounds like shes optimistic that she might be able to go even further, or get more money for the program, in a potential Clinton administration. I just say the words to her, early childhood education. And she says, What do we need to do? This is a passion for her. Murray said the differences between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Clinton on education policy couldnt be more stark. Theyre night and day, she said. Throughout her career Secretary Clinton has made this a top priority. She knows the policies inside and out. ... Donald Trump would roll back all the progress weve made. Murray served on the Senate education committee with Clinton, and from the sounds of it, Clintons reputation as a policy wonk is earned. She showed up for work every day, Murray said. She did the back work to understand the policies. Education Committee There are rumors swirling that Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and Clintons one-time rival for the nomination, would like to step into the top Democratic slot on the Senate education committee. That means he would either become the ranking member, which is Murrays gig now, or if the Democrats take over the Senate, the chairman. Sanders is the second-ranking member of the panel, so this is a possibility if Murray were to decide to run for Whip (the No. 2 position in the Senate) or move up to the helm, or top Democratic position, on the powerful Appropriations Committee, or both. We wrote about the ins-and-outs of this back in May , and the Washington Post explored it in further depth last week . Murray told me shes not speculating about the future. There are other critical issues that demand her attention right now, she explained. Earlier, at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, I asked Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who, along with Murray, formed the dynamic duo that got ESSA over the finish line whether he thought he could have as productive a partnership with Sanders as he has with Murray. Its hard enough for me to deal with all the politics in the Republican party, let alone the Democratic politics. Thats up to the Democratic caucus., said Alexander, chairman of the Senate education committee, adding, Ive said many times that we wouldnt have a new education law fixing No Child Left Behind if it hadnt been for Patty Murray. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., celebrates Clintons nomination with other women senators. Deanna Del Ciello for Education Week. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . No, really, says Michelle Dockery, there is kinship between Lady Mary Crawley, whom she played on Downton Abbey, and Letty Raines, whom she plays on TNT's upcoming Good Behavior. Dockery presumably is not referring to the scene in the first Good Behavior episode where Raines sits in her underwear in a low-rent hotel room, smoking herself into crack cocaine oblivion just before the man from whom she has stolen $50,000 bursts into the room and jams a gun in her face. I just don't seem to remember that ever happening in Downton Abbey. Dockery did acknowledge to TV writers in Beverly Hills Sunday that Good Behavior, which premieres Nov. 15, has a different ambience, and she says that's exactly what she wanted. Advertisement "I was fortunate that something so different from what I did for the last six years came my way," she said. "When I read the script, I fell in love with the character and the story. "It was like nothing else I'd ever read before. Letty is exhilarating. She's so raw and fascinating to play. I've loved every minute of it, and I hope it continues." So does TNT, which like other Turner networks is transitioning from mostly breezy dramas to tales that are darker and more intense. But executive producer Blake Crouch, on whose novella series Good Behavior is based, told writers this isn't just an extended girl-gone-wild video. It's really a love story, he said, which begins when Letty meets the man with the gun, professional hitman Javier (Juan Diego Botto) (above). Advertisement Needless to say, it's a rather different kind of love story than that of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. This time he's a killer, while she's a thief and a junkie. So they have some issues to work out. "It's two lone wolves who crash into each other and are trying to redeem each other," says executive producer Chad Hodge. "It's a totally f---ed-up love story." If their path gets rocky, though, says Hodge, it will also include a lot of humor and significant interaction with several other characters, including Letty's parole officer Christian (Terry Kinney) - did we mention she just got out of jail? - and her mother Estelle (Lusia Strus). Estelle has custody of Letty's son Jacob, a situation that Estelle feels has saved Jacob's life and Letty feels has deprived her of her son. It's a point of some tension, while incidentally proving that there are parents who see even less of their children than British royals. "The mother and daughter story is wonderful to watch," says Dockery, adding that the obstacles Letty faces are where she becomes reminiscent of Lady Mary. Advertisement "They're both strong women," says Dockery. "There are parallels there." National Geographic's upcoming series Mars may only show a fake landing on the Red Planet, but make no mistake, say its creators: A real-life landing is coming soon. "There will be a Mars mission by 2033," says Everardo Gout, director of the part-documentary/part-scripted series that premieres in November. "They will fly every two years, because that's when the planets are in close enough alignment." Stephen Petranek, author of the book How to Live on Mars that inspired the series, says that within a few decades a million earthlings could have relocated to Mars. Advertisement Whether or not that's a precisely accurate figure or timetable, it does suggest the word "Mars" at some point will no longer be a synonym for "as unthinkably far away as you can get." To Petranek, Mars is not only a wholly feasible adventurer's fantasy, but a place we need to reach and colonize as quickly as possible. "At some point, humans on Earth will face extinction," says Petranek. "Whether it's from an asteroid or a viral plague or a volcano or something else. The only way we can ensure our survival is to have a viable population on another planet." In fact, Petranek says, "Mars is just a stepping-stone" to the places we really need to reach, perhaps in other galaxies light years away. But for the moment, we need to make Mars our starter colony. Advertisement That said, Gout notes that his series isn't about the science of getting to and living on a planet that's really really cold. "I knew about the technology, but making a film about that doesn't really interest me," he says. "I wanted to tell the human story, what happens with the people who go there. So I was very excited to get the call saying National Geographic wanted to do that, too." Mars will toggle back and forth between the present and 2033, opening with a 2033 scene in which the first manned landing mission is seconds from touching down. "What would that landing be like?" Gout says. "What happens when you step out? What are the nuts and bolts of it?" He stresses we will not see a Gilligan's Island-like cast getting all zany when they touch down. The crew that makes that first mission, he says, will be highly trained astronauts. Advertisement "They will have spent a year just training in space," he says. "Remember, the trip to Mars takes 7-8 months, where they will basically be bouncing around inside a tin can. We have to know the effect that will have. "They also have to be trained in all aspects of the mission, because they will have no outside support. Everyone has to be a mechanic, a medic, an engineer, a technician." Gout and others involved with Mars note that in real life, several entities are working on the logistics of the journey. The most important right now, says Gout, are Elon Musk's SpaceX project and NASA. In the end, he says, they will have to work together, along with other private companies and space agencies in other countries. "None of them can do it alone," says Gout. "SpaceX, for example, is focusing on the rockets," while NASA has developed a machine that generates oxygen. Advertisement With all this coming together, then, would Gout himself like to go to Mars? "Yes," he says after a short pause, "if I could get a return ticket. I probably wouldn't go now because I wouldn't leave my daughter behind. But if we could both go, take a kind of extended vacation, yes, I would strongly consider it. New York, NY - As the story goes, he was 21 years old, completely broke, living and working out of his parent's garage in New Zealand and in just 4 short years started a wildly successful consulting business, moved to Manhattan and made over 10 million dollars. That's Sam Ovens' "overnight success" achievement. "There are massive grey areas on the topic and practice of starting a consulting business as well as how to get clients. To date nobody has brought clarity to these practices and most people have been operating using hope and chance. I developed proven methods and practices for starting and growing successful consulting businesses and now I help others with my information and advice." OVENS International is an E-Learning company that helps people start and grow their own consulting businesses. Throughout his own journey Sam realized that traditional advice is wrong. "I had to go against the status quo and now I teach others my methods so that they can achieve success too" he says. Advertisement What drives you to ensure results? "I experienced massive pain going through this myself, I wanted to start and grow my own consulting business but couldn't find any accurate information or advice. I had to navigate dangerous waters on my own without a compass or a map. I want to make sure that others don't have to go through what I went through myself." "I am obsessed with areas of the world where conventional wisdom is wrong and the madness of crowds form the status quo. Massive opportunity is hidden in areas where the masses are wrong but the minority is right because eventually the masses will learn the truth and things will rapidly swing the other way. Right now we're moving from the industrial revolution to the information age and the whole world is severely misinformed and conventional wisdom is wrong. I was successful because I forged a new path and now I want to share my views, methods and strategies with the rest of the world to properly inform them and help them achieve success." Is there an impactful story (pertaining to results) that just has to be told? "One thing I've learned is that the money is great but the real life impacts are what matter the most. Many of my clients have been able to move to other countries, propose to their wives, care for their families and other things like that because of what my advice has done for them and their businesses. To me that's what matters the most, making sure that we can look after ourselves and the people we care about." How involved are you personally with the hiring process? "I know how critical it is to be involved in the process of identifying the best person to join our team. This is why I'll always make keeping my finger on the pulse of hiring a priority. There are a number of factors that drive the success of any business, but continued success can only be achieved with the right people in place. I believe in my hiring staff but also make a point to be personally connected to the process as much as possible." Advertisement Do you have a philosophy summing-up your thoughts about hiring? "An organization is only as good as it's people and at a certain stage of growth hiring and keeping top talent becomes the number one game. When you can no longer oversee every facet of your organization you need to trust people to have things under control and that's why hiring great people allows you to sleep better at night because you know they've got it." Best interview question you have asked? "My favorite question of all time is this: "What is something you believe to be true that most others believe is wrong?". I like contrarians and have no interest in hiring "normal" people. Hiring normal people gets normal results and who wants that?" It was a but a blip in the raucous carnival that the Presidential campaign has been, a flash-in-the-pan moment instantly overshadowed by more headline grabbing events. But the quickly forgotten fuss last week about what kind of lapel pin Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine was wearing as he accepted his nomination at the Democratic convention might be one of the most instructive episodes in a campaign that has a lot of smart observers struggling to explain why we seem suddenly to be in a "post-factual" period of Presidential politics. Kaine wore a Blue Star Families lapel pin to honor his son, 1st Lieutenant Nathaniel, a Marine officer deployed in Eastern Europe. Someone in the North Carolina Republican Party mistook the pin for the Honduran flag, and even as Kaine was still on the podium, @NCGOP tweeted "@TimKaine wears a Honduras flag pin on his jacket but no American flag. Shameful." In these days of instant fact-checking, reporter Ben Amey quickly tweeted that the accusation was wrong. Moments later @NCGOP quickly thanked him and took the tweet down, but not before Amey had wisely preserved it with a screen shot. Advertisement @NCGOP, likely an intern with itchy Twitter fingers, did not apologize, but 12 hours later his boss, Dallas Woodhouse, Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party, did, saying; "We offer our sincere and unqualified apology for the mistake made on Twitter last night regarding Gov. Kaine's lapel pin. The tweet was wrong on the facts, wrong in tone and should not have happened." The episode is already all but forgotten now that the conventions are over and the final battle has been engaged. But it deserves more reflection, because it reveals a lot about the psychology of how we really choose our parties and the candidates we support, and how frighteningly little reason has to do with those choices. In that context, the Lapel Pin Affair is an unsettling cautionary tale. Imagine this young Republican at the keyboard watching the Democratic convention. Let's call him Stu (as in, made a Stu Pid Mistake.) Stu's assignment was to help flood the hashtag conversations #DemConvention and #DemsInPhilly with negative tweets. So that's the frame of mind Stu was in. Partisan, looking for anything he could fit into his Us against Them context. And that...the influence of 'frame of mind' on our ability to think carefully...is what is really scary about this, because Stu's frame of mind clearly mattered more than his intelligence and reason. Stu is not alone. He represents the same that's happening to millions of Americans. Intelligence and reason are being overshadowed by emotion and instinct, putting the nation in jeopardy as a result. Advertisement Think about Stu's mistake. Would it make any sense at all that Senator Kaine would be wearing a Honduras national flag pin? Nobody who gave the idea even a moment's thought would have made such a ridiculous mistake. But Stu apparently did not give things even a moment's thought. He didn't check what the Honduran flag looks like. He didn't look closely enough to see what Kaine's lapel pin actually looked like. He saw things through partisan eyes and did what we all do, all the time. He quickly, instinctively jumped to conclusions that fit what he already felt and believed. Conscious thought...reflection about the evidence to inform a more intelligent choice...never even occurred. This is how human cognition always works. We rarely stop and consciously think about most things. More often, we quickly assess information and fit it into what we already know and how we already feel. We quickly and subconsciously filter the facts to fit our preferred narratives and values. We see things not as they are but the way we want to see them. The brain prefers to do it this way. It's easier. It literally takes fewer calories than doing all the extra neural processing of "paying" attention, and our cognitive systems evolved back when we weren't sure when the next meal would come, so spending calories judiciously was important for survival. Calories may be readily available now, but this energy saving instinct is built into how the brain still operates. As satirist Ambrose Bierce wrote in the Devil's Dictionary, the brain is only "the organ with which we think we think." Making things worse in an election season, we see things through the lens of our need to belong to a tribe, a group. Belonging to a group gives us more power than we have as individuals. Belonging to a group protects us from things we can't protect ourselves from as individuals. Belonging helps us feel safe. So we adopt the views of our group...in this case, our political party...and espouse those views not because we've given matters any careful thought but because loyalty to the views of the group (as set forth by its leaders) rewards us with a sense of power, belonging, and protection. And the more worried we are and the more powerless we feel the more we behave this way, turning to our tribe to help us feel safe. Lord knows millions of Americans of all political persuasions are feeling worried and powerless these days. Our instinctive need for safety and survival subconsciously drives this fact-bending way of seeing things. It's why we don't just see people with opposing views as people with whom we disagree. They're the enemy. They literally pose a threat. This is why we toe the party line, overlook the flaws and lies of our candidates, twist and contort reality to fit our group's view of climate change, immigration, affordable health care, gun control, and so many more issues. The importance of the protection of belonging explains how some Trump supporters can say "I know he lies, but at least he tells it like it is", without a hint of shame at the embarrassing non sequitur of such a remark. And it explains how Stu could see this Advertisement and think it was this This is the comment (pdf) I submitted today to the Department of Education regarding new rules aimed at protecting students and taxpayers from deceptive practices and other abuses by unscrupulous colleges. Secretary John B. King, Jr. ,U.S. Department of Education Re: Docket ID ED-2015-OPE-0103 Dear Secretary King: I thank you and the Department for implementing rulemaking on these important issues of defense to loan repayment, letters of credit, and mandatory arbitration. The proposed rule should be strengthened to better protect students and taxpayers, and I endorse the collective comments of our coalition of student, veterans, civil rights, consumer, education policy, and educator organizations, as well as specific comments from The Institute for College Access and Success, The Century Foundation, Public Citizen, Margaret Reiter, and others, as well as petitions from CREDO Action and Americans for Financial Reform that collectively have garnered tens of thousands of signatures. Advertisement I write separately because I want to comment on efforts by for-profit colleges and others to derail this critical effort, and I want to address some of the misleading arguments they have presented. Despite the wonky nature of this regulatory process, despite the legal and technical jargon required, this rulemaking is about big things -- opportunity, justice, and the integrity of our government and our democracy. As they have done in the past, and as I have described in my ebooks, Stealing America's Future (2014) and Friends in High Places (2016), and on the Republic Report and Huffington Post blogs, the for-profit college industry has clearly spent heavily to try to convince others, especially lobbyists for non-profit and public colleges, to oppose important common sense regulations. The spurring the instant lobbying frenzy would: Implement a law already on the books, at 20 U.S. Code 1087e(h) , by providing standards and procedures for the government to forgive the federal loans of students who were defrauded or abused by their schools. Require schools that behave irresponsibly to post financial letters of credit so money will be available to pay claims in case the school shuts down. Allow students who believe they were defrauded or abused to take their claims to court, instead of permitting for-profit colleges to keep forcing such students into secret arbitration proceedings that rarely provide relief or accountability. With this rule, the Obama Administration has an opportunity -- and a responsibility -- to fix a huge problem, give people a better chance to train for careers, and save taxpayers a lot of money over the long term. A strong rule can do all these things. Over the past six years, I have spoken with scores for-profit college students -- veterans, single mothers, immigrants, and others struggling to build better futures. I've also spoken with scores of industry insiders. There are good programs and teachers in the industry. But the abuses are remarkably bad, and they are ongoing. This new rulemaking process was triggered in large part because the awful predatory Corinthian Colleges collapsed. It's now clear that Corinthian deceived students and regulators. Now students want their loans forgiven, and the Department has begun granting some relief. But Corinthian says it's broke. It's in bankruptcy. Taxpayers are stuck with bill. Bad behavior at Corinthian is echoed at other schools. Seven of the ten biggest for-profit college companies, which got $8 billion in federal student aid last year, have all been under federal and state law enforcement investigation or settled cases for alleged deceptive acts and other unlawful practices in recent months and years: These are Apollo / University of Phoenix, EDMC, ITT Tech, Career Education Corp., DeVry, Bridgepoint, and Kaplan. By the way, the operator of Kaplan, now called Graham Holdings, previously owned 8 percent of Corinthian. Many other for-profit colleges also have engaged in fraudulent behavior. By continuing to approve these bad actors for federal student aid, without demanding sufficient reforms, the Department of Education is essentially bestowing its Good Housekeeping seal, telling students it's not just possible to enroll with taxpayer help, but that it's OK, it's a good thing, to enroll. Advertisement As you read this, more students are enrolling at these schools. Often they have been lured by misleading TV advertising, or hooked by bait and switch websites that offer jobs, food stamps, veterans advice, and other things that struggling Americans need, when really they're designed to get a phone number so a college recruiter can call 10 times a day, pressuring and deceiving people until they enroll in substandard college programs that will ruin their finances. A strong debt relief rule is needed to be fair to students who have relied on these deceptive pitches, backed by this government Good Housekeeping seal. It would be just, because the government owed these students more due diligence. A strong rule will compel the government to step up its scrutiny and enforcement with respect to funding predatory schools, because doing otherwise will become just too expensive. In other words, the most important effect of the rule will be on the regulator, the Department of Education, itself. In our coalition's view, where the Secretary of Education has evidence that a group of students are eligible for loan relief because of school misconduct, those students should have their loans discharged automatically, unless the student declares that he or she does not wish to be part of the relief. Champions for students in Congress have echoed the view that debt relief should be automatic, without compelling each student to prove that he or she suffered from the deception. Leaning to the side of students' interests would be a long-overdue position for a Department of Education that long has acted as if colleges were its primary constituency. Over the first 22 years since the law empowered the Department to cancel student loans for reasons of school fraud, the Department has done nothing to make students aware of, or draft rules or create systems to help them to exercise, their rights. As a result, only five students have ever applied, and only three of those had their debt cancelled. Advertisement Now, with a new rule looming that would actually implement this law, for-profit college owners and lobbyists have been meeting at the White House, paying for reams of op-eds by consultants parroting industry talking points, and claiming the rule would destroy their companies and destroy the opportunity for students to get an education. The rule, in fact, would impose serious penalties only on those schools that abuse their students, by means of deceptive recruiting, advertising, and reporting, and other serious misconduct. In the emerging environment where the Department of Education begins imposing some basic standards on schools getting federal aid, colleges that offer quality programs and act responsibly will be able to thrive. Such schools should not be fooled by the persistent defenders of awful predatory colleges into attacking proposals that implement President Obama's long-time determination to protect students and taxpayers and the integrity of the financial aid system. Within a few years, if properly implemented, the rule will not only help students but also should start saving taxpayers billions. Even the Department's highest cost estimate of implementing debt relief under the rule -- $42.7 billion over 10 years -- is a tiny percentage of the more than $1 trillion projected loan volume over the same 10-year period, or the $1.3 trillion in current outstanding federal student loans. Moreover, this projected budget impact is overstated because it assumes no change in school practices will be triggered by the regulation. In fact, the budget impact will be less if the rule gives schools incentives to stop defrauding students. Many for-profit colleges responded to the Department's gainful employment rule by changing their practices, including by closing their worst performing programs, freezing or reducing tuition, and providing better job placement services. The new rule will save money by requiring troubled schools to post escalating letters of credit, so cash is available to compensate ripped off students. The letters of credit would compel irresponsible schools to make money available to pay victims; Corinthian Colleges was getting at much as $1.7 billion a year from taxpayers, and yet when it shut down it claimed it was deep in debt. Last year, EDMC, which still gets $1.47 billion annually from taxpayers, pleaded poverty to the Justice Department in a successful effort to limit to an easy $95 million its punishment for an alleged $11 billion worth of fraud. Advertisement The new rule's constraints on mandatory arbitration would allow students to bring lawsuits to expose, punish, and deter egregious misuse of taxpayer dollars by schools -- so the burden doesn't fall so hard on regulators and law enforcement agencies. Virtually no non-profit college, other than a few who converted from for-profit status on questionable terms, have forced students to arbitrate their claims, while nearly all for-profit colleges that receive federal aid have been imposing these one-sided arbitration clauses. Perhaps most importantly, as noted, the establishment of a debt forgiveness process and standards for victims of fraudulent schools will force the Department of Education to think harder about what institutions should be getting our tax dollars in the first place. Which is precisely why people like Steve Gunderson, head of the for-profit college trade association APSCU (now renamed CECU), and Donald Graham, the owner of for-profit Kaplan University, seem to be so worked up. Non-profit and public colleges and universities, however, should not be misled by their own lobbyists and trade associations into following that dubious lead. These institutions face a critical choice with respect to the new rules. When the history of this debate is written, do they want it said that they aided and abetted widespread fraud by predatory for-profit colleges, and undermined the futures of millions of Americans, by helping to block reasonable rules? The new rules won't damage honest, effective schools. The rules will help low-income and middle-income students who want a chance for a good career. Traditional higher education leaders should ignore any bad advice they may be getting from their lobbyists and trade associations. They should step up and support President Obama's efforts here. The lobbying organizations for non-profit and public institutions may have specific concerns about the rule as drafted, and they have every right to engage with the Administration on these matters. But to the extent they adopt the false arguments of the for-profit college industry, or attempt to derail the rule generally, they are doing a disservice to their own member institutions, not to mention the students of these institutions. Traditional higher education should not be driven by their lobbyists to simply act like a special interest group, and a dumb one at that. Traditional high education should not oppose these pro-student rules out of short-sighted and ultimately mistaken analysis about alleged harms to their institutions. The items linked below give a flavor of the efforts to scare traditional higher ed into opposing the rule: -- Letter to traditional higher education organizations from Edward Wyatt of the public relations firm Sphere Consulting, seeking a meeting and claiming the rule "will result in the biggest taxpayer bailout since TARP." Wyatt explains that, "We represent a consortium of schools that are facing a proposed rulemaking"; he didn't respond to my request to know who is that is. According to Wyatt's letter, the regulations will: Put taxpayers at risk for a conservative estimate of $43 billion over the next 10 years. Impact every Higher Education institution in the country. Heavily damage the financial position of longstanding colleges, requiring them to put up millions of dollars in letters of credit to protect against student loan dismissals. Allow unelected Bureaucrats at the Department of Education to serve as judge and jury in determining whether a misrepresentation exists, regardless of intent. Provide a gift to the trial bar. Leave schools with no real due process because of a vague claims procedure. Result in an endless cycle of appeals and reconsideration. -- Numerous quotations given to a reporter for an Inside Higher Ed piece entitled "Proposed federal rules for student debt forgiveness worry some nonprofit colleges," which quotes, among others, Stanley A. Freeman, "a lawyer with the D.C.-based firm Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville" (in fact, a former board member of APSCU) and Diane Auer Jones,"a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former official in the department during the George W. Bush administration, who later worked for Career Education Corporation" (in fact, also "President AJsquared Consulting ... Successful in leading organizations through start-up and turn-around activities, in achieving regulatory compliance, in developing and implementing effective strategic plans, in leading change management efforts and in transforming organizational culture through decisive, respectful and effective leadership," meaning she is an education industry consultant) - link Advertisement -- Inside Higher Ed op-ed by Dr. Julianne Malveaux, who also is quoted in the IHE article above -- link -- The Hill op-ed by Brian Robertson, "CEO of Crispin Solutions, a public affairs and communications consulting firm," who warns, "Since the proposed rule will apply to all types of higher-education institutions, public, taxpayer-funded schools would also be implicated for shouldering loan discharges..." -- link -- A Washington Post essay by Jeffrey Selingo that extensively quotes the same Cooley lawyer, Carey, raising concerns about the rule's impact on traditional colleges and linking to the Forbes interview and the Inside Higher Ed piece. Days earlier, the Post published an editorial entitled "An overreach on for profit-colleges" that warns, "A cottage industry already is forming with law firms and loan-consolidation companies trolling for students with borrower defense claims. Their appeals are not limited to for-profit schools but include well-established traditional colleges and universities. Taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in student loan discharges." Until recently, the Post was owned by the company that owns the predatory for-profit Kaplan University and also owned, until its collapse, a significant stake in predatory Corinthian Colleges. (There are indeed, as the Post editorial says, some questionable companies currently using misleading pitches and trying to charge students to apply for debt relief that they can apply for on their own -- I have filed complaints with federal agencies about them this year -- but that doesn't mean, with or without the new rule, that the Department will be forced to approve meritless claims.) Advertisement -- A Weekly Standard piece parroting the for-profit college industry's doomsday warnings about the impact of the rule on traditional higher education and linking to the Inside Higher Ed piece and a Cooley law firm analysis. According to this piece, by Alice B. Lloyd, "The proposed guidance, lawyers warn, is dangerously vague--vague enough that we could sue our alma maters for our lost innocence. Cha-ching!" -- An op-ed in The Hill opposing the rule and warning of bad consequences for public and non-profit colleges, this time authored by "Phil Goldberg ... the Director of the Progressive Policy Institute's Center for Civil Justice and a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Shook Hardy & Bacon, LLP." Shook Hardy & Bacon certainly is a civil justice pioneer, known for its aggressive defense of tobacco, coal, and other toxic special interests. -- A comment by Mark Kantrowitz, the President of MK Consulting Inc. and formerly with the lead generation company Edvisors, posted on the Inside Higher Ed article that warns: Law school graduates who are unable to repay their student loans will seek to cancel their debt under the defense to repayment. When they are successful, some will set up businesses helping other borrowers discharge their debts. Colleges will fight any obligation to repay the student loans of their graduates, arguing that the regulations lack sufficient due process (e.g., allowing discharge on the allegation of malfeasance without any actual proof). The federal government will then be left shouldering the cost of the defense to repayment discharges. The U.S. Department of Education may be correct in estimating that the cost will be $4 to $5 billion a year, but that's only after pent up demand of $200 to $300 billion is satisfied.Many traditional colleges, not just for-profit colleges, misrepresent the benefits and outcomes of the education they provide. Many colleges misrepresent loans as grants in their award letters. Many colleges provide inaccurate information to college rankings (e.g., reporting just need-based loans instead of all loans, reporting the average debt among all graduating students as opposed to just those students graduating with student loan debt). Advertising routinely overstates the value of the education. Advice to colleges: Have an attorney review all advertising and marketing materials, plus all communications with students and parents. Advertisement -- A letter from a "coalition of 18 national taxpayer organizations, representing millions of members and supporters" to Secretary King on July 19; they demand that the Department's regulation "be immediately withdrawn." The coalition includes the conservative groups Heritage Action, Tea Party Patriots, and Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. They warn that many students at public colleges will seek debt relief under the rule. They say, "We do not need another federal bailout.... Forcing taxpayers to pay for bad student loans is wrong." These arguments by groups that claim to be dedicated to fiscal responsibility are particularly absurd, as they are being invoked to oppose a rule that could do much to curb the enormous waste, fraud, and abuse engaged in by many for-profit colleges: the monumental misuse of taxpayer dollars -- to the tune of billions annually-- that has been carefully documented by the Senate HELP committee and others. The for-profit college trade group APSCU/CECU also has attempted to enlist for-profit college students to oppose the rule, by sending a "toolkit" to college operators that is full of highly misleading arguments about the regulation. The emerging narrative from opponents of the rule is disturbing. For-profit colleges, their paid allies, and others seem to be seeking to paint students as scam artists whose enrollment in school is simply the beginning of a long con aimed at defrauding taxpayers. Advertisement In reality, few students will commit their precious time, their Pell grants, their military tuition assistance and G.I. Bill eligibility, their own out-of-pocket costs, and their private student loan expenses, simply in the hopes of getting just their federal loans forgiven at the end. In reality, most students who were not genuinely defrauded and disadvantaged won't spend time seeking loan forgiveness, and the Department of Education will not grant claims that lack merit. The new rules give the Department the flexibility to focus on real frauds without harming honest schools. In reality, most of the documented fraudulent behavior is not by students but by some for-profit colleges, large and small, that have scammed billions of dollars from students and taxpayers alike. The for-profit college industry's effort to portray students as scammers in order to block reforms that would provide relief to students who themselves were scammed is shameful. Contrary what all these paid advocates for special interests are telling you, a strong debt relief rule will ultimately save taxpayers billions, and it will strengthen opportunity and our economy by directing students to quality education programs that will actually help them build careers. I would be pleased to further discussed this perspective with you, as well as with any of the persons, groups, and companies mentioned in this comment. Advertisement Sincerely, David Halperin An American presidential candidate has offered an open invitation to a foreign government to conduct cyber espionage operations against a former Secretary of State. Let that sink in before identifying the actors involved because it's not the plot of a Netflix political thriller. That candidate is Donald Trump. The foreign government is Russia, a country with whom the U.S. has a tenuous relationship. And the former Secretary of State is, of course, his political rival, Hillary Clinton, whose email scandal raised alarm about the possibility that sensitive national security secrets could have been compromised. So what exactly did Trump do? He explicitly invited Russia to breach American national security to spite his opponent. The irony is sensational. The danger and thoughtlessness of such an invitation cannot possibly be overstated. Warming relations with Russia is fine. Opening personal channels of communication with Putin is fine. Encouraging the Kremlin to hack an American official's emails is not fine. At all. Ever. This is not to pardon Clinton's mistakes. She was in fact careless in the handling of email. But the levels of culpability between Clinton and Trump are incomparable. Using a private email server for official duties and deleting emails is irresponsible. Cheering for a foreign government to hack and potentially compromise state secrets is treasonous. And this comes on the heels of a number of alarming statements equivocating on the American commitment to NATO. Foreign policy experts were shocked when Trump openly declared that, under his presidency, the U.S. might not come to the defense of some NATO allies. Even if it is time for America to reconsider its role in NATO, it is imprudent and tactless to make such a claim publicly at a time when Russia has assumed an offensive posture. If it wasn't obvious already, these developments regarding Russia and NATO reveal that Donald Trump is stunningly uninformed on foreign policy, wholly oblivious to geopolitics, and either ill-advised or unadvisable. When Mike Pence, Trump's VP running mate, spoke at the Republican National Convention, he warned against "four more years of apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends." Whether this actually captures Obama's foreign policy is dubious, but not the point. Like most Catholic kids in the 50s, all I knew of the Bible were the gospel passages read by the priest during Mass. One of the most thrilling was the gospel for the First Sunday in Advent, "There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves. Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken..."(Luke 21:25) St. Luke's trailer for the apocalypse cut into the tedium of the Latin Mass, temporarily obscuring such erotic day dreams as sitting in a church pew tended to arouse in me. During those post-war days in Catholic Wisconsin, the end of the world seemed a very real, maybe imminent thing. My sister saw a flying saucer hovering over her summer cottage. The Virgin Mary appeared to Mrs. Van Hoof in Necedah, warning of Soviet subs lurking off the Florida coast. Commies were everywhere: After all, Joe McCarthy was our senator and Mrs Peck, our 8th grade teacher, warned of eight hundred card carrying reds right here in Milwaukee, beer capital of the world. Overshadowing all was THE BOMB, whose explosion was a daily possibility we rehearsed during Duck and Cover drills. Spoiler alert: the end of the world never did arrive, though there were some who were always seeing signs in the sun and the moon; nations were always being dismayed; and waves surged on to no great effect. But terminal suspicions remained, with dystopian, post-apocalyptic books and movies never losing their mojos. Art house classics like Bergman's Seventh Seal ("And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour"); Pat Frank's apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon about the effects of nuclear war on a small town in Florida ("Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come"); and---reaching a kind of perihelion in the 1970s---Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series, each of which sold tens of millions of copies (the later inspiring sixteen execrable movies), both based on the premise that Armageddon was near. Advertisement Authors and auteurs of these latter day nightmares were inspired not by the relatively benign warnings of Jesus, but by the psychedelic visions of John of Patmos. That Aegean island must have grown some pretty righteous weed, for John's rapturous Book of the Apocalypse---coda to the gospels---has driven poets as well as theologians into states of confounding ecstasy. Even Sir Issac Newton, when he was not busy deducing the foundations of modern physics and mathematics, was busy attempting to decode the near mad imagery of the Patmos revelations. D. H. Lawrence summed up more secular takes on the Book of the Apocalypse, which he called a 'death-product,' "full of flamboyant hate and simple lust...for the end of the world." He coined the term "Patmosser" to describe those Christians whose greatest joy was anticipating the howls of damned souls. If Patmossery sounds like a fringe passion, you haven't been paying attention to 2016 headlines. Today foot soldiers of ISIS cut the throat of a priest saying Mass in Normandy; last week they mowed down kids munching Big Macs in Munich. Meanwhile, the Zika virus creeps northward, shrinking baby heads from Brazil to New York. Each month gets hotter, with rising seas inundating islands from the Marshalls to the Maldives (can Manhattan be far behind?) Now we learn that the cash strapped U.S. government is spending a trillion dollars to update its nuclear arsenal. And I haven't even gotten to the Republican nomination of a certain New York real estate mogul and reality TV host whose dark imaginings of America's decline and fall ("It's Morning Again in Somalia" as one wag summarized his acceptance speech), might have been drafted in Patmos. Yes, it's Donald J. Trump, who offers himself as the anointed one who will resurrect his country by fencing off those brown skinned rapists from south of the border. Advertisement Do I exaggerate end-time omens in Trump's apotheosis? Perhaps, but consider this description of the Cleveland convention written by Tim Egan in the New York Times, "the pious Dr. Ben Carson linked Clinton to Lucifer --the devil himself. So, little wonder that it produced barely a shrug when another delegate, and Trump's adviser on veterans, Al Baldasaro, said Clinton should be 'shot for treason.' The Salem witch trials had more respect for due process." David Brook, another Times op-editor, reached to the comics for his characterization of the newly anointed messiah, "Sometimes in the blood drenched world, a dark knight arises. You don't have to admire or like the knight. He is your muscle and your voice in a dark, corrupt and malevolent world...Trump has replaced biblical commitments with a gladiator's ethos. Everything is oriented around conquest, success, supremacy and domination." Dark knight or Salem warlock, both Times writers are updating John of Patmos's description of the Anti-Christ ("the Beast with seven heads and ten horns") whose ascension will mark Earth's final Tribulation. But I'd argue that it's William Butler Yeats, Ireland's greatest poet, and no mean theologian, who gives the most resonant gloss to the Patmossian prophecies. In "The Second Coming," the most brilliant (and plagiarized) short poem of the 20th Century, Yeats writes: ...somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.... And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? China and America : two national flags face to face, symbol for the relationship between the two countries. As expected, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against China's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Philippines was exultant. Beijing responded dismissively and issued a detailed rebuttal. The People's Republic of China faces a difficult choice. Accept an international system believed to be biased against China's interests or assert its claims even more aggressively, risking conflict with its neighbors. Advertisement The U.S. and its allies also face a disconcerting decision. Do they reinforce the tribunal ruling with diplomatic intransigence and a military build-up? Or do they adjust the system to address the PRC's claims and expand China's participation? Territorial disputes pose a perennial international problem. There is neither a generally accepted process to allocate sovereignty nor a universal authority for deciding who owns what. Most nations follow their interest in asserting territorial claims. Great powers typically refuse to be bound by the decisions of others when they believe important interests to be at stake. Sovereignty concerns impelled the U.S. to reject jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice over its mining of Nicaragua's harbors as well as participation in the International Criminal Court and ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Even today Washington would be loath to entrust decisions over U.S. territory to an international panel, no matter how created or constituted. The Asia-Pacific offers particular challenges. East Asia's waters are filled with disputed territories, including Huangyan Island/Scarborough Reef and the Diaoyu/Senkaku, Nansha/Spratly, and Xisha/Paracel Islands. The PRC claims all (and Taiwan many) of these lands. In conflict are Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, which variously assert ownership in return. Advertisement Until recently the economic value of various islands, islets, reefs and other territorial features was not obvious. However, LOST attached resource ownership to territorial sovereignty. So politicians in various national capitals began to imagine inestimable wealth from fish and hydro-carbons. Moreover, China's emergence as an increasingly significant power has upended the regional status quo. The existing territorial and juridical order was established at a time of Chinese isolation and weakness. The Chinese Empire was unable to effectively assert its claims or defend its territory. Understandably, Beijing is dissatisfied with the results and, unfortunately for its neighbors, increasingly appears unwilling to live with the status quo. Nor is Beijing the first rising power to challenge a system seemingly biased against it. The young American republic responded truculently to Great Britain in negotiating the border with Canada, causing London to back down. The U.S. was even more violent in dealing with its southern neighbor, invading Mexico and seizing half of that country. Washington also threatened to forcefully intervene in later British territorial disputes in Latin America and began an unprovoked aggressive war to dispossess Spain of its Cuban colony. In recent years, the PRC has effectively if not formally abandoned its policy of "peaceful rise." It has directly challenged territorial claims of Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, physically augmented territories under its control, added military facilities, including airstrips, to strengthen its position and aggressively pressed ASEAN to avoid the issue. These efforts obviously are intended to back Beijing's claims and, some Western analysts fear, ultimately could be used to threaten East Asian commerce in a conflict. The Philippines lacks an effective military and has pressed Washington to be its champion. Manila also turned to arbitration panel to provide legal sanction for the Filipino position. Beijing rejected the tribunal's jurisdiction. Far from resolving the issue, the case has merely opened the next phase of the continuing controversy. Advertisement Unsurprisingly, Beijing rejected the ruling and promised "to protect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests." Public anger was evident as well, which the Xi government might seek to exploit. The regime is embattled on several fronts: it faces potentially severe economic problems, is engaged in a disruptive anti-corruption campaign, and has cracked down on free expression and other human rights. At the same time, the decision reaffirmed the position of the Philippines and nearby states, which will embolden them to take a tougher position against China. Even Manila, which lacks the military means to defend its claims, nevertheless may be readier to challenge the PRC. In which case, neither party would be inclined to step back. The U.S. is not a claimant and insists it takes no position in the ongoing disputes, but Washington has clashed with China over the former's right to collect intelligence within China's 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone. It would only take one drunk ship captain or one over-aggressive aircraft pilot to create an incident and set the stage for conflict. If war erupted in the region, America's alliance with Japan and ambiguous commitment to Manila could drag the United States into combat with nuclear-armed China. Indeed, President Obama stated that the "mutual" defense pact with Tokyo covers disputed territories under Japan's control. Filipino officials want a similar territorial guarantee, though the bilateral relationship is looser. Even absent official ties, Washington likely would be involved: it views itself as the globe's dominatrix authorized to settle any and every dispute. All parties have an obligation to dampen tensions. They should start by recognizing that none of the disputed claims are worth war. China has attempted to lower the stakes by using "salami tactics," attempting to grab the whole piece by piece. Yet conflict would be a high price to pay for everything as well. Advertisement Most of the islands have little intrinsic value. The resources in surrounding waters could be substantial but still would pale compared to the cost of conflict. Joint development would yield most of the commercial gains without risking war. Territorial control would affect maritime rights, but not decisively. In peacetime navigation would continue largely unimpeded; in wartime navigation would depend upon on the capabilities of the respective navies. Additional military outposts would benefit Chinese forces, but the closer they were to allied states the more vulnerable they would be. Perhaps most important is national ego. Which is why the issue so far has proved impervious to reason, no matter how sophisticated the discussion of the complicated mix of regional history and national control, international law and bilateral treaty. China's claims may be extravagant, but it is in a position today to insist that they not be summarily dismissed, whatever five international jurists say. Which explains why calls on the U.S. to confront China, to make the latter pay a price for its ill conduct, are misguided. The PRC's stake in securing its coast is vital and the waters beyond substantial. America's interests are more diffuse and distant: dominating China's borders might be theoretically desirable but isn't necessary to protect American security. Better the benefits of resource development go to Washington's friends than a potential adversary, but the overall impact would be modest. Navigational freedom is important but not directly threatened. Peaceful dispute resolution by others is welcome but not obviously a matter for the U.S. military. Of course, there is a common presumption in Washington that the sight of a few American ships -- such as the "Freedom of Navigation" patrols -- and whiff of gunpowder from a few American guns would deter aggressive action by China. Perhaps, but only for a time. The PRC is not likely to respond by abandoning interests viewed as essential. Advertisement Rather, it would do what the U.S. almost certainly would do if similarly provoked: increase military outlays, accelerate naval construction, strengthen cooperation with America's adversaries, and challenge U.S. interests elsewhere. As local and regional matters these territorial disputes are hard enough to resolve; turning them into a confrontation with the U.S. would sharply raise the stakes and make the controversies even more difficult to resolve. To allow Washington to dictate would be wholly unacceptable to Beijing. Moreover, it is a game America cannot afford to win. First, supporting Japan and the Philippines essentially shifts the costs of any confrontation with China to the U.S. Washington's backing would make them less inclined to compromise or even negotiate. If a friend fired a shot, it would be like America fired a shot. Second, though the U.S. will remain wealthier and more powerful than China for years to come, the former cannot forever afford to maintain military forces strong enough to have a reasonable certainty of defeating the PRC in its home waters. Rep. J. Randy Forbes advocates having "escalation dominance" over Beijing, being able to "overcome China's growing anti-access and area-denial systems" and "intervene decisively" on behalf of "allies and partners." But it is far more expensive build carriers than to sink them. Once the entitlement tsunami begins to overwhelm the federal budget, Americans are not likely to march demanding higher taxes to maintain the Filipino flag atop Scarborough Reef and Japanese control over the Senkakus. In contrast, Chinese citizens likely would still spend and risk whatever is necessary to ensure the disputed territories remain Chinese. While Washington should assert freedom of navigation as it always has, it should shrink its security commitments. Japan long has been capable of defending itself and its region, and should be expected to do so in the future. More immediately the U.S. should narrow its treaty guarantee to ensure Japan's independence, which is not at stake, rather than guarantee Tokyo's control over contested territories, which has encouraged Japan to even deny the existence of "an issue to be solved" with China. A similar approach should be taken with the Philippines, though Washington has been less explicit in detailing its present commitments. Advertisement The best outcome for Washington would be for events to take their natural course, that is, China's neighbors rearm and coordinate to counter Beijing's aggressiveness. The participation of both India and Japan makes a serious regional coalition possible. They will do more if they know that they must assert and protect their territorial claims. Peaceful resolution is possible if the parties avoid making the issue a nationalistic zero sum game. Only mutually agreed solutions, not disputed legal rulings, can settle the region's territorial disputes. Overall the parties should to "seek common ground while reserving differences," as Wu Shicun of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies put it. Washington should suggest creative solutions, including bilateral and multilateral forums, outside mediation, ad hoc international groups, shared sovereignty, joint development while deferring decisions over sovereignty, guaranteed navigation irrespective of sovereignty, and codes of conduct to limit clashes. In the aftermath of the tribunal ruling Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin reiterated his government's support for joint development: "be it cooperation in fishing or oil and gas resources, China can reach agreements with neighboring countries." Suspicion of China's intentions.is understandable, though it peacefully resolved 17 of 23 previous border disputes. Beijing may be less inclined to do so today, but the PRC still has much at stake in the existing peaceful order. The U.S. and its friends should demonstrate that China's interests will be respected by adapting to changed circumstances. The tribunal decision, though nominally a victory for America's allies, makes it even more important for the parties to defuse if not resolve the controversy. If Beijing feels a greater need to challenge while other states see less reason to yield, a crisis could soon be upon us. Yet China's smaller antagonists, such as Manila, need faster economic development and peaceful relations more than formal sovereignty over disputed territory. If the only way nations like the Philippines can enforce their claims is by relying on America, then Washington will be the biggest loser. Advertisement How did Trump get so far? When he started he was dismissed as some kind of joke. But now here we are: He is the Republican Party's candidate for president of the United States of America, and has a significant following, not to be dismissed. Here is, I think, why. We live in a time when people want something new all the time: a new car, a new dress, a new house. Ours is the age of planned obsolescence. Trump is something new. We have never seen a candidate like him. He curses. He offends. He refuses to listen. He speaks his mind without concern for what the polls or the media might say. The guy is genuine. He seems like a breath of fresh air. People would like something new in the political scene and Trump is just that. Clinton, on the other hand, is old hat. The voters have been there, seen that. Another reason Trump is attractive is that we live in an age of Twitter. Communication has to be short. That is the secret of the Huffington Post's success: no long articles, just bite-size messages. Trump does not give you any long plans of action. "Just trust me," he says. That's it. Nothing to discuss. Nothing to analyze. Nothing to debate. "Just trust me. I will make America great again." Advertisement "Make America great again" insinuates that America is in very bad shape. This is a third source of his appeal. It is much more energizing to the masses to criticize, to tear down, than it is to build up. Clinton has a plan -- it can be criticized. Trump has no specific plans (except for building a multi-billion-dollar wall along the Mexican border) so what is there to criticize? "Just trust me," he says, "I am Trump. I am trustworthy, although I have gone bankrupt six times. But I did not bankrupt myself. My companies did that and that is legal, folks." The fact that when he went bankrupt, thousands of other people were left holding the bag -- and were not paid, and they too almost or did go bankrupt -- does not concern him. "It was legal." People who have no political track record cannot be criticized for their track record. That is Trump. Clinton has done many things in her public life as first lady, senator and secretary of state. Those who do something can be criticized for what they did. Not Trump. Since he has not done anything in public service we are buying a cat in a bag. We have no idea what he might do or not do. It's very risky. Would you appoint someone who never ran a company -- say, a dentist, even a very successful one -- as CEO of your company? Not on your life. But if Trump wins that is what it is going to be. Without a record he offers nothing that can be criticized, and that is very attractive. Since he gives no specific plans, only platitudes, there is nothing to hang him for. And he is new, fresh. Those factors are sure to be attractive in comparison to Clinton, the old hand, with a track record and specific plans. There is one more reason, in my opinion, why Trump is attractive. He is a typical Arsonist in my leadership typology. This kind is seldom right but never in doubt. He is so full of himself, so absolutely a believer in his own stories, lies, and promises, that it is contagious. Advertisement If he is so sure, maybe he is right. We do not want a leader who is doubtful. That scares us. This guy is absolutely sure that there is no global warming. Never mind the evidence, he is sure. He is sure that NAFTA is a disaster, although all research shows it created rather than eliminated jobs. Never mind the facts, he is sure. And he is absolutely sure that, with a snap of his fingers, he will solve the problems of the Middle East, eliminate ISIS, and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- a conflict many past presidents cut their teeth on and came out with their tails between their legs. But Trump says he will do it fast. How? "Just trust me. I am a great negotiator." What will he negotiate? "I will decide when the time comes. Just trust me." This kind of self-assurance is attractive to those who do not want to think, who love to follow blindly. Trump will be a disaster. DISASTER. Many people I talked to do not want to vote for Clinton either and will skip going to the voting booth altogether. They do not realize that not voting is voting for Trump by default because those who love Trump are not skipping out on election day. It is the Democrats who supported Bernie Sanders, or people who do not want a woman in the White House, or do not want a Clinton dynasty, who will skip voting and defacto give Trump an advantage and choose Trump to rule us next four years. There is however one possible advantage to have Trump elected. (Thank you Gareth Chang for making this point). Trump's record is that he breaks the rules. He pushes the envelop to the limits. That works in the business world. In politics, in governing, in a bureaucracy, if he pushes the envelop , if he skirts the law, if he plays games, which he will do because that is his personality, he may find himself the third president to be impeached in American history. The country will experience a major, major turbulence, and that might be good. Finally we will have a crisis that is big enough that the political will to make structural changes the system requires will coalesce. Someone like Sanders will not be an odd ball anymore but a true and accepted re-engineer of the system. And that is good. That is what the country needs. A lemon (Trump) can make a lemonade (A better America). Advertisement In other words, before America can be great again, it needs to be worse to gain the will and the strength to make the necessary changes. And, Trump guaranteed to make it worse because he does not walk the normal path. In American politics this will not go unpunished, and the process of punishment will create an enormous turmoil that will enable a re-engineering of the system which we clearly need. Do we want to take the chance? Just thinking, July 11, 2016 Mr. David O. Brown Chief of Police Dallas Police Department Jack Evans Police Headquarters 1400 S. Lamar Street Dallas, TX 75215 Dear Chief Brown: We are saddened and shocked by the tragic news of the sniper attack in Dallas Texas last week that took the lives of five of your department's police officers. On behalf of the American Jewish Congress, we extend our condolences and sympathies to the officer's families, police partners, and friends. We express our gratitude to you and your officers tireless service to the Dallas community, as well as the city's commitment in ensuring justice is served for this attack. Advertisement As the City of Dallas mourns this great loss, we stand with the nation in solidarity. Our thoughts and prayers are with y'all. ` Most sincerely, Jack Rosen Munr Kazmir President, American Jewish CongressVice President, American Jewish Congress Could a simple shift in teaching practice help Native American students learn more about science and math? Elese Washines, a professor at Heritage University, a private university within the boundaries of the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state, argues that focusing on the big picture and helping students see how their schoolwork connects to their communities and real lives could help more Native students succeed in STEM courses. Washines suggests that using graphic organizers early on while teaching about a topic in math could help students frame concepts and understand connections between them. Washines will present research on the effectiveness of using graphic organizers such as factor trees or Venn Diagrams at the National Indian Education Associations conference this fall. Graphic organizers can serve to visually organize a lot of complicated math concepts and give them a big-picture point of view, she said in an interview. So many times teachers go into the classroom and think of math as being in a vacuum, she said. I press on them to make it relevant, to take it apart, to make it concrete, to empower students to formulate ideas that arent just algorithms. Washines said that research indicates that many Native American students gravitate toward big-picture concepts. But, she said, there is limited research on the most effective teaching practices for those working with Native students. A 2016 report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission highlighting the lack of diversity in STEM-related fields included Native Americans among the groups that are underrepresented. Thats tied to a larger educational challenge: In many states, Native students are the least likely to graduate from high school and are often living in poverty and attending schools that are not well-prepared to serve them. Washines emphasizes such a simple approach because she has observed schools and districts that work with Native students purchasing expensive textbooks instead of focusing on actual teaching practice, without positive results. Teachers in Bureau of Indian Education schools and other districts educating Native students are often working with shoestring budgets and in small communities. When she taught math on a tribal school, Washines said, she taught nine classes and did not have colleagues with whom she could collaborate. We have to find approaches that are accessible to everybody, she said. Cultural Education Washines, an enrolled Yakama tribe member who teaches math to prospective teachers at Heritage University, is also focused on increasing the cultural awareness and competency of those working with Native students. For instance, she said, some Native students may be quieter in class because they have been taught to listen, but that doesnt mean theyre not paying attention. Engagement might look different, she said. Native students who make it to graduation, they can learn to coexist and compartmentalize different parts of their life, she said. When you look at the end resulthigh drop-out rateswere not looking at, where did this fracturing of educational values come from? Washines said teachers can focus on helping students find their strengths in STEM subjects and consider how those strengths can contribute to the community. Thats how Washines started on her path to becoming a math teacher: In school, math class was where she thrived. I couldnt read the way they wanted me to read or write the way they wanted me to write, she said. Math became the way I communicated my intelligence. But, she said, I didnt see it as an opportunity to advance individually, but as an opportunity to pursue my strength and figure out how to serve my people. At a showcase for students who are members of the Yakama Nation earlier this year, the Yakima Herald reported that one student presented a project focused on solar energy that had resulted in the installation of money-saving devices in a number of local homes. That kind of project, in which a student addressed a concrete problem in his community, might resonate with Native youth, Washines said. Washines is one of a number of educators focusing on introducing more Native students to quality STEM education by improving teacher preparation, introducing the subject early, and providing more culturally relevant education. Five tribal colleges received federal grants last year to help them build STEM facilities. The University of Idaho hosts a six-week summer program for Native American high schoolers who have demonstrated promise in STEM fields. Meanwhile, in Canada, elementary and middle school students are learning about STEM careers as part of an effort called inSTEM , which is focused on local and culturally relevant STEM education for Inuit, First Nations, and Metis students. Related stories: Anyone who thinks the world is a mean, dangerous place, may simply be watching too much television news and the solution could be as simple as reading more newspapers. Exhibit A: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump angrily proclaiming that America is unsafe, devoting much of his Republican National Convention to painting a vision of apocalypse from Syracuse to Syria. While many political pundits reacted negatively to the tone of his rhetoric and his dark vision of the current state of the planet, they largely failed to point out that the data simply does not support his miserable world view. In fact, our society is safer than it was a generation ago and broadening media consumption beyond TV reveals a better world. To be sure, it's been a rough summer. We've seen a spate of terrorist attacks in Europe, ISIS mayhem across the Middle East, police shootings of African American men in the United States and the shooting of police. However, Trump (as is typical of the candidate from the party out of power) is engaging in election-year rhetorical excess for short-term political advantage. Advertisement So, before deciding to stay under the covers, consider this data. Violent crime in the United States has fallen dramatically. In 1993, there were 898,239 reported rapes or sexual assaults, but by 2014 that number had fallen 68% to 284,345, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data. Over the same period, aggravated assaults fell from 3,481,055 incidents to 1,092,091 -- a decline of 69%. The U.S. homicide rate fell 49% from 9.3 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1992 to 4.7 in 2011 -- the lowest level since 1963. Why Violence Has Declined It's not just America that is relatively peaceful, but the planet. Our safer world is detailed in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Harvard University's Steven Pinker. His vision is in stark contrast to Trump's. Pinker writes that we live in an age of peace marked by fewer wars and a diminishment of everything from schoolyard bullying to the mistreatment of gays and minorities. As a result of fewer wars, the global death rate fell from 22 per 100,000 people in 1945 to 0.3 in 2011. While the Syrian civil war, violence in South Sudan, Nigeria and the Central African Republic, Russia's conflict with Ukraine, the Saudi bombing of Yemen, Libya's civil war, ISIS, and a spike in terrorism caused that number to rise by 2014 to 1.4 per 100,000 -- the overwhelming trend remains one of a more peaceful world. Wall-to-wall TV news coverage of violence may even cause contagion, prompting more violence. "The detailed coverage of terrorist attacks may be giving people who are vulnerable or thinking along these line ideas about what to do and how to do it," Madelyn Gould, a professor of epidemiology and psychiatry at Columbia University told the New York Times. Advertisement The problem of portraying the world as dangerous and violent is particularly acute with television, which focuses on a few big stories at a time, says DePauw University Professor of Communication Jeffrey McCall, author of Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences. Television is a medium that is emotional in nature and it is nearly impossible for reporters to place violence in its proper context during 90-second segments, he says. Even if reporters are aware that the long-term trend is toward less violence, they are always on the alert for a possible reversal of that trend, especially close to home. "The live nature of television forces stories onto the air before proper context and background can be established," says McCall. "Sensational video makes it impossible for a shocked viewer to understand any one criminal or terrorist event in relationship to the bigger picture." Improving Media Literacy So, the best antidote to Trump and those selling a false vision of a dangerous world is for the public to consume a variety of media, including newspapers, which explore a greater variety of stories, including upbeat news such as showbiz news, a new factory bringing new jobs, medical advances and lifestyle features. People interested in a more balanced and nuanced view of international news developments should also seek out nano-news organizations that tell stories from the parts of the world often not covered by television news. "Newspaper outlets do a much better job of providing a picture of reality than television," says McCall. "People who get most of their news from television are more likely to think their community and the world as a whole are more dangerous than what they really are. Media analysts refer to this as the 'mean world syndrome.'" The long-term solution is better media literacy education. "Media consumers should be encouraged to get news from multiple sources and to get some of their news from non-video sources," says McCall. "Societal leaders should advocate for more media literacy in schools -- elementary through college -- to create media consumers who can put news coverage into perspective and not simply absorb all reporting at face value." Advertisement So, maybe all Mr. Trump needs to do to brighten his dour outlook is to read a newspaper from time to time. Photo: ABC NEWS-7/28/16-Coverage of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Via Flickr. CC2.0 license. Cropped. Much-watched and well-produced as it was, the DNC Convention held few big surprises. We all knew the #BernieOrBust diehards would attempt to stir revolution among the delegates no matter how much they were scolded and cajoled by converts to the #ImWithHer fold like Sarah Silverman and Bernie Sanders himself. We knew that the dystopian vision of America spewed by Republican candidate Donald J. Trump would come under robust attack in speech after speech. Maybe we didn't quite know how soaring the oratory of Michelle Obama or her husband would be -- arguably two of the finest political speeches in recent American history. Maybe we didn't fully anticipate the malarkey-free fondness #UncleJoe Biden stirs or the moving repudiation of Trumpian nationalistic hatemongering by Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq. But we pretty much had the through-line of the convention down well before it began: America is already great; having a woman president really is a significant historical accomplishment; Hillary Clinton the exceptionally qualified, experienced, visionary leader America needs; Donald Trump is so very not. Advertisement What few Convention-watchers could have anticipated, however, is that the Dems would so boldly take American religion back -- specifically progressive Christianity. Yes, the selection of Tim Kaine as Clinton's running mate was a powerful acknowledgment of the significance of the Catholic vote. Indeed, I suggested that Kaine's Jesuit background allows him to reach beyond one religious group to speak to the values of the religiously unaffiliated as well. Yet the DNC convention did much more than communicate to Catholics, religious progressives, and moderates that the Party is open and affirming to those whose political participation is inspired by religious sensibilities as well as to those who are not. More than this, the Democrats offered a full-throated embrace of religion grounded in love of others, care for the poor, justice for those on the margins of society, and compassion for America's global neighbors. This expression of religion was at forefront of American politics during the Progressive Movement at the turn of the 19th century. The Social Gospel was articulated by Walter Rauschenbusch in his 1907 book, Christianity and the Social Crisis. It was supported by politicians such as William Jennings Bryan and social welfare advocates like Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Catholic Worker movement leaders such as Dorothy Day and Fr. John Ryan likewise drew on progressive values rooted in the Christian gospels that promoted solidarity with the poor and marginalized over an American individualism that was often reinforced by theologies of a "personal relationship with Jesus." Advertisement Progressive religious activism was muted by 1950s post-war Communist anxieties and the relocation of many white churches to rapidly developing suburbs. It briefly reemerged during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged white Christians to take up the cause. But progressive Christianity and religion in general was largely screamed into silence by the rise of the Religious Right in the 1970s. Indeed, sociologist of religion Mark Chavez argued that it was the stridency of fundamentalist, Evangelical involvement in American politics that produced the well-documented "rise of the Nones" and the associated belief by many of the religiously unaffiliated and affiliated alike that religion has no place in politics. The Democrats reclaimed the progressive American religious tradition this week, beginning, as Jay Barth notes on RNS, with the repeated theme of "love". This was highlighted in the location for the convention itself in Philadelphia -- the "City of Brotherly Love" -- and through regular outbursts of "Love Trumps Hate!" chants, as well as broader expressions of love of country, love of neighbors, and love of others in the world. Monday night's performance of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" by more than 40 Broadway stars after a speech by Christine Leinonen, whose son was killed in the Orlando massacre, set a religious tone for the convention that would grow more explicit through the week. Speeches by Mothers of the Movement, a group of women whose children were killed by police, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, survivors of the shooting at Emanuel Church in Charleston, and Lenny Kravitz's rousing performance of "Let Love Rule" made clear that the Dems were no longer ceding high-spirited religiosity to the other side. Advertisement Tim Kaine's speech, which included his by now pro forma shout-out to his Jesuit formation as the religious basis of a politics of diversity and inclusion, announced that the Democratic Party was making progressive religion the moral center of its vision of American greatness. Kaine's more explicit religious language was forcefully amplified on the final night of the convention by the Rev. William Barber, leader of the North Carolina NAACP and founder of the Moral Mondays Movement, which draws religious groups to the state legislature each week to protest racial and economic inequality, gun violence, voting rights restrictions, and what they see as other affronts to justice for all the beloved people of God. Stirring the crowd -- and surely piquing the ire of Evangelicals -- by insisting, "Jesus was a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew," Barber demanded that Democrats restore the heart of American democracy. Insisting, "We are being called, like our mothers and fathers, to be the moral defibrillators of our time," Barber brought the prophetic vision of progressive Christianity into the political foreground. All this religious talk flies in the face of an apparently growing trend even among more religious Americans to avoid religious conversation with all but the closest of religious confidants. Still, even less rousing religious speechifying served notice that the Democratic party is done with muting religion, afraid for too long that the "Christianity" many see as having been coopted by conservative Evangelicals would turn off liberal Christians, those in non-Christian traditions, and the growing ranks of the unaffiliated. Chelsea Clinton's memory of "Sundays spent together at church and the local library" with her mother modestly marked a religiosity devoid of the anti-intellectualism that has so characterized the Religious Right and turned off secular voters. By no means least, Hillary Clinton's specific reference to "our Methodist faith," with an adaptation of John Wesley's adage to "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can," shined a bright light on mainline, progressive Christianity that has cowered in the religious shadows for more than a generation. Advertisement Green is the New Black (Green Chickpeas With Black Rice and Green Tahini Dressing) Whether it's red beans and rice or rice and chickpeas, beans and rice is the most important dish in the world. Here nutty-flavored, nutrient-dense black rice changes it up from basic brown, so do sweet green chickpeas instead of the standard blonde ones The parsley-infused tahini dressing has a bold flavor and adds a designery pale green accent to a dish that may be served hot or -- to beat the summer heat -- at room temperature. For black rice: 1 cup black rice 2-1/2 cups water or vegetable broth sea salt to taste juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons) In a large pot set on high heat, bring water or broth to boil. Pour in the rice. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Grains will swell and become tender but retaining some chew. Drain off any remaining cooking liquid. Add sea salt to taste and lemon juice, Set aside. For the green chickpeas: 2 cups green chickpeas, thawed (you can also use the standard blonde ones) 1 handful each mint, cilantro and flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 2-3 tablespoons green tahini dressing (recipe below) sea salt to taste Pour 1-1/2 cups of the chickpeas into a large bowl, reserving the remaining 1/2 cup for garnish. Add the chopped herbs to the bowl, mix together and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the green tahini dressing. Season with sea salt. For the green tahini dressing: 1/4 c lemon juice 1 clove garlic 1/2 cup tahini 1/2 cup water 1 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley, tightly packed (about 1/2 bunch) 1/4 teaspoon sea salt pinch turmeric (if desired) Whizz everything together in a blender or food processor until thick, creamy and smooth. Cover and refrigerate. Dressing will thicken as it chills. Thin with another 3-4 tablespoons of water, if desired. Makes 1-1/2 cups, or 8 to 10 servings. Dressing keeps covered and chilled for a week. To assemble: Mound dressed chickpeas atop black rice, garnishing with the 1/2 cup of plain chickpeas for an extra pop. Pour remaining green tahini dressing in a bowl to drizzle on top, if desired. Serves 4 to 6. Guests at the VIP Dinner at the Thacher House, 4424 Thacher Road, Ojai Hosted by Alan Polsky. Photo by EMS. Heather Sobo of Porch Gallery Ojai and Lila Glasoe Francese, President of The Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation. Photo by EMS. The Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation presents : Fierce Generosity, the Carolyn GlasoeBailey Memorial Exhibition in collaboration with Porch Gallery Ojai Advertisement Announcing The Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation's 2016 Artist Award and Rob Fischer as the First Recipient July 21-August 21, 2016. Opening Weekend Events: July 23 and 24, 2016, Porch Gallery Ojai. Heather Stobo of Porch Gallery Ojai with Carolyn's Minnesota friends and collectors Jennifer Armetta and CGB Board Member Mary Morrison. Photo by EMS. As Los Angeles' art scene becomes more internationalized with mega galleries from London to Berlin to Manhattan setting up tentpoles throughout, not to mention the new trust fund galleries of limitless wealth saturating the city with weekly calendars choked of world class exhibitions, it's no surprise that the city's influence will spread. Like rolling wild fires to Orange County to Palm Desert to Lancaster, it's only appropriate a small nestled town of Ojai reaps the new zeitgeist. Just south of Santa Barbara and near the coast of Ventura, Ojai is known as a Shangra La, an oasis of relaxing and healing. Its spas are legendary. What Ojai has in abundance (healthy living, great food, gentle lifestyle) they lack in commercialization. There's no Starbucks, no fast food, no Gap, no Tiffany's, and no contemporary art scene like Palm Springs, Laguna beach, La Jolla, and perhaps, Costa Mesa. Advertisement Miki Garcia, Executive Director of MCASB and Frederick Janka, Director of Development of MCASB. Photo by EMS. Carolyn Glasoe Bailey. Image courtesy of the Foundation. Then there's the phenomena of singularity (a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence and other technologies have become so advanced that humanity undergoes a dramatic and irreversible change.) Singularity or the dawn of contemporary arts in Ojai may have started before we knew it. Porch Girls Productions, owned by Heather Stobo and Lisa Casoni, officially took over management of Porch Gallery in May of 2013. The Porch Gallery Ojai is located in a historic building in downtown Ojai at 310 E. Matilija Street. Stobo and Casoni are eager to create a contemporary art scene in Ojai. Their desire is to show serious art for the sophisticated buyer. Ojai has money and if they can tap into that purse they will be the pioneers of a new art scene and a new outpost for Los Angeles patronage. Prior to Porch Gallery, Ojai was the place to hide and forget the problems of big city life. It was a place for family, not a place of fraternizing, schmoozing, and networking. A prevailing attitude among artists in Ojai is to enjoy the perks of solitude and bliss. As long as theres fresh oranges, and wine, and tequila they're good. They think...I'll see you in Beverly Hills where your city life is miserable and the art openings are full of moochers and has-beens, then come back to Ojai and leave life's issues at the doorstep of Ventura. Artist Ry Rocklen and CGB Board Member Alan Polsky. Photo by EMS. For me, I had the privilege to cover the weekend of art events on behalf of the Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation hosted by Porch Gallery Ojai. It is described as "The Carloyn GlasoeBailey (CGB) Foundation's Fierce Generosity memorial exhibit will be presented in collaboration with Porch Gallery Ojai. To honor Carolyn Glasoe's contributions to the art world, this exhibition will feature the works of over 35 artists that were influenced and impacted by GlasoeBailey's career, including Sanford Biggers, Enoc Perez, Ry Rocklen, Sterling Ruby, Melanie Schiff, and Xaviera Simmons. Proceeds from the sales will benefit The CGB Foundation. Advertisement Frederick Janka, Director of Development of MCASB, John Connelly, MCASB Board President Jacquelyn Klein Brown. Photo by EMS. "I met Carolyn in 2001, when I was installing my show at her gallery. She came in, introduced herself, and I thought immediately, "This is one cool dealer." She made me feel welcome. She was intelligent and witty," remarks artist Enoc Perez. "She was the kind of person that I liked to work with-not arrogant- but frank and generous. I will miss her. I wish that my generation of art dealers were more like her." "She lit up a room and inspired all who knew her," remarks MCA Santa Barbara Executive Director Miki Garcia. "Carolyn taught me so much about art and passion. MCA would never be where it is today without her determination and vision." The opening weekend of the exhibition, taking place on July 23 and 24, will coincide with the unveiling of a public sculpture by Rob Fischer, the first artist recipient of The CGB Foundation's artist award. Fischer's new sculpture will be exhibited at the foundation's forthcoming exhibition space in Ojai, California. This specific work is a sister-piece to Fischer's Glass House, Beautiful City series of sculptures that will be installed on Park Avenue in New York during the summer of 2016. " Rob Fischer (b. 1968) is known for his solo museum exhibitions at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, New York, NY; and Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA. Advertisement The CGB Foundation was established in 2016 by Lila Glasoe Francese, Glasoe's sister, and Chris Bailey, Glasoe's widower, with the objective to continue Glasoe's commitment to the arts and sciences. They say, "Carolyn Glasoe started her career at the age of 19 when she opened her first art gallery in her hometown of Minneapolis. In 2000, she moved to New York where she co-founded the Dee Glasoe Gallery in the Chelsea Art District. In 2002 Glasoe left New York, returning to her home base of Ojai to concentrate on curating private art collections for her clientele worldwide. Glasoe's life ended at the young age of 46 after a year and a half battle with Glioblastoma brain cancer. She was mother to a beautiful nine-year-old boy Matson West Bailey and wife to entrepreneur Chris Bailey." Carolyn's husband Chris Bailey. Photo by EMS. Fierce Generosity is presented in collaboration with The Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation and Porch Gallery Ojai from July 21 through August 21, 2016. Porch Gallery Ojai is located at 310 E. Matilija Ave. in Ojai. Please visit www.carolynglasoebaileyfoundation.org and www.porchgalleryojai.com for additional information about the exhibition, related events hosted during the opening weekend, future collaborative efforts, and the full list of participating artists. LA art dealer Adam Biesk, CGB Artist Award Recipient Rob Fischer and Collector Carolyn Reece. Photo by EMS. Ultimately, I embrace the hopes of Porch Gallery Ojai and the The Carolyn GlasoeBailey Foundation in bringing a new attitude to the region, an attitude that forms a coalition with Santa Barbara down to San Diego and beyond in making Ojai arts not only unique but has it's special place in arts history. Lisa Casoni Porch Gallery Ojai and guests at the Fierce Generosity: The Carolyn Glasoe Memorial Exhibition opening. Photo by EMS. Advertisement It was certainly interesting to have been in Berlin over the past few days. Coincidentally, I was participating at an Arab World focused symposium organized by the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), when the Syrian refugee crisis once again dominated the headlines and intensified what seems to be an already existing rift within Germany. On one hand, you had a moral stance by Chancellor Angela Merkel who condemned the recent lone-wolf attacks her country has endured. It should be noted here that the four recent attacks, which have left 13 dead this month, have been all committed by migrants to Germany. Advertisement Despite all this, Ms. Merkel courageously refused to 'shut the door' in the face of any/all asylum seekers found to be legitimate refugees. Under her leadership, Germany (a nation of more than 80 million people) took in a million refugees in 2015, making it the most open country for asylum seekers in Europe. On the other hand, there is an ongoing smear campaign led by Ms. Merkel's right-wing opponents. This has manifested in thousands of angry protestors taking to the streets to demand that their chancellor steps down, claiming that her "open door" policy has resulted in the loss of German lives. It was almost surreal that all this unfolded as the ICD event on cultural diplomacy in the Arab World took place. To me, what is currently happening in Germany -- and other parts of the world -- are a result of an overall Arab cultural diplomacy failure. No good deed goes unpunished I got to listen during the event to some views which claimed that refugees should be sent back to the war-torn Syria. Others argued that Germany couldn't possibly bear the cost of having them settle there permanently, nor would the refugees be able to adapt to the German culture given that their own Muslim culture "clashes with democratic values." Advertisement Examples of this 'clash' was that some Muslim females covering their face, refuse to shake hand with men or to be seen by a male doctor for "decency reasons." However, when challenged, none of those who held these views were able to accurately describe how many of the 1 million refugees who came in share these extreme views? My guess? They can't be many! This is based on the fact that such practices are only implemented by a small minority of the 1.6 billion followers of the Muslim faith. Of course, there are the more serious issues such as the recent lone-wolf attacks. The problem here is that such acts are - rightly - seen as a betrayal on behalf of refugees, who were given shelter, when they would have been barrel-bombed to death back in their country. However, Germans must understand that unfortunately, there is no good deed that goes unpunished. Similarly, there is no security measure that could fully prevent a troubled person from committing an atrocious crime. In addition, one only needs to remember Norway's Anders Behring Breivik and America's Timothy McVeigh to recall that terrorists, and disturbed people, can come in all colors, shapes and forms. Advertisement Similarly, the reality is that no bad deed goes unpunished. As such, whether we like it or not, the entire international community is now paying the price for not interfering early to stop the Assad regime's genocide. (Ironically, this seems to exclude Iran and Russia, the two countries which - arguably - should be held more responsible, given that they are still backing Assad). Germans may find comfort in being grateful that their nation is strong, wealthy and has the institutions to carry the burden. They only need to compare their situation to that of Lebanon; a country of 4 million, which is broke, has had a terrible recent history with the Assad regime, but is still offering refuge to more than a million refugees! To bring back the topic to cultural diplomacy, I think Syrian refugees would be doing themselves a great favor if they show more keenness to integrate and respect the culture of their new home countries. In addition, Arab countries could do more by expressing gratitude and support (be it verbal or material) to the righteous positions taken by the likes of Angela Merkel and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. by Brennan Weiss ACCRA -- Ghana is partnering with the U.S. government and civil society organizations to eradicate child trafficking here, a country where modern-day slavery is rampant. Political officials, NGOs and community leaders gathered in Accra last week for the first-ever anti-human trafficking symposium aimed at bringing together government and civil society to conquer the human rights crisis of child slavery. The event highlighted the challenges Ghana is facing and addressed strategies and solutions to overcome those obstacles. "Child trafficking and modern slavery can be conquered if we all pull together," said Free the Slaves Ghana Country Director Joha Braimah. "That's the purpose of today: bring everyone together, evaluate the situation together, map out the solution together, and then leave this room filled with commitment and motivation and confidence that together we will make a difference." Free the Slaves hosted the symposium in partnership with the governments of Ghana and the United States, Right To Be Free, International Needs Ghana and other civil society groups. In 2015, Ghana and the U.S. signed the first Child Protection Compact Partnership, a five-year initiative with the goal of enhancing anti-trafficking measures - including prevention, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of victims. The U.S. awarded grants to Free the Slaves and its partners to implement strategies to improve these key areas. Advertisement "The United States is proud to be partnering with the Ghanaian government and the anti-trafficking civil society community in this effort," U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Robert Jackson told the symposium. "For the sake of the victims that remain in captivity, we must continue this fight." In June, the U.S. State Department gave Ghana a Tier 2 Watch List rating for the second consecutive year in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Ghana will be automatically downgraded to Tier 3 next year if its government fails to make significant efforts to meet "the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons," or receives a special waiver, according to the report. A Tier 3 ranking could mean the loss of substantial U.S. financial assistance. With five months left in this reporting year, Ghana has "very little to show for," according to Yvonne Obuobisa, the acting director of public prosecutions for Ghana's Attorney General's Department. She urged government, law enforcement and civil society groups at the symposium to work together to prevent a potential downgrade. She identified a lack of funding, staff and efficient investigative and prosecution procedures for Ghana's challenges in eradicating human trafficking. Victoria Natsu, the executive secretary of Ghana's Human Trafficking Secretariat, echoed Obuobisa's concerns. Advertisement "The problem is not that we don't know what we're doing. The money has not come. That's the issue," Natsu said. The Growing Up Free program, led by Free the Slaves and funded by the Child Protection Compact agreement between the U.S. and Ghana, is designed to help. The program description explains it is "creating a comprehensive, integrated plan for prevention, rescue, prosecution, rehabilitation, reintegration and education to overcome child fishing slavery." The program has four key goals: "build Ghana's capacity to respond to child trafficking; educate and mobilize communities to identify children who have been trafficked and refer them for rescue; assure that families can provide for the basic needs of their children; and increase public awareness and knowledge to prevent child trafficking from occurring and promote appropriate community action when child trafficking is suspected." In addition to speaker presentations from various sectors of society, the symposium also featured breakout discussion groups to debate the implementation of best practices and encouraged questions and comments from audience members throughout the day. "It's a good thing that we're bringing all the stakeholders together to fight trafficking because this is not something one organization can do," said Louisa Asigrri Telly, a representative with the Ghana office of the U.N. International Labor Organization, who attended the symposium. "Bringing us together like this and creating awareness about child trafficking will help us find concrete solutions." The nearly 120 attendees also heard from a survivor of child trafficking in Ghana's fishing industry, who told his story alongside a former trafficker who now speaks out about the illicit trade. "Sometimes I didn't even eat," said Christian Atsem, speaking of the conditions while he was enslaved. "We didn't have a particular time to sleep in the night. We were always working." Advertisement Atsem was lured into forced labor after his father died when he was just 5, leaving him and his two sisters with their mother, who struggled to care for them. He was rescued after years in captivity. Now he is 19 and studying to become a doctor. The stories of real-world experiences resonated with many of the attendees. "It's nice to get some of the victims to share their experiences and to identify the challenges with regard to human trafficking in Ghana," said John Amoah, the Apam District officer for Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. "I'm happy we've gathered here to know how we can fill the gaps to push our country to where it ought to be." Maybe you would take the "world religions" approach, and do a round robin of traditions--week one, Hinduism; week two, Christianity; week three, Islam, and so on. Or maybe you have a more theory-oriented bent, and would cover the great thinkers who have contributed to the study of religion: Rudolf Otto , Emile Durkheim , Mircea Eliade , and so on (it's a longer list than you might imagine). Or, you might take the approach we have in this department over the last decade or so, and try to combine the two, and introduce the study of religion to students via two traditions: Hinduism and Judaism, or Buddhism and Christianity, etc. Our department, like many across the country, is under pressure coming from multiple directions. From above (the administration) to provide metrics that prove our worth in the overall economy of Emory college. From beyond the campus (parents and politicians) to make the education that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars worth something in the pursuit of a good job. We realize there is a perception, especially about those of us in the humanities, that it is time to move on from the navel gazing of the twentieth century and transition into the career building imperatives of higher education today. The perceptions of administrators, families, politicians, and the larger public shape the realities faculty and students have to live with, but we also feel internal pressures that come naturally over time as the composition of faculty evolves with some who leave or retire, and new blood to reinvigorate the larger whole. Intellectual commitments and pursuits are at play in this period of stress and transformation, and we are excitedly reassessing the basics of what we do in a department of religion, especially in terms of the most fundamental staple of any college department, the intro class. We have wiped the slate clean and are in the midst of starting from scratch, with faculty experimenting and discussing obvious questions in a college setting: how do we best equip students with knowledge and skills that are valuable in their transition to adults, that have applicability in the larger world, that can contribute to their role as informed citizens who will confront religion everywhere they turn--whether they are atheists or not. This year, my friend and colleague Eric Reinders and I are giving it a go, drawing from both our different fields (his is the history of Chinese religions and Christianity in China, mine in American religious history and cultures) and our shared graduate training in Religious Studies many years ago in an early maverick department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In the spirit of world destruction and recreating the cosmos, we are throwing caution to the wind and taking a leap of faith into...current events. What better way to introduce students to studying religion than in the lively, messy, contradictory, scandalous, enlightening, unpredictable, contemporary world we all live in. --------------------------------- Religion 100: You can't understand the world today without reference to religion. Every day religion is in the news. There are religious "extremists" and "fundamentalists," religious arguments about sex, death, civil rights, and human rights. There are arguments about religious symbols such as the Ten Commandments or cartoons of Mohammed. Religion is infused in political rhetoric. Presidents are sworn in with their hand on a Bible. Why study religion? Does this pursuit have any practical value, relevancy to your career goals, or monetary payoff, or is it, in every sense of these words, "a complete waste of time"? If you pay closer attention to the pervasive role of religion in our world today, you can't help but be persuaded that the study of religion may be the most important course you take during your college education. The more challenging question than "why study religion?" is the "what" question. Just what the hell is religion? Can it even be defined, or is it something like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in 1964 about obscenity: "I know it when I see it"? (As you can imagine, a favorite quote in the field of religious studies.) In addition to heightening your awareness of the centrality of religion in the world today, this course aims to open your mind to "religion" in less traditional senses, to include examination of phenomena not usually considered religious but which might well be seen through the lens of religion, such as natural disasters, sporting events, Dragoncon, celebrity, and rock concerts. In other words, we think to see religion more clearly in our world, it is best to start by confusing the boundaries of what counts as religion, blurring the lines between the sacred and the profane. The class is a thematic introduction to the field of Religious Studies, but themes we will be focusing on will be determined by current events over the course of the fall semester: globally, nationally, locally, and on campus. These events will include the national election (with its religious references, apocalyptic possibilities, rituals and myths, etc.). Sadly, we can expect to focus on some kind of "terrorist" event or natural disaster, and we will examine how grief is processed through religious rituals in public. We will examine the Tibetan shrine on display in the Carlos Museum, to understand the shrine itself better but also to think about the display of religions in museums and the media. The annual round of holidays on the calendar--Labor Day, Presidents Day, and of course Halloween--will also provide us with data to discuss and analyze. As already noted, other topics will emerge and keep us on our analytical toes. What is perhaps most critical to the success of this course, and a fundamental requirement to participate in this class, is a simple word: respect. "R. E. S. P. E. C. T." as Aretha Franklin sang in the song we hope some of you have heard. Respecting diversity, respecting the speech of others, respecting the dignity of all students (and even faculty, lol), and respecting the pursuit of knowledge as not simply a matter of opinions, but as practice that is based on research, reflection, and respectful conversation. This isn't about political correctness but intelligence and sensitivity. Having a civil discussion in the classroom about a volatile subject--perhaps the most volatile subject--is challenging and, for us, exhilarating, and will give you skills to live with what is an unavoidable fact of the world we live in: religious differences. She first arrived around Christmas in 2002. She has never left her place in my bed since then. It has turned into a relationship that I had never expected or planned for. She has been steadfast, happy and non-demanding. She has been with me both before and after my transition, and although she seems to be getting a bit old, and gray, I am pretty sure I would never let her go. Her name is Tabitha. Even some years later, when I brought her a younger friend to join her, she never complained, and always kept the same smile on her face I am not certain why I asked for her. It seemed a bit silly for an already mid-fifties man to tell my very new friend one thing that I always wanted, but for some reason I felt it was safe to tell her many things about me that I never, ever shared with anyone. In fact it was only a few months after we picked out Tabitha, that I shared with my new friend my deepest secret, that I cross dress. I was certain that would be the end of this budding friendship. It wasn't and both Tabitha and my BFF "Tessa" are still parts of my life. As I noted in the dedication of No! Maybe? Yes!we found that our friendship was stronger than my changing gender. Advertisement ... Tabitha is a teddy bear. When she first arrived she was pure white. She came a bit less than two years after my marriage ended, and was going thorough an existential crisis on who I was and what would I ever do about all those feelings and compulsions to dress in women's clothes. I was constantly wondering what in the world was wrong with me. In the corridors of my mind, the question of how could I ever form a relationship with anyone again, was bouncing and banging and all responses had varying levels of pain associated with them. I was in denial for so long, and holding back secrets to others and myself and still had days totally consumed with the fear of discovery. I was nowhere near self-acceptance or any self-understanding that there really was nothing wrong with me. My own battle between isolation and needing connection was often overwhelming. Tabitha had no answers but she never complained when each night I met her in bed, while wearing a nightgown or breast forms, and reached out and held her tight until I fell asleep. It was not the same as a human touch, no never was, but I always and still find her soft fur comforting. ... In the summer of 2010, Tessa and I were on vacation in Chicago, and were on a tour, when we stopped at the Hershey store. It was totally unplanned, when we spied another bear that seemed to cry out for me to bring it home. By this time I had another traveling companion on all my trips, a small stuffed frog named Fergie. By now I was 8 months on hormones but still not certain whether my future included transition. I was in my early sixties, slowly moving forward on a journey that had unknown stops and destinations. Over the years I was acquiring more and more, of what some people would say are toys. I am not sure if I was obsessive, but I never thought of it as a problem. I named the new bear Heshy, and hoped that there would be room for him when I returned home. Advertisement Heshey and Fergie at a Chicago hotel Heshy and Tabitha in my bed In 2014, Tessa and I went to the Big E - the Eastern States Exposition, and there was a booth from Vermont Teddy Bears. She asked if she could buy me a new bear, as Tabitha was looking old, ragged and dirty. I was floored, angry, and went silent, as so many feelings overwhelmed me. I was "off" the rest of the day, and not pleasant company, as I was trying to figure out why I was so sensitive to this offer of a new gift. It took me many weeks to calm myself and understand what was the attachment I had to an old stuffed bear, and what meaning this now graying (I could not repeat the comment "dirty") "toy" had to me. At this point Tabitha was my nightly companion for almost twelve years, and to me much more than a toy. It took me even longer to understand that Tabitha was a scared item in my life. ... I am pretty sure that when the gift of Tabitha to me was made, it was so much more than just a toy. At the time, I was already a middle-aged man, who was "lost at sea" in all my relationships. I did not have a good relationship with myself, and I certainly did not know how to have a good relationship with others. I still tried to use my relationship with my adult kids the best I could without being in their way to be on their own life's journeys. I had found a new friend. I was not totally open and free with her, as I feared the loss of this friendship. I was confused as what to do, and what to say, almost every day, as I was still learning how to touch the various feelings inside of me. I searched to answer what would make me happy. I still am doing this today, although it is no longer something that consumes me. In my mid-fifties I may have been one of those people who appeared to have everything, yet the simple things that may make life worthwhile were still not apparent to me. Advertisement I finally understood, that the act of asking me what I would like, and my answer of a Teddy Bear back in 2002 was the real gift. It was the gift of friendship that I had not experienced before in my life, or if I did, not ever let it in. Even though I changed so much during the next twelve years - with the risk of losing the friendship, that original gift was something that meant more than I consciously understood. In 2012 when the new offer was made from the same friend, and as I now know, an offer of renewal and redefinition, I could not process it that way. No not at all! I was stuck in the past. At the time was I was so desperately in need of a connection and I put all of that into my relationship with Tabitha. By the time of the Big E in 2015, I was ready to see if we would get another bear. The booth was there but as I explored, even though I was in a good place and arrived prepared to buy, at the last minute I realized it was not really necessary. ... Tabitha is aging gracefully with me. We both are getting a little gray. I know what she means to me and am ok sharing that with others. I don't think this is childlike, Even if it is, that is ok with me After all..... I think the following is true. ### Interracial handshake By Jeremy Adam Smith, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton In the wake of racially charged bloodshed in Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, and Dallas, the city of Cleveland hosted the Republican National Convention. There Iowa Rep. Steve King argued that only whites had made contributions to civilization, while other "sub-groups" did not. Asked to clarify his remarks, King--who keeps a Confederate flag on his desk--did not back down. "The Western civilization and the American civilization are a superior culture," he said, deliberately associating "Western" and "American" with white. No leader at the convention publicly disavowed King's assertion. Advertisement This is just the latest example of what seems to be a rise in polarizing public language that meets the dictionary definition of "racist"--"having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another." King's argument is an example of explicit, conscious prejudice, when someone outwardly expresses, through words or behavior, a view denigrating a particular group. But what explains the fact that police departments are more likely to use force against black suspects than white ones, at a time when so many departments are consciously trying to reduce these discrepancies? What could explain why companies explicitly committed to diversity show racial bias in hiring decisions? Why would caring teachers be more likely to punish black students more harshly than white students? In these cases, and many others, scientific evidence suggests that we're seeing the effects not of explicit prejudice but of implicit bias--the unconscious, often knee-jerk prejudices that subtly guide our behavior. The distinction between explicit and implicit bias is important, because it changes how we address prejudice in every corner of society, from police departments to schools to homes. If the problem is with racists--individuals like Steve King--then the solution is to identify them and limit their influence. That does need to happen; indeed, after Chief David Brown took over the Dallas police department in 2010, he fired over 70 officers from his force--and excessive-force complaints dropped by 64 percent. But the new science of implicit bias suggests that the problem is not only with bad apples. Instead, prejudice is a conflict that plays out within each and every one of us. Advertisement Since we published the book Are We Born Racist? in 2010--which explores racial prejudice as a neurological and psychological process--we've seen more and more research into the automatic and measurable associations that people have about others, and the subtle and unconscious behaviors that these associations influence. In many daily circumstances, automatic associations are natural and harmless. Not so when a police officer pulls a car over for a broken tail light, and the negative associations he has with the face of the driver can produce deadly results; or when a black defendant's facial features can make a jury more likely to give him the death penalty. Last summer, Greater Good published a series of articles by researchers and law enforcement officials about how to reduce the negative influences of implicit bias in the criminal justice system. But this research isn't just for cops and judges--it can help all of us to understand how our brains work and why we are not as different as we might like to think from a police officer who shoots an unarmed suspect. Indeed, the fact that implicit bias occurs outside of our awareness but affects explicit behaviors--from whether we pull a trigger to how we judge a resume to how we discipline young children--can deeply threaten our self-image. If I have implicit bias, does that mean I'm not really committed to fairness and equality? Am I, at a deep and unconscious level, actually a racist? The answer is both yes and no. We all carry prejudices within ourselves--and we all have the tools to keep them in check. From explicit to implicit bias When we think of "racists," our minds conjure up people like the San Francisco police officers who were recently caught using racially derogatory words in text messages, or perhaps politicians like King. Their pronouncements shock many of us with their old-fashioned racism, in which people's out-group attitudes are conscious, explicit, and openly endorsed. This type of racism was characteristic of majority group members' attitudes up until around the 1950s--and today it does indeed appear to be undergoing a vocal revival in public life. Advertisement What current discussions about implicit bias recognize, however, is that a great deal of contemporary racism comes from people who say they don't want to be racist. Evidence of this tendency emerged when negative attitudes or stereotypes became publicly frowned upon in the 1960s and 70s, and many people felt social pressure to not get "caught" saying something that sounded racist--an extrinsic motivation that many have labeled "political correctness." This formulation implies that egalitarian behavior is not real or truly felt, but rather, a social grace to mask an unacceptable attitude. As many supporters have said about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, he "says what nearly everybody thinks, but is too fearful or polite to say." This conception makes someone like Trump sound "honest," but by implication, suggests that those who speak up for egalitarianism are being somehow "dishonest." Things become even more complicated when a person (or institution) sincerely values egalitarianism yet engages in some kind of behavior that nonetheless betrays bias. Many studies find evidence of anti-black bias in pain-killer prescription and other kinds of medical treatment. One study found that job applicants with stereotypically African-American names were less likely to be invited to be interviewed. And, despite the avowed commitment of the courts to "justice for all," the connection between criminal sentencing and race is well documented. For many people, the very possibility that they too might get caught saying one thing but doing another is extremely threatening and aversive. That threat, in fact, has a name: aversive racism. It refers to the type of racism in which a person's implicit biases are so out of line with their conscious values that social situations where they experience this conflict--such as interracial interactions--are something to fear and avoid. In a 2008 study, for example, white participants who were about to discuss racial profiling with a fellow study participant who was black literally sat further away from them, and this distance was not predicted by their level of racial bias. Instead, it was predicted by their fear of being perceived as racist. In these kinds of situations, we create a self-fulfilling cycle of negative racial interactions--and to avoid them we may avoid contact with different kinds of people altogether. This dynamic, ironically, can deepen racial segregation and inequality. Did we evolve to be racist? These behavioral findings have counterparts in neuroscience. We often hear descriptions of the brain's limbic system as our "reptilian brain" that responds to environmental cues with the same level of sophistication as an alligator. Lightning quick and outside of our control, the limbic system has been called the seat of our fight-or-flight responses, perfectly adapted to the eat-or-be eaten environment of our early ancestors. A central player in this prehistoric narrative is the amygdala, a pair of almond-like structures that form part of the limbic system. Early findings that the amygdala responds strongly to fear conditioning led to the view that the amygdala is the structure that sets in motion the fight-or-flight response. Researchers like Elizabeth Phelps and Mahzarin Banaji wrote a significant chapter in our understanding of implicit bias when they found that faces of different races trigger different amygdala activation in the brain, and that there's a relationship between levels of implicit bias and amygdala activity. These findings have fueled a conception of implicit bias as not only unconscious and automatic, but also as biologically determined--part of our ancestral heritage. The implication there is that our only hope is to contain it, but never realistically to overcome it. Newer research--often by the same people--is beginning to challenge the core assumptions of this narrative. Once again, the amygdala plays a central role. Scientists are beginning to recognize that the amygdala, rather than responding exclusively to negative or fear-inducing stimuli, instead seems to be exquisitely sensitive to emotionally important information in the environment. This is a subtle but important difference, and suggests that depending on the task or the situation at hand, the amygdala may be able to respond differentially. In one study, researchers found that the amygdalae of participants activated at levels consistent with how negatively they rated a set of faces, in line with prior findings. However, amygdala activity was also related to their judgments of the positivity of faces. And when they judged faces using a scale that was anchored by both positive and negative endpoints, the amygdala tracked the overall intensity of the responses. In other words, the amygdala is more than just a "fear" center, and its activation doesn't necessarily indicate prejudice. Advertisement In another study, researchers had participants engage in a face-sorting task in one of two different conditions--either by race, or by membership in teams that included people of different races. Interestingly, the amygdala did not only track race information--it tracked the socially relevant membership (team or race) depending on the social task in front of participants. This tells us that the amygdala is not necessarily pre-wired to detect race information, but rather, to track and respond to the category or social grouping that is most relevant at a given time. Rather than contradicting an evolutionary narrative, however, these findings merely challenges us to think a little more broadly about the usefulness of categorization even in early times--we may have had to quickly recognize a member of an "out-group" on the basis of race, but it would have been just as helpful to quickly track whether an individual of the same race as us was part of a nearby enemy tribe. When we consider that "in-group" versus "out-group" distinctions don't neatly fall along racial categories, we can begin to consider that race is not a biological inevitability, but a social construction with social significance that our amygdala tracks. In other words, if the brain adjusts to quickly process information that is deemed as socially relevant, it may be within our power to redefine what is socially relevant. And, rather than needing to squash or cover up our base biases, perpetually caught in a Freudian tug-of-war between Id and Superego, the current view opens the possibility of redefining our social environment so that it doesn't need to track race as a socially significant marker. Six ways to stop the racist in you What are the implications of this new way of thinking and conceptualizing brain function for our understanding of prejudice--and of how can we use it to limit our own biases? At its most basic level, this new understanding of the brain reveals it not as a layered organ showing the layers of our evolution, as might layers of sediment in a canyon. Rather than thinking in terms of dualistic structures--primitive/evolved, emotion/thought, limbic system/neocortex--we are coming to understand that the brain is much more interconnected than previously thought. Advertisement But beyond this understanding, these new findings show that our automatic processes (including our implicit biases) are not unchangeable, and that we can learn new behaviors that can become second nature. An everyday example shows how this is possible. Consider that not one of us is born learning how to drive, and yet by the time many people are adults, we find ourselves not even thinking about it even as we expertly maneuver the car. One day, with practice, egalitarianism might be like driving a car: a skill learned over time but eventually so automatic as to be second nature. So what are the tricks that you can use to stop the racist in you? There are many, of course, but here are six to consider that follow from the scientific insights we describe. Consciously commit yourself to egalitarianism. But recognize that unconscious bias is no more "the real you" than your conscious values. You are both the unconscious and the conscious. Acknowledge differences, rather than pretend that you are ignoring them. Seek out friendship with people from different groups, in order to increase your brain's familiarity with different people and expand your point of view. It's natural to focus on how people are different from you, but try to consciously identify what qualities and goals you might have in common. When you encounter examples of unambiguous bias, speak out against them. Why? Because that helps create and reinforce a standard for yourself and the people around you, in addition to providing some help to those who are the targets of explicit and implicit prejudice. Those are steps you can take right now, without waiting for the world to change. But this research has implications that go well beyond the personal. The split-second reaction of a police officer who shoots an unarmed black man might not be very different from your own. Instead of asking the question of whether a person is or is not racist--because we're all a mix--we can turn to thinking of the ways in which we might engineer our social environment to address racism and its worst effects, without believing that any one step will be a blanket fix. Advertisement Knowing that bias is part of the structure of our minds we can ask, for example, how can we change policing so that the results of bias are less deadly? How can we address economic inequality between different groups so as to reduce the stress on communities that are historically the targets of racism? What can school districts do to make sure teachers come in daily positive contact with different kinds of people, and receive training in techniques to help them consciously reduce unconscious bias? There are many fronts in the campaign against bias, both implicit and explicit, but they all have one thing in common: us. We are all potentially part of the problem--and we can all become a part of the solution. By Jenn Director Knudsen Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training for law enforcement officers has been a decade in the making, and the first empirical research on the program is now coming to light--not a moment too soon. "The practice of pausing, coming into awareness, breathing, and gently responding can dramatically alter the way we respond to stress and anger," says Aaron L. Bergman, coauthor of a new study on the program. "The recent increase in tragedies involving police officers has certainly injected a profound sense of meaning to our work"--though, it goes without saying, they're only addressing one part of a much broader problem. Their new study, published in the journal Mindfulness, demonstrates that practicing mindfulness--focusing one's awareness and attention on the present--significantly lessens law enforcement professionals' stress and anger. Advertisement Bergman, Michael S. Christopher, and Sarah Bowen, all from Pacific University's School of Professional Psychology, explain that in the station, officers face unique challenges: departmental politics, pending litigation, irregular shifts. And on the street, they come face-to-face with criminals, violence and death, and situations that threaten their own safety. The authors note that many law enforcement professionals try to maintain tough-guy (or -gal) demeanors and shun seeking assistance with on-the-job stressors. To cope, many lean on unhealthy--if not life-threatening--behaviors. Their rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and even suicide are higher than in the general population. Anathema to their duty to defend and protect, "Police officers are often left to manage stress and anger in a cultural context that does not support help-seeking behavior and that encourages maladaptive coping mechanisms," Bergman and his team write. For the study, 47 officers with an average tenure of nearly 14 years from police departments around the Pacific Northwest engaged in exercises designed to enhance their physiological and psychological resilience at home and while wearing a badge. They practiced body-awareness exercises, mindful movement and martial arts exercises, and meditating while walking, sitting, and eating. Advertisement Before and after beginning the eight-week program, officers considered the level of anger they'd felt over the past week. Were they "irritated," "ready to explode," or just "annoyed"? They also rated their levels of stress as well as their mindfulness, indicated in statements such as, "I watch my feelings without getting lost in them" or (indicating low mindfulness) "It seems I am 'running on automatic' without much awareness of what I'm doing." Across the course of the program, officers reported significant reductions in anger and stress. The mindfulness skills that seemed to be most beneficial were nonjudgment (simply noticing a thought or sensation without evaluating it, such as labeling it as good, bad, right, or wrong), and acting with awareness (turning off autopilot and taking in the sensations around you). Mindfulness exercises appear to free officers from negative thought patterns, creating an opportunity to introduce positive thoughts instead, the researchers explain. Officers experience greater psychological resilience. A group of Florida parents is using the popular crowdfunding site, GoFundMe, to raise money for a planned lawsuit challenging the states law allowing test scores in decisions to retain 3rd graders. About half of the donors had come from outside of Florida as of last week, said Cindy Hamilton, co-founder of the Opt Out Florida Network, which is organizing the fundraising effort. The group aims to raise $17,000. As of early Monday, the group had raised almost $13,000, according to the GoFundMe page. By getting support from outside of Florida, Hamilton said the group hopes the lawsuit will have national implications. Sixteen states have laws requiring the retention of 3rd graders who fail to meet reading expectations, according to the Education Commission of the States . The easiest way to let those people across the nation know is through the GoFundMe platform, Hamilton told Education Week. Fourteen families, whose 3rd grade children are supposed to be retained this coming school year, are lined up to file the lawsuit, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune . The Florida law has been in effect since 2002-03 . But the issue has taken a turn in recent years as parents have increasingly opted out their children from Floridas standardized tests. Some also have refused to let their children do portfolios or take other tests used as alternatives to avoid retention. Hamilton said the group is trying to raise money as quickly as possible because the families will start receiving legal bills in August. Some of the effected 3rd graders return to classes as early as Aug. 10. Were going about the lawsuit because we have to chip away at the bad education policy, Hamilton said. This isnt the first time that GoFundMe has been used in Florida for an education issue. Earlier this year, Miami teachers were raising money to take on their school district over a wage dispute . Contact Sarah Tully at stully@epe.org . Follow @ParentAndPublic for the latest news on schools and parental involvement. Dont miss another K-12 Parents and the Public post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. By Jeanne Shinskey Most of us don't have any memories from the first three to four years of our lives. In fact, we tend to remember very little of life before the age of seven. And when we do try to think back to our earliest memories, it is often unclear whether they are the real thing or just recollections based on photos or stories told to us by others. The phenomenon, known as "childhood amnesia," has been puzzling psychologists for more than a century--and we still don't fully understand it. But research is starting to suggest an answer: Autobiographical memory might begin with the stories we tell each other. The journey into language At first glance, it may seem that the reason we don't remember being babies is because infants and toddlers don't have a fully developed memory. Advertisement But babies as young as six months can form both short-term memories that last for minutes, and long-term memories that last weeks, if not months. In one study, six-month-olds who learned how to press a lever to operate a toy train remembered how to perform this action for two to three weeks after they had last seen the toy. Preschoolers, on the other hand, can remember events that go years back. It's debatable whether long-term memories at this early age are truly autobiographical, though--that is, personally relevant events that occurred in a specific time and place. Of course, memory capabilities at these ages are not adult-like--they continue to mature until adolescence. In fact, developmental changes in basic memory processes have been put forward as an explanation for childhood amnesia, and it's one of the best theories we've got so far. These basic processes involve several brain regions and include forming, maintaining, and then later retrieving the memory. For example, the hippocampus, thought to be responsible for forming memories, continues developing until at least the age of seven. We know that the typical boundary for the offset of childhood amnesia--three and a half years--shifts with age. Children and teenagers have earlier memories than adults do. This suggests that the problem may be less with forming memories than with maintaining them. However, this does not seem to be the whole story. Language also plays a role. From the ages of one to six, children progress from the one-word stage of speaking to becoming fluent in their native language(s), so there are major changes in their verbal ability that overlap with the childhood amnesia period. This includes using the past tense, memory-related words such as "remember" and "forget," and personal pronouns, a favorite being "mine." Advertisement It is true to some extent that a child's ability to verbalize about an event at the time that it happened predicts how well they remember it months or years later. One lab group conducted this work by interviewing toddlers brought to accident and emergency departments for common childhood injuries. Toddlers over 26 months, who could talk about the event at the time, recalled it up to five years later--whereas those under 26 months, who could not talk about it, recalled little or nothing. This suggests that preverbal memories are lost if they are not translated into language. How stories make memories However, most research on the role of language focuses on a particular form of expression called narrative, and its social function. When parents reminisce with very young children about past events, they implicitly teach them narrative skills--what kinds of events are important to remember and how to structure talking about them in a way that others can understand. Unlike simply recounting information for factual purposes, reminiscing revolves around the social function of sharing experiences with others. In this way, family stories maintain the memory's accessibility over time, and also increase the coherence of the narrative, including the chronology of events, their theme, and their degree of emotion. More coherent stories are remembered better. Maori adults have the earliest childhood memories (age 2.5) of any society studied so far, thanks to Maori parents' highly elaborative style of telling family stories. Reminiscing has different social functions in different cultures, which contribute to cultural variations in the quantity, quality, and timing of early autobiographical memories. Adults in cultures that value autonomy (North America, Western Europe) tend to report earlier and more childhood memories than adults in cultures that value relatedness (Asia, Africa). This is predicted by cultural differences in parental reminiscing style. In cultures that promote more autonomous self-concepts, parental reminiscing focuses more on children's individual experiences, preferences, and feelings, and less on their relationships with others, social routines, and behavioral standards. For example, an American child might remember getting a gold star in preschool whereas a Chinese child might remember the class learning a particular song at preschool. Advertisement While there are still things we don't understand about childhood amnesia, researchers are making progress. For example, there are more prospective longitudinal studies that follow individuals from childhood into the future. This helps give accurate accounts of events, which is better than retrospectively asking teens or adults to remember past events which are not documented. Also, as neuroscience progresses, there will undoubtedly be more studies relating brain development to memory development. This should help us develop other measures of memory besides verbal reports. In the meantime, it's important to remember that, even if we can't explicitly remember specific events from when we were very young, their accumulation nevertheless leaves lasting traces that influence our behavior. The first few years of life are paradoxically forgettable and yet powerful in shaping the adults that we become. By, Siraj Hashmi Anytime there's a mass shooting in the United States, or in Europe, it's become a part of the American stream of consciousness to question why the alleged shooter was allowed to either purchase or acquire a gun in the first place that was used to murder and injure countless of innocent victims. In the wake of the Orlando shooting, one of the deadliest mass shootings (and terrorist attacks, for that matter) to take place on American soil since the Virginia Tech massacre, the aftermath was no different. Many politicians, pundits and gun control activists, alike, questioned why Omar Mateen, an American Muslim born in Queens, NY and who also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, gained access to firearms used to kill 49 people and injure 53 at the Pulse gay nightclub on June 12th. Advertisement Just days after the shooting, Democratic lawmakers took action in which Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., (and other Democratic Senators as well) conducted a 15-hour filibuster while House Democrats staged a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor. In both events, their goal was to bring up a vote to expand universal background checks for gun purchases and pass a piece of legislation dubbed the "No Fly, No Buy" proposal. The law, if passed, stipulates that if your name appears on the No Fly List, which is used for suspected terrorists, you are barred from purchasing firearms. "In America, our gun laws are full of so many holes that, in fact, you can be a suspected terrorist and legally [be] permitted to buy guns," said Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, who represents Connecticut's 5th District where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown took place in 2012. That shooting left 27 people dead, 20 of which were children aged between six and seven years old. Despite having the support from many gun control activists, Democrats have been fighting a losing battle. In most cases, conservatives and gun rights activists will tell you that expanding background checks wouldn't have prevented many mass shootings from occurring because the alleged shooter either passed the initial background check or they obtained those weapons illegally through a straw purchaser or even theft. When it comes to the "No Fly, No Buy" proposal, however, it's an infringement on the rights of all Americans, especially those who are wrongly named to the No Fly list. Advertisement "It violates due process," said Adam Bates of the Cato Institute. "I think in this country, at least, you're not a terrorist until you've been charged, evidence has been presented, you've been given the opportunity to confront your accuser, and either a judge or jury has convicted you of some kind of crime of terrorism." Bates went on to say that those nominated onto the terrorist watchlist, such as the No Fly list, in particular, have no way of challenging their placement onto said list. Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, pauses while speaking during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, July 28, 2016. Division among Democrats has been overcome through speeches from two presidents, another first lady and a vice-president, who raised the stakes for their candidate by warning that her opponent posed an unprecedented threat to American diplomacy. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Psychologists and spiritualists alike tout the importance of having a purpose in life. Those of us who are lucky enough to find ours seem to be happier and more focused people. But not all of us were born with a single purpose for our lives. It is only in looking back at a life, our own or others--that it becomes crystal clear that there is someone we were always meant to be. In Hillary's case, it was to be President. I met Hillary in 1996 at an event sponsored by the Women's Leadership Forum, a division of the DNC. I had met DNC Chairman, Steve Grossman, through Ed Rendell, a lifelong friend, at my neighbor's house in Bryn Mawr. Steve's vision and enthusiasm were infectious, and he implored me to get involved beyond my role on Rendell's Finance Committee. Steve was, by far, the best Chair the DNC was lucky to have--Harvard trained, a devout Democrat and a consummate organizer. So he set me up with Hillary and a small group of professional women. And the rest is history. Advertisement Unlike the cold calculating conniver portrayed by the media, Hillary is a warm, demonstrative and funny person. She is a loyal and caring friend for life. She is also an extremely bright and focused person--the smartest woman of my generation. Her intelligence, however, is not intimidating or daunting--until you spend some serious time with her in the backseat of her car when she is prepping for an appearance or event. But I am getting ahead of myself here. My interest in meeting Hillary was due to my passion for a model of organizational transformation that I had developed early in my career. This idea of mine had launched a global business and delivered millions of dollars of services for Chief Executives worldwide who were looking for a competitive advantage. Simply put, it was a psycho-operational process for transforming people and results, and it became a best-selling book, "FROM COUCH TO CORPORATION." Given her ambitious First Lady agenda, I thought it might be something that the Clintons would resonate with. At our first meeting, we bonded around a necklace I was wearing that held my sunglasses. As it turned out, the First Lady was also into animal print. After a spirited conversation regarding the need for transformation in our country's educational system, I impulsively yanked it off and gave it to her. In short order, I received my first of many handwritten thank you notes from Hillary, now enough to fill a photo album. Hillary has also handwritten me holiday notes apologizing for not writing sooner. I was soon introduced to her husband, President Clinton, who was busy running for re-election. He, too, read my first book and called me on the phone at six am to chat while I was deadheading geraniums in my pajamas. Of course, I thought it was a spoof, but he assured me that it was truly him and not an actor from SNL. Rather than complimenting my theory, he rattled off a dozen ways it could be applied to transforming our nation, if he should be so lucky as to be re-elected. Oh, and he invited me to visit him at a fundraiser in Philadelphia in a week or so. Advertisement At that event, we had a brief one on one meeting (surrounded by Secret Service) where I outlined to him the likelihood of the Clintons being victims of the "Gandhi Effect," a predictable dynamic of systemic transformation. Essentially, there is a 20-60-20 percent rule during transformation, when the system organizes itself into three subgroups, including the visionaries (20 percent), the tentatives (60 percent) and the saboteurs (20 percent). For transformation to occur, there must be enough of a performance goal, somewhere above 35 percent above baseline, to create enough progressive/regressive oscillation for the system to move beyond its ceiling barrier and actually transform. What that means is, a whole lot of change must be happening on multiple fronts. And, this dynamic occurs in the third phase of a four phase predictable process. As President Clinton was moving into year five of his presidency, I predicted it would hit soon enough. And possibly, with enough force to topple both Clintons. As it turned out, I was right. And in the right place at the right time. Talk about purpose. I was soon invited to consult regularly with the President and First Lady and apply my model where it was needed. Toward that end, I contributed to strategies, speeches, and key events. And got to go to the White House on a regular basis (don't get me started on the crab cakes...), using a small office inside the Communication Director's group. And soon, Hillary's fiftieth birthday was looming, and there were many proposals on the table as to how to celebrate this momentous occasion. My thought was for us to produce our own film and take the narrative away from the media. The President green lit the project and I was off filming those who knew Hillary best for much of her life and a handful of supportive celebrities. IT TAKES A WOMAN, produced by Barbara Howar and myself, was a hit and was widely distributed to the global political set, who enthusiastically agreed that the Hillary we knew was celebrated accurately. A woman like no other with a set of skills and values that qualified her to lead global change. Adored by world leaders and American citizens alike, Hillary brought pragmatic action to the First Lady platform and used each day of her term to elevate the lives of families, women and children ...and me. "Who is that Hillary?" you might ask. "Is she for real?" Or even, "Is there a woman in there somewhere?" For if you have been swayed by the decades of false media characterizations, you might be tempted to see Hillary in a light that is so far from the truth, it is laughable as well as tragic. For one, Hillary is a girl's girl. While she may be competitive, she does not have a competitive bone in her body when it comes to championing women in all walks of life and in every profession. When she heard that my first novel, "THE PRESIDENT'S PSYCHOANALYST" was being shopped by Hollywood, she invited me to an event attended by the Hollywood elite, a who's who of actors, directors and producers which resulted in some key new friendships during the next stage of my life. When Hillary came to my new home in Gladwyne, Pa. for a fundraising event, she made sure to personally bless each room in the newly acquired ten bedroom mansion. She also cried when Princess Diana died, and has cried for so many others. And Hillary has spent her fair share of time in hospital rooms consoling dying friends no matter her professional commitments. And yes, Hillary cries real tears. Just like she did in New Hampshire. Oh, and she's a great dancer. Unlike the untrustworthy and untrusting woman portrayed by the media, Hillary is rock solid and can be trusted with your life. At different stages of my life, I have been given wise advice by Hillary, timely gifts and tons of encouragement, no matter her schedule. For example, when Hillary found out I had broken up with a boyfriend and, as a result, did not have a date for my 44th birthday, she immediately included me in the President' entourage that were attending a black tie event in Washington. "Maybe you will meet someone special there," Hillary encouraged me. "You need a really special guy who can handle that big brain of yours." Advertisement As I had contributed to two States of the Union addresses, Hillary made sure I watched the event in the residence, brought in the Millennium with her and her family after the official celebration, and stayed on for breakfast. Hillary appreciates true friendship and loyalty and makes rewarding it a priority for her, no matter how busy she is. It helps that both she and Bill have photographic memories. But when the Gandhi effect hit the Clinton White House, it left little intact in its wake. The saboteurs, led by the Republicans and their sidekick Ken Starr (and yes, there really is a "vast right ring conspiracy" of polarizing Republicans) stopped at nothing to discredit the character and lifelong work of the Clintons. The media tested Hillary's capacity for personal humiliation, a blood sport that continues to this day. The impeachment symbolized the full force of the Gandhi effect. So one might think that on the night of the impeachment that the President and First Lady might be depressed or discouraged. However, when they took the stage on that December 19th at a White House Christmas Ball, the President opened by saying, "I just don't get it. The Brits love me. The Europeans love me. The Saudis love me. All these guys who run the world with me; we're great friends. But I just can't get anywhere with those Republicans." During the acquittal process, I was lucky enough to advise the President's attorneys on the transmutation of the Gandhi effect, and I also met one on one with many key Republicans to explain what was really going on so they did not feel compelled to be part of the unconscious process. On the day of the acquittal, I sent both Clintons teddy bears dressed as the President and First Lady and left it at that. The worst was over, and their global transformation would continue. But who knew this was just Hillary's Act One? Advertisement When Hillary appointed me to the White House Millennium Council, I was once again in the thick of things, helping with preparing the Lincoln Memorial celebration and the following State of the Union. We walked the beach together at Renaissance, a think tank event that the movers and shakers attend four times a year (including current and Past Presidents and their families). I asked Hillary if she had healed at all from all of the shenanigans and attacks, whether it was just too much for one person to sacrifice in the name of global transformation. With her blond hair blowing in the frosty air and her apple cheeks glowing in the midday sun, she put her arm around me. "I'm fine, really," Hillary said, trying to reassure me. "I am." "But how do you do it?" I asked. "I mean, really, it would get to me, that's for sure." Hillary bent down and picked up a sea shell weathered from the ocean. "Because, we endure, just like this shell. It's the price we pay. To never give up. No matter what. I don't give up. Not on my family, not on my marriage, not on my friends. Certainly not on my country. It hurts sometimes. But the pain doesn't kill you." I kept that shell and I still have it today sitting on my desk. Her advice would come in really handy when my Mother died years later. The Clintons had called my mother on her birthday each year as it was close to the President's in August. I was so happy that my Mother got to meet Hillary at my home, and experienced what power and kindness at the highest level of humanity looked like. And after that day, Hillary went on, tentatively exploring a run for the Senate, unsure of how she would handle such massive self promotion. She recruited me, among others, to keep her company in her car, during the long rides between appearances. It was then she would blow me away with her astounding memory and analytic abilitity. We would be shooting the breeze about fashion trends, when she would be told she had ten minutes until her next stop. Hillary would say to me, "Iris, give me a sec, I need to review my data." The car would grow quiet for those minutes while Hillary would read through several inches of information about the town and the people we would soon encounter. As she exited her car and made her way to the podium, she had every statistic, problem, strategy and plan in her head. She knew the unemployment numbers and how they were distributed; she knew the state of the educational system; she knew which industries were up and were down, and she knew what was in the hearts and the minds of the people who waited for hours for a hug and a photo op. Hillary, Act Two, was clearly underway. Advertisement When she was re-elected to the Senate, it was a no brainer. Her first run for President was also a decision that she did not make lightly. While First Lady, I can attest to the fact that America got "two for the price of one" as she often voiced her opinions to the President and his advisors. But Madame President? That was a screenplay that some of us wrote and sent to Harvey Weinstein for fun. Not anything Hillary was losing sleep over. She does not make decisions of that magnitude lightly. Unlike the myth, being President was not her life long dream--it was a progression based on her experiences and accomplishments. Since Hillary already been vilified and crucified, Hillary the Presidential candidate was already weathered for the national stage. But she was still not convinced to wear her heart on her sleeve. Or maybe, it was more healing for the nation to elect its first African American President as a clearing of its karma. During all that, I had relocated to California, and except for a visit with the Clintons when they were in LA, my life had gone in a new direction. During the first meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, I was happy to see them surrounded by their world leader friends, encouraging and exciting everyone to make a difference in the world. And Hillary loved being Secretary of State, forging deep alliances and guiding transformations with our allies and skeptics. So Hillary then began Act Three, the electing of Madame President. It has been a rocky road, despite her enormous popularity and network of friends and supporters. I watched from the sidelines as she did what she does best, review the facts in painstaking detail during the debates, showcasing her enormous knowledge about the country and the world. But then politics took a turn for the worst, and my friend Hillary was once again in the thick of it, taking bullets and shrapnel in the name of national transformation. So let's get back to Gandhi, cause we are in the soup again. When the pendulum swings just a tad too quickly, the saboteurs multiply like flies. The collective unconscious builds a groundswell of momentum to stop the ongoing transformation, using whatever means it can. In this case, it empowered a card carrying narcissist to lead its charge, raising the level of denial as to the state of the world and environment to a terrifying place. And the visionaries also unconsciously organized and choose a rebel whose run for office was serenely selfless and completely focused on the continuing good of the nation. But the Hillary traction was too great and too cemented in our collective conscience. So the two transformational leaders pragmatically formed a truce for the good of the nation, and the negative subset of that unfolding transformation is now rebelling at the convention in Philadelphia. As an expert in transformation, group behavior is pretty predictable. Advertisement But that venting can have a major impact on the undecided tentatives. Not a good idea. Not when our entire future is on the line. Not when there is a potential threat that the China can be told, "You're fired!"and our debt comes due. Or when we blithely ignore obvious climate change. Or when Trump's bragging bores the you know what out of well meaning allies and world leaders. Or when the State of the Unions regress into the crass and fearful rhetoric of Trump's acceptance speech. Please, let's beg for decorum! We have an American image to uphold here! No, this can't happen because the visionaries will do whatever it takes to support the tentatives to make the right choice, And the souls of the tentatives are too wise to sit this one out. So it is crucial for the masses of Americans who do not feel a part of the process to step up. We are a country of unconditional positive regard, and we are all immigrants. We need each other. I remember standing behind President Clinton at his second Inauguration. I was freezing cold in my red wool coat and regal black hat, the tears frozen on my face. It was a sunny day, and both Parties seemed to come together if just for a brief moment at the customary luncheon. I passed Hillary near the East Room as I was on the way to the Ladies Room, the portrait of Jackie Kennedy observing me somberly. "How do you feel?" I asked, giving Hillary a hug. I knew that she had had zero sleep. "Like there's a whole lot of work to be done," she said with a smile. "But today's a good day. I'm glad you are here. We're making history for America. I'm so proud of our country today." Advertisement Suffragist Lucy Stone and Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton wearing the pants In the past week, two men, arguably the two men closest to Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign, have offered public revisionist takes on her public persona. The less egregious was running mate Kaine who, in his co-interview with Hillary on "60 Minutes," interrupted her reasoned dismissal of Trump and GOP-ers' unrelenting attacks on her, with his own defense: "She's done a good job of letting the, you know, water go off her back on this. That's not the way I feel. When I see this, you know, 'Crooked Hillary,' or I see the, 'Lock her up,' it's just ridiculous." Advertisement Caine edges right up to assuming the role of protector - even though she's just said (and has said repeatedly) she doesn't want or need this. Even though she's proven herself over and over that she's perfectly capable of defending herself. And then hubby Bill. Bill, Bill, Bill: "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl." Bill Clinton goes on to paint Hillary (at length) as the object of his romantic pursuit, framed as a determined male quest (in which of course the outcome must be that the man gets the object he desires). In his story, Bill wins big time when she finally agrees to marry him. He calls her a girl more than once and - I just checked the transcript - never refers to her as a woman. Rachel Mallow called his words "shocking and rude." I found them downright demeaning. When did Hillary get demoted from intelligent, assertive, powerful woman to girl? When did she go from being object of opponents' hate and derision to soft, fluffy, potentially vulnerable female who just may need a big strong man to take care of her? (I apologize to Kaine - he did not step over the line - but his jumping to her defense suggests he might at any time.) Moreover, when did her team - at a critical time when nobody is taking a single step in this campaign without thinking many chess moves ahead - decide her public image needed a little touch-up to make her more feminine, perhaps more "appealing?" Hillary Clinton has been criticized for nearly everything in the universe, in particular for being cold, calculating, and brazen (all words that would be less critical if applied to a man), but the strong public persona she has crafted and held onto has gotten her this far. Does she have to reveal a softer side now to be elected - even worse, does she need to have it revealed by others? Advertisement The women's movement emerging when Hillary was coming of age argued that available options for smart, ambitious women were dismal. The traditional route to success - acting like a man - denied any value to her own gender. The acceptance of traditional female roles - frilly and feminine - risked her ability to be taken seriously. Women of Hillary's generation (I know because it was my generation also) were urged to reject both options and instead to create genuine personas. More importantly, they were cautioned to resist any attempt to be defined by others. I've always thought that the pantsuits Hillary wears are her chosen in-your-face signature - an wink-wink acknowledgement of what many think she wants to be - the woman who wears the pants, just as the bloomers worn by 19th-century suffragists who donned their imitative male clothing were putting others on notice that they were ready to assume roles and gain rights previously denied them because of their gender. The bloomers were more than a statement; they were also utilitarian, making the women who wore them more mobile in their quest to enjoy, of all things, riding a bicycle. But the suffragists, wisely, didn't go the whole route of adapting actual men's clothing - that would have been false. Similarly, Hillary's pantsuits do not make her a man, but they do make her more mobile: look how she's climbed all the way to the glass ceiling - without showing her girly panties. On Wednesday, I sat on the A train on my way from Queens to Manhattan. Across from me sat a young mother with her baby boy. Both of them were laughing and clapping along with a Muslim Uzbek woman who had arrived late the night before, setting foot in the West for the very first time. They spoke not a word in common -- this young American Black mother and her son, and this 60-something Uzbek lady -- but their connection was instantaneous. The boy, Levi, one day shy of his first birthday, smiled broadly at the Uzbek woman when we first sat down. And within less than a minute, she had crossed over to sit next to him. Advertisement Later, on the same long train to Manhattan, this Uzbek woman struck up a language-less conversation with another woman. This time the subject was a tiny dog that the woman had inside a mesh carrying bag. The dog wore a rhinestone collar. It was produced from the bag and proudly shown. Smiles were exchanged. This trend would continue throughout a thoroughly tourist day in New York: Uzbek woman meets stranger, and laughter, photos and smiles ensue. Heads are shaken in happy disbelief that strangers could become friends so quickly. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I needed ... to see this place and these people with fresh eyes. I needed this woman to fly across the world and look at my home and tell me what she saw. In the year 2000, I joined the United States Peace Corps and was sent to serve in the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. Picture a map of the world in your mind; the part you have a hard time filling in is likely Central Asia, where Uzbekistan sits, surrounded by 'stans. I was sent to a small town in the far east of the country, to teach English in a primary school. I was assigned a family to live with. And there, in that home on the other side of the world, I met my second mother. Advertisement Mahsuma opa, I was supposed to call her, out of respect, but within a month I was calling her "Mam," just like her Russian-speaking children. She bulldozed me through Uzbekistan, introducing me to anyone and everyone, shoving interesting food and drinks in front of me, pinching my bottom as I walked by and making me dance in the courtyard of our home whenever mail arrived from the USA. Once, inexplicably, she removed me from teaching in the middle of the day and drove me to a farm out in the country. There we met the farmer, and watched him artificially inseminate a cow. "This is interesting," I ventured in the mix of Russian and Uzbek I was learning. "But why are we here?" She told me -- solemnly, but unable to completely hide the glint in her eye -- that the sperm had come from an American bull. So, obviously, I needed to see it. "If only you had been my daughter that I gave birth to!" she would sometimes exclaim out of nowhere. "Then I would have given you my breast and fed you my milk." Then peals of cackling laughter and gestures one would not have expected from an Uzbek woman. Then a smack across the upper arm and a shout of "I will kill you! I will eat you! I love you so much!" And then 9/11 happened. The in-country Peace Corps officer called the house and told me I had 48 hours to be in the capital, from whence we would be evacuated. But Mam was out of town, and we would not get to say goodbye. My heart shattered. We were sent back to America and summarily dismissed. A year later I was back -- a whole month's visit funded by Spartan living conditions on my non-profit salary back in America. And then, gone again. Advertisement Fourteen years passed. Years peppered with phone calls when I could get through, with poorly written letters in my ever-declining Ruzbek mix. Once, I almost made it back, but was denied a visa to go back and visit. More tears. And then, suddenly, she decides it is time to come and see her long-lost daughter. A visa is procured, ticket purchased, and I fly to JFK to meet her in the middle of the night. We sleep in a crappy airport hotel and in the morning, we take that A train from Queens to Manhattan, to spend the day in a city she had seen in countless films, heard about in countless pop songs. We ride an open-top tourist bus. We eat pizza. We shop. We walk the High Line. And everywhere: smiles, laughter, high fives, photos, Mam shouting the dozen or so English words she knows: "Friend!" "Very good!" "Beautiful!" At the day's end, hot, tired and happy, I ask Mam to tell me the best part of the day. She'd seen the Statue of Liberty, been up to the 31st floor of the Viacom building in Times Square to see the panorama of the city. So many sights and sounds and smells and experiences in one day. The best part? she says. That's easy. The people. That baby on the train. When your metro card wouldn't work on the subway, that stranger swiped his to let you in. That Uber driver, Sasha -- who knew we would get an Uber driver born in Uzbekistan? The lady who was letting strangers pet her tiny dog. The Korean War veterans in Battery Park. The hotel shuttle driver who let me take a picture with him. Your cousin. Your mom. The people here are so open. They talk to each other. If you ask them to help you, they help. If you smile at them, they smile back. I drink in her vision of America like cold, clear water on a hot day. ... We are what makes America great. Not again, but still. "You know, Mam," I say, "Some people think New Yorkers are rude." "Not possible!" she shouts, and smacks me across the upper arm. "These people are so kind! And it's amazing: they're all different. So many colors, so many languages! But I have two ears and one nose -- see? And so do they. It turns out there is no difference at all. Americans are wonderful." Hear this with me. Hear it on this week, at this time, with this fearmongering and name-calling and dog whistling, with these attacks and deaths and grievances and inequities, with fear stalking the land and a major party presidential candidate making a mockery of community, of unity, of the melting pot and the lifted lamp for huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I needed to hear this, to see this place and these people with fresh eyes. I needed this woman to fly across the world and look at my home and tell me what she saw. I drink in her vision of America like cold, clear water on a hot day. It rings inside me like a bell, like muscle memory. This is who we are. This -- with all of our faults -- is who we've always been when we're at our best. We are the woman on the A train, handing her baby to a loud and completely foreign stranger. We are the strangers who shout "Welcome! Welcome!" when they are told that today is this lady's first day in America. We are the stranger's swipe of the metro card, accompanied by a silent smile. We are connection, laughter. We are two ears and one nose each. We are messy joy and love and openness and kindness to a stranger in our strange land. We are what makes America great. Not again, but still. Advertisement Contentious as it might sound, there are significant similarities between the Islamic State terrorist organization, ISIS, and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Of course there are differences as well, but examining issues of congruence adds another dimension to the gun violence controversy. The most important parallels between ISIS and the NRA are: -Institutionally, both organizations are remorseless about the deaths of victims -Both use fear and intimidation to obtain their objectives -Both assume their ideology is superior to the wishes of the majority of citizens -Both have intensely loyal followers -Both recruit and indoctrinate members who are ignorant of the basic facts -Both are relatively small organizations that have impact far beyond their size -Neither organization will apologize for the harm they cause Perspective: It is estimated that in 2015 ISIS killed about 6,000 people, a majority of them Muslims. ISIS also conducted a few terrorist attacks in Europe and fostered a couple of sympathetic incidents here in the U.S. Based on those killings and other related activities, ISIS is considered a global menace. Concern about ISIS resonates as a political issue. Congressional leaders vociferously called for increased action to mitigate that threat including the use of military force. As then-Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz put it, "We ought to bomb them back to the Stone Age." In response to the perceived threat, we deployed the U.S. Air Force to bomb targets in Syria and Iraq. In addition, we sent hundreds of ground forces into harm's way to act as advisors while providing both funds and materiel in support of countries in the region that are focused on degrading ISIS capabilities. Advertisement During the same period there were approximately 33,600 gun related deaths in the U.S. Allowing that an estimated 60 percent of gun deaths were suicides, it can readily be determined that more than 10,000 Americans died from gun related homicides. Of course, not every victim who is shot dies and far more survive than are killed (about 1:4). Using four or more victims as the accepted definition of a mass shooting, there were 372 such incidents in the U.S. last year. As there is no national requirement to report shootings, the total number of victims of gun violence is unknown but it is several times more than those killed by ISIS. In response to many of these shootings there were outcries by members of Congress, the president, and most importantly, the American people. All demanded that something be done about the number of violent incidents involving guns. The outcome, however, was completely different than the response to ISIS; i.e. nothing happened. Even the most sane and modest proposal (don't sell guns to suspected terrorists) was defeated in Congress. The reason was simple: the remorseless and relentless campaign by the NRA, and its members, threatening Congressional representatives who might support any legislation related to gun control. Being fearful of the results, the NRA have even caused Congress to ban the study of the effects of gun violence with federal funds at the Center for Disease Control. The NRA's intimidation tactics repeatedly have proven effective, much like the intimidation of ISIS in areas they can control or influence. One difference, however, is that the death count in America is higher and grieving more widely distributed. Advertisement Even with the most egregious cases, such as the executions of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the NRA quickly pronounces their position against any further gun restrictions. Rather, they blame laws making schools gun-free zones. With crocodile tears, remorselessly, time and again after mass shootings the NRA's infamous (and demonstrably false) refrain rings out, "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Their answer to already extensive violence is consistent: More guns. Obliviously, they ignore the characterization of areas that have more weapons often are called war zones (and hardly safe). Unfortunately, that commentary (war zones) is frequently employed describing some inner city areas in America today. It is acknowledged that much of that violence is gang-related as are many of the mass-shooting incidents. But gang shootouts too often result in casualties of innocent bystanders, often children. Both ISIS and the NRA have members who are intensely loyal and are willing to act unquestioningly based on directions from the organizational leadership. In ISIS controlled geographic areas they constitute a small percentage of the population. Yet, using fear and intimidation they exert near total control over the territory. By comparison, the NRA has less than five million members (a number that ignobly grows with each horrific event). That, is only about two percent of the eligible voters in the U.S. today (a little over 200 million) yet they wield extraordinary influence both locally and nationally. Like ISIS' intimidation, it is effective because, on demand, NRA members show up at all meetings concerning gun regulations and inundate Congress members with petitions. They threaten noncompliant members with removal from office, typically done at primary level when just a few voters can swing elections. To reach beyond elected officials, the NRA uses fear tactics and unrealistic and hypothetical scenarios to gain favor with the general public and recruit new members. The ads and posting of those stories make people believe that danger is constantly lurking nearby and the only means of protecting your loved ones is the immediate availability of a gun. In that world the police are useless except to take reports after the incident has occurred. Advertisement Admittedly, there are a few instances in which armed citizens have stopped crimes in progress, but the number of successful interventions is very small (and regularly touted on web sites supporting the NRA motives). The reality, however, is that guns are far more likely to be used to kill a friend or relative, either intentionally or accidentally, than to stop a criminal. In a single year it was reported that over 15,000 children and teenagers were injured or killed by guns. That was over two times the number of children who died from cancer that year. In addition, having a gun in the house increases the risk of a suicide attempt eleven fold. ISIS effectively uses social media for recruiting membership. They paint a false narrative about their ideology (a derivation of fundamentalist Sunni Islam) and their goals. That approach has proven to be an effective recruitment tool. Many, possibly most, of those joining ISIS are theological neophytes and thus easily swayed by the insidiously alluring, but often misleading, messages. So too does the NRA employ social media, as they paint paranoia-inspired false narratives. One main theme is that the evil government will soon be coming to abscond all of your guns and impart martial law. This is often coupled with tales of an impending invasion by mythical United Nations forces. Unfortunately, these fear inducing tactics are often successful. Another vignette in their mosaic is that the government is (or should be) fearful of armed citizens as they hold the power of overt rebellion should the government go too far astray. According to the NRA adherents, citizens should have access to any guns they desire. That includes availability of weapons designed primarily for war such as assault rifles, (yes, I know that technically that term means fully automatic- but not to the public) and even 50 caliber sniper rifles that can penetrate the engine of a car. If you are hunting elephants and can afford the $38,000 trophy fee, you can afford obtaining a special license for that weapon. Also in contention are high capacity magazines, typically holding 30 rounds, although there is the Beta C double drum magazine which can contain 100 rounds. While banned in some areas, it is clear that such magazine capabilities far exceed any reasonable sporting or hunting requirements. Many low information gun owners appear influenced by movies such as Independence Day, Terminator, The Hunger Games, or other Hollywood fairytales, in which small bands of people overcome a technologically advanced enemy. The creators and adherents of such fanciful dramas are totally clueless about the real-world capabilities of the U.S. military. Espousing gun ownership, per the Second Amendment, as means to keep the potentially evil government in check is simply specious. Just as ISIS believes that their brand of Islam is superior to all other sects, some NRA members believe that their vision of Second Amendment rights supersede what most people believe reasonable controls over gun violence. A real incongruence is that many members actually support rationale suggestions, such as universal background checks, yet lobby on the NRA's behalf to prevent that legislation. Both organizations assume conceptual/moral superiority to the values and beliefs of others and both emphasize obtaining their objectives through use of force or threats of violence. Advertisement When studying organizational development we had a favorite saying, "Behavior is believable." That means observing behavior versus language is the best determinant of what the person or organization really means and values. Or, in Biblical terms, "Who will render to every man according to his deeds" (Romans 2-6). On occasion the NRA sometimes makes reasonable sounding proposals, and often offers insouciant condolences to victim's families. Their observable behavior, however, contradicts any such gratuitous statements. To be fair, there are significant differences between ISIS and the NRA. ISIS overtly employs extreme violence to achieve their desired ends, while the NRA just takes advantage of other's misdeeds. The NRA members do not directly kill the victims. The intentional brutality and physical intimidation displayed by ISIS far exceeds the tactics employed by the NRA. In the end, however, the body count tells the story. A legitimate criticism of the article is that even if modest gun control legislation were to be enacted, it would probably have little effect on the shooting violence level in America; at least in the short term. The seemingly intractable problem is that there already exist an estimated 300 million guns in the U.S. It is also acknowledged that most gun owners do not commit crimes or intentionally shoot others. However, too many gun owners do. I accept those comments, but note that the NRA's remorseless and unapologetic attacks on all legislative efforts have made it impossible to even begin to sanely address the issue. Behavior is believable. Addendum There are too many comments to respond to individually. Ad hominem aside, most of the cogent issues were actually addressed in the article. Being intentionally provocative seems to be the only method to get attention to the issue. There have been hundreds, if not thousands of article decrying the NRA's actions and intimidation factors. Body count is body count and hard to ignore and relative responses valid, so that comparison stands even if the moral differential is in conflict. The difference in institutional motivation was addressed, but not acknowledged by emotionally incited readers. A key point to note is that being in favor of some gun regulations is NOT the same as being anti-gun though that is what many commenters seem to believe. Despite, all of the zombie lies (ones that won't die) no current government official or candidate has called for repealing the Second Amendment or confiscating all guns. Advertisement For a great overview of the NRA's action, the PBS Frontline program, Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA, which first aired 6 January 2015 is highly recommended. The organization is not what it started out to be, an outstanding advocate for gun safety. However, under Wayne LaPierre, Jr, basically it was coopted and transformed into the current adversarial organization. For more recent look at their activities watch the HBO segment of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, which first aired 19 June 2016 following the Orlando massacre. While Oliver's format may be for amusement, the messages are often insightful and serious. Coincidentally, the following day, on 20 June 2016, the U.S. Senate again voted down four modest proposals. As a correction, one commenter did point out that the CDC is no longer legally prohibited from studying gun violence. True, but that is only half the story. The NRA supported ban lasted for nearly two decades after enactment in 1996. While a minuscule amount of money was spent on research by the CDC in the past two years, Congress proceeded to cut all additional funds which in effect extended the ban. It should certainly raise serious questions about why the NRA is so deadest against having the topic researched by credible independent sources. As depicted in this quote from USA Today, the NRA has been active in hampering background checks as well. "David Chipman, a former ATF special agent, said that much of the agency's inefficiency is tied to the political sway of the powerful gun rights groups who have sought to contain the authority of the ATF. 'The gun lobby has been very successful at keeping the ATF as inefficient as possible,'' Chipman said." As suggested in the article there are those who believe the Second Amendment is near limitless. Some state it was designed so that militias would have equal or superior capability to the USG. When asked who gets the nuclear weapons they sidestepped. Still, it is important to note that government suppression beliefs are part of the discussion. Advertisement In 2013 it was predicted that by 2015 deaths from guns would exceed traffic fatalities. Apparently frightened, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action preemptively encouraged articles claiming the comparison was unfair. In reality, auto deaths in 2015 still exceeded gun deaths by a relatively small amount (35,800 auto, 33,600 gun). But there is a significant difference. With automobile accidents there are concerted efforts in many venues (educational, technical, and legislative) to reduce fatalities. Several noted that the attributes list had applicability with other organizations, with most of the venom pointing at the DNC. That again is partially true, but no other American institution has the same remorseless approach to the body count of gun violence victims. The abysmal understanding of facts was repeated frequently. As an example, one person informed us that 5000 of the homicides came from police shootings. "It's been six days since the Reticulan battle fleet entered Earth orbit, and today this unearthly race of reptilian shapeshifters issued their demands that Earth submit to their will and surrender mankind's freedom, mineral wealth and women," announced Rachel Maddow, wearing the metal bikini required of all concubines of the Reticulan High Command. "As yet, we have had no definitive statements from the Trump campaign regarding this latest twist to an already dramatic 2016 Presidential race. Meanwhile, CNN's "Best Political Team," broadcasting from an underground bunker in an unknown location, wondered how the Reticulan's recent killing of every living thing in Europe might impact the dynamic of this race. "Clinton was already four points up in the polls before the alien invasion fleet blew out most of the nation's communication grid," said James Carville, his voice slightly muffled by the helmet of his radiation suit. "I don't see why those numbers can't hold until Election Day. "I disagree," replied David Gergen, having recently escaped from the alien's lunar mining colony. "During times when the country perceives itself to be under a threat, Americans instinctively look to outsiders. And, fair or not, Donald Trump's experience in the stressful world of "combat deal-making," could become an asset, despite his inexperience fending off atomic laser cannons." Advertisement With the conventions behind us, we enter a period when all news tends to get funneled into a single question: which Presidential candidate does it help? In 2008, the implosion of the finance industry primarily became a backdrop for the Obama and McCain campaigns to position themselves against one another, just as today's wars in Syria and Iraq are boiling down to whether the buck should stop with the current Democratic administration or the Republican one which preceded it. Given that we are selecting between two people who will have to deal with currently known and unanticipated problems and crises at home and abroad, it certainly makes sense to question which candidate is likely to do a better job coming up with creative solutions, reaching out for assistance when needed and executing on plans successfully. But does this necessarily mean that everything happening in the world, from a coup in Turkey to cop shootings in Texas, have their roots in the White House? Every election, we are introduced to the "single-issue voter," someone who feels so passionate about a single subject that they are willing to cast their presidential vote based on a candidate's stand on this one issue alone. The issue might be domestic (such as immigration), or international (such as wars in the Middle East). As parodied at the beginning of this essay, there does not seem to be a single question on any historic event that does not get covered by providing two minutes of news and analysis of the actual issue, followed by twenty minutes of discussion on how this issue will impact America's choice for president. Advertisement No doubt, the next occupant in the White House will have inordinate powers that can impact these and many other matters. But the world and history will continue to turn in ways over which an American President (believe it or not) has little to no control. To see every twist and turn in the nation, planet and galaxy's fate as one more backdrop to a presidential campaign, to be parsed based on who it impacts positively and negatively, is to truly become a "single-issue voter," whereby every stand on every event becomes yet another manifestation of the single question of who to vote for in November. It's been my experience the ability to think critically about issues and the candidates plummets rapidly between the end of the conventions and Election Day as voters separate themselves into armed camps, filtering their incoming news feeds with information that supports what they already know to be true (with brief channel switching to opposition events in order to express requisite disgust). The American Dream is dying. Social mobility in America has all but perished for the majority of Americans. With an extraordinary concentration of wealth amongst the richest, working-class Americans are often shut out of opportunities that could allow them to rise. Investments enable citizens to bolster their incomes and plan their financial futures. But, while rules and regulations prohibit most Americans from participating in higher yielding ventures, our society's wealth gap will continue to widen. The inequality of investment possibilities can be largely attributed to the Security and Exchange Commission's accredited investor rules. To be considered an accredited investor, an individual must have earned more than $200,000 (or $300,000 in combination with a spouse) in each of the previous two years and, according to the SEC, "reasonably expects the same for the current year." Accredited status may also be determined by an individual's net worth, which must exceed $1 million. Advertisement Accredited investors typically have access to the most potentially lucrative investment opportunities in the nation. Frustratingly, though, these are available to a miniscule portion of our population. In their 2016 white paper "The Renaissance of the Retail Investor," Dara Albright, James A. Jones, and Kim Wales explain that "only a paltry 2.8% of all U.S. households are presently considered accredited. In other words, more than 97% of American households cannot access the same investment opportunities as the 2.8%. It is this mind numbing investment opportunity gap that continues to exacerbate America's wealth disparity." Alternative and private investments provide the possibility of hefty returns and wide portfolio diversification for our country's richest, while leaving non-accredited investors with limited choices such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Albright, Jones, and Wales assert that "investing injustice not only exacerbates the wealth divide, it threatens to destroy America's economic, social, and political foundation." As the elite monopolize, average Americans remain confined under their power. Wealth disparity allows those at the top to exercise control over the majority. Employment and education opportunities, politics, consumerism, and even societal and personal perceptions are all manipulated by the wealth-holders. The wealth gap, and limited investment opportunities in particular, weakens retirement plans for average Americans. For most citizens, retirement security does not exist. According to a 2016 CNBC study, "Americans between the ages of 40 and 55 have an average retirement account balance of $14,500. But estimates suggest that they'll need up to 20 times that amount to maintain their standard of living after they stop working." The study concluded that today's stagnant wages, rising healthcare costs, increasing rents, and massive student loan debt are to blame. Without the prospect of dramatically increasing their savings through higher-yielding investments, retirement remains uncertain for many Americans. Albright, Jones, and Wales offer a two-part solution to halt wealth inequality and boost retirement savings: "access to alternative investment opportunities must be democratized, and retirement plans must be able to efficiently support micro alternative investing." Thanks to recent legislation, options are beginning to emerge for non-accredited investors. In 2012, President Obama enacted the "Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act," known as the "JOBS Act." Title III (Regulation Crowdfunding) and Title IV (Regulation A+) of the Act allow non-accredited investors access to alternative investments through equity crowdfunding. Online offerings of stakes in small and startup businesses open the market up to investors who were previously shut out. As Albright, Jones, and Wales explain, "Although these issuers must abide by offering thresholds, they are able to sidestep the 'accredited investor' rule, which would otherwise limit their offerings to a diminutive number of wealthy investors. As a result, unaccredited investors will be able to access additional investment products that expand well beyond conventional stocks, bonds, and mutual funds." Advertisement Companies have already taken advantage of Regulation A+ to increase the inclusivity of their investments. My company, American Homeowner Preservation, utilizes Reg. A+ to assist families at risk of foreclosure. AHP crowdfunds the purchase of nonperforming mortgages from banks at big discounts, then shares the discounts with struggling homeowners to keep them in their homes. With a $100 minimum investment, almost anyone can invest: the 99% can help the 99%. Broadening investment possibilities encourages small business development and opens up new sources of capital. But Albright, Jones, and Wales argue that progress cannot end with the JOBS Act. Instead, they call for dissolution of the accredited investor rules altogether, declaring "The fact remains that until the accredited investor definition is broadened or eradicated and/or more retail alternative products emerge, there are only a limited number of ways for retail investors to access alternatives and capitalize on crowdfinance." Google Isn't Always The Answer Google is generally recognized today as the answer to every question, but there are exceptions to that Internet Age fundamental and one of them has to do with shopping for real estate overseas. As you launch your foreign property adventures, your first instinct may be to google a direction, to surf around online for country agents and property listings. I encourage you to resist that urge. Well, that's over-stating things. Go ahead and spend time online searching property-related key words for the destinations that interest you. You can acquire background this way, gain a starter understanding of the geography, the neighborhoods, and the property options on offer wherever you're searching, and begin to identify price points. All of that can be helpful if you keep it in perspective. Whatever information you find online, to do with the state of a market, with sample property listings, or with current pricing, will be confused and confusing. Often it will be plain wrong, and, when you think through what's going on, you'll understand why. In fact, several things are going on that keep the internet from being your friend when it comes to finding a piece of property worth buying in another country. Advertisement The first has to do with language. Search online in English for information on real estate for sale anywhere in the world where the people speak anything but English as a first language, and what are you going to find? You're going to find information and listings from those involved with the property market in that place who do communicate in English. Who might that include? In the case of Latin America, gringo agents. I don't use the term pejoratively but as shorthand, as it is often used, to refer to anyone in this part of the world who hails, originally, from North America or Europe. You can throw Australians and New Zealanders in there, too. Considered collectively, South of the Rio Grande, these folks-Americans, Canadians, Germans, Dutch, British, French, Aussies, Kiwis, etc.-count as "gringos." Don't take offense; usually none is intended. We gringos have made big marks on some of the property markets in this part of the world, especially in Central America. Over the past three decades, we have been identifying particularly appealing pieces of this region, especially along its coastlines, buying them cheap, chopping them up into smaller pieces, repackaging them, and then reselling them, primarily to fellow gringos. We have created markets where none existed, re-engineered off-the-map fishing villages into high-end holiday towns. Along the way, a lot of us gringos (and a lot of locals, too) have made a lot of money ... and many other gringos, with lifestyle, rather than investment agendas, have acquired reinvented retirements and second homes in the sun. As a result, today, in many places throughout Latin America, especially, again, in Central America, the gringo force is well-established and strong, especially in the context of local property markets. In places like Ambergris Caye, Belize, Roatan, Honduras, Boquete, Panama, and Playa del Carmen, Mexico, more real estate is sold by gringo agents than any other kind. The last time I counted, the very small island of Roatan, in the Bay Islands off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, was home to more than a dozen gringo agencies...but of which one was owned and operated by a local Honduran. Advertisement These agents may or may not be qualified, they may or may not have any previous experience selling real estate, they may or may not be trustworthy or reliable, but they all have one thing in common: They speak English as a first language. And this makes them feel safer to the rest of us who also speak English as a first language. We can understand them better than we can understand an agent stammering away at us in Spanglish, and so we assume, subconsciously, that they must understand us, too. And, critically, we also assume, subconsciously, if we let ourselves, that they have our best interests at heart. We're all in this together, right? We English-speaking strangers in this strange land. Surely we're all looking out for each other. In some emerging markets where you might be considering investing in real estate, this couldn't be further from the Wild West reality you're going to face on the ground, including among, perhaps especially among the gringo real estate agents you'll encounter. The trouble is that, because they're able to communicate in English, these are the agents you're going to find when you carry out any English-language property-related search online. Any English-language search is going to return information and listings published by agents who deal in English, and it's these agents who are most experienced and most savvy at taking advantage of foreign, especially first-time foreign buyers. Searching online in English, you'll also connect with those locals who either speak enough English to post their listings online in that language or who have English-language support (friends, family, partners who read and write in English). These guys are probably a rung or two up the ladder from the typical gringo property agent in the developing markets of Central America where you might be shopping, but, working with them, you still are not going to be accessing all the information you need or even, necessarily, accurate information, and you're not going to find your way to the best deals. For that, you have to expand your search to include local agents. This requires local language skills. The best case is when you have them yourself, but, if you don't, you have two options that can also be effective at making it possible to penetrate from the gringo to the local market. You can enlist help from a friend who speaks the local language, or you can engage someone specifically for that purpose, a translator. I have done both things successfully in markets around the world. If you're not working with a friend you know and trust, the key is finding someone you can come to know and trust. Again, I've done this. Don't advertise for an "English-Language Translator To Help A Foreigner With The Purchase Of Property." Yikes...the characters that ad would attract. You find a property scout/property search translator in a foreign country the way you find most things in a foreign country, from a maid to a plumber, a doctor, or an attorney- by word-of-mouth. When entering any new market, make one connection you trust and then build out from there. Advertisement Language is perhaps the biggest reason why google is not usually your friend when it comes to shopping for real estate in another country, but there are others, including the fact that once on google, always on google. Search online for property listings anywhere in the world, and what will you find? Current listings? Recent listings? Former listings? Old listings? Outdated listings? Sold listings? Yes. And usually it's impossible to tell them all apart. Maybe an online search will lead you to agent contacts that ultimately prove worthwhile, but the particular listings it yields likely will not. And not only because chances are good that those listings will no longer be current by the time you find them, but also because chances are good they'll also be either misrepresented or posted with inflated price tags or both. A woman reader of my daily e-letter contacted my Panama office staff a few years ago to say that she was interested in buying an apartment in Panama City. She'd been searching online for months and had finally found one she thought she wanted to move ahead with. Would we mind going to have a look at it for her, as she couldn't get to Panama anytime soon herself. Sure, we told her. My assistant called the agent and made an appointment to meet her at the apartment at lunchtime that afternoon. She printed out the listing from the agent's website to take with her. She returned an hour later shaking her head. "There's no pool!" she exclaimed as she walked into my office. "Excuse me?" I replied, not picking up on the reference. "At the apartment I went to see for the reader who contacted us this morning. The listing online shows a beautiful pool and social area. After I'd toured the apartment, I asked to see the pool. Advertisement "'Oh, there's no pool with this building,' the agent responded. "'But your listing online shows a pool,' I said. And I showed her the print-out I'd made of the listing from the site. "Do you know what she said? She told me, 'Oh, that pool's not in this building. It's at the hotel down the street.' "Told me that just like it were the most normal thing in the world. "The apartment is horrible," She continued. "Nothing like in the photos or the description online. But at least there is an apartment. There's no pool. No pool at all!" Related Articles: Earlier on Huff/Post50: (Photo Credit: Nathaniel Shannon) We've long known comedian Jim Breuer from his days at Saturday Night Live and his hilarious role in the movie Half Baked, but he's much more than just "Goat Boy" or his Joe Pesci impression. Breuer has forever been a metalhead, growing up on heavy metal bands like Judas Priest, AC/DC, and Iron Maiden. So much so that this music element has made its way into his comedy, most notably with his Comedy Central special Hardcore in 2002. Recently, Jim Breuer finally accomplished something he's wanted to do since the late 1990s, release a full on hard rock music album. With the release of Songs From The Garage on Metal Blade Records, Breuer fulfilled this dream of his and I was able to chat with Breuer after his set with his band The Loud & Rowdy at Chicago Open Air about his journey in making this music album, his musical influences, and how that ties into his comedy. You've long had this mix of heavy metal with your comedy at times, like your special Hardcore all the way to your new album Songs From The Garage. We know what your influences are, but what was your earliest memory of music? Advertisement My mom worked every day and my dad also, so they would trot me off to what they call now a nanny, a babysitter. The only station my dad would play was country. The first real two songs that I ever really remember was Glen Campbell "Like A Rhinestone Cowboy" and the other one was "Take This Job an' Shove It". It was Johnny Paycheck. But then after that, it was Sha Na Na, and then Johnny Cash. It just kept getting a little better as I got older (laughs). Going back to your Hardcore special, you had that hilarious AC/DC "Hokey Pokey" bit. Did AC/DC ever give you their thoughts on that? Brian Johnson did. Brian called me and he hunted me down and he said (in a Brian Johnson voice), "Yo Jim. I saw you doing the 'Hokey Pokey' and I'm coming for you my son." He actually asked me to do a charity event for him for his wife. That's how we started to get to know each other. So if it wasn't for me doing the "Hokey Pokey", I'd probably wouldn't have it him now on the record with that "Mr. Rock-N-Roll" song. Speaking of the new record, how did that idea original come about to do a full-length music album? I always wanted to do it, but I just didn't have the confidence. A comedian making a record is always like "OH GOD! What is this?!?! This is corny! What you singing about? Farting?" I always wanted to do this and I've been trying since 1999 pretty much, maybe even earlier. Not until I got the confidence was I able to do it. That confidence started around 2010. I had a radio show and I would get to sing "The Devil's Child" with Rob Halford and some songs with Sebastian Bach, and did some stuff with Metallica, but I was still know as "Hey! It's the goofy, funny guy who likes metal and does metal comedy here and there." But James Hetfield would talk about fear and what's the big deal with failure. He had no clue he was indirectly talking to me. Then it was Brian Johnson, who was like (in a Brian Johnson voice) "Jim ya know? Just for shits and giggles you should try singing me son. You got some serious pipes in ya." Once I got the band set, I knew I wanted to do this. I don't think anyone has ever pulled it off as a comic to make a full blown record where its not a comedy album. There's songs that got funny niches but there's other songs that like there's nothing funny about the "Unexplained" or "Wannabe". It's a unique style that I've been trying to do forever. Advertisement When's the first time you realized you had some pipes to sing? Oh God! As a kid! I would imitate Halford for hours! My parents would come in the basement like "WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!?!" I'm like "I'm doing Rob Halford! SCREEEEEEAMING FOR VENGEANCE! What? What's going on? Rob Halford! He's metal!" So I would imitate him. I would imitate Iron Maiden. I would imitate anyone. I knew since high school I had pipes, but I just, again, didn't know how to play it and I didn't have the confidence to do it. On the Hardcore special, you had a band with you. How did that idea come about? Again, with the album, I started in 1995 putting a band together when I was at Saturday Night Live and I did a character called Gunner Olsen, which was the "Heavy Metal News". That was my way of letting everyone know (in a heavy metal voice) "Hey guys! Just want to let you know that I'm into metal and I can sing and you're going to see it in the future!" In 1999, I did a special and had a band. It was called Heavy Metal Comedy. I had no right doing a special. I didn't do stand up for like four months. I was shooting really B-movies and put this band together, and we just really improv'd. We filmed the thing. I toured after that until like 2004-2005 with a band and that's where the Hardcore thing came from. We all know about a lot of your character and impersonation like Joe Pesci, but you have all these great stereotypical stoner, wasted guys and metalheads. Do you base these characters off of people you actually know? Advertisement The stoner in Half Baked. I'm not a typical stoner. I don't listen to Grateful Dead. I can't listen to songs that are an hour and half long. I'm a headbanger, so it puts me to sleep or its great when I'm barbequing. So when I got Half Baked, I had a voice. (In his Half Baked character voice) "I had this voice, man!" I didn't know what the character was. My niece was into the Grateful Dead and I watched three VHS tapes of documentaries. On the last documentary, this guy was going through a security line and he had a flower in his hair and he was dancing and he was all happy. Even when he came up to security, they were frisking him. He just kept dancing. He was happy. I was like that's the guy. I'm going to be that freakin' guy! The metal guys are pretty much me as a kid. That was all me. Music and comedy does cross paths at times. What do you think they both have in common from a performance standpoint? It's a specific crowd. It's a little nerdy. When I would do strand up, I would talk about the bands I'm into and I could tell who the metalheads were. It would be like 5% of the people going "YEAAAAAAAAH!" and the rest going (in old squirrely person's voice) "I have no clue what he's talking about. What is an Iron Maiden? Isn't that English history?" I think we all share a common thing that it's a club. It's something we're all into. I think most metalheads consider themselves anti-pop, we're anti- the whole cultural Hollywood nonsense, fake scene. We're all so nerdy and can relate. It's just like any other gang or society. You're currently doing a stand up tour also, what are you talking about during our set? It's all kind of new. I don't follow politics, but I talk about people's reactions to politics. I talk about raising my teenage girls. I talk about what I think of society, news, and what it's like turning 40 and over, and my body and facing death, and lining up people to wiped my ass in the next thirty years. It's just where I'm at in life. I'm almost 50, so whatever a 50 year old is going through. Note: Our guest-blogger this week will be Max Eden, a senior fellow of education policy at the Manhattan Institute. Hey everyone! And thanks, Rick, for giving me the opportunity to guest blog here at RHSU. As longtime readers with especially sharp memories may recall, about this time three years ago I was helping Rick out behind the scenes with this blog . I count myself incredibly fortunate to have begun my career as a research assistant under his tutelage, and after spending a few years working with and learning from Rick at the American Enterprise Institute , I hopped over to the Manhattan Institute to be a senior fellow focusing on education policy. This week, I want to make the case that education reform has gotten off track and that part of the reason why is a tendency toward a party-line take on questions that actually deserve more scrutiny. Id also like to offer a few arguments that might be a bit controversial, and hopefully spark a more open and productive debate. The case that education reform has gotten off track is a pretty easy one. You dont have to look much further than the 2016 Republican and Democratic platforms to see that theres been a bipartisan repudiation of the bipartisan reform consensus of four short years ago. The folks who drafted the 2016 Republican platform kept a lot of the same text from the old one, which makes the differences all the easier to spot and apprehend. Republicans are sticking to their principles on local control and choice and competition, but have backpedaled from areas of bipartisan agreement on subjects such as standards, data collection, and the economic case for education reform. In 2012, the platform called for a world-class system of education, with high standards ... [and] accountability at every level of schooling. In 2016, it encourages and congratulates efforts to repeal the Common Core. There is also firm resistance to the role of the federal government in collecting data, especially social and emotional data, which, when done without parental consent, is wholly incompatible with the American Experiment and our inalienable rights. The business community is no longer in the Republican Partys drivers seat on education. The 2016 platform affirms the truth that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, a truth that rejects the dark view of the individual as human capital a possession for the creation of anothers wealth. The Democratic platform saw a more wholesale revision. Obama had made K-12 education reform a key initiative of his presidency. (And, for the record, those who thought conservatives were crazy for thinking that the Common Core was an Obama initiative should review the 2012 platform , which stated that the President challenged and encouraged states to raise their standards so students graduate ready for college or career and can succeed in a dynamic global economy. Forty-six states responded, leading groundbreaking reforms...) But in 2016, K-12 education is almost literally an afterthought. The section headers on the Democratic education platform read, Making Debt-Free College a Reality, Providing Relief from Crushing Student Debt, Supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions, Cracking Down on Predatory For-Profit Schools, and Guaranteeing Universal Preschool and Good Schools for Every Child (emphasis added). In 2012, charter schools were listed casually as one of many approaches to improving education; now, they are only good if they are democratically governed, high quality, dont destabilize local schools, and reflect their communities by containing proportionate numbers of students of color and are subject to increased, accountability. The center of gravity on education has clearly shifted from the Democrats for Education Reform camp to the teachers unions within the Democratic party. Why the evaporated consensus? Id proffer two reasons. First, it was an inevitable reaction to the concentration of power in Washington, DC. The more power the Department of Education assumed, the more formerly local questions became national issues. Parents and teachers rightfully felt that they had less voice, which made formerly concrete and civil debates more abstract and toxic. Second, its a byproduct of an increasingly intellectually insular reform movement, which Rick says , bears an eerie resemblance to the education schools that [he] fled long ago, including a stifling orthodoxy so ingrained that its invisible to its adherents. To make the invisible visible here, consider this story: When Robert Pondiscio penned a blog cautioning against a tendency toward ideologically charged groupthink amongst education reformers, hundreds upon hundreds of reformers signed an open letter , all swearing that groupthink was emphatically not a problem. Cracking open this intellectual insularity is not only important for the future political prospects of education reform, but also because, as Rick noted , exploring substantive differences is good, healthy, and important, and makes for smarter decisions about policy and practice. But some education reformers place less value in exploring substantive differences. Indeed, these days if you pen a profile of a struggling charter school to raise the question of potential unintended consequences of stricter charter accountability, the president of the National Alliance for Charter School Authorizers is liable to post a response the next day insisting that its not a legitimate topic for discussion. A healthy movement doesnt fear debate; it not only welcomes questions but is genuinely open to persuasion. A lot of education reformers seem quite sure that they are fighting for social justice. Yet as Socrates taught us 2,500 years ago, real political debate doesnt start with the assumption that you know what justice is, but rather with the admission that just maybe you dont. So the order of business for this week is to question some common assumptions. Ill explore a new approach to charter school accountability, argue against federal pre-K expansion, defend school suspensions, and sketch out an education reform agenda that starts with the premise that All Kids Matter. Hopefully it will spark a little controversy. Better yet, a more open, good-faith debate on important questions in education policy. --Max Eden Vulnerability means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. For a while, I had a specific idea of what vulnerability was and how I could achieve it. This idea revolved around the notion of wearing your heart on your sleeve, primarily in a romantic context, telling a boy I liked him, sending a first message, etc but also in applying for different fellowships and prestigious opportunities after graduation. And so I practiced these, telling myself I was practicing vulnerable and that this practice would make me a greater person, more courageous and resilient to the ebbs and flows of life. But I felt no difference when those rejections came or the messages went unanswered. At least I felt no long lasting shift or inherent change to how open I felt to the inconsistency of the world. Maybe, I thought, I'm not being vulnerable enough or I'm not practicing it the right way. Or maybe, simply because other people have felt vulnerable this way doesn't mean that I will. As with other emotions, what makes us feel exposed and vulnerable becomes our personal definition of the word. And as we share these definitions, they become the stories others tell themselves, this is what we must do to feel vulnerable, this is an act of vulnerability. I became obsessed with the notion of vulnerability after watching Brene Brown's Tedtalk, trying to identify where I could be more vulnerable and how these acts would change me. But despite these efforts, I never had that gut feeling that I was truly exposing myself or taking a risk that frightened me. That was until I started seriously hiking this past summer. Advertisement Mountains have always fascinated me and for the past few years I would travel to Shenandoah for day hikes with friends or hike around Florida with my family over the holidays. It was bittersweet leaving each day and returning to the city so after graduation I decided to treat myself to time on in some of the less intimidating mountain ranges of the world. The third day of my hike around Mont Blanc and after weeks hiking in Ireland, I found my answer to what made me feel the most vulnerable. The answer of course, was hiking. Or maybe hiking mountains taller than ones I had ever been on. Because as I was climbing to the summit of Col de la Seigne, which, at a mere 2,516 m, marked the border between France and Italy on the Tour du Mont Blanc, I felt weaker than I had ever felt before. This could probably be attributed combination of the change in altitude and the fatigue of hiking 15 miles a day but it felt like something else for me. And since it was my experience and my story to tell, it has become my definition of vulnerability. Because, as I was climbing up to the summit, I started to not want to. It wasn't that I could not walk anymore. I could keep moving and I could put one foot in front of the other and I could put enough oxygen in my blood (granted, it took a little more effort than normal). But it's never a matter of can or can't with vulnerability. We can do anything. The words are always there to express your feelings and the next breath will always be taken and the heart will continue to pump blood no matter how much you request it stop. We don't always want to say these words or take another breath or more importantly recognize the meaning behind this fear. All that mattered was that I had no desire to put a step forward or ever lace up my hiking boots again. I felt weak and I felt powerless and I felt humiliated because I felt weak and powerless. It wasn't humbling or pretty or enlightening, it was mortifying. In the midst of the humiliation though, it was almost as if I knew that this was being vulnerable. Simply to recognize a weakness within myself; that I was worn out, physically but also emotionally because hiking is so much more mental strength than physical strength for me. Advertisement Clinton campaign manager John Podesta told reporters earlier this week that Hillary Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine are "against the TPP before the election and against the TPP after the election." Podesta was trying to allay the concerns of Sanders supporters, along with many others in the Democratic base, that Clinton, would follow in the footsteps of her husband if elected this November, and press for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other free trade deals. After all, Bill Clinton built his presidential legacy on a "trade trifecta" that Hillary enthusiastically supported -- passage of NAFTA, membership in the World Trade Organization, and opening of the U.S. market to China (via most favored nation status.) More recently, Hillary and Kaine both supported the TPP before opposing it. But widespread voter concern on trade, articulated by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, has forced her to do an about-face on what she had previously called the "gold standard" of trade deals. Nonetheless, following Podesta's bromide, Clinton confidant and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe fueled voter doubt when he told Politico that Hillary would come through for the TPP once in the White House. He may be right -- Goldman Sachs didn't pay Hillary all those speaking fees for nothing -- but McAuliffe was strongly rebuffed by the campaign. Advertisement Thus Podesta's comments and the putdown of McAuliffe offer a superficial palliative for the nervous Democratic base. But DNC rank and file should indeed be suspicious of Hillary Clinton's real intentions, noting Podesta's vague puffball on her trade policy: He says that Hillary favors "a new approach" to trade relations. Completely lacking in substance and meaning, this "new" Hillary trade policy is hardly something one can bank on. President Obama demonstrated similar trade duplicity during his first term, when he concluded free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea -- despite touting his opposition to NAFTA during the 2008 campaign. The hollowness of Clinton's "new approach" makes the barrage of media criticisms leveled at Donald Trump's lack of specificity a travesty. Numerous editorial boards have savaged Trump for offering only vague statements on issues. But such criticisms conveniently ignore Trump's clear statements on trade (one of his three main issues, along with immigration and national security), as well as his clarity of intention to renegotiate trade agreements and eliminate trade deficits. Moreover, Trump has continually declared his opposition to faulty trade policy since the 1980s. No Clinton trade flip-flops there. And Trump has never backed away from calling for potential tariffs, if necessary to accomplish his goals, even as a slew of opinion pieces have slammed him for suggesting such tactics. Trump's position is strong and precise -- and makes good sense when one considers that America's key trade partners (notably China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Germany -- all countries added to a new Treasury Department watchlist of potential currency manipulators this spring) have run roughshod over successive presidential administrations, producing 40-plus years of U.S. trade deficits. Trump is clear: he wants to create jobs at home and prevent the further offshoring of America's remaining industrial base by halting the cheating and adversarial tactics of our trading partners. Advertisement So we have Trump telling us exactly what he wants to do, contrasted with Podesta's fluff statements. Podesta also sidestepped a question about whether Hillary will go head-to-head with Obama on his desire to push TPP through a lame duck session of the Congress, saying, "That is not our strategy." But what, really, is Clinton's strategy? We have Trump offering quite specific policies, and taking extreme heat for them. Hillary Clinton's strategy is, apparently, not to be pinned down. In other words, she has adopted a political strategy, not a substantive one. The "best-prepared-person-ever" doesn't have a trade strategy. Hillary wants it both ways on trade -- simultaneously placating anti-free-trade Sanders voters and her pro-free-trade Wall Street benefactors -- with her "read-your-favored-position-into-it" approach. However, if our failed trade policy is something voters want to change in favor of new wealth generation and job creation, the choice of candidates is clear: The one who actually has a specific trade policy that favors American workers and the American economy. Hint: It's not Hillary Clinton. Leura Fine Featured on Forbes' 2016 30 Under 30 list, Leura Fine is the founder and CEO of leading online interior design service Laurel & Wolf. Driven by the desire to connect clients and designers through a digital platform, Leura launched Laurel & Wolf from her home dining room in 2014. Two years later, she has a rapidly growing team of more than 60 employees and a marketplace of more than 1,000 interior designers. Born and raised in Alabama, Leura grew up with a passion for design;; she began her career at a top design firm and then started her own company, Leura Fine Interiors, before ultimately launching Laurel & Wolf. Named one of Business Insider's "25 Hot Los Angeles Startups to Watch" and featured in notable publications such as Forbes, TechCrunch, Inc., Refinery29, and Elle Decor, Laurel & Wolf has disrupted the traditional model of the interior design industry. As the company's hands-on leader, Leura transforms the way thousands of people live, work, and love through the power of great design. Advertisement How has your life experience made you the leader you are today? My path has been one rich with diverse experiences and, although it has certainly not been traditional, it has led me to where I am today. I am a Jewish southern girl who grew up in Alabama and moved to Montreal to study at McGill University. After graduating early, I then moved to Los Angeles where I worked for a world famous Burlesque dancer, built a career as an interior designer and continued to then launch a tech company, of course now known as Laurel & Wolf. I was also born blessed as I have exceptional parents who taught me with enough hard work and dedication I could do anything. They supported my every endeavor and helped me not only believe that the world was mine for the taking, but also that "normal" was "only a setting on a washing machine." There was no value placed on being like everyone else and I think this belief that unique is beautiful is what helped me through so many transitions in my life and makes me a stronger leader today. How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Laurel & Wolf? My previous career as an interior designer is what inspired the idea for Laurel & Wolf. More importantly, I learned from my previous experiences that in life and in business you must evolve or die and most people inevitably follow the status quo. They are structured the same way, they have the same office environment, they think about growth in the same manner, and they are ultimately afraid to rock the boat. For me, it is truly exhilarating creating a business that looks to the future while simultaneously changing the future for so many people. The passion and drive I have for the design industry and for life finally has the opportunity to thrive through Laurel & Wolf. Advertisement What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Laurel & Wolf? A major highlight is definitely my team! I love coming to work everyday and feel beyond blessed that I get to work with such incredibly creative, intelligent, and dedicated individuals. As far as a greatest challenge goes, when leading a startup, you are faced with obstacles on a daily basis. No matter what the challenge may be, I believe the most valuable takeaway is learning from these experiences in order to evolve and grow as a leader. What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry? Oscar Wilde said: "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." I love this quote because I believe that staying true to who you are is incredibly important as a woman in any industry. In your career, it is critical to embrace your strengths and your weaknesses and learn how to leverage them to the best of your ability as opposed to trying to conform to what you think someone in your field should act or look like. What is the most important lesson you've learned in your career to date? Determination, focus, and hard work matter more than anything. You can have the best idea in the world but if you don't know how to execute, then you don't have anything. You have to always be pushing forward if you want to win. How do you maintain a work/life balance? I certainly aim for work/life balance although I don't know I would say I've fully achieved it. More than anything, having friends and family who are understanding and supportive of your endeavor is critical when you start a company. I do try and make time to be active, enjoy the outdoors, cook, travel and have days where I only check my email once (or twice). I think aspiring to have a balance is more than half the battle! Just like any other goal, there are times when it is easier to accomplish than others. What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace? I have no idea to be honest. I think every individual has different challenges (either personal, societal or both) faced at work and some of our greatest challenges can simply exist in our head. It is possible certain insecurities arise as a result of what we've been exposed to or perhaps our upbringing; however, this doesn't mean we should allow them to surface and it definitely doesn't mean they cannot be overcome. Advertisement My perspective is definitely skewed as I've gone to work in an era where space was already created for me to thrive as a female professional. I appreciate the hard work and tremendous challenges faced by women who came before me and my hope is to continue to expand the conversation until we no longer need to address this question or deal with sexism or any type of prejudice in the workplace. I'm incredibly proud of Laurel & Wolf and fellow founders as we have successfully created empowering, diverse, and equal opportunity places of employment. How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life? I don't know that I've ever had one specific mentor but there are many people I've admired greatly and gotten to spend time with. More than formal mentorship, I believe listening to people's stories can dramatically impact your career and your decisions. The best stories are the ones that tell the story of failure. It is fascinating to see how people not only overcome obstacles but also rise above and succeed. Which other female leaders do you admire and why? Historically, I have always greatly admired Golda Meir. She was brilliant, dedicated, tough, and not afraid to go after what she wanted and what she knew was right. She was a revolutionary and a visionary. Contemporary females I admire are Martha Stewart and Shonda Rhimes. They have both taken traditionally female traits and interests and created empires out of them. They are also both selfmade women, which makes me respect and admire them even more. Homelessness is not a modern phenomenon. The first cases of the homeless in America date back to the 1640s according to Street News Service. Wars fought between the settlers and Native Americans displaced people on both sides. Back then people would show up to a town and make a case for why they should be allowed to settle there. In most New England towns, the newcomers would sit before the town fathers and explain how they would pull their weight and not be a drain on everybody else. The people who were denied and told to move on were Catholics, people with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, alcoholics, widows, orphans and the elderly. We ended up with a transient class moving from town to town, so this new world did not offer opportunity for everyone. When the Industrial Revolution was starting in the 1820s-1830s, people were moving from farms into cities creating a poor urban underclass which led to our first anti-panhandling ordinances, and our jails soon became our shelter system. Then in 1830, Congress passed the first federal policy that caused massive homelessness, The Indian Removal Act, which uprooted Native American tribes in the southeast and moved them to Oklahoma, which is now known as the "Trail of Tears." The Industrial Revolution caused many injuries, then add to this the Civil War, and more and more Americans became displaced. Disasters like the Chicago fire in 1871, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the massive 1927 Mississippi River flood that displaced 1.3 million people from Ohio to New Orleans created more homelessness. Then the Great Depression hit in 1929 and massive numbers of homeless people hit the streets like America had never seen before or since. Advertisement The same issues that caused homelessness 300-400 years ago are still haunting us today. Tragic life occurrences like the loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, divorce, family disputes, depression, untreated mental illness, natural disasters, war, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities are responsible for a large portion of the homeless. In this land of plenty and this land of opportunity, over 600,000 Americans experience homelessness on any given night, with 138,000 being under the age of 18. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the national rate of homeless persons is 18.3 per 10,000 people, ranging from 120 in Washington, D.C. to 7 in Mississippi. Veterans are at 25.5 per 10,000 with the high again in Washington, D.C. of 146 and the low in Virginia at 9. In this season when our kids are getting ready to go back to school, we as a society need to focus on the homeless children in our communities. Homeless children, as defined by the federal "No Child Left Behind" program, include not just those living in shelters or transitional housing, but also those sharing the housing of other persons due to economic hardships, living in cars, parks, bus or train stations or awaiting foster care placement. According to NBC News, the National Center for Homeless Education reported local school districts have 2.5 Million homeless children under the government's definition in public schools, which means 1 in 30 American children went homeless at some point last year. This is one per every classroom. Half of these kids are younger than six years old. Of these, 76,000 homeless students are living on their own and many of these youths exchange sex for food, clothing, shelter and other basic needs. 75% of homeless youth have either dropped out or will drop out of school. 48% of homeless youth drink heavily compared to 18% of their counterparts. America has not been able to solve the homeless problem for close to 400 years. What would make us think we can solve it now? Advertisement Throughout our history, we have learned that homelessness cannot be solved by the government alone, especially in times of government gridlock and lack of funds. This is a major issue that affects all of us and at this time of year it involves the classmates of our kids. This is truly a local issue causing hardships on our local schools. There are many ways the average citizen can help out either by volunteering their time or donating their money. The Covenant House opens up its doors to help homeless youth in 27 cities. Safe Horizons helps out children and families. Stand Up For Kids helps get our children off the streets and Move for Hunger helps feed them. And at DollarDays, on our Facebook page, we are giving away $5,000 in products to 18 shelters across the country that are helping kids and adults cope with their current situation. Make sure you nominate the shelters in your community who can benefit from this giveaway. Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, pauses while speaking during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, July 28, 2016. Division among Democrats has been overcome through speeches from two presidents, another first lady and a vice-president, who raised the stakes for their candidate by warning that her opponent posed an unprecedented threat to American diplomacy. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images MOSCOW -- The Democratic National Convention was in scandal last week after WikiLeaks released thousands of hacked emails between DNC members, showing what many believed to be corruption in the party's inner workings. The leak led to the resignation of the party's chairwoman and a lot of bad press for Hillary Clinton, but while the information regarding a potential breach of DNC servers has been available since April, we are yet to hear about a similar breach of the Republican National Convention. The seemingly one-sided nature of the attacks, along with Donald Trump's strikingly pro-Russian rhetoric (including suggestions to abandon some NATO security guarantees, end sanctions on Moscow and repeated endorsements of Russian President Vladimir Putin) contributed to an increasing number of conspiracy theories around the Putin-Trump relationship. Although the scandal is a reminder of the Kremlin's hybrid warfare tools, there is no evidence to support claims about explicit Trump-Putin collaboration. Advertisement Specific evidence of personal and/or financial links between Trump and Putin has yet to be found, but Russian fingerprints on the DNC hack are strongly suspected. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, published a report that describes the particular tools applied by the DNC hackers that are typical of Russian hackers affiliated with the security services. Putin discusses internet security at the Russian parliament on April 20, 2011. (Alexsey Druginyn/Reuters) This is not a surprise. In February, the Senate Armed Services Committee named Russia the leading U.S. cyber threat in light of its "more assertive cyber posture" and "willingness to target critical infrastructure systems and conduct espionage operations" in the U.S. Cyber attacks are just one piece of the Kremlin's hybrid warfare -- a military strategy that combines conventional warfare with other tactics, and the U.S. has not been the only target. Advertisement As I noted in a report for the Institute for the Study of War, hybrid warfare in Russia consists mostly of deliberate disinformation campaigns supported by Russia's intelligence institutions in order to achieve certain political goals and support Kremlin-favored parties and candidates. The Kremlin often uses three main tools to influence people abroad: proactive political measures, "NGO diplomacy" and the creation and management of favorable media environments. The Kremlin has applied such strategies on multiple occasions in both eastern and western European countries. Cyber attacks are just one piece of the Kremlin's hybrid warfare. Recently, the Kremlin shifted its support towards more radical groups on both ends of the political spectrum, like Jobbik in Hungary and Golden Dawn in Greece. Preference for the radicals probably evolved in light of Russia's increasingly strained relations with Europe's mainstream. Radical groups are easier for the Kremlin to manipulate and negotiate with, due to similar positions on nationalism, immigration policies and many others. A dossier of "Russian influence activity" recently collected by the U.S. identified Russian operations and clandestine funding of radical parties running in France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic. Trump is similarly favored by the Kremlin as a typical far-right candidate whose isolationist stance is likely to give the Kremlin more leverage on the world stage and possibly lift sanctions (an issue that has been on Putin's top foreign policy priorities list). In this regard, the DNC attack can be viewed as a typical Kremlin influence operation, which achieves the goal of assisting the Kremlin-favored presidential candidate (Trump) while also pressuring its less-favored candidate (Clinton). Donald Trump smiles after speaking during his walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21. (Rick Wilking/Reuters) Some analysts recently questioned the Kremlin's preference for Trump. But Putin himself hardly left any doubt when he endorsed Trump last December. Russian media seems to reflect Putin's sentiment, and watching state-owned TV channels leaves little doubt on Moscow's preferred candidate. Even on BBC Russia recently, a young woman hesitantly smiled as she told a reporter that she supports Trump in the upcoming elections. He is, she said, "quite a good-looking man" and is more Russia oriented than other candidates. She is not the only one who feels this way. An April survey of over 20,000 adults in every G-20 country revealed that Russia was the only country where Trump was the preferred presidential candidate over Clinton. This sentiment is also shared among some Russian Americans. In Brighton Beach, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that's a haven for Russian immigrants, Trump got 84 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. This is a regular phenomenon -- Russian immigrants living in the U.S. often still watch pro-Kremlin channels, support Putin and hold fast to many Soviet views. While pro-Kremlin media attack Clinton, they portray Trump in a much more positive light, praising his 'caustic and colorful statements.' Yet in many private discussions Russians are more moderately optimistic about Trump's prospects for Russia, often naming him a lesser of two evils. This, as I discussed elsewhere, is a direct result of the pro-Kremlin media shaping Russian public opinion. Elena, who lives in Moscow, says, "If Trump is elected U.S. President the relationship with Russia might improve, become more calm, pragmatic. Trump may contribute to the lifting of sanctions... he would find common ground with Putin." Advertisement It is no surprise then that pro-Trump attitudes stem from the Russian media's clear pro-Trump agenda and decidedly anti-Clinton rhetoric. In light of the DNC email scandal the pro-Kremlin media has portrayed Clinton as a lame duck. The broadcasts said everything from "Hillary pretends that everything is under control" while "conceding to Trump in recent polls" to accusing the Democratic Party of shifting the blame of the hacking scandal to Russians as a means of deflecting "one scandal after another." Even the recent bump in Trump's popularity following the Republican National Convention was cited by several of Russia's state-owned channels as strong evidence of Clinton's growing unpopularity. While pro-Kremlin media attack Clinton, they portray Trump in a much more positive light, praising his "caustic and colorful statements," accusing his opponents of a lack of sense of humor and suggesting he is popular among Americans "who do not want to be paranoid." A man holds an "I Love Trump" sign at the DNC in Philadelphia on July 27. (Adrees Latif/Reuters) As to the alleged Russian source of the DNC hack, in a sharp contrast with the extensive U.S. media coverage, pro-Kremlin outlets either completely ignored or ridiculed such a possibility. None of the broadcasts I've watched even began to mention the widely discussed possibility of the hackers being linked to Russia's security services. Instead, some pro-Kremlin commentators blamed the accusation on a "wave of Russophobe paranoia" and others suggested that Russia was scapegoated to silence the DNC email scandal. The Kremlin's actions to support Trump's candidacy in the upcoming U.S. election are reminiscent of its operations orchestrated on multiple occasions in support of other far-right parties and candidates all over Europe, and the Russian media's tendency to favor Trump continues to increase his popularity among Russians. Yet despite the history of Putin's meddling in international politics, the recent scandal at the DNC and the lack of a Russian reaction to it tells us very little about the existence of true personal links between Trump and Putin. We arrive in Provence, specifically the Luberon, my favorite region of France. Rose wines flow with pink flourish, ripe olives soaked in oil and herbs precede every meal, and fresh vegetables crown lamb and seafood platters. The crusty bread, as always in France, is addictive. My taste buds are tantalized, anticipating meals to come. On a really good day when I hold my head high, I'm all of five foot three. I've always wished I were taller, but especially when I'm in this part of the world. Everything on the table appeals. With five more inches, I could eat so much more without worrying about calories and my thighs. Today is Bastille Day, July 14, celebrating France's independence from the king. The window of our hotel room in Roussillon, a charming amber-red hilltop hamlet in the heart of one of the world's largest ochre deposits, looks over the village's one main lane. A young Maman and her two sons, one with a baguette under his arm and the other munching a pain au chocolate, stroll home from the boulangerie. The children clench French flags in their tiny hands and sing La Marseillaise. "Le jour de gloire est arrive!" The day of glory has arrived! Advertisement We'll celebrate the day by catching up with the twelfth stage of the Tour de France. At 1pm, more than two hours before the cyclists are expected, we pull our car to the side of a country road that runs into Departmental Route number two. The D2 will take racers up to and through the picture-perfect perched village of Gordes and then towards Mont Ventoux, a critical climb in the annual competition. Despite the fact that it's mid-July, temperatures are cool. The Provencal sun does its best to prove it's summer, but the chilly bursts of the Mistral wind keep us wondering. It's jacket-off, jacket-on weather. Dozens of onlookers line the road, holding tight to hats, blankets and picnic goodies the wind attempts to whip away. A group of children in striped blue, white and red tees, jump up and down chanting, "Allez! Allez," willing the athletes to arrive. We overhear that seventy bikes will eventually pass us by. Every six or seven minutes, a staccato stream of police cars, motorcycles, and sundry security vehicles whiz by. Each time the crowd hears them approach, ears perk up and heads pivot to look down the road. There are many of these false alarms. Joe takes out his phone to catch up on news and I lie back to avoid the wind and soak in the sun. The young men on the slope behind us jam on drums as the minutes and finally hours tick by. At long last we see and then hear helicopters in the distance; two hover over outlying vineyards and two approach. Spectators crane their necks to follow the whirlybirds. Anticipation mounts. It's palpable. Cowbells clatter. Whistles ensue. The crowd noise swells and the Mistral blusters full force. Even Joe chants enthusiastically, "Allez, allez!" We have a perfect spot on a slight rise above the road's shoulder. In a flash, a media photographer jumps out of a black security car and scrambles up the sandy bank, trying to elbow his way into our exact spot. We congratulate ourselves for choosing our position well and hold our ground, feigning ignorance to his offensive. He can stand shoulder to shoulder with us if he'd like, and so he does. Advertisement What we expect to see is a line of lead vehicles followed by a peloton of sleek bicyclists. What we actually see is a scramble of color and promotion, hawking and horns, unlike any I've ever witnessed. Who knew the Tour de France competitors would be heralded by a Mardi Gras-like parade of floats hurtling thirty-five miles an hour down a country road, tossing not colorful plastic beads, but samples and t-shirts? It's a mad scramble for just a bit of loot. A man on a swing promoting sausages paper airplanes coupons and special offers into the crowd. Teens on a bed pitch packets of madeleines. Is this happening in France? Who said the French don't let their hair down? A float for the adhesive brand, Bostick, tosses glue sticks from under the banner, "Voulez-vous coller avec moi?" Do you want to stick with me? It's a relentless procession of dozens upon dozens of floats: a yodeling van promotes Swiss Tissot watches; fluorescent cars lob bags of chips; French fry girls fling coupons and hats; the Michelin man sings about tires; cheerleaders chant about cheese. The Bic float hurls pens (how did I not know Bic was French?) and I can't believe no one is stabbed by a ballpoint flying at such speed. A man in a pool on a flatbed truck shouts through a bullhorn, "C'est bon ca - ce sont des jolis cadeaux!" They're all good, these pretty gifts! Can there be this many official sponsors of the Tour? Finally, after a substantial lull and waning wind, we see the first group of a dozen competitors approach from way down the road behind a rolling wall of security. The crowd goes wild. The frontrunner in the yellow jersey, British biker Chris Froome, is in the second pack. The cyclists fly by in a blaze of color amid earsplitting cheers. We're just above the fray but the crowd is verging on swarming the riders, no barriers holding them back. In the flash of a few minutes, the excitement is over, the crowd quiets, the road is empty, and families disperse. We're left in the wake. The race has moved on. It's no wonder that ninety minutes later during the final climb up Mont Ventoux in advance of the finish (moved six kilometers from the scree-strewn summit to avoid winds that threatened to blow riders down), spectator proximity plays a role in the race. In a melee of a media motorcycle, a fan and Froome, the leader ditches his broken bike and runs up towards the finish line. Although losing many minutes, officials declare that he maintains his lead. Advertisement Sun-soaked after an ebullient day celebrating La France and being buffeted by a fierce Mistral, we have dinner and wine and collapse into bed. At one in the morning we're awakened by a call from our daughter. "I just want to be sure you're okay." Why wouldn't we be okay? I think in the fog of leaving a dream. "We're fine, sweetheart. What's up?" It sinks in slowly, what's happened in Nice, and then we're jolted -- suddenly, fully awake. The news is devastating. The frivolity of the day, forgotten in an instant. That's how it happens with tragedy. Pain deep in my chest. We assure Caroline that we're hours north of the Riviera and ask her to let her brother, Chris, know. In Philadelphia Democrats had two goals: expose Donald as an erratic bully and elevate Hillary as trustworthy. Helped by Trump liking Putin more than the Khans, it appears that they succeeded in both. BSN was on site cramming the equivalent of 24 cable hours into one 60 minute show interviewing Schumer/Steele/Dionne as well as a leading gay/veteran/congressman/Bernie-or-Buster. Conclusion: HRC will be back to 6+ up by this coming week. Senator Chuck Schumer: Has it ever happened that a President and Majority Leader came from the same state and will it make a difference? "I don't know if it's ever happened before. But we'll trust each other [like Obama and Reid did]. We'll have a moral, economic and political obligation to show that government can work for the middle class. She doesn't want to just give big speeches but get things done." How did a person so adored by her staff, friends and colleagues get so publicly reviled? "The right wing machine stuck her with being a prevaricator. But Senators get to know pretty quickly who's a phony and who's not. And I never saw that...The Senate is the only place where two people have the same job and it took a year for us to get used to each other. And then we really worked well together. Advertisement Smart commentators say that, even then, you can't get anything through the House because Speaker Ryan can block everything. But isn't he as much a pol as an ideologue and will deal since he'll have at best a much reduced majority? "He's hard Right for sure but doesn't say my- way-or-highway. He does have a problem controlling his 60 Tea Party members who don't want to do anything. But I think we might be able to get Immigration done and also an Infrastructure Bank tied to i tax reform...if he wants to keep his majority in 2018." Hillary's prospects? "She should win by a margin to Obama's [ seven and four points] and then we'll take the Senate." Michael Steele, former RNC Chair: How did the GOP politically allow Obama & Clinton to come off as the patriotic pro-family, anti-Russian party this past week? "Because Republicans foolishly left optimism on the table and they picked it up!" Did that happen because your party is so extreme, irrational, ungovernable? "For so long they've been lied to and promised things that never happened, plus W was a Big Government Republican when it came to debt and Schiavo. So the base rebelled." Let me ask you as I did Schumer -- how did the GOP so successfully tarnish Clinton? "People have gotten to know her over 30 years and she's often her own worst enemy. Like taking nine months to say much of anything about her email server. Like not having a press conference since last December. As nominee, she should now answer all questions, as Trump does, or people will continue not to trust her." But what about the Right-Wing onslaught against her -- Whitewater, Vince Foster, Benghazi etc.? "Oh that's just standard politics." Advertisement Should Clinton win as expected, won't the party just say that 'Trump wasn't conservative enough' and repeat the cycle of anger and loss? "There will be a real fight among the neo-cons, Tea Partiers, constitutional conservatives, reformers for the soul of the party. Some will say that while others will complain that the party didn't rally behind Trump." In 2020, who'd have a leg up -- Pence, Ryan, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, Cotton? "At first, Pence as the past VP nominee. But then of course alot will happen during the primaries. There will be no one figure who can unite all the party's elements we we'll see who can do that best." EJ Dionne, columnist for Washington Post. What will America look like if it's governmentally run by Clinton/Schumer/Pelosi or Trump/McConnell/Ryan? He laughs. "Remember how everyone has at some time in past that x election was the most important of our lifetimes? We lied! This one certainly is. I'm proud of my Washington Post for running a full page editorial saying that while Clinton is a normal flawed politician, Trump is a real danger to Democracy." How could he then be running so close to Clinton? "Given partisan splits, no nominee can really get below 40%. But I don't believe that Trump can win. Women and minorities basically won't let him win. And even some 'angry white male employees' won't like how he stiffs contractors and workers." Why can't Clinton Democrats shift more blue-collar workers their way by pointing out how little a Trump really cares about them while Dems produce more jobs and services? "It would be a moral failure for Democrats to leave the working class to Trump. We need leaders who can explain globalism, de-industrialization and an incomes policy, which can unite both white workers and urban minorities, like RFK did. Wouldn't it be great if Hillary does that." Advertisement Paul Reickoff, founder of IAVA - Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America. Says his membership split a third Rs, third Ds, third Indys. While Trump's attack on McCain and a gold star mother and praise of Putin has hurt him in this group, Hillary has burden of explaining and changing VA after the scandal. Rep. Joe Crowley of NY: He gave a very well-received speech from podium about how 9/11 cannot be a partisan issue and told us that he's optimistic about gains in the House "because House Democrats are so identified with the gun safety issue." Jacob Berlin, a 20 year old Bernie supporter. Who you gonna vote for in November? "I'm going to wait until the debates." How the hell can you call yourself a progressive and not vote for the nominee who's progressive on choice, immigration, taxes, climate etc over a neo-fascist? Beyond the merits, you want a future in this party?" Allow me to say, this smart young Democrat will go back to Pittsburgh and vote for the Democratic nominee over Trump. David Bender, gay advocate, author, producer, Air American. This is Bender's 13 straight Democratic Convention -- and he shares his historical perspective how the divide among Democrats this year is nothing compared to Chicago, 1968. Also: as a Bernie supporter earlier, he schools our audience on why "Trump is an existential threat to our values and country. The choice has never been so stark. Donald Trump has no impulse control and cannot have his finger on twitter much less the nuclear button." Business people sitting in lecture hall with laptop Staying in college and persisting to degree completion is challenging for many students. However, it's particularly difficult for students who also are parents. These students are an important and growing segment of today's college population at just under 5 million, representing more than 26 percent of all undergraduates according to research by Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). The overwhelming majority are women (71 percent) and 43 percent are single mothers. They are more likely than students without children, to have low incomes, with 88 percent having incomes at or below 200 percent of poverty. It's not surprising given these demographic characteristics, that financial issues, family burdens, and lack of affordable child care are the main reasons these parents leave or stop out of college. The complexity of juggling classes and coursework, competing family obligations and what often are unpredictable work schedules, can quickly overwhelm these students if they don't have appropriate support systems. In its research, the IWPR found that public benefits such as cash and nutrition assistance that would help make college more affordable for these parents are often underutilized, and recommends that improving access to these programs could help these students meet their financial needs while progressing towards their degree. It also recommends that colleges and universities develop more student and campus support programs that acknowledge the multiple demands in students' lives, and help move toward more family friendly campus support and financial aid policies. Advertisement One notable example of such a program is Texas Woman's University's Student Pioneers Also Raising Kids (SPARK). The program began in 2005 in response to the need to find affordable housing options for single parents, although soon expanded to include all student parents. Importantly, it is a student organization, run by students and driven by their needs, priorities and interests. One of their most popular initiatives is their Holiday Gift program which helps families afford holiday gifts. Over 1,000 students have been served. "This initiative really helped to anchor the program in our University as it receives widespread campus and community support," said Ms. Amy O'Keefe, Executive Director of Campus Alliance for Resource Education and former program director. "Each child has an identified need, as well as a want - which is a great financial literacy lesson as well." While the program does do not have a formal financial education program at this time, it is something it plans to include in the future as part of the overall financial wellness strategy the University is developing. The University does offer an emergency fund for parents with children which is coordinated with the counseling, housing and financial aid offices, and is considering adding a financial education requirement to be eligible to receive these funds. The program has offered workshops that help students manage their finances such as Raising Cash Conscious Kids. According to Ms. O'Keefe, student parents who might not be interested in or don't think they have time to attend a workshop on money management are very interested in finding ways to teach their children about money. In turn, they come away with important money lessons for themselves. Advertisement Another successful initiative is their Annual Child Care and Employment Fair. Finding affordable child care is one of the biggest issues for these parents, particularly those who have or will be locating to the area. More recently, the program has partnered with its counseling center, as many of these mostly women are older and more likely to have experienced trauma or other life events for which counseling may provide some assistance. Workshops are offered on dealing with trauma, dating, disciplining children, grief and loss, as well has how to cope with multiple roles and responsibilities. They also teamed up the academic support center to help these students create a "roadmap of success" which provides students with an opportunity to make sure they are majoring in the right area, have a good idea of what they want to get out of their college experience, and where they see themselves in the future. The most successful events are the ones that involve the children along with their parents. Recent examples include a book club, which provides parents and children with certificates based on the numbers of books they read, and a St. Patrick's Day event, which included story time, crafts (assisted by older children), and a picnic. These programs help increase engagement on campus and provide tangible connections between the family and school. Utilizing community resources as also been key. State and community partners come to campus to provide workshops or events on state assistance programs and even how to install child safety seating correctly. Ms. O'Keefe offered some recommendations for success for other colleges and universities interested in starting a similar program: Advertisement Develop a succession plan, especially if one or more of your strong leaders are set to graduate. Try to diversify the group with young as well as older parents or parents with older children. It brings a better synergy and younger students really appreciate the insights of students who have been parenting for a while. Also, include a mix of commuter as well as residential students Make a plan on how to identify who your parents are. With federal privacy restrictions, there is not an easy way to identify which of students may be parents, so you have to be creative. Be visible and use students at new student or commuter orientation; advertize your events, capitalize on social media channels such as Facebook, and establish relations with key administrative offices or academic programs that these students are more likely to enroll in such as family sciences and education. Use campus contacts to help you recruit students, such as "meet-and-greets" in residence halls, and present to faculty and academic advisors who may know of students with children. Work closely with admissions staff who may know of students who have inquired about quality child care or who may be relocating to the area. Part of the challenge with documenting the fast-moving war in Syria is that research can become outdated as soon as it's published. For example, last Thursday, Human Rights Watch issued a new report on more than 47 cluster munition attacks by the Syrian government's joint operation with Russia on opposition-controlled areas over the past two months, killing and wounding dozens of civilians. But that same day news of yet another cluster munition attack came in, this time from Maarat al-Numan in Idlib, reportedly killing one and injuring several. And the harm from these attacks is not over. Cluster munitions are dropped from aircraft or delivered from the ground by artillery and rockets, and contain multiple smaller submunitions or bomblets that often fail to explode upon impact and become de facto landmines. Syria is littered with unexploded ordnance, including cluster munition remnants, that will endanger anyone who comes upon them for years to come. Advertisement Fortunately, volunteers from Syria Civil Defense were in Maarat al Numan last Thursday and able to clear and destroy the Russian-made unexploded AO-2.5RT/RTM submunitions. Russia has yet to respond to the compelling evidence of its involvement in the cluster munition attacks in Syria or the call to stop using these inherently indiscriminate weapons. The US has not commented on the latest evidence of harm from the cluster munitions either. But last October, the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition, which operates against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, criticized Russia's "irresponsible" use of cluster munitions in Syria. And this week, the US confirmed that it is not using cluster munitions in Syria. This week, an US Air Force spokesperson told The Washington Post: "We have not employed cluster munitions in Operation Inherent Resolve. This includes both U.S. and coalition aircraft." Advertisement Neither Human Rights Watch nor any other members of the international Cluster Munition Coalition has seen evidence that the US or its partners are using banned cluster munitions in Syria. But this admission of no use provides all the more reason for the US to speak out against the cluster munition attacks in Syria. The US continues to forcefully maintain that cluster munitions have military utility, but with the exception of a single 2009 strike in Yemen, the US has not used cluster munitions since 2003, in Iraq. Under a 2008 Department of Defense policy directive, the US is destroying more than 99.9 percent of its existing stocks of cluster munitions--all except those that are supposed to result in less than 1 percent unexploded ordnance. The US last budgeted funds to produce new cluster munitions in 2007 and since then, it has only manufactured cluster munitions for foreign sales. The CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon manufactured by Textron Systems is currently the only cluster munition that the US claims to meet the 1 percent standard. This weapon is prohibited by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US is not among the 119 countries that have joined the convention - nor is Saudi Arabia or other countries that have received these weapons. However, Saudi Arabia's use of the CBU-105 in Yemen during the past year in its coalition operation against Houthi forces, which are in control in Yemen's capital and other parts of the country, shows how these weapons are not functioning in ways that meet the 1 percent reliability standard. There is also compelling evidence that Saudi Arabia is violating the US export law requirement that recipients of US cluster munitions not use them in civilian areas. In May, the US suspended cluster munition transfers to Saudi Arabia, due to concern at reports that Saudi Arabia is using cluster munitions "in areas in which civilians are alleged to have been present or in the vicinity" according to an administration official. Advertisement The Economist reported incorrectly on July 26 that Congress later "reinstated" the cluster munition transfers to Saudi Arabia. On June 16, a proposed legislative amendment to prevent US funds from being used "to transfer or authorize the transfer of any cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia" came very close to passing - with 40 Republicans lining up against the measure - by a vote of 204-216. The failure to legislate the suspension does not affect the Obama Administration's policy decision, which remains in place. August 1 marks six years since the Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force, becoming binding international law. The US may not have signed the treaty, but recent US actions show it is sensitive to the pressure of the stigma that the treaty is creating against these weapons. Third In A Series Of Six It's true that not everyone knows what to do in order to get ahead, whether they're rich or poor. That explains why many of my colleagues in the philanthropic and social services sector assume that solutions must come from them, rather than the low-income families they serve. Yet solutions are best when they're home grown and "bottom up" because paths forged by low-income families are the solutions that their peers tend to follow. When one refugee family, Jorge and Maria-Elena, part of the Family Independence Initiative (FII), bought a home in Oakland all of their close friends and others in their community began to buy homes. Most families from that refugee community didn't think home ownership was possible until one of their own deviated from the "norm" and realized their dreams by, succeeding through their own initiative. There is a human behavioral change process called positive deviance. It has been documented that in most groupings of people there are positive deviants that succeed even if they start under the same circumstances as their peers. These ordinary examples are what brings about sustained change in communities. So rather than a new theory of change, the social services and philanthropic sector needs to find these grassroots solutions and then support the other families that want to follow the same path, whether to start businesses, get to college or solve a gang problem. Advertisement I ran social service programs in Oakland and San Francisco for 20 years but I noticed that families that did not use my services were often making more progress than the ones I was actually "helping." My bookkeeping clerk lived in San Francisco's Chinatown and I kept trying to get her mother and father to take vocational English classes so they could leave what were exploitative jobs in Chinatown sewing factory sweatshops and restaurants. Finally, her father told me "That's not the way it is done!" What Yvonne, my clerk, explained and that I observed of so many other poor immigrants from Hong Kong is that the parents and oldest child, Yvonne, all went to work in any job they could find. They worked sewing and washing dishes in places where they could make friends with others living in similar situations. They first lived in single room occupancy hotels and got to know others. Then the pattern was that two to three families would rent and share a multi-bedroom flat as they concentrated on getting their kids into college. Then as some graduated and were able to help, two of the families would buy a house together. The final step was to split the equity and each family would buy a separate house, ideally with one of their graduates. The process took a decade but was a path that was forged by Hong Kong families before them and continued to prove successful. These examples of people following and helping each other is how nutrition issues were solved in villages in Vietnam and historically how the first Black township in Oklahoma after slavery resulted in 50 more townships in that State alone. Besides learning from Yvonne's family and their friends in the mid 1990s, I observed how the Iu Mien community solved its own youth gang problem. I ran youth gang programs in Oakland, California as did other nonprofits as well as the city itself. Rivalries between Iu Mien youth in the mid 90s led to their having the highest incarceration rate of any ethnicity in Oakland. So the parents, many on welfare, came together to talk to their young male sons to re-establish pride in their culture and language. They started a scholarship program with donations of $25 and, in the same way, collectively purchased some land and a run-down house to be their cultural center. But it wasn't the center or the small scholarships that changed the trajectory of their youth. It was that these young men could see the love and care that family and so many friends had for them and their future. That pride in community, family and culture is what changed the trajectory for these young men and now the expectation for Iu Mien youth is that they attend four-year colleges. Advertisement I recently asked a Iu Mien friend, Kouichoy, about the impact that my programs and the city programs had on setting this new trajectory and he scoffed. "The programs got all the money and recognition but changed nothing" was his comment. What he and his community did for themselves stayed invisible because programs like mine had to claim credit or we would not get funding down the road. Cities, policy makers and foundations often feel it is the community center, library or grocery store that will change trajectories of families in poverty. But as the saying goes, "culture eats strategy for breakfast." It is not the outside theories, program or structure that carry power for fundamental change ... it is the mutuality and sense of community with others. It is why the Jewish Community and others stress tradition and cohesion. The Mardi Gras Indian Tribes in New Orleans involve their kids and friends in making the costumes they compete in. In those gatherings their children take pride in extended family while learning African American history. Their children tend to stay on a positive trajectory just as the Iu Mien youth do now. If the city builds the community center, it is nice but not fundamental. But if the families on their own build the center -- even just a rickety house -- there is community pride in that. Foundations and the city would do well by just matching the funds raised by the families but leaving control in the families' hands. That would be respectful support. Eight states will work collaboratively to create and implement plans to encourage social-emotional learning in their schools, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning announced this month. The organization, which is also known as CASEL, will assist the states through consultation with its own staff and a panel of experts. The participating states are California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington. And an 11 additional states that originally applied to join the collaborative will have access to the materials it develops. Each participating state has a unique plan, and many of those plans include creating developmentally sensitive standards that show how social and emotional skills are demonstrated at each grade level, developing materials to infuse traditional classroom concepts with social-emotional learning concepts, building strategies for state-level support, and implementing professional-development plans for schools about the subject. Advocates for social-emotional learning hope the work, in particular the standards each state develops, will help answer the whole question of how to align from the statehouse to the classroom, said Roger Weissberg, the chief knowledge officer for CASEL. Having state standards helps inform districts, central offices, and boards of education what might be prioritized, he said. They can provide more guidance and help inform schools. Schools Increasingly Emphasize Social-Emotional Learning The work comes as an increasing number of schools explore social-emotional learning , a field that emphasizes nurturing concepts like students relational skills, decisionmaking, and self-management to help foster greater life success both inside and outside the classroom. It also comes as the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new federal education law, places a greater emphasis on non-academic concepts and whole child issues. To this point, the boldest, most comprehensive work in social-emotional learning and non-cognitive skills has been done at the school and district level. The state collaborative was inspired in part by CASELs work with a group of large, mostly urban, school districts that have committed to implementing districtwide SEL plans and allowing researchers to study their results , Weissberg said. And other districts not affiliated with the organization have undergone similar efforts, strategies that include reworking discipline policies, directly teaching social and emotional concepts in the classroom, and working to improve child-adult relationships within schools. As an increasing number of schools grow interested in the field, more are asking states for standards and assistance, said Linda Dusenbury, a senior research scientist at CASEL. States, in turn, are eager to collaborate to develop research-based approaches, she said. In a nationwide review, CASEL researchers learned that, while all 50 states have social-emotional learning standards for pre-k, just three have state social-emotional learning standards that span all grade levels: Illinois, West Virginia, and Kansas. Twenty-six states applied to join the collaborative. We have amassed so much research by this point that were now ready, I believe, to really be helping to inform education through things like policy and learning standards, Dusenbury said. And whats really exciting is that the states seem very eager to partner in that effort. CASEL emphasizes five competencies in its approach: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisionmaking. Standards show developmentally sensitive ways of explaining those concepts to students from pre-k to high school graduation and how those lessons can blend with traditional curricular instruction. The organizations researchers previously worked with Illinois to create the first such state social-emotional learning standards in the country. State Social-Emotional Learning Standards Social-emotional competencies are implied in many traditional state standards, which require skills in areas like teamwork in areas like math and English, Dusenbury said, but few provide the roadmap necessary to nurture those skills. We need to be ... articulating these goals around social-emotional learning, as well as academic goals, Dusenbury said. We assume kids will have the ability to self manage so that they can calm themselves enough to sit still and pay attention, we assume that they will have the relationship skills to participate in collaborative activities ... but were often not explicit about it. State education leaders in participating states said the collaborative will give them a chance to build on existing work and develop more formal strategies. We really feel a responsibility to create some tools to give to schools, said Mona Johnson, director of student support for the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. As a result of legislation passed in 2015, Washington already had a social-emotional learning task force, Johnson said. As part of the collaborative, the state plans to develop strategies for statewide implementation, standards, plans for building community and family support for social-emotional learning, an online training module for teachers, and strategies to build the emotional capacity of adults in schools, she said. Georgia will take a similar approach, said Caitlin Dooley, the states deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction. With help from the collaborative, the state plans to create social-emotional learning standards, create a professional development strategy, and update a statewide student survey that largely focuses on school climate to include some questions about students social and emotional competencies. Oftentimes this is what good teachers do anyway, Dooley said. We are not trying to add another bucket, but, for teachers who need help with it, making it explicit and clear will help guide them in the direction. Are Social-Emotional Measures Ready for State Accountability Systems? What about that tricky issue of measuring social-emotional learning? The controversial approach has been heavily discussed lately because the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, requires states to add an additional indicator to their school accountability systems in addition to traditional factors, like student test scores. While the law lists examples like school climate and student engagement, some have suggested that including social-emotional learning in accountability might be an effective way of spreading it to more schools. A group of California districts, known as the CORE districts, have already experimented with the concept. But many prominent researchers have questioned the validity of self-reported student surveys , which are most commonly used to measure SEL. And some have said its problematic to use those surveys for high- stakes accountability purposes. Currently, perfectly unbiased, unfakeable, and error-free measures are an ideal, not a reality, researchers Angela Duckworth and David Yeager said in a May 2015 essay published in Educational Researcher that detailed an array of flaws with current measures. While state social-emotional learning standards may eventually provide a framework for accountability, CASEL is not encouraging states in the collaborative to adopt such a strategy at this point, Weissberg said. Rather, states can look at other data, such as surveys about students perception of school climate, to determine if their strategies are successful, he said. Photo: Madison Reid, a student in a combined 2nd and 3rd grade classroom, leads a discussion on good listening with her classmates during a morning session at Clevelands Wade Park Elementary School. Such classroom exercises are part of Clevelands districtwide social-emotional learning plan. CASELs district collaborative, which includes Cleveland, inspired its new work at the state level. --Dustin Franz for Education Week Related reading on social-emotional learning: Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox. Rear view of young man sitting on back of SUV parked at field Travel and honeymoons aren't reserved for couples and ultra-wealthy people only. Most singles think they need to have a companion in order to feel secure enough to travel, don't let that common belief hold you back from traveling alone! I've been single for a long time and I'm not afraid to travel alone. I've traveled to Thailand, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florida and many other international cities by myself and have had a great time. I even did a three-week road trip to explore the western part of the US after I graduated from college. Those three weeks were some of the most profound days of my life. It made me realize that it's not only ok to be single, but there are many positive reasons to travel alone. Advertisement Here are 13 reasons why it's ok to travel when you're single: You get to make all of the decisions when you travel. Want to hang on a beach for 30 minutes and then go for 6-hour hike before getting a 2-hour massage? You can because you get to call all of the shots. You have the time to meet and flirt with interesting people without worrying about anyone else except yourself. You get to contemplate important life questions through meditation, long walks, and airplane rides without being interrupted by a partner who needs a lot of attention. It's cheaper and cost effective. You only have to worry about your own expenses. You have a lot of time to read, journal, and spend time in nature by yourself. Spending quality time by yourself in exotic locations can spark inspiration for your next big project or life adventure. Advertisement You can meet someone amazing and fall in love when you travel. You wouldn't have met him if you stayed at home by yourself. You get to travel at your own pace. You can hook up with whoever you want. You will trust your intuition. When you travel with someone else, your intuition is weakened by someone else's presence. You realize that home is everywhere you go, meaning you can stay wherever and with whoever you want without needing to ask anyone but yourself. You build character and resilience through handling tough situations by yourself. You get to create and share stories that will stay with you for the rest of your life. These stories make you more attractive. Feeling secure when you're single isn't always easy, but there are many ways to reframe your perspective to help you love yourself for where you're at today. Advertisement Society likes to think that you're not worthy if you're single, but I disagree with them. When you're single, you get to experience life and travel in a whole other way that's exciting, inspirational and life changing. It's all about reframing your perspective and getting in touch with the one person who's most important in your life...and that's you. Republican U.S. Presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign event at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Eric Thayer Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russia are behind the rise of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The foundation of Trump's financial empire is built on Russian money. The stolen emails were just the beginning. Trump's financial dependence on Russia is impacting his foreign policy ideas, leaning toward Russia and against the interests of the United States. Advertisement Donald Trump is running for president of the United States to create a world financial empire with Russia as its key strategic partner. "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," Trump's son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, according to an account posted on the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication. "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." After going bankrupt, U.S. banks refused to lend Trump money and he turned to Russia and became financially dependent. After his bankruptcy and business failures roughly a decade ago Trump has had an increasingly difficult time finding sources of capital for new investments...Trump has been blackballed by all major US banks with the exception of Deutschebank, which is of course a foreign bank with a major US presence. He has steadied and rebuilt his financial empire with a heavy reliance on capital from Russia. At a minimum the Trump organization is receiving lots of investment capital from people close to Vladimir Putin... Post-bankruptcy Trump has been highly reliant on money from Russia, most of which has over the years become increasingly concentrated among oligarchs and sub-garchs close to Vladimir Putin. Russia's interest in our presidential election and Donald Trump has been well documented. The Washington Post wrote on June 17, "Russia has signaled a deep interest in the U.S. election and in Trump, in particular. The Russian ambassador to the United States, breaking from a tradition in which diplomats steer clear of domestic politics, attended Trump's April foreign policy speech." Trump and Putin have had a long time friendship and public admiration for each other. Trump is utterly financially dependent on Russia which has grown distortional since Trump went bankrupt multiple times. When U.S. banks would no longer loan him money because of his business malfeasance, he successfully turned to Russia, and now the country owns the Trump empire. Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Putin and his leadership. "In terms of leadership, [Putin]'s getting an A," Trump said in a past interview. In December 2015, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, he said, "I've always felt fine about Putin. He's a strong leader, he's a powerful leader. ... He's actually got popularity within his country." Putin praised Trump: "He is a bright and talented person without any doubt," adding that Trump is "an outstanding and talented personality." Trump's pro-Russian ideas are already impacting his campaign. Three significant concessions Trump has made to Russia before his campaign had already begun: 1. Defending European and NATO interests are being questioned by Trump in favor of Russian interests. Advertisement In a New York Times article titled 'Donald Trump Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack,' David Sanger and Maggie Haberman reported: Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing if those nations have "fulfilled their obligations to us." he added, "the answer is yes." Mr. Trump's statement appeared to be the first time that a major candidate for president had suggested conditioning the United States' defense of its major allies. It was consistent, however, with his previous threat to withdraw American forces from Europe and Asia if those allies fail to pay more for American protection. Trump in another interview with Bloomberg Politics' Mark Halperin and John Heilemann went further on distancing the United States from NATO. "And I think NATO -- you have to really examine NATO. And it doesn't really help us, it's helping other countries. And I don't think those other countries appreciate what we're doing." 2. Republican National Committee changes position on arming Ukraine against Russia at Trump campaign request The LA Times, in a story titled "In a shift, Republican platform doesn't call for arming Ukraine against Russia, spurring outrage" Advertisement Originally, the GOP platform was to call for providing Ukraine with weapons in addition to the substantial non-lethal aid the U.S. already provides, according to congressional reports. After Trump surrogates reportedly intervened, the final passage supports "providing appropriate assistance" to Ukraine, but doesn't mention providing arms to the government in Kiev. Charlie Black, a longtime Republican strategist, said the change was "most unusual." 3. Trump considers recognizing Russia's right to keep Crimea, the part of Ukraine seized by Russia in 2014, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Jul 31, 2016. The United States and other European nations regarded it an aggressive action and imposed sanctions on Russia. The Crimea was part of Russia until 1954, when it was moved from the Soviet Union to Ukraine. "You know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also," Trump said. 4. Trump encourages Russian stealing emails of the Democratic National Committee "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton's deleted emails. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." Now the DNC computer hack makes sense. The genesis of the DNC computer hack and email release turns out to be a long, extensive, financial and political relationship Donald Trump has with Russia and President Putin. Advertisement We know that the DNC was not hacked to find credit card numbers or financial data but only emails of political operatives. We also know the FBI is looking at two Russian government agencies for hacking the DNC. Why would the Russian government want emails of political staffers of only one political party? It only makes sense if they have a candidate -- Donald Trump. It was the timing that unraveled the scheme. Only Donald Trump would benefit from when the emails were released. Right before the Democratic Convention. Trump and Putin, together, seemed to be working to create maximum chaos at the Democratic Convention. The FBI is investigating the hack. The DNC did its own investigation and it led them to two Russian government agencies. Advertisement In the end, it seems a foreign state actor wants to help the Trump campaign win the American presidential election and we cannot allow that to happen. There was a lot to appreciate in Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech. There was also reason to believe that it was mostly what the marketing folks call "branding." Even so, in important ways it was a welcome development, as was the nomination of a woman to head the ticket of one of the dominant parties. The Good Liberal activists have always sought to push more centrist Democrats to the left. Absent a strong and ongoing movement from below, this changes the rhetoric of the centrists for a time, but not their policies. Even changing their rhetoric, however, can matter. Bernie Sanders sensed something about the consciousness of the post-Occupy electorate; millions of us responded; and thus Hillary Clinton decided to follow Robert Reich's year-old advice to start sounding more like a populist. So now we have a major-party candidate for president whose messaging, if it continues the themes of Thursday night's speech, will include the need for well-paid jobs for all "a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy" "a country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top" getting money out of politics expanding voting rights keeping "Wall Street . . . [from] wreck[ing] Main Street again" dealing with climate change and creating green jobs affordable health care for all a minimum wage that is a living wage staying out of unfair trade deals wage equity for women massive infrastructure investment tuition-free college education, debt relief for graduates, and helping people learn skilled trades affordable child care making "Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich . . . [pay] their fair share of taxes" healing the divides caused by systemic racism reforming the criminal-justice system, and defending LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities. This is a big deal. Our contorted democracy excludes from significant public office all but representatives of the two major parties, and the corporate media mostly quote only those parties' politicians. So what they say matters. Democratic politicians' moves away from liberalism, beginning with the first Clinton presidency in 1993, paved the way for the Republican Party to move farther and farther to the right. Contrariwise, if Hillary finds a need to keep expressing liberal and progressive values, including on issues that have lacked mainstream legitimacy, she will continue a more recent shift in the overall political discourse in a way that will put the right on the defensive, embolden the left, give honest journalists a little more freedom, and help educate the populace at large. Moreover, such developments create more space for the real left to point out, for example, that if policing in poor and minority communities is to be reformed, it will take much more proactive measures than expressions of sympathy for victims. More Good It matters that Hillary Clinton is a woman. A strong, smart, and capable woman. It's easy for those of us whose views were far better represented by Bernie, who feared too many feminists would overlook her substantial defects, and who were unfairly called sexist, to grow weary of the all the references to her nomination being historic. But it is historic. Girls need models whose roles in the world show that they are not the weaker sex, and boys need to see that as well; men stuck in the more primitive sexist stereotypes and ways of treating women need increased exposure to those who shatter the archetype of women as beings who are to be pushed around, manipulated, and used; and even the ascendancy of a woman who carries the ethos and energy of patriarchy can help with the breaking down of the remaining barriers to full political and social participation of women who don't. Advertisement The Bad Speaking of avoiding wishful thinking in a dating relationship, someone once said, "When a person shows you who they really are, believe them." Hillary Clinton has been showing us who she really is for over 30 years. As I've written previously, she has not disavowed her and her husband's critical roles in the Democratic Leadership Council, which which strategized moving the Party to the right in the 1980s so that it could get more corporate money. She has not distanced herself from the first Clinton Administration's strong support for a racist mass incarceration policy; push for devastating welfare "reform"; continuing the Reagan-inaugurated deregulation movement; or paving the way for the Gulf and Iraq Wars by demonizing the Iraqi government, singing the false WMD refrain, conducting overflights and bombings, and imposing murderous sanctions. Nor does she repudiate the Obama Administration's Wall Street bailouts, fining the big financial firms for crimes while leaving the executives who perpetrated them alone, conducting unending wars, making a growth industry of drone manufacturing while killing nine "collaterals" for every person targeted for assassination, treating the Paris Accords' too-little-too-late voluntary climate-change goals as a victory, going after whistleblowers but not torturers, defending the newly-legislated authority of the military to imprison indefinitely any of us it claims supports terrorists, overseeing an unprecedented number of deportations, and initiating a dangerous new trillion-dollar nuclear-weapons program. She still speaks of standing up to terrorism as if she didn't help create it in its current form, as a strong Administration backer of actions that tore Libya apart, supported the worst elements in Israeli politics, and flooded the Middle East with arms that ended up in terrorist hands. She was proud of her diplomatic role in ensuring the success of the 2009 Honduran coup, which installed a government that allows death squads to assist elements of global capital. (Her only retreat was to delete references to the episode from the new edition of her memoir after renowned activist Berta Caceras was killed.) And even now she affirmatively touts terrorist-producing air wars and support for uncontrollable militias as the answer to an ISIS that was largely created by such actions. A military budget a thousand times greater than that needed for actual national defense remains unquestioned. Advertisement Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting that those who have always expected their largesse to earn them access to policy-makers were coming back out of the closet in Philadelphia, where the Party establishment was already giving them such access at the convention. The Ugly (but Also Good) Truth Having women in high office, just as having people of color there, serves an important disillusioning function. Huge swaths of society now react to Barack Obama as president, rather than Barack Obama as an African-American man. He does not fit gross negative stereotypes of Blacks. He also came nowhere near fulfilling hopes that he would do more for people of color than other presidents. It took actually having a Black president to show that a corporate-funded politician of any race is still a corporate-funded politician. There are a few things he has been able and willing to say about race that a white person could not put forward in the same way, but tens of millions of us including a lot of Black people whose lives have not improved now disbelieve the change we were supposed to believe in. If Hillary Clinton is elected, and if we fail to create a steadily-growing movement from below that goes beyond the decades-old liberal project of trying to promote better politicians within the two-party system, she will reveal a similar ugly truth. We will learn that regardless of her sex, and no matter how much she talks about leaving our children a better world or how sympathetically she listens to mothers of people of color killed without cause, our political and economic system will basically remain as cruel, destructive, and unsustainable as it is today. We will at least see that neither sex nor ethnicity matters much, as long as officeholders are sold to us in marketing campaigns including televised conventions with wonderful speeches underwritten by the plutocrats. Advertisement This is the first in a four-part series on the televised presidential debates. With the Democratic and Republican nominees selected, the presidential debates are just around the corner. The venues and dates for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's three bouts are set, but many important details are yet to be worked out, likely behind closed doors. Facilitating negotiations between the campaigns will be the official sounding but private Commission on Presidential Debates. The CPD has its work cut out for it. "Given that one of our candidates... is very proud of the fact that he's good at negotiating deals, it might get complicated," explained CPD co-chair Mike McCurry. Advertisement There's lots to negotiate. Take something as seemingly mundane as podiums: How high? How far apart? At what angle? Will they be dispatched with for a seated debate? Then there are more consequential matters, like who will moderate. Not only who but how. A 2012 Memorandum of Understanding between the campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney outlined: The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on... questions asked by the audience. The parties haven't always exercised so much control over the debates. League of Women Voters Shortly before passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, the League of Women Voters sprang into existence to help women exercise their soon-to-be-won right to vote. The nonpartisan League began hosting debates, filling a civic void. By the time the League started sponsoring televised presidential debates in 1976, it had decades of experience hosting debates at all levels. That didn't mean there wasn't controversy. Advertisement In 1980, when Jimmy Carter squared off against Ronald Reagan, the League angered Democrats by including Independent John Anderson in the first debate (he was polling around 15 percent). An outraged Carter refused to participate. In 1984, the League once again asserted its independence, earning the ire of both major parties. When Reagan and his Democratic challenger, Walter Mondale, rejected the names of 83 potential moderators, the League embarrassed the candidates by publicly calling them out. 'A Fraud on the American Voter' Fed up with the League's independence, the two parties hatched a plan. In 1987, they created the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), with the Democratic and Republican chairmen serving as the organization's co-chairs. In the 1988 election, the major party candidates quickly agreed to participate in CPD-sponsored debates, effectively sidelining the League. The resulting debates were "phony, part of an unconscionable fraud," said CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite. Advertisement It's "a charade," said CNN's Bernard Shaw, "these were not debates." It's "a fraud on the American voter," said the League, which ceased involvement so as to avoid "becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public." Corporate Money With the civic-minded League out, money poured in. Anheuser-Bush and Philip Morris, among other corporations, provided large donations, and in return were featured prominently at the CPD debates. When George Farah - author of No Debate, an expose of the CPD - asked about the propriety of beer and tobacco companies sponsoring presidential debates, Frank Fahrenkopf replied: Boy, you are talking to really the wrong guy. I'm a guy who represents the gambling industry. But Fahrenkopf doesn't just represent gambling interests, he's also the Republican CPD co-chair, a position he's held since CPD's inception nearly thirty years ago. Fahrenkopf's Democratic counterpart, McCurry, is also a lobbyist. After serving as Bill Clinton's press secretary, McCurry went on to lobby for, among others, telecoms seeking to kill net neutrality. Advertisement The other 15 CPD board members are mostly party insiders and donors. This (bi)partisan board, along with the two major party nominees, serves as gatekeeper to the presidential debates every four years. We are enamored with superheroes in our country. It's a part of our culture and I think captures our inherent desire to overcome adversity and help others. To fight for good. The problem is we actually need real ones today. And lots of them. I'm encouraging my kids and grandkids to be their own superhero. I want them to know that each one of them is strong and each one of them can make this world a better place. This is an especially important message to kids who are marginalized in some way, and in our case, our transgender son. But it is my message to everyone. This isn't the time to be afraid. This isn't the time to back away and let others fight the fight. It's time for all of us, the sleeping giants, to realize we have a greater mission in this world. Get your mask. Get your cape, if you're so inclined. It's time to enter the fray. So what kind of superheroes do we need? Much of the suffering and violence in the world today is caused by those who cling to a world-view that is narrow and unbending and unaccepting of any differences. A world-view that cultivates intolerance. A world-view that sanctions discrimination and denies rights to those who are different. I think this is a good place to start for our superheroes. If there is one thing our country should agree on, it is embracing differences. If there is one thing our country should get right, it is equality and justice for all. And yet, while we preach against the oppressive forces in our world, many of our own people seem unable to accept differences right here in our own country. People who should know better, but continue to deny rights to those who deserve them. First and foremost, our superheroes should be a voice for equality and stand up for the underdogs. That's kind of important. Advertisement I'd venture that most people would already say they stand up for the underdogs in this world. And I'll bet every parent has talked to their kids about standing up to bullies. Sadly, many of these same people fail to support those who need it most. The marginalized communities. People of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions. And the most persecuted and least understood, our transgender and LGBTQ communities. Ironically, I'll bet many of those same people who vehemently oppose equality for marginalized groups love taking their kids to see superhero movies. They love watching those guardians of equality and justice. If only people realized they have an opportunity, in real life, to be a superhero to a kid in need. Especially for transgender and gender non-conforming kids, who see a world of adults condemning them just for being who they are. Just for being. Gender identity seems particularly hard for some to grasp. I know there are some who will never get it. I guess that's life. And that's why we will always need superheroes. But I believe many more will open their hearts and minds. For some, all it will take is getting to know a transgender child and their family. It's why we tell our story. For some, it will require a deeper understanding of the nature and science of gender identity. It's why we strive for education. Advertisement Our family, among many others, has been working with Michigan's State Board of Education to provide basic guidelines to our educators so they can help create a safer, more inclusive environment for LGBTQ kids. The guidance is now being revised after multiple public forums and thousands of on-line comments were considered. The updated version will be released and reviewed later this summer. I will tell you about the superheroes who emerged along the way, but what happens next is the adversity chapter of our story. It isn't pretty. The recommended guidance has led to a firestorm of resistance. Much of the vitriol has been directed at transgender students, their families, and the people standing up for us. Some of it comes from people who believe the predator myth, though it has been thoroughly debunked. Some of it comes from religious extremists, who condemn anyone who believes differently. And some of it comes from the legislators. It led to two bathroom bills being introduced in Michigan, part of the massive wildfire of legislation spreading across the country by those who seek to deny civil rights for the LGBTQ community. Make no mistake. This legislation has real and dire consequences, especially to transgender kids. And that was just the beginning. Along with ten other states, Michigan's Attorney General now seeks to overturn federal guidelines for schools on protecting the rights of transgender students. Specifically, their lawsuit challenges the inclusion of gender identity under Titles VII and IX, despite the strong justification for it. The guidance offered by the Federal Government is essential for the health and safety of these kids. They are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. They have no protection against discrimination. And they are at the highest risk for harassment, bullying, assault, and suicide. Thankfully, the next chapter in this saga reads differently. A dozen states have now filed a counterpoint brief showing why these protections are strongly in the public's interest. There are people who recognize we have an obligation to provide rights for all our citizens. The truth is, we have an obligation to all of humanity. And when we see inequality and injustices being committed against our fellow human beings, it is our duty to act. In the words of Elie Wiesel, Advertisement "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides." Our military has recently taken sides, ending the ban on transgender people being able to serve openly. They realized our transgender soldiers make our military stronger. They make our country stronger. The contrast between the U.S. military's position on transgender service and those opposing transgender rights is stark. Our military personnel put themselves in harm's way for everyone's sake. That makes them heroes. And by standing up for the most vulnerable, our military personnel are superheroes in my eyes. They have taken a bold stand, joining the Department of Education, Department of Justice, and our President. I am grateful. Our family is also fortunate to have superheroes in our everyday lives. People who know they will face criticism, yet advocate for the transgender kids in our schools. People like our elementary school principal, Craig McCalla, and the President of Michigan's State Board of Education, John Austin. Leaders who take a stand for all kids, including the most vulnerable. The classmates and friends of my son who know he is transgender and treat him just like any other boy. All the siblings, who are often the unsung, but fiercest allies. And of course the strongest of all, our LGBTQ and other marginalized kids. Kids who not only deal with their internal struggles, but face a society that opposes them just for being who they are. It comes down to courage. And they have it. But this story is missing something. It needs more superheroes. I'm calling for all people to summon their courage and not give in to divisiveness, hate, and fear. I'm calling for people from all walks of life, the sleeping giants, to awaken and become a superhero for a kid in need. Hold our leaders accountable to support the rights of all our citizens, including LGBTQ and all those who are marginalized. Do the right thing. Make your voice heard against those who try to deny equality. Embrace all differences, whether of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, and all those who do not fit within a neatly labeled box. Show the world we are not hypocrites when it comes to equality and justice for all. Lead by example and we will make this great country of ours even greater. We will make this world a better place for all kids. I'm calling all real superheroes. Oh, and if you must have a cape, make sure it's quick release. Remember The Incredibles. Peter Tchoryk and his wife Sarah live in Dexter, MI, and have three children and three grandchildren; Peter is the CEO of Michigan Aerospace Corporation and Springmatter, and Sarah is a 5th grade teacher. You can find more on their story at Embrace.Today. The American mood is difficult in a time rife with worrying about the future and concern about "the other", amid resentment against the political establishment, fear of terror, and a sense of escapism regarding the definition and purpose of the US superpower and its responsibilities on the international arena. The general mood reflects the lack of confidence in the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. This week, the Democratic National Convention focused its efforts on marketing Hillary the approachable woman, in the hope this win over the hearts of the Americans who have not been comfortable with her "robot-like" demeanor. Indeed, Hillary had worked hard to enter history with cold calculations, giving little care to her lack of charisma, compared to her husband former president Bill Clinton. Hillary is an experienced candidate who has assumed public office, climbing up the ladders of power gradually and with tact, forging close ties to the poles of the ruling US establishment in the military and the civilian institutions, inside and outside government. She is the antithesis of the Republican nominee Donald Trump, who snatched the nomination against the will of most traditional Republicans and jumped on the White House-bound train amid dismissal by the political class and intellectuals. But the media grew fond of covering Trump's entertaining and sensational news, or so they thought until the joke stopped being funny. A mysterious class of Americans had turned against the elitist class, proving that solidarity with the establishment is a failed bet. I say mysterious because the followers of Donald Trump are a combination of angry and scared voters, as well as xenophobes, isolationists, and those who are eager to teach the politicians in Washington a lesson. Many are also blue-collar workers, who accuse Washington of exploiting them, and are in awe of Trump's wealth, success, and lifestyle as though he was of the working class like them despite having received a one-million-dollar check from his father at the start of his life. Yet a segment of white-collar educated Americans will vote Trump because they cannot stand Hillary, and see her as an extension of Barack Obama and her husband Bill Clinton. There are also Americans who are categorically opposed to turning the Clintons into a ruling dynasty in America, especially after Bush's dreams of becoming one were shattered. The calculus behind the election of the 45th president of the United States is then related to the personality, ambitions, and domestic concerns of the American people, rather than foreign policy, at least so far. Interestingly, it is Donald Trump who has brought in national security, terrorism, and immigration into the calculations of American voters, manipulating their fears and concerns. This week, Trump set a new precedent by inviting Russia to hack his opponent's email and expose her scandals. Donald Trump wants the Russian president Vladimir Putin to be an honorary voter in the US elections, and has praised him repeatedly and hinted they would agree on many issues. Trump wants to stoke fear of groups like ISIS to present himself as the president who will shut down immigration and protect America from foreigners, taking isolationism to a new terrifying level. The isolationism of Barack Obama and the exclusionism of Donald Trump benefit Putin, because both approaches put him in a stronger position to lead in more than one region of the world. Putin has been lucky ever since Obama decided that Iran is a priority for him, to the point of forging an implicit partnership with Tehran in Syria to fight ISIS and similar groups. In Syria, Putin is now the master player, having intervened there militarily to settle the civil war and settle the political outcome. In Syria too, there is a silent partnership between the US and some in the coalition it leads, and the Damascus Axis comprising Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, the Kurds, and other militias. While Saudi Arabia cries foul, US and Iranian intelligence collaborate secretly in European capitals, to determine Syria's fate. However, Putin is not comfortable about this; he does not trust the US in principle, and has differences with Tehran regarding the future of the Syrian army and the regime backed by Iran, as the latter seems to prefer the militias to take over in order to retain control of Syria. Perhaps Donald Trump wants to assign Putin to represent him in Syria, because he is not interested in the fate of Syria and in the cost Russia would pay in its war on ISIS, Nusra Front, and similar groups. Trump's recipe to protect the US homeland and national security from terror is to banish Muslims from the country and prevent immigration. At the same time, he has hinted that he welcomes others' wars on others' territories, or at least, does not mind it in the least. And if the strategic Russian-Iranian partnership in Syria turns into rivalry, this would be good news for Trump, who has claimed he has the opposite position on Iran of that of Barack Obama, who is almost in love with the Islamic Republic. This does not mean that the CIA would stop cooperating secretly with Tehran. But in truth, this is where one can find convergence or divergence between the administrations that rule and the establishment that remain long term, and that includes vital departments such as defense, national security, and intelligence. In other words, the United States is not susceptible to becoming a fully-fledged dictatorship. There is no comparison between the powers of the US president and those the Russian or Turkish presidents have gifted themselves. In the United States, there are checks and balances, and the system does not give absolute powers to the executive branch represented by the elected administration or the legislature represented by Congress. The president may veto Congress, but the Supreme Court remains the highest constitutional authority in the country. If Donald Trump becomes president, the institutions of power will not collapse. He will not become overnight a president with extraordinary powers. However, any US president has immediate global authority. If he is an arbitrary, exclusionist, and isolationist president, the foundations of the global order could be undermined, from NATO to the UN and its agencies. If he is a provocative, trigger-happy president, the instability this will cause will be of a global scale. The whole world could enter into unchartered territory, as mysterious as the rise of Trump and his proximity to the Oval Office. Indeed, Trump's story may not be strictly one of an anomaly of the democratic electoral process. As suggested by far, one of the key elements in Trump's foreign policy is Vladimir Putin. There are many things in common between them: not only hatred for Islamism but also joint business projects. Intriguingly, the "brotherhood" between Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart the Democrat John Kerry, could become a feature of the relationship between Putin and Trump, especially if Putin accepts the Donald's invitation to intervene in the US elections in his favor. In any case, from now until the president-elect assumes office in January, Putin will have completed his project in Syria, for example, where he is poised to achieve victory in Aleppo for his axis, in silent partnership with the United States under the pretext of defeating terrorism. Lucky Putin will force the Turkish President Erdogan to meet his demands in Syria, including consenting to Assad remaining in power and cutting off supplies to the Syrian rebels. For one thing, Erdogan needs Putin now, and the Russian president is preparing a list of demands in Syria, Europe, and as concerns Islamic movements inside Russia and its vicinity. Putin has little cause for concern these days. The Obama administration has given him the green light to draw Syria's future as he sees fit, regardless of what is said by US defense secretary Ashton Carter, apparently contradicting the suggestions of his colleague John Kerry, desperate to appease Lavrov around the clock. The main headline of the coming stage will be military settlement in certain areas, such as Aleppo, and the start of overt military cooperation between the US and Russia. At the same time, vague features of a transition will be drawn in which Assad remains in power for a long time, while the Syrian opposition represented by the HNC is practically dismantled and replaced with another approved by Moscow, in parallel with a partnership on the ground with the Syrian Democratic Forces. Back to Trump, a visitor to Moscow quoted a Russian official as saying the Russians prefer Trump as president, because he would be America's Yeltsin, in reference to the former Russian president who helped marginalize Russia and completed the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Putin may indeed prefer Trump over Hillary, because he would well benefit from his arbitrary decision-making process. Yet he won't fear a Clinton presidency, because by the time she enters the White House, he will have imposed the fait accompli he wants during Obama's presidency. Nevertheless, Clinton was once Lavrov's counterpart, however, and she has accused him of duplicity. Their relations are different from the kind of relations between Lavrov and Kerry. Lavrov remembers well Clinton's personal role in Libya, when the Obama administration used a UN Security Council as an excuse to intervene militarily, in a way that Moscow saw as a betrayal and an insult. Putin may have made amends with Obama, but he probably thinks the same would be more difficult with Clinton. Putin recalls Obama and Clinton's support for the rise of Islamists to power in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria. But his reluctant rapprochement with Obama began in Syria, when Obama decided to let Putin take the lead there. Clinton could prove more difficult to coax than Obama. Donald Trump, in the Russian view, therefore, is an easier president to handle than Clinton, especially in terms with US relations with the Arab Gulf states. To be sure, Clinton may attempt to mend US-Gulf relations, while Trump could make them more tense. Russia may be willing to improve its relations with the Gulf, but it is not prepared to make concessions that Saudi Arabia wants in Syria or with regard to Russian-Iranian relations. Russia sees Trump as a good partner who shares its hatred for radical Islam. Russia also sees Trump as someone who might be willing to continue Obama's policy of stoking Sunni-Shia tensions, while Clinton may seek to extinguish them. Putin, after all, is complicit in inflaming these tensions. The absurd has become reasonable, and the unlikely has become inevitable. The temperamental acrobatic septuagenarian could enter the White House even though he has no experience in policy, let alone decision making and foreign affairs. Any attack by ISIS or a terrorist group linked to the Arab or Islamic world in the US could double Trump's chances to win the presidency, because the popular base will become isolationist and exclusionist and press for a closure of the border - as Trump has called for. However, it seems that Vladimir Putin is also a voter in these elections, not only because the hacking of the emails of the DNC originated in Russia, but also because Donald Trump has sought his help to prevent the election of the first woman president in US history. The mood of the Americans could bring Donald Trump to the White House. But the temper of Donald Trump could awaken the majority of voters to the dangers of having a reckless president. Today, despite the logic choice in voting for Clinton, she faces a fierce battle and she will need all help she can get to win over Americans and restore trust in her, both among the most important elements in any US presidential election. Translated by Karim TraboulsiOriginal articlehttp://www.alhayat.com/Opinion/Raghida-Dergham/16720157/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AC-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%AF-%D9%8A%D8%A3%D8%AA%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A8 COLUMBUS, OH - JULY 31: Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks on during a campaign rally with democratic vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA) at Fort Hayes Vocational School on July 31, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are wrapping up their three-day bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) 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). Advertisement 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? Advertisement 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! Advertisement 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." The best thing Hillary Clinton has going for her is the self-destructive, unstable, unorganized, fact and truth-starved, egomaniacal, cheating, plutocratic, Donald Trump (See my column "Cheating Donald"). Advertisement Paradigm Shifters is a series of interviews with a select group of women and men from eclectic walks of life. It will highlight unspoken, real-life insights on how they have been able to turn weakness into strength. A naked soul point of view of how their breakdowns were really a preparation for breakthroughs. They are your quintessential paradigm shifters; internal shifts converted into genuine change. Everything I have ever done has been focused on this underlying theme of shifting the paradigm because, "What we think determines what we feel and what we feel determines what we do." Hence, why Empowered by You takes lingerie, which has traditionally been seen merely as a tool of seduction and redirected that energy as a tool of empowerment. I hope from these stories you will look at your own situations, struggles and accomplishments through a different lens. At the very least you will be more equipped with real life tools to change your own paradigm. At the end of the day, we are our own Alchemist turning the silver we were born with into the gold we are destined to become. Advertisement John Ermatinger - CEO, True Religion Tell me what you feel True Religion stands for. We endeavor to create works of art. I know that sounds quite lofty, but it is our north star in terms of creating products that are a catalyst for distinction. We usually start with a blank canvas then hone in on fit, fabric and detail. Our attempt, would be to conceive products consumers would not have imagined themselves. If we have done our job properly, we act as a stimulant...a reason to covet. True Religion is an iconic, premium jeans brand having established our own design ethos and aesthetic; that aesthetic being the stitch. The stitch is what we continue to accentuate and what allows us to flourish with our consumer. London is a very different culture...tell me a little bit about this venture to go into London? Why London? What challenges? What was the vision? The brand enjoys recognition. Opening our Carnaby location pays homage to the London marketplace and to the location itself whose history is deep in music and fashion. The brand enjoys a mix of successful consumer touch points from department stores to our newly launched EU.TrueReligion.com ecommerce site. This combination allows the consumer to access our brand whenever and wherever. We believe it resembles the best mix of consumer touch points we have anywhere in the globe. We will endeavor to point to this market as an example of where all can coexist and provide great convenience for our consumer. Tell me about your seamless customer service experience? What facilitates this personal experience is a tool called BlackBook. BlackBook is our consumer database on an individualized basis. We house information such as preferred styles, past purchases, size, color preference and the like. Given information collected, we can reach out to consumers as their product preferences flow to the store saving them time and energy. Soon, we'll be able to send text messages accompanied with visuals as a means to advise. Advertisement Doing anything fun and innovative extending that? We have leveraged the Apple watch to introduce Band in Carnaby as well. What the Apple watch allows us to do is scroll styles from the watch to a display screen, allowing the consumer to see all the variations in that particular style they love. Whether we have it physically in the store or in another location, we can retrieve and what we call "charge send" to our consumer. We want to be able to show the customer all five hundred customer choices we may have at one time, regardless if they're physically in the store or not. In terms of collaboration and product extensions, we enjoy a great working relationship with Russell Westbrook. He is our creative consultant, and twice a year we drop a specific product capsule which we conceive with Russell along with our design team. The next one will be in September. How do you feel about those collaborations? It's nice to have two forces coming together to create an impact. The greatest thing about Russell Westbrook is his genuine love for the brand. He and his family have loved the brand for many, many years. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, so his commitment to True Religion is cherished. He doesn't love the brand just because he is being paid to do so. Growing up, he witnessed his dad wearing the brand, now he wears the brand, and it has become a family affair. Vision for the company? Redirection? This is not a redirection. I believe it is confirmation. We were owner/founder led from 2002-2012. This lent itself to consistent brand presence because we had one vision and one leader. However, in 2012 when we were acquired, we lost our center of gravity. In order to rediscover our brand, we unfortunately had to spend time being someone else. Coming back to center has proven to be a difficult task. It's been a challenging 12 months. Regardless, I am grateful we have come to our senses and returned to the core DNA of the True Religion brand. Advertisement How much do you see in the future of your brand relying on online? We believe there will continue to be a role for both on and offline. That said, the runway in support of our online presence is substantive. As suggested earlier, we believe finding the right mix of consumer touch points in anyone market is key. We want to use our physical stores wisely, mapping them in the right cities and providing options for our consumers to enjoy. Breakaway to breakthrough? I moved to Asia in 2002. There were a lot of things transpiring on a personal and business level for me at the time. Moving to Asia became big breakthrough for me. It opened my eyes to completely alternative cultures. I was able to experience four different companies; four different brands. I got the opportunity to work with an array of talented individuals. If I hadn't left Levi Strauss & Company, after 26 years at the time, I would probably still be there. I encourage any professional if you get the chance to work in another part of the world, in a business model quite foreign than accustomed, with a diverse group of thinkers and provocateurs...take it! Legacy? Black Lives Matter protesters marched from Temple University to FDR park to protest the DNC, demanding an end to racist policing, police accountability and economic justice. The marched through Center city Philadelphia and shut down large sections of the city on July 26, 2016. (Photo by Cory Clark/NurPhoto via Getty Images) This weekend I will be in Ferguson, MO with the mother and father of Michael Brown as they mark the second anniversary of their son's gruesome death at the hands of police. Two weeks ago, I led memorial marches and calls for justice for Eric Garner, a police choke-hold victim who also died in 2014. These two horrific cases ignited a resurgence of movements that call for police and criminal justice reform. Slogans like "I can't breathe," movements like Black Lives Matter, hashtags and chants like "hands up, don't shoot," and many more became symbolic with a national push for change. As I sat at the MSNBC booth at the Democratic National Convention giving remarks about Mothers of the Movement (who spoke at the DNC), I thought of these two tragedies sandwiched around both conventions. Having worked with many of these mothers, I was glad to see them on stage in Philadelphia, but I feel as though we as a society collectively get caught up in the pageantry and forget that the wheels of justice have been slow to move -- if it all. Two years after the deaths of Garner and Brown, we must ask, where are we now? Advertisement While many have been immersed in political coverage because of this crucial election, we cannot lose sight of the fact that there has been no accountability in many of these tragic deaths, and criminal justice reform cannot be pushed to the back-burner. The Justice Department still has not ruled in the Garner case, and there has been no justice at all in many other incidents. Cases against police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray were dropped last week but that went largely unnoticed by delegates gathered at the convention. Our task must be to not only highlight abuses, but to also solve these issues with new legislation that lowers the jurisdictional threshold for the Justice Department to charge in these cases, as well as laws that require independent prosecutors to be brought in when there is an officer-involved death. My organization, National Action Network (NAN), held a luncheon on the final day of the DNC where we convened over 300 faith and denomination leaders to emphasize these very issues. We welcomed New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who addressed the audience and who has been working with Mothers of the Movement (who were honored at the luncheon) to get Governor Cuomo to appoint special prosecutors for killings by police. This must become national law. And this must be front and center during this election because our needs, our concerns and our voices cannot be dismissed or silenced. Advertisement Another key area that NAN has been heavily involved in is raising awareness around the issue of voter suppression. Since 2011, we have been bringing attention to, educating and pushing back against new voter ID laws, an end to early voting days, elimination of same-day registration and other methods of disenfranchising voters. Last week, a federal appeals court struck down North Carolina's voter ID law, while in Wisconsin, a federal district court judge ruled that parts of Wisconsin's 2011 voter ID law were unconstitutional. Meanwhile, a state court halted an attempt in Kansas to require proof of citizenship in order to register. While it is good news that these courts have agreed with us, the rulings can still be appealed and even more troubling is the fact that there are some 14 other states that still have these kinds of laws on the books that discriminate primarily against people of color and the poor. NAN and I have been warning about these new draconian laws for years and for the first time in a Presidential election they will be in place in states all across this country with detrimental effects that we have yet to see. Wayne Grudem, a Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, writes at the conservative website Townhall.com about why he supports Donald Trump. His article, "Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice," acknowledges several of Trump's character and behavioral flaws and then says it doesn't matter if the alternative is worse. He goes into a long list of issues on which he claims that Trump is better than Hillary Clinton. I could not disagree more with Professor Grudem, so here I will respond to several of them. Given the enormous gulf between the candidates with regard to experience and qualifications, this election should not be close. The fact that the race is close should be a stark reminder not to treat the frightening prospect of a Trump presidency as something to dismiss lightly. Perhaps you may find some of my arguments useful in making the case to friends and family members who are sticking with Trump despite his almost daily barrage of appalling statements. Here goes, for what it's worth. Abortion. I am sick of the religious bullying on this issue. The utter contempt for people making different choices in this area is very disturbing. I am personally troubled by abortion, and think that the ideal situation is for unwanted pregnancies to be prevented through contraception. But the question of whether to continue or end a pregnancy is not my decision. It is up to the woman. You can say a thousand times that this makes me pro-abortion, but that is not true. Respecting people's right to make a different choice than mine does not mean I agree with that choice. The point is that IT IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS. Advertisement As for contraception, the Catholic Church, in which I was raised, is stoutly opposed to it. A leading anti-choicer, former senator Rick Santorum, has made it clear that he does not just want to overturn Roe v. Wade, but also Griswold v. Connecticut, which legalized contraception for married couples, and Eisenstadt v. Baird, which did the same for single women. I find it stunning that people in this day and age are willing, much less determined, to mind their neighbors' business in such an intrusive way. The constitutional separation of church and state protects everyone by prohibiting us from imposing our religious dictates on one another. Religious freedom. We live in a religiously diverse society. This key point is routinely ignored by the religious bullies, who see it as their divine mandate to force their views on everyone else using the power of the state. When they talk about "religious freedom," they mean there should be no church-state separation, and that they must be able to discriminate in commerce against people of whom they disapprove. I am a gay rights activist, and I routinely say that any minister of any congregation must have the right to do three things: bar me from their sanctuary, deny me their sacraments, and denounce me from their pulpit. This would cease to be America in a fundamental way otherwise. But they are not entitled to use my taxes to do it. People running for-profit business should not be able to cite their personal beliefs to justify discriminating against customers. What if everyone started doing that? How would our (again, highly diverse) society cohere? Some people even think that a pharmacist should have the right to refuse to fill a prescription (say, for contraceptives) by citing his moral opposition. How in the world is this reasonable? How is it a pharmacist's job to put his moral judgment in place of a customer's and her doctor's decision? This intrusiveness is revolting and obnoxious. Military. The notion that America's military is in decline is gaspingly absurd. The United States spends more on defense than the next ten countries combined, according to data published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. We have the strongest military force in the world. But Republicans insist on acting as if we are a helpless weakling the moment anyone opposes their latest orgy of unnecessary spending, even when the Pentagon brass say a particular weapons system is not needed. Advertisement Alleged bullying by Russia. Overreach is not just a sin of the West. President Obama said last year, "A military solution alone, an attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad and try to pacify the population, is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire, and it won't work and they will be there for a while if they don't take a different course." Obama also notes how much stronger our economy is than Russia's, and how much stronger our dollar is. We have an awful lot of military resources in the Mideast, from Turkey to the Persian Gulf. But reckless interventionism by the Bush administration only destabilized the region further and helped the rise of ISIL. Hillary Clinton is known to be relatively hawkish; but she also has shown a respect for the tools of diplomacy. We must use all the tools at our disposal to advance our interests in the world -- economic and diplomatic as well as military. Meanwhile, Trump has caused an uproar among our allies by calling our NATO defense alliance into question. He talks as if it is a protection racket. He also openly admires Putin, while depending on Russian oligarchs for business capital. Do not talk to me about Russian bullying when the Republican nominee appears to be in the tank for Russia. Iran and Israel. America gives a great deal of military aid and intelligence coordination to Israel. Hillary Clinton gave a saber-rattling speech to AIPAC making it clear that her commitment to that alliance is strong. The fact that Netanyahu made a disgraceful effort to interfere with America's decision on the nuclear accord does not erase the clear evidence of Obama's support for Israel. Netanyahu is utterly reckless. Our long term policy, through Democratic and Republican administrations for decades, has been support for a two-state solution. Netanyahu is openly contemptuous of this, continuing his slow de facto annexation of the occupied territory despite demographic trends that will ultimately force Israel to choose between being a democracy and being a Jewish state. The Iran nuclear accord is a multilateral accord that has extensive verification provisions. Nonetheless, we have non-nuclear-related sanctions against Iran that remain in place. The insistence by Republicans that we are abandoning Israel and handing nuclear weapons to Iran is outrageously, absurdly, insultingly false. Securing our borders. Obama has increased border patrols and increased deportations. The charge that he has left us unprotected is just not true. Nor is it true that refugees are not screened, as Trump claims. There is a rigorous screening process in place. You do not convey strength when your position is based on ignorance and falsehoods. Advertisement Bathrooms. There is no more evidence of assaults by transgender persons in bathrooms than there is of voter fraud, which is used by Republicans to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. If you want to protect your children, keep them away from right-wing politicians and priests. Trump has been accused of raping an underage girl, incidentally. I do not assume his guilt. Charges need to be proven. As it is, trans people are slandered as child-molesters with zero evidence. They just want to use the bathroom appropriate to their gender identity. There is nothing responsible, safe, or Christian about stirring up gender panic. It only endangers trans people. Trying to erase them legally does not change reality, which again is that we are a diverse society and we are best served by respecting and tolerating one another. Healthcare. It is not true that our healthcare has been harmed by the Affordable Care Act, which was originally proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation and was first enacted in Massachusetts under Gov. Romney. Liberals wanted Single Payer and a public option. We accepted ACA because that was the best we could get, given Republican resistance which was based not on the merits but a determination to obstruct every single thing Obama tried to do. Still, millions more have health insurance. If you want to improve it, fine. Work with Democrats to make it better, instead of posturing by passing repeal legislation in the House sixty times. That's more than enough for one sitting. Overall point to conservatives: stop the demonizing and caricatures, and focus on cleaning your own house. Trump repeatedly shows himself to be grossly uninformed, selfish, cruel, and reckless. The evidence for this is overwhelming and comes out of his own mouth, in contrast to the endless politically motivated investigations of Hillary Clinton, which have turned up nothing, though gullible people assume that she must be awfully crooked with so many investigations against her. Conservatives themselves are increasingly balking at Trump, as seen with Bill Kristol and George F. Will. All recent Republican presidential nominees stayed away from Trump's convention, as did the governor of the host state, because they were so disgusted. If you loved your country more than you hated Hillary, you would vote for her over Trump. A federal appeals court, in separate rulings involving the Fourth Amendment, has denied immunity for a school administrator in the strip search of a student to look for drugs, but upheld the use of portable blood-alcohol tests for students entering the high school prom. Separate panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, issued the significant rulings involving school searches of students late last week. In the drug case, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously on July 29 that an assistant principal faces potential personal liability for allegedly requiring a Georgia 7th grader to remove his underwear in a search for marijuana. In the prom case, a separate three-judge panel, also ruling unanimously, held on July 28 that administrators at a Florida high school were immune from liability over an incident in which some 40 students arrived at the prom in a party bus and were required to take a Breathalyzer test. By the time the tests were applied to all students in the group, the prom was over. The two cases should give school law experts plenty to think about. Strip Search In D.H. v. McDowell , the 11th Circuit court considered the appeal on behalf of the student identified in court papers in D.H., a 7th grader at Eddie White Academy in Hampton, Ga. In February 2011, administrators at the school received a report that a student other than D.H. had marijuana and was distributing it to other students. That student was questioned, and a search of his backpack turned up marijuana. Meanwhile, that student implicated another, who implicated another, who implicated D.H. Two of the other students had marijuana, including one who pulled it from his underpants. That prompted administrators and the school resource officer to require the other suspected students remove pants and at least pull the waistband out of their underwear. When D.H. was summoned to the school office, a male assistant principal, Tyrus McDowell, first asked him to remove his shoes, empty his pockets, and take off his pants, all in front of other school officials and the other suspected students. D.H. says in court papers that McDowell then made him lower his underpants down to his ankles. (The administrator testified that he only asked D.H. to pull out the waistband of his underpants, but the court was required to credit D.H.'s account since the administrators were seeking immunity.) No marijuana was found on D.H. His mother sued the administrators, the SRO, the school district, and others, alleging the strip search violated her sons rights. A federal district court granted summary judgment to the school district and qualified immunity to most of the officials, but it held that McDowell had violated D.H.'s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. McDowell appealed to the 11th Circuit, and in the July 29 decision, the court upheld the denial of immunity for McDowell. The appeals court analyzed the case under its key precedents on school searches, including its 2009 decision in Safford Unified School District v. Redding , which held unconstitutional a strip search of female student by administrators looking for ibuprofen. The 11th Circuit court found that McDowells strip search of D.H. was reasonable at its inception because other students had been hiding marijuana, including one in his underpants, and because a student had implicated D.H. But the court went on to hold that the scope of the search as alleged by D.H.requiring that he completely lower his underpants, in front of several other peoplewas unreasonable. By forcing D.H. to strip naked in front of his peers, McDowell exposed D.H. to an unnecessary level of intrusion that rendered the search excessive in scope and, therefore, unconstitutional, the 11th Circuit court said. The court suggested that the method that McDowell claims he usedasking D.H. to stretch out the waistband of his underpantslikely would pass constitutional muster under all circumstances in this case. Because a genuine issue of material fact existed about whose version of the search was true, the case had to go to trial, the court said. Prom Breath Tests The 2014 Junior/Senior Prom of Jensen Beach High School in the Martin County, Fla., school district will be memorable for the 40 students who arrived on a prom bus, but not for the traditional reasons. The students had signed zero tolerance forms acknowledging that no drugs or alcohol was permitted at the prom, and that they may be subject to a breath test. After riding the prom bus to a local park for pictures and then to dinner, the students arrived at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center at about 10:15 p.m. School officials could have kept them out for arriving after 10 p.m., but instead they decided to search the bus. (The court analyzed that and upheld its constitutionality, but lets skip ahead.) The bus search turned up an empty champagne bottle and some party cups, so school officials decided to conduct Breathalyzer tests of all 40 students. The tests took a while, and even when students passed, they were not allowed into the prom until the whole group was tested. Some who said they would rather just go home, before or after they were tested, were told they could not leave. By the time the testing was completed, it was near midnight, and the prom was over. Every student in the group registered a 0.0 blood-alcohol content level. The students sued the school district and various officials, alleging that their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure were violated. In its July 28 decision in Ziegler v. Martin County School District , the 11th Circuit court upheld the breath tests of the students. But it went on to hold that the continued detention of all the students until all in the group had been tested was unreasonable. We now hold, when government officials need to conduct breathalyzer or urine tests on students, the testing must be accomplished in a reasonably expeditious time period, the court said. Once exonerated by the test, the student must be free to go. Because the appeals court agreed that the school officials deserved immunity on that question, it upheld a district court ruling that granted summary judgment to all the defendants. "All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down," Friedrich Nietzsche once claimed. Words do matter -- and in international diplomacy, they can sometimes spell the difference between neglectful chaos and principled order. After securing a landmark legal victory against China in the South China Sea, the Philippines is struggling to amass regional support. As far as Southeast Asian countries' official pronouncements are concerned, the verdict -- which aligns maritime claims, particularly by China, with modern international law -- never happened. Though the ruling is binding under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, its enforcement is largely dependent on the international community's commitment to ensuring compliance among concerned parties. Advertisement The recently concluded Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) revealed divisions rather than unity on the issue. After days of tense discussions among member countries, the regional body failed to come up with any meaningful statement on the Philippines' arbitration case against China. At best, Asean managed to come out with a communique, which essentially reiterated past diplomatic cliches on the necessity of negotiating a legally binding Code of Conduct and echoed key elements of the US-Asean Sunnylands summit earlier this year. While this is not the first time that the regional body has struggled to assert any semblance of geopolitical heft, there is growing concern that Asean is fast fading into oblivion in key East Asian affairs. The regional body has failed to leave any meaningful imprint on one of the most urgent and potentially disastrous conflicts in modern history. Where is the love? For four decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) commendably established the foundations of a nascent security community in Southeast Asia, where the threat of war among neighboring states has teetered on the verge of impossibility. In the past two decades, the regional body has tirelessly sought to create a broadly peaceful, rule-based and inclusive regional security architecture. Advertisement Yet, the rise of China and its growing assertiveness isn't only disturbing the regional security architecture, but also undermining the ASEAN's internal cohesion and quest for centrality in East Asian affairs. If ASEAN continues to fail to rise to the occasion, the South China Sea disputes will precariously descend into a full-fledged Sino-American great power rivalry and/or highly lopsided bilateral deals between Beijing and its far weaker South-east Asian neighbours. Lacking regional backing, the Philippines is struggling to translate its de jure victory into de facto gains on the ground in accordance with international law. There seems to be a growing feeling in China that the diplomatic tide has turned, rendering the Philippines arbitration case as inconsequential as possible. As far as regional integration is concerned, dynamism is a hallmark of survival and internal coherence. Asean's shortcomings lie in its institutional design. The decades-long "Asean way" of consensus-based decision making has handed de facto veto power to each member country. Proposals for adopting an "Asean Minus X" or Qualified Majority voting modality on sensitive politico-security issues are yet to gain enough traction, but have become more urgent than ever. Advertisement In principle, this should not be a source of concern, provided member states are committed to agreed-upon principles and are willing as well as capable of transcending parochial interest to empower collective bargaining power. In reality, however, the Asean unanimity-based decision-making tradition has created institutional paralysis, preventing the regional body from achieving any modicum of unity on sensitive geopolitical issues such as the South China Sea. Feckless Regionalism Since 2012, Asean has suffered repeated diplomatic setbacks, mainly due to certain member countries' unwillingness to stand up to China, which has, in turn, stepped up its efforts to win loyalty among poor and dependent South-east Asian countries by offering large-scale loans. The regional body's role as the engine of broader integration in the Asia-Pacific theatre has also come under question. Last year, even the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus failed to issue a final statement, thanks to the unwillingness of certain regional states to place maritime disputes on the table. Earlier this year, Asean set a new (low) precedent when it withdrew a joint statement right after a special meeting in Kunming, Yunnan, between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his South-east Asian counterparts. Instead of convincing China to scale back its assertiveness in adjacent waters, the regional body found itself staring into an abyss of diplomatic impertinence. Advertisement Once again, Asean fell into disarray because it could not secure unanimity on the South China Sea issue. Shortly after, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen went so far as lambasting other Asean countries for making his country walk a diplomatic tightrope, while dismissing the Philippines' arbitration case against China as a "political conspiracy". One cannot also ignore the palpable impact of China's intimidation tactics, with no less than Chinese President Xi Jinping warning that the "Chinese people don't fear trouble" when it comes to securing territorial integrity in adjacent waters. After conducting a week-long naval exercise in disputed waters ahead of the arbitral award on July 12, China deployed a nuclear-capable H-6K bomber over the contested Scarborough Shoal, which lies just above 100 nautical miles off the Philippine coast. It did not take long before the Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army also unveiled its latest military hardware, including its much-touted "carrier-killer" anti-ship ballistic missiles. In response, America as well as major Asean members collectively called for patience and calm rather than compliance with the arbitration ruling. Against this troubled backdrop, the latest meeting among Asean foreign ministers fell short of producing any meaningful diplomatic outcome. There was neither a mention of the Philippines' historic arbitration case nor any breakthrough in negotiating a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. Member states also could not agree on implementing provisional and urgent measures, such as an immediate freeze on reclamation activities and other forms of provocative behaviour, which violate the spirit and letter of the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, as well as the Six Point Principles on the maritime disputes. Advertisement For now, it seems that not only has China managed to tame the response of the international community, but Asean itself also has missed a historic opportunity to reassert any semblance of relevance in the South China Sea. Failing to embrace wholesale institutional innovation, the only way forward is 'ASEAN minilateralism', where likeminded and influential countries in the region coordinate their diplomatic and strategic calculations vis-a-vis the South China Sea disputes. Key ASEAN countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia can, on a bilateral basis and on individual basis, release statements that communicate their disappointment with China's activities in the area and communicate their willingness to step up their 'minilateral' cooperation if China doesn't relent and respect the spirit, if not the letter, of the verdict. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton campaigns at Grandpa's Cheesebarn in Ashland, Ohio, U.S. July 31, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein Hillary Clinton offered a strong economic platform at last week's Democratic National Convention. She promised to boost employment and wages with large-scale investments in infrastructure and green jobs. She declared her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), said she would expand Social Security, and proposed tuition-free education for the middle class. This agenda should resonate with voters. The analysts at Moody's certainly liked it. But times have been tough for a while now, and Americans are in a skeptical mood. This time around, Democrats will need to convince voters they really mean it -- especially if the bad news keeps coming. Advertisement The day after she accepted the nomination, as Clinton and vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine took their message to the Rust Belt, a new report showed that the economy grew by only a disappointing 1.2 percent last quarter. There's a recovery going on, but a lot of people can't feel it. The middle class is dying. Inequality is getting worse. Wages are stagnating. Labor force participation remains low. It's true that Donald Trump's economic proposals are a grab bag of false promises and giveaways to his fellow oligarchs. But his message is clear and direct: They're screwing you, and I'll make them stop. What's Hillary Clinton's economic message? According to her acceptance speech, "My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States." In normal times that message might be enough. But these are not normal times. A recent poll shows that Americans trust Trump more than they trust Clinton to create good jobs. Another showed that voters thought Trump would be more effective at "improving economic conditions." Findings like that seem to induce cognitive dissonance in some Democrats. A number of those I met at the convention seemed incapable of believing that their party could actually lose to a transparent grifter like Trump. Nevertheless, that's a very real possibility. As Toni Monkovic wrote in a recent New York Times analysis, "it's clear that Donald Trump has a realistic shot to become president." People haven't forgotten that Wall Street's well-documented criminality and greed caused the 2008 financial crisis. It has now been seven years since banks trashed the American economy -- and got away with it. In those seven years we have experienced the slowest and weakest recovery, by far, than any since World War II. A few positive signals in the statistical noise won't impress millions of struggling Americans. Neither will the fact that cuts in government spending, driven more by Republicans than Democrats, contributed to these weak results. Many voters see the economy in starker terms: the status quo isn't working for them. They're right about that. Every major convention speaker paid tribute to Bernie Sanders' message. But there were also overtures to Republicans who might be disaffected by Trump. The problem is, there aren't that many of them. Polling shows that the number of likely Republican defectors to the Democrats (and vice versa) is no higher this year than last time around. Advertisement A more promising approach can be found in a recent Democracy Corps survey for the Roosevelt Institute. It found that "the public is hungry for politicians to internalize what they have known for some time" - namely, that "the rules of the economy have been written by the wealthy, corporate special interests ... so the economy works for them, not the middle class." This theme was tested against one featured prominently at the convention, that of building on the progress made under President Obama. It was considerably more effective. Hillary Clinton said last week that Democrats must do a better job convincing voters that "we get what you're going through." She's not off to a good start. Last week Trump called NAFTA "the worst trade deal in history." By contrast, when the Washington Post asked Clinton whether the country would have been better off without NAFTA and two similar pacts, she said, "I think that's a hard question to answer." "I look at this from both sides," she added. Answers like this will only inflame voter mistrust. Clinton has a good chance of winning anyway, given Trump's weaknesses, but it's far from a foregone conclusion. Down-ticket races could also be affected. in this climate, and given the renewed visibility of deep-pocket Democratic donors, Clinton and Kaine's expressed opposition to the TPP could leave many voters unpersuaded. They could address that by promising to whip against it on Capitol Hill if, as expected, President Obama tries to push it through during the lame-duck session. Advertisement It's not enough to say, "Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again." That, too, will be met with skepticism. Clinton could give that pledge some teeth by promising not to appoint anyone from Wall Street to a senior position in the Treasury or Justice Departments. It's not enough to propose raising the minimum wage. Clinton and Kaine could show their support for "15 and a union" by walking a picket line if the opportunity arises. There are other steps the campaign could undertake to win skeptical voters. Most importantly, they need to understand that voters are skeptical. I wrote this with Peter Jarka-Sellers who is interning at FairVote this summer. In the weeks since the California primary, when Hillary Clinton joined Donald Trump in becoming her party's presumptive nominee for president, FairVote has tracked both candidates' campaign appearances. FairVote's similar analysis in 2012 showed just how much the candidates focus on swing states that might tip the election with our current Electoral College rules. After the conventions in 2012, Barack Obama campaigned in a grand total of just eight states and Mitt Romney added only two more. These same states also were the targets of nearly all the spending on television ads. Ignored states include nearly every small state and most large states. For both candidates' campaign teams, voters in of these ignored small and large states were treated as if they had the same value: nothing. FairVote's Rob Richie and Andrea Levien in 2013 published an article in Presidential Studies Quarterly on FairVote's analysis of what is wrong in the current presidential election system and how it can be fixed with the National Popular Vote plan. Based on the 2012 results, we projected 11 states were most likely to be swing states in 2016: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The fact that events since then have done little to change that calculation shows just how predictable our elections have become. Most states are truly locked in for one party or another. Sometimes a poll may show a Democratic-leaning state like Michigan or New Mexico, or a Republican-leaning one like Georgia or Arizona looking close. But such a state would never 'tip' the election, and the candidates will ultimately devote little energy to those states' voters. If such a non-swing state truly became close, it would mean that the national election was no longer close. The trailing candidate would still focus on the true swing states unless they had given up and just wanted to avoid an Electoral College landslide. Advertisement So let's test this thesis by looking at campaign appearances since the California primary. Today, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine started a three-day bus tour of -- yes, you guessed it -- Ohio and Pennsylvania. This week Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence have campaigned in -- no surprise -- states including Ohio, Colorado and Iowa. In our analysis, FairVote only factors in campaign events that we determine were designed to influence the voters who live in that place. For instance, were Donald Trump to appear on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York City, we would not categorize it as an event designed to influence New York Voters. Likewise were Hillary Clinton to speak to a labor union conference in Oregon, that would not be considered an event tailored to Oregon voters. However, if Donald Trump were to stop by a campaign office in Ohio to fire up volunteers, that appearance would count because it would be geared towards specifically trying to affect voters in that state. Of Hillary Clinton's campaign stops that FairVote has registered since June 7th, 79% (15 of 19) have been in swing states. Of the remaining four: 1) one was in Atlantic City, New Jersey where Clinton sought to highlight Trump's business record there; 2) one was in Springfield, Illinois at the statehouse where President Lincoln gave a famous address about the perils of slavery and where Clinton spoke following the killing of police officers in Dallas, Texas; 3) one was in Clinton's home state of New York to participate in New York City's large pride parade where Clinton's campaign is also headquartered; and the last in Los Angeles, California, where Clinton was already in town for fundraisers. Going forward, expect the focus to narrow to true swing states. The same can be said of Donald Trump. Of his campaign events to date, 72% (or 21 of 29) have been in our swing states. Here's a rundown of the remaining eight; 1-2) two were in Trump's home state of New York, where his campaign is headquartered; 3) a third was a joint appearance with his running mate Mike Pence in Indiana, where Pence is Governor; 4) a fourth was in Maine's second congressional district, where the winner of that district's popular vote earns an electoral vote and is seen as more likely to be close than the campaign overall; 5-6) were in Michigan which FairVote has not classified as a swing state but which the Trump campaign is treating as one; 7-8) the final two were in Georgia and Texas, which can appear on some optimist Democrats' target lists ,but are highly unlikely to be the subject of much more campaign attention unless tied to unexpected events such as the police shootings in Dallas. Advertisement These findings show that even the exceptions prove the rule -- and expect those exceptions to decline going forward. That harsh reality underscores that allocating electoral votes by a winner-take-all rule -- meaning one where no political activity has any change to affect the split of electoral votes in a nationally close contest, -- results in candidates channeling all their polling, attention and resources into the few states that may tip the election. With the definition of swing states so firmly set in today's polarized politics, as shown in the 2013 Presidential Studies Quarterly article, this dynamic simply cannot be reconciled with basic notions of representative democracy and democracy accountability. Electing presidents by the national popular vote would address this problem by separating the presidency from the outcome in particular states, and make every voter in every state equally important. Throughout summer, kids can lose anywhere from 2 to 3 months of classroom learning. Researchers call this "summer slump," and it's especially prevalent among low-income households. But kids don't need to sit at a desk to keep the learning going, and it doesn't have to cost parents a penny! In our new book, BECOMING BRILLIANT: What Science Tells us About Raising Successful Children (APA Lifetools; June 2016) recently featured on NPR -- we use the latest findings in cognitive and developmental psychology to propose new ways to help children learn the skills they really need to grow for the 21st century. These skills are known as "the 6C's": Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking, Creative Innovation and Confidence. The summer offers parents countless ways to playfully interact with their kids while building these skills. Parents just need to "reframe the lens" and see that there are learning opportunities in everyday moments and everywhere you go. For example, did you know that Simon Says is really about teaching executive function? And that Red Rover reinforces collaboration and communication? Or that you can have your kids make up a scrapbook about the vacation or even daily places you go, writing and drawing and pasting in tickets or receipts? And these are a hoot to look at when kids get older. Advertisement Here are tips to help parents Keep the Learning Going! It's not over yet!: 1. Rap like Lin Manuel-Miranda! Rapping with kids helps them develop story-telling skills and hones creativity and communication. Especially good for middle and high school students. 2. Put on a Play! Take clothes out of the closet and let kids dress-up and put on a show. This involves creativity, communication, collaboration, and building a narrative, which is important for writing and reading. 3. Science on the Sidewalk! "Paint" the driveway with water. As it evaporates, "the paint" darkens. It's a great opportunity to talk about evaporation, heat, and where the water goes. And kids love to paint! Shadow puppets. Create creatures that get bigger and smaller depending on how close they are to sun. Discuss what makes shadows change size, and why there are there shadows at all. Drop an egg but don't break it! Give kids three straws, a tissue box, and cardboard and ask them to construct something that will allow them to drop the egg without smashing it. Then tie-it back to learning by discussing the science of gravitational pull. 5. Play the Cup Game (like they did in the movie, Glee). As kids move cups to the rhythm of a song they learn patterns, math, impulse control, and executive function skills. 6. Hand and String Games. When kids play Cats in the Cradle, they use the string to make different patterns, which is great for creativity and problem solving! 7. Fun in the Car. Family vacations often start and end with endles car rides. Use that time to have some learning fun! Anagrams! Spot a word on a sign and see how many other words, of at least three letters, each person can make. Geography! Ask them how many cities they can name that start with R. It reinforces communication and collaboration. Tell a Story. You start one line and each person adds another to build the narrative. The License Plate Game. Write down the states you see on license plates. Can children alphabetize them? Where are these states? Any road atlas will have a map of the U.S. 8. Make a Drum Circle. Games like Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves incorporate collaboration, sensitivity, communication, emotion regulation, and impulse control. Advertisement 9. Legos! They teach problem solving, spatial skills, content, and creativity. Play with someone else and practice collaborating. Try a harder pattern and develop confidence! 10. Create New Stuff from Junk. Makers Fairs are becoming especially popular, challenging kids to create new devices or objects out of old parts. From discarded vacuum pieces and switches to paint and feathers, kids can create tools, art, and sculpture from old stuff found around the house! Enjoy playing with your kids! Last week, we ran a software analysis on clarity of speech and word usage for Donald Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Now, it's Hillary's turn. VisibleThread, a firm that analyzes documents much like tools that analyze data, using software to test and audit written content for risk and content quality, generously offered to run the speeches through its software to give us a better look at clarity and theme. It turns out that for all of her super-intellect, Hillary speaks in simple terms. Compared with Donald Trump's 8th grade comprehension level on his speech, Hillary spoke at a 5th grade education level. Machine translation? She spoke in shorter, simpler sentences with considerably less passive voice. By VisibleThread's metric, Clinton's language was 13% clearer and more direct than Trump's. That said, both speeches tested as widely accessible to an adult audience. Both candidates frequently used words like "America," "people," and "country," but thematic differences begin to emerge when you look closer. While both candidates addressed the same major themes, the nuance in word usage is interesting: Advertisement Clinton was much more likely to use words like "rights," "kids," and "family" that have positive, personal associations, while Trump leaned heavily on words like "trade," "law," and "terrorism." Whether you think the word graph skews by gender or optimism, is up for interpretation. Clinton also won the word count for her mentions of the economy and "job(s)". When the speeches are compared, Hillary demonstrates a parsimonious use of language. Take a look at these two statements on gun control and guess who said which? The first task for our new Administration will be to liberate our citizens from the crime and terrorism and lawlessness that threatens their communities. America was shocked to its core when our police officers in Dallas were brutally executed. In the days after Dallas, we have seen continued threats and violence against our law enforcement officials. Law officers have been shot or killed in recent days in Georgia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee. On Sunday, more police were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Three were killed, and four were badly injured. And if we're serious about keeping our country safe, we also can't afford to have a President who's in the pocket of the gun lobby. I'm not here to repeal the 2nd Amendment. I'm not here to take away your guns. I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place. If you guessed Trump for the first one, you are correct. Talk to any savvy or experienced marketer and they probably have battle scars from an outsourcing deal gone horribly wrong and a vow to never do it again. Cheer up ace, here's why your outsourcing deal failed and why you should take another shot. You sourced to one person Chances are you probably sourced your tasks to one person in a remote area. That can work...people do this every day. The problem with that is in cases when it doesn't. It's never a good thing when your freelancer does their best Jimmy Hoffa impersonation while you are on a deadline. Or, they get seduced by more attractive work that takes their time and attention away from you. Those are just some of the problems marketing agencies and departments face when hiring a single freelancer. There are limits on their time and desire to do your work. When you source to one person you compete for attention against other people that person freelances for, and also all the other things that are going on in their life. They may have to manage fitting you in with their other clients, hopscotch lessons or their busy schedule of binge watching Friends reruns. An even more difficult scenario is when the person falls in love with your customers or vice versa. Which means you lose your customer and your talent. Advertisement Outsource to a team instead. With a group of people doing the work you'll benefit from a wider skill set and loyalty that comes with a partnership between two organizations - yours and your partners. A team wants you to keep sending work to them so they are extremely motivated to service you at the drop of a hat. Much in the same way you want to help businesses with their marketing work. As you grow you need to be able to deliver on your promises to new and old customers. If you're sourcing tasks to multiple individuals it becomes hard to manage and maintain reliability. Since you're an outsourced team's customer it's their responsibility to meet your demand or lose the account. Put the burden of training, hiring, motivating and retaining on them so you can focus on what you do best. Marketing! You lacked control of the process When you outsource you give up some degree of control. Your freelancer/contractor works on their own schedule and whenever they please so as long as they meet their deadlines to you. You, like most modern marketing leaders, don't want to micro manage and believe in empowering people to get the job done. But that lack of direction doesn't work for everyone and your freelancer isn't cutting it. Since you have no control over their processes you have no idea what your freelancer is working on at any given point. Even though your freelancers aren't in the office you need to integrate them with your company practices and policies. You may not want to micro manage your own internal people because you have an intimate knowledge of who they are and what they're working on. Obviously they don't need micro-managing...you talk to them more! Your outsourced help isn't getting that same attention from you and it hurts your chances of the relationship being successful. Make sure your outsourcing partner learns how you operate and collaborate. Give them a corporate email ID and bring them into whatever ticketing system or collaboration tool you use internally. That way they can easily follow your internal discussions, chime in or get a pulse for how things work. They'll also feel like they're part of the team as opposed to an outsider. Advertisement Another thing to consider is where you're outsourcing to and where these people are physically located. I'm not just talking different countries, because even people in different domestic cities wherever you are have different styles for how they approach work. Not everyone works well in a casual work environment...or a 9-5 environment either. New Yorkers should probably get a visa before working in San Francisco. Do people working in startups work the same way as bankers on Wall St.? The work styles are totally different. When you decide to outsource tasks to a person that's not living near you, or even of the same culture/ethnicity as you, try to get a feel for their work style. Ask them about their previous jobs, talk to their references and derive what their ideal work environment is. For example, everyone has a time of the day when they're more productive than others and if you know this you can set mental expectations of when they'll get your stuff done. Who knows? Let's say they're huge Marilyn Manson fans and Christmas isn't a big deal to them. Maybe they can work 11 hrs straight on Christmas day, but then are off the grid on Halloween. Everyone's different and there may be ways to use those differences to your advantage. You sourced too remote This is a touchy area, but you're outsourcing is likely to fail if you're sourcing with too many contrasts. How is an outsourcing marriage going to last if the person you're outsourcing to isn't able to communicate with you or available when you are? This is particularly an issue when outsourcing to people in different countries. Sometimes there are issues you may never foresee like political unrest, power outages that last several hours or time zone gaps. Also if things go south it's very hard to be protected by the laws of your country in case of litigation. How can an American marketing agency really enforce a non- compete with a freelance graphic designer based in Australia? The best outsourcing relationship for you probably involves a partner that could be in your office for meetings on 24-48 hours' notice without the need for a lot of paperwork or visas. Nothing more than a drive or short flight. Ideally, you want to be in a situation where if you had to make a multi- million dollar presentation you could with all of your staff and important contractors on site. Advertisement Legally working with a company in your neck of the woods or a neighboring country with similar laws and regulations helps in case you need to exercise certain clauses in your contracts. Also, if you're outsourcing to a local/nearshore company that may have offshore resources you benefit from having enforceable contracts and partnership terms with them...while they deal with all the baggage and irritants that come from managing people offshore. They will also most likely have people you can collaborate with throughout your work day and have a better idea of what you and your clients need. It's a lot easier for an account manager or operations person from the outsourced team that's in your area to scope and understand the big picture of what needs to be done and then discuss those requirements to the rest of their outsourced remote team. You outsourced the wrong thing There are tons of freelancers and outsourced help willing to give you a hand. Give you a hand....not a vacation. That's the important thing to remember. They are there to help, but you still need to remain in control and captain the ship. If you outsource too much of your core business functions there is a good chance your marketing 'output' won't resemble anything you envisioned. Generally speaking, things that can be done cheaper, better and faster by your partners/third-parties are what you should task them with. Maybe they can code, design, type or tie shoe-laces better than you can. So let them do it. But make sure your secret sauce stays with you. If you're a marketing agency or marketing department then that usually means you have an ability to come up with great marketing strategies to get results and ensure their successful implementation. Ultimately that is what is going to drive leads and sales as well as prove your chops as a marketer. Make sure the main thing you are paid to do stays with you. The semantics of how you get it done is what you should consider outsourcing. Outsourcing is a necessity for marketing organizations. Done right, it can help you add skilled support and allow you to focus on marketing. Done wrong and all you'll have is war stories and animosity towards any future outsiders that volunteer to give you a hand. Unsure whether you should outsource a marketing task or do it in-house? This calculator should help. Advertisement I have refrained from commenting or entering the political arena in any country, my own included. I am South African! Trust me I have opinions, but I decided it wouldn't be good for business for me to have a public opinion. But that ended last night on the 6 pm news. When I saw Donald Trump attack Mrs Khan, a dignified grieving mother, I felt tears running down my face. How low can this man go? I am appalled beyond measure... I remember back with the Florida debacle of 2000 Thinking to myself "but I thought that the domain of brutal crooked politics was limited to emerging world countries that are classed as barbaric. Those of us as seen as living amongst monkeys, we were the ones that had disorganized, frightening election seasons. " But suddenly a small spark came into my head, if it happens in America? The country of good behavior, political correctness, smiling white teeth, integrated societies and Disney land, what else didn't we know about this huge powerhouse of a continent. It was pushed to the back of my mind and I continued to show up at meetings barefoot and write notes in my A4 scrap book. Trying to solve social inequality and uphold women's rights but on my own continent. Advertisement Then in 2013 I was asked by a large corporation to launch my amazing, ingenious portable non electric slow cooker in the USA. NO was my instant response, this was developed for women who cook over fires and need more time to do other chores, and use less firewood. It's working for them and we doing well, why would I want or who would want to buy it in America. I was duly persuaded that 68% of people slow cook in the USA and that pot lucks, portable heat retention cooking could and would be huge here, camping, fishing, RV holidays etc etc. I took a deep sigh and thought well if I built a business model where for every Wonderbag bought in North America one would be donated to the Wonderbag Foundation and be subsidized to a family who couldn't afford it in Africa would get one. Win win, or so I thought and so did, all my advisors and like minded strategists in New York. So I begun the BIG TOUR of the USA, from middle America, to Walmart's across the country, to states I had never heard of, we where holding focus groups to understand the consumer, to get a grip on the U.S. Market. Oh BOY. Let me back up, I grew up in the height of apartheid, I grew up to gunfire, racism, prison time for reading the wrong book, my friends were forbidden to join me at the beach or drive in the car with me, I grew up in a radical country of discrimination and dirty politics. Ruthless and cruel, dehumanizing and immoral. That's what and where I came from. Military conscription for my brothers, and friends, war on the border, murder, alcohol, hidden secrets and horror. But nothing absolutely nothing prepared me for what I encountered on this "insight gathering marketing trip of the USA". The ignorance, the racism, the small mindless mentality, the cruelty of the way my continent of Africa was referred to. The Inhumane discussions about other communities. I had never encountered ignorance and hideousness on this scale ever. Advertisement But like we all know and exactly what we are fighting against, you cannot judge or discredit a whole group or community of people for just a few. Usually they are not all that representative, as we have seen with ISIS, who DO NOT represent the Muslim faith. So with much persuasion and cajoling I launched my beloved Wonderbag in North America on Amazon. And it's been loved and adored by huge parts of the wonderful people I have met, who have written To me, who have embraced individual philanthropy and who have connected with the Wonderbag World, like I cannot believe. Our business has flourished and we encourage you all to become part of this amazing movement which is unifying women across the world. But back to the point, when I was in New York in middle of last year and Trump was shown from time to time, on what I assumed was comedy hour, and then it became more frequent. I went home, and came back a few months later, I was loving Bernie Sanders' message, Hilary is Hilary and I can't not and will always admire her for who she is, what she has done and how she has played in the tough Arena time after time, she deserves every bit of support she gets. But the horror was just beginning, Donald Trump was getting to the top, and as the weeks drew on, it became more and more apparent that something horrifying was happening. People started to have shocked looks, comments, fear, anxiety, the world was falling apart, we have to build walls, save America from itself. We have a savior , a cult leader and we all have to follow him into the sea if that's what it takes to save and make America great again. But hang on everyone, I wasn't surprised at all, Donald Trump epitomizes those people who where so rude about Africans, about me, they couldn't see me as I was behind a focus room glass wall, they assumed I was black and made scathing comments, they insulted me, they ridiculed this heat retention cooker because it was invented in Africa by black people. they where racist, bigots and grim excuses for humanity. I had taken fright and taken the first grey hound bus out of there. But this was supposed to be America not South Africa in the 1980's. This man is a megalomaniac but he is good, he is brilliant, he is creating a cult, a fear based following, he is a madman with no limits. We have seen these before, I was brought up in a county run by these men. How how can we it be happening in America? I surprised that Donald Trump maybe the next president of the USA, NO. Am I troubled? Horrified. This is going exactly the same way that South Africa was in the 1970/80's. How much fear, how much looting, what about our children, is this the world that we want for them? Should I be speaking out, probably not, But I can't stay silent and ignore one of the biggest catastrophes about to happen to the Western World. No one thought Brexit would happen, except someone with hair that looks just like Donald Trumps! Advertisement We have to unite, we need to fight, we need to be heard, we need to ensure that Hilary, for better or worse, is the next President of the United States of America. The consequences of the other could be Barack Obama in prison for 27 years, just like Nelson Mandela, and God forbid we don't have that fight in us. I know you've heard that before ... but I'm not talking about your recent trouncings on the Daily Show and Last Week Tonight for a few misplaced emails. Nor am I talking about SNL constantly reminding the electorate your people skills are roughly three and half notches above artificial intelligence. No. I could care less about all that nonsense. What I'm talking about is the only word dirtier than politics in America: marketing. It'd be easy to say that the presidential race is a marketing challenge like no other. But it's not. Your team faces the same realities as any product: relentless competition, brand trust and loyalty, engagement, overcoming objections, and ultimately conversions. While your final "conversion" is a vote and not a sale, the path is remarkably similar. And just to prove this is coming from a place of love, let me start with the good news. Advertisement What Team Clinton is Doing Right Email Marketing There's plenty of good on that front. Most of your emails have compelling subject lines, concise copy, and clear CTAs. Just please, learn my name. You're killing me with "Friend." Conversion Rate Optimization Copywriter Aaron Orendorff gathered non-partisan advice from some of the best CRO (conversion rate optimization) experts in the business to critique the Clinton and Trump's sites and offer advice on how to improve conversion rates, which includes both signups and donations. While most of your CRO comments are positive, there is always room for improvement. Read it here: Presidential Teardown: 18 CRO Experts Weigh in on the Most Pivotal Funnels in World History. As Aaron put it: "No matter what side of the political aisle you're on, these could very well be the highest stakes online funnels in the history of the world." It was Aaron's blog post that inspired me to write what I've been thinking for months. He even managed to score input from Kyle Rush, the head of Hillary's CTO team, about what they're doing. Advertisement Effective Tweets While your overall engagement is low, some of your tweets hit it right out of the park. Here are a few of my favorites: "It's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues." @SenateMajLdr on Trump We couldn't agree more, Mitch https://t.co/YO81aW6XZB Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 21, 2016 I never thought Id say these words, but Ted Cruz was right...in this election, do the right thing and vote your conscience. Hillary Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 22, 2016 What Team Clinton Needs to Fix Social Media Engagement Trump rules twitter, and by doing so, rules the blogosphere and the media. His followers eat up his verbal diarrhea. His feed is a constant stream of insults, lies, racism, fact-free memes, and random threats. His followers eat it up; his detractors are horrified and disgusted, and both sides write about it constantly. Everybody is tuning in for the show, and the points he scores often resonate with Bernie Sanders supporters. On purpose. Your tweets? Who knows? Most are too boring to make news. I understand why, I really do. You're running on dignity, experience, intelligence, integrity. That's why you need the downticket flooding the twittersphere for you. Recruit more fiery senators like Elizabeth Warren to duke it out while you maintain your brand. Advertisement What you're really lacking is engagement. Social media is not one-way. If you went on Twitter for even a few minutes here and there throughout the day and answered positive tweets from random people with personality and humor, bloggers and social media would eat it up. Put an intern on finding great tweets to personally answer while you're in the car or do what everybody else does and take your phone to the bathroom. I've only discussed Twitter as an example - a good social media team could and should take on all of the big platforms. Social media saturation will also help you: Understand Your Audience Want to know what we're afraid of? SCOTUS. One presidency lasts 4-8 years; we can probably recover from Trump. Theoretically, if he wins, Dems (those of us who haven't moved to Canada ) will be horrified enough to turn up at the midterm elections and regain congress to rein him in. But a far-right SCOTUS is a 40-year scourge, and making it so is literally a plank in the RNC platform. They are hell-bent on turning SCOTUS into a shrine for Scalia's antiquated ideas about women, guns, and religious rule, and they aren't shy about their intentions. Ruth Bader-Ginsberg can't live forever. Much as we'd like to see that happen. Monitoring social media channels will tell you what we're discussing. Active participation in pro-Hillary groups will give you direct access to what's on your supporters' minds. You'll get feedback, opinions, advice, questions...and it will give you a chance to clear up negative press with factual replies. Engage Your Influencers Stolen emails reveal that you're contacting big-name journalists to feed them stories (as you should be, why is that even a thing?). But the 24-hour news cycle, market over-saturation, and the Fox-New-inspired tabloid format leaves your core audience of intelligent liberals cold and suspicious. The real goldmine today is in influencer marketing. Personal endorsements from real people. Advertisement Take this post, by Allen Clifton: Let Me Address This Ridiculousness Surrounding the DNC Email Hack 'Controversy'. Common sense reasoning, and calm discussion of what (little) was really revealed, sans hysteria. While rightwing heads explode and Trump blows chunks on twitter, where's the counter-measure? Who on your team is talking about what Sanders was doing to spark this kind of discussion? How he was, at the time trashing the DNC in the media, and insinuating that the presumptive nominee (according to the numbers, it was already over) is corrupt. It's no accident that this fake controversy hit the web two days before the DNC. Assange is a well-known Hillary hater...and it's looking more and more like the Russian government is behind the breach. The Democrats are doing a bad job of controlling the message. You're not doing nearly enough to counter the astonishing avalanche of BS. Once again, engagement will encourage bloggers and other influencers who support you. Reach out. Make friends with believers. Memes Social media is wallpapered with fact-challenged memes about everything from Walmart to the TPP. Surely your graphics department can make some fact-based memes for social media. I don't care who you are, this is funny. Let's pull it together. In reality, Bernie and Hillary supporters want the same thing. We simply have a different approach. We need a positive approach and a progressive agenda. Advertisement What people don't seem to understand about you, Hillary, is that you have always worked for us, and that's what a politician is supposed to do. Your advocacy largely mirrors public opinion. Somehow, Bernie supporters have turned your loyalty to the American people into a negative. Between starry-eyed Bernie supporters, the echo chamber of the right and the salacious media reporting of rumor and opinion as fact - profits over truth - your image has soured with all but hardline dems. Those of us look past the bullshit to your long record of service need to be loud and proud. And that's the bottom line, you need to arouse the passion of your base. The speakers at the DNC are perfectly chosen to do just that, but after the convention ends, we need to flood the web with the positive. I'm normally a business blogger, but I am ready to raise my voice. Let me be clear. I have no reservations and no reluctance. I'm not settling or voting the least of two evils. In a gigantic field of candidates, Hillary Clinton was always the best choice. Freedom. Their bodies were held captive but their minds flew free. In the wake of the recent onslaught of violent events in the world, the sadness I have felt for humanity, both the members that are in captivity and those that are free, has substantially multiplied. As citizens of the world, our connected lifeline fades with each new act of violence, slowly dismantling our human ecosystem into one of isolated separatism. There are cracks where we were once whole. Emotions are running high only to crash into a sea of broken dreams. Emotions are our limitless fuel supply that power our actions. When that power is fueled into acts of destruction and violence, one can quickly wind up in a dark and unimaginable place. Prison is a dark and unimaginable place. I've been carrying around a heaviness since my evening in prison. Society hurts. Hearts hurt. Deep down we are all feeling it. Advertisement "Unlocking Your Story" A few weeks ago, I was a guest speaker in the University Behind Bars Program at the Monroe Correctional facility. My class was called "Unlocking Your Story" and was created by my philanthropist friend Joe Brotherton. I was asked to discuss my journey as a novelist in the hopes that in sharing my story I would unlock stories from deep within the twenty inmates attending my class that evening. Full disclosure, I cannot tell you the specific stories that were unlocked that evening, those stories will forever belong to the men of my classroom, however, I can tell you mine. The story I unlocked was one of a woman filled with unjustified fears and prejudices about who prisoners were and where they came from. The story I unlocked was those of men facing the consequences of committing harmful acts against humanity. The story I unlocked was one filled with immense sadness when I realized what life without freedom truly looks like. The story I unlocked was one of men finding light in the even the darkest corners of concrete prison cells. The story I unlocked was one of understanding, compassion, and clarity. I walked out of those prison walls that evening with tears in my eyes. I walked out of those walls of captivity into my blessed life filled with the freedom to experience love, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - Things that I will never again take for granted. Advertisement The story I unlocked was one of a woman filled with unjustified fears and prejudices about who prisoners were and where they came from. As the day of my class arrived, I woke up filled with fear. I was afraid of prison and the men I would meet there. Afraid of what I might see and what I might uncover. Afraid of what it means to share the experience of living a life of captivity. I was afraid I might be in danger teaching a class of all men who had committed heinous crimes. I was afraid of not knowing what those crimes were. I was even more afraid to know what they were. I was afraid would hear their stories and not know how to respond. I was afraid I would hear their stories to find out they were not that different than I. I was afraid of letting them down as a teacher on their one night of freedom. I meditated that morning to clear my head. I wanted to embrace the evening in its entirety as I had done with so many book tour events previously. This was just another stop in my tour. I would let my guard down in the hopes that they would too. I would break down their walls to foster creativity instead of destructive behavior. The story I unlocked was one of men finding light in the even the darkest corners of their prison cells. For my protection, I was not allowed to know their names, each of their works had a number where a name normally would be. That afternoon, I read through 20+ stories, some hand written, some typed on a typewriter, and a lucky few typed on a computer. Their stories were ones of alienation, loneliness, resentment, love, atonement, anger, and loss. Their stories were of a Seattle I didn't know. Stories of childhoods I'd only seen or read about on the news. Stories of family members and girlfriends who no longer came to visit. Stories of the people outside the walls that they let down. Their stories were excellent. Advertisement For the sake of clarity, I do not defend nor do I justify the acts that these men did that resulted in them landing in prison, however I do know that based on their writings, the men from my class spent countless hours this last decade reflecting on their past actions. Most people I know have trouble silencing their minds for ten minutes a day, but these guys sit alongside their thoughts on a daily basis with no place to escape. They've taken these reflections and created art. These 20 men found a way to find light in the corners of their darkest cells. As they opened up, the concrete walls slowly started to descend, the metal bars began to widen, making room for places, characters, and stories from the outside world to come in. To my surprise, the twenty men in that room had read my book and knew my chapters almost better than I did. They asked me questions about my inspirations and my writing process. As they opened up, the concrete walls slowly started to descend, the metal bars began to widen, making room for places, characters, and stories from the outside world to come in. They had questions about the photos and places I wrote about and I found myself wishing I had added more photos to the book to help transcend them out of the prison walls into places they will most likely never see. Several told me they cried when they read my book, and I told them I cried when I read their stories earlier that day. Prison is no place for weakness. It is a place where one turns off emotion in order to survive and face what is their predetermined existence for 10+ years of time. What I learned from those men that night, is that it is impossible to go back and fix what is broken, to undo the crimes you've committed, you'd have to go all the way back to the beginning and chose differently from day one. It was too late for these men to go back, but that night proved that it was never too late to choose better life for yourself, to make the best of any situation even in captivity. These men found a new purpose in life by embracing beauty through writing literature and creating art. The story I unlocked was one of understanding, compassion, and clarity. As I learned more about the complex backgrounds of the prisoners, I found myself wishing for simplicity. I wished that the younger versions of these men, and all the future children in the world who might one day become these men, felt valued, loved, and safe growing up in the hopes that they wouldn't wind up there. I wanted to go back in time and give them all a better story, because we all knew the ending of this one. Advertisement By the end of the night, I was no longer afraid. I was laughing, I was crying, I was surrounded by a classroom of inspired students. I was teaching and we were all growing. But at the end of the day, I got to leave and they didn't. The gravity of what it meant to wind up in prison and left there to die was a heavy weight to carry outside with me. Walking into that prison, I would have described the men I met as prisoners, murderers, outcasts of society, however, walking out I thought of them as people's brothers, husbands, boyfriends, and sons. As a healer, a lover, and believer in the power of embracing all emotions, I believe in reflection and redemption. I also acknowledge what a profound affect fear, hate, abandonment, and isolation can have on the human spirit and the horrible actions that result from those emotions. Walking into that prison, I would have described the men I met as prisoners, murderers, outcasts of society, however, walking out I thought of them as people's brothers, husbands, boyfriends, and sons. United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, left, addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, Thursday, March 24, 2016 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Critics have long assailed the UN Security Council for failing to end the Syrian war, for intervening disastrously in Libya, for doing little to end North Korea's nuclear program, and for generally falling down in its duty to bring peace to the planet. So the question arises: of what use is the UN Security Council today? The Council originally came into being as part of the UN Charter drafted at the 1945 San Francisco Conference. It grew out of the failure of the League of Nations. The League had performed disastrously as a security body after its establishment in 1920 due to three singular factors -- every member-state within it possessed the veto, so a single rogue nation could block any action by the League; no League edict was binding on any country, meaning that cooperation was entirely voluntary; and the U.S. never joined it. All three features doomed the institution. Advertisement The notion of a successor organization began to take shape under the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt had been an ardent supporter of the League, as a member of President Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, when he served as deputy secretary of the Navy. Once elected in 1932, Roosevelt sought ways to resurrect it, but, because of strong isolationist sentiment during the 1930s, he did not have the political cover to do so. However, once the second world war began, he secretly instructed his State Department to write a new draft charter. Roosevelt focused on one concern -- that the planet needed security, security, security. Two catastrophic global conflicts -- the first and second world wars -- in which over 90 million people had died, confirmed in his mind that a universal security body was the only way to guarantee peace in the future. But he believed the new organization had to be different than the old League. The new institution had to be grounded in real politick -- which meant designing a Security Council which would make all decisions on war and peace, and whose resolutions would be binding on all member-states. This meant that once a country joined the UN, it had to follow the dictates of the Council. But, beyond that, to make the Council militarily effective, Roosevelt felt it was imperative that the successful anti-Nazi wartime alliance of Great Britain, the USSR, China, the United States and France run it. These five nations would, in his view, serve as the primary enforcers for all UN Security Council resolutions. He did not believe that any other states on the planet had the strength to handle such responsibilities. Advertisement Thus he gave the five allies (P5) permanent status on the Council and veto power. Such an approach, he thought, would assure a forceful, potent and swift response by the UN on all of its enforcement actions. But why the veto? Roosevelt felt strongly that, since these five nations would be risking the lives of their own soldiers in UN missions, or, in any case, might have other national interests at risk, they should have the right to terminate any military operations they opposed. In short, the Council could only succeed if the P5 acted collectively. But, for him, there was a deeper agenda in play. He knew he could not obtain the backing of the U.S. Senate to ratify the UN Treaty or even gain the allegiance of the Soviet Union to join the organization -- without the veto. The veto power he sketched out was considerable: the P-5 could enjoin UN missions, prevent amendments to UN Charter, make the final recommendations on whom would be Secretary-General, shape most discussions on the Council and keep new nations out of UN (and, later on, decide on whether cases should be sent to the International Criminal Court). The veto's appearance caused a furious uproar among the smaller states at the San Francisco Conference. However, in the end, those nations acquiesced in the deal when they realized that the US and USSR would otherwise walk out of the conference and leave the UN. Today the smaller countries continue to protest the primacy of the five permanent members. They argue that the Security Council can no longer be seen as a legitimate body since the power realities of 2016 are so plainly different than those of 1945 -- for example, in excluding such rising nations as Brazil, Japan, Germany and India. They have sought repeatedly over the years sought to restructure the Council, though with no success. Roosevelt's concept of the Council still continues to hold sway despite its limitations. At best, the world now has a semi-active Council that does, on occasion, accomplish some goals of peace and security even while it overlooks others. For example, it passed 64 resolutions alone in 2015 whereas in 1959, it passed one. And the Council has authorized some sixteen peacekeeping operations; sent UN peace emissaries to Syria, Libya, Yemen, North Korea, and elsewhere; and helped end wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia and rebuild their societies. Advertisement CORRECTED Earlier this year, weeks before students were to take the states standardized test, New York Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia traveled around touting the states exams as a reliable way to measure students progress on New Yorks learning standards, gave teachers a chance to vet the questions, and then tossed out time limits on the test. It was all an effort to tamper down on the number of students who opted out of the states exams. In the end, more students 21 percent in grades 3-8 ended up opting out of the Empire States common core-aligned standardized test in the spring, according to the department and local media , up from the 20 percent, or 200,000 students who opted out last year. The states rowdy opt-out movement has caused several problems for the department which has wrapped the exams results up with its teacher evaluations and school accountability system. So many students not taking the exam has the potential to delegitimize to many parents the states accountability system, which punishes schools with test scores that languish at or near the bottom. The state last year put a four-year moratorium on including the test scores on teachers evaluations, the state didnt renew its application with Pearson Inc. which authored and administered the test and the state is in the process of reviewing its standards. The federal government requires that at all students take the exam, but the U.S. Department of Education flags states that have less than 95 percent participation. Theres no indication yet of the federal departments actions going forward regarding states who dont meet the minimum Meanwhile, the state department is emphasizing instead the fact that more students this year passed the English/language arts and math portions of the exam and that the states educators narrowed the achievement gap between white students and black and Latino students. Betty Rosa, who took over as chancellor of the states board of regents earlier this year, told Long Islands Newsday, We made important changes to the assessments this year, and were going to continue to look at ways to make them even better moving forward. While its not possible to make direct comparisons of this years results to past years, Im cautiously optimistic the changes were making will drive improvements in teaching and learning. [An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of students who opted out of the exam. The correct number is 200,000.] Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come Victor Hugo On September 7th - 9th we are holding our first Hacking for Defense & Diplomacy - class for Educators and Sponsors, training educators how to teach these classes in their universities and sponsors how to select problem sets and manage their teams. Sign up here. An Idea Whose Time Has Come Our first Hacking for Defense class was a series of experiments. And like all good experiments we tested a set of hypotheses. Surprisingly the results blew past our expectations - and we had set a pretty high bar. (see the final Hacking for Defense class presentations here). Based on those results we believe that we can do the same with Diplomacy so working with the State Department's innovation cell in Silicon Valley we will prototype the Hacking for Diplomacy course at Stanford this fall. A few of the student and sponsor comments about the class: "Absolutely amazing class. Experiential learning is very effective to really grasp what we claim to know intellectually." - computer science grad student "One of the best classes I've ever taken, and it turned me onto a whole new career path." - MBA student "We're still blown away what students who knew nothing about our agency could learn and deliver in such a short period of time." - sponsor First, would students to sign up for a class that engaged them in national service with the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community? Result: I'll admit my hesitancy was because I brought my memories of U.S. college campuses circa the Vietnam War (and the riots and student protests at Stanford). So I was astonished how ready and eager students were for a class that combines the toughest problems in national security, with learning Lean Innovation methods. We had more applicants (70+) for the 32 seats in this class than we usually get in our Lean LaunchPad entrepreneurship class. And early indications are that Hacking for Diplomacy will be at least as popular. Second, could we find islands of innovation inside the DOD, the Intelligence Community and State Department willing to engage students to work on real problems? And could those sponsors work with us to scrub those problems so they were unclassified but valuable to the sponsors and the students? Result: We solicited 8 problems for the students to work on and had to shut down the submission process after we reached 24 from the DOD. We've now built a national clearing house for DOD/Intel problems that other schools can use. The Department of State has already given us 15 problems for our upcoming Diplomacy class. Advertisement Third, would students be turned off by working problems that weren't theirs, in particular from the DOD and Intel community? Result: We surveyed student motivations before and after the class and were surprised to find that a large percentage became more interested and engaged in national service. Over half the student teams have decided to continue working on national security projects. At the end of class two teams were funded by SOCOM (U.S. Special Operations Command) to continue prototyping over the summer. One team closed a $200K seed round in the middle of the class. Multiple teams have been engaged by government, prime contractor and VC firms for follow-on discussions/engagements. Fourth, would the same Lean Startup methodology (business model design, customer development and agile engineering) used in the Lean LaunchPad and NSF I-Corps class work here? Result: Hell yes. Fifth, would other schools be interested in offering this class? Result: Seven schools have already added Hacking for Defense classes: UC San Diego, University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, Stanford, University of Rochester, Georgia Tech and Georgetown University. 15 more schools are in the pipeline. NDU (the National Defense University) - National Security Accelerator (NSTA), the Stanford University Hacking 4 Defense Project and JIDA (the Joint Improvised-threat Defeat Agency) have all teamed up to fund the expansion of the Hacking for Defense class to other universities. The Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office has also lent its support to the expansion. If our Hacking for Diplomacy goes well this fall, we intend to scale it as well. The Educator/Sponsor Class We learned a lot developing the Hacking for Defense class, and even more as we taught it and worked with the problem sponsors in the DOD/Intel community. Now we've created a ton of course materials for educators (syllabus, slides, videos) and have written a detailed educator's guide with suggestions on how to set up and run a class along with best practices and detailed sample lessons plans for each class session. And for sponsors we have an equally robust set of tools on how to get the most out of the student teams and the university. And we're excited it to share it all with other educators and sponsors in the DOD/Intel community. Advertisement So on September 7 through 9th at Stanford we will hold our first 2.5-day Hacking for Defense & Diplomacy Educator and Sponsor Class. We'll provide you all the course materials (syllabus, slides, videos) along with an educator's guide with suggestions on how to set up and run a class along with detailed sample lessons plans for each class session. You'll also Meet with other instructors and problem sponsors and experience the Hacking for Defense/Diplomacy methodology first hand Learn how to build H4D teaching teams and recruit student teams to participate Learn what makes a good student problem and how problem sponsors can increase their Return On Investment for supporting the course Engage with the original Stanford Hacking For Defense course authors (Pete Newell, Joe Felter and I) and students from the original H4D cohort Engage directly with potential government problem sponsors Life is series of unplanned paths and unintended consequences - Hacking For Defense A year ago as I started helping government agencies put innovation programs in place, a student in my Stanford class who had served in the special forces pointed out that the Lean methodologies I was teaching sounded identical to what the U.S. Army had done with the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) commanded by then Colonel Pete Newell. The REFs goal was to get out of the building and into the field to get a deep understanding of soldiers' problems, then get technology solutions to these problems into the hands of front-line soldiers in days and weeks, instead of the military's traditional months and years. The REF had permission to shortcut the detailed 100+ page requirements documents used by the defense acquisition process and could use existing government equipment or buy or commercial-off-the-shelf technologies purchased with a government credit card or its own budget. When Pete Newell retired to Silicon Valley he teamed up with Joe Felter, another retired colonel, who had a career as a Special Forces and foreign area officer (among other things, Joe led the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) in Afghanistan) and was now teaching at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Together Pete and Joe had formed BMNT to create an "insurgency" in Silicon Valley to help accelerate the way the Department of Defense acquires new technology and ideas and integrates cutting-edge innovation into the organizations defending our country. Advertisement The Hacking for Defense & Diplomacy classes were born from the intersection of BMNTs work with the Department of Defense in Silicon Valley and my work in Lean Innovation. We had five goals for the class: Teach students Lean Innovation - the mindset, reflexes, agility and resilience an entrepreneur needs to make decisions at speed and with urgency in a chaotic and uncertain world. Offer students an opportunity to engage in a national public service. Today if college students want to give back to their country they think of Teach for America, the Peace Corps, or Americorps or perhaps the US Digital Service or the GSA's 18F. Few consider opportunities to make the world safer with the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, State Department or other government agencies. Teach our sponsors (the innovators inside the Department of Defense (DOD), Intelligence Community (IC) and State Department) there was a methodology that could help them understand and better respond to rapidly evolving asymmetric threats. (By rapidly discovering the real problems in the field using Lean methods, and then articulating the requirements to solve them, defense acquisition programs operate at speed and urgency to deliver timely and needed solutions.) Show our DOD/IC/State sponsors that civilian students can make a meaningful contribution to problem understanding and rapid prototyping of solutions. Create the 21st Century version of Tech ROTC by having Hacking for Defense and Hacking for Diplomacy taught by a national network of 50 colleges and universities. This would give the Department of Defense (DOD), Intelligence Community (IC) and State Department access to a pool of previously untapped technically sophisticated talent, trained in Lean and Agile methodologies, and unencumbered by dogma and doctrine. It looks like we're on our way to achieving all of these goals. Join us. Lessons Learned -- and are classes students want 7 universities have signed up to teach it -- Hacking for Diplomacy is being piloted this fall -- We're offering a 2 day seminar for educators who want to offer either class At some point in your life--whether as a student, after a graduation, between jobs, or beyond--I hope you will have an opportunity to travel. Whether you venture somewhere near or far...that travel could change your life. And the change may come in a surprising form--even something as unlikely as a bowl of noodles. I've been fortunate enough to travel to many amazing places over the years, from exotic and remote countries around the globe to vibrant cities and wilderness areas here in the USA. And I've found that whether I'm in the Himalayas, Africa, or New York City, each place I visit leaves its mark on my soul. The sights and sounds, the wondrous scenery and vibrant colors, and the delightful people everywhere--all have become part of me forever. Some years ago--41, in fact! - I had the opportunity to visit Japan. I was a fresh-faced kid right out of college, eager to see as much of the world as possible, and hoping to spend every penny of my earnings from summer jobs on travel. Why was Japan a high priority? I'd been invited by a good friend, someone immersed in Japan's ancient cultural traditions, to go to a remote village on the island of Shikoku--to work, if you can believe it, as a roof thatcher. Advertisement That's how I found myself in the remote valley of Iya, a place where farmhouses with thatched roofs and rice paper doors covered in calligraphy dotted the steep hillsides. Layers of rising mist and twisted red pines made the surroundings look like an ancient Japanese screen painting. Smoke from cooking fires scented the air, and I could often hear bamboo wind chimes clinking in the breeze. One of those farmhouses, long abandoned at the edge of a small village, was to be the site of a traditional roof thatching guided by Shinto elders-something that hadn't been done in Japan for many years. My destination! I knew from the start that this would be a truly remarkable cultural experience. What I didn't expect, though, was how the kindness of one particular woman would transform everything. Her name was Takemoto-San. A small but sturdy woman in her mid-forties, she had lived her entire life in the village. During my first week, she watched me with curiosity. (I wasn't hard to miss, since I was more than a foot taller than all the other people who were working on the project.) Noticing that I cleaned every particle of food out of my bowl at the end of each long day, one evening she walked over to me and handed me an extra bowl of noodles. When I smiled and thanked her, she smiled back and gave me a deep bow. That's how our friendship began. For the rest of the summer, she watched out for me, introduced me to other villagers, sang Japanese songs, and helped me to feel at home in this place so far away from my family in Colorado. When, at last, we finished thatching the roof, the elders spoke Shinto blessings and clapped their hands three times. Looking from the completed roof, which gleamed in the sunlight, to the many Japanese faces around me, I felt a rush of immense gratitude. But I also felt a growing sadness in my heart. It would be hard to leave this beautiful place and my new friends--especially Takemoto-San. Catching my eye, she said to me quietly, "You must come back some day." Advertisement A few months ago, my life's journey took me back to Japan, where the books of my Merlin Saga are much loved. This was my first time back in Japan since that glorious summer of 1975. Although I've never forgotten Takemoto-San, or her great kindness, we had never written or spoken since the day I left her village. So I had no idea whether she was even alive--or, if she was, whether she still lived in the same house, let alone on the same island. Yet I simply had to return to Shikoku to find out. As I approached the village that I'd thought about so many times over the past four decades, I wondered whether I'd actually find her. And if so, would she remember me? Outside her old house was a lone woman, well into her 80s, sweeping some dirt off the stones with her handmade broom. I walked toward her, and she looked up at me, surprised. It was her, I was sure of it! But I could tell that she had no idea who I was. Drawing closer, I pulled out an old photo from 1975, showing the two of us standing together (along with her mother, who is even smaller). She looked at the photo and then at me--and all of a sudden she realized who I was. She burst into tears...and so did I. What a gift to see her again! I told her, "You said I must come back some day. So I did." We talked a bit--difficult, since neither of us could speak much of the other's language. Yet everything important we needed to say was communicated by our expressions. When it was time to go, I gave her the old photo. She held it tight to her chest and gave me a teary smile. Once again, I was filled with gratitude--thankful that life had brought us together again after all those years. I hope that your travels bring you extraordinary sights, unforgettable tastes and smells, and surprising discoveries. And may those travels also bring you something as precious as a simple bowl of noodles from a friend. Grizelda Grootboom recently published "Exit," a book about her violence-ridden and homeless childhood, sex trafficking, her escape from prostitution and her transformation into one of the most vocal survivor leaders in South Africa committed to ending the sex trade. She shared with me over Skype why she writes, speaks publicly about her lived ordeals and her hopes for South African women and girls, including those bought and sold in the sex trade. She lives in Cape Town with her young son. What were the first 18 years of your life's journey? I was born in western Cape Town in the coloured area of Woodstock. My early years were happy, living with my father and grandmother. When I was 8, the apartheid government forcibly removed us from the area for development purposes, so my father and I wound up on the street. Unemployed and homeless, he became an alcoholic and eventually sent me to my mother in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town. The new environment was difficult since my mother had her own family and I had to learn another language. One day, I was fetching water down the road when four teen-aged boys put a knife to my throat and dragged me to a shack where they gang-raped me. It's a male cultural ritual called "ifoli," similar to jack-rolling. I was 9 years old. All I felt after that was pain and anger, so I eventually left my mother's house and spent my childhood between shelters and the streets. Advertisement Is that when you were first sold into prostitution? No. I was just a street kid, smoking, doing drugs, stealing to eat. When we got arrested, the police demanded blow jobs, but nothing more than that. It was just something we had to do if we wanted to leave jail. On the streets, I had people in my life I considered family. When I turned 18, the shelter kicked me out permanently, so one of my friends, an older girl who would often buy drugs from us and hang out under our bridge, told me she could find me a job in Johannesburg. Once there, she brought me to a room in Yeoville, said she'd get us food and to this day, I've never seen her again. I fell asleep and was awakened with a punch in my face. The men undressed me, tied me up, injected my bottom with drugs and started selling me. For twelve days, from 10 in the morning to late in the night, men came in the room while I was blind-folded. My sense of smell and touch intensely developed; I could tell who was on his lunch break, who was drunk, who had expensive cologne. Me, for two weeks I smelled like condoms, semen and drugs. After that period, they put me on the streets.How long were you prostituted and trafficked? Until I was 26. Those first few months, I quickly learned that if you behaved, you did the strip club rounds, swapped from one pimp to another; shipped from one province to another. If you weren't a good girl, you'd be sent to the truck drivers' stations. The government was involved; so many of my clients were lawyers and ministers. There was nowhere to go.When did you exit? Advertisement When I found out I was 6 months pregnant, I thought they'd set me free. Instead, my pimps said it wasn't part of the contract and forced me to have an abortion. Three hours after the procedure, they pushed me back on the streets to work, which I refused. They beat me so badly that I woke up in a hospital a month later. That was it. I was able to go to rehab and survived.Many say prostitution is a job like any other job. Do you agree? A number of groups in South Africa, including S.W.E.A.T. [Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce] see it that way and advocate for laws that would decriminalize the sex trade. S.W.E.A.T. was founded by a White gay man and most of the staff is White, especially in Cape Town. I often ask them what they mean by "sex worker": the 16 year old sold on the street? The stripper who was gang-raped as a child? The privileged White woman who dabbles in escorting? In South Africa so-called "sex workers" aren't just any women - they're Black women. In prostitution, we are stripped of our dignity and often left to die. How can that be a job? What about the claim that if you decriminalize the sex trade, prostituted women would have better access to health care and justice? Regarding healthcare, the pro-legalization or decriminalization groups know very well we can't negotiate condoms. The clients won't pay more to wear them and the men take too long to climax with them, so if you have a quota to meet and time is expensive, condoms are out. In any case, only one in a million wears condoms, so your chances of contracting HIV/AIDS are 99%. These groups also know the antiretroviral medications are not distributed equally. All this happens regardless of any law. When it comes to justice, they're promoting a rape culture by telling these girls it's a job and a way to escape poverty. Should a young woman say 'thank you' for that? Did any of your "buyers" ever ask you if you were trafficked or pimped? The clients don't care about that. A few would ask me where I was from and whether I was enjoying my new job if they hadn't seen me before in that club. If I said I hated it, they'd tell me that's life and good luck to you. Besides, they'd only ask those questions once they were done. What role do you think survivors can play in raising awareness? Advertisement Survivors' voices are critically important. It's a hard balance sometimes with the frontline groups you work with. As a survivor, you desperately want and need someone to support you, but we must also be at the table and respected. We didn't escape the pain and violence to stay on the sidelines and just tell our stories. NGOs need to use us intelligently; we know the sex trade networks, the clubs, the pimps, the community, like nobody's business. They need to train us to speak out about these horrors. What about laws and policies? When I testified before Parliament, I saw a few of my former clients at the podium. They couldn't believe that I was still alive! If the government legalizes prostitution or decriminalizes the sex trade, it will mean that women are officially property. South Africa needs to hold sex buyers and pimps accountable under the law. Not us - them. Everyone knows that the pimp is the middle guy who understands the two pillars of the trade: sex buyers and vulnerability. Pimps and brothel owners in South Africa are called "blessers" which means someone from the top, a government official, is blessing them to conduct their business. The big challenge here is our culture. What inspired you to write your autobiography? This week was monumental. I watched both conventions all four nights each week and was amazed at the differences. One convention was all about hate and fear and the other was about love and unity. Whether you are a Democrat or not, having a woman at the top of a ticket is a big deal. Tears streamed down my face as she accepted the nomination. I wanted to stand up and shout! Since becoming a grandmother nearly a year ago my thoughts have focused inward on our world and the events around us. Having been an educator all my life, I now look differently at schools. I want the best for my granddaughter in all areas of her life. I want her to have the best teachers and go to the best school whether it be public or private. I want her to be able to achieve whatever she wants to strive for. I want her to be treated equally in the workplace and in the world. I want her to dream as big as she wants to dream. Advertisement My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude at the chance our country has at having a female president. Now I have always believed that a Facebook post or a blog will not change a person's opinion. I have seen the blogs and posts from both sides, but here is where I do hope I can change some opinions. Whatever you believe do it with love, not bullying. This morning I had the privilege of visiting with my friend Juanita in her home. Juanita is around my age and lives in the home of her mother and father, her two sons and her sister and nephew. The laundry was on the line and I had to weave slowly through it to get inside her home. My friend Juanita lives in Loreto, located in Southern Baja. We have struck up a friendship while she was working as the security guard of where I live in Loreto Bay. Loreto Bay is an expat community made up of American's and Canadians. Our homes are much different than theirs in Loreto. Juanita and I speak only bits of each other's native tongue but we can usually understand what each of us is trying to communicate. Her father, Miguel washes cars in Loreto Bay. Today I was treated to homemade tamales and fresh juice made from their mango tree. They offered me one of their only chairs to sit on. As I sat in their casa that they welcomed me in with warm smiles, hugs and kisses I had to fight back the tears. These are the people that Donald Trump calls criminals and rapists. These are the people that he is so afraid of that he needs to build a wall between our two countries. Advertisement Donald Trump would never sit in the chair that I sat in today. He has no idea who these people are, and he doesn't want to know who they are. I am a small representative of what it is to be an American to these people. I bring smiles and love to my community here in Baja. My Mexican friends hear the news and are worried about a Trump presidency. They don't quite understand the hatred that this man has spread. I tell them he does not represent my America, nor does he represent so many of my friends beliefs. They say to me in their broken English, "why he speak like that about my family?" I swallow down my sadness and grasp their hands in mine and say, "he doesn't know what he is saying, he has no idea how wonderful you are. No matter how much money he has, he will never be as rich as you are." And I mean every word I speak, I think back to the graffiti on the wall I saw in La Paz: some people are so poor, all they have is money. I have to let the anger release when I think about Donald Trump and his thoughts on my friends from Mexico. He has no idea what it means to have nothing, and yet be so rich in so many ways. Advertisement I plan on taking my anger and using it for good. I will continue to live each day showing my Mexican friends what a real American acts like. Whether its caused by allergies or even if its just a mindless habit, it can have a serious effect on your appearance and your health. Jehan Perera is the executive director of the National Peace Council, a Colombo-based nongovernmental organization (NGO). Would you tell us a little bit about the National Peace Council? What sorts of projects is the organization currently working on? Since its establishment in 1995 the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka (NPC) has been committed to strengthening grassroots and community level support for a political solution to the country's ethnic conflict and a constitutional settlement based on interethnic power-sharing. Currently its key projects include building interreligious and interethnic bonds by working with local level NGOs and interreligious groups in 16 of Sri Lanka's 25 districts, and with women's groups to identify how women would want the transition from post-war to peace to be mapped out. NPC also has a people-to-people exchange program in which youth groups are the focus. President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015. What are the biggest challenges facing the current government? The government needs to address the economic livelihood concerns of the people. Economic progress remains slow and the anticipated foreign investment and economic aid from the West has not materialized. The government is in a debt trap, due to the profligate borrowings by the previous government on unproductive investments. There is international pressure to address the ethnically divisive issues of finding a power-sharing solution between the ethnic nationalities and ensuring a transitional justice process that meets international standards of accountability. How has Sri Lanka's foreign policy changed over the past eighteen months? The previous government began to rely heavily on China for both economic assistance and to protect it from the demands of the international human rights community for wartime accountability. It went into confrontation with Western countries on the latter issue. The new government has given priority to mending its relations with the West and accommodating the demand for a post-war transitional justice process. It is closer to the West in terms of political values. What has surprised you most about the new government's performance? Advertisement The main thrust of the government's campaign against those in the former government (who are now part of the opposition) was their corruption and abuse of power. But the probes into these, and the legal actions against those accused of such wrongdoings, are proceeding slowly. In the meantime, they are using their ill gotten resources to mobilize street protests against the government. There is an appearance of surprising laxity on the part of the government. There have been concerns that the government has done a poor job of communicating its agenda to the public. What's your view? In terms of public messaging, have there been any improvements over the past couple months? The problem of communications is in relation to the transitional justice process. Issues of post-war accountability, war crimes and power-sharing are ethnically divisive. They are not popular with the ethnic majority. Politicians do not wish to publicly take positions on controversial issues in which majority sentiment is in the opposite direction. It seems that the dominant thinking within the government is to get the building blocks in place without too much fanfare. Both the transitional justice and constitutional reform processes are ultimately public processes. So far the government appears to be subcontracting that mission to civil society groups. Transitional justice is arguably the most controversial part of the government's reform agenda. How much progress has been made on this front? In September 2015 the government promised the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to set up four mechanisms to deal with post-war transitional justice. These were a truth commission, an accountability mechanism, an office of missing persons and an office of reparations. The legislation for the office of missing persons has been approved by the cabinet and is pending before parliament. The legislation for the truth commission is being finalized and is expected by September this year. The government says that the most controversial of the mechanisms, the special court for accountability, will be prepared by March of next year, when the deadline for Sri Lanka's commitment to the HRC will be up. Apart from this, the government has been returning land taken over by the military, reducing the role of the military in the former war zones, and has restored law and order so that acts of impunity are happening much less than they did in the past. All of this could be faster, but it is going in the right direction. How involved should international actors be in Sri Lanka's transitional justice process? Advertisement Three-fourths of the population are Sinhalese, whose thinking on issues of transitional justice is quite the opposite of Tamils. Most of them think that eliminating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and ending the civil war by whatever means was justified. This thinking is not shared by most Tamils. But as they are a minority, their views tend to be disregarded. A democratically elected government has to be deferential to majority public opinion if it is to continue in office through elections. In this context, international pressure in favor of meeting international standards in the transitional justice process is necessary to make up for the imbalance in internal political pressure. Regarding the judicial mechanism to deal with alleged wartime abuses, do you think it's important to include foreign judges? There is a need for a credible and independent mechanism to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done. Initially the new government seemed agreeable to having foreign judges sit on the special court as judges. This would give the Tamil people more confidence in the accountability process. But there is strong public opinion from the Sinhalese people that the security forces and political leaders who won the war should not be tried by foreigners. Any government has to be mindful of majority opinion, especially if it is underpinned by nationalism. There could be international technical support and monitoring. What do you expect to happen in terms of a political solution? In your view, is a federal system of devolution on the table? The representatives of the Tamil people have long demanded federalism. The representatives of the Sinhalese people have equally long opposed it as paving the way for separation. The positive feature of the present time is that the leaders of the government and of the ethnic minorities, both Tamil and Muslim, are on the same page with regard to their willingness to be mutually accommodative. They appear to be understanding each other's problems and there is a meeting of hearts and minds. But this goodwill and spirit of accommodation does not necessarily encompass the larger society. There is a need for enhanced devolution of power to the provinces to enable Tamils and Muslims to exercise a greater measure of self-determination. There also needs to be checks and balances that ensure that the possibility of abuse of power is structurally curtailed and that power-sharing happens at all levels, including the central government. How can the international community help Sri Lanka? There will be a continuing long-term need for international pressure to counterbalance the unequal ethnic proportions within the country, which cause politicians to give greater weight to the fears and aspirations of the ethnic majority. International monitoring will be important to keep the pressure on the government. In addition, the international community could do more to support civil society groups who champion the unpopular but rightful causes that politicians shy away from. This may come as no surprise to you, but Donald Trump's chosen vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, is not someone you're going to like if you're not a fan of the War on Drugs. To start with, Mike Pence is currently the governor of Indiana. Indiana has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country, and Mike Pence doesn't want that to change. In the state, you can get six months in prison for possessing any amount of marijuana. You can get a felony and up to 2 1/2 years in prison for possessing just over an ounce. Lawmakers in Indiana have attempted to reduce the punishments for low-level marijuana crimes, but Mike Pence has lobbied against these efforts. Advertisement "I think we need to focus on reducing crime, not reducing penalties," Pence said in 2013. "I think this legislation, as it moves forward, should still seek to continue to send a way strong message to the people of Indiana and particularly to those who would come into our state to deal drugs, that we are tough and we're going to stay tough on narcotics in this state." Furthermore, just this year, Mike Pence signed legislation that reinstates mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers. This would appear to be in response to Indiana's serious methamphetamine problem that has grown drastically during his time as governor. As many have said before, mandatory minimums do essentially nothing to curb crime and add to the country's mass incarceration problem. (Many have said Pence is in bed with the private prison industry.) Indiana has also faced an HIV epidemic under Mike Pence, which some say could have been avoided if he hadn't initially opposed needle exchange programs in the state when an epidemic looked possible. Pence seemed to think helping addicts get clean needles wasn't a good idea until the reason you do that, stopping HIV from spreading, became too real of a problem. The most ironic and hilarious thing about Mike Pence is he actually has signed one law that was good for marijuana users, but he had no idea he was doing it. In 2015, Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which lets businesses cite religion in a legal defense. It also lets them discriminate against LGBTQ people if it's for religious reasons. Advertisement What Pence didn't know is that a man named Bill Levin would use the law to establish the First Church of Cannabis. Members of the church worship, well, cannabis. I'm sure he didn't see that coming. Finally, Pence has a -20 rating with NORML, partially because he'll vote for any War on Drugs legislation he sees. He's supported the military patrolling the Mexican border to stop drugs from coming in and voted for more money to fight drug cartels. This qualifies him as having a "hard on drugs" stance, according to the organization. Marijuana on rolling paper Considering Donald Trump has said he supports medical marijuana, and so have several other top Republicans, it seems strange to me that medical marijuana is not part of the Republican Party's platform this year. That's not to say there weren't efforts to make it part of the platform, but they failed for the worst reasons. After Maine legislator and delegate Eric Brakey submitted a measure that would add medical marijuana support to the Republican platform, the measure received criticism from people who clearly know little-to-nothing about marijuana. Advertisement According to the Huffington Post, some party leaders claimed marijuana causes mental health issues, mass murders smoke marijuana, marijuana caused the opioid epidemic and more absurdities. Some prominent Republicans tried to fight back, but they ultimately failed. "It's not like we're talking about Cheech and Chong here, folks. We're talking about allowing people with debilitating conditions to ease their suffering," Maryland delegate Ben Marchi said during arguments. The strangest thing, to me, about the Republican Party's failure to endorse medical marijuana is just that it's so popular. A Harris poll from last year found a whopping 81 percent of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana nationwide. If you can't get behind something that 8 out of 10 people support, it's hard to imagine what you can get behind. If we want to take this a step further, it's also pretty surprising that legalizing recreational marijuana doesn't seem to have been discussed at all. I can understand why the party might be hesitant to support marijuana legalization, as there's still some concern around recreational use in some circles and support for legalizing nationwide is closer to 60 percent, but it's pretty shocking there's no evidence of the idea being mentioned. Advertisement Furthemore, states that have legalized medical marijuana are raking in millions in taxes. You would think a party that is always talking about the debt and the government not having enough money would want to get in on that. Not to play favorites, but the Democrats have endorsed marijuana in a major way. The Democratic platform includes language supporting a "pathway to legalization" and supporting immediately rescheduling marijuana. You can almost surely thank Bernie Sanders for that, because he made his millennial followers swoon by being the first major candidate to support legalization while Hillary Clinton was arguing that marijuana should be a Schedule 2 drug. The Murphy family, with victims Norah and Theresa "Ellen" at far right. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons It was the slaying that shocked Australia. Sometime on the night of December 26th, 1898, Michael Murphy and his two younger sisters were slaughtered as they traveled back from Gatton in southeastern Australia. Their murders prompted a massive investigation--yet the crime remains unsolved to this day. The small town of Gatton, which in 2011 had a little less than 7,000 residents, lies some 60 miles west of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. In the late 19th century, it was a popular waypoint for rail and road traffic traveling east to the coast, or west to the fertile region of Darling Downs. Advertisement The Murphy family owned a farm about 8 miles outside of Gatton, and 29-year-old Michael was home for the holidays that fateful December in 1898. On the afternoon of the 26th, Michael borrowed a one-horse sulky cart from his brother-in-law William M'Neill to take his sisters Norah, 27, and Theresa "Ellen", 19, to a dance at the Divisional Board Hall in Gatton. Before they arrived, however, Michael received word that the dance had been canceled, so he turned the sulky around and headed home with his family. No one made it back alive. The next morning, the Murphy family awoke to find that Michael, Norah, and Ellen were missing. M'Neill set out looking for them. He followed the road into Gatton on horseback, keeping a eye out for the crooked tracks of his sulky, which had a wobbly wheel from an earlier accident. He soon found the distinctive tracks, which veered off the road and into a wooded pasture. The sight did not arouse suspicion just yet. Even as the three figures came into view, M'Neill presumed they were sleeping. It wasn't until he saw the ants crawling across their bodies that he realized what had happened. Michael Murphy. Photo: Wikimedia Commons The scene was grisly, and decidedly strange. Michael and Ellen lay back-to-back within a few feet of one another, while Norah lay nearby on a neatly spread rug soaked in blood. All three had their legs carefully arranged with the feet pointing to the west, one of the many odd details that remain a mystery. Advertisement The two women had their hands tied behind their backs, while Michael's hands appeared to have been tied and then untied again, possibly to access a purse found near his body. Speculation later arose as to whether Michael's hands had been untied by the killer, by M'Neill himself, or by some other visitor who stumbled across the bodies before the police secured the crime scene. At a glance, it appeared as if all three of the Murphys had been bludgeoned to death. In Norah's case, her skull was so badly damaged that her brain protruded. Post-mortem examinations revealed that Norah had also been strangled, and that Michael had been shot in the head before being struck; the blow from the blunt instrument partially disguised the bullet hole. In addition, the women may have been raped, possibly with the brass-mounted handle of a riding whip. The sulky stood nearby, at an angle to the bodies. The horse had been shot in the head and its dead body lay between the shafts of the sulky. A distraught M'Neill raced toward Gatton, stopping first at the Brian Boru hotel where he told patrons of the murder. He then pressed on to alert local police. A crowd of people left the hotel and hurried to the crime scene as M'Neill sought authorities. Even after M'Neill alerted police, a subsequent communication breakdown within the department led to additional delays. By the time investigators finally arrived at the pasture in full force--nearly two days after the bodies were discovered--spectators had completely contaminated the area. Police collected more than 3,000 statements in weeks after the slaying. Yet their investigation was plagued by mistakes and accusations of incompetence. After inconsistencies arose between reports from the crime scene and the post-mortem examination, Chief Inspector Stuart ordered the bodies to be exhumed and re-examined. The examination uncovered previously missed evidence, including a bullet lodged in Michael's skull. Advertisement A postcard depicting Gatton, Australia that describes the Gatton Murders. Photo: Aussie~mobs / Flickr (CC) Such errors led to rumors ranging from corruption within the police force to sinister interference from the Murphy family. While numerous individuals were suspected, no one was ever changed in the attacks. Anger over the perceived mishandling of the case led in part to a Royal Commission in 1899, which investigated the methods of the Queensland police force. For many amateur detectives, the most likely culprit is a man known variously as Theo Farmer, Thomas Furner, and Thomas Day. Day was employed by a local butcher in December 1898, and was reportedly lurking near the murder scene on the night of the killings. Some suspect that he was also responsible for another murder just a few weeks before, when 15-year-old Alfred Stephen Hill was killed in nearby Oxley. The boy's pony was shot in the head, much like the Murphy horse. READ MORE: THE TWISTED MIND OF FAMILY ANNIHILATOR JOHN LIST In 1900, Day was admitted to the Sydney Hospital under the name Thomas Furner, where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. It is said that he left behind a suicide note admitting that he was present during the Gatton Murders, and stating that he couldn't sleep due to nightmares of seeing the victims' heads being bashed in. Such a claim only compounds the mystery. Was Day the actual killer, or did he witness the slaying committed by another hand? More than a hundred years later, the Gatton Murders case is haunted by unanswered questions. For Colombian women, ending violence against women is a precondition for peace. For decades, they have underlined this ask in their peacebuilding efforts, but their work remains less visible. A new programme supported by UN Women and partners seeks to bring womens contribution and perspectives to the forefront. Crossposted from UN Women. Only bullets dont kill us, indifference does too, says Maryerlis Angarita, a rural leader from Montes de Maria, Colombia, who started telling womens stories of the war after her mother disappeared. For decades now, Colombian women have insisted that they dont want others to make peace for them, they want to be at the table, making peace. However, their leadership and contribution to peacebuilding remain largely invisible and under-valued. Advertisement Diana, an indigenous woman displaced by violence, participates in crafting the strategy in the city of Villaviencio, where she lives with her family. Photo: Consorcio ECHO Caracola/David Fayad Women in this country have been the main actors building peace, supporting survivors and searching for the disappeared, says Vera Grave, member of the International Peace Observatory in Bogota, who participated in a video project supported by UN Women, titled 1325: Mujeres resueltas a construir paz. In April 2016, UN Women started a programme in partnership with ECHO Caracola and with generous funding from the Swedish Embassy, to design a communication initiative to raise visibility and awareness about womens contribution to peacebuilding and ending violence against women. The initiative will be launched at the national level and in the seven provinces of Cauca, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Norte de Santander, Meta, Choco and Narino, which are deeply impacted by the conflict. It is expected to be replicated throughout Colombia. Two women leaders look at a map while discussing how to support peace strategies in various communities. Photo: Consorcio ECHO Caracola/David Fayad The programme brings together women peacebuilders from different regions in a series of workshops where they share their experiences, identify key issues that affect women and barriers to ending violence against women. With this information, the participants go on to select appropriate communication tools and develop key messages for advocacy. They will also develop and disseminate eight radio series to narrate womens life stories and contribution to peacebuilding in their respective regions. Furthermore, the programme will provide a scholarship to produce a documentary film on gender and peacebuilding, and build partnerships between womens organizations, state institutions and the media. This workshop gave us the opportunity to listen to each other, tell our stories and heal woundsWe joined forces to organize ourselves as a group and plan what we can do to have the most political impact[in the peace process]. What we learned in this workshop will help us tell others what happened, so that it doesnt happen again, said Luz Elena Galeano from Movimiento de Victimas de Crimenes de Estado (Movement for the Victims of State Crimes). Women peacebuilders from different regions encourage men to work towards ending violence against women during a workshop. Photo: Consorcio ECHO Caracola/David Fayad Highlighting the challenges of reintegration of male and female former soldiers into the communities and the role that women play in mitigating them, Angela Salazar from the organization Alianza Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la Paz says, We dont see them as guerrilla or paramilitary fighters but as our neighbours child. The plan is to organize eight workshops this year, between April and August, to strengthen womens role in peacebuilding and to amplify their voices in the media. Five of these workshops have been completed, bringing together more than 73 representatives from womens organizations, 20 state representatives and 39 local media representatives. The next workshops will take place in Quibdo, Cucuta and Pasto. Advertisement After participating in the workshops, media representatives have committed to cover more stories on womens peacebuilding and connect with womens organizations to source relevant information. Most media look for sensationalism in womens stories. As journalists, we have to improve our understanding and perspectives. This workshop made us more aware, shared William Patino from the newspaper Diario del Cauca. Leaders and journalists discuss the role of women in media during the peace process of Colombia. Photo: Consorcio ECHO Caracola/David Fayad According to Paula Arenas, content adviser in a national television channel, Senal Colombia, stories exist, they are there to be told. However, the difficulty is to find and identify someone who wants to tell the story with a gender perspective. The manner in which womens stories are told is also important, the participants noted. Women are visible, but as victims. Then people think poor woman, we have to guarantee her rightsbut it must not be like this. We cannot reduce women to victimhood. We have to change our language so that we can change public perception of women, stressed Shima Pardo, a participant from Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres, an organization that supports women peacebuilders. For UN Women, transforming public attitudes about women and preventing violence against women is essential for lasting peace in Colombia. If women cannot enjoy a life free from violence, how can we talk about peace," asks Silvia Arias, UN Women Coordinator of Womens Citizenship for Peace, Justice and Development Programme. The workshops and meetings have created a space for dialogue between women's organizations, state institutions and the media to make the peace process participatory and inclusive, and to make womens contributions visible," she adds. London's Victoria and Albert Museum, one of the world's great museums devoted to material culture and design, has joined a long line of museums who've allowed the owners of loaned items for temporary exhibitions to require them to ban photography and sketching of these items. There are plenty of museums that have done this already: the London's National Portrait Gallery banned photos in an exhibition celebrating remixes of Andy Warhol, proving that people who buy works that exist because of fair use are perfectly capable of denying that same fair use right to future generations of artists. Around the same time, the Greenwich Museum had banned photos of loaned antique clocks and scientific instruments (because their owners loved the idea of celebrating humanity's ability to record its world, but only in the very distant past). LACMA once mounted an exhibition of Magritte remixes, where, literally, bowler-hatted guards would shout at you if you took a phone or camera out of your pocket (again, fair use was great when it was being used to create these works, but now that they exist, why would we want any more of that sort of thing to go on?). There are two models for museums: either those display cases are the archives that we will use to reboot our civilisation, or they are the glass coffins in which we will bury it. By allowing the owners of the works in its temporary exhibition, the V&A has cast its lot with glass coffins. The ban on sketching and photography at the V&A dates back to its David Bowie celebration unsurprising, as these high-stakes, marketing-driven exhibitions generally flush out the greedy and grasping, and give the museum's most venal and mercenary factions the whip hand. Also unsurprising is that the policy wasn't a one-off for the Thin White Duke, but hung around like a bad smell, wafting over all the exhibitions that followed. Curators will tell you that they only way they can borrow these works is to accede to the demands of their owners. This is absolutely true. The question isn't whether owners have the right to dictate terms: it's which terms museums accept. If the owner of a Warhol remix demanded the exclusion of women, or black people, or Jews, or registered Democrats, or Corbyn supporters, the museum would turn them down flat. If the owner demanded that people only be allowed to look at the exhibit out of their left eyes, or standing on their right legs, the museum would simply mount the show without that owner's property in it. The mission of museums is to spread and preserve knowledge (these are related: you preserve knowledge by spreading it). Institutions like the V&A are dependent on public goodwill to stay afloat, since without public spending, they wouldn't be viable. The more the V&A lets greedy fools decide what a museum is for, the harder it will be for the V&A to flush out public support when the next inevitable round of cuts is proposed and it is fighting for its life. The V&A can't survive as the mere home of blockbuster displays of rock memorabilia and underwear; unless it is also a standards-bearer for the ethos of museums themselves, it has no future. After all, the rich people who own the works in question would be just as happy to acquire the rest of the V&A's collection for their own glass cases. Allowing students to stand in front of exhibits for hours on end, as they lovingly craft an image of that 1950s Playtex rubber girdle in their sketchbooks, just doesn't allow the conveyor belt of visitors to flow fast enough. So what next? A ban on wheelchairs and prams because they take up too much space too? Having seen the snaking queues that grew outside the museum from 6am every morning for the Bowie show, it's easy to see why the V&A wants to speed up the flow. But a rule banning sketching goes entirely against everything the institution has ever stood for. The studious reproduction of museum exhibits has long been a fundamental part of art education a means of honing drawing skills and offering deeper ways of looking. A visit to the sprawling Victorian repository isn't complete without clattering into a skinny-jeaned art student poring over their sketchbook, trying to render the muscular sinews of the Borghese Gladiator or capture the intricacies of a baroque fireplace. It is what the V&A has always been about. There is even a section on the museum's website extolling the virtues of sketching, summoning the wise words of Le Corbusier. "Drawing in a sketchbook," he wrote, "teaches first to look, and then to observe and finally perhaps to discover and it is then that inspiration might come." 'No sketching': V&A signs betray everything the museum stands for [Oliver Wainwright/The Guardian] (Image: Oliver Wainwright) Going away to college is both a source of pride and anxiety. Your heart shines when Mama tells family members that you're going away to the best university in your state. Her smile makes you feel invincible. This is the reason why you don't tell her about the chunks of hair that fall out every semester you go back. You don't tell anyone for months about how the stress that stems from finishing assignments, being heavily involved, and trying to survive a predominantly white institution with your integrity still intact. Being the first in your family to go away to college will give you a set of survival skills no one understands. No one tells you how to survive in institutions that weren't created for you. No one tells you how to navigate through buildings that are named after men that would have spat in your face when they were administrators. Your choices are limited: assimilate, drop out or fight like hell. Sharpen your nails on chalkboards that try to hide behind words like diversity, have white professors spilling out your history, acting like they know it better than you -- a child of the Diaspora, the product of what they're teaching. You're their Ph.D. The realization leaves you stinging for days. Assimilation was never an option. How could you leave behind things that you're proud of? How could you leave behind your accent, the loudness of your voice or the hood? You, with the curly hair and brazen attitude, would never fit in anyways. Academia thrives off creating papers on people that look and sound like you. You fuel their research and paychecks, but you'll never be completely accepted. That is why there is a need to raze traditional academia to the ground and make sure that on the rebuilding, you are an ideological equal. To the predominantly and historically white institutions, who have majors like Latino Studies, but refuse to see the difference between that discipline and Latin American Studies, we see you. Don't water down our history and identity, make it easy for y'all to chew. You can't swallow us. We've got too much lucha, too much conga, too much history, too many milagros, we've got too much for y'all. You pillage our national treasures, record our voices and leave them stored in archives that will rarely reach those that need them the most. You want academic writings, put our experiences into words that alienate our community. What does my research on Nicaraguan history matter if my family cannot understand it? Sell it to white academia and move on? I'd rather burn all my tapes. I'd rather burn all my papers. I'd rather white academia made the ethical decision to stop profiting and gaining accolades off the betrayal of Brown bodies. But, we know how that goes. To the predominantly and historically white institutions, who bring well-known Latinx speakers but have the audacity to stop student activism, we see you. To the predominantly and historically white institutions who have failed to hire and invest in their faculty and staff of color, we see you. To the predominantly and historically white institutions, who allow white and rich students to silence, manipulate and demean students of color and then refuse to interfere and help, under the guise of it being a "student issue," we definitely see you. Y'all want our money after we're alumni, want our help promoting the school's brand, but wash your hands clean of our blood and tears. To the college student who is on the verge of dropping out, to the college student who feels like they don't belong, to the college student who is about to give up -- hold your head high. You do belong, and it doesn't matter how long it will take you -- you will finish. One day, you'll graduate and show them that yes, we can. During my second year of college, I really wanted to drop out, come back home to Mama, and let her hold me. I wanted to run away because the more I realized that my institution served the idea of a student, the more I learned about institutional problems, the more distanced and hopeless I became. I decided to stop placing my values in their hands. It wasn't easy -- as a student with a full scholarship I felt indebted. How could I speak up and see the bad when I was so lucky? Why couldn't I just shut up and focus on the good? I still don't know where I got the courage from. If academia really isn't really what your heart desires, that's okay too. Maybe there are things beyond your control that keep on making it impossible to finish, maybe you need some time off. Let me kiss your forehead and hands, we are in this struggle together. You are still important, that piece of paper can never define who you are. Together, we have a narrative and don't ever let anyone tell you that a piece of paper makes them worth more than you. Bendicion. May your path be glorious. Let your feet soak in rivers of hope. Bendicion. By Erik Huberman With most industries, customers tend to gravitate toward their preferred brands, but not with air travel. In fact, loyalty doesn't hold much sway with travelers: Only 22 percent of fliers even care if a preferred airline shows up in their booking options. As the CEO of a successful marketing agency, I fly a lot. And it doesn't matter to me, either. Maybe that's because airlines haven't shown much loyalty to their customers. An All-Too-Familiar Story Take a recent flight I had on Virgin Airlines, for example. I was already on a tight schedule, as I had to be home in time for surgery. Then came the dreaded delay announcement. Advertisement Bad weather? Of course not. They'd forgotten to flush the water system. Then, it would be another 45 minutes because they also forgot to load the drink carts. After a two-hour delay, all Virgin could offer for compensation was a lousy $25 voucher. Or, how about when my business partner recently flew American Airlines? He showed up to the airport only to find that his flight had been canceled because it wasn't full. The only other flight getting to Austin in time for our event was, so he had to fly into San Antonio instead, rent a car, and drive. I could go on with stories like these, but I don't have to. I recently posted on Facebook about my bad experiences, and the commiseration poured in. From lengthy sits on the tarmac and broken seats on a U.S. Airways flight to lost baggage and a cancellation just 10 minutes before an American flight, it seems virtually no airline is innocent of screwing over frequent fliers. Where Airlines Fall Short Airlines (or any business) could minimize the impact of these issues, but they don't. For instance, they don't adequately compensate you when they make a mistake. Airlines must have missed the memo we've all read: If you fail to deliver a service, you don't get to keep the money a customer shelled out. Advertisement Compensation is in order, and a $25 voucher doesn't offset the cost of a $400 flight. Take a look at Virgin Air's Facebook, and you'll see a slew of apologies for bad service. But notice, you never see any mention of compensation. Airlines also fail to be proactive in dealing with problems. When things go wrong and a flight is delayed, an airline should accept responsibility and attempt to rectify the issue in some way before complaints start streaming in. Finally, this is all even more maddening because flying is expensive and airlines don't pass savings on to customers. Ostensibly, tickets are costly because of oil prices. But then we see American, Delta, United, and Southwest all hitting record net profits while the price of oil has plummeted from $150 per barrel to $30 per in the past eight years. Those savings should be reducing ticket prices, but they're not. Learning From the Mistakes of Others These airlines provide great examples of what not to do when service falls short. As a response to problems like these, more and more customers are turning to outside parties like Service, a new app that offers consumers on-demand assistance in resolving customer service issues with just about any company. According to Service's data, between June 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, Service has compensated people $779 for canceled flights, $209 for delayed flights, and $3,024 for lost items, on average. If you want to retain your hard-won customers, build their loyalty by making the following best practices part of your company's core values. Advertisement Show gratitude through compensation. Without customers, you have no business. So when you make a mistake, compensate them fairly to show you understand that. Ritz-Carlton allows every one of its employees to spend up to $2,000 to immediately solve customer problems because it knows prioritizing their satisfaction builds lasting loyalty. Own your mistakes (AKA, proactively grovel). Knowing passengers were tired of taxi companies' shady business practices (not accepting credit cards by stating the machine is "broken," circling blocks to rack up fees), Uber and Lyft provided a more transparent solution. Now the largest cab companies in the country are going out of business. Customers will find out about dishonesty and share their discoveries. Honesty is the best policy. Pass on the savings. Taking advantage of falling oil prices without passing on discounts to customers? That is not how you build loyalty. When my business gets a discount from a vendor, we immediately pass that on to our client for a win-win. The client saves money, and we show how much we value the relationship and build trust. I'm not saying airlines never try. When I posted on Facebook about a bad experience, an executive from Delta actually called me to apologize and offered to serve as our "bat phone" to take care of us moving forward. He was genuinely interested in improving the company's customer experience. But you can do a few fairly easy things to provide the kind of service many airlines aren't. When you address issues in an upfront, honest way, customer loyalty comes naturally -- and you make it harder for the "Ubers" of your industry to pop up and gun for your customers. Brazilian work document and social security document (carteira de trabalho) and brazilian currency (Real) There's a lot of people out there after your money. Scary? No, not at all. Today I'm going to introduce you to 4 of the most popular scams and ways to avoid them. It's extremely easy to avoid them and I'm going to show you how. WU & T/T Scam If you've tried sourcing products from abroad you'll get emails from suppliers who request payments through Western Union or Telex Transfer (a direct bank transfer). No matter how many certificates these suppliers show you, you should never accept payment through those methods. They are all scams. I've tried it and I lost almost half of my startup capital due to these scams. All Western Union and T/T payments are scams. So how should you pay a supplier? AliPay and PayPal (as a business transaction). It's always better to pay through a platform that's secure and has people regulating it. Make sure that when you pay through PayPal you should classify the transaction as a business transaction and not as "sending money to a friend". In the first one you're protected, but in the second one you're not. Advertisement 411 Scam This one's a dirty one. They promise you could get $10,000 after an accident. The only problem is the "attorneys" who work in it have to pay a fee to work. Here's how it works... They promise to refer clients to you in exchange for a monthly fee. They don't care about your experience or cases you've done in the past. All they want is their fee. Once the "Lawyer" pays (which can sometimes be a law student) they'll start getting clients. Dolman Law Group has an excellent article and video on this sort of scam. Fake Antivirus I bet you've seen this one haven't you? "You're phone is danger!" "Your device has been infected with 2 viruses!" Then they ask you to download an antivirus software. Don't believe them. None of them! How do they know your device is infected before even installing the antivirus? Do you really think your device will know it has a virus without an antivirus software? You know what? Here's a list of fake antivirus programs to get you started. Fake Login If you've been online for some time, you've definitely seen this one. They send you an email asking you to urgently update your username and password. You can usually tell the email is fake from the email ID. But, it's not always so obvious. So, here's how to know the difference between a fake email and a real one. Advertisement Fake emails have email IDs from a popular email provider such as gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc. Real emails have email IDs with the domain name in them such as name@domain.com. Fake emails speak in an urgent tone such as, "update your info or you'll lose your account". Real emails speak in a moderate calm tone. Fake emails have typos and grammar mistakes. Real emails don't. Final Words There's nothing to be afraid of at all. If you learn the solutions above, you'll be able to avoid any of those scams no matter what shape or form they come in. You've learnt some ways on how to protect yourself and phish out a fake offer from a real one. These latest examples of abuse and neglect are, frankly, just what Chelsea has come to expect, as she has been systematically mistreated by the U.S. government ever since she was first taken into custody in 2010, including long stretches of solitary confinement, which the UN considers to be a form of torture . Last week, the ACLU announced that Chelsea Manning had been charged with a series of bizarre sounding "administrative offenses" involving her recent attempt to take her own life. Fight for the Future, a non-profit that advocates for civil liberties and free speech, has created a petition at FreeChelsea.com to pressure the Secretary of the Army to dismiss these absurd charges. I spoke to staff in contact with Chelsea at the Chelsea Manning Support Network to attempt to understand the details surrounding these charges, and Chelsea's situation in general. When Chelsea woke up on the morning of July 5th, after her failed suicide attempt, she was surprised, and relieved, to be alive. She was moved by all the messages from people who want to help and are concerned about her, especially since she's been struggling with painful feelings that her situation may be hopeless. However, although the Army has placed Chelsea on "mental health observation" since her return to Leavenworth, they've ironically continued to deny her access to the very psychological counseling her mental health would require. On the morning of Saturday, July 23, Chelsea called a Support Network volunteer. She was not doing well. It turns out, Chelsea had not been able to see her psychologist for over a week. With no treatment for an entire week, her condition had worsened. Apparently, when her regular psychologist is not available, there is effectively no other properly trained alternative. On weekends, her facility doesn't even have psychologists on-site. This is significant because it was during a weekend, with no psychologist on-site, when Chelsea became depressed and attempted suicide. Although she received counseling daily for two weeks after her suicide attempt, her psychologist then disappeared for an entire week and has maintained irregular, unpredictable hours since. As Chelsea explains, "I need help, and I'm not getting it." Of further concern, first thing in the morning on July 28th, Chelsea was abruptly woken up and handed a charge sheet, right there in her mental health observation room. The document stated Chelsea was under investigation for three listed charges, without any explanation. Chelsea has been concerned for weeks that she would be charged for the attempt, as the prison staff had warned her about it, but no one expected this to happen so soon, while Chelsea was in such a fragile state. In addition to being given this stressful news, Chelsea has just been told that her psychologist is going to be off-site again for at least another week. And now, Chelsea is yet again being left alone to navigate emotionally demanding circumstances without the counseling she so desperately needs. Chelsea is unable to mail a copy of the charge sheet at this time, so she dictated the contents of the document over the phone to a volunteer at her Support Network. The charges: On Friday morning, Chelsea recalled that that the Department of the Army's Policy Letter #16 lists the descriptions of the prison rules that Chelsea is being charged with violating. Upon looking at the Policy Letter, it's clear that "Category III, IV and V offenses" are considered "serious infractions." Things like "Arson," "Assault" and "Escape." These offenses get you into big trouble: thrown into "maximum security" (solitary) with no chance of parole. Chelsea can potentially get in as much trouble for having the "force cell team" called as if she had started a fire somewhere. This is ridiculous. To make matters worse, the rules Chelsea is accused of breaking are so broadly drafted that the prison can selectively enforce them against virtually any inmate it chooses to. Let's take a closer look at these charges, one by one: 1) RESISTING THE FORCE CELL MOVE TEAM CAT IV OR V For the "force cell team to be called to the cell" [Section "oo"] Complete text of description from the prison rules: Section oo. Resisting Forced Cell Moves (Category IV or V offense). Any action taken to impede, resist, or interfere with the actions of forced cell move teams, including, but not limited to, trying to keep the cell door closed, throwing objects at the Force Cell Move Team (FCMT) or attempting to grab team members while in the performance of their duties. Any action taken that causes the FCMT to be activated, even if it is not used is a category IV offense. This is especially absurd because Chelsea was unconscious when the force cell move team arrived she couldn't have "resisted" anything. Chelsea is basically just being punished for the team being called at all a perfect example of the prison making the rules apply whenever they see fit. 2) PROHIBITED PROPERTY III Prohibited use of property [Section "ii"] Complete text of description from the prison rules: Section ii. Prohibited Property (Category III offense). Anything not specifically authorized by proper authority to be in a prisoner's possession is prohibited. Prisoners must obtain and keep written permission from the Facility Commander, or authorized representative, to possess any item not authorized by facility policy or staff. Any item not specifically authorized and found in a prisoner's possession will be considered prohibited property. Possession of property obtained from trash receptacles, or that which was discarded in any other way by other prisoners or staff is prohibited. Property that has been altered from its original form without facility authorization will be considered prohibited property. Here she is being charged with misusing the things she tried to kill herself with she is literally being charged for her suicide attempt. 3) CONDUCT WHICH THREATENS IV This accuses her of conduct which threatens [Section "m"] Complete text of description from the prison rules: Section m. Conduct Which Threatens (Category IV offense). Any conduct which interferes with the orderly running, safety, good order and discipline, or security the facility. Somehow she is being charged with threatening the "safety" of the facility. As if her actions, alone in her cell to herself, could put the prison facility at risk. It should be noted that bringing public attention to these issues might cause the prison to retaliate by restricting Chelsea's phone calls the critical way Chelsea is able to connect to the outside world. (In fact, the prison has the power to do this at any time, for one of any myriad of reasons.) If Chelsea's calls are taken away, she is cut off from everyone except for her attorneys, and even they have to schedule calls several days ahead of time. This could leave Chelsea without someone to talk to for days. Despite this risk, Chelsea feels the situation is dire enough to get the word out about these issues, and we are grateful that Chelsea is now allowing us to speak out on her behalf. Like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea decided to release documents to the public because she felt that the military national security apparatus was being misused by the government. Like Ellsberg, she did what she did knowing that she would probably be going to prison for it. What she didn't see coming was excessively cruel pre-trial solitary confinement including two months in Kuwait, in a cage (with no light being let in), in a tent, in over 105 degree temperatures and then 7 months in Quantico, where she wasn't allowed to lean back or lay down, and was required sit and look directly forward, staring at the wall all day. Again, this was all before she had been tried and convicted of anything. Chelsea's recent appeal challenges the constitutionality of the Espionage Act and the vague definition of "unauthorized access" of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act but before Chelsea has a chance to challenge anything, she's going to have to survive prison, or have her sentence "commuted" based on her time in solitary, more than three and a half years time served, and extreme over-sentencing to begin with. Even if you are someone who believes that Chelsea did something wrong and should be punished, ask yourself: "Isn't 9 months of solitary, 3 years of imprisonment before even receiving a trial, and three and a half years as a female in an all-male maximum security prison punishment enough?" Please sign the Petition to the Secretary Army to drop these charges against Chelsea: FreeChelsea.com ACLU Press Release Fight for the Future Press Release How we inform ourselves, how we think and how we form ties and connections with others is changing. It is a revolution advancing all over the world, metamorphosing the perception of time and space, overcoming borders and distances and affecting identity creation and self-identification. We are both exposed to and contributing to an ever-growing flux of information reaching us by calls, emails, tweets, and updates, etc. All aspects of our ordinary life, as well as our beliefs and values are being altered by the transformations that the Internet brings. The Internet Freedom Festival will be held from March 6-10th, 2017, in Valencia, Spain. This years theme is "Joining Forces to Fight Censorship and Surveillance". While virtual freedom breaks many barriers, censorship is ever evolving. The Internet is a space for self-expression, information, and a host of communities where we can meet and share - but as its influence grows so too do systems of sophisticated surveillance. The Internet Freedom Festival will gather a diverse community to discuss these important topics and to brainstorm solutions for critical issues such as censorship. The Festivals open design, democratic approach and self-organized sessions will ensure an interactive discussion among all participants. You can register for the event and propose a subject/workshop/session here: https://internetfreedomfestival.org.... The event is free for the public. IREX Europe will be attending too and well be hosting events which well explain in the coming months. We look forward to seeing you in Valencia - or online. IREX Europes network partner IREX is hosting the Internet Freedom Festival in partnership with the Open Technology Fund. Source: http://irex-europe.fr/Internet-Freedom-Festival.html?lang=en The world continues to evolve, and so too does the range of exposures that corporate entities and their employees face. As the pace of change increases, its imperative to understand the shifting landscape and the must-have coverages for professionals. Insurance Business America spoke to industry experts about a range of issues impacting a number of key products within the professional liability suite. Directors & officers liability Reflecting on the regulatory landscape, Alex Jezerski Jr. of RT ProExec says the most worrisome trend facing directors and officers this year is the continued vigilance of the US government in holding those individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing. Specifically, Jezerski refers to a memo circulated by Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates to all Department of Justice attorneys last September, commonly referred to as the Yates Memo. The US Department of Justice has made it very clear that if a company wishes to qualify for cooperation credit in connection with a DOJ investigation, the company must be forthcoming with all facts related to any individuals involved in the alleged misconduct, Jerzerski says. He adds that the US Securities and Exchange Commission also remains sharply focused on targeting individual directors and officers in its enforcement actions. In addition to going after fraud and overt misconduct, the SEC is seeking to hold directors and officers accountable for inattention and failure to follow acceptable corporate governance protocols, Jerzerski says. Matt Sheehan, senior vice president of financial services for Worldwide Facilities, says the potential impact of the Yates Memo is something hes discussing with clients. I think the burden of proof to go after individual directors and officers and managers of companies is going to be lessened, and its going to be a more common strategy for regulators, Sheehan says. When regulators go after individuals and their business decisions, the plaintiffs bar takes notice. Usually, theres litigation to follow. Sheehan also highlights the rising number of actions under the False Claims Act, targeting companies attempting to defraud the US government. If a director is running a business that provides services or products to the US government, the likelihood that an investigation or action [will be] brought against them is certainly heightened, he says. Most people think that thats just in healthcare billing and reimbursement, but were seeing it across private entities that provide services to the government. Sheehan says another regulatory shift gaining momentum is the use of the Americans with Disabilities Act to pursue actions against website operators. Blind or deaf people need reasonable accommodations to a public website, should it be closed captioning or audio descriptions of pictures or help in entering credit card information, he says. So companies are spending a lot more money to make their websites accessible to all. But we are seeing plenty of actions along these lines, and the plaintiffs bar has taken notice. As for what separates the best D&O liability products in the market from the rest, Jezerski emphasizes the importance of structuring the policy to provide appropriate coverage for government actions and investigations. Generally speaking, D&O policies have improved steadily in this regard since 2010, he says. But there are still significant differences in coverage from policy to policy. Sheehan advises watching out for antitrust exclusions. Claims by competitors in the United States tend to be fertile ground for D&O claims in the private company space, and the absence or addition of an antitrust exclusion is a big differentiator, he says. We saw carriers pull back on that in the past couple of years. The defense costs allocation provision in a private company form is also very big, he adds. If a portion of a multiple-allegation claim is covered, there still are a vast number of carriers that will pay 100% of defense costs for an individual insured, which is a tremendous luxury to the insured not only in not having to pay those costs, but also setting a defense strategy that makes sense because they arent trying to get out of it for a minimal cost. They have time to actually formulate a strategy that makes sense for the long run for them and their business and their reputation. Sheehan believes that, in the coming years, pre-claims assistance will also differentiate D&O products. We have a lot of carriers that try to not call a letter or a demand a claim so they can avoid providing defense costs, which is the opposite of what we want them to do and the opposite of what they want to do, I think, he says. I think it would be better for them to just affirmatively cover pre-claim defense costs where they can get in early, set a strategy, and do some preliminary discovery or fact-finding thats going to help their case, both helping the insured and the insurer. I would expect insurers to come out with affirmative pre-claim assistance and really enumerate the services that they will provide. It will encourage insureds to report claims faster, as well as, I think, itll just sell in the marketplace, and the insureds and the carriers interests are aligned in this area. So I would expect more robust endorsements to manifest themselves. Errors & omissions Which professions should pay extra attention to their E&O exposures in 2016? Large technology companies continue to see many unique claims and will be paying extra attention to exposures related to data privacy, cyber attacks, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, social media content and intellectual property, says Mickey Estey of RT ProExec. We are seeing this ref lected in the increased insurance limits purchased by many technology companies, he continues. With so many technologies being provided on a cloud basis, the exposures are significant for both the large technology companies providing those services, as well as the businesses that are relying on those services on a growing basis for those core functions. As large technology companies move into new areas of service, they often encounter legal issues that are new and untested. This is a trend that will only continue. Sheehan cites oil & gas consultants as another category of professionals who should contemplate a heightened focus on their E&O exposures. Any sector thats had a downturn generally is going to see a spike in claims activity because people are looking for the deep pocket. The oil & gas industry generally is full of speculators with a healthier risk tolerance, and theyre generally not litigious. But we would figure that, at some point, some of these bankrupt entities may look to point the finger. Even if the business owner that failed is not ready to point the finger, some bankruptcy estates may do so. Continued here. Despite the ongoing destruction and increasing risk associated with the wildfire raging across the California coastline, insurance rates have remained generally steady, industry professionals say.By Friday, fires burning in the Big Sur region had destroyed at least 60 homes and put more than 2,000 buildings in danger. The Sand Fire in the Santa Clarita hillsides alone has burned more than 38,800 acres.Firefighters struggled to get an upper hand on the blaze, which spans 42 square miles and has killed at least one person. In total, the fire in Big Sur is just 10% contained and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimates it will take until the end of August to extinguish it.Combined with the ongoing drought and fires in the past two years, insurance rates have skyrocketed as much as 30% in some areas. The rising premiums have pushed some from their homes, while others must shop for homeowners and business insurance through the excess and surplus lines market.Bob Severns III, owner of Severns Insurance Agency in Hemet, California, estimates that about 15% of his clients have been affected by the increased risk. On average, these homeowners in wild and mountainous regions near Big Sur are paying 30% to 40% more than his clients who live elsewhere.If there is a large fire and there is a lot of loss, [insurers] are paying out tens of millions of dollars when entire neighborhoods burn, said Severns, who does business statewide.Yet these rate hikes are not influencing the market as a whole, say other insurance professionals.In general, rates have been pretty steady, said Janet Ruiz, California representative for the Insurance Information Institute. Some areas have seen increases while some areas have seen decreases.In fact, Californias insurance marketplace is quite healthy, some say. Amy Bach, executive director of the nonprofit group United Policyholders, says that while she has been receiving more complaints about steep rate hikes and policy cancellations, she would not call it a widespread problem.[The market] has been very competitive, she told the LA Times. There have been lots of companies selling fire insurance. Even with the wildfires, statistically thats a small number of homes insurers have to pay out.Nevertheless, losses in high-risk areas have left insurance agents like Severns with a hard message to deliver to clients. In these situations, Colorado Springs, Colorado agency owner Dave Mellinger urges greater sympathy from agents particularly the ones who have had losses.Be caring and understanding and know that the people who are taking these losses just lost everything, said Mellinger, who advised clients when wildfires ravaged the area in 2011. They just want someone to talk to, and brokers are the first person to listen to them.The fires come following triple-digit heat in the Southwestern US, even as the risk of wildfire damage is greater globally than it has ever been before, according to a 2015 study from Nevadas Desert Research Institute and the University of Tasmania. According to the analysis, fire weather season length has increased by 18.7% from 1979 to 2013. Certain tenets of an international insurance treaty may stymie coverage for families of the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, as new evidence points to a deliberate crash and potential pilot suicide as the cause of the planes disappearance two years ago.Peter Foley, the Australian Transport Safety Bureaus program director of the operational search for MH370, admitted for the first time this weekend that damage found in the recovered wreckage suggests the plane was under the control of pilot Zahari Ahmed Shah when it went into the sea in March 2014. Severe erosion along the trailing edge of two recovered wing parts points to a controlled landing, Foley said.Australian authorities also admitted that a Malaysian police report suggesting Shah had plotted a route deep into the southern Indian Ocean on his home flight simulator was genuine. Evidence of any such route has since been deleted.The two admissions throw significant doubt on authorities preferred theory that the planes disappearance was an accident, instead pointing strongly to pilot suicide something that could prevent families of the crash victims from collecting insurance settlements from the airline.Grace Nathan, a spokeswoman for MH370 next-of-kin group Voice 370, said families of the victims who are suing the airline for negligence may now pursue criminal action as well. However, families who accepted payout offers may no longer be covered by insurance.Families who missed the March 8 deadline to initiate lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines may also be stranded if pilot suicide was indeed the cause of the crash, thanks to the 1999 Montreal Convention, which dictates international aviation insurance terms. Under the treaty, claimants have two years from the date an aircraft should have arrived at its destination to file suit for compensation against the carrier.You cant start something now because the limitations date has passed, Nathan told The Australian.Nathan also pointed to the question of airline responsibility in a suicide situation.Even if Malaysia Airlines can successfully determine the cause of the crash, aviation policies often carry exclusions for terrorism or suicide under sanction from the Montreal Convention which may apply here.If it is proven to be pilot suicide, then the insurance becomes void, she said.The Montreal Convention sets a mandated minimum compensation payment of just under $200,000 for claimants in cases where airlines could not produce evidence to defend themselves. Certain families of the victims have filed suit against the airline for the compensation under the assumption that the death of their next of kin was caused by something other than negligence.Nathan has suggested Malaysia Airlines may not be able to meet this financial standard, calling the company practically bankrupt, though a spokesperson for the airline has pushed back against those claims.[There is] adequate insurance coverage in place to meet any legal liability that we may have in respect of those claiming as a consequence of the incident, the spokesperson said.Malaysian investigators concluded the Boeing 777 servicing Flight 370 crashed after someone aboard the jet intentionally disabled its tracking devices, turning it south before it plunged into the Indian Ocean and killed all 239 people aboard. The aircraft had been flying under Malaysia Airlines since May 2002 without mechanical or computer troubles. The communications systems aboard the plane were also operating normally until radio and transponder signals stopped during the flight.The airlines insurers Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and Lloyds of London unit Atrium have already paid more than $300 million for claims related to the crash. Lower yields from investments are driving expansion of insurance companies into other services including lending. MetLife and AIG are among the US insurers that are increasing their market share in areas such as residential mortgages, car loans and student debt which offer greater returns than the traditional route of buying debt.Given the lack of liquidity in the securitized markets, which is how many insurers have previously purchased loans, insurers are now waking up to the reality that its better to own the loans directly, AIGs chief investment officer Doug Dachille told Bloomberg Some have expressed concern over the shadow banking sector in which firms operate like banks but without the same regulation; and although some analysts point to low levels of defaults among insurer-issued loans, others warn that as newer entrants to some areas of lending, insurance firms lack the underwriting experience of traditional lenders.The risk faced by the worlds wildlife rangers has been highlighted in a new report which shows a lack of insurance coverage in two continents.The International Rangers Federations data shows that at least 107 rangers died in the past 12 months and over 1000 over the past decade; but many rangers lack even basic insurance cover.A survey across 40 countries, commissioned by the WWF and the Ranger Federation of Asia, found that 35 per cent of government rangers have no life insurance, 20 per cent have no health cover and 45 per cent are without long-term disability coverage. The situation is even worse in Asia and Africa.The report calls for NGOs, governments and the private insurance sector to work together to create new products specifically for rangers who face their greatest risks from poachers and wild animals.For insurance businesses and clients, new research on emails could trigger a change of policy in order to protect employees wellbeing.The study - by Liuba Belkin of Lehigh University, William Becker of Virginia Tech and Samantha A. Conroy of Colorado State University has found a link between the expectation of organizations regarding out-of-work-hours email and emotional exhaustion of employees.While technology may have been introduced in order to improve the work-life balance of employees, the research suggests it may in fact be harming it.Its not about the number of emails or the time taken to respond to them that is the cause of stress, it is the expectation that emails will be dealt with out of normal working hours.Organizational expectations can steal employee resources even when actual time is not required because employees cannot fully separate from work," state the authors.The largest group among the 385 participants in the study were from the financial services sector followed by technology and healthcare.The authors suggest that organizations that cannot completely ban out-of-hours emailing should try to limit the impact by implementing email free days or rotating after-hours emailing schedules.These policies not only reduce pressure on employees to respond to email in their own time but also suggest a supportive culture which further enhances employee wellbeing. We caught up with the vice president of communications and strategic analysis at Safety National, Mark Walls, to get his take on three of the hottest topics in workers compensation right now.Election year impacts every economic and societal structure in the country including insurance. Insurance commissioners are elected in 11 states and appointed in the other 39, and in the 2016 election, five insurance commissioner positions and 12 gubernatorial seats will be decided.The workers compensation industry needs to be paying attention to these elections because the insurance commissioners can have significant influence over procedures, policies and enforcement in their states, Walls explains.Regarding the overall election result, Walls believes the biggest impact with regards workers compensation will be the direction given to OSHA and the Department of Labor and how those departments interact with employers. With one candidate we can probably expect policies similar to the current administration. It is unclear how the other candidate views such issues.At the beginning of the year, Walls highlighted four states that had the potential to implement regulatory reform in the workers compensation space. The states he mentioned were New York, Florida, Illinois and California.New York and Illinois tried to advance workers compensation reforms but these efforts failed, says Walls. There are numerous bills in California on workers comp issues. In addition, there is a lawsuit in California alleging their workers compensation statutes are gender biased. There was legislation on that issue last year but this was vetoed by Governor Brown.Walls describes the workers compensation situation in Florida as a mess. Several elements of their workers' compensation statutes have been found unconstitutional and NCCI has recommended rate hikes over 20% because of this, he says. The Florida legislature will need to address this next year.With 25% of the workforce expected to leave the insurance industry by 2018, attracting the next generation of talent is of paramount importance. In excess of 1 million workers will retire in the next 10 years and 400,000 positions will be left open by 2020 (Deloitte and Jackson Group).Walls believes that organizations in the workers compensation space need to give some thought to the role of the examiner, because millennials demand variety, flexibility and the ability to do meaningful work. Leaders in workers comp should be making a real effort to highlight the positive aspects of the jobs available in the segment, including that of claims adjuster. The workforce is changing and those firms who dont adjust will find themselves in trouble. Walls says: This will be an ongoing effort and the insurance industry is very focused on finding ways to attract new talent. When Hugo "Award" Gernsback launched Volume 1, Number 1 of Amazing Stories in April, 1926, he created the first magazine in the world solely devoted to science fiction stories: on the magazine's editorial page, Gernsback laid out his vision for the genre. Gernsback's "scientifiction" (his coinage, later supplanted by variants like "science fiction" and "sci-fi") traced its roots to Edgar Allen Poe, "cleverly weaving into and around the story, a scientific thread." Like his successors, Gernsback proposed this as a kind of vaccination against future shock: "the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge, and even inspiration, without once making us aware that we are being taught." He also commits the original sin of science fiction: proposing it as a form of prophecy ("Prophecies made in many of their most amazing stories are being realizedand have been realized"). The whole first issue is available online (on the Internet Archive, where else?). Another Fiction Magazine! At first thought it does seem impossible that there could be room for another fiction magazine in this country. The reader may well wonder, "Aren't there enough already, with the several hundreds now being published?" True.1 But this is not "another fiction magazine," Amazing Stories is a new kind of fiction magazine! It is entirely newentirely differentsomething that has never been done before in this country. Therefore, Amazing Stories deserves your attention and interest. There is the usual fiction magazine, the love story and the sex- appeal type of magazine, the adventure type, and so on, but a magazine of "Scientifiction" is a pioneer in its field in America. By "scientifiction" I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Edgar Allan Poe type of storya charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision. For many years stories of this nature were published in the sister magazines of Amazing StoriesScience & Invention and Radio News. But with the ever increasing demands on us for this sort of story, and more of it, there was only one thing to dopublish a magazine in which the scientific type of story will hold forth exclusively. Toward that end we have laid elaborate plans, sparing neither time nor money. Edgar Allan Poe may well be called the father of "scientifiction." It was he who really originated the romance, cleverly weaving into and around the story, a scientific thread. Jules Verne, with his amazing romances, also cleverly interwoven with a scientific thread, came next. A little later came H. G. Wells, whose scientifiction stories, like those of his forerunners, have become famous and immortal. It must be remembered that we live in an entirely new world. Two hundred years ago, stories of this kind were not possible. Science, through its various branches of mechanics, electricity, astronomy, etc., enters so intimately into all our lives today, and we are so much immersed in this science, that we have become rather prone to take new inventions and discoveries for granted. Our entire mode of living has changed with the present progress, and it is little wonder, there- fore, that many fantastic situationsimpossible 100 years agoare brought about today. It is in these situations that the new romancers find their great inspiration. Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting readingthey are also always instructive. They supply knowledge that we might not otherwise obtainand they supply it in a very palatable form. For the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge, and even inspiration, without once making us aware that we are being taught. And not only that! Poe, Verne, Wells, Bellamy, and many others have proved themselves real prophets. Prophecies made in many of their most amazing stories are being realizedand have been realized. Take the fantastic submarine of Jules Verne's most famous story, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" for instance. He predicted the present day submarine almost down to the last bolt! New inventions pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow. Many great science stories destined to be of an historical interest are still to be written, and Amazing Stories magazine will be the medium through which such stories will come to you. Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but in progress as well. We who are publishing Amazing Stories realize the great responsibility of this undertaking, and will spare no energy in presenting to you, each month, the very best of this sort of literature there is to offer. Exclusive arrangements have already been made with the copy-right holders of the entire voluminous works of ALL of Jules Verne's immortal stories. Many of these stories are not known to the general American public yet. For the first time they will be within easy reach of every reader through Amazing Stories. A number of German, French, and English stories of this kind by the best writers in their respective countries, have already been contracted for and we hope very shortly to be able to enlarge the magazine and in that way present always more material to our readers. How good this magazine will be in the future is up to you. Read Amazing Storiesget your friends to read it and then write us what you think of it. We will welcome constructive criticismfor only in this way will we know how to satisfy you. City Councilor Joshua Moran and Mayor Richard Alcombright hold the new signs that will be posted announcing the city as an Appalachian Trail Community. Celebrating the designation with a group photo. PreviousNext North Adams Designated as Appalachian Trail Community Joshua Moran signs the agreement with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The city on Saturday became an Appalachian Trail Community, the second in Massachusetts and the 39th along one of the nation's longest hiking trail. The three-year effort toward the designation was spearheaded by Joshua Moran, a neighbor of the trail and a city councilor, who sees the trail's presence as a major factor in presenting the city as the state's "outdoor capital." "We are gaining traction and we're going to see North Adams the way I do, and I think it's the outdoor capital of the commonwealth," Moran said at Saturday's event near the AT kiosk at Greylock Elementary. "Now I just need you guys to continue to say that." The 2,200-mile long trail completed in 1937 runs from Georgia to Maine, passing through 14 states. Great Barrington is the only other Appalachian Trail Community in the state. It is maintained by local clubs, the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which is using the designation to promote stewardship of the trail as a natural and economic resource. The trail attracts nearly 3 million visitors a year, said Beth Critton, chairman of the conservancy's Stewardship Council. Benton MacKaye, conservancy founder and the trail's initial planner, had "envisioned the trail as an economic catalyst" for the people and communities with which it connected, she said. The AT runs over Mount Greylock and along Phelps Avenue, crossing Route 2 and a footbridge over the Hoosic River to Massachusetts Avenue, where it enters Clarksburg State Forest and meets the Long Trail at the Vermont border. Mayor Richard Alcombright said the trail is one of the city's natural resource assets, noting how hikers have become a frequent visitors. Both he and Moran spoke to the city's "real downtown" and it's easy access to its surrounding natural resources. "When you look at the city we have significant green space," Moran said. "We have the natural setting and we have the cultural setting with the downtown." "Many, many hikers walk down that sidewalk every year," said James Pelletier, chairman of the Massachusetts Appalachian Trail Management Committee. "Many of them will stop in town for a resupply maybe for a shower and a night in a hotel, maybe for a meal or to take a "zero day" ... but they come and add to this community. "It's not just about the economics, it's about people making connections." The community program offers marketing opportunities and visibility through the conservancy, partnerships with land agencies and volunteers, and eligibility toward educational and community service programs. Moran wants to encourage early awareness of the trail with a "trickle up" effect of getting kids interested and excited about hiking, with the idea that they will bring their parents along. "I think what we have with the Appalachian Trail is absolutely amazing and I think too many people brush over it in their daily lives," he said of the reasons for pursuing the designation. "The larger portion is to conserve and make connections but a lot was local awareness." Over the last several years, the trail kiosk (memorialized to local AT hiker Thomas Sheehan) with information and maps was moved to a more prominent location on Phelps Avenue and a sign was posted at the Greylock Club to indicate it allowed hikers to park their cars there. Both those actions helped to bring more notice that hikers were in or passing through the community, said Moran. It was not so much there are more people with backpacks around than residents were noticing them more, he said. The shade tree by the kiosk is becoming a favorite break spot and a half-dozen or so hikers were there Saturday. A cookout and potluck with music by Common Folk followed a family hike and trail maintenance in the morning. A number of conservancy and state officials, trail advocates and others gathered for the designation ceremony and signing. Emcee Hawk Metheny, director of ATC's New England Region, was the emcee and pointed to Moran's "persistence and vision" in arriving at this day. Pelletier proffered a challenge to the community to "broaden and strengthen that connection to the Appalachian Trail so that this becomes an even bigger and more important part of your community as the days go forward." Moran thinks that will happen, and could mean more growth, such as a hostel. But more importantly, he wants North Adams to embrace this amazing resource. "There's no reason why everyone in this community, everyone in this neighborhood cannot continue to embrace what we have," he said. "It's free and not only is it free, others seek it out, other from outside the area." When Pagan Kennedy wrote her 2012 New York Times Magazine history of home pregnancy testing, it didn't mention Margaret Crane, the product designer who created, designed and championed the test and all it stood for: the right of "a woman to peer into her own body and to make her own decisions about it, without anyone else husband, boyfriend, boss, doctor getting in the way." That article flushed out Crane, who had not spoken widely about her role in the contentious and fascinating history of home pregnancy testing. Crane contacted Pagan, and now Pagan has published a much more definitive account of the secret history of the test, which combines product design, office politics, regulatory capture, medical ethics, and, of course, the battle for women's control over their bodies. In 1967, Crane was a 26-year-old product designer at Organon Pharmaceuticals when she spotted a lab-bench lined with pregnancy tests awaiting results. It was a fraught moment for women's sexuality: though the "sexual revolution" was in full swing, abortion was still illegal in most of the USA and employers could fire women for getting pregnant. Crane built a prototype of a home pregnancy test and presented it, only to have the idea dismissed as incompatible with the business, which relied on goodwill from doctors who'd stand to lose fortunes if women could administer pregnancy tests without professional assistance. But when Ornagon's parent company caught wind of the idea, they green-lit it, and the company proceeded with the project without informing Crane. Crane learned that there was a product planning meeting coming up and she crashed it, putting her prototype on the table alongside the frilly, flowery, useless gadgets that the all-male design team had mocked up. Ira Sturtevant, who oversaw the project, picked Crane's design and then the two fell in love and began living with one another in secret (they had separate phone lines brought into their apartment, each ringing on one side of the bed!). This was the start of the public policy fight over home pregnancy testing, which featured moral panic over teenagers testing their pregnancy status without parental oversight; condescending male doctors and editorialists asserting that women "have a hard time following even relatively simple instructions" especially "in a state of emotional anxiety." As Kennedy points out, this is a microcosm of many fights that followed, such as home HIV testing, and the ongoing battle over the right to buy birth-control pills over the counter. Kennedy's article does a beautiful job of bringing her subject to light and connecting it to these wider policy fights and it's also a dismal reminder of how little has changed in the fight for women to control their own fertility in 50 years. In January 1968, Ms. Crane heard a rumor that her bosses were going forward with the home pregnancy test. She learned there was going to be a strategy meeting where men would discuss the design of the new product, and decided to crash it. She found her boss in a conference room with a group of freelance product designers. On the table, the designers had lined up their proposed models. In an effort to appeal to female customers, the male designers had covered them in flowers and frills. Ms. Crane thought this was insane: What customer would want to analyze her urine in a box with a tassel? She slid her prototype into line with the others. Its clear plastic walls showed off the minimalistic lab equipment inside. Then, with a glance at her boss, she took her seat at the table, challenging him to throw her out. He didn't. Could Women Be Trusted With Their Own Pregnancy Tests? [Pagan Kennedy/New York Times] (via Skepchick) Alter is a robot made by Takashi Ikegami (University of Tokyo) that moves in a eerily lifelike way. It's behavior doesn't seem very human, but it is more alive than the typical Disney animatronic android. From Engadget: The theory behind the CPG is based on one of the simplest artificial models for neurons, the Izhikevich neuron, which reacts in a way that's called "spiking and burst behavior": Something builds up, and the robot's system creates a signal spike, which chains together with other neurons. Professor Ikeue from Tokyo University describes the central pattern generator as "coupled pendulums" one bumps into another into another and a movement in formed. While not an equal, balanced rhythm, this becomes Alter's own rhythm. The researchers didn't make the movement; the robot made it itself. Carlo Procacci Qatar's De-monopolisation and Competition Protection Committee (the Committee) at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has become much more active of late. Therefore, ten years after its enactment, it is a good time to review the key provisions of Law 19 of 2006 on the protection of competition and prohibition of monopolistic practices (the Competition Law). The Competition Law introduced a new regime of jurisprudence to Qatar. It was enacted in response to obligations created by multilateral trade agreements and World Trade Organisation requirements. It applies to all business activities in Qatar within the private sector. However, it does not apply to governmental acts or acts of any entity controlled or supervised by the state. The Competition Law forbids collusion, mergers and abusive conduct that would result in dominant market positions. It aims to: stabilise domestic markets and achieve social justice by removing any hurdles that restrict businesses from reaching local consumers; and, encourage competition to assist economic growth and national development aims. Article 1 states that it applies to both collective activities and unilateral activities in areas of control. Control is defined as: the ability of a person or group of persons working together to control the market of products in order to affect prices or quantities without competitors having the ability to limit such effect. A mandatory notification of mergers creating or likely to create a so-called control situation is provided by Article 10. A merger is an acquisition of rights, assets or shares, or the creation of joint ventures or an amalgamation between two or more corporate entities. The Committee is responsible for receiving Article 10 notifications. It must make a decision on these notifications within 90 days, failing which acceptance of the merger is deemed to have taken place. Details of ways to lodge notifications can be found in the Resolution of the Minister of Economy and Commerce No. (61) of 2008. Mergers are excluded from the operation of Article 10 where they contribute to economic progress in a manner that compensates for any adverse effect on competition (Article 11). What comprises economic progress is yet to be determined. Any member of the Committee, as well as properly appointed ministerial officials, are responsible for investigating breaches of the Competition Law. To that end, they are empowered to enter business premises and other places where activities are being undertaken and to inspect all books and other documentary records. Under Article 15, the Committee can make stop orders against entities in breach of any collusive or abusive conduct or engaging in any unlawful mergers. Article 17 provides for punitive fines ranging from 100,000 to 5,000,000 Qatari Riyals (approximately $27, 000 to $1.4 million). It also grants the court the power to confiscate profits made as a consequence of the unlawful activity. Article 18 provides the same fines are applicable to any individual responsible for the management of an entity found to have committed an infringement provided that the individual had knowledge of and contributed to the infringement. However, it appears that such individuals are entitled to an indemnity for the fine from the corporate entity. The Minister for Economy and Commerce can agree a settlement without penal remedies, provided that the settlement contains a payment of between 100,000 to 5,000,000 Qatari Riyals. Carlo Procacci The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: Imperial Valley News Center Health-research sector small businesses invited to learn about NIH funding at national conference Washington, DC - Small businesses seeking to commercialize health-related technologies in the medical or life science sector can learn how to access more than $870 million in federal funding during the Department of Health and Human Services Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) conference, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, on November 15-17, 2016. This flagship SBIR/STTR event provides the chance for entrepreneurs and researchers to meet one-on-one with federal representatives, network with each other, and learn how the National Institutes of Health helps small businesses forge new relationships that can help bring technologies and discoveries to market, said Matthew Portnoy, Ph.D., the NIH SBIR/STTR program coordinator. We are hoping businesses take advantage of this opportunity and register to attend the conference. The 18th Annual HHS SBIR/STTR Conference, titled Shining a Light on Small Business Innovation, will be co-hosted by the State University System of Florida and the University of Central Florida, Orlando, and is expected to attract nearly 800 participants from around the country. One of the key objectives of the SBIR and STTR programs is to foster and encourage participation in innovation and entrepreneurship by women and socially and economically disadvantaged people. The NIH keynote speaker will be Eliseo J. Perez-Stable, M.D., director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and interactive workshops and sessions will feature presentations by women-owned and minority-owned businesses supported by the SBIR/STTR programs. Attendees will include representatives from NIH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Administration for Community Living, Office of the HHS Inspector General, and the Small Business Administration. Early bird registration is available until August 31, 2016, and a draft agenda is available online at: https://www.regonline.com/sbirsttrorlando About the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) SBIR/STTR program: The HHS Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are designed to help researchers and small businesses forge academic partnerships and build new businesses based on recently developed medical and biotechnology. The conference is hosted in a different location around the country every year. The National Institutes of Health leads HHS SBIR/STTR activities, and more information can be found at: https://sbir.nih.gov . When a woman who'd been arrested for failing to complete a diversion course stemming from a shoplifting charge was brought before Louisville, KY judge Amber Wolf with no pants on, the judge was horrified to learn that the arrestee had been held in custody for three days without a shower, without access to feminine hygiene products, and without pants. The judge demanded that the woman be clothed, and also that an explanation be provided. She apologized profusely to the arrestee, and assured her that this was not usual in the system's jails. Then the woman informed the judge to her mounting horror that there were many other women in the same situation at the jail. The explanation from corrections facility spokesperson Steve Durham is that inmates do not receive uniforms upon immediate arrival, particularly not within the first 72 hours. But Deputy Director Dwayne Clark, who brought her a jumpsuit during the hearing, told the judge that "dressed as she was," she should have been given something more to wear. Neither had any excuse for the denial of feminine hygiene products, though, and Durham told WDRB he would look into it. The woman had been arrested for not completing a diversion course that was part of her sentencing from a shoplifting charge. After this ordeal, Wolf released her with time served and a $100 fine. Judge Apologizes To Woman Who Was Denied Pants In Jail [Sabrina Rojas Weiss/Refinery 29] WATCH: This Restaurant in Pune Are Run by Speech and Hearing Impaired People Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic 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 The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ben Wheatleys new action thriller Free Fire has been confirmed to close the London Film Festival. The upcoming movie from the acclaimed director is set in Massachusetts in the late Seventies and stars Oscar-winning Room actress Brie Larson in the lead as Justine. Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley, Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer make up the cast. The film follows the heart-stopping game of survival after shots are fired during a meeting between Justine, two Irishmen and two arms dealers who are selling them a stash of guns. Free Fire official synopsis Justine (Brie Larson) has brokered a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) and a gang led by Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and Ord (Armie Hammer) who are selling them a stash of guns. But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart-stopping game of survival ensues. Wheatley, whose recent films High-Rise and black comedy Sightseers were also presented at the festival, described closing the 2016 event as a great honour and thanked organisers for supporting his films. Festival director Clare Stewart has described Free Fire as a ballsy actioner that showcases Wheatleys dazzling cinematic talent. Dripping with blood, sweat and irony, Free Fires bravura filmmaking pays knowing tribute to the films of Sam Peckinpah and features a terrific cast who clearly relish bringing Wheatley and co-writer Amy Jumps vivid characters to the screen, she said. The LFFs Closing Night gala on Sunday 16 October at Odeon Leicester Square will serve as Free Fires European premiere ahead of it reaching UK cinemas sometime in 2017. The opening night film, as previously announced, will be Amma Asantes A United Kingdom, with the full festival programme set to be revealed on Thursday 1 September. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic 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 The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Returning to a classic Coen Brothers property is always going to be something people frown upon mainly because delivering something even close to the original's quality is nigh on impossible. Despite this, Fargo got turned into one of the decade's best television shows. A sequel to The Big Lebowski has seen many a rumour over the past five years, mainly fuelled by actor John Turturro who suggested an idea for a spin-off film featuring his character Jesus Quintana. While the Coen Brothers went on to rubbish any notion of a sequel, it's now emerged that one person who quite likes the idea of a follow-up is the film's lead, Jeff Bridges. Moreover, the actor would even be up for reprising his role as The Dude. Ive heard that for years, John saying that. I think it's a great idea," Bridges told Business Insider. "Yeah, it might be fun playing a little cameo as The Dude. Im hoping they make a little Lebowski [sequel] because its all set up. I impregnated Maude [Julianne Moore]. As The Stranger [Sam Elliott] says, Theres a little Lebowski on the way, you know? The Big Lebowski has generated a huge cult since its release in 1998 earning its very own festival, Lebowski Fest, as well as an online religion named Dudeism. The film co-stars John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Tara Reid. Which recent movies will become classics? Show all 21 1 /21 Which recent movies will become classics? Which recent movies will become classics? Birdman - Undoubtedly Alejandro G. Inarritus masterpiece will surely be remembered for years to come - fiercely original in its concept, brave in its single take(esque) format and the perfect satire of a very specific and bizarre era of cinema we find ourselves in. What perhaps was so astonishing about this Best Picture Oscar winner was that in spite of its experimental format and lofty intentions, it still also managed to be hugely entertaining, and is eminently rewatchable. - Christopher Hooton Fox Searchlight Pictures Which recent movies will become classics? There Will Be Blood - Potentially Inherent Vice feels like its been forgotten already, The Master was great but too weighty for some, but There Will Be Blood is the Paul Thomas Anderson film that comes up time and time again in pub film conversations, whether theyre between cinephiles or more casual fans. A blank yet brutal indictment of lucre, Daniel Day Lewis gave one of his best ever performances as oil man Daniel Plainview, and Jonny Greenwoods fearsome score is still being performed live several years after its release. But mainly, I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP! - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Avatar - Probably not Its undeniable that James Camerons gargantuan blockbuster Avatar will find its place in the cinematic history books. With a worldwide gross of over 2.7 billion, its currently the highest earning film of all time - even Star Wars' The Force Awakens return couldn't topple it. But will it actually be remembered fondly? Its ground-breaking special effects already betray the first signs of aging, and though its use of 3D was revolutionary at the time, its now so pedestrian as to be found in a Glee concert movie. What is there to revere then? The patronising narrative re-hash of the plot to Dances With Wolves? Or the bit where two cat-aliens had sex by plugging their hair braids into each other? - Clarisse Loughrey Which recent movies will become classics? Whiplash - Within its own genre at least Whiplash was perhaps the most buzzy, "have you seen it yet?" film of 2014, and winning major Oscars off a budget of $3.3 million was no mean feat. Damien Chazelle managed to make a film about drumming absolutely edge-of-your-seat stuff, and succeeded by not patronising his audience - trusting that even if they didnt understand the music theory detail, they would still be able to revel in it. Unfortunately, it might just be too small a film to be remembered as a classic, but will certainly be circling the top of best movies about music lists for some years to come. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Skyfall Depends whos Bond next Best Bond of all time? Skyfalls slick, true, but its status as an icon seems heavily premature. Were still clinging onto the Craig era, and its hard to argue that Skyfall doesnt do the same; trading its entire dramatic tension on the premise that weve long been deeply attached to this grizzled Bond and equally grizzled M. In Silvas personal vendetta, or in the neat metaphors of Skyfall Lodges crumbling exteriors and Bonds crumbling interiors of a post-Vesper Lynd world; its only once the franchise has moved on to new pastures that well truly start to see whether Skyfall can go the distance. Doesnt help that Spectre was a bit of a disappointment, though. -CL Which recent movies will become classics? Mad Max: Fury Road - A gutsy yes Yes, its a madly confident move to already claim Fury Roads going to a bonafide classic within its first year of release, but Fury Road is a mad movie. 36 years after its original incarnation, George Miller returned to the wasteland to conjure the greatest adrenaline hit of the cinematic decade. Breathlessly edited, hued with the colours of dust and dirt and rage; packed to the brim with practical stunt work unseen in the digital age. Plus, its a film that actively dismantles the patriarchy through a gun-slinging, metal-armed Charlize Theron. If its not remembered as one of the greatest blockbusters of its time, itll certainly be remembered as one of the gutsiest. - CL Which recent movies will become classics? The Great Beauty - No, but it damn well should be It won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2014, but this Paolo Sorrentino masterpiece is still unknown to most. It centres on a group of aging intellectuals partying on rooftops across Rome to Eurodance, and within this frame of superficiality it manages staggering profundity. The dialogue is rich, the cinematography sumptuous, and if Fellini is considered classic, this fellow Italians work certainly should be too. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Little Miss Sunshine - Within its own genre, yes The Sundance Effect has unfortunately developed a near plague of insufferable, self-conscious mawkishness over the years. Misfit boys finding new meaning to their existence in the arms of pink-haired manic pixie dream girls; sun-dappled bike rides as the latest band to feature a ukulele solo play softly in the distance. Some have indeed come off this false and cloying (Zach Braffs Garden State), others smarter and keener (last years Me and Earl and the Dying Girl); but as the fires of kook devour all in sight, there will always remain one film left standing in the ashes: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris Little Miss Sunshine. One scene that guarantees its elevation above the rabble sees teenager Dwayne (Paul Dano) realise hes colour-blind, and thus will never be able to achieve his dream of becoming a jet fighter. Danos meltdown here is so raw, and so positively tragic, that itll be a hard job to ever forget that epic f-bomb as the years pass. - CL Which recent movies will become classics? Lost in Translation - I'll still be watching it in my 80s at least Really a perfect movie. The casting couldn't have been better and Sofia Coppola conveys the choking feeling of an overly air-conditioned hotel room like no-one else. So many of the shots were beautiful in their simplicity. Bill Murray making a nice crisp, clean golf shot before walking off down the course. The flower arranging scene. Bill lightly grabbing Scarlett Johansson's foot and this subtly serving as the film's 'kiss'. It's the unconventional romance at the heart of the film that makes it so great, though, which is as much about companionship as physical and emotional love. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Crash - Hahahahahahahahaha Seriously, how did it win that Oscar? Even the director doesn't know. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Pans Labyrinth - Absolutely Guillermo del Toro dreams on celluloid; hes a weaver of fairy tales in an age where innocence is presumed dead. Its through innocence, through innocent eyes, that we witness the darkest excesses of human nature in a way that so exposes the incomprehensibility of evil committed in the pursuit of power. Through young Ophelias perspective we watch the horrors of Francos Spanish regime play out, the barbaric cruelty of her stepfather Captain Vidal; she fears not the horned faun who lives in the labyrinth when its so clear her own patriarchal figurehead is the true monster. And though its finale may be heart-breaking, del Toro still allows innocence a certain victory. Victory through Ophelias eyes, those pure and hungry enough to see beyond the borders of her bleak reality to find an escape from the seemingly unstoppable monstrosities of adulthood. - CL Warner Bros. Which recent movies will become classics? Im Still Here - When everyone realises its genius Initially admonished for being exploitative of Joaquin Phoenixs condition, it was astonishing that, when this Casey Affleck-directed mockumentary was revealed to be a hoax, most critics didnt give it a second review, and those who did still disliked it. In hindsight this was so much more than a prank. Phoenix stayed in character as a failed actor turned hip-hop artist for months on end. This dedication wasnt for nothing either (unlikely say, DiCaprio in The Revenant), Im Still Here is actually a very funny, moving and subtly satirical film, and definitely original. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Boyhood - I doubt it While it too was an unprecedented piece of cinema, Boyhood for me faded from the memory very quickly. Dismissing this film as essentially a puberty timelapse might be a little harsh, but the set-up did ultimately come off gimmicky and as a coming of age story it failed to resonate. Admirable, but not a classic - CH Universal Pictures Which recent movies will become classics? The Social Network - Yes I was less than thrilled at the prospect of a movie about Facebook, but then pleasantly surprised upon watching it. A holy production trinity of David Fincher (director), Aaron Sorkin (screenwriter) and Trent Reznor (score) told a story that changed all of our lives with such panache. Texting, the internet, social media etc are so prosaic that many authors and filmmakers disingenuously leave them out of their stories, but here they were central and yet still the film was engrossing, stylish and human. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Django Unchained - Hell yeah/hell maybe Swiping its titular characters name from a 1966 Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Corbucci, Tarantino utilised his trademark flair for ultra-violence and nihilistic humour to create the perfect meeting point between revisionism and classicism. Django channeled brutality in the name of righteous fury, allowing the freedom fighting slaves of a pre-Civil War Deep South their own legendary cowboy of the John Wayne or Clint Eastwood type. - CL Which recent movies will become classics? The Tree of Life - A few people will kid themselves its classic Terrence Malicks experimental drama couldnt really have been more ambitious or tried to chip away at a bigger chunk of existence. As such, it was automatically lauded by many who didnt really know what to make of it, but looking back, was it worthy of the praise? The Brad-Pitt-is-a-family-man-in-the-50s plot strand was actually pretty unremarkable, and were it not for the brazenness of the extended shots of the universe being formed I doubt it would have made top ten lists the way it did. - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Her - Yes, as a historical document Films depicting the future remain fascinating decades later because they show, in retrospect, how we wanted the world to progress and what developments we simply couldnt have conceived. As such Her will definitely still be getting talked about in years to come, whether or not we do indeed end up falling in love with our computers. (Also see: Ex Machina) - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Any of the space movies? Maybe Interstellar We seem to get a big budget space movie annually these days, and while none of them really have the creativity of Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar stands a chance of staying atop VOD libraries. Gravity and The Martian, while technically brilliant, were pretty forgettable, and dont get me started on Sunshine. Interstellar was very impressive though, and if a Christopher Nolan films going to stand out Id rather it be this one than - CH Which recent movies will become classics? Inception - Please no Yes, its insanely watchable and the plot zips along nicely, but seriously, can we stop pretending people falling backwards off chairs and out of camp, alpine sub-dream worlds amounts to anything more than an overly convoluted, albeit pretty, action movie? - CH Which recent movies will become classics? The Wolf of Wall Street - Not compared to Scorseses earlier work If theres a burden of the artistic revolutionary, its that revolution is only ever momentary in its form; Martin Scorsese made his mark back in 1973 with Mean Streets, and its one thats been difficult to paint over in the 43 years which have since passed. The Wolf of Wall Street faults itself only in being pure Scorsese; its a film which trades purely in the breathless, macho style already so entrenched in cinematic culture. Essentially, Scorseses own genre-defining genius has doomed to obscurity any latter work which dares to fold into the directors own natural form of expression; its made derivative any work which doesnt actively rebel against what hes been most celebrated for. A tough reality, but a reality nonetheless. - CL Paramount Pictures Which recent movies will become classics? Nymphomaniac - Maybe if Part II hadnt happened Even the truest of arthouse directors are culpable for the whims of Hollywood franchises. Yes, with his dual Nymphomaniac films, Lars von Trier managed to ruin the potential classic of his career by needlessly stretching his narrative across two films; churning out the NC-17 answer to Peter Jacksons Hobbit trilogy in the process. Strip Nymphomaniac of the controversy and media hysteria surrounding its use of pornographic actors in its sex scenes; and theres a torn, throbbing soul at its centre. For all its salaciousness, von Triers exploration of the crippling effects of shame society burdens those, especially its women, who dare seek sexual pleasure is genuinely haunting. Thats in Part I, however; by the time Joes life story sees her grow from Stacy Martin into Charlotte Gainsbourg, von Triers epic dissolves into the bang of a drum in continuous, endless cycles. Shes horny and sad; we got it, Lars. - CL The Coen Brothers' most recent film Hail, Caesar! was released in February. Bridges is currently being touted for a 2017 Oscar nomination for his role in Texas-set crime drama Hell or High Water which will be released in the UK on 9 September. 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 }} Iron ore futures in China are set to vault above levels last seen during the height of a speculative boom in April, after factory data signaled that government stimulus continues to bolster the nations manufacturing sector. The manufacturing purchasing managers index jumped to 50.6 in July, from 48.6 in June, while the official PMI slipped slightly to 49.9, from 50, presenting a broadly positive readout of Chinas industrial strength. Numbers below 50 indicate deteriorating conditions. The September iron ore contract climbed as much as 4.6 per cent to 482 yuan (54.86) a metric ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, and was at 479.5 yuan (54.58) by 11:30 am local time. Thats the best intraday level since 25 April and shows prices headed for their highest close since March 2015. In Singapore, futures for September gained 3.1 per cent to $57.22 (43.23) a tonne. The PMI data today suggests that China is yet to see any moderation in its infrastructure spending, said Evan Lucas, a markets strategist in Melbourne at IG, adding that demand for steel products is likely to remain high over the coming months. Iron ore has seen an interesting demand change over the past three months. The steel-making ingredient is recovering ground lost since May, after a speculator-led boom fizzled. Chinese mills have maintained daily steel output at record levels, boosting demand for iron ore even as supply has remained strong. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. Analysts remain divided over iron ores trajectory. The raw material may be boosted over the next 12 months as expanded credit in China helps to underpin steel production, according to a report by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. last month. Macquarie, however, has said its skeptical about fundamental support for the recent move higher. Advances in futures typically precede gains in the benchmark iron ore price. Spot ore with 62 per cent content at Qingdao was at $59.37 (44.86) a tonne on Friday, capping a 6.7 per cent rise in July, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd. During the run-up in April, the benchmark rallied 23 per cent, peaking at more than $70 (52.89), only to slump 24 per cent in May. Its 36 per cent higher this year. 2016 Bloomberg Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The founder of a flagship free school and two members of staff have been told they could face time in prison after being found guilty of defrauding the government of around 150,000 in grants. Sajid Hussain Raza, 43, Shabana Hussain, 40, and Daud Khan, 44, were convicted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of making payments into their bank accounts from Department for Education grants given to help set up Bradford Kings science academy in 2011. The academy was one of the first free schools to open, and was praised by former Prime Minister David Cameron during a high-profile visit soon afterwards. It has since become part of Dixon Academies Charitable Trust and renamed Dixons Kings academy. The defendants showed no emotion as the jury foreman returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all charges, the Press Association reported, but were found guilty by a jury of five men and seven women who heard evidence over a six-week trial. Judge Christopher Batty told the defendants: You have been convicted of serious offences and I am very much considering custody in each of your cases. The trial heard that Raza, the school principal, had used some of the fraudulent money to make mortgage repayments on rental properties he owned to alleviate his financial problems. But he told the jury the suggestion he used public money to cover his debts was unbelievable. The fraudulent activity continued for three years, between November 2010 and December 2013, despite senior civil servants expressing concern about his leadership and financial management. Raza was found guilty of four counts of fraud, three counts of false accounting and two counts of obtaining money by deception. Hussain, a teacher and Razas sister, was convicted of one count of fraud and one count of obtaining property by deception. Khan, the schools financial director, was found guilty of two counts of fraud and three counts of false accounting. part of a flagship education policy introduced by Michael Gove after the 2010 general election. Peter Mann, the head of the complex casework unit at the Crown Prosecution Service in Yorkshire and Humberside, said Razas motive was clear adding: He was in considerable financial difficulties as his buy to let business had been running at a considerable loss. In setting up Kings Science Academy, Raza deliberately set about defrauding the [DfE] of approximately 150,000 by creating false invoices, submitting fraudulent expense claims and paying himself an inflated salary. Recommended Read more Church could run a quarter of new free schools within four years Far from being a model school, Raza treated the academy like a family business, employing his relatives there and, for at least the first 12 months, operating with no proper governance. His co-defendants were also drawn into this criminality. Kings science academy was among the first wave of free schools set up as part of a new flagship education policy following the 2010 general election. A series of grants were awarded by the Department of Education to cover the costs of setting up the school. The three defendants will be sentenced next month. Additional reporting from PA 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 }} Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestones mother-in-law has been rescued after being abducted by kidnappers in Brazil more than a week ago. Aparecida Schunck, 67, the mother of Mr Ecclestones wife Fabiana Flosi, 38, was taken from her home in Sao Paolo and held on a ransom of 28m 10 days ago. She was rescued from two men on the outskirts of the city on Sunday by Sao Paulos anti-kidnapping division and was not harmed in the operation, Brazilian police said. Recommended Read more Ecclestone risks fresh sexism storm with female F1 driver comments According to Brazilian magazine Veja, the kidnappers had demanded Ms Schuncks ransom was paid in pounds sterling and divided into four bags of cash. Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police told the BBC the 28m ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid. She added there had been a major police operation to rescue Ms Schunck and that two suspects had been arrested. Investigators managed to discover Ms Schuncks location after monitoring phone calls between her kidnappers and her family, tracing her location to a farmhouse near Sao Paulo. Mr Ecclestone, 85, who is reportedly worth 3.8bn, married Ms Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. 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. Brazil is hosting this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro which start on Friday. Security has emerged as the top concern, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that some 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during the games. Additional reporting by Press Association For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A billionaires son has been arrested for refusing to pay a $28 taxi fare. Harry Brant, the son of paper tycoon Peter Brant and former supermodel Stephanie Seymour, was arrested in Greenwich, Connecticut, after telling a taxi driver he did not have the money to pay the $27.85 (21.11) fare before attempting to flee. Local police were called and described Brant as sweating profusely and pale in colour when they caught up with him. The 20-year-old initially denied being in the taxi but eventually changed his story and admitted he had taken one to Greenwich from nearby Stanford, but could not afford to pay the driver. When he was told to put his hands behind his head, he began to scream No! No! and attempted to flee from police, the Greenwich Times reported. The official police report said: Officers were able to grab ahold of Brant and take him to the ground. Brant continued to resist officers attempts to place him under arrest by tensing his muscles while swinging his arms and kicking his legs. Officers were finally able to place him in handcuffs. After he was searched, police say they found a small bag of drugs in his pocket. The most influential people on social media in 2015 Show all 6 1 /6 The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) Youtube The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Brandon Stanton The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Tess Holliday The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Lena Dunham The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Harry Styles The most influential people on social media in 2015 The most influential people on social media in 2015 Taylor Swift He was not carrying an ID and refused to give his real name but an officer recognised him. The socialite has been charged with larceny, resisting arrest and drug possession. Brant and his older brother, Peter, are well known on social media as trendsetters and models. Peter Brant was arrested in March for allegedly assaulting a police officer at JFK airport in New York after he was not allowed on board a flight to Florida. Harry Brant has been released on bail until his court hearing on 4 August. Bureaucracy rarely conjures positive associations in most peoples minds, and for someone who faces far too much of it, I may not seem like the kind of person who goes into raptures over bureaucrats. Yet, Anand Ram Mukhlis (1699-1750)* is an exception, and he is easily one of my favorite historical personages. Born into a Hindu family in the north of India, he practiced a trade that wouldnt be out of place in Washington DC or Brussels. Like his grandfather and father, he was a personal representative at the Delhi imperial court for the prime minister and for the governor of Lahore and Multan provinces. A lobbyist, if you will. Emperor Muhammad Shah with courtiers, ca. 1730 The most lasting achievement of Anand Ram Mukhlis was in his scholarly and creative work. He wrote poetry, chronicled contemporary events and compiled manuals on the proper use of Persian. His mastery of the language was such that the emperor Muhammad Shah himself requested his services as a letter writer when he wanted to communicate with the Safavid court in Iran. One of the images I used to illustrate this article is a copy of Mukhliss advice on developing ones writing style in Persian. Its titled Fairy House, which gives you a clue as to the ornate stylistic tools he proposed. The late Mughal era and the reign of Muhammad Shah (1717-1748) were marked by decline, hastened by Nader Shahs invasion in 1739. About a century after the Shah of Persia destroyed Delhi and carried off the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond and the Peacock Throne as part of his loot, the Mughal dynasty would be abolished by the British. One more century after the establishment of the Raj, and the subcontinent would be partitioned into India and Pakistan and its layered Indo-Persian culture would be fractured. Mughal Princesses Learning Calligraphy Reading Mukhliss works, one gets a sense of how profound such a loss has been. Mukhlis wasnt the most stellar of poets, but he was part of the milieu in which artistic taste, literary style and acceptance of diversity were a mark of distinction. The blossoming of literature, music, dance and arts was due to the support of individuals like Mukhlis, and a number of poets and writers counted him as their patron. Tolerance comes hand in hand with prosperity. Its no accident that the Mughals began to decline as Aurangzeb, the great-grandson of Akbar, a man who hosted multi-religious symposia as the Inquisition raged in Europe, turned to bigotry. Aurangzebs actions set in motion events that his successors could no longer control, even if the later emperors reversed his policies and generally ascribed to the principles of broad tolerance. In Muhammad Shahs court, someone like Mukhlis, a devout Hindu, didnt feel any contradiction between his professed religious belief and those of his Sunni Muslim leaders. His letters include the standard Islamic forms of invocations and his poetry is a delightful blend of Hindu and Muslim motifs. In our world with its clashes of civilization narratives, people like Anand Ram Mukhlis appear like anomalies. As a product of a rich, layered culture, he stands to remind us that individuals are more complex than any religious label (or any other blanket statement) can suggest. And that tolerance, curiosity about others and acceptance of differences are not some mythical European or liberal valuesthey underscore what it means to be human. The British Library holds a fine collection of Mughal era manuscripts, including Anand Ram Mukhliss works. Their blog also features articles about this intriguing character and his world. *The dates as given by B.Ahmads article in Encyclopedia Iranica. Illustrations: Emperor Muhammad Shah smoking huqqah, ca. 1730, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford via Wiki-images. Princesses learning calligraphy, Muhammad Shahs reign, via Wiki-images. Some rights reserved. A copy of Mukhliss essay Fairy House (1731/32) via the wonderful blog of the British Library. 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 }} Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, has turned his guns on Donald Trump and criticised him over his comments about a gold star Muslim couple who spoke out against him at the Democratic convention. Khizr and Ghazala Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) about their son, who died while fighting for the US in Iraq, and denounced what they termed Mr Trump's efforts to smear Americans. Mr McCain, who has issued only a lukewarm endorsement of Mr Trump and is fighting a tough re-election battle for the Senate, said he could not emphasise enough how deeply I disagree with Mr Trumps statement. While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us, Mr McCain said in a statement on Monday. Mr McCain has a difficult relationship with Mr Trump Mr McCain, perhaps Americas most celebrated former prisoner of war, also paid homage to the sacrifice of the Khans son, and others who have died. I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007 at a town-hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, Mr McCain wrote. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me. The controversy surrounding Mr Trump and the Khans relates to an appearance by the couple last week at the Democratic National Convention. In one of the most keenly watched addresses, Mr Khan said the Republican presidential nominee had smeared Muslims while sacrificing nothing himself. Two days later, Mr Trump added fresh fuel to the issue when he appeared to suggest that Ms Khan had not spoken during the convention because she had been prohibited from doing so. He appeared to suggest this was because she was a Muslim woman. Father of Muslim-American soldier killed in action tells Donald Trump: You have sacrificed nothing Ms Khan rapidly shot back in an article for The Washington Post, saying: Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. She added: Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak? Mr Trump also found himself being criticised by other parents who had lost children in conflict. In an open letter, several gold star families, a reference to families who have had a loved one die in service to the nation, called on the Republican presidential nominee to stop his attacks on the Khan family. Their son was killed in Iraq in 2004 and posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for his actions. Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us, read the letter, which was put together by Karen Meredith, a gold star mother who serves as military families coordinator for VoteVets.org, a political organisation for US veterans. When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice. This is not the first time Mr Trump has found himself at the centre of controversy over Americas military veterans. Last July, the property tycoon said Mr McCain was only considered a war hero because he was captured and seemed to mock him for that fact. I cannot emphasise enough how deeply I disagree with Mr Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates, said Mr McCain. 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 }} It seems Kanye West was not joking when he announced he would be running for President this time last year. The 39-year-old rapper has now given some concrete details about why he plans to throw his hat into the ring in 2020. Appearing on Annie Macs Radio One show, West explained he did not hold political views but was driven by his perspective on humanity. When I talk about the idea of being president, I'm not saying I have any political views. I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth, he said. We are numb, we're numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, we're numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July, he continued. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while I'm alive I'm going to try to do it. West first alerted the world to his presidential ambitions during his acceptance speech at the VMA awards last summer. From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift Show all 6 1 /6 From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift September 2009 NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Kanye West (L) jumps onstage after Taylor Swift (C) won the "Best Female Video" award during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images) From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift September 2009 NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Kanye West (L) jumps onstage after Taylor Swift (C) won the "Best Female Video" award during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images) Christopher Polk/Getty From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift February 2015 LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: (L-R) Recording Artists Taylor Swift, Jay Z and Kanye West and tv personality Kim Kardashian attend The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the STAPLES Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS) From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift August 2015 LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 30: Recording artist Kanye West (L) accepts the Video Vanguard Award from recording artist Taylor Swift onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift April 2016 Kanye West drops 'Famous', which includes the controversial line 'I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous' From beef to BFFs to beef again: Kanye West and Taylor Swift July 2016 Kim Kardashian releases of audio of Tayior Swift approving the lyrics to 'Famous' Getty In the interview, the musician also announced he was desperate to work with the Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture company Ikea on a new range of furniture. I have to work with Ikea - make furniture for interior design, for architecture. Yo Ikea, allow Kanye to create, allow him to make this thing because you know what, I want a bed that he makes, I want a chair that he makes. He said he was especially keen to focus on student interior and design "a minimalist apartment inside of a college dorm". West was photographed visiting Ikea's head office in Almhult, south Sweden, earlier this year but the company has yet to comment on whether it will be collaborating with West. The full interview airs on BBC Radio One tonight from 7-9pm 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 }} If you are a model you might sometimes be photographed without all your clothes on. And if youre a somewhat sleazy New York tabloid looking for eyeballs in election year, you might well be inclined to put those pictures on your front page - especially if the model is the wife of a presidential candidate. This weekend, two such worlds collided, and Rupert Murdochs New York Post found itself deflecting accusation of misogyny after running naked pictures of Donald Trumps wife, Melania, two days in succession. Menage a Trump, ran a headline, touting the papers exclusive photos. Melania Trump, 46, met Donald Trump when she was a model (Reuters) The picture showed a nude Melania being hugged by another nude woman as she lay in bed. On Sunday, the Post ran a front-page picture of a nude Melania, with stars covering her breasts, under the title The Ogle Office. The Republican's presidential campaign appeared to shrug off the pictures. Mr Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN on Sunday that there was nothing to be embarrassed about with the pictures shes a beautiful woman. The AFP said both sets of photos were taken in 1995 when the 46-year-old Slovenian-born Melania was 25 and working as a model, before she met Mr Trump. The pictures were published the following year in Max, a now-defunct French magazine. Earlier this year, Mr Trump found himself at the centre of controversy after retweeting an image of Melania from a photo-shoot in 2000, alongside a less flattering picture of Ted Cruzs wife, Heidi. Michelle melania speech plagiarized In April, the Post backed Mr Trump for president in mid-April, describing him at the time as a potential superstar of vast promise, but making rookie mistakes. The reaction on social media ranged from outcry to admiration. Some asked how conservative evangelical Christians would react, while others asked if the Post had belatedly turned against Mr Trump. Melania met Trump in 1998, and became the real estate tycoon's third wife in 2005. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Could the end of the Stone Age really have been the Stoned Age? According to new research, the dealing and distribution of Cannabis as a commodity was started around this time, several millennia ago. A new study, published in the journal of Vegetation History and Archeobotany, has linked the increased use of cannabis in East Asia with the rise of transcontinental trade between Europe and the East between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, at the start of the Bronze Age. The researchers have presented a systematic review of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records of cannabis, which includes the fibres and pollen of the plant, in Europe and East Asia. Recommended Read more Seven of the most popular myths about cannabis debunked They found that, counter to the general assumption that cannabis was first used in China or Central Asia, the plant was found to have been used in Japan and Eastern Europe at nearly the same point in time, between 11,500 and 10,000 years ago, the New Scientist reports. The Yamnaya people, who were based in what is now Eastern Europe, are thought to have transported cannabis across the continent as they travelled eastwards. It is thought that cannabis is one of the goods sent along the Bronze Road to Asia, which later became known as the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes that connected Europe and China. Dr Tengwen Long, who led the team of researchers at the Free University of Berlin, said: The cannabis plant seems to have been distributed widely from as early as 10,000 years ago, or even earlier. He added that the high value of the plant, which could have been used for a range of reasons from its psychoactive properties to the ability to make fabric from its fibres, would have made it an ideal item to trade, as a cash crop before cash, Sky News reports. Dr Tengwen stressed that more data from south Russia and Central Asia is needed to address the unsolved issues in understanding the complex history of human cannabis utilisation. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The surge in anti-immigrant hate crimes seen after the EU referendum was particularly intense in areas of the country that strongly voted Leave, an investigation by The Independent has found. Disturbing new figures drawn directly from local police forces databases show consistent doubling and tripling of relevant hate crimes in the most Eurosceptic parts of Britain. They go even further than the average 57 per cent nationwide increase in hate crimes reported by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) in the aftermath of the referendum. The statistics, obtained under freedom of information rules, come as the Home Secretary Amber Rudd announces that Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will look at how officers respond to reports of such crimes. Lincolnshire was the site of the UKs highest Leave vote, with 75 per cent of voters in Boston voting Out. Other areas in the county such as South Holland and East Lindsey also both posted Leave figures of more than 70 per cent. Police data shows Lincolnshire saw a 191 per cent rise in hate crimes compared to last year. Its police force recorded 22 ethnic and religiously motivated hate crimes in the week corresponding to the EU referendum in 2015, but this year the number surged to 42 such crimes in the week of the EU referendum, and 64 crimes in the week after. The pattern was repeated in other Brexit heartlands. Kent, which recorded a majority Leave vote of nearly 60 per cent, recorded 16 ethnic and religious hate crimes in the 2015 week corresponding to the referendum. This increased to 25 the week of the EU referendum and surged further to 39 the following week up by 143 per cent. In Derbyshire, where every council area also voted to leave, there was a recorded 121 per cent rise from 14 crimes to 31 the week after the EU referendum. Nottinghamshire, another strong Leave area, was a statistical exception and showed only an 11 per cent overall increase. This was because of an unusually high reporting of criminal damage hate crimes in the comparable week in 2015. However, violent hate crimes in the county were up by 140 per cent in the first full week after the referendum result became known. German woman didn't leave her house for 3 days after Brexit in fear of being abused Crimes recorded across the surveyed police force areas were mostly public harassment, but also included dozens of racially or religiously motivated assaults including actual bodily harm and beatings. Selected other crimes found on the databases included: arson; threats to kill, including threatening written letters; criminal damage; and possession of a bladed weapon. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell The NPCC said that nationwide it had received more than 6,000 reports of hate crimes in the four weeks from 16 June. Mark Hamilton, head of the organisation, said earlier this month that he believed the referendum debate was responsible for the increased figures. Announcing the HMIC review into how the crimes are dealt with earlier this week, the Home Secretary Ms Rudd said: This Government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone. Recommended Read more Cameron offers knighthoods to Remain campaigners Those who practice hatred send out a message that its okay to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background, that its ok to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals. Well, I have a very clear message for them. We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone. We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. We are the sum of all our parts a proud, diverse society. Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out. 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 12-year-old boy is one of four boys who have been charged with the murder of a man in Aston-under-Lyne. The youths are accused of attacking, named locally as Bradley Moore, in Warrington Street in the city centre on Wednesday evening. They are due to appear at Oldham Magistrates Court on Monday. The other boys charged include a 17-year-old and two 16-year-olds. Police were called to the scene shortly before 10:50pm and found the man in the street with serious injuries. He was taken to hospital but died a few hours later. Floral tributes have been left to the father-of-four at the scene by his friends and family, the Manchester Evening News reported. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters A handwritten note left believed have been left by his younger children said: "Dad I will miss you". A tribute to him on social media said: He was a very, very clever lad extremely clever, he was caring and compassionate, he would give you his last penny if ever he had one. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Australian family is facing imminent deportation was still hopeful last night of remaining in the UK despite apparently missing a deadline to meet visa requirements Kathryn and Gregg Brain, who live in the Scottish Highlands, had until midnight to secure a job for Mrs Brain that meets Home Office visa requirements, after being granted an extension on their leave to remain. But there was no announcement as the deadline passed. The couple moved from Australia to Dingwall with their son Lachlan on her student visa in 2011, but a two-year post-study visa scheme then on offer was later withdrawn by the Government. Kathryn and Gregg Brain have strongly criticised the "injustice" of the Home Office's threat to remove them in August after retroactively ending a two-year post-study scheme just three months after they arrived in the Scottish Highlands in 2011. Their leave to remain in the UK expired at midnight on Monday night. While Theresa May has said "there is a need to follow the rules", a Home Office spokesperson has said any visa application put in by the family up until that time will be considered. Mr Brain said the family have received around a dozen job offers but none that would meet the specifications for a UK tier two visa. But he said last night they are still hopeful that a 28-day extension can be secured. Mr Brain said: "As we understand it, you can usually make an application within 28 days of the expiry of your leave period. You lose certain appeal rights because you are late with your application but it can still be done. "That is the ordinary case. Our circumstances are rather complicated by the extra period of grace that has been given to us and we're still talking to our solicitors just to find out exactly where we stand on that issue, but our understanding is we probably can, if an employer were to turn up, make a late application and that would be considered." He said they had been operating on the assumption that yesterday was the deadline "but it is a possibility that we may be able to still continue on". He said they would still be talking to the lawyers today: "We'll be trying to find a way forward and still hoping that the Home Office will see that the honourable course is to do what they said they were going to do when they asked us to come here." But if the family's "grace period" elapses, the Brains will be expected to voluntarily return home to Australia. A decade-long dream to move to the UK was thrown into disarray in 2012 when the family, which includes 11-year-old son Lachlan, were first made aware that Ms Brain's visa was no longer considered valid by the Government. And now a job offer for Ms Brain has fallen through, threatening the deal made by new immigration minister Robert Goodwill that the family could stay on the condition that Ms Brain find permanent work. Mr Brain said he was disappointed that the Home Office had not upheld "their end of the bargain." "We spent 10 years trying to plan to get here in the first place - it's been a dream of ours since years before Lachlan was born," he said. "It's not something we can put aside lightly. It's the injustice of it, the thousands of students who were robbed when this deal was retro-actively torn up. "I just cannot accept this, I want the UK Government to give us what they promised us when they enticed us to sell our homes and bring that equity to the UK. "Neither one of us have been allowed to work since mid-March and we have been living on the charity of friends, the church and strangers." 10 things immigration has done for Britain Show all 10 1 /10 10 things immigration has done for Britain 10 things immigration has done for Britain The Mini The 1959 classic, that is, perhaps our greatest piece of industrial design, a miracle of packaging and revolution in motoring. Its genius designer was Sir Alec Issigonis, who was an asylum seeker. His family, Greek, fled Smyrna when Turks invaded this borderland in around 1920, and he wound up studying engineering at Battersea Polytechnic. He went on to create that most English of motor cars, the Morris Minor, as well as the Austin-Morris 1100, all much loved products of his fertile imagination. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain Marks and Spencer Once upon a time there was no M&S in Britain, difficult as that may be to believe. We have one Michael Marks to thank for our most famous retailer, and he was a refugee from Belarus, arriving in England in about 1882, and soon after set off to flog stuff around Yorkshire. He eventually teamed with Thomas Spencer to create the vast business we know today. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain Thunderbirds And many other TV shows created, funded and otherwise produced by that largest of larger-than-life characters, Lew Grade (also a world class tap dancer). The man who dominated commercial television gave us memorable entertainment such as The Prisoner, the Saint and brought the Muppets to Britain (a sort of fuzzy felt wave of immigration), as well as puppet shows where you could see the strings. All this from a penniless Jew from Ukraine, born Lev Winogradsky, who escaped the pogroms in Ukraine with his family in the 1890s. His nephew Michael Grade has also done his bit for British television. Rex Features 10 things immigration has done for Britain The House of Windsor Or the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until George V prudently rebranded the family during the First World War. Well, our royals are a pretty German bunch, as well as having various types of French and other alien blue blood coursing around their veins. Twas ever thus. There was William the Conqueror, Norman French, who certainly broke the immigration rules; William of Orange, a direct import from Holland; the Hanoverian King Georges, the first barely able to speak English; Queen Victoria, who married a German, Edward VII, who couldnt stay faithful to his wife, a Danish princess; George V wed another German princess; Edward VIII married an American (though she hardly visited England and prompted his emigration and exile); and the Queen is married to man born in Corfu. The embodiment of the British nation, to many, but one thinks of them as quite multicultural really. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain I Vow To Thee My Country Our most patriotic hymn was the product of a man named Gustav Holst (pictured), born in Cheltenham, but of varied Swedish, Latvian and German ancestry, who adapted part of his suite The Planets to put a particularly stirring and beautiful poem to music, just after the Great War. As the second verse has it, there's another country/I've heard of long ago/Most dear to them that love her/most great to them that know. Imagine if the Holst family had been kept out because the quota on musical European types had been reached. Creative Commons 10 things immigration has done for Britain Curry and Cobra Chicken Tikka Masala is, so they say, a dish which not only the most popular in Britain but specifically designed to cater for European tastes. For that we probably have to thank an Indian migrant, Sake Dean Mahomed, who came from Bengal to open the first recognisable Indian restaurant, the magnificently named Hindoostanee Coffee House. History does not record if a plate of poppadoms and accompanying selection of pickles and yoghurts were routinely placed on the table for new diners, but we do know that we had to wait until 1989 to taste the ideal lager for a curry - Cobra. That brew was brought to us by Karan (now Lord) Bilimoria, a Cambridge law graduate who hailed from Hyderabad. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain That big red swirly sculpture at the Olympic Park Or Orbit, to give it its proper name, the work of Anish Kapoor, who arrived in 1973 from India and had the artistic imagination to fill a power station. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain The Sun Love it or hate it, and many do both, this has been a symbol of much that is successful and a lot that is awful in British journalism since its inception in 1969. In its turn it spawned the Page 3 Girl and some nastily xenophobic headlines. All the stranger when you consider its creator was, of course, Rupert Murdoch, born 11 March 1931 in Melbourne, Australia. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain Marxism OK, Karl Marxs philosophy was not much of a gift to the world, but for a while it seemed like a good idea. Though we might not dare admit it, Marxism still has a few insights to offer to anyone wanting to understand the workings of capitalism, though too few to excuse everything that was done in its name. Born in Germany spent much time in the British museum and the British pub, buried Highgate Cemetery. Oddly, his ideas never really caught on in his adopted homeland. Getty Images 10 things immigration has done for Britain The NHS They came from many, many backgrounds, including Ireland, the Philippines, east Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, as they still do, but the contribution of the black nurses who came to the UK from the Caribbean to heal and care for is a debt of honour that must be recognised. It so sometimes forgotten that it was Enoch Powell, then Minister of Health (1960-62), who campaigned to recruit their skilled nurses to come and work over here. One abiding legacy we can thank Enoch for. Getty Images Despite support from Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, and rumours that one of Scotland's biggest employers wishes to make Ms and Mr Brain a job offer, a potential post at a local distillery has collapsed as it did not meet the necessary visa specifications. Mr Brain continued: "At this stage we are still very much hoping that an employer will come forward and we'll be able to continue moving towards a tier two visa application. "Of course, what I'd really like is for the Home Office to give us what they promised when we moved here in the first place - a two-year visa with the right to work. "We have fulfilled our end of the bargain and we still very much want the Home Office to fulfil theirs. "But failing being dealt with honourably by the UK Government, what I would like is for an employer to come forward and take Kathryn on to enable us to get a permit and be able to stay on in Scotland." Speaking at a press conference, a spokeswoman for Theresa May said: "On that case it is one that ministers have spoken about before. "I think, in terms of the details, they do have a temporary leave to remain, currently. We recognise the strength of feeling on this case but there is a need to follow the rules, follow the process and to date they have not lodged a visa application with the Home Office. They have temporary leave to remain that doesnt expire until midnight tonight. They have already been given three grace periods of temporary leave in order that they can make an application for a visa." A day before they were due to be deported on May 31 this year, former immigration minister James Brokenshire gave the family leave to remain in the country until August 1, with his successor Mr Goodwill saying he would be willing to look at extending this if a concrete job offer was made. Angus Robertson asks about child likely to be deported Mr Brain added the family had been "stunned" by the response to their plight, with people sending cheques to their local MP to help support them. Other SNP MPs including Angus Robertson and Ian Blackford and MSP Kate Forbes have also called on the Home Office to allow the family to stay. A Home Office spokesperson confirmed with The Independent that any updates would be given after the deadline on August 2. Additional reporting from the Press Association Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Dublin Zoo has launched an inquiry after a picture emerged on social media of a young boy inside a rhino enclosure. The picture showed the boy stood on a rock while holding the hand of an older man, with a rhino stood in the background. He is seen less than a yard from the fence, standing on large boulders which act as an additional barricade several feet above the ground while the man was seen taking pictures. Ciaran Ferrie, an architect who photographed the incident, Tweeted the picture with the caption: Just a child inside the Rhino enclosure at Dublin Zoo. Recommended Read more Tiger crashes into glass as it pounces on zoo visitor Another Twitter user who saw the incident, Adrianna Straszewska, posted a close up picture of the boy with the caption: This man had the child in behind the fence for a good 20 minutes! A spokeswoman for the zoo said the incident was being reviewed internally. It is understood the health and safety standards of the African Savanna enclosure for the zoo's southern white rhinos are also being examined, Press Association reports. Dublin Zoo has experienced a number of incidents involving its animals down the years, including a teenager from Belfast who was attacked by an Amur tiger in 2006 after scaling two fences and reaching her arm in through a third fence. In 2010 a penguin was stolen in a suspected prank and in 2008 an orangutan escaped from its enclosure while a school tour was walking by. Dublin Zoo is expected to reveal a further response to the latest incident in the coming days. Additional reporting by Press Association 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 }} Cornwalls council has admitted it will keep its office in Brussels after the UK has severed ties with the EU, despite residents in the county voting overwhelming to leave the bloc. Senior councillors fear the UK Government will not keep its promise to maintain up to 60m in annual EU funding and say the Brussels office will remain essential in its quest to bring in cash from other areas. The county found itself the subject of a series of national headlines in the wake of the Brexit vote, when it insisted it wanted to keep the annual grant regardless of Cornish antipathy towards the EU. Recommended Read more Cornwall votes for Brexit and then pleads to keep EU funding But Julian German, portfolio holder for economy and culture at Cornwall Council, told The Independent: We believe it is more important than ever to maintain our office in Brussels. The base in Brussels will be used to maintain Cornwalls involvement in Horizon 2020, an EU research programme, and Interreg, which strives for European territorial co-operation. Cornwall is also involved in the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, a think-tank made up of representatives from 28 countries with sea borders in Europe. There are still funding streams that are open to non-EU countries. In terms of trading and a wider fiduciary and cultural relationship, being in Brussels is beneficial, Mr German said. Theresa May says she has an 'open mind' over Brexit negotiations The Cornwall Brussels office allows us to have an ear to the ground and see where the opportunities are. In what we all believe are more straightened financial times in the short term, it makes sense to be there. As the poorest region in England, Cornwall received funding from the EU based on need. The Government promised that Cornwall would receive the same money if the UK voted to leave, but Mr German said that so far they had put a hold on contracts and refused to give further details. That means that millions of pounds that should be going towards work spaces, programmes to get young people in training and work and renewable energy from the sea, among other things, have been halted. The Government is saying were not signing any contracts. Weve had contracts that were ready to be signed in May. Businesses want to move on things. Some of these projects, if funding doesnt come soon, wont happen, he said. A considerable majority of Cornish voters opted to Leave the EU, at 182,665 to 140,540, despite the region receiving millions in funding that has gone towards building Newquay Airport and the Eden Project. EU funding has supported local businesses and helped improving training for young people in the county. In the aftermath of the vote, many questioned why Cornish residents were not better informed about how much support they were getting from the EU. 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods food and clothes being the most obvious but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images When asked why so many Cornish people voted to leave despite the amount of financial support they received, Mr German said he thought people wanted both to leave the EU and to improve their life changes and employment prospects - but that the two were not mutually exclusive. I think theres a disconnect between beneficiaries in Cornwall and acknowledging that the funding is possible because of EU, Mr German said. Im concerned that these benefits will fall away and people will say how come. At the moment people dont understand that but once they start losing benefits they will understand, he said. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The public must do more to assist the police in preventing potential terror attacks, a senior UK police officer has said. Mark Rowley, Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations in the Metropolitan Police, commended the public's cooperation with the police, but said "even more public assistance" is needed to "keep us all safe". In a blog post on the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) website, Mr Rowley revealed that UK police see at least 3,639 contributions from the public every day, describing the figure as "impressive". He wrote: "The true scale of that collaboration is impressive, but rarely explained. "The fact is that we see at least 3,639 contributions from the public every day, helping keep us all safe in our collective effort against terrorism. "Indeed, some of our highest priority investigations have benefitted from information from communities." But Mr Rowley went on to say that more public assistance is needed in order to maintain people's safety. "However, with the enduring severity of the threat, we need even more public assistance to help keep us all safe," he wrote. The blog post lays out six ways members of the public can go about "reporting suspicions and concerns" and "being prepared". The points includes calling the anti-Terrorist Hotline, informing the police of concerns about anyone who may be being radicalised and taking part in an NPCC counter terrorism training and awareness event. UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Show all 14 1 /14 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Oxford Street terror plot Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad EPA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Rosie Cooper MP plot Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington Hope Not Hate UK terror plots that were foiled by security services 'Poppy terror plot' Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public. The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014 PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services National Action arrests Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Shane Fletcher A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque" PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Heathrow airport arrests A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Extradition of Abu Hamza Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a significant plot PA UK terror plots that were foiled by security services October 2014 arrests Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said may have foiled the early stages of a plan to attack the UK Peter Macdiarmid/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Anjem Choudary arrest Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria Oli Scarff/Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing Police seize 250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014 Getty UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Tarik Hassane arrest A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015 UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Abu Qatada removed from UK Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013 Reuters UK terror plots that were foiled by security services Haider Ahmed knife plot Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019 Counter Terrorism Policing South East Mr Rowley added: "While you can rely on us to work flat out, doing everything we can to protect you [...] our collective safety depends on everyone's efforts." The announcement comes after Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told the public a terror attack in the UK is a matter of "when, not if". Sir Hogan-Howe said: "Our threat level has been at 'Severe' for two years. It remains there." It means an attack is highly likely you could say it is a case of when, not if. The threat to the UK is at the second highest of five possible levels, meaning an attack is highly likely. Business / Companies by Leonard Ncube ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe has scooped three awards in recognition of its innovative approach to business and contribution to the economy.Afri-Sure, a consortium of consultants in the insurance sector, who are partnering the Government in spearheading micro-insurance to cover low income earners, gave the awards to the giant telecommunications firms at the end of the Micro-Insurance Summit in Victoria Falls last week.Ministry of Finance and Economic Development senior officer Dr Judith Kateera presented the awards that include - top technology company, top innovative product and top contributing personality in the micro-insurance sector.Econet Wireless has been rated top technology company in Zimbabwe while its micro-insurance product, EcoSure is rated the top innovative product in the funeral and life assurance category.Econet Life general manager Mr Godwin Mashiri was honoured for being the top contributing personality in the micro-insurance sector.Dr Kateera commended Econet and urged other insurance service providers to emulate the company."EcoSure now has 600,000 subscribers, that's a huge achievement as it is bigger than all other insurance companies together. What this means is that we should unpack, appreciate and find out how we can emulate them," she said.Econet launched its EcoSure product in December 2014 in partnership with local funeral parlours.Subscribers pay $0.50 through Ecocash, another product that is doing well in the country with provision of micro-finance at a time when banks are facing difficulties providing enough cash.Beneficiaries of EcoSure can access $500 cover for a decent burial. Econet runs other products such as EcoFarmer.The summit was attended by representatives of insurance companies from Africa and beyond.It sought to encourage traditional companies to move away from the elitist mindset and spread cover to low income earners. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Male refugees settling in Britain should be given lessons in women's equality, a Labour MP has insisted. Thangam Debbonaire, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on refugees, said the move could be part of a national drive to improve male attitudes towards women generally. Ms Debbonaire said that new arrivals would need a "sensitive" introduction to a different culture. Recommended Read more 2016 on course to be deadliest year on record for refugees The MP for Bristol West, who has just launched an inquiry into the experiences of new refugees in the UK, drew parallels with concerns in Germany after some migrants were accused of sexual assaults at New Year's Eve celebrations. "What I don't want is for the British people to respond to a case of assault or sexual harassment by saying 'no' to more refugees, which seemed to be what the public's response to Germany was in danger of becoming. "We need to think about how we have those men understand what is expected of them without pretending we ourselves are perfect. "It would need to be sensitively worked out, and could be part of a nationwide campaign to help men and boys in general to look at gender equality in a different way," the MP told the Daily Telegraph. Ms Debbonaire said the lessons could be like personal, social, and health education (PSHE) classes in school. "I'm not saying there's a little ticket you can give incoming men. But I do believe we need compulsory PSHE classes in schools for all young people, and an appropriate version for new arrivals. "It shouldn't surprise us if those from cultures, where gender inequality is an extreme struggle, to get here to understand social norms and expectations. Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images "All men need this education, our indigenous population is not a haven of gender equality and you could have a situation where boys who have settled, just arrived, or been born here, would all get the same information on how they should interact with women," she said. The move comes after outgoing Ukip leader Nigel Farage was roundly condemned during the referendum campaign after claiming women could be at risk of sex attacks from migrants. 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 appointment of Boris Johnson to the role of Foreign Secretary is viewed as highly controversial among the public, a poll has found. The survey, by pollsters BMG, found that 47 per cent of people are not confident that Mr Johnson will perform well in his role as Foreign Secretary. This compares to 44 per cent who feel that he will a marked split of opinion amongst the public. Recommended Read more Boris Johnson to meet French foreign minister who called him a liar Mr Johnson has not exactly exuded competence since his appointment with a string of negative stories emerging in the first few weeks. At a press conference in July he appeared to mix up Turkey and Egypt, while he was also ridiculed for his plane running into problems on the way to meetings in Brussels, after being jeered at the French embassy. In one excruciatingly awkward press conference with US secretary of state John Kerry Mr Johnson was forced to bat away suggestions from journalists that he had an unusually long history of wild exaggerations and, frankly, outright lies. Another awkward encounter involved him meeting his French counterpart, who only weeks earlier had called him a liar. Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Show all 7 1 /7 Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson plays rugby with Japanese elementary school children in Tokyo Getty Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson bumps into a schoolchild during a Street Rugby event at Tokyo Square Gardens building EPA Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson collides with 10-year-old Toki Sekiguchi during a game of Street Rugby with a group of Tokyo children Reuters Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson falls down after colliding with 10-year-old Toki Sekiguchi during a game of Street Rugby with a group of Tokyo children Reuters Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson falls down after colliding with 10-year-old Toki Sekiguchi during a game of Street Rugby with a group of Tokyo children Reuters Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match Boris Johnson takes down boy during rugby match The Prime Minister was also put on the spot at Prime Ministers Questions over her Foreign Secretarys previous recorded use of racial epithets. In other instances the new Foreign Secretary has impressed, however speaking fluent French at a press conference with his counterpart in France. Mr Johnson's appointment attracted international media interest because of his higher global profile gained during the referendum campaign and his tenure as mayor of London Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has been given a friendly warning by the Chinese to be more open and less suspicious in its dealings with foreigners. Her inscrutable decision to delay construction of a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset could put the golden era of profitable UK-Chinese trade at risk, Beijing has warned. Chinese investors have agreed to put up a third of the 18bn construction costs, with two thirds coming from the French energy firm EDF. If the project gets the go-ahead in September, the Chinese will then be looking to build a second nuclear power station, to their own design, at Bradwell, in Essex. Recommended Read more China is just one good reason for putting the brakes on Hinkley Point Downing Street has given no reason for the Prime Ministers unexpected decision to put the project on hold, and have not said whether it is a case of delaying the project by a few weeks or cancelling it. A writer for Xinhua, Chinas leading news agency which reflects government thinking acknowledges that Ms May has a right to think carefully before entering into such a vast project, but has rejected a suggestion that there could be security implications to giving China partial control over the UKs nuclear industry. The writer warns: Those uncalled fears are particularly harmful to Britain for at least two reasons. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters For starters, for a kingdom striving to pull itself out of the Brexit aftermath, openness is the key way out. As the initiator of the free trade theory and full implementer of free market economy, Britain has long been known for its extraordinary attractiveness to foreign investment with its openness. The suspicious approach towards Chinese investment pervading in the postponement actually triggers much concern that Britain might be thinking of erecting a wall of protectionism, which will surely stain its credibility as an open economy and might deter possible investors from China and other parts of the world in the future. Secondly, by halting a flagship program indicating the arrival of the China-UK golden era, as some British media reported, for suspicion towards Chinese investment, the British new government is actually running the risk of dampening the hard-won mutual trust with China. Nick Timothy, an advisor for Ms May at the Home Office, criticised the Hinkley Point deal in an article for the Tory blog ConservativeHome while out of government. He claimed that security experts are worried that the Chinese could use their role to build weaknesses into computer systems which will allow them to shut down Britains energy production at will. Since writing that, he has been appointed the Prime Minister's joint chief of staff. The Financial Times reports that the Treasury minister, Jim ONeill, former chief economist for Goldman Sachs, who was brought into government by George Osborne, has said privately that he will resign if the decision goes against Hinkley Point in September. Lord ONeill was given free rein by the ex-Chancellor to develop trade with China. 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 }} One of the countrys biggest trade unions has reaffirmed its support for Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour leader vowed to put an end to rip off Britain. The Communication Workers Union, who threw their support behind Mr Corbyn at last years election, said the establishment was attacking the left-wing leader because they knew he represented a serious vote for change. The union boasts around 200,000 members in the Royal Mail, BT, the Post Office and various other firms. He is the candidate to drive through the change that ordinary people are crying out for - opposing damaging austerity measures and tackling the housing crisis which is causing misery for so many, said the unions general secretary Dave Ward. Recommended Read more Owen Smith accused of talking up party split by John McDonnell It's policies like Jeremy's announcement on extending the recognition for trade unions which we believe will make a real difference to the working lives of millions. Jeremy is a leader for the millions, not the millionaires, and the CWU is proud to support him. Mr Corbyn told a meeting of CWU activists that a Labour government would tackle the "injustices" in UK workplaces, such as banning zero-hours contracts. He also pledged to increase the living wage and repeal the controversial Trade Union Act which places restrictions on strike ballots. "Are we to sit back and let the rich get richer? It is time to end rip-off Britain," he said. He also maintained he did not live in a bubble of adulation and wanted to reach out to people to understand their concerns. Calling for unity in the party he added that he was determined to take it to the Tories. Speaking during Mr Corbyns campaign for Labour in the summer of 2015, Mr Ward said: The grip of the Blairites and individuals like Peter Mandelson must now be loosened once and for all. There is a virus within the Labour Party, and Jeremy Corbyn is the antidote. We reject the notion that Labour needs to move to the centre ground of British politics. The centre ground has moved significantly to the right in recent years. We do not see arguing for fairer wealth distribution, decent jobs with good pay, terms and conditions and a substantial increase in affordable housing for the next generation as a left-wing agenda. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The House of Lords could derail or delay the process of leaving the European Union, a Conservative peer has said. Baroness Wheatcroft said she hoped that a pause in introducing Article 50 could lead to a second EU referendum and potentially the public changing its mind. If it comes to a Bill, I think the Lords might actually delay things. I think there's a majority in the Lords for remaining, she told The Times newspaper. Theresa May says she has an 'open mind' over Brexit negotiations The courts are set to decide in the autumn whether the Government can trigger Article 50 without the consent of Parliament. The baroness said she would support the Lords delaying the move if Parliament were indeed given a say. I would hope, while we delayed things, that there would be sufficient movement in the EU to justify putting it to the electorate, either through a general election or a second referendum, she said. The peer, who was appointed under David Cameron, previously edited the Sunday Telegraph newspaper before joining the House of Lords. It is still unclear when exactly the process of Britain leaving the European Union will begin. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell A number of other peers are understood to be minded to derail Article 50. Conservative party chairman Patrick McLoughlin has said Article 50 will be invoked before 2020, when the next general election is scheduled. Theresa May has however indicated that the process will not start before the end of the year, and also said that the position of the constituent UK countries in negotiations must be made clear in advance. Once Article 50 is invoked the process of leaving is in theory irreversible; the process itself has been estimated to take anything between two years and a decade. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May will not intervene in David Cameron's resignation honours list despite allegations that it amounts to cronyism, Downing Street has said. There were calls for an overhaul of the honours system after the list was leaked, which incudes the head of the campaign to stay in the EU and Samantha Camerons personal stylist. Other controversial reported nominations included knighthoods for four pro-EU cabinet colleagues: Philip Hammond, Michael Fallon, Patrick McLoughlin and David Lidington. Despite the outcry, a Downing Street spokesperson said it would set a very bad precedent for Number 10 to intervene in an outgoing prime ministers list. It is standard for an outgoing prime minister to submit a resignation list, the spokesperson told an official briefing of journalists in Parliament. The names on the list were at the former prime minister's discretion, and they will now go through all the proper processes and committees. It would set a very bad precedent for a new prime minister to interfere in the official processes. Prime Ministers have traditionally been able to nominate whoever they like for honours when they retire, outside of the usual nominations system. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said Mr Camerons bid to reward his friends and close colleagues amounted to an old boys' network. That Mr Cameron proposes to reward his friends network on such a huge scale will not only bring the honours system into disrepute, it will undermine the reputation of the Theresa May, he said. Nominations for honours are reviewed by honours committees, which include senior civil servants and people judged to be independent of Government. Each committee has a majority of independent members, with one of them chairing discussions, and reviews nominations for specific activities such as sport or arts and media, according to the Government. A Number 10 representative is invited to attend all meetings. The individual committees feed into the main honours committee, which then produces a list and its decisions go to the Prime Minister and then the Queen who bestows the honour. Additional reporting by PA 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 }} Downing Street has demanded the House of Lords respect the decision of voters in the EU referendum and get behind Brexit - following reports some peers were plotting to derail or delay the process of triggering Article 50. Baroness Wheatcroft, a Conservative peer, said she hoped a pause in introducing Article 50, the formal legal process of exiting the EU, could lead to a second referendum and potentially the public changing its mind. She said it was imperative we dont press the button on Article 50. Theresa May says she has an 'open mind' over Brexit negotiations But asked whether Theresa May had any concerns over the Lords plan, the Prime Ministers official spokeswoman said: The Prime Minister has been very clear that Brexit means Brexit, were going to make a success of it and that work to prepare for those negotiations is now underway and that will continue to be a priority for this government. Parliament supported the referendum on the European Union. The British people have made their decision and now everyone should be focused on getting behind that and making a success of Brexit. Speaking to The Times, Baroness Wheatcroft, the former editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe, was asked whether she would support peers delaying the legislation. She said: Yes I would. And I would hope, while we delayed things, that there would be sufficient movement in the EU to justify putting it to the electorate, either through a general election or a second referendum. But, she added: "At the moment I don't think it's sensible for the Lords, an unelected second chamber, to obviously stand in the wayof a democratic vote. I'd like the Commons to do that. However, if it comes to a Bill, I think the Lords might actually delay things. I think there's a majority in the Lords for remaining. Meanwhile, leading Leave campaigner and Labour MP Gisela Stuart admitted on Sunday evening that campaigners were surprised they had actually won the referendum on Britains membership of the EU. I think there was some surprise among some of the figures that we actually won, and won more decisively than we had hoped for, she told BBC's Westminster Hour. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell I kind of stopped thinking about it because you just keep going and at the end of the day, hope your pile of votes is bigger than the other side's." The prominent Leave campaigner also denied those involved in the campaign to exit the EU had failed to prepare for the future. "In terms of accusations of 'What was the plan?', the plan was quite clear," she said. "We voted to leave. And we showed examples of how voting to leave could be effected and I certainly will make sure now that the Government does what the people asked it to do." 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 }} Ukip leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe has admitted failing to declare a drink-driving conviction when he stood for a police and crime commissioner post. The MEP, who has been the front-runner in the race to succeed Nigel Farage as party leader, said he forgot about the conviction when he stood in the Greater Manchester PCC election in 2012, in a possible breach of electoral law. Recommended Read more Ukip leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe misses application deadline PCC candidates must declare convictions for which they could have received a prison sentence, and it is a criminal offence to make a false statement on nomination papers, the Electoral Commission website says. He told The Huffington Post he was fined 350 and disqualified from driving for nine months after being caught drunk in charge of a scooter in 2002. I made a foolish mistake 14 years ago which I regret. As the years went on I forgot about the conviction as I got on with my life, he said. The conviction was a spent conviction in November 2012 and not in my mind when I stood for police and crime commissioner in Greater Manchester. It was also a spent conviction when I stood for the European elections in 2014 and general election in 2015. It comes after Mr Woolfe blamed a technical blunder for missing Ukip's leadership nominations deadline, leaving his bid in the hands of party officials. Mr Woolfe insists he is still in the race despite overshooting the deadline of noon on Sunday by 17 minutes, and has left the door open for a legal challenge if party officials block him from standing. The rise and rise of Ukip the new party of the protest voter Show all 3 1 /3 The rise and rise of Ukip the new party of the protest voter The rise and rise of Ukip the new party of the protest voter 30-ukipprotest-gt.jpg Getty Images The rise and rise of Ukip the new party of the protest voter 30-ukipprotest2-gt.jpg Getty Images The rise and rise of Ukip the new party of the protest voter 30-ukipprotest3-gt.jpg Getty Images The party made it clear there would be no final decision until the completion of vetting procedures on Tuesday. He said he had been on the phone with a Ukip official at 11.56am, pressing the button to submit the application, and sent photographs to prove it. I did feel like I was in a scene from Little Britain's 'computer says no', he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Asked if he would pursue legal action if his application was rejected, he replied: I hope it wouldn't come to that. Hopefully they recognise that everybody in the country now sometimes looks at their computer screens and screams at it when something is not working, but we have a system in place that didn't seem to work properly that day. Mr Woolfe has also denied allegations that he allowed his membership to lapse in 2014, which raised issues about his eligibility under controversial new party rules. Former deputy chairwoman Suzanne Evans, who was suspended from the party earlier this year after repeated clashes with Mr Farage, said Mr Woolfe is probably ineligible. She told Sky News: Given the membership, given his nomination paper, it's not looking good for him. I think he's probably ineligible. She added: If toast is the word you want to use, then perhaps he's going to be toast. Mr Woolfe, the party's immigration policy chief, had been favourite to take the top job, but Lisa Duffy and MEPs Bill Etheridge and Jonathan Arnott have also been pushing for the crown. Huntingdonshire councillor Ms Duffy has pledged to heal factional fighting in the party and is backed by Ms Evans. Mr Farage, who announced he was quitting after the Leave victory in the EU referendum, said Ukip members should vote for the candidate who will best represent the party on the big media stages and around the country. He urged his successor to bypass Ukip's national executive committee (NEC), claiming the governing body contains total amateurs who have acted as a barrier to radical change and modernisation. Writing on the Breitbart News website, Mr Farage said: Ukip now needs to be patient and play the long game, and to live without its velvet-collared, beer-drinking, cigarette-wielding cartoonist's dream. 'I Want My Life Back' - Farage Resigns as UKIP Leader I will not attempt to influence the choice of Ukip members in this contest but urge them to vote for the person who will represent the party best on the big media stages and out there around the country, where it really matters. He said of the NEC: Many of its current crop are among the lowest grade of people I have ever met. To them, being a member of the governing body of Britain's third-largest political party is the equivalent of scaling Everest. People with no qualification in business or politics make the ultimate decisions of whom should be our candidate at a by-election or whether the former disgraced Tory MP Neil Hamilton should be given a route back to public life via being elected as an Assembly Member in Wales! He added: The new leader of Ukip should bypass the vanity of such people and make big decisions about Ukip's future via direct polling of the membership. He pledged his wholehearted support to the winner if they have the courage to transform the management of our party. Press Association For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Nigerian man accused of being behind thousands of online frauds across the world has been arrested. The 40-year-old Nigerian, identified only as "Mike", was allegedly the head of an international criminal network behind scams totalling more than $60m (45m). The criminal network compromised email accounts of small and medium-sized businesses all over the world, including in the US, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa and Thailand, Interpol said. One target alone paid $15.4m (11.6m). 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 "Mike" was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in June. Both are currently on administrative bail, implying officers do not yet have enough evidence to change them in court. The network involved around 40 people in Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa who provided malware and carried out the frauds, and used money-laundering accounts in China, Europe and the US, Interpol said. Such crime "poses a significant and growing threat, with tens of thousands of companies victimised in recent years," Noboru Nakatani, executive director of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation, said in a statement. "The public, and especially businesses, need to be alert to this type of cyber-enabled fraud." 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 University of Texas was consumed by two clashing pivots in its history on Monday: the 50th anniversary of a devastating shooting massacre on its campus and the coming into effect of a new state law allowing students for the first time to bring guns into its classrooms. The horror of 1 August 1966 began when a student named Charles Whitman barricaded himself on the roof of a tall tower with several weapons and started picking off people below. In all seventeen people were left dead, including the shooter, and the incident was later seen as the first of what was to become a long and grim succession of mass shootings in America. As part of its plans to honour the victims, the university was due on Monday to unveil a 6-foot granite memorial and to turn off the clock at the top of the tower that still stands at the heart of the campus for 24 hours. Flags were also the lowered to half-mast. The new law allowing so-called concealed carry of guns on campus, passed by the Republican-controlled State House last year, just a few blocks away from the UT campus in Austin, was already deeply controversial, drawing widespread opposition from teaching staff and many students. The UT tower at the heart of campus that was commandeered by the 1966 shooter (Getty) However, the decision to set 1 August as the start-date for the laws provisions was seen by some as especially insensitive. Among those expressing dismay has been Claire Wilson James. A co-chair of the committee that planned the memorial events, she is also a survivor of the 1966 attack herself. One of the first bullets fired by Whitman struck her in the belly. She was eight months pregnant at the time. While she survived, she lost the child. I got to talking from a police officer from Rochester, New York, she told a local public service radio station, KERA, last week. He said it just made no sense, he thought it was a really bad idea. And hes a police officer. I thought that was so telling. I just think in general, why would you want guns on a university campus? Heather Way, a law professor at UT, recently explained her own opposition to the gun-carry law to The Independent. Our campus values are about promoting open exchange between students and teachers and that right is being taken away, she said. I have a colleague who is concerned now about giving a student a low grade. Graduate students are under a lot of stress, and then you give them guns? You just dont know what could happen. While opponents of the law have been aghast at the coincidence of the coming into effect of the new law and the anniversary of the 1966 shootings, its supporters see it differently, noting that Whitman was only finally stopped and killed when students and staff members grabbed whatever weapons they could get their hands on and began shooting back at him. To them, the circumstances under which Whitman was finally felled perfectly illustrates the argument of many gun-rights advocates - and one which Donald Trump has frequently articulated - that mass shootings would not happen, or would claim fewer victims, if more ordinary citizens were armed and could therefore defend themselves. Liberal critics deplore that the new law takes effect on the anniversary of the gun-related Texas Tower massacre, David Clemens, a Monterey Peninsula College professor, wrote in a National Review blog post, but the timing couldnt be more appropriate. Saying they had the right idea back in 1966, he wrote: If shooting starts, shoot back. The president of UT, Gregory Fenves, has made clear his own disapproval of the new gun law but has explained that the campus has no choice but to implement its provisions. (They do not apply to private universities in Texas which have overwhelmingly opted to ignore it and retain their bans on weapons.) However, he said the timing of its implementation had nothing to do with the 1966 anniversary and everything to do with the imminent start of the new academic year. Entertainment / Events by Staff Reporter Performing artistes and top Djs: Zimbabweans based in the United Kingdom (UK) will this Saturday host the annual concert to honour the city of Bulawayo - Zimbabwe's second largest city which is otherwise known as the City of Kings and Queens.The event will be held from August 6, 10pm till the following morning at Visions Night Club, Manchester City.Organizers of the jamboree who hail from Bulawayo said the festival which was mooted 16-years ago is aimed at celebrating the city for molding them into what they are today."Bulawayo night was established in 2000 in United Kingdom at Club Afrique in the Eastern part of London as a way of giving back and honoring the City of Bulawayo for making us who we are and to bring together as well as entertain people from the entire Southern Africa who were starved of hearing music from that part of the continent then," the organizers said in a statement.At its inception, organizers said, the festival attracted mainly people from Bulawayo but as the years progressed it attracted people from all corners of Zimbabwe and parts of Southern Africa.Interestingly, the flier of the event comprises all suburbs from Bulawayo."As to what the words on the sides of the Flyers stand for and before you know it you find yourself going into the history of Bulawayo City as most of the suburbs have a historic story behind them," further reads the statement.Although the event was mooted in London, it has over the years been rotating from city to city in the UK due to its popularity which has given it traction beyond London."The theme of the event is dubbed BULAWAYO NIGHT 16th ANNIVERSSARY 'weekend special' in cooperating BBQ AFTER PARTY, with the Bulawayo Night on Surtaday the 6th of August 2016 10pm til 6am followed by the bbq after party on Sunday the 7th 1pm till Monday hence themed WEEKEND SPECIAL," reads the statement.The event will be characterized by various scintillating activities which include music and dance of African flair. Some of the music genres which revelers must expect include R 'n' B, Hip Hop, Afro-beats, South Africa House, Rumba, Kwaito, Zim-Dance Hall and Township Pop.Tickets to the show can be order via this link https://shoobs.com/events/13267/bulawayo-night-16th-annivessary . There are also hard copies of tickets which can be found at Visions Night Club.Dj Toots the winner of the recent clash of the DJs competition, Dj Kj Glider, Dj Gqwetha (Black Boys), Dj Smmy4Lyfe (Black Troop), Dj Yethe (Black Troop) Dj Mikel, Dj Zie, Mc Arnie (back by popular demand) & Introducing Dollar Kid (AFRO Beats & Hip hop young Act) plus guests. 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 Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, has announced that ten more people in his state have been diagnosed with the Zika virus likely to have been transmitted by mosquitoes, bringing the total in the state now to fourteen. Officials confirmed that the new cases of Zika, which is already widespread in many Central and South American countries, including Brazil, were all in a small section of Miami in the far south of the state where conditions are most tropical. Of the 14 individuals identified with the virus so far, two are women and 12 are men. The Centers for Disease Control meanwhile issued an advisory to pregnant women to avoid traveling to those parts of Miami where the Zika virus has been detected. The neighborhood concerned is the Wynwood design district, an area close to both Miami Beach and downtown Miami that is popular with tourists and filled with galleries and restaurants. It is the first time the CDC has issued a Zika advisory for travel within the USA. It said pregnant women should avoid traveling to the so-called transmission area and women living within the roughly one-square-mile zone should take additional steps to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Zika travel warning poster in Miami The CDC, based in Atlanta, also said men and women who have recently visited the area should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive a child. Mr Scott said he had asked the CDC, which is headed by Thomas Frieden, to send its emergency response team to assist with the states own Department of Health, DOH, to monitor the situation, amid fears that the transmission zone could widen quickly, potentially to other population centres in Florida. He was to hold a televised roundtable later on Monday to discuss his efforts to combat the spread of the disease, which can seriously impair brain development in unborn children if the mother is infected. Following todays announcement, I have requested that the CDC activate their Emergency Response Team to assist DOH in their investigation, research and sample collection efforts, Governor Scott said a statement. Their team will consist of public health experts whose role is to augment our response efforts to confirmed local transmissions of the Zika virus. We will continue to keep our residents and visitors safe utilizing constant surveillance and aggressive strategies, such as increased mosquito spraying, that have allowed our state to fight similar viruses, Mr Scott added. While the US had earlier reported several hundred people with Zika symptons, heretofore they had all contracted the virus while traveling abroad to areas where it is already prevalent. That it is now showing up in Florida is confirmation of the fears of health experts that mosquito transmission of the virus on the US mainland was bound to happen at some point. Health authorities in Puerto Rico, a territory of the US in the Caribbean, are grappling with a sudden explosion of cases as the summer has become hotter and the measures taken to try to stop Zika, notably mosquito eradication programmes, have proven woefully inadequate. There are already some 5,500 confirmed infections on the island, including of 672 pregnant women, but health experts believe the real number may be far higher. Indeed as many as 50 pregnant women may be becoming infected on the island every day. Tests on donated blood have shown that roughly 2 per cent of donors were infected in the last ten days. Thats a stunning number and reflects an explosion of cases, the CDCs Mr Frieden told the New York Times. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} SeaWorlds CEO says ending its controversial killer whale breeding programme was the most difficult' decision he has made. Plummeting numbers of younger visitors played a part in the move, Joel Manby said. He admitted the the attraction is now trying to change. Mr Manby told the trade publication Attractions Management Magazine: Making this kind of decision shows the people we are listening and we are trying to change. We get it having animals this magnificent and this large in a captive environment is a tough sell for us over the long term. We listened to public opinion and looked at what our research told us. It was an incredibly difficult decision. I think the most difficult decision Ive ever been involved with in a business. SeaWorld buckled to public pressure and announced in March it was scrapping the orca programme. It will continue to house the animals it already has in captivity. SeaWorlds controversial history with killer whales was exposed in Blackfish, the 2013 Bafta-nominated American documentary. Killer whale 'Tilikum' appears at SeaWorld in 2011 in Orlando, Florida (Getty) It focuses on Tilikum, an orca connected to the deaths of three humans. Tilikum, said to have been captured near Iceland in November 1983, is estimated to be around 35 years old. He attacked and drowned SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 and has been linked to the deaths of two other people. The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson and the Bare Naked Ladies all cancelled their performances at a SeaWorld concert following the films release. It was revealed in March that Tilikum had a life-threatening bacterial infection but his condition has since improved. Recommended Read more SeaWorld killer whale featured in Blackfish could be dying Mr Manby also insisted his attraction and zoos around the world are vital for conservation and rescue. He said: We all have to a better job, SeaWorld included. There is a false notion out there, and I think a very dangerous one, that animals held under human care is always a bad thing. That is just not true. Rescue alone is a reason for our facilities and our unbelievable zoological community to exist. SeaWorld is the largest rescue organisation in the US and we want to be the largest marine animal rescue organisation in the world. Without our facilities, hundreds of dolphins, thousands of sea lions, manatees and birds, would die every year." PETA's orca advert features USA water polo Olympian Tony Azevedo (PETA) USA Olympic water polo team captain Tony Azevedo, who is competing at Rio, has called for the remaining orcas to be sent to sanctuaries instead. He says the animals need the freedom to play In a new advert for animal rights organisation PETA 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 }} The Gold Star Mothers Club was formed in the aftermath of World War One to offer support to those who had lost sons or daughters during the conflict. Having continued through the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts around the world, the club currently has 933 members. On Monday, 17 of those Gold Star Families published a public letter to Donald Trump, upbraiding the Republican presidential candidate in strong language after he became involved in a controversy with the parents of a Muslim-American solider who died in Iraq. We are all Gold Star Families, who have lost those we love the most in war. Ours is a sacrifice you will never know. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know, they wrote. Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mothers pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice. Muslim parents of soldier speak out after Trump criticism They added: You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost. The families wrote the letter after Mr Trump found himself at the centre of controversy over comments he made about a couple whose son died in Iraq and criticised his smearing of Muslims. Mr Trump later hit back, suggesting that Mrs Khan had not been permitted to speak at the event because of her religion. (Getty (Getty) Mrs Khan rapidly shot back in an article for the Washington Post, saying: Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. She added: Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak? Among the 17 parents who signed the letter to Mr Trump was Nadia McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in 2004, and who defied President George W Bush by allowing the media to view the coffin of her son. Speaking from Long Beach, California, she told The Independent: Everything that Donald Trump says is crazy. He has no respect for the people whose children fought for this country. Imm flabbergasted that he would do this. In their letter, the families said Mr Trump was minimising the contribution that their children had made. Sanders 'Sold His Soul to the Devil' - Trump in Denver This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as political correctness, said the letter. We feel we must speak out and demand you apologise to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments. Karen Merediths son, Ken Ballard, first deployed to Iraq on Mothers Day 2003. She was notified of his death, on Memorial Day, 2004. She said he died within a week of the Khans son, Humayun, and that the two were buried in the same row at Washingtons Arlington Cemetery. She also signed the letter. I cannot understand why he does not feel the pain of the Khans, she said. She said Mr Trumps comments were an insult to all families who had lost children in such circumstances. She said: When you attack one Gold Star family, you attack all of us." 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 }} France has warned its citizens to avoid travelling to Madagascar after a crowd burnt two Europeans to death on a tourist island and lynched a local man because they suspected them of trafficking organs for use in witchcraft rituals. The two European men, one of whom is thought to be a French national, were hunted down and killed by residents on the island of Nosy Be, one of the Indian Ocean island's leading tourism hubs. They (the crowd) suspected them of organ trafficking," Madagascar police chief Desire Johnson Rakotondratsima said. "It appears that one of the foreigners admitted it in front of the local residents after they found the dead body of a child." A third suspected organ trafficker, a Malagasy man, was also killed. "He was lynched," security chief General Andrianazary said. "The security forces arrived too late." One of the two dead Europeans was French, according to France's foreign ministry. A French interior ministry official said the body of the child had been found with organs removed. The French foreign ministry said it had warned its 700 citizens in Madagascar to avoid all travel within the country and asked those planning to travel there to delay their trip. "We are counting on the Malagasy authorities to bring to light the exact circumstances of this and have asked them to take measures to increase security for our nationals on the ground, given that Nosy Be is a popular tourist destination," a spokesman said. Nosy Be is an island off the northwestern tip of mainland Madagascar famous for its turquoise waters and white-sand beaches. Analysts say crime has increased in Madagascar since President Andry Rajoelina seized power through a coup more than four years ago, plunging the country into political turmoil and leading donors to freezing aid, which dented public spending. Almost 80 percent of households now live below the poverty line, one of the highest rates in Africa. 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 }} President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to introduce new presidential powers bringing Turkish armed forces under tighter control. The move follows the failed military coup of July 15, which resulted in more than 10,000 arrests and around 70,000 citizens being sacked or suspended from their jobs. Under the new presidential decree the third issued since Mr Erdogans declaration of a three month state of emergency the president and prime minister will have the authority to issue direct orders to military commanders. Military hospitals will come under the charge of the health ministry and military schools will be closed in place of a new defence university for training officers. Some 1,389 pro-coup personnel have also been discharged from the Turkish Armed Forces as part of Mr Erdogans military overhaul, including the presidents chief military advisor and the defence ministers chief secretary. In an interview with A Haber television channel on Saturday, Mr Erdogan said he hoped to include Turkeys MIT intelligence agency and the chief of general staffs headquarters among the departments that come under presidential 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 said. Turkish authorities on Sunday said nine people have been captured outside Marmaris on suspicion of having links to a raid on the hotel President Erdogan was staying in on July 15. Three of the suspects were said to be still on the run on Monday. 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 }} Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately flown into the sea, an expert air crash investigator has claimed. Larry Vance said photos of the plane's flaperon found on a beach 2,500 miles from the search area show definite evidence it was extended at the time of the crash, suggesting the pilot brought the plane down in the ocean. Somebody was flying the airplane at the end of its flight, Mr Vance told Australia's 60 Minutes programme. Somebody was flying the airplane into the water. There is no other alternate theory that you can follow. MH370 debris - in pictures Show all 7 1 /7 MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French police officers carry a piece of debris from a plane in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. AP MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion AFP PHOTO / YANNICK PITOUYANNICK PITOU/AFP/Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris The plane part is being taken to France for further investigation Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Johnny Begue, a member of a local shore cleaning association, in Saint-Andre, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, holds the remain of a suitcase found the day before on the same site Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Searches continued on Friday for other possible MH370 debris along beaches on the island of Reunion AP Mr Vance said the failure to find floating debris could be explained by a slow, controlled landing in the ocean. Peter Foley, Australian Transport Safety Bureau's crash investigator, also told the programme the damage the flaperon sustained provided evidence for the controlled landing theory. There is a possibility there was someone in control at the end and we are actively looking for evidence to support that, he said. Australian officials recently confirmed data recovered from the home flight simulator owned by the plane's captain showed the device had been used to plot a course over the southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed. MH370: A timeline The Boeing 777 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing in March, 2014. Officials from Malaysia, Australia and China have announced that the underwater search for MH370 will be suspended once the current search area has been completely scoured. Crews have fewer than 3,900 square miles left to scan of the 46,300-square-mile search area, and should finish their sweep of the region by the end of the year. Almost A$180m (103m) has been spent on the search so far, making it the most expensive in aviation history. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The German Green Party has asked Angela Merkel's government to consider fast-tracking the citizenship applications of British immigrants living in the country. Members of the Greens have written to their Christian Democrat opponents in the Bundestag in a letter which calls for an end to uncertainty for the 100,000 Britons living and working in Germany. A spokesperson for the Green Party told The Independent they were calling for the German government to reduce the length of time Britons had to live in the country before being eligible for citizenship. "In Germany, 107,000 well-integrated British live with their families, as researchers, students, entrepreneurs and as important professionals of numerous companies," said Katrin Goring-Eckhardt, chair of the Greens, in a statement. "They need a clear perspective following Brexit in order not to endanger their residence permit with us. The federal government should direct the states' work towards this more actively, so that Britons living in in Germany can be naturalised easily and quickly." At present, the German government recommends a resident period of eight years, with six for someone who has made a special contribution to German life and three for those married to Germans. The Green Party are calling for that eight-year period to be reduced, although it has not specified a particular amount of time. Applicants must provide paperwork with proof of their tax returns, a clear criminal record and that they are no burden on the state, as well as demonstrate intermediate-level German and answer a multiple choice test of 33 questions. But the German government has said the country's federal system means its 16 states hold the authority to decide applications on a case-by-case basis, and as such there is flexiblity over citizenship applications already. It added there was no legal minimum time that somebody had to live in Germany before they were eligible for citizenship. The question has arisen with urgency because of the uncertainty being experienced by many Britons living abroad in the EU over their resident status. And once the UK has left the European Union - a date which remains unclear after Prime Minister Theresa May said Article 50 will not be triggered this year - it will no longer be possible to hold dual citizenship of both Britain and another EU country. As such, many Britons in Germany are using the current window of time to apply to become citizens of Germany without also having to renounce their UK citizenship. Numbers doing so have risen continuously since 2010, with 620 Britons having their applications to Germany accepted just last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Video footage showing German tourists scaling the walls of the Colosseum has sparked concerns about security measures at Italys famous landmarks. Two people are seen in the film jumping over fencing surrounding the iconic Flavian Amphitheatre at night. They then climb to the top of the ancient landmark and proceed to scale down its 48m-high walls, using what appears to be professional abseiling equipment. A sign saying no entry is clearly seen in the video and further shots show the tourists climbing on scaffolding surrounding parts of the building. The video was posted to YouTube at the end of May but has recently gone viral. It was uploaded by Flavius Vasily, who is part of a group called Visual Enemies who describe themselves as an urban collective uniting athletes and cinematographers. Getting caught is no reason to stop us doing what we love. Climbing on high buildings or exploring the subway system is our passion, the group adds. Since the video was uploaded, some Rome residents have raised concerns about security measures at the 2,000 year-old site. This wouldnt happen on Brandenburg Gate. Why? Because the police would come and arrest them two minutes later. In Rome? The police? wrote one person in a YouTube comment. A general view of the ancient Colosseum in Rome (Getty Images) One Twitter user wryly commented, excellent security, after seeing the video; while Facebook user Alexa Kolosimo commented: " Responding to concerns, Mr Vasily said in an email reported by the Guardian: "The lack of police seems to be a big problem for [local] people, but even more police would not have [meant] us getting caught. "We also climbed on the Cologne Cathedral after the New Years Eve sexual assaults and during Cologne carnival. There were more than 2,500 police officers the day we climbed on the top. And they didnt notice us at all." The Lonely Planet Journey: Italys literary landmarks Show all 2 1 /2 The Lonely Planet Journey: Italys literary landmarks The Lonely Planet Journey: Italys literary landmarks 5297202.jpg Rex Features The Lonely Planet Journey: Italys literary landmarks 5296891.jpg Following a recent string of terror attacks in France and Germany, Italys terror level is understood to be set at level 2 the highest possible in the absence of a direct attack, the Local reports. Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano called an emergency meeting of the national anti-terrorism committee in the wake of the 14 July atrocity in Nice, when a Tunisian man killed 84 people and injured 300 more when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. Mr Alfano has said Italy will be intensifying its controls at the French border following the attack in southern France. Italian judges have been particularly stringent in the past over vandalism at the Colosseum. In November 2014 a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 (16,000) and handed a four-year suspended sentence for carving a giant letter K into the walls of the ancient Amphitheatre. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An investigation has been launched by French police after a Muslim man in his seventies was physically attacked near his home, according to local French media. The pensioner, of Senegalese origin, was reportedly pursued by an unidentified assailant who attempted to strangle him outside the lift in his block of flats near Rouen. He is said to have been found "nearly unconscious" by his children. The incident took place one day after the killing of Father Jacques Hamel at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a commune 30 kilometres away. The victim, who had lived in France for 50 years, had been helping two of his daughters carry luggage to their car outside his home. The daughter of the victim told Normandie Paris: My two sisters were leaving to drive to Paris and my father helped them load their luggage. "A young man who was passing in the car honked and began to provoke them." 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 After the women left, the situation escalated as the driver reportedly threw racial insults and attempted to hit the pensioner from his car before he got out and "threw himself" at him. The victim was taken to the local hospital with a head injury. His other daughter told Normandie Paris: "My brothers and sisters found him nearly unconscious. He told us the suspect had gripped his throat." The family of the victim believe the attack was linked to the murder of the 86-year-old priest, which took place the previous day during a morning mass. The victims's daughter added: There is no doubt that such violence is linked to the events of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray." "The attacker told him he would kill him like the priest was killed. And my father was clearly identified as a Muslim, he was wearing his religious garments. We do not understand this attack. My father never had problems in the past. The Christian and Muslim communities here have always been close." The police have opened an investigation into the case. Rouen's public prosecutor will decide whether to prosecute the attacker and whether or not the violence was racially motivated. 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 across France attended Catholic Mass on Sunday in a gesture of interfaith solidarity following the killing of an elderly priest in a church in France by two jihadist attackers. More than 100 Muslims were among 2,000 church-goers who attended a service at the Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few miles from where 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel was killed. Adel Kermiche, 19, along with Abdel Malik Petitjean, also 19, took six people hostage at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy, before slitting Father Hamels throat, during a morning mass at around 10am local time on Tuesday. Both Kermiche and Petitjean were later shot dead by police. Muslims take part in a mass at the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem on July 31, 2016 in Rome, Italy. (AFP) People attend a Mass in tribute to priest Jacques Hamel at the Bagnolet's Church, near Paris (AFP) Following the attack, Isis claimed 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. French television broadcast scenes of interfaith unity across France on Sunday, with Muslim men and women crowding Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais and the Basilica of St Denis. Nices top Imam, Otaman Aissaoui, led a delegation to a Catholic mass in the city where a Tunisian man killed 84 people and injured 300 more when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on 14 July, the Local reports. Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism, Aissaoui said. The Muslim people were responding to a call from the French Muslim Council (CFCM), urging them show solidarity and compassion in the wake of Father Hamel's murder. Muslim worshippers stand up as clerics arrive in the Saint-Pierre-de-lAriane church (AFP) Bagnolet's priest Patrick Morvan (C) invites Christian and Muslim worshippers to enter the Saint-Leu Church to attend a mass in tribute to Father Jacques Hamel (AFP) At Paris famous Notre Dame, Dalil Boubakeur, the leader of the Mosque of Paris, told the congregation that Muslims wanted to live in peace, before reciting "Urbi et Orbi" - a Latin blessing identified with the pope and meaning "to the city and the world." The sign of peace, a traditional part of the liturgy where the congregation greet each other, became a particularly poignant moment during the Mass in Rouen, as Muslims and Catholics shook hands and kissed each other on the cheek between the pews. The Archbishop used the moment to greet Muslim leaders attending, as well as three nuns who were at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when Father Hamel was killed. Jacqueline Prevot, who attended the service, said: "Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass. I find this very heartwarming." Similar scenes took place in Italy where the head of Italy's Union of Islamic communities, Izzedin Elzir, called on his colleagues to "take this historic moment to transform tragedy into a moment of dialogue." Ahmed El Balazi, the Imam of the Vobarno mosque in Italy's Lombard province of Brescia, said: "These people are tainting our religion and it is terrible to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists. That is not the case. 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 "Religion is one thing. Another is the behaviour of Muslims who don't represent us." France and Italy are both increasing their supervision of mosques following the attacks in Normandy and Nice, both of which were claimed by the so-called Islamic State group. Earlier on Sunday, two men were placed under formal investigation in connection with Father Hamel's murder, including a cousin of one of the attackers. Farid K, 30, a cousin of Petitjean, has been arrested on suspicion of terrorist association, the BBC reports. A 20-year-old man, named as Jean-Philippe Steven J, is under formal investigation for attempting to travel with Petitjean to Syria in June. Additional reporting by Reuters Tuku-Cheso gig was a bomb! Great performances by the 2 artists and fans had blast. Once again thanks people for the support. Keep supporting arts and tell cyber bullies to stick it!On Saturday around 2.pm Corah Suite, the venue for Oliver Mtukudzi and Alick Macheso Show caught fire which led to the event being moved to another venue at the last minute. Most of the businesses were destroyed as fire ravaged the buildings. By the time the fire was under control and damping down underway, another broke out at the other building next door leading to the fire brigade and police sealing the venue because it was now treated as a crime scene. Tried to negotiate with firemen to open the venue with no luck but we were adamant for the event to go ahead and shame haters and as always God is on our side we managed to get another beautiful venue (3 minutes walk from the original venue) within a hour and everything went well.The incidents stretched Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service's resources to capacity. Six fire engines, aerial ladders and helicopter were used to extinguish the fire. The Corah St John Street blaze was arson, fire investigators say.Now its clear the massive blaze that tore through the former Corah factory yesterday was arson, it has been confirmed.Fire investigators said they had so far found "several" locations where fires were lit within the three-storey building. Leicestershire Police have been in contact and I will be assisting them with investigations. Some names of suspects have been given to the Police and currently investigations are going on. There were a number of thugs which were posting messages of hate and threats targeting our artists and all those names have been given to the Police.Meanwhile the promoters of the Reloaded Gig would like to humble thank all the fans who defied detractors calling for the boycott of Tuku Macheso and attended the gig in droves. The attendance shocked everyone and proved UK people won't listen to social network psychopaths with misplaced priorities abusing cyber space to attack and abuse our musicians. The Internet junkies should know the problems people are facing back home have nothing to do with our musicians but the flopping government. On behalf of promoters Icons Of Africa, Yvonne Mashonganyika, Phab Ent Promotions and the team a million thanks and your loyalty is humbling! 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 }} Pope Francis has said it is not fair to label Islam as a terrorist religion. During his return trip from a five-day pilgrimage in Poland onboard his private plane, reporters asked the pontiff why he never used the word Islam to describe terrorist violence. It was the day after Isis extremists were said to have slit the throat of an elderly Roman Catholic priest in his Normandy church. Pop Francis said: It's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true. "I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group. "I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the [Italian] newspapers, I see violence, this man who kills his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law. "And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence." Pope Francis meets worshippers during his trip to Krakow in Poland (EPA) He said he spoke with imams who were looking for peace. He condemned Isis, saying they presented themselves with a violent identity card, but thats not Islam. It came as Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to pray to God to protect people from a devastating wave of terrorism in many parts of the world. In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman arrives with a toy and a bouquet of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman reacts as she places flowers in front of the memorial set on the 'Promenade des Anglais' where the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice EPA In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People gather to view the floral tributes near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday, in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Floral tributes are laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A child's toy is placed among the floral tributes laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Investigators continue at the scene near the heavy truck that ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores who were celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Crime scene investigators work on the 'Promenade des Anglais' after the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice EPA In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert examines dead bodies covered with a blue sheet on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert evacuates a dead body on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice, after a gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts as he sits near a French flag along the beachfront the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Discarded items are left on the beach, not far from the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bullet holes in the windscreen of the lorry that was driven into the crowd at high speed Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks through debris on the street in Nice, France, the morning after a lorry ran into a crowd, killing at least 84 and injuring 50 Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Rescue workers help an injured woman to get in a ambulance AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Authorities investigate a truck after it plowed through Bastille Day revelers in the French resort city of Nice, France AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Celebrations of Bastille Day were targeted by the lorry driver AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area after at least 84 people were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A paramedic attends one of the dozens of people injured in the Nice Bastille Day attack In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Soldiers march on street where the lorry crashed into the crowd REUTERS In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man sits next to a body seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bodies are seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Children were among the 84 killed in the atrocity, with around 50 more hospitalised Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (2nd L) speaks to the media in Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks with his hands up as police officers carry out checks on people in the centre of French Riviera town of Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack With injured people laying in the street police and onlookers react near to a truck in Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of the attack AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers speak with a soldier after a truck that ploughed into a crowd leaving a fireworks display in the French Riviera town of Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police shine a light into the cab as they approach the driver's cab of a truck, in Nice AP The murder of Jacques Hamel in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was just one a wave of Isis inspired attacks in France and Germany in recent weeks. On 15 July, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhel, ploughed a lorry into the Bastille Day crowds on the Nice seafront - killing 84 people and wounding hundreds more. In Germany, a failed asylum seeker, Mohammed Daleel, blew himself outside a bar in the southern town of Ansbach after failing to get into a nearby music festival. Several people were wounded in the attack. Additional reporting by AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At least three suspected Taliban gunmen have launched an attack on a hotel used by foreign contractors in Kabul, killing at least one police officer and wounding four others. Police said the attack on the Northgate Hotel secure compound began with a truck bomb at the gate, with the explosion heard across the city at around 1.30am local time on Monday (9pm GMT Sunday). One of the attackers was killed in that blast, after which two others entered the compound. They were killed in a shootout with police. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which, despite the size of the initial blast, appeared to have caused limited casualties. Recommended Read more Isis is now waging a sectarian war in Afghanistan As day broke, gunfire and occasional explosions rang out over the industrial zone where security forces had taken up positions near the Northgate, a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organisations. The Taliban said the hotel was a "place of vulgarity and profanity", and it comes as the latest in a series against foreign targets in Kabul, underlining precarious security in Afghanistan, even in the capital. It came around a week after the Isis militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shia Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people. The Taliban, who say that foreign "invaders" must leave Afghanistan but also claim they want to avoid civilian casualties, said the Northgate compound was not near other homes and that ordinary people were not harmed. Security officials originally said four attackers were at the site, a walled compound of a type typically used by foreign security and civilian organizations in Kabul, even though police later said that only three attackers had been killed. The Taliban claimed there were "dozens of dead and wounded". The Islamist group often exaggerates the extent of attacks it launches against Afghan government and foreign security targets. After the attack, Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, which is east of Kabul's main international airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the capital. Columns of vehicles carrying troops and police were in the area and heavy automatic gunfire could be heard, along with rocket-propelled grenades fired by Afghan security forces. There were also widespread reports of power outages in Kabul after the blast, with electricity cut off in several areas of the city. The attack followed the bombing of a busload of Nepalese security contractors who worked for the Canadian embassy in June, as well as other attacks on foreigners in Kabul, including a suicide attack on Camp Baron, a camp used by foreign contractors in January. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Russian helicopter with five people on board has been shot down in Syria while carrying humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the country's Defence Ministry has said. Three crew and two officers were returning to Khmeimim base in Idlib province when the helicopter was brought down by ground fire. It is the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its entrance into Syria's civil war. "On 1 August, an Mi-8 transport helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Idlib province after a delivery of humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. "Three crew members and two officers from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria were on board," the ministry said in a statement. In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis The Kremlin said all five personnel had died. "From what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Mr Peskov said the Russians "died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground". Images uploaded to social media purportedly show the flaming wreckage of the helicopter along with a dead body and purported Russian identity documents taken from the wreckage. In one video, what appeared to be a rocket pod can be seen next to the wreckage. People standing nearby are seen taking photos on their phones and shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic. It is currently unknown which group brought the aircraft down. Idlib province has a strong presence of fighters both for the al-Qaeda branch in Syria known as Jabhat al-Nusra and rebels. Rebels fighting for Jaysh al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) claimed to have recovered the body of the pilot on social media. Monday's helicopter downing was the deadliest for the Russians since Moscow began carrying out air strikes in Syria in support of Assad's forces last September. In July, two Russian airmen were killed in the central Homs province when their Mi-25 helicopter was shot down by what the defence ministry said were IS fighters. An Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed near Homs in April, killing both crew members, but the Russian military said there was no evidence it came under fire. A Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey along the Syrian border in November, and one of the two pilots was shot and killed from the ground after ejecting. Earlier on Monday, a Syrian military official claimed that government forces repelled an attack by insurgents that was an attempt to break the siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo. The development came a day after Syrian rebels launched the offensive to break up the government's siege of the eastern, rebel-held part of the city. The UN estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. Opposition activists said intense fighting was still ongoing in Aleppo on Monday. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At least 28 civilians have been killed in shelling fired by Syrian rebels over the last 24 hours in south-western districts of the countrys besieged capital Aleppo, a monitor has said. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said six children and eight women were among those killed in two of the capitals government-controlled neighbourhoods. Dozens of people were also wounded, Mr Rahman told AFP. Syrian state news agency, SANA, said 20 civilians had been killed and dozens wounded since Sunday in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks in government-held neighbourhoods. It said nine people, including three children, were killed on Monday and 11 people died in attacks on Sunday. Earlier on Monday, a Syrian military official claimed that government forces repelled an attack by insurgents that was an attempt to break the siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo. The development came a day after Syrian rebels launched the offensive to break up the government's siege of the eastern, rebel-held part of the city. Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them Show all 13 1 /13 Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Opposition activists said intense fighting was still on-going in Aleppo on Monday. Aleppo city has been divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since 2012. In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, sparking concerns of a humanitarian crisis for the people under siege there. The UN estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. On Monday, a Russian helicopter with five people on board was shot down in Syria while carrying humanitarian supplies to Aleppo. Three crew and two officers were returning to Khmeimim base in Idlib province when the helicopter was brought down by ground fire. It is the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its entrance into Syria's civil war. It is currently unknown which group brought the aircraft down. Last week, Moscow announced the opening of humanitarian corridors from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels. 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 }} David Miliband has condemned the international community's lack of action after an air strike on a hospital in southern Syria killed six people, including two children. The former foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the hospital in Jassem, around 25 miles from the city of Daraa, was hit by an air raid on Sunday killing one member of staff and five patients. Speaking on the BBCs Today programme he condemned the lack of political pressure on the Syrian regime or Russia to stop committing alleged humanitarian abuses. He said: There is unspeakable humanitarian abuse going on across Syria at the moment and there is very little accountability for people committing these crimes. This is now not just a humanitarian catastrophe it has major political implications not just for the Middle East for also for Europe. Politics comes down to pressure and at the moment there is very little pressure on the Syrians, the Russians or frankly even the Iranians to curb the humanitarian abuse that is contributing to the conflict inside Syria. He said confidence in international checks and balances had been eroded so far that people caught in the middle of the Aleppo siege were refusing to leave the city because they feared being taken away by the regime and never seen again as happened following the fall of Homs in 2014. He warned the siege of Aleppo could last months if not years according to information gathered on the ground by IRC staff. Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them Show all 13 1 /13 Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office Syrian children hold Pokemon Go pictures in the hope people will find them and save them RFS Media Office In a statement to The Independent about the bombing, Mr Miliband said:We are dismayed and in mourning today at well-founded reports of the loss of life of colleagues and civilians killed by an airstrike serving the needs of desperate people in a hospital in Daraa, southern Syria. These reports are a horrific reminder that civilians and aid workers are not just on the frontline of the Syrian civil war. They are bearing an intolerable price. The bombing of hospitals is never justified. All those involved must be held to account. It is right to have global attention on Aleppo, but it would be tragic if people came to believe Aleppo is the only crime scene in Syria. Across the country, aid workers and civilians are being targeted in a merciless way on a daily basis. The IRC has 2,000 staff on the front lines in Syria facing the brutality of a war without law and seemingly war without end. Peace talks come and go, and so do so-called ceasefires, but the reality is that there is talk of peace but deeds of war. He called on the UN to more to intervene and act in defence of the most basic principles of the organisation. It is not good enough to have monthly reports from the Secretary General about death and destruction, he added. The air strike came just three days after an attack on a maternity hospital in the rebel-controlled Idlib province where two were killed. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Turkish special forces have arrested 11 soldiers suspected to have been involved in an attempt to kidnap President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the failed coup last month, according to state-run media. The soldiers were reportedly caught hiding in a forest area around 30 miles away from the southwestern resort of Marmaris where Mr Erdogan had been staying with his family when the coup erupted. They are believed to have been part of a group that raided the President's hotel in an attempt to kidnap him. Having been tipped off that he was in danger on the night of the coup bid, Mr Erdogan had fled the hotel in Marmaris by the time the rogue commandos arrived in an attempt to capture him. After a manhunt involving around 1,000 members of the security forces, the 11 were captured - dressed in camouflage and trying to cross a stream - after a tip-off from a man who spotted them as he was hunting wild boar, the Dogan agency said. Video footage showed a dozen or so anti-coup demonstrators jeering the 11 detained soldiers, some of whom had swollen faces and bruises. The demonstrators waved Turkish flags and chanted "Traitors! We want the death penalty!" During the arrest forces are said to have exchanged gunfire, but according to the state-run news agency there were no known causalities. The capture came after Turkey dismissed at least 1,700 military officers in a move to tighten control of the army. Expulsions from the military are not entirely over and more personnel will be dismissed if necessary, Turkish defence minister told CNN Turk television on Monday. There were 311 soldiers, including 9 generals, still at large, Fikri Isik said, following the attempted coup. Mr Isik said that they were believed to still be in Turkey. Turkey's defence ministry has also changed the jobs of 167 generals within the army, following sweeping changes to the structure of the military over the weekend. The decree, signed by President Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Mr Isik, said 94 generals in land forces, 22 admirals, 44 generals in the airforce and seven others have been reappointed. Since the failed coup attempt Mr Erdogan has imposed a state of emergency and launched a sweeping crackdown on those believed to be against him. More than 18,000 people have so far been detained over the attempt to oust the president, while thousands of government staff are also under investigation. Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said coup plotters would bitterly regret trying to overthrow Turkey's democracy, in words reflecting the depth of anger among the thousands of Turks who have attended rallies to condemn the coup night after night. We will make them beg. We will stuff them into holes, they will suffer such punishment in those holes that they will never see God's sun as long as they breathe, Mr Zeybekci was quoted by the Dogan news agency as telling an anti-coup protest in the western town of Usak over the weekend. They will not hear a human voice again. 'Kill us' they will beg, he said. Turkish authorities have also cancelled the passports of around 50,000 people to prevent them leaving the country as part of the crackdown, and Mr Erdogan has announced plans to close down the country's military schools. The attempted coup saw at least 246 people killed and more than 2,000 injured after soldiers armed with fighter jets, helicopters and tanks attempted to take control of key areas of the capital while Mr Erdogan was on holiday. 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 blames followers of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for the coup bid and has vowed to rid state institutions of his influence. But the extent of the purges, and suggestions that the death penalty could be reintroduced, have sparked concern in Western capitals and among rights groups. Mr Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied involvement. Amnesty International said Turkeys crackdown on civil society and media freedoms had reached disturbing levels after arrest warrants were issued for 89 journalists and 131 media outlets were closed. Mr Erdogan and his government have been angered by the response of Western allies to the abortive coup and its aftermath, accusing them of being more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat Turkey has faced. Senior Turkish officials have rounded on Germany for preventing Mr Erdogan from addressing a rally on Sunday of his supporters in Cologne via video-link. Berlin's foreign ministry spokesman acknowledged relations were going through a bumpy patch. About 150 protesters, meanwhile, marched to the US embassy in Ankara on Monday to protest against a visit by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, the principal military adviser to the American president, who met Prime Minister Mr Yildirim and his Turkish military counterpart. Coup plotter Dunford get out of Turkey, the crowd chanted as it marched down a central Ankara street to the embassy, where Turkish police kept them at a distance from the building. Dunford go home. Send us Fethullah, said one banner, in reference to Mr Gulen. General Dunford also met US personnel stationed at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by the US-led coalition in the fight against Isis. The US embassy said General Dunford was in Turkey as part of a show of solidarity. He will deliver messages condemning in the strongest terms the recent coup attempt and reaffirming the importance of our enduring partnership for regional security, the embassy said in a written statement. Reuters contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government has faced heavy criticism on the day university maintenance grants were replaced with loans for half a million of Englands poorest students. Sorana Vieru, National Union of Students vice president, labelled the move disgraceful and said it basically punishes poorer students simply for being poor". So they have to take a bigger loan than those students from privileged backgrounds," she told BBC Breakfast on Monday. Recommended Read more Tories plan to axe maintenance grants without Commons vote and debate It could put off students from underprivileged backgrounds from applying, who might not understand how the loan system works, or are very debt-averse. "We also know mature students are way more debt-averse than younger students and BME [black and minority ethnic] students perceive student debt on a par with commercial debt. The Government was heavily criticised earlier this year for frighteningly and undemocratically pushing the change through a small committee most people had never heard of, consisting of just 18 MPs and at a debate which lasted just 90 minutes. In the 2015 Budget, former chancellor George Osborne announced the Governments intention to abolish grants and replace them with increased maintenance loans, a change which campaigners argued would have an impact on student perceptions of the value of higher education. Recommended Read more The moment 18 MPs took just 90 minutes to axe maintenance grants University students from families with a household income of 25,000 or less were entitled to a grant to cover living costs of 3,387 per year. This grant then decreased as the familys income increased and came to an end when a household earned more than 42,620. As of Monday, though, those students who live away from home outside of London will receive a higher loan amount of up to 8,200, while those in the capital will get up to 10,702. This will then all have to be repaid under the same terms as existing loans once a graduate earns more than 21,000 per year. At the time of the debate, Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, described how he worked in higher education before becoming an MP and saw, at first-hand, how being at university allowed people to grow and develop". He added: This is a very frightening prospect for young people and their parents. This is a typical Tory reaction, they dont understand what it is like to struggle. Students protesting for free higher education We have worked to target support to the poorest students, and removing that vital help will hurt those who need it most. Plans to cut maintenance grants are wrong and we will fight these plans tooth and nail. Social mobility is a real priority and these changes threaten to further entrench inequality. It is something I oppose. An opposition day debate in the Commons, which was launched by the Labour Party following significant cross-party opposition to the proposals and lobbying from students unions from across the UK, saw MPs vote down the opposition day motion to annul the Tories plan by 292 for and 306 against. The vote on the praying motion to annul the regulations also narrowly fell by 292 for and 303 against. The Government, however, has faced fresh criticism of its handling of student loans repayments after making a U-turn on a 2012 promise by freezing the student loan repayment threshold at 21,000, meaning around two million graduates are now being forced to pay back more on their loans than originally promised. The change was implemented despite 84 per cent of respondents to a Government consultation opposing the move. A parliamentary debate was recently triggered after more than 130,000 people signed a petition calling on the Tories to overturn the decision. The petition said the retrospective changes threatened any trust had in the student finance system". At the debate, MPs argued the Tories had maxed out the nations credit card and now students and graduates were being left to foot the bill". Helen Jones, Labour MP for Warrington North and chair of the Petitions Committee, said in her opening remarks: Whats happening at the moment is simply and totally wrong. "The worst thing about this decision is it is retrospective. A commercial organisation would not be able to do this, but the measures it imposes on others it appears [the Government] is not prepared to adhere to itself. The Brexit vote is threatening thousands of Irish jobs, business leaders are warning Some 7,500 jobs are at risk unless the Government takes decisive and immediate action on the fallout from Brexit, business leaders have warned. Ibec claims 700 million of euro worth of food exports face being wiped out unless urgent action is taken to address the pressure from the fall in the value of sterling. It said a survey of 450 businesses found the impact of the drop was the biggest concern for half of them. And, in economic analysis issued alongside the report, it estimated that, if sterling weakened closer to the 90p mark, Ireland's agri-food sector would be hit hardest with the thousands of job losses and hundreds of millions wiped off orders. Ibec warned the currency crisis was already on a par with 1992 and that it could get much worse. It called for salary costs, including minimum wage levels, to be kept competitive. Director of policy Fergal O'Brien issued a stark assessment: "The Brexit strain is manifest and intense. Without urgent action to address competitive pressures, hundreds of millions of euro worth of exports and thousands of Irish jobs will be lost. "Individual businesses have been slow to talk publicly, but the feedback from members is clear and unambiguous. Businesses and jobs are already under threat. "This is now a full-blown currency crisis. "For exporters, the speed of sterling's decline is on a par with the 1992 currency crisis. Irish exporters to the UK are already 15% less competitive and things could get much worse. The problem demands urgent government attention." Ibec's survey found the top three challenges facing businesses were e xchange rate volatility, weaker investor confidence and competitiveness against the UK. One third of businesses warned cheaper UK imports were the biggest risk and only one in ten of businesses have Brexit contingency plans already in place. Ibec said its members believed the most important policy for Government to act on was a renewed focus on competitiveness. Mr O'Brien added: "An urgent and meaningful Government response is needed to address the immediate currency crisis and longer-term competitiveness challenge that Brexit poses. "The UK will be more aggressive in its tax and investment policy once outside the EU. Ireland needs to match and exceed its offering." Ibec called for an immediate Brexit response package with funds set up to stabilise e nterprise and support employment in the worst-affected businesses. It also urged the Government to keep energy and insurance costs down and for the next budget to be "Brexit-proofed" to address tax competitiveness challenges against the UK. The planned 150 million revamp of the former Clerys department store is the first step in "unlocking the potential" of the capital's main thoroughfare. This is according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, which welcomed the news that the iconic site on O'Connell Street is to be redeveloped into a six-storey retail and office space. "O'Connell Street should be the jewel in the crown for Dublin city centre, and I think it's fair to say it's far from it," Graeme McQueen, public affairs manager for the Dublin Chamber of Commerce told the Irish Independent. "There's huge potential in the street and we need to discover ways of tapping into it. This development is a step in the right direction, hopefully the first of many more to come." Mr McQueen said the good news for Dublin's main artery kept coming as the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) agreed to sell the street's landmark Gresham Hotel for 92m. The sale to Spanish firm RIU Hotels and Resorts is understood to have generated almost 60m in profit. The Gresham's board is expected to approve the takeover this Tuesday. The RIU group edged out Irish hotel firm Tifco to secure the bid. Nama declined to comment about the sale but Dublin Town CEO Richard Guiney said the deal was a "vote of confidence for the north side of the city". "Given these recent developments, we're quite optimistic for the area," Mr Guiney said. "We've had lot of promising signs recently, including the sale of the old Boyers building, that there's interesting times ahead for (O'Connell Street)." Clerys closed suddenly last year with the loss of 460 jobs after changing ownership. The site's redevelopment, drawn up by architects Henry J Lyons, is intended to preserve the old building. Read more: Iconic Clerys' to be restored to its former grandeur - complete with new 'rooftop destination' The ground and first floors will be used for retail, while the upper storeys will be redesigned as offices aimed at attracting financial services. A 176-bedroom hotel with an entrance on Earl Place also forms part of the plans, as does a glass rooftop level for bars, restaurants and leisure activities. "We hope that this will be a major catalyst for change in the city centre and for O'Connell Street," said a spokesperson for OCS Properties, the new owners of the O'Connell Street premises. Some 1,400 jobs are expected to be created as part of the Clerys redevelopment and the Dublin Chamber said it was "hopeful" that some might go to the store's former workers. "If there's a chance, it would be great to see. Local people too should have a role in filling these positions," Mr McQueen added. Legal giants Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody have between them advised on 24 merger and acquisition deals so far this year, as the value of M&A activity with Irish involvement has hit almost 32bn. Stock photo: PA Legal giants Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody have between them advised on 24 merger and acquisition deals so far this year, as the value of M&A activity with Irish involvement has hit almost 32bn. That's fractionally down on the same period last year, at 32.9bn, according to data compiled for the Irish Independent by Thomson Reuters. The number of deals either completed or in train so far this year totals 184 - down 74 on the same period last year. But Brian O'Gorman, managing partner at Arthur Cox, said that 2015 was an "exceptionally busy year" in the M&A market. "I would characterise 2016 as less busy in M&A than 2015, but probably more like a normal year," Mr O'Gorman told the Irish Independent. "2015 was abnormal in a good way. It was extraordinarily busy." The need for regulatory approvals, legal due diligence and tax advice means big Irish law firms are continuing to ride the merger wave. Arthur Cox has advised on 14 deals this year with a combined value of 26.5bn. A&L Goodbody has advised on 10 deals, with a value of 26.7bn, according to the Thomson Reuters data. Both firms advised on the deal between Johnson Controls and Tyco International, which pushed up the deals value figure considerably for both companies. Earlier this year Johnson, a US maker of car batteries and heating and ventilation equipment, agreed to buy Ireland-based peer Tyco in a multi-billion-dollar deal that will lower its tax bill. By moving its headquarters to Cork, Johnson will be the latest major US company to carry out a so-called tax-inversion. An inversion is a tax-driven deal in which a US company acquires a smaller, foreign business and adopts its tax domicile to reduce the combined company's overall tax burden. Arthur Cox advised Tyco, while Goodbody acted for Johnson. Mr O'Gorman suggested inversions would not be coming to an end anytime soon, despite the clampdown by authorities in the United States. "There are deals still happening," Mr O'Gorman said. "We may see a lower volume, but I think international M&A, and in particular international corporates looking to optimise how they organise themselves, that's here to stay, so I don't think we've seen the definite end of that trend." Inversions contributed to the massive surge in Irish GDP experienced last year. GDP jumped 26.3pc in 2015, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), thanks largely to the accounting activities of Ireland's multinational sector. Mr O'Gorman added that he did not expect any impact on M&A activity from the Brexit referendum vote. Rebounding "I'm not certain Brexit is going to have any material impact on M&A activity," Mr O'Gorman said. "I think in Ireland you have to differentiate between the domestic M&A market and the international market. "The domestic M&A market has been quietly rebounding for a number of years and we've started to see reasonable levels of activity in our domestic M&A market and we've also started to see a lot of our largest domestic corporates doing a lot of deals abroad, like CRH and Paddy Power and others. "So that's a reasonably positive story. It's been on a positive trend since 2012." News / National by Staff reporter Former Zanu-PF youth leader Acie Lumumba has accused President Robert Mugabe of breeding terrorism after he was attacked by Zanu-PF yobs in Bulawayo on Friday.Lumumba was due to hold a meeting with youths drawn from different associations in the city but was forced to abandon the gathering after Zanu-PF thugs stormed the venue, armed with chains and stones."Mugabe constantly calls others sell-outs but he is the biggest sell-out. He sells out every promise that he has made," Lumumba told the Daily News."He promised no violence but what is happening in his party is a clear promotion of violence day in day out."What he is not realising is that he is breeding terrorism in Zimbabwe. If you look at the definition of terrorism you will get that, Zanu-PF is promoting terrorism. But he must be reminded that we will not stop fighting for our political space as a result," he added.Lumumba who recently formed his own political party, Viva Zimbabwe, was meant to give a keynote address to youth associations from the city at Homestead Hall."We were supposed to have an engagement meeting with youths drawn from different associations but unfortunately when the participants arrived at the venue, the Zanu-PF youths numbering about 35 to 40 had barricaded the entrance while armed with chains, stones and all sorts of weapons," a livid Lumumba said."When I approached these Zanu-PF youths most of whom I recognised since we once worked together wanting to find out what their problem was, they then mobbed and started assaulting a freelance journalist who was taking pictures."After that they then turned their anger on me but they were not that smart since they were drunk hence not wiser and I managed to escape with minor assaults."Human rights lawyer Tineyi Mukwewa, who assisted Lumumba, was very critical of the police."I can confirm that Acie Lumumba and his team from Harare, who had come for a meeting here, were attacked by rowdy youths who identified themselves as Zanu-PF members," Mukwewa said."They stopped Lumumba and other youths from accessing the venue; this was done in the presence of the police. Lumumba and a freelance journalist were attacked using a long chain and other weapons as police looked on."Lumumba is currently on trial for allegedly insulting Mugabe.A former Zanu-PF representative in the 2013 general election, Lumumba quit Zanu-PF after his fallout with Indigenisation minister, Patrick Zhuwawo. Dividend payouts to shareholders at Bank of Ireland or AIB are unlikely to take place until 2018 at the earliest. (Stock picture) Dividend payouts to shareholders at Bank of Ireland or AIB are unlikely to take place until 2018 at the earliest, it has been claimed. It comes as European tests show the two banks remain among the most vulnerable in Europe to a financial shock. Expand Close Bank of Ireland chief Richie Boucher. Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bank of Ireland chief Richie Boucher. Photo: Steve Humphreys The State's two biggest banks are likely to continue to build capital amid the risk posed to the Irish economy from Brexit, Darren McKinley, senior equity analyst with Merrion Capital, said. European-wide stress tests gauging how banks would survive a recession revealed that both AIB and Bank of Ireland fared poorly. The tests measured lenders' ability to weather a severe recession over three years, and AIB was the second-worst performer in the so-called adverse scenario. Bank of Ireland, the only other Irish bank tested, fared better but was the fourth-weakest out of 51 banks tested. Both lenders would see significant capital eroded in the event of a severe downturn, the tests showed. Expand Close AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne Read more: Ireland's biggest banks 'among most vulnerable in Europe' to financial shock The banks and the Department of Finance said the tests did not reflect the current strength of the banks, as they were based on an end-of-2015 position. Mr McKinley said the banks were well capitalised, and balance sheets were improving, but said the risks posed by Brexit meant dividend payouts would be pushed out. "My thinking is that the first dividend for any of the banks will be March 2018 on the back of full year 2017 results, and that would be at the earliest," Mr McKinley said. Bank of Ireland has already cast doubts on the timing of its dividend to shareholders, with the Brexit vote partly to blame. Chief executive Richie Boucher stressed the lender was still committed to a shareholder payout, but said the certainty he had earlier this year concerning the timing of 2017 was not as strong. AIB chief Bernard Byrne said earlier this week that the State-owned lender would begin talks with the Department of Finance about devising a dividend policy. The stress tests looked at the capital that banks would be left with after a crash using a standard measure called core equity tier 1 (CET1). Under a severe scenario, AIB would be left with CET1 of 4.3, below the 5.5 level analysts see as adequate. Bank of Ireland's CET1 in a stress scenario of 6.1 is also well below the average. Bank of Ireland and AIB both dismissed the tests as a snapshot in time, as it reflected the position at the end of last year. AIB said the tests did not reflect "current or future improved financial performance". Bank of Ireland said its capital position was strong and it continued to generate capital. The two Irish banks both published positive financial results this week, showing significant profits. But the test results will come as a blow, almost nine years after the start of the financial crisis. Mr McKinley said capital continues to build in the banks, and non-performing loans continue to fall. And he said a part sale of the Government's stake in AIB would still go ahead, although potentially not until late spring or early summer of next year. "I think AIB can continue to go for a flotation, but it would be March, April, May next year at the earliest. "The Brexit concern is more of an issue at the moment. With Brexit, the probability of that stress test becoming a reality is more plausible," he said. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Department of Finance said Fianna Fail's push to cap variable mortgage rates was premature in light of the results. Gerry Markey says the fees for his pension scheme weren't discussed when he started working in Clerys over 30 years ago. Now working in Harvey Norman, the Finglas, Dublin, native didn't realise he would have to pay any service fees. He says pension policies should be explained in a straightforward and accessible manner. He also advised people to start thinking about their pension as "early as possible". "When I started my first pension, I was 21. There wouldn't have been any kind of discussion about fees or anything like that," Mr Markey (53) said. When Clerys shut down last year, it left a "minefield" for the workers. Mr Markey claimed they retained their pensions with help from the Pensions Authority. He has still been left with little to show for his years of labour, with a pension of 80 per month. "With my pension, I ended up getting a lump sum out of it because I was over 50," he said. Read More "The balance left is a considerable amount, but then it was transformed into a pension - so I get a pension of 80 every month even though I'm just over 50. "I would have preferred for that not to be paid to me as a monthly pension but that wasn't an option. "I worked in Clerys for 34 years and that's the pension I have until I'm dead and buried. It's not an awful lot of money - you can't do much with it." Mr Markey says that it's important for people to understand exactly how much they're paying and what the fees are when they set up a pension. He would advise people to join an occupational pension scheme where available, "once it's clear and in straightforward language". His biggest advice is to start planning your pension as early as possible. "To start it off, you have to go back to the beginning and talk to schools and colleges about this. "Before you know where you are, you're 35 or 40 and it's really too late. That needs to be changed," he said. DUBLIN-BASED software company Fleetmatics is to be sold for $2.4bn (2.15bn) in cash to Verizon, the US telecoms giant. The deal comes weeks after Fleetmatics announced 75 extra jobs in Dublin, to bring its Irish workforce in Tallaght to over 200. The company, co-founded by existing chief technical officer Peter Mitchell, floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012. It reported $285m (255m) in revenues in 2015. Fleetmatics has a North American headquarters in Waltham, Massachussetts. The company's web-based solutions provide fleet operators with visibility into vehicle location, fuel usage, speed and mileage and other metrics about their mobile workforce. "Verizon and Fleetmatics share a vision that the SaaS-based fleet management solution market is extraordinarily large, lightly penetrated, global and fragmented which can best be attacked together with a world class product offering and the largest distribution channel in the industry," said Jim Travers, chairman and chief executive of Fleetmatics. "Fleetmatics brings over 37,000 customers, approximately 737,000 subscribers, a broad portfolio of industry leading products, and a team of 1,200 professionals focused on solving the critical challenges of businesses that deploy mobile workforces. We are excited to partner with Verizon in fulfilling the mission of becoming the largest mobile workforce management company in the world," he said. Several wireless, cable and broadband trade associations have urged the full US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse a ruling upholding the Obama administration's landmark rules barring internet service providers from obstructing or slowing consumer access to web content. A three-judge panel in June, in a 2-1 decision, backed the Federal Communications Commission's so-called net neutrality rules put in place last year to make internet service providers treat all internet traffic equally. The wireless trade association CTIA said in a court filing on Friday seeking a rehearing that "few final rules of any federal administrative agency have ever had so much potential to affect the lives of so many Americans". In a separate petition, US Telecom and CenturyLink asked the court to reconsider the ruling, as did the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and American Cable Association. The cable groups said the court should correct "serious errors" in an FCC decision "that radically reshapes federal law governing a massive sector of the economy, which flourished due to hundreds of billions of dollars of investment made in reliance on the policy the order throws overboard." The FCC rules prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet - essentially a "fast lane" on the web's information superhighway - to certain internet services over others. In siding with the FCC, the court treated the internet like a public utility and opened the door to further internet regulations. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement on Friday that "it comes as no surprise that the big dogs have challenged the three-judge panel's decision". He was confident the full court would agree with the panel's decision. The panel's ruling in June was a big victory for US President Barack Obama, and the White House hailed it as "a victory for the open, fair and free internet as we know it today - one that remains open to innovation and economic growth". Net neutrality is a major issue for broadband providers, which fear the rules may make it harder to manage internet traffic and also make investment in additional capacity less likely. When I meet director Paul Greengrass to discuss his latest film, Jason Bourne, he does a double take. "I know you, don't I?" he says, reaching for my hand. "We have met, right?" We hadn't. Greengrass and I live in the same area and I know him to see - with his long, grey curls and round-rimmed spectacles, he's a distinctive figure. I hadn't expected the compliment to be returned and was quite flattered, but then again, this is a man who pays attention to detail. At the screening of Jason Bourne, I was sitting in front of a very well known TV political pundit. Before the film began, he told his companion that, in his opinion, the Bourne films are "better than Bond". I pass this nugget along to the director but Greengrass, who began his career in broadcast journalism, is too savvy to gloat. "It's very kind of him," he replies, talking about the TV pundit. "Bond is fantastic; you can't argue with a franchise that has been around for 50 years." Jason Bourne, which stars Matt Damon as the eponymous hero, is the fifth Bourne film. Greengrass directed the second (The Bourne Supremacy) and the third (The Bourne Ultimatum). With Jason Bourne, he also wrote the script. I have to agree with the famous political pundit - to my mind Bourne is better than Bond. Perhaps one of the reasons for my preference is that although the Bond franchise now employs women in roles other than 'girlfriend', 'dolly bird' or 'victim', it sometimes feels a bit forced. Expand Close Director Paul Greengrass says he has a lifelong love of Ireland / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Director Paul Greengrass says he has a lifelong love of Ireland Starting with Greengrass's first Bourne film, the franchise has featured women in strong, hitherto male, roles. "I'm not noted for my films with women in bikinis," Greengrass tells me. "In fact, I've never done one." Joan Allen, who played the high-ranking intelligence official Pam Landy in the last three Bourne movies, is gone but Jason Bourne introduces Heather Lee, an ambitious intelligence operative, played by Alicia Vikander. The director and I agree that Vikander is a gifted actor, he calls her "brilliant". But when I mention Vikander's stunning beauty, he replies "she doesn't feel glamorous (in this film), though does she?" And this is true. Nothing, short of putting a bag over her head, could disguise Vikander's beauty. Yet Heather Lee is not a woman who trades on her looks, her wardrobe is functional and, brilliantly I think, at a stressful moment her hair, which is always pulled up in a banana clip, becomes ever so slightly frizzy. Greengrass didn't initially write the part with Vikander in mind but she agreed to play the role early on. Greengrass began his career in Granada Television with the ground-breaking show World in Action. He had no links with Ireland ("despite my mother coming from Liverpool") but soon after joining Granada, he was sent to Northern Ireland to cover the hunger strikes. "I was very young and that had a really profound impact on me. It set up a lifelong love of Ireland. I travelled all round and kept going back." During the course of his journalistic career, Greengrass directed many television films but it was his 2002 film Bloody Sunday, starring James Nesbitt, that catapulted him into the consciousness of both film-goers and filmmakers. Video of the Day "I remember Bloody Sunday vividly," he tells me. "It was shocking but the conflict seemed remote. "Then at the end of the 1970s, early 1980s, I started going (to Northern Ireland) and suddenly it wasn't so far away. I had a good time, made friends and started to understand something of it. "Bloody Sunday was made at a moment of high optimism - it was made as the conflict was ending, which was very inspiring. One of the results of conflict is you very quickly lose history, shared history and never more so than Bloody Sunday because wherever you were in the islands of Ireland and Britain and whichever tradition you came from in the North, whatever your political persuasions were, you would have different views on that event. "I said at the outset, the mission of this film is, can we as a group take the known facts and make an account of that day, that seems to all of us from all of our different backgrounds, traditions, perspectives, that we can collectively look at and say 'it must have been something a bit like that'. "The first screening in Derry, we had everyone from Sinn Fein to the Apprentice Boys, we had the Bishop of Derry, and it felt like it was fair and in being fair and truthful it sort of released the toxic energy that it had." Greengrass has grown quite intense while recalling Bloody Sunday but after a brief pause he smiles and adds: "That's a high faluting way of putting it, but that was the hope, that was the mission. I'm proud of it." The climax of Jason Bourne occurs in Las Vegas, a far cry from Derry, and not a location usually associated with spies. What drew Greengrass to Sin City? "There's places you think of for Cold War stories to take place, like Vienna, the streets of Berlin, right? So I was asking myself 'in 2016, where is the intelligence action?' You could argue that it's Ankara or Kabul but not really because those are conflicts of today. "Then I read about these conventions in Las Vegas, these giant technology conventions - it's where the CIA go to recruit new cyber people, where Goldman Sachs go to recruit - finance is all algorithms, and the great social media companies, which literally dominate the globe, they also recruit there. And, the hacking underground, they go too. So Las Vegas is really like the cafes of Vienna in 1952, in 2016 it's where the action is, it all happens in these convention centres two or three times a year." While Ireland gets its fair share of screen time in films, according to Hollywood, spies don't visit the Emerald Isle. In The Bourne Supremacy there is a 'blink and you miss it' reference to Dublin. Isn't it time, I ask Greengrass, for a big car chase through the streets of Dublin? Or Belfast? "Oh, that would be fantastic," he replies enthusiastically. "I'd like that. That would be good. Down the Liffey. I have such happy memories of shooting in Dublin." Jason Bourne is in cinemas nationwide now Coldplay surprised fans with a Christy Moore cover during their concert in Boston on Saturday night. On Saturday night, the band played to a sold-out crowd in the Gillette Stadium and surprised their fans with a Christy Moore tribute. They covered one of his most iconic ballads, Ride On, which was captured on camera by Coldplay fan Gemma Hogan. The song was written by legendary Corkman Jimmy MacCarthy. "There was a noticeably large Irish crowd on the floor and the Ride On cover was a great gesture to Boston's Irish heritage," she told Independent.ie. Gemma said that the band dedicated the Christy Moore cover to their drummer Will Champion for his birthday. It's not the first time the band have covered Ride On; in 2011 they were joined by Christy Moore himself for their headline set at Oxegen music festival in Punchestown. Eastenders pair Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace have shot a new six-part spin off series in the picturesque village of Dunmore East Kat and Alfie Moon have turned up in Ireland in the first official snap of the EastEnders spin-off Redwater (BBC/PA) Kat and Alfie Moon have turned up in Ireland in the first official snap of the EastEnders' spin-off Redwater. Viewers will see the pair, played by Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie, head to the tiny, fictional village in Ireland to search for Kat's long lost son. The cast have now finished filming the six-part, BBC One drama, to be broadcast next year. In the show, "Kat's quest for the truth uncovers secrets that the village of Redwater would rather were left buried at sea". Danish director Jesper Nielsen, whose credits include Borgen, is directing the drama, created by former EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins. "Now is the perfect time to take two of EastEnders' most beloved and enduring characters out of their comfort zone as they head to Ireland to search for answers to some very big questions," he previously said. Expand Close L to R: Maria Doyle Kennedy, Fionnuala Flanagan & Angeline Ball on set. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp L to R: Maria Doyle Kennedy, Fionnuala Flanagan & Angeline Ball on set. "My team here are very excited about creating a whole new drama that stands apart from EastEnders while taking our style of storytelling to a place of stories, myth, secrets and immeasurable beauty." However, soap bosses have been warned to 'keep it real' this time, as their last efforts at basing the show here 19 years ago resulted in a diplomatic row which saw the Irish Ambassador to Britain describe the show's portrayal of Ireland as "worrying" and "prejudiced". Three episodes were based here in 1997 and resulted in a huge public outcry over their portrayal of Irish life, which included wild animals on the streets and drunk and disorderly behaviour. The episodes showed the character of Pauline Fowler travel to Ireland to meet her long-lost half-sister, but ended up angering many Irish fans. The BBC subsequently issued an apology after hundreds of viewers filed complaints. When news of Redwater first broke last year, former Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke said that he hoped show's producers had learned from their mistake. Expand Close Actress Fionnula Flanagan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actress Fionnula Flanagan Video of the Day "Of course, we are proud of the donkeys that walk along the road in Connemara, I see them there and I think it is great. But long gone is the day where we depend on donkeys and carts to bring our milk around," he said at the time. "I'm sure they have learned by their mistakes, they'll come over the next time and I am sure they will have a different outlook going back." Redwater also stars Fionnula Flanagan, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Ian McElhinney, Angeline Ball, Peter Campion and Stanley Townsend. Kat and Alfie were last seen in EastEnders in January. News / National by Thobekile Zhou Tensions are running high in Harare after the re-arrest of War veterans secretary-general Victor Matemadanda.Police nabbed Matemadanda at the Rotten Row Magistrates court after attending bail application of war veterans spokesperson Douglas Mahiya.It was not immediately clear what his fresh charges are.Scores of war veterans burst into song denouncing his arrest outside the court building. Acclaimed actress Sinead Cusack is to be honoured at the 2016 Dublin Theatre Festival. Now in it's 59th year, this year's colourful and contemporary programme is filled with 28 shows - from music acts, and Roddy Doyle-isms to sultry singalongs, Shakespearean show downs and world premieres. Red Rock star Cathy Belton will appear in Meadhbh McHughs Helen and I while comedian PJ Gallagher will take on the lead role in Alien Documentary - a three hander being staged at the Project Arts Centre. Ill be sick with nerves on opening night, PJ said. "I haven't acted in years." To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the festival will open with a modern staging of the bards comedy A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre. With lycra class superheroes and musical interludes, it promises to be a memorable show. Roddy Doyles highly anticipated translation of Mozarts Don Giovanni will hit the Gaiety stage. There has been a lot of excitement about that show, Director of the Festival Willie White said. Sinead Cusack will be honoured for her outstanding contribution to the acting world on the Theatre Festivals Gala Night. Its nice that an actor is being acknowledged, White said. Because without them there would be no show. Known for their visually arresting Commedia DelArte inspired shows, The Corn Exchange will stage a version of Chekovs comedy The Seagull while outgoing director of the Gate Theatre Michael Colgan will direct Samuel Becketts First Love at OReilly Theatre starring Barry McGovern. Whether you go to the theatre every other weekend or once a year there is bound to be one show youll love, White said. A third person has been arrested by gardai investigating a late-night attack on a man who was celebrating a stag party. Ger Doolan (40), who is originally from Dublin, was set upon on the Main Street of Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim in the early hours of Sunday, July 17. Its understood that he had been on a stag party in the Co Leitrim town for the weekend. Emergency services rushed to the scene and the injured man was brought to Sligo University Hospital. Expand Close Ger Doolan. Picture: Facebook / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ger Doolan. Picture: Facebook His condition is described as critical and he was transferred to the specialist head unit at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where his condition remains unchanged. Gardai have tonight confirmed that a man in his 20s has been arrested in Co Roscommon connection with the attack. He is currently detained under the provisions of Section 4 Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at Carrick on Shannon Garda Station. A man and woman arrested on July 29 are currently before the courts & charged in connection with the incident. Mr Doolan had gotten married just weeks before the incident. A friend of the victim described him as one of the nicest lads you could meet. A prison inmate died when he overdosed on drugs his fiancee had smuggled into jail for him. Danielle Hayes (27) was engaged to Kevin Byrne (23) when she passed a package of heroin and Valium to him during a visit. When staff spotted them, Mr Byrne put it in his mouth. He later choked on his own vomit and died in at Wheatfield prison. A court heard Hayes had to live "every day of her life" knowing her actions "caused the death of her fiance". Hayes pleaded guilty to unlawfully conveying drugs into the jail in west Dublin on December 23, 2014. Mr Byrne was found unresponsive and pronounced dead the following day. Judge David McHugh adjourned the case for a pre-sentence probation report. Garda Thomas Doyle told Blanchardstown District Court the accused went to the prison to visit her fiance at 10.50am. During that visit, at around 11.20am Hayes was seen passing a package to Mr Byrne. He had the package in his hand when staff intervened and as they approached, he put it in his mouth. PACKAGE Mr Byrne was removed and asked to hand it over, but he denied that he had received any package. He was taken to a special observation cell, while Hayes left the prison. The following morning, December 24, Mr Byrne was found unresponsive in the cell by prison staff at 8.10am. Medical assistance was summoned and he was later pronounced dead. State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy found that the cause of death was inhalation of gastric contents caused by taking heroin and diazepam. Hayes, of Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, later went to Ronanstown Garda Station and made a voluntary statement outlining her relationship with Mr Byrne. "This is a very serious charge, compounded by the fact that her actions caused the death of her fiance," defence barrister Jennifer Jackson said. "She has to live with that every day of her life." The court heard the deceased's family was still in contact with Hayes and were "very understanding of what occurred". Judge McHugh adjourned the case for a probation report and noted that a letter he had read referred to a threat which there had been to the deceased's life. He adjourned the case to a date in September. Graham Lowndes, who shot an intruder at his fathers home. Picture: Arthur Carron A man who shot a convicted thief after he was caught raiding his father's county Dublin home has said it makes his blood boil when he hears about similar burglaries against vulnerable elderly people. Graham Lowndes (51), from Swords in north county Dublin, was speaking after receiving the probation act after admitting having a firearm without a certificate on the day he shot Matthew Fahey (36) in the left arm on April 12, 2012. Expand Close The scene in Kettles Lane, Swords, Co Dublin. Photo: Collins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The scene in Kettles Lane, Swords, Co Dublin. Photo: Collins Lowndes walked free from Dublin Circuit Court last Friday, but warned others who are put into his position to contact gardai and not to act rashly in the heat of the moment. Fahey, who has 61 convictions for theft, burglary and car theft, was hit in the arm after he was caught raiding the house of Graham's elderly father Richard in the townland of Kilsallaghan, Swords. He is now suing Graham Lowndes in a civil case after being treated for having 17 shotgun pellets in his arm. Mr Lowndes has said he is glad the four-year ordeal of the criminal case is over. "I'm delighted with the result. It has been a long time and I am relieved now that the criminal element of it is finished with," he said. "However, it still makes my blood boil when I hear about other burglaries and attacks on elderly people. "I still worry about my father and I wouldn't wish that worry on anyone." But Mr Lowndes said that following his court case he would urge others to be cautious if they ended up in a similar situation where they are confronting trespassers or burglars. Read More "I would advise people not to be rash in the heat of the moment, but to call the gardai," he explained. Mr Lowndes added that hearing that a man in his 80s who was living alone in the Swords area and was burgled in a separate and unrelated attack last Friday has made him realise that people are powerless against this type of crime. "It is still happening, and what can we do?" he asked. The latest victim is recovering after being attacked by a gang of three masked thugs. The three men, two of whom were said to have spoken with Dublin accents, broke into the pensioner's farmhouse on Kettle's Lane near Swords some time between 3am and 4am on Friday morning. They were armed with weapons described as bats and sticks, and threatened the man, who has mobility difficulties. Gardai say the gang then demanded money from the frightened farmer, and assaulted him during the violent aggravated burglary. "The three male offenders were wearing dark clothing and balaclavas," said a Garda spokesman last night. "They then fled the scene with a small amount of cash, but the direction they went and the mode of transport they used is unknown," he added. The elderly man then waited in his home for a long period of time until he was sure the threat to him was over before ringing gardai. The man was taken to Beaumont Hospital after raising the alarm. His injuries were to his hands, as he had tried to defend himself from the blows of the gang. The victim was said to have been badly shaken by his ordeal. Daithi O Se gets the ice bucket at the Rose of Tralee. Photo: Steve Humphreys An Irish family are part of the scientific team behind the ice bucket-funded breakthrough discovery in the treatment for the disease ALS. Last week, it was reported that 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. Expand Close Dr Kevin Kenna (centre) with wife Aoife and brother Brendan. Photo courtesy of Dr Kevin Kenna. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Kevin Kenna (centre) with wife Aoife and brother Brendan. Photo courtesy of Dr Kevin Kenna. The research was funded by the ice-bucket phenomenon, which exploded on social media in 2014. The lead scientist behind last week's breakthrough is Kevin Kenna (29), from Rathfarnham, Dublin. Kevin is joined in the team by his wife Aoife (31) and his brother Brendan (23). The team have been working out of a collaborator's laboratory in the University of Massachusetts (UMass). Read more: 'This would not have been possible without the ice bucket challenge' - Irish family behind disease breakthrough Dr Kenna explained that the research would not have been possible if it had not been for all the ice-bucket challenge videos that dominated social media forums for several weeks. The campaign raised 104m from more than 17 million people, including celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Amy Huberman, who filmed themselves having freezing cold water poured over their heads, before sharing the videos online. Describing the breakthrough, Dr Kenna said: "This study represents a major step forward in ALS research. The gene we identified, NEK1, appears to contribute to approximately 3pc 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 not have been possible without the funds raised by the ALS ice-bucket challenge." Dr Kenna did his undergraduate study in UCD and his PhD in Trinity. Four minutes after this CCTV image was captured, gang rapist Dessie Mee plunged to his death from a third-floor window. Detectives are now exploring the possibility that the 45-year-old grandfather may have been murdered and thrown from top of the Millers House apartment complex in Newtownards. Two men and a woman arrested in connection with his death last Tuesday have been released on bail pending further inquiries. Mee, then known by the name Desmond William Gallagher, was jailed for 12 years in 1990 for the gang rape of a woman in east Belfast. He also has convictions for abusing young girls while a teenager. Officers working on the Mee death case have since established that: Mee had only been in Millers House for four minutes before falling from the window; he had gone there to return a mobile phone that he had been accused of stealing; the window he fell from was only 30cm wide and 60cm in height; and a number of suspects in the case have links to both the UVF and South-east Antrim UDA. A security source said: There is a strong belief that Mee may have been murdered. All the evidence weve gathered so far points to this. Police chiefs have so far stopped short of describing the incident as murder, however this newspaper has learned that two separate PSNI Major Investigation Teams (MIT) are working on the case. Forensic evidence including footprints and fingerprints taken from the apartment are currently being examined with the results due back within weeks. A senior detective added: Although we are currently treating Dessie Mees death as suspicious we are devoting substantial resources to it and have grave concerns about how he met his death. Friends of Mee, who lived in the West Winds estate in Newtownards, say he visited the Millers House apartments to return a mobile phone that he had been accused of stealing. He was only at the complex four minutes before falling to his death into an enclosed courtyard. Up to 10 people saw him plunge 25ft onto concrete slabs from a tiny 30x60cm window. Mee died from injuries he sustained after hitting the ground and there is no indication that he had been assaulted beforehand. A number of people standing in the courtyard rushed to his aid and phoned 999, however he passed away a short time later. Although some of these individuals have made statements to police others have yet to come forward. Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddis, who is heading the investigation into Mees death, appealed for witnesses to contact police. He said: We are appealing for information about Mr Mees movements on Tuesday and in the days before that. We are also appealing for information about activity in and around apartment number 25 at Millers House on July 26 between 6pm and 8.30pm. Sunday Life understands that the PSNI believe a number of individuals with ties to loyalist paramilitaries may have additional information about Mees death. Among them is a teenager from a prominent loyalist family in north Down whose father is an ex-UVF prisoner, and a South-east Antrim UDA member who fled Newtownabbey after falling foul of the terror gang over dealing drugs. Our concern is that these individuals could seek help from paramilitaries in covering up the true circumstances of what really happened to Mee, explained a high-level security source. Mees death last Tuesday was the second tragedy to his family in as many weeks his daughter Melissa lost her battle with cervical cancer on July 12. Friends say that although he had been drinking heavily to cope with the pain, Mee had been sober for around a week before his death. They have also ruled out suicide, claiming that there is no way he would consider taking his own life. Residents at Millers House expressed shock at Mees death. Louise Crossan, who lives on the floor on which he fell from, said: I heard the second ambulance arrived. I looked out and saw a guy lying in the street. It has just stunned everyone. Another young mother at the Helm Housing block said: I looked out and could hear the neighbours shouting up to the top floor and there was a mans body lying on the ground. People were rushing over to him. I didnt know what to think so I closed the blinds so the kids didnt go near the window. I wouldnt want them remembering a sight like that for the rest of their lives. Anyone with information about Dessie Mees death should contact Newtownards PSNI or phone the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111. Opinion / Columnist Tribal tensions between Zimbabwe's two main ethnic groups,the Shona and the Ndebele have reached the boiling point.The country's leaders have turned a blind eye to the time bomb waiting to explode anytime.The leaders keep deceiving the world about the situation in the country.Others say Zimbabweans are united while the opposite is the reality.Unlike in other African countries where tribal wars are started by ordinary people,the tragedy in Zimbabwe is that the government is directly responsible for the rising tensions that could plunge the country into a civil strife.The government's tribal policies effected in 1980 have reduced tribes in Matabeleland to second class citizens.Ethnic groups in the province and some parts of the Midlands have been subjected to worst forms of institutionalised tribalism and it is getting worse.The tensions between the two ethnic groups have spilled over into social media.I had the opportunity recently to log onto facebook hate groups run by both Ndebeles and Shonas.The language used by the two rival tribes can leave you breathless.You would for forgiven for thinking you are reading messages from hate organisations such as America's anti-black Ku Klux Klan.One post in the Ndebele group called on the youths of Matabeleland to attack Shonas wherever they find them in the townships of Johannesburg.A few days after reading the post, there was a report of Shona speakers who were attacked by a mob in the township of Thembisa, north of Johannesburg in the East Rand.The victims said the people who attacked them spoke Ndebele and some wore "Free Matabeleland " t-shirts.It was clear to the victims that the attackers were from Bulawayo.According to one of the victims,the attackers threatened them with war.They told them the beatings they got were just the beginning of what was coming to them in South Africa.One posting on the Shona facebook group urged Shona leaders in government to intensify the deployment of Shona teachers in Matabeleland and the oppression of the Ndebele.The Shona group also threatened to deal with Mthwakazi activists advocating for seccession.With such kind of tensions,leaders can ignore them at their own peril.The battle lines have been drawn.It's only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.Ndebele activists both at home and in South Africa have banned the Zimbabwean flag and the singing of the country's national anthem at their meetings as retaliation for what they called "cultural and language genocide in the province" and the illtreatment of their people by the government.The government's continued deployment of Shona teachers in Ndebele schools has pushed the inhabitants of the province including chiefs and politicians to the limit.When Zanu leaders went to war in the 70s they had two objectives-to win it and thereafter seek revenge on their enemies,the Ndebele.The Shona had waited for more than 100 years to get their revenge on the Ndebele,the once powerful and feared warrior tribe of Matabeleland.They were to be punished for the sins allegedly committed by their ancestors against the Shona during the reign of Kings Mzilikazi and Lobhengula.If the Ndebele descendants of Mzilikazi were to be tried,the charge sheet would include launching illegal raids on Shona villages,destruction of property,looting of cattle,murder,treating defeated Shona people as slaves and forcing Shona to pay tax to the Ndebele King.The information the Shona possess is from history books written by British colonists who also promised to protect them against Ndebele raids.The Shona have harboured that hatred of the Ndebele since those stone age days and their descendants have to pay for the crimes allegedly committed by their ancestors.That opportunity for revenge presented itself in1980 when the Shona won the elections.After getting into power,they put into motion,the Grand Plan,a Satanic and tribal anti- Ndebele programme crafted by Zanu leaders in Mozambique.Ndebele people who were promoted by the Rhodesian government were removed from their positions in Matabeleland.Shonas were brought in to replace them.This was the beginning of what became known as Zanu's "Shonalisation" of Matabeleland programme,some form of revenge against the Ndebele.Heads of tertiary institutions in Matabeleland were removed so were Doctors Jahalamajaha Dlamini and Sipho Zwane superientendents of Mpilo and Bulawayo central hospitals respectively.Shona officials were also appointed to be in charge of student registrations at colleges in Bulawayo.The aim was to limit the number of Ndebele students who made up 80 percent of trainees at teacher colleges and nursing institutions in the region before independence.In the military,Ndebele officers from Zipra who had passed the officers courses were removed from their positions a few weeks after being promoted.The government had realised that the majority of those who had passed the military officers course were from Zipra.Zanla who had no experience in conventional warfare performed badly during the training by B-MAT-the British Military Advisory Team that supervised the intergration of guerrilla armies and the Rhodesian forces.Throughout the war,Zanla never launched a major military operation or won any battles against the Rhodesians.They were the weakest of the two guerrilla armies.On the other hand,the Rhodesians gave Zapu credit for producing a well trained army which was let down by its political leadership.The Rhodesian commanders even tried to lure Zipra into joining South Africa's special operations commandos known as Recces.The new rulers could not accept a situation where Zipra headed most of the battalions in the new national army hence the decision to remove them from their positions.The British trainers questioned the decision to remove the Zipra officers but they were overruled by the government.Zipra had managed to pass the course because its officers had already in charge of regular army battalions that were deployed in 1978 in the northern front in an operation Zapu code-named "The Turning Point."During the liberation war,Zapu had managed to train a conventional force separate from its guerrilla wing.The regular army was trained in Zambia to prepare for a military takeover of Rhodesia with Russian and Cuban backing in 1978.Under the operation,co-ordinated by KGB officer Vladimir Bukeyev,Zapu was to deploy battalions from its regular army for a military invasion of Rhodesia through the northern front to establish liberated zones and set up civil administrative centres.While the new rulers continued with their purge of the so called "cockroaches" in the government,senior Zanu leaders were secretely planning genocide of the Ndebele and their allies, the Kalanga,Venda,Sotho and Xhosa people.White Rhodesians,realising their services were no longer wanted by the new black rulers who had just returned from refugee camps in Mozambique,packed their bags and headed south in what became known as "Operation Winter." The 'Kerry rebel' has brushed aside suggestions that he was left in the lurch by colleagues when hardy came to hardy on the need to settle the Fine Gael leadership issue. Up to half a dozen TDs made it clear that Enda Kenny's plan for departing as party leader must be swiftly spelt out. But Kerry's Brendan Griffin was a lone voice on July 11 last when he bluntly signalled it was "time-to-go time" for his party leader. Back in Kerry this bank holiday weekend, obsessively following constituency concerns, he says he remains unrepentant: The leadership issue must be faced once the new political term begins. The 34-year-old father of two cites the party's meeting of TDs and senators on September 12 in Newbridge, Co Kildare, before the Dail returns, as a good opportunity for the issue to be discussed. "Our first obligation is to provide stable government to meet the huge economic and social challenges out there now. That means the party must also have a strategy for self-preservation, and that in turn means a state of readiness to fight an election," he argues. "Our partners in government and Fianna Fail know we're not ready to fight an election. That means we're seen as the ones most likely to blink first when any issue comes up. That does not make good government." Read more: Four out of 10 people believe Taoiseach should 'quit now' - new Red C poll Griffin is also very frank about his mistrust of Fianna Fail, whose agreement is needed to keep the Fine Gael-led minority coalition in business. "Micheal Martin is less likely for the moment to pull the plug because he has been obliged to say he will not do so. But that does not mean he will not find an excuse next year or even earlier. That means we have to resolve the leadership issue very soon," he says. Griffin insists that other "would-be rebels" did not leave him in the lurch last month. "I did not tell the others I was going on radio to talk about leadership change. I did not want it to look like the work of a cabal or a faction who were planning something. I wanted to speak honestly and from the heart," he continues. Other TDs and senators, supportive of Enda Kenny, argue that those criticising the Taoiseach are people disappointed at not getting appointed to the new Government team. But Griffin argues that he has good relations with "nearly all the members of the parliamentary party". He is determined that his focus was not about promotion to government after Mr Kenny's departure. "I probably would have got promotion if I was a good boy who went to the Dail and sat in the front of the room. But I'm not like that and my interest is Kerry." In that regard, he notes that the February General Election, and subsequent opinion polls, have shown that too many ordinary people have disengaged from Fine Gael. "We need a generational change in leadership if we are to reconnect with the people who have abandoned us. I do not believe Enda Kenny, nor his deputy leader James Reilly, can lead that re-connection." This brings us to the key question - does he have a preference for who should replace Enda Kenny? "I have a preference, but I'm not going into that now. In the media it is painted as a contest between Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney. But there are others, including Frances Fitzgerald, Paschal Donohoe, Simon Harris and Eoghan Murphy. "In fact we are blessed with the largest number of able potential leaders in the party's history. Fine Gael now has more potential leaders than any other party," he says determinedly. Read more: Shrugging against the dying of the light: A horror week for dead-eyed Enda Griffin also owns to a certain grudging regard for the performance of Micheal Martin as Fianna Fail leader: "Of the four main party leaders in the General Election campaign, Micheal Martin often stood out as performing best. But I believe that Leo Varadkar or Simon Coveney could blow Micheal Martin out of the water," he says. For Brendan Griffin, Irish politics continues to become more "leader focused", which makes having a strong leader with a united party an imperative. He is determined to continue as a Fine Gael TD. He first stood unsuccessfully for Kerry County Council in 2004 and survived a dogfight last February. Crowds returned to Croagh Patrick in droves for the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage, with thousands making their way across the Mayo peaks over the weekend. The event has been hailed as a success, as glorious weather held up and more people opted to start the climb in the late afternoon and evening. Last year, the pilgrimage was called off as the area was ravaged by stormy winds and wet weather. Shane McGlade from Derry was making his way up the peaks, after completing the journey twice before. "I travelled down on Saturday night at 9pm and I was up for the first Mass at 8am. I started the climb at 5am," he said. "It was a lovely day, the sun was coming through the clouds sometimes." Read more: Crusade to save Mayo's 'broken' holy mountain as pilgrims gather Despite the good weather, this year's climb was a challenge for Shane, who was attempting it in his bare feet for the first time. "It was tough - not too bad going up, but tough coming down," he said. "There's more weight coming down the mountain, as you are leaning forward." "My feet are cut up now, but I'm looking forward to putting them up. My wife Breda is a nurse, so she'll look after me." Asked about his reasons for attempting the gruelling peaks, he said it was because of his religion. "For me it is just for penance, I know some people do it for different reasons, but for me it is a penance," he said. "I feel great after doing it." Meanwhile, Patrick Trayers from Lettermore, Co Galway, told the Irish Independent that he made the pilgrimage for the past four years. "I'm on motorcycle, so I park up, put bike gear in the luggage and walk up and down," he said. "I'm not really religious, but I'm spiritual so I do it for that reason." He also praised the atmosphere among his fellow climbers. "Everyone is in good form," he said. "It's a hard climb for people but you talk to about a dozen people on the way." Emergency services also said it was a successful day, with just one cardiac incident. A man was brought to Mayo General Hospital early in the day. It's understood up to 20,000 pilgrims attempted the climb. I'm a big fan of the action movie. I've seen them all - pretty much everything that Marvel, DC or Lucas have ever made. You name it, I've seen it. I'd like to pretend that it's because I've got loads of kids. It's not. Ever since I fell I love with Han Solo aged five, I've been hooked on the shoot 'em up, good-guys-versus-bad-guys escapism. My favourite game as a child was being thrown down the stairs in a sleeping bag (don't worry it was stuffed with teddies for health and safety reasons) to the cry of "Millennium Falcon - Light Speed!" by my older siblings. It was the 1970s, I was the youngest. We did stuff like that. So I was quite excited at the prospect of a new Ghostbusters movie. I loved the original. (Not the sequels, obviously.) Bill Murray and Co. made a classic, and even though my kids had seen it and it hadn't dated too badly - a reboot was a cool idea. I wasn't too pushed about the fact that it was an all-female cast to be honest. The feminist in me liked the idea but I did wonder was it a bit gimmicky. And I was actually more concerned about it being a good movie than it striking a blow for the sisterhood. I'd seen but not paid huge attention to the controversy online about it. Leslie Jones, the black female lead, had been viciously trolled on Twitter to the point that she closed her account 'in tears'. And Milo Yiannopoulos, the right wing, libertarian, gay conservative (there's a mouthful) was banned from Twitter for his role in her persecution. Spurring his men's-rights-activist followers to start the hashtag #FreeMilo, as if he had been imprisoned rather than merely excluded from a social media website. Although I suspect he was happy enough about his exile as he appears to thrive on attention. Any attention at all. So, I went to Ghostbusters knowing there was baggage there but genuinely more interested in if it was a good movie. AND IT WAS! It was brilliant. It was fast-paced, funny, exciting, thrilling. The acting was good. The characters were great. The irony of the dim, male secretary being treated as pure eye candy, was wonderful satire. It was a great, great action movie. And my whole family - mostly boys - loved it. I didn't even really notice it was all-female because the movie was so good - that that wasn't what it was actually about. Until I did notice. And then I realised that I've never really seen a movie before where it was all women who battled against the odds in that genre and were so awesome and central to the movie. It's usually, of course, all men - occasionally with the odd woman thrown in. And I was ridiculously happy both for my 14-year-old daughter watching it with me, but also for my sons. And the fact that even in 2016, in the West, that it's considered controversial to have an all-female cast (when it wasn't remotely controversial that the original cast were all men) outside of a romcom or some drippy type of movie, says feminism still has a long, long way to go. The fact that this Ghostbusters was made is a big step along that road. I tweeted about how good the movie was and about poor old Milo. And immediately received a post from a very angry man who suggested I should be fired from my job and then executed. Men's Rights Activists are most reluctant to give up an iota of their privileged position on or offline, to us pesky women. But luckily, as I sit here writing this with my favourite Batman v Superman pen and having just watched Ghostbusters, I know women are made of stronger stuff than some people think. And we aint 'fraid of no posts. @ciarakellydoc Given that the majority of people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Ireland are of working age, it makes sense that every effort should be made to help them live independently. Otherwise, their quality of life will be further eroded, while they may become an expensive financial burden on the State. Someone who knows this only too well is Kelly Donnelly (34), who grew up in the UK and who now lives in Ireland. As a youngster, she used to get so many aches and pains, some people thought she was a hypochondriac. Then, when she was 16, she experienced numbness on one side of her body. She was referred to a neurologist, who suspected something serious was amiss. "He wanted to do more tests," says Kelly. "But at the time I was highly stressed, doing my GCSEs, and so I became more scared of what those tests would reveal than the symptoms themselves." A year later, Kelly started seeing double. She was referred to an eye hospital, but no obvious cause was found. "They asked me what drugs I was on," says Kelly, still bristling from the unfair assumption. "I'd had weird symptoms all my life," she says. "For years I knew something wasn't right, but I also wondered if I was imagining it." After school, Kelly did sound engineering at the London School of Music and Media Studies, and from there she "drifted" into the world of information technology (IT). "I asked myself, 'What do I love best?'" Kelly explains. "And the answer to that was Apple - I love their products. So I went to work for them, and stayed there for five years and had a great time." In 2009, Kelly again developed eye problems while holidaying in Malta. She returned to the same hospital, where again no obvious cause could be found. "This time they suspected an aneurysm and warned me that if the symptoms got worse, I should go to A&E immediately," she says. "That was scary. However, later that day, a trainee optician at my local pharmacy looked in my eyes and told me I should go back to the hospital and tell them I had optic neuritis." Optic neuritis occurs when the nerve between the eye and the brain becomes inflamed - it's often the first symptom of MS. Eventually, Kelly was seen by another neurologist, and following various tests, MS was diagnosed. This progressive disease causes damage to the brain. It also affects the central nervous system, which acts like a switchboard, sending instructions from the brain to the various parts of the body. "The scans showed all these lesions," Kelly recalls, still somewhat awed by the memory. "Seeing my brain was amazing. Oddly, the diagnosis came as a relief; finally, everything made sense." She was then referred to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, where she learned about shift.ms, which is a social website for people living with MS. "It was just great to be able to interact with other young people with similar problems," she says. "I'm now doing some reporting for them." Kelly immediately told her bosses about the diagnosis; she even gave them leaflets so they could better understand her condition. "My manager was great, and said they would support me in whatever way they could." Fast-talking Kelly has such a zest for life, it's hard to believe she is anything less than completely healthy. However, she volunteers that depression has stalked her most of her life. So her neurologist prescribed an antidepressant, which did wonders. "Stress is a huge part of MS, and that medication really helped me," she says. However, in 2013, she began to experience problems with her legs and to feel very fatigued - so, out of fairness to the company she was working for, she felt obliged to resign. Eventually, she did return to work, but the next job was not a success, as doctors were, at that time, battling to find medication that would work for her. Then in June 2014, she went on holiday to Vietnam, and though she had a great time, she and her girlfriend of over seven years broke up. "I left our home and moved back with my mum," says Kelly. "I loved being with Mum; we are like best friends. Although she's from Dublin, she brought me up on her own in London." By then, Kelly was 32 years old and needed to move on with her life. So she joined a dating website and almost immediately met Gabriela, a medic working in Dublin. "We hit it off straight away," says Kelly. "Within weeks, we met at Heathrow Airport. I was thinking, 'Wow, this is the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with'." At the time, Kelly was enduring an increasing number of relapses and was constantly in and out of hospital. Gabriela was, and continues to be, totally supportive. When the young doctor was accepted on to a seven-year training programme in Dublin, Kelly decided to move to Ireland to be with her. She is now doing IT for a medical-research company. While she has endured periods of ill health in the past, including battles to overcome the sometimes side-effects of steroids, she is in a much better place. She has put herself in the capable hands of Orla Hardiman, the first full professor of neurology to be appointed by Trinity College Dublin. "She is just amazing," says Kelly. "Since I started a new drug she prescribed, which I only have to take once a day, I haven't had any relapses, I'm not dragging my leg and I can even go to the gym." Right now, Kelly's life is good. She simply glows when she talks about the lovely Gabriela; she is also relatively well, and gainfully employed, and all of that is very important to her. "Independence is everything," she says. "It is also very important to be able to work and feel comfortable in a team without judgment." So she is fully behind a recent initiative by MS Ireland (supported by Novartis), to launch two informative publications about managing MS in the workplace. It's done from the employee's as well as the employer's perspective. Issues cover disclosure of the disease, rights and responsibilities, employment law and so on. Given that this country loses 135.5m annually due to a lack of productivity caused directly by MS, and given the fact that the rate of employment for people with MS in Ireland, at 43pc, is 17pc lower than the average EU figure, (where 60pc of people with MS work), it makes sense to turn that around. These booklets should help with that intention. For more information, see ms-society.ie Dublin women were once encouraged by doctors to drink a glass of Guinness every day of their pregnancy. A special relationship between the brewer and local maternity services can be traced all the way back to the mid 19th Century when a member of the Guinness family donated money to rebuild the Coombe Hospital. The clinical rationale for much of this stout nutritional advice was that porter provided a good source of iron, an essential mineral when you are eating and drinking for two. But the truth of the matter is rather different. There is hardly any iron in a pint of Guinness, and even less in a glass. Any metal tends to reside more on the keg than in the creamy head. Need some extra iron? Well I always say you can't beat fresh liver with some fava beans and a nice eggnog. Today's brewers try to distance themselves from medicinal claims, but the magic and lore attached to Ireland's favourite tipple lives long in the memory. Guinness was once given to infants by their mothers to 'cleanse their insides' and rid them of worms. Henry Grattan called the brewery "the actual nurse of the people" and said the company was entitled to "every encouragement, favour and exemption" from his parliament. Nursing mothers in many of our maternity hospitals were provided with a daily snipe of stout after their delivery. As a child, I owned complete collections of Guinness is Good for You and Guinness for Strength postcards. Up to recent times, the dry stout was promoted as a pick-me-up for fatigue and a tonic for extra strength. There was even a 'family-size' bottle that poured up to five glasses. Guinness was also promoted as a good 'non-fattening' remedy if you were underweight - I still can't work that one out. In 2010, the final medical link with iron replenishment was severed when the Irish Blood Transfusion Service ceased providing a complimentary pint of plain for its donors. Now foetal alcohol syndrome is the modern dread, and paparazzi stalk celebrity night haunts looking for pregnant stars with more than water in their glasses. There was some interesting science news on the pregnancy front this summer. The well-respected Drug & Therapeutics Bulletin declared that multi-vitamin and mineral preparations promoted for daily use in pregnancy are a completely unnecessary expense. They say that folic acid and vitamin D are certainly to be encouraged, as per national guidelines. But it would appear now that there is no need to purchase more expensive formulations that bundle extra vitamins from the B, C and E families with zinc, magnesium, iodine, selenium and other long-winded chemicals from the bamboozle division. The researchers say that much of the evidence in favour of vitamin supplementation comes from studies conducted in poor countries, where women are undernourished. There is little evidence of either starvation, scurvy or beri beri in the Irish maternal population. It might be interesting to see how many Irish pharmacies promote this new advice, and advise the less expensive therapeutic option of folic acid and vitamin D only. More interesting research has emerged from New Zealand, where it has been found that children who defy parental advice by biting their nails and sucking their thumbs are less likely to develop allergies. This may add some weight to the so-called 'hygiene hypothesis', which suggests that more exposure to germs in early life can be protective. It's fun telling Mum that dirty children get sick less often than clean ones. I have been watching the post-Brexit fallout with great interest. It has to be said, the UK does resignation far better and in a timelier fashion than we do. It may have something to do with the scale of future prospects. A former PM of Britain can earn a hell of a lot more money after a term in office than during it. The reverse applies here, which is why our lot hang on long past the sell-by date. I have a soft spot for David Cameron. Though a sleek public-relations professional to his fingertips, my first and abiding memory of him will be that of a father with a profoundly disabled first son. The Camerons' late son, Ivan, was born with Ohtahara syndrome, a brain condition that causes severe intellectual disability and intractable seizures. David and Samantha Cameron always had high praise for their National Health Service. There were many emergencies during their son's short life, and Cameron knew, uniquely among Tories, that cherry-picking private medicine doesn't really do disability. The NHS would often shiver whenever Tories took lodgings on Downing Street. But I think David Cameron may have had the cure. He supported it. The newest resident at Number 10 has her own medical history. Theresa May has Type 1 diabetes and she needs four insulin jabs a day to keep her blood sugar regulated and her knee-high boots up. Her late mother had multiple sclerosis and her father, a vicar, died in a car crash. I first heard of Mrs May on Desert Island Discs a few years ago, when the first record she chose was Walk like a Man. She also chose a piece by Elgar and said that her family doctor had given her a present of the record for her A-level results. GPs are more in the habit of receiving gifts than giving, but perhaps her doctor spotted that his favourite young patient would go on to even greater things than her honours geography degree at Oxford. Dr Maurice Gueret is editor of the 'Irish Medical Directory' drmauricegueret.com I live in Dun Laoghaire with my daughter, Aoife, and my partner, Hugh. He's a GP. The alarm goes off at about 6.30am. I usually take about 20 minutes before I'm out of the bed. I have a look at the newspapers on my iPad. On weekdays, I read for work, and I'm pretty good at speed-reading and noting things that I'm going to come back to; all the while, the radio is on. Even though Drivetime is an afternoon programme, the day starts from the moment you get up. Some people think that I go into work at 3pm, and that I'm handed a bunch of papers, which I look at as I walk into the studio. It doesn't work like that. As soon as It Says In The Papers is done, I have to be out of the bed. Then I'll go downstairs and let out the dog. For breakfast, I usually have muesli and coffee. I'm a big coffee drinker. I'll still have my iPad with me, and Morning Ireland will still be on. We'll have a little bit of conversation. It could be - 'What's for dinner today?', or 'Did you take something out of the freezer?' I often meet up with Hugh in town after work to go to the theatre, so we'll talk about who has the tickets. Hugh is gone by 7.30am. Up until recently, Aoife would leave for school at 8.15am, or I'd drop her, but all that has changed now, because she did her Leaving Cert this year. By 8am, if I've already heard the bulletins, I'll throw on a tracksuit, because I'm going for a walk. I might bring the dog with me. I'll park the car and head up Killiney Hill. I walk for an hour every morning. The great thing about walking is that you can stick your headphones in and listen to the radio. I listen to the last hour of Morning Ireland and a little of The Ryan Tubridy Show. I might listen to podcasts, or sometimes I'll listen to nothing. It's wonderful to turn everything off and just walk. I walk quickly, and Killiney Hill is beautiful. Sometimes you're walking along, looking out at the coast and you realise, 'I've never seen that before'. It's because you're usually too busy thinking, 'Right; I have an hour, and I need to do a bit of a shop before I go into work'. During that time, I'll be talking by text to the series producer of Drivetime. Perhaps there was breaking news on Morning Ireland, and a news conference at 11am, and we will be asking if the minister in question is available. But that all depends on what's coming up on the other programmes before us. Once the dog is walked, I come back home, shower and change. I find some clothes to wear, while still listening to the radio. I've been in RTE since 1989, working in radio and television. During those years I developed a routine around hair and make-up, and I just kept it up. You blow-dry your hair or straighten it and then put on the make-up. Years ago, when I worked in the courts, the women in the make-up department in RTE gave me a little pouch of make-up, and I've added to it. I was on live television, and I needed to look OK. I love make-up, and I love reading about new products. My daughter Aoife taught me how to contour - not that I know how to do it, but it's interesting. I love clothes and I love looking at them in magazines. It's wonderful going to the hairdresser; you can read Grazia or Hello! magazine. I don't get home until 7.30pm at night, so all those things that most people would do whenever they finish work, I do in the mornings; things like paying a bill or visiting the dentist or doctor. All the while I'm listening to the radio. I like to dress for work, but not in any big, conscious way. No matter that I'm on radio and I sit in the studio and nobody might come in to the studio, but if I'm dressed well, I feel better. I'm in work mode. I think putting on a work wardrobe puts you in work mode. I get into RTE at 11am, and the team will be wandering in at that stage. We have a meeting at 12pm, and by 12.30pm we have a running order. It's similar to a daily newspaper in that you have your lead story, but then you have your analysis. I love politics. I grew up in Tipperary, on a farm, and we only had RTE 1 on the TV in the 1970s. While some people gathered for the rosary, we gathered around the television for current affairs. In the afternoons, I'm mostly at my desk. I do a lot of reading. If there is a big report out, I'll read it. There is no point in analysing it, unless you can tell people what's in it. I spend a lot of time reading and listening to reports. I can work in turmoil. I usually have my lunch at my desk. I bring in a salad. Before each programme, I have both nerves and adrenaline. The first time I presented Drivetime was the scariest moment I've ever had in radio. I sat there and the red light came on and I thought, 'When I open my mouth, will anything come out?' Even though I had been broadcasting for 20 years, I was petrified. I had been the reporter, and now I was the host. Nowadays, my favourite type of Drivetime is when a big story breaks and you have to throw out your running order and start again. It's 'fly by the seat of your pants' stuff. I really enjoy the job. When the programme is over at 7pm, I'm wound up, rather than exhausted. If I'm meeting Hugh at the theatre, for a 7.30pm start, I can tell the taxi driver all the rat-runs. I'm always the last person running up the stairs of the theatre. But other nights, it is normal life at home, where we'll have dinner, and then walk the pier afterwards. I met Hugh over a lunch at a funeral. It's when you least expect it. We chatted and he followed up. I had never met him before. In the evenings, I catch up with Aoife, and then I'll watch the news at 9pm and 10pm. I'm in bed around 11.30pm. I read for about 20 minutes, usually fiction, and then I fall asleep. I'm not like Margaret Thatcher surviving on four hours' sleep, but neither am I a huge sleeper. I like to have a life, and I enjoy catching up with friends and family. I have a lovely life. 'Drivetime' with Mary Wilson is on RTE Radio 1, weekdays from 4.30pm until 7pm I am thrilled to report that finally, finally, Ireland is an exciting place for knitwear design again. Loads of great new talent is emerging, joining the richness already present. It is even beginning to feel like the 80s, the era of knitwear, in terms of excitement and creativity. These new designers' timing is perfect, too; most of the big international designer names and fashion houses feature knitwear, from super-fine to super-sized, as being key in their latest collections. A large group and perhaps the most commercially successful of our designers are those who are meeting the needs of the luxury-minded Irish customer, offering them opulent cashmere basics with a twist. Designers Lucy Nagle, Sian Jacobs, Elaine Madigan, and lambswool specialist, Janet Byrne, all have strong, loyal, continuously returning fan bases. Then there are those for whom knitwear is not so linear, but rather a fabric that offers fantastic potential to play, experiment and innovate. Knitwear designers such as Fintan Mulholland, who turns yarn into avant-garde sculpture-like wear; and recent Griffith College fashion graduate Sarah Murphy, who creates three-dimensional texture to fun effect, have got people talking about knitwear as something other than in our past. Some are college trained, but not all. The route to becoming a knitwear designer has never been straightforward. "I started knitting when I was at Sallynoggin College of Further Education," newly graduated Sarah Murphy explains to me of her career path. "I was doing bits and pieces. It was from YouTube that I learned how to use knitting machines. But it was when I went to Griffith College, where Honor Fitzsimons [of Monster Knit] was guest tutor, that I got somewhere. She showed me how to do things properly. "I want to set up my own label. People are trying to talk me out of it. But I think I will do it. You have to feel the fear, don't you, to do anything." Spoken like a true Irish knitwear designer. I have yet to meet one who hasn't got the bit between their teeth as to their business. Gertrude Sampson, one of my favourites from the 1990s and still going strong today, has never given up or given in; recessions, public opinion, trends be damned - she will keep designing her crazy, wonderful pieces. We Are Islanders is a label that is dedicated to supporting Irish crafts men and women. Their knit coat (on the opposite page) is made of a highly unique, knitted fabric made by Branigan Weavers in Drogheda. Not since Lainey Keogh's bold London Fashion Week debut in the 1990s, has Irish knitwear been interesting enough for the international scene to take a second look. But maybe, just maybe, something is happening in our fair isle (!) again. Photography by Emily Quinn Styling by Carmel Daly Fashion edited by Constance Harris Hotelier Tom Randles says trade is up since last year Staycations remain a firm favourite among Irish holidaymakers, with further increases in domestic travel in 2015. Figures released by Failte Ireland reveal that 3.8 million domestic holiday trips were taken in Ireland last year, representing an increase of 6pc on 2014's statistics. Meanwhile, the amount spent on holidays in Ireland rose to 939m, an increase of 10pc. Over half (58pc) of Irish residents took at least one holiday trip in Ireland in 2015. Cork and Kerry remained the most popular getaway choices for domestic trips, claiming 22pc of all domestic holidays in 2015. The Rebel County and the Kingdom were closely followed by the South East (19pc) and the West (19pc), as well as Dublin and the East Midlands (both 12pc). Alex Connolly, a spokesperson for Failte Ireland, said the figures showed a "healthy" industry for domestic travel in Ireland. "Even though last year wasn't a great summer, more Irish holidays were taken at home," he said. "The Wild Atlantic Way has generated a lot of interest in the west coast," he said, adding that the re-brand of Dublin tourism and the launch of Ireland's Ancient East will also deliver in the future. "These brands are going to be around for the next 10 to 30 years," he added. "Next year, we will see their influence more clearly." Read more: Coast with the most: Ireland's best beaches, coastal drives and secret spots for summer Read more: Wild Atlantic Way 'just starting', as 2.3 million attractions announced Tom Randles, a hotelier who runs two hotels in Killarney, welcomed the figures and said the increased traffic had been noticed last year. "2015 was probably the first year in a while where business began to get back to appropriate levels," he told the Irish Independent. Mr Randles, who owns the Randles and Dromhall hotels, also said that more people were coming out-of-season, particularly during the autumn and winter months. "The summer was busy, but the winter of that year was particularly striking for us," he added. "We definitely saw a return of the weekenders, which we wouldn't have seen for a few years," he continued. "We had a lot more people taking short breaks with us, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday but also midweek." But he added that more Irish people were opting for longer stays, extending the usual length of their trip from one to two days. Asked about the role of the Wild Atlantic Way in encouraging staycations in Killarney, Mr Randles said it had been a "huge success". "It's accepted by everyone that a lot more people living abroad need to be told about it," he said. "But it will lead to more joined-up tourism in the long run." The Wild Atlantic Way also gives visitors other locations to consider during their visit, highlighting nearby sights such as Dingle, the Beara Peninsula and other attractions. Ireland's stately homes and castles were the top attraction frequented by those on staycations, with 26pc of holidaymakers visiting them. They were followed by hiking or walking excursions (23pc) and visits to national parks (22pc). Poor weather, with rain and cold temperatures, ranked as the top grievance for Irish holidaymakers, with 56pc citing it as an annoyance. It was followed by expensive accommodation (27pc), pricey food (22pc) and entry costs to attractions (4pc). Premium Billy Keane Opinion Even a dash to the Croke Park toilet wasnt enough to get rid of space invader who gave me Covid I did the time, but there was no crime. Banged up I was, under house arrest after two red bars showed up on the Covid test. Im not too bad, thanks for asking. I have it down on a man who was nearly close enough to kiss me at the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Galway. Opinion / Columnist "ZIMBABWE must combat corruption, facilitate a clear legal framework for investments and uphold the rule of law for the country to extricate itself from the current economic and political crisis, Swiss Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ruth Huber, has said," reported New Zimbabwe."Switzerland is also assisting with the alignment of laws to the 2013 Constitution, and facilitating dialogue platforms between stakeholders in the country around negotiation, mediation and consensus-based nation-building."Could not agree with the Ambassador more on everything except on the issue of aligning existing laws to the 2013 constitution, this is just a waste of time and resources.The 2013 constitution grants excessive dictatorial power to the State President to hire and fire Zimbabwe Election Commissioners (ZEC), senior members in the Police, Army and CIO, Judges, etc. without any of the usual democratic checks and balances, for example. With all the best will in the world there is real very little anyone can do to stop the State President, if he/she so wished, appointing party loyalists who will in ZEC and all the other state institution who will then turn a blind eye to corruption, vote rigging, etc.Zimbabwe's political reforms demands the implementation of the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement signed by President Mugabe on behalf of Zanu PF and by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara on behalf of the two MDC factions and SA's President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of SADC as the guarantor. Sadly, none of the reforms were ever implemented during the GNU hence the reason President Mugabe was able to blatantly rig the 2013 elections and land us in this political paralysis and economic mess!Only the full implementation of the GPA democratic reforms will extricate from the present political and economic crisis.Unemployment has soared to 90%, up to 76% of the country's population now lives in abject poverty and hopeless despair, etc. The strain of the economic hardship on people and nation is clear for all to see if the social bonds snapped the country will sink to civil unrest or worse. The elasticity limit of the people's patience has been exceeded a long time ago, the risk of the country sliding into mindless violence and chaos is real."In order to convince our Head Office which shapes our position in the Boards of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), we need to see concrete reform steps being approved and implemented," said Ambassador Huber."This includes a commitment to combat corruption, to facilitate a favourable legal framework for investments and ensure the rule of law."Zimbabwe's worsening economic situation is a ticking social time bomb and the need for the country to implement the democratic reforms and defuse the bomb is now the most urgent matter for this nation.--------------Patrick Guramatunhu Premium John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism. Premium Mary Kenny Opinion If men want to yammer on about sport, then let them it helps them connect emotionally I was travelling on a train from Dublin to Cork, and near me sat two Dublin men. Throughout the entire journey they managed to keep up a fluent dialogue about English football teams. From Aston Villa to Sheffield Wednesday, from Crystal Palace to Manchester City the conversation flowed eloquently. I was in awe at the minutiae of their knowledge and expertise. And if the topic of their discourse lacked a certain variety, it was nonetheless better than sitting in sullen silence, or glued to their phones. In her article (Irish Independent, July 30) Niamh Gallagher tells us that "women have a harder job than men in getting elected." The under-representation of women, the majority of the population, in the decision-making forums of what are supposed to be representative democracies is one of the major faults of democratic rule worldwide. Marginalising the talents, perspectives and interests of such an important and vital majority is not in anyone's interest. Yet, as acknowledged by Ms Gallagher, Hillary Clinton's second attempt to become the first woman to be the most powerful politician in the world is meeting with much opposition. At the same time, the arrogance-will-get-you-everywhere attitude of Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, is being praised by commentators and is never out of the media headlines. Ms Clinton is an experienced and capable politician representing mainstream democracy. This mainstream democracy has kept totalitarian extremes at bay since World War II. She is also a member of the female majority of the population which has been politically marginalised for centuries. One would worry for the future of democracy if she does not become the next president of the US and its first woman president. This is especially the case when all she has opposing her is Mr Trump, a representatives of the arrogant, the patriarchal and the near totalitarian. A Leavy Sutton, Dublin 13 Neutrality must be put to the vote There is a compelling case for holding a referendum with the aim of incorporating into our Constitution Ireland's status as a neutral country. This has been mooted in the past. Circumstances have, however, changed. In particular, there is an urgency arising from the militarisation of Europe - particularly over the last two years. The purported justification for militarisation is the supposed threat that 'a resurgent Russia' - this is the key phrase inserted in the US and Nato narrative - poses to Europe, and especially Eastern Europe. This narrative was reinforced at the recent Democratic convention to select its candidate for the US presidential election. This 'threat' is a disingenuous and dangerous fallacy, reinforced by propaganda and serving an agenda wholly at odds with peace in the Europe. It has been conjured up from the intervention of Russia in the Ukraine, and, specifically, from the annexation and re-integration of Crimea into Russia. This intervention was driven in large part as a response to the foolish and provocative decision to encourage Ukraine's membership of the EU, and, by extension, participation in its Nato-led military strategy. It is wholly different in nature to the circumstances under which US-led Nato intervened in Iraq. The effect has been a ratcheting up of military action, and reaction, between Nato and Russia. The recent Nato summit put in place the infrastructure for war. Russia has announced its intention of responding to the deployment by Nato of men, heavy equipment and missile systems, effectively encircling Russia. No country - least of all the US - could countenance this emasculation of its security. The momentum towards military engagement has now gained traction that will be difficult to reverse. The 'defence' industry - more properly titled 'the war industry' - has the strongest incentives to push for militarisation. The gravity of the situation simply hasn't sunk into the public mindset, brought up on watching 'war' from the safe distance of TV and video games. Russia is not the USSR. Its priorities are the rebuilding of its economy and infrastructure, including the modernisation of its defence capability to ensure stability both within its own borders, and globally - particularly in the Middle East. This does not remotely equate to a threat to Europe. In any event, the military capability of the US dwarfs that of Russia, in terms of assets and the number of bases from which to project those assets. Russia's defence budget is a fraction of that of the US. That said, in a volatile political environment in Europe, with newly deployed offensive weapons systems, it would take little to trigger Article 5 of Nato's newly expanded 'mutual defence' clause, leading to war. In the Cuban missile crisis, it was only the moral force of President Kennedy in resisting the urging of the military establishment to launch a pre-emptive strike that prevented a nuclear catastrophe. Today, the Democratic Party is coming from a very different place. The EU and Russia have a shared interest in peace - not war - on the European mainland. The Irish people were deeply opposed to the war on Iraq. In that tradition, there is the strongest case for holding a referendum. No country can avoid the consequences of war. But Ireland can best advocate for a deceleration of militarisation - and a focus, instead, on opposing Isil, which threatens both Russia and Europe - as a neutral country, confirmed by referendum. Professor Ray Kinsella Ashford, Co Wicklow Hate is not the answer to terror That unspeakable atrocity in France last week called to mind for me stories I heard in primary school years ago: of priests who risked all in the dark days of Irish history, knowing there was a price on their heads, that they faced the ultimate penalty for upholding the deep religious faith that meant so much to them. Looking back on those Penal Days, no reasonable person would take the side of the tyrants who persecuted people for their religious beliefs or practices in those times. The ultimate effect of the persecution was to blacken the persecutors and elevate those unjustly persecuted. Likewise with the cold-blooded murder of Fr Jacques Hamel as he celebrated Mass for his parishioners. His killers achieved nothing. They represent a vile perversion of everything that is positive and truly decent in all the great religions, an ideology that seeks to bring despair where there is hope, death where there is life and hatred where there is peaceful inter-ethnic co-existence. The best response to their attack on a defenceless, inoffensive man of faith is not to turn in hatred against any other religion, but to embrace all faiths as essentially manifestations of goodness and a search for meaning in a troubled world. People of all faiths and none can salute Fr Jacques Hamel as a martyr for the cause of religious tolerance worldwide. John Fitzgerald Callan, Co Kilkenny The bank of good and bad Heard the one about a banker who met the devil one night? The devil said that he could make him powerful and very wealthy. "What do I have to do in return?" "You have to give me your soul as well as the souls of your wife and children." "OK. What's the catch?" Richard Barton Tinahely, Co Wicklow Former Miss Ireland Aoife Walsh has said that her NCT slip "could have happened to anyone". The beauty queen (25) was stopped by gardai at Oola, Co Limerick, on April 17 this year and an inspection showed she was not displaying a current NCT disc. She was fined 150 for the offence in Limerick District Court and given four weeks to pay it. Aoife, who has three third-level degrees - Arts from UCC, a Masters in Business Management from University of Limerick and a postgraduate degree from Trinity College Dublin - told the Herald that not having an NCT disk on her car was "just one of those things". OFFENCES "It happened to me and it could have happened to anyone," she said. "It's all sorted now and what can you do? It just happened to also be in the paper. I'm not the first person it happened to and I'm not going to be the last, it's just a pity," she added. The Clonmel native is the second beauty queen to be fined for motoring offences recently. Former Miss Limerick Gemma Reilly was fined 500 at the start of October after pleading guilty to speeding. Gemma made the headlines when she pleaded guilty to speeding at 187kph in a 120kph zone on the Ennis to Gort motorway on March 3. hnews@herald.ie Wales' Gareth Bale after the match at the Stade de Lyon Picture: PA Welsh footballer Gareth Bale (R) and his partner Emma Rhys Jones pose on arrival for the world premiere of the new James Bond film 'Spectre' at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 26, 2015.AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL Gareth Bale capped off a summer to remember by proposing to his long-term girlfriend on a luxury Spanish island. The 27-year-old forward was one of the stand out players at Euro 2016, leading Wales to an unlikely semi-final place just weeks after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League for the second time in three years. Three weeks after the disappointment of Wales' semi-final exit at the hands of eventual winners Portugal, the formers Spurs man hired a luxury private island to propose to his long-term partner, Emma Rhys-Jones. Bale, who met Rhys-Jones while attending secondary school in Wales, confirmed the couple's engagement on Twitter. She said yes!! This is a birthday weekend I won't forget for a long time pic.twitter.com/FQWSiLbLGU Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) 17 July 2016 The picture, which has since been retweeted 15,000 times, is captioned with "She said yes! This a birthday week I won't forget for a long time." The secluded island called Tagomago is just 900m from the north-eastern coast of Ibiza and 79km off the coast of Valencia. Online holiday site My Private Villa, who help rent the island, quote fees as much as 120,000-per-day to hire the Mediterranean paradise. Complete with lavish rooms styled by world-renowned interior designers the five bedroom villa is available to rent on a weekly basis for the price of no less than 500,000. Expand Close Wales' Gareth Bale after the match at the Stade de Lyon Picture: PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Wales' Gareth Bale after the match at the Stade de Lyon Picture: PA The 98-acre luxury getaway comes complete with a helipad for easy access via helicopter. He was joined by a handful of friends and family as the former Tottenham forward took the opportunity to celebrate his 27th birthday. Video of the Day The newly engaged couple have two children together: three-year old Alba Violet and Nava Valentina who was born in March this year Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Former model Janice Dickinson revealed she is "scot-free" from breast cancer as she described her "harrowing" cancer treatment. The 61-year-old was diagnosed in March this year after her doctor discovered a lump in her breast, which Dickinson thought was due to an "old botched boob (job)". She told This Morning that after undergoing two lumpectomy surgeries and radiation treatment, she has now been given the all-clear. She said: "I went through a series of six weeks of radiation, which was very harrowing, but the radiation is over, I'm scot-free, through the grace of God so cancer schmancer." Dickinson said she was "numb" after her diagnosis and feared the reaction of her two children - Nathan, 29, and Savannah, 22 - and her fiance, Dr Robert "Rocky" Gerner. She said: "I was in a state of numbness - not denial, not pity - I just walked around just feeling numb because I was afraid for my children, I was afraid how my two grown children would take the news. They were very, very upset. "Then I went through this period where I thought I wasn't going to be attractive to my fiance... f eeling, 'Well, I'll just remove them', and some bit of my feminine mystique would have gone out the window. "But Rocky, who's a psychiatrist , said, 'This does not define you, cancer does not define you, Janice'. It wasn't sinking in truly until one day I woke up and said I found Janice again and I'm back." She took it upon herself to keep morale up in hospital during her treatment. She said: "On those daily visits to the oncology, with people who have serious stage four and are really on their way out the door to leave the planet, I felt it was my duty to go in and I found myself again by going in there and really talking to people and asking about their day, and telling them what the latest movies are, tap dancing for them, bringing them biscuits from home.... Just trying to be of service to people that have had far worse affliction. Video of the Day "That's how I found my light at the end of my tunnel and I just want to keep going. It's not the end. I'm not out the door yet." She is now working as an ambassador for breast cancer charities and is encouraging women to check their breasts. Dickinson, who appeared on the UK's Celebrity Big Brother, said she was backing her former I'm A Celebrity co-star Christopher Biggins to win. In a bizarre final moment with hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, Dickinson also blurted out: "I'm going to run for president next year and I'm going to make America sexy." Caring for parents is considered the most sacred of Chinese virtues, but many of today's generation prefer to focus more on their careers. A Chinese village is naming and shaming people who do not care for their parents, plastering their pictures on billboards and rolling out plans to broadcast details of their 'crimes' on loudspeakers. The village drew up the rules after local elderly people had raised concerns that they were not being treated well by their offspring. Caring for parents is considered the most sacred of Chinese virtues, but many of today's generation prefer to focus more on their careers. Huangfeng village in the south-western Sichuan province drew up regulations to shame those considered guilty. "Filial piety is China's greatest virtue," said Zhang Yiping, local party village secretary, "and Chinese people also hate losing face, so making their bad behaviour public will persuade them to change their ways." ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] An Mi-8 helicopter similar to the one pictured has been shot down in Syria (AP) This image made from video provided by Thiqa news agency purports to show people gathered around the burning wreckage of a Russian helicopter downed in Syria (Thiqa News Agency via AP) A Russian transport helicopter has been shot down in opposition rebel territory in northern Syria, killing all five crew and officers onboard, the Kremlin said. It is the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its entrance into Syria's civil war. The Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province, where Russian warplanes frequently target rebels fighting Syrian president Bashar Assad's forces. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that the helicopter was returning to the Russian air base on Syria's coast after delivering humanitarian goods to the city of Aleppo. But video uploaded by opposition activists showed a rocket pod next to the wreckage The helicopter had three crew members and two officers deployed with the Russian centre at the Hemeimeem air base on board, Russian officials said. "From what we know from information provided by the defence ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died," Russian president Vladimir Putin's spokesman told journalists. The ministry statement released earlier said their fate was still unknown. Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russians "died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so as to minimise losses on the ground". There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Idlib province has a strong presence of fighters both for the al Qaida branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and other groups fighting against Assad's forces. The Nusra Front announced last week that it was changing its name and relinquishing ties with al Qaida in an attempt to undermine a potential US and Russian air campaign against its fighters. The group is part of a coalition of insurgent groups called Jaish al-Fateh, or Army of Conquest, which has captured most of Idlib. International human rights groups have repeatedly accused Russia of using cluster munitions against civilians and rebels since it began its aerial campaign in Syria last year to shore up Assad's forces. Russian officials say they are fighting extremists in Syria, but have frequently targeted more moderate elements of the Syrian opposition. Videos uploaded online by Syrian opposition activists show the burning wreckage of a Russian helicopter in footage seemingly taken in the first few moments after the helicopter crashed. In one video, a rocket pod can be seen next to the wreckage. People standing nearby are seen taking mobile phone photos and shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great in Arabic. The helicopter appears to have broken up as it crashed, its tail can be seen lying separately from the aircraft's body in flames. In other videos, the body of one purported Russian soldier is seen being dragged by the legs while an unidentified person stands on the body of another soldier, also purportedly Russian. Monday's helicopter downing was the deadliest for the Russians since Moscow began carrying out air strikes in Syria in support of Assad's forces last September. In July, two Russian airmen were killed in the central Homs province when their Mi-25 helicopter was shot down by what the defence ministry said were IS fighters. An Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed near Homs in April, killing both crew members, but the Russian military said there was no evidence it came under fire. A Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey along the Syrian border in November, and one of the two pilots was shot and killed from the ground after ejecting. Earlier on Monday, a Syrian military official said that government forces repelled an attack by insurgents that was an attempt to break the siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo. The development came a day after Syrian rebels launched the offensive to break up the government's siege of the eastern, rebel-held part of the city. The UN estimates some 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies. The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. Opposition activists said intense fighting was still ongoing in Aleppo on Monday. AP Men inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah A Russian helicopter with five people on board has been shot down in Syria while carrying humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the country's Defence Ministry has said. Three crew and two officers were returning to Hmeimim base in Idlib province when the helicopter was brought down by ground fire. "On August 1, an Mi-8 transport helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Idlib province after a delivery of humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. "Three crew members and two officers from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria were on board," the ministry said in a statement reported by RT. The Kremlin said all five personnel had died. They died a "heroic death" on a humanitarian mission, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said the helicopter had tried to veer away from inhabited areas to avoid civilian deaths. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Rebel fighters and civilians inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah Rebel fighters and civilians inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rebel fighters and civilians inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah Mr Peskov also said Moscow would continue fighting international terrorism "on all fronts" despite threats from Isis. Images uploaded to social media purportedly show the flaming wreckage of the helicopter along with a dead body and Russian identity documents taken from the wreckage. It is currently unknown which group brought the aircraft down. In July, Isis shot down a military helicopter near Palmyra, killing both pilots. A Nigerian accused of scamming 60 million dollars (45 million) from companies around the world through fraudulent emails has been arrested after months of investigation, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency said. One target paid out 15.4 million dollars (11.6 million), according to a statement. The statement said the ringleader of a global scamming network, identified only as a 40-year-old called Mike, was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt, in June. He is on administrative bail, which implies that officers do not yet have enough evidence to charge him in court. The man is accused of leading a criminal network that compromised email accounts of small and medium-sized businesses around the world including in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa and Thailand. The statement did not name any of the targets. The network involved about 40 people in Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa who provided malware and carried out the frauds, with money-laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US providing bank account details. A supplier's email would be compromised and fake messages sent to a buyer with instructions for payment to a bank account under the network's control, the statement said. Or the email account of a high-level executive would be taken over and a request for a wire transfer sent to an employee responsible for handling such requests. Such crime "poses a significant and growing threat, with tens of thousands of companies victimised in recent years", Noboru Nakatani, executive director of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation, said in a statement. "The public, and especially businesses, need to be alert to this type of cyber-enabled fraud." AP California wildfire explodes in size as hundreds evacuate homes the Big Sur area. Photo: REUTERS/Gene Blevins Firefighting teams are battling a massive wildfire near California's Big Sur that is threatening thousands of homes for a 10th day, as a much newer blaze spread, rapidly, damaging homes as it more than doubled in size. The newer blaze in Fresno County damaged some of the 200 evacuated homes in the area, but it was not yet clear how many, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Fire burns in the Angeles National Forest north east of Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins California wildfire explodes in size as hundreds evacuate homes the Big Sur area. Photo: REUTERS/Gene Blevins A fire fighter battles the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins Fire fighters battle the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fire burns in the Angeles National Forest north east of Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins The fatal blaze north of Big Sur grew on Sunday to 62.5 square miles, state fire officials said. The wildfire has destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings and is threatening 2,000 more structures. It was 18pc contained on Sunday morning. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling the blaze that killed a bulldozer operator working on the fire line. The blaze, about the size of San Francisco, has also scared away tourists who are cancelling bookings after fire officials warned that crews would probably be battling a wildfire raging in steep, forested ridges just to the north for another month. Read More In Central California, the fast-moving fire is being fuelled by hundreds of dead trees amid triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidity that are expected to last for several days. Residents of the rural area surrounded by rolling hills said they scrambled to evacuate with their animals as the wind-driven blaze swept through dry slopes. "We watched it explode, coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger," Dana Bays told KFSN-TV. The nearly three square-mile wildfire started on Saturday afternoon south of the town of Prather, about 30 miles north east of Fresno. The blaze was 5pc contained on Sunday. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, crews had nearly surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. That fire was 93pc contained Sunday, nine days after it broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest. Authorities have not determined the cause of the fire. Police block off an area of 6th Street in downtown Austin, Texas, yesterday after two shootings. Photo: Getty/Drew Anthony Smith A gunman killed a woman and seriously wounded three others in Austin early yesterday when he shot into a crowd as people streamed out of nightclubs in the Texas capital's downtown area, police said. The unidentified gunman opened fire at about 2.15am local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. "It was a chaotic scene," Mr Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The gunman killed a woman in her 20s and wounded three other women, who were taken to a hospital with injuries that are serious but not life-threatening, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Mike Benavides said. Mr Manley said police were seeking help from the public, including any video recordings, in an effort to find the shooter who is believed to be in his 20s. Minutes after that shooting, a man opened fire several blocks away in a confrontation at a parking garage, Mr Manley said. Bystanders tackled the shooter, he said. Police initially believed the two shootings were related and that they were dealing with an "active shooter", but that was not the case, he added. "From everything we can tell at this point through the initial investigation, these are two unrelated incidents," Mr Manley told reporters. The suspect who opened fire in the garage was transported to a hospital for injuries suffered when bystanders subdued him, Mr Manley said. There were no reports of anyone being struck by bullets in that incident. The Austin shootings follow several recent major acts of gun violence in the US. On June 12, a gunman who sympathised with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The mother of an American Muslim soldier killed in Iraq has pleaded with Donald Trump to show empathy for her grief, after he suggested that her religion kept her from speaking about her son. The Republican presidential nominee questioned why Ghazala Khan, the mother of Captain Humayun Khan, stood silently as her husband spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week. Expand Close Khizr Khan delivers his speech alongside his wife. Photo: Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Khizr Khan delivers his speech alongside his wife. Photo: Reuters "She was standing there, she had nothing to say; she probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say, you tell me," Mr Trump told ABC News. "Donald Trump said I had nothing to say," Mrs Khan responded yesterday. "I do." "Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself," she wrote in the 'Washington Post'. "What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak? "Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for (my son) and I cry. The place that emptied will always be empty." Khizr Khan, Captain Khan's father, said Mr Trump's comments revealed "the blackness of his character, of his soul". Facing growing outrage over his comments, Mr Trump said yesterday that he had been forced to respond after Mr Khan had "viciously attacked" him. "Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me," he said. Mr Khan gave a moving tribute to his son's sacrifice last Thursday at the convention, delivering a rebuke of Mr Trump. "Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims," he said. "He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country." Mr Trump speculated that the speech had been written by the Clinton campaign and said if he could tell Mr Khan anything then it would be that America is at risk of "radical Islamic terrorism". John Kasich, Mr Trump's former rival for the Republican nomination, was one of many who criticised his response. "There's only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honour and respect. Captain Khan is a hero," he said. Ms Clinton raised the controversy in Ohio. "Mr Khan paid the ultimate sacrifice in his family, didn't he? And what has he heard from Donald Trump? Nothing but insults and degrading comments about Muslims," she said. The Republican nominee also raised eyebrows yesterday for remarks he made about Russia. Mr Trump first said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, was "not going into Ukraine". When pressed on the annexation of Crimea, Mr Trump said: "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were," echoing Mr Putin's rationale but diverging significantly from current US policy. Ms Clinton told Fox News that Mr Trump had shown "absolute allegiance" to Russian aims and criticised the businessman's apparent request last week for Russia to hack into her private emails. "For Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin, despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election, I think, raises national security issues," she said. While Mr Trump has seen a recent bump in the polls, a new survey from Public Policy Polling showed his favourability rating rising just 1pc after the conventions, compared with 9pc for Ms Clinton. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Anna Bui, the gunman's ex-girlfriend was shot dead at the party. Photo: Facebook A teenage gunman shot and killed three students at a late night party in Seattle on Saturday July 30. Allen Ivanov (19) allegedly walked into a party full of his friends, including his ex-girlfriend, and opened fire in Mukilteo, Washington. Expand Close Jake Long was one of the three teenagers shot dead / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jake Long was one of the three teenagers shot dead Anna Bui, Jake Long and Jordan Ebner were all killed in the attack. Alexis Gemmer (18) watched her friends get shot and hid in a closet until police arrived. She rang her grandmother Susan and told her that she watched them die. She kept saying, "They're dead, they're dead, I was right there and I saw them"', Susan Gemmer told the Seattle Times. Alexis told her grandmother that the gunman arrived at the party and opened fire. Alexis managed to escape with the owner of the house. Another teen, 18-year-old Will Kramer, was injured during the attack. He is listed in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Ivanov, an incoming sophomore at the University of Washington Bothell campus, is being held for investigation of three counts of murder. His Instagram portrayed the life of a young man on the cusp of success. He posted multiple pictures of his brand new Subaru WRX, the same car he allegedly fled the shooting in. Classmates said Ivanov was known for his intelligence and that the community was proud of his success. I expected him to be the next Bill Gates, Jansen Garside told the Seattle Times. There's not a shred of me that thought he was capable of this. Its alleged that those close to Ivanov said he had become depressed and distraught after his split with Bui, which some say occurred a month ago while others believed it only happened last week. A 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps made history when he became the first person to survive a leap without a parachute. After a two-minute freefall from 25,000ft, Luke Aikins flipped onto his back at the last second and landed dead centre into a net, a 100ft across, at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley in California. There were cheers from those who had gathered to watch the stunt, including his family. Expand Close Luke Aikins freefalls during the skydive. Photo: AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Luke Aikins freefalls during the skydive. Photo: AP The jump makes Aikins the only skydiver ever to go from plane to Earth without a parachute. As the cheers erupted, Aikins quickly climbed out of the net, walked over and hugged his wife, Monica, who had been watching from the ground along with their four-year-old son, Logan, and other family members. "I'm almost levitating, it's incredible," the jubilant skydiver said, raising his hands over his head as his wife held their son, who dozed in her arms. "This thing just happened! I can't even get the words out of my mouth," added Mr Aikins as he thanked the dozens of crew members who had spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the fishing-trawler-like net and made sure that it really worked. Expand Close Luke Aikins prepares for his skydive. Photo: AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Luke Aikins prepares for his skydive. Photo: AP The stunt, broadcast live on the Fox network for the TV special 'Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent', nearly didn't come off as planned when Aikins revealed that the Screen Actors Guild had ordered him to wear a parachute in order to ensure his safety. He considered pulling out at that point because having the parachute canister on his back would make his landing in the net far more dangerous. If he had had to wear it, he said, he wouldn't bother to pull the ripcord anyway. A few minutes before the jump, one of the show's hosts said the requirement had been lifted and Aikins did it without the chute. He jumped with three other skydivers, all wearing parachutes. Expand Close Skydiver Luke Aikins lands safely / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Skydiver Luke Aikins lands safely One had a camera, another trailed smoke so people on the ground could follow his descent and the third took an oxygen canister he handed off after they had got to an altitude where it was no longer needed. Then the others opened their parachutes and left him. When his friend Chris Talley came up with the idea of the jump two years ago, Aikins turned it down cold. A couple of weeks later, he said he would do it. This dramatic video shows a group of men forming a human chain in order to save a woman trapped by gushing floods in her car. The horrifying rescue took place in Maryland as rushing water trapped a woman in her car. Four men formed a human chain to grab the woman from her car with one man dragged into the water by the strong currents, but luckily survived. At one point someone off camera screams to the woman get out, get out. She replies: I cant get out, I cant do this, while trying to climb out of the window. You have to, the woman shouts back, Eventually the woman starts to climb out of the car and one man manages to pull her out of the window before they are both pulled to safety. The dramatic rescue in Ellicott Citys Main Street was captured on video, which was posted to Facebook by local business owner Sara Arditti. Two people died in the flooding and another 120 have been rescued. A Pennsylvania woman visiting the town with her family was one of those killed after their car was caught in the raging floodwaters and carried toward the Patapsco River, police said. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman told The Associated Press the devastation was the worst hed seen in 50 years living in the county, including Hurricane Agnes in 1972, which caused the river to overflow its banks. Virtually every home or business along Main Street sustained at least some damage, and the cost of repairs could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, he said. Email me: carolineld at aol.comTwitter: Carolineld More about the blog here President Barack Obama speaks at the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta (AP) President Barack Obama says the United States. has made serious progress in improving services for veterans, but people should still be outraged about shortcomings and work to make things even better. President Obama addressed the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He said it is his final major address to veterans as president. Mr Obama said Veterans Affairs has hired more doctors and clinicians since the scandal over long wait times for VA services. He added that services are reaching more veterans who live in rural areas through telemedicine. And he praised progress in extending services to disabled and female veterans. The president said there are still too many suicides among veterans - and he is asking Congress to provide more funds for mental health care. Mr Obama also said the VA claims processing backlog must be further reduced. AP One of Bernie Ecclestone's helicopter pilots was behind a plot to kidnap his mother-in-law in Brazil for a 28 million ransom, according to police. Aparecida Schunck, the mother of the Formula One boss's wife Fabiana Flosi, 38, was abducted from her home in Sao Paulo more than a week ago. Police said they rescued the 67-year-old after finding her tied up but unharmed in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo on Sunday. Pilot Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria, who works for Ecclestone in Brazil, is one of three men arrested in connection with the kidnapping, said police. It is believed investigators monitored phone calls between the family of Ms Schunck and the captors, tracing them to the location where she was being held. She was was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping division. Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police told the BBC that the ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid. Ecclestone, 85, married Ms Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Brazilian magazine Veja had reported that the ransom for Ms Flosi's mother had been demanded in pounds sterling and divided into four bags of cash. Ecclestone has declined to comment on the abduction. It is understood he wanted to fly to Brazil to assist police and also offered the use of a private security company to deal with the abductors. Brazil is hosting this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which starts this week. Security has emerged as the top concern, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during competition. A spokesman for Sao Paulo police said da Silva Faria was arrested "red handed" with two other men, Vitor Oliveira Amorim and David Vicente Azevedo. "The investigation continues and the police did not rule out the involvement of other suspects," he added. Pope Francis has refused to describe Islam as "terrorist", because it is "not fair and not true". Francis was asked by reporters on the papal plane returning to Rome from Poland why he never used the word "Islam" when condemning killings by extremists like that of an elderly priest in France last week. The Pope said "it's not right to identify Islam with violence", adding that every religion had its "little group of fundamentalists". He said that if he spoke of violent Islam, he would have to speak of violent Catholicism, since Catholics kill too. Referring to the Islamic State group, Francis, 79, said it "presents itself with its violent identity card, but it's not Islam". During his five-day pilgrimage in southern Poland he prayed privately in a church that God protect people from the "devastating wave" of terrorism in many parts of the world. Francis told young people who flocked by the hundreds of thousands that they needed to "believe in a new humanity" stronger than evil and warned against concluding that one religion was more violent than others. Organisers of the Catholic jamboree known as World Youth Day estimated 1.5 million youths attended his Mass at a meadow near Krakow, many having camped out in sleeping bags from a vigil service of prayer, singing and dance performances the previous evening. The jamboree, meant to infuse young Catholics with fresh passion for their religion, was the main reason Francis came to Poland on the trip, which also took him to the former Auschwitz Nazi death camp, where he prayed in silence and reflected on what he called "so much cruelty". Extremist violence was on his mind when he set out last week, the day after terrorists rushed into a church in the French countryside and murdered the elderly priest there, slitting his throat, as he was celebrating Mass. The Pope used his several encounters with the young pilgrims - from mega-gatherings to a private lunch with only a dozen people from five continents - to encourage a new generation to work for peace, reconciliation and justice. God, said Francis in his final homily of the pilgrimage, "demands of us real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies". "People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centred or small-minded," Francis said. Earlier in his pilgrimage Francis expressed dismay that many people and places were not welcoming enough to refugees or those fleeing poverty in their homelands. This pilgrimage marked the first time the native Argentine pope sent foot in eastern Europe. Flying back to Rome, he was asked by reporters what he thought about Poland and its welcome to him. Referring to the enormous crowds he drew day after day in a country where St Pope John Paul II was born, Francis joked that "Poland was invaded, this time by young people" - apparently referring to Germany's 1930 invasion of Poland that triggered the Second World War. AP Pope Francis also explained why he took a tumble during an outdoor Mass in Czestochowa, Poland's most popular Catholic shrine. He said of the July 28 fall, which happened while he was sprinkling incense around the altar at the Jasna Gora monastery: "I was watching (an image of) the Madonna, and I forgot the step. "I let myself fall and this saved me. Because if I tried to resist it, I would have gotten hurt." Federal prosecutors said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the sentencing hearing for Christopher Lee Cornell A man accused of plotting to attack the US Capitol in support of the Islamic State group during President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address has pleaded guilty to three federal charges. Federal prosecutors dropped a fourth count and said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the October 31 sentencing hearing for Christopher Lee Cornell. US District Judge Sandra Beckwith cautioned Cornell, 22, that she could reject the plea agreement depending on the findings of a pre-sentencing report. FBI agents arrested Cornell in the car park of a gun shop in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. They have said he planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs, then shoot people as they fled. He was arrested on January 14 2015, less than a week before Mr Obama's scheduled address in Washington, which a federal terrorism task force detective said in court was Cornell's intended timing for attack. Last year, Cornell told WXIX-TV that he wanted to shoot Mr Obama in the head. Cornell's father had said his son was misled and coerced by "a snitch". Cornell's lawyers said they would highlight the role of a government confidential informant at the sentencing hearing. Federal investigators said Cornell made an internet post after his arrest in which he identified the man he believed was the informant and added personal details about him. They said he also appealed for other fighters to join a violent "jihad". US authorities have expressed deep concern over Islamic State militant efforts to recruit homegrown "lone wolf" terrorists. Acting US Attorney Benjamin C Glassman praised the FBI and Assistant US Attorney Timothy Mangan, saying their investigation and the plea agreement were "important to protect the public". Mr Glassman said the case underscored the need for the public to be alert to signs of potential conversions to support of terrorist groups. "As you can see, people can be radicalised just by internet," Mr Glassman said. "It can happen anywhere." Defence lawyer Martin Pinales called Cornell "very fragile". Cornell has trimmed the long hair and beard he had when he was arrested and no longer insists on being called Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, which he had adopted as his name. "He has evolved. ... He has matured since his arrest," Mr Pinales said. Cornell replied firmly with "yes ma'am" when the judge asked him questions about his decision to change his pleas. His hands and ankles shackled, he at times chuckled nervously, and Mr Pinales put his hand on his back in a calming gesture. "We love Christopher very, very much and he has a lot of family and friends that support him," his father, John Cornell, said afterwards. Cornell pleaded guilty to attempted murder of US officials and employees, to offering material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, and to a firearms-related charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and potentially up to a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors are dropping a count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Judge Beckwith last year appointed Mr Pinales and Candace Crouse to represent Cornell after a federal public defender asked to withdraw from the case. The same lawyers represented Michael Hoyt, a former Cincinnati-area country club bartender who was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge he threatened to kill then-speaker of the House John Boehner. The lawyers filed a motion last November saying there was "reasonable cause to believe" Cornell was mentally incompetent. However, Judge Beckwith ruled in April he was competent for trial after hearing evidence. AP Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has suggested that he fears the general election "is going to be rigged". Mr Trump, speaking in Ohio, said he felt the Democrats had fixed their primary system so Hillary Clinton could defeat Bernie Sanders. He also claimed the Republican nomination would have been stolen from him had he not won by significant margins. Mr Trump then asserted that November's general election may not be on the up-and-up. "I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest," the Republican nominee told a town-hall crowd in Columbus. He said he hears "more and more" that the election may not be contested fairly. Mr Trump did not elaborate on his contention and a request to his campaign for additional explanation was not immediately returned. If Mr Trump were to lose in November and publicly declare the election results were bogus, he would break with general election tradition, yielding unpredictable reactions from his supporters and fellow Republicans. Mr Trump has not been shy of asserting that the electoral process has been "rigged". It became a frequent catchphrase of his during a low-water mark of his primary campaign this spring when forces allied with Republican rival Ted Cruz managed to pack state delegations with supporters of the Texas senator. The celebrity businessman also asserted the Republican party had changed the delegate allocation in the Florida primary to favour a native candidate, like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, at Mr Trump's expense. In recent weeks, in an effort to woo angry Sanders supporters to his campaign, Mr Trump has made the claim that the Democrats' process was also rigged. The event in Ohio was Mr Trump's first campaign appearance since the onset of his tussle with the parents of a slain Army veteran. He spoke for nearly an hour in Columbus but did not mention his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. The Khans spoke out against Mr Trump and questioned his familiarity with the Constitution last week at the Democratic National Convention. Mr Trump struck back by questioning whether Ghazala Khan had been allowed to speak. She said she is still too grief-stricken by her son's death. Mr Trump criticised the family in an interview on Sunday and again in a pair of tweets on Monday morning. Men stand near flowers left in tribute to French priest Father Jacques Hamel outside the parish church at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, France. Photo: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters The cousin of one of two teenage jihadists who slit the throat of a French priest knew that he was about to commit an attack and should face terror charges, prosecutors have said. Farid K, who was arrested after his cousin, Abdel Malik Petitjean, killed Father Jacques Hamel (85) in Normandy, was sent to face a judge yesterday with a recommendation from the prosecutor that he be charged with taking part in a "terrorist association with the aim of harming others". Farid (30) hosted his cousin in his flat in Nancy in eastern France for a few days before the attack and "knew perfectly well" that Petitjean was about to carry out an attack, the prosecutor's office said. He "was fully aware of his cousin's imminent violent action, even if he did not know the precise place or day", it added. Farid is the only one of several suspects arrested after the attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray who is still in custody. Petitjean and his co-attacker, Adel Kermiche, who was from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, came into contact with each other for the first time just four days before the grisly attack, reports said yesterday. Murdered They contacted each other on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app popular with Isil supporters, on July 22, 'Le Parisien' newspaper said citing sources in France's anti-terror squad. Four days later, they murdered Father Hamel on the altar of his church as he said Mass. Police are now trying to find out how and why the teenagers, who had pledged allegiance to Isil, got in touch and whether an intermediary introduced them and encouraged them to commit an act of terror. Petitjean lived more than 400 miles away from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. In a gesture of solidarity following the death of Father Hamel, Muslims attended Catholic Mass in churches and cathedrals across the country yesterday. More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the cathedral in Rouen, near where Father Hamel was murdered. "We extend a special welcome to our Muslim friends," Dominique Lebrun, Archbishop of Rouen, said in his homily. Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, called for a new "pact" with the Muslim community in France. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] SHARE Anderson Prays ministry will meet at 11 a.m. until noon Aug. 4 at the Corner Bagel Shop, corner of Boulevard and Greenville Street, Anderson. Arrive a little early to order lunch, Dutch treat (if you stay for lunch) then they go right into prayer time. Lunch and fellowship will be at noon (if you want to order). For more information, contact email: upstatewomen1@aol.com or call at 864.356.6475. Meets monthly on the first Thursday of each month. Invite someone to come with you to: Praying for our country, government, churches, local community, ministries, women to be reached with the gospel and personal requests. All are welcome; please come. Joining women all over America in this movement, sponsored by Stonecroft Mnistries. Pray aloud or silently as they join our hearts together praying for revival and evangelistic outreach. If at any time you need to leave, feel free and if you cannot stay for lunch, please come for as long as you can. SHARE A one-day trip is planned for Lake Lure, North Carolina on Sept. 12. Pick ups will be in Anderson and Williamston. First stop will be for breakfast then on to Justic Apple Orchards. The orchards, owned by the Justic's family, has for generations farmed this land located in the mountains near Hendersonville, North Carolina. Dan will greet us on arrival and show us to the Apple Barn where fresh bake fried apple pies, apple doughnuts and apple cider, jellies, jams, fresh mountain cabbage and vegetables available for sale. Weather permitting Dan will take us on a tour of his farm with what is known as his "Cow Train," a wagon pulled by his tractor. After a short ride through the mountains lunch will be at a local grill overlooking beautiful Lake Lure. An afternoon boat tour is planned along with a stop at the Dish Barn before leaving North Carolina. For more information, call Dianne Lollis at 864.847.5743. SHARE By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail The Anderson County Sheriff's Office is waiting for the results of forensics testing before a determination is made about charges in the death of Pat Charles Mackey, Capt. Garland Major said Monday. Mackey, 57, was fatally shot Wednesday night on Leona Drive near Iva during a dispute with a neighbor. No one has been charged in his death. Major said evidence collected has been sent to two labs, including one run by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in Columbia and another in Greenville. After the evidence is analyzed, Major said the findings would be presented to the 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office. It could happen this week, if processing of the evidence is not delayed, he said. "We want to have all of our questions answered before we go to the Solicitor's Office," he said. "It won't do us any good to go and then have them say: 'What about this? What about that?' We want to have answers." Major said more that one gun has been collected in this case. But he declined to say whether two people were firing shots on Leona Drive. Major also declined to say whether Mackey himself may have been firing shots at his neighbor, whose name has not been made public. "Don't be misled," he said. "We take all guns whenever there is a shooting. This is an active investigation, and there really is not more I can say." Alton Johnson, who lives on neighboring Sexton Gin Road, says he heard the shooting on Leona Drive. He said he was standing in his backyard and heard three rounds of shots. "I heard pow-pow-pow, like rapid fire, and then later rapid fire again," Johnson said. "Then, I heard some more shots that sounded like they came from a different kind of gun." Johnson said after the shooting, "two boys and a little girl" came to his backyard. He said at least one of them was crying and telling him that Mackey had been shot. Johnson said no one from the Sheriff's Office has interviewed him. Mackey's funeral was Monday. SHARE Jeff Johnson (right) gives Daniel Johnson a kiss on the forehead as he watches cartoons in the living room of their Anderson home. Daniel was born in January 1998 with a brain defect, and was considered a miracle baby. The family has recently been running in road run events in which volunteers push children with physical limitations in a specialized stroller, a way of enjoying outdoor life with many others. By Charmaine Smith-Miles of the Independent Mail A rack above Daniel Johnson's living room chair is adorned with a myriad of tags from races from across the country. Each lanyard represents a race that Daniel has either participated in or one someone has run in his honor. "He has more," said his mother, Michelle M. Johnson, turning her head toward the rack. "Every time, he gets a medal from a race, he feels it with his fingers." Daniel has inspired people, some he's never met, to run races. He has inspired a community to come together. And he's the reason that his parents, Michelle and Jeff, are in the best shape of their lives. Daniel has defied doctors' expectations. He was not expected to survive his birth, let alone live to see his 18th birthday. Daniel was born with an opening in his skull called an encephalocele. Doctors diagnosed the neural tube defect during Michelle's pregnancy. Doctors gave Daniel a two-percent chance to survive his birth, Michelle said. "They suggested abortion when he was diagnosed," Michelle said. "It is unbelievable what you go through when you don't know if your baby is going to survive. This was God's plan. We decided that whatever happened we were going to trust God to help us through it." Daniel was born in 1998. Ten days after his birth at the Greenville Memorial Hospital's neuro-intensive pediatric unit, the Johnsons brought their youngest son home. "He is our miracle baby," Michelle said. "We had to borrow a car seat and a crib because we didn't think we were going to be to able to bring him home." In the years that have followed, Daniel has been through more than 100 surgeries. He still has limited use of his muscles, and communicates through gestures and sounds more than words. But he smiles. And he loves watching cartoons. His nurse kissed his forehead as she adjusted a tablet so he could watch, "Penguins: The Movie" on it. And he loves to run. "He enjoys being outdoors," Michelle said. "Every time we go up a hill, he'll let us know that he wants to go faster." Michelle works with Family Connections, an Anderson nonprofit that helps support families with special needs children. She said that she started focusing on eating healthy and exercising more about three years ago, when doctors discovered her heart was not beating correctly. She said the diagnosis helped to motivate her to focus on her health. Through a focus on fitness, Michelle learned about a community of people, organized through the nonprofit, Who I Run 4, who run in honor of people with special needs. The charity was founded in January 2013 by Tim Boyle, who began running for a man with Down syndrome. On the organization's website, Boyle states that when he gets tired of running, he remembers those who cannot run, and he is inspired to continue. Now, the community of 22,000 people works to match up an athlete with someone who has special needs. Michelle said she signed Daniel up, and he has been partnered with Rick Bosley. She said Daniel and Rick have met, and so many of those race lanyards are for races that Rick has run for Daniel. She said they have met with Bosley about five times now. About a year ago, in April 2015, Michelle said she started running too. She saw what others were willing to do for her son, so she wanted to do her part. Jeff has started running now too. Michelle and Jeff run for a military veteran named Aaron, who is part of the Who I Run 4 charity. Running has become a family affair. "We call ourselves 'Team Daniel,'" Michelle said. "It took me almost four months to run my first mile without stopping. Even now, I know I'll never go fast. That's OK. I just enjoy being out there. Besides, I want people to see that you don't have to sit and do nothing when you have a child like ours." And at all the races, the Johnsons meet other families like theirs. It is what keeps them strengthened. It is seeing this community and a community of people scattered across the country, who know Daniel and are inspired by their son that helps them, Michelle said. She said that for Daniel's 18th birthday, the community here in Anderson helped raise the $4,400 they needed for a new, specially built jogging stroller for Daniel. She said that within a month, they had the money they needed. About $1,400 of that $4,400 came from the people that Michelle has met in an CrossFit class that she takes at the Anderson Area YMCA. "I still get emotional thinking about the community support that we have," Michelle said. "It is amazing to see." These days, it is not unusual for the Johnsons to run 12 races in a year. And Daniel is always right there with them, with the wind blowing through his hair and a smile on his face. Follow Charmaine Smith-Miles on Twitter @Charmaine_AIM. SHARE Pendleton police officer Tony Glenn speaks Sunday with Phil Coley, who is the father-in-law of Pendleton Police Chief Doyle Burdette. By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail PENDLETON After a decade-long hiatus, the Pendleton Police Department will go back to work today. Police Chief Doyle Burdette and his department's two officers spent more than an hour Sunday meeting scores of residents on the village green. "We are really looking forward to working with the community working with our citizens, our businesses, churches, schools, everybody in the community to help the problems that Pendleton has as far as law enforcement is concerned," Burdette said. "I am excited because this event in itself shows the support we have and with support like this there's nothing that we can't do." In an effort to save money, the town disbanded its police department in 2006 and turned its law enforcement duties over to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office. Responding to an outcry from residents, the Pendleton Town Council decided last year to bring back the police department. Mayor Frank Crenshaw said Sunday that he and the rest of the council members realize that the "safety of our town in paramount." Crenshaw said sheriff's deputies did a good job protecting Pendleton, but he believes the town will be better served by having its own officers who are familiar with residents. Renovations are being made in Town Hall to house the police department, Crenshaw said. He also said he expects more officers will be added to the department in the future. For now, the Sheriff's Office will continue to fill in when Pendleton's officers aren't on duty. "As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day," said Crenshaw, citing the start-up costs for the department that included hiring Burdette, two other officers and purchasing four police vehicles. Residents had a chance Sunday to look at three of those vehicles that were parked on The Village Green. Eric Naeseth, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who recently moved to Pendleton, said he believes the police department will be "an important part of the community." Chuck Fleming, who has lived in Pendleton for nine years, said he was initially skeptical about the need to relaunch the town's police department. But he said he changed his mind after meeting Burdette. "I think it is going to work out," Fleming said. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM Government Considers Longer Highway Contracts to Attract Investors The government will consider extending the tenure of contract for operation and maintenance (O&M) of highways, from the current nine years to 29 years. This includes both fresh contracts and projects where the contractor is the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The extended stipulated period will ease recovery of costs and boost profit margins, after which the projects will be handed over to the government. Sources placed in the government state that the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI are already working together to come up with more incentives to attract foreign investors to Indias infrastructure sector. RELATED: Pre-Investment Advisory from Dezan Shira & Associates The ruling NDA government has consistently been pushing for the expansion of road and highway connectivity in the country. Moreover, increasing the tenure of contract for O&M will attract greater investments in the sector, including international pension funds and foreign institutional investors. Finally, the governments consideration comes after a spike in foreign investor interest. Recently, the international investors, Macquarie, Brookfield, and Cube Highways, took up equity in 10 national highway projects worth US$ 622 million (Rs 4,150 crore) from which private promoters had exited. The Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereign funds are also expected to make an entry in Indias roads and highways sector. India-Cambodia Bilateral Investment Treaty Approved The Union cabinet recently approved the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and Cambodia, which will boost the scope for bilateral investment, trade, and tourism between the two countries. The India-Cambodia BIT also includes provisions that safeguard the interests of investors and will facilitate greater commodity and investment flows between the two countries. This treaty is the first BIT that is in accordance with the Indian Model BIT text that was approved in December last year. The BIT provisions entail that the two countries will provide an incentivized environment to attract investors. Cambodia currently benefits from a Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP), which has facilitated faster growth of exports to India, according to the Indian Embassys website in Phnom Penh. India was the first country to extend this facility to LDCs (Least Developed Countries). Cambodia exports footwear, rubber, fruits, nuts, lime, non-ferrous metals, cement, salt, and precious stones to India. India exports pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cotton, and rubber to Cambodia. The amount of trade between the two countries has increased, and reached to about US$ 160 million in the fiscal year 2014-2015. The portfolio of traded sectors is diversifying, and includes services, agriculture, infrastructure, construction, among others. Government Amends Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, Further Consolidates Support The Union cabinet announced last week that the government will drop the contentious one percent additional inter-state tax in the proposed GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, meeting a key opposition demand. The move has been welcomed by tax experts as it simplifies the overall GST structure. Further, the central government will compensate the states for any revenue loss incurred over a period of five years. Earlier this year, compensation proposed was staggered as 100 percent for the first three years, followed by 75 and 50 percent, respectively, in the next two years. Aside from these developments, the Union cabinet also approved the inclusion of a dispute settlement mechanism in the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, which will be decided by the GST Council. Any dispute between the state governments and the center will be adjudicated by this proposed committee, which will have representation from both the center and states. The most recent changes made to the bill is a further step in what has been a long-drawn negotiation process, and seeks to gain opposition support in the upper house of parliament where the opposition Congress has so far blocked passage. The government plans to roll out the GST by April 1, 2017, and is working overtime to build consensus to get the bill passed in the ongoing session, which ends August 12. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email india@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Managing Your Accounting and Bookkeeping in India In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we spotlight three issues that financial management teams for India should monitor. Firstly, we examine the new Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) system, which is expected to be a boon for foreign companies in India. We then highlight common filing dates for most companies with operations in India, and lastly examine procedures and regulations for remitting profits from India. Using Indias Free Trade & Double Tax Agreements In this issue of India Briefing magazine, we take a look at the bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that India currently has in place and highlight the deals that are still in negotiation. We analyze the countrys double tax agreements, and conclude by discussing how foreign businesses can establish a presence in Singapore to access both the Indian and ASEAN markets. Passage to India: Selling to Indias Consumer Market In this issue of India Briefing magazine, we outline the fundamentals of Indias import policies and procedures, as well as provide an introduction to engaging in direct and indirect export, acquiring an Indian company, selling to the government and establishing a local presence in the form of a liaison office, branch office, or wholly owned subsidiary. We conclude by taking a closer look at the strategic potential of joint ventures and the advantages they can provide companies at all stages of market entry and expansion. One of them is the queen ' Naagin ' of television and the other is Samrat Ashok of television - Mouni Roy and Mohit Raina . The duo worked together on the show, 'Devon ke Dev. Mahadev' and since then, there have been rumours about the two dating each other. However, either of them hasn't openly denied or accepted the rumours. Publicly, the two of them rarely make an appearance, but they surely are active on the social media front. While Mohit is not much of a social-media person, Mouni gives daily updates to her fans through different applications on social media. But, in the rarest of occasions, a while ago, Mohit planned to have a twitter chat with his fans like many celebrities do. However, what caught the attention of several people was a special question asked by Mouni in the Q & A session. It was '@mohituraina what are you looking forward to next sir :D? #askmohit.. And this is what Mohit replied with a special tweet ahead too- Featured Video After a long wait, the shooting of Thala Ajith's 'AK 57'rected by Siva is all set to start rolling .Kajal Aggarwal who has been roped in as the heroine of the film has confirmed that she has started working for the film with Ajith and crew in Slovenia. Kajal plays a calm and composed character as Ajith's pair in this film. While it was being widely reported that the film's shooting will commence in Bulgaria, there seems to be a change in location. The team has landed in Slovenia in Europe, which is 916 kilometers away from Bulgaria, to start the shooting of the film. May be the team will move to Bulgaria later after canning some portions in Slovenia. It is to be noted that 'AK 57' is touted to be an international spy thriller and it will be predominantly shot in European countries. The film is being produced by Sathya Jyothi Films banner. 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 Christopher Emanuel puts his heart into the role of do-it-all dad with his active, 2-year-old daughter, Skylar. As a 26-year-old single father, raising a toddler can sometimes be a heavy lift. But the customer-relations specialist from Aiken, S.C., claims to take his paternal duties in stride from cooking meals to arranging play dates. All except one, which stereotypically challenges all dads of little girls of color. The hardest thing for me is doing her hair, Emanuel said. But its a tough task he is happy to handle given how hard he fought for the right to do so. Emanuel was one of countless young, unmarried fathers who are denied the right to raise their biological children, by laws that seem stacked against them. Only a tenacious legal battle ultimately let him care for Skylar. Emanuel met Alecia Phillips in 2012 at a Trenton, S.C., warehouse where they both drove forklifts. They began dating and, the following year, Phillips discovered she was pregnant. The news thrilled Emanuel. I thought we would raise the child together, he said. Emanuel swiftly stepped up to the plate and helped finance pregnancy-related expenses. But things took a turn a few months later, he said, when Phillips, who is white, disclosed her pregnancy to her mother. The moms response shocked him. Emanuel claims the mother feared the news that their daughter had an interracial pregnancy would drive her husband to drink. Undeterred, Emanuel pushed ahead with plans to move in with Phillips the woman he now calls the egg donor to support her pregnancy and be an active father. Still, he felt something was amiss when Phillips prevented him from attending her medical appointments, as they had done at first. So, Emanuel signed a Responsible Fathers Registry a notice of paternity that secured his right to be notified of any legal proceedings involving the child in South Carolina. But shortly after Phillips sent him a text message saying the pregnancy was advancing well, he learned he had missed his babys birth. In fact, the news came when he was served with a court notice that his days-old daughter had been placed for adoption. Aiken County Family Court records show that the birth mother and adoptive parents did not name him as the biological father in an ensuing adoption case, even though a mandatory registry search listed Emanuel as Skylars natural dad. After a DNA test confirmed his paternity, both Phillips and the adoptive parents agreed to halt the adoption and hand the infant over to her ecstatic dad. Feeling my daughter for the first time that was the best day of my life, Emanuel said. A judge also agreed to terminate his ex-girlfriends parental rights and to remove her name from Skylars birth certificate. Phillips could not be reached for comment. Emanuels custody battle might be over, but his experience with legal adoption policy, and its impact on unmarried fathers, has spurred him to fight for change. Putative father registries were established in the 1970s as a way to link unmarried men to women with whom they have, or may have, fathered children. Of the two-thirds of states that have registries, most do not have useful information online about them, said Brad Reid, a professor of law and ethics at Tennessees Lipscomb University. The often-missing details include how to register and search them. Some documents are not even online. And fathers usually have little time to sign up from no more than 30 days after a birth in Illinois to as few as 72 hours in Montana. To secure his paternal rights, a father must complete documents in every state where his child may be born. This is a big problem for dads who, like Emanuel, have no idea where birth mothers are or will go. One solution, Reid said, is a federal registry. With the mobility of people and infant children nowadays, if you really wanted to be fair to fathers, you would really have to have a national registry that fathers would sign onto, Reid said. Right now, single fathers in about 18 states have no such recourse. Thats something Emanuel hopes to help change as he visits schools and speaks to young men about paternity and the law. The fight for my daughter was the hardest time of my life, he said. It became my calling, making sure fathers get their parental rights. PHILADELPHIA They call it the Urban Agenda. Mayors from across the country rallied at the Democratic National Convention last week and touted their ambitious campaign to rehabilitate Americas inner-city communities and help bridge the deep divide between police and Black citizens. Using the heading The 2016 Compact for a Better America: A Call to Action, the mayors are facing an uphill struggle: to persuade a Republican-controlled Congress to pay attention to a myriad of problems plaguing the nations metro areas, and, most important, fund programs to revitalize crumbling neighborhoods. But after the fatal police shootings of two African American men in June, followed by the murders of several police officers in Texas and Louisiana, mayors have expanded their priorities. We are absolutely committed that any urban agenda must address the strain and erosion of trust between our law enforcement and the communities theyre sworn to serve and protect particularly our communities of color, said Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbus, Ohio, who also serves as Vice President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Like with so many of the issues facing our nation, mayors are leading the way, Benjamin said. In fact, two years ago, he said, we launched our own Justice for All initiative in Columbia which has not only provided new and better training in conflict de-escalation and cultural sensitivity, equipped all of our uniformed officers with body cameras and instituted serious new accountability and transparency reforms, but also focused on hiring more minority officers and creating new incentives for all of our officers that help them buy homes in the city so that live in the very neighborhoods they patrol. More than 85% of residents in the United States live in the nations cities and metro areas and experience similar challenges: unemployment, affordable housing, immigration, crime and illegal guns, access to adequate health care and subpar education, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Democrats maintain that because many Republican congressional leaders represent rural and suburban districts, that they are disconnected from urban America and cant relate or wont relate to inner-city concerns. They have been stonewalling [the urban agenda] for eight years, Birmingham Mayor William Bell told Urban News Service. Bell said he is frustrated by congressional Republicans who have blocked much of President Barack Obamas legislative agenda and he hopes the 2017 Congress will embrace an urban agenda, which he said would benefit the entire nation. The pressure is there, Bell said. Congress needs to move forward. Meanwhile, Bell said the nations mayors have a message for the next occupant of the White House. We are calling on the next administration to reinvest in the infrastructure of this country, to support programs that will give people the skill sets to get jobs and empower cities to grow, Bell told Cities are the life blood of this country. Bell said there are many residents in the inner city with an entrepreneurial spirit. They just need a chance, he said. The mayors held a press conference about their urban agenda early during the convention sharing their thoughts on overhauling inner cities. It was a good place to do so. According to a 2015 study by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia has the highest rate of deep poverty among Americas 10 biggest cities. Philadelphias deep-poverty rate is 12.3 percent, or around 186,000 people 60,000 of whom are children, according to the Inquirer, which used figures from the U.S. Census 2014 American Community Survey. Democrats arent alone in discussing an urban agenda. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has also talked in general terms about an urban agenda but some Republicans leaders say they are confused because Trump still has offered no specifics. This presidential election is our opportunity to make sure that our nation is focused on the very people we represent, said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Vice President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Cities play a fundamental role in shaping Americas future. Best Special Forces in World: While we are all in awe and respect of the men and women in the army, navy and air forces, there is a force that takes it one step ahead in the field of danger. They take out the potential threats and enter a field that is feared by the bravest of souls. These are the Special Forces. There are various Bravehearts in this field all over the world, who risk their lives in service and are known to be the sharpest of the lot. Read more: 8 Lesser Known Indian Special Forces That Are Among The Best In The World Best Special Forces in the World 2020 Ranking or comparing these Special Forces around the world is an extremely difficult task, but there have been a few that have always stood out in the interesting, challenging and extremely dangerous field. Take a look at 11 of the most feared Special Commando Forces from around the world. 1. MARCOS, India Wikipedia/representative image MARCOS is the short name for 'Marine Commandos'. Trained in HALO and HAHO, equipped with the best assault rifles, sniper rifles and real-time war equipment, Indian MARCOS are one of the deadliest Special Forces in the world. They are primarily trained along the pattern of the US Navy SEALs, with further training with the British SAS and compulsory training at CIJW (Guerrilla warfare) in Vairangte. One of the best parts of their training regime is the high motivation that is found in the members and their emotional training in addition to their physical training. Operating under extreme secrecy, MARCOS has carried out numerous notable tasks like the Kargil War, Operation Leech, Operation Swan, Exercise Balance Iroquois 03-1/Vajrstormehar and many more. Nicknamed the "Dadhiwalee fauj" (bearded Army), MARCOS are the only Special Force after US Navy SEALs that can fight in water bodies with full-fledged weaponry. 2. Special Services Group (SSG), Pakistan Twitter/representative image Imagine marching 36 miles in twelve hours and running five miles in full gear in just fifty minutes. These are some of the tasks that Pakistans Special Forces undergo in their training regime. The group came to light when they marched into a building and rescued more than thirty-five people who were taken a hostage from the army headquarters. BusinessInsider/representative image Their involvement in the historic Indo-Pakistan wars and the Soviet-Afghan War is well talked about. During the infamous Pan Am Flight 73 hijack, SSG showed courage in rescuing passengers and minimalizing the damage. Another notable operation which saw SSG commandos was when they rescued hostage children from a hijacked Afghan school bus in just 20 seconds. Yes, it took seconds for the SSG to finish three terrorists. 3. National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), France From rescuing school children in Djibouti to capturing war criminals in Bosnia, this deadly task force has done it all. The force, which saw its origin following the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage massacre, is one of the deadliest groups in the world. They have the slickest training regime known and are prepared to take down the Somali pirates with ease. Following their motto "To save lives without regard for one's own," GIGN is known to hunt down any threat to the nation and its people. This 200-strong unit keeps a low profile and it's even against French law to publish pictures of their faces. chivethebrigade/representative image One of the most courageous acts in GIGN's history was the seizure of Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. Extremist insurgents took over Masjid al-Haram in Mecca to overthrow the House Of Saud. GIGN joined Saudi forces, but due to the prohibition on non-Muslims entering the holy city, a team of three GIGN commandos briefly converted to Islam and helped plan the recapture of the mosque. Read more: A Special Forces Expert And Kickboxing Champion Just Joined ISIS 4. Special Forces, USA special-ops.org/representative image Also known as the Green Berets because of their characteristic service headgear as requested by President Kennedy in the 60s, their official motto is De oppresso liber (To Liberate the Oppressed), while their insignia bears an arrowhead with a saber and three lightning bolts. s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/representative image The unit is full of rough and ready soldiers but its their snipers who are regarded as the deadliest assassins. This group within the Green Berets trains for seven weeks with the best in the USA. They head operations related to the coalition support, humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping and counter-drug operations. 5. Sayeret Matkal, Israel BusinessInsider/representative image This is an Israeli Special Force and is trained to bring down terrorism. The members of this force are renowned for their high physical as well as intellectual characteristics. In the selection camp called Gibbush, would-be recruits endure hardcore training exercises under constant monitoring by doctors and psychologists. They have played a vital role in reducing the tension for Israel in the Palestine terror attacks. One of the famous incidents highlighting the Sayeret Matkals work is that of rescuing Israeli taxi driver Eliyahu Gurel in 2003 after he was kidnapped transporting four Palestinians to Jerusalem in his cab. The unit located and rescued him from a 10-meter-deep pit in an abandoned factory in a suburb of Ramallah. Read more: Indian Special Forces Will Soon Be Having Air-Conditioned Jackets, Says Former Defence Minister, Parrikar 6. Joint Force Task 2 (JTF2), Canada s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/representative image With a comparatively smaller history of just 23 years, this task force has expanded to several hundred in a relatively short time. They have been a part of various world hotspots, from rescuing hostages in Iraq to hunting down Serbian snipers in Bosnia. The forces were also present in Afghanistan; however their activities there are highly guarded. JTF 2 bills itself as a scalpel, not a hammer, making them a faceless, shadowy counter-terrorism force. This world-class elite troop discloses almost nothing about their ultra-secretive operations. 7. British Special Air Service (SAS) thetimes/representative image They are the basis for Special Forces all around the world. Even USAs Delta Force was formed after the founder spent some time with SAS. They are the number one fighting force in the world and are trained to perform equally well in all other fields. britainfirst/representative image Their insignia bears the famous phrase 'Who dares wins.' Talking about their role in fighting what followed the Iraq war, US General Stanley McChrystal said, 'Essential. Could not have done it without them.' 8. Navy Seals, USA activistpost.com/representative image A minimum of 42 push-ups in two minutes, 50 sit-ups in two minutes, and running 1.5 miles in 11 minutes, BEFORE training even starts. Navy SEALs are the best the United States has to offer. SEAL stands for Sea Air and Land special operators, thus forming the word SEALs. Read more: 'Special Forces Is My Religion & Caste', Soldier Explains Spirit Of Secularism Army Works With Wikimedia/representative image There are eight "Teams" of Navy SEALs - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10. They also have SEAL Team 6 but it is not numbered. They have everything, from high end technology to the best in field trainers. 9. GIS, Italy postimg.org/representative image The Gruppo di Intervento Speciale (GIS) is one of the most elite operations to counter terrorism. Created in 1978, this unit is a part of the Italian military police, and is known for its marksmanship. i.ytimg.com/representative image With almost a hundred soldiers, they are aimed with anti-terrorism operations, security services and also provide training. 10. Alpha Group, Russia i.ytimg.com/representative image An arm of the well known and feared Spetsnaz, the alpha group is the fiercest in their group. This well known task force started out in the mid 1970s and came to the limelight during the invasion of Afghanistan. They are known for their brutal vengeance and heartless taking down of the opponent. special-ops.org/representative image Due to their unique operational strategies, the unit is also known as Spetsgruppa A. The unit did come under heavy criticism during the 2002 Moscow theatre hostage crisis, when in order to knock out militants, FSBs Alpha group used chemical gas which led to the killing of 129 hostages as collateral damage. 11. Polish GROM defence24.pl The Polish elite counter-terrorism unit, GROM means "Thunderbolt" and justly describes their tactics - speed, precision and deadly force. In the same league as the British SAS, this special force was created with the same principle. Having worked with SEALs many times, they are rumoured to have given special training ideas to the SEALs as well. The GROM force is estimated to have between 270 and 300 soldiers, and each has to pass a gruelling series of psychological and physical durability tests, as well as the "truth test". A 33-year-old major in the Indian army has a city techie to thank for saving his life. The major was pulled out of his vehicle and was brutally assaulted by an auto driver and four others near the SCT Institute of Technology on Kaggadasapura main road at around 5 pm on Friday. bangaloremirro The major, who was stuck in slow-moving traffic in his SUV near the college, found himself staring at an auto driver berating him for being a North Indian (his vehicle bore Haryana registration plates) who did not how to drive on city roads. The victim warned him to desist else he would report the matter to the police and began taking pictures of the driver, the latter flew into a rage and - along with four other men - started damaging the vehicle, shattering its windshield. "I was behind the victim's car and witnessed the whole incident. The major was innocent and the auto driver picked a fight for no reason. The victim did not even come out of the car and was unable to understand the language in which the driver was speaking. Four other passersby, who were in no way connected to the incident, ganged up with the driver and started damaging the vehicle. The victim was then pulled out of the car and badly beaten. There were nearly 40 onlookers and nobody came to the victim's rescue, despite his pleas for help. I started pushing the assailants, asking them not to beat him as he would die. With great difficulty, I rescued the victim and the accused ran away," said Murali Kartik, a techie who works at Manyata Tech Park. bangaloremirror Kartik then rushed the victim to Sri Lakshmi Hospital in Kaggadasapura where he was administered treatment. "I could see the victim being beaten with spanners. He was bleeding profusely and did not know why he was being assaulted. The spot where the incident occurred sees regular traffic jams. After treatment we went to the Bayappanaalli police station around 7.30 pm and filed a complaint. The pictures, which the victim managed to click of the driver and others who beat him, were handed over to the police for further investigation. I wish those 40 onlookers, instead watching the victim being beaten, could have just warned the accused and sent them away," Kartik added. bangaloremirror Once at the hospital, the major then called his friends to help him. "We really need to thank the civilian who helped our friend who has been posted in Bengaluru for the last two years. The victim has been advised complete bed-rest and is not in a position to speak. The condition of the victim would have been even more critical had the civilian not displayed courage to counter the five weapon-wielding gang-members," the victim's friend, a Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force, told BM. The case is under investigation and the search for the accused is on. A case of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means under section 324 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused, the Bayappanahalli police said. After a 35-year-old Noida woman and her teenage daughter were gang raped at Dostpur village along the Delhi-Kanpur highway (NH-91) near Bulandshahr district in western UP, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav issued an ultimatum to nab the culprits. Within hours the state police swung into action and arrested three persons on Sunday after the victims identified them. What you don't know is that a police post was located no more than a 100 meters away from the scene of the crime. This is the shoddy state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. PTI/Representational Image According to UP DGP Javeed Ahmed, the main accused has also been identified and a manhunt involving 15 special teams is out to nab the culprit. The police suspect the role of a nomadic tribe in northern India, the Bawariyas, in the crime. Taking a note of the horrific crime, the state government on Sunday suspended Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishan for dereliction in handling the crime. Six others, including SP (city) Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer (Sadar) Himanshu Gaurav and Station House Officer Ramsen Singh of Kotwali Dehat, were put under suspension. PTI/UP DGP Javed Ahmed visiting the spot Victims raped for 3 hours by 12 criminals: What were the cops doing? At around 1.30-2.00 am said UP DGP the criminals hiding in the bushes along the road threw a blunt metal object at the car in which the victims were travelling to Shahjahanpur, to attend the terahnvi (rituals held 13 days after a death) of a relative. When the driver stopped the car to assess the damage, robbers emerged and overpowered the occupants of the vehicle at gunpoint. The hands and legs of the men were tied and they were kept in the jowar (millet) fields. Meanwhile, the car was taken inside, driven on the kuchcha road and two of the females were assaulted, he added. Notably, the incident took place barely 100 meters from a police post. Where was the highway patrol team? Uttar Pradesh claims to have countrys first highway patrol force. Named the UP Highway Police (UPHP), the 24x7 force comprising over 750 personnel have been trained at the Royal New Zealand Police College. Ahmad added that while there was a police car on the highway, the family was taken too far inside the fields. Their screams could not be heard, he added. But does this argument hold ground? No. Why the police van parked at a distance did not intervene when the car was stopped? The victims according to the top cop made distress calls to the police on emergency number 100 from their mobile phone, but the call went unanswered. They then called some acquaintance. Around 4.30 am, officers from the nearby police station reached the spot, said the top cop. The victims were rescued hours later at around 5.30 am. Why? What were the cops waiting for during this 3-hour period? PTI/Representational Image Questions over forensic evidence DGP Ahmad said the victims were taken for a medical examination and forensic evidence were collected soon after the police reached the crime scene. But when this correspondent went to the spot at around 7 pm on Sunday, a blue purse and a golden necklace was lying abandoned there. It raises serious questions on the efficiency of the police team which were supposed to collect the forensic evidence. Why did they not recover the two vital pieces of evidence in over 24 hours of the crime? Indian Express/Necklace lying abandoned at crime scene Poorly lit, deserted highway Farms on either side of the highway disappear into darkness as the sun sets. The area along the NH-91 is already deserted. Streetlights are few and far between, the gap extending to more than 10 km on the Noida side. Thousands of Dalits congregated at Acher ground in Sabarmati area here on Sunday in protest against Una brutalities and pledged to break free from shackles of the centuries-old practice of disposing of animal carcasses. They also took an oath not to clean the underbelly of cities by getting into manholes. BCCL The simmering anger was palpable at the 'Dalit Mahasammelan' organized by the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti (UDALS) as Dalits roared slogans of 'Jai Bheem' amid heavy police bandobast, sending a stern message to the state government through the mega gathering. Dalits were supported by Muslim organizations like Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. "In model Gujarat, over 15,500 cases of atrocities were lodged and Dalits kicked out from 55 villages. Why is PM Narendra Modi silent on these atrocities. Why has he not come to share our pain," said Jignesh Mevani, convener of UDALS. "Gujarat's Dalits' revolutionary decision to shun menial work will change the state of their brethren across India," said Mevani. BCCL Dalit activists also expressed their lack of faith in Gujarat police. "The CID (crime) investigating Una brutalities had investigated killing of four Dalits in Thangadh. No justice was done. CID submits its report to DGP who himself is an accused in Ishrat Jahan encounter," said Mevani. "Our family's pain has become a source of happiness as it has galvanized the Dalit community for an uprising," said Jeetu Sarvaiya, a relative of Una victims. BCCL Former IPS officer Rahul Sharma, who had taken on Modi government in Gujarat over 2002 riots, gave a clarion call for a protest march. "My head hangs in shame over Una atrocities. This is a fallout of divisive politics. I propose a footmarch from Ahmedabad to Una from August 5. Let's hoist the tri-colour on August 15 at Una for freedom from social oppression," said Sharma. "Since years, Muslims and Dalits have been tortured by gau-rakshaks. The movement should continue till businesses run in the garb of cow protection are not banned," said Shamshad Pathan, a city-based lawyer. Almost a year ago, after the government had ended a ban on porn sites, the Supreme Court Women Lawyers' Association (SCLWA) had still tried to ban porn. The association has asked the Supreme Court to consider how easily schoolkids could access porn. 1.bp.blogspot.com Now, they've suggested a solution to impose a new restriction on porn - banning porn sites from offering free access, instead suggesting a a hefty fee that "can act as a deterrent". They even said that this can be a "revenue-generation model for the government". The SCLWA also wants to have porn rehabilitation centres set up across India for those "addicted to porn". They've even named the 8 (arguably best!) sites for instant streaming porn - Xvideos.com, Xnxx.com, Pornhub.com, Xhamster.com, Youporn.com, Redtube. com, Tube8.com, Hclips.com - sites which are "very popular", but may have uploaded videos without consent of the people featuerd in the videos. The effect on school kids huebang "Due to easy access to porn, even bus drivers and conductors of school buses, cabs and taxis have porn clippings/videos on their mobile phones...It has become very common these days for the drivers, conductors/cleaners to take advantage of innocent children, induce them to watch porn on their mobiles and indulge in molestation and sodomisation of the child," said the petition filed by the association's secretary Prerna Kumari, and settled by senior lawyer Mahalakshmi Pavani. The Supreme Court had spelled out a rational stance on previous attempts to ban porn across India": "We cannot be issuing blanket order blocking websites at a time when we are moving towards a digital India." A month before that, Chief Justice H L Dattu had explained why a blanket ban was irrational "Somebody can come to the court and say 'Look, I am an adult and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room? It is a violation of Article 21 (right to personal liberty) of the Constitution.' Once a bright student, Danish Saifi, who was also brutalised by the lynch mob that killed his father Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi for allegedly killing a cow in Dadri last year, has lost his strong memory power. He forgets frequently and cannot talk for long because of the severe head injury he suffered during the attack. Sometimes, the young boy who graduated from Osmania University lose his mental balance. Indiatimes/Danish Saifi The scars on my forehead keeps reminding me of the fateful night when the agitated mob dragged us out, lynched my father to death and brutally assaulted me. It is not mere a scar on my forehead. It has ripped apart our hearts, says the 22-year-old. Akhlaq (52) was killed by a lynch mob on September 28, 2015 at Bishahra village near Dadri in western Uttar Pradesh for allegedly slaughtering a calf, consuming beef and storing it in his house on the festival occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. Danish survived the bloody attack but with a broken skull. He underwent two critical surgeries and is to undergo one more for complete recovery. Victims are being dubbed as culprits and the gruesome act of a lynch mob is being legitimised over falsehood of an emotive issue of cow slaughter. This is how visibly upset and angry Danish reacts while switching off his TV set where he was watching a news debate on the FIR filed against his family under several sections of the U.P. Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955, and the Animal Cruelty Act. Following a court order, the Uttar Pradesh police booked six persons Akhlaqs wife Ikraman, his mother Asghari, daughter Shaishta, son Danish, brother Jaan Mohammad and his wife for slaughtering a cow on a petition filed by one Surajpal, a neighbour of Akhlaq. The complainant has claimed to the police that Akhlaq confessed to cow slaughter. The false and baseless case of cow slaughter was filed against us to distract the public attention from fathers lynching case. It is a tragedy of the society that the crime committed by the perpetrators has suddenly been forgotten, while a family that lost its guardian are being asked to prove innocence, giving legitimacy to mob justice, Danish, a graduate of Osmania University, told Indiatimes. AP/Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi A total of 18 people, most of them relatives of BJP leader Sanjay Rana, have been arrested in connection with Akhlaqs murder. Ranas son Vishal, one of the main accused, is also been behind bars. The arrests were made on the basis of the testimony of the Akhlaqs family members and priest of a temple from where an announcement was made that a cow had been killed and people were asked to gather near the temple. The FIR contained charges under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 458 (house-breaking) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. Danish, who stays along with his mother, grandmother and sister with his elder brother Sartaj Saifi (27) a corporal-ranked technician in the Indian Air Force in a two-bedroom house in Delhi's Subroto Park, said that the media discourse has also changed after the registration of the FIR. Indiatimes/BJP slogan in Bishahra village near Dadri It is really painful to watch TV these days. The lynch mob wants us to be arrested. It has already delivered its verdict branding us as criminals. But will that satisfy its conscience? Do people believe in the idea of justice which does not confirm to their will and mob justice? he asks pointing towards the scar on his forehead. It (the scars) keeps on reminding me of the fateful night when the agitated mob dragged us out, lynched my father to death and brutally assaulted me. It is not mere a scar on my forehead. It has ripped apart our hearts, said the 22-year-old. What next? As Danish stops, unable to speak further, his mother Ikraman says the family will cooperate with the police as they have nothing to hide. We have full faith in judiciary and ready to cooperate in the investigation. We have nothing to hide. We are saying from day one that there was no beef, let alone cow slaughter which we strongly believe has been raised yet again to weaken the murder case and the act can be justified in the campaigns for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, she said. Asked about the recent Mathura lab report that said the meat sample collected from near Akhlaqs house was beef, her eldest son Sartaj intervened and said the report has several loopholes. The sample was not handled properly by the police team. Confusion prevails over the sample that was sent for testing. We have met Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Daljit Singh and urged him to look into this, he said. Indiatimes/Akhlaq's house at Bishahra village near Dadri His family has alleged that the meat sample was changed before it was sent to Mathura for testing. The lab had said in its report that the sample belonged to a cow or its progeny, resulting in a case being lodged against Akhlaq and six members of his family at the Jarcha police station on charges of cow slaughtering. The carcass of an animal was thrown at a tri-junction near an electric transformer close to our house according to a well thought out conspiracy but police ignored the fact during investigation. In addition, around 2 kg of meat was seized from our fridge but the sample sent to the lab was 4.5 kg. Secondly, the meat sample sent to Mathura lab was kept in a glass container, while the sample tested in Dadri was kept in two plastic containers. The police are not clarifying whether the samples sent to both the labs were same. There is no mention of the reason why the scientists at Mathura lab are disagreeing with the findings of their counterparts in Dadri, he said. The Mathura lab report comes eight months after Akhlaq was lynched by a mob in Dadri. The finding contradicts the preliminary reports finding by UP veterinary department, which stated that the meat was mutton and not beef. The monsoons have lashed with all their fury in Assam, as the flood situation remained grim, with the death toll rising as high as 29! Around 36-37 lakh people across 28 districts have been affected by the floods and at least one person each died at Kalgachia in Barpeta district, Dalgaon in Darrang district and Lakhipur in Goalpara district. Not only people, the floods have also damaged nearly two lakh hectares of crop area (which is submerged under flood waters) while a number of roads, embankments, bridges and other infrastructure have also been washed away. Despite repeated demands from the All Assam Students Union (AASU), that the Assam floods be declared a national problem, the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, said a concrete action plan should be chalked out to tackle the issue of floods in Assam. Merely declaring the floods in Assam a national problem or a national calamity would not solve the problem. Accompanied by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister, took an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga, to take stock of the situation in the State. PTI He remarked that the situation in Assam was indeed very grave. He confessed that it was a big challenge for the government to combat the situation and appealed to all social organisations and NGOs to lend their support. However, he also noted that this was the first time that all the lawmakers had reached out in the affected areas and provided help to those affected - by providing them relief material. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, What is needed is an action plan to find out what causes the floods and how we can prevent it. Instead of announcing a flood package, he asked the Sarbananda Sonowal government to utilise money from the State Disaster Response Fund to combat the situation. I have asked them to spend it without any hesitation. If more fund is needed, we are there and we will help in every possible way, Singh told reporters at a press conference at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI) airport in Guwahati. The state government currently has Rs 620 crore under SDRF which will help the affected people tackle the situation in State. Singh also advised the state government to repair the embankments damaged by the floods on a priority basis. Twitter The affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nagaon, Kamrup, South Kamrup and Karbi Anglong. Morigaon is the worst affected with nearly 3.5 lakh people hit, followed by Darrang and Goalpara where around 1.4 lakh and 1.38 lakh people are affected respectively. Authorities are running 463 relief camps and distribution centres, where almost 1.5 lakh people are sheltered in the districts. Currently, Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Guwahati, Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns. Its tributaries Burhidehing is flowing above danger level at Khowang in Dibrugarh, Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Puthimari at NH Road Crossing in Kamrup, Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta and Sankosh at Golakganj in Dhubri, ASDMA said. Reweyu The Assam floods have caused havoc in large areas of the Kaziranga National park and Dibru-Saikhowa wildlife sanctuary also. These parks are inundated, forcing animals to take refuge in platforms built for their succor. The extreme flooding in Kaziranga National Park, has killed four baby rhinos between the ages of one month and one year. The authorities managed to rescue 42 hog deers but 15 others lost their lives while trying to escape from the drowning national park. Touted to have been the worst floods reported in a decade, killing 18 and displacing 18 lakh more, the staff at Kaziranga has been shifted to safer places till the waters recede. Another wildlife sanctuary in Assam, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, the densest habitat of one-horned rhinos, in Morigaon district has half of its area flooded, forcing all wild animals to seek shelter in nearby highlands. Several link roads to Pobitora are also submerged, the officials added. Firstpost The chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal said 970 relief camps have been opened in which around five lakh people have taken shelter. Since hundreds of villages have completely been washed away and schools, roads, embankments are also submerged under water and badly damaged, the Government is sincerely trying to help the people with all the resources. The state government has announced a relief of Rs 4 lakh for the families of the victims. Past life regression has become quite the things since 2010 and at present, the number of youth in Dehradun and Lucknow among many other smaller cities in India looking to "sort out" their lives by peeking into the past. A single session of past life regression lasts for 90 minutes to two hours depending on the practitioner and costs anywhere between Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000. But what does one get out of such a practice? "You will be led to experience yourself in another time and place. You will be led through the various key incidents of that lifetime, focusing on unresolved emotions, problems and conflicts. This process takes up about half the session: the remainder is devoted to healing the effects of the negative thought-patterns, emotions and physical traumas that may have arisen during that life," says Taruna Sethi, a wellness teacher in Dehradun. CIMG There is also a considerable number of college-goers who are directing their attention towards availing a course in hypnotherapy and past life regression, they are often combined together, as an alternate earning. Courses in past life regression are offered for as little as Rs 10,000. Richa Vanza and her mother Soniya who practice crystal healing and past life regression, say, "Past life regression therapy must not be used as an escape route to neglect issues arising from the current life. Events that happen in the current life have a greater impact in our later life. Hence any traumatic incident occurred in the current life time must be tackled with equal importance." This message, however, seems to be lost on a rising number of people seeking an escape. TOI In 2009, Punjab resident Surinder Kumar Bansal filed a petition against the CEO of a news channel to stop the telecast of a reality show based on past-life regression, and won. The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notices to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Dr Trupti Jain, Cozy Nursing Home, Mumbai and CEO of NDTV Imagine on a public interest litigation demanding ban on the serial. The petitioner had argued that such shows lead to more people resorting to quacks and babajis. Popularising such content would encourage people to escape the present by blaming a future that no one has control over. Was he wrong in saying so? A still from Regression Did you know that Past Life Regression was actually used as scientific evidence which could be produced in a court of law in the United States, even after the turn of the century, when it was finally rejected as a psychiatric treatment by clinical psychiatrists and psychologists. A 2006 survey found that a majority of a sample of doctoral level mental health professionals rated "Past Lives" therapy as "certainly discredited" as a treatment for mental or behavioural disorders. There is no scientific proof to establish the effect that past-life regression has on the mind. It is not even a matter of belief and yet, an increasing number of young Indians want to know what the past was instead of investing in a better future. Sad. Imam Ali Hammuda, who leads prayers at a Cardiff mosque known as a place of worship for 3 young UK jihadis allegedly told teenagers that Islam permits sex slaves. Boys as young as 13 were pretty much quoted the same stuff that jihadi fighters in Syria are taught. The revelation should shock the Ummah, the Islamic world, which has steadfastly sought to explain that it is a few fringe outfits that radicalise tens of thousands to fight alongside ISIS not established community mosques. Hammuda continues to preach at the mosque, despite it being linked to three Cardiff jihadis The cleric was caught preaching this toxic sermon at a halaqa (religious study circle) the Al-Manar mosque by an undercover reporter. Slavery is illegal in the UK, and also reportedly not permitted in Islam, according to a majority of clerics. A former sex slave remembers the horrors of the Islamic State ap For 3 months, Yazidi Nadia Murad served as sex slave of the world's most terrifying terrorist outfit ISIS, and revealed the horrors that women and children are facing in Iraq. "About 5,800 Yazidi women and children were captured by the so-called Islamic State. They have killed many people in Iraq and Syria and displaced millions. For us, the Yazidis, they killed the men and took the women and children. They were committing all kinds; murder, rape and displacing people by force in the name of Islam. The organisation consider Yazidi women infidels, and then abduct them to be used as sex slaves. "Imagine until now, for more than a year and a half, girls as young as nine are being rented and sold out [for sex]." ISIS militants believe that Quran allows them to rape girls, keep them as a sex slaves, and even trade them around the militant camp like furniture. According to Islamic State leaders, sexual slavery was practiced during the Prophet Muhammad's time, and they prey on the women and girls the group captured from the Yazidi religious minority almost two years ago. Disgusting ISIS Fatwa On Sex Slaves Shows Just How Bad The Condition Of Women Is Under ISIS Occupation! Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting survivor Angel Colon was shot 6 times, his almost lifeless body was dragged out of the crime scene by a police officer. He became one of the few survivors of the worst shooting America has seen. This week, Colon was reunited onstage with Omar Delgado, the police officer who dragged him from the carnage. Omar Mateen, Who Killed And Maimed 100+ At Gay Orlando Nightclub Might Have Been Gay! The former Zumba instructor Angel Colon was dying on the nightclub floor; he's has taken only 6 weeks to get back on his feet. He celebrated his return dancing at a Zumba Instructor Network conference in Orlando. Colon and a fellow dance instructor broke out some moves to a Jennifer Lopez and Lin-Manuel Miranda song released for the Pulse victims called 'Love Make the World Go Round.' Colon pretended to be dead so he wouldn't be shot further. 'I dont know how, but by the glory of God, he shoots toward my head but it hits my hand. And he shoots me again and hits the side of my hip.' he said. Omar Mir Seddique Mateen a New York-born Afghan-American went on a killing spree at Pulse, a prominent a gay nightclub and killed and maimed almost 100 Americans, making this is the biggest terrorist attack on U.S soil after 9/11, and the worst mass shooting in US history. In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Seddique Mateen, Omar's father said his son's rampage had "nothing to do with religion." He described an incident in downtown Miami in which his son, U.S.-born Omar Mateen, 29, of Florida, saw two men kissing in front of his wife and child and became very angry. Police said Omar who was heavily armed with guns and other assault weapons had a fire exchange with the security before entering inside the Pulse night club. The hostage situation quickly developed before a squad of officers entered the club and shot the gunman dead. One police officer has also been injured in the cross fire. What You Need To Know About Omar Mateen, The Cold-Blooded Killer Behind The Orlando Shootings How to Understand the Beheading of a French Priest 'It is true that we found only their heads,' the Archbishop of Algiers said quietly to me on a hot afternoon, the sound of police sirens echoing over the city, as he spoke of monks being slaughtered. 'Three of their heads were hanging from a tree near a petrol station' By Robert Fisk July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Independent " - Faced with the murder and beheading of seven of his monks by Islamists 20 years ago, the Archbishop of Algiers went one better than the Archbishop of Rouen this week. He didnt talk about the slaughter of an elderly priest as the unnameable. He saw the road of Calvary. In fear of his own life amid a ferocious conflict, Monseigneur Henri Teissier, 67 years old and a French professor of Arabic, responded by celebrating mass for six nuns and monks all those years ago by reading from St Matthews, Chapter 25, verse 13: Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. The tiny congregation had originally gathered that day in 1996 to remember one of Frances first religious martyrs in Algiers, Vicomte Charles de Foucauld, the soldier-turned-priest who was assassinated by an Islamist in Tamanrasset in 1916; his murder set an awful precedent for the killing of all French priests by those who claimed they were motivated by Islam. Surely Father Jacques Hamel would have known of him. The Vicomte was killed only 14 years before he was born. But when Teissier talked to me of the seven monks taken from their monastery in the beautiful hills above Tibherine, his words might have been uttered about the killers of 86-year-old Father Hamel. They will kill a boy of two or an old man of 85 [sic]. I think they are out of their consciences. They work under their understanding of Islamic law We have to kill the enemies of the Lord and it is finished. We think not only of our life but of the lives of all the people in Algeria A generous man, Teissier. The Algerian civil war between a brutal Islamist army and the equally savage Algerian army which had fatally cancelled elections which Islamists would have won in 1992 had by 1996 already reached Syrian proportions: babies with their throats cut, women massacred in front of their husbands, men routinely decapitated. The police tortured their prisoners by pumping water into their stomachs until their victims exploded. It was inevitable that the killers from the GIA, the Islamic Armed Group, would turn upon all foreigners and that also meant priests and bishops. The monks of Tibherine, whose own Golgotha would be made into a poignant and superb film, Of Gods and Men, were taken from their monastery where they had looked after and given medical aid not only to the local Algerian Muslim villagers, but to the Islamist fighters themselves. That may have been their undoing. More on that later. But first, back to Teissier and his appalling, magnificent reflections upon their deaths. It is true that we found only their heads, he said quietly on that hot Algiers afternoon, the sound of police sirens echoing over the city. Three of their heads were hanging from a tree near a petrol station. The other four heads were lying on the grass beneath. But it is marvellous that the families of those monks maintained their friendship for us and for all Algerians. They had visited the monastery. They had been able to accept the loss of their sons. They knew it was not all Algerians who did this thing. Could such words be repeated today, I wonder, to the racists and right-wingers who demand the punishment of all Muslims for the crimes of a few? At 87, Teissier, who took Algerian citizenship in 1962 after the countrys ghastly independence war against the French, is still alive; indeed, he pleaded for good Christians and good Muslims to remain together and build bridges, as he put it, after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January last year. He is, after all, an expert at the grotesquerie as well as the magnificence of faith. So here is what he also said to me on that broiling Algiers day two decades ago: The most difficult thing is to know that every day some people die, mothers cry for their sons and daughters. We ourselves are not in the same situation as we were before this [Algerian] crisis. When you begin celebrating the Eucharist, you cannot help remembering that Jesus was murdered by human violence in the name of religion. Now we have to understand the risk in this society, that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. We cannot look at the cross of Jesus as we have done before. Before it was an abstract thing. Now it is a daily reality. How wonderfully spoken. How appropriate are these words amid the horror of Father Hamels sacrifice. But is that what it was? A sacrifice? Or does that obscure the act of murder most foul? It was Teissier who took the phone call which told him that all seven monks had been decapitated. The Algerian authorities blamed the GIA led by a man called Sayah Attia, who one of the Tibherine monks had supposedly recognised when he answered the door, the same man whose face had appeared in a photograph that identified him as the murderer of Yugoslav civilians whose throats had been slashed close to the monastery. But there is, alas, another deeply disturbing story about the monks. Enquiries by the French security services and by journalists on Le Monde newspaper suggested that after the GIA had kidnapped the seven men, the Algerian army, which maintained close liaisons with the French military, attempted a rescue mission. But they blundered. Not only did they kill the GIA men but shot dead the monks as well. Unwilling to reveal their disastrous operation, they then cut off the heads of the monks as if they were the result of Islamist murders and buried the bullet-riddled torsos of the seven. Hence only the heads were found. Another theory and we shall never know the truth is that the Algerian security police wanted the monks kidnapped and dead as a punishment for all those who assisted the GIA, even when their only sin was to give them medical aid. There is still doubt as to who, in the very same year, murdered the Bishop of Oran. Mgr Pierre Claverie died in a bomb explosion on the very same day he had met the French Foreign Minister, Herve de Charrette. The bomb went off in the street, Teissier told me then. He was crushed by the door of the chapel and his brains were found on the chapel floor. It was absurd, idiotic, unconscionable. US Could Lose Ability For Global Dominance, DoD Paper Says By RT July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - By 2035, the US could find itself in an environment where Russia or China may match or even exceed the Wests military and economic might in some areas, taking advantage of a disordered and contested world, the Pentagons research unit said. In just 20 years, the US and its allies will live in a world where shaping a global order the way they have since the end of the Cold War would be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, Pentagons research division, the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), warned in a new foresight report. The future world order will see a number of states with the political will, economic capacity, and military capabilities to compel change at the expense of others, reads the paper entitled The Joint Force in a Contested and Disordered World. Rising powers including for example, China, Russia, India, Iran, or Brazil have increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with their roles, access, and authorities within the current international system, it states. Russia will modernize its land, air, and sea-based intercontinental nuclear forces and make use of deterrent operations such as snap nuclear exercises, bomber flights, and strategic reconnaissance overflights into US territory, the Pentagons researchers predict. The report admits Russia and China are among countries dissatisfied with the current Western-derived notion of international order. Russia, China, India, and others, labeled revisionist states in the report, would promote alternate international alliances, while the Wests shrinking resources would also have an impact on Washingtons dominance across the globe. Although seemingly insignificant today, organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union could grow as China, Russia, India, and others turn to these multinational groups to reorder international rules in their favor. Demographic and fiscal pressures will continue to challenge NATOs capacity and capability, the paper warns. In Asia, perceptions of reduced US commitment may encourage current allies and partners to pursue unilateral military modernization efforts or explore alternative alliances and partnerships. However, though the Pentagons report states that no power or coalition of powers has yet emerged to openly oppose US global influence and reach, it claims the United States will operate in a world in which its overall economic and military power, and that of its allies and partners, may not grow as quickly as potential competitors. A number of states can generate military advantages locally in ways that match or even exceed that of the Joint Force and its partners, while American technological superiority will be met by asymmetric, unconventional, and hybrid responses from adversaries. Offering a vision of the world in 2035, the paper says in conclusion it is unclear if the US can be simultaneously proficient at addressing contested norms and persistent disorder with currently projected capabilities, operational approaches, and fiscal resources. There may be times when it is more appropriate to manage global security problems as opposed to undertaking expensive efforts to comprehensively solve them. Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of it harboring global ambitions as opposed to that of the US. Russia is not aspiring for hegemony or any ephemeral status of a superpower, President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last year, adding: We do not act aggressively. We have started to defend our interests more persistently and consistently." Earlier this year, Russia adopted a new edition of its foreign policy doctrine, which mentions a shift towards a multipolar and a polycentric world. A transition to polycentric architecture should be ideally based on the interaction of leading centers of power, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in April. He added however, that he was not sure if that was achievable. As the Saudis Covered Up Abuses in Yemen, America Stood By Washington let Saudi Arabia commit atrocities in Yemen, then strong-arm the UN into remaining silent. By Samuel Oakford July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Politico " - The United Nations has long been bullied by its most powerful members, and U.N. secretaries-general have usually been forced to grit their teeth and take it quietly. But few nations have been more publicly brazen in this practice than Saudi Arabia, and earlier this summer, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon managed to get in a dig at the Kingdom over its blackmail-style tactics. Ban openly admitted that it was only after Riyadh threatened to cut off funding to the U.N. that he bowed to its demand to remove the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, where it has launched a harsh military intervention, from a list of violators of childrens rights contained in the annex of his annual Children and Armed Conflict report. The report describes horrors no child should have to face, Ban told reporters. At the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many U.N. programs. But the secretary-general wasnt done. It is unacceptable for U.N. member states to exert undue pressure, Ban added. The removal of the Saudis from the list was also, he claimed, pending review. For the United States, it was another reminder of what an uncomfortable ally the Saudi kingdom can be (as was the July release of a hitherto classified section of a 2002 report into the 9/11 attacks that suggested, among other things, that the wife of then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan gave money to the wife of a suspected 9/11 co-conspirator). No one has become more familiar with this awkwardness than the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, the erstwhile human-rights icon (author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell) who has been forced to look the other way as a powerful U.S. ally does as it pleases in Yemen with political, logistical and military cover from Washington. Since news broke of Bans decision, I have asked Powers office for a direct response to Saudi funding threats. Neither she nor her staff has ever replied. Using their oil wealth as a weaponand tacitly encouraged by their most powerful ally, Washington, which has supplied Riyadh with targeting assistance, logistical support and daily aerial refueling of coalition jets in Yementhe Saudis have refused to moderate their stance. The U.S. silence has been deafening in the face of aggressive Saudi bullying to prevent the U.N. from condemning a horrendously abusive military campaign that has killed and maimed hundreds of children, said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy and former U.N. director at Human Rights Watch. This blatant double standard deeply undermines U.S. efforts to address human rights violations whether in Syria or elsewhere in the world. "The U.S. silence has been deafening in the face of aggressive Saudi bullying to prevent the UN from condemning a horrendously abusive military campaign that has killed and maimed hundreds of children. Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch. Bans honesty hasnt helped Washington. While human rights organizations initially pilloried the lame-duck secretary-generalhe leaves office at the end of 2016for bowing to the intimidation of a wealthy donor, many diplomats and U.N. observers said Ban also set an important precedent for calling out powerful member states. In June, after Ban went public, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner did make one oblique comment, that the U.N. should be permitted to carry out its mandate, carry out its responsibilities, without fear of money being cut off. The U.S. itself, however, has already set a precedent for doing just that: after the U.N.s cultural agency, UNESCO, recognized Palestine in 2011, the United States suspended its contributions worth $80 million annually, or more than a fifth of the agencys budget. Both the Saudi threat and the U.S. pinch on UNESCO, like the perennial menace of vetoes on the Security Council, undermine the authority vested in the U.N. U.S. support for the Saudis in Yemen has weakened Washington morally at the U.N., allowing Russia and other countries to call the Americans hypocritical for "politicizing" Syrian humanitarian access while supporting a coalition that is blockading anntire country, helping to worsen what in Yemen is numerically the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to U.N. figures for those in need of aid. While the U.S. has highlighted the toll of Russian bombs in Syria, it has been less willing to criticize Moscows use of cluster munitions. The weapons are widely banned internationally under a U.N. treaty, but the Pentagon maintains they can be used appropriately. The Saudis offer a prime example of their reckless use in Yemen, where theyve unleashed them in populated areas. The more flagrant the Saudis are in their behavior, the harder it is for Washington to bury the underlying hypocrisy of its support. This February, amid a deadly Russian air campaign in support of regime forces aiming to encircle Aleppo, the Security Council met urgently on the humanitarian situation in the city and elsewhere in Syria. But upon leaving the session, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin used the Yemen card, telling reporters, We are going to propose weekly meetings on the humanitarian situation in Yemen. However, when subsequent discussions on Yemen appeared poised to yield a resolution on humanitarian access in the country, the Saudis and other Gulf States met with diplomats from the U.S., France and the United Kingdom to complain. Unlike Syria, for which a similar resolution was passed, no such resolution has been mustered by the Council for Yemen. The Saudi threat to cut vital funding streamsdelivered forcefully, and directly by Riyadhs foreign minister to Ban and his top political advisershould come as little surprise to anyone who has watched Saudi Arabias erratic and often abusive relationship with the U.N. since the Saudis began bombing Yemen last March. There is another reason the U.S. has said little about the strong-arm tactics employed by Saudi Arabia: The hypocrisy might be too much to take. As Saudi behavior grew more careless publicly, both on the ground in Yemen in the halls of the U.N., the silence from Washington, and at the U.S. mission to the U.N. in New York, continued. Ambassador Power even found herself defending an intervention in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, coincided with the spread of Al Qaeda, and undercut her own passionate work to draw attention to the crimes of the Assad regime in Syria. But there is another reason the U.S. has said little about the strong-arm tactics employed by its closest Arab ally: The hypocrisy might be too much to take. Just last year, the U.S. was instrumental in keeping Israel off the very annex the Saudis found themselves on this month. Leila Zerrougui, the U.N.s special representative for children and armed conflict, had endorsed the inclusion of both the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas on the blacklist. In the end, neither was, but the pressure exerted by Washington and Israel occurred largely behind the scenes, according to diplomatic norms that are now under the spotlight. *** The Saudi intervention has a great deal to do with Riyadhs fears of its great regional rival, Iran, which has backed the Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. It began last March when, following rapid advances of the Houthis, who are allied with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the new Saudi King, Salmon, announced a hastily formed coalition of Sunni Arab states. His son, deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salmanmore recently the darling of the financial press for his consulting-firm endorsed plans to reform the Saudi economywas put in charge of the campaign. The coalitions nominal goal was to reinstate Salehs post-Arab Spring successor, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had fled the country, but also to counter the rise of the Houthis as a proxy of Iran. With the help of the U.S. military, Riyadh was able to impose a blockade, by air and sea, and commence attacks on their southern neighbor. Prior to the war, Yemen was already the poorest country in the Arab world and soon commercial stocks of food and fuel, as well as drugs and other medical supplies, were running dangerously low. By September, the U.N. estimated Yemen was receiving just 1 percent of the fuel imports it required. Today, more than 21 million people in Yemen are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and half the population suffers from food insecurity and malnutritionfigures that dwarf Syrias. Another early casualty of the blockade was the access often afforded by the U.N. to foreign journalists and human rights officials working for nonprofit groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In May, two months into the Saudi intervention, and as the civilian death toll in Yemen approached 400, senior U.N. officials in Yemen decided that neither group would be allowed on U.N. flights into and out of the country. At the time, seats on commercial routes operated by the national carrier Yemenia Airway were difficult or impossible to obtainwhen the planes ran at all. Those flights were routed through Saudi Arabia, where officials have oversight of passenger manifests. The U.N. also maintained its own chartered plane, large enough to fit 27 or 28 people, that had begun flying several times a week between Djibouti and the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital of Sanaa. But journalists and human rights NGO workers were banned from those flights as well; U.N. officials based in Yemen, Europe and New York, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and several aid workers said the policy stemmed from the Saudi rejection of a single flight manifest earlier in May that contained several journalists, including reporters from the New York Times and BBC. Several U.N. staffers suggested the decision seemed to go against Bans Human Rights up Front agenda. That initiative, meant to give special privileges to human rights reporting, civilian protection and the prevention of large-scale violations of international law, was introduced largely in response to the organizations inaction during the last months of Sri Lankas civil war in 2009 in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Even those aid workers and U.N. staff that were allowed in have found their trips are dependent on the Saudi government, which approves or denies access for all U.N. flights. Should the U.N. allow a government to accept such restrictions, which clearly restrict access to beneficiaries? asked one aid worker, who spoke anonymously in order to protect their organizations continued access in Yemen. Some journalists instead undertook dangerous journeys by sea into Yemen from the African coast. One reporter, Matthieu Aikins, on assignment from Rolling Stone with a cameraman, was smuggled into the country on a 23-foot-long vesselbecoming one of the first Western journalists to break through the blockade and document the toll of the air war. Aikins said that prior to his departure from Djibouti, U.N. officials told him that the Saudis were no longer allowing foreign journalists to travel to Yemen. Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, said she was booked on a flight from Djibouti to Sanaa in late June, before being told last minute that we were off the listforcing her to find alternative travel through Jordan. As journalists and human rights workers struggled to gain entry into Yemen, the news that did emerge grew direr. In May, Human Rights Watch first reported the use of cluster munitions by the coalition, and by the second half of that month, the U.N. had recorded 1,037 civilian deaths since the start of the Saudi intervention. Many of those deaths were the result of wild and indiscriminant Houthi anti-aircraft fire, but hundreds more were caused by Saudi airstrikes. It was increasingly clear that war crimes could be taking place, but another month would pass before more international journalists began to trickle into the country. At the U.N. in New York, a new humanitarian chief, Stephen OBrien, took office at the end of May, inheriting crises in Yemen, Syria and South Sudan, and massive funding gaps across the board. There was one bright spot, or so it seemedon April 18, the Saudi government pledged to meet a $274 million U.N. flash appeal for Yemen, requested just the previous day. But the negotiations that followed, and foot-dragging on the part of the Saudis, would set a pattern for the coming year when Riyadhs diplomats repeatedly embarrassed OBrien and his office. Desperate for a steady stream of Gulf money, U.N. officials were accommodating toward the Saudis, a stance that became increasingly dissonant as the civilian toll of their bombs escalated, and the coalitions blockade meant the U.N. would have to serve ever more famished Yemenis. Its obvious the Saudis were paying and bullying everyone who dared to say anything, and the U.N. unfortunately was boxed in, said the senior U.N. political official. Its obvious the Saudis were paying and bullying everyone who dared to say anything, and the UN unfortunately was boxed in. That October, after the Saudis finally announced agreements with nine U.N. agencies to disburse the money (the terms of which have never been made public), Riyadh undertook an elaborate press junket in New York, lauding its humanitarian programming in Yemen. Looking glum and uneasy, U.N. humanitarian chief OBrien highlighted the U.N.s relationship with the Saudis King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center. By then, the U.N. had recorded 2,355 civilian deaths in Yemen, the majority from coalition airstrikes, which OBrien that summer told the Security Council had in some cases violated international law. It later became clear that the Saudi delegation had effectively dragged OBrien to the U.N. briefing room after a meeting in Bans office upstairs. The U.N., OBrien told reporters, couldnt afford to turn down any aid, including from Saudi Arabia, because that is existential. It was during the same junket, at a separate event in New York, where Riyadhs ambassador to the U.N., Abdallah al-Mouallimi, admitted for the first time, to this reporter, that the coalition had bombed a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in northern Yemen earlier that week (the bombing took place almost at the same time as OBriens news conference with the Saudis). The ambassador, however, blamed MSF for providing incorrect coordinates. A miniscandal ensued, during which the ambassador falsely claimed to reporters that he had been misquoted or the quotations were taken out of context. On several other occasions, Mouallimi has denied the use of cluster munitions by the coalition, despite extensive documentation by human rights groups and journalists. He routinely calls into question any U.N. reporting indicating the Saudi coalition has killed civilians, even as that number surpasses 2,000. Other powerful U.N. member states, like Russia, are well known in U.N. circles for performing elegant logical contortions when confronted with incriminating evidence, such as the civilian toll from Moscows strikes in Syria. But the Saudis are inexperienced and can appear petulant in the spotlight. Last year was also perceived as a low point in the Kingdoms history: The Iran nuclear deal it lobbied against was signed; its interests in Syria took a serious blow as Russia acted to prop up the Assad regime; oil prices bottomed out around $30 per barrel; and its intervention in Yemen was not only attracting unwanted attention, but was by most measurements a failure. One Western diplomat recalled how expertly the U.S. and Israel were able to pressure Ban into removing Israel from the same Children and Armed Conflict annexa development that angered many, but garnered far less attention. Not so for the Saudis. Its the difference between how big corporations handle things and how the Corleones handle things, said the diplomat. Their erratic behavior came to a head in February, when Saudi officials sent a series of letters to the U.N. and aid organizations, warning them to leave areas under Houthi control. If taken literally, that meant the majority of Yemens populated areas, including Sanaa, where U.N. operations were headquartered. A first letter, sent on February 5 to OBriens agency, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ominously asked that the U.N. notify all the international organizations working in Yemen about the necessity of relocating their headquarters outside the military operations area to be away from regions where the Houthi militias and the groups belonging to them are activating, in order for the Coalition forces to guarantee the safety and security of the international organizations. Another letter, marked urgent was sent directly to NGOs from the Saudi Embassy in London. OBrien responded within 48 hours, reminding Saudi Arabia of its obligations under international humanitarian law, and explaining that the U.N. would continue to serve Yemens communities. In a subsequent letter to the OCHA chief, Mouallimi walked back Saudi demands, clarifying that humanitarian workers should not be near military bases belonging to the Houthis and supporters of Salehstill a vague assertion when 2,000-pound bombs are in play. To aid workers in Yemen, the unprompted Saudi communications showed, at best, a country dangerously fighting war from the hip, making things up as it went along. Even if the letters were simply an attempt to comply with international law gone awry, humanitarians already had reason to be concerned: just weeks earlier, a leaked Security Council Panel of Experts report counted 22 coalition attacks on hospitals during the war. A month later, in March, as the Children and Armed Conflict report was first passed among diplomats, there was separate talk in the Security Council of a humanitarian resolution aimed specifically at Yemen, potentially with explicit language on the protection of civilians. Mouallimi, evidently concerned about the prospect, called a news conference in the same briefing room, which he moderated on his owna rarity for most ambassadors. There he told reporters in no uncertain terms that OBriens Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had, in fact, told him that there was no need for such a resolution. You can quote them on that, he said, speaking for the U.N. Less than two weeks after the news conference, Saudi-coalition jets killed more than 100 civilians in a market in northwest Yemen, according to U.N. investigators. It would seem the coalition is responsible for twice as many civilian casualties as all other forces put together, virtually all as a result of airstrikes, said U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al Hussein, in the aftermath of that attack. In September, as the civilian toll in Yemen continued mounting, Zeid had called for an independent, international inquiry into the conflict. At the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Dutch representatives introduced a resolution that would have created such a body, only to see their support melt away in the face of intense pressure from the Saudis and their allies. Instead, the council passed a Gulf-authored resolution endorsing a national investigation controlled by the exiled Hadi government. That inquiry was widely seen as biased and unequipped, and moreover had no access to most of Yemen. According to diplomats, the U.S. was largely quiet during negotiations over the text, allowing the Saudis to bully the Netherlandsliterally sitting with them at a coffee table and crossing out sections of the resolution the U.N. human rights chief wanted. The Yemeni government investigation favored by the Human Rights Council has yet to release any findings. The U.S., which has sold more than $100 billion in arms to the Saudis since 2010, and which continues to support the coalition with targeting and indispensable refueling flights and logistics, defers to the Saudis when asked about investigations into civilian casualties. When it was released on June 2, Bans annual Children in Armed Conflict Report confirmed what many diplomats had already seen when the text was distributed as a draft months earlier: that the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deathssome 510 were killed by the coalitionand injuries in 2015. In the annex that accompanies the report, Ban added the Saudi coalition, along with other parties to the conflict in Yemen, including the Houthis and Al Qaeda. The response was quick: According to senior U.N. officials, several Gulf allies complained to the U.N. about the report, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called Ban over the weekend to express his displeasure. Nevertheless, on Monday, Ban spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists that no part of the report would change in any way. That afternoon, Jubeir called again, this time dialing Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, a former U.S. State Department official who is now Bans top political adviser. Feltman, according to diplomats, communicates regularly with Power, although its unclear to what extent she was aware of the Saudi messages. Jubeir relayed far stronger threats to Feltman, including the specter of a break in relations with the U.N. and cuts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to vital U.N. programing including to the organizations relief agency in Palestine. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest donors to the U.N., funding a number of additional programs in the Middle East. In 2014, Jubeir, then the ambassador to Washington, announced $500 million to assist Iraqis displaced by the Islamic State. But financial coercion is also a habit of Jubeirs: According to the New York Times, earlier this year he told U.S. officials and politicians in Washington that Riyadh would sell hundreds of millions in Treasury bonds and other American assets if Congress passed legislation making it easier for the Saudi government to be sued for alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Shortly after Jubeirs call to Feltman, Bans office announced the coalition would be removed from the annex pending review. At the U.N., Mouallimi said the Saudis were vindicated, and he called the decision final and unconditional. The Saudis might have had reason to be angry. In emerging as a top donor, they have come to expect the same respect that other large donors like the U.S., European Union and Japan enjoy. The U.S., meanwhile, has a history of politicizing its donations, exemplified by the UNESCO cut. And Russia, which has killed hundreds of civilians in Syriamany of them childrenwas not fingered in Bans most recent report. The Houthis, as this months report does make clear, are also responsible for gross violations of human rights. On June 9, after days of outcry from human rights groups, Ban gave his news conference in which he essentially conceded that the decision to take the Saudis from the annex was made to protect U.N. financing, and not because of the merits of Riyadhs complaints. On June 9, Ban essentially conceded that the decision to take the Saudis from the annex was made to protect UN financing. A flummoxed Mouallimi spoke soon after, and, once again, rebutted Ban. The ambassador told reporters that undue pressure was not exercised, and he insisted that the conclusions [of the report] have now been changed. In fact, according to Ban, the findings of the report, including that 60 percent of child casualties in Yemen were caused by the Sunni coalition, will not be changed. Only the annex was altered to excise the Saudisand temporarily, pending a review and the furnishing of additional documentation from the coalition. But instead of doing that, the Saudis themselves asked the U.N. to reveal the sources of information used in the report, which was denied. Richard Gowan, a fellow at New York Universitys Center on International Cooperation and longtime U.N. researcher, said Bans words in July amounted to a rhetorical coup. Very few diplomats or U.N. officials dare call them out for their behavior, Gowan said of the Saudis. At least this incident has highlighted their tactics. He added: Ban has managed to avoid a total breakdown with Riyadh, yet in doing so still shone a spotlight onto both their behavior in Yemen and their behavior at the U.N. he added. There are further signs the U.N. may be changing its tune in Yemen. After POLITICO raised the question of access to flights by the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, the U.N. said that the current humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick was fully seized of the concern on the use of UNHAS by human rights organizations. He believes that they, as important humanitarian partners particularly as concerns protection work, should have access to U.N. air services. The statement added that McGoldrick was finalizing discussions with relevant organizations and hopes to have a positive change to the current approach. But there are also signs that the Saudis arent keen to change their habits. Earlier this month, at the tail end of trip to the U.S., Prince Bin Salman showed up 45 minutes late for a meeting with Ban, pushing back the rest of the secretary-generals meeting that day. In a statement following a photo-op, Bans office said he was still open to receiving any new elements from Saudi Arabia, relevant to the Children and Armed Conflict report. Two weeks ago, Jubeir met again with Ban, after which the secretary-generals office said he welcomed the Coalitions readiness to take the necessary concrete measures to end and prevent violations against children. Bans office said they wanted the information before a vital Security Council debate on Children and Armed Conflict on August 2. A separate letter sent by Zerrouguis office to the Saudis at the end of June, and obtained by POLITICO, was more explicit. Saudi Arabia was expected to communicate to the United Nations the commitments, measures and actions that it will undertake in several areas, including in the reduction of child casualties, by July 18. That, according to the letter, would help enable the Secretary-General to report on positive steps that have been taken following his decision to temporarily remove the coalition from the annexes to the report. Judging by the language, it appeared to be giving the Saudis a retroactive and permanent way off the list. Samuel Oakford is a journalist based at the United Nations in New York, where he was previously correspondent for VICE News. How Long Can Russia, and China, Wait And an orchestrated war with Russia has all of us marked for extinction By Paul Craig Roberts July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - The Democratic Party that once was concerned with workers rights, the elderly, civil rights, and the constitutional protections of America liberty no longer exists. As the just completed Democratic presidential primaries and the Democratic presidential convention have clearly demonstrated, the United States now has two Republican parties in service to the One Percent. The organized Democratsthe Democratic National Committeehave shown themselves to be even more venal and corrupt than the Republicans. Leaked emails document that the Democratic National Committee conspired with the Hillary campaign in order to steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders. It is clear that Sanders was the choice of Democratic Party voters for president, but the nomination was stolen from him by vote fraud and dirty tricks. The DNC and the media whores have tried to discredit the incriminating emails by alleging that the leaked emails resulted from a plot by Russias President Vladimir Putin in behalf of Putins American agent, Donald Trump. A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin, as the presstitute scum put it. This diversionary tactic has not worked. Not even Americans are stupid enough to fall for it. Consequently, the corrupt leader of the DNC had to resign and was unable to deliver her speech at the nominating convention from fear of being booed off the stage. Sanders supporters have abandoned Hillary and the fake Democratic Party. Probably most of them will vote for the Green Party candidate. The organized Republicansthe Republican National Committeeand the zionist neoconservatives wanted to block Donald Trump from the nomination just as the DNC blocked Sanders, but could not. The neoconservatives are organizing for Hillary as she is their warmonger and Trump says he is not, but as the Presidential contest is really a contest between the two Republican parties about which gets to be the whore for the One Percent, the RNC, impressed with Hillarys lack of voter support, seems to be sticking with Trump. Better to be a well-paid whore than to be out in the cold. In the coming presidential election, the outcome will probably be determined by whether the powerful oligarchic interest groups decide whether Trump is an actual threat or whether they can cosy up to him and rope him in by appointing his government. Trumps disability is that no matter how able an individual is, that person cannot simultaneously make themselves a multi-billionaire and be knowledgeable of economic and foreign policy issues. The bald fact is that Trump, if he becomes president, does not know whom to appoint in order to have the support from his government to effect the changes for which his supporters hope he stands. When a person becomes President, that person doesnt suddenly become an encyclopedia with full knowledge. The President is dependent on the information flows from his government. If those information flows support the interests of Wall Street, the corrupt banks too big to fail, the military-security complex, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and the extractive industries (energy, mining, timber), the Presidents decisions will support these material interests. Donald Trump is the American peoples choice, because he is opposed to the offshoring of American jobsa corporate practice that has enriched the One Percent at the expense of the American middle class. Donald Trump is the American peoples choice, because he opposes the fabricated, gratuitous conflict with Russia. Even Americans understand that taking war to a major nuclear power will not end well. Donald Trump is the American peoples choice because he realizes that NATOan organization whose purpose disappeared 25 years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed as a result of the coup against Gorbachev by extreme elements of the Soviet Communist Partynow serves as a vehicle and cover for Washingtons aggressions, which are war crimes under the international statutes that Washington created. Washingtons wars benefit some of the One Percent at the expense of both the 99 Percent and millions of innocent peoples in many countries. What will happen now is that the presstitutes will demonize Donald Trump even more than they have demonized Vladimir Putin. The scum presstitutes will do everything that they can possibly do to make a vote for Trump into an act of treason against America. Now that the presstitutes have learned that they can tell the most blatant liesSaddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction, Iranian nukes, Assads use of chemical weapons, Russian invasionswithout being held accountable, they know that they can lie about Trump. And they will. To the hilt. But the presstitutes have lost credibility. A person has to be an imbecile to believe a word that they say. Progressives will wander off the track. They will be turned off by Trumps stand on immigration, which is where the American people stand. Progressives will be worried about whether the fascist Trump will persecute transgender and homosexual people or revoke the right of women to abort the unborn. To progressives this will seem all important as Washington and its NATO vassals hurl the world into nuclear war. Neither can any intelligence be expected from the defunct American left-wing. The American left-wing supports the official story of 9/11, the excuse for the last 15 years of illegal wars and the American Police State. To find the American left-wing totally allied with the official explanation of what is in reality a false flag event, committed in order that the neoconservatives would have their new Pearl Harbor in order to invade the Middle East, is demonstrable proof that the American left-wing is irrelevant. The American left interprets 9/11 and subsequent false flag events as oppressed peoples striking back at their oppressors. The emotional satisfaction of this takes the impotent American left-wing out not only of action but of relevance in commentary. The American left-wing has become an asset of the enemythe neoconservatives who control policy in Washington. So, where do we stand? The answer is that we are closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. I know of what I speak. I held the highest security clearances. I was a member of a secret committee that enabled President Reagan to end the Cold War. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin is doing everything he can possibly do to avoid the nuclear war that the crazed American neoconservatives are bringing to humanity. For his efforts in behalf of planet Earth he is demonized 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year after year. For simply stating facts, I am described by the presstitutes as an apologist for Putin. The endless lies about Russia have convinced the Russian media that Washington is mobilizing its NATO vassals for an attack on Russia. Read the transcripts to this Russian media broadcast. 2016 NATO Summit: "Achtung, Russia!" from Inessa S on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/174777588 If you arent scared after absorbing this Russian news broadcast, you are stupid beyond belief. The message is clear: the West has declared war on Russia but is trying to keep Russia off guard by denying it. The video of the Russian news broadcast also shows the dismissive way the Russian media was treated at the recent NATO conference in Poland. The non-entity representatives of the non-entity countries of Latvia, which has been ruthlessly looted by the West, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland, and the Ukraine representative either refuse to speak to the Russian media or use the interview to repeat Washingtons false accusations against Russia. These imbeciles insulting Russia are representatives of countries that Russia could destroy in a few minutes. If these idiots think Washington could save them, they are as stupid as the Polish colonels who thought that the British guarantee in March 1939 meant anything and could save Poland from the rash action of sticking Polands fingers in Hitlers eye. This Polish stupidity provoked by the stupid British set off World War II with the British and French declaration of war against Germany, thus consigning Poland to Soviet rule for a half century. Some guarantee! The imbecile Chamberlain who wanted peace started WWII with Britains worthless guarantee. Does it make you feel safe that the arrogant warmongering imbeciles in Washington have convinced a nuclear power the equal of the United States that America is going to attack? Moreover, Russia is a nuclear power allied with another nuclear power, China, which has had enough of Washingtons imbecilic provocations. Are you willing for your government to lead your future into nuclear war with two nuclear powers? Here we Americans are going into a presidential election and the overpowering fact of our timethat Washington is threatening humanity with nuclear waris not a subject for discussion! What is the matter with us Americans? Are we stupid beyond all belief? We sit stupidly, thinking that issues of no importance are the most important issues of our time while our insane government provokes nuclear war. Have any people in history failed their obligation to this extent? If so, who? My case rests. There is no countervailing evidence against the fact that unadulterated evil rules the West and is driving the world to extinction. Western democracy is a total failure. Democracy could not prevent the crazed warmonger Hillary from presidential nomination despite the opposition of the American people. How long can Russia, and China, wait before they conclude that they have to pre-empt the coming attack from Washington? Does anyone, even stupid Americans, think that once Russia and China are convinced that they are targets for attack that they will just sit there and await the attack? Do peoples as guilty of dereliction of duty as Western peoples are have any right to survive? Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order . America's Longest War Gets Longer By Eric Margolis July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Anti-Russian hysteria in America reached its apogee this week as Democrats tried to divert attention from embarrassing revelations about how the Democratic Party apparatus had rigged the primaries against Bernie Sanders by claiming Vlad Putin and his KGB had hacked and exposed the Dems emails. This was rich coming from the US that snoops into everyones emails and phones across the globe. Remember German chancellor Angela Merkels cell phone being bugged by the US National Security Agency? Unnamed US intelligence officials claimed they had high confidence that the Russian KGB or GRU (military intelligence) had hacked the Dems emails. These were likely the same officials who had high confidence that Iraq had nuclear weapons. Blaming Putin was a master-stroke of deflection. No more talk of Hillarys slush fund foundation or her status as a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street. All attention was focused on President Putin who has been outrageously demonized by the US media and politicians. Except for a small faux pas a montage of warships shown at the end of the Democratic Convention is a blaze of jingoistic effusion embarrassingly turned out to be Russian warships! Probably another trick by the awful Putin who has come to replace Satan in the minds of many Americans. And what a joy for the war party that those dastardly Ruskis are now back as Enemy Number One. Much more fun than scruffy Arabs. The word is out: more stealth bombers, more warships, more missiles, more troops for Europe. The wicked Red Chinese will have to wait their turn until Uncle Sam can deal with them. I always find conventions depressing affairs. Rather than the cradle of democracy, they remind me of clownish Shriners Conventions. Or as the witty Democratic advisor Paul Begala said, `Hollywood for ugly people. What, I kept wondering, is the rest of the world thinking as it watching this tawdry spectacle? One thing that that amazed me was the Conventions lack of attention to Americas longest ever war that still rages in the mountains of Afghanistan. For the past thirteen years, America, the worlds greatest military and economic power, has been trying to crush the life out of Afghan Pashtun mountain tribesmen whose primary sin is fiercely opposing occupation by the US and its local Afghan opium-growing stooges. The saintly President Barack Obama repeatedly proclaimed the Afghan War over and staged phony troops withdrawals. He must have believed his generals who kept claiming they had just about defeated the resistance alliance, known as Taliban. But the war was far from being `almost won. The US-installed puppet regime in Kabul of President Ashraf Ghani, a former banker, holds on only thanks to the bayonets of US troops and the US Air Force. Without constant air strikes, the US-installed Ghani regime and its drug-dealing would have been swept away by Taliban and its tribal allies. So the US remains stuck in Afghanistan. Obama lacked the courage to pull US troops out. Always weak in military affairs, Obama bent to demands of the Pentagon and CIA to dig in lest the Red Chinese or Pakistan take over this strategic nation. The US oil industry was determined to assure trans-Afghan pipeline routes south from Central Asia. India has its eye on Afghanistan. Muslims could not be allowed to defeat the US military. Look what happened to the Soviets after they admitted defeat in Afghanistan and pulled out. Why expose the US Empire to a similar geopolitical risk? With al-Qaida down to less than 50 members in Afghanistan, according to former US defense chief Leon Panetta, what was the ostensible reason for Washington to keep garrisoning Afghanistan? The shadowy ISIS is now being dredged up as the excuse to stay. This longest of wars has cost nearly $1 trillion to date all of its borrowed money and caused the deaths of 3,518 US and coalition troops, including 158 Canadians who blundered into a war none of them understood. No one has the courage to end this pointless war. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Afghans are being killed. Too bad no one at the Democratic or Republican Conventions had time to think about the endless war in forgotten Afghanistan. Eric S. Margolis is an American-born journalist and writer. For 27 years, ending in 2010, he was a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East, South Asia and Islam. http://ericmargolis.com/ Building a Progressive International By Yanis Varoufakis July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - ATHENS Politics in the advanced economies of the West is in the throes of a political shakeup unseen since the 1930s. The Great Deflation now gripping both sides of the Atlantic is reviving political forces that had lain dormant since the end of World War II. Passion is returning to politics, but not in the manner many of us had hoped it would. The right has become animated by an anti-establishment fervor that was, until recently, the preserve of the left. In the United States, Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is taking Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, to task quite credibly for her close ties to Wall Street, eagerness to invade foreign lands, and readiness to embrace free-trade agreements that have undermined millions of workers living standards. In the United Kingdom, Brexit has cast ardent Thatcherites in the role of enthusiastic defenders of the National Health Service. This shift is not unprecedented. The populist right has traditionally adopted quasi-leftist rhetoric in times of deflation. Anyone who can stomach revisiting the speeches of leading fascists and Nazis of the 1920s and 1930s will find appeals Benito Mussolinis paeans to social security or Joseph Goebbels stinging criticism of the financial sector that seem, at first glance, indistinguishable from progressive goals. What we are experiencing today is the natural repercussion of the implosion of centrist politics, owing to a crisis of global capitalism in which a financial crash led to a Great Recession and then to todays Great Deflation. The right is simply repeating its old trick of drawing upon the righteous anger and frustrated aspirations of the victims to advance its own repugnant agenda. It all began with the death of the international monetary system established at Bretton Woods in 1944, which had forged a post-war political consensus based on a mixed economy, limits on inequality, and strong financial regulation. That golden era ended with the so-called Nixon shock in 1971, when America lost the surpluses that, recycled internationally, kept global capitalism stable. Remarkably, Americas hegemony grew in this second post-war phase, in parallel with its trade and budget deficits. But to keep financing these deficits, bankers had to be unleashed from their New Deal and Bretton Woods restraints. Only then would they encourage and manage the inward capital flows needed to finance Americas twin fiscal and current-account deficits. Financialization of the economy was the goal, neoliberalism was its ideological cloak, the Paul Volcker-era Federal Reserves interest-rate hikes were its trigger, and President Bill Clinton was the ultimate closer of the Faustian bargain. And the timing couldnt have been more congenial: the Soviet empires collapse and Chinas opening generated a surge of labor supply for global capitalism a billion additional workers that boosted profits and stifled wage growth throughout the West. The result of extreme financialization was enormous inequality and profound vulnerability. But at least the Wests working class had access to cheap loans and inflated house prices to offset the impact of stagnant wages and declining fiscal transfers. Then came the crash of 2008, which in the US and Europe produced a massive excess supply of both money and people. While many lost jobs, homes, and hopes, trillions of dollars in savings have been sloshing around the worlds financial centers ever since, on top of more trillions pumped out by desperate central banks eager to replace the financiers toxic money. With companies and institutional players too frightened to invest in the real economy, share prices have boomed, the top 0.1% cant believe their luck, and the rest are helplessly watching as the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. And so it was that large chunks of humanity in America and Europe became too indebted and too expensive to be anything other than discarded and ready to be lured by Trumps fear-mongering, French National Front leader Marine Le Pens xenophobia, or the Brexiteers shimmering vision of a Britannia ruling the waves again. As their number grows, traditional political parties are fading into irrelevance, supplanted by the emergence of two new political blocs. One bloc represents the old troika of liberalization, globalization, and financialization. It may still be in power, but its stock is falling fast, as David Cameron, Europes social democrats, Hillary Clinton, the European Commission, and even Greeces post-capitulation Syriza government can attest. Trump, Le Pen, Britains right-wing Brexiteers, Polands and Hungarys illiberal governments, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are forming the second bloc. Theirs is a nationalist international a classic creature of a deflationary period united by contempt for liberal democracy and the ability to mobilize those who would crush it. The clash between these two blocs is both real and misleading. Clinton vs. Trump constitutes a genuine battle, for example, as does the European Union vs. the Brexiteers; but the two combatants are accomplices, not foes, in perpetuating an endless loop of mutual reinforcement, with each side defined by and mobilizing its supporters on the basis of what it opposes. The only way out of this political trap is progressive internationalism, based on solidarity among large majorities around the world who are prepared to rekindle democratic politics on a planetary scale. If this sounds Utopian, it is worth emphasizing that the raw materials are already available. Bernie Sanderss political revolution in the US, Jeremy Corbyns leadership of the UKs Labour Party, DiEM25 (the Democracy in Europe Movement) on the continent: these are the harbingers of an international progressive movement that can define the intellectual terrain upon which democratic politics must build. But we are at an early stage and face a remarkable backlash from the global troika: witness Sanders treatment by the Democratic National Committee, the run against Corbyn by a former pharmaceutical lobbyist, and the attempt to have me indicted for daring to oppose the EUs plan for Greece. The Great Deflation poses a great question: can humanity design and implement a new, technologically advanced, green Bretton Woods a system that makes our planet ecologically and economically sustainable without the mass pain and destruction preceding the original Bretton Woods? If we progressive internationalists wont answer that question, who will? Neither of the two political blocs now vying for power in the West even wants it to be posed. Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens. 1995 2016 Project Syndicate Clinton Cash Documentary Movie July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Clinton Cash, is a feature documentary based on the Peter Schweizer book that the New York Times hailed as The most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle. Clinton Cash investigates how Bill and Hillary Clinton went from being dead broke after leaving the White House to amassing a net worth of over $150 million, with over $2 billion in donations to their foundation. This wealth was accumulated during Mrs. Clintons tenure as US Secretary of State through lucrative speaking fees and contracts paid for by foreign companies and Clinton Foundation donors. *Link to buy the book that inspired the movie*: https://www.amazon.com/Clinton-Cash-F... Britains Incorrigible Warmongering Towards Russia By Finian Cunningham July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " SCF " - The long-awaited Chilcot Inquiry into Britains role in the Iraq War (2003-2011) was published in July with much criticism leveled at the government under prime minister Tony Blair. There seems to be a national consensus that Britains war on Iraq is now a cause of deep shame and that future British governments should be chastened from embarking on similar warmongering. On the contrary, however, Britains strident role in pushing NATOs aggression towards Russia again on the basis of trumped-up intelligence claims, as with its earlier invasion of Iraq shows in fact that nothing has been learnt from the Chilcot Inquiry. Britain, shamefully, remains an incorrigibly belligerent state that acts as if it is above international law. It remains to be seen if the new British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson can bring some sanity to Britains anti-Russia policy that was pushed by David Cameron and Philip Hammond. Hammonds slavish following of Washingtons hostile agenda was particularly baleful. The outlook does not seem promising as can be gleaned from the systemic nature of British pro-Washingtons conduct, as revealed by the long-running Iraq imbroglio. Sir John Chilcot, who led the seven-year official inquiry into the Iraq war, said the central question it addressed was whether the war was necessary. It concluded that the war was not necessary. Diplomatic options were not exhausted, it said, adding that the decision to go to war was based on flawed claims of Saddam Husseins Iraq posing an imminent threat. Chilcots report was not constituted to be a legal examination of the war or the British governments decision to join the American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. So the question of whether Blair or his government acted criminally did not arise under the parameters of the inquiry. Nevertheless, the findings are certainly potentially damning and could form the case for a future prosecution. If Blairs claims made in 2002 and 2003 that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes were, according to Chilcot, not justified then that raises prosecutable issues that the former premier misled his nation and parliament into voting for an unnecessary war. Blairs secret memo to US President George W Bush in 2002 that he would follow his policy whatever also indicates that the decision to go to war was political and pre-ordained, regardless of the intelligence facts, as Chilcots report indicates. That provides additional grounds for future prosecution. The British inquiry, which was set up by Blairs prime ministerial successor Gordon Brown in 2009 and is estimated to have cost 10 million ($13 million), goes a long way to vindicate many anti-war campaigners who have consistently accused Blair of being an indictable war criminal. Families of British servicemen killed during the occupation of Iraq reacted to the Chilcot report with angry demands for Blair to be held to account for his disastrous decision to go to war. For his part, Blair continues to maintain that he acted in good faith and for the best interests of the country. Despite Blairs assertions of probity, there is wide public acceptance, following the Chilcot report, that Britains invasion of Iraq was an unmitigated catastrophe. Not only were scores of British lives lost needlessly, but Iraqi society was destroyed with the loss of perhaps more than one million people. The legacy of regional terrorism is greater than ever and it was spawned by Blair and Bushs war, as Chilcot explicitly noted. Today, many Britons recognize that their countrys international standing and foreign policy has been fatally marred by the war. It has been described as the worst setback for Britains international image since the fiasco of the Suez Crisis in 1956 when Britain (and France) were defeated by Egypts Nasser. Sixty years on, that latter debacle still haunts Britains establishment, as it is seen to have marked the precipitous decline of Britain as a colonial world power. Sir John Chilcot said of his report just prior to publication that its lessons will serve to check future British governments from launching reckless wars. He said the central lesson of the report would be that it will not be possible in the future to engage in a military or indeed a diplomatic endeavor on such a scale and such gravity without careful challenge analysis and assessment and collective political judgement being applied to it. The British official double-think is staggering. Amid solemn expiations over Iraq and calls for future restraint on matters of war, this same country is one of the main advocates for military build-up by the NATO alliance in Eastern Europe against alleged Russian aggression. Britains former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who is now the finance minister in Mays new cabinet, as well as Britains military leaders sound like broken records with their repeated claims that Russia is a threat to Europes security. One British general has even predicted that a nuclear war could break out with Russia in the next year. Hammonds successor at the foreign office, Boris Johnson, will be worth listening to closely to discern if there is any change in attitude towards Russia. It is doubtful. The comparison with Iraq could not be more bitterly ironic. British claims of Russian aggression are based on the same flawed or politicized intelligence, which is likewise used to whip up a media frenzy that justifies warmongering. British troops are prominent in the unprecedented NATO build-up currently underway in Poland and the Baltic states. Russias Defence Ministry has denounced the NATO escalation as hysterical Russophobia that is based on negligible evidence of Russian threat, and solely on tendentious and highly disputable claims by Washington, London and other Western governments that Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. The same goes for Western claims of alleged Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine. No proof has ever been presented, only sensational claims keenly peddled by Western news media outlets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that NATO claims of Russias imminent invasion of Easter Europe are detached from reality. Of course, proof of purported Russian malfeasance is not the real issue. What is important is the relentless propaganda narrative of Russia as security threat, which in turn is used to justify NATO expansionism and the flow of lucrative arms sales for Washington and London. Ahead of the NATO summit in Poland on July 8-9 it was reported that Warsaw is to buy the US Patriot missile system to deter Russian aggression with a price tag of $5.6 billion. The maker is US firm Raytheon, which is one of the biggest lobbyists in Washington, among other Pentagon-connected companies. The danger from NATOs provocative militarism on Russias border and from Russias legitimate counter defense measures is that an all-out war is not only a combustible risk, any conflict would likely spiral into a nuclear one. The risk of World War III is not hyperbole, with nuclear weapon destructive power thousand-folds greater than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Britains government, military and media establishments share onerous responsibility for the grave deterioration in relations between NATO and Russia. One would think that the death and destruction wrought on Iraq by Britain might serve as a check on its belligerence towards Russia. Especially given that the consequences of a war with Russia would be inestimably greater than the abomination that was Iraq. No, not a bit of it. In essence, Britain remains an unreconstructed, unapologetic, belligerent rogue state that behaves beyond the rule of law. It is a repeat-offender without ever being prosecuted. It has learnt nothing from Iraq, despite the pious claims of the Chilcot Inquiry. That is why British political leaders, like Tony Blair, and their aides should be prosecuted to the full extent of international law. Warmongering governments that are unaccountable will continue to be warmongering governments, as the present British-NATO aggression towards Russia proves. (Same for the Americans, of course.) If Tony Blair, over Iraq and Afghanistan, and David Cameron, over Libya, were put in the dock of a war crimes trial the chances are that present and future British governments would be a lot less gung-ho and incorrigible in their reckless trashing of law. The real lesson from the Chilcot Inquiry is the imperative need to apply the rule of law and prosecute war crimes. Then, future wars might at last be avoided. British citizens should mobilize even more strenuously to demand that. The present international legal structures might not be amenable. The International Criminal Court in The Hague said following Chilcots publication that it has no jurisdiction over Britains war on Iraq or in regard to Blairs conduct in particular. Why not? The ICC shows no such reluctance when going after African alleged war criminals. Still, British citizens should push their own justice system to act accordingly given the new evidence of the Chilcot Inquiry. If they think Iraq was a catastrophe, how much more cataclysmic would be a war with Russia? A war that its leaders are once again recklessly agitating for. Australia - 'Boiling Anger', 'Simmering Resentment' Over Detention Abuse Videos By Christine Kearney July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House" - " ABC " - Indigenous broadcaster Stan Grant has delivered an impassioned speech, describing his "pulsating rage" and "simmering resentment" about the way Aboriginal youths have been treated. Delivering a public lecture at the University of New South Wales, Grant said he was moved to speak openly after witnessing last week's Four Corners report on the abuse of children in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory. In his own words, Grant intended to deliver a more "measured" speech but felt too strongly about the issue. "I cannot give that speech tonight. That speech may have come from my head, but tonight I have to speak from my heart," he said. Grant also called for a broader Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as a treaty with Indigenous Australians. The Four Corners report contained graphic footage of prison guards stripping, assaulting and mistreating a teenage boy, who was one of six children tear-gassed at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin in 2014. Grant admitted that critics who said he had given Australia too much credit were correct. "This week I have struggled to contain a pulsating rage," he said. "I have moved from boiling anger to simmering resentment; but the feeling has not passed, nor have I wanted it to. "What offences we've seen this past week. "How can I stand here and speak to the idea of our place in an indissoluble Commonwealth, when this week my people have been reminded yet again that our place is so often behind this nation's bars? "This week, my people know what Australia looks like. This week, Australia is a boy in a hood in a cell." Video: CCTV shows minor being gassed by prison guards (ABC News) Grant urges a treaty that speaks to 'the hooded, beaten boys' The broadcaster fought back tears as he recalled the pain of watching the Four Corners report "the boys who look like my boys" with his teenage son. "I watched my teenage son as he saw this unfold before him," Grant said. "I saw him lose his place in the world. With each scene of horror, he became less sure of his country." Grant then argued that Malcolm Turnbull's royal commission call fell short. He said little had changed since a royal commission into black deaths in custody two decades ago and called for a different type of commission. "Rather than the royal commission, perhaps it is now time for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission: a full reckoning of our nation's past that may set loose the chains of history that bind this country's first people and hold us still so miserably impoverished," he said. "In my caution in the past, I've argued against such things, fearing it would potentially harden division. "After this week I accept that more than ever we need this mirror into our soul." Grant urged Australia to look to the examples of New Zealand, the United States and Canada, and negotiate a treaty with its Indigenous population. "Treaty, even unattainable, sings to the heart of Indigenous people here in a way that recognition cannot," he said. "We need to infuse it with the urgency of now. It needs to speak to substance, not symbolism. "It needs to speak with hope to the hooded, beaten boys in dark prison cells." 2016 ABC Corporate Media and Neocon Propaganda Will Get Millions Killed By Joe Clifford July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Nightly corporate news, recently featured two stories on the same night that were terrific examples of corporate media practicing incredibly good propaganda techniques. Did you get you taken in by them? Herman Goering would be very proud of our corporate media propaganda tactics and skills. First came the story of the alleged Russian hacking of the e-mails of the DNC. Mind boggling as it was, the networks just repeated the mantra that those nasty Russians did this, but never offered one shred of evidence to support their outrageous accusation. A couple of anonymous sources were mentioned, but not a bit of proof. Not the slightest bit of proof. It was an exercise in pure propaganda. Over and over in the reporting, Russia was blamed without citing any evidence. The fact is, no one knows who hacked the DNC, but a great American hero Edward Snowden, said if the Russians did it the NSA would know it right away. They dont know it!! This is just an outstanding example of neocon war rhetoric and the demonizing of the target for the future war that the US is provoking between the US and Russia. Putin, of course, is always depicted as a satanic figure, and some right wing cooks like John McCain, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Hillary Clinton, have even compared him to Hitler. Lets see now, wasnt that the same term used by neocons about Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi? It was President Bush who went one step farther and said Saddam Hussein was even worse than Hitler. Corporate media has obviously been hijacked by the neocons, the same corporate media, and pretty much the same group of neocons, who repeatedly echoed lies and whipped the US public into hysteria, thus supporting the illegal, unnecessary, immoral war on Iraq and its nonexistent WMDs. For the sake of argument, lets assume the Russians did in fact hack the DNC. Is that any worse than the US government tapping the phones of almost every world leader? Why, if the Russians are so evil for doing this, is it not mentioned that we have been caught doing far worse? Is Obama worse than Putin for tapping the phones and emails of world leaders, or is it ok if we do it, but not for others? How many times will the public fall for the same corporate media trick? The second example was the bait and switch tactic used to protect the DNC, the Democratic Party, and Hillary Clinton. Medias tactic to divert your attention from the contents of those leaked e-mails was to shift the attention from the content, to those nasty Russians. The content has not been discussed at all. Media did what your brother did to you when he wanted your potato chips. Your brother pointed to something in another direction and exclaimed hey, look at that!! Your attention was diverted to that, and he stole your chips. Media diverted your attention to that, Russia, so you would never know just how corrupt and crooked the Democratic party leadership really is. The leaked e-mails made one thing very clear. Debbie Wasserman Shultz was caught doing very shady, unethical, and disgusting things to the Sanders campaign. Despite her resignation, Hillary Clinton the Warrior Queen, immediately rallied to Schultzs cause, and rewarded her by bringing Shultz into the campaign. The message sent by the Warrior Queen, is that corruption and unethical tactics that help the Clinton cause will be rewarded. Is that what we want in a president? Corporate media serves as a mouthpiece for the official government line, and it also serves the neocon need for blood and war with Russia. Do you really want a war with Russia? You had better turn off the propaganda machine and tune in to alternative news, so we dont have a nuclear war with a rebuilt and powerful Russia. What could cause a nuclear war with Russia?? How about overthrowing a democratically elected pro-Russian leader in the Ukraine, how about installing nuclear equipped missiles all around Russia, how about sending the US navy into Russias back yard in the Baltic Sea, how about conducting war games 300 yards from the Russian border, and how about blaming Putin and Russia for hacking the DNC without on bit of evidence? How many pokes at the Russian bear before he turns on you with nuclear violence?? Putin recently spoke at length with international journalists and told them they were not reporting on the seriousness of the possible nuclear confrontation with the US. He said he was extremely worried because people have not been told just how serous this confrontation has become. Folks, corporate media and neocons are brewing something very horrible for the world. Tune into what is going on, by tuning out corporate media, before you find yourself in a nuclear holocaust. Like Trump, Hitler also Liked His Small People By Andre Vltchek July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Possibly I have spent too many years abroad, outside of North America and Europe. Perhaps I dont feel white, or Western anymore. Or who knows, maybe I never really felt too Western anyway, thanks to my Russian and Chinese blood. That could help to explain why, when I listened to the acceptance speech delivered by Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, I felt detached. In fact I felt great emptiness. I understood the words and their meaning, and I was even able to analyze what these words would mean to the world, were this forceful man to be elected to the highest office in the most powerful country on Earth. But for a while, inside, I felt nothing; absolutely nothing, except, perhaps, exhaustion. Outside my window was a great mass of water, separating the historic Penang Island from the rest of Malaysia. Cargo ships were majestically sailing to and from the nearby port, and it was raining heavily. I was watching Donald Trumps speech live on Al-Jazeera. There was hardly any other choice available, as in this suddenly pro-Western country there were no international alternative channels, for which I work for no RT, no Press TV, and no Telesur. Trump spoke and spoke, much longer than expected. Whenever cameras showed people listening to his speech, I felt a sense of deja vu, that I had witnessed all this on many other occasions. Like when Obama was speaking and thousands of people were, religiously, as if in a trance, moving their lips, whispering yes we can like when George W. Bush was being sworn in. Like The Messiah has arrived! Oh, that need for a religious experience, which is so omnipotent in the United States. The evangelical, putatively religious Trump (in reality, the man has no religious passion of any kind except a case of unquenchable Narcissism), defending little people! How lovely, honest and unexpected. Bravo! And then, a few hours later, came the first reviews of the speech. And the Western left began doing something extremely weird, unexpected and in my opinion, thoroughly sick: in their indirect way, many prominent writers and alternative publications, actually endorsed Trump, while firing constant salvos of accusations against Hilary Clinton. (For the record before going any further: I am NOT arguing here that Clinton does not deserve all the hatred and contempt that any decent person, wherever s/he may be on the political spectrum, would level at a woman who has been, along with her huckster husband, little but an abject corporate shill and dangerous warmonger practically her entire public career. By the same token, theres no question that the Democrats continue to be the more hypocritical side of the murderous duopoly, and that their betrayals are by now normalized, not to mention that, as witnessed with Sanders, they remain the graveyard of progressive movements.) In any case, let us continue. One could read directly or between the lines: You see, the Democrats actually betrayed the little people! They teamed up with big business, and they ruined the middle class. And now, so many good but angry folks will actually vote for Trump, because at least he is honest and he is sick of the establishment Of course I am simplifying, but yes, there was that clear self-congratulatory tone I have written about in so many essays and analyses. Trashing Hilary Clinton, and trashing Democrats, was suddenly in vogue. One writer after another had to demonstrate to the world that he or she is simply too bright to believe that the Democratic Party is still the party left of center, and that it is still the force which is ready to defend the interests of the common people. For years and decades, I thought that this was not a secret. The Republicans and Democrats were two sides of the same, crooked coin. Western democracy which never really came anywhere near its promisewas dead, in both North America and Europe. Why this sudden explosion of trivial statements, why this repetition of something that is so obvious, and for such a long time? And then it hit me, as if a heavy sandbag had crashed on my head: many so-called left-wingers in the West actually do like Donald Trump! They really do! And they truly enjoyed his speech. And if it werent so embarrassing, they would put that religious fanatical mask on their face, hug each other, shed a few tears and begin whispering: Yes we can! Yes, obviously the Wests anti-Communist left also needs its Messiah. It needs a bunch of good Samaritans as well as those truly bad capitalists who are now suddenly seeing the light and changing their course. It needs popular revolts. Most of the Wests left has no ideology, really. It is too cowardly to aim at true revolution, and it is too Western and Christian to actually push for internationalist ideas, ideals and solutions. And so it justifies its existence by concentrating on several local social issues, defending the interests of those so-called little people who reside predominantly in both Europe and North America. Now let us be very careful and define this correctly let me repeat it once again: we are talking about the social issues that are preoccupying the West, and we are talking about the interests of those little people living in North America and Europe, and perhaps in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Japan (which had already been defined as a honorary white nation by South African apartheid). Africa, the Middle East, Asia, or Latin America: be damned! Nobody in Paris or New York cares about what is being done to those parts of the world. At most, a few people in the West shout, once in a while: Stop the wars! Or: Down with our foreign interventions! But the tremendous and continuous plunder of the planet by the Empire never really becomes the main concern of the so-called Western left. It is mainly because the entire West benefits from it, including those sacred little people (not to be confused with the un-people, defined as such by George Orwell and inhabiting almost the entire non-Western world). In his recent outstanding essay COMMUNIST CHINA vs. CAPITALIST PHILIPPINES vs. IMPERIAL FRANCE, published on this site and his China Rising blog, my Beijing-based friend and comrade Jeff J. Brown, explained: Westerners are deluded and brainwashed into believing that thanks to capitalism, they have their great monuments, skyscrapers, plazas, parks, museums, infrastructure, prosperity, luxury and grotesque super-consumption. Wrong. They can live like the Hampshire hogs of humanity, only because of the larcenous extraction and exploitation of 15 th-21st century imperialism and colonialism. So, who suffers the indignities, humiliation and hand-to-mouth existence of capitalism? The 30,000 children who die every day for a lack of clean water, food, shelter and medical care, along with their surviving family members in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. These 30,000 young innocents, 11,000,000 per year who die like starved rats, really ought to be sacrificed on altars of expropriated super-consumption, their throats slit in ritualistic fashion on the National Mall in Washington, DC; Hyde Park in London and Place de la Concorde in Paris. Ten thousand children in each capital, slaughtered every sunrise, so that Westerners can continue to luxuriate like sated gods and goddesses. It should be the civic duty of every Eurangloland citizen to at least witness it once in their life, if not plunge the knife themselves in a sacrifices neck, as atonement for their vulgar excesses. People like Jeff and I cannot stomach to live in the West, anymore. And those moral and powerful statements, like those above, are constantly censored in the mainstream media. Both of us care about the small people, we care very much. But we mainly care about the common and small people living all over the world, people who are, somehow, much smaller, much tinier, weaker and more defenseless, that the tiniest ones in the West. Such issues are not discussed by the US Presidential candidates, or by the would-be leaders in Europe. Such issues are actually taboo. All mainstream politicians in the West are well aware of the fact that their voters (those small people) do not want to hear anything about the suffering of others, no matter how excessive and monstrous the suffering is (and especially if that suffering is due to the global arrangement which sustains astronomically high standards of living in the West, at the expense of impoverished and robbed masses in virtually all other parts of the world). The Wests small people only want to hear about their own misfortunes and ordeals. They want to be pitied. They want a much better deal than the one they are getting these days. If they go to the barricades, it is not to protest against the holocausts which their countries are committing all over the world. It is only to get more, more and more, for themselves, by any means available, and no matter who is really paying the bill. In his Donald Trump and the Revolt of the Proles, Mike Whitney recently argued: Liberals and progressives love to point across the aisle and accuse their opponents of racism, misogyny and xenophobia, but thats not what the Trump campaign is all about. And thats not what Brexit was about. While its true that anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise in Europe and the US, the hostility has less to do with race than it does jobs and wages. In other words, Brexit is a revolt against a free trade regime in which all the benefits have accrued to the uber-rich while everyone else has seen their incomes slide, their futures dim and their standard of living plunge. Donald Trump knows perfectly well how to cash in on those sentiments. He is promising to make America great again. America first! He creates an imaginary country, which almost resembles a war zone, where cops are not murdering but are being murdered, and where homicide rates have risen sky-high, somehow due to those bad immigrants who are destroying both American lives and the countrys resources. He is naming some of the names of those parents in the US who recently lost their children. He drops three names of the parents And somehow it works; what he is doing is extremely effective. He is a talented demagogue. I have encountered thousands of parents who lost their children, in the US-sponsored wars and coups, all over Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. And those I saw were only a handful compared to those millions, tens of millions of the silent victims. But these are not Americans. They should not be first. They are nothing more than just some insignificant numbers, statistics and yes, un-people. Trumps United States resembles a failed state. In many ways it is, of course, but mostly for quite different reasons than he is presenting. In his speech, he singles out one country, one true ally of the United States it is Israel. (Both parties are simply repugnant in their wooing of the Jewish vote, especially reactionary Zionist tycoons like Sheldon Adelson, the Vegas magnate Trump is hoping will donate the campaign $100 million in the next few weeks.Eds.) He further antagonizes China, calling its actions criminal. And he insults Iran, a country that had been suffering, for decades and centuries, from Western imperialism and colonialism. He utters some usual Christian fundamentalist rhetoric, just so no one forgets where he stands in respect to the most aggressive religion, which has been devastating the Planet for so many centuries. And it goes on and on, it seems that it will never stop, the same as the rain outside the window of my hotel room in Penang. But it does stop, at some point, as everything in this world usually does. And then the roaring applause comes, and the camera shows some people crying, overwhelmed by emotion. Their leader has just spoken! Their leader just promised to make their country great again. Their leader declared that he is on their side on the side of the common people, of hard-working Americans. And then, almost immediately, the commentaries, analyses begin to appear online. For some time, I cannot believe what I am reading. Several progressive writers and publications are openly, or covertly, expressing their support for a real-estate magnate, who keeps promising to build an impenetrable wall around the United States of America! Yes, really, dudes: Bravo! The fact that there is no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties, is something that I thought till now has been common knowledge for at least several decades. But it also appears that there is almost nothing that remains of the Wests left! I kept thinking about what several people recently told me in Beijing, Moscow, Iran and Latin America: most of the so-called left in Europe and the United States actually hates Communists and all socialist countries. It hated the USSR and now it hates China and Venezuela. And Russian as well as Chinese people dont trust them, anymore; they dont see them as an ally, but as yet another aggressive threat. And now comes Donald Trump, the Messiah! Im afraid that the consensus among US progressives will soon be: in order to damage corporatism and to defeat Hillary Clinton, lets vote for Donald Trump! Or is this consensus already there? Vote for a fascist, vote for someone so clearly, so openly a fascist, in order to defeat market fundamentalism. I think: Damn it! No way! Never! Fascism and imperialism are two sides of the same coin. If you really have that neurotic tick that forces you to stick some piece of paper into a box, periodically, every few years, then go and vote for your cat or your neighbors bulldog. Theyd do a much better job as President. If they are not on the ballot, just add them, with your pen or a marker, then stick the paper in and go home. And youll not have to face the judgment and verdict of history, a few years or decades later! Oh, and please, do not forget: both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were fully on the side of their small people. They wanted them to recover their pride, to get well-paid jobs, all sorts of social benefits. German and Italian trains began to run on time. Hitler began building the legendary Autobahns, and he believed that each German family should own its own automobile. (Volkswagen is not called the Peoples Car for nothing!). Both Germany and Italy were to become the greatest countries on Earth. There was just one tiny detail and, so to speak, a defect throwing a shadow on those noble designs: for Germans and Italians to thrive, millions, even tens of millions of human beings had to vanish! They were to be bombed, torn to pieces, gassed, or burned alive. Or forced into abject domination. But it did not matter much, did it? As these people were only lower beings, nothing more. So long as that white chosen race, those supermen and superwomen got their benefits and pride back, no price was considered to be too high. If Hilary Clinton gets elected, the world will be on fire. She has demonstrated her ruthlessness, her ability to destroy entire nations. She may even force China and Russia into a military conflict with the West. Corruption will flourish, and the horrific corporatism will continue ruling over the Planet. We know what is ahead! But the horrors that the humanity would have to endure, if Donald Trump gets elected, are unimaginable. Although, to his credit, he is honest, and he is providing plenty of hints. Nobody, absolutely nobody who will go and vote for him in November, will be able to later say that he or she did not know. Both the choices given to the voters by the US regime are appalling. But the true choice should not be between Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump, but between this profoundly sickening and defunct system, and something totally different and new! The bottom line is: to vote for either of these two candidates would be unpatriotic, but above all, it would be thoroughly immoral! Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism .Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism . Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: Indonesia The Archipelago of Fear . Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter . Siege Shows U.S., Concern Trolls Hypocrisy By Moon Of Alabama July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Moon Of Alabama" - Do you remember the outcry over the siege of Ramadi by Iraqi and U.S. forces? When those forces expressed little concern for the civilians who were not let go by the ISIS fighters occupying the city? No? You do not remember those concerns? The outcry from Amnesty, HRW, the UN and other organization? That is probably because there were none. Dec 2 2015: Iraqi forces surround Ramadi, but it could be a long siege Iraqi troops and militias backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have surrounded the key city of Ramadi and appear poised to launch a new attempt to wrest it from the Islamic State group. ... On Monday, the Iraqi military dropped leaflets into the city, ... But residents told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the militants have clamped down, setting up checkpoints across the city to monitor civilians' movements and prevent anyone from going. ... When Maan was asked about the high number of civilians that could be trapped inside Ramadi once the fight gets underway, the Interior Ministry spokesman said he was confident they would be able to flee "to a safe place." "We are focusing now on the enemy only," he added. Today Ramadi is back in the hands of the Iraqi government. But there is another big and outdrawn siege ongoing - this time of a large city in Syria. One where the population and the enemy are under constant bombardment. Where the population is prevented from leaving. Where mass casualties of civilians are caused by misdirected airstrikes. That city is Manbij. June 11: Siege of IS bastion in north Syria traps thousands Thousands of civilians were under siege Saturday in an Islamic State group stronghold surrounded by US-backed forces in northern Syria[...] ... "Tens of thousands of civilians still there can't leave as all the routes out of town are cut," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor's head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Six weeks on the siege of Manbij continues. July 25: US-backed fighters renew offer for IS to leave Syrian town U.S.-backed fighters in northern Syria renewed an offer Monday to Islamic State militants in Manbij, saying that if they allow civilians to leave the besieged northern town IS fighters will be allowed to leave too and will not be attacked. ... Monday's offer by the SDF-linked Manbij Military Council came days after the extremists ignored an earlier, 48-hour offer to leave the town safely with just their "individual weapons." Again, like in Ramadi, there is no protest from Amnesty, HRW, the UN or any other concern peddlers over the fate of the city and its people. There was and is no outcry over the siege or the casualties in Manbij by any of the usual subjects. Now another, third siege happens and this one exposes the utter hypocrisy of the United States and the concern trolls organizations it controls. July 28: US Envoy: Syrian Offer of Safe Passage for Aleppo Civilians Chilling US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power condemned Syrias leaflets, urging civilians in rebel-held East Aleppo to flee and offering them safe passage and access to temporary shelters chilling, insisting that the civilians must never trust a government thats bombed & starved them. Syrias military has increased its control over the area surrounding Aleppo recently, controlling all roads leading into the east. Eastern Aleppo is controlled mostly by al-Qaedas Nusra Front, .. To the U.S. propagandists the siege of east-Aleppo and the offer to leave it is "chilling", while the siege of Manbij or Ramadi never created any such bad feelings. How come? The insurgents in east-Aleppo, mostly of al-Qaeda in Syria, are preventing any civilians from leaving through the designated corridors the besieging forces offer. Where is the condemnation of that? Instead we hear a whole army of concern trolls, the IRC, the UN, Amnesty and various other propaganda shops demanding that civilians "are allowed" to stay(!) in the besieged area Trump Wants To Stop The New Cold War By Stephen Cohen Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at NYU and Princeton, spoke with CNN's 'Smerconish' Saturday morning about Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the 'New Cold War.' July 31, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RCP " - Cohen says the media at large is doing a huge disservice to the American people by ignoring the substance of Trump's arguments about NATO and Russia, and buying the Clinton campaign's simplistic smear that Trump is a Russian "Manchurian candidate." "That reckless branding of Trump as a Russian agent, most of it is coming from the Clinton campaign," Cohen said. "And they really need to stop." "We're approaching a Cuban Missile Crisis level nuclear confrontation with Russia," he explained. "And there is absolutely no discussion, no debate, about this in the American media." "Then along comes, unexpectedly, Donald Trump," he continued, "Who says he wants to end the New Cold War, and cooperate with Russia in various places... and --astonishingly-- the media is full of what only can be called neo-McCarthyite charges that he is a Russian agent, that he is a Manchurian candidate, and that he is Putin's client." "This is a moment when there should be, in a presidential year, a debate," he said. "And that is not what we are given in the media today." "Let's go back to what you said Trump said about NATO," Cohen also said. "Trump said early on, he wanted to know, 60 years after its foundation, what was NATO's mission today. 100 policy wonks in Washington since the end of the Soviet Union, 25 years ago, have asked the same question. Is NATO an organization in search of a mission?" "That's a legitimate question --but we don't debate it. We don't ask it. We just say, oh, Trump wants to abandon NATO." Full transcript: MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN: When looking to blame someone for the cyberattack [against Hillary Clinton an the DNC], Russia was more than convenient. Is this a new cold war or political pot-stirring? Does this accusation have any basis in fact, and if not, could it cause real harm? Here to discuss is Stephen F. Cohen, American scholar of Russian studies at both Princeton and New York Universities. Professor Cohen, does Vladimir Putin indeed have a dog in our U.S. [election]? STEPHEN F. COHEN: Vladimir Putin wants to end the 'New Cold War -- and so do I. Let me say, I have no ties to the Trump campaign or the Clinton campaign. But if I were to write your headline for you today, I tried on the way down here, I couldn't fit it on the front page, but it would go like this: "We're in a new and more dangerous Cold War with Russia." We're approaching a Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear confrontation with Russia, both along Russia's borders and possibly over Syria. There is absolutely no discussion, no debate, about this in the American media -- including, forgive me, on CNN. Then along comes (unexpectedly) Donald Trump, who says something that suggests he wants to end the new Cold War, cooperate with Russia in various places. What we used to call detente, and now --astonishingly-- the media is full of what only can be called neo-McCarthyite charges that he is a Russian agent, that he is a Manchurian candidate, and that he is Putin's client. So the real danger is what's being done to our own poltical process. This is a moment when there should be, in a presidential year, a debate. Because Mrs. Clinton's position on Russia seems to be very different [than Mr. Trump's], has been a long time. Trump speaks eliptically. You've got to piece together what he says. But he seems to want a new American policy toward Russia. And considering the danger, I think we as American citizens, deserve that debate, and not what we are given in the media today, including on the front page of the "New York Times." I end by saying, that this reckless branding of Trump as a Russian agent, most of it is coming from the Clinton campaign and they really need to stop. SMERICONISH: Okay. I don't know where to begin in unpacking all that you just offered to us. But I guess I'll start as follows. As one who can't match your credentials, here's what I see from the outside looking in. I see Donald Trump having said to the "New York Times," just within the last ten days, that he's not so sure he would stand with NATO allies, and I'm paraphrasing, he would want to know whether they would be pulling their own weight. The inpart of his comments seems to suggest he could provide Putin with unfettered, undeterred access to the Baltic states --whose independence he resents. So it all seems to fit, therefore, that Putin would have a dog in this fight, would want to see Donald Trump win this election so that he, Putin, could do as he pleases, in that part of the world. CNN is covering that. I have to defend the network in that regard. But why does that not all fit, and why does it not all fit in the headline in today's "New York Times," which says Russian spies said to have hacked Clinton's bid. COHEN: "Said to have." Said to have. That's not news, that's an allegation. James Clapper. I don't know who hacked. Everybody hacks everybody. I mean, we hacked into Chancellor Merkel's cell phone. We learned that from Snowden. The Israelis hack, the America. Everybody hacks. The point is, and I know you said it, not to defend it, but as a provocation, that let's take the position you just set out. That Putin wants to end the independence in Baltic states. There is no evidence for that. None whatsoever. The point is, is that on the networks -- and I'm not blaming CNN, and there's none on any network. There is none in the "New York Times." I am old enough to remember that during the last Cold War, all these issues were debated in that you had a proponent to each point of view. But you have now got accusations, both against Putin, both against Trump, which needed to be debated. The most -- let's go back to what you said -- Trump said about NATO. Trump said early on, he wanted to know, 60 years after its foundation, what was NATO's mission today. 100 policy wonks in Washington since the end of the Soviet Union, 25 years ago, have asked the same question. Is NATO an organization in search of a mission? For example, it's a mission for the last 20 years was to expand ever closer to Russia. So people have now asked why isn't it fighting international terrorism? That's a legitimate question --but we don't debate it. We don't ask it. We just say, oh, Trump wants to abandon NATO. I don't defend Trump. Trump raises questions. And instead of giving answer to the substance of the question, we denounce him as some kind of Kremlin agent. That's bad for our politics, but still worse, given the danger we're not addressing it. In a bid to provide food security, the Federal Government announced on Sunday that it is planning to train 500,000 youths on agriculture and skill acquisition. Disclosing this at the Federal Capital Territory, the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, said this is coming as the calls for diversification of the Nigerian economy is getting stronger and as many believe that the nation is presently in a state of economic recession owing to a decline in crude oil exports. In a related development, the President, Fisheries Society of Nigeria, Dr Olajide Ayinla, also announced that the society is partnering with the government to improve the sector by inserting fishery into the curriculum of schools to enhance the knowledge among young people and create jobs. Superintendent of Police (SP) Dolapo Badmos of the Lagos State Command, on Sunday said that the police had arrested 14 suspected criminals who allegedly stole computers at a public school in Shomolu. Badmos, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, who spoke with newsmen added that the suspects were arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS). She said that items recovered from them include: seven computers accessories, four mini-laptops, a LaserJet scanner, a desktop and a printer, all belonging to the school. The suspects were arrested on Wednesday morning when RRS intelligence team got a lead that one of the suspects was lurking in a gaming shop at 29, Awoseni St., Shomolu. On interrogation, the suspect, who turned out to be a buyer of one of the stolen mini-laptops, specifically designed for secondary school pupils, assisted the police in arresting other suspects. The lead suspect, a 19-year-old teenager , who claimed to be an athlete, confessed that a 20-year-old phone-repairer staying with him brought the stolen items to his house. Further Investigations by the police revealed that six out of the 14 suspects arrested were directly connected to have burgled the school and stole computers and their accessories. Four of the suspects had been released to their relatives, while five others were undergoing investigations for their link to cult activities in Shomolu, Badmos said. She said that the suspects had been transferred to State CID, Panti-Yaba, for further investigations. Source; NAN INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 10 things to note from the speech of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the South-East Edition Of The Federal Governments Town Hall Meeting in Enugu on Monday, Aug. 1st, 2016 1. It is the fifth in the series of the Town Hall Meetings which was started in Lagos on April 25th, 2016, with a view to bridging the communication gap between the government and the people, carrying the people along in the process of governance and also getting the much-needed feedback from the citizenry. 2.He says this is a critical time in the history of our nation as we are faced with two choices: whether to continue along the old path that has led us to where we are now, or to chart a new path. They have chosen the latter, simply because one cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different result. 3.Mr. Mohammad said that the change they promised is already here, and it is manifesting all around us. According to him, public officials simply opened the public till, took as much money as they wanted and walked away, without consequences before now and that explains why funds allocated to the military to fight Boko Haram ended up in the piggy banks of many unscrupulous Nigerians. Today, all those who looted the public treasury are being made to answer for their actions, he said. 4.The Minister said before now, funds accruing to the government were paid into so many accounts that even the government could not keep a tab on them, or worse still did not even know the accounts existed. Today, every kobo accruing to the government is paid into a single account, called the Treasury Singles Account (TSA), to be used for the benefit of all Nigerians. 5.Before now, thousand of ghosts earned salaries every month. He said; Of course, we all know that ghosts dont work, yet they got paid in this country. Today, the ghosts are in trouble as over 30,000 of them have had their unmerited salaries stopped, saving the country millions and millions of naira and that is change. 6.He said the APC promised to diversify the economy away from oil, to ensure that other sectors are able to significantly contribute to sustainable development. Well, in June 2016, for the very first time, about 70 percent of the over 500 billion Naira raised from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee came from non-oil sector, while 30 per cent came from the oil sector. It was the first time in 2016 that the Federal Government shared over 500 billion Naira among the three tiers of government. 7. Prior to May 29th, 2015, Boko Haram held sway in at least 14 out of the 27 local government areas in Borno State. They controlled territories, hoisted their flag, installed their own Emirs and collected taxes. They struck at places and times of their own choosing. Today, our gallant military has crushed these terrorists. Not a single territory is being administered by them. 8.Before the advent of this Administration, many key roads across the country were abandoned, even when funds were budgeted for them, causing untold hardship for the people. Now, construction firms have been mobilized to sites across the country. As they move to sites, they are creating thousands of new jobs. No part of the country is left out of this. 9.As regards complaints on lopsided appointments, he said there are hundreds of appointments yet to be made. It is an evolving scenario, and any lopsidedness is being addressed as we progress. The latest appointments by Mr. President, to the strategic health institutions in the country, as well as to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, attest to this. Three persons have been reported dead following flooding in Kano state on Sunday. Foodstuffs as well as cash crops worth millions of Naira destroyed during a heavy rainfall in Hayin Gwarmai village in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kadno State on Sunday. The Chairman of the Local Government, Alhaji Mudansiru Bebeji, who disclosed this to journalists in Kano on Monday said that the flood also washed away several farms in the area. The Chairman, who said he had paid sympathy visits to the victims stated that many houses were also destroyed in the disaster. We are calling on the Federal and Kano State governments to assist the victims to alleviate their suffering, he said. Meanwhile, the Director of Operations, Kano State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SERERA), Alhaji Abdullahi Dambatta, said the agency had not received any official report on the incident from the local government council. But said that as soon as the agency got the report it would forward same to the state government for necessary assistance to the victims. FC Barcelona and player Alex Song have reached an agreement to mutually terminate the defensive midfielders contract with the club. In a statement, the Spanish champions wished the Cameroonian luck and much success in what follows of his professional career. The Cameroonian made 65 first team appearances in 34 games in the 2012/13 season under Tito Vilanova and a further 31 in 2013/14 when Gerardo Martino was in charge. In 65 games in total, he scored one goal against Real Zaragoza. The player has however joined Russian side, Rubin Kazan on a free transfer. A post on the clubs official Twitter account said simply: Alex Song is now officially a Rubin player, after signing his contract today. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, has advocated the conduct of marriages between Christians and Muslims to enhance sustainable peace and harmonious co-existence in the country. The sultan, who made the call at the Peace and Unity Training Workshop organised by the Christian Youth for Peace in collaboration with the Inter-religious Peace Initiative in Abuja at the weekend, said inter-religious marriages would stem the frequent religious clashes in parts of the country. He said peace had no compromise, adding that Christians and Muslims should seek it at all costs as the two religions were founded on peace. The Sultan, who represented by Dr Idris Umar, the Sarkin Jiwa, urged the workshop participants to be ambassadors of peace, living in harmony with one another, irrespective of religious differences. In his remarks at the workshop, Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters, Nuru Khalid, said it was permissible in the Holy Quran for a Muslim to marry from other religions, stressing that such ties existed even in the days of the Holy Prophet and would foster mutual understanding and tolerance among different religions in the country. The presiding Bishop of Praise Chapel International, Abuja, Dr. Edward Chanomi, advised the federal government to ensure equity in governance in order to carry everybody along. Dr. Chanomi blamed politicians for fuelling hatred and division among Nigerians for selfish ends and urged the citizens to be conscious of self-serving politicians and their evil motives. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, (NAHCO) got a surprise visit by unwanted guests over the weekend as officials of the Economic and Financil Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the corporate office of the firm at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos demanding to see top officials and some documents. Spokesman for NAHCO, Tayo Ajakaye, who confirmed the visitation of the antigraft agency to the cargo handling firm said their visit was basically for facts finding. He said the EFCC operatives requested to see the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Mr Norbert Bielderman, who was out of the country, adding that in the absence of the firms CEO, they requested for the Executive Director/Company Secretary, Mrs Folashade Ode, who was also out of the premises at the time. Unable to meet any of the two senior officials of NAHCO, the EFCC operatives requested to see the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Bamidele Adelaja, with whom they spent some time sorting out some company documents of interest. According to Ajakaye, the anti-graft officials showed a search warrant to the NAHCO CFO before allowing them access to companys confidential documents. Electricity supply to the National Arts Theatre in Lagos has been disconnected by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) on Sunday over an unpaid N9m debt. Mr. Idemudia Godwin, General Manger, Media Communications of EKEDC, disclosed this in Lagos in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), as he added that the complex was disconnected after several appeals and demand notices went unheeded. According to him, the debt is an accumulation of unpaid bills over time. We dont disconnect without serving notice. Besides, we recently ran a newspaper advertisement informing all EKEDC debtors of Ministries and Departmental Agencies (MDAs) of our intention to disconnect them. We have commenced disconnection of all historic debtors, including residential, commercial, industrial and government establishments within our network, he said. The EKEDC spokesman said that the debts owed by some customers is taking its toll on the company, adding that it is seriously impacting negatively on the entire value chain in the power sector equation. he said only 25 per cent of this debt actually belongs to DISCOs, the rest is for other companies in the value chain generating companies, bulk traders, gas suppliers, among others. So if you do not pay and you accumulate debt, what you are looking at is a possible total collapse of the entire power sector. That is what we seek to avert by this action. We need this fund to energise the power sector; to ensure electricity supply and to grow the sector, Idemudia said. FCMB Bank Manager Olisa Nwakoby Kills Himself In front Of His Pastor In Lekki Lagos Over N350Million Debt. Mr. Olisa Nwakoby, a manager at a second generation bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc on Friday evening shot himself dead in the presence of his Priest at the Lekki area of Lagos Island, Lagos State. The father of a 10-year- old daughter was said to have taken his own life because of an incriminating huge loan transaction he approved in his bank. Sources close to the family told ST at the weekend that the late Olisa was the approving officer for the loan which the beneficiary is no longer servicing and the bank was on the neck of Olisa to get the money back. His late father, Chief Patrick Oguejiofor Nwakoby was a former chairman of First Bank of Niger Plc, a successfully lawyer , politician and a highly respected community leader before his death. Fear over his integrity and the name of his family, which could be dented if his bank commences action against him over the loan, was too much for the vibrant banker to bear prompting him to shoot himself, our source said. Our source did not say that there was suspicion of any foul play in the death of the banker, she also could not confirm the actual amount involved in the transaction, but she simply said it was huge. The case is being handled by homicide detectives attached to Area J Command, Lekki/Ajah. According to a police source. The banks, on the fateful day he killed himself, went to meet his pastor. He told the pastor to tell his wife to take good care of his children, that what he would do in next few minutes would shock everyone. He was said to have later blown his brains out. The source continued, It was later discovered that he took money from the bank, N350million, and the money started creating problems for him. He killed himself. When the Lagos State Police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmus, was contacted, her two lines were switched off. Olisa hails from Nkwelle Ezunaka in Oyi Local Government of Anambra State and he attended Abia State University, where he bagged a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree, in Microbiology between 1990 and 1995. Source: Nigeria Camera Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, said she inherited N293 billion outstanding workers claims on assumption of office in October, 2015. She spoke on Monday in Abuja at a media briefing as part of activities to mark this years Civil Service Week. The HOS said that the Federal Government was, however, doing everything possible to ensure that the allowances were paid to the beneficiaries. The issue was presented to the President and he expressed deep concern and immediately directed the Finance Minister to address the situation. The payment would have been made but for the resource constraints of government. Efforts are at advanced stage to prioritise the payment process, Oyo-Ita said. She stated that her office was working with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), on a phased payment formula which would be concluded in due course. The HOS further said that the Federal Government was not unaware of the challenges of civil servants, adding that it was making efforts to address them from different fronts. It is our hope that with the improvement in the economy, consideration would be made to ensure that civil servants are paid desirable wages in line with the prevailing economic situation. We are exploring the possibility of implementing a programme that will provide bulk payment of rent allowance to civil servants within a fiscal year, she said. Oyo-Ita also said that efforts were being made to clean up the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, as many suspicious names have been identified in the system. The HOS said that some workers were currently being investigated by the EFCC for involving in unwholesome recruitment process in the service. She, however, assured civil servants that the Federal Government has no plans for retrenchment, but would rather ensure an improved civil service. The HOS said she would enthrone an efficient, independent and citizen-centred civil service that the public could hold accountable for the workings of government. Oyo-Ita added that measures were being put in place to ensure that civil servants, at the point of entry went through induction course as it was done in the military and some other organisations. President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to recognise some civil servants as part of activities to mark the week. The theme of Civil Service Week is The Nigerian Public Service: Towards Overcoming Economic Challenges. Source; NAN Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has empathized with President Muhammadu Buhari over the downturn in the nations economy. The governor said Buhari has been unfortunate to lead the country on two separate occasions when it was passing through difficult and turbulent periods. President Buhari won the election in March 2015 and was sworn-in on May 29, 2015, on a promise of change and improvement in living conditions of the citizenry. But over one year after he took over the reins of leadership, Nigerians have continued to groan under the weight of economic hardships occasioned by a hike in the pump price of petrol, foodstuffs, other commodities and devaluation of the naira, which is at an all-time low against the American dollar. While the government says it is working hard to alleviate the suffering of the masses, whose votes swept away an incumbent president, Nigerians are fast becoming impatient and losing faith in the Buhari administration. Mr. Buhari, who was military head of state between 1983 and 1985, seized power through the barrel of the gun, removing the hopelessly corrupt civilian administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the process. But just like then and now, the joy and high hopes that greeted Mr. Buharis ascension to power were short-lived. Alluding to the unfavourable odds that stood against Mr. Buhari when he was military ruler and now as democratically-elected president, Gov. El-Rufai, who attended the Sunday Service of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, yesterday, said: We have always known that there is massive corruption in Nigeria but the revelations of the past one year have shocked even the most pessimistic of critics. According to him, nearly 70 percent of Nigerias oil revenues disappeared without a trace, adding the consequence of the disappearance, is what Nigeria is paying dearly for today. When we sit down with President Buhari these days, I pity him. I pity him because he has always become president anytime Nigeria is in trouble. First, it was after the NPN (National Party of Nigeria) government had almost grounded the economy (in 1984) and now, after a massive looting of the nations treasury; and he has to lead the team to fix it, El-Rufai told the congregation. The governor, however, assured that the All Progressives Congress-led federal government is working assiduously to fix the problems inherited from the past governments. But we are working round the clock to fix these problems. With your prayers and the cooperation of Nigerians, we shall surmount these problems, he declared. Mr. El-Rufai also said he was able to become governor of Kaduna because the Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and one-time running mate to Buhari, Pastor Tunde Bakare, had invited him to join the now defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011. The youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has warned against the removal of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. Ekweremadu is currently standing trial alongside Senate President Bukola Saraki and two others on allegations of forgery of the Senate rules book. The youths gave the warning less than 24 hours after Ekweremadu told members of Enugu State Economic Advisory Committee, who paid him a solidarity visit at his residence in Enugu yesterday, that the only offence he committed that warranted his being charged for alleged forgery was his emergence as deputy Senate president against the wishes of the powers that be. The youths, who spoke under the aegis of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, said any attempt to remove Ekweremadu will fail as Nigerians are comfortable with the current leadership of the senate. In a statement signed and issued by the co-coordinator Abuja and Liaison Officer, Northern Region, Obasi Ogbonnaya, the Ohanaeze Youth pointed out that the South East, where Ekweremadu hails from, is also comfortable with his achievements in the Senate. His Constituency in Enugu East Senatorial zone and the entire South East are feeling his impact, the youths said. The statement continued: We have gotten information that some hatchet persons from the South East APC have been busy lobbying the Senate membership and the Presidency to lend their support to the devilish plan to threaten the office of the Senate President. We warn such people to desist from such ill-fated moves as it is bound to fail. It further said the fact that there is now an All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator from Imo State, does not mean that such persons will begin to try what it said was the impossible as the South East and Nigerians in general, will resist any move to change the current leadership of the Senate. The APC candidate, Ben Uwajumogu, was declared winner of the July 28 Imo North senatorial district re-run election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, leading to a statement by the state governor and Chairman of APC Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha, that Ekweremadus seat was under threat. Following the victory of the APC in the 2015 general elections, the South East was favoured to produce the Senate President but following the defeat of all the partys candidates in the senatorial elections conducted in the region, the position was zoned to the North. However, a deft political calculation by Mr. Saraki, who secured the support of some senators from his party and the minority Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, paved the way for Ekweremadu, who was elected on the latters platform, to emerge deputy Senate president to the chagrin of the APC, which has not forgiven him or the Senate president. Deputy Senate President Ekweremadu, by virtue of his position, is the highest ranking PDP member and politician from the South East in the present political dispensation but that is also under threat by the forgery charges against him, Saraki and two others. Not oblivious of the forces gathering against Mr. Ekweremadu, the Ohanaeze youths expressed confidence in the cerebral and patriotic minds in the Senate, who they said will not lend themselves to any plan to change their leadership. They, however, warned busy body persons of South East extraction, who may lend themselves to be used for any such unpatriotic move to prepare to face the wrath of Ndigbo and Nigerians. Such persons will be declared persona non grata in Igbo land. IJAWS resident in Lagos and Ogun states started relocating from the two states, weekend, to the South-South for fear of attack following the expiration of the ultimatum issued to Ijaws in the states by the Reformed Odua Peoples Congress, ROPC. Also, many indigenes of Kaiama in Kolokuma Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, country home of Ijaw hero, late Major Adaka Boro, have deserted the community over fears that the military may attack the community, following the threat by a militant group, Adaka Boro Avengers, ABA, to declare a Republic of Niger Delta today. Spokesperson of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Eric Omare, who confirmed the developments, said: At as Sunday morning (yesterday), information at our disposal indicates that some Ijaw people resident in Lagos and Ogun states, for fear of attack, are already relocating from their places of residence to the South-South. He said that there was apprehension among Ijaws in the South-West over the expiration of the ultimatum issued by ROPC, because of attacks by unknown gunmen in parts of Lagos and Ogun states. The IYC, however, called on ROPC members and the leadership of the Yoruba nation to allow security agents to do their constitutional duty of apprehending criminals responsible for the Ogun and Lagos attacks. On the tense situation at Kaiama, Omare said: We call on residents of Kaiama town to be calm and go about their normal activities. There is no plan by the Ijaw people to declare a republic and the threat by Adaka Boro Avengers should be disregarded. We wish to warn groups and individuals not to further expose Ijaw and Niger Delta communities to unnecessary tension and danger. They should not abuse modern means of information technology to the detriment of our communities by issuing unnecessary threats and ultimatums. We call on security agencies to stop forthwith the unnecessary threats and attacks on Ijaw and other Niger Delta communities because of threats by faceless groups. They should check issues of security with the leadership of Ijaw nation instead of threatening or attacking innocent communities and people, he added. Source: Vanguard Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump has once again received condemnation from senior Republican figures as his bid to unite the party seems to be failing. Several key party figures stayed away from the party convention as a result of their disagreement with several of Trumps controversial opinions on Muslims, women and even immigrants. The latest controversy came after the parents of a US Army Capt, Humayun Khan, who was killed by a car bomb in 2004 in Iraq at the age of 27 spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Khizr Khan and his wife, who are both Muslims said in their speech that under Trump, their son would not even have been able to come to America. Donald Trumps response was to suggest that Mrs. Khan was perhaps not allowed to speak at the convention because, She had nothing to say Maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. Mrs. Khan denied the claims in an opinion article in the Washington Post. Many have interpreted his comments as disrespectful and a former Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, who is also a war veteran has condemned Trumps comments. In a statement, McCain said, I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement, I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. The Federal Government seems to have come to a reluctant acceptance of the reality that Nigeria is slipping into an economic recession. Quite a number of Nigerians have weighed in on the dire economic situation including Senator Ben Murray Bruce and now, Nigerias minister of Power works and housing, Babatunde Fashola. The minister opined that the seeds of Nigerias economic recession were planted during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. While speaking on Saturday at a forum organised by the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF) in London, Fashola had the following to say: The Challenges Today, we face challenging economic times. The commodities boom is gone. We have suffered consecutive negative growth and are economically experiencing a recession. The Reason The reason is simple. It is not what the Buhari administration has done, it is a result of the profligate fiscal policy between 2010 and 2015, when we not only under-budgeted (N4 trillion) in the face of deficient infrastructure, we also compounded it by providing 15 per cent for capital expenditure, which was under-funded and 85 per cent for recurrent, which we adequately funded. If infrastructure drives growth as we have experienced from the great depression to the Marshall plan, and lately fiscal stimulus in recent years, our current economic recession is the result of yesterdays policies and choices especially during 2010- 2015. Sometime in March 2015, a little over a year ago, before the Buhari government, a snap survey of four construction companies which I constructed revealed that they had laid off 5,150 workers because government was not paying these construction companies for work done. Findings Since my assumption of office, in the ministry of power, works and housing, meetings with contractors in power, works and housing reveal that contractors have been owed 2 to 3 years. These are the seeds of recession, planted and nurtured between 2013 and 2014. The Buhari government knows the cause, and has designed the proper solution: fiscal stimulus and capital spending. New results Five of the 13 prisoners that broke out of the Koton Karfe Medium Security Prison in Kogi State have been re-arrested by security operatives in the early hours of Saturday, according to the Controller-General of Prisons, Jaafaru Ahmed. The Public Relations Officer of the Service, Francis Enobore disclosed this in a statement released to journalists on Sunday in the Federal Capital Territory. According to the statement, the Controller-General who confirmed the recapturing when he was on an on-the-spot assessment of the prison has constituted a three-man panel to carry out a detailed investigation into the circumstances surrounding the escape and forward the report to his office for necessary action. Jaafaru however, assured of adequate security in and around prison facilities across the country to prevent future recurrence. He also added that efforts are ongoing to decongest prisons in line with the reform agenda of the Federal Government Police Chief Questions Fatal Shooting In Which Police Shot A Man In The Back By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 1, 2016 3:47PM Superintendant Eddie Johnson, April 13, 2016 / Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson Supt. Eddie Johnson said on Sunday that departmental policies may have been violated during a fatal police shooting that occurred on Thursday night. Johnson told media at police headquarters that he had spent parts of Friday and Saturday reviewing the incident, in which Paul ONeal, 18, was fatally wounded. ONeal died from a gunshot wound to the back, an autopsy performed by the Cook County Medical Examiners office concluded. "After this review, I am left with more questions than answers," Johnson said, according to NBC5. "As it appears right now, departmental policies may have been violated during the incident." Two officers were placed on administrative leave following the incident, Chicago police told Chicagoist on Friday. A third officer was relieved of police powers on Saturday following the autopsy. The Independent Police Review Authority is conducting an investigation of the shooting. The Chicago Police Department sent a statement to Chicagoist stating that the officers have been stripped of their police powers in the meantime: "While the events are under formal investigation by IPRA, all officers involved have been relieved of police powers and removed from operational duties. Johnson has pledged that CPD will conduct a thorough and fact based administrative review of the incident. He also stressed that the Department will be transparent and open with the community on findings once IPRA completes its review." Paul ONeal was fatally shot on Thursday, at around 7:30 pm, near East 74th Street and South Merrill Avenue, in South Shore. Police tried to curb the vehicle driven by ONeala Jaguar that matched the description of a stolen car from Bolingbrook, police said. ONeal then rammed a police vehicle and sideswiped a parked car, CPD Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi said on Sunday. (Initial police reports said the parked car and police car were sideswiped.) According to the police narrative, three officers then fired: two shots were fired into the Jaguar, and a third officer shot ONeal in the back after leaving the car and attempting to flee. The Controller-General of Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Jaafaru Ahmed has set up a three-man panel to investigate the circumstances surrounding last Saturdays escape by 13 inmates from Koton-Karfe Prison in Kogi State and forward the report to his office for necessary action. The escapees, compromising 10 pre-trial detainees and 3 convicts, escaped from the correctional center early hours of Saturday, 30th July, 2016 by simply scaling the Prison fence The Kogi prison break came less than two months after two inmates also escaped from the Kuje prison in Abuja. The escapee Maxwell Ojukwu from Delta state and Solomon Amodu from Kogi state who are still awaiting trial following allegation of suspected culpable homicide, are still at large. Although five of the Koton-Karfe prison escapees have been recaptured, Mr. Ahmed is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that the episode does not repeat itself. The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service, Francis Enobore said the NPS boss announced the setting up of the three-man panel while carrying out an on-the-spot assessment of the Koton Karfe prison on Sunday. Enobore said CG Ahmed assured that appropriate measures were being put in place to address congestion phenomenon particularly among awaiting trial prisoners. According to him, the Controller General further stated that security arrangement was being strengthened in and around prison facilities across the country to forestall future occurrence. A man got an odd send-off at his funeral after a squad of bikini-clad strippers showed up and danced against his coffin. The women left very little to the imagination as they performed an energetic dance routine to Maroon 5s Moves Like Jagger. One of the women even seductively draped her body over the coffin in front of the dead mans relatives. As the pair perform their coordinated routine a picture of the deceased is illuminated in the background with colourful lighting. After performing to 3 upbeat songs the mans coffin was taken away for a more solemn ceremony. Strippers are said to be invited to perform at funerals in China in order to attract more mourners. The size of the funeral is seen a status symbol. Chinese authorities are said to be clamping down on the bizarre trend. WATCH Pedro Luca, 79, has lived in a cave high on a mountain in northern Argentina for 40 years without running water or electricity. He lives in the cave with 11 cockerels and 2 goats. The animals roam the mountainside during the day and return at night. A creek is his main source of water. He says its the purest and richest water there is. He starts his day around 3 a.m with a fire after the crow of the cockerels wake him. When he gets hungry he picks up his rifle and goes hunting or heads on a 3-hour trek down the mountain to the nearest settlement of San Pedro de Colalao. Lucas skin is weather-beaten and he has few teeth left, but he seems much younger than a man who is almost 80. Luca says he always wanted to live in isolation in the wild, even as a boy. He was raised by his grandfather in San Pedro de Colalao, which he first left at age 14 to travel northern Argentina and earn a living transporting coal to Bolivia. He returned to the area and the cave. Word of his solitary lifestyle spread and he now gets occasional visits from tourists and schoolchildren. I never asked myself why I chose to live here, he says. There was another cave nearby but I liked this one better. Sometimes, I think that I would have liked to travel the world, see Europe. But theres a lot of sea in the middle of it all and you have to have the time to cross that sea. Luca has become a legend in San Pedro de Colalao, and town dwellers often give him food and supplies. He buys candles, yeast and corn with a government old-age pension, worth about $100-$200, that he collects at the towns post office. His only technological gadget is a small, battery-powered radio, but he has a hard time tuning into stations because the signal is weak up the mountain. A Grade 12 learner in Namibias Ohagwena Region has invented a sim-less mobile phone that allows users to make free calls and watch one TV channel. Simon Petrus, a pupil at Abraham Iyambo Senior Secondary School, created the phone using spares from a phone and television set. Complete with a light bulb, fan and charger socket, the handset functions off power supplied through a radiator and is able to make calls to anywhere through the use of radio frequencies. The invention, which is made up of a radio system, is attached to a box and also allows the user to view one TV channel on it. He is also able to watch NBC1 TV on his box. No stranger to the world of creation, Petrus is reported to have won a gold medal at national level last year for his invention of a two-in-one machine that works as both a seed drier and cooler. The shy learner has admitted to working on his invention for two years through money provided by his unemployed parents. Petrus claims that he invented the phone in the hopes that it would be successful and be able to be carried further. Source: Trezzy blog Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has taken his barrage of attacks against the leadership of the House a notch higher, as he last night claimed the existence of institutional corruption at the National Assembly. He also claimed that those behind the massive corruption were responsible for his inability to prevent the alleged 2016 budget padding. The Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, last week, announced the removal of Jibrin following his ignominious role in the 2016 budget controversy. He, however, denied the claim of bringing the legislature to disrepute in the wake of alleged budget padding, insisting that Mr. Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, wanted to use him to achieve their own ends. It was his refusal to kowtow to their whims and caprices, he claimed, that led to his removal even though he had informed the Speaker of his decision to step down before the announcement of his sack. Jibrin, who accused the quartet of Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor of being behind the padding, alleged that 10 chairmen inserted 2,000 fictitious projects worth N248 billion into the budget. The Kano lawmaker, however, also has an allegation of allocating 20 projects worth N4.3billion to his constituency, hanging on his neck. Dogara and the other principal officers have protested their innocence, saying Jibrins allegations were mere afterthoughts manufactured simply because the House relieved him of his position. But in an interview with Channels Television last night, the former Appropriation Committee chair said; There is institutional corruption at the National Assembly, which we have to address. He said he was interested in triggering the reform needed to combat corruption in the legislature even though he declared that he is not corrupt. The case of the National Assembly today is that there is a trigger and we want to take advantage of the trigger to be able to force reform in the National Assembly. Not only reform in the budget of the National Assembly because people are looking at it from a narrow perspective. This issue is going to lead to a revolution in the National Assembly; a lot of corruption is at National Assembly. I want to use the word trigger. I have been part of the institution for five years, I have not been part of any corruption, I have never shared money with members of the National Assembly; we have come to a point that we state our position. The money they alleged that I benefitted from is mere blackmail. Of course, I am the chairman of Appropriation, what I did is not only to promote my constituency but Nigeria as a whole, he explained Declaring that the padding of the 2016 budget was completely off the board compared to that of previous years, Jibrin said: As I explained in the last few days, there were lots of insertions in the 2016 budget from the angle of the National Assembly. I discussed with the speaker that the insertions were too many. Though we (the legislature) have the power to insert but it was senseless in view of the enormity of the insertions. I fought internally to ensure that the situation was checked. The insertions were passed. We did a statistics after collecting reports from the various committees. I discovered that in between the committees in the House, about 2000 projects were posted by the committees totaling about N224 billion and I was a bit worried about it. For five years, I have been working on budgets and of course, I have been part of the budgeting process. Since 1999 to date it has been outrageous. A lot of people have been asking me why havent I opened up? It is a difficult system and much more complex than what people think. But, I raised the issue internally of insertions and I fought the battle of my life, Jibrin claimed. According to the former Appropriation Committee chairman of the House, budget padding has been ongoing since 1999, What I think is wrong is when the insertion goes out of proportion. Every year, there have always been insertions, which is made up constituency projects. They do often cause friction and tension between both arms of government. The only difference is that in 2016, it went completely off the board. I stand by my word that there were lots of insertions. The Niger State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to consider the Niger-Abuja rail line as the next priority in the list of rail lines to be constructed in the growing need to ease the movement of people and goods across the country. The government made the plea on the heels of assurance by President Muhammadu Buhari last Tuesday during the commissioning of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail service that his administration will link state capitals with rail lines. The Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism in the state, Mr Jonathan Vatsa, who made the call in a statement at the weekend, said it had become imperative because of the proximity of Niger to the Federal Capital Territory. Vasta said Niger State had the historical record of being an economic melting pot with the existence of the famous Baro port and the railway transit through Mokwa, Minna, Akare, Wushishi and Gwada. While commending the Federal Government for the completion and inauguration of the Abuja-Kaduna rail service, the state government said the same gesture should be extended to Niger State as a deliberate policy for economic expansion. The state government also called on the Buhari administration to consider converting the Minna airport to an international cargo airport. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, today weighed in on the budget padding saga the house of Representatives is currently embroiled in. In a statement, the PDP questioned the credibility of former Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin. The statement also called into question the integrity of the house, Yakubu Dogara as well as other principal members of the house. 1. We watched the interview granted by Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin to @ChannelsTv & have followed his revelations with growing1/2 PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 concern & bemusement. His revelations raise more questions than they give answers. 2/2 PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 2. The ruckus caused by these allegations call the integrity of #Budget2016 to question. This budget process has been an absolute fiasco. PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 3. It is imperative to point out that at the onset President Buhari proposed a N6.08tr budget. This is the same figure as the budget1/2 PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 passed by NASS. On the surface, this fact looks innocuous but is the foundation upon which the entire sham is founded. 2/2 PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 The PDP went on to state that the Presidency had earlier raised an alarm about insertions into the budget at the as well as Mr. Presidents reluctance to sign the budget until it was cleaned up. 6. This whole sham begs many questions: Qa. Is this the cleaned up version about which Hon. Jibrin speaks? PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 Qb. Why is Hon. Jibrin only just speaking after being relieved of his post as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee? 1/2 PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 7. It is very depressing that as at today 01/08/2016 we are still debating the integrity of #Budget2016 & not the percentages of performance PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 They said in 30 days, the APC led FG is required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act to submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the 2017 budget & the APC led NASS is required to commence the process of approving it and are hard pressed to see how this requirement will be fulfilled within the time frame required by law. Finally, it hopes that the APC pulls itself together and do what is required of it. 10. Finally we must realise that this presents an opportunity to reform the budgeting process to ensure that this charade never occurs again PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016 A four-man armed robbery gang on Monday trailed two bank customers, including a police inspector, to the premises of a new generation bank at the Idimu area of Lagos, robbed and killed them in cold blood. THISDAY gathered that unknown to the inspector and the civilian, who wanted to withdraw money from the banks ATM and banking hall respectively, the robbers were lying in wait for them to finish their transactions. While the inspector was shot in the head at close range as he made to exit the ATM stand, the other civilian , whose identity is yet unknown, was also shot as he exited the banking hall with the money he withdrew. The robbers would have escaped but for the quick alert of the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), who while responding to the distress call, engaged the gang in a shootout at Okunola street in Idimu. At the end of the operation, the operatives gunned down two of the armed robbery suspects, arrested one while the fourth gang member escaped. The arrested suspect has since been taken to the Idimu Police Station, from where he was transferred to the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja, for further investigations. The police were also able to recover their two operational motorbikes, as well as the two guns they used for the operation. Further details later Source: Thisday The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu has lashed out at critics of the Buhari administration. His reaction came on the heels of a story run by the London Telegraph, Children Face Death by Starvation in Northern Nigeria where the newspaper alleges that the Buhari administration is diverting aid money to fight its political opponents. Garba Shehu reacted to the story on his Twitter page; The Nigerian Governmentt is in no position to divert aid monies used for emergency relief for refugees or IDP camps for any other purpose,.. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 Instead, they are dispensed directly by DFID, USAID, the United Nations, the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 and many other organizations with which we enjoy excellent relations. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 The humanitarian situation in these camps is real. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 The Administration remains deeply concerned about the medical, health and nutrition challenges Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 and we are doing everything with the limited resources we have at our disposal to improve the situation. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 However, the blame for the plight of refugees lies with Boko Haram. They are its cause, not the Nigerian Government. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 In the light of ongoing efforts, we regret the recent attack on the UN humanitarian convoy in the Northeastern region Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 and are encouraged by the world bodys determination to continue rendering assistance to the displaced victims. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 That the attack was repelled by Nigerian troops escorting the convoy shows precisely how the FG & humanitarian agencies are working together Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 As for claims that the Administration is targeting Christians and the opposition, these are without foundation. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 Since assuming office, President Buhari has treated all Nigerians without bias for ethnicity or religion. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 As the composition of his cabinet and the policies and programmes of his Administration demonstrate. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 To suggest his government as deepening Muslim-Christian division is not only untrue, but plays into the hands of Boko Haram Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 who wish to divide Nigerians along religious lines. Fighting this group is key priority of President Buharis Administration. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 Indeed the international community has widely acknowledged his determination to defeat terrorism in Nigeria and the entire Lake Chad Basin. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 There is nothing to gain by attempting to mould public opinion against these facts. Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 Therefore we invite The Telegraph to visit Nigeria: to witness first hand not only the challenges we face, Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 1, 2016 The Nigerian Army said on Sunday that troops have recovered a cache of arms and ammunition in Gamboru, the headquarters of Ngala local government area of Borno State. The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, in a statement made available to journalists yesterday in Abuja, said the troops conducted raids at Gamboru town early on Sunday morning following a tip-off. Mr. Usman, a colonel, said The troops recovered 3 AK-56 rifles and 2 AK-L rifles with registration numbers; AK-L-AGB 1172, AK-L PU2879, AK-56-2556688, AK-56-22622832 and AK-56-22622315, respectively. They also recovered 235 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition and 7 AK-56 rifle magazines. The Nigerian Army wishes to commend those good citizens that alerted the military for the timely and useful information that led to this recovery. This is the type of cooperation and support we always require from citizens of this country to enable us clear the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists. We wish to reiterate the need for all to be more vigilant, security conscious and report any suspicious movements or persons to the nearest security agency. The Army spokesman further said troops on Operation LAFIYA DOLE on Saturday night carried out successful ambush against Boko Haram terrorists at a crossing point off Damboa road. The ambush party decisively dealt with the terrorists riding on bicycles at a crossing point off Damboa-Kubwa road towards Multe village axis. The team killed one terrorist, while others escaped with gunshot wounds. The troops recovered 1 AK-47 rifle with registration number 565907530 and14 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition, a wooden Dane Gun shaped to the resemblance of an AK-47rifle, 1 fabricated double-barrelled pistol and 4 bicycles, he said. San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. will merge its operation in China with local archrival Didi Chuxing Technology Co., media reported on Monday. (Photo: Xinhuanet) Didi Chuxing confirmed on Monday that it will merge with Uber China's business, putting an end to the two companies' cash-burning fight over the dominance of China's ride-hailing market. Didi said in a statement that it has agreed to acquire Uber's operation in China in a deal that gives Uber a 5.89 percent stake in Didi. Didi will also gain a small stake in Uber's global business, valued at $68 billion. "The two sides will operate cross shareholding and become minority shareholders for each other," the statement from Didi said. According to the statement, Uber global's 5.89 percent of Didi's shares will equal 17.7 percent of the economic rights. The other Chinese shareholders in Uber China will achieve 2.4 percent of the economic rights. Didi Chuxing has become the only enterprise in the country that received investments from China's three major internet companies -- Baidu Inc, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, known as BAT. "Cheng Wei, founder and president of Didi Chuxing and Travis Kalanick, chief executive officer of Uber, will simultaneously join their counterpart company's board of directors," the statement said. Western media reported that investors behind the two companies have been pushing them to end the fight in China as both of them have spent a lot to gain loyalty from users. "Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there," Travis Kalanick, chief executive officer of Uber, wrote in a blog post obtained by China Daily today. "Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term," he said in post to announce the company's intention to merge Uber China with Didi. Last week, a long-awaited regulation giving legal status to online car-hailing services in China was approved and released by the nation's State Council. Aimed at regulating the taxi market and car-hailing services in China, the regulation requires car-hailing platforms, such as Didi Chuxing and Uber Technologies, to review the qualifications of drivers and their cars to guarantee safe rides. Last February, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, the precursors of the Didi Chuxing, jointly announced their strategic merger, becoming one of the largest vendors in the market. Despite successes almost everywhere it has set foot, the global taxi company Uber has given up its operations in China for a minority stake in the countrys taxi company; Didy Chixing technology co. After trying unsuccessfully to get a foothold in the Chinese local market, they have finally merged with Didy, Chinas leading taxi company. Didy which was worth about 28 billion dollars, will be worth around 36 billion dollars now. The merger makes Uber the highest shareholder in Didy technology co as Uberchina will reportedly take up 20% in shares and also it means didy will invest a billion dollars in Uber as part of the deal. This is another example of another US firm trying unsuccessfully to put a foothold in the local market in China. Uber and diddy, which have been bitter rivals would end up having their executives swap positions as Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick will join Didys board, while Didy founder Cheng wei will join ubers board as part of the deal. Despite starting operations in china in 2012 before Didy, Uber was still unable to attract customers like didy. This just shows how good the Chinese are at promoting local businesses. The University of Lagos on Monday says it will go ahead with its screening of prospective candidates for admission into the 2016/2017 academic session as scheduled. The institutions Deputy Registrar, (Information), Mr Toyin Adebule, said this in an interview in Lagos. Adebule gave the universitys position against the backdrop of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) withdrawing the list of recommended candidates for admission, earlier sent to the various universities. JAMB in the statement signed by its Head of Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, stated that the withdrawal was to ensure that the senate of each of the universities performs its statutory functions. NAN reports that UNILAG had, last month, announced that it would begin screening candidates, who chose the institution as their first choice with a cut-off point of 200 and above, between Wednesday Aug. 3, 2016 and Aug. 24, 2016. We want to inform the public that our screening, for candidates that will be admitted for the 2016/17 academic session, will still hold scheduled from Aug. 3, 2016 to Aug. 24, 2016. It is true that JAMB had sent a list to us, which it had considered as those who met our cut-off point. It is this same list that it had withdrawn to allow the universities carry out their admission process as required by the law setting up their senates. There are statutory functions meant for all university senates, among which admissions is part one. It is only after selecting the candidates for admission that the senate refers the list to JAMB for confirmation in line with the admission criteria of merit, catchment and educationally disadvantaged states. And so, it is only proper for JAMB to have taken this step, realising that it had taken over the job of the universities senates, he told NAN. Adebule, however, added that the withdrawal of the list did not interfere with UNILAGs proposed plan to screen its candidates. He reiterated that candidates would be screened based on the authenticity of their results and their course combination. Source: Vanguard Drama erupted at a church in Kariobangi South of Kenya recently when a woman stormed the service claiming that the pastor who runs the church was her husband, who had dumped her for another woman. The jilted woman, identified as Jane Wambui, yelled and called out the mans name as she pelted stones at believers. Gods Greater Favour Church worshippers scampered for safety while the preacher in question took cover and hid from the woman. Wambui claimed that they had been married for 14 years until their union hit a rocky patch earlier in year when the pastor started cheating. She alleged that he had abdicated his duties as a father and their child had been sent away from school due to fees arrears. I dont have a job since Im a hawker and the Kanjo took off with my stock, Wambui lamented in a KTN report, as a large crowd of onlookers milled around the scene of drama. It took the intervention of police to calm the woman who some members of the public had tried unsuccessfully to pacify. The pastor surfaced from his hideout once police landed, and the two were arrested and taken to Buruburu police station for questioning. Source: News Every Hour Google has made accessing www.google.com a little more secure by turning on HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security). With HSTS, Google ensures its servers are telling browsers that all future attempts to connect should be over HTTPS, Jay Brown, senior technical program manager of security at Google, wrote on the Google Security blog. [ An InfoWorld exclusive: Go inside a security operations center. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ] When the user connects to a site for the first time, it typically uses a regular connection. Even if users don't manually type http:// in the address bar, browsers tend to treat the address as going over HTTP. The server can be configured to redirect to HTTPS, but the initial communication over HTTP happens every time the user attempts to connect. The HSTS header is an effective tool for protecting user and data privacy -- if the network attacker tries to use a man-in-the-middle attack to serve up an insecure page for a URL the user has accessed before (such as a banking site), the browser will not attempt the connection. For example, the user may enter a URL in the address bar, at which point the browser makes the request to the server over HTTP. If the site is a HTTPS site, the server would respond with an HTTP 301 "Moved Permanently," at which point the browser will make the request again, this time securely. A rogue network actor monitoring this transaction could then step in and serve up a phishing page, and victims will not realize it was fraudulent because the URL bar is correct. But if the site has HSTS and the user has accessed the page before, the browser won't make the HTTP request and instead will go with HTTPS. The HSTS header has some limitations. There is a max-age value that specifies the time period during which the browser should attempt secure connections. After the period has passed, the next time the user accesses the site, the connection is initially over HTTP, then the HSTS header clock starts again and forces the browser to use HTTPS for all future attempts. HSTS also cannot enforce secure connections until the user attempts to connect that first time; otherwise the browser doesn't know there is an HSTS header from the host. For initial launch, google.com's header has a max-age value of one day. The short duration helps mitigate the risk of any problems that may arise during the rollout. The goal is to eventually increase the time period over the next few months to at least a year. Google plans to roll out HSTS for other domains and products over the next several months as well. If for whatever reason the site changes and the secure connection is no longer possible, users would be unable to access the site until the time period has elapsed because the header won't let the browser load the page over a regular connection. The problem with such a short period, however, is that there are more "initial" attempts, and more times the page is served insecurely. Ordinarily, implementing HSTS for a domain is "a relatively basic process," but there were challenges, such as pages with mixed content -- some secure elements on the same page as insecure elements -- bad HREF tags, redirects to HTTP, and other issues, such as updating legacy services. The team accidentally broke Santa Tracker shortly before Christmas 2015 implementing HSTS. "We fixed it before Santa and his reindeer made their trip," Brown said. Google has been working on encrypting all its data communications in transit. It switched the search page to HTTPS and encrypted communications between its datacenters. Shortly after the documents leaked by Edward Snowden showed the National Security Agency monitoring traffic within the datacenters, the company encrypted all traffic within the datacenters as well. "We've worked to increase the use of encryption between our users and Google," Brown said. "Today, the vast majority of these connections are encrypted, and our work continues on this effort." Cotton Dropping Another Triple Digits Barchart - 10 minutes ago Cotton futures are trading lower with triple digit weakness through the Friday morning. Cotton futures closed off their lows by ~20 points, but were still down by 142 to 271 at the bell. The @USD dropped... CTZ22 : 73.59 (-2.02%) CTH23 : 73.40 (-1.88%) CTK23 : 73.50 (-1.38%) Friday Hog Futures to Respond to Sharp Drop Barchart - 10 minutes ago Front month lean hog futures worked lower on Thursday with Dec futures getting within 20c of a limit drop on the days low. Dec hogs ultimately lost $3.37, with $0.87 to $2.85 losses in the other front... HEZ22 : 85.125s (-3.81%) HEJ23 : 92.125s (-2.18%) KMZ22 : 95.775s (-0.98%) Stronger Cash Cattle Trade Seen Yesterday Barchart - 10 minutes ago Cattle futures spent Thursday in a tighter $0.95 range, but ultimately settled with 5 to 32 cent losses. Feeder cattle futures traded 45 to 80 cents lower on the day. USDA confirmed Southern cash trade... LEV22 : 151.400s (-0.03%) LEZ22 : 153.425s (-0.10%) LEG23 : 156.850s (-0.11%) GFX22 : 178.125s (-0.39%) GFF23 : 180.450s (-0.44%) Redness in Soy Market Barchart - 10 minutes ago Front month soy futures are working lower into the day session of Friday. Morning bean quotes are 7 to 8 cents red, meal futures are down 30 cents, and BO is 60 points in the red. The soybean futures market... ZSX22 : 1376-2 (-0.43%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.3538 (-0.45%) ZSF23 : 1387-0 (-0.47%) ZSH23 : 1395-4 (-0.46%) Weaker Wheat Markets into Friday Barchart - 10 minutes ago Wheats are trading lower with 3 to 7 cent losses so far for the last trade day of the week. The KC HRW futures market pulled back on Thursday and closed with 5 1/2 to 8 3/4 cent losses despite improved... ZWZ22 : 832-4 (-0.72%) ZWH23 : 852-0 (-0.70%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.6593 (-0.78%) KEZ22 : 922-6 (-1.02%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.8099 (-1.07%) MWZ22 : 947-2 (-0.34%) Corn Red at Midday Barchart - 10 minutes ago Friday morning finds corn futures with 2 to 3 3/4 cent weakness. Corn fell by 1 3/4 to 3 cents in the front months on Thursday. The weekly Export Sales report showed only 263,999 MT were booked during... ZCZ22 : 679-4 (-0.40%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7084 (-0.32%) ZCH23 : 685-2 (-0.36%) ZCK23 : 684-4 (-0.36%) Chart of the Day: Expro Group -- Hitting New Highs Barchart - 34 minutes ago The Chart of the Day belongs to the oil & gas services company Expro Group (XPRO) . I found the stock by sorting the Russell 3000 Index stocks first by the most frequent number of new highs in the last... XPRO : 18.41 (-0.65%) A Mixed Market = A Mixed Day Market Tea Leaves - 1 hour ago Yesterday the markets traded Mixed with only the Dow higher. We will see the same today? Over three and a half years ago, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, announced his dream of building a strong army, an idea that has since been the basis of all work concerning military affairs. From combat capability to strengthened Party leadership and unprecedented reform, Xi, as commander-in-chief of China's armed forces, has directed the path for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and brought great changes to it as it celebrates its 89th anniversary of founding on August 1. WHAT ARMY SHOULD BE BUILT? Xi put forward the dream of a strong army during an inspection tour of Guangzhou's armed forces in early December 2012. It was less than a month after he assumed office as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC). Xi said achieving a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has become China's biggest dream in modern history. Xi later elaborated on what he meant. At a meeting with national lawmakers from the armed forces on March 11, 2013, Xi said that following the command of the Party, capability to win wars, and having a proper working style, are the fundamentals of building a strong army. These tenets became the guideline of central authorities' work concerning military affairs and national defense. On March 23, 2016 when inspecting the National Defense University of the PLA (NDU), Xi said military colleges needed to be strengthened for China to build world-class armed forces. In a commentary published on May 25, the PLA Daily, flagship newspaper of China's armed forces, said a top army should have world-class equipment, organizational form, combat system, staff quality, strong training level and military theory. A world-class army has the ability to fight and defeat the world's major powers, it said, and added that only a modernized transformation with new concepts could achieve this end. In a group study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on July 26, 2016, Xi called for building a strong armed force commensurate with China's international status and compatible with national security. STRENGTHENING COMBAT CAPABILITY Improving the army's combat strength has become a major focus. But the modernization level of the Chinese army is inadequate to safeguard national security, and it lags far behind advanced global peers. The Chinese army is not capable enough of waging modern warfare, and officers lack command skills for modern warfare. Following Xi's requirements, a great discussion and education campaign was held in the PLA and the armed police force in 2014. From the headquarters to the most grassroots squad units, from logistics departments to combat units, from generals to privates, the whole armed forces discussed how to steel themselves and made concrete reforms. "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 colored 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 said. "But now, there are no banners, drums or gongs at all. The environment in exercise fields is like the real environment in combat," Li added. Thanks to the leadership's efforts and development of equipment, recent years witnessed great progress of the combat strength. Since 2012 when China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" was commissioned, the PLA Navy has gained more and more experience in the utilization of aircraft carrier strength through regular sea training. On July 6, the heavy-load airfreighter 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 modernized combat. 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. STRESSING PARTY LEADERSHIP, INTEGRITY Xi said that Party leadership was the be-all-and-end-all for building a strong army. "The key of absolute loyalty to the Party is 'absolute'," Xi said. "It is unique, thorough, unconditional loyalty, without any impurities." Upon Xi's decision, a conference on the army's political work convened in late October 2014, in Gutian Township, Fujian Province, the very same place that Mao Zedong presided over a conference that established the principle of the Party's absolute leadership over the army in 1929. A document released after the conference urged the whole armed forces to stick to the fundamental principle of the Party's leadership, and firmly implement the systems and mechanisms that ensure the CMC chairman responsibility system, through which the CPC leads the army. At the New Gutian conference, Xi urged the army to pay attention to the corruption of Xu Caihou and root out his negative influence. Xu, who once headed the PLA's political work and was a former CMC vice chairman, was among scores of generals that were charged with corruption after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in late 2012. Guo Boxiong, another former CMC vice chairman, was also among those charged with corruption. As Xi ordered, the CMC established an inspection system within the army in October 2013 and the system covered all military area commands in 2015. The whole army also examined the problems pointed out by Xi at the New Gutian Conference, launching a series of special campaigns to rectify them. Integrity building achieved significant results. In 2015, almost 10,000 houses were returned and about 25,000 public vehicles were cut. Administration costs above the corps level were cut in half or higher year-on-year. BIGGEST CHANGE EVER, STILL DEFENSIVE On April 20, Xi appeared in public with a new title -- commander-in-chief of the newly-established CMC joint battle command center, which he inspected on the day dressed in camouflage fatigues. The center belongs to a tiered command system including the CMC, theater commands and others. It is part of the overall reform of the PLA's organization, a culmination of Xi's military thought. Other changes include the inauguration of a general command of the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket Force, and the PLA Strategic Support Force. The seven military area commands were regrouped into five theater commands, and the four military departments -- staff, politics, logistics and armaments -- were reorganized into 15 agencies. Professor Li said the new command system responded to the need of a more centralized 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. Despite the increase of its strength in both combat capability and command, China's national defense policy, which is defensive in nature, remains unchanged. Maj. Gen. Chen Zhou, a research fellow with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, said it is unavoidable that some people are worried about a rising China, but China focuses on a peaceful path to development and building political and military mutual trust, breaking the historical logic of rising powers seeking hegemony. An increasing number of Chinese servicemen are joining UN peacekeeping missions around the world. In the past two months, three Chinese peacekeeping soldiers were killed in Mali and South Sudan. "China needs to explain more clearly its core interests and the challenges it is facing," said Li. "But more importantly, whether we can safeguard our security and maintain global and regional peace depends on our strength," Li said. Foreign fund managers that have long dreamed of getting access to the vast domestic Chinese market are about to get a chance to show off their financial wizardry. At the end of June, regulators in Beijing unveiled a package of financial reforms that will allow global asset managers to establish wholly owned entities on the mainland to invest in the nations $10 trillion capital market on behalf of Chinese institutional investors and wealthy private clients. The initiative arguably represents the most dramatic and potentially lucrative of a series of moves to liberalize Chinas financial markets in recent years. Until now, foreign firms have mostly been limited to minority stakes in mainland joint ventures with Chinese managers, but the new reforms will wipe away those restrictions. This is probably one of the most defining changes in the financial services regime I have ever seen, says Peter Alexander, the managing director of Shanghai-based Z-Ben Advisors, a research house that tracks Chinas asset management industry. Success is far from guaranteed, though. Chinas asset management industry has become increasingly sophisticated both in managing funds and in raising assets with e-commerce marketing strategies. Foreign managers seeking to grab a share of the nations $6 billionplus asset management industry will have to invest heavily to compete, say market experts. Its the panacea, but no one that I am aware of is prepared for this move, says Alexander. Many foreign firms will probably need time to examine the new regulations and consider their strategies. The issue is, How are you going to execute? How many people on the mainland know your brand? he says. There is a lot of wood that has to be chopped to get from here to having a successful business onshore. Notwithstanding the uncertainty, at least one foreign firm AXA Investment Managers, the 666 billion ($738 billion) asset management arm of French insurer AXA has already begun the process to apply for a license to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Shanghais Lujiazui Free-Trade Zone. Cheng Liao, executive director for Asia business development at the firm, says the new unit would complement AXA IMs existing retail joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Guosheng Asset Management. AXA IM owns 39 percent of the venture. We expect great opportunities from the development of the alternatives and the credit market in China, Cheng says. The wholly owned foreign entity will also leverage the joint ventures distribution capability to introduce and provide AXA IMs solutions to Chinese institutional and high-net-worth investors for their overseas investments. Others are holding back. Investec Asset Management welcomes the latest Chinese move as a step toward greater liberalization but doesnt plan to set up a mainland subsidiary because the new regime still imposes some restrictions on foreign firms, says Hendrik du Toit, CEO of the $109 billion London-based manager. Its not as if you open an office in the U.K. or something, he adds. The latest liberalization applies to the management of mainland stocks and bonds for Chinese institutions and high-net-worth clients, a market worth some $2.5 trillion, according to Z-Ben Advisors. It does not allow foreign firms to manage funds for domestic retail investors, a $3.7 trillion market. Nor does it affect the management of offshore assets for Chinese clients, which foreign and domestic firms currently do under quota programs, such as the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor and Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor regimes. Open access has long been a goal of foreign firms and Chinas major trading partners, but the announcement, which came just a few weeks after top U.S. and Chinese officials met in Beijing for the eighth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, caught industry executives by surprise. Many foreign executives had begun to question Beijings commitment to financial liberalization following a sharp plunge in Chinese stock prices last year and clumsy efforts by regulators to manage the volatility. But opening up the domestic market to foreign asset managers could add depth and stability to mainland markets and help counter the large capital outflows that China has experienced over the past year. Chinese authorities had already been easing restrictions on foreign managers. Last October U.K.-based Aberdeen Asset Management and Boston-based Fidelity Investments got the green light to set up wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China, and in March 2016, Westport, Connecticutbased hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates received permission to set up shop in the country. The authorities also opened the Shanghai stock market to direct investment by Hong Kongbased firms through the Stock Connect program, introduced in November 2014. To take advantage of the new opening, foreign managers must be free of any regulatory sanctions, Chinese or otherwise, for at least three years and be based in nations that have trade and financial agreements with China. Firms must base their Chinese corporate entities in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone, an area established in September 2013 that gives firms quota-free access to foreign exchange. The new rules do not affect the 44 joint ventures that foreign asset managers have established with Chinese partners. Some of these firms have established leading market positions. Harvest Fund Management Co., the countrys third-largest fund manager, with $90 billion in assets as of March 31, 2015, is 30 percent owned by Deutsche Banks asset management arm. Several other joint ventures figure prominently in the 2015 China 20, Institutional Investors ranking of the countrys top asset managers, including eighth-ranked ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. and No. 10, Bank of Communications Schroder Fund Management Co. Alexander of Z-Ben Advisors says the competitive impact of the new liberalization is unclear. You can argue the foreigners coming in will be sidelined, much like they are sidelined in insurance, banking and securities, he says. On the other hand, he adds, many Chinese investors have shown little brand loyalty: If you can come up a compelling invest process that generates decent returns, that would be a killer app. Performance matters, full stop, in China. Hubert Tse, a Shanghai-based legal adviser to foreign hedge funds, says the new market opening will beckon many global hedge funds to China. This is encouraging news, as qualified foreign hedge funds and asset managers can run money in China, raising funds from Chinese investors onshore, and launch funds to invest in A shares in the China market, says Tse, a partner at law firm Boss & Young. This announcement shows that Chinese regulators are committed to further opening up of the financial markets and developing the asset management industry and hedge fund markets despite poor market performance, continued depreciation in the renminbi and anticipated fund outflows. In 2013 the authorities allowed six hedge fund firms, including New Yorkbased Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, Chicago-based Citadel and London-based Man Group, to set up subsidiaries in Shanghai and invest up to $50 million for Chinese clients under its Qualified Domestic Limited Partner program. Last year the government approved five more foreign firms, including UBS Global Asset Management and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, to open Shanghai outlets under the QDLP program with investment quotas of $100 million each. Follow Allen Cheng on Twitter at @acheng87. Much ink has been spilled, and a few reputations have risen and fallen, debating the merits of active versus passive investing. This much is certain, however: Each has had periods of outperformance versus the other, and surely will have again. Yet some retirement investors, and even some retirement plan sponsors, have chosen to use only passively managed investment options. Their choice is surprising not because passive investing is inherently badit can make sense for some investors, in some circumstancesbut because it runs counter to one of the fundamental tenets of prudent investing: diversification. Consider that over the long run stocks have generated substantially higher returns than bonds (about a 10 percent compound annual growth rate since 1926 for large-cap stocks, according to Morningstar, versus 6 percent for long-term corporate bonds) and that small-cap stocks have handily outpaced large-caps (12 percent versus 10 percent over the same period). Still, very few investment advisers counsel retirement plan participants to invest only in small-cap stocks. Rather, advisers recommend that participants hold a diversified portfolio of investments. As for retirement plans themselves, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) actually requires plan fiduciaries to offer participants a diversified menu of investment options. Yet while diversification by asset class is touted, diversification by management style is often overlooked. One consequence: a world where some retirement plan participants fail to take advantage of active management at all, and so forfeit the opportunity to benefit during times when active managers, on average, outperform their benchmark indexes. Contrary to popular perception, it isnt that hard to find periods when that has happened. According to a recent analysis by Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. market strategist at RBC Capital Markets, for example, 57.9 percent of large-cap managers tracked by Morningstar outperformed the Standard & Poors 500 stock index from 2001 through 2011. Brad Neuman, client investment strategist at Fred Alger Management, endorses the idea that retirement investors deserve access to actively managed investment options within their defined contribution plans. He also questions the notion that passive investments are truly agnostic that they do not actively favor some securities over others. All investment funds have an underlying philosophy or methodology, Neuman explains. What most people think of as passive management in most cases is driven by a market-cap methodology in which the stocks with the largest market cap have the greatest impact on the funds performance. That market-cap methodology, he says, can lead to passively managed funds becoming treacherously overexposed to companies that are overvalued. By way of example, he points out that by the time the dot-com bubble burst in early 2000, technology stocks had come to account for more than double their normal weighting in the S&P 500. Because a majority of active managers were apprehensive about tech stock valuations as the bubble approached its peak, they avoided the sector. That contributed to many active managers underperforming their benchmarks as the bubble grew, then outperforming after it burst. Today, as bond yields have declined to extremely low levels, many investors have sought yield in equities. In doing so, they have pushed valuations of stocks with bond characteristicsso-called bond-like equitiesto lofty levels. Neuman emphasizes that he cant say for sure whether any areas of the market, including bond-like equities, are entering a bubble now. But he notes that, with active and passive investment returns just as cyclical as the broader stock market, retirement investors who exclude either approach from their portfolios arent doing themselves any favors. Diversification is a cornerstone of prudent investing, he says, and it doesnt stop making sense when weighing active versus passive management. Initial second-quarter gross-domestic-product data released on Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis presented a complex picture for investors attempting to gauge the next policy move by the Federal Reserve. With rising household consumption more than offset by sluggish investment and rising inventories in the corporate sector, the headline annualized reading of 1.2 percent was significantly lower than consensus forecasts. In response the U.S. dollar slid against major currencies as the likelihood of an interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve in September suddenly appears more remote. For investors, the question now is whether sluggish growth will provide a sufficient excuse for Federal Open Market Committee members to delay an increase in benchmark rates until 2017. Uber sells China operations. On Monday, Uber Technologies announced that it will sell its floundering China franchise to local rival Didi Chuxing, creating a new entity with an estimated combined value of more than $30 billion. Uber will retain a minority stake in the combined business and revenue sharing and will accept a cash investment from Didi. The deal comes after the two ride-share giants have spent billions in fierce pricing and promotional competitions trying to capture the Chinese market. European bank stress test results released. Late on Friday, the European Banking Authority published results of stress tests for primary lenders from the region. Troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena was the only institution in the survey that was found to have a negative common equity tier one ratio. Monte dei Paschi, the worlds oldest bank in continuous operations, recently secured a financing deal from a consortium of other institutions to prop up its balance sheet. Several primary banks from the common currency region also saw capital ratios decline. Global PMI paint a mixed picture. Official July purchasing manager index data released today by Chinas National Bureau of Statistics indicate ongoing divergence between the service and industrial sectors in China. Headline manufacturing PMI registered at a contractionary level of 49.9 for the month, while the headline nonmanufacturing index came in at 53.9. Meanwhile, in Europe, PMI data produced by Markit suggests that industrial companies in the common-currency zone largely shrugged off Brexit risks last month. Headline manufacturing PMI for the region came in at 52 with notable strength among German factories and another contraction for France. While the fallout from the referendum was muted on the Continent, UK PMI data released by Markit suggests that British factory managers were rattled by the prospect of a departure with headline manufacturing levels falling to 48.2 versus 52.4 in June. Mitsubishi profits hit by negative rates. Fiscal first quarter financial results issued by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group on Monday revealed the impact of policymakers experiment with negative rates on Japans largest lender with a 32 percent year-over-year contraction in net profits bringing the total to $1.8 billion for the period. Mitsubishi is only the latest lender to report a negative effect from the Bank of Japans 0.1 percent levy on deposits. Tesla acquisition of SolarCity finalized. Earlier today, Tesla Motors confirmed the acquisition of SolarCity Corp. in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.6 billion. The deal, which had been widely reported in recent weeks, will represent the largest merger in the solar power market so far. As a major shareholder in both companies and chairman of the board of Tesla, Elon Musk will have to recuse himself from voting on the merger. Rising numbers of insolvencies could present brokers an opportunity in the credit insurance space across multiple sectors.From January to May this year, there were 3634 insolvencies, according to ASIC data, with construction topping the ladder with 625, accommodation and food industries followed with 316 insolvencies with retail rounding out the podium at 273. Mark Hoppe , managing director of Atradius Australia, told Insurance Business that insolvency numbers are trending up.It is definitely up from last year and we expect there to be even more as the year progresses, Hoppe said.I think construction is always affected and it is just the nature of the industry. You are talking about certain levels in construction, particularly in property development and major development, there is always a squeeze on pricing, there is a lot of competitiveness as well so when people quote there are instances when people take on and win large projects and being able to fund those projects as they occur can become difficult.There is still plenty of good business in construction but I think now is the time they should definitely look at it if they have not looked at it already.Hoppe stressed that it is not just clients in the construction industry that can benefit from credit insurance products as brokers could apprach clients in any industry for the coverage.I think it is all clients, Hoppe said when asked what idnustries brokers could appraoch.I think domestically what we are seeing, and if we use WA as an example, it can turn fairly quickly.A couple of years ago, people did not want to insure in WA because the economy was too strong and there was no need for it in many peoples mind and then, over the last two years, people have started to see deterioration and have started to insure.I think people who have already insured are benefitting from it whereas the people who have not insured already, it may be harder for them to get the products or they might be more expensive.I think that shows that you should be looking at this long-term and insuring through the good times for the bad so that you already have it there in place.Hoppe noted that economic concerns present brokers with an opportunity to approach their clients around the cover but a second pillar of credit insurance can be used to build long-standing customers.I think now is an easier time to approach them because the economy is suffering little bit, insolvencies are up and it is quite clear of the risk there is there, Hoppe said.I think the key, when they do approach, is not just to take a short-term view because that sales pitch only works for one year or two years while the economy is poorer.I think that may be something that gets people through the door and gets their interest but once they are there they need to be looking at the other benefits of being able to grow their business with the protection of credit insurance, about the extra comfort that you have, as the economy improves in the coming years.People will want to grow their businesses again and they will need to have that knowledge and comfort. I guess in short, it is about using the current concerns as that initial contact point but making sure the client understands the underlying benefits of it as something you think of as a long term product as well.RELATED ARTICLES: Two sisters from New Jersey have received a $9.5 million jury award stemming from a 2009 boat collision that left them with serious injuries and killed one of their friends. Jamie and Gina Franzino, of Mahwah, were aboard a 15-foot skiff that collided with a 31-foot boat in the Manasquan Inlet. The driver of the larger boat, Ed McCarthy, of McCarthys Marine Sales, was found liable in a trial in January, The Record reported. Last week, at the conclusion of the damages portion of the trial, a jury of five women and three men awarded $3.9 million to Jamie Franzino and $5.1 million to Gina Franzino. Gina Franzino also received $500,000 to cover an anticipated hip replacement operation. An email message left with McCarthy wasnt returned Saturday. While money cannot take away Jamie or Ginas physical and emotional scars, it will certainly help them carry on their lives with financial stability, Samuel L. Davis, an attorney who represented Gina Franzino, told the newspaper. According to Coast Guard officials, at the time of the crash the skiff carrying five people and the larger Boston Whaler with two people aboard collided on the north side of the Manasquan River between Point Pleasant Beach and Brielle. After the collision, the smaller boat came to rest in about 2 feet of water near Fishermens Cove, a conservation area also known as Dog Beach Jamie Franzino suffered injuries including a collapsed lung, broken rib, fractured pelvis and concussion. Gina Franzino suffered a broken pelvis and had to have her spleen removed. Another passenger on their boat, 24-year-old Kyle Tanis, of Mahwah, suffered a skull fracture and drowned. The two men aboard the larger boat were not injured in the collision. The crash tore the tail off the skiff and left its front end heavily damaged. Its center console was ripped from the hull by the impact. The Boston Whaler also sustained extensive damage. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics New Jersey A Pennsylvania steel company named in a lawsuit over an oil tanker train derailment near Casselton, N.D., more than two years ago wants the case moved from state to federal court. An attorney for Standard Steel made the motion to shift the case out of East Central District Court in Fargo, where the company and BNSF are being sued by the engineer who was at the helm of the train when it derailed. Bryan Thompson, of Fargo, is accusing Standard Steel of manufacturing a faulty axle that was found after the accident to be broken. Thompson says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and isnt capable of returning to work. The suit seeks unspecified damages. The original suit filed last year by Thompson only named BNSF, which says in court documents that if Thompson suffered any injuries, it was the fault of entities over which BNSF has no control. An amended complaint filed last month added Standard Steel as a defendant. Elizabeth Sorenson Brotten, an attorney for Standard Steel, said that her client did not want to comment. Duane Lillehaug, Thompsons attorney, did not return a phone message. The accident about 30 miles west of Fargo on Dec. 30, 2013, happened when a train carrying soybeans derailed in front of Thompsons train, causing the oil tanker train to also derail and set off a fire that could be seen from nearly 10 miles away. The crash spilled about 400,000 gallons of crude oil, which took several weeks to clean up. No injuries were reported. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation did not pinpoint the broken axle as the cause of the crash, but the NTSB ordered the industry to recall 43 axles made by Standard Steel in the same 2002 batch. The amended complaint by Thompson accuses Standard Steel of negligence because the axle had defective design and was not property tested and treated. The suit says the axle was in an unreasonably and dangerously defective condition when it was sold and that the company failed to adequately warn Thompson or BNSF. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits You are here: Home China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Monday issued the a red alert for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida approaches the mainland. From Monday night to Tuesday, sea waves as high as 11 meters are expected in the northern South China Sea, while the southern Taiwan Strait will witness waves as high as seven meters. The SOA also issued a red alert storm tides and estimated that the sea level off the Pearl River estuary will rise up to 220 cm. Typhoon Nida is expected to land in Guangdong Province early on Tuesday, probably around the Pearl River Delta. Six current or former state employees were charged on July 29 with misconduct and other crimes in the Flint, Mich., water crisis, bringing to nine the number of public officials facing prosecution over the lead contamination that alarmed parents across the country. Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a total of 18 new charges against three employees from the Department of Environmental Quality Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook and three from the Department of Health and Human Services Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott. In addition to the misconduct in office charges, there were willful neglect of duty and various conspiracy counts. Each attempted to bury or cover up, downplay or hide info that contradicted their own narrative, their story (that) theres nothing wrong with Flint water, its perfectly safe to use. In essence, these individuals concealed the truth and they were criminally wrong to do so, Schuette said at a news conference in the poor, predominantly black city of nearly 100,000 people 55 miles north of Detroit. Under the leadership of a state-appointed emergency manager, officials in April 2014 began using the Flint River as Flints water supply. State officials did not require that the river water be treated for corrosion, and lead from aging pipes and fixtures leached into Flint homes and businesses. The city remained on that water supply for 18 months, despite complaints from residents. Elevated levels of the toxin were discovered in children. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems. Shekter Smith, former head of the states drinking water office, appeared last month in a Detroit courtroom so her lawyer could assert her constitutional right against self-incrimination amid ongoing investigations. She hadnt yet been charged but was reassigned after the water crisis came to light and her firing was announced in February. Shekter Smiths attorney, Brian Morley, said that he was surprised she was charged. Its disappointing. I think were going to be really hard-pressed to find that she did anything wrong, and certainly nothing criminally wrong, he said. Neither Cook, Rosenthal nor Peeler immediately responded to phone messages seeking comment. A listed number for Scott couldnt be found and Millers attorney, Kristen Guinn, declined to discuss the case. Its the second round of charges stemming from the water crisis. In January, Schuette announced the appointment of a special counsel to help his office investigate whether laws were broken. In April, two state regulators and a city employee were charged with official misconduct, evidence-tampering and other offenses. At the time, the Republican attorney general guaranteed others would also be charged. Flint utilities administrator Mike Glasgow struck a deal with prosecutors in May, pledging cooperation in exchange for reduced charges as authorities continue investigating lead contamination of the citys drinking water supply. He entered a no contest plea to one count of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor, in exchange for dismissal of a felony charge of tampering with evidence. Two state Department of Environmental Quality officials also were charged with misconduct, conspiracy, tampering with test results and misdemeanor violations of clean-water law and await preliminary examinations. In June, Schuette filed a lawsuit against two water engineering companies, saying their negligence caused and exacerbated Flints lead-tainted water crisis and demanding what could total hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Schuette and Andy Arena, the lead investigator who once led Detroits FBI office, say nobody is off-limits from investigation or prosecution. You dont start at the top, Arena said. Were starting to work our way up, and expanding our investigation. The scope of the investigation is progressing exactly how it should be. The public health emergency was preceded by E. coli detections; resident complaints about color, odor and taste; and high levels of a disinfectant byproduct. A General Motors plant had stopped using the water just six months after the 2014 switch because it was rusting engine parts, and experts suspect a deadly Legionnaires disease outbreak was tied to the water. Gov. Rick Snyder has apologized for regulatory failures, and the state environmental agency has said it wasnt required to add an anti-corrosion chemical until after a year of testing. In March, a state task force that investigated the Flint crisis concluded that it was a case of environmental injustice. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission is holding public hearings on the matter. Federal experts now say filtered tap water is safe for everyone to drink in Flint, though some doctors still are recommending bottled water for pregnant women and children ages 5 and younger. Karoub reported from Detroit. Associated Press writer John OConnor in Springfield, Illinois, contributed to this report. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Michigan Pollution A federal judge ruled Friday that the insurance carrier for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart does not have to defend or indemnify him in a lawsuit brought by the family of a driver who died after being struck by Stewarts car during a race. U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd ruled that Axis Insurance Co.s policy with Stewart unambiguously limited the insurers liability to specific races. The family of Kevin Ward Jr. is suing Stewart, claiming that he acted recklessly when he struck and killed the young driver in an open-wheel race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in August 2014. Ward had exited his vehicle after a car-on-car bump with Stewart had sent Ward spinning into the wall lining the dirt track in upstate New York. Ward appeared to be yelling in the direction of Stewarts car when he was struck and killed. An Ontario County grand jury cleared Stewart of any criminal wrongdoing. According to the decision, Stewarts policy covered 105 specified events. The judge wrote that it is undisputed that the sprint car event in which Ward was killed was not one of those specified in the policy. Attorneys for Stewart had countered that certain language in the policy supported their position that coverage was warranted. Stewart will now have to bear the costs of his defense as the lawsuit continues. [Axis issued three policies to Stewart: primary commercial general liability (with $1 million each occurrence and $2 million aggregate limits), commercial excess liability ($4 million) and an auto policy ($1 million). Axis argued that its combined liability insurance policies did not cover claims of one race car driver versus another, the specific race in New York where the accident occurred, or the race car Stewart was driving.] Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Carriers Auto The Hartford Insurance Group (HIG) has completed its acquisition of Maxum Specialty Insurance Group for $168 million in cash. The transaction, announced in March, closed on July 29. Maxum will maintain its brand and limited wholesale distribution model and will be managed as a separate unit within The Hartfords Small Commercial business. Maxum will remain headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia and maintain its regional offices in Chicago and Philadelphia. Were excited to complete the acquisition of Maxum which builds upon our commitment to be a deeper and broader risk player, said The Hartford President Doug Elliot. Maxums excess and surplus coverage allows us to provide more solutions for our distribution partners and their customers. Were pleased to welcome the talented employees of Maxum into The Hartford family. Senior analyst Jay Sarzen, a member of Aite Groups insurance team has called the acquisition a smart move for The Hartford. Given the highly fragmented nature of the P/C world, there is a limit for HIG or any other carrier to finding growth in highly-penetrated industry classes, especially in small commercial. For many carriers such as HIG, growing will mean having to go broader, said Sarzen. Maxum wrote only $157 million in premium last year while The Hartfords small commercial unit writes about $3 billion on an annual basis; however The Hartfords distribution network of 10,000 agencies gives it an opportunity to grow this business line beyond the $157 million in premium, the Aite Group analyst said. Maxum Specialty Insurance Group, founded in 2003, is comprised of Maxum Indemnity Co. and Maxum Casualty Insurance Co. Maxum Indemnity is an authorized non-admitted excess and surplus lines insurer in 49 states; the District of Columbia; and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Maxum Casualty is an approved admitted carrier in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Both companies are domiciled in Delaware. For 2015, Maxum reported a combined ratio of 95.5, improved from 105.4 in 2014. Its biggest states for business include California (12 percent), Texas (12 percent), Florida (11 percent) and New York (10 percent). Its products include excess and umbrella, general liability, directors and officers liability, fiduciary liability, employment liability, lawyers, allied medical, architects and engineers, miscellaneous errors and omissions, auto physical damage and motor truck cargo. Maxum writes business through a select group of primarily independent wholesale brokers and general agents. Maxum is rated A-VIII from A.M. Best and its statutory surplus has grown to more than $114.6 million. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Excess Surplus A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas on Saturday, and there did not appear to be any survivors, authorities said. Authorities would not confirm the exact number of deaths, but Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration said the balloon was carrying at least 16 people and the Caldwell County Sheriffs Office said in a statement that it didnt look like anyone survived. If 16 people were killed, it would be the one of the worst such disasters, possibly the worst in U.S. history. The deadliest such disaster happened in February 2013, when a balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists Saturdays crash happened at about 7:40 a.m. in a pasture near Lockhart, which is about 30 miles south of Austin. The land near the crash site is mostly farmland, with corn crops and grazing cattle. Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive high-capacity electrical transmission lines about 4 to 5 stories tall. The site of the crash appears to be right below the overhead lines, though authorities havent provided further details about what happened. Ariel photos showed an area of charred pasture near an electrical transmission tower. Margaret Wylie lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site and told The Associated Press that she was letting her dog out Saturday morning when she heard a pop, pop, pop. I looked around and it was like a fireball going up, she said, noting that the fireball was under large power lines and almost high enough to reach the bottom of them. Wylie, who called 911, said the weather seemed clear and that she frequently sees hot air balloons in the area. Erik Grosof with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference that the agency has deemed it a major accident and a full-bore investigation will begin Sunday when more federal officials arrive. This will be a difficult site for us to work through, Grosof said. The balloon was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, according to two officials familiar with the investigation. The officials spoke on condition that they not be named because they werent authorized to speak publicly. Heart of Texas website said it offers rides in the San Antonio, Houston and Austin areas. The companys Facebook page features photos of a hot air balloon with a smiley face with sunglasses on it up in the air, people waving from a large basket on the ground and group selfies taken while up in the air. The operation does not appear to be registered with the state of Texas. Authorities have not released the names of those who were on board. Warning about potential high-fatality accidents, safety investigators recommended two years ago that the Federal Aviation Administration impose greater oversight on commercial hot air balloon operators, government documents show. The FAA rejected those recommendations. In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in April 2014, the National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA to require tour companies to get agency permission to operate, and to make balloon operators subject to FAA safety inspections. The FAAs Huerta responded that regulations were unnecessary because the risks were too low. After Huertas reply, the NTSB classified the FAAs response to the two balloon safety recommendations as open-unacceptable, which means the safety board was not satisfied with the FAAs response. Speaking to the AP just before leaving for Texas to lead the crash investigation, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said he was studying the boards recommendations from previous hot air balloon accidents. I think the fact that it is open-unacceptable pretty much speaks for itself, he said. He also noted that the team was still trying to gather basic information about the accident. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said its difficult to say whether the Texas crash will cause the agency to reconsider NTSBs recommendations until weve had a chance to gather and examine the evidence in this particular case. Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Emily Schmall in Fort Worth and Joan Lowy in Washington contributed to this report. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Attorneys for cigarette smokers and for tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA have agreed to a $45 million settlement of a lawsuit over the marketing of Marlboro Lights in Arkansas. The settlement was submitted to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox on July 29, three days before the start of an estimated six-week trial in a class-action lawsuit, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The lawsuit alleged that Philip Morris violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in its marketing of Lights and Ultralights, which are now sold as the Silver and Gold. The estimated amount of the payments to individual smokers was not clear. Plaintiffs attorney Tom Thrash said there could be more than 1 million people eligible. The funds also will be used to pay attorney fees, which are to be decided by the judge. Philip Morris spokesman Brian May said the company is glad to resolve the now 13-year-old case. After over a decade of litigation in this case, were pleased to put it behind us and believe the agreement is in the best interest of the company, he said. Lawyers now will begin establishing a process for how potential claimants can apply for payments, how their claims of tobacco use will be validated and the time frame for paying out the money. Thrash said he did not expect any payments to be made until early next year. Those eligible for payments are smokers who bought the Lights brands in Arkansas between Nov. 1, 1971, when the Lights brand was introduced, and May 29, 2003, the effective date of the lawsuit. Smokers who filed the lawsuit said the company, a subsidiary of Virginia-based Altria Group, misled consumers about the safety of the cigarettes by leading smokers to believe the brands had lower levels of tar and nicotine. Company officials said Lights did what they were advertised to do deliver less tar and nicotine if they were smoked correctly. The Lights filters were specially ventilated to reduce tar and nicotine, but smokers could get more by inhaling more deeply or more often, the company stated. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Arkansas Gawker Media founder Nick Denton lost his latest bid to halt enforcement of the $140 million verdict won by Hulk Hogan in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, according to a court document provided by the former pro wrestlers attorney. Florida Judge Pamela Campbell said Friday that she would let Hogan try to collect the jury award in part because, she said, Denton misled her at a June 10 hearing about the value of his company stock. Typically, the loser of a lawsuit has to turn over money or something valuable to the court while pursuing an appeal. Denton had told the court at the hearing that he would use stock in Gawker worth $81 million as security to guarantee payment of the jury verdict. But the media company had, just the day before, approved resolutions to put itself into bankruptcy, according to the court document. Also, in May, a potential buyer had offered to make an opening bid of $90 million for the companys assets, meaning Dentons shares would be worth much less than what the court was told. The judge said Denton hid material information about the value of that stock which a reasonable person, under similar circumstances, should have disclosed. I think the court really got this one wrong, Denton said in a statement. It was already widely reported that Gawker was putting in place a contingency plan to sell its websites. And the $81 million company valuation the court relied on was Hogans valuation. We told the court they did not know what the companys shares would be worth, especially after it had been pummeled by Hogan and Thiel, but were willing to pledge all of them, Denton added, referring to tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who helped finance Hogans lawsuit. There was no misrepresentation. Bankruptcy Protection For now, Gawkers bankruptcy in Manhattan federal court protects it from enforcement of the Hogan verdict. The federal judge refused to extend that shield to Denton, who would have to file his own bankruptcy to put the brakes on collection efforts against him personally. A jury found that Denton and a former Gawker editor, A.J. Daulerio, invaded Hogans privacy by publishing video excerpts of the wrestler having sex with a friends wife. Hogans attorney David Houston said Denton may try to get an appeals court in Florida to halt collection. If that effort fails, Hogan could file court papers by Monday in New York, where Dentons assets are located, that will enable him to collect, Houston said. While protected from Hogan in bankruptcy, Gawker plans to sell itself at a court-supervised auction. Ziff Davis has agreed to open with a $90 million bid and to keep Denton on if it wins. Under bankruptcy court rules, Hogans judgment would be treated as an unsecured claim against Gawker, meaning he stands to collect a share of the sale proceeds only after more senior creditors are paid in full. The case is Bollea v. Gawker Media LLC, 12012447-CI-011 (Florida 6th Judicial Circuit, Pinellas County). The bankruptcy case is In re Gawker Media LLC, 16-11700, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Florida Legislation Investigators are looking for answers after fire broke out at a Florida mosque for the second time in 10 days. Federal and local officials are investigating the July 27 blaze at the Islamic Education Center in Tampa. Sallah Harake, a mosque board member, said electricity was blamed for the July 17 fire. But he said the power has been cut off then. The Islamic centers caretaker told investigators he heard popping sounds and saw smoke. He doused flames with a hose while a neighbor called 911. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating because it is a house of worship. In a separate case, The Tampa Bay Times reports a fire last week at Madinatul Ilm the other mosque in Hillsborough County was determined to be accidental. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Florida Numbers Lodge managers and cafe owners along Californias dramatic Big Sur coast were looking at a summer of jittery guests and cancelled bookings after fire officials warned that crews will likely be battling a wildfire raging in steep, forested ridges just to the north for another month. Big Sur establishments were already reporting as much as a 50 percent drop in business, said Stan Russell, executive director of the chamber of commerce. Thats even though the only signs of the blaze were fire trucks and an occasional whiff of smoke along the famously winding and scenic Highway 1. Normally, this time of year is when everybody really runs at 100 percent, Russell said Friday about tourism in the area. This is when we make our money. The week-old blaze a few miles north of Big Sur had been blamed for one death, that of a bulldozer operator working the fire line. The fire has destroyed 57 homes and burned 42 square miles (134 square kilometers). Flames were concentrated in forested ridges above the summer fog line along the coast. Many patches of fire were in areas too steep to be reached, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. More than 5,000 firefighters were battling the wildfire that officials expect to linger until the end of August. Highway 1 remained open, but signs along the narrow route warned travelers that all state parks in the area were closed because of the fire. At the luxury Post Ranch Inn, where clifftop rooms that open to sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean go for more than $2,000 a night, general manager Kevin Geanides was offering refunds to guests canceling stays because of the wildfire. Business was off about one-fourth, he estimated. Smoke was thick along the Big Sur coast for the first days of the blaze. With a shift in the wind, the past few days, if you were standing on our ridge, you wouldnt even know there was a fire, Geanides said. Other residents and travelers agreed. Hotel workers reviewed emergency evacuation plans as a precaution, despite the blue skies along the coast. Fire officials earlier in the week ordered at least 350 residents to leave homes that were much closer to the flames. Keith Bispo of the hard-hit Palo Colorado community of Big Sur defied the evacuation order, even though his wife, 1-year-old child, five dogs and two cats pulled out. On Friday, Bispos house still stood. Many of his neighbors homes were gone. I wanted to stay here, and if it was going to burn, I was going to watch it burn, Bispo said. I was going to do everything I can to stop it. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Flash With all eyes on Yemeni peace negotiations, the United Nations envoy for the country announced Saturday that the UN-supported talks under way in Kuwait have been extended for an additional week. "We hope that the delegations can utilize this remaining week to achieve progress on the path towards peace," said Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, the Special Envoy, who earlier today presented to the parties a proposal for a political solution that draws on the common ground achieved in the preceding weeks. He had requested the extension in a letter to the Government of Kuwait, the host of the peace talks, and met with Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, to review the latest developments and the plans for the coming days. In mid-July, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed appealed to the parties, stating that "the time has come for you to take definitive decisions that demonstrate to the Yemeni people the sincerity of your intentions and your national obligations." Vast swathes of war-torn Yemen 19 out of 22 governorates are facing severe food insecurity, and the situation within affected areas is likely to deteriorate if conflict persists, according to a new assessment by the United Nations and partners. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis confirms that over half the country's population is living in 'emergency' or 'crisis' levels of food insecurity, with some governorates seeing as much as 70 per cent of their population struggling to feed themselves. Following nearly 16 months of conflict in Yemen, the cessation of hostilities was declared on 10 April and has since continued to provide relief from violence in many parts of the country. But serious violations have occurred in Marib, al Jawf, Taiz and in the border areas with Saudi Arabia. Una cittadina italiana, Chiara Gemmo, ricercatrice 26enne di Montagnana (Padova), e morta insieme ad altri 4 turisti in un incidente dauto nel Salar di Uyuni, in Bolivia. Lo rendono noto i media locali, precisando che il veicolo sul quale viaggiavano i 5 turisti deceduti (oltre allitaliana, 3 belgi e un peruviano) si e ribaltato, a quanto pare a causa dello scoppio di uno pneumatico o per leccessiva velocita. Altri tre turisti, due peruviani e un boliviano, sarebbero rimasti feriti. Non tutte le identita delle persone coinvolte sono state precisate, ma e noto che quattro delle vittime siano donne. Il gruppo di turisti viaggiava a bordo di un pullman turistico. Lincidente, ha spiegato Rodolfo Salazar, capo della polizia locale, e avvenuto nella notte di sabato. I feriti sono stati ricoverati a Potosi, a 200 km dal punto dellincidente. Il Salar di Uyuni, principale luogo turistico della Bolivia, e un enorme deserto di sale che, con i suoi 10.582 km di superficie, e tra i piu grandi deserti al mondo nonche in assoluto la piu grande distesa salata del pianeta. E situato nei dipartimenti di Potosi e di Oruro, nellaltopiano andino meridionale della Bolivia, ed e situato alla notevole altezza di 3.650 metri di quota. Si e formato in seguito al prosciugamento di un immenso lago salato preistorico. E meta di migliaia di turisti ogni anno, ma quello di sabato e lunico incidente mortale registrato da tempo. Ride-sharing and ride-hailing services are becoming increasingly popular among commuters. And their popularity is poised to rise even more. In fact, the number of ride-sharing users is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 16.6% by 2026. Some of the biggest names in this industry include Uber and Lyft. But there is a growing list of names that are trying to gain a foothold in the global market, including China's DiDi Chuxing. This article looks at a brief history of the company including its financial backers, key mergers, management, as well as its financial prospects for the future. Key Takeaways DiDi Chuxing is a mobile transportation company headquartered in Beijing. It has sometimes been referred to as China's Uber. The company was founded in 2012 and has 13,000 corporate employees. DiDi operates across Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, and Russia. It has acquired a series of rivals in China, including Kuaidi Dache and Uber China. DiDi went public in June 2021 on the NYSE. DiDi Chuxing: An Overview DiDi Chuxing is a mobile transportation company headquartered in Beijing. Known simply as DiDi, it is now one of the world's largest ride-hailing companies, serving more than 493 million users across Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, and Russia. DiDi was founded in 2012. Founder Cheng Wei, who named the company DiDi Dache, intended it to be a smartphone app for people who wanted to immediately hail cabs. Since then, it expanded to offer a broad range of services for travelers beyond taxis, including private cars, car rentals, buses, and chauffeurs, as well as delivery services, and bike-sharing. The company uses new technologies such as artificial intelligence to deploy its resources more efficiently. Since its creation, the company has raised more than $23.2 billion in 26 rounds of funding before it went public via an IPO in June 2021. The company has also made strategic investments in other global companies such as Lyft, Bolt, and Grab. DiDi Chuxing has almost 13,000 corporate employees around the world as of 2022 and dominates the Chinese ride-sharing market. $20.64 billion DiDi's market capitalization as of February 2022. DiDi's Management Ranks The management team behind Didi's success boasts alums from Goldman Sachs, Alibaba, and other major enterprises. Will Wei Cheng is DiDi's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) and has extensive technology experience. After graduating from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Wei held several jobs before joining the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Over eight years, he worked his way up to become vice president for Alibaba's online payment service, Alipay. Jean Qing Liu is the company's director and president. She joined the company in 2014 and has played a key role in DiDi's rapid growth. She has an undergraduate degree in computer science from Peking University and a master's degree in computer science from Harvard. Before joining DiDi, she worked for Goldman Sachs for more than a decade and became managing director in Asia for the investment bank. 15,000,000 In 2021, DiDi had an estimated 15 million drivers worldwide, compared to Uber's 5 million drivers. DiDi Was Built on Mergers DiDi has undergone a series of key mergers and acquisitions (M&A) since 2012most notably with key rivals who vied for market share in China. According to Crunchbase, DiDi had made five acquisitions by 2018. Reuters reported that DiDi was locked in a price war with rival Kuaidi Dache, resulting in major losses for both companies. While DiDi claimed about 55% of the Chinese market, Kuaidi controlled much of the remaining 45%. The 2015 merger resulted in one of the largest ride-sharing apps, with the newly-formed combined company valued at about $6 billion at the time. DiDi also competed aggressively against international companies that tried to corner the Chinese market including Uber China. After Uber lost an estimated $2 billion in a market share battle, it brokered a truce with DiDi. Uber China sold its business to Didi and became a minority investor. DiDi, in turn, invested $1 billion in Uber as part of the deal. DiDi has also made key investments in other companies, including $100 million in Lyft, Uber's major rival, forming a partnership to share technologies and marketing expertise. DiDi operates three different business segments: China Mobility, International, and Other Initiatives. DiDi's Early Investors DiDi had raised a significant amount of capital to expand through 26 rounds of financing before it went public. The company has a total of 48 investors, 14 of which are considered lead investors. The last was a debt financing round on April 9, 2021, which consisted of six investors. These names included: Morgan Stanley JPMorgan Chase HSBC Goldman Sachs Citi Barclays Together, these names invested a total of $1.5 billion in DiDi. DiDi also raised $500 million from SoftBank and another company called For Good Ventures in a venture round of financing in May 2020. Toyota invested $600 million in July 2019 in a corporate round of financing. DiDi Goes Public (and Then Delists) DiDi went public in an initial public offering (IPO) on June 30, 2021, when shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol DIDI. The company sold 316.8 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), raising a total of $4.4 billion or $14 per share. The offering was larger than expected because the IPO was oversubscribedDiDi originally intended to sell 288 million sharesmaking it the largest listing by a Chinese company in the United States since Alibaba went public in 2014. Post-IPO Delisting Since DiDi went public in June 2021, its shares have dropped significantly from its $14 IPO price to around $4 per share as of February 2022. Part of these losses also stems from the company's about-turn announcement to de-list its shares from American exchanges in December 2021, under pressure from the Chinese government to do so. Instead, the company will re-list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The de-listing remains an ongoing matter and it is unclear if an ADR will exist following the eventual de-listing. What Is Chinas DiDi Chuxing? DiDi Global Inc. provides ride-hailing and other services in the People's Republic of China, Brazil, Mexico, and internationally; as well as enterprise business ride solutions, bike and e-bike sharing, intra-city freight, food delivery, and financial services. The company was formerly known as Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc. and changed its name to DiDi Global Inc. in June 2021 went it IPO'd on the New York Stock Exchange. What Is the Difference Between DiDi Chuxing and Uber? Both company's offer ride-hailing services. DiDi actually bought Uber's China operations in 2016, so Uber no longer operates in China. At the same time, DiDi does not operate in the U.S. A rather large portrait of the Republican presidential candidate nominee Donald Trump has appeared in an unusual location in a Dublin pubThe urinal. The Adelphi Bar, on Middle Abbey Street, claimed that The Donald has preached hate in his colorful statements. Tony McCabe, the manager of the bar, said Trump plays a central part in political debates taking place in pubs across Dublin, which was the reason they decided to put Trumps face where it mattered. He stated "I just felt that it was a way for some people to express their feelings towards Mr. Trump's views and to make their trip to the bathroom a 'wee' bit more entertaining." Read more: Did an Irish band predict Donald Trumps wall in the 1990s? McCabe told ITV that Trumps photo will be taken down if he is elected as the President of the United States in November. Good morning Dublin. Open from 3pm - 11.30pm. #craftbeer #newmenu #excitingthingstocome #cozybar A photo posted by adelphi (@adelphidublin) on Jul 11, 2016 at 2:24am PDT Probably the most fun way to relieve yourself on a night out! #TheDonald #Trump #DonaldTrump #Urinal #Dublin #Ireland A photo posted by Asa Barker (@ahgoway) on Jul 31, 2016 at 7:42am PDT On the bars Facebook page they posted a photos along with this: "It seems that our urinal is turning out to be rather popular with the gents !!! Any suggestions for the ladies restroom ???" [sic]The Dublin pubs toilet decor is far from novel. Back in March this year a pub in London, The Three Stags, created this P*ss Poll by adding the faces to of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to their urinals. And in February the Atlas Ballroom in Indiana installed Donald Trump urinal cakes: Donald #Trump urinal cakes; Seriously, You boys have all the fun pic.twitter.com/pC7BjXAgBa Jenica Fahey (@jenicabloodlady) May 26, 2016 Haha want to know the clever artist that thought up this one! #trumpurinal #donaldtrump #art #funny A photo posted by @alexmakauskas on Dec 23, 2015 at 5:26pm PST #urinal in #queenstownnz #bar #cowboys #donaldtrump A photo posted by Belinda McCammon (@otagobel) on Jul 22, 2016 at 4:21pm PDT #hillaryforprison #urinal #Trump #2016 A photo posted by Bernadette Arnaut (@b_arnaut) on Jul 16, 2016 at 6:02pm PDT And heres just some other artistic tacks to urinals we found:This photo comes from the Cowboys Bar, in Queenstown, New Zealand:But it should also be said that Trump isnt the only one thats gotten the urinal treatment: Read more: A message from President Trump: I'm a "Know Nothing" and proud of it Is this a harmless bit of toilet humor or does it go too far? Share your thoughts in the comment section. Enjoy! Food You'll Love By Sheila Kiely What is Irish cooking? Some of the most talented people in the country have been answering that interesting question for over four decades now, and increasingly their voices are being heard around the world. One of the most interesting new voices in this field unarguably belongs to Sheila Kiely, who first came to prominence through her remarkable Irish food blog Gimme the Recipe and then through her terrific 2012 debut cookbook of the same name. Kiely's genius is to mammy-proof her recipes. She teaches you brilliant but easy to follow twists on classic Irish dishes, breads, soups, stews, roasts and desserts, but then she mixes it up with real continental flair and impressive international awareness, making dinner night extra special every night of the week. But what's the point of creating superb and inventive dishes if your loved ones really don't want to eat them? Kiely knows this and creates recipes that find that sweet spot between gourmet and genuinely good dinners. Another reason she's become so popular is the ease of the recipes that she lays out. The ingredients are easy to find in your local store, there are no cheats, you won't have to trek out to specialist shops in search of a host of spices you've never heard of. "In Enjoy! Food You'll Love" she's taken the title literally. Handsomely produced and photographed, it's the kind of go-to cookery book that will inspire you to take more interest in weekday dinners and help you reconsider and rework dishes you already know and love. This isn't hard, she reminds us. It takes as much effort to make a bad meal as it does to produce something wonderful, so why not take the latter route? Recipes that get made in under an hour from start to finish are recipes that you'll return to. With an Irish family of her own to impress she has the perfect sounding board for what works. Pick up this book and catch a rising star who will help you answer what Irish cooking is and take real pride in it. Highly recommended. Dufour, $27. According to Their Lights: Stories of Irishmen in the British Army, Easter 1916 By Neil Richardson For decades the Irishmen who served in the British Army usually refused to acknowledge it when at home, for a host of compelling reasons. Over the decades many factors contributed to their decisions to enlist, but a prolonged silence usually followed it, especially if they returned to live in their homeland. In Neil Richardson's utterly absorbing new book he looks at the Irishmen who fought for the English in Irelands April 1916 Easter Rising, where an exquisitely complicated clash of allegiances quickly came into play. History records the Rising as Irish rebel against English soldier, but the truth was much more complicated. How could it not have been, by then the English had been a presence in Ireland, in one form or another, for 700 years. The fact is that thousands of the British soldiers fighting in the Rising were native born Irishmen. Many had enlisted to fight for Irish Home Rule or to defend the Ulster Covenant, and others had enlisted to travel the world or escape from, by then, generational poverty they were trapped in. In the years before the Rising few of them would have imagined that they would one day find themselves on the streets of Dublin facing the business end of the guns of their own compatriots and killing or being killed by fellow Irishmen. Nevertheless, the facts are stark: 41 Irishmen in the British Army died while in action during the Rising and 106 were wounded. These men quickly became a forgotten part of the countrys history, so they deserve to be rescued from the deliberate obscurity that fell around them. Oscar Wilde, a brilliant Irishman, once wrote that the truth is rarely pure and never simple and Richardson's book does a find job of reminding us of this occasionally inconvenient truth. But it is better to know our true history, and to learn from it, than pretend it didn't unfold the way it did and hoodwink only ourselves. The tragedy of colonialism affected everyone who participated. Dufour, $32. A petition has called for the resignation of an Irish politician after he said that the vast majority of Muslim immigrants do not want to work. According to the Irish Mirror, Councillor Seamus Treanor, 69, was reporting on the Monaghan Municipal Council statistics he got from Denmark, when he remarked: "[Denmark] had let in 30,000 of them and five years later 99% of them were on the dole." The Monaghan-based Northern Sound newspaper first reported his comments and received several letters complaining about his remarks. An online petition has since been created, calling for the councillors resignation. It has nearly 600 signatures. The Change.org petition states: Cllr. Treanor's comments are nothing short of hate-mongering and lies. We feel that local opposition to Cllr. Treanor's position as a Councillor is the appropriate response. Racist speech oftentimes preludes further racist manifestations in society, and there is a real danger in allowing this man to go unchallenged in his current platform, as he uses it as a mouthpiece for hate speech. Former TD and council member Paudge Connolly said Treanors remarks were made at the meeting after it was proposed that the council should send a condolence letter to the French embassy following the attack in Nice. Cllr Connolly said: "We were after having a tragedy in the south of France and I proposed we send a letter of condolence to the French Embassy and it was after that that Seamus made his comments. "We do have free speech and one of the things about that is that you might not like what you hear." Councillor Treanor later refused to apologize for his remarks, saying: "I don't take back a bloody word of it." He added: "The bloody liberal brigade in this country needs a kick up the backside. Britain will stop them coming in now [after Brexit] and the next target will be Ireland." "Why would they [Muslims] want to work when they're getting handouts? They are coming in droves." When asked by the Irish Daily Mail if he was accusing all Muslims of being work shy, he answered: "I'm not referring to the medical people who come in; the nurses and doctors, they're fine. But taken all in all, I stand by my position." He said his comments were based on data, and that "someone looked into it and said on the radio that it was right. He said: "If 98% or 99% of them are on the dole in Denmark, then what the hell's different in Ireland?" Sinn Fein members Sean Conlon and Brian McKenna, who were not in attendance at the meeting, have condemned Councillor Treanors comments as "sectarian and inflammatory. Flash The first ever government task force on modern slavery is to be established in Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May announced Sunday. The move comes on the first anniversary of a Modern Slavery law that May introduced when she was Home Secretary. May also announced Sunday a 44 million U.S. dollar package from Britain's aid budget to create a five-year international modern slavery and focused on high-risk countries, from where victims are regularly trafficked into Britain. "It is hard to comprehend that such sickening and inhuman crimes are lurking in the shadows of our country. But the most recent estimates suggest that there are between 10,000 and 13,000 victims in the UK alone and over 45 million across the world," said May. "From nail bars and car washes to sheds and rundown caravans, people are enduring experiences that are simply horrifying in their inhumanity," she added. May spoke of one young modern female slave she had met in London, saying: "She had come to England as a student but was forced into prostitution, imprisoned in a house in south London and regularly abused, including being threatened at gunpoint. When she finally escaped to north London, she was picked up by another gang that systematically exploited her and raped many others in a squalid high-street brothel." She described how vulnerable people travelled long distances believing they were heading for legitimate jobs to find they have been duped, forced into hard labour, and then locked up and abused. "Innocent individuals are being tricked into prostitution, often by people they thought they could trust. Children are being made to pick-pocket on the streets and steal from cash machines. Others, like a seven-year-old who was found and rescued in London, are held as domestic slaves, while some children are raped, beaten and passed from abuser to abuser for profit," said May. She said she and her successor as Home Secretary Amber Rudd will hold regular meetings at 10 Downing Street with every relevant government department "to get a real grip of this issue right across Whitehall and to co-ordinate and drive further progress in the battle against this cruel exploitation". May's Modern Slavery act was the first of its kind in Europe, creating tough new penalties to put slave masters in prison, with life sentences for the worst offenders. "It has created a vital policing tool to stop anyone convicted of trafficking from travelling to a country where they are known to have exploited vulnerable people in the past," said May. It has also delivered enhanced protection and support for victims of slavery and a world-leading transparency requirement on businesses to show modern slavery is not taking place in their companies or their supply chains. These crimes must be stopped and the victims of modern slavery must go free. "Just because we have some legislation does not mean the problem is solved. So as Prime Minister, I am setting up the first ever government task force on modern slavery," said May. She commissioned an independent review from slavery-law expert Caroline Haughey, which found that in the first year of the new law there have been 289 modern slavery offences prosecuted and a 40 percent rise in the number of slavery victims identified by the state. May said Britain's new Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland, the only such commissioner in the world, is critical in Britain's fight to stop criminal gangs exploiting innocent men, women and children. She said his work has helped uncover criminal gangs creating twinned towns of modern slavery between Britain and other nations. Summer is here and families are on the move. Ever hopeful parents will again strap on their baby carriers, collapse their strollers, rig-up a toddler harness and take to the road (or sky). Our travels will certainly involve tears, probably some vomit, maybe an airport delay, definitely a frantic U-turn on a badly lit road with no signposts and the inevitable question asked through gritted teeth, Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? One million visitors from North America will visit Ireland this year and chances are many will visit with children. Many Irish families will return home with grandbabies to show-off and many American families will travel to reconnect with family or just to experience the country of their heritage. The good news is that Ireland is a very friendly family tourist destination. County Kerry was voted the second best family holiday destination in Europe by Lonely Planet last year. The bad news is you cant get to Ireland without flying over the Atlantic so, unless you want to bubble wrap your children and ship them via the sort of reliable U.S. Postal Service, they will be with you in airports, on airplanes, in rental cars and probably small hotel rooms. Read more: Bittersweet goodbyes to Ireland and moving home to Maine I am planning a two week trip to Ireland. This means a two hour drive to Boston, hours in the airport, a six hour flight to Shannon and then a two hour drive to our house in Kerry if all goes according to plan (impossible). The trip for us is routine. I am from Maine but spent the last ten years in Ireland and have flown many times with a newborn, a toddler, a newborn and a toddler and then two toddlers. This years trip with a six and four-year-old and my husband seems straightforward compared to past journeys, but I am confident Aer Lingus will do something to complicate it. I have put together some advice based on years of traveling to, from and around Ireland with young children that hopefully might help a few parents this summer so here is my list of sanity-saving rules for parents traveling with babies and toddlers. Travel light Nothing you bring will make the trip easier Not only will accepting this motto save your wallet and your back, but it might save you from an ugly breakdown mid-flight. In my experience the amount of time you spend packing gear the higher your anxiety levels. Millions of advertising dollars disagree with me, but I maintain the struggle to find the elusive gadget or toy that makes flying so much easier is part of what makes traveling with kids so stressful. Rummaging through overstuffed bags while a baby or toddler is screaming is awful and worrying about what to bring for whom in what bag is self-inflicted torture. Despite what the massive baby and child gadget market will have you believe, there are no travel essentials that you cant live without. So accept this and relieve yourself from chasing it. I researched travel car seats, bringing my own car seats, plane harnesses, fabric portable high chairs, pop-up travel cots, bottle carriers, strollers, etc. I tried buying pocket-sized books, coloring sets and cars and hiding them until we were on the plane and then revealing each one when my son's patience was running out. End result lots of packing stuff into the front seat and about 3.5 minutes of distraction time until crayons, cars and books fall and are lost forever. I remember one website reminding we mothers pack a change of clothes in our carry-on bag so we wouldn't have to get off the plane covered in spit-up, food or pee. Who cares? You're getting off the plane. You will look like shit even with a fresh shirt so save yourself the hassle of carrying it. Buy a very cheap collapsible stroller for the airport. Make sure you can push it with one hand. If you are traveling alone and outnumbered by kids, then consider your double stroller (never a side by side one) for restraining toddlers in the airport, but check it at the gate at the last minute and make sure you will get it at the door of the plane. This was critical for me on solo trips with two children under 3. Leave your car seats in the car and rent what you need on the other side. I have even ordered car seats and had them delivered to my parent's rather than deal with bringing them. The price is the same as renting one. Most places you will stay or rent can provide some baby equipment so just ask in advance and when booking booster seats or car seats in Ireland, I recommend contacting the car rental company (on the Irish side) before traveling to confirm you will have car seats. Irish car rental companies are notorious gangsters so be prepared to pay for a BMW and end up crammed into a Fiat Punto. At Shannon Airport I have observed the American tendency to pack just a smidgen too much for a weeks holiday, so try to keep in mind your rental car will smaller than expected. Don't fly with babies between 8 months and 24 monthsSeriously Clearly this is unavoidable if your grandmother dies in Tipperary, but I highly advise planning your Irish holiday outside of these time-frames. These ages are estimates based on physical development and craziness. Once your child can move but before he or she is able to be somewhat rational and sit and listen to you, don't fly. It's torture. You've all seen the poor haggard dad trying to smile while following a crazed two-year-old up and down the aisles until one of them eventually ping pongs into the wrong person while the mom up front necks a mini bottle of wine. This same stage is torture in cars, at restaurants, in hotel rooms, in strollers for long periods of time, at nightyou get the picture. Read more travel stories from IrishCentral here Traveling with a newborn who can't move and whose cry can barely be heard above the engine is easy. A nursing newborn is even easier. I've flown while nursing and while bottle-feeding and nursing was so much easier. For some reason I had never heard of pre-made bottles (they mightn't have existed in Ireland at the time) so I had one bag with enough sanitized bottles and cartons of formula to last the trip (about 12 hours door to door) and then another bag with dirty bottles so there could be no cross contamination. I also spent hours researching a comparable formula to the one my son drank in Ireland before we went and made my mom scour the aisles of CVS for the right brand. The horror. If you need to visit family overseas definitely try to do that while your baby is at its most portable and if you are traveling to Ireland with a baby drinking bottles rest assured there are premade formula cartons available to purchase in every shop and electric kettles everywhere, which makes washing bottles and preparing formula relatively easy. Fight for the designated baby seats on long flights What's worse than being on a five-hour flight with a crying baby? Being on a five-hour flight crammed behind someone with their seat reclined before take-off which puts their head four inches from your baby's face and makes it impossible to get in or out of your seat while holding said screaming baby. That stupid cardboard bassinet is invaluable because it means you have seats with no one in front of you and a place to put the baby down if you have to go the bathroom or the baby does fall asleep. It's also much easier to change a not very smelly baby in that than in the broom cupboard bathroom with the changing table down. Reserve it online, call the airline, call them again the day of the flight, ask at check-in for the seat, ask again at the gate and then kick-up a fuss when you get on the plane and get booted to row 34 while a 25 lb 'baby' and his parents get seated in the bassinet row. When none of the above works, get a drink. The flight attendants are also much nicer and more helpful when you are sitting here and when they arent hawking perfume and cigarettes will sometimes rock your baby so you can have a few bites of dinner or use the bathroom. They are not nice when you are back in the sticks complaining about getting booted out of the baby seats. Stick to self-catering accommodation Avoid hotels or other close quarters with civilized travelers as this exponentially increases everyone's stress levels when you are trying to blend in with romantic couples on city breaks. Irish hotels are filled with children and accommodate babies and children very well, but they are also inevitably filled with weddings, baptisms, leaving dos (graduation parties), stag nights, First Communions, wakes, 21st birthday parties and other heavy drinking/singing/dancing events. There is a good chance that if you're children sleep for one night that you will be all woken up by drunken (non-civilized) thugs stomping through the hotel corridors crashing into doors and wall and singing. The drunks will eventually pass out and you will be left trapped in a room shushing a screeching child all night. Staying somewhere with a separate bedrooms and a kitchen is usually the less luxurious and appealing option since you want to avoid cooking and cleaning while on vacation but trying to put young children to sleep in a crib with the TV and lights on is hard. Turning off the lights and TV and then drinking wine in the bathroom of your hotel room is not much fun either. Putting crazed toddlers who won't go to bed in the hall of the hotel as punishment and watching them through the peephole doesn't work either, but I guarantee you will end up doing it so avoid the hotel. Many Irish hotels now have self-catering apartments on the hotel grounds so you have the option of using the hotel facilities but also the ability to cook breakfast and shout at your husband in peace. Avoid city breaksSorry Dublin Yes, I realize millions of people with children live in cities and navigate them with ease and confidence, but I am talking about flying to another city for a sight-seeing walking-filled weekend in a hotel with small children. Even without children these trips are exhausting because you cram so much walking and navigating new public transport into one day (in your practical shiny sneakers if you're American) and there is inevitably a fight about a map and shopping. Think about your regular evening/night time routines and activities when at home with your children. If involves strolling along city sidewalks and sampling tapas and cocktails with a stylishly Zara-clad toddler on a scooter who loves marinated octopus then, by all means, plan a city break (I am clearly jealous of Spanish parents). If your children go to bed around 7 pm and you change into your pajamas BEFORE dinner as I do, then be realistic. By 6 o'clock you will face finding a place to eat dinner, getting there by walking again or taking a taxi/bus and navigating car seats and folding strollers with tired and cranky children and parents. Then you have to get home. Young children don't have a vacation mode. They can't just go with the flow, stay up a couple hours later, behave and recuperate with a few extra hours in bed in the morning. Ha! The later they stay up the EARLIER my children get up. Read more: Top places to bring your kids to in Dublin The good news outside of the major busy cities, you will generally be able to walk to a local pub, eat, have a few drinks and then head home and your children will be welcome and not out of place. Just do everyone a favor and bring them home well before nine p.m. Try to remember how the words family friendly sent shivers down your spine and made your crinkle your nose up in disgust when you were childless and looking for a holiday. This is how couples feel when they see you and your brood tromping towards them at the pool, restaurant, beach, and plane. Do everyone a favor and accept your new reality. One-pieces, fanny packs and camp sites are the new you. Be picky about the travel advice you allow to influence your plans This mainly applies to social media and online resources where parents LOVE to give unhelpful advice (this list is different because my advice is helpful duh.) Just because someone you know from a mother and toddler group tells you her train journey across India with her twin babies strapped to her front and back with colorful fabric was great, doesn't mean you have to believe them. You also don't need to listen to someone who flew an hour to visit their mother with one three-year-old and her husband once. They don't know anything. Be selective when seeking or entertaining parenting advice in general but especially when planning trips with children. Tourists tend to be overly ambitious in their plans when heading to Ireland. I get it, once in a lifetime trip means you want to see everything. If you are alone and love white knuckling for five-six hours at a stretch in the car, then by all means travel the whole island in a week but if you have young children, be realistic. Pick a destination like County Kerry, rent a house, explore and take day trips. Traveling 90 miles on the free-way in the U.S. is not the same as traveling 90 miles in Ireland. I ask myself these questions when listening to or reading parenting advice and urge you to apply them to any travel advice you are given: How full of crap are you normally? If you've tried to convince me your baby was potty trained at six months or that your toddler just isnt tired at 10 oclock at night, then I can easily rule out your advice. It amazes me how otherwise intelligent women choose to listen to biggest crackpots when it comes to parenting instead of maybe a doctor or at least an experienced sensible parent. The number one piece of ridiculously BS Ive read on the internet is a bogus story about a mother making and distributing goody bags to her fellow passengers for her babys first flight. The goody bags supposedly included a cheesy rhyme about being patient with her new baby on the flight. Ugh. I am 99% sure this is untrue, but if you are people-pleasing and psychotic enough to buy, make and bring 40 goody bags onto the airplane along with small children then you deserve the meltdown you will eventually have on your vacation. Throw your rules out the emergency exit (no, not your child) I apply the "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" rule to vacations and airline travel of the Taytos and Club Orange rule of parenting. Do I usually let a toddler drink soda and binge on junk food and videos for hours? No. Do I when we are in transit and there is absolutely no hope of modifying their behavior without torturing everyone around us? Hell yes. Same concept in a pub is a bag of Taytos and an orange soda an appropriate snack for your two-year-old at home? No. Is it a completely acceptable way to enjoy a pint in the afternoon while in Ireland? Yes call it cultural and shut up. Candy, Pringles, pretzels and anything else you can get your hands on (avoiding Coke is still a good idea) on a flight will be your only hope for bribing or silencing overtired and bored toddlers. Who cares about your usual 'screen time' or nutrition rules? No one. Just give them whatever they want to shut them up. The only thing more aggravating to the innocent bystander in the row ahead of you than hours of a screeching child is hours of listening to you negotiate with said child. Or listening to you outlines their rules, routine and ideology on sugar. Or listening to you loudly narrate "Peppa Pig" to a two-year old. Be prepared to lose a few baby socks On my first transatlantic flight with my son I lost a tiny white sock. I spent fifteen minutes searching for one teeny tiny newborn sock on the plane. I searched under the seats, in our seats, in the seat pockets, emptied out carry-on bags and repacked them and became hysterical at the idea that my perfectly (obsessively anxiety fueled) packing and planning was going to be thrown into chaos by the loss of one sock. Organization, routines and plans are critical elements to being in control as a parent of young children but its very easy to cross over into controlling and obsessive. I have tried to learn that letting the little things (physical and symbolic) go once in a while is a big part of being a mother and you wont be able to survive traveling with children if you arent prepared to leave a few socks behind. * Colleen Hennessy is a freelance writer from Maine who spent ten years living and working in Ireland before returning to Maine with her family. She managed a government urban regeneration program in Ireland and is now reinventing herself in the world of e-commerce until she can make enough writing to keep her kids in Taytos and Club Orange. You can read her writing at colleenhennessy.com. Read more travel stories from IrishCentral here What is N26? From the beginning of N26, we said that retail banking for a lot of young people is not up to date. So what weve tried to build over the past few years is a retail banking experience that is really mobile first. It is something that people are used to already. We have Uber and Spotify, mobile applications that bring real world products. Weve done a pretty good job up to now and have around 200,000 customers in Germany and Austria. Were reaching out to more countries as we recently just got our own banking licence. How did you get that banking licence for a company that has no high-street presence? Our concept from the very beginning was about winning the customer. That being said, at some point youre going to have to add more as you grow. For us, that meant you needed to get a banking licence so that we could begin to offer products and services to our customers. For us, it was always clear that a lot of the old banks were missing that customer interaction. When you focus on the customer first you see tremendous success and new sign-ups like we have. The more we grew the more products our customers asked for and so it became inevitable that we would need to get the licence. Getting a banking licence doesnt happen very often and so its not something that a lot of people can give you an insight on. We brought together a really good team who drove the application process and worked with the regulator to make sure we had everything up to code. The regulator went through our business model and we had what they were looking for. How do you compete with the high-street banks, though? For us, its really been customers referring us to other customers. So our main growth channel has been the virality of our products. And that has its origin in the product that we have built. So people are really fascinated by our apps and giving them the simplicity that they are looking for. When people like something, when it works for them, they are more likely to recommend it. So we are seeing people use our platform and then show it to friends and family. That has been a big driver of our growth. We have a five-star rating of trust on the app store and that instantaneously tells people this brand is to be trusted and is secure. That is much more important than taking out a big newspaper ad or something like that. You need to win the customers. Getting the banking licence also creates that element of trust because we had to go through a rigorous application process and still been approved to get the licence. That says a lot about how good the product is and how we operate as a company. Many traditional banks use their banking licence as an excuse to not be innovative, blaming their licence for constricting what they give their customers. For us, it is because we have the licence that we can be much more innovative and offer customers something more than they are getting. Before we had to work with other institutions to offer solutions, now we can do it on our own. Are you constricted by the licence? Thats a good question because in general its valid in all member states and its not valid in a different region. So if we were to branch out to Asia or the US we would need a regulatory licence in order to do that. However, I think weve learned a great deal in the approval process that we received in the EU. What it says is that weve already been approved and so has our business model. I dont think there would be a big issue for us getting those licences, I do think it would become more complex as we try to enter small markets. The US is a huge market, China is a huge market, but when you get down to smaller areas or countries you will need new regulatory licences for each market. What is the model to make money? We based this on a couple of fundamental principles. The first one is that we are a lean organisation, we have 140 people who manage 200,000. We also have the IT infrastructure behind it to make that equation work. So, because we are so lean, that brings down the costs of the base products that our customers use. We have accounts that are much, much better than most people would find with their traditional banks in the European markets. We also have our ideals on what a modern bank should look like and how fintech is the model for a modern banking system. If you look at whats happening with a lot of banks, it has become a case of trying to unbundle the industry. So fintech is allowing people to hit specifics like just taking investment portfolios or just taking on international transfers. So what weve said is that it is unrealistic to become the best in a whole host of niche markets. Instead, [we] re-bundle it into a single platform where people can get the best product that suits their dimensions. A few months ago we integrated with Transferwise for international transfers. So now if you want to do an international transfer you can do so within the N26 app and get the best fees. All of this happens on your mobile, in your hand. Given that, what is the future of N26? In a few years N26 will stand for the best solution to all of your financial problems. Be it a credit, insurance or savings product. Inside the next 10 years we want to go beyond financial products. So maybe youll be able to book a taxi or a hotel through the app. Finance and your money is central to peoples lives and what they can do. Were looking to be the main problem solver for the financial strands of your life. Obviously, were starting out with the banking sector and moving in that space. Were going to be developing the future of the company in the next few years and laying the foundation of what our aspirations are for the future of N26. Most people arent interested in researching for hours and hours on things they are looking for. If we can provide a platform that saves people money and time, then thats what we will become. We will be selecting the best offers, still giving you a choice of course, and building on that trust that is already there. www.n26.com yet its primary function is to create the worlds biggest free-trade zone and increase transatlantic business and profits. Last week, the US and EU concluded their 14th round of negotiations as US resident Barack Obama hopes to finalise TTIP before leaving office in 2017. TTIP negotiators state the agreement will help small and medium enterprises in particular, arguing those who sell artisan products such as cream cakes and chocolate need a trade agreement to do more business across the pond. However, analysis of TTIPs impacts in Ireland demonstrates that the biggest winners will be the electronics, pharmaceutical, and chemical sectors industries that already have strong multi-national ties between the US and EU. The biggest losers from TTIP are expected in the European agricultural sector, particularly grassland beef. A report by Friends of the Earth Europe reviewed modelling studies on the impacts of the TTIP on agriculture, which foresaw a net trade benefit to US interests of over 4bn. Farmers across the EU face stronger competition and lower prices as a result of TTIP, threatening farm businesses as well as rural areas and consumer interests. Within the food sector, the winners from TTIP will be corporate food giants and US factory farms with bigger economies of scale and lower production costs. Yet surprisingly, our Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan and Taoiseach Enda Kenny promote TTIP and seem willing to sacrifice agriculture to avail of opportunities in other sectors. One of the most contentious aspects of TTIP is its inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism or ISDS. This trade court allows companies to sue foreign governments when profits are compromised by new laws or practices. TTIP is one of several controversial trade deals being negotiated by the EU that includes such a mechanism. Last week, the European Commission proposed the provisional application of a similar trade deal between the EU and Canada (CETA). Corporations have already used ISDS mechanisms to challenge governments more than 600 times. Many of these challenges were related to health or environmental decisions by governments, including within the energy sector: In 2010, the US challenged one of Chinas wind power subsidy programs because it supported local industry and was considered protectionist; In 2012, the US oil company Lone Pine used the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge Quebecs fracking moratorium; and TransCanada recently announced it was suing the US government for $15bn after Mr Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline to pump oil from Canadian tar sands. TTIP proponents argue cases taken by investors are usually unsuccessful, but ISDS costs tax-payers billions and makes governments nervous of enacting legislative changes that benefit citizens at the expense of foreign investors. This week, a leaked document obtained by Friends of the Earth Europe regarding the EUs proposal for an energy and raw materials chapter within TTIP showed it will weaken European progress on energy efficiency and renewable power. Driven by the EUs desire for cheap US natural gas (mostly hydraulic fracturing of shale), the chapter eliminates all restrictions on natural gas export, leading to more fracking in the US and more imports of American fossil fuels to Europe. The draft chapter also encourages self-regulation over mandatory energy efficiency legislation and requires energy networks not to discriminate between energy sources, thus preventing legislators from prioritising renewables over fossil fuels. Governments already weak on climate action, such as Ireland, may cave to corporate pressure under TTIP rather than reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. There is practically no barrier to trade between the US and Europe most tariffs are less than 3% . Rather, TTIP is about deregulation and creating opportunity for corporations to roll back US or European rules that impact profits. MEP Brian Hayes has said non-government organisations are just making noise for the sake of it and creating cheap publicity by alerting the public to TTIP. Since almost no one gets to read the draft text of TTIP it is difficult to evaluate its potential outcomes, but TTIPs lack of transparency and numerous potential risks to Irish interests warrants some serious noise. * Dr Cara Augustenborg: Environmental scientist, chair of Friends of the Earth Ireland. Blog: The Verdant Yank on www.CaraAugustenborg.com Twiter: @CAugustenborg. Detective Chief Superintendent Michael OSullivan was speaking at the 15th annual conference of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of Ireland (AMAI), held yesterday at Dublins CityWest Hotel. The organisation, which was founded in Ireland in 1992, promotes peace, integration, and a greater understanding of Islam, and believes in the separation of state and religion. Det OSullivan addressed issues facing the Muslim communities in Ireland, as did other speakers including Minister of State at the Department of Justice David Stanton and the national president of the AMAI, Iman Anwar Malik. Det OSullivan said members of An Garda Siochana understand that all Muslim sects here in Ireland are peaceful and law-abiding. It is of vital importance that An Garda Siochana contain this to ensure that the law-abiding Muslim individuals do not suffer from hate crime or discriminatory profiling in any form brought on as a result of the unlawful actions of the few who declare themselves as representing the communitys interests, Det OSullivan told the conference. We hear constantly about violent extremism and radicalisation and I know these words send a shiver down your spine. Im aware of the acute suffering of all Muslims not just in Ireland but worldwide, who are afflicted with fear, due to collateral damage and fall-out from terrorist atrocities supposedly carried out in the name of Islam. AMAI president Iman Malik said: The wave of recent terror attacks in which hundreds of innocent human beings have been killed, aim to divide communities, spread hatred and cause unrest in the civilised world. Our community perceives it as a responsibility to pro-actively counter the extremists, by spreading the true and peaceful teaching of Islam. In a separate room, the women of the organisation held their own speeches. The organisations national president for the women, Sajida Aleem, said young people face many diversions, and it is the role of the mothers to educate and stand by their children. ITS ALL Down to communication, and the contrasts are fascinating, if confusing, since the best communicator of them all is a non-contender. Michelle Obama blew them away at this years Democractic convention. Best speech. Better delivery than that of her own husband, whose use of autocue is surprisingly predictable first one side, then the other for such an intelligent man. Much better delivery than Hillary Clinton. But, according to Barack Obama, the three eternal verities are death, taxes, and the fact that Michelle wont run for the presidency. Pity. She has prioritised and managed her tasks as First Mother and First Lady better than any previous incumbent with the possible exception of Eleanor Roosevelt. Not only did Michelle produce the best speech, but she ghost-wrote one of the best speeches at the Republican convention, too. Donald Trumps wife recycled chunks of an eight-year-old speech by the Presidents wife, and it really worked. Up to a point. The point being the stage where someone shook their head and said You know something? I have a feeling Ive heard some of that before, did a little digging and proved that Mrs Trumps best bits had been lifted from an earlier Michelle oration. They were lifted because, like all great communication, they reach out over time and space, race and background, nationality and time, to create a commonality of understanding; a sense among listeners that I know that. I identify with that. That is about me, just as it is about the speaker/writer. People vote for candidates, not because of how they feel about the candidate, but because of how the candidate makes them feel about themselves. The reaction to a great speech is not I get him or her. The reaction to a great speech is He/she gets me. Thats one of Trumps communication strengths. He talks to a target audience filled with resentful disappointment and squashed expectations, gathers them in beside him, and promises them that he will restore their lost pride. He also obeys one of the key aspects of candidacy, articulated by a Richard Nixon: people vote against, not for. Trump delivers a small set of hate figures to vote against, starting with Hillary Clinton and moving on to Muslims and immigrants. He is inconsistent. His own wife is an immigrant. (Also a liar, as the removal of her website proves. That was the website where she claimed an architectural degree from the university of Ljubljana in her native Slovenia. The reality is that she was a first year dropout.) His business track record is rotten. His reputation should be in shreds after court revelations of a college he set up which has scam written all over it. However, what his continued popularity demonstrates, in an unprecedented way, is that once resentment and disaffection have been harnessed, inconsistency and bad news become irrelevant. Listeners and viewers have a wondrous capacity to rearrange fact and truth to fit the stance they have adopted: Ive made up my mind, dont bother me with the facts. Trumps phenomenal success in the opinion polls is built on a number of rhetorical devices the Democrats have yet to find a way to counter. The first is simplicity: We will build a wall to keep Mexicans out and make Mexico pay for it. The second is repetition: We will build a wall to keep Mexicans out and make Mexico pay for it. The third is appeal to a rotted and inchoate pride: I will make America great again. The wall promise has been rubbished with facts. It wouldnt be possible to build such a wall and it is ludicrous to suggest that the US could force another sovereign nation to pay for it. But the marshalling of facts misses the point that what Trump is promising speaks to a visceral hatred that has damn all to do with data. He speaks an emotional truth to his target audience, and all of the factual contradictions in the world cannot touch that emotional truth. Trump doesnt bellow that often when the TV cameras are on. Rather, he leans into the microscope and in a conversational way, persuades the already persuaded that theyve made the right choice. He never expresses sympathy. Just contempt and confidence in his capacity to do the impossible. Every presidential election in American history has been won on emotion, rather than facts. If Donald Trump wins this one, it will be the first to be won in flagrant disregard of known facts. In previous elections, candidates were elected despite major known flaws manifest in their biographies, but they were elected at a time before blanket global media capable of delivering the truth to virtually every single elector, as is now the case. One leading Irish entrepreneur recently commented in mystification on the central myth of Trumps career: that he is a fantastically successful businessman whose management and financial skills can be extended to the saving of the American economy. He is one of the least successful businesspeople in the history of commerce, the entrepreneur told me. If hed invested the money left him by his father, even at 3% interest, and done nothing whatever with it, he would be richer today than he is. His patterns of disastrous investments and bankruptcies should terrify Americans. But they dont, and the fact that they dont speaks to the power of an oft-repeated myth. Bit like orange juice. Manchester Citys Pep Guardiola, in putting juice up there with pizza as a foodstuff he wants his players to avoid, has climbed aboard a change of view thats taken a long time to initiate. An inspired PR/Marketing man in the middle of the twentieth century created the belief that orange juice would prevent scurvy (true, but rare in the west at the time) and almost every other disease (untrue) and thereby made it a staple of the American breakfast table and a highly-regarded health drink outside America. Its only in the last couple of years that sales of Florida oranges for juicing have dropped and it will take a long, long time for the awareness to take hold that eating an orange takes time and delivers some benefits that the same amount of off-the-shelf juice does not. Donald Trump is a similar product. More than 20 years ago, he produced a book that portrayed him as a business genius, a deal maker par excellence. His ghostwriter on that book has now scuppered his chances of ever getting another ghostwriting deal by coming out to tell the truth of the book. Not only is it not based on Trumps own experience and insights, the ghostwriter maintains, but it is more deeply false. The writer had huge difficulty in getting time with Trump and ended up just following him around as he had disconnected and often ineffective meetings and telephone calls with other business people. Trumps one constant trait evidenced then and evidenced now is inattention. He apparently has the attention span of a fruit fly. This leads him to the repetitious unevidenced use of slogans and vulgar abuse as his key communication tools. The frightening thing is how well that approach works. After a two-minute freefall, Luke Aikins landed dead centre in the 25m by 225m net at the Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley, California. As cheers erupted, Aikins quickly climbed out, walked over and hugged his wife Monica, who had been watching from the ground with their four-year-old son Logan and other family members. Im almost levitating, its incredible, the jubilant skydiver said, raising his hands over his head as his wife held Logan, who dozed in her arms. Caught in a trap England: An escaped lynx that was missing in Devon for more than three weeks has been captured. Flaviu was reported missing from Dartmoor Zoological Park near Plymouth on July 7, triggering a search involving a police helicopter and a drone. He was caught in a trap set by keepers, zoo owner Benjamin Mee said. Speed reader England: A 10-year-old speed-reading prodigy has finished the new Harry Potter story, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child Parts One and Two, in just 59 minutes. Toby LEstrange, from Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, was challenged by Amazon to produce the first review of the new Potter story. The schoolboy can read an average 400-page book in under two hours, using techniques he learned from his grandmother Susan Norman, a speed-reading expert. The latest instalment of the Harry Potter stories is the script of a new original story by JK Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. Stinking hot USA: How hot is it in upstate New York? So hot that horse manure is bursting into flames. The states Department of Environmental Conservation said it had received multiple complaints about the smell and smoke emanating from a burning pile of horse droppings at a property in the town of Throop, 30km west of Syracuse. The responding officer learned that the owners of a horse stable had been storing the manure in large piles that sometimes spontaneously combust in excessive heat and dry conditions. officials said a shift in prevailing winds carried the odour into neighbours homes. It took three local fire departments two hours to douse the burning manure. What you cookin? USA: The powerful smell caused by a man cooking urine prompted the evacuation of an apartment building in Massachusetts. Police responded to the Amherst apartment complex after the manager found several unmarked glass containers containing liquids in an apartment. He had received a complaint of a pungent odour. Officials said the smell came from urine and possibly other chemicals, but it is unclear what the man was trying to produce. The tenants were allowed back into their apartments after authorities determined that the substances were not explosive or a health hazard. A private clean-up company took charge of the chemicals. Giving up USA: 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. 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 park last weekend. Update at 10pm: Reports suggest the victim has been discharged from hospital. The tourist was set upon near her accommodation in Avignon in the south of France at the weekend. It is understood the woman sustained injuries to her face and head by three men in a random attack. Earlier A 25-year-old Irish woman has been hospitalised after an attacked in France. It is understood the woman was beaten in the head by three men in a random attack in the town of Avignon in the South of the country. The Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is aware of the case and is ready to provide consular assistance. Local police have said the woman suffered injuries to her mouth, cheeks and nose and she is in a state of shock. One of the terrorists involved in last week's attack in France had been working in an airport . Abdel Malik Petitjean was one of two men shot dead by police after an elderly priest was murdered during mass in Normandy. Her own trade promotion organisation InvestNI has many of the answers. With reference to the frequently-asked questions on the impact of Brexit, InvestNI has said that 75% of the Norths manufacturing exports goes to three countries. The Republic accounts for 2.1bn (2.5bn) in sales of goods; Germany accounts for 337 million (399m); while France accounts for 296m (350) in exports. If there is one thing the Brexit referendum campaign has taught us is that emotion trumps rational analysis. But, when the party is over, the clean-up has to be done and the rational analysis of paying the cost has to be faced. Hence, the peremptory rejection by First Minister Foster of Taoiseach Enda Kennys idea for a North-South Brexit forum to do the rational analysis and mitigate its negative impact seems delusional in the extreme. The fact that she reiterated her stance at the British-Irish Council in Cardiff last week indicates that the penny still has not dropped. Any return of a so-called hard border will create extreme disruption for the ordinary man and woman either side of the border. It will drive business away, increase unemployment and force an even higher reliance on the financial subvention from Westminster to keep the Norths economy afloat. Any cursory look at the cross-border trade shows the extent of everyday trading across a wide range of products and services. Those goods and services include agri-food and drink products, plastics, coal, legitimate trade in fuel, paper, clothing, electrical goods, pharmaceuticals, and computers. Cross-border trade in goods and services has grown exponentially over the past 23 years since the border customs posts have been dismantled. It now stands at approximately 6bn. Farmers, in particular, will bear the brunt of the Brexit fallout. Currently, Northern farmers ship approximately 500m worth of their produce to the Republic each year. According to the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment, the sector also includes the Norths biggest manufacturing industry, with sales totalling more than 4.5bn (5.33bn). As many as 100,000 jobs are supported by the agri-food sector, including farming, fishing, retail, and distribution. Michael Bell, director of the industry group Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association said that NIFDA was very concerned about the lack of debate in the North about the effect a potential UK exit from the EU could have on the local food sector. Mr Bell went on to say that the biggest cloud on the horizon is the Brexit. Sensibly, the Taoiseach continues to focus on ways to mitigate the downside for Irish exporters. He has asked Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe to ensure that the upcoming budget in October is shaped by, and addresses, the challenges resulting from the UK Brexit vote and to set out a national economic response. Last year, 1.8bn of manufactured goods and agri-food products were sold in the North from the Republic. And whereas this is less than 2% of our total goods exports, it has much higher significance for the many small traders either side of the border that daily go about their business trading all the commodities of life with each other. Re-introducing a customs border would create extensive hassle for all concerned, including the customs and police authorities, who would have the unenviable task of trying to implement the many border crossings across the six counties. * John Whelan is a leading expert on trade. Cork businesses are urged to showcase their digital successes and achievements by entering the awards. There are 16 categories this year, including 'Best Use of Emoji'. The importance of digital marketing simply cannot be ignored, with 2 million Irish people checking Facebook every day, 1 in 4 on Snapchat, and entire conversations now take place through emojis," says Aoife Dunne, Business School Manager. Entries for the 2016 Cork Digital Marketing Awards are now open! ENTER HERE! https://t.co/pm4W0Y1zc7#digitalcork16 pic.twitter.com/3yPMYgy2Qa Cork Chamber Skillnet (@corkskillnet) July 20, 2016 "Digital marketing is changing how people engage with the world and how we do business. Cork businesses really have their finger on the digital pulse and these Awards are an ideal opportunity to highlight and acknowledge their hard work in the ever-changing digital landscape. The overall winners last year were Partnership International. The Cork Digital Marketing Awards were an amazing success and we were honoured not only to attend but also to receive two awards, including the overall Grand Prix. The overall Grand Prix winner - congratulations Partnership International #digitalcork15 pic.twitter.com/rGiVj5IZdO Cork Chamber (@CorkChamber) October 29, 2015 "Being honoured by our peers in Cork, our home city, meant a great deal to us as a company. For Partnership International, winning the awards was a tremendous privilege and has brought us significant recognition both in Cork and country-wide. To enter the Cork Digital Marketing Awards, complete an online application form here. Entry is free and is open to all businesses in the Cork region, nominations will close on September 2. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on October 27 where KC, Programme Director of Red FM, will MC the event. For millions of media consumers around the world, this commercial-free utopia is a reality. Ad-blocking has been a major concern for digital publishers and advertisers for a number of years, with consumers migrating to mobile, where the uptake in ad-blockers is greater. PageFair, a Dublin-based company that provides media organisations with ad-blocking analytics and which creates anti-ad blocking technologies, published a report last year in conjunction with Adobe. It found that 200m desktop users have installed ad-blockers in their PCs and laptops. A second report, focusing on mobile ad-blockers, was published last month. It found that 419m mobile users have installed ad-blockers in their devices. Weve had 20 years of the online advertising industry, and it has gotten itself to a point where it faces a cul-de-sac that is self-destructive, said Johnny Ryan, head of ecosystem at PageFair. Ad-blocking is like the remote control for TV, invented in the 1950s. It might have taken a few years to land on your couch, but it was inevitable that it would eventually do so. I think it is possible to slow the spread of ad-blocking, but I suspect that the genie is out of the bottle, he says. The Interactive Advertising Bureau IAB a non-profit group that promotes best practice for online advertisers and publishers, has strongly condemned companies that create ad-blockers. Recently, the IAB published the results of a small survey on ad-blocking, quizzing 1,300 desktop users and 201 mobile users in the US. It found that 26% of desktop users and 15% of mobile users avail of ad-blockers. A further 17% of the sample, who do not currently use blockers, are at risk of starting to do so. Similar to PageFairs research, young respondents were the most likely to block ads, particularly young males who play data-heavy online games. The reasons for using blockers are varied: over-populated ad spaces are distracting for consumers, ads sometimes intrude on content, and interactive ads consume a lot of data a reason why many readers in emerging markets use blockers. Mr Ryan says the rise of ad-blockers is also because of digital advertisers over-use of personal data. Advertising has evolved into a position where the industry is preoccupied with the notion of monitoring your behaviour to build a profile of you. Its a mistake, because advertising worked just fine before the web. It was based on the idea of context, Mr Ryan says. The over-reliance on data has also led to inaccurate counts of genuine readers viewing advertisements online. However, the problems created by ad-blocking and poor online advertisements have given publishers the opportunity to reimagine online advertising. Mr Ryan, who is author of the book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, sees the problem of ad-blockers as being one of those historical milestones. One proposition is to simply reduce the quantity. Ads would cost more for advertisers and give readers an uncluttered space. Suzanne McElligott, CEO of IAB Ireland, which in September will publish a Red C study on ad-blocking in Ireland, predicts that we will see more engaging, more creative, better-quality advertising served in a more user-friendly manner. She thinks publishers will have to educate online users about the purpose of ads. Harry Browne, a journalism lecturer at DITs School of Media, said he likes and uses ad-blockers. But he warns that it breaks the 200-plus-year-old, traditional media business model more surely than the mere provision of free content online ever did. Labour TD Willie Penrose asked Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to outline his contingency plans to mitigate the effects on agri-food. Irish food and drink exports to the UK accounted for 41% of total exports in 2015, valued at 4.4bn, he said. Mr Creed said he acknowledges the concerns of the agri-food sector on potential implications of the UKs decision to leave the EU. My department and our agencies, in association with our stakeholders, have been giving careful consideration to this issue, looking at the areas in which the greatest risks may arise and on which we will need to focus when negotiations begin, said Mr Creed. He added the immediate concerns for agri-food exporters centre on exchange rates. In that regard, the Central Bank of Ireland has pre-established contingency plans to deal with market volatility. The bank will engage with the Department of Finance and individual financial institutions regarding potential risks. Actions by ECB and other global actors will be monitored closely. In addition, Mr Creed has asked Bord Bia to assist SMEs in dealing with marketing challenges arising in the short term. It has announced a number of measures to support food and drink businesses. These measures cover areas such as managing volatility impacts, the provision of consumer and market insight, deepening customer engagement, and extending market reach, with the aim of helping companies maintain their competitiveness. Major concerns relate to currency fluctuations, tariffs and trade, the EU budget, regulations and standards, and customs controls and certification, while complex issues also arise for the fisheries sector. However, we must remember that our trading relationship with the UK is not altered in any way until the negotiation process that will dictate the terms and conditions of the UKs departure is completed, said Mr Creed. In the meantime, and as part of our overall contingency planning, I have established a dedicated unit in my Department to work on all of the issues that I have mentioned, and I have convened a consultative committee of stakeholders to ensure a full exchange of information as the negotiations proceed. The department will also continue to feed into the central Contingency Framework being co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach. Meanwhile, Bord Bia brought together more than 180 Irish exporters and experts from the UK food retail market to share information on the post-Brexit trading landscape and to outline its measures for supporting companies in the new trading environment. The Irish companies received insights from experts on current UK and EU market conditions and currency management. To meet the demands of the current generation of music lovers, company CEO and founder Adam McCrossan has created a slim, sleek 32-inch wall mounted ultra-modern device which is designed to resemble a giant smartphone or tablet. Called the JukePad this does a great deal more than a traditional jukebox. In addition to playing music and video content on demand, it streams digital advertising, can provide background music, is equipped with a digital camera for taking selfies and can publish information about the venue and its customers on social media, says Mr McCrossan. Although jukeboxes arent very widely used in pubs in Ireland, the market is much larger in countries such as the UK, US, Europe and Australasia. In the UK, 80% to 90% of brewery-managed pubs have jukeboxes, while for independently owned pubs and clubs its approx 60% to 70%. The figure for Ireland is probably closer to 20%, he says. Based in Kells, TouchHits started out by developing software for use with digital touchscreen jukeboxes in 2012 which it sells to customers in the UK, Cyprus, Spain and New Zealand. Its most recent offering is the JukePad which was launched early this year. Mr McCrossan, a software engineer, got involved in the jukebox business when his father, who provided equipment to the bars trade, asked him to come up with a solution that would make it easier for digital jukebox users to find the tunes they wanted to play. The technology being used in many bars was often expensive and complicated to use, he explains. Taking out a bank loan sufficient to buy a used car, he set up TouchHits and started working on the software in 2012. After trialling it in some local pubs with existing jukeboxes he put a demo on the TouchHits website. Operators which supply pubs with jukeboxes began contacting me. I also took it to the EAG trade show in London and also got customers as a result of this, says Mr McCrossan. He now supplies around 20 operators, around half of which are in the UK. He says a significant selling point for the TouchHitsAV software platform has been its ease of use. You can use it to find any tune in three touches pub owners using this software have told me that revenues are higher with this than with other jukebox software, he says. In 2013, Mr McCrossan decided that the next logical step for TouchHits was to develop a state of the art digital jukebox to rival current market leaders. Finding local companies to manufacture and fabricate many of the components, he rented a premises and took on three part-time staff. In early 2014, TouchHits launched two 19-inch touchscreen jukeboxes the Classic Hits and HitCity. By 2015, it was exporting both jukeboxes and software to the UK, Spain and Cyprus. Securing Competitive Start Funding from Enterprise Ireland, it developed a 32-inch version, the JukePad, which it has started selling in the UK and Europe. Because the UK is its largest market the outcome of the Brexit referendum is a cause for concern for TouchHits. But it aims to develop sales to Europe and is also checking out the very significant US market. In 2017, TouchHits is aiming to seek recognition as a High Potential Start-up from Enterprise Ireland and to raise sufficient funding to develop international sales. Future plans include the launch of a retro or classic jukebox designed to resemble the pre-digital jukeboxes that will appeal to music lovers who are nostalgic for the 1950s. This will be sold both for commercial and home use. Long term, Mr McCrossan says the aim for TouchHits is to establish itself as a major player in the digital jukebox market in Ireland, the UK and Europe and also to get a foothold in markets such as the US, Canada and Australasia. Company: TouchHits Location: Kells, Co Meath CEO: Adam McCrossan Staff: 4 Product: Digital jukeboxes Website: www.touchhits.com Joe Freeley, who runs Joe Maxi Taxi Co, will be providing free trips on the night of August 17 to those celebrating their Leaving Cert results. In place of a fare, Joe will be collecting voluntary donations to Pieta House instead. This is the Ballyhaunis man's third year offering the charitable service, and it has been a great success in the past. Joe says that having raised a large family he is more than familiar with the stresses and struggles young people go through. "I'm fortunate to have reared a large, healthy family, all scattered around the world; two daughters and six sons, one granddaughter and five grandsons. "I've experienced the ups and downs that teenagers go through at results time and thought it a great opportunity to highlight the great work that Pieta House provide," Joe told the Irish Examiner. Joe's taxi "Not everyone is cerebrating their results, and it is such a stressful time for students. "Suicide has devistated familes all over this country, and my gesture may just help one person seeking help." Joe is happy to sacrifice a night's wages to help those at risk of suicide and provide an affordable and safe way home for young people. "It's a small contribution to do every year, my fuel cost is no more than 30 for the night - a very small sarcrifice to hopefully help someone." One of the countrys longest-established racecourses is set to renew historic links with farmers and the food they produce. The four-day Tramore Racing Festival beginning on August 11 can trace its hoof prints back some 230 years to the days when the Long Strand from which the seaside holiday town takes its name was used as a track. Racegoers had the added bonus of weekly races being held on the beach for horses owned and often ridden by farmers. However, the ongoing ravages of the sea were exacerbated by particularly bad storms during 1911, and this caused severe damage to the beach facilities. Racing moved the following year to a purpose-build course at Graun Hill, where it continues to host 11 meetings annually including the August Festival, which combines racing, fashion, hospitality and holidays. But the links with the farming community and the highly regarded artisan food producers of Waterford have not been lost over the years at the venue which features a right handed one mile racing circuit. Racecoure manager Sue Phelan said visitors can choose from a variety of food outlets around the venue on race days. The Inside Catering team takes great pride in sourcing as many ingredients as possible from local suppliers, said Ms Phelan. We are fortunate to have fantastic food companies and innovative artisan producers on our doorstep, including Dawn Meats, SeaTrade Fish, Brendan Walsh Fruit and Veg, Ardkeen Stores, Pat Curran Frozen Foods, Snowcream, Ponticello Coffee, and Deise Craft Bakery to name a few. This year, were also showcasing what is best about Tramore and the surrounding hinterland at the festival on the final day, our family fun afternoon. Weve commissioned a marquee which will house our artisan producers under the banner of A Taste of Tramore. Racegoers will enjoy demonstrations with Jeni Pim from Jens Kitchen and can dip in and out of Helen Byrnes Help2Health nutrition talks, she said. There will also be an opportunity to meet with local producers and sample their produce while The House of Waterford Crystal will have a Master craftsman on site, cutting crystal and showcasing his art. The festival attracts over 20,000 racegoers and generates an estimated 3m plus for the economy. As many as 100 local people work on site during the four days. However, the racecourse company has more to celebrate this year than 104 years of racing on the present course, situated above the town with a fine panoramic view of Tramore Strand. The Board of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) recently approved a capital development grant aid of over 400,000 to carry out major improvements to its facilities which will cost in excess of 1m. The grant aid, through the HRI Racecourse Capital Development scheme, will go towards projects to be carried out between now and 2020 and which will provide significant improvements to racegoer and industry facilities. All 26 Irish racecourses were eligible to apply for funding under the scheme, with HRI providing 40% of the cost of approved projects . It is estimated that the entire Racecourse Capital Development Fund will support in the region of 1,300 direct and indirect jobs during its completion. From a racegoer perspective, the main area of investment in Tramore will be a spacious entrance building, which will be the sole access point to the racecourse. It will provide a canopy to the front to give visitors protection from the elements while queuing to enter and will also house the racecourse administration offices. The entrance building will be wifi-enabled to facilitate an e-ticketing system which will ultimately lead to a more efficient entry process. Racegoers will also benefit from an extension to the parade ring, which will include a ringside seating terrace which will be recessed to create an amphitheatre-like atmosphere. The middle grandstand will be upgraded and the existing steps will be replaced. The weigh-room, jockeys facilities, press room, and owners and trainers facilities will be upgraded and extended, providing much improved working conditions. The re-design will also greatly enhance the appearance of the racecourse when viewed from the approach road. Tramores stable yard will undergo a major upgrade, with the existing 20 wooden stable boxes to be replaced with 30 new purpose-built ones, increasing the total capacity to 78 on completion. New toilet and canteen facilities will also be provided for stable staff. Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh said visitors will really see the benefits of the significant improvements planned. It was happy to provide grant aid to facilitate these worthwhile projects. Tramore is a very popular, well-run racetrack and it is great to see them committed to improving facilities for racegoers, jockeys, trainers, owners and stable staff, he said. Ms Phelan, who is facing into her 16th August racng festival, said the redevelopment works will make a huge difference to customers and to those in the racing industry. The extended parade ring will be the focal point of the racecourse, framed by extra terraced seating and the enhanced weigh room building, she said. The attractive new entrance building and the new structure housing the jockeys area will create a really impressive approach to the racecourse. Waterford and Tramore Racecourse, as it is officially known, made world racing history on January 1, 2000. It hosted the first horse race of the new millenium before an estimated attendance of nearly 11,000 people. There was no racing in Europe that day. Hong Kong where the Jockey Club oversees 700 horse races per year had to wait another day for a meeting. Tramore did it again on January 1, 2002, by becoming the first racecourse to hold a meeting with the euro as the medium of exchange. Documents from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to the PAC, seen by the Irish Examiner, show that the committees request to keep the DDDA alive was rejected by the Department of the Environment. In its report into the botched sale of the Glass Bottle site in Ringsend which examined the role of the DDDA, the PAC said the dissolution of the DDDA should be deferred until any liabilities that arise for public authorities in respect of the structural deficiencies that now exist at the Longboat Quay apartment complex, are discharged. But in response, Paschal Donohoe, minister for public expenditure, said he was informed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that it does not accept this recommendation. Mr Donohoes top official, Robert Watt, told the PAC that the legislation governing the dissolution of the authority provides a mechanism for addressing the assets and liabilities position of the authority on its dissolution. Matters relating to Longboat Quay and the liability of the remediation of structural defects in that development are currently before the courts and it is not clear when they will be resolved, Mr Watt wrote. In light of the ongoing litigation and to provide certainty in terms of the future development of the Docklands area it was deemed appropriate the authority should be dissolved, he added. This decision was taken in light of the fact that the act provides that, on dissolution, the assets and liabilities, including choses-in-action (or rights to sue), of the Authority, transfer to Dublin City Council and this transfer includes any possible outstanding liabilities for Longboat Quay, Mr Watt concluded. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Act 2015 was signed into law by President Michael D Higgins on Christmas Eve last year. Sections 5 and 6 of the Act provide that the Minister shall, by order, appoint a day to be the dissolution day and on the dissolution day, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority shall stand dissolved, Mr Watt told the PAC. The minister has now signed the commencement order and with effect from 1st March 2016 the Authority stands dissolved, he added. Earlier this month, the management company at a Dublin apartment company accused Dublin City Council of going back on a deal to pay for essential fire safety works. Owners at Longboat Quay had expected to have costs covered, but they have now been told they will have to come up with around 450,000 after the council indicated it would scale back its contribution. An offer by developer Bernard McNamara to carry out the works at cost was rejected due to procurement issues. Longboat Quay was built in 2006 with owners paying between 450,000 and 750,000 each. Last year around 900 residents were threatened with evacuation due to fire safety deficiencies. The evacuation deadline was moved to 2017 due to legal proceedings. The original estimate to cover the works of just under 3.9m has been scaled back to 2.5m, with the receiver and DCC originally pledging half each. Figures provided by An Garda Siochana show just more than 50% of all members based in Gaeltacht areas obtained a mark of more than 60% in Irish language proficiency tests. A total of 486 gardai serving in 57 Garda stations located in Gaeltacht areas in Donegal, Galway, and Kerry were tested for their ability to speak Irish. An analysis of the results shows 239 officers achieved a score of 60% or less, including eight who attained a mark of 40% or less. Just over 9% some 46 gardai obtained a mark in excess of 81% which would indicate a high level of fluency in Irish. A Garda spokesperson said the records showed the highest recorded percentage score by gardai as some may have taken the test more than once. It should be noted that gardai from areas which are not designated as Gaeltacht areas may also be proficient in the Irish language, he added. However, it is understood An Garda Siochana remains concerned about fluency levels among gardai stationed in Gaeltacht areas as it continues to advertise tenders to provide Irish language classes to officers in such regions. Garda management has been criticised in the past by the Irish Language Commissioner over the ability of the force to deal with people through Irish. In 2011 the Commissioner found it was in breach of the Garda Siochana Act 2005 when only one out of nine gardai stationed in Bunbeg in the Donegal Gaeltacht had a reasonable command of the Irish language. The garda spokesperson said the force had endeavoured since its inception in 1922 to provide a quality service in Irish and it was committed to the full implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003. An Garda Siochana has also appointed an Irish Language Officer to oversee matters pertaining to the Irish language. The Irish Language Development Unit, otherwise known as Rannog na Gaeilge, based at the Garda College in Templemore also provides assistance to gardai on all issues relating to the use of Irish, including research and translation services for statements, reports, legal charges, and other documents. Gaeltacht courses are also run for employees who wish to improve or practice their Irish language skills. The programme for trainee gardai also contains a compulsory Irish language module. In 2013 the force introduced an Irish language stream in the recruitment process to attract applicants with fluency in Irish with up to 10% of intakes consisting of fluent Irish speakers, It also established an Irish language webpage, Gaeilge le Cheile, on the Garda portal, which is designed for use by any garda with an interest in improving their Irish language skills. However, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said she had no direct role in where any gardai were stationed but stressed that An Garda Siochana was fully committed to meeting its obligations under the Official Languages Act. The Audit Committee of An Garda Siochana says it is encouraged by plans put in place to address property and evidence management. A report from the committee points out that 23 out of 44 high priority audit recommendations relating to the control and management of evidence remain outstanding. This was the highest single category of unresolved audit recommendations at year end, it states. While the committee remains concerned, it is aware that gardai have prioritised the issue, and a phased approach to rectifying control weaknesses has started. The first of a two-step approach involves all property and evidence being held on networked computers in district headquarters. The second step involves updating storage facilities, bar-coding all items and upgrading the garda computer system. The handling of evidence is part of the five-year modernisation and renewal programme (2016-2021) published by An Garda Siochana in June. The document points out that a property evidence management system (PEMS) will give investigators a single view of all property and exhibits in garda custody relating to their investigation. It will also enable the recording, tracking, and safe custody of such items. Its introduction will address a key risk for the organisation, it states. Barrister Paul Anthony McDermott said the Director of Public Prosecutions had to prove beyond reasonable doubt the chain of custody of evidence in every prosecution. We know that this is the second such report in a row because it was referred to in a 2014 report as well, he said on RTE radio yesterday. While he was aware that garda management had prioritised the issue, it was still unresolved. It is surprising that this is the second year in a row that the audit committee has raised a query about something as basic as the proper preservation of exhibits. The audit committee also raises concerns about the staffing of the Garda Internal Audit the section can no longer staff two audit teams, a situation that was limiting the capacity of the section to check across the garda organisation within a reasonable timeframe. A large number of leading firms have complained to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) about a 23% rise in the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy that is imposed on all electricity customers. Although their comments were made when the CER originally proposed a 36% increase in the PSO levy, they remain concerned that rising electricity costs will have an adverse effect on the economy in terms of enterprise development, job creation, job security and cost competitiveness. Intel, the computer chip multinational which employs around 5,500 staff in the Republic, said Ireland must remain economically competitive with its alternative manufacturing locations globally. Ireland has lots of volatility over the last decade moving between competitive, to our highest cost location globally, said Intels director of global utilities and infrastructure, Marty Sedler. He claimed increases of almost 400% over the past four years in the PSO levy would clearly demonstrate runaway costs and an increase far beyond that which is reasonable. Mr Sedler also observed: Intel continues to constantly evaluate Irelands costs and competitiveness to other options. In a joint submission, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation together with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland said the large increase in the levy was of great concern from an enterprise development perspective. They pointed out that almost one third of Irelands generation capacity sourced from renewables and peat was subsidised. This is not sustainable, they stated. Major employers, including Intel, Kerry Group, Glanbia and Roadstone highlighted how Irish electricity prices were already amongst the highest in Europe, while Ibec, the employers group, said the levy could rise significantly further over coming years. Dairygold said the PSO levy as it currently operates was a barrier to energy efficiency projects such as the development of combined heat and power plants and other on-site generation. Aughinish Alumina described the PSO levy as a penal tax on manufacturing industry, while Electric Ireland said the wind generating industry was now sufficiently mature that it didnt warrant any further subsidies. Other organisations such as St Vincent de Paul criticised the PSO levy as a regressive tax because it was imposed on all domestic customers at a flat rate, placing a disproportionate burden on customers on low incomes and in arrears. Households and businesses will face higher electricity bills as a result of the CER sanctioning such a large rise on the levy imposed by the Government to promote renewable energy and guarantee the security of supply. The CER announced at the weekend that it had set the annual PSO levy at 400.9m for 2016/17 up from 325.3m in the current year. It had originally proposed a levy of 440.9m but the figure was revised downward due to a forecast increase of around 9% in the market price of electricity over the coming year. As a rule the PSO levy increases if the market price of electricity falls in order to compensate power generation plants. The decision will add 1.01 to the monthly bill of domestic customers and 3.30 for small commercial users. The regulator said a factor in the overall 23% rise in next years PSO levy was a large rise in the number of renewable energy plants qualifying for PSO payments. The CER said it was not in a position to abolish or phase-out the PSO levy. The Government plans to set up a new body which will involve the gardai, custom officials and the Revenue Commissioners office as part of Europe-wide measures to tackle the ever-increasing terrorist threat. In a bid to identify potential jihadi terrorists and to tackle organised crime gangs across Europe, the multi-agency security unit will monitor customer information held by airline companies which is usually confidential. Dialogue is the only way to prevent acts of evil, an imam said yesterday, as the assistant garda commissioner insisted that An Garda Siochana was monitoring radicalisation in Ireland closely. Commenting at the annual conference of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of Ireland (AMAI), held yesterday at the CityWest Hotel in Saggart, South Dublin, Detective Chief Superintendent Michael OSullivan insisted it is wrong to associate radicalisation with ethnic minorities. Were constantly pro-actively monitoring any possibilities of a problem, Det OSullivan said. Weve had a number of individuals who have left the country to go to fight abroad, as they would say, but were constantly monitoring the situation. Det OSullivan insisted that An Garda Siochana has built up good relationships with the ethnic communities in Ireland, and this helps the organisation address any signs of radicalism immediately. We have very close ties with the ethnic minority communities, we have ethnic liaison officers that specialise in collaborating and working with these communities and ensuring that, should we see any radicalisation, to [address] it, he said. Nobody wants it [radicalisation] neither us nor the ethnic minorities. Were very aware of the dangers of radicalisation and we only have to look abroad to see it. I think its wrong, when somebody mentions ethnic minorities to suddenly think of radicalisations. Det OSullivan said it is unfortunate that all Muslims are viewed in a bad light, on foot of international terror attacks, and that education is key to understanding. People tend to think of radicalisation and then everyone gets tainted with these broad brush strokes, he said. Theres a minority who is giving everyone a bad name, and making life difficult for everyone. Theres a piece there for people to be educated and understand. Iman Ibrahim Noonan, the first Irish Iman, who leads a community in Galway, stressed that dialogue is needed to foster greater understanding amongst different communities. We keep seeing this unacceptable tragic behaviour, evil acts of terror, which are brought down on the innocent civilians of Europe, Iman Noonan said. Theres no justification in any shape or any form by the so-called Muslims because their actions and their deeds have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam. It does not even come close to representing Islam. Because of this evil which is being now brought into Europe, the general population of Europe are afraid and scared and they have every right to be, and they have every right to have that anxiety. Dialogue is actually what is needed and it has to happen. The governments and the law enforcement agencies need to have that dialogue with the Muslim communities. They need to sit down with them and with us, and have this discussion, and they need to know the difference between what is Islam and what is not Islam. Minister of State at the Department of Justice David Stanton also argued that dialogue between communities is key. We have seen recently through the lens of world events how some people have attempted to justify atrocities perpetrated against innocent members of the public in the name of religion. No right thinking person can condone such actions, Mr Stanton said. Given the multicultural nature of our society as it stands, and the importance of the Muslim community within Irish society, ongoing dialogue between people of different belief systems and faiths can be a powerful tool in building, enhancing and supporting understanding and tolerance. Alice Flood completed the task in under 14 hours. The Galway woman said she was delighted by her achievement.It was such a big thing to take on. I gave so much of my life to it that it feels like its a bit surreal now, that its done, she said. Ms Flood swam the Channel in 13 hours, 53 minutes. To be honest, the day before if youd told me it was going to take me 20 hours but Id definitely get across that would have been OK with me, she said. I was actually about to make land at 11-and-a-half hours but then the tide just had other ideas and it turned on me. I couldnt get through it until I was in front of the beach so that cost me a bit of extra time. The final leg of the journey proved to be the most arduous and the last two miles took her two hours to complete. Theres a thing we say in Channel swimming circles that the swim doesnt really start until the last two to four miles. I didnt really know how true that was until I was in there doing it but its so true. Youre tired, your heads tired, your bodys tired, everything just wants to stop. Ms Flood originally planned to do the swim last year but was forced to postpone it due to bad weather. However, this time around she experienced almost the perfect day. Ms Flood is now planning on competing in the Liffey Swim in Dublin. However, she also has her eyes on an even bigger challenge the Lake Zurich endurance swim in Switzerland next year. Its about 26km so the distance is slightly shorter, but its just as challenging because its fresh water and thats much harder to swim in than salt water. Post offices are working with a number of multinational companies and third-level institutions to develop technology for eHealth services which could be rolled-out in local branches. The strategy is part of a number of initiatives being looked at to help the countrys 1,100 post offices, many of which are struggling to survive. There were 198 closures between 2007 and 2010 and a further 24 closures between 2011 and 2014. Under the scheme those living in isolated areas could avoid long journeys to hospital for check-ups and could also access GP and nursing services in their nearest post office. The remote health service and eHealth system would allow GPs and consultants to examine the patient remotely through a digital video conferencing system which would be developed. Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) general secretary Ned OHara said: You could have a virtual examination. I know when people are sick they have to go to their consultant and the consultant may look at them for a few minutes and are told to come back in a month. They may have to come from the top of Donegal or they may have to come from Longford and get a taxi 40 or 50 miles away or they may have to get a bus. They are down there all day in the hospital, all for five minutes in front of a consultant. Some of that, not all of it, but some of it, could be done remotely and technology could be used for that, he said. A number of major companies that have bases in Ireland as well as research institutes have come forward to lend their expertise and support to develop the system under a shared value initiative. Post offices would be paid some commission for facilitating the remote health system. It comes after a report on the future of post offices published by businessman Bobby Kerr recommended immediate action be taken to tackle the serious challenges facing the network. Mr Kerrs report said the social contribution of post offices must be taken into account and the IPU have now put forward suggestions that postmasters could be paid to provide geology services, tourist information or could even liaise with pharmacists to provide prescription drops. A working group to transform post offices into social hubs which would offer numerous community, financial and retail services was established last week and will work at implementing the proposals. Mr OHara said immediate action has to be taken to protect post offices and to ensure they have a viable future. Our view is we want business, we dont want a subsidy, we are business people, we want to do business, we want to carry out transactions and be part of the community. The new working group which will meet again in September is made up of members of the IPU, An Post, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Irish Rural Link and community groups. Among the recommendations put forward in Mr Kerrs report is an overhaul of outdated postmaster payments and contracts. Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring has signalled his commitment to keeping post offices alive and is pushing the hub idea. I believe that the roll-out of post office hubs could potentially be of considerable benefit to local communities and contribute greatly to rural rejuvenation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) stress tests applied tests to 51 lenders across Europe, including Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland. AIB fared poorly, with its capital ratio falling as low as 4.3% by the end of 2018 under a future economic shock. With a 6.1% capital ratio, Bank of Ireland performed better but still lagged many European peers. Expert Eugene McErlean said the EBAs findings could be positive for small businesses and households here, but only if the lesson from the stress tests is applied. The main reason the Irish banks were at the bottom of the pile was because of the non-performing loans on their books, Mr McErlean said. It is abnormal to have this amount of non-performing loans. The rate of decrease is abnormally slow. Other countries which had large amounts of non-performing loans have dealt with it. The issue is recognising the actual value of the loans on the banks and the EBA has called it, Mr McErlean said. He said regulators have repeatedly said the banks have enough capital to recognise their losses but no one will know until the banks write down the losses on their books. In recent months, Mr McErlean has advised the Independent Alliance grouping of TDs on ways to deal with the countrys huge amount of distressed mortgage debt. He has been critical of the slow progress in resolving distressed home loans. Once you do write down loans, it increases the banks capacity to lend into the real economy, he said. Philip OSullivan, chief economist at Investec Ireland said the Irish banks were generating sustainable profits. Writing in the irisheconomy.ie blog, economist Colm McCarthy said the essential reason the EBA scored Irish banks relatively poorly was its test applied a sharper economic downturn for Ireland than that applied to other eurozone countries. Ms Lynch, from Quilty, lay beneath the car for two hours before the crash was discovered. While gardai have confirmed that the single-vehicle accident happened at about 11.00pm on Friday, emergency services werent alerted until 2.00am on Saturday. The silver Volkswagen car hit a ditch before flipping over, into a field, and landing on its roof. A man heard a bang at around 11.00pm, but thought nothing of it. Later, however, he went to investigate and discovered a car on its roof, in thick overgrowth in a field near his home. The man raised the alarm and emergency services rushed to the scene. Gardai, an ambulance, and two units of the fire brigade, from Ennistymon, attended the incident. Fire crews searched the car and the local area, but could find no-one inside. Soon afterwards, emergency crews discovered the victim beneath the vehicle. It appears the victim had been thrown from the car in the impact. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and her body removed to University Hospital Limerick, where a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out. A local man said: This is a quiet enough road, probably only used by farmers, locals, and a few who might know the area. You could drive past that spot in daylight and you mightnt have seen the car in the ditch. Its an awful tragedy. The landmark monument on Youghals main thoroughfare has been fully restored. The tourism sector in the East Cork town envisages an economic boast of at least 1.4m annually. It will re-open as a museum and interpretive centre. Craftsmen and technicians from 17 specialist Irish companies are presently fitting out all four floors of the tower. Were looking at specialist joinery, electrics, graphics, costumes, models, audio-visual aids and film production, said Aileen Murray, manager of the Youghal Socio-Economic Development Group (YSEDG). The group is spearheading the 650,000 restoration project. Each floor will depict a historic period covering the 1400s, 1700s, 1800s and 1900s, and culminating in the buildings use as a private residence to the McGrath family in the 1950s. The project is being designed by Scroope Design, Courtmacsherry. The Clock Gate stands on the site of the former Trinity Castle, one of five gateways into Youghal. The actual clock was installed in 1620 to broadcast the death of children and was retained when the tower was built in the 1770s. It also served as a prison until 1837. A few floggings and executions were associated with the tower, particularly after the 1798 rebellion. However, most serious offenders were generally transferred to Cork. The new attraction will also reflect the towns evolving social, political and commercial life outside the town centre jail. The building closed as a small museum in 1993, with the current renewal launched by the former town council in 2008. Cork County Council currently leases the monument to the YSEDG under a 10-year contract. The restoration programme was boosted by Failte Irelands Ancient Ireland East initiative as the tourist body provided 200,000 funding towards the 350,000 design and fit-out stage, with match funding from Cork County Council. Previously, conservation and restoration of the buildings exterior was funded by 240,000 from SECAD, while Youghal Town Council had contributed towards preliminary 60,000 planning costs. Visitors will book tours not exceeding 20 members at the nearby tourist office. Technology and craft will play a part, including language translations and digitally-created images of old Youghal but it will, ultimately, be all about stories, said Ms Murray. Cork historian Dr Alicia St Leger has researched extensively to create scripted tales of bygone times. The stories are highly authentic and derived from archival records and similar sources, according to Ms Murray. They will bring Youghal and the clock gates past to life magnificently. Simon Delaneys bonhomie doesnt quite conceal the angst beneath. The Bachelors Walk star and anchor of TV3s Saturday AM is one of Irelands best known screen presences, but also very much a jobbing thesp. Parts come, parts go and, with four kids to support, life is far from glamorous. For the average freelance actor, you probably spend more time not working than working, says the Raheny native in that salty Dublin accent. It is a very, very tough business you can get close to life-changing jobs and then, the following day, you receive the rejection. You have to climb back on the bike and go again. This endless pivoting from success to rejection is a subject Delaney delves into with relish in his new podcast, Behind The Scenes. Amy Huberman was one of the recent guests on Behind The Scenes with Simon Delaney, the actors new podcast which is available free of charge via iTunes. Its a regular series of long-form interviews in the vein of WTF with Marc Maron, with industry guests such as Once and Sing Street director John Carney and Laurence Kinlan, who played Elmo in Love/Hate. Ive been a fan of podcasts for years, he says. Its one of those weird media where, if you have an interest, theres a podcast to match. If you are interested in South American geography, theres probably a podcast about that. Hes a great host an effortless raconteur but with a vein of insecurity that stops his patter becoming glib or in-jokey. And while it may not have been the intention, Behind the Scenes sheds as much light on presenter as on interviewee, with Delaney emerging as by turns upbeat, troubled, and eager to be loved. If youve seen Delaney on screen, you will have a sense what hes like in person. He is friendly and chatty and upfront about the challenges of acting. He is also a natural born multi-tasker, podcasting the latest swerve in a career brimming with the unexpected. Delaney has appeared alongside Kiefer Sutherland in a drama about autism, starred with Vince Vaughn in a lowest denominator comedy, and popped up as a British barrister on courtroom juggernaut The Good Wife. But it is since the podcast that he has arguably had his biggest success yet, in James Wans $300m shock-buster, The Conjuring 2. And yet none of these were major starring roles and, for Delaney, the quest for lasting security goes on. Aged 45, a steady income stream remains a pipe dream. He shrugs. Such is the life he has chosen. Ireland fell in love with Simon Delaney (centre) in Bachelors Walk back in 2001. Hes pictured here with fellow stars Don Wycherley (Raymond) and Keith McErlean (Barry). Delaney has lofty hopes for Behind the Scenes. Future guests include comedian Chris ODowd while he is putting together plans for a taping before a live audience, to be screened in real time via social media. Should that experiment prove a success, he will approach broadcasters with a view to turning the podcast into a TV series. Everyone likes to peek behind the curtain to see what makes things tick, he explains. Im talking to people but not about whats coming up next, the next project they are pushing. Its more about why did they became actors, how do they prepare for auditions, for characters. Its more of an insight in what its like to be a freelance actor Weve had some lovely feedback, particularly from the Laurence Kinlan episode. It was like someone put a mic in the bar and you were dropping into two mates having a chat. "It wasnt really about him being an actor; it was about growing up in inner city Dublin and the very tough blows he has had to deal within his life. Long term, he says, the goal is to reduce his reliance on acting. He recently established a production company, Three Lads Media, specialising in advertising and client-based work (and founded in association with Conor and Hughie McAllister of the Grafton Barber chain). Based in an industrial estate outside Ashbourne, county Meath, he sees Three Lads as an outlet for untapped ideas and energies, such as the new podcast. Though he does not plan to give up screen and stage, with a family to provide for, Delaney feels it important to broaden his income stream. Hes been married since 2005 to Lisa Muddiman. In June, they welcomed their fourth child, Lewis. Last year I didnt work in the States for nine months. You have to learn how to block it away and move on. Its a job. Its not a calling or a vocation. Yes, it is a craft, something you can devote your life to. But at the end of the day it is still a job. Some of the close calls have been excruciating. He remembers being flown to Los Angeles to audition for a high-profile drama only to be rejected at the end. There are two ways to respond to such a setback. You give up, or you shrug it off and put your shoulder back to the wheel. I got down to the last 20. And then to the last two. Three days after the audition I was told I didnt get it. That 6,000 mile trip home was very lonely and very hard. Going home without the job is tough. You have to just find a way to deal with it. There is a perception that one high-profile role invariably leads to another. That has not been his experience. The phone did not ring off the hook after The Good Wife in 2011. I was in an episode of Touch with Kiefer Sutherland. That didnt lead to anything. I got The Good Wife that didnt lead to anything. I did Delivery Man with Vince Vaughn. That didnt lead to anything. Yes, of course, it becomes part of your body of work it is easier for our agent to sell you and promote you. So it helps. Whether it leads to anything I dont know. You hear other actors saying well I got cast in x after they saw me in y. But should you really be thinking all that when you are trying out for a part? If you had it in the back of your mind your head might explode. The psychological side of being an actor its a very weird and wonderful place. Acting started as a hobby. His experiences holding down a regular job have, he feels, stood to him bringing a healthy perspective to the endless ups and downs. I was lucky in that I spent a lot of years in the real world, he says. I was a sales rep and in that game you hear the word no all the time. So when I started and I was getting told no, it didnt take a feather out of me. It was on to the next one. That attitude changes as you get older. Not getting the job becomes more significant now. Im the father of four kids. So when I dont get the jobs I cant say ah sure, lets move on. Its tougher to take. I would say it actually gets harder over the years. Does he ever think about packing it in? I always give the example of George Clooney, who did 18 pilots before ER. Thats 18 times he was auditioned, got cast... and then had to go again. Its all about how you handle the time out of work. Most of us are parents weve all got mouths to fed. When youre not working, thats very, very tricky. The latest of Behind the Scenes has been released on iTunes and other podcasting platforms. KEITH PAYNE sighs when you ask him about the Rolling Stones. Its not that he doesnt have a soft spot for them, having toured with the band for years, but at 73, he doesnt have time any more for all the fuss and the idolatry and the hunger for scandalous stories. Look, Mick [Jagger] is a very intelligent and professional performer, and very bright and likeable, he says. Keith [Richards] is very serious and a big reader and thinker with his own philosophy in life and is probably the most honest person Ive ever met. Ronnie [Wood] is everybodys mate and Charlies [Watts] a complete gentleman. Theyre a wonderful group of people and the rest is just shenanigans. A painter and sculptor who specialised in inflatable stage sculptures and worked with the Stones, Pink Floyd, AC/DC and many others for 30 years, Payne now lives in Schull, West Cork with his wife Miranda, where he paints and co-owns the Blue House art gallery. This year, Payne will judge Electric Picnics Far-fetched Caravan Challenge, which is held by the organisers of the Trailer Park area of the festival. Its a metropolis of tiny venues, interactive cultural outposts, fun-clinics and oddball theatres curated by Roz and Hugo Jellet; every year they award grants to 15 artists, designers and builders for the wildest and most inventive caravan conversions to add to the area. During the festival, they judge an overall winner. With his background in set design and rock n roll, Payne is well qualified to judge the caravans. I suppose Ill be looking for the theatrical first and then the minutiae, he says. Ill be looking at good paint jobs and innovative ideas. I dont know what to expect quite frankly; last year I saw pictures of a double-decker bus that was half buried in the ground, so who knows what this year will bring? I think therell be a lot of interesting people coming out of the woodwork for this one. Payne has another qualification for the position of judge: he started out as a wheelwright and builder of horse-drawn vehicles. I know a bit about trailers, having lived in one for years, he says. When I first came to Ireland I travelled from Cork up to Donegal in a horse-drawn wagon. His fondness for the peripatetic life may be why he was able to tour life for so long. Touring is very tiring: you dont know whether youre on a plane or a bus, or what country youre in. Youre like a zombie. You finish the show, have a beer and a pizza and next thing you know youre back at work. You only get a sense of the city youre in by the people streaming past you in the stadium. Paynes big break in the set design business came when Pink Floyd approached a friend of his , Rob Harries, to build a giant inflatable pig to shoot the iconic cover of their 1977 album, Animals, at Battersea Power station. The publicity that ensued when the pig broke loose and sailed into Heathrows airspace has gone down in rocknroll history and helped generate business for Payne and Harries company. I think a stoned roadie cut the wires or something; anyway, it flew off and then after that we got lots of telephone calls from all over the world from rock bands asking for a fifty foot this or a sixty foot that. He may prefer to keep schtum about wild rock adventures, but is happy to share stories of professional mishaps, and laughs heartily as he relates an incident on one South American Stones tour, where one of the famous 60 foot inflatable Honky Tonk Women misbehaved spectacularly. There had been an incredible thunderstorm that afternoon and there was a tonne of water in it. As we blew it up and Mick came across the stage, the whole lot cascaded down on top of him. David Norris does not hesitate for even a nanosecond. Marriage for me? he laughs, repeating the question. Not a bit of it. You must be joking. Hes tickled by the thought. I wouldnt want an old wrinkly fart like myself, he says mischievously. Id want a young man! A nice handsome, middle-aged farmer from the midlands. The veteran senator and gay rights activist was one of the campaigners who helped make same-sex marriage a reality last year, but its not for him. That boat, he says, has sailed. Hes 72 now: too late, he feels, for marriage. But a relationship thats something different. Theres no sexual relationship at present, he says, frankly. It would be lovely, it would be nice to have someone to share my life with. Political life, he adds, cuts into your social life. We meet in his magnificent period home in North Great Georges Street, not far from OConnell Street in the heart of Dublin. He has had some bad news about a close friend, and its put him in a contemplative mood as he looks back over a life less ordinary. My brother [John] died last year, he says. Ken Monaghan [co-founder of the James Joyce Centre] died some years ago. So many people are just drifting away. Norris has had his own health problems too. Two years ago, he had a liver transplant after an inoperable tumour was detected. Hes made an impressive recovery, although he says his physical strength isnt what it was before the discovery. He took the news in his stride: It didnt bother me to get the diagnosis, he says. I have a strong religious belief. Ive always enjoyed life and Ive been extremely lucky and privileged. There are many places in the world where the life expectancy is just 30. At my age, lots of people get cancer. He chain-smokes through the interview, and clearly relishes tobacco. I dont inhale, he says, but I do like a cigarette. I have this compulsive tendency if I open a box of chocolates, Ill finish them all. David Norris first started campaigning for equality in the 1970s and played an enormous role in the betterment of gay lives in Ireland since then. He is one of the significant figures who will be celebrated at Cork Pride, which got under way last Sunday. Its theme this year is The Original Rebels and its certainly apt where Norris is concerned. Not only was his work pivotal in ensuring that homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993, but he was among the first to organise one of the countrys first gay nightclubs and bring awareness of the then new, barely understood, disease of Aids to the wider public. Last years victorious referendum would have been a pipe dream in the dark days of the early 1980s, an intolerant period remembered for the murders of gay men Declan Flynn and Charles Self. The fact that the people who murdered Declan Flynn were let off without any sentence he pauses, still stunned by the decision. That just said that a gay mans life was worth nothing. I remember Declan well. In fact I have a photograph of him which was taken in this very room the night the [gay social venue] Hirschfeld Centre was opened. He had to conceal his sexuality he was a shy nervous man with a stutter. There were an awful lot of queer-bashings back then and sometimes there wasnt much sympathy. I remember when Charles Self died, the guards roped in a lot of people in what felt at the time like a dragnet to measure the gay community. David Norris at home surrounded by books. Behind him is a caricature of him promenading with James Joyce. Norris has helped affirm the writers reputation, from his legendary TCD lectures to the James Joyce Centre he helped establish. Yet, even in the bleakest days, he was convinced Irish society was capable of true tolerance. The shackles of conservatism had to be removed first. Right from the start, I always felt that we as Irish were decent and compassionate and the [anti-gay] laws we suffered under were imperial, passed in the House of Commons in the 1880s. No Irish parliament ever discussed it. If you go back to the Brehon Laws there are reasonably positive mentions of homosexuality it was regarded as a grounds for divorce, for instance, if the man went off with the kitchen boy. The possibility of it, at least, was acknowledged. He says he was heartened that the electorate saw through the scare tactics used by No campaigners. They kept dragging in things like adoption, he says. They harped on the idea that every child needs a father and mother which was a slap in the face for the third of Irish mothers who are single. They also ignored the Scandinavian evidence which showed that children brought up in same-sex marriage do at least as well. He chuckles when recalling that he was criticised by some in the gay community in the early days for not being seen to be an advocate of promiscuity. It was a kind of compulsory ideological position to take, he say, but it wasnt my view. I felt that if I behaved like that, the tabloid newspapers would get hold of it and that would be the end of the movement. He says memories of the outpouring of emotion at Dublin Castle when the referendum had been won will forever live in his memory, but believes some important people werent given the credit on the day that they deserved. I did think it was funny that some people who were marginal to the whole issue where up on the lorry [the makeshift stage], whereas three people got virtually no credit Brian Sheehan [CEO of Glen the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network], Grainne Healy [chairperson of Marriage Equality] and Eamon Gilmore [ex Labour Party leader]. Without Eamon Gilmore insisting it was a significant social issue [the referendum] would never have happened. He is convinced that in the 14 months that have elapsed since the vote, a change can already be appreciated. The lovely thing now, he says, is its not gay marriage, or same-sex marriage, its just marriage full stop. I love the idea of young people being brought up in a society where its become increasingly irrelevant and theyre not subject to the pressures, the strains, the neurosis that people of my generation were. When he realised he was gay while still a teen in the 1950s, he was convinced he was the only one among a school population of 500. It just wasnt talked about at all back then. He felt comfortable being openly gay in the Trinity of the 1970s and it was in his early years lecturing in the English Department there that he met one of the great loves of his life, the Israeli Ezra Nawi. Ezra was perfect, he says. I had my domestic life in Jerusalem. Id go over for a couple of months in summer and Easter and so on and while I was there I was just a suburban housewife in Jerusalem and it was lovely. It wasnt just the sex because the sex fizzled out fairly early on with Ezra it was having a home to go to when he would come home from work hed drop off his clothes and jump into the bath and have a cup of tea and then wed cook an evening meal together and then wed go for a walk. Wed go on little trips together. It was that feeling of having a little family. The relationship ended, but friendship survived. One of Norris more enduring relationships is with a man who had died before he was even born James Joyce. His Ulysses lectures at Trinity were the stuff of legend and he talks about the novel with the zeal of one keen to convert the world, one reader at a time. There are awful, self-righteous critics who seem to think people shouldnt get fun out of Joyce, he says. You may have been damn sure Joyce would have exploited [his literary reputation]. He was so single-minded in his commitment to his art. He lives on a street thats now synonymous with the great writer. The Joyce Centre, which Norris helped establish, is located across the road and, at the junction on the top of street, Joyces alma mater, Belvedere College, is to be found. I knew Joyces family, he says, and some of them were bitterly ashamed of Joyce. His two sisters were convinced they lost their jobs when their employers found out who they were. Another relation used to refer to him as that antichrist in Paris. Norris was first elected to the Seanad in 1987 and has been returned at every election since. He campaigned relentlessly for its retention when it looked as though it would be abolished three years ago, but believes it needs radical change. People talk about the unfairness of university graduates getting to vote [for six of its seats], but what about all the other seats? For 11 of those, one person gets to choose [the Taoiseach]. Thats hardly fair, is it? What about those who dismiss the upper house as a talking shop? Theres nothing wrong with a talking shop! Im all in favour of them. I dont think we talk to each other enough. The Seanad was the place that held the first debate on Aids the Dail was terrified of it. He says he does not regret running for President in 2011, despite a bruising campaign. I dont regret standing, he says, because I forced an election. There would not have been an election otherwise. Looking back, he feels he was victimised. I was the only one who wasnt allowed to discuss my ideas it was all these manufactured scandals. Ive three actions left against RTE, so I cant really talk about that. And then my [campaign] committee just disappeared. They had a meeting to which I was not allowed attend. It was extraordinary - to be tried in absentia by a kangaroo court. Not one of them, to this day, has told me that they resigned. I had to learn about it from the Nine OClock News. Despite such difficulties, the campaign gave him a chance to see Ireland, warts and all. He says its something he will always treasure. It was great travelling around the country and meeting people and seeing the beauty of the place and that, despite the recession, people were fighting back. He rules out the possibility of running for the Aras again in 2018. Im too old, he says matter-of-factly. Im too old and I dont think Id have the energy. Besides, he says, his campaigning days arent yet numbered. There are parts of the world where people can be murdered just for being gay. We cant bury our heads in the sand about that or, indeed, believe that homophobia has been completely eradicated from Ireland. It hasnt. Cork Pride continues until tomorrow. www.corkpride.com It would strike on the train a really sharp feeling in his heart, a feeling like his stomach was crushing in on itself. Now a 17-year-old about to go into Leaving Cert in a large co-ed school in Donabate, James* recalls the anxious years, from when he was 14 to 16. I usually got anxiety before and during meeting people, especially new people. It was worst on the train I take the train everywhere Id be back and forth to the toilet. I used to go to games and comics conventions thered be a lot of people I didnt know. His anxiety got worse in transition year. Fourth year isnt as heavily structured. Theres more of a social aspect. It was something I wasnt comfortable with. Im quite introverted even that, I thought, must mean there was something wrong with me. It led to more anxiety. When it got to where he was spending entire days in my bedroom, not eating, and crying in the night, he knew something wasnt right. Accompanied by his parents, he sought help from a Dublin hospital, only to be told it was a teenage thing. I was just a moody teenager! It was at this point he found ReachOut.com, Irelands online youth mental health service. There was so much easy-to-read, easy-to-understand information in the one place. And it was positive. It made me want to look for help. Through ReachOut.com, he found out about CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). He saw a clinical psychologist for the best part of two years and has put anxiety behind him. The Dublin teen is part of a trend that sees increasing numbers of young people seeking mental health support online, rather than over the phone or face-to-face. ReachOuts five year review (2011-2015) finds 62% of young people would visit a website for support when going through a tough time. They favour online support as highly as speaking to a friend. And its first port of call over talking to a health professional (38%), calling a helpline (14%) or speaking to a parent/guardian (28%). Carmel*, a 24-year-old Dublin-based barista, went online for help after a friend texted to say she was suffering from anorexia and depression. I was shocked. This was someone I believed I was close to and I hadnt guessed. I wasnt entirely sure what to think of the two concepts, [anorexia and depression]. I went to Google, to figure out a starting point, how can someone get over this? I went to the Internet because I wanted to maintain my friends privacy and I didnt know who I could ask without being told she should just get over it. On ReachOut.com, Carmel found a specific section on helping a friend with a mental health problem. There was information and articles about others whod been through similar. I was able to tell my friend its ok, its something that happens, you can come out the other side. While she understands the pull to seek help online you can settle your mind and figure things out before talking to someone Carmel also believes it doesnt compare with confiding in friends or family in real time. Id go to family or close friends, as well as consult the Internet. But child and adolescent psychiatrist Colman Noctor isnt surprised young people are bypassing traditional first ports of call GP, parents, friends and going straight to Google. Everyones help-seeking behaviour has changed with the amount of information online. And young people dont distinguish the disconnect between the digital and non-digital space. Theyve grown up with it, whereas adults might see more problems with it. Despite all the work done to challenge stigma, a taboo still exists when it comes to talking about mental health issues. So theres great anonymity about seeking help online. One of the great pluses of online communities is confidentiality, though it may not be as confidential as you think the Internet knows, says Noctor. In looking for psychological/emotional help, the human piece is incredibly important, he says. Diagnosis and clinical assessment is such a relational and human interaction. You might not even make an assessment on the first day [you meet the person]. And its a very skilful attribute to be able to deliver news that people dont want to hear in a way they can digest and take in. But, says Noctor, the merit of sites like ReachOut.com is they give basic, valid information, as well as case studies to help people feel less isolated. ReachOut hosts their fourth annual Technology for Wellbeing conference on Wednesday, September 14, in Dublins Marker Hotel. The event is a forum for exploring/discussing technology and the growing role it plays in mental health. Register at http://ie.reachout.com/about/register-for-technology-for-wellbeing-2016/. Tickets cost 95 (student rate: 45). For more info on conference themes/speakers, visit http://ie.reachout.com/about/programme-2016/. *Only first names used to protect identity. SIX years ago I was a bit of a wreck. Writing in this paper, I told how a childhood injury had left me with long term back problems which had intensified with age often hindering my ability to move around and enjoy life to the full. Having tried every manner of treatment, I went to visit Steve Timm an Australian native who was on a flying visit to Ireland. A retired IBM engineer, Timm (now 76) had been a fellow sufferer until, after years of agony, he devised a series of gentle yogic exercises which revolutionised his mobility and gave him a new lease of life. The exercise programme, which he named Mind your own Back (MYOB) was the result of his determination not to use the disabled badge which he had been given for his car on account of the severity of his back pain. A combination of research, engineering know-how and the study of yoga and the ancient Vedic sciences, this short exercise plan cured him of all his ails. When I last wrote on this topic, I had just been to visit him in Killarney and after explaining how the spine works, enquiring about the nature and source of my pain, Timm taught me how to do the exercise regime. At first, I was very sceptical as, unlike the professionals I had sought help from in the past, he didnt lay a finger on me but just talked me through each exercise, encouraging me to stretch further in one direction, roll up tighter or make certain movements faster than others. It seemed like an easy-to-follow yoga routine, of which I didnt have very high hopes. After all I had been going to yoga classes for months and while they were undoubtedly relaxing and beneficial, whenever my back was playing up, the pain restricted movement. However, after an hour with this gentle man, I stood up feeling taller, straighter and extraordinarily pain-free. And I can happily report, that now, six years later, his simple routine has revolutionised my approach to back pain. For much of my adult life, regular visits to professionals regarding my herniated disc were commonplace and I even spent the best part of a year unable to bend over to tie my shoelaces as the pain was so intense. But since meeting Timm in 2010, I havent seen a physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath since. Sure, my back plays up from time to time and there are days in which I feel stiffer than others, but now I know that all I have to do is my ten minute MYOB routine and before long I will be back on my feet again. Timm will be visiting Ireland again in August and has also just released a revised edition of his book of the same name Mind your own Back. He says lack of knowledge caused his own physical problems. My back injuries started from the common ignorance of abusing my body and back as a very strongly built young man, he explains. Being a big guy I was always asked to lift the heavy things which of course abused the capacity of my spine. My back began to fall apart in 1974 when an accident at work, while carrying a heavy piece of equipment, left me frozen with pain and flat on my back in bed, unable to move for a whole month. The agony was so immediate and overwhelming I had no choice but to give myself over to medical practitioners to perform their expected miracles and take away my pain. For the first time I was no longer in charge of my life but dependent on others and it was a huge blow to my ego. In matters of strength and health, I had always prided myself on my self-sufficiency and suddenly it was gone. Eventually recovering somewhat from this injury, the Chilean-born Timm resumed his life but continued to neglect his back. I had no idea of the real damage done to my back and did none of the things necessary to keep it strong and healthy, he admits. Over the next fifteen years I suffered all kinds of damage and by 1991 X-ray examinations and MRI scans revealed that I seriously sprained my back and the years of physical abuse had resulted in serious degeneration of the vertebrae. My spine, the foundation of my bodily strength, was literally crumbling away. After numerous treatments by osteopaths, chiropractors and physical therapists, I was told nothing more could be done. I was disabled, cast out by the medical system - Id hit my lowest point of misery and suffering. But refusing to take this diagnosis lying down, Timm decided to take matters into his own hands initially through meditation. In retrospect being told there was no cure was a blessing as I was forced onto my own resources, he says. If I wanted to be pain free, strong and flexible again, it was up to me, and only me. It was a turning point both physically and spiritually. I had attended a number of personal development courses in IBM which had been used by NASA to prepare astronauts for the first landings on the Moon. There I came across the work of pioneering psychologist Abraham Maslow and found his insights into the workings of the mind extremely enlightening and from them developed a keen interest in reaching what Maslow called Peak Experience. Inspired by this goal, I developed my own system of meditation which led me to deep levels of peace and gave me the response I was looking for. There were no clear verbal messages or ideas, just faint impulses to try different things. Timm says while his new-found spiritualism and healing didnt happen overnight, the time came when he was pain free and it was only then he allowed himself to look into the movements and exercises he had instinctively been doing to get him to this point. I knew I was on the right track (with meditation and yoga) when I began to experience some bliss and happiness beneath the pain and suffering, he says. A little at a time, I began to be stronger until eventually all the pain was gone. After the healing I retraced my steps of recovery and began to understand the mechanics of the process which healed me. In the western world, many find it difficult to understand or trust instinctive or intuitive knowledge as the rationale of science and proof by objective experiment is the golden rule. But the truth is that human beings have an infinite potential of knowledge deep within if only we can learn how to access it. We lose sight of how much power we have within us. All that is required is the ability to trust our own intelligence and listen to the quiet voice that whispers to us in our deepest moments of inner peace and silence. Often dubbed The Miracle Man Timm explains that learning how to balance properly is crucial to eliminating back pain and each person has individual needs so while his exercises can work for everyone, they must be tailored to suit. After nine months in a foetal position we get born and for the first time the spine opens up and stretches out like a flower on the spring sun, he says. The proper opening and balance of the base of the spine is fundamental to the whole structure as we are the only creature that uses the spine vertically as in a balancing act. MYOB aims at creating balance at the very base which when properly set makes many stretches and exercises really beneficial. Its a form of therapy so not suitable to be taught in a group but needs to be adjusted to the individual needs of each person. Giving everyone a fixed version of MYOB would be ignorant and could be damaging in some cases. I was fortunate enough to meet Steve in 2010 and learn the sequence of exercises which would enable me to get a handle on my back injury. The yoga-style exercises range from re-aligning the pelvis through sharp leg drops to the floor, rolling from side to side with my body curled up into a ball, a specific body twist in which legs lie to one side while the torso is turned the opposite way and various other gentle but effective stretches which done together have the extraordinary ability to release tension and ease painful muscles. Since learning the 10 minute daily routine, I have told anyone who would listen about Timms almost miraculous programme. He, of course, maintains that the miracles are created by ourselves. But having found a solution after years of agony, I beg to differ and would encourage anyone with an interest in alleviating back pain, to visit his website, buy his book, go and see the man himself (when he visits Dublin on August 6th) or better still do all three. He may humbly deflect any praise lobbed in his direction, but he has well and truly taught me to mind my own back. Contact Steve at myoback@gmail.com www.mindyourownback.com Climate change has claimed another victim. Almost one-quarter of the coral in Australias Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area one of the worlds richest and most complex ecosystems has died this year, in the worst mass coral bleaching in recorded history. Even in the far northern reaches of the Reef, long at a sufficient distance from human pressures like coastal development to preserve, to a large extent, coral health, a staggering 50% of the coral has died. The above-average sea temperatures that triggered this bleaching were made 175 times more likely by climate change. As the ocean continues to absorb heat from the atmosphere, large-scale coral bleaching like that which has decimated the Great Barrier Reef not to mention other destructive phenomena spurred by rising temperatures is likely to become even more frequent and devastating. The future of priceless World Heritage sites and, indeed, our planet depends on the immediate reduction of climate-change-inducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Yet many of the governments responsible for protecting these sites within their borders are not only failing to take strong climate action; they are actively pursuing dirty energy projects like coal mines and coal-fired power plants. Even as the Great Barrier Reef dies before our eyes, Australia continues to increase its exploitation of dirty fossil fuels. In the past year, the Australian government has approved both the massive Carmichael coalmine and the Abbot Point terminal, located near the Reef, to facilitate the global export of output from the Carmichael mine. The emissions attributable to the Carmichael mine will be some of the highest resulting from a single project anywhere in the world. And the problem isnt limited to Australia. In low-lying Bangladesh, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, the government supports a proposal to build two huge coal-fired power plants adjacent to the Sundarbans World Heritage site. India, too, supports the proposal. Not only will these power plants emit large quantities of greenhouse gases; they will also devastate the Sundarbans, where the Ganges and other rivers meet the Bay of Bengal in a spectacular delta of mangrove islands that is home to endangered Bengal tigers and river dolphins. The power plants will pollute the waters with toxic coal ash, bring constant coal-barge traffic, and require the dredging of riverbeds. Mercury from the smokestacks will accumulate in the marine life, permanently contaminating the food supply of hundreds of thousands of people and vulnerable wildlife. It is true that Bangladesh is energy poor, a problem that must be addressed if it is to continue to develop economically. But there are alternatives. The country has significant potential for renewable-energy production, and it is already a world leader in rooftop solar energy. Of course, the responsibility to avert dangerous anthropogenic climate change does not fall only on countries that are home to World Heritage sites. But, knowing what we know today, initiating such damaging dirty energy projects is indefensible. With governments failing to protect our natural heritage, the World Heritage Committee must step up, in order to help bring an end to the relentless exploitation of fossil fuels. Specifically, the WHC should make recommendations to governments for reducing fossil-fuel-related threats, identify sites that are in particular danger from such threats, and carry out monitoring missions. The objective should be, first and foremost, to encourage governments with the capacity to reduce fossil-fuel-related threats to designated sites to take action. Such action from the WHC would also help to educate and empower civil society, while placing pressure on financial institutions to withhold the funding required for massive development projects. The WHCs annual meetings, such as that which just ended in Istanbul, are the ideal forum for such an effort. Already, dozens of organisations and more than 60,000 individuals have called on the committee to urge India and Bangladesh to cancel the proposed coal plants and invest in renewable energy instead. Similarly, dozens of renowned scientists, NGOs, and international and Australian lawyers have demanded that the WHC counsel Australia not to continue supporting developments that will exacerbate the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. As the threat of climate change grows increasingly menacing, influential institutions like the WHC must take a stand against the toxic and insidious legacy of dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. If the committee remains silent on this crucial issue, World Heritage sites around the world will suffer. Martin Wagner is the managing attorney of the International Program of Earthjustice, the largest non-profit environmental law organization in the United States. Noni Austin is an Australian lawyer in Earthjustices International Program. THREE huge terror attacks in 18 months would challenge the spirit of any country. The Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre in January, 2015, was followed by the Paris attacks in November of that year, when 130 people were killed, and a third episode of carnage, in Nice, on Bastille Day, this July 14, when 84 people were killed. A week ago, on July 26, an 84-year-old priest celebrating mass was murdered, near Rouen. France is in the midst of a terrifying escalation of violence. The French seem clueless as to how to deal with what has become a seemingly endless cycle of violence. An isolated immigrant population and a strident, right-wing political faction, in a country awash with guns, has created a toxic and explosive mixture. President Francois Hollande has declared the nation at war. His rival, former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has called for a pitiless response. Could France, a nation long-considered a beacon of liberty and stability, be on the edge of something resembling a civil war? I wish I could say this was exaggeration. But the evidence does not support complacency. Just down the road from me, on the outskirts of Montpellier, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, theres long been a gun club where enthusiastic game hunters can polish their skills during the off-season. Unlike in Britain, it is legal for members of such clubs to own pistols and semi-automatic rifles. In the last few months, since the terrorism intensified, the membership of the gun club has quadrupled, from 200 to 800. The new members are not all motivated by the love of shooting sports. Pascal, a local farmer who owns a dozen rifles, pistols and shotguns, as well as an AK-47 assault rifle, admitted to something much darker. Theyre getting ready for a war, he said. This sounds crazy, but, even before the atrocity in Nice, it was revealed that Patrick Calvar, a senior French intelligence official, had told a parliamentary committee that one more incident could provoke a bloody civil conflict. Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant National Front, does nothing to calm these fears. The war against Islamic fundamentalism has not yet begun. Now, it is necessary to urgently declare it, she said last week. As a Brit who has lived in France for 15 years, I like to think I know my neighbours. Ive mastered the language, and have even been elected to the local council. So my observations are not a tourists snapshot. I talk to people at every level of French society and I am detecting a change of mood. And the mood is turning nasty. Normally, it takes quite a bit to excite my neighbours under the languid southern sun, but as one horror has followed another, I am no longer taking for granted that they will put up with this much longer. In March, 2012, in Toulouse, a large city not far from here, three gun attacks targeted French soldiers outside their barracks, and a Jewish school. Seven people were killed, including three children. Since then, nationally, there have been 14 further attacks, with 250 people killed and 600 injured. In the ancient coastal city of Beziers, 20 minutes from Montpellier, voters recently elected a mayor, Robert Menard, a former journalist, who is in open sympathy with the right-wing National Front. In my own village, at the last regional elections, more than half our citizens cast ballots for the extreme right. Are they neo-fascists? Not really. They are just frightened. Traditional politicians are failing Frances citizens. The president, Francois Hollande, has so far responded feebly to this. After the massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine, he suggested that radicalism could be avoided by making school children recite a pledge of allegiance to the French state. Manuel Valls, the prime minister, further infuriated my neighbours by suggesting that they should just learn to live with terrorism. No wonder the extreme nationalist politicians are gaining ground. France has become a pressure cooker of resentments, yet, day to day, the Muslim population is arguably suffering more than anyone, suffering from the worst housing, the most inadequate education, and the highest unemployment. Neither Hollande nor his predecessor, Sarkozy, have done anything to address the chronic unemployment of young French Muslims, said to be at more than 50%; nothing to reprimand right-wing mayors who refuse to offer alternatives to pork in school cafeterias; nothing to curb the casual racism shown to young people of North African origin by the overwhelmingly white police. Indeed, they have made it worse, even forbidding Muslim women from wearing head scarves in public. And none of those maneuvering to replace Hollande in next years presidential elections have yet shown they have a clue what to do, either. Whether the latest atrocity, in Nice, was organised by the so-called Islamic State or was just another horrible expression of rage and frustration by a man of North African origin hardly matters. The mood in France is turning from resignation to anger. After repeated failures to prevent attacks, confidence in the intelligence services is close to zero. It could be only a matter of time before liberty, equality, and fraternity turn into something much nastier. France is a schizophrenic nation, at once declaring itself revolutionary, yet with a horror of change. Its ability to make peace with its excluded immigrant community, by opening its economy and creating opportunities for young, disenfranchised men, must be doubted. I fear we have not seen the last of these horrors and, as violence begets violence, and a sclerotic state continues to fail to offer solutions, the forecast is grim. Jonathan Miller is an elected city councillor in southern France, and the author of France, a Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, available from all good bookstores (bit.ly/franceontheverge) I resist the urge to run screaming to the nearest exit. Its my kids birthday. Instead of mooching around my preferred retail emporiums book shops, food shops, charity shops I have been catapulted into the shiny, bright-lit shopping mall full of identical outlets which lines every high street in every town, where the air is sterile, the music piped, and the coffee rank. To commemorate his coming of teen-age, my son would like trainers more expensive than my car, and items that are secondary to the names on their labels. So, its not sunglasses, its Raybans. Not underpants, but Gucci pants. Not body spray, but Armani cologne. Hes thirteen. He knows his stuff. The key words here are would and like. (I would like a three-novel book deal, a beach house in South India, and the body of a 22-year-old athlete). In search of more immediate goals, I set off to town with my kids birthday would-likes in my head, wondering how it all happened. Where did he learn all these label names? Why cant he just want a book token? Because Im not from the olden days, he said, when I asked him, with all the withering contempt exclusive to digital natives. Nobody reads. Only dead people. But Im not dead, I hear myself whimpering. Except I am, to a thirteen-year-old. Dead woman walking. Walking around the bloody shopping centre, surrounded by zombies with credit cards. Turns out Armani cologne costs more than a return flight from London to Amsterdam, a pair of Raybans would get you one-way to New York, and pants with someone elses name on the waistband are equivalent to an Easyjet to Barcelona. I walk around in circles, caffeine levels dropping, wondering how he ended up being such a label fiend. Is there a support group for the parents of pre-pubescent boys who have a Gucci-pants fixation? You dont want him to be the kid in About A Boy, says my sister. The one with the homemade woolly hat. Ah, yes. Granola Suicides son. No fear, I think, savagely, as another over-groomed shop assistant bears down. Brandboy McSpendy more like. Inevitably, it must be my own fault for bringing him up a Steiner-educated vegetarian what else could he become, other than a KFC-chomping, Lynx-spraying, trainers-collecting, label-loving teen about town, who enjoys nothing more than SnapChatting his product-filled hair? Sorry, its not Raybans or Armani, I tell him, as he opens his presents. But he doesnt seem to mind at all. Hes too busy Instragramming everything to even blow out his candles. Phew. Job done. The anti-terrorist operation is over, the service said in a statement, adding that the authorities had forced the members of the armed group to lay down their arms. Twenty terrorists have been taken prisoner, the police said. A group of around 30 gunmen had originally seized the police station on July 17, killing a police officer, wounding two others, and taking nine people hostage. A second policeman, outside the building, was killed on Saturday, when the police had given the men an ultimatum to surrender. Several gunmen were also wounded during the 14 days of the stand-off. In a sign of the deep divisions within Armenian society, the gunmen had attracted sympathy from several thousand opposition protestors, leading to street clashes with police. The armed men included veterans of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with neighbouring Azerbaijan, and were seen as national heroes by their supporters, who want the government to pursue a harder line on the issue. Within a week, the group had released all its hostages, including two senior police officers, but they then took four doctors hostage and refused to surrender. The doctors were also eventually released. The hostage-takers main demand was the release of Jirair Sefilian, an opposition leader accused by the authorities of plotting civil unrest. Sefilian was jailed in June over allegations of illegally possessing weapons. Sefilian, a former military commander, has accused Armenian president Serzh Sarksyan of mishandling the long-running conflict between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. A Moscow-brokered ceasefire halted four days of violence in the South Caucasus region in April the worst flare-up in years but sporadic shooting persists at night and some deaths have been reported. The gunmen were also demanding the resignation of President Sarksyan, and blamed the authorities for economic and social problems in the country of 3.7m people. Our task is fulfilled, Varuzhan Avetisyan one of the gunmen, told Armenian Internet TV and newspaper 1in.am shortly before surrendering to the police. Popular protest will continue. We feel that our victory is close and call on Armenian people to continue the fight, he said. On Saturday night, demonstrators marched down Baghramyan Avenue toward the main government buildings and the presidential residence, but were stopped by riot police. Ghazala Khan, the mother of slain US Army Captain Humayun Khan, wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post that explained why she stood without speaking on the Democratic Party convention stage last week as her husband castigated Trump for his comments about Muslims. Donald Trump said that maybe I wasnt allowed to say anything. That is not true, Mrs Khan wrote, adding that she did not speak because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son. When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant,she wrote. Trump stirred bipartisan outrage for his back and forth with the Khans. The Republican nominee lashed out at Khizr Khan, a US citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim, when Khan told of his war hero son at the Democrats convention and took issue with Trumps call for a ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States. Khizr Khan invited the Republican nominee to read the US Constitution and visit the graves of American soldiers. In an interview on ABCs This Week, Trump cast doubt on why Khans wife did not speak: She was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably, maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say, you tell me, Trump said. Yesterday, he tweeted: Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our leaders to eradicate it! A little over half an hour later, Trump tweeted again, saying he had been viciously attacked by Khan at the convention. Am I not allowed to respond? he asked. The candidate also tried to change the subject to the war itself: Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! On CNN yesterday, Khizr Khan said the couple had received a large outpouring of support after their appearance at the convention. He said people had seen the blackness of Trumps character, adding that Trumps family needed to teach him some empathy. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said Trump displayed a total misunderstanding of US values in his criticism of the couple. Bosses in the London Borough of Sutton said they had strongly contested the decision made by Mrs Justice Hogg four years ago after a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. But a spokesman said lawyers had advised that there were no grounds for a legal challenge in the Court of Appeal. Ellie died in October 2013, aged six, after being found injured at her home in Sutton, south-west London, about a year after Mrs Justice Hogg ruled that she should return to parents Ben Butler and Jennie Gray. Butler was convicted of murdering Ellie in June 2016 after a trial at the Old Bailey and was given a minimum 23-year jail term. Gray was sentenced to 42 months in prison after being convicted of child cruelty. She had admitted perverting the course of justice. A Sutton Council spokesman released a statement relating to lawyers advice about Mrs Justice Hoggs decision after more detail about events leading up to Ellies death emerged. Sutton Council strongly contested the decision that was made by Mrs Justice Hogg in 2012, said the spokesman. We sought legal advice but were advised there were no grounds for appeal. We were advised we couldnt have appealed. A number of family court judges, including two High Court judges based in the Family Division, oversaw hearings relating to Ellie. Butler had been convicted of shaking Ellie when she was a baby before being cleared on appeal. The little girl had been placed with grandparents after Butler was accused of shaking her. Following his appeal Mrs Justice Hogg reanalysed issues at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. She published a ruling in October 2012, after concluding that Ellie should be returned to the care of Butler and Gray. More detail about the case emerged on Friday when another ruling made by a different family court judge was published. Mrs Justice Eleanor King had analysed issues, at another hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London in 2014, after Ellie had died but before Butler was convicted of her murder. She had been asked to make findings to help council social workers take decisions about Ellies younger siblings future. Her ruling was kept under wraps until criminal proceedings ended. Hundreds of thousands of young people, many of whom camped out for the night, waved national flags and cheered as Francis arrived to say the Mass in a large field on the outskirts of Krakow at the end of his five-day trip to Poland, where he presided at the Catholic Churchs World Youth Day festivities. Francis, 79, who has said he is a disaster with technology, sprinkled his sermon at the last major event of the trip with social media and technology terms. He urged the young people to download the best link of all, that of a heart which sees and transmits goodness without growing weary. He said their response to the challenges of life cannot be texting a few words, that prayer should be given pride of place over their internet chats, and that Gods memory was not a hard disk filled with files on everyone, but more of a compassionate heart that wants to help them erase evil. Francis encouraged them to continue to be dreamers (who) believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers. Attending Franciss closing Mass yesterday were some of Polands main leaders, including president Andrzej Duda and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative ruling Law and Justice party. Mr Kaczynski is widely regarded as the most powerful figure in Polish politics and toes a generally pro-Catholic but anti-migrant line. The trip has been marked by heavy security, including metal detectors and sniffer dogs at most events. During an unscheduled stop in a Krakow church on Saturday night, Francis condemned the devastating wave of terrorism and war that has hit the world. When he started the trip on Wednesday, Francis said the killing of a 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. He announced that the next World Youth Day would take place in Panama in 2019. The unidentified gunman opened fire at about 2.15am, local time before fleeing, Austin police chief of staff Brian Manley told reporters. The motive for the attack, which occurred just minutes after bars closed, was not immediately clear. It was a very chaotic scene, Manley said. He described people emerging from clubs and bars running in all directions at the sound of gunfire, as police officers on patrol rushed to the scene. The gunman killed a woman in her 20s and wounded three other women, who were transported to a hospital with injuries that are serious but not life-threatening, said Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Mike Benavides. Manley said police were seeking help from the public, including any video recordings, in an effort to find the gunman who is believed to be in his 20s. Minutes after that shooting, a man opened fire several blocks away in a confrontation at a parking garage, Manley said. Bystanders tackled that gunman, he said. Police initially believed the two shootings were related and that they were dealing with an active shooter, but that was not the case, Manley said. From everything we can tell at this point through the initial investigation, these are two unrelated incidents, Manley told reporters. The suspect who opened fire in the parking garage was transported to a hospital for injuries he suffered when bystanders subdued him, Manley said. There were no reports of anyone being struck by bullets in that incident. Meanwhile, three people were killed and a boy aged 12 injured in an early morning shooting at a residence in south Florida. Four people with apparent gunshot wounds were found by officers, said the Miami-Dade Police Department. Two women, aged 39 and 19, died at the scene and a 17-year-old male died later. The 12-year-old boy who was also shot is in a stable condition at another hospital. Police gave no details about who that gunman might be. The Miami Herald reported the people killed were a mother and her two teenagers. The scale of Erdogans crackdown 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended, or placed under investigation since the July 15-16 coup has unnerved Turkeys NATO allies, fuelling tension between Ankara and the West. Adding to the acrimony, Turkeys EU Affairs minister hit out at Germany on Sunday, after its constitutional court upheld a ban on Erdogan making a televised address to a rally of pro-government Turks in Cologne. The new wave of army expulsions and the overhaul of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) were announced in the official state gazette, just hours after Erdogan said, late on Saturday, that he planned to shut military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the Defence Ministry. According to the gazette, 1,389 military personnel were dismissed for suspected links to the Islamic preacher, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkey of orchestrating the failed putsch. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied the charges and condemned the coup. Last week, 1,700 military personnel were dishonourably discharged for their role in the putsch (a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters, and warplanes to topple the government). Forty percent of Turkeys generals and admirals have been dismissed. Erdogan says 237 people, excluding the plotters, were killed in the coup and 2,100 wounded. Deputy prime ministers and ministers of justice, and the interior and foreign affairs ministers, will be appointed to YAS. The prime minister and defence minister were previously the only government representatives on the council. They will replace military commanders, including the heads of the First, Second, and Third Armies, the Aegean Army, and the head of the Gendarmerie security forces, which frequently battle Kurdish militants in the southeast. The changes have given the government commanding control of the council. Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters on July 21 that the military, NATOs second-biggest, needed fresh blood. German authorities barred Erdogan from addressing a rally, via videoconference, in the city of Cologne, due to concerns over public order, but Turkeys EU Affairs Minister, Omer Celik, said the German Constitutional Courts decision was an utter backsliding in freedom of speech and democracy. Germany is home to Europes largest ethnic Turkish diaspora. * Reuters Burma E-Ticketing Comes to Rangoons Public Transit Two companies team up to implement an electronic ticketing service for Rangoons public transportation system, with trials beginning in October. RANGOON A local company teamed up with a Singapore-based land transportation management company to implement an electronic ticketing service for Rangoons public transportation system, according to the companies representatives. The local company, Integrated Smart Solutions Co. Ltd (ISS), and MSI Global Pte Ltda subsidiary of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore, announced the partnership at their formal signing ceremony held on Sunday, where they introduced anypaya new e-ticketing system for buses in Burmas most populated city. Anypay will provide a prepaid card system and a mobile app with a QR code for the citys commuters to ride buses and trains, Kyaw Zeyah, ISS chief executive officer, told reporters at the signing ceremony. He said that passengers will not need to carry cash and will no longer need to communicate with conductors to make payments. The companys anypay system will serve as an e-purse for passengers, he added. We would like to fill a gap in the public transportation system, he said. With this system, we are ready to provide a similar service for any BRT bus lineseither current or future. Machines for anypay prepaid cards are currently installed on buses operated by the Yangon Bus Public Co., Ltd (YBPC)the citys first bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Currently, 65 buses traverse the BRTs two routes. Chairman Maung Aung of the YBPC said it is a pioneering public bus company, which is popular among commuters but still faces many difficulties. In trying to improve the commercial capitals main public transportation system, electronic ticketing will play an important role for both companies and commuters, he said. Anypay is a ticketing system that is safe, organized and modernized, and can provide a very good experience for people who use public transportation, Maung Aung said. Managing director Sim Wee Meng of MSI Global said the partnership is a step toward supporting ISSs mission to change Burmas public transportation system from cash to cashless and implement an automatic fare collection system. The company will begin its trial system in October and is expected to officially launch the service by January. Burma Mongla Armed Group Backs Govts All-Inclusive Peace Policy Leaders of the National Democratic Alliance Army lend vocal support to the inclusion of all ethnic armed groups in the upcoming Union Peace Conference. RANGOON Leaders of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), based in Mongla in eastern Shan State, vocally backed the governments all-inclusive peace policy after meeting with the governments Peace Commission in Rangoon on Monday. This policy concerns the inclusion of all Burmas ethnic armed groups in peace negotiations, which will begin formally with the Union Peace Conferencenow labeled the 21st Century Panglong Conferencescheduled for later this month in Naypyidaw. Burmas military has meanwhile demanded that three armed groups with which it remains in active conflictthe Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army (AA)commit to disarming before taking part in formal peace talks; a demand these groups and their allies have repeatedly refused. The NDAA, popularly known as the Mongla Group, controls an autonomous area of eastern Shan State known as Special Region 4, with the town of Mongla on the Chinese border as its headquarters. The NDAA is chaired by Sai Leun, the son-in-law of Peng Jiasheng, who chairs the MNDAA based in the Kokang region of northern Shan State. The governments Peace Commission is chaired by Tin Myo Win, the man appointed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi as the governments top peace negotiator, and was formed to support the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, the governments peace secretariatthe successor to the Myanmar Peace Center under the previous government. Kyi Myint, secretary of Special Region 4s Peace and Unity Committee, confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the NDAA would participate in the 21st Century Panglong peace conference and that they fully support State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis principle of all-inclusiveness. Peace Commission spokesperson Khin Zaw Oo confirmed that the NDAA leaders welcomed peace from their hearts and said they would collaborate with the new government and the Tatmadaw [Burma Army]. The meeting also covered the challenges of including the three groupsthe TNLA, the MNDAA and the AAon which Burmas military has maintained an uncompromising stance, demanding in effect their unconditional surrender through disarmament. The Peace Commissions Khin Zaw Oo told The Irrawaddy that the NDAA leaders had urged us to bring these groups into the process, if possible. Government representatives met with leaders of the three groups in late June and they plan to meet them again later this month, said Khin Zaw Oo, although no date has been revealed. Following their meeting with Suu Kyi on Friday, representatives of the United Wa State Army (UWSA)a group with close historical ties to the NDAAmet with members of the Peace Commission on Saturday in Naypyidaw. Khin Zaw Oo said the UWSA and NDAA leaders would abide by their pledges not to secede from the Union of Burma, as the UWSA made clear on their Friday meeting with Suu Kyi. During their respective meetings with the government, the UWSA and the NDAA delegations had both requested regional development assistance, according to Khin Zaw Oo, with the UWSA prioritizing road upgrades and the NDAA stressing the need for improved medical service provision in their mountainous area. The NDAA, along with the UWSA, has been invited by the government to participate in the political dialogue framework review meeting, planned for the weekend of August 7-8 in Rangoon, where the agenda will be set for the Union Peace Conference scheduled for later this month. Regarding their willingness to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement reached between the former government and eight ethnic armed groups in October last yearthey [both UWSA and NDAA] said they would respond on the matter after discussing amongst themselves, Khin Zaw Oo said. It is currently unclear whether armed groups who refused to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreementthe majority of armed groups in Burmawould have to sign before being allowed to take part in political negotiations at the Union Peace Conference. Burma Pakistani Muslim Speaker and Son Fined, Deported Two Pakistani nationals are deported when a court finds them guilty of violating Burmas Immigration Act for delivering sermons in local mosques while on tourist visas. RANGOON Two Pakistani nationals were fined and deported after a Tamwe Township court found them guilty of violating Burmas Immigration Act. While on tourist visas, the men delivered sermons at several Rangoon mosques without first applying for official permission from the authorities, said Win Aung Ni, head of the local police station. The police detained the two men, 69-year-old Zulfiqar Ahmad and his 29-year-old son Saifullah Ahmad, on Saturday for questioning. They were brought to court on Monday morning on a charge levied by judge Tin Htun Oo. The hearing was attended by several police and immigration officers and concluded by 2 p.m. Following the ruling, the men were immediately driven to the Rangoon International Airport. Al-Haj Aye Lwin, the chief convener of Burmas Islamic Center, said that both men were well educated and that their lectures were popular in the Muslim community. The father is a well-known Sufi Muslim speaker and the mosques attracted large crowds when he visited Pabedan, Kyauktada and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships. Muslims normally pray five times each day. The two Pakistani men just joined in prayer. They did not give lengthy sermons, but the authorities said they breached their visa regulations, said Al-Haj Aye Lwin. The judge told The Irrawaddy that the men had breached the Immigration Act and were punished under Section 4(2), which holds the defendants liable for deportation, and Section 13(1), which allows for a minimum fine of 1,500 kyats (about US$1) or imprisonment. The men were handed a fine of 100,000 kyats (almost $100). When police officer Win Aung Ni spoke to The Irrawaddy on Monday at around 3:30 p.m., he said that they had just deported the two men. The hosts did not understand the immigration laws when they invited the men from Pakistan to deliver sermons while they were in the country, he added. Burma Refugee Return Centers to Be Opened on Thai-Burma Border Service centers for Burmese refugees voluntarily returning home are to be established in all nine Burmese refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. CHIANG MAI, Thailand Service centers providing support for Burmese refugees returning home voluntarily are to be established in all nine Burmese refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border later this month. Refugees can declare their intention to return home at these Voluntary Repatriation Centers, where they can also receive advice, counseling and provisions for their return, and be formally processed in coordination with the Thai authorities. The establishment of these centers is part of a refugee repatriation process being prepared by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). During the visit of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi to Thailand in June, an agreement on cooperation between the Thai and Burmese governments was reached to facilitate the return of Burmese refugees. During her visit, Suu Kyi publicly welcomed the refugees back and said they were Burmas responsibility. Later in June, the Burmese government announced it would repatriate 196 refugees from the border camps as an initial step. Iain Hall, UNHCR senior field coordinator in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, told The Irrawaddy that the new centers were designed and will be constructed by the IOM in all camps to provide a voluntary return support service to any refugees that are interested. The [centers] will be the central location where refugees can get information. Hall said they would also be the locations for voluntary repatriation processing by the UNHCR, the IOM and the Royal Thai Government. There are about 120,000 registered Burmese refugees living in nine camps on the Thai-Burma border. Many of them feel it is still unsafe to return home, since most escaped from conflict-wracked areas of Burmas Karen State, where the Burma Army still occupies many villages, despite a ceasefire reached between the previous government and the largest Karen ethnic armed organization, the Karen National Union (KNU), in 2012, and the KNUs signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in October last year. Hall said that provisions for returnees would be made available at the new centers, including cash for transport, food via the World Food Programme, and reintegration grants via the IOM through its agreement with the UNHCR. Under the plan, the UNHCR will conduct individual protection counseling for any refugee who approaches the centers and expresses their desire to return home. Handicap International, a nongovernmental organization, will provide Risk Awareness sessions, including on the subject of landmines. While the UNHCR is not promoting or encouraging refugees return, it is getting ready to facilitate and support any refugees that have made a voluntary decision to return, as is their right, said Hall. Observers and sources on the Thai-Burma border said the pilot project for voluntary refugee return would begin in August in Nu Po camp in Thailands Tak Province. One observer familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with the media, said, I believe 55 persons have [so far] approached the UNHCR, asking them to help facilitate their return. He said that the announcement concerning the opening of Voluntary Repatriation Centers was made during a two-day stakeholders meeting in Mae La camp in Tak Province last week, attended by NGOs, community-based organizations and refugee camp committee members. According to several credible sources, groups representing refugees such as the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) and the Karenni Refugee Committee (KnRC), among others, had not received prior notice about this development. The UNHCR claimed to have had many discussions with the Thai government on the matter, and cited the Burmese governments public commitment to accept and prepare for the return of refugees. Burma Sule Square Project Breaches Building Regulations, Says Inspection Committee Rangoons High-Rise Inspection Committee says the commercial complex includes two extra floors that the developers do not have permission to add. RANGOONThe High-Rise Inspection Committee (HIC) of Rangoons municipal body said that the Sule Square commercial complex includes two extra floors for which the developers do not have permission to add. Construction of the 23-floor structure is nearly complete. Aung San Win, secretary of the HIC within the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the building has yet to receive final approval from the YCDC and the Rangoon divisional government. The addition of the two extra floors is a breach of the committees initial approval for the project, he said. However, at just over 302 feet, the building maintains the same height for which the YCDCs approval was granted. Sule Square is being built adjacent to the existing Sule Shangri-La hotelformerly known as Traders Hotel. The complex is expected to open in late 2016. YCDCs initial approval, which was issued to the project in January 2013, comprised two basements, 20 floors and a penthouse, he said. The projects complete revised plansubmitted by the developer just before the end of March this yearhas not yet received final approval from the divisional government and the YCDC. It includes one basement and 23 floors, Aung San Win explained. There are about ten findings which are different from the plan YCDC initially approved, he said. Apart from the two extra floors, the most apparent differences are smaller scales of a public space and public toilets, which were designed as part of a deal agreed between the developer and the YCDC, he said, because part of the land on which Sule Square exists was originally a public space. YCDCs initial permission was granted based on the projects original proposal, which promised a public space of over 5,000 square feet and a structure with nearly 900 square feet for public toilets, Aung San Win said. But the revised proposal covers a public space of around 1,300 square feet, with 500-600 square feet for public toilets, he added. YCDC issues approvals for buildings with between nine and 12.5 stories, while developers of structures 13 stories and higher are required to seek approval from the Rangoon divisional government. The complete revised plan of the project was submitted very late, Aung San Win said, referring to the period of time in which the handover took place between the old and new governments of Rangoon. The former Rangoon divisional government didnt have a chance to approve the revised plan. The revised plan has now been submitted to the current regional government, led by chief minister Phyo Min Thein, for final approval, he added. According to Article 68 of the YCDC Act (2013), anyone who violates the citys municipal regulations regarding building construction will be charged with up to one year in prison, a penalty of 10,000-500,000 kyats, or both. Sule Square is now open for those seeking office rentals. Yet building without securing final permission from the YCDC has caused the developer a liability, Aung San Win said. He refused to comment further on the issue, pointing out that it is handled by the YCDCs Engineering Department (Building). The Irrawaddy tried to get interviews with multiple senior officials within the Engineering Department (Building) during the last week in July, but Than Htay, department chief, said that he could not answer questions concerning high-rise developments. Kyaw Tha Sein, a deputy head of the Engineering Department (Building), confirmed to The Irrawaddy that, according to the YCDCs legal advisor, the municipal body has filed a lawsuit against the Sule Square project developers, but refused to provide further details about the case. He added that his department had not received any new instructions from the regional cabinet regarding the dispute. On July 27, Rangoon chief minister Phyo Min Thein posted photos on his official Facebook page of a meeting with Sule Shangri-La representatives. However, details of the meeting were not shared by either party. The Irrawaddy contacted the Sule Square office on Monday and asked about the project permit and the extra two floors. Yinn Mar Nyo, of the leasing department, told The Irrawaddy that members of management were not immediately available to respond to the reporters questions, but would respond by the end of the week. The previous Rangoon divisional government and municipal council had given initial approval to more than 200 high rise building proposals from 2013 until March 31 of this year, which was the last day of former divisional governments time in office. According to US Embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, the Traders Hotel was built in the 1990s by a partnership of blacklisted tycoon Steven Law (also known as Tun Myint Naing)the head of the Asia World conglomerate and son of notorious Shan State drug kingpin Lo Hsing Hanand Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok, who owns a stake in its current operator Shangri-La Asia Ltd. This article has been corrected from an earlier version that stated that the Sule Square project was built using a US$80 million loan from the World Bank Groups International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC have since clarified that the loan only applied to renovations on the Sule Shangri-La Hotel and the Shangri-La Residences luxury apartment tower near Kandawgyi Lake in Rangoon. Burma UNFC Will Not Sign Ceasefire Unless All Members Included An ethnic alliance that opted out of signing a ceasefire agreement with the previous government says it will not sign until all members are permitted to join. The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a nine-member ethnic alliance that opted out of signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the previous government, said it would not sign the agreement unless all of the member groups were permitted to join. UNFC leaders reiterated their all-inclusive policy on Friday, the fourth day of the Mai Ja Yang ethnic summit in Kachin State. We have adopted a stance that UNFC members will only sign the NCA if all groups can sign, said Nai Hong Sar, vice chair of the UNFC. Ethnic leaders said on Friday they were not yet clear on whether the new government wanted them to sign the NCA before or after the upcoming Union Peace Conference. Burmas military has officially stated that it would not allow the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), or the Arakan Army (AA) to sign the agreement unless the three groups officially released a statement saying that they would disarm. [The Burma Army] wants us to renounce our beliefs and apologize to them and the people for waging a wrongful war. This is virtually impossible for us, said Brig Gen Tun Myat Naing, AA chief of staff. We are fighting for our beliefs, without earning any money. Asking us to give up something that we value more than our lives makes us think that they are intentionally banning us to impede the NCA, he said. The three allied groups are interested and prepared to join the political dialogue, but they have not received a concrete offer from the government, and the peace conference is drawing near. However, the groups have sent a message to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi about finding a positive solution, Tun Myat Naing added. Of the three groups, only the AA attended the Mai Ja Yang summit. The TNLA and MNDAA were absent. Without the inclusion of all of the ethnic groups, the peace process is meaningless and nationwide peace will not be possible. Therefore, we do not accept the exclusion of certain groups. We are all ready to take part if we can all sign and attend the peace conference without restriction, said Nai Hong Sar. The UNFC also has plans to meet with the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the largest non-state armed group in Burma, to discuss the inclusion of the AA, MNDAA and TNLA in the peace process. The Mai Ja Yang summit concluded on Saturday, with an agreement to continue searching for common ground with the government and NCA signatories. Business Myanmar Payment Union to Upgrade ATM Card System MPU signs with Vietnamese multinational FPT and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam to initiate a financial switching system. RANGOON The Myanmar Payment Union (MPU) signed with Vietnamese telecom multinational FPT and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) on Sunday to initiate a financial switching system, Zaw Lin Htut, chief executive officer of the MPU, told The Irrawaddy. As MPUs partners, FPT and NAPAS willstarting this yearhelp facilitate a system upgrade for ATM cards in Burma. We need US technology to upgrade our system to offer required services to our customers, Zaw Lin Htut said, adding that FPT and NAPAS would be key players in the process. All of the MPUs member banks will cooperate in upgrading their ATM card system, which now receives many user complaints due to a lack of infrastructure. Soe Thein, executive director of Asia Green Development Bank, said that Burmas ATM card system requires an upgrade, particularly as the number of users increase. Working with international organizations, he said, is the first step in graduating to international card use. MPU member banks ATM cards can only used in local machines. Thats why the MPU is trying to work with other foreign payment groups. This upgrade is the first step in going international right now, he said. More than 20 banks have been working with the MPU to issue ATM cards across the country. After upgrading, users will be able to not only withdraw cash at an ATM, but transfer funds from account to account with different banks. It means we will be enhancing our product line, Zaw Lin Htut explained. The transfer feature will be part of the first phase of the upgrade project, he added. The payment industry in Burma is still weak, as connectivity and infrastructure development remain limited. There will be three phases, however, we still need the governments supportit is crucial. Without their support, reliable infrastructure and payment industry development will not be possible, he said. By giving incentives to merchant and cardholderssuch as tax incentiveswe will promote the MPU [project] and connect to the Asian Payment Network soon. In October 2012, the MPU introduced their debit cards and distributed them to users. There are currently an estimated 1.8 million ATM card users in Burma with 2,000 automatic transaction machines and over 6,000 Points of Sale (POS) throughout the country. Since late 2012, the MPU has signed cooperation agreements with Chinas UnionPay International, the Japan Credit Bureau, MasterCard and Visa. Its membership includes 23 local banks, three of which are state-owned, including the Myanmar Economic Bank, the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and the Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank. Two others are military-backedthe Inwa Bank and Myawaddy Bank. Interview Aung Htoo: Equality and the Demand For a Federal Union Human rights lawyer Aung Htoo speaks to The Irrawaddy about a bold blueprint for ethnic-based federalism, and the means of establishing equality in Burma. Aung Htoo is a human rights lawyer who has worked for many years on ideas and challenges concerning federalism in Burma, and on the creation of a draft federal constitution. He founded the Legal Aid Network in 2012, which established the Federal Law Academy in Mai Ja Yang in Kachin State in 2014, to provide legal and constitutional education to ethnic youth. Aung Htoo talked to The Irrawaddys senior reporter Lawi Weng on the sidelines of last weeks summit of ethnic armed group leaders in Mai Ja Yang in Kachin State. Ethnic delegates discussed the draft constitution produced in 2008 by the Federal Constitution Drafting and Coordination Committee (FCDCC). That draft envisages that the country would have eight states, instead of the current seven, with the addition being a Bamar (Myanmar) ethnic state incorporating some of the existing divisions. For many ethnic people, this is a question of equality. What is your view? My view is that it is a necessity. Over the course of history, ethnic nationalities have lived independently in this country. Powerful Myanmar kings established Myanmar empires during some historical periods, but basically, other ethnic nationalities lived independently until the British colonized the country. We need to consider the historical background of our country. The 40-year war between Mon and Myanmar [from 1384 to 1424] is a significant chapter in this. Arakanese people formerly lived independently. So did Kachin and Shan people. The British could not even colonize the Karenni. So, we were not previously a unitary state. We formed what became the union together [after independence]. Look at the Panglong Agreement: ethnic nationalities, including Myanmar, formed the union together. Ethnic nationalities at that time enjoyed the right to reject General Aung Sans proposals, and to remain under British rule. Actually, if they had so chosen, with the option to claim back independence later, their status would have been much better than it became under military rule. In any case, it has now become a necessity to build a genuine union. The fundamental part of that is equality. Equality among the various ethnic nationalities must be established. You have said that there is a problem with the concept of divisions [or regions] in a federal system. What do you mean? The principle of seven divisions [and seven states] was created by General Ne Win. From 1990 to 2004, when I was involved in the long process of drafting a federal constitution, we discussed how to solve the problem of divisions, since really these do not fit into a federal system. Finally, we proposed that a union should have just two types of statesnational states and nationalities states. National states means eight states: Karen, Kachin, Shan, Mon, Arakan, Karenni, Chin and Myanmar. This principle of eight states was adopted at the Taunggyi conference on constitutional matters in 1961. Other territories, such as Sagaing, Irrawaddy and Tenasserim divisions [which have large ethnic minority as well as Myanmar populations], would be nationalities states. We discussed these matters at a recent workshop organized by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). An American professor there pointed out that in a union, if a state is too large, it is difficult to control. He cited the example of Nigeria. The northern part of the country takes up about 60 percent of the national territory and is very difficult to control. I responded to the effect that there is no one-type-fits-all federal system. We have to be creative depending on the situation. If, for example, Irrawaddy, Sagaing and Tenasserim divisions become nationalities states, the [remaining] Myanmar State would not be too large. The Panglong Agreement allowed ethnic signatories [representing the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic nationalities] to secede from the union ten years after signing. If some ethnic groups made a similar demand during the upcoming peace conference slated for August, would the Burma Army allow it? We will be able to do nothing if we are afraid that the Myanmar military leaders will be dissatisfied. That would mean we could only yield to military rule. Ethnic nationalities cant accept this. If we are over-concerned about whether or not the military will agree, it will bring us nothing and we will not be able to solve the root cause of the problem. The Myanmar Army today lacks strong leadership. Gen Ming Aung Hlaing is not as strong as Than Shwe. The fighting power of the military is the lowest in its history. They cant annihilate any of the armed groupsthe Kokang [Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army], the Taang National Liberation Army or the Arakan Army. Quite the opposite: those groups have grown bigger while fighting the Myanmar Army. The Myanmar Army needs to understand and correctly assess its own situation. Meanwhile, we need to make our voices heard. Ethnic youth need to know what their rights are, and speak up boldly for those rights. We have advantages that we did not have 50 years ago. When we were young, talking about federalism was a crime. But now they [the Myanmar Army leaders] have to admit that federalism is essential for our country. What about Shan State, in relation to the FCDCC? Shan groups uphold the eight-state principle. But I think they wont oppose the idea of nationalities states if a genuine federal union is to be built. The Shan have used the term the federated Shan States for their state. My late friend Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, the son of the Saopha of Yawnghwe Sao Shwe Thaik, explained federalism like this: suppose there is a village and there are houses in the village; each house has its own compound; some compounds are bigger than others, and some have more than one housethis is what Shan State is like. It will be a smaller federation inside a bigger federation. So would the Wa, Palaung [Taang] and other ethnic groups get their own territory inside Shan State? Right now, there are no fences. The Myanmar Army built a big house and took control of everything. The other houses do not have power. So each wants to get close to the center, which controls absolute power. This has to be changed to a system in which every house in the village has sovereignty to a reasonable extent. There should no longer be rigid centralization, although centralization to a degree necessary for the maintenance of a federal union should be sought. Ethnic leaders have proposed establishing pyi-htaung (sovereign) states. I like that terminology; there should be sovereign states. Those sovereign states would have sovereignty, but they would delegate some degree of their sovereign power to the federal government. Federalism should be based on the idea that the central [federal] government is just a created entity and that states have intrinsic sovereignty. Then, power would shift from the central [government] to the states, which could solve their own problems. Regarding Shan State, in Chiang Mai we have discussed creating unitsby which I mean, within the state there could be a Shan national territory, a Kachin national territory, a Taang national territory and a Wa national territory. Places where Shan, Kachin and Taang live together could be joint administrative zones. There would be two parliaments based on those unitsthe House of the People and the House of Nationalities. I believe this would work. What are the new governments views on federalism, in your view? Going by what we have learned from leaders close to the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, we are very sure that the NLD has no written document, approved by their central executive committee, containing their definition of federalism or the principles of a future Myanmar federal union. They are just talking about federalism in an ad hoc way. I am not criticizing the NLD, but the truth is that they dont have a written document about federalism. The Governments Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has shared with us an interesting summary of queries received and their responses to them for the newly proposed Broadband Investment Fund (BIF), which aims to help alternative network ISPs to secure funds for building new ultra-fast (100Mbps+) broadband infrastructure. The main policy objective of the BIF is simply to increase the amount of capital invested in the sector (currently theres perceived to be a lack of suitable finance in this area), particularly (but not exclusively) more debt-like capital that would enable faster expansion of ultrafast broadband networks into either urban or possibly even rural areas. As weve reported before, this fund is intended to complement other government programmes rather than duplicating or competing with them (e.g. the UK Guarantee Scheme and Broadband Delivery UK) and it would be supported by a mix of both public and private investors. The fund itself would then be managed by the private sector on a commercial basis. Last month HM Treasury opened a request for proposals for the BIF (here), which they said would provide fund managers with the necessary information to decide whether to submit a proposal to raise and manage the fund. Naturally we were keen to know more and the IPA has now furnished us with a summary of the questions theyve received about the BIF and how they responded, which contains some useful insights. For example, when asked whether the BIF would target specific parts (e.g. rural or urban) of the UK or focus on specific technologies, the IPA said that it would keep an open mind, although they do expect the technological focus to inevitably be fibre (e.g. FTTP/H). But they also said there is scope for the Fund to invest in other broadband technologies where appropriate, such as wireless or hybrid fibre (FTTC) type services. Well paste the full summary below. Broadband Investment Fund Q&A 1. What is HMT/IPAs view of the target size of the BIF? ANSWER: We have not publicly stated a target fund size and invite prospective Managers to suggest what they think is an optimal size for a first fund close. 2. The Request for Proposals (RFP) states that the proposed timing of the Fund raising activities is to take into account the Q1 2017 target for Closing the Fund. We would be interested in having the ability to hold multiple closes (in an agreed timeframe) bringing in further private sector capital beyond Q1 2017. Please can HMT/IPA confirm whether they are comfortable with there being multiple closes? ANSWER: In principle we would be OK with multiple closes. It would be important to ensure that enough capital is being deployed into the sector expeditiously and that HMT was always below the 50% of total investment. 3. Is there a preferred approach to the fund structure? ANSWER: No. We will entertain a range of structural options. We will need to be satisfied that any proposed structure maximises the potential for private sector investment in the sector, including assurance that the manager was sufficiently focused and motivated, and not conflicted. This could include acting as a side car to an existing fund, with HMTs money invested into individual deals along side it (but always such that the level of HMT investment is never greater than 50%). 4. Is HMT/IPA able to elaborate further on the debt-like investments that will facilitate the expansion of commercially viable ultrafast broadband networks? Is HMT only considering funds that are 100% focused on debt investments? ANSWER: It is up to prospective fund managers to propose investment types. We think there is the potential for quite a broad spectrum of investment, ranging from low coupon senior debt through to higher yielding sub investment grade debt, preference equity and ordinary equity. We want a majority of the fund to focus on investments that may be less dilutive to existing owners of broadband infrastructure, enabling them to expand quickly through access to more cost effective capital. We think there is definitely a role for ordinary equity too, which would likely be priced to reflect the additional risks taken, but see this as likely being a minority of the fund, particularly given the likely smaller ticket sizes. However, while this is an expectation and preference, it is not a hard requirement. 5. How will HMT/IPA govern the BIF to ensure that there is no conflict or duplication with other government policies and schemes? ANSWER: We see the BIF as being complementary to existing policies and schemes and this continuing to be the case. The government is proposing to become an investor in the fund, alongside the private sector, further indicating its support. 6. Has the HMT/IPA identified any key strategies? For example: a. Geography b. Urban / rural c. Technologies ANSWER: Other than limiting HMTs investment to the UK, we will keep an open mind with respect to Investment Strategy. Regarding technology, the purpose of the Fund is to attract more private sector capital into ultrafast (<100mbps) broadband and we expect the technological focus to inevitably be fibre. However, we believe there is scope for the Fund to invest in other broadband technologies where appropriate. This could include, for example, wireless technology or Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) type solutions under certain circumstances. 7. What role will HMT/IPA play in the origination of projects and investments? ANSWER: No formal role. We are in touch with most participants in the market and may be able to direct enquiries to the Manager, but investment decisions, as well as deal origination, will be their responsibility. Once the investment strategy is agreed the government will have no influence over the Manager, other than as is standard for a Limited Partner investor. 8. Are the developers who are seeking access to further capital already known to HMT/IPA? ANSWER: Some are. Prospective Managers are invited to get in touch with the Independent Network Cooperative Association (www.inca.coop) if they want more information about individual alternative network developers. 9. Is HMT/IPA providing capital or considering the provision of credits to local authorities to support the delivery of ultrafast broadband on a regional level? ANSWER: The superfast broadband program works in partnership with local authorities and provides some central funding to support network build in areas where it is uneconomic (see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/broadband-delivery-uk). That is a separate measure to this fund, though, and this Fund is intended to act entirely commercially. 10. Does HMT/IPA have any examples of projects which it has contemplated / would contemplate investing in? ANSWER: We dont expect to be very restrictive with respect to projects that we would invest in and it is up to Managers to propose an investment strategy that it feels best meets our objectives. 11. Does HMT/IPA have any views as to asset classes that the fund should seek to invest in, or avoid, or is this to form part of the proposal by the fund manager? ANSWER: This should form part of the Managers proposed investment strategy. 12. How does HMT/IPA define alternative broadband network developers? What formal constraints (if any) are anticipated for the fund? ANSWER: Alternative broadband network developers are those who are designing, building and / or operating broadband networks that are independent from the incumbent network owner. The policy objective is to see more private capital invested into these companies, and we will consider any investment strategy that meets that objective, which could include ones that will look for opportunities to invest more broadly than just in actual broadband network developers. 13. How does HMT/IPA define support industries in the context of the broadband sector? ANSWER: Support industries could include, inter alia, those providing skills and training in broadband, those providing construction related services to the industry, etc. 14. Would the government be ok with taking a smaller proportion of the total fund (e.g. 30%). ANSWER: Yes. The 50% should be considered a maximum figure rather than a target. In general, the greater the amount of private capital alongside the governments investment the better. 15. Can you please confirm in addition to capital, the resources that government intends to commit to the Broadband Investment Fund? Will the government act as a passive partner, or will they commit resources (including manpower) to assist with originating investment opportunities? Might this include any pipeline of government assets / government funded development projects to act as opportunities to the fund? ANSWER: The government expects to act as a passive partner investor and the origination, selection and execution of investment opportunities will remain solely with the appointed Manager. There will be no specific government pipeline although public sector related opportunities may well come along from time to time. For example, we would draw potential Managers attention to the current BDUK superfast broadband procurement program, which includes a pipeline of rural projects that could be of interest. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bduk-new-procurement-pipeline). Those projects are largely gap funded by the public sector meaning bidders may still need to raise private finance as part of their bid structure. 16. Does the government have a desired investment period or minimum level of return? ANSWER: The government will be guided by the market with respect to investment period and minimum return level. However, we do expect the return period to relatively long (5 to 15 years, or longer). Regarding returns, Managers should aim to strike an appropriate balance between the return expectations of investors and the cost of finance expectations of potential investee companies/ projects. 17. Will HMT invest only in broadband infrastructure?ANSWER: The policy objective is to see more private sector capital invested into ultrafast broadband networks. However, this doesnt mean that HMT is only willing to invest in ultrafast broadband infrastructure. HMT will consider investment strategies that are broader than this (including, for example, service providers to broadband providers or other organisations that benefit from better broadband networks, e.g. datacentres), if it considers that this is the best option to maximise investment in the sector. Similarly, as discussed in the RFP, HMT will also consider structures where HMTs investment is a side car to a fund with a broader mandate, with HMTs capital only used in qualifying investments (to be agreed with the Manager). HMT will need to be satisfied that its capital will be invested expeditiously and that this structure would deliver a sufficient focus on the sector and otherwise meet the governments policy objectives. 18. The fee structure listed suggests a more equity fund type. Should Managers make a proposal for each element referenced in the RFP? ANSWER: No, the RFP merely intended to capture the fact that HMT will want to consider all elements of Manager compensation and incentives. Managers may wish to propose a simple management fee based on invested capital with no additional costs to investors. HMTs primary concern is that the fee is competitive and likely to be considered appropriate by all potential fund investors The 2016 MacBook Pro will reportedly hit the market a few short months. Correspondingly, a slew of specs and features have made the rounds as well. However, altogether, the rumored specs are starting to make the upcoming notebook sound like dream. So much so that it might not be true at all. According to Mobile & Apps, the 2016 MacBook Pro will come with a USB Type-C port, which is definitely an efficient feature. This is because the Type-C port will allow for several functionalities instead of just one. Furthermore, the device is said to be powered by the latest Intel Kaby Lake Processors - a switch from Apple's usual use of the Skylake processors. At this point, the Cupertino-based company has yet to renew the contract that ties it to the Skylake processors. In addition, the gadget is meant to have an OLED touch bar and will include Siri with the upcoming Mac OS Sierra. All in all, the 2016 MacBook Pro is also said to come lighter and thinner than any other existing Apple product, including the MacBook Air. Other rumors add that the notebook will substitute the 3.5mm audio jack for Lightning port instead. In addition, even more rumors suggest that it will come in four color options, namely Space Grey, Gold, Rose Gold and Silver. However, The Next Web notes that some of this may just be rumors and not exactly set in stone. In fact, the publication claims that the OLED touchbar is not happening at all. Apparently, plenty of those working close with Apple laugh at the very rumor that it will exist in the device. As such, it is possible that the public will get a very simple update in the 2016 MacBook Pro. This would mean that there will be no Lightning port as well. Other than the complication it would cause, the idea of a Lightning-to-Lightning connection for the MacBook and iPhone is a little difficult to accept. Lastly, it likely will not be as thin and as light as the MacBook Air, let alone thinner and lighter. This is because the MacBook Pro will not have the benefits of a unified chipset design. At this point, Apple has just not created the technology where a more powerful MacBook Pro can also be thinner than a MacBook or MacBook Air. What do you do as a cloud provider when you have three petabytes under management? That is a lot of data to lose if there was a terminal outage. Brennan IT has come from humble beginnings in 1997, from a local data centre in Brisbanes Fortitude Valley to what it claims is Australias most trusted managed service provider. It now has offices and facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Mumbai and is on the lookout for acquisitions. It has teamed with Commvault and is using its software and Huaweis OceansStor to deliver a scalable, flexible, backup-as-a-service solution (BaaS). Without the strong integration and simplicity of Huawei OceanStor hardware and Commvault Software, it would be challenging to protect the sheer volume of data that we have under management. The combined solutions provide us with a robust and scalable storage platform for our controlled software and large service farm backups, said Ken Jeffreys, cloud services manager at Brennan IT. With more than 300 staff spread across four offices in Australia, Brennan IT sought a solution that would enable the company to maintain exceptional levels of service to customers, while allowing them to be scalable and flexible to the growth needs of the business. Our customers require immediate responses to their concerns, and to deliver on this, we needed a partner that was committed to enabling a high-performance and reliable environment, said Jeffreys. Over the last 18 months, Brennan IT saw a strong rise in the volume of daily data being generated as part of its hosted, cloud and on-premise services. Currently, they have three petabytes under management, 2,200 servers protected, and over 1,000 jobs per night with a greater than 99 percent success rate. To ensure Brennan IT could fully realise the benefits offered by the joint solution; they partnered with Commvaults Enterprise Support Program to help with its design and deployment. The depth of knowledge of the Enterprise Support Program was essential to the projects ultimate success, as well as the transfer of critical skills into Brennan IT, said Jeffreys. They acted as our trusted advisor, helping to both deal with low- level technical issues, and provide strategic direction in our overall development roadmap." We have a long and rich history of providing industry leading customer support to our customers, which is why we are continuously looking for new ways to improve our response times, escalation management and to partner strategically with our customers under our Enterprise Support Program, said Eugene Trautwein, regional vice-president of customer support, Commvault. "We believe our success with Brennan IT is indicative of our commitment to helping service providers tackle challenges rapidly and effectively while enabling their customers to focus on their core business with minimal disruptions. Comment I know a bit about Brennan as I was one of its early customers and a company I am associated with still is. In the old days, the data centre was a few racks on a second floor, backstreet building situated close enough to a major telco to get reasonable bandwidth. It has enjoyed constant growth led by passionate, caring people who went the extra mile to provide great service and keen pricing. It was not unusual for the founder Dave Stevens to answer the phone, provide help and be jack of all trades. It was key to my companys growth and use of leading edge technologies like VoIP. NEC was selected by the South Australian government in a competitive tender process with its facial recognition technology considered to have the fastest and most accurate matching capability in the world. The technology will be used by the police to search, scan and monitor images and video of suspects against offender databases, leading to the faster and more accurate identification of persons of interest. NEC chief operating officer Mike Barber says the facial recognition technology is also able to assist police in solving cold cases, using old photography and images from previous cases. Barber says NECs Melbourne-based research and development team is working closely with SA Police to develop applications using world leading facial biometrics technology that meet the SA Police operational requirements. Implementing facial recognition technology will greatly assist in reducing the time police officers spend on identity management activities and allows them to be back on the streets keeping the public safe, Barber said. The facial recognition system is expected to be in operation by October. A spokesperson for the South Australian Police Minister, Peter Malinauskas, said the facial recognition technology can also enhance the states existing CCTV network in the future by extracting faces in real time and instantaneously matching them against a watch list of individuals. The SA government made an election commitment to further strengthen the police force through introducing more high-tech policing equipment and investment in the facial recognition technology follows the governments recent budget announcement that it will spend $16.1 million to deliver a record number of frontline police across the state. The world we live in is changing, and with that comes a need to change the way we police. We are investing in ensuring our police have the tools and technology needed to most effectively protect our communities, Malinauskas said. Technology has an increasingly vital role in policing, and as technology evolves into the future, so too will the way our police force operates. The NSW government's GovDC Marketplace for ICT procurement will use ServiceNow's Service Catalogue and UXC Keystone's KeySite CMS. GovDC Marketplace will provide NSW government agencies with a single place for ITC inquiries and procurement. The CMS aspects of the site will be handled by UXC Keystone's KeySite, while the vendor services catalogue will be based on ServiceNow's Service Catalog, allowing approved vendors to manage their own catalogue entries. Agencies will also benefit from GovDC Marketplace's ability to able to track and report on service requests, and to provide a history of interactions between agencies and vendors. "To improve service quality, all government agencies are required to migrate to GovDC by August, 2017. This consolidation will mean a significant reduction in ICT service costs, and the GovDC Marketplace will connect agencies and suppliers in a way never before possible," said NSW department of finance, services and innovation executive director of government technology platforms, Pedro Harris. "The ServiceNow platform has provided us with a solution that allows us to facilitate a connection between agencies and vendors to provide a secure service delivery portal in a way that offers best value for taxpayers' money." GovDC Marketplace builds on the NSW government's GovDC project that has already seen the consolidation of 130 data centres into two, and the adoption of the ICT-as-a-Service concept. Agencies can purchase already approved services through GovDC Marketplace knowing that issues such as security, technical standards, procurement policies and data sovereignty have already been addressed. "This project really exemplifies the versatility of the ServiceNow platform and the speed at which our solution can be implemented across a complex, multi-tenant environment," said ServiceNow ANZ managing director David Oakley. UXC Keystone business development manager Joss Keep said "It's been a pleasure to work with an innovative Government department, with an appetite to embrace technology and the ambition to transform the way all of NSW government procures and consumes approved ICT services across GovDC Marketplace." Image: Adam.J.W.C. [CC BY-SA 2.5] via Wikimedia Commons The P9 has the paper specifications that help it stand out in the crowd. It is not the top flagship but at two-thirds its price, it is exceptionally well-specified and well-built. I have been using it for about a month in between other smartphone reviews. Two things keep reminding me that it is very good its price at $799 is amazing value, a few hundred below its main competitors, and all the necessary features you could ask for including a Leica dual lens camera, are present. It also proves that Huawei can do a proper flagship at a lower cost. The P9 is a big leap forward in build quality and design over previous models. Look out when the P10 arrives next year! My P9 review unit, the EVA-L09 for Australia, was in Titanium Grey with the slightest hue of pink in the grey very attractive with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. There are two other models the EVA-L19 (same but for other markets) and the EVA-L29 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage (not sure if this works in Australia). So on with the review. Spoiler Alert I did warn you it is very good value for the price. Lets start with specifications. Elegant aluminium body with rounded edges, sandblasted alloy back. Screen: 5.2, IPS-NEO LCD, 1980 x 1020, 423 ppi, 72.9% screen to body ratio, Gorilla Glass 3. Processor: HiSilicon Kirin 955, eight-core, 4 x 2.5GHz and 4 x 1.8GHz and Mali-T880 MP4 GPU. 3GB DDR3 RAM, 32GB storage, microSD for up to 256GB - does not support Android M Adoptable storage feature; USB OTG compatible. Camera Rear: 2 x 12MP Sony IMX296 BSI CMOS; 2 x Leica lenses; one colour and one mono, f/2.2, 1.25 m pixel size, 27mm, phase detection auto-focus, hybrid laser, depth and contrast focus; HDR, video 1080p @60fps, dual tone/dual flash. No image stabilisation (OIS or DIS). Camera Front: 8MP, f/2.4, 1080p @30fps. Noise-cancelling dual mics, 24-bit/192kHz audio, single speaker. Wi-Fi AC, dual band, Wi-Di, Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, GPS. Cat 6 LTE 18 bands. Battery: 3000 mAh, USB-C charger, 5V/2A, 75-hour endurance rating, Optional fast charger at additional cost can provide 44% in 30 minutes. Fingerprint reader latest level 4 technology. Android Marshmallow 6.x with Huaweis Emotion UI 4.1 (Android 7 promised). Size/Weight: 145 x 70.9 x 7 mm x 144g. Its specifications are a match for most other flagships, particularly the iPhone 6S but that is due for replacement soon, and it is not fair to compare iOS and Android ecosystems, just the hardware. It does not have 2/4K OLED screen, glance screen, non-removable battery, wireless charging, 4K video recording, OIS or DIS, or waterproofing that will cost 30-40% more. Out of the box It comes in a nice, large retail box in elegant, premium cream finish with a discrete Leica red camera logo. Lets face it, Huawei are selling Leica one of the better cameras. The box contains the 5V/2A, standard USB-C charger it is not the quick charge version that is available as an option. The buds and in-line mic are of reasonable quality. The phone is made from aerospace-class aluminium with a nice brushed aluminium back it is certainly a flagship build quality and one of the most attractive smartphones at present. It has a rear fingerprint touch sensor it was accurate and unlocked almost every time bringing the phone instantly to life. Touching and holding the sensor can be used to activate functions such as taking a photo, answering a call or stopping an alarm. It can also recognise swipes, for browsing photos, or opening the notification panel. Camera Leica design shows Huawei claims Capture brilliant colour, striking black and white and the emotional appeal of Leica images. Capture more light with two sensors, one RGB and one monochrome. Get incredible shots with the Huawei P9s merging algorithm, which intelligently combines the colours taken by the RGB sensor with the detail of the monochrome sensor Tech specs include 2 x 12MP at 4:3 ratio (9MP in 16:9), Sony IMX296 BSI CMOS sensors with 1.25 m pixel size; 2 x f/2.2 lenses; dual tone, and dual LED flash. The rear camera has one colour lens and one black and white. The B&W does not have a Bayer filter (RGB) so it captures up to three times more light. They work together to provide a better colour shot allegedly more detail is captured by the B&W lens to overlay on the colour shot. Having two lenses also allows it to calculate the precise distance to a subject Laser Autofocus and Hybrid AF. Leica designed three colour modes standard, vivid and smooth and standard is best and the most natural in daylight. It has dual-tone, dual LED flash. It is one of the few cameras that can create a high-quality optical background defocus effect (bokeh). It shoots in RAW or JPEG. The camera app is one of the most comprehensive I have used including settings for HDR, watermark, document scan, adding audio notes, panorama, slow-mo, time-lapse and more. But it is also more complex, and you need to master it to get the best results. The rear dual lens is located at the top, left back of the phone like the iPhone and you need to be careful not to put your fingers over it when shooting 16:9 (landscape). There no camera bump the lenses are flush with the back plate. With still shots, it offers 12, 9, 8, and 6MP with and without HDR, in 16:9 or 4:3 ratios. With Video it offers 1080p (30/60fps), 720, 640, 320, in 16:9 and 4:3. I have developed a series of reference shots tested with flagship cameras including the Lumia 950 XL, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5, Sony Xperia X, iPhone 6S Plus, and an ever growing range of review camera shots on file. Tests are all at default settings and include: Daylight, no flash, with HDR I was initially a little disappointed by the muted colours and tried all colour modes normal was the best. But then I realised that I was viewing them on the phones IPS screen in the daylight which is not as vivid as an OLED! Back at the office comparing the reference shots on a colour calibrated monitor the colour comes up nicely, but shots are not as crisp, or full of detail as the GS7 or LG G5; but they are superior to the Phone 6S and Sony Xperia X and Sony is supposed to have good cameras. It is only when you have some current smartphones to use to compare reference shots that you see these differences. I give it a 7.5 out of 10 for daylight shots still very acceptable for a flagship camera. Daylight, no flash, without HDR The best way to describe this is what you lose without HDR highlights, shadows, definition and details are markedly less. Use HDR but without image stabilisation you can take a blurry shot! Indoors, no flash, with HDR Reasonable low light capability from its f/2.2 lens and 1.25 m pixel size but not as good as others with lower f-stops or larger pixels. Indoors, no flash, without HDR In a darkened room it lost almost everything no image definition at all. By comparison, the GS7 could pick up the outlines and reasonable tone. Indoors, low light, flash, with and without HDR While it will take respectable flash photos with HDR, it can be grainy, noisy, and produce off colours without it. Speciality shots like panorama, time-lapse, slo-mo, etc. Daylight panorama was good as it stitches the shot together producing an accurate, seamless image of around 3000 pixels high. Video HD, 1920 x 30/60fps (17/34Mbps). Best in daylight. It has poor dynamic range and loss of detail in low light. B&W photography Using the same lens type as the colour means similar lens performance except where low light is concerned it is better. B&W photography is all about the mood and while I would like to say that it is a major selling feature it is not. It is fun for a while but not as useful as LGs G5 dual lens that uses one for normal photography and the other for wide angle colour photography great for holiday snaps. Selfies The 8MP, F/2.4 was good and has screen fill (no flash), which is fine for selfies and Skype. Camera Summary The Pro mode allows you to alter almost every parameter, and I suspect that is where the strength of this camera lies. DXOMark gives it an average pf 80 out of 100 good but not the best it is certainly not the image quality Huawei led us [journalists] to expect at launch, but it does provide acceptable images under most circumstances. By comparison the DXOMark averages are Samsung S7 (88), LG G5 (86), and iPhone 6S (82). Lack of 2/4K Video is a slight concern but this generates huge file sizes so it is not a deal breaker. The camera is capable of so much more, but it is going to take a determined photographer to reach nirvana. Display 1080p, 423ppi, is more than enough for a flagship lets face it 2 or 4K uses more battery for no appreciable difference on a 5.2 screen. It uses an IPS-Neo LCD with 500 nits brightness and >1000:1 contrast. Colour, however, was initially a little off. It offers three modes of colour Default, Warm, and Cold plus an infinitely adjustable colour circle. By comparison to an OLED (Samsung/Lumia/OPPO) screen that has a black rating of zero (the best), this has a rating of .46 (iPhone is .36). Still it is visually as good as any other IPS screen I have seen. It is not as strong in daylight readability. To put this in perspective The Samsung S7 OLED is best by a country mile, the LG G5 (IPS) next, Sony X (IPS) is 15% below that, and the P9 (IPS) is about 25% below. That is not to say it is inadequate it is a characteristic of IPS/LCD screens and why we will see OLED on most flagship devices once production ramps up. If you are looking to use it for a VR headset, consider a higher resolution, OLED screen. Performance There is some customer resistance to using anything other than a Qualcomm Snapdragon (or Exynos) on a flagship device. It is not warranted. Its Kirin processor as a multi-core device is up there with the GS7 for CPU performance. But it offers about 30% less of the graphics performance from the GS7, G5 and iPhone 6S. It is more than adequate performance for most purposes. Battery It has a non-removable 3000 mAh battery. It has a standard 5V/2A charger. If you want fast charging, you need to buy the proprietary 9V/2A charger. The supplied charger takes about 2.5 hours from zero to full. It has a theoretical endurance rating of 75 hours compared to the smaller screened iPhone 6S at 62 hours and the larger 6S plus at 85. But the winner is the S7/Edge at 80/98 hours. It is a one-day use device. Again this makes little difference in everyday use all smartphones will go a day without a stretch. The P9 does have a ROG mode that cuts the screen resolution to 720p and it will eek out two days without much of an appreciable screen quality difference. LTE/Phone It has eighteen Cat 6, 4G bands a world phone with Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 38, 39, 40. In tests around Sydney, it was fine matching for the most part the bars of other flagships. Cat 6 LTE is adequate but not as high a data transfer rate as some. However, some callers complained of low in-call volumes. For my part, calls were clear and, hands-free volume was good. Apps/UI Huawei provides a phone manager, Dialler, Contacts, Favourites, Calendar, and other Apps so that you dont have to use Googles Android offerings. These are all fit for purpose. It also has a fitness app presumably for use with its Huawei Watch. It has one button (recently used apps button) that clears up memory space by closing the apps. But I find the UI quirky to use it is almost unrecognisable from Android M, and it takes a lot of getting used to. Still, I am told the Asian market loves it as it is. Repairability iFixit score it 7 out of 10, and that is excellent. Teardown is here. Conclusion a lot to Leica Who are we, Hawaii, Huawei? It is not as well known a brand in Australia as in Asia. It is better known for its Google Nexus 6P. But get used to it Huawei is a brand that will be here for the long term. In fact, this Chinese telecommunications company has been manufacturing mobile phones since 1997. It is also the largest telecom infrastructure maker in the world. On the positive side is Best phone Huawei has ever made Great design and craftsmanship Fast fingerprint reader Good IPS display let down ever so slightly by colour accuracy and daylight readability. The Kirin horsepower proves you dont need a Qualcomm to compete. A reliable company that has committed to providing Android N for the handset I would prefer this in Australia to its UI. Flagship class camera although if photography is why you are buying it, then there are better - at higher prices. On the negative side is User interface is a little quirky until you learn to use it Camera is good but also quirky and needs lots of practice to get the best No image stabilisation potentially blurry handheld shots especially with HDR At $799 I would rate it 7.5 out of 10 and that is pretty good considering that to get more you need to spend up to 50% more. I have not seen the bigger P9 Plus it has an AMOLED screen and 3D Force touch (a.k.a. Apple) at $100 more. Would I buy it? Here is the conundrum? If I had $800, then absolutely it is great value for the money and as almost all flagship smartphones (except LG and Samsung) are made in China, then it is right up there. It meets, beats and competes with the current iPhone 6S at $1079 and Sony Xperia X Performance at $999. If I had less money then OPPOs 5 R9 at $599 or 6 R9 Plus at $699 offer amazing value with AMOLED screens, 4GB ROM, 64GB storage, fingerprint access, fast charge, huge battery, and 16MP cameras. These would win me over; seriously, these phones are flagship class with no downsides. If money was not an object, then the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Edge (and coming Note 7) offer so much more at $1149 and $1249 and the LG G5 would be hard to beat at $1099. Related: Huawei P20 Pro Full, in-depth review The federal government has appointed a former executive from Englands National Health Service (NHS) and Telstra Health to head Australias new national health body, the Australian Digital Health Agency. Tim Kelsey, the first national director for patients and information at NHS England, has been appointed as chief executive of the agency which began operation in July and is responsible for all national digital health services and systems, with a focus on engagement, innovation and clinical quality and safety. Kelsey has been strategy and commercial director at Telstra Health since February this year, looking at ways to use Telstras technology capabilities to support transformation in the costs and quality of healthcare in Australia. He will commence work in mid-August. The federal Minister for Health and Aged Care and Sport, Sussan Ley, said that most importantly, the new Agency is the system operator for the Governments recently launched My Health Record System which is a secure, online summary of peoples health information that can be shared with doctors, hospitals and healthcare providers with the permission of patients. This gives people more control of their health and care and with access to new digital apps and online services the Australian community is benefitting from the modern information revolution. Ley said Kelsey is internationally regarded as a leader in digital health, in both the private and public sectors, and has a proven track record in delivery of digital health services. Kelseys previous role at the NHS combined the functions of chief technology and information officer with responsibility for patient and public participation, marketing, brand and communications for the national commissioner for health and care services. He was also the first chair of the National Information Board in England which successfully oversaw design of a new digital health strategy for the NHS, and before becoming a director of NHS England, he designed and launched NHS Choices, the national online information service which transformed access to apps and mobile digital services for patients and citizens in England. Ley said Kelsey is the right choice for chief executive to further the Australian governments commitment to use digital health to create a world-class health system for all Australians. Interpol has arrested a top Nigerian email scammer who stole more than US$60 million by tricking businesses into handing over funds by posing as trusted suppliers. The 40-year-old Nigerian, known as Mike, is allegedly the leader of a criminal ring that targeted hundreds of victims across the world, Interpol said on Monday. He and at least 40 other individuals pulled off their scheme by allegedly pretending to be CEOs or suppliers using hacked email accounts of legitimate companies. The criminals then sent fake emails, asking the victims to wire funds or send payment to bank accounts under the scammers control. The Nigerian at one point conned a victim into paying $15.4 million, Interpol said. To hack the email accounts, the scammers targeted small and medium businesses in the U.S., India, and Romania, among other countries. Authorities first became aware of Mike when, in late 2014, security firm Trend Micro began investigating the malware used in his scams. The malware was designed to steal email and web logins. By analyzing the malwares command-and-control infrastructure, Trend Micro managed to track the Nigerians location. Mike was then arrested in southern Nigeria in June and he faces charges for hacking, conspiracy, and obtaining money under false pretences. However, Interpol made no mention of the rest of his criminal ring. Its members also come from Nigeria, along with Malaysia and South Africa, Interpol said. These kinds of email scams, also known as CEO fraud or the supplier swindle, have become a growing problem. Businesses across the world have been duped into giving away at least $3.1 billion, according to the FBI. Interpol is advising businesses verify an email senders identity before wiring off any funds. To avoid hacking, emails accounts can also be better protected when using two-factor authentication. Hyundai Merchant Marine at 11:30 am Friday held an event at GCT Bayonne as Hyundai Merchant Marine welcomed its newest Neo-Panamax vessel, Hyundai Saturn, on her maiden call to North America at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The event included David Arsenault, President & CEO of Hyundai Merchant Marine America, along with New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and many of HMM's valued customers. Hyundai Saturn (10,000 TEU) is the first of five Hyundai Neo-Panamax class vessels deployed on the G6 Alliances new Asia to U.S. East Coast NYX service. The NYX service connects New York, Norfolk and Savannah with port calls in Korea, Central/North China and networks within Latin America via Manzanillo. About Hyundai Merchant Marine Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is a leading global shipping company operating over 130 state-of-the-art vessels encompassing more than 50 sea routes to over 100 ports of call. HMM strategically collaborates with customers to develop customized supply chain solutions for dry, refrigerated and other specialized cargo. HMM has formed a global business network of vessels, terminals, railroads, trucks and offices around the world. HMM is highly regarded as one of the world's top integrated-logistics companies with a commitment to operational excellence by our team of industry professionals and state of the art technology. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. SHARE By of the Mequon For a community that has long epitomized car culture's sprawling development think high-end subdivisions, low-rise office parks and busy commercial strips Mequon has lately been taking an urban turn. Last summer, Mequon Town Center began operating on a site next to Mequon City Hall, north of Mequon Road and west of Cedarburg Road. It includes a pair of four-story mixed-use buildings, with ground-floor retail space and 28 upper-level apartments, and another two-story building with commercial tenants. That development was completed when a two-story Cafe Hollander opened in May. Now, one of its developers is proceeding with plans to create an even bigger mixed-use project. It would have 165 apartments, 19,600 square feet of commercial space and additional public space, about one block west of Mequon Town Center. Add two other nearby projects, a three-story apartment building and a planned craft brewery within a historic building, and Mequon is creating a center point for a city that has just under 24,000 residents scattered throughout 47 square miles. "The intent is to create a heart of Mequon," said Mayor Dan Abendroth. A key part of those plans involves developer Cindy Shaffer's proposal, currently known as Mequon Town Center II (that name is a placeholder). Shaffer and Blair Williams, who operates Wired Properties LLC, developed Mequon Town Center. Shaffer, who operates Shaffer Development LLC, is going solo on the next project. Her preliminary concept plan calls for apartments and commercial buildings, with an estimated value of $29 million to $34 million, on 13 acres north of Mequon Road, between the railroad tracks and Buntrock Ave. The city would sell the site to Shaffer for $1. Shaffer is proposing four apartment buildings, three commercial buildings and a future building with a use yet to be determined. The concept plan and zoning were unanimously recommended for approval by the Plan Commission at its meeting last Monday and are to undergo Common Council review in September. The apartment buildings, on the site's northern portion, would include 10 two-story adjacent townhomes along Buntrock Ave. Shaffer also would develop a trio of three-story apartment buildings, with 47, 48 and 60 units; an apartment community clubhouse, and public space that would include a fountain, splash pad and fire pit. At the site's southern end, Shaffer would develop a 6,000-square-foot restaurant in part of the former Ross-Wells Inc. industrial building next to the railroad tracks. Much of that building would be razed, with an addition built along Mequon Road. Also, two city public works buildings, with 4,600 and 9,000 square feet, would be converted into retail space overlooking Mequon Road. Those new uses could include a neighborhood food market. "We have strong interest from very high-level, high-demand anchor tenants at this site," Shaffer said at the Plan Commission hearing. Shaffer plans to begin development of those apartment and commercial buildings next spring, with completion by spring 2018. Finally, another building could be developed as space for commercial tenants or an additional three-story, 30-unit apartment building. That building would be completed within two years of the other buildings being finished. The apartments, similar to those in Mequon Town Center, would be higher-end units, according to Shaffer's proposal. Most would be one- and two-bedroom units, with monthly rents ranging from around $1,200 to $3,900, she said. Renting space Shaffer's proposal said there is strong demand for higher-quality apartments in Mequon. Only 12.6% of Mequon's housing units are rentals. Rental housing rates in other Ozaukee County communities range from 23% in Cedarburg to 32% in Port Washington, Shaffer said, citing census data. Older Mequon residents whose children are now adults no longer need their big houses, Shaffer said. Shaffer, at the commission hearing, also said apartments need more than just a good location and nice amenities to be successful. "What people really want are community spaces, and gathering spaces," she said. "People want to be able to sit around the fire pit and connect with one another." The project would have pedestrian and bike connections, and could include a pedestrian link across the railroad tracks to nearby Mequon Community Park. Community gathering spaces are a big part of Mequon Town Center and the other nearby planned developments, Abendroth said. Mequon developed in a sprawling manner over the past three or four decades. As a result, it lacked a community center, said Abendroth, a resident since 1983. "Thiensville is sort of the downtown of Mequon," he said. A 1999 community survey found that a large number of Mequon residents wanted that downtown-esque community center. So, city officials took steps to encourage its development, including a tax incremental financing district to pay for roads and sidewalk improvements near the intersection of Mequon and Cedarburg roads. The commercial development lagged until Williams and Shaffer developed Mequon Town Center. That project drew opposition. Some residents said the four-story buildings were too tall. Others criticized the urban-oriented design of placing the buildings on the property's edge, with parking in the middle. "Being a suburb, people are used to having large parking lots," Abendroth said. But much of the criticism has died down with the development's opening, particularly with businesses such as Cafe Hollander, Ruby Tap wine bar and Colectivo coffeehouse, he said. Abendroth in April won a second three-year mayoral term with 52% of the vote. His challenger, Aaron Armstrong, said during the campaign that Mequon Town Center includes "high-density housing," which "puts a particular strain on city resources, which taxpayers outside the MTC pay for." Along with Shaffer's new project, other nearby developments are in the works. They include preliminary plans by Thomas Nieman, president of Mequon-based premium pet food maker Fromm Family Foods LLC, to convert a 19th-century former brewery building, 6411 W. Mequon Road, into a craft brewery. The possible Mequon Brewery, which hasn't yet been presented to the Common Council, would be just across Mequon Road from Shaffer's new development. Also, Dermond Property Investment LLC is planning a September construction start for a three-story, 33-unit apartment building at 11130 N. Buntrock Ave., a vacant lot south of the proposed brewery site. The council approved Dermond's proposal in November. The new projects would join Mequon Town Center in generating property taxes to pay off the city's tax incremental financing district debt. That $6.5 million debt will be paid off by 2025, according to the latest city estimate, said Jac Zader, assistant community development director. Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin Track it online To track this project and others, check out the Land & Space Development Database, at jsonline.com/development. A GED book sits on a table in a housing unit at the Ozaukee County Jail. Credit: Journal Sentinel files By , The classroom Patty Puccinelli teaches in is much different from the one she envisioned when she was earning her PhD in English from St. Louis University, where she also taught for 11 years. Puccinelli no longer teaches college students. She took a break from teaching to become a full-time parent, moved to Milwaukee, and when her kids got older started looking for part-time work. She started teaching night classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College, and in 2013 heard about the Ozaukee County Jail Literacy Program. "At first, I was a little hesitant. It was unnerving to have the doors slam with such force, but I really enjoy interacting with the students," said Puccinelli, who teaches a variety of classes to the inmates in the program. "Many of the students did not experience much of any success in school, but in our program, because we can teach them individually based on their specific needs, they succeed." Located in the jail itself, the small nonprofit literacy program aims to help inmates learn skills to get a job, improve their literacy and achieve their GED or HSED. It is the only private agency in Wisconsin that provides education at the jail level. Since 1992, 297 students have graduated from the program with either a GED or HSED. More than 900 students have taken classes. "The average inmate is only in here for a couple months, and most of the time it's not long enough to earn a degree, but some do because they are so motivated," program president Holly Ryan said. In a recent study done by the jail, participants of the program have a 44% recidivism rate the percentage of inmates who get arrested again. Inmates of the Ozaukee County Jail who do not participate in the literacy program have a recidivism rate similar to that of the national average, about 70%. Puccinelli stayed with the program because of how rewarding it is to her. The best part of the job for her is watching the inmates take pride in their achievements and find smarts they didn't know they had. She recalled a time when a young woman who hadn't finished the ninth grade was doing well in the program and yelled out loud in surprise, "I'm smart." "A lot of people think they (inmates) made a mistake and they need to pay for it, but once they go to prison it only gets worse," Ryan said. "We try to help them and give them confidence, or we're not going to break the cycle. We feel education at the jail level is critical." Launched in 1992 The literacy program was started in 1992 by two Milwaukee Area Technical College teachers, Nina Walker and Judy Johnson. They asked Sheriff Michael Milas whether the Ozaukee County Jail was doing anything to educate inmates and he said they were not. The two women proposed to come in once a week for about an hour to hold some classes for the inmates, and Milas agreed. A year later, Ryan heard about the program and wanted in. "It just grabbed my interest, I thought, 'Gee, this is cool,'" Ryan said. "We have just evolved ever since. The jail administrator realized these women weren't going away." Capt. Jeff Sauer has been working at the Ozaukee County Jail for 26 years and remembers when Walker and Johnson first began teaching classes in the jail's roll call room. "We weren't sure where it was going to go, but they won us over very quickly," he said. "It's one of our (jail's) staples. The staff is very supportive of the program." Initially, money for the program was raised through "begging" local churches and other local organizations. Ryan said the program probably raised $1,000 her first year. The nonprofit brought in revenue of $90,000 last fiscal year and spent most of its money, which comes mostly from grants and donations, on part-time salaries for the six, mostly retired, teachers. The program teaches students writing, reading, math, social studies and science. It also includes a mandatory skills class that teaches computer basics, Microsoft Office and how to create a resume. Ryan said it is important to help inmates with job readiness. "Some inmates don't even know how to turn on a computer when they first come in." "Many inmates are very creative. Whether it's through poetry or pen and pencil," Ryan said. "They (inmates) are like sponges, and a lot of them are really smart." A family literacy course is also offered. They practice reading a book to their children, and sometimes the teacher will record them reading books and send the recordings to the inmates' children. Ryan said the program operates more like an old one-room schoolhouse from the 1800s because the majority of the students are at different education levels. Some can only read at a second-grade level and some at a sixth-grade level. "Each student inmate is picked up where they are academically," Ryan said. Class sizes are 10 or fewer with two teachers to provide individual attention. Students receive 12 hours of classroom instruction per week. "We are a hidden gem in the county and we've been around for almost 25 years," Ryan said. "I couldn't be prouder of the program. The inmates truly enjoy it." SHARE By of the Sports columnist Gary D'Amato is heading to Brazil to cover his tenth Olympic games. We catch up with him before his travels to talk about everything from Zika to which Wisconsin athletes you should watch. And what's new at the Wisconsin State Fair this year? Reporter Hannah Kirby brings us the latest. Sports columnist Gary D'Amato is heading to Brazil to cover his tenth Olympic games. We catch up with him before his travels to talk about everything from Zika to which Wisconsin athletes you should watch. And what's new at the Wisconsin State Fair this year? Reporter Hannah Kirby brings us the latest. To listen to this week's podcast, or to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher radio, click here. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. Credit: Rick Wood By , Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has paid nothing in state income tax since 2000. Abele, a Democrat and multimillionaire, is among a group of well-known and wealthy people with zero-dollar tax returns, including members of the SC Johnson family and Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, the owner of ABC Supply and a key fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Records obtained by the Journal Sentinel show Abele paid $0 in state income tax from 2001 to 2014. A spokeswoman declined to comment on his 2015 state income tax return, which is not yet publicly available. Some high earners manage to avoid owing state income tax, often through a combination of business losses and itemized deductions. They are a small group in 2014, less than 1% of filers with incomes above $90,000 had zero tax liability, according to data from the state Department of Revenue. That accounted for 3,840 of the nearly 3 million returns filed. The Journal Sentinel requested state income tax records for 30 local and state officials and executives for the past three years. Abele was the only elected official who didn't owe state income taxes. Charitable donations can decrease tax bills to an extent. Other tax laws are written to encourage investment. For instance, the laws allow investors who take risks on young or unprofitable companies to use losses from those companies to decrease their own taxable income. But critics question a system that allows some of the highest earners to avoid owing any state income tax. "The tax laws are written by and for the rich," said Matthew Rothschild, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a liberal nonprofit group that advocates for transparency in politics. For those who do pay taxes, he said, it's an "outrageous double standard." Abele said he uses the tax benefits available to him, just as anyone would. "I don't begrudge people for using coupons," he said. "If people are concerned about it, they should change the law." Charitable donations Voters re-elected Abele by a wide margin earlier this year after he gave his campaign nearly $4 million of his own money. He has been county executive since 2011 and earns a salary of around $130,000 a year. He is well-known for investing in start-up companies and holds board positions on several companies and nonprofits. Abele said his personal income tax liability has been offset by hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations to causes including the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Urban League of Milwaukee and the MATC Promise program. He said he routinely gives more than he can write off and had nearly $1 million of unused charitable deductions at the beginning of 2015. "If I was interested in just avoiding taxes, then I'm very inefficiently doing it," he said. Christa Baldridge, a Milwaukee-based CPA and shareholder of the accounting firm Schenck SC, said charitable donations can significantly reduce taxable income but usually only by about half. "It would be hard to owe no taxes without having business losses and itemized deductions such as property taxes in the mix," she said. Abele has those, too. He owns a home on Milwaukee's east side assessed at $2.4 million and two condos in the Moderne high-rise downtown assessed at a total of $2.8 million He said he pays "boatloads" in property taxes; taxes due for those three properties totaled $155,000 in 2015. He also has investments in several companies another factor that Baldridge said contributes to a zero-dollar tax liability. Because young companies are especially likely to post losses in the early years, an investor such as Abele could use those losses to cancel out income from other investments. The same is true of real estate investments. Losses can be carried forward for up to 20 years. By continually making new investments or recognizing old losses, individuals can prolong when they show taxable income and owe taxes. Abele has owned stakes in several corporations and LLCs over the years, according to his statements of economic interests filed with the county ethics board. Abele or his second wife, Miriam (from whom he's been separated since last year), held at least 10% stakes in several companies at different times between 2011 and 2014, including a real estate firm, an information systems consulting firm and two start-ups. He also reported interests in several LLCs including a marketing firm, a waste management service and Ward4, Milwaukee's largest co-working space. Abele is also a managing director of CSA Partners, a venture fund focused on start-up companies, including Docalytics and Openhomes. Daniel Potter, managing director of family wealth planning services at Grant Thornton in Milwaukee, said encouraging investment is exactly the point of the tax laws. "In most cases, tax rules are on the books to incentivize investors to use their personal capital to take risks and create jobs," he said. It's not unusual for a high-income individual who has business losses not to pay income taxes for a year or two, and then when those investments or businesses turn around, pay quite a bit in taxes, said Dale Knapp, research director at the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. But Abele paid no state income tax for 14 years in a row. "I don't know a lot of wealthy people, but I would think that would be somewhat unusual," Knapp said. Abele said his federal income tax was also low and "probably zero" for much of the same period. He said he thinks most people would take the trade-off of his donations and investments in the community, which are several times what his state income tax would be. Abele paid in the past Records show Abele paid state income tax three times before his long streak of zeros: $1,300 in 1997, $116,000 in 1998 and $176,000 in 2000. He moved to Milwaukee in the mid-1990s after growing up in Massachusetts and attending Lawrence University in Appleton. Abele inherited much of his fortune from his father, who co-founded Boston Scientific, a publicly traded medical device company. Abele's tax record was frequently questioned by his opponent in his first run for county executive, but not in his two campaigns since then. In his 2014 statement of economic interests, Abele reported 11 board positions or directorships he held in addition to his county job, including positions with nonprofits like the local and national Boys & Girls Clubs, an investment company bearing his name and the Victory Fund, a PAC focused on electing LGBT candidates to public office. The statements of economic interests require only limited details. The amount of income earned from other sources like board positions, the values of investments and personal real estate holdings outside Milwaukee County are not required to be disclosed. Abele's full tax returns, which only he can release, would allow voters to see the specific credits and tax laws he used. The Department of Revenue discloses only the total amount of net income tax paid by an individual in a given year. "It's up to voters to decide whether it's an issue for a public official like Abele not to pay taxes," Knapp said. "If we don't like some of the tax laws that people are taking advantage of, you need to change the tax laws. They're there for a specific reason." Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton smiles during her speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By Donald Trump has handed Hillary Clinton an opportunity few politicians ever get: She has a chance to realign American politics. Trump's ugly ethnic nationalism, his authoritarianism and his dark view of the country he would lead have put the Republican Party on the wrong side of patriotism, optimism and the future. GOP politicians face an excruciating choice. They can accept the Democrats' invitation to write off Trump as an aberration, give up on him and try to prevent a wholesale redefinition of their party. Or they can prop him up, maximize his vote and tarnish themselves for a generation. The success of the Democratic National Convention and of Clinton's well-crafted acceptance speech will be measured in the short term by the polls. But what happened in Philadelphia also was about the long term. It was a response not just to Trump but to changes on the right inaugurated by the rise of the tea party. Republican leaders passively accepted and sometimes encouraged an extremism that cast the United States as a nation in decline and alienated from its past, and President Barack Obama as an illegitimate, power-hungry leader. The party's traditional chieftains assumed they could use these themes to rally an angry, aging base of white voters while keeping the forces of right-wing radicalism under control. They did not anticipate Trump's political entrepreneurship. He spent years courting the far right with his charges that Obama was born abroad and set himself up in contrast to an establishment that exploited feelings it really didn't take seriously. Now comes, in Ronald Reagan's revered phrase, a time for choosing. Politicians such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell look feeble and vacillating when they try to distance themselves from some of Trump's outrageous statements (including his recent call on Russia to find Clinton's deleted emails) even as they maintain their support for his election. They are the walking petrified, fearing Trump's impact on their party, but also worrying about the electoral chances of their candidates if they push away Trump's constituency. It has fallen largely to conservative intellectuals and former Republican officials to make clear that Trumpism is not their brand of either Republicanism or conservatism. It is the neoconservative rebellion of the 1960s and 1970s in reverse. The original neoconservatives were Democrats put off by New Left radicalism. The new conservative rebels are horrified at Trump's amoral approach to politics, his incoherent, dictator-friendly foreign policy and his racist, exclusionary definition of what it means to be an American. This gives Clinton her opening to reorganize American politics, and Democrats seized it last week by displaying more American flags than an American Legion convention and rivaling Olympic competitions in the number of "USA!" chants. The new patriotism celebrated American diversity in the name of a very old ideal: that we are a nation of ideas and moral commitments, not a country defined by blood, soil or a single religious tradition. The most devastating attack on Trump came from Khizr Khan, an American Muslim whose son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. From the convention podium, the elder Khan directly challenged Trump's strongman ignorance: "Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy." You could say that Clinton went left and right at the same time. She embraced a practical, policy-oriented economic populism that ratified Bernie Sanders' impact on her party. She issued a sharp critique of Wall Street and big money in politics. She called for a much higher minimum wage, expanded health care coverage and an aggressive approach to student debt. But the values that underlay her economics were old-fashioned, family-friendly and communitarian. She opened her arms wide to Republicans and independent conservatives by contrasting Reagan's "Morning in America" to Trump's "Midnight in America." The bet is that most Americans will prefer a battle-scarred optimist to a gloom-mongering con man and that many conservatives would rather tolerate a term of Clinton than deal with the damage a self-involved practitioner of flimflam could do to their cause, their movement and their country. Realignments are predicted more often than they happen. Convention effects usually fade. But sometimes they don't. Reagan's 1980 Republican conclave was also well-organized and also rang out with cries of "USA!" Reagan welcomed the support of Democrats who "share a community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom." Will Clinton Republicans and ex-Republicans be this generation's Reagan Democrats? E.J. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne Diane Hendricks (from left), John Menard, Helen Johnson-Leipold, and H. Fisk Johnson. Credit: Journal Sentinel files By of the Diane Hendricks is not the only state billionaire who sometimes ends a year without having to pay a nickel in state income taxes. Two members of the family that owns S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. the Racine company that brings in about $10 billion annually through the sale of Windex, Raid and other well-known household products also have had years in which they paid no Wisconsin income taxes, records show. Helen Johnson-Leipold, the great-great-granddaughter of the company founder, didn't pay a dime in state income taxes four times in seven years. Johnson-Leipold is chairman of Johnson Bank and chief executive officer of Johnson Outdoors Inc., a public company that paid her $1.85 million last year. Her brother, H. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of S.C. Johnson, pays no Wisconsin income taxes even though he works out of the company's Racine headquarters and owns a home in the area. As an Illinois resident, he pays taxes in that state, said Kelly Semrau, a spokeswoman. The distinction may earn him a significant tax break, since the top income tax rate in Illinois is 3.75%. Wisconsin's top rate is 7.65%. Semrau said Johnson lives in Chicago because his divorce/custody settlement requires that he live within five miles of his daughter's high school. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviewed state records showing the amount of net income taxes paid by the nine Wisconsin billionaires on the 2015 Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans. Four members of the Johnson family made the list each with an estimated 2015 net worth $3.2 billion. All those billionaires with the exception of Hendricks and the two Johnsons paid income taxes annually from 2013 through 2015, or have not yet filed their 2015 returns. John Menard, founder of the Eau Claire retailing giant that bears his name, paid the most when he coughed up $35.7 million in 2013. Because of his company's tax structure, it is impossible to determine how much of that covered his company's tax bill and how much was for John Menard's personal tax obligation. Forbes estimated Menard's 2015 net worth at $9.2 billion, making him the richest person in the state Hendricks' string ends Hendricks, the richest woman in the state and a vice chair of a key fundraising committee for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, did not pay any state income taxes from 2012 through 2014. Hendricks, who owns Beloit's ABC Supply Co. the nation's largest supplier of roofing also paid zero taxes in 2010. She has a net worth of nearly $5 billion, according to Forbes, which last month dubbed her America's richest self-made woman. Hendricks' string of goose eggs ended last year when she paid $7.6 million in state income tax, said Scott Bianchini, ABC Supply's tax director. The company changed its corporate and tax structure last year, so that large tax bill is likely for the company tax obligation as well as her personal tab. Bianchini noted that Hendricks and ABC had "collectively paid hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state income taxes." "It makes me sad to hear people who have never met or spoke to her infer she has done something improper on her tax return," Bianchini said in a statement. "It's sad because it's simply not true." Writing off losses Chuck Konkol, a CPA who teaches accounting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that while many people don't like seeing the mega-rich pay no income tax, their ire should be focused on lawmakers. "If the policy-makers are giving them those loopholes ... I don't blame the taxpayers for taking advantage of them," Konkol said. Johnson-Leipold appears to have taken advantage of the tax break that allows people to write off investment losses. She paid zero taxes in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. "There were some years where my investments experienced losses which are allowed as a deduction on my individual income tax return," Leipold said in a statement issued through a family spokesman. "As is clear from the substantial state taxes I have paid in more recent years, any tax offsets have been exhausted." She paid $1.14 million in 2011, $192,615 in 2014 and $1.6 million last year, records show. Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | AFP reported from the papal airplane on Pope Franciss remarks about Islam in the wake of the brutal murder of an elderly priest by two teenagers of North African heritage in Normandy last Tuesday. Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility. The pope said, Its not true and its not correct (to say) Islam is terrorism. . . I dont think it is right to equate Islam with violence. Pope Francis continued, In almost every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. We have them too . . . If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother-in-law, and these are baptised Catholics. The pope said four things here that will be unwelcome to the right wing politicians in Europe and North America. 1. He said that Islam is not intrinsically a driver of terrorism. This is obviously true, since most Muslims in most times and places have been perfectly peaceful people. 2. He made a distinction between the 1.5 billion adherents of Islam in the world and the tiny fringe that commits acts of terrorism. 3. He pointed out that the same small fringe of violent people exists in the ranks of Roman Catholics, as well. 4. He put the murder of the priest in Normandy on the same plane as criminal murders committed by Catholics in Italy. That is, he did not privilege terrorism as an metaphysically distinct category of violence, but put it under the sign of criminality. No more succinct and sensible statement of the case could possibly be made, and you marvel at the combination of intellect and deep ethical insight of this man. One could go further and mention that the precepts of Islam actively forbid murder and terrorism. The Quran cites Jewish traditions that to murder one person is like committing genocide against all humankind. A single murder, the Quran maintains, is equivalent to an extinction-level event. Killing innocent civilians, the very definition of terrorism, is first and foremost murder. That Christians commit terrorism on a large scale is very clear from recent history. As many acts of terrorism are committed in Europe by far right wing European nativist groups, some with a Christian heritage, as by Muslims. Christians have managed to tag fascism as a neo-pagan or secular movement, but it was often deeply intertwined with the Church. Although the Irish Republican Army was disproportionately Marxist, it had priests and believing Catholics among its operatives. (Irish may have had good reason to be dissatisfied with British policy, but that did not give them a right to bomb Harrods department store and kill innocent shoppers). To support Pope Franciss point, here are 8 Christian terrorist groups every bit as scary as anything in the Middle East. As for seeing terrorism as a form of criminality, you can only hope that legislators and law enforcement will listen to him. In the US we have on the order of 16,000 murders a year, with only a handful committed by terrorists. In fact, distinguishing some murders from terrorism is very difficult, because many killings have some sort of political or ethno-nationalist dimension which is the definition of terrorist violence. By placing terrorism on a pedestal and annointing it as some sort of metaphysical category that trumps all other forms of violence, we are regrettably wasting precious resources and militarizing our police (leading to the alienation of whole communities from police who dress like military commandos.) Murder is murder, and the life of each victim is equally precious. Meanwhile, in response to the murder of the priest in Normandy by the teen-aged Daesh, some 2,000 French Muslims attended Catholic mass in solidarity on Sunday. In todays charged Islamophobic atmosphere, unfortunately Muslims are obliged to make such gestures. For their own good, they have to become more extroverted and more involved. Many Muslims in Europe and North America are first and second generation immigrants, who have a tendency to keep their heads down and their noses clean. They often come from dictatorial societies where you stay out of trouble by keeping quiet. But in our increasingly demagogic societies in the West (Aristotle said demagoguery is the corrupt form of democracy), you stay out of trouble by speaking out. If you are silent and timid, people will try to use you for their political purposes. Most of these hatemongers are cowards, though, so if you let them have it they back off. That is why Khizr Khans speech was so powerful he showed that as an immigrant he had no fear of speaking out publicly against the powerful and wealthy leader of one of our two major parties. Muslims need to do things like attend Christian services and engage in interfaith dialogue more than they do (I know a lot of Muslims are very active in these fields, but they are a small minority). Opinion pollings shows definitively that Westerners who know a Muslim are much less likely to be Islamophobes. And Christian leaders need to speak out more, as Pope Francis does, on behalf of Muslims. the Muslim-haters among Christians should contemplate Matthew 5: 21 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment. 22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults[b] his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, You fool! shall be liable to the hell of fire. A lot of Christian leaders on the Right are calling their fellow human beings, the Muslims, a lot worse than fool So we know where theyre headed. Related video: Rome Reports: Pope Francis, following the recent attacks: It is not a war of religions. Religions want peace Reddit Email 3 Shares By Joseph Richard Preville | (Informed Comment) | I am an American professor living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Like millions of people around the world, I watched both presidential conventions with great interest. Although I am a Democrat, I try to keep an open mind and listen to the other side with fairness and objectivity. However, in this election, I am moved by the words of the late Elie Wiesel in his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize speech: We must take sides. For me, Donald Trump is a real threat to religious harmony and peace in the world. When Donald Trump first proposed that Muslims be banned from the United States, I was horrified. He couldnt be serious, I thought. Not only was his proposal obviously unconstitutional, it was ignorant of the long history of Muslims in the United States. Muslims are part of the unfolding story that is America. Trump cannot erase them from American history. Nor can he delete the historical fact that the first country to recognize the United States was the Sultanate of Morocco in 1777 under Sultan Mohammed Ben Abdellah al-Khatib. Trump has made Islamophobia acceptable in the United States. His fear of Muslims is a hysterical reaction to terrorism, which Muslims reject and Islam forbids. I understand this because I live and work in an Islamic society. Donald Trump knows nothing about Islam and Muslims and his hateful rhetoric reflects his ignorance. Has he ever read Ibn Khaldun or Naguib Mahfouz? The Muslim world is rich in history, diversity and culture. For the past dozen years, I have experienced the vast Muslim world up close through work and travel, and I can honestly say that Donald Trumps views on Muslims bear no resemblance to reality. I was so pleased to hear Khizr Khan challenge Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention. It was a powerful moment for Americans to witness. Islamophobia and bigotry must be challenged, and the bigger the audience, the better. Khizir Khan neednt have asked Trump if he had read the Constitution because we all know the answer. What bothers me about Trump is how he has tarnished Americas reputation all over the world. His bigoted statements and threats to Muslims do not represent America or its values. He is a frightening outsider a bully with a Twitter account. On my recent trip to Morocco, everyone I met wanted to talk about Donald Trump. How could Americans support his divisive campaign, they wondered? I wish I had an answer for them. I am mystified at his popularity, but confident he will be defeated in November. The Trump moment in America will pass. History is the best teacher. There have been many demagogues in American history, who have railed against Catholics, Jews, Germans, Italians, Irish and other groups. These demagogues became reviled footnotes in the history of the United States. Prejudice is not celebrated in America, and it surely is not what our country is about. This is the message I give my Muslim friends. -Joseph Richard Preville is Assistant Professor of English at Alfaisal University/Prince Sultan College of Business in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tikkun, The Jerusalem Post, Muscat Daily, Saudi Gazette, Informed Comment and World Religion News. Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | BETHLEHEM (Maan) Israeli human rights group BTselem released a report Thursday evening revealing that Israeli authorities have steadily increased their use of administrative detention Israels policy of internment without charge or trial on Palestinian minors since October. The group stated in the report that the controversial policy which allows for the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence had not been used by Israeli authorities on Palestinian minors since December 2011. However, the group found that Israeli authorities had begun to use the policy again on Palestinian minors as of October, when a wave of violence first erupted across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel. According to figures sent to the group by Israel Prison Service (IPS), the number of Palestinian minors held without charge or trial in Israeli prisons rose steadily from October, with four minors held in administrative detention in October 2015, while 13 minors were reportedly held at the end of April this year. The group said that eight minors were being held in administrative detention at the end of June, but the group had not yet obtained data for the month of May. The report added that the increasing use of administrative detention on Palestinians, particularly relating to Palestinian minors, has constituted a much harsher abuse of the policy than what has been seen in recent years. Israels policy of administrative detention, which is almost exclusively used against Palestinians, has been widely condemned by the international community as rights groups have charged Israel with using the policy to arbitrarily detain Palestinians for undisclosed reasons as a way of disrupting political and social life for Palestinian communities. According to BTselem, under international law administrative detention is permitted only in the most exceptional cases, as a last resort for averting danger that cannot be prevented by less harmful means. BTselem has underscored that Israels use of administrative detention on the Palestinian population blatantly violates the restrictions of international law. Israel is also the only country in the world that prosecutes children in military courts, according to Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), with 60 percent of Palestinian child detainees being transferred from Palestinian territory to Israeli prisons in direct of violation of international law. According to prisoners rights group Addameer, some 700 Palestinians under the age of 18 from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year in Israeli military courts, with more than 12,000 Palestinian children being detained by Israeli authorities since 2000. The large majority of Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces for throwing stones at Israeli settlers and soldiers. As of May, some 715 Palestinians were held in administrative detention, while 414 Palestinian minors remained in Israeli prisons, 104 of whom were under the age of 16. Via Maan News Agency Related video added by Juan Cole: Middle East Monitor: Palestinian children: Interrogation & Life After Detention [JURIST] Brazilian authorities on Saturday arrested a man charged with committing war crimes in 1992 against the civilian population of former Yugoslavia. The search for wanted criminal Nikola Ceranic began [Reuters report] in late June after Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) authorities forwarded an extradition request to the Brazilian Justice Ministry and Supreme Court [official websites, in Portuguese]. Brazilian prosecutors and police cooperated with Bosnia to locate Ceranic near Sao Paulo. The authorities have yet to specify the details of Ceranics crimes or how long he resided in Brazil. The Supreme Court must now decide on BiHs extradition request as required by Brazilian law. War crimes against civilians continue to be a matter of international concern. On Friday Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported that Russia and Syria were using cluster bombs to target [JURIST report] civilians and rebels in northern Syria despite their devastating and unpredictable nature. Earlier this month the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) [official website] reported that civilian casualties in the country reached a record high [JURIST report] in the first half of 2016, with 5,166 civilians recorded killed or maimed. Also this month UN rights official Zeid Raad Al Hussein stressed [JURIST report] that 200,000 civilians in three Syrian towns were trapped in the middle of the conflict between Syrian forces and ISIL. [JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Sunday urged Iraqi military commanders to prevent historically abusive militias from participating in the campaign to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS). Last March the Iraqi army began working [HRW report] with Peshmerga forces and affiliates of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to launch a ground offensive against the IS, which had been holding Mosul since June 2014. Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Brigades, officially stated [text] in late June that the PMF would be taking part in the liberation of the city. HRW has stressed, however, that the PMF has a long reported history of abuses, including summary killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and the destruction of homes. In the May campaign to retake Fallujah, there were numerous reports of PMF members abusing civilians, performing executions, and mutilating corpses despite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis prior declaration that the PMF would not enter the city. In light of the PMFs various reported offenses, HRW stated that the Iraqi army has a duty to protect the civilian population and hold militia fighters accountable for past war crimes. IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been accused of war crimes on a massive scale in Iraq and Syria. In June a UN-mandated human rights inquiry reported that the IS has been committing genocide [JURIST report] against the Yazidi people, in addition to a carrying out a variety of other war crimes and human rights violations. In March US Secretary of State John Kerry said [JURIST report] that IS is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Also, in March the US House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution [JURIST report] denouncing the actions of IS as genocide and calling for the establishment of international and domestic tribunals by UN member states. In December Amnesty International said that IS is in possession of a large and lethal arsenal [JURIST report] due to decades of reckless arms trading and the poorly regulated international flow of weapons into Iraq. In November IS claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks in Paris [JURIST report] that killed more than 120 individuals. In September members of Iraqs Yazidi community met with International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and urged the court to open a genocide investigation [JURIST report] into IS actions in Northern Iraq. Controversial new security laws took effect Monday in Malaysia. Backed by Prime Minister Najib Razak [BBC profile], the National Security Act will allow government authorities [Al Jazeera report] to declare martial law in areas deemed to be under a security threat. Police will be able to conduct warrantless searches, seize property and impose curfews. Najib has defended the legislation as necessary to combat terrorism, but rights groups such as Amnesty International have criticized the measures [press release] as draconian. With this new law, the government now has spurned checks and assumed potentially abusive powers, said Josef Benedict, AIs Deputy Director for South East Asia and the Pacific. Others have noted that the laws come amid a scandal in which billions of dollars were stolen from a state investment fund that Najib founded and oversaw. He has denied any wrongdoing. Much controversy has surrounded Najibs terms as prime minister. In October Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] accused the government of abusing broad, vaguely worded laws to jail its critics [JURIST report]. In July of last year Najib fired [JURIST report] Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail after learning that Patail was investigating him for corruption. That same month, two major opposition parties called for [JURIST report] an emergency sitting of parliament in order to discuss Najibs future as prime minister. In 2006, Najib was accused [BBC report] of being connected to the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, after her remains were found in October of that year in Kuala Lumpur. Najib , who was deputy prime minister at the time, denied having any connections to the murder or even knowing the model. A political analyst and associate of Najibs was charged with aiding [BBC report] the murder, but these charges were later dropped. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] on Monday expressed concern [UN News Centre report] over efforts by the Iraqi government to expedite implementation of the death penalty. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has created a committee to identify delays and accelerate the process. Zeid expressed concern that the committee would be operating in an already flawed system: Given the weaknesses of the Iraqi justice system, and the current environment in Iraq, I am gravely concerned that innocent people have been and may continue to be convicted and executed, resulting in gross, irreversible miscarriages of justice. Fast-tracking executions will only accelerate injustice. Zeid called for a moratorium on the death penalty. There are an estimated 1,200 inmates currently on death row in Iraq. Iraq has long faced international criticism for its use of the death penalty. In February Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the state of justice in Iraq after a court sentenced 40 men to death. Last August a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] spoke against the execution [JURIST report] of an Iraqi man and his two wives in the Kurdistan region. In 2014 UN officials called on the government of Iraq to impose a moratorium [JURIST report] on the death penalty in response to a significant rise in executions since the country restored capital punishment in 2005. Separated at dual retailers, Jaguar and Land Rover both benefit from the manufacturers increasing autonomy and the prospect of autonomous vehicles, says Ray Hutton. The surprising thing about Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is how together it is. One company, two brands has been the dictum since Tata Motors bought the business from Ford in 2008. Although JLR was quick to integrate engineering, manufacturing, and most back-office functions, it was regarded as essential to keep separate the design, sales and marketing of the two brands. The sales and design chiefs Adrian Hallmark and Ian Callum for Jaguar, John Edwards and Gerry McGovern sat on the executive committee, the JLR management board. Today, the designers still jealously guard their own studios but Hallmark and Edwards have corporate roles: Hallmark is Group Strategy Director and Edwards runs the fast-expanding JLR Special Vehicle Operations. Andy Goss presides over sales and marketing for both brands, worldwide. In overseas territories, where in many cases it was starting from scratch, it was logical to appoint dealers to represent both brands. With the two together, JLRs offering would, in time, begin to match the diverse ranges of its rivals Audi, BMW and Mercedes. But in the UK there were two long-established retail networks and combining them seemed to present a problem and could be counter-productive. Quietly, in the background, Jeremy Hicks, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover UK since 2011, had a team working on how to integrate the two brands at the retail level. The first step was to encourage common ownership of the dealers in the same town or area. A requirement to invest heavily between GBP2m and GBP15m in facilities as part of a new corporate identity programme concentrated the minds of some of the smaller dealers. Deals were done, dealerships bought and sold. JLR has now achieved more than 90% common ownership, with just 35 owners for the current 201 sites. The Arch The next stage is to put Jaguar and Land Rover under one roof. This programme is called The Arch and involves a new or remodelled dealership, with two showrooms of equal size separated by a central reception area; turn left for Jaguar, right for Land Rover. Hicks expects 80% of UK dealers to comply by the end of 2018. The original plan for combined dealers was to display the whole JLR range together, as the German brands do. But research showed that there is not much cross-shopping between Jaguar and Land Rover and that a separate, dedicated sales team with specialised knowledge of each brand is more effective. The Arch is being introduced worldwide, including in the US, where Jaguar and Land Rover dealers were previously very different in style and location. In the wide open country of America, Land Rover outlets often had off-road courses attached. Some UK dealers also had rough-road obstacle tracks to demonstrate vehicles but these are now being replaced by seven Land Rover Experience Centres around the country. There is also a plan to offer a high-speed driving experience to Jaguar customers; JLR is currently negotiating a long-term lease on Silverstone race circuit. So the way of handling customers the deals, the extras, and the opportunities is slightly different for the two brands, befitting their separation in the dual dealerships. Of course, that separation also avoids direct side-by-side comparison of increasingly similar products the F-Pace and other forthcoming Jaguar SUV/crossovers and Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover models. According to Hicks, 90% of the initial orders for F-Pace were conquests, replacing cars other than Jaguars and Land Rovers. But in a car market that is becoming dominated by SUVs and crossovers of all shapes and sizes, the distinction between marques will inevitably become more blurred. Jaguar designers argue that the F-Pace has a more graceful, car-like style than Land Rovers but the Discovery Sport and the next full-size Discovery (expected at the Paris Motor Show in September) also manage to combine clean, smooth lines with the off-road versatility that made the brand famous. JLR heading for 20% volume growth in 2016 and a new record Worldwide, JLR is on track to sell about 580,000 cars this year, a 20% increase on its 2015 record. While expanding production at its three factories in the UK, and bringing plants in China and Brazil on stream, JLR is also becoming more self-contained. It has extended its aluminium body structure technology to every car in the renewed Jaguar range and all new Land Rovers except for the Evoque and Discovery Sport. The Ingenium engine range, produced in a purpose-built plant in Wolverhampton, is now its mainstay, replacing all the four-cylinder Ford diesels. Production of the 2-litre petrol Ingenium will start by the end of the year. This had been expected to go down the same production line as the diesel and so be launched at the same time but it soon became clear that it would be more efficient to make it in a separate assembly hall; the diesel engine is more complex and to run them together would have meant some work-stations being idle as the petrol engines came through. A recent visit to Wolverhampton saw that another new building is under construction which will double the workspace (to 200,000 sq m). There is no word from JLR about what will be made there (an announcement is expected at the end of this year) but a replacement for the Ford-sourced V6 engines is the obvious candidate. Building a new engine plant was described by one of the managers as a once in a generation thing. Tatas GBP1bn investment in Wolverhampton is not only an indication of its long-term commitment to JLR in Britain but also shows its determination to build an independent car maker in the pattern of BMW, the alma mater of so many of JLRs senior executives. Advanced tech being addressed So you dont hear Ralf Speth and his colleagues yearning for projects and platforms to share with other car makers. JLR maintains a huge (for its size) R&D budget GBP12bn over five years and is confident of meeting future emissions regulations without the need to offset its premium products against small-engined eco-cars. Where it is joining forces, it is with suppliers, government agencies and academic institutions, to participate in and keep abreast of developments in electronics, connectivity, and autonomous vehicle technology. JLR cant and doesnt claim to be the leader in that field Mercedes and others have been working on it for years but a recent demonstration at the companys Gaydon proving ground did reveal a couple of world firsts, which, appropriately for Land Rover, brought elements of the autonomous vehicle to off-road conditions. Surface ID uses ultrasonic sensors (like those for parking assistance but pointing down) to scan the terrain 5m in front of the vehicle and compare the reflected signals with a database of surface conditions. It can identify sand, gravel, grass, and snow and decide on the optimum setting for the vehicles Terrain Response Control, thus preserving momentum and control. Terrain-Based Speed Adaption (TBSA) is an off-road cruise control which uses a stereo camera system to scan the route 30m ahead and, by combining with steering and suspension inputs, adjust the speed (up to 30 mph) for safe and comfortable progress. A further series of prototypes showed the benefits of vehicle connectivity, on and off the road, and these will be used as part of a fleet of 100 JR vehicles to test and develop a range of technologies in the real world, on a 40-mile route around Coventry and Solihull, JLRs homeland. No-one is quite sure where these technologies will lead JLR is insistent that autonomous does not mean driverless but as it gradually builds up production to rival the premium car establishment, it is making sure that it isnt left behind. The intention is clear: whether you choose a Jaguar or a Land Rover, it will be up to speed. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. Liberty Counsel Defends 24-Hour Waiting Period for Abortions in Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla., Aug. 1, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Today Liberty Counsel has filed an amicus brief in Gainesville Woman Care v. State of Florida, arguing in favor of a 24-hour waiting period to its Informed Consent abortion law in Florida. The brief was filed on behalf of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds). The AAPLOG and ACPeds have extensive experience with adolescents and young women who have been affected by abortion and have studied the long-term effects of the procedure. Both the AAPLOG and ACPeds substantiate that Florida's 24-hour waiting period is critically necessary to protect the health and well-being of young women. Including such a period of reflection before choosing a decision with serious long-term consequences is critically important. Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, the youngest female member ever elected to the Florida House of Representatives, was one of the sponsors of HB 633 in 2015, known as the Informed Patient Consent bill. Sullivan also participated in one of Liberty Counsel's Covenant Journey tours of Israel. "Abortion is human genocide. Period," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "A 24-hour waiting period is critically important when facing life and death decisions. Abortion takes the life of an innocent human being and has enormous physical and psychological consequences on the mother and father and everyone connected to them. Anyone who opposes a 24-hour waiting period has no concern for the health and welfare of women. The reason abortion advocates oppose a waiting period is because they fear the mother will choose life," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Gospel for Asia-supported Workers Take Quick Action to Aid Myanmar Flood Victims Galilee Boat Crew Members Move Victims to Temporary Rescue Camps Contact: Gospel for Asia, 972-300-3379, pressrelations@gfa.org WILLS POINT, Texas, Aug. 1, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Amid recent flooding and landslides in Myanmar, workers supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA) evacuated many villagers to higher ground and safety using the organization's Galilee Boat. GFA-supported workers also provided villagers with relief items, including rice and water. Photo: Crew members, supported by Gospel for Asia, transported Myanmar flood victims to temporary rescue camps utilizing the versatility of the Galilee boat Monsoon periods in Myanmar begin during May or June, feature regular flooding and continue into July and August. The monsoons bring incessant rainfalls that often devastate homes, farmland, buildings and roads and, unfortunately, contribute to loss of life. In 2015, Myanmar floods and landslides killed more than 100 people, displaced more than 1.7 million individuals and affected over 9 million people across the Southeast Asian nation. "We thank God for our brothers and sisters that are actively helping to bring emergency relief to these flood victims. As they assist these precious villagers in many physical ways, they are also able to share the peace and comfort of our Lord Jesus," said K.P. Yohannan, founder and international director of GFA. GFA-supported workers are able to mobilize and assist quickly because they utilize a versatile, oar-propelled boat, the Galilee, that can often navigate to remote villages before any organization or government agency is able to do so. GFA-supported workers assisted flood victims living in the Rakhine state, the most affected state in Myanmar. Workers were able to swiftly transport many of the area's displaced families to temporary rescue camps set up in the local mountains, and to find hospital accommodations for those who exhibited flood-related illnesses, such as fever and diarrhea. Recent floods in Rakhine reportedly have affected 25,000 people, damaged at least 5,000 buildings and resulted in two deaths. The heavy rain that started in early July began to lessen around July 15. As waters recede, villagers are able to return to their homes, but not without facing more devastation. They will find many of their homes swamped with mud or lost completely and their farmlands destroyed. They will have much work ahead to decontaminate their water sources and sanitation, rebuild their food supplies and protect themselves from flood-related sickness. GFA-supported workers will be present to provide ongoing assistance to the flood victims of Myanmar. "Our prayers are with all those affected; we know that our efforts will help with their physical needs and hope to continue to bring relief as they rebuild their lives," said Yohannan. GOSPEL FOR ASIA has for more than 30 years provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. Last year, this included more than 75,000 sponsored children, free medical services for more than 180,000 people, 6,000 wells drilled, 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas presents for more than 400,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For more information, go to www.gfa.org. To schedule an interview with a Gospel for Asia representative, contact pressrelations@gfa.org or call 972-300-3379. Share Tweet 'Revealed -- Obama's Legacy' White House correspondent's insider look at the consequences of Obama's presidency Contact: Sherrie Jessup, 703-448-0280, christianpublications.us; watch.org WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 / "I've observed this man for eight years in his White House environment," says Koenig, who is currently available for interviews. "I'm compelled to provide Americans with the truth that hasn't been told about the dire consequences of the Obama presidency that we will be dealing with for generations." "Revealed: Obama's Legacy" documents how Obama was radicalized, his pro-Islamic defense, how he is leaving a destabilized Middle East that endangers both Israel and U.S. allies, his destructive actions impact on the U.S. military's culture, his complete lack of emotion over the persecution and slaughtering of Christians in the Middle East while being very passionate about bringing Middle East refugees to America, and his promoting positions and policies that are hostile to God-fearing Christians and the Bible. White House news correspondent Bill Koenig is publisher of Koenig - World Watch Daily ( Share Tweet Contact: Sherrie Jessup, 703-448-0280, Revealed2016@outlook.com WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- "Revealed: Obama's Legacy," written by White House correspondent William Koenig, documents how life in America will never be the same as the consequence of the two-term president."I've observed this man for eight years in his White House environment," says Koenig, who is currently available for interviews. "I'm compelled to provide Americans with the truth that hasn't been told about the dire consequences of the Obama presidency that we will be dealing with for generations.""Revealed: Obama's Legacy" documents how Obama was radicalized, his pro-Islamic defense, how he is leaving a destabilized Middle East that endangers both Israel and U.S. allies, his destructive actions impact on the U.S. military's culture, his complete lack of emotion over the persecution and slaughtering of Christians in the Middle East while being very passionate about bringing Middle East refugees to America, and his promoting positions and policies that are hostile to God-fearing Christians and the Bible.White House news correspondent Bill Koenig is publisher of Koenig - World Watch Daily ( watch.org ), featuring constantly updated stories from a large variety of news sources, and with readers and email subscribers in all 50 states and 105 countries around the globe. Bill publishes "Koenig's Eye View from the White House," a weekly 15-page e-bulletin that focuses (1) on world news that is biblically relevant and (2) White House news from a Christian perspective. Bill also is the author of "Eye to Eye Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel," which was revised and updated in July 2006 and is now in its 24th printing. He is a graduate of Arizona State University with a B.S. in Communications. Bill and his wife, Claudia, attend McLean Bible Church in McLean, Virginia. home Tech Huawei Honor 8 release date, specs news 2016: Honor Note 8 launches 2 weeks before Honor 8 smartphone The Huawei Honor Note 8 is being unveiled today at the Huawei Exhibition Center in Beijing, China. The device carries an impressive 6.6-inch inch screen with 1440x2560 Quad HD display technology. Following the revelation of the hybrid phablet, the company will now shift its focus on the upcoming release of its latest smartphone, the Huawei Honor 8. According to reports, the highly anticipated handset will come out in the U.S. on Aug. 16. The company is said to change the level of competition once the Honor 8 hits the market with its impressive specs and features. In a report by Phones Review, the Huawei Honor Note 8 has already been provided with an FCC certification, which allows it to challenge the leading smartphones in the U.S. market today. The device will carry a 5.2-inch screen with full HD display. It will run on a powerful Kirin 950 processor paired with either 3 or 4 GB of RAM. The Huawei Honor line has been getting a lot of attention lately due to its advanced specifications at a ridiculously cheaper price compared to the leading manufacturers in the market. The new Huawei Honor Note 8 will be no different as its octa-core 2.3 GHz chip will power up the device's advanced feature. The smartphone will sport a dual 12-MP primary camera setup, while the front-facing snapper will come at 8 MP with LED flash. The main camera of the device will also have Laser Autofocus and a Dual-LED flash. Other features of the Huawei Honor 8 include a fingerprint scanner, a Type-C USB port, NFC, 3000 mAh battery and 4G LTE. The device will also be able to play videos at 2K resolution. The new smartphone will arrive with a pre-installed Android 6.0 Marshmallow; however, it is expected to support the new operating system from Google, the Android Nougat, once the software is available. The Huawei Honor 8 is expected to arrive on Aug. 16 in the United States. LEXINGTON Evidence shows that Misty Herrin suffered more than one blow to her head before she died, the prosecutor said in the child abuse death trial of the 3-year-olds mother. Doris Herrin of Gothenburg is charged with child abuse resulting in death, went on trial in Dawson County District Court at mid-afternoon Monday. Misty died Dec. 22, 2011. Dawson County Attorney Liz Waterman called Dr. Craig Bartruff, a Gothenburg physician, as the prosecutions first witness. Bartruff said Misty was breathing but was unresponsive when he examined her early in the afternoon of Dec. 21, 2011, at Gothenburg Community Hospital. He said he noticed a bump to the right side and the back of her head. A CAT scan indicated a subdural hematoma, and he decided to send her to Good Samaritan Hospital at Kearney. She was flown by helicopter to Kearney, where she was examined by Dr. K.L. Shaffer, a pediatrician. Under cross-examination by defense counsel Jeffery Wightman, Bartruff said reports he received from examination of the child in Kearney indicated an earlier injury to the head. He added that he had observed bruising to her legs and a superficial abrasion to her back. Bartruff said Adam Jesseph, who has been described as Herrins live-in boyfriend, said he and Herrin were in a different room when they heard a thump and found the child on the floor. Jesseph and Herrin have told investigators they suspected Misty fell from a dresser. Questioned by Wightman, Bartruff agreed that a fall of four to five feet could cause the injury the child suffered. Bartruff said his discussion of what happened to the child was principally with Jesseph. In her opening remarks, Waterman said the childs brain was swollen and a neurosurgeon was called to relieve the swelling on Mistys brain. The next day, she was taken off life support. It was an autopsy in Omaha that concluded that her death resulted from blunt force trauma. Waterman said there was evidence that the child suffered more than one blow to the head. Waterman told the jury Herrin and Jesseph were interviewed by Gothenburg police, and investigators concluded the childs injuries were not from a fall. She said after being taken into custody, Herrin told more than one story about how the child was hurt, but said Jesseph didnt do so. Jesseph and Herrin were charged with child abuse resulting in death, a Class IB felony, but the charge against Jesseph was dismissed earlier this year. A panel of 14 jurors was chosen, including two alternates. The alternates will not be known until the trial is concluded, District Judge James E. Doyle said, as a means of keeping all 14 jurors attentive. The jurors are allowed to take notes, which will be destroyed by the bailiff at the trials end. email to: GRAND ISLAND (AP) A developer has abandoned plans to convert three historic Grand Island buildings into a luxury hotel because he couldnt raise the needed $12 million. Zachary Zoul said his Hospitality Advisors Group wont buy the three buildings that were going to be part of the hotel, The Grand Island Independent reports. The plans to create the luxury Nebraskan Hotel out of Grand Islands Masonic Temple, the Bartenbach building and the former Rexall Drug building were announced with fanfare in May. But Zoul couldnt find enough investors. We got halfway there in terms of the necessary investment funds, but halfway does not get the job done, Zoul said in a statement. There was a high level of interest in the project from the community and beyond. So Charles and John Anson, who bought the Masonic Temple out of foreclosure last year for $55,000 will return to their original plan to create high-end loft apartments. Amos Anson, owner of FAmos Construction, had been slated to do the construction work on the hotel. His father and brother own the Masonic building. We knew it was a risk, but we were willing to take that risk for the possible reward, Anson said of the hotel project. It was a lot to ask of Grand Island. Anson said hes heard the most disappointment is that Dreisbachs steakhouse wont return now that the hotel project is dead. The restaurant that started in Grand Island in 1932 and operated for 70 years had been slated to be resurrected on the fourth floor of the Masonic Temple building in the hotel. The Ansons plan to go back to local development officials to see what assistance might be available for the loft project. The family had just begun the process of requesting $260,000 in Community Redevelopment Authority money when the hotel proposal came up in November 2012. 504 Shares Share The space can make a difference. I had already spent over two years working as a hospitalist at San Francisco General Hospital, and I had become accustomed to the old building and all its challenges. Fast forward to the end of May 2016 to one of my first shifts working in the new building, a.k.a The Zuck: Zuckerberg San Francisco General (ZSFG). Change had never felt so good. I walked across the bridge connecting our old building to the new ZSFG, which consisted of expansive windows and white beams that outlined the hall. It was a sunny day in San Francisco, and I was able to witness it for a few seconds. At the entrance, there was a quote etched into the wall: Be the person who touches the lives and hearts of people. Be a positive light to others as you put a smile on their faces. I found myself taking a brief pause and deep breath. A smile was taking form, and there was no stopping it. Onward I trudged, only to be greeted by a security officer who looked at my badge, and then said, Good morning doctor. I replied similarly and stepped into a spacious steel elevator. As I stepped off onto the 6th floor, different routes presented themselves; I was warned about this and the likely confusion that would ensue. Nonetheless, the room numbers and zones were highlighted with San Francisco themed unit names like Mission Dolores and I successfully walked to the zone I needed to get to. The heavy blue doors which were often manually opened were now beige colored, and badge activated, opened by a mere hand wave. This might sound trivial given that it is 2016, but let me emphasize that it is not. The design of the building was doing work for me instead of me pushing my way through everything. This was a small win. Now came the real test: How were the actual work floors and units? What struck me immediately was the lack of noise; it was completely quiet! A brief instance of panic set in and I thought, Oh my God, Im on the wrong floor Is this the morgue?; but no, I was exactly where I needed to be. As I walked further around, there was a spacious workstation with an LCD screen showing patient room information and nursing assignments with call numbers. No more asking unit clerks to page nurses overhead; I could now directly call my nurse which I did quickly and successfully. The time had come to finally enter my patients rooms and see how they were all doing. I knocked and then with ease opened the door only to find my patient sitting in bed comfortably with the most spectacular backdrop of the city that I had ever seen. The room had ceiling to floor windows that beautifully displayed San Francisco at its finest, and the sunlight poured into the room. I sat down at his bedside and began to go through my assessment and learn about his concerns. Now at this point, I would be raising the decibel level of my voice to overcome my patients neighbor who was either watching television, or talking to others. The rooms had no natural light, so room lights always had to be turned on, which was, of course, bothersome for many as some patients were sleeping, and others were not. The rooms were also filled with walkers, trays, and other medical equipment that were strewn about as there was minimal space, and it ultimately became an obstacle course for staff, patients, and family whenever anyone moved about in the room. Now with this, all gone, feng shui was in full effect. I reviewed the plan with the patient, and calmly exited the room. As I entered the next patients room, similar exchanges and observations happened. I found my mind unburdened by the environment and just focusing on the subject at hand. My patients too were not being set off by surrounding stimuli; they now had peace and quiet. I cant speak to whether this made them feel better, but they definitely appeared to be responding in a more positive manner. I finally ended that morning with some downtime in one of the new provider rooms to start the lovely exercise of completing my documentation, and again I was struck by the silence in the room. It was like a library where I actually had the space and time to think about what I was doing. Every few moments, the design incorporated areas of brief reflection and meditation and I felt more refreshed for it. Noise and chaos was often the defining feature of our intense environment, and as faculty and staff, we perfected our ability to deliver high-quality care to our troubled and sick patients despite our surroundings. Now with ZSFG, the people of San Francisco along with our many generous donors have contributed to a building that has shifted the milieu of our work environment. My patients now have a space that truly honors them in tough times and gives them the space within which to heal. As a clinician, I now have the space to work more seamlessly and to think and reflect on my work. Of course, our space is not perfect, and it never will be. But you have to start somewhere right? So let the healing begin. Pallabi Sanyal-Dey is a hospitalist. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Several months back, the city council agreed to a study that focuses on protecting access to water sources. The study has found that surface water does replenish ground water and vice versa around Pecos River. But during presentation it was said more analysis need to be done to understand the full effect of the Rio Grande to the water. Also city council passed meeting an ordinance changes the cost of tow services, after a survey was done by the Laredo Police Department. Texas law allows the governing body to establish to amend an allowable fee for non-consent tows. The study has shown the regular pricing exceeds 25 percent of the average. A health issue many are concerned about around the world was discussed at a local meeting on Monday. Chief of the ER for Laredo Medical Center, Dr. Luis Pellicia, spoke to members of the Gateway Rotary Club about the Zika Virus and ways to stay safe from it. Pellecia explains it can be extremely hard to diagnose the virus, since many of the side effects are similar to others: "They are all completely different, with complete different types of consequences - each one of them - and therefore, is what makes a virus so dangerous and such a great killer." He says in order to avoid getting the virus, people must protect themselves from mosquitoes. If I were to offer you the chance to wager $25,000 to win $150,000, with the caveat that if you lose, you end up with nothing, would you take the bet? And what if I told you the odds of winning were only 17%, or a one-in-six chance? Let's up the stakes: What if you were just diagnosed with a serious illness, and the doctor tells you there is a 17% chance that a new treatment would help you, but it could kill you in the process? Would you try the treatment? One in sixthat's effectively a roll of the die, and the chance that any one number will show up in the roll. Not the greatest odds, is it? And yet, those are the odds that many investors take every single day. They bet on the manager of their mutual fund beating their benchmark, and sometimes they are willing to pay exorbitant fees to do so. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up In a recent study by Dimensional Fund Advisors, "Outsmarting Other Investors is Tough," it was found that only 17% of stock mutual funds beat their benchmarks after 15 years. And it's even worse for bond funds, of which only 7% outperform their benchmarks in the same timeframe. From my perspective, it is fairly routine when a new client brings their statement to our first meeting, and it is full of costly and underperforming mutual funds. The worst offenders are clients investing with the banks and wire house brokerage firms, which tend to not place much importance on cost structures, and also tend to be swayed by slick presentations and back-channel compensation schemes from the fund families. The situation is even worse for participants in 401(k) and 403(b) plans as this is where much of the poor advice has been hiding for decades. 6 Ways to Do Better How can the average investor or retirement plan participant improve the odds for themselves? Here are a few pointers: 1. Realize that only one out of six mutual funds earns their management fees. Reduce your reliance on these poor odds by using low-cost, low-turnover solutionspreferably index-like mutual funds with a relatively low focus on active management. Look at fund families such as Dimensional Fund Advisors (who only work with a select group of advisory firms), Vanguard, T. Rowe Price and other no-load fund families. 2. Hire a fee-only objective adviser to help you sort through your holdings, provide recommendations and monitor them. 3. Keep a low percentage of your assets in "wager" investments, such as a new company or another unproven idea that you'd like to take a chance on. It's okay if you want to experiment a little, after doing thorough research, but don't stake your retirement on it. 4. Get objective advice on your employer's retirement plan holdings. Unfortunately, most participants in the health care, education or corporate sectors don't have much say in the choices offered by the plan. However, there are some great screening tools available that some professional advisers have access to that will help you make the best decision among the choices you have. 5. If you have a large enough portfolio, consider putting together a diversified basket of high-quality stocks and holding them for a very long time. Studies have shown that a portfolio of 10 to 15 stocks from different industries can mitigate unsystematic (non-market) risk adequately enough. You don't necessarily need to own shares of thousands of different companies. 6. Ignore fund company advertising. Do your own research, or again, get help from a fiduciary adviser. At my firm, we have used a reliable third-party fiduciary screening service for more than ten years (hint, it's not Morningstar). The process identifies 11 key characteristics that indicate how well a particular fund adheres to best-practice fiduciary standards. It stands to reason that high fiduciary rankings generally improve your odds of outperformance. If you would like a copy of my checklist of these 11 criteria along with the latest fiduciary ranking of fund families, I'd be happy to send it to you (opens in new tab). Doug Kinsey is a partner in Artifex Financial Group, a fee-only financial planning and investment management firm based in Dayton, Ohio. Consolidation Overnight (Kitco News) - Gold is digesting last weeks sprint higher and traded in an extremely tight range overnight. The GDP data from Friday should continue to provide underlying support for gold, but Fed speak remains the obstacle to a clear path higher. New York Fed President William Dudley has voiced concerns over the risks to further growth and suggests that the Fed may likely wait until December before any rate hike. Turn the channel and you find Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan arguing that a September increase remains on the table. Understanding the need to remain polite, I cannot put into words my amazement with the Feds communication prowess. I remain constructive but require the $1,355 level to be overcome. The downside line of $1,338 becomes support. By Peter Hug, Kitco Metals Global Trading Director; phug@kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news (Kitco News) - Although Europes Brexit hangover seems to be over, with markets having stabilized somewhat since the initial shock, one famed economist is not convinced the region is in the green just yet. [T]he risk of European and global volatility may have been only briefly postponed, noted Nouriel Roubini in his latest Project Syndicate post. Leaving aside other global risks (including a slowdown in already-mediocre U.S. growth, more fear of a Chinese hard landing, weakness in oil and commodity prices, and fragilities in key emerging markets), there is plenty of reason to worry about Europe and the eurozone. The Brexit shock moved markets significantly, as gold saw its biggest daily jump since the financial crisis while the British pound plunged to 30-year lows; however, as Roubini pointed out, the market turmoil only lasted about a week and didnt necessarily affect investors outside of the U.K. and Europe. The shock was regional rather than global, with the market impact concentrated in the United Kingdom and Europe, and the volatility lasted only about a week, compared to previous two severe risk-off episodes, which lasted about two months and led to a sharp correction in U.S. and global equity prices, he said. Given that the U.K. accounts for just 3% of global gross domestic product, the market impact was limited; however, the spillover effects of Brexit on Europe could be far greater, according to Roubini. [A]n ugly divorce may also lead Scotland and Northern Ireland to leave the U.K. In that scenario, Catalonia may also push for independence from Spain. And without the U.K., Denmark and Sweden, which arent planning to join the eurozone, may fear that they will become second-class members of the EU, thus leading them to consider leaving as well, he said. Another country that may choose to leave is Italy, which Roubini said is too big to fail given that it is the EUs third-largest member and has 2 trillion ($2.2 trillion) of public debt (135% of GDP). No EU program can back up that debt, he said, not to mention the countrys already shaky politics, anemic growth and failing banking system. However, Roubini noted that it is unlikely for the EU to disintegrate suddenly. But finding ways to integrate that are democratic and politically acceptable is imperative. Muddling through has resulted in an unstable equilibrium that will make disintegration of the EU and the eurozone inevitable. Given the many risks Europe faces, a new vision is needed now. By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com Follow @SdBenali

Kimberly Jones, environmental health specialist with the Kitsap Public Health District, collects a sample from a creek at NAD Park in Bremerton on Tuesday. The orange water is likely caused by a harmless phenomenon known as iron bacteria, health district scientists believe.

SHARE By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun BREMERTON The sight of a bright orange stream disturbed Bremerton resident Joseph McNeal as he hiked through the thick forest inside NAD Soroptimist park. He stopped for a closer look and found a culvert, not far from the guardhouse and main entrance to the park, that was spewing forth orange slime. I thought it was disgusting because I had no clue what it was, he said. It was so bright and underwater. McNeal worried that the stream, which combines with another and empties into Ostrich Bay, was being contaminated somehow. The site, home to a Navy ammunition depot for 50 years, is on the EPAs superfund list. It was also a landfill. His inquiry is one the Kitsap Public Health District has heard before. Kimberly Jones, a district environmental health specialist, said public health officials are confident the color is caused by a natural phenomenon known as iron bacteria. The bacteria oxidizes dissolved iron, a naturally occurring element found in higher levels around the Puget Sound area. While its sludgy nature might suggest a pollutant, it is actually innocuous, Jones said. Its completely harmless, nontoxic and natural, she said. Jones collected a sample this week for testing. It contained no fecal coliform, or the presence of human or animal waste; instead, the health districts analysis found indications of iron bacteria. Jones was curious about where the iron is coming from. The streams culvert underneath Kitsap Way is filled in with metal rods, which might be the iron source. Jones was unable to find the headwaters of the stream, though a wetland sits immediately to the other side of Kitsap Way. Its likely that theres a lot of iron coming through this area here, she said. Jones said federal officials, who have tested the area for things like solvents, heavy metals and petrochemicals, found no reason for concern. No levels in the soil or water indicated any problem, she said. Kathleen Cahall, Bremertons water resources manager, concurred with Jones that the orange stream is likely the result of the bacteria. She added theres no drinking water for city utility residents in that area, and recalled a similar incident near Lions Park in East Bremerton, where some iron bacteria had flourished. Cahall said the city has also taken a sample from the stream to be tested, just to be on the safe side. Results will be available in the coming weeks. Louie Boe (left) makes a crust as JoAnn Smith and Clara Walsh (right) look on at the pie-making party Sunday at Spirit of Life Lutheran Church. The pies are for the Olalla Bluegrass and Beyond Festival, which is Aug. 20. SHARE A homemade berry-apple pie is ready to bake at Sunday's pie-making party at Spirit of Life Lutheran Church. Louie Boe makes a pie crust while daughter Rhianna Boe looks on at the pie-making party Sunday at Spirit of Life Lutheran Church. The pies are for the Olalla Bluegrass and Beyond Festival, which is Aug. 20. By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun SOUTH KITSAP The kitchen at Spirit of Life Lutheran Church smelled heavenly Sunday, a fruity perfume of berries, peaches, cinnamon, sugar and a splash of lemon tang. A small but mighty army of bakers was at work making pies for the Olalla Bluegrass and Beyond Festival. Sunday's pie-baking frenzy was one of three work parties hosted by the church in advance of the festival, where pies berry and other kinds are a cherished attraction. The festival attracts storied bluegrass bands from throughout the Western United States and Canada. This year marks 25 years of getting folks to "kick the city off your shoes." This year's festival is Aug. 20, as always at the South Kitsap Southern Little League Field Spirit of Life last year began hosting pie-baking parties for the festival as a form of community outreach and service. The church isn't quite in Olalla but close enough to feel like it is. "It's kind of like our mission area," said Pastor Sarah Roemer, at the fruit cutting table. "We started interacting with the bluegrass festival, and we were looking for ways to engage the community." Louie Boe of Olalla, armed with his aunt's recipe for the perfect pie crust, was conscripted to lead the charge with a rolling pin. He showed 8-year-old Clara Walsh, who recently moved to Olalla, how to sprinkled the dough with flour to keep it from sticking. Boe deftly rolled a crust onto the pin then unrolled it into the pan. Daughter Rhianna Boe, of Seattle, filled the shell with a sugary berry mixture, later snapping a picture of their creation for posterity. JoAnn Smith, wearing an apron that said "Don't Expect Miracles," oversaw the assembly line of fruit cutting, sugar dumping, crust rolling and pie baking. Workers, chatting away, nibbled on cinnnamon-dusted crust trimmings warm from the oven. The hour or so of work yielded 13 pies, hand made from the picking of backyard fruit to the final pinches of their fluted crusts. Sunday's pies will be frozen until just before the festival. What with pies made at a previous work party and those to come from another Aug. 14, plus entries to the pie contest, organizers will have nearly enough to satisfy the appetites of an expected 1,000 festival attendees. In the past, grocery stores have donated some pies to supplement. All slices are sold for $3 apiece. The homemade ones are more popular, however. Including the pies from the festival's contest, organizers will have about 50 homemade ones. How does one get to be a judge in the pie contest? "You bribe us," said Charlee Glock-Jackson, a lead organizer. "It's a coveted position, and it's sort of a lifelong position." Her sister Barbara Keeler, of Virginia, comes out to Washington nearly every year to fulfill her appointed duty. The festival grew out of Olalla community activism in the 1990s, when a band of residents protested to halt development of Banner Forest. Glock-Jackson and others in the civic group were looking for a place to host a homespun music festival just as owners of the Olalla ball fields were looking for an offseason event to draw the community together. "It was like the planets aligned," Glock-Jackson said. She welcomes the alliance with Spirit of Life. "I'm so tickled with the church's involvement," she said. "They definitely have the Olalla state of mind, I think." That is ... "welcoming, inclusive, no frills and friendly." Church members will host a cigar box banjo making activity for children at the festival, and the church has taken over the "Empty Bowls" project from another church. Spirit of Life will sell handmade pottery bowls to benefit a food bank it operates for church members. "What goes better in bowls than pie?" Roemer said. Olalla Bluegrass and Beyond Festival What: Music, dancing, pie, kids parade, guided nature walks, crafts and more. When: 11 a.m. to dusk Aug. 20. Where: South Kitsap Southern Little League Field, at SE Olalla Valley Road and SE Hovgaard Road Tickets: $20, general admission ($17, advance purchase); $17, seniors and active military; $15, ages 13-18 (younger than 13, free); family rate $60. Info: www.olallabluegrass.com SHARE Dawn, aka "Baby Doe," found on the side of a South Kitsap road in a garbage bag a year ago, is laid to rest in a Port Orchard cemetery. By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun Larry Steagall | Kitsap Sun Fran Olin of Port Orchard wipes away a tear while she holds on to her young son Fletcher Bergeson at the memorial service for baby Jane Doe " Dawn'"at Sunset Lane Memorial Park. "Everyone should have a chance," explained John D'Agostino. "And she didn't." The Kitsap County deputy coroner was one of the first to investigate the death of the infant who was first known as "Baby Jane Doe." Thursday, he was one of the last to say goodbye to the baby whose frail, days-old body was found in a garbage bag off Bielmeyer Road in South Kitsap on April 5, 2006. Kitsap authorities still don't know who Baby Doe was, where she came from, or why an unknown mother or those associated with her would choose this fate for a newborn child. But under a small white tent at Sunset Lane Memorial Cemetery amid the graves of other infants who died before their time, about 35 people gathered to help lay to rest a child who was alive for just a day. "It breaks your heart, this shouldn't have happened," said Sandra Doty, who once lived on Strawberry Hill near where the baby was dumped. "It's just wrong." Kitsap County Coroner Greg Sandstrom, who gave the baby the name "Dawn," said there were many unknowns in Baby Doe's case -- but that one thing was certain. "Unfortunately, a mother didn't want her," Sandstrom said. "But from the group here today, you can see she was wanted." Melvin Byrd, pastor and chaplain with South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, led the ceremony, whose participants included those as young as infants and old enough to be Baby Doe's grandparents, some who couldn't hold back tears. The chaplain, dressed in his SK Fire and Rescue uniform, said her life was like a "mist in the early morning" that disappears during the day. "Dawn's life is a measure not in terms of years, and not in terms of days," Byrd said, "but rather in brief moments." Somewhere, Byrd said, there's a mother who gave birth to Dawn. And while "we don't know who she is," and "we don't know the circumstances that led to this baby's death, I wish I could say to her, 'just give me a call,'" Byrd said. Dawn will be buried beneath a headstone that says, "a beloved baby girl," in a plot donated by Rill Chapel. She'll also have something with her inside the tiny casket. Five South Kitsap women -- Diane DeMulling, Vicki Chang, Nancy Williams, Sharon Floyd and Joyce Kohler -- worked to create a quilt, to go inside of Dawn's casket. Coroner Sandstrom was so touched, he asked the five, now known as the "Little Angels," to create more quilts should another tragedy such as this occur. "If the mother had just come forward, this all would have been prevented," Williams said at the service. Retired Port Orchard Pastor George Larson also addressed the crowd, saying "you are all adoptive parents of this child." He said he's visited the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," in Washington D.C., and seeing Dawn's tomb Thursday reminded him of that experience. "Port Orchard has the tomb of the unknown child," he said. SHARE To gauge the opportunism and hypocrisy that define Donald Trump's Republican Party, consider this: Imagine the scalding rhetoric that would have boiled from the likes of Newt Gingrich, that Metternich of many green rooms, if Hillary Clinton had offhandedly undermined the collective security architecture of U.S. foreign policy since NATO was created in 1949. Vladimir Putin's regime is saturating Europe with anti-Americanism, buying print and broadcast media, pliable journalists and other opinion leaders, and funding fringe political parties, think tanks and cultural institutions. (Putin is again following Hitler's playbook; read Alan Furst's historical novel "Mission to Paris," set in prewar France.) Putin is etching with acid a picture of America as ignorant, narcissistic and, especially, unreliable. Trump validates every component of this indictment, even saying that the U.S. commitment to NATO's foundational principle an attack on one member is an attack on all is not categorical. Gingrich, who is among the supposed savants who will steer Trump toward adulthood, flippantly dismisses Estonia, a NATO member contiguous to Putin's Russia and enduring its pressure, as "some place which is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg." Gingrich thereby echoes Neville Chamberlain's description, three days before Munich, of Hitler's pressure on Czechoslovakia as "a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing." It would be fanciful to suggest that Trump read a book, but others should read Svetlana Alexievich's "Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets," an oral history of post-Soviet Russia, 1991 to 2012. A recurring theme is Russian nostalgia for the Soviet era: "We had a great empire stretching from sea to sea, from beyond the Arctic to the subtropics. Where is it now? It was defeated without a bomb." Nostalgia coexists with Soviet-era memories like this: Twenty-seven people share an apartment with one kitchen and one bathroom, including a mother of a 5-year-old daughter and a childless woman. The mother is secretly informed against. Before being sent into the gulag for 17 years, she begged the childless woman to take care of her daughter, who comes to call the woman "Mama." After the real mother serves her sentence, under perestroika she sees her police file and recognizes her informant's signature her childless friend. The mother went home and hanged herself. Putin's constituency of nostalgia, writes Alexievich, is in the grip of "the narcosis of old ideas" acquired when "the state had become their entire cosmos, blocking out everything else, even their own lives." She repeatedly records longings for the days before the eruption of ethnic hatreds to fill the void left by the melancholy, long withdrawing roar of socialist faith. During one ethnic pogrom, "the youngest girl climbed a tree to escape ... so they shot at her like she was a little bird. It's hard to see at night, they couldn't get her for a long time. ... Finally, she fell at their feet." Putin's supporters include those who, in the words of one of Alexievich's interlocutors, "feel like they were defeated twice over: The communist Idea was crushed," then Russia was looted by a feral crony capitalism. Putinism is bitter nostalgia on the march, and Putin is as interested in the U.S. presidential election as Trump and some of his aides are in Russian wealth. Read Franklin Foer's Slate essay "Putin's Puppet": "We shouldn't overstate Putin's efforts, which will hardly determine the outcome of the election. Still, we should think of the Trump campaign as the moral equivalent of Henry Wallace's communist-infiltrated campaign for president in 1948. ... A foreign power that wishes ill upon the United States has attached itself to a major presidential campaign." It is unclear whether any political idea leavens the avarice of Trump and some of his accomplices regarding today's tormented and dangerous Russia. Speculation about the nature and scale of Trump's financial entanglements with Putin and his associates is justified by Trump's refusal to release his personal and business tax information. Obviously he is hiding something, and probably more than merely embarrassing evidence that he has vastly exaggerated his net worth and charitableness. In Wednesday's news conference, Trump said, "I have nothing to do with Russia." Donald Trump Jr. says, "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." Trump Sr. can end the speculation by providing information. If, however, he continues his tax information stonewall, it will be clear that he finds the speculation less damaging than the truth would be, which itself is important information. George Will's email address is georgewillwashpost.com. SHARE Does Hillary Clinton understand that the biggest divide in American politics is no longer between the right and the left, but between the anti-establishment and the establishment? I worry she doesn't at least not yet. A Democratic operative I've known since the Bill Clinton administration tells me, "Now that she's won the nomination, Hillary is moving to the middle. She's going after moderate swing voters." Presumably that's why she tapped Tim Kaine to be her vice president. Kaine is as vanilla middle as you can get. In fairness, Hillary is only doing what she knows best. Moving to the putative center is what Bill Clinton did after the Democrats lost the House and Senate in 1994 signing legislation on welfare reform, crime, trade and financial deregulation that enabled him to win re-election in 1996 and declare "the era of big government" over. In those days a general election was like a competition between two hot dog vendors on a boardwalk extending from right to left. Each had to move to the middle to maximize sales. If one strayed too far left or right, the other would move beside him and take all sales on the rest of the boardwalk. But this view is outdated. Nowadays, it's the boardwalk versus the private jets on their way to the Hamptons. The most powerful force in American politics today is anti-establishment fury at a system rigged by big corporations, Wall Street and the superwealthy. This is a big reason that Donald Trump won the Republican nomination. It's also why Bernie Sanders took 22 states in the Democratic primaries, including a majority of Democratic primary voters under age 45. There are no longer "moderates." There's no longer a "center." There's authoritarian populism (Trump) and democratic populism (which had been Bernie's "political revolution" and is now up for grabs). And then there's the Republican establishment (now scattered to the winds) and the Democratic establishment. If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party don't recognize this realignment, they're in for a rude shock as, I'm afraid, is the nation. Trump does recognize it. His authoritarian populism ("I am your voice") is premised on it. "In five, 10 years from now," Trump says, "you're going to have a worker's party. A party of people that haven't had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry." Speaking at a factory in Pennsylvania in June, Trump decried politicians and financiers who had betrayed Americans by "taking away from the people their means of making a living and supporting their families." Worries about free trade used to be confined to the political left. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, people who say free-trade deals are bad for America are more likely to lean Republican. The problem isn't trade itself. It's a political-economic system that won't cushion working people against trade's downsides or share trade's upsides. In other words, a system that's rigged. Most basically, the anti-establishment wants big money out of politics. This was the premise of Sanders' campaign. It's also been central to Donald Trump's appeal, although he's now trolling for big money. A recent YouGov/Economist poll found that 80 percent of GOP primary voters who preferred Trump as the nominee listed money in politics as an important issue, and a Bloomberg Politics poll shows a similar percentage of Republicans opposed to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision. Getting big money out of politics is of growing importance to voters in both major parties. A June New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 84 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans want to fundamentally change or completely rebuild our campaign finance system. Last January, a Des Moines Register poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers found 91 percent of Republicans and 94 percent of Democrats unsatisfied or "mad as hell" about money in politics. Hillary Clinton doesn't need to move toward the "middle." In fact, such a move could hurt her if it's perceived to be compromising the stances she took in the primaries in order to be more acceptable to Democratic movers and shakers. She needs to move instead toward the anti-establishment forcefully committing herself to getting big money out of politics, and making the system work for the many rather than a privileged few. She must make clear Donald Trump's authoritarian populism is a dangerous gambit, and the best way to end crony capitalism and make America work for the many is to strengthen American democracy. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich is a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and author. Patti Davis writes: When President Ronald Reagan my father was lying in a hospital bed recovering from the gunshots that nearly killed him, he said, I know my ability to heal depends on my willingness to forgive John Hinckley. I, too, believe in forgiveness. But forgiving someone in your heart doesnt mean that you let them loose in Virginia to pursue whatever dark agenda they may still hold dear. I have no choice but to resign myself to the fact of Hinckleys release, announced earlier today, but Im not at all comfortable with the decision. To me, it doesnt represent justice as much as it does his efforts to methodically wait out and wear down the system. But now what hes been working toward all these years has happened: A man who shot four people, including the President of the United States, will be granted his freedom. Hell have to check in with his doctors, and hell have to live with his now 90-year-old mother wholl hardly be able to confine him or cramp his style, given her advanced age. His doctors have said that his psychosis and depression have been in remission for decades, and his narcissistic personality disorder has lessened but thats quite a feat, since the disorder has no known cure. Stuff reports: The king of breakfast radio Mike Hosking has been dethroned by state broadcaster RNZs Morning Reportprogramme. RNZ has attracted the highest national audience against commercial radio news rivals in all key time slots, results from a survey released this week show. It was the first time in 17 years RNZ has been included in a radio survey with its commercial competitors. The survey by GfK showed RNZs flagship Morning Report programme, hosted by former TV personality Guyon Espiner and Susie Ferguson from 6am-9am, had about 386,000 listeners. Im not surprised. I think it is the strongest pairing they have had on Morning Report since Sean Plunket left. RNZ shows Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan, Jesse Mulligan in afternoons and Checkpoint with John Campbell were all leading their time slots against rival stations. RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said he was pleased RNZ and commercial stations were now included in the same research. This is one that the whole radio industry uses as currency, he said. So am I. For decades Radio NZ refused to be part of the main survey, and hence how they rated was basically secret. This was unacceptable for a state owned company. While they are a public broadcaster, and hence not reliant on ratings for advertising income, it is still important to know how many people are listening to them. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr The Herald reports: Shoebox apartments could be back in Auckland after they were banned in 2007. A new rulebook for the city that envisages significant apartment living has recommended no minimum size for apartments. A proposal by Auckland Council for a minimum size of 30sq m has been deleted by the independent hearings panel in final recommendations on the rulebook, or Unitary Plan. Council and other submitters argued minimum sizes are necessary to ensure space and amenity for residents. Instead, the panel was swayed by developers who argued minimum size apartments were not needed as the market and other development standards would ensure appropriately sized apartments. Mildred Culp Columnist SHARE The American Staffing Association finds in a Harris Poll that people prefer multifaceted job-hunting methods combining people and technology. (Credit: American Staffing Association) How can you get open jobs to come to you? David Romp heard from two people about a new job at an economic development organization in Cincinnati, where he became director of regional talent. His sources came from his professional and personal network. Longevity helps, he concedes. My network has been built over almost 20 years. His effort was sustained: I was a gatekeeper in companies I worked for; so a lot of people reached out to me. I typically worked with an organizations leaders, c-levels and senior-level executives, and (could) leverage their networks through LinkedIn. I sit on boards at several local universities and interact with and meet other professionals through those positions. I have built formal relationships with many talent and human resources-oriented vendors and service providers. Through a Harris Poll online survey for the American Staffing Association in December, 1,008 adults whove job-hunted in the past five years or will be doing so acknowledged the importance of utilizing human interaction in job-hunting. A full 76 percent of them prefer that to search engines and 77 percent hunt exclusively through people. ASA President and CEO Richard Wahlquist advocates using both methods. Melissa (Mel) Butcher, a young engineer with exceptional emotional intelligence, works for a global environmental consulting firm in Tampa. Her expertise is in municipal industrial water wastewater. Her mentor opened a door to help Butcher secure her current position. Unlike most engineers, Butcher networks comfortably. She says that results cant be predicted and hopes people will at least say something positive about me to someone. When exploring the website of her professional association, American Society of Civil Engineers, she found an opportunity to select a mentor. There were only two women; she chose one in New York and has been benefitting from her expertise for 16 months. The issue wasnt so much gender as emotional intelligence, Butcher explains. There was no way to tell from the profile itself that she had a lot of it. I knew that regardless of who I reached out to, my connections would be long-term. Our agreement was for three to six months. ... The connection and her desire to help the next young generation out played into it. Two years before graduating, Butcher had begun to network with abandon. If I were to job hunt now, she comments, Id use my network, the people I know through the organizations and companies Ive connected with, to find something. Id probably be a lot more specific not start with a company website and apply online ... a black hole. Id try to find a connection to introduce me to someone in a position of authority or connected to someone in the type of work Im interested in. For me, she adds, I wouldnt wait until theres a position somewhere. They can always create a position for me if they like me and feel its a good fit. One person who did wait was Cameron Bradley, an SEO specialist at Firestarter LLC in Denver, who relocated from Memphis. He then found an apartment and picked up the telephone to find local companies using the internet that offered my expertise. Forget filling out applications! He found smaller companies more receptive. In the end, I had around five to ten call-backs and three interviews. This is how I got my current job as an SEO Specialist. Long-term, strategic methods work. Short-term ones, such as telephone networking, launched with sharp targets in times of urgency, may too. (Knoxville News Sentinel syndicated columnist Mildred Culp, Ph.D., welcomes your questions. Contact her at culp@workwise.net. 2016 Passage Media.) photos by AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL Vendors and sponsors offer support during the CodeStock technology and information exchange July 15 at the Knoxville Convention Center. SHARE Guests of the CodeStock event at the Knoxville Convention Center Friday, July 15, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Aaron Ladage gives a presentation during the CodeStock technology and information exchange at the Knoxville Convention Center Friday, July 15, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) T-shirts were handed out at the CodeStock technology and information exchange at Knoxville Convention Center. Jerome Hardaway, founder and executive director of Vets Who Code, waits for a session to begin during the CodeStock technology and information exchange at the Knoxville Convention Center Friday, July 15, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel More than 900 technology professionals, developers and designers gathered July 15-16 in Knoxville to attend CodeStock's ninth annual conference created for technology and information exchange. CodeStock is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization run by a group of volunteers who share one goal: to help those in the technology community improve their abilities and opportunities. "It's promoting the idea of Knoxville as a tech destination for jobs," said Christine Jones, a board member. "A lot of our sponsors are companies in town that hire software engineers or have software-related jobs. "We have people travel across the country to come here and attend as well as to be speakers. We're getting people from all over." This year's CodeStock featured 100 sessions, presented by 75 speakers from around the world, in two days. The speakers were unpaid volunteers who traveled on their own dime. One speaker paid for an international plane ticket. Industry experts delivered talks on everything from coding to leadership. "We're evolving to be a completely tech-agnostic conference, which means that we're not strictly for one specific discipline, we have multiple tracks and multiple subtracts," said Brad Miller, another board member. "A lot of people in the tech community are very interested in starting their own business, or they have a product idea and don't really know how to go about producing that. "When you're writing code all day, the last thing you're thinking about is marketing, so we're providing those resources to them. We're trying to pull as many resources into the conference as we can to add as much value as possible, because our audience is interested in a lot of different things." To ensure everyone can afford admission, the board sells tickets at a loss and makes up the difference through sponsorships. Because a large focus of the event is to help people find jobs, sponsors often participate because of the large pool of talent in attendance, according to Miller. For the ninth year in a row, tech gurus responded positively to the event. This is the second year CodeStock has been held at the Knoxville Convention Center. Next year's event will return to KCC. Participation increases yearly. The first conference was held at Pellissippi State Community College with about 100 attendees. CodeStock moved to the University of Tennessee Conference Center before last year's transition to the convention center, with a continuously widening pool of lectures and panels on entrepreneurship, developing, marketing, design and more. "There's something for really anyone who's in the technology field, whether they're doing a start-up or working in a larger company," Jones said. "We have talks on developer, design, project management, leadership talks around hiring and team building, they run the spectrum." Knoxville is a perfect place for the event because of the large tech population in East Tennessee, said Joy O'Shell, board member and Knoxville Entrepreneur Center director of outreach and marketing. "Between UT they have a fantastic tech and science program and Oak Ridge National Lab, Knoxville has traditionally been a high sciences town, but we don't always market ourselves that way," O'Shell said. This is the first year a program was held for teenagers. Children of attendees were invited to participate in CodeStock Academy, a pilot program designed for high schoolers. The code camp included an entry level development course, where teens could develop a video game, website or application. Pellissippi State provided a tech tinkering lab with 3-D printers and virtual reality. CodeTN provided computers for training. The KCC and TN Code Academy were partners. Andrew May and Don Den Uyl complete the five-person CodeStock board. "All of our board members are volunteers," Miller said. "We dedicate about a month and a half of work time every year to put this on, but we believe in what we're doing. To be able to come together and put this on with the volunteers and local community, and a lot of our community sponsors that are here in Knoxville volunteering their time, money and resources to us to make it possible. "It is a community effort, this is a community, this is not just a for-profit conference." For more information, visit www.codestock.org. A DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone takes off during a demonstration for students at Tate School on March 22. Tate School has introduced a drone piloting program for its middle school students that will teach students how to fly drones and shoot video with them. SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL SHARE Van de Vuurst By Shelley Kimmel, news@knoxvillebiz.com Businesses in East Tennessee and across the country will be able to legally integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems, commonly known as drones, into their workforce for as little as $150 when rules governing commercial use of the craft go live Aug. 29, according to the FAA. The rules, known as Part 107, lay out safety regulations for drones weighing less than 55 pounds and are designed to minimize risks to other aircraft and people and property on the ground. The release follows the agency's mandate for drone registration released last year. Would-be pilots must take knowledge exams, which the FAA won't release to testing centers until the rules take effect, meaning it will be at least a few weeks before the small aircraft can take to the skies. In the meantime, interested businesses should read the fine print on the FAA website, www.faa.gov/uas. Even with existing limits on the size and weight of drones, their speed and how far they can fly, the low barrier to entry means the potential for significant disruption in many industries, said Robert Van de Vuurst, an attorney/shareholder at Baker Donelson's Johnson City office who specializes in aviation law. Industry estimates say the new rules could generate more than $82 billion for the U.S. economy and create more than 100,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Many of Van de Vuurst's clients in the helicopter industry are looking at drones "very, very seriously," he said, because drones could easily take over traditional helicopter operations such as powerline patrol, heavy lift operations and logging. "From my line of work in helicopter leasing, the aircraft we finance for $5 million you soon could do (the work) with a drone that costs five percent of that and without a pilot," Van de Vuurst said. For those heavy industries, there could be sustainability benefits. Drones use far less fuel than a helicopter and require less maintenance. In agriculture, considered to be the largest market for drones, the machines could survey an area of land that might require several trips in multiple vehicles. They can be used to apply pesticides and fertilizer with greater precision, reducing the amounts used and thus, the environmental impact. The Knoxville Flight Training Center (www.knoxflight.com) is an FAA approved testing center at Downtown Island Airport. A post on its Facebook page stated that the exam will consist of 60 items and have a time limit of two hours. Applicants must score at least 70 percent to pass. After the test, individuals must register using the FAA's online Integrated Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application system. A security check through the TSA will be a prerequisite before test-takers receive their Remote Pilot Certificate. There are a plethora of rules about when, where and how high operators can fly. The FAA's official app, B4UFLY, shows potential airspace conflicts for hobby drone operators. In downtown Knoxville, for example, several hospitals operate helipads, meaning users must notify air traffic control when flying nearby. The app is targeted to hobby users, but the agency is considering updates for commercial users. Part 107 doesn't address everything businesses had hoped for Amazon will not deliver impulse purchases to customers' homes any time soon but the FAA is working on more rules to expand what businesses can do, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said in a press release, and there will be a process to apply for a waiver to some of the rules. "Drones are going to get more and more into everything a human being is doing right now," Van de Vuurst said. "The FAA registry for drones (for personal use) has basically been out about a year now and there are already more drones registered with the FAA than aircraft. That should tell you something about how crazy it is out there." While aerial photography already is a common use for drones, the FAA mentions many more uses for drones in the full text of the rules, many of which include remote inspection. From aerial surveys of crops to inspections of bridges, buildings, power lines and pipes, drones could make it easier for businesses and the government to monitor infrastructure, while being safer for the workers involved. "Commercial use of drones will explode. It's inevitable regardless of what the FAA decides to do as far as licensing and permitting them," he said. With increased use, more accidents with potential liability issues for business are expected. Currently, there are no minimum insurance requirements for drones, but the FAA requires it for regular aircraft. It's something drone operators should expect, Van de Vuurst said. "Drones can have mechanical malfunctions just like airplanes bad weather, winds, you can lose control," he said. "Any commonsensical risk management program would include plenty of liability insurance to cover the unforeseen." Private insurance firms and non-profit membership organizations have begun offering service for drone users. Operators are required to report accidents to the FAA "within 10 days if it results in at least serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness, or if it causes damage to any property (other than the UAS) in excess of $500 to repair or replace the property (whichever is lower)," according to the agency website. SHARE Fox Weaver FILE photo David Oaks fabricates a yoke for a drive shaft for Proton Power Inc. in 2014. Company president Dr. Sam Weaver said Proton Power is adding both automation and employees. By Steve Trosky of the Knoxville News Sentinel Every manufacturer has its own challenges, but there are some that many share. Free trade, automation and cyber security are a few. "In our case, I would say a potential looming issue is this debate over free trade," said Dr. Sam Weaver, president and co-founder of Proton Power Inc., a company in Lenoir City and Rockwood that uses biomass to make inexpensive hydrogen and converts it to energy for synthetic fuels, electricity and heat. "My understanding is that 38 million jobs in the U.S. are dependent on international trade. If they do something to scuttle that, it would be a very big issue. "You might get back 8 million low-paying jobs but mess up 38 million jobs. The United States is the largest exporter in the world. We just happen to be the largest importer, too, but that doesn't change the fact we export more than China does. If you start building barriers to that, not only are you going to drive up the price for U.S. citizens, but you're going to mess up all of our jobs that are tied up in international trade, importing and exporting." Free trade is important to Proton Power Inc. since it has a lot of overseas customers. "If we start having trade barriers, that will ultimately affect our jobs," Weaver said. "If we put up trade barriers, other countries will put up trade barriers." Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Economic Research and Development at the Haslam School of Business for the University of Tennessee, said he links the free trade issue to globalization. "What's happened is the economy has gotten much more competitive worldwide than it would have in years past," he said. "In order to remain competitive in this global environment, manufacturers have to find the best way to produce. In one sense, you might think globalization would cause a company to not be able to compete from afar. Firms are better able to overcome the cost of how far by how they ship things, how they get things to market. "Locally, what's taking place is you have this global environment. If you're going to find ways to compete with them, you're going to use technology to compete. It's not just manufacturing firms. You find it at McDonald's. Companies can use this trade-off between using workers and using technology. Technology is a way of offsetting or limiting the production costs. It offsets when workers around the world work for much less in wages." Fox said that the ability of firms around the world to bring their products to the U.S. means the U.S. needs to be more competitive. "When we start talking about free trade, in somehow limiting that, it's not to raise costs, but recognizing that costs aren't the only concern. There's also creating jobs." "When we look back at NAFTA and those sorts of things, these trade deals were agreed to with the notion that we could focus on what we do best," he said. "For some things, it would be cheaper to be purchased out of the U.S. It's hard if you have an open market to compete in Bangladesh." While working in Bangladesh a couple of years ago, Fox was outside of Dhaka and saw droves of people walking. They were on their way to the factory where they worked for little pay. "It's hard to compete with that," he said. "We agreed to these trade deals so we could buy textiles more cheaply. What that doesn't focus on, though, is who might lose their jobs in the face of this transition. As trade globalization was able to grow, the things we aren't competitive in, we didn't have a plan or a significant plan on how we were going to train these people. If we lessen free trade, would this in fact lead to more employed people, or would we still find (manufacturers) move heavily to more technology? Can we put the cork back in the bottle? That's the question." Technology has pushed down production costs in a variety of ways. One is by the use of automation, which allows manufacturers to program machines that can improve the quality of their products. Automation also has changed jobs in many factories, but that doesn't necessarily mean cutting jobs. "We're adding automation and adding employees," Weaver said. "You can make a much higher quality product with the automation. You can hold precision. It certainly reduces the amount of manpower that goes into it. The fact that you're making a higher quality product typically means you're having higher sales. It doesn't necessarily affect your employment. You can't get the precision if using older equipment and doing it by hand." Manufacturing as a whole is growing. While it still is recovering from the job losses that took place during the Great Recession, manufacturing output is up. "Basically, right now we're producing more than we have ever before with fewer workers," Fox said. "You can clearly see that in the data. We thought, decades ago, this is where jobs were being created. You get out of high school, work here and spend your entire life here. What we manufacture and how we do it has changed significantly. You can't expect to grow up and live here forever now." Manufacturing jobs in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area represent nine percent of the area workforce, which matches the national percentage, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. "Three decades ago, we were talking about one-third of people in Tennessee working in manufacturing," Fox said. "To me, that's an extraordinary shift. Output in durable manufacturing is 49 percent higher than in 2000. In non-durables, it's only two percent higher. We've shifted what we're making a lot. We're making highly added value things like cars and parts of cars instead of clothing, textiles and leather goods. Those are big changes in what you can competitively produce in the U.S. "What you and I want is changing dramatically. We only want a limited number of shirts. But the computer we buy, the cell phones we buy, have changed. Apple is going to sell its one billionth cell phone. It's been around for about a decade. We still want shirts, pants and food, but there is only so much you can eat. But we want a new cell phone and car, and we have to make those. We have shifting demands." As technology has made factories more efficient and cost-effective, it comes with a concern. Mike Wehrenberg, vice-president and general manager of Kendall Electric, a distributor in Knoxville, said manufacturers need to be wary of their internal and external levels of internet security. As ethernet has become more prevalent in manufacturing, so has the possibility of a cyber attack. "The plant floor itself in terms of the equipment in production has very unique requirements on its ethernet, where it cannot wait 10 seconds for an email to come in," Wehrenberg said. "So the deployment of the ethernet on the plant floor has stringent time requirements and reliability requirements that are unique from the front office. You have to create a separation of those requirements because you don't want your email system to take down your plant floor equipment. "That means internal security needs to be set up and the technology to do that is embedded in the managed switches and in the architecture of the network, but you've got to do it, and that is the skill set that can be troublesome for a lot of manufacturers." The other piece of the puzzle is what can come in from the outside world. "Everyone has seen the horror stories where someone comes in and grabs credit card numbers from the database," Wehrenberg said. "The same thing could happen if there is an attack on the electrical grid. If someone came into a control room for a power plant and sabotaged the control equipment, that's not good. On a smaller scale, but just as important for that manufacturer, if somebody can sneak in and sabotage the machinery, they can damage it." Wehrenberg said the solution is to set up firewalls and zones that try to isolate the plant floor network from the internal network and the outside world. Even the most innocent of actions could cause problems. "If I'm walking on the plant floor, even as a technical sales guy with my phone, what do the access points do? Wireless on a machine is not fairly common, but it is used, and so how does the system, the network treat my phone when it starts broadcasting for a connection? If you do not have the proper infrastructure deployed, it will try to make connections. My phone then could potentially cause network degradation with no ill will. "Again, you go into the access points and into the switches and that high-level architecture of the network and create the walls to handle that." SHARE Bessom John Buchheit Kauffman Linkous Dr. Matthew Bessom has joined Summit Medical Group at Deane Hill as an internal medicine physician. He currently is accepting new patients. Bessom most recently served as an internal medicine hospitalist at the Greenville Health System. He is board certified in internal medicine. East Tennessee Children's Hospital neonatologist John Buchheit, M.D., this month will transition from his position as Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit medical director so he can focus on his new role as chairman of the Children's Hospital board of directors. Dr. Buchheit has served on the board of directors for eight years. Neonatologist Denny Nalle, M.D., will become the new NICU medical director at Children's Hospital. Summit Strategic Solutions has promoted Kimberly Kauffman to chief value based care officer. She previously served as vice president of value based care. Clay D. Linkous has been appointed by the board of directors of the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence to the 2016 board of examiners. The Helen Ross McNabb Center announced the addition of Dr. Karthi Namasivayam to its team of providers. Dr. Namasivayam, also known as Dr. Karthi, will oversee medical practice and policy for all adult psychiatric services at the center. Eric Penniman, DO, has joined Summit Medical Group as executive medical director. Since 2011, Penniman has served as district medical director for primary care for Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, overseeing 125 providers representing clinics throughout a 200-mile radius. Michael Saad has been named as vice president and chief information officer at University of Tennessee Medical Center. Saad is responsible for assisting the organization with achieving its strategic goals and objectives through the development, implementation and support of technology services and solutions. Saad served for the past few months as interim chief information officer. Internist Dr. Aaron Smyth has joined Blount Memorial's active medical staff as part of East Tennessee Internal Medicine, and will see patients in his office, located at 463 Blount Memorial Physician Office Building on the hospital's campus. Smyth joins Blount Memorial after spending four years with UT Internal Medicine Associates in Knoxville. The Department of Physician Assistant Studies at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has a new leader in Stephanie Storgion, M.D., who will chair the department as it moves from the College of Health Professions to the College of Medicine. She will report to David M. Stern, M.D. Howard SHARE Roberts Danl Hall John Kenny Liz Porter Sponsored by LBMC Advertising and public relations The Tombras Group has named Rusty Howard the agency's senior vice president, director of social media. Prior to joining Tombras, Howard spent nine years as vice president and director of digital at the Zimmerman Agency in Tallahassee, Fla. Katrina Roberts, former creative director for The Daily Beacon, the campus newspaper serving the University of Tennessee, has joined Moxley Carmichael as graphic and digital media designer. Architecture and engineering Gresham, Smith and Partners promoted Brian Donlon, a civil engineer in the firm's water resources market, and David Kiefer, a senior engineer in the firm's water resources market, to associate. Danl Hall of Vaughn & Melton Consulting Engineers, Inc., and John Kenny of Facility Systems Consultants, LLC, will serve on the board of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee for 2016-17. Hall was named secretary of the organization and Kenny is past president. Additionally, Liz Porter of S&ME, Inc., will serve as East Tennessee Chapter president. The ACEC of Tennessee officers assumed their positions on July 1 and will be formally installed during the organization's annual meeting in Nashville on Sept. 15-16. Littlejohn Engineering Associates announced the addition of David Marcum as project engineer at its Knoxville office. His expertise includes stormwater management, erosion control, permitting, flow monitoring, and civil site design. Lewis Group Architects welcomed Allison Randall as an intern architect. Littlejohn Engineering Associates announced the addition of Land Surveying Services to its Knoxville office with the hire of Robert D. Sanders Jr. as survey manager. Sanders is a registered land surveyor licensed in Tennessee with 22 years of surveying experience. Technology AMS Corporation has hired Brandon Schreiber as a research engineer. He most recently worked for Delta Faucet in Jackson. Jeremy Rogers was hired as a software tester. BullockSmith announced the promotion of B. Michelle Sheppard to associate. Banking Betsy Cunningham was named the new community and business development coordinator for Y-12 Federal Credit Union. Enrichment Federal Credit Union, based in Oak Ridge, announced the following promotions: Nancy Donsbach to chief operations officer (formerly vice president of human resources and branch operations), Jeremy Hodges to chief financial officer (formerly enrichment retirement and investment services advisor), John Merritt to chief information officer (formerly vice president of IT and facilities), Beth Chancey to vice president of accounting (formerly assistant vice president of accounting), Laurie Craig to assistant vice president of human resources, Mark Hembree to assistant vice president of member business loans, and Felicia Langley to assistant vice president of consumer/indirect lending. Home Federal Bank announced the following promotions at its downtown Knoxville headquarters and branch offices: Evelyn Faller, senior vice president and human resources director; Paul Arab, vice president and manager, internal audit department; Tracy Best, vice president and manager, Cedar Bluff office; Jason Cox, vice president and manager, Downtown West office; Scot MacIlveen, vice president and manager, Oak Ridge office; Amy Williams, vice president, branch operations manager and corporate secretary; Christa Bibbs, assistant vice president and manager, Powell office; Scott Brewer, assistant vice president and portfolio manager, trust department; Daniel Cate, assistant vice president and online services manager, information technology; Jennifer Combs, assistant vice president and supervisor, real estate lending department; Richard Hawkins, assistant vice president and assistant manager, collections department; Keith E. Lindsey, assistant vice president and manager, Isaiah's Landing office; Sandra Harveston, assistant treasurer, commercial operations department; Ryan Massie, assistant treasurer and commercial real estate lender. First Community Mortgage announced that Mark Newhouse has been hired as a loan originator at FCM's Knoxville branch. Regions Bank appointed Bill Horton to lead an expanded Commercial Banking Group and will be replaced as South Region president by Keith Herron. The realignment combines Regions' existing business banking and commercial banking businesses. Herron was head of strategic planning and execution. SmartBank, a subsidiary of SmartFinancial, Inc., recently announced officer promotions. Kelley Fowler has been named senior vice president, public relations and marketing officer. She is a founding associate of SmartBank. Cindy Beeman was named first vice president, mortgage department manager. Sandra Solomon was named first vice president, director of loan administration. She is a founding associate. Allyson Griffin was named assistant vice president, regional branch administrator. Sarah Wilson was named assistant vice president, client services manager. Kelly Taylor has joined The Trust Company as a relationship manager. Her financial expertise comes from her previous experience as a private banker at SmartBank and as a trust advisor at Regions Bank. Construction Rebecca Smith was named safety director at Merit Construction. She previously served as site safety professional at TVA-Watts Bar Nuclear Generation Station. Consulting Summit Strategic Solutions has promoted Susan Loveday to vice president of talent strategies and relations. She previously served as director of talent support and organizational development. Education Clay Jones of Naples, Fla., the former chairman and CEO of Rockwell Collins Inc., began serving as president of the University of Tennessee alumni board of directors on July 1. Robert Lewis of Stamford, Conn., vice president of global packaging and engineering technology for PepsiCo Inc., is the alumni board's president-elect. Terry Begley of Kingsport, retired vice president of supply chain and chief procurement officer of Eastman Chemical Company, and Jason Little of Eads, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation, will serve as immediate past president and past president, respectively. The alumni board added eight new members: Stacey Becker, case manager for vascular surgery, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville; Don Frieson, executive vice president of operations, Sam's Club, Bentonville, Ark.; Mike Keith, director of broadcasting, Tennessee Titans, Nashville; Joe McDonald, president and CEO, Catholic Health System, Buffalo, N.Y.; Linda Hampton Starnes, disability advocate and public speaker, Parent Educational Network of Florida, Orlando; Gary Wade, dean, Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law; Charlie Wagner III, vice chairman and legal counsel, Jewelry TV; Mary Beth West, principal, Mary Beth West Communications, Alcoa, The board also added five new ex-officio members: Elliott DeVore, UT doctoral student and special interest and diversity councils representative; Carson Hollingsworth, UT senior and Student Government Association representative; Alan Moore, trust officer, First Tennessee Bank, and Young Alumni Council representative; Bonnie Ownley, UT professor and Faculty Senate representative; Hannah Swanner, UT senior and Student Alumni Associates representative. The other 15 board members are Jennifer Armstrong, Manhasset, N.Y.; Mike Berry, Johnson City; Gary Blauser, Batavia, Ill.; Chris Bollinger, Nashville; Don Bosch; Shirley Pih Broadbery, Atlanta; Jim Clayton; Susan Crunk, Gallatin; Mei Ling Davis; Rick Federico, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Gordon Ferguson, Murfreesboro; Ed Ingle, McLean, Va.; Phil Jacobs, Houston; Gary Rose, Gallatin; and Meghan Morgan Ruel. Entertainment Multichannel News, a publication covering the media business, has named Chris Barksdale, the human resources vice president for Scripps Networks Interactive, to its "40 Under 40" list of emerging industry leaders. Finance and insurance Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners has partnered with the husband and wife team of Phil and Carol Glasgow of Glasgow Wealth Management in order to provide them with an enhanced array of services and a succession plan for their practice. Phil Glasgow is a wealth advisor and Carol Glasgow is an administrative assistant. Hospitality and tourism The Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum has hired Mitch List as assistant general manager and Scott McKnight as operations manager. List previously worked for Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan. McKnight most recently worked as director of facilities and operations for Irving Independent School District in Texas. Kate Jackson has been promoted to the Knoxville Convention Center leadership team as the director of event services. Jackson joined the center's staff in 2009 as an event manager. Senior living The Pointe at Lifespring has hired Madison Wright as sales and marketing assistant. Manufacturing WS Packaging Group, Inc., announced it has named Dean A. Wimer as its new chief operating officer. Although he will be based in Knoxville, Wimer will have an active and in depth presence in all of the manufacturing locations. Wimer most recently served as president, chief operating officer at Innovairre Communications. Nonprofit The board of the East Tennessee Meeting Professionals announced the appointment of LaDonna Loyd, director of sales at the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Knoxville West, and Avi Elyse McCullah, sales manager at the Greystone Lodge on the River, as supplier directors. Helen Ross McNabb Center welcomes the following new board members and newly elected board officers for 2016-17: Charles Finn, chair, Kramer Rayson, LLP; Debbie Jones, treasurer and chair elect, retired; Ford Little, secretary, Woolf, McClane, Bright, Allen & Carpenter, PLLC; Wade Davies, past chair, Ritchie, Dillard, Davies & Johnson, P.C.; Heidi Barcus, London Amburn; and Dale Keasling, Home Federal Bank. Knox Heritage, a nonprofit historic preservation organization, has appointed three new members to serve on the organization's board of directors. The new board members were installed as of June 22 and their terms last through Dec. 31, 2018. The new board members are Marsha Grieve, director of the docent program at Knox Heritage; Gail Jarvis, independent law practice professional; and Mike Keller, CFO at Studio Four Design. TivaWater has hired Olivia Harris as brand and business development manager. Harris most recently worked as the development coordinator at Scripps Mercy Hospital Foundation in San Diego. Real Estate Chris Holmes was promoted to managing broker of Crye-Leike Realtors' Athens branch office. He is responsible for managing and recruiting a sales force of Crye-Leike sales associates who list and sell residential and commercial real estate in Bradley, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Polk, Rhea and Roane counties. Jeremy Price has joined CRS Data as a marketing product analyst. Price most recently was vice president of human resources and marketing director at American Trust Bank of East Tennessee. Telecommunications U.S. Cellular named Ashley Swift as business sales executive for East Tennessee. Most recently, Swift was a U.S. Cellular store manager. In her new role, Swift will focus on small business customers with 21 to 50 phone lines and other small business solutions. SHARE Preston A. Hawkins In the construction law realm, the proper classification of construction workers is a frequent topic. Construction companies can get into a sticky wicket by misclassifying workers as independent contractors as opposed to employees. Determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee is sometimes clear, other times not so much. To assist, the Tennessee Employee Misclassification Advisory Task Force ("TEMATF") was created in 2011 and has provided a list of general characteristics. From these factors, an answer to the inquiry can usually be gleaned. According to TEMATF, an employee: Has the means and manner of work controlled by employer (or can be) May be trained by employer to perform job; may work at employer's business location; works for one employer, may serve that employer's customers; has work hours set by the employer Accepts wage, salary or commission determined by the employer; may have employer provide and control equipment and tools; may have employer purchase materials and supplies Is not liable for employee errors and/or accidents; is hired and can be fired by employer; may quit working for an employer at any time May be required to wear specific attire while at work, such as a uniform or shirts with company logo An independent contractor: Is free from direction and control of the employer Has necessary skills and training to complete job; has a business location Performs services for multiple customers Sets own hours; determines price for contracted services; is not eligible for employee benefits Provides equipment and tools used to complete job; supplies materials needed to do job; is personally liable for errors and/or accidents; files self-employment taxes Has right to hire and fire workers Must legally complete each contract Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for classifying workers as independent contractors. However, there are instances when the construction company improperly makes the classification to avoid paying premiums for workers' compensation insurance. The problem was significant enough that in 2013, Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill that revised Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-411. The Tennessee Department of Labor can penalize construction companies that avoid workers' comp premiums by misclassifying workers. For a violation of section 50-6-411, a construction services provider may be fined up to $1,000 or 1.5 times the average yearly workers' compensation premium for the provider, whichever is greater. If you have questions regarding the proper classification of your workers, consider seeking legal advice. SHARE Teri Brahams In today's global economy, companies are facing increased competition and demands. As a result, now more than ever they need highly skilled employees who can hit the ground running. Community colleges like Pellissippi State Community College have a long history of offering tailored technical education and providing a nimble response to fill these skills gaps. Community college career pathways link programs, services and education for a broad base of trainees, including students in high school, trade school and adult employees who need to build advanced skillsets before entering the workforce. We've been very fortunate to receive grant funding to assist us in developing these career pathways. One grant helped us identify six major characteristics for successful creation of pathways: Employer involvement in all phases of the program Institutional and instructional transformation links to educational and career competencies and training Wraparound support services Partnerships Continuous improvement Sustainability Manufacturers in East Tennessee are looking for immediate support from a skilled workforce or for backing from area educational institutions that can provide improved solutions to hiring practices. We have made providing students and current manufacturing employees with access to the technology they will use in the workplace an institutional priority. Because of this commitment, area manufacturers have unique access to state-of-the-art manufacturing labs to provide hands-on training to employees. These labs are shared resources, creating opportunities for high school students and college students at multiple campuses. By providing alternative delivery methods of curriculum developed through industry partnerships, students and employees have the flexibility needed to gain skills and advance in their careers. We are expanding education beyond traditional degree and apprenticeship programs and developing training programs specifically for companies. This creates opportunities to develop unique training for a highly prepared workforce. We provide access to career exploration and guidance, assessments, academic counseling, work-based learning opportunities (i.e., internships, co-ops, job shadowing and projects), financial assistance and other support services to ensure success. Companies have access to educational resources, like training labs, to provide intensive skills training outside a traditional business environment. Our collaboration with key manufacturing companies allows local community colleges to address the obstacles of building a highly skilled workforce as well as challenges individuals may face when building a career in advanced manufacturing. Employers explore pain points with us to create programs designed to build career competencies. We supply skilled workers who can think and problem-solve on the job by providing an education that trains them to be generalists rather than specialists and therefore be more productive. Higher education, especially community colleges, is the key to providing the bridge to fill skills gaps, connecting students of all ages with the hands-on manufacturing skills and the higher-level thinking they'll need to seamlessly transition into a demanding industry. SHARE Tom Humphrey, News Sentinel Nashville reporter. The Beacon Center of Tennessee, which bills itself as a free enterprise advocacy organization and has enjoyed a fair amount of success in pushing conservative causes in the state Legislature, has launched a rhetorical war against "corporate welfare" that may go on for years. The ultimate goal, says Mark Cunningham, who serves as director of marketing and communications for the group, is to totally abolish government grants, tax breaks and all similar things under the general label of "incentives" for bringing business investment to Tennessee. Beacon's initial salvo was a June bombardment of media with a report declaring that the state has spent more than $3 billion from 2005 through 2015 on "corporate handouts" that benefit "just three percent of all 170,000 businesses" in the state. All those unbenefitted businesses, meanwhile, face "the highest corporate tax per capita in the entire South," says Beacon. Actually, that $3 billion appears to be an underestimate. A casual review of the listings, for one example, shows omission of a $17 million grant in 2009 to General Motors for its plant in Spring Hill that was somewhat controversial at the time during a period of shutting down and reopening. Cunningham readily acknowledges the shortcomings and says that's because of the secrecy surrounding the whole process, requiring reliance on sources outside the government in many cases. Updates are coming, both on old data and new stuff, he says. The updates for this year would include $30 million given GM for its Spring Hill operations after a classic display of operational secrecy. In Gov. Bill Haslam's proposed budget, the $30 million was included for legislative approval, even though administration officials steadfastly refused despite some grumbling from lawmakers to give any hint where the money would go beyond saying it was a good cause. Only long after the session was GM's Spring Hill plant revealed as the recipient of the money, which will help in the latest restructuring there. An update would include other recent examples. Cunningham cites the July acknowledgment that Schneider Electric USA, Inc. will get a $1.25 million state grant for moving most of its operations from Smyrna to Franklin. Local government incentives, he said, push the total "handout" to about $2 million for "moving 17 miles" into an economically booming town located in the state's wealthiest county. The process, Beacon contends, has become a matter of what Cunningham called "corporate favoritism" with the benefits based on "who you know in state government" rather than actual need. Geographic disparity in state aid has been addressed to some extent by the Haslam administration and legislators over the years, most recently in the "Rural Economic Opportunity Act," approved by the Legislature earlier this year at the governor's behest to provide $10 million in state grants and otherwise restructure the system for giving tax breaks to companies establishing or expanding operations in underdeveloped areas. That, of course, may be compared to $30 million for GM in the same budget. Or $813 million to Volkswagen for locating in Chattanooga, the highlighted expenditure in Beacon's initial report. The report was incorporated with a Beacon-backed poll that, the news release declares, showed Tennesseans overwhelmingly oppose corporate welfare. It might be noted, however, that the poll questions were posed in something less than an objective manner. One question asked whether the respondent agrees more with the statement "Tennessee lavishes corporate handouts to a few politically-connected companies at the expense of everyone else, hurting the state's long-term growth potential" and "needs broad-based tax reform that lowers taxes for all businesses" or whether "Tennessee gives tax dollars to companies that deserve it most." Want to guess how folks answered? (About 70 percent went with option No. 1.) Still, if you frame the issue that way, the matter could have broad political appeal. And Beacon, in its crusade, will frame it that way. Cunningham notes that Beacon, a decidedly right-wing organization that opposed Haslam's Medicaid expansion plan and advocated repeal of the Hall income tax on investment earnings, is working with the "left-wing" anti-subsidy organization Good Jobs First in its efforts. Cunningham and Beacon on its website lament that some media reports on the initial report on "corporate handouts" were focused on concern over geographic disparity in state incentive funding. The Nashville area (including Williamson County and $197 million to have Nissan relocate its corporate headquarters there from California, including $50,000 per employee moving expenses), Chattanooga (thanks to Volkswagen) and Clarksville (where the now-failing Hemlock Semiconductor got more than $100 million in 2009) lead the list. The Knoxville area, with just $4.78 million listed, is among the shortchanged, based on the Beacon listing. That misses the point, says Cunningham: Tennessee, because of its general pro-business climate in regulations, geographic location within the United States, lack of a state income tax and such, doesn't need to give out subsidies. The general governmental response has been that Tennessee is faced with competition from other states and must subsidize big companies to avoid losing the opportunity for citizens getting jobs to competing states that offer larger subsidies. Basically, it's deemed a necessary evil a label that former state ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty applied on occasion. Not so, contends Beacon. Tennessee is positioned to set a precedent by blowing off corporate welfare that discriminates against the little guy businesses in favor of the big guys with political pull. "We have a competitive advantage already," Cunningham says, citing the state's central geographic location, lack of a state personal income tax and such. That advantage would expand if corporate taxes were lowered. "If Mississippi is offering $50,000 or $100,000 per job, let them go to Mississippi; we don't need to beat that. . If they're threatening to go to Mexico, tell them to go." The governor and legislators, he concedes, are not currently so inclined. Instead, they are understandably interested in getting funds for developments in their districts. But after a period of the "educational campaign" directed both at voters and legislators, there's a prophecy that things will change. Cunningham says no legislation is anticipated for 2017, at least insofar as outright repeal of incentives, and maybe not even "steps in the right direction," such as mandating more transparency in the process. The current corporate excise tax in Tennessee, and it amounts to a corporate income tax, is 6 percent. Beacon is one of several groups that have long crusaded for repeal of the Hall tax on investment income. This year, the Legislature approved cutting the Hall tax from 6 percent to 5 percent immediately with a mandate that the whole thing be gone by 2022. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves after speaking during the fourth day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Amanda Kruel, a delegate for Bernie Sanders for president who was vetted by Democratic National Committee staff members to see whether she should attend a private fundraiser in Knoxville in June, hasn't decided whether she's going to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, in November. "That's a tough problem," she said Friday after the Democratic National Convention was over. Kruel said she was disappointed Clinton didn't discuss the "scandal" or "Democratic leaks" during her acceptance speech but that she would not vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump. The scandal Kruel referred to was the FBI investigation into Clinton's email setup as U.S. secretary of state in which the agency did not recommend criminal charges for her use of a private email server but FBI Director James Comey said Clinton and her staff were "extremely careless" in handling classified material. The vetting by the DNC staff members came out 10 days ago when the Wikileaks website disclosed emails that showed the staff was favoring Clinton's campaign. "I'm lucky I live in a red state. Trump is still going to win Tennessee. The argument I've been pushing is Hillary is not the best (choice) but the second-worse," Kruel said. She said she feels like she has been betrayed by the DNC but does not have the same feelings about the Tennessee or Knox County Democratic Party leaders. She said she intends to work for local Democratic candidates, particularly Gloria Johnson, who is running to win back the 13th District House seat held by state Rep. Eddie Smith, a Republican who beat Johnson two years ago. Jerry Ogle from Monroe County, a Tennessee delegate for Clinton, had his credentials and duties revoked at the convention after an altercation with Kruel. It was determined he violated the party's code of conduct agreement. Kruel said Ogle grabbed her by the shoulder, twisted her around and yelled for her to "act like a Democrat." Ogle didn't agree with being replaced but took responsibility for what happened. ENDORSEMENTS: The Knox County Political Action Committee for Education has endorsed the following candidates in Thursday's elections: School board, 5th District: Susan Horn County Commission: 1st District, Democrat Evelyn Gill; 2nd District, Democrat Laura Kildare; 4th District, Democrat Marleen Davis; 5th District, Republican John Schoonmaker; 8th District, Republican Dave Wright, and 9th District, Republican Carson Dailey. State Senate: 6th District, Republican Becky Duncan Massey State House: 13th District, Democrat Gloria Johnson; 15th District, Democrat Joe Armstrong; 18th District, Republican James Corcoran and Democrat Brandi Price; and 89th District, Democrat Heather Hensley. SHARE Larry Arrington, chancellor of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel The University of Tennessee will open its third chancellor search this week after Institute of Agriculture leader Larry Arrington announced he would be retiring effective Sept. 1. The news comes six weeks after UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek announced his plans to step down. The state's flagship university system is also searching for a chancellor to lead the Martin campus. UT President Joe DiPietro said Arrington informed him of his decision Thursday during their regular monthly one-on-one meeting. "He told me when he took the job, he would stay at least five years," DiPietro said Monday. "We were surprised when he informed us of his retirement, though. I would love to have him another handful of years." The president said he had no concerns about the perception of having three of the university's five chancellor positions open. "If you take a look a these gentlemen, they're all at an age and time frame in their careers where you start thinking about slowing down and doing something else," DiPietro said. "You reach a point when you start to think about your family and your grandchild and what you want to do in your retirement." UT Extension Dean Tim Cross will oversee the agriculture campus until a new chancellor is selected. A search will launch immediately, and DiPietro hopes to recommend a replacement for Arrington by January. Arrington, who was hired from the University of Florida in 2011, received an annual salary of $338,208. He replaced DiPietro after the latter was named president of the UT system in 2010. DiPietro lauded his successor, saying Arrington "has done that job even better than me." Arrington bolstered the enrollment and graduation rates of the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, building a new 4-H center at Lone Oaks Farm in western Tennessee, finishing construction of UT's veterinary hospital and leading the College of Veterinary Medicine school out of accreditation problems. In Arrington's replacement, DiPietro said he hopes to find someone with experience as a faculty member at a similar institution, with a working knowledge of land grant universities and the diverse culture of a state like Tennessee. He said he also will look for diversity as he rebuilds the university's top leadership team. "We particularly look for a diverse candidate pool and by nature we always make sure our (search) committees are diverse, too," DiPietro said. DiPietro hopes to recommend a replacement for Cheek at the UT board of trustees' meeting in October, and to have a UT Martin leader selected and perhaps in place by the end of the year, UT spokeswoman Gina Stafford said Monday. By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE The idea of calling a special session of the Legislature to consider ouster of state Rep. Jeremy Durham and possibly Rep. Joe Armstrong appears to be failing. As of Friday, only four of the necessary 66 state House members had signed either of two submitted petitions offered. One by House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, calls for expelling Durham, R-Franklin, and the other by House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, calls for ousting both Durham and Armstrong, D-Knoxville. Durham has been accused in an investigative report by state Attorney General Herbert Slatery of sexually harassing 22 women legislative staffers, lobbyists and interns. Armstrong goes on trial Tuesday on federal tax evasion charges that prosecutors contend involve profits from a cigarette tax increase he supported as a lawmaker. Casada said in a telephone interview Sunday that he was a bit surprised at the scant signatures so far and will confer "mid-week" with House Speaker Beth Harwell to consider the possibility of extending the deadline for signing the petitions that is currently set for Friday. But he also said that, should the signature drive fall short, he would accept that decision as "what the majority wants." Both petitions set Aug. 15 as the date for the proposed special session. Both a two-thirds majority of all House and Senate members 66 in the House and 22 in the Senate must sign the call before it can be effective. Casada said he talked last week with Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, who assured him, "If you can get your votes (for a special session), I'll get mine." Casada said he had signed McCormick's petition as well as his own, believing Armstrong, as well as Durham, have "broken the people's trust" under information now available Durham in the Slatery investigative report and Armstrong on contents of his indictment showing "he profited from his position as a legislator" whether or not a crime was committed in that process, as will be decided at trial. As initially announced, procedure for signing the petitions on the House side called for each legislator to visit Harwell's Nashville office and sign. Some have suggested that an emailed or faxed document with the legislator's signature would suffice, but propriety of that procedure has been in some dispute. Legally, Gov. Bill Haslam could call the Legislature into special session on his own without a need for legislator signatures. But the governor has said he does not intend to do so, leaving the decision to legislators themselves. "If I have to call them in, that probably means they can't get the votes because that means they couldn't get the signatures," Haslam said. In the case of Durham, ouster prior to expiration of his current term would block his eligibility for a state pension upon reaching age 55. Legislators must spend four years in office to be vested in the system and he will complete four years on Election Day in November, putting in place a pension of about $340 per month when it kicks in. In Armstrong's case, the veteran legislator was vested in the pension system long ago and he will not be eligible if he is convicted in his ongoing trial. SHARE Gov. Bill Haslam By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE Gov. Bill Haslam has sent funds from his political action committee to 43 incumbent Republican legislators, including a dozen who face opponents in Thursday's primary election, according to a report filed last week with the state Registry of Election Finance. Haslam took $150,000 from his 2014 re-election campaign leftovers and transferred it to his PAC, registered as JOBS4TN. He then distributed the PAC money to the incumbent lawmakers, most of them facing no opposition to re-election either in the primary or general election. "Those folks who have been really helpful to us, we want to make certain that we help. You aren't governor by yourself. It really takes the right people in the Legislature to help you," the governor said in a comment passed along via email from spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals. The legislators reported receiving Haslam donations while facing Republican primary opposition are Sens. Doug Overbey of Maryville and Dolores Gresham of Somerville along with Reps. David Alexander of Winchester, Mike Carter of Ooltewah, Jimmy Eldridge of Jackson, Jeremey Faison of Cosby, Curtis Halford of Dyer, Gary Hicks of Rogersville, Kelly Keisling of Byrdstown, Charles Sargent of Franklin, Curry Todd of Collierville, Ron Travis of Dayton and Tim Wirgau of Buchanan. The donated amounts vary from $2,000 to $6,000. The $6,000 donations went to House Speaker Beth Harwell and Sens. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge and Bo Watson of Hixson, along with Reps. Pat Marsh of Shelbyville, Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, Steve McDaniel of Parkers Crossroads, Charles Sargent of Franklin, Eddie Smith of Knoxville and Mark White of Memphis. Of those, only Sargent faces a formidable opponent in the Thursday primary, though Harwell with more than $1 million in her re-election account does face a Democratic opponent in November. So does Smith, whose general election contest with former state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, is generally rated one of the most competitive partisan races in the state. The other $6,000 recipients are unopposed and along with several unopposed incumbents getting lesser amounts often send funds from their campaign accounts to fellow incumbents who do face challenges. Such money churning in legislative campaigns is fairly common. Those getting $5,000 donations include challenged incumbents Alexander, Carter, Faison, Halford, Hicks and Wirgau. Of those, Carter, Hicks and Wirgau are generally rated as facing somewhat close races while Alexander and Faison are heavily favored. As reported by The Associated Press last week, Haslam sometimes couples events where he speaks in support of favored legislative candidates with events in their districts involving nonpolitical functions, including announcements of state funding for local projects. In Bristol last week, the governor praised Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, in a speech announcing a local business expansion, according to the Kingsport Times-News, declaring: "If you want somebody to put on a show, Jon's not your guy. If you want somebody who's going to do hard work and find the right answer and do the things that are the best for the state, Jon is the guy." Asked afterward if he is endorsing Lundberg, one of three candidates for the GOP nomination to succeed retiring Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey in his Senate seat, the governor told the newspaper: "We don't get in the business of endorsing people, but I will be very pleased to have Jon in the state Senate taking Lt. Gov. (Ron) Ramsey's place." Haslam gave no money to candidates in open seats, as the case in Lundberg's race, but nonetheless may have indicated his preference. Donnals said in her email that it's fair to assume Haslam is endorsing candidates that have received financial contributions, but "it is definitely not fair or accurate to assume he opposes legislators he hasn't contributed to. "There could be many reasons the legislator has a big balance, a non-completive race, didn't ask, etc.," she said. SHARE Michael Covington, candidate for county commission 1st district. Evelyn Gill, 2016 Knox County Commission candidate, District 1. Brad Anders, Knox County Commissioner and a 2016 candidate for re-election in District 6. Carson Dailey, 2016 candidate for Knox County Commission, District 9. By Georgiana Vines of the Knoxville News Sentinel Republican office holders and candidates have contributed to the campaign of Michael Covington, GOP candidate for the 1st District Knox County Commission seat, to give him a financial boost over Democrat Evelyn Gill in Thursday's general election. The district position is held by Democrat Sam McKenzie, who is not seeking re-election. The district is one of only two held by Democrats on the 11-member body. Covington reported in the latest disclosures due Thursday that he raised $3,500 in contributions in July, of which $1,350 came from county commissioners, other commission candidates and legislators. County Commission Chairman Dave Wright, along with commissioners Brad Anders and John Schoonmaker, and commission candidates Michelle Carringer, Carson Dailey and Hugh Nystrom didn't make the donations. Instead the money was provided by the Volunteer Woman's Republican Club on their behalf, Schoonmaker said. "We all opted for it to go to him because he's been working so hard," Schoonmaker said. Schoonmaker responded to an inquiry from the News Sentinel as to why the contribution was not listed on his financial disclosure form. He said if it had been a personal contribution it would not have shown up, but in this case, the club made the contribution. That was confirmed by Marianne Thompson, club president. Knox County Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong said Saturday he considers the manner in which the contributions were made to be acceptable "as long as it doesn't exceed the amount that can be contributed." State Rep. Eddie Smith, representing the 13th District House seat, is listed as making a $250 contribution and an in-kind contribution of $225 for frames. He said Friday he made the in-kind contribution but not the monetary donation and planned to discuss it with Covington. Covington said Saturday he made a mistake about Smith's donation and will file an amended form, which means his total contributions for July will be revised. Other legislators listed as giving $250 are state Reps. Roger Kane of the 89th District and Jason Zachary of the 14th District. Their latest financial disclosures do not show the contributions. Covington reported spending $3,638, having $141 on hand, loans outstanding of $700 and obligations outstanding of $270. Gill did not meet the filing deadline and was unavailable for comment Saturday. An Independent candidate in that race, Tyrone LaMar Fine, made no reports in July. Three other Democratic candidates also did not meet the deadline and said they would file disclosures this week. They are: Laura Kildare, seeking the 2nd District county commission seat held by Democrat Amy Broyles, and opposed by Carringer; Marleen Davis, seeking the 4th District commission seat held by Republican Jeff Ownby, who was defeated by Nystrom in the primary; and James "Brandon" Hamilton, seeking the 9th District commission seat and opposed by Dailey for the position being vacated by Republican Mike Brown. The three said the deadline slipped up on them. Davis said she didn't realize another disclosure was due since a previous filing had been two weeks earlier. Here is what commission candidates reported: 2nd District: Carringer said she raised $10,710, spent $8,488, had a balance of $5,362 on hand and loans outstanding of $25,766. Kildare said in an email she just returned from Great Britain when she discovered the letter from the Election Commission. She said she had to return to work and had not had time to complete the form but will in the middle of the week. "I apologize because I did not know one would be due so soon," Kildare said. 4th District: Nystrom reported raising $4,450, spending $8,930 and having $6,387 on hand. Davis provided a summary Saturday that said she had received $6,150, spent $9,745 and had $754 on hand. 5th District: Schoonmaker reported raising $800, spending $248 and having $1,350 on hand. Democrat Sheri Ridgeway said she raised no money, spent $27, had $103 on hand and $663 in loans outstanding. 6th District: Anders reported raising $2,400, spending $2,400 and having $12,881 on hand. Democrat Donna Lucas reported raising $200, spending $805.12 and having $1,075 on hand. 8th District: Wright reported raising $600, spending $150 and having $1,560 on hand. Hamilton said he still has to verify the numbers but that about $750 was raised and $650 was spent. Independent candidate Tom Pierce reported he didn't raise or spend money in July and had $15 on hand. Sam Furrow, owner of Land Rover of Knoxville, addresses employees before a luncheon on Friday, June 3, 2016. The Knoxville City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to allow Furrow to rezone property across from his Land Rover dealership to allow the business to expand. Nearby residents, however, are against the rezoning. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel A Land Rover dealership and nearby residents are at odds over whether the business should be allowed to rezone a piece of land and expand the business. Knoxville City Council members will hear from both sides at their meeting Tuesday, when the council will have to decide whether to uphold the decision by the Metropolitan Planning Commission to rezone the property or side with MPC staff, who had recommended against it. "Initially because it was felt that to minimize the impact on the adjacent residential neighborhood, the office portion of (the parcel) would serve as a buffer," said Gerald Green, director of MPC. "The office designation does allow for reasonable use on that property, just not the use (owner Sam) Furrow wants for it." The property, at the corner of Parkside Drive and Cogdill Road near Turkey Creek, was once two separate parcels and still has two different zoning designations, according to Gerald Green, director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission. The portion facing Parkside Drive is zoned for commercial uses; the portion facing Cogdill Road is zoned office. The MPC staff had recommended denying the rezoning but the commission instead voted 8-6 to allow the change at an April meeting. A contact for Furrow Family Partnership listed in the rezoning application did not return a call for comment Monday. Furrow told the Metropolitan Planning Commission in April his business was outgrowing its dealership across the street and will "need to move someday," according to minutes from the meeting. He assured the commission the business would build a berm with trees to obscure the view from neighbors and would be sensitive to the lighting and loud speaker concerns from neighbors. Neighbors, however, said that's not enough. Kimberly Quigley and Kevin Orpurt, in a May letter to MPC, said the neighbors had met and unanimously opposed the rezoning, in large part because of the increased traffic that could come with it. "Our original residents have already experienced a significant change in their environment with the increased noise and light pollution," they wrote. "Those of us who have moved in more recently did so with the understanding that if the property is developed, it will be into office space which is significantly more quiet and would have much less impact on the neighborhood we love." Council Tuesday also will take up its second appeal to the sign ordinance for a Salsarita's Fresh Cantina planned for Emory Road. SHARE Susan Horn, candidate for Knox County school board By Georgiana Vines of the Knoxville News Sentinel Steve Hunley, publisher of the free weekly community newspaper Focus, and his wife, Kimberly, each contributed $1,500 to the campaign of Susan Horn, a candidate in the nonpartisan 5th District Knox County school board race. Their contributions were among $4,540 Horn reported raising in July in the latest financial disclosure filed last week. The election is Thursday. Horn, who finished first in the March 1 primary with nearly 45 percent of the vote over two other candidates, faces Reuben "Buddy" Pelot IV, who received 30 percent, in a runoff. The third candidate, Lori Ann Boudreaux, got the remainder. Hunley, who served one term on the school board representing the 8th District, has been critical of the board and former Superintendent Jim McIntyre for years. "I contribute to people I believe in," Hunley said Monday. State Rep. Jason Zachary, a Republican who represents the 14th House District, contributed $500 to Horn. Horn is a first cousin of Zachary's wife, Holly. Doug Horne, president of Horne Properties, which includes the Farragut Press, and a former state Democratic Party chair, also contributed $250, for a total of $750 in the general election. Horn reported spending $2,225 and having a balance of $2,376. Pelot reported raising $250, a contribution from businessman H. Peter Clausen; spending $4,283, and having a balance of $1,441. His largest expenditure was to Targeted Strategy, run by Gary Drinnen, at $2,183. During the primary, he received significant contributions from Knoxville business community leaders. The winner will succeed Karen Carson, who didn't seek re-election to the school board. She earlier ran in the Republican primary against Zachary in a special election when former state Rep. Ryan Haynes resigned to become Tennessee Republican Party chairman. The Horn-Pelot race will be the only competitive school board election Thursday. Others who either won in the primary or ran unopposed will be on the ballot for official elections are: Jennifer Owen (2nd District); Tony Norman (3rd District); and former school board Chairman Mike McMillan (8th District). Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio on Aug. 1, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Jay LaPreteJAY LAPRETE/AFP/Getty Images SHARE Khizr Khan (R), father of fallen soldier Human S. M. Khan and his wife Ghazala Kahn (L), holding a copy of the United States Constitution on stage during final day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 28 July 2016. The Khan family where involved in a discussion with Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump after he made remarks about their speech at the DNC convention. EPA/PETER FOLEY Related Coverage Obama challenges GOP to drop support for Trump By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel WASHINGTON Tennessee Republicans backing Donald Trump for president opted on Monday not to criticize the GOP presidential nominee for his comments about the Muslim-American parents of an Army captain who was killed in Iraq. The GOP lawmakers called Capt. Humayun Khan, killed by a suicide bomber in 2004 as he tried to save other troops, "an American hero" but were careful not to condemn Trump for ramping up his feud with the slain soldier's parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan. "The issue here is not one of the Khan family's patriotism or sacrifice that is indisputable it is about stopping the encroachment of radical Islam," U.S. Rep. Diane Black of Gallatin said. "Donald Trump remains the only candidate in this race with the strength to combat this threat and to keep Americans safe, which is why my support for him will not waver." Black said Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, have clarified via social media that Capt. Humayun Khan "is an American hero and that his family, like every Gold Star family, is deserving of our respect." The Trump-Khan feud began after Khizr Khan, with his wife at his side at the Democratic National Convention, criticized Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. Responding to that aspect of the feud, Rep. Phil Roe of Johnson City said "I have repeatedly said that anyone entering this country should pass a security test, not a religious test, because I believe that discriminating against anyone because of their religion is against everything we stand for." Humayun Khan "made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation," said Roe, an Army veteran himself. He said Khan's parents "deserve the respect of every American who values liberty." In speaking at the Democratic convention, Khizr Khan denounced Trump from the convention stage for smearing Muslims and wondered if the GOP presidential nominee has even read the Constitution. Trump fired back, suggesting Khan had "viciously" attacked him and that Khan's wife had not been "allowed" to speak because she is Muslim. His comments drew wide condemnation from fellow Republicans, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, who said that while Trump may be the GOP party's nominee, he does not have "unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." Tennessee Republicans, however, offered praise for the fallen soldier without directly criticizing Trump. "Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero who served his country honorably," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood. "He and his family deserve the utmost respect, and it is appropriate that the Trump campaign has clarified its belief that Khan was a brave warrior who saved lives and protected American values." Sen. Bob Corker's office said he "is proud of our men and women in uniform, including Captain Khan, who courageously gave his life in defense of our country. He believes Captain Khan's service to our nation should be celebrated." Sen. Lamar Alexander "is grateful for the service of Captain Khan and the sacrifices he and his family have made for this country," his spokesman said. SHARE Funding for a 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway in Blount and Sevier counties finally is falling into place with the announcement last week of a $10 million transportation grant for the project. The unfinished section includes the "Missing Link," an infamous 1.65-mile stretch that will require nine bridges to span a series of ravines along the steep mountain slope. Completion of this section of the scenic highway between Walland and Wears Valley is long overdue and will give tourists and locals a new path to enjoy in the foothills of the Smokies. The project's total cost will be $35 million. In addition to the $10 million transportation grant, the state of Tennessee will provide $15 million and the National Park Service will contribute an estimated $10 million, according to Dana Soehn, spokeswoman for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Park Service administers the Foothills Parkway. The parkway runs parallel to the northern boundary of Smokies. When finished, the scenic highway will stretch 72 miles between Cosby, Tenn., to the east and U.S. Highway 129 at Chilhowee Lake to the west. So far only 22.5 miles are completed and open to the public. The string of bridges in the Missing Link section is an engineering marvel. A special feature of the bridge design is the post-tension construction that enables the bridges to curve and span long distances without touching the ground below. Micro-pile foundations that will disperse the load and leave the smallest possible footprint on the mountainside. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who lobbied for the federal transportation grant, said in a news release that completing the Foothills Parkway will add to the region's economy. "In 2014 the park hosted more than 10 million visitors who spent more than $800 million and supported more than 12,000 jobs," Alexander said. "The completion of this 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway will continue to enhance tourism and economic development in the area." The Missing Link section is expected to be finished in early 2017, and the remaining 16 miles between Walland and Wears Valley are expected to be paved and open to the public in 2018. Plans for the rest of the parkway are not on the drawing board. Congress authorized the project in 1944, but construction did not begin until 1960. Funding cuts and engineering challenges such as those found in the Missing Link section repeatedly stalled the project. Of the seven congressionally mandated scenic highways throughout the United States, the Foothills Parkway is the only one that remains unfinished. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam pointed to the many benefits completing the section would provide. "Over these past 70 years, the National Park Service, Federal Highway Administration, and the State of Tennessee have worked together to construct this valuable asset which has served to enrich tourism, economic, and development in communities throughout East Tennessee," Haslam said. Federal and state officials are to be commended for resolving the funding issue for this project that promises to provide a new way to enjoy the beauty of the Smokies. SHARE The morning I read Andre Canty's paean for Black Lives Matter, three police officers were killed and three more wounded in Baton Rouge. The average number of policemen killed in the line of duty per year during the current administration has been 51. We have almost equaled that number, and the year is only half over. Canty says that in the last four years, countless black lives have been taken away without punishment. The Washington Post and England's Guardian list them in interactive sites for 2015 and 2016 (to-date). The Guardian numbers are larger, but both show similar proportions, and neither shows 2016 is significantly larger. Both show that the number of blacks killed by police is about half of the number of whites killed by them. The Guardian notes the higher proportion of victims to the black population, but police efforts concentrate in high crime areas, where they are needed often, areas where blacks predominate. A recent study by a Harvard professor showed that while police manhandled blacks more frequently than whites, they were less likely to shoot blacks. Canty complains that black on black crime is a "red herring." Chicago is an extreme example, but seems pertinent. This year, police killed four people and wounded seven, half of the 2015 figures. City-wide, 326 people have been killed by gunfire and 1,881 wounded. Blacks accounted for 277 of those killed, and 50 of the 70 identified perpetrators. This is no red herring. James M. Crain, Knoxville By Choi Sung-jin In November 1995, the government estimated two-way trade with Russia would reach $3.2 billion, and Korea's exports to Russia would grow an additional 40 percent or more the following year. Seoul made the optimistic estimation thanks to the good quality of Korean consumer goods, such as food and home appliances, which enjoyed high popularity in Russia in the aftermath of its economic reform and market opening in the late 1980s. As it turned out, the nation's shipments to Russia in the first half of 1996 rocketed 94.2 percent from a year ago. Looking back, it was the best year for Korean makers of consumer goods, however. The nation's trade balance of consumer products has since sharply deteriorated, with its share of the global consumer goods export market falling to less than half its previous level. Domestic consumer goods' competitiveness in global markets has fallen while Korea is importing more products, a report says. According to the report on consumer goods trade from Hyundai Research Institute, Korea's portion of the global consumer goods export plunged from 2.1 percent in 1995 to 0.8 percent in 2014, and the nation's ranking in global consumer goods exporters also fell sharply from 14th place to 29th. In contrast, the nation's share of global consumer product imports jumped from 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent, with its ranking rising from 19th to 16th place. The growth of imports has far exceeded the increase in exports. Korea's exports of consumer products grew at an annual average of 1.2 percent, from $19.68 billion in 1995 to $24.42 billion in 2014. During the same period, imports of consumer goods increased 10.1 percent a year on average, from $8.16 billion to $46.16 billion. Korea enjoyed an $11.52 billion surplus in consumer goods trade in 1995 but suffered a $21.73 billion deficit in 2014. By continent, Korea's trade balance in consumer goods deteriorated most in Asia, turning from a $5.53 billion surplus to an $11.08 billion deficit over the cited period. In North America, the trade balance also changed from a $3 billion surplus to a $2.87 billion deficit. Korea recorded a trade surplus in consumer goods with Africa but the growth of the surplus was rather insignificant, from $110 million to $230 million. By items, Korea fared particularly poorly in the trade of semi-durable goods that can be used between one and three years, including clothes. The nation's trade balance in semi-durable goods turned from a $6.85 billion surplus to a $10.95 billion deficit. The trade balance for durable goods usable for three years or more, such as cars, is also worsening, with its surplus plummeting from $4.72 billion in 2005 to $860 million in 2014. "The slump in consumer goods trade is due to the rapid chase by developing countries in Asia and other regions and low competitiveness that falls short of industrial countries," said Lee Bu-hyeong, chief of the institute's Northeast Asia Research Department. "Also detrimental was the lack of innovation in consumer goods." Noting that the nation's consumer goods trade balance could even aggravate further as the hollowing out of the domestic industrial base accelerated and the global supply and value chain changed, Lee said, "The government should revise its overall policy in coping with changes in the global industrial environment." Shipments down 10.2%, falling for 19th straight month By Lee Hyo-sik Exports fell 10.2 percent from a year earlier in July, extending their losing streak to a record 19th consecutive month, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday. The ministry expects exports to turn around this month on a possible rebound in demand from overseas. However, many analysts and company officials say that this would be short-lived, citing increasing protectionism and a worsening trade environment. Korea faces growing barriers around the world as its trade partners move to restrict imports in order to protect their industries amid the continued global economic downturn. The increasing global protectionism has adversely affected steelmakers and other manufacturers here, which ship most of their goods abroad. Both advanced and developing economies are imposing anti-dump duties or taking other administrative measures to limit the influx of made-in-Korea goods into their territories. To ride out the increasing tariff and non-tariff barriers, domestic manufacturers need to make more efforts to hone their core competence and develop high value-added products, analysts say. They added that the government needs to do its part by providing up-to-date foreign market information to local exporters, as well as taking various steps to prevent trade partners from imposing import restrictions on Korean goods. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Monday, six countries India, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, Taiwan and Malaysia and the EU imposed anti-dumping duties on or took safeguard measures against Korean steel and other products in the first six months of the year. These import restriction cases totaled 20, up from 12 in the same period last year. Of the 20, 16 cases were initiated by India and other developing economies, indicating that Korean manufacturers are having a harder time selling their goods in emerging markets. The Indian government launched an anti-dumping probe in April into hot-rolled steel plates produced by POSCO and other local steelmakers after Indian firms accused their Korean rivals of selling the plates at lower than production costs. A month later, India, which is the fourth-largest export market for domestic steel firms, initiated safeguards against Korean hot-rolled steel by levying a 20-percent additional tariff. As a result, Korea's steel exports to the South Asian nation from April to June fell 50 percent from a year earlier. Advanced economies have also stepped up efforts to limit the imports of various goods from Asia's fourth-largest economy. On July 21, the U.S. government decided to impose a 48 percent anti-dumping tariff on Korea's corrosion-resistant steel products. A day later, it also levied up to 68 perent anti-dumping tariffs on cold-rolled steel plates produced by POSCO and Hyundai Steel. In response to the growing protectionism, analysts are calling on domestic firms to take extra caution when shipping their goods abroad. "It is true that Korea's trade partners have become more protective of their domestic industries over the past year amid the prolonged economic downturn," said Han Chang-hoe, director of KITA's international trade cooperation department. "Once companies are accused of dumping their goods in foreign markets, it is really hard for them to get away from it. They must not get into trouble in the first place." Han then called on the government to play a more active role, stressing that policymakers should aggressively advocate the interests of domestic businesses on the international stage. In July, with the exception of computers, most major export items suffered a steep fall. Shipments of vessels plummeted 43 percent to $1.99 billion, and exports of automobiles dropped 14.6 percent. Renault Samsung's SM6 dCi sedan / Courtesy of Renault Samsung By Jhoo Dong-chan Renault Samsung has launched the diesel version of its popular SM6 sedan, an automaker official said Monday. The SM6 dCi sedan mounts a 1.5-liter Direct Common-rail Injection (dCi) diesel engine that produces a maximum of 110 horsepower with 25.5kg-m of torque. Its drive range is 17.0 kilometers per liter with 16- and 17-inch tires. The engine also satisfies the Euro 6 emission standards, highly regarded by the industry where other global automakers use the same engine in 26 different models and 13 million cars sold around the world. The sedan inherits its popular exterior design from the gasoline model, the SM6 dCi offers uncharacteristic tranquility while driving. It was hard to differentiate it from gasoline sedans while accelerating. Its 17.0 kilometer-per-liter drive range is also as efficient as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). If a driver drives 17,000 kilometers annually, the total fuel cost is expected to only be around 1.2 million won ($1,082) based on the current diesel price of 1,200 won per liter. The SM6 dCi sedan costs 25.75 million won with the PF model, 27.95 million won with the SE and 29.5 million won with LE. Employees of the Korea Exchange monitor the stock market at the Seoul office, Monday, the first day that extended trading hours took effect. Korea's bourse will open for 30 more minutes, a measure introduced to enliven the securities market and better compete with its Asian rivals. / Yonhap By Kim Jae-won Foreign investors expected the Seoul stock market to attract more investment and have better connectivity with its European counterparts after trading hours were extended by 30 minutes, Monday. Trading hours of the nation's benchmark stock exchange KOSPI, tech-savvy minor bourse KOSDAQ and its foreign exchange market have been extended to 3:30 p.m. from 3 p.m. as part of the government's reform of the financial market. Trading starts at 9 a.m. "We expect more volume with the extension of trading hours in times of high volatility," said a trader at a European investment bank, asking not to be named. "As the closing time nears to the opening session of European markets, we expect some impact from them, though it is not clear at the moment what this will be like." The time gap between Korean and European stock markets has narrowed to one-and-half hour from two hours with the extension, increasing connectivity of the two regions. Most stock markets in the U.K., Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands are open from 5 p.m. (KST). Dealers in the foreign exchange market said that the extension will increase volatility in the market as the added 30 minutes will overlap with London's FX market which opens at 3 p.m. (KST). "We expect more trades from London in the last 30 minutes of trading," said Lee Sung-hee, head of JPMorgan Chase Bank's Seoul branch. "With more calls and puts from London, the volatility will increase further in Seoul's FX market." But, local analysts downplayed the impact of the extension, saying the problem is not time but attractiveness. "Maybe, there will be some increase in the trading volume, but that won't be so big," said Lee Jong-woo, head of IBK Securities' research center. "The reason for the Korean market's small trading volume is not because it has a short running time. The volume was still small during the 9-to-3 trading hour system." Average daily trading volume on the KOSPI reached 4.55 trillion won ($4.1 billion) over the first seven months this year, according to the Korea Exchange. It is far lower than the average daily turnover of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange which marked $67.5 billion in the first six months of the year. The bourse operator said that trading was going smoothly in the stock market on the first day of the extension. "We changed all of the regulations and systems before the extension. So far, everything is going all right," said Han Sam-man, an official at the KRX's stock trading regulation team. "We will continue to monitor the market carefully." The Seoul city government held a free K-pop concert in Bangkok this week in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the two cities' establishing sisterhood relations, officials said Friday. The Seoul Prime Concert in Bangkok 2016 was held on Thursday evening (local time) at the IMPACT Arena, Exhibition & Convention Center featuring South Korean girl group Sistar, boy band Monsta X and other artists. Some 12,000 people filled the auditorium, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The tickets were distributed to Bangkok citizens free of charge in the city and they ran out within five minutes, a city official said. Famous Thai artists, Season Five and Kangsom Tanatat, were also included in the lineup. By Choi Sung-jin One in two Koreans think split family members in South and North Korea should have reunions during the Chuseok holiday despite strained inter-Korean relations, a survey showed Monday. According to the survey of 1,005 people conducted by Gallup Korea at the request of the National Assembly Speaker's Office, 48.9 percent of respondents said the two Koreas should hold family reunions regardless of the political situation. The survey has a 95 percent confidence level with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Among other respondents, 41.5 percent approved of the reunions by "taking inter-Korean relationships into account," and the other 5.5 percent thought it "unnecessary." "Despite the recent North Korean nuclear test and missile launches, Koreans seem to think family reunions should go on consistently from a humanitarian viewpoint," the Speaker's Office said. As to the actual chances of holding reunions this Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Sept. 14-16, however, only 14.8 percent thought it "possible" with 69.3 percent saying "not possible." Asked whether another summit was needed to restore a good relationship between the two Koreas, 75.5 percent agreed while 20.7 percent disagreed. As for the possibility of holding an inter-Korean summit within the tenure of the incumbent administration, however, 69.1 percent thought it "unlikely" and only 20.1 percent viewed it as "likely." The survey was the first since Speaker Chung Sye-kyun took office. The Speaker's Office said it would hold various opinion polls on pending issues and release the results. "I call for North Korea to alter its attitude toward a more genuine direction for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula as well as the changes in the South Korean government's policy that has persistently resorted to only pressuring the North," Speaker Chung said. "South Korea should continue to pursue humanitarian exchanges even amid the sanctions on the North, and Seoul needs to consider holding family reunion events during this Chuseok." Chung plans to visit some aged family members to comfort them on Sept. 2, the office said. A Peugeot (in the circle) crosses a pedestrian crossing and crashes into cars at an intersection in Busan, Sunday. / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan A driver with a brain condition killed three pedestrians and injured 14 in Busan on Sunday. The driver's Peugeot was traveling at 100-120 km/h when it crossed the central line near an intersection, hit pedestrians and damaged seven vehicles. A mother in her 40s, her son and a high school student were killed. Those injured include pedestrians and people inside the damaged cars. The driver was taken to hospital where he was treated for a brain hemorrhage. Busan Haeundae police said the driver, surnamed Kim, 53, had a brain condition that led to extreme confusion if he missed taking his medicine. The driver said in hospital that he had no memory of what happened. He only knew that he woke up in hospital. Kim tested negative for alcohol and drugs. Police said Kim's vehicle hit the rear of another car about 300 meters away from the accident site. The police said Monday they would issue an arrest warrant for Kim on a charge of infringing upon the Act on Special Cases concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents. Kim's car insurance records show he was involved in three accidents in two years from 2013. Nobody was injured. A Hwasong-10 strategic ballistic missile, also known as the Musudan, is test-fired in this photo released by North Korea's Rodong Sinmun on June 23. Amid growing nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang, there are some calls for South Korea to pursue nuclear armament. / Yonhap US analysts warn against going nuclear By Kang Seung-woo With North Korea making significant progress with its nuclear program, there are some calls here for South Korea to arm itself with nuclear weapons as part of the country's self-defense against the growing threat. But American diplomatic pundits say that it is not a good idea saying there would be a high price to pay in many areas, including the ROK-U.S. alliance, while doing little to improve security. South Korea ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1975 and has remained formally committed to it since then. Rep. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saeuri Party who is a long-term advocate for South Korea's nuclear armament said last Monday the nation should seek a "trigger strategy" that ensures the nation automatically goes nuclear once the North conducts such a test. "There is a need for a paradigm shift in dealing with the North's provocations including the launch of ballistic missiles," he said. Won and fellow lawmakers will open a nuclear forum on Aug. 4 to study a detailed action plan. They will hold a monthly meeting to discuss the development of a South Korean nuclear arsenal. But he has yet to reveal the other participants. Supporters for nuclear armament claim that nuclear-power status would enable South Korea to secure reliable deterrence by generating a balance of terror with North Korea. They also claim a nuclear armed South Korea can cut its security reliance on the United States and forge a more balanced relationship with both Washington and Beijing. "Unless South Korea has nuclear weapons for self-defense purposes, it will have to spend more on its conventional military buildup to cope with growing military threats from the North," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute. Four decades ago, President Park Chung-hee, father of current President Park Geun-hye, considered developing a nuclear capacity because of perceived U.S. disinterest in South Korea's security, but the United States, its military protector, pressed him to drop the program. According to a Gallup Korea poll conducted in January, 54 percent favored developing nuclear weapons, with 38 percent against. South Korea's nukes could be self-defeating' "Developing its own nuclear weapons would require South Korea to withdraw from the NPT and it would likely face international condemnation for leaving the NPT, with possible economic repercussions that could damage its export-dependent economy," said Terence Roehrig, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College. "Most importantly, South Korea does not need nuclear weapons to improve its security. Deterrence at the strategic level has long been robust and the likelihood of North Korea launching an invasion or some other type of large scale military operation is very unlikely. "The ROK-U.S. alliance is strong and any North Korean action of this sort would trigger a devastating response by Washington and Seoul that would lead to the end of the regime." Others agree that the South's pursuit of nuclear weapons will bring about negative consequences for its partnership with the United States possibly the end of the ROK-U.S. alliance. "A nuclear armed South Korea will only intensify growing doubts in the U.S. public about the need for a U.S. troop presence in South Korea and call the alliance into question," said Leon Sigal, the director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York. The United States has about 28,500 service members stationed in South Korea. "While foreign policy makers may try to assuage those doubts, they may not succeed," he added. Along with North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also ignited the calls for South Korea's nuclear armament after last month suggesting allowing South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons for self-defense so as to reduce U.S. security commitments to its allies, raising speculation that there may be some talks about the issue in the United States. However, there are no ongoing discussions about allowing South Korea's nuclear armament there, according to analysts. "Other than some comments made by Donald Trump in the campaign, there is almost no support in the United States for South Korea to go nuclear," said Roehrig. Daniel Sneider, associate director of research at Stanford's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said, "No serious foreign policy or security expert in the United States holds different views and the fact that Trump has expressed his support for this is only evidence of his complete ignorance of the basics of national security policy." In the wake of North Korea's series of military provocations, including the launch of ballistic missiles, calls for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the South are re-emerging here withdrawn from the peninsula shortly before an inter-Korean denuclearization accord took effect in 1992. "There have been calls by some in South Korea to have the United States reintroduce tactical nuclear weapons removed or to have South Korea develop a nuclear weapons program. Both are extremely ill-advised ideas," said Bruce Klingner, a senior Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation. "Currently the United States provides an extended deterrence guarantee through tactical sea-, sub-, and air-based nuclear weapons in the Pacific Theater and strategic nuclear weapons bases in the United States. It makes no military sense to redeploy the tactical nuclear weapons from their hard to find sea, sub, and air platforms and put them into a bunker in South Korea. Doing so would decrease allied deterrence and defense capabilities by increasing the time needed to deploy them and by providing a high value target for North Korea to preemptively attack during times of heightened tension." According to the Congressional Research Service in April, the renewed calls for the return of nuclear arms to the peninsula reflect concerns that U.S. security guarantees are "fragile." "The only reason South Korea needs nuclear weapons is if the strategic deterrence provided by the United States, and the extended deterrence offered as well, are no longer considered reliable," said Sneider, who does not believe the U.S. deterrence is in any way less reliable today than it has been in the past. "But I do agree that there is a perception of a lack of commitment and I think therefore the United States should make it very clear to Pyongyang, in private preferably but if need be, in public, that we will retaliate on a massive scale for any use of nuclear weapons." Given that a South Korean nuclear weapon would be counterproductive, dangerous, and self-defeating against the North's crude nuclear threats, Peter Hayes, the executive director of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, said South Korea had better focus on building up conventional forces. "South Korea will do much better to develop its conventional force superiority as well as its ability to counter asymmetric capabilities such as cyber warfare and drones," he said. By Lee Kyung-min A group of hackers presumably from North Korea attempted to break into the emails of about 90 South Korean government officials in charge of foreign affairs and security, and 56 of their email account passwords were stolen, prosecutors said Monday. The cyber security investigation unit under the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said it found the hackers' group set up 27 spear phishing sites between January and June in an attempt to gain access to emails of the targeted people. These were officials from the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, unification, public safety and security, and journalists who have access to the respective ministries, as well as researchers at North Korean studies-related institutes. The prosecution launched the investigation after receiving a report that the hackers sought to acquire information on private email accounts of some of the people. While 56 passwords were leaked, it is not yet known whether classified information concerning national security was leaked. The investigation showed that the group used a domestic hosting server for the attack, which targeted specific people or organizations and sought unauthorized access to confidential data. The hackers allegedly set up the phishing sites which disguised the official websites of the ministries, universities, and portal sites. Pretending to be the web engineers of the sites, they asked the officials to change their passwords because their current ones were compromised. The prosecution shut down the phishing sites with cooperation from the National Intelligence Service and the Korea Internet and Security Agency. Prosecutors believe that North Korea was behind this attack as it was similar to the 2014 attack by the North into Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power. The prosecution advised the officials against using private email accounts outside work places, adding that passwords should be frequently changed in order to prevent these kind of attacks from recurring. Lawmakers of the minor opposition People's Party are hailed by residents of Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, as they walk into a hall at the county office for a meeting with them, Monday. / Yonhap By Kim Hyo-jin A group of senior members of the minor opposition People's Party visited Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Monday, throwing support behind residents who are protesting against the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery there. During the visit, the party's interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won and 15 lawmakers toured an artillery base in Seongsan-ri, where the THAAD battery will be set up next year, and held a meeting with local residents at the county office. Urging the government to seek parliamentary approval for the deployment, the lawmakers vowed to step up their anti-THAAD campaign alongside the Seongju residents. "We promise that we will launch an active protest against a THAAD deployment with the residents from now on," Park said. "This is our clear stance: a THAAD battery should not be deployed anywhere on our soil including Seongju." The visit was viewed as the party's move to clarify its position on the THAAD issue and to pressure the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) to join the collective move in the opposition bloc against the anti-missile system. The MPK has remained ambiguous over how to respond to a planned deployment of the battery while the People's Party has argued the government should withdraw the decision unless it seeks parliamentary approval. The ruling Saenuri Party took the offensive against the People's Party, accusing it of intentionally instigating public anger and conflict. "Their visit will only intensify conflict and division over the issue. It is not the role of politicians," Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk said during a party meeting. "The opposition bloc has acted this way whenever the country suffered division over national projects like Korea-U.S. FTA or the establishment of a naval base in Jeju. Politicians should stop such behavior as staging hunger strikes with professional protestors or spreading rumors among the public causing uneasiness." Expressing concerns that the visit could incite the residents' anger, Chung reiterated that the government and the ruling party will pay utmost attention to safety concerns regarding the operation of the battery. The government announced that it plans to deploy a THAAD battery in Seongju on July 13, causing a strong backlash by the Seongju residents. They raised concerns over possible hazards to health and agricultural products due to electromagnetic waves emitted by the battery's AN/TPY-2 radar. The Prime Minister and the ruling party senior officials made a visit to the town earlier but were only met with jeers and faced scuffles. Military buying melons In the latest move to appease the enraged residents, the military reportedly bought boxes of melon from Seongju farmers. Defense Security Command and Air Force Headquarters recently made an order of 100 boxes of melons, each, at a total of 2 million won. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Lee Sun-jin distributed the melons to military officials and Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-moo made a private purchase and gave them to reporters at the defense ministry. The purchase, however, only earned the cold shoulder from residents. "I hope the authorities don't flatter themselves, thinking such purchases could turn public opinion," said Chung Young-gil, co-head of a local committee resisting the deployment. "It's much more important to make public reports about the suitability of a THAAD deployment here and have practical discussions with the residents to tackle safety concerns." B-1B Lancers / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye The U.S. Air Force will deploy its B-1B nuclear-capable bombers to Guam later this week for the first time in 10 years, according to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. The deployment of the B-1B Lancers, which carry the largest payload of both guided and unguided weapons of any American current bombers, in Guam is better to deter North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile threats, officials here said. The B-1B Lancers are scheduled to be deployed to the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Aug. 6 in support of U.S. Pacific Command and they will replace B-52s there. The Lancers' last basing on the island was April 2006. "With a large weapon capacity and exceptional standoff strike capability, the B-1 will provide U.S. Pacific Command and its regional allies and partners with a credible, strategic power projection platform," Pacific Air Forces said in a recent statement released on its website. "This forward deployed presence demonstrates the continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region." The statement added that the bombers will be accompanied by approximately 300 airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, but it did not mention how many bombers will be sent. The planned bomber rotation comes amid growing military tension on the Korean Peninsula as the North has been showing no sign of abandoning its nuclear and missile program despite harsher sanctions imposed by the international community. In particular, the repressive state has launched several Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) since April, with the sixth launch on June 22 considered successful. The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed that the missile reached a maximum altitude of 1,413.6 kilometers and fell precisely onto a designated target 400 kilometers away in the sea. The IRBMs, believed to have a range of 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers, can reach Guam, home to U.S. naval and air bases, in theory. Pacific Air Forces said the B-1B bring a unique perspective and years of repeated combat and operational experience from the Central Command theater to the Pacific. "These bomber rotations provide Pacific Air Forces and U.S. Pacific Command commanders a global strike and extended deterrence capability against any potential adversary," it said. The B-1B is a variant of the four-engine nuclear-capable bomber first fielded in the mid-1980s. It is capable of supersonic flight and can carry up to 216,000 kilograms when taking off. The Lancers have served in many conflicts that the United States was involved in over the last few decades including the Gulf War and Kosovo. Most recently, Lancers served as the primary heavy bombers tasked with carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria last year before returning to the United States earlier this year to receive upgrades to their avionics. By Jun Ji-hye A T-shirt worn by members of "Megalia," a feminist community. / Korea Times The minor opposition Justice Party is rapidly losing male members after issuing a statement allegedly siding with a radical feminist community. The statement was issued on July 20 to criticize game firm Nexon for firing a female voice actor the previous day for posting a photo of her wearing a T-shirt reading "Girls do not need a prince" on her Twitter account. The T-shirt is sold by an online anti-misogynist community called "Megalia" to raise funds for its lawsuit against Facebook that deleted the community's page for its satirical hate speech against men. The statement said the company invaded the voice actor's right to work, but this resulted in some members quitting the party in protest against a party position. The members claimed that the party de facto supported Megalia which has been criticized for stirring up hatred toward men. Amid intensified resistance, the progressive party, which holds six seats in the 300-member National Assembly, retracted the statement on July 25 and is making efforts to resolve intra-party conflicts over the issue by planning a meeting between party members next week. "The discussion on the gender conflict has been ongoing in all opposition camps, not just in the Justice Party," spokesman Han Chang-min told reporters. "We are planning to hold a debate next week to discuss overall issues concerning gender equality and misogyny in Korea." But such an effort seems to have failed to calm the resistance of party members, at least so far, as an increasing number are expressing their willingness on the website to leave the party. Floor leader Rep. Roh Hoe-chan said during his radio appearance that the ongoing discussion on the gender issues is just a process of moving forward to a better society that realizes gender equality. "It is improper for a party to side with one certain side," he said. "The Justice Party will lead a discussion to create effective ways of overcoming sexual discrimination issues." The online community Megalia was created in 2015 in response to the website "Ilbe," launched in 2010 and known for its ultra-right political views, most notably its radical anti-women stance. Gender conflict here has been escalating since a murder in May when a man in his 30s stabbed a young woman in her 20s to death in a public bathroom near Gangnam Station. The man reportedly told police that he committed the crime because women "ignored" him. The case led to a fierce discussion between the genders about misogyny and systematic discrimination against women. By Yi Whan-woo The nation's two largest opposition parties are stepping up their campaign to increase corporate tax, triggering concerns from enterprises and the government. The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) said Monday it will introduce a bill that will include raising the maximum rate of corporate tax from 22 percent to 25 percent, Tuesday. Companies with annual profits of over 50 billion won ($45 million), mainly conglomerates, have been paying up to 22 percent corporate tax. The minor opposition People's Party "is on the same page" with the MPK in revising the corporate tax rate, although it is seeking to come up with its own measure by September, according to its officials. The two parties are targeting large firms to raise funds needed to expand welfare programs, create more jobs and help revive the faltering economy. Citing the government's recent tax changes, a People's Party official said these are expected to increase tax revenue by only 317.1 billion annually while the country's accumulated budget deficit hit 38 trillion won last year. "Considering that, a better plan is inevitable, and we think a corporate tax hike will help resolve the problem to some extent," the official said on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the MPK will also demand a revision to the income bracket that requires individuals who earn 150 million won or above annually to pay 38 percent income tax. The party said the rate should be increased to more than 40 percent for those who earn 500 million ($450,000) or above. The MPK turned down criticism that it is "squeezing" the conglomerates and high-income earners. It cited that Korea ranked 19th among 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of the maximum corporate tax rate last year. Its 22 percent corporate tax ceiling was below the OECD average of 23.19 percent, including the United States with 33 percent and France with 34.4 percent. "The largest corporations should be the first targets for taxation," the MPK said. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance, however, cited other OECD data in refuting the MPK's claim The ratio of Korea's corporate tax to its total revenue amounted to 14 percent in 2015, the fourth highest among OECD members, following Norway with 21.7 percent, Australia with 18 percent and New Zealand, 14.1 percent. "You can see that the amount of taxes paid by the conglomerates is relatively large," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "Moreover, a handful of large corporations account for most of the corporate tax." According to data from the National Assembly Budget Office, 0.1 percent of some 650,000 companies subject to taxation pay about 64 percent of the total corporate tax. Citing its 2014 data, the government also claimed that 200,000 people whose earnings were 120 million or above accounted for 1.5 percent of the country's total work force. And they paid 40.9 percent of the total income tax. It added that there were 8 million workers exempted from income tax and they accounted for 48.1 percent of the salary-paid workers. "It will be more effective to impose tax on those who are exempt from taxation instead of putting more of a burden on high-income earners," a ministry official said. By Kim Se-jeong A K-pop museum and music institute may be set up in Chang-dong, northeastern Seoul, along with the construction of a mega cultural performance arena. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday that it is considering opening the museum, the school and other facilities as part of its urban redevelopment project for the region, and has just undertaken a feasibility study. By 2020, the area will also house Seoul Arena, the nation's biggest performance hall with 20,000 seats, for contemporary music and dance performances. "By the time Seoul Arena opens and hosts performances, it will attract hallyu fans who may fuel demand for other cultural attractions there," a city official said. By Kim Se-jeong A group of victims of toxic humidifier disinfectant poisoning refused to accept Oxy Reckitt Benckiser (RB)'s latest compensation offer, arguing it only attempted to buy them off with money. The victims and the families said Monday that they see the compensation plan as an attempt by the company to avoid severe punishment, saying the company's apology was "crocodile tears." Their reaction came a day after the Oxy RB announced it would receive compensation applications, encouraging the victims to follow the instructions on its website. "When the National Assembly's special investigation committee visited the company last week, officials denied the accusations and had an insincere attitude," the group said in a statement. "Showing such an attitude and presenting its compensation plan, the company is only trying to gag us with money." "We cannot accept this process. We were not invited to talk about compensation," Kim Deok-jong who lost a child to the Oxy humidifier disinfectant said. In May, he flew to London to protest in front of the RB's headquarters. "This is not an agreement based on consensus." The compensation offer came after three meetings with victims and is applicable to serious injured victims and families of those who were killed by the toxic chemicals used in the product. The humidifier disinfectant killed at least 147 people officially, and 103 of them are believed to have used the Oxy products. According to the plan, up to 1 billion won will be given to the family of a child who was killed. For adult victims who were killed, the company proposed 350 million won. For those alive, the company will pay compensation based on the extent of physical damages they suffered. Activists helping the victims also denounced the manufacturer. "Again, Oxy is trying to cover up the scandal quickly by handing out money fast. If it really feels sorry, it has to recognize its wrongdoing and comply with investigations by the Korean prosecution and the Assembly," the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health said in a statement. The center also said Jain Gaurav, former CEO of the company serving between 2010 and 2013, should be called to Korea for interrogation. He is currently working in Singapore and refusing to comply with the investigation. Legal experts said the amount of compensation is also too small, and the compensation proposal would not attract people to drop their compensation suits and settle with the plan. The Supreme Court is working to increase the amount of compensation for victims suffering from damage up to 1.1 billion won. "I will not apply for compensation," Kim said. He is currently involved in a compensation suit against the company in the British court and said he will not drop the suit. The humidifier disinfectant case is the worst biocide scandal in Korean history, killing mostly children and pregnant women who spent a lot of time indoors. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo The U.S. Air Force will deploy B-1B supersonic bombers in Guam early this month. "The deployment was decided as a way to better handle North Korea's nuclear and missile threats," read a statement on the Pacific Air Forces website. The B-1B Lancers will replace the B-52 Stratofortress at Andersen Air Force Base. This marks the first time in 10 years that B-1Bs will be stationed in Guam. "With a large weapon capacity and exceptional standoff strike capability, the B-1Bs will provide the U.S. Pacific Command and its regional allies and partners with a credible, strategic power projection platform," the statement said. However the U.S. Pacific Command did not say how many B-1B bombers would operate out of Guam. The B-1B, which went into operation with the U.S. Air Force in the 1980s, can reach speeds of up to Mach 1.25, or 1,335 k/ph, at an altitude of just 1.5 kilometers. It can carry nuclear weapons, as well as conventional guided bombs, such as the GBU-31, the GBU-38 and the GBU-54. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo North Korea has accused South Korea's intelligence agency of releasing snakes along the Ryanggang Province border with China. Unexpectedly large numbers of snakes have bitten soldiers and local residents, reports say. "Earlier this month, border patrol units received orders to capture snakes before they crawl over the banks of the Yalu River," said a source in the province. The source said Pyongyang was certain the snakes were an attempt by the South to challenge the unity of North Korean citizens. However, not all are convinced that the South's intelligence agency is behind such outlandish plot. According to the source, people pointed out that "not even a three-year-old would believe the South would attack us with snakes instead of propaganda leaflets or CDs." The problem has apparently become a serious issue in the hermit state, with rumors that some people have died from snakebites. North Korea's Ministry of People's Security has alerted people about the snakes and urged residents to be on guard. However, the source said the whole affair was nothing but rubbish and a way for leader Kim Jong-un to stir up anti-South sentiment during the economic crisis. "State propaganda previously proclaimed that the large number of stick insects plaguing North Korean corn fields was due to an imperialist scheme by the United States," said the source. "The rhetoric will taper off eventually because, contrary to this outlandish narrative, only a few people have actually seen any snakes." The source said that if there was an actual infestation it would be due to lack of pesticide rather than an evil scheme by the South's intelligence agency. North Korean security agents are secretly using Samsung and LG smartphones. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Jin-a North Korean security officials sent overseas to monitor North Korean laborers are secretly using South Korean-made smartphones, a South Korean news outlet said Monday. According to the Daily NK, North Korean security agents are using Samsung and LG smartphones, while ordinary workers are banned from owning a smartphone. "The security agents and senior officials supervising the laborers are able to use the phones to check the Internet more easily than the ordinary workers can," a source said. "Officials are not usually caught using the electronic devices because the agents turn a blind eye to each other." The source also said officials used smartphones to evaluate what the outside world thinks about Kim Jong-un's regime and prospects for the isolated country. "The agents are checking news from the outside world no matter how small," the source said. North Korean fishing boat / Courtesy of Yonhap By Hong Dam-young North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Shinmun has printed a story about a fishing boat operated only by "virgin women." The article appeared on July 30 under the headline "We also are the keepers of Golden Sea." Named "The Daughter-Young Men Heroine of Korean Worker's Party," the highly praised fishing boat is operated by the fishing industry in the city of Nampo, according to the article. Mobilizing women into the fishing industry where men are usually in the majority and praising the launch of the boat are viewed as an attempt to boost output by increasing the number of people employed in it. The move may be part of the North's ongoing 200-day "speed campaign." The state, which has been under heavy international sanctions in response to its nuclear program earlier this year, is promoting the campaign to boost its sputtering domestic economy and pursue its philosophy of "self-reliance" by imposing heavier workloads on the people. Encouraging women to work on a boat, which can be demanding, clearly reflects the pressure North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un is under to dig his country out of stagnation. "From those various ships of all similar shapes and sizes, it was easy to spot the Daughter-Young Men Heroine from a distance," the article said. "Those women on the ship waved and smiled at us like blooming flowers as we stepped up to the deck to meet them." In the article, a woman named Han Hyun-ok introduced herself as the captain. She said she was assigned to work in the Nampo fishing industry after graduating from a middle school eight years ago. She decided to become a captain after hearing a heartwarming story of how the boat was launched. The article did not forget to extol the work of these hardworking women. "It was our wrong belief that they would have sturdy bodies and tanned skin just like male fishermen," the article said. "They did an excellent job of delicately operating the boat and keeping a daily record after monitoring complicated boat equipment." "Now, women can enjoy the glory of leading a worthy life as a female conqueror instead of doing an arduous job of diving into the dark blue sea to feed the family," the article said at the end, showing a hint of propaganda. By Liang Tuang Nah The progress of the North Korean ballistic missile program seems inexorable. In his quest to build a credible ability to threaten U.S. Pacific territories like Guam with a nuclear strike, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un has pushed his missile program through five unsuccessful tests of the Hwasong-10 IRBM on April 15, 2016, April 28 (two on the same day), May 31 and June 22 respectively, before a successful sixth test on the same day as the fifth failure. On July 9, Kim's missile program attempted to test a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM), a Bukguekseong-1 SLBM, which exploded shortly after launch. However, if history is any guide, this failure should not be dismissed as the North Koreans are known to disregard surrender as an option, striving for a successful test over the long run. Excluding this launch, the KN-11 has already been tested nine times since October 2014. While Korea's national intelligence agency has predicted that Pyongyang could deploy an operational SLBM by 2019, it would not be surprising if this goal is reached much earlier. If the deployment of effective North Korean IRBMs and SLBMs is inevitable, it would only make sense for the U.S.-ROK alliance to deploy the U.S. made Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system on South Korean soil in order to intercept any North Korea missiles. However, the range of the THAAD radar and interceptor missiles will enable this system to intercept missiles fired from China, eroding the efficacy of the PRC's strategic deterrence. Hence, Beijing bitterly opposes Washington's and Seoul's joint decision taken on July 8 to deploy THAAD. However, Beijing cannot have its cake and eat it too. In all previous Pyongyang instigated nuclear or missile crises, China has always insisted that North Korea be negotiated with, while concurrently persuading the U.S. and ROK from implementing punitive measures, and refusing to apply any economic sanctions that would seriously pressure the DPRK. Cynically, it can be argued that the PRC's leadership wants both Washington and Seoul to maintain a policy of strategic patience, and treat North Korea with "kid gloves" while respecting Chinese deterrence sensitivities. It can be seen that the Kim regime is all too willing to use nuclear and missile aggrandizement as part of a coercive negotiation to obtain aid from the U.S. and/or South Korea. Hence, since carrots do not work in bringing about any lasting positive change in North Korean behavior, it is reasonable to resort to the stick. Additionally, since the DPRK can, given sufficient time, develop successful IRBMs, SLBMs and possibly Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, action must be taken to limit Pyongyang's strategic missile arsenal to the low dozens or even less. Considering that previous United Nations Security Council Resolutions have already prohibited all North Korean missile tests, China as the DPRK's only significant global conduit, must strictly prohibit all rocket fuel or fuel production chemical exports, along with any materials components that might be useful for missile production to the latter. Lastly, it would be hypocritical of Beijing to object to THAAD deployment while refusing to apply coercive economic leverage against Pyongyang to influence the Kim regime. If Kim chooses to consistently thumb his nose at Beijing using nuclear and missile shenanigans, perhaps a two week closure of all land crossings and sea ports to North Korean commercial traffic would remind young Marshall Kim that as his grandfather and father could not ignore the strategic interests and dictates of the PRC, neither can he. Liang Tuang Nah, Ph.D., is a fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. Write to isltnah@ntu.edu.sg. By Kim In-hwan "Passengers, your attention, please. Thailand Airlines Flight 747 bound for England at nine will be delayed for one hour. Your new boarding time will be 10:00 a.m. this morning." I thought something was wrong with the plane because the weather was so beautiful. While some passengers were complaining and protesting the delay, most were quiet. I sat down by the window reading a book for about an hour when I heard another announcement, "Passengers, Thailand Airlines Flight 747 bound for England at 10 a.m. today will be delayed till nine p.m. due to engine trouble." At the time I was traveling with a 95-member team of an International club traveling to 20 countries. This announcement made some passengers angry and others furious. A few staff members of the club asked me to go to the plane office with them. Although I was one of the members, I also served as the only interpreter. Upon entering the office, one of them shouted, "We are supposed to attend an international conference held in England tomorrow morning. We must leave tonight. What on earth are you doing?" The section chief said, "We are very sorry for the delay. We are doing our best so that we can depart early tomorrow." Then the man representing ninety-four Koreans shouted, "I demand to see your senior officer. I must talk to him. Where is the president of your company anyway?" The section chief said, "The president of our company? He is in his office in New York. I am now representing our airline company here as the temporary president in Italy. I'm sorry that we have to wait till a part of the plane engine arrives." When I finished translating the remarks, I was asked to translate the following, "You SOB, we want to talk directly to your boss. Bring him here." I couldn't translate the nasty remarks into English. Instead I started to persuade my colleague in a polite way, "We are taking part in an international conference, and at the same time we should also demonstrate a good example here at the airport as Korean citizens. Let's see this matter from the perspective of the airline company. We should accept the fact that it takes over half a day to bring a necessary engine part from the U.S. to Italy. Now let's see it from the point of the pilots? Will they operate the plane when they know it has a serious defect in the engine?" That evening all passengers were driven to a hotel to stay for the night. Now was the time when a few foreign passengers began to demand a better quality hotel and food. As a result, we could stay at a better hotel and were served a variety of better food. The very next day we could fly safely to England. Recently we have witnessed a few unfortunate incidents concerning airplanes. One of the Air Force's elite Thunderbird pilots crashed Thursday following a flyover for the Air Force Academy's graduation ceremony. An F-16 returning to Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, crashed shortly after a flyover. A Korean Air Boeing 777 had an engine on fire and aborted a takeoff from Haneda Airport Japan. Most of these accidents are due to poor maintenance and the advent of low-cost airlines which many people use. It seems clear that airline companies should hire more experienced engineers to prevent accidents. Since I fly over 150 times a year, I am very concerned about the safety of plane transportation. Here are a few traveling tips for consideration. 1. Every problem has numerous solutions. When a problem presents itself, be calm and quick to think of different solutions. If time permits, write them down and choose one that seems to be the best for the situation. 2. Let's be modest. Benjamin Franklin once confessed, "Humility was the most difficult out of the 13 virtues in my life." 3. Let's see things from the other person's point of view. Then we can behave more rationally and not put our lives in jeopardy. Then we will be free from danger and live the life that is ours with maturity. By Shin Sung-won The South Korean Defense Ministry and the U.S. forces command stationed in Korea announced on July 8 that they would deploy a THAAD missile battery to defend against incoming nuclear missiles from North Korea. China is fiercely opposed to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on South Korean territory. Why is China so vehemently against THAAD? We try to find the reasons in the military capabilities of China and the United States. China's defense industry is still in its infancy. Aside from a few notable exceptions, such as ballistic missiles, the Chinese military-industrial complex has appeared to demonstrate little capacity for designing and producing relatively advanced conventional weapons systems. For example, China still cannot mass-produce high-performance aircraft engines, despite the immense resources it has thrown at the effort, and relies instead on second-rate Russian models. In other areas, for example undersea warfare, China is still behind. China is poorly equipped for antisubmarine warfare and is doing very little to improve its posture here. And only now is the country capable of producing nuclear-powered attack submarines that are comparable in quietness to the ones the U.S. Navy commissioned in the 1950s. Since that time, the U.S. government has invested hundreds of billions of dollars and six decades of effort to achieve its current generation of Virginia-class submarines, which have achieved absolute levels of silence. One can debate whether China will soon reach the first major milestone on the journey from great power to superpower: that is, having the requisite economic resources. But a giant economy alone will not make China the world's second superpower, nor would overcoming the next big hurdle attaining the requisite technological capacity. After that lies the challenge of transforming all this latent power projection and then learning how to use it. Each of these steps is time consuming and fraught with difficulty. What makes the United States a superpower is its ability to operate globally. Only the U.S. has control over the air, space and the open sea, along with the necessary infrastructure for managing these domains. When one measures the 14 categories of systems that create this capability, which comprises nuclear attack submarines, satellites, transport aircraft and more, what emerges is an overwhelming U.S. advantage in each area, the result of decades of advances on multiple fronts. It would take a very long time for China to approach U.S. power on any of these fronts, let alone all of them. Despite China's ascent, the United States' position of superpower is more secure than recent commentary would have one believe, in fact, the chief threat to the world's preeminent power arguably lies within. The disparity of military capabilities between the U.S. and China is much bigger than commonly thought. THAAD is the most sophisticated weapons system ever developed. In the THAAD system, we see the most advanced military technology invented by any country. Chinese opposition to the deployment of THAAD in Korea is out of fear that such ominous weapons are too closely deployed to Chinese territory. Taking this into consideration, the U.S. and Korea could take measures to alleviate Chinese concerns. Thinking rationally, the deployment of THAAD is inevitable. The decision comes from the serious threat of North Korea developing nuclear weapons and delivery systems (missiles). The main reason of the U.S.-Korea alliance, which has been established since 1953, has been the defense of South Korea against possible provocative military attacks by North Korea. If South Korea and the United States could not deploy any defensive weapons system due to third-party pressure, it would have serious ramifications for the R.O.K-U.S. solid alliance. The key of the alliance is to reserve the right of joint military exercises and of deploying weapons systems for the other party's defense. Therefore, deploying THAAD here is inevitable. Fanuc Chairman Yoshiharu Inaba delivers his keynote speech about the growing roles of robot technologies at this year's "Pyeongchang Forum," Sunday. / Courtesy of FKI Fanuc chief urges firms to prepare for new industrial wave- By Kim Yoo-chul PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province _ Yoshiharu Inaba is secretive and rarely speaks to the media as he spends most of his time in discussions with clients ranging from Samsung Electronics to Apple, Tesla and Ford. He is the chairman of Fanuc, a leading supplier of industrial robots, based in Japan. Fanuc is one of Japan's most profitable companies. But Inaba had to work around his already tight schedule to participate in this year's Pyeongchang Forum, organized by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), as the forum has highlighted the growing roles of industrial robot technologies. The chairman said Korean manufacturers should be adaptive to the tides of the emerging new industrial wave as emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the world in the next several decades. Be quick The chairman said quicker execution was the key factor behind the company's success in the industrial robotics business. "Fanuc has tried to reflect the latest emerging technologies in core works and to establish our systems as the new standard," the chairman said during an interview last week. Fanuc, which was separated from Fujitsu in 1972, has total assets of about 60 trillion won with the company generating 6.7 trillion won in sales last year. The company achieved a 37 percent operating profit margin in 2015. Its robots are used on the smartphone production lines of Samsung and Apple as they are used to make metal cases for iPhones and Galaxy devices. They are also used for everything from vehicles to beverages to pharmaceuticals. "The reason why Fanuc keeps our manufacturing facilities operating in Japan despite growing fixed costs is that we want to prove that robots can work together with people in the same area and robots can help manufacturing companies maintain competitiveness," Inaba said. Fanuc has 38 production facilities in Japan and 1,500 employees, however, the company deployed 3,000 robots in the facilities handling 80 percent of labor on the production line. "Sometimes, robots are better at self-learning. We are also seeing advances in AI. This trend will allow robots to watch, learn and to improve their capabilities. Also, by utilizing an IoT system, we can network the robots. Within the IoT framework, robots can exchange information for accuracy and efficiency," Inaba said. The chairman stressed that Fanuc is prepared to beat its rivals. "Our technologies will be in sync with various industrial standards." Fanuc's annual production capacity of industrial robots was about 5,000 as of last year. Inaba said "ability" is the key to management. "Although my father created the company, he has no stake in Fanuc and the same goes for me as well. My oldest son, who is serving as the head of the company's robotics business, has no stake in Fanuc," the chairman responded. "If my son proves his management capability, then yes, there are some possibilities that he will be promoted to chief executive. But I believe he can manage the company well without a stake in the company," Inaba added. Hedge fund threats According to the chairman, leadership is the key to protecting businesses from growing threats from hedge funds. "The best way to block takeovers from hedge funds is to improve corporate value as that means more returns to shareholders. I don't think hedge funds could better manage the company than current Fanuc management," the chairman said. Fanuc was threatened with a takeover by a New York hedge fund Third Point, which had owned a stake in Fanuc. Later, Fanuc established a team to improve its communication with investors and vowed to increase shareholder return. "No moves on us by hedge funds are being traced, for the time being," he said. LG Electronics' mobile chief Cho Juno introduces its 5.7-inch premium handset the V10 at its launch in Seoul, Oct. 1 in 2015. / Courtesy of LG Electronics Company hopes to rebound with Android 7.0 OS By Lee Min-hyung The first half of the year could not have been more challenging for LG Electronics' mobile unit, with its modular handset the G5 failing to reach the sales expected. The flagship handset started with great fanfare upon its introduction in March, with customers praising LG's braveness to tap into the risky unconventional handset ecosystem. But it didn't take long for the company to realize that the handset ended in failure. In early July, LG Electronics announced its corporate reshuffle, replacing some executives in its mobile communication (MC) division. The move came as the firm hoped to give fresh momentum to the ailing mobile unit following the poor performance of the new flagship smartphone. The company then created a program management office (PMO), directly-controlled by its mobile unit chief Cho Juno. LG previously explained that the new organization manages whole processes for its flagship handset business, ranging from product planning, marketing to sales. LG is launching two flagship smartphone lineups the G and V series each year since the firm first unveiled the 5.7-inch premium handset, V10, last October. The LG mobile chief previously said the move came as part of its revenue diversification strategy by launching two flagship lineups with the G series in the first half of the year and the V lineup in the latter half. Amid growing market uncertainty, the company on Monday unveiled its plan to launch the new V series, V20, in September, with no specific timeline included. "The V20 is designed to offer optimum multimedia experience for users," said an LG Electronics spokesman. The company said in a statement that the new handset comes with the latest Android operating system (OS), Android 7.0 Nougat. LG said the decision reflects its strong partnership with Google, with both parties previously agreeing to exchange patents until 2023. The LG mobile chief said in the statement: "The V20 is our first device to equip the up-to-date Android OS." He said the company hopes to set a new standard for the premium device market with the enhanced multimedia functionality of the V20. Late last month, the company said in a regulatory filing that it will strengthen functionalities in video and audio for its new V series, as the V10 previously won favorable market responses for its dual-selfie camera and dual-screen. An industry source said: "LG appears to have decided to introduce the new flagship handset earlier than expected, as the company should brace for fierce competition against other new premium smartphones from Apple and Samsung." Samsung Electronics plans to launch its new premium handset Galaxy Note 7 in New York, Tuesday. Apple's new iPhone series will also reportedly be unveiled in September. Meanwhile, the V10 won explosive market responses in the United States where the company had sold more than 450,000 V10 handsets, only 45 days after its launch there. The achievement enabled the company to record a 35.7 percent U.S. market share among smartphones with more than 5.7-inch display, according to market researcher International Technology Group (ITG). Republic High School and Wilson's Creek National Battlefield host a stop on the American Solar Challenge race on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Thirteen university teams from around the world -- including one from Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla -- designed and built solar-powered cars that are driving 1,975 miles during an eight-day rally. Wilson's Creek NB is one of nine National Park Service stops in seven states. The American Solar Challenge cars will stop at Republic High School on Tuesday. The high school is on Highway M at Highway ZZ. The initial period that organizers expected most of the cars to arrive was 4 to 8 p.m. but some may arrive as early as 10 a.m. They'll be in the parking area in front of the main entrance to Republic High School. Several booths at the school will showcase how groups protect and educate the greater Springfield area about maintaining a healthy Ozarks environment. Students will answer questions about how the solar vehicles operate and promote their individual schools. Visitors can see the cars and enjoy other activities, including discovering how climate change impacts the Midwest, making sun-heated smores, etc. On Wednesday, the vehicles will move to Wilsons Creek National Battlefield, between 6 and 8 a.m., to charge up for the days race. People can go to the battlefield and watch the vehicles leave for their next host park. As part of its 2016 Centennial, the National Park Service challenged itself to provide more research and education around the effects of climate change on national park resources. The Green Parks Program encourages walking, biking, ride-sharing, and use of fuel-efficient or alternative-fuel vehicles. The American Solar Challenge highlights these efforts by bringing solar-powered cars to parks. Every two years, the Innovators Educational Foundation organizes the American Solar Challenge, a collegiate student design competition to design, build, and drive solar-powered vehicles in a cross-country time/distance rally event. The American Solar Challenge began at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on Saturday. It ends in Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota next Saturday. Other stops include Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Ohio; George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes, Indiana; Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis; Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas; Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, and Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska. More information is available at https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1671/american-solar-challenge.htm. For more information about regulations and the university teams competing, visit americansolarchallenge.org. The Missouri S&T car was ninth out of the 13 competitors at the stop in Vincennes. The price of LITRO gas cylinders would be further reduced in the first week of November in accordance with the Read more PRESS RELEASE General Kujat for a Marshall Plan for Syria WIESBADEN, July 30 (EIRNS)The German Air Force website reported yesterday on a speech by Gen. Harald Kujat (ret.), former chief of the Bundeswehr General Staff (2000-02), and chairman of the NATO Military Committee (2002-05), several weeks ago to an audience of several hundred at the Non-Commissioned Officers School of the German Luftwaffe that called for a Marshall Plan for Syria. General Kujat said: "Its necessary to stabilize the country, establish a transitional government with free elections, and support democracy and reconstruction, similar to the Marshall Plan in the former post-war Germany." General Kujat and another speaker Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy head of the Free Democratic Party, both answered a question on the danger of war in Europe that "nobody wanted one." General Kujat then added: "But an inadvertent action could escalate and then cause a war," and that for centuries conflicts have started in this way. The report continues, paraphrasing him, that "The NATO maneuvers taking place on Russias western borders dont contribute to easing tensions, and they brand Russia as an opponent. Kubicki spoke of an inappropriate Kettenrasseln" which is undermining the efforts for a common security policy with Russia that was begun in the 1990s. Kubicki paralleled German Foreign Minister Steinmeiers earlier attack on "NATO saber rattling." Both speakers also rejected using the Bundeswehr within Germany against the terrorist threat, pointing to the need to expand police capabilities. They uphold the German Constitutions clarity on the division of powers, which shouldnt be undermined. General Kujat is well-known for being rigorous that the Bundestag is the branch that authorizes foreign military deployments. The use of NATO AWACS planes, partially staffed by German troops, for use in Syria where the potential for incidents with the Russian Aerospace Forces could take place, is such a case in point. Former State Secretary to the Defense Ministry and former OSCE Vice President Willy Wimmer yesterday told Sputnik Deutschland that a U.S. NATO AWACS and a Saudi AWACS plane might have been involved in the Turkish Air Force shooting down a Russian Su-24 bomber in November 2015. The agencys English service Sputnik International reported Wimmers remarks today. PRESS RELEASE Stress Tests Cheat on Reality July 30, (EIRNS)The European Banking Authority (ECA/ECB) stress tests consisted in calculating how much capital banks would lose in an "adverse scenario" of "falls in real EU gross domestic product of 1.2% in 2016, 1.3% in 2017 and 0.7% in 2018," on average, according to the Financial Times. However, individual countries scenarios seem to be different. For instance, the adverse scenario for Italy anticipates a real GDP fall of almost 6% in the three years from 2016-2018. In 2018 the output would be 10% lower than in 2007, the lowest since World War II. Also, an increase of 100 basis points in sovereign bond yields is presumed, which means a 12% depreciation of bonds. Also, apparently the EBA did not consider a "credit event" and a global financial crisis. The ten banks that performed worst are: Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Reiffeisen (Austria), Banco Popular (Spain), UniCredit, Barclays, Allied Irish Banks, Commerzbank, Bank of Ireland, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale. However, only Monte dei Paschi had a negative CT1 (i.e. under the "adverse scenario" a capital ratio lower than 7%). Critics of the stress tests emphasize the lack of an adequate estimation of the assets side of bank balance sheets, which are filled up with derivatives. However, even the fraudulent estimations of the EBA/ECB are enough to unleash fears of an earthquake on financial markets, so that stress test results were released after the closure of all markets. Whats going through Tyrones mind when Fiz and Tyrone read the first extract from The Gazette? After feeling like he has just got through e... PRESS RELEASE New Call for Smashing Assad Comes from Clintons CampJeremy Bash in Londons Telegraph; Pressure on Obama To Act Now July 31, (EIRNS)In the Telegraph of London, an exclusive interview was run July 29 with Hillary Clintons foreign policy advisor Jeremy Bash, who was chief of staff for Leon Panetta as Obamas CIA Director (2009-11) and Defense Secretary (2011-13). Bash issues a strident call for stepped up action in Syria against Bashar al-Assad. While posing this an attack on Obamas being soft, the reality is that it is an attack on Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been working directly with Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov to formulate an actual solution to the Syria crisis, based on targeting the terrorists, not the government. Bash states that Clinton will be ordering a "full review" of U.S. strategy; that is, that she backs tougher action than the Obama Administration is performing to date. This is in line with the bellicose remarks made by Bashs boss Leon Panetta himself, at the Democratic Convention on July 27, where he was booed with the chant, "No More War." A rundown on Panetta and otherscalled "Hillarys Hawks"was issued in last Fridays Consortiumnews.com by author Gareth Porter. The Telegraph article is titled, "Hillary Clinton Will Reset Syria Policy against Murderous Assad Regime," and its gist is to say that the Obama administration (i.e., Kerry) is prevaricating on Syria, especially by working with Russia. Bash is quoted, "A Clinton Administration will not shrink from making clear to the world exactly what the Assad regime is. 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," and so on. According to the Telegraph write-up, "Mr. Bash describes a foreign policy more hawkish than that of the current administration." That is the point of the Gareth Porter posting July 29 on Consortiumnews.com "Hillary Clinton and Her Hawks." Porter covers the recent bellicose statements by Leon Panetta and Michelle Flournoy, said to be in line for Clintons Defense Secretary, noting, "It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for figures known to be close to a presidential candidate to make public recommendations for a 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." Clintons advisors so openly calling for war on Assad, "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." PRESS RELEASE Stephen CohenIts Not Trump, Its World War III July 31, 2016 (EIRNS)Professor Stephen Cohen, the New York University Russian scholar was allowed a brief interview on CNN Saturday. While the interviewer did as expected, trying to ridicule Cohen for defending Putin, implying he must be a Trump supporter, Cohen sternly warned that that the issue in not Trump, but World War III if the West continues on its current path. "Vladimir Putin wants to end the New Cold Warand so do I," Cohen said. "Were approaching a Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear confrontation with Russia, both along Russias borders and possibly over Syria. There is absolutely no discussion, no debate, about this in the American mediaincluding, forgive me, on CNN." CNN tried to turn it into an issue of Trump being Putins front-man. Cohen responded that he has nothing to do with Trump, but that when he said he wants to cooperate with Russia in some ways, "astonishingly, the media is full of what only can be called neo-McCarthyite charges that he is a Russian agent, that he is a Manchurian candidate, and that he is Putins client. So the real danger is whats being done to our own political process." On Trumps questioning the role of NATO, Cohen said: PRESS RELEASE Russias Ambassador to UN Issues Dire Warning on Ukraine Aug. 1, 2016 (EIRNS)On July 22, Russias Ambassador to the United Nations Vitali Churkin sent a letter to the UN Security Council, saying that the military situation in eastern Ukraine needs to be stabilized in conjunction with a search for political solutions. A de-escalation in the area is urgent, he wrote. The latest events, however, show that Kiev is not going in that direction. There is every indication that the Ukrainian military is preparing an offensive. He called on other powers to use their influence on Ukraine. Its one of the most important documents in the history of democracy. And now, thanks to an emotional speech delivered at the Democratic National Convention last week, a pocket-sized version of the U.S. Constitution is one of the most popular books in the country. As of Monday morning, a 52-page, pamphlet-sized version of the document was the No. 2 bestselling book on Amazon, second only to the newly released Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The pocket Constitution, which sells for one dollar, skyrocketed on Amazon after Thursdays DNC speech by Khizr Khan, a Virginia lawyer whose son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan, was killed in 2004 in Iraq. Advertisement Khan directed some of his remarks to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who in 2015 suggested that he would ban Muslims from immigrating to the U.S. if he were elected. Donald Trump, youre asking Americans to trust you with their future, an emotional Khan said. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? He then pulled out a pocket version of the document from his suit jacket, and said, I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. The version thats trending on Amazon, which doesnt appear to be the same one Khan has, is published by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, an Idaho-based organization founded by the late conservative writer W. Cleon Skousen. Pocket Constitutions have been around at least since 1965, Betsy Woodruff explains in Slate magazine, when a Democratic U.S. House member named Wayne Hays asked Congress to print a version of the founding document that could be easily carried around. As Woodruff notes, pocket Constitutions have been popular with Americans all over the political spectrum, from liberals and progressives to Tea Party activists. The libertarian Cato Institute sells pocket-sized versions of the document for $4.95 each on its website, and the liberal American Civil Liberties Union offers its version for $5, although it is giving away one free Constitution per customer until Election Day. ALSO: Father of Muslim soldier killed in Iraq to Trump: You have sacrificed nothing In response to Muslim father of fallen soldier, Donald Trump insists hes made a lot of sacrifices Trump claims he was viciously attacked by parents of fallen soldier as criticisms escalate The right-wing legislative lobbying group ALEC has been losing corporate members at a remarkable pace since 2012, due in part to its support of measures attacking clean energy, workers rights and voting rights. That makes the appearance of AARP on the list of sponsors of ALECs 2016 annual meeting last month all the more curious. As the Center for Media and Democracy, a long-term ALEC nemesis, revealed last week, AARP isnt exactly hiding its new financial relationship with ALEC. The retirees lobbying and service organization was listed in the annual meeting program as a trustees level sponsor. CMD reports that an AARP-branded portable cellphone charger was handed out to attendees as they registered for the event, held July 27-29 in Indianapolis. Advertisement AARP isnt exactly hiding its new financial relationship with ALEC. Center for Media and Democracy The Koch-affiliated ALEC the name stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council operates by offering model legislative packages to its members, who typically are conservative Republican state legislators. They introduce the bills at home, allowing their legislative concepts to metastasize into statehouses across the country. A prime example is stand-your-ground laws. The original measure was enacted by Florida in 2005 with the support of the National Rifle Assn. It provided a defense to anyone using deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another. The law was a key to the successful defense of George Zimmerman against a murder charge in the 2012 shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. After Florida enacted its measure, it was translated into an ALEC model and passed in 16 more states. Among the policies that have been promoted by ALEC are several that arguably undermine the interests of seniors and retirees, AARPs core constituency. ALEC has pushed for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which has saved Medicare enrollees millions of dollars by closing the Medicare drug benefit donut hole. It has opposed Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. It has targeted public pensions, pushing to cap benefits and shift workers toward defined contribution plans, which layer more market risk on individual workers shoulders. Backlash against ALEC began in 2011, just as its influence among state legislators was reaching its peak. At the time, ALEC model bills and resolutions were being offered nationwide to repeal Obamacare, tighten voter ID laws, loosen environmental regulations, scale back public pensions and sap the organizing ability of unions. But its very prominence became a bane. ALEC has become part of the broad litany of complaints among those castigating corporations for gaming democratic institutions in their favor, wrote Governing, a nonpartisanly wonkish publication for state and local policymakers, in 2011. An exodus of big corporations soon followed. AARP initially responded to the CMD disclosures by asserting that its participation in the annual meeting was part of its general political outreach, and didnt reflect any alignment with ALEC policies.Our participation is not an endorsement of any particular perspective, but, rather, is evidence of our commitment to discussing these issues with people on all sides. See the most-read stories in Business this hour >> On Monday, in response to our queries, AARP gave a bit more detail on its relationship with ALEC while reiterating, AARPs engagement with ALEC is NOT an endorsement of the organizations policies either past or present. It specifically disavowed support for ALEC model bills seeking a constitutional amendment for a balanced federal budget, which is a direct attack on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; the repeal of the Affordable Care Act; nor the other model legislation posted on ALECs website. AARP has advocated in opposition of these proposals in the states and in Congress and will continue to do so. ALEC hasnt responded to our request for comment. AARPs statement acknowledged that it paid a fee to ALEC in 2016 to provide an opportunity to engage with state legislators and advance our members priorities from a position of strength at ALECs annual meeting. AARP added, given that Republicans control one or more chambers in 39 of the nations 50 state legislatures, we believe having a seat at the table at the ALEC annual meeting was necessary to our mission of representing the interests and needs of people 50-plus and their families. The statement didnt address CMDs assertion that AARP had paid fees or dues to ALEC in the past, or specify how much it had paid for the meeting sponsorship. An AARP spokesman said he would get back to me with more details; Ill update this post as more information comes in. Yet in arguing that a relationship with ALEC is necessary to engage with the legislators affiliated with the group, AARP is taking a different approach from the dozens of corporations that have abandoned ALEC. Presumably Ford, Google, Facebook and Microsoft have as much of an interest in meeting with conservative Republican legislators as AARP. Yet theyve all dropped their membership in the organization. Among the departing members have been the fossil fuel companies BP and Shell, the latter of which announced that ALECs stance on climate change is clearly inconsistent with our own. Its increasingly obvious that you can not run a successful 21st century company while associating with ideologues from the stone age, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune declared after a spate of corporate departures in 2012. AARP may feel its in a different position from a company. But its on dangerous ground. One cant change an organization like ALEC from the inside, and one cant hang around its annual meeting as a sponsor and avoid at least some association with its policies. AARPs statement says it evaluates its relationship with all organizations with which it is involved..on an ongoing basis. Thats similar to the language that other corporate members used, just before they pulled the plug on their relationships. It would be wise for AARP to follow that model. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. MORE FROM BUSINESS German company plugs into L.A. area for its electricity storage operation Closing the Bank of Mom and Dad Looking for work? Airlines will need 617,000 pilots over next 20 years Ubers abrupt decision to sell its China operations to chief rival Didi Chuxing on Monday adds to a growing list of U.S. technology firms that have failed to flourish in the worlds second largest economy. The list, which reads like a corporate all-star team, includes Google, EBay, Amazon and Facebook. Each company set out to seize on Chinas breathtaking size and potential. Each has been disappointed. What makes China such a challenging market for so many American tech stalwarts? For one, it operates like an alternate Internet universe with established homegrown versions of Google (Baidu), Twitter (Sina Weibo) and YouTube (Youku Tudou). Advertisement Many Chinese firms can innovate safe in the knowledge they dont have to face foreign competition thanks to government bans on popular platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For the foreign companies that do make it in, they are often pitted against local companies as the non-Chinese option no small detail against a backdrop of heightening nationalism. Just last month, Chinese Internet users were posting pictures of their smashed iPhones to protest Washingtons objections to Beijings territorial claims in the South China Sea. And that was for Apple, considered the most successful foreign tech brand in China. Theres a home-field advantage, said Arthur Dong, a professor at Georgetowns McDonough School of Business. Whether its state function of government policy or a less formal policy, foreign companies are at a great disadvantage. Thats in line with Beijings desire to cultivate so-called national champions, large domestic companies hoped to one day become Chinas most recognizable multi-national brands. The goal is to wean the countrys now slowing economy off exports and infrastructure investment and ensure that the most lucrative opportunities go to Chinese firms. Since President Xi Jinping took office, they have increasingly switched from an economic strategy that emphasizes attracting foreign direct investment to one that favors indigenous innovation and Chinese-owned firms, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. One of the easier places to do this is on the Internet, Atkinson said, because it doesnt require the cutting edge technology or know-how of, say, the aerospace or automotive sectors. See the most-read stories in Business this hour >> And Chinas Internet market is so big that it offers an ideal environment for massive Chinese firms like Tencent, owner of WeChat, to establish itself before going global. At 668 million, the number of Internet users in China outnumbers the U.S. population by 2-to-1 -- with still plenty more room to grow. That size, experts say, means its very difficult for a foreign firm to come in and dominate. Take Groupon, the group buying e-commerce site, which launched in China to great fanfare in 2011 only to discover it was up against 200 clones of its service. Within months, Groupon shuttered offices in China. The case underscores how often American companies are unprepared for the differences in China. EBay, for example, was undone by Alibabas Taobao, which offered free listings and appealed to Chinese users with little details like naming moderators after characters from famous kung fu novels. The lesson: a premium service doesnt always make sense in an emerging market. For Uber, the challenge was keeping up with a bigger and scrappier competitor in Didi. The San Francisco ride-hailing giant was losing $1 billion a year fighting a local rival that served more cities and was agnostic about what set of wheels its drivers chose to use, be it a taxi, a car or a bus. The battle wasnt going to get easier for Uber, which was the second most popular ride-hailing service in China with about 8% market share compared with Didis 85%. Thats because in making ride-hailing legal last week, the Chinese government also stipulated an end to subsidies that made rides artificially cheap for the sake of grabbing more customers. Without subsidies, Ubers chances of unseating Didis dominance were daunting at best. I dont know if thats clear evidence the government has its thumb on the scale again, but youve got to think it hurts Uber more than it does Didi, said Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The odds were also stacked against Google after it ran afoul of the Chinese government and pulled-out its China operations in 2010. The search giant said it left because of censorship and because it was the target of cyberattacks in the country. But analysts say Google didnt just lose to Baidu because of government meddling. The American tech company could never overcome the perception that Baidu was made for a Chinese audience and Google for a foreign one. It took years for Google to realize that many Chinese couldnt pronounce its name. The company ultimately had to rebrand itself GuGe in China. Even then, many people still chose to call it GoGo. Given the abject failures of most U.S. tech companies in China, Ubers deal with Didi doesnt look bad to some observers. Uber, after all, isnt leaving China, and it still has a sizable stake in the growing ride-hailing space not that the bar was particularly high. Microsoft, for instance, isnt giving-up on China even though an estimated 95% of its copies of Microsoft Office in the country were pirated at one point. Theyre the first international Internet company that didnt lose, William Bao Bean, a Shanghai-based partner at SOS Ventures and the managing director of Chinaccelerator, said of Uber. They fought to a draw. And for an American Internet company, thats as good as a win. Twitter: @dhpierson Times staff writer Tracey Lien contributed to this report. MORE FROM BUSINESS German company plugs into L.A. area for its electricity storage operation Closing the Bank of Mom and Dad Looking for work? Airlines will need 617,000 pilots over next 20 years Chinese ride-hailing leader Didi Chuxing has announced plans to absorb Ubers business in the worlds most populous nation, ending a costly battle between the unprofitable rivals. Together, the ride-hailing venture would be worth $35 billion, according to a source familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak on the record. Under the agreement, Didi Chuxing will acquire Uber Chinas brand, business operations and data, according to a statement Didi issued Monday. Advertisement In exchange, Uber will receive a 5.89% share of the combined entity with preferred equity interest, which is equal to a 17.7% economic interest in Didi Chuxing, the statement said. Uber Chinas previous investors, including Chinese Internet firm Baidu, will receive a 2.3% economic interest in Didi Chuxing. Initial unconfirmed reports mentioned that Didi would invest $1 billion in Ubers global business as part of the deal, but Didis statement made made no mention of such an investment. Didi Chuxing will obtain a minority equity interest in Uber, the release stated. Didi Chuxing Chief Executive Cheng Wei will join the board of Uber, and Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick will join the board of Didi Chuxing. A leaked blog post that was circulating on social media Sunday night and published on Ubers website Monday morning suggested Uber and Didi could finally turn a profit in China if they worked together. I have no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together, the note said. Yi Beichen, a technology analyst and author of The Era of Mobile Internet, noted that Ubers tie-up with Didi marks yet another example of a big U.S. tech company trying and failing to make a go of it as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China. Online shop EBay lost out to Alibaba, while Google left amid concerns over hacking and censorship. Yahoo and MSN changed their ownership structures. This is the trend, Yi said. Analysts had increasingly pegged Uber and Didi as merger candidates. Uber encountered roadblocks soon after it entered China in 2013 and tried to take on the homegrown Didi, which supplies about 85% of the countrys app-requested rides, according to CNIT-Research. During the first quarter, Uber ranked second with nearly 8% market share, followed by Yidao at 3.3% and Shenzhou at 2.9%. Ubers peer-to-peer ride business faced government raids, police crackdowns, protests from irritated cabbies and, of course, intense competition. Uber and Didi offered deep subsidies to attract drivers and riders. As pricing schemes evolved, Didi launched programs to help drivers acquire vehicles through a partnership with China Merchants Bank. With Uber now under Didis roof in China, the company may stop spending heavily trying to lure drivers and customers and enter a new phase where the company can focus more on generating more revenue, Yi said. Although that may mean the end of highly subsidized cheap rides, it could be good for customers, he said. Now instead of spending money and energy on battling Uber, Didi can spend more time to improve the user experience, Yi said. The legal status of ride-hailing services like Didi and Uber has been hazy in China. But last week, Chinese regulators announced they would legalize ride-hailing apps and issued new rules on licensing, pricing and consumer data privacy. As the government weighed the decision, the uncertainty was like a sword of Damocles between Didi and Uber, Yi said. The reassurance that their entire business model wont be wiped out could have directly triggered this merger, he said. Uber China is operating in more than 60 cities with plans to reach 100 by years end. Analysts have said much of Uber Technologies Inc.s $62.5-billion valuation hinges on its potential to succeed in China. But Uber has been losing $1 billion a year trying to establish itself there. Didi has one-upped Uber in fundraising, partnerships and driver subsidies. Didi has financial backing from Chinese internet behemoths Alibaba and Tencent, and previously had launched a partnership with Ubers U.S. competitor, Lyft. Didi also recently received a $1-billion investment from Apple. Didi also has the backing of Chinas own sovereign wealth fund and, as a homegrown business in a country that has been openly hostile toward foreign technology companies (Facebook, Twitter and Google are blocked in China), carries cultural and political advantage. Its maintained more advanced features than Uber, including ones more targeted to Chinese tastes than those of Uber, technology analysts said. Though Ubers brand might be regarded more highly by many consumers, Didi has benefited from deeper relationships with a variety of Chinese brands such as Alibaba, as well as investment from Apple. Jeffrey Towson, a professor of investment at Peking University and author of a book on Chinese consumers, noted in an analysis published before the news of the merger that competition between Uber and Didi was heating up in large metropolises outside of Beijing and Shanghai. The two companies were somewhat matched on a financial resources basis, Towson said. But Didi had many more employees 4,000 to Ubers 200. Im not sure how Uber can compete with Didi in terms of manpower over the long run, he wrote, adding that Didi would be able to provide deeper and wider services than Uber. Towson predicted that they would not be able to co-exist, like Pepsi and Coke, but rather would probably fight to the death. Yingzhi Yang and Nicole Liu in The Times Beijing Bureau contributed to this report. tracey.lien@latimes.com julie.makinen@latimes.com paresh.dave@latimes.com Yingzhi Yang in the Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report. ALSO What does Disney want to do with photos of your feet? German company plugs into L.A. area for its electricity storage operation O.C. banks young CEO has long resume, stellar credentials UPDATES: 6:42 a.m. Aug. 1: This article was updated to note the blog had been published on Ubers website. 3:10 a.m. Aug. 1: This article was updated with more information about Didi Chuxings investors. 2:40 a.m. Aug. 1: This article was updated with confirmation from Didi Chuxing and more details of the deal. 12:30 a.m. Aug. 1: This article was updated with comments from analysts in China. 10:50 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reporting. This article was originally published at 10:40 p.m July 31. Gallerists suing gallerists. A photographer suing a photo agency. A never-written novel about art world corruption. Plus: A Roman mosaic uncovered, more on art and gentrification in Boyle Heights, and Marina Abramovic tells the world she is not into baby-making. The art world, as always, is keeping it surreal. Heres the Roundup: New York gallerist Mary Boone has filed a suit against art dealer Vanessa Buia over the sale of works by Kaws. Buia has filed a countersuit. (And its juicy.) Photographer Carol Highsmith has filed a $1 billion suit against Getty Images that contends it is selling work she had placed in the public domain. Advertisement The Dede Wilsey controversy at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is a sign of bigger governance problems at the board level, writes San Francisco Chronicle critic Charles Desmarais. Paintings by Salvador Dali and Tamara de Lempicka have been recovered seven years after being stolen from a Dutch art museum. Likewise, Mayan artifacts, which were believed to have been looted, are returned to Guatemala. Workers in Cyprus find a 1,400 square foot Roman mosaic depicting the labors of Hercules. An archaeologist sprays water on a rare Roman mosaic that has been uncovered in the Mediterranean town of Larnaca, Cyprus. (Iakovos Hatzistavrou / AFP Photo ) In Boyle Heights, anti-gentrification efforts raise questions about the absence of city officials and developers from the debate, writes Hyperallergics Matt Stromberg. Segregation: A study analyzes how even when neighborhoods gentrify, they can ultimately maintain the hard racial boundaries of segregation. Art and AIDS. An artist on their city: Doris Salcedo in Bogota. The oppressive gospel of minimalism. Hats off to whoever is running the Gettys awesome Tumblr account, which responds to questions about medieval everything, from medieval Pokemon to favorite historical GIF memes to the story behind butt trumpets to this naughty picture of nuns picking fruit (the latter of which may or may not be safe for work, depending on where you work). Speaking of Tumblrs, the Huntington has put Octavia Butlers notes about her time travel novel, Kindred, online. (If you havent read the novel, stop whatever you are doing and read it.) A late art critics unwritten novel about art world corruption. Because you gotta believe that any art story that features the phrase I can shelter capital gains is gonna be super inspiring. Marina Abramovic says having kids would have made her career impossible. Apparently, our society is still surprised by women who choose not to have children. Why good design is so important in the construction of affordable housing. KCRWs Frances Anderton has a thoughtful piece on the subject. If you work in the area of housing, do not miss this story. A homeless man wheels his belongings past the Michael Maltzan-designed Star Apartments on skid row. (Irfan Kahn / Los Angeles Times ) Citylabs Kriston Capps writes about a major issue that received no air time at either the Republican or Democratic national conventions: Affordable housing. The Cultural Heritage Commission has voted to review Rudolph Schindlers Falk Apartments in Silver Lake for landmark status. Sort of related: Essayist Ann Friedman writes about preserving culturally important yet architecturally insignificant buildings such as Studio One, the now defunct gay dance club in West Hollywood. And last but not least: John Cages 433 death metal style. Find me on Twitter @cmonstah. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT Kanye West weighs in on streaming-music wars: Let the kids have the music Box office: After strong Friday start, Jason Bourne eyes $60 million opening weekend Emma Roberts and Dave Franco take on the Internet in the romantic teen cyber thriller Nerve Gloria DeHaven, who started in show business as a child, was under contract during the golden age of movie musicals and later reinvented herself for soaps and more, has died. She was 91. The actress died Saturday in Las Vegas, her agent confirmed Monday. DeHavens parents were the popular vaudevillian and stage performers Carter DeHaven and Flora Parker. She and her brother, Carter DeHaven Jr., who would become a producer, would travel with their parents as they toured. She landed a bit part in Charlie Chaplins 1936 masterpiece Modern Times because her father was an assistant director on the film. She also had a small part in Chaplins 1940 satire, The Great Dictator. Advertisement She was signed to an MGM contract in 1940 and appeared in Susan and God, while also singing with orchestras, including Bob Crosbys band. She appeared in several musicals during the early 40s, most notably 1943s Best Foot Forward and 1944s Step Lively, in which she was loaned out from MGM to RKO. Being under contract with MGM meant having everything done for you, DeHaven told The Times in 1984. There were doctors and dentists and tutors on the lot, at your beck and call, not to mention the best vocal teachers and hairdressers and costume designers. The downside of being under contract was not getting a chance to branch out, she said. ARCHIVES: Gloria DeHaven on her umpteenth career change DeHaven took time off from the screen when she married actor John Payne. Her return was in the 1948 musical flop Summer Holiday. She continued at MGM in supporting roles in 1950s Summer Stock and Three Little Words. After that, she said, The golden age of movie musicals had sadly ended. She later turned more and more to TV series, and had a recurring role in the 1970s soap opera spoof, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. In 1983, she took on the recurring role of Bess Shelby on the daytime drama Ryans Hope. Thanks to the soap Ive gained an entire new, young audience who dont know who the hell Gloria DeHaven is, she told The Times in 1984. They adore the character and like what I bring to the part. I mean, my major movies were in the 1940s and 50s, before some of these viewers were even born. My own contemporaries are fascinated that Ive begun this sort of second career; or should I say umpteenth career, since Im 58 and have been in show business since I was born. She returned to the big screen in the forgettable 1983 film Bog, but scored a hit as Jack Lemmons love interest in the 1997 romantic comedy Out to Sea. DeHaven had three husbands, and was married four times twice to one of them. Her survivors include her son Thomas Payne, daughter Kathleen Hope Payne, son Harry Fincher, daughter Faith Fincher-Finkelstein and nephew Carter DeHaven. Former Times staff writer Susan King contributed to this report. Follow Christie DZurilla on Twitter @theCDZ. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT Kanye West weighs in on streaming-music wars: Let the kids have the music Box office: After strong Friday start, Jason Bourne eyes $60 million opening weekend Emma Roberts and Dave Franco take on the Internet in the romantic teen cyber thriller Nerve UPDATES: 6:10 p.m.: This post was updated to include information about Gloria DeHavens survivors. This post was first published at 8:55 a.m. Comcast is being sued for $100 million by Washington state in a lawsuit alleging that the cable giant illegally deceived its customers in order to pad the companys bottom line. Washingtons state attorney general on Monday alleged Comcast repeatedly violated Washingtons Consumer Protection Act. The violations include charging improper service call fees, erroneous credit screening practices and misleading 500,000 Comcast customers into paying at least $73 million over the last five years for an ineffective Service Protection Plan. Though Comcast was informed of the issues a year ago, the company only began making changes shortly before the litigation, according to a statement released by Washington Atty. Gen. Bob Fergusons office on Monday. Advertisement This case is a classic example of a big corporation deceiving its customers for financial gain, Ferguson said in the statement. I wont allow Comcast to continue to put profits above customers and the law. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour The suit is the first of its kind to take on Comcasts Service Protection Plan, according to Fergusons office. In addition to seeking more than $74 million in restitution for the Service Protection Plan and service calls, the lawsuit demands that more than 6,000 improper credit checks be removed from credit reports of Comcast customers. The attorney generals office also seeks up to $2,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act and a requirement that Comcast clearly disclose the limits of its Service Protection Plan. Comcast said it had worked with the attorney generals office to resolve issues and defended its Service Protection Plan and other company practices. The Service Protection Plan has given those Washington consumers who chose to purchase it great value by completely covering over 99% of their repair calls, a Comcast representative said in a statement. We worked with the Attorney Generals office to address every issue they raised, and we made several improvements based on their input. Given that we were committed to continue working collaboratively with the Attorney Generals office, were surprised and disappointed that they have instead chosen litigation. We stand behind our products and services and will vigorously defend ourselves. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT Kanye West weighs in on streaming-music wars: Let the kids have the music Box office: After strong Friday start, Jason Bourne eyes $60 million opening weekend Emma Roberts and Dave Franco take on the Internet in the romantic teen cyber thriller Nerve Clinton makes a play for a single electoral vote, with help from Warren Buffett The crowd chants Hillary! as she and Warren Buffett enter the gym. #TeamFOX42 pic.twitter.com/5Yrcs3YcDL FOX 42 KPTM (@FOX42KPTM) August 1, 2016 In what could be a close election, every electoral vote matters. And so at an event in Omaha on Monday to encourage a huge voter turnout there on Nov. 8, billionaire Warren Buffett was offering free rides to the polls. Hillary Clinton did one better. Warren and I will dance in the streets of Omaha together, she promised, saying shed return as president if voter turnout in the district is highest in the country. Nebraska, unlike every other state but Maine, does not simply award its electoral college votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Instead, just two of its five electoral votes go to the statewide winner, while one additional vote is awarded to the winner of each of its three congressional districts. In 2008, the Obama campaign contested Nebraskas 2nd Congressional District mainly the city of Omaha and managed to pick off its vote. Aides dubbed it Obamaha, but the presidents campaign failed to replicate it in 2012. Now, Hillary Clinton is making another run at it. Buffett noted that one political analyst had recently predicted a 269-269 electoral vote tie. I am looking at the people who can change that 269 to 270, he said. Buffett said he was committed to making voter turnout in the congressional district the highest of any in the country, and said hed personally arrange for transportation via trolley to the polls for anyone in the district who might need it. Im going to be on it all day, Buffett said of the trolley. Im going to do selfies, whatever it takes. Lets give America a civics lesson! How about it? Even if Clinton fails to carry the district, the stop could help boost her standing nearby. The Omaha media market reaches into western Iowa, a swing state in November. 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 It began with a late-night phone call. Deputy Los Angeles School Police Chief Jose Santome was getting into bed when his boss called with an urgent request. Shave and put on a clean uniform, he was told. We have a problem. It was Dec. 14, and the recent terrorist attack at a holiday party in San Bernardino that killed 14 people and wounded 22 was still fresh on their minds. Advertisement By the next morning, the nations second-largest school district was on lockdown. Administrators of the Los Angeles Unified School District set up calls to parents, telling them that schools were closed because of a dramatic email sent to school board members. The note threatened rifles, nerve gas agents and pressure cooker bombs across campuses. The shutdown was praised, but also mocked. Some parents were thankful schools were taking no risks. Others were critical of they way they were informed; New York City got the same email and knew it was a hoax its schools stayed open. Eight months later, the district and police are preparing an After Action Report, and the state is trying to determine how much money the district should recoup in lost student funds. Santome and detective Rudy Perez recently presented the incident as a case study to an overflow room of school police officials concerned about what might happen during threats to their campuses. The officers were at the Disneyland Resort conference center for the National Assn. of School Resource Officers conference. The Los Angeles cops conceded that the shutdown also provided some lessons about what not to do. We do a lot of learning in L.A. because we do a lot of stupid [expletive], Perez said, smiling, before he began his formal presentation. It was a pretty amazing moment. Since then, Santome said, the department has made changes. A lot of what happened on Monday night Dec. 14 and Tuesday the 15th was because we did not have some of the intelligence and technology mechanisms that we have today in our district and our department, Santome said. We learned a lot, and at the end of the day, were better, he continued. He declined to elaborate when asked what improvements the department had made, citing operational security. Perez, who spoke on behalf of his local region for the association of officers, said he learned of the threat Monday evening. He contacted his departments technology team, who were able to trace the email back to Germany. The FBI would later announce it had also traced the message to Germany. Early that Tuesday morning, Dec. 15, Ramon Cortines, the retiring superintendent of LAUSD, made the call to shut down the schools. Whether New York agreed or not, we were making the decision with what we had in our hands, at that moment, said Perez. Santome said district and police officials decided that the disruptions caused by shutting down outweighed the risk of ignoring a potential threat. Cortines released a statement at the time about the difficult day, saying the decision was not made lightly. It disrupted the lives of our students, our employees and their families, he said. I took this precaution out of an abundance of caution. Despite their general approval of the closure, some parents, students and teachers said they wished they had gotten better information about the districts plans. One parent, Angie Guinto said she didnt get a call from the district until 10 a.m., and Manzoor Azeez said at the time that he got an alert from the district at 8 a.m. in Spanish, a language he doesnt speak. Others said they were satisfied. Meanwhile, officials in New York said the letter looked like something out of the television series Homeland. The A in Allah wasnt capitalized, for example, New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said. But New York authorities had failed to quickly send all of the information they had to the Fusion Center, an information-sharing center used by law enforcement, Santome said. They had it three hours before we did. Santome, meanwhile, set up a command center and set about relaying information to the district and other law enforcement agencies, while coordinating the search for bombs and other devices at over 1,000 schools. Perez learned that several other districts had received similar threats, and he said he fielded calls from Ferguson, Miami and Detroit. Amid the chaos, Santome got a call saying that Cortines wanted to check in on his command center. Tell him not to come in, Santome remembered saying. But it was too late Cortines was already at the door, along with State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and LAUSDs Dep. Supt. Michelle King, who was shortly thereafter to succeed Cortines. As the officials walked through the command center, Santome said he realized that millions in school funding paid by the state based on attendance was at stake. In this case, the state agreed to release the funds despite the closure how much, though, is still being worked out. As the tense day unfolded, the goal was to have campuses given the all-clear by 5 p.m., Santome said, because the district wanted to hold a news conference at 5:30 p.m. That conference ultimately occurred on schedule. After that event, Santome began winding down operations. But more complications emerged: Schools couldnt open the next day unless they received milk and bread deliveries, since many L.A. Unified students depend on school meals for their nutrition, the food services coordinator told him. Because of that days hubbub, the trucks hadnt made their deliveries. So Santome, thrown by the unexpected last-second job, called his officers back in to help get the dairy trucks to the appropriate schools. They finished by midnight. At the Anaheim presentation, one school policeman asked Perez whether they had found the perpetrator. The FBI had made no arrests, he said, but still had leads based on searches they conducted in several countries. Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI in Los Angeles, said there is an ongoing investigation. Santome faced his audience with a smile. If you want the BS answer, he said, we are currently pursuing all leads. Richard Winton contributed reporting. ALSO Ex-L.A. Sheriff Lee Bacas dilemma: Withdraw his guilty plea or face prison? After more than 80 years, the former Lincoln Heights Jail faces a makeover Kennedy group puts $2 million into fight against pot-legalization measures Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca withdrew his guilty plea Monday to a charge of lying during an FBI investigation into the countys jails, opting instead to take his chances at a high-stakes trial. In deciding to walk away from the agreement he struck with federal prosecutors, Baca opened the door to the government bringing a broader and more serious case against him that could include charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy in addition to the lying allegation. Michael Zweiback, one of Bacas attorneys, said he expected prosecutors to level the more serious charges, which mirror those brought against Bacas former second-in-command, Paul Tanaka, who was convicted earlier this year in an obstruction-of-justice case stemming from the same FBI investigation. Advertisement Bacas decision came after U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson said last month that he would reject the plea deal, which had limited the former sheriffs prison time to a maximum of six months. Anderson had sentenced Tanaka to five years in prison. After withdrawing his plea, Baca told a horde of reporters on the steps of the downtown courthouse that he had done so because of untruthful statements made by the judge and prosecutors about his involvement in a scheme by sheriffs officials to thwart the FBIs jail probe. He did not specify what was untruthful. Instead, reading from a prepared statement, Baca referenced his recent diagnosis with Alzheimers disease and said the inevitable progression of the illness had injected an element of urgency into the case. I need to set the record straight about me and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department on the misleading aspects of the federal investigation while I am capable of doing so, said Baca, who retired in 2014. Former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca admitted lying to federal prosecutors who questioned him about whether he was involved in attempts to obstruct an FBI investigation into the county jails. In this audio, assembled from a nearly four-hour recording Bacas Alzheimers diagnosis may play a central role at trial. Zweiback said medical records would show Bacas mental deterioration had already begun in April 2013, when he made the allegedly false statements to federal prosecutors about his knowledge of sheriffs officials efforts to obstruct the FBI. Zweiback said he planned to argue to jurors that Bacas growing awareness of his illness led him increasingly to delegate more authority to Tanaka and others. The U.S. attorneys office had argued in a sentencing memo that Bacas tone and demeanor during the 2013 interview provided no indication that he was suffering from any cognitive defects at that time. Bacas dementia has progressed since the initial diagnosis, and he suffers from, among other things, short-term memory loss, Zweiback said Monday. Though Baca is lucid now, if his condition deteriorates rapidly and he becomes unable to understand the legal proceedings, he could be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. The former sheriffs gambit on Monday was the culmination of an extraordinary turn of events. Zweiback had argued last month that Baca should serve no time in prison. But Anderson delivered a scathing rebuke at a July 18 hearing, saying even a prison term as short as six months would not address the gross abuse of the publics trust including the need to restore the publics trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The judges hard-line approach left Baca and his attorneys with a tricky choice: Withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial, or allow Anderson to sentence him as he saw fit for a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years. Besides Tanaka, Anderson has sentenced seven other lower-ranking sheriffs officials to terms ranging from a year and a half to more than three years in prison for their roles in obstructing the federal investigation. In recent weeks, Zweiback and prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to hammer out a new plea deal that might have been acceptable to Anderson. Those efforts continued into the 11th hour as Mondays hearing was sidetracked by a series of private sidebar discussions between Anderson and the attorneys. Zweiback said later that he and Nathan Hochman, another Baca attorney, tried to extract some indication from the judge as to what sentence he planned to hand down. Anderson demurred, only reiterating that he believed the sentence should be increased from six months based on Bacas role in the larger obstruction-of-justice case, using factors such as whether the former sheriff abused a position of trust, Hochman said. Anderson gave the two sides a few extra hours to negotiate, but with Bacas team left in the dark by the judge, the former sheriffs decision was all but made. If hes not going to be in a situation where he has some understanding of what hes walking into, he may feel he has no alternative but to fight for his life and go to trial, Zweiback said. Zweiback and Hochman vowed to mount an aggressive defense at trial, saying they planned to fight to exclude pieces of evidence the government used in its cases against Tanaka and other sheriffs officials who have been convicted for having a role in the obstruction scheme. They also made clear that they would try to use the prosecutors own words against them. Throughout Tanakas trial and again in court filings in Bacas case, prosecutors argued that Tanaka, not Baca, was the ringleader of the group that tried to derail the FBI. For example, in their sentencing memo, prosecutors downplayed Bacas role, writing, He issued orders that, taken literally, may not have been corrupt, but were carried out in an obstructive manner by his subordinates and without his objection. Hochman pounced on such statements, saying, Itll be very interesting now, if they decide to add obstruction of justice charges, how theyre going to get around their own concessions. Tracy Webb, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorneys office, declined to comment. On Monday, Anderson set a trial date of Sept. 20. Zweiback said he planned to ask for more time to wade through the massive cache of documents the government recently handed over, as well as the testimony from the previous trials. Asst. U.S. Atty. Brandon Fox countered to Anderson that, despite the large amount of paperwork to sift through, the case against Baca was relatively straightforward. It should not be a surprise what the evidence against Mr. Baca is at this point. It has all been out in the public light, he said. The obstruction-of-justice case grew out of a secret FBI investigation launched in 2010 into corruption and brutality by jail deputies. After sheriffs officials discovered that an inmate, Anthony Brown, was an FBI informant, they booked him under false names and shuttled him to different locations. They also went to the home of an FBI agent and threatened her with arrest. In his plea agreement, Baca admitted to lying in the April 2013 interview with investigators, when he stated that he was not aware of the plan to confront the FBI agent at her home. In fact, according to the agreement, Baca was at a meeting where officials came up with the plan, telling his subordinates that they should do everything but put handcuffs on her. Baca was also involved in a conversation with subordinates about keeping Brown away from the FBI, though he denied knowledge in his interview with federal investigators, the agreement said. He was also aware that his subordinates had stopped FBI agents from questioning Brown, contrary to what he had said in the interview, according to the agreement. In entering his guilty plea, Baca admitted only to lying about the visit to the FBI agents home while agreeing not to contest the prosecutors other allegations. joel.rubin@latimes.com cindy.chang@latimes.com For more news on the Los Angeles County Sheriffs jail scandal, follow us on Twitter: @joelrubin and @cindychangLA ALSO After more than 80 years, the former Lincoln Heights Jail faces a makeover My doppelganger did it: Actor says it was a man who could be his double who blew red light Married for more than six decades, couple dies after fire engulfs Sun Valley home UPDATES: 6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with some minor rewriting. 4:02 p.m.: This article was updated with more details from Mondays hearing and comments from Bacas attorneys afterward. 1:45 p.m.: This article was updated to add that Baca withdrew his plea. 11:50 a.m.: This post was updated to add more details from Mondays hearing and comments from Bacas attorney. 10:15 a.m.: This article was updated to add details from Mondays hearing. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. An 8-year-old boy whose father is a Camp Pendleton drill sergeant died Sunday, one day after the youngster was made an honorary Marine. Wyatt Gillette suffered from Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome, a rare genetic disease that caused his kidneys to fail and left him with several other debilitating conditions. The San Clemente boy was bestowed the honor by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller after an online petition asked for the boy to be granted the rare recognition. Advertisement I truly feel that Wyatt has faced more hardship than any Marine has gone through, and for that should be given the title, wrote the fellow Marine who started the effort. And Neller agreed, saying the fight that the little boy has been battling was absolutely Marine. And, he tweeted, that it was an easy decision to make. Wyatt was honored Saturday at a ceremony on the base, where he was presented with a pin and a framed certificate and a salute as his father, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Gillette, and mom Felishia looked on. The Honorary Marine title reinforces the special bond between the American people and the Corps by recognizing individuals in the civilian community who have made extraordinary contributions to the Marine Corps. Wyatt met the criteria because of his terminal condition, base officials said in a news release. His father, who is with the 2nd Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment, said that his son died Sunday morning at 10:06 a.m. and that he was in peace, and pain-free. A fund has been set up to help the family with funeral costs. Wyatt is the 96th recipient of the award since the honor began in 1992, according to the Marine Corps. Baker writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. ALSO After more than 80 years, the former Lincoln Heights Jail faces a makeover Midnight food deliveries, confused parents and no sleep: real talk from inside the Los Angeles Unified shutdown Low humidity, difficult terrain hamper Soberanes fire fight Steve Tom played a judge on the television show Major Crimes. But the actor felt he was on the wrong end of a verdict when he got a $490 ticket for blowing through a red light in Culver City. The ticket had his name, all right. But the address on it was in St. Louis far from Toms North Hollywood home. And the registered owner of the white Land Rover Discovery that allegedly ran the red was someone named Barry L. Babcock. Attached to the ticket was a photo still from the red light camera video. Tom said Babcock and he looked an awful lot alike. Advertisement The driver is my doppelganger, he said. But it wasnt me. I drive a 2002 Prius. So began Toms saga to prove it was his apparent double from St. Louis and not him behind the wheel of a vanity-plated SUV on June 15 at 2:44 p.m. According to the video, thats when the vehicle made a right turn on a red at Sepulveda Boulevard and Green Valley Drive. Tom, 62, started scouring the Internet for information about Babcock. He quickly found images of the former cable television executive. Tom said he was taken aback by their shared resemblance. He hired a private investigator and found addresses in Florida and Missouri. The violation was a traffic infraction, but Tom said he wasnt going to pay for something he insisted he didnt do. The day after he got the ticket he talked to a courthouse clerk in Santa Monica, who gave him an extension to Sept. 22. Talk to the Culver City police, he said. Tom said a sergeant listened but ultimately told him his partner approved the ticket and she would call him. Then he got a call from another Culver City police officer he knows from a group meeting, said Tom, who has appeared on the television shows Parks and Recreation and Funny or Die Presents. The guy insisted to me the department got the right guy and it was me. The city was going to win. He said, when I saw the photograph I knew it was you. You can bring as many attorneys, but it is you, he said. Culver City Police Capt. Ron Iizuka told The Times that the department believes the right person got the red light ticket. We didnt use facial recognition. We dont have that kind of thing, Iizuka said. But Iizuka said the video connected to the citation was carefully reviewed before an officer decided to issue it. Iizuka said one of the officers identified Tom as the man in the video. He knew him previously, Iizuka said. Iizuka said he is aware that Tom on his Facebook page has been complaining about the ticket and denying it is him behind the wheel. But when Tom went to the station and spoke to one of the traffic sergeants, he acknowledged knowing the registered owner of the car, the captain said. He can go to court, Iizuka said. It is high-quality video. We are sure its him. But an angry Tom said he never told the police sergeant that he knew Babcock personally, only that he knew of him because he had looked him up after he got the ticket. Tom said he spoke with Babcock over the phone Wednesday. I never met him in my life, he said, adding that the officer he knew from the meetings is the same one who identified him as the driver of the red-light-violating car. Reached by his cell phone, Babcock said it is correct that he does not know Tom. Its weird, he said of the ticket. Babcock, however, would not comment at length about the red light violation or ticket. His advice to Tom is to get an attorney to fight it. Red-light cameras have been a financial boon for Culver City since 1999. They operate at 11 intersections across the city, according to city records. In 2014, the cameras generated more than $2 million in revenue with about 40% going to a company that operates the system, according to those city records. Jay Beeber of Safety Streets LA, a group that successfully campaigned to eliminate L.A.s red-light cameras in 2012, said the ticket Tom got raised questions. That is the craziest red-light-cam ticket I have ever heard and I have been doing this a while, Beeber said. They have to have a reasonable suspicion. What other evidence do they have? Sherman Ellison, an attorney who specializes in traffic tickets, said a police department only needs to meet a probable-cause standard, while a judge must decide the evidence is beyond a reasonable doubt. He is going to have to go to court, he said. It is very common for a judge to dismiss on identification. Nationwide, more than 700 cities once used red-light cameras. But that number has declined to about 400 as questions over whether they improve safety have arisen, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. California once had more than 100 cities with cameras. The number that use them now in the state stands at about a third of that, according to Beeber, who tracks their numbers. Tom said he has hired a lawyer to deal with the citation. He plans to use still images from a video of Babcock speaking at Webster University as evidence in his defense. He looks just like me there, Tom said. Tom said hes been looking for other evidence. He said he was in Santa Monica for a doctors visit from the late morning to the early afternoon and then wrote a commission check to his agent in her office at the exact time of the citation. If the crime dramas he has appeared on have any grain of truth, he knows fighting an airtight alibi can be as hard as finding a guy who looks just like you. richard.winton@latimes.com @lacrimes Low humidity and steep, inaccessible terrain continued Monday to challenge the thousands of firefighters battling the Soberanes fire, a deadly blaze that threatens 2,000 homes and structures north of Big Sur. The fire, which has been raging for more than 10 days, had burned 40,700 acres and was only 18% contained as of Monday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire is continuing to eat at acreage; its still chipping away, said Bennet Milloy, a Cal Fire spokesman. Advertisement The blaze has caused smoky conditions for those near Monterey Bay, and air quality concerns across the San Francisco Bay Area. Just over a quarter of the fire is in the Monterey Ranger District of Los Padres National Forest, and about 28,000 acres were burning in state-controlled land, including state parks and private property, Milloy said. Since it started at Soberanes Creek in Garrapata State Park, the fire has destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings. Five other structures were damaged. The wildfire killed Robert Reagan III, a bulldozer operator called in July 26 to help battle the fire. At some point, he suffered fatal injuries in a remote area on the southeast end of the fire in the state park in Carmel, authorities said. Reagan, 35, was a Fresno County resident and the father of two young girls, the Monterey Herald reported. The blaze has been unusually active at night, hampering the firefight, Milloy said. Most fires, we get a little bit of moisture recovery and humidity at night, but, unfortunately, that has not been the case on this entire fire so far, so we havent had that slower fire growth, Milloy said. Humidity as low as 5% has been recorded at night, which is incredibly low, he said. The fire is burning in peaks up to 4,000 feet high, where the marine layer has had little effect in cooling things down, he said. Firefighters are working in pretty extreme, steep terrain, which has limited much of the battle to ridge-top firefighting, Milloy said. Crews also have been challenged by erratic, shifting winds. Nearly 5,300 firefighters were battling the blaze, which has burned an area larger than the city of San Francisco. The fire has prompted hundreds of evacuations and the closure of numerous state parks along the Central Coast through Aug. 6, as well as all trails and roads into the Monterey Ranger District of Los Padres National Forest. Flames have encroached on illegal marijuana-growing operations and have forced rescues. On July 25, two people were tending to marijuana plants when they became trapped by flames. They were found by Monterey County sheriffs deputies, and all 900 marijuana plants were destroyed by the fire. The next day, firefighters rescued eight men who had been lost for six days and were surrounded by flames while working on an illegal marijuana grow, the Monterey Herald reported. Cal Fire officials said the men were not injured. Meanwhile, crews have made good progress battling the 2,020-acre Goose fire south of Prather in Fresno County, according to Cal Fire. That blaze began Saturday afternoon off Gooseberry Lane and Morgan Canyon and has destroyed three homes. By Monday night, the Goose fire was 20% contained and 1,625 firefighters were deployed to control the flames. The fire threatened 400 structures. See the most-read stories this hour >> As with many of the recent California wildfires, excessive heat, steep terrain and drought-dried vegetation have also been factors in fighting the Goose fire, which is burning in grass and oak woodlands, authorities said. In Los Angeles County, firefighters continued to reinforce fire lines and mop up hot spots from the Sand fire in Angeles National Forest near Santa Clarita. Though hot spots remained by the fire line on the southeast side Sunday, the fire was not expected to spread, authorities said. Temporary road closures along Sand Canyon, Placerita Canyon and Little Tujunga Canyon roads are expected to take place intermittently in the fire-affected areas this week as utility crews repair power lines. The Sand fire, which burned 41,432 acres and has been blamed for the death of one man, was 98% contained. Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson ALSO Boy dies day after becoming honorary Camp Pendleton Marine Woman who led officers on chase for more than 2 hours is arrested in San Diego County UC Riverside police searching for man trying to film women in campus restrooms UPDATES: 9:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information on the growth of the Goose and Soberanes fires. This article was originally published at 9:35 a.m. Vallejo police say they thought a womans kidnapping was a hoax after she reemerged days later wearing sunglasses, carrying an overnight bag and rejected offers to be reunited with her family. In court documents recently filed in U.S. District Court, Vallejo police detectives revealed the reasons why they thought Denise Huskins disappearance was made up. Attorneys representing the officers also made an appeal to the judge to dismiss a federal case filed against them in March by Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, because they said their statements were made during an ongoing police investigation and are protected by law. In a written statement filed in court documents, retired police Capt. James OConnell said the kidnapping instilled great fear within the Vallejo community. When Huskins reemerged wearing sunglasses and carrying luggage, she did not act like a kidnapping victim and wasnt cooperating with police, so they were unable to determine whether she was abducted, he said. Advertisement In light of the new developments in the case, we wanted to comfort the Vallejo community by disclosing that our investigation had thus far determined that the community had nothing to fear, OConnell said. He then instructed a police spokesman to tell reporters that Huskins disappearance appeared more to be an orchestrated event than an abduction by a stranger. Huskins was kidnapped from the couples home in Vallejo more than a year ago. Quinn told police that Huskins had been forcibly taken from the home sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. on March 23, 2015. Quinn said that he was bound and drugged, that his eyes were covered with goggles and that headphones playing prerecorded instructions were placed over his ears. Quinn told police he later awoke to find Huskins, his belongings and his car missing. A voicemail message demanding two payments of $8,500 was left behind, according to an unsealed federal affidavit by the FBI. He immediately called police. As an investigation of Huskins disappearance was launched, Quinn voluntarily provided blood samples to police. He also provided passwords so that authorities could check his email activity. Two days later, Huskins was dropped off at her familys home in Huntington Beach. Authorities arranged a flight for Huskins to Northern California to interview her. But when she never got on the plane, police grew suspicious and said the kidnapping appeared to be an orchestrated event, a wild goose chase and a waste of police resources. Four months later, the FBI announced that it had found Huskins kidnapper Matthew Muller, a Harvard-educated former attorney. In court documents, lead investigator Det. Mathew Mustard said he was skeptical about Quinns story because of its outlandish nature, and thought it unlikely that kidnappers would go to such great lengths for a small ransom, $8,500. Quinn, he said, had also told investigators that he and Huskins had been having relationship problems because he was trying to rekindle a romance with his ex-fiancee who had cheated on him with a police officer. Several undeniable details stood out, the veteran detective said. What was clear: Huskins was missing; the bedsheet was stained with blood; Quinns car, a blanket and comforter were missing; Quinn waited more than eight hours to report the abduction; and the kidnappers emails were coming from Quinns account. Huskins and Quinn, he said, also had been drinking the night before and talking about the relationship. See the most-read stories in Local News this hour >> In his declaration in court documents, Mustard said he had multiple theories about Huskins disappearance that could have resulted in criminal charges against certain people. One of the theories, he said, was that Quinn had accidentally killed Huskins as they argued about their relationship and that he had concocted the kidnapping story. Huskins reemergence in Huntington Beach days later was inconsistent with the forcible kidnapping for ransom, Mustard said. She showed up to her mothers home wearing sunglasses and with an overnight bag, he said. I found it unusual that she denied being a victim, did not wish to speak with Huntington Beach police, and instead wanted to speak with her lawyer, Mustard said. Strangest of all, when law enforcement arranged to fly Ms. Huskins to Vallejo, where all her family had gathered, she rejected the offer. I found it odd that a recently released kidnap victim would not want to go to her family. In the days after Huskins was found, her attorney was forced to defend her assertion that she had been abducted. The couples attorneys insisted the kidnapping was real, saying she was sexually assaulted by her kidnapper before she was released. In their lawsuit, the couple said they were forced to move after their reputations were destroyed when investigators called her kidnapping a hoax instead of helping them. By filing these papers, Vallejo continues its misguided approach of blaming the victim, her attorney Kevin Clune said in a statement. Denise and Aaron have already experienced unimaginable horror at the hands of Vallejo. Amazingly, Vallejo now seeks money (in the form of legal fees) from these victims for asserting their civil rights. We have complete faith that the court will hold Vallejo accountable for its outrageous tactics. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. MORE LOCAL NEWS USC hosts boot camp for military veterans aimed at easing culture shock of college life California initiative draws fire for opening the door to TV ads that promote pot smoking He was homeless but to get help, the rules said he had to prove it Days after the close of the Republican and Democratic conventions, Black Lives Matter-related groups on Monday endorsed a wide-ranging platform intended to influence political candidates before the November election. It marks the first time that Black Lives Matter, better known for its widespread protests against police shootings of black Americans, has officially entered the national political fray in terms of policy. The groups members have been criticized for being heavy on protest and light on policy. The platform, which calls for black liberation, makes 40 policy recommendations. Some are mainstream, such as calling for an end to the death penalty something the Democratic Party has also endorsed in its platform. Others are more radical, such as reparations, including free public tuition to public universities, for past and continuing harm against black people. Advertisement Black lives matter! chants erupt as Mothers of the Movement take the stage at the DNC It also advocates a ban on deportations; federal and state laws that will acknowledge the lasting impacts of slavery; and government investment in education, mental health and job initiatives for black Americans. Our grievances and solutions extend beyond the police killing of our people. State violence includes failing schools that criminalize our children, dwindling earning opportunities, wars on our trans and queer family that deny them of their humanity, and so much more, said Montague Simmons, the chair of the St. Louis-based Organization for Black Struggle and one of the activists who helped write the platform. Thats why we united, with a renewed energy and purpose, to put forth a shared vision of the world we want to live in, said Simmons, whose group took part in protests after a white officer shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, 2014. The death sparked days of unrest and brought national prominence to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Movement for Black Lives, an umbrella group that includes members of Black Lives Matter, released the platform. It developed out of a Movement for Black Lives conference that more than 2,000 black activists attended in at Cleveland State University a year ago. We recognize that not all of our collective needs and visions can be translated into policy, but we understand that policy change is one of many tactics necessary to move us towards the world we envision, a world where freedom and justice is the reality, said another platform writer, M Adams, who is co-executive director of Madison, Wis.-based Freedom, Inc. The nonprofit works with poor minorities and youth. We recognize that not all of our collective needs and visions can be translated into policy. M Adams, co-executive director of Madison, Wis.-based Freedom, Inc. The platform was written or endorsed by more than 60 activist groups. One of the best known is the Black Lives Matter Network. The network, which has chapters in dozens of American cities, has largely stayed away from electoral politics and has not endorsed a presidential candidate. Some offshoots that are unaffiliated with it but use the Black Lives Matter name have gotten more directly involved in elections. Last week, one group in Ohio called Black Lives Matter of Cuyahoga County made waves after endorsing a Republican, Sen. Rob Portman, in his reelection bid. Other individual activists who arose out of the Black Lives Matter movement, such as onetime Baltimore mayoral candidate DeRay Mckesson, have also advised the White House on how to improve relations between black Americans and police. Last year, Mckesson was one of several activists to launch Campaign Zero, an independent website with policy proposals on how to end police violence in America. The Movement for Black Lives platforms backers extend beyond black organizations and ones focused squarely on race issues. They include Dream Defenders, a multiracial Miami-based group that organized against Floridas Stand Your Ground law after the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who died after being shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012, in Sanford, Fla. One endorsee is FIERCE, a nonprofit that works with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth of color in New York City. Showing Up for Racial Justice, a group made up of largely white allies to the Black Lives Matter movement, has also given its support to the platform. Black Lives Matter and related racial justice movements have been strongly criticized by some politicians, as well as veterans of 1960s civil rights activism, for lacking specific policy proposals. The critics have included Clinton, who last year at a campaign event in Keene, N.H., suggested to black activists that they work on policy. I dont believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, she said in a backstage meeting. Organizers behind Mondays platform acknowledged that many parts had a slim chance of being taken on by major political parties or candidates. At a moment when both parties are putting forth policy proposals that either do nothing or actually do more harm to us, we are advancing a collective vision of concrete policy ideas that actually lead to safe and thriving black communities, said Karl Kumodzi, an organizer with Black Youth Project 100 in New York City. We will continue to demand that our elected leaders enact meaningful change, such as divesting from systems that harm us and investing in our communities long term safety. But regardless of what happens in November, we will continue to build independent black political power, knowing thats the only way to implement these transformative policies and hold lawmakers accountable. Our vision necessitates we look far beyond November. jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. MORE NATIONAL NEWS Heres how Democrats are trying to reclaim patriotism from Republicans and how Trump helps Shooting in downtown Austin leaves 1 dead, 3 wounded; suspect sought A sparkling new Sandy Hook school arrives, with high-tech features and security second to none The motive for a shooting that left three teens dead in this waterfront town north of Seattle appears similar to that of an attack that left four dead at a nearby high school two years ago: a broken teen romance. In the first shooting, at Marysville Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Wash., a 15-year-old armed with his fathers .40-caliber Beretta handgun shot five other students in the school cafeteria, killing four of them, including his former girlfriend and one of his cousins, before fatally shooting himself. On Saturday morning, according to police and prosecutors, Allen Christopher Ivanov, 19, a student at the University of Washington-Bothell, shot four teenagers, killing three, including his ex-girlfriend, also a college student. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour >> At a late-night party in the upscale Chennault Beach neighborhood of this bucolic town 25 miles north of Seattle, Ivanov sprayed bullets into a crowd of an estimated 20 teens with a newly purchased AR-15 assault rifle, police said. At one point, the shooter climbed atop the roof of the million-dollar home to get a better angle, witnesses said. Ivanov, who worked at an electronics store, was arrested Saturday driving on Interstate 5 near Chehalis, Wash., about 100 miles south of here. He is being held in Snohomish County Jail for investigation of three murders. Police also say theyre investigating how the shooter obtained his weapon. Witnesses say Ivanov came through the home to an outside fire pit where he began shooting, killing two there, then fired more rounds after climbing onto the roof, killing another before running off. Susan Gemmer, a grandmother of a teen who was at the event, told the Associated Press that her granddaughter called her while hiding in a closet. We were texting back and forth, telling her to stay quiet, stay calm, were on our way, Gemmer said. She kept saying, Theyre dead, theyre dead, I saw them, I was right there and I saw them. The three who died from the gunfire were identified as Jake Long, Jordan Ebner and Anna Bui. Wounded and in serious condition was Will Kramer, 18. Bui, whose Facebook page said she recently returned from a European vacation, had just ended a nearly two-year relationship with Ivanov, friends said. The two had met in high school and continued their relationship while attending the University of Washington-Bothell. On Instagram, Ivanoff recently posted a picture of his new semiautomatic rifle with three bullets next to it, then tweeted the picture with the message: First and last Tweet. Ive been through it all. Several hundred friends and schoolmates gathered outdoors Saturday night at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, from where Ivanoff and Bui graduated. Mourners brought flowers and tearfully consoled one another as a choir sang. At a news conference, Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said: Our community has suffered a great loss tonight. There were many young people who saw and heard things that no one should ever experience. Anderson is a special correspondent. ALSO How to combat Asian carp? Get an alligator gar At least 16 dead in hot air balloon crash in central Texas Shooting in downtown Austin leaves 1 dead, 3 wounded; suspect sought A former police officer killed himself Saturday night after a highway chase in New Jersey with state police, who later discovered the body of the mans wife in the vehicles trunk. Franklin Osgood, 61, a former police officer in Providence, R.I., was pronounced dead about 11:30 p.m. at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. His wife, Mary Jo Osgood, was pronounced dead at the scene about two hours later. Providence police said at a news conference Sunday they received a call from Osgoods daughter Saturday saying her father was missing and distraught. He had last been seen Friday morning. Advertisement At some point, Osgood called his daughter and told her he had harmed her mother, Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements told reporters. Providence police put out an alert to law enforcement agencies across the country. Clements said an officer was in contact with Osgood by phone Saturday evening but that Osgood didnt reveal his location. Police notified New Jersey State Police about 9 p.m. that Osgood was believed to be traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike in a 2007 black Dodge Charger. Troopers located the car about 25 minutes later, heading north on the highway near Ridgefield Park, several miles from the George Washington Bridge. Osgood refused to pull over and eventually ran off the road, hit a guardrail and struck a car driven by a trooper. Troopers found Osgood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when they approached the car. Mary Jo Osgoods body was discovered in the trunk. Clements said Osgood retired from the force in 2007. He said Osgood and his wife had four children. ALSO A beautiful summer day in Texas until tragedy strikes for 16 people in hot-air balloon How to combat Asian carp? Get an alligator gar Shooting in downtown Austin leaves 1 dead, 3 wounded; suspect sought Its been clear for a while that Donald J. Trump is unqualified to be president of the United States. Now, in denigrating the parents of an American soldier killed in war, he has proven he is uniquely unqualified to be commander in chief. Yet top elected Republican leaders continue to stand behind him, which has us wondering where they draw the line or whether theyll ever draw the line when it comes to this candidate, who does little more than spew inanities and insults. It was bad enough when Trump last year disparaged the war record of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spent 5 years as a prisoner of war of North Vietnam. Hes not a war hero, Trump said. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Despite that indefensible comment, McCain eventually endorsed Trump. Now Trump has responded to Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq. Khizr Khan addressed the Democratic National Convention last week to defend Muslim immigrants against Trumps attacks, and cited the sacrifice his son and the rest of the Khan family made in the name of their adopted country. To Trump, he said, You have sacrificed nothing and no one, as his wife stood silently beside him afraid to speak, she said later, lest she break out in tears. Advertisement If Trump felt it was necessary to comment on the Khans, he could have expressed disappointment in their lack of support for him while acknowledging the selflessness that led their son to try to protect his soldiers from the car bomb that killed him. Instead, Trump acted like a petulant child, complaining that Khan had no right to criticize him. And he seemed to equate the sacrifices hes made by working for a living, building buildings and creating jobs with that of Khans death. McCain, who is running for reelection, said Monday that he cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement, and commended Humayan Khans bravery and actions. But McCain still backs Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin also lauded the Khans and reiterated their opposition to Trumps proposed ban on Muslims, yet they too continue to endorse him for president. There are politics involved, to be sure. Few Republicans want to be disloyal to their party, and that sometimes means standing next to someone with whom they have deep philosophical disagreements. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and others involved in the party machinery are in a difficult position: Trump won the nomination and now theyre stuck with him. But elected officials like McConnell, Ryan and McCain are duty-bound to put country ahead of party. And the problems with Trump go far beyond dust-ups over policy. The man is a threat to the nation, and to alliances around the world. He expresses admiration for Vladimir Putin and thinks more nations should have nuclear weapons. Hes suggested that he might not defend NATO allies against attack despite our treaty commitments. Hes described Mexican immigrants as rapists, and said he would build a border wall. He argued that a respected Indiana-born federal judge cant be impartial in a trial against Trump University because of his Mexican heritage. Hes threatened to bar Muslims from entering the country. Throughout this steady Trump-beat of insults, historical inaccuracies (Trump said this past weekend that Putin is not going into Ukraine, oblivious to the fact that Russia has already forcibly annexed Crimea, which is part of Ukraine) and a bizarre endorsement of Russian hacking of U.S. computers, the Republican leadership has shown a distinct lack of spine. Its not enough to reject individual statements by Trump. Trumps entire campaign is based on his ego, his intolerance and his disreputable world view. Those who will not repudiate him are on the wrong side in this battle for the nations political soul. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE FROM OPINION How Clinton and Trump are trying to frame the election Globalization isnt killing factory jobs. Trade is actually why manufacturing is up 40% Possible presidential spoiler Gary Johnson speaks to The Times editorial board about siphoning votes from Hillary Clinton Mexico is a critical partner, President Obama reminded reporters during a joint news conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on July 22, and is critically important to our own well-being. The two presidents praised not only their countries immense cross-border trade but also bilateral collaboration on energy, the environment and counter-narcotics. Left unmentioned in their opening remarks was another crucial way Mexico is helping its northern neighbor: as a buffer between the U.S. and Central Americas Northern Triangle, where gang violence, chronic corruption and endemic poverty drives hundreds of thousands from their homes each year. Two years after the flow of unaccompanied Central American children across the Rio Grande generated U.S. headlines, the humanitarian crisis continues. Today it plays out mostly in Mexico, whose government has become the regions deporter-in-chief, last year sending back 166,000 Central American migrants, including about 30,000 children, more than twice as many as the 75,000 deported from the United States. By detaining and deporting migrants, Mexico has in effect become the wall certain politicians are calling for which of course does nothing to solve the underlying problems. Over the past decade, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have seen homicides spiral out of control, approaching levels of bloodshed last seen during the armed conflicts of the 1980s. Gangs dominate major cities and many smaller towns, forcing even the poor to pay extortion. Most chilling for families is the forced recruitment of young boys and girls. Saying no to the gangs, say refugees interviewed along the border, would mean a death sentence. Advertisement The dangers do not end for those who manage to cross into Mexico. Undocumented migrants make perfect victims. Fearful of authorities, they are highly unlikely to report even violent crimes, such as robbery or rape. Groups specializing in extortion and kidnapping also know that many migrants have relatives in the United States who can be tapped for ransom money. Irregular migration, swollen by forced displacement, ends up fueling organized crime and corruption. No longer can a migrant pay guides known as coyotes or polleros (chicken herders) just enough to be smuggled across the US border. Now they must rely on networks that charge thousands of dollars to assure safe passage across territories controlled by various criminal bosses, while paying officials to look the other way. Mexico is a buffer between the U.S. and Central Americas Northern Triangle, where gang violence and poverty...drives hundreds of thousands from their homes. Regional leaders are finally recognizing that the massive outflow of people from Central America is much more than migration as usual. The United States has agreed to expand efforts to admit refugees directly from the region so they avoid a long, dangerous journey north. Under an initiative announced July 26, a program previously limited to the under-age children of Central Americans lawfully in the U.S. will now include siblings who are over 21, as well as caregivers. Those most vulnerable could be relocated in Costa Rica while awaiting approval for entry into the United States. See the most-read stories this hour This initiative, however, is unlikely to discourage the hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who enter Mexico each year in part because the country is no longer just a transit country, but also a destination in its own right. Petitions for refugee recognition have more than doubled, straining Mexicos capacity to process them fairly and efficiently. Although its refugee commission is offering asylum to a larger proportion of applicants, the numbers deemed eligible still represent only a fraction of those needing protection. In the long run, Central American governments must address the economic and institutional failings that turn young people into gangsters and end the impunity of both criminal leaders and corrupt officials. In the immediate run, the United States should help its critical partner stop the cycle of deportation and re-migration by providing Mexico with the resources it needs to shelter asylum applicants, adjudicate their claims efficiently and fairly, and then resettle them where they can lead productive lives. Mary Speck is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group in Mexico. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE FROM OPINION We adjust for population with murder rates. Why not for mass shootings? Why borders matter and a borderless world is a fantasy Are we raising a generation of nature-phobic kids? By the time Hillary Clinton rolled up here for the final stop of her bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio, she had campaigned at a toy manufacturer, a wire factory, a convention center and a school. She bought a milkshake at a local shop, spoke from a church pulpit and showed off her husbands locally-made shirt. And at every place along the way, Clinton tried to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and the white, working-class voters the Republican nominee is counting on to win this presidential election. Advertisement With Trump touting his money-making prowess, Clinton painted the New York businessman as interested only in lining his own pockets at the expense of American workers. Lets cut through all of the hype and rhetoric and understand that were dealing with somebody who has a history of stiffing people, making things somewhere else besides America, and wherever possible, hiring foreign workers, she said to more than 5,000 people standing under the hot sun on a grassy lawn. The three-day trip was Clintons first since she accepted the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia, taking her through some of the elections most important political battlegrounds. Ohio remains a key swing state, and even though no Democratic candidate has lost Pennsylvania since 1988, Clinton wants to ward off any chance of letting disillusioned voters roll the dice with a Republican candidate lacking any government experience. People are frustrated and angry. They just dont see Washington helping, said Richard Bloomingdale, president of the 800,000-member Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. Thats why theyre attracted to a clown. They dont take government seriously anymore. Throughout her trip, Clinton walked a fine line between sympathizing with dissatisfied workers desire for change and trying to convince them that they still needed an experienced, policy-driven politician in the White House. We cant be satisfied with the status quo. Im not. Not by a long shot, she said at a factory in Johnstown, Pa. At the same time, Clinton said, Republicans have spent more time on insults for me than jobs for you. People are frustrated and angry. They just dont see Washington helping. Thats why theyre attracted to a clown. Richard Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Clinton also offered a dose of tough medicine to economically struggling areas that have seen the slow death of manufacturing jobs. Donald Trump is offering the false promise that he can somehow turn the clock back to the jobs of yesterday. Those days are over, Clinton said in Harrisburg, Pa., on Friday. But that doesnt mean we cant do a better job of making it possible for everybody else to get prepared to take the jobs that will be here. Over and over, she returned to Trumps decision to make his own products overseas, mocking his promises to put America first. While speaking in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday, she asked, Why does he make Trump suits in Mexico instead of Brooklyn, Ohio? Earlier in the day in Pittsburgh, she noted that he makes Trump shirts in Bangladesh, not Ashland, Pa. International trade has been a fault line in the campaign. When Clinton visited a wire factory in Johnstown, there were protesters standing outside in the rain waving Trump signs. The county voted for Mitt Romney over President Obama in 2012, and the Trump campaign said Clinton should be blamed for job losses there because shes supported trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not been approved by Congress. (Clinton has said she wants to renegotiate NAFTA and that she opposes TPP.) Hillary Clinton visiting Johnstown, Pa., is like a robber visiting their victim, said a statement from Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor for Trump. To ensure victory in Pennsylvania, Clinton will be relying on people like Bloomingdale, the labor leader who met with the candidate after her rally in Harrisburg. Im used to politicians asking a question and then answering it, and wanting me to nod and say, yeah, thats a great idea, he said. With Secretary Clinton, it was clearly someone that wanted to hear our ideas. The union plans to fan out across the state, talking with voters at plant gates and on their front steps. Were going to put our reputation on the line because were confident that Secretary Clinton will follow through, Bloomingdale said. The decline in manufacturing and the shift toward cleaner energy has left workers feeling adrift, Bloomingdale said, no matter how much new training is promised to prepare them for new careers. Their attitude is, what are you going to train me for? he said. Im 55. Ive been digging coal all my life. Im probably not going to be a computer programmer. Peter Tokar, 45, of Harrisburg is someone who was able to find steady work with computers, but he remains so disgusted with the political establishment that hes ready to vote for Trump. Even if he doesnt succeed in everything, if he can blow up the political process thats a win for the American people, he said. Other people who attended Clintons rallies including the economically displaced white men whose support Trump is seeking remained adamantly opposed to him. Jim Hollis, 46, of Johnstown was a sheet-metal worker until his job dried up five years ago. For a while he made ends meet with a mix of unemployment checks and odd jobs before finally starting a new career working with children with intellectual disabilities. Trump has no clue as to how government works, he said. Lisa Koss, 55, of Sharon, Pa., works as a cashier in a candy store where her husband became a janitor after getting laid off from a steel mill. But neither of them see any reason to vote for Trump. Hes not offering any solutions, she said. Its just divisiveness. Its anger. Clinton has offered a pile of policy proposals. She promised tax credits for apprenticeship programs, expanded access to high-speed Internet, a dramatic boost in spending on infrastructure and new incentives for businesses to hire workers. The trip was also a blunt-force demonstration of the Clinton teams logistical strength. The campaign convoy included two big blue buses with the words Stronger Together on the side, several police cars that blocked traffic along the way, multiple vans and two more large buses for the posse of reporters following along. On Friday night, the vehicles wove through a beleaguered neighborhood of Harrisburg, dotted by vacant lots and sagging brick apartment buildings, to arrive in a picturesque town square. The buses were parked behind the stage so the words Stronger Together would be visible to television cameras as Clinton spoke, her pink jacket standing out against the vehicles blue exterior. Red, white and blue bunting hung under the bright Broad Street Market sign that helped illuminate the scene. Someone pressed a homemade sign to a window above a storefront, telling Clinton she was lookin great at 68. What a beautiful night it is, Clinton said. Throughout the year, analysts have questioned whether Clinton can compete with the national medias focus on Trump and the controversies he sparks like brush fires along the campaign trail. On Sunday morning, the talk shows were jammed with coverage of Trumps feud with the parents of a Muslim American soldier who was killed in Iraq, and there was little talk about Clintons economic plans. But Clinton dominated the front page of local newspapers where she visited. Dem ticket rides into city, said the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown. In Youngstown, where Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine arrived hours late on Saturday night, the paper blared Hillary rallies the Valley. Clinton said she would be back to the region throughout the campaign, and she pleaded with her Youngstown audience to talk with other voters about Trump. I want you to ask your friends and neighbors: Is this somebody who really cares about the people of the Mahoning Valley, which straddles Ohio and Pennsylvania. At least one Clinton supporter left that night ready to have that conversation. Ray McColl, 67, a retired welder from Franklin, Pa., said his grandson had a Trump sign in front of his house. I dont understand it, he said. Me and him are going to have a talk. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO Mike Pence is the anti-Trump on the trail, just the way the campaign wants it Dont let the aw, shucks fool you: Tim Kaine is a force for Clinton on campaign trail Trumps remarks about the parents of a fallen Army captain become the latest trouble spot in his campaign Charles Koch, addressing hundreds of members of the powerful and wealthy conservative donor network he and his brother David have assembled, wanted to clear the air. The first thing I want to do is correct a rumor the media keeps stimulating, and that is Im probably going to support Hillary, said Koch. That is a blood libel. It was a crowd-pleasing line if inflammatory, given the actual blood libels history as a spark for centuries of anti-Semitic violence. The deeply anti-Clinton audience, most of whom have committed at least $100,000 to the Koch cause, responded to the 80-year-old billionaire industrialist with claps and cheers. Advertisement But lest he be interpreted as endorsing Donald Trump, Koch immediately followed the barb with a clarification: At this point, I cant support either candidate. For months, the brothers who are among the nations best known and most controversial independent political actors have resolutely resisted jumping into the presidential race. This weekend, at their biannual donor confab held at a stately Colorado Springs resort, the message was unambiguous: They really, truly mean it. The first thing I want to do is correct a rumor the media keeps stimulating, and that is Im probably going to support Hillary. That is a blood libel. Charles Koch Throughout the weekend, the Kochs and their operatives tried to draw the focus away from this years top prize, the White House. Instead, they emphasized the need to invest in Senate and House races and, more fundamentally, to find avenues of influence entirely outside the political realm. Many attendees said they backed the decision to opt out of the presidential campaign. But some acknowledged the Kochs run the risk of alienating donors who are loathe to sit on the sidelines of 2016s marquee race, fearing the consequences of a Hillary Clinton victory. I know some people in this group are deadly afraid of things like Supreme Court justice nominations, said Andy Nunemaker, a Wisconsin software executive who said he supports the Kochs position. Thats up to those individuals to go and support the candidate. The ideological differences between Trump and the Koch brothers run deep. Trump has run an explicitly populist campaign, marked by protectionist rhetoric on trade and a forceful argument that immigration has harmed the American worker. Though Trump makes glancing references to the national debt, he has shown no appetite for cutting Social Security or other entitlement programs. See the most-read stories in National News this hour The Kochs preach a libertarian-leaning philosophy that extols free trade, supports expanded immigration and advocates deep cuts in federal spending, including the entitlement programs for the elderly that Trump would keep intact. Charles Koch said in an April television interview that Trumps proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country was monstrous and likened it to Nazi Germany. In the same interview, Koch said it was possible that Clinton could be a better president than a Republican would, the source of the rumor he blamed on the media Sunday. Mark Holden, a top Koch Industries official and chairman of the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, said backing Trump simply isnt a good investment. Were not there at the presidential level. And were not just going to go in because, oh well, its a Republican or Democrat, he said, ticking off the operations criteria for involvement. We feel we need to have an aligned candidate values and beliefs and on policy. Can we make a difference? Are they running a good campaign? None of thats going on right now. A number of donors said they agreed; some continue to harbor reservations about Trump. I dont like the conflict. He doesnt bring people together, said Andy Simms, a first-time attendee who owns car dealerships in Northern California. This whole thing about inciting people at the expense of others is disappointing to me. Simms, a moderate Republican, said he remains undecided about how he will vote in November. So is Nunemaker, also a newcomer to the Koch gathering. This years presidential choices left him a bit apprehensive, he said. Stanley Hubbard, the Minnesota broadcasting executive, is backing Trump after opposing him in the primaries. Before the gathering, he told Reuters that he wanted the Kochs to support Trump to ensure a Republican would pick the next Supreme Court justices. But as the weekend progressed, he accepted the brothers stance. At first, I was thinking they should get involved, but when I hear their strategy and their reasoning, theyre probably smart to concentrate on the House and Senate, Hubbard said. They dont want to dilute their abilities. One Trump ally, Doug Deason of Texas, said he also preferred the Koch network to stay out of the presidential campaign. But he, along with his father, Darwin Deason, who made a fortune investing in data processing, have pushed for Charles to sit down with the GOP candidate. We just feel very strongly that Charles is very influential in politics, Deason said, and he could help influence people who are holding out to not hold out and vote for Trump. The three-day gathering hosted about 300 donors who have committed at least $100,000 annually to the constellation of advocacy groups and philanthropic organizations along with 100 potential new contributors. Attendees spent their days at a sprawling Italianate complex on the banks of a man-made lake, dotted with white swans and the occasional paddle boat. Indoors, their days were filled with strategy sessions and policy panels. A library displayed Charles Kochs favorite reads, including books by the economists Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. The Koch family fortune began with Fred Koch Sr., who invented an oil refining process in the 1920s. Koch Industries, now the second-largest privately held company in the country, holds investments in products as widely varied as chemical manufacturing and Dixie cups. The weekend program featured appearances from a number of Republican luminaries, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, who is scheduled to speak Monday afternoon, and Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Tim Scott of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas. Eleven news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, were allowed access to parts of the weekends proceedings under ground rules that allowed quoting the speakers in public sessions, but not identifying guests without their permission. The partial media access which has been gingerly incorporated into these meetings since last August marks a relative openness for an organization that, under its nonprofit status, has shielded its donors identities. The Koch network funds an operation that has swelled to 1,600 paid employees in 38 states, an enormous footprint that has made the network a favorite boogeyman of the left. Koch-backed groups have been prolific spenders in elections dating back to 2010, helping fuel GOP victories in Congress and in many states. In 2012, the Kochs spent heavily on behalf of Republican nominee Mitt Romneys presidential campaign; one of their organizations, Americans for Prosperity, spent $140 million on advertising and field operations, including ads explicitly opposing President Obama. This year, Americans for Prosperity plans to spend about $110 million, with much of those resources directed to its burgeoning field program. Another affiliated group, Freedom Partners Action Fund, has spent more than $20 million on paid ads in six Senate races and intends to spend total of $42 million this year. All told, Koch-related groups plan to spend around $250 million on politics this year. None of that money will overtly back Trump or target Clinton, although the GOP candidate may reap some benefits. Officials said they may use anti-Clinton messages on behalf of Senate candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida all pivotal states in the presidential contest. The Koch networks sophisticated data operation works with with the Republican National Committee, which could make up for the Trump campaigns non-existent voter targeting efforts. But donors at the summit were urged to explore non-electoral efforts to promote the small government ethos. Attendees were presented various philanthropic opportunities, including supporting charter school expansion and research positions at universities. If we just focus on politics, were going to lose, Charles Koch said at a cocktail reception Friday night. Were going to continue to deteriorate. melanie.mason@latimes.com Follow @melmason on Twitter. ALSO: Mike Pence is the anti-Trump on the trail, just the way the campaign wants it Trumps battle with grieving parents underscores his combative nature: He had to take that shot at her Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump open general election battle with pitches in swing states Im Christina Bellantoni, and Essential Politics is here to kick off your week in politics. WEEKEND CAMPAIGNING WITH LESS THAN 100 DAYS TO GO Hillary Clinton set off on a three-day bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio after accepting the Democratic nomination, trying to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and the white, working-class voters he needs to win the election. Advertisement Chris Megerian was traveling with her over the weekend, and writes she eagerly seized the history-making moment as the first female candidate from a major political party. Along the way, Clinton was joined by Bill Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. The former played an unusual role on the trail -- he stayed almost completely silent. Meanwhile, Kaine jumped into the role as Clintons most enthusiastic promoter, vouching for her character and shredding Donald Trump. (Reporting from across the country, our team took a look at what Kaines Spanish fluency means to Latino voters. And Seema Mehta writes about how Trump and his running mate Mike Pence are a study of contrasts on the stump. But it was Trump who generated the biggest headlines of the weekend with two days worth of news about his response to grieving parents who made a high-profile appearance at the Democratic National Convention. The Republican nominees comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan thrust his plans to ban Muslim immigration back into the spotlight, and led to top GOP leaders distancing themselves from Trump again. He also declared in Colorado he was taking the gloves off against Clinton. But he spent most of his time at the swing state rally revisiting past controversies from the primary. This weekend Trump claimed he rebuffed a meeting with conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch. But top officials to the Koch donor network told Melanie Mason they had no knowledge of any such request. Also this weekend, Mark Cuban kept up his attacks on Trump, billionaire to billionaire. Get the latest from the campaign trail on Trail Guide and follow @latimespolitics. Check our daily USC/Los Angeles Times tracking poll at the top of the politics page. YOUR QUICK CONVENTION CLOSEOUT CATCHUP Our best work on the conventions can be found here and a handful of headlines you might have missed are below. 21 thoughts about the Republican and Democratic conventions from Cathleen Decker Heres how Democrats are trying to reclaim patriotism from Republicans and how Trump helps TV viewership for Hillary Clintons acceptance speech is smaller than Donald Trumps Watch: The ultimate side-by-side convention comparison of Clinton and Trump on the issues Watch: The RNC vs. DNC political insult supercut The final day of the Democratic National Convention in less than 4 minutes The Toastmasters evaluation of Hillary Clintons speech Clintons speech, annotated by the Los Angeles Times (We also annotated Trumps the week before) GUESS WHOS BACK? After a month of recess, the California Legislature reconvenes this morning in Sacramento. And they return to begin whats one of the most intense political and policy sprints this session has seen: the final month of deliberations before adjourning for the year. From climate change to the states housing crisis, revising the rules for elections to legalizing online poker, weve got a rundown of the biggest issues to watch over the next four weeks. And as always, keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed for the latest from Sacramento. FEINSTEINS HUSBAND UNDERGOING CANCER TREATMENT Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) skipped the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia because she was caring for her husband, who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Rumors had circulated at the convention that perhaps the 83-year-old senior senator from the Golden State was ill. Richard Blum, 80, went to the doctor thinking he had pneumonia, but learned he has lung cancer, Feinstein spokesman Tom Mentzer told The Times. THE BATTLE OVER POT Nearly a half-century after tobacco ads were kicked off television in the United States, an initiative in California would take a first step toward allowing TV commercials that promote a different kind of smoking marijuana. If it passes Nov. 8, Proposition 64 would allow people age 21 and older to possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana and would allow pot shops to sell cannabis for recreational use. Patrick McGreevy reports that the initiative also includes a provision that could someday allow cannabis sellers to advertise their products in print ads and on digital sites and radio and television stations. As the ballot battle shapes up, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy plans to spend $2 million to fight initiatives in five states, including Californias Prop 64. DEBATE OVER DRONES California has become a central battleground over drone industry policy, as the technology continues to quickly evolve and debate rages over just how much power the federal government has to regulate the skies. Jazmine Ulloa reports that at the state Capitol this legislative session, drone manufacturers and associations boosted their politicking, successfully beating back several bills they said would create a patchwork of laws that would hinder innovation. HOLLYWOOD SKYSCRAPERS ON THE FAST TRACK Big proposed buildings in Los Angeles could get built a lot faster if state lawmakers pass legislation designed to speed up environmental lawsuits against mega-projects statewide. Four projects in Los Angeles, including a $1-billion redevelopment of the Crossroads of the World complex in Hollywood, would likely qualify to get any environmental litigation wrapped up against them within nine months, a timeframe that could shave years off the development process. But as Liam Dillon reports, a previous version of the law hasnt proven very effective and critics are raising questions about why only large projects are getting this perk. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- How George Takeis East L.A. boyhood made him take on Trump in Spanish. -- Many GOP foreign policy experts see Trump as unfit to be president. -- Who will win the November election? Give our Electoral College map a spin. LOGISTICS Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Facing well-financed campaigns to legalize recreational pot, a national coalition that includes former Rep. Patrick Kennedy has raised more than $2 million to fight initiatives in five states this year, including a November ballot measure in California. The money is being put up by the political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-legalization group founded by Kennedy; David Frum, senior editor of the Atlantic; and Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy advisor to the Obama administration. The opposition campaign to Californias Proposition 64 will eventually get a large amount of the money because its vote affects so many people and is likely to have the biggest influence on other states considering similar proposals, said Sabet, president of the group, SAM Action. Advertisement If there is one thing we agree on with legalization advocates, its that California is important, said Sabet, explaining why a large share of funding is going to the Golden State. If approved by voters Nov. 8, the ballot measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess, transport and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and would also impose a 15% tax on retail sales of the drug. The opponents also plan to fund battles against cannabis legalization initiatives on the November ballots in Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine, in addition to Arizona, where signatures have been turned in, according to Sabet. The contribution to the opposition campaign in California comes after it has fallen far behind its opponents in fundraising. Former Facebook President Sean Parker has put $2.5 million into the legalization campaign, which has raised a total of $6.7 million so far for the initiative qualification and efforts to win voter support. In comparison, the oppositions Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies has raised about $125,000 from groups including the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs State PAC and the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Assn. Sabet said opponents dont expect to be able to match the money raised by proponents because the backers have a financial incentive to invest in legalization. If legalization wins, it creates an environment where a small number of people are going to get rich, Sabet said. A representative for Parker has denied that he has plans to invest in the marijuana industry. Some of the money is going to Latino outreach coordinators based in Los Angeles with the expectation that the initiative could be vulnerable to opposition from that community if it votes in large numbers in the presidential contest. Updates from Sacramento Opponents declined to say who donated the money originally but, when asked, said it does not come from law enforcement sources or billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has fought legalization proposals elsewhere and whose son died of a drug overdose. It is putting our children at risk and has exposed children from communities of color to more racial discrimination than before, said Kennedy, who represented part of Rhode Island in Congress, about the legalization movement. He is the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. In newly released ballot arguments, opponents said the measure would lead to more drugged-driving accidents and pot shops near schools. Proposition 64 is an all-out assault on underprivileged neighborhoods already reeling from alcohol and drug addiction problems, said the opposition argument, whose signers include U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Doug Villars, president of the California Assn. of Highway Patrolmen. Supporters say marijuana is already available nearly everywhere, but without protections for children and consumers. Proposition 64 finally creates a safe, legal and comprehensive system for adult use of marijuana while protecting our children, said the ballot argument, whose signers include Donald O. Lyman, former chief of chronic disease and injury control for the state Department of Public Health, and Stephen Downing, former deputy chief for the Los Angeles Police Department. patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Follow @mcgreevy99 on Twitter Initiative to legalize recreational use of pot in California qualifies for November ballot Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom calls on cannabis community to campaign for legalization in November Ex-Facebook President Sean Parker backs California pot initiative Two federal appellate judges ruled this week that, for the time being, the city of Costa Mesas cannot enforce one of its regulatory ordinances on sober-living homes. Judges Edward Leavy and Milan D. Smith of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a motion for injunctive relief filed by Solid Landings Behavioral Health, an operator of several sober-living homes throughout Costa Mesa. The judges made no further comment on the decision. The company had argued that the citys law singled out its recovering addicts, who are considered a class of protected and disabled people under state and federal law, and that it violated fair-housing statutes. Solid Landings is profoundly pleased to learn of this decision, Kristen Ford, the companys chief legal officer, said in a statement. We felt from the beginning that this ordinance was unfair and discriminatory to men and women who are trying to better their lives by seeking and maintaining sobriety. This is not only a great day for our company, but for the entire recovery community in Orange County. The ordinance, adopted by the City Council in October 2014, requires the sober-living homes, if they are in single-family-zoned neighborhoods, to obtain a special operating permit and be at least 650 feet from one another, among other provisions. While we are disappointed in this ruling, we believe this is just a temporary delay in the implementation of our ordinance for now, Costa Mesa City Attorney Tom Duarte said in a statement. We are still looking forward to the entire court reviewing our ordinance and ruling on its merits. City attorneys argued that their law was never discriminatory, because other types of housing in single-family neighborhoods including boarding houses and bed and breakfasts arent allowed in those areas. Therefore, sober-living clients have received an exception otherwise denied to others without disabilities. Solid Landings case, filed in November 2014, was twice dismissed by a lower federal judge this year. The company then appealed it to the 9th Circuit. Costa Mesa city officials on Thursday stressed that while they can no longer enforce the ordinance, they will continue addressing nuisance-like activities associated with group homes, per code enforcement laws. Solid Landings federal case precedes another, unrelated one it filed in October in Orange County Superior Court against the city. The ongoing lawsuit relates to Solid Landings leased office building at 657 W. 19th St. The city denied the company permission to host group-counseling sessions there, arguing that the building didnt have enough parking for that type of use. City officials have filed a cross-complaint, following code enforcement reports and citations that allege Solid Landings continued to host group counseling in the building, despite losing its permission to do so. Of the estimated 150 sober-living facilities throughout Costa Mesa, according to City Hall estimates, Solid Landings operates between 20 and 30 of them. The ordinance in question affected about 50 homes in single-family neighborhoods. Earlier this year, the council adopted a second, similar law specifically regulating sober-living homes in multifamily-zoned neighborhoods. The 9ths ruling Wednesday did not affect the citys ability to enforce it. While driving on Pacific Coast Highway between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, does anyone ever think, Gee, its a good thing they built Newport Coast now all that open space is gone? Unless you are a resident of Newport Coast, you probably have fond memories of the time when the area was open space. Fellow Californians and Orange County residents, please write to the California Coastal Commission and encourage it to deny construction of Bluff Road to PCH, and the development of Banning Ranch. As the last 400 acres of coastal open space in Orange County, this area should be left undeveloped. Bluff Road is not needed, as there are plenty of major streets, such as Brookhurst, Superior, Newport, Dover and Jamboree, to use for coastal access. Bluff Road would congest, rather than relieve, traffic on PCH. Parking is rarely available at the beach after 11 am, as it is. Construction of Bluff Road will not add more parking spaces to this area of Newport. Banning Ranch contributes to the environmental richness of our community, and is home to endangered species. If coyotes are a concern in your neighborhood, wait until their open space gone. The neighborhoods surrounding Banning Ranch cannot handle the additional people and cars. Please write to the Coastal Commission today. Say no to development! Julie Andrews Huntington Beach .. Why big business has the money Romanticism is powerful. Doing your own thing is powerful. How many times have you heard, Break all the rules? Nowadays, disruptors are popular. Theres this whole romantic fantasy going around in society that people can be shockingly defiant and scarf up the big bucks. Of course, the fantasy sells. Who doesnt want to do exactly as they please and as a result accumulate a fortune? But consider this: Who wants a defiant babysitter? Who wants a disruptive waiter? Who wants tax accountants who report to the IRS whatever they please? Who wants mechanics who rebuild engines according to their own private theory? It just doesnt work. But this cult of the rebel, as we might call it, is popular. And as a result, society is disintegrating. Street fighting, collapsing schools, rampaging rogues, and whatnot. Now, by contrast, business doesnt do that. It may say it breaks all the rules, but it doesnt. Business is smart. Thats why it has all that money. Business looks at it like this: We have a product to put out. It has to be top quality. We need employees with excellent educations who believe in the product. They have to show up on time. They have to listen to the boss. They need to work hard and get along with each other. They need to have a good attitude, and strive for excellence in everything they do. We want them to have flash and dazzle, confidence and persuasiveness. We have to be a little better than our competitors, and maybe a lot. Every day, every year, everywhere. Thats why corporations rule the world. Steve Davidson Newport Beach If youre tired of hearing Im bored when you vacation with your kids, maybe its time to try a cruise. Some cruises excel at keeping kids busy and entertained. But which ones? Generally speaking, the newest ships have more perks for families. As for destinations, some, such as Alaska, are more kid-friendly than others. Lines that have lots of kid-friendly bells and whistles dont always offer discount prices for children, so youll need to do a little shopping to find lines that let kids cruise free or discount their fares when they share a cabin with their parents. Advertisement Nearly 24 million passengers will cruise this year, according to Cruise Lines International Assn., an industry organization, and many about 2 million in 2013 will have kids in tow. Many lines are fighting the boredom factor with features such as surfing simulators, elaborate water slides, outdoor movies, ropes courses, bumper cars and bowling alleys. Couple that with prices and you may have the winning vacation formula. Its not going to cost families a fortune, said Rick Sasso, president and chief executive of MSC Cruises, a family-owned line that sails mainly in Europe and the Caribbean. Were making it easy with our kids sail free program. With MSCs offer, kids 12 and younger sail free as part of the lines anytime rates, meaning its a standard rate that can be purchased any time children travel with their parents in the same stateroom. Kids 13 to 17 receive a discount as the third or fourth person in a stateroom. Among MSCs upcoming deals: a weeklong Aug. 27 Mediterranean cruise to Italy and Greece with rates that start at $2,278 for a family of four in an inside cabin. A weeklong cruise from Miami, departing Nov. 12 for Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and San Juan, Puerto Rico, starts at $1,898 for a family of four in a balcony cabin. Among other kid-friendly cruise deals: Sail round trip from Seattle to Glacier Bay, Alaska, on Norwegian Cruise Line for $1,848 for a family of four. Save money by sailing from the Port of Los Angeles. Explore the Pacific Coast with a six-day Princess Cruises Pacific Wine Country trip to Vancouver, Canada, from $1,596 for four people. Try a Princess Cruises Sun-Drenched Deals special with fares from $499 per person on select cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Mexico, Hawaii and the California coast. Add third and fourth guests (including kids) to the stateroom for fares that start at $199 a person. Among the upcoming cruises included in the offer, which is in effect from fall to spring, is a seven-day Dec. 10 sailing from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; rates from $1,496 for a family of four traveling in the same cabin. NCL, Royal Caribbean and Holland America occasionally run buy-one-get-one-free or third and fourth passenger sales, with free or discounted fares. In most cases, these sales apply to any passenger, regardless of age, but they can be used for children sharing a cabin with their parents. Not surprisingly, most of the deals are available when kids are in school. Remember too that you may have to pay taxes and port fees. Those can range from 12% to 50% of the fare, depending on the line and the city and country visited, so make sure you read the fine print to find out whether those are included in the listed price. High-end lines Crystal Cruises and Paul Gauguin also have deals for parents or grandparents sailing with children. Crystal has two-for-one specials and offers kids-sail-free programs on some cruises. Paul Gauguin, which sails in French Polynesia, allows third and fourth passengers to sail free when sharing a cabin. Combine these deals with the all-inclusive features that many cruise lines offer, and the advantages of packing and unpacking just once, and you have a holiday that may be as fun for Mom and Dad as it is for the kids. And affordable. travel@latimes.com U.S. attack jets and drones launched airstrikes inside Libya on Monday against multiple Islamic State targets, marking a further expansion of President Obamas war against the militant group. The warplanes targeted Islamic State transport vehicles and tanks that had been menacing Libyan forces inside the densely populated city of Surt, along the central Mediterranean coast where the Sunni extremist group has built a stronghold. The strikes, the start of an ongoing campaign, will give the U.S. military a more prominent role in war-torn Libya and open a new front less than six months before Obama leaves office. Advertisement The expanded air campaign in Libya, where Islamic State has established its largest and most powerful affiliate outside Syria and Iraq, is open-ended but strictly limited to the city of Surt, U.S. officials said. In recent weeks, militants fortifications around Surt have been besieged in fighting, with pressure coming from both sides of the city by rival militias. The decision to launch additional strikes was authorized by Obama after a request from the newly formed Western-backed unity government, known as Libyan Government of National Accord and headed by Prime Minister Fayez Serraj. We hope these airstrikes can be conducted over a short amount of time and that [Libyan] forces will be able to move even faster in terms of removing ISIL from that area, said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, using an acronym for Islamic State. Serraj issued a televised address Monday that outlined his countrys appreciation for American air power in the ongoing fight against Islamic State, but he also warned against further, uninvited involvement. We repeat from here our rejection of interference by any nation or attempts to violate Libyas sovereignty, he said. Under a campaign dubbed Operation Odyssey Lightning, the U.S. military will launch strikes against specific targets upon request from the Libyan government. Each strike must be approved by Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command, which oversees military operations on the continent. The U.S. Navy has positioned the amphibious assault ship Wasp about 20 miles off the coast of Surt to assist in the operation. The Libyan government will be determining the pace and the success of this campaign, Cook said. Obviously they have their forces on the ground conducting their efforts and this will be in support of their efforts. But we aim to support them as best we can, carefully assessing the circumstances and the targets. Islamic State snipers and fighters are currently holed up in government and university buildings inside Surts city center. Pentagon officials believe there are fewer than 1,000 Islamic State fighters inside the city. That appears to be fewer militants than was suggested last year by social media images of balaclava-clad gunmen in pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, marauding through the city and waving black flags. Obama made no mention of the new U.S. military engagement during a speech to a disabled veterans convention in Atlanta. But he vowed in his remarks that the United States will keep pounding ISIL and taking out their leaders and pushing them back on the ground. United with a global coalition, we will destroy this barbaric terrorist group. They will be destroyed, he said. The president will travel to the Pentagon on Thursday as part of a regular series of administration-wide briefings on the U.S. strategy to counter Islamic State. The militant group seized on Libyas political instability in late 2014 by attacking oil fields and installations, hobbling a major source of income for the fledgling government. Oil production has been cut in half from a year ago, according to state-run National Oil Corp. Last year, U.S. officials were concerned that Islamic State was quietly taking root in Libya much as it did in Syria before the militants blitz across Iraq in early 2014, when it seized cities, oil fields, military bases and banks. They attracted hundreds of recruits from elsewhere in Africa, raising fears that they would use Libya to launch terrorist attacks in Europe and Africa. The Pentagon sent special operations teams and reconnaissance drones to gather intelligence and has launched two previous airstrikes. But the White House was reluctant to escalate a U.S. military role in another Muslim country without the governments consent. Libya is now the fourth country -- including Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria -- in which the U.S. military is targeting Islamic State militants from the air in support of foreign ground forces. Since the fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi in 2011, the only known U.S. airstrikes were in November, when F-15 fighter jets killed a senior Islamic State commander known as Abu Nabil near the eastern city of Derna, and in February, when the U.S. launched strikes on a training camp in Sabratha, targeting a Tunisia-born militant leader. The fact that the Americans have decided to intervene is important and a step in the right direction but its a small step, said Karim Mezran, a Libya scholar at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. It might be the deciding factor in the battle for Surt, but bigger challenges lie ahead for Libyas government, which remains in troubled waters. The oil-rich country has faced political chaos and violence since the NATO bombing campaign helped rebels oust and kill Kadafi. It remains beset by armed militias, as well as Islamic State, and until recently had two rival governments battling for control in a low-grade civil war. Serraj has yet to make peace with the two rival governments that control substantial parts of Libya. The most powerful force since 2014 has been the General National Congress, which includes numerous militias. It opposes the harsh ideology of Islamic State, but also opposes Serrajs efforts to unite Libya under his authority. Another powerful group, the self-declared National Salvation Government, is based in Tobruk and includes members of the House of Representatives. Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls that faction, has signaled through proxies that he is not in favor of outside nations meddling in Libyan affairs. Adding to the challenge, Egypt and Russia have indicated that they will not support arming new government forces until the parliament in Tobruk is brought back to Tripoli as the national legislative body. The U.S. and 22 other nations agreed to support the formation of a unity government in Tripoli, the capital, in a tenuous effort to restore stability and take on the militants. Staff writer Michael A. Memoli in Washington contributed to this story. william.hennigan@latimes.com Twitter: @wjhenn ALSO Taiwans president apologizes to indigenous people for decades of abuse Ubers China deal: Sorry surrender or savvy sale? Taliban claims responsibility for bombing of compound for foreigners in Kabul UPDATES: 2:15 p.m.: This story was updated with additional background and reaction. This story was originally published at 8:30 a.m. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen apologized Monday to her islands 530,000 indigenous Austronesian people to mark the governments role in decades of racial discrimination, use of native land and forced cultural assimilation. Her 4,000-word apology before representatives of Taiwans 16 distinct ethnic groups, known commonly as aborigines, was a first for Taiwan and timed for Indigenous Peoples Day, another first for the island. I want to represent the government and express our deepest apologies, Tsai said at a presidential office ceremony that included an aboriginal ritual allowing tribal spirits to know the president and a prayer for her to pass pro-indigenous laws. Advertisement Let me use simple language to explain the reasons for this apology, said the president, who has been in office slightly more than two months. There were indigenous people living on this land 400 years ago. Those people had their own life, their own languages, culture, customs and lands to live on. Then without their permission a different group of people suddenly came onto that land. That group was the ethnic Chinese, who migrated from southeastern China. Indigenous people now make up about 2% of Taiwans population. Our land has been taken away, we have lost the majority of our languages, many of our peoples have died and we have lost our dignity and self-confidence. Kolas Yotaka, a Taiwan legislator and indigenous rights advocate Aborigines first came to the island from continental Asia, 100 miles away, about 3,500 years ago and became Taiwans first recorded inhabitants. The seafaring people eventually used boats to fan out across the Pacific Ocean as far away as Easter Island, west of South America. After Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist government fled to Taiwan from China in the 1940s after losing the Chinese civil war, it forced the largely hunting-based societies to relocate, squelched use of native languages and destroyed homes in some areas. Many aborigines now form an economic underclass in the mountains and relatively undeveloped east coast, where jobs are scarce adding to ethnic Chinese stereotypes of indigenous people as chronically unemployed and often drunk. Indigenous leaders have pushed government officials for more rights, including autonomous areas where they can elect their own leaders and pursue traditions such as hunting. About 15 years ago, then-President Chen Shui-bian brought indigenous rights into focus to show that Taiwans ethnic roots differ from those of China, a longtime political rival. Communist officials in Beijing say the two places share an ethnic heritage, part of the argument for why the two should unify instead of being ruled separately as they are today. See the most-read stories in World News this hour Chen raised the national budget for aboriginal assistance in 2007 to $195 million a year, more than double the levels of a decade earlier, to improve education, healthcare and standards of living in majority indigenous villages. His successor, Ma Ying-jeou, in office from 2008 through last May, increased indigenous peoples welfare by offering limited local autonomy in tribal areas and laying plans to build 30 schools by 2023 to help preserve native cultures, including languages. Tsais apology extends the efforts of both former presidents and comes exactly 22 years after Taiwan added an indigenous-rights clause to its constitution. The clause says the government should protect the social status and political participation of indigenous people, while supporting their education, economy and social welfare. Our land has been taken away, we have lost the majority of our languages, many of our peoples have died and we have lost our dignity and self-confidence, said Kolas Yotaka, a Taiwanese legislator and indigenous rights advocate from the Amis aboriginal group. The apology represents the government recognizing its wrongdoings in the past, allowing the indigenous peoples to feel comforted. Indigenous people still want more than the apology. Many hope for stronger preservation of 14 remaining native languages, which have faded as people from tribal villages move to cities for work. The government also has not granted any indigenous group a fully autonomous region. The demand for the return of land is the most important one, Yotaka said. The second is the revival of our languages. Without languages, there is no culture because many of the languages contain our conventional wisdom and our world perspectives. Jennings is a special correspondent. MORE WORLD NEWS Flush, then fill up: Japan taps sewage to fuel hydrogen-powered cars As populist movements take hold, Icelands Pirate Party offers a glimpse at a more radical future Armed forces pacified Rios slums, but as Olympics approached, the gangs came back Ubers rapid rise from small start-up to $62.5-billion tech giant is often chalked up to its unmatched bullishness, its penchant to win at all costs. But in China, the company finally met its match: a rival willing to outspend, outmaneuver and, as of Monday, outright buy the Chinese arm of its business. With Ubers sale of its Chinese brand and operations to local rival Didi Chuxing, the San Francisco ride-hailing company admitted it would never dethrone the incumbent. But considering the failures of other foreign tech firms in China where weak understanding of the market, fierce local competition and a hostile regulatory environment have already sent EBay, Google, Facebook and Twitter scurrying Ubers surrender is a best-case scenario and a savvy business move, industry experts say. Uber and the backers of its China operations will hold a 20% interest in the combined company. Didi will also invest $1 billion in Ubers global business, according to a source familiar with the arrangement but not authorized to speak on the record. Advertisement Some likened the deal to Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yangs move in 2005 to buy a 40% stake in then-fledgling Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba for $1 billion an investment that was worth $20 billion a decade later. By either strategy or luck, Uber played this beautifully. Jeffrey Towson, a professor of investment at Peking University And they noted that the if you cant beat em, join em approach means Uber can stop spending piles of cash fighting an uphill battle for riders and drivers in China, and focus its energies elsewhere. By either strategy or luck, Uber played this beautifully, said Jeffrey Towson, a professor of investment at Peking University and author of a book on Chinese consumers. Eighteen months ago they were written off in China too small, too late and a foreign Internet company in a political market. But they surprised everyone by continually doubling down and using their money and technology in a powerful way. That doubling-down didnt come cheaply Ubers chief executive, Travis Kalanick, famously said the company was losing $1 billion annually trying to grab market share. It wasnt all for naught: The company says six of its top 10 cities by ride volume are in China, and its China business gave investors hope for future growth. But in the first quarter of 2016, Didi Chuxing which was formed in 2015 by the merger of two Chinese rivals ranked No. 1 in China with a market share of about 85%, while Uber was No. 2 at about 8%. Still, Uber attained what Towson called a solid No. 2 position, leaving Uber and Didi Chuxing with two possible outcomes a continued war of attrition or a merger that would give Uber a minority stake in the China winner. I see it as spending 1 years building up a strong negotiating position, and then doing the deal they probably always wanted, Towson said. Winning in China was probably plan A. Doing a deal with Didi from a position of strength was probably Plan B. This is probably their best possible outcome. After news of the deal broke, Kalanick posted a message on his Facebook page saying that when Uber entered China in February 2014, we were a young American business entering a country where most U.S. Internet companies had failed to crack the code. The company grew to 800 employees in 60 cities, completing 40 million rides a week. However, as an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as much as following your heart, he said. Sustainably serving Chinas cities, and the riders and drivers who live in them, is only possible with profitability. Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built, said this head-heart dilemma is a prime example of an old lesson for foreigners in China and that Kalanick was on the right side of things. Better be a merchant than a missionary. Merchants left the legacy of Hong Kong [and] trading companies. Missionaries got their heads chopped off. Kalanick said in his note that the deal will allow Uber to redirect resources to markets where it is already dominant and double-down in its pursuit of profit. Analyst believes it will pave a path toward an initial public offering. By removing a $1-billion annual loss, all of a sudden Uber looks more attractive to public investors, said Ajay Chopra, a partner with venture capital firm Trinity Ventures, which is not an investor in Uber. Private investors tend to value growth, but public investors look at more fundamental metrics like profitability, so the valuation impact here may actually be positive. With China no longer a focus, Uber could bolster its logistics business by expanding its delivery services UberEats and UberRush, which are available only in a handful of U.S. cities. It could use the cash to solidify its position in the U.S., said Evan Rawley, a professor at Columbia Business School. Even though Uber is the U.S. leader in ride-hailing, more than 80% of Americans still havent used it. It could invest more in autonomous vehicles another fast-moving industry where tech companies and automakers are racing to be first to market. Or it could further invest in international markets such as Israel, India and Europe, where it has faced regulatory and incumbent head winds. And it could do all of this without worrying about a hostile rival in Didi. Didi Chuxing was formed by the merger of Didi Dache, backed by Tencent, and Kuaidi Dache, backed by Alibaba. When they joined forces after a fierce price war, some observers put their combined value at $6 billion. But the market has been growing explosively with rides nearly quadrupling in China from 2015 to 2016. Some observers have valued the merged Uber-Didi company at $35 billion. China accounted for about 70% of the 6.3 billion on demand transportation trips worldwide in the first quarter of 2016, according to Hillhouse Capital; North America accounted for about 10%. Those kinds of numbers have prompted multiple rounds of heavy investments in Didi Chuxing, including $1 billion from Apple this year. Still, Didi Chuxing has yet to turn a profit, and it needs to find a way to start making money. Setting aside its fare war with Uber may now help it focus on that. What the deal means for drivers and riders in China was not immediately clear, though Didi Chuxings statement said that Uber will maintain independent branding and business operations to ensure stability and continuity of service for passengers and drivers. Yi Beichen, Internet analyst and author of The Era of Mobile Internet, said that while the detente probably spells the end of highly subsidized rides, it could be good for customers in other ways, he said. Didi can spend more time to improve the user experience and other details to improve their services. So its also good news for users, he said. But some drivers were not sold on the idea. A 34-year-old photographer named Bo Bo who has been working part time as a driver for both Uber and Didi said he feared it would mean smaller paychecks. Before the merger, I could always compare the fares between Didi and Uber and chose the more profitable rides to work on. But after the merger, Didi will become the monopoly and will decide the price on its own. I think the merger will only make us earn less and less, he said. The merger comes only days after China said it would formally permit the ride hailing but impose licensing and registration requirements. The ride-hailing services like Didi and Uber had for years operated in a legal gray area. With this deal, Didi Chuxing now has agreements with most major ride-hailing companies in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. To complicate matters, the company also has a partnership with Uber competitor Lyft, which lets Didi customers hail Lyft rides in the U.S. and lets Lyft customers hail Didi rides in China. Lyft, which is based in San Francisco and operates only in the U.S., said Monday in a statement that the recent ride-hailing policy changes in China are exactly why we did not invest in the region. A spokeswoman said Lyft will evaluate its partnership with Didi in the coming weeks. In its own statement, Didi said it plans to continue to work with its global partners. Its possible that Uber was bluffing the whole time, that it knew it would never win China. Or perhaps its aspirations were genuine. In the end, said Clark, Ubers big talk helped drive up valuations in China and their own valuation for an IPO, which is a win either way. Yingzhi Yang and Nicole Liu in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report. julie.makinen@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @JulieMakLAT. ALSO Tesla and SolarCity agree to combine in a $2.6-billion deal The Agenda: After Yahoo, what tech firms might be sold? German company plugs into L.A. area for its electricity storage operation UPDATES: 4:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reporting. 11:25 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Lyft and Didi Chuxing. This article was originally published at 7:40 a.m. Syrian rebels in northern Syria shot down a Russian helicopter on Monday, Russian officials and Syrian activists said, killing five people in what is considered the largest loss sustained by Russian forces since entering the conflict in September. Russias Defense Ministry said an Mi-8 transport helicopter was shot down by ground fire in Idlib province, in northeast Syria, after a delivery of humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. There were three crew members and two officers on board, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Advertisement Those who were in the helicopter have died, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in televised remarks. Died heroically, because they tried to take the vehicle away to minimize the victims on the ground. The state-run Rossiya 24 channel called the crash the single largest loss of Russian servicemen in Syria since Moscow started its military operation on Sept. 30. The total Russian death toll over the past 10 months has reached 19, it said. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, chief of Russias General Staff, said in a statement that the helicopter was shot down over the area controlled by ... the Nusra Front and the squads of the so-called moderate opposition. Idlib province was taken over in March by a loose alliance of hard-line Islamist rebels, including the Nusra Front, Al Qaedas affiliate in Syria. Last week, the group changed its name to the Front for the Conquest of Syria and disassociated itself from Al Qaeda, in what was seen as a bid to increase cohesion among fractious rebel organizations. Rudskoy described the attack as an act of terrorism on a helicopter that was returning after a humanitarian mission to deliver food and medicine to the residents of Aleppo. Videos taken by activists in the immediate aftermath of the crash show crowds, including armed men, gathered around corpses in military uniforms. The remains of a helicopter smolder nearby. Barbecued, barbecued, this pig, says one onlooker, while others celebrate as they begin to drag a body. One video depicts a man stepping on the body of one of the crew members. Another video appeared to show that the helicopter was armed with a rocket launcher, which, opposition activists said, contradicted Moscows statement that it was on a humanitarian mission. No rebel group has thus far claimed responsibility. Russia, a staunch backer of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has launched hundreds of airstrikes against opposition-held areas, including those in Idlib province. The opposition contends Russias warplanes have targeted critical infrastructure such as hospitals and schools without regard for civilians. In July, Moscow announced the opening of humanitarian corridors leading out of the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo for civilians and opposition militants who wish to surrender. Russian helicopters have also conducted aid drops there. It is unclear how many have taken advantage of the passageways, however. The government says at least 169 people have left, while the opposition insists it is much less, and disputes that the passageways are even open. Fighting has continued around Aleppo as rebels launched another offensive late Sunday to break the governments siege in the area. Bulos is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Mansur Mirovalev in Kaliningrad, Russia, contributed to this report. ALSO Syrian civilians reportedly begin to leave rebel-held parts of Aleppo Taliban claims responsibility for bombing of compound for foreigners in Kabul With nearly half of its food imported, who will feed Britain after Brexit? UPDATES: 1:35 p.m.: Updated throughout with Russian statements, background. 5:05 a.m.: Updated with staff reporting. 4:10 a.m.: This article was updated to reflect that five people were killed and include quotes from Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman. This article was originally posted at 3:50 a.m. Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by six-points in a Reuters/Ipsos post 2016 Democratic National Convention poll. The online survey of 1,043 likely voters finds Clinton now topping Trump 41 percent to 35 percent with 25 percent of voters indicating a preference for another candidate. The poll was taken from July 25 through July 29, the same four day period as the just concluded democratic convention in Philadelphia, where the likes of President Obama, chief democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg all publicly expressed their endorsement of the former first lady. Clinton's Optimism Shows In contrast to Trump, Clinton offered an upbeat address and optimistic view of the world in her Thursday night prime-time acceptance speech. The former secretary of state and New York senator also cast herself as a sure-handed and steady leader. During his party's junket earlier this month's in Cleveland, Trump painted the picture of an America burdened by social strife and economic hardship. The political neophyte went on to label all the issues problems "I alone can fix." Both candidates were back on the campaign trial hours after the DNC officially wrapped up, with Trump charging Clinton of longing for a "borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs and no safety." Clinton Winning in Pennsylvania Meanwhile, a recent Suffolk University telephone poll of 500 voters taken on the night Clinton formally accepted the Democratic nomination also shows Clinton lapping Trump by nine points in the critical swing-state of Pennsylvania. In a one-on-one match-up, Clinton garners 50 percent of the vote to Trump's 41 percent with eight percent of voters remaining undecided. The 9-point gap is the same margin Clinton led Trump by ( 45 percent to 36 percent) in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll prior to the start of the DNC. Despite democrats having won the state in each of the last five presidential elections, Trump has campaigned heavily in Pennsylvania hoping to put the state back in play. He and newly named running-mate Mike Pence were recently in vice president Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton stumping for support. When Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein were thrown into the Suffolk University mix, Clinton still topped Trump by the same nine points, 46 percent to 37 percent. Support for Johnson stood at five percent and two percent for Stein. The Reuters poll represented a slight change of wording from previous polls with respondents given the option of "Neither/Other" instead of just "Other." Hillary Clinton's lead over Donald Trump among Latino voters has become so pronounced that if the election were held today the Democratic presidential nominee would sweep her rival in all 12 "battleground" states. Those are the conclusions of a Latino Victory Fund and Latino Decisions poll, which also finds Latino voters are generally more aligned with the overall Democratic agenda, as opposed to the platform carved out by the GOP ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Pollsters found Clinton is now topping Trump among Hispanics in the swing-states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Latinos Aligned With Democratic Views When it comes to specific issues, the July 18 to 22 conducted survey of 800 Latino adults also found that respondents are convinced Clinton would be the best candidate to handle such concerns as immigration, foreign policy, education and the economy. Hispanics also widely consider Clinton to be the best candidate to enact reasonable gun laws, make college education more affordable, select the next Supreme Court justice and reform the criminal justice system. Overall, more than four in five (82 percent) respondents were in favor of an immigration reform plan that supports a path to citizenship. In addition, 64 percent of Latinos believe that the issues that are most significant to them coincide with the views expressed by democratic candidates. Clinton Reform Pledge While Clinton has pledged to address the issue of immigration reform within the first 100 days of her administration, Trump is on record with his vow to deport as many as 11 million immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border. More than 13 million Latinos are expected to cast votes in this year's general election, and a recent Univision poll pegged Trump's support among Hispanics at just 19 percent. The words Ruth Ann Velez repeated to her daughter's killer in a Lehigh County courtroom have become the woman's mantra in the wake of unfathomable trauma. "Sometimes God uses our deepest pain as a launching pad for our greatest calling," Ruth Ann Velez said Monday. "I now know what my calling was." Velez was in court to speak at the sentencing for Charlie Mack, the man who drank and then drove the night of Aug. 16, 2015, crashing into Ruth Ann Velez's car at Basin and Auburn streets in Allentown. Both Velez and her 16-year-old daughter Alayna, a student at Allentown Central Catholic High School, were seriously injured. Ruth Ann survived. Alayna did not. On Monday, Mack, of the 500 block of Mohawk Street in Allentown, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison -- the maximum sentence for homicide by vehicle while DUI, aggravated assault with a vehicle while DUI and driving under the influence. In a standing-room only courtroom, with many people wearing pink angel wings in memory of Alayna, Ruth Ann Velez and her oldest daughter spoke of the deep trauma the family has endured since the crash. The family buried Alayna while her mother fought for her life in the hospital, a memory that Ruth Ann Velez described through sobs. "She died without me being with her," Ruth Ann cried as she described not being able to hold her daughter one last time, give one last kiss or mourn Alayna at her burial. "There are no words to say to you because some days are just unbearable." Ruth Ann Velez was in the hospital for six weeks after suffering a brain injury, a broken pelvis, ribs, neck and right arm, as well as a lacerated liver and a torn aorta. She doesn't remember the crash, and has undergone a year full of surgeries, including one last month, as well as therapy and doctors appointments. "By the grace of God, my mother is still with us," said BryAnn Holzer. Holzer, her sisters and their brother picked out the clothes their youngest sister would wear at her funeral, the color of her casket, the flowers for her service -- all without their mother. "No one should have to tell their mother her child is dead," Holzer said. "That is, by far, the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life." in my heart it will always be the 5 of us <3 Posted by BryAnn Holzer on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Holzer was set to be married last September. She wanted to bury Alayna in the bridesmaid dress her baby sister was to wear, but couldn't because of the damage to the teen girl's body. "We will never be complete without our baby sister, Alayna," she said. "Nothing felt complete without her and it never will." While Alaya's injuries were extensive, the organ donor was able to give her kidneys to two men, according to her family. "At a very young age, my daughter made a difference," Ruth Ann Velez said. "I know she is forever our angel." The family was helped by a community of family, friends and strangers. A GoFundMe surpassed its goal. Money was donated for Alayna's funeral and a scholarship was set up in her name. Friends have helped Ruth Ann Velez as she has recovered, from driving her to doctor appointments, to surrounding her home with angels. While a crowd showed up at Monday's hearing, many more wrote letters to the judge. Mack does not read or write, and defense attorney Richard Webster said he could "barely get through" reading them to his client. "There are no words for this, judge," Webster said, and of Ruth Ann Velez, "I don't know how she does it." While Mack faces at least a decade behind bars, Ruth Ann Velez has kept going by focusing on her own goals: walking Holzer down the aisle, working with groups fighting drunk driving, eventually getting back to work, and most all, being there for her family. "Because I survived I live not just for myself, but for (Alayna), too," Ruth Ann Velez said. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Derek Jones Derek Jones. (Courtesy photo) ( ) A man accused of raping a girl in Allentown reached a plea deal with prosecutors on Monday. Derek Jones, 38, was due for trial on Monday, but instead pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child. Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges, including rape of a child. Jones will be sentenced at a later date. The deal is for a minimum sentence of seven years in prison, but the maximum is up to Judge James Anthony. Jones will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life under the state's Megan's Law. Jones remains in county jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. The girl reported just after her 12th birthday that Jones forced her into a sex act on two consecutive days in early 2014. After Jones left the state to move to North Carolina, the girl disclosed the assaults, prosecutors said. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Kayla Bauman (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) A Bethlehem Township teenager hasn't had contact for nearly a week with her parents, who reported her to police as a runaway. Township police on Monday asked for the public's help in locating Kayla Bauman, 17, reportedly missing since last Tuesday, July 26. "It may be nothing," police Investigator Tony Stevens said. "It may be just another runaway, but that's the thing: We don't know. It's been some days now. The parents are rightly concerned, and they should be." Police say Bauman has been in the company of Aidan Sweeley, 16, and David Rivera, 19. Police in Shamokin, in central Pennsylvania's Northumberland County, relayed to investigators that Bauman may have been driven to either the Shamokin or Allentown areas, according to Bethlehem Township police. Investigators have sent announcements on Bauman being sought to media in the Lehigh Valley and Shamokin, and have entered her as a runaway into the FBI's National Crime Information Center. Kayla Bauman, 17, missing from Bethlehem Township since Tuesday, July 26, 2016, may be in the company of Aiden Sweeley, 16, left, or David Rivera, 19. Police on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, asked for the public's help in learning Bauman's whereabouts and whom she is with.(Courtesy photos | For lehighvalleylive.com) Authorities ask anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts to identify whom she is with and contact the Bethlehem Township Police Department at 610-759-2200. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A former Bethlehem woman is accused of passing a bad check for $7,500 that was supposed to be used by the buyers of her property for repairs. Sophia Badura, new address unknown, on May 27 allegedly passed the bad check for the home being sold in the 1400 block of Fourth Street in Bethlehem. The transaction was made during the sales agreement, in which Badura made the check out to Coldwell Banker in Bethlehem Township and the money was placed into escrow for the buyers to use for home repairs, township police said. The check later was returned by Lafayette Bank as having insufficient funds, according to police. Coldwell Banker wrote Badura on June 15 and gave her 10 days to respond, in which no response was made by July 6, police said. Badura also allegedly failed to return a voicemail message left by Coldwell Banker on her phone on June 22. Badura is charged with passing a bad check. She was arraigned Sunday before District Judge Robert Hawke, who set bail at $10,000. In lieu of bail, Badura was taken to Northampton County Prison. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Forks Township is weighing a new law banning some forms of bamboo. The plant grows quickly and spreads quickly. The best way to keep it from crossing boundary lines is to enact a ban on the most invasive types, according to Forks Township Supervisor Erik Chuss. "There are certain bamboos that are OK, but there are some species that are incredibly damaging to surrounding properties," Chuss said. Sean Delonas understands. Last year the grass native to Asia spread from his Bethlehem Township neighbor's yard into his. "I'd go over it with my lawnmower and in a few days it would be a few feet high again," Delonas said. The problem is the bamboo's rhizomes, stems that grow under the ground and help it spread. "I think it grows 8 to 16 feet underground in a full year," Delonas said. "You could literally have a single plant stretch from Easton all the way to Allentown." Delonas brought his problem to the attention of the Bethlehem Township commissioners, who approved an ordinance last year requiring neighbors to put in barriers to keep bamboo from spreading across their property lines. Delonas' neighbor removed his bamboo. The American Bamboo Society says most bamboo species need barriers 30 inches deep to prevent the rhizomes from spreading. Chuss said the supervisors have fielded a few complaints about bamboo and feel a new law is necessary. "A lot of communities have enacted intrusive bamboo plant ordinances because of the damage they can do," he said. Delonas agrees bamboo needs to be regulated. "It's one thing if you live on a farm," he said. "If you live in a neighborhood with houses close together its very irresponsible to plant that." Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Wilson Borough police announced Monday two nighttime burglary reports filed Sunday. Police urged residents to lock their doors and windows. One report came from the 1500 block of Ferry Street and the other was from the 1500 block of Lehigh Street in the borough, both near the 15th Street border with Easton. In one case, a caller said someone had entered her home between 1:30 and 9:30 a.m. Sunday through an unsecured window and stole her purse. The intruder left through the home's rear door, police Detective Jason Hillis said. In the second incident, the caller reported being awakened by a noise downstairs, where both the front and back doors to the home were found open, according to police. A screen in a window to the rear of the home had been pushed in, and a chair was found under the window. The second caller said the doors were locked to the home, and nothing was reported missing. Both reports came as borough police about 1:15 a.m. Saturday arrested 28-year-old Jordan B. Stackhouse, of the 900 block of South 24th Street in Wilson, for allegedly burglarizing a condemned home in the 2300 block of Forest Street. The Forest Street property was the scene of an investigation last month into the possible manufacture of crystal methamphetamine, Hillis confirmed. Investigators do not believe the Forest Street burglary was related to the Ferry and Lehigh street break-in reports, Hillis said. Police ask anyone with information on the nighttime burglary reports to call borough police via the Northampton County 911 Center non-emergency line at 610-759-2200. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Many living west of the free bridge in Easton know the benefit of crossing the Delaware River to buy gasoline. It's far cheaper in Jersey because the gas tax is less. The opposite applies for smokers in New Jersey, but any benefits from buying in Pennsylvania took a substantial hit Monday. There are four cigarette outlets on Northampton Street in Easton, within a block-and-a-half of the New Jersey border. The tax difference of $1.10 per pack was an incentive for New Jersey residents to make the drive across the Delaware River, business owners and managers said. And for New York residents, the savings was even greater -- about a $2.75 discount per pack, since the Empire State has a tax of $4.35. But on Monday, when the Pennsylvania Legislature's additional $1-tax-per-pack kicked in, it put at risk the future of businesses that date back as far as 1935 in Easton. And with other taxes coming Oct. 1 on other tobacco products, it's not going to get better in a hurry for these businesses, merchants say. "I think it's going to hurt me pretty bad," Divyesh Desai said from behind the count at Luco's, which he called an Easton landmark that dates to the days of Franklin Roosevelt's first term. "Most of my customers are from New Jersey. "Stupid politicians. It's not fair." Desai says his store is not a diversified business. "It's a tobacco shop," he said. "Every tobacco category is going to go up." Tina VanBrackle, the manager for the last three years at Puff Discount Tobacco next to Luco's, asked of current customers in Phillipsburg: "Are they going to walk for that 30, 40 cents? No way." The weekend was "crazy" as people stocked up on cigarettes before the price increase, she said. But now that the tax is in place, "I believe it's going to slow down." Since he can no longer make an argument based on price, Vijay Ponohal, manager at the Cigarette Outlet in the 100 block of Northampton Street -- the closest of the four stores to New Jersey -- figures the business has lost its New York customers. Who would drive to Easton when you can take the PATH to Hoboken? But New Jersey could still be in play, he said. "We'll retain the customers," he said. "Many will go nowhere else. The service does matter." Jack Desai, owner for the past 23 years of Jack's Cigarette and Grocery Outlet on the other side of Puff, knows he's going to take a hit. And it won't be the first. As Easton has attracted more upscale apartment dwellers, Desai's grocery business has dwindled, because those folks can easily drive to Giant and undercut his prices, he said. "People used to come from out of state" to buy tobacco products at his store, he said. "Who is going to drive across the river for 10 cents? There's no parking." It might be different if a customer were buying in bulk, he said. "People living in New York used to come here," he said. "People in New York are going to go to New Jersey." Fifty percent of his business was out of state. And when the next shoe drops in October as items such as bagged tobacco get a tax increase of 55 cents per ounce, some of his prices will double, Desai said. For the past three years, Desai said, he has owned a beer sales license that -- if he could use it -- perhaps would offset the loss of business, he said. "The town's been giving me a hard time," he said. Even though bars in town can sell beer and there is a distributor nearer the highway, zoning and planning officials say it's not a "permitted use" for him. "People coming in here buy cigarettes," he said. With beer, "I might be able to make up something. One-stop shopping -- groceries, cigarettes and beer." Longtime state Rep. Bob Freeman was at his district office Monday, directly across the 200 block of Northampton Street from three of the businesses. He said his party, the Democrats, were willing to go after a broader array of taxes to fill in the state's annual shortfall if not its structural deficit. But Republicans wouldn't go along, he said. He said the majority party GOP would buy into increasing tobacco taxes and taxing smokeless tobacco -- something Freeman said "was long overdue." Freeman said public education needs more money after funding "flatlined" in the previous four-year administration of Republican Tom Corbett. Districts were using property tax increases to offset rising costs not covered by the state. Spending was cut in previous budgets, he said, so it was time to attack on the revenue side. "Ideally it would have been 90 cents" per pack of cigarettes "to give our local vendors an advantage," Freeman said. "As far as the taxes, (tobacco) taxes are about equal" now between the states. It's only an amount of time before Jersey boosts its cigarette tax for some needed cash, and then the Easton businesses will regain their advantage, according to Freeman. Divyesh Desai isn't sure he can wait that long. "What I'm upset about is this could put me out of business," he said. "The politicians have taken food off my table and they should be ashamed of it." Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. James Bidwell and Kristen Wagner Kristen Wagner, 27, was found hanging in June 2011 in a trailer at a scrap yard in Monroe County. Her death was ruled a homicide and the suspect was scheduled to be arraigned in the case Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. (Courtesy photos | For lehighvalleylive.com) The owner of a scrap yard outside Stroudsburg will be charged with homicide in the death of a woman found hanging there in 2011, authorities said Monday. James Bidwell (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) James Bidwell, 49, of the 1100 block of Arrowhead Lakes at Pocono Lake in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in the death of 27-year-old Kristen Wagner. Bidwell was in custody Monday at the Monroe County prison on prior drug and prostitution charges, said Eric J. Kerchner, chief detective for the Monroe County District Attorney's Office. Wagner, a mother from the Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, area, was found hanging from electrical heating wire tied to a refrigeration unit the night of June 2, 2011, in a trailer at 860 Crowe Road in Stroud Township, the DA's office revealed Monday in releasing results of a grand jury investigation. The Crowe Road property is a scrap yard operated by Christian Containers LLC, owned by Bidwell, according to the grand jury presentment. An employee found the body then called his supervisor, who relayed the discovery to Bidwell. Bidwell claimed he was in Philadelphia and unable to get to the scene, while he was actually at or on his way to a bar in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, authorities said. Investigators found the death suspicious: Markings on and injuries to the body appeared inconsistent with death by hanging, her feet were resting on the floor with her knees bent and a footprint from a nearby metal box was not made by her footwear, the grand jury reported. Authorities developed Bidwell as a suspect after an acquaintance relayed in June 2014 that Bidwell had admitted to killing Wagner by choking her, then hanging her body in a refrigerated trailer -- or reefer -- to make it appear she had committed suicide, according to the presentment. An autopsy confirmed the death was a homicide, and that the body had been hung to mimic suicide, according to the grand jury's findings. Bidwell had been involved in an extramarital affair with Wagner since May 2010 that involved him supplying her with the stimulant methamphetamine and Percocet, an opioid painkiller, authorities said. He had also been seen previously assaulting her by grabbing her throat and threatening to kill her, the presentment states. Wagner in fall 2010 had provided authorities with information about Bidwell trafficking large quantities of meth, and he was arrested as part of that investigation the week after Wagner's death, according to the presentment: "James Bidwell suspected Kristen Wagner informed the police about his drug trafficking." Bidwell is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning on charges of homicide, tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension, court records say. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. As part of the Blood-Horse's 100th anniversary issue on Aug. 6, I have been asked to list (with links) my 15 favorite Hangin With Haskin blogs. This was an extremely difficult task, as it's like choosing which of your children you like the best. Here are the 15 I have come up with, in no particular order, and the reasons why each was chosen. Below that, I have listed my favorite race recaps, which I felt should be separated from the more traditional personal/feature/commentary blogs. Although many of the blogs are fairly recent, several of them first appeared years ago, but have been reworked and expanded in order to tell the story more completely. 1Meadows Grooms Remember Big Red This has always been one of my favorite articles, first appearing as a magazine feature in 2002. I spent the day in Doswell, Virginia visiting with Secretariats old grooms when he was baby and paying a visit to the farm and seeing his old stall and where he trained. It was an exhilarating experience, but very sad to see what has happened to the farm over the years and how his grooms drive by it all the time, but hadnt gone in for many years, until Charlie Ross showed me around. I was thrilled when this story was awarded first place for best feature by the American Horse Publications. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2013/06/28/haskin-series-part-4-meadow-s-grooms-remember-big-red.aspx 2My Peyton Manning Speech It was Peyton Mannings farewell speech that inspired this column about my memories of covering the Kentucky Derby for so many years, and led to similar columns about the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. It was so much fun looking back at all those memorable moments covering the Triple Crown, beginning back when Joe Hirsch called the editor at DRF and told him, after 38 years, he no longer was able to do Derby Doings, and to give to me. That was quite an honor to say the least. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/03/09/my-peyton-manning-speech.aspx 3Bye Bye Baltimore This was my follow-up to My Peyton Manning Speech, in which I recalled the many special moments I had covering the Preakness, the most fun race of the three Triple Crown events. I also provided some little known history of the races origin and the horse for which it was named. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/03/16/bye-bye-baltimore.aspx 4Last Stop, Belmont Stakes None of the three Triple Crown races provided as many emotional moments as the Belmont Stakes, from the incredible highs to the incredible lows, and in this column I recall many of those moments, culminating with American Pharoahs electrifying victory, the last Triple Crown race I would cover, and a most appropriate closing act. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/03/24/last-stop-belmont-stakes.aspx 5Zenyatta Stirred the Emotions I could have chosen any one of a number of blogs on Zenyatta, but I selected this one because it transcended racing and showed how deeply Zenyatta affected peoples lives in such a profound way it was unlike anything Ive ever seen. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2010/11/11/zenyatta-stirred-the-emotions.aspx 6The Life and Death of Seattle Slew This is the blog I ran last week to introduce the Top 15 blog. I chose it because of the raw emotions it brings out, while providing the reader with an in depth look at racings only undefeated Triple Crown winner and the melodrama that ensued. It is the quintessential fairy tale gone bad. But the dynasty Slew built still lives on. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/07/17/favorite-blogs-the-life-and-death-of-seattle-slew.aspx 7View From the Verrazano This was so far removed from a racing blog, even though it takes place at Belmont Park. I decided to drive there the Saturday following 9/11 to see how racing was coping with the greatest American catastrophe of our time, just miles away from the track. This is my account of that visit, which I believe is the most profound piece Ive ever written, because of how difficult it all was to absorba bombardment of emotions. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2014/09/11/haskin-view-from-the-verrazano.aspx 8Viva Canonero Part I This still is the greatest story Ive ever encountered and forever linked me to the most amazing Cinderella horse of my time and his equally amazing almost unbelievable story. This first part covers Canoneros background and his extraordinary journey to the Kentucky Derby. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/05/01/canonero.aspx 9Viva Canonero Part II There is no way I can include the first part of the Canonero story and not the remainder, so I am forced to use two spots in order to tell the story in its entirety. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2016/05/11/viva-canonero-part-two.aspx 10Saratoga snapshots This one is strictly personal, as it recounts my 48 years going to Saratoga and all the memorable moments that transpired there, not only for me, but my family, for whom the Spa also remains a magical place. This is where I proposed to my wife and celebrated my daughters first birthday. It was also my first trip away from home and instilled a true sense of racing history and helped thrust me into a new world and a new life. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2013/08/05/saratoga-snapshots-45-years-of-memories.aspx 11The Strange Saga of Jim French Through the years I have been requested to reprint this story on several occasions, and for good reason. It should be repeated to remind people of what the Thoroughbred is capable of, and of a time when they were tough as nails and ran their heart out regardless of how insane a schedule they were subjected to. The vast majority of racing fans never heard of Jim French, but they should, and that is why his story remains one of my all-time favorites. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2011/03/20/hangin-with-haskin-the-strange-saga-of-jim-french.aspx 12The Bid: Sustained Greatness Sometimes statistics are so revealing and so remarkable they must be retold on a regular basis. Such is the case with Spectacular Bid, whose three-year career still is unrivaled in accomplishment. But with The Bid its not only about statistics. He played an important part in my life, my wifes, and even my daughters, as brief as it was. Between the memories he provided and his sensational racing career, his story had to be included in the Top 15. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2015/12/01/the-bid-sustained-greatness.aspx 13Nerud, The Fox, and the Rivalry I must return to that special summer of 1968 when I was a mere novice, lured into the Sport of Kings by two racehorses who remain to this day two of the true powerhouses of racing. Although I became a fanatic Damascus fan, both horses hold a special place in my heart, and I still get excited writing and reading about their epic battles in the Suburban and Brooklyn Handicaps, and the two larger than life characters who trained them. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2015/08/15/nerud-the-fox-and-the-rivalry.aspx 14Because of a Horse: The Story of Invasor Aside from my early rooting interests that spawned my love of racing, I have never owed as much to a horse as I do to Invasor, with whom I bonded on a personal level and who would lead me and my family on a journey of discovery unlike anything wed experienced before or since. He took us on an adventure of a lifetime, where we would meet new wonderful friends and share so many memorable experiences. That is why sharing those experiences and telling his story is a must, and why this list would be incomplete without it. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2013/08/07/because-of-a-horse-the-story-of-invasor.aspx 15A Day in the Life of Wise Dan I chose this blog because I had never undertaken a project like this. Trying to come up with a fresh new angle on this winning machine and two-time Horse of the Year, I decided to spend an entire day with him at Saratoga, beginning in the wee hours of the morning right up until his eagerly anticipated return to the races at age 7 following colic surgery only some three months earlier. It proved to be an emotional race, especially watching it with his owners, and quite a memorable day, beginning under the cover of darkness. http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2014/09/01/a-day-in-the-life-of-wise-dan.aspx I have to admit I also had a lot of fun writing the blogs California Chrome Meets Mr. Peabody and Pennys 92nd Birthday Party, as they both were different and a bit offbeat, as was Colors of the Mind, inspired by a cloth napkin at Pimlico. And two others that need mentioning are my obits/tributes to two of the true legends of the Turf, Allen Jerkens (Hail to the Chief) and John Nerud (The Legacy of John Nerud), both of whom I was proud to call a friend. Below is a list of my 20 favorite race recaps -- the races and especially the back stories that are the most special to me. All recaps listed here can be found in the Bloodhorse.com search engine by typing in the headline of the story and my name. Phait Accompli (American Pharoahs Belmont Stakes) Knowing this would be the final Triple Crown race I would cover, I just had the feeling history would be made after 37 years of frustration. The unbridled jubilation was unlike everything Ive ever seen or felt. American Idol (American Pharoahs Kentucky Derby) The beginning of the historic run and a great race as well. This story provides a good deal of background on American Pharoah. Pharoah Glow Brightens the Day (American Pharoahs Preakness) Part two of this unforgettable Triple Crown, especially watching the race with Bob and Jill Baffert and that monstrous storm that hit right before the race. Macho Grande (Mucho Macho Mans Breeders Cup Classic) The parallel stories of Mucho Macho Man and Kathy Ritvo remains one of my all-time favorite stories and so inspirational. Few results made me as happy as seeing him hold on for dear life in one of the most exciting finishes youll ever see. Roses for Smarty (Smarty Jones Kentucky Derby) This was one of those years when I was in the right spot at the right time, and think I told the rags-to-riches story of Smarty Jones as well as it could be told. This was a Derby and Triple Crown to remember. Belmont Bird Call: Destiny Denied (Birdstones Belmont Stakes) Although many people still cant bring themselves to read about Smartys heartbreaking defeat, I really was happy with the way I told this story from both sides. Da Comeback (Da Hosss Breeders Cup Mile) This actually is a lot more extensive than just a recap of the race. It is more of a feature, but it centers around one race, and I believe all the elements and behind-the-scenes details are here to make this an unforgettable story. Remarkable Rachel (Rachel Alexandras Preakness) This had everything history, drama, and one of the greatest, most brilliant fillies racing has ever seen. It was the first time a jockey gave up the mount on his Kentucky Derby winner to ride a filly in the Preakness. Rachel Rocks the Spa (Rachel Alexandras Woodward Stakes) In 48 years, I have never heard Saratoga as loud as it was when Rachel returned to the winners circle following one of the most gut-wrenching stretch runs and courageous efforts youll ever see. The toll this race would take on several of the participants was unprecedented. Tiz and the Iron Horse (Tiznows 2000 Breeders Cup Classic) Just a great story of two gutsy warriors and their epic battle that included a good deal of background material on this California-bred Cinderella horse who broke all the rules. Tiznow Wins For America (Tiznows 2001 Breeders Cup Classic) This is almost an extension of the View From the Verrazano blog and how one horse and his extraordinary courage helped unite a nation, even in its own small way. This was about a horse who defended his country and simply refused to lose when all seemed lost. Bump and Run (Afleet Alexs Preakness) Even after all these years I still shudder at the thought of what might have been had Afleet Alex not picked himself off the ground after clipping heels at the quarter pole. His remarkable story, including that of his breeder and Alexs Lemonade Stand, and his offbeat training schedule brings back memories of one of the extraordinary horses Ive ever seen. One for the Ages (Blame defeats Zenyatta in the Breeders Cup Classic) This story is similar to the Birdstones Belmont in that many of Zenyattas ardent fans still cannot bear to read about her devastating defeat. But the victor, Blame, should be rewarded for what he accomplished, and his owner Claiborne Farms story is one that should be told. This was a victory for history. Z One and Only (Zenyattas Breeders Cup Classic) Santa Anita has seen few, if any, days that could match the excitement and emotion of Zenyattas dramatic victory, in which she became the first filly ever to win the Classic. The Ghost and Mr. Frankel (Ghostzappers Breeders Cup Classic) After listening a fascinating conversation between Bobby Frankel and Ken Ramsey, and witnessing the street smart genius of Frankel firsthand, I rooted so hard for a Ghostzapper Roses in May one-two finish, because I knew my story would almost write itself, as I had such great stuff. It could not have worked out better. Derby Launched Into Orb-it (Orbs Kentucky Derby) There was so much history behind the victory of Orb, it was similar to the story behind Blame. But having been weaned on the Phipps family horses back in the 60s, this was pretty special, and everyone was happy for Shug McGaughey. I also loved writing about the history of the Phipps and Janney families. Malice in Wonderland (Palace Malices Belmont Stakes) I loved the story behind Palace Malice and his dam, and I was so happy for owners Cot and Ann Campbell and their wonderful family. Rejoicing with them after the race was pretty special. Wonder Woman (Rags to Riches Belmont Stakes) There were so many elements and back stories it made this a very memorable race, but mainly it was about the race itself and the courageous performance by this brilliant filly as she out-battled eventual Hall of Famer and two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. No Nonsense (Street Senses Kentucky Derby) This was one of the most popular Kentucky Derby victories ever, with Calvin Borel and Carl Nafzger, and the first 2-year-old champion to win the Run for the Roses. It was just a great feel-good story all around. Crafty Curlin (Curlins Preakness) This was an exciting second chapter in one the most competitive Triple Crowns of all time that featured one of the most talented crops of 3-year-olds ever. Again, it was the story behind Curlin and his purchase, and the broken hearts he left behind that made this story special. As we covered earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats now have a new social network ACT. Unsurprisingly one of the most common comments made since its launch has been, how does this fit with Facebook?. The partys previous decision to have a heavy emphasis on using Facebook, both for its centrally inspired social networking activities and also as the tool recommended and supported for widespread use at the local level, was one largely made by myself when working there, so its a question that interests me too. Im glad to say that the move to set up ACT using Ning looks to me so far to be very much the right one. First, the partys heavy focus on Facebook was partly the result of necessity. If youre short of resources to set up your own tools, get people using the best ones provided by others instead. However, with the partys recent significant increase in staffing for online campaigning there is now room to be more ambitious. Second, for all Facebooks strengths, it is also limiting. Data is hard to get out and many external systems dont integrate well or at all with it. Ning is more flexible and opens up the possibility for more integration and even replacement of other systems. (I think this will be the real long-term test for ACT: can the next steps in its development result in it integrating with or replacing enough other tools to make it the essential and convenient place to go? Personally, Id also love to see the site integrate with the Liberal Democrats Account system so its one username and password for all your main Liberal Democrat services.) Third, Ning itself has developed in many ways that makes it a more potent challenger to Facebook. As for how you make good use of Ning and Facebook side by side? The success of MyBO for Barack Obama shows it is possible to have both your own social network and make good use of existing external one. But his success is by no means a solitary example and this article gives a good flavour of the ways others have successful used Ning and Facebook together. Sam Lockwood, who is the key technical person in party HQ working on ACT, explained in an email that, The network is built on Ning, a Californian based social platform founded by Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini, which currently serves over 37 million registered users worldwide. When assessing different platforms we were particularly impressed by Nings commitment to usability and consistent product innovation. The recent launch of Ning Apps enables us to rapidly deploy new functionality and tools to our users in the run up to the General Election. Ning Apps use OpenSocial as a framework, a set of common application programming interfaces for social applications developed by Google together with a number of large social networks. We plan to release some exciting custom campaigning and fundraising Apps over the coming months to enhance the network and extend its capability. Chatting to Sam a couple of weeks ago, Im impressed with the plans that are in place (and slightly envious of the much increased resources the new team now have to work with!). Good luck to them. A RETIRED bus driver, who fraudulently cashed an insurance policy, worth more than 40,000, by forging his wifes signature has been given time to sell a site so he can pay her back. Brendan Lynch, aged 71, who has an address at Kilmurry Lodge, Elm Park, Castletroy, pleaded guilty to two charges relating to offences which occurred on dates in February and March 2008. Detective Garda Brian Cunningham told Limerick Circuit Court the defendant and his now ex-wife took out a joint insurance policy with Hibernian Life and Pensions in 1988 and that he cashed it in without her knowledge in 2008. Mrs Lynch only became aware of this in early 2014 when she was making enquiries in relation to a separate insurance policy. Judge Tom ODonnell was told while Mrs Lynch did not pay into the policy, she was entitled to receive half of the 40,655.94 which was paid out. Handwriting experts confirmed that signatures purporting to be those of Mrs Lynch on the form requesting payment and the cheque were fake. Det Garda Cunningham said the defendant and his wife, who were married in 1967, had lived together in Birr, County Offaly, until they separated towards the end of 2012. Mr Lynch, who has no previous convictions, used the money to clear debts he had. In a victim impact statement, Mrs Lynch described the offence as a very grave breach of trust. Pat Barriscale BL, said his client was very forthright with gardai when questioned about what happened. He told the court the defendant plans to sell a site in the midlands in order to pay his ex-wife her share of the policy. The case was adjourned to October. ARDAGH post office has closed for the second time in less than a year but nobody knows how long this temporary closure will last. When customers who wanted to collect pensions or transact other business arrived at the Ardagh post office last Friday morning they found the office closed and had to make their way instead to the post office in Newcastle West. There, a separate hatch was opened in order to expedite Ardagh business. A spokesman for An Post told the Limerick Leader this week: The office closed due to circumstances beyond our control. We are endeavouring to have the office re-opened as quickly as possible. The post office closed for a number of months late last year, prompting an outcry from local councillors and TDs and sparking a spate of questions in the Dail. It also emerged as a general election issue in February. In March, following an investigation by An Post, the company appointed Mary Curley as the new postmistress and the post office re-opened amid a shower of good wishes. Patrolman Jeff Kurtz of the Carlisle Police Department trusts his partner Pedro with his life. If Pedro could speak, hed probably say the same about Kurtz, but hes unable to. Thats because hes a dog specifically a German shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix. Our primary role is to support the department operations with the K-9, and that can be in any capacity weve received training in as a narcotics patrol team, Kurtz said. We have narcotic detection abilities for four orders; we do a patrol aspect which would be tracking, searches for articles that can be discarded by suspects or victims, officer protection, and also apprehension. Pedro is trained to sniff out heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana. Kurtz started pounding the cement in Carlisle as a patrolman in October of 2007 after getting his start in Upper Allen Township. From 2002 to 2011 he served as a detective on the force, but he always had an interest in the partnership and the effectiveness of K-9 police. In July of 2011, Kurtz received his opportunity and was soon introduced to a floppy-eared puppy at Castles K-9 Academy. Training Hes extremely smart, Kurtz said. Were very fortunate; the selection process that goes into the dogs varies form training facility to training facility, but Castles has master trainers that fly over to Europe to get an observation of what the dog can do, and there are certain things theyre looking for: if theyre social, do they have a good prey drive, is he going to be protective? However, aside from the training Pedro and Kurtz received together at the academy, the duo must also take part in at least 16 hours of training each month: eight hours of drug-sniffing training and eight hours of patrol training. As the dog gets older, odor detection keeps them fresh. He doesnt have any issues with that as hes probably one of the better dogs with it, Kurtz explained. Hes gotten older, so we try to spend our time in areas where maybe were lacking a little bit more. The constant training each month is imperative to the duos effectiveness being that they can be called to a working crime scene in the borough, or to assist neighboring municipalities is searches or apprehensions. According to Kurtz, the number of times theyre called out into the field can vary, and on those days they do get called out, sometimes theyll remain on the street or at the scene after its cleared so that added training for Pedro could be had. The cost of the unit Carlisles police K-9 unit is the most expensive to fund within the department, Borough Manager Matt Candland said. The officers base salary is about $70,000, Candland said, and when health insurance and retirement is factored in, that can bring it up to about $110,000 annually. A well-equipped vehicle is necessary for Pedro and Kurtz to function optimally as well. Candland said the K-9 vehicle is a stripped down SUV with added screening. The vehicles frame is slightly lower to reduce the impact on the dogs joints as he leaps to and from the SUV. That vehicle can cost anywhere between $35,000 and $40,000. In the past Carlisle has had people contribute to the K-9 program, Candland said. We have got about $5,000 worth of training each year, the dog needs supplies, food, veterinary costs; you could quite easily be up to $130,000 a year. The unknown is going to be some of those actual costs for the dog. Pedro turned six last May. Over the years Kurtz said theyve become able to pick up on each others cues and he said that now he can get a good sense of a situation based on Pedros reaction and how hes sniffing in the area. But with Pedro being 6 years old, retirement isnt too far away. This job puts a lot of stress on the dog, so they only have about a 5-to-7-year year lifespan (on the force), he said. In another three years or so, we should start looking to replace him. These dogs are extremely driven, highly tolerant ... sometimes we dont realize that they may be hurt because theyre mentality is theyre going to fight through the pain, he added. You might not realize an injury until sometime down the road. The days end Like any police officer, Pedro enjoys going home to a stress-free environment, according to Kurtz, so he brings the dog home with him in the boroughs K-9 vehicle. Largely, hes outdoors most of the time, Kurtz said. However, his wife and children are familiar enough with Pedro to bring him inside or outside, brush him, walk him, but when others come around, Pedro is put back into his kennel, Kurtz said, in order to avoid any accidents. As soon as he sees me in uniform, or sees me get in the vehicle, hell bark, Kurtz explained. Im fortunate that he has a very awesome switch he can turn on and off. Aug 1, 2016, 4 AM Kelleher and Rogers sale in Hong Kong in June offered an 1884 cover from Beijing to Tokyo that had lost a stamp en route, making the piece oddly desirable: It sold for 150,000 Hong Kong dollars ($22,200). The back of the 1884 cover from Beijing to Tokyo in the Kelleher Rogers sale bears a China 5-candareen Large Dragon stamp. Only two surviving Large Dragon covers to Japan are known. An unissued, nondenominated stamp of Taiwan from 1949, one of perhaps seven known, sold for about $38,500 at the Kelleher Rogers sale in June. By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent While summer can seem to be a slow season for philately many clubs are on hiatus when members leave for vacation auction firms nonetheless continue a steady offering of exciting things to bid on. Here is one of three international stamp auctions were profiling from July: Kelleher and Rogers held a sale of Chinese and East Asian stamps and postal history in Hong Kong on June 11-12. An unusual 1884 cover from Beijing to Tokyo, sent via the Imperial Chinese Customs office in Shanghai, was notable for several factors. The back of the cover bears a China 5-candareen Large Dragon stamp in chrome yellow on thick paper (Scott 9a). To begin with, this makes the cover exceedingly rare, because only two Large Dragon covers addressed to Japan have survived. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Making the cover yet more remarkable is the fact that a 1ca stamp clearly had been applied next to the 5ca (the rate to Japan was 6ca), but it fell off in transit. The partial blue-seal handstamps attest to the missing stamp. The cover received a Japanese 5-sen stamp for the onward part of its trip when it passed through the Imperial Japanese postal agency in Shanghai, and was not treated as postage due on its arrival in Japan. Remarkably, a Japanese handstamp was applied in the exact spot where the missing stamp had been, as if to vouch for it. Covers usually are not enhanced by missing stamps. In this case, the opposite was true: It was hammered down for 150,000 Hong Kong dollars, or the equivalent of $22,200, including the firms 15 percent buyers premium. An unissued, nondenominated stamp of Taiwan was another highlight of the Kelleher and Rogers sale. The first stamps issued by the Republic of China (Scott 1007-1011) after the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949 consist of a single design in green depicting geese flying over a globe. The denominations were surcharged in different colors. The stamp offered by Kelleher and Rogers is the underlying, unsurcharged stamp. It is listed in the S.H. Chan Colour-Illustrated Stamp Catalogue of China as a variety of Chan SPN1. Described as a magnificent example and perhaps the finest of the approximately seven known, the stamp sold for about $38,500. Jul 31, 2016, 4 PM Spink offered the Jose Castillejo collection of Guatemala in June, including the only known specimen of the 1875 -real on a newspaper to a foreign country. It sold for $7,287.50. An essay for the silver wedding anniversary of Italys King Umberto I and Queen Margherita, printed in olive green, brown and beige, brought $1,800 at Spinks New York auction in June. Offered by Spink Auctions in June, from the Stefano Fantaroni collection of Italy, this essay printed in red, brown and beige for an issue honoring the king and queen on their silver wedding anniversary sold for $480. A proposed but unadopted stamp design to replace the fascist issues of Italy after World War II used the signature of Gen. Pietro Badoglio. A set of four essays in different colors sold for $2,630 at Spinks sale of the Fantaroni collection. By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent While summer can seem to be a slow season for philately many clubs are on hiatus when members leave for vacation auction firms nonetheless continue a steady offering of exciting things to bid on. Here is one of three international stamp auctions were profiling from July: Spink USA offered a pair of specialized sales the Stefano Fantaroni collection of Italy and the Jose Castillejo collection of Guatemala on June 8 in New York. Although Italy did not issue its first commemorative stamps until 1910, the idea had been mulled as far back as 1893, with essays prepared for an issue honoring the 25th anniversary of King Umberto Is marriage to Queen Margherita. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter The design, showing the royal couples portraits in profile surrounded by the words Nozze DArgento Delle Ll. Maesta (Their Majesties Silver Nuptials), with the words Poste Italiane at top and a denomination of 20 centesimi at bottom, was printed in red, brown and beige. The essay is listed in the Sassone Catalogo dei Francobolli dItalia as Sassone 64A. The unissued stamp, with average centering and hinged original gum, sold for $480, including Spinks 20 percent buyers premium for lots under $2,000. An example of the same design but in olive-green, brown and beige (Sassone 64B), a much scarcer color combination, with better centering and never-hinged gum, went for $1,800. Umberto was assassinated on July 29, 1900, an act that supposedly inspired the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley the following year. Probably the most interesting period in Italian history, philatelically speaking, was the end of World War II. The chaotic situation as Allied forces chased German and fascist forces up the boot led to numerous provisional issues on both the Allied and fascist sides. King Victor Emmanuel III sacked the dictator Mussolini in September 1943, replacing him with Gen. Pietro Badoglio, the longtime head of the Italian armed forces. The end of fascism required a new stamp issue, freed from the iconography of the Mussolini era. One proposed design had a machine-turned security pattern printed behind a simple frame with the words Poste Italiane and the denomination of 50 cent[esimi]. Printing was entrusted to a private firm in Naples, which was by that time firmly under Allied control. In an attempt to reassure citizens that Italy was still sovereign, rather than under Allied occupation, Badoglios signature was placed at the center. (Badoglio, favored by the British as a bulwark against Communist influence, was not prosecuted for war crimes despite his heinous use of chemical weapons against Haile Selassies troops in Ethiopia in the 1930s. He died in 1956.) Four different color combinations of the Badoglio design were prepared on a variety of papers. A set of four different colors on rough brownish paper, with full gum on the back and favor cancels on the front, was described as extremely rare. Listed as Sassone 515F-I, the set of essays sold for $2,630. The king rejected this design, and Badoglios signature was replaced with an image of a she-wolf suckling the infants Romulus and Remus: the legend of the founding of Rome. Those stamps were issued in 1944 as Italy Scott 439-440. The Central American nation of Guatemala issued its first engraved stamps in 1875, depicting an allegorical Liberty head, in denominations ranging from real to 2r (Scott 7-10). The lowest denomination was for local letters and cards, as well as for periodicals sent overseas. Examples of the latter usage on cover are elusive, however, as most newspaper wrappers would have been torn up and discarded. A fresh example of the r tied to an Oct. 2, 1879, pristine wrapper addressed to France, was described as the only known example of this issue on a newspaper to a foreign country and a great Guatemalan rarity. It is also the last known use of a stamp from Guatemalas Liberty series, because they were demonetized three weeks later. It sold for $7,287.50. The relationship between police and the communities they serve and protect has been in the forefront of national debate of late. So, how can police, and the community, rebuild those ties or make sure they do not come undone? Community policing emphasizes that police need to have as good of a relationship as they can with the public, Kutztown University professor emeritus Gary Cordner said. They ought to police in such a way that they have a lot of interaction with the public, positive interaction as much as possible. The emphasis is on interaction, engagement, and where applicable, forming partnerships with community groups, he added. Prior to his career in academics Cordner was a police officer and eventually a police chief in Maryland. He said there are two main arguments for community policing. One is it is just the right thing to do, Cordner said. In a free country where we say its government of the people, by the people, for the people, police are supposed to be there for the people. So, they ought to have as good of a relationship as they can, because its the right thing to do. Interaction Cordner said community policing is a philosophy that involves having officers interact positively with the public. This can something as simple as officers patrolling neighborhoods on foot or bicycle, which allow for more personal contact than riding around in vehicle. Cordner explained that doing things like increasing foot patrols, requiring interactions with the public and even having officers work a specific beat are meant to eliminate the feeling that communities are being policed by strangers. Community policing needs to be in police officers heads, Cordner said. It needs to be a different way they think about doing their job. ... It doesnt mean you dont arrest people who commit serious crimes. It doesnt mean you dont write any traffic tickets anymore. But, it means you try to do all that in a manner that is as respectful and as fair and genuine and human as possible. Hampden Township Police have added bike patrol officers with that interaction in mind. Chief Steve Junkin said his officers are required to interact with residents beyond making an arrest or taking a criminal complaint. They are looking for that suspicious person, but they also get a chance to meet people, Junkin said of the bike patrol. Cordner said that developing relationships with the public can also help police more effectively do their jobs. The better relationship police have with the public, the more likely when something happen, people will call the police, share information with the police, have confidence that police will use the information appropriately and also when something goes wrong ... more like the public will at least wait to hear (the polices) side of the story, Cordner said. That is a point Junkin highlighted as well, saying that when his officers are out interacting with the public, they hear residents concerns, which allow them to better address what is going on in the community. Thats where the real value is, he said. Its being responsive to the community. One of the main concepts underlying community policing is the idea of legitimacy. As Yale University social psychologist Tom Tyler puts it, legitimacy is the belief that legal authorities have the right to dictate appropriate behavior. This means that society must view the authority police have as legitimate and not just legally allowable. In a free country, in a democracy, the police have to work hard to try to maintain their respect and support of the public, so the public sees them as acting legitimately, Cordner said. Not just acting legally, but as acting legitimately, as policing the community in the manner that the people wish to be policed. Legitimacy Legitimacy itself can be based heavily on how fairly a person feels they have been treated by those in authority. Of note, whether or not the person received a favorable outcome from an interaction with the judicial only loosely correlated to a willingness to accept decision made by those in authority, where as being treated respectfully throughout process had a high correlation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Programs. A study of young men in New York City found that when controlling for all other indicators of criminal behavior, individuals who perceived prior interactions with police as unfair were twice as likely to go on to commit new crimes, according to the Department of Justice Programs. A legitimacy crisis is one of the theories presented by criminologist Richard Rosenfeld to potentially explain why violent crimes appear to have risen quite drastically in several large cities in the United State in 2015. Developing a relationship with the community and creating a view of legitimacy begins at a young age in Hampden Township, Junkin said. He explained that his officers regularly go into local schools to sit down and eat with children and even play with them on the playground. All of this is done to invest now, so that as those children grow up, they will have trust in the police. If we develop those relationships in first or second grade, fourth or fifth grade. ... As they get older, hopefully they will call us, he said. Junkin said many of the local departments do a good job of developing relationship with the community. However, it can be difficult given the ever increasing responsibilities place on police and the constant budgetary concerns facing most government agencies. You dont just show up, do the thing and leave, Junkin said. But, its hard to stay and talk when you have pending calls or you have an investigation. 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Science fiction promises that the world can be dramatically different and presumably better from what we experience every day, if we can only imagine it. We can have jetpacks, oscillation overthrusters, lightsabers and transporters. We can pilot starships, trade jibes with talking raccoons or sarcastic robots, and hitchhike across the galaxy carrying only a towel. But science fiction is also grounded in reality, shaped by creators who can harbor prejudices that infect their imagined worlds. [Science Fact or Fantasy? The Reality of 20 Imaginary Worlds] Scientists recently investigated how gender prejudices might surface in sci-fi by looking at a complex fictional universe that unfolded over half a century the British television program "Doctor Who." The long game Since it first aired in 1963, the show about a regenerating Time Lord traveling through space and time has featured a number of male and female supporting characters who happened to be scientists. For the study, researchers evaluated whether they saw gender-related differences in the representations of 222 scientist characters 56 women and 166 men who appeared on the series from 1963 to 2013, but who were not regular members of the show's cast. Earlier research in this area typically judged female representations of scientists in films and television simply by counting heads, or by looking only at female characters and how they behaved or how they were treated, study co-author Lindy Orthia, an associate director of science education at the Australian National University (ANU), told Live Science in an email. But this time, Orthia and her co-author Rachel Morgain, also at ANU, compared and analyzed both male and female scientist characters in one television series, to gauge whether or not they were represented as equally competent scientists. To judge competency, Orthia and Morgain looked at each character's title, whether or not they performed any science on-screen, and how autonomous they were in the scientific workplace. They also noted if a character's role was important to the episode's plot, and whether their scientific discipline was in health or medicine, fields that traditionally have held fairly equal numbers of women and men in Britain. The invisible enemy Across the entire study and within each decade, male scientists outnumbered women, the researchers found. However, the ratio of female to male scientists rose from decade to decade, climbing from 15 percent in the 1960s to 28 percent in the 1980s. By the 2000s, 42 percent of the scientist characters in "Doctor Who" were women. And when it came to scientific competency, the parallels between men and women were much closer. "Doctor Who" character Petronella Osgood (Ingrid Oliver), a scientist with the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), first appeared in the episode "The Day of the Doctor," which aired in 2013. (Image credit: Copyright BBC) Male scientists were somewhat more likely to be autonomous, or to hold positions of authority 83 percent, compared to 71 percent of the women. But otherwise, there were "no significant differences" between men and women, the authors wrote in the study. Science honorifics were used for 25 percent of the women and for 30 percent of the men. And 75 percent of both male and female scientists performed science on-screen. "Our research suggests 'Doctor Who' treated women and men more or less equally aside from casting women as scientists less often," Orthia said. In fact, of the nine female scientist characters who appeared in episodes from the 1960s, 100 percent of them performed science on-screen, hinting that "Doctor Who" creators were making a deliberate effort to be inclusive, the authors wrote in the study. And in the 1968 episode "The Web of Fear," when a soldier condescendingly questioned scientist Anne Travers, asking her, "What's a girl like you doing in a job like this?" her answer was refreshingly matter-of-fact: "Well, when I was a little girl I thought Id like to be a scientist. So I became a scientist," she said. "From as early as the 1960s there was some very right-on dialogue about women in science in the show," Orthia told Live Science. "We think that, on average, the creators are keen to promote gender equality in science." [Countries with the Most and Least Gender Equality] Human nature However, the researchers also found evidence of "Doctor Who" linking a character's scientific competency to gender stereotypes. In examples of 13 scientists who were clearly failures, many of the men are described by the authors as "effeminate," and "gender nonconforming." A didactic and patronizing scientist character named Hobbes in the 2008 episode "Midnight" is soft and "flabby", the authors wrote, and comes across as "impotent" both in his lack of sexual interest in his female assistant, and his inability to act decisively during a crisis. "Nothing can live on the surface of Midnight!" scientist Professor Winfold Hobbes (David Troughton) insisted in the 2008 episode "Midnight." Unfortunately, he was very much mistaken. (Image credit: Copyright BBC) Consequently, Hobbes proved to be inept at detecting the threat in a dangerous alien encounter, placing a number of people including the Doctor in jeopardy. Other incompetent scientists answered to leaders who suppressed men or rejected behaviors associated with men. The 1969 serial "The Dominators" introduced an alien race known as Dulcians, who rejected warfare of any kind, and appeared weak and ineffectual next to their rivals. Dulcian male scientists were clean-shaven and wore low-cut dresses, and their investigation of vanished radiation in an irradiated site was almost comically incompetent. And some of the women scientists who failed at science were "domineering" and "man-belittling," such as the Hilda Winters character in the 19741975 serial, "Robot," whom the authors labeled, "the unpleasant face of feminism" for her confrontational, mocking demeanor. Overall, the researchers found that "Doctor Who" did portray women scientists in a positive light, though its track record was far from perfect. "The statistically equal treatment of female and male scientist characters is encouraging, but is not an excuse for complacency," Orthia said. "There are quite a lot of successful, credible female scientist characters in the show, but they and their credible male counterparts seem to be characterized as fitting in with an individualist, rugged culture of science," she added. "Culturally, it still perpetuates science as a masculine pursuit." The findings were published online in the August edition of the journal Sex Roles (opens in new tab). Original article on Live Science. The popularity of trampoline parks is on the rise, and with it the number of emergency-room visits for injuries that kids get while at these parks, according to a new study. The number of kids who went to the emergency room for injuries that occurred at trampoline parks increased nearly twelvefold in the past few years, jumping to 6,932 ER visits in 2014, up from 581 in 2010, the study found. Some of the most serious injuries the kids in the study got at trampoline parks included injuries of the neck or spinal cord and open fractures (meaning the broken bone sticks out through the skin), said Dr. Kathryn E. Kasmire, a pediatrician at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford and the lead author of the study. [9 Weird Ways Kids Can Get Hurt] The number of trampoline parks in recent years increased from between 35 and 40 parks in 2011 to 280 in 2014, according to the data from the International Association of Trampoline Parks cited in the new study. About five to six new parks open every month, according to the association. In the study, published today (Aug. 1) in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers looked at the numbers of injuries at trampoline parks in the U.S. that sent kids to the emergency room between 2010 and 2014. During this time period, kids were admitted to emergency rooms for an average of 91,750 injuries related to trampoline use per year. Those injuries occurred while kids were using trampolines at home, at trampoline parks and at other locations such as recreational facilities, the researchers found. The researchers focused on the types of injuries that kids got at trampoline parks and on trampolines at home. They found that sprains and fractures were the most common types of injuries at both trampoline parks and homes. But injuries at trampoline parks were more likely to involve the leg and were less likely to involve the head, compared with injuries sustained at homes, the researchers found. In addition, kids who were injured at trampoline parks were more likely to go to the hospital for their injuries than those who were injured while using trampolines at home, the researchers found. The scientists also found that kids who had been injured at trampoline parks tended to be older, with an average age of 13, compared with kids who had been injured at home, with an average age of 9.5. And boys were more likely to be injured than girls, at both trampoline parks and at home, according to the findings. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends against kids using recreational trampolines at any location. And if children do use trampolines, adults should constantly supervise them, the AAP recommends. Dr. Mitchell Price, a pediatric surgeon and director of pediatric trauma at Staten Island University Hospital in New York, agreed. "Always have an adult around," said Price, who was not involved in the new study. And it is not recommended for more than one child to be on a trampoline at once, Price added. Indeed, having multiple kids jumping on the same trampoline was a factor in many of the injuries described in the study, Kasmire said. If parents do decide to take their kids to trampoline parks, they should try to pick times when the parks are less crowded to avoid this issue, she said. The AAP also advises that trampolines be surrounded with padding or trampoline walls, and that trampolines be placed at ground level to increase the kids' safety. The association also recommends that kids avoid flips and somersaults while using trampolines. Originally published on Live Science. With its characters, Chinese definitely saves space, but is it also fast to type or text in? If you want to save space, write in Chinese. The payoff of those labyrinthine characters is that they can fit a lot of information into a small symbol. For example, here's the same sentence in English and Chinese: What time did you get up in the morning? If it's books you're publishing, you'll be saving trees. If it's tweets, there's still a long way to 140 characters. Of course, the other side of the bargain is that, since the Bronze Age, literate Chinese people have had to spend years of their lives memorizing thousands of ornate figures. But in 2016, you can live most of your life on a screen, so the difficulty of writing a language by hand is losing relevance. Rather, what matters more to a lot of people is how easy it is to type and text. Ease of typing in Chinese In the case of Chinese, the 3,500-year commitment seems to have paid off. The language types like a dream. [Related: What's the Hardest Language to Learn?] It uses a no-frills grammar systemand eschews spacing altogether. And because of the challenges posed by thousands of unique characters, Chinese engineers have been forced to push software to its real potential. Case in point: On both keyboards and touch screens, Chinese people favor sophisticated predictive input tools, whereas the West mostly falls back on what-you-hit-is-what-you-get typing a method that does a nice job of simulating a typewriter but doesn't explore any of the more agile solutions that software might open up. With the most popular Chinese input tool, you write out a word with a phonetic alphabet called pinyin, and then select from a pop-up menu of characters that you're likely looking for. The twist: For many phrases, the only information necessary is the initial letter of each character (technically, the initial letter of the character's phonetic spelling), so you can write whole sentences with just a few letters. For example, if you want to write "Have you eaten yet?" in Chinese, you just key in "nclm," a first-letter-only version of the phrase "Ni chi le ma?" which would be called up as the corresponding characters on your screen. For "The air pollution is pretty severe today," just hit "jtkqwrhyz," and the characters corresponding to the phrase "Jin-tian kong-qi wu-ran hen yan-zhong" will be the first suggestion. It's sort of like being able to type whole sentences in "ttyl"- or "lol"-style text speak, but the end result is still proper Chinese. So the same tool can be used for chats and professional emails, too. The system does have weak spots, especially when it comes to unusual characters, and there are plenty of predictive input tools available in English as well. But even if typists of both languages were using predictive software and hitting keys at the same speed, a Chinese typist might still have an edge. Chinese can often convey an idea more concisely; and on top of that, the character system offers a natural way to break down words into their component chunks, which is ideal for giving a predictive tool an info-rich outline of a word or phrase. As an example, compare the word "beautiful" and its Chinese equivalent, "." The Chinese word can be easily separated into its two component characters , whose initials can then be used to sketch the word for a piece of software, while in English there's no obvious rule for how to reduce words to a few key joints. [Check out the Best Android Keyboard Apps from Live Science's sister site Tom's Guide] Languages with characters It raises the question, then, whether there's a written language that's even better suited to digital communication one whose compactness, or amenability to predictive input software, makes it the internet generation's optimal writing system. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is available in 475 languages and counting. A comparison of translations of the document based on character count shows that languages with thousands of distinct symbols at their disposal such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean have an advantage in compressing their communications. Of those, Chinese seems to be the language to beat (even after accounting for its lack of spaces), according to an informal survey. [Related: 25% of the World's Languages Are Threatened] Nuosu, an ancient logographic language used by the Yi ethnic group in southwest China, is Chinese's closest rival in this "fast-texting competition." (Logographic languages are those in which each symbol or letter represents an entire word.) Vowel-eliding Hebrew and Arabic also have below-average character counts. Meanwhile, the Wamma language of Benin stands out for getting an unusual amount of value-per-character out of the Latin alphabet. Innate predictability But the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is just one text, written in a specific style, and then translated by specific people who each made their own choices. And character count alone doesn't give much insight into the speed at which a writing system might be used to communicate in the real world, especially when you add performance-enhancing software to the mix. As software gets better at guessing the words texters are looking for before they even get to them, there's a variable in typing efficiency that could be more important than a language's concision: its innate predictability. [Related: Adding Additional Languages to an Android Tablet] Languages vary both by the number of words in everyday circulation and by the range of permissible sequences for arranging those words. These features contribute to what linguists and information theorists call a language's entropy, where highly predictable languages are said to have low entropy and vice versa. In general, the lower a language's entropy is, the easier it is to model with a computer, and thus the easier it should be to conquer with time-saving predictive input tools, according to Steven Piantadosi, head of the University of Rochester's Computation and Language Lab. In a study published online in 2011 in the journal PLOS ONE, Marcelo Montemurro of the University of Manchester in the U.K. and a colleague estimated entropy values for groups of texts from eight languages, including English, French, German, Finnish, Tagalog, Chinese, Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Among these, Sumerian showed the lowest entropy, followed by Egyptian, Tagalog and Chinese, suggesting that ancient Sumerian and Egyptian writing systems might make for fast typing if anyone cared to use them. But Piantadosi cautions that comparing entropy across languages is not easy. "There is one big complication, which is that the methods we use to estimate entropy may not be 'fair' across languages," he wrote in an email to Live Science. While a model that predicts the probability of a word based on the word immediately preceding it might work for some languages (e.g., What's the probability that the word "and" will be followed by the word "sour"?), other languages might be better suited to a model that instead makes a guess based on the previous two words (e.g., What's the probability that the words "sweet and" will be followed by the word "sour"?), or other systems entirely. Playing the Shannon Game There's one predictive model that suits every language: the brain of a native speaker. "One way to get around this problem is to use a psychological notion of predictability have people guess the next word," Piantadosi wrote. "[This method] almost certainly reflects a closer estimate to the 'true' predictability of a language." There's a name for this type of guessing game, in which players guess words or letters based on those that precede them in a sequence. It's called the Shannon Game, after mathematician Claude Shannon, considered to be the father of information theory. Until speakers of the world's languages put in some hard hours playing the Shannon Game and produce accurate estimates for the entropies of their native tongues, the question of which language is the fastest to type is still anybody's ________. Original article on Live Science. Memento mori Bones arranged at the Catacombs of Paris. (Image credit: Djtox, Courtesy of Wikimedia) Who's afraid of a little memento mori? Most of the time, humans shove death out of sight, confining reminders of mortality to cemeteries and funerals. But at some famous places, the specter of death is all around. Read on for some spots literally littered with corpses. Pompeii The eruption of Vesuvius buried the dead where they fell. After the bodies decomposed, they left human-shaped pockets in the hardened layers of ash. Pouring plaster in these pockets creates sculptures of death like this one. (opens in new tab) , Shutterstock (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: vagabond54 The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 wiped out many of the inhabitants of Pompeii in a flash of heat. Their bodies were rapidly covered with up to 20 feet (6 meters) of ash, which was falling at a rate of at least 6 inches (15 centimeters) per hour. After the bodies decayed, they left bone-filled voids in the ash. One of the early excavators of Pompeii, Giuseppe Fiorelli, developed a technique of filling these voids with plaster and then excavating around them, leaving a cast of the bodies just as they were positioned when the victims died. Those eerie casts are famous for the very human, alarmingly relatable suffering they reveal. Many also contain skeletal remains, trapped in thick plaster that makes imaging difficult. In 2015, though, researchers used multi-layer computed tomography (CT) to peer inside three of the casts, revealing bones and "perfect teeth," according to news reports. The Piled Bones of Baja La Paz Bay in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, as seen from the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA) Strange burials dominate the archaeological site of El Conchalito on La Paz Bay (shown here) in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. Ancient people lived at the site starting at least 2,300 years ago, and 57 of their dead have been found in shallow graves lined with seashells. Some of the skeletal remains were found intact, laid to rest on their backs or curled on their sides. But a substantial number were discovered dismembered. For example, the body of one 30- to 35-year-old man was found with most of his spine, his hip and ribs detached from his neck and put in front of his face, wrote Alfonso Rosales-Lopez and colleagues in a 2007 article in the journal Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly. One of his arm bones had been shoved through his skull. Apparently, the ancient people who lived at El Conchalito developed a tradition in which they buried their dead intact and later exhumed them and split the skeletons in half at the waist by twisting, pulling and cutting with stone tools. The lower half of the body was then put on top of the upper half, according to the PCAS Quarterly article. Usually the sectioning was quite neat, but sometimes the procedure failed and the bones ended up in a messy pile. The tradition may have been related to the belief that without this postmortem process, the dead might come back to life, Lopez and colleagues wrote. Skeleton Lake Human skeletons in Roopkund Lake in India. (Image credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike) In 1942, a forest ranger in Uttarakhand, India, stumbled upon an eerie tableau: a jewel-like glacial lake filled with human skeletal remains. Roopkund Lake sits 16,499 feet (5,028 m) above sea level in the Himalayas. It takes a days-long trek to reach the spot, which makes the presence of hundreds of skeletons all the more mysterious. At first, most people theorized that the dead were modern people, but in 2004, researchers dated the bones back to about A.D. 850, according to Atlas Obscura. Strangely, death seems to have come from blows to the head and shoulders, but the wounds didn't look like they were made by weapons. Most likely, the researchers concluded, the dead were a group of travelers caught in a violent hailstorm, pummeled to death by balls of ice up to 9 inches (23 centimeters) in diameter. Mount Everest Sherpas, shown on April 13, 2014, at the Everest Base Camp, may be more adapted to breathing at high altitudes, compared with other climbers. Here the Sherpas are building a Budhhist puja altar before their ascent. (Image credit: Kondoruk / Shutterstock.com) The highest mountain on land has claimed many lives. Cold temperatures, high elevations, crevasses and avalanches make Everest a dangerous place to be. These same factors also make it dangerous to recover the bodies of people who have died on their journeys to the summit. Around 200 bodies rest on the 29,029-foot (8,848 meters) peak, according to a 2015 BBC investigation. Some are out in the open along popular routes to the summit. One, dubbed "Green Boots," was even considered a sort of local landmark, easily identifiable by his neon climbing boots and resting on the mountain's northwest ridge. According to the 2015 BBC investigation, the body disappeared from the spot it had been for almost 20 years in 2014, as did perhaps a half-dozen others along the summit stretch. It's possible the bodies were moved or covered with stones by one of the Chinese associations that manages the north slope of the mountain. Smoked Mummies of Papua New Guinea In 2008, researchers helped villagers in Papua New Guinea restore the mummified remains of a former shaman and warrior named Moimango. Here, Andrew Nelson (left) and Ronald Beckett (center) stand behind the smoked mummy of Moimango as his son Gemtasu looks on. (Image credit: Reproduced with permission from The Anatomical Record 298(6), June 2015: Special Issue The Anatomy of the Mummy) The dead aren't tucked away in the village of Koke, which sits in Papua New Guinea's Aseki region. Here, the traditional method of dealing with the dead was to smoke the bodies over low heat for 30 days and then slather them with red clay. The process deters bacteria and decay, preserving the corpses for generations. The mummies were then propped on a cliff above the village. In 2008, western anthropologists even helped local villagers restore one of the corpses, a chief who died in the 1950s. Traditional belief among the Anga tribe, which developed these rituals, holds that spirits may roam and cause trouble if their bodies aren't preserved. The living also talk to the dead and seek their advice. Paris Catacombs Bones arranged at the Catacombs of Paris. (Image credit: Djtox, Courtesy of Wikimedia) No discussion of human remains would be complete without a peek into the famous catacombs of Paris, where the bones of millions are stacked in labyrinthine tunnels. Officials began to transfer bones from overcrowded city cemeteries in the 1700s, a process that continued until 1859. Some victims of massacres and the guillotine during the French Revolution even got direct burials in the catacombs, according to the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, the museum that now manages the tunnels. Among the famous figures interred somewhere in the catacombs is Maximilien Robespierre, the French politician instrumental in the revolution who was executed by guillotine in 1794. Bone Church A room in the Capuchin Crypt in Rome. (Image credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported) Macabre doesn't begin to describe the Capuchin Crypt in Rome, where the bones of approximately 3,700 monks decorate five bizarre chambers. One room depicts Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, in skeleton form. Another uses predominantly pelvises for decor. There's a room dedicated to skulls and another decorated with thigh and arm bones. The final chamber shows a skeleton holding a scythe and a scale, representing death and divine judgment. The Capuchin friars who created this walk-in memento mori began the project in the 1600s with bones of brothers who had died as early as 1528. They created something of an assembly line of death, interring the recently deceased in a crypt and removing the longest-dead for incorporation into the church's decoration. The youngest bones date to the late 1800s. A Macabre Memorial Skull Chapel in Czermna, Poland. (Image credit: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported) For sheer numbers, though, the Capuchin Crypt can't compete with St. Bartholomew's Church in Czermna in Poland. Better known as the "skull chapel," this 18th-century building looks modest on the outside. Inside and beneath, though, are the bones of at least 24,000 people who died in wars and plagues. Conflicts dating back to the 1600s provided the raw material: The Thirty Years' War, the First, Second and Third Silesian Wars, along with local skirmishes and cholera epidemics. [10 Tales from the Crypt and Beyond] According to Atlas Obscura, about 3,000 skulls-and-crossbones decorate the chapel, while the rest of the dead disinterred from mass graves are stacked in a crypt below the church floor. Cliffside Coffins Hanging Coffins of Sagada, Philippines. (Image credit: flocu / Shutterstock.com) In mountainous southern China, the Bo people developed an interesting way to keep their dead out of the mouths of scavengers: They hung their coffins from cliffs. Up to about 400 years ago, this group carved coffins from single logs and placed them on rock ledges or stakes pounded into vertical rock faces. The Hanging Coffins are mostly found in Gongxian, in Sichuan province, but archaeologists have also discovered clusters in other parts of southern China. In 2015, for example, researchers announced that they'd found 131 hanging coffins in Hubei province, dating back 1,200 years. Little is known about the Bo people, but the reports filtering down through the centuries are strange. According to a 1991 article in Archaeology Archive by the then-president of the China Exploration and Research Society, it was Bo custom to toughen up by wearing heavy garments in summer and thin clothes in winter. (Shown here, the hanging coffins of Sagada in the Philippines.) Ancient Battle Zone The Tollense river in near the village Weltzin in the district Demmin in Germany. (Image credit: Public Domain) The bucolic Tollense river valley in northeastern Germany hides the remnants of a bloody past. Bronze Age skulls occasionally turned up in the sediments of the valley, but in 1996 an amateur archaeologist discovered something surprising: an arm bone with a flint arrow piercing it. Since then, archaeologists have discovered more beat-up bones, including fractured skulls and lots of weaponry: clubs, flint points and even a wooden weapon that looked a bit like a croquet mallet. So far, the remains of 100 people, mostly young men, have been found, researchers reported in June 2011 in the journal Antiquity. The carnage points to a major battle fought sometime around 1230 B.C., the researchers wrote. The scale of the battle, with at least 100 killed, was larger than any other warfare known from this time and place. Damage to the front of skulls hints at fighting done face-to-face. Many of the dead had healed wounds, suggesting that they were professional warriors. No one knows, however, what conflict led to the bones of these men being scattered along the Tollense. A 7-bead chain of magnets. Each microbead is less than five microns across. Healing with magnets might one day be considered legitimate medicine at least if those magnets are also microscopic surgical robots. By manipulating the same magnetic fields that were shown to control the swimming motion of microscopic robots, a team of engineers at Drexel University has demonstrated the ability to assemble and disassemble chains of tiny magnetic beads. "If you have these simple geometries as building blocks, you can put them together to make more complicated shapes that can do more things," study co-author Henry Fu, now an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, told Live Science. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created] The hope is to eventually use these remotely controlled chains dubbed modular microrobots in the human body for medical purposes, such as delivering targeted medicines or performing surgeries on a very small, noninvasive scale, the researchers said. Different combinations and shapes of the spherical beads could mean greater versatility. For example, the beads could be transported to a site in the body more easily in one configuration, Fu said, but could then be manipulated into different shapes to move through various tissues or perform specific tasks. Charles Tremblay, a researcher in the Nanorobotics Laboratory at Polytechnique Montreal, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email that the project is a "good idea," but said some of the challenges include the "need for visual feedback and transparent medium" to maneuver the robots. Researchers observe the chains under a microscope, and remotely manipulate the "microswimmers" by adjusting an array of three solenoids, electromagnets that produce a controlled magnetic field. When rotated, the chains swim through fluid. A chain of three beads, just 10 microns long (for perspective, the width of an average human hair is about 100 microns), is the simplest of the microswimmers the team worked with. That makes them "a little bigger" than bacteria that Fu studied previously. "I've looked at the fluid mechanics of how [bacteria] swim," he said, "The principles are the same whether you're a robot or a living thing." The researchers had to work out ways to build chains without the magnets repelling each other. Disassembling the chains, on the other hand, is relatively simple. "You spin them around fast enough, and they will fall apart," Fu said. The researchers found that longer chains swam faster when rotated at the same frequency as shorter ones, demonstrating at a basic level that different formations could have different uses. There may be many possible formations of the beads, but "we're not at the stage where we know exactly what shape we want to get to at the end," Fu said. "We've just scratched the surface here with a proof of principle," Fu said, "That's what makes it exciting. There are a lot of possibilities." The research was published online July 28 in the journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab). Original article on Live Science. If you're not traveling to Brazil for the Summer Olympics, you can still explore the geography and culture of Rio de Janeiro, courtesy of Google. Rio: Beyond the Map, released to the public July 29, deftly blends archival materials with stunning video, interactive media and profiles of artistic Cariocas, as natives of Rio de Janeiro are called. The project's title alludes to Rio's favelas, the poorly mapped neighborhoods where 1.4 million people, or 20 percent of the city's population, live without addresses, according to Google's blog post about the project. Mapping these regions is part of another Google initiative, the "On the Map" project. [14 Strangest Sights on Google Earth] The experience begins with a 360-degree video of a motorcycle taxi ride up a hillside through the narrow, twisting streets of the Sao Carlos favela. The interactive landscape then allows users to learn more about landmarks, or watch short segments about artists from the favelas. Beyond the Map is presented by Google Arts and Culture alongside thousands of images and video curated in partnership with local institutions. Each online exhibits focuses on different art forms and areas of the city, with interactive slideshows that showcase artwork and photography from Rio's rich past and present. Google has also combined their familiar Street View technology with narration in virtual tours of more than 20 famous locations in Rio, such as the statue of Christ the Redeemer, with its panoramic views, or the white sand beach at Ipanema. The tours are also viewable as virtual reality experiences with a VR headset, such as Google Cardboard, and the Google Arts and Culture app on iOS (opens in new tab) or Android. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympic Games from Aug. 5 to 21. The Rio 2016 Paralympics will subsequently be held from Sept. 7 to 18. Original article on Live Science. Sports & Recreation, Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: August 01 2016 DEC today announced that sporting licenses and Deer Management Permits for the 2016-17 season will be available for purchase beginning August 1. Albany, NY - July 29, 2016 - The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced that sporting licenses and Deer Management Permits for the 2016-17 season will be available for purchase beginning August 1. Licenses and permits can be purchased at any one of DEC's license-issuing agents, in person, by telephone, or online. Hunting and trapping licenses are valid for one year beginning September 1, 2016. "Hunting, trapping and fishing opportunities in New York have never been better and are an essential economic driver for communities across the state," DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "Governor Cuomo's continued commitments to the NY Open for Fishing and Hunting initiative are bolstering our efforts to provide world class hunting and fishing opportunities statewide. DEC is committed to enhancing our science based management programs to provide for abundant opportunities for our sportsmen and sportswomen to go afield during the upcoming hunting and trapping seasons." Under the 2016-17 budget, Governor Cuomo's NY Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative provides $3 million for State land access projects and $4 million for hunting and fishing infrastructure. The 2015-16 budget also created a new capital account, leveraging federal funds to manage, protect and restore fish and wildlife habitats - an initiative that will improve and develop public access for fish and wildlife-related recreation. Outdoor recreation and sporting activities continue to generate significant economic revenue across the state. According to the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, sportsmen and women spent $4.95 billion on hunting and fishing in New York in 2011 and support more than 56,000 jobs across the state. In addition, spending by hunters and anglers generated $623 million in state and local taxes in 2011. Revenues from the sale of all sporting licenses provide direct support to the state's efforts to protect, preserve and enhance wildlife species and the habitats they depend on. Deer Management Permits Deer Management Permits will be available at all license-issuing outlets or by phone, internet or mail through October 1, 2016. Deer Management Permits, which are used to ensure proper management of the deer herd, are issued through a random selection process at the point of sale. Customers who are selected will receive their permits immediately. The chances of obtaining a Deer Management Permits remain the same throughout the application period - hunters do not need to rush to apply for a Deer Management Permit on the first day of sale. The 2016 chances of selection for a Deer Management Permit in each Wildlife Management Unit are available online, through License Issuing Agents, or the Deer Management Permits Hotline at 1-866-472-4332. Detailed information on Deer Management Permits is available on DEC's website. The new Hunting & Trapping Regulations guide, which provides an easy to read compendium of all pertinent rules and regulations, will be available in August at all license issuing outlets and on the DEC Hunting Regulations webpage along with a list of license-issuing agents. You can also find that list at our online License Center or by contacting the DEC Call Center at 1-866-933-2257. Expanded Call Center Hours Starting August 1, the DEC Call Center will be accessible from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays through October 1, 2016. Regular call center weekday hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) will resume on October 2. Individuals should have the following items ready when buying a license: Complete name and address information; DEC customer ID number (if applicable); Proof of residency (e.g., driver's license or non-driver's ID with a valid NYS address) and; if purchasing by phone or internet, a valid credit card. If not already entered in DEC's automated licensing system, individuals are required to provide proof of hunter or trapper education certification or a copy of a previous license for all hunting and trapping license purchases. For additional information, visit the General Sporting License Information webpage on DEC's website. Other Programs: Free Sportsmen Education Training Courses Offered DEC works closely with thousands of dedicated certified instructors statewide to provide sportsmen education training courses free of charge. Courses are offered for Hunter Education, Bowhunter Education, Trapper Education and Waterfowl Identification. Courses do fill quickly, so anyone interested should register soon. Education courses are added continuously throughout the year, so be sure to check the on-line system frequently to find a course near you. To locate a nearby hunter or trapper education course, visit the Sportsman Education webpage on DEC's website or contact a local DEC office for assistance. New Opportunities for Junior Hunters & Trappers In an effort to foster the next generation of hunters in New York, the DEC has expanded opportunities for junior hunters (licensees ages 12-15) and trappers (under 12 years old) by designating special youth hunts for deer, wild turkey, pheasants, and waterfowl through the Mentored Youth Hunter and Trapper Program. These opportunities allow youth hunters and trappers to spend time in the field with experienced adults and gain the necessary knowledge and skills to become safe and responsible members of the hunting and trapping community. You can find more information about these programs and other opportunities for junior hunters and trappers here. Habitat Stamps and Trail Supporter Patch DEC encourages all outdoor enthusiasts to consider purchasing a Habitat/Access Stamp and/or a Trail Supporter Patch. These stamps and patches support the state's efforts to conserve habitat, increase public access for fishing and wildlife-related recreation, and maintain non-motorized trails. Buying a $5 stamp or patch or donating directly to the Conservation Fund is a simple way to help conserve New York's rich wildlife heritage and enhance outdoor recreation in the state. The Venison Donation Program Additionally, anyone - not just hunters and anglers - can help feed the hungry by making a monetary contribution to the Venison Donation Program at any license issuing outlet. Individuals should inform the license sales agent if they are interested in making a donation of $1 or more to support the program. Since 1999, these funds have been used by the Venison Donation Coalition for the processing of more than 330 tons of highly nutritious venison, the equivalent of 2.8 million meals served. For more information about the Venison Donation Coalition program, visit DEC's website. Participate in Citizen Science to Benefit Wildlife Management Each year, thousands of hunters, trappers and anglers help the DEC monitor wildlife populations by recording their wildlife observations while afield. Information on how to participate in the Cooperator Ruffed Grouse Hunting Log, Bowhunter Sighting Log, Winter Wild Turkey Flock Survey and other Citizen Science programs is available on the Citizen Science: Wildlife Observation Data Collection webpage on DEC's website. Crime, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: August 01 2016 Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers arrested a Commack man for Boating While Intoxicated after he crashed his boat into a buoy in Patchogue Bay Saturday night. Patchogue, NY - July 31, 2016 - Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers arrested a Commack man for Boating While Intoxicated after he crashed his boat into a buoy in Patchogue Bay Saturday night. Fifth Precinct officers responded to a 911 call at the Dublin Deck bar, located at 325 River Avenue, Patchogue, where witnesses reported that a man left the bar in a 22-foot Sea Ray boat after a dispute and sped away down the Patchogue River at 9:04 p.m. Marine Bureau Police Officers Daniel Smith and Charles Giardella, aboard Marine Kilo, were notified about the fleeing boat and responded to check the area. A 29-foot Response Boat from the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Fire Island also joined in the search. While officers were en route, the captain of a passing ferry contacted the Marine Bureau via VHF radio to report that a boat had sped out of the Patchogue River and struck buoy #4 in Patchogue Bay. Officers Smith and Giardella located the disabled vessel with the operator, Erik M. Dowgiallo and two male passengers on board. None of the occupants were injured in the crash. Dowgiallo, 35, of Commack, was charged with Boating While Intoxicated and is being held at the Fifth Precinct. He is scheduled to be arraigned today at First District Court in Central Islip. A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Local News, Local Experts, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Home & Garden, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: August 01 2016 Struggling with the prospect of losing your home in mortgage foreclosure, or still have issues resulting from Superstorm Sandy? Get help from volunteer attorneys! The next two clinics are scheduled for Monday, August 8 and Monday, August 22, 3 - 6 p.m, at the Nassau County Bar Association in Mineola. Mineola, NY - July 29, 2016 - Nassau residents who are struggling with the prospect of losing their homes in mortgage foreclosure, or still have issues resulting from Superstorm Sandy, are invited to come for help from volunteer attorneys at the Nassau County Bar Association's Free Mortgage Foreclosure/Sandy Recovery Legal Consultation Clinics. The next two clinics are scheduled for Monday, August 8 and Monday, August 22, 3 - 6 p.m, at the Nassau County Bar Association, located on 15th Street at the corner of West Street, Mineola, two blocks south of the bus and train stations. NCBAs clinics allow homeowners concerned about foreclosure matters or who are already in the foreclosure process involving property in Nassau County, to meet one-on-one with a volunteer attorney for a free consultation. Homeowners then may be directed for additional help with mortgage modifications, loan restructuring, bankruptcy, financial planning assistance, services for lower income households and emotional support. Many of these resources and agencies are available immediately in the same room. Clinic volunteers include dozens of attorneys trained in mortgage foreclosure issues, bankruptcy attorneys, HUD-certified housing counselors from Community Development Corporation of Long Island, Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre and American Debt Resources. There are no income restrictions to attend the clinics. Since 2009, NCBA has held more than 140 clinics assisting more than 10,000 Nassau families in distress. Currently, each clinic averages 50 homeowners, signifying that mortgage fore continues to be prevalent in Nassau. Volunteer attorneys also answer Sandy victims' questions regarding homeowner, flood, property damage and automobile insurance claims; FEMA, debt deferral, and consumer protection issues. Bi-lingual attorneys fluent in Spanish are on site, and attorneys bi-lingual in other languages, including Russian, Haitian Creole, Korean, Chinese, Hindi and American Sign Language, may be requested when making reservations. To make an appointment for the next clinic, call the Bar Association at 516-747-4070. Attendees are asked to bring their mortgage documents or other important papers and correspondence with them. This program is funded through the NYS Attorney General Homeownership Protection Program (known as HOPP). About the Nassau County Bar Association Founded in 1899, the Nassau County Bar Association is the leader in providing legal information and community service on Long Island. NCBA consists of private and public attorneys, judges, legal educators and law students who demonstrate their commitment to the community by offering a variety of services for the public, including lawyer referral services, mortgage foreclosure, Sandy recovery and senior citizen legal clinics; judicial screening and public education programs. The Nassau Academy of Law provides the largest program of continuing education for the legal community. We Care, part of the Nassau Bar Foundation, NCBAs charitable arm, assists children, the elderly and others in need, through countless projects and donations. For more information, call (516) 747-4070 (language translation available), email, or visit nassaubar.org. 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 Several individuals have been charged with drug-related charges after a roundup in Madison County. James Delbert Allen Jr., 52, of Marquand, has been charged with three counts of the class A felony of distributing a controlled substance near schools. Colton S. Lance, 25, of Fredericktown, has one count of the same felony. The bond amounts for Allen and Lance are $50,000 cash only. Al Scott Burshia, 45, and Denver Lunsford, 41, both of Fredericktown have been charged with the class B felony of distribution/manufacture of a controlled substance. Bond is set at $15,000 cash only in both cases. Julie Ann Gipson, 36, Jamie Nicole Parson, 38, both of Marquand, and Gerald Dean Thompson Jr., 31, Fredericktown, have been charged with two counts of distribution. Bond amounts for Gipson and Parson are $50,000 cash only. The bond is set at $15,000 cash only for Thompson. Gipson has one additional count of this charge from a July 19 warrant, with a corresponding bond of $25,000 cash only. Following these arrests, Madison County Sheriff Bobby Spain issued this statement on behalf of his department and others. On July 26, 2016, after a six-month investigation, the Madison County Sheriffs Department, in a joint effort with Mineral Area Drug Task Force (MADTF); Bollinger County Sheriffs Department, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, several people were arrested on drug-related charges. This is a continuous effort by the Madison County Sheriffs Department to eliminate drugs in our community. Make no mistake; we will not tolerate these actions. In an effort to not only keep our kids, but our community safe. DEAR ABBY: Forty-five years ago I had a mistress. My wife knew about her. Both of our spouses have now passed. I have found her address on the internet, and I'm debating if I should contact her. What do you think? -- UNSURE IN IOWA DEAR UNSURE: Because you are both now unencumbered, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't. Clearly, you have things in common and a lot of shared history. DEAR ABBY: We are well into school's summer vacation, filled with days by the pool, trips to the zoo, and plenty of time for kids to goof off around the house. This extended leisure time for the kiddos may be a good time to remind parents to be thoughtful about what they post on social media. Some basics: When your child accidentally dumps all the sunscreen from your beach bag onto the car floor, you do not have to post a picture of a regretful, crying toddler to prove that "he really did it this time!" When your child falls off her bike and gets a great big scrape on her forearm, you do not have to post a picture of the scrape for the world to see. When your child is running through the backyard sprinkler without clothes on, you do not have to post a picture to let us know. Abby, please encourage your readers to have a memorable, safe and exciting summer -- but to keep those photos to themselves. -- COMMON SENSE, PLEASE DEAR C.S.P.: You obviously don't want the children put at risk or shamed. Some people feel a compulsion to record everything a kid does for the world to see because their child is so special and unique. Unfortunately, we seem to have reached a point in our culture that nothing is private anymore. I'll print your suggestion to parents, but while I applaud your wanting to protect their children, it's their job. If the photos bother you, ignore them and keep scrolling. DEAR ABBY: We are a family of six children. Our elderly mother lives with each of us three to 10 months at a time. Out of the six of us, only one is a homemaker who has the room and ideal setting for her to live comfortably. However, she refuses to have Mom permanently. The rest of us have jobs that don't allow us to be with her during the day. Yet we all agreed that putting Mom in a nursing home would be out of the question. If I didn't have to work, I'd take care of her permanently myself. I admit that she can be difficult to live with. She can cut you down, insist you do all kinds of errands and is suspicious about someone taking her money. I don't know what to do. -- ONE OF SIX IN OHIO DEAR ONE OF SIX: Has your mother always been this way? If so, then perhaps it's time for another family meeting. To expect one sister to shoulder the entire burden of taking in a demanding, suspicious parent is unfair to her. If there have been changes in your mother's personality, consider having her be neurologically evaluated to see if there is something wrong with her. A geriatric psychiatrist could give you some helpful input regardless of whether she's ill -- and help you all decide upon a workable, permanent living situation for her. DEAR ABBY: My partner, "Andrew," and I have been together for four years. I'm a high school teacher, and he works for a major department store. Andrew has always wanted to be a flight attendant and now has the opportunity to interview for a position with a regional carrier. If he gets the job, he will have to relocate to the mid-Atlantic. I want him to follow his dreams and be successful, and I want to support him, but right now I'm not in a position financially to leave my job and go with him. Although I'm a good teacher, there is additional education I need to pursue, and I have worked with my department chair on a five-year plan that includes some study abroad. I hope to teach at a community college in the future, but what if I'm not hired close to where Andrew works? How do I deal with all this? -- MESSED UP MAN IN MASSACHUSETTS DEAR MESSED UP MAN: You recognize that some challenges lie ahead for you and Andrew if you are both going to live your dreams and achieve your full potential. You say you have worked out a five-year plan that includes study abroad. In a year or two, it could have been Andrew writing me about the same insecurities you are feeling. Separation doesn't have to mean the end of your relationship if you are both determined not to let it. You owe it to yourselves to have a little faith, give it a try, and "what will be will be." DEAR ABBY: Another birthday is coming up for one of my grandchildren and there is absolutely nothing we can think of that she doesn't already have five of. We are simple people but love our grandchildren and would like to get them something original once in a while. Our kids buy them everything they want in every color and style. Our grandkids have clothes they wear once and toys that are still in the packages. Spending time would be a good idea except that they want to be entertained at expensive attractions and are bored with just spending time together. We want to be part of their lives, but we don't have a clue as to how to do it. Can you help? -- OUT OF IDEAS IN FLORIDA DEAR OUT OF IDEAS: I'll try. Is there anything that you can MAKE for your grandchildren that cannot be found in a store -- perhaps something from your oven? Many grandchildren have fond memories of Grandma's brownies, chocolate chip cookies, apple cake, etc. If the answer is yes, then bring -- or send -- a package to your grandchildren. I say this because my grandmother, Rose Phillips, used to have the most wonderful brownies (with powdered sugar on top!) on her kitchen counter when our family would come to visit. If she had sent me a box as a gift, I would have been delighted. Something like this is a gift that only you can give. It's something special and it won't break the bank. DEAR ABBY: I am the mother of a 13-year-old son, my only child. For the past 10 years I have been living with mounting guilt over the fact that he doesn't have a sibling. It's not because my husband and I haven't tried, we have. But fertility issues took us down an empty road, and adoption discussions were just that -- discussions. I can't tell you how many times our son has said he wishes he had a sibling. Every time, it's like a knife in my heart and the guilt surges back. I think about the future and how he will have no brother or sister to share life with or lean on when something happens to my husband or me. Although I have always felt blessed to have him, I can't escape these feelings. Sometimes I feel like I have failed him horribly. It's worth noting that my son is a happy, well-adjusted child. He has good peer relationships in school, is close to me and my husband and has hobbies and friends he enjoys spending time with. My love for him is endless, and I pray that he will forgive me someday for not being able to give him what he has so deserved. -- SAD MOM IN OHIO DEAR SAD MOM: Take a step back, stop self-flagellating and ask yourself how many times your son may have also asked for a puppy. You say you have raised a happy, well-adjusted son. That's an accomplishment that should fill you with pride. Not being able to give birth to another child is not something you should feel guilty about or need forgiveness for, and neither is refraining from adopting "so your son would have a sibling." Not all siblings have the kind of relationship you fantasize about. While some do, many do not. Please consider carefully what I have said and search your heart. And if you still think you are guilty of any sin of omission, discuss it with a licensed psychotherapist. DEAR ABBY: Last year I found out my husband borrowed $3,500 from our savings account and gave it to a female co-worker. When I asked where the money had gone, he lied to me. It has been more than a year and the co-worker hasn't repaid the money. She comes up with cockamamie excuses, but has plenty of money to buy gifts for her grandkids and new clothes for herself. When I contacted her about it, she called human resources on my husband! He said no one at work likes her and she has a lot of personal problems. Our marriage has been rocky, and we need this money back. What's really going on here? How do I get her to start paying back the money? I have reached the end of my rope and my husband is no help whatsoever. He gets mad whenever I ask about the money. Some advice, please? -- NEEDS THE MONEY DEAR NEEDS THE MONEY: Stop asking your husband about the money. It should be clear by now that the woman he gave it to has no intention of repaying it. As to her not being liked at the office, HE must have liked her or he wouldn't have forked over all that dough. Because your marriage is "rocky," I'm recommending that you seek couples counseling. Perhaps with the help of a mediator your husband will be able to be completely truthful with you. That's essential because good marriages are based on trust. DEAR ABBY: Several months ago I spoke to a doctor friend about some medical issues my wife was experiencing. He specializes in this particular area. When he advised my wife to come into the office, I told him it was not a good time for us financially. He said not to worry about it. We made the appointment, and about two months later the bill arrived. We are on a high-deductible health plan and the bill is not cheap. How can I discuss this with my friend without offending? I don't want to sound presumptuous -- I know this is his livelihood -- but we would have stuck it out until we were better off financially. -- FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY DEAR "DIFFICULTY": Call your friend the doctor and explain the situation. If you do, he may reduce the amount of his bill or, alternatively, agree to a payment plan that you can manage. DEAR ABBY: Some time ago I was descending an escalator when a suitcase belonging to the woman ahead of me got stuck. She had put the bag in front of her, and the wheels had caught on one of the steps. When she reached the bottom of the escalator, she fell over her suitcase, and then I fell over her. I scrambled on my hands and knees as fast as I could to get out of the way of the dozens of people behind us, visualizing a pileup and injuries. Fortunately, an attendant quickly grabbed the suitcase, and no one was hurt. As he did he said, "NEVER put a suitcase ahead of you on an escalator! Always carry it behind you so you can control it!" I hope this letter will save others from what could be a dangerous situation. -- AVOIDED A PILEUP IN NEW JERSEY DEAR AVOIDED: Whoa! So do I. Thank you for the warning. DEAR ABBY: Recently my wife was out for some training all day on a Saturday. Our 11-year-old daughter had been invited to a birthday party on the same day, so I was to drop her off. My wife and daughter told me the birthday party "might or might not" be a sleepover party. My daughter would inform me at the end of the party if she were spending the night. I wanted to know at the time I dropped her off whether she was going to be sleeping over. My wife claimed I "didn't need" to know. She accused me of being unreasonable, and said it was OK for me to find out at the end of the party. I don't mean to be picky, but as a dad was I being unreasonable? -- RESPONSIBLE PARENT IN OREGON DEAR PARENT: No. As the parent responsible for your daughter that day, you had every right to know what the plans would be so you could plan your own evening. When the invitation was issued, that information should have been conveyed so your daughter would be prepared and take along her pajamas and toothbrush. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069 The US military acknowledged today that it has targeted the Islamic States Libyan arm in the city of Sirte. The air strikes are part of an effort to deal a blow to the jihadist group in its largest base of operations inside Libya. Today, at the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL [Islamic State] targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya, the Pentagon stated in a press release. These strikes were authorized by the president following a recommendation from Secretary [of Defense] Carter and Chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Dunford, the statement continued. They are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces. GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL thus far around Sirte, and additional US strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance. The airstrikes were confirmed by Libyas prime minister and Al Bunyan Al Marsoos (Solid Structure), an operations room that is allied with the UN-backed government and recruits fighters from Islamist militias in Misrata and elsewhere. According to Al Bunyan Al Marsoos, an Islamic State tank was targeted and destroyed by US aircraft. Al Bunyan Al Marsoos launched an offensive to retake Sirte in late May and claimed it would be liberated within days. While the Islamic State lost some ground during the initial fighting, the situation in Sirte has largely stalemated. American airpower was likely called in because the offensive has stalled and the US can provide superior targeting against the jihadists, who remain entrenched in the interior of the city. [See LWJ report, Libyan forces seize key points from the Islamic State around Sirte.] As Al Bunyan Al Marsoos advanced on the city in May, the Islamic States Libyan province was forced to deploy its martyrs. The jihadists launched zero suicide attacks in and around Sirte during the first four months of the year, according to data published by Amaq News Agency, which is part of the the Islamic States media machine. But then, in May, the organization dispatched nine suicide bombers in Sirte and on the outskirts of the city. This was a clear indication that the Islamc States grip on the area was slipping, as the organization previously did not need to use its martyrs to beat back its opponents. The loss of Sirte would be a major blow to the Islamic State and its efforts to control territory outside of Iraq and Syria. The group seized Sirte in June 2015 and has repeatedly showcased the city as one of its main bases outside of its holdings in Iraq and Syria. Sirte is so important to the Islamic State that the groups spokesman, Abu Muhammad al Adnani, mentioned it alongside Raqqa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq in a speech in May. Raqqa and Mosul are the de facto capitals of the self-declared caliphate and, as such, the most important cities under the jihadists control. In his speech, titled That They Live By Proof, Adnani implicitly conceded that the Islamic State could lose one or all three of these cities. Adnani argued that neither the loss of individual leaders, nor the loss of a city or the loss of land, would mean that the Islamic State has been defeated as long as the jihadists retained the will to fight. The newly announced operations in Sirte are the first publicly acknowledged airstrikes by the US in Libya since Feb. 2016, when American warplanes attacked an Islamic State training camp near Sabratha. The US targeted Noureddine Chouchane, who was described by the Pentagon as a senior facilitator for the so-called caliphate and was associated with the training camp. Chouchane is thought to be involved in two high profile terrorist attacks in Tunisia in 2015 and reportedly played a significant role in the Islamic States external operations network that plots and executes attacks against the West. [See LWJ report, US airstrike targets Islamic State operative, training camp in Libya.] On Nov. 13, 2015, the US killed Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, also known as Abu Nabil al Anbari, in an airstrike. Zubaydi, an Iraqi national, was a longtime al Qaeda operative and the senior ISIL [Islamic State] leader in Libya, according to a statement by the US military. Some accounts indicated that Zubaydi served as the lead executioner in the February 2015 massacre of Coptic Christians on the Libyan coast. The airstrikes in Sirte highlight the expanding war against the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for multiple terrorist attacks in the West over the past year. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Lt. Col. Matthew Vedder, previously 62nd Fighter Squadron director of operations, officially assumed command of the 63rd FS in a ceremony conducted on the flightline Aug. 1, 2016, at Luke Air Force Base. The 63rd FS will train F-35 Lightning II fighter pilots as a joint international effort between Turkey and the United States. Turkish and American pilots will fly both Turkish and American F-35s under the guidance of American instructor pilots. This partnership for Turkey and the United States to train together exists because we fight together, Vedder said. This cooperation improves both of our capabilities and allows us to produce a stronger joint multinational coalition force whenever and wherever called upon. Vedder is an experienced F-35 and A-10 fighter pilot with over 2,000 flight hours including combat deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq. He assumes command of the 63rd FS after having served more than a year as the DO of the 62nd FS, for which he was responsible for planning, executing and supervising every aspect of flight and ground training operations. Lt. Col. Vedder is a combat-proven warrior and is one of the best fighter pilots and instructors in the world, said Col. Benjamin Bishop, 56th Operations Group commander. He is an outstanding officer who has already made strategic impacts on the Air Force. He is the perfect leader for the 63rd FS. Like the 63rd, the 62nd and 61st fighter squadrons train an international cadre of F-35 pilots from partner nations like Norway, Italy and Australia. With its activation, the 63rd joins the 62nd and 61st as one of three dedicated F-35 training squadrons at Luke. The 63rd has a distinct heritage that has been a proud part of the 56th Fighter Wing since World War II, said Bishop. At Luke, we serve a vital role in the F-35 enterprise. We train the worlds greatest F-35 pilots, both from America and from our coalition partners. Building the future of airpower is right in line with the types of accomplishments the 63rd has seen in the past. Today simply marks another moment in the heritage of our Airmen. Three more squadrons are slated to join the fighter wing by 2022 as Lukes F-35 fleet expands towards its goal of 144 jets. After its transition is complete, Luke will maintain its status as the largest F-35 training base in the world. Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here. Culture / Art Republik Aug 01, 2016 | By Nadya Wang Haffendi Anuar (b. 1985) is a Malaysian artist who works in sculpture, painting, drawing and installation. In 2015, Richard Koh Fine Art presented M13, his first solo exhibition. The title was taken from the block number of a low-cost building in central Kuala Lumpur that housed his previous studio. M13 featured 64 sculptures in four groups: Pilotis, Blocks, Grill Works and Windows, and simulated a cityscape. Haffendi says, When the smaller Windows are installed in a grid-like manner on the gallery wall, they in turn activate that wall into a metaphorical building facade, and the Pilotis, which reference columns or building foundations, when viewed in a cluster, appear like an archipelago of skyscrapers. With the architectural slant of the show, it is perhaps no surprise that while attending the International School of Kuala Lumpur, the artist had wanted to be an architect, partly because he thought it the responsible thing to do coming from an Asian family. However, he soon found himself spending most of his time in the schools art studio, and set his sights on becoming a sculptor, for the joy he found in making objects. The artists attention to detail is clear in the carefully constructed artworks. The Piloti pieces are totem-like sculptures made by vertically connecting vessels such as bowls and plates with a rod, then filled with puttyfilla and sand. These were the first to come in the series. To artificially achieve the antique looks, the artist applied dozens of layers of paint and sanded them down after each layer. For example, a tall, primarily blue sculpture riddled with off-white specks appears well worn, suggesting a history that it has not lived. The body of work in the exhibition has been made with keen attention paid to the immediate environment, a conscious decision made by the artist, who has studied and lived abroad, from attending the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, to learning Mandarin in China. Returning from abroad, I wanted to anchor my practice to local contexts and site is one of them, says Haffendi. I do feel a sense of responsibility to make sense of my current environment, and the city offers an abundance of material to examine and fiddle with. Looking at Malaysian art from the perspective of both an insider and an outsider, Haffendi is interested in addressing what he saw as a lack of geometry in Malaysian art, especially by young artists, and its association to culturally linked ideas of Western modernism, modernization and urban reality. For Elephant Utopia, an extension of M13 for Art Taipei 2015, the artist wrote about the inspiration that The Wizard of Oz served, in the scene where Dorothy and her friends stand on the red brick road against a background of an unpopulated emerald city that act as an empty symbol of the promise of prosperity and progress. It is an idea he builds on in his representation of the modern Kuala Lumpur cityscape. In stark contrast to the neat, structured geometrical works Haffendi made for M13 and Elephant Utopia is his Advanced Brittled Bodies series of irregular-shaped sculptures, which he began in college. The masses, made in sizes similar to those of domesticated animals, are attached to castors or hinges. Coated in striking metallic colors that highlight their free forms, they can be seen as extractions of a uniform landscape. The series was picked up by Aesop to be displayed in their Kuala Lumpur store space in 2015. In his time in London, Haffendi has worked as artist assistants for British sculptors Hew Locke and Nicholas Deshayes. For Locke, he assisted in the installation of cardboard boats for an institutional show. With Deshayes, he helped the artist out with some of his sculptures for his first solo show at the gallery where he interned. Haffendi counts this as one of the most enjoyable experiences he had in his time in London. Subsequently, the artist sub-letted his studio to Haffendi for a couple of months while he was away on a residency and Haffendi got a taste of having his own studio space in London. Ruminating on his varied experiences, Haffendi says, I think living in different places has forced me to be constantly adaptable and responsive to my immediate environment, and to be resourceful. Artistic practice is not autonomous and does not exist within a self-created bubble, as artists are part of a larger system of networks, whether cultural, economical or political. Incidentally, Haffendi is the gallery manager at Richard Koh Fine Art, which allows him to interact with others in the art world. It is a role that complements his work as an artist. Both roles require a different kind of responsibilities altogether. I tend to zone into managing and writing when I am at the gallery, and focus on my practice when Im in the studio. Its a little tricky at times. One good thing about working at the gallery is that I dont spend all my time in the studio, and get to meet interesting people in the industry. Haffendi continues to finds inspiration in art and design all over the world, but always with his finger firmly on the pulse of what is happening closer to home. At the moment, he is looking into regional crafts, from woven baskets and mats to wooden sculptures and textiles. And with art, he looks at fellow multidisciplinary young artists working in various cities. A modern-day flaneur, Haffendi says, In the real world, I enjoy walking and getting lost in different parts of the city; I mean just looking and experiencing. The artist also delves into design history including product, furniture and industrial designs. Despite or because of his experiences abroad, Haffendi considers himself a Malaysian artist without question, applying what he has learnt and seen elsewhere to understanding realities back home. The ideas and ways of looking that Ive had picked up from experience in the West has helped me to digest the current materials that Im confronted with in Kuala Lumpur such as site, urban debris and online images, says Haffendi. I guess I am constantly juggling with the training that I had from the West and my cultural identity that stems from how I grew up, and whether one outplays the other. For more information, visit Richard Koh Fine Art. This article was first published in Art Republik. Culture / Auctions Aug 02, 2016 | By Staff Writer Stellar auction results from last year and this year continue to inspire confidence in luxury goods as an investment class but a slowdown is definitely underway. The 2016 Knight Frank Report released earlier this year observes that its own Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) rose by 7% in 2015 compared with a 5% drop in the FTSE 100 equities index (Brexit will make the FTSE a less-than-useful gauge next year). The report also notes that classic cars are the strongest performer (+17%) while furniture is in the red (-6%); these figures represent price changes over the course of 12 months to Q4 2015. This year has been confusing for us to report on so we thought we would bring you the Knight Frank selection of top lots at auction in 2015 (scroll to the bottom), while noting some strangeness and a string of disappointments. The strangeness here is the record-breaking sale of the 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti, which auction house Artcurial moved for $35 million (pictured top). At the time, various sources (ourselves included) reported that it was the most expensive car ever sold at auction but, due to currency volatility, this has been thrown into doubt. As the Knight Frank report notes, the 2014 Bonhams sale of the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta sold for $38 million so retains the USD record; the 1957 Scag holds the Euro record at 32.075 million. At 2014 exchange rates, the Scag would have beaten the Berlinetta but not so today. We are now in the position of having two Ferrari claimants to the throne of most expensive car ever sold at auction! The failure of the Ferrari 275 NART Spider to sell in May brought some clarity to the current situation, with experts from every auction house anticipating and warning of a slowdown in Ferrari auction prices and, consequently, in the entire classic car segment. Look no further than the top lots sold to date for some context. All-time highs were recorded in 2015 for Jaguar ($13.2 million), Porsche ($10.1 million) and McLaren ($13.75 million). The best result we have for this year to-date is the aforementioned Scag, with everything else failing to even register on the newsworthiness scale. This explains why you may not have read anything about impressive auction sales recently. In the world of art, Picassos Women of Algiers remains the best performer at auction to date, selling for $179.3 million in May, 2015. Records thus far in this year include personal-bests for Jean Michel Basquiat (57.3 million) and Frida Kahlo ($17.2 million), far below last years stars Modigliani ($170 million) and Twombly ($70.5 million). Diamonds also lost their sparkle in 2016, with the Lesedi la Rona failing to sell this year. Given that this is second largest diamond ever mined, its failure to find a buyer (Sothebys estimated $70 million but the final bid was $61 million) is lamentable. Nevertheless, the success of blue diamonds at auction last year continues to fuel hope for the colored diamonds subset. As long as Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau keeps buying these, prices look to stay rock-steady. Knight Frank 2015 Auction Stand Out Sales Picasso: Women of Algiers ($179,300,000 sold by Christies, May 2015) Marc Newson: Lockheed Lounge ($3,700,400 sold by Phillips, April 2015) Jaguar C-Type Works Lightweight ($13,200,000 sold by Sothebys, August 2015) Patek Philippe Doctors Chronograph ($4,987,383 sold by Phillips, May 2015) Blue Moon of Josephine 12 carat blue diamond ($48,400,000 sold by Sothebys, November 2015) Tracy Fisher, office manager for Bates Insurance, has been named the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerces Second Quarter Acclaimed Ambassador for 2016. The announcement was made during the chambers monthly investor meeting on July 19 so that Fisher could be honored with special recognition and awarded a certificate and huge bag of goodies compliments of ambassador program sponsors. All of our ambassadors worked extra hard throughout the second quarter planning, preparing for and executing our newly recognized Investor Appreciation Month, said Tammi Coleman, the chambers executive director. They all earned numerous points for their participation, but Tracy took the win by devoting even more of her personal time and energy helping with much of the behind-the-scenes prep throughout the month of June. Chamber ambassadors are recruited annually to help promote and assist the chamber in the community and at chamber events and meetings. Ambassadors earn points for attending events and meetings, recruiting and mentoring new investors and providing the chamber board and directors with assistance in other duties as needed. We can't thank Tracy enough for her dedication and never-ending enthusiasm for helping our chamber, said Coleman. Her efforts help to make our job a little easier and our image even more stunning. The mission of the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Program is to promote member commitment and retention by raising awareness of chamber activities and benefits; to inform and encourage involvement of new members to promote a strong chamber; to encourage meaningful and beneficial participation in the chambers programs; and to serve as a liaison for the chamber and its membership. If anyone is interested in being an ambassador, its a great way to get your face and name out to the public, said Rita Martin, chairperson of the chambers ambassador program. Its a great networking opportunity. Coleman also wanted to give special thanks to the chambers ambassador sponsors for supporting the program and providing our much deserving champions with some incredible gifts. Continental Title Company, Culligan Soft Water, C.Z. Boyer & Son Funeral Homes, First Bank, Park Hills branch, Habitat for Humanity, Hefner Furniture & Appliance, Isagenix, Parkland Health Center, Pharmax Pharmacy, Leadington, The Coffee Grill and The Printing Company all serve as chamber ambassador sponsors. This is a highly sought after award because the ambassadors work hard to promote the chamber, said Martin. Were very excited to be able to have something cool for them to win for all the points theyve been working for. To find out more about the ambassador program or the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerce, visit their website at www.phlcoc.net. Green Olive Tree has been in the Managed Hosting business for over 15 years. We have the expertise to build and manage an infrastructure perfect for your needs. Did we mention we are also a veteran owned business? Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Vivid Portrayal of Massive Human Tragedy BOOK REVIEW New Songs of the Survivors: The Exodus of Indians from Burma by Yvonne Vaz Ezdani; Speaking Tiger, New Delhi; 2016; price: Rs 350 (paperback). Human memory of any important incident or event has now become a major source of history. There are pitfalls. Memories may fail. Memories may get clouded by other events thereby distorting memories of the events. In fact, in earlier days history depended entirely on written and/or archeological evidence, references in literature, epics and the like. But in recent times Oral History has become a major source of recording an important event. In India we are not in the habit of writing out individual experiences of participating in any notable incident. Thus, one of the main sources of history does get lost. Yvonne Vaz Ezdans book, New Songs of the Survivors; The Exodus of Indians from Burma, is a remarkable piece of literature based very largely on human memories. Amitava Ghosh in his introduction rightly said: It is, so far as I know, the first attempt to write an oral history of the forgotten long march drawing on the recollections of survivors and their descendents. Indeed the book is much more than an oral history. The manner of writing is such as to allow the reader to witness the events as they unfolded giving the narrative the vividness and momentum of a novel. The accounts of human suffering are rarely pleasant reading. The authors father, Lucio Alexandar Vaz, writes: And on that difficult walk with hunger, they did not even have the strength to pull the grass from the ground to eat. Instead they had to lie down and eat the grass off the ground like cattle. The author is fully aware of the weakness of any oral history: Many factual stories remain only in oral tradition: they are passed from generation to generation and each telling distorting them a little. Some simply die with the passing of those who lived through them. And so, I began making rough notes of the stories I was told. The author carries the story to a higher plain when he writes: While recapturing the memories of a generation that is advancing in age, New Songs of the Survivors also seeks to record little known tales of determination of survivors that are relevant not only to the period of history in Burma and India, but to the human spirit everywhere. The British colonial masters discriminated against Goans even though they wore European clothes and spoke the Portuguese language. They were not allowed to be members of the British Gymkhana Club. Though they distinguished themselves from other Indians, the Britishers treated them as shabbily as any colonial person. Goans did not have any particular skill nor were they highly educated, but by the sheer sincerity and hard work they acquired wealth and respectability. The colonial masters valued their services and often promoted them out of turn. That way they thought that they were a cut above the other Indians. As described earlier during the recollections from the survivors and their descendents, this book is an excellent story of the forgotten Long March, one of the biggest and most harrowing mass migrations in recent history. The author has succinctly put it as follows: While recapturing the memories of a generation that is advancing in age, New Songs of the Survivors also seeks to record little known facts of determination and survival that are relevant not only to that period of the history in Burma and India, but to the human spirit everywhere! The progress of human civilisation had been from the stage of migrating and hunting-gathering occupation to settled life through agriculture, formation of villages, towns, cities and the associated activities therewith. Mass migration of human being is both a colossal mass tragedy and undoing of the entire process of history. Agony and suffering of the participants cannot be understood by us living in settled and peaceful civilised society. This book is a major contribution to the portrayal of the massive tragedy of human beings in recent times. This is worth keeping in ones own private collection. The reviewer, an erstwhile administrator and expert on land issues, is currently a Rajya Sabha member representing the Trinamul Congress. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > An Issue Far Beyond Brexit by Sanjal Shastri Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or Leave the European Union? While the answer to this question is a mere yes or no, the issues this question throws up are not as straightforward. The referendum challenges the very idea of British national identity. What are the larger social issues the Brexit vote has exposed? How would these issues play out in the months/ years to come? These are the questions this commentary would try to address. The Remain campaign constantly stressed on economic interdependency and the economic costs of a possible exit from the EU. Economically their argument has sound logical reasoning. Europe is the UKs single largest international market. Being a member of the EU gave access to a single market through which the UK was able to reap dividends. London is viewed as the financial gateway to Europe. This explains the presence of several international banks in London. Once the referendum results were pointing towards a win for the Leave camp, the Pound Sterling took a severe beating, falling to levels it had not reached in the last thirty years. Looking at this, the economic argument put forth by the Remain campaign made perfect sense. Had the referendum been fought purely over the economic issues, the Remain campaign would have managed a comfortable victory. The victory of the Leave campaign tells us that this referendum was not fought merely over the economic arguments of being a part of the EU or not. The verdict highlights important social and political factors that played a crucial role. Rhetorics like Taking my country back and June 23, 2016 as independence day have been the dominating narrative of the Leave campaign. They have successfully tapped into the anti-immigration sentiment amongst a large section of the population. On the face of it the anti-immigration sentiment seems to have been built upon the idea that immigrants take over jobs and unfairly enjoy social benefits. A closer analysis of this idea, however, would reveal that immigrants in fact do not put a strain onto the social benefits and on the contrary they pay taxes and bring in expertise that help the economy. The anti-immigrant rhetoric has been fuelled by what one section of the population views the British national identity to be. Openness and cultural plurality have been a crucial part of the British national identity. Under this national vision, the UK witnessed influx of immigrants from various parts of the world (primarily the Commonwealth countries) from the 1950s. With the creation of the EU, the UK started viewing itself as a part of the European Project. As a member of the EU, people from across Europe were able to come and work in the UK. In 2016, the idea of the UK as a multi-cultural nation, a nation that is a part of the European Project, is being questioned. There has been a 57 per cent increase in racially motivated hate crime since the referendum results have been announced. From painting a graffiti outside the Polish Cultural Centre to placing placards outside the houses of European immigrants, there are signs that a section of the population views the British national identity through a different lens. The issue also goes far beyond immigration from the EU. The past few days have also shown a rise in racially motivated attacks (verbal and physical) on Muslims and South Asians. Muslims, South Asians and migrants from outside the EU should not have been a factor in the referendum. Yet Muslims and South Asian nationals have been targeted. These attacks have been accompanied by slogans such as Britain for the Whites. Ideas such as these have shaped the anti-immigration rhetoric. The referendum has exposed the divide between two sides that view the British identity very differently. One side sees the UK as a multi-cultural society, a part of the European Project. The other side believes that the idea of being British is restricted to a particular section of individuals. The latter group is hostile to immigrants and backed Brexit. The close finish in the referendum suggests a very strong regional, racial and generational divide between the two camps. While England and Wales backed Brexit, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. The city of London voted to remain. There was much stronger support for Brexit amongst the older section of the society while the younger generation voted to remain. Along with the battle between leave versus remain, the referendum also exposed more important battles between young and old and Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The referendum will not settle the battle between the various groups regarding the nature of the British national identity. Over the coming months and years along with the negotiations regarding Article 50, one must also keep an eye on the battle within the UK. The 57 per cent increase in racially motivated attacks could be the beginning of a much larger battle over what it does really mean to be British. The projected post-Brexit scenario is that of doom, but there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. Several people across the UK have expressed their solidarity with migrants who have been subjected to racial abuse. The swift response of David Cameron and several Conservative party leaders does show that there is some hope. The remain campaigns economic arguments against Brexit made perfect sense. The referendum, however, was not fought over the economic mentis or demerits of leaving the EU. It was a much larger battle within the UK over what does the British identity really entail. Is the UK a multi-cultural country, a part of the larger European integration programme or is the term British restricted to a particular set of individuals? The battle-lines reflect more serious regional and generational divide. The battle between the contrasting views of the British identity is likely to carry on for the coming months and years. Despite the rise in racially motivated attacks over the last few days, the strong public and political reaction against the violence is a positive sign. In the coming months while everyone will have an eye on Britains exit negations in the EU, the development of this domestic debate would also be crucial. Sanjal Shastri is an Academic Associate at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He can be reached on sshastri93@gmail.com. The views expressed are solely that of the author and do not reflect views of the institution he is currently with. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Bangladesh: Look at the Iceberg and Not its Tip by Aparupa Bhattacherjee Do the recent attacks in Bangladesh (by seven young men in a Dhaka cafe killing several foreigners and the subsequent bomb blast on the day of Eid) signify the tip of a far larger iceberg? Worse, are they the tips of different icebergs that are coming to form a perfect storm? Are the radicalisation of the youth, attacks on minority communities and violence against liberals in Bangladesh symbolising a deeper problem? Do the recent commentaries on the subject focus primarily on the symptoms and not the disease? There are at least three major icebergs in Bangladesh whose tips are getting exposed in the recent attacks: youth radicalisation, decline of liberal Islam or/and the ascendancy of a radical ideology, and the failure of the state to address all these issues. Revisiting the Dhaka Attack The terrorist attack on July 1, 2016 in Bangla-desh will have an impact for not only Bangladesh, but also the South Asian region. For Bangaldesh, this was not a lone attack during this year; there has been a series of attacks during the past eighteen months resulting in deaths of more than forty people. Many analysts, both inside and outside Bangladesh, have been warning of the prevailing situation; unfortunately, the government did not take the right measures. Worse, the government failed even to acknowledge that there is a problem. Of course no one could have anticipated the new facets of terrorism; the carnage that took place in the posh restaurant in Dhaka should be regarded as a new beginning and a watershed event. The involvement of educated, radicalised youth as the perpetrators of the carnage is a new face of terrorism in Bangladesh. Second, one has to impartially analyse the rise of a more radical and intolerant society in Bangladesh. Third, there should also be a realistic assessment and debate on the presence and support of the Islamic State militants in Bangladesh and also in its neighbourhood. This commentary looks into these three issues Youth Radicalisation In Bangladesh, there were evidences in the past on the role of poverty and illiteracy playing a pivotal part in the youth being galvanized into various activities of violence. Furthermore, college students owing allegiance to political parties have clashed with each other resulting in street violence. But the new trend, where educated youth from well-off families are more willingly choosing to participate in terrorist activities in the name of religion, is new in Bangladesh. The Dhaka attack on July 1 highlights this trend. All the perpetrators were young, in their early twenties and belonged to the higher strata in the Dhaka society having had education from the most elitist schools. Their background has shocked the entire nation, all these youth went missing from their houses since February 2016. Even more shocking was the published picture in the IS magazine Dabiqwith gun in their hands, smile on their faces and the IS flag as the pictures backdrop. This forces one to ponder over the query: what went worng? Why do the educated youth from a comfortable lifestyle choose to kill people in the name of religion? According to reports and the Facebook pages of these youth, a self-proclaimed Indian religious preacher, Zakir Naik, and his radical preaching through his Peace TV was blamed to have incited these youth to radicalise. Hence on July 10, 2016 the Bangladesh Government banned the Peace TV Bangla and also requested the Imams around the nation to preach the rights and wrongs in Islam in order to stop the youth from getting radicalised. But the question is: are these precautions sufficient enough to stop the youth to deviate from their bright future to become killers for sake of their disbeliefs? Interestingly, Bangladesh is not a stand-alone example of this trend, there are several young persons from South and South-East Asiaincluding several educated youth from Indias Kerala and West Bengalwho have been reported have joined the IS. Is it just some radical preaching that has led to this development or is there something funda-mentally wrong with the society around these young people that leads them to believe and act in accordance with these preachings? Ascendancy of Radical Ideology Although there were traces of radicalisation in Bangladesh, abuse of religion never gained prominence until recently. Religion remained moderate and liberal in Bangladesh; the credit for this mainly goes to the fact that Islam in this region had mainly grown out of the Sufi school of thought. Bangladesh, though a Muslim majority country, has always been liberal in terms of Islamic rules and customs in comparison with other Islamic majority countries. Additionally for Bangladesh, due to its foundational history, Bengali culture has always gained predominance over the religious community. Therefore one could question: are these attacks indicators of a shift in Bengali society from Sufism to a more radical religious approach such as Wahhabism? Or is it the unstable polity and repercussion of bad governance which has resulted in the populace choosing religious fundamentalism as their sole identity? This in fact is providing terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (ASIS), to make inroads inside the society. Most of these attacks in Bangladesh have been claimed by IS or ASIS; however the government led by the Awami League has been claiming these to be the work of the Opposition. The July 1 event, if as claimed, is an IS attack, then it could be considered as the first major strike that has been anticipated and warned about by several security analysts. Though the veracity of the claim is being questioned, nobody can deny at least the covert linkages of these perpetrators with the IS. According to SITE, Amaq, the IS news agency, has published the pictures of the carnage while claiming the attack and Dabiq, the IS magazine, published pictures of the perpetrators which were definitely taken before the attack. However, one cannot be definite as similar to the IS even the AQIS has recently published in Resurgence (the AQIS magazine) the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Failure of the State The issue is also of the governments response. The denial mode of the government is making the situation worse. Although it was claimed by the Awami League in 2007-2009 that most of the terrorists have been arrested or killed, it seems these groups have reorganised, re-recruited and strengthened themselves in these years. Several security analysts have also claimed that there were reports, such as mentioned in Dabiqs 2014 September edition, that the JMB has formed linkages with the IS. There are reports of training of Jaamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team members in Indias east and North-East. This came to the forefront with the bomb blast in 2014, while a group of terrorists were making bombs in a rented house in the Bardhhaman district of West Bengal. Reportedly there are several training camps in different districts of West Bengal, especially in the Murshidabad district, which shares a long border with Bangladesh. The lack of political stability and political violence, corruption, unrest have provided a fertile ground for the ice to turn the iceberg. In Bangladesh both the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party have always used the state structure such as legislature, judiciary, and also the religious radical groups for their political benefits. The result is a defunct political structure with rampant corruption and the rise of strong radical groups. As aforementioned, although massive steps were taken since 2005 onwards to eradicate terrorism from the country and the outcome of these measure jubilantly announced, it seems that was not a victory. The political clashes and violence, especially before and after the 2014 elections in Bangladesh, have given the space and time to these terrorist groups to reorganise themselves. All these reasons and the constant denial by the government, which seems to refuse to acknowledge the elephant in the room, will further make the condition worse. This is the tip of the iceberg and if precaution is not taken the effect will be massive and will be felt not only in Bangladesh but also in India and Myanmar. The author is an independent researcher. The abolition of the 10-day rule is sensible, but any further reform should target outdated kinks in the old paper-based system, attorneys say Greece is still struggling to find investors for a rail freight hub that it has been trying to set up since 2008, sources close to the process said on Monday. China's COSCO had been expected to team up with other investors after the Greek government launched a new tender for the 250 million euro ($280 million) investment project last year, part of a bid to turn Greece to a European transhipment hub. Greece, which had to turn to its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund in 2010 for help in riding out a debt crisis, is still struggling to revive its economy. The selected investor will have to build a terminal with access to the national railway network and Greece's largest port in Piraeus and operate it for 60 years. The deadline for binding bids - which was pushed back twice this year to give investors more time to prepare - expires at 1300 GMT on Monday. A potential suitor, China's COSCO along with Greek real estate developer Grivalia and real estate investment firm NBG Pangaea, a unit of National Bank, will not submit an offer, two officials told Reuters. Greek media have reported the firms were interested in the tender. "Our potential interest in Thriasio was always linked with COSCO as we are not a logistics company and thus not a basic user. As Cosco is not going to bid, we will not either," said an executive at NBG Pangaea, who declined to be named. Another official at Grivalia said the company would not take part in the tender either. China COSCO Shipping bought a majority stake this year in Piraeus Port in one of Greece's biggest privatisations, a move which fits with China's "one belt, one road" policy of building a modern silk road to boost trade. Another potential bidder, ETBA, a unit of Piraeus Bank which manages and develops industrial parks, was interested in the tender, an official close to the process said. "ETBA has a positive view on the asset," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. There were media reports that ETBA along with Greece's Goldair, which offers cargo and logistics services, could possibly submit an offer for Thriasio. Goldair was not immediately available for comment. Reporting by George Georgiopoulos Marine News July 2016 Boat of the Month At a trade event held in Baltimore, MD, Brunswick unveiled its most exciting hull to date. First on board to test drive the new vessel was Marine News Editor Joe Keefe. An exhilarating 35 minute cruise revealed all of the exciting features the new vessel had to offer whether barreling ahead at 63 KT in open waters or smartly backing down at the berth with the help of Brunswicks JPO joy stick controls. Taken from the new wide body 11 meter RHIB design, the boat has an all-new top skin with two options: the full tube IMPACT, and the D Collar style (as equipped at the show). Turning on a dime at more than 60 KT, the vessel represents a major breakthrough for municipal and military customers, both in terms of maneuverability and new features that promise to dramatically improve boat handling and navigation for small patrol craft. Brunswick will position the craft to sell into the municipal law enforcement and military, littoral patrol markets. Already, the firm reports one confirmed sale to an unnamed South American entity and negotiations for a multi-boat contract underway. Brunswick will be demonstrating the vessel in the near future, in multiple East Coast locations, over the course of the next few months. The primary difference in previous Brunswick boats beyond the width of the boat involves a one piece stringer grid system. The molded Fiberglas grid is more uniform, saves money and time in terms of boatbuilding and more importantly, allows for easier configuration of a customized boat. A foam fill finishes the cleaner, Class A finish below decks. The IMPACT D-Collar features a hybrid/foam filled collar mounted to a solid fiberglass gunnel. Instead of a fully circular tube, the D-Collar allows for more space on deck and added maneuverability/versatility for crew. The D-Collar provides the best characteristics of standard fiberglass hulls with the benefits of the RHIB. Military users tend to prefer the Tube design because they are not typically boarding in a law enforcement mode. The tube design is lighter by about 400 pounds, affording more payload and provides slightly more speed. Additionally, the D Collar can also be designed to employ ballistic protection. As configured, the boat seats four with Shoxs 6300 seats, but the boat is extremely customizable no matter which style you choose (D Collar/Tube). According to Brunswick Director of Sales Jeremy Davis, Its a huge open platform that we can adjust and equip to most any mission. We can go to a cabin configuration for a crew up to six or down to a crew of two. We can do inboard diesels, Jets, I/Os and for outboards, we can add duals, triples or quads. The boat can be used for troop transport up to 14 or 16 individuals. Perhaps the most intriguing new feature involves the JPO system joy stick piloting which has eliminated the need for a bow thruster and changed the dynamics of small boat handling forever. Emanating from Brunswicks high end recreational markets, they are one of the first builders to introduce this in a commercial application. The 1100 IMPACT D Collar at a glance LOA: 31 4 Beam: 11 6 Draft: 21 Capacity: 18 Transom Height: 30 Dead Rise: 21 Weight: 7,400 lbs Fuel Capacity: 450 gal Max HP: 1,050 hp Eng. Weight: 2,400 lbs Mercury JPO w/DP System Raymarine Electronics Raymarine IP200 Marine Camera Custom Aluminum T-Top and Console SHOXS, Shock Mitigating Seating Package Triple 350 HP Mercury Verados Louisiana-based Karl Senner widens its propulsion solutions toolkit with two options, both designed to provide economics, efficiencies and lower emissions. In the increasingly competitive marine propulsion markets, workboat operators now have many choices from which to select an appropriate, long term solution for their propulsion needs. Paramount in that process is the need to meet regulatory requirements without breaking the bank. In response, propulsion distributor Karl Senner LLC offers two different electrical system arrangements; both of which will allow operators to remain tier compliant without the use of after-treatment. Way back in 1967, Karl H. Senner sold the very first Reintjes Gearbox in the North America to Dickie Gonsoulin of LeBeouf Towing. Since that time, the inland waterways have always been a core focus of the Karl Senner business model. More recently, in 2015, Karl Senner collaborated with the Shearer Group and the Steerprop azimuth thruster group to develop a unique pushboat design that was both intended to accommodate the Steerprop solution and also maximize the utility of the thrusters / Z-drives. Thats because installing thrusters for the sake of efficiency can be largely a wasted exercise unless all aspects of the vessel and associated equipment are taken into consideration. The latest developments look to leverage those advances with an even more efficient power signature. Together, they potentially represent the next step forward for workboat propulsion and power. Two Choices A Reintjes Hybrid System consists of an electric motor/generator, and diesel engine mechanically connected through a Reintjes Gearbox. The arrangement offers four operating modes: PTI Mode, Booster Mode, PTO Mode, and direct diesel (where the hybrid system is simply shut off). Most suitable for conventional shafting arrangements on board 1,800 to 2,600hp vessels, the Reintjes Hybrid System offers flexibility and economy for todays operators, utilizing proven Reintjes technology. The most commonly built inland towboats fall within this horsepower range. Alternatively, Karl Senner customers can also select a Diesel-electric System, designed by electrical systems integrator EPD. This is a full diesel-electric system where all electrical power is produced via onboard generators, and the main propulsion is driven by electric motors. Main propulsion can be configured through a Reintjes gearbox to maintain conventional shafting arrangements, or through Steerprop Azimuth Thrusters (Z-drive or L-drive notably without an additional gearbox). According to Chris Senner, The Reintjes Hybrid System (RHS) is best suited for a conventional driveline through a Reintjes Gearbox up to a 630kW PTO/PTI/Booster input. In practice, the Diesel-electric System is more scalable than the Reintjes Hybrid System, and can be configured on any size vessel. In fact, Karl Senner, LLC and EPD have over time delivered diesel-electric propulsion systems for more than 120 vessels in the offshore market. But, Chris Senner adds, We offer both solutions, but can help the customer select which solution is best for their application. Both systems are viable options, but it depends on the customers preference, level of comfort, performance requirements, operational requirements, budget and their application. Karl Senner explains, Both are terrific options and both are backed by Karl Senner parts and service. The EPD option is a great fit on all Steerprop and Reintjes projects that exceed 630kw. For smaller inland Diesel-electric z-drive tow boats we have a great system used on over 100 DP2 vessels utilizing simple and affordable AC and DC solutions. EPDs John Norwood says it all comes down to whats right for the individual customer. What we offer is all tailored towards the customers requirements, operational profile, budget and marketing plan. Either selection can be integrated with any engine manufacturer. Reintjes Hybrid System Explained The REINTJES Hybrid System offers many different operation modes. Easy switching between the electric motor/generator, using the main engine, the genset, or both by means of the hydraulically operated clutches, enables the vessel to optimally use its power and take full advantage of the gearbox and the entire power train. These operating modes include PTI mode (electric motor only), PTO mode (diesel engine for propulsion and shaft generator), Boost mode (electric motor and diesel engine in combination for higher speed and higher thrust) and the Diesel mode (diesel engine only). Each offers its own advantages, depending on operational needs at any one given time. The PTI (Power Take In) mode provides maximum comfort at slow speed. With the diesel engine not operating, the electric motor of the REINTJES hybrid system drives the ship and enables normal cruising, maneuvering and reversing. The noise level and the energy consumption of the power train are reduced to a minimum and efficient operation is achieved with power coming from the genset or any other electric power source onboard. The Boost mode offers an additional operating mode in PTI operation. Using all the power of both the diesel engine and the electric motor in combination to drive the propeller to provide maximum propeller thrust and /or support the diesel engine in different load conditions. In the PTO (Power Take Off) mode, the electric motor of the REINTJES hybrid system can be operated as a generator. It then feeds electric power into the ships grid and, hence, assists existing generator sets. Optionally, the remaining energy can be fed into batteries and used later. Karl Senner sums up the advantages of the hybrid approach, saying simply, Harbor Tugs are a great fit for the Hybrid applications due to their operating profile. Given the high amount operating hours in low load demand, the Harbor Tug operator can switch to Hybrid mode and turn off the main engines when they are not needed. By keeping the main engines off throughout the majority of the vessels operating life, large cost savings can be realized by creating much longer overhaul intervals of the main engines. Karl Senner has sold and installed many gearboxes with PTO/PTI/Booster capability mainly for offshore applications but historically, a third party would supply the electrical system. It wasnt until recently that Reintjes decided to make the packaging easier and integrate the full system from one source. For example, the most recent vessel to have a Reintjes Gearboxes that were PTO/PTI-ready was the M/V Harvey Stone. Diesel-Electric System Defined In the full diesel-electric system, offered in conjunction with EPD, all electrical power is produced via onboard engine generator sets, and the main propulsion is driven by electric motors. The main propulsion can be configured through a Reintjes gearbox to maintain conventional shafting arrangements, or through a Steerprop Azimuth Thrusters (Z-drive or L-drive). Which way a customer might choose to go depends entirely on the operators requirements. Chris Senner explains, For inland towboats it depends on the operating profile of the vessel and the operators comfort with different types of propulsion. The Z-drive and L-drive vessel will always provide better maneuverability and control in currents and river bends. Thats because shallow draft restrictions and impacts are often an area of concern on the inland waterways, which is why we are proposing rugged ice-class rated Z-drives suited for this environment. One key advantage to the EPD Diesel-electric System is that it is more scalable than the Reintjes Hybrid System, and can be configured on any size vessel. In fact, the diesel-electric system can be configured on any vessel size for inland waterways, even if an application requires a higher horsepower demand than a hybrid system. In those cases, says Chris Senner, EPD can accommodate even larger electrical systems. Today, for example, diesel electric systems are being used on the largest cruise ships in the world, as well as offshore drillships and rigs. And, adds Karl Senner, Diesel-Electric systems provide nearly endless possibilities of capability and options. Although Karl Senner, LLC and EPD have for many years delivered diesel-electric propulsion systems to the offshore markets, the technology, even given its utility and success, has been slow to find acceptance in inland waterways. But, thats about to change forever. Today, with changing regulation on engine emissions, the inland market will soon be forced to adopt new technology in the form of tier 4 systems, hybrid systems, or diesel-electric systems. There simply has not been a real need to adopt this technology until now. Tier Beaters = Good Design Both systems boast fuel efficiencies and involve the use of smaller engines that can serve as tier beaters good design all around. Chris Senner agrees, adding, Both systems would provide the operator with additional operating modes to run the diesel engine and/or generators at more efficient load lines. If the owner chooses keep the main engines and/or generators below 800hp, both systems could allow the operator to remain tier compliant without the use of after treatment, and still deliver the needed power to main driveline conventional or Z-drive. EPDs Norwood told Marine News in June, Hybrid systems with electric motors for slow speed maneuvering and diesel engines for full power/speed are designed to save fuel/costs and reduce hours on main engines as they are not used at low power. These lower engine hours also save by extending the time between overhauls. Thats because diesel electric systems are designed based on the operational profiles of the vessel so that engine generator sets can be shut off when the vessel operates at lower power levels and so that different engine generator sets can be shut down or used in combination as power is needed. Norwood adds, This means that you only have just enough engine generator sets running to power the vessel operational mode at the time. Karl Senner agrees, saying The hybrid system, as it applies to inland tow vessels, has an immediate market for this power range which covers vessels that are on the edge of needing EPA tier 4 compliance such as vessels in the ditch, or for smaller fleeting boats that would benefit from the efficiency (fuel and maintenance savings) a hybrid system can offer on applications where the maximum fitted power of a vessel is only needed a portion of the time. Propulsion subject matter expert Robert Kunkel is President of Alternative Marine Technologies. Speaking to Marine News about the so-called practice of tier-beating designs, he said The practice will definitely continue simply because it is good design. Working efficiently means meeting regulations and filling a customers needs and/or price range. Today, there are two more viable options from which operators can choose to do just that. On April 11, 2016 the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) released the revised 2016 National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) Guidelines. The new guidelines will become effective on June 10, 2016. Established under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the PREP guidelines were developed to provide a mechanism for compliance with the vessel response plan (VRP) drill and exercise requirements. Use of the PREP Guidelines is voluntary, however, compliance with the PREP guidelines will satisfy these requirements. The 2016 PREP Guidelines apply to all plan holders including tank and non-tank vessels that operate in the U.S. The USCG requires that, within a three-year cycle, all elements of the VRP, including the 15 core components, should be exercised in a drill, or series of drills, involving the vessel Owner/Operator, Qualified Individual (QI), Oil Spill Removal Organizations (OSRO) and Salvage and Marine Firefighting (SMFF) resource providers. New Requirements Many existing requirements under the previous PREP Guidelines are either unchanged or have received only minor revisions. There are, however, several new requirements including: remote assessment consultation exercises, shore-based salvage and marine firefighting table top exercises, and equipment deployment for SMFF providers. Existing requirements also include: QI notifications, emergency procedure drills, OSRO equipment deployment, and incident management team table top exercises (IMT TTX). A brief overview of the new requirements is shown to follow: Remote Assessment and Consultation Exercise with SMFF: The USCG requires an annual exercise for each vessel operating in U.S. waters. Under these new guidelines, the vessel master or designee should exercise VRP notification and activation procedures to communicate an emergency procedures scenario with the contracted SMFF resource provider identified in the plan, and establish a communication process to support the completion of the vessels stability and structural integrity assessment. Shore-Based Salvage and Shore-Based Marine Firefighting Table Top Exercises: The USCG requires an annual exercise for plan holders and the respective management teams, as established in the plan. The USCG stated this requirement should exercise the teams organization, communication, and decision-making in managing a salvage and a marine firefighting response. Response Equipment Deployment Exercise SMFF Providers: The USCG requires an annual exercise for plan holders, to be completed by the contracted SMFF service providers identified in the plan. The USCG stated these exercises should demonstrate the ability of personnel to deploy and operate response equipment, and ensure the equipment is in working order. Plan Holder-Initiated Unannounced Exercise: The USCG requires plan holders to annually conduct either an emergency procedures exercise with an SMFF component, or the SMFF equipment deployment as an unannounced exercise. This is in addition to the current requirement to annually conduct either the emergency procedures, IMT TTX, or equipment deployment as an unannounced exercise. OBriens recommends that plan holders conduct two of their emergency procedures exercises as unannounced, including one oil spill scenario and one SMFF scenario, to satisfy this requirement. Government-Initiated Unannounced Exercise (GIUE): While GIUEs are not new to PREP, the USCG recently renewed their emphasis on this program. According to the USCG, the current intent of a GIUE is to test an Average Most Probable Discharge (AMPD) scenario including response equipment deployment for tank vessel operators and facilities. These will be limited to a maximum of four per Captain of the Port Zone (COTP) per year. While the guidance on GIUE implantation originates from USCG Headquarters, each of the 42 COTPs maintain responsibility for implementing GIUEs in their respective zones. As a result, confusion remains regarding whether the USCG intends to focus GUIEs on tank vessels conducting cargo transfers at facilities or designated lightering areas. OBriens Approach As the QI and vessel compliance consultants for a large number of domestic and international shipping companies, we are actively engaged in meetings with OSROs and SMFF providers to identify ways to minimize the impact of the 2016 PREP Guidelines on our clients operations. Additionally, we are working with our 24/7 Emergency Operations and Command Center staff to further streamline the exercise process and documentation procedures, and revise vessel response plans to align with and satisfy these new exercise requirements. We understand the added burden new requirements like this place on industry and are committed to identifying solutions with minimal cost and disruption to current operations. To this end, we remain in regular contact with the USCG Office of Marine Environmental Response, which oversees these guidelines, to communicate the impact the 2016 PREP Guidelines will have on industry before they come into force. The Author Kate Kelley is the Vessel Services Compliance Manager for OBriens Response Management (ORM), a Witt OBriens company. Prior to joining ORM, Ms. Kelley worked for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a program lead for the development and implementation of the EPAs Vessel General Permit (VGP). Ms. Kelley holds and M.S. in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan. 1801 - The schooner, USS Enterprise, commanded by Lt. Andrew Sterett, encounters the Barbary corsair, Tripoli, west of Malta. After a three-hour battle, USS Enterprise broadsides the vessel, forcing Tripolis surrender. 1849 - Pope Pius IX and King Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies, briefly visit USS Constitution and marks the first time that a Roman Catholic pope steps foot on American territory. 1921 - A high-altitude bombsight, mounted on a gyroscopically stabilized base was successfully tested at Torpedo Station, Yorktown, Va. This test was the first phase of Carl L. Nordens development of an effective high-altitude bombsight, which became known as the Norden Bombsight. 1944 - PBY aircraft attacked Japanese convoy, sink ammunition ship, Seia Maru, in Taliaboe Bay, Soela Island. Also on this date, USS Puffer (SS 268) damages Japanese oiler, Sunosaki, northeast of Borneo. 1946 - President Harry S. Truman approves legislation establishing the Office of Naval Research (ONR), charging ONR to "...plan, foster and encourage scientific research in recognition of its paramount importance as related to the maintenance of future naval power, and the preservation of national security..." 1952 - During the Korean War, USS Carmick (DMS 33) is fired on by enemy shore guns in the vicinity of Songjin lighthouse. Returning fire, Carmicks battery fire silences the guns. 1961 - Adm. George W. Anderson, Jr., takes office as the 16th Chief of Naval Operations, serving until Aug. 1, 1963. During Adm. Anderson's tenure as CNO, he oversaw the U.S. Navy's quarantine of Cuba, thus enabling the Kennedy administration to compel the Soviet Union to remove its nuclear weapons from the island. (Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division) Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. launched the Impala Soledad, the first in a series of four inland river towboats for IWL River, Inc. This series of CT Marine designed 134 ft. ABS Classed Inland River Service towboats are Triple Screw with a Retractable Pilothouse and all are currently under construction at Easterns Allanton facility. The vessel series is scheduled for delivery starting in late 2016 into 2017. The launch on June 10, 2016 was hosted by Easterns Project Manager Joe Stark, a Navy veteran, followed by a decorated 25 year career with the FDNY as a Marine Engineer. Stark oversaw the construction of the two Eastern-built 140 fast response fireboats for FDNY, the Three Four Three and the Firefighter II, which were delivered in 2010. Stark recently returned to Panama City to join Easterns team to manage the building of the IWL River, Inc. inland towboats. The Impala Soledad (Hull #243) was blessed by Deacon Tim Warner, of St. Johns Catholic Church of Panama City, and christened by Starks wife of over 30 years, Mary. Also in attendance at the launch was IWL River, Inc.s Owner Representative, Ed Maxwell of Dufour, Laskay, & Strouse, Inc. IWL River, Inc. is one of Easterns newest clients. These towboats will service the inland waterways of Latin America for Impala Terminals. The Inland River Triple Screw Retractable Towboat series features the following characteristics: ESG Hull #239: 1st Vessel in the Series of 4 Length (LOA): 134 Breadth: 42 Depth: 9 Minimal Operational Draft: 6 Pilothouse Eyelevel (above waterline): 37-6 Pilothouse Eyelevel (above waterline) retracted: 21-12 Diesel Main Engines: (3) Caterpillar 3512C, IMO II, 1,280; Horsepower at 1,600 RPM. Reverse Reduction Gears: (3) Reintjes, WAF665 Diesel Generators: (2) Caterpillar C6.6 125 kW, IMO II, 220-volt, 3-phase. Classification: ABS +A1, Towing Vessel, River Service, +AMS, ABCU, Flag: Republic of Panama. Four out of five lighthouses planned for use in the South China Sea have been activated to boost navigation and the fifth lighthouse will be completed and put into use soon. China started to build lighthouses in the South China Sea in May last year, with four now in use on Huayang, Chigua, Zhubi and Yongshu reefs. The most recent project went into operation on Yongshu Reef on June 25. "The five lighthouses are important public service facilities in the South China Sea. Construction and operation of the lighthouses reflects China's dedication to its responsibility of boosting navigational safety in the South China Sea, a critical maritime and trade corridor linking the Pacific and Indian oceans," Xu Ruqing, head of China's Maritime Safety Administration, said at a press conference of the China Maritime Forum in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. Xu Ruqing introduced that all five lighthouses are 50 to 55 meters tall and are equipped with the Automatic Identification System and VHF (very high frequency) radio, allowing vessels to receive navigation information and warnings from the lighthouses. According to Xu Ruqing, the lighthouses will serve multiple purposes, including navigation support, maritime search and rescue, fishing, marine disaster prevention and mitigation and lower the risk of oil spills. Dense fog halted the movement of ships in and out of Brazil's biggest port, Santos, early on Monday, according to port administrator Companhia Docas do Estado de Sao Paulo (Codesp), disrupting shipping operations at a time that sugar exports are at their annual peak. Santos is the main port for the export of soy, sugar and coffee in Brazil, which is one of the world's top producers of those commodities. Last week the port had to shut shipping operations for two mornings also due to thick fog. Reporting by Gustavo Bonano The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) has been misused and underutilized for years, leaving U.S. ports and harbors in subpar conditions and disadvantaging the very shippers that pay to modernize and maintain them to the tune of nearly $2 billion per year. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives (House) Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (Committee) took a major step in the right direction by passing the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, which among other things, ensures that port and harbor infrastructure maintenance projects have access to the funding they need in 2027. The HMTF is funded through an excise tax assessed at identified ports on the value of commercial cargo shipped (excluding exported product), or cruise tickets sold, at a rate of .125 percent. The revenues collected are intended solely for port and harbor maintenance and modernization activities, including dredging channels, maintaining jetties and breakwaters, and operating locks along the coasts and in the Great Lakes. There is one catch: none of the money can be spent without an annual appropriation from Congress. In recent years, Congress has appropriated less than $1 billion of the roughly $2 billion collected each year, leaving the fund with more than $10 billion in excess cash. The blame does not lie with Congress alone. The Obama Administration, which oversees the Army Corps of Engineers (the federal body that performs port and harbor projects), is tasked with sending Congress an annual assessment of port and harbor funding needs, but the administration has specifically asked Congress to spend less than $1 billion per year in each of the Presidents annual budget requests since assuming office in 2009. The net result is leaving some U.S. ports and harbors in a state of disrepair, and others with insufficient depths to accommodate cargo ships used for global trade. It is no surprise then that the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned U.S. ports and harbors a C grade in its most recent Infrastructure Report Card, and that the need for investment compounds with every passing day. Waterborne commerce already plays a major role in the U.S. economy, with approximately $1.4 trillion worth of goods moving through U.S. ports each year, generating $41 billion of federal, state, and local revenue annually. A nearly complete Panama Canal expansion project could push these numbers even higher if we are ready. The new Panama Canal will accommodate significantly larger ships, accommodating vessels weighing as much as 14,000 TEUs nearly triple the maximum weight 5,000 TEUs currently able to pass through the canal. Many U.S. harbors have not been sufficiently dredged to accommodate the larger ships commonly used in international trade, not to mention the mega-ships that will pass through the newly expanded canal. If the U.S. does not invest sufficiently to deepen these harbors especially in the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, which do not possess the naturally occurring deep harbors found on the Pacific Coast the U.S. economy will not reap the benefits offered by such large-scale improvements. The obvious questions then are: Why do Congress and the Obama Administration agree each year to spend less than half of the $2 billion accrued annually, despite having a massive surplus? If the Committee acknowledges the need for a change, why are they waiting until 2027? These two questions share one answer: very complicated budget rules. At first blush, this seems absurd, but there are two very real obstacles to fully funding harbor maintenance projects. First, discretionary budget caps and secondly, statutes and rules governing mandatory federal spending. By making this change effective in 2027, the Committee wisely sidestepped both politically thorny issues. The bill avoids discretionary budget caps by making the funds available to the Secretary without further appropriation This has the effect of changing how the spending is classified from discretionary to mandatory. Discretionary spending requires a specific appropriation from Congress each year, without which no funds can be spent from the relevant account. Conversely, mandatory spending is authorized to occur year after year on autopilot without Congressional approval unless and until Congress repeals such authority. The bill also escapes statutory pay as you go, or Paygo and cut as you go, or Cutgo rules by delaying the provision until 2027. Under Paygo laws, Congress must increase revenues (read: raise taxes) or cut spending in a sufficient amount to offset any new mandatory spending authorized by legislation. Paygo applies to the U.S. Senate (Senate) and the House. Similarly, Cutgo rules, which apply only to the House, require any new mandatory spending to be matched with an equal or greater amount of spending cuts. The primary difference being that in the House you cannot use new taxes to pay for new spending. However, these budgetary rules focus only on new spending authorized in a bill occurring in the first year, the aggregate of the first five years, and the total of the first ten years. Fiscal years 2027 and beyond are not within the scope of spending considered when applying these laws and rules (with certain exceptions) to a bill that passes in 2016. In other words, the Committee sidestepped the House budget rules by delaying the provision until 2027, outside the ten-year scoring window. Additional rules may be triggered when the Congressional Budget Office produces its official cost estimate for the bill, but for now it looks like the Committee threaded the needle. There are a finite number of opportunities for the federal government to improve infrastructure without spending a dime of taxpayer money. This is one of them. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee should be applauded for its creativity and its leadership on this issue. Now the full House and Senate must follow suit and pass the Water Resources Development Act with this provision fully intact. Further, Congress should ensure all port and harbor funding needs are met until this provision kicks in (in 2027) by providing the Army Corps with sufficient funding to meet all project needs so long as the cost doesnt exceed HMTF receipts for the year. The Author Shane Skelton is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure. He can be reached at [email protected] On June 20, 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard promulgated its long awaited or dreaded (depending on your perspective) final rule regarding inspection of towing vessels. The new regulations, which will enter into effect on July 20, derive from a 2004 legislative amendment which added towing vessels to the list of vessels subject to inspection. That statute also authorized regulations to establish a safety management system for towing vessels and maximum hours of service and related provisions for individuals engaged on towing vessels. Many of the new regulatory provisions, including the requirement for each covered towing vessel to have a valid certificate of inspection (COI) will be phased in over the next six years. Consequently, this project will be eighteen years between conception and full delivery. The rulemaking, as promulgated, establishes safety regulations governing the inspection, standards and safety management systems of U.S. towing vessels of 26 feet or more in length and U.S. towing vessels of any length that move barges carrying hazardous material in bulk. The regulations also authorize the use of approved third-party auditors and surveyors for routine towing vessel inspections. The Coast Guard has deferred, for now, establishment of new requirements for hours of service or crew endurance management for mariners aboard towing vessels. Those issues will be the subject of a separate rulemaking. One important impact of the new regulations is that, once they enter into effect, the U.S. Coast Guard will be the principal federal agency overseeing towing vessels. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will immediately lose its authority over inspected towing vessels. The towing industry has chaffed for years at being subject to the safety regulations of two separate (and sometimes conflicting) federal agencies. In addition, state agencies will lose much of their authority over covered towing vessels. The regulations establish a comprehensive safety system that includes company compliance, vessel compliance, vessel standards and oversight in a new Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) subchapter [Subchapter M] of Title 46 dedicated solely to towing vessels. These regulations are intended to reduce the risk of such deaths, injuries, casualties and marine environmental incidents. The Officer in Charge Marine Inspection (OCMI) is provided broad discretion to establish manning requirements for individual towing vessels taking into account their trade, route, construction and arrangement. Not later than July 22, 2019, each company must implement a health and safety plan, documenting compliance with Subchapter M, including its recordkeeping provisions. The company must also ensure that all persons on its towing vessels comply with the health and safety plan. Organizations operating towing vessels subject to inspection under Subchapter M will be required to elect inspection under one of two options. One option would involve the annual Coast Guard inspection regime, similar to that applicable to most other inspected vessels. The second option would involve development of an acceptable Towing Safety Management System (TSMS). The TSMS, tailored to take into consideration the organizations size, structure and service, is the one that the Coast Guard expects to be the favored option. It would describe the organizations procedures for ensuring compliance with the applicable vessel and personnel requirements. TSMS compliance would be verified through third-party organizations and documented by issuance of TSMS Certificates. Towing vessels operating under the TSMS option would receive audits and surveys by USCG-approved third party organizations at a designated frequency. In addition, the Coast Guard will conduct compliance examinations at least once every five years, along with additional unannounced compliance checks based on risk. The risk will be determined through analysis of management and vessel safety history. The Coast Guard will provide direct oversight of the third-party organizations that conduct TSMS audits and surveys through a process of observation and approval. This process, which could be viewed as a specialized alternate compliance program (ACP), will involve review and approval of the organizations application for approval, as well as the individual auditors and surveyors employed. Random visits will be made to their offices and of their actual audits and surveys on site. The Coast Guard will also consider the organizations history when evaluating requests for renewal of their approvals, to occur at least every five years. Approvals may also be revoked for failure to comply with the conditions of the approval. Certificates of Inspection (COIs) will be issued by the Coast Guard to vessels based on successful compliance with the inspection requirements, as evidenced through either the traditional USCG inspection process or the new TSMS option. Subject to subsequent change through rulemaking, the Coast Guard will impose an annual user fee of $1,030 after the initial Certificate of Inspection (COI) inspection. Companies with more than one existing towing vessel are provided with a calendar for COI compliance. By July 22, 2019, at least 25 percent of the towing vessels must have a valid COI on board; rising to 50 percent by July 20, 2020; then to 75 percent by July 19, 2021; and finally to 100 percent by July 19, 2022. Companies with only one existing towing vessel have a deadline of July 20, 2020. A new towing vessel must obtain a COI before it enters service. The portions of Subchapter M regarding certification; vessel compliance; the Towing Safety Management System (TSMS); and Third-Party Organizations (TPOs) enter into effect on July 20, 2016. The effective date of the remaining portions of Subchapter M, consisting of operations; lifesaving; fire protection; machinery and electrical systems and equipment; and construction and arrangement, has been delayed for two years, until July 20, 2018, so as to give the newly regulated community an opportunity to accommodate the new requirements. In addition, various grandfather provisions will apply to existing towing vessels. Newly constructed towing vessels as well as those undergoing major conversions will not benefit from the grandfathering provisions. One section of the new regulations, though, will enter into effect immediately on July 20, 2016. Each covered vessel with installed bulwarks must have sufficient freeing ports or scuppers and closing devices must be provided for deckhouse and full penetrations that open to the exterior. This is a commonsense requirement and few vessels should be adversely impacted. Regardless, the cost of compliance will be substantial. The Coast Guard estimates that 1,086 companies and 5,509 vessels will be covered by the new regulations. The initial phase-in costs for the first two years are estimated to total between $15.8 and $26.5 million annually. Subsequent annual costs are estimated at between $19.2 and $56.4 million, with a 10-year total cost to industry of $227.7 million. The benefits, though, in the form of decreased fatalities, injuries, casualties and environmental damage, are estimated at $325.6 million over the same 10-year period, resulting in a positive cost-benefit ratio. Analysis of five-year averages reveals that towing vessels and tows are involved in 29.8 percent of all merchant mariner deaths and injuries in U.S. waters; 67.5 percent of all collisions, allisions and groundings; and 30.2 percent of all chemical discharge incidents and oil spills of greater than 100 gallons. That said, the costs will be spread unevenly across the U.S. towing industry. Some companies already have fully-developed safety management systems, such as the American Waterways Operators (AWO) Responsible Carrier Program (RCP), and many have invested in new equipment in recent years. For those companies for which a safety management system is new and whose towboats are aging, the financial costs and cultural shift may prove daunting, even with the phase-in period and the various grandfather clauses. Tne portion of the new regulations that cannot be overlooked is the expanded recordkeeping requirement. Each covered towing vessel will be required to maintain, either physically or electronically, a towing vessel record (TVR) or its equivalent. Items that must be recorded include, but are not limited to, personnel records; safety orientation; drills and instruction; examinations and tests; operative navigational safety equipment; navigation assessment; navigation safety training; oil residue discharges and disposals; inspection of towing gear; and fire-detection and fixed fire-extinguishing. Depending on current practice and how this new provision is implemented, the burden of this recordkeeping requirement could be significant. In view of the fact that these will be the first pervasive regulations for the towing vessel industry, the Coast Guard intends to conduct a broad outreach program to acquaint merchant mariners and towing companies with the new requirements. These outreach efforts will include in-person and online support, guidance for operators and third-party organizations, dissemination of ongoing frequently-asked-questions (FAQ), plan review information and information regarding compliance options. The Coast Guard is deliberately slow walking its implementation of the towing vessel inspection regime. The goal is not to drive companies out of business, but rather to assist (or prod to the extent necessary) responsible towing companies in raising their standards over time so as to reduce deaths, injuries, casualties and environmental damage. The Author Dennis L. Bryant is with Maritime Regulatory Consulting, and a regular contributor to Maritime Reporter & Engineering News as well as online at MaritimeProfessional.com t: 1 352 692 5493 In a development first reported by Forbes on Thursday, scheduled delivery of the first Offshore Patrol Cutter, Argus, from Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, Fla., may be affected by the discovery of MARTINSVILLE The New College Institute in Martinsville welcomed college students as interns over the summer. The interns not only received on-the-job training, but also worked in fields they enjoyed. The internship opportunity surprised Tajuana Carter, a rising junior at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Before the internship, I didnt want to come back to Martinsville after graduating because I didnt think any jobs were available. Now, I see there are opportunities for growth right here in the community," Carter said. Interning in both the human resources and IT departments at Hooker Furniture, Carter learned the ins and outs of her job before earning her degree. She is pursuing a degree in computer science with a concentration in information systems and technology. "The thing I enjoy most is the people that I work with because they are friendly but they have also given me good career advice. They have also given me knowledge from their experiences about what is upcoming in the field, such as cyber security. This has helped me know what to expect when I graduate and enter the workforce," Carter said. James Madison University marketing major Dyer Pace tested his career choice over the summer. "While I am a marketing major, I wasnt very passionate about some of my classes this past year," Pace said. "I wanted to confirm that marketing would be a career that I would comfortable pursuing." Paces favorite experience took place when the cardio department approached Pace with a unique opportunity. They needed help determining the time it took to fly a patient to another local hospital, as well as training for the administration of patient care. "They needed a mock patient, so I volunteered to ride in the helicopter to Danville to participate in the drill. It made me feel good because I know this drill that I participated in will help the hospitals provide more efficient care. In addition, I was able to take pictures and document the experience from a marketing perspective to help our communities know about the quality of service provided," Pace said. When Pace told his college friends about his summer experiences, he said they were "all amazed that our community and NCI created this opportunity. Many cant believe that it is a paid internship and that employers are so willing to support college students from the area. They all think this is a really cool opportunity and they are actually a little jealous." Chanlee Luu, a rising senior at the University of Virginia, said that she interned with Eastman for three major reasons: career readiness, the companys sustainability and community engagement efforts and "I dont have to pay rent and I get to eat my moms home cooked Vietnamese food." Luu is pursuing a degree in chemical engineering major with a minor in global sustainability. Luu spoke about the difficulties she faced while on the job. "Since Im in quality control this year, Ive been looking at film for defects, which is a skill that takes time to master. Mostly, Ive been working on calibrating a system to objectively grade a piece of film for a defect called Orange Peel Distortion. This has been a challenging process because there are several variables, so its difficult to isolate what the exact problem is," Luu said. However, Luu feels that the internship opportunity has better prepared her for real-world situations. "In class, we learn fundamental concepts and do lots of problem sets. Aside from our lab classes, its difficult to see how it all applies in a practical setting," Luu said. Luu hopes to incorporate knowledge she gleaned from her internship into her upcoming senior thesis. Haley Ferguson, a rising junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, interned with the YMCA over the summer. She is a double major in art education and craft and material studies. "Before confirming my decision to pursue art education as my major, I wanted to see what it was like to prepare lesson plans and work hands-on with the kids," Ferguson said. "In the beginning, I thought that I may want to work with elementary aged children, but I now realize that I want to focus on older students so that I can teach more advanced material." Although creating lesson plans in a limited amount of time presented difficulties, Ferguson said the end result was worth her hard work. "I love coming in each morning and having the kids greet me and give me hugs. I also enjoy the people that I work with. With this internship, I come to work every day and have fun," Ferguson said. Autumn Morris, director of communications and marketing at NCI, spoke positively about summer internships through the institute. "I think this shows the progressive nature of the program and the exceptional opportunity that it creates for local students and local employers," Morris said. The internships not only help students; they also help the Martinsville-Henry County area. "You often hear negative things about the community, but there is great potential out there for college graduates. People assume bigger cities have more opportunities. But in a small community like ours, the opportunities are there, you just have to go out and find them," Carter said. MARTINSVILLE Local rising seventh and eighth graders got an education while enjoying summer vacation at a recent STEM-based camp hosted by Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Traveling daily to the college campus with Helen Howell, a STEM education promoter, 18 area middle school pupils learned about science, technology, engineering and math. The Martinsville-Henry County group split into new groups upon arrival. They worked with other students in the Commonwealth on various projects throughout the week. John Martin, a student, enjoyed a construction laboratory where he casted molds. "There was, like, this mold made out of sand. Then you put molten iron in it and put it in the kiln." Howell said that students wore special equipment into the lab, which held kilns that heated materials up to 200,000 degrees. Utilizing information and skills he learned at camp, Martin casted a Batman logo. Martins father, James Martin, said that his sons inquisitive spirit made him proud. "It took courage to go into a place thats so advanced, technologically, in learning and opening himself up to meet new friends. I saw him getting excited about learning and particularly learning about STEM. Hes got a passion for learning," James said. While Howell said that while many students did not wake up early in the summer, her group always arrived on time for the Virginia Tech trips. Howell noted that one student, Kellene Wotring, arrived early each day. "She was always the first one on the bus," Howell said. Wotrings father, Charles Wotring, spoke about his daughters curious mind. "Im proud of the fact that shes taking the initiative to learn new things. She engages with other students, which fosters learning," Charles Wotring said. Kellene worked on a project involving helmets and paintballs. Students created the protective coverings out of household items. "We had a budget of $12 to create a helmet," Kellene said. "They tried to make them as cheap as possible," Howell said. Each team placed their helmet on a mannequins head, which also held a paintball. Students gauged their helmets effectiveness by whether or not the paintball burst when they dropped the mannequin head on the ground. Savannah Brown explained the scoring process. "If you got a three, the paintball didnt break. If you got a two, it cracked. If you got a one, it broke," Brown said. Throughout each project, the students put forth their best effort. The group from Martinsville-Henry County also received rave reviews from the camp staff. "Im really proud of the students," Howell said. "Virginia Tech continuously talked about how respectful they were." 121113-obamacare-aca-sign-up.JPG Rosemary Cabelo uses a computer at a public library in San Antonio to access the Affordable Health Care Act website on Dec. 11, 2013. (Associated Press file) Calling it a "reverse Robin Hood program," an insurance company based in Massachusetts is suing the federal government over a program of the Affordable Care Act. Minuteman Health filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday against Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services administrator Andrew Slavitt, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and both of their agencies. Minuteman Health - like some other insurers across the nation - takes issue with an Obamacare program that seeks to redirect revenue from companies with healthier members to those with sicker, more expensive ones. The Boston-based health insurance company is expected to pay $16.7 million through the "risk adjustment" program this year, the company said in a statement. "We can afford to make these payments, but that isn't the point," Minuteman CEO Tom Policelli said in a statement. "We cannot continue to allow CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) to take our members' money illegally and give it to more expensive insurance companies. CMS has essentially created a reverse Robin Hood program, which harms consumers, small companies, and taxpayers." Top officials with Minuteman, Health New England and Fallon Heath spoke publicly last year against the risk assessment fees and asked state health officials to review fees charged to them as participants of the Massachusetts health exchange. Though the first Massachusetts insurer to file suit, Minuteman is not the first in the nation to take the program up through the courts. Evergreen Health in Maryland filed suit against the federal government in June. SPRINGFIELD -- The Massachusetts Gaming Commission approved partial funding on Monday to assist the Hampden County Sheriff's Department and the Caring Health Center in the South End to address hardships related to the MGM Springfield casino project. The aid comes from the casino mitigation fund that is financed by gaming licenses in the state. During a special meeting, the state commission approved $280,000 to assist the Sheriff's Department, geared to partially offset its need to move the Western Massachusetts Correctional Addiction Center. The center moved from its longtime Howard Street location due to being in the path of the $950 million casino project and plans to move to a new site on Mill Street with significantly higher rent. The Sheriff's Department had asked for $2 million spread over five years to help with its higher rent, but the commission voted unanimously to allocate just the amount for the first fiscal year. The rental assistance is from the start of the lease, Nov. 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, and the commission remains open to amending that amount at a later time, officials said. In a separate vote, the commission approved $150,000 for the Caring Health Center on Main Street, through an application filed by the city of Springfield, to assist the health center with serious parking challenges faced by its patients. That amount is targeted for valet parking for the patients coming to the center, as proposed as a primary means of relieving the parking challenges. The Mass. Gaming Commission has approved $150,000 in casino relief funds to the Caring Health Center, seen above, due to parking issues faced by patients and others. The funds will be used for valet parking. The city had sought $275,000 for various parking issues, but the commission said it would consider the additional funds at a later time while improved options are considered for public parking. Regarding the Sheriff's Department request for funds, the department had been paying $666,000 annually for rent at its old site on Howard Street in the South End that included utilities. Under its new lease at 155 Mill St., the annual rent is approximately $1 million and the utility cost is not included and is estimated to be $260,000 annually, according to Sheriff Michael Ashe. The department was seeking rent aid from the casino mitigation fund of approximately $400,000 annually for five years for its total request of $2 million. Gaming Commission member Gayle Cameron said the prorated amount to cover the first fiscal year was a "reasonable request" when considering all the positive results of the alcohol and addiction treatment center. Commission Ombudsman John Ziemba, in response to questions from the commission, said that funding just the first year allows the department's request to be further reviewed as "some unknowns will be known" during that first year. The Sheriff's Department can get that first amount and reapply, he said. The department does have a lease for the Mill Street site, Ziemba said, although there has been some public opposition. Ashe, in his request for mitigation funds, said the addiction center is "vital." "There can be no more compelling utilization of this Mitigation Fund than to enable the survival of one of the commonwealth's, and indeed the nation's most effective correctional substance abuse treatment programs," Ashe said in a January letter. Bill Christofori, assistant superintendent, said the amount approved "is very helpful" and showed the commission was very aware of the mission and results of the addiction center over a 30-year period. The Sheriff's Department will confer with the state Department of Administration and Finance about additional funds needed, he said. Regarding the Caring Health Center application, Gaming Commission member Bruce Stebbins said the MGM casino project is clearly creating issues with traffic and parking in that area. Valet parking is not a long-term solution but helps as other solutions are explored with MGM Springfield and the city, he said. The commission, however, was not yet supportive of additional funds and uses, members said. The city, on behalf of Caring Health Center, was also seeking: $47,983 for additional center staff and contractor costs due to time spent on utility disruptions and securing new parking sources; $66,050 as compensation for increased costs of off-street parking; and $17,925 for the city's administrative costs to oversee the grant. Gaming Commission member Enrique Zuniga, while supporting the valet parking funds, did raise concerns about the use of the mitigation fund directly benefiting a private entity, Caring Health Center, more than general public purpose. The city and Caring Health Center gave a very detailed description of how inadequate parking has harmed patient access and the center's work. Ziemba and some commission members said the city has a health services grant agreement with Caring Health Center, and filed the application on its behalf. Stebbins said the valet parking for the health center may help the overall parking issue for the public. The vote on the Caring Health Center funds was also unanimous, approved by commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, and members Lloyd Macdonald, Stebbins, Cameron and Zuniga. kirksey grave stone at agawam cemetery.jpg Andrew Jackson Kirksey, one of two Navy sailors killed in the sinking of PT Boat 109 during World War II, will be honored with a memorial ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m., at the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery, 1390 Main St., Agawam. Frank Andruss, of Feeding Hills, is the person who lobbied the cemetery to erect a memorial stone for Kirksey, who died after the PT Boat skippered by John F. Kennedy was split in half by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific. (Frank Andruss) AGAWAM Frank J. Andruss Sr. has been a PT boat enthusiast since the 1960s. Some might even call him an expert on PT boats, short for "patrol torpedo," the fast, wooden vessels used by the U.S. Navy in World War II. The 59-year-old Feeding Hills man's fascination with the boats was born after watching "PT 109," the 1963 biopic about John F. Kennedy's wartime heroism as commander of a torpedo boat rammed by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands in 1943. "PT boats have been my passion since 1967," said Andruss, the year he first watched the film starring Cliff Robertson as a young JFK, the man who would go on to become the 35th president of the United States. That cinematic experience sparked a lifelong interest that ultimately prompted Andruss to create the The Mosquito Fleet Exhibit in 1997, which had its first show at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield in 1998. The exhibit, one of the most comprehensive private collections of PT boat artifacts in the nation, is dedicated to all who served on, built and repaired U.S. Navy PT boats, according to Andruss. His latest initiative has been lobbying the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Agawam to place a memorial stone for Andrew Jackson Kirksey, one of two sailors killed when PT 109 was cut in half by an enemy destroyer on Aug. 2, 1943. The cemetery held a memorial ceremony in 2013 for Springfield native Harold Marney, the other sailor killed in the incident. But Andruss felt that Kirksey, who was raised in Georgia, should also be formally acknowledged. To that end, the cemetery recently erected a memorial gravestone for Kirksey, who will be honored with a ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m. The event will be held in the cemetery's chapel at 1390 Main St. Andruss was impressed with not only Kennedy's heroism Kennedy rescued one injured sailor by towing him with a belt clamped between his teeth but also by the PT boat itself, an 80-foot vessel capable of reaching a maximum speed of around 47 mph. "It's an absolutely incredible wooden craft that was built for speed and maneuverability in shallow waters," Andruss said. "They were made to torpedo enemy ships." As time went by, Andruss became more involved in researching the history of the vessels and collecting memorabilia. His goal is to keep "PT boats in the public eye," he said, and Tuesday's ceremony is part of that mission. Kirksey, 25, and Marney, 19, disappeared into the darkness after the collision with the destroyer in the South Pacific. However, Kennedy and the other 10 crewmen under his command survived the incident and largely due to Kennedy's heroics, according to historians. The survivors were eventually rescued from Olasana Island on Aug. 8, 1943. WEST SPRINGFIELD A Massachusetts State Trooper is being treated for minor injuries at the Baystate Medical Center Sunday night after his cruiser was involved in a two-car crash at the intersection of Riverdale Street and Daggett Drive in West Springfield. Trooper Joseph Vella, attached to the Springfield Barracks, said preliminary information indicates that the cruiser was struck from behind at the intersection at about 9 p.m. Sunday evening. Vella said incident is under investigation by the State Police and the exact circumstances of the crash are not yet known. New Bedford pursuit arrest.jpg State police say Randall W. Harrison, 50, of New Bedford, doused himself in butane and led multiple police agencies on a chase through several cities. These items were allegedly in his possession when he was arrested Monday. Aug. 1, 2016. (Courtesy: Massachusetts State Police) NEW BEDFORD - A man who doused himself in butane and led multiple police agencies on a chase through several communities has been arrested. Massachusetts State Police said Randall W. Harrison, 50, was taken to a hospital for evaluation. So far, they have not revealed what charges he will face. State police said the "lengthy" pursuit began when someone in Randolph reported a man striking his own vehicle with a hatchet. Troopers said Harrison jumped into the vehicle, a 2004 Chevrolet Blazer, and sped away when they approached. During the chase, Harrison allegedly waved the hatchet and a knife out the window, and doused himself in butane. He eventually stopped in downtown New Bedford, where he was arrested. Randolph is about 45 miles north of New Bedford. During the pursuit the suspect was waving the hatchet and a knife out the window. The suspect eventually came to a stop in downtown New Bedford where he was apprehended. State police said more details of the incident will be released soon. They singled out Massachusetts Environmental Police for praise, saying they "were instrumental in the arrest." BELCHERTOWN -- The Schoool Committee said superintendent Karol Coffin earned a "proficient" rating when the board's evaluation was publicly disclosed at last week's meeting. Karol Coffin The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's evaluation framework uses four grades. In ascending order of performance, they are: Unsatisfactory; Needs Improvement; Proficient; and Exemplary. "You work very hard to foster excellence in the schools," chairwoman Dawn French told the superintendent. "Overall, you have a proficient review." The committee evaluated Coffin using four criteria: instructional leadership; management and operations; family and community engagement; and professional culture. The committee was split on Coffin's performance specific to community engagement, with two board members saying she needed to improve, and two saying she was proficient. "This was the one where I gave mostly needs improvement," Vice Chairman Thomas Laughner said. "I gave Carol exemplary remarks and rated proficient overall," committeeman Michael Knapp said. "The reality is, there is a lot of room for growth," Coffin said during discussion on the community engagement criteria. "I have a lot to learn." In the other three areas, the committee was unanimous in saying Coffin was proficient. The school committee named Coffin superintendent in September 2014, and she began work in the Belchertown district the following January. WEST SPRINGFIELD Conor McCormick, the West Springfield High School student seriously injured in a swimming accident, recently underwent successful surgeries at a Boston hospital, according to his family, which is making plans to remodel its West Side home so it's handicapped accessible for the teenager. The 16-year-old lacrosse player suffered a severe spinal injury after hitting his head in a friend's pool on July 17, and the McCormicks are now preparing for a long recovery that will require many adjustments. Efforts are currently underway to raise money to make sure the family's home complies with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Team Conor: Road To Recovery. Here's a recent outtake from the Facebook page: As the McCormicks solidify Conor's rehab plans and finalize the next step in his medical care, the next immediate project and need is the remodeling of their home. If you can believe it, there are actual guidelines for his return and the house MUST be ADA compliant before he can return. The essential needs and minimums required are to provide an ADA bathroom and bedroom ready for Conor in late September. As with this whole process, the financial need is overwhelming and not possible without your support. Some can help financially (donations), some can help spiritually (praying), and some can help physically. Let's all play a role in trying to help them in this process. Thanks so much for any help in advance! By Monday afternoon, a GoFundMe page to help Conor and his family had raised over $33,000 of its $100,000 goal. The West Springfield High School Lacrosse Booster Club is selling "Conor Strong" T-shirts for $15 to help out the McCormicks. Paul Menard, president of the club, has more information at p3d5men@comcast.net. Handmade "Conor Strong" pendants are also being sold to help the family. "Team Conor: Road to Recovery" recently posted before-and-after surgery photos of Conor, including a post-surgery shot of the teen smiling, giving hope to the McCormicks and their many supporters across the region. farmland via masslive filer.jpg A statewide aerial seeding initiative is slated to get underway Aug. 10 and continue through mid-September, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Massachusetts. The effort is aimed at improving and protecting the soil health of farmland across the commonwealth. (The Republican / File Photo) WESTFIELD A statewide aerial seeding initiative is slated to begin next week in an effort to improve and protect farmland across the commonwealth. Beginning Aug. 10, a helicopter will take to the sky to drop winter rye grass seed on cropland from Westfield in Hampden County to as far southeast as Dartmouth in Bristol County, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Massachusetts. USDA officials say the goal is to improve soil health by establishing a "cover crop" that will protect soils after main crops are harvested. Cover crops can improve a soil's organic matter content, water-holding capacity, and resilience to climate change, the officials said. The aerial seeding will last through mid-September and roughly follow a west-to-east pattern from Berkshire County to coastal Bristol County. Farms are participating on a voluntary basis and will receive financial and technical assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. "To a bystander, it might look unusual to see a helicopter flying low over neighboring farms," said Rita Thibodeau, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Greenfield, who is coordinating the statewide effort. "We'd like residents to know that they needn't be concerned and understand that their farm neighbors are caring for the land by participating in this project," Thibodeau said. "One of the big principles of soil health is to keep something growing on the surface of the ground at all times. The cover crop will keep the ground covered in the fall, winter and spring." Below is a list of participating farming communities by county: SPRINGFIELD -- The defense lawyer for Suzanne Hardy told Hampden Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason on Monday that Hardy is not a danger to the community and should be released while awaiting trial. Mason, after hearing from defense lawyer Joan Williams and Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth, allowed Forsyth's request to keep Hardy incarcerated pending trial. Hardy, 23, of Holland, is accused of manslaughter in connection with a 2014 Brimfield crash that killed two young brothers who were passengers in her car. Brothers Dylan Riel, 4, and Jayce Garcia, 1, of Southbridge, were killed in the June 20, 2014 crash. Hardy was Dylan Riel's aunt. She had been free on her own recognizance in that case until last week, when she was sent to prison after she was charged in Newburyport District Court with possession of an electric stun gun. Hardy on July 25 denied the stun gun charge in the Newburyport court, but the prosecutor moved to have her bail revoked in the Hampden Superior Court case because of the new charge. Mason on Monday refused to change the decision to revoke Hardy's bail on the Hampden Superior Court case. He ordered her held without right to bail for up to 90 days. She was brought to Hampden Superior Court on Monday from the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Framingham, a women's prison where she was sent July 25. Forsyth said Hardy was charged in the Newburyport stun gun allegation on April 9 when police stopped a car in which she was riding. He said she was summonsed to court for July 25, at which time she denied the stun gun charge and had the bail in the Hampden Superior Court case revoked. Forsyth said the car in which Hardy was riding was stopped at 2:44 a.m. She was a passenger in the back seat and a pink stun gun was found on her left side. She admitted it was hers, he said. Williams said in the two years since the crash, Hardy, who was hospitalized for four to five months, has had ongoing problems from injuries including short-term memory loss coupled with anxiety and depression. Williams said Hardy told the officer who stopped the car the stun gun belonged to a friend of hers, but could not remember the name. Hardy said the woman was a friend of friends, but could not remember the friends' last names, Williams said. Williams said that was because of the short-term memory loss. "Her anxiety kicked in and she said it was hers even though she had maintained it was not hers," Williams said. She asked that Hardy be released with an electronic monitoring bracelet and a requirement to report to probation. Mason said the fact she admitted the stun gun was hers and was charged with that crime does represent a threat to the community. Hardy's trial date for the manslaughter case is Oct. 3. She has pleaded not guilty to two manslaughter charges, two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent or reckless operation, one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and three counts of reckless endangerment of a child. Williams told Mason on Monday she has not yet gotten the accident reconstruction report she is due as part of pretrial discovery, so she doubts the trial will be Oct. 3. She said she has a reconstruction expert on retainer waiting to get that report. In May, Williams asked to move the trial to October, citing the more than 5,000 pages of cellphone records provided by prosecutors, who allege Hardy was texting at the time of the crash. Williams said she was owed more information from the prosecution, and that a defense expert needs time to go over all records. Forsyth said Hardy was charged with reckless endangerment of a child because the three children in the car were not properly restrained. There was another 4-year-old child in the vehicle. As a condition of her release, Hardy had been ordered to stay away from Nicole Riel and Andres Garcia of Southbridge, the boys' parents. She was also ordered not to drive. Hardy was charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation for the deaths of the boys -- meaning she could be founded guilty of either manslaughter or motor vehicle homicide. A manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years, while a motor vehicle homicide conviction carries a sentence of up to 15 years. Untitled.png A view of 11 Linden Ave. in Swampscott, captured by a Google Street view car in August of 2012. (Google Maps) When firefighters were called to a Swampscott home early Saturday evening, they found a single-family home engulfed in flames and the homeowner watching the structure burn from his front lawn, officials say. Now Timothy P. Brosnan is facing arson charges, a builder accused of setting fire to his home. Following Saturday night's fire, the state Fire Marshal's Office says flammable liquid was in several locations of the home. "We determined the fire was intentionally set. We believe he used an ignitable fluid to set fire throughout the house," Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey told the Boston Herald. Brosnan will be arraigned in Lynn District Court Monday, arrested over the weekend on a charge of arson of a dwelling. The four-bedroom Swampscott home was purchased a decade ago for $355,000 by Brosnan and his wife, the Herald reports. It's assessed value is more than double the home's purchase price at $791,800. Saturday's fire caused heavy fire damage to the entire structure. It took firefighters from multiple communities to quell the three-alarm fire, officials said, and one firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion Saturday. Brosnan worked as a licensed construction supervisor for years, according to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. His supervisor's license expired three months ago, state records show. ger.JPG (Republican file) AMHERST -- A complaint filed Monday by a Shutesbury man accuses the Amherst Regional School Committee of repeatedly violating the state's Open Meeting Law by holding a series of executive sessions to discuss Superintendent Maria Geryk. Michael Hootstein, grandfather of a high school sophomore, filed his complaint Monday with the Laura Kent, the chairwoman of the Amherst Regional School Committee, and the Town Clerk's office, the same day the committee is slated to enter executive session at a third consecutive meeting, following executive sessions on July 13 and 20. Hootstein said the school committee members have 30 days to respond then the complaint would be sent to the Attorney General's office. Hootstein said the purpose of his complaint is to bring "the Amherst regional community together to solve our problems." "The whole idea is, we want to educate the school board and the citizens about what our government is supposed to do in open session," he said. The committee posted a notice stating it is entering an executive session Monday "to conduct strategy sessions in in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel (Superintendent Maria Geryk) and to conduct collective bargaining sessions (with Union #26 and Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committees) and contract negotiations with nonunion personnel (Superintendent Maria Geryk)." According to the complaint, Hootstein claims the committee "violated and intends to violate the Open Meeting Law" for the July 13, July 20 and Aug. 1 meetings. He alleges the committee entered or will enter executive sessions "under an improper purpose," and claims the committee followed improper procedures in convening the sessions. His complaint also alleges committee members violated the Open Meeting Law when it communicated privately with members and Superintendent Maria Geryk and her attorneys about Geryk's "professional competence." "The Open Meeting Law is clear that all deliberations by the school committee about the professional competence of a school superintendent must be conducted only during meetings open to the public," the complaint states. He also states that Kent and member Katherine Appy violated the law when they deliberated in private with Geryk, staff attorneys and other non-regional members "to obstruct Regional School Committee deliberation in open session." He also cites other members but not by name. In the complaint, he requests that all minutes, emails, documents, and Survey Monkey evaluations and opinions "related to the professional competence" of Geryk be released to the public. stabbing.jpg 8-1-16 -- Springfield -- Police are investigating an early morning stabbing at a Worthington Street nightclub that sent 2 to Baystate Medical Center. (WesternMassNews Photo) SPRINGFIELD -- Police are investigating an early morning stabbing at a Worthington Street nightclub that sent two victims to Baystate Medical Center. Lt. Richard Labelle said the stabbing occurred shortly after 2 a.m. at the Shadow Lounge, 278 Worthington St. One of the victims was stabbed multiple times and the other suffered a "single serious laceration," LaBelle said. Initial reports indicated that both sets of injuries were not life-threatening, he said. Both victims are believed to be either employees or associates of employees at the club, Labelle said, adding that the victims are not cooperating with police. 20415885-mmmain.jpg Once at South Station, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito received a symbolic ticket for the HeartToHub train from MBTA head Frank DePaola. (MassLive) Gov. Charlie Baker has said it again and again: something needs to be done to repair and modernize the MBTA. In June 2016, a report from the Massachusetts Taxpayer's Foundation highlighted some key issues, including inadequate data, poorly managed contracts, and problems with procurement systems. A recent report by the Boston Globe adds a new concern to the list: understaffing. They found that over 18 percent of the highest paid positions are currently vacant. Paul Regan, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, said that for the MBTA to run efficiently, these top positions need to be filled. The Globe found one of the vacant positions is the director of human resources, whose job it is to fill vacant positions. "The bottom line is, the efficient operation of the MBTA requires for these positions to be filled," Regan said. "And while you can understand why there are some delays in filling them, you've got to get past that and fill them anyway." The Globe found that rehiring is delayed because of several factors, including a slow process to refill vacant positions, which in 2015 took an average of 137.5 days, not paying high enough salaries to attract talented prospects, and making more buyout offers for seasoned employees to save on costs. Many of the employees interviewed in the Globe article are members of Baker's Fiscal and Management Control Board, which he created to provide oversight and transparency for the MBTA. "I said that was exactly the point of doing this whole thing in the first place," Baker said during a press conference last June. "To get the thing out from behind the curtain where nobody knew anything about what was actually going on at the organization for a long time and create a public dialogue and a transparent conversation about the future and the organization, warts and all." Wellington Street apartment.JPG The Wellington Street apartment where a 2-year-old girl was found responsive and later died. (Lindsay Corcoran | MassLive.com) WORCESTER - Two-year-old Genevieve "Gigi" Brown, found lifeless by her 5-year-old brother in an apartment at 4 Wellington St. last fall, died of meningitis, according to the state medical examiner. Police had been investigating the "sudden death" of 2-year-old Gigi after she was found not breathing in her crib on Sept. 28. Police said the family called 911 around 11:30 a.m., but the toddler was pronounced dead at the hospital. The death certificate for the toddler lists the cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest in a child with an infectious syndrome." It notes this was due to meningitis with a "pathogen unknown." The manner of death is listed as "natural." Despite the medical examiner's determination, a spokesman for the Worcester County District Attorney's office said the investigation remains ongoing. A few months later, a 15-month-old boy was found lethargic in the same apartment and rushed to a local hospital. The mother of the boy found lethargic in January was not Gigi's mother. At the time, police said they were trying to determine "what the child ingested or was exposed to." According to the Telegram & Gazette, a 23-year-old woman was charged with reckless endangerment of a child in that case. Massachusetts Statehouse.jpg The Massachusetts Statehouse on Beacon Hill (Mary Serreze photo) BOSTON - With five hours to go before the midnight end of the 2015-2016 legislative session, lawmakers had not yet seen a single one of four major bills that they hoped to vote on Sunday evening. "It's certainly a concern, and it's less than ideal, but there's a little bit of a feel of the last night before a big term paper's due or the night before finals feel to it," said State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow. "It's just inevitable that a lot of the big complicated work doesn't end until there's a deadline." Throughout Saturday and Sunday, the final days of the session, lobbyists, journalists and lawmakers filled the Statehouse halls. The Legislature took up veto overrides and passed a bill modernizing municipal laws. But for most of two days, there were only rumors leaking out from behind closed doors, where groups of six senators and representatives negotiated the final versions of major bills related to energy, economic development, non-compete agreements and ride-sharing regulations. It is not unusual for major bills to come down to the wire. But significant differences between the centrist-leaning House and the more liberal-leaning Senate, combined with lawmakers leaving town for the Democratic and Republican national conventions during the last two weeks of the session, meant an even tighter time crunch than usual this year. Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said just before 8 p.m. that a last-minute rush is "always part of the excitement of the final couple of days that we have a lot of things in process." "People are getting along very well, people are continuing to talk, decisions are being made, differences are being worked out," Rosenberg said. The time crunch meant legislators who had to vote on the bills would have only hours to review the often technical pieces of legislation. However, several Western Massachusetts lawmakers said the short time frame was not a major problem, since they were already familiar with earlier versions of the bills that passed the House and the Senate. That familiarity would allow them to focus only on the differences between the two versions when the bills emerged from conference committees. "We owe it to the taxpayers who pay our salary, we need to be familiar with the House and Senate bills and if there are differences, we need to be tracking those closely," said State Rep. John Velis, D-Westfield. "Would I rather have more time? 100 percent absolutely....But we owe it to taxpayers to be intimately familiar with all these bills." Velis noted that lawmakers did recently slip a provision about a pilot program related to a mileage tax into a non-controversial road and bridge funding bill at the last minute. But Velis said he does not see that as a common move by conference committee members, and if a controversial provision does get slipped into a bill, he would push for more time to debate the bill. (House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, has said he will not try to extend the session past the July 31 deadline.) State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, pointed out that the bills were already publicly debated in the House and Senate. Once a report emerges from a conference committee, lawmakers can only take a yes or no vote. They cannot amend it further. "I wish we had more time to look at these things but knowing the magnitude and what these bills are, I'm not overly concerned," Pignatell said. "We've already debated in the House, we know what's in the bill, we know what the Senate's done." "When it comes back to us, it's yes or no, there's nothing we can change," Pignatelli said. "We put our faith in the conferees to do what they think is best." Lesser, who handed out Hershey's kisses and Starburst candy on the floor to lawmakers as the evening dragged on, agreed with his colleagues that lawmakers were already familiar with the details of the House and Senate versions of the bills. "It's important for people to appreciate if you've prepared correctly, you're not just walking into the day blind," Lesser said. State Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren, the ranking Republican on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, said the committee is careful to review the language of every bill to know what is actually in there before it gets voted on. "One thing we won't do is vote on a piece of legislation just for the sake of legislating without knowing what's in it," Smola said. "It is what it is on the last day," Smola said. "It's not the greatest situation, but we simply have to deal with what we've got in front of us." State Sen. Jim Welch, D-West Springfield, said each bill has taken "many hours of work and many months of crafting" to get to the final version. In the Senate, he said, there is generally a caucus before votes, where lawmakers are briefed on the contents of a bill. "We have a very open and continuous dialogue of what changes are made, so everybody is comfortable, and we have the opportunity to raise any questions or concerns as the process unfolds," Welch said. State Rep. Angelo Puppolo, D-Springfield, said while the timing is tight, lawmakers are up against a deadline, and the most important thing is to get the bills passed. "I'd certainly want to see what's going to be in the final report, but I'm willing to plug through and read as much as we can to get the bill done, as opposed to not getting the bill done," Puppolo said. Massachusetts Statehouse January 2016 Pedestrians on the Boston Common, January 2016. (File photo / The Republican) BOSTON - Facing a midnight deadline, House and Senate lawmakers restored funding to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, reversing Gov. Charlie Baker's state budget veto. The fiscal year 2017 budget lawmakers sent to the governor's desk in July included $14 million for arts, humanities and sciences programs through the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. But Baker vetoed $7.7 million, bringing the total figure down to $6.5 million, a 55 percent cut the agency called "devastating." "This funding allows the Massachusetts Cultural Council to continue their crucial programming, including the Community Music School of Springfield, support for Springfield's new cultural district, and arts and music programming for thousands of school-aged kids," state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, said in a statement after lawmakers overrode Baker's veto. "Cultural development is economic development. I'm grateful to the 21 senators and 106 representatives that signed our letter of support for this override." Baker issued that veto and others as his administration grappled with declining tax revenues and a yawning budget gap. His administration has also moved to institute a hiring freeze. "We wouldn't have done what we did if we thought the budget was balanced," Baker said earlier this month. "Just about this time last year, the Legislature and the administration thought we knew what tax revenues were going to be for the fiscal year that just ended, and we missed by almost $500 million," he added. But lawmakers appear undeterred by Baker's concerns. They spent this weekend and the previous Saturday overriding his budget vetoes and restoring funding to accounts attached to the $39 billion state budget. Veto overrides require support from two-thirds of each chamber. "Funding decisions must be prudent, and the Commonwealth should be investing in proven programs that make a demonstrable impact," said Matt Wilson, executive director of MASSCreative, a group made up of arts and culture organizations. "The Massachusetts Cultural Council is a model for how public funds can be invested for an outsize impact," he continued in a statement. "By funding approximately 6000 projects through the local cultural council network, the MCC financially supports arts and cultural groups in every municipality. It also makes direct grants to approximately 400 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations that, in turn, use these public funds to leverage private dollars." Separately, lawmakers also overrode a $3 million cut to tourism accounts. They face a midnight deadline thanks to their own rules, which call for formal sessions to end on July 31. Lawmakers are jamming through bills big and small before adjourning formal sessions for the rest of the year. Informal sessions, which will continue to occur, see few lawmakers attend, and the agendas largely include noncontroversial matters. @masscultural override successful with a 156-2 vote in the House. TY @MASSCreative Smitty Pignatelli (@repsmitty) July 31, 2016 Lawmakers who support the Massachusetts Cultural Council wrote a letter earlier this month to House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, pressing for a veto override. "From Boston to the Berkshires, from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, our state boasts an array of exceptional cultural organizations, beautiful and distinctive communities, and thousands of talented artists and educators," they wrote in their plea. "The MCC nurtures the creative life of Massachusetts. It is imperative that we continue to provide the Massachusetts Cultural Council with the necessary resources to continue the great work it does in the Commonwealth," they added. Gov. Charlie Baker slashes Massachusetts Cultural Council budget, lawmakers urge override Republican reporter Shira Schoenberg contributed to this report. Ballot Question Gas Tax Massachusetts In this Sept. 30, 2014 photo, Dana Ripley, of Winthrop, Mass., fills the gas tank of his truck at a service station in Andover, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) BOSTON - The Legislature on Sunday sent a bill financing road and bridge improvements to Gov. Charlie Baker - and included a directive to the administration to apply for federal funding to test a new tax on drivers based on miles traveled. Baker has already said he is likely to veto the vehicle miles traveled pilot program. "There's disappointment, because all it is is a request for a grant so that we can pilot as was done in Oregon, to see how it would work in Massachusetts and whether we thought it would be a good policy here," said Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst. "So we're leaving federal money on the table." The bill, H.4424, passed the House unanimously, 158-0, and the Senate on a 38-1 vote. The only dissenter was State Sen. Brian Joyce, D-Milton, who has expressed concern that the bill would move a rail program outside of the state's debt cap - essentially letting the state increase the amount of money it can borrow. The bill provides $50 million for a financing program for small bridges and a $750 million bond authorization for highway project funding, although most of the highway money would be reimbursed by the federal government. During the last week, senators also tacked onto the bill a provision directing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation for grant funding to create a vehicle miles traveled pilot program. The program would include 500 volunteers. The point would be to figure out whether a vehicle miles traveled tax would work, what its impact would be, and how to best collect the information. If it goes well, lawmakers could consider replacing the state gas tax with a mileage tax. Oregon and California are testing similar programs. Baker, a Republican, said he opposes the pilot program. If Baker vetoes the section of the bill that includes the pilot, lawmakers will not be able to override his veto, because the formal legislative session ends Sunday night. Rosenberg said Sunday that he is disappointed that the provision is unlikely to be signed into law. "The gas tax is going to be a declining revenue source over time as vehicles become more and more efficient, and yet we will still have roads and bridges to maintain," Rosenberg said. "So eventually we're going to have to transition to a different form of revenue over time, and so we need to start wrestling with that." ken donnelly.png State Sen. Ken Donnelly, D-Arlington. (Photo via Facebook.) (Facebook.com) - State Sen. Ken Donnelly, D-Arlington, is set to undergo surgery after he was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital on Sunday night. A Sunday night post on his Facebook page said he had experienced "difficulties," but did not elaborate. "After further testing, doctors determined surgery is likely required," the post said. "It is expected that he will be undergoing surgery in the next 48 hours." The post added: "His family asks that you send all your good wishes and prayers. We will update you when we have more information." A former Lexington firefighter, Donnelly serves as the Senate majority whip. He has been in the state Senate since 2009. His Senate district includes Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, and parts of Lexington and Woburn. Donnelly was hospitalized as House and Senate lawmakers faced a deadline of midnight to finish formal sessions. Legislators were busy Saturday and Sunday shuttling bills to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk and overriding many of his state budget vetoes. Informal sessions will continue for the rest of the year, but their agendas are largely limited to non-controversial matters and local bills. Billionaire businessman Bill Koch and his wife Bridget are hosting a $2,700-a-head fundraiser for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at their home on Cape Cod on Saturday. Koch is part of the wealthy family who owns Koch Industries, and he also founded his own energy company. He co-chaired a campaign to oppose Cape Wind, a proposed offshore wind farm off of Cape Cod. Two of Bill Koch's brothers, Charles and David Koch, are prominent conservative donors who have said they will not support Trump. Trump will attend the 6 p.m. fundraiser at the Koch home in Oyster Harbors and participate in a photo opportunity and VIP reception for major donors. Donation levels range from $2,700 for the general reception to $100,000 per couple to be co-chairs. Former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican who also ran for U.S. Senate from New Hampshire and has been supporting Trump, is listed as a special guest. Also listed on the invitation are Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and top finance officials from Trump's campaign. In addition to the Kochs, event chairs include Darlene and Jerry Jordan, prominent Republican donors from Boston, and Ann and Charles Talanian, of the C. Talanian real estate development company in Boston. Conservative radio host Howie Carr is on the host committee along with Republican State Committee members Amy Carnevale, Janet Fogarty and others. Trump Oyster Harbors Reception 8 6 16 by Shira Schoenberg on Scribd height="600" frameborder="0"> By GINTAUTAS DUMCIUS and SHIRA SCHOENBERG BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers on Sunday night rushed a compromise bill regulating ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft to the governor's desk. The bill calls for the companies to pay a 20-cent surcharge per ride. "We are pleased that the Legislature came to an agreement on common sense legislation that sets high safety standards while keeping modern transportation options like Lyft available across the Bay State," Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin said in a statement just before midnight. "This bill expands consumer choice and encourages innovation, and we urge Governor Charlie Baker to sign it into law when it reaches his desk," he added. "The people of the Commonwealth have made it clear they want ridesharing, and we appreciate the thoughtful process the Legislature followed to ensure that safe and affordable transportation options are available across Massachusetts." State Sen. Don Humason, R-Westfield, one of the six lawmakers tasked with negotiating the compromise bill, said the bill strikes the right balance and avoids over-regulating a nascent industry. "In some areas of the state, including my district, transportation options are really limited. For that reason, it was important to me that we allow these innovative companies to continue to grow in order to meet our constituents' unmet transportation needs, " he said in a statement. The 20-cent per ride assessment is broken down this way: 10 cents would go to municipalities for their transportation structure, and the charge goes away after 10 years. Five cents go to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for statewide improvements, and that charge sunsets after 10 years. The final five cents go to the state's MassDevelopment agency, geared toward a grant program handling job training and innovation for taxi and livery services. That part of the charge sunsets after five years. The final bill also sets up a two-tiered background check system, one completed by the company and another by the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU). Drivers would need a certificate from the company and clear a DPU background check. Drivers would also have to get an inspection of their vehicle, through a mechanism determined by DPU, the state Registry of Motor Vehicles and law enforcement. Meanwhile, the companies would be required to get insurance coverage for their drivers. The House passed its version of the ride-sharing bill in March and the Senate followed in June. There were significant differences between the bills, with the Senate bill taking a friendlier tack towards the ride-sharing services. For example, the House bill prohibited ride-sharing services from picking up passengers at Logan Airport and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, while the Senate bill eliminated those restrictions. The final bill leaves the decision up to MassPort, the state agency that runs Logan, and the state's convention center authority. The House included a state-run background check for drivers, while the Senate only required a background check done by the company. The Senate bill would have institute a 10-cent per ride fee, with the money funding local transportation infrastructure. There were also some differences in insurance requirements. The taxi industry objected to both bills, noting that taxis are far more heavily regulated than ride-sharing services. Taxi drivers, for example, wanted to see requirements that Uber and Lyft drivers get fingerprinted and be required to purchase distinctive license plates. A fingerprinting mandate was not included in the final bill sent to the governor's desk, though drivers will be required to display decals. baker pay equity.JPG Gov. Charlie Baker speaks before signing a pay equity law on Aug. 1, 2016. (SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN) BOSTON -- For nearly two decades, Dorothy Simonelli worked in the cafeteria at Everett High School. She and her colleagues cooked turkey and big vats of pasta and made their own sauce. When the cafeteria workers asked for a raise, their request was denied. "Management said...they're just women, they're working for pin money, money for jewelry," recalled Barbara Rice, a union representative at the time. In 1989, the cafeteria workers sued. They argued that the female cafeteria workers were earning less than the male custodians, in violation of Massachusetts' equal pay law. A ruling in their favor was overturned by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1998, which found that the positions were not considered comparable, so there was no requirement for equal pay. On Monday, Simonelli and Rice watched Gov. Charlie Baker sign a law updating Massachusetts' equal pay law to better define comparable work and to put in place other protections to ensure that women are paid equally for equal work. "There are no words," said Simonelli, now 83. "I just feel so wonderful. I'm so happy for my coworkers and all the ones that have passed on." The new law updates Massachusetts's equal pay law, which was passed in 1945. The 1945 law was the first in the country to require comparable pay for comparable work. A federal equal pay law was passed in 1963. The new law will prohibit employers from requesting salary history during a job interview -- although a job applicant can voluntarily disclose that information. It says businesses cannot forbid workers from discussing their salaries with each other. It provides a clearer definition for what criteria employers can use to determine what is "comparable work." It extends the statute of limitations for bringing an equal pay claim from one year to three years. The bill also includes provisions sought by businesses. For example, if an employer does a self-evaluation to determine whether there are compensation differences then takes steps to eliminate them, the employer will be protected from equal pay lawsuits for three years. The bill passed both the House and the Senate unanimously. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2018. Supporters of the new law cite a study showing that women working full time in Massachusetts earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said she has been lucky to get paid equally to men, working in her family's real estate business, then making the partnership track at a Worcester law firm. But, Polito said, "It shouldn't take luck for a working woman in this commonwealth to feel she has access to a level playing field." Despite many of them having worked until after midnight closing out this year's legislative session, a number of legislative leaders spoke to a crowd of women's rights advocates and business leaders who attended the bill-signing ceremony. "Pay equity gets to the heart of who we are as Americans," said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop. Some noted that there is more work to be done. Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, used the occasion to advocate for the institution of paid family leave in Massachusetts. The Senate passed a paid family leave bill at the end of the legislative session, but without enough time for the House to take it up. After Rosenberg said the state must implement paid leave, he looked over at DeLeo and Baker. "I just wanted to check to see if the speaker and the governor were applauding," Rosenberg said. State Sen. Pat Jehlen, D-Somerville, a sponsor of the pay equity bill, said more work must be done to improve pay in fields that tend to be dominated by women, such as caring for children, seniors or people with disabilities, or making and serving food. "Our work is not done until those in the caring professions are paid what their work is really worth," Jehlen said. Despite remaining obstacles, lawmakers cheered the bill as a major step forward for women and their families. "Today in Massachusetts, we can say equal pay for equal work is not just a slogan," Jehlen said. "It's the law." baker sign.JPG Gov. Charlie Baker signs an equal pay law on Aug. 1, 2016. (Shira Schoenberg/The Republican) Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday was non-committal on the major bills that reached his desk late Sunday night, largely declining to comment until he had time to review them. "While we're pleased that five out of the six big priorities we talked about made it through the process. I don't think we're going to speak to any of the details until we have a chance to read them," Baker said. During the last day of the legislative session Sunday, the House and Senate passed major bills relating to energy, economic development, municipal modernization and ride-sharing services. Lawmakers previously passed a pay equity bill, which Baker signed into law Monday. They failed to come to an agreement on limiting businesses' use of noncompete agreements. Speaking to reporters, Baker praised lawmakers for coming to so many agreements, even while acknowledging some senators' frustration that the final version of the energy bill was not broader. "There was a lot of open water between where the House was and the Senate was on a number of these issues," Baker said. "Frankly, I think the fact they were able to come to terms on five of the big six bills, given how far apart they started in many of those conference committees, was a tribute to them. And I'd be shocked if there wasn't disappointment in the end given how much work they had to do to find middle ground." Baker has been a strong proponent of increasing the state's procurement of Canadian hydropower, which is a part of the energy bill. But he declined to give his opinion on the version of the bill that landed on his desk. "We really need to take a look at it and spend some time on it before we comment on the details," Baker said. Similarly, on the bill regulating ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, Baker said it is important to establish a regulatory framework for these companies, and it is critically important to have a "substantial and ongoing background check process" to check drivers. But he declined to comment on whether he liked the final bill. Baker has 10 days to sign or veto the bills or let them become law without his signature. Baker also declined to criticize the legislative process, which resulted in final versions of four major bills being filed after 9 p.m. Sunday, with a midnight deadline to vote. The end-of-session squeeze, Baker said, has "happened as far back as I can remember." On the failure to reach a compromise on noncompetes, Baker said the state has been wrestling with the issue for four years and "it would be great if we could create some permanence around the framework on this." He said whatever the state ultimately passes should make sure not to hurt existing industries, such as biotech. "Whatever we do here needs to build on the tremendous success we've had developing an innovation economy to make it stronger," Baker said. Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse at The Republican Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse during editorial board meeting at The Republican in Springfield. October 15, 2015. (Michael S. Gordon / The Republican) (Michael S. Gordon) Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse said Monday he supports a ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana, becoming the first of Massachusetts' mayors to do so. "As I considered this question it became increasingly clear that I could no longer tolerate a system that results in disproportionate arrests of African-Americans and other minority groups and, frankly, has failed for decades to limit the availability of marijuana," Morse said in a statement. The stance puts Morse, a Democrat, in opposition to many of the state's top politicians. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Democrat from Winthrop, have been leading a ballot committee opposing marijuana legalization. Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, both Democrats, are also strong opponents. One demographic that has often been more supportive of marijuana legalization, however, is young people. Morse, 27, became Holyoke's youngest mayor when he was elected at age 22. He is now in his third term. Morse said black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses than white people, despite similar rates of using the drug. While opponents of legalization cite Massachusetts's existing problems with opioid addiction as a reason why the state should not open the door to a so-called "gateway drug," Morse cited a 2014 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that opioid deaths were in fact lower in states with legalized marijuana. "I believe that increased access to marijuana through a carefully regulated system would help Holyoke and other cities and towns who are struggling with the opioid scourge," Morse said. "These communities could also benefit from the tax revenues of a regulated system, not to mention the benefits of redirecting law enforcement resources to more serious crimes." Voters will vote on marijuana legalization in November. It will appear as Question 4 on the ballot. Joseph Wagner 82114 State Rep.Joseph Wagner D- Chicopee, is seen during a meeting with The Republican editorial board. (Mark Murray / The Republican file) By ANDY METZGER The economic development bill filed late Sunday and enacted right around midnight Monday does not include an expansion of a tax incentive aimed at helping low-income workers or authorization for the Massachusetts Lottery to expand into online gaming, according to the lead House negotiator on the bill. Both of those proposals had been included in the Senate's version of the bill. "The Senate had a number of outside sections that didn't match up with things in the House. Most of those were set aside or held in conference," said Rep. Joe Wagner, the House chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. A tax on short-term private room rentals, including through the online booking site Airbnb, was also dropped from the final version as was a provision subjecting non-profits to property taxes when they buy real estate already on local tax rolls, according to Wagner. The final version was filed around 11 p.m. Sunday and enacted on a unanimous 156-0 vote in the House and a 38-1 vote in the Senate just after midnight. With major borrowing provisions, the economic development bill required roll call votes on enactment, and the Legislature's rules prohibit formal sessions - where recorded votes can be taken - from happening after July 31. "We needed to get that done tonight," Wagner said. Sen. Vinny deMacedo, a Plymouth Republican, was the only member of the six-lawmaker conference committee that came up with the final version not to sign off on it. "One of the things that's very important about conference committees is that they actually meet and they include their members in discussions of important matters, and in this case I think Sen. deMacedo was largely isolated from that process," said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr. After a few major bills were finalized on the last day of formals for the year, Tarr said, "I don't think he felt comfortable signing a conference committee report where he wasn't included in the development of the bill and hadn't been kept up to date on its contents." Lawmakers in touch with Wagner's office about earmarks important to their districts. "There were many of my colleagues who had specific earmarks in which they were interested, and tried to be sensitive to their needs for their district," Wagner said. The Chicopee Democrat told the News Service the bill includes $500 million in authorized borrowing for MassWorks infrastructure program, and $45 million in capital dollars for brownfields, $45 million for "transformative development," and $45 million for equipment for career and technical education, among other measures. The bill includes a new tax deduction intended encourage more families to save for college tuition costs. Wagner described those measures as House priorities. Wind Power Duke Energy's Top of the World wind project as it neared completion outside of Glenrock in September 2010. (Tim Kupsick/Star-Tribune) (AP Photo) BOSTON - The Massachusetts Legislature late Sunday night sent to Gov. Charlie Baker a compromise energy bill that, while less broad than some senators had hoped, would require the state to purchase significantly more energy from offshore wind and other renewable sources. "I don't think that where we ended up is nearly as strong as where the Senate was," said State Sen. Ben Downing, D-Pittsfield, Senate chairman of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. "But both the administration and the House had a far narrower view, and that made for a rather difficult negotiation." State Rep. Thomas Golden, D-Lowell, House chairman of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, praised the bill on the House floor. "Today is a celebration for the Massachusetts Legislature," Golden said. "We are poised with your vote today to pass and authorize the largest procurement of renewable energy in the history of the commonwealth of Massachusetts." Golden said in an interview that although the House proposal was not as expansive as the Senate's, he believes the bill can be built on in future years. "Energy is not a one-shot deal," Golden said. "I really, truly believe next year we'll be doing another energy bill, and the year after that we'll be doing another energy bill." The House passed the conference committee report by a 157-1 vote, with State Rep. Jim Lyons, R-Andover, as the sole no vote. The Senate accepted the conference committee report on a voice vote. The bill, H.4568, requires Massachusetts to solicit long-term contracts to procure 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power. That figure is halfway between the 1,200 megawatts proposed by the House and the 2,000 megawatts proposed by the Senate. The bill would also require Massachusetts to solicit long-term contracts for 1,200 megawatts of hydropower or other renewable resources, such as land-based wind or solar. Baker has been a strong advocate for purchasing more Canadian hydropower. The bill includes Senate language requiring the state to develop a plan to repair gas leaks. It does not include a Senate amendment that would have barred utilities from charging customers fees to cover the cost of building new natural gas pipelines. Advocates for the energy industry said that would prevent pipelines from being built, which would risk increasing electricity costs for consumers. One of the biggest disappointments for some senators was that the bill failed to increase the amount of energy that the state requires utilities to buy from renewable sources, the so-called renewable portfolio standards. "That was the final give on the Senate's part, and it was no small give," Downing said. Downing called it "shortsighted" to not increase the standards, but he said the House "was dead set" on not including an increase. But Golden said the House did not want to increase the standards because that would result in increasing payments made by ratepayers. Golden said the House would be open to taking additional steps in the future. The bill includes provisions favored by the Senate to increase the use of energy storage technology. Small in-state hydropower projects would receive a slight increase in a tariff that is paid by ratepayers. "This is a huge victory for off-shore wind both for our environment and our economy," said George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. "It's also a victory for diversifying our energy portfolio away from fossil fuels by adding both wind and hydro." Bachrach said the requirement for procuring offshore wind will pave the way to build the first commercially scaled wind farm in the U.S. Bachrach said advocates will continue pushing for more solar projects, greater energy efficiency standards and an end to the building of new gas pipelines. The bill excludes some Senate-sponsored provisions on energy efficiency, such as requiring home energy audits. Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who favored a more expansive bill, said senators wanted to more aggressively replace retiring coal and nuclear plants with renewable energy. "Whatever we don't get done now, we'll be back at it again in January," Rosenberg said. "Whatever we don't get now, we will fight again later." House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said, "The Legislature took a major step towards expanding the Commonwealth's access to clean energy and diversifying its energy resources. This proactive effort to ensure the needs of Massachusetts are met with clean, reliable resources while safeguarding our ratepayers demonstrates our state's continued leadership in the development and deployment of cost-effective renewable energy." Clean energy and environmental advocates generally praised the bill. Donald Jessome, CEO of Transmission Developers, Inc., said in a statement distributed by the Massachusetts Clean Electricity Partnership, a group of hydropower and onshore wind generation developers: "With today's vote, Massachusetts has taken an extraordinary step toward diversifying the Commonwealth's energy portfolio with clean, affordable and reliable hydropower and wind resources while providing electricity customers with ongoing electricity rate predictability and affordability." Several offshore wind companies also had positive responses. The environmental group Clean Water Action praised the commitment to offshore wind power and the focus on repairing gas leaks, but criticized lawmakers for not including the ban on fees for natural gas pipelines. "I t is disappointing to see the legislature fail to enact pertinent consumer and environmental protections," said Joel Wool, a spokesman for Clean Water Action. New England Clean Energy Council Executive Vice President Janet Gail Besser said the bill "will not only accelerate the deployment of clean energy, but will also serve to accelerate our economy by providing a stable policy climate for investors and developers of clean energy." Massachusetts Statehouse.jpg The Massachusetts Statehouse on Beacon Hill (Mary Serreze photo) BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers on Sunday failed to reach an accord on limiting the use of non-compete agreements, pushing the issue off until next year. "I'm disappointed," said State Rep. John Scibak, D-South Hadley, chairman of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, minutes before the midnight end of the 2015-2016 legislative session. "I thought we had a good bill. I guess we just couldn't get agreement." Scibak said it was "unfortunate" that conferees could not agree. "People who work in sandwich shops or others who shouldn't have non-competes will be no better off tomorrow," Scibak said. "We're doing nothing for employees." Businesses use non-compete agreements to prohibit employees from going to work for a competitor and sharing inside knowledge. Non-competes are a common tool used by employers in the technology, financial and drug industries, among others, to protect confidential information. But lawmakers and advocates for workers say some of these contracts go too far and place unfair restrictions on workers. For example, they have been used against hourly restaurant workers or camp counselors to prevent them from going to work for a competitor. The House in June and the Senate in mid-July passed versions of a bill aimed at limiting the use of non-competes. The goal of the bill was to ensure that non-competes were written narrowly enough to protect employers' interests while not unduly hurting workers. The bills would have limited who can be subject to a non-complete - for example, eliminating their use for students, interns, employees under 18 or employees who were fired. The Senate and House versions had differences in areas such as how long a non-compete could be in effect for, who would be exempt, and how much a business would be required to compensate an employee while a non-compete remained in effect. "They couldn't quite get there," Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said of the small group of lawmakers tasked with coming up with a compromise. "We'll be back it again, I believe, next year." Differences between the House and Senate became insurmountable, he said. "As one of the conferees said to me, this is a very, very complex area of policy, and nuance is critical," Rosenberg said. "You can't get nuance when you're rushing." Scibak said the sticking point in negotiations was whether an employee and employer could negotiate at the time an employee leaves the company a mutually agreed on payment - such as stock options - to compensate for the signing of the non-compete. House members wanted all the conditions to be agreed on at the time a person accepts a job. MassLive.com reporter Gintautas Dumcius contributed to this report. Scenes from Gov. Baker's first State of the Commonwealth address Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker points to his watch before delivering his State of the State address as attendees continue to applaud at the Statehouse in Boston, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. (Michael Dwyer) (AP) BOSTON - Five of six big bills were on the governor's desk by early Monday morning, the results of a mad scramble by Massachusetts lawmakers to wrap up major work in the 2015-2016 session before most of them left Beacon Hill for their legislative districts. The five bills that made it through the gauntlet and onto Gov. Charlie Baker's desk? They dealt with economic development, offering a boost to wind and hydropower, regulation of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft, and municipal modernization. A bill on gender pay equity landed on Baker's desk more than a week ago, and he plans to sign it on Monday. Left on the Legislature's cutting room floor as the clock struck midnight: An accord on legislation governing non-compete agreements between employers and employees. "I am thankful that the legislature took action on several important pieces of legislation ranging from economic development to renewable energy, adding to the significant bills signed into law earlier this year that advanced critical priorities for the people of Massachusetts, including landmark legislation aimed at combating the Commonwealth's opioid epidemic.," Baker, a Republican, said in a statement early Monday morning. "As our administration carefully reviews all of the legislation that lawmakers worked diligently to reach consensus on, I will continue to work across the aisle with our partners in the legislature to make Massachusetts a better place to live, work and raise a family," he added. Members of the Legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, also restored funding to a large number of state accounts and line items that the governor had vetoed, pointing to weaker-than-anticipated tax revenue numbers. Links to coverage of last night's session, as well as the special Saturday session, are available here and below. Joe Smith Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Joe Smith during a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The Angels defeated the Royals 13-0. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) (Orlin Wagner) Reliever Joe Smith will make his way from Los Angeles to Chicago. The 32-year-old righty was acquired by the Chicago Cubs just before the trade deadline, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. Joel Sherman of the New York Post added that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will receive minor leaguer Jesus Castillo, also a pitcher, in return. Joe Smith traded to the Cubs. -- Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 1, 2016 Smith was in his third season with the Angels at the time of the trade. So far this year, he has gone 1-4 with a 3.82 ERA and a 1.301 WHIP in 38 relief appearances. Smith is in the final season of a three-year, $15.75 million contract, and has $1.8 million remaining on that contract. He will enter free agency at the end of this season. Castillo, meanwhile, is a 20-year-old righty out of Venezuela. In seven starts for Single-A Eugene, he has gone 2-3 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.182 WHIP. He is averaging 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings this year. Colin Rea,Don Mattingly Miami Marlins' Colin Rea, third from left, talks manager Don Mattingly (8) in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Miami. Rea was relieved by David Phelps. Rea had an elbow injury in his Miami debut. The Marlins won 11-0. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (Alan Diaz) After Colin Rea left his Miami Marlins debut with an elbow injury that promptly landed him on the 15-day disabled list, the 26-year-old righty will reportedly return to San Diego. FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Marlins will receive Luis Castillo back from the Padres for Rea. Source: #Marlins getting Luis Castillo back, with Rea returning to #Padres. -- Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 1, 2016 Rea was acquired by the Marlins along with Andrew Cashner in a seven player trade on Friday. The original deal sent Cashner, Rea and reliever Tayron Guerrero to Miami, while Jarred Cosart, Josh Naylor, Carter Capps and Castillo went to San Francisco. According to Yahoo's Jeff Passan, the Marlins were "absolutely livid" about the injury, and the team felt it was sent an already injured player. Marlins were absolutely livid. Felt like they'd been dealt damaged goods. Apparently there will be recourse for it. https://t.co/AJviNX6O5W -- Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 1, 2016 Rea pitched 3 1/3 innings for the Marlins before he left with what was diagnosed as an elbow sprain. He limited the St. Louis Cardinals to one hit and struck out four batters without giving up a run in the start. By getting Castillo back, the Marlins regain a Single-A, hard throwing right-handed pitcher. Castillo is 7-3 in 20 appearances (18 of which were starts) for Single-A Jupiter with a 2.25 ERA 0.970 WHIP. Jonathon Niese This June 28, 2016 photo shows Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jon Niese in action against the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game in Seattle. The New York Mets re-acquired Niese from Pittsburgh on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, bringing the left-handed pitcher back to where he played his first eight seasons in a trade that sent reliever Antonio Bastardo to the Pirates. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) (Elaine Thompson) The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates apparently had a couple of regrets to take care of leading up to the MLB trade deadline. Less than a year after the Pirates traded for Jon Niese from the Mets, and the Mets acquired former Pirate Antonio Bastardo as a free agent, both players are back where they were last season. According to FanRag Sports' Jon Heyman, the Mets and Pirates swapped the two lefties in a trade at the deadline Monday. jon niese goes back to mets in deal -- Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 1, 2016 The Mets drafted Niese in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, and, before this season, the southpaw had spent the duration of his career with New York, mostly as a starter. Niese began the 2016 season in the starting rotation, but the Pirates moved him to the pen in mid-July. He will likely remain in the bullpen for the Mets. So far this season, he has pitched to an 8-6 record with a 4.91 ERA in 18 starts and five relief appearances. He also has a 1.55 WHIP and has given up 21 home runs in 110 innings on the mound. Bastardo, meanwhile, will also return to the Pirates' bullpen. In 41 relief appearances in New York this season, he holds a 4.74 ERA and a 1.420 WHIP. He has struck out 46 batters in 43 2/3 innings of work. Yankees Rays Baseball New York Yankees starting pitcher Ivan Nova reacts after walking Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria during the third inning of a baseball game Friday, July 29, 2016, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) (Mike Carlson) With less than an hour left before the trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in talks with the New York Yankees about Ivan Nova, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported earlier in the week that the Yankees' ownership had given general manager Brian Cashman permission to trade the starter heading into Monday's deadline. Nova struggled in what was likely his last outing as a Yankee, giving up five runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays on July 29. Nova earned the loss in that appearance, giving him a 7-6 record with a 4.90 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. The Pirates have been looking for starting pitching and are also linked to matt Moore and Jake Odorizzi of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Pan-African banking group, the Ecobank Group (www.Ecobank.com), is the African Bankers 2021 African SME Bank of the Year. Ecobank beat a host of other banks in the African Banker Awards 2021 to take home the SME Award in a 2020 tumultuous year characterised by the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to ravage many African economies, with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) taking the greatest hit. Among other criteria, the African SME Bank of the Year award 2021 recognises the bank which has significantly contributed to the development of the SME sector, thus helping them to build the economic backbone of the continent. Part of the entry criteria required that the winning bank has significantly catalysed funding into the private sector in Africa and promoted enterprise development by facilitating credit and access to finance for SMEs. Since the onset of Covid-19, the Ecobank Group has considerably ramped up investments in programmes targeting SMEs by expanding SME-focused lines of credit, providing technical assistance to SME development institutions and building SMEs capacity via linkage programmes in partnership with its strategic partners. The Group has been at the forefront of promoting gender inclusion and closing the gender finance gap through innovative initiatives such as Ellevate by Ecobank that targets women-led and women-focused businesses across the continent. Ecobank Group Executive, Commercial Banking, Josephine Ankomah, said 2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. It required resilience and innovation. We needed to rethink our business and provide innovative ways to assist our SME customers to help them to survive the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. We are truly honoured to receive this recognition. Our immense gratitude goes to our staff, customers and partners who have made this possible. Some of the measures taken by the Bank to support SMEs in 2020 include: Proactively instituting mitigating actions, including tenor extensions and moratoriums on interest, to assist SMEs to manage their loan repayments; Increasing the utilisation of digital channels, such as Ecobank Omni Lite, to provide customers with capabilities to make payments remotely and conveniently; Upskilling staff to ensure their capacity to help develop the SME sector; Collaborating with existing risk sharing partners, particularly Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), to share a portion of the risk associated with our lending to the SME sector; Partnering with tech giant Google to provide SME customers with the means to develop free online presence through the Google My Business platform; Collaborating with the African Unions Development Agency AUDA-NEPAD to focus on strengthening Africas support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and assist their recovery from the impact of the pandemic by empowering MSMEs with access to capabilities, markets and finance, so that they can play a pivotal role in restarting Africas economies; Launch of Ellevate by Ecobank which is a women-owned and women-focused product offering women an end-to-end partnership, through which they gain access to both financial and non-financial services such as financial education, product information, networking and recognition; and Growing the number of merchants using Ecobanks point-of-sale (POS) terminals from 5,571 to 15,878, in addition to attracting significant onboards onto EcobankPay, our flagship QR collections platform, from 180,060 to 248,664. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe by Thom Forbes @tforbes, August 1, 2016 Like two bitter foes who agree to share a ride in a downpour, Didi Chuxing is buying Ubers brand, business and data in China in a deal that will create a new company said to be worth about $35 billion. The deal is a stark signal of how difficult it is for American Internet companies to thrive in China, write Paul Mozur and Mike Isaac in the New York Times. The merger is a great detente between the two companies, which for two years have been fighting relentlessly for market share in mainland China, spending tens of millions of dollars every month to attract riders and drivers. This is extraordinary because if you recall, just a month ago Didi was saying that this was not in the cards, Haidi Lun reports in a Bloomberg TV segment accompanying an article by Eric Newcomer and Lulu Yilun Chen that broke the story. advertisement advertisement The truce brings to an end a bruising battle between the two companies for leadership in Chinas fast-growing ride-hailing market, they write. Uber has been spending at least $1 billion a year to gain ground in China, while Didi offered its own subsidies to drivers and riders to build its business. Uber and investors in its Uber China unit will take a 20% stake in Didi, and it will be its largest shareholder, Rick Carew, Alyssa Abkowitz and Eva Dou report for the Wall Street Journal. Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick will join Didis board; Didi founder and CEO Cheng Wei will join Ubers board. The Chinese ride-hailing company will also invest $1 billion in Uber as part of the deal, a person familiar with the matter said, they write. Three years ago I traveled to China with a small group of people to see if we might be able to launch Uber there. It was an ambitious idea, given that we were still a relatively small start-up and no one there had ever heard of the company. Most of the people we asked for advice thought we were naive, crazy or both, Kalanick writes in a blog post leaked to several news organizations in advance of the formal announcement. However, as an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there, he continues. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term. Didis Cheng was a bit more detached in a statement announcing the agreement. Didi Chuxing and Uber have learned a great deal from each other over the past two years, he says. This agreement with Uber will set the mobile transportation industry on a healthier, more sustainable path of growth at a higher level. Now, everyone owns everyone everywhere, writesRecodes Kara Swisher. Consider: Didi has investments from China bigwigs Alibaba and Tencent and also has a partnership with Ubers U.S. rival Lyft, as well as with Grab of Indonesia, another Uber competitor. Apple recently made an investment in Didi and General Motors made one in Lyft. Ubers investors are everyone, including Chinas third powerhouse Baidu. It is also yet another object lesson in the perils of attempting to go it alone in China. Yi Beichen, a technology analyst and author of The Era of Mobile Internet, noted that Ubers tie-up with Didi marks yet another example of a big U.S. tech company trying and failing to make a go of it as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China. Online shop eBay lost out to Alibaba, while Google left amid concerns over hacking and censorship. Yahoo and MSN changed their ownership structures, write Tracey Lien, Paresh Dave and Julie Makinen for the Los Angeles Times. This is the trend, Yi said. In other Uber news yesterday, the Financial Times Leslie Hook reports that the San Francisco-based company will invest $500 million in developing its own maps after last year hiring Brian McClendon, who previously ran Google Maps and helped create Google Earth. By developing its own maps Uber could eventually reduce its reliance on Google Maps, which currently power the Uber app in most of the world, Hook writes while also reporting that the disruptive car-hailing company has expanded its business to more than 60 countries and provided more than two billion rides to passengers in them. When exactly is it, one wonders, when disruptive becomes mainstream? by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 1, 2016 It seems shocking, but 48% of companies and 46% of agencies participating in a study from Econsultancy, in partnership with Adobe Marketing Cloud released Friday, still don't have a mobile advertising and marketing strategy. Some 32% of companies and 43% of agencies say they have a strategy, but it's not well defined. About 60% of companies that don't have a mobile strategy don't know the percentage of Web site traffic that comes to their Web site via a mobile device, compared with 78% that do have a defined mobile strategy. Some 61% of companies that dont have a mobile strategy don't know the types of devices customers use, compared with 78% that do. On average, 28% of ecommerce sales are transacted on mobile devices -- up from 21% in 2015 and 16% in 2014. And while the rate is likely to accelerate, consumers want easier, more intuitive systems, where search creates the means to easier find the product and quickly checkout. advertisement advertisement The report points to Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay platform that drives 5 million transactions monthly, that more than 20% of the companys mobile transactions taking place this way. On the flip side, companies without a defined mobile strategy are more likely to draw less than 10% of their ecommerce revenue from mobile channels, 34% vs. 20%. Most companies and even more agencies realize they need a strategy. About 60% of companies and agencies in 2016 admit they will increase their investment, down from 62% in 2015, compared with decreasing at 2% and 3%, respectively. The study, Digital Intelligence Briefing: Taking Advantage of the Mobile Opportunity, shows why brands must not adapt old ideas to the smaller screen and realize there's no room for error or waste. Consumer tracking across devices gets pretty complicated for those that that don't have a mobile strategy. Only 34% that do not have a mobile strategy can track customers across different devices when they choose to authenticate and log in to the experience. And just 39% can provide relevant information to different segments of our users. It gets worse. Only 27% of companies that do not have a mobile strategy can track the effectiveness of paid, owned or earned media in driving user acquisition for mobile apps across the various app stores. Only 28% can provide real time messaging and experiences across multiple devices, and 28% can track users across devices in real time. It's clear from the data that most marketers make decisions about their mobile customers and approach without key pieces of information. Even the forward leaning 20% with a well-defined strategy lack some elements of mobile customer analysis, according to the research. Still, , businesses participating in the survey that can track their digital traffic say, on average, 37% of their total digital traffic is not via mobile, up from 31% in 2015. The proportion that say over half of their digital traffic is via mobile has increased by 56% since 2015, from 18% to 28%, according to the study. Tablet use is heaviest in Europe, where it accounts for 35% of mobile traffic to Web sites, comparted with 25% in North America, and 30% in APAC. by Ben Frederick @mp_benfred, August 1, 2016 Ride-sharing app Uber has reportedly merged its China business with Didi Chixung, Ubers main rival in China. The merger will result in the creation of a $35 billion company, and Uber will receive a $1 billion investment. Uber China investors will receive a 20% stake of the new company. As an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head, as well as following your heart, Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, wrote in a blog post reported by Bloomberg. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China, and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers and cities over the long term. advertisement advertisement Uber has sunk more than $2 billion in China to little effect, and neither it nor Didi have seen profits from their investments in the country. China has only recently passed a law legalizing ride-sharing businesses, which it previously suppressed. will allow for expansion of the businesses. The U.S.-based company is reportedly planning to spend $500 million on a global mapping project, which will wean its dependence on Google Maps. This will also make it more accurate in countries where there is a high volume of passengers, but less accurate maps. Uber appears to be consolidating its resources as it makes vertical moves toward driverless cars and proprietary mapping tech. by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, August 1, 2016 Strategic advisory firm MediaLink has tapped agency veteran Lena Petersen to be the firms first Chief Brand Officer. Shell remain based in Chicago, where the firm established an office in 2014 and will report to company founder and CEO Michael Kassan. Petersen will be responsible for developing and amplifying MediaLinks brand marketing activities, including the content tracks it creates at industry conferences such as Cannes, CES and dmexco. The firm said Petersen would augment existing franchises and develop new platforms at leading global conferences and events. Petersen will also be responsible for agency relations, including sponsorship opportunities, event development and branding and art direction for all programs and franchises. advertisement advertisement The addition of Petersen, the firm said, will allow Dee Salomon, MediaLinks CMO, to concentrate on the strategic marketing needs of its client roster. Petersen joins MediaLink from Publicis Media, formerly Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), where she was most recently EVP of Products and Partnerships, creating the agencys programs and other activities at Cannes, CES and other industry gatherings. Petersen joined SMG in 2000 from Leo Burnett to help launch Starcom as a stand-alone media agency. At Burnett, she was responsible for marketing communications efforts for the global network and its executives. Prior to joining Burnett, she worked in state government as Assistant Press Secretary for the Office of the Speaker and Illinois House Minority Leader. Lena is particularly adept at producing disruptive platforms and approaches that differentiate companies in crowded operating environments, stated Kassan. Separately the company has hired Macys veteran Jennifer Kasper to work with the advisory firms retail clients. Kasper, who is New York-based, is tasked with exploring how mobile and innovation at point-of-sale has influenced retailers go-to-market strategies and customer journey mapping. by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, August 1, 2016 Its a strange world out there, when the New York Post publishes something unflattering to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and a bunch of liberals get upset about it. But thats exactly what happened over the weekend when the NYPpublished 20-year-old nude pictures of Trumps wife Melania and caught hell from all over the political spectrum, condemned for displaying the kind of crass sensationalism you might expect from (gasp) a British tabloid. The photos of Trumps wife, including one in which she is nude with one hand strategically positioned over her midsection and another where she is lying on a bed embracing another nude woman, were taken in 1995 when she was a 25-year-old model. They were published a year later in a French magazine, Max, which is no longer in business. (Melania met Donald Trump in 1998 and they were married in 2005). The decision to publish the photos is puzzling. Setting aside the fact that the NYP, with its well-known conservative leanings, endorsed Trump for president back in April, theres really not much to justify the decision, even by a tabloids editorial standards. First, most people almost certainly already knew that Melania Trump worked as a model and had a number of nude photographs taken in her younger years, many of which are widely available online. (One revealing pic was tweeted during the Republican primary, setting off a tiff between Trump and then-rival Senator Ted Cruz). In other words, the shock value of the mere existence of these nude photos is just about zero. Further, as one might expect for a French periodical, the photos are quite artsy and tasteful not to say pretentious and therefore not really embarrassing or somehow incriminating. That is, except perhaps by the standards of the outdated Puritanism which Trumps nomination has effectively jettisoned. (It says a lot that nude pictures of the candidates wife are far and away the least of the GOPs worries this election year.) Indeed, public nudity has gradually become less of a taboo over the last decade. From Kim Kardashian breaking the Internet to Justin Biebers dad complimenting his endowment after paparazzi snapped him in the buff, people just dont seem as entangled in the inherent shame of our corporeal being as once they were. Which is all to the good, not to mention pleasantly ironic, as feminist anti-body-shamers are the ones taking the NYP to task here. Finally, from the purely prurient standpoint, the ubiquitous and immediate accessibility of literally every kind of pornography that anyone could ever imagine, and more besides, pretty much removes any value the photos had for purposes of titillation. The average 12-year-old boy can find something far more interesting on his smartphone in half the time it takes to plunk down two quarters for the Sunday print edition and without having to get his hands all smudgy with newsprint either. by Sara Guaglione , August 1, 2016 Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, filed for personal bankruptcy today, just as the banker behind Gawkers sale process revealed in an interview that there are between a dozen and two dozen parties interested in buying the bankrupt publisher. Alex Sherman, host of podcast Deal of the Week, discussed Gawker's potential buyers with Mark Patricof, who is advising the company on its financial options, as well as the co-head of Houlihan Lokeys Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group. It's a good business, Patricof said in the interview, which was held on Bloomberg TVs Bloomberg Markets program. As people have been able to go past what they read or what they've heard, they see a really quality, profitable media company. In this day and age, there aren't many of them on the Internet." Bloomberg TVs Scarlet Fu asked Patricof if he thought Denton would have a role in the future of the company. "Anyone buying this business should take Nick's role going forward seriously, Patricof said. advertisement advertisement Ultimately, however, Dentons future is in the hands of Gawkers next owner. Some of the buyers will think of him as a critical component, and some wont. And that will determine whether or not he stays. Nick has lots of other companies in mind, things he wants to do next, so hell be OK, Patricof said. Gawkers buyer will also get do decide whether Gawker, as a brand, lives. Time will pass, and it will stand firm as a quality brand and people will get over this issue. Others just dont want to go anywhere near it, Patricof said. In the interview, Patricof shut down speculation that Vox, Vice, Univision and PMC were potential bidders. Likely none of those are going to be in the process, he said. One company that will be in the process is Ziff Davis, which owns PC Magazine. The publisher set an opening bid of $90 million. The final day to bid is August 15. Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, after the company was slammed with a $140 million lawsuit in March in favor of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan (real name, Terry Gene Bollea). Lawyers argued that Gawker violated Hogans privacy by posting a 90-second film of him having sex with the wife of his friend, radio personality Todd Allen Clem, also known as Bubba the Love Sponge. It was later revealed that the lawsuit was secretly funded by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who Gawker had outed as being gay in a 2007 article. Today, Denton filed for personal bankruptcy to prevent Hogan from seizing his assets. Denton originally filed at a Florida appeals court to give him an emergency order that would block Hogan from collecting his dues, but his appeal was denied. According to a report from Reuters, Denton listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million, naming Hogan as his largest creditor. According to court documents, Denton is personally liable for $125 million of the $140 million judgment. Ironically, it seems that any press is good press. After Gawker received $22 million in emergency loans from Cerberus Capital, which allows it to maintain operations for now, traffic to Gawker Media sites has increased from about 92 million global monthly unique visitors in April to about 104 million monthly global unique visitors in July, according to Quantcast. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, August 1, 2016 Alphabet, Google's parent company, and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said Monday they will create a company to develop bioelectronic medicines. The two companies said they will explore and create the medicines of the future. The joint venture, named Galvani Bioelectronics, will be based in the United Kingdom. GSK will own 55% of the joint venture, with Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences division owning the remaining 45%. Initially, the two companies will fund Galvani with 540 million -- about $715 million -- during the next seven years, with a plan to have treatments ready for regulatory approval by 2023. Kris Famm, GSKs VP of Bioelectronics R&D, has been appointed president of the new company. He pioneered work in large and small molecule drug discovery and worked for a decade developing and delivering R&D strategy with a recurring focus on emerging technologies. The new company will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements. This agreement is subject to customary closing conditions including antitrust approvals and is expected to close before the end of 2016. advertisement advertisement Alphabet and GSK did not mention whether, or how, they will use the data from the research to further medicine or help the brand reach individuals in need. Many of the processes of the human body are controlled by electrical signals firing between the nervous system and the bodys organs, which may become distorted in many chronic diseases," explained Moncef Slaoui, GSK's chairman of global vaccines and the new company, in a prepared statement. "Bioelectronic medicines vision is to employ the latest advances in biology and technology to interpret this electrical conversation and to correct the irregular patterns found in disease states, using miniaturized devices attached to individual nerves." Slaoui, who was instrumental in establishing GSKs investments in the field of bioelectronics, said that if successful the approach offers the potential for a new therapeutic modality alongside traditional medicines and vaccines. Bioelectronic medicine is a relatively new field that aims to tackle a range of chronic diseases using miniaturized, implantable devices that can modify electrical signals that pass along nerves in the body, including irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses. Brian Otis, Verilys CTO, called the joint venture an "ambitious collaboration allowing GSK and Verily to combine forces" that could have a huge impact on an emerging field and the world of medicine. Overall incidence of type 2 diabetes has stabilised over recent years, according to a new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes), whilst mortality has declined, suggesting that increasing prevalence of the disease within the population may be attributed not to increasing numbers but to longer survival of patients with diabetes. The findings were not equal across the population, however: significant differences are noted based on gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing in all high-income countries, with significant health and economic implications. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that USD 156 billion was spent on diabetes health care in 2015, and that this is likely to rise to USD 174 billion by 2040. In Scotland, the prevalence of all types of diabetes has increased from 3.2% in 2004 to 5.1% in 2013. The distribution of demographic characteristics across the country is stable, so trends in prevalence are influenced by the balance between changes in incidence and mortality. The authors suggest that an understanding of these trends is necessary as new approaches in prevention and treatment are planned, so that interventions can be targeted to those sections of the population that are most at risk. The study focused on trends between 2004 and 2013 in Scotland, and was conducted by Dr Stephanie Read, University of Edinburgh, UK, with colleagues from various Scottish universities and NHS (National Health Service) organisations, on behalf of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network. Data regarding diabetes diagnosis, population estimates, and numbers of deaths each year grouped by age, sex, and deciles of SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) were obtained from the Scottish Care Information - Diabetes database and National Records Scotland. Incidence was considered as events per 1000 person years. Trends in incidence and mortality were analysed across the age, sex and SIMD groupings. The age range considered was 39-90. The study found that incidence rates over the whole study period decreased for older men and women, increased slightly for younger women, and increased for younger men, although the incidence rate for younger men declined after 2009. Whilst incidence declined over all socioeconomic groups the decline was slower in the more deprived groups and from 2010 the incidence in the most deprived groups appeared to increase, which the authors suggest may lead to widening inequality in diabetes incidence. Incidence in men was higher than for women in all age groups. The authors suggest that incidence rates may have stabilised partly because of a reducing pool of undiagnosed cases. This comes after marked increases in incidence during the 1990s and 2000s following changes in the diagnostic criteria made by the World Health Organisation in 1998, and an intensification of diagnostic activities in these decades. They also suggest that stabilisation of the incidence of adult obesity, an established risk factor for type 2 diabetes, will have helped stabilise diabetes incidence rates. Other European studies have also noted a stabilisation and/or decline in incidence of type 2 diabetes. Overall, standardised mortality rates declined by 11.5% for men and 15.7% for women during the study period, with similar declines across all ages and deprivation groups. Mortality rates were higher in the most deprived groups compared to the least deprived groups (We are only able to provide estimates for the most deprived and least deprived men and women aged 65 years, as shown in figure 2 in the full paper. The finding that mortality rates for people with type 2 diabetes had declined has been mirrored in previous studies, including in Denmark, Australia and the USA. The authors note, however, that the decline in mortality might not be due to earlier diagnosis or improved diabetes care. Whilst in 2014 the Scottish Diabetes Survey showed that during the study period there had been an increase in the numbers of people showing good diabetes control (as indicated by glycated haemoglobin [HbA1c] below 7.5% (58 mmol/mol)), mortality rates for people with type 2 diabetes remained 40% and 80% higher, for men and women respectively, than for those without diabetes. The authors recommend further research to identify the relative contributions of better treatment and better survival rates for people with type 2 diabetes. The authors conclude: "Despite improved mortality rates, type 2 diabetes confers an excess risk of death compared with the non-diabetic population...there is still scope to address the increased mortality associated with diabetes." They add: "Major inequalities by age, sex and socioeconomic status in type 2 diabetes incidence and mortality indicate that effective approaches to treatment and control will need to address existing inequalities." Article: Trends in type 2 diabetes incidence and mortality in Scotland between 2004 and 2013, Stephanie H. Read, Joannes J. Kerssens, David A. McAllister, Helen M. Colhoun, Colin M. Fischbacher, Robert S. Lindsay, Rory J. McCrimmon, John A. McKnight, John R. Petrie, Naveed Sattar, Sarah H. Wild, Diabetologia, doi: 10.1007/s00125-016-4054-9, published online 28 July 2016. Research shows way to test and treatment for ovarian cancer. Oxford University researchers have found a way to detect ovarian cancer early and identified an enzyme that is key in making ovarian cancer more deadly. Their results, published in two journals, provide new research routes for scientists trying to detect and beat the disease. Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer for women in the UK, with about 7100 new cases each year. However, it can be difficult to diagnose because it grows virtually unseen into the abdominal cavity. If detected early enough, ovarian cancer responds well to chemotherapy. However, once it metastasizes (spreads) it becomes resistant to chemotherapy and far more likely to kill. In their first paper, in the online journal EBioMedicine, the Oxford team show that levels of a protein called SOX2 are much higher in the fallopian tubes of people with ovarian cancer and also in some people who are at high risk of developing ovarian cancer such as those with inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Professor Ahmed Ahmed, from the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University, said: 'Ovarian cancer can be undetectable for up to four years and only a third of people with the cancer get an early diagnosis. A test for SOX2 could not only help detect cancers early but in some cases would enable us to detect a tumour before it becomes cancerous. 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 the second paper, in Cancer Cell, 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. The most common cause of death in ovarian cancer patients is malnutrition as the growing cancer obstructs the intestines. Professor Ahmed explained: '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. 'However, we have found that ovarian cancer could only proliferate - grow - 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. 'We continued this study of SIK2 and found that levels of the enzyme were higher in secondary tumours in the omentum than in the related primary tumours in the ovaries.' 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, where they become so much more deadly. Further experiments revealed the processes, know to medical researchers as 'pathways', involving SIK2 that support the development and spread of ovarian cancer. Professor Ahmed said: 'SIK2 is an important target for future treatments because it provides cancer cells with energy and also drives their increase in number. Our experiments showed that suppressing SIK2 disrupted these pathways, which in the human body would reduce the possibility of cancer cells spreading and 'coming back'.' Lord Maurice Saatchi, who campaigns for better access to cancer treatment, said: 'By explaining these very detailed processes, the Oxford team are providing maps for researchers working on ways to treat and defeat cancer. The more we understand, the closer we come to beating not just ovarian cancer, but all types of cancer.' Katherine Taylor, Chief Executive at research charity Ovarian Cancer Action, one of the study's funders, said: 'We need to save the lives of more women by making ovarian cancer treatment more effective. There has been little progress in ovarian cancer treatment in the past 30 years so these findings are promising, and have provided two areas of focus for scientists working on ovarian cancer. Early detection and effective treatment are vital, and these discoveries will hopefully being us closer to both.' Articles: Premalignant SOX2 overexpression in the fallopian tubes of ovarian cancer patients: Discovery and validation studies, Ahmed Ashour Ahmed et al., EBioMedicine, doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.06.048, published online 4 July 2016. Dialysis patients who smoke are much less likely to receive a life-saving kidney transplant and much more likely to die sooner according to researchers from the Health Research Institute (HRI) at the University of Limerick and UL's Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS). The findings, which are published in a study appearing online in the journal BMC Nephrology, provide compelling evidence that smoking reduces overall life expectancy of dialysis patients as well as their overall chances of receiving a kidney transplant. Approximately 2 million patients in the world are treated with dialysis every year. Kidney transplantation is by far the best option for most patients who develop kidney failure as it is associated with the best survival and quality of life. Patients with kidney failure who are on dialysis have life spans that can be one-fifth that of the general population according to Professor Austin Stack MD, Lead author and Consultant Nephrologist at UL Hospitals & Director of UL Health Research Institute (HRI). It is hugely important that we identify those factors that affect overall patient survival and quality of life, especially factors that can potentially be modified to improve patient lives. Although previous studies have clearly shown that smoking is a major risk factor for death in the general population, few studies have evaluated the impact of smoking among patients who develop kidney failure. In our study funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) and the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF), we assessed the impact of smoking among new dialysis patients and evaluated the extent to which it affected overall mortality rates and rates of kidney transplantation. Using data from the US Renal Registry, we followed 1,220, 000 patients, who began dialysis in the United States from 1995 to 2010, for an average for 2 years. Among the major findings we found that: Smokers were significantly more likely to die than non-smokers and this adverse risk was equally present for both men and women Smoking had a far greater negative impact on the lifespans of younger men and women than among older patients Smoking was associated with higher death rates for all patients but the adverse impact was far greater for those with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions including coronary disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease Smokers were significantly less likely to receive a kidney transplant than non-smokers and this adverse risk was equally present for both men and women Smokers with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions had the lowest risk of receiving a kidney transplant The relationship of smoking with higher death rates and lower kidney transplantation rates was not explained by concurrent illness, socioeconomic status, or differences in care provided to patients prior to or after initiating dialysis. "Dialysis patients have extremely high premature death rates that are between 10- and 100-fold higher than in the general population, and smoking contributes substantially to lower patient survival," said Professor Stack, senior author of the study, Consultant Nephrologist at University Hospital Limerick and Director of ULs Health Research Institute. "Smoking is a well-known risk factor for death and disability for patients in the general population. Our study, one of the largest ever conducted; found that smokers have alarmingly high rates of premature death. Quite strikingly, the risks of death were far greater in younger men and younger women than in older patients. Equally concerning, dialysis patients who smoked experienced lower rates of kidney transplantation and thus the opportunity to extend survival and quality of life. These risks were considerable in that smokers were between 26% and 50% less likely to receive a kidney transplant taking all other factors into consideration. "Smoking is a major risk amplifier for all patients on dialysis" said Dr Stack. Consequently, we believe that kidney specialists and all healthcare providers should engage with their patients to pursue smoking cessation strategies at each and every opportunity". Without these proteins, skin stem cells are lost. The study headed by Salvador Aznar Benitah at IRB Barcelona has been published in Cell Stem Cell. Our skin renews, heals wounds, and regenerates the hair that covers it thanks to a small group of stem cells. These cells continually produce new ones, which appear on the skin surface after a few days. A study led by ICREA researcher Salvador Aznar Benitah and undertaken at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has identified two proteins that are fundamental to conserve skin stem cells and has shown that without these proteins these cells are lost. The study, which has been published today in Cell Stem Cell, has involved Luciano Di Croce's group at the Center for Genomic Regulation (acronym in Spanish CRG). The proteins identified, Dnmt3a y Dnmt3b, are crucial for the self-renewal of skin stem cells as they trigger the first step of the genetic programme of these cells. "Without them, this programme is not activated and the stem cells collapse and disappear from the tissue," explains Salvador Aznar Benitah, head of the Stem Cells and Cancer lab at IRB Barcelona. Lorenzo Rinaldi, a "la Caixa" PhD student and first author of the study, has identified all the regions of the genome that harbour these proteins. Rinaldi has observed that these two proteins exert their activity on gene enhancers and superenhancers - regions far away from the genes that can increase gene transcription speed up to 200-fold - among other regions. "It was surprising to see that two proteins that have always been associated with gene repression through DNA methylation are activated in the most transcriptionally active regions of stem cells. We had never observed this activity because we were unable to study the global distribution of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b at the genomic level. Thanks to advances in sequencing techniques, more researchers are observing the very mechanism that we have described," explains Rinaldi. Of the 12,000 gene enhancers in the genome, about 300 are superenhancers related to stem cells. The two proteins exert their function in these regions in order to trigger the approx. 1,000 genes required for the self-renewing capacity of stem cells. By methylating the superenhancer, these proteins trigger the first step of the machinery that leads to the amplified expression of these essential genes for the stem cell. Link to cancer There are various features related to cancer cells. Among these, first, these cells show altered DNA methylation. Second, gene enhancers are highly mutated, not only in the bodies of the genes themselves. These observations have been made possible thanks to mass sequencing of tumour cell genomes. Third, these two proteins, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, are altered in many types of tumour, such as those encountered in leukaemia, the lung, and the colon. "Each of these three components is associated with the development of various kinds of cancer. Given that these proteins activate gene expression enhancers through DNA methylation, we believe that it would be of interest to study them in cancer cells in order to determine whether they participate in tumour development," concludes Dr. Aznar Benitah. The study has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and ERDFs. Dr. Aznar Benitah's lab is also supported by The European Council for Research (ERC), the Worldwide Cancer Research Foundation, the Fundacio Marato de TV3, the Fundacion Vencer el Cancer, the Fundacion Botin and the Government of Catalonia. Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. Ovarian cysts are fluid-filled sacs that occur within the ovary. They are fairly common among women in the reproductive age group. Most ovarian cysts are formed during the course of the menstrual cycle . Cysts may be of variable size. They are usually harmless, cause no symptoms and very often detected during a routine pelvic examination. Most cysts resolve on their own. Very rarely cysts may undergo complications or turn out to be cancerous. Such cysts need prompt treatment and removal. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) affects millions of women but is not a cystic disease of the ovary as the name indicates but results in multiple medical problems and serious health risks. PCOS has a genetic component and the person has menstrual irregularities, diabetes due to resistance to insulin. PCOS is not an ovarian condition. Ovarian cysts may be functional or neoplastic. Functional cysts are formed during the course of the normal menstrual cycle. They are generally harmless and usually resolve on their own within two to three months. are formed during the course of the normal menstrual cycle. They are generally harmless and usually resolve on their own within two to three months. Neoplastic cysts occur when there is inappropriate proliferation of cells within the ovary. They may be benign or malignant (cancerous). They are not related to the normal menstrual cycle. Advertisement Types of Functional Cysts Follicular Cysts form when the follicle does not rupture normally and release the egg (ovum). Instead it grows and develops into a cyst. form when the follicle does not rupture normally and release the egg (ovum). Instead it grows and develops into a cyst. Corpus Luteal Cyst After the follicle ruptures and releases the egg, it develops into a structure called the corpus luteum. Occasionally a cyst may form in the corpus luteum when the opening formed during the release of the egg seals off and fluid accumulates within. After the follicle ruptures and releases the egg, it develops into a structure called the corpus luteum. Occasionally a cyst may form in the corpus luteum when the opening formed during the release of the egg seals off and fluid accumulates within. Theca Lutein Cysts also known as hyperreactio luteinalis because the ovaries may enlarge greatly in size. They are typically multiple and seen bilaterally. Usually seen in gestational trophoblastic disease. Types of Neoplastic Cysts Dermoid Cyst The name derives from the fact that these cysts are lined on the inside by cells resembling those of the skin. Inside the cyst, one may find sebaceous or oily material, desquamated squames ("dandruff), hair and even a tooth occasionally. Cystadenoma/cystadenocarcinoma These growths (tumors) arise from the lining cells of the ovary. Many of them are partly cystic. When the growth is benign it is termed a cystadenoma. If it is cancerous, it is referred to as cystadenocarcinoma. These growths (tumors) arise from the lining cells of the ovary. Many of them are partly cystic. When the growth is benign it is termed a cystadenoma. If it is cancerous, it is referred to as cystadenocarcinoma. Endometrioma Occasionally, uterine tissue may be found on other sites such as ovary, tubes and even rectum. Such ectopically occurring uterine tissue may enlarge and become a tumor (endometrioma). Cystic change may occur within this tumor and typically the cysts contain blood. These cysts are termed hemorrhagic cysts. When the blood turns dark brown over time, these cysts are referred to as chocolate cysts. Hormonal Disturbance Polycystic ovary syndrome, or SteinLeventhal syndrome, is a hormonal disturbance. The ovaries of these women contain numerous follicular cysts. Clinically it presents with menstrual irregularities, obesity; and signs of virilization, such as hirsutism. Infertility is a major problem. Endometriosis Condition where the uterine tissue is found in ectopic sites e.g. ovaries, tubes and rectum. Usually there are no symptoms and maybe discovered during a routine ultrasound scan of abdomen or pelvis. When symptoms are present they include - Feeling of heaviness in the abdomen Dull pain in the lower hips that may radiate to back and thighs Painful intercourse (dyspareunia) Feeling the urge to urinate if the cyst presses on the bladder Pain during bowel movements Nausea, vomiting heartburn and indigestion Painful periods Complications occur infrequently. They include - Torsion Large cysts displace the ovaries from their usual location within the pelvis. Due to this, the ovary may undergo twisting or torsioncausing severe abdominal pain often associated with nausea and vomiting. Large cysts displace the ovaries from their usual location within the pelvis. Due to this, the ovary may undergo often associated with nausea and vomiting. Rupture and bleeding Occasionally a cyst may rupture into the peritoneal cavity causing peritonitis. If bleeding has occurred, patient may be in shock. They may present with fainting, weak and rapid pulse and low blood pressure. Requires immediate hospitalization. An ovarian cyst may be detected during a routine pelvic examination. Further investigations may be required to find the size of the cyst, and type. This will help in deciding further treatment. Advertisement Pregnancy Test If the patient is pregnant, it is more likely that the cyst is a corpus luteum cyst. It will generally resolve by 14-16 weeks. Further investigations may be needed if the cyst persists beyond 16 weeks. Pelvic Ultrasound Diagnostic test is done to detect the size and nature of ovarian cysts, whether functional, benign or cancerous. Diagnostic test is done to detect the size and nature of ovarian cysts, whether functional, benign or cancerous. Laparoscopy - Surgical procedure that introduces an instrument called laparoscope through a surgical incision on the anterior abdominal wall. The structures of the abdominal and pelvic cavity are visualized including the ovaries. If any abnormalities are detected, the ovary may be removed. Laparoscopy offers the advantage of reduced hospital stay and costs for the patient. The post-operative discomfort involved is also lesser and recovery occurs faster. CA-125 Levels Blood levels of this protein are elevated in ovarian cancer. However this test is not diagnostic of ovarian malignancy. The levels are also elevated in other non-cancerous conditions such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids and pelvic inflammatory disease. Also the test is not of value in pregnancy as the values are known to widely fluctuate. Wait and Watch Policy Ovarian cysts, especially the functional type are fairly common in women in the reproductive age group. If the cyst is small, filled with fluid only, and shows no features suspicious of cancer, the doctor may decide to adopt a wait and watch policy. He may recommend pelvic ultrasound examination at regular intervals to monitor the size of the cyst and look for other changes. Most functional cysts resolve completely within three months. Birth Control Pills These may be prescribed to reduce the chance of formation of functional cysts in the future. In addition, they reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Surgery This may be necessary for symptomatic cysts with pain, increase in size, or in cases of suspected cancer. Generally ovarian cysts that occur in the post-menopausal age group are treated surgically as cancer is more common in this age group. The type of surgery depends on the nature of the disease, age of the patient, and the patients desire to have children. If the cyst is cancerous, complete removal of the uterus (hysterectomy), along with both the ovaries and tubes may be necessary (bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy). If the patient wishes to have children, only the affected ovary (oophorectomy) may be removed, leaving the other ovary intact. If both the ovaries are affected, then a procedure called cystectomy is performed. It involves removal of only the cystic portions, leaving the unaffected parts of the ovary behind. Most pregnancy-associated cysts are follicular or corpus luteal cysts. They generally resolve within 14-16 weeks of pregnancy. If the cyst persists for longer, it has to be evaluated by ultrasound study. If the cyst appears benign and asymptomatic, no further intervention is required. Symptomatic ovarian cysts, and cysts that look cancerous on ultrasound examination may require removal. A CT scan will be required before planning surgery. The timing of surgery is decided based on the risk to fetus and consequences of delaying treatment for the patient. Health tips Women in the reproductive age group should undergo a complete gynecological check-up at least once a year. On the occasion of the second anniversary of the 2014 Gaza War, Hamas's deputy foreign minister and former spokesman Ghazi Hamad wrote an article in the online Gazan daily Alwatanvoice.com, in which he criticized Palestinian elements that constantly talk of the next war with Israel and boast in advance about their victory in it. He said that such talk reflected hastiness and shallowness, for war was a serious and frightening business, not a matter for muscle-flexing and for adventurism. Ghazi Hamad (Image: Amad.ps) Hamad called on the Palestinians to base their future struggle against Israel on quick surprise attacks rather than all-out war. He noted that in the three Gaza wars (of 2008/2009, 2012 and 2014) the Palestinians sustained heavy losses in lives and property, whereas Israel barely sustained any damage at all. On the other hand, "small stabs to all parts of [Israel's] body hurt it, exhaust it and place it under intense public pressure, while the price that the Palestinian side must pay [for such operations] is less harmful and painful." It should be mentioned that Hamad's article was also published in Hamas's daily Filastin but was removed from its website a short while later. The article was also removed from Alwatanvoice.com itself only a few days after its posting - which suggests that it sparked intense criticism in Gaza. It should also be noted that this is not the first time Hamad has criticized Hamas. In 2009 he wrote an article in which he urged the Palestinians not to delude themselves that they had won the 2008 Gaza war, and in 2006 he urged them to acknowledge mistakes they had made.[1] 'Issam Shawar, a columnist for Hamas dailies, wrote an article in which he rejected Hamad's claim that the wars with Israel have not been effective. He noted that the war with Israel caused it to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and that Hamas has managed to create deterrence vis-a-vis Israel. He added that resistance operations of the kind Hamad advocated also tended to lead to war with Israel. The following are excerpts from the two articles: Ghazi Hamad: Some Of Us Boast Of Victory In A Future War With Israel - This Is A Big, Shallow, Rash Mistake "There is a lot of talk about war, as though this is the option or path to which events will necessarily lead us, [even if] we do not want it. Then, people get carried away talking about expectations and scenarios... and about the chances for victory or defeat. Some [of us] are quick to decide in advance that they will win, no matter the price. This attests to great shallowness and rashness. First they say that a coming war is inevitable, then they backtrack from their exaggerations [and say], 'we are not working to bring war closer'... Some have attempted to hasten the war['s arrival] and threatened anyone who approaches the Gaza border. [But] wars do not require words, speeches, or predictions - rather, they require observation, understanding, and judgement... "Those who speak often of war are making serious mistakes that should be avoided. [War] is not a matter for muscle-flexing, boastfulness, or chauvinistic speeches. War is serious and frightening. It means bloodshed, killing, the destruction of everything relating to life, terrifying sights, and land that devours a man's flesh. War can be ignited, but [we] do not always know how to extinguish it. It should be approached very seriously, with rationality, thought, and reason. It is not a field trip - neither here [in Gaza] nor there [in Israel]... "We must answer several questions. In the Palestinian arena, there is no long-term strategic thought, and its temporary substitute is always the tactic of the routine preparation and readiness [for war] without taking it upon ourselves to seek answers to urgent strategic questions: Is war the only preferable option? Is Gaza, with its geographic and demographic makeup, fit to wage open war, and should Gaza always bear alone the brunt and consequences of war? Are there no more effective, less harmful options? Does the national public have an encompassing and mature view of the concept and methods of resistance, so that it achieves real ends, in order for us not to become caught up in a dispute over assessing the achievements and damages of the war? "Before anyone [hastens] to formulate exaggerated slogans about me, let me reiterate that resistance is a legitimate and undisputed right. But the question remains: What is the preferred model for resistance against a barbaric, aggressive country that is armed to the teeth and that is defended by the international laws of the jungle? We must respond to this, so that we can achieve as many positive cumulative outcomes as possible, and not settle for modest results that are not worth the sacrifices made for them..." Israel's Arsenal Is Among The Strongest In The Region, We Must Be Creative In Our Struggle Against It "Anyone who wants to wage a war must study it from start to finish and examine its outcome - as this relates to our people's reality.... future, life, and stability. Wars are measured not just by number of victims or acts of heroism, but by their outcome. Anyone who ignores outcomes and thinks they are of no value, or adapts them to his own desires, stands against life's rules and laws. Outcomes, especially political ones, need to be examined according to professional and non-emotional standards. There is no room for gambling, adventures, or mistakes in such crucial decisions... "Israel's arsenal is effectively among the strongest in the Middle East. It has substantial intelligence and security capabilities, and an unrestrained capacity for mass destruction and killing and for carrying out massacres with no one to deter it. It is guaranteed the silence of the countries in the region, and the international community, to the point of conspiracy. The worst part is that it covers the expenses of the war by requiring the other side to buy all materials necessary for rebuilding [after it]. This does not mean we should be helpless or surrender, but rather that we must think creatively about how to deal with Israel and break its arrogance. On the other hand, the resistance in Gaza has modest options in a small and exposed tract of land, with no backing or help in the region - though, first and foremost, it has steely willpower and determination to fight... "Despite the resistance's steadfastness and fighting spirit, and despite the extraordinary achievements and blows it has dealt against the enemy in the [last] three wars, Israel has heavily damaged the Gaza Strip with regard to life and property, and has brought [Gaza's] economy back to square one: Unemployment increased, and the rebuilding of Gaza is very expensive; some elements might exploit [this] for political blackmail against Gaza." The Option Of Resistance Is Preferable To Open War With Israel "The Palestinians are in a situation of resistance, and they must not exceed that. Throughout history, and according to experience, rules and principles dictate how the resistance movement operates, and it does so based on sporadic attacks and retreat, striking at the underbelly, and avoiding direct conflict as much as possible - meaning that we must conduct 'guerrilla warfare.' "We are not a regular army, and we do not have to design and establish the resistance on such a basis, as doing so would contradict reality as well as the philosophy and methods of the resistance. Unfortunately, there are those who exaggerate greatly, deluding themselves that the 'resistance groups' should become a 'regular army' ready for any war or conflict... "This is an exaggeration that we cannot accept; it reflects rashness, and ignorance of a realistic view of the situation. Open conflict with the occupation creates a complex reality for the resistance and for [Gaza] Strip residents that is not easy to control in light of the insane attacks and widespread waves of destruction, and in light of the fact that [during war] the resistance runs out of ammunition and capabilities. The ability to achieve swift and real goals in [such] a war is doubtful. "It is true that the resistance's heroism and steadfastness have impacted the [Israeli] army's view as well as its strategic and tactical plans, and have created a situation of fear and instability in Israeli society. More importantly, it has been proven that [Israel's use of] the military option, powerful as it may be, will not bring the outcome that Israel desires. However, we must understand that so far, three wars have not compelled it to change its policy on issues like the political solution, the siege, and the construction of settlements. [Israel] has also not, as some have argued, changed its hostile security and military doctrine. "Israel has waged many wars with Arab countries, Hizbullah, and the Palestinian resistance. Politicians, generals, analysts, and experts in the [Israeli] political and military elite have begun to agree that [for Israel,] the option of open war is preferable for striking strong and devastating decisive blows. On the other hand, Israel is deterred by swift attacks and operations against its soldiers, settlers, and citizens, as happened in the 1990s. Small stabs to all parts of [Israel's] body hurt it, exhaust it and place it under intense public pressure, while the price that the Palestinian side must pay [for such operations] is less harmful and painful. The difference between the two options indicates that the option of resistance in the classic sense is better than that of open war." Boasting Of Factions Does Operational Damage To The Resistance "Some factions exaggerate their ability and strength. Moreover, they show their cards and advantages. Some repeatedly republish what is published by the Israeli papers [about Hamas's capabilities], as a sort of boasting, and see this as part of 'raising morale.' [But] in my humble opinion, this achieves the opposite result: It enables the enemy to open its eyes, find preventative defensive countermeasures, and shape its thinking regarding the resistance factions and their modus operandi. For instance, don't you see that the recurring talk of the tunnels and the tunnel men has encouraged Israel, with its political, security, military, and even social elements, to seek practical solutions and devote billions of shekels to thwarting this danger?? There are many ways of raising morale, spurring and encouraging people, and recruiting all our energies, without getting involved in showing our hand and attracting the enemy's attention. We have a chance to think logically, and to achieve better results that will harm our enemies even more. "Let us say clearly that the option of war, whether we want it or it is forced on us, is not the best option. We should avoid it as much as possible - not to avoid conflict, but rather to achieve better results in fighting the enemy. There are plenty of alternatives, and there are many options and opportunities."[2] Gaza Journalist Responds To Hamad: The Resistance Managed To Created Deterrence In response to Hamad's article, 'Issam Shawar, a columnist for Hamas websites, wrote on the online daily Alwatanvoice.com: "One of the mistakes made by Dr. Ghazi Hamad is that he believes that the history of jihad wars against the occupation began with the first Gaza war [in December 2008-January 2009]. So, Dr. Ghazi inadvertently forgot the many achievements of the resistance, including liberating Gaza from the Israeli occupation, including its abandonment of all its settlements [referring to the disengagement], which in itself breaks Israel's military and security doctrine... Dr. Ghazi also believes that the resistance has the option of avoiding war, and he urges it to seek another model of resistance for arriving at achievements... Here I will make three comments: "First, every time Israel attacks in Gaza, it excuses its attacks by blaming resistance operations, which mostly are retaliation for the aggression of the occupation. I am surprised that Dr. Ghazi, who is well versed in Israeli military and security doctrine, believes that Israel will absorb painful individual attacks without launching a war against the resistance, since it blamed the war in Gaza on the resistance, namely on [Hamas's] abduction of the Israeli soldier [Gilad] Shalit, even though it was one of the individual operations against Israeli soldiers. "Second, Dr. Ghazi prefers that there be national consent for the resistance. But we know that there are two opinions among the Palestinians: One espouses all forms of resistance, and the other opposes all forms of military resistance. So the Palestinians cannot agree on the resistance, only on a ceasefire with Israel. "Third, war is not an option for any Palestinian element, and never was. [It is the] the occupation state that forces it on us, because it destroys and kills, and bears the sole responsibility for its crimes, which will never end or let up without the deterrence that the resistance, particularly the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, has attained, whether Dr. Ghazi can acknowledge this or not... "As for Hamad's claim that it was the repeated talk about the tunnels that motivated Israel to find a solution to them, I do not think so. Israel operated against the tunnels solely on the basis of the nightmares it has suffered since the Nahal Oz operation [July 2014 tunnel attack that killed five IDF soldiers], the kidnapping of Hadar Goldin [using tunnels in Gaza], and other heroic operations carried out by the Martyr 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades using tunnels."[3] Endnotes: The Cyber & Jihad Lab monitors, tracks, translates, researches, and analyzes cyber jihad originating from the Middle East, Iran, South Asia, and North and West Africa. It innovates and experiments with possible solutions for stopping cyber jihad, advancing legislation and initiatives federally including with Capitol Hill and attorneys-general and on the state level, to draft and enforce measures that will serve as precedents for further action. It works with leaders in business, law enforcement, academia, and families of terror victims to craft and support efforts and solutions to combat cyber jihad, and recruits, and works with technology industry leaders to craft and support efforts and solutions. Within the framework of the separate bilateral ministerial meetings that took place today, Monday, 1 August 2016, in Sofia, at the Greece-Bulgaria High-Level Cooperation Council, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias met with his Bulgarian counterpart, Daniel Mitov. During the meeting, the two Foreign Ministers reaffirmed the excellent climate of cooperation between the two countries and decided on the activation of a number of joint collaborations between the two countries within the European Union beyond the already existing cooperation within the EU as well as in the Balkan space. More specifically, they decided on the coordination of the two countries actions on issues related to the study of the repercussions of the UK referendum and to the debate that has opened on the future of Europe. The two Foreign Ministers subsequently signed within the framework of the High-Level Cooperation Council the Executive Programme for Bilateral Educational and Cultural cooperation for the years 2016-2018. Kerrville, TX (78028) Today Showers and a possible thunderstorm during the morning will give way to partly cloudy skies this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 68F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Cloudy. Gusty winds this evening. Low 48F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. 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. 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. Army civilian, who specialized in burns and trauma research, was among the 16 killed in a recent hot-air balloon accident in Central Texas. Matt Rowan and his wife, Sunday Rowan, were among those on board, his brother Josh Rowan told the Associated Press. Rowan had just taken on a permanent position as chief of clinical trials for burns and trauma in July at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, Steven Galvan, an institute spokesman, told Military.com. The recently married couple from San Antonio, both 34, had texted family and posted on social media pictures of the balloon being set up, the rising sun and them in the basket. "It's a bit haunting now," Josh Rowan told the AP on July 31. The hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, according to federal authorities investigating the worst such disaster in U.S. history. A power line was tripped at 7:42 a.m. July 30, and the first call to 911 came a minute later, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference. The crash site was near a row of high-tension power lines, and aerial photos showed an area of scorched land underneath. The NTSB said the balloon was run by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. The passengers met the balloon operator in the San Marcos Wal-Mart parking lot at about 5:45 a.m. Saturday, and traveled to Fentress Texas Airpark. Ground crew members told the NTSB that they launched about 20 minutes after the expected 6:45 a.m. time. The balloon traveled about eight miles from takeoff to crash, and the basket was found about three-quarters of a mile from the balloon material itself. Identification of the victims will be "a long process," Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law quoted the NTSB and medical professionals as saying, according to the AP. --The Associated Press contributed to this report. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two former high-ranking colleagues were wrong to speak at the political conventions. Both retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn broke with the apolitical traditions of the U.S. military in their highly charged addresses -- Allen in support of Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention and Flynn in support of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, Dempsey said. In a letter to The Washington Post, Dempsey also said that Clinton and Trump were wrong to use Allen and Flynn as proxies for their political agendas. "Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage. The American people should not wonder where their military leaders draw the line between military advice and political preference," he said. "And our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines should not wonder about the political leanings and motivations of their leaders," he added. Critics will likely charge that Dempsey himself has offered views that could be considered political, even while in uniform, but his brief letter of two paragraphs also appeared to reflect his long-standing concern that the bitterness of the current political discourse was damaging to the military. "I think we've been a bit distracted recently on the way we've been talking about the world and talking about the homeland," Dempsey said earlier this month in an interview with National Public Radio. "I mean, we've seemed as though we've kind of pushed ourselves to the ideological edges, and where we really need to be is in the middle. And so I am concerned." In his letter to the Post, Dempsey said Allen and Flynn "weren't introduced at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively, as 'John' and 'Mike.' They were introduced as generals. As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions." By appearing at the conventions, Allen and Flynn, "have just made the task of their successors -- who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security -- more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so." In his speech to the DNC, Allen, the former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, attacked Trump by inference. With Clinton as commander-in-chief, "our international relations will not be reduced to a business transaction," Allen said. "I also know that our armed forces will not become an instrument of torture, and they will not be engaged in murder or carry out other illegal activities," he said. At the RNC, Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency who had been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Trump, said, "We are tired of Obama's empty speeches and his misguided rhetoric. This, this has caused the world to have no respect for America's word, nor does it fear our might." Flynn also criticized "political correctness," a frequent theme at Trump rallies, and debates over transgender bathrooms. "My God, war is not about bathrooms. War is not about political correctness or words that are meaningless. War is about winning," Flynn said. "My message to you is very clear: Wake up, America! There is no substitute for American leadership and exceptionalism." In the course of the political campaign, senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle have occasionally used hearings in attempts to draw out the Pentagon's leadership on statements made by the candidates. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford have declined, but Dunford has spoken in general terms without mentioning Trump's name when asked about waterboarding and torture. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in May, Dunford was questioned by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who lost to Trump in the primaries, whether the use of extreme interrogation techniques would go against "American values" and adversely impact on troop morale. Graham also avoided using Trump's name but said "some have suggested that we intentionally target civilians or go back to waterboarding. What effect, if any, would this have on the warfighter if we started telling our men and women to intentionally target civilian non-combatants and engage in techniques such as waterboarding or more extreme forms of interrogation?" Dunford responded, "I've said publicly before, our men and women -- we ought to be proud of it -- when they go to war they go with the values of our nation. And those kind of activities you've described are inconsistent with the values of our nation and, quite frankly, I think would have an adverse effect." Dunford said one of those adverse effects "would be on the morale of the force, and what you're suggesting are things that actually aren't legal for them to do anyway" under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the law of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions. --Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. U.S. warplanes hit the ISIS stronghold of Sirte in Libya in support of the Tripoli government's efforts to retake the port city, the Pentagon said Monday. The airstrikes were authorized by President Barack Obama on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. The release didn't describe the duration of the strikes, the type of aircraft used or whether they were land- or carrier-based. The airstrikes were requested by the Libyan Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli and is supported by the United Nations, according to the statement. The strikes were aimed at defeating ISIS "in its primary stronghold in Libya," it said. Efforts to retake Sirte have bogged down in recent weeks, and the U.S. will provide additional airstrikes to oust ISIS from the city, the statement said. "GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL thus far around Sirte, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte in order to enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance," the statement said, using another acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. "These actions and those we have taken previously will help deny ISIL a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies," it added. ISIS established its primary north African base in Sirte last year, taking advantage of political upheaval in Libya following the ousting of ruler Moammar Gadhafi. It was not the first time U.S. airstrikes targeted ISIS in Libya. In February, U.S. warplanes hit a suspected ISIS training camp west of Tripoli. Cook said at the time that the strikes "made it clear that we need to confront to ISIL wherever it rears its head." While the airstrikes Monday indicated that the U.S. might be involved in more direct action in Libya in terms of providing more aid, advice and support to the struggling government, for now "the extent of our support is those airstrikes" on Monday, Cook said at a later news briefing. Cook said "our assistance will be limited to strikes in this area" around Sirte, which the government forces have been trying to retake since May. The Libyan government "will be determining the pace" of U.S. airstrikes in the requests they make, he said. Cook said a total of three U.S. airstrikes had been conducted in Syria, but Monday's airstrike marked a new phase of the campaign. The previous airstrikes in November and February were aimed at ISIS leaders, or "high-value" targets, while Monday's airstrike was in support of Libyan government troops. The November and February strikes originated from U.S. bases in Britain. Cook declined to say where Monday's strike came from. Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said the U.S. strikes in Sirte would not be the last against ISIS to be requested by his government. In a televised statement, Sarraj, a former Housing Ministry official under Gadhafi who now doubles as head of Libya's presidency council, said that the presidency council in its role as overseer of the military requested Monday's airstrike. "The first strikes started today in positions in Sirte, causing major casualties," Sarraj said. "This is the time for the international community to live up to its promises to the Libyan people." Cook declined to say whether the airstrikes were carried out by drones or fixed-wing aircraft, but said the initial U.S. assessment was that an ISIS tank and two vehicles were destroyed. The tank had been in approximately the same location for some time and had been effectively holding up the advance of government forces while also targeting civilians, Cook said. The airstrikes requested by the Libyan government were approved by Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the new head of U.S. Africa Command, Cook said. The legal justification for the strikes came from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force enacted by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Obama administration has relied on the same AUMF for strikes against ISIS and al-Qaida in Libya, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. The administration has argued for a new AUMF, but Congress has yet to act. No U.S. troops were on the ground in Libya to act as forward controllers in spotting targets for Monday's airstrikes, Cook said. Small numbers of U.S. Special Forces have been on the ground in Libya previously in the process of "getting a picture" of the tactical situation, but there currently were no U.S. troops in Libya, he said. In addition to U.S. Special Forces, French, British and Italian special operations forces have also been assisting Libyan forces against ISIS. Several French commandos were killed earlier this month while operating in Libya. The U.S. had previously estimated that there might be as many as 6,000 ISIS fighters in Libya, but Cook said that the numbers had come down rapidly. He said there were now an estimated 1,000 ISIS fighters in Libya, and several hundred of those were believed to be holding Sirte. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Depending on your PT test, the order of swimming may best be determined by where it is in the order of events of that test. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Altona Mining Ltd.: Bedeutende Bohrziele auf Roseby South identifiziert BEDEUTENDE BOHRZIELE AUF ROSEBY SOUTH IDENTIFIZIERT Zwei neue groe sehr reichhaltige Kupferanomalien im Boden mit anomalen Gehalten von bis zu 4,6 % Kupfer auf Harvest und 5,6 % Kupfer auf Hobby. Beide Anomalien sind mit den Ergebnissen aus Altonas Lagerstatte Little Eva vergleichbar. Gesteinssplitterproben mit bis zu 14,4 % Kupfer und 0,74 g/t Gold auf Harvest und 23,3 % Kupfer und 2,9 g/t Gold auf Hobby. Das beste Ergebnis der wenigen in den 1990er-Jahren auf Harvest niedergebrachten Bohrungen war 74 m mit 0,52 % Kupfer und 0,11 g/t Gold. Die Bohrungen werden in den kommenden Monaten beginnen. Altona Mining Limited (Altona oder das Unternehmen http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=296468) gibt bekannt, dass das Unternehmen zwei neue groe und sehr reichhaltige Kupferanomalien im Boden auf seinem sich vollstandig in Unternehmensbesitz befindlichen Projekt Roseby South (Roseby South) in der Nahe des Mt Isa in Queensland abgegrenzt hat. Roseby South liegt unmittelbar an der Sudgrenze des Projekts Cloncurry des Unternehmens und MMGs groer Untertagezinkmine auf Dugald River (Abbildung 5). Das Projekt Cloncurry unterliegt einem geplanten Joint Venture im Wert von 235,5 Mio. USD (JV) mit Sichuan Railway Investment Group (SRIG). Nahere Informationen hinsichtlich des SRIG JV finden Sie in der Pressemitteilung vom 2. Juni 2016. Roseby South ist eine sich zu 100 % im Besitz der Altona befindliche Explorationsliegenschaft. Sie ist nicht Teil der Vereinbarungen mit SRIG. Das Projekt Roseby South besitzt zwei gewahrte Explorationsgenehmigungen (Exploration Permits for Minerals, EPM), die eine Flache von ungefahr 476 km2 abdecken (Abbildung 3). Die Explorationstatigkeiten auf Roseby South sind der Beginn einer von Altona durchgefuhrten Kampagne zur Erweiterung ihrer Explorationsaktivitaten im stratigrafischen Fenster des Mt Isa. Mit dieser Verlagerung hin zu weiteren Explorationstatigkeiten, wurde eine Neubewertung von Roseby South durchgefuhrt nach seiner Ruckgabe an Altonas Management im Jahr 2015 nach Ablauf einer Option auf das Projekt. Die Gelandeprogramme begannen im April 2016 und zielten auf vererzte Korridore, die sich uber die Lange der Liegenschaft des Unternehmens erstrecken. Die Gelandearbeiten konzentrierten sich auf sehr genaue Bodenprobenentnahmen, Prospektionsarbeiten und geologische Kartierungen. Die Anomalien Harvest und Hobby (Abbildungen 1, 2, 3 und 4) sind unter den zahlreichen Erkundungsgebieten, die sich in einer fruhen Abgrenzungsphase befinden, die am besten definierten Ziele. Fur Harvest und Hobby wird ein RC-Bohrprogramm geplant und in Abhangigkeit des Explorationsfortschritts wird Altona ebenfalls ein oder zwei andere Erkundungsgebiete, die zurzeit bewertet werden, durch Bohrungen uberprufen. Verschiedene Abkommen mit dritten Parteien und sogenannte Aboriginal Heritage Clearances sind vor dem Bohrbeginn notwendig. Dies wird laut Erwartungen 2 bis 3 Monate in Anspruch nehmen. Eine Abbildung der Bodenanomalie auf der Lagerstatte Little Eva (Abbildung 4) wird ebenfalls zur Verfugung gestellt, um den Zusammenhang mit den Zielgebieten und der regionalen Analogie zu zeigen. Altona wird den Markt uber den Bohrbeginn informieren. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2016/36432/01082106_DE_AOH0777_Major Drill Targets Identfied (2).001.jpeg Abbildung 1: Erkundungsgebiet Harvest Abbildung der Kupferanomalie im Boden und Entnahmestellen der Gesteinssplitterproben. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2016/36432/01082106_DE_AOH0777_Major Drill Targets Identfied (2).002.jpeg Abbildung 2: Erkundungsgebiet Hobby Abbildung der Kupferanomalie im Boden und Entnahmestellen der Gesteinssplitterproben. Die Ziele Harvest und Hobby zeichnen sich aus durch: Bodenanomalien Groe und zusammenhangende Kupferanomalien im Boden mit ahnlichem Umfang und Gehalt (+1000 ppm Kupfer) wie die Kupferanomalie auf der Lagerstatte Little Eva des Projekts Cloncurry (546.000 Tonnen enthaltenes Kupfer und 295.000 Unzen Gold, Anhang 4). Die Spitzenkupfergehalte innerhalb der Anomalien liegen auf Hobby bei 5,6 % und auf Harvest bei 4,6 %. Ein betriebsinternes Verfahren, das eine schnelle und billige Analyse mittels handgefuhrter XRF verwendet, war der Schlussel zur Abgrenzung dieser Anomalien durch in sehr engen Abstanden entnommener Proben (Abbildungen 1, 2 und 4). Anomalien in Gesteinssplitterproben Anomale und oft hochgradige Kupfer- und Goldgehalte in Gesteinssplitterproben aus Aufschlussen und Lesesteinen sowohl oxidiert als auch frisch. Es wurden zum Beispiel Spitzenwerte von 14,4 % Kupfer und 0,74 g/t Gold auf Harvest und 23,3 % Kupfer und 2,9 g/t Gold auf Hobby gefunden. Die Analyse der Gesteinssplitter erfolgte durch herkommliche Vefahren (Anhang 3). Hochgradige Bohrergebnisse Auf Hobby wurden keine Bohrungen niedergebracht. Auf Harvest zeigen die wenigen in den 1970er-Jahren (Tabellen 2 und 3) niedergebrachten Bohrungen das Potenzial fur eine wirtschaftliche Kupfer-Gold-Vererzung. Zum Beispiel lieferte die von Placer im Jahre 1992 (Abbildung 1) niedergebrachte Bohrung: 74 m mit 0,51 % Kupfer und 0,11 g/tGold ab Oberflache: Einschlielich 8 m mit 1,65 % Kupfer und 0,18 g/t Gold und 12 m mit 0,77 % Kupfer und 0,23 g/t Gold Gunstige Gesteine Auf Harvest und Hobby haben die geologischen Kartierungen Gesteinstypen, Alterations- und Elementvergesellschaftungen dokumentiert, die mit signifikanten IOCG-Lagerstatten in der Region ubereinstimmen. Groe Strukturen Die Ziele liegen innerhalb zwei groer tektonischer Korridore, die das stratigrafische Fenster Mt Isa durchschneiden und ebenfalls die Lagerstatten innerhalb des moglichen SRIG Joint-Venture beherbergen und Ressourcen mit 1,6 Mio. Tonnen Kupfer sowie 0,4 Mio. Unzen Gold enthalten (Anhang 4). Historische Abbauspuren Auf beiden Zielen wurden zahlreiche historische Abbauspuren identifiziert von ubertagigen Schurfgraben aus den 1970er-Jahren bis zu Schachten und Tagebaugruben aus den 1920er-Jahren bis zu den 1940er-Jahren. Geophysik Wahrend die Harvest-Anomalie die typischen magnetischen Charakteristika vieler IOCG-Lagerstatten in der Region aufweist, so liefert das neue Ziel auf Hobby keine zugehorigen magnetischen Signale in den regionalen Daten und wurde als Folge in der Vergangenheit ubersehen. Die in der Alterationszone auf Hobby beobachteten Eisenoxidminerale sind uberwiegend von Hamatit. Eine detailliertere Beschreibung von Roseby South und jedes der Ziele finden Sie im Anhang (Anhang 2) zusammen mit der JORC Code Tabelle 1 (Anhang 3) zur Offenlegung der Explorationsmethodik. Obwohl die Ziele attraktiv sind, so ist der Gehalt der Oberflachenanomalien kein verlasslicher Richtwert fur die Art irgendeiner moglicherweise zugrunde liegender Vererzung. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2016/36432/01082106_DE_AOH0777_Major Drill Targets Identfied (2).003.jpeg Abbildung 3: Projekt Roseby South uber Abbildung der Magnetik gelegt, welche die Lagerstatten, Zielgebiete und Explorationsgebiete der Gelandesaison 2016 zeigt. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2016/36432/01082106_DE_AOH0777_Major Drill Targets Identfied (2).004.jpeg Abbildung 4: ein Vergleich der Kupferanomalien im Boden auf Harvest und Hobby mit der Lagerstatte Little Eva. Anmerkung, Abbildungen in gleichem Mastab und gleichen Farbtonen. Fur Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an: Alistair Cowden Managing Director Altona Mining Limited Tel: +61 8 9485 2929 altona@altonamining.com David Tasker Professional Public Relations Perth Tel: +61 8 9388 0944 David.Tasker@ppr.com.au Jochen Staiger Swiss Resource Capital AG Tel: +41 71 354 8501 js@resource-capital.ch Uber Altona Altona Mining Limited ist ein an der ASX notiertes Unternehmen, das sich auf das Projekt Cloncurry in Queensland, Australien, konzentriert. Das Projekt beherbergt Mineralressourcen, die ungefahr 1,65 Mio. Tonnen Kupfer und 0,41 Mio. Unzen Gold enthalten. Die erste vorgesehene Entwicklung ist die Kupfer-Gold-Tagebaumine Little Eva und Aufbereitungsanlage mit einer Kapazitat von 7 Mio. Tonnen pro Jahr. Altona hat eine Rahmenvereinbarung mit Sichuan Railway Investment Group zur vollstandigen Finanzierung und Entwicklung von Little Eva geschlossen. Little Eva ist genehmigt mit einer geplanten Jahresproduktion1 von 38.800 t Kupfer und 17.200 Unzen Gold uber mindestens 11 Jahre. Eine endgultige Machbarkeitsstudie wurde im Marz 2014 veroffentlicht. 1Bitte beziehen Sie sich auf die ASX-Pressemitteilung Cost Review Delivers Major Upgrade to Little Eva vom 13. Marz 2014, die die Information bezuglich dieses Produktionsziels und die prognostizierte Finanzinformation, die auf diesem Produktionsziel basiert, zusammenfasst. Das Unternehmen bestatigt, dass alle wesentlichen Annahmen, die das Produktionsziel unterstutzen und die auf diesem Produktionsziel basierenden Finanzprognosen, die in der oben genannten Pressemitteilung erwahnt werden, weiterhin gultig sind und sich nicht wesentlich geandert haben. Aussage der kompetenten Person Die Informationen in dieser ASX-Pressemitteilung, die sich auf Explorationsziele, Explorationsergebnisse, Mineralressourcen oder Erzvorrate beziehen, basieren auf Informationen, die von Herrn Roland Bartsch, B Sc (Hons), Msc, MAusIMM und Herrn George Ross, Msc, MAIG zusammengestellt wurden. Herr Bartsch und Herr Ross sind Vollzeit-Mitarbeiter des Unternehmens und verfugen uber ausreichendes Wissen und Erfahrung uber diesen hier vorliegenden Vererzungs- und Lagerstattentyp. Ihre Tatigkeiten qualifizieren sie als kompetente Personen gema den Regeln des 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Herr Bartsch und Herr Ross stimmen den hier eingefugten Informationen, die auf ihren Informationen basieren, in Form und Kontext je nach Erscheinen zu. Kupfer-Aquivalent Bei Anwendung bezieht sich der Kupfer-Aquivalent auf Kupfer im produzierten Konzentrat oder im Konzentrat einer geplanten Produktion. Es bezieht sich nicht auf den Metallgehalt der Insitu Ressourcen, Vorrate oder Bohrergebnisse. Der Kupfer-Aquivalentgehalt wird fur den entsprechenden Vorrat unter Berucksichtigung des Kupfergehalts aus allen Metallen (NSR) d. h. Kupfer, Zink, Gold und Silber berechnet. Die Ausgangssprache (in der Regel Englisch), in der der Originaltext veroffentlicht wird, ist die offizielle, autorisierte und rechtsgultige Version. Diese Ubersetzung wird zur besseren Verstandigung mitgeliefert. Die deutschsprachige Fassung kann gekurzt oder zusammengefasst sein. Es wird keine Verantwortung oder Haftung: fur den Inhalt, fur die Richtigkeit, der Angemessenheit oder der Genauigkeit dieser Ubersetzung ubernommen. Aus Sicht des Ubersetzers stellt die Meldung keine Kauf- oder Verkaufsempfehlung dar! Bitte beachten Sie die englische Originalmeldung auf www.sedar.com , www.sec.gov , www.asx.com.au/ oder auf der Firmenwebsite! APPENDIX 1: ROCKCHIPS AND HISTORIC DRILLING Table 1: Rockchip sample summary: Altona (AL or U prefix) and prior explorers Sample ID Location (MGA54) Analyses Easting Northing Copper Gold (m) (m) % g/t Harvest AL0016691 398503.2 7719034 14.35 0.37 AL0016682 398506.8 7719005 6.95 0.19 AL0016687 398487.5 7719031 6.10 0.03 AL0016704 398503.7 7719089 4.47 0.04 AL0016515 398647.1 7718419 3.19 <0.2 AL0016707 398510.7 7719099 2.98 0.02 AL0016693 398511 7719036 0.99 0.74 AL0016705 398506.2 7719092 0.95 0.08 AL0016685 398518.4 7719009 0.93 0.09 AL0016706 398508.5 7719095 0.80 0.04 AL0016701 398494.3 7719082 0.72 0.25 AL0016697 398493.8 7719130 0.70 0.04 AL0016688 398491.4 7719032 0.66 <0.01 AL0016517 398584 7718467 0.65 <0.2 AL0016703 398501.1 7719086 0.63 0.21 AL0016689 398495.3 7719032 0.59 0.19 AL0016698 398483.4 7719078 0.57 0.1 503905 398661.7 7718654 0.44 Untested AL0016686 398522.2 7719010 0.42 0.08 30978 398567.2 7718991 0.37 <0.05 AL0016684 398514.5 7719007 0.36 0.2 AL0016679 398495.2 7719002 0.35 0.03 AL0016702 398498 7719083 0.35 0.14 AL0016694 398514.9 7719037 0.33 0.04 AL0016700 398490.7 7719080 0.31 0.18 AL0016514 398647.3 7718419 0.24 0.5 AL0016699 398487 7719079 0.22 0.44 AL0016690 398499.2 7719033 0.18 0.07 AL0016680 398499.1 7719003 0.16 0.19 AL0016677 398487.5 7719000 0.16 0.06 AL0016678 398491.4 7719001 0.12 0.15 AL0016692 398507.1 7719035 0.10 0.1 AL0016516 398584.4 7718466 0.09 <0.2 AL0016681 398502.9 7719004 0.06 0.13 AL0016245 398504.5 7719082 0.05 0.03 AL0016683 398510.6 7719006 0.04 0.38 AL0016577 398504.8 7719085 0.00 0.09 Hobby AL0016575 413434.6 7725621 23.30 <0.01 AL0016246 413413.1 7725621 18.90 2.39 AL0016194 413409.9 7725628 17.70 0.7 AL0016598 413437.2 7725325 12.35 0.63 URB000321 413414.9 7725626 5.45 0.17 AL0016193 413297.8 7725731 4.72 0.4 URB000322 413410.7 7725621 3.88 2.91 URB000324 413335.4 7725863 2.94 0.14 URB000320 413333.8 7725621 1.58 0.13 AL0023005 413523.8 7725647 1.27 0.06 AL0023006 413582.8 7725558 0.73 0.02 AL0016586 413460.6 7725859 0.70 <0.01 AL0023001 413505.6 7725664 0.67 <0.01 AL0023009 413533.8 7725474 0.59 0.05 AL0023012 413466.9 7725536 0.55 0.02 AL0023015 413404.7 7725594 0.54 0.02 AL0023016 413391.6 7725650 0.50 0.02 AL0023013 413410.2 7725525 0.48 0.04 75213 413257.1 7725854 0.45 Untested AL0023002 413515.8 7725792 0.43 0.01 AL0023014 413413.1 7725552 0.41 0.06 AL0023018 413363.9 7725654 0.41 0.02 AL0023011 413530.2 7725511 0.38 0.01 AL0023010 413514.6 7725562 0.37 <0.01 AL0016192 413295.5 7725731 0.36 <0.2 AL0016593 413491.6 7725473 0.35 0.1 AL0016594 413494.8 7725468 0.35 0.01 AL0016590 413419.3 7725920 0.33 0.01 AL0016596 413411.5 7725488 0.30 0.01 AL0023004 413541.4 7725684 0.30 0.01 AL0023003 413516 7725754 0.29 0.01 AL0016597 413462.6 7725325 0.28 0.02 AL0016591 413477.6 7725507 0.26 0.02 AL0016592 413482.4 7725500 0.26 0.02 75214 413285.6 7725857 0.25 Untested 75142 413307.7 7725992 0.24 Untested AL0016589 413438.7 7725997 0.20 0.03 AL0023007 413592.7 7725484 0.19 <0.01 AL0023008 413639.1 7725382 0.19 <0.01 AL0016595 413524.8 7725382 0.18 0.01 75215 413318.4 7725854 0.17 Untested 75147 413359 7725985 0.17 Untested AL0023017 413366.3 7725625 0.16 <0.01 AL0016587 413486.2 7725955 0.09 <0.01 AL0016588 413445 7725512 0.08 0.01 AL0016574 413566.7 7725541 0.03 <0.01 URB000323 413407.5 7725676 <0.01 0.02 Table 2: Significant RC drill intersection summary Harvest anomaly Hole ID Depth Drill Intercept >0.3% Cu From To Width Copper Gold (m) (m) (m) (%) (g/t) TSP-1 14 28 14 0.49 0.17 40 48 8 0.31 0.08 TSP-2 0 74 74 0.51 0.11 inclu0 8 8 1.64 0.12 ding 54 66 12 0.77 0.23 TSP-3 12 24 12 0.37 0.15 56 62 6 0.34 0.10 TSP-4 18 24 6 0.36 0.09 94 102 8 0.81 0.37 Table 3: Drill hole summary table Harvest anomaly Type / Hole Location Orientation End of Program ID (MGA54) Hole EastingNorthiRL AzimutDip Depth ng h (m) (m) (m) () () (m) RC TSP-1 398582 771847312 091 -60 78 1 (Placer TSP-2 398605 771859334 271 -60 88 1992) 4 TSP-3 398527 771897371 271 -60 104 5 TSP-4 398474 771911366 091 -60 110 4 Diamond DDH#1 398682 771847318 -28 263 106.68 (Australia 2 n Copper Mines 1971) DDH#2 398638 771859331 -39 275 78.94 4 DDH#3 398449 771853301 -37 91 167.64 7 APPENDIX 2: Summary of the Roseby South Project Roseby South covers an area of 476km2 (Figures 3) and is strategically located adjacent to a number of operating, former and proposed mines. The project comprises two granted Exploration Permits for Minerals (EPM). The Project covers the extension of the stratigraphy that hosts Altonas 1.65 million tonne contained copper Cloncurry Copper Project and MMG Limiteds Dugald River mine containing 7.4 million tonnes of zinc, 1.14 million tonnes of lead and 64 million ounces of silver immediately to the north. Dugald River has recently commenced development and Altona recently announced a US$213.53 million Framework Agreement with SRIG which, if completed, will lead to the development of a major new copper mine at Little Eva within the Cloncurry Project. These two major projects are situated within a regional scale north-south structural corridor which continues for 170 kilometres further south and through the Roseby South Project for 50 kilometres. Other deposits within this corridor include the Mt Colin copper-gold mine, the Mary Kathleen uranium mine, which closed in 1982, and the Mt Quamby gold mine which last operated in 1992. Some 120 kilometres further south on the same structure is the high grade Tick Hill gold mine which closed in 1995. A number of other well-known major mining operations such as the Ernest Henry and Rocklands copper-gold mines are located to the east of the Project. Within the project area there are numerous copper-gold occurrences and artisanal mine workings including the Companion mine (Figure 3). The Companion mine was the focus of recent soil sampling, geophysics and drilling by Chinalco Yunnan Copper under an earn-in option with Altona, now expired. Companion is also located within the major structural corridor and locally associated with north-south and northwest-southeast trending fault zones. A large mineralised system has been identified (please refer to Altona ASX release dated 30 September 2015). Exploration Strategy On the return of the project to 100% Altona Management in 2015 a complete re-evaluation of the project was undertaken. Significant unexplored targets were recognised in the mineralised structural corridors that extend the length of the Project. In April 2016 field programs commenced with the objective of testing the targets (Figure 3). At the core of the program is achieving consistent close-spaced soil sampling coverage across the target corridors. Since April some 4000 plus soil samples have been collected and analysed. A methodology has been developed by Altona using rapid and cheap analysis for copper via a portable hand held Niton XRF instrument. The analyses are rigorously validated with reference and umpire samples. Two new large high-tenor copper-in-soil anomalies have been established to date, Harvest and Hobby (Figures 1, 2 and 3) and there are numerous other prospects at an earlier stage of definition. Harvest Prospect Harvest sits within the major north-south trending structural corridor that was previously described. The prospect coincides with a sharp relief ridge which extends for more than 2 kilometres north-south and exhibits discontinuous outcropping copper oxide mineralisation and geobotanical anomalism (copper bush) along the ridge. Numerous small historic workings ranging from surface trenching in the 1970s to shafts and pits from the 1920-40s have been mapped. The prospect had been recognised by previous explorers with reconnaissance level work being conducted through to the mid 1990s. Past names for the prospect include The Summit and The Slots. The last significant work was conducted by Placer in 1992 who completed 4 shallow RC drill holes (Appendix 1, Tables 2 and 3). Copper anomalism at Harvest is characterised by a 2 kilometre by 110 metre copper-in-soils anomaly (Figure 1 and 4) exceeding 1000ppm copper. Internal peaks within the anomaly range up to 45,917ppm (4.59%) copper and 17,442ppm (1.74%) copper. The anomaly is similar in tenor and area to the copper-in-soil anomaly at the Cloncurry Projects Little Eva deposit although reflects a longer and more linear target. The copper anomalous ridge has steep sides with relief up to 90 metres. The ridge comprises steeply dipping quartzite mapped as the Ballarra quartzite. The copper mineralisation is structurally controlled within the quartzite and along the contacts of the quartzite with calc-silicate rock. Overall the mineralisation is interpreted to have a steep easterly dip. Localised rockchip sampling across the anomaly has been undertaken, largely within pre-existing trenches. The sampling returned values up to 14.3% copper and up to 0.74g/t gold. A full list of rockchip results is provided in Appendix 1, Table 1. Three diamond drill holes were drilled by Australian Copper Mines in 1971 into the southern portion of the main anomaly; no assay data is reported for these holes although graphic logs show mineralised copper intercepts consistent with subsequent nearby drill holes by Placer in 1992. Placer drilled 4 RC holes in the northern portion of the main anomaly; the holes drilled parts of the mapped copper anomaly and recorded copper and gold mineralisation over broad widths. The best intersection from the drilling was from drillhole TSP-2, Placer 1992 (Figure 1). 74 metres at 0.51% copper and 0.11g/t gold from surface: including 8 metres at 1.65% copper and 0.18g/t gold, and 12 metres at 0.77% copper and 0.23g/t gold Full details of the drilling are summarised in Appendix 1, Tables 2 and 3. Hobby Prospect Hobby sits near the intersection of two regional scale structures being the north-south structure which hosts the Companion copper-gold prospect and the Cloncurry Project copper+/-gold deposits and the north-east trending structure which hosts the Ivy Ann copper-gold deposit. Hobby had been missed by previous exploration having a different visual surface expression to typical copper anomalies of similar tenor in the region. At Hobby a large and coherent copper-in-soil anomaly greater than 1,000ppm has been defined (Figure 2). The extent of the greater than 1,000ppm core of the anomaly is 680 by 230 metres. Internal peaks within the anomaly range up to 6,398ppm (0.64%) copper and 56,125ppm (5.61%) copper with the highest results close to historic workings. The anomaly is of similar size and tenor to the copper-in-soil anomaly at the Cloncurry Projects Little Eva deposit. The anomaly occurs within a range of hills with relief up to 120 metres. The anomaly trends north-west cutting across steeply dipping north-south striking calc-silicate metasedimentary rocks dominated by pink feldspar and amphibole that form the ridges. Two small historical surface workings on narrow high-grade copper structures some 0.2 to 1 metres wide are located in the middle of the anomaly. Two other small gossanous outcrops with abundant copper oxide have been mapped. Overall the copper mineralisation has a subtle surface expression being finely disseminated within the rocks. Rockchip samples of the gossanous structures returned values from 1.6 to 23.3% copper and 0.13 to 2.9g/t gold; while 90% of the surrounding rocks returned values greater than 0.1% copper up to 0.7% copper. A full list of available rockchip results is provided in Appendix 1, Table 1. No drilling has been undertaken at the prospect to date. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2016/36432/01082106_DE_AOH0777_Major Drill Targets Identfied (2).005.jpeg Figure 5: Roseby South Project location map APPENDIX 3: TABLE 1 OF THE JORC CODE, 2012 EDITION The table below is a description of the assessment and reporting criteria used in reporting the Exploration Results that reflects those presented in Table 1 of The Australasian Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (The JORC Code, 2012). Section 1: Sampling Techniques and Data Criteria Commentary Sampling Soil samples are surface samples (top 20cm) technique sieved to -2mm to obtain a ~100g sample size. s Sampling is conducted only when dry. Rockchip samples were collected from patchy surface rock subcrop or outcrops and are typically chip samples across exposed rock faces over an area <1m 2 and are commonly selective targeting mineralised or altered rock exposures. All rockchip and duplicate (referee) soil analyses were analysed at ALS laboratories in Townsville. No new Altona drill data is reported. For the referenced historical Placer drilling at Whippersnapper reported sampling technique data is limited; holes are reported as RC with sampling at 2 metre intervals. Drilling Not applicable, no new results presented other technique than significant intersections from historic s data. For the referenced historical Placer drilling at Whippersnapper holes are reported as RC no other data is provided. Drill Not applicable, no new data reported. sample recovery Logging Not applicable, no new data reported. Sub-sampliNot applicable, no new sub-sampled data ng reported. technique s and sample preparati on Quality Soil Samples of assay Soil samples were routinely analysed for copper data and (and a suite of laborator y other elements) using a Niton XL3tGOLDD+ tests hand-held XRF instrument. Analyses are conducted routinely under controlled conditions in the site office. Quality Control included: standards (certified reference materials) from Geostats Ltd. Standards were inserted into the sampling sequence at 1:20 ratio and included representative material for copper. Whenever a bias has been detected it has been found to be consistent against the reference data and therefore no corrections have been made . Umpire soil samples were submitted to ALS laboratories in Townsville for analysis using Trace Level method by four acid near total digest (method code ME-ICP61 ; copper range 1 -10,000ppm) for 33 elements; and; gold using Super Trace Level method by aqua regia digestion with 50g sample weight (method code: Au-ST44; gold range 0.1ppb 1ppm). The umpire samples were selected from traverses across each anomaly; these displayed no bias and an acceptable level of precision for the purpose. Rock or Drill Samples All rock samples were analysed at ALS laboratories in Townsville for a standard suite of elements. Samples were analysed by Aqua Regia or a four acid digest ( HF-HNO3 -HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach) diges t using ICP-AES and ICP-MS (method code: ME-MS41 or ME-MS61 ; copper range 0.2 10,000ppm)) for 51 elements. This included copper , with a detection limit of 0.2ppm. Data reported from Aqua Regia digestion should be considered as representing only the leachable portion of a particular analyte while the four acid digestion is a near-total digestion. On return of copper values of greater than 1% a second series of analyses were undertaken. This involved an ore grade Aqua Regia digestion (method code: ASY-AR01) followed by ICP-AES analysis optimised for accuracy and precision at high concentrations (method code: ME-OG46). Gold was analysed via a fire assay (30g) with an AAS finish, with a lower detecti on limit of 0.01ppm and upper detection limit of 100 ppm. Quality Control utilised certified reference ma terial (standards) from Geostats Ltd. Standards were inserted into the sampling sequence at a 1:20 ratio and included representative standa rds for copper and gold and also blanks. Field duplicates were taken using a riffle splitter on site for every 20 th sample. The laboratory also utilised standards which were inserted into each sample batch. All duplicate and reference data display acceptable accuracy and precision. No samples were analysed by an umpire laboratory. No geophysical tools were used to determine the results reported here. Referenced Historical Drill Sampling For the referenced 1992 Placer drilling at Whippersnapper analyses are reported as having been analysed at ALS Mount Isa using method IC581 for 8 elements including copper, and method PM209 for gold. VerificatiResults were checked by several Altona on of personnel. sampling and No twinned holes. assaying All field logging or field sampling data was done using a laptop and uploaded into the company Datashed database and validated by company database personnel. All assay files were received in digital format from ALS Laboratories. All Niton handheld XRF soil data was downloaded from the instrument in digital format. Data was uploaded into the Altona Datashed database and validated by company database personnel. No manual data inserts took place. No adjustments have been applied to the results. Location Soil sample locations are surveyed using of data handheld GPSs (Garmin GSMAP78s) with an points approximate 5 metre horizontal accuracy. No new drillholes. Collar coordinates of historical drill holes by Placer and Australian Copper Miner at Whippersnapper were not recorded in the sou rce reference annual reports CR4696 and CR27193 . Hole positions were located in the field based on maps and descriptions in the reports. For the most recent Placer RC drilling holes (TSP1,2, 3 and 4) are located with a high degree of confidence. Collar locations have been surveyed using a hand held GPS with an approximate 5 metre horizontal accuracy. The Grid is GDA94 MGA Zone 54. Data The soil sample grid spacings are 20 x 20 spacing metres and at Hobby and 20 x 40 metres at Harvest. In distribut the ion areas surrounding the anomalies spacing is typically 20 x 200 metres. OrientatioNot applicable, no new drill data reported. n of data For referenced historical drilling by Placer in at relation to Harvest mineralisation is interpreted to geologica strike approximately l north structure-south with unconfirmed dips subvertical to steeply east dipping. Drilling was towards the west or east generally at 60 degree dips and is deemed appropriate. Sample Soil samples are collected and bagged into security pre-numbered plastic clip-lock bags. Unique sample numbers were retained during the whole process. Samples were collected and delivered to the Altona field office daily as they were collected. Soil samples were retained for reference and stored in Altona facilities in Cloncurry. All rock and umpire soil samples were then catalogued and sealed prior to dispatch to the laboratory by Altona staff. Audits or Internal audits and reviews of key datasets reviews collected by Altona have been undertaken. Past exploration data by other explorers has only been validated against the source references. Analysis of the results from the QA/QC samples are routinely analysed by the database manager and geologist on a batch and campaign basis. For laboratory analyses, the accuracy of key elements such copper and gold, was acceptable and the field duplicate assay data was unbiased and shows an acceptable level of precision. For handheld Niton XRF analyses the data may display a consistent bias against the reference data. I n contrast laboratory umpire samples from the reported soil anomalies displayed no bias and an acceptable level of precision for the purpose. No external audits or reviews have been undertaken. Section 2: Reporting of Exploration Results Criteria Commentary Mineral Harvest sits within EPM 25761. Hobby is tenement within EPM 25759. The EPMs are 100% owned and land by Altona Mining Ltd. tenure status No joint ventures apply. There are agreements in place with the native title holders, the Kalkadoon people and with landholders. No significant historic sites or national parks are located within the reported exploration sites. Both EPMs were granted in late 2015 and are in good standing. ExplorationVery small historical surface workings (slots done by and shallow shafts) on narrow high grade other copper oxide veins/gossans exist at parties Harvest and Hobby. These are more extensive at Harvest. Rockchip sampling has been undertaken around the historical workings at Hobby anomal ies by pervious explorers. No systematic soil sampling, ground geophysics or drilling has been undertaken. Previous exploration has been undertaken by several parties at Harvest since the 1970s. Early exploration was by Australian Copper Mines N.L. and Aquitane Australia Minerals Pty Ltd in the 1970s, and CRA and Placer in the 1990s. The majority of this work was surface mapping and sampling. Four shallow diamond drill holes were drilled by Australian Copper Mines (1971, CR4696) in the south ern portion of the main anomaly. No assay data is reported for these holes although graphic logs show mineralised copper intercepts consistent with subsequent nearby drill holes conducted by Placer. It is unclear from the report whether the diam ond holes were submitted for analysis or the graphic logs refl ect visual estimates for copper. Placer (1995) drilled 4 RC holes in the north ern portion of the main anomaly. The holes drilled parts of the mapped copper anomaly and recorded copper and gold mineralisation over broad widths. Geology Mineralisation is considered to be hydrothermal, stratabound and structurally controlled following internal competency, chemical and permeability contrast. Mineralisation occurs both as fine-grained pervasive dissemination s and in coarse grained veins. Mineralisation occurs as sulphide minerals under a shallow, approximately 25 metre, oxidised cap. Copper sulphides include chalcoc ite, chalcopyrite and bornite. The majority of the oxide mineralisation consists of copper oxides (malachite) and silicates. Drill hole Not applicable, no new drill data reported. InformatioExploration results are not being reported n for the Mineral Resource area. Historical data for drilling at Harvest was referenced from annual report CR27193 (CRA Exploration Pty Ltd 1975) and CR4696 (Australian Copper Mines N.L. 1971). Data Exploration results are not being reported aggregatio for the Mineral Resource n area. methods RelationshiExploration results are not being reported p between for the Mineral Resource mineralisa area. tion widths Placer RC drill holes at Harvest are at a and high angle to the broader zones of intercept mineralised stratigraphy and mineralised lengths structures and are interpreted to be approaching true widths. Diagrams Figures 1 to 5. Balanced Exploration results are not being reported reporting for the Mineral Resource area. A full compilation of available soil and rockc hip data from the reported prospects has been included. Whilst the soil anomalies are attractive and similar in size and tenor to response over the Little Eva deposit, the main text of the release notes that the tenor of surface anomalism is not a reliable guide to the nature of any potential underlying mineralisation. Other Exploration results are not being reported substantiv for the Mineral Resource e area. exploratio n data Further Additional work in the future will consist of work RC exploration prospect scale mapping and further soil sampling. Heritage clearance surveys are required ahead of drilling and are planned. APPENDIX 4: SUMMARY OF MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATES FOR THE CLONCURRY PROJECT DEPOSIT TOTAL CONTAINED MEASURED INDICATED INFERRED METAL TonneGrade CopperGold TonneGrade TonneGrade TonneGrade s s s milliCu Au tonnesouncesmilliCu Au milliCu Au milliCu Au on on on on % g/t % g/t % g/t % g/t LITTLE EVA PROJECT Little Eva105.90.52 0.09 546,00295,0037.1 0.60 0.09 45.0 0.46 0.08 23.9 0.50 0.10 0 0 Turkey 21.0 0.59 123,00- 17.7 0.59 3.4 0.58 Creek 0 Ivy AnnA 7.5 0.57 0.07 43,00017,000- 5.4 0.60 0.08 2.1 0.49 0.06 Lady Clayr14.0 0.56 0.20 78,00085,000- 3.6 0.60 0.24 10.4 0.54 0.18 e A BedfordA 1.7 0.99 0.20 17,00011,000- 1.3 1.04 0.21 0.4 0.83 0.16 Sub-to150.20.54 0.09 807,00409,0037.1 0.60 0.09 73.0 0.52 0.07 40.1 0.52 0.11 tal 0 0 OTHER DEPOSITS BlackardA 76.4 0.62 475,00- 27.0 0.68 6.6 0.60 42.7 0.59 0 ScanlanA 22.2 0.65 143,00- 18.4 0.65 3.8 0.60 0 Longamundi10.4 0.66 69,000- 10.4 0.66 A LegendA 17.4 0.54 94,000- 17.4 0.54 Great Sout6.0 0.61 37,000- 6.0 0.61 hern A CarolineA 3.6 0.53 19,000- 3.6 0.53 Charlie Br0.7 0.40 3,000 0.7 0.40 own A Sub-to136.70.61 840,00- 27.0 0.68 25.0 0.64 84.7 0.59 tal 0 TOTAL 286.80.57 0.04 1,647,409,0064.1 0.63 0.05 98.0 0.55 0.05 124.80.57 0.04 000 0 A This information was prepared and first disclosed under the JORC Code 2004 Edition. It has not been updated since to comply with the JORC Code 2012 on the basis that the information has not materially changed since it was last reported. All other resources classified and reported in accordance with JORC Code 2012 edition. Note:Tonnages are dry metric tonnes and have been rounded, hence small differences may be present in the totals. See ASX release of 23 October 2007 and 26 July 2011 (Longamundi, Great Southern, Caroline and Charlie Brown), 23 April 2012 (Bedford, Ivy Ann and Lady Clayre), 03 July 2012 (Blackard and Scanlan) and 22 August 2012 (Legend) for full details of resource estimation methodology and attributions. Little Eva is reported above a 0.2% copper lower cut-off grade, all other deposits are above 0.3% lower copper cut-off. AOH0777-27. ANN ARBOR, MI - After months of anticipation and speculation over the design, layout and color schemes for the University of Michigan Nike apparel, fans are were finally able to purchase the gear Monday, Aug. 1. And while thousands of people crowded the M Den on State Street in Ann Arbor for the midnight release, others took a more laid-back approach. Troy Bland of Jackson took the day off from work so that he could come to the M Den location in Briarwood Mall and complete his shopping. "I'm walking around, taking my time," Bland said, adding he planned on buying lots of merchandise during his trip. While he hadn't seen every piece of Nike merchandise for sale, Bland said he was happy with what he's seen so far and thinks it will be popular with fans and players. "I love it. I'm so happy to be back to the Nike material. I think it's going to be big for the kids and the recruits," Bland said. "The Nike stuff just feels better." The doors to the Briarwood Mall location were scheduled to open at 10 a.m. Monday, but by 9:15 a.m. people were inside shopping and buying merchandise. The apparel officially went on sale at midnight Sunday. Toledo residents Raylene Swanson and Merissa Brockschmidt have been planning for today's release for months and were also very happy with the new merchandise. "My daughter told me three months ago 'Make sure you are up and ready to be off for Ann Arbor by 9 a.m.,'" Swanson said. "We like it. It's exciting." Both women were carrying a handful of items they were planning to purchase, but for Brockschmidt she was still waiting for a particular piece of merchandise to be released. "I'm trying to get myself through until the shoes come out on Friday," Brockschmidt said. Calvin Carter tried to buy his items on the M Den website, but because of the amount of traffic online he was unable to access the site. So the Lansing resident made the trip down to Ann Arbor to find several shirts he wanted. Carter is extremely happy with the designs on the shirts and the material being used. "I've always liked Nike. You got the Dri-fit (style of T-shirts) and the whole thing with the swoosh and the Jordan logo," Carter said. "I haven't bought an Adidas shirt in the past two or three years." Like Brockschmidt, Carter is excited to buy a pair of Nike shoes with the branded colors on them, but is waiting to see the different designs before he makes up his mind. Fans are also happy with the new shade of yellow -- known as amarillo - that's being used on the gear instead of the traditional maize. "It doesn't bother me at all," Carter said. "I think it's fine. If you're a true fan it doesn't matter." WYOMING - The third annual Buck Creek Clean Up is set for Aug. 13. Area residents can help pick up trash along the Buck Creek at various locations in Wyoming, Kentwood and Grandville as part of the cleanup, hosted by the organizations Schrems Trout Unlimited and Friends of Buck Creek. Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. at Charles Lemery Park, 4050 Byron Center Ave. SW in Wyoming. Volunteers will receive a T-shirt, and donuts and coffee will be provided by Grandville's Biggby Coffee, Steenstra Royal Dutch Bakery and Marge's Donut Den. Volunteers will then head out to collect garbage along Buck Creek, a coldwater stream that features a viable trout population. Following the cleanup, which ends at 11 a.m., Grandville Mayor Steve Maas will buy volunteers lunch at Osgood Brewing in Grandville. For more information, visit www.swmtu.org. ANN ARBOR, MI - Three people went to the hospital Monday, Aug. 1 after multiple crashes in Washtenaw County. At 1:39 p.m. on westbound I-94 near Grove Road, several vehicles and a semitrailer were involved in a crash. Huron Valley Ambulance took two people in stable condition to Beaumont Wayne Hospital, said spokeswoman Joyce Williams. At approximately 2:30 p.m. Monday, the right lane of westbound M-14 closed after a one-vehicle crash near Gotfredson Road in Salem Township. The road reopened by 3 p.m, the Michigan Department of Transportation reported. HVA did not take anyone to the hospital in that crash, Williams said. Earlier in the afternoon, at 12:50 p.m., two lanes of eastbound I-94 were closed after a crash near Michigan Avenue. HHVA took one person in stable condition to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. election2016.jpg Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2. (MLive) ANN ARBOR, MI - Voters in every part of Washtenaw County have reasons to go to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 2. With tax proposals for Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor streets and sidewalks and Ypsilanti's Water Street debt on the ballot, along with many local primary races, there's something for every voter in the county to decide. There are contested races for city and township offices and county board seats, as well as a few state House races. Winners of the party primaries advance to the November general election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. To find out where to vote and view what's on your ballot, go to the Michigan Voter Information Center website. For background on candidates, check out the MLive Voter Guide. Below are links to recent coverage of issues and races on Tuesday's primary ballot in Washtenaw County: Ballot proposals Washtenaw County voters to decide 9 ballot proposals in Aug. 2 primary Ann Arbor's street tax to help fund pedestrian safety improvements if voters give OK Washtenaw Community College to ask voters to approve millage in August primary 5 questions about the WCC millage proposal answered Whitmore Lake Public Schools seeks support for 'sinking fund' millage Opposing sides of Water Street debate make their cases at Ypsilanti forum Township races Township races in Washtenaw County feature full slates of candidates Search by race for info on other township races in the Voter Guide 52nd District state House race Nearly $200K in campaign money reported in race to replace Gretchen Driskell Roads, schools, Gelman plume priorities for 52nd District candidates Barbara Fuller running to represent western Washtenaw County in state House Ann Arbor school board member launches campaign for State House of Representatives 53rd District state House race Rabhi raises $52K in Ann Arbor state rep race; Kwasny refuses donations Ann Arbor state rep candidates share views on education, campaign finance Ann Arbor man vows not to accept campaign donations in bid for state House Ann Arbor's Yousef Rabhi announces 2016 campaign for state House 54th District state House race 54th District candidates seek to replace term-limited Rep. David Rutledge 54th House District Democratic candidates discuss priorities, policies Washtenaw County commissioner races Washtenaw County Commission candidates address priorities, issues On the ballot in Ypsilanti Water Street, budgets and race: Ypsilanti council candidates discuss issues Five candidates file for Ypsilanti City Council seats Opposing sides of Water Street debate make their cases at Ypsilanti forum Ann Arbor City Council races Ann Arbor voters have important City Council races to decide on Aug. 2 Train station, transparency are dividing issues in Ann Arbor council races $42K in contributions fuel Ann Arbor council election campaigns 5th Ward candidates differ on wave of new development in Ann Arbor Deer cull divides 5th Ward candidates for Ann Arbor City Council Threat to Ann Arbor's water supply an issue in City Council races 5th Ward candidates for Ann Arbor council discuss top priorities 4th Ward candidates differ on Gelman plume, agree on regional transit 1st Ward candidates talk housing affordability, police oversight, climate change Candidates weigh in on cleaning up Ann Arbor's polluted groundwater 4th Ward council candidates differ on Library Lot redevelopment Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. walking_072316_RJS_01.jpg Two men walk past the Madras Masala restaurant on Maynard Street in downtown Ann Arbor, which was ranked by Redfin.com as the most walkable neighborhood among mid-sized Midwest cities. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor has risen to the top in yet another Top 10 list, this time for walkability. According to real-estate website Redfin.com, downtown Ann Arbor -- home to an increasing number of people moving into new apartments and condos -- is the most walkable neighborhood among mid-sized cities in the Midwest. "Adjacent to the University of Michigan campus, and in one of America's classic college towns, downtown Ann Arbor is Redfin's most walkable mid-sized Midwest neighborhood," the website stated. "Long known as the place to be before and after Wolverine games at the Big House, the neighborhood also has cultural spots like Michigan Theater and the Hands-on Museum for kids. For suds and eats, try the Arbor Brewing Company or The Blue Tractor. Or, for the best deli food you'll ever have, venture a few blocks north to Zingerman's." The ranking looked at cities that have a population under 300,000 yet are large enough to have neighborhoods with more than 1,000 people. With a Walk Score of 94.1, the center of Tree Town topped the list, just ahead of the Heartside district in Grand Rapids and downtown St. Paul in Minnesota. See the other neighborhoods that made the list. Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP, MI - Police have arrested an Ypsilanti man who they believe shot another man in the chest during an attempted robbery. Demetri Dejon Daniel, 22, was arrested Wednesday, July 27, after a cooperative effort with U.S. Marshals' Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team, Washtenaw Metro SWAT and Westland police, said Derrick Jackson of Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. Daniel was located after a search warrant was executed in the 1900 block of Eagle Court in Westland, Jackson said. He is accused of shooting a 19-year-old about 2 a.m. July 22 in the area of MacArthur Boulevard and Wiard Road in Superior Township. Police believe Daniel attempted to rob the man and fired several shots after a struggle with him. Daniel was arraigned on July 28 on charges of assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, being a felon in possession of a firearm, felony firearm and carrying a concealed weapon, online court records show. He also is charged with witness intimidation in connection with an incident on July 23, according to court records. Daniel was denied bond for the shooting incident and was given a $10,000 cash bond in the witness-intimidation case. He is scheduled for an Aug. 9 probable cause hearing and an Aug. 16 preliminary examination in the two cases. He faces up to life in prison for the felony charges of assault with intent to murder and armed robbery. Michigan Department of Corrections records show Daniel absconded from parole about a month prior to the alleged shooting incident. He was serving time for unarmed robbery in 2013 and assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer in 2012. Darcie Moran covers cops and courts for MLive and The Ann Arbor News. Email her at dmoran@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter @darciegmoran. Ardis.JPG Ypsilanti's New Tech High School is moving out of the Ardis building, 2100 Ellsworth Road, and the district is now pursuing an offer to sell the building. (Lauren Slagter | The Ann Arbor News) YPSILANTI, MI - Ypsilanti Community Schools is pursuing a $1.1 million offer for the purchase of Ardis School, located at 2100 Ellsworth Road. The sale of the property is part of a district-wide restructure to account for lower student enrollment and reduce spending on vacant schools. New Tech High School is moving out of Ardis and into Ypsilanti Community High School starting this fall, and YCS received offers from three groups to purchase or lease Ardis. At a meeting on Monday, July 25, the board of education passed a resolution to sell rather than lease the building and authorized the superintendent to negotiate the sale. Hope Community Church of Ypsilanti made the highest offer - $1.1 million - and on Thursday, the church submitted a purchase agreement for the school district to review, said Steve Burgess, YCS director of facilities. CHS Group LLC of Ypsilanti offered $1.025 million to purchase the building, and Mosaic Church of Ann Arbor made a $1 million offer to lease the school with the option to eventually purchase it, Burgess said. Hope Community Church Pastor Paul Manwiller attended Monday's school board meeting and spoke during public comment about the church's intention to relocate to the building if the sale goes through. Manwiller said the church would allow the YCS culinary arts program currently housed in Ardis to continue using space there. The church also partners with a nonprofit medical center, which would provide services at the building during the week. Ardis was built in 1971, with major renovations completed in 1997. The 59,000-square-foot school stood empty for five years before re-opening in 2010. The property was appraised at approximately $850,000, but Burgess said all parties believe that appraisal was below fair market value. In the 2008-09 school year, Ypsilanti Public School District - before the district became Ypsilanti Community Schools - rejected offers from the Michigan Islamic Academy to purchase Ardis. School board members at the time thought the $2.3 million offer was too low, and the superintendent at the time said the property was appraised at $5.3 million. BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City man will turn 20 in jail for hitting a woman with a skateboarding pipe but he'll avoid having a felony on his record if he stays out of trouble. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on Monday, Aug. 1, sentenced 19-year-old Trevian S. Lynn to 183 days in jail with credit for two days already served. Upon release, he'll serve two years of probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. The act allows a judge to place a defendant between the ages of 17 and 24 in jail or on probation without a conviction. If the defendant successfully completes the terms of the judge's sentence, he or she avoids having a criminal record. The judge also deferred an additional 182 days in jail, meaning Lynn will only have to serve them if he violates his probation. Sheeran also ordered Lynn to pay $50 in restitution. Lynn in June pleaded guilty to one count of attempted assault with a dangerous weapon. The charge is a two-year high court misdemeanor. In exchange for his plea, the prosecution dismissed counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and domestic violence. The evening of Thursday, March 31, police responded to the McLaren Bay Region hospital emergency room for an assault complaint. They met with a 20-year-old woman, who told them she was wounded by Lynn, court records show. The woman told police she and Lynn weren't getting along that night and he told her to leave his home. She said she sat on his porch waiting for a ride and that he started moving her possessions off the porch, court records show. The woman said she yelled at Lynn and started pushing him. She then walked to a nearby parking lot and a friend drove up. The friend also started yelling at Lynn, the woman told police. Lynn grabbed a 6-foot pipe or pole used for skateboarding and shook it at the women, standing in front of the car, his girlfriend told police. "He swung the pipe at me and hit me in the left side of the head," she said, according to court records. "I fell down to the ground. He said that he didn't mean to hit me in the head." The woman's friend gave police a similar account. "He had a pipe in his hands," she told police. "He said something about hitting my car with the pipe. I wasn't going to let him do it. Then (she) stepped up in front of my car. That's when Trevion hit her with the pipe in the head." Police wrote in their reports, contained in court records, that Lynn's girlfriend had a large bump on the left side of her forehead, near her hairline. Police later spoke with Lynn, who said he grabbed the skateboarding pole, intending to hit the other woman's car with it. He said he did hit his girlfriend in the head, but that he did not mean to do so, court records show. At Lynn's sentencing, defense attorney Andrea LaBean said her client is employed, is remorseful, and has no prior record. "Mr. Lynn has really good family support who supports him working through these troubles and have been by his side," she said. "Mr. Lynn has taken full responsibility for his actions. What he did was inappropriate and he knows that." Lynn declined to speak when the judge gave him the opportunity. Sheeran told Lynn not to take his Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status lightly, or to think it implies his crime was not serious. "It could have had much worse results very easily," Sheeran told Lynn. UPDATE: The child's parents have been identified, according to Bay City Public Safety Deputy Director Thomas Pletzke. Click here for more information. BAY CITY, MI -- Police are hoping the public can help them identify a child currently in their care. The child was found by a civilian about 7:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 1, in the area of the 1100 block of North Monroe Street on Bay City's East Side, reports the Bay City Department of Public Safety. The civilian turned the child over to police. Capt. Joseph Lanava said police are holding on to the child for the moment, but he eventually could be turned over to the Department of Human Services. Lanava said the child's name and exact age unknown. Anyone who recognizes the child is urged to call 911. FLINT, MI - Republic Services of Flint has issued a statement hours ahead of a deadline for trash to stopped being picked up in the city after a disagreement between Mayor Karen Weaver and council members on what company should perform the service. Service is due to be disrupted beginning Monday, Aug. 1, according to a statement from Weaver's office Saturday that asked residents to not set out their trash at the curb "to prevent animals from disturbing it and make the situation worse." The waste collection service's statement notes a Genesee County Circuit Court ruling on July 29 that Weaver could choose between Republic Services continuing waste collection for the city or suspend collection until further court action. "While our offer to Mayor Weaver to provide waste collection service on Monday was declined, we respect the Mayor's decision against offering service," reads the Republic statement, while apologizing for "any inconvenience that these circumstances might cause residents." Gary Hicks, municipality manager for Republic Services, said Sunday afternoon the company "did not want any interruptions in the service that the residents of the city of Flint normally receive so a communication from Republic was needed." A contract dispute has gone on for more than one month, with council members voting against the mayor's recommendation to award a $17.5 million contract to Rizzo Environmental Services despite a bid $2 million lower than Republic's offer. Council members then approved a contact to renew services with Republic, which the mayor vetoed and the council overrode with a vote last week. A lawsuit was filed July 28 by Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid after Weaver's administration did not acknowledge the council's approval to contract with Republic. Weaver previously told The Flint Journal she hopes for an agreement this week. "We realize this is an inconvenience and we're working to resolve the matter as quickly as possible," she said. "Meanwhile, we appreciate and thank the citizens of Flint for their cooperation." The two sides are set to return to court for a Tuesday, Aug. 2 hearing in front of Genesee Circuit Court Judge Joseph Farah. FLINT, MI -- Officials have reached a temporary agreement to keep trash from piling up in Flint neighborhoods. Republic Services, the company who hauled Flint's trash until July 29 when their contract expired, issued statement saying they will continue to service the community at least through Aug. 12. Pickup will resume Tuesday. The announcement comes just days after residents were told by the city there would be no trash service in Flint as of Aug. 1. "It's like we are living in a third world country," said Travis Gilbert who lives on Flint's north side near Dupont Street. "First we had dirty water and now we are living with trash." Mayor Karen Weaver announced on July 30 that trash services would stop on Aug. 1 after she rejected an offer from Republic to extend the city's trash contract with Republic while officials ironed out details in court. The trash dispute sparked angry conversation across social media platforms and made news nationwide including in Washington and Virginia. Weaver's announcement came after a July 29 court hearing where Genesee County Circuit Judge Joseph Farah moved the issue to Tuesday, Aug. 2 giving attorneys time to answer questions including inquiries about the Mayor's authority and city charter. By mid-afternoon Monday, the smell of trash lingered in neighborhoods on Flint's north side. "I've been waiting all morning to help them load some of this trash on the truck," said Kevin Ditto who lives on Dupont Street. "I'm ready to head back down south if I can convince my wife to move." Ditto said he thought the announcement about the city not having trash removal was a social media hoax and put his family's trash out anyway. His neighbor, Dorothy Smith said the trash issue was "a shame" and just added to a number for problems the city is already facing including the water crisis. Another resident, Keith Banks said he is disappointed in the city's leadership. "This was a terrible decision," said Banks, who found out the night before about the trash not being picked up on Monday. "There's no excuse just pick it up." Banks said he and his wife Linda Banks have lived on Pulaski Street for 50 years and this is the first time he can remember having his trash service interrupted. Republic Services said they hoped their earlier offer to extend their contract would be accepted but it didn't happen. "We are encouraged that Mayor Weaver has reconsidered our earlier offer to provide interim residential waste collection service in Flint," said a statement from Russ Knocke, vice president of communications and public affairs for Republic. "We have reached an understanding with the city, and are ready to resume service on Tuesday, Aug. 2." Republic and the city have agreed to extend the company's contract through Aug. 12 while Weaver's office and the City Council work out the dispute. Weaver's office said they city is working on long-term solutions for the city and they are banking on the Receivership Transition Advisory board making a decision in a Aug. 10 meeting as to who will get the city's trash contract. "As negotiations continue on a new long-term solid waste collection contract for the City of Flint, Mayor Karen Weaver has reached an interim agreement with Republic Services to ensure residents will continue receiving this critical service," said the statement issued by Flint spokeswoman Kristin Moore. Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid filed suit against Weaver and her office on July 28 after Weaver did not acknowledge a resolution from the council to continue using Republic to collect the city's trash. In June the council voted against Weaver's recommendation to hire Rizzo Environmental Services, whose bid came in $2 million lower than Republic's bid. The council said the questioned Rizzo's integrity and if they were a "responsible" bidder. "I want to thank Republic Services for agreeing to resume trash collection in Flint while we work to resolve this matter," said Mayor Weaver. "My main objective is to do what's best for the citizens and the City of Flint. Members of City Council and I may have different views on what that is, but residents should not be inconvenienced because of it." As for now, trash service is delayed a day and residents like Rhonda Chatman say they are not letting garbage pile up at their homes. "First we had to deal with the water crisis. Now we have to deal with the trash," said Chatman who lives on Ridgeway Avenue. "The north side is already over ran by rodents. I can't do rodents. I'm not going to let my trash pile in my house or in my garage it can just stay on my curb." hagel.jpg Genesee Intermediate School District superintendent Lisa Hagel addresses media and staff members during a Monday, Aug. 1, 2016 press conference at Summerfield Early Childhood Center to discuss the Early On Genesee program. (Roberto Acosta | MLive.com) FLINT, MI - The Genesee Intermediate School District and Michigan Department of Education have kicked off a campaign to evaluate more than 3,000 children in the Flint community for potential lead-related developmental delays. The "Don't Wait. Evaluate." campaign includes multiple staff members tasked with going door-to-door on buses to help develop individualized family service plans for children, based on information collected from families through the Early On Genesee program. A media push is underway in the Flint and Genesee County areas, with a commercial set to air on local stations about the program. The program targets children birth to 3 years old with potential developmental delays, but GISD superintendent Lisa Hagel said it had been minimized to only be able to help a small number of children due to a lack of backing. "It has never been able to meet the need, so you only really had the physicians that will find a child that is severely delayed and they'll contact us and we'll work with the families but it was just a fraction of what was needed," she said, following an Aug. 1 press conference at Summerfield Early Childhood Center in Flint. After the water crisis broke, with thousands of children in Flint potentially exposed to lead, the state of Michigan authorized allocated more than $2 million in funds for the Early On program to address the needs of children through services including language and motor skill development. Vanessa Winborne, coordinator for the Michigan Department of Education's Early On program in the Office of Great Start, said those services will also include speech and communication, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and psychological services. Hagel said there is an additional $6.5 million being offered, with a total of $13 million provided to keep it in operations for a handful of years. Cherie Wager, GISD assistant superintendent for special educations services, said the funding also has allowed for the program to swell from around two dozen to 40-plus employees. The program has received local backing by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint doctor who led the call for help with potential developmental and behavioral issues in children that's expected to come over the next two decades due to lead exposure. "When she put that on paper, we knew that would move things along relatively quickly," said Wager, noting a long-standing relationship with Hurley. With the added personnel, Hagel said the program has seen an increase of 400 percent in those seeking services. She estimated 3,600 children who fit into the program may have been exposed, but Hagel said the effects of lead reach into nearly all 21 school districts in the county with a large schools of choice population attending classes outside the Flint city limits. "People say it's a Flint problem, but the International Academy of Flint, Carman-Ainsworth, they have almost more Flint affected children than the Flint city school district," she said. Hagel pointed out the GISD and school districts are able to track the whereabouts of children as they register for classes, formulating a map of where they stay and offering them healthy snacks, water, filters, and summer programs, but there are some difficulties. "As mobile as families are in the county, when schools open up we'll have where they all are again and start again," she said. "It's kind of a moving target." Dr. Susan Fleming, director of Early On Genesee, noted the services are being provided to all children and the ability to give all children "that extra boost at the most critical part of their development is wonderful, all across the county." In spite of all the services in place, Hagel recognized the challenges that lie ahead for students and families. "It's going to be a challenge, it's going to be a 20-year ripple," she said. For more information about the Early On Genesee program visit geneseeisd.org or call 810-591-KIDS (5437). FLINT, MI - Three Michigan Department of Health and Human Services workers have been arraigned on felony charges connected to the Flint water crisis. Robert Scott and Nancy Peeler were each arraigned the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 1, by Genesee District Judge Nathaniel Perry III after being charged by Attorney General Bill Schuette. Perry arraigned Corinne Miller earlier in the day. Charges against the trio were announced July 29 by Schuette. He also announced charges against three Department of Environmental Quality employees the same day. Miller, previous director of the state's Bureau of Epidemiology and state epidemiologist with the MDHHS, was charged with felony misconduct in office and conspiracy and misdemeanor neglect of duty by a public officer. She retired in April. Miller, Peeler and Scott knew children in Flint were being poisoned by lead and suppressed the information, special investigators with the Attorney General's Office allege. Peeler, 54, of Midland, was the director of the MDHHS Program for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting in July 2015 when she requested an internal report on blood lead levels in Flint children. The report was created on July 28 and showed a significant spike in blood lead tests for kids in Flint for the summer of 2014, Schuette said. That report was never passed on to the proper health officials, investigators allege. Peeler and Scott, the data manager for the Healthy Homes and Lead Prevention program, created a second report two days later that falsely indicated there was no significate rise blood lead levels of Flint children for the summer 2014. Peeler was charged with felony misconduct in office and conspiracy, along with misdemeanor willful neglect of duty by a public officer. Scott, 58, of Haslett, was charged with felony misconduct in office and conspiracy and misdemeanor willful neglect of duty. Peeler and Scott are currently on unpaid suspension. Miller, 65, of Dewitt, received the report first, but told others not to take action and snubbed other employees who asked about what to do next, Schuette said. She later told another MDHHS employee to delete emails concerning the original blood lead data report from July 28, 2015. All three were released on personal recognizance bonds. The charges carry a maximum of five years in prison. Probable cause conferences are scheduled for Aug. 9 in all three cases. No arraignments are scheduled in the criminal cases filed against DEQ employees Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook. Will voters agree to keep their district library open? Who might pose the biggest threat to Larry Stelma, and potentially unseat the veteran sheriff? Will Sparta voters elect the area's first openly transgender candidate for a municipal office? Polls will open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, for primary elections in which partisan voters will choose nominees for township, state and federal offices. In Kent and Ottawa counties, ballots also will have non-partisan sections for judicial elections and local ballot questions. Here are seven storylines to follow: Who will Republicans choose for state House? Four area reps are being term-limited out of office: Ken Yonker, Tom Hooker, Lisa Lyons and Amanda Price. They all represent Republican districts that likely won't elect the Democratic nominee in November, so whoever wins the GOP nominations Tuesday will be on track for the Legislature over the next two to six years. Plus, incumbent state Rep. Daniela Garcia, R-Holland, faces a primary challenger in Ottawa County, and two Republicans are seeking the nomination to a Grand Rapids seat that's currently held by Democrat Winnie Brinks. DeVos-backed candidates have cash advantage in Michigan House campaigns What's next for term-limited state reps? After six years in the Michigan Legislature, Tom Hooker is challenging incumbent Byron Township Supervisor Audrey Nevins Weiss for the Republican nomination to lead the growing community along M-6 in southern Kent County. Fellow term-limited reps Ken Yonker and Lisa Lyons are unopposed for the GOP nominations to Kent County drain commissioner and clerk, respectively, and appear on track for those jobs that typically go to Republicans. However, they both will face active Democratic candidates in November's election. Will Kent County re-elect a sheriff for a fifth term? Larry Stelma is seeking a fifth 4-year term as Kent County sheriff, and he has three challengers for the Republican nomination. If Stelma wins, he'll be 70 by the time his term expires in 2020. In Ottawa County, where Sheriff Gary Rosema is retiring, there'll be a new sheriff for sure. Steve Kempker and Chris Boyce are on the ballot, and the winner will have no Democratic opposition in November. Veteran sheriff has 3 primary challengers: his deputy, police officer, businessman Who will be the new judges? Kent County is adding a new Circuit Court judge, and replacing a judge who is being age-limited off the bench. Both are non-partisan races. The election to replace Judge George Buth has three candidates on Tuesday's ballot, and the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in November. The election for the new judgeship has two candidates, and that contest will be decided in November. Two open judicial seats also are on the ballot in Ottawa County, one in the district court and one in the circuit court. Will Sparta Township elect a transgender candidate who wants to enact a non-discrimination ordinance? Gidget Groendyk is one of the state's first openly transgender political candidates. Groendyk is one of six people seeking four Republican nominations for Sparta Township trustee in northern Kent County. Transgender candidate on ballot in Michigan with both male and female names Will any county commissioners get primaried out of office? Republicans two years ago elected Stan Ponstein, R-Grandville, county commissioner again. Again, he faces a primary challenge, this time from retired Kent County undersheriff Jon Hess. Similarly, on the Democratic side, commissioner Candace Chivis, D-Grand Rapids, faces another primary challenge from Robert Womack, while Dave Bulkowski, D-Grand Rapids, is getting primaried by Michael Booker. Will any of the incumbents lose? Plus, three Democrats are vying for their party's nomination to challenge incumbent Commissioner Harold Mast, R-Kentwood, in what may be a relatively vulnerable seat in Kent County. And in Ottawa County, a Tea Party organizer and a former Holland schools superintendent are running for an open commission seat. How will voters receive tax proposals on the ballot? Regardless of party loyalty, voters throughout Ottawa County and in several Kent County communities will consider ballot proposals for a variety of public services like trails in Plainfield Township, Ottawa parks and the Herrick District Library in Holland. Plus, funding proposals confront school voters in Byron Center and Wyoming. Check out MLive's Voter Guide for candidate info Bummed because you aren't registered to vote in Tuesday's election? You still can participate in the Nov. 8 general election, including voting for president, if you register by Oct. 11. Contract your local township or city clerk. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- In a tight job market, a new Grand Rapids restaurant is hoping to appeal to potential workers with perks that go beyond just their paycheck. Among the big draws for The Knickerbocker is its roomy, state-of-the-art kitchen and prep spaces. In investing in a dream culinary space, New Holland Brewing, the company behind the restaurant, is taking a page from tech giant Google and its approach to attracting talent. "How Google lures people by having the top office in the world, that's what we want for this," said Joel Petersen, New Holland's vice president of marketing. As the finishing touches are being put on the two-story restaurant in a $25 million development on Grand Rapids's West Side, New Holland continues to recruit staff that will top 150. The last two of five job fairs are planned for this month, on Aug. 9 and 25. They will be held at Rockford Construction, 601 First St. NW., from 3 - 6 p.m. The restaurant is accepting applications online at new-holland-brewing-co-grand-rapids.workable.com. The battle for labor has intensified as the shortage of hospitality workers has ratcheted up in recent years. The explosion of breweries and brew pubs has exacerbated the problem, says Dan Gendler, who teaches at and formerly oversaw Grand Rapids Community College's acclaimed culinary education program. Restaurants are often competing with dining facilities at senior homes, colleges and resorts for the same talent pool. Front line kitchen jobs, from dishwasher to line cooks, which pay meager wages, somewhere between $9 to $12 an hour, can be the hardest to fill. Turnover is high in these spots because culinary graduates often see them as short-term, stepping stone positions. Raising pay is one way for restaurants to set themselves apart from the competition. But Gendler says the real problem is not enough people are going into the industry. "While the wages need go up, the perception that this is the low-pay industry needs to go away," he said. Starting wages can be lower than other industries, but so is the educational investment. A culinary degree takes half the time of a traditional college education, and is usually one-third of the price or less, Gendler points out. "The big push is to get the word out that it's a great industry to get into and work in," Gendler said. "We need more people going into it." Knickerbocker is counting on setting itself apart from the competition by giving its staff an opportunity to grow their culinary knowledge. "The greatest attribute of the New Holland kitchen team is that we are cooking a wide assortment of dishes with a vast assortment of techniques," said Dale Beaubien, New Holland Brewing Chef. "We are being mindful of teaching the techniques and fundamentals to further invest in the education of the staff -- gaining experience here is paramount." Along with competitive wages, the restaurant will offer a comprehensive benefit program for full-time employees - who work 30 hours a week or more - such as a 401k with employer match and paid vacation time that begins with two weeks at hire. The Knickerbocker is drawing interest. Upward of 100 applicants attended the first two job fairs. "We want to be a place that no matter what stage they can learn and grow their skills," Petersen said. The brigade-style kitchen was designed for maximum efficiency, and to avoid traditional bumping backs that kitchen crews often put up with while working in tight quarters. On the lower level is a 1,500-square-foot space with a massive cooler and butcher area for processing the food that arrives from local farms. The space, outfitted with shipping docks and a freight elevator, also has a 1,500-square-foot beer storage room, complete with draft lines. The restaurant's moniker comes from the nickname for the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of New York. It is also the name of New Holland's handcrafted gin. A wood stove fireplace for cooking pizzas and a southern fried smoker will be visible from the dining room, while a window in the cocktail bar overlooks the building's two-story brewery and distillery. "We want people to be connected to the process," Peterson said. "We want to take the food to the level of craft beer and spirits to where you have a relationship to everything brought to the table." The restaurant's lower level also includes a break room wrapped in two rows of orange lockers. These are the kinds of amenities that weren't possible at the Holland location because the restaurant is housed in a historic building. The restaurant will offer a mix of dining experiences, from a beer hall to a cocktail lounge to a dining room. "There's something for everyone," Petersen said. JACKSON, MI - A man believed to be selling heroin in the Jackson area could be charged as early as next week with delivering a fatal dose to a Jackson woman. The parolee will be the second person charged in connection with the woman's death. Her husband, 45, already is accused of the same felony offense, Blackman-Leoni Township public safety Deputy Director Christopher Boulter said. He was arraigned late last month in Jackson County District Court. Authorities believe the 45-year-old purchased the heroin from 628 W. Ganson St., east of Steward Avenue, Boulter said. The Jackson Narcotics Enforcement Team searched the home Tuesday, July 26, and found more than 20 packets of heroin believed to be packaged for sale. Each of the packets contained about 1/10 a gram of the drug, about a single dose, Michigan State Police Sgt. Benjamin Garrison said. Police also found two handguns, believed to be stolen, and arrested the man. Garrison said the team had been watching the parolee and knew he was serving "a lot of people" in or around Jackson, possibly leading to other overdoses that were not fatal. JNET became involved in the case at the request of the public safety department. Boulter's department handled the initial investigation into the woman's death and requested the team's assistance as part of an ongoing effort to nab suppliers contributing to what has been called a community heroin epidemic. For now, the alleged supplier is being held in jail for violating his parole. Garrison said he spent time in prison for a second-degree murder in Detroit. JNET is not yet releasing the names of those involved. More information is expected to be released after the parolee is formally charged. Anyone who recognizes the Ganson Street address or has information about the happenings there is encouraged to contact JNET at 517-784-2990. The Michigan State Police Jackson Post provided the following log of activities for the weekend of July 29 to 31 with troopers investigating 65 incidents and calls for service. Fleeing/Operating Under the Influence of a Controlled Substance: Jackson County, Parma Township: Motor carrier officers located a be-on-the- lookout vehicle that was driving at a high rate of speed, side swiping other vehicles, and swerving off the road. Motor carrier officers pursued the vehicle, and the driver eventually pulled over. The driver, a 28-year-old male from Three Rivers, was arrested for fleeing, resisting arrest, and operating under the influence of a controlled substance. While being transported to the jail, he attempted to escape custody several times. He was lodged at the Jackson County Jail. Smuggling Contraband Into Prison: Jackson County, Blackman Township: A trooper and a sergeant were dispatched to a prison smuggling incident. An investigation was conducted, and a 41-year-old man from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who was visiting the prison, was arrested for smuggling suspected marijuana. He was lodged at the Jackson County Jail. Operating While Intoxicated: Jackson County, Blackman Township: Troopers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle for an equipment violation. Further investigation revealed the driver, a 41-year-old Jackson woman, was operating while intoxicated. She was arrested and lodged at the Jackson County Jail. Fugitive: Jackson County, Leoni Township: A sergeant conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for speeding. Further investigation revealed the driver, a 24-year-old man from Battle Creek, was driving on a suspended license and had a warrant for his arrest for possession of cocaine out of the Battle Creek Police Department. He was taken into custody and turned over to deputies with the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department. Fugitive: Jackson County, City of Jackson: A trooper stopped a bicyclist for disregarding a traffic control device. The rider, a 26-year-old Jackson man, was found to have a warrant for his arrest for assault out of the Jackson Police Department. He was arrested and lodged at the Jackson County Jail. Larceny Theft from Building: Hillsdale County, Woodbridge Township: Troopers were dispatched to a residence for a report of stolen money and a stolen safe. An investigation was conducted, a suspect was developed in a 25-year-old Hillsdale man, and most of the stolen money and property was recovered and returned to the victim. A report and warrant request will be forwarded to the Hillsdale County Prosecutor's Office for review. Additional activities: Troopers are investigating a report of criminal sexual conduct in Henrietta Township, Jackson County. Troopers were dispatched to a residence for a report of domestic assault in Pulaski Township, Jackson County; an investigation was conducted that determined that a domestic assault had not taken place. Troopers are investigating a report of illegal dumping in Springport Township, Jackson County. Troopers are investigating a larceny of a phone complaint in Leoni Township, Jackson County. Troopers are investigating a report of assault in Spring Arbor Township, Jackson County. Troopers are investigating an assault complaint in Concord, Jackson County. Troopers are investigating a report of credit card fraud in Grass Lake Township, Jackson County. Troopers are investigating a failure to report a personal injury accident in Fayette Township, Hillsdale County. Troopers are investigating a malicious destruction of property to a residence complaint in Adams Township, Hillsdale County. LEONI TWP. -- A house caught fire Monday, Aug. 1, after a grill malfunctioned on the back deck, causing the propane tank's hose to flame, Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Deputy Director Scott Grajewski said. Public safety officers responded to the house at 4426 Allison Street at approximately 2:39 p.m. Grajewski said a woman attempted to start the grill when it malfunctioned. Neighbor Penny McArthur, 62, said her husband heard the tank explode and ran next door with a fire extinguisher. McArthur said her husband put out the fire around the propane tank, but the house was already in flames. "It happened very, very fast," McArthur said. The woman, her daughter and their dog were on McArthur's porch next door while firefighters fought the blaze. McArthur and Grajewski both said the two people and their dog are OK. Grajewski said a couple of hot spots lingered at 3:34 p.m., but the fire was under control with a majority extinguished. A utility line was down running from across the street to the house. Consumers Energy was on scene to de-energize it, a representative said. The roof caved in over top of the garage and hot spots existed throughout the roof, prompting firefighters to cut scattered holes in the structure, Grajewski said. Firefighters from Grass Lake and Napoleon townships assisted Blackman-Leoni at the scene. He said the American Red Cross had not been contacted yet, but that is the next step for the family. SUMMIT TWP, MI - The Jackson County Circuit Court affirmed Summit Township's order to halt development on a proposed swingers club on Spring Arbor Road. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Richard LaFlamme affirmed the zoning board of appeals decision, issuing a final order July 26 that disposes all claims filed by Epicurean Developments in regard to the proposed swingers club. "While appellants contend that the Township is against swingers clubs, and perhaps by extension the swinger lifestyle, they have provided no evidence that this zoning regulation impermissibly restricts any protected speech activity," LaFlamme wrote. "They have demonstrated no evidence that the ordinance itself is whimsical, arbitrary or clearly unreasonable." In the lawsuit filed in December 2015, Epicurean Developments argued the township's Zoning Board of Appeals violated procedural and substantive due process, had incorrectly applied state laws rendering its interpretation, and improperly considered extrinsic evidence. It also argued the township's interpretation of its ordinance restricted free speech. Epicurean Developments bought the property at 4200 Spring Arbor Road in December 2014 and filed building permits in January 2015. In February 2015, Summit Township issued a building permit after developers submitted architectural sketches and paid all required fees. After that, the developer started advertising the property as a future swingers club. That's when the troubles between the developer and township officials began. Township officials sent the manager of Epicurean Developments a letter March 26, 2015, rescinding the construction permits and putting up a stop work order on the property. Since then, the two parties have been arguing about what is allowed under local zoning ordinances and the law. Dismissing the allegation of bias against the club, LaFlamme wrote that the board's referring to the project as a proposed swingers club does not prove bias, especially since the developer did not deny the proposed fact while challenging the board's decision. The court agreed with Epicurean Developments' claim that potential alcohol consumption on the property was not proper for consideration in the zoning board's decision. "The purpose of a zoning regulation is to regulate how a property may be used, not which people may assemble and where," LaFlamme wrote. However, the court did find there were issues with how the property would be used as it had been previously characterized, vaguely, as several different kinds of establishments including a dance club, a bathing establishment and an adult physical cultural establishment. Assuming all of the previous description were factually accurate, at least some of the proposed uses are not permitted, LaFlamme wrote. In February, Epicurean Developments sued Summit Township in the U.S. District Court Eastern Michigan District over the township's "intentional scheme" to violate their civil rights. U.S. District Court Eastern Michigan District Judge John O'Meara dismissed the suit filed by Epicurean Developments and The Club at 4200 due to "abstention and lack of ripeness" May 24, according to court records. According to the court order granting Summit Township's motion to dismiss the case, the court found there was substantial risk of having duplicate litigation being ruled on in the court that could result in inconsistent resolutions. Attorneys for Epicurean Developments could not be reached. To read all of the stories about the proposed swingers club, click here. image.jpeg After 10 years at Western Michigan University, President John Dunn is retiring. ( Courtesy WMU) (Courtesy WMU)) KALAMAZOO, MI -- After serving for 10 years and awarding some 50,000 academic degrees to students, Western Michigan University President John M. Dunn plans to retire, effective June 30, 2017 he announced Monday. Dunn, who is WMU's eighth president, released a message to the University community Aug. 1 in which he described plans for a coming year full of work still to be completed. Dunn said the lengthy advance notice of his retirement date will "ensure that the trustees, in consultation with the University community, have adequate time to conduct a national search for the person who will become the ninth president of WMU." Dunn's current contract extends through June 30, and he has accepted a request from the WMU Board of Trustees to serve in the capacity of president emeritus for the year following his tenure as president. That agreement was built into his most recent contract extension. "I will undertake assignments, as determined by the trustees and the president-designate," Dunn wrote. "My intent is to be helpful, but not intrusive, in the leadership and direction of the new president." Board of Trustees Chair Kenneth Miller followed Dunn's message with one of his own, praising Dunn's accomplishments and outlining the board's next steps in the process of identifying the next WMU president. Miller led the search that brought Dunn to WMU in 2007. The launch of the WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, an affiliation that created the WMU Cooley Law School, a focus on sustainability and the establishment of programs for veterans and former foster care youth that became national models are among the initiatives most often cited in describing the Dunn presidency. "In just nine short years, President Dunn's record of accomplishment and the transformation he has led on campus and in the community have been remarkable," Miller said. "We are, today, a markedly different and stronger University than we were in 2007." Nearly $500 million in construction projects, fundraising success, growth in international representation on campus and a dramatic increase in WMU's honor student population have changed the campus environment during Dunn's tenure, Miller said. Miller said a Presidential Search Advisory Committee will begin work immediately and will be led by Trustee William D. Johnston as chair, and Trustee James Bolger as vice chair. Trustee Mary Asmonga-Knapp also will serve as a committee member. The process, Miller noted, will be one that includes broad representation of the faculty, staff, students and alumni as well as community members. Dunn took office as WMU's president on July 1, 2007. He came to the University from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he had been serving as provost, vice chancellor and then interim chancellor. Previously, Dunn was dean of the University of Utah's College of Health from 1995 to 2002. Before that, he was at Oregon State University for 20 years, last serving as associate provost. As an academic, Dunn is internationally known for his research and writing about the long-term health of people with disabilities. His work includes more than 50 professional papers and book chapters. Since moving to Michigan, Dunn has been actively engaged with state and community efforts that focus on quality-of-life issues and enhancing economic development. He is a member of the boards of First National Bank, Southwest Michigan First and the WMU Foundation as well as the governing boards of the Greater Kalamazoo Area United Way and the W.E.Upjohn Institute. He also is in his second term as chair of the Mid-American Conference President's Council and is in his final year as a board member of ACE--the American Council on Education. In his message to the campus Dunn pledged his continuing commitment to the University. "This has been an incredible time in the lives of Linda and John Dunn, and we will always be thankful for the opportunity to be part of Western Michigan University, the Kalamazoo community and the region," wrote Dunn, who will be nearly 72 when he retires. "I hope it is clear to all that my respect and affection for this University will be sustained forever, and that I fully intend to be a supportive and helpful Bronco for the remainder of my life." MUSKEGON, MI - Before the Muskegon Big Red Marching Band took to Hackley Stadium in front of 5,000 people and before the Marching Tigers high-stepped their way through the streets of Muskegon Heights, there was Beerman's Band. They were Muskegon's band, performing everywhere from downtown street corners to opera houses and at everything from Fourth of July celebrations to memorial services. Founded by Loren O. Beerman in 1884, the eclectic band had more than 50 members at its height. When the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was dedicated in Hackley Park, the band was there. And when the Muskegon Rifles went off to war in Cuba in 1897, Beerman's Band led the parade. It was Muskegon's band. And it stayed that way until it slowly dissipated in the late 1930s. Many of those with memories of the band are no longer with us. And Beerman's Music House, the shop opened by Beerman in 1882, no longer stands. But Beerman's impact is ingrained into Muskegon's history and his legacy as an early music pioneer lives on through Muskegon Chronicle archives. Beerman was born in Canada and came to Ferrysburg at the age of 16 where he worked at a sawmill. In 1878, he came to Muskegon and established a wagon-making business. Beerman was musically gifted, a passion that led to the opening of his store on First Street in 1882. The store was small, basic, simple. Only a few poor quality cylinder records were available for the phonograph invented by Thomas A. Edison just five years earlier. Two years later, he was able to muster a 25-piece band and the music began. Beerman's Band established itself as a musical presence in West Michigan by winning first place and high praise at an 1890 band contest in Big Rapids. The band's concerts were wide-ranging but Beerman's solos on the euphonium were always a crowd favorite. The band had a mascot, Eugene Villema or "Frenchy" as he was known throughout Muskegon. He didn't play a musical instrument but never missed a march, according to Muskegon Chronicle archives. One band member, Russell Misner, wrote an overturn titled "A Night in Hackley Park." The contents or whereabouts of the piece have been unknown for many years. According to archives, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone with a shred of musical talent in the region who hadn't been influenced in some way by Beerman. Alumni of Beerman's Band included soldiers, mayors and community leaders that numbered in the 100s. After Beerman's death, the band continued under the direction of his son, Frederic until the late 1930s. Fred Beerman died in 1933 and as the tradition of open-air concerts decreased and high school bands emerged, the band slowly went quiet. But Beerman's Music House lived on. Charles Sutton, general manager of the store who was a well-known cornet player in the band for years, took up ownership in 1936. Sutton's daughter Goldie and her husband William E. Klairter were the next to operate the music house. The couple moved the business from First Street to a 6,000-square foot building on Terrace Street in June of 1953. The store included a basement where an auditorium has been installed with seating for 150 people. William Klairter retired in 1970 and the business was passed to his son Dan Klairter. The business celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 1982 and was honored as a Michigan Centennial Business by the Historical Society of Michigan in 1983. But the years eventually took their toll. By 2004, the store was heavily reliant on income from rental instruments provided by Marshall Music. The store hit hard times when the corporate supplier pulled out of the agreement. Beerman's Music House quietly closed its doors in late April 2004. It was the end of a legacy. The conclusion of to the story of the man behind Muskegon's band. "We remember their passing with regret," said longtime band member Joseph Siplon in a Muskegon Chronicle article published in 1993. "They were men Muskegon won't soon forget." MUSKEGON, MI -- Former Muskegon County employee and Sparta Village Council member Paul Bryan Hibbard tearfully apologized on Monday before being sentenced for seeking child porn. Hibbard, 46, in June pleaded guilty to trying to persuade a county co-worker to send him sexually inappropriate photos of her two little daughters. On Monday, Muskegon County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks sentenced Hibbard on the charges: procuring an act of gross indecency with a child, a felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. Hicks earlier committed to cap Hibbard's incarceration at six months in jail, and that's what Hibbard got along with five years probation. The jail sentence will be served at the same time as an identical Kent County sentence for possession of child pornography on his home computer. Hibbard wept as he stood before the judge Monday, saying he was looking forward to starting his life fresh - to "moving on." "I'm sorry," he said through tears. "I just want to apologize to everybody. I can promise none of this will ever happen again." Hibbard has acknowledged that in conversations or text exchanges with Christine Workman, he requested sexual pictures of Workman's daughters, ages 3 and 6. Hibbard worked for Muskegon County's Facilities Management department at the time, and Workman worked for the county's equalization department. Hibbard also was a council member for the Village of Sparta. Hibbard's attorney, Jeffrey P. West, said Hibbard's wife "remains supportive." She, Hibbard's mother, sister and other family members were in the audience as he was sentenced. So was Workman. There is no evidence that Workman actually sent images to Hibbard, though she expressed willingness to do so. She also engaged in sexual banter with Hibbard regarding the children in text messages, according to a court petition to remove the girls from her custody. Workman pleaded guilty earlier to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was sentenced to probation and given a suspended jail sentence. Hibbard in June was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation on a child pornography charge brought by the Kent County Prosecutor's Office. Kent County sheriff's deputies found 28 images of child pornography on devices owned by Hibbard as a follow-up investigation to the Muskegon County case. West said Hibbard has been in counseling and is working with his minister to address his "unhealthy interest in predominantly adult pornography." Hicks called Hibbard's actions in Muskegon County - seeking explicit images of young girls - as "pretty troubling, pretty scary." As Hibbard left the courtroom, he turned and smiled at his family members, mouthing the words "I love you all." SAGINAW, MI -- Which of the four candidates should be Saginaw County's sheriff in 2017? It's a question that was of great importance to the about 75 county voters gathered at Saginaw's La Union Civica Mexicana on Sunday, July 31. The venue hosted a forum that pitted all four Democratic candidates for sheriff against one another. The event was organized by Latino Leaders for the Enhancement of Advocacy and Development (LLEAD). Full coverage: 2016 elections in Saginaw County Though Saginaw County voters will not actually elect a sheriff until the November general election, the contest is all but decided in the Aug. 2 primary because all four of the candidates filed as Democrats. The primary contest consists of incumbent Sheriff William Federspiel and challengers Brian Booker, William Gutzwiller and Robert Karl. Over the course of a nearly two-hour-long event Sunday, questions from the audience ranged from pointed critiques of incumbent William Federspiel to questions about domestic violence, a proposed new county jail, sheriff substations, body cameras and how drug forfeiture funds should be spent. Booker, a longtime Saginaw police officer and former Buena Vista Township chief, focused on his intensive law enforcement and leadership experience, and how he would use the community policing model to better connect the sheriff's office with the county residents it serves. Gutzwiller, a retired captain from the county sheriff's office, also touted his lengthy law enforcement career and involvement in the community, and said he would better manage the relationship with sheriff's office employees and labor unions than the current sheriff. Karl, the county's former undersheriff and another longtime law enforcement officer, promised to be professional and fair, to put an end to wasteful spending and proposed he would launch a scholarship program under the auspices of the sheriff's office to help provide educational opportunities for local youth. Have a little time on your hands before Tuesday? Listen to everything the four candidates had to say during the forum here: Viewing this on a mobile device and don't see the audio player embedded above? Click here to open this page in your mobile browser. If you're in a bit more of a hurry, here are some of the highlights from Sunday's forum: Brian Booker on why he is running for sheriff: "I have a vested interest and a moral obligation to Saginaw County." "I've had very unique experiences in my law enforcement career. In dealing with some of the things that are heavy topics right now, as far as crime, minority hiring and tragic situations. As a sheriff, I would bring that experience to the sheriff's office." Bill Gutzwiller on his past experience preparing him to take over the duties of county sheriff: "I have 29 1/2 years with the sheriff's office before I retired in January of 2013. And that was 29 1/2 proud years." "I am still currently a police officer. I have 32 years as a law enforcement officer. I work for Frankenmuth city and I work for Tittabawassee Township part-time." Robert Karl on why voters should choose him as the county's next sheriff: "I am a 35-year veteran in law enforcement." "I am also not a politician. I'm a professional. Professionals get results. Politicians make a bunch of promises they never seem to keep. That's not what I'm about. I'm about living within my budget and putting forward a smarter and more effective policing agency." William Federspiel on why he is running for reelection: "I'm proud to be the sheriff of Saginaw County and I would ask for your vote on Aug. 2 to maintain the policies, to maintain the forward momentum of the Saginaw County Sheriff's office." "The office of sheriff is a very, very important job, and that's why all of you are here today. It takes immense concentration, focus, relationship-building. One must reach out across boundaries. My staff has done a wonderful job, reaching out across the county." Brian Booker on how he and his running-mate, former Michigan State Police detective Al Ogg, have no baggage when it comes to the sheriff's office: "I am not tied to the sheriff's office." "We come in clean. We have no animosity toward anybody there. We come in and everything is by the book." "It's a team concept. It'll be a smooth transition if I'm elected sheriff." William Gutzwiller on how he would treat his employees and seek their input on how drug forfeiture funds are spent: "I'm a labor man. I like to work with labor." "So we're going to get those union boards in, we're going to get those people and we're going to get their ideas on how that money should be spent. If it's equipment, we're going to get them the equipment they need. If it's training, we're going to get them the training they need." "I am not going to go in there like a ruler and sit there on my perch and bark out orders." Robert Karl on how his time as undersheriff prepared him to cut back on wasteful spending: "As your sheriff, I know where things can be cut, where we can get rid of the reckless and ridiculous spending that has been going on right now." "We live within our means. We don't make a bunch of changes just for vanity. That won't happen under my watch." "Changing the uniforms from the traditional brown shirts and taupe pants to all black is a wasteful endeavor. Just totally wasteful." "We need to be smarter with our money. We need to be more dedicated with our money and get our egos out of it." William Federspiel on why drug forfeiture money was spent on converting the sheriff's fleet of vehicles: "The main reason that I switched over the fleet was because I had a couple of complaints from deputies that didn't feel safe in cars that were semi-marked, that didn't have any light bars on the roof. Because they didn't get 360-degree coverage." "So, today we stand with an entire fleet -- not just one or two -- but an entire fleet, thanks to the drug forfeiture program, where all of the cars, including mine, have 360-degree coverage with the red and blue globes on them." "The reason for that wasn't because I decided to make the change just arbitrarily. It was out of safety for the deputies." Brian Booker on how to, through leadership and community outreach, enhance the community image of Saginaw County: "The concept of community policing is that officer gets out of that car. He's assigned to an area. He learns all the schools in that area, all the kids in the area, all the adults in the area, all the buildings in the area and all the problems in that area. Can you solve every problem in that area? No. But can you address every problem in that area?" "It's all about community communications." "The community relations that I have had and practiced in the past is definitely what I would continue in the sheriff's department." "The community policing policy will be enacted, and it works." William Gutzwiller on lawsuits filed in recent years involving sheriff's office employees: "I'm going to try to be nice here." "You have to learn how to treat employees fairly, equitably. You have to respect seniority, you have to respect knowledge, you have to respect job performance based on its performance, not on its political gain. I was deeply intertwined in all of these lawsuits except for one." "It was unfair treatment." "I can tell you that there's potentially more coming, so gear up. Because the labor issues that are going on right now are absolutely horrible and you're probably going to see additional suits filed." Robert Karl on a plan to start a scholarship program funded through donations from local businesses and administered by the sheriff's office: "This scholarship program is proactive. It gets the kids off the street." "We're going to be using the power of the sheriff's office to collect this money. These businesses will partner with law enforcement to prevent crime." "This money will go to the service industries to start with; fire and police, to keep the kids in town. It's going to be available to the underprivileged kids that cannot afford college." Federspiel on Karl's proposed scholarship program: "I, for one, am not going to send a deputy out to strong-arm local businesses. Because that's intimidating." "I don't think it's the sheriff's role to do that." Sunday was not the first chance for voters to meet face-to-face with local candidates competing in the upcoming primary election. Saginaw's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also held a voter forum on Thursday, July 28, at Horizons Conference Center attended by all four candidates. The three candidates challenging Federspiel's bid for reelection appeared alongside two dozen other candidates at a Tuesday, July 26, voter information forum presented by Carrollton's school district. But the incumbent was notably absent. Federspiel caught some criticism from his opponents for missing the Carrollton forum, as well as an earlier event. The sheriff said he had prior commitments that he felt he needed to honor, but promised to attend the LLEAD forum as well as a portion of the NAACP forum. A last-minute date change to the NAACP forum, Federspiel said, conflicted with an award ceremony he had agreed to in the spring. But the sheriff said organizers were able to adjust the time of that event to allow him to attend the first part of the forum hosted by the NAACP on Thursday, as well as the entire LLEAD forum Sunday. If you couldn't make it to any of the candidate forums this year, MLive's 2016 statewide Voter Guide is a great way to get educated on all the ballot issues and candidates for office. 2016 MLive Voter Guide All four candidates for sheriff in Saginaw County are participating in MLive's voter guide, as are many candidates in major contested primaries across the state of Michigan. To check your voter registration status, find your current polling location and obtain a sample ballot, visit Michigan's Voter Information Center website: Michigan Voter Information Center (MVIC) Polls across the state will open on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. We're in the middle of a long, hot summer. From sea to shining sea, America is seething. The political system is rigged. Hillary is crooked and should be in jail. Trump is a racist, woman-hating monster. There's nothing like a heated presidential campaign to bring our most toxic tendencies to the surface. In the past, there has always been some good-natured ribbing between candidates and their supporters. But something feels different this summer. Hotter. Angrier. It started with the "Dump Trump" contingent raising a ruckus at the Republican convention. There was lots of jeering and shouting when they didn't get to vote on how delegates pick the nominee. Then at the Democratic convention, upset Bernie Sanders supporters booed when he took the stage to support Clinton. Police shootings of black men and the ensuing retaliation against officers have only inflamed the situation. It's pretty clear that beyond the bright lights and pageantry at both conventions is a nation stewing in its own stink of racism, sexism and economic inequalities. Vincent Hutchings, a political science professor at the University of Michigan who studies race and elections, said Trump has raised the stakes this election. "Donald Trump, perhaps unlike any candidate since George Wallace, (has) been overt and unmistakable in his appeal to white voters and his demonization of non-white voters," he said. "Usually, there's been kind of a wink and nod adopted in the political cycles wherein the Republicans make implicit overtures in terms of those constituencies, but they don't overtly come out and demonize ... in quite the same way that Trump has been doing." Slogans The toxicity was bound to spill out into our own neighborhoods here in Michigan. It reached the headlines last week when a Flushing Township man found himself embroiled in controversy for putting a sign on his yard that said, "Make the Township White Again." Flushing Township, I will note, is already 96 percent white. The Flushing Township man said he put the Make the Township White Again sign up after people stole his Trump signs. On Wednesday he told MLive he filed a police report about the stolen signs. The township is also looking into whether the signs violate any ordinances. The man is not being named because he is afraid for his life. He told MLive that the subsequent threats he received made him feel persecuted and that it's unfair because people who support Hillary Clinton or the Black Lives Matter movement aren't harassed if they put out yard signs. Of course, the sign is a riff on Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again." When I first saw the story about the sign, I thought it was a joke by a snarky liberal who was using Trump's own slogan against him. But it wasn't. The man put out the sign as a joke or "an experiment" to see what the reaction was. That's some highly irresponsible citizenship right there. But this is the type of mentality many Trump followers celebrate, a say-what-you-want, do-what-you-want slash and burn attitude. And let's be honest, Trump's slogan seems that the need to make America great again insinuates it is no longer great, but that it was in some far-off past. It's a reassuring myth that might allow some people to sleep better at night, but it isn't real. The stereotype is that the Beaver Cleaver, Eisenhower era was the peak of American life. But what the sitcom lens leaves out is that life was pretty miserable for a lot of people in "the good old days" Trump promises to bring back. Women and minorities were treated as second-class citizens. And if you've never been a second-class citizen, you don't know what it's like to be treated like one. Black Lives Matter We've heard the same argument from bitter white people for years: Black people can say anything they want about white people without it being racist, but if I say anything about black people, I'm a racist. They are same people who respond to the Black Lives Matter movement with "All Lives Matter." Of course no one person's life matters any more or less in a broad, humanistic way. But the "Black Lives Matter" was borne out of the social, political and cultural climate of 21st Century America where black people are still not being treated equally. With that said, it's not illegal to be racist. It's not illegal to be sexist, either. It's also not illegal to be mean, nasty or greedy. And as long as you aren't threatening a specific person based on their race, gender or ethnicity, the First Amendment allows you to say what you want. But beyond what is legally allowed in our society is something arguably more powerful: the social acceptance of such behavior by our friends, neighbors and even enemies. Which is why I was encouraged to see the neighbors' concern about the sign in Flushing. Wayne Bradley, director of African American engagement for the GOP in Michigan and Trump supporter, also didn't find the Flushing Township man's "joke" very funny. "That was not a joke, at this time, that I think is appropriate for what people are trying to do in terms of building American," he said. "Maybe have the discussion instead of making a joke about it." This is not political correctness run amok, as the right will argue. This is about wanting to live in a safe, civil society, not an environment where people can say or do whatever they want without consequences. The reaction of the neighbors gave me a little hope in what will likely be a long, hot summer where there's bound to be more signs like the one in Flushing. This is an opinion column. Hear the full conversations with Hutchings and Bradley: BOBLO ISLAND - The echoes from the screams of delight have long faded from Boblo Island Amusement Park, the Cedar Point of Michigan for most kids growing up in our region. Few physical reminders remain from the amusement park, which closed in 1993, but the island has had a surprising resurgence - as a quiet but thriving residential community. We also traveled from past to the present on the island, which was a must-visit destination for families for decades. Very little remains, physically, of the amusement park attractions, but what we did find is fascinating, as you'll see in the link below. Boblo Island looks much different today, and if developers reach their goals, it will be almost unrecognizable to past thrill-seekers. One of the more high-end homes on the north end of Boblo Island, Ontario. (Emily Rose Bennett | MLive.com) About Boblo Island: Once known as Bois Blanc Island, Boblo lies on the Detroit River on the Canadian side. It's just a stone's throw from historic Amherstburg, Ontario, which is a 30-minute drive from Windsor. The island is 2.5 miles long and a half-mile wide - just 272 acres. Boblo Island became the headquarters for the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh during the War of 1812. During the Rebellion of 1837, "patriots" from the U.S. invaded the island in 1838. British troops captured 60 of the attackers and built three log blockhouses to defend the island. One of those blockhouses remains, and is open for touring. About Boblo Island Amusement Park: Boblo Island Amusement Park ran from 1898 to 1993. The only access was via one of two ferries from Detroit or Amherstburg, the SS Ste. Clair and the SS Columbia. Each held about 2,500 passengers. In 1991, those boats were sold and smaller ferries took people from Gibraltar, Mich., to the island, as well as Amherstburg. Some of the most popular rides were "The Nightmare," "Sky Streak, "Screamer," and "Wild Mouse." Boblo Island today: You'd be hard-pressed to find much evidence of those rides now. But there is new life on the island 23 years after the closing of the amusement park. The north side of Boblo is a growing private community, with numerous homes and condominiums. One of the many residential homes on the north end of Boblo Island, Ontario, seen Wednesday, July 27, 2016. (Emily Rose Bennett | MLive.com) The goal of developers is to someday populate the entire island with neighborhoods. Residents of the small community live among acres and acres of nature, just steps from water. There's a white sand beach, walking trails, water sports, a waterside restaurant, an ice cream parlor and an in-ground pool. People from all over Michigan, Canada and from as far away as California, have chosen to make Boblo Island their home. "Living on the island feels like being on vacation everyday," said Gena Boschin, a former Tennessee resident who lives on the island and works in Amherstburg. "I have all the amenities of city life that I need within walking distance in Amherstburg, and all the amazing amenities the island life brings me." How to get to Boblo Island: There are just two ways in and out of the island. People can dock their private boats there, or take a four-minute ferry ride from Amherstburg, Ontario. Remember, the island is in Canada, so you can't just cross over from the U.S. and dock there. Most people just drive their vehicles onto the ferry from Amherstburg and are home in a few minutes. The ferry runs every 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Anyone can go on the island via the ferry for a fee of $10 round-trip, but Boblo isn't a typical tourist destination. There are no hotels. The island is mainly a place where people can live in serenity. It's a place for those looking to surround themselves with nature, including the more than 50 different species of birds. How to live on Boblo Island: The island features many new homes and plenty of land to build on. Visit Boblo.ca for information about living on the island. The remnants of Boblo Island Amusement Park: The park's coasters and rides were sold following its closing in 1993, but there are intriguing remnants. Exploring and discovering those remains is a thrill in its own right. Take a look at the link below as we take you a journey through what was once Boblo Island Amusement Park, right up to its emerging transformation. Check out recent photos from one of the Boblo boats. This week's weather here in Michigan should be very nice for most folks. The temperatures will warm a few degrees each day, and peak in warmth on Thursday. That will be the only day this week where many spots hit 90deg. Prior to Thursday, classic summer temperatures can be expected in all of Michigan. It will be warm, but not too warm this week, so enjoy it. As temperatures warm, the humidity will go up. I wouldn't call any of the days this week oppressive with regard to humidity. It will be somewhat sticky by the time we get to Thursday. Two periods of thundershowers can be expected this week. Notice I call them thundershowers. Thunderstorms imply more force. The rain this week should not be accompanied by severe weather, as in high winds or large hail. The first batch of thundershowers will move across Michigan Tuesday into Wednesday. The second batch will move through Thursday and Friday. In any one spot, you could have two to three hours of rain twice this week. So most of the week will be dry and sunny at your house. You'll probably also notice the sun is setting a lot earlier this week. I always notice this change in the first week of August. It's opposite of when I notice later sunsets in the first week of February. If you have any weather questions or comments, please post below. Ethnic armed groups concluded the Mai Ja Yang summit over the weekend on an ambivalent note, saying they would decide whether to attend the cornerstone of the new administrations peace plan, the 21st-century Panglong Conference, only after determining how all-inclusive the conference will be. Officials from the ethnic armed groups that attended the summit said they would call on the government to include all groups in the Panglong Conference. Inclusivity was also a major sticking point in last years so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement, with armed groups currently fighting with the Tatmadaw and those without a standing army not invited into the process by the government of then-president U Thein Sein. While the [current] government is trying to include all armed ethnic organisations, we at the other side are making the same call. It will depend on the talks that we will have with the government in the coming days, said Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win, general secretary of Karen National Union (KNU). Officials acknowledged that the number of groups attending the Panglong Conference will depend on the government, which has yet to send official invitations to the event slated for the end of August. A high-ranking Chinese diplomat who observed the Mai Ja Yang summit pledged that the Chinese government will support its neighbouring countrys peace process. We encourage all the armed ethnic organisations to attend the 21st-century Panglong Conference for the internal peace of Myanmar. We recognise that there are diverse and different perspectives on peace by different parties. We hope that all sides cooperate for the achievement of peace in Myanmar, said Sun Guoxiang, special envoy for Asian Affairs at the foreign affairs ministry in China. Mr Sun compared armed ethnic organisations to travellers taking the same train, but joining at different stations. But Sai Kyaw Nyunt, a representative of the United Nationalities Alliance, a bloc of ethnic political parties, said of the analogy, We cannot be travelling in the same train if some groups are not given tickets or the door is not opened for them. Not all ethnic armed groups attended the five-day summit in Kachin State. The Kokang (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army) and the Taang National Liberation Army passed up on invitations to attend, though their ally the Arakan Army was present. The Mongla (National Democratic Alliance Army) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) also missed the summit in order to meet with the state counsellor and the commander-in-chief in Nay Pyi Taw. Khu Oo Reh, general secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council, said the Kokang and the Taang said they had some difficulties preventing them from joining the talks last week, but would cooperate in later steps of the peace process. Brigadier General Tun Myat Naing, chief of the Arakan Army, told The Myanmar Times that his two allies are unsure of whether the government intends to include them in the 21st-century Panglong Conference. We have made offers and statements expressing that we support the 21st-century Panglong Conference. If they [the government] offers a constructive response, it will be easier for us to move forward. If they want to include us, they have to invite our allies too. They cannot separate us, he said. Though the summit was meant to organise shared perspectives for the upcoming conference and to find common ground for long-term federal state-building, the summit was unable to address all the issues on the table. Summit attendees formed a working group to continue to organise the remaining points proposed but that had to be left aside due to time limitations, said Khu Oo Reh, who is also the vice chair of the Karenni National Progressive Party. Although we could not hold talks on all of the issues proposed, we accomplished nearly 100 percent, he said. During the meeting, attendees approved a draft of a booklet termed Reference to the Panglong principles. They also discussed a state structure under an idealised federal Union. Participants also suggested that the Tatmadaw should be brought under civilian control. General Gun Maw of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said this point was widely accepted in the meeting, as well as by most people around the country. On the framework for political dialogue, they discussed composition and representation, as well as how decisions will be made. Armed groups said they would like to reduce the composition of the Union Peace Conference participants from the current seven parties with more than 700 participants, to only three parties. The ideal number of delegates is yet to be discussed. Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win of the KNU pointed out that both the nationwide ceasefire agreement and Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee consist of only three parties ethnic armed organisations, political parties and the government, which represents a combination of the executive branch, the hluttaws and the Tatmadaw. We think that if we can convene our political dialogue with just three parties, it is more practical, he said. Although State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had previously said that the political dialogue should discuss political and security matters, the summit attendees agreed that five issues politics, security, economics, social impacts and the environment should all be discussed. Last October, eight non-state armed organisations chose to sign the NCA with the former government, while other groups including members of the UNFC declined to sign the agreement because of its only partial inclusiveness. Chainsaws are massacring our forests, MPs have complained. And now the government is to take action against them. U Ohn Win, Union minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, told parliament on July 29 that he would crack down on the illegal use of chainsaws. The minister took the Pyithu Hluttaw floor after hearing of the deforestation and environmental damage caused in western Magwe Region. First there will be a period of public education, in which the Forestry Department will explain the damage being caused. Then we will apply the full force of the law to illegal chainsaw owners, he told MPs. MPs had complained that chainsaws imported from China and sold for a few hundred thousand kyats were a weapon by which illegal loggers caused deforestation and robbed the state of revenue. It used to take all day to chop down a tree 100 years old. Now, with a chainsaw, it takes just a few minutes, said Mindon township MP Daw Khin Than Nu (NLD). Homalin MP U Myo Nyunt (NLD) said strict control of chainsaws was required because they were mainly used to facilitate timber smuggling. Entire forests had been cleared in a short space of time, he said. Though chainsaws have been in use for some time, their use was regulated only as recently as June 2013, and the ministry has permitted their legal use by legitimate timber companies. There are over 150 registered chainsaws in Magwe Region. The minister said requests for extension of chainsaw registration permits would be carefully reviewed and illegal holders arrested. Chainsaw abuse was only one of the reasons for widespread deforestation, the minister said, calling on all government ministries and other organisations, as well as local residents, to work with the government in protecting forest resources. Translation by Emoon Two powerful ethnic armed groups from the Wa and Mongla special regions are optimistic that the governments much-touted 21st-century Panglong Conference late this month can begin the process of healing decades-old ethnic divisions, according to U Zaw Htay, deputy director general for the Presidents Office. They hold out much hope for the 21st-century Panglong Conference regarding the peace-making process and collaboration with the Union government, the deputy director general said after he and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with representatives from the two groups on July 29. Both groups are non-signatories to the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement and enjoy administrative autonomy over the regions they control along the border with China in Shan State. The Wa Special Region is run by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the countrys largest non-state armed groups, with estimates putting its troop strength at 20,000 to 30,000. Their optimism stems from the fact that the 21st-century Panglong Conference and preparations for it are being steered by the state counsellor, U Zaw Htay said. They have raised hopes on the condition that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi heads the conference in the same way that her father Bogyoke Aung San united the country with the Panglong spirit, he said, referring to the original Panglong Conference and subsequent accord in 1947, when then-Burmas independence hero brokered a historic agreement offering autonomy to three ethnic minority groups. The talks held in Nay Pyi Taw last week did not address the weighty issues at the fore of the 21st-century Panglong Conference, which will bring together ethnic armed groups, the civilian government, political parties and military leaders. These matters such as about ethnic peoples rights and self-determination should be discussed at the 21st-century Panglong Conference. It is the forum to resolve the problems that have existed for a long the time after Myanmar gained independence, U Zaw Htay said. Both signatories and non-signatories to the NCA, signed by eight non-state armed groups in October 2015, are expected to attend the conference. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has already expressed [her commitment] to building a democratic federal Union. So, we will make a Union agreement that includes self-determination and equality that all ethnic groups can accept. Then, we will amend the constitution, the deputy director general said. In their discussions with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the UWSA pledged not to secede from Myanmar under any circumstance. The attitude of the Wa is that it is a part of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. They committed to not separating from Myanmar, U Zaw Htay said. Attending last weeks talks in Nay Pyi Taw were U Pao Yu Yi, vice general secretary of the UWSA, and Sai Lin, who chairs the National Democratic Alliance Army, which controls the Mongla Special Region. Both men were accompanied by delegations from their respective leadership teams. The two delegations later met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmars commander-in-chief. Translation by Thiri Min Htun MPs are lobbying for a more clear-cut, equal tax system that would raise the tariff for the wealthy and see cuts for poorer states. Pyidaungsu Hluttaw debated untangling the tithe on July 28 after the Public Accounts Joint Committee presented tax receipts for the second half of the 2015-16 financial year. The tax receipts collected for 2015-16 total K2327.339 billion while the target was K2335.434 billion, so the overall success rate was 99.65 percent, said Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance U Maung Maung Win But lawmakers called for the government to clean up the mercurial tax collection system. The government needs to levy a higher tax rate on citizens and businesses with a high income, said lower house MP Daw Thet Thet Khaing (NLD; Dagon). To collect taxes more systematically it should be decentralised, with the collection responsibility shared among the central government, the state and region governments, and the township-level administration. This is fiscal federalism. According to Daw Thet Thet Khaing, in countries that practise fiscal federalism, township-level administrations collect taxes on property transactions, while the state-level government collects commercial tax. She added that the development of states and regions could be assisted by levying taxes proportionally to income - more developed regions such as Yangon should have higher tariffs, while taxes could be cheaper in Chin State. Myanmar has what one 2015 Asian Development Bank working paper called one of the lowest levels of tax yield in the world, and, as Daw Thet Thet Khaing pointed out, the government expenditures typically exceed the collected income. Myanmar must no longer rely on unsustainable resource extraction for the bulk of the states income, but instead improve the efficiency of tax collection, said Daw Khin San Hlaing, another lower house MP (NLD; Palae). Today, Singapore stands proudly as an economic power and a strong society. It found that through tax revenue it could provide for the development of the country and the governments expenditures, she said. U Myat Nyana Soe, an Amyotha Hluttaw MP (NLD, Yangon 3) and secretary of the Public Accounts Joint Committee, suggested taxes on consumable, unhealthy items such as cigarettes and alcohol should be increased as both a disincentive and to boost state income. He added that limited natural resources such as timber, gemstones, oil and gas should also be heavily taxed. Tax breaks on the other hand should be offered to those in the manufacturing business in order to boost trade, he said. In other ASEAN countries the tax rates are announced every year and businesses can plan adequately, he said. In their debate, MPs pushed to adopt a framework for setting tax rates that would avoid a wide annual fluctuation. The Union Tax Law 2016, approved by the Union Solidarity and Development Party-led parliament on January 25, set the tax rate for the coming fiscal year. The Internal Revenue Department announced income under K4.8 million a year will now be tax-exempt, up from K2 million in the previous fiscal year. Income between K4.8 million and K5 million will be taxed at 5pc, income up to K10 million will be taxed at 10pc, income up to K20 million will be charged at 15pc, income up to K30 million will be taxed at 20pc, and 25pc tax will be charged on any income above K30 million. Translation by Thiri Min Htun Last week around 800 youth representatives gathered at the site of the historic Panglong Agreement in Shan State to debate peace, federalism and equality for Myanmars ethnic peoples. The event, which organisers said had been in the planning for four years, went ahead despite attempts by officials at the state and Union level to stop it apparently due to concerns that it would interfere with the governments plans for the forthcoming Panglong Conference later this month. Despite the considerable achievement by organisers of the Ethnic Youth Conference in successfully bringing young people together from across the country to discuss sensitive and sometimes painful issues, the story that hit the headlines was one about young Muslims being not welcome. The accuracy of elements of the report have since been called into question both by conference leaders and the Muslim delegate at the centre of the controversy, who told The Myanmar Times he had been misquoted possibly due to a translation error. He backed committee members and the head of the Bamar delegation he arrived with, saying his eligibility had been called into question not because of his religion, but because he was seen as not representing one of the countrys recognised ethnic groups. Hlwan Moe Aung, the delegate at the centre of the story who said his ID card declares him to be Bamar/Muslim, said, They [the committee] didnt tell me to leave. I could have stayed as an observer. Its about ethnic issues, not about religion. The publishers of the original article stand by their story. Given the widespread discrimination against Muslims in this country, it is entirely understandable that suspicions arose about an element of religious prejudice afoot. People of ethnic minority backgrounds are certainly not immune to the religious bigotry that has infected much of mainstream Bamar society and it is not unlikely that some conference leaders held positions of religious intolerance. Yet the article in question, and much of the media covering Myanmar, was too quick to leap to conclusions about religious bigotry in the country, while the equally prevalent and dangerous issue of racial prejudice and protectionism is often ignored. The reality was that the people who were the subject of most ire at the conference were not Muslims but Bamar. According to organisers, the Bamar contingent had been invited to take part as a way of showing solidarity with the concept that the ethnic classification applies equally to the countrys majority group as well as its minorities. Discussions about Burmanisation and ways to address the fact that many people from ethnic minorities make little or no distinction between the loathed, Bamar-dominated military and the ordinary Bamar people when it comes to hatred, proved profoundly distressing for some of the Bamar delegates. By the second day of the conference, one of the leaders of the Bamar delegates was threatening to leave if such topics continued to be raised. What was remarkable was that with the support of experienced rights campaigners and those keen to promote peace and trauma-healing, he not only stayed and listened, but when it was the turn of the Bamar contingent to address the conference, he called the entire group to the stage. There they expressed their sorrow and regret for the violations and abuses perpetrated by the Myanmar military and sympathy for the ethnic minority victims, drawing applause and tears from their audience in a small but genuine and moving step toward national reconciliation. Efforts to acknowledge past injuries and build greater understanding and trust between the Bamar and members of Myanmars officially recognised ethnic minority groups are crucial to the success of this country. Such overtures are to be welcomed. But there are others living in Myanmar too, and ignoring their needs in discussions about how a new federal Myanmar might look could well undermine efforts to develop equality and peace. It is here that organisers found themselves in difficult and controversial territory when it came to delegates who hit the headlines. It is a tough truth to acknowledge particularly while hundreds of thousands of Kachin, Kayin and increasing numbers of Shan and Taang people live in displacement, and villagers in northern Shan State face such brutal questioning at the hands of the Tatmadaw that they die but concepts of racial hierarchy in Myanmar are not confined to the Bamar majority. This countrys 1982 Citizenship Law with its 135 recognised ethnic groups has institutionalised racism in such a way that those who wish to defend their own ethnic rights fear, and with some good reason, that they risk damaging their own interests if they attempt to defend the rights of those who do not appear on the list and have fewer rights in both law and the wider public eye. That includes the rights of those of Indian and Chinese descent, who do not appear on the list of 135 despite members of those groups, as well as those whose ethnicity is categorised as Muslim, accounting for a significant section of the population and having considerable history in this country. In relation to the controversy over the eligibility of some of the Bamar delegates, outspoken Kachin activist Khon Ja said the matter had not been due to religion, which she said would be Ma Ba Tha territory, or citizenship, or even simple ethnicity, but rather taing yin thar: a concept that could be translated as native and which she described as meaning the type of ethnic originals who are invested in the land owners of the nation. Unfortunately, in defending the rights of people from certain racial or ethnic groups as native over those of other racial or ethnic heritage, one of the questions that must arise is what happens to those who are of mixed race or ethnicity between officially recognised ethnic groups and other ones. Speaking to The Myanmar Times, Khon Ja was clear she believed that those of mixed blood should not be eligible to represent the Bamar at the conference. The two delegates alleged to have faced discrimination were the man whose citizenship card declared him to be Bamar/Muslim and a woman whose card states she is Indian/Bamar. Khon Ja emphasised that the people of northern Shan State of Chinese origin who have recently categorised under a new ethnic definition Mone Wun/Bamar were also not invited to attend the event. When we talk about ethnic affairs, we want them to represent Bamar. They werent real Bamar We dont want mixed blood at this [event]. If religious prejudice was not the driving force behind the questions raised over some of the Bamar delegations inclusion, ethnic or racial prejudice surely played a part. It should be noted that Khon Ja, while clearly an influential figure at the event, was there as a facilitator and not a member of the deciding committee. Talk by other facilitators at the tea-shop next to the event was that her language and tone was inappropriate. Most people attending the event that The Myanmar Times spoke to about the incident simply said the fact that two people who didnt have full ethnicity decided to go home rather than create potential controversy was not important. As one Kaman attendee put it, If Id been the Indian girl, Id have gone home too rather than maybe cause problems for everyone. There is no doubt tensions at the conference were running high, particularly in light of last-minute threats that it would not be allowed to go ahead. This was clearly an ethnic event for ethnic groups. If we allow the [mixed ethnicity] delegates to attend, the news will go around that the ethnic youth groups are giving them recognition as taing yin thar and then who will be under attack? Khon Ja said. And in a way organisers were damned if they did and damned if they did not. How the members of the Bamar delegation were chosen has not been ascertained, but the inclusion of people not regarded as one of the official 135 groups and of Muslim heritage in the official delegation would have sent out a political message, and one likely to draw condemnation from certain nationalist quarters. So how best to tackle the issue of inclusion in a country where the rights of the recognised ethnic minorities revolve around land and territory as much as culture and language and where the fight for those rights has come at such a price to many of the main ethnic groups? Is it realistic to expect a Shan youth whose family has been displaced and who has witnessed first-hand horrible abuses of friends and relatives at the hands of the Tatmadaw in his peoples fight for basic rights to risk an important stake for the right of an urban Indian/Bamar Muslim or otherwise to attend a conference? And the reality is that while some of the youth delegates at the conference, notably the Kachin and the Kayin, were very aware of their ethnic rights, many others were hearing their own basic rights for the first time, never mind getting to grips with the concept that they should defend those who have fewer rights under the law. In an ideal world, those standing up for rights would stand up for everyone, but there is no question that many of those who fall into the 135 officially recognised ethnic groups category would be reluctant to give up the rights that come with that in order to allow other currently excluded groups to come on board. Yet if this issue is not addressed, future problems lie in store and it is surely government and experienced civil activists who must lead the way. Speaking informally on the sidelines of the event, one veteran generation 88 leader said he hoped the new activists would learn from his generations mistakes. Asked if by mistake he meant not including more people of ethnic background in their democracy campaign, he said, Yes. Asked if the exclusion of those of ethnic groups other than the 135 in campaigns for federalism would also be a mistake, he said, Yes. Factory workers marching yesterday in protest of the newly appointed members to the Arbitration Council were stopped by police who said they did not have the necessary permission. The officer told the press that the protesters received permission to use Bo Sein Mann field but instead they tried to use Mahabandoola Park in Yangons Kyauktada township. Police stopped the protesters for staging an unsanctioned demonstration. Some 350 workers, mainly from Shwe Pyi Thar, Shwe Lin Pann, and Hlaing Tharyar factory zones, began marching along Mahabandoola Road from the park of the same name at 1:30pm yesterday, calling for a new Arbitration Council election. Ma Hla Hla, the lead worker, claimed that she had reached an oral agreement with the township police to start the protest in front of the park. She claimed to have a voice recording of the agreement. We cannot trust the new government yet, she said, after the protesters were stopped by police. Although things are changing, there are instances in which they cannot be trusted. We cannot have our workers get in trouble so we will back off for now and we will continue to do what we can. The township officials told the press that they had never given an oral agreement. The only official permission they gave was documented permission for a protest at Bo Sein Mann field, they said. Ma Hla Hla told the press that on July 25 she applied for permission to have a marching protest. The Kyauktada police station responded on July 28, permitting the protest at Bo Sein Mann field. She then made the oral agreement with a police officer, she claims, by explaining that workers would not be able to afford to get to Bo Sein Mann field. Since the police were officially stopping the protest, I suggested that the workers should back off, said senior lawyer U Htay, who is also one of the members of the Arbitration Council. They can send a letter later if they are not satisfied. I accompanied the workers to help as a legal expert. The quasi-legal Arbitration Council acts as a dispute resolution body between employers and their workers. When the first council was created in 2012, most of the labour representatives were from private businesses, a sticking point for labour unions. The 15-member council, which has the final say on disputes that work their way up when decisions by similar local and regional councils are appealed, has five representatives from three sectors: the Ministry of Labour, employers organisations, and labour groups. In July, five new members, meant to represent workers, were elected to the council by labour representatives selected by the Ministry of Labour. Many workers cried foul, claiming that the recently appointed members were not democratically elected, although there are no specific rules and regulations for appointing the members. The councils term is two years and the current one will expire in September, said lawyer U Htay. But workers demanded that a voting system for the council be established. I only want workers representatives who are fair and will help stand up for the interests of us workers, said Ma Yu Zin Aung, from the Shwe Lin Pann factory zone who joined the protest yesterday. Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein plans to meet with young entrepreneurs today, after he promised more youth input in governance at a meeting with students of the National Management Degree College last week. Yangon Region has about 29 industrial zones that lack consistent electricity, running water, drainage, sufficient industrial run-off controls and means for deterring squatters, he said. Productivity-diminishing traffic, a volatile real estate market and regulatory frameworks in flux are also among challenges facing old-guard tycoons, young businesspeople and entrepreneurs alike in Myanmars biggest city. We will meet young entrepreneurs so we can share in the task of development, U Phyo Min Thein said on July 27. The weak solution would be to put the entire burden on the business youth. The regional government is made up of just nine ministers who will not be able to take on all the development challenges facing Yangon alone, he said, making young entrepreneurs role important. We need the young people to speak bravely of new, fresh ideas, he said. While strategy and policy for industrial development will be set by the government, according to U Phyo Min Thein, the chief minister said it is important that youth get the message that the government would like their involvement. At a separate meeting with students at the Yangon University of Foreign Languages, the chief minister announced that a regional youth interfacing plan would provide a blank slate for young people who, fairly or not, have been labelled the progeny of Myanmars crony class, but also want to be a part of the countrys growth. U Phyo Min Thein also met with students at Yangon University on a tour of campuses in the region last week. Ma Thinzar Shun Lei Yi, a youth activist leader, welcomed the outreach. It is good, she said. We have also been trying to meet with the government to discuss the role of the youth ... The government should plan to meet with the youth more often. They should meet with us monthly. Flooding ravaged parts of north and east China this month. More than 150 people were killed by landslides and surges of water. In one of the worst-hit provinces, Hebei, people in the town of Xingtai, where at least 25 people died, demonstrated against the government for failing to warn them of the flooding and for ineffective rescue attempts. Just as the flood news began to spread, Chinas cyber-regulator ordered some of the countrys most popular internet portals to halt much of their original news reporting. The Cyberspace Administration of China demanded that the portals no longer produce their own journalism and that they simply republish sanitised material from Communist Party mouthpieces, the Peoples Daily and the news agency Xinhua. These two events are not unrelated. The profit-making web portals had in recent years not only aggregated news and run social media and messaging services, but begun to hire good reporters and carry out their own investigations, racing ahead of the state-owned media on topics such as disasters, industrial pollution and tainted milk powder. For years, they operated openly but in a legal gray area, rushing out new information when they could to meet the huge demand for news from Chinas 600 million internet users. A similar thirst for news helped propel Chinese social media outlets into an important role as news platforms when disasters struck, such as the Wenzhou train wreck in 2011. But now, under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese party-state is suffocating these outlets. The latest order came July 25, instructing the web portals to close down four popular news features at sites run by Sina, Sohu, Phoenix and NetEase, implementing a regulation that was published earlier in the month. China has long used news censors to block individual broadcasts and articles, and dictate coverage to reporters and editors, but this new order goes further, wiping out a whole sector in which original news reporting had been thriving. The upbeat information that Chinas leaders want to disseminate was amply displayed by Xinhuas flood dispatch, which emphasised soldiers braving the elements to save lives, the president ordering all-out efforts to control and fight floods and China moving heaven and earth to clean up. This stale reportage that does not challenge the authorities or embarrass them is what Xi had in mind in February when he made a series of high-profile visits to party organs and declared they must serve the party with absolute loyalty and must have the party as their family name. Those that dont want to have the Communist Party as their family name were just unplugged. There is no question that Chinas rising middle class and its legions of internet users want unfettered information and news. They just lost a valuable source of both. But they arent likely to give up; probably they will seek out and find still other channels for uncensored truth about their country and the world. The Washington Post The worlds system for dealing with refugees is broken, and the Asia Pacific is no exception. Leaders in the region need to create a market of tradeable refugee quotas to deal with this issue. Such a system would produce better outcomes for refugees, introduce a fairer way of sharing the burden, and be much more cost effective. We hear so much about the refugee crisis in the Middle East that its easy to forget that we have one in our own backyard. The UNs refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates that there are 3.5 million refugees in the Asia-Pacific region, with 500,000 from Myanmar alone. These are people fleeing persecution and violence who should qualify for protection under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. Instead, most are detained in squalid refugee camps or are rejected outright by the countries where they seek asylum. The Refugee Convention was forged against the backdrop of World War II, during which time European countries closed their doors to Jews fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust. At its core, the Convention obligates signatory countries not to commit the crime of refoulement sending genuine refugees back to the borders of countries where they face death and persecution. But the Convention has a serious flaw in that it makes no mention of how the refugee burden should be allocated among states. Without this clarity of responsibility, states go to extreme lengths to discourage refugees from becoming their problem. Whether it is Australia creating a punitive system of mandatory detention, or Japans narrow interpretation of a refugee allowing it to reject 99 percent of asylum applicants, the effect is that countries which border refugee-producing nations shoulder the vast majority of the refugee burden. Overwhelmingly these are poor countries of the global south struggling with their own domestic problems even before they have to provide for the well-being of thousands of war-stricken refugees. The UNHCR is supposed to provide resources for these countries, but because it depends on contributions from member countries, in particular the wealthy ones of the global north, it is particularly vulnerable to funding shortfalls in times of crisis. What emerges is a free-rider problem, where wealthy countries are happy to let poorer nations which are closer to conflict zones pick up the slack of taking in refugees. Yet as much as countries like Australia like to claim they are abiding by their treaty obligations, the effect of this on refugees is much the same as refoulement: the inability to reach places of lasting protection. A new approach is needed one in which the burden of sheltering the worlds refugees is more evenly distributed, yet still gives states the ability to determine their own intake. A simple mechanism would be a market of tradeable refugee quotas. In 1997, political scientist Peter Schuck outlined how this would work. Countries would enter into a regional agreement to share the burden of refugees, and would decide on a system for establishing appropriate quotas for each country. Given that the task of protecting and providing services to refugees can mostly be expressed in financial terms, quotas would likely be a function of each countrys GDP per capita. Once quotas are determined, countries would have the option of trading them among each other. This would give wealthy countries like Australia and Japan, who are particularly adverse to accepting refugees, the option of paying other countries to provide protection for a portion of their quota of refugees. It would also allow poorer countries to shelter refugees with adequate resources, and gain another source of income for their efforts. The market would be regulated by the UNHCR, which would be responsible for monitoring and publicising the treatment of refugees in each country. Wealthy countries would be barred from offloading their quotas on any country found to be providing inadequate protection or services to refugees. Why would wealthy countries agree to fork out money when others are already doing the heavy lifting? Because as long as the world has such an uneven distribution of refugees, the whole system is vulnerable to shocks, and these affect everyone. The big influx of refugees over the past decade has not remained contained within the global south. When first port-of-call countries are overburdened, when they seek to deter refugees through harsh treatment or by turning them back altogether, it is unsurprising that refugees try their luck in the more affluent West. A tradeable quota system would also be in the interest of the free-riders because it would actually save them money. In the 2014-15 financial year, Australia spent over A$1 billion to run its offshore detention facilities on Nauru, Christmas Island, and Manus Island, housing less than 2000 refugees. Compare this to the figure of US$157 million, which is what the UNHCR spent on its entire budget for Southeast Asia. The money of countries like Australia would go much further, and could aid many more refugees if it was spent on resettlement programs rather than prisons. But isnt it immoral to trade refugees like commodities? Isnt it unfair to let wealthy countries shift their obligations onto poorer ones? What about the preferences of the refugees to be settled in one country over another? In an ideal world, all countries would have high enough refugee quotas that we wouldnt have a problem. Or better yet, countries would remove border restrictions so that we all have freedom of mobility. But unfortunately, the world we live in is one where state sovereignty and national interest remain overriding concerns. In this world, states do whatever they can to minimise what they see as a refugee burden, and wealthy states are already outsourcing their refugee obligations to poorer ones. Lets at least regulate it and make sure they do it properly. Policy Forum Nicky Lovegrove is an Asia Pacific Studies and Arts student at Australian National University. Kanye West has been explaining the reasons why he wants to stand for President. In September last year he told fans that he had decided to run for the White House in 2020. Speaking exclusively to Radio 1s Annie Mac he has given more details about his plans and motivation. But the rapper says he doesnt have views on politics, just a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. He tells the DJ that he just wants to bring about positive change in America if he can. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while Im alive Im going to try to do it. He speaks about the current political situation in the States and the recent string of police shootings against unarmed black Americans. Image caption A demonstrator protesting at the shooting death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana We are numb, were numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, Kanye tells Annie. Were numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July. The deaths have sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. People have often speculated that he initially made announcement that he wanted to be President for publicity or on the spur of the moment. However hes always insisted that he is totally serious about running in 2020. In the past he said hes had lots of support since announcing his plans to stand. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. By George-Ramsey Benamba, GNA Accra, July 31, GNA - Hundreds of mourners thronged the Forecourt of the State House, to join President John Dramani Mahama and his family for the final funeral rites of his mother, Hajia Abiba Nnaba Suluwu. The late Hajia Nnaba, 85, died in June this year. The occasion was heralded by different types of drumming and dancing representing the numerous ethnic groups in the country and beyond. The programme was attended by Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur and his spouse Matilda Amissah-Arthur, Former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, former First Lady Ernestina Naadu Mills and Hajia Ramatu Aliu, wife of late and former Vice President Aliu Mahama. Also in attendance was the leadership of all the political parties, members of the diplomatic corps and government delegations from the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo among other countries. Chiefs and delegations from various ethnic groups in the country were also represented at the funeral grounds. Various tributes and Islamic funeral procedures were carried out to accord her the final respect in her journey to the unknown world. Well wishers and sympathisers also showered their praises onto the late Hajia Nnaba and her family. Sheikh Nuhu Sharabutu, National Chief Imam in a prayer of exhortation commended Ghanaians for their peaceful co-existence especially a country with so many ethnic groups and religions. To maintain the peaceful co-existence, the chief Imam called on Ghanaians to avoid bickering and backbiting and other vices that could plunge the country into a state of insecurity. He appealed to the Mahama family to be consoled by the fact that'our mother and grandmother will be in the blossom almighty Allah'. President Mahama who was his wife Lordina Mahama, in an appreciative speech commended Ghanaians for their support since the death of his mother. "My mother was a responsible woman who cared so much for everybody and I want to thank all of you for showing your love to me even in times of grief to me and my family." Hajia Nnaba popularly known as Maame because of her impeccable cooking skills was born in Busunu in the West Gonja District in the Northern Region on March 6, 1931 to Tindana Suluwu and Bonshewu Buranishi Awu both of Busunu. GNA GEO/TON/JA 31/Jul/2016 Some residents of Tamale, Northern regional capital have claimed that their relatives have died at the Tamale Teaching Hospital as a result of a shortage of oxygen at the facility. Alhaji Yahaya Kasuli and Abdul Azizu Umar are peeved at the fact that the public health facility had no supply of the vital health product. Narrating separately to Starr News, Alhaji Kasuli, a known businessman in the city who operates Kasuli Car Rentals said his brother, Alhaji Abubakari Alhassan, suffered a mild stroke and was pronounced dead by officials after the hospital run out of oxygen. He claimed that a doctor who treated his late brother told him and some relatives that their brother would have lived if the hospital had oxygen He said his brother was left writhing on his sick bed in the presence of the helpless doctor till he gasped his last breath. It got to a point they had to put an oxygen on him for the first day, the second day they repeated the oxygen and on the third day, the doctor said my brother cannot survive without an oxygen; he categorically told me that they dont have oxygen in the hospital. The doctor told us that if he falls down right now and needs to be given oxygen, he would have to die because there is no oxygen, he narrated Mr. Umar an unemployed man also told Starr News his six year old son Abdul Raheem Azizu suffered an electric shock and died at the hospital due to the shortage of the vital medicinal substance. I took my son to his grandparents and had a call later that he was shocked by electricity and was taken to the Teaching hospital. I was asked to come with his health insurance card and upon reaching the hospital, they had covered him with cloth and I inquired from my wifes family and they said the doctor told them my son died due to the shortage of oxygen. The grieving father said staff at the Emergency Unit of the hospital failed to save his sons life describing them as reckless and irresponsible. The two aggrieved residents who described the Tamale Teaching Hospital as a deathtrap have since launched a campaign in the city advising other residents to seek healthcare elsewhere if they do not want to die prematurely. Reacting to the development, public relations officer of the hospital Misbaw Mohammed expressed shock and denied claims that the hospital has run out of oxygen. I want to put it on record that the Tamale Teaching Hospital has not run out of oxygen supplies for a very long time and there is evidence to the effect that we have oxygen flowing directly from our oxygen plant to various user places and where we do not have direct connections, we are able to fill some cylinders to make them user friendly to those areas to use them. -starrfmonline 01.08.2016 LISTEN The developments that are unfolding after the sentencing of the Montie trio and the directors of the station are fascinating. Overall, the whole country is in simultaneous condemnation of the hotheadedness of the trio, namely, Alistar Nelson, Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase. What separates us though both lawyers and the legal illiterates are miles apartis the gravity of the sentence. While some of us think the sentence is too harsh, there are others who think Justice Akuffo was very lenient to the contemnors. Largely, the opposition NPP is elated about the punishment with some taking to social media to relate it to victory at the December 7 polls. The ruling NDC on the other hand largely disagrees with the imprisonment of the three and also the fines imposed on the directors of the company. What the NDC party has done, though not very healthy, was to issue a statement that condemns the imprisonment. Also activists of the party did not hesitate to reveal Justice Akuffos relationship with Akufo Addo, the leader of the opposition NPP. Well, this is not surprising since it is not untrue that politics sometimes influences the discretionary powers of judges across the world. I was wrong to think there would be no vigil or demonstration against the verdict but it appears politicians of various divides are not from different mothers. It is my pedestrian view that the judge could have exercised mercy rather than such harsh deterrence, given that the panelists have apologized profusely both in public and in court. In court, even though the defence counsels could have staged a strong case for the directors, they failed to do so hoping that bible quotes and mercy pleas may work the magic. But that earned them a shock they less imagined I have not l tuned in to Montie FM before and I didnt know there exists a journalist by name Mugabe. What is shocking is the order or threat, if you like, that the directors would face jail terms in case they fail to pay a fine of GH30,000 each. If that is not alarming to lawyers who see nothing wrong with the sentence, then I would say it is not too late for the Chief Justice to resign since it is under her leadership that judges were caught by Anas on tape taking bribes to subvert justice. In fact, if taking of bribes to free murderers and armed robbers is not contempt of court committed by judges themselves for which they should be jailed or for which the chief justice should take responsibility for, then the constitution review committee should be looking at extending contempt to cover the sanctity and peace of the other autonomous bodies of state like the EC and CHRAG. Well, the directors have paid the fines so let sleeping dogs lie. Soon after the sentence, folks in favour of the sentence resorted to Rwanda as reference point but failed to realize that in Rwanda it was mainly an attack on a particular ethnic people that brought the mayhem. Here in Ghana, tribes were attacked on airwaves in the past and I believe this pose a more serious threat to the peace of the nation. There is so much discretionary power left in the contempt clause and that is the reason for which we are here today. In any case, should the court stretch its powers to do what it could instruct the National Media Commission to do? Meanwhile article 72 of the same constitution confers the discretionary power of Prerogative of Mercy on the president. For some, if Justice Akuffo could exercise so much discretion that ignores the many pleas for mercy and hurts families, then the president would also not be wrong to pardon the three even if that dents our infant democracy. However, those calling for the pardon forgot to note that the pardon presents a tool for propaganda to their opponents as the campaigns get intense. For those of us who have nothing to lose in the coming polls, whatever the president decides about the sentence is right. Frederick K. Kofi Tse [email protected] 01.08.2016 LISTEN The late Tarty Teh was born in July, 1946. He was a literary genius, a Liberian and a friend. In honor of his birth, I have decided to republish this article with additional reflections on the man. The death of Tarty Teh did not come as a surprise to me. About two weeks before his passing, I had a dream in which he brought George Oppong Weah to my place. We were sitting on my patio conversing. Weah later wanted to rest, so I took him to my guest room. Then George W. Bush, US former president, came and requested to talk to George Weah. Bush was dressed in ordinary clothes, no security. I went to get Weah. He and Bush went to a private area to talk. At this time, the press and security personnel were all over the place. I woke up from the dream. I called Kpanneh Doe in Atlanta, Georgia and told him about the dream. We all pondered over it. I have never met George Weah before, though I knew his father when I was a boy living in Claratown, Monrovia, Liberia. Why George Bush? I asked Kpanneh. What was the connection? What does this dream mean? I told Kpanneh that I think something will happen to Tarty. Teh was the only one in the dream I knew in person. Few days later, Kpanneh called to tell me about Tarty's death. I have observed that when a person is sick and is about to die, he/she may suddenly appear in a dream or may physically be lively, happy, talking, joking, laughing, walking around or may have a big appetite. You may think that the person is getting well. But often the person is about to die and is saying goodbye. So when I had the dream, I thought of Tehs health and his illness. Perhaps he brought Weah to meet me or Weahs presence meant nothing. Teh lived an active life. Many tributes have been paid to him. I will here briefly talk about him as a personal friend. I met Tarty in the late 1970s through Momo Rogers, now an official in the President Sirleaf government. Momo brought Tarty to my place in Washington, DC. Tarty had just been assigned to the Liberian Embassy, Office of Press and Culture as a press officer. He was an outgoing and out spoken person. He made no excuses to tell you where he stood on issues concerning Liberia. Tarty stayed with me until he found a place in the Washington DC area. All serious and passionate writers have obsessions. With Tarty, his main obsession and concern were the plights of the Liberian native people. The Americo-Liberians oppression of the natives was dear to his heart. Wherever he had the opportunity to express this cause, he used it. He did not forget where he came from and the life and background that shaped him. Pallipo, a village in River Gee County, was his birthplace where he was born on July 18, 1946. He played the drums and danced to the songs of his people. He remembered the story of the enslavement of his people from the region in Fernando-Po. He lived the life of a village boy and saw the suffering of his village people, the down trodden masses of Liberia. It was this culture that he expressed in his writings and had given him the strength and base. Like most good writers, he wrote like the way he talked. His was simple, and with African cultural symbols. He was a good storyteller. This skill was his weapon. And many Liberians with Ph.Ds or with other higher degrees could not match him with the pen. Tarty was not only prolific, but he was very skillful with the computer, on which he spent lot of time doing his work. We shared an office space on K Street downtown Washington, DC after he left the Embassy. K Street, Northwest DC, is an impressive address and was a good location for my firm, Planning and Development International. The office was good also for Tarty to get out of the house and concentrate on his writing in a professional environment. He would stay up late, writing and just writing. An American friend would visit the office simply to read Tehs writing. When the Internet came of age, we were all excited with this technology. He was an original member of the Liberian chat room, with Ijoma Flemister, George Fahnbulleh, Konia Kollehlon, Jesus Weeks, Mary Broh and others. He was a voice particularly of native issues. To my knowledge, he coined the word Americos, to describe the Americo-Liberians and the Congo people as a group. He called the Liberian natives African- Liberians or Liberians of culture. He founded and published, with the assistance of Blamoh Seekie, the Blojlu Journal as a media of advocacy of native rights. He was not jealous of other Liberian writers or emerging writers. He admired the creative work of Siahyonkron Nyanseor and wanted to publish Nyanseor's poetry and short stories. Tarty was not liked in some quarters of the Liberian society, for his candid discussion of the Liberian problem. He lived to the true essence of his name Teh, meaning linguistically "issue". He had no problem debating with anyone on Liberian affairs. Nyanseor's defense of Tarty in 1998 captured well the nature of Teh when he wrote: "Teh's inquisitive approach in probing the conscience of most Liberians cannot be compared to anything but excellence and patriotic. Teh's probe intends to raise vexed issues and to provoke serious discussions regarding Africa and Liberia in particular. He is not in this debate to win popularity contests. He is honest and sincere about the issues he discusses. And I am one of those individuals that cannot wait to receive my daily email from my friend and brother, Tarty Geesayfahnonkon Kloba BodiohTeh". Nyanseor has an archive of Teh's writings and I am sure he will publish them soon. Tehs body of work is indisputably unrivaled by any contemporary Liberian writer. Teh admired other Liberians, including the late Dihdwo Twe, Penyonoh Gbe Wolo, Albert Porte, Edward Blyden and C. Cecil Dennis Jr, former Foreign Minister. The minister recognized Tarty's writing talent and encouraged Teh to take a position in the Liberian Foreign Service. But Tarty did not stop his advocacy because he was working for the government. Dr. Elwood Dunn, former editor of the Liberian Studies Journal and Stephanie Horton, editor of the Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings, respectively admired and acknowledged his writing skill. He was not afraid to take on some of Liberias prominent opinion leaders on national issues. He took Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh to task in Teh's "The Forgotten General", showing Fahnbullehs disregard of the late General Thomas Quiwonkpa. Fahnbulleh replied in a piece entitled, Of lies and Pretencies. He was no match to Tehs writing. Tarty exposed Ambassador Francis Dennis of the mistreatment of native servants in the embassy, the ambassador's residence. During President William Tolbert administration, Dennis was removed from the post and transferred to another country primarily because of Teh's advocacy. He challenged the late C. Cecil Dennis Sr., publisher of the once famous "the Liberian Age", a pillar of the True Whig Party corrupt and repressive regime. Teh considered Dr. Amos Sawyer a betrayer of the Liberian Constitution, when Sawyer campaigned for and became Liberian interim president. As a framer of the 1986 constitution, Tarty maintained that Sawyer should have protected it. In accordance with the constitution, Tarty stated that Harry Moniba, former Vice President of the Doe government, should have succeeded Doe after Doe's death. In December, 1999, Tarty wrote With and Without Sam Jackson, in which he told the story of him and Jackson growing up together as native boys in Liberia. But later, they took a different path in life during the Charles Taylor civil war and regime. Teh became a critic of Taylor while Jackson is said to have become a friend and benefactor of Taylor rule. Teh felt forgotten by and disappointed of Jackson. Teh was the strongest and the most consistent critic of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from day one. Unlike those who criticized but later begged for jobs, Teh never wavered in his criticism of Madame Sirleaf even before she became president. Before the thought of establishing or forming the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Teh considered Sirleaf a principal contributor to the Liberian civil war and that she had planned the war for her selfish and vindictive goal. The war indeed caused the death of over 200 thousand people and the destruction of some of the country's infrastructure. In response to Sirleaf's written testimony to the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee hearing on June 19, 1990, Teh wrote Mrs. Sirleaf in part: "I would not have known why you try too hard to avoid mentioning any truths that favor anyone whom you oppose, if I hadn't learned much later on that you want to be president of Liberia. Although I do not submit that your presidential ambition suffices as reason for the totality with which you avoid mentioning any opposing truths. I have come to understand how you think such subterfuge is to your advantage. Tarty went on to say. You diminished yourself as worthy of my respect when you failed to note the conditions of total discrimination against African-Liberians before the coup of 1980; when you used the word "oligarchy" not to describe the status quo of 133 years under the Americo-Liberian Dynasty, but instead used it to describe President Doe and his flock of new arrivals into the rank of the privileged, the rank that was once the exclusive providence of Americo-Liberians. But what I find almost unforgivable is not any of the above. Instead, it is your sinister evocation of your dead mother's name in your lamentation before a Congressional hearing, and portrays her as someone who died before reaching the Promise Land". Teh was a family man. He was a married man. He spent some time with me while trying to resolve a family matter. His two boys, Tyee and Jahtay and daughter Kaysah were his pride and joy. They visited him on weekends. The family would watch the children movies, particularly the Lion King, reciting the movie scribe or words from the beginning to the end and singing the songs together. Though they were born here in America, Teh wanted them to culturally become and taught them as Africans. He gave them African names; and the children enjoyed African food and proud of their African heritage. His oldest son, Soklo, was with him in India, where he went for medical treatment. Teh's wife, Gabriella, also a writer, is a career social worker and provided a balance to his political stance. She calmed him down when he at times got hot on the Liberian issue. Tarty advocacy did not blind him from liking good things. He had a good taste of fine clothing. He knew the names of famous designers and their clothing lines. He was a good dresser. Though he liked and enjoyed music, he was not a good dancer. He would at a party usually talk politics, but he would shake his head to the sound and beats of the music while participating in the conversation. When he ever got to the dance floor, he would dance like some White people, moving his body with no rhythm. I jokingly told him that he danced like a White man. He would just smile, saying nothing. Sometimes, you could not tell if Tarty was from Africa. He blended in very well in the American society. He told me that during his courtship of Gabriella, she told her father that she was dating an African. There was another suitor, an American, whom she also told the father about. Later the father got sick and was hospitalized. Teh and Gabriella went to see him; his first time meeting Teh. The father was so impressed with Tarty that he told Gabriella in private to date only the man whom she brought to the hospital and not the African. Teh always joked and laughed about the incident. Tartys favorite dish was cassava leaves cooked with fowl chicken. He would buy two or three packs of the leaves and some chicken from the local Spanish store on his way to the house. I like the way you cook it Kiah, he would say complimenting my cooking. But he would add lots of hot peppers to his plate. His children liked peppers too. They used to it. It is spicy, they usually said as they ate. Teh was unemployed and was seriously looking for work when he was with me. I would play or mess with him when the house phone ranged. I would rush to the phone, pretending that the call was his, though really it was mine. You want to talk to Mr. Teh, and you say this is about a job? I would ask the caller and walk to the next room. Tarty would surprisingly look at me, throwing me sign that I should give him the phone. But I wouldnt. Ok sir, I continued, Mr. Teh is presently not in but I will take and pass the information to him when he comes, I would say to the caller and would later hang up. Tarty would be mad, saying. Why you did that for? The call was mine, you have no damn right taking it and not giving it to me, he would say with vexation. When he little calmed down, I would tell him the truth. I hit that when Kiah does that to me, he would relate the fun and joke to Kchebeh Walker, a mutual friend. Tarty would later pay me back unexpectedly, giving me a taste of my own medicine. Losing a respectable government job and having a family whom you cannot support because of unemployment would be frustrating and depressing. He would walk around in the house looking confused. Whenever he got nervous, he would grind his teeth. I would say, namanju, meaning man child, take it easy, things will be fine. Going to the office with me regularly was therapeutic. It released him of stress. He got frustrated also when his children sometimes could not come for their regular weekend visit due to schedule problem with Gabriella. He would be mad. His last trip to Liberia was to see about his back pay, which he claimed the Liberian government owed him. I wondered could the Sirleaf government willingly pay him back the money when he did not support her politically and also when he in the past had criticized her for wrongful behaviors? Considering his advocacy, Sirleaf government could argue that the back payment situation occurred in a previous administration. Therefore her government should not be pressured. They could give him the runaround just to frustrate him and strangulate him financially. I felt sorry for him. I think he did not get the money before his death, because Gabriella wanted to give me document to deliver regarding the money during my recent trip to Liberia. Tarty was committed to his writing. Writing is an art, which does not come by easily. You have to work at it, develop it and nurture it by writing consistently. He was dedicated to the art. His commitment would have encouraged and inspired young and new writers to the discipline. He told me a story after a trip, which he took to Liberia while working for the government in DC. He took an assignment with the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, editing the work of junior staff to help improve information delivery. He corrected their work, had the work typed and trashed the edited copies. The staff would search the trash basket for the copies to view their mistakes. They did not get mad, for they learned from his skill, his writing ability. I worked with Teh with his writing. I slightly edited some of his articles. But it was not easy at first. He was very particular about his writing. He had a bit of ego, a sort of arrogance, thinking that he knew it all. As our friendship grew, he was relaxed and comfortable to have me view his drafts for suggestions. He was a born writer, wrote well. Tarty was not a college graduate. Many people did not know that and would not have believed it. He finished high school in Liberia. But he did not have to have a degree. He had a God giving gift, a gift to excellently tell his story, the condition, the problem and the suffering of his people. He would have made a lot of money had he focused on or specialized in writing stories for pleasure reading. Perhaps that was not his calling. There was one thing about him that I could not understand. He did not see anything wrong with some native officials who misused their power. Teh blamed their former Americo-Liberian/Congo masters for teaching them such behavior and for not setting a good example. He was sent to Belleyalla, a notorious prison, during the Samuel Doe regime. Upon his release, he was not angry for the treatment. Instead, he supported the administration. Tarty died of throat cancer on February 15, 2012 after a long battle with the illness. He died in his native land Liberia. He was buried in Pallipo, his village, where it all started. Liberia has lost a literary genius. May his soul rest in heavenly peace. Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore lives in Washington, D.C. and can be reached at [email protected] 01.08.2016 LISTEN Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange control over $1trillion worth of Africas resources in just five commodities - oil, gold, diamonds, coal and platinum. My research for the NGO, War on Want, which has just been published , reveals that 101 companies, most of them British, control $305billion worth of platinum, $276billion worth of oil and $216billion worth of coal at current market prices. The Scramble for Africa is proceeding apace, with the result that African governments have largely handed over their treasure. Tanzanias gold, Zambias copper, South Africas platinum and coal and Botswanas diamonds are all dominated by London-listed companies. They have mines or mineral licences in 37 African countries and control vast swathes of Africas land: their concessions cover a staggering 1.03million square kilometres on the continent. This is over four times the size of the UK and nearly one twentieth of sub-Saharan Africas total land area. Chinas resources grabs have been widely vilified but the major foreign takeover of Africas natural riches springs from a lot closer to home. Many African governments depend on mineral resources for revenues, yet the extent of foreign ownership means that most wealth is being extracted along with the minerals. In only a minority of mining operations do African governments have a shareholding. Company tax payments are minimal due to low tax rates while governments often provide companies with generous incentives such as corporation tax holidays. Companies are also able to avoid paying taxes by their use of tax havens. Of the 101 London-listed companies, 25 are actually incorporated in tax havens, principally the British Virgin Islands. It is estimated that Africa loses around $35billion a year in illicit financial flows out of the continent and a further $46billion a year in multinational company profits taken from operations in Africa. UK companies increasingly dominant role in Africa, which is akin to a new colonialism, is being facilitated by British governments, Conservative and Labour alike. Four policies stand out. First, Whitehall has long been a fierce advocate of liberalized trade and investment regimes in Africa that provide access to markets for foreign companies. It is largely opposed to African countries putting up regulatory or protectionist barriers to such investment, the sorts of policies where have often been used by successful developers in East Asia. Second, Britain has been a world leader in advocating low corporate taxes in Africa, including in the extractives sector. Third, British policy has done nothing to challenge multinational companies using tax havens; indeed the global infrastructure of tax havens is largely a British creation. Fourth, British governments have constantly espoused only voluntary mechanisms for companies to monitor their human rights impacts; they are opposed to enhancing international legally binding mechanisms to curb abuses. The result is that Africa, the worlds poorest continent, is being further impoverished. Recent research calculated, for the first time, all the financial inflows and outflows to and from sub-Saharan Africa to gauge whether Africa is being helped or exploited by the rest of the world. It found that $134billion flows into the continent each year, mainly in the form of loans, foreign investment and aid. However, $192billion is taken out, mainly in profits made by foreign companies and tax dodging. The result is that Africa suffers a net loss of $58billion a year. British mining companies and their government backers are contributing to this drainage of wealth. We need to radically rethink the notion that Britain is helping Africa to develop. The UKs large aid programme is, among other things, being used to promote African policies from which British corporations will further profit. British policy in Africa, and indeed that of African elites, needs to be challenged and substantially changed if we are serious about promoting long term economic development on the continent. Follow Mark Curtis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/markcurtis30 During the caveman era, women were perceived to be objects of sexuality or fertility. The prehistoric artist produced erotic sculpture and paintings of the feminine parts large breasts, thighs, buttocks and the torso to symbolise sexual attraction. The ancient impression about women changed in the 21st century. This paradigm shift is far-reaching in the advanced world. Great nations such as Germany, Chile, Switzerland, South Korea, Croatia and Denmark are being headed by women. Most African countries have done little to project women in that regard. The potential and rights of women had been downplayed in many ways. It is welcoming news that the 1992 Constitution of Ghana frowns on the abuse of human rights regardless of gender. Furthermore, some interventions have been put in place to champion the interest of women and girls. Notably among them included, send your girl child to school campaign, the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) and the launch of the National Gender policy. Ghana has come a long way as far as women empowerment is concerned. We can boast of many successful women from various walks of life including medicine, law, governance, engineering, academia and business, just to mention a few. Abuse of women & sex scandals According to the findings of Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Center, a non-governmental organisation, about 27 percent of women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. The vicissitudes of sex scandals, prostitution, teenage pregnancy and indecent exposure have become common in most Ghanaian societies. Few months ago, the entire country was outraged by a sex scandal involving a 22-year-old Daniel Ofosu who lured 42 women and had series of sexual intercourse with each of them. According to investigations, Daniel Ofosu secretly filmed the intercourse and started sharing the disgusting videos via Bluetooth, Whatsapp and other social networks at a fee of GH5. Unfortunately, some of the identified victims were married women, nurses, university graduates and students. Between 2014 and 2015, many leaked sex tapes had gone viral on social media. One of such despicable incidents that shocked many Ghanaians was the Tamale sex scandal. The suspect, Khamil Abu Wemah, leaked nude pictures and videos of himself and numerous women he engaged in sexual intercourse. He then fled the country and later apologised for his actions. When such embarrassing footages leak out, the women involved are severely affected. Some of the ordeals they endure are social stigma, emotional and psychological trauma. Why should the woman suffer alone when the act involves two people? Alleged sexual favours The accusation of sexual favours against women who had attained enviable positions in society is unfortunate. Such allegations hamper concerted efforts aimed at empowering women to develop their potential. As a matter of fact, one cannot deny that some shameless women offer sex in exchange for favour. But that should not be generalised because there are many outstanding women who have been offered key positions on merit. The undeserving comments of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, while addressing party supporters in Kumasi on June 28, 2016, were disgusting to say the least. The embattled MP is reported to have accused the Electoral Commissioner of Ghana, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, of using sexual favours in exchange for her current position. This is an affront to women in general and should be condemned by all. Mr. Agyapong was strongly castigated by individuals, government institutions and groups for his derogatory remarks. But I think he owes the head of the Electoral Commission and the entire country an apology. Violence against women Statistics from the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service indicates that over 17,000 cases of violence against women were recorded in 2014. The rate of domestic violence, rape, defilement, human trafficking in Ghana is worrying. It is estimated that more than 90 percent cases of acid violence in Ghana were as a result of ill-relationships, rivalry or misunderstanding between lovers. And mostly, the victims are women. Quite a number of young women have been deformed due to acid attacks. The effect of acid burns can dampen the confidence of people; a situation that makes it difficult for women to find suitors. Unfortunately, when men attack women with acid, they go into hiding and the case fades away without recourse to justice. Women empowerment Women empowerment is one of the essential components of promoting gender balance or equity. Most importantly, since women constitute a greater percentage of the countrys total population. As a democratic country, we have made progress by creating an enabling environment for women to rub shoulders with their male counterparts. The ongoing legal process to pass the Affirmative Action Bill into law is a commendable. A renowned educationist, Dr. James Kwegyir Aggrey, underscored the significance of women empowerment with his famous quotes that, If you educate a man, you educate one person but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation. The national campaign for the female child education, among others, has yielded incessant results. In fact, the benefits of educating women are impeccable, to say the least. Amazingly, most girls perform better than the boys in school. In view of that, our institutions have churned out distinguished career women such as university professors, medical practitioners, judges, lawyers, parliamentarians and ministers of state. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection should go the extra mile by ensuring that the rights and dignity of women are sustained. Womanhood is a great calling to contribute significantly towards the success of men, children and the society as a whole. The versatility of women towards nation building cannot be underestimated, so lets accord our female bosses, mothers, sisters, wives and daughters the necessary support and respect. ASP James Annan Public Relations Unit Ghana Prisons Headquarters [email protected] 01.08.2016 LISTEN The fundamental requirements of a real Democracy are the clear division lines between the three major powers in the political life namely: Executive Power, Legal Power, and Jurisdiction Power. Unlike in advanced and real Democracies in Ghana the President nominates personally thousands of Government positions employing for this reason Presidential Suffers positions unknown to the Western World. While in Europe Judges of various levels are selected and nominated by a Body consisting of Experts from the Justice Ministry, Judges and Politicians with subsequent nomination by the Minister for Justice, in Ghana this role is undertaken by the President giving him a clear influence over this Power Segment through the back door. All Ministers in the Government of Ghana must be Members of Parliament and Citizen of the country of Ghana with no dual citizenship hold. In European countries someone being elected into Parliament and chosen by the President or Prime Minister as a Minister has to vacate his seat in Parliament for a succor to take over, the next on the ballot paper. This ensures a clear and distinctive line between the Executive Power and Legislative Power. In Europe and USA alike a Minister does not have to be a Party Member or MP, can be an Expert chosen by the President/Prime Minister. Joachim Gauck, President of Germany, was never an MP or a Minister but a much honoured person before his election into Office. Donald J. Trump was never an MP or Minister, even not well known and active Republican Party Member. In Ghana the Executive Power has a direct influence into the decisions of the Parliament based on the fact that it is basically a two party Democracy with strong oppositions against each other making it nearly impossible, considering the political atmosphere and culture in Ghana, for the Majority Party to ever oppose a Bill or Plan presented before Parliament by the President especially when a Minister is seated next to the ordinary Member of Parliament subsequently guaranteeing him to have a steady income for 4 or more years, a vital aspect in Ghanas society. The absence of a second chamber line like constituted in USA, Germany, UK, Switzerland and others for the Regions in Ghana and their highest Representative, makes it most highly impossible that a Bill of a President will not see the written Text book of the country and being executed but fail before the Second Chamber. To deny a group of people the right to be elected into Parliament like the Chiefs and Queen Mothers of Ghana is fundamentally undemocratic and not seen in advanced Western countries where Royals can stand like any other citizen before the Voters and contest the elections. In these countries only a court can deny a person such rights based on individual cases and judgements like the active right to vote as well. Again and again GBC, Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation, covers live Ministerial Veiling sessions of the respective Parliament Committee. Nominated Aspirants for various positions have to answer questions about themselves and their commitment and ideas to their future role in Government. The Majority in Parliament supports the President and is also reflected in the same manner in this Committee for which reason the outcome of these Exercises is obvious as no Candidate would fail in order not to expose their potential criticism of a President. Therefore, these Committee is useless as when no opposition in real terms can and will be demonstrated, their session are time and money wasting and a farce to portrait Democracy as functioning in Ghana. The Minister for Justice in Ghana is in the same person the Attorney General which gives the President a direct influence on the decision which case to bring before court especially critical in cases of corruption and mismanagement of State funds and assets to the Extreme when such cases are directed against the President himself. Such an Attorney General would never trigger the process of investigations leading to a possible impeachment process of the President in case of misconduct and violation of the Constitution and his obligations, rather leave this task to the much weaker part of party and private investigators. Looking closely at the structure of the Constitution from 1992 for the Fourth Republic and taking the observation into account of the implementation of the Constitution and the way it is executed in daily and practical life the conclusion must be drawn that indeed this thick Law Book is an extension of J.J. Rawlings Dictatorship with a nice paint covered to make it look to the general public as a blessing for them. When a Court Judgment is final, the Parties involved have to honour and follow it which does not mean it cannot be criticized. Court Judgments help to shape and clarify the Law in real terms submitting ideas for the Law to be changed in future when the life-style and expectancies of the citizen develop. Outlawing Abortion, same sex marriages and setting adult age at 21 years of age were the legal norm in the last century in Europe. Court Rulings were heavily criticized as the societies went along until the time came the Law and the accordingly made Judgment of the Highest Courts in their countries were discussed to change the Laws to the new expectations of the European Citizen. This is how a modern, working and useful Justice System is operating when not wanting to be the instrument of the ruling class but a servant to the people at large. Oh, my GOD, have mercy on your people in Ghana once more! Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt. 9, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 27.07.2016 Yesterday, we had a heated debate on our whatsapp platform #ImplementCI76fullynow. The group mainly comprises of junior rank members of the Ghana police service of like minds who are demanding a full implementation of the Police Service Regulations Act 2012 C.I.76 We engaged in very educative an interesting argument I must say. The topic was "Are junior members of the Ghana Police Service professionals? " Everybody on the platform who contributed did so with passion, vigor and support for the rank they belong. Although, most people understood the topic and the definition provided ab initio and tailored made their debate more academic instead of one based on "dictionary answers or literal meaning " of who a professional is, who is a professional, what profession means and so on. Others largely lost it. Colleagues who contributed to this debate gave all sorts of accounts as to their understanding of the topic which in most cases did not necessarily address or speak to the topic under discussion. Rather, most of them misconstrued the word profession to mean the same as a professional. They supported their argument with "professions" like; drivers profession, tailors and the likes as professions. Mind you, their examples can only qualify as professions when you are strictly talking about trade or occupation or simply when you are not speaking from the professional ethics point of view but talking business or speaking street sense or giving dictionary meaning. I must state here and now that almost all members of the junior ranks spoke in favor of the Junior rank and of course that was to be expected and in fact, very obvious. I was surprised they didn't mention Lecturers, Teachers, Accounts, Lawyers , Doctors and of course Senior Police officers. All of them were on the side of the motion that saids the junior ranks are professionals like the senior ranks of the service. I disagreed and I was the lone voice in an ocean of junior ranks. I held the view that the junior ranks are not professionals and so cannot be called as such and I shall be strengthening my argument in the next few pages just so that I will be able to win them over to my side. Here I go... The definition of a professional according to my former Lecturer Dr Bonsu Osei-Owusu of the Methodist University College Ghana states that "A professional is a person who is trained and certified in a recognized body of skills, uses them in meeting the needs of clients and obliged to standardized levels of competence and ethics generated by the profession and acknowledged by the public. Here I asked a very simple question which I humbly want to repeat here. Between junior ranks of the police service and the senior who do you see in this definition? Is it the junior rank who is only trained for six months and has no specific special skills and cannot readily walk in a ready employment should he be dismissed a day after Depot or the senior member of the service who goes to police college with a certificate or several years of experience to go and learn relevant courses in all manner of fields and also giving skills to lead, command and control the junior ranks of the service? I think there is no guessing here except for you to accept that the senior members of the service are more qualified to be called professionals than the junior members of the service. Because I understand the definition in the practical and academic sense of it and not a dictionary meaning of it , I forcefully made my arguments based on facts devoid of fiction and conjectures without bias nor prejudiced disposition to my rank as a member of the junior rank myself. I saw the debate more as an academic one than one that should just be about which rank is more qualified simplicita. I also saw it as one that will strengthen the knowledge base of the junior ranks instead of one the will divide us . It is always good to debate but whilst we do that let's try to tolerate divergent views of your fellow debaters in good faith. Others as I observed took the debate too personal just because one of them -a junior rank was debating on the side of senior officers. For me, anything that will enlighten the junior ranks of the service and keep our brains busy always, I am for it. To support their arguments, my colleagues threw in red herrings and tried to question the professionalism of some senior officers. But I held my own against them as the debate got more keener and heated. I pointed out to them that, there is a vast difference between what an individual senior officer does or not do properly in the discharge of his duty that can earn him a tag of been labeled as acting "unprofessional" and this does not necessarily take away the fact that he belongs to the senior rank of the service that is considered as a profession. Mind you, as I indicated earlier, a professional can also be said to be a highly trained member of the service with certain characteristics of training and discipline that more or less set him apart from other categories of workers. So I ask again, between the junior ranks of the service and the senior ranks who is highly trained and possess distinctive characteristics and analytical skills? Your answer definitely is the senior ranks. Going by the two definitions above, I sought to further advance and strengthen my side of the argument by posing the following questions to my fellow debaters. 1. Are the junior ranks trained and certified at the same time during their six months training at the depots? 2. Although the depots are recognized institutions, do we get to be trained in different sets of skills, command and control tactics, management, administration and so on just like it is for the senior ranks at the police colleges? 3. Is our six months training able to equip us with any specific skills that we can depend on if we were to be dismissed a day after training without any certificate that you can use to walk straight into another employment? Walk into a private security company at least.Anyway! 4. Does the junior ranks have clients we serve with any professional advice apart from taking instructions from senior ranks to do our work? 5. Do we have any set of skills per our training than that which we receive from time to time from our seniors in rank in the form of in service training? It is undeniable that our six months training is woefully inadequate and not enough for us to be imbibed with standardized levels of competence, high level of moral and ethical standards. 7. Because we are not recognized as far as the definition of who a professional is ,anything we do in the service, we do not stand any single opportunity of taking the credit. It has to go to the body that is leading the tail and in this case, I am talking about the senior ranks. They are holding the leadership positions. Now that is who a professional is. The debate got even tougher and tougher and I had to throw in a summarized but closed definition of who a professional is in contemporary times and asked my colleagues to read through and tell me if they can find a semblance of anything close to the junior ranks bracket in all the definitions I provided. If that defines a junior rank instead of senior rank then I am ready to concede. The following are worth considering I must say that this typifies a professional and I can't find a six months trained person in it. 1. A broadly educated person. Note : to the extent that your certificate or training is not what you are employed with in the service, you can't call yourself a professional police officer. Somebody wanted to use my training in counter terrorism and insurgency and my experience in variety of fields to convince me that I was qualified to be called a professional but I resisted that bate because the service doesn't recognize my experience and knowledge in those fields and as such they are not using me in the appropriate field. So, simply put, a square peg like me in a round whole cannot be called a professional. 2. A professional is a person who possessing highly developed skills and knowledge. 3. A person working under the discipline of an ethic developed and enforced by a body of peers is a professional. 4. A person commissioned to satisfy complex needs by making judgments entailing potentially dangerous consequences. From the foregoing again, I will like to draw the following conclusions to enhance my argument without prejudice or malice towards the junior rank, the rank I belong. Although, currently a lot of our kind can be said to be broadly educated boasts of all manner of certificates, to the extent that they are not employed and working with those certificates in the service, taking through a recognized institution of the service known both from within and without with the mandate to train the top management and human resources of the service, they cannot be said to be professionals until they are able to use those certificates and experiences either within or without. Once you remain in the service and you are not certified by the top institution of the service, you are not a professional yet. As junior ranks, what skills set do we get at training in our six months training so that we can always walk into another job after police? Can we call ourselves professionals? Don't you think we should be asking for certification and special skills set at training? Why are we not fighting for the depots to be given the go ahead to award diplomas or even degrees for instance like some other institutions like teaching and nursing colleges have done? For those who opted to skew the argument towards professionalism instead of who a professional is , I responded thus; Among the senior ranks for instance, they always live and work by certain ethics and do not break rules and regulations so randomly like the junior ranks do. Police officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent and above are regarded as commissioned members of the service by dint of the fact that they satisfied stringent strict selection processes and qualified and are in perfect standing to make judgments during events entailing potential dangerous consequences. In our case, what we are known for is to use our number six from our six months training at depot. So, I think, my colleagues on the other side of the argument who believe and hold the view that those in the junior ranks bracket can also be referred to and called professionals just like those in the senior ranks should gladly abandon their arguments and join my side of the argument after reading this copious free information I have given them as to who a professional really is. Which would you prefer, joining the Panacin Abdul Hanan Painkiller side of the argument so that authorities will wake up to the realization that we need more than we are currently getting in termsof training or be on the side of the argument that says they are already professionals because of six months training? CPL Mohammed Abdul Hanan EL-Saeed Chiraa Police Station Sunyani/BAR 0244087295 [email protected] [email protected] 01.08.2016 LISTEN The Supreme Courts conviction and imposition of a four-month custodial sentence and a fine of GHC 10000 each on the Montie trio, and another GHC 30000 fine on the directors of Montie FM has generated heated debate in Ghana over past few days. The debate, although touches on many aspects of this landmark case, is narrowly focused on whether President Mahama should pardon the convictsMessrs Salifu Maase, Alistair Nelson, and Godwin Ako Gunnafter the Supreme Court imposed its sentence on them on July 27, 2016. In spite of strong opposition from sections of society, the call for presidential pardon is growing. Many, especially, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC)the presidents partyand civil society groups have described the Supreme Courts sentence as very harsh. The call for presidential pardon is partly borne out of the fact that some, including legal scholars and practitioners, have questioned whether due process and the principles of fair trial were followed by the Supreme Court. Moreover, the call for pardon appears to be rooted in the genuine feeling of the protagonist that the Supreme Court should have tempered justice with mercy as the convicts are first offenders. The call for presidential pardon, indeed, makes a lot of sense from a legal view point but not necessarily from security view point. The purpose of this article, although touches on the issue of due process and fair trial, is not to indulge in the legal debates of same and the inherent moral arguments thereof but to elucidate a serious dereliction of national security duty of President Mahamas appointees which if not checked in the future could be disastrous for the country. How did we get to witness the ensuing tension that greeted the incarceration of the Montie trio? Without looking further, the buck stops at the NDC, and government appointees Attorney General (AG), Inspector General of Police (IGP), and the director of Bureau of National Investigations (BNI)who reneged on their statutory duties as far as the Montie case is concerned. The NDC as a party, and by default the executive arm of government, had earlier distanced itself from the dangerous contemptuous comments and by implication the national and human security threats that were made by the Montie trio. Yet, the party has been at the forefront of the protest by issuing the strongest condemnation against the Supreme Court verdict. Some NDC top guns including the lawyers of the convicts, government ministers, and pro-NDC civil society groups have joined the bandwagon that calls on the president to invoke his executive powers of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Ghana Constitution to pardon the convicts. Indeed, the leadership that the NDC has assumed in this case should be expected from a ruling party that seeks to retain power in the forthcoming general elections. However, the pressure from the party on President Mahama to pardon the convicts is irresponsible and it is essentially the reason why he should, at all cost resist, the temptation of pardoning the convicts. To be sure, presidential pardon for convicts is merciful, gracious, and moral act. Yet moral virtues lose their appeal when national and human security is at stake. I will explain further and make my own proposal to the president to strongly rebuke the Attorney General, the Inspector General of Police and the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations. The case of the Montie trio is a peculiar example of how extremists negative campaigning and verbal terrorism against free citizens and state institutions could backfire and put a president and his political party in a very difficult situation. Indeed, such media extremism is a recipe for national and human insecurity! The NDC has all this while denied that the Montie trio were party proxies, and if you will, the political attack dogs against political opponents. They were on their own; we were made to understand even though Mr. Maase told Ghanaians that he acted the way he did to ensure that the NDC retains power in the forthcoming elections. In short, the NDCs narrative was that it did not officially sanction whatever the Montie trio were doing on radio. While admitting to the uncomfortable truth that the utterances of the Montie trio are the new normal that has replaced the politics as usual on some media houses in Ghana, it is not necessarily legal and certainly has serious national security implications. The Montie trio and those who spurred them on overlooked the existence of the law that sets the boundaries of free speech in a democratic and civilized society like Ghana. The NDCs tacit support for the trio and their subsequent call for presidential pardon fly in the face of ethics and morality. It is bereft of the responsible leadership that is expected of political parties in a democratic environment. But there is a more serious issue to which I now turn my attention. The NDCs self-denial of what happened on Montie FM has turned into betrayal of some sort. The betrayal in the partys narrative has become very clear in two distinct but interrelated ways. First, the party has exposed itself by betraying their proxiesthe Montie trioand consequently exposed them to legal harm for not respecting the limits of democratic politics and free speech. The very conviction and sentencing of the trio demonstrates that the NDC or no political party can cover the backs of its operatives because political parties are only good at doing politics and have no power or responsibility as the final interpreters and enforcers of the laws that govern society. It is therefore a useful lesson for the Montie trio and all political party operatives across board to learn that politics ends where the law begins in constitutional democracies. Legal luminaries in political parties cannot get anyone off the hook when he or she sins against the law and brought before fair and impartial justices of the court. The court is the last bastion of constitutional democracy and the Justices have sworn an oath to defend the constitution and the law and not political parties and their operatives. In that sense the judiciary through its delivery of justice, assists the executive and legislature to perform the collective function of maintaining national security and human rights protection. Second, the NDC and government appointees betrayed the president and Ghanaians as a whole. This argument is situated in the failure of the AG, as the top lawyer of the state, to carry out her statutory responsibility to prosecute the Montie trio for criminal contempt of court. The AGs action or inaction appears to be rooted in the behavior of the police and BNI. While commending the police and BNI for the work they do to keep Ghana secured, these institutions, as far as the Montie trio case is concerned, acted in a way that is quite dangerous for the country especially in an election year when emotions are running sky high. The police and the IGP abandoned their investigative role in the case, and the BNI issued a rushed and warped statement to the effect that the Montie trio lacked the capability to carry out the threats against the Supreme Court Judges. To be sure, a holistic intelligence report should have noted that the ability to carry out a threat that was made on radio, with wide coverage, does not only reside in the hands of those who issued the threat but anyone who shares the sentiments of the threat issuers. It should be inferred by a security-mined person that the Montie trio inevitably, and for the sake of argument, were giving a voice to the silent majority. In reality, this is evidenced by the protests including vigils that were held in support of the convicts. Therefore, by personalizing the issue to the Montie trio alone, the BNI appears to have lost focus on the wider human and national security implications of the behavior of the trio. That constitutes intelligence failure and should not be condoned by the president. In the area of criminality, the BNI and the AG know very well that the capability has already been exercised in the utterance of the threats as defined in the Criminal Code. This, surely, is not a prudent way of maintaining national and human security especially in an election year. The BNIs action fell below best practices in the intelligence community around the world. By their nature and scope of activities, Intelligence Institutions should at all times appear apolitical, neutral, and impartial in the gathering and dissemination of actionable intelligence. That is not the impression that the BNI created in the minds of Ghanaians when it issued that rushed and warped statement on the Montie trio. The BNI, with the tacit complicity of the AG, clearly threw away the Criminal Code and resorted to its own interpretation of the behavior of the Montie trio. This is tantamount to dereliction of national duty. It has set a bad precedent for the conduct of intelligence in Ghanas burgeoning democracy. The BNIs behavior appears to have tied the hands of the AG who did not show up in court to prosecute the offenders. And the police were missing in the action. This is not only an affront to human rights protection, but also may undermine the maintenance of national security if such institutional behavior is not nipped in the bud. The indivisibility of security requires that state intelligence and security institutions should build up public confidence and eschew sectional interests while discharging their statutory functions. The perceived biases of the BNI and the police, especially, are partly to blame for the perpetual cycle of tension that the country experiences during general elections. We need to break this cycle as a nation. President Mahama has a unique opportunity to leave that legacy in the political history of Ghana. Whether he does that or not is a matter of prudential decision making that should start from his own appointees. The presidents trio of appointeesAG, IGP, BNI bossby their action and inaction are the originators of the current mess that surrounds the incarceration of the Montie trio. They have contributed to creating an unnecessary hullabaloo in the country. To be sure, the Supreme Court has performed its statutory function of promoting justice and ensuring that the integrity of the judiciary arm of government is in no way undermined or scandalized. To that end, it is reasonable to add that the Supreme Court has pushed the boundaries of the law, while still operating within the law, to perform an investigative and security function that was abandoned by the police and BNI. I will leave the legalities of due process and fair trial to the legal scholars and practitioners to sort it out, and reiterate the point that as a matter of national security, it is important to note that what the Supreme Court did is prudent and necessary to fill in and perform the prosecutorial functions of the AG. It was a necessary legal and security act. The Supreme Court by its action has, perhaps, put a temporary lid on the emerging media extremism that poses clear and present danger to national security. But it must not end there. It is on the basis of this reality that the president should summon the AG, IGP and the BNI boss to answer some very tough questions and impose sanctions on them if necessary. Furthermore, for the sake of transparency and good governance, Parliament should institute its own investigation into why the AG, IGP, and BNI boss reneged on their statutory duties. In short, Parliament has an integral part to play in the promotion of security and human rights in the country and should activate its checks and balances mechanism to evaluate the behavior of the executive arm of government in the Montie case. In the same vein, the National Media Commission should proactively activate and enforce its rules on responsible journalism to check the creeping menace of media extremism in Ghanas body politic. Drawing on the discussion so far, it is apparent that the argument for presidential pardon, although may be well intentioned and moral, is a distraction from where the real problem resides the NDC party and sympathizers who spurred on the convicts, and the trio of AG, IGP, and BNI boss, who abandoned their statutory functions to promote fair trial and human security as far as this case is concerned. It is the NDC party and the aforementioned officers who have failed the Montie trio, the president, and the country by their actions and inactions. We should therefore leave the Supreme Court alone and focus our energies on those who failed to do their statutory duties. The president should at all cost resist the temptation to sin against the constitution and principles of separation of powers and rather uphold the integrity and independence of the Judiciary. The president should also be mindful of the human and national security implications for the country should he invoke Article 72 to free the Montie trio. The Supreme Courts action was constitutional and the president should be mindful again of his Presidential Oath that he will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. This portion of the Presidential Oath by, interpretation, not only guarantees the separation of powers, but as well, it is legally binding on the president to ensure that national security is maintained and human rights are protected. Therefore, the prudent and honorable thing the president should do is to sanction the Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, and the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations, as well as advising his party to embark on positive campaigning that will support some of the good work his government has done, or will do should he win the upcoming elections. That is what Ghana our motherland needs. Prof. Edward Akuffo teaches international security and international relations at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. [email protected] A former president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mr Sam Okudzeto has cautioned President John Mahama against heeding calls to invoke article 72 of the constitution and grant the convicted Montie 3 pardon. Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe, who have become known as the Montie 3 were handed a four-month imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt on Wednesday July 27. They threatened the lives of judges on an Accra-based radio station called Montie FM. The office of the president has been inundated with several calls from both executives and supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as Ministers and appointees of the presidency, for Mr Mahama to intervene, since, in their view, the sentence was harsh. The pressure on the president to free the three has resulted in the formation of the Freemontie3now Movement, as well as the organisation of a night vigil, and the opening of a petition book to collect one million signatures to coerce the president into granting the three pardon. However, Mr Okudzeto, speaking to Class News, said the president will be planning his own funeral if he gave in to the pressure mounting on him. They threatened judges, which is a criminal offence, they [Attorney General] refused to prosecute the people and now should he [Mr Mahama] free them, that is going to be his own funeral. What lesson will he be telling the people of Ghana; that if people commit a criminal offence, because they are his party people, therefore, he should go and pardon them? Is that a proper way to administer the pardon? That is my view. If he wants to do it, he should go ahead and do it, but they forget we are all in Ghana; it is not just me, Mr Okudzeto stated, stressing: People have threatened to kill judges, which is a criminal offence, which is there in the criminal code and the Attorney General has not prosecuted them and he [President Mahama] wants to go and pardon? He should go ahead and pardon them because his party people want it, his party chairman said it, but as for me, I will not be a party to it, Mr Okudzeto added. The Acting National chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Freddie Blay has urged the party's supporters and executives, as well as the good people of the Northern region to remain positive for change in their lives. Mr Blay also called on NPP members not to be provoked by members of the ruling party National Democratic Congress (NDC), saying that the Northern region has demonstrated its readiness for change. Nana Addo is coming with change not for only NPP members but everybody so Ghanaians should know that the NDC has failed and that the person who will bring positive change in the lives of the good people of Ghana is the NPP flagbearer, according to him. He made this remark during his two-day working visit to the Northern Region to interact with the party's members, executives and parliamentary candidates of the NPP. The NPP acting chairman told DAILY GUIDE that the NPP has a competent, credible and experienced team to take over from the incompetent NDC government. The notion that we should vote for our brother whether he's doing well or not is a thing of the past, the lives of people in the country, including the Northern region, need to be improved. He indicated that the country has been given a raw deal by the NDC through its corrupt, incompetent and dubious relationship with the people of this country. Mr. Blay gave the assurance that when Nana Addo takes over power come December 7, he would be objective and treat everyone equally to improve the lives of Ghanaians. He urged the media to help inform the good people of the Northern Region about NPP's preparedness to govern the country peaceful. Montie Saga Touching on the recent sentencing of the Montie gang by the Supreme Court, Mr. Blay said the law is the law, I have had the chance to listen to the tape and I think it's unfortunate not just because they insulted judges or condemned judges of a court of competent jurisdiction but the element of threat of lives to the judges of the most superior court in our country. He noted that to some extent, the Supreme Court was justified in sentencing the three persons to serve as deterrent for other people. People should not think that they can threaten judges and get away with it, he indicated. What is surprising to me is the position of the NDC in this matter, which they have taken a very strong position on, members of government and high ranking individuals signing a petition to ask the government to get people out of prison because they belong to the NDC is most unfortunate. NHIS Registration He appealed to Ghanaians to go and check their names on the voters' register so that they can vote come December 7. According to him, some people, who are not part of the 57,000 people, who registered with the NHIS cards, have had their names removed from the register. I am told that less than 30 percent of those whose names were removed were able to re-register and that is unfortunate because many of them don't know; the publicity was bad and some might not find out that their names had been removed. From Eric Kombat, Tamale Are you really as dense as you're comments suggest? How could the Russians find Clinton's emails without hacking? The server still exists, is still monitored and is used for the Clinton Foundation. ANY server no matter how secure can be hacked, Home Depot has been hacked, Target has been hacked, the CIA has been hacked, Yahoo has been hacked. You are trying to convince the low IQ, low income dimwits that Clinton is supposed to have better security than everybody else in the world. NO one is immune to being hacked, the only way to avoid being hacked is to go offline or have someone staring at a computer screen ready to unplug the second a spy it is detected. And, as much as you would like to believe, Clinton had NO classified emails on her server, there are NO 30,000 MISSING emails. There are the thirty some thousand emails that were turned over and thirty thousand that a team of lawyers deemed personal and were deleted. End of the email story, give it up, you're party of haters was wrong, admit it. Use a little bit of common sense! President John Mahama has subtly rated the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) as Ghana's leading public university, saying UPSA is the greatest university in the world. The President made this remark while delivering the keynote address at UPSA's 8th Congregation held at the forecourt of the university on Saturday in Accra. He apparently ranked UPSA ahead of University of Ghana (UG), Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast (UCC), among others, in terms of infrastructural development and visionary leadership. USPA, President said, has time and time again proven that with an inquiring vision, an unwavering commitment, teamwork and support, one can achieve unimagined height of greatness. He indicated that I have always been impressed anytime I visit this campus at the range of growth of significant infrastructure that this university continues to put up. According to him, A significant proportion of the infrastructure on this campus has been constructed using internally generated funds. President Mahama noted that the completion of your (UPSA) auditorium complex, which can accommodate 3,000 persons at a time, will make it the biggest auditorium in the country bigger than the National Theatre and bigger than Accra International Conference Centre. Before the 8th congregation, President Mahama commissioned a library facility at UPSA, adding that it can accommodate up to 1,600 students at a time. I have always felt that UPSA is an example of how internally generated funds should be used, the President asserted. He credited Prof. Joshua Alabi, Vice Chancellor of UPSA for all the achievements the school had chalked in recent years, describing him as a trailblazer in the nation's education sector. According to him, Prof. Alabi has led the university over the last seven years with distinction and deserves commendation from the entire UPSA family. UPSA, he said, from its very humble beginnings has really developed into a world renowned university. The President also seized the opportunity to pay homage to Chief Dele Momodu of the Ovation Magazine fame, who received the fourth Honorary Doctorate Degree of the UPSA on the occasion in recognition of his outstanding contributions. Academic Report Prof. Alabi, whose second tenure began on January 1, 2013 and will come to an end by December 31, this year, said in his address that a total of 2,575 students have fulfilled the eligibility requirements for graduation today. Of this number, there are 318 diplomats, 1,836 undergraduate and 421 postgraduate students, explained Prof. Alabi, who has been hailed by many for his excellent leadership in transforming UPSA from a mere professional tutorial institution into a leading university. At the undergraduate level, a total of 13, representing 0.71 percent of the graduating class obtained First Class degrees, 24.24 percent had Second Class Upper degrees, 38.07 percent with Second Class Lower degrees, 28.38 percent with Third Class degrees and the remaining 8.61 percent are going home with pass degrees, he said. Chancellor of UPSA, Drolor Bosso Adamtey I, in a statement, disclosed that we project that by the year 2017, the total student population will grow from the current 12,000 to 15,000, adding that the strategic initiatives being implemented for the next five years are on course. He said the 3,000 capacity UPSA auditorium was being constructed at the cost of GH77 million, noting that the project is due for completion in 30 months. By Melvin Tarlue Deputy Minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development, John Oti Bless, who doubles as National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkwanta North in the Volta Region, is in hot waters following what has been described as 'reckless comments' amid threats made against Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood. The nominee, whose approval is before parliament, is said to have made the scandalous comments, including kidnapping allegation against the Chief Justice on Montie FM an Accra-based radio station which has become notorious for broadcasting hate speeches and remarks as the December 7 general election zeroes in. The architect of the afternoon political talk-show called 'Pampaso,' Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, together with two other NDC activists Godwin Ako Gunn, 39 and Alistair Tairo Nelson, 41 are currently serving four months each in jail in addition to a fine of GH10,000 each for scandalizing the Supreme Court. Unsavory Comments It is turning out that Oti Bless was a panel member on one of the numerous 'Pampaso' shows that was used to denigrate the Supreme Court justices, particularly the Chief Justice, when some of the members even threatened to kill the judges if the apex court did not back off the Electoral Commission (EC) in relation to the voter register for election 2016. Some are of the view that Oti Bless caught the eye of the president by his appearance on the show where invectives are hurled on people considered to be opponents of the ruling NDC, even including the justices of the Supreme Court. Parliament is set to debate on the nominee as to whether his nomination should go through, despite his poor showing at the vetting last week. Mr Oti Bless reportedly said on 'Pampaso' on June 24, 2016 that the Chief Justice has to be monitored closely because she was actively engaged in partisan politics and was working against the Mahama NDC administration. He added that the Chief Justice had been 'scheming' for the NPP to win cases. Today we have a CJ who because of a political favour done her, will do anything to help the NPP. It is an agenda. The Electoral Commission should stop working and give it to Georgina Wood. Why meddling in the affairs of the Electoral Commission? Oti Bless fired. CJ On Firing Line He continued, And we have a whole CJ, look at how old you are; you have kids and grandchildren and yet you are at the court doing politics; you deliberately appoint NPP judges to do politics and scheme with NPP to give biased rulings. Are you not calling for war? Are you not calling for civil war? Are you not destroying this country? Urged on by Mugabe, the minister-designate also claimed the Chief Justice tried to connive with the then outgoing NPP administration to block late Prof. Evans Atta Mills from becoming president in the heat of the 2008 general election, which the NDC eventually won by empanelling a court on a public holiday to hear an NPP petition. He said the NPP's election petition was 'fraudulent' 'dirty' and 'useless' but the Chief Justice entertained it at the Supreme Court. He also lambasted the four justices who had ruled that President Mahama was not validly elected due to the widespread malpractices in the 2012 presidential election. Attack On Jake Oti Bless also said that former NPP Chairman, Jake Otanka Obestebi-Lamptey, who bought a state bungalow, could have prolonged his life on earth if he had sold the property back to the state for the government to build affordable houses for the poor. Kidnapping Allegation The ministerial nominee suggested on the show that the Chief Justice was part of a plot to kidnap a child of Tony Lithur, who was President Mahama's lawyer during the landmark Presidential Election Petition case, decided by the Supreme Court. Let me give you a last filla (information). Do you know that during the Election Petition case, these people made a plot to kidnap a child of Tony Lithur, who was lawyer for His Excellency John Mahama so he would not concentrate on the case? We have to watch this Chief Justice. My brother Mugabe (referring to the programme host), I am telling you, when you go to the Supreme Court today, the Chief Justice is fighting one worker all because of politics, Oti Bless underscored. Petition To Parliament A private citizen, Richard Asante Yeboah, has already sent a petition to the Speaker of Parliament and made copies to almost every high-profile institution, including the offices of former presidents and security agencies, asking the house not to approve Oti Bless' nomination. He transcribed verbatim the comments of the NDC MP and attached the audio recordings for the attention of Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho. He said in the petition that the MP was heard audibly on Montie Fm on the 24th of June castigating the Chief Justice and the judiciary, adding that approval by this august house could be misconstrued to mean a tacit endorsement of his rather unfortunate conduct against the judiciary. He further said, It is instructive to recall that one of the jailed panelists, Godwin Ako Gunn, referred to these submissions by John Oti Bless and based on them to make the comments that have seen him jailed for contempt. Pressure Mounting However, pressure continues to be mounted on President Mahama to revoke Oti Bless' nomination. Apart from some MPs making their reservations known to the speaker concerning their colleague, some civil society groups have entered the fray and backed calls for Oti Bless to be withdrawn. IMANI Ghana president, Franklin Cudjoe, who initially preferred not to talk about the MP's performance during the vetting, said the answers he (nominee) provided before the committee showed clearly that he is not fit for the position, and thus questioned the motive behind the nomination. In a vetting that was aired live on state broadcaster, GTV, the young man, who said he is not married but has two children, appeared to fumble in answering many pertinent questions he was asked. Even the least of questions seeking clarity on his own CV presented to the Committee, could not be answered satisfactorily. The MP made several omissions on the CV and failed to add other vital information where necessary. Later, Mr. Cudjoe, likened the MP's comments to the infamous 'Hate Radio' which contributed to the Rwandan genocide where close to a million people were killed. I am surprised the Chief Justice isn't suing him by now, the IMANI President said. The unsavoury comments, the calumny, the vain glorification of treachery that was meted out to the Chief Justice I am shocked, he said Defiant Nominee However in a defiant mood, Oti Bless fired back at his critics, particularly the IMANI boss saying, Please tell Franklin Cudjoe to learn how to talk He speaks authoritatively as if Ghana belongs to him. By William Yaw Owusu The Northern Regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that the vice presidential candidate of the party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, never gave even a single cedi to any electoral officer as alleged by the National Democratic Congress (NDC). According to him, he and others came to Walewale with Dr. Bawumia and were moving to Nasiya for a funeral when a gentleman was sent to go and check if he could verify him (Bawumia) but when the gentleman got there, they were about closing from the funeral. He never gave anybody even one cedi. This is NDC propaganda; the entire allegation is never true, he said. In a follow-up press statement by the Walewale constituency of the NPP, the party said the NDC cooked up the allegation for obvious reasons. It is obvious for many neutral observers of the Ghanaian political landscape that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has become a thorn in the flesh of the ruling NDC and that the NDC for several months and years, has sought all manner of schemes and claims in an attempt to soil the image of Dr. Bawumia but have failed miserably. These schemes culminated in the president desperately urging Mamprusis not to vote for the NPP because of Dr. Bawumia, as he has realised that the popularity of Dr. Bawumia has reached higher levels in Mamprugu, the North and Ghana as a whole, more than ever, the statement, signed by Simon Ali Walewale, the constituency secretary, said. The statement pointed out that Dr Bawumia never got verified in his family house as suggested by the NDC but rather moved out to get verified as the process demands, adding that This latest creation is yet another scheme by the NDC against Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia and which like all the earlier ones, has failed. The NPP explained that the vice presidential candidate went to his family house where he was informed that the EC officers had come to verify him at home as the clouds had gathered and it was likely it could start raining. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia however, declined this offer and rather decided to proceed to the polling centre, which is outside the family house (very close). When Dr. Bawumia came out of his family house to get verified, he met the two EC officers moving to seek shelter since the clouds had gotten darker. Dr. Bawumia was therefore verified where he met the officers just adjacent to where the polling centre had been set up, and not in his residence; not even by its gate. The latest thing the NDC has rolled out is a totally false claim, bordering on hallucinations, that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia got Electoral Commission officers at the Kperiga polling centre to come and verify his details in the voter register at his family residence. This, we wish to state emphatically, is false, it said. EC Officers Sacked Some two EC officers at the Walewale District office, who allegedly sent the voter register to Dr. Bawumia's house Jobey Ambrose and Mumuni Latifa were sacked after the NDC had championed the said falsehood. There were speculations that they took GH10,000 from Dr Bawumia. The NDC executives in the Walewale Constituency are asking for a harsher punishment for the two, other than a mere dismissal. Walewale Constituency communications officer of the NDC, Imoro Abdul Razak, said his outfit had information that the opposition NPP had plans in the district to influence the verification process. However, the outspoken NPP regional chairman, Daniel Bugri, indicated that President Mahama and the NDC had already created problems for Ghanaians and that he (Mahama) is a northerner and so people should vote for him. We are not ready to listen to that as far as NPP and the Northern Region are concern, he said. Mr Daniel Bugri stated that Ghanaians will vote for someone who is capable and competent, in the person of Nana Addo, to lead the country to prosperity on December 7, assuring the NPP and Nana Addo of winning the 31 seats in the region. He cautioned the Northern Regional Minister to put a stop to the alleged sharing of guns and bullets to party supporters. Chairman Bugri said the case had been referred to the Tamale police and that he trusts the police would investigate the matter properly. FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale We woke up last Friday only to be greeted by the sad news that ace highlife musician Daasebre Dwamena had joined his ancestors in the land of Samanfo. I'm particularly affected by his demise because I knew him on a personal level. I'm deeply saddened by his passing. Daasebre was my junior in Benkum Secondary School in the late 1980's and early 1990's. We used to perform 'salaat' (prayer) together in the school. Though coming from an Akan background, his dedication to salaat and devotion to Allah was unquestionable. I called him Daddy because he shared the same Islamic name, Abubakar Siddiq, with my late father. Even back then, his passion for music was unquenchable. I was therefore not surprised when his kookookoo song with Lord Kenya became a hit in the late 1990's. Not long after that, I chanced upon him in a mosque at Accra New Town and we re-established contact. When he was arrested in the UK for drug trafficking, those of us who knew the real Daasebre still believed he was innocent. We therefore organized monthly intercessional Quranic recitations and supplications to seek mercy on his behalf from the Bearded Old Man above. I was in the offices of Daily Guide the very day he was acquitted and discharged. Bennet Akuaku, then an investigative journalist with the Daily Guide, wondered why I was so elated. If only he knew! My information is that he had been ill since the beginning of the year. The last time I saw him was about two months ago. He assured me that his condition was improving but his looks said otherwise. It is an understatement to say we are saddened by his death. But we are consoled by the fact that he lived a decent life and was never afflicted by the kpokpogbligbli syndrome before embarking on the journey to Samanfoland. May his soul have peace with its Maker! Talking about kpokpogbligbli brings to mind the judgment of the Supreme Court (SC) on the Muntie 3 saga. To refresh your mind, one of the contemnors claimed he was afflicted by kpokpogbligbli, an unknown disease that takes over a persons body and controls what he says and does. Fortunately, the SC has finally found a cure for the kpokpogbligbli disease. The cure is a four-month jail term for each of the contemnors and a total fine of GH 30,000. Interestingly, Zu-za has condemned the cure saying it was harsh. The party is also calling for a repeal of criminal contempt. The party further argues that contempt tends to stifle free speech. Ironically, this is the very party that used contempt to imprison perceived political enemies. Was Kwaku Baako not jailed for contempt for 30 days and Western Publications, publishers of The Guide (now The Daily Guide), fined 10 million old Cedis in 1998? Was Baby Ansaba not jailed for 21 days for contempt after failing to pay a fine of 5 million old Cedis while working with the Free Press? I laugh anytime I hear the argument that the Muntie 3 sentence was harsh. They were handed down a four-month sentence out of a maximum of 3 years for criminal contempt. How could this be harsh? For threatening the lives of judges and a veiled threat of rape on the Chief Justice, I believe the SC was very lenient. There is also the argument that the contempt charges were criminalizing free speech. I will be a hypocrite to say I do not cherish the free speech we are enjoying under the fourth Republican Constitution. I do criticize others in this very column, sometimes very harshly. But I'm also very careful not to go beyond accepted limits. Indeed, criticizing a SC ruling does not amount to crime. But verbal threat, which is also speech, amounts to a crime. One can therefore not hide behind free speech and threaten the lives of others. That is unacceptable! Having failed to deceive the SC with their fun-fool apology, the contemnors and their party are now press-ganging the President to invoke Article 72 of the Constitution and pardon the convicted trio. It is worth noting that Tony Lithur, the President's lawyer during the election petition hearing at the SC, does not subscribe to the call. Of course, a pardon for Mugabe and his partners-in-crime would mean promoting recklessness in the media and undermining the authority of the judiciary. As our rabbit-like ears eagerly await Mr Ogwanfunu's response on the matter, I sincerely believe this is the time the dead-goat syndrome should be activated. Well, let's keep our fingers crossed! I conclude by professing my love for Shatta Wale's Biegya song. But being conscious of Osibisa's Fire lyrics which admonishes us not to play with fire lest we get burnt, I'm careful where and when to open fire. If only the Muntie 3 had heeded Osibisa's wise counsel! See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente! Some medical Doctors have made an appeal to government to support the training of Family Physicians in Ghana. "Government should support the Modular training programme of family Physicians by providing funds and investing in necessary technologies to enhance training. The appeal was made when over hundred Medical Doctors comprising Family Physicians, Medical Directors of various hospitals and academics in the medical field drawn from the Northern sector of Ghana met in the Ashanti regional capital for the first ever Lecture series and Brainstorming session to deliberate on issues affecting Family Doctors, their training and well-being on the job. The importance of Family Doctors, benefits of being a Family Doctor, how to make their training liberalized, more attractive and cost effective were also discussed. Dr. Fred Bedzrah; a Family Physician resident at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital tells rawgist.com the importance of the Family Physician within Ghanas health set-up is more important now than ever, especially with the introduction of the capitation system in the countrys Health Insurance Scheme. He believes that Family Doctors are the best and most cost effective group of medical professionals to man the system to make it work. Dr. Bedzrah also explains that Family Physician training involves industrial health, Occupational Health & safety, as well as all other Medical subspecialties, making Family Doctor the most attractive medical option for Public and Private Institutions and organizations who want medical Doctors for the health needs of their workers. He says employing a family Doctor for a Corporate or Private organization is more cost effective and efficient than employing the services of specialist Doctors for every specialty. Currently the training of family Physicians in Ghana is very expensive and centered only in the teaching hospitals in the country. To enter the training program, you need a sponsor to be able to afford it. The central role of Family Physicians in developing a quality cost effective primary and secondary healthcare delivery system makes it imperative for government to support and sponsor fully the training of more family Physicians to man the numerous peripheral facilities in the country", he explained to rawgist.coms Bernard Buachi. For his part, Dr. Joseph Kwasi Hansen, who delivered the first lecture explained the modular concept of training family Physicians and revealed the need for more hospitals to be accredited to cater for such training needs. Dr. Hansen also stated that a properly trained family Physician should be able to handle more than 80% of cases seen in any busy hospital including surgical cases. He however laments the slow progress being made in the training of family Doctors due to major challenges being faced. With the Modular concept of training, Medical Doctors who have practiced in the various districts for at least five years dont have to move to teaching hospitals for training but will have the training brought to their facilities or facilities close to them. ACCRA, Ghana, 26 July 2016 - Leading international tyre brand Continental Tire will officially opened its first warehouse for West Africa on the 20th of July in Ghana. The warehouse will be situated in the Tema Harbour with flexible storage capacity to accommodate our development in the region. As a part of Bollore Africa Logistics the warehousing facility situated in Tema is part of the organisations top-quality bonded logistics platforms situated a few kilometres from the port terminal. Bollore Africa logistics in Ghana provides over 90,000m of warehouses and storage areas. "The capacity of the facility allows us the opportunity and flexibility to expand as the market dictates", says Johann Liebenberg, Market Manager Continental Tire West Africa. Driven by the need to provide superior products and service to the West African market, the new facility in Tema will allow ease of access and increased capacity for quick and efficient distribution. "We expect delivery within 24-48 hours in Ghana and also a significant reduction in time to service the rest of the West African countries," says Liebenberg. Continental Tire is one of the leading manufacturers of PLT tyres in Europe and the world's fourth largest passenger tire manufacturer in the original equipment and replacement market. The opening of the warehouse follows on the successful launch of the company's new legal entity Continental Tire West Africa (CTWA) on the 20th of April 2016. The event took place at the Lambadi Beach Hotel in Accra Ghana. CTWA believes that the market holds enormous potential for all its brands including the fast growing General Tire range. "We wish to have our products close at hand and we will keep stock for the PLT, TT and CST segments of the market" adds Liebenberg. "This is an integral part of the success of our legal entity the premier levels of service we wish to offer." The West African market is estimated to be in the region of over 8 million potential tyres in 2016, growing to over 12 million in 2025. CTWA ambitiously wishes to target a fair share of this market. Tyres will be supplied via our plants in Europe, South Africa, Malaysia, and America, to only mention the main supplying areas. The Tema warehouse will be seen as the distribution hub for Ghana and surrounding countries, where smaller volumes are required. The essence of democracy is that people are able to make their own choices as to who governs them at any particular time and are able to hold their elected representatives accountable for their stewardship. The role played by the media in such context cannot be overemphasized as it essentially provides relevant information for citizens to make informed decisions on issues affecting them. Recently, however, there seem to be a growing perception that the media in Ghana is polarised or being polarised along political party lines. What could possibly be fuelling this notion, one might ask. First of all, the stance of most political party communicators and commentators is largely responsible for stoking the fire polarisation in the country. Every political party and for that matter every individual has the right to express their opinion on any issues in the public domain. However, such an opinion should not be expressed in a manner that brings others into disrepute. It is therefore unfortunate to hear communicators launching personal attacks on people, instead of engaging in thoughtful discussion of the issues under consideration. The Montie FM incident in which panellists were recently found guilty of contempt of court for threatening to eliminate judges of the Supreme Court is a case in point. Closely related to this is the nature of public discourse in the media. This derives from the previous point in that when political commentators take entrenched positions and delve into unwarranted personal attacks instead of addressing the issues, their followers, who mostly do not critically examine issues also follow suit. This is evidenced by the stance taken by ordinary people who call into radio discussion programmes and run down their perceived opponents or those accused of having done something wrong. It is not uncommon to hear ordinary citizens attacking the personality of newsmakers during phone-in segments of radio programmes and this also contributes to the perception of polarisation in the media. Similarly, the posture of some media practitioners also contributes to this perception of polarisation in the media. The duty of media practitioners is to essentially present accurate timely information to the public in a balanced manner. It is therefore quite heartbreaking when media practitioners are seen to be constantly bashing government without balancing such critique with progress made on the issues. Professionally, Journalists are required to probe the issues but in doing so, they must exhibit unparalleled objectivity and circumspection. When a particular journalist or media house is seen to be constantly portraying the government in a negative light, it may feed into the perception that that particular media house or journalist is biased. There should be proper contextual juxtaposition of the issues on the part of practitioners to ensure balance, objectivity and accuracy in their output. It is also worrying that a lack of swift and decisive action by oversight bodies such as the National Media Commission (NMC), the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is further complicating the case. The NMC and NCA are constitutionally mandated bodies; while one charged with ensuring and promoting free, independent and responsible media in Ghana, the other regulates communications by wire, cable, radio, television, satellite and similar means of technology for the orderly development and operation of efficient communications services in Ghana. These oversight bodies must be seen to be taking swift and decisive action against errant media practitioners and media houses. Similarly the GJA must be quick to call to order its members who violate its principles and code of conduct. It is therefore counterproductive when the GJA, the umbrella organisation of journalists in Ghana, is seen to be lackadaisical on issues involving errant journalists or media houses but are quick to issue statements to condemn attacks or any posturing that threatens to stifle press freedom in the country. The Way Forward Political commentators, the media as well as oversight bodies such as the NMC and NCA can engage on regular basis with a view to ensuring sanity in the media landscape. Such interactions can include guidelines or regular training sessions for political commentators on the kind of language permissible on our airwaves. Also, the respective political parties must establish internal guidelines accompanied with sanctions to ensure that their communicators and commentators are constantly mindful of the effects of their utterances on media platforms. The Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) has clear code of ethics outlining acceptable and appropriate conduct for journalists. The question however remains, what happens in case of violations? The GJA should be clear on the sanctions that apply in case of infractions and must apply such sanctions as such, without fear or favour. This would indeed be a step in the right direction and enhance the publics trust in the Association in particular and journalists in general. The NMC should be empowered with financial resources and the relevant legal instruments to enable it carry out its duties effectively. Indeed, the NMC has the constitutional mandate of ensuring media freedom and independence as well as taking all appropriate measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards in the country. Leadership of NMC must be quick to name and shame errant media practitioners and media houses and also have the will to impose sanctions where necessary. This would contribute to enhancing public trust in the oversight body and essentially ensure that ethical professional standards are upheld in the country. This is not to suggest that the media in Ghana is always lacking careful thought and judgment or that it is not getting it right. Indeed the media has chalked some success over the years. Investigative reporting, which in some cases has led to the naming and shaming of corrupt public officials, has made the media an effective and trustworthy watchdog and enhanced its credibility among the public. This has, in certain way, put in check public officials who may have the tendency to engage in corrupt practice. The final question to consider is can there be effective democracy without a responsible media? Certainly not. All stakeholders, media practitioners, oversight bodies, political communicators, political parties and the entire citizenry must therefore put their shoulder to the wheel in a bid to restore decorum in our public discourse and sanitize our airwaves. In the spirit of being responsive and responsible, the media must above all promote unity instead of divisiveness, clear-headed debate instead of hate speech and radicalisation. This is the only way to ensure that the media, as the fourth estate of the realm, is positioned to play its role of building social consensus and enhancing the democracy we now enjoy. Gender minister Nana Oye Lithur has been criticized for supporting a petition calling for the release of pro-government communicators jailed for contempt after they threatened to kill judges. Policy analyst Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby said given the ministers background as a human rights activist and a gender advocate, it is incongruous for her to sign the "Free Montie 3 petition". Incensed government officials and party gurus are signing a petition calling for a presidential pardon for two radio panelists and a host of a pro-government radio station, Montie FM. Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase respectively, are serving a four-months' sentence in Nsawam prison after making contemptuous comments on Supreme Court judges hearing an electoral roll case. The attacks included threats to kill the judges and rape the Chief Justice, Goergina Theodora Wood. But the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) is up against the sentencing, describing it as harsh. They want the three released. Although President Mahamas legal advisor Tony Lithur, has advised against the move to pardon them, it has not stopped his wife and Gender minister Nana Oye Lithur from signing the petition. Condemning support for the release of the convicted criminals, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby pointed out that the idea that ministers and appointed government officials who do the presidents bidding, should rush off to sign a petition that seeks to allow him to interfere directly in the decisions of the judiciary is the most dangerous thing that has happened in the Fourth Republic. Zooming in on Nana Oye Lithur, the policy expert indicated that her position on the Montie petition is at the very least, bizarre. Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby She was running an NGO called Commonwealth Human Rights [Initiative] and I am surprised that even from that background, she would even put her name to such a petition especially now that she is a Minister of Gender and Social Protection Dr. Wereko-Brobby suggested that the very, very sober advice of her husband who is the presidents lawyer should have informed her position. Not that she is not independent or she is not free to act independently as a person, but it is incongruous, he explained on Joy FMs Super Morning Show Monday, for the minister to endorse the petition. He said the call on the President to issue an executive order and pardon the Montie 3 constitutes a direct confrontation between the Executive and the Judiciary. It is unfortunate.it will create a constitutional crisis, he warned. It is an impeachable offence if the Presidents power to pardon is found to have been exercised inappropriately. Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|edwin.appiah|[email protected] Nana Asante Bediatuo and other lawyers who are challenging President John Mahamas powers as far as freeing the three convicted Montie contemnors is concerned, are just making empty noises, former presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy has said. Nana Asante Bediatuo recently argued that the president would be acting ultra vires if he succumbed to pressure from NDC members and his appointees to invoke his prerogative of mercy powers guaranteed under Article 72 to grant the trio pardon. Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe, were sentenced to a four-month jail term after scandalising the Supreme Court and bringing its name into disrepute through death threats they issued against justices of the apex court during a discussion on political talk show Pampaso on Accra-based private radio station Montie FM. After their incarceration to serve their term, many NDC members, groups, ministers, and deputy ministers have signed a petition for their release through the presidents powers under Article 72. Legal brains such as Nana Asante Bediatuo, former president of the Ghana Bar Association Sam Okudzeto, law professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, and former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo have all spoken against the use of the presidents prerogative of mercy powers to free the three. However, another law professor, Kweku Asare, believes Mr Mahama must use Article 72 to free the three. Dr Arthur Kennedy, who had accused the Supreme Court of bias in the case in an earlier statement, has issued a new statement defending his comments, parrying attacks on him as well as defending the presidents powers to free the trio. He said: While I do not believe the president should pardon them, I have no doubt that he has the constitutional authority to pardon them. If the president can pardon murderers, he can pardon contemnors. Bediatuo et al are just making empty noise, as they did in the appointment of the E.C. Chair. If the president were to pardon them, there would be no judicial review because it would be unconstitutional. Below is Dr Arthur Kennedys full statement: LAWYERS AND THE LAW My friends, since I expressed my opinion on the MONTIE FM contemnors, I have been attacked by many for daring to offer an opinion on an issue that, in their opinion, should be left to seasoned legal minds. I disagree. The basis for participating in such debates is citizenship and personhood, not law school certificates. Indeed, throughout history, many societies have recognized that the law is too important to leave to lawyers. The greatest set of laws ever written, the Ten Commandments, was brought down from the mountain, not by a seasoned lawyer, but by Moses, a layperson. Many of the "I put it to you" crowd now trying to muzzle me would have asked to see Moses ' law credentials before accepting the ten commandments but he had credentials-- from God!!. Many societies allow jury trials because, as Thomas Jefferson stated, "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution ". Indeed Ghana included non-lawyers like market women in drafting the 1992 constitution that has served us so well. Therefore, my fellow citizens, despite my unbounded admiration for many lawyers throughout history and in our country, laypeople like me have a place in our discussion of the laws and constitutions. Despite my admiration for Thurgood Marshall, Bill Renquist, Clarence Darrow, Jonny Cochran, J.B. Danquah, Nana Addo, Sam Okudzeto and Nana Asante Bediatuo, to mention but a few, I insist that the lay perspectives that people like me bring are sometimes indispensable. That is why I asserted, correctly that the President had the constitutional authority to appoint the E.C. Chair while seasoned lawyers were wasting words and ink challenging that authority. Indeed, we must view the claim by lawyers that they are the best custodians of the rule of law and constitutional democracy with a lot of scepticism. In the U.S., it was eminent lawyers, sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court who handed down the Dred Scott decision of 1857 that barred blacks from US citizenship! It took them nearly a century and a detour through Plessy vs Ferguson before they finally redeemed themselves and America with Brown vs Board of Education which held that discrimination was unconstitutional in 1954. Here in Ghana too, members of the learned profession have been undermining the rule of law for a long time. In 1961, it was some of our best legal minds, sitting on the Supreme Court, who upheld Preventive Detention and gutted the rule law in re: Akoto in the case of Baffour Osei Akoto and 7 others, despite J.B. Danquah's magnificent advocacy. Throughout the 1980s, it was perhaps, the finest legal brain to come out of Legon, Tsatsu Tshikata, who helped the PNDC write proclamations while they gutted the rule of law. During the protracted attempt to cover up the murder of the judges, he was firmly on the side of the evil doers. To finish on the case of the MONTIE FM contemnors, while I do not believe the President should pardon them, I have no doubt that he has the constitutional authority to pardon them. If the President can pardon murderers, he can pardon contemnors! Bediatuo et al, are just making empty noise, as they did in the appointment of the E.C. Chair. If the President were to pardon them, there will be NO judicial review because it would be unconstitutional. Finally, my fellow Ghanaians, we should never kowtow to the tyranny of the "I put it to you" profession. We belong in the discussions of our constitution and our laws, not because we are lawyers but simply because we are citizens! God bless Ghana. Arthur K 01.08.2016 LISTEN Aine O'Mahony has a bachelor in Law and Political Science at the Catholic Institute of Paris and is currently a master's student of Leiden University in the International Studies programme.Contact: [email protected] Elodie Pichon has a bachelor in Law and Political Science at the Catholic Institute of Paris and is currently doing a MA in Geopolitics, territory and Security at King's College London. Contact : [email protected] Following the recent abduction of five Hong Kong publishers, alleged to have edited books disclosing inconvenient truths about the Chinese government, thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest and fight for their right to have Freedom of Expression, which had already been enshrined in the Fundamental Law of Hong Kong. The post 80 generation wants to defend civil liberties and young people are concerned by the fact that the Chinese grip on the media could be the potential starting point for the end of the 1 country, 2 system policy, agreed on between China and Great Britain for the transfer of sovereignty over this territory. Is it reasonable to believe that this territory could become a simple reproduction of China, as feared by the younger generation? On the first of July, 1997, China resumed control of Hong Kong after 156 years of British colonial rule. The two countries had already agreed on the terms for the transfer of power back in 1984. Britain acquired Hong Kong Island in 1842, following the Opium Wars of the 19th century. It took possession of Kowloon Peninsula in 1886 and obtained a lease on The New Territories for a period of 99 years beginning in 1898. Lawmakers, appointed by Beijing, took over power in 1997, but promised to honor Chinas pledge to maintain the Hong Kong way of life for at least another fifty years. However, today idealism is being replaced very quickly by pragmatism in Hong Kong where official statistics show that this special administrative region is becoming more and more politically and economically dependent on China. The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) set up in 2003 aims at facilitating commercial exchanges between the partners, thus forcing Hong Kong to become more politically integrated into China. Beijing has managed to achieve its goal, because the volume of trade between Hong Kong and mainland China has multiplied by three over the last ten years. In addition, in order to influence the elite of Hong Kong, China has invested extensively there, particularly in finance and real estate. Kai Dai of the United Front of the University of San Yat, of Canton stated that the CEPA could enable China to use its economy as an axe to reinforce political communication on the two sides and to reconquer the population of Hong Kong. Beijing relies on Hong Kongs economic dependence on China to tighten its control over the territory, indicating that the one country, two systems principle is more theoretical than real. Back in 2012, in his luminary and farsighted policy paper What China Wants for Asia? professor Anis H. Bajrektarevic accurately diagnoses: To sustain itself as a single socio-political and formidably performing economic entity, the Peoples Republic requires more energy and less external dependency. Domestically, the demographic-migratory pressures are huge, regional demands are high, and expectations are brewing In effect, the forthcoming Chinese military buildup will only strengthen the existing, and open up new, bilateral security deals of neighboring countries, primarily with the US as nowadays in Asia, no one wants to be a passive downloader. Ultimately, it may create a politico-military isolation (and financial burden) for China that would consequently justify and (politically and financially) cheapen the bolder reinforced American military presence in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the South and the East China Sea. It perfectly adds up to the intensified demonization of China in parts of influential Western media. When speaking with some of residents of Hong Kong during our recent visit there, we realized that many had adopted a fatalistic attitude towards their situation because of their economic dependence on China and their fear of the political powers of Beijing. People feel that China has reneged on its promises and freedom of expression is becoming severely jeopardized. The principle of the two systems framework, regards Beijing as being responsible for the citys defense and foreign affairs while Hong Kong should be able to enjoy limited self-governance and avail of civil liberties, including an independent judiciary and freedom of the press. China promised that Hong Kong could elect its leaders through universal suffrage, but this is far from reality today when China is slowly but systematically tightening its grip over the territory. The peoples hope for a change in the political system, which would allow democratic elections and civil liberties, is quickly vanishing. Ben, a very pragmatic businessman whom we met, acknowledges that Hong Kong does not have the economic capacity to count without China, but China is not willing to make any concessions. Hong Kong is in a deadlock situation and seems to be doomed under the influence of China. According to Ling, a young activist of the Umbrella Movement, the Hong Kong population will only protest in the case of a mass violation of the freedom of expression. Shortly after the transfer of power from Great Britain to Beijing, the post 80 generation could foresee that freedom of expression was going to be threatened. According to Mai Hai, a woman in her fifties, who is politically involved and very concerned about the lack of civil liberties in Hong Kong, 1997 was the beginning of a head-on confrontation with the CCP and resistance to the government of Beijing has strengthened in Hong Kong. In 2005 Citizen Radio was launched in order to bravely speak out and defend the freedom of expression. However, the authorities of Hong Kong, under the command of Beijing, began acts of repression against the radio station. Szeto Wah, and seven of his colleagues were prosecuted for having dared to speak about the Tianamen Square protests on his radio program. Over recent years the situation regarding universal rights has not improved in Hong Kong. In 2014, the journalist, King Lau, was prosecuted for having sharply criticized Beijing. This created public indignation and outraged the newly politicized generation who began protests in Hong Kong to defend the freedom of the press and demand true universal suffrage. The Umbrella Revolution, a pro-democratic movement, began in 2014 when students boycotted class in order to protest outside city government headquarters in favor of the restoration of civil liberties. More and more Hong Kongers of all ages and backgrounds joined in these peaceful street protests, eventually paralyzing the citys central business district for weeks and even months. The humble umbrella became the key symbol of this protest as it was used not only to protect demonstrators from the tear gas and pepper spray used by the police and as a shelter for the night but it was also a symbol of resistance. Unfortunately, it would be naive to think that these protests, filmed by the cameras of the entire world would have been enough to frighten and threaten the Chinese government. Beijing went from strength to strength in its relentless repression and opposition to the movement. The Umbrella Revolution was no exception to Chinese severe censorship procedure. Lok Yee, one of the remaining protestors who still slept outside under his yellow umbrella several months later, explained how information was controlled and falsified by the authorities in Beijing. At first any inconvenient truths related to the Umbrella Movement were either deleted or modified. When this became impossible due to the huge influx of information the government decided to lie by saying that Hong Kongers were only showing support for the CPC. When these first strategies failed they always found new methods of covering over, such as falsifying videos by cutting scenes where policemen launched tear gas. They even paid both Chinese and Hong Kong people to help boost the governments popularity. These soft warriors also known as 50 cents were paid fifty cents for each positive comment twitted about the government or for each comment against the demonstrators. They even received more money if they demonstrated against the Umbrella Movement. The ten-year judicial sentencing of Yiu Manting, a Hong Kong editor and the recent disappearance of five staff members of the Mighty Current Publishing House (known for frequently criticizing China) shows that Xi Jinping is more determined than ever. Opposing the government and defying censorship is becoming more and more dangerous in Hong Kong. Freedom of expression is severely jeopardized and journalists have no option but to rely on self-censorship in order to avoid retaliation. All types of communication including the state media and social media are strictly controlled on the mainland of China. A lot of information is censored or falsified or in many cases completely deleted if certain words such as democracy are detected. The aim of the government is to try to hide information concerning its political policies and its methods of dealing with political dissidents or those who do not yield to the power of censorship. Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, has very limited resources on any subjects which are considered as sensitive by the Chinese authorities. Lence, a twenty-year-old student studying in Hong Kong, explained this to us and showed us that with a Chinese search engine it is impossible to find any facts about Liu Xiabo, the imprisoned human rights activist and Nobel Prize winner, who was absent from Oslo and unable to receive his award because he was kidnapped by the Chinese government. According to Lence, the Chinese government is more and more concerned about the fact that Hong Kong students could bring their dangerous ideas to the mainland of China. On his recent visit there, his newspapers and all his academic papers were confiscated at the Chinese border. However this severe treatment is nothing compared to that of some of the leaders of the movement. During demonstrations secret agents are sometimes sent by the Chinese government to follow and list the names of those who are prone to upset the stability of the communist regime. These activists are blacklisted and not allowed reach mainland China. There seems to be no hope today for a better future in Hong Kong, a sensation felt even among the younger generation. What will the implications be for the people who are being progressively denied their civil liberties? Will Hong Kong find democracy? Probably not, because Beijing fears that the election of any pro-democracy candidate could destabilize communist ideology and bring down the regime. A group of students from the University of Hong Kong, that we had the opportunity of speaking to, confessed that they did not think Beijing would change its attitude towards the people of Hong Kong nor loosen its control over the press. Is this fatalism definitive or could the situation in Taiwan bring hope to the people of Hong Kong? Thanks to Taiwanese activists the Umbrella Movement influenced the election of the pro-independent president, Tsai Ing-Wen. Could this in turn bring new energy to Hong Kong in its battle to continue its fight for fundamental rights? imaginethat said: Yup, and we should institute a ban on guns, especially assault rifles, and then we'd all be all safe. Click to expand... Way to generalize.What I propose has no negative affect on American citizens. As it stands, the insane policies are we are importing humans from nations that we are currently bombing and putting them up w/o extensive background checks. This is all being done w/ tax dollars. I say stop doing that. Will it end all crazy people in the US? No. But it will retard the numbers of people who may be a threat. It will also increase the numbers of quality people who are being imported.Who is more likely to wrap themselves in bombs and blow up a preschool. The guy w/ no ID. No skills and no money. Or the DR who's house just got leveled by a drone? Abidjan (AFP) - An Ivory Coast court on Monday adjourned Simone Gbagbo's trial for crimes against humanity until October 10, after the former first lady complained she was too tired to proceed. "When I sent for the defendant this morning, she made it known that she was very tired and she asked us to take account of her counsel's request to let her rest," state prosecutor Ali Yeo told the court in Abidjan. Gbagbo, 67, has been on trial since May 31 for alleged crimes against humanity committed during a post-electoral crisis in 2010-11 when her husband Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat at the polls. The hearing will resume on October 10, chief judge Kouadio Bouatchi ruled after the prosecutor called for a break during the country's judicial vacation. Proceedings were then adjourned. Simone Gbagbo is already serving a 20-year jail term after she was convicted last year of state security offences committed during the five months of conflict that followed the election at a cost of more than 3,000 lives. The winner of the disputed election, Alassane Ouattara, saw Laurent Gbagbo delivered in November 2011 to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where his trial for crimes against humanity began last January. There were clashes at the Convention People's Party (CPP) head office on Monday morning between some macho men and supporters of the party's suspended General Secretary, Nii Armah Akomfrah, and National Youth Organiser, Ernesto Yeboah. The Youth League of the CPP has alleged that supporters of the suspended duo were assaulted by men acting under of the orders of the party Chairman, Professor Edmund Delle. Earlier reports indicated that the they were also prevented from entering the party premises by the men. The General Secretary of the CPP Youth League, Hardi Yakubu, spoke to Citi News from the Nima Police station and he said indicated that he had gone to the party office to welcome back the suspended duo. According to Mr. Yakubu, the supporters were stopped by macho men under the instruction of Chairman and leader to prevent us from entering so we are at the police station to resolve the issue. I know that because I have intelligence coming from various places that suggests so. What I know is that cavalry of people themselves cannot get up and do a thing like this. This is exactly what they want, that there is chaos in the party and that the party will not look attractive they will have authority over the party to be getting whatever they get from it. Delle's office rubbishes allegation But the office of the CPP chairman has debunked these allegations to Citi News. According to Prof Delle's aide, one Selassie Ackon, the National Chairman and Leader of the CPP, has not, will not and cannot send thugs or macho men to prevent any party member from entering the premises of the Convention People's party. I am saying this on authority, I am saying this as his aide. Chairman Delle has no negatives against any member of the CPP, he will do no such things. He was brought in as a Chairman to foster unity. Speaking to the simmering tensions that the suspensions in the party, he indicated that Prof Delle has assured it will be resolved and resolved in a proper way. Recommendation to reinstate suspended duo rejected Nii Armah Akomfrah and Ernesto Yeboah may have been attempting to return to work after the CPP's Disciplinary Committee recommended that they be reinstated, a recommendation that was rejected by the party hierarchy. The suspended duo, General Secretary, Nii Armah Akomfra (L) and Youth Organizer, Ernesto Yeboah (R) The two officers were suspended following what the party described as a breach of its disciplinary code after they publicly contradicted their flagbearer's position on President Mahamas Ford gift saga. The two were subsequently referred to the Disciplinary Committee. They were subsequently cleared by the Disciplinary Committee of the CPP following a suspension for contradicting the flagbearer of the party on the President's receipt of a Ford Vehicle. But the party rejected a recommendation by the Disciplinary Committee arguing that certain basic tenants of natural justice were not observed before the determination of the matter. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana A British dad fined about $80 for taking his child on a vacation during the school term protested the fee by paying it entirely in pennies(coins). The man had a friend film as he carried the bags of pennies -- 1-pence and 2-pence pieces -- into his local council office in Telford, England, and dumped them out on a desk. "I was fined by the local authority for taking my child on holiday during the term time," the dad wrote. "When I called up to explain there is no specific law, the person on the phone had quite a rude attitude, so I went one better and changed the fine sum into penny pieces." "I went into my local council office and tipped the entire amount onto the counter," he wrote. 01.08.2016 LISTEN Controversial Lagos lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye has withdrawn from the case of the missing Abuja business woman, Charity Aiyedogbon, after openly accusing her ex-husband, David Aiyedogbon of killing her. Ugwuonye announced his withdrawal through a post on his Facebook group, The Due Process Advocate, Saturday evening, a development that kept the group in disarray, with many threatening to exit. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/DPA.Member/permalink/620976571405182/). The post titled: my apologies to all members of DPA and my friends blamed a sex scandal involving him and one of the members for his decision, an excuse pundits describe as trivial and not related to the matter. The post reads in part: From the inbox comments of members that I have received, it is very clear to me now that the issue of Amanda was overblown and was totally mishandled by me. Hence, I hereby wish to tender my profound apologies to all members of DPA. Amanda befriended me online. One thing I do when certain people meet me on Facebook is to test them and confirm their bona-fide. You have to know who sent them. Since the past 7 years, I have had issues with DSS and EFCC, and now the Nigerian Police. So, I always know that one way to trap a man in my position could be to send him a girl to befriend him. So, when I make certain contacts in the social media, I test those contacts to find out who they are and who sent them. This is standard procedure in intelligence and espionage. Finally, I believe that my involvement in Chacha's case has unduly exposed me and DPA to all manner of attacks. It has also exposed me to risks to my personal safety and troubling encounters with the Nigerian police. I think therefore, it might be wise for me to withdraw from Chacha's case totally and with immediate effect. DPA was not set up for Chacha's case. It had been in existence well before Chachas incident. I have done my bit. DPA has done its bit. Time for us to balance between now conflicting needs. The Chacha case made for me and DPA some powerful and unintended enemies. For instance, I would like to say again that I have nothing personal about David, Chacha's husband. I honestly believed that given the events and given all known factors he was responsible for what happened to her. But that was only a belief. The ultimate truth as to guilt was only going to be determined during any criminal trial that was to occur. Nobody, apart from the judge can pronounce another man guilty of an offense. All we can do, and which I did, was to stay on the evidence of the case to accuse the man of being the one responsible. That is a position that has been a source of expensive controversy. But it need not be. David always had the ability to deny the accusation and to defend himself successfully, and he has demonstrated it. But that is too much trouble for one case. I cannot sacrifice the entire DPA on the need to stay on Chacha's case. During my meeting with the police next week, I will convey to them that I am done with the case. Reacting to Ugwuonyes post, members of the DPA, many of whom had earlier expressed concerns over some unsubstantiated claims by Ugwuonye reacted angrily, with some calling for an account of the monies contributed by the members in support of the matter. In his post on the matter, Presh Owuzechi Okoroafor says: withdraw from Chacha's case? Oga Emeka, did you not think of your personal safety before you launched out to unravel the mystery of this case? I hope you understand what this means tho? Well, you know what is best for you but logic says that whether you withdraw or not, your safety is still not guaranteed as you have raised a lot of dust on this issue. By the way, to save your name and prevent too much questions, you may choose to account for the monies that were raised because of this Chacha's case. It enhances your credibility. Adding his voice, another DPA member, Nandak Datok Chingle said: all I can say is that some of us have been vindicated. When we were asking Emeka pertinent questions, people called us enemies of DPA. Please ask yourselves: if Emeka has really gone as far as he claims he has with Chacha's case and has gathered as much evidence as he says he has, will he abandon it now that he boasts of cracking the case? Which lawyer in his right mind will do that for no apparent reason? In his contribution, another member of the group, Nnawuihe Edward Lambert said I know that a lot is involved in this case which you don't want to say openly. Responding to calls for him to render an account of the monies contributed by the members in support of Chachas case, Ugwuonye said: the case cost me over two million, really. But, the contributions from members, though, highly appreciated; is far less than one million. It would be recalled that Mr. Ugwuonye posted severally on the DPA, claiming to have evidence of the involvement of the missing Chachas ex-husband, David Aiyedogbon in her sudden disappearance. Hear him: I now have overwhelming evidence that Mr. David Aiyedogbon killed his wife, Chacha. David has an idea of the kind of evidence at my disposal. In another post, Ugwuonye said: this is the headless and dismembered body of Charity Aiyedogbon (posting a corpse on his Facebook handle). DPA has been able to identify this as her body within the limits of resources at our disposal. Ugwuonye is billed to report at the FCT Police command Tuesday, to answer questions relating to the missing Chacha, following his alleged indictment by some of the suspects arrested in connection with the matter, including those in possession of the missing womans handsets and vehicle. Police reacts All efforts to reach the Federal Capital Territory Police Public Relations Officer, Manzah Jesse Anjuguri for comments proved abortive as his mobile number could not be reached, as at the time of filing this report. Other Police sources conversant with the matter, who spoke on the grounds of anonymity, however dismissed Mr. Ugwuonyes purported withdrawal, describing it as diversionary. I do not understand what he means by that he is withdrawing from Chachas case. Police investigations reveal that he has some questions to answer in the matter. He is a suspect. He has a suspicious relationship with one of the prime suspects, presently at large, among other mind blowing revelations. The law must take its course. Nobody can fool Nigerians. Soon, we shall tell the world our findings. Emeka Ugwuonye is on bail and that is the much I can tell you for now, one of the Police sources stressed. Stay tuned for more reactions, the sex scandal that has rocked the DPA and unfolding events on Chachas case. Destiny Ugorji Some 77 million new-borns or 1 in 2 are not put to the breast within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother that protect them from disease and death, United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said. Making babies wait too long for the first critical contact with their mother outside the womb decreases the newborns chances of survival, limits milk supply and reduces the chances of exclusive breastfeeding, said France Begin, UNICEF Senior Nutrition Adviser. If all babies are fed nothing but breastmilk from the moment they are born until they are six months old, over 800,000 lives would be saved every year. In Uganda, 37 per cent of mothers do not exclusively breastfeed their babies in the first 6 months, thereby increasing the risk of illness of these infants, compromise their growth and also raise the risk of death or disability. Putting the baby on the breast immediately after birth provides the best start for the baby and saves life. The thick yellowish milk also known as colostrum is very healthy and helps protect the baby from illness. Progress in getting more new-borns breastfed within the first hour of life has been slow over the past 15 years, UNICEF data show. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, where under five mortality rates are the highest worldwide, early breastfeeding rates increased by just 10 percentage points since 2000 in East and Southern Africa but have remained unchanged in West and Central Africa. Even in South Asia, where rates of early breastfeeding initiation tripled in 15 years from 16 per cent in 2000 to 45 per cent in 2015 the increase is far from enough: 21 million new-borns still wait too long before they are breastfed. The longer breastfeeding is delayed, the higher the risk of death in the first month of life. Delaying breastfeeding by 2-23 hours after birth increases the risk of dying in the first 28 days of life by 40 per cent. Delaying it by 24 hours or more increases that risk to 80 per cent. In Uganda, the Demographic Health Survey indicates that 27 new-borns die in the first 28 days, 20 die in the first week and 13 die in the first 24 hours. Breastmilk is a babys first vaccine, the first and best protection they have against illness and disease, said France Begin. With newborns accounting for nearly half of all deaths of children under five, early breastfeeding can make the difference between life and death. UNICEF analyses show that women are not getting the help they need to start breastfeeding immediately after birth even when a doctor, nurse of midwife is assisting their delivery. In the Middle East, North Africa and in South Asia, for example, women who deliver with a skilled birth attendant are less likely to initiate breastfeeding in the first hour of life, compared to women who deliver with unskilled attendants or relatives. Feeding babies other liquids or foods is another reason early breastfeeding is delayed. In many countries, it is customary to feed a baby infant formula, cows milk or sugar water in the first three days of life. Almost half of all newborns are fed these liquids. When babies are given less nutritious alternatives to breastmilk, they breastfeed less often, making it harder for mothers to start and continue breastfeeding. Maternal nutrition during breastfeeding is also very critical. Breastfeeding mothers need to eat regular nutritious meals and sometimes two extra meals with foods rich in iron, vitamin A and folic acid, beans, grains, green vegetables and fruits, milk, eggs, fish, chicken, meat in order to have sufficient breastmilk for their babies. Breastfeeding mothers should also get more rest. Globally, only 43 per cent of infants under six months old are exclusively breastfed. Babies who are not breastfed at all are 14 times more likely to die than those who are fed only breastmilk. But any amount of breastmilk reduces a childs risk of death. Babies who received no breastmilk at all are seven times more likely to die from infections than those who received at least some breastmilk in their first six months of life. Tripoli (AFP) - US warplanes Monday carried out air strikes on positions of the Islamic State group in the Libyan city of Sirte for the first time, the country's unity government head announced. "The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... in Sirte," prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech. In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government. "At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS. The Tripoli-based GNA launched an operation in May to retake the IS bastion of Sirte, the hometown of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi which the jihadists have controlled since June 2015. The fall of Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli, would be a major blow to IS, which has also faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq. The battle for Sirte has killed around 280 pro-government fighters and wounded more than 1,500, according to medical sources at the unity forces' command centre. The pro-GNA forces are mostly made up of militias from western Libya established during the 2011 revolt that overthrew Kadhafi. A militia set up to guard the country's main oil facilities has also been advancing on IS. The GNA was the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement struck in December, but it has yet to be endorsed by Libya's elected parliament based in the country's far east. 01.08.2016 LISTEN One of the most recent additions to the seeming endless lists of dictions in Nigerian political dictionary is Budget padding. A friend of mine on Facebook posted a joke about some ladies who pad their bodies just to look good. He wondered whether there was anything in Nigeria that is not padded, including its budget! Listening to several Television programs on the topic of budget padding last week, two things crossed my mind. First, the operational word should presupposes that there is a moral burden on the part of who will do the investigation, not necessarily, according to the law. In this regard, one recalls the recent Brexit fiasco which shook British political establishment leading to the resignation of the erstwhile Prime Minister (PM), David Cameron. Save for the predictable British political culture which mandates a political leader to resign after losing a major political battle, nothing else really compels Cameron in any relevant Act of Parliament or written document(s) to do so. The word, should in this regard only meant the PM need to follow the part of honour by resigning after a vote of no confidence passed on him after the Brits chose to leave the European Union (EU) in the referendum. The question of who should investigate the National Assembly in this regard appears to me like we a political culture in Nigeria that places moral, not legal burden on an institution to perform its tasks even without been ordered to do so! The second thing that struck me on this matter is the question of law or its technicality(ies). There are those who argue citing things like separation of powers Parliamentary immunity or independence of the Legislature and the likes. Those who argue in this line have maintained citing relevant sections of the Constitution that the National Assembly shall determine its own rules and procedures. They also maintain that since the National Assembly is an independent organ of government, it should be a self-regulating institution having its own immunity. These ones argue that by inviting external bodies to investigate an issue involving the National Assembly is to compromise the independence of the institution. At this point, I think it will be good to put issues in their proper perspectives. Before doing this, we will need to be clear on some things. What constitute(s) matters that are purely parliamentary? What are those matters that are criminal even when committed in the legislature? To what extent is the legislature in the case the National Assembly independent? Recently, the House of Representatives is engulfed in budget padding. A former Chairman of the House appropriations committee, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, has accused the speaker, Hon. Yakub Dogara of padding of the N6.06 trillion in 2016 budget and has announced that he would be visiting Nigerias major anti-corruption agencies. This move by Jubrin to invite external agencies to investigate the matter has generated heated debates in public discourses as to whether these external agencies have such power to investigate matters that are purely parliamentary. One recalls that President Buhari refused to sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill because of his suspicion that some extraneous items not included in the original draft have found their way into the document. Little did many know that padding and the padders were in full action only waiting for the official seal of authority which the president will not want to give in to such idiocy! As these debates went on, I have heard it said by one of the lawyers who as a guest panelist on a national television station speaking on this topic noted that agencies like the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and similar bodies had no business investigating the legislature. He notes that as parliamentarians, they are immune from arrest or prosecution because of parliamentary immunity. Oh my God! I am not a lawyer but I know this man must have either been poorly educated or he is just doing his best to look silly. If there is anything Parliamentary Immunity I know, as the name connotes, is that the immunity covers only offences or speeches committed during parliamentary debates or committee meetings. This has little to do with criminal prosecutions! The most important thing in applying parliamentary immunity is whether the legislators actions fall within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity. There are actions a legislator may take, even when s/he is engaging in activities related to s/he legislative office, that do not fall within this sphere. If an action is not a legitimate legislative activity, the legislator is not protected by legislative immunity. Nothing in granting parliamentary immunity to National Assembly members prevent them from arrests save from, performing their legislative duties. When we say, legislative duties we mean: actions that a legislator takes during formal legislative proceedings, such as chairing a committee, debating, making motions, and voting; legislative committee investigations; impeachment proceedings; Enacting and enforcing legislative rules and others. Also, a legislator is immune from arrest on his way to, or from a parliamentary proceeding; committee meeting or any other official legislative function(s) or for whatever he said or has done on the floor of the parliament. This is how far the issue of parliamentary immunity goes. If we take budget padding as criminal, just like forgery, our perspectives may become clearer. Let us agree a little with former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo stated during a visit to the Presidential Villa recently that the emerging revelation on the padding of the 2016 budget goes to confirm his earlier position that lawmakers are armed robbers and rogues. Obasanjo in issuing this opinion is probably speaking from his experience working with the National Assembly for 8 years as president which makes his opinion to be somewhat trustworthy. As to whether the DSS has the power to investigate the issue, Femi Falana said: Since the padding of the national budget is a straight forward case of economic crime which is not concerned with the internal security of the nation the SSS should not play into the soiled hands of the criminal suspects in the House of Representatives as they may later turn round to challenge the legal validity of any criminal charge arising from a faulty investigation report. (The Punch, 31 July, 2016). While we agree with the Human Right Activist that the question of budget padding is not a security issue so must not involve the DSS, we must be conscious of the key words economic crime which Falana used. Since the 1999 Constitution appear to be largely silent on who should investigate the National Assembly on matters of this nature not covered by parliamentary immunity and if we agree that budget padding is an economic crime can the agency responsible for prosecuting economic crime the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) then be invited to do its job? Olalekan Waheed ADIGUN is a political risk analyst and independent political strategist for wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria. His write-ups can be viewed on his website http://olalekanadigun.com/ Tel: +2348136502040, +2347081901080 Email: [email protected], [email protected] Follow me on Twitter @adgorwell Deputy Minister for Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has issued a sharp response to pressure group Occupy Ghana which has condemned the action of government appointees to sign a petition that seeks to call on President John Dramani Mahama to pardon what has become known as the Montie 3' jailed for contempt of the Supreme Court. Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a facebook post, accused the pressure group of "portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers", yet have the temerity "to stampede one arm of Government" (the Executive) from performing its duty. It is unfortunate that Occupy Ghana seeks to portray our actions as amounting to interference in the work of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has handed down its verdict. Which verdict has been swiftly enforced by the State. The three gentleman are languishing in jail and I know that for a fact because I have been there to visit them. How can anybody cognizant of these circumstances accuse us of interfering with the decision of the judiciary? The irony however is that while Occupy Ghana sermonizes on non- interference, they have no hesitation in not only interfering with the President's right to exercise his prerogative under Article 72, they are in addition busily issuing threats about how the President's exercise of his discretionary powers could be the subject of judicial review if he does go ahead to exercise it. They also resort to pressing the fear button by alluding to an imaginary constitutional crisis perhaps oblivious that the fear card is but an antiquated trick in the books that doesn't really work these days. It's even more disconcerting that while portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers they are in the same breath seeking to stampede one arm of Government - the executive from exercising its powers. Amazing! The deputy minister, who expressed no regrets in endorsing the "Free Montie 3" campaign, rather urged OccupyGhana to respect the rights of other Ghanaians. I, like all my senior colleagues have no regret in endorsing this campaign. Freedom and justice has never been presented to mankind as a sweet-smelling bouquet of flowers without controversy. All the freedoms we enjoy today have been bequeathed to us by men and women who stood up to be counted from Yaa Asantewaa to Nkrumah, Lincoln to Luther King Jnr, Biko to Mandela. No matter what, let history count me on the side of the oppressed than on the side of the oppressor. Here is the full text of Mr Okudzetos statement. OKUDZETO WRITES.. I have become aware of an Occupy Ghana press statement asking His Excellency the President to rebuke Ministers, Presidential Staffers and other members of the executive who have endorsed a signature campaign for free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and for President Mahama to exercise his prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. The statement in issue further describes the current signature campaign as "contrived" and a "facade". It seems to me that our friends at Occupy Ghana believe they are guaranteed more rights under the constitution than the rest of us. When they issue statements such as the one under reference, when they organize demonstrations and when they hold public fora amid other public manifestations, theirs isn't to be considered contrived and a facade but others is. Occupy Ghana even touts it's mission to be "Occupying Hearts & Minds for God and Country!!!" Claims we have all accommodated though there are those who may consider a self-imposed status of God's special envoys more blasphemous than flattering. Nonetheless, the Occupiers have been granted the benefit of the doubt and yet they choose to label the conduct of others simply exercising their rights as "incongruous and bizarre". It is troubling that to the Occupiers we cannot exercise rights under the constitution as citizens of Ghana simply because we belong to the executive arm of Government? I cannot reconcile why it is perfectly fine for Ministers to honour requests from Occupy Ghana to grant them interviews, to respond to their letters and even to give them documents for their numerous campaigns and advocacy as we oblige within the tenets of good governance and yet when other activists campaigning in honour of free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and the constitutional right of a President to exercise his prerogative of mercy seek our endorsement we must ignore them even if we believe in their course because Occupy Ghana says so. If we don't then we must be viciously attacked and rebuked. Even if the President holds a different view and opts not to invoke Article 72, why should that warrant sanctions on ministers? I thought Occupy Ghana has often made reference to best practices in other jurisdictions. Did they not follow the recent Brexit debate where Prime Minister Cameron and his Ministers were free to take positions of their choice and to vigorously campaign for same. I find it strange that Occupy Ghana will assert that those of us who while condemning the pronouncements of the Montie Three hold the view that the jail term of four months is harsh are the ones slapping the judiciary in the face whereas Occupy Ghana takes no issue with those who have openly criticized the judges for being too lenient and not imposing longer jail terms. Perhaps it's all about convenience not principle. It is unfortunate that Occupy Ghana seeks to portray our actions as amounting to interference in the work of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has handed down its verdict. Which verdict has been swiftly enforced by the State. The three gentleman are languishing in jail and I know that for a fact because I have been there to visit them. How can anybody cognizant of these circumstances accuse us of interfering with the decision of the judiciary? The irony however is that while Occupy Ghana sermonizes on non- interference, they have no hesitation in not only interfering with the President's right to exercise his prerogative under Article 72, they are in addition busily issuing threats about how the President's exercise of his discretionary powers could be the subject of judicial review if he does go ahead to exercise it. They also resort to pressing the fear button by alluding to an imaginary constitutional crisis perhaps oblivious that the fear card is but an antiquated trick in the books that doesn't really work these days. It's even more disconcerting that while portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers they are in the same breath seeking to stampede one arm of Government - the executive from exercising it's powers. Amazing! I however share in the view of the group that lessons must be learnt from this episode and that there can be no justification for reckless speech however may I humbly submit that it would do the group's image some good if it doesn't engage in worrisome selectivity but is heard equally on all despicable utterances including those that have been targeted at the President, the Bench, the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Voltarians, Gas, political opponents etc. And even more importantly those who have proceeded to carry out their threats though much to the chagrin of many are hailed as heroes within their political parties while civil society turns a blind eye. This is not about equalization, it is about adopting a principled stance in the national interest. It is about purifying the democratic process to ensure that it is issue driven and ideas based, nothing more. While at this, it is necessary to acknowledge the enhanced measures put in place by the executive and the national security apparatus as assurances for the safety of our revered judiciary and that they do not encounter any let or hindrance in the delivery of justice. The July 18 public statement issued by the Judicial Council confirming these arrangements and assuring it's members of continuous collaboration with the executive to guarantee their protection is the way to go and must be refreshing to all. No Ghanaian deserves to work under a cloud of fear be they judges, overlords, regional chairmen of political parties etc. I, like all my senior colleagues have no regret in endorsing this campaign. Freedom and justice has never been presented to mankind as a sweet-smelling bouquet of flowers without controversy. All the freedoms we enjoy today have been bequeathed to us by men and women who stood up to be counted from Yaa Asantewaa to Nkrumah, Lincoln to Luther King Jnr, Biko to Mandela. No matter what, let history count me on the side of the oppressed than on the side of the oppressor. May I conclude not by wishing that the members of Occupy Ghana be rebuked by those who read this piece, rather my wishes are that we all find common ground to work together in establishing for ourselves a fair and just society with love towards all and malice towards none. Ghana needs us all. God bless Ghana. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (MP) Deputy Minister for Education 01.08.2016 LISTEN The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is accusing the government for failing probity, transparency and accountability test. A press statement issued by the party yesterday and signed by the party's Director of Communications, Nana Akomea, quoted President Mahama as saying that as President, l am committed to running a transparent and accountable government, devoid of corruption, but what is happening is a complete departure from what he had preached in the past. The following is the full press statement; The 1992 constitution is anchored on probity, transparency and accountability in the governance of the country. The NDC constitution also gives pride of place to the tenets of probity, transparency and accountability. President Mahama in the early days of his presidency declared: As President, I am committed to running a transparent and accountable government, devoid of corruption . It is, therefore, with great shock that the NPP and many Ghanaians have observed the total lack of transparency and accountability in President Mahama's government. GITMO 2 That it had to take a court to order the release of whatever agreement President Mahama had with the USA government over the relocation of Gitmo detainees to Ghana is a clear example of President Mahamas non transparency and non accountability. In this Gitmo saga, with national security implications, the Parliament of Ghana was kept in the dark. It is apparent that even the Cabinet and the National Security Council were not fully briefed nor consulted as two cabinet ministers of state, also members of the National Security Council have stated publicly they did not have full details of the Gitmo agreement. In the wake of the arrival in Ghana of the detainees, there was so much concern from Ghanaians on the implications for national and personal security, and possibly violation of the law. There were also so many conflicting statements on the conditions of the stay of the Gitmo 2 in Ghana. Despite the resultant widespread calls for full disclosure, President Mahama remained adamant. Now it has taken an order from the court on government to be transparent and release the Gitmo agreement. SMARTTYS BUS BRANDING Sad to relate, the Gitmo saga is not the only example of President Mahamas non transparency and non accountability. The Smarttys bus branding saga is another sad story in the governance of non transparency and non accountability. Public funds had been spent on the dubious decision to put colour images of President Mahama and NDC campaign slogan on public buses. When this activity and expenditure was exposed, there was great public indignation and protest. In response, government directed the Attorney General and Minister for Justice to investigate. Despite the huge public interest and agitation, Government refused to publish the findings of the Attorney General but rather issued a terse white paper. It had to take a court order obtained by a group of patriotic citizens to order government to publish this report. GNPC LOANS GNPC, a public body, procures loans that are secured by the Ghanaian taxpayer. Yet GNPC, with tacit support from government, refuses to disclose the terms and conditions of these loans by seeking parliamentary approval. GNPC rather decided to fight a court action that sought to compel them to full disclosure before Parliament. Even though the court upheld GNPCs case, the strong and costly resistance they put up against disclosing loan agreements to Parliament, has further dented the aims of transparency and accountability in governance. ADB SHARES FLOATATION Agriculture Development Bank, a public financial institution recently embarked on shares floatation. Despite calls and expectations that the terms and conditions would be disclosed before Parliament, ADB refused and instead resorted to all kinds of manoeuvres giving rise to allegations of bribery, just to avoid disclosure. And all with the tacit support of a government that had proclaimed transparency and accountability to the people of Ghana. President Mahama's government has shown a clear inability to deliver transparent and accountable governance to the people. This non commitment to transparency and accountability underline the rampant corruption that has characterized President Mahamas government. Change, indeed, is needed. NANA AKOMEA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Duckworth will head to trial on charges of ethics violations and ignoring claims of veteran abuse and mistreatment just months before the November election. Daily Herald: The day before congresswoman Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to deliver a major speech on the main stage at the Democratic National Convention, two women who filed a workplace retaliation suit against her have announced theyre refusing to accept a settlement offer that seemed a done deal just weeks ago. Fox Chicago: Today from back home this evening, there is coming a bit of bad news for Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth. It turns out that two women who filed a civil suit against her claiming that she mistreated them when she was director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs those women have rejected a settlement of that lawsuit and now the civil suit is going to go to trial. Politico Pro: Back to the courtroom Report says Duckworths case appears to be headed to trial. National Review: Two women suing Representative Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Illinois, rejected an agreed upon settlement offer on Wednesday, forcing the case to go to trial next month, according to the Daily Herald. The timing is unfortunate for Duckworth Roll Call: A settlement in a workplace retaliation suit against Illinois Rep. Tammy Duckworth stemming from her time in state government was rejected this week, potentially reviving it as a line of attack for her Republican opponent in their race for a Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. CLTV: Tammy Duckworth got some bad news today The plaintiffs told the Daily Herald they were insulted when the Duckworth campaign referred to the suit as a frivolous workplace case. Politico IL Playbook: Duckworths settlement denied. ABC Chicago: Its not a done deal after all Two women suing Tammy Duckworth say they will not accept a settlement offer in their workplace retaliation case against her. NBC Ward Room: Rep. Tammy Duckworths workplace retaliation suit is, once again, set for trial, after the cases plaintiffs refused to accept a settlement offer, the Daily Herald reports. WBBM Radio: Just in: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth may not have escaped a legal fight over her actions when she ran the state Veterans Affairs Department. WSIL-TV: Two women who sued Illinois congresswoman Tammy Duckworth for workplace retaliation have now rejected a settlement reached last month. Capitol Fax: Bad news for Duckworth The Duckworth campaign shoulda just kept their mouths shut. Associated Press: We were whistleblowers and shes bullying us, and were going to stand up to tell the truth, Butler said. NBC Chicago: The Daily Herald is reporting this afternoon a change of heart in two women that filed a workplace retaliation suit against Duckworth. CBS Quincy: This decision could mean the case goes to trial just months before Duckworth faces U.S. Senator Mark Kirk in the November election. Patch: After a workplace retaliation lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-8th District) was seemingly resolved late last month, the two women who filed the action have told the Daily Herald on Wednesday that theyre rejecting the congresswomans settlement offer. Reboot Illinois: A settlement offer reached last month in the civil lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth has been rejected and the case will now go to trial. Illinois Review: But back home, Illinoisans will be buzzing about the workplace retaliation lawsuit Duckworth will be facing August 15th. The two ladies that sued Duckworth for her actions while she was heading the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs say they were insulted by the Duckworth campaign smearing them by saying their lawsuit was frivolous. In light of evidence implicating John Oti Bless in a slanderous attack on the Chief Justice, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi, has stated that Parliament is not under pressure to immediately take into account this evidence before approving Oti Bless' nomination as Deputy Local Government Minister. Describing the evidence as extraneous to matter at hand, Mr. Agbesi has however given some indication that the leadership of Parliament will assess the evidence which is not immediately available in the report of the Appointments Committee. Members of the Minority in Parliament, have kicked against the approval of John Bless Otis nomination as Deputy Minister for Local Government after it emerged that he was on the same Montie FM 'Pampaso' programme that saw the host and two panelists imprisoned for contempt . Oti Bless himself is on record as 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. Parliament to look into extraneous things But the Ashaiman legislator, who is as yet unaware of the details of the evidence, has said the leadership of Parliament will consult broadly on both sides taking a decision the nomination. In an interview with Citi News' Duke Mensah Opoku, he noted that all the statements he [Oti Bless] is alleged to have said are all being put together and we shall look at them holistically. At the committee level, these things did not come to our notice so the committee report didn't capture them. If they had brought them to our notice at the committee level, we would have captured them and then see the reaction of the House. Mr. Agbesi has however indicated that the leadership of Parliament will be assessing the extraneous elements pertaining to Oti Bless' nomination as the Deputy Minister for Local Government. The position of Parliament is that the report of the committee has come.We are looking at it. Meanwhile extraneous things have been brought to our attention and that is why we have to stop now and look at those extraneous things and we are waiting for our leadership to take a decision. Possible suit A Ghanaian citizen, Richard Asante Yeboah, has since the emergence of the audio evidence, threatened legal action if the MP for Nkwanta North, John Bless Otis nomination is approved. Mr. Yeboah has already petitioned the President to withdraw his [Oti's] appointment and warned that if Oti Bless was allowed to become the Local Government Deputy Minster, it would mean the President endorsed what he described as scandalous conduct. It will be out of this world for a President to take such action and I am expecting the President not heed to such a call. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Accra, Aug. 1, GNA - The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) will on Thursday have a breakfast meeting with banks and businesses to discuss the relevance of its latest initiative, the Instant Pay (GIP). The event is to create a platform for GhIPSS to interact with stakeholders on GIP and to explain to them its potential as a viable business line for financial institutions and how it can facilitate business transactions for enterprises and companies. GIP enables customers of banks to transfer money from their accounts to another with a different bank and the recipient will have value for the money instantly. The initiative is part of efforts by GhIPSS to modernise the country's payment system in line with the cash-lite agenda. Bank customers can therefore make instant bank transfers from the comfort of their computers and the intended recipient will get that money instantly. Before the introduction of the interbank instant pay, the earliest possible time for interbank transfers was between 3 to 4 hours for express cheques or Automated Clearing House (ACH). However, most interbank transfers took between 24 and 72 hours to be effected. Speaking ahead of the breakfast meeting, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS Mr Archie Hesse said the upcoming engagement will be an opportunity for stakeholders to seek clarification to any issue concerning the GIP and to know how to maximise its benefits. GhIPSS held a breakfast meeting with financial institutions a couple of years ago when the initiative was being conceived. At that meeting, the banks overwhelmingly endorsed it and called for its introduction. GNA 01.08.2016 LISTEN By KwabiaOwusu-Mensah GNA Sakora-Wonoo (Ash), Aug 01, GNA - Christians have been urged to continue to offer prayers to God for peaceful and successful presidential and parliamentary elections. They should additionally ask for God's gift of wisdom, understanding and courage for the election management body to act fairly and transparently. Ms. Francisca Oteng Mensah, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Kwabre-East, who made the appeal, said it was the way forward to make the outcome of the polls acceptable to all. She was speaking at the 90th anniversary celebration and thanksgiving service of Sakora-Wonoo Seventh Day Adventist (SDA), in the Kwabre East. The celebration, which was held under the theme 'Enhancing the work of God' was used to raise funds to support the construction of teachers' bungalow for the Amos Okra SDA basic school in the town. Since, it was planted nine decades ago by the late Elder Robert Emmanuel Darkwa, it had produced many prominent and leading pastors for the SDA church in Ghana and other professionals, contributing to the socio-economic progress of the nation and humanity. The church had built basic schools with library and computer laboratories, provided boreholes and other social amenities for the community. It also played pivotal role in the planting of the Old Tafo Mile four, Ahodwo, Wadie-Adwumakase, Adanwomase, Atwiam-Hwediem and Sima-Wonoo societies of the church. Ms. Oteng-Mensah hailed the church for its contribution to the development of the community and the improvement of the lives of the people. She encouraged the congregation to turn out in their numbers to vote in the coming election. Pastor Rockson K. Amoah, Executive Secretary of the Mounting View Ghana Conference of the SDA Church, in a sermon, asked Christians to continue to have faith in Christ. They should 'keep their eyes on Jesus Christ, be strong and courageous and remain in Christ and be committed to their faith'. Pastor Amoah said 90 years in the life of a church was a great achievement and praised the founder fathers for their fortitude and perseverance. In a citation in honour of the late Elder Darkwah, the founder, the church commended his fortitude and commitment to the faith in-spite of the severe opposition. GNA 01.08.2016 LISTEN By Edmund Quaynor, GNA Koforidua, Aug 01, GNA - Journalists have been reminded to get right with the law and act more professionally to keep the nation calm as the political election campaign intensified. Mr. Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said they should use their platform to promote peace. He was speaking at a round table media interaction organized by Vodafone Ghana, one of the leading communication companies in the country, in Koforidua. He expressed concerned about the rising political tension and said many well-meaning Ghanaians were getting worried, especially about the role being played by the media. He said it was important for the journalist to make sure they operated within the confines of the law and to uphold the ethics of the profession. Mr. Monney counseled that they refused to use their platform for anything unethical and insulting. He urged hosts of radio and television programmes to take full control of their programmes and to walk out people, who used intemperate language and refused to withdraw those words when their attention had been drawn to what they had said. Again, he asked that, they educated themselves on the electoral laws and to join hands with the Electoral Commission and other civil society organizations to carry out voter education. Mr. Gayheart Edem Mensah, External Corporate Affairs Manager of Vodafone, advised mobile phones users to see to it that they registered their sim cards in their names and particulars. He indicated that the data on the simcard had a lot of implication and that must not be lost on anybody. GNA 01.08.2016 LISTEN By George-Ramsey Benamba, GNA Accra, Aug. 1, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama on Monday said the National Petroleum Authority would soon reduce the prices of aviation fuel by 20 per cent to encourage more international airlines to purchase their fuel from Ghana. He said the agreement was as a result of complaints from most of the international airlines that Ghana's aviation fuel prices were higher than most of her competitors. "As a result most of the airlines prefer to buy their fuel in other countries rather than Ghana, a situation that is making us to lose a lot of money from the sale of the fuel." President Mahama, who inaugurated two projects and inspected on-going construction works at the Kotoka International Airport, said the reduction in price of the aviation fuel would increase the Internally Generated Funds of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority as more airlines would buy their fuel in Ghana. The projects the President inaugurated were the International Arrival Tunnel and the Ghana Aviation Training Academy (GATA) which were both constructed as part of the airport expansion project. President Mahama also inspected the completed expansion works at the Visa on Arrival Facility, Passenger Transit Facility, Data Centre, Arrival Baggage Reclaim Facility and the Customs Division all at the International Arrival Hall of the airport. He also inspected on-going construction works of a new terminal project complex at the airport. At the inauguration of GATA, President Mahama said the expansion projects were in accordance with government's resolve to upgrade the KIA to meet international airport standards. He challenged the board, management and staff Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to institute measures that would make GATA to stand out as the best training academy in Africa and beyond, by introducing international training ethics and standards that would attract more trainees. President Mahama expressed satisfaction about the expansion projects at the International Arrival Tunnel as it would reduce the hitherto long queues that were found in the past at the facility. He charged the airport authorities to develop maintenance culture to ensure a long lifespan of the facilities. Mr Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey, the Minister of Transport, said the expanded projects would address shortfalls of the aviation sector and position it higher in the international realm in terms of safety standards. He commended the board, management and staff of the Ghana Airports Company Limited and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority for the projects that were executed by their IGFs. Mr Simon Allotey, the Director General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, gave the assurance that they would implement all workable measures to ensure that GATA becomes the centre of excellence in Ghana, Africa and the entire world. GNA 01.08.2016 LISTEN Deputy Education Minister in charge of tertiary , Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has condemned pressure group, Occupy Ghana's calls for President John Mahama to sanction his Ministers who have signed a petition asking for the Montie 3 to be pardoned. Several Ministers of state including Mr Ablakwa, the Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit, Valerie Sawyerr, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Benjamin Dagadu on Thursday, signed the petition book opened at the premises of pro-government station Radio Gold, ostensibly to pile pressure on President to free the Montie FM trio, jailed by the Supreme Court. In a facebook post Monday, Mr Ablakwa questioned why Occupy Ghana wants the Ministers to be rebuked by their boss for speaking their minds in defense of freedom of speech. He said,"It seems to me that our friends at Occupy Ghana believe they are guaranteed more rights under the constitution than the rest of us. When they issue statements such as the one under reference, when they organize demonstrations and when they hold public fora amid other public manifestations, theirs isn't to be considered contrived and a facade but others is." Read the post below: MY RESPONSE TO OCCUPY GHANA I have become aware of an Occupy Ghana press statement asking His Excellency the President to rebuke Ministers, Presidential Staffers and other members of the executive who have endorsed a signature campaign for free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and for President Mahama to exercise his prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. The statement in issue further describes the current signature campaign as "contrived" and a "facade". It seems to me that our friends at Occupy Ghana believe they are guaranteed more rights under the constitution than the rest of us. When they issue statements such as the one under reference, when they organize demonstrations and when they hold public fora amid other public manifestations, theirs isn't to be considered contrived and a facade but others is. Occupy Ghana even touts it's mission to be "Occupying Hearts & Minds for God and Country!!!" Claims we have all accommodated though there are those who may consider a self-imposed status of God's special envoys more blasphemous than flattering. Nonetheless, the Occupiers have been granted the benefit of the doubt and yet they choose to label the conduct of others simply exercising their rights as "incongruous and bizarre". It is troubling that to the Occupiers we cannot exercise rights under the constitution as citizens of Ghana simply because we belong to the executive arm of Government? I cannot reconcile why it is perfectly fine for Ministers to honour requests from Occupy Ghana to grant them interviews, to respond to their letters and even to give them documents for their numerous campaigns and advocacy as we oblige within the tenets of good governance and yet when other activists campaigning in honour of free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and the constitutional right of a President to exercise his prerogative of mercy seek our endorsement we must ignore them even if we believe in their course because Occupy Ghana says so. If we don't then we must be viciously attacked and rebuked. Even if the President holds a different view and opts not to invoke Article 72, why should that warrant sanctions on ministers? I thought Occupy Ghana has often made reference to best practices in other jurisdictions. Did they not follow the recent Brexit debate where Prime Minister Cameron and his Ministers were free to take positions of their choice and to vigorously campaign for same. I find it strange that Occupy Ghana will assert that those of us who while condemning the pronouncements of the Montie Three hold the view that the jail term of four months is harsh are the ones slapping the judiciary in the face whereas Occupy Ghana takes no issue with those who have openly criticized the judges for being too lenient and not imposing longer jail terms. Perhaps it's all about convenience, not principle. It is unfortunate that Occupy Ghana seeks to portray our actions as amounting to interference in the work of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has handed down its verdict. Which verdict has been swiftly enforced by the State? The three gentleman are languishing in jail and I know that for a fact because I have been there to visit them. How can anybody cognizant of these circumstances accuse us of interfering with the decision of the judiciary? The irony, however, is that while Occupy Ghana sermonizes on non- interference, they have no hesitation in not only interfering with the President's right to exercise his prerogative under Article 72, they are in addition busily issuing threats about how the President's exercise of his discretionary powers could be the subject of judicial review if he does go ahead to exercise it. They also resort to pressing the fear button by alluding to an imaginary constitutional crisis perhaps oblivious that the fear card is but an antiquated trick in the books that doesn't really work these days. It's, even more, disconcerting that while portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers they are in the same breath seeking to stampede one arm of Government - the executive from exercising it's powers. Amazing! I, however, share the view of the group that lessons must be learnt from this episode and that there can be no justification for reckless speech however may I humbly submit that it would do the group's image some good if it doesn't engage in worrisome selectivity but is heard equally on all despicable utterances including those that have been targeted at the President, the Bench, the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Voltarians, Gas, political opponents etc. And even more importantly those who have proceeded to carry out their threats though much to the chagrin of many are hailed as heroes within their political parties while civil society turns a blind eye. This is not about equalization, it is about adopting a principled stance in the national interest. It is about purifying the democratic process to ensure that it is issue driven and ideas based, nothing more. While at this, it is necessary to acknowledge the enhanced measures put in place by the executive and the national security apparatus as assurances for the safety of our revered judiciary and that they do not encounter any let or hindrance in the delivery of justice. The July 18 public statement issued by the Judicial Council confirming these arrangements and assuring it's members of continuous collaboration with the executive to guarantee their protection is the way to go and must be refreshing to all. No Ghanaian deserves to work under a cloud of fear be they judges, overlords, regional chairmen of political parties etc. I, like all my senior colleagues, have no regret in endorsing this campaign. Freedom and justice have never been presented to mankind as a sweet-smelling bouquet of flowers without controversy. All the freedoms we enjoy today have been bequeathed to us by men and women who stood up to be counted from Yaa Asantewaa to Nkrumah, Lincoln to Luther King Jnr, Biko to Mandela. No matter what, let history count me on the side of the oppressed than on the side of the oppressor. May I conclude not by wishing that the members of Occupy Ghana be rebuked by those who read this piece, rather my wishes are that we all find common ground to work together in establishing for ourselves a fair and just society with love towards all and malice towards none. Ghana needs us all. God bless Ghana. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (MP) Deputy Minister for Education Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim | Email: [email protected] business RBI issues 'on tap' bank licence norms, bars conglomerates The Reserve Bank Monday released guidelines for 'On Tap' licensing of private sector universal banks. The guidelines state individuals with 10 years senior-level experience are eligible to promote a bank but large industry houses have been excluded as eligible entities, although they can invest up to 10 percent. Editors note: The name of the victim in this story has been changed to protect her safety. Sarah Penskey is not her real name.Sarah Penskey was in her garage unpacking boxes on a sunny morning in late June when she was approached by several bearded Somali men in their early to mid-20s.It was the last week of Ramadan, and the men were wearing traditional Islamic robes.The uninvited visitors to this posh Minneapolis neighborhood known as Linden Hills situated among tall trees just off of Thomas Beach on Lake Calhoun ground to a halt beside Penskeys house that morning.They came in a white RAV 4 Toyota and a dark-colored van, catching her unawares as she walked out of her garage to put something in her trash can.It was just the day before that another group of Somalis had driven through the neighborhood and approached her as she was turning on her sprinkler, but they were younger, in their late teens and dressed in basketball shorts, not robes.Penskey, blonde with an hourglass figure, quickly became an object of their curiosity.Hey, you have a beautiful house, they said. Youre beautiful, too. Can we move in with you?Thank you. Have a nice day at the beach, she replied, dismissively, walking back into her house and doing her best to, as she says, diffuse the situation.The older group that showed up the next day was not so subtle. Nor would they be so easily dismissed.Hey, hey hey, they yelled as she was taking out her trash.Yes?We want to live in your house. We want to marry you.No, I already have a husband, but have a good day, Penskey replied.The men starting jostling with each other and yelling things that were hard to understand. At least five other cars were driving recklessly through the narrow streets, setting off bottle rockets, their passengers hanging off of the door frames, some even riding on the hood, yelling, Jihad!They ran over some neighbors lawns and reportedly beat up one residents dog.Do you know Shariah law? one of the older men in robes yelled at Penskey.Having lived overseas, Penskey knew about Shariah law and its rules for man-woman relationships and Muslim-non-Muslim relationships.Yes, she said, walking back toward her garage.We can kidnap you and rape you! the men shouted back at her.She shut the garage door and ran inside to call police.I didnt yell at them. I didnt do anything, just tried to shut the door and get back inside, so its like there were some bad apples one day, and then there were some really bad apples the next, Penskey told WND in a phone interview Wednesday. Her husband was not home during either of her first two encounters with the Somali men.Many neighbors called police on the second morning of what some are calling the Somali wilding, a day of brazen intimidation that started in Linden Hills using fireworks and fake guns and spread to the adjacent beach on Lake Calhoun.On the second day, multiple neighbors were running out, trying to get license plate numbers, and were on the phone with the police. They were running outside, barefoot. One woman came and swept up her child and took her back in the house, Penskey said. Imagine six cars driving 50 mph through a residential street, then slamming on the brakes, driving on lawns, exploding fireworks. They almost hit one child and actually did hit one of their own.Several of the Somalis carried black flags that Penskey said resembled the ISIS flag.A man in his sixties was reportedly threatened by one Somali who demanded that he erase the picture of his license plate from the mans camera.Police took up to three hours to arrive. The dispatchers told Penskey they didnt have enough officers on duty to confront 20 or more men. The police did periodic drive-bys to monitor the situation. When they did show up, the worst offenders were gone.The police report says officers arrived to find a female victim, Penskey, who was very distraught and alone. Crying.She had called 9-1-1 three times that day. An officer arrived once earlier but only wrote a minor traffic ticket to one of the rioters. The main instigators had fled before police got there.Read more at Woman gives chilling, 1st-hand account of Muslim rape threat you are here: business Hopeful of nod for plywood & veneer arm in Laos: Rushil Decor Growth is very good and the company is operating at 90 percent capacity utilisation in the quarter gone by, Krupesh Thakkar of MD, Rushil DAcor told CNBC-TV18. LDA hires Main Street manager The Lebanon Downtown Association has hired a Main Street manager. Monica Pepin, who was volunteering with LDA, was hired as its only paid employee. Pepin said she applied for the position because she wants to improve downtown Lebanon. "I'm looking forward to helping Lebanon downtown grow, and develop it into being more of a stop instead of a drive through," Pepin said. Pepin said she could picture Lebanon downtown becoming more like Sisters where people stop in the downtown area to shop. Before starting in the paid position, Pepin began a monthly newsletter while helping out as volunteer, and helped create a Saturday Market at Ralston Park, which had its inaugural opening last weekend. She will still oversee those in her role as the main street manager. Dala Johnson, LDA president, said the organization needed to have a paid position as the requirements of being part of the Oregon Main Street program, a state downtown revitalization program that LDA was accepted into, are too much to run on entirely volunteer labor. The position is being paid for by the city through funds generated by the Lebanon transient tax on hotel rooms. The LDA organization rebranded from its original title: Partners for Progress. ADA recognized by Main Street America The Albany Downtown Association has been designated as an accredited Main Street America program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center. Each year, the organization announces the list of accredited Main Street America programs in recognition of their exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization. We are experiencing an exciting era for Americas cities and towns, with a growing recognition of the importance of strong local enterprise, distinctive character, engaged residents, and sense of place. These are things that Main Street America programs have been working to protect and advance for years, strengthening the economic, social, and cultural fabric of communities across the country, said Patrice Frey, President & CEO of the National Main Street Center, in a news release. We are very excited about earning our accreditation again this year, said Peggy Burris, executive director of the Albany Downtown Association. MC welcomes all students to a place where they can feel at home, and work closely with their teachers to learn and prepare for a career. Whether you know what you'd like to study or youre exploring the possibilities, it starts by applying and registering. Apply to Montgomery College, now! You can also view class schedules and programs. Credit students follow the steps below. Noncredit students follow the WDCE process, which doesn't require an admission application. Apply and Register Steps for New Credit Students Step Two: Activate Your Account and Determine Placement REQUIRED Claim your MyMC account new window (video). Go to MyMC new window and click on "Claim Your Account." You will be prompted to enter your MyMC ID along with your M# (nine characters including the M). You can find your Student ID and M# in the letter that was emailed to the personal email address you listed on your application. (video). Go to MyMC and click on "Claim Your Account." You will be prompted to enter your MyMC ID along with your M# (nine characters including the M). You can find your Student ID and M# in the letter that was emailed to the personal email address you listed on your application. Once you are logged in to MyMC, set up your Montgomery College email account by clicking on the email icon. This is the way MC will communicate with you. Based on your academic history, you may or may not need to complete our MC Remote Placement process. Visit the Assessment and Testing Centers/Remote Placement page for information and instructions about this process. Step Three: Complete Your Orientation and Meet with a Counselor REQUIRED Complete New Student Orientation (NSO). You must complete orientation before registering for classes. Meet with a counselor. Future Students Get help navigating the admissions and enrollment process. Contact a recruiter, attend an information session, watch our video tutorials, and learn more in our resources for future students. Special Admissions Audiences High School Students: Our Dual Enrollment Program allows select students to enroll in college courses while still attending high school. Visiting Students: Are you a student at another college or university? Take classes at MC to transfer back to your home school! See our resources for visiting students for the steps you should follow to enroll and register. International Students: Our International Coordinators work with students on every step of the admissions and enrollment process. For more information, see our Resources for International Students Veteran/Military Students: Montgomery College provides a welcoming environment for veterans and service members who are transitioning into college. See our Veterans and Military section for more information. Transferring in and Returning to MC LEBANON It's going to take at least a couple more months, but the Optimist Gazebo at Academy Square is almost finished. The covered pavilion has taken three years and probably more than $150,000 to complete, said Doug Phillips, club member and chairman of the project. Right now, city crews are working on filling in the land around the concrete patio surrounding the pavilion, and next will come landscaping. An open area in that concrete is waiting for a mason to come install the bricks marked with donor names, a project slated for the first part of this month. The gazebo itself needs gutters and a bronze cap on the roof's topmost point. And then, Phillips said, it will be complete and ready to turn over to the City of Lebanon. "We're pretty pleased with the outcome," he said. Bill Rauch, a longtime Optimist, came up with the idea for the gazebo in 2012, after he went to a musical event on the expansive lawn that used to be part of the campus of Lebanon Middle School. He envisioned a place where people could gather for concerts, barbecues, library storytimes, maybe even events sponsored by the city's medical college. Fellow Optimists loved the idea and the philanthropic group broke ground on the project in September 2013. Member Shawn Turrentine, of Turrentine Engineering, designed a 1,000-square foot gazebo featuring a raised concrete floor, steel beams and wooden roof covered with asphalt shingles. Briese Custom Concrete did the paving work. Jimco Electrical Inc. wired the building for sound. Multiple organizations and individuals have committed to the project with donations, in-kind work and other forms of support, Phillips said. But the strengthening economy took time away from the contractors who might have finished it off before now. There was a whole probably a year while were contractors so busy, we couldnt take them away from paid jobs," he said. "The concrete work and the steel work and just the roof alone were just incredible feats, especially when youre asking people to do the majority of it in kind." City staff made a giant difference by agreeing to contribute the resources to finish moving the dirt, Phillips said. A public dedication ceremony will be scheduled when the project wraps up, likely in September or October, Phillips said. After that, the gazebo will belong to the city, although the Optimists plan to work during the next year to add commemorative stone markers for those who supported the project. Five-star rated managers of the Evenlode Income fund have picked 10 UK stocks they think will deliver sustainable income to investors over the next five years. Co-managers Ben Peters and Hugh Yarrow have focused on free cash flow to screen out top companies that can afford to reward shareholders over the medium term. In the Evenlode Sustainable Dividend Report 2016 released today, the managers concede that the outlook for the UK dividend market is very mixed, noting that several companies have cut or reduced their pay-outs over the past year, especially in the energy, mining, supermarkets and utilities sectors. A variety of factors have led to these cuts: industry difficulties, large capital investment requirements, poor cash generation and high debt levels, the report reads. The recent UK referendum result may also affect the UK markets future dividend payments. UK domestic sectors such as banks, commercial property, construction, house builders and retailers may find it more difficult to sustain or grow dividends. The managers warned investors against companies with negligible or negative free cash flow, saying that they should expect these companies to cut dividends in the future, as current pay-outs were being funded by borrowings. Looking at debt-light, cash-rich companies with a yield of 2% or more and a history of growing dividend pay-outs, the managers identified 10 stocks for income investors over the next five years. Even the highest quality company is not a good investment at too high a starting valuation. Balancing attractive dividend growth with a solid starting yield is the key to income and growth investing, said Peters. We have filtered UK listed companies with a minimum market capitalisation of 500m for companies offering a dividend yield of more than 2%. Below we list the companies and the Morningstar analyst view of the stocks where there is coverage. Sage (SGE) Yield: 1.75% Sage has a large footprint in the global small and medium business software industry. However, a changing competitive and technological environment has seen the company struggle to keep up with peers because of a muddled cloud strategy, decentralised organisational structure, and inability to leverage common technology across geographies, according to Morningstar analyst Andrew Lange. He believes these factors have led to a weakening competitive position. While the shift to online rivals poses a significant long-term risk, over the midterm he believes Sage will continue to perform well thanks to a trove of loyal existing customers and a new strategic plan aimed at refocusing and centralising operations. Fidessa (FDSA) Yield: 1.5% Fidessa Group provides multi-asset trading and investment infrastructure, market data and analysis, and decision making and workflow technology. PayPoint (PAY) Yield: 4.09% PayPoint is a service provider for consumer transactions through distribution channels, involving the processing of transactions, the management of retailers and clients, the settlement of funds by the application of technology. Page Group (PAGE) Yield: 3.29% PageGroup PLC operates as a specialist recruitment consultancy. The Company provides recruitment services for permanent, contract and temporary staff at clerical professional, qualified professional and executive level. Compass (CPG) Yield: 1.9% Compass Group is one of the largest and most entrenched food-service providers. Its extensive global footprint serves a diversified mix of sectors and geographies, providing the foundation for a narrow economic moat that generates consistent revenue streams and healthy cash flow says Morningstar analyst Michael Field. Combining this dynamic with an asset-light operating structure leads to strong returns on invested capital. Demand for Compass' services is moderately tied to both consumer and enterprise-level discretionary spending, which adds some cyclicality. Nevertheless, Compass appears well positioned to grow as enterprise-level outsourcing gains traction for the longer term. Spectris (SXS) Yield: 2.54% Spectris designs, develops and markets productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls. Its businesses are grouped into four segments: materials analysis, test and measurement, in-line instrumentation and industrial controls. RWS Holdings (RWS) Yield: 1.83% RWS Holdings provides translation, intellectual property and language support services. It has four segments including patent and commercial translations UK, and patent and commercial translations overseas, information, and inovia. Unilever (ULVR) Yield: 2.47% Unilever's scale and scope give it competitive advantages, and with 58% of sales generated in emerging markets, the firm offers substantial exposure to growth markets. However, although analysts view the shift in emphasis to personal care from packaged food as a net positive, analysts expect Unilever to have limited success in expanding its volume and margins simultaneously, given the highly competitive nature of its categories, says Morningstar's Philip Gorham. Management's stated objective is to achieve organic sales growth, driven by volume, at an above-market rate; analysts view this as an appropriate strategy that is likely to consolidate the firm's moat over time. Spirax-Sarco (SPX) Yield: 1.66% Spirax-Sarco Engineering is an industrial engineering company. It offers engineered solutions for energy and water savings, reduced emissions, process efficiency, product quality and improvements in plant health, safety and regulatory compliance. Victrex (VCT) Yield: 3.08% Victrex is a manufacturer of thermoplastic polymer solutions. The Company's business segments are Victrex Polymer Solutions and Invibio Biomaterial Solutions. One minute you're just your basic Sweet Home guy, tending bar to pay the bills and spending weekends playing a little music with friends. The next, you have a song on the radio, a slot on the big stage at the Oregon Jamboree and a field full of screaming fans wearing T-shirts that bear your name. You'll forgive Trevor Tagle if it all seems just a little surreal. "We've got an RV!" said the Sweet Home man, 28, nodding at his backstage accommodations Sunday afternoon following his first performance on the main stage. "You've got all this stuff! It's crazy." OK, so things didn't actually change from one minute to the next, but to Tagle, they might as well have. He didn't pick up the guitar at all until about a decade ago, and then it was just mostly for fun until sometime last year. "Literally, six months ago six months to a year ago I decided to take this seriously," he said. Tagle began spending serious time writing and perfecting a catalog of songs in a country/southern rock format, from the bluesy growl of his hit single, "Doin' Me," to the inspirational ballad, "Fall." He contacted a studio, recorded a single and began working closely with longtime friend Colin McHill of Lebanon on keyboards and guitarist Michael McDonald of Silverton. He met guitarist Nick Champeau of Silverton when Champeau and his wife came into the bar Tagle was tending. Champeau introduced him to drummer Marcus McQuade of Salem and bass player Eric Banke of Salem and the band was set. Tagle credits the band for the success of the Sunday afternoon show, his first on the Oregon Jamboree Main Stage. "I'm so incredibly happy with the performance we put on." Friday's show was great, he added, but being able to spread out and run the length of the main stage, with its wings and catwalk, was a dream come true. "I was just excited to get out here," he said. The crowd was small but growing and the "sweet spot" just in front of the stage was packed with admiring fans, some of whom had never heard of the newcomer until this weekend. "We like his enthusiasm and the energy he brings to the stage," said Bailey Miller of Bend, who saw Tagle perform Friday on the secondary stage and bought his signature hat, a black ballcap with an offset "T." Added friend Sahalie Levine, also of Bend: "He has a great voice, too." And of course, some of the fans had an additional reason for turning out, such as Tagle's father, Eric Tagle; nephew Michael Enright, 13, who flew from Houston, Texas, for the show; cousin Michelle Marler of Sweet Home and Jamie Melcher of Lebanon, his father's fiancee. "We're very proud," Marler said. "We saw him when he played around a campfire," Melcher said. "Everyone else is getting to enjoy what we've been enjoying for years." Tagle said his next plans are to work with a booking agent for a tour and see how far he can take his new career. If he can continue to sing and play, he said, "everything else is kind of a bonus." He encourages anyone else who dreams of the big stage to continue to enjoy making music. "The biggest thing I can say is, just have fun with it," he said. Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. A select number of lenders are once again offering mortgages with exceptionally fast financing and no cash down. While these loans may be reminiscent of the high-risk loans that led to the virtual collapse of the housing market a few years ago, theyre not available to the general public. Instead, theyre being offered to the high-flying tech workers of Silicon Valley. While many of these tech workers earn high salaries, and some may become the next Mark Zuckerbergs, their financial success is by no means guaranteed. As noted by Susan Watcher, professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, these are very risky loans. First, theres the volatile market. Home prices, while they have gone up, and only up recently in tech markets like San Francisco, they very well can go down, she noted. In fact, in markets where prices are rising and fastthese are the most volatile markets. Theyre likely going to see the most ups and downs. Second, just because workers earn a high salary doesnt necessarily mean they have enough funds for a 10% down payment. Many young tech workers have assets that are tied up in stock that may turn out to be worthless. Many banks are now desperate for customers and turn to mortgages as a means of drumming up profits. Lenders have been courting tech workers at major companies and have been offering similar zero down loans to other high-income professionals such as doctors and lawyers. While these banks are taking risks, theyre calculated ones as the banks will have assets in the form of pricey homes in Silicon Valley should borrowers default on their loans. At the conclusion of my military career where I served in aviation and personnel management positions, I accepted a position with the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). It was a wonderful opportunity to continue my interest in aviation and to join the organization at an exciting time in its expansion. What different lessons have you learned over time through your different roles and positions? I've had the good fortune to work in the Midland-Odessa nonprofit sector for more than 25 years. During that time, I've become keenly aware of and inspired by the impact of countless charitable organizations. Day in and day out, their staffs and volunteers work with a singleness of purpose, to contribute to the betterment of others' lives. One of life's greatest lessons for me has been to see that traits like integrity, empathy, generosity and kindness are not defined by age or wealth, by ethnicity or gender. Equally important is the lesson of acknowledging the shared contributions of those who serve. Each gift of time, talent or financial resources is important in building a better community. How do you pair your personal interests with serving the community as a volunteer? My volunteer service has included participating on the leadership team of Educate Midland, as an elder and trustee at First Presbyterian Church, on the Midland Public Library Advisory Board, as a mentor for participants in the Nonprofit Management Center's Generations program, and on the boards of the Daybreak Rotary Club, the Exchange Club and Petroleum Club of Midland. How long has Midland been your home and why have you stayed? Since relocating from San Antonio to Midland in 1991, my family and I have been enormously blessed by this community. In our time here, we have had an opportunity to see firsthand the philanthropic spirit of West Texans who give so generously of their time and resources to enrich the lives of others. Midland has not only provided us with wonderful employment opportunities, it has given our family life-long friends who are humble and have a servant's heart, who truly exemplify compassion, integrity, faithfulness, and a love for life. In January, my wife, Vicki, and I will begin a new chapter of our lives when we move to the Wichita, Kansas, area. We plan to make West Texas an important part of our travel calendar as our son and his family live in Lubbock, and we have so many friends in this area. Early education across the United States is a mishmash of day care, Head Start and preschool programs with a wide range of quality and effectiveness. But a federally sponsored program in 20 states has been effective at giving those states a way to assess and quantify early-childhood education options and make that information available to parents, educators and legislators, according to a study the U.S. Education Department released Monday. The report looks at data from the 20 states that received more than $1 billion in federal aid to make quality education accessible to high-needs preschool children -- those from low-income families or those in need of special assistance, including children with disabilities or developmental delays. The funding, the study says, has rapidly improved the quality of learning for the students while simultaneously enrolling a significant number of new students in top-tier programs. It also has allowed health screenings for thousands of preschoolers to help identify and treat medical and developmental issues earlier, including ones that might have affected their ability to learn. The individual and collective progress of the 20 Early Learning Challenge States is changing the early childhood landscape for the better, Linda Smith, deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development at the Administration for Children and Families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. It is exciting to watch these states make meaningful improvements as they tackle common and state-specific challenges and share lessons learned. States taking part in the program have created Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement Systems that evaluate the individual day-care and preschool programs and create a measurement system so that parents can have more information when choosing a school for their children. Nearly 267,000 children with high needs are now enrolled in the highest-quality state preschool programs, according to the report. Thats a 263 percent increase since the grants were first issued. Numerous studies have shown that children who receive a high-quality early education are more likely to succeed economically and socially. It is particularly a boon to high-needs students, giving them a leg up in future educational achievement. Because of historic investments from the Obama administration, states and cities, more children -- particularly those who have been historically underserved -- now have access to high-quality early learning, Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said in a statement. We must continue our collective work so that all children have the foundation they need to thrive in school and beyond. King traveled to Denver on Monday and plans to travel to Wilmington, Delaware, today to meet with local and state officials about how to make such opportunities available to all students. Colorado and Delaware are among the 20 states that received more than $1 billion in federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants to bolster the quality of early learning education and to make it more widely available. The grants, authorized by Congress in 2011, are jointly administered by the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. States have used their allocations in a variety of ways to address early-childhood education needs. California community colleges and universities created shared coursework to help lower the cost of attaining a bachelor's degree in early-childhood education, a move that gave students an incentive to pursue a career in the field. Colorado began a statewide program of credentials and degrees for early childhood professionals. And Delaware created a new state agency dedicated exclusively to early childhood learning. President Barack Obama's proposed 2017 budget includes $75 billion over 10 years for Preschool for All, a program that would provide universal high-quality preschool for all 4-year-olds from moderate and low-income families. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Authorities say a Nashville man has been charged in a human trafficking case involving a missing 12-year-old Texas girl. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says in a news release that 36-year-old Tavarie A. Williams was arrested and charged with two counts of trafficking for a commercial sex act. TBI agents say they received information Friday about the whereabouts of the child, who was reported missing a month ago. Authorities found the girl at an extended-stay hotel in Franklin. Officials say Williams was holding the girl against her will. TBI agents say Williams offered her a ride home in San Antonio, Texas but instead brought her to Tennessee for the purposes of commercial sex. It isn't immediately clear if Williams has an attorney. We have independently selected these offers and products because we love them and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links. Items are We were not bribed to drop ... Aug. 2, 1946: Plainviews Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 12th and Nassau was dedicated in a ceremony held Saturday, July 27. R.R. Bietz, president of the Texico Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, preached the dedicatory sermon. The local congregation was organized May 25, 1935. --H.W. Hicks, S1/c, son of A.R. Hicks of Plainview, was discharged from the Navy at the personnel separation center at Shoemaker, Calif., on July 23. He entered the service last fall and served aboard the USS LST 667 and LST 927. --C.B. Martin has resigned as county Extension agent after serving in the post for the past year. He will become manager of Nannie Farms, which covers 7,000 acres in Swisher and Castro counties. The property is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph D. Perry of Denver, Colo., and all is under cultivation. Aug. 2, 1956: Onions are now considered a wonder crop in the area. Sam Williams of Abernathy recently shipped six carloads of onions to Quebec, Canada. Grown on a farm north of the Fisher place on the Plainview-Petersburg highway, the grower received $4 per sack, FOB Monroe (New Deal). Yield was 1,100 sacks per acre. --The Texas Highway Commission on Wednesday reinstated its offer of a $3 million expenditure for an expressway on US 87 through Plainview. --Harley J. Redin departed Thursday for Mare Island Naval Base, Vallejo, Calif., for a two-week training period with the U.S. Marine Corps. Redin is a captain in the Marine Reserve. Aug. 2, 1966: Pvt. Dennis Holland, youngest of three sons of Mr. and Mrs. W.G. Holland in the armed services, is home on leave from Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., after completing basic training. He is to report to Ft. Devews, Mass., for the Army Security Agencys International Morse Code School for training prior to entering the Signal Corps. His brother, Radarman First Class W. E. Holland, was class honorman in a recent graduating class from the 54th Phillilant Petty Officers Leadership Academy. Another brother, Staff Sgt. Carl W. Holland, is an instructor in microwave radio school at Ft. Mammoth, N.J. He is now enroute to assignment in Saigon, Vietnam. --During a special called meeting, the Plainview School Board named Alan D. Thompson, 31, principal at Estacado Junior High School. During the same meeting, they named Paul Butler, 28, to replace Thompson as assistant principal at Plainview High School. Butler has been senior dean. --Frank Moore, president of the High Plains Research Foundation, announced that Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman will be guest speaker at the Foundations 10th Annual Field Day on Sept. 8. Aug. 2, 1986: Jayson Stroud of Plainview has graduated from the Gregg School of Auctioneering and is now qualified to cry and completely manage any type of auction sale. --Rosalene Bassett and Pat Carthel of Plainview and Julie Estes of Hale Center were among 19 area teachers attending the Caprock Area Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute at Texas Tech. --Airman Alan C. Riney, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Riney of Plainview, has graduated from the U.S. Air Force aircraft maintenance course at Sheppard Air Force Base. Compiled by Doug McDonough Shrimp producers could lose billions if they are forced to pay arrears on feed imports. Scores of companies that raise baby shrimp for sale have expressed concerns about a new tax rate of 5 percent for imported shrimp feed, Danviet newspaper reported. Truong Huu Thong, director of Thong Thuan Company, which produces baby shrimp and shrimp products, said that Vietnam has to depend on outside suppliers for shrimp feed. Since 2011, the company has been importing a product branded Artemia to raise its shrimp with a zero tariff thanks to its HS code (Harmonized System used to classify traded products). However, customs authorities have reclassified Artemia under another code accompanied by a 5 percent tax rate. If the customs office backdates the tax for Artemia imports to 2011, we will have to pay VND5 billion ($225,000), Thong said. Phan Thi Thu Thuy, a representative from another shrimp producer, said: We will be forced to close [the company] if the customs office demands tax arrears. Local shrimp enterprises said they cant reclaim the additional costs incurred from a 5 percent tax rate from their buyers, and it would be impossible for them to find the funding to pay their tax arrears. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a document sent to the Ministry of Finance that Artemia is the only shrimp feed available in Vietnam, and theres no substitute at the moment. It added that the zero tax rate encourages farmers to raise shrimp, contributing to the development of Vietnams shrimp industry. At the same time, the annual tax of VND21 billion ($944,000) that imports of Artemia would incur is a fraction of the average export value of $6 billion Vietnam collects from shrimp. Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, also sent a request to the Ministry of Finance asking for the zero tax rate to remain. In response, the ministry issued Decree 98 that states Artemia shrimp feed imports will be levied at three percent from August 13 this year. No information related to tax arrears has been announced. Related news: > Drought killing Vietnamese shrimp hits seafood exports > Salt water drowns Mekong Delta shrimp industry > E.U. offers helping hand to develop Vietnam's shrimp production value chain NORTH HAVEN Firefighters rescued two young osprey after a utility pole fire Monday morning. Just after 8 a.m., fire crews responded to a utility pole fire on Universal Drive. They found a large nest on the pole with two young osprey inside. After the birds fell from the nest, firefighters collected the birds and kept an eye on them until animal control officers arrived. North Haven Animal Control will rehabilitate and release the birds, according to the fire department. Not such a waste of space: businesses spring up in Saigon's old apartment blocks Inside Saigon's worn out apartment buildings, clothing stores and indie coffee shops are blossoming. Located in the southern commercial hub of Saigon, old tenements in districts 1 and 3 have become the ideal spots to do business thanks to low rents and a steady flow of customers. According to HCM City's Department of Construction, the city has 474 pre-1975 apartment buildings. While many of them are in a poor, run-down condition, others in central districts have been providing space for photo studios, cafes, restaurants, fashion boutiques and accessories stores. Rental costs in these old apartments are considered reasonable, especially in downtown areas such as Ly Tu Trong and Ton That Dam in District 1. They vary from VND10million (US$449) to VND40million ($1,794) per month, depending on the area, which can cover up to 100 square meters (1,076 square feet). Owners of smaller shops choose to rent spacious rooms to display their products and save on rent. In these buildings, wardrobes and fitting rooms are found next to long coffee shop tables. Apartments along Nguyen Hue pedestrian street are considered "golden positions" and have the highest rents. According to the manager of 42 Nguyen Hue, rooms with views of the street have all been turned into coffee or tea shops and eateries. With prices ranging from VND200,000 to VND5million, clothes, accessories and cosmetics appeal mostly to tourists, office workers and students. The buildings' nostalgic tone and cozy atmosphere has been combined with original interior design to attract young customers. According to the manager of the Ton That Dam apartment building, Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, there are currently only 20 families living in the old tenement as most residents have moved out and leased their homes to businesses. Reconstruction in these old tenements, however, raises concerns over safety and fire protection. Limited parking space and lift services are a major inconvenience for customers too. Related news: > Fast fashion to ethical couture: Vietnam's design evolution Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Smoke in a Muni tunnel in downtown San Francisco near the Civic Center station prompted a fire investigation and temporary delays on the transit system Monday morning, officials said. The San Francisco Fire Department tweeted at 9:40 a.m. that it was sending firefighters to investigate the smoke. Minutes later, officials said they had extinguished a small debris fire in a fan room. With the beginning of August comes an influx of back-to-school deals to help parents save money while sending their children back to the classroom. Walmart is offering deals on school supplies, including 26 in-demand items like pencils, markers, folders and calculators to guarantee low prices both online and in-store throughout the shopping season, according to a news release. A business organization for women in horse racing media launches Tuesday at The Brunswick at Saratoga B&B. Founder Marion Altieri of Rensselaer County expects the noon meeting to include a vote for officers and the drafting of a mission statement. The group will aim to bolster support for women in broadcast and print media, Altieri said. "Like any other profession, we need each other," she said. Denton files for bankruptcy Gawker founder Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy Monday in the aftermath of a Florida jurys awarding $140 million to former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in a privacy case revolving around a sex tape posted on Gawker.com. As a result of the verdict, which is being appealed, Gawkers parent company has gone into bankruptcy and is up for sale. Overall, Dentons filing says he has $100 million to $500 million in liabilities, compared with assets of $10 million to $50 million. Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, had been a strong critic of Gawker and bankrolled Hogans lawsuit. Number of the day $582 million Thats about how much Salesforce will spend in stock to buy startup Quip Inc., which provides word-processing tools, adding to its growing list of business software. Salesforce will issue stock in exchange for the shares of Quip it doesnt already own; Salesforce had previously invested in the company. Apples court victory U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder has tossed out a jurys decision calling for Apple to pay $625.6 million in damages to a Nevada company that claims Apple infringed on its patents. The claims were from VirnetX, which buys technology patents and aims to make money from licensing fees and lawsuits. The Daily Briefing is compiled from Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Texas shoppers could save up to $92 million in state and local sales taxes during this weekends sales tax holiday on clothes and school supplies, according to the state comptrollers office. The sales tax holiday, which lasts Friday to Sunday, exempts back-to-school items such as book bags, notebooks, clothes and other items that cost less than $100. Shoppers will save about $8 per every $100 spent, the comptrollers office said. As families all over our state prepare to send their children back to school, we hope folks take advantage of this opportunity to get the supplies they need and save some money in the process, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in a July news release. As the father of three young children, I know how these expenses can add up. Retailers expect U.S. shoppers stocking up on goods for K-12 and college students to spend $75.8 billion an 11.5 percent increase from $68 billion last year, a study conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics and published by the National Retail Federation shows. Increased consumer confidence is partially driving the uptick, according to the study: 27 percent of K-12 shoppers and 30 percent of college shoppers say the economy wont impact their shopping plans, up from 24 percent and 26 percent last year, respectively. The budget-conscious consumer is not forgetting about price, quality or value, and we continue to see this when it comes to back-to-school shopping, Pam Goodfellow, principal analyst at Prosper, said in the report. That is why many parents are taking advantage of shopping early, scouring ads and websites for the best deals, and taking advantage of free shipping with online purchases. Back-to-college shoppers plan to spend, on average, slightly less this year compared to last year: $888.71, down from $899.18 in 2015, the study shows. However, total spending on college items is projected to hit $48.5 billion, up 12.5 percent from $43.1 billion in 2015, because of an influx of new shoppers. K-12 spenders, the study said, will shell out about $43 more on average than they did last year for school supplies $673.57, compared to $630.36 last year. Whether shoppers save during sales tax holiday events is up for debate. Kay Bell, a tax expert for BankRate.com, said consumers time their shopping in accordance with the holiday but may not know which items are exempt and may nullify any savings through impulse purchases of noneligible items. It tends to be a psychological benefit, Bell said. State lawmakers have tussled over whether to expand or end the tax waiver since it began in 1999. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, authored bills in 2015 to boost the price limit to $200 and include computers and tablets, but each bill stalled in committee. Four years earlier, lawmakers considered repealing the holiday to generate additional revenue during that years budget shortfall. Some states have scaled back their sales tax holidays. Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill in April reducing that states waiver period from 10 days to three, reduced the tax-exempt threshold on eligible clothes from $100 to $60, and eliminated computers from exemption. Louisiana will offer a 3 percent tax rate rather than its usual 5 percent rate on eligible items. However, a shopper who spends $2,500 on one purchase will not be required to pay state sales tax, though the exemption only applies to that first $2,500. And Massachusetts will not hold a holiday for the first time since 2009, citing budgetary concerns. jfechter@express-news.net Twitter: @JFreports Vietnam Airlines' customers may be at risk after alleged Chinese hackers stole personal details. Commercial banks in Vietnam have suspended online payments via credit cards after Vietnams largest airports, Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, were allegedly attacked by a Chinese hacker group known as 1937CN. Partly private Vietinbank, one of the country's biggest banks by assets, said the bank has taken the move until it can ensure there are no security risks. This decision means that customers who use the banks credit card services to buy tickets on the Vietnam Airlines website will be unable to do so until the matter is resolved. This is an appropriate move as we havent fully assessed the effects of the cyber attacks, said an executive of Vietinbank. Banks have issued an announcement via mobile texts about the move to suspsend the use of credit cards to make online payments following last Friday's attack at the country's international airports. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Thanh Lan. Techcombank, a partly private Vietnamese bank 20 percent owned by HSBC, said it has frozen the credit cards of customers who entered their credit card details on the Vietnam Airlines website last Friday, when the cyber-attacks happened. A Hanoi-based bank said the public should not be worried about credit card security since the airline's online booking system is protected by 3D secure, which ensures the security of online payments. Banking experts said with 3D secure, customers who enter their credit card numbers and proceed to payment are asked to submit a password from their bank in order to complete the transaction. Some banks have decided not to suspend the use of credit cards for online transactions but said they will keep a careful watch on such payments. Sacombank said all transactions made by the banks card holders will be closely monitored. An industry expert said it is quite difficult to assess how secure the Vietnam Airlines information database is and advised people against using credit cards that have been entered on the airline's website over the past month. The website of Vietnams national carrier and flight information screens at the countrys biggest airports were attacked by hackers, allegedly from China, on the afternoon of July 29. State media said screens displaying flight information and loudspeakers at both international airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were taken over by the hackers to broadcast messages insulting Vietnam and the Philippines over their stance on the dispute in the South China Sea, or the East Sea as it is known in Vietnam. The screens and the sound systems at the airports had to be switched off, said the country's civil aviation authority. The official website of Vietnam Airlines also came under attack with the same derogatory slogans that appeared on the airports screens. The customer database of 400,000 members of Vietnam Airlines frequent fliers club, Golden Lotus, was hacked and the names and other personal information of customers were later leaked on the internet. Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat said the hack did not affect security or air traffic control at the airports. The hack affected some 100 flights which were delayed by between 15 minutes and two hours, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said in a statement, after the attack interrupted the airports electronic check-in systems. Security at the airports was tightened shortly after the attack, the CAAV added. The hackers claimed to be a group known as 1937CN from China, which has a history of hacking websites in Vietnam and the Philippines. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Medical Center of Southeast Texas Diagnostic Sleep Center recently opened a second location on the first floor of the hospital's Beaumont Victory Campus at 6025 Metropolitan Drive, off Dowlen Road. Sleep Center administrators and employees celebrated the opening this past Thursday with a ribbon cutting with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce. The center specializes in the "diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders," according to its website. The facility "includes four beautiful rooms each equipped with queen-sized beds, flat screen TV's, private bathrooms and massaging recliners in a tranquil environment designed to promote a peaceful night's sleep," the Medical Center of Southeast Texas said in a June press release. "The reading room boasts state-of-the-art patient monitoring equipment for the physicians and techs to monitor each patient's sleeping patterns. This center is an expansion of the services provided at The Medical Center of Southeast Texas's existing Diagnostic Sleep Center located in Nederland, which opened in November of 2012." More: www.medicalcentersetexas.com/victory. ---- Tasty Creme Donuts, 6392 Phelan Blvd., in the Westmont Shopping Center, is moving a little more than half a mile southeast from its current location to 7495 Phelan. The doughnut shop's menu includes breakfast sandwiches, tacos, kolaches, and, of course, doughnuts. More: (409) 860-7191 ---- Owners of Two Amigos hosted a ribbon cutting earlier this month with the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce at the Mexican restaurant's new location at 2308 Lutcher Drive. Two Amigos' menu includes traditional Tex-Mex dishes like enchiladas, tacos and fajitas. The restaurant also has daily lunch specials and a drink menu, which includes margaritas, beers and daiquiris. More: (409) 670-9899 Have an item for In the Works? Email LocalNews@BeaumontEnterprise.com The summer may be dwindling, but there are two things that arent letting up yet: The Texas heat and Hill Country lake levels. With only a few showers to keep lake levels up after extensive flooding in May, you may want to hit up these hot spots before vacation season ends and school begins. Albany The proposed but controversial $65 million expansion of the Palace Theatre will likely take center stage during Monday's Albany Common Council meeting. Councilman Frank Commisso Jr. recently on a local talk radio station, Talk 1300, said he expected people to speak during the public comment period on the plan to sell the city-owned venue to the Palace Performing Arts Center Inc. for as little as a $1. The agenda for Monday's meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall, doesn't include a vote on the potential sale. Commisso has expressed reservations over the project, noting concern for the lack of funding secured for the expansion and nominal price tag sought for the sale. "To sell an asset absent of an appraisal and with an assessed value of $13 million to sell it for a dollar would be a non-starter for me," Commisso said. "I think a lot of folks recognize that as well." Operators of the Palace Theatre just over two weeks ago announced plans to transform the downtown venue with a new, smaller theater along North Pearl Street, an expansion of the historic original theater's lobby, a stagehouse and a state-of-the-art video post-production facility that would be the only of its kind between Manhattan and Montreal. As part of the proposal, the theater could be sold for as little as a dollar to the city. The nonprofit entity currently operates the theater under a $1-a-year lease from the city. Albany law requires the sale of any city-owned property to be approved by at least 12 council members. With nearly 60 percent of the city's properties off the tax rolls, council members opposed to the project have cautioned against the nominal price tag to another tax-exempt entity. Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who also is on Palace's board of directors, has noted that the draft plans aren't a done deal. She added that the sale of the property would relieve the city from the financial responsibilities of being the theater's landlord. What Sheehan characterized as a "cursory review" of the building and its infrastructure by city engineers revealed more than $3 million in necessary repairs and upkeep, including a new roof. afries@timesunion.com 518-454-5353 @mandy_fries A pilot with two decades of experience, a nurse, a paramedic and a 35-year-old patient were identified Monday as the four victims killed when a medical transport plane en route to Oakland crashed last week in Humboldt County. Officials identified April Rodriquez as the patient being flown from Crescent City (Del Norte County) to Oakland International Airport on the Cal-Ore Life Flight plane, operated by Reach Air Medical Services. All of the occupants were from Crescent City, authorities said. This is one of the saddest moments in our history, the companys president, Sean Russell, said in a statement. First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the patient and our crew members. The three additional victims were pilot Larry Mills, flight nurse Deborah Kroon and paramedic Michelle Tarwater. Mills, a 54-year-old father and husband with 20 years of flying experience and 12 years as a volunteer first responder, was piloting the twin-engine Piper PA-31 Cheyenne when he reported smoke filling the cockpit around 1 a.m. Friday, officials said. Mills tried to fly the plane back to Crescent City but it disappeared from radar in rural Humboldt County, 5 miles northeast of the Arcata-Eureka Airport, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said. Search crews with the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office found the plane wreckage around 10 a.m. Friday. All four occupants were pronounced dead at the scene. Kroon was originally from New Zealand and spent 25 years as a critical care nurse in hospitals around the United States, Reach Air Medical Services officials said. She had been with Cal-Ore Life Flight since October 2014. Tarwater was a certified flight paramedic who had been with Cal-Ore since 2011. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The news is gloomy for Connecticuts head-in-the-sand conservatives who scoffed at the 2012 legalization of marijuana for the treatment of debilitating ailments. That conjured image of a stoner paradise, with nodding-and-winking proprietors of state medical-cannabis dispensaries happily handing out bags of weed to anyone, has not panned out, to say the least. And the presumed proliferation of people qualifying under the catch-all Post Traumatic Stress Disorder claim has also failed to materialize. Yep, if you were a member of the General Assembly back in 2012 who voted against medical cannabis, well, lets say you werent a visionary. But that was the year that people who didnt know anything about the medical benefits could no longer meddle with peoples lives. That is not entirely true, since last spring, a bipartisan group of conservatives on the legislative Regulation Review Committee, without a medical degree among them and in apparent violation of their own rules, decided to ax a new ailment from the list only because they couldnt kill the whole program. At this point, nearly two years into its availability, 70 percent of the states medical cannabis isnt even being sold in the traditional dried-flower form. The chemicals are being extracted and sold for edibles, vaporizers and other non-smokables. Oh yeah, and even the PTSD patients are getting forms of the medicine with lower amounts of the psycho-active THC and higher percentages of other compounds. With PTSD you want a mood stabilizer, said Jonathan Harris, commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs the medical cannabis program. And despite the Connecticut Medical Societys opposition, more and more doctors are signing on for participation. When the first medical marijuana came on the market in September 2014, there were 81 doctors registered to recommend the treatment. Now, there are 502 physicians. There are 11,832 patients, up from the original 1,681. And maybe the really good news is that, come Oct. 1, a new state law takes effect that will promote research into the properties of the weed. And research means jobs in science, at a time when that single syllable is the default mantra of all political types. Its really going to repudiate the head-in-the-sand types when hundreds of new employment opportunities spring up, nearly 80 years after the federal clamp down on the ubiquitous weed, including its laughably lingering status as a federal Schedule I drug, defined as dangerously addictive with no medical uses. The current ailments for eligibility include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Crohn's disease, PTSD, sickle cell disease, muscle spasticity, severe psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and complex regional pain syndrome. On Oct. 1, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, terminal illness and uncontrolled seizures will be added. Less than two years in, and the stigmas are getting lowered, Harris said in a Friday interview. We continue to make progress in providing for more patients suffering from serious conditions. We are getting more physicians on board. Harris said he welcomes the so-called double-blind studies typical of scientific research. I think its going to play out incredibly and research will allow Connecticut to be a national leader. In 2015 the General Assembly failed to approve the legislation that finally passed this year, allowing children to use oral medication, allowing for research and letting medical cannabis be administered in hospitals and hospices. Harris said the pharmaceutical model in which the dispensaries, including two new ones in Milford has allowed a uniform product to be sold. The standardization of strains of marijuana and its combinations of THC and the other, associated chemicals, should make it easier to study the drugs benefits, taking information beyond the anecdotal that scientists demean. Were going to be the place to do this kind of research, Harris said. Its going to create some good jobs, medium- to-higher-paying jobs that we lost in the Great Recession. I really think it is going to be a good win. The state regulates how the plant is grown by the four producers. The Department of Consumer Protections food division licenses three of them that produce edibles. Come Oct. 1, Harris anticipates the initial research forays to begin, by the growers, those labs now testing cannabis profiles, or totally new entities such as universities or existing bio-tech companies. More people understand this is about good health care, Harris said. Its medicine to help those suffering from various diseases, who are your parents, grandparents, your next-door neighbors, friends. Its not a not a special class of people out there trying to get high. This is real. John Kerr, an editor, literary muse and confidant for a generation of Freudian scholars and the author of "A Most Dangerous Method," the book that became the basis for a play and a movie about the famous feud between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, died July 18 in Portland, Maine. He was 66. His brother Gil said the cause was complications of lung cancer. Kerr was a graduate student in psychology at New York University when he discovered the subject that would become the touchstone of an influential scholarly life. The screenwriter Paul Schrader, of "Taxi Driver" fame, had been looking for a research assistant to develop a script about the contentious relationship between Freud and Jung, and Kerr signed on. Later, in 1981, Schrader abandoned the project, but his assistant dug in and made the work his dissertation. Kerr turned the project into a book, "A Most Dangerous Method" (1993), that drew on private letters of Jung and Freud, who had been a mentor to Jung. Kerr argued that the falling out between the two theorists and former friends was due in part to a woman, the analyst Sabina Spielrein, with whom Jung had an affair. The book inspired the 2002 play "The Talking Cure" by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay for "A Dangerous Method," the 2011 film adaptation directed by David Cronenberg. Kerr's interest in the relationship had initially led him to join a seminar at Cornell University exploring the history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. There, he met a medical historian, Paul E. Stepansky, who soon hired him as an editor at The Analytic Press, a book publisher that through the 1980s and 1990s functioned as part incubator, part finishing school for books written by therapists. "He was a dazzling intellect, and the two of us ran the place with a staff of five or six," Stepansky said. Vietnam is now reluctant to borrow foreign aids amid high public debts. Da Nang Port Joint Stock Company kicked off construction for the second phase of development at Tien Sa Port in the central city on Sunday, having turned down Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan. Total investment for the second phase is estimated at VND1.1 trillion ($48.8 million), with 70 percent financed by the company and its stakeholders and the remainder by banks, news site VietnamPlus reported on Sunday, quoting Nguyen Huu Sia, general manager of Da Nang Port Joint Stock Company. The second phase is planned for completion by June 2018. Tien Sa Port is expected to be able to handle 10 million tons of cargo a year when the project is completed compared to 6.5 million tons in 2015. It will also be able to receive vessels of up to 75,000 DWT compared to 45,000 DWT ships at present. Signs of ODA cuts Vietnamese ministries are also carefully evaluating an offer from China that promises to provide more than $300 million to finance a road project in the northern province of Quang Ninh. China, via the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China, has offered to lend Vietnam $304.6 million or nearly 80 percent of the total investment of $382 million to implement the project. In June, Vietnams Ministry of Finance requested state agencies to submit reports on their use of ODA and other preferential loans in an attempt to keep loans at a "safe level". The request follows a directive from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc aimed at preventing public debt from rising from 2016-2020. On Saturday, Phung Quoc Hien, vice chairman of the National Assembly (Vietnam's legislature), told VnExpress the countrys shift to domestic funding is necessary as preferential ODA loans will dry up by July 2017. In 2015, Vietnam's public debt reached a record high 62.2 percent of GDP; a significant increase in a short time given the ratio was only 38 percent in 2011, according to the State Bank of Vietnam. The 2015 figure may have stayed within the National Assemblys cap of 65 percent, but the public debt ratio has risen quickly with ineffective investments causing huge losses. Vietnam's government debt also rose to 50.3 percent of GDP as of the end last year, 0.3 percent higher than the cap imposed by the National Assembly. Related news: > Vietnam eyes tightening foreign aid to curb public debt Contributed photo NORWALK A meadow for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds will be created from a 1.2 acre property recently acquired by the Norwalk Land Trust. The field on Wood Acre Road, off of New Canaan Road was deeded to the land trust by Brightview Senior Living through a conservation easement that bans any development on the parcel. New York In the winding hallways and stuffy rooms of an old factory in Brooklyn, under bulbs flickering as if in a horror movie, an elite new police unit prepares, over and over again, for the attack it knows is coming. Day after day, the officers comb the highest floor of the building, looking for witnesses to point them to the right door and listening for gunshots like those that have echoed all over the world in recent months. They are conducting exercise to help them hunt down an "active shooter." "It's going to happen," said Chief James R. Waters, who leads the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau. "Something like Orlando's going to happen." Last year, the police announced the creation of a heavily armed and armored regiment called the Critical Response Command. Teams of officers work all over the city and are trained to respond to many locations in three to five minutes. They represent a new response to a new threat. Gone are the days when the first officers on a scene set up a perimeter and waited for backup or a hostage negotiation team. The perpetrators of the most recent wave of mass shootings around the world Paris; San Bernardino, Calif.; and Orlando, Fla. are not interested in taking hostages and negotiating. They came to kill for the sake of killing. And these officers are trained to find and stop the killers. On Thursday, Waters allowed journalists from The New York Times to watch the Critical Response Command train. "This is seven months of work," he said, standing before a team of officers in bulletproof vests who were cradling Colt M4 semi-automatic rifles. "It's incredible progress." The officers were practicing in a former pharmaceutical factory on Flushing Avenue in the Fort Greene neighborhood. The Police Department is not listed among the building's tenants, but it has worked there since before the command's creation. The journalists were allowed to observe the exercises under restrictions. A photographer and videographer were forbidden to document the command as it moved in drills, and a reporter was asked to describe the tactics only in broad strokes. Department leaders believe terrorists study descriptions of police training in preparation for attacks. "The perpetrators in France demonstrated a familiarity with the French response," Deputy Chief Scott Shanley said, referring to the coordinated, attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people in November. The officers, who also played the roles of gunmen and bystanders, conducted two exercises. The first began with a dispatcher's call: shots fired in the building. Officers in a patrol car would typically be the first to respond in this situation, and that was the case in the drill. Two officers, clutching pistols, entered the hallway, crouching, one in front and the other behind him with a hand on the first officer's back. Officers in the command do not know the details of an exercise beforehand. Suddenly, a man ran toward them, screaming for help. The officers ordered him to his knees and asked about the gunman; the man pointed down the hall. The officers hurried around a corner. Gunfire rang out. "Shots fired!" the rear officer shouted into his radio, and the pair ran to the sound. A masked gunman, wearing green fatigues in a room with cubicles, opened fire. The officers fired back. Rounds with a chalk-like substance, similar to paintballs, struck the gunman. He fell to the floor. The rear officer shouted, "Loading! Loading! Loading!" and ejected a spent magazine from his pistol, sliding in a new one. The other officer bent and took the gunman's pulse. Dead. They called for backup and waited. What followed was an extraordinary show of paramilitary precision and force. New Yorkers have grown accustomed to seeing heavily armed officers standing in subway stations and at city landmarks. They have not seen what journalists were allowed to see on Thursday a response to an active-shooter scene from within the scene itself. The door through which the first responding officers had entered crept open again, and a head popped out. Then the entire team emerged, six officers in this case, moving fast in single file, each touching the back of the man before him. They seemed to move as a single organism, like a long black snake darting across the hall to the closest door. There was no hesitation at the door, no peeking inside. The officers burst through and moved in different directions. "A dynamic entry," Capt. Eugene McCarthy said, watching. "The perpetrator's processing is disrupted by dynamic entry," Deputy Chief John O'Connell said, standing beside him. To demonstrate, the command later allowed journalists to stand in an empty room and wait for the team to enter. The silence was startling, unnerving. The officers did not speak as they snaked toward the room. They communicated in pats on the back and hand signals. There was no warning of their arrival. One moment, the room was empty. A heartbeat later, it was filled with the six men and their guns. Traditionally, when officers stormed a room, the first one was known as the "rabbit," likely drawing the fire of the gunman inside while the second officer took aim at him. With this team, it was as if there were no rabbit; the entire team seemed to swarm the room at once. In the exercise, the team joined the first two officers near the dead gunman until they all heard more gunfire down the hall. The team regrouped into its line and raced toward the shots. The officer in front fired at a gunman, and others behind him stepped out of the line and did the same, and, in what seemed like a second, that gunman was down and the drill over. The officers pulled off their helmets, sweating after minutes of intense action. McCarthy stepped forward and ran through a quick review. The officer who played the second gunman praised the speed and accuracy of the officers who shot him. "No line-of-fire issues," he said. "Good job." An officer who played a victim, with fake blood on his leg, said: "No shots on me. Good job." The officers switched roles and prepared to do it again, the details of the exercise different this time. Newark, N.J. Even before federal prosecutors indicted two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal last year, the case had already received more than a year of intense media coverage as each new detail emerged about the alleged conspiracy. This week, attorneys will begin the process of finding 12 New Jersey residents who can or who will say they can impartially consider the evidence against the two at a scheduled September trial. Attorneys are scheduled to submit proposed juror questions this week. Former Christie aide Bridget Kelly and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni are charged with wire fraud and civil rights violations for allegedly purposely causing traffic jams for four days to punish a Democratic mayor who didn't endorse Republican Christie. The scandal followed Christie on his ultimately failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, further reducing the chances of finding a dozen New Jersey citizens who hadn't heard about the case. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, said Brian Neary, a criminal defense attorney who also teaches law classes at Rutgers and Notre Dame universities. "If someone hasn't heard about the case, they're not a good juror because they've probably been living under a rock," Neary said. "You just want to make sure what they've heard about it doesn't affect their ability to be impartial." Vietnam has an eye on the sky with new radar station The second radar station on Son Tra Island, Da Nang. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Government Portal The new station will enhance the country's ability to track aircraft in its air space. Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corp. formally fired up a second radar station in the central city of Da Nang on Sunday in an effort to boost surveillance and protect the countrys sovereignty. Vietnam already has a military surveillance radar station on Son Tra Island, dubbed the Indochina Magical Eye, which covers hundreds of kilometers of the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as the East Sea. A radar data processing system was also put into operation at a flight management center in Da Nang the same day, the government portal said in a statement. The secondary surveillance system on Son Tra, an island off Da Nang, covers a radius of 450km, while the primary radar system can detect objects at a range of 150 km. The secondary system detects and measures the position of an aircraft, such as range and bearing, and requests additional information from the aircraft itself such as its identity and altitude. Meanwhile, the primary system only measures the range and bearing of targets by detecting reflected radio signals. Air traffic control centers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang have been integrated to receive and process data from the new radar station on Son Tra and other radar stations in the central region to enhance the management of aircraft traveling to and from Vietnamese air space. The new radar station on Son Tra also supports air traffic management at airports in Hue and Quang Nam provinces, the statement said. The radar station and processing system were supplied by Spanish IT and defense systems company Indra Sistermas. Related news: > China, Russia navies to hold drills in South China Sea > Vietnam warns South China Sea is a 'test' of ASEAN August 1, 2016 | 01:48 am PT Illegal workers overstaying their visas have forced the government to act. Vietnam's labor ministry has said it will stop sending workers from 10 out of Vietnam's 63 provinces to South Korea this year. The ministry said in a document dated July 29 that 44 districts in the 10 provinces that have more than 60 laborers working illegally in South Korea will be prohibited from sending more workers to the country. The ministry will also consider another 46 districts where the rate of workers who have refused to return to Vietnam after their contracts expired is over 35 percent. Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep said that Vietnamese employees choose to stay in South Korea after their contracts expire because they can make more than $1,000 a month. Vietnam's average annual income was around $2,111 last year, according to the World Bank. If these people head back to Vietnam, its difficult for them to find jobs with similarly high wages," Diep said. "However, a large number illegal employees over the last three years has prevented about 35,000-40,000 other Vietnamese people from working in South Korea. Last year, Vietnam was the top labor exporter to South Korea, but that included around 15,000 illegal workers, equivalent to 35 percent of the total, while that of other countries varied from 15-17 percent. Vietnam started sending workers to South Korea in 1993, but Seoul stopped accepting Vietnamese employees in 2012 after many broke their contracts or didnt return to Vietnam after their contracts expired. In 2013, South Korean resumed the flow of Vietnamese labor but limited the level. Related news: > S. Korea to reopen labor market to Vietnamese migrant workers This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A former Navy ship graced by President John F. Kennedy six days before he was assassinated will accommodate scrappers within months as the so-called mothball fleet in Beaumont prepares to bid farewell to another vessel. Today the ship, named Observation Island, is one of nearly two dozen current or former military watercraft tucked in a Neches River bend awaiting their next deployment. For many, the only voyage ahead is to a ship-breaker. The U.S. Maritime Administration-run Beaumont Reserve Fleet's mission has evolved since it accepted its first vessels amid the World War II drawdown 68 years ago. But part of its purpose remains to serve as the final rest stop for sea-based artifacts destined for destruction. On Nov. 16, 1963, the storied and well-traveled Observation Island hosted Kennedy in what a sailor aboard that day remembers as a symbolic moment in world affairs. Kennedy stood on deck with a pair of binoculars to view a test launch of a submarine-fired missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 1,700 miles. The U.S. was at war in Vietnam and one year beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis. Six days later, Kennedy was killed in Dallas. Rick Munch, who was there for the presidential visit, hopes to board Observation Island for the final time in September. His visit isn't to quench nostalgia, but to help scavenge the ship of equipment before it's sent to a ship-breaker in Brownsville or New Orleans. The salvaged equipment would go on the USS Kidd, a WWII destroyer converted into a Baton Rouge museum, where Munch volunteers. Munch, although understanding that not all ships can be saved, wishes Observation Island had a similar future. "It's just something about an old Navy ship that really touches your heart," said Munch, who was an interior communications electrician. "It isn't alive, but it seems to be alive." Kim Brent Ships showcase history Recreational and commercial river-riders pass the McFadden Bend cove daily. But while the fleet is hardly secret and within view, public access to the mostly idle war machines is restricted. Ships there are diverse in age, utility, future use and what their stories say about past and present world affairs. The Regulus and Pollux are moored at the fleet's new lay-berth piers. The ships, which are designated as "ready reserve," are accompanied by crews and can be ready for service within five days of being called. Lawrence Wolfford, deputy superintendent of the Beaumont Reserve Fleet, said the Regulus, Pollux and two other "ready reserve" vessels on hand are indicative of how the anchorage's mission has changed. "We're out of the mothball business," Wolfford said. "Ready reserve" is the highest designation and the type of ships the fleet most desires. Another four vessels there, including Observation Island, are marked for disposal. The remaining 14 are kept for parts, training or long-term activation. The USS Tripoli was deployed 12 times to the western Pacific, including to Vietnam in 1967, two years after it was built. The ship won nine battle stars for its service, according to Naval Systems Command. A Persian Gulf mine blew a hole in the Tripoli in 1990, but it was repaired and later returned to the region in 1994 as a show of force against the Iraqi build-up in Kuwait. From 2006 to 2008, the U.S. Army used the Tripoli as a missile launch site off Hawaii's coast. It's now awaiting disposal in Beaumont. The USS Nassau, a helicopter assault ship, was deployed to several foreign conflicts and even accommodated small jets during Desert Storm. Now roughly 1 million pounds of chains and anchors hold the 820-foot-long ship in place in Beaumont, Wolfford said. The Nassau belongs to the Navy, which is using it for spare parts now. Once the Navy turns the ship over to MARAD, likely by 2025, it will be designated for disposal, Wolfford said. The youngest vessel anchored in Beaumont is Bravante IX, launched less than two years ago as an oil-and-gas platform supply vessel produced for a Brazilian company to work in South America. Built in Panama City, it's been moored in the Neches since April after it was seized during bankruptcy proceedings and given to government custody, Wolfford said. Kim Brent Fleet's mission evolves The MARAD-run National Defense Reserve Fleet began in 1946 as a way to stockpile World War II vessels no longer in battle. Beaumont became one of the original eight sites after the federal government dredged and removed nearly 24 million cubic yards of spoils from the McFadden Bend. As many as 200 "mothballed" ships were anchored there in the 1950s. Those ships, and thousands of others, were gradually recycled. As other so-called ghost fleets were closed, the federal government spent millions to expand Beaumont, one of three of the original eight anchorages still in use. The others are in California and Virginia. The national reserve fleet reactivated anchored ships several times, including hundreds during the Korean War and then a tonnage shortfall in the 1950s. Other reactivations came during the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Beaumont expansion entailed a $40 million-plus docking facility finished in 2014. It can keep up to eight ships like the Regulus and Pollux. Six of the piers remain open, but they are expected to be filled soon, Wolfford said. "Keeping eight similar vessels at one federally owned location reduces costs associated with maintaining the vessels at several privately owned sites," said Kimberly Strong, a MARAD spokeswoman. It also made sense to expand the Beaumont Reserve Fleet because the brackish Neches River water is easier on the ships' hulls and because it is located closer to Brownsville, home to the vast majority of U.S. ship-breakers, Wolfford said. Growing the fleet, which employs 39 and plans to add at least 19 more, should generate more economic activity for the area, Wolfford said. Millions of dollars in contracts are granted to local businesses each year for repair and maintenance work and other needs that originate from the fleet, Wolfford said. Staffers are tasked in part with regulating humidity levels in the ships, keeping them tidy and exercising them - everything from equipment ramps down to the "turn of a screw," Wolfford said. Kim Brent Observation Island nears end Observation Island's military service spanned more than 50 years, as it first helped develop nuclear weaponry and then spied on countries to track disarmament. The historic vessel will soon be dismantled. Wolfford said the Beaumont Reserve Fleet is almost ready to accept bids from Brownsville and New Orleans ship-breakers. Within "a couple of months, if not sooner," the ship will be scrapped, he said. "(For a sailor) to have his ship scrapped is like having his childhood home where he grew up torn down," Munch said. "It puts a lump in his throat and a heavy weight in his heart." Observation Island first launched as a merchant ship in 1953 and was later commissioned as a military vessel key to developing ballistic missiles in the '60s and early '70s. As the only Navy vessel stationed at Cape Canaveral, home of the Kennedy Space Center, it was tasked with testing nuclear-capable missiles and escorting submarines that did the same. Dave Campbell, a navigator aboard the ship from 1968 to 1971, looks back on the missile testing as an important display of U.S. capabilities. "We never said we'd be offensive with it," Campbell said. "We weren't. But we could back 2,500 miles away from a country and annihilate it, if need be." Years after its Navy service, Observation Island was outfitted with a sophisticated Air Force radar system that could track 100 targets at one time. The spy ship then spent three decades collecting data from other countries to verify arms control. Former Observation Island sailers have gathered each of the past three years for a reunion organized by Campbell. Because of the ship's long, diverse lifespan, many didn't know one another beforehand. They swap stories, like when a Russian trawler almost collided with Observation Island crew in a race to recover debris from one of the test launches in 1970. A second story, told by Munch, supports the ship's isolated, somewhat secretive lore. When he reported to port for the first time, Observation Island wasn't there, and no one knew where it was. Munch waited at an Air Force base for three weeks. "I wasn't the only guy that (experienced) that," Munch learned at one of the reunions. "We weren't under any other command. We were under our own command. Nobody knew that the ship wasn't there." EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news A second couple from San Antonio is believed to have been among the 16 people killed in a hot-air-balloon crash Saturday near Lockhart in Central Texas. The balloon crashed just before 8 a.m. Saturday, killing 15 people and the pilot. Two other people from San Antonio, Matt and Sunday Rowan were killed, relatives confirmed Sunday. SAN ANTONIO A 22-year-old woman was arrested over the weekend for allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend following a domestic dispute on the West Side. Morgan Taylor Bryant was charged with a first-degree felony charge of murder and is currently being held on a $50,000 bond at the Bexar County Jail. She allegedly killed her abusive partner where it hurts. Police in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on Monday pressed murder charges against a local woman who allegedly killed her husband earlier this month after crushing his testicles following a verbal spat. The provincial prosecutors' office has ratified the charges against Phan Thi Kim Chuong. She will be detained for four months pending further investigations. Chuong, 55, had a domestic dispute with her husband, Le Kim Khai, 53. Following the row she crushed his testicles, which led to the mans death, according to police. The couple were married for many years with two daughters, and were still in contact despite their recent separation. The preliminary investigation found that at around 9:30 p.m. on July 10, Khai arrived at Chuongs home. Seeing that the doors were closed, he shouted, but Chuong and their daughter refused to let him in so Khai broke down the door. Khai then physically abused both Chuong and their daughter, compelling Chuong to call out for help. During the fight, Chuong grabbed Khai's testicles, pulling hard enough to make him fall. She then sat on Khais abdomen and called police without releasing her tight grip, according to investigators. After five minutes, Khai, whose face had turned purple, was taken to hospital by locals but died on the way. According to the forensic report, the victim died of food entering the windpipe causing suffocation. Chuong admitted to police that she only squeezed the husbands private parts as a warning to stop the repeated violence. Cases like Chuong's are rarely reported in Vietnam. 58 percent of married women in Vietnam suffer from either or both physical or sexual violence, mostly from male partners or male family members, according to figures released last year by a campaign to stop violence against women in Vietnam. According to the Daily Mail, a Romanian man's failure to give his wife flowers on International Womens Day in March this year cost him his left testicle. Lonel Popal spent time in hospital for surgery on his scrotum after his wife, Marinela Benea, without knowing her own strength, ripped it open. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Satanic Temple, a political activist group in New York, is petitioning school officials across the country to bring an After School Satan Club to elementary schools in the U.S. as a response to religious-based programs. In an eerie video, flushed with sepia-toned images of children walking backwards and a spider crawling across the face of a clown, the temple announced July 30 they would be offering the new program "focused on rationalism" nationwide. RELATED: Poll finds 18 percent of voters believe Hillary Clinton has 'ties to Lucifer' So far, the Satanic Temple has offered to present their curriculum at elementary schools in Georgia, California, Florida, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Missouri, Arizona and Washington D.C. No word on when or if the club will come to Texas. The program website, which has a list of schools where the program is offered, reads: "It's important that children be given an opportunity to realize that the evangelical materials now creeping into their schools are representative of but one religious opinion among many." It states the program will focus on "free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis which we know about the world around us. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders around them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors." RELATED: Image of Satan manifests in rib steak The club will be focused on teaching children reasoning and social skills, according to the Post. At each after school meeting, where students will need a permission slip from their parents to attend, there will be a healthy snack, a literature lesson, creative learning activities, a science lesson, puzzle solving and an art project. "It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," Doug Mesner, the Satanic Temple's co-founder, told the Post. The Temple compares their teachings with that of Christian evangelical groups, which they say gives students only one choice: Jesus or Satan. RELATED: Satanic Church spokesman says organization wants nothing to do with Ted Cruz Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, a conservative law group that has represented Christian evangelical parties in lawsuits, told the Washington Post the Satanic Temple's after school program is within the law and would only be prohibited if their activities put people at risk. "I would definitely oppose after-school Satanic clubs, but they have a First Amendment right to meet," he said. "I suspect, in this particular case, I can't imagine there's going to be a lot of students participating in this. It's probably dust they're kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest." Right now, the number of After School Satan Clubs is limited due to its newness, according to its site. "However, ASSC has generated a massive wave of interest immediately upon being announced," the site states. kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 They are two words that can heal and solve much. Im sorry. And GOP nominee Donald Trump seems not only incapable of saying them, but of fathoming the need to say them. Thats because in Trumps world, hes never wrong. His response to the Muslim family who lost a loved one a U.S. Army captain in Iraq, was clearly wrong, obtusely and insensitively so. The father Khizr Khan, with his wife, Ghazala, at his side offered one of the most emotional critiques of Trump during the Democratic National Campaign last week in Philadelphia. Offering to give Trump his own copy of the Constitution, he lectured the GOP nominee on patriotism and on the errors of his views on Islam and Muslims. He appealed to Americans to reject Trumps politics of division and distrust across religious, ethnic, racial and gender divides. Trumps response was entirely predictable to deride and attack. In this case, his attack also managed to reveal his stunted views of Muslims. He stereotyped Ghazala Khans silence at the podium as following the edicts of Muslim culture or faith. She probably maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say It looked like she had nothing to say, he said, also charging that the father was a Hillary Clinton tool. Anyone watching and hearing Khizr Khans speech, could see that it was emotion stirred by grief, not a silence forced by anything else, at work with Ghazala Khan in Philadelphia. And this was confirmed in an article by her published in the Washington Post. The Khans represent full assimilation in America. And Trumps response was to try to change the subject to radical Islamic terrorists. But belittling the family of a fallen soldier and espousing policies that would have prevented that familys move to America had they been in effect say nothing meaningful about that debate. They, in fact, represent how wrong many of Trumps assumptions are on the issue. Sadly, this sort of disrespect is nothing new with Trump. He once said of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a hero who was a POW during the Vietnam War, that I like people who werent captured. McCain, who has endorsed Trump and is in a tough re-election battle, correctly blasted Trump for his attack on the Khans. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement, he said. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates. In their response to Trump in the Khan dust-up, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated their opposition to Trumps stated position of barring Muslims from migrating to this country. But the endorsements of Trump by McCain, Ryan and McConnell seemingly stand. Over the weekend, Trump also said Russia was not in the Ukraine. And before that, he invited Russia to intervene on his behalf in the election by hacking and releasing Clinton emails. Russia is credibly suspected of hacking the Democratic National Committees emails recently. These statements display how misinformed Trump is and how low he is willing to go to appeal to lowest common denominators in American life. But his response to the parents of a fallen U.S. soldier reveals something else entirely a lack of empathy. It is something voters should consider in November. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It was the kind of response you might expect from Donald Trump, not the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. David Cochrane of Dallas, visiting San Francisco with his wife, sent an email to Supervisor London Breed on July 25 complaining that there was way too much trash on city streets. I was embarrassed to be an American because of the way San Francisco is presented to the world, he wrote. Four days later, Cochrane received a reply. If you are embarrassed to be an American, then you are barking up the wrong tree here, buddy, the unsigned email from Breeds office said. Why dont you write a letter to the editor of whatever town youre from if your panties are in a bunch? Cochrane took the advice, but instead of contacting his local news outlet, he forwarded the response to The Chronicle. Breed said Monday that the email had been written by an intern who has since been dismissed. The volunteer clearly showed extremely poor judgment and will not be continuing in my office, Breed said in a statement. As with most legislative offices, we rely on volunteers. This is explicitly not how we train them to conduct themselves. Breed added, I take full responsibility for the volunteers words and have personally apologized to Mr. Cochrane. She said the reply should have included an apology for the trash and a promise to notify the appropriate city officials. In his email, Cochrane singled out Fishermans Wharf as nasty and added, I will never return to your city and am telling everyone I know not to come to such a dump. Breed said Cochrane was right, too the trash on the streets is unacceptable. It is embarrassing, Breed said. I called 311 four times this weekend because there was trash just sitting there. All over the city. After receiving Breeds apology, Cochrane said in an email, I am satisfied with her actions. Emily Green Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle. Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @emilytgreen Tim Taylor: What is Inclusive Growth?: "Inclusive growth" is an unquestionably astute rhetorical formulation. Those who use it can support both economic growth and helping the poor in a two-word phrase. But where did the term come from? Does the term have different content from seemingly similar terms like "broad-based growth" or "pro-poor growth"? Or do all these terms mean pretty much the same thing? Most of all, is "inclusive growth" a specific set of policies or just a desirable outcome? Rafael Ranieri and Raquel Almeida Ramos explore the history of the "inclusive growth" terminology in "Inclusive Growth: Building up a Concept," published in May 2013 by the International Centre for Inclusive Growth (Working Paper #104). A little earlier, Elena Ianchovichina and Susanna Lundstrom produced a note on "What is inclusive growth?" for the World Bank in a note published on February 10, 2009. Apparently, the term "inclusive growth" originated in an essay "What is Pro-poor Growth?" by Nanak Kakwani and Ernesto M. Pernia, which appeared in the Asian Development Review in 2000. They use the term "inclusive" growth only once, and in a way which makes it synonymous with "pro-poor growth." They write: "Broadly, pro-poor growth can be defined as one that enables the poor to actively participate in and significantly benefit from economic activity. It is a major departure from the trickle-down development concept. It is inclusive economic growth." The reasons why "inclusive growth" or "pro-poor growth" seemed like a new thing back about two decades ago was rooted in how people used to talk about development economics . A common framework at that time was the notion that low-income countries were trapped in poverty, and needed big boost of investment capital to jolt themselves forward into a process of industrialization. The "Kuznets curve" held that a process of economic development first brings a period of greater inequality, as new industries take hold, which would then followed by a period of greater equality as prosperity spreads or diffuses through an economy. All of these frameworks have been challenged in various ways. It's not clear that low-income countries are in a poverty "trap"--it's just that they have slow growth, which isn't necessarily the same thing. It wasn't clear that industrialization would necessarily diffuse through an economy: for example, Latin American countries had a reasonable degree of growth from the 1960s on, but with persistent and high levels of inequality. By the 1970s, arguments were emerging that poverty itself held back economic development, so rather than seeking development first and hoping it would reduce poverty eventually, a direct approach to improving the nutrition, health, education, and income-earning prospects of the poor could bring development. The greatest economic development success stories from the the 1960s through the 1980s, the East Asian "growth miracle" that saw the take-off of economies like South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan didn't involve a large rise in inequality, nor did the earlier take-off of Japan's economy. As Ranieri and Ramos note: Another core reason for the shift of development thinking towards a constructive, or at least not pernicious, relationship between growth and equity was the phenomenal developmental performance of the so-called Asian tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The East Asian developmental experience, which unfolded over the course of a larger time span but received most attention from the 1970s into the 1980s and early 1990s, decisively challenged the existence of an inescapable trade-off between growth and equity. Combining rapid growth in per capita income with relatively stable and low inequality, it suggested that there might be policy measures to foster the benign combination of high growth and rapid poverty reduction ... But as the goal of inclusive growth became common, a number of detailed questions emerged. For example, did inclusive growth mean an improvement in the level of standard of living for the poor, or did it mean that the standard of living for the poor needed to be faster than the average for the middle and upper income groups? To what extent did the word "inclusive" apply to the broader middle-class as well as the poor? Does inclusive growth refer to income that includes government transfers, or only to income earned in the market? Does inclusive growth include only private income, or does it also refer to improved provision of government services like education, health services, sanitation and water, or reliable electricity? Should the "inclusiveness" of growth be understood at least partially in terms of institutions for democratic representation and governance? These different concepts of inclusive growth have different policy implications. While it's easy to feel an attraction to the concept of inclusive growth, it's not clear that it offers a growth formula that works. After all, for many low-income countries around the world, it hasn't seemed that their choice was between "inclusive growth" or "noninclusive growth," but rather they were just struggling to have meaningful growth of any kind. There's no question that the conceptual problems with "inclusive growth" are severe. Rememver, the Ramieri and Ramos working paper is written for what is called the International Policy Center for Inclusive Growth (which in turn seems to be a joint venture between the UN Development Programme and the Brazilian government), and the writers nonetheless conclude: "[G]overnments and multilateral development institutions speak of inclusive growth and devise and label objectives, strategies and policies accordingly. But there is no clarity about what is actually meant by inclusive growth; definitions vary and tend to be vague. In general, what seems to be implied is that inclusive growth involves improving the lot of underprivileged people in particular and overall making opportunities more plentiful while lessening barriers to the attainment of better living conditions. But exactly what these entail and whether and how they are interconnected is not made clear. As the meaning of inclusiveness determines policy objectives, while it remains unclear, so do the objectives to be sought in designing policies aimed at promoting inclusive growth." But despite the conceptual confusion, it seems to me that the terminology of "inclusive growth" does capture some important themes. The great problem of economic development is we cannot yet enunciate any compact list of government policies that reliably leads to a growth miracle. Indeed, given the many different circumstances of nations and economies, it may be that no single list exists, and that instead each country must diagnose which economic or institutional constraints are holding it back. Or it may even be that such diagnosis is too faulty to be reliable, and the best a a country can do is to work on basics like education, health, physical infrastructure, rule of law, and hope for best. But when thinking about either the inputs to the development process or the outputs of the process, the inclusive growth concept can offer a useful reminder. When thinking about policies to encourage development, it's a reminder that steps which help lower-income people in a direct way are worthwhile, not only because they might help to bring about economic growth but because benefiting those with lower incomes is beneficial in itself. In the general category of policies to help people in a direct way, I would include not just vaccinations and schooling and nutrition, but also policies that help people overcome the hurdles to starting a small business, or that allow people to monitor how public officials are spending money. When judging the results of development efforts, it's a useful reminder to look beyond the images of a huge and flash project like a dam, highway, factory, or mine, and consider the extent to which the project improved the day-to-day lives of lower-income people--whether through jobs and wages or through more affordable goods and services. To steal a phrase from Ranieri and Ramos, the inclusive growth agenda is to search for a "constructive interaction of declining poverty and inequality and economic growth." That may be an insufficient agenda for economic development, in and of itself, but keep the potential for such constructive interactions in mind is surely worthwhile. CARSON CITY August is Child Support Awareness Month, recognizing the critical role child support plays in childrens lives and applauding those parents who provide financial support to their children. Special events are scheduled around the Silver State. The Elko County District Attorneys Office, Child Support Enforcement will sponsor a booth at the annual Womens Expo on Saturday at the Elko Convention Center. Established through proclamation by former President Bill Clinton, August 2016 celebrates the 41st anniversary of the national child support program and the 21st anniversary of National Child Support Awareness Month. To commemorate Child Support Awareness Month, Gov. Brian Sandoval has issued a proclamation commending Nevadas responsible parents and child support professionals for the hard work and dedication necessary to make a difference in the lives of children and families. Jenelle Gimlin, chief of the Nevada Child Support Enforcement Program, said, The mission of Nevadas child support program is to encourage responsible parenting, family self-sufficiency and child well-being and to recognize the essential role of both parents in supporting their children. The success of our states program is evidenced by the more than $211 million collected in state fiscal year 2016 by our child support professionals for more than 95,000 families. The importance of child support was aptly summarized by President Clinton in his 1995 proclamation when he said, Providing for our children is one of humanitys worthiest and most fundamental endeavors. Children are the best part of ourselves the sum of our past and the promise of our future. The Nevada Child Support Enforcement Program is a partnership of state and county agencies working in conjunction with the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. For more information about child support services visit https://dwss.nv.gov/Support. ALEXANDRIA, Va. There is probably not one element of starting a business that is more discussedand debatedthan the company name. For convenience retailers, that challenge is even more pronounced because they operate in an industry with more than 90,000 companies. And since everyone knows that convenience stores are quick (or kwik, qik, or quik) and easy, how can someone find a name that sets the store apart? The latest NACS Convenience Matters podcast discusses naming strategies with communications professional and author Michael Klein, whos also written about the topic for NACS Magazine. The episode, Whats in a Name?, can be downloaded on iTunes by searching for Convenience Matters. It also is available at nacsonline.com/podcasts. There is an entire industry of naming experts who suggest both a process to define a business and a few names that they said were perfect for the industry. And, youll hear about the pitfalls of a bad name, such as the dreadful name initially proposed for Google that likely would have hampered its growth and success, said program co-host Jeff Lenard. A new NACS Convenience Matters podcast is released every week. Weve pointed out that long-term investors like pension funds and life insurers are in an impossible position thanks to negative real and increasingly nominal risk-free rates, and the resulting pervasive underpricing of risky investments as investors hunt desperately for return. Even worse, central bank actions, starting with doing as much as possible to preserve status quo ante, meaning banks, at the expense of taxpayers and borrowers who were hit hard by the crisis, is increasingly producing political instability. As David Llewllyn-Smith pointed out in a recent post: I see an environment in which Black Swan events become more frequent and more extreme as political event risk overtakes the delicate machinery of financial globalisation: The first point to make about asset allocations in this emerging environment is that it is as much higher risk of asymmetric shocks than the decades that preceded it. Thus the strategic narrative for allocations should reflect that risk. In general terms that will mean: avoid leveraged and illiquid assets; safe haven assets will trade at a premium, and cash and cash-like instruments should occupy a much larger percentage allocation than in the past. Mind you, shocks like the Brexit vote were not Black Swan events. Taleb was referring to what Donald Rumsfeld called unknown unknowns. But as the Brexit results demonstrated, investors were and remain complacent about political fractures, since they live in 1%/0.1% cocoons. That means those risks are underpriced and asset values can and will move abruptly when the peasants revolt. But the life insurers latest grasping for return looks none too bright even before you allow for political-fracture-induced downsides. From a Bloomberg story late last week: The largest U.S. banks are constrained by post-2008 rules that make it tougher for them to extend loans. So companies such as MetLife Inc. and American International Group Inc. are grasping more market share. While many insurers have been in the commercial real-estate market for decades, the industry is branching out into home mortgages, small-business lending, car loans, renewable-energy financing and student debt. Insurers are becoming the new financial supermarkets in part because traditional investments offer minuscule returns 10-year U.S. Treasury notes yield less than 1.6 percent while some European sovereign debt is negative, meaning investors pay to park their money there. And pushing into more aggressive investments, such as hedge funds, tied up too much capital and resulted in losses in recent quarters. The article has more than a wee bit of spin in it. The largest U.S. banks are constrained by post-2008 rules that make it tougher for them to extend loans actually means Banks revealed themselves to be pretty bad at assessing risk, so Uncle Sam implemented some rules designed to force them to be less reckless. And Ive seen that financial supermarket strategy touted repeatedly by consultants bearing PowerPoint since the 1980s. Its pretty much never worked out well. Ask poster children Merrill and Citigroup. So do we have any basis for thinking insurers, who are generally viewed as dumber money than banks (and look, how the one supposedly smart one, AIG, blew itself up) will be better at this gam than banks? Historically, on the credit side, theyve stuck mainly with bonds or commercial real estate, which in theory can be analyzed reasonably well (you look at the terms of the leases and when they roll off), to venture where banks have been required to pull back? The answer is no, because theyd be starting from zero in many of these areas in developing underwriting skills. Again from Bloomberg: While insurers are viewed as safe lenders because they can deploy funds for a long time and dont have to worry about depositors withdrawing money at a moments notice, they may not have the loan-underwriting expertise of longtime lenders, said Yariv Itah, an asset-management adviser at Deloitte Consulting Theres the risk of not knowing exactly how to do this, Itah said. So whenever you have an investor wading into a new area of investing, theres some operational risk. And on top of that, the timing for loading up on risk looks poor. In mid-July, the Comptroller of the Currency flagged commercial real estate loans as the biggest risk for banks. From the Financial Times: A top US regulator has sounded a new alert over banks commercial real estate lending, adding to concerns that bubbles may be forming in parts of the countrys property market. Thomas Curry, comptroller of the currency, used the watchdogs twice-yearly report on financial risks published on Monday to warn about looser underwriting standards and concentrations in banks CRE portfolios. CRE loans originated by banks in the first quarter leapt by 44 per cent from the same period in 2015, according to Morgan Stanley. Banks share of CRE originations has risen from just over a third in 2014 to more than half in the first quarter of 2016 a record Our exams found looser underwriting standards with less-restrictive covenants, extended maturities, longer interest-only periods, limited guarantor requirements, and deficient-stress testing practices. Banks have pushed into CRE as other lenders notably capital market investors have retreated from the market. Issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities has dropped to four-year lows. So contrary to Bloomberg, its not even true that banks are retreating from this area. Mid and smaller sized banks are moving in, just as the insurers are, as securitizers are backing off. That presumably means cooler headed bond investors can see the market is toppy, but other players are rushing in to fill the void, and with loose to non-existant covenants to boot. The Office of the Controller of the Currency, in that same report, echoed existing warnings about auto loans, another area targeted by insurers. From CNN: A top banking regulator warned that the $1 trillion car loan industry has gotten more dangerous. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency cited unprecedented growth in auto loans, rising delinquencies and shrinking used car values. The banking watchdog also pointed to cutthroat competition among banks, which has led them to relax underwriting standards. Still, the report echoes concerns raised by others about auto loans, especially the lower-quality ones known as subprime. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) boss Jamie Dimon said at a recent industry conference that auto lending looks stretched even though his bank has been careful about issuing them. Earlier this year, Fitch Ratings pointed out that the rate of seriously delinquent subprime car loans has climbed to the highest level since 1996. Funny, that cutthroat competition again is at odds with insurer PR that they are targeting underserved markets. But again, as much as this reaching for return is almost certain to end in tears, the ultimate responsibility lies with the likes of Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi, who are certain never to be held to account. New Fossil Evidence Supports Theory First Mass Extinction Engineered By Early Animals Eurasia Review (furzy) Expert to Rio athletes: Dont put your head under water Washington Post (Dan K) Trade groups, AT&T urge U.S. court to reverse net neutrality rules Reuters GSK and Google parent forge $715 million bioelectronic medicines firm Reuters (furzy) Brexit Britains scientists are freaking out over Brexit Washington Post EU: Relaunch or die Enrico Letta, Politico European Prisons Fueling Spread of Islamic Radicalism Wall Street Journal China? What Startup India? Modi government let nationalist trolls sabotage one of the countrys biggest startups Quartz (Dan K) India Provides Emergency Food To 10,000 Workers Laid Off And Starving In Saudi Arabia Eurasia Review (furzy) Ford Australia commences shutdown MacroBusiness Syraqistan Imperial Collapse Watch False Flags Fluttering in the Empires Hot Air Unz Review (LI). IMHO Saker overstates his case. First, Ive long predicted that we would not see any organized revolt as conditions got worse for ordinary people, but more individuals lashing out in lone acts of violence. Second, theres also a strong literature of copy cat crimes after one gets publicity. This is particularly true of suicides: theres a spike of deaths, actual suicides and accidents that are possible/probable suicides in the 10 days after a publicized suicidein the demographic similar to the person who died, meaning people who identify with him. Third, in an urban setting (buildings with sound-reflective surfaces), its typically hard to identify where gunshots are coming from, making it common to think there are more shooters than there really are. Not sayin this isnt a hypothesis worth considering, but Im loath to treat it as more than than. 2016 1,000 mass shootings in 1,260 days: this is what Americas gun crisis looks like Guardian (furzy) Black Injustice Tipping Point Growing Oil Glut Shows Investors Theres Nowhere to Go But Down Bloomberg (resilc) Multi-manager hedge funds suffer losses in first-half 2016 Reuters (furzy) CalPERS is well prepared for markets ups and downs Robert Feckner, Sacramento Bee. Feckner is the President of the Board of Administration, and this op ed was almost certainly drafted by CalPERS staff. Those of you who take issue with Feckners cheery reading,(calling Jim Haygood!) might e-mail Feckner and try educating him. Central bankers have put long term investors, not just CalPERS, in a lose-lose situation: continued super low rates will kill them, and raising rates will kill them even faster. Please ping Feckner at rob.feckner@calpers.ca.gov Open government lawsuits against city, pension fund cost taxpayers more than $2 million Jacksonville.com. Remember Robert Klausner, CalPERS fiduciary counsel hired with a very unsavory past, including running a pay to play seminar business that is more lucrative than his official client business, and being the guy responsible for all those $200,000 a year police pension funds you read about? Those are to endear him forevah to the one or two police and fire pension fund administrators that hire him. Klausner was responsible for running up this $2 million tab by telling his client to fight a FOIA. And they were already the most underfunded public pension fund in the state, yet among other things, he as general counsel approved of superfunding the special pension fund for execs and trustees, as well as hiding the very existence of the special fund from the city for decades. Man Group AUM Dips to $76.4B as First Half Volatility Hits Home FINalternatives (furzy) Carlyles Rubenstein to Help Harvard Invest After Years of Underperformance PEU Report. This after years of Carlyle having AUM shrinkage? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts This Boring Service Is Suddenly a Big Concern for Treasurys Wall Street Journal. Notice the lack of explanation as to why JP Morgan withdrew. Youd think they would have beefed about regulations, as Dimon is wont to do if that were the driver. So it must have been deemed to be too low margin, but weirdly no one is willing to say that. Or maybe those pesky IT systems were getting a bit too creaky, and JPM didnt want to be caught out or have to invest more? Why Growth Will Fall New York Review of Books (resilc) The Fragile U.S. Economy Now Facing a Slowdown in Building Boom Bloomberg (resilc) Class Warfare Antidote du jour (martha r): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Scotland has taken upon itself to back a measure passed by Labour that new Prime Minster Theresa May is ignoring, even though, as I read it, it is currently standing law. From the Scotland Herald (hat tip Phil U): SNP ministers are set to reverse one of Theresa Mays key legacies by imposing a legal duty on public bodies to test their policies against their impact on reducing inequality. The new Prime Minister, shortly after she became Home Secretary, branded legislation passed by Labour in the dying days of Gordon Browns government ridiculous and refused to implement it, saying it would be scrapped for good. However, it is to be resurrected by the Scottish Government, with the administration confirming a commitment to reintroduce the so-called socio-economic duty north of the border during the current Holyrood term. The law, part of the Equality Act, sets out a legal duty on key public bodies, including government and local authorities, to ensure they consider the impact that their strategic decisions will have on narrowing class inequalities. Ms May has attacked the proposal, championed by former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, as ridiculous as it was simplistic, saying it was better to pursue equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome. This requirement seems like a nifty idea. It does not require that legislation address inequality, merely that government offices assess the impact of what they are doing in terms of lowering inequality. This does not require them to do anything differently, but does shed light on that aspect of their operations, which in turn opens it up to public debate and the possibility of the legislature intervening if it does not like the results, or if the policies are revealed to be producing unintended bad consequences. Its also telling that such a mild challenge to neoliberal orthodoxy elicited such a vehement reaction from May. If you had any doubts about her bona fides as a neo-Thatcherite, this should settle them. And the SNP jumped on that issue. From the story: A party spokesman said: The fact that the new Prime Minister called a policy aimed at reducing inequality ridiculous shows exactly where her priorities lie and raises questions about how serious she is in her comments of recent days about tackling inequality. Given that Scotland is taking up this idea, its fair game as a policy demand in the US, particularly since the Scottish initiative can be improved upon as they gain experience. Oh, wait, the US is exceptional, so we dont learn from the experience of other countries, like the success of single payer. Silly me. Never mind. Separately, and Id be curious to get the reaction of readers in the UK, there seems to be a tit-for-tat dynamic developing between May and foreign leaders on multiple fronts, which looks in large measure to be Brexit being seen as tantamount to a declaration of war. Admittedly, May started with the shocker of appointing Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, which was followed by Nicola Sturgeon arguing she had a veto over Brexit (which appears to be an inaccurate reading), and the EU appointing very seasoned negotiators: Didier Seeuws by the European Council, and Michel Barnier by the European Commission. As we wrote, UK officials reacted to Barniers designation with dismay, since hes been a torn in the banks side in post-crisis regulatory talks. So it will take a lot of work to get Brexit talks on a constructive footing, particularly since the initial gambits look to be increasing animosity. Yves here. This Real News Network interview gives you the opportunity to see guest poster John Helmer in action. Here, he elaborates on a recent, important article in which he describes an upcoming meeting between Erdogan and Putin as having the potential to lead to much more cooperation between Russia and Turkey, which would represent a significant geopolitical shift. Real News Network is also in the middle of a fundraiser, so please take the time to make a donation. Even a small one helps. SHARMINI PERIES, TRNN: Its the Real News Network. Im Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore. A possible new alliance between Russia and Turkey must be unsettling for the U.S. and for NATO. The presidents of Russia and Turkey have agreed to meet in St. Petersburg on August 9 to repair relations at a time when tensions between Turkey and NATO are increasing. The other day, U.S. General Curtis Scaparotti, who is the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said, and I quote: We will watch closely how the relationship develops, and I would be concerned if they were departing from the values that are the bedrock of the Washington treaty, meaning NATO, the rule of law. The budding Russia-Turkey alliance represents an important development, because until now, Turkey has always been a steadfast member of NATO. However, following the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, President Erdogans and his allied politicians have suggested that the U.S. might have been involved in the coup attempt, while that is hard to verify at this time. Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry has criticized Erdogans post-coup crackdown, which has led to over 1,000 arrests of officers, tens of thousands of dismissals of government employees, and the shutdown of over 130 media outlets. Now that Russia and Turkey might become allies, it could signal an important geopolitical shift in the region, if Russia succeeds in peeling away Turkey from NATO. It would change the regional dynamics of the war in Syria, and of course, geopolitics altogether. With us to discuss this development is John Helmer. John is the longest continuous serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only Western journalist to conduct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. An American who has served in Jimmy Carters White House, and then as an adviser to Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, he publishes his own widely-syndicated website, Dances With Bears. He joins us today from Moscow. Thank you so much for joining us today, John. JOHN HELMER: Thank you. PERIES: So, John, the relationship obviously is changing dynamically between Turkey and Russia. Give us a sense of what is taking place that you think is historically significant. And here Im making reference to your article that you have recently published. HELMER: Well, perhaps if I begin by saying its essential, if youre outside of Russia, to understand that Russia, like everywhere else, is concerned to secure its own borders and its own strategic priorities. And securing Russia from terrorism and attempts at the border to threaten the countrys survival, those are the first things that Russias been thinking of and that normal states think of at all times. Turkey has threatened Russia in a number of ways, as has NATO threatened Russia increasingly over the last two years, to the point where Russia finds itself at war on several fronts. Lets call it the Ukraine front, lets call it the southern or Syrian front. Active military conflicts in which Russia is threatened and in which the U.S., the NATO alliance, including Turkey, have deployed forces which threaten Russia indirectly and directly. So while I understand many people see things the other way around, they think Russia is threatening the rest of the world, Russia sees the rest of the world, particularly NATO and Turkey, threatening Russia. So if we begin with the way Russians think then you can begin to understand how Russian policy approaches a country like Turkey. PERIES: Now, in your article that you have published on your website, you suggest that Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has been plotting not only against Russia and Syria, but also against Turkey, that her actions have resulted in Turkey looking for new allies. Explain that for us. HELMER: Ms. Nuland has been plottedshes not the only official to be plotting like thisplotted the overthrow of President Yanukovych in the Ukraine, plotted the overthrow of President Yanukovych in the Ukraine in February of 2014, with the result that Ukraine is in a state of constant civil war, with the result that the border between Ukraine and Russia is a conflict zone with immeasurable human damage; refugees flowing into Russia and towards the West; with the result that Crimea decided to accede to and join the Russian federation. The effects of the Ukraine war, for which Ms. Nuland and her colleagues were directly responsible, has also cost the lives of the people on board H17 Malaysia Airlines. Your listeners, the audience can understand very well how much damage that particular war has caused. And Ms. Nuland is one of the individuals personally responsible. Her bureau covers Turkey and most of Europe as well as Russia, so Russia feels and has experienced her scheming and plotting for regime change in a number of other countries, as well as, of course, Russia, because regime change in Russia is the stated policy of U.S. sanctions against so-called cronies of the president of Russia. Ms. Nuland has also been applying enormous pressure on the Cyprus government to accept a settlement of the Turkish invasion of 1974, which still leaves Turkish troops occupying about 1/3 of Cyprus, the northern part of the island. What to do? What to say? This story goes on and on. Her involvement with Turkey has largely been one of attempting to get the Turks to sign up to various regime-changing schemes to the north of Turkey, to the west of Turkey, and to some extent to the east of Turkey. But thats beyond Ms. Nulands bureaus area of operations. PERIES: Now, in terms of what interest Russia has in all of this, obviously its pursuing economic interests at this point with the downed oil prices. It is feeling strangled in terms of the economic crisis in Russia, and of course Turkey is having similar constraints on its economy. So obviously opening up relations and having trade reestablished and getting rid of some of the embargoes that were placed after Turkeys downing of the Russian aircraft, and so on is of course, thats obvious in terms of whats at play. But whats really the interest of Russia pursuing this relationship further? HELMER: The interests of Russia first and foremost is to reduce the amount of border threat, missile threat, wall threat, from the Turkish side towards Russia. In addition, Russias concerned that Turkey has been involved in overthrowing the Syrian government. Thats been Turkish policy for some time. To that end, Turkey has encouraged the flow of jihadis, fighters, Daesh, ISIS, ISILthe names are numerous, the meaning is clearto fly, to fight in Syria. But Turkeys also the base for the Chechen terrorist movement seeking to overthrow and cause disruption all across Russia. Turkeys a major Chechen base. So neutralizing and ending the Turkish relationship with the Chechen secession, the Chechen terrorist movement, thats a very important goal of Russian policy, and its more important to Russia than reducing Turkish involvement in Syria [inaud.] though. Theyre too intimately connected. PERIES: Now, one very interesting thing that you cite in your article is that you emphasize the new relationship between Russia and Turkey is of historical significance, and even you compare it to the Ottoman alliance with the Russian empire against Napoleon. Give us a sense, a brief history, here, in terms of what all that means. HELMER: This is a television program. Im not sure I can. PERIES: Give us a rundown of the significance of this alliance now. HELMER: Well, perhaps if I say it this way. Russias been at war with Turkey for several generations. And to the extent that Turkey has been an active member of the NATO alliance, but the only member of the NATO alliance allowed by NATO to invade and occupy another country, thats to say, Cyprus, to the extent that Greece is constantly threatened by Turkish military action in the air and on the sea. Turkey is one of the most unusual members of, and most aggressive, members of NATO in its own neighborhood. These things are not new, historically. This region, fromduring the Byzantine empire, during the ancient Roman and Greek periods, these regions, this region is one of constant change and tactical alliance for the advantages of the states and ethnic groups and militaries in each. When Ive tried to describe the potential significance of the change in Turkish policy, I should also explain and emphasize that were talking about potential, here. Its very unusual for Turkey to appear to be changing its commitments with respect to NATO, and therefore changing its hostile action towards Russia. Shooting down the SU24 last November was a calculated act of war. The excuses, justifications, geography, territorial stuff, all unconvincing. And beside the obvious fact that it was an act of war, it was an act of war in a context of other acts of warfare. Ive mentioned the Chechen secession attempt, Chechen terrorism, that moves from Turkey northwards into Russia and into the Russian Caucasus, and moves from Turkey southwards into Syria. All of these things are threatening, and if it turns out that the newly revised policy of the Turkish state is not to threaten southwards, northwards, or westwards, then this has revolutionary implications. The history of disappointment, the history of Turkish expansion, the history of warfare between Russia and Turkey, this only tells you thatthe best lesson I suppose I could try to sum up from a couple of thousand years of this historyis that Turkey is an expansionist state that has threatened its neighbors. I know that people in the United States and NATO like to think of Russia as an expansionist state. They like to think of NATO as a defensive system against Russian expansion. Russia thinks that NATO is expanding against Russia. So any move that Turkey makes thats different from the way its behaved for the last 50 years is potentially revolutionary in character. But I have to stress its potential. Theres been no shortage of trade investment relationships, tourism between Russia and Turkey, since the end of the Soviet Union. Everybody understands that. All of that ended with the shootdown of the aircraft last November. It can all be restored. It can be increased. Or it can be put on a slow track of development. Trade, investment, the movement of gas and energy, all of these things can be advanced, accelerated, or slowed down. But at bottom, what were talking about is: does Turkey seriously intend to threaten less? Threaten its neighbors to the south, to the north, and to the west. Thats the key question. And thats the question that Presidents Erdogan and Putin will have to demonstrate to each other and to the rest of the world that theyre focusing on next Tuesday. PERIES: Now, John, I imagine not too much gets by the Russian intelligence and secret service. What do we know about what they knew about the coup attempt in Turkey? HELMER: Typically we can only guess what intelligence agencies knew. And in situations as confused to the Turkish forces on both sides as they were on July 15 and 16, in situations as confusing as that youve got to expect that intelligence agencies are also in confusion as to whats happening. Youll have seen that the NATO website called Bellingcat has produced, what they claim to have been intercepted, [inaud.] conversations between Turkish majors, lieutenants, lieutenant-colonels and colonels, engaged in the activity of the night of Friday, July 15 in Istanbul. Maybe its as unreliable as everything else Bellingcat produces. Maybe its an accurate account. But one thing it establishes: what happened was confusing to those participating in it. In addition, there werent as many forces engaged as there needed to be to make their coup successful. They failed. Third, you can expect that Russian intelligence was listening and monitoring the military signals that, electronic communications like the telephone, as were British intelligence, U.S. intelligence, and everybody else with the capability to listen in electronically. So everybody was listening in. That doesnt necessarily mean that they were helping either side. Either the U.S. side, the Brits, the Israelis, or anyone else, can be accused of helping one side or the other for doing their job, which was watching and listening and trying to understand. I dont believe, and nor do any of my sources believe, Russian military surveillance, like the other countries in surveillance, helped move the coup in any direction whatsoever. They simply listened in. And if Bellingcat, a NATO agency, can produce todayyesterday or the day beforevivid transcripts of people talking about whats to be done and where to go, and how to coordinate when they werent able to coordinate themselves in one service, let alone between the army and the airif that shows confusion, I think its safe to say the intelligence agencies watching were also watching confusion and confused themselves. And you can see from the political statements that were madeMr. Kerry was in Moscow that evening. It took hours and hours before President Obama made a statement. Everybody was watching to see what would happen and who would emerge the winner. PERIES: Thats very interesting. I didnt know that John Kerry was in Moscow at that time. HELMER: He and Ms. Nuland were having negotiations with Foreign Minister Lavrov on Thursday-Friday. Ms. Nuland had been in Cyprus and the Balkans during the days preceding. To go back to the question of revolution, meaning change of power, change of policy, this is obviously a huge issue, a question for the Cypriots, as well as for the Greeks, are most affected targets of Turkish expansion after the Syrians, at the moment. PERIES: John, thank you for joining us today. Many revelations here which we would like to follow up on in the near future. Thank you so much. HELMER: I hope so. Thank you. Bye. PERIES: And thank you for joining us on the Real News Network. Yves here. This is an important and accessible post on another bad Eurozone idea that might be implemented, that of a scheme for the orderly restructuring of sovereign debt. While idea of having some parameters and processes in place is a good one, the program under consideration is fatally flawed. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote about this topic earlier based on the stinging dissent by one of the members of the German Council of Economic Advisors. From our post on his article: Evans-Pritchards story appears to have been placed by Peter Bofinger, who is apparently a lone and loud dissenter on the five-member German Council of Economic Advisers to the sovereign bail-in plan. From the Telegraph: A new German plan to impose haircuts on holders of eurozone sovereign debt risks igniting an unstoppable European bond crisis and could force Italy and Spain to restore their own currencies, a top adviser to the German government has warned. The German Council has called for a sovereign insolvency mechanism even though this overturns the financial principles of the post-war order in Europe, deeming such a move necessary to restore the credibility of the no-bailout clause in the Maastricht Treaty. Under the scheme, bondholders would suffer losses in any future sovereign debt crisis before there can be any rescue by the eurozone bail-out fund (ESM). It is asking for trouble, said Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist for the Italian Treasury and now at LC Macro Advisors. This sovereign bail-in matches the contentious bail-in rule for bank bondholders, which came into force in January and has contributed to the drastic sell-off in eurozone bank assets this year. Prof Bofinger wrote a separate opinion warning that the plan could become self-fulfilling all too quickly, setting off a bond run as investors dump their holdings to avoid a haircut. Italy, Portugal and Spain would be powerless to defend themselves since they no longer have their own monetary instruments. These countries risk being hit by a dangerous confidence crisis, he said. Yves here. Bofingers warning was based on the assumption that the next move would be for countries like Italy and Portugal to introduce their own currencies pronto. But as we discussed at length (see here, here, and here for some examples), it will take years to convert to a new currency, thanks to systems requirements, most of which are not under the control of the government wanting to make the conversion. In the case of Greece, as we saw in its two-week bank holiday, the lack of access to international payments systems hit key imports tourism, food and pharmaceuticals hard and would have soon started affecting fuel imports. Greece is not self-sufficient in food. Italy may be, but does it have the staying power to function as an autarky for 3+ years? (Yes, IT experts who know the relevant systems estimated three years was the minimum amount of time to execute a conversion smoothly. No planning, meaning trying to manage an emergency while you are also trying to deal with the systems issues, would almost certainly be worse). So the fact that the Eurozone is a roach motel may be why the Germans think they can push their plan through. But in tightly-coupled systems, measures to reduce risk actually wind up increasing it. And bail-ins dont just fail to reduce risk, because they shift it from taxpayers to investors. They increase it by putting in place an automatic procedure. Now that procedure may wind up being suspended in practice. But if it is believed to operate in an automated manner, parties will move to get out of its way when it is in danger of kicking in, creating runs. In this case, unlike Bofinger, I dont think this will cause exits. It will cause funding crises at Eurozone states and bank runs, since bank guarantees are primarily at the national level and the second-level of Eurozone-wide guarantees is thin and only in the process of being funded. And thats before you get to the immediate tight-coupling factor: this mechanism would lead to haircuts of sovereign debt sitting on bank balance sheets. Worse, imposing losses on banks is a feature, not a bug. You can read more here. By Charles Wyplosz, Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute, Geneva. Originally published at VoxEU The German Council of Economic Advisers has mooted an interesting proposal to deal with excessive public debts in the Eurozone (Andritzky et al. 2016a, 2016b). This is a major remaining gap in the Eurozone, which governments would prefer to keep ignoring. Although the authors should be commended for bringing it up, their proposal suffers from some inherent weaknesses. It is obviously essential to prevent another Greek PSI, which was so long in coming that most private lenders escaped scot-free, pushing the debt into public hands and thus reducing the scope of the operation while burdening helpless taxpayers. It is also crucially important to rebuild the no-bailout clause, which requires that member states be able to restructure their debts if they cannot serve them anymore. This is why the IMF has put forward its own policy principles; so indeed, the genie is now out of the bottle. The proposal suffers from two logical errors. Its two-step procedure first, extend debt maturity; second, trigger a debt restructuring is justified by the familiar distinction between illiquidity and insolvency. Like many others, the authors accept this distinction as it applied to governments. However, it has long been recognised, that insolvency does not apply to governments (Eaton et al. 1986, Bulow and Rogoff 1989). One reason is that legal rights are fuzzy. Another reason is that it is not even clear how one can compute the present value of future public spending and receipts, not to mention how to evaluate the value of public assets. In fact, governments are never insolvent. One can ask instead whether honouring public debts is economically sensible and whether it is politically feasible. But that is a value judgement, not a formal assessment. A third reason is that illiquidity and insolvency are not separate concepts in a world of multiple equilibria, which characterise debt crises. It follows that a sovereign debt crisis requires a single step. For this step to be successful, it is highly desirable that sovereign debt instruments include a collective action clause of the kind advocated by the authors, in line with much of the literature, going back at least to Krueger (2002). The key insight here is what we now call bail-in, namely, that debt-holders be forced to accept losses. Herein lies the second logical error. As long as public debts are held largely by domestic creditors (including banks), governments will have to deal with the losses, one way or another. In particular, banks may fail and need to be bailed out, which implies that a significant chunk of forgiven debt will resurface promptly as new public debt. This is what Brunnermeier (2011) has called the doom loop between governments and domestic banks. The proposal does not consider this lethal problem. The proposal also suffers from several weaknesses. To start with, decisions are guided by arbitrary thresholds. This is already a major weakness of the Stability and Growth Pact (successive revisions have tried to move away from the 3% deficit ceiling and the 60% debt ceiling was obsolete by the time the euro was launched). As the authors note, rules that are not enforced undermine incentives to obey them. Arbitrary thresholds are especially problematic when the decisions are to be taken by unelected officials, which is the case of the EMS. The proposal implicitly tried to alleviate this weakness but allowing for bands instead of single targets, but the result is to worsen the situation as it gives more discretion to the EMS. The stated intention is to establish a rules-based process which is commendable but the rules must be both robust and economically justified which they are not. Two other major weaknesses concern the second stage. The depth of the restructuring is to be set by the EMS on the basis of debt sustainability analysis (DSA). The IMF has developed DSA, only to discover its arbitrariness, exemplified during the early phases of the Greek crisis. Note first that this procedure refers to sustainability, not solvency a nod to the inadequacy of this concept, as mentioned above. Yet, DSA does not avoid the problem of assessing future incomes and receipts of a government. Present value calculations are remarkably sensitive to slight variations in assumptions concerning interest and growth rates over the long run (Wyplosz 2011). Well aware of this difficulty, the IMF increasingly presents its DSA calculations as an exploration of their relationship to the assumptions. The implication is that the EMS would have to make a decision on the basis of superficial calculations, deepening the difficulty of relying on delegating decisions to unelected officials. This is compounded by the fact that debt restructuring involves massive income transfers. This is the other weakness only elected officials can make such decisions. Because the only elected officials that we have are governments and their parliaments, debt restructuring must be a national decision. The IMF procedure is to negotiate debt restructuring with national governments, requesting that it officially be their decisions. This may be what the authors have in mind, but then they should carefully spell out the procedure. In the end, the proposal makes the case strongly that collective action clauses should be applied not just to the financing of deficits, but also to maturing debt refloating. Under the first approach, the volume of debts subject to the clause will be kept insufficient for far too long. Otherwise, the proposal recycles well-established ideas but imbeds them in an original setup that suffers from grave limitations. In addition, they refrain from alternative proposals (Paris and Wyplosz 2014, Corsetti et al. 2015) that aim to deal with excessively large debts as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the next crisis. Waiting for trouble is the strategy of choice of policymakers, fiercely defended by the German government. The proposal serves to strengthen a strategy that is politically expedient but economically dangerous. See original post for references Microscope becomes gauge to measure forces between crystals (Nanowerk News) All materials found in nature even the most perfect diamond contain defects, since the atoms inside them are never arranged in perfect order. Such structural disorder causes complex force distributions throughout the material. Measuring these forces is critical to understanding the materials behavior, but these force measurements have been impossible to perform through conventional techniques, which only determine average responses to stress. A research team led by associate professor Itai Cohen and professor James Sethna, both of physics, has proposed a new method to measure such forces within colloidal materials. Colloids are made up of micron-sized spheres that are small enough to undergo random motions and crystalize just like atoms. However, they are large enough, and move slowly enough, to be optically imaged. Using their new method, the scientists have determined the forces surrounding defects in crystals. Their measurements open the door to understanding how the bulk mechanics of these crystals arise from defect interactions. Their work is reported in the Aug. 1 edition of Nature Materials ("Highly cooperative stress relaxation in two-dimensional soft colloidal crystals"). Neil Y.C. Lin and Matthew Bierbaum, both physics graduate students, are co-lead authors of the study. Peter Schall, professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, also contributed to the work. The group developed a technique called stress assessment from local structural anisotropy, or SALSA, which transforms a high-speed confocal microscope into a sort of pressure gauge. The microscope images the suspension structure and locates all the particle positions in 3-D. The group uses the particles positions to determine how likely they are to collide. The more collisions a particle feels from a given neighbor, the more force is exerted from that neighbors direction. You take an image of the particles, and from that image, you can figure out what all the forces are on each particle, Cohen said. This procedure allows us to determine the force distribution in the entire suspension, on the single-particle scale. Thats interesting for understanding how defects in crystals interact with one another. With this powerful tool, the research team for the first time was able to clearly visualize the force field due to local compressions and distortions arising from vacancies, due to missing particles, or grain boundaries between misaligned crystalline domains. Before SALSA, such force fields have been primarily studied using theory and simulations. SALSA has allowed us to measure nonlinear responses right near the defect core, which have not been captured by previous theories, Lin said. This discovery, he added, helps to better understand the interactions between defects when they are close to one another, which directly determines how hard and resilient a crystal can be. SALSA also works for measuring stresses found in liquids and glasses, which are inherently disordered compared with a solid, which has a preferred resting state. Our technique only cares about the particle positions, not how much theyre distorted relative to some other position, Cohen said. July 31 Jayli C. Acquistapace, 22, of Elko was arrested at 3118 Fortworth Ave. for domestic battery. Bail: $3,140 Audrey Benavides, 18, of Elko was arrested at College Avenue and Ruby Vista Drive for a minor purchasing or consuming an alcoholic beverage on premises where sold. Bail: $355 Jason L. Bill, 32, of Spring Creek was arrested at 1660 Mountain City Highway for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. No bail listed. Merle V. Blair, 68, of West Kelowna, British Columbia, was arrested for trespassing and resisting a public official. Bail: $1,332 Marilynn T. Chowning, 22, of Elko was arrested at 345 Fourth St. for failure to appear on a traffic citation. Bail: $655 Elizabeth M. Hauk, 41, of Elko was arrested at 2065 Idaho St. for battery. Bail: $1,140 Craig M. Tybo, 28, of Wells was arrested at 1801 Lake Ave. for assault with a deadly weapon and second-offense domestic battery. Bail: $25,140 (NaturalNews) The United States government has long employed undercover agents to conduct investigative work, but in the past these practices were generally limited to law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.It has been revealed recently, however, that more than 40 federal agencies are now conducting their own undercover operations, and it may come as a surprise to many people just how widespread the practice has become.For example, the Agriculture Department has more than 100 undercover agents who pose as food stamp recipients in an effort to catch those involved in fraud. The Supreme Court employs undercover agents to pose as protesters during demonstrations, and the IRS sends agents into the field to catch tax evaders.In fact, these various agencies are currently employing undercover agents who pose as -- according to-- "business people, welfare recipients, political protesters and even doctors or ministers."Observers are concerned that the increased number of undercover operations will lead to civil liberties abuses and entrapment issues, as well as many other problems.Asarticle reports, these operations have already "resulted in hidden problems, with money gone missing, investigations compromised and agents sometimes left largely on their own for months."The increase in undercover operations is partly due to heightened security concerns since the 911 attacks, but many of them are not related to domestic terrorism.FromAlthough undercover work can be a very effective means of gathering evidence against criminals, do we really need undercover agents working for agencies such as NASA, the Small Business Administration or the Education Department? Is it wise or even necessary to have minors posing as decoys in convenience stores to catch vendors who might sell cigarettes or alcohol to them?There have been a number of recent scandals involving investigations that, for many observers, have crossed the line between the legitimate use of undercover agents and operations that are invasive, unethical or even illegal.One such case involved an FBI agent who posed as an Associated Press reporter to reveal the identity of a person who made a bomb threat to a high school in Lacey, Washington. In defending the operation after news media advocates criticized the practice, FBI Director James B. Comey wrote: "every undercover operation involves 'deception,' which has long been a critical tool in fighting crime."But how far that kind of deception should be allowed to go is a legitimate concern for those who wish to protect our privacy, freedom and civil liberties.Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the notorious East German security ministry known as the Stasi employed similar tactics in spying on and controlling the populace. At one point, it was estimated that up to 20 percent of the citizens living in East Berlin were coerced into spying on their colleagues, friends, families and neighbors.These practices are becoming so widespread in the U.S. that it makes one wonder if we are headed in the same direction. The very foundation of the liberty that Americans have fought so hard to obtain is in direct contradiction with this pervasive snooping that our government is now engaged in.We can no longer consider ourselves to be living in a free society if these types of operations are allowed to expand without some form of meaningful restrictions.Surely the Founding Fathers did not wish to create a nation in which citizens are forced to spy on each other to maintain order and the rule of law. Cash Couldn't Escape Doctors Eager to Inject Him Baby Cash Was Laughing and Playing; 5 Hours Later He Died Cash's Parents Were Treated Like Criminals Cash's Mother Was Asked to Donate His Organs and Tissue Vaccines Were Not Mentioned on Cash's Autopsy Report "I. Probable asphyxia. A. History of being found unresponsive, after co-sleeping with adult. ? B. Thymus and lung petechiae. C. Severe congestion of internal organs." Proof Cash's Pediatrician Vaccinated Him Before He Was Tested for Apnea The Coroner Also Failed to Mention Cash Slept in a Bassinet Redheads May Be More Susceptible to Vaccine Injuries "Years ago, when my clients wanted more information about vaccines, seventy-five percent of them are VBAC clients, I started doing more research to get informed. My sister and I are both nurses and we supported vaccines when we were young, but the more we've learned about them, the more we embrace natural medicines and the body's immune system. My daughter still trusted the vaccines and thought they were safe, like I once did. I did what I could to help her learn about vaccines but had to step back and let her make her own decisions. I was always so thankful that in our big family we had never lost a baby, or had one who was sick. I have 20 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Losing one is just horrible. It is so ironic that I've spent years telling parents about the dangers of vaccines and then my own grandson dies from them. Cash was such a beautiful baby. The last time I held him while he was still alive, he was just really starting to giggle and coo. Isn't it amazing how someone can only be in your life for 10 weeks, yet forever change your heart? Looking at his records and everything that happened, it's like the hospital, the doctor and the vaccine company all let my daughter and grandchild down. How could someone not do something when you have a baby that stops breathing? Whitney kept telling them something was wrong and they just blew her off! Doctors should always listen to the mama's intuition! It's almost always right! My grandson didn't have to die. He shouldn't have died! The very last time I held Cash was to dress his little body and rock him before I placed him in his casket. My daughter could not do it. I wanted him to have loving hands on him before he was buried. We miss Cash so much. I have a strong faith, it doesn't take the pain away but it gives me hope. Our family believes we will see our loved ones again. I'm not sure how people go through this with no faith. I believe Cash is with us and I believe we will be with him in Heaven. I just sure wish we could be with him here. I hope that through Cash, the word will spread that our vaccines are not safe for our babies. I believe his life had a purpose. I just pray that other babies will be saved because of what the vaccines did to him. I don't want his little life to mean nothing. I pray that this article will influence other parents and grandparents to get educated about vaccine injury. We want his story to be out there. I pass his story to everyone who will listen. If one baby lives because he died, his life will have meant something great!" Whitney Filed a Vaccine Injury Claim for Her Son's Death Cash's Mother Speaks Out for the First Time Since Losing Her Son "Cash was the best baby. He was so easygoing and playful. I was so happy to have him and felt so blessed. I called him my little buddy. He was my third child. Parents like me once valued what my child's doctor had to say and I believed them when they told me vaccines were safe, but I don't anymore. Because I listened to the doctors, I had to watch my son get buried. Your kids shouldn't be seen being buried. The day before I attended my own son's funeral, I saw him at the funeral home. When the door opened, I fell to my knees and cried. I could do nothing for him now. As I was kneeling there and looking at him, I sang him lullabies. I told him how much I loved him and to sleep with the angels. I had supported vaccinations and fully trusted the doctor when she said it was ok to give Cash the two month vaccines. I was reassured Cash would be fine and there was no need to worry. After Cash died, I wasn't able to talk about him or what happened. I was so frustrated because the doctors ignored my concerns and then the autopsy blamed me for co-sleeping, which is not why he died. My mom did a lot of searching for information. It was when she told me you can't sue a doctor for vaccine injuries because there is a vaccine court put in place to protect vaccine manufacturers and doctors from liability. This made me question and started making me realize the truth. It made me question if vaccines are so great, why did the government have to set up a vaccine court to protect the doctors and manufacturers from liability? For me, filing a claim with the NVICP is not about the money because no amount of money will bring my baby back and all I want is to have my baby back with me. If I do get awarded, I will use that money to help create Cash's Law. This law will require doctors to spend a certain amount of time with patients and listen to them more. They will also need to fully explain the risks involved with the vaccinations, because this is not being done. If I was told either of these vaccines could kill my baby, Cash would still be here, because I would have said no to them. ??I want my son's death certificate changed. I did not harm my son by co-sleeping with him. I do not want that on his death certificate because that is not what killed him. I want people to know these vaccines are killing our babies and hurting adults too. We fully believe 100% that the vaccines caused Cash's health problems and caused him to stop breathing in his sleep. After the shots, he had more breathing episodes. It makes me so frustrated because the doctors wouldn't listen to me. My child's life didn't have to end, his death was preventable. It's not fair those pushing for more vaccines probably don't vaccinate their own children and they are healthier because they wouldn't dare let their own child be injected with what's in these shots. Their children will grow up and go off to college, drive fancy cars and have a trust fund at the expense of my baby and many others. I am not the person I once was. I am not the same. There is a whole piece of me missing. I would give anything for all 3 of my children to be driving me crazy right now. Cherish every moment with your children and don't take things for granted. To my baby, I love you, Cash. Your family loves you so much and we miss you. I would give anything to have you here with me again. Sleep with the angels little buddy. Mommy loves you." Conclusion Sources: (NaturalNews) Another family is mourning the loss of their two-month old baby following routine vaccinations. Cash Dewayne Thomas was having apnea episodes following the vitamin K injection and hepatitis B vaccine given to him at birth. When his mother sought help from numerous doctors, they ignored her concerns and would not put Cash on a breathing monitor.At his two-month well-baby checkup, Cash's pediatrician assured his mother the vaccines were safe and signed off for the nurse to vaccinate Cash with eight more vaccine doses, even though Cash's breathing problems had not been addressed. He died 16 days later, which is one of the critical days infants pass away or suffer breathing issues after vaccination.After burying their son, Cash's parents, Whitney Hill and Jesse Dewayne Thomas, regretted that they listened to the doctor over their own instincts. They entrusted the doctors with their infant son and know the vaccines led to his breathing problems and ultimately his death.Cash's mother and father want to send a strong message to parents who support vaccines and hope their son's story will help save others from suffering a loss like they have.Cash Dewayne Thomas survived the onslaught of unsafe vaccines his mother was told she needed to get during her second trimester, when she was injected with the Tdap and flu vaccines.At forty weeks gestation, Whitney went into labor at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. She tested positive for Group B strep and was given two doses of the antibiotic penicillin. Soon after, Cash was born unresponsive, weighing nine pounds and two ounces and had to be resuscitated immediately.After he was resuscitated, Cash was deemed in good enough health and then injected with the vitamin K shot and hepatitis B vaccine on April 19, 2013, the day he was born. The two combined shots contain approximately 350 mcg of aluminum and both are linked to breathing problems, among other things.By the time Cash was three weeks old, his mother noticed him having gasping episodes while sleeping in his bassinet. When he awoke, he let out a snorting sound as he would catch his breath, then he would go back to bed.When Cash was five weeks old, his apnea episodes started occurring more frequently, about once every hour. Cash's mother had to blow into her son's mouth and nose to get him breathing again. On May 26, 2013, Whitney rushed her son to the emergency room at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, begging for help.Whitney knew something was very wrong, but the doctor would not listen to her and wrote Cash's breathing problems off as reflux and gave her a prescription for Zantac and told her to follow up with his pediatrician. She felt helpless and was frustrated they would not hook up Cash to a breathing monitor.Cash was still being breastfed. He was breastfed for several weeks and then switched to formula. He had no congestion, no runny nose, and no swollen eyes, none of the things you would associate with a food allergy. Believing the doctors knew best, his mother gave Cash the prescription Zantac. This did not help him.Cash's apnea spells continued while she waited for him to be seen by his pediatrician. Whitney found out the pediatrician was required to submit a referral to Children's Mercy for them to test Cash at their Sleep Disorder Clinic.On June 7, 2013, the pediatrician sent the referral for them to do apnea testing on Cash. An appointment was made for him be seen by a nurse practitioner at the sleep clinic the following Monday. By this time, Whitney had to breathe in her son's nose and mouth more than once when he stopped breathing.After getting home from that appointment, Whitney received a phone call about an hour later and was told Monday's appointment was canceled. She was told Cash couldn't be seen by a nurse practitioner because he was too young and that only a Doctor of Medicine (MD) could see him, which didn't make sense.Whitney was told they would put Cash on a waiting list to be scheduled, not for Cash to be seen, but to be scheduled to be seen. She was so shocked and upset at this. None of the doctors were doing anything to help Cash.Weeks went by and Cash was still not scheduled to be seen; then his two-month checkup approached. His mother took all three of her children in to receive the vaccines on time, but she didn't know vaccines were linked to apnea and breathing problems.At his two-month well-baby checkup, the doctor neglectfully recommended Cash receive the routine vaccines. The doctor assured Whitney the vaccines were safe and signed off for the nurse to vaccinate Cash with eight more vaccine doses, even though Cash's breathing problems had not been addressed. Cash's mother entrusted the doctor with her son's life and signed the paper, giving consent to vaccinate.On June 19, 2013, when Cash weighed almost fifteen pounds, the nurse administered the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio, Hib, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines, via three needle injections and one oral dose, for a total of eight vaccine doses.After Cash received those two-month vaccinations, he was cranky and was given Tylenol, which was recommended by the doctor. Cash's breathing issues worsened. Days passed and the apnea spells continued.Cash's mother felt helpless and didn't know what to do while waiting for Cash to be scheduled for an appointment. She would prop up Cash on his Boppy pillow and on one occurrence, she witnessed Cash holding his face and not breathing for fifteen seconds.Whitney was so scared because when Cash would sleep, he was gasping for air more often and his apnea episodes worsened following the two-month vaccines, but none of the doctors would help him.On July 4, 2013, after an eventful firework celebration on Independence Day, Cash was laughing and playing on his Boppy pillow. He went to sleep around 11:30 PM, in a natural, elevated position, cradled in his mother's arm, on his back. He had a bassinet he often slept in but sleeping next to mom was more preferred this night.On July 5, 2013, around 5:08 AM, five hours after they fell asleep, his mother woke up thinking it was odd Cash hadn't awakened yet, because he would normally wake up sooner, to feed. Cash was still in the same position he fell asleep in. He was on his back and completely face up. His mother needed to get up and when she moved her arm out from under him, Cash rolled off her arm and onto his face. He didn't try to move.Whitney knew something was wrong. She picked him up and yelled his name. Cash was still warm, but his lips were cold. She yelled for his dad Jesse to call 911. It took the ambulance eight minutes to get to them and they only lived two blocks away. The ambulance showed up and emergency responders took Cash and tried to revive him.All attempts to resuscitate Cash were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at Children's Mercy Hospital, at 5:51 AM. He was only two and a half months old. When Cash died, emergency responders noted Cash had a significant amount of blood in the back of his throat and that no foul play was suspected.Cash's parents were immediately separated and taken to the hospital in two separate vehicles. His mom had to ride alone in a detective's car. When she entered the emergency room at Children's Mercy, she was taken into a room followed by ten strangers who were there to explain to her that her son was dead. Whitney said, "I don't want to hear it! I brought my son to you for help because he would stop breathing. You wouldn't help him."Cash's dad Jesse arrived in a second detective's vehicle 30 minutes later. In the hospital, when Cash's parents were finally allowed to be together, they felt they were being held hostage, while they were counseled with a chaplain present.Whitney and Jesse were not allowed to leave that hospital room until the results came back from a skeletal survey done on their son, proving their innocence that Cash didn't die because of foul play. It is unthinkable that parents are treated like this after losing their baby. They felt they were being treated as criminals.Once Cash's parents were allowed to leave the hospital, less than two hours later, Children's Mercy phoned Whitney, to ask if she would give permission for them to donate Cash's useable organs and tissue. Whitney couldn't handle this and was so upset and told them not to touch her baby.She was emotionally unable to re-enter her home for over a week.Cash's immediate cause of death on his autopsy report was labeled "probable asphyxiation," due to co-sleeping with an adult, leaving his mother feeling guilty she was responsible. It was ruled accidental.Cash had a significant amount of blood in the back of his throat and many of his organs were congested. His body was starved of oxygen. There were no signs of suffocation when Cash died, he was on his back and no object was obstructing his airways.Cash had no blood vessels that burst in his eyes, he had no petechiae in his eyes, no swelling of his face, no bruising on his face, no blood pooling in his face and his face was not discolored, which are things a person would show signs of if they truly suffocated.Major findings during Cash's autopsy, from the office of the Jackson County Medical Examiner in Kansas City, Missouri, were:Based on these findings, Cash's immune system was overstimulated. These findings on Cash's autopsy report are typical of someone who suffered a severe reaction, associated with an immune system or asthma related inflammatory response. Petechiae found in the thymus and lungs represents Cash's capillaries were bleeding, where blood was able to leak into the skin. Vaccines can affect the thymus.Co-sleeping wouldn't lead to this type of reaction, but a vaccine reaction could and the coroner completely ignored this. In viewing the vaccine package inserts to the vaccines given to Cash, one can read that sepsis, apnea, breath-holding, SIDS, allergic reaction, etc. are listed as associated risks to these vaccines.Cash's mother was not informed by the pediatrician that all of the vaccines Cash received are associated with breathing problems and apnea as possible adverse reactions, which is stated on each of the vaccine package inserts to the vaccines given to Cash.Had Whitney known this information, she wouldn't have allowed him to be vaccinated further. Vaccinating a child with vaccines linked to apnea is negligent, but doctors get away with this because they aren't held liable when the vaccines harm.Cash's' death is plausibly an iatrogenic death, due to a medical intervention that involved vaccination. This should not be ignored and Whitney, along with an endless number of other parents, wants her child's death certificate changed to acknowledge vaccines as the most plausible contributing factor in the death of their child.This is the medical record proving the doctor signed off on the vaccines while Cash still had unresolved apnea spells. This was not mentioned on Cash's autopsy report.On Cash's autopsy report, the coroner noted Cash had a history of being found unresponsive, after co-sleeping with an adult. The coroner failed to mention that Cash slept in a bassinet as well, and his breathing episodes also occurred in his bassinet, not just when co-sleeping, as stated on the emergency room document from the 5-26-13 visit, shown in the image below.Take a look at the ingredients in these vaccines, from the CDC's website. These are the ingredients in the eight vaccine doses Cash received before he passed away. It is appalling and is not understood why Cash's medical examiner wasn't required to note these vaccines on his autopsy report.The coroner didn't mention that Cash's mom sought help for her son's apnea episodes and no help was provided except for a prescription for reflux. The coroner noted that Cash had a history of being found unresponsive, after co-sleeping with an adult, while ignoring these other facts about his case, and Whitney wants the ruling on her son's death certificate to be changed. She is only one of many parents who are put through this vaccine-related death coverup.Cash's grandmother, Gaela Fisher, is a former Labor & Delivery Nurse (LPN) and she is currently working as a Certified Labor Doula. Gaela is concerned about her other grandchildren, some of whom are redheads like Cash was. She is concerned there isn't enough research to understand if redheaded children are more susceptible to vaccine injuries due to a genetic defect they carry in their MCR1 gene.Redheads have a variant of the human MCR1 gene. The MCR1 gene plays a role in the brain's central functions. This gene variant affects melanin production and leads to the individual being more or less likely to feel pain while under anesthesia. Many doctors are aware that redheads may require a different dose of anesthesia because of their pain tolerance or intolerance.Vaccines have a long history of being linked to causing brain damage; thus, redheaded individuals may be at an increased risk of suffering a severe vaccine reaction. More studies need to be done to understand vaccine risk susceptibility in redheads.Gaela shares,Whitney was turned down by three vaccine injury attorneys before a fourth attorney helped her file a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). She was able to file just before the two year deadline.The most Whitney would be awarded for a death benefit is $250,000. Most parents never receive a penny and those that do often have their case settled for less. Nearly two-thirds of the claims get denied and it can take years for a final decision, while parents struggle to pay for their child's funeral or other medical expenses.With donations VacTruth has received, we have donated $400 to Whitney's vaccine injury case, to help her get Cash's claim filed in time. This is the price that has to be paid first, to file a vaccine injury claim. It is important to understand the financial responsibility one has after vaccines have taken the life of your loved one; this is the sad recourse set in place in the United States.Another $2400 is due soon, to cover the expert witness retainer fee for Cash's case. Since medical examiners omit the vaccines had anything to do with a child's passing, parents often face the extra hurdle of hiring an expert witness, to help prove their child plausibly died from an injury related to the vaccines administered.Through further donations received, VacTruth wants to help cover this retainer fee so Cash's case can move forward. If you would like to help by sending a donation, Whitney, Jesse, Gaela and the VacTruth team sincerely appreciate your help and kind support, in honor of Cash. We want his death to be acknowledged.Leaving you with words from Cash's mother, Whitney Hill shares,After watching their son get buried, Cash's parents were thrown into a world they didn't know much about. They were now another set of grieving parents who senselessly lost their child due to medical practices recommended under a doctor's care.Vaccines are being ignored when compiling infant mortality data. In 2013, Cash Dewayne Thomas was one of 23,440 babies who died in the United States before reaching their first birthday, according to the latest infant mortality data published in 2016. About 11,300 newborns die within their first day of life, many soon after receiving their first hepatitis B vaccine dose in the hospital.If medical examiners are completely omitting an infant's vaccination history on their autopsy report, then vaccines will not fairly contribute to infant mortality data. One must question why the vaccines are being ruled out so quickly as a cause of death, when so many babies are dying following the shots.We send our love to Cash and are heartbroken for his loss. We must remember him and all that he has taught us.Cash Dewayne Thomas from Kansas City, Missouri April 19, 2013 July 5, 2013He received 8 vaccine doses at 2 months old and died 16 days later.Read more at: https://vactruth.com Smart meters made in China were approved without testing or UL certification Smart meter risks (NaturalNews) Citizens of New York State are demanding that utility companies provide an alternative to " smart meters ," due to increasing concerns over safety and health.Digital utility (DU) meters, commonly known as smart meters, have been linked to a number of serious health issues, and have also been known to cause fires and electrical problems.In a letter addressed to the, Michele Hertz and Toby Stover ofexpressed their concerns on behalf of citizens regarding the meters, which have been installed throughout the state over the past few years to replace analog utility meters which have been used for decades with few problems.Hertz and Stover wrote:"Where DU meters are installed, thousands of people are reporting insomnia, heart palpitations, tinnitus, diarrhea, anxiety, inflammation, headaches, rashes, high blood pressure, strokes, cancer, as well as electrical problems and fires."The letter also points out the fact that the DU meters being installed were manufactured in China, and were approved by the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) without any UL certification or testing for "microwave radiation emissions, electrical and fire code compliance or privacy and security risks."Hertz and Stover accuse the utility industry with the complicity of the NYSPSC of putting the public at risk in pursuit of profits."Already, there is sufficient evidence to warrant banning DU meters, including the so-called digital 'opt-out' meter. Yet utilities and the NYSPSC have known about this since 2010 and have done nothing while people suffer."Analog meters, used for decades with few complaints, protect our privacy and do not utilize unsafe technology."More than 1,000 Woodstock residents have signed a petition demanding a no-fee analog meter option. Several other New York communities have also signed resolutions calling for no-fee analog meter choices.So just how dangerous are smart meters?The Centre for Research on Globalization reports that exposure to the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) produced by smart meters causes "myriad devastating health effects ," including:"DNA damage, abnormal genetic and hormonal changes, sperm damage, pregnancy complications, weakening of the blood-brain barrier, disturbance of voltage-gated calcium channels (for example, in the heart), degradation of immunity, and certain types of cancers."These effects on human health have been confirmed by numerous peer-reviewed studies, as documented by the Global Research website. Children, pregnant women and the elderly are particularly at risk from the negative health effects of EMR.Smart meters also pose a threat to privacy; the EMF Safety Network calls them "surveillance devices" which provide detailed information about everything that takes place in the home, from when you cook or turn on a light, to whether or not you are at home or entertaining guests.In California, for example, utility companies have admitted that this information is being provided to the government and third parties. Smart meters are also easy targets for hackers.So what's really behind the push for these dangerous, privacy-threatening smart meters?At least part of the answer is certainly the money involved.Smart meters can cost hundreds of dollars per household, and the so-called "opt-out" programs generate even more money for the utility companies. In fact, some are calling the opt-out programs a "pay-us-not-to-hurt-you" racket.As it turns out, there's absolutely nothing "smart" at all about the smart meter scheme except for the fact that it's a smart way for utility companies to turn a massive profit while endangering the health and privacy of the nation's citizens. Trump is right: Establishment politicians are all talk, no action (NaturalNews) As if all the hypocrisy and corruption involving Hillary Clinton's treasonous email scandal and Bernie Sanders' selling out to the very system he preached against wasn't bad enough, the Democratic Party reportedly welcomed with open arms lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry at its recent convention in Philadelphia the same convention at which sellout Bernie Sanders vocally condemned high drug pricing scams that bilk consumers out of billions of dollars.On the way out of the Wells Fargo Arena, just minutes after The Bern announced, "The greed of the drug companies must end!" delegates attending the DNC were awash in drug lobbyists wining and dining senior Democratic officials, presumably negotiating special interest deals that would likely make even the most fair-weather Democrat cringe in bleeding heart dismay.Except when push actually comes to shove, of course. Big Pharma was a namesake at the DNC, despite the party's puppets giving lip service to pricing reform all along the campaign trail. Drug giant Astellas was one of the DNC's cosponsors, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a lobbying group based out of Washington, D.C., that represents the biotech industry, handed out free water bottles to DNC attendees bearing up through the 90-plus degree weather.When all was said and done, nothing changed as far as the Democratic Party's position on fighting against drug industry corruption, at least in any sort of practical sense. Heck, the drug reps themselves toldafter the convention that they weren't even aware of any resistance to their continued lobbying efforts, and that the Democratic Party is basically a longtime friend and ally."I've not really gotten any blowback about the industry at receptions," one lobbyist from a major drug company told, smugly adding, "but hopefully, people would realize that's rude at a party."Another lobbyist, when asked about the Democrats putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to challenging drug industry collusion, added, "I really haven't noticed it."It's actually quite humorous that the "party of the people" doesn't actually have people within its ranks who possess enough character or integrity to fight the tide of Big Pharma corruption. And not only are the Democrats not fighting this corruption, but they're joining right in on it over wine and cheese The Republican establishment is no better, of course, as the GOP has a long and sordid history of striking backroom deals with the drug industry at the expense of the people. But at least the Republicans haven't been coy about it in the way the Democrats have or in this case, literally walking out of a convention where such practices were condemned only to dive right in with the enemy.If progressives hoping for real change are still siding with the Democrats at this point, they're beyond the level of fools: they're downright. The Democrats are quite literally laughing in the faces of their supporters at this point by talking the talk, only to saunter right off the stage and walk a completely different walk, right in front of everybody and with no consequences.Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is right : These people are all talk and no action. Except that they now pander to their true masters, multinational corporations pushing a globalist agenda, in full view of everyone, and with absolutely no shame or conscience. These are dark and evil days, folks. Not living up to the platform NOT the party of minorities, women, the poor or tolerance (NaturalNews) Finding hypocrisy in a politician is nothing new, but finding it in an entire political platform and ideology can be breathtaking.As you are likely aware, the Democratic National Convention took place last week, in which Hillary Clinton became her party's opponent against Republican nominee Donald J. Trump . You may also know that Democrats pride themselves on being the most charitable, the most sympathetic and the most generous when it comes to "the poor."On the opening day of the DNC, the party tossed out leftover food from a welcome party for delegates at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which angered at least one delegate."I was a hungry child. Went to bed hungry many a night," Timothy Baumgardner, a Washington state delegate, told the. "I fed people from the garbage."Baumgardner says he asked the caterer of the event if the leftovers could be donated to poor and hungry Philadelphians, but was told that such a donation was not permitted."Sad," the delegate replied.That refusal to allow excess food to go to poor, hungry residents would likely upset officials at the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger , which claims on its website that "more than a quarter of Philadelphia residents live in poverty, one of the highest rates in the nation." The organization further stated that, according to 2008 figures, 30 percent of those hungry were children, while 6 percent were older adults. In addition, the group said that hunger was not limited by race: 14 percent are white, 18 percent are black and 25 percent are Latino.Things had not improved by this year, either. In fact, as reported by Philadelphia Public Schools, rates of poverty and hunger rose in Philly, and in fact in Pennsylvania in general; 40 percent of those in the city who receive food assistance are children."Poverty and its byproduct, food insecurity , are getting worse in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, according to federal and state data. The region's children are heavily affected," says the school district's publication,"The state has more than 1.8 million recipients of food stamps, or SNAP. More than a quarter of them, or 500,000, are in Philadelphia. That is a third of the city's population," the publication said In fact, on the surface, the national Democratic Party and many of its members appear to "care more" than Republicans about a whole host of things: poverty, the environment, children, etc. But the reality is just the opposite, if actions speak louder than words.As evidenced by a batch of emails stolen by hackers and leaked to the whistleblower website, DNC officials under former head Debbie Wasserman Schulz, a U.S. congresswoman from Florida, made disparaging remarks about gay people, African Americans and women.As reported by the UK's, some of the most damaging of the 20,000 emails, included staffers making fun of a black woman's name, the creation of a phony Craigslist page for women who wanted to work for Trump and trading favors with party superdelegates most of whom pledged early on to support Clinton over her chief rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.The emails also clearly expressed favoritism for Clinton over Sanders, a charge he leveled early on in the fight for his party's nomination. Since the revelations, Wasserman Schulz has resigned as head of the DNC , and thousands of pro-Sanders supporters have flocked to the convention to protest.In one email exchange, DNC staffer Scott Comer and an employee at a consulting group make fun of an administrative assistant at Haddad Brands named LaQueenia Gibson."I'm going to have LaQueenia send out some options for next week," an executive from Haddad wrote to DNC staff members. "Hopefully we can all get on the phone and reenergize this event."Comer then forwarded the email to an employee at Tipah Consulting, adding: "Just kill me now."The consulting group employee responded: "LaQueenia is a NAME! I'm sorry, boo. I hope you got a raise with this title."The fullpiece is here Democrats are also known as the party of the environment, but asnotes, most Democrats are just as on board with fracking as are Republicans."If fracking has come to the forefront of the 2016 campaign it's because both Democrats and Republicans strongly support it and activists trying to ban fracking are finding themselves very much on the fringe," the paper reported on its website A federal court last week preliminarily approved a settlement agreement to resolve a derivative lawsuit that was filed on behalf of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. The lawsuit, which merged a number of shareholder derivative actions, alleged Nu Skins officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with a pyramid scheme in China. Under the agreement, which is subject to final approval in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Nu Skin must adopt certain corporate governance measures and pay approximately US$1.28 million in plaintiffs attorneys fees and expenses, a July 27 regulatory filing disclosed. The company noted its insurers will cover about $1 million of the plaintiffs attorneys fees and expenses. Nu Skin is a multi-level marketer (MLM) of personal care products and nutritional supplements, with 2015 revenues of $2.25 billion. The settlement agreement resolves allegations that Nu Skins officers and directors allowed the company to operate as an unlawful pyramid scheme in China. In 2014, the Chinese government announced that it was investigating the companys business practices. The company later revealed receiving government fines for selling products that were not registered for the direct-selling channel and making product claims that purportedly didnt have adequate documentary support. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs and defendants in the derivative lawsuit did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment. The company said it was pleased to resolve the issue. "We believe the settlement agreement is in the best interests of the companys stakeholders as it avoids potentially lengthy, costly, distracting and time-consuming litigation," a Nu Skin spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Nu Skin or its directors or officers. Nu Skin remains committed to protecting consumers and driving long-term value for shareholders and will continue to take the necessary steps to achieve this important objective. While Nu Skins officers and directors have denied any wrongdoing in the complaint, its business abroad has suffered in the wake of the Chinese governments investigations. Revenues in Greater China have decreased from $1.36 billion in 2013 to $948.5 million in 2014 to $776.1 million in 2015. Federal judge Jill Parrish has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 6 to rule whether to grant final approval of the settlement agreement. She is the same judge who granted preliminary approval on May 24 to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed against Nu Skin. A final hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5 on plaintiffs request for final approval of the agreement. In both cases, Parrish must find the agreements are adequate, fair and reasonable. In the class-action complaint, Nu Skin has agreed to pay $47 million to resolve allegations that the company operated a pyramid scheme in China, violating federal securities laws. The Provo, Utah-based company has argued that it was in compliance with Chinas laws and regulations. Defendants have consistently pointed out that after the Chinese government concluded its investigation, it found that Nu Skin did not violate Chinas MLM laws or other laws regarding the Companys compensation structure, and would have argued that the Chinese governments decision on this application of Chinese law to the Companys operations in China should be determinative," plaintiffs counsel acknowledged in court documents. As part of the agreement to settle the derivative lawsuit, Nu Skin must implement a number of corporate governance reforms, some of which include the following: NASA is spending a lot of time and resources for the journey to Mars because the agency believes that there could be life on Mars and that science can potentially extract minerals and even oxygen from the carbon dioxide on the planet for rockets and for breathing. "I think in my lifetime, we're going to be standing and walking on Mars" Jim Green, head of NASA's planetary science division said in an interview with Washington Post. In 1976 NASA scientists detected the first sign of what could be life Gil Levin. But as controversial at it may seem, that report wasn't published and remained a controversial finding until today. But many years later, more scientists and UFO hunters think that there's a reason to believe that there could be a life form on Mars, or they might have existed during the ancient times. However, it was concluded the life-searching experiments on Mars including the "Labeled Release" experiment by Levin can be chemically explained and not a sign of life on Mars. Although considered a set back, this fueled the search for life on Mars and it didn't stop there. Recent NASA administration still believes that even after 40 years, there are valid reasons to find life on Mars and that modern technology helps identifying "habitability" factors on the red planet. Recently, NASA held a two-day conference to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Viking landing. Although Viking failed to find Martians or signs of life, it has paved the way to the discovery of Earth-like properties and factors that could make the planet "livable." "What was so fascinating were all these features that were so familiar from our studies of the Earth," Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientists said in a statement. "Things like teardrop-shaped islands, abandoned oxbow sections of channels, features that by looking at rivers on Earth we could understand that these features on Mars had been carved by water, and in some cases by great floods of water, coursing across the Martian surface," Stofan added. Another example is the flowing water on Mars that affects the dark streaks or the recurring slope lineae (RSL); it intensifies the possibility of finding microorganisms on the planet because water is the key ingredient to life. Other compounds were also discovered that adds to the excitement of continuously investigating Mars. Even after 40 years of Viking landing, NASA is still confident that there are some hidden secret on Mars waiting to be discovered and is working towards sending men on the red planet for a deeper and intensified search for life. Spaniards admit to a serious problem with the English language. Only 19% of them consider their level to be very good, according to statistics from Eurostat. So who makes up this 19%? Those who study simply to improve their fluency, or those who choose courses that will prepare them for official exams such as those run by Cambridge English, part of the University of Cambridge, and that has been providing English languge qualifications for the last century. There is no conclusive evidence to show students learn better with one approach or another, while the experts fail to agree on the matter. Some argue it is more effective to focus on the short or medium-term challenge of Cambridge's First Certificate, Advanced Certificate and Proficiency since, apart from anything else, they offer practice in the four fundamental skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking. On the other hand, some language experts argue that focusing solely on passing exams limits teachers' creativity and freedom, reducing learning to something purely mechanical. Exam classes don't take into account students personal interests or strengths and weaknesses and the four skills are given an equal amount of attention Carmen Munoz, Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Barcelona and a specialist in the acquisition of a second language, believes that there are pros and cons to obtaining an official qualification. The upside is that the exam helps you gauge your level and what you still need to do to reach your goal, she explains. The downside, according to Munoz, is that exam classes don't take into account students personal interests or strengths and weaknesses. The four skills are given an equal amount of attention, whether or not the students need to focus more on one thing or another. These exams have been devised to provide a standard measure for language skills, according to the Common European Framework of References for Languages. In this era of personalized education, what is needed are programs tailored to the individual. She says Barcelona University has just launched what it calls need analysis, a test that assesses students needs and then designs courses accordingly. Meanwhile, Cambridge English argues that behind their exams sat by five million people in 170 countries every year is a team of more than 700 people engaged in research and assessment. The exams structure is revised every 10 years, says Belinda Cerda, Director of Assessment at Cambridge English in Spain and Portugal. And changes in society are taken into account. For example, letter writing has been replaced by essays, in which the candidate expresses his or her ideas on a specific subject, according to the demands of the job market. If you think about the most important things you have learned in your life they are probably not related to an exam: the same thing should happen with English Maria Luisa Garcia of the faculty of Education at Madrids Complutense University Cerda, who has been preparing students for the Cambridge exams for more than 10 years, believes that signing up for an English course without an exam shows a lack of focus. My students always say preparing for a specific exam is more serious than studying for the sake of it. Even if they didnt want to pay for the qualification, they like the wealth and variety of Cambridge's materials, she says. A lot of people think the exams are just multiple-choice but they go way beyond that; you have to produce language and develop ideas. Roman Alavarez, Professor of English Studies at Salamanca University and who has been in charge of Cambridge exams there for the past 25 years, always recommends his students take the exams. Learning with the aim of getting the qualification is much more practical, he says. Students are more motivated and kill two birds with one stone. He highlights Cambridge English's 100 years track record and its internationally tried and tested method. Little more than a money-spinner? In 2013, two lecturers from the University of Navarre interviewed a group of primary teachers from state and state-subsidized schools in the region to find out what impact Cambridge exams had on their teaching methods. Most of those interviewed said that preparing for these exams had enabled them to dedicate more time to oral skills and also to change their assessment criteria. In oral exams, examiners no longer penalize grammatical as long as a student is able to communicate effectively. Other aspects they appreciated included the quality of the materials provided by Cambridge English, among them the range of voices and accents when it came to listening. Some English teachers complain about the mechanical aspects exam-focused language learning But there were also criticisms, including the price of the exams, which ranges from 50 for the Young Learners exam to 217 for Proficiency. Other state-school teachers say Cambridge English is an imposition and little more than a money-spinner. Among university lecturers unimpressed by Cambridge's exam-focused approach is Maria Luisa Garcia of the faculty of Education at Madrids Complutense University, who also complains about the mechanical aspects of this kind of learning, while noting that her students oral skills have become stronger than their writing skills over the past 15 years. Garcia believes that Spains rigid system of learning Spanish, with its emphasis on syntax and grammar, is reproduced in English classes. If you think about the most important things you have learned in your life they are probably not related to an exam, she says. The same thing should happen with English. Bernadette Maguire, an adviser in the Examinations Department of The British Council, Spain, says that language students need to manage their expectations: Whether there is an exam or not, short-term learning is not possible, she says, adding that in other words, you get out what you put in. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here English version by Heather Galloway. Things have heated up between James Cameron and Presidential Candidate Donald Trump all because of the latter's comments about global warming. Proving his point that climate change is real, Cameron released a new documentary short "Not Reality TV" which Sigourney Weaver introduced at the Democratic National Convention. "Not Reality TV" features a number of well-known figures such as Don Cheadle, the Pope, and Jack Black. Even Trump makes an appearance where he ridicules climate change stating, "We need some global warming. It's freezing!" Trump, whom Cameron called a "madman," claimed climate change was nothing but a hoax that was invented by the Chinese. On Twitter, Trump had also stated that global warming is an "expensive hoax." Yet, for Cameron and Weaver, global warming is a reality plaguing the world. "Can Donald Trump look these people in the eye and tell them climate change is a hoax, and that there's nothing we can do? That he doesn't care about their pain?" asked Weaver. "This is a moment when we as a nation have to decide whether we will ignore the facts and allow people to continue to suffer, or whether we will come together to do what's right." Aside from Trump, one other presidential candidate made an appearance in Cameron's short documentary, which was none other than Hillary Clinton. Unlike Trump, Clinton "gets" the gravity of the situation-that the effect of global warming threatens the safety of everyone. "Hillary Clinton, she gets it-she cares," stated Weaver, adding that Clinton is "taking a stand against climate change, it's not about politics-it is about our moral obligation to one another, and to our children, and to the generations who will one day inherit this beautiful earth." Apart from stressing the point about climate change, Weaver's short speech and introduction for Cameron's film has clearly endorsed Clinton as the best candidate. In line with the 2016 celebration of the World Breastfeeding Week, the United Nations Children's Fund has recommended that mothers should breastfeed their children within an hour after birth to provide the newborns with essential nutrients and antibodies, preventing the risk of death. According to the report from UNICEF, about 77 million newborns, or 1 in 2 babies born, in the world were not breastfed within an hour after their birth. The agency warned that delaying the breast feeding of a newborn by 2 to 23 hours after birth will increase the risk of dying in the first 28 days of life by 40 percent. Also, delaying the breastfeeding by 24 hours or more increases the risk of death by 80 percent. "Making babies wait too long for the first critical contact with their mother outside the womb decreases the newborn's chances of survival, limits milk supply and reduces the chances of exclusive breastfeeding," said France Begin, UNICEF Senior Nutrition Adviser, in a statement. "If all babies are fed nothing but breast milk from the moment they are born until they are six months old, over 800,000 lives would be saved every year." Breast milk is known to be the baby's first vaccine that helps protect newborns from diseases and illnesses. Aside from providing essential nutrients and antibodies, breast feeding promotes skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the child. Huffington Post reported that the early breastfeeding rates in East and Southern Africa has increased to 60 percent in 2015 from 51 percent in 2000, while the rates in West and Central Africa were unchanged. On the other hand, the rates of early breast feeding in South Asia has tripled from 2000 but 21 million newborns a year are not breastfed within the first hour. The celebration for the World Breastfeeding Week will run from August 1 to August 7 in more than 170 countries. The event is being done every year in order to promote breastfeeding and infant nutrition. NASA announced earlier this year that the agency will launch the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer OSIRIS-REx will be launched to study asteroids. Recently they identified a target celestial object and experts say it is one asteroid that can pose a threat to Earth. Astronomers found Bennu, the target of OSIRIS-Rex mission to map a surface of an asteroid and to collect samples to bring back to Earth using its robotic arms. Bennu crosses Earth's orbit constantly every six years making it a great target for the mission. In 2035, Bennu will pass between moon and Earth, a dangerous proximity to the planet. Astronomers believe that the giant asteroid is capable of obliterating the Earth and poses a great threat to the planet just like in the movie, Armageddon. In 2035, the giant asteroid will orbit close to Earth and OSIRIS REx will be there to approach the asteroid that could potentially change the course of the asteroid over time. "That 2135 fly-by is going to tweak Bennu's orbit, potentially putting it on course for the Earth later that century," Dante Lauretta, professor of planetary science at Arizona said in an interview with the Times UK. Bennu is dangerously huge at about 1,600 feet in diameter at charges at 63,000 mph on average. Although the chance that Bennu will impact the Earth is very small, astronomers are not taking any chances because the asteroid is known for being able to cause an "Armageddon" if it hits the planet. "Bennu falls on the boundary, in terms of size, for an object capable of causing a global catastrophe," professor Mark Bailey of Northern Ireland's Armagh Observatory said in an interview. Just like in Bruce Willis' movie, Armageddon. This September, NASA will launch OSIRIS-REx that will orbit the Sun first to build up speed before going back and synchronizing with the asteroid's orbit. OSIRIS-REx will do a comprehensive surface mapping of the asteroid and will collect samples to be taken back to Earth. Samples to be collected are anticipated by scientists since they believe that asteroids are rarely altered by time and they may provide knowledge about the past hidden it its rocks. Texas Department of State Health Services has fined Blue Bell Creameries with $850,000 for letting contaminated products to enter the market, resulting to a listeria outbreak that sickened at least 10 people and three deaths in 2015. According to the report from Food Poisoning Bulletin, FDA noted that the company was aware of the presence of Listeria in its plants in 2013, making the outbreak highly preventable. However, Blue Bell did not conduct further tests on the bacteria to know if it's pathogenic. They also did not take any measures to eradicate the bacteria because they are allegedly cutting corners on the sanitation to keep up with the high demand. During the outbreak, three production facility of Blue Bell in three different states were shut down by the FDA. The company needed to lay off almost half of its workers to cope up with the expenses. The production of ice cream resumed last July. The health department is requiring the ice cream manufacturer to pay $175,000 to the state within 30 days, while the remaining $675,000 will be forgiven if the company follows the terms outlined in the enforcement agreement for 18 months. The enforcement agreement requires Blue Bell to test and monitor for listeria in its production facility in Brenham. The health department needs to be notified of the results of the tests taken from their ice creams, food surfaces, machinery, ingredients and other equipments. The company also needs to make sure that their products are free from pathogens before being released in the market. According to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Listeria causes about 1,600 illnesses and 260 deaths in the United States every year. Listeria is a serious infection usually caused by eating foods contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. It can greatly affect older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened or compromised immune system. The large declines of salmon stocks were identified in North-Western Europe. For a long time, ecologists blamed water contamination and over-fishing that happened in and after the 19th century for the decrease of salmon in water bodies. However, later study and investigation have proved that the water power that was initiated during the medieval times before the 19th century is a primary cause for the decrease in salmons. With the setting up of water power, the gravel beds in rivers and streams have been slowly destructed making it difficult for salmons to swim upstream and lay their eggs, causing a huge decline in the salmon stocks. Salmon decrease has been ascribed to the fish spawning which has clearly been affected by power plants. Taking quick measures to fix these areas might not help because the gravel beds have already been disturbed and it will take ages for fish stocks to come back to its natural form. Study has found that the construction of water mills have greatly affected the salmons. This is because water mills require the construction of dams which eventually affected the salmons spawning. The gravel beds meant for salmons to lay eggs were covered with sand and silt. Roel Lauwerier from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands said that, "The Middle Ages shows a sudden change in terms of proportions: the number of locations at which remains of pike are found increase compared to the number at which salmon remains are uncovered." Research and study is being done to understand how salmons can be brought back like earlier times. River tributaries need to rehabilitated to bring back salmons to lay eggs on the river beds.The decrease in salmons has now captured attention of environmentalists and ecologists. It is now time to conserve the existing salmons before it becomes another extinct being. Scientists have discovered a way to convert carbon dioxide into usable energy source. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Chicago conducted a study on how to turn carbon dioxide into a usable energy source with the use of sunlight. Carbon dioxide is relatively chemically unreactive, which makes the compound difficult to convert into something else, the researchers said in a press release. Argonne chemist and author of the study Larry Curtiss, together with his colleagues, addressed this inherent challenge by finding a catalyst - a compound that could make carbon dioxide more reactive. The researchers used a metal compound called tungsten diselenide, fashioned into tiny flakes to maximize the surface area and to expose its reactive edges. While plants make use of an organic catalyst called enzyme to convert carbon dioxide into a sugar, the researchers also used their catalyst to turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide. "Making fuel from carbon monoxide means travelling 'downhill' energetically, while trying to create it directly from carbon dioxide means needing to go 'uphill,'" Peter Zapol, Argonne physicist, said in a statement. Although carbon monoxide is considered a greenhouse gas, it is more reactive that carbon dioxide and the researchers already know how to convert carbon monoxide into usable energy. According to the scientists, transforming carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide requires the same basic inputs as natural process of photosynthesis. "In photosynthesis, trees need energy from light, water and carbon dioxide in order to make their fuel; in our experiment, the ingredients are the same, but the product is different," Curtiss said. The setup for the reaction was similar to nature, and the scientists were able to construct an "artificial leaf" that would complete the whole three-step reaction pathway. First, the researchers converted the incoming photons (packets of light) into pairs of negatively-charged electrons protons and oxygen molecules were created from the reaction between the holes and water molecules. Lastly, the protons, electrons and carbon dioxide react together to form carbon monoxide and water. "We burn so many different kinds of hydrocarbons -- like coal, oil or gasoline -- that finding an economical way to make chemical fuels more reusable with the help of sunlight might have a big impact," Zapol said. The study also demonstrated that the reaction occurs with minimal lost energy, which means that the reaction is efficient. Picture from the show 'Cuando deje a llover' JAVIER NAVAL (TEATRO ESPANOL) More than anything else, what distinguishes the theatre from other experiences is that its living and breathing, ephemeral, with flesh and blood actors that you could run up and touch if you really wanted to. Every show is different, and after it finishes it becomes part of the story. Unlike film, television or literature, its difficult to distribute online and, or course, you cant pirate it. At least, that has been the case until now. Keeping up with a changing world and taking advantage of the latest technological advancements, its becoming possible to see theatre online. New to the Spanish theatre scene is Alltheater, the first platform allowing theatre-lovers to see shows from the comfort of their own home, like the Netflix or Spotify of live performance. It has its advantages sometimes people cant see a play that theyd like to because its being staged too far away, or tickets are too expensive, and until now, that was that. But through this initiative, you can enjoy the dramatic arts from your own computer. On the other hand, a large part of seeing live theatre is the direct, visceral experience that creates a profound connection between audience and performers (when everything goes right, that is). Its clear that its not the same experience, explains Eva Lapuente, who spearheads the project along with Jose Follos. We want to create a different, digital experience. Just like with many television and music platforms, Alltheater allows users to search by author, genre, or company, and it even offers trailers and playlists. You can enjoy the shows through any internet-capable device: computer, Smart TV, tablet, smartphone, or console. From 1.5 or 3 Alltheater brings live theatrical works to the home the same way Netflix brings movies and Spotify brings music. Some of shows currently available include Cuando deje de llover, Dakota, Anomia, and La grieta, entre animales salvajes. Searches can be made by author, genre, company, trailer, playlists, and sometimes subtitles or 360 recording. Viewing prices fluctuate between 1.5, and 3. The platform plans to live stream four plays a year (the first was Scratch, from the Madrid company Grumelot, recorded at the last Fringe Festival) that will be saved so that viewers will be able to access them for later viewing. Furthermore, the companies can present their own videos and charge up to three euros, of which the theater keeps 70%. Starting in August there will be 11 shows available that incorporate interactive transcription of the text, some with subtitles in two languages (theyre searching for a network of volunteer translators) and some even filmed in 360, for complete immersion in the action. In fact, the platform as issued an open call for shows from this upcoming season to be recorded with this technique. More than anything were interested in theatre thats contemporary or experimental, that relates to new technology, although were negotiating deals to offer more traditional productions as well, such as ones from Teatro Real, says the spokesperson. Public theaters, although they cant commercialize the works, can also collaborate with Alltheater by offering free content. Such is the case with the translation of Australian playwright Andrew Bovell's prize-winning work Cuando deje de llover (When the rain stops falling), directed by Julian Fuentes Reta, which will soon move on to Teatro Espanol. Other available shows include Dakota by Jordi Galceran (directed by Carlos Martin), La grieta, entre animals salvajes by Gracia Morales y Juan Alberto Salvatierra (directed by Julio Grafa) and Anomia by Eugenio Amaya. Projects like these are incredibly rewarding sources of inspiration, because they allow you to access interesting work produced by all kinds of people, delivered straight to wherever you are, says Amaya. The unrepeatable, communal experience and the digital experience they're not mutually exclusive. Worldwide growth Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. This kind of initiative seems to be gaining international momentum; nowadays similar platforms are launching in Argentina (Teatrix), the United States (Broadway HD), and the United Kingdom (Digital Theatre). One advantage is that it can be converted into a resource for theatre developers all around the world. In reality, looking back, the idea isn't without precedent: since 1965 the public television program Estudio 1 has broadcast over 400 of the best national and international works directly into Spanish homes. The website Rtve also has plenty to offer. Some theatre lovers have concerns about the digital world infringing upon the dramatic arts. Will the success of this kind of platform empty the theaters the way the arrival of online movie streaming emptied movie theaters? We believe that the more people know about theatre, the more theyll want to see it, so we hope that this initiative brings even more people to the theaters, says Lapuente. English version by Allison Light. Activists submitted 1.2 million signatures on Monday calling for the ouster of Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky over a controversial jail sentence he gave former Stanford student Brock Turner for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The effort, the Mercury News reported, is led by Miami-area nurse Maria Ruiz. On Sunday, she tweeted Tomorrow is the big day!!!! #impeachpersky can't wait to see you all!!! The change.org petition was delivered by nearly 40 protesters at the courthouse around noon. This is a separate petition from the move.org petition, which was also signed by a million people. Both efforts are seeking to get Persky to leave his post. The change.org petition makes clear it is seeking to force impeachment hearings against the judge, and is not seeking a recall against him. In June, Persky sentenced the former Stanford swimmer to six months in jail rather than the minimum state prison term of two years for digitally penetrating an intoxicated unconscious woman outside a campus fraternity party. Persky has faced intense international criticism over the sentence, including a recall threat from Stanford law professor Michele Dauber and the national women's advocacy group UltraViolet. "We cannot let him continue," protestor S. Suresh of Saratoga said. District Attorney Jeff Rosen had wanted Turner to spend six years in state prison. But the judge followed probation officers' recommendation for a shorter sentence in jail, noting his youth, intoxication at the time and previously clean record. Legal experts said Monday's efforts will have little impact because Turner's sentence was still within legal guidelines and the judge has not committed an impeachable offense. Protest organizers disagree. "The bias part is basically what we are focusing on. He has shown to treat one group of people one way, and the other gorup of people another way," Ruiz said. "We hope they will see the pattern that we see." The protestors said until Persky is recalled, impeached or steps down on his own, they will continue to speak out to give victims a louder voice. Santa Clara County Superior court clerks will go on strike starting Wednesday after a protest at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose on Monday failed to sway a return to the bargaining table. The Superior Court Professional Employees Association issued a 24-hour written notice for a strike late Monday. The union says the workers feel overworked and underpaid. "Theyre very frustrated, theyre determined," said court specialist Ingrid Stewart, the union's president. "Of course theyre scared. They dont want to do this; this is one of the hardest things to do." The protesters chose the mansion because they were trying to get the attention of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, who was there, attending a regular conference of the judicial council on Monday. "The court system hasn't been supportive for quite some time," said Superior Court clerk Donna Miranda. "Others have gotten raises, but we haven't." Joseph Macaluso, a representative of Superior Court of Santa Clara County, issued a statement in response to the strike. "It's terribly unfortunate that it has come to this, which will surely impact access to justice," he said. "However, the Court will do everything it can to maintain essential operations and continue to serve the public in the face of this work stoppage." Last week, the clerks authorized a strike, according to union spokesman Tom Saggau, adding that he had hoped the protest would sway the judges to use their influence and help move contract negotiations. Court management has offered the union 4.5 percent raises this year and last, along with an immediate 5 percent raise this year, all of which the union turned down. Saggau explained that the contract proposal did not offer any raises in the second year, which he said was unacceptable. He said the top step of a union worker in Santa Clara County was $64,000 after 30 years, compared to a court clerk employee in San Francisco, who earns "north of $90,000." Saggau said he thought raises of up to 3 percent for the second year would be "fair and reasonable." NBC Bay Area Workers say the strike will impact just about every court, slowing down proceedings at traffic court, family court and small claims, as well as paperwork for gun purchases, writs and domestic violence victims. "I've been with the court for 30-years, and it's very scary," court specialist Shelly Carey said about a looming strike. "I've done it before, and it's a lot of hard work, a lot of trying to convince people, a lot of making people understand what your story is." Carey said the group is ready for the long run. "What other chance are we going to have to show the public and show the court we are serious?" she said. The SCPEA represents about 400 clerks, janitors, and legal researchers. Dozens carried signs Monday morning that bore slogans such as "More Work, Less Pay." Stewart said that employees need a raise just for one year, especially since the Bay Area is so expensive. She said she wanted the judges' support because "they're the ones who have a lot of say in how much we get paid. They could help a great deal." Read the union's official strike notification letter here. Fifteen people are now believed to have contracted Zika through mosquito bites in the U.S., and government health officials are warning pregnant women to avoid travel to a part of Miami stricken by the virus. In an alert issued Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged expectant mothers who frequent the area to get tested for Zika. Officials also said men and women who have recently visited the Wynwood arts district should wait eight weeks before trying to conceive a child. The CDC also issued the same recommendations for anyone who traveled or lived in the area where those have been affected since June 15th, the earliest known date that one of the people could have gotten the disease. Gov. Rick Scott asked Monday for a federal emergency response team to help the state combat the spread of the virus in the U.S. Senator Marco Rubio urged Congress to return to Washington to approve Zika funding. A 60-year-old Miami man says he has tested positive for the Zika virus after health officials came to his house a few days ago and collected a urine sample. Rosemary LeBranch told The Associated Press on Monday that health officials took samples from her as well as her mother and father, Gabriel Jean, who tested positive. She says her father has spoken with a doctor and was advised to wear long shirts and pants when he goes outside. The doctor warned him that he wouldn't feel well, but LeBranch said he doesn't have a fever or feel any pain. Officials announced four cases on Friday, believed to be first people to contract the virus from mosquitoes within the 50 states. Ten more cases were announced Monday, and a Florida Department of Health update sent Tuesday gave the total non-travel-related infections as 15. The CDC's emergency response team will help Florida officials in their investigation, sample collection and mosquito control efforts. The White House said the CDC team would be deployed to Florida "in short order." Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, said that the travel alert was issued because more cases have been diagnosed and because mosquito control efforts had not worked as well as hoped. Although the CDC has recommended pregnant women not travel to Puerto Rico, Frieden knew of no similar advisories in recent years for the continental United States. The type of mosquito that spreads the Zika virus, Aedes aegypti, is a difficult mosquito to control, Frieden said. It might also have developed a resistant to the types of insecticides being used in Florida and might be breeding in small amounts of standing water that have not been discovered. "Nothing that we've seen indicates widespread transmission but it's certainly possible that there could be sustained transmission in small areas," he said. Frieden said that although health officials now know that Zika can cause microcephaly, they do not know what effects it might have on children born to mothers who do not have obvious symptoms. He denied that the CDC limited the travel warning to a small area at the request of Florida, trying to protect its tourism industry. The mosquitos do not travel more than 150 meters in their lifetime, he said. "So there wouldn't be a technical or scientific basis to give a broader recommendation," he said. But he said health officials would evaluate the data every day and make changes if needed. Zika is such a mild disease that most who get it don't even know they've been infected, but it can lead to severe brain-related birth defects if women are infected during pregnancy. The disease has swept through Latin America and the Caribbean in recent months. Florida health officials said they've tested more than 200 people in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties after reports of local transmissions of the virus in early July. Of the 14 people infected, two are women and 12 are men. "We will continue to keep our residents and visitors safe utilizing constant surveillance and aggressive strategies, such as increased mosquito spraying, that have allowed our state to fight similar viruses," Scott said in a statement. The Florida infections are thought to have occurred in a small area just north of downtown Miami, in the Wynwood arts district. The travel warning covers an area of about one square mile in Wynwood to the east of Interstate 95 and south of Interstate 195. U.S. health officials do not expect widespread outbreaks of the sort seen in Brazil and in Latin America and the Caribbean, in part because of better sanitation, better mosquito control and wider use of window screens and air conditioners. The area, known for murals spray-painted across warehouses, art galleries, restaurants and boutiques, is rapidly gentrifying and has a number of construction sites where standing water can collect and serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Many walking the streets recently were unaware the virus had spread and confused about how the disease is transmitted. Jordan Davison and Melissa Felix work for a cruise line and were enjoying their day off Monday looking at the murals in the neighborhood. "It's not like a big thing right?" said 25-year-old Davidson. "It's kind of freaky there's so much going on we didn't know, didn't really think about it ... I might wear bug spray going forward." More than 1,650 cases of Zika have been reported in U.S. states that were linked either with travel or having sex with a returned traveler, another way the virus can spread. Bakery owner Mariana Cortez isn't worried that Zika is going to keep locals and tourists from eating her delicious desserts. "Mosquitoes are not enough of a reason to not come pick up your cake ... I don't think my business is going to be effected by Zika." On Friday, Florida agricultural officials immediately announced more aggressive mosquito-control efforts, and Florida politicians rushed to assure tourists it's still safe to visit the state. On Feb. 12, Gov. Scott directed the state surgeon general to activate a Zika Virus Information Hotline for current Florida residents and visitors, as well as anyone planning on traveling to Florida in the near future. The number for the Zika Virus Information Hotline is 1-855-622-6735. What to Know Joey Chun had Top Secret clearance since 1998. He sought payment for information that an undercover agent would "give" to China. He faces four counts of providing false statements. An electronics technician working in the FBIs New York City office since 1997 has been charged with making false statements to the FBI regarding contacts with Chinese foreign nationals, prosecutors say. Kun Shan Chun (also known as Joey Chun) is named in a four-count complaint issued in March and unsealed Monday in federal court in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty to the complaint, which charges him with four counts of making false statements related to his foreign contacts. Chun's public defender said his client was ready to acknowledge what he had done. Today Joey Chun accepted responsibility for some mistakes in judgment that he deeply regrets. The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm. He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life," Jonathan Marvinny said in a statement. Chun, age 47 and a naturalized U.S. citizen, held a Top Secret security clearance in his role as an FBI electronics technician, allowing him to access sensitive and classified information, court papers say. Since 2006, Chun and some of his relatives maintained relationships with several Chinese nationals who purported to be affiliated with a Chinese company, according to court documents. Chun was asked to perform research and other tasks in the United States in return for financial benefits, including paid foreign travel, and was in contact with an individual he understood to be affiliated with the Chinese government, court papers say. In March 2013, Chun downloaded an FBI organizational chart from his FBI computer and took it to a Chinese official in China, court papers say. Less than two years later, he took photos of documents that summarized sensitive details regarding FBI surveillance technologies and did the same. Chun allegedly made a series of false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with the Chinese nationals. FBI policy requires employees to report contacts with foreign nationals and agents of foreign powers. "Americans who act as unauthorized foreign agents commit a federal offense that betrays our nation and threatens our security, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. "And when the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous." Chun faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in December. Chicago rapper and producer Kanye West talked about potentially running for president in 2020 and discussed Chicagos gun violence problem in an interview with BBC1 this weekend. The multi-platinum selling artist claimed that he doesnt have any political views, but rather has a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while Im alive, Im going to try to do it, West said in the interview. West, one of the worlds most recognizable public figures, announced that he was running for the nations highest office at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. During the interview, West expressed concern over the nations gun violence, claiming were numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, were numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July. While there is no concrete proof that West will actually forge a campaign in 2020, the recent interview is further evidence that the musician and designer may still be considering a run. He's also apparently hoping to work with Ikea to make furniture, he said. Downers Grove Republican David Olsen was selected Saturday to replace former state Rep. Ron Sandack, who resigned last week citing cyber security issues. Olsen will be sworn in Wednesday. Olsen was selected by DuPage County GOP Chair Brian Krajewski and Will County GOP Chair Kathy Havel to represent Illinois' 81st House District. Olsen will also replace Sandack on the November ballot. Im excited to get to work representing the people of the 81st district, Olsen said in a statement. For too long, politicians in Springfield have ignored the needs of Illinoisans, doubling down on tax-and-spend agenda that has clearly failed our state. I inted to bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to the entrenched interests in Springfield, and I will fight to give taxpayers a voice, he added. Olsen currently serves on the Downers Grove Village Council, but is expected to resign from his post Wednesday. He has served on the council since 2013 and served as mayor pro team before resigning on Saturday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Olsen also serves on the Dupage College board during a tumultuous time for the institution. According to the Tribune, Olsen will continue serving in that capacity until the boards next election in April. Sandack resigned last Sunday after filing an incident with the Downers Grove Police Department, citing an "internet scam. Last Monday, the former state representative told the Tribune that he resigned after fake social media accounts set up in his name started cropping up in recent weeks. Sandack, a close ally to Gov. Bruce Rauner, was an avid used of Facebook and Twitter during his time in the General Assembly. Sandack told the Tribune that Politics has gotten too ugly, expressing concern for his family. We might as well all just quit now. Critics and creators alike have officially been stripped of their purpose by the glorious masterpiece that was "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens." Tornadoes can't get better than this. Sharks can't get better than this. Art itself will never be better than this. SyFy's fourth installment of its "hit" Sharknado franchise had pretty much everything we could ever dream of: Sharknadoes, Bouldernadoes, Lightningnadoes, Tara Reid resurrected as a robot, a small child who thinks his mom is a shark but is actually the robot Tara Reid, Gilbert Gottfried as a storm chaser for the "Today" show, and "Real Housewives" working as astrophysicists. At no point would we have been able to say, "yes, we understand precisely what is happening right now," but if you think that took away from our extreme guilt over this guiltiest of guilty pleasures, you'd be nothing more than a great big wrongnado. Let's talk about the moments that truly astonished us: 1. First of all, there's a fourth "Sharknado" movie. And it aired on Harry Potter's birthday! We are still truly #blessed, even in this horrid year of 2016. The 10 Best Celeb Cameos In Sharknado 3--Ranked! 2. Tara Reid's fate was revealed, and it was better than we could have imagined: It's been five years (in Sharknado world) since Tara Reid was eaten by a shark, delivered her own baby inside the shark, sawed through the shark to save her and her baby, and then was hit by falling debris in Sharknado 3. We learned tonight that her family believed she had died after she had laid unconscious in the hospital for four years. Secretly, however, Gary Busey (her dad, remember) had revived her, told her her family had died, turned her into a super strong robot, and had been training her while in search of a permanent cure for, you know, death. Meanwhile, on a farm in Kansas, Fin (Ian Ziering) was raising his young son, who believed his mother was actually a shark. That meant we got this line: "That's not my mother. My mother's a shark, not a robot!" 3. Do you really need any other moments?! 4. You do? FINE. Um. Carrot Top the Uber driver made us never want to ride in an Uber again. Steve Guttenberg sells cars with names now, and "Vanderpump Rules'" Stassi Schroeder is not the worst actress! Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No Was Our Favorite Movie of All Time--Check Out The Most Ridiculous Moments! 5. RIP Gabrielle, Fin's new daughter-in-law, who at least died with a shark chowing down on one arm while the other arm wielded a shotgun against the impending sharkageddon. 6. What it is about watching reality TV stars spout technical jargon about sharknado-repelling space physics that is just so satisfying? Props to Cynthia Bailey, Erika Girardi, Carrie Keagan, Stassi Schroeder, Kym Johnson, and many more familiar faces who made it through lines that would tie our tongues. 7. We were just so happy to see that the "Today" show hosts survived Sharknado 3's shark attack on the "Today" show studios. Natalie Morales' eyepatch was a nice touch! 8. Tara Reid is a SHARK-FIGHTING SUPERHERO ROBOT, you guys. The world may seem to be falling apart but no one can ever take Tara Reid the Super Robot away from us, nor can they make us forget the CGI'd-to-death image of her flying over the rushing water to save her son from a flood. Thank you, "Sharknado 4." Thank you for everything. What did you think of that masterpiece? Sound off in the comments below! (E! and SyFy are both part of the NBCUniversal family) Renewed or Canceled? Find Out the Fate of All Your Favorite Shows Two Chicago Police officers were hurt when their squad SUV slammed into another vehicle while responding to a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting late Sunday on the West Side. About 11:15 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was standing on the sidewalk in the 1100 block of North Hamlin when she heard gunfire and realized shed been shot in the right leg, police said. She later showed up at Norwegian American Hospital and was listed in good condition. Officers driving south to the scene on Hamlin with their emergency lights activated crashed into a car at the intersection of Hirsch, sending the squad vehicle into a parked car, police said. The officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital in good condition. The driver of the other car was ticketed for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, police said. Hours after Chicago's biggest music festival came to an end, city workers began the clean-up process from more than 400,000 music fans that made their way across Grant Park over the weekend. The 25th annual Lollapalooza was extended from three to four days this year for the first time, and an estimated 100,000 people attended each day from Thursday through Sunday. Multiple people were arrested and hundreds were taken to area hospitals for medical treatment during the festival's first three days, according to the City of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. On Thursday, July 28, two people were arrested, one cited, and 84 taken to area hospitals, OEMC spokesperson Melissa Stratton confirmed. On Friday, July 29, seven people were arrested, four received citations, and 79 were taken to local hospitals. Two of the arrests Thursday and Friday were for flying drones over the festival, Stratton said, which is not permitted. On Saturday, July 30, three people were arrested, seven cited, and 56 taken to area hospitals, Stratton confirmed. Sunday's numbers were not immediately available, as the OEMC does not release information pertaining to arrests or transports until the following day. In 2015, a total of 34 people were arrested and 238 were taken to hospitals for medical treatment throughout the three-day festival. While officials have not specified how many people arrested or taken to hospitals this year were underage, last year 88 of those receiving medical attention were intoxicated teenagers. Chicago is poised to see the number of homicides in July dip from June, but the city is still on pace to see more people killed in 2016 than last year. There were 65 homicides in Chicago in July as of noon Sunday, according to Chicago Police. There were 71 homicides in the city in June and 66 in May. The city has recorded 381 homicides so far in 2016, police said. Thats up about 44 percent from last year, when the city had 264 murders through July 31, 2015. Police said 2,394 people were shot in the city so far in 2016, including 441 in July. In the same time period last year, 1,564 people had been shot through July 31, 2015. A demonstration in Lyon on Saturday organized by the local Muslim Council. AFP For the last six decades, wherever it has been able, and to varying degrees, the EU has lifted barriers to freedom of movement. But now it faces a serious challenge to that policy. Used to adopting immediate measures to deal with crises, for the first time, the EU has no means at its disposal to avoid indiscriminate terror attacks of the kind carried out in Paris, Nice, Brussels or Germany over the last nine months. In response, radical parties on the far right have sought to capitalize on the alarm, and even some mainstream social democratic parties are calling for measures that run contrary to the democratic traditions of the EU. The ideas coming from France and Germany dont seem like the qualitative leap that the situation demands Diplomatic sources in Brussels Europe has been in crisis for most of the last decade. The recession that began in 2008 has hit this side of the Atlantic hard, prompting the near-collapse of economies in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Cyprus: and Italys banking system is now in freefall. Europe seems more than ever divided along north-south lines. And the problems continue: the UKs recent decision to leave the EU could further disrupt the fault lines running through the bloc, while Brussels seems unable to find any solutions to the pressures caused by increasing migration, which is being whipped up in some quarters as a threat to Europes security. Locked in a political impasse for the last seven months after two inconclusive elections that could lead to a third by the end of the year, Spain will have been hoping that Paris and Berlin would come up with some ambitious proposals for the future of the union. But Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel have enough on their hands dealing with terror attacks and the threat from the far right, with Marine Le Pens National Front and the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany just months ahead of key elections. At the end of June, the foreign ministers of Germany and France came up with some ideas aimed at strengthening economic union and security. These included a European Security Compact, under which the EU would establish agreed strategic EU priorities for foreign and security policy and promote an integrated EU policy; a common European asylum and migration policy that would see the creation of the world's first multinational border and coast guard; and measures to foster growth and complete Economic and Monetary Union. They dont seem like the qualitative leap that the situation demands, say diplomatic sources in Brussels, adding: Although at least it is something that we can begin to debate just what the devil it is that our partners want just a few months from crucial elections in France and Germany, along with a series of attacks that have many everybody feel unsafe. Merkel says the recent attacks in Germany will not change her immigration policies, although she has promised to set up some kind of early warning monitor to check radicalization among refugees, and has said she is prepared to follow Frances lead and put soldiers on the street. Francois Hollande wants to create a National Guard made up of civilian volunteers and retired members of the armed forces; but the opposition is calling for tougher measures that would include detention or house arrest of anybody suspected of links to terrorism. Spain makes progress Spain has decided to keep the national threat level for terrorist attacks at 4 the highest possible level is 5 following the attack in Nice. In Spain, last November, the government and several opposition groups signed an anti-terrorist pact aimed at improving the fight against global jihadism. But the desired show of unity was compromised by the conspicuous absence of the heads of Spains two main parties, the ruling Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists. Its logical for all countries to unite because we are all under threat, and it didnt make sense not to achieve unity at the national level, said Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz at the time. The more of us here at the table, the better. Like the pact says, our strength resides in the law and in unity. But the absence of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sanchez reduced the impact of the event, particularly since it was these two leaders who created the anti-terrorist pact in the first place, shortly after the jihadist attacks on the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. A report released in July by a leading think tank about the activities of Islamic State (ISIS) in Spain shows a shift away from the lone wolf radicalization process to one in which relatives, friends and neighbors are playing a growing role. Researchers at the Real Instituto Elcano also found that out of the 124 jihadists who were arrested in Spain between June 2013 and May 2016, 34.5% of them one in three wanted to carry out an an attack on Spanish soil, either out of hatred or a desire to earn a place in paradise. Meanwhile, the Spanish Interior Ministry has decided to keep the national threat level for terrorist attacks at 4 the highest possible level is 5 following the attack in the French city of Nice. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here Other measures include beefing up security at critical transportation hubs such as airports, in tourist-heavy areas, and in places were crowds are likely to converge. But as Camino Mortera of the London-based think tank Centre for European Reform points out, the terror attacks carried out in recent months cannot be prevented by traditional means. Neither the French-German proposals or Brussels ideas, or those that individual countries have come up with can stop this new terrorism: a lone wolf who drives a truck into a crowd of people, or a former soldier who goes into a church and slits a priests throat, he says. Militarization and heavy security are just cosmetic measures. They might make people feel a bit safer, they might help a tiny bit in holding back the populist movements. But their results are hit-and-miss, he adds. Its hard to see Europe adopting the Israeli approach of checking all transportation and militarizing all public spaces, say diplomatic sources in Brussels. The West needs a reality check. Not all these attacks can be prevented: it just isnt possible for the police to protect every airport, cafe and square between Helsinki and Cadiz. Europes political elites are in denial and havent grabbed the bull by the horns, starting with sorting out Schengen once and for all. It is time for our leaders to take the lead if they want to avoid this perfect storm of security failures, economic crisis, frustration at the negative effects of globalization, refugee crisis, mistrust of elites, and the rise of the far right from wreaking havoc, concludes Mortera. English version by Nick Lyne. The family of an 18-year-old man shot to death by Chicago Police last week has filed a wrongful death suit in federal court amid questions as to why a body camera worn by one of the officers did not record the shooting, according to an attorney representing his family. Paul O'Neal, of the 1700 block of East 70th Street, was killed around 9 p.m. Thursday night in the city's South Shore neighborhood, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. He was unnarmed, a police spokesman confirmed. "All we have asked for is that the truth come out," said Michael Oppenheimer, attorney for the O'Neal family. "And all of the sudden a lot of these body cams don't work." A police spokesperson said that the body cameras "were working" and had been issued to police in that district in the past eight to ten days, but it was unclear how many times they had been used prior to the shooting. Police say the Independent Police Review Authority and Chicago Police Department are investigating into why the fatal encounter was not recorded by the body camera. Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, officers saw a Jaguar S-Type convertible that had been reported stolen from Bolingbrook, according to police. Police said they "attempted to curb" the car near 74th Street and Merrill Avenue when the Jaguar sideswiped the police vehicle and another nearby parked car. Three officers then fired their weapons at the Jaguar, police said. O'Neal, who was 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. Theres a lot of video footage of it, but the actual encounter, that part is not captured on video, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a press conference Monday. Johnson also said all the officers involved were wearing body cameras. "The officers played judge, jury and executioner. Their own sense of justice. We want justice now," Oppenheimer said. Ja'mal Green, a spokesman for the ONeal family, said Monday that functional body cameras and holding police accountable are crucial to establishing a relationship between authorities and the communities they police. "The biggest thing I want you guys to understand is that Paul was unarmed," Green said. "So, did he pose a threat to an officer with a gun and a Taser?" A Portland man is accused of posting a personal ad on Craigslist for a Glastonbury woman who had severed contact with him. The victim contacted police on July 24 when she started receiving several calls in response to a personal ad she didnt place. Police investigated and identified Christopher Terrio, 27, of Portland, as the person who placed the ad. They said the victim had recently decided to have no further contact with him. Terrio was charged with second-degree breach of peace and was issued a summons to appear in court on Aug. 10. Connecticut State police are searching for two attempted shoplifting suspects. Police said on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. two suspects tried to steal nearly $600 worth of merchandise from the Putnam Walmart at 625 School St. The suspects, identified by police as Steve and Robin, may be from Norwich. Police said they are driving a 1990s Chevy camper style van. Anyone who recognizes the suspects pictured above is asked to call State police Troop D at (860) 779-4913 and ask for Trooper Cash. Calls can be kept confidential. Yale University said Monday it will reconsider the decision to keep the name of a residential college named for John C. Calhoun, a 19th-century alumnus and ardent supporter of slavery. Yale President Peter Salovey announced in April that the university was preserving the name of Calhoun College, defying protesters who railed against it. But he said in a message to campus on Monday that "many faculty, students, alumni, and staff have raised significant and moving concerns about that decision, and it is now clear to me that the community-wide conversation about these issues could have drawn more effectively on campus expertise." Controversy has surrounded the name of Calhoun College for decades, but it received new attention last year as protesters on campuses around the country called for universities to address the legacies of historical figures, such as Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University in New Jersey. Calhoun, a member of the Yale class of 1804, was a U.S. vice president and senator from South Carolina. In announcing the decision to keep the Calhoun name, Salovey said the move would help Yale confront the history of slavery in the United States. Calhoun's name was in the headlines again following the arrest of a black dining services worker, Corey Menafee, who in June used a broomstick to smash a stained-glass window depicting slaves. Criminal charges have since been dropped and Yale has rehired Menafee, who had described the images as offensive. Salovey said he has appointed a new committee to develop guidelines for proposals to remove historical names from university buildings, including Calhoun's. He said requests to remove the name will be reconsidered after the committee's work is completed. What to Know A man and a woman were killed by flood waters, according to county officials. 40 people from the Phoenix Emporium, a bar in Ellicott City, and at least 80 others from cars in different locations were rescued. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Howard County. Flood waters tore through the streets of Ellicott City, Maryland, Saturday -- killing two people and causing extensive damage to property and infrastructure. A man and a woman were found dead Sunday morning, said Andy Barth, spokesman for Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. The victims have been identified as 35-year-old Jessica Watsula, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and 38-year-old Joseph Anthony Blevins, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, Baltimore County Police said. Both bodies were discovered on the Baltimore County side of the Patapsco River, authorities said during a news conference. "This was a terrible, terrible, horrific incident before we knew two people had died. That just makes it so much more horrific," Kittleman said during the news conference. Two people were killed after being swept away by floodwaters in Ellicott City, Maryland. News4s Darcy Spencer reports. Police said Watsula's body was found about 2:20 a.m. Her brother told police that she and family members were visiting Ellicott City when the flooding happened. They were inside Watsula's vehicle, trying to leave, when the vehicle was swept away. Everyone but Watsula managed to escape the vehicle. Watsula was swept away and eventually found about 200 yards from the Ilchester Bridge, police said. A man walking a trail discovered Blevins' body washed up on shore near Ilchester Road about 8:30 a.m., police said. Police said Blevins was in Ellicott City with his girlfriend. Their vehicle was swept away with the couple inside. His girlfriend got out of the vehicle and was rescued, but Blevins was swept away. [NATL-DC] Floods Rip Through Ellicott City's Main Street Fire and rescue crews rescued 120 people during the flooding, Kittleman said. He said the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services rescued more than 40 people from the Phoenix Emporium, a bar along Main Street in Ellicott City, and at least 80 others from cars in different locations. Everyone who was thought to be missing has been accounted for, he said. Kittleman said the damage sustained during the flooding was the worst in at least 50 years and possibly the worst in the 244-year-old town's history. He says virtually every structure and business along Ellicott City's Main Street was damaged. He compared the aftermath to that of a war zone or the set of a disaster movie. "Cars everywhere, sidewalks missing, roads partially gone, utility poles down, cars on top of cars, buildings - the bottom floor completely gone, foundations completely gone. So, no - I don't think we can compare this to anything we've seen before," he said. Kittleman estimates the cost of the recovery will run into the tens of hundreds of millions of dollars. "Regardless of how bad those roads are, regardless of how bad those sidewalks are, regardless of how bad stores are - we can fix that. We can't fix a lost life," Kittleman said. "The devastation is quite remarkable," Barth said, noting that six inches of rain fell in just a couple of hours. "I've done this a lot, and I've never seen it like this." Barth said he was unsure about any other serious injuries due to flood waters. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Howard County on Sunday. The order allows the state to efficiently coordinate support and provide additional assistance to Howard County. "We are coordinating all available resources to address this emergency as quickly as possible," Hogan said. "Our administration is working closely with local officials, including Howard County Executive Allen Kittleman, to respond to this major storm event." The Hogan administration has asked state agencies to respond to the effects of this storm, including the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, which has increased its activation level and is coordinating resource requests received from Howard County. Those affected by the storm who are in need of non-emergency assistance can call Howard Countys Police Department at (410) 313-2200. The Baltimore Gas and Electric Company showed more than 4,000 customers were without power on its outage map about 11 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday, the outages were down to 930. Donald Trumps campaign issued a statement Saturday, praising the son of a Muslim American lawyer who criticized the Republican presidential nominee in an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention. 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 said. "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. The captain's parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, have come under criticism from real estate mogul for speaking out against his candidacy during the Democratic National Convention. In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Trump defended himself and said Ghazala Khan stood by silently because she may not have been allowed to speak during her husbands speech at the DNC. Ghazala Khan responded to Trump directly in an op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday. "Donald Trump said that maybe I wasnt allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not," she wrote. "Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesnt know what the word sacrifice means." Trump also said Khizr Khan had no right to attack him when he offered to lend Trump a copy of the constitution. Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. soldier who was killed in action, addressed the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. After facing backlash, Trump reiterated the statement from his campaign in a tweet Sunday. Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our 'leaders' to eradicate it! Trump tweeted. But he defended his criticism of Khan: I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016 The bereaved father has called on House Speaker Ryan to withdraw his support for Trump after the candidate's remarks about the family. The House Speaker said Muslim Americans who serve in the U.S. military should be honored "period" and that he would reject any proposal that would require a religious test for entry into the U.S. Ryan made the comments in a written statement issued Sunday, but didnt specifically mention Trump. He also praised a U.S. Army captain, Humayun Khan, who was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2004. "America's greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it," he said in the statement. "Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrificeand that of Khizr and Ghazala Khanshould always be honored. Period." A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America's fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 31, 2016 Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence called the captain an American hero, while defending Trumps Muslim immigration ban. By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS at its source and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family. Trumps comments have drawn anger from people on social media as well as from other politicians. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called on both Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to revoke their endorsement of the real estate mogul. Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan approvingly spoke at Donald Trumps convention, endorsed Donald Trump for president and believe he is mentally fit to sit in the Oval Office," Reid said in a statement. "Occasional statements that do nothing to repudiate Donald Trumps words and actions are spineless. Anything short of revoking their endorsements is cowardice." Donald Trump said Monday on the campaign trail he worries the general election in November will be "rigged," and later called rival Hillary Clinton "the devil." "I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest," the Republican nominee for president said at a rally in Ohio. Trump's remarks did not mention the controversy generated by his criticism of the parents of a slain Muslim U.S. soldier. He didn't elaborate on the comment. Trump said he felt the Democrats had fixed their primary system so Clinton could defeat Bernie Sanders and claimed the Republican nomination would have also been stolen from him had he not won "by such tremendous margins." If the remark was more than just an offhand comment, it would seem to threaten the tradition of peacefully contested elections and challenge the very essence of a fair democratic process. He repeated the charge Monday night on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," asserting that the election "is going to be rigged" and that Republicans should watch closely. Associated Press requests to Trump's campaign for additional explanation were not returned. Speaking in Pennsylvania later on Monday, Trump said Sanders had "made a deal with the devil" in supporting Clinton. "She's the devil," Trump said. Trump's Ohio rally was held after President Barack Obama spoke at the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, implicitly admonishing Trump by saying no one has given more for American freedom and security than the families of those who have died for their country. Obama's statement was the latest rebuke from a politician, following comments critical of Trump from both parties over the weekend. Trump had taken issue with the Muslim parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq over a decade ago. They spoke out against Trump at the Democratic National Convention, sparking a back-and-forth between Trump and the parents in the press. Trump spoke to reporters before the Ohio rally, but did not address the Khan family controversy, NBC News' Hallie Jackson reported. He also made no mention of the issue in Pennsylvania, though he said there that if he doesn't win on Nov. 8, he will consider running for president "a tremendous waste of time, energy and money." "I would have rather lost a year ago, it would have been easier," he told the crowd in a Harrisburg-area high school, urging them to bring their friends to vote. Trump said "it takes guts" to run for president and he could "have a very nice life right now." "I don't have to be with you people, ranting and raving," Trump said. While Trump may suspect some wrongdoing in the election, he sounded a more optimistic note about his own campaign at the Ohio rally, saying over 500,000 small donors had contributed $35.8 million in the last month, with an average donation of $69. If true he said that his campaign would be announcing the figures soon it would nearly equal the $39.4 million he received in total contributions he received from April 2, 2015 to June 30, 2016, according to FEC filings. Trump compared himself to Sanders, who funded his presidential bid through small donors. Trump said the money both of them have collected is evidence of "a movement." Trump and Clinton both must report their July fundraising information to federal regulators by Aug. 20. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Authorities say a Nashville man has been charged in a human trafficking case involving a missing 12-year-old Texas girl. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that 36-year-old Tavarie A. Williams was arrested and charged with two counts of trafficking for a commercial sex act. TBI agents say they received information Friday about the whereabouts of the child, who was reported missing a month ago. Authorities found the girl at an extended-stay hotel in Franklin. Officials say Williams was holding the girl against her will. TBI agents say Williams offered her a ride home in San Antonio, Texas but instead brought her to Tennessee for the purposes of commercial sex. It isn't immediately clear if Williams has an attorney. In a show of solidarity and unity, hundreds gathered in Mansfield Sunday evening for the '#AreWeRelated Benefit Concert for Dallas Families.' The event, put on by various churches and nonprofits, was designed to send the message that we are all family. The free concert, headlined by David Moore & Moore Melodies, also helped raise funds for Dallas families affected by the violent attack on police July 7. Mansfield's mayor and police chief also honored Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Ivan Saldana with a proclamation. Saldana, who has lived in Mansfield for about a decade, is a 15-year-veteran of the Dallas police force. He was wounded by shrapnel while working at the intersection where gunfire started the night of the attack. "In the beginning I felt it but I just kept doing what I was supposed to do," Saldana said, "maybe like two hours later that's when I realized I was bleeding." The proclamation honors Saldana for his bravery, and offers prayers for continued recovery. It also mentions the death of Saldana's former partner, Michael Krol, and injuries sustained by his training officer Gretchen Rocha. "It's emotional, but I received the honor on their behalf more than anything,"Saldana said. Shrapnel remains in his leg, but Saldana said he is healing and ready to return to work Monday. "It will be another day in the job," Saldana said when asked about returning to work, "just do what we do." President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. has made serious strides in improving services for military veterans, but work remains to overcome shortcomings in the delivery of health care, housing and mental health services. He called the nation's commitment to its veterans a "sacred covenant." "I don't use those words lightly. It's sacred because there is no more solemn request than to ask someone to risk their life, to be ready to give their life on our behalf," Obama said at the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans. It was Obama's final major address to a gathering of veterans before he leaves office in January after eight years as president. He was greeted with a rousing welcome, including cheers and a standing ovation. Obama said the Department of Veterans Affairs has hired more doctors, nurses and staff and opened more clinics since the recent scandal over long wait-times for VA services, the demand for which keeps growing as more veterans come into the pipeline. Benefits are available to more than 2 million veterans who didn't have them before, he said. Services are reaching more veterans, including those who live in rural areas through telemedicine. Homelessness has been cut nearly in half, by 47 percent, though still far short of the president's long-held goal of reducing it to zero. More veterans are finding jobs. More than a half-million veterans have donated their health and genetic data to a research database that Obama said eventually will benefit not just former military members, but all Americans. But shortcomings remain, Obama said. He cited mental care for veterans, including the 20 per day who commit suicide. Quicker processing of disability claims and appeals is also needed. A staggering backlog of disability claims has been whittled from more than 600,000 three years ago to below 80,000, but some 450,000 appeals are pending. Veterans wait an average of three years for a decision, which the White House called "unacceptable." Obama called on Congress to pass legislation to overhaul the system. Care for America's veterans is a top issue in the presidential campaign, with the nearly 21 million veterans in the U.S. making up a critical voting bloc. Republican Donald Trump has repeatedly blasted the VA under Obama; Democrat Hillary Clinton has been less harsh. Both candidates promise to overhaul the department, including its health care system. Trump has proposed allowing veterans eligible for VA health care to take their ID cards to any doctor or facility that accepts Medicare. Clinton would make changes to the existing system. Despite the problems, demand for VA health care grew 13 percent in the past year, said DAV Executive Director Garry Augustine. "We know that even though the access is a problem, health care in the VA is very good," Augustine said in an interview. The health care side "remains to be fixed," Augustine said. A congressionally mandated commission recently concluded that the department continues to have "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to veterans. VA already has been making changes in line with the commission's recommendations, including helping more veterans get care outside the VA. Augustine said he'd like to see VA establish an approved network of private doctors who know how to treat veterans. He also expressed concern, shared by the White House, over a backlog of appeals but said that overall, veterans appreciate the support they have received from Obama. Among other issues, Augustine cited increased spending on veterans, expanded and better health care for female veterans, tax credits for hiring veterans and strides toward reducing veterans' homelessness. Pedro Sanchez and Mariano Rajoy in Congress in July. Alvaro Garcia Spanish acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy will meet with two opposition leaders this week in a bid to secure enough support to break a seven-month deadlock and form a government. The Popular Party (PP) candidate wants to reach a deal in August, in time to get important legislation passed, including the 2017 budget and EU fiscal policy requirements. So far, Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez and Ciudadanos president Albert Rivera have refused to endorse Rajoy, whose PP earned 137 seats at the repeat election of June 26. A congressional majority requires 176 seats. Only supporters of the leftist coalition Unidos Podemos would rather see a third election than a PP government Both say that Rajoys proposals for a governing program, which he sent them last month, simply mirror the PPs campaign platform. Now, Rajoys team has compared this program with the joint governing agreement that the Socialists and Ciudadanos came up with following the original election of December 20, and found 125 points in common. Rajoy will use this apparent common ground to argue that PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos share principles and priorities that are essential to the general interest of Spaniards. He will meet with Sanchez and Rivera on Tuesday and Wednesday, shortly after King Felipe VI tasked him with trying to form a government. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click His team holds that all three groups are constitutionalist parties that defend the unity of Spain and equality for all Spaniards; they are moderate reform parties that propose growth-based, social and institutional reforms within the framework of our own political system; these parties are undeniably pro-European and pro-euro; they share a vision of foreign policy as state policy; they were able to foment and enlarge the pact against jihadist terrorism, and they were capable of joining criteria to address the greatest challenges of our territorial debate. The PP team would like a negotiating committee to sit down over the next three weeks to hammer out the specifics of the new deal, which would touch on a wide range of issues, from regional financing to education and gender violence. However, in this quest for common ideas, Rajoys team has deliberately ignored some of the more specific proposals contained in the PSOE- Ciudadanos pact, such as the elimination of provincial authorities known as Diputaciones. A new survey Meanwhile, a new survey conducted for EL PAIS finds that a majority of Spaniards (55%) feel the PP should try to form a government. Yet 55% are sure that the conservatives will need to seek support from other parties to legislate, and think that this political term will be shorter than usual. Also, 66% of Spaniards say that, in order to avoid a record third election in Spain, the Socialists should abstain at the investiture vote to name a new prime minister, therefore allowing Rajoy to get reinstated by omission. So far, the party is ruling out this option. Sanchez has said that he will not vote for the person we want to remove [from office]. He has claimed that his own voters would not understand it if he did. Yet the Metroscopia survey shows that a full 63% of Socialist voters defend an abstention in exchange for specific concessions from the PP. Except for supporters of the leftist coalition Unidos Podemos, who would rather see a third election than a PP government, voters from all the main parties said the best option is a PSOE abstention in order to allow the most-voted party to govern. English version by Susana Urra. Nearly a dozen cars were damaged after a carport at an apartment complex burned early Monday morning in Pasadena. Apartment residents and neighbors left their homes last night for safety, and to watch the blaze that broke out just after 4 a.m. Four cars were totaled and another seven were damaged, according to the Pasadena Fire Department. One neighbor, Josue Muro, saw the fire when it started. "I heard a couple of pops. And the Mercedes, the engine was on fire," Muro said. He tried to put out the flames with an extinguisher before it spread. "Eventually it just started spreading and there was more popping so they told us to get across the street, and before you know it the whole thing was on fire," he added. Photos from early AM carport fire at Colorado & Parkwood. 11 vehicles damaged, 4 totaled. Cause under investigation. pic.twitter.com/ieIGaKcNrA Pasadena Fire Dept. (@PasadenaFD) August 1, 2016 Another neighbor, Laura Rodriguez, was woken up when her neighbors pounded on her door to come outside in case the fire were to spread. "It was huge," Rodriguez said. "It was already big and it looked like it engulfed a whole car. We ... didnt know if they were going to start exploding one after another or something." Firefighters are trying to determine the cause of the fire, focusing on the older-model Mercedes where the fire seems to have started. No one was injured, and no homes were damaged. Sen. Ricardo Lara's proposed bill, which aims to prevent LGBT discrimination at faith-based colleges, has conservative groups, Christian colleges and LGBT advocacy groups clashing. Senate Bill 1146, scheduled for a committee hearing this week, would remove a long-standing exemption from anti-discrimination laws for religious institutions. According to the official synopsis during the assembly committee on judiciary hearing, "The bill specifies that existing Government Code Section 11135 - which prohibits discrimination in any state-operated or state-funded program or activity - applies to any religious college or university that receives or benefits from state assistance," and "(The Bill) requires a college or university that claims a religious exemption from Title IX laws and regulations to make specified disclosures to students, faculty, and staff, and specifies that religious colleges and universities are subject to state anti-discrimination laws, as specified." Executive Director of LGBT advocacy group Equality California, Rick Zbur, said that SB 1146 is a civil rights bill that would force faith-based schools that receive state funding to practice nondiscrimination towards LGBT people. "State resources should not be used to advance LGBT discrimination," he said. But opponents call it an attack on free exercise of religion. The exemption allows schools to craft campus policies more in line with their faith, they say. The bill would prevent discrimination against same-sex relationships, housing and bathroom accommodations for transgender students, and more. "At a school like Biola, you could be expelled for simply advocating LGBT rights," said Zbur. He said the second purpose of the bill is to require schools to disclose any discriminatory practices. Several Christian Universities have voiced their opposition to the bill. Biola University released a statement on their website, "If passed, this bill would substantially interfere with the ability of California's faith-based colleges and universities to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with their beliefs." Concordia University Irvine president Kurt Krueger issued a statement on the school website, stating the main oppositions were that the bill could require the university to hire faculty and staff that do not hold Christian beliefs and cause students to lose Cal Grants (financial aid to students from the government for California universities). "It is unfair to punish the students," said Arthur Schaper, director of California MassResistance, which the SPLC classifies as a hate group, regarding potential loss of Cal Grants. Zbur claims concerns about religious liberty and loss of financial aid are all a "smokescreen" for what in reality is LGBT intolerance. "This is an infringement upon First Amendment rights," Schaper said. "Homosexuality is not a civil right, it's a behavior. Transgenderism is a mental disorder." Schaper has organized demonstrations against Senate Bill 1146, including a meeting of over 50 people at Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell's office in Long Beach last Friday. SB 1146 has a committee hearing date Aug. 3, 2016. A rising chorus of Republican lawmakers and veterans groups hastened to disavow Donald Trump's repeated criticism of a bereaved military family Monday, but the GOP presidential nominee refused to back down. He complained anew that he had been "viciously attacked" by the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war, led the charge, saying Trump did not have "unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation's oldest and largest veterans organization, called Trump out of bounds for tangling with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in 2004. "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," VFW leader Brian Duffy said. Democratic President Barack Obama chimed in, too, addressing the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He said of families who have lost family members in the military service: "No one has given more to our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families. ... They represent the very best of our country." Several other GOP lawmakers also chastised Trump for sparring with the Khans, who appeared at the Democratic convention on behalf of Hillary Clinton. But like McCain, none revoked his support of the GOP nominee in the White House campaign. In an emotional appearance at last week's convention, Khizr Khan criticized Trump for proposing to temporarily freeze the entry of foreign Muslims into the U.S. and accused him of making no sacrifices for his country. The billionaire businessman challenged that assertion and also implied Ghazala Khan's religion prevented her from speaking. On Monday, he tweeted that "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same." For some of Trump's allies, it was the latest example of a troubling pattern: The real estate mogul frequently continues to hit back at perceived slights or insults, regardless of the political implications. He has stunned rivals with his ability to survive self-created controversies during the GOP primaries, but faces a broader set of voters in the general election. Indeed, some Republicans said privately that it was the timing of this flare-up that had them on edge the spectacle of their candidate tangling with a military family just three months before Election Day. McCain was among several lawmakers many facing re-election this fall who distanced themselves from Trump's comments Monday. Rep. Mike Coffman, a vulnerable Republican in a competitive Colorado district, said Monday he was "deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war." Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt said the Khans "deserve to be heard and respected." "My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton," Blunt said in a statement. Sen. Marco Rubio called Trump's criticism "unfortunate," said Khan and his parents are heroes, "and they have a First Amendment right to speak out on their politics, as all Americans do. Their son died for the Constitution and I honor that." Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said: "Mr. Trump's comments are not in line with my own beliefs about how the members of the military and their families should be treated." "Captain Khan is an American hero in every sense of the term and the Khans deserve our sincerest gratitude," Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina said. And Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who in June withdrew his endorsement of Trump, said: "To Mr. Trump, I would simply say hands off Gold Star families." Trump advisers have spent months trying to help the political novice keep from responding to every criticism, with few signs of progress. Aides say that while Trump often professes to understand the risks of fueling a controversy, he can get drawn back. "It's just who he is," said Stuart Jolly, a former campaign staffer and current national political director for the pro-Trump Great America PAC. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has advised Trump, said the candidate's inability to back away from a political land mine "makes him vulnerable. ... He'll have to learn to grow out of it." While Trump and his allies often blame the media for keeping controversies alive, the businessman himself often fans the flames. After winning the primary, he spent days criticizing a U.S. district court judge's Mexican heritage. He also refused to disavow a campaign tweet about Clinton that appeared to feature the Star of David. In spite of those firestorms, Trump remains in a close race for the White House with Clinton. And few Democrats appeared ready to declare Trump's criticism of Khan a turning point. Democratic pollster Paul Maslin said that while "ninety-nine percent of me says this is devastating for Trump," Clinton backers can't assume that another few days of bad headlines will sink a candidate who "simply defies all natural laws of American politics." The Khans appeared at the Democratic convention Thursday night. The Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told the story of his son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, and questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution. During the speech, Ghazala Khan stood quietly by his side. Trump responded in an interview with ABC's "This Week," saying: "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." Ghazala Khan wrote in Sunday's Washington Post that she did not speak because talking about her son's death remains difficult. "Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for him, and I cry," she wrote. Khan said on NBC's "Today" show Monday that Trump's accusations that he attacked the Republican presidential nominee prove he "has not read the Constitution." This candidate amazes me. His ignorance -- he can get up and malign the entire nation, the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges and yet a private citizen in this political process I cannot say what I feel? That proves the point, he has not read the Constitution of this country. Had he read that, his behavior would be different," Khan said. When billionaire investor Warren Buffett introduced Hillary Clinton at a Nebraska campaign event Monday, he made an announcement that he said would be news even to the Democratic nominee for president. Buffett pledged to "take at least 10 people to the polls who otherwise would have had difficulty getting there" on November 8, challenging his congressional district to "give America a civics lesson." He launched a website, Drive2vote, where people can sign up for a ride or to give a ride on Election Day, as well as to register to vote. "My goal is to have the turnout here be the highest percentage of potential voters of any district in the country," Buffett told the crowd in Omaha. Buffet, a famed investor and one of the wealthiest people in America, endorsed Clinton last year. The "Oracle of Omaha," as Buffett is sometimes called, said he even reserved a trolley called "Ollie" Monday. "It seats 32, Im gonna be on it all day, Im gonna be doing selfies, whatever it takes," Buffett said. Clinton thanked Buffett for the introduction before transitioning into her rally. As it finished, she said that if she wins the election, she will "come back here and Warren and I will dance of the streets of Omaha together!" Her campaign is seeking to highlight support from the business community. Buffett is the latest business leader to back Clinton over Republican Donald Trump. She appeared with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in Pittsburgh over the weekend and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke on her behalf at the Democratic National Convention. Buffett also discussed Clinton's rival for the White House, saying "La-di-da" of Trump's Republican National Convention assertion that he's the only one who can fix the country's ills. "It takes some kind of nerve, or something else, to really have the notion that out of 335 million people you're the only one who can fix it," Buffett continued. Clinton said she wants to be "the small business president," and took issue with the way Trump has allegedly not paid contractors for their work, referring apparently to the bankruptcy of his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic city in the 1990s. "That is just not the way we do business in America. We make good on our promises," she said, noting the issue was important to her because her father was a small businessman. Miami Fire Rescue responded to a deadly jet ski accident on Biscayne Bay Sunday evening. The news of Sunday's deadly accident near Picnic Island knocked loved ones off their feet. "When they told me that my cousin died, I couldn't believe it," said Jorge Soto, cousin of the victim. Soto describes his cousin Jorge Rizo as fun loving and nice. The 25-year-old owned a barbershop in Hialeah. "Today was the day I was going to go with him on the jet ski, but he didn't call me," said Soto. Family and friends are now getting the call they never saw coming. "I couldn't believe it when his mom called," said Soto. "She's devastated we are going to go see her right now." Fish and Wildlife officials say the boating accident involved Rizo and two other women on a personal watercraft. Rizo was behind the wheel with the other two riding on the back in the Picnic Island area. Lorenzo Veloz, FWC official, says Rizo was going in circles in the channel at a high rate of speed and that's when lost control he hit one of the channel markers. FWC officials say witnesses who saw Rizo fly off jumped in, pulling him out of the water, administering CPR, but it wasn't enough. "As they brought him into the trauma center, doctors started working on him, he suffered severe damage to his head appears that he suffered a heart attack," said Veloz. One of the women taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in serious condition, but are now stable. The other girl treated for minor scratches and bruises, and released from the hospital. Two New Jersey men were arrested Sunday after police responding to a fight found marijuana plants and other evidence of an active grow house, including a hot box tent in the basement, authorities said. Police responded to a home on Nell Court in Fairfield just after 8 a.m. on Sunday for reports of a dispute. Officers found 30-year-old Jose Sanchez with an injury to his nose, which was allegedly caused by 40-year-old Timothy Olster. Police were also shown a 2013 GMC SUV with a smashed drivers side window that Sanchez allegedly hit with a brick. As officers continued their investigation, they say they came across a marijuana grow house. They say they found marijuana plants being automatically water in the laundry room and a cluster of marijuana plants, about six feet high, being grown near a pool in the backyard. Police arrested Sanchez and Olster on charges related to the initial call. Olster was charged with simple assault and Sanchez was charged with criminal mischief. Officers then obtained a search warrant, and along with a K-9 unit from the Essex County Sherriffs Department, searched the home. Police say they found evidence of a growing operation throughout the home, including a hot box tent in the basement that had timed growing lights for marijuana plants. Officers also allegedly found fertilizers for the plants, Tupperware containers with dried marijuana, packaging material and even a marijuana plant in a pot on a shelf above the kitchen sink. Police didn't say how many marijuana plants they allegedly found in the home, but charges against the men name possession of 10 to 49 marijuana plants. The two men face narcotics charges for the alleged grow house, including maintaining and operating a controlled dangerous substance facility and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. They were both being held at the Fairfield Police Department Sunday night. It wasn't immediately clear if Sanchez and Olster have attorneys. Investment in roads has been declining in Spain. LUIS SEVILLANO ARRIBAS Many drivers have a growing feeling that Spanish roads are getting bumpier, and theres a good reason for it: nationwide investment in roads has dropped to around 0.4% of GDP, a level unheard of since 1986 the last year with comparable data. By 2013 government outlays on the Spanish road system had decreased to 0.45% of national output, and 2014 and 2015 were even worse. Compared with 2008 levels, central government spending on new roads decreased by 85% in 2015, while investment in road repairs fell by 59%. Tenders down as well Tenders are an early indicator of how much the government will spend on roads down the line. According to figures released by Seopan, the association of Spain's largest builders, tenders rose 6.7% in the first half of the year. But this figure is misleading, because it includes a series of tenders that were canceled by a court in 2015. If this amount is subtracted, the resulting amount shows a decline in tenders. This investment includes all public outlays at the national, regional and local levels. To cap it all off, in April of this year the Public Works ministry announced that it would be cutting a further 600 million in expenses, further reducing the amount earmarked for roads. This means that investment levels will be at their lowest in three decades with regard to GDP, and the lowest in two decades in absolute terms, according to sources in road builder associations and the government. The 2016 budget allocated around 1.77 billion for the Public Works ministry to invest in roads 883 million for maintenance and a further 883 million for new roads. The State Society for Land Transportation Infrastructure (SEITT) added a further 439 million to that amount. But in April of this year, financial authorities announced that ministries budgets would be scaled back to the tune of 2 billion, including 600 million in cuts to Public Works. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click . Most of this money will be taken away from roads for several reasons: first, to protect government investment in the railroad network and the European funds that come with it; and second, because the train system entails political commitments that the government does not want to break. And adjusting the road budget is viewed as an easier task than adjusting the railroad budget. It is powerfully striking how theyve tried to protect the railroad system from the cuts. Investment in this field did not start to drop until 2013, notes Matilde Mas, an economic analysis professor and researcher at IVIE, the Valencian Economic Research Institute. High-placed government officials confirmed that local and regional authorities have reduced their spending on roads as much as possible. It is obvious that the economic boom in Spain led to a glut of new roads, partly due to the promise of EU funds that favored new infrastructure. But the new network requires a minimum amount of maintenance that the OECD places at 2% of the cost of the infrastructure. This means that over a period of 50 years, authorities should spend just as much as they originally did on the original building work. This kind of maintenance work would prevent the need for new roads, leading to greater long-term savings, experts say. But with Brussels now demanding further spending cuts in exchange for not slapping Spain with a fine over the budget deficit, expenditures on roads are likely to drop some more. English version by Susana Urra. A Long Island man faces a charge of boating while intoxicated after police say he crashed his vessel into a buoy. Erik Dowgiallo, 35, of Commack, got into an argument with another person at the Dublin Deck bar in Patchogue at about 9 p.m., climbed aboard his 22-foot Sea Ray boat and sped away, witnesses told police. Suffolk County Marine Bureau police officers began to search the area along the Patchogue River for the boat and were eventually alerted by the captain of a passing ferry that a boat sped out of the river and struck a buoy in Patchogue Bay. The officer located the disabled boat with Dowgiallo and two male passengers aboard. None of the three men was injured. The officers charged Dowgiallo with BWI and he was scheduled for an arraignment in Central Islip. There was no information available as to whether Dowgiallo had obtained a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. A 9-year-old Brooklyn boy pulled out of an outdoor swimming pool at a Jewish Community Center in New Jersey last week has died, authorities say. Michael Placide was wading in the shallow end of the outdoor pool at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly Thursday when he began to struggle, center officials said. He was pulled out of the water and given CPR by lifeguards and police before being taken to Englewood Hospital and then to the pediatric intensive care unit at Hackensack Hospital, where he died Sunday. Police said Placide's family was with him when he died, and requested privacy on the family's behalf. What to Know An anonymous caller made threats to the Midtown South precinct police captain over police radio Hi captain, do you remember how you put me in jail? Well, Im out now and Im coming to put a bullet in your head son, the man said Police said they believe the man got a hold of a lost or stolen police scanner and that the threats are likely not credible A man made a series of threats to an NYPD captain this past weekend and the threats werent made online or by phone, but on the radio transmissions police use to communicate every day. The NYPD confirmed that various unauthorized transmissions were made over various frequencies Saturday evening. The anonymous man made specific threats to the captain of the Midtown South precinct, police said. Hi captain, do you remember how you put me in jail? Well, Im out now and Im coming to put a bullet in your head son, the man said over the radio waves. He went on: Remember captain, Im coming for you. At one point the captain who was the target of the threats came on and responded to the man: Where do you want to meet, baby? Police said that the man stated he was at various locations in the city, but he was not located nor apprehended. Not only was the man able to access police radio, he was also familiar with the lingo of radio calls, according to police. A police dispatcher eventually jammed the call, forcing the caller offline. Police say they dont think the threat is credible but theyre still investigating. Listening to the police scanner is easy enough there are plenty of apps for that but radioing in is a totally different story. Police believe that the man may have gotten ahold of a lost or stolen police scanner. Sunday night there were still no clues as to who sent the threats. Police said an investigation continues. A suspect was shot in a struggle with police over a gun when authorities responded to a call about a robbery in Queens Monday, according to police officials. Police say a woman watching her Maspeth home on a remote surveillance camera feed called cops when she spotted a man breaking into the house. She went to meet the officers in front of her home, and after opening the door for them, scooped up her small dog and retreated from the scene, all played out on cellphone video obtained on NBC 4 New York. She screams as she hears the police gunshot. The cops -- highly decorated 10-year and 11-year veterans, according to officials -- split up inside the first-floor apartment during their search. That's when the suspect came charging out of the bedroom and struggled with one of the officers, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce. A single shot was fired from the officer's gun, and the suspect was shot in the groin. He managed to run away but was caught about a block away in a backyard, Boyce said. Cellphone video from another neighbor shows him being carted away in a stretcher. The suspect was taken to the hospital. No officers were hurt. The victim told NBC 4 New York Monday evening she was OK and her dog was doing fine, but declined to speak further. Police said the suspect is a career burglar from Bushwick who has targeted homes in Brooklyn and Queens. Police are investigating whether he's tied to a recent burglary pattern in the Maspeth area. Meanwhile, police were called to the scene for a separate but unrelated incident on the same block. A 36-year-old woman suffered a seizure and was found with a cut to the head, Boyce said. Doctors removed a short piece of wire cable about a quarter-inch in length from her scalp. It appears she fell on a piece of wire. Pope Francis said it was unfair to identify Islam with violence and terrorism, NBC News reported. "I don't like to talk about Islamic violence. Not all Muslims are violent. In every religion there are small groups of fundamentalists," the pope said on his flight back to Rome from Poland, where he presided over World Youth Day. The pope suggested that capitalism is another form of terrorism. "When you place at the center of the world economy the 'God of Money,' that's terrorism against all humanity." An Ohio man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of ISIS during the president's 2015 State of the Union address pleaded guilty Monday to three federal charges. Federal prosecutors dropped a fourth count and said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the Oct. 31 sentencing hearing for 22-year-old Christopher Lee Cornell. U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith cautioned Cornell that she could reject the plea agreement depending on the findings of a pre-sentencing report. FBI agents arrested Cornell in the parking lot of a gun shop in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. They have said he planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs, then shoot people as they fled. He was arrested Jan. 14, 2015, less than a week before President Barack Obama's scheduled address in Washington, which a federal terrorism task force detective said in court Monday was Cornell's intended timing for attack. Last year, Cornell told Cincinnati news station WXIX he wanted to shoot Obama in the head. Cornell pleaded not guilty to several charges shortly after his arrest, NBC News reported. Cornell's father had said his son was misled and coerced by "a snitch." His attorneys said Monday they would highlight the role of a government confidential informant at the sentencing hearing. Federal investigators said Cornell made an Internet post after his arrest in which he identified the man he believed he was the informant and added personal details about him. They said he also appealed for other fighters to join a violent "jihad." U.S. authorities have expressed deep concern over ISIS militant efforts to recruit homegrown "lone wolf" terrorists. Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman praised the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Mangan, saying their investigation and the plea agreement were "important to protect the public." Glassman said the case underscored the need for the public to be alert to signs of potential conversions to support of terrorist groups. "As you can see, people can be radicalized just by Internet," Glassman said. "It can happen anywhere." Defense attorney Martin Pinales called Cornell "very fragile." Cornell has trimmed the long hair and beard he had when he was arrested and no longer insists on being called Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, which he had adopted as his name. "He has evolved... He has matured since his arrest," Pinales said. Cornell replied firmly with "yes ma'am" when the judge asked him questions about his decision to change his pleas. His hands and ankles shackled, he at times chuckled nervously, and Pinales put his hand on his back in a calming gesture. "We love Christopher very, very much and he has a lot of family and friends that support him," his father, John Cornell, said afterward. Cornell pleaded guilty to attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees, to offering material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and to a firearms-related charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and potentially up to a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors are dropping a count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Beckwith last year appointed Pinales and Candace Crouse to represent Cornell after a federal public defender asked to withdraw from the case. The same lawyers represented Michael Hoyt, a former Cincinnati-area country club bartender who was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge he threatened to kill then-Speaker of the House John Boehner. The attorneys filed a motion last November saying there was "reasonable cause to believe" Cornell was mentally incompetent. However, Beckwith ruled in April he was competent for trial after hearing testimony. Two former Temple University campus police officers are facing charges in connection with the murder of one of their girlfriends on Friday in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood. Philadelphia Police on Monday said that 47-year-old Aaron Wright, a former Temple campus police officer who left the force some time ago, is charged with murder, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, criminal conspiracy, abuse of a corpse and related offenses in the death of 24-year-old Joyce Quaweay at the home she shared with Wright. Police said 39th District officers arrested Wright at the home on Greene Street near Apsley Friday morning after they responded to the scene where medics were trying to revive Quaweay before pronouncing her dead there at 11:28 a.m. Police said Wright surrendered to them at the house, telling officers, "I'm the one you want," and admitted to beating Quaweay, who was his girlfriend, until she collapsed. Philadelphia Police Police said that further investigation revealed that Marquis Robinson, 41, who also lived in the house and worked as a Temple campus police officer as well, was involved in Quaweay's murder and fled from the house before officers arrived. Robinson was later arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse and related offenses, police said. Robinson was dismissed from Temple's police force when charges were filed against him. The motive in the woman's killing remained unclear on Monday. U.S. & World Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at his home in Lima. Juanjo Fernandez If Perus sustained economic growth over the last 16 years has made it an exception within Latin America, no less remarkable was the victory in Junes presidential elections of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a 77-year-old intellectual heavyweight who stands out among past and present regional leaders. Educated at Oxford and Princeton, PPK, as he his known in the Andean nation, was educated at Oxford and Princeton, has been a World Bank economist, a former prime minister, twice exiled once during the military dictatorship of the late 1960s, and again under Alberto Fujimori during the 1990s Kuczynski beat his rival, Fujimoris daughter Keiko by just 39,000 votes. His father was a Jewish doctor who fled Nazi Germany, settling in Peru, where he became a specialist in tropical diseases and set up the San Pablo leprosy clinic, and where, in the 1950s, a young Che Guevara would work as a volunteer. Kuczynskis mother, a Swiss-born music and literature teacher, was the aunt of filmmaker Jean Luc-Godard. Kuczynski, who took office on July 28, has agreed to give his first interview as president to EL PAIS. The conversation takes place in the office of his home in the upscale San Isidro neighborhood in Lima. Calculator in hand, the president explains his vision for Peru. Question. Perus economy has been growing at around 4%, above the regional average, reducing poverty by half over the last decade. Nevertheless, there is widespread discontent, which, enflamed by corruption and crime almost saw the authoritarian populism of your rival Keiko Fujimori win. Why? Answer. Part of the problem is the countrys success. While its true that povery has fallen to around 23% of the population, thats still an awful lot of people: almost 7.5 million people, about the same number as those without household running water. Another reason is that previous governments have not taken the needs of these people seriously. Furthermore, there is a widespread perception about the more educated sectors of Peruvian society that corruption is widespread and unpunished, to which we also need to add the economic downturn of recent years. Kuczynski and his new government at last week's swearing in ceremony. Rodrigo Abd (AP) Q. Yours will be a minority administration. Out of Congresss 130 seats, your party, Peruvians for Change, only has 18 seats, compared to the lefts 21 and the 73 of Keiko Fujimoris Popular Force. Will you be able to work with Fujimori? A. Not all of the 73 deputies sitting with Fujimori are members of her party: around 30 jumped on the bandwagon believing she would win and that they would be rewarded. We have to find a way to attract some of them, otherwise it will be difficult to get anything done in Congress once the honeymoon period is over. But Im not expecting a lot of support, simply that they will be tolerant and neutral. Q. Are you going to release Alberto Fujimori from jail? A. If Congress passes a law that would allow him to finish his sentence at home, I would sign it, but Im not going to pardon him. Q. Are there any aspects of economic policy you share with Fujimori? A. They are opposed to lowering VAT, but we need to do that because its a direct tax that hits the poorest hardest. High sales tax encourages people to work outside the economy, which is the case with about 60% of the workforce. The black economy means no investment in modernizing. Its like the analogy of the broom and the vacuum cleaner: why should I buy a machine to clean the streets when I have heaps of women with brooms that I pay buttons to? This is why Peru needs to change direction. Q. The support of Veronika Mendozas Broad Front was key to your win. Do you think youll be able to work with the left? A. What separates the left and the right in Peru is the issue of the mining sector. I believe it has to be industrialized. To work with the Broad Front and bring it toward a more moderate position, we need to work on water and education. How is it possible that so many people still dont have access to running water or that our schools are falling apart? Fixing this is not about left or right, but common sense. Q. You have promised a social revolution. Where do you intend to start? A. We want to start a social revolution: this country is very backward. Business leaders still talk about cholos [a disparaging term for the working class, mainly ethnically Andean]. They are living in the nineteenth century. Water and health are our priorities. The program to provide water to Peruvians should generate half a million jobs. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here Q. How are you going to reactivate the economy? A. By getting the 10 or 15 big projects that have been held up going. That would mean extra annual growth of 1.5% GDP. Q. How do you see Peru in the context of Latin America? What should it be doing about the crisis in Venezuela? A. Peru is punching below its weight internationally. In the case of Venezuela, we need to bring together the regions presidents, as happened in Central America in the 1980s. Q. How would you define yourself in political terms? A. We need to look for centrist solutions: putting the emphasis on welfare, which we are behind in, health, water, education, at the same time, we need a market economy to finance this. English version by Nick Lyne. A retired Rhode Island police officer wanted on suspicion of killing his wife led police on a chase in New Jersey Saturday night before killing himself, police said. The woman's body was found in the trunk of the retired officer's car, and the man, former Providence police officer Franklin Osgood, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Norwich, Connecticut, police said a Be on the Lookout (BOLO) was issued to all Connecticut police departments for the couple and their vehicle Saturday. Police said it was intially believed that Osgood was taking his wife to the Quinnipiac River. New Jersey State Police were notified around 9 p.m. Saturday by Providence police that Osgood was believed to be traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike, according to a state police news release. He was considered armed and dangerous. Troopers located Osgood's black 2007 Dodge Charger near Ridgefield Park in Bergen County, but Osgood refused to stop, according to the release. He lost control of the car and went off the road, damaging a trooper's cruiser in the crash. When troopers approached the car they found the 61-year-old Osgood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. They found the body of his wife, 55-year-old Mary Jo Osgood, in the trunk. Franklin Osgood was pronounced dead about two hours later at Hackensack University Medical Center. According to WJAR-TV, Providence police said Sunday that Osgood joined the department in 1995 and filed to retire in 2005, but didn't officially retire until two years later. Providence police, who are still investigating a motive for the crime, said Osgood's daughter had called them Saturday to say her father was missing and distraught. The trooper involved in the Turnpike crash was injured but is expected to recover, New Jersey troopers said. Three days after being shot during a traffic stop, San Diego police officer Wade Irwin is still in the hospital. Irwin, 32, and his partner Jonathan De Guzman, 43, were both shot while on duty in Southcrest Thursday night. They were rushed to the hospital, but De Guzman didnt survive. Irwin woke up after his surgery Friday only to learn that De Guzman had died from his injuries. Not only is he significantly injured, but he lost his partner...That's like losing his brother, attorney Jim Cunningham, with the Fraternal Order of Police, said. Cunningham described Irwin as an extremely devoted police officer, husband and father of a 19-month old girl. Irwin comes from a family of police officers, and has been with the San Diego Police Department for nine years. He has served in the departments elite gang suppression unit since June. Cunningham said Irwin is anxious to get back to work, but he will have some significant needs including rehab moving forward. Irwin hopes be out of the hospital in time for his partner's funeral services on Thursday. I can tell you that Wade Irwin is probably the bravest, most courageous police officer I've met in my life, Cunningham told NBC 7. The Fraternal Order of Police has set up a Gofundme page for Irwin and his family. Suspect Jesse Michael Gomez, 52, was taken into custody Thursday night for the murder of De Guzman and attempted murder of Irwin. Seven-year-old Wyatt Seth Gillette died Sunday one day after being presented the title of Honorary Marine, his father said. Wyatt, who would have turned 8-years-old this month, received the title of Honorary Marine on Saturday in a ceremony at the School of Infantry-West Parade Deck at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego. Wyatt was born on Aug. 15, 2008 and was diagnosed with Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome when he was 4-years-old. Aicardi-Goutieres is a developmental disorder affects the brain, the immune system and the skin. The disease causes severe secondary medical problems and complications. Wyatts father, Sgt. Jeremiah Gillette, is a drill instructor with the Recruit Training Regimen. Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller agreed to make Wyatt an honorary Marine last week in response to an online petition. The honor is bestowed on just a few people every year and recognizes civilians who have made extraordinary contributions to the Marine Corps. Neller wrote on his official Twitter page that granting the petition was one of the easiest decisions he had to make as commandant. "Keep fighting, Wyatt! You are a Marine!" he posted Saturday. When the boy was undergoing dialysis last month, his father reached out to fellow Marines on social media for prayers. They started the online petition, which quickly gained supporters. Gillette said he believes his son, had he been healthy, could have joined the Marines someday. Wyatt was the 96th recipient of the award since the program first started in 1992. As candles flickered and tears flowed for slain San Diego police officer Jonathan "JD" De Guzman, Chula Vista's mayor and the community wrapped his widow in a collective embrace Sunday evening. She's not alone. We're all here for her. Were family, police officer Arlen Ambito said. Mourners dressed in blue in solidarity with De Guzmans family to show they are not alone, and to remember the many sacrifices De Guzman made before his 'end of watch' last week. Clinging to a portrait of De Guzman, his cousin Joseph Malabanan spoke about De Guzman leaving the Philippines for the United States 20 years ago. Though he had to learn the language, he wanted to protect and serve his adopted country. He was a community man, wanted to help out and loved the children, Malabanan told NBC 7. De Guzman, an officer in the San Diego Police Departments gang suppression unit, was gunned down by a suspect during a traffic stop in Southcrest late Thursday night. His partner Wade Irwin, who was also shot, is now recovering in the hospital and is expected to survive. Chula Vista's police chief, David Bejarano, formerly San Diegos police chief, brought a replica badge of the one he pinned on De Guzman when he hired him 16 years ago. [There] wasnt an ounce of hate in him, he said. His character, his integrity and passion [was] to serve the community, Bejarano said. The 43-year-old decorated officer was described as a devoted husband and father of two who actively helped out in various clubs at his daughters' school. Hes working even after death, Chula Vista resident Judy Dellosa said. [Hes] bringing the community together just showing [his] family they're not alone. Thats a wonderful thing. His death is not in vain." De Guzman's funeral mass and public memorial service are scheduled for next Thursday. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will speak in Washington, D.C., this week at a convention for journalists of color. Clinton is scheduled to appear at the 2016 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) joint convention on Friday. The event is closed to the public. It is notable that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has recognized the 2016 NABJ-NAHJ Convention as a vital gathering to discuss her platform and the issues impacting black and Latino communities, said NABJ President Sarah Glover, who is an NBC Universal employee. Donald Trump also was invited to speak at the conference, an NABJ representative told NBC News. President Barack Obama, Bob Dole and Al Gore attended the convention when they were presidential nominees. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine rallied with supporters Monday night in the city where he got his start in politics. He used his Richmond "homecoming" rally to say thanks and to go after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. His wife, Anne Holton, who introduced Kaine, but many who packed into this high school gym already know him personally after his 32 years in Richmond as an elected leader. "Im the product of the things you taught me," Kaine told the people who packed the event. "Thank you is all I can say." Kaine reminded the crowd that as he climbed the political ladder, it was often women who supported him. He said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's candidacy provides a new opportunity. "I think this election gives strong men a chance to stand up and support a strong woman," Kaine said. But he had biting words for Trump and the GOP presidential nominee's criticism of the Virginia Gold Star family, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. "Is there no limit to where this guy will descend, trashing the family of a war hero?" the vice presidential candidate said. Kaine's supporters said they left the rally inspired. "He was just fantastic," said Teresa Brown, a Clinton-Kaine supporter. "Really got us shouting and really painted a great picture of the team, the ticket." "I've been volunteering for Hillary Clinton since before the primary, and with Tim Kaine, I will double or triple my efforts," Deborah Daly, a Clinton-Kaine supporter. Outside the high school, Trump's Virginia campaign co-chairman had a harsh assessment of Kaine' leadership. "People should be very very concerned if something were to happen and he becomes president of United States," said Corey Stewart. "He's not a good leader." On Tuesday in Ashburn, Virginia, Trump will hold a rally at Briar Woods High School. On Friday, Clinton will be in Washington, D.C., to speak at a joint convention of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. 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 A 25-year-old man is facing three counts of attempted murder after police say he stabbed three family members as they sat in a car in Waldorf, Maryland, Sunday night. Police are called to the 4300 block of Renner Road at about 11:30 p.m. for a report of a stabbing. When they arrived, they found a 19-year-old man lying in the street with a stab wound. As officers continued down the road, they found a 44-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy with stab wounds. Police say the victims were sitting in an SUV with Marcus Marques Allen of Rochester, New York, when he pulled out a knife and began stabbing them. Police say don't know what prompted the attack. A fifth person in the car escaped without injury. All of the victims are expected to survive. After the stabbing, police say Allen drove to Prince George's County and called 911 to report an unknown problem. An officer came to his location, and he was arrested. Allen was taken to the hospital and released into police custody. He was charged with three counts of attempted murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault. A 17-year-old boy was one of two people killed when a home was intentionally set on fire in Virginia, Prince William County police said. Fire crews were called to the 10300 block of Lomond Drive in Manassas about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Jose Javier Avalos, 17, was pronounced dead at the scene. A man was taken to a hospital, where he died, officials said. The medical examiner's office is working to identify the second victim. Four dogs also were found dead inside the burned home. Avalos' parents, Silva Flores and Jose Quitios, last saw their son about 7 p.m. Saturday when they left the house to attend a party in Springfield, they said. Flores said she believes she knows who is responsible. Two weeks ago, she asked a family friend who lives with them to move out, because he gets violent when he drinks, she said. He agreed to leave but threatened to destroy the house, Flores said. Police have not confirmed her suspicion. After the fire was discovered, police received a call about an injured man walking in the area of Manassas Mall about a mile away. When officers arrived, they discovered a 35-year-old man was suffering from extensive burns to his body. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment and is still hospitalized. No arrests have been made at this time. These are the 14th and 15th homicides in Prince William County this year. As the parents of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan continue to voice their concerns about Donald Trump's candidacy for president and Trump defends his remarks about them visitors to Arlington National Cemetery are paying their respects where Khan was laid to rest. Several people visited Khan's grave on Monday, leaving flowers at his headstone while Khan's service to the country is at the heart of a national debate. Jake Dowell, of Chicago, went to the cemetery with his family to visit his grandfather's grave. When they learned about Khan, they wanted to honor him too, Dowell said. "He was willing to step up and save the lives of men who were different skin color, who were different religions. Because they were American, he was willing to sacrifice his life for them," Dowell said. "He just acted upon his patriotism." "He's an American hero. He served this country, died for this country," Dowell's father, Anthony Dowell, said. D.C. resident Sally Schwartz visited Khan's grave on Monday with her mother. "To go and see this captain that had sacrificed so much, it was really moving," she said. Khan, a Muslim from Bristow, Virginia, was on tour in Iraq when he was killed by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. He was 27. Khan posthumously received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He rose to national attention again last week, when his parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, appeared at the Democratic National Convention. In an emotional speech that received rapturous applause, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan asked if Trump had read the Constitution, and said if it were up to Trump, his son never would have been American or served in the military. "Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery?" he asked. "Go look at the graves of brave Americans who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. "You have sacrificed nothing and no one," Khizr Khan said to Trump. Trump disputed that. He said Saturday on ABC's "This Week" that he had 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, while also suggesting Ghazala Khan might not have been allowed to speak while she was on stage at the DNC. Trump's campaign later issued a statement calling Capt. Khan a hero but said Khizr Khan had no right to intimate Trump hasn't read the Constitution. That prompted further rebuke from the Khans and many more, including other military families and President Obama. On the "Today" show, Khizr Khan said he was grateful for all the support his family is receiving. "The good thing out of all this has come that there has been so much love, so much courtesy, so much support. I am just amazed," he said. "My belief in the goodness of America is reaffirmed." Ellicott City will recover from the devastating flooding that killed two people and damaged Main Street this weekend, said local and state officials Monday morning. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in Howard County on Sunday after six inches of rain fell in two hours on Saturday night, causing the Patapsco River to gush through streets. A 35-year-old woman and 38-year-old man were killed, Baltimore County police said. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said at a news conference Monday morning that the city 14 miles west of Baltimore will bounce back. He spoke about residents' perseverance and determination. "We're going to make sure Elliott City rises up as a stronger, more vibrant place," he said. "We will rebuild," he continued. Kittleman praised the community spirit shown in a dramatic video of people linking hands to form a human chain so they could save a woman from the rushing waters. "That human chain [video] has gone around the world five or six times already," he said. "People know that whenever people in a community would do that for their neighbors, or even for strangers, they will not let this storm defeat us." Video shot from Chopper4 Monday morning shows flipped cars, broken roads and downed utility poles. Local and state officials are working to request federal emergency funds, Sen. Barbara Mikulski said at the news conference. "We're working as Team Maryland from every level of government," he said. The funding, if approved, would help rebuild infrastructure and help business owners. Business owner Geniese Brown said she was overwhelmed. "It's just devastating to see some of the businesses that are totally gone. Totally gone. I don't even know where to start," she said. St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church will evaluate whether there was structural damage to the church that has stood on Main Street since 1879. Rev. Joan King said she was "devastated" and asked members of the congregation to pray for the church. "I just don't know what to do or where we're going to turn to next," she said. Crews inspected about 200 properties on Sunday and determined that four or five had been destroyed, the county executive said in a statement. Another 20 to 30 properties suffered substantial damage. Residents affected by the flooding are invited to attend an information session from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Monday at the 50+ Center at 9411 Frederick Road. The police department towed 180 vehicles off Main Street and surrounding areas, officials said. The cars have been relocated to Centennial High School. Another 20 cars will be removed from the river. The tap water is safe to drink, officials say. If it appears cloudy, let it run until it is clear. A Northern Virginia woman who was arrested for sacrificing as many as 12 to 15 chickens each week in her townhome will not get a rooster that was seized back, the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office confirmed. Mercy Carrion appealed to regain custody of the rooster last week, but a judge denied her request, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror, which first reported the story. Carrion was arrested May 5 after a confidential informant working with Animal Control officers witnessed her slaughtering the chickens in her Sterling, Virginia, home. The informant told authorities that Carrion would carry out the sacrifices on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week. In some instances - while the chickens were still alive, Carrion would bury the chickens in the back yard, or burn them. The Times-Mirror reported that Animal Control officers saw blood spatter on the walls of Carrion's living room. But officers did find one rooster that was still alive. The rooster was taken to the Loudoun County Animal Shelter and has a family that is ready to adopt it, the Loudoun Times-Mirror reports. On Wednesday, a judge ordered that Carrion cover the cost of rooster's care while it's at the shelter. But since this is her first offense, Carrion is allowed to own more animals. Carrion is scheduled to appear in court this week for a hearing related to the animal cruelty case. Carrion is facing three misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, the Times-Mirror reported. Authorities believe the sacrifice was part of a religious offering. A pursuit that began in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley Monday morning continued for nearly three hours before the driver was arrested in a San Diego County neighborhood. "Sir, what are you trying to do?" she told an officer as she was seated in the back of a patrol car with her feet tied. "You swear like Im a criminal, like an assassin or something, where youre hogtying me and everything. This is unfair." The chase ended shortly after the woman crashed her Saturn sedan into at least one parked vehicle and drove across the front lawn of a home in Fallbrook, more than 120 miles south of where the chase started in the Woodland Hills area. She got out of the vehicle and surrendered after CHP officers used their SUVs to set up a road block on the street. The pursuit began around 4 a.m. when officers saw a driver in a Saturn sedan weaving across lanes on the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley. The driver continued onto the 105 and 710 freeways before driving onto streets in Long Beach. The driver then entered Orange County on the 5 and 73 freeways and continued on freeways into northern San Diego County. The pursuit in Fallbrook entered several cul-de-sacs, where the driver made U-turns to avoid officers. The driver continued across the front yard of a home after a failed PIT maneuver left the car's rear bumper dangling from the vehicle. A resident at the home said she thought the noise outside was a sanitation truck, but was surprised to learn a high-speed pursuit had come to her neighborhood. The Saturn left a chunk of turf on the driveway and tire marks through the grass. The driver came to a stop when she encountered at least three CHP vehicles blocking the street. A New Hampshire man is facing a number of charges, including homicide, after Bedford Police say he crashed the car he was driving, killing one of his passengers. Police and emergency responders arrived to 366 South River Road at 2:45 p.m. on Friday where a Nissan Altima, allegedly driven by Deng Chol Mabor, 39, of Manchester, struck a utility pole, went airborne, then flipped over on someone's front lawn. Two passengers were taken to Elliot Hospital. Police said one of them, Thon A. Kuai, 36, of Manchester, died over the weekend. A 24-year-old Manchester woman was treated and released. Chol Mabor was also taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries then transported to the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections where he is being held on $250,000 cash bail pending his arraignment on Monday at Merrimack District Court. Among the charges Chol Mabor faces are aggravated driving while intoxicated, reckless conduct and negligent Homicide. An 1840s home is on its way from Winooski, Vermont, to neighboring Burlington. The two-story property on East Allen Street had to be removed, because developer Nate Dagesse of EIV Technical Services in Williston plans to put a large apartment and office building on the lot where the house has long sat. This spring, Dagesse announced that rather than demolishing the historic home, he would give it away free. The catch was that whoever took it, would have to pay the bulk of the cost of moving it from East Allen Street. Crews lifted the recently-renovated house last week, and Sunday, moved it down the hill to a parking lot. It will sit in the lot until its final journey across the Winooski River to Burlington. The next step of that move is tentatively set for this Saturday, or soon after, depending on variables such as the weather. Dagesse told necn that workers breathed a big sigh of relief after the house safely made it into the parking lot. "It was really exciting to see that happen," Dagesse said. "I think everyone involved kind of gave each other high-fives and everyone's had a pretty big smile on their face ever since [the truck driver] turned that corner!" The house may have been free, but the cost of the move is estimated around $100,000. Ultimately, the home will end up on Manhattan Drive in Burlington. Police in Sharon, Massachusetts, have issued arrest warrants for man they said stole several items from a house he was paid to clean. After a lengthy investigation, authorities said Aaron Moul, 24, took an undisclosed number of items from a home earlier in the year while working for a cleaning service. Police did not say what he took. Moul, who also goes by the name of Aaron Simeone, was last seen in Providence, Rhode Island. Police said he also has ties to Deleware where he is also allegedly wanted for another crime. Police have issued arrest warrants for larceny and criminal harassment. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Moul is asked to contact Sharon Police Detectives at 781-784-1586. A Swampscott, Massachusetts, man was ordered held without bail on Monday after police said he set fire to his house over the weekend. Timothy Bronsan, 56, appeared in Lynn District Court to face arson charges and where the judge said he may be a threat to the community. Investigators said there's more than half million dollars in damage to Bronsan's Linden Avenue home following Saturday's fire. Authorities said the blaze was intentional. "When asked if he had any connection to the fire he stated, 'I did it,'" the prosecutor said. The prosecutor also said Brosnan admitted to pouring gasoline inside the home, opening a gas valve, then lighting it up causing the 3-alarm fire. According to the prosecutor, he was allegedly waiting outside drunk and said, "Look at it go. Isn't that the most beautiful thing ever?" Bronsan's attorney, Gary Zerola, disputes the arson charge and said his client is a self-employed contractor and well-liked by his friends. "He denies making any of those statements i don't think he was that cavalier," said Zerola. "His whole life has been about building beautiful homes. Not destroying them." Zerola said his client was living alone and had no reason to burn down his own house. He said the only challenge in his life was an on-going divorce from his estranged wife. "There's never been any allegations of abuse, threats or violence," said Zerola. Neighbors said they can't understand why it happened. "I think it's just very unfortunate, it just brings the whole neighborhood down," said one neighbor. Brosnan's is due back in court on Wednesday for a dangerousness hearing. A New Hampshire man was arrested on drunken driving charges for the second time in two days after leading police on a four-town motor vehicle chase on Monday morning. Richard M. Shaw, 47, of Rochester, is charged with 2nd offense driving while intoxicated, reckless operation, disobeying an officer, resisting arrest, possession of an open container and possession of a controlled drug. He was held on $5,000 cash bail pending arraignment in Portsmouth Circuit Court. The chase began around 11:30 a.m. when New Hampshire State Police received a report of an erratic operator headed southbound on the Spaulding Turnpike in Rochester. Moments later, a state police trooper observed the suspect vehicle pass him. The trooper attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused and a chase ensued. The pursuit continued through Dover, Newington and into Portsmouth, eventually heading south on Interstate 95. There, troopers disabled the vehicle using "stop sticks," which deflated all of the suspect vehicle's tires. The driver exited at exit 3A and was taken into custody without incident. Police said Shaw had just been arrested for driving while intoxicated 15 hours earlier in nearby Dover after having been involved in a motor vehicle accident there. He was out on bail from the Dover incident at the time of Monday's police chase. The incident remains under investigation by state police. For the first time, Rhode Island residents will be able to register to vote online beginning this week. The state's new online voter registration website is scheduled to go live on Monday. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea says Rhode Island now joins 31 other states in letting eligible residents register to vote or update their voter information online. The state's General Assembly passed legislation this year allowing online voter registration. The website can be found at vote.ri.gov and in Spanish at vota.ri.gov. Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, say a man has been arrested in connection with a homicide in Massachusetts. Police say 24-year-old Edwin Fernando Flores of Lynn, Massachusetts, has been charged as a fugitive from justice. He was to appear in court in Manchester on Monday. It wasn't immediately known if he had a lawyer. Police said the homicide happened in Lynn on July 15. Manchester police received information that Flores was staying in the city and was a person of interest in the homicide. He was arrested during a traffic stop. Police are asking for the public's help in finding a trailer that was stolen from a Boy Scout Troop in Norwood, Massachusetts. Authorities told the Boston Globe that the trailer was parked behind First Congregational Church on Winter Street when it was taken early last week. Police said the trailer, belonging to Troop 42, is worth $3,000. It's unclear if there was anything inside the trailer. The $487 million Powerball jackpot winner still remains a mystery, but we know the ticket was sold in Raymond, New Hampshire. The winner must claim his or her prize at the lottery headquarters in Concord. It's nowhere close to the jackpot, but even after taxes, Timothy Johnson's weekend win wasn't too bad. "Ten thousand," the Conway resident said smiling. "Putting a new porch on my house." The hope of hitting it big is what keeps people playing. Pittsfield resident Ed Soroka is convinced it's just a matter of time, especially since he found out Saturday's wining Powerball ticket was sold in his home state. "That's the first thing I said to myself, that it's getting close to me, it's going to happen," Soroka said. We still don't know who hit the jackpot at the Hannaford in Raymond, but we do know the first thing they need to do. "Turn the ticket over, sign it, and print your name," said Carl Johnson with Grove Street Fiduciary, LLC in Peterborough. Johnson says the winner should hire a lawyer, financial adviser, and even a personal assistant right away. And that's not all. "I would take down social media, take down Facebook, take down your email address, because you're going to get inundated very quickly," Johnson said. It's a life-changing amount of money - the biggest prize in state history and the fifth largest Powerball offering ever. "Since 2007, we haven't had a winner, but I think we made up for it over the weekend with this huge jackpot," said New Hampshire Lottery spokesperson Maura McCann. The winner can choose a lump sum of about $340 million before taxes, or a graduated payout over 30 years. Johnson says the decision depends on lifestyle. "At end of day, what your purpose in life is something you're going to want to revisit before it gets too crazy," Johnson said. And while the winner's identity is still not known, the good fortune has other Granite Staters testing their luck. "You can't win unless you play," said Anna Cozza of East Hampstead as she purchased another scratch ticker. All of the net proceeds of lottery sales go to public education in the state. Winners have up to a year to claim the prize. As rising energy prices make it harder to heat homes, churches in Dereham are leading the way in creating warm spaces where people can go. As rising energy prices make it harder to heat homes, churches in Dereham are leading the way in creating warm spaces where people can go. South Norfolk church scoops national award A medieval Anglican church in a tiny hamlet in South Norfolk has won a national award and a 10,000 boost. Read more Dereham churches help people to help themselves A group of churches in Dereham have launched an ambitious project which aims to meet needs in the town, including the provision of food and skills training. Read more Executive assistant and nursery manager jobs SOUL Church is a vibrant, welcoming and growing church in Norwich. They are seeking an organised and versatile Executive Assistant to provide key support to the churchs Senior Pastors, as well as a qualified Nursery Manager to head up SOUL Nursery. Read more Halloween light in Gorleston church On Halloween this year, St Mary Magdalene Church in Gorleston will be preparing to welcome around 200 families to experience their Light on a Dark Night event. Read more An opportunity for Norwich to pray for the nation Rev Nigel Fox, who has served as a Methodist Minister for 15 years in Norwich, shares an open invitation to pray for the nation at a crucial moment. Read more Norwich church seeks musicians Kingdom Ambassadors International Church is appealing for instrumentlists, keyboardists and guitarists to be part of their worship experience. Read more Please keep Rishi in your prayers Andy Bryant urges us to pray for our political leaders, especially the new Prime Minister, and avoid unhelpful judgementalism. Read more Emilys art boosts growing Yarmouth foodbank A pupil at a primary school in Bradwell has been selling her pictures in order to raise money for the Yarmouth and Magdalen Foodbank, which is expanding its capacity and is seeking more volunteers. Read more Patrick Regan helps Norwich to bounce forwards On Saturday St Stephens in Norwich hosted Bouncing Forwards as part of a national tour by the mental health charity Kintsugi Hope. Read more Painting and biblical feasting in Overstrand There will be opportunities to improve your painting skills and indulge in some biblical feasting next month at the Pleasaunce in Overstrand in North Norfolk. Read more Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more National award for Dereham Christian bookshop The Green Pastures Christian bookshop in Dereham has won a national award for providing boxes of Christian books to 21 local schools. Read more Norma's care home jigsaw challenge complete A resident at Norwich-based care home Corton House has completed an incredible 70 jigsaw puzzles in celebration of the homes 70th anniversary this year. Read more Norwich charity's appeal to support Palestinian students A Norwich educational charity, set up in memory of a Norwich Anglican priest, to support students from a Palestinian refugee camp, is inviting people to support its Christmas appeal to be launched on November 29. Read more Norfolk drug and alcohol charity pays tribute to its founder Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley. Read more Cliff look alike at Cromer Church breakfast Cliff Richard tribute performer Will Chandler will be the speaker at a special Mens Breakfast at Cromer Parish Hall next month, and all men are welcome to come along. Read more Heartsease Lane Methodist church to close As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Read more Creative prayer week at Sheringham School 2016: Soul Space, the creative prayer initiative organised by local Christian workers, returned to Sheringham High School for a week in July, with over 400 students getting the opportunity to visit and reflect. This was the fourth year that Soul Space had visited the school, offering students a creative and imaginative space for prayer and reflection. Once again the drama studio was transformed by creating a variety of zones filled with interactive activities, all with the purpose of encouraging the students to explore their spirituality, engage with prayer and give them the opportunity and space for thoughtful reflection. The Soul Space was organised by Simon Fenn (Children, Youth and Family Missioner - Church of England) in partnership with Peter Skivington (Youth & Children's Pastor - Lighthouse Community Church), along with volunteers from local churches, and was supported by Jo Paffett (Head of Philosophy & Ethics). The core activities which are at the heart of the project - acts of saying sorry, thanksgiving, petition and big life questions - help the students navigate prayer and reflection, and another element of the space encourages the students to think about wider world issues and helps them engage in social action. This year the social action focus was on the millions of workers around the world, mainly women, who suffer from poverty and exploitation, producing cheap fashion for our shops. Students were able to sew a button onto a polo shirt as a form of petition to support the Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaign. The students will present the shirt to local MP Norman Lamb, and ask that the UK government requires all brands and retailers to join the Bangladesh Safety Accord to ensure workers in their supply chains are paid a living wage. Feedback from the students, staff and volunteers was overwhelmingly positive. The students welcomed the opportunity for a space to be still and think about some of the bigger questions in life and the world around them. One student commented, Its a place to sort out your thoughts and said, I love it - I could spend the whole day here. Students were asked to think of one word to describe the Soul Space. Out of the 400+ pupils, the word 'calming' scored highest, closely followed by relaxing; however the funniest response was 'shamazing'! It was evident from the Prayer Wall that young people are greatly affected by political and social issues. This year, in particular, there were a greater number of requests regarding current affairs, particularly focusing on the desire for world peace and unity. Simon Fenn said It has been an uplifting experience and real blessing to see the students' heartfelt responses, their empathy for others and their appreciation of all the 'good stuff' in their lives. The Soul Space has given them opportunities to explore their own personal faith and some of the tools to deal with their emotions and feelings. The kindness and empathy shown by the students towards their peers dealing with difficult situations has been moving. The Soul Space was also open to the local community and parents including the Year 6 Open Evening. Many of the visitors to the Soul Space said that the space had a powerful effect on them - It has been very humbling to be able to share the students thoughts and prayers. Another visitor commented, There is a great sense of peace and meditation in this place, and the openness to participate and share deep thoughts is evidenced through the students' responses. One teacher reflected on his astonishment at the way the students embraced the space and the activities, Each year I am amazed by their level of engagement and depth of their reflections. This space has the unique ability to create opportunities for some deep thinking and connections that cannot be replicated in the classroom. I am constantly surprised by the students responses and empathy. It is a thought-provoking space that the students really look forward to and recognise its value. At the end of the event, Pete Skivington reflected, This years Soul Space has been a brilliant time of seeing students purposefully engage with the activities, offering up their heartfelt concerns and worries in prayer and, for some, making a connection with God - I recall one student commenting, I feel recognised, like God knows me. The Soul Space creates an atmosphere of peace and reflection for all. Simon concluded It is clear that, in the hectic pace of life, we all need the space to stop, think and reflect about some of the bigger issues in our own lives and that of the wider world. The Soul Space at Sheringham High allowed for just that; both students and staff found it tremendously beneficial to have a space to be still and think afresh about life and spirituality and, for some, to find clarity and peace. Simon and Pete are pictured above with the "Love Fashion, Hate Sweatshops" polo shirt. Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk? Theres nothing worse than rushing to put out a fire only to find the hydrant isnt working. How do you make sure the hundreds of fire hydrants in a city are working properly? Typically hydrants are inspected manually, but that is a slow and costly process whose results are often out of date. It's now possible, though, to remotely monitor hydrants for malfunctions or vandalism without having to spend a fortune. Designing IoT-enabled hydrant system Consider a small city such as Des Plaines, Illinois, which illustrates the challenges involved with monitoring and repairing hydrants. The city extends over 14 square miles and has 3,600 fire hydrants. It could take a few months for a small team of inspectors to manually inspect each hydrant. Since there's no electricity nearby, a monitoring solution has to be battery powered and run for years without a battery replacement. The hydrants also have to transmit their status to a monitoring station several miles away. How should the hydrants communicate? Deciding how the fire hydrants should communicate is a complex decision like most IoT projects. Here's a checklist to select the right mode of communication: How many devices need to communicate? How much data will each device be transmitting? How frequently does the data have to be transmitted? How far do endpoint devices have to communicate? What form of obstructions or interference could impact data transmissions? Is power available for the sensor or does the sensor have to be battery operated? Will devices only send data or is the communication bi-directional? Whats the budget per device to enable it to communicate? How important is security of the data transmissions? Does the endpoint device have an IP address? Does the firmware in the device have to be updated frequently? Cellular or LPWAN? There are two main options for device connectivity: cellular or Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). LPWAN devices work on radio signals and send small amounts of sensor data over large distances. As a result, the devices use very little battery power. In fact, they are able to conserve power by going into a dormant mode and only wake to transmit their sensor data. Cellular coverage vastly exceeds LPWANs, as it is used for voice communication and data streaming. TALIS hydrants include monitors Valve and hydrant maker TALIS has added monitoring to its hydrants. It selected SIGFOX, a LPWAN, to transfer data from the hydrants to a management console. The company selected SIGFOX because: The updates sent by the hydrants on their status are very small in size There is a low frequency of updates (four times a day) The communication is unidirectional (only to the management console) The data transmission has to cover a long distances with very little power A large number of hydrants had to be monitored Hydrant sensor A ruggedized sensor from Bayard Copernic is embedded in each hydrant to report any malfunction and the water pressure. A lithium battery that can last up to five years is used to power the sensor. The location of each hydrant is geotagged on an online map with the help of an RFID tag on each hydrant. This helps route repair work orders to the closest service technician. Asset management The Tagua Asset Management system is a web-based solution to keep track of hydrants and create maintenance work orders. In France, many municipalities use it with the SIGFOX radio network to manage hydrants. Alerts are sent via the SIGFOX network when a hydrant is being opened, closed, tampered with or isnt working properly. Copernic enables cities and municipal water suppliers to reduce costs and improve services, said Herve Dumont, head of marketing at TALIS. The SIGFOX network helps us easily connect thousands of hydrants to the Internet of Things because there is no network infrastructure to be deployed during installation of the fire hydrants. The network offers low energy consumption, reduced costs, easy integration and, most of all, comprehensive coverage in France. The Things Network demonstrates the potential of LPWANs and IoT to improve daily activities and launch new services. It's a crowdsourced IoT data network across Amsterdam that connects a wide range of objects through a service with low battery usage, long range and low bandwidth. Fighting fires is a dangerous but vital task. SIGFOX-connected fire hydrants help ensure firemen always have the water they need to fight fires. Microsoft had a pretty good earnings report last month as it closed out fiscal year 2016 (its fiscal year ends June 30 of each year). Now people are digging through the financial reports to see what the company didn't disclose in its press release or earnings call, and one unfortunate number has emerged: the pitiful sales of Lumia phones. It's the latest in the sad story behind former CEO Steve Ballmer's final debacle, the purchase of Nokia's handset business. Nokia was the strongest supporter of Windows Phone, but beyond Ballmer and some Finnish shareholders, no one thought this $7.2 billion acquisition was a good idea. In the end, it cost more than $10 billion in write-downs, which means paper losses, not actual money out the door, but many employees from Nokia have been cut loose as well. Now we see sales have slowed to a trickle. Revenue for phone division fell by 71 percent year over year, and unit sales fell to a mere 1.2 million devices. For the fiscal year, unit sales were 13.8 million Lumia devices, and the number has steadily fallen. The numbers come from the 10-K form submitted to the SEC. Q1 FY2016: 5.8 million Q2 FY2016: 4.5 million Q3 FY2016: 2.3 million A total of 12.6 million phones were sold in the first three fiscal quarters. With the yearly total of 13.8, the math is easy. In addition to the Lumias, Microsoft still has Nokia's feature phone business, popular in lower-income and emerging markets. There, it sold 75.5 million feature phones, a better showing until you compare the 13.8 million Lumias and 75.5 million feature phones against the prior year. In fiscal year 2015, Microsoft sold 36.8 million Lumias and 126.8 million feature phones. Plus, the feature phone business is going away. Last April, Microsoft announced it was selling the feature phone business to Foxconn, the Chinese giant that makes Apple's smartphone, for $350 million. Staff cuts not surprising It should come as no surprise, then, that Microsoft is cutting more workers, many from the Nokia division. In addition to the $10 billion write-down mentioned earlier, for FY2016, Microsoft took a further $1.1 billion in restructuring and related impairment expenses. The company eliminated approximately 19,000 positions in fiscal year 2015 and 7,400 positions in fiscal year 2016 as part of its Phone Hardware Integration Plan, but it's not done. Another 2,850 roles will be reduced globally during the year as an extension of the earlier plan. Not all are Nokia people, but a lot are. If I seem particularly irked by all of this, I am. I would much prefer to use a Windows Mobile device. I liked using them when I owned them, but the complete dearth of apps drove me back to the iPhone. In the end, that's the purpose of owning a smartphone. This was a poorly thought out acquisition from the get-go. It was documented in other press that Ballmer threw a gigantic tantrum with the board of directors, threatening to resign if they didn't approve of the purchase. Those fools should have called his bluff because nothing good has come of this. Supposedly Microsoft will launch a Surface-branded phone next year, but after this mess, who would support them? Apples profits in Ireland are a fraud, said Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in an interview with Bloomberg Televisions Tom Keene. True it is, but almost every tech company uses the same loophole for which Stiglitz blamed the U.S. tax system. Stiglitz said: Our current tax system encourages companies to keep their money abroad, opens up a vast loophole through what is called the transfer-pricing system that allows them not only to keep their money abroad but, effectively, to escape taxation. How it works In international markets, companies manipulate higher costs, reducing taxes by using easily understood transfer-pricing. In this simplified example below, a product sells for $1,000 and costs $500 to produce. The taxes in the U.S. would be $175. But if the cost to produce it can be inflated to $600 and recognition of the sale and the cost transferred to a lower-tax country such as Ireland, $175 in taxes are saved. More than 700 American companies site international headquarters in Ireland because it has a 12.5 percent tax rate compared to much higher rates in the U.S. and Europe, according to the Guardian. Steven Max Patterson Tech company tax avoidance structure Setting up operations like this is included in the standard playbook of every large law firm; no magic or rocket science needed. First, the U.S. company incorporates an Irish subsidiary. Stiglitzs claim of fraud seems disproportionate compared to Irelands small economy amounting to less than 2 percent of the European economy. Still, Stiglitz is accurate because using a special corporate structure, the Irish subsidiary shields most European profits. Next, representative companies are established in each country: Apple Italia S.R.L, Apple (UK) Limited, Apple France, etc. The representative companies usually operate in countries that have much higher tax rates, managing product sales and distribution under agreement with Apple Ireland. Apple Ireland sells products to each higher-taxed representative company at the highest price possible to expose as little profit as possible in the higher-taxed country. The difference between Apple Irelands selling prices to the representative companies and the prices sold within the country boarders is enough to cover the operating cost of the representative country and not much more. Government tax agencies may negotiate with the representative companies, producing a small increase in taxation. Research tax shelters Research expenses are also used to reduce taxes in the U.S. After the research is patented and approaches the point of development, the patents are transferred at a low cost to a subsidiary located in an off-shore tax haven that has much lower tax rates than the U.S. The patents and related intellectual property are then licensed back to the U.S. parent at a greater cost. Licensing fees paid to the off-shore entity inflate the product costs on the parent companys profit-and-loss statement, decreasing U.S. profits and U.S. taxes. The profit flows to the off-shore entity, and it is taxed at a low rate. This isnt a Panama Papers expose of illegal activity. Its all legalsupported by legislation, tax code and court case precedent. Every CEO would defend the use of this tax scheme, not just Apple CEO Tim Cook. Road closed and trains delayed after incident POLICE have closed off Station Road in Woolhampton after a vehicle hit the level crossing at Midgham station and broke one of the barriers. British Transport Police and Thames Valley Police are attending the scene. A spokesman for Network Rail, James Crook, confirmed: A vehicle has hit the level crossing barrier at Midgham as it was closing. This will cause minor delays of around 10 minutes for trains in both directions. Linda Wood, of Acorn Interiors on Station Road, said: The police have closed the road off. One of the barriers is broken and on the floor and the other three are just flashing. Thames Valley Police has been contacted for a comment. Reporter Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk). U.S. Army veteran Robin Counce of Champaign talks about being caught in friendly fire during his seven months of service in Vietnam. Counce was awarded a Bronze Star. Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) summary The full CMI on the next page has more details. If you are worried about using this medicine, speak to your doctor or pharmacist. Why am I using ZOELY? ZOELY contains the active ingredient nomegestrol acetate and estradiol. ZOELY is an oral contraceptive, used to prevent pregnancy. For more information, see Section 1. Why am I using ZOELY? in the full CMI. What should I know before I use ZOELY? Do not use if you have ever had an allergic reaction to nomegestrol acetate, estradiol or any of the ingredients listed at the end of the CMI. Talk to your doctor if you have any other medical conditions, take any other medicines, or are pregnant or plan to become pregnant or are breastfeeding. For more information, see Section 2. What should I know before I use ZOELY? in the full CMI. What if I am taking other medicines? Some medicines may interfere with ZOELY and affect how it works. A list of these medicines is in Section 3. What if I am taking other medicines? in the full CMI. How do I use ZOELY? ZOELY needs to be taken every day at the same time, to ensure it works effectively. Follow all instructions given to you by your doctor. More instructions can be found in Section 4. How do I use ZOELY? in the full CMI. What should I know while using ZOELY? Things you should do Remind any doctor, dentist or pharmacist you visit that you are using ZOELY. Monitor your health and contact your doctor if you notice any changes. Keep all of your doctors appointments and go for regular checkups. Things you should not do Do not stop using this medicine suddenly without telling your doctor. Do not use this medicine if you are pregnant, or fall pregnant while taking this medicine. Driving or using machines ZOELY is not expected to affect your ability to drive or operate machinery. If you experience any side effects which impact your ability to drive or operate machinery when taking this medicine, act appropriately and contact your doctor. Drinking alcohol Alcohol is not expected to interact with ZOELY. If you drink alcohol, talk to your doctor about the possible effects of taking alcohol with this medicine. Looking after your medicine Store ZOELY in a cool dry place, out of direct light, where the temperature is below 30C. Keep ZOELY in the original packaging, in a safe place, away from children. For more information, see Section 5. What should I know while using ZOELY? in the full CMI. Are there any side effects? The most common side effects are changes in menstrual cycle, acne, mood changes and headaches. Serious side effects include blood clots in the veins or blood vessels and breast cancer. See more information under The Pill and Thrombosis and The Pill and Cancer. For more information, including what to do if you have any side effects, see Section 6. Are there any side effects? in the full CMI. Why am I using ZOELY? ZOELY contains the active ingredient nomegestrol acetate and estradiol. ZOELY is an oral contraceptive, commonly known as a "Birth Control Pill" or "The Pill" that has been prescribed to prevent you from getting pregnant. ZOELY prevents pregnancy in several ways: It inhibits the egg release by stopping it maturing. It changes the cervical mucus consistency making it more difficult for sperm to reach the egg. It changes the lining of the uterus making it less suitable for implantation. Oral contraceptives are an effective method of birth control. When taken correctly (without missing tablets) the chance of becoming pregnant is very low. The following non-contraceptive health benefits have been associated with the combined Pill: Your periods may be lighter and shorter. As a result, the risk of anaemia may be lower. Your period pains may become less severe or may completely disappear. What should I know before I use ZOELY? Warnings Do not use ZOELY if: you are allergic to nomegesterol acetate or estradiol, or any of the ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet. always check the ingredients to make sure you can use this medicine. Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: shortness of breath wheezing or troubled breathing swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body rash, itching or hives on the skin. Check with your doctor if you: have any other medical conditions take any medicines for any other condition If you have any of the following conditions, tell your doctor before starting ZOELY. Your doctor may advise you to use a different type of Pill or an entirely different (non-hormonal) method of birth control. a blood clot (venous thrombosis) in a blood vessel of your legs, lungs (embolus) or other organs a heart attack or stroke a condition that may be a first sign of a heart attack (such as angina pectoris which causes severe chest pain) or stroke (such as a transient ischaemic attack) a serious risk factor or several risk factors for developing a blood clot very high blood pressure a very high level of fat in the blood (cholesterol or triglycerides) a disorder affecting your blood clotting - for instance Protein C deficiency if you have major surgery (e.g., an operation) and your ability to move around is limited for a long period of time diabetes mellitus with blood vessel damage a history of migraine accompanied by e.g. visual symptoms, speech disability, or weakness or numbness in any part of the body pancreatitis (an inflammation of the pancreas) associated with high levels of fatty substances in your blood jaundice (yellowing of the skin) or severe liver disease and your liver is not yet working normally a benign or malignant liver tumour a cancer that may grow under the influence of sex hormones (e.g. of the breast or of the genital organs) any unexplained vaginal bleeding you are pregnant or think you might be pregnant. If any of these conditions appear for the first time while using the Pill, stop taking it at once and tell your doctor. In the meantime, use non-hormonal contraceptive measures. Do not take ZOELY if the expiry date printed on the pack has passed. Do not take ZOELY if the packaging is torn or shows signs of tampering. During treatment, you may be at risk of developing certain side effects. It is important you understand these risks and how to monitor for them. See additional information under Section 6. Are there any side effects Pregnancy and breastfeeding Tell your doctor immediately if you are pregnant or think you are pregnant while you are using ZOELY. ZOELY must not be used during pregnancy. ZOELY is not recommended for use during breastfeeding. If you wish to take the Pill while breastfeeding, please seek the advice of your doctor. Before using ZOELY: In this leaflet, several situations are described where you should stop taking the Pill, or where the reliability of the Pill may be decreased. In such situations you should not have sex or you should take extra non-hormonal contraceptive precautions, e.g. use a condom or another barrier method. Do not use rhythm or temperature methods. These methods can be unreliable because the Pill alters the usual changes in temperature and cervical mucus that occur during the menstrual cycle. If you are concerned about contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI), ask your partner to wear a condom when having sexual intercourse with you. ZOELY will not protect you from HIV (AIDS) or any other sexually transmitted infections. To help protect yourself from STIs, you need to use a barrier contraceptive such as a condom, but even barrier contraceptives may not protect you against human papilloma virus (HPV). You should have a thorough medical check-up, including a Pap smear, breast check, blood pressure check and urine check. You must tell your doctor if you are allergic to any foods, dyes, preservatives or any other medicines. You must tell your doctor if you smoke. The risk of having a heart attack or stroke increases as you get older. It also increases the more you smoke. When using the Pill you should stop smoking, especially if you are older than about 35 years of age. You must tell your doctor if you have any of the conditions listed below. You may need to be kept under close observation. Your doctor can explain this to you. Tell your doctor if: anyone in your immediate family has had breast cancer you suffer from epilepsy you are overweight you have diabetes you have high blood pressure you have a heart valve disorder or a certain heart rhythm disorder anyone in your immediate family has had a thrombosis, a heart attack, or a stroke you have sickle cell disease you have liver disease (jaundice) or gall bladder disease you have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (chronic inflammatory bowel disease) you have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, a disease affecting the skin all over the body) you have haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS; a disorder of blood coagulation causing failure of the kidneys) if you have elevated fatty acid levels in the blood (hypertriglyceridaemia) or a positive family history for this condition (familial hypertriglyceridaemia). If so, you may be at an increased risk of developing pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) when using combined pills you have a condition that occurred for the first time or worsened during pregnancy or previous use of sex hormones (e.g. hearing loss, a metabolic disease called porphyria, a skin disease called herpes gestationis, a neurological disease called Sydenham's chorea) you have or have had chloasma (yellow brownish pigmentation patches on the skin, particularly of the face); if so, avoid too much exposure to the sun or ultraviolet radiation you have recently given birth you are at an increased risk of blood clots. You should ask your doctor how soon after delivery you can start using ZOELY You need an operation or if your ability to move around is limited for a long period of time. This includes travelling by plane for greater than 4 hours. Tell your doctor if any of the above conditions appear for the first time, recur, or worsen while using the Pill. What if I am taking other medicines? Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including any medicines, vitamins, or supplements that you buy without a prescription from your pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. Medicines that may reduce the effect of ZOELY include: phenytoin, primidone, barbiturates, carbamazepine, oxycarbamazepine, topiramate, felbamate medicines for epilepsy such as medicines for tuberculosis (e.g. rifampicin and rifabutin) medicines for HIV infections (ritonavir, nevirapine, nelfinavir, efavirenz) medicines for Hepatitis C virus infection (e.g. boceprevir, telaprevir) antibiotics (e.g. penicillin, ampicillin, tetracyclines) antifungals (e.g. griseofulvin) medicines for high blood pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs (bosentan) herbal medicines containing St John's Wort primarily for the treatment of depressive moods If you are taking medicines or herbal products that might make ZOELY less effective, a barrier contraceptive method should also be used. Since the effect of another medicine on ZOELY may last up to 28 days after stopping the medicine, it is necessary to use the additional barrier contraceptive method for that long. ZOELY may also interfere with the working of other medicines - such as ciclosporin and the anti-epileptic lamotrigine. The HCV combination drug regimen ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir with or without dasabuvir may cause increases in liver function blood test results (increase in ALT liver enzyme) in women using CHCs containing ethinylestradiol. ZOELY contains estradiol instead of ethinylestradiol. It is not known whether an increase in ALT liver enzyme can occur when using ZOELY with this HCV combination drug regimen. Your doctor will advise you. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure about what medicines, vitamins or supplements you are taking and if these affect ZOELY. How do I use ZOELY? How much to take follow the instructions provided and use ZOELY until your doctor tells you to stop. When to use ZOELY Take your medicine at the same time each day. Taking ZOELY at the same time each day will have the best effect. It will also help you remember when to take it. How to take ZOELY A ZOELY pack contains strips of 28 tablets: 24 white tablets with active substances and 4 yellow tablets that do not contain active substances. Each time you start a new strip of ZOELY, take the first white active tablet in the left-hand top corner (see 'Start'). Choose from the 7 stickers with day indicators the one that begins with your starting day, e.g. if you start on a Wednesday, use the day label sticker that starts 'WED'. Stick it on the strip, just above the row of white active tablets where it reads 'Place day label here'. This allows you to check whether you took your daily tablet. Take one tablet each day at about the same time, with some liquid if necessary. Follow the direction of the arrows on the pack taking the white active tablets first followed by the yellow inactive tablets. A period should begin during the 4 days that you use the yellow inactive tablets (the withdrawal bleed). Usually it will start on day 2-3 after the last white tablet and may not have finished before the next strip is started. Start taking your next pack immediately after the last yellow inactive tablet, even if your period hasn't finished. This means you will always start new packs on the same day of the week, and also means that you have your period on about the same days, each month. When no hormonal contraception has been used in the past month Start taking ZOELY on the first day of your cycle, i.e. the first day of menstrual bleeding. ZOELY will work immediately, it is not necessary to use an additional contraceptive method. You may also start on days 2-5 of your cycle, but in that case make sure you also use an additional contraceptive method (barrier method) for the first 7 days of tablet-taking in the first cycle. When changing from another combined hormonal contraceptive (combined oral contraceptive (COC), no problem vaginal ring, or transdermal patch) You can start taking ZOELY the day after you take the last tablet from your present Pill pack. If your present Pill pack contains inactive tablets (placebo) tablets you can start ZOELY on the day after taking the last active tablet (if you are not sure which this is, ask your doctor or pharmacist). You can also start later, but never later than the day following the tablet-free break of the present Pill (or the day after the last inactive tablet of your present Pill). In case you use a vaginal ring or transdermal patch, you should start using ZOELY preferably on the day of removal, but at latest when the next ring or patch would have been applied. If you have used the Pill, patch or ring consistently and correctly and if you are sure that you are not pregnant, you can stop taking the Pill or remove the ring or patch on any day and start using ZOELY immediately. If you follow these instructions, it is not necessary to use an additional contraceptive method. When changing from a progestogen-only method (minipill) You can stop taking the minipill any day and start taking ZOELY the next day, at the same time. But make sure you also use an additional contraceptive method (a barrier method) for the first 7 days of tablet-taking. When changing from an injectable, an implant or a progestogen-releasing intrauterine device (IUD) Start using ZOELY when your next injection is due or on the day that your implant or your IUD is removed. Make sure you also use an additional contraceptive method (a barrier method) for the first 7 days of tablet-taking. After having a baby If you have just had a baby, your doctor may tell you to wait until after your first normal period before you start taking ZOELY. Sometimes it is possible to start sooner. Your doctor will advise you. If you are breast-feeding and want to take ZOELY, you should discuss this first with your doctor. After a miscarriage or abortion Your doctor will advise you. Additional contraceptive precautions When additional contraceptive precautions are required you should either abstain from vaginal sex, or use a barrier method of contraception, a condom, or a cap (diaphragm) plus spermicide. Rhythm methods are not advised as the Pill disrupts the cyclical changes associated with the natural menstrual cycle e.g., changes in temperature and cervical mucus. If you forget to take ZOELY The following advice only refers to missed white active tablets If you are less than 24 hours late in taking a tablet, the reliability of the Pill is maintained. Take the tablet as soon as you remember and take further tablets at the usual time. If you are 24 or more hours late in taking any tablet, the reliability of the Pill may be reduced. The more consecutive tablets you have missed, the higher the risk that the contraceptive efficacy is decreased. There is a particularly high risk of becoming pregnant if you miss white active tablets at the beginning or at the end of the strip. Therefore, you should follow the rules given below. Picture 1 Day 1-7 (the first 7 days of white active tablet intake, see picture 1 and the schedule at the end of this leaflet) Take the last white active missed tablet as soon as you remember (even if this means taking two tablets at the same time) and take the next tablets at the usual time. Use a barrier method such as a condom as an extra precaution until you have taken your tablets correctly for 7 days in a row. If you had sexual intercourse in the week before missing the tablets, there is a possibility of becoming pregnant. So tell your doctor immediately. Days 8 to 17 from the first white active tablet intake (see picture 1 and the schedule at the end of this leaflet) Take the last missed tablet as soon as you remember (even if this means taking two tablets at the same time) and take the next tablets at the usual time. If you have taken your tablets correctly in the 7 days prior to the missed tablet, the protection against pregnancy is not reduced, and you do not need to use extra precautions. However, if you have missed more than 1 tablet, use a barrier method such as a condom as an extra precaution until you have taken your tablets correctly for 7 days in a row. Day 18-24 (the last 7 days of white active tablet intake, see picture 1 and the schedule at the end of this leaflet) There is a particularly high risk of becoming pregnant if you miss white active tablets close to the yellow placebo tablet interval. By adjusting your intake schedule this higher risk can be prevented. The following two options can be followed. You do not need to use extra precautions if you have taken your tablets correctly in the 7 days prior to the missed tablet. If this is not the case, you should follow the first of these two options and use a barrier method such as a condom as an extra precaution until you have taken your tablets correctly for 7 days in a row. Option 1 Take the last missed white active tablet as soon as you remember (even if this means taking 2 tablets at the same time) and take the next tablets at the usual time. Start the next strip as soon as the white active tablets in the current strip are finished, so skip the yellow placebo tablets. You may not have your period until you take the yellow placebo tablets at the end of the second strip, but you may have spotting (drops or flecks of blood) or breakthrough bleeding while taking the white active tablets. Option 2 Stop taking the active white tablets and start taking the placebo yellow tablets so that the total number of placebo plus missed active white tablets is not more than 4. At the end of this interval, start the next blister. For example, if you missed one active white tablet, you should take 3 days of the placebo yellow tablets; if you missed 2 active white tablets, you should take 2 days of the placebo yellow tablets; and if you missed 3 active white tablets, you should take only 1 day of the placebo yellow tablets. If you cannot remember how many white active tablets you have missed, follow the first option, use a barrier method such as a condom as an extra precaution until you have taken your tablets correctly for 7 days in a row and contact your doctor (as you may not have been protected from becoming pregnant). If you have forgotten to take white active tablets in a strip and you do not have the expected monthly period while taking the yellow placebo tablets from the same strip, you may be pregnant. Consult your doctor before you start with the next strip. Yellow tablets missed The last 4 yellow tablets of the fourth row are placebo tablets which do not contain active substances. If you forgot to take one of these tablets the reliability of ZOELY is maintained. Throw away the yellow tablet that you missed and continue taking the next tablets at the usual time. You want to delay your period You can delay your period if you continue with the white active tablets in your next pack of ZOELY immediately after finishing the white tablets in your current pack. You can continue with this pack for as long as you wish, until this pack is empty. When you wish your period to begin, just stop tablet-taking. While using the second pack you may have some breakthrough bleeding or spotting on active tablet-taking days. Start your next pack after the usual 4-day inactive tablet interval. You want to change the starting day of your period If you take your tablets as directed, you will have your period on about the same day every 4 weeks. If you want to change this, just shorten (never lengthen) the next placebo tablet interval. For example, if your period usually starts on a Friday and in future you want it to start on Tuesday (3 days earlier) you should now start your next pack 3 days sooner than you usually do. If you make your placebo tablet interval very short (e.g. 3 days or less), you may not have a bleeding during the interval. You may have some breakthrough bleeding or spotting during the use of the white tablets in the next pack. If you vomit or have diarrhoea If you vomit within 3-4 hours of taking an active white tablet, or you have severe diarrhoea, the active ingredients of your ZOELY tablet may not have been completely absorbed into your body. The situation is similar to if you forget an active white tablet. After vomiting or diarrhoea, you must take another active white tablet from a reserve blister as soon as possible. If possible, take it within 24 hours of when you normally take your pill. Take the next tablet at the usual time. If this is not possible or 24 or more hours have passed, you should follow the advice given under "What to do if you forget to take your tablets". If you have severe diarrhoea, please contact your doctor. The yellow tablets are placebo tablets which do not contain active substances. If you vomit or have severe diarrhoea within 3-4 hours of taking a yellow tablet, the reliability of ZOELY is maintained. If you have unexpected bleeding With all Pills, for the first few months, you can have breakthrough bleeding or spotting between your periods. You may need to use sanitary protection but continue to take your tablets as normal. Breakthrough bleeding or spotting usually stops once your body clock has adjusted to the Pill (usually after about 3 tablet-taking cycles). Tell your doctor if it continues, becomes heavy or starts again. If you have missed a period If you have taken all of your tablets at the right time, and you have not vomited, or had severe diarrhoea or used other medicines then you are very unlikely to be pregnant. Continue to take ZOELY as usual. If you miss your period twice in a row, you may be pregnant. Do not start the next pack of ZOELY until your doctor has checked you are not pregnant. If you use too much ZOELY There have been no reports of serious harmful effects from taking too many ZOELY tablets at one time. If you take too much ZOELY you may feel sick, vomit, or have vaginal bleeding. If you discover a child has taken ZOELY, ask your doctor for advice. If you are not sure of what to do: phone the Poisons Information Centre (by calling 13 11 26), or contact your doctor or go to the Emergency Department at your nearest hospital. You should do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. What should I know while using ZOELY? Things you should do When you are using the Pill, your doctor will tell you to return for regular check-ups. You should have a check-up at least once a year. Call your doctor straight away if you: notice any changes in your own health, especially involving any of the items mentioned in this leaflet; do not forget about the items related to your immediate family feel a lump in your breast are going to use other medicines notice your ability to move around is limited for a long period of time or you are to have surgery (consult your doctor at least 4 weeks in advance) have unusual, heavy vaginal bleeding forgot tablets at the beginning or end of the pack and had intercourse in the seven days before have severe diarrhoea miss your period twice in a row or suspect you are pregnant. Do not start the next pack until told to by your doctor. Remind any doctor, dentist, or pharmacist you visit that you are using ZOELY. Stop taking tablets and see your doctor immediately if you notice possible signs of thrombosis, myocardial infarction, or a stroke such as: an unusual cough severe pain in the chest which may reach the left arm - this discomfort may include the back, jaw, throat, arm, stomach feeling of being full, having indigestion or choking sweating, nausea, vomiting, anxiety breathlessness or rapid breathing any unusual, sudden, severe, or prolonged headache or migraine attack partial or complete loss of vision, or double vision confusion, slurring or speech disability sudden changes to your hearing, sense of smell or taste dizziness or fainting fast or irregular heartbeat weakness or numbness in any part of your body severe pain in your stomach severe pain or swelling in either of your legs pain or tenderness in the leg which may be felt only when standing or walking warmth, red or discoloured skin on the leg sudden pain, swelling and slight blue discoloration of an extremity sudden trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination Driving or using machines Be careful before you drive or use any machines or tools until you know how ZOELY affects you. ZOELY is not expected to affect your ability to drive or operate machinery. If you experience any side effects which impact your ability to drive or operate machinery when taking this medicine, act appropriately and contact your doctor. Drinking alcohol Tell your doctor if you drink alcohol. Alcohol is not expected to interact with ZOELY. If you drink alcohol, talk to your doctor about the possible effects of taking alcohol with this medicine. Looking after your medicine Follow the instructions in the carton on how to take care of your medicine properly. Keep your tablets in the original pack until it is time to take them. If you take your tablets out of the pack, they may not keep well. Store ZOELY in a cool dry place below 30C, away from moisture, heat, or sunlight; for example, do not store it: in the bathroom or near a sink, or in the car or on windowsills. Keep it where young children cannot reach it. Getting rid of any unwanted medicine If you no longer need to use this medicine or it is out of date, take it to any pharmacy for safe disposal. Do not use this medicine after the expiry date. Are there any side effects? All medicines can have side effects. If you do experience any side effects, most of them are minor and temporary. However, some side effects may need medical attention. See the information below and, if you need to, ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any further questions about side effects. Less serious side effects Less serious side effects What to do Changes to mood and feelings: mood changes depression/depressed mood irritability changes to appetite decreased or increased interest in sex disturbance in attention Changes to skin, hair, and tissues: acne hair loss oily skin dry skin dry mouth dry eyes itching excessive hair growth increased sweating larger breasts golden brown pigment patches, mostly in the face Changes to menstrual cycle: breakthrough bleeding or spotting absence of menstruation regular but scanty periods premenstrual syndrome Changes to reproductive system: pelvic pain swollen abdomen milk production while not pregnant pain during intercourse dryness in the vagina or vulva spasms of the uterus vaginal smell discomfort in the vagina or vulva Other: headache or migraine feeling sick (nausea) weight gain fluid retention sensation of heaviness hot flushes increase in the levels of liver enzymes Speak to your doctor if you have any of these less serious side effects and they worry you. Serious side effects Serious side effects What to do Relating to Cancer: breast pain lumps in breast Relating to Thrombosis: headache or pain elsewhere in the body dizziness fainting disturbances in vision swollen ankles yellowing of the eyes or skin Call your doctor straight away, or go straight to the Emergency Department at your nearest hospital if you notice any of these serious side effects. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you notice anything else that may be making you feel unwell. Other side effects not listed here may occur in some people. The Pill and Thrombosis A thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot which may block a blood vessel. A thrombosis sometimes occurs in the deep veins of the legs (deep venous thrombosis). If this blood clot breaks away from the veins where it is formed, it may reach and block the arteries of the lungs, causing a so-called "pulmonary embolism". Deep venous thrombosis is a rare occurrence. It can develop whether or not you are taking the Pill. The risk is higher in Pill-users than in non-users. The chance of getting a thrombosis is highest during the first year a woman uses the Pill. The risk is also higher if you restart using a combined pill (the same product or a different product) after a break of 4 weeks or more. Thrombosis can also happen if you become pregnant. The risk of thrombosis also increases if you gave birth less than a few weeks ago. ZOELY contains estradiol instead of ethinylestradiol. ZOELY may have a risk of VTE in the same range as observed with a combined hormonal contraceptive that contains levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol. Blood clots can also occur very rarely in the blood vessels of the heart (causing a heart attack) or the brain (causing a stroke). Extremely rarely blood clots can occur in the liver, gut, kidney or eye. Very occasionally thrombosis may cause serious permanent disabilities or may even be fatal. If you develop high blood pressure while using the Pill, you may be told to stop using it. The risk of having deep venous thrombosis is temporarily increased as a result of an operation or immobilisation (for example when you have your leg or legs in plaster or splints). In women who use the Pill, the risk may be yet higher. Tell your doctor you are using the Pill well in advance of any expected hospitalisation or surgery. Your doctor may tell you to stop taking the Pill several weeks before surgery or at the time of immobilisation. Your doctor will also tell you when you can start taking the Pill again after you are back on your feet. If you notice possible signs of a thrombosis, stop taking the Pill and consult your doctor immediately. The Pill and Cancer Regularly examine your breasts. The information given below was obtained from studies of women who used combined oral hormonal contraceptives, as the combined pill containing ethinylestradiol, and from an additional study that included both oral and non-oral hormonal contraceptive-users. In studies with the combined Pill, breast cancer has been diagnosed slightly more often in women who use the Pill than in women of the same age who do not use the Pill. This slight increase in the numbers of breast cancer diagnoses gradually disappears during the course of the 10 years after stopping use of the Pill. In the additional study that included both oral and non-oral hormonal contraceptive-users, the occurrence of breast cancer was reported to increase the longer the women used the contraceptive. The difference in the reported risk of breast cancer between women who have never used the contraceptive and those who had used the contraceptive was small: 13 additional cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women-years. It is not known whether this is caused by the Pill. It may be that the women were examined more often, so that the breast cancer was noticed earlier. Tell your doctor immediately if you have severe pain in your stomach. In rare cases benign liver tumours and even more rarely, malignant liver tumours have been reported in users of the Pill. These tumours may lead to internal bleeding. Chronic infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the single most important risk factor for cervical cancer. HPV is a sexually transmitted infection. In women who use combined oral contraceptives for a long time the chance of getting cervical cancer may be slightly higher. This finding may not be caused by the Pill itself but may be related to sexual behaviour and other factors. Reporting side effects After you have received medical advice for any side effects you experience, you can report side effects to the Therapeutic Goods Administration online at www.tga.gov.au/reporting-problems . By reporting side effects, you can help provide more information on the safety of this medicine. Always make sure you speak to your doctor or pharmacist before you decide to stop taking any of your medicines. Product details This medicine is only available with a doctor's prescription. What ZOELY contains Active ingredient (main ingredient) In the white tablets: nomegestrol acetate 2.5 milligrams estradiol 1.5 milligrams In the yellow tablets: No active ingredients Other ingredients (inactive ingredients) In the white tablets: lactose monohydrate microcrystalline cellulose crospovidone purified talc magnesium stearate colloidal anhydrous silica polyvinyl alcohol titanium dioxide macrogol 3350 In the yellow tablets: lactose monohydrate microcrystalline cellulose crospovidone purified talc magnesium stearate colloidal anhydrous silica poly vinyl alcohol titanium dioxide iron oxide yellow iron oxide black macrogol 3350 Do not take this medicine if you are allergic to any of these ingredients. What ZOELY looks like ZOELY is presented in 1 or 3 PVC/Aluminium backed blister strips containing 28 film-coated tablets (24 white active tablets and 4 yellow inactive tablets). The blister is packed in a carton together with the package leaflet. Each carton also contains a single paper sleeve, designed to carry one strip of tablets when removed from the outer carton. The white, round active tablets are coded with 'ne' on both sides. The yellow, round inactive tablets are coded with 'p' on both sides. Australia Registration Number: ZOELY oral-contraceptive AUST R 168332 The inauguration ceremony (Photo: vov.vn) Located on the Tonle Sap lake, the school, which has been inaugurated and put into use, will have places for about 120 students, who are children of 259 overseas Vietnamese households. They have long lived in this area, but have been unable to build schools and facilities for their children. The expenditure for the construction was presented by Ho Chi Minh city Party Committee Secretary Dinh La Thang during his visit to Cambodia in June. The school was inaugurated on this occasion of the 69th anniversary of the National War Invalids and Martyrs' Day (July 27th). On this occasion, the Consulate General of Vietnam had mobilized and presented textbooks, notebooks and three tonnes of rice to children and people there./. Researchers at The University of Nottingham have been involved in one of the largest international studies of congenital heart disease, which has discovered gene mutations linked to three new rare congenital heart disorders (CHD). Published in the academic journal Nature Genetics, the study also found the first clear evidence of genetic differences between two forms of the disease, and that one form can be traced back to healthy parents. The academics in the University's School of Life Sciences have been aiming to understand the genetic causes of heart disease, as part of an international team of collaborators led by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The study has sequenced and analysed the protein-coding segments of the genome - known as the exome - of 1,900 CHD patients and their parents. Dr Anna Wilsdon, one of the Nottingham researchers involved in the project, said: "Understanding the underlying genetic pathways of congenital heart disease and the genes involved means that we will be able to provide more accurate information for patients. Knowing a genetic cause for a person's medical condition means that we can sometimes suggest additional medical checks to keep them healthy. We can also discuss the chances of them having a child with CHD if they wish, and what options are available to them. It may also be important for the wider family, as sometimes others may be at risk of having heart problems too. For some, just having an explanation as to why they or their child has developed CHD can be very helpful. "Through this study we have been able to identify a genetic change in a number of individuals that is likely to have caused their heart condition. We are currently feeding these results back to them. Studies like this will hopefully mean that we can find a genetic cause of CHD in more patients in the future." The lab in which the work was done, headed up by colleague Professor David Brook, has been studying congenital heart disease for the past 20 years. In collaboration with paediatric cardiologist Dr Frances Bu'Lock and her colleagues at the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre, based at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, the team has established the collection of samples from the patients and their parents which has formed the basis for the current research, which examined a total of 20,000 genes. CHD is one of the most common developmental defects, occurring in one per cent of the population worldwide and affecting 1.35 million newborns with CHD every year. It causes problems like holes in the heart, which in severe cases can require corrective surgery. Heart disease can cause life-long disability and is the largest cause of infant mortality in the western world after infectious disease. Most CHD patients - around 90 per cent - have only isolated defects of the heart, and are called non-syndromic. The remaining 10 per cent of patients are described as syndromic CHD patients who have additional developmental problems such as abnormalities in other organs or an intellectual disability. It had previously been thought that both of these forms of the disease might be caused by spontaneous new mutations which are present in the child and absent in the parents. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The study confirmed that the rarer syndromic CHD patients often had spontaneous new mutations likely to interfere with normal heart development that were not seen in the parents. However, it also showed that non-syndromic CHD patients did not have such spontaneous mutations, and for the first time conclusively showed that they often inherited damaging gene variants from their seemingly healthy parents. Parents who have a child with CHD often want to find out how likely it is that any future children will be affected. While even larger studies are needed to pinpoint the exact combination of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to heart disease, understanding these factors could one day help doctors advise parents more accurately about their chances of having a second child with the disease. Studying these new mutation events across the genome, the researchers also found three new genes in which mutations can cause rare syndromic CHD disorders. This could help further studies identify biological mechanisms important for normal development of the embryo. Dr Mathew Hurles, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "We are aiming to understand the genetics of the development of the human heart. This is the first study to quantify the role that rare inherited variants play in non-syndromic CHD, and is extremely valuable as these patients make up 90 per cent of CHD patients worldwide. We are trying to find the subset of genes with the highest risk of causing non-syndromic CHD. "As these are rare disorders this has meant sharing data globally so we can properly investigate the genetic origins of this disease - the families that shared these data and chose to be involved in this study have helped push forward understanding of these disorders." Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation which part-funded the research, said: "Here, research has shown for the first time that congenital heart defects are often a question of genetic inheritance. In the future, as a direct result of this research, doctors may be able to offer much clearer advice to families where one member has congenital heart disease." Marc-Phillip Hitz, joint first author on the paper from the Sanger Institute and Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel in Germany, said: "Previous smaller scale studies have hinted at the possibility that non-syndromic CHD could be caused by inherited gene variants, but this is the first time that we have been able to show it with statistical evidence. This was only possible due to the global collaboration of centres in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States of America and Saudi Arabia integrating data from many clinicians on a large number of families. We now know that some of the causative factors of the disease are inherited from their healthy parents, which will be extremely helpful for designing future studies of non-syndromic CHD, helping to understand what causes the disease." Treating people with mental ill health in hospitals with locked wards, as opposed to hospitals without locked wards, does not reduce their risk of suicide attempts or of unauthorised absence from hospital, also known as absconding, according to a new 15-year study in Germany of around 145000 patient cases, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. The authors suggest that an open-door policy may foster a better therapeutic atmosphere and thus promote better health outcomes for people on psychiatric wards. Although the authors caution that the findings may not apply to all countries, they say the study raises important questions for mental health services worldwide that may increasingly rely on locked-door policies, restricting patients personal freedom to supposedly keep them safe from harm. Practice varies widely across Europe and seems to be mainly based on local tradition, as there has been little evidence to date to justify this practice in favour of an open-door policy. In this large observational study, the authors analysed data from 21 German hospitals, gathered between 1998 and 2012, to examine the association between locked- or open-door policies and the rates of suicide, suicide attempts, and absconding in patients. Of 349574 initially eligible patient cases, 72869 cases from each hospital type were included (total of 145738 cases) creating matched pairs to allow direct comparison between hospitals. Main diagnoses included organic disorders (brain disorders such as dementia), substance use disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, affective disorders (mood disorders such as depression), stress related disorders, and personality disorders. The primary measured outcome was completed suicide, and the secondary outcomes were suicide attempts, absconding with return, and absconding without return. Data was divided into hospital type (hospitals with or without an open door policy) and ward type (locked, partly locked, open, or day clinic wards). The research team found that suicide attempts and completed suicide did not differ significantly between hospitals with an open-door policy compared to hospitals without. Absconding rates (with or without return) were not increased in hospitals with an open door policy. Among patients who did leave without authorisation, they were more likely to return when under the care of an open-door hospital, than if they were being treated in a locked hospital or ward. Similarly, patients who were treated on an open ward were less likely to attempt suicide than patients who were treated on a locked ward, but there was no difference in the likelihood of patients completing suicide. Patients treated on open and day clinic wards had a lower likelihood of absconding, either with or without returning, compared with locked and partly locked wards. Hospitals included in the trial were obliged by the state to provide care to all individuals from a specific geographical area. Therefore, the authors say that patients at higher risk of self-harm and absconding were no more likely to be admitted to nearby hospitals with locked wards, reducing the risk of bias. According to Dr Christian Huber of the Universitare Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel, Basel, Switzerland: These findings suggest that locked-door policies may not help to improve the safety of patients in psychiatric hospitals, and are not generally successful in preventing people from absconding. In fact, a locked-door policy probably imposes a more oppressive atmosphere, which could reduce the effectiveness of treatments, resulting in longer stays in hospital. The practice may even lend motivation for patients to abscond. Although this study only looked at German hospitals, the authors say the findings could challenge current medical practice in many countries, where locked wards are increasingly used. However, they warn that further studies will be needed to see if the findings are applicable for mental health services in different countries, as the number of beds available, the percentage of acutely ill patients and the length of treatment might be different in between countries. For instance, in Germany, there are about 1.1 psychiatric care beds for 1000 inhabitants, whereas in the UK and USA there are less than half this (0.5 beds per 1000 inhabitants in the UK vs 0.3 in the USA) meaning that countries with fewer beds are potentially more likely to only admit severely ill patients at greatest risk of harm to themselves. The authors note that the study only looked at suicide, self-harm and cases of absconding. It did not monitor suicide, self-harm or harm to others among cases of absconding since data is not available for those who did not return. However, as co-author Professor Undine E Lang of the Universitare Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel, Basel, Switzerland, explains: Most people with mental health disorders are at greater risk of suicide and self-harm than of harming others. Other studies have shown that most cases of absconding result in very few cases self-harm or harm to others. Our study suggests that the safety of locked wards for the prevention of suicide or self-harm might be overestimated, and patients at high-risk of self-harm or suicide may be lost from treatment. Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Tom Burns of the Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford UK, says: Treating a yellow fever patient is reliant on having the right diagnosis. This is dependent on having the necessary laboratory capacity to quickly identify the disease, says Dr Pierre Formenty, an expert in haemorrhagic fevers at WHO and Manager of the Emerging Dangerous Pathogens Laboratory Network. WHO. Dalia Lourenco Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The disease is difficult to diagnose because it has similar symptoms as a range of other diseases, such as malaria and dengue. With more than 5000 suspected yellow fever cases and more than 400 deaths reported in Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo, getting an accurate diagnosis is critical to saving lives and ending the outbreak. Reliable and timely lab results are essential for decision-making in almost all aspects of health services, especially during disease outbreaks. Diagnosing yellow fever is challenging. Often times there are delays between when the sample is collected and transported to when it is analysed. Diagnosing yellow fever is done by testing a blood sample to detect the virus. In later stages of the disease, this is more difficult to detect. In this case, more sophisticated blood tests (known as ELISA and PRNT) are needed and these can only be done in specialized laboratories. Fast-tracking diagnosis In order to strengthen and fast track diagnosis, WHO has supported the deployment of a mobile laboratory from the European Union to Democratic Republic of the Congo. This mobile lab brings much-needed equipment and supplies for testing blood samples for yellow fever. Packaged into several boxes, the lab is portable and easy to set-up within any existing health facility or building. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The mobile lab will support the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale by providing testing capacity in Kahembe in Kwango province for a period of 3 months. The team, consisting of 5 international and 2 national laboratory scientists, will save critical hours by testing the samples on-site, thus reducing the need to transport them over long distances. Between 50 to 100 patients can receive their results within a day. The European Union mobile lab is supported by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) Emergency Response Coordination Centre in collaboration with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and the Emerging and Dangerous Laboratory Network. Building local capacity for lasting results In addition to the mobile lab, 2 laboratory experts from Institut Pasteur, Paris, arrived in Democratic Republic of the Congo on 17 July to provide additional technical capacity. In Angola, WHO has been working with the Institut Pasteur and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to train laboratory technicians at the National Public Health Institute to strengthen yellow fever diagnostic capacity. This support includes establishing the more complex blood (ELISA) test, one of the key diagnostic tools used to confirm infection with yellow fever, and training 10 national staff to run the test. From diagnosis to action Aside from getting patients on the right treatment, faster diagnosis helps to plan the response better, such as identifying where to conduct mass vaccination campaigns in the affected countries, says Dr Formenty. Mass reactive vaccination campaigns in Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo have reached nearly 14.5 million people. The emergency vaccination campaigns have been crucial in slowing transmission of the outbreak. One Medicine: how human and veterinary medicine can benefit each other Professor Roberto La Ragione News-Medical speaks to Professor Roberto La Ragione, Chair of Trustees at Humanimal Trust, about the concept of One Medicine and how human and veterinary medicine can collaborate, share knowledge, and initiate research for the benefit of both humans and animals. Amin Hafeez, the Pakistani journalist who is famous on social media as the 'funny' reporter with inimitable style, is back!The Geo News Urdu anchor posted a 'special report' on his Facebook page recently where he is seen interviewing a few buffaloes. You got that right. Buffaloes!The special coverage was on how cattle have been using the foot overbridge to cross a road in Lahore as against humans who risked their lives and scrambled across through speeding traffic.Hafeez is seen asking the buffaloes whether it was difficult for them to use the bridge. Theyre probably saying that its not easy for any animal to climb the stairs," was how he translated a buffalo speak.In the video, Hafeez even does a walkthrough with the buffaloes and then goes to ask people passing why they don't learn civic sense from the cattle.Many people liked the funny package and commented on Hafeez's Facebook timeline that he has done a good job. Take a look.The report ends on a sarcastic note, saying that despite watching the cattle take the foot overbridge, humans didn't seem to learn any lesson. A faculty member of Christ University, Bangalore was allegedly asked to quit after he backed students against a draconian dress code. The faculty member refused to comply with the college's orders to cut attendance of students who don't adhere to the strict dress code. He was subsequently sacked. Students at the university have been protesting rules which include a ban on growing a beard, or rolling up shirt sleeves. Almost 250 students gathered in the quadrangle of this interdisciplinary campus of Social Sciences and Management for a protest on Friday. Wearing black, the students silently expressed their dissent. Two faculty members also joined the protest, reports The Bangalore Mirror. Unlike the main campus, this new campus inaugurated earlier this year has a stricter set of rules. The humanities students are expected to adhere to the rules usually imposed on students of management studies: Full-sleeved shirts, clean-shaven face, 85 per cent attendance, five internal exams a semester, etc. The assistant professor in economics who lost his job for speaking up against the "impossible" rules told BM, "This is supreme injustice. If they did not want to give me the space to voice the concerns of my students, then why did they even make me the class teacher." If the students have a free hour, they are not supposed to leave their classrooms, but any faculty member who is free at the time is expected to engage them. This professor earlier expressed his displeasure against the same and had written a letter to the registrar of the institute, saying this was overworking teachers. However he was asked to abide by the rules. "I always ensured that I left my class with a satisfaction of doing my job well," the assistant professor says, stating how upset he was at having lost his prized job in this manner. "I expressed my opinion because I thought it was a democratic setup. They fire me for this silly reason," he exclaimed in disbelief. The professor was also earlier reprimanded for sharing the link of a student blog critical of Christ College on a WhatsApp group of faculty members. Students have taken to venting their frustration online under the cover of anonymity. "As this campus contains a majority of business studies students and staff, and is headed by a professor who used to belong to the business studies department on the main campus, we social sciences students are being subjected to their norms and regulations, which we didn't sign up for. We were told there would only be a shift in campuses. We weren't informed that humanities students would be treated like business studies students," thus goes a quote from one student in a blog called the Anonymous Reporter. The blog claims: "This is an anonymous report of the events that have taken place at Christ University Bannerghatta Road Campus", and talks about student frustrations and the recent series of events. "As students of humanities we are fine with the dress code, attendance structure, and many other disciplinary measures of the main campus. We also understand the reason behind it, but the modified dress code and micromanagement we go through here is unacceptable. In fact, the UGC and AICTE have banned discriminatory dress codes as of earlier this month and colleges violating may face the risk of derecognition from UGC and AICTE. Moreover, the Student Council is not elected by the students but appointed, so we have nowhere to express our problems," says another student. (With inputs from other sources) New Delhi: The flood toll in Assam rose to 31 with two more deaths being reported even as the rain-triggered building collapse in Maharashtra's Bhiwandi claimed nine lives while lightning strikes in Odisha killed 12 more people. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority, two persons were killed at Bokakhat in Golaghat district taking the toll to 31. Nearly 17 lakh people have been affected in 2,266 villages in 21 districts in Assam, with Morigaon being the worst-hit. Authorities are running 463 relief camps and distribution centres, where almost 1.5 lakh people have taken shelter in 18 districts. Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Nematighat in Jorhat, Goalpara and Dhubri towns. In Bhiwandi, nine persons were killed when a building collapsed due to heavy rains while incessant downpour in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar hit normal life. The Odisha Disaster Management Control Room said 41 people have lost their lives due to lightning strikes in 10 districts of the state since Saturday. Heavy rainfall and thundershower coupled with gusty surface wind are likely to lash several parts of Odisha due to a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. The meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar said rain or thundershower is very likely to occur at most places over north and south Odisha on Monday. Gusty surface wind with 35 to 45 kmph speed and up to 50 kmph may prevail along and off south Odisha coast. Sea condition would be moderate to rough in south Odisha coast and fishermen are advised to be cautious while venturing into sea. In Bihar, where the flood toll stood at 26, an estimated 27.50 lakh people have been affected in 12 districts, though no fresh casualty was reported. Rivers including Ghaghra, Bagmati, Koshi and Mahananda are flowing above the danger mark at several places. The floods have also damaged crops in 3.39 lakh hectares of land. On the flood situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' programme said the state governments and the Centre are working closely, making all efforts to help the affected people. The national capital recorded scant rainfall and high relative humidity level of upto 100% troubling people. The maximum temperature in Delhi settled at 31.3 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal while the minimum was recorded at 26 degrees Celsius, one degree below the normal. Panaji: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his recent visits to Goa refused to stay in the state guest house, and only a meagre sum of Rs 500 was spent by the government in the trips, the Legislative Assembly was told on August 1. "The Chief Minister of Delhi was provided vehicles and accommodation at the state guest house. He was received and seen off at the airport. However, he did not avail the accommodation at the state guest house," State Protocol Minister Dilip Parulekar told the House. "The state government had presented a flower bouquet amounting to Rs 500 on his first visit," the minister said. The question about the expenses on Kejriwal's visits was tabled by Goa Vikas Party MLA Fransisco Miccky Pacheco. Delhi Chief Minister had visited Goa twice on May 22 and June 28, during which he addressed a public meeting and also interacted with cross section of society. AAP has already announced that it will fight on all the 40 seats for the upcoming Goa polls due before March 2017. Union Home minister Rajnath Singh's Pakistan visit has been scaled down by the government. Bilateral dialogue with Pakistan Interior minister has been ruled out and the delegation members have also been cut back. After initially saying that Pakistan will be reminded of the reciprocity agreement on Pathankot, government sources now say that it will be left to the diplomatic back channels. Even the dossier prepared on recent terror attacks in Kashmir, where the Pakistan link was established, may not be handed over. However, India will use the forum to reiterate Pakistan's complicity in fomenting terrorism in the region. Home ministry official in the know said, "We will stick to the SAARC agenda. Terrorism is a global phenomenon. We will say what we have to in the meeting." On the agenda of SAARC Interior minister's conference this year is terrorism, liberalization of visa, narcotics and immigration issues. Home ministry till last week was preparing dossiers to hand over to Pakistan. But sources now say, "One on one meeting between Rajnath Singh and Chaudhary Nisar will be a chanced one if at all. The current schedule leaves no time for a structured bilateral dialogue." Home minister Rajnath Singh will leave for Islamabad on the afternoon of 3rd august and return the next day. The interior ministers SAARC's conference begins on the morning of 3rd august. The delegation size will also be very small this time. Director, Intelligence Bureau, the NSA and Joint secretary, Internal Security will also not be part of the delegation. Home secretary, Joint Director Immigration, Director SAARC and Director, Pakistan will accompany Home minister to Islamabad. After Hizbul militant Burhan Wani's death and subsequent slanging match between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue, Home minister Rajnath Singh's visit is being watched closely by both the sides. Jama'at-ud-Da'wah chief Hafiz Saeed has threatened protest all over Pakistan if Rajnath Singh lands in Islamabad. Mr. Hoang Dinh Thang (Photo: VNA) Mr. Hoang Dinh Thang, Head of the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic, said that since being recognized as one of the ethnic minority groups in the Czech Republic, the largest benefit for the Vietnamese community there is equal rights with other foreign communities in the Czech Republic, including having a representative at the Council for Ethnic Minorities at all levels, and engaging in discussions on ethnic minority affairs. He added that Vietnamese people can also keep their full names in their native language and enjoy the right to learn their mother tongue in schools and maintain and promote their Vietnamese identity. The Czech Republics Government and its relevant agencies have also granted funds for the Vietnamese communitys projects, including those on compiling the Czech-Vietnamese dictionary and publishing the Bong Sen (Lotus) magazine in Vietnamese, along with the organization of cultural and art activities of Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic. According to Mr. Thang, the Vietnamese community has been valued by the government and people in the Czech Republic for their hardworking characteristics and good integration into the local society. Therefore, they have also been supported in the work relating to residing, studying and doing business, as well as in daily activities. At present, the success of the Vietnamese people is recognized when the second and third Vietnamese generations in the Czech Republic have achieved many good results in studying and working. The Vietnamese community is currently the third largest foreign community in the Czech Republic after those from Slovakia and Ukraine./. Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Monday ruled out early Assembly polls in the state. "My government is for five years. I will not like to reduce it by four months or even five weeks. The election would be held at right time," Parsekar told reporters here. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly ends in March next year. The Chief Minister refused to respond to media reports that the Election Commission of India might advance the Goa polls to November this year. Responding to another question, Parsekar said BJP is not bothered about reacting to Shiv Sena Goa unit's comments that they would not ally with the party (BJP). "Whoever has said it, ask him. Why are you asking me. What difference does that make to us?" the CM asked. Goa Shiv Sena chief Sudip Tamankar had yesterday said that his party would not ally with BJP for the forthcoming state polls. "BJP has grown across the nook and corner. We have grown horizontally and vertically. The party's work is going on at a different level," Parsekar said. Here are the headlines from some leading daily newspapers. 1.Bad roads killed over 10k people in 2015; 3,416 deaths due to potholes Last year, 10,727 people were killed in crashes caused by potholes, speed breakers and roads under repair or being constructed.Though fatalities under these categories had come down marginally from 2014, the number of people killed due to potholes rose to 3,416, from 3,039 in the previous year, reports The Times of India. Deaths caused by potholes rose seven-fold in Maharashtra, according to the surface transport ministry's road accidents report. A rise in such fatalities indicates fai lure of road-owning agencies to maintain stretches. 2. Family can sue state for negligence If the kin of Praveen Bharti, who died in a road accident on Saturday night due to a potholed road, decide to approach court and sue the state agencies, they have a strong chance of not just securing compensation for the 45-year-old's death but also of fixing liability on negligent officials under whose watch such a deadly crater went undetected, reports The Times of India. Though few, judicial pronouncements on bad roads and liability of the state have been categorical leaving little room for doubt over who should be held accountable. 3. PM Modi Opens App to Tap Union Ministers & MPs When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently wanted to pick the brains of his ministers on which 70 pro-poor government initiatives could be explained in simple terms to people in the run-up to the 70th Independence Day celebrations, he did not wait for the weekly Cabinet meeting. Modi sent a message on July 21 to a private group of ministers he administers on the Narendra Modi mobile application, reports The Economic Times. Many responded soon enough, including Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. A detailed plan is now being drawn up. 4. Colgate to Take on Patanjali with Local Herbal Toothpaste Call it the Ramdev effect.Almost 80 years after Colgate-Palmolive entered the country, the oral care giant is launching an India-focused brand as Patanjali Ayurved threatens to upend the established order in fast-moving consumer goods, reports The Economic Times. Cibaca Vedshakti seems to be aimed squarely at the Baba Ramdevled Patanjali, which has challenged the multinational's dominance in the segment with its Dant Kanti toothpaste. While Colgate has been selling herbal variants such as neem and clove in the country , this is the first indigenous brand in the ayurvedic segment for the $16-billion global giant that controls more than half the oral care market in India. 5. Stub Out Anti-Smoking Ads in Films: Benegal The Shyam Benegal committee that is working on the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) revamp feels the anti-smoking ads and tickers shown in between movie screenings break the nar rative of the film." For better anti-smoking films, the Benegal committee, which artists such as Kamal Haasan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Piyush Pandey on board, has also said the film industry should produce small films with popular actors that can replace the present films. These films, after being cleared by health ministry , could be played in halls, reports The Economic Times. 6. Delhi Police cell to monitor social media The next time you type Badla (revenge) or Ghadi (watch) on Facebook or Twitter, think twice. The police may be watching you. Delhi Police are setting up a social media monitoring cell that will scour public posts on websites and use key words to check users leanings towards extremist literature or sharing of so-called inflammatory content. reports The Hindustan Times. The team has identified some 300 key words that they think are used by anti-national elements and militant organisations tor ad ica lise youth and motivate them to carry out attacks. 7. Waterlogging in Gurgaon: HUDA officials pass buck over de-silting sewerage lines A letter from a HUDA subdivisional engineer (SDE) to his subordinate, an executive engineer, illustrates this. The SDE said his office would not be responsible for any kind of mishap in Sector 37, part 1 and 2, since sewer cleaning was stopped for no reason. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar okayed the project on January 9, reports The Hindustan Times. In June, ` 47 lakh was sanctioned to clean, and desilt the choked sewer lines laid before 2000 in Sector 37. However, executive engineer Rameshwar Das stopped the work, following which sub-divisional engineer RL Garg wrote to him. 8. Retrenched Indians to come back home The government is preparing to evacuate a large number of Indian workers facing an uncertain future in Saudi Arabia following widespread layoffs. A senior official source told The Hindu , New Delhi is arranging exit visas for jobless workers, and Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retired) V.K. Singh would travel to Saudi Arabia to bring back the Indians in the next few days, reports The Hindu. 9. Harry Potter fans flock to stores Rain and grey skies did not deter fans in Mumbai. Bengalureans sacrificed their slow Sunday and teens in Hyderabad arrived at stores early. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth part of the saga from J.K. Rowling hit the shelves, and for many, it was time for another Potterfest. Those who turned up, wand in hand, at the last Harry Potter book launch in 2007 were now adults and a bit embarrassed to show up in wizard gear. Yet, new fans had stepped in, reports The Hindu. 10. Massive rally in Ahmedabad reflects Dalit anger As more than 10,000 Dalits gathered in here on Sunday in a show of strength to send out a message that the community will no longer accept any form of atrocity by upper castes, 23-year-old Yogesh Sarikhada, Dalit youth, who had consumed pesticide to protest the flogging of four Dalits youths by a cow vigilante group in Saurashtra, died in hospital, reports The Hindu. At the massive congregation, organised by the Dalit community and several Dalit groups and activists, community leaders slammed the State government and also Dalit political leaders from the BJP and Congress for failing to protect their rights. Srinagar: One suspected terrorist was gunned down by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Naugam sector on Monday. "The Indian Army managed to prevent an infiltration attempt from the Pakistani side in Naugam and killed one intruder," sources in the army said. One AK-47 was recovered from the terrorist. The gunbattle between suspected terrorists and security forces broke out in the morning and firing between the two sides is still on. Recently, Home minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had strongly backed the security forces and asked them to give a befitting reply to the terrorists. In a recent interview Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had said that the security forces have "full freedom to answer back" to the attacks by the infiltrators. This is the third infiltration bid foiled in the Naugam sector in the past six days. Four militants were killed and one was apprehended in an anti-infiltration operation on July 26, followed by another operation on July 30, in which two militants and two soldiers were killed. Meanwhile, normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir for the 24th consecutive day on Monday as curfew continued in some parts while restrictions were in effect in rest of the Valley to maintain law and order. Curfew remained in force in five police station areas of the city and Anantnag town. Restrictions on assembly of four or more persons continued in entire Kashmir, a police official said. "Curfew is in place only in five police station areas of Srinagar city -- Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal and Maharajgunj," he said. Normal life remained disrupted for the 24th consecutive day due to the strike call given by separatists against civilian deaths during the protests which erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8. Shops, schoolss, colleges, business establishments and private offices remained closed while public transport remained off the roads in the Valley which is reeling under the violence that has left 49 persons dead and over 5,600 persons injured. Mobile internet services continued to remain snapped in the entire Valley where the postpaid mobile telephony services have been restored across all networks. The incoming facility on prepaid connections was also restored, but the outgoing calls are barred on such numbers. The separatist camp has extended the shutdown call in Kashmir till August 5, calling for a march to Hazratbal shrine on Friday. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Opposition members in Lok Sabha expressed concern on Monday, over growing attacks on dalits and minorities, and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targeting them. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the dalits and Muslims to uphold secularism and communal harmony. P K Biju (CPI-M) underlined the need for Parliament to take a stern view of the attacks on the dalit community, which is up against the injustice. Raising another issue, Rajeev Satav (Congress) said that the Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad chief's statement that 100 young men from the Marathwada region were in touch with ISIS, was alarming. He said two youths from Parbhani, who had plans to set off explosions at Aurangabad and Nagpur, were arrested recently. New Delhi: Over 36 per cent of the total 2.01 crore Scheduled Tribes (ST) households in rural India do not have drinking water source in their home, the government told the Rajya Sabha. The government also said that the budget allocation for implementing the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) at present, is less and this would be reviewed. By 2022, the goal is to cover 90 per cent of rural households with piped water supply, and 80 per cent of rural households with household connections, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said during the Question Hour. As per Census 2011, 36.38 per cent of 2.01 crore ST rural households have their main drinking water source away from their house, he said. Under NRDWP, 10 per cent of the total allocation of funds is earmarked to be used for the supply of drinking water to ST dominated habitations, he said. The states have been directed to take special care for implementation of the schemes in tribal areas and report the progress separately on the online Integrated Management Monitoring System, he added. Replying to another query raised by Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) on poor fund allocation for NRDWP, Tomar said, "It is correct that the availability of funds is certainly less. We will still have time. We will review the programme and will provide sufficient funds." The total budget for NRDWP is around Rs 5,000 crore for 2016-17 fiscal. The Centre has released Rs 213.57 crore to states till July 27 of this fiscal, he added. The Minister further said that the Centre has prepared a strategic plan for the rural drinking water sector for 2011-22, which stresses on extending the piped water supply to more households in the rural areas including tribal areas. Lucknow: Two days after the gang-rape of a mother and daughter on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Bulandshahr, robbers intercepted a bus at Sikandrau in Uttar Pradesh and looted 40 passengers at gunpoint. The gang fled with the valuables, but two of them were later arrested, sources in the police department said. "There were seven robbers and we managed to arrest two of them. We are hopeful that rest of them will be arrested soon," a police officer said. The incident once again exposed the state police who were claiming that they have intensified highway patrolling after the Bulandshahr gangrape. Police said the robbers targeted a long distance bus travelling from Delhi to Orai along the NH-91 on Monday morning. A preliminary inquiry revealed that two of the robbers were travelling in the guise of passengers and once the bus reached Sikandrau, the miscreants pulled out their guns and asked the driver to stop the vehicle. Other members waiting in the area surrounded the bus and went on a looting spree. Chennai: Most popular for playing urban, glamorous roles to a tee, actress Kajal Aggarwal will be seen playing a homely wife to Ajith Kumar in his yet-untitled next Tamil outing. "Kajal will be seen as Ajith's wife in the film. Unlike her previous roles, she will be seen in a homely avatar," a source from the film's unit told IANS. To be helmed by Siruthai Siva, the shooting of the film will commence in Bulgaria from next week. "The crew has already left. The actors will leave over the weekend and Kajal will join in the second week of August. The team has planned to shoot for 40 days across several locations in Bulgaria. They might also extend the trip," he said. Tipped to be a spy thriller, predominant portions of the film will be shot abroad. The film has music by Anirudh Ravichander. Mumbai: Actor Akshaye Khanna, who has returned to the big screen after four years with a role in Dishoom, says he is looking at doing small parts in a few films for now. He says he chose to feature in Dishoom, which stars John Abraham, Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandes, as he really liked the script and as it was an interesting concept. "The role really excited me and we had a great cast. Since I had taken such a long break, the first three to four films... I wanted to do substantial roles but smaller parts just to get back into the rhythm," Akshaye said. Directed by Rohit Dhawan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Eros International Media Ltd, Dishoom released on Friday. Akshaye, son of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, said he was also approached for a role in Season 2 of 24. "Anil Kapoor wanted me to do a small part, but that part didn't excite me. He is a good friend and I am a very good friend of his. So he did ask me, but I just didn't feel it was right for me," the Dil Chahta Hai actor said. However, he is impressed the way Anil has managed to make 24 despite the budget constraints in India. "Initially, he (Anil) told me he has got the rights of '24', but I was a little skeptical, because if you see the American show... It's so big and their production value is so huge. "I know our TV budgets in India cannot support and afford that kind of production value. Besides, the writing is so good there. So, I wondered if we can really adapt it without compromising on the quality. "But when I saw the first season of 24, I was really impressed because I know the kind of budgets they are working on. I thought that as a production house and team, they have done a damn good job. The writing is not as good as in the west, but it's not bad at all," he added. Chennai: AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday sacked Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa from the party after she slapped opposition DMK MP Tiruchi Shiva at the Delhi airport. The Twitter handle of the AIADMK quoted Puratchi Thalaivi Amma - the moniker by which Jayalalithaa is referred to by her loyalists - as saying she was ousted for bringing ill-fame to the party. "Sasikala Pushpa sacked from the party for bringing ill fame to the party - Puratchi Thalaivi Amma," AIADMK wrote on Twitter. Stunned by the development, Sasikala said she refused to quit her Rajya Sabha membership despite pressure from the party leadership. I am facing a threat to my life. I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post by my party leader. I will not quit. If I go out, I can be attacked, she said. Sasikala and Tiruchi Shiva, two MPs from Tamil Nadu came to blows in full public view on Saturday afternoon at New Delhi's IGI airport as they were about to board a Jet Airways flight to Chennai from Terminal 3. The two MPs were caught in a scuffle and the AIADMK MP even slapped Siva before the CISF personnel intervened and separated the two quarrelling lawmakers. I am going to be 75 years old in November. The very important Vibrant Gujarat Summit is being held in January 2017 and elections are due later in the year. It is good for a new leadership to organise and plan these two big events. Two months ago, I had sought to be relieved, [name]Anandiben Patel[/name] Under the leadership of Anandiben Patel, who has been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 and Chief Minister from 2014, the BJP has faced some tough challenges in post-Modi era in Gujarat, where elections are due in the later part of 2017. Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel , who has been facing sharp criticism for the way she handled the Patel quota stir and the recent Dalit protests, resigned on Monday citing the age factor.Patel broke the news first in her Facebook post saying she wanted to be relieved of her charges before she turned 75 - the age limit for ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet - this November.Shortly afterwards Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah said that her resignation letter has been forwarded to the party's Parliamentary Board for further action.Top BJP sources said she is now likely to take charge as Governor of Punjab.In her FB post written in Gujarati, the chief minister thanked the BJP leadership for letting her serve as chief minister."I have been a committed BJP worker for the past 30 years. I am indebted to the leadership to have elevated me from Mahila Morcha to Chief Minister. I have been in charge of important departments in the government for the past 18 years. I am going to be 75 years old in November. The very important Vibrant Gujarat Summit is being held in January 2017 and elections are due later in the year. It is good for a new leadership to organise and plan these two big events. Two months ago, I had sought to be relieved," Patel said in her FB post."I have done everything possible to serve the people of Gujarat. I am grateful towards BJP for the amount of responsibilities I have been trusted with over time," she said.News18'spredicted last month that Anandiben would soon have to make way for another CM before BJP gets into poll mode in the state.Reacting to the news, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Your resignation is a result of AAP's popularity in Gujarat, BJP is not confident in Gujarat."Local BJP leaders said state BJP president Vijay Rupani, who is a front-runner for the CM's post, would meet Patel later in the day. Two of her top ministers, Saurabh Patel and Nitin Patel, are also in the race for the post of chief minister.Earlier, a couple of ministers in Madhya Pradesh including senior BJP leader Babubal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the state cabinet by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to age bar.In 2014, when the Narendra Modi government came to power, the age bar had apparently come in the way of ministerial berths for senior leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha. Sinha had in the past remarked that BJP has "declared brain dead on May 26, 2014" its leaders above the age of 75.The BJP had fared poorly in in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015, which was considered as a major loss for her as opposition Congress was able to put up a good showing after almost 25 years in the state.She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. Mumbai: People sipped tea and listened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' programme at over 100 venues including 25 railway stations specially arranged by BJP in Mumbai on Sunday. The city unit of BJP organised 'Mann Ki Baat-Chai Ke Sath' at 120 places in the metropolis to popularise Modi's monthly radio programme, where he touches upon issues concerning the people and government. The party made seating arrangements, put up sound systems attached with amplifiers and served tea to the people who gathered at these locations. Over 25 railway stations, all party offices of Mumbai BJP and other prominent locations were chosen for the programme. Senior leaders of Maharashtra BJP, including State unit chief Raosaheb Danve, Cabinet Ministers Vinod Tawde and Prakash Mehta, city BJP President Ashish Shelar, Ravindra Bhuisari and Prasad Lad, were present at different locations along with scores of party workers. Mumbai BJP had organised the same programme at 10 places in , and this time it scaled up the number significantly to popularise 'Mann Ki Baat'. Lad, who was involved in making arrangements, claimed the 'Mann Ki Baat' is first of its kind tool launched by a Prime Minister to reach out to the countrymen. "Last time, we installed such facilities at 10 places and got overwhelming response from the people. Enthused by it, this time we organised this programme at 120 places which was attended by thousands of people despite heavy rainfall. "It is a bridge of thoughts built by Modiji to convey his vision about a prosperous India," Lad said. The party intends to invite one lakh suggestions from Mumbaikars on how to go about a makeover of the financial capital, the BJP leader said. After going through these suggestions, a blueprint for Mumbai makeover would be presented before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Lad said. In Sunday's Mann Ki Baat' programme, the Prime Minister pitched for technological solutions to the daily life problems and informed about the government plans to earmark Rs 10 crore for innovation. He also talked about a number of other subjects, including the Indian participation in the Rio Olympics and upcoming Independence Day celebrations. New Delhi: The long-pending GST Bill was on Monday listed for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday amidst strong indications that the most far-reaching taxation reform in independent India would be supported by Congress and all other major political parties. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which has been in the making for over a decade, entails introduction of a single indirect tax regime across the country. "The GST Bill is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha and we seek support of all political parties. The mood is in favour of its passage," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. According to top government sources, a fresh round of talks was held on Monday with the main opposition Congress and other parties, including the Left and Samajwadi Party, for building a consensus on the key tax reform legislation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held further consultations with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and chalked out details of the contentious bill aimed at bringing about a consensus on the key bill, sources said. Jaitley also met CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, besides some other leaders. Later, along with Kumar, he met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Another round of talks to clarify on the language of key parts of the bill is likely to be held with Congress on Tuesday. Sources added that government was to initially bring the bill on Tuesday, but Congress was not keen on the proposal due to the roadshow of Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi tomorrow which may be attended by some party MPs. The government, sources say, is keen to bring about four key amendments in the Constitution Amendment Bill which will include the scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax provision and grant of more powers to states for providing them full compensation for a period of five years. The key Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to by the government. At the AICC briefing, Congress leader PL Punia said GST is very important for the economy, industry and the business as also for the consumer. "With that objection in mind, it was the Congress party which brought the idea of GST. We have raised certain issues and negotiations are still on. We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect the business, industry and consumer. "There has to be one more round of talks. Party feels the bill should be passed and our best wishes that this bill be passed," he said. New Delhi: From 2017, admission to medical and dental courses across the country will be done through a single common entrance test, with Parliament on Monday approving two significant bills providing for putting NEET in place. The government said the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is designed to curb corruption by bringing in transparency, checking multiplicity of exams and to stop exploitation of students in counselling. Under the new system, exams to private colleges will also be conducted under NEET, Health Minister JP Nadda said, responding to contention by some members that it will benefit private institutions. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, approved by the Lok Sabha earlier, were passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote. Most of the parties supported the government move to have NEET except AIADMK which opposed it and staged a walkout, arguing that it will affect rural students who do not study CBSE syllabus. Replying to a debate on these bills, Nadda said, "National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is intended to check multiplicity of exams...to bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop the exploitation of students during counselling." Earlier students would have to travel long distances to appear for several medical entrance examinations but the new legislation will bring this to an end, he said. Responding to apprehensions expressed by some members, particularly from Tamil Nadu where reservation is up to 85 per cent, he clarified, "We are not going to touch the state quota...We will give the name, ranking, domicile and percentile...Now it is for the state governments to decide and give extra marks...and give admissions to reserved categories." Nadda said the exam will be held on the basis of the syllabus of NCERT and the under-graduate exam will be taken up by CBSE and post-graduation by the national board of examination. "In the syllabus, we bring parity. Concerns of the state governments will be addressed ...we will do standardisation of syllabus so that rural students can also be taken care of," he said. "Tests will also be conducted in regional languages," Nadda said, responding to apprehensions over the issue. He said the Health Ministry has written to all the states seeking details about the number of students who appeared in local languages in the last three years so that the Centre can make plans accordingly. Why so much hu ha about Parrikar's statement on Amir? If Amir is ignorant that to love janma bhoomi is unconditional then he needs a teacher Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) August 1, 2016 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has found support in BJP MP Subramanian Swamy for his criticism of Bollywood actor Aamir Khan over the intolerance row.Swamy on Monday tweeted, "Why so much hu ha about Parrikar's statement on Aamir? If Aamir is ignorant that to love janma bhoomi is unconditional then he needs a teacher."The remarks came after opposition parties hit out at Parrikar for raking up the issue."There was no context to bring back the topic. Parrikar is wrong to call Aamir anti-national as he did not criticise India but the goverment which has failed to rule the state properly," NCP leader Majid Menon said.During a book launch on Saturday, Parrikar took a jibe at 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 had said, without naming Khan.In November 2015, 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.(With inputs from PTI) Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan announce the launch of a political party by October 2 to provide an "alternative political vehicle" as they hit out at AAP. The new outfit will be not have a "supremo" culture and ensure transparency, the leaders said. The political party will be launched by October 2 and a committee has been formed for this purpose, Yadav said. "We were never secretive about going political. A decision to launch a political party was taken with nearly 93 per cent of the delegates, at a national convention of Swaraj Abhiyan, overwhelming supporting it. Of the 433 delegates, 405 voted in favour of launching the party," he said. Yadav, however, clarified that Swaraj Abhiyan will continue to exist even after the new political party is launched. Although the decision to launch a party was taken by Swaraj Abhiyan delegates, the two will function independently. The duo, however, parried questions on whether the new political party will contest in the five states going to polls next year. Yadav and Bhushan were sacked from AAP in April last year for "anti-party" activities. They had hit out at AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal questioning his "supremo style of working" and "lack of transparency" in the party. "Even if we are championing clean politics, people will not vote for us unless they feel we can win elections. This was precisely the case with AAP. It took birth out of movements like India Against Corruption, Janlokpal and these helped get public support. They believe they should fight elections after having done enough visible groundwork, for the people to identify with them. We should contest polls only when we think we can win," Bhushan said. Yadav, however, said this does not mean that it will not contest polls at all. "We will look for alliances, but that will be only with people's movements or party that have taken birth from such movements," he said. Suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi was present at the event, but left just before the announcement. "I am not a part of the political party. I have extended my support to alternative politics, which is not a forte of any single political party. Anyway, I have been suspended by the party," Gandhi said. He, along with another party MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, were suspended by AAP for aligning with Swaraj Abhiyan. All political parties including Telugudesam Party (TDP) - BJP ally - in Andhra Pradesh joined hands against the Centre for not grating special status, which was promised during bifurcation of the state by the previous UPA government. On August 2, TDP MPs will protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises to press their demand, while the main opposition in the state YSR Congress Party - has also called for a statewide shutdown tomorrow. At the time of bifurcation, former prime minister Manmohan Singh had promised in parliament that special status will be granted to Andhra for five years. They alleged that the previous government promised to grant a special status to the state but now they felt cheated. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely refused the special status, stating in Parliament that the Centre would support the state until Andhra Pradesh becomes economically stable. Refusing special status, Jaitely informed the Parliament that Centre would "handhold" the state until it became economically stable. Gandhinagar: Over the last 26 months she was chief minister of Gujarat, Anandiben Patel faced a lot opposition to her leadership, both from within and outside. Her government struggled through one crisis after the other - first the vociferous Patel quota stir, then humiliating losses for the BJP in district and taluk panchayat polls last year, and finally the recent protests over the flogging of Dalit youths by cow vigilantes. Last July, in a desperate move to appease the Patel community, she announced a new reservation policy in government jobs and colleges for the economically backward among the upper castes. This change in stance by the government, which till then was firm on not extending any benefits of quota to the powerful Patidar community, failed to woo the agitating Patels who called it a lollypop and demanded community-specific quota. These, in short, are what went wrong for Anandiben Patel: 1) Heavy losses for BJP in zilla and taluk panchayat polls held in December 2015. Though BJP retained all the six municipal corporations (Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar) and won 40 of the 56 municipalities, the Congress, which has been out of power in the state for two decades, won 22 of the 31 district panchayats and over 150 taluk panchayats. 2) Corruption charges. The opposition Congress accused her of giving away 250 acres of land near Gir lion sanctuary for Rs.60,000 per acre when she was revenue minister in the Modi government. The current market value of the land is Rs. 50 lakh per acre. 3) She faced charges of nepotism and interference by her children. Some even alleged that her children were running a parallel administration. 4) There was a huge infighting in the party. The gap between the government and party widened during her regime. 5) Not-so-cordial relationship with bureaucracy. As CM, Modi had a firm grip over bureaucracy, but Anandiben failed to control them and win their confidence. 6) She is turning 75 on November 1. Goes against PM Modis formula of 75 as the upper limit to be a minister or a chief minister. Gandhinagar: Who will succeed Anandiben Patel? At least four names are doing the rounds. Party insiders rule out the possibility of national president of the BJP Amit Shah returning to Gujarat to succeed her as the next chief minister. It is stilll circulated as a possibility, but there are not many takers for it. The four top contenders for the post of chief minister are Health Minister Nitinbhai Patel, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Finance Minister Saurabh Patel and state BJP president Vijay Rupani. 1. Nitinbhai Patel: The 60-year-old minister is the most prominent Patel face in the party. He has an RSS background and is a favourite of the Sangh cadre. The flip side is, he is not acceptable to some other dominant castes and is known mostly as a Patidar leader. 2. Bhupendrasinh Chudasama: 65-year-old Chudasama is the oldest among the four top contenders. He is the Rajput face of BJP and known for his commitment towards Dalits. He also has the blessings of the RSS. The flip side is he is a very low-profile leader who cannot be counted on to lead the party in the next assembly elections. 3. Saurabh Patel: 57-year-old Saurabh Patel holds two important portfolios Finance and Energy. He is known as the chief architect of power sector restructuring in the state. He is also an efficient administrator and the youngest among the four. He is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 4. Vijay Rupani: 59-year-old Vijay Rupani is the state BJP president and also holds the transport and water supply portfolios. He is a Jain Baniya by caste. He is known to be quite close to both PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah. He also has an excellent rapport with the RSS. Party insiders say he is a good political strategist and can mobilise crowds. The flip side is that he is junior-most among the ministers with just two years of experience. The Panasonic Eluga Arc 2 has a glass design on the back. (Image: News18) The 8 megapixel rear camera on the Eluga Arc 2. (Image: News18) A view of the Panasonic conference through the Eluga Arc 2's rear lens. (Image: News18) Two SIM trays on the Eluga Arc 2. (Image: News18) Three months after the launch of the Eluga Arc , Panasonic has now introduced its successor . Named Eluga Arc 2, the new phone is claimed to be the first phone in its price segment to have a 2.5D curved glass on both the rear and the front. The phone costs Rs 12,290.We got to play with the phone and here is how it went along with us in the little time we spent with it.The key highlight of the Eluga Arc 2 is its design, which features a mix of glass and metal. The phone has a curved glass on both the front and the back, which, the company claims is scratch-resistant. While the glass design on the back gives it a premium touch, what adds to its looks is a metal frame running along it. In terms of hold and grip, the phone feels light in hands and easily nestles in the palm.Coming to its cameras, the 8 megapixel shooter at the back captures a good amount of light and produces detailed photos, but it suffers from a distinct shutter lag. The 5 megapixel camera, on the other hand, produces bright images, but they lack detailing. Also, the photos captured with the front camera are a little noisy. The camera app has built-in filters. We, however, are yet to test its cameras in different lighting conditions.Compared to its contemporaries from companies including Asus and Xiaomi , the Eluga Arc 2 is relatively free of bloatware and offers a close-to-native Android experience.In what appears to be a little odd, this dual-SIM phone has two SIM trays - unlike in other phones that have one tray housing two SIM slots. And the catch here is that the second SIM tray is hybrid. It can either accommodate a SIM card or a microSD card. This is where Moto devices get an extra point. Motorola has a separate slot for a microSD card in its dual-SIM devices.The phone is engineered with a quad-core processor paired with 3 GB of RAM - pretty much in line with the competition. The 2450 mAh battery in the phone is claimed to last for a full day on a single charge. But how it performs in the real world is something we are yet to test.The phone includes 32 GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128 GB), USB OTG support, and an IR Blaster, which allows users to operate home appliances with a phone.The Eluga Arc 2 also comes Panasonic's new Turbo Download feature, which, as the company explains, combines WiFi and Mobile Data for quicker download. The phone will be available in two colours - Gold and Rose Gold.The Panasonic Eluga Arc 2 features a good design and comes packed with a wide range of features. But there are other phones with better features and great performance available in the same price segment. We, therefore, would like to use the Eluga Arc 2 for a longer duration to ascertain where it stands in the budget market. The rear panel of the K5 Note. (Image:News18) The Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. (Image:News18) Lenovo finally introduced its Vibe K5 Note in India after an initial launch in China. The phone is priced at Rs 11,999 for the 3 GB variant and Rs 13,499 for the 4 GB version.Featuring a 5.5-inch full HD display, the phone is powered by a 1.8 GHz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM.The Lenovo Vibe K5 Note further 32 GB internal storage, which is expandable up to 128 GB. The phone comes with OTG support.It is powered by what Lenovo calls its 'lightest UI' ever, the Lenovo Pure UI, which is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There are subtle customisations available with the new interface including a pinch to zoom feature while reading texts.The phone is 4G enabled and comes with a 13 megapixel rear camera with dual-tone flash coupled with an 8 megapixel front camera.Other than the Vibe K5 Note, Lenovo also launched an upgraded Vibe K5 Plus with 3GB of RAM, an improved UI, and the option to expand the storage up to 128 GB.The new Vibe K5 Plus comes with a 5-inch full HD display, and is powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor. It further offers OTG support and is compatible with the AntVR headset. The upgraded K5 Plus is priced at Rs 8,499.Both the phones are available online along with a host of launch day offers. Haas Esteban Gutierrez admits to being surprised when told that Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo criticised him for ignoring blue flags at the German Grand Prix. One week after being penalised for holding up Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, the Mexicans handling of the blue flags once again came under scrutiny at Hockenheim. While Hamilton had raised his middle finger to show his discontent in Budapest, Ricciardo chose instead to be ironic over team radio by saying Oh Esteban, he is one of my favourites. I love this guy when trying to lap the Haas driver. Gutierrez was only made aware of the Australians comments when talking to the press after the race. OK, I will speak to him, thanks for the message!, he replied. Im surprised because I saw other people in front. I saw he was behind, of course, but he was pretty far away at that time and then at that point I lifted and lost about two seconds. I did my best, it was not my intention to block or anything. But if he is not comfortable about it I am going to speak to him because its not my intention to do anything bad to anyone. Ricciardo, who eventually claimed second in the grand prix, delved more fully into the matter in the FIAs post-race press conference. The Red Bull ace said Gutierrez knows that a few arent that impressed with his blue flag handling. When asked whether he had been specifically warned by his fellow competitors, the Mexican added: There was my discussion with Lewis, but apart from that I got penalised [in Hungary], what else can you do? I had the consequence, [in Germany] I wasnt penalised. There was nothing wrong, its not that I was blocking, OK [Ricciardo] was behind but he was not closing. If hes two seconds behind and I lift and I lose four seconds it makes the difference to my points. So I have to protect as well my own interests. Obviously not affecting the other people and thats where the difference is made sometimes. They have to put themselves also in my position, Im doing my best and it isnt like I didnt let him by. I was just waiting for him to be a bit closer and then I lifted completely and I let him by in Turn 2. Gutierrez eventually finished on the cusp of the points-paying positions in 11th at Hockenheim. 2016 German Grand Prix - Driver ratings REPORT: Hamilton beats Red Bulls to extend championship lead Silbermann says ... Backing the wrong horse Exclusive Alex Wurz Q&A: GPDA chairman "surprised" by Halo delay Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter Lenovo is all set to launch its Vibe K5 Note today in India. The phone was first launched in China and is expected to be a priced under Rs 15,000 when it is announced for the Indian market.The Vibe K5 Note phone will come with a 5.5-inch FHD display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. With 403ppi, the phone comes with a 178 degree wide-angle viewing.It comes with a 13 megapixel rear camera and an 8 megapixel front camera. Powered by an octa-core processor with up to 3GB of RAM, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Note features a fingerprint sensor.The Lenovo K5 Note draws its juice from a 3500mAh battery. With support for Lenovo's TheaterMax technology, the phone will be compatible with the AntVR headset.Meanwhile, Flipkart has also partnered with Ola to offer a special preview of the Vibe K5 Note. Customers will be available to experience the flagship smartphone straight from the Ola app before it starts selling exclusively on the e-commerce portal.Watch this space for the price and availability details when the event kick starts at 3 PM today. Flipkart has partnered with Ola to offer a special preview of Lenovo's latest Vibe K5 Note. Customers will be available to experience the flagship smartphone straight from the Ola app before it starts selling exclusively on the e-commerce portal.The phone will be delivered at the customer's doorstep within a few minutes of requesting an Ola Prime cab.All that a user needs to do is book a ride with Ola Prime between August 1-2 to unlock the new category of 'VR-Ride' on August 3. Those requesting an Ola Prime on between August 3-4 will be able to unlock the category between August 5-6. This will allow users to experience the Vibe K5 Note and the AntVR headset.The feature has been rolled out in five cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, and Pune and the category will be available between 11 am to 6 pm.The Vibe K5 Note is Lenovo's newest smartphone will come with support for Lenovo's TheaterMax technology, making the phone compatible with the AntVR headset. It is expected to be priced under Rs 15,000 and come with a 5.5-inch full HD display, 13 megapixel rear camera and an 8 megapixel front camera. Art lessons will no longer be a monotonous interaction between teachers and students in classrooms, thanks to the exclusive online platform "Virsa", which was launched recently with an aim to give free digital learning on Indian culture and music to children across India.Delhi-based NGO Routes2Roots in association with the Ministry of Culture launched India's largest interactive digital learning platform "Virsa" to promote and preserve India's rich cultural heritage and legacy of Performing Arts."Virsa will operate through live videos recorded by renowned teachers at our studio in Delhi. That way, kids will have a chance to attend live sessions in various parts of the country. We through 'Virsa' will help them identify their talent by organising workshops," Tina Vachani, Co-founder of Routes2Roots told IANS."During our visit to various schools, we found that many schools did not cater to any musical classes at all. We felt that this dying culture of Indian performing arts must reach children in schools across India," she said."Now children will be exposed to the cultural legacy in addition to academics thereby completing their outlook as a balanced individual," she added.Workshops and lectures in different genres will be delivered by renowned artists like Pandit Birju Maharaj, L. Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shovna Narayan, Shafquat Amanat Ali, Juhi Chawla, Ehsaan Noorani and Surinder Lal Malik."There will be a huge responsibility to explain everything nicely to the kids. We hope to connect with children in remote areas," Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj said during the launch.A total of 21 schools from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have got their classrooms equipped with monitors, cameras and wifi connectivity. Beijing: China vowed to protect its maritime rights and is "fully confident and capable of" addressing security threats and "provocations", amid escalating tensions over the disputed South China Sea after a UN-backed tribunal struck down Beijing's claims over the strategic waters. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will "unswervingly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests including territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests", State Councillor and Defence Minister Chang Wanquan said. "It will always stand ready to be called upon and be able to fight and win," state-run China Daily quoted him as saying while addressing an event to mark the 89th anniversary of the PLA. The 2.3 million-strong army, the world's largest and part of the ruling Communist Party of China's liberation struggle, turned 89 today. China will staunchly protect the country's maritime rights and interests and is "fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations", he said. Chang did not directly refer to the South China Sea situation during his remarks yesterday, but tension there was heightened this year by increased US patrols and the arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China, according to the official media. Last month, the PLA conducted two military drills in the South China Sea ahead of the tribunal verdict on July 21 and later announced regular air patrols over the area. China, which boycotted the tribunal, has rejected the verdict on the strategic waters over which the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan have counter-claims. The US which carried out air and naval patrols in the area to assert freedom of navigation has asked Beijing to accept the verdict, saying it is binding. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the increased US military patrols and joint drills with allies "have imposed military intimidation (on China) and fuelled regional tension". However, China's recent drills in the South China Sea are "of a totally different nature," as the PLA drills in Chinese territory, while the US, an outsider to the region, covers thousands of miles to come to China's doorstep, Zhang told the Daily. Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said some senior US defence officials have made hard-line comments about the region recently, and Washington "will possibly continue its tough gestures". Washington: Lashing out at Donald Trump, the father of a fallen Pakistani-origin Muslim American soldier on said the Republican presidential nominee has a "black soul" who needs counselling on "empathy". "This person is total incapable of empathy. I want his family to counsel him, teach him some empathy. He will be a better person if he could become -- but he is a black soul. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country," Khizr Khan said. Khan, father of Army Captain Humayun Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004 in a suicide terrorist attack, came to national spotlight after he delivered an electrifying speech at Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia on Thursday wherein he slammed Trump for his rhetoric like banning Muslims from entering the country. He asked Trump to "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." Trump hit back over the remarks that he has "sacrificed nothing" for the country and mocked the soldier's mother for keeping silent, triggering a bipartisan backlash. Following a national backlash, Trump late made a u-turn and described Humayun as a hero, but called for "vigilance in defeating radical Islamic terrorism". Khan, who now lives in Virginia, said that Trump is "unfit" to be the leader of the US. He said Trump's "policy, his practices, do not reflect that he has any understanding of the basic, fundamental constitutional principles of this country." "He talks about excluding people, disrespecting judges, the entire judicial system, immigrants, Muslim immigrants. These are divisive rhetoric that are totally against the basic constitutional principles," he said. He slammed Trump's suggestion that his wife, who was also on stage at the DNC, was not allowed to speak. He said she has high blood pressure and didn't want to speak for fear she wouldn't be able to hold herself together discussing her Gold Star son on stage. "For this candidate for presidency to not be aware of the respect of a Gold Star Mother standing there, and he had to take that shot at her, this is height of ignorance. This is why I showed him that Constitution. Had he read that, he would know what status a Gold Star Mother holds in this nation," Khan said. "This country holds such a person in the highest regard. And he has no knowledge, no awareness. That is height of his ignorance. She is ill. She had high blood pressure. People that know her looked at her face, and she said, 'I may fall off the stage'. And I told her that, You have to assemble yourself and stand for the beauty of this tribute that is being paid," Khan said in response to a question. Saturdays 8th Annual Campbell County Heritage Festival at William Campbell High School in Narunacould serve as a fitting curtain call for longtime local rockabilly group The Dazzlers. The festival, created to honor the countys rich history steeped in agriculture stretching back to the 1700s, will be capped off by a 7:30 p.m. benefit concert by the The Dazzlers. Band members Kenny Coates, Jim Donald and Tallmadge T.C. Harper graduated from William Campbell. As in years past revenue generated from ticket sales to the festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and this year the special benefit concert go toward funding the construction of a pavilion at Community Park in Naruna, which would allow residents to host events year-round. The band got its shot at fame on the WDBJ television show Saturday Session with Dudley Townsend in early 1959. A local disc jockey out of Radford heard them play and offered to give them a chance to meet Audrey Williams, the wife of late singer and songwriter Hank Williams. So they traveled to Nashville and recorded their song Why Do I Go On? Kenny had [written] a song about a woman he was dating, said Al Wilson, the bands original pianist. [When] we were traveling, he would call his girlfriend and after talking to her, he always looked down in the dumps. One day, Wilson recalled, [Coates] came in and announced hed just written a song which became Why Do I Go On? Over the next few years, the seven-member band opened for performers Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Lloyd Price, with occasional performances in their home area of Lynchburg. After multiple tours with big names, the band was offered a recording contract but ultimately turned it down because the road took its toll, according to Wilson. They just wanted to go home. Now the band members are scattered across the East Coast. Coates retired from the Newport News Shipyard after 39 years and lives in Smithfield. Wilson lives in Rustburg but will be moving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina soon. Donald owned three music stores in Virginia and North Carolina. Hamilton is owner and CEO of a company he founded 25 years ago with his wife. Harper lives in Lynchburg. All the members were approximately the same age with Hamilton being the youngest at almost 73 years old. Wilson said he will be 77 years old on his next birthday. They are super talented guys. If something special comes up I may come out of retirement Im not interested in something on a regular basis, Wilson said. He quoted Kenny Rogers: You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Wilson said its time to fold them. In addition to The Dazzlers benefit concert, the festival includes live music by Singing Cowgirl Rebecca Bryant, Witcher Creek Old Time Band, the Epperson Brothers and more; a performance by the Monacan Tribe Dancers; a car show; antique tractor games; craft vendors; childrens activities; a mule jumping contest; wagon rides and more. The festival will be replete with demonstrations that illustrate Campbell Countys heritage, including blacksmithing, tobacco stringing, sheep-shearing and salt-making. New this year are demonstrations by the Campbell County Sheriffs Office of activities ranging from drug-sniffing dogs to the evidence van and a fresh food farmers market and food vendors. 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. AMHERST When a Central Virginia Training Center residents health turns, the individuals with severe intellectual and development disabilities often cant communicate whats wrong. Over the last 40 years, Dr. Balraj Bawa, his staff and other on-call physicians have paid close attention to thousands of patients, alert to the tiniest changes in their demeanor or personal patterns. After working his last shift at CVTC on Friday, Bawa officially entered retirement. They dont tell what is wrong with them. The staff knows how their behavior has changed. Somebody may be crying, somebody may be not eating, Bawa said. Normal people, its very easy. If you come to me, youll say, I have a fever, I have a sore throat, I have a cough but our population, they cannot tell anything, so you have to observe closely. Bawa who speaks of his patients with care, empathy and duty hails from New Dehli, India, where he went to All India Institute of Medical Sciences. After residencies in India and the University of Connecticut, he read in a medical journal about the physician post in Amherst County. When Bawa came to the facility in 1977, more than 2,000 people resided at CVTC. The population is less than 190 now, he said. Bawas exit comes as the training center gradually shrinks and residents move to group homes as part of an agreement between Virginia and the Department of Justice. CVTC is slated to close in 2020 as part of that agreement. The facility already has scaled down the number of residents, employees and buildings. Its tough working in a state job. And its tough working with all the changes that have come over the years. Were here because of the individuals, Facility Director Sharon Bonaventura said. Like others who have stayed at CVTC, the 71-year-old Bawa said love of the patients kept him around past retirement age. It is a challenging place to work, but I like this type of challenge. I like the job, otherwise I could have left and gone somewhere else, Bawa said. All these individuals, I think they are just normal persons, although they are intellectually disabled. They have the same emotions. They have the same medical problems as you and me. Bawa has been among the doctors treating Taylor and Tyler Bryant who have a range of severe disabilities for more than two decades. Martha Bryant, their mother, said she feels overwhelming gratitude for Bawa. I personally know my sons wouldnt be alive if he hadnt helped us be admitted, helped through many crises, helped with all the drug issues, the transports, Bryant said. He really forms attachments. He loves the individuals. He loves the families. Even as medical director, Bawa performed on-call duties, making rounds and being available for emergencies. He plans to move to San Diego, closer to his children and grandchildren. His retirement plans include continuing to travel. Bonaventura, who has worked at the facility for 33 years, described Bawa as a quiet and hard-working man who cares deeply for his patients. She said Bawa is a lifetime student who often would bring in articles he read on the profession, medicine or life in general, and then quiz his coworkers. She said his institutional knowledge will be missed. You lose a tremendous skill set of how you work with individuals with disabilities because youve been exposed to so many different types of situations over these 40 years, Bonaventura said. A lot of our staff here are in the same kind of situation. 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. The couple 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. 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 businesses, 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 of 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. We got to do what we said we were going to dowhich 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. 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. All state procurements in Ukraine shall be carried out with the use of the ProZorro e-procurement system from August 1, a posting on the Economic Development and Trade Ministry's website reads. "Over the 12 months the ProZorro pilot project has been in effect, savings have exceeded UAH 1 billion (the total sum of the funds saved as of today is UAH 2.6 billion). Therefore we call on all responsible customers to use ProZorro when even handling purchases worth small amounts of money. This is easy, user-friendly and advantageous," the ministry quoted Deputy Minister Maksym Nefyodov as saying. The posting says that as of April 2016, the state agencies, large state-owned companies and natural monopolies switched over to the use of the system for tenders with amounts exceeding UAH 200,000 for goods and services and UAH 1.5 million for works. All local government authorities, municipally owned enterprises and other organizations that use taxpayers' assets should start using the ProZorro system from August 1. However, the ministry says, that the use of the system for procurements worth up to UAH 200,000 for goods and services and up to UAH 1.5 million for works is "voluntarily, but very preferable." "In 1.5 years, the ProZorro team has conducted over 250 workshops under the public sector's largest training program. We've successfully launched an online course on the Prometheus free platform, created a special website for the customers http://infobox.prozorro.org/, where they could learn more about the system and its rules," Nefyodov said. Dont wait to graduate to innovate, NIHERST president The Caribbean can also build its own infrastructure and systems at home, she said, to ensure that more of the regions future scientists can be trained locally to do cutting edge research and development. Training could be done, she suggested, initially by visiting experts and through international collaboration. Lalla spoke yesterday at the opening ceremony of a one-week Caribbean Youth Science Forum at the Teaching and Learning Complex, University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus. The event was organised by NIHERST in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The participants include students from Antigua, Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica who are joining 122 sixth formers from 29 schools in Trinidad and Tobago. They will be guided by top local and international scientists including Dr Colin Topper Carew, Director and Founder, Innovation and Inclusion Initiative, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Carew gave the students an inspirational talk at the opening. Also giving encouragement was acting Curriculum Coordinator in the Ministry of Education Anna Singh who represented Education Minister Anthony Garcia. In spite of current economic circumstances, Lalla said that NIHERST was committed to investing in the brain power of young people in particular to develop economies that were forward looking, sustainable and globally competitive. Speaking about the need for students to get involved in innovation and technology even before they graduate from university, she said, All over the world, we see teenagers like you contributing to discoveries in science or creating simple technological solutions that address real world problems. She gave an example of the successful efforts of a London-based lower sixth science student of Trinidadian parentage who, this year, raised funds to build a science laboratory in Zambia. The student, Laila Shah, organised a one-day science conference for sixth formers with the objective of raising the funds to build the laboratory after the efforts to raise the funds by her school, failed. Shah took the initiative to raise the funds, Lalla said, after students from Shahs school visited an area in Zambia and found no lab in their immediate environment. Students had to travel hundreds of miles at great expense to do their lab science practicals which was essential for them to pass their exams, she said. She had intended to raise 3,500 pounds sterling, but with the help of Queen Mary College, University of London which assigned two marketing officers to her, she raised 6,000 pounds sterling. According to Lalla, Shah and some of her classmates visited Zambia last month to see the labs under construction. Release more funding to assist deportees Chance said that within recent times he has observed that there has been an influx of deportees returning to this country and his organisation is overrun with expenses. He said they are at their wits end in trying to figure out how to feed, clothe and house those persons returning. Chance said he expects dozens of deportees in the coming days and is unsure where he will get the money to fund them. I have been requesting a meeting with the Minister of National Security because I am tired of writing. I think he needs to see what we are talking about, Chance said. This an organisation that is filling a need that is normally a State responsibility. It is the Government of Trinidad and Tobago which went and signed Shiprider Agreement with the United States and Canada. Chance noted that the funding he currently receives is simply not adequate to purchase simple, basic items for the deportees and he is unsure where funding will come from to assist if the relevant authorities do not intervene at this time. He noted that there are over 300 prisoners to be released on bail shortly and if they do not receive any assistance, this could prove to be a severe backlash where crime is concerned. The Attorney General, Faris Al Rawi is not telling you how many people are landing in Trinidad and Tobago and coming to an NGO that is underfunded. If I am unable to deal with these people properly, there is a backlash and I need to state this case to Trinidad. Who is going to buy the next boxers and jockey short? We have to do that. Who is going to make sure that they eat something and they do not jump somebody fence? I am upset this morning because I still have a list of persons coming back and, to date, the Attorney General and none of these people have taken time. And because they give me a little crumbs, they think that I suppose to work miracles in this country? POS mayor wants answers from WASA The water supply to the City is inequitable, Valentine said. We do not get the supplies needed to ensure that all our burgesses get water. Water is not a function of economic, social or other standing. It is not income we are talking about here. Everybody here makes a different income based on their skill. Supply should be because everybody needs it. We need a serious investigation into the matter, Valentine told members of the media during a news conference at City Hall, on Friday. He said for almost three weeks, the Belmont, Gonzales, Cascade and St Anns areas have been without water despite WASAs indication that the water restriction had been lifted. Valentine added that efforts contacting WASA have not been very favourable. The mayor also called on the Authority to repair broken water mains stating that workers at the Corporation could not carry out road work because of broken and leaking water mains. The Corporation is ready and able for any infraction, but we cannot just go in and cover an asphalted area because it would just cave back in. Valentine also said that the Corporation was looking to deal with the erecting of illegal billboards and the misuse of transit shelters (bus sheds) where the homeless sometimes seek shelter. The mayor said the dilapidated state of Port-of-Spain was in part due to the homeless. He said some of the shelters were constructed illegally and were used by some of the homeless who defecated and urinated in the sheds. Garbage collection was another smelly point for the mayor who said some of the burgesses put out their garbage after the garbage trucks passed by. He noted that many Housing Development Corporation (HDC) residents were being overrun by vile-smelling garbage that remained for days before being collected. This, he said, contributed to the vermin in the area. Valentine said it has been alleged that the contract with the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) has expired. This is posing to be a public health hazard. We are urging the HDC to intervene and help these people because our burgesses are in danger; they are facing a very serious health hazard. We are assuring the people that we are ready and able to deal with all the infractions they are seeing, he said. The mayor also called for more uniformed police presence along Ariapita Avenue during the weekends, saying this may curb crime in the popular liming spot. US: We See No Signs Putin Will Use Dirty Bomb (Newser) Dr. Louis Chen, convicted of fatally stabbing his lover 177 times before slashing their toddler son's throat from ear to ear in a gruesome 2011 double homicide he blamed on a buildup of the active ingredient in cough syrup, will spend 49 years in prison for his crime. "Show him the same amount of mercy he showed Eric and Cooper, and we all know how much that wasnone," Dawn Miller, mother of Eric Cooper and grandmother to 2-year-old Cooper Chen, told the court. Chen, who said the cough medicine caused depression, paranoia, and a psychotic break, received the maximum sentence allowed in the state of Washington, reports the Seattle Times. "We believe it is a reasonable sentence for the taking of two lives in the most horrific way possible," the senior deputy prosecutor says. Chen, an immigrant from Taiwan, met Cooper 12 years earlier, when he was in his late 20s and Cooper was a 17-year-old senior in high school. They had their son using Chen's sperm, a Taiwanese woman's egg, and a surrogate friend. They'd just moved to Seattle from North Carolina after Chen accepted a job at Virginia Mason Medical Center. When Chen failed to show up on his first day of work on Aug. 11, a hospital manager found him in his penthouse, naked and covered in dried blood; "I did," he responded when asked who committed the murders. Despite his admission, the prosecutor decided not to seek the death penalty, reports Q13 Fox. Prosecutors argued it was not psychosis that drove Chen, but rage and fear over a pending breakup and custody battle. (Chen spent a week in the hospital for self-inflicted stab wounds.) (Newser) Karenna Gore isn't backing down from Boston's fracking pipeline protests. Al Gore's daughter, who was arrested after blocking pipeline construction during a protest last month, has rejected a plea deal on trespassing charges that would have required her to stay away from the natural gas pipeline site in the West Roxbury neighborhood, the Boston Herald reports. She has vowed to continue protesting. "All of the elected officials in this community are against it, the only reason this pipeline is going in is because of the power of a corporation and the sway they have over the regulatory process," she said after a Friday court appearance. "They've tried everything, and it's going in anyway, despite what elected officials want, so it's important for people to stand together in this way to call attention to it." Five other activists also refused plea deals. In a Boston Globe opinion piece last week on the Spectra Energy project, Gore called for the stepping up of efforts to stop using fossil fuels and warned of the dangers of running a pipeline through a residential neighborhood that's already close to an open-pit quarry. "Forcing local residents to live with a gas pipeline running underground right next to a place where rocks are regularly blown up with dynamite illustrates the perversity of the power at work here," she wrote. People reports that Al Gore hasn't commented publicly on his daughter's arrest yet, though he tweeted a link to the Globe article last week and called it "an important and inspiring piece." (Read more Boston stories.) EU provides EUR 1.6 mln for adaptation of Ukrainian aviation rules to European ones The European Union has provided EUR 1.6 million under the Twinning project to support the harmonization of the countrys legislation in line with EU standards in the Ukrainian civil aviation sector in the area of airports' certification and airworthiness. The presentation of the project was held in Kyiv on July 29. This Twinning project will be implemented in the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, making use of experience of Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA). The project will be implemented in the period of 21 months. The EU Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Tombinski said that for years, the aviation sector has remained among the priority spheres of EU-Ukraine cooperation. Tombinski said that today the EU is working on a new strategy in the aviation sector. The European diplomat advocates as quick as possible signing of the Open Skies Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and lifting of the Gibraltar issue that hinders the process. Since 2006, the EU has implemented 49 Twinning technical assistance projects in various spheres, including the aerospace and transport sectors. (Newser) New fossil evidence dug up in Namibia lends credence to the theory that we should blame "ecosystem engineers" for the world's first mass extinction, and that's not a euphemism for man, asteroids, or aliens. Instead, per a Vanderbilt University study published in the October issue of the Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology journal, the end of the era of Ediacara biota (early multi-celled, soft-shelled creatures) brought about 540 million years ago was likely to blame on the metazoans, the earliest animals that started to proliferate during a "short" 30-million-year stage known as the Cambrian explosion. The Washington Post describes these early animals as "utterly weird" creatures that were often "little more than pipes or fleshy bags glued to the seafloor" (some scientists have compared them to "Frisbees or even lumpy mattresses") and that often didn't move, much like sea coral today. But they may have wreaked enough ancient havoc to cause major damage to the Ediacarans, possibly wiping them out completely. "These new species changed the environment in ways that made it more and more difficult for the Ediacarans to survive," study lead author Simon Darroch says in a release. Darroch and his team say they found a well-kept group of fossils of both Ediacarans and metazoans, suggesting an "ecological association" between the two, though it apparently wasn't one that ended well for the Ediacarans: In a 2015 study, Darroch's team found evidence of "stressed-looking" Ediacarans near animal burrows, with evidence of "the last of the Ediacara biota clinging on for grim death." The Ediacarans are long gone, but Darroch warns history has the potential to repeat itself. "There is a powerful analogy between the Earth's first mass extinction and what is happening today," he says. "The end-Ediacaran extinction shows that the evolution of new behaviors can fundamentally change the entire planet, and today we humans are the most powerful 'ecosystems engineers' ever known." (To wit: Our own extinction may be next.) (Newser) Pedro Luca has become a legend in San Pedro de Colalao, where he's lived in a cave for 40 years. The 79-year-old Argentine survives without running water or electricity in his cavern high in a mountain in northern Tucuman province. When he gets hungry he picks up his rifle and goes hunting or heads on a three-hour trek down the mountain to the nearest settlement, reports the AP. A creek is his main source of water. His cave mates? Eleven roosters and two goats that roam the mountainside during the day and return at night looking for shelter from pumas and other predators. The crows of the roosters wake him up at around 3am every morning and he begins the day by starting a fire. "Fire is magical," he says, as the smoke fills his cave. Town dwellers often give Luca food and supplies. He buys candles, yeast, and corn with a government old-age pension, worth about $100 to $200, that he collects at the town's post office. His only technological gadget is a small, battery-powered radio, but he has a hard time tuning into stations because the signal is weak up the mountain. Luca says he always wanted to live in isolation. He left San Pedro de Colalao at age 14 to travel northern Argentina and earn a living transporting coal to Bolivia, but returned to the area and the cave. "I never asked myself why I chose to live here," he says. "There was another cave nearby but I liked this one better. Sometimes, I think that I would have liked to travel the world, see Europe. But there's a lot of sea in the middle of it all and you have to have the time to cross that sea." (Read more caves stories.) (Newser) Brazilian police said Sunday they rescued the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone from two men on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. According to police, 67-year-old Aparecida Schunck, who had been held since Friday last week, was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping division, the AP reports. Schunck is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, who married Ecclestone in 2012. Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, for decades has had problems with people being kidnapped and held for ransom, but a dedicated police task force has reduced the crime drastically over the last 15 years. The $36.5 million the kidnap gang demanded for Schunck is believed to be the highest-ever ransom demand in a Brazilian kidnapping. (Read more Bernie Ecclestone stories.) (Newser) A former police officer killed himself Saturday night after a highway chase with state police, who later discovered the body of the officer's wife in the vehicle's trunk, the AP reports. Franklin Osgood, 61, was a former police officer in Providence, RI, where police say they received a call from Osgood's daughter Saturday saying her father was missing and distraught. He had last been seen Friday morning. At some point, Osgood called his daughter and told her he had harmed her mother, 55-year-old Mary Jo Osgood, Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements told reporters. Providence police put out an alert to law enforcement agencies across the country after the call. Clements said Osgood answered his phone when an officer called around 7pm, but he was agitated and wouldn't reveal his location, the Providence Journal reports. Police notified New Jersey State Police at approximately 9pm that Osgood was believed to be traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike in a 2007 black Dodge Charger. Troopers located the car about 25 minutes later, heading north on the highway several miles from the George Washington Bridge. Osgood refused to pull over and eventually ran off the road, hit a guardrail, and struck a car driven by a trooper. Troopers found Osgood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when they approached the car. Clements told reporters that no motive for the murder and suicide has been uncovered yet. Obviously, "he's deeply troubled by something that is personal," Clements said. "What leads someone to this level of anger and violence, with your wife, your loved one, who knows." (Read more Providence, RI stories.) (Newser) In an apparent effort to lessen its reliance on Google Maps, rideshare company Uber will be "doubling down on our investment in mapping." That amounts to pumping $500 million into an "ambitious global mapping project," the Financial Times reports. Uber has already unleashed mapping vehicles in the US and Mexico, and the effort will expand to other countries in the future. Heading up the project is Brian McClendon, who once ran Google Maps. "Accurate maps are at the heart of our service and the backbone of our business," McClendon says in a blog post. Existing maps contain information irrelevant to Uber, such as oceans, he says, and Uber wants to know more about traffic patterns and pick-up and drop-off locations. "Moreover," McClendon adds, "we need to be able to provide a seamless experience in parts of the world where there arent detailed mapsor street signs." In developing countries, Uber drivers often have to call passengers to get a pickup location, per the Times. Google invested in Uber early on. But, PC Magazine notes, the companies "[seem] headed for a great business clash," as they both explore driverless car technology. Also, Google is reportedly started to charge more to Use Google Maps. According to PC, Uber has started a partnership with DigitalGlobe, which owns satellites so powerful they can discern an object that is just one foot by one foot in size. (Read more Uber stories.) (Newser) Flint residents' water is trashed, and now their trash is temporarily, well, trashed, too. The beleaguered city learned on Saturday that trash pick-up would cease effective Monday. "Until a new agreement is officially in place, we ask the residents not set their trash out at the curb to prevent animals from disturbing it and make the situation worse," reads a statement from Mayor Karen Weaver's office. At the root of the issue: a contract. Weaver recommended that pick-up provider Republic Services be replaced with Rizzo Environmental Services, whose five-year, $17.5 million bid was $2 million lower than Republic's, reports MLive. The city council voted against her selection in June and again voted 8-1 against it on July 18, citing concerns over Rizzo's connections to Canada and former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley, who consults for Rizzo. Weaver vetoed their decision to stick with Republic; the council overrode the veto. The next move will fall to a judge: Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Farah will hold the next hearing on the debacle Tuesday at 10am, reports MLive. City Council President Kerry Nelson says the council "will ask the court to order the mayor to reinstate garbage pick-up," reports Michigan Radio. Weaver says she's looking for resolution "by the middle of the week." Farah's colorful quote: "While the obnoxious stench of political intrigue permeates from city hall an equally insalubrious aroma comes from our neighborhoods where our garage will not be picked." (Read more Flint, Michigan stories.) (Newser) Unalaska is described as a "birder's paradise" on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's website. But a Coast Guard officer had a decidedly different experience in this town nestled in the Aleutian Islands when a leisurely hike turned into a blitz against him by a bald eagle, the Bristol Bay Times reports. Lt. Andres Ayure had come to the area from San Francisco just a few days earlier, and he decided to explore the local terrain on his day off by trekking up the perhaps appropriately named Ballyhoo Mountain. The hike up was uneventful, but as Ayure descended, a bird of prey emerged and took swipes at him three times. On the fourth swoop, the big bird tore a hole in Ayure's hoodie (coincidentally, an American Eagle-branded sweatshirt) and launched a half-dozen or so more offensives against the lieutenant before technology saved the day: Ayure's cellphone fell out of his pocket. The eagle apparently got distracted by its shiny new toy, nabbing the phone while Ayure dashed down the slope. "It was crazy," says Ayure, whose phone appears to be gone for good. The Times notes that Unalaska's Dutch Harbor, as the country's busiest fishing port, is teeming with bald eagles known to menace residents by hovering near garbage bins, streetlights, and even City Hall. (A slightly different interaction between man and bald eagle in Minnesota.) (Newser) Last week, Australian officials said someone had plotted an Indian Ocean course on the flight simulator belonging to the pilot of missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. This week, a renowned air-crash expert adds onto that, saying he believes the jet was deliberately brought down into the water, the BBC reports. Larry Vance, who once headed up Canada's Transportation Safety Board, appeared on the Aussie program 60 Minutes and said that "definite evidence" suggests a controlled landing, not an autopilot crash that would've left plenty of floating debris, per the Guardian. "Somebody was flying the airplane into the water," he said on the program. "There is no other alternate theory that you can follow." He also thinks "the fuselage is intact for the most part, and is on the bottom of the Indian Ocean," per the Telegraph. Among the evidence Vance cites are photos of one of the plane's recovered wing flaperons. The jaggedness of the wing sectionsuggesting it had eroded off as it dragged across the water, rather than enduring a clean break if it had haphazardly crashedas well as the fact that the flaperon had been deployed at all indicate someone likely guided the plane into the water, Vance said. "The force of the water is really the only thing that could make that jagged edge that we see," he noted. Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigator Peter Foley agrees with the "rogue pilot" theory, noting that a closer look at the crash by French officials indicates the jet was in a "deployed state," meaning the plane may have landed outside of the current search area. The ATSB hopes a second wing part discovered on the Tanzania coast may offer further clues about the plane's final moments, News.com.au reports. (Read more MH370 stories.) (Newser) The role of the female orgasm has been a head-scratcher for centuries. Case-in-point: Aristotle himself noted that the fact that human females don't need it to conceive clouded the quest for explanation. The statistics that show it's an "uncommon" occurrence during heterosexual intercourse and the lack of correlation between orgasm and number of offspring deepen the mysterywhich scientists at Yale and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital may have "solved," reports the Guardian. Science reports there are about a dozen theories out there (read a few here); here's the upshot of this one, published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology: The human female orgasm is rooted in an ancestral kind of ovulation present in some mammals (cats, rabbits) today, in which sex triggers a surge of hormones which then triggers the egg's release. Gunter Wagner and Mihaela Pavlicev explain that with male-induced ovulation, the surge of oxytocin and prolactin triggers eggs to be released. Human females obviously don't ovulate that way: Our spontaneous ovulation has no dependence on sexual activity. But the human female orgasm is still accompanied by that surge of oxytocin and prolactin, explains a press release. That suggests it's a remnant of that ancestral kind of ovulation, which the Guardian reports was replaced with spontaneous ovulation in the ancestor of primates 75 million years ago. As Science puts it, "because those hormonal surges no longer confer a biological advantage, orgasms during intercourse may be lost in some women." Wagner tells STAT the female orgasm isn't going anywhere though, because one body of tissue becomes either the penis or clitoris in the human fetus. "If the clitoris went away through evolution, so may the penis." (Sweden is trying to find out just how good sex is in Sweden.) (Newser) In 2005, Australian police set up a task force to look into five sexual assaults in Sydney's eastern suburbs. They ended up uncovering what could be one of the country's most prolific serial rapistsand they're asking the public to help track him down. Buzzfeed reports a review of those five assaults and a look into other cold cases ballooned the stats: 27 rapes and attempted rapes are now believed to have been committed by one man. The cases are linked by DNA evidence and similarities in their circumstances; victims were threatened with a knife (in some cases he showed it, in others not), and some of the locations were similar: Centennial Park and near the Bondi to Bronte coastal walkway. But no matches were found in running the DNA against Australia's database or international records, reports AAP. Police say the "blitz attack" rapes, which "were committed very, very quickly with very little warning to the victim," occurred between 1985 and 2001; news.com.au reports his victims ranged from ages 14 to 55. The perpetrator is now thought to be between the ages of 45 and 64, though AAP reports that police acknowledge he could be dead or have moved to another country. He's described as having an Australian accent, dark complexion, brown eyes, dark hair, a broad nose, and a changing buildthin in the 1980s, then, a decade later, medium and even muscular. "We have now reached the point where were seeking help from the public," Detective Acting Superintendent Mick Haddow with the New South Wales police said Monday. He said there is no person of interest at this time, and no information on the man post-2001. (Read more serial rapists stories.) 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. (Newser) Two years ago, Lorenzo Montoya left prison after 13 years when his conviction in the murder of a 29-year-old woman in Denver was dismissed. He is now suing the city and the cops who built the case against him when he was a young teenager, and the case is revisited in a lengthy piece at Westword headlined "How to Convict a 14-Year-Old of a Murder He Didn't Commit." In it, writer Alan Prendergast explains that the charges stemmed from a police interrogation of Montoya, one in which he denies his guilt 65 times before caving to relentless pressure. "The more he stumbles over his denials of any knowledge or involvement, the more the detectives press, smelling fear and vulnerability," he writes. "They tell Montoya they dont want to put words in his mouth, then do exactly that." When attorney Lisa Polansky took up the case pro bono in 2011, she knew something was wrong when her client didn't know key details about the murder. Then she watched two VHS recordings of his interrogation. When [Montoyas] mom left the room and it got really bad, I had to stand up, she says. I had to pace. I was saying, Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Montoya finally began confessing when threatened with time in an adult prison (he'd end up there anyway), and detectives would correct him when he got facts wrong. (Are you sure they went in the front?" says one. "I dont think they went in the front. After which, Montoya responds, "the back.") He was freed when he agreed to a plea of accessory after the facthe'd gone for a ride in the victim's Lexus the day after her murder, though he says he didn't even know the car was stolen. Click for the full story. (Read more wrongful conviction stories.) (Newser) Gawker founder Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy Monday amid the website's battle with Hulk Hogan. Denton listed $10 million to $50 million in assets and $100 million to $500 million in debts, the New York Post reports; Denton owes Hogan $125 million after a jury sided with the wrestler in an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed after Gawker posted Hogan's sex tape online. The jury awarded Hogan $140 million, and Gawker owes the wrestler the other $15 million. Gawker Media Group filed for bankruptcy in June and will be sold at auction this month. "Gawker Media Groups resilient brands and people will thrive under new ownership, when the sale closes in the next few weeks. On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaires vendetta," Denton tweeted Monday, referring to PayPal founder Peter Thiel, who funded Hogan's lawsuit. Denton also confirmed the bankruptcy news. Denton is appealing Hogan's invasion of privacy award, but had exhausted all appeals to keep Hogan from beginning to seize his assets. In a recent interview, Denton said that despite the bankruptcy filing, Gawker Media Group is making more money than it was last year. (Read more Nick Denton stories.) (Newser) For the moment, the US has extended the fight against the Islamic State to another countryLibya. American warplanes of both the manned and drone variety launched precision airstrikes Monday against ISIS targets in the city of Sirte at the request of the Libyan government, reports Reuters. ISIS captured the coastal city last last year, making it what the news service describes as the group's most important stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria, though it's been steadily losing ground since then. It's not clear how long the US operation will last, but the the Guardian reports that Pentagon officials suggest it will be a "sustained offensive." The campaign in Sirte marks "a significant expansion" of the US fight against ISIS, observes the Washington Post. President Obama directly approved the new operation, one that does not allow for American ground troops, reports the AP. Most of the civilian population of Sirte has fled over the past year, and several hundred ISIS fighters are estimated to be holed up in the city. They've mainly been fighting against militias from the Libyan city of Misrata who are loyal to the new unity government, reports the Guardian. (Read more Libya stories.) (Newser) A case in Afghanistan has pitted a religious figure against the outraged parents of a 6-year-old girl, underscoring the ongoing problems surrounding child marriages there. Per Radio Free Europe, Sayed Mohammad Karim, a mullah in the Ghor province said to be in his 50s, was arrested last week and charged with stealing the young girl away and marrying herallegations he denies. "The girl was given to me as a gift and we were married so I could raise her," says Karim, who notes the girl's parents attended their wedding ceremony. But that's not what the parents are saying, per the deputy police commander of Ghor. "We spoke to her parents and they strongly deny they attended the wedding," he says. "[They] told me their daughter was kidnapped." Complicating things are the sticky rules governing child marriage in Afghanistan: The country's civil law says a girl has to be 16 to be legally married, but citizens may also follow Sharia law, which has been interpreted to allow children to be wed. These early marriages can pose dangerous health hazards for young girls: Human Rights Watchwhich cites a 2010 mortality survey that says 53% of Afghan women ages 25 to 49 were wed by the age of 18notes that early marriage means early pregnancies, which can cause injury and even death if their bodies aren't ready for childbirth or if they're in rural areas with sub-par medical care. But RFE notes that such "gifts" are common in the country's remotest regionsnot only girls, but also cash, property, and livestockto curry favor with local religious leaders. Perhaps the only bright spot in this story: Karim insists he didn't have sexual intercourse with the little girl, which a local doctor says appears to be true. But despite the doctor's assertion that the "examination showed that the girl had endured no physical or psychological harm," the head of the Ghor women's affairs department says, per the Sun: "This girl does not speak, but only repeats one thing: 'I am afraid of this man.'" (A Nigerian child bride was accused of killing her husband with rat poison.) (Newser) After sitting empty for more than five decades, the Los Feliz 'murder house' will soon be full of life again. The 1925 Spanish Colonial Revivalthe scene of a murder-suicidehas been purchased by Lisa Bloom (the daughter of attorney Gloria Allred) and her husband Braden Pollock for about $2.3 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. In 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson beat his wife to death with a ball-peen hammer, attacked an 18-year-old daughter (she survived), and then killed himself by drinking acid. "Go back to bed. This is a nightmare," the doctor reportedly told an 11-year-old daughter, who, along with a 13-year-old brother, were uninjured. During the intervening years, the 5,050-square-foot housewhich was purchased by a couple, but not lived in, in 1960 and later inherited by their son, who died last yearfell into disrepair. It also became the "center of morbid fascination" for people interested in the darker episodes in LA's past, according to NBC 4. "People into weird, creepy stuff would know about it," one blogger tells the TV station. Unwanted guests to the property have included prostitutes, one neighbor told the Times in 2009. Realtor Nancy Sanborn tells NBC, "It's not a haunted house," adding that tales of ghosts are just an "urban legend kinda like the alligators in the sewers of New York." One local journalist says the fact that Bloom and Pollock shelled out well over $2 million for "the city's most notorious private residence" shows "how nuts the Los Angeles real estate market is right now." Per Zillow, features of the 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home include a "grand entrance," three-car garage, formal dining room, a ballroom with a bar, and "sweeping views." (Click for another insane recent real estate story.) A Cisco researcher has highlighted vulnerabilities in iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS. These operating systems are said to be vulnerable to malware that's been embedded in an image file. The malware, which can allegedly run undetected, allows the attacker to achieve remote code execution on the infected system.Cisco Talos' Tyler Bohan said that users could receive the file via MMS or email, or even be exposed to it when it's placed on a malicious webpage. The remote code execution vulnerabilities were found in the way Apple operating systems access image data using APIs - specifically, Apple Core Graphics API, Scene Kit, and Image I/O. Image formats that can be used to exploit these vulnerabilities are tiff (tagged image file format), bmp (bitmap), dae (digital asset exchange), and OpenEXR. While the tiff and bmp formats can infect OS X, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS; OpenEXR and dae can infect only OS X machines. Luckily for users of the above-mentioned Apple operating systems, the Cupertino-based company has patched all the vulnerabilities in the latest versions - iOS 9.3.3, OS X El Capitan v10.11.6, TvOS 9.2.2, and WatchOS 2.2.2. If you are currently running a version older than these, it is highly recommended you update to the latest version to avoid the vulnerabilities. Bohan on the Talos Intelligence blog post described why the vulnerabilities are especially bad. "Image files are an excellent vector for attacks since they can be easily distributed over Web or email traffic without raising the suspicion of the recipient. These vulnerabilities are all the more dangerous because Apple Core Graphics API, Scene Kit and Image I/O are used widely by software on the Apple OS X platform," he said.Cisco on the long term have been known to take user securities very strictly and something like this should be more of a serious alarm bells than just warning signs. Hence, even the United States defence have now decided that the Samsung Note 2s that most of the armymen/women have been provided, have now been replaced with iPhones 6s due to widely popular phones and of course their state of the art user privacy and security offerings that Apple have to let users know, that Apple have always been superior in terms of security over other operating systems and phone manufacturers even including Google. But however, times have changed and now Google's latest flagship phones or the ever widely popular "nexus" line-up of recent smartphones are now being the most secure competitors in response to Apple's smartphone offerings. However, Google are yet to bring out phones manufactured by themselves rather than rely upon third party manufacturers as 'associate partners' like how Google are proceeding things right now. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Pechersky District Court in Kyiv has ruled to arrest Moldovan businessman Veaceslav Platon, who was detained in Kyiv on Monday on an Interpol warrant at the request of Moldova. "The court has fully satisfied a request of the Pechersk district prosecutor's office and arrested him for 40 days, but we will file an appeal and we currently are preparing it," the Ukrayinska Pravda publication quoted managing partner of Pravovest law firm Hleb Sehyda, who represents the interests of Platon. According to the report, the lawyer said that the appeal will argue the Ukrainian citizenship of the detainee, as well as the fact that the detainee has a Ukrainian surname of Kobolev. As reported, the issue of citizenship is the key one, as a citizen of Ukraine cannot be extradited to another state and cannot be detained for extradition. According to the report, the Security Service of Ukraine said that the detainee's Ukrainian passport wasn't obtained through the procedure of the acquisition of citizenship. The defense of the detainee claims the case against Platon is political and was allegedly "ordered by the top leadership of Moldova." Earlier, Platon was put on the international wanted list by the Moldovan Prosecutor's Office and a few hours later he was arrested by Ukrainian Security Service officers in Kyiv. In Moldova, Platon is charged with involvement and coordination of stealing money from Banca de Economii (Savings Bank of Moldova), which has ceased to exist. He is accused, in particular, of obtaining and non-return of credits to the tune of 800 million lei (about $20 million). In addition, the media reported earlier that Platon was one of the main coordinators of the withdrawal of tens of billions of dollars from Russia to the offshore through Moldovan banks. Two weeks ago, a former employee of the National Anti-Corruption Center of Moldova Mihail Gofman spoke about the laundering of more than $23 billion of Russian origin by Moldovan banks. The Russian Interior Ministry spoke earlier about last year's withdrawal of $10.9 billion offshore through the 'Moldovan scheme', other sources say the amount was $18 - $19 billion. According to Gofman, in 2012-2014, huge sums of money, including from Russia were laundered through the banking system of Moldova. "Moldova has unofficially become an offshore, where billions of dollars went and were gone. Businessmen Vladimir Plahotniuc and Veaceslav Platon are those Moldovan citizens who benefited from this deal, along with some influential people from Russia, belonging to the well-known 'Magnitsky list'," the former employee of the National Anti-Corruption Center of Moldova said. Immediately after the first exposing statements, Gofman went to the U.S., where a separate investigation into the theft of a billion euros from Moldova's banking system was launched. He promised to come back and give evidence to prosecutors on this case, but he has been staying in the United States for more than two weeks now. There he made new statements. He said that in 2010-2013, at least $18.5 billion was withdrawn from Russian banks via the Moldovan schemes. Most of the transactions were carried out through Moldinconbank, which belongs to Platon. The National Bank of Moldova previously said that this bank got more than 80% of the currency receipts in Moldova. In 2015, the Russian Interior Ministry published a list of banks involved in the so-called "Moldovan scheme" of money laundering. The list includes 19 Russian banks. According to these data, in total over 700 billion rubles (around $49 billion at the exchange rate of that time) were withdrawn from Russia through these banks. A number of Moldovan banks controlled by Platon figure in this scheme. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form A large mudslide closed the road inside Denali National Park and Preserve on Saturday, July 30, 2016, stranding some people on the west side of the park. The slide occurred at milepost 67 of the road, a mile beyond the Eielson Visitor Center. Crews were still working Sunday afternoon to open the road. 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 : A leading authority on nuclear weapons and disarmament, Arms Control Associations report has observed that China violated the consensus arrived at the 2010 NPT review conference on supply of nuclear technology by transferring nuclear reactors to Pakistan. China has blocked India's membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) saying that participation of a non-NPT signatory in the group will weaken the international non-proliferation regime. The associations latest report on assessment of progress on non-proliferation says that the China's 2013 deal for the Chasma-3 reactor in Pakistan contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which "reaffirms that new supply arrangements" for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept "IAEA full-scope safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons". Islamabad has accepted neither. India, which has not signed NPT, has singled out China for creating procedural hurdles in its NSG membership bid but has also chosen to remain engaged with Beijing over the issue, hoping that it will review its position at some stage. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The government is planning to evacuate a large number of Indian workers, who are jobless following widespread layoffs in Saudi Arabia. India is arranging exit visas for jobless workers, a senior official source has told a leading national daily. Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retired) VK Singh will be traveling to Saudi Arabia soon to bring back, the source added. According to the source, the exact number of Indians who will be brought back is not clear. However, according to the Consulate General of India in Jeddah, groups of Indian officials working in various labour camps have collected the details of 2,500 Indians as a first step toward crisis management. After the information about an evacuation, more Indians are willing to return home. A meeting was held between Ambassador of India Ahmad Javed and Deputy Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia Ahmed Al-Salem on Sunday. Many jobless workers in Saudi Arabia have been living in inhuman conditions in labour camps, following which the evacuation decision has been taken. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Illegal armed formations in Donbas opened fire on Ukrainian military positions 85 times in the past 24 hours, the press center for the Anti-Terrorist Operation headquarters said on Facebook on Monday. According to the press center, the militants used 152 mm and 122 mm caliber heavy artillery in the Donetsk sector. The Ukrainian positions in Opytne, Avdiyivka, Zaitseve and Pisky came under fire from mortars of various caliber. The situation in Mayorsk, Kamyanka and Troyitske was not calm. In the Mariupol sector, mortars of various caliber were used on Shyrokyne and Maryinka. In Krasnohorivka, fire was opened using 82 mm mortars and firearms. Combat infantry vehicles opened fire on Vodyane and Starohnativka, the press center reported. In the Luhansk sector, the Ukrainian positions in the area of Novotoshkivske, Novozvanivka and Krymske came under fire from 82 mm mortars and grenade launchers, the report said. Kabul: At least one police officer was killed, while four others security agents were injured in heavy gunfight after a truck bomb struck Northgate Hotel in Kabul, earlier this morning. The Afghan media reported that the situation has been neutralised and the operations are now over. In the wee hours on Monday morning, two suicide bombers blew a truck outside Kabuls Northgate Hotel, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. The Northgate Hotel is situated on the outskirts of the city and is a favourite amongst foreigners. The powerful bombing occurred close to a military base next to Kabuls international airport, and rattled windows several kilometres away. The attack on Northgate, a heavily guarded compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive. A truck packed with explosives struck the entrance of Northgate, an Afghan security source told AFP, immediately after the attack. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons blasted their way into the compound after the truck bomb went off. He claimed that more than 100 American invaders were killed and wounded in the assault, which began around 1:30 am (2100 GMT Sunday). The Taliban are routinely known to exaggerate the toll from their attacks. Afghan commandos cordoned off all arterial roads leading to Northgate, with erratic grenade explosions and gunfire coming from the scene after daybreak, local TV station Tolo said. It added that NATO special forces were overseeing the clearance operation at the Northgate, a luxury enclave which had been fortified with blast walls, watchtowers and sniffer dogs. Tremors from the powerful explosion, which was preceded by a power outage, were felt across the city. The assault comes as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. A chillingly similar Taliban attack on the compound in July 2013 -- a truck bomb followed by a gun siegekilled nine people, including four Nepalese and one Briton. Mondays attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. That attack claimed by the Islamic State group, which is less powerful than the Taliban but is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: Father of a fallen Pakistani-origin Muslim American soldier has lashed out at Donald Trump, saying the Republican presidential nominee has a black soul who needs counselling on empathy. This person is total incapable of empathy. I want his family to counsel him, teach him some empathy. He will be a better person if he could becomebut he is a black soul. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country, Khizr Khan told CNN. Khan, father of Army Capt Humayun Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004 in a suicide terrorist attack, came to national spotlight after he delivered an electrifying speech at Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia on Thursday. He slammed Trump for his rhetoric like banning Muslims from entering the country. He asked Trump to 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. Trump hit back over the remarks that he has sacrificed nothing for the country and mocked the soldiers mother for keeping silent, triggering a bipartisan backlash. Following a national backlash, Trump late last night made a u-turn and described Humayun as a hero, but called for vigilance in defeating radical Islamic terrorism. Khan, who now lives in Virginia, said that Trump is unfit to be the leader of the US. He said Trumps policy, his practices, do not reflect that he has any understanding of the basic, fundamental constitutional principles of this country. He talks about excluding people, disrespecting judges, the entire judicial system, immigrants, Muslim immigrants. These are divisive rhetoric that are totally against the basic constitutional principles, he said. He slammed Trumps suggestion that his wife, who was also on stage at the DNC, was not allowed to speak. He said she has high blood pressure and didnt want to speak for fear she wouldnt be able to hold herself together discussing her Gold Star son on stage. For this candidate for presidency to not be aware of the respect of a Gold Star Mother standing there, and he had to take that shot at her, this is height of ignorance. This is why I showed him that Constitution. Had he read that, he would know what status a Gold Star Mother holds in this nation, Khan said. This country holds such a person in the highest regard. And he has no knowledge, no awareness. That is height of his ignorance. She is ill. She had high blood pressure. People that know her looked at her face, and she said, I may fall off the stage. And I told her that, You have to assemble yourself and stand for the beauty of this tribute that is being paid, Khan said in response to a question. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : A 16-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted, killed and her body was set afire at her home in East Delhi on July 28. According to police, her body was set ablaze to eliminate any evidence of the crime. The victims body was found by her mother with severe burn injuries. The autopsy report revealed that the teenager was sexually assaulted before being murdered. Police have nabbed two suspects from the same locality in East Delhi. According to the reports, the suspects have told the police that they smothered the girl with a pillow after the rape, and then set her body on fire. Two youths had barged into the girls house while she was alone, and raped her in turns. When she resisted their attempts and called for help, one of them smothered her with a pillow. They then poured turpentine oil on her private parts to set the body on fire, said a senior police officer. Both suspects were arrested after a complaint by another girl from the same area who claimed that they had gang-raped her in July and tried to kill her as well, but she had managed to escape. The two had also threatened the girl not to reveal about the incident to anyone, said the officer. He added that the youths were involved in other petty crimes as well. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lahore: Home Minister Rajnath Singhs plan to visit Pakistan this week to attend a SAARC summit remains unchanged even after a threat by terror group Hizbul Mujahideen. "The host country is responsible for the home minister's security," top sources said. Ahead of Home Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Islamabad to attend a SAARC meet, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has warned Pakistan against welcoming him. At a rally in Lahore on Sunday, he accused Rajnath of "deploying soldiers in Kashmir to shed the blood of innocents." The Pakistan government has not reacted to the comments yet. Rajnaths visit comes amid mounting tensions between India and Pakistan. The Indian government has said that no bilateral meeting between Rajnath and Pakistani leaders will take place during the SAARC ministerial conference on August 4. After the killing of Burhan Wani, Hizbul Mujahideens wanted commander, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had made provocative comments on Kashmir situation. He had also said that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan." Reacting sharply to his remark, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that his dream "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bulandshahr: BSP Supremo Mayawati on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the wake of the brutal gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on gunpoint on Friday night. This incident has exposed that there is no law and order but jungle raj in Uttar Pradesh, said Mayawati. The Samajwadi Party government has come under intense flak over the incident. If you can't manage the state, you should resign as the chief minister on moral grounds, she said. The BJP had on Sunday criticised the state government for laying expressways and highways without caring for the safety and security of the users, while BSP said such heinous crimes indicated towards deteriorating law and order situation and jungle raj in the state. The SP government and its head must tell the people if they can return the modesty of women in such a painful and henious crime, Mayawati said in a statement on Sunday, adding common people, especially women, were not safe in present SP regime. Uttar Pradesh Police claimed to have held three of the accused involved in the gangrape. UP DGP Javeed Ahmed, who was rushed to Bulandshahr by Akhilesh Yadav after the incident at village Dostpur here on Delhi-Kanpur highway came into limelight, identified the three detained as Naresh (25), Bablu(22) and Rais (28). He said police had taken into custody 15 persons, all of them belonging to a nomadic tribe, last evening and interrogated them. Three of those held who belonged to Bawariya gang have been identified by the victims and all the culprits would be booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), he said. As the incident, which occurred near bypass when the family from Noida was from travelling to Shahjahanpur on NH-91, acquired a political hue, the Chief Minister went into a fire-fighting mode and suspended SSP Bulandshahr Vaibhav Kishan, SP city Rammohan Singh , Circle Officer (Sadar) Himanshu Gaurav and SHO Ramsen Singh of Kotwali Dehat, amid allegations of laxity by police. The DGP accompanied by Principal Secretary (Home) visited the site of the incident on the direction of the CM. The police chief, however, rubbished the charge that police did not act swiftly, saying they reached the spot within 20 minutes of getting information and SSP Vibhav Krishna also arrived there. Opposition parties alleged that the barbaric incident showed that goonda raj was at its peak in the state where Assembly elections were due in early 2017. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: BSP Supremo Mayawati on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the wake of the brutal gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on gunpoint on Friday night. Home Minister Rajnath Singhs plan to visit Pakistan this week to attend a SAARC summit remains unchanged even after a threat by terror group Hizbul Mujahideen. Gen (Retired) VK Singh to travel to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to bring back Indians stranded in food crises. Here are top 5 news of the hour. 1. Bulandshahr gangrape: Akhilesh Yadav should resign on moral grounds, says Mayawati BSP Supremo Mayawati on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the wake of the brutal gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on gunpoint on Friday night. This incident has exposed that there is no law and order but jungle raj in Uttar Pradesh, said Mayawati. The Samajwadi Party government has come under intense flak over the incident. If you can't manage the state, you should resign as the chief minister on moral grounds, she said. 2. Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin warns Pakistan against welcoming Rajnath Singh Home Minister Rajnath Singhs plan to visit Pakistan this week to attend a SAARC summit remains unchanged even after a threat by terror group Hizbul Mujahideen. "The host country is responsible for the home minister's security," top sources said. Ahead of Home Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Islamabad to attend a SAARC meet, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has warned Pakistan against welcoming him. At a rally in Lahore on Sunday, he accused Rajnath of "deploying soldiers in Kashmir to shed the blood of innocents." 3. Government to evacuate Indian workers from Saudi Arabia The government is planning to evacuate a large number of Indian workers, who are jobless following widespread layoffs in Saudi Arabia. India is arranging exit visas for jobless workers, a senior official source has told a leading national daily. Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retired) VK Singh will be traveling to Saudi Arabia soon to bring back, the source added. 4. LeT commander Abu Dujana spotted in Pulwama amid Kashmir unrest Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana was reportedly seen in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Sunday. Abu Dujana attended the protest rally held by separatists in Kareemabad. Despite a curfew in place, thousands reached Karimabad for the gathering at martyrs cemetery in the village and raised pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Pulwama is the native village of several militants killed in recent past. 5. One policeman killed, four others injured in Northgate Hotel blast in Kabul At least one police officer was killed, while four others security agents were injured in heavy gunfight after a truck bomb struck Northgate Hotel in Kabul, earlier this morning. The Afghan media reported that the situation has been neutralised and the operations are now over. In the wee hours on Monday morning, two suicide bombers blew a truck outside Kabuls Northgate Hotel, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a breather for BJP chief Amit Shah, the Supreme Court today rejected a petition challenging the discharge him in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Rejected, a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said after nearly a half-an-hour hearing on the plea filed by former bureaucrat and social activist Harsh Mander. Mander had challenged the Bombay High Court order which had upheld the discharge of the BJP President by the trial court in the case. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, said, Public must get the feeling that nobody is above the law. To this, the court said it does not consider anyone above the law. Sibal said, CBI has filed the charge sheet but I am unable to understand why did they turn turtle. Even his (Sohrabuddin) brother who filed the case against Shah withdrew his case later. He said that it is a high profile case which was transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra and added that justice to the people of India should be done. At the outset, the bench questioned the locus standi of Mander in the case. Sibal cited some earlier judgments of the apex court and said any member of society can have a locus in the case. He said that the high court should not have dismissed Manders application and could have taken suo motu cognizance of the issue. He said, CBI has filed a charge sheet and had made Shah accused number 16. It is a case of murder. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Shah, cited various judgments of the apex court and questioned the locus of Mander in the case. He said, This court has already held that if one is not connected with the case, he cannot interfere with anyones trial. Salve further said, It cannot be a case that if State is not going to file an appeal, I will file the appeal. He also said this court has held that a third party cannot be allowed to interfere in the trial unless it is an aggrieved party. The petitioner had questioned the findings of sessions court which was endorsed by the high court exonerating Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati killing case, holding that there existed no case against him and that he had been implicated for political reasons. Mander had approached the high court against the sessions court order which was dismissed by the Bombay High Court in March this year. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also killed allegedly by the police in 2006. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : BJP MLA Raja Singh today courted controversy after he uploaded his views on his Facebook page on the recent attack on Dalits in Una by a cow vigilante group. Justifying the assault on Dalits in Una by cow vigilante groups recently, BJP MLA from Hyderabad Singh said it was a very good thing to happen. Singh, in a video uploaded on Facebook, said, Jo Dalit gaye ke maas ko le ja raha tha, jo uski pitai hui hai, woh bohut hi achhi hui hai (Those Dalits who were taking the cow, the cow meat, those who were beaten, it was a very good thing to happen). In the two-and-a-half minute video, the BJP MLA supported the actions of Gau Rakshaks, who beat up Dalits for carrying cow meat and warned that anyone who kills a cow or consumes its meat will meet the same fate. I want to ask seculars, vote-seekers and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati that why are they defaming Dalits? Many Dalit brothers work with me in protecting cows in Hyderabad and Telangana, he said. Soon after, he called a section of Dalits filthy for slaughtering cows and consuming beef and bringing disgrace to the patriotic Dalits. He said that in the Una incident, the Dalits deserved the punishment and appreciated the attackers for teaching them a lesson. He appealed to the Gau Rakshaks to keep up the good work and continue to serve the nation and community this way. Singh said that such incidents do happen if the status of cow has to be elevated to that of a mother. He issued a threat to people of all the communities to refrain from any activity that requires killing of cows. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament on Monday that food has been provided to thousands of jobless Indian workers, who are facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia. Sushma Swaraj said that she was personally monitoring the situation. She said all efforts will be made to ensure that those who havent been paid their salaries for last several months get their dues. She also informed the house that Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to bring back those who wish to return to India. Saudi government has slashed spending since last year due to low oil prices after which the finances of local construction firms have come under heavy pressure. As a result, some companies have laid off tens of thousands. The Foreign Minister had on Saturday said that more than 10,000 Indians in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were facing a "food crisis" because of economic hardships. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: An Air India flight AI144 from New York to Mumbai re-embarked on its journey after taking a small halt in Turkey due to technical snag. The Air India aircraft Boeing 777-337(ER) is scheduled to land in Mumbai late this evening. Details of the aircraft movement can be seen here on flightradar24.com. "AI 144 Newark to Mumbai flight diverted to Istanbul due to technical snag took off from Istanbul,will shortly land in Mumbai airport," tweeted a news agency. @ airlivenet LIVE: Air India #AI144 diverted to Istanbul a short time ago-cause unknown For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. 11:18 01.08.2016 Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference 'Major Corrupt Officials in Sumy Region are Exposed' 1 min read On Monday, August 1, at 12.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Major Corrupt Officials in Sumy Region are Exposed." Chairman of the Sumy Regional Council Semen Salatenko will speak about all corruption schemes and will announce the names of Sumy regional officials who amid the war are shamelessly carving up land and other natural resources. The participants will include Chairman of the Sumy Regional Council, Representative of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Union Semen Salatenko, p activists Serhiy Suprun and Vitaly Koplyk (8/5a Reitarska Street). Accreditation is required by phone: (066) 611 3236. Mumbai: Actress Esha Gupta has revealed she will be seen kicking some butt in Ajay Devgn-starrer Baadshaho, a thriller set in 1970s. The film is being directed by Milan Luthria, of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai fame. Esha also has the sequel to action film Commando in her kitty. The movie stars Vidyut Jamwal reprising his role from the original. When asked if she will be seen doing action in Commando 2, the Jannat 2 star told PTI, No I dont have any action in Commando 2. But I have action in Baadshaho. I am not playing a negative character in Commando 2 though. Even as I read it, I was like who gave this? I cant tell much, but its a very nice, cool role. Not negative. Baadshaho has an ensemble ast, which also includes Emraan Hashmi and Ileana DCruz. Esha said she was overwhelmed when she got a call from Luthrias office for the project. The first time I got a call, I was like Is it Milan Luthria production and direction ? They said, Direction, with Ajay and Emraan in the cast. I said, lets do it, when should I meet? The actress, who has worked with Emraan in Jannat 2 and Raaz 3D and in music video Mai Rahoon and Ya Na Rahoon, said she is excited to team up with the actor again. I messaged Emraan the other day when the news was out. I am so happy and excited to work with him again. Our jodi (pairing) has been liked a lot. The kind of roles we both have, it is very different from each other. It is going to be a very good film. Meanwhile, Esha will be next seen in Rustom, which stars Akshay Kumar and Ileana DCruz. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a bid to gather more of employees under retirement fund body EPFO, government introduced Employees Provident Fund Act and also reduced the threshold for coverage of firms to 10 workers. Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the plan is to amend the law so that firms with ten employees can also be brought under the ambit of EPFO to ensure more workers come under the umbrella of social security. At present, it is mandatory under the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act for firms having 20 or more workers to subscribe to social security schemes run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation. In his written reply, he said no proposal is under the consideration of the government to allow EPFO subscribers to contribute voluntarily towards pension scheme in addition to their employers' mandatory contribution. He said effort is on to bring more unorganised workers under the ambit of various social security schemes for which more projects are being unveiled. "There is more focus on these workers," he said. Responding to the 'plight' of beedi workers following the introduction of 85 per cent pictorial norm on tobacco products, Dattatreya said the Labour Ministry is working to impart vocational skills to beedi workers. He said several representations were received regarding "adverse consequences" of the Health Ministry's notification prescribing 85 per cent pictorial warning on tobacco products. He said at a meeting chaired by him in April, concerns were raised by stakeholders. The report of the meeting was conveyed to the Health Ministry. He said beedi workers are covered under group insurance scheme and provided assistance of Rs 10,000 in case of natural death and Rs 25,000 in case of accidental death. Rs 1500 is also provided for the funeral of deceased workers. Financial assistance of Rs 5000 is given to widows or widowers of beedi workers under social security schemes for wedding of their first two daughters. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kingston (Jamaica): The final session on day three of the second Test was washed off due to rain after Ajinkya Rahane helped India gain a first innings lead of 304 runs and pile more pressure on the struggling West Indies unit. Rahane (108*) carved out his seventh Test hundred to strengthen Indias hold on the game as the visitors declared their innings at 500 for nine in response to West Indies 196. Rahanes gritty century was followed by the declaration in the post lunch session but intermittent rain ensured not a single ball was bowled for the remainder of the day. Early tea was called after a second rain interruption. Post lunch, Amit Mishra (21) had joined Rahane and the leg spinner looked for some quick runs, smacking Devendra Bishoo (1-107) for six. The pacers were brought on almost immediately to block any plans of quick scoring on part of the batsmen. Even so, the 450-mark came up in the 161st over, as also the 250-lead. Thereafter, rain came down, as the threat of tropical storm Earl still looms large on the match. After an hour, the game restarted with just about 25 minutes to play until tea. In this interim, West Indies got a couple quick wickets, as Roston Chase (5-121) removed Mishra, caught at short leg, and then bowled Mohammed Shami (0) first ball. Yadav avoided the hat trick, even as Rahane tried to speed up to his hundred, smacking Chase for a six. The session had been extended, as Kraigg Brathwaite (0-40) came on to bowl, and both Rahane and Yadav went in for quick runs. In doing so, the Indian vice-captain completed his hundred off 231 balls. The latter though was out, hitting the ball high in the air and was caught at short midwicket, as Chase completed his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket.India declared their innings closed thereafter, leaving about 40 minutes for the West Indies to play out before the break, but rain intervened again and an early tea was taken. In the morning, the hosts had come out firing on the morning of day three, as Jason Holder (1-72) troubled both Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha (47). Starting from overnight 358/5, they looked to get settled in and push the lead as further as possible, while keeping in the possibility of rain later in the match as a tropical storm builds up in the Caribbean Sea. The day started bright and sunny though, and Rahane quickly got to his Test fifty off 93 balls. Thereafter, the 50-partnership for the sixth wicket came up off 116 deliveries. Beijing: China continues to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a US think-tank has said, expressing concern over export of nuclear materials in violation of international norms and established procedures. China has taken significant steps over the past several years to strengthen its export controls. However, Beijings decision to continue selling nuclear reactors to Pakistan in contravention of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its sales of missile technologies to countries of concern earns China a failing grade, Washington-based Arms Control Association said in its latest report. In its updates report card 2013-2016 Assessing Progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, it gives China a failing F Grade on nuclear weapons related export control. China joined the NSG in 2004, and its national export controls include provisions related to export licensing, control lists, end-user controls, and import controls. At the IAEA General Conference in 2015, China said it carries out stringent reviews on its export controls and adjusts its trigger lists according to technical progress and in March 2016, Beijing said it started to implement the Nuclear Export Control List that was updated in January 2016. Despite progress on its export controls China continues to supply Pakistan with nuclear power reactors, despite objections that the sale of the reactors did not receive a consensus exemption from the NSG, the report said. Pakistan, which is neither an NPT member nor under full-scope IAEA safeguards, is therefore ineligible to receive such assistance under NSG rules, it argued. China has argued that the reactor transfer was based on a contract negotiated with Pakistan in 2003, one year before Beijing joined the NSG, and grandfathered in when China joined the regime. However, the 2003 exemption was widely understood to apply solely to the two nuclear power reactors whose sale was completed before Chinas acceptance into the NSG in 2004, the report said. In February 2013, China is reported to have signed a formal agreement to build the Chashma-3 reactor. In January 2014, there were reports that China and Pakistan were discussing three new reactors. At a February 2015 press conference in Beijing, a Chinese official confirmed that China has assisted in building six nuclear reactors in Pakistan. The report alleged that the 2013 deal on the Chasma-3 also contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which reaffirms that new supply arrangements for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept IAEA full-scope safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons. China applied to join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2004, but its membership was blocked. Prior to the MTCR application, China committed in 2000 not to assist, in any way, any country, in the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Nurses across the country have postponed their nationwide strike tomorrow following assurance by Union Health Minister J P Nadda to look into their demands. The decision was taken after a delegation met Nadda and was assured that their problems will be looked into. Nurses who have been agitating against the recommendations of 7th pay commission and demanding revision in their pay scale and hike in allowances had called a strike tomorrow. The delegation of nurses met the Minister. The Minister assured them that their demands will be looked into. They (nurses) have called off their strike, a senior Health Ministry official told. However, All India Government Nurses Federation officials said that they have not called off the strike but postponed it by one month after the Health Ministry assured that they will talk to the Finance minister regarding their demands. We have postponed the strike by one month. We have got verbal as well as written assurance from the Minister that our demands will be looked into. He (Minister) has said that he will write to the Finance ministry, said Federation spokesperson Liladhar Ramchandani. This is the fourth meeting in one week between the federation and the Health ministry. The federation had earlier gone on relay hunger strike to press for their demands. The unions have been protesting demanding a hike in pay grade, nursing allowance, risk allowance and night-duty allowance. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The long-pending GST Bill was on Monday listed for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday amidst strong indications that the most far-reaching taxation reform in independent India would be supported by Congress and all other major political parties. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which has been in the making for over a decade, entails introduction of a single indirect tax regime across the country. The GST Bill is listed for consideration and passage on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha and we seek support of all political parties. The mood is in favour of its passage, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. According to top government sources, a fresh round of talks was held today with the main opposition Congress and other parties, including the Left and Samajwadi Party, for building a consensus on the key tax reform legislation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held further consultations with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and chalked out details of the contentious bill aimed at bringing about a consensus on the key bill, sources said. Jaitley also met CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, besides some other leaders. Later, along with Kumar, he met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Another round of talks to clarify on the language of key parts of the bill is likely to be held with Congress tomorrow. Sources added that government was to initially bring the bill on Tuesday, but Congress was not keen on the proposal due to the roadshow of Sonia Gandhi in Varanasi tomorrow which may be attended by some party MPs. The government, sources say, is keen to bring about four key amendments in the Constitution Amendment Bill which will include the scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax provision and grant of more powers to states for providing them full compensation for a period of five years. The key Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to by the government. At the AICC briefing, Congress leader P L Punia said GST is very important for the economy, industry and the business as also for the consumer. With that objection in mind, it was the Congress party which brought the idea of GST. We have raised certain issues and negotiations are still on. We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect the business, industry and consumer. There has to be one more round of talks. Party feels the bill should be passed and our best wishes that this bill be passed, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. One Ukrainian soldier was killed, another six were wounded in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, presidential administration speaker for ATO issues Andriy Lysenko said. "In the last day, unfortunately, one serviceman was killed in action, another six were wounded in action," Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday. He said that in the Luhansk sector the hostilities were conducted mostly at night in the Popasna district; the enemy used mortars and armored vehicles. Two shelling incidents of the Ukrainian troops' positions occurred in the area of Krymske and Novotoshkivske. A total of 13 barrages in this direction, including four using heavy armaments, were recorded in this sector in the past 24 hours. In the Donetsk sector the enemy shelled the Ukrainian troops' positions using heavy armaments in the segment from Avdiyivka to Krasnohorivka. In Avdiyivka, 20 mines and 80 shells were fired on Ukrainian troops' positions in the past 24 hours. The enemy also used 120mm mortars and 120mm and 152mm howitzers. The enemy shelled Pisky and Krasnohorivka at night. A total of 37 shelling incidents in this direction, including 14 using heavy armaments, were recorded in this sector in the past 24 hours. In the Mariupol sector the enemy shelled the Ukrainian troops' positions using mortars in the segment from Krasnohorivka to Maryinka and used mortars in Shyrokyne. A total of 34 attacks in that direction, including seven using heavy armaments, were recorded in the past 24 hours. UAH 250 million has been allocated for the development of the training centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, namely the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv, the Shyroky Lan training range and the training center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said. "During our recent meeting, we've reached understanding on improvements to the training base of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center. UAH 50 million has already been allocated for the creation of infrastructure on the basis of the training center in Yavoriv. The funds will be used to build military barracks," he said while meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and Lieutenant General Frederick Ben Hodges, who is in command of United States Army Europe, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service said on Monday. Another UAH 150 million was allocated for the construction of infrastructure to accommodate 5,000 men at the Shyroky Lan training range and UAH 50 million for the Special Operations Forces' training center. Poltorak also wrote on Facebook that during the meeting the sides had discussed issues related to the operation of the multinational united group for the training of Ukrainian servicemen. "Lieutenant General Frederick Ben Hodges has announced that preparations are now at their final stage. A large number of servicemen have already arrived in Yavoriv, and he also noted that the "right" personnel had been selected specialists who need to improve skills most have arrived," Poltorak wrote. Hodges assured the Ukrainian side that the United States would continue doing its best to support the Ukrainian army both morally and with equipment. FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers still failing at one of their most basic missions (BigGovernment.news) A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued Tuesday says the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have made little progress in carrying out a number of federally-mandated steps to ensure the safety of the nations estimated 100,000 miles of levees and flood walls. In 2014, Congress approved legislation directing USACE and FEMA to create voluntary national levee safety guidelines, in addition to providing technical and financial incentives to state, local and tribal governments to increase safety and public awareness. The GAO says USACE is in the process carrying out one of the congressional mandates: the creation of a national inventory of levees. According to the report, both the Department of Defense and FEMA lay the blame on a lack of congressional funding that would allow them to implement those steps, which include developing voluntary national levee safety guidelines, and providing assistance and training to the state, local and tribal government agencies that maintain the bulk of the nations levee and flood wall system. The agencies have taken no action on the remaining key national levee- safety-related activities for which they were responsible, the report says, and have missed several statutory deadlines for developing guidelines and reports. Neither USACE nor FEMA, the report says, have current plan[s] for implementing the remaining activities. USACE told GAO investigators that resource constraints were the main reason why it has not fulfilled its obligations and that new appropriations would be needed to address them. FEMA also told the GAO it would need additional appropriations, and told us that the agency had not received any funding directed toward national activities required under law. FEMA noted that even if those activities were funded, it would need to hire additional staff in its 10 regional offices to implement them. The report says FEMA currently has one staff person who is available part-time to implement the national levee-safety-related activities required by the act. The GAO recommends executive action to require USACE and FEMA to develop a plan, with milestones, for implementing these activities, using existing resources or requesting additional resources as needed. The GAO suggests the final plan could be posted on the Corps website and monitored for progress. Both the Department of Defense, which oversees USACE, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees FEMA, agreed with the GAOs recommendations. In comments on the GAO report, DHSs Jim Crumpacker, director of the departments GAO-OIG Liaison Office, noted that levees reduce the risk of flooding. They do not eliminate it. Crumpacker pointed out that FEMA is responsible for identifying and mapping risk, while USACE is responsible for operating and maintaining levees within the federal system. The bulk of the nations levees, Crumpacker wrote, falls to local governments, communities and private levee owners, in addition to citizens, who are responsible for knowing the risks and taking the steps to safeguard their homes, businesses and families. The Cato Institutes director of tax policy studies, Chris Edwards, told AMI Newswire that while the GAO is probably right in its criticisms of the two agencies, the whole thrust in federal policy for both agencies increasing centralization is entirely wrong-headed. The more that control moves to Washington, Edwards said, the less cities and states will feel responsible for their own infrastructure and disaster response systems. State and local governments will have a learned helplessness response, he added, meaning that they will lose the initiative, confidence and authority to act for themselves to protect their own citizens. Edwards called this a very troubling trend. The GAO report notes that the effects of a levee failure were brought to national attention in 2005, when waves created by Hurricane Katrina resulted in the overtopping and failure of floodwalls in New Orleans, which the report contends contributed to at least 1,300 deaths. The federal government provided more than $16 billion in disaster relief as a result of that storm. Data from FEMA shows that nearly a quarter of U.S. counties, containing almost half the nations population, have levee systems in place. A 2009 report from the National Committee on Levee Safety estimated that the average age of levees within federal levee safety programs was 50 years. The same report estimated levees outside federal jurisdiction may be 100 years or older. Edwards says the Hurricane Katrina disaster was partly due to New Orleans and the State of Louisiana assuming that Washington had their protection under control. And of course they didnt. We dont need a national inventory of levees, Edwards said. What would that accomplish? No federal politician would have the time to read it. By Norman Leahy, AMI Newswire. More: BigGovernment.news is part of USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY Longtime JCPenney customers may have thought they stepped back in time when they visited the Danbury Fair mall store on Friday. For the first time in 33 years, JCPenney had a major appliance department with washers and dryers, refrigerators, ovens and dishwashers. The department store brought back appliances because of customer demand and to take some of the market from competitors such as Sears, store officials said. The customers were asking for it, Danbury store manager Wilson Checo said during the departments grand opening on Friday. There have been studies conducted and we found that one of the most sought-after items is appliances. So it made good business sense to bring it back. JCPenney sold appliances from 1963 to 1983, mostly under its own Penncrest brand. It now sells brands such as LG, Samsung and General Electric. The store is opening appliance departments in five of its stores in Connecticut including Milford and Trumbull and 500 nationwide. It offers free delivery and price matching. The return of appliances bucks the trend of retailers scaling back space and offerings. Sears recently leased more than half of its space at the Danbury Fair mall to Primark and now occupies less than 60,000 square feet. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the comeback of appliance to JCPenney is a sign of a strong economy in the area. JCPenney has a long history in appliance sales and its nice to see them expand their business here, he said. What bodes well for the economy is that they see potential in that market. Its a good signal for the local economy. Checo said JCPenney scaled back on its furniture and mattress selection to make room for the appliances. It also expanded its window covering offerings and will experiment with flooring to bolster its presence in the home-improvement market. If you look at retail, it fluctuates, he said. You contract, you pull back some of the products that may not be doing well at a particular time and later on you expand back out. Its all driven by customer feedback and demand. The store enters a competitive market for appliances. Other major retailers with appliance departments include Best Buy, PC Richard and Son, The Home Depot, Lowes and Sears. Checo said he is confident JCPenney can compete. JCPenney brings a lot of experience to the logistics end of the business, from the catalog orders in the past to dot-com logistics now, Checo said. We offer a lot of competitive advantages, from our financing to our product mix as well as having a diverse, knowledgeable staff on hand. JCPenney Chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison was an executive at The Home Depot from 2002 to 2014. Some analysts think that may have played a role in JCPenney getting back into the appliance business. Since launching major appliances in 22 stores last February, the response has been outstanding, Ellison said in a release. The pilot confirmed that we should not limit our business to apparel and soft home in order to achieve significant revenue growth. Stephen Bull, president and CEO of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, said the added competition will help the region as a whole. When we get JCPenney opening another division of something they offered years ago, who benefits? The customers, but also the region, Bull said. We are so fortunate that Danbury sits at the crossroads of three very affluent counties Fairfield, Westchester and Putnam. When JCPenney announced this, we were very encouraged. Its a barometer of the economy. Retail goes where the money is. cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338 DANBURY - A conspiracy theorist who is trying to influence a lawsuit brought by two families of Sandy Hook massacre victims against Newtown and its school district gave his argument in court Monday about why his views should be heard by the judge. The families attorney, Donald Papcsy, said he did not want to dignify what Shanley was arguing by responding. Before the hearing, however, Papcsy said that as a Sandy Hook resident who grieved with neighbors on his block who lost loved ones in the massacre, Shanleys views were disheartening and unconscionable. There is no evidence that anyone died at Sandy Hook, conspiracy theorist William Brandon Shanley of New Haven told Superior Court Judge Dan Shaban during a mid-afternoon hearing in Danbury. This is a manipulation of human consciousness to achieve a gun control agenda. This is not the place for political statements, said Shaban, who reminded Shanley a half dozen times that Shanley needed to focus his argument on what legal grounds the judge should allow him to present his views about a case that does not involve him. Shanley wrote to the court earlier this summer for permission to argue that the slaying of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook School in 2012 was a drill staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Shanley further argued in his mid-June letter to the court that the two families involved in the lawsuit had not in fact lost their boys in the worst crime in Connecticut history but were crisis actors. The judge had a 20-minute exchange with Shanley and asked lawyers from both sides for their comments before closing the hearing and promising to issue a written ruling. Newtowns attorney, Monte Frank, said in court that he was exercising all the restraint he had not to respond point-by-point to Shanleys conspiracy theory. The murders at Sandy Hook School occurred - I wish to God they hadnt, said Frank, who organizes a bicycle ride to Washington, D.C., each year in memory of the victims, and to raise awareness about gun violence solutions. I pray every night that we could reverse it, but we cant. Shanley, who introduced himself in court as a media analyst, is the third Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist to make headlines since the beginning of the year. In April, a New York banker who was accused of angrily confronting the family of slain Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto and claiming the massacre never took place pleaded guilty to interfering with police, and is currently on probation. In January, a university professor in Florida was fired after parents of a slain Sandy Hook first-grader complained that he had contacted them, demanding proof that their son ever lived. The parents who complained, Veronique and Leonard Pozner, and another Sandy Hook family who lost a first-grade son in the massacre - Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin - are suing Newtown and the Newtown School District over inadequate security at the Sandy Hook School. The suit is scheduled for a 2017 trial. The families lawsuit against the town and school district is not to be confused with the higher-profile wrongful death lawsuit brought by families of 10 massacre victims against the maker of the gun used in the shooting. That lawsuit is scheduled for a 2018 trial. rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342 Acting Health Minister Uliana Suprun has been given a free hand to form her own management team at the ministry, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday, while introducing the new minister to journalists. "Uliana Suprun has been given a free hand to form her own team at the Health Ministry. She'll introduce the team members soon," he said. Suprun in turn said: "The Health Ministry should become a team of people who think the same way." "The Health Ministry shouldn't be a ministry of doctors or a ministry of patients. It should be a health care ministry," she added. According to Rozenko, the Health Ministry has recently been facing "an uneasy situation as no heath minister was appointed when a new Cabinet of Ministers was formed, and deputy health ministers resigned." In his words, Suprun is "well aware of how health care systems function in the world and what problems Ukraine's health care system faces." The Health Ministry will have to conduct a number of reforms, in particular, the development of primary health care, the introduction of hospital districts, the transition to a new health financing system and improvement of emergency medical services. All in all, the ministry should work to amend 25 legislative acts, he added. As was reported, the Cabinet issued resolution No. 550 dated July 27, 2016, to appoint Suprun, who was deputy health minister, as acting health minister from August 1. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON Police say a 72-year-old Washington woman fell prey to a slow-motion burglary in April and May while recovering from debilitating back surgery. As she recuperated, police said, her certified nurses aide, Candy Sutay, and Sutays boyfriend, Bryan Gamelin, who police said had a heroin addiction, helped themselves to $71,000 of her things. Sutay, 44, and Gamelin, 44, both of Naugatuck, appeared in state Superior Court in Litchfield on July 25, charged with two felonies each: first-degree larceny and first-degree conspiracy to commit larceny. The two, while living with the nearly bedridden woman, stole silver cutlery and jewelery worth $71,000, according to police, and then made trips to pawn shops. Police recovered some of the jewelry, made of silver, gold, diamond and pearl, from a Waterbury pawn shop, but the rest has yet to be found, documents said. Sutay, who the woman had known for years, moved in with her soon after her surgery to help her with everyday tasks, documents said. Soon after, Sutays boyfriend Gamelin moved in, too. Police said the Washington woman didnt know the two were heroin addicts, documents said. Sutay, who became a licensed CNA in February 2013, snorted eight bags of heroin a day, and Gamelin went through two bundles, police said Sutay told them. To fund the habit, Gamelin would pilfer jewelry and silverware from the womans home, documents said. Then the couple, along with the womans dog, would make trips to several area pawn shops where Sutay would sell the items, police said. Gamelins criminal record includes charges for narcotics possession, second-degree manslaughter and sixth-degree larceny, court documents said. Gamelin and Sutays next court date is Aug. 9. blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton DANBURY A city man who authorities said viciously assaulted a police officer late Saturday night was held on a $300,000 bond during his arraignment hearing Monday. Officer Joe Pooler received significant injuries as a result of the assault on Saturday in front of Jimmys Market , according to Mayor Mark Boughton, including jaw injuries and facial wounds but was home resting Monday. He was banged up pretty bad but hell be okay and hes anxious to get back to work, Boughton said. More than half a dozen officers did a heroic job of getting the assailant into custody. While city officials had said that Pierre Elhayek, 20, had been released from Danbury Hospital just prior to the assault, Boughton said after furhter investigation, the claim was unfounded. Elhayek was charged with second-degree assault, assault on a police officer, breach of peace and first-degree criminal mischief. Police said Officer Pooler was sitting in his patrol car at the market, which was closed at the time, when Elhayek approached the vehicle and began banging and kicking the car. Pooler, believing the assailant needed assistance, got of out of the car and was immediately attacked by Elhayek, police said. More News Danbury man charged with assaulting officer A violent struggle ensued and Pooler, who had lost his Taser during the dispute, was not immediately able to get back into the cruiser or reach his radio to call for help. Back up officers arrived after receiving a 911 call from the relative of a city firefighter who witnessed the assault, officials said. Boughton noted that the witness made several failed attempts to reach 911 before reaching dispatchers about the incident. Its a problem that Boughton said emergency officials are examining. The witness said she got repeated hang ups, Boughton said. We have no idea what happened with that but we are looking into it. The mayor said officers on the scene described Elhayek as someone who was not in control of his actions and was experiencing some sort of mental break down. Whether Elhayek specifically targeted a police officer, Boughton said, cant be ruled out at this point until more investigation into the matter is conducted. Folks at the scene said he was uncontrollable, the mayor said. and that he had some kind of break with reality. Elhayeks bond was held in custody and his bond was increased to $300,000 during an arraignment hearing in Superior Court Monday. The hearing was held in the courts lock up rather than in a courtroom due to the safety concerns judicial officials said they had for both the defendant and members of the public due to his behavior both at the police station and at the hospital. Brian Romano, an attorney representing Elhayek, said his client is a genuine person who comes from a good family with loving parents. A lot of people care about Pierre, he said. Id like to thank everyone for the opportunity to have some privacy for Pierre and his family as they go through this difficult time. Romano, who also represents Elhayek on a pending case before the Bantam Superior Court, denied to comment on the hospitals actions in the case, noting that he needs to fully review the documents in the case before making any statements. Romano also declined to provide more details on the charges his client faces in the Bantam case. The court file in that case is sealed and no other information is available. Elhayek is expected to appear again in court on Aug. 25. dperrefort@newstimes.com; BURNABY, BC, July 29, 2016 /CNW/ - Taiga Building Products Ltd. ("Taiga" or the "Company") today reported its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2016. First Quarter Ended June 30, 2016 Earnings Results In December 2015, Taiga ceased certain operations relating to one of its business units. This contributed to the $78.5 million or 19.4% decrease in sales from $404.0 million in the same quarter last year to $325.5 million in the current quarter and will result in lower sales for the current fiscal year. The Company is taking measures to address this shortfall. Meanwhile, Taiga has improved its gross margin percentage from 8.5% in the same quarter last year to 9.7% in the current quarter. Nevertheless, the lower sales in the quarter resulted in a decrease in gross margin of $3.1 million from $34.5 million in the same quarter last year to $31.4 million in the current quarter. Similarly, net earnings for the quarter decreased from $6.4 million in the same quarter last year to $4.8 million in the current quarter. Taiga does not consider that the ceased operations were strategic to its overall business and annual financial results, and such operations did not constitute a material operating subsidiary or segment. Taiga's geographic and product segments remain unaltered following the cessation of such operations. Condensed Consolidated Statement of Earnings For the Three Months Ended June 30, (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except for per share amounts) 2016 2015 Sales 325,466 403,973 Gross margin 31,408 34,475 Distribution expense 5,431 5,200 Selling and administration expense 13,619 14,532 Finance expense 1,319 1,590 Subordinated debt interest expense 4,087 4,087 Other income (115) (125) Earnings before income taxes 7,067 9,191 Income tax expense 2,305 2,751 Net earnings 4,762 6,440 Net earnings per share(1) 0.15 0.20 EBITDA(2) 13,491 15,910 The following is the reconciliation of net earnings to EBITDA: June 30, (in thousands of Canadian dollars) 2016 2015 Net earnings 4,762 6,440 Income tax expense 2,305 2,751 Finance and subordinated debt interest expense 5,406 5,677 Amortization 1,018 1,042 EBITDA 13,491 15,910 Notes: (1) Earnings per share is calculated using the weighted average number of shares. (2) Reference is made above to EBITDA, which represents earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization. As there is no generally accepted method of calculating EBITDA, the measure as calculated by Taiga might not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other issuers. EBITDA is presented as management believes it is a useful indicator of a company's ability to meet debt service and capital expenditure requirements and because management interprets trends in EBITDA as an indicator of relative operating performance. EBITDA should not be considered by an investor as an alternative to net income or cash flows as determined in accordance with IFRS. For the disclosure of the manner in which EBITDA is calculated and reconciliation to net earnings refer to the "EBITDA" section of the Company's management's discussion and analysis which will be available shortly on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The foregoing selected financial information is qualified in its entirety by and should be read in conjunction with, our unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2016 and accompanying notes and management's discussion and analysis which will be available shortly on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SOURCE Taiga Building Products Ltd. For further information: regarding Taiga, please contact: Mark Schneidereit-Hsu, CFO and VP, Finance & Administration, Tel: 604.438.1471, Email: [email protected] SYRACUSE, N.Y. - New York state's new top trooper planned and carried out the agency's quelling of a Native American protest on Interstate 81 in 1997. Nineteen years later, the state has agreed to pay $2.7 million to 76 of the protesters to settle their federal civil rights lawsuit over the way troopers handled them. George Beach was a captain at the state police barracks in North Syracuse on May 18, 1997. Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June nominated Beach as superintendent of the New York State Police, and the state Senate confirmed the appointment. State police Superintendent George P. Beach He testified in a deposition that he was the officer who planned and was in charge of carrying out the state police response that day to the Native Americans' protest over state taxes. Beach was deposed in September 1997 for a lawsuit filed by 98 people who claim state police violated their civil rights. In 467 pages of deposition, Beach said he devised a plan to handle the protesters if they walked onto the highway. His supervisor and the commander of Troop D at the time, Maj. James Parmley, approved the plan. A total of 100 to 125 protesters were at the scene, Beach said. None of the 80 troopers used excessive force in arresting 24 protesters on trespassing charges, he testified. The protesters contend otherwise. They accused the troopers of brutality and overstepping their bounds by breaking up a peaceful protest. The Indians claim state police then covered up their misconduct. Beach declined to comment this month through a state police spokesman, citing the ongoing lawsuit. Sixteen protesters who did not agree to the settlement are scheduled to take the case to trial next month in U.S. District Court in Syracuse. Beach testified that state police knew about the protest ahead of time, and he laid out plans for how to handle it. A few weeks earlier at a similar protest in Western New York, 12 troopers were injured when they tried to break it up. "That was my overriding concern," Beach said of the troopers injured in the previous tax protest. When some of the protesters on the Onondaga Nation did enter the highway to hand out fliers to motorists, Beach ordered them to disperse, he said. The plan was to arrest anyone who didn't leave the road, he testified. The protesters did get out of the highway, but many of them did not leave the area next to it, he said. He ordered the troopers to start arresting anyone who hadn't left the area, Beach testified. "All squads forward, commence arrests," he told the troopers over a police radio. Beach acknowledged he never told the protesters they had to leave the adjacent property, which was owned by one of the protesters. He never instructed the protesters where they had to disperse to, he testified. An internal affairs report said the pre-protest planning and communication with protesters before and during the demonstration "could have been more thorough," Beach acknowledged in his deposition. "It is possible that more effective communication and planning could have mitigated the level of confrontation," the report said. Troopers had a megaphone at the site, but it didn't work, Beach said. The protesters were about 20 feet off the highway when troopers started arresting them, he said. Beach himself assisted in the arrest of one, he said. The internal affairs report faulted state police for having no plan about what to do if the protesters left the highway and returned to the Onondagas' property. But the report called the state police's actions "necessary and appropriate" to reopen I-81 after the protesters had gone onto the highway and slowed traffic. Beach acknowledged that, after the protest, he complained to his bosses about the original head of the internal affairs investigation into the incident, Investigator Salvatore Valvo. "I gathered that he became exasperated with some of my answers," Beach testified. Valvo would look at another internal affairs investigator during the questioning, Beach said. "I would describe it as a panic look on his face," Beach said. "He would interrupt me and say things like 'Joe (the name of the other investigator), am I missing something here?' so that I couldn't complete answering the question." In the interviews with Valvo, Beach felt like he was the subject of the investigation when it should've simply been a fact-finding expedition, Beach testified. Valvo told Syracuse.com four years ago that the state police mistreated the Indians that day. He declined to comment on Beach's appointment as superintendent. Valvo was removed as the lead internal affairs investigator after Beach and Parmley complained. In a deposition, Valvo said there was "misconduct on the part of members that I was not allowed to pursue." No one was disciplined over the arrests of protesters. Parmley lost two vacation days and received a letter of censure over the arrest of a television news cameraman who was ordered to stop filming at the scene. Beach was only assigned to the North Syracuse barracks for five months, he said. He started there in January 1997 and was transferred to another area of the state in June 1997, a month after the protest. Nothing in the court papers indicates he was transferred as a result of his handling of the protest. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 Elon Musk argues that applying engineering effort to refining the production process is a better use of man-hours than trying to wring the last little bits of efficiency out of his cars. An engineer working on improving the factory line is five to 10 times more productive than that same effort put on the product thats actually being built. It takes a massive amount of effort to improve the inverter efficiency by a few tenths of a percentage point, said Musk. You have to really wrack your brain and try super hard and take a lot of risks to improve efficiency by a few tenths of a percentage point. But apply that same engineering effort to the process of building the inverter and it can deliver 10 times the efficiency improvement. Musk cited one example where his engineers were able to reduce a production stations time from 200 seconds to a single second. Standing inside the building, staring agape at the sheer audacity of the project, its easy to say, Oh, yeah, this all makes sense. But Panasonic executive Yoshi Yamada said he wasnt always on board. Three years ago, when the Gigafactory was first proposed, I thought it was crazy, said Yamada. At that time, production capacity of this Gigafactory would exceed total production of the industry. Not Panasonic. Not Japanese companies. All Japanese, Korean, and Chinese companies combined. I thought it was a crazy idea. But I was crazy. And I was wrong. After seeing extraordinary success of the announcing of Model 3, there is a strong demand for this battery. So, three years ago I thought this was a crazy idea. But I was crazy at the time. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko considers it necessary to explain the principle of gas prices formation to Kyiv residents. "The government should explain how the gas price is formed. It is found out that 80% of the heat energy tariff is the cost of natural gas. Therefore an appeal to the government has been prepared at my request to get a clear answer: how the gas price is formed today, what the share of domestic gas production is and what price we pay for imported gas? Only knowing this information we can actually influence the tariffs," the press service of Kyiv City State Administration said citing Klitschko. Klitschko noted Kyiv residents and the residents of other cities should receive clear information about how the gas price for the population is formed today, what share of domestic gas is used for heating and what the price of gas imported to Ukraine is. GAO found that the Orion programs cost and schedule estimates are not reliable based on best practices for producing high-quality estimates. Cost and schedule estimates play an important role in addressing technical risks. In September 2015, NASA established a commitment baseline of $11.3 billion and an April 2023 launch readiness date for the programs second exploration mission. NASA used a joint cost and schedule confidence level (JCL) analysisa point-in-time estimate that, among other things, includes all cost and schedule elements and incorporates and quantifies known risksto establish the commitment baselines at a 70 percent confidence level, as required by NASA policy. However, NASAs JCL analysis was informed by its unreliable cost and schedule estimates. GAO found that the Orion cost estimate met or substantially met 7 of 20 best practices and its schedule estimate met or substantially met 1 of 8 best practices. For example, the cost estimate lacked necessary support and the schedule estimate did not include the level of detail required for high-quality estimates. Without sound cost and schedule estimates, decision makers do not have a clear understanding of the cost and schedule risk inherent in the program or important information needed to make programmatic decisions. To provide the Congress and NASA a reliable estimate of program cost and schedule, the program should perform an updated JCL analysis with cost and schedule estimates in line with best practices. The program should also perform an analysis to understand the impact of deferred work on program reserves. NASA partially concurred with the first recommendation and concurred with the second. Ecological roulette The assessment, conducted by Natural History Museum researchers and colleagues from across the UK, Europe and Australia, is one of the first to estimate biodiversity loss from ecological communities at a global scale. To do this, rather than look at the numbers of species already lost to extinction, the team assessed the effect that habitat loss has had on populations of surviving species. This is an important measure of how well local ecosystems can continue to provide the goods and services on which people depend. It also tells researchers what scope remains for conservation. The team found that grasslands, savannahs and shrublands were most affected by biodiversity loss, followed closely by many of the world's forests and woodlands. In these areas, the local ecosystems are facing an uncertain future as the level of biodiversity becomes increasingly unable to support them. 'For ecosystems to thrive, they need a variety of native species with adequate populations,' explains Museum researcher Prof Andy Purvis, who led the research team. 'It ensures the ecosystem still works even in a hot year - or a cold year, or a wet year - or if there is some kind of extreme event, such as a wildfire.' Experts have therefore proposed using biodiversity loss alongside other measures of environmental change, such as carbon dioxide emissions and groundwater use, as a way to assess the effect humanity has on the planet. Crossing the safe limits on these criteria means a potentially dangerous level of risk to the stability of the environment, similar to the effect that rising CO 2 emissions have on the climate and that CFC emissions had on the ozone layer. 'This makes it extremely worrying that we've already pushed biodiversity below the proposed safe limit,' adds Professor Purvis. 'Until and unless we can bring biodiversity back up, we're playing ecological roulette.' Overview of Psoriasis Psoriasis is a chronic (long-lasting) disease in which the immune system becomes overactive, causing skin cells to multiply too quickly. Patches of skin become scaly and inflamed, most often on the scalp, elbows, or knees, but other parts of the body can be affected as well. Scientists do not fully understand what causes psoriasis, but they know that it involves a mix of genetics and environmental factors. The symptoms of psoriasis can sometimes go through cycles, flaring for a few weeks or months followed by periods when they subside or go into remission. There are many ways to treat psoriasis, and your treatment plan will depend on the type and severity of disease. Most forms of psoriasis are mild or moderate and can be successfully treated with creams or ointments. Managing common triggers, such as stress and skin injuries, can also help keep the symptoms under control. Having psoriasis carries the risk of getting other serious conditions, including: Ivory Coast international Eric Bailly has revealed that he opted to sign for Manchester United instead of Manchester City based on the advice given to him by Elephants legend Didier Drogba.Bailly joined United in June as the first of Jose Mourinhos signings since taking over at Old Trafford and the 22-year-old revealed that the Portuguese managers presence is what convinced him to become a Red Devil."I signed for United because I like Mourinho, as simple as that," Bailly told the Sunday Times."I wanted to play for someone who works very hard. I didn't speak to Pep Guardiola but the 'second' manager called me and Mourinho called me as well."He said come and play for me. I prefer Mourinho, in part because of Didier Drogba, who Mourinho worked with.I have played with Didier in the Ivory Coast, he is a friend and he told me, 'Jose did this for me, Jose did that for me'.Yaya also called me and said come to City. But once Jose spoke to me and Didier gave me advice, I knew straight away I wanted to play for him." President Muhammadu Buhari, today, in Abuja formally launched a comprehensive housing scheme for federal workers tagged Federal Civil Serv... President Muhammadu Buhari, today, in Abuja formally launched a comprehensive housing scheme for federal workers tagged Federal Civil Servants Housing Scheme (FISH).Speaking at the Ground Breaking Ceremony at the Apo Tafyi District Abuja, the President said the initiative of the office of the Head of Head Civil Service of the Federation is commendable as it would afford workers leverage to optimise their service output.He said the government is targeting about 5000 housing units in all the states withing three years."I, therefore, urged the workers to re-dedicate themselves to service and contribute to good governance. This government is committed to workers welfare,"President Buhari was represented by the Minister of State Power, Works and Housing Mustapaha Baba Shehu said.Chairman of the occasion and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, represented by the Executive Director Dangote Group Engr. Mansur Ahmed said the government and the organised private sector must continue to collaborate not only to build structure, but to also build other national values and maintain existing structures to stimulate national development. A small basket of tomato, which sold for N25,000 in May, is now going for N800 in Kaduna. And, no, it is not a joke. A small basket of tomato, which sold for N25,000 in May, is now going for N800 in Kaduna. And, no, it is not a joke.It had been all anger and pain for households as the price of tomatoes hit the roof across the country as a result of scarcity caused by tuta absoluta, also known as tomato ebola.This affected the crop in most parts of the north-west, notably Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina and Kano states.As a result, the basket prices jumped from the range of N800-N1200 to between N25,000 and N40,000 at the height of the crisis.At the Line Dogo (Rail Line) tomatoes and vegetable market in Kaduna on Saturday, it was a beehive of activities.Buyers could not believe their eyes as tomato prices had crashed to a two-month low.Abass Mai Tumatur, chairman of the tomato sellers, told newsmen it was a pleasant relief for everyone as tomato is now available and in large quantities.Tomato scarcity is nothing new, but it was made worse this year by the invasion of the moth, he said.He said the insects mutate more during the dry season but dont survive during the rainy season.The rains coupled with the efforts of government have helped tremendously in making tomato available, he said, praising the government for the timely intervention.He assured the public that the fear is gone now and hopefully for good.Farmers were left stranded and helpless as the moth ravaged their farms and left destruction across the farming community, making a pot of soup as expensive as gold.Hotels and restaurants, in particular, faced a nightmare as the crisis also shot up the price of canned tomato paste.Many were not aware of the reasons for the scarcity as frantic efforts were made to to address the situation.Nasir el-Rufai, the Kaduna state governor, declared a state of emergency and dispatched officials to Kenya to find ways of tackling the ravaging insects.The cost of the destruction in the state, according to el-Rufai, was close to N1 billion.Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development, also commissioned experts to find solutions to the disease outbreak as soon as possible.The insect originated from South America around 1912 and has spread to other parts of the world.Reports suggest the insect came to Africa through Republic of Niger. Two checkpoints where Ukrainian border guards serve came under fire of automatic grenade launchers and small arms, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said on Monday. At 7:25 p.m. on Sunday the Mayorsk checkpoint was shelled, it said. The adversary from time to time conducted intense fire, using small arms of the caliber of 5.45 mm and 7.62 mm in the direction of Horlivka. No individuals or vehicles were allowed to proceed through the checkpoint while it was under fire. Border guards undertook all appropriate measures to avoid casualties among civilians, it said in a report. Besides, the adversary opened fire on the Maryinka checkpoint at 10.45 p.m., it said. The positions at the checkpoint came under fire of small arms that have the caliber of 7.62 mm and were shelled with grenades released from AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers. Fire was conducted from the area of Oleksandrivka held by the enemy, the Ukrainian state agency said. No one from the Ukrainian border guards was injured in the shellings of the checkpoints, it said. Nigeria's Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has stated that the current recession the country's economy... Nigeria's Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has stated that the current recession the country's economy is facing was caused by the previous Goodluck Jonathan led administration.Speaking recently in London, Fashola said the previous administration allocated just 15% for capital projects in most of its budgets, which is a precursor to recession.Sometime in March 2015, a little over a year ago, before the Buhari government, a snap survey of four construction companies which I conducted revealed that they had laid off 5, 150 workers because government was not paying these construction companies for work done.Fashola said upon assumption of office that he had a meeting with contractors in the sector and discovered that they were owed between two to three years, which he described as seeds of recession, planted and nurtured between 2013 and 2014.He however said the Muhammadu Buhari led government is doing everything in its power to turn things around.From N4 trillion average budget in a time of plenty, this administration set an ambitious N6 trillion with a 30 per cent capex. It pays serious attention to its budget as the article of faith that defines its commitment and since the 2016 budget was passed, construction companies that had demobilised from their sites and laid off workers due to lack of payment since 2014, had been re-mobilising to rail, road, power and other construction sites, and recalling workers. Lulu Mnguni, South African high commissioner to Nigeria, recently went down memory lane in recalling the role Nigeria played during the ap... Lulu Mnguni, South African high commissioner to Nigeria, recently went down memory lane in recalling the role Nigeria played during the apartheid era in his country.While speaking as a special guest at a forum organised by the Abuja Writers Forum, Mnguni narrated how the iconic Nelson Mandela, who led the struggle against apartheid forces, came to Nigeria in 1963 to solicit financial assistance.Mandela came to Nigeria in February 1963 to beg for money to help in the struggle for the people of our country and he was given the needed support, he was quoted as saying.Nigeria as a country helped South Africa a lot in the struggle for freedom; I want to use this opportunity to thank Nigerians for the role they played in our struggle.The African National Congress (ANC) was earlier in the struggle dominated by professors and other educated people, but Mandela later changed it and made people the centre of the struggle.Mnguni explained that people saw Mandela as a symbol of struggle; he was an intelligent lawyer, who did not compromise in spite of the contradiction happening in his country at that time.While speaking on the life and times of Mandela, Lynette Johnson of House Mosadi, said even after Mandela was jailed in 1964, he continued with the struggle in confinement. Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State on Sunday said he was extremely sad that Nigerians were passing through the worst economic downtur... Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State on Sunday said he was extremely sad that Nigerians were passing through the worst economic downturn ever witnessed in the history of the nation.El-Rufai, who spoke in Lagos during the Sunday service of The Latter Rain Assembly, noted that there was no denying the fact that Nigerians were contending with multi-facetted challenges, which were the outcome of the looting of the nations resources in the past years.He, however, believed that the citizens needed to cooperate among themselves and with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to see the nation through its trying times.The governor added, We have always known that there is massive corruption in Nigeria but the revelations of the past one year have shocked even the most pessimistic of critics. Nearly 70 per cent of Nigerias oil revenues disappeared without a trace.Of course, there must be consequences for that. When we sit down with President Buhari these days, I pity him. I pity him because he has always become President anytime Nigeria is in trouble.First, it was after the NPN (National Party of Nigeria) government had almost grounded the economy (in 1984) and now, after a massive looting of the nations treasury; and he has to lead the team to fix it.But we are working round the clock to fix these problems. With your prayers and the cooperation of Nigerians, we shall surmount these problems.El-Rufai argued that Buharis strength was also his weakness, explaining that trusting people was a virtue, saying it could become a weakness when one could not come to the reality that only a few people could be trusted.President Buhari loves humanity passionately; his strength is that he believes everyone could be trusted, which is also a weakness. When he gives people any assignment, he expects people to carry out the assignment with all honesty. Unfortunately, this is not so all the time as we have seen over time and thats why I said it is a weakness.The President is not a man who has interest in making money for himself or for his friends. Mistakes could be made; only God is perfect, he added.El-Rufai attributed his status today as a governor to the advice of the Serving Overseer of The Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, who, he said, invited him to Buharis party, the CPC (Congress for Progressives Change) in 2011.He stated, I already made up my mind never to go into public office after I left office the last time. Pastor Bakare told me that I should not be bitter; that I should forgive anyone who might have offended me and should move on with my life.He then invited me to the join Buharis party, the CPC, in 2011 and we have continued since then. Today, Im close to President Buhari because of what Pastor Bakare has done. Today, Im a governor because of what Pastor Bakare has done. Im no longer sad; Ive forgiven everyone; and Im no longer bitter.More importantly, we need the prayers of Nigerians to succeed.El-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, said Nigerians belonged to one nation under one God, adding that there should not be any reason to discriminate based on religion. Jibrin Abdulmumin, former chairman of the house of representatives appropriation committee, says the comment of ex-President Olusegun Obas... Jibrin Abdulmumin, former chairman of the house of representatives appropriation committee, says the comment of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo about lawmakers being corrupt is not completely wrong.Some members of the national assembly had reacted angrily to Obasanjos statement, but speaking during an interview with Channels TV on Sunday, Jibrin said his colleagues enjoy living in denial.He said the corruption in the house is institutional.There is corruption in the house of representatives, there is institutional corruption among other things. I can prove, and this is a second layer of what my struggle is going to be about, Jibrin said.Obasanjo is not completely wrong, there is corruption, the only problem is that we keep living in denial but I have been part of that system and I know there is corruption in that system.There is also institutional corruption in that system, I have been in that institution for five years, we have seen a lot.He said though the constitution empowers the legislature to appropriate funds for projects, the insertions in the 2016 budget were senseless.The lawmaker alleged that on several occasions, Yakubu Dogara, the speaker, requested him to insert projects into the budget.It is very important that the constitution gave us the power to appropriate, insert, but the intention of the constitution is not to do senseless insertions, he added.We did a statistics after collecting reports from the various committees, shockingly I discovered that about 10 standing committees of the house, posted about 2,000 projects totalling about N200 billion.Jibrin is accusing Dogara and 11 others of padding the 2016 budget through unnecessary projects. Turkish special forces have captured a group of rebel commandos who tried to seize or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, ... Turkish special forces have captured a group of rebel commandos who tried to seize or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, and a government minister said plotters would never see Gods sun as long as they breathe.Drones and helicopters pinpointed the location of the 11 fugitive commandos in forested hills around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris after a two-week manhunt, an official said on Monday.They were part of a group that attacked a hotel where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the July 15 coup bid, reports Reuters.The operation took place overnight, after the government tightened its control over the military by dismissing over 1,000 more soldiers, widening the post-coup purges of state institutions that have targeted tens of thousands of people.The coup attempt and resulting purges have shocked Turkey, which last saw a violent military power grab in 1980, and have shaken confidence in the stability of a NATO member key to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State and to stopping illegal migration to Europe.Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said coup plotters would bitterly regret trying to overthrow Turkeys democracy, in words reflecting the depth of anger among the thousands of Turks who have attended rallies to condemn the coup night after night.We will make them beg. We will stuff them into holes, they will suffer such punishment in those holes that they will never see Gods sun as long as they breathe, Zeybekci was quoted by the Dogan news agency as telling an anti-coup protest in the western town of Usak over the weekend. They will not hear a human voice again. Kill us they will beg, he said.Erdogan blames followers of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for the coup bid and has vowed to rid state institutions of his influence. But the extent of the purges, and suggestions that the death penalty could be reintroduced, have sparked concern in Western capitals and among rights groups. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied involvement.Erdogan and his government have been angered by the response of Western allies to the abortive coup and its aftermath, accusing them of being more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat Turkey has faced.The United States top military official, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, was due to meet Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara on Monday after visiting the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by the U.S.-led coalition for bombing raids in Syria. Martin Montoya has joined Valencia after Barcelona agreed to terminate the contract of their youth-team product.The 25-year-old defender played 66 games for Barca after making his debut in 2011 but was unable to nail down a first-team berth at the Nou Camp and spent time on loan at Inter Milan and Real Betis last season.Barca have now given Montoya the green light to leave the Nou Camp and he has moved down the east coast of Spain to La Liga rivals Valencia.Valencia announced on their official website: "Valencia and Martin Montoya have reached an agreement for the player to join the club in a four-year deal."Former Spain Under-23 international Montoya, who had been with Barcelona since the age of eight, will be presented by Valencia on Tuesday morning.A Barca statement added: "Barcelona and the player Martin Montoya have reached an agreement for the rescission of the contract between the two parties. Barcelona wish the player much luck and new success in the next stage of his career." RIDGEFIELD PARK -- Franklin Osgood killed himself Saturday night on the New Jersey Turnpike after police say he fatally shot his wife in their Providence home. Police are seeking answers as to why the former Providence police officer would slay his wife MaryJo. Here are five things we do know about the 61-year-old: 1. He had no criminal history. Aside from a parking violation that was dismissed in 2002, Osgood had no prior run-ins with the law. Providence Police Col. Hugh T. Clements Jr. told the Providence Journal that police were unaware of any domestic incidents involving Osgood and his wife, who had lived together in Providence since 1996. 2. He was only a Providence Police officer for seven years. Osgood joined the force in 1995, Clements said, but filed for an accidental disability pension in 2002. He was forced to retire on ordinary pension five years later after losing a legal battle. It's not know what his disability was. People close to him on the force spoke highly of him, Clements said. 3. He and his wife had four children. Osgood called two of his adult children Saturday apologizing for what he had done to MaryJo and said he planned to hurt himself, WPRI reported. The children, all believed to be in their 20s, contacted Providence Police afterward, sparking an investigation that led New Jersey State Police to pursue Osgood on the New Jersey Turnpike. Osgood refused to stop and crashed a 2007 Dodge Charger into a guard rail and a State Police cruiser, police said. Troopers found Osgood and MaryJo dead inside the car. 4. The killing likely took place Friday. Clements told NBC 10 News Osgood likely killed in his wife in the garage of their home sometime Friday, though it's not clear exactly when. Police believe he fatally shot MaryJo with the same gun he later turned on himself. 5. He traveled through four states with his wife in the trunk. Police tracked Osgood's car as he traveled as far south as Maryland, NBC 10 reported. A Providence police officer was in sporadic contact with Osgood as he drove. She eventually convinced him to turn back toward Rhode Island. That led him through Pennsylvania and New Jersey before running into state police on the Turnpike. Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. RIDGEFIELD PARK -- A retired police officer from Rhode Island who allegedly fatally shot his wife traveled to at least three other states before taking his own life Saturday night as police closed in on the New Jersey Turnpike, Providence police confirmed Sunday. License plate readers showed Franklin Osgood, 61, traveled through Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut with the body of his wife in the trunk. Providence Police Col. Hugh T. Clements, Jr., said police had not determined a motive for the actions of Franklin Osgood, 61, but that he was clearly "deeply troubled." Osgood shot himself Saturday in his car after leading police on a chase on the New Jersey Turnpike, New Jersey State Police said. Troopers searched his 2007 Dodge Charger and found the body of his 55-year-old wife, MaryJo, in the trunk. Providence police contacted New Jersey State Police just after 9 p.m. Saturday to let them know Osgood was a murder suspect and considered "armed and dangerous." A trooper spotted Osgood 40 minutes later on the northbound side of the Turnpike near exit 18W. Osgood refused to stop and crashed his car into a metal guard rail and a State Police patrol car, police said. A trooper suffered minor injuries in the crash. Osgood, a retired Providence police officer, called his adult children and said he had hurt MaryJo and planned to harm himself, Clements said during the news conference. They contacted Providence police, who issued a "Be on the Lookout" bulletin for Osgood. Police went to Osgood's home in Providence and determined that Osgood had killed his wife in the garage, WPRI reported. MaryJo's siblings released a statement to WPRI saying they were "sickened by the epidemic of gun and domestic violence in this country." They described the mother of four as spunky, funny and energetic. Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. boozle_DisabledMedBills_miller_45.JPG Gerardo Perez sits with his son Wesley. Perez said an insurance company ignored court orders to pay for his son's care. (Andrew Miller/For NJ Advance Media) A terrible accident changed the life of Wesley Perez in 2006. Working as an electrician, Perez, then a strong and healthy 24-year-old man, was nearly killed by a high-voltage shock as he worked on a job at a bank under construction in West Windsor. He spent 29 days in a coma. Today, at age 34, Wesley is deemed completely disabled, his father, Gerardo Perez, said. He can't speak, dress or bathe himself, and he uses a wheelchair. "He's in a diaper," his father said. After the injury, the elder Perez said, all of Wesley's medical and home health aide bills were paid by Ohio Casualty, the insurance company that covered Wesley's employer, Best Way Electric of Jersey City, in Wesley's workers' compensation claim. But in November 2014, all those payments stopped. "Before that, there were a few problems here and there, but it was mostly everything was taken care of," Perez said. "I don't know why they stopped paying." While the insurance company's payments stopped, Perez's expenses kept mounting. Hoping for a quick resolution and unable to care for Wesley himself, Perez continued to employ home health aides, which had been approved to offer care seven days a week, 14 hours a day. That cost is $18 or $19 per hour, Perez said, amounting to about $92,000 a year. Perez, 65, a former plumbing and heating contractor who is also disabled, said he had banked all of Wesley's benefits checks from the time he was injured. The plan was to save the money for his son Wesley's future care. The strategy used to work just fine, Perez said. He would pay the bills and the insurance company would reimburse him. But without help from the insurance company, Perez said, he needed to use Wesley's savings to pay for the aides and other ongoing costs, such as Wesley's prescriptions, doctor's visits and other expenses. When the insurance company stopped the reimbursements, Wesley's savings dwindled fast. There is no money left. Gerardo Perez examines a stack or court orders and other paperwork related to his son Wesley's care. Initially represented by an attorney and later fighting alone on his son's behalf as Wesley's guardian, Perez has been in and out of the Department of Labor's Workers' Compensation court more than a dozen times. Each time, he said, the judges of compensation -- first Randall Corman, and later, Ashley Hutchinson -- sided with Perez and directed the company to pay. Court documents support Perez's contention. For example, in an order signed on March 10, 2016, Judge Hutchinson wrote that the insurance company's claims manager should contact Wesley's doctor for the specs on a new hospital bed and wheelchair. Another order on March 23 and a third order on April 15 again called for the new wheelchair. By May 9, there was still no wheelchair. Yet another court order said each day a wheelchair is not provided, the insurance company may be subject to a sanction of $100 per day. A wheelchair did arrive, but it wasn't the larger one that was previously approved, Perez said, so he refused the chair. On June 2, Ohio Casualty was ordered to pay a sanction of $300 for failing to provide the wheelchair. On June 23, the court ordered the insurance company to provide the correct chair within 10 days. Perez did finally receive the parts, but more than a month later, no one had arrived to put the chair together. Tired of waiting, he did the work himself, he said. And that was just the wheelchair. Much of the problem through the last year, Perez said, was that the insurance company kept asking for documentation, such as receipts and the certifications for the employed home health care workers. Some of the court orders required Perez to give documentation or he could face sanctions, records show. But Perez said he gave the requested documentation -- all of it -- at least three times. "They have it or they threw it in the garbage," Perez said. "They have receipts for everything. They're playing a game." By the time Perez contacted Bamboozled, his out-of-pocket costs were more than $43,000 and rising every day, and there were another $19,000 in bills for home health aides that were not paid. "I just want this judge to make them pay," Perez said of the insurance company, noting that the next hearing was scheduled for Aug. 4. MAKING IT RIGHT We reached out to Liberty Mutual, the parent company of Ohio Casualty, and it promised to look at the case. We also reached out to Best Way, Wesley Perez's employer at the time of the accident. The company owner said he hasn't been involved in the case since the workers' comp claim was first filed. We then spoke to several attorneys to better understand what steps Perez should take next. They said Perez should come to the next hearing armed with every receipt and all the documentation that could possibly be requested of him. Then, he could ask the judge for a motion to enforce the already drafted orders, they said. If the judge grants the motion, the insurance company could be sanctioned further or the judge could hold it in contempt. We asked the Department of Labor why that hasn't happened already, but it said it couldn't comment on the specifics of the case. It also couldn't comment on whether Ohio Casualty has paid any sanctions or fines to date. Within a few days, Perez shared some good news. He said he received several calls from the insurance company. Gerardo Perez and his son Wesley hold hands. In the first call, the rep said the company would send a check for $19,000 to pay the outstanding hours for the home health aides. Perez said he was hopeful, but he was still concerned about future home health aide bills. If the insurer didn't reimburse his other costs -- the $43,000-plus -- he'd have no funds to pay for care in the future, Perez said. That's because the insurance company didn't pay for care directly, but reimbursed Perez for approved expenses. In a second call, Perez said he was told the insurer would indeed be reimbursing the rest of the outstanding expenses. And it did. In total, the insurance company made good on more than $70,000 of expenses, Perez said after he received the money. The parties also discussed how to make sure there are no future problems, he said. "It's fantastic, the move forward," Perez said. "This is all a good thing for Wesley and me. I think everything will be fixed. I just want to take care of my son in peace." We asked Liberty Mutual about the case, but a spokesman said the company does not publicly discuss matters involving individual policyholders. It also wouldn't discuss what changed in November 2014 when the company stopped reimbursing Perez for Wesley's expenses. Perez says that's okay. According to him, this case is now solved. Sounds like he won't have to ask the judge for any motions or new sanctions after all, and the Aug. 4 hearing should put this all to bed. We're hopeful. Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter. Here's what we know and don't know about the case of an Upper Deerfield Township man shot by state police after troopers were sent to the wrong house to investigate a 911 hang-up call. How did police end up at the wrong house? Around 11:30 p.m. Friday police dispatchers in Cumnerland County received a 911 call, but the caller hung up. An attempt was made to trace the call so police could be sent to the location where the call originated and check on the well-being of the caller. Gerald Sykes, seen in this undated photo, was shot and wounded by state police at his Upper Deerfield Township home late Friday night, authorities say. (Submitted Photo) The trace came back to the home of Gerald and Margot Sykes in the 300 block of Centerton Road, authorities said. That was not, however, the location from where the call was made, but two uniformed state troopers from the Bridgeton Station were sent to that address not knowing it was the wrong one. Officials have not yet explained how the mixup in addresses happened, if this is something that has happened before or if the correct address for the 911 hang-up call was located and police dispatched to that location. How could the confusion have resulted in gunfire? While it is not mentioned in the Attorney General's Office's initial report, the troopers likely did not use lights or sirens when responding to the Sykes' home, according to police protocol. "Lights and sirens are not required at time of arrival in response to many types of calls because that could work against the safety and effectiveness of police officers responding to an unknown situation," said New Jersey State Police Captain Stephen Jones. The troopers arrived at the Sykes home around midnight. The Attorney General's report says the two troopers "approached the home and knocked in an attempt of communicate with the occupants." They received no response so they went around back to a deck and "knocked, shining flashlights into the home and announcing that they were responding to a 911 call. A friend and attorney for the family, Rich Kaser, said that the Sykes were asleep and a barking dog woke them up. Sykes went into the living room where he saw someone through the French doors outside on his deck, Kaser said. Sykes went back to his bedroom, got his shotgun and returned to the living room. At that time where was an exchange of gunfire ... in which one of the troopers fired four rounds from his service 9 mm handgun and Gerald Sykes fired a single round from a shotgun." According to Sykes' relatives, Sykes and his wife heard no announcement that the shadows outside the door to their deck were state troopers. Who fired first? Asked who fired first, the Attorney General's Office in an email response, said that is part of the ongoing investigation and it couldn't comment. Kaser said that it was police who fired first. Family said Sykes was hit by three of the four shots fired from outside into the house through the French doors with glazed glass. They said Sykes collapsed after being hit, but managed to get one shot off from inside the home through the window out to the deck. How is the victim doing? After being shot, Sykes eventually came out of his house and was put face-down on the ground and handcuffed, according to Kaser. The AG's Office declined to comment on that accusation. On Monday Sykes remained in stable condition at Cooper University Hospital, Camden, where he was airlifted to after the incident. Kaser said Monday afternoon Sykes had been moved out of intensive care and into a regular hospital room. Sykes was still in a lot of pain, Kaser said, but doing well considering what he had gone through. "He will make a recovery," Kaser said. What happened to the troopers? The Attorney General's Office says that one trooper received a graze wound from either flying glass or from the blast from the shotgun that Sykes fired. Both troopers -- the one injured and the one uninjured -- were taken to Inspira Medical Center Vineland to be treated. Neither trooper was identified. Both are now on paid administrative leave. What is the reaction to the case? Kaser called the incident a "tragic mistake." He said Sykes, 76, had been a longtime South Jersey resident living in Gloucester County before moving to Cumberland County. "Why was the first response to pump four rounds through a door?" son-in-law Ronald Lafalce asked in an interview with 6ABC. The family members said Sykes was hit by three of the four shots fired by one of the troopers. "Twice in the chest. Once in the groin. Collapsed lung. Internal bleeding," said Diana Lafalce, Skyes' stepdaughter added, describing the injuries Sykes had suffered. How long will the investigation take? Because it was a police-involved shooting involving the New Jersey State Police, the New Jersey Attorney General Office's Shooting Response Team is handling the probe. The Attorney General's Office said Monday there was no new information that could be released on the case and, a spokesman said, there is no timeframe for the investigation to be completed and its results made public. Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook. U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's statement about Crimea and Russian President Vladimir Putin goes beyond any form of domestic political campaigning, former Prime Minister of Ukraine and Leader of the People's Front Party Arseniy Yatseniuk has said. "An official candidate for the United States presidential election has challenged the very values of the free world, civilized world order and international law. It can hardly be called ignorance. This is a breach of moral and civilized principles," Yatseniuk said in a statement on Facebook. "The United States is the leader of the free world. Without leadership and alliance the free world will be destroyed by the likes of Putin, Le Pen, Assad, Kim Jong Un and other dictators, demagogues and populists. The people of the United States of America deserve to elect a responsible and wise President and Commander in Chief. The role of this leader cannot be overestimated," the former prime minister wrote. "Donald Trump should seek the wise advice of the distinguished representatives of the Republican Party who know well what freedom, international law, and the free world mean. I have no doubt that many of them must dissociate themselves from Trump's words and realize the danger. We cannot allow any verbal, political or practical gamble to ruin our common values, pave the way for the aggressors, dictators and terrorists. What Donald Trump said today about the Crimea, tomorrow may refer to any other part of the world - in Europe, Asia and the Americas," the People's Front party leader said. As reported, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has again said that he may look into the matter of recognizing Crimea as the part of Russia if he wins the presidential run. "I'm going to take a look at it. But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also," he said in an interview with the ABC Channel. "And as far as the Ukraine is concerned, it's a mess. And that's under the Obama's administration with his strong ties to NATO. So with all of these strong ties to NATO, Ukraine is a mess," Trump added. miss-america-2017-sharlene-hawkes.jpeg Sharlene Hawkes, Miss America 1985, returns to judge Miss America 2017. (Miss America Organization) Joining the celebrity judging panel at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City this September will be a familiar face -- a former titleholder. Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Miss America 1985, will judge Miss America 2017 at Boardwalk Hall, the Miss America Organization tells NJ Advance Media. Hawkes, Miss Utah, was crowned by Suzette Charles, the only Miss New Jersey to become Miss America after Vanessa Williams resigned following a nude photo scandal. Last year, Williams returned as the pageant's head celebrity judge and received an apology from the Miss America CEO for the events that preceded her exit. Hawkes, now 52, became one of the first female sportscasters to sign with ESPN in 1987 and later founded a historical commemorative business that services veteran organizations and the armed forces. Hawkes also serves on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. "It will be tough to choose just one," Hawkes said in a statement. "It helps to know -- based on personal experience -- that the one selected is not necessarily the best, she's the best representative at the time of those coming from every corner of our great and diverse nation." More celebrity judges are set to be announced in the weeks before the pageant airs on Sept. 11 on ABC. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. sesame-street-bob-mcgrath-roscoe-orman-gordon.jpg Longtime 'Sesame Street' cast members Roscoe Orman, at left, and Bob McGrath may yet stay on the show. (Sesame Workshop; Star-Ledger file photo) When news broke that "Sesame Street" had bid farewell to some of its longest-serving cast members, including two actors from New Jersey, fans of the show took to social media to express their dismay. Now one report says the show may be rethinking its decision to cut the men from the lineup. The news that Roscoe Orman, 72, a longtime resident of Montclair, who plays Gordon, Bob McGrath, 84, a resident of Teaneck, who plays Bob, and Emilio Delgado, 76, who plays Luis, would no longer be appearing on the show caused those who grew up watching the three men on TV to issue some pointed criticism of "Sesame Street," which recently made the jump from PBS to HBO. Now Delgado tells Fox News Latino that the show, which premieres shorter, half-hour episodes on HBO months before they air on PBS, may be reconsidering. "Due to your overwhelming reaction regarding the status of myself and others on the show, the new producers of 'Sesame Street' have reached out to us with an expressed desire to continue our longstanding relationship, to be initiated with a meeting in September," he said. "Hopefully, this will result in the inclusion of veteran cast members in upcoming productions. I look forward to sharing with you at such time the results of that conversation. Thanks again for your loving support and devotion to 'Sesame Street' and to what it has meant to the children of the world." McGrath originally charged that he, Delgado and Orman, some of the oldest members of the cast, were cut from the show because of a decision made by HBO. The "Sesame Street" Twitter account posted a statement saying that was not true, maintaining that the Sesame Workshop, not HBO, oversees creative control. "Since the show began, we are constantly evolving our content and curriculum, and hence, our characters, to meet the educational needs of children," the statement said. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. dave-schwartz.png Weather Channel meteorologist Dave Schwartz died this weekend from cancer. He was 63. (Weather Channel) PHILADELPHIA -- Dave Schwartz, a self-described "weather geek" who spent more than 20 years as a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, died this weekend after a decade-long fight against cancer. The 63-year-old Philadelphia native was a "fan and staff favorite because he so obviously loved what he did and had a unique ability to draw viewers into the fascinating world of weather," The Weather Channel said in a statement announcing Schwartz's death. The station described Schwartz's passion for weather as contagious and said he "inspired many to enter the field of meteorology." Schwartz revealed earlier this year that he was being treated for cancer, after viewers expressed concerns about his weight loss. Schwartz said he had beat pancreatic cancer twice after he was first diagnosed with the disease 10 years ago. But the cancer returned a third time in 2015. "Stomach cancer of all things for a foodie to get," he said. Schwartz, a graduate of Temple University and Mississippi State University who often referred to viewers as "my friends" before forecasts, started at The Weather Channel in 1985 and became an on-camera meteorologist for the station in 1991. Schwartz said in an interview with the Weather Channel in March that he planned to keep working for as long as he could. "The people are great. I love the weather. What could be bad?" he said. Schwartz died on Saturday, the Weather Channel said. A private memorial service is planned. Fellow meteorologists and fans are remembering Schwartz as a "true weather expert" and "incredible man." One of the true @weatherchannel originals in every sense, Dave Schwartz lost a valiant battle against cancer. pic.twitter.com/LRYmuAnWo4 Al Roker (@alroker) July 30, 2016 Today, TWC and the entire weather community lost one of the most talented men I've ever known. Dave Schwartz was not... Posted by Jim Cantore on Saturday, July 30, 2016 Dave Schwartz was as talented & passionate about meteorology as he was witty. Courageous vs. cancer. RIP, my friend. https://t.co/8ZULaj1cEV Jonathan Erdman (@wxjerdman) July 31, 2016 Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Genny Fulco, John Pruestel In this 2008 file photo, Life Works Program Coordinator Genny Fulco, right, talks with intravenous drug user John Pruestel at the needle exchange program location, in Camden. (AP Photo | Joseph Kaczmarek) TRENTON -- The premise behind needle exchange programs is simple -- give addicts a clean needle for every dirty needle they turn in to help prevent the spread of HIV, and hopefully link them to treatment if they are willing. But the exchange element of this equation is falling short, according to a report in The Record. All five of the needle exchange programs in New Jersey, located in Atlantic City, Camden, Jersey City, Newark and Paterson don't have as many clean needles this year to share because the city-run programs can't afford them. Last year, the centers give out about 1 million needles. In the first six months of 2016, however, they have handed out 314,931, according to the report. Private donors and donations have long been a source of support for the programs. Yet the patience of these donors is wearing thin because the state has refused to fund these legal and by its own account effective harm-reduction programs that provide a path to treatment, Tom Billet, financial manager of the needle exchange program in Camden, told the newspaper. Supplies could run out by summer, Billet said. The five programs had once shared $150,000 in grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Congress reinstated a ban on public support four years ago, according to the report. A bill is on Gov. Chris Christie's desk that would no longer limit the number of needle or syringe exchange programs in the state, although no funding is attached. It's not clear whether the governor will sign the bill into law, but Christie has made drug treatment and recovery a cornerstone of his administration. A study by the state Department of Health found the programs succeeded in drawing participants into treatment. Atlantic City was the first city to establish a syringe exchange program under state law in 2007. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. The UK's position on sanctions against Russia remains unchanged: sanctions will be extended until the Minsk agreements on Donbas settlement are fully implemented, British Prime Minister Theresa May said during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The UK prime minister also stressed her country's strong commitment to the policy of non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia. May and Poroshenko discussed topical issues of bilateral and international cooperation in the context of the UK's decision to leave the EU. Poroshenko thanked the British government for their firm position of support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The two leaders also expressed interest in expanding economic cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom. In the course of the conversation, they also discussed the continuation of British financial and expert assistance in the implementation of reforms in Ukraine and training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Poroshenko invited May to visit Ukraine. Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has chosen the pre-trial restriction for the former head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction, Oleksandr Yefremov, in the form of detention until September 28, 2016. This decision was announced by investigating judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv Volodymyr Karaban after he heard the statements of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yefremov's defense team and the defendant himself at a sitting on Monday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. Thus, the court has granted a petition of the prosecutors, who asked to remand the defendant in custody for 60 days. Yefremov was detained on suspicion of encroaching on Ukraine's territorial integrity at Boryspil Airport in Kyiv on July 30 after he boarded an Austrian Airlines plane bound for Vienna. Yefremov is suspected of a number of criminal offences, including taking possession of a property, premeditated attempts to change the borders of Ukrainian territory in breach of the Constitution, and organizing and assisting the efforts to create the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (Articles 191, 110 and 258 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code). Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said the Prosecutor General's Office would petition for Yefremov's two-month detention, Lutsenko said, adding that given his charges the man should not be released on bail or placed under house arrest. (Global Times) 10:03, August 01, 2016 Illustration: Liu Rui/GT A wedding is as much a celebration of culture as a celebration of love. So when I, a Scottish man, and my fiance Shelley, a Chinese woman, decided to get married in Tianjin, we wanted to honor our national traditions by having a mixture of both in our wedding. This, however, proved far harder than we anticipated. Cultures might travel and almost everything might be for sale in modern China, but it seemed there were limits. Yet even if everything had been easily available, unexpected difficulties and snarl-ups arose to make it the single most wearying task I ever undertook in China. We moved to Tianjin in August after I got a job there, and planned to get married on May 1 the next year. We met with a number of wedding planners to get a sense of what we liked and disliked. We would have a Christian ceremony with a pastor from a local church, as Shelley is religious. We wanted to have a Scottish dance, as is traditional after the meal and toasts. We didn't want anything too fancy or ostentatious, like champagne fountains or the bubble machines. Our rule of thumb was that it should be simple and fun, for us and for the guests. So, being new to the city, we explored all the suitable venues. But swiftly a problem arose. None of the hotels seemed to be equipped for having a dance afterwards. They all had great reception rooms, but none were suitable for a dance. Eventually we settled on the Astor Hotel, overlooking the Haihe River. It was beautifully elegant, and it had a reception room we could have for the wedding and for photos, and a dining room which could later be emptied and redecorated for a dance. So we put down a deposit and got on with arranging everything else. But two months later, a phone call came - the Astor, they suddenly remembered, would be shut down for refurbishing at the date of our wedding, so they couldn't offer us their hospitality. Grimacing, we resumed our search. Soon we found a hotel nearby, also overlooking the Haihe. It had a very large reception room, which could have dining tables on one side and space for dancing on another. But it was marred by several large marble pillars throughout, which would get in people's way. However, it was the best we could find, so again we placed a deposit, hoping that would be the venue sorted. No such luck - a month later, the nice events manager lady called us to say the hotel was closing down, but not the restaurant: would we like our deposit returned in vouchers for the restaurant? Funnily enough, we preferred cash. In despair we resumed our search, getting desperate now. One hotel events manager tried to offer us a business conference room, with thick grey carpet and glass walls, saying that they could install a wooden floor if we wanted a dance, for just 5,000 yuan ($753). I almost admired her nerve. Finally we found the Tianyu Hotel, and, with great rejoicing - and after double-checking their dates - booked them. Next we had to get a wedding planner. One of Shelley's colleagues recommended a company: knowing no better, we visited what turned out to be a tiny office, with no sign of any wedding equipment. This was a minor alarm, but we spoke to them anyway, going through a list of what we wanted and how we wanted it; they would then send us an itemized list and bill. When it arrived, however, we quickly saw we were being scammed. They had nothing themselves, so everything they would hire from someone else, then charge us 20 percent on top of that. The three-tier wedding cake, the kind we could see at our local bakers, would set us back 4,000 yuan. The wedding dresses, decorations and labor costs were similarly inflated. We felt like we were being taken for fools. Funnily enough, when we turned them down, the prices instantly tumbled. So we searched through Tianjin wedding planners until we found one we were sure actually owned the equipment, and would be able to run the ceremony. Come the day, everything ran smoothly enough. But bringing a Scottish wedding to Tianjin, and relying on someone to deliver parts of that, was perhaps more than someone should expect. Perhaps I should have just accepted that in China, weddings will be Chinese. But since all the guests loved the whisky and the dancing, the kilts and the music, I can still feel proud that there's a part of Tianjin that's forever Scotland. A girl with dyed blonde hair sips a bottle of boba tea, rambling about her boring school life. A hulky man with a gold chain on his neck gobbles up a huge wedge of watermelon, the juice flowing down to his elbows. A fitness instructor sits on a massage couch, showing his audience some easy exercises to decompress their spines. Meanwhile, pop-up texts and stickers like roses and diamonds nearly fill the smart phone screens. This is just a glimpse of Chinas flourishing live-streaming industry, where thousands of ordinary people use smart phones to broadcast their whims and whimsies, and even daily routines. Data from iResearch, a Chinese consulting group, shows that Chinas online live-streaming platforms were estimated to total around 200 in 2015, including mobile apps and websites. These online streaming platforms have drawn over 200 million users. During peak times, there are about 3,000 live-streaming studios running simultaneously, attracting 4 million online users to watch. The online live-streaming market is now worth 9 billion yuan. Who drives the online content business in China? Individual online celebrities, advertising companies, and industry investors. When watching live-streaming videos, viewers can buy virtual gifts such as stickers, flowers or red envelopes for their favorite performers. On Ingkee, one of the biggest live-streaming mobile apps, a virtual flower costs 0.1 yuan and a virtual blown kiss 3.3 yuan, while a Ferrari costs 120 yuan and a yacht costs a whopping 1,314 yuan. The live-streaming performers do receive a portion of the cash, but the site gets a hefty cut. Viewers can also send comments that pop up on screen to interact with the online hosts. With 17 million followers on Weibo, Papi Jiang, a popular streaming celebrity, won her overnight fame by posting original sarcastic videos on social media. At 9 p.m. on July 11, this Chinese Internet comedian made her live-streaming debut on eight major platforms. Comments, diamonds and Ferraris filled the whole screen. By 10:30 pm, the total amount of online users had reached 2 million and the cash value of gifts Papi Jiang had received was estimated to be 900,000 yuan. These platforms also get a portion of their revenue through advertising. Once they have a large fan base, live-streaming performers can increase their income by advertising products through endorsements, which they post on social media. Take Papi Jiangs live-streaming debut for example: the snack that she ate and the movie trailer that viewers saw 20 times at the beginning of the webcast were both considered advertisements by investment and financial commentators. Many investors believe in the saying, In a strong wind, even pigs can fly. Now they are viewing original content creation as the next strong wind. Chinese venture capitalists are reportedly lining up to invest in Papi Jiangs brand. She had secured 12 million yuan ($1.85 million) in funding as of March. Such a nationwide phenomenon also develops the related industrial chain. From the Internet celebrity trainers and agencies at the production phase, to the smart phone companies and app developers at the collecting phase, to the Content Distribution Network (CDN) suppliers at the flow phase, a new systematic Internet celebrity/live-streaming economy is burgeoning. 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. Welcome to non league daily news now - your number one spot for all things relating to the National League System. Our dedicated reporters have come straight from the sidelines to bring you news fresh from the dugout - but not before theyve stopped off at the burger van first! We know that non league football fans are full of heart, passion, and belief. You trust the manager, you believe in the team, and, for some strange reason, you trust those rickety stands, too! Here at Non League Daily, we hope we can become your trusted non league news resource - a platform thats just as passionate about non league daily news now as you. Come rain or shine, well be out reporting on the latest non league fixtures. Well also be scouring the news, refreshing social media, and sourcing information from team websites in the hopes of finding the latest breaking non league daily news for our readers. As youll soon see, weve got exclusive match reports on the Vanarama National League, weve got transfer speculation thatll affect the National League South, weve found great stories thatll spice up the National League North, and weve even got news on the latest giant killers of the FA Cup. We may not be able to agree on who is going up this year, but we can all agree that any news on the NLS worth knowing will be published here, at Non League Daily. Outlook for India-China cooperation on Belt and Road optimistic, says director of The Hindu Amid mixed reactions toward the Belt and Road Initiative, a senior Indian media executive said he remains optimistic to see enhanced India-China cooperation on the initiative. While India is a major shareholder of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the country nevertheless has two basic concerns regarding the Belt and Road Initiative: first, maritime interests in the Indian Ocean, which is seen as Indias area of influence; and second, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Kashmir. These concerns were outlined by Narasimhan Ravi, director of The Hindu, Indias national newspaper. More talks and more discussions need to take place, but Im quite optimistic, because the benefits will be tremendous, Ravi said. With more discussions, India-China cooperation on this can also be enhanced, he continued. Ravi made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily Online on the sidelines of the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road, which opened on July 26 in Beijing. Despite a few longstanding problems, India-China relations remain strong, and the Chinese investment that accompanies the Belt and Road Initiative can help boost infrastructure in India, which is very important, Ravi noted, adding that the domestic attitudes toward foreign investment are changing, and that the old mindset of eschewing foreign investment is slowly being overcome. BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's manufacturing sector posted a slight drop in July due to the flood season and weak demand, official data showed Monday. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 49.9 in July, slightly lower than June's 50, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction. NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe said floods across much of the country disrupted manufacturing activity and transportation. Torrential rain was seen across more than half of China's territory this summer, resulting in floods, landslides and causing heavy economic losses and fatalities. In addition, slowing market demand and weak investment sentiment in the private sector contributed to the contraction in the manufacturing sector, Zhao added. During the January-June period, fixed-asset investment increased 9 percent year on year, 0.6 percentage points lower than that recorded between January-May. Private sector investment growth slowed further to 2.8 percent in the first six months. The manufacturing sector contracted as the country has embarked on painstaking measures to reduce excessive industrial capacity such as steel and cement. The sub-index for sectors with high energy consumption fell 0.5 percentage points to 47.7, the fourth consecutive monthly decline. The sub-index measuring production stood at 52.1, 0.4 percentage points lower than a month ago. The sub-index for new orders settled at 50.4, 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month, declining for a fourth month in a row. Amid gloomy manufacturing activities, Zhao observed some positive factors, as the sub-index for high-tech manufacturing hit 53.2, the highest level this year. The Caixin General China Manufacturing PMI, an indicator of factory activity based on a private survey, added two points to post 50.6 in July, the first increase since last February, according to the data released Monday. It showed productions, new orders and stockpiles in private sector all resumed expansion. "With the proactive fiscal policy generating effects, China's economy is showing signs of stabilizing," said Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, a subsidiary of Caixin Insight Group. Downward pressure still remains, however, and supportive fiscal and monetary policy measures are still necessary, he added. While the manufacturing sector slowed, the service sector expanded faster in July, presenting a new growth engine for the economy. NBS data showed that the index for services grew 0.2 percentage points to 53.9, its highest point this year. China's GDP expanded 6.7 percent in Q2, the lowest growth rate since the global financial crisis in early 2009. The economy is widely expected to follow an L-shaped path as downward pressure continues and new growth momentum is yet to pick up. At a high-level meeting held last week, China underlined the importance of proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, as well as the careful management of the speed and direction of macro-economic policy. As Chinese companies increasingly set their eyes on the global market, Yahoos Vice President of Global Partnership has said that special credit should be given to companies headquartered in China, which are efficiently seizing business opportunities worldwide. Recalling his experience as CEO of Cooliris, Soujanya Bhumkar said his 28-person team has already worked with Chinese companies such as Baidu and Sina. It is clear to me what is about to come next is that these companies in China are looking at customers outside of China. Its no longer a Chinese company. Its a global company headquartered in China, Bhumkar told Peoples Daily Online in an exclusive interview on July 27. Given his role in facilitating global partnership, Bhumkar said he is now in Beijing once a month because Yahoos partners in China have enough resources for users worldwide, which is of special importance. Bhumkar pointed out that Chinese companies are not only dedicated and efficient, but are also equipped with a great deal of information on data and design, for example. Especially notable is the fact that many Chinese entrepreneurs are moving quickly and making sound decisions. Perhaps this is because they recognize that opportunities do not exist forever, according to Bhumkar. At Cooliris, we always say your risk is in inaction. If you take an action and if you fail, thats okay. You pay a cost to do that, but the real cost is if you never even try. Chinese entrepreneurs recognize that, and I hope more entrepreneurs in the world will, too, he noted. Specifically, Bhumkar said a different mindset embraced by many Chinese startup companies also contributes to their global achievements--be they partnerships, investments or acquisitions. For those companies, it is important to declare themselves a global brand instead of a local manufacturer. Maybe its self-critical, keeping the bar so high, Bhumkar said, referring to the stereotypical image of a Chinese businessperson as dedicated but lacking innovation and ambition. I dont see that with too many companies but very few countries. [South] Korea, of course. You see a lot of innovation also. Definitely I see [that in] entrepreneurs from China, he noted. The vice president, who has been working with Yahoo for less than two years, declined to comment specifically on the Internet giant's latest acquisition. With regards to general acquisitions by startup companies, Bhumkar said the situation varies depending on each company and the stage of each project. Bhumkar mused, Can that technology you build become a building block toward something bigger, or maybe you are so successful in the market that you are letting it [become] slightly more, or fully, independent, but the ultimate decision is economy-driven and [about] what makes the most economical sense. It depends on each case, both on the acquirers, the acquirees and what you decide together." The five people killed Sunday in a crash on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska have been identified by relatives as a young family heading to Colorado for missionary training. Killed were Jamison Pals and his wife, Kathryne, both 29, and their three children: 3-year-old Ezra; Violet, who was almost 2; and 2-month-old Calvin, family members said. They were from St. Paul, Minnesota. They were on their way to Littleton, Colorado, for a month of missionary training with WorldVenture, said Karen Pals, a sister-in-law from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Then they were going to move to Japan to work, probably in October. Tony A. Weekly, 53, a semitrailer truck driver from Baker, Florida, was arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide following the collision. The crash occurred in a construction zone about 4 miles west of Brule, Nebraska, just before 11:30 a.m. MDT. Brule is about 10 miles west of Ogallala. The semi was heading west when it hit the rear of the Palses westbound van, the Nebraska State Patrol said. The force of the collision pushed the semi and van into three other passenger vehicles. The semi and van both were engulfed in flames. Karen Pals said the couple had made a commitment to live in Japan, coming home for visits about every four years. This (the move to Japan) was going to be a permanent thing, she said. They were very committed to their work. Rick Pals of Hugo, Minnesota, Jamisons father, said his son belonged to Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and became interested in missionary work in Japan after hearing Michael Oh, a Korean-American pastor, speak. The Palses would have been affiliated with Christ Bible Institute in Nagoya, Japan. Jamison and Kathryne ... they had a heart for people, Rick Pals said. They loved what they were doing. Jamison and Kathryne Pals kept a blog, For the Joy of Japan, about their call to missionary work. The blog includes updates on their children, their progress in obtaining funds for their work and their move away from the Twin Cities. In a May post, Jamison wrote about leaving the cramped duplex they had called home for the past four years. It is, after all, the place where we brought home both of our children the only earthly home theyve ever known, he wrote. We will miss being three blocks from the Mississippi River and all of its trails. We will miss mowing Mr. and Mrs. Johnsons lawn in the summer and shoveling their sidewalks in the winter. We will miss playing in the sandbox and sink-hole with our neighbors. Mostly, we will miss our neighbors. Jamison wrote that he wanted to help bring the Gospel to Japan, an area of the world he says is underserved by Christianity. Well, depending on who you talk to, the Japanese people are either the largest or second largest unreached people group on earth, he wrote. It just seems fitting to go to the place where there are the most people without sufficient witness to the gospel and all its awesomeness. The Church in Japan is not yet large enough to share Christ and disciple new believers on its own. There is a need for more laborers. Jamison said the decision to do mission work did not include anything miraculous. He even has a little fun with the calling he and his wife felt. Certainly, God has worked in our lives in a unique way; however, we never had any visions from God or prophetic words spoken to us or dramatic dreams calling us to the field, he wrote. We definitely did not hear an audible voice telling us, 'Go to Japan!' Our conviction that God would have us go to Japan came primarily from the Bible (how novel!) and secondarily from the realization that the Japanese people dont have access to the gospel. Six other people also were injured in the fiery crash Sunday. Three of the injured were flown to hospitals in Colorado, according to the State Patrol. Weekly, the semi driver, was treated at a Julesburg, Colorado, hospital and released. He then was taken back to Nebraska, where he was arrested and jailed in the Keith County Jail, the patrol said. After the crash, Interstate 80 was closed for about six hours about 10 miles in both directions. The Keith County Sheriffs Office, Ogallala police and rescue units from Big Springs, Ogallala and Brule responded. A 2-year-old child in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province became locked in a car when he grabbed hold of the car keys, which his father left in the car when he stepped outside to briefly answer a phone call. The child locked the door while his father was outside, and the father had no way of opening the door without his keys. When the child's father first became aware of the predicament, he immediately panicked and began fanning the car windows ceaselessly. His actions attracted several onlookers, and one woman kindly held an umbrella to shelter the child from the direct sun. The incident occurred at 10 a.m., when the blazing sun was shining directly overhead. The temperature inside the car kept rising, which potentially threatened the child's life. Fortunately, shortly after the child locked himself in the car, two police officers passed by. Li Guibo, Deputy Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, said, "I called nearby residents to get some water and pour it on the car in order to cool it down." Upon hearing the policeman's suggestion, Mr. Liu, a businessman, went immediately to fetch a bucket of water. Mr. Liu explained, "I didn't know what had happened at first, but they said there was a child locked in the car and the key could not be found. The car owner tried to break the car windows with a stone, but it didn't work. He then returned home to get his spare key. At that point, the police officer asked me to get some water, and I did as he said." The child's father came back 20 minutes later with a spare key. "The father cried when he finally held his child outside the car. He was so worried when he failed to break the window with stones," onlooker Ms. Wang said. In response to the incident, police reminded parents that children should never be left unattended in cars. Donna Eckhoff isnt ready to give up. In 2013, her fears were confirmed after she struggled to heal from a surgery and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The disease took her mother when Eckhoff was just a teen. Eckhoffs cancer was discovered when she was slow to recover after an unrelated surgery. It had gone undetected despite yearly checkups. A doctor later told Eckhoff that she would have needed a CT scan to detect the cancer. It totally uproots your life, she said. Cancer was no stranger to Eckhoff. Leukemia took her husband in 1999, and she lost a number of other relatives to the disease. But Eckhoff stayed positive that she would beat the cancer. And in 2014, she did. It was just like a great big weight lifted off my shoulder, she said. Then last September, Eckhoff had stomach problems and was told the cancer had come back. After chemotherapy only made her sick, she was given a year to live and told to go enjoy her life. I have nieces and nephews that are my pride and joy, she said. Realizing Im not going to see them grow up is really hard to do. Today, Eckhoff awaits a new drug that she says has a good chance of either eliminating the cancer or keeping it at bay. Meanwhile, she is often tired, with occasional stomach pains and limited appetite. At 52, Eckhoff is two years younger than her mother was when she lost her battle. She remembers those around her saying her mother would be OK, but seeing a different pain in her mothers eyes. Eckhoff said the pain that the person who suffers cancer feels is unimaginable until youre the one suffering. You have days you are positive, she said. Then you have days youre angry at everybody. The whole world. Why me? Why do I have to do this? Eckhoff remembers caring for her husband, who was angered after his cancer hit out of the blue he had no family history of cancer. She knows her family supports her; many of them have traveled with her around Nebraska, South Dakota and Missouri, visiting waterfalls, caves and taking motorcycle rides. Still, Eckhoff feels like a burden when she must ask for help. She hated having to stop work, she said. Im not a whole person anymore, she said. Because I have to depend on everybody. Eckhoff tries to stay busy to avoid the dark thoughts, and she has a hopeful outlook as Relay for Life nears. She described her mother as a guinea pig with cancer drugs, and noted how far research and funding has come with the drug she plans to take. For three years, Eckhoff has walked with a team of mostly family, even the little kids. The event holds a place in her heart, because you can make a difference in peoples lives, and see the difference people have made, she said. Outside of the event itself, the American Cancer Society helps those with cancer travel, pay for wigs and make other living expenses less of a burden. Otherwise, youre wondering, what am I going to do? she said. Today, Eckhoff prepares to be reconfirmed at her church and isnt afraid of death. She believes that everything happens for a reason. But as she prepares for Aug. 13, were working toward a future where cancer doesnt exist anymore, she said. Read more about Relay: St George Illawarra star Tyson Frizell will face the NRL judiciary on Tuesday to fight a one-match suspension for touching a referee. Frizell was slapped with a grade one contrary conduct charge for contact on referee Chris James after brushing past him while running back into a defensive position in his team's loss to Canterbury. If found guilty, the NSW Origin representative will miss Thursday's clash with Brisbane in Wollongong. Dragons second-rower Joel Thompson, meanwhile, has made an early guilty plea and will sit out Thursday's clash after his high tackle on Bulldogs forward Josh Jackson. Bulldogs five-eighth Josh Reynolds has escaped a ban after entering an early guilty plea for tripping. The key talking points, injuries and judiciary news from the weekend's NRL Telstra Premiership action. Roosters v Broncos The Roosters snapped their six-game losing run with a big 32-16 win over the Broncos, with Brisbane continuing to lose touch with the top four. Injuries: Connor Watson (ankle), Lachlan Maranta (head). Judiciary: No charges. Match report: Roosters snap six-game losing run in style Roosters v Broncos: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Roosters vs Broncos Bulldogs v Dragons The Bulldogs went to the sheds ahead 13-0 at half-time but let the Dragons back into the contest in the second half, eventually running out 13-10 victors on the back of some determined defence on their own line. Injuries: Greg Eastwood (leg). Judiciary: Josh Reynolds (tripping), Tyson Frizell (contact with match official), Joel Thompson (careless high tackle). Match report: Desperate Dogs defence denies Dragons Bulldogs v Dragons: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Bulldogs vs Dragons Warriors v Panthers A try to Shaun Johnson in golden point has sealed a dramatic win for the Warriors over the Panthers in wet conditions on Saturday afternoon. Injuries: No major injuries. Judiciary: No charges. Match report: Johnson golden try sinks Panthers Warriors v Panthers: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Warriors vs Panthers Eels v Wests Tigers It was rarely pretty but Wests Tigers have done enough to dispose of a badly undermanned Eels outfit at ANZ Stadium on Saturday evening. Injuries: Luke Brooks (knee - 3 to 5 weeks) Judiciary: No charges. Match report: Determined Tigers grind out Eels Eels v Wests Tigers: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Eels vs Wests Tigers Cowboys v Storm The Melbourne Storm have jumped back to the top of the NRL Telstra Premiership after defeating the North Queensland Cowboys without Johnathan Thurston. Injuries: No major injuries. Judiciary: No charges. Match report: Storm too slick for Cowboys Cowboys v Storm: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Cowboys vs Storm Rabbitohs v Raiders The Canberra Raiders continued their dream season with a rampant 54-4 win over a hapless South Sydney Rabbitohs side at ANZ Stadium. Injuries: Luke Keary (hamstring), Edrick Lee (calf), Luke Bateman (concussion), Angus Crighton (concussion). Judiciary: Sam Burgess (dangerous contact) Match report: Raiders run riot against ragged Rabbitohs Rabbitohs v Raiders: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Rabbitohs vs Raiders Sea Eagles v Knights The Manly Sea Eagles are now just one win outside of the top eight following their 36-16 win over the luckless Newcastle Knights on Sunday afternoon. Injuries: Jamie Lyon (calf - pre-game), Nate Myles (knee - pre-game). Judiciary: No charges. Match report: Sea Eagles smash woeful Knights Sea Eagles v Knights: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Draw Widget - Round 21 - Sea Eagles vs Knights Titans v Sharks The Cronulla Sharks' 15-game winning streak came to an end on the Gold Coast, with the Titans claiming an 18-all draw with the league leaders. Injuries: Tyrone Roberts (knee). Judiciary: TBC. Match report: Titans match Sharks in thrilling draw Titans v Sharks: Five key points Watch: Match highlights Planning for a Four Winds Casino in South Bend took a step forward with the July 11 publication of a final Environmental Impact Statement. The EIS, issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, details the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians' preferred plan for a tribal village and Four Winds Casino Resort. The EIS also includes an alternative site in Elkhart, another alternative without a casino, and the requisite "no action" alternative. Background The Pokagon Band began the process of developing the South Bend land in May 2012. It completed a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the casino project in March 2015, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs held a public hearing a month later. The preferred alternative includes a 423,000 square foot casino with 216,000 square feet of gaming space; an 18-story, 500-room hotel; and parking for as many as 4,000 cars. The tribal village would include a variety of housing and community facilities. The preferred site covers about 166 acres at U.S. 31 and Prairie Avenue in South Bend. The EIS projects 4.2 million visitors annually, or 11,375 per day. What's next Publication of a final EIS begins a "wait period" of at least 30 days, followed by issuance of a Record of Decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The ROD will include the agency's decision on the project and on the necessary transfer of property from fee to trust ownership. The ROD also will include a discussion of necessary environmental mitigation and monitoring. Registration has opened for the third annual Northwest Indiana Business Conference, which will be held Aug. 12 at the Majestic Star Casino & Hotel, in Gary. The Northwest Indiana Business Conference is a business networking event to assist minority, women and veteran-owned businesses. It includes educational workshops on how to start a business, accessing capital, strategic certification and other topics. The Doing Business With workshop will feature Indiana American Water, Indiana Toll Road Concession Co., the city of Gary, Indiana Department of Transportation and other major firms. A provided luncheon will feature Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson delivering a keynote address. Registration runs through Friday. The event is free. For registration and a full schedule of workshops go the Indiana Department of Administration home page online at www.in.gov/idoa/mwbe. The Northwest Indiana Business Conference is featured at the top of the page. GARY U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., told chamber of commerce members that the citys potential as a transportation hub positions it to thrive in coming years. The first-term senator said the U.S. Customs facility planned for the Gary/Chicago International Airport is critical for the areas future as a logistics hub. Were looking at a place that is going to become an economic dynamo for us, Donnelly said of the airport. Its going to be a huge job creator, I think. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection office will allow international flights to land at the Gary airport. That would promote Garys position as a logistics hub and attract supporting businesses. This is a natural home for all those things, Donnelly said. With interstate highways, rail and the lakeshore, this is an absolute hub. If you need to move product, this is the place, Donnelly said. Engineering and design work is underway on the proposed U.S. Customs facility, which will be housed in a building recently used as a helicopter hangar. Donnelly also talked about the state of the steel industry at Mondays Coffee & Conversation gathering. Members of both houses of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, have worked really, really hard on trade cases involving alleged illegal dumping and currency manipulation, he said. Weve started to win those cases, Donnelly said. We plan to have that continue. Donnelly said a significant concern is providing young people with a road map to successful lives, including guidance in gaining the skills needed for careers with area businesses. What (businesses) need more than anything are skilled, trained individuals, Donnelly said. The event also included presentation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerces Spirit of Enterprise award to Donnelly. Ben Taylor, the national chambers Great Lakes Regional Office executive director, lauded Donnelly for his support of the FAST Act, the first federal long-term transportation funding plan in more than a decade, and the Export-Import Bank, which makes and guarantees loans for international trade. Taylor also praised Donnellys opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan. Donnelly has said the plan puts too much of a carbon-reduction burden on Indiana. Chuck Hughes, the Gary chambers executive director, said he appreciated Donnellys focus on Garys strengths in manufacturing, transportation and its lakefront location, as well as the challenges it faces. This was a great meeting, Hughes said. HAMMOND A Griffith man was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in prison for his role in a wide-ranging bank fraud scheme known as "cracking cards," federal court records show. Cortez Stevens, 26, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and must pay, jointly with several co-defendants, restitution of $141,919. He also was ordered to serve two years on supervised release after leaving prison, according to U.S. District Court records. A total of 29 people in Illinois and Northwest Indiana were indicted in fall 2014 in connection with the scheme. Stevens were among six defendants to face charges in Hammond federal court. Kevin Ford, 28, of Chicago, identified as the leader of the Northwest Indiana fraud scheme, pleaded guilty in February and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 23. The group was accused of using social media and rap music to persuade others to give up their debit cards and personal identification numbers in exchange for promises of cash payments. The group then deposited bogus checks into the bank accounts and withdrew money advanced by banks before the checks were rejected. The LaPorte County Sheriff's Department is seeking help in locating a 74-year-old woman, who is believed to be in danger and in need of urgent medical attention. Judith Povlock was last seen in LaPorte at 4:19 p.m. Sunday and may be driving a black 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer in the Chicago area, according to Indiana State Police, who declared a Silver Alert. The vehicle has a plate number of 883TAW. Povlock is described as a white female, 5 feet and 1 inch in height, weighing 110 pounds, with medium-length grey hair and brown eyes. It is unknown what type clothing she is wearing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the LaPorte County Sheriff at (219) 362-6205. Local residents from Shenzhen recently filed a lawsuit against a local environmental authority, saying that the authority offered an illegitimate reply to an environment evaluation report. Citizens urged the authority to recall the reply, according to a report by thepaper.cn. Residents said that the report excluded soil and water conservation plans, and that there was no sign that the report had been approved by local water authorities. However, the Shenzhen Human Settlements and Environment Commission explained that approval of water and soil conservation plans is not a legal requirement, so there was no violation of the law in this procedure. The court will deliver judgment on this case. The Shenzhen city government plans to build three waste incineration power plants over the next three years. One of them will be the worlds largest, capable of disposing of 5,000 tons of garbage daily. Construction work on the first of the plants began on April 15. According to Wang Guobin, director of the Shenzhen City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau, the biggest plant alone can handle one-third of Shenzhens garbage, and will begin operation in 2018. In the meantime, Shenzhen will upgrade its current garbage incineration plants. The emissions performance will excel EU standards after the upgrade. The projects have gotten EIA approval and have finished preliminary construction. The main construction will start by the end of this year, said Wang. By 2018, the three plants will together be able to dispose of 10,300 tons of waste every day, he added. VALPARAISO The murder trial of 19-year-old Thomas Reichler got underway late Monday afternoon with his attorney arguing self-defense. Defense attorney Larry Rogers told jurors that Reichler fired a handgun in hopes of scaring off a Portage homeowner, who was striking him with a gun, threatening to kill him and attempting to drag him back to his house after he caught Reichler and two others breaking into his cars during the early morning of Dec. 12, 2014. He should have called police, Rogers said of shooting victim Alexius Tapia, 36, but he didnt do that. He was going to handle it himself. The description was in stark contrast to the version of events described shortly before by Porter County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Matt Frost. Frost told jurors that a video captured by Tapias home surveillance system will show Tapia grabbing Reichler and Reichler pulling out a 9mm handgun and firing at Tapias head after he looked away. The first shot missed Tapia, so Reichler fired a second time and struck Tapia in the lower chest, causing him to bleed to death, Frost said. Before collapsing, Tapia fired three rounds from his .45-caliber handgun striking Reichler in both arms. When later questioned at a Michigan City hospital where he went for medical care, Reichler told police, I aimed toward his head, Frost said. Reichler, who is being held without bond, faces felony counts of murder, two counts of theft and one count of attempted theft, according to instructions read to jurors. The theft charges involve two handguns stolen from the Chesterton area, including the one used to shoot Tapia. Rogers said this weeks evidence will show that Tapia first noticed the three young men prowling around his property in the 6000 block of Millrun Avenue in the Southfield Estates subdivision earlier that same morning. He lay in wait for them rather than calling police, Rogers said. Once he got hold of Reichler later that morning, he began striking Reichler with his gun, threatened to shoot him and started dragging him toward his home. He (Reichler) didnt know why, Rogers said. He didnt know what was going to happen. Rogers disagreed with Frosts claim that Tapia yelled to his wife to call 911. This happened so quick that it would be impossible to form the intention to kill, Rogers said. One of the other two men accused in the case, Nathaniel Sipe of Westville, faces charges of theft and assisting a criminal who committed a murder, according to court records. He is scheduled for trial Oct. 3. The third man, Korey Izynski of Clarksville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in May 2015 to two felony counts of theft and has since been charged with an unrelated count of felony burglary, according to court records. INDIANAPOLIS After the most topsy-turvy month in Indiana political history, Hoosier Republicans filled out their statewide ticket Monday with less than 100 days remaining to sell it to voters. In accordance with the recommendation of recently selected GOP gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Republican State Central Committee unanimously approved state Auditor Suzanne Crouch as his running mate. Party loyalists cheered enthusiastically as Holcomb and Crouch made their first appearance together at party headquarters where Holcomb pledged, if elected, they would continue the work of Gov. Mike Pence, the partys nominee for vice president of the United States. Im quite proud of where our state is right now, Im quite proud of it, and Ill run on this record, Holcomb said. Well invest all of our time and energy in making sure the state stays on the track its on and thats the right track. Crouch promised to bring to bear her experiences as a three-year state auditor, five-term state representative and Vanderburgh County officeholder should Hoosiers elect her to preside over the Senate and manage the six state agencies overseen by Indianas lieutenant governor. I can assure you that the Holcomb-Crouch ticket is going to be about creating jobs, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, investing in education and infrastructure and creating those opportunities that move Indiana forward for future generations, Crouch said. Both candidates dodged when asked if they support Pences social issues agenda, specifically his opposition to anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers, which significantly contributed to the governors low popularity among Hoosiers. Suzanne and I are both our own people, obviously, and today marks the first day that were formally united as a ticket, Holcomb said. We will, in the coming weeks and months ahead, be putting out a series of policy proposals. In response, Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody condemned the Republican Party for remaining in thrall to Pences ideological agenda by selecting nominees who both initially got their current positions thanks to a Pence appointment. The names on the ballot may have changed, but sadly Holcomb and Crouch are just more of the same, Zody said. Both were witness to Mike Pences out-of-touch record. They chose to remain silent while Indianas economy and reputation were placed in jeopardy. Besides her political attributes, Crouch can bring nearly $300,000 from her campaign account to the comparatively puny $20,721 Holcomb had in the bank on June 30. GOP officials expect Pence soon will donate at least a portion of his $7.4 million campaign fund to Holcomb, though spending limits tied to his role as a federal candidate likely will prevent Holcomb from getting all of Pences money. The Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, former House Speaker John Gregg and Indianapolis state Rep. Christina Hale, a Michigan City native, have nearly $6 million to spend on their campaign thats already been operating for more than a year. LAPORTE He claims the large hole being dug is for a pond, but he also has a $1.6 million contract to provide sand coming out of the same hole. It's a loophole the LaPorte County Planning Commission recently refused to close over the objections of nearby homeowners upset about the rumbling of trucks hauling sand and roads being torn up. In 2015, LaPorte County awarded Ryan Miller a permit to build what he portrayed as a 4-acre pond for a home he wants to put up in the area of 400 West and Schultz Road. Approval was given to a one-year permit but several weeks ago the permit was discovered to be for two years. The Planning Commission allowed the two-year permit to remain despite transcripts from a year ago showing Miller was asking for a one-year permit and members of the commission believing a permit for 12 months is what they approved. Planning Commission member Jim Pressel and several others on the board felt the matter was complicated enough that it should have gone before a judge to decide. "None of us are attorneys and you're asking us to interpret law and I think it was very unfair how that came about," Pressel said. Miller is vice president of D & M Excavating, which has a $1.6 million contract to provide sand to New Porte Landing, a former Allis Chalmers site being redeveloped along Pine Lake Avenue in LaPorte. Since the sand is coming from the hole, residents alleged Miller is violating local zoning laws by operating a business in a residential area. Their attorney, Scott Keller, said a contract to supply sand was awarded to Miller then a month later he bought the property and the claim of building a pond takes advantage of a loophole allowing the work to qualify as residential use. Keller said the risk is the site being abandoned once all of the sand is mined and proposed that Miller be ordered to fill the hole with water after his work there is done or face stiff fines. He also proposed that Miller not be allowed a permit should he ever seek approval to dig on the 5 acres remaining on the parcel once he reaches the current 4-acre digging limit. "I hope he builds his 4-acre pond and stops, but he's a businessman. I don't think he's going to stop at four. I think he's going for nine," said resident Pat Meany. The commission turned down the requests, voicing doubts if it has the authority to legislate future activity on the property and claimed Miller by lining the bottom of the hole with clay so it can hold water is doing what he promised. "There's not mining occurring on Ryan's property. He's constructing a pond," said Andrew Voeltz, the attorney for Miller. PORTAGE The Northwest Indiana Forum recently selected the winners of the $500 Project challenge. The $500 Project challenge came from Peter Kageyama, the author of "For the Love of Cities," during the For the Love of the Region event on April 19 at Blue Chip Casino. The challenge invites groups to submit ideas for ways to improve their community. The idea behind this is that these projects such as public art displays, like winners The Highland Arts District Sculpture walk bring more change and love to a community. The 14 winners incorporate both new ideas, and celebrate what is already great about each area. And all of the winners took different approaches about what their best use of the funds would be. For example, Burns Harbor will be developing a treasure hunt through the use of the Geocaching App, while Newton County Public Library's annual youth publication will use the funds to cover the cost of the publication, and the prizes. The Northwest Indiana Forum secured funding for several $500 Projects across the Region. In addition, funds also were provided by Greater LaPorte Economic Development Corp., Economic Development Corporation Michigan City, One Region, Newton County Economic Development and the Pulaski County Community Development Commission. We were impressed with the projects that were submitted, said Raeann Trakas, Northwest Indiana Forum director of marketing and communications, the communities did a great job capturing the essence of Peter Kageyamas presentation and finding a project that highlight the unique qualities of their community." Representatives from the Veterans Administration regional office in Indianapolis will discuss a variety of topics related to veterans benefits. This is an opportunity to learn directly from the federal agency in charge of veterans issues. The mission of the Mayors Veterans Committee is to enhance and safeguard the earned benefits for all American veterans who have served honorably and to improve the quality of life for them, their families and the communities where they live through leadership, advocacy and education. For more information contact: committee Chairman Tom Pappas at tom.pappas01@comcast.net or (219) 763-2955 or Colin Highlands chighlands@portage-in.com (219) 841-6428. VALPARAISO The citys advisory Human Relations Council took steps last week toward putting into operation Valparaisos recently adopted human rights ordinance. The council appointed one of its members, Jacob Williams, to serve on the five-member Investigation and Reconciliation Committee, which will work to bring parties together through mediation or other dispute resolution. Other IRC members will be appointed by the Valparaiso City Council, Mayor Jon Costas, the superintendent of Valparaiso Community Schools and the president of Valparaiso University. Human Relations Council members also offered suggestions on the content of a discrimination complaint form and how to make the form accessible to people with disabilities, or who do not speak English or know how to read. Council Chairman Heath Carter said the group will review a revised version of the form at its Aug. 23 meeting. He expects the form to be posted to the citys website by the end of the month. In other business, Carter shared the Diversity and Inclusion Plan developed by South Bend and suggested it could be used as a model for best practices even though South Bend is a much bigger city than Valparaiso. This shouldnt be dependent on the size of a city, Carter said. Valparaiso is undergoing a significant demographic shift, and this is something we need in todays world. Council member Ivan Bodensteiner said South Bends plan includes action steps and goals for recruiting, hiring and retaining a diverse city workforce. Valparaisos hiring plan also should have specific goals, and should include boards and committees, he said. Carter said the Altogether Valpo taskforce, which is developing plans for hiring, housing and inclusion, is nearing the end of its yearlong assignment. Once the taskforce's work is complete, the Human Relations Council will prioritize and implement its recommendations, he said. A reader asks: Why are eggs in the United States sold by the dozen why not by 10s or 8s? Stephanie Strom, a food business reporter for The Times who has covered the egg industry, considers the question. The reason for packaging eggs by the dozen is somewhat obscured by time. But Jesse Laflamme, chief executive of Pete & Gerrys Organics, an egg producer, said he believes it dates back to a measurement system that evolved in England after the Romans arrived in roughly the first century. Season 1, Episode 4: The Art of War As Nazir Khan, Riz Ahmed has excelled at playing a passive character, which is one of the more difficult assignments for an actor or at least one of the more thankless, given the absence of emotional pyrotechnics. Fear and desire have motivated Naz, as Nazir is known, at every turn, leaving him paralyzed to the point where hes drifted through his time with Andrea and his time in the justice system in the same trance-like state of shock. Though the time between when he slept with Andrea and when we woke up downstairs in the kitchen has not been accounted for, his innocence seems assured because he does not seem capable of taking the aggressive, decisive action necessary to commit such a horrific crime of passion. Given Nazs timidness and uncertainty, Mr. Ahmeds performance has been limited mostly to his eyes, which toggle between deer-in-the-headlights shock and a growing understanding of the world around him. As the series has progressed and this nightmare has become the new normal, Mr. Ahmed has brought the viewer into Nazs thought process as he tries to suss out his true advocates and adversaries and find the smartest way forward. There were signs of this awareness early, such as when Naz picked up on the security camera during his first meeting with his parents and stopped speaking with them in English, or when he realized Box was trying to draw a confession out of him and shut down the detective. Now his eyes are active with observation, and by the end of The Art of War, they finally harden with decisiveness. Its telling that how Naz uses his eyes becomes an explicit theme in this episode, connecting his survival strategies at Rikers and in the courtroom. Calvin, a new bunkmate who takes him under his wing, advises Naz not to be afraid to look a man in the eye, but adds that he should never look anyone in the eye. He has to project toughness while not being confrontational. His new lawyer, Alison Crowe, gives him the exact same advice for comporting himself in front of a judge. Look but dont look. Say nothing. Naz puzzles at the contradiction while accepting the wisdom of it, even though both Calvin and Alison will treat him with hostility and, eventually, terrible betrayal. After having his bed set on fire in the previous episode, Naz realizes that keeping his head down isnt the strategy that is going to work for a bookish Muslim charged in a high-profile rape and murder case. The big question for him is whether Freddy, the ex-boxer who resides over the cell block like its de facto king, is friend or foe. Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Rockefeller Foundation have announced a new education outreach program for students in disadvantaged schools. The program, Jazz for Young People: The Resilient Cities Tour, will connect live jazz performances to an American history curriculum, reaching 60 schools in five cities: Chicago; New Orleans; St. Louis; San Juan, P.R.; and Sydney, Australia. An expansion of a partnership that was first forged in New York City public schools, the initiative will highlight jazzs response to social struggle, with an emphasis on resilience. I couldnt be more proud, as an educator and the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, that we are able to support innovative curricula that expands possibilities for young people, Judith S. Rodin, the foundations president, said in a statement. As we have seen with our support for Hamilton, the musical, experiential learning is a proven and critical tool for enhancing public education and building urban resilience. Now with Jazz for Young People we have another great opportunity to open up young minds by showing them how jazz has inspired hope in the face of adversity. A flag-raising ceremony is held at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 1, 2016. A flag-raising ceremony was held in Beijing on Monday, which marks the 89th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). (Xinhua/Tang Zhaoming) MEET THE DONORS: DOES MONEY TALK? (2016) 9 p.m. on HBO. Alexandra Pelosi, a daughter of the House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, visits fund-raisers to meet mega donors to the presidential campaigns and find out why theyre giving so much of their money away. I AM JFK JR. (2016) 9 p.m. on Spike TV. Friends and colleagues look back at the life and legacy of John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in 1999 among them, Robert De Niro; Cindy Crawford; the Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow; and RoseMarie Terenzio, Mr. Kennedys executive assistant. Whats Streaming AGATHA RAISIN on Acorn TV. The Scottish actress Ashley Jensen a delicious sidekick in comedies like Extras, Ugly Betty and Catastrophe gets promoted to star playing a noxious high-powered publicist who trades the glamour of London for a stone cottage in the Cotswolds. Her new village neighbors dont much like her, especially after a store-bought quiche she enters in a baking contest seems to have poisoned the resident philanderer. But shes not about to take a murder rap sitting down and, armed with a P.R. storyboard, some chutzpah and plenty of wine, a thoroughly modern Miss Marple is born in this adaptation of M. C. Beatons merry mysteries. Dave Schwartz, a longtime Weather Channel meteorologist who early this year told his viewers about his struggle with cancer, died of the disease on Saturday. He was 63. The Weather Channel, based in Atlanta, announced his death on its website but did not say where he died. Mr. Schwartz learned he had stage 2 pancreatic cancer 10 years ago, the station said, but twice overcame it before it resurfaced last year. Often referring to viewers as my friends before giving forecasts, Mr. Schwartz presented an easygoing manner and a gentle sense of humor that made him popular with viewers, the station said. He was born on Feb. 20, 1953, in Philadelphia, where he grew up and earned a degree in psychology from Temple University. He received a certificate in meteorology studies from Mississippi State University. For automakers, it is far easier to put incentives on slow-selling vehicles or sell them to rental-car companies than it is to cut production in the factories. That would require shifting or idling workers, and modifying parts deliveries. So far this year, about 14 percent of all sales made by automakers have been to rental-car fleets, according to the auto research website Edmunds.com. Another 5 percent go to large commercial customers or government agencies. Theres an advantage for some automakers to use daily rentals to introduce your brand to new customers, said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for Edmunds. But as growth slows, it can also be used to keep sales up and inventories lower. Edmunds predicts that 1.52 million new vehicles were sold in July, which would represent an increase of less than 1 percent from the same month last year. Ms. Caldwell says she expects automakers to roll out new incentives, particularly cut-rate financing deals, to stimulate demand for the remainder of the year. The revelation that Fiat Chrysler is under federal investigation has prompted more scrutiny of the companys particularly strong sales record in recent years. While it has been successful selling trucks and sport utility vehicles, its cars have languished behind competing models from Toyota and Honda, for example. As a result, Fiat Chrysler is selling more cars to rental fleets. An analysis by the research firm Kelley Blue Book found that about 35 percent of cars sold under the companys Chrysler and Dodge brands end up in rental lots. NEWARK Even before federal prosecutors indicted two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey last year in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, the case already had a long history of intense media coverage as each new detail emerged about the alleged conspiracy. This week, lawyers will begin the process of finding 12 New Jersey residents who can or who will say they can impartially consider the evidence against the two defendants at a trial set to start in September. Bridget Anne Kelly, a former aide to Mr. Christie, and Bill Baroni, a former executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are charged with wire fraud and civil rights violations for allegedly causing traffic jams for four days to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., a Democrat who did not endorse Mr. Christie, a Republican. The scandal followed Mr. Christie on his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, further reducing the chances of finding a dozen New Jersey residents who are not familiar with the case. The latest study argues that our ancient mammalian ancestors ovulated only after mating, which stimulated internally positioned clitorises and prompted the release of pregnancy-promoting hormones. Then, the researchers say, human social development eventually encouraged the shift to monthly ovulation cycles and the migration of the clitoris away from the vagina. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And dont miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. Want to look back? Heres the Weekend Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com. The Obama administration last week announced a series of modest, but sensible, steps to respond more humanely to the influx of migrants from Central America. The most significant is an expansion of a program designed to allow children who are in danger in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to apply for refugee status from their home countries if they have a parent living legally in the United States. Under the new rules, those who are granted that status will be allowed to immigrate to the United States with unmarried siblings who are over 21 and a related caregiver, such as a grandparent. The administration also said that Costa Rica had agreed to serve as a temporary home for up to 200 refugees who face imminent danger while their cases are being processed. Those changes will affect only a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of people who have been embarking on dangerous journeys to the United States in recent years, fleeing violence and poverty. During the first eight months of this fiscal year, more than 120,700 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were apprehended along the Mexican border. Tens of thousands more were turned back by Mexican officials, who have been encouraged, and paid, by the United States to police its southern border more strictly. Broadening the criteria to allow people who dont have parents in the United States a chance to apply for refugee status might help reduce the numbers streaming to the Mexico border. As Donald Trumps tweets pile one atop another, generating sensational headlines, issues of true substance are tending to get lost in the shuffle. None is more important for voters to keep in mind than the failure of Mr. Trump to disclose his full income tax returns, something he is not likely to do by Election Day. He is the first major party candidate since 1976 since Watergate, essentially to deny voters that vital measure of credibility. It is not required by law that candidates furnish their returns. But Americans have come to expect it. The interest in Mr. Trumps case is particularly high. He is running for the White House partly as a business wizard, but is he really as rich and talented as he boasts? Is he as philanthropic as he claims with his reputed billions? Has he truly no conflicts of interest in Russia, whose computer hackers he has bizarrely invited to spy on Hillary Clinton, his campaign rival? These questions are of Mr. Trumps own making, and a timely release of his tax returns would provide some answers. Theres nothing to learn from them, he tried to insist in May, arguing that he would not make the returns public until after an Internal Revenue Service audit is complete. The latest victim is a French priest, murdered in his church by killers shouting Allahu akbar! Following such attacks, Muslim leaders assure us that, as Tariq Ramadan said after the Paris massacre, the murders are a pure betrayal of our religion. After the shootings in Brussels, the leading Sunni university, Al-Azhar, issued a statement saying, These heinous crimes violate the tolerant teachings of Islam. Similar responses followed recent attacks in Orlando and Nice. We are told that the fanatical fringe groups who do these terrible things are at odds with the essential Muslim commitment to peace and love. I understand the reasons for such responses, but they oversimplify the relation of religion to intolerance and the violence it can lead to. Both Islam and Christianity claim to be revealed religions, holding that their teachings are truths that God himself has conveyed to us and wants everyone to accept. They were, from the start, missionary religions. A religion charged with bringing Gods truth to the world faces the question of how to deal with people who refuse to accept it. To what extent should it tolerate religious error? At certain points in their histories, both Christianity and Islam have been intolerant of other religions, often of each other, even to the point of violence. This was not inevitable, but neither was it an accident. The potential for intolerance lies in the logic of religions like Christianity and Islam that say their teaching derive from a divine revelation. For them, the truth that God has revealed is the most important truth there is; therefore, denying or doubting this truth is extremely dangerous, both for nonbelievers, who lack this essential truth, and for believers, who may well be misled by the denials and doubts of nonbelievers. Given these assumptions, its easy to conclude that even extreme steps are warranted to eliminate nonbelief. Attending both political parties conventions last month, I certainly had some upside-down-world moments. The Republican convention featured a sprawling blended family, an L.G.B.T. first, and promises of a top-down government fix, while the Democratic convention showcased religiosity, patriotism, militarism, and American exceptionalism. The Republican convention pushed radical change while the Democratic one championed the more conservative tenet of unwavering consistency. It was enough to make my head spin. But beyond the oddity of the incongruities was the production itself. Modern conventions are all about stagecraft and television production. They are multimillion-dollar infomercials for the candidate and the party. There are few surprises and few flashes of unpolished candor. When such flashes do occur, they often come from people who are not practiced politicians. Ask any artist, clothier or writer where they find inspiration and theyre bound to mention travel. The Swedish designer Josephine Dahlin is no exception but she doesnt just mean beautiful vistas, museum visits and unexpected discoveries. Shes talking about the fundamentals, too, like packing and planning the days activities. I wanted to have a collection that you can pack in a suitcase to cover all your needs, she says of her clothing line Deitas. So itll always remain capsule size. With simple lines, mixable pieces and a muted palette, Deitas cuts down on the plague of morning indecision by offering the ease of a weekend-away-wardrobe at home. Dahlin started the brand in 2012 with a friend and, initially, sold only silk shirts. For years, shed worked on the other end of the fashion equation, doing brand development for various labels; after she got an advanced degree in luxury goods and services, Dahlin was eager to create something of her own. In Sweden, were all obsessed with sleek design, but finding good-quality silk pieces was more difficult than it should have been, she says. After starting Deitas, Dahlins excitement grew as her partners waned; she now runs the company all on her own. Moving from a shared venture to a solo project coincided with the shift from a line of tops to a full collection, but Dahlin, who had never designed before, wasnt remotely distressed. I like to feel dressed up in the day, but not overdressed in the evening, she says. So I sketched with that in mind. The brands name is Latin for divinity; the lines sweeping forms would work just as well on a Greek goddess as on a vacation in 2016. Thanks to what Dahlin calls the sumptuousness of silk, theres an unexpected sexiness to the line especially considering its inclination toward calf-length dresses and long sleeves. Image Josephine Dahlin Credit... Jesse Laitinen With an orientation towards travel, its a bit surprising that the collection remains almost entirely silk. But Dahlin insists its just as easy to pack. I travel very light and I can still fit my whole collection in a suitcase, she says. Silk is amazingly lightweight. All together, our 25-piece collection weighs something like five kilos! And, once she arrives at her destination, Dahlin has found a way to avoid wrinkles: The night before I leave, I call the hotel and request a steamer for my room, she says. Its very easy: I check in, unpack, quickly steam my wardrobe and then Im all set. CHONGQING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chongqing Municipality in southwest China has seen a boom in foreign trade in recent years, primarily due to the extensive expansion of its transport network. The Yuxin'ou Railway, which starts in Chongqing and ends in Duisburg, Germany, opened in 2011 and has seen a growing number of journeys every year since. The name of the railway is an acronym consisting of Yu (Chongqing), Xin (Xinjiang) and Ou (Europe). A total of 16 cities now receive regular freight on the route, and the line transports about half of all rail freight between China and Europe, said Luo Shuquan, chairman of the board with the Chongqing Western Logistics Park, which operates the railway. "As trade on the east coast faces difficulties, inland cities like Chongqing are expanding their roles in foreign trade. It is no exaggeration to say the age of sea is giving way to the age of land," he said. In the past five years, import and exports in Chongqing, a regional economic center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, have grown by more than a third every year, according to recently released trade statistics. Last year import and export values reached 464 billion yuan (about 71.4 billion U.S. dollars) in Chongqing, almost five times the 2010 figure. "In the past few years, Chongqing has been building land, air and water transport networks to facilitate logistics and trade," Luo said. Provinces such as Henan and Shaanxi are also following suit to boost foreign trade, he added. Both provinces posted double-digit growth in their total import and export values last year. Chongqing transport authorities said that the cargo handling ability of ports in the municipality will rise from the current 180 million metric tons per year to 220 million metric tons by 2020. Trains depart from Chongqing at least three times per week, and in peak season this can rise to seven times per week. For the return journey from Duisburg, trains depart between two and five times per week. In 2015, a total of 257 freight journeys were recorded on the Yuxin'ou route, and that number will increase to 300 this year, said Yang Liqiong, director of Chongqing Logistics Office. Initially transporting just IT products, the railway network has now expanded into auto parts, cosmetics, frozen food, wine, coffee and more. "With growing demand, rail freight will increase every year. And as costs are lowered, rail freight become as competitive as other means of transport, such as air and maritime," Yang said. From 2014 Chongqing was given approval by the central government to import vehicles via rail from Germany. The journey takes 13 days from Duisburg to Chongqing, saving two thirds of the time it would take to ship them, resulting in significantly lower logistics costs. In June, 600 BMW vehicles arrived in Chongqing via the Yuxin'ou railway. Wu Xi, a resident of Chongqing, received his new car just 20 days after he placed his order, a journey that would have taken two months by sea. "Growing trade between Chongqing and Europe has brought convenience to buyers," said Wu. China has made the opening-up of inland provinces one of its top priorities, said Chi Fulin, director of China Institute for Reform and Development. "Central and western provinces have great potential to tap foreign trade as a growth point," he said. Except when you sign a check if you even do that anymore you may hardly use the loops and swirls of cursive. Many American schools have adjusted, with cursive lessons steadily declining for decades. The Common Core standards adopted by most states in 2010 do not require teaching cursive, and many districts have chosen to spend their limited time, money and resources on core subjects or more modern skills. But some states are choosing to hold the line, passing laws to make sure cursive doesnt become a totally lost skill. Its really an art form that personally identifies you, said Dickie Drake, a state representative in Alabama who introduced a bill requiring schools to teach it. I think your cursive writing identifies you as much as your physical features do. MOSIER, Ore. The Chinook salmon that Randy Settler and other Yakama tribal fishermen are pulling from the Columbia River are large and plentiful this summer, part of one of the biggest spawning runs since the 1960s. It is a sign, they say, of the rivers revitalization, through pollution regulations and ambitious fish hatchery programs. But barely four miles upstream from the fishermens nets, state workers are still cleaning up after a major oil train derailment in June. About 47,000 gallons of heavy Bakken crude bound from North Dakota spilled when 16 Union Pacific cars accordioned off the tracks. All of it, Oregon environmental officials said, might have gone into the river but for a stroke of luck that carried the oil instead into a water treatment plant a few hundred feet from the riverbank. That juxtaposition the rebounding river coming a hairs breadth from disaster has resonated across the Pacific Northwest and brought about a day of reckoning. From ballot boxes to the governors desks in Oregon and Washington, a corner of the nation that seemed poised only a few years ago to become a new energy hub is now gripped by a debate over whether transporting volatile, hazardous crude oil by rail through cities and environmentally delicate areas can ever be made safe enough. Communities around this state have awoken, said Oregons governor, Kate Brown, a Democrat. Washingtons governor, Jay Inslee, who is also a Democrat, said he thinks that all oil transit should be halted until more stringent track inspection rules can be put into place. Can it be transported into the Pacific Northwest safely? he said. That answer now is no. Mr. Manafort began working in Ukraine after the popular uprising in the winter of 2004-5 that became known as the Orange Revolution. Mr. Yanukovych, then prime minister, was declared the winner of a presidential election in 2004 that was marred by fraud and overturned by the countrys highest court after weeks of protests in favor of his pro-Western rival, Viktor A. Yushchenko. Mr. Yanukovych had relied disastrously on Russian political advisers who underestimated voter frustration. After his defeat, he turned to American experts. Mr. Manafort had begun working for one of Ukraines richest men, Rinat Akhmetov, to improve the image of his companies. Mr. Akhmetov was also a prominent sponsor of Mr. Yanukovychs party, the Party of Regions, and he introduced the two men. With Mr. Manaforts advice, Mr. Yanukovych began a comeback, with the Party of Regions winning the biggest bloc in parliamentary elections in 2006 and again in 2007, returning him to the post of prime minister. At the time, Mr. Manafort called Mr. Yanukovych, a former coal trucking director who was twice convicted of assault as a young man, an outstanding leader who had been badly misunderstood in the West. According to State Department cables at the time and later released by WikiLeaks, Mr. Manafort and his colleagues Phil Griffin and Catherine Barnes frequently pressed American diplomats in Ukraine to treat Mr. Yanukovych and his supporters equally so as not to risk being seen as favoring his opponents in the new elections. With Mr. Manaforts help, the party was working to change its image from that of a haven for mobsters into that of a legitimate political party, the American ambassador at the time, John E. Herbst, wrote. During this time, lucrative side deals opened for Mr. Manafort. In 2008, he and the developer Arthur G. Cohen negotiated a deal to buy the site of the Drake Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan. One partner was Dmytro Firtash, an oligarch who made billions as a middleman for Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant, and who was known for funneling the money into the campaigns of pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, including Mr. Yanukovych. The three men intended to reopen the site as a mall and spa called Bulgari Tower, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan by Yulia V. Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine. In the end, though, the project unraveled. RICHMOND, Va. He offered the first formal apology for this citys role in the slave trade. He led the effort to add a statue of Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native, to its Monument Avenue. He attended a largely black church and sent his children to racially mixed schools. During Tim Kaines six years in Richmonds local government, he became known for his commitment to the citys African-Americans. But there were also stumbles as he began to fashion himself as the centrist conciliator that he is known as today, trying to steer a middle path in a majority-black city drenched in Confederate history. No one here will forget the giant picture of Robert E. Lee. It briefly graced a prominent downtown wall in the spring of 1999, setting off an angry backlash from many African-Americans in the city. Within days, it was removed. Then Southern heritage groups revolted. Soon, Mayor Kaine was putting forward a compromise inside Richmonds packed City Council chambers: a revised image, this time of a decidedly downcast General Lee in civilian dress after the surrender at Appomattox, that would be part of a series of murals featuring Abraham Lincoln and Powhatan Beaty, a black man who won the Medal of Honor fighting for the Union. The Constitution appears to be having a moment. When Khizr Khan, the Harvard-educated lawyer and father of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq, chastised Donald J. Trump at the Democratic National Convention last week, he made his point with a small, but deeply symbolic prop. Let me ask you, said Mr. Khan, directly addressing the Republican presidential nominee, have you even read the United States Constitution? As the audience erupted in cheers, Mr. Khan pulled a miniature version of the founding document from his coat pocket and shook it in the air. I will gladly lend you my copy, he said. It was a star turn for the Constitution that stirred the hearts of dozens of organizations across the country dedicated to promoting its tenets. More than seven hours after the initial blast and the attack, Afghan officials declared the assault over. Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said that the area of the intrusion had been cleared and that one police officer had been killed and two others wounded in the operations. Three terrorists were among the attackers, Mr. Sediqqi said. One exploded his vest, the other two were killed by police special forces. We are now waiting for reports on casualties from the first blast. The Northgate operates as a guesthouse for foreign contractors and also contains the offices of security companies. A person inside the compound at the time of the blast, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that roughly a dozen expatriates who were staying at the facility were taken to a safe room and that there were no casualties inside. The person said that after a vehicle laden with explosives rammed into the rear of the compound, several suicide bombers got close to breaking through, but they were probably gunned down by elite forces who arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the explosion. The person said that the fighting lasted for about two hours and that the blast had left much of the compound destroyed. Afghan security forces immediately closed off streets after the blast and cordoned off an area more than half a mile around the site, which is east of Kabuls main international airport and near an industrial park. With a Russian population of just 1,716 people, Ms. Vorons district has only two Jewish families left all the others moved to Israel or elsewhere but it has hundreds of Chinese. Her daughter, Maria, who is the district administration chief, complained that many Chinese worked without registering and sleep in the fields. But she, too, cheered their work ethic. They all work like mad, she said, praising them for turning previously unused land into productive farms. Local men, many of them alcoholics, are less enthusiastic and curse the Chinese for getting up too early, using too much chemical fertilizer and overworking the land. Recently, the district administration was sent a video by an angry male resident that showed a Chinese-farmed field awash with bluish-gray slime allegedly created by chemicals and an irrigation project gone awry. The district chief said she had sent the video to the prosecutors office for investigation. The Chinese began moving across the Amur River to farm in Russia in significant numbers after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The mostly uncontrolled influx drew howls of protest from nationalist politicians in Moscow. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a tub-thumping rabble rouser, demanded that all Chinese migrants be deported from the Russian Far East. Stanislav Govorukhin, a film director, made a movie warning that China was taking over and wrote a book claiming that the Far East was undergoing massive Sinofication and would soon be more Chinese than Russian. President Vladimir V. Putin, looking to China to add some spark to Russias sluggish economy and to show Western leaders that he does not need them, has tried to calm the scaremongering. But Russia still spasms with bouts of anti-Chinese sentiment. BEIRUT, Lebanon In the Syrian city of Aleppo, children carrying groceries climb 15-foot mounds of rubble on their way home. Shoppers ignore vibrations from falling bombs. Buildings stand sliced in half, wires and beds and bathtubs exposed, with families still living inside. Most days, doctors have just seconds to decide which children to try to save and which to let die, as parents shriek and explosions shake the ground. Three American doctors said such scenes were replaying in their minds after a recent visit to the insurgent-held section of Aleppo. The doctors provided a fresh perspective on life there, because their Syrian colleagues in Aleppo, after four years of bombardment by government forces, have grown tired of describing the horrors to the outside world and have, in some sense, stopped noticing. For them, thats just their life, said Dr. Samer Attar, one of the American doctors from the Syrian American Medical Society who volunteered for two weeks in rebel territory, then raced for the Turkish border just as pro-government forces cut off the last route out. Their mission was to relieve, and honor, exhausted medical workers; bear witness to the ordeal of civilians in Aleppo; and press the world to help them. But now, the doctors said, the emergency has grown even more dire. Since Thursday, eastern Aleppo has been completely encircled, bracing for a starve-or-surrender siege like the ones government forces have used to take back other rebellious areas, and intense bombing continues. SAN FRANCISCO No other city in America mixes high society and cultural philanthropy quite like San Francisco, and Diane Wilsey, known as Dede, has long been the indomitable queen of both. She has reigned for 20 years as head of the board of the Fine Arts Museums, which include the de Young and the Legion of Honor. In October she took her victory lap in a peach-and-silver Oscar de la Renta gown at the gala celebrating the 10th anniversary of the de Youngs $208 million building project completed with funds she almost single-handedly raised. But even as Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, toasted Ms. Wilsey for her vision and fearlessness, behind the wide smiles and glinting jewels, museum officials had reason to worry. The state attorney generals office had begun investigating whether a 2014 payment authorized by Ms. Wilsey violated laws governing nonprofits. A chief financial officer had accused Ms. Wilsey of paying $457,000 in museum funds, without board approval, to a retired city engineer whose wife, on the Fine Arts staff, had performed favors for her. (Ms. Wilsey maintained that the payment was a sympathetic gesture for a man in ailing health.) Four prominent board members have resigned in protest, with one, Dan Johnson, faulting Ms. Wilsey recently for running the place like a personal fiefdom. Since the Nixon administration, the federal government has stopped building subsidized housing. Once, public housing was a proud symbol of postwar American democracy. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers got good homes and a leg up. Now Washington offers tax incentives, some $7 billion a year, to private developers so they will take over the job. The public has gone from builder to beggar. For comparisons sake, Washington each year gives up more than $100 billion nationally in mortgage interest deductions, which principally benefit the upper-middle class. This years presidential candidates even Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have so far said next to nothing about affordable housing. Amazingly, neither of those Democrats had evidently visited a public-housing project before the New York primary in April. The Democrats have since strengthened the partys platform; but the issue didnt seriously come up at either convention, so it is hard to believe much help is forthcoming. City Hall knows this and plans to steer billions of capital dollars toward housing, allocating more money to subsidize affordable homes than the next 50 United States cities combined. Even so, absent greater federal money, it will remain nearly impossible to reach the levels of affordability that low-income New Yorkers actually need. Of course, housing isnt the only issue that matters to city residents. Zoning should grow out of holistic planning based on participatory governance. Communities have been complaining loudly that the de Blasio administration is a stalking horse for large developers, hellbent on securing as much housing development as it can wrangle out of rezoning negotiations with neighborhoods, conceding only whats necessary not collaborating with locals from the start. In East New York, the first neighborhood the mayor rezoned, the city has paved the way for subsidized apartments and neighborhood improvements. But speculators have also bought property, driven up land prices and threatened some of the very residents the rezoning is intended to protect, fueling fears among poor New Yorkers that Mr. de Blasios plan will make neighborhoods even less affordable. In some cases, the relatively high price of affordable apartments may actually drive up housing costs. (Global Times) 10:10, August 01, 2016 Illustration: Liu Rui/GT The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting was concluded Tuesday in Vientiane, Laos, the first such meeting since the result of the South China Sea arbitrationwas released earlier this month. The scene that happened in Phnom Penh four years ago did not reoccur this year. When Cambodia hosted the meeting in 2012, foreign ministers unprecedentedly failed to produce a joint communique because Cambodia objected to the Philippines' proposals to include the South China Sea disputes into the statement. They just issued a joint statement over the South China Sea issue a week later. I was then reporting the 2012 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong revealed that Cambodia objected to the communique draft proposed by countries including the Philippines because it included the China-Philippines spat over Huangyan Island. Cambodia believed at the time that this is a bilateral dispute and should not involve the entirety of ASEAN. The situation has changed from four years ago. As the Vientiane meeting was held right after the result of the South China Sea arbitration was released, whether the joint communique would mention the arbitration garnered much attention. It turns out that the document did not mention the arbitration due to Cambodia's efforts. This is a result of China's diplomatic efforts as well as a compromise by ASEAN members to keep internal unity. The release of the communique should not be viewed as a concession made by claimants. In the future, they may work on bringing ASEAN as a whole to negotiate with China over the South China Sea issue. Eight articles of the communique mentioned the South China Sea. This has been the most number in a communique since China and ASEAN issued the Declaration on Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. This highlights how much importance ASEAN attaches to the issue. Since 2002, every joint communique released after the meeting of foreign ministers has mentioned the South China Sea issue. Only two articles referred to the issue in the one in 2009. In the 2010 meeting when then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton explicitly said that the South China Sea issue concerned US interests, the number of articles was four. In 2011, the number was five, and seven in 2015. The increase shows that ASEAN has paid growing concerns over the South China Sea feud. Although the arbitration was not mentioned in this year's communique, in every Foreign Ministers' Meeting that follows, how to address the issue will be troublesome, unless some progress can be made to solve the issue. Another notable change is that in this year's communique, six articles mentioned ASEAN-China ties, which reviewed the achievements in past bilateral meetings that involve cooperation in trade, investment, education, tourism and culture. But there are seven articles about ASEAN-US relations, the most prominent of which stressed cooperation between the two in coping with both traditional and non-traditional security challenges, including maritime security. This implies that ASEAN members welcome the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific and they will depend more on Washington regarding security issues in the future. After the Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the US wooed Japan and Australia and stepped away from the meeting to issue a joint statement, urging China to stop building more military outposts in the South China Sea, to show their support for ASEAN's regional security issues. What's certain is that the US will adopt more offshore approaches to continue to create an atmosphere to set China in a passive position and offset China's efforts in building new regional order and pushing forward regional cooperation. Unless China and ASEAN construct a framework to solve the South China Sea issue, under which regional security can be guaranteed, third forces such as the US and Japan will continue to make a fuss about the issue. The genesis of March can be traced back to Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, a 16-page, 10-cent comic book published in 1957, which advocated nonviolent resistance. In 2008, Mr. Lewis told Mr. Aydin, his digital director and policy adviser, how influential the comic book had been on him and the civil rights movement. Mr. Aydin, who wrote his masters thesis on it, to convinced Mr. Lewis to tell his own story as a graphic novel. At nearly 600 combined pages, the three volumes capture a multitude of events in Mr. Lewiss life: his formative years in Troy, Ala.; helping to organize sit-ins to protest the segregation of lunch counters in Nashville; joining the Freedom Riders to test the Supreme Court decision that outlawed bus segregation; and taking part in the 1963 March on Washington, of which he is the sole surviving speaker. Another moment, President Barack Obamas inauguration in January 2009, is used as a framing device for the volumes. That day depicted with smiles and beaming pride emanating from Mr. Lewis stands in sharp contrast to the majority of the story, told in harrowing flashbacks that show brutality and humiliations endured by civil rights activists. It was very difficult to relive moments, Mr. Lewis said. I was there and I wondered: How could people be so mean and vicious? How could this happen? Many scenes are unsettling to read and to look at, whether bloodshed, racial slurs or ugly spectacles like a waitress dousing her unwanted customers with cleaning detergent and torrents of water. Mr. Powell powerfully captures these dark times in black and gray tones. Reviews of the book have been laudatory. Jody Arlington wrote on NPR.org that March is a fresh and sometimes shocking work for its violence and offers an inside look at the leaders of the civil rights movement. Three years ago, I traveled to China with a small group of people to see if we might be able to launch Uber there, Mr. Kalanick, Ubers chief executive, said in a blog post, adding, Most of the people we asked for advice thought we were naive, crazy or both. However, as an entrepreneur, Ive learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart, he wrote. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process. Under the terms of the deal, the new companys estimated worth is a combination of Didi Chuxings $28 billion valuation and Uber Chinas $7 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been made public. Uber shareholders would receive a 20 percent stake in the new company. Didi Chuxing would also make a $1 billion investment in the companys operations in the rest of the world, called Uber Global, which was last valued at $62.5 billion, according to the two people with knowledge of the sale. Bloomberg first reported news of the deal. Over the past two years, Uber upended expectations in China and its business there grew, despite heavy regulation and internet filters that often limit access to the products of foreign tech companies. The early 2015 rollout of Peoples Uber, a service that got ordinary Chinese drivers behind the wheel and taking passengers, helped Uber grab a chunk of market share from Didi. As it grew in China, Uber avoided many of the mistakes made by of its American tech forebears. For one, the company created local teams based around different cities, allowing it to respond quickly and flexibly to moves by the competition. That set it apart from other companies, which sought to control Chinese operations from the United States, slowing their responses. Economists point to a long list of reasons, a complex mix of pushes and pulls. Retirement policies have shifted: Fewer employees have fixed pensions, which tend to move people into retirement because at some point, theyve earned maximum benefits and more years of work dont bring more income. In contrast, theres no such age with 401(k)s, said Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. People are nervous about that. They want their pile to grow, so they stay in the work force longer. An increase in the Social Security full retirement age has had some effect, too. Were also working longer because we can. True, health crises can strike at any point, but lengthening life spans and improved health, at least among higher-income seniors, have contributed to extended careers. People who have higher education levels work longer, Dr. Munnell said. They have nicer jobs that are more interesting and less physically demanding. Older workers are more apt than others to work in management and sales, the Pew report found, and less likely to work in construction or food preparation and service. Economists applaud this graying work force. Every additional year you work, and you dont draw down your savings, is an asset, said Debra Whitman, the chief public policy officer at AARP. Waiting until later ages to claim Social Security as seniors increasingly do might help keep the system solvent, and the higher monthly checks may keep households solvent, too. (AARP calculates that a 66-year-old entitled to a $1,500 monthly benefit at her full retirement age would instead be receiving only $1,125 for the rest of her life if she opted for early retirement at 62. If she can delay claiming benefits until shes 70, though few retirees wait that long, her lifelong monthly income would grow to $1,980.) A single round was fired from the officers service weapon, striking the man in the groin, officials said. The man still managed to leave the home but was arrested after running about a block. The man, whose name has not been released, was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, where the police said he was in stable condition. The man has an extensive criminal history of burglary, including six previous arrests, officials said. The officer, a 10-year veteran of the department, was not injured. While responding to the shooting, the police came across a woman on the same block of 66th Street, lying on a driveway outside her home with a head injury, the authorities said. The woman had fallen on her own property, which had been strewed with pieces of cable wire. The woman, 36, was also taken to the hospital, where the authorities said she was in stable condition after doctors removed a piece of wire that had been embedded in her scalp. Her injuries appeared to be separate from the burglary nearby, officials said. Roy Johnston, who lives on the block, said he heard a gunshot after parking his car in the neighborhood and saw a man wearing gloves sprint by, trailed by several police officers with their weapons drawn. The authorities secured a guilty plea on Monday from a longtime employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused of lying about his relationship with a Chinese technology company and various Chinese associates. The government charged that the F.B.I. employee, Kun Shan Chun, had expressed a willingness to facilitate the passage of sensitive United States government information to his Chinese associates, including individuals with connections to the Chinese government. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Mr. Chun had also lied to the bureau regarding his contact with these Chinese nationals and the firm based in China, Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company, as part of a longstanding and concerted effort to conceal these relationships. Mr. Chun, who is known as Joey and worked in the bureaus New York office, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of Federal District Court in Manhattan to one count of acting in the United States as an agent of China. The charge carries a maximum prison term of 10 years, but the government and the defense agreed, under federal sentencing guidelines, that a sentence of 21 to 27 months would be appropriate, according to Mr. Chuns plea agreement. A majority of New York City voters continue to disapprove of Mayor Bill de Blasios job performance, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Monday, but he would still probably fare well in a matchup against at least two of his potential Democratic primary rivals. The poll results also showed that New Yorkers perceptions of Mr. de Blasio remain starkly divided along racial lines, with 75 percent of black voters viewing the mayor favorably, compared with 27 percent of whites. Among Hispanics who were polled, 52 percent had a favorable opinion of Mr. de Blasio. The telephone survey, of 1,310 New York voters, was conducted from July 21 to 28, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. The results were similar to an earlier Quinnipiac survey conducted in mid-May. In the latest poll, 51 percent of those surveyed said that they disapproved of the way that Mr. de Blasio was handling his job, while 42 percent approved. In the May poll, 52 percent disapproved and 41 percent approved. Those poll results were a departure from a survey in January, when 50 percent said they approved of his job performance while 42 percent disapproved. King George III ruled New York when St. Pauls Chapel was built in Lower Manhattan. The chapel endured the Revolution, played a central role at the birth of the American republic in 1789, survived the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center 212 years later and then served as sanctuary, clinic and canteen for rescue and recovery workers in the mountainous wreckage across Church Street. Its history will always be colorful. But the chapel itself will soon be much less so. By the time the current renovation is finished for St. Pauls 250th anniversary on Oct. 30 the pink and blue sanctuary, which looks like a candied Colonial confection, will have been muted to a creamier tone. Next year, St. Pauls will swap out its 1964 Schlicker organ for a 1989 Noack organ from the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The new (used) organ will be housed as the Schlicker has been behind an elegant mahogany case that dates to the early 19th century. It will fit perfectly here, said the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson, the vicar of Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street. Trinity Parish, an Episcopal body, includes St. Pauls, at Broadway and Fulton Street. To the Editor: Ruth Margalits argument that Israels prime minister is taking control of the press (How Netanyahu Is Crushing Israels Free Press, Sunday Review, July 31) is absurd. Anyone who spends a day in Israel knows that the Israeli press does not pull any punches when it comes to the prime minister, and this is not about to change. Ms. Margalits attack obscures the real story: A longstanding media monopoly in Israel with one-sided views seeks to shut out alternative voices by stifling market competition that would give choices to viewers and readers. The introduction of the newspaper Israel Today broke this enduring monopoly in the print media and gave Israelis the same choice that readers have in other democracies. Broadcast journalism reform in Israel remains well behind print. Israel has just two main television channels and both espouse similar editorial views. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to introduce to the broadcast market the same reform that he introduced into other sectors of Israels economy with spectacular results: competition, the very opposite of control. Senator John McCain said on Monday, While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Well, yes, it is, Senator McCain, because you and your party gave him that license. Mr. Trump doesnt respect you or anything you stand for, but as long as Republicans continue to support him for president because they value a Republican victory more than they value the future of this country Mr. Trump will continue his campaign of hate. It is on your head, Senator, as much as it is on all Republicans who do not have the moral strength to declare publicly, loudly and repeatedly that Donald Trump should never be president. LISA WESEL Bowdoinham, Me. To the Editor: Re Mr. Trump Ducks Tax Disclosure (editorial, Aug. 1): Donald Trump insists that he will not release his tax returns while they are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Very well. But then let him release his relatively recent returns that are not being audited eight of them, matching the number Hillary Clinton has released. BERNARD JOSHUA KABAK New York To the Editor: Re Trump Plays Down U.S. Commitment to NATO and Role Abroad (front page, July 21): Donald Trumps remarks about hedging on our treaty commitment to come to the aid of NATO allies under attack was in the context of a presumed Russian attack on Baltic allies. One of the few allied countries meeting the target of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense is Estonia. Defense Minister Chang Wanquan speaks with foreign military attaches on Sunday at a reception in Beijing ahead of the 89th anniversary of Chinese Army Day on Monday. Xu Jingxing / China Daily The Chinese military will staunchly protect the country's maritime rights and interests and is "fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations", a senior military leader said on Sunday. State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan did not directly refer to the South China Sea situation, but tension there was heightened this year by increased US patrols and the arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China. Addressing a reception in Beijing marking the 89th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army, Chang said the PLA will "unswervingly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests including territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests". "It will always stand ready to be called upon and be able to fight and win," he said. In July, the PLA conducted two military drills in the South China Sea. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the increased US military patrols and joint drills with allies "have imposed military intimidation (on China) and fueled regional tension". However, China's recent drills in the South China Sea are "of a totally different nature," as the PLA drills in Chinese territory, while the US, an outsider to the region, covers thousands of miles to come to China's doorstep, Zhang said. Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said some senior US defense officials had made hard-line comments about the region recently, and Washington "will possibly continue its tough gestures". Reaffirming China's defense policy, Chang said the PLA will provide additional public security through enhanced participation in United Nations peacekeeping, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. Chang also touched on the cross-Straits situation by reiterating that "both the mainland and Taiwan are part of the one and same China". He said "adherence to the 1992 Consensus and opposition to Taiwan secession' is the political foundation for cross-Straits relations to develop peacefully". Taiwan's new leader, Tsai Ing-wen, has not directly reaffirmed commitment to the 1992 Consensus, which states that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China. "Secessionist attempts in any form by anyone at any time will never be accepted by the PLA, the 1.3 billion Chinese people or the Chinese nation as a whole," Chang added. The most obvious downside, according to orderism, is that open borders and global trade have led to vanishing jobs and mass migration. At the same time, a mental borderlessness has shaken liberal societies: With potentially every traditional value now up for negotiation, no habit, custom or institution is sacred. The same leniency that allows for the free sale of marijuana, same-sex marriages and the crowning of a bearded drag queen named Conchita Wurst as the winner of the 2014 Eurovision song contest also tolerates militant Islamism within Western borders. It is the same moral weakness and decadence, orderism warns, that preceded the fall of previous empires. Like Nero, the establishment is fiddling in its palaces while Rome burns. Orderism also claims that, on the global stage, international law is beaten into submission by the rules of the strongest, with terrible outcomes. Even the West, orderists claim, adheres to the global rule of law only when it suits its interests. When it doesnt, the United States and its allies ignore or circumvent United Nations provisions. Orderists believe that events in Ukraine in 2014 are Exhibit A for Western hypocrisy: The United States encouraged and financed a coup in Kiev, they say, and installed obedient politicians afterward. The rule of law and liberal multilateralism, they insist, are just Trojan horses, carrying the West closer and closer to their borders. Thus it is an act of self-defense for Russia, in the orderist worldview, to secure the Crimean Peninsula, with its sprawling Russian Navy port; to increase military spending; and to hold frequent military exercises along the Russian-NATO borders. Just as the West contained an aggressive East in the 20th century, orderism believes the East must now contain a megalomaniac and arrogant West to prevent the spread of even more chaos. Orderism prioritizes stability over democracy and offers an alternative to the moral abyss of laissez-faire societies. Russia stands as a model for this new social contract. This contract is built on patriotism, traditional gender roles, Orthodox Christianity, military strength and, at the top, a benevolent czar who will promise only as much as he can deliver (provided the public gives him sufficient support, he can deliver a lot). Orderism may not yet boast the same economic performance as liberalism, but its adherents insist that the cohesion and the common spirit of an orderly nation will allow it to outlive the inevitable downturn of the disorderly West. This was one reason the coup failed, for the Kemalist majority in the military, including its high command, did not join the attempt. Instead, they moved to crush what the chief of the general staff called a crazy attempt instigated by Gulenists. Officially, the Hizmet movement is committed to values of religious moderation and interfaith dialogue; it promotes education and science through its extensive network of schools, both internationally and until now in Turkey. Yet Gulenists also belong to a secretive network that has ruthlessly sought to wield power, in glaring contradiction of the moderation the movements officials preach. Tellingly, those journalists who specifically reported on an earlier Gulenist power grab were targeted by the authorities; some were even imprisoned for years. At first, the A.K.P. and the Gulenists were allies. The Gulenists provided the governing party with the educated cadres that it lacked, and their followers in the police and the judiciary played a crucial role in orchestrating the trials that sent droves of military officers to prison in the early years of A.K.P. ascendancy. Once this common enemy, the Kemalist state establishment, was defeated, though, the Gulen movement and the A.K.P. turned on each other. Having helped Mr. Erdogan lay the foundation for an authoritarian Islamic-oriented government, the Gulenist faction within the state started a struggle against its former ally. The first sign of this internecine conflict showed in 2012, when an attempt was made to arrest the chief of the national intelligence service, a close confidant of Mr. Erdogans. The then-prime minister made a thinly veiled countermove in the power struggle by announcing his intention to close down dozens of private prep schools in Turkey, many of which were Gulenist. That step precipitated a further round of retaliation from the Gulenists in 2013, when the judiciary began an investigation into government corruption. Mr. Erdogan responded by purging Gulen supporters from the police and the judiciary. He even turned to the military as a new ally, releasing in 2014 all the imprisoned Kemalist officers, who had been accused of coup plotting. The former chief of the general staff, Gen. Ilker Basbug, has claimed that he and his colleagues had been the victims of a conspiracy mounted by the Gulen movement. Mr. Erdogan endorsed this charge, saying that he had been misled by the Gulenists who, he said, had fooled him with evidence against the military officers that turned out to be fabricated. It is likely that this disinformation helped Gulen loyalists to advance up the military hierarchy after the imprisonment of the Kemalist old guard. About 6,000 years ago, St. Paul Island, a tiny spot of land in the middle of the Bering Sea, must have been a strange place. Hundreds of miles away from the mainland, it was uninhabited except for a few species of small mammals, like arctic foxes, and one big one: woolly mammoths. This population of woolly mammoths, one of the worlds last, had been comfortably living there for a few thousand years they had no predators (humans didnt arrive until the 18th century), a good amount of fresh water and plenty of food. But environmental changes, strikingly similar to those in our time, caused the mammoth population on this island to die out. At the time, a changing climate caused sea levels to rise, shrinking both the islands size and the mammoth herd. A drier climate meant less rainfall and lower lake levels, and the lack of freshwater may have been a driver of the mammoths extinction, according to a new study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors argue that this extinction offers important lessons about freshwater availability and island populations in a changing climate. Oracle Corporation may well be the single most important technology firm for businesses. Over 300,000 companies around the world use its database, and 100,000 customers have purchased its business applications. Even companies gunning for Oracle like Amazon, Google and Salesforce have used Oracles technology. Why does that matter, though, in the world of cloud computing, and what will Oracles approach look like? Perhaps like a Google search, only for every business decision. In a story I wrote, Thomas Kurian, who is building Oracles cloud, talked about how the company is deploying its $9.3 billion purchase of NetSuite through its little-known global network of 21 cloud computing centers. That is only the start of what Mr. Kurian has in mind. Besides selling applications more efficiently, he said, Oracle has pooled a large amount of information derived from over 1,500 data providers. Marketers and brands find this very powerful, he said in an email, as Oracle targets over 45,000 different dimensions (demographic, geography, online and offline behavior). Seymour Papert, a visionary educator and mathematician who well before the advent of the personal computer foresaw children using computers as instruments for learning and enhancing creativity, died on Sunday at his home in Blue Hill, Me. He was 88. His death was announced by the Logo Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization that he co-founded. His wife, the Russia scholar and author Suzanne Massie, said the cause was complications of a series of kidney and bladder infections. Dr. Papert (pronounced PAP-ert), who was born in South Africa, was one of the leading educational theorists of the last half-century and a co-director of the renowned Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In some circles he was considered the worlds foremost expert on how technology can provide new ways for children to learn. In the pencil-and-paper world of the 1960s classroom, Dr. Papert envisioned a computing device on every desk and an internetlike environment in which vast amounts of printed material would be available to children. He put his ideas into practice, creating in the late 60s a computer programming language, called Logo, to teach children how to use computers. LONDON You know these are scary times when Richard III starts to look like real life. Audiences for the Almeida Theaters popular revival of Shakespeares study of a megalomaniac who plunges his country into civil war may find themselves thinking, But I know this story, and its happening right now. This rush of too-close-for-comfort deja vu doesnt come from the usual inferences that theatergoers have been encouraged to draw in recent years from Richard III, with its amoral title tyrant bringing to mind past and present dictators of Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. In Rupert Goolds tightly focused new production which stars a blood-freezing Ralph Fiennes and a beautifully battered Vanessa Redgrave its not so much Richard who evokes shudders of amused and uneasy recognition but the world of fickle alliances and self-serving powermongers he inhabits. Richard and his rivals for the throne of England flatter, deceive, betray, woo and abandon one another at the speed of television sound bites. Anyone familiar with the bruising governmental donnybrook occurring in the corridors of Parliament here in the weeks preceding and following the Brexit referendum may be forgiven for thinking that whats happening onstage is just politics as usual. Even if high-echelon back-stabbing in London doesnt involve real daggers anymore (at least not to my knowledge), it still racks up devastating collateral damage including the faith of a reeling electorate in those who would control its future. Its a distinction no family wants. I am a Gold Star mother, Ghazala Khan wrote in an op-ed article in The Washington Post on Sunday in a rebuke to Donald J. Trump, who had criticized her for standing silently by the side of her husband, Khizr, as he gave a memorable speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last week. Ms. Khan was invoking a term that signifies the mother of a fallen American soldier. Her son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004, and she suggested that she had kept silent to control her grief at seeing his picture displayed behind her. Mr. Trumps attack on the parents of a fallen Muslim-American soldier has been denounced by veterans groups and has drawn bipartisan criticism, including a remarkable reprimand by Senator John McCain. But what does the phrase Gold Star mother mean? Heres a primer. Where did the term come from? It dates to World War I, according to the United States Army. Families with relatives in the armed forces flew flags and banners with a blue star for those serving in wartime or during other hostilities. The flags are authorized by the Defense Department. If the service member is killed, the blue star is replaced by a gold one. Democratic strategists once sidestepped the issue, seeing any proposal that might raise energy prices as politically risky. But they are now pushing it to the forefront. At the convention, organizers played a short film by James Cameron, the director of blockbusters like Titanic, on the dangers of climate change. Another convention video montage put a spotlight on Mrs. Clintons role at the 2009 climate change summit meeting in Copenhagen. As part of a wide-ranging climate plan, she has set ambitious goals for producing energy from renewable sources, including by installing a half-billion solar panels by 2020. Democratic Senate candidates in swing states like Pennsylvania and Florida are also embracing the issue. They have been emboldened by polls showing that a growing majority of Americans accept the science of climate change and would support candidates of either party who vowed to address the issue. A Gallup poll in March found that 65 percent of Americans believed that climate change was caused by human activity, an increase of 10 points from a year earlier. The poll found that 38 percent of Republicans believed the same thing, an increase of four points from a year earlier. The poll also found that 76 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 accepted that human activity is behind climate change. Some Republican strategists say they are concerned that Mr. Trumps views on the issue could push younger voters away from the party for the long term, much as they fear that his immigration policies and remarks about women could alienate Hispanics and female voters. Its important for Republican candidates to talk about the issue intelligently and not be dismissive of climate change, said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. He worked for the presidential campaign of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and now works for an advocacy group backing Mr. Rubios Senate re-election campaign. The way you talk about climate change sends a signal to millennials about how sensitive you are to the environment, Mr. Ayres said. Millennials recently passed baby boomers to become the largest generation, so any party that hopes to own the future politically needs to be attractive to millennials. OMAHA The investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett unleashed a withering attack on Donald J. Trump on Monday for refusing to release his tax returns, asserting he had something to hide, and for misleading voters about his success as a businessman and ability to improve the American economy. Mr. Buffett, known to investors as the Sage of Omaha, said a monkey throwing darts at the stock pages in 1995, when Mr. Trump first offered stock in his Atlantic City hotels, would have come out far ahead of anyone who listened to Mr. Trumps siren song and invested in his company that lost money year over year. The attack from perhaps the nations most revered investor undercut a core argument of Mr. Trumps presidential candidacy: that his success as a businessman qualified him to run the country despite his lack of political experience. Mr. Buffett appeared at a rally with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in his hometown, Omaha. Taking on Mr. Trump, he pledged to personally transport 10 Nebraskans to the polls on Election Day on behalf of Mrs. Clinton and urged others to do the same. For congressional Republicans, Mr. Trumps inflammatory remarks are a vexing challenge. On one hand, they want to distance themselves just enough to try to grab support from voters of both parties who do not intend to vote for Mr. Trump but may split their tickets. But they do not want to outright flip on their prior endorsements of Mr. Trump, because they need his supporters votes to win, too. These candidates have refused to walk the tightrope the media creates and have instead forged their own path, with their own views and sentiments about an agenda for the future, said Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnells former chief of staff, who now works as a Republican consultant. By defining the race on their own terms, they have reminded voters they have a senator who is looking out for their interests regardless of how they may feel about the presidential nominees. Republican leaders believe they need to continue to support Mr. Trump, if only to provide cover for the partys candidates up for re-election. Republicans struggle to name policy positions of Mr. Trump that they prefer to those of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, but they often settle on their fear of the type of justices a President Clinton would name to the Supreme Court. There is obviously a concern about having a Democratic president and Senate confirming justices both on the Supreme Court and across the federal bench, said Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. I certainly am concerned about that, too, and I know it will cause some people to ignore or justify statements he has made that for many of us raises concerns. Aides to Republicans up for re-election also say, for the most part, they see no evidence in the polls that Mr. Trump has been a drag on lower-level races. This is particularly interesting since ticket splitting when voters pick one partys candidate for the White House and another for the House or Senate has declined precipitously in recent years. Striding forward in strict, synchronized steps, all in high spirits, the guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has presented its most impressive face to the world. The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) taking part in the military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. [Photo: Xinhua] Established in June 1953, China's guard of honor of the Army, Navy and Air Force of the PLA has completed more than 4,000 ceremonial tasks and appeared on the world stage no less than five times. In advance of Army Day (August 1st) honor guards spared no effort to ensure a perfect turn-out at the major military event. But it's far from easy becoming a qualified honor guard. You have to experience tough training in intense heat or severe cold. It is said each honor guard exudes a ton of sweat, wears out seven shoes and walks 8,000 kilometers in training each year. Male soldiers must be 1.88 to 1.92 meters in height, be able to march 116 steps per minute, each step measuring 75 centimeters. Female soldiers are 1.73 meters on average in height, but must parade at the same speed, with the same length of stride as the males. An instructor measuring the height of a female soldier's leg during straight-leg march training on July 29, 2016, ahead of Chinese Army Day on August 1. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com] Soldiers completely drenched after a half day training session on July 29, 2016, ahead of Chinese Army Day on August 1. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com] The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) at the military parade commemorating victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War on September 3, 2015, in Beijing. [Photo: Xinhua] The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) march as the first division in the military parade of 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 2009. [Photo: 163.com] The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) march as the first division in the military parade of 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1999. [Photo: Xinhua] ATLANTA President Obama said on Monday that his administration had made strides in turning around the veterans health care system, highlighting a decline in the number of veterans facing long waits for doctor visits. Weve hired thousands more doctors, nurses, staff, Mr. Obama said at a conference of the Disabled American Veterans. When we really put our sweat and tears and put our shoulder to the wheel, we can make things better. The president acknowledged that many veterans remained frustrated by the health care bureaucracy, calling continued delays in seeing doctors inexcusable. And he said the country needed to do more to help economically struggling veterans. WASHINGTON The United States escalated its war against the Islamic State in Libya on Monday, conducting airstrikes in the coastal city of Surt as part of a new military campaign against the extremist Sunni terrorist groups stronghold in North Africa. President Obama approved the strikes last week after Libyas fragile United Nations-backed unity government asked for help in its fight against the Islamic State, administration officials said. The strikes, which American officials have forecast for months, are intended to help break an impasse between Libyan militias and the Islamic State fighters they have cornered in a grinding urban battle in Surts downtown. American officials, who estimate that there are fewer than 1,000 Islamic State fighters in Surt, say that American warplanes could provide a decisive advantage to the attackers and help break the stalemate along the fighting fronts in the southern and western part of the city. But they also say that the Islamic States modest numbers in Surt belie their determination, if not desperation, and that with escape routes from Surt largely cut off, the Islamic State fighters may fight to the death. She wrote that anyone who owned a high-powered semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used in Orlando was not welcome in either of her two restaurants. That was not all: She would not welcome anyone who merely supported the idea of owning such a weapon. As the battle over gun rights rages in the political arena, a small but growing number of restaurants are enforcing their own rules to try to counteract the wave of gun violence that has erupted in places like Newtown, Conn.; San Bernardino, Calif.; and Charleston, S.C. Some chains have declared themselves gun-free zones, often in response to state open carry laws that allow people to take unconcealed firearms into establishments like restaurants, including those that serve alcohol. In 2013, Starbucks was one of the first chains to ask that its customers leave their firearms at home. Since then, Chipotle, Chilis, Panera Bread and others have joined the list. In Texas, an open carry law that went into effect in January also allowed businesses to opt out, prompting several restaurants across the state to do so. Gun rights advocates, who believe not only in the right to bear arms but also that carrying them in public makes them safer, have staked out their ground, too. In Texas, at least one barbecue restaurant offers discounts to diners who show up with their weapons. The website of Gun Owners of Maine, an advocacy group, carries a list of gun-unfriendly businesses, including Ms. Verrills restaurants: Grace, a renovated 1856 Gothic Revival church in Portland, and the Foreside Tavern, in nearby Falmouth. DAKAR, Senegal Nigerian soldiers should be prosecuted for killing more than 300 people last year in battles with a sect of Shiite Muslims, according to a report issued Monday by a Nigerian judicial panel. A 13-member judicial commission determined that 347 people had been buried in a mass grave in the city of Zaria in northern Nigeria, according to the report, but the inquiry left unanswered exactly how many people died during clashes in December between the military and members of the sect, known as the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The report provided a chilling description of how unfortunate timing along a busy highway in Zaria led to bloody battles that decimated the Shiite sect. One soldier was killed during the fighting. Members of the sect had set up a roadblock to control traffic for a flag ceremony at their national headquarters, the report said, just as a military convoy approached on its way to a parade. The officers tried to persuade the sect to let them pass, and when they were denied permission, they shot their way through the blockade, the inquiry determined. RIO DE JANEIRO Relatives of victims of the 1994 attack of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires sought Monday to reopen a criminal complaint against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner accusing her of trying to derail an investigation into the bombing, which killed 85 people. Lawyers for Luis Czyzewski and Mario Averbuch, the fathers of two women who were killed in the bombing 22 years ago, filed a request with a judge overseeing a related investigation against one of Mrs. Kirchners political allies to include a criminal complaint against Mrs. Kirchner first brought by Alberto Nisman, a federal prosecutor who died in mysterious circumstances last year. In a complaint drafted before he was found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment, Mr. Nisman had accused Mrs. Kirchner and her former foreign minister, Hector Timerman, of ordering secret negotiations with Iran to shield former Iranian officials thought to be behind the attack in exchange for favorable trade agreements. HONG KONG President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan offered a formal apology on Monday to aboriginal peoples for centuries of pain and mistreatment, and she promised to take concrete steps to rectify a history of injustice. In a ceremony at the presidential office in Taipei attended by aboriginal community leaders, she said that although Taiwan had made efforts to end discrimination against hundreds of thousands of indigenous people, a formal apology was necessary. Unless we deny that we are a country of justice, we must face up to this history, Ms. Tsai said. We must tell the truth. And then, most importantly, the government must genuinely reflect on this past. Taiwan has 540,000 residents who are members of aboriginal groups, or about 2 percent of the population of 23 million. The Council of Indigenous Peoples officially recognizes 16 groups, with three the Amis, Atayal and Paiwan making up 70 percent of the total indigenous population. LONDON The decision of the new British government to postpone a deal on a nuclear power station, to be built by France with major Chinese investment, has shocked both of those countries and is a potentially major step away from the policies of former Prime Minister David Cameron. The sudden choice of Prime Minister Theresa May not to sign the deal but to take until the autumn for further study, reportedly on security and economic grounds, has angered both Paris, which will be crucial to Britains future relations with the European Union after the countrys vote to leave the bloc, and Beijing, which Mr. Cameron had cultivated aggressively for investment and trade ties despite criticism that he was subordinating human rights and geopolitical concerns to commerce. The menu had already been published for a grand lunch after a signing ceremony last Friday on the Somerset coast, the site of the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is designed to produce 3,200 megawatts with two new French reactors at a cost of at least 18 billion pounds, about $23.7 billion. The day before, the board of the largely state-owned EDF, the French power utility, voted 10 to 7 to approve Hinkley Point, despite serious concerns about the ability of the company to handle the project and its costs. But late Thursday night, Downing Street said it would not sign the deal the next day as planned. Between meetings, General Dunford toured the Parliament building that was damaged by helicopter gunfire and four bombs that were dropped from fighter planes while lawmakers were inside. Hours before General Dunfords visit, Turkish forces flying attack helicopters and drones raided a forested area in southwestern Turkey, capturing a fugitive unit of commandos who had tried to assassinate or kidnap President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month during the attempted coup. The commandos had been on the run since early on July 16, when they attacked a seaside hotel in Marmaris where Mr. Erdogan had been vacationing. The president slipped away just before the commandos helicopters arrived, however, in one of the most dramatic events in a night of violence that left more than 250 people dead. Residents of the Marmaris area were apparently boar hunting when they spotted the fugitive commandos, according to officials. We thought there was suspicious activity when we saw the men in the forest, a witness said in an interview on the private news channel CNN Turk. But we knew for sure when the authorities showed us pictures of the men. In the overnight raid, special forces captured 11 commandos thought to have been part of the plot against Mr. Erdogans life, with one suspect still at large, Numan Kurtulmus, Turkeys deputy prime minister, said in a news conference on Monday. More than a dozen other soldiers were already in custody and accused of being part of the operation on Mr. Erdogans hotel. Video footage showed suspects covered in bruises being loaded into armored vehicles as anti-coup demonstrators gathered in the area chanting, Traitors! We want the death penalty! In recent days, new details have surfaced about what occurred during the coup attempt. A Turkish military official who is believed to have been part of the coup called General Dunfords office shortly after it began, according to a Pentagon official. The person who answered the phone said that the general, who was traveling in Afghanistan, was not there. The military official then hung up the phone. The message was relayed to General Dunford in Afghanistan, who ultimately did not reach the official. The episode was first reported by BuzzFeed. Almost immediately after the coup failed, Mr. Erdogan and his government began a vast purge of the military and state bureaucracy, arresting thousands of soldiers and dismissing tens of thousands of other state employees they accused of having links Mr. Gulen. Turkish officials have complained that Western leaders have focused more on denouncing Mr. Erdogans post-coup purges than on standing by Turkey as it suppressed the violent rebellion. Ankara was further annoyed when Mr. Erdogan was barred from addressing tens of thousands of Turks who gathered in Cologne, Germany, over the weekend to express support for the Turkish leadership. MOSCOW A Russian military transport helicopter was shot down on Monday in the Syrian province of Idlib, killing the three crew members and two officers on board in the deadliest episode for the Russian military since it intervened in the country, Russian officials said. The Mi-8 helicopter was hit by ground fire as it returned to Khmeimim Air Base from a mission to the embattled city of Aleppo, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Video footage, posted on Facebook by antigovernment activists shortly before the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attack, showed two burned bodies on the sand, about 300 feet from what appeared to be a helicopter in flames. In the video, a number of men, some of them armed, cheered around the bodies, shouting God is great in Arabic. One of them jumped on a body, joyfully. Doctors from the West China Hospital Affiliated with Sichuan University have found suitable recipients for most of the organs donated by an 11-year-old patient, who was declared brain dead after a traffic accident on July 26, West China Metropolis Daily reported. The girl, Zeng Jiayu, was from Loudi, Hunan province. She was traveling with nine relatives from Loudi to Aba Tibetan autonomous prefecture in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province. The family flew from Loudi to Chengdu, and then hired an illegal "black taxi to take them to Aba. The vehicle, an SUV, had not been registered with any taxi office, but its owner was using it for commercial purposes. The vehicle got into a serious accident next to a highway tunnel, with all 10 family members in the car. One passenger, a 1-year-old baby, died at the scene, and all the others were severely injured. The nine family members plus the driver of the car were taken for treatment at Wenchuan County Peoples Hospital and Peoples Hospital of Sichuan Province. Zeng was declared brain dead after a thorough examination. The hospital explained to her parents that brain death is the total and irreversible loss of all brain function, meaning that there isn't any chance of recovery. Medical staff also convinced them that in such circumstance, it is common for family members to donate the vital organs of the deseased. Zeng Qinghui, Zeng's father, agreed to donate his daughters organs two days later. I see it as a way of prolonging her life," he explained. "And I hope that in the next life, she will still be my daughter. On July 30, hours after Zeng Qinghui signed the papers for organ donation, the organs were retrieved. Doctors harvested both of Zeng's corneas, her kidneys and her liver. The hospital has found three organ recipients to take her two kidneys and liver respectively. Doctors are currently looking for a patient in need of and compatible with Zeng's corneas. Her organs will benefit up to five patients, said a doctor at the hospital. Cambodia is a country of many a bad memory. American B-52s carpet-bombed it during the Vietnam War. It barely survived the rise of a despot named Pol Pot and the genocidal killing fields of his Khmer Rouge regime. Who would have guessed that it would become, of all things, an affordable retirement haven for foreigners, including many Americans who were of draft age when the country was convulsed by those much darker times? Thousands of older people from Australia, Europe and the United States have moved to Cambodia in recent years, or are thinking about it as an option especially people on fixed incomes who are attracted by the low cost of living. The Cambodian government is encouraging the influx by making it simpler for foreign retirees to apply for visas. Opportunity often lies in that space between the publics somewhat negative perception about a place and the much more positive reality on the ground, said Jennifer Stevens, the executive editor of International Living, a monthly magazine that caters to older people who are thinking of moving to less expensive countries. When Vanessa Packer, the founder of the fitness studio ModelFIT, gets together for a monthly dinner with her fellow fitness-studio-owning friends Alexandra Bonetti Perez (of the cardio-dance Bari studio) and Sarah Larson-Levey (of the yoga chain Y7), they indulge. Who wants some rose? asked Ms. Packer, 32, as she finished preparations on the kale salad with grilled halloumi cheese, zucchini carpaccio with fresh herbs and toasted pistachios, and the warm farro with radish and yams that is a riff on a salad at Charlie Bird, one of Ms. Packers favorite restaurants. The three women have a monthly supper club that rotates menu and locations. I emailed them one day and was like, Lets all meet up, said Ms. Bonetti Perez, who is 30 and a former financial and management consultant. Her peers immediately saw the benefits. Camaraderie is important, Ms. Packer said. We all want to do something different within health and wellness, so why not join as a united front instead of being catty and judgey? Passing out the Constitution on campus isnt the benign activity one might expect, especially when egged on by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The group provides a pocket-size Student Activist Edition of the Constitution, which includes directions on how to hand it out and what to do if you get stopped: Refer administrators to the First Amendment (p. 43); Consider taking a video of the conversation; Contact FIRE for further assistance. On Constitution Day the day delegates signed the document, Sept. 17, 1787 a student Army veteran at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, Calif., was prevented from distributing copies and told to make an appointment to use the free-speech zone, a small, remote area available only certain hours of the day (three states now prohibit public colleges from designating only certain areas as free-speech zones). Likewise, at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, student members of Young Americans for Liberty, a national libertarian group, were ordered back to their table after handing out copies. Its hard to imagine that such activity could rise to the level of infraction, but both are cases FIRE filed suit over, and settled for a combined $100,000. Then there are free-speech balls. On Freedom Day (April 13), the Young Americans at the University of Delaware stacked up their Constitutions for distribution and inflated their ball, on which passers-by write whatever strikes their fancy. For one student, that was the word penis and accompanying illustration. A police officer told them to remove the word and image. FIRE shot off a letter. The University of New Mexico president, Robert G. Frank, agreed that universities had a responsibility to maintain an atmosphere free of verbal sexual harassment. But the federal government, he said in an email, offers no specific guidance on how to do that in the real world without infringing on free speech, especially at universities where the exchange of controversial or sensitive ideas is woven into the fabric of academe. Universities investigated for violations of Title IX, or those that do not adequately investigate charges of sexual assault or harassment, face lengthy and expensive investigations 246 cases are currently under investigation at 195 campuses. Those found guilty, public or private, could lose federal funding. Understanding Title IX, Mr. Lukianoff said, is not sexy and its complicated, but it is the secret engine as to why universities overreact in creating and enforcing speech codes and in charges of harassment or sexual assault. When people say, Look how crazy our universities have gotten, they need to understand that they are being pushed with a very scary threat, he said. Theyre not just scared of loss of funding. Theyre scared of the investigations. Colleges and universities, he said, are being asked to do the impossible. There are other groups that fight for First Amendment rights on campus, but none as vocal or pushy as FIRE, which has gone public with 421 interventions on behalf of aggrieved students and faculty members over almost two decades (many more have been resolved privately). The organization, which has headquarters in Philadelphia across the street from Independence Hall, has nearly doubled its staff, to 35, in the last two years. In 2015, FIRE received 807 inquiries from students and professors seeking assistance in fighting perceived civil rights violations, up from 719 in 2014. About 50 will fit FIREs narrow focus on civil liberties defense, said Peter Bonilla, director of its individual rights defense program. The most egregious get litigated through FIREs two-year-old litigation program, which targets violations at public colleges (only public institutions, which are arms of the government, are directly bound by the First Amendment). A lawsuit is FIREs tactic of last resort, especially when it comes to speech codes. In about 90 percent of cases, it uses persuasion, as staff members call it, to get administrators to revise or revoke questionable parts of a code. Depending on the level of obstinacy, Mr. Bonilla said, the levers of publicity news releases, op-eds, media appearances kick in. Most administrators, wary of bad press or an expensive suit, eliminate the speech codes. As Mr. Lukianoff likes to note, FIRE has not lost a speech-code legal challenge yet. (He recounts many of them in his 2014 book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate.) BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Social groups working in China must publicize specific key information or they may be banned from operating, according to a draft amendment to a regulation on the management of social groups. The draft amendment released on Monday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs will solicit public opinions until Aug. 21, in a bid to "safeguard people's freedom to set up social groups and better protect these groups' interests." Social groups, which refers to non-profit social organizations such as environmental protection agencies or mental health assistance associations, must publicize details of their members and leaders, as well as donations they receive and other required information, according to the draft amendment. They must also deliver an annual work report to authorities before May 31 each year and make it public. Social groups failing to release such information will be listed as "abnormal," which will lead to cancellation of their tax exemption and other preferential government benefits. Their registration certificates will be revoked if they violate the rules for two consecutive years, it said, resulting in a suspension of operations. China had nearly 329,000 registered social groups as of the end of 2015, which the ministry said played an important role in "promoting economic development, improving social governance and expanding exchange with the outside world." Roughan joins HSBC from Barclays Bank Plc, Ireland, where he was head of global corporates and product.Before that he was director of investment banking at Barclays Capital in Ireland. Roughan joined Barclays in 2005 after holding positions at ANZ in New Zealand and National Bank of New Zealand.Roughan will report locally to HSBC New Zealands CEO Chris Russell and on a functional basis to head of commercial banking, international countries for Asia Pacific, Tim Evans.Robs wealth of international and local banking experience will further strengthen the commercial banking offering we provide for our corporate clients in New Zealand, helping them connect with opportunities abroad, Russell said.His appointment also demonstrates the importance of the continued growth opportunities that the Bank sees in the New Zealand market.HSBCs key competitive advantage is its network and ability to connect businesses globally, said Evans.New Zealand is an essential component in our ability to deliver international banking services to customers worldwide. Having a vibrant arts scene can add to a communitys cultural values, but it also means big business. Thats the message Albert Head, executive director of the Alabama Council on the Arts, shared last week at the monthly breakfast meeting of the Opelika Chamber of Commerce. Arts are an integral part of economic impact in your area, Head told the crowd. Quality-of-life factors are increasingly important to attract new industries and new companies. When you travel or visit other cities, you form an opinion of that city, he said. What quality city have you visited that doesnt have a vibrant arts scene? Head encouraged the business and government leaders in the room to seek and engage in more public-private partnerships to continue growing the local arts scene in Lee County. He also implored the group to continue exploring options for turning local art opportunities into tourism dollars, thus growing both fields of interest. You cant create a beach. You cant create a river. You cant create mountains, he said. You can do something, however, about the art opportunities that you do have. Arts also are a big part of downtown revitalization, he said. Downtowns are where we come together. Its an investment in cultural tourism. He praised the gathering for Lee Countys support and success in hosting the recent Barbasol PGA tournament, mentioning the positive national exposure the event gave the area on a national telecast, and how a successful arts community can do the same with attracting interest to the area. Chamber Chairman Bill Trant joked during his introduction of Head about having taken an arts appreciation class during college. We found out the professors weakness: yard sales, he joked. But Head understood the point about treasures being found in unlikely places, encouraging supporters to help Alabama build its arts image based on what the state already offers from its largest to its smallest communities. So many say, Wow, I had no idea this was in Alabama, he said, saying that promoting Alabamas image on the arts scene is important as part of any growth strategy, and the same should be considered on the local level. Its a whole lot more than what you think, he said. A man from Seongju county holds a banner to protest against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), during a rally in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on July 21, 2016. More than 2,000 people from Seongju county, where one THAAD battery will be deployed, gathered at a square in Seoul for a rally on Thursday, to protest against the deployment of THAAD. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) Despite the strong opposition of China, the United States and the Republic of Korea have agreed to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the ROK. Although the US claims THAAD is aimed at countering the "nuclear threat" posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea", it is actually targeted at China. Why is THAAD's deployment in the ROK strongly opposed by China? THAAD will undermine the regional strategic balance in East Asia and create more obstacles to the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. When the strategic balance of a region is broken, an arms race follows and regional disputes and conflicts intensify. The Korean Peninsula is one of the few places in the world where the fear of war is still real. The peninsula nuclear issue has been threatening security in the region for over a decade, and negotiations, including "the Six-Party Talks", to settle the issue have been stalled. In such a sensitive region, THAAD's deployment could open the door to a military confrontation. One way of rectifying the strategic imbalance is for the US and the ROK to rescind their agreement to deploy THAAD. The second way is for Beijing to strengthen its nuclear capability, for once THAAD is deployed in the ROK, major parts of China will be under its anti-missile system umbrella. The deployment of THAAD in the ROK is part and parcel of the US missile defense system in East Asia, a region of strategic importance to the US where it sees China challenging its "DLP" (dominance, leadership and primacy). The US has singled out China as the target for its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. And THAAD is an indispensable component of that "rebalance". John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard University recently published an article in Foreign Affairs outlining "rebalancing to Asia" strategy as a superior "grand strategy" to be applied seriously by the US in East Asia and Europe. These two neoconservative theorists have identified China as "likely to seek hegemony in Asia" and call on the US to undertake major efforts "to prevent it from succeeding". "Rebalancing to Asia" first calls for the US to "rely on local powers to contain China". Should that fail, the US may "have to throw its considerable weight behind them". THAAD is a case in point. The US' involvement in the South China Sea issuesupporting the Philippines in its political farce of seeking "international arbitration" and the exhibition of force by the US Navy and Air Forceis another example of its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. The US is used to thinking and acting as a hegemonic power. But we live in an era of globalization where countries are more interdependent than ever. No country can be "balanced" or "rebalanced" away as the US wishes. As such, the deployment of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe and East Asia will hurt global stability. THAAD's deployment will worsen the divide in East Asia, where regional arrangements for economic growth are shaped with China at its core while regional security is assumed to be based on the US-centered military alliances. Should this contradictory situation develop further, neither regional economic growth nor security can be sustained. In short, THAAD is detrimental to the regional security of East Asia. No country can expect to achieve absolute security at the expense of other countries' insecurity. East Asia should enjoy peace and stability based on common and cooperative security. Therefore, the countries involved in the power game should reconsider their ill-conceived decisions in order to restore the regional strategic balance. The author is former vice-minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and former vice-minister at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One hundred and eighty years after settlers arrived in the loveliest village on the plains, three descendants of the woman credited with naming the city visited Auburn last week to explore their ancestry. The great, great, great grandchildren of Elizabeth Lizzie Taylor Harper Flanagan visited Pine Hill Cemetery and Harper Residence Hall at Auburn University, and pored through documents in the Special Collections and Archives in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. Flanagan is credited with naming Auburn after a line from The Deserted Village, a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, that begins, Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain. She was married to Thomas Harper, one of the founders of Auburn. Dale Coleman, associate professor emeritus at Auburn University, connected with the descendants last summer while searching for the gravesite of Flanagan. Coleman presents Auburns history to Camp War Eagle counselors, student recruiters and other student groups. During his research, he often wondered, Wheres Lizzie buried? I come (to Pine Hill Cemetery) and theres all kinds of people who helped create this town, create this campus, and the one person who gave it its name is missing, Coleman said. While searching online, Coleman connected with John Tolle, a professor at Pennsylvania State University and one of the great, great, great grandchildren of Flanagan from her second marriage, to Christopher C. Flanagan. Tolle had been searching for answers to holes in his family history, as well. The more we talked and he asked me questions about the cemetery and Id ask him questions about a family member, finally it was like, Why dont you just come down here? Coleman said. Tolle recruited his brother Zachary Young, who lives in Nashville, and cousin Rebecca Gruber, a graduate of Auburn University who lives in Huntsville, and began planning last weeks trip. Thursday, Coleman and the descendants toured Pine Hill Cemetery with members of the Auburn Heritage Association, speculating where Flanagan could be buried. They also viewed the grave of Gatsy Rice, a servant of their ancestors and the only known African-American buried in the cemetery. The descendants visited the sites of Flanagans homesteads, which were on the property of Auburn United Methodist Church on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Gay Street and behind the old University Inn and Quixote's on College Street. During her time as a student, Gruber didnt know of her relation to Flanagan. After finding out years later, she said the connection she felt to Auburn made sense. I just couldnt believe it, Gruber said, adding that she is the only Auburn fan in a family of Alabama fans. I just thought it was so cool, I guess, just because I always did have something in my heart for Auburn. Its just so neat to find out that that connection is there. For Young, the trip gave him insight into a side of his family he didnt know much about. He knew his grandfather was from Alabama, but he didnt learn much about that side of his family until later in life. Its just pretty cool to find out more about grandpas side of the family as well and how instrumental his ancestors were in establishing the area here in Auburn and the involvement with the school, Young said. My grandpa was probably the best role model that I had in my lifetime of how to conduct yourself as a person and as a man. Its pretty neat to see that that didnt just materialize out of thin air, that it carried back. It makes you proud, added Gruber. Though Coleman and Tolle have yet to find the burial site of Flanagan, Coleman said the main goal of the trip was still accomplished. I encouraged him and other family members to visit Auburn to see for themselves where their ancestors lived and made such an impact, Coleman said. Its about trying to connect two worlds. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: The US financial services company Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook for GDP growth in Azerbaijan. The companys analysts expect Azerbaijans GDP growth at 0.8 percent in 2017, three percent in 2018, four percent in 2019. Previously, the forecast for GDP growth in Azerbaijan amounted to two percent in 2017, four percent in 2018, 4.5 percent in 2019. In 2016 Azerbaijan's GDP will shrink by three percent, according to the companys forecast. The companys analysts expect that the country's GDP will amount to 59 billion manats ($38 billion) in 2016, 64 billion manats ($41 billion) in 2017, 71 billion manats ($45 billion) in 2018 and 77 billion manats ($49 billion) in 2019. The current account deficit of Azerbaijan will amount to 0.5 percent of GDP in 2016, but starting from 2017, the current operations account of Azerbaijan will be back in surplus, according to analysts of the company. The surplus of Azerbaijans current account operations in 2017 will amount to 0.6 percent of GDP, in 2018 - 1.4 percent of GDP and in 2019 - 1.9 percent of GDP, according to the analysts of the S&P. The GDP per capita in Azerbaijan will also grow: in 2016 it will amount to $3,900, in 2017 - $4,200, in 2018 - $4,600, and in 2019 - $4,900, according to forecasts of the company. Also, the unemployment rate n Azerbaijan will gradually decline, and will drop from 5.5 percent in 2016 to five percent in 2019, according to the authors of the S&P report. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 Trend: Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) held the open day. BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov met with the prospective students who scored more than 600 points during the entrance examination for the first specialization group and their parents. He heartily greeted and congratulated them for scoring high points. First of all Elmar Gasimov informed the prospective students about activities of the higher school. While underlining the fact that currently labor market most of all needs engineers BHOS Rector expressed the confidence that the prospective students who would study at BHOS would gain the opportunity to make a career at the most prominent petroleum companies of the globe becoming the specialists being much in demand. Stressing that BHOS is educating and training specialists in line with the requirements of such companies as BP, Statoil, Halliburton, Emerson, IMB and other respectable petroleum companies, Elmar Gasimov made known that hiring BHOS students to the said companies on this stage demonstrated success achieved by BHOS. BHOS Rector also added that as SOCAR management constantly rendered its support to higher school, all necessary conditions were provided for students there. He also pointed out that having sufficient technical basis BHOS closely collaborated with the well-known higher educational institutions of the world and transnational petroleum companies functioning in Azerbaijan. Owing to the said cooperation broad education and career opportunities are offered to BHOS students. Then BHOS rector wished the prospective students to be BHOS students. Head of BHOS students affairs department Habiba Sadigli made presentation about BHOS and talked about close cooperation existing between BHOS and Heriot Watt University from UK. Following to Habiba Sadigli, in the frames of the mentioned cooperation education process of BHOS is based on the programmes of the Heriot Watt University and selected students of BHOS enjoy the chance to spend one semester at Heriot Watt University. BHOS students who participated at the meeting talked about high quality of education offered at the higher school. They also focused on students life and internship they took at various companies. The meeting proceeded with questions and answers session. In conclusion, the prospective students and their parents thanked BHOS management for organization of the meeting. WASHINGTON Airbnb is suing San Francisco and Anaheim, battling legislation in New York and fighting widespread allegations that some of its hosts discriminate against renters. Which might explain why it is trying to get ahead of such confrontations here, in a newly opened used bookstore in the gentrifying Washington neighborhood of Parkview. D.C. resident Liz Furgurson, who uses the home-sharing site to rent out a room in her basement, is leading a group of 14 fellow hosts on a stroll through the neighborhoods small businesses. The hope, she says, is to familiarize shop owners with Airbnb and to encourage hosts to recommend local businesses to visitors. Whats the best way to send folks here? Furgurson asks shop owner Pablo Sierra on a recent evening. This event, called a merchant walk and organized by Airbnb, feels like a casual neighborhood meet-and-greet. But its implications could be much larger for the San Francisco-based company, founded in 2008 and now reaching 2 million rental listings worldwide. The company hopes gatherings like these can help shore up support as it faces a number of regulatory measures, including one in the District. Legislation introduced in September by D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange, D-At Large, and backed by a hotel workers union would limit hosts to one listing at a time and require hosts to live on-site during guests stays. Rental units would have to be inspected by the city, and hosts would have to notify neighbors of their rental plans. Airbnb has stationed six organizers in the District of Columbia to win over mom-and-pop shops that could rally the council on its behalf. So far, 160 Washington-area small businesses have signed a letter for Airbnb. The biggest role our hosts can play is to educate lawmakers about the way Airbnb works, said Christopher Nulty, a spokesman for Airbnb. When hosts are out on the streets speaking to merchants and talking to shop owners, thats a great way to make that happen. At EatsPlace, a restaurant incubator and the next stop on Airbnbs neighborhood walk, chef-owner Katy Chang hands out homemade hot dogs, bottles of water and pamphlets. Its so great that you guys are here, she tells the group of 15. We get a lot of people from Airbnb. Its just a really special way for people to experience something new. Chang and her husband, David Hsu, have used Airbnb themselves when traveling, she says. The Parkview resident has not been following the Districts proposed regulations, but she said she likes having a steady stream of visitors in the neighborhood. Owners of one small business like having a steady stream of visitors in the neighborhood. Other business owners, however, said they were not quite sure what to make of Airbnbs door-to-door campaign. To be honest with you, Im not sure what the point was, said Jason Feldman, who co-owns Star & Shamrock Tavern & Deli on H Street NE, a stop on Airbnbs first merchant walk in April. Im honestly not that familiar with Airbnb and have never used it in my personal life. Feldman said he has yet to see much business from Airbnb guests, save for a group of women who came in a couple of weeks ago and mentioned they were staying in a nearby rental. These meet-and-greets began three years ago in San Francisco and have since expanded to other cities. They are just one way Airbnb is hoping to change its image; earlier this month, the company announced it had hired former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to help draft an anti-discrimination policy. Airbnb is also mired in regulatory battles with a number of municipalities, including the city of San Francisco, which it is suing over a law that would hold the site accountable for listings from unregistered hosts. Anaheim, which is banning short-term rentals, was sued last week by Airbnb. The company is challenging a city ruling requiring hosting platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway to remove listings the city has not permitted or face fines starting at $500 for each violation that could reach $2,000. New York City last month passed a similar measure that makes it illegal to rent out apartments for less than 30 days, and lawmakers have pushed the federal government to take a closer look at Airbnb and other home-sharing sites on accusations of creating housing shortages and driving up rental costs. Recently, the company tapped four former mayors to help lobby city governments. D.C., which last year hosted an estimated 209,000 Airbnb guests, requires local hosts to have business licenses. The company collects and remits taxes on rentals in the city, but hotel workers and housing advocates say the rules do not go far enough. Donna Colaco, who lives on Georgia Avenue NW and has been renting out rooms on Airbnb for nearly six years, says she agrees with the need for oversight. I understand why, as a landlord, you have to have regulations and have proper inspections, she said, standing on the back patio of D.C. Reynolds, a Parkview bar and the final stop of the night. But you also dont want to make it too difficult for people who are trying to find a roommate or make some extra income. The Register contributed to this report. Do you know a small company that wants to export? Officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Commercial Service, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association will offer insight and advice at Mission Viejos TradeX event on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Admission is free. Why consider exporting? More than 70 percent of the worlds purchasing power is located outside of the U.S., according to the small business administration. Most companies that export have an easier time riding out fluctuations in the U.S. economy and are more likely to stay in business, it adds. Four Southern California startups are scheduled to demonstrate products at the event, and receive guidance from the experts. Elaj, a Laguna Hills business that markets a cream designed to relieve symptoms of eczema and psoriasis. Primo Wind, a San Diego manufacturer of rooftop wind turbines. Germfalcon, a Los Angeles company that has designed a system to disinfect airplane cabins. Makinex, an Australian firm with offices in Redondo Beach that sells an equipment lift designed for one person to operate. The panel of experts will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Norman P. Murray Community Center at 24932 Veterans Way in Mission Viejo. Organizers ask prospective attendees to register in advance at http://tinyurl.com/TradeXMV as some earlier events have had to close registration early when seats were filled. A networking reception will be held after the panel. Contact the writer: mroosevelt@ocregister.com; Twitter @MargotRoosevelt Melanie Rios Glaser, artistic director and co-CEO at The Wooden Floor, will step down next week after 17 years with the organization. Her decision was based on her desire to pursue more opportunities as a freelance choreographer, dance educator and dancer, as well as wanting to spend more time with her family, according to a statement issued by the group. Rios Glaser was recruited in 1999 as The Wooden Floors first guest choreographer by the nonprofit organizations founder, Beth Burns. Upon Burns retirement in 2005, Rios Glaser became artistic director, later adding the responsibilities of executive director in 2008 and most recently co-CEO in 2012. Rios Glasers time at The Wooden Floor is marked by the organizations continued commitment to teaching dance through exploration, improvisation and creative movement. The Wooden Floor focuses on teaching contemporary dance to young people from low-income backgrounds and will stay committed to this mission, officials said. During her tenure, Melanie has helped our award-winning organization continue to rise in artistic prominence on a national scale, board Chairman James A. Driscoll said in a statement. Over the years she has assembled an exemplary creative team for our annual concert and outside performances with artists who are at the top of their fields in dance, lighting, costumes and music. Rios Glaser, who was born and raised in Guatemala, graduated from the Juilliard School, and has received numerous honors for her contributions to dance, including being named a Kennedy Center Fellow and a Paris Fulbright Scholar. In the coming years, The Wooden Floor will move forward with plans to phase in its first licensed partner, Washington D.C.-based CityDance, as well as prepare for the opening of an annex in Santa Ana that will allow it to serve 100 more youths and their families annually. Contact the writer: 714-796-6026 or kwright@ocregister.com A weekslong ordeal has taken another turn for the family of a Silverado Canyon man who went missing in June. Leonard Duguays car was found Sunday afternoon at the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation in San Diego County, but the 83-year-old man remains missing. Still at this time we do not suspect any foul play, Lt. Mark Stichter of the Orange County Sheriffs Department said. San Diego County sheriffs are conducting a search of the area. Stichter said reservation officials notified San Diego law enforcement after finding the car in a remote area. The reservation is about 50 miles east of Escondido in a mountainous, vegetation-filled area. Stichter said there were no signs of Duguay. Orange County homicide detectives went to the scene and are working with local authorities. Duguays daughter, Ghislaine Joiner, did not want to comment Monday. The discovery of Duguays car is the first development since he left his home for breakfast June 13 and never returned. His son and daughter made a public appeal for any information. Their worries were compounded, they said, because Duguay had recently been forgetful and had gotten lost, often driving miles and hours looking for his house. Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriffs Department at 714-647-7000 or Joiner at 949-338-4007. Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com Dunkin Donuts is here. The East Coast doughnut chain opened its Yorba Linda location on Monday at the newly remodeled shopping center on the northeast corner of Yorba Linda Boulevard and Valley View Avenue. The 2,320-square-foot shop, which has a drive-through, opened at 5 a.m. and the first guests in line received a $250 Dunkin Donuts gift card. The first 50 customers received a $5 gift card and a travel mug. Franchisee Parag Patel, whose father opened his first doughnut shop in 1989 in Maryland, said the turnout was fantastic. Weve got a lot of support from the chamber, weve got a lot of support from the city and a lot of support, just you know, from Yorba Linda in general, Parag said. Tracy Tufnell was in line Monday morning with her 12-year-old twin daughters, Emma and Maggie. Weve been waiting for this to open for months, said Tufnell, who remembers having Dunkin Donuts when she was a little girl. I was excited to hear that they were coming back. Emma and Maggie, who walk to Starbucks every Friday with their friends, said they were looking forward to Dunkin Donuts becoming their new hangout. It is close to their school. The new doughnut shop, the chains fifth in Orange County, features a new look for stores opening in California. With an emphasis on comfort, guests have lots of seating options, including a patio with a fire pit. Inside, the earth tone decor and furniture is more contemporary, while the front counter is designed to showcase a large assortment of baked goods, and the preparation of coffee and espresso beverages. Im pregnant and this is what I was craving, said Yorba Linda resident Rebecca Rampley. It was the freshest doughnut Ive ever had in my life. Dunkin Donuts is expected to drive activity to the center, which is home to a 24 Hour Fitness, among other businesses. Any new business coming into our city is very rewarding, Councilman Gene Hernandez said. We are very pleased that they chose our city to open their business. Parag said he had 60 employees working on Monday to help customers get their hands on a fresh doughnut, including beloved favorites such as Boston Kreme, glazed, chocolate frosted, chocolate glazed and jelly filled. The doughnut chain has said it plans to open 1,000 locations in California. The first Dunkin Donuts in Orange County opened in April 2015 in Laguna Hills. Since then, shops have opened in Irvine, Westminster and Villa Park. Patel, 33, of Irvine also operates the Dunkin Donut in Villa Park and said he has plans to open additional locations in north Orange County over the coming years and one in Riverside in September. I love doughnuts, Patel said. For fiscal 2015, the company reported $7.6 billion in revenue from its domestic franchisees. Contact the writer: 714-796-7868 or desalazar@ocregister.com Two people died in crashes Sunday morning when motorists drove the wrong way one on a street in Fullerton, the other on I-5 in San Juan Capistrano, authorities said. The collisions were an hour apart. In San Juan Capistrano, Brian Bobadilla, 24, of Downey was found dead on the 5 near Ortega Highway at 1:44 a.m. after his BMW collided with a Toyota Camry, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Jose Lopez. Bobadilla was first spotted driving south in the northbound lanes of I-405 near Sand Canyon by motorists who called 911. He continued driving in the wrong direction, transitioning from I-405 to I-5, Lopez said. Bobadillas car collided with the Toyota on I-5 between Avery Parkway and Ortega Highway. Two people in the Toyota were taken to Mission Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Lopez said. At 2:44 a.m., Fullerton police responded to 911 calls when a 2015 Honda Civic was seen driving south on the northbound lanes of South Lemon Street south of East Valencia Drive. There, the Honda collided with a 2004 Lincoln Aviator, Fullerton police Sgt. Dan Castillo said. The collision killed a male passenger in the Honda and sent at least one other to a hospital, Castillo said. The dead passenger was identified as Pedro Pineda-Navarro, 28, of Placentia. Police initially arrested the driver of the Lincoln, who was not injured. The driver of the Honda was hospitalized Sunday and had not been arrested. It appears both drivers were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision, Fullerton police Sgt. Jon Radus said. The driver of the Lincoln was initially taken into custody on suspicion of drunk driving but was later released because investigators were looking into more details involving the crash, he said. Anyone with information about the collision is urged to contact the Fullerton Police Traffic Bureau at 714-738-5313. Both crashes are still being investigated. Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter:@lagunaini ROUEN, France Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass on Sunday, a gesture of interfaith solidarity following a drumbeat of jihadi attacks that threatens to deepen religious divisions across Europe. From the towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few miles from where 85-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel was killed Tuesday by two Muslim fanatics, to Paris iconic Notre Dame, where the rector of the Mosque of Paris invoked a papal benediction in Latin, many churchgoers were cheered by the Muslims in their midst. Interviewed outside the cathedral in Rouen, Jacqueline Prevot called it a magnificent gesture. Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass, she said. I find this very heartwarming. French television broadcast scenes of interfaith solidarity from all around France, with Muslim women in headscarves and Jewish men in kippot crowding the front rows of Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais or the Basilica of St. Denis, the traditional resting place of French royalty. There were similar scenes in Italy, where the head of Italys Union of Islamic communities Izzedin Elzir called on his colleagues to take this historic moment to transform tragedy into a moment of dialogue. The secretary general of the countrys Islamic Confederation, Abdullah Cozzolino spoke at the Treasure of St. Gennaro chapel; three imams also attended Mass at the St. Maria Church in Romes Trastevere neighborhood, donning their traditional dress as they entered the sanctuary and sat down in the front row. Ahmed El Balazi, the imam of the Vobarno mosque in Italys Lombard province of Brescia, said he did not fear repercussions for speaking out. These people are tainting our religion and it is terrible to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists. That is not the case, El Balazi said. Religion is one thing. Another is the behavior of Muslims who dont represent us. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni thanked Italian Muslims for their participation, saying they are showing their communities the way of courage against fundamentalism. Among the parishioners in Rouen was a nun who survived Tuesdays siege in nearby Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray , which began when two 19-year-old attackers stormed a stone church and killed Hamel as he celebrated morning Mass. She joined her fellow Catholics in turning to shake hands or embrace the Muslim churchgoers after the service. At Notre Dame cathedral in the French capital, Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Mosque of Paris, said repeatedly that Muslims want to live in peace. Boubakeur, in a fraternal nod to the Catholic Church, said he was addressing Urbi et Orbi a Latin blessing long identified with the pope and meaning to the city and the world. France and Italy are both increasing their supervision of mosques after the spate of jihadi attacks, including Tuesdays attack in France and the July 14 atrocity in Nice in which a Muslim truck driver plowed through a crowd of revelers, killing 84 people. Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told the Senate this week that authorities were scrutinizing mosque financing and working with the Islamic community to ensure that imams study in Italy, preach in Italian and are aware of Italys legal structuring. The Paris prosecutors office, meanwhile, said a cousin of one of the two 19-year-olds who killed the priest faces preliminary charges of participating in a terrorist association with the aim of harming others. The 30-year-old Frenchman, identified as Farid K., knew very well, if not of the exact place or time, of his cousins impending plans for violence, the office said in a statement. In a related development, the prosecutors office said a man identified as Jean-Philippe Steven J. faces preliminary charges connected to an attempt to reach Syria last month with one of the two French priests killers. Activists vowed to keep fighting after a court sided with a developer who has tried for years to keep hikers from using a trail that cuts across scenic property he owns in Los Angeles. The appellate court last week ruled that Mohamed Hadid has the right to restrict access to the land in Franklin Canyon between the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Hadid, who has built more than a dozen Ritz-Carlton hotels around the globe, hopes to build homes on the property. He said he was relieved by the courts decision. This has been very costly for me, mentally and financially over the years, Hadid told the newspaper. Hadid has been embroiled in a legal battle with activists fighting to keep the Hastain Trail open to the public. His lawyers successfully appealed a lower courts ruling, arguing that just because people have been allowed to walk on the land for decades doesnt mean they should have a right to it. But the battle isnt over for the Friends of the Hastain Trail group, which plans to seek a rehearing. And if that doesnt work, it will petition the California Supreme Court, said the groups leader, Ellen Scott. The 58-year-old said she has been hiking the trail since she was in her 20s and was shocked by the courts ruling. When I got the email, I was shaking, Scott said. Its a beautiful trail. People have been hiking it for 50 years. The land, which Hadid has owned since 2002, is zoned for up to 13 houses and covers about 100 acres. Hadid said that allowing strangers to walk on private property brings various liabilities. He expressed concerns about hikers leaving trash and getting injured. If someone falls, its your responsibility, he said. Still, he said he does not plan to totally block the hikers out. He wants to gift some of the land to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which manages the nearby Franklin Canyon Park, and create an alternate trail loop for hikers. A four-bedroom Laguna Beach house once owned by Diane Keaton has sold for $3.349 million. The home at 157 Chiquita Street was built in 1924. It came on the Multiple Listing Service in May asking $146,000 more $3.495 million. The two-story house has 3,400 square feet of living space, with a gated entry leading to a private courtyard, olive trees and a large koi pond. The center-island kitchen has a Sub-Zero fridge, Viking Range and glass door cabinets. The master suite includes high A-frame ceilings and Carrera marble in the bathroom. French doors open to an ocean-view balcony. John Trevino of Surterre Properties was the listing agent; Summer Perry of Surterre Properties represented the buyer. Keaton bought the house in 2001 for $1.685 million and sold it in 2003 for $2.1 million, records show. The actress is known for restoring and flipping vintage California properties, mostly in the Los Angeles area. She won an Oscar in 1978 for her leading role in Annie Hall and was nominated for an Academy Award for her roles in three other movies. She won Golden Globe awards for Annie Hall and Somethings Gotta Give in 2004. Keaton attended high school and college in Santa Ana. Her mother, Dorothy Keaton Hall, later moved to a cottage in Newport Beachs China Cove. Did you miss? Are these O.C. real estate agents Bravo TVs next reality stars? Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Samir Ali Trend: The Baku Court of Appeal has considered the plaint regarding the decision to prevent journalist Khadija Ismayilova from leaving Azerbaijan. A preliminary hearing was chaired by Vagif Mursagulov. At the hearing, Khadija Ismayilova presented to the court an application on rejecting the services of a lawyer appointed by the state. The court granted the motion. The next court hearing is scheduled for August 15. Earlier, Khadija Ismayilova appealed to the Baku City Binagadi District Court in connection with the lifting of the ban on her leaving Azerbaijan. The court didnt satisfy her complaint. Then Ismayilova filed an appeal against this decision. In December 2014, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Khadija Ismayilova to 7.5 years in prison. She was charged for misappropriation and embezzlement, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion and abuse of official duties. Ismayilova's lawyers then filed a cassation appeal against the decision. The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan made a decision on May 25, 2016 to release Ismayilova. The Supreme Court sentenced her to conditional imprisonment term of three years and six months. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has started initiatives to study the brain and gene-based diseases. He has led attacks on the Ebola virus and antibiotic resistance. Last month, he wrote an academic article in a prominent medical journal. But the science event many in the White House remember most powerfully was the kid with the marshmallow cannon. So would it, like, hit the wall up there? Obama asked during the 2012 White House Science Fair when he came upon Joey Hudy, 14, standing before his homemade Extreme Marshmallow Cannon. Yeah, Joey answered. Would it stick? I dont know. Lets try it, Obama said with glee. And so, for what may have been the first time since the British burned the house down in 1814, a fast-moving projectile hit the State Dining Room wall. The marshmallow did not stick. Obama has changed in many ways since winning the presidency. His hair is speckled with gray. He is more skeptical of military solutions to intractable foreign problems. His teenage daughters, he has said many times, no longer think he is cool. But another change that has received far less attention has been Obamas embrace of science. He began an annual tradition of science fairs, arguing that if he celebrates the nations top athletes at the White House, he should do the same for the best young scientific talent. He often mentions the students he has met at the fairs, including Elana Simon, who at age 12 survived a rare form of liver cancer and before graduating high school helped discover its genetic cause. Obamas presidential science advisory committee has been the most active in history, starting 34 studies of subjects as varied as advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity. Scientists on the committee said they worked so hard because Obama was deeply engaged in their work. These are sophisticated people who dont usually get overenthused, said Ralph J. Cicerone, the president of the National Academy of Sciences from 2005 until this June. But its happened again and again. Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to Obama, said that he once viewed Obamas science advisory meetings as time that could have been better spent on more urgent priorities. But the president really looked forward to those meetings, and he really came out of them energized, Pfeiffer said. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Obama listed science as one of the few subjects he intends to pursue after the presidency. The conversations I have with Silicon Valley and with venture capital pull together my interests in science and organization in a way I find really satisfying, Obama said. Of the potential breakthroughs in genomic sequencing, Thats just an example of something I can sit and listen and talk to folks for hours about, he said. Obama has always loved science fiction he was a Star Trek fan as a kid, and grew up reading comic books like Spider-Man. His favorite movie last year was The Martian, according to the White House. After Leonard Nimoy, the actor who made the character Spock famous in the original Star Trek series, died last year, Obama released a statement: Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy. Obama described Spock with many of the same adjectives often used to describe Obama: Cool, logical, big-eared and levelheaded, the center of Star Treks optimistic, inclusive vision of humanitys future. I loved Spock, Obama concluded. Obamas reading lists are peppered with science and science fiction titles such as Elizabeth Kolberts The Sixth Extinction, Atul Gawandes Being Mortal and Liu Cixins The Three-Body Problem. But Obamas grasp of real science before becoming president was sketchy. He once admitted to a room full of scientists to not doing well enough in chemistry or physics to impress you much on those topics. And some scientists who met Obama before the presidency said they were not wowed by his grasp of their fields. His views at the time were just sort of developing, said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton. But he was always enthusiastic, several top government scientists said. Within days of his election in 2008, Obama became enmeshed in selecting those who would serve on his science advisory board. I was really surprised by the avidity of his interest, said Dr. Harold Varmus, who was a chairman of the board in its early days and was the director of the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton administration. Dr. John P. Holdren, who recently became the longest-serving presidential science adviser in modern history, said he went into his job thinking he would spend much of his time instructing Obama in the basics. But Holdren learned, he said, that Obama had read deeply in science, technology and innovation. Very little of what Ive done with him has been tutorial, he said. In addition to Obamas essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association about ways to improve his health care law, he sat for an interview with Popular Science that focused in part on whether he considers himself a nerd. Researchers on the campus of the National Institutes of Health were abuzz for months after Obamas visit there in December 2014, when he spoke extemporaneously about a lab he had just visited using such terms as gel electrophoresis, microplate and multiparameter flow cytometer. The crowd gave a quiet science roar. Id seen his speech, so I knew his remarks were impromptu, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Boom, he starts talking like a fundamental basic scientist, and he just blew everybody away. Obama has also impressed scientists by making one of his top priorities the fight against climate change, a contentious science-driven issue. Hes an academic, hes one of us, Varmus said. Hes a rational, levelheaded guy who makes decisions based on the evidence. Now, that might actually be a deficiency as a politician. SANTA ANA A 32-year-old man was in critical condition Monday after he was shot by police in a struggle just outside the Central Justice Center in downtown Santa Ana, authorities said. Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said two officers from the Civic Center Patrol Unit were in the area near the Plaza of the Flags about 9:30 a.m. when they tried to detain Richard Gene Swihart, a local transient. Bertagna did not know why the officers stopped the man. Bertagna said Swihart became hostile and got into a physical altercation with one of the officers. At one point, Swihart tried to grab the officers gun, prompting the officers partner to fire multiple rounds, striking Swihart in the upper torso, Bertagna said. (The officer) feared for his partners safety and the safety of the other people around, Bertagna said. Swihart was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana where he underwent surgery and was in critical condition Monday evening, Bertagna said. No officers were injured. This video posted online Monday shows the minutes after the shooting (Note, there is explicit language throughout). While Santa Anas downtown Civic Center has long been a hot-spot for the countys homeless, the area has seen a recent increase in the number of people living there. Local advocates estimate the population has ballooned to about 500 as people face skyrocketing rents and changes in the criminal justice system has cut some felonies to misdemeanors to reduce prison overcrowding. Theres a lot more people here than there usually is, and its not good, said Linda Gonzalez, a long-time resident in the Civic Center. Gonzalez said Swihart is a quiet man who has frequented the area for years. Gonzalez said he was shirtless and riding a bicycle through the area before the altercation. Gonzalez said she first heard someone shout my gun! followed by three shots. I heard the shots and then I heard a man say Help! Help Help! Gonzales said. The back entrance of Santa Anas main courthouse was closed Monday morning as police investigated. A tennis shoe and a large bloodstain could be seen on the walkway. Johnny Cabrera, 30, who has lived in the Civic Center for about seven years, said he was sitting nearby when he heard two shots and someone calling for help. He then looked over and saw a man lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Ruben Cruz, who heard three shots, said people are known to fight in the area, but shootings are rare. It has its days, but nothing like this, he said. Bertagna said 10 officers are assigned to the Civic Center Patrol Unit. The officers undergo special training on how to handle the homeless and mentally ill, he said. Bertagna said this the first officer-involved shooting in the Civic Center that he can recall in more than 30 years. Gonzalez said the officers she knows are helpful and make an effort to get to know the regular campers. He did what is nationally known as a no-no., said Larry Smitty Smith, who lives in the Civic Center and said Swihart was known in the area. You dont reach for, or make an attempt, to reach in any direction at a cop, whether you are reaching for his gun or not. Councilman David Benavides said Monday afternoon he did not know many details about what transpired, but said any shooting is concerning, whether officer involved or not. The Civic Center has become an increasingly challenging area, Benavides said, because of the high concentration of individuals who have made it their home, and officers are diligently working on creating a safe environment. Something must have happened in the area to have the officers sense that it was not safe for them and others, Benavides said. The bigger picture response, Benavides said, is for the county and city to partner to to address the overall safety of the Civic Center area and homeless issues. Paul Leon, CEO of the Illumination Foundation, an Irvine-based nonprofit aimed at housing and helping Orange Countys homeless population, said Mondays incident will hopefully prompt county officials to take more action. Leon said the people crowd into the Civic Center area with no accessible bathrooms or shower facilities. Many have pitched tents using blue tarps in the Plaza of the Flags, while others reside in semi-permanent structures in the corridors between county buildings. The overcrowding and lack of public facilities is a disaster waiting to happen, he said. Sadly, Im surprised something like this didnt happen sooner, he said. Its a public health nightmare, and if its not a violent shooting it could be any kind of infectious disease. County plans are under way for an Anaheim warehouse to be converted into a permanent year-round homeless shelter. And the county is considering installing portable restrooms. Leon said his foundation, which runs a recuperative care facility, is working with the Orange County Board of Supervisors on a possible pilot program that would take in 100 people from the Civic Center for residential treatment. The program would focus on the mentally ill and those with the most severe substance issues, he said. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); Staff writer Jessica Kwong contributed to this report. Contact the writer: kpuente@ocreigster.com, FULLERTON A passenger who died after the vehicle he was riding in collided with an SUV on Sunday has been identified as Pedro Pineda-Navarro, 28, of Placentia. The collision occurred shortly before 3 a.m. when the Honda Civic Pineda-Navarro was riding in turned southbound into the northbound lanes on Lemon Street and struck a Lincoln Aviator head-on, authorities said. Two additional passengers were taken from the Honda and transported in critical condition. Both are expected to survive. The Hondas driver, who police have not identified, was taken into custody on suspicion of felony DUI, but later released, police Sgt. and spokesman Jon Radus said. He was given an abbreviated field sobriety test and the officers believed he was DUI, Radus said. The driver was released to paramedics and not arrested so he could be treated for non-life-threatening injuries sustained during the crash, but may face charges after he is discharged, Radus said. The driver of the SUV, whose name has not been released, was also suspected of DUI, but released to paramedics. The incident is still under investigation. Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or jsudock@ocregister.com John Maguire, recently tapped to lead Lake Forest-based Johnny Rockets, said he plans to keep moving forward with the companys plan to modernize the old-fashioned brand. We have no plan to change the strategy at this point, he told the Register during a recent phone interview. In April, the chain, owned by Sun Capital Partners, said it would rebrand and modernize by removing many of its old-fashioned characteristics. Those changes have included redesigning future restaurants in a contemporary format, removing jukeboxes and eliminating the 30-year-old classic white uniforms. The 30-year-old chain founded in Los Angeles is also sticking to its expansion plans, which includes adding more fast-food outlets called Johnny Rockets Express. Maguire, who remains the CEO of Friendlys, said the replacement of outgoing CEO Charles Bruce has been amicable. Bruce, whom he called a good friend, is temporarily sticking around to guide Maguire through the leadership transition. Charles Bruce has done a very good job, he said. So why change? Maguire said Sun Capital Partners, which owns the parent company of Friendlys and Johnny Rockets, thought the timing was right. Massachusetts-based FIC Restaurants recently sold its ice cream manufacturing business. That left Maguire with more time to focus on getting the best out of both brands, he said. Friendlys, founded as an ice cream business in 1935, operates 265 full-service restaurants that sell burgers, fries and grilled sandwiches along with its famed ice cream-based desserts. Maguire said the most immediate savings will likely come in food costs, as the restaurant companies buying power has expanded. Johnny Rockets has more than 350 restaurants in 28 countries. While the brands have different DNA and will be run independently, there will be some purchasing synergy, he said. Could that mean bringing Friendlys famed ice cream flavors to Johnny Rockets? Were going to look at it and see if it makes sense, he said. Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com ANAHEIM Huston Street stood in the clubhouse, packed in ice from his shoulder to his thigh, as usual, and confronted the questions he knew were coming. He had just blown a save in horrible fashion, letting a three-run lead get away in the Angels 5-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, begging the question of his job security. With Cam Bedrosian riding on a two-month string of zeroes and Street enduring a two-month nightmare that just hit it ugliest moment, how much longer could Street remain the closer? I dont even think about that, Street said. Thats not my decision. Its not In my head, Im going to get it done and figure out a way. Thats what Ive done my whole career. Manager Mike Scioscia, who had already elevated Bedrosian and his 0.92 ERA ahead of setup man Joe Smith on bullpen pecking order, said hes not ready to demote Street. Not right now, he said. Cam has already worked his way to the back of our bullpen. We need depth back there. For sure, we need a guy in the ninth inning whos going to hold leads, and thats where Huston comes in. He came in with a 3-0 lead on Sunday, trying to put the finishing touches on a day that had belonged to the triumphant return of Tyler Skaggs. In his first home start in more than two years, after having Tommy John surgery, Skaggs was in line for another victory. Then Street let it all get away. He walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to start the inning, and a leadoff walk is one of a pitchers greatest sins. Then Aaron Hill dropped a single into center. Street then struck out the next two hitters. He would not get another out. Mookie Betts single drove in one run. He then threw Dustin Pedroia a 1-0 slider. It was over the outside of the plate, as Street wanted it, but it hung, and Pedroia hit it over the center-field fence, putting Boston up 4-3. Xander Bogaerts followed with another homer, making it 5-3. The five runs equaled the most Street had allowed, matching a disastrous outing last September. That game will be best remembered because of the ball sticking in Taylor Featherstons glove. This one was the capper to one of the worst stretches of Streets All-Star career. Owner of 324 saves and a 2.91 ERA, over the two months since he came back from an oblique injury he has not been the same. Street has allowed 15 earned runs in 142/3 innings since coming off the DL. Both numbers there are issues. Street, whose season ERA stands at 6.45, has allowed far too many runs when hes pitched, but hes pitched far too infrequently to get into any sort of rhythm. The Angels have struggled so much the save opportunities have been sporadic. Ive been trying to find it, Street said. Ive been trying to find that groove. Im going to do everything I can. Sometimes its just that way. Sometimes every mistake youre getting beaten on, and Ive got to find a way to make less mistakes. So its been frustrating. Contact the writer: jlfletcher@scng.com Branded content, advertiser written stories that look like regular editorial matter, is getting lots of media attention, most of it good but some of it negative. One booster is The New York Times, which headlined July 25, In Media Company Advertising, Sponsored Content Is becoming King. NYT may be whistling in the dark since it posted July 28 a loss of $211,000 for Q2 vs. a profit of $16.4 million a year earlier. Stock is at $12.75 when it used to be in the $50s. Digital ads were down 6.8% and total ads off 11.7%. Facebook, meanwhile, which allows virtually any opinion to be posted, said sales in Q2 grew 59% to $6.44 billion while profits were up nearly a third to $2.06B. NYT said publications large and small have invested in teams to make sponsored contentwritten stories, videos or podcasts that look and feel like journalistic contenthoping to make up for declines in conventional ads. It notes The Atlantic says it gets three-quarters of its ad revenues that way. Slate, the web publisher, gets half of its ad revenue from branded. Hearst says it is rolling out its native digital ad product to all 84 of its markets, buoyed by the success it has had in the U.S. with its shared spaces product that lets advertisers inhabit the same area as editorial content. Oliver Rips Practice as Suicidal Comedian John Oliver, on his Aug. 3, 2014 HBO show, said the practice is a threat to the editorial independence of newsrooms, tends to mislead readers, and erodes trust. Surveys show that about half the time readers don't realize that an ad has been "camouflaged" as editorial, he said. Ads are baked into content like chocolate chips into a cookie, he said in an 11-minute segment, adding, Except its more like raisins into a cookiebecause nobody f---ing wants them there. He compared the mingling of news and ads as akin to dipping Twizzlers in guacamole, calling it really gross, and compared the results to botched heart surgery. Highlighted was the Scientology sponsored article that appeared on The Atlantics website in January 2013. The magazine pulled the article, which lauded the church and claimed a huge growth rate, after an outcry. An NYT executive is quoted as saying the paper was merely "sharing story-telling tools with advertisers." Oliver likened the need for separation of ads and editorial to the need for separation of church and state demanded by the Constitution. As of July 31, 2016, the show had 7,356,372 views and had drawn 2,631 comments. Mag Dissects Media but Skips Branded New York mags July 25-Aug. 7 issue has a cover story on The Case Against the Media by the Media." The 14-page article quotes 30 journalists on journalisms problems but there is no mention of branded advertising as one of the reasons for the decline in the credibility of media. The mag quotes Gallup as finding in 1974 that 69% of Americans trusted the media. That was the year that President Nixon resigned after an expose by The Washington Posts Carl Woodward and Bob Bernstein. A Gallup poll last year found that the only institutions Americans have less faith in than TV news (21%) and newspapers (20%) are Congress and big business. That is humiliatingly low, especially for a group of people who fancy themselves members of the Fourth Estate which is supposed to balance the other threeclergy, aristocracy and well-to-do, says the mag. It faults its own self for not publishing last October Steven Brills investigation into Trump University, which was then picked up by Time. We thought, wrongly, that Trump was fading and that the story had been told, says the mag. Social Media Rules, Says Frank Rich Social Media Rules Everything Now, headlines a segment in the article by Frank Rich, ex-NYT and now at New York mag. The Power of Facebook to adjudicate what is news and what is not is extraordinary and, I think, unprecedented in the history of modern media, he writes. No media titan or institution has ever had this kind of reach and power. Rich is looking for an antidote of stronger competition to keep Facebook honest although he does not called Facebook dishonest. A New York mag poll of 113 journalists found the No. 1 reason people distrust the media now is because Our public discourse is more politically polarized, which was agreed to by 50% of respondents. Respondents agreed, by a 53% margin, that media have become a broken business model that leaves journalists insufficiently funded to do good work. Media pander to audiences, said 50% of them. Facebook Fills in Holes Left by Media This website has found that Facebook fills in holes left by mainstream media which are often governed by what is politically correct and which avoid important subjects because advertisers might be offended. One such topic is the health threat of pulsed microwave radiation from numerous sources from cellphones, computers dependent on wireless access and cordless phones, to industrial-grade routers in schools, libraries, business and government offices, the 5,000+ cellphone towers that are a danger to anyone nearby, and Googles Project Loon that would blanket the earth with high-flying Wi-Fi emitting balloons. It is a scandal that almost all media dodge this issue, says Jerry Flynn, retired Canadian Army captain who supervised Canadas pulsed radiation war unit for many years. Our postings on the dangers of radiation have been picked up and circulated by numerous participants on Facebook. Many have lambasted the failure of governments and media to examine this issue and participants have sent us many leads on the issue that have proved to be valuable. Its no mystery to those on Facebook why NYT and other media ignore the health threats of pulsed radiationthree of the five biggest advertisers are telecom companiesAT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Major advertisers include Apple, Samsung and other internet hardware and software companies. NYT is not only promoting its own T Brand Studio branded ad function but is touting its own virtual reality product that requires a box to be fitted on the head of the user which then bombards the brain with electrical impulses. Caution Needed with Cellphones, Computers The telecom and computer industries do not want computer and cellphone users to be afraid of these instruments. But many cautionary practices are not only advisable but essential. Dr. Martha Herbert of Mass. General Hospital and Cindy Sage, Ph.D., have a basic list which should be posted in schools, libraries, offices and public places and publicized in media. No cellphones in pants pocket or on the belt No cellphone use during pregnancy No wireless laptops No iPads at school, no wireless anything No cellphones, particularly iPhones No cordless phones No baby monitors or wireless surveillance monitoring No compact fluorescent bulbs Keep cellphone on the desk or away from body Mothers use corded phones Have wired computers and laptops Wire classrooms for internet Use cable modem instead of wireless Use corded landline phones Use your ears and eyes instead of baby monitors Use regular incandescent bulbs Eruvim Avoided by NYT Another topic avoided by NYT is the Orthodox Jewish religious boundary called eruvim. The concept has been battled for at least eight years with Southampton, Westhampton Beach and Quogue recently agreeing to allow the boundary. NYT has done two articles on the subject in the past three and a half years, the latest May 30 by Matt Chaban, a real estate reporter. Millions of dollars in legal fees have been expended on the issue and court filings have totaled in the billions of words. No official of WHB signed the agreement which may invalidate it. Attempts to create an eruv in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, have resulted in markers for the eruv being repeatedly vandalized, reported dnainfo, a blog covering New York neighborhoods. The Lubavitch Hasidic community, longtime residents of the neighborhood, for the large part do not use or condone the symbolic enclosures, said dnainfo. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 By Aygun Badalova Trend: Azerbaijan has made significant progress in financial transparency, said the report of the US Department of State. Azerbaijan made significant progress during the review period by publishing more detail on planned expenditures, including allocations to state-owned enterprises, said the 2016 Fiscal Transparency Report. Fiscal Transparency Report describes the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency developed, updated, and strengthened by the Department in consultation with other relevant federal agencies, reviews governments that were originally identified as recipients of assistance in the 2014 Fiscal Transparency Report, assesses those that did not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements, and indicates whether governments that did not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements made significant progress toward meeting the requirements during the review period of January 1 December 31, 2015. The report also provides a brief description of the use of the Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund. For the purpose of this report, the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency include having key budget documents that are publicly available, substantially complete, and generally reliable. The review includes an assessment of the transparency of processes for awarding government contracts and licenses for natural resource extraction. Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management, helps in building market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability. Fiscal transparency fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets for citizens, helping them to hold their leadership accountable, and facilitating better-informed public debates. The Departments fiscal transparency review process assesses whether governments meet minimum requirements of fiscal transparency. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @AygunBadalova Baku, Azerbaijan, July 31 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Iran has signed a deal with the Georgian International Energy Corporation to export gas to the country within a 4-month period, Ali Reza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said. Almost 40 million cubic meters of gas will be sold to the company under the test agreement, Kameli said, the Iranian oil ministrys SHANA news agency reported July 31. He further said that the deal will come into force once Armenia issues the needed permissions. Earlier, Mariam Valishvili, Georgia's deputy energy minister told Trend that the Georgian Ministry of Energy has no information on the conclusion of contracts for the import of Iranian gas to the country. 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. At present, Azerbaijan is the main supplier of gas to Georgia. Small volumes are also supplied from Russia. RED CLOUD, Neb. The final band waves goodbye. The event organizer ambles to the mic and thanks everyone for coming. People fold up their lawn chairs as the sun dips low in the sky. The one-of-a-kind show in my hometown is over. Then a voice from the back pierces through the silence, a voice with other ideas about the end of the Good Living Tours show on a July Sunday in Red Cloud. One more song! the voice yells. Somebody else chimes in. Yeah, one more! A third: Come on! It isnt an organized chant, not a piece of orchestrated pageantry like you have witnessed at a million concerts. The shouts sound more surprising than that, more organic. They sound like pleas, fitting pleas considering we are here to celebrate something local, live Nebraska music that seemingly died in rural Nebraska long ago. Fitting pleas because we are sitting in a small town, Red Cloud, left for dead a long time ago, too. One more! the voices yell, insistent. If it comes, the encore will be the tiniest of victories, just a few more minutes of music for the crowd of roughly 250. But it also represents something far greater if you, like me, hail from Red Cloud or any small Nebraska town. This crowd, this concert, this Good Living Tour, these pleas they actually serve as further evidence that Red Cloud and map dots like it can survive and thrive if we are insistent. Let me explain why this moment meant so much to me. When I graduated from high school and left Red Cloud for college in 1998, I didnt do so with any hate in my heart, or animosity in my soul. I liked Red Cloud well enough. But I, like most of my classmates, felt ambivalent toward my hometown. I felt like not much good would happen in this place. Ever. So I drove away. And then an incredible thing happened. Red Cloud began to undergo something that looks like a renaissance. The historic Red Cloud Opera House, the very spot where famed novelist Willa Cather gave her high school graduation speech, was lovingly restored by the Willa Cather Foundation after it clawed for decades to raise the funds. Today the Opera House is Red Clouds de facto living room, a home base that didnt exist when I was young. The Cather Foundation then doubled down on that success, undertaking an even more ambitious project. This fall, the restored Moon Block nearly an entire block of Red Clouds historic Main Street will reopen to the public. What was once shabby storefronts and abandoned second-floor space will now feature an expanded Cather bookstore, new offices, archives to house Cather artifacts, spacious apartments and gleaming space for local businesses. Its a mixed-use redevelopment tucked inside a gorgeously preserved old building. Its the sort of place that would make an Omaha developer weak in the knees. A new pizza place has opened in Red Cloud. So has a stunning bed-and-breakfast, the Red Cloud B&B at the Kaley House, a new gift shop and coffee shop, and several other businesses. The success isnt just brick and mortar: Webster County and some other small Nebraska towns appear to be bucking demographic trends that long suggested small towns were dying. The fastest growing population group in Red Cloud: People between the ages of 30 and 39, according to University of Minnesota research. In the past few years, several of my classmates have moved back to Red Cloud from bigger cities, including my high school journalism buddy Jarrod McCartney, who took a job as the towns first-ever heritage tourism director. I think if I would have told somebody that Red Cloud could be a center for the arts back in 1998, people would have laughed at me, McCartney says. Now, Im taken seriously by most people. I think weve done a decent job of positioning ourselves as a place of opportunity rather than a place to escape from. A group of Red Cloud residents is now planning another way to entice and keep young adults, and their kids, in town. A public fundraising campaign will start soon for the The Valley Child Development Center, a state-of-the-art place where the towns youngest residents will get the sort of early-childhood education experts say is so important. The projects leaders are aiming to make it the best child development center in small-town Nebraska, one of the best in the country. (If you would like to follow the progress of the Valley Child Development Center, follow its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/The-Valley-Child-Development-Center-1756361501273271/) Lets be clear: I am objective on exactly none of this. My uncle Jay Yost has been instrumental in the Cather Foundations success. Along with his partner Wade Leak, Jay also owns the aforementioned Kaley House. My father Dennis Hansen leads the community foundation, and another uncle, Jeff Yost, has advised the local foundations efforts from his post as director of the Nebraska Community Foundation. My mother, Sally Hansen, is a driving force behind the Valley Child Development Center. I cant name all my friends-and-family entanglements in Red Cloud, because there are too many. Im also objective on none of this because, why should I be? All of it is audacious. All of it is heartwarming. Its the sort of stuff I never thought would happen when I left. Its exactly the sort of stuff that Red Cloud and other small Nebraska towns should be fighting for the sort of progress that Red Cloud is proving is possible in 2016. Back to that Sunday concert for a moment. Andrew Norman is the guy at the mic when the crowd starts to plead for one more song. He smiles, shrugs and glances at Lloyd McCarter, the frontman of the old-school country band who just walked offstage. You play one more? he asks. Norman, the executive director of Hear Nebraska, knows what its like to fight for small-town Nebraska. He and his wife Angie built a music nonprofit from scratch. For years, they have concentrated on Omaha and Lincoln, helping to support those music scenes in countless ways. But he had his own audacious small-town dream, too. The Imperial boy who now lives in Omaha wanted to organize a concert tour that would connect eastern and western Nebraska, urban and rural. He wanted to put on a series of shows in unlikely places, banking on the truth that, at our core, everyone loves to rock. From that vision sprung the Good Living Tour, which kicked off its first statewide concert series last summer. Were trying to bridge that great divide, he told me before the show. Its working. Now in year two, the Good Living Tour has attracted important corporate sponsors and expanded to 12 tour dates. It has ventured into obvious spots like Kearney, Grand Island and Normans hometown of Imperial. But it also has come to smaller and smaller spots, places where no concert promoter has dared to roam in decades. Places like Red Cloud, where when I was growing up, there was no local music scene whatsoever. The Good Living Tour isnt about convincing the entire audience that they should like an indie band from Omaha, Norman said. He does try to give everyone in the audience at least one band they enjoy. And he keeps an eye on the dozen or two dozen teenagers who come to every show, teenagers who may feel like a small town has nothing for them, and they have nothing for it. Norman watches, knowingly, as they head toward the stage at a Good Living Tour show and, oh so tentatively, begin to bob their heads to the music. It gives me chills when I see that, Norman says. I can see what they are thinking. I understand them. He understands why this encore is important, too. For most of the afternoon, the big Red Cloud audience has listened politely to the three bands onstage, including Lester Junction, a rock band made up of Red Cloud musicians. But it is hot and sunny, and the audience is seated and bashful. Then Legendary Lloyd and the Honky Tonk Revival climb back onstage for a few more songs. They rip through a Johnny Cash tune. Then Merle Haggard. Then Elvis. A Red Cloud resident gets onstage and sings with the band. The crowd gets louder. A few people dance. The crowd cheers the dancers. Then more dancers: Kids, Hear Nebraska interns, 40-somethings from Red Cloud, an older couple who does a two-step precious enough to melt your heart. The crowd yells for another, and the band plays another, and the sun sets, and for a moment no one notices, because no one cares. Im lounging on a blanket next to the dance floor. My notebook is in my pocket. This is happening in Red Cloud, I think. It is. I have been so very wrong about my hometown. Im grinning so hard it hurts. Note: The hometown of Andrew Norman was incorrect in an earlier version of this article. A nonprofit program that links elementary and middle school students with mental health counseling plans to expand into more Omaha and Bellevue schools in the upcoming school year. Project Harmonys Connections program, which began in 2015, continues to grow as more schools ask for help in dealing with kids struggling to make sense of divorce, abuse, bullying or violence in their homes and neighborhoods. And the program isnt tied to the school calendar. About 365 kids are undergoing therapy this summer, and 33 others are participating in small group sessions at area schools and summer camps. Kids can spill private details to therapists in one-on-one sessions. In groups of six to eight they might learn strategies for coping with anxiety or fear. Connections operates in Omaha Public Schools and the Papillion-La Vista and Millard districts. Since January 2015, about 1,200 kids have participated. For the 2016-17 school year it will be open to students in three Bellevue schools. Project Harmony is seeking funding and extra providers to accommodate a request from Omaha Public Schools to add 10 to 12 additional elementary schools and all of the districts alternative programs to Connections. This would be in addition to the 26 OPS schools being served. The program is geared toward K-8 students and their families. Pediatricians, school counselors and social workers can refer students who are exhibiting signs of mental health problems, such as being frequently absent, withdrawn or angry, or having trouble focusing. With parental permission, Connections staff will match kids with a therapist either a private provider or a counselor employed by an organization such as the Charles Drew Health Center. Some therapists work directly in the schools. Key to the program is breaking down barriers to treatment by helping families find transportation to counseling appointments, smoothing over insurance issues and even paying for treatment if a family cant afford it. These are parents that are willing, and they want help for their kids, said Barbara Jessing, clinical director for the Connections program. When they cant get them to an after-hours appointment at an agency or clinic its because they cant, not because they dont want to. Thats a barrier we remove structurally, by bringing the services into schools. That holistic approach appears to be paying off. Connections has a show rate how many patients actually show up to therapy appointments of 85 percent. We dont expect to resolve some of the really intractable problems, said Connections program director Deb Anderson. Its not like were expecting mom and dad to get back together if theyre divorced. But what are the things we can do to help this child do better, or this family do better? Counselors can help families and school staff learn ways to react to kids who are having problems at home or in school. If a child is afraid to go to school, you could say Im going to take away privileges, Jessing said. But if theyre scared of something, you can get to the root of that. So its helping both parents and teachers see the connection between something stressful in the childs life and behavior, and then respond accordingly. What our experience says and this is school mental health across the country is student mental health problems are a barrier to academic success. Project Harmony works with about 60 mental health providers across the Omaha area, paying them to reserve time each week to work with kids. Connections has dealt with a provider shortage by turning to group sessions, so more kids can be seen at once. But more providers are needed, especially African-American and Spanish-speaking therapists, Anderson said. So organizations are trying to grow their own. Private funding will pay for 10 Project Harmony and Nebraska Families Collaborative employees to get their masters degrees in social work from the University of Nebraska at Omaha over the next several years. Project Harmony also conducts training with providers and in schools on how to work with kids who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, such as abuse, parent incarceration or a death in the family. The Connections program also will focus more this year on studying outcomes, to see which pieces of the program are working and whether kids symptoms are improving with therapy. Contact the writer: 402-444-1210, erin.duffy@owh.com The bat was not happy. That much was clear. The tiny winged creature, its body barely bigger than a packing peanut, squeaked and squirmed as Jeremy White worked it free from the net. By the light of his headlamp White showed members of the Nebraska Master Naturalists, gathered that night at Fontenelle Forest, the pronounced part of the ear that identified the fuzzball as a northern long-eared bat. The northern long-eared is common in Fontenelle, White had explained to the naturalists in a short presentation earlier that evening. But for how much longer? Last year the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the northern long-eared as federally threatened. It, along with several other bat species, currently faces perhaps the greatest threat North American bats have ever faced. White-nose syndrome, a disease that affects hibernating bats, has killed an estimated 6 million bats in the northeast United States and Canada since it was discovered there in 2006. Bat populations in some areas have been completely wiped out by the disease, according to the wildlife service. Last year Nebraska researchers found the cave-dwelling fungus that causes the disease in a mine in Cass County. This year another mine, about a mile from the first, also tested positive for the fungus. This is the worst wildlife disease in North America, said White, a faculty member in the department of biology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who has been working with others since 2013 to monitor the disease in the Cornhusker State. Though no Nebraska bats have yet been found dead of white-nose, White and others are closely watching its impact nationwide while at home they test bats and the places they roost. Why, some ask White. Who cares about a bunch of flying rodents? First, he said, bats arent rodents. Theyre more closely related to humans than rats. Then he went on: Our ecosystem is like a game of Jenga. Remove one piece bats, for example and the tower becomes less stable. How many pieces, he asked, can be removed before the tower falls? *** At UNO, White teaches biology majors and non-majors alike. So when hes trying to spark an interest in wildlife in the latter, he talks a lot about bats. Theyre the only mammal that can fly, he tells them. They can live for decades. Vampire bats secrete a protein called draculin to prevent blood clotting so they can continuously feed on the blood of bigger animals. White, 41, didnt set out to be a bat researcher. The Nevada native spent time as a wildland firefighter and came to UNO in 2000 to study the effects of wildfires on animals. He met his wife here and began to put down roots in the Cornhusker State. So when it came time to pursue his doctorate at Auburn University in Alabama, he turned the focus back north, studying the ecology of kangaroo rats in the Sand Hills. But he had other interests. As a masters student he had visited Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico with UNO mammalogist Ken Geluso and watched thousands of bats take flight. He was hooked. Bats are just fascinating, he said. So its all the more tragic to White that now their future is in jeopardy. But beyond sentiment, a decline in the countrys bat population could have huge consequences for the nation and the state. Bats play a huge role in controlling insect populations, White said. They eat bugs. A lot of them. Fewer bats means more bugs, which could be particularly troublesome in agrarian states like Nebraska, according to Mike Fritz, natural heritage zoologist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. In Nebraska, a surplus of bugs could damage crops, Fritz said. For the past several years Fritz, White and others have been using grant money provided by the wildlife service to monitor bat populations in certain areas of the state. This winter, White said, theyre hoping to find out more about where Nebraskas northern long-eared bats spend the winters whether they hibernate somewhere other than caves or mines. Methods of treating the disease or preventing the growth of the fungus, White said, are still in the early stages. *** It might have come from Europe or Asia. Visitors to caves overseas could have brought the fungus back to the United States with them on their gear, inadvertently contaminating caves here, White said. By the winter of 2006-2007, it was in New York. From there it spread rapidly across the eastern U.S. and Canada, moving westward. For a time, it wasnt known to have spread any farther than the mine in Cass County. Then, in March, a bat in Washington state turned up dead of white-nose, meaning bat populations on the West Coast are now at risk. It works like this: The disease is caused by a fungus with the intimidating name of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Pd thrives in dark, damp caves which is where many U.S. bat species spend winters hibernating. White-nose syndrome gets its name from the fuzzy, whitish growth the fungus causes on a bats nose, arms and wings. The fungus disrupts hibernation, causing bats to awaken and fly outside or cluster near cave entrances. They expend the energy they should be saving. Eventually, many die. But not immediately. Bats have been found carrying low levels of the fungus but not suffering from the effects of the disease. Nationwide, seven bat species, four of them native to Nebraska, have shown symptoms of the disease, according to the wildlife service. Five more species, including two that live in Nebraska, have tested positive for the fungus but havent shown signs of the disease. No bats have turned up in Nebraska with the disease. But recently, when White and his colleagues tested 25 Nebraska bats from a mine, 20 turned up positive for carrying the fungus. It takes about three years for the fungus to grow to the point that the disease is expressed in bats, said Fritz, who is working with White and researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Kearney to track the disease. This marks the second year the fungus has been documented in Nebraska. The potential is that next year we could see white-nose on bats, Fritz said. Some species are more susceptible than others. In the eastern U.S., Fritz said, the northern long-eared has seen about a 95 percent drop in population because of white-nose. So for White, their future in Nebraska is a concern. I think its inevitable that we will see the disease here, he said. But there is hope. White and his colleagues want to find more northern long-eared bats hibernating in places other than caves or mines, which could mean more bats surviving the disease. In the meantime theyre seeking the publics help. White and Fritz ask that anyone who knows of mines where bats hibernate, or who find bats in winter or spring that might have died of the disease, to contact Nebraska Game and Parks. *** On a hot July evening at Fontenelle Forest, White would catch four northern long-eared bats to show the Nebraska Master Naturalists. At dusk he suspended two wide nets across a trail near Gifford Farm. The bats, he explained, would emerge at sunset, flying along the trails. At least a few, he hoped, would get caught in the nets. When it was dark he went to check the nets with volunteers. One of his bats had been nursing recently, he said, pointing out the nipples on the mother bats belly. Very gently, he expressed the tiniest drop of milk from the bat. The naturalists, huddled around, let out gasps of amazement. It was sad, really, to see so many captivated by the bat, yet to know its bleak prognosis. Once he had recorded the bats length, weight and gender, White raised it above his head. Fluttering its wings like a moth, the bat took off, heading back into the forest and toward an uncertain future. Correction: Jeremy White's position at UNO was previously listed incorrectly in photo captions with this story. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Texas fined Blue Bell Creameries for a listeria contamination last year linked to the deaths of three people, but the ice cream maker could end up paying only a fraction of the $850,000 penalty under an agreement announced last week. Blue Bell halted sales and issued a voluntarily recall in April 2015 due to bacteria contamination that was linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, drawing regulatory scrutiny from federal and state officials. The company, based in Brenham, Texas, outside Houston, is required to immediately pay the state $175,000. But the rest will be forgiven under the terms of the agreement if Blue Bell complies with food safeguards and reporting requirements for 18 months. We are pleased with the steps that have been taken in our facilities and confident that we are producing safe products that our customers can enjoy, Blue Bell said in a statement. Blue Bell ice cream returned to stores about four months after sales were halted. Listeria bacteria can cause serious illness, especially in older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. About 8 million gallons of ice cream and ice cream products were recalled, Blue Bell said. It put more than 100 workers on paid furlough after the recall. Plants in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama underwent cleaning and decontamination. Blue Bell signed agreements last year with health officials in those states after the recall and cleanup efforts. One new provision requires the company to begin notifying Texas of any presumptive positive test results for listeria that might have been found on surfaces that come into contact with the food, and not just the food itself. However, the agreement also gives Blue Bell and the state flexibility to eventually lessen that oversight to only confirmed positive test results. Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Imagine having all the files on your computer your documents, your photos, your videos locked and held hostage by hackers who demand a payout just because you opened the wrong email attachment or clicked the wrong link. Thats the nightmare scenario facing victims of ransomware, a type of malware that quietly encrypts files on a computer so that only a digital key held by the attacker can release them. But a new initiative called No More Ransomware may offer a glimmer of hope for victims. The project, a collaboration among Europol, the Dutch National Police and cybersecurity firms Intel Security and Kaspersky Lab, launched a website last week featuring tools that can help some victims decrypt their data without paying off criminals. The site offers four decryption tools, each designed to help unlock data from different strains of ransomware. Once a user has removed the original source of the malware, which can be done using common anti-virus programs, the tools will try to unlock the files using digital keys known to be used in some versions of ransomware. The tools wont be able to help all ransomware victims because researchers dont know all the keys that attackers have used, but its still a major step forward, said Raj Samani, Intel Securitys chief technology officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the past, your only choices were losing your data or paying the criminals, he said. Were giving people a third option. Ransomware has been on the rise in recent years. The number of users attacked by the malware rose from 131,000 in 2014 to 718,000 in 2015, according to Kaspersky Lab. The digital scheme has hit individuals, police departments and even hospitals, which seem to be particularly targeted by criminals because they depend on keeping computers up and running to care for patients. Health care was the industry most targeted by ransomware attacks in the second quarter of 2016, according to a report released last week by cybersecurity firm Solutionary, accounting for 88 percent of the attacks the firm detected. To guard against ransomwares consequences, No More Ransomwares top tip is to regularly back up your data to a cloud service or a local external hard drive. If you take the external hard drive route, keep the drive disconnected from your computer when its not backing up files so that it doesnt get infected with the rest of your system if ransomware strikes, according to the site. Using a trusted anti-virus program also can help fend off attackers. Opponents have lodged a long list of complaints against the chicken-processing operation Costco wants to build in Fremont, pushing back with concerns about pollution, illegal immigrant workers and whether farmers will get a fair shake. But there has been little talk about the welfare of the birds or of the people who will slaughter them, areas where activists nationally have been agitating for change and having some recent success. The Fremont plant will face scrutiny from activists and Costco shoppers alike, as Costco makes its first move into owning and slaughtering its own livestock. Activists are fighting major U.S. chicken processors on many fronts, including a push to end a common slaughter process in which workers hang live, flapping birds by their feet, then send them down a line where they are stunned in water with an electric current, have their throats slit and are dunked in scalding water to loosen their feathers. The process sometimes fails, sending chickens to be scalded alive more than 675,000 last year, according to USDA records, still a small fraction of the 8.8 billion chickens slaughtered in the U.S. annually. Lincoln Premium Poultry, the Georgia company hired to run Costcos plant, told The World-Herald that it will use the latest technology to improve conditions for both chickens and the workers it hires to process them. It will use, for example, a different slaughter method, preferred by animal activists, that uses carbon dioxide to render birds unconscious before they are shackled. The practice, called controlled-atmosphere stunning, is said to result in safer conditions for workers and a more accurate and pain-free kill process for the birds. Better slaughterhouse practices can be costly, and Costco shoppers expect to buy fresh food at value prices. But concern for the environment and for the people along the supply chain is part of that value equation for the warehouse retailers customers, said Sara Al-Tukhaim, director of retail insights at Kantar Retail in Boston. They are more likely to seek out better for me products and messages, and this extends to better for my community and my environment, too, she said, especially among younger shoppers who will be the next generation of store members shoppers who pay $55 or more for a store membership so they can shop. Those membership fees are an essential component of Costcos revenue, and anything that harms Costcos brand or reputation risks eroding that revenue stream, Al-Tukhaim said. By owning its own plant, she said, Costco will have more power to control quality and labor issues. Also in response to activist and shopper demands, Costco is increasingly sourcing organic food and has made changes to its product lineup, such as a promise made in December to sell only cage-free eggs, Al-Tukhaim said. Costcos Nebraska chicken plant is expected to start production in August 2018, slaughtering birds raised by a network of area farmers working on contract. Fremont elected officials last week approved a redevelopment agreement clearing the way for the project; if Costco proceeds, it will file applications for building permits and other approvals. The $300 million plant would employ between 800 and 1,000, a number Lincoln Premium Poultry revised from an earlier projection of 1,100 workers. Officials say it would pump $1.2 billion annually into the areas economy. Plans are progressing at a time when Perdue, Americas third-largest chicken producer, is introducing changes that animal rights groups are championing as a major step forward in animal welfare. Perdue said in June that it will begin killing chickens with controlled-atmosphere stunning, the first major U.S. company to announce that it will use this procedure. It also will expose chickens to more natural light, boost their activity levels and reduce the expectations for how fast chickens must grow. Perdues initiative, which took ideas from smaller organic companies that Perdue had acquired, follows a rise in consumer demand for better slaughterhouse practices. Retrofitting plants and processes to make changes for animal welfare can be expensive. Brett Hundley, agribusiness analyst for BB&T Capital Markets, said Perdues initiative could increase costs by 5 to 15 percent, but it appeals to consumers who are increasingly worried about animal welfare. The Humane Society of the United States, which worked with Perdue, said it has been in touch with Costco about the Nebraska plant, though it declined to share details about any conversations. Our hope is that Costco and other companies will require standards around the same animal welfare issues that Perdue is now so proactively addressing, said Matthew Prescott, senior director for food policy. Its certainly positive that Costco is using better slaughter methods, and that will improve many birds final moments, he said. Environmental enrichments like natural light are also a prominent issue. Costco said it will run the plant in accordance with its mission to provide members with high-quality goods at low prices, adding that we do not believe that price is the sole determinant of value, said Jonathan Luz, the companys director of strategic planning and development. Our policies and approach will be consistent with our culture and will reflect the level of care that our members have come to expect from us. Costco is not chasing every trend with the project: Its barns will not have windows with natural light. The chickens will probably not be certified organic and wont be raised without antibiotics, a label increasingly seen on supermarket chicken. We are considering the judicious use of antibiotics, Luz said. The chicken will be water-chilled, not air-chilled; air-chilling advocates say the process results in less water-logged, better-tasting chicken. But the plant will be built to leave room for an air-chilling process, should consumers demand it. Besides the controlled-atmosphere stunning, the plant will use technology in other ways to improve things for the chickens, said Walt Shafer, project manager for Lincoln Premium Poultry. Trucks and barns will be temperature-controlled, Shafer said. Chickens that spend less time in transit, or under less stressful conditions, grow better, and flocks see lower mortality rates. Farmers contracts will include animal welfare provisions, yet to be finalized. Technology will similarly make workers lives easier, Shafer said. He said Lincoln Premium Poultry toured European poultry plants to see the latest, most humane equipment and practices in use. Modern equipment means workers wont have to handle as many repetitive cutting tasks. Machines will do more of the dirty work of slaughter: eviscerating the birds, removing their feet and feathers and other parts, including the bones. Workers, with a base pay of $13 an hour, will have some repetitive tasks, but also are there to inspect the machines work and back up the processes in case of error, he said. Theres a trade-off, he said: The plant may not see as high a yield but will have fewer labor issues. Working conditions for poultry plant workers came under fire this year with a report from Oxfam America, describing the work as rapid, repetitive and low-paying, with high injury rates. The report included tales of some workers who were denied bathroom breaks and resorted to wearing diapers. Shafer said Fremont plant workers on two nine-hour daily processing shifts will have two 30-minute breaks per shift and will rotate routine jobs during the day to reduce repetition. Workers will be invited to participate in a safety committee where they can share ideas on how to prevent injuries. About 60 percent of the workers will be considered production line workers, with 40 percent as higher-paid skilled workers; all will have employee benefits. People concerned about chicken slaughtering practices may appreciate one key difference at the Costco plant: It will be constructed with an interior observation area, so community officials or even schoolchildren on field trips will be able to observe poultry processing in action. Costco and its customers will have high expectations, Shafer said: Were committed to doing this right. This report includes material from the Washington Post. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: In January-July 2016, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) shipped from the Russian Southern Ozereyka-2 terminal 25.6 million tons of CPC Blend oil against 25.02 million tons of oil in the same period of 2015, CPC said in a message posted on its website Aug. 1. In 2015, CPCs shareholders shipped from the terminal 42.76 million tons of oil, produced from Tengiz and Karachaganak fields in Kazakhstan, compared to 39.96 million tons shipped in 2014. The shareholders of the CPC pipeline with a length of 1,510 kilometers are: Transneft 24 percent, KazMunaiGas 19 percent, Chevron 15 percent, LUKARCO 12.5 percent, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company 7.5 percent, Rosneft-Shell Caspian 7.5 percent, CPC Company 7 percent, BG 2 percent, Eni 2 percent, Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures 1.75 percent and Oryx Caspian Pipeline 1.75 percent. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Omaha Police Officer Mark Kiley overheard on his police radio last week that a fellow officer was about to tow a murder suspects vehicle from a residence. Thats usually a simple call that demands only one officer. But Kiley had just completed active-shooter training the day before. He considered the possibility that the suspect was at the home, knowing he could face life in prison, and might attack the officer to escape. So Kiley and another officer went to assist and cover their colleague. The car was towed without incident. You have to think like that, unfortunately, Kiley said. The training, he said, is whats going to save officers lives out in the street. Two weeks ago, following the fatal ambushes of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer told The World-Herald that his department would implement new daylong active-shooter education for all officers. The sessions started a week ago. Were not waiting for it to happen here, said Lt. Laurie Scott, a training commander at the Omaha Public Safety Training Center. Were literally targets. Were being hunted like deer. Officers need to know how to evade or prevent ambushes, said Trevor Thrasher, chief operating officer of 88 Tactical, which instructs civilians, law enforcement and military personnel. Thrasher, a former Omaha police officer, was hired as a consultant to collaborate with Omaha police instructors to create the program. As many as 480 traffic, gang and uniform patrol unit officers will be trained over the next three weeks at the center, which is near Nebraska Highway 133 and Rainwood Road. Lt. Darci Tierney, an Omaha police spokeswoman, said the $23,000 cost was paid partly by the departments budget and partly by seized assets, such as money or property taken from criminals. The Douglas County Sheriffs Office is among other area law enforcement agencies that also provide active-shooter training. The daylong sessions for Omaha officers begin with a PowerPoint presentation outlining strategy and analyzing police responses to violent attacks. Then officers practice drills with guns, followed by outdoor sessions simulating an active shooter at a large gathering. Because of the instruction, officers will change the ways they communicate and how they arrive at and respond to active-shooter scenes, including incidents involving a suicidal or homicidal person, said Sgt. Jeff Baker, a firearms trainer. Over half of our officer-involved shootings happen in or around vehicles, Baker said. Training is evolving to address that reality. The cruiser can be a coffin. Officer feedback on the course has been enthusiastic and appreciative, Baker said. After completing the class Thursday, Officer Angela Richards texted Scott: Oh my God my body hurts so bad but it was great training. Richards said the session was the best in her nearly 15 years on the force. She now feels more confident and said it has boosted morale among officers after the emotionally draining events that have occurred nationwide. The chief has our back, and hes concerned about our safety as well, Richards said. Kiley called the program long overdue. If it saves an officers life, its money well spent, he said. Its training well worth it. Contact the writer: 402-444-1068, alia.conley@owh.com A 15-year-old girl was injured in a shooting Sunday night in South Omaha. Police said Valerie Xochiwua told them that she was shot in the area of 30th and R Streets at about 9:30 p.m. Officers were flagged down near the emergency entrance to the Nebraska Medical Center, police said. The victim suffered a lower leg wound that was not considered life-threatening, police said. Xochiwua told officers that she didnt know the person who gave her a ride to the medical center. The investigation continues. LINCOLN Two state corrections workers were assaulted in separate incidents over the weekend. On Saturday, a caseworker at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln was struck by an inmate in a general population housing unit. The inmate was eventually subdued. The staff member was treated at a Lincoln hospital and released. On Sunday, a lieutenant at the Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility in Omaha was bitten on the hand while attempting to remove restraints from an inmate. The lieutenant was treated at an Omaha medical facility and released. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, which recently decided to report all assaults, said that such conduct will not be tolerated and that findings of the investigation will be turned over for prosecution. Rescuers responded to a gunshot victim found about 9:30 p.m. Sunday in an area north of the Nebraska Medical Center. A 25-year-old woman had been shot in the leg, according to initial 911 dispatch reports. Paramedics did not consider her injury life-threatening when she was taken by ambulance to the medical center. Police were trying to find out where the woman was shot and were investigating in an area near 30th and R Streets. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been named as a rising star by a top publisher of natural science research. Springer Nature ranked UNL No. 9 among up-and-coming U.S. institutions. The ranking was generated by the Nature Index, which tracked increases in the number of articles institutions contributed to 68 top-flight natural science journals between 2012 and 2015, according to the university. UNL ranked No. 11 among North American institutions and No. 90 among more than 8,000 institutions worldwide. Creighton to host awarding of $1 million Opus Prize Creighton University will host the awarding of the 2016 Opus Prize, a faith-based award for social entrepreneurship. Three finalists have been named for the annual humanitarian prize, which will be awarded at the Holland Center on Nov. 17. They are: The Rev. Peter Balleis, S.J., co-founding member of the Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins; Sister Anne Jordan, PBVM, chief executive officer of Cana Communities Inc., an Australia-based organization that helps people struggling with addiction and mental illness; Sarah Lance, founder and managing director of Sari Bari, an empowering business model that helps women in India whove been exploited or victimized by sex trafficking to start a new life. The Opus Prize includes a $1 million award. Runners-up each receive $100,000. Third UNO student-veteran earns diplomacy fellowship A third University of Nebraska at Omaha student-veteran has earned a national security fellowship meant to familiarize students with foreign policy. Harrison Johnson joins the class of 32 students in the Veterans4Diplomacy program, which pairs elite student-veterans with mentors who have achieved significant roles in foreign policy. Johnson is a member of the Army Reserves in Nebraska. Hes also a past president of UNOs Veteran Student Organization. UNO students Megan Carr and Kevin Sefcovic are also part of the group. Grant will fund study of how to support Latino students The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools has landed a $3.5 million grant to explore how to better support Latino students by connecting their experiences at home and school. The grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, will study family and school partnerships for diverse student populations over the course of four years. Ninety classrooms across the state will participate. The research center is housed at UNLs College of Education and Human Sciences. Well, here we go again. Hot and humid conditions have returned for at least the first half of the week in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, forecasters say, with the heat index topping 100 today through Wednesday. High temperatures across the region will be in the low to upper 90s across the region, with the heat index, or feel-like temperature, in the 100 to 105 range, according to the National Weather Service office in Valley. Thunderstorms are possible this morning along and east of the Missouri River. Showers and thunderstorms may develop by early tonight into northeast Nebraska, with storms spreading southeastward into the area tonight, the weather service said. Storms should diminish by Tuesday morning, with quiet weather likely through Wednesday. In the Omaha area today, look for a slight chance of precipitation, partly sunny skies by midmorning and a high temperature near 91. Tonight, there is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11 p.m. with a low around 74. Skies will be mostly sunny in the Omaha area on Tuesday and Wednesday, forecasters said, and there is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high in the low 90s. Thursday through Sunday will bring a chance of showers and thunderstorms, with highs in the low 90s on Thursday and the low 80s on Friday through Sunday, the weather service said. This morning, a weather system producing heavy rainfall pushed through the region. Weather service radar showed the system near Vermillion, South Dakota, stretching to Storm Lake, Iowa, and to just northeast of St. Joseph, Missouri. Because of the heavy rainfall, the weather service issued a flash flood warning until 10 a.m. for parts of two southwest Iowa counties Taylor and Ringgold. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Aug.1 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmenistans Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov met with Frances extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador Patrick Pascal, said the message from Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry. Pascal is completing his diplomatic mission in Turkmenistan. During the meeting, the parties expressed intention to further strengthen the ties. Emphasizing the high-level political and diplomatic cooperation, the parties pointed out the role of the policy of neutrality and sustainable development principle of Turkmenistan, said the message. The meeting participants also emphasized the high-level relations between the two countries in trade and economic spheres. French companies are represented in Turkmenistan in such spheres as construction, transportation, tourism and energy. The two countries are interested in the implementation of the project for transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe. Frances Total company can be involved in developing hydrocarbon resources on the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea and studying the possibilities of transporting gas to Europe. Gas de France also expressed interest in cooperation in this sphere. French Schneider Electric has signed an agreement with Turkmen government in the sphere of energy supply to Ashgabat. Thales Alenia Space has implemented the project for construction of Turkmenistans first national artificial satellite. Bouygues and VINCI Construction have been involved in the big construction projects on Turkmen market. NEW YORK (AP) Donald Trumps presidential bid has thrived on controversy of his own making. Now, the Republican nominee kicks off the first full week of the general election campaign having put his strategy of saying the politically unimaginable to its greatest test yet. Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last weeks Democratic convention because they are Muslim. The outcry was swift and bipartisan, leaving Trump largely isolated among his fellow Republicans and potentially putting at risk whatever progress the New Yorker had made during his convention at winning over the independent voters who will likely decide the fall election. I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family, said New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican seeking re-election in one of the nations most competitive Senate contests. Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements praising Capt. Humayun Khan, awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after the U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq in 2004. Though neither explicitly mentioned Trump, the congressional leaders pointedly denounced his proposed ban on foreign Muslims entering the country, a policy he had altered in recent weeks but nevertheless one that returned to the center of the campaign debate via his attacks on the Khan family. For the second time in a week, Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, issued a statement that appeared designed to put some space between the two men atop the GOP ticket. The father of a Marine, Pence said Sunday that he and Trump believe Capt. Khan is a hero and his family should be cherished by every American. Last week, Pence said Russia would face serious consequences for meddling in U.S. elections at roughly the same time Trump appeared to encourage it, telling reporters he would welcome Russia unearthing emails that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton deleted from the private servers she used while secretary of state. Pences late Sunday statement came after an afternoon of debate among his aides as to whether he should find a way to subtly distance himself from Trumps comments, according to a person familiar with the internal campaign conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly. At last weeks Democratic convention, the Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told his sons story, questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said you have sacrificed nothing. During the speech, Ghazala Khan stood quietly by his side. Trump responded in an interview with ABCs This Week, saying: 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. Ghazala Khan wrote in Sundays Washington Post that she did not speak because talking about her sons death remains difficult. Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for him, and I cry. The place that emptied will always be empty, she wrote. Trumps dispute with the Khans entangled his campaign in a days-long dispute at a moment when voters typically begin paying closer attention to the presidential race. Trump tried several times to deflect the criticism, though he refused to back down from his initial attack. Am I not allowed to respond? Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! His tweet followed a late Saturday night statement where Trump described Humayun Khan as a hero, but said his father had no right to say many other inaccurate things. That doesnt matter, said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who enthusiastically endorsed Trump at the Republican convention. He said Sunday that as the parents of a fallen solider, the Khans are off limits. I dont care what they say. Youll never hear me question anything about a Gold Star family, Walker said. Ive gone to too many funerals, met too many families. What theyve sacrificed is just unbelievable. Trump was taken aback by the uproar, believing he was attacked first by Khan, according to a person familiar with the candidates thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. The billionaire real estate mogul has also told people around him that when answering questions on This Week about sacrifice, he was simply pointing out his own and not equating them to those of the Khan family, the person said. Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Sunday a biased media was at work framing the issue as one of Trump vs. Khan and suggested the real issue was a Trump vs. Clinton battle over fighting terrorism. He added that Clinton camps was fanning the controversy to distract from her weaknesses on national security, highlighted by the investigation into her private email server. Clinton carefully leapt on Trumps comments over the weekend, even as her aides admitted that they werent sure whether the dispute would spark a significant movement of Republicans to her campaign. Their immediate goal is to keep Trump enmeshed in a fight against the Khans. One doesnt know where the bottom is. Its hard to imagine anyone who has ever run to be president of the United States saying any of what hes said, Clinton said, at a campaign stop in Ashland, Ohio. She told Republicans: This is a time to pick country over party. Copyright 2016, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. LINCOLN The Nebraska Department of Economic Development is tightening up its management practices in response to a trio of recent audits. Courtney Dentlinger, the department director, said at a press conference Monday that none of the audits found problems with misappropriation of state funds. But she said they all pointed out areas in which the department needs to improve. The audits include one by the State Auditors Office and one by the federal government, both of which she described as routine. The department oversees $26.3 million per year of federal funds, most of which goes for housing development. The third audit is being done by the Legislatures Performance Audit Committee. It focuses on three grant programs administered by the agency. None have released reports of their findings to the public yet. However, Dentlinger said that the preliminary findings have common themes. They point to the need for better documentation to support agency actions and better retention of that documentation. They also point to the need for better written policies and procedures, which would help with continuity when there is a change of department leadership. The third theme was the need for better internal controls, to ensure that there are checks and balances over financial matters. Dentlinger said she is responding by creating a business and finance division within the department and filling a newly created chief financial officer position. She is hiring another staff attorney to bolster the departments legal team and attack the backlog of contracts. She also has created an internal auditor to help with accountability and to work with outside auditors. Dentlinger said she is making the changes within the departments existing budget, using vacant positions. In addition, the agency will work with the Department of Administrative Services to handle human resources and accounting functions. Administrative Services Director Byron Diamond said the arrangement is part of a new initiative to help small- and medium-sized agencies with administrative functions. The economic development agency, with 65 employees, manages programs for business recruitment, innovation, job training, community infrastructure and housing. It is key to Gov. Pete Ricketts focus on expanding the states economy. Contact the writer: 402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com A semitrailer truck driver has been arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide following a collision that killed five people and injured six others Sunday on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska. The injured were taken to Ogallala Community Hospital. From there, three were flown to hospitals in Colorado, the Nebraska State Patrol said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. The crash happened in a construction zone about 4 miles west of Brule, just before 11:30 a.m. MDT. The semi was heading west when it collided with the rear of a westbound van, the State Patrol said. The force of the collision pushed the semi and van into three other passenger vehicles. The semi and van both became engulfed in fire. All five who were killed had been in the van, the patrol said. The semi driver, identified as Tony A. Weekly, 53, of Baker, Florida, was treated at a Julesburg, Colorado, hospital and released. He was then taken back to Nebraska, where he was arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide and jailed in the Keith County Jail, the patrol said. Interstate 80 was closed for about 10 miles in both directions for about six hours. The Keith County Sheriffs Office, Ogallala police and rescue units from Big Springs, Ogallala and Brule responded. Contact the writer: 402-444-1304, news@owh.com The semitrailer truck driver involved in a crash that claimed six lives on Interstate 80 was inattentive and distracted by outside influences when he rammed into a minivan at a high rate of speed, a Nebraska State Patrol trooper said in an arrest affidavit. The driver, Tony Weekly Jr., 53, of Baker, Florida, was charged in Keith County Court on Tuesday with five counts of felony motor vehicle homicide one for each member of the St. Paul, Minnesota, family who died Sunday in the fiery crash four miles west of Brules I-80 interchange and a single misdemeanor count of reckless driving. The sixth person, Terry Sullivan, 56, was declared dead Monday but was still on life support Tuesday. Weekly, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, kept his head down as he entered the courtroom Tuesday. When Keith County Judge Edward Steenburg informed him of his right to hire an attorney and asked whether he had any assets, Weekly responded: Sir, I am a month away from losing my house and my car. The judge set an Aug. 29 preliminary hearing on whether he should face trial in Keith County District Court. Steenburg continued Weeklys bail at $1 million of which he must post 10 percent to be released pending a determination of whether he could afford a lesser bail. The crash occurred just before 11:30 a.m. MDT Sunday in a head-to-head crossover construction zone on Interstate 80. All of the vehicles involved were westbound on the Interstate. The construction zone has a posted temporary speed limit of 65 miles per hour. The normal speed limit is 75 mph. Witnesses said Weeklys truck did not slow down until hitting the first vehicle, Trooper Darrell Crawford said in the arrest affidavit. That vehicle was the minivan carrying the Pals family of Minnesota. Jamison and Kathryne Pals and their three children died as a direct result of the initial impact, Crawford said. Before coming to rest, the vehicles forward momentum pushed them into a Plymouth minivan driven by Sullivan, then a Nissan sport utility vehicle and finally a Ford van. Killed Sunday were: Jamison and Kathryne Pals, both 29, and their children, Ezra, 3; Violet, almost 2; and 2-month-old Calvin. Weekly had minor injuries and was taken to Sedgwick County Hospital in Julesburg, Colorado. Authorities drew blood from him but have declined to comment on what the results might reveal. Weekly was driving for Bohren Logistics Inc. of Garrett, Indiana. A statement from the company said: Those of us at Bohren Logistics are heartbroken by this tragic accident. We extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the relatives and friends of the Pals family for this devastating loss. We also wish the best and a speedy recovery for those injured in the accident. Bohren Logistics is committed to cooperating with law enforcement authorities investigating this accident. Fred Zwonechek of the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety said the Sunday crash was the worst in Nebraska since at least Nov. 6, 2006, when five people died in a two-vehicle, head-on crash on Interstate 80 just west of Shelton, between Grand Island and Kearney. The most fatalities from one crash on record in Nebraska occurred Aug. 8, 1976, when 11 people died, Zwonechek said. A train hit a church bus near Stratton, which is west of McCook. The Palses intended to serve as long-term missionaries in Nagoya, Japan. They were headed to Palmer Lake, Colorado, for a five-week session on learning a language and assimilating into another culture, said Dennis Vogan, vice president of personnel development of the ministry organization WorldVenture. The Palses fit perfectly within our organization, Vogan said. The missionaries in Japan were thrilled and looking so forward to their coming, he said. The Palses had raised enough money to fund their mission work, which was to start in October, he said. Rick Pals, Jamisons father, said Tuesday that funeral services would be held at Jamison and Kathrynes church, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. He said the families of Jamison and Kathryne have been very touched by the outpouring of sincere support they have received. Weve heard from people from all over the country and all around the world, he said. The president of Christ Bible Institute in (Nagoya) Japan is trying to make arrangements to be here for the funeral. Eventually, Rick Pals said, a foundation will be established to continue the missionary work that Jamison and Kathryne envisioned for themselves. For now, people can donate to www.gofundme.com/joyofjapan. As of Tuesday night, $16,500 had been raised toward the $20,000 goal. The generosity has been wonderful, Rick Pals said. Those donations and prayer are really what people can do to help us right now. Jamison Pals worked for just over three years as a grant writer for Feed My Starving Children. The Christian nonprofit based in Eagan, Minnesota, sends meals specially formulated for malnourished children to orphanages, schools, clinics and feeding programs around the world. Andy Carr, the groups vice president of marketing and development, said Jamison and Kathryne Pals were amazing people and good friends. They were the most humble and selfless people that you could ever meet, he said. In todays world where its so much about me, me, me, it was never about them. It was always about others. Carr estimated that Jamison was responsible for writing grants that brought in well over $1 million to the organization. But his work didnt stop there. We work with many small organizations that cant afford to have grant writers and whenever they had questions about how to proceed, wed point them to Jamison, he said. He would gladly assist them, and his impact went far beyond Feed My Starving Children. This report contains material from the World-Herald News Service. Contact the writer: 402-444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com Hillary Clinton and Warren Buffett doing the foxtrot on the streets of Omaha? Its not likely, but it became a distinct possibility Monday as the Democratic presidential candidate promised to dance in the streets if Buffett one of her key supporters succeeds in cranking out a record number of voters in Omaha. For his part, the Democratic billionaire said he had already rented Ollie the Trolley the citys familiar tour bus to drive voters to the polls on Election Day and to help Clinton defeat Republican Donald Trump. Im going to be on it all day. Im going to do selfies. Whatever it takes, Buffett said. The promises to dance and to drive voters to the polls came during a rambunctious rally for Clinton at Omaha North High School on Monday. Buffett introduced Clinton and, in a nearly 30-minute speech, unleashed a fusillade of criticism against Trump, questioning whether he is a successful businessman. Buffett also unveiled a voter turnout initiative to help Clinton win an electoral vote in the Omaha-based 2nd District. He pledged to drive 10 voters to the polls. He also urged others to help people get to their voting booths and touted a new website: drive2vote.org. Buffetts goal is to have the highest voter turnout out of any congressional district in the country. If Buffett succeeds, Clinton dances. I will shortly after I become president, sometime as soon as I can arrange it, come back here. And Warren and I will dance in the streets of Omaha together, Clinton said to the delight of the crowd. Clintons trip to Omaha comes as part of the candidates whirlwind tour of battleground states since she accepted her partys nomination on Thursday. Over the past three days, shes traveled across Ohio and Pennsylvania. Her trip to Omaha underscores her campaigns belief that Clinton can duplicate President Barack Obamas success in 2008 and win an electoral vote in Omaha. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the union that allow electoral votes to be split by congressional districts. The Omaha district is a battleground for the campaign, said Amanda Renteria, Clintons national political director. Nebraska Republicans scoffed Monday at the notion that the Omaha-based district is in play. J.L. Spray, Nebraskas Republican national committeeman, also predicted that gimmicks such as Clintons promise to dance in the street would fall flat with voters. At this point, I dont think its at all realistic. And I dont think a gimmick will be successful, Spray said. People care enough about their vote here, not to vote based on public dancing in the streets. About 3,300 people attended the rally. It was an energetic crowd that frequently chanted "Hillary, Hillary," and stomped the wooden bleachers. Space remained open on the gymnasium floor, but some of those who came to the rally were sent to an overflow room and others did not get inside at all. Many people said they came for a chance to hear and see the woman who is striving to become the nations first female president. A hundred years since we got the vote. Its a big deal, said Stephanie Brunt-Howard, 61, who attended the rally with her mother, Ardella Rodgers, 79. Clintons visit was not merely political. It was also about cash. Warren Buffett and his daughter, Susie Buffett, hosted a small but expensive fundraiser for Democrats later in the evening, with tickets going for $100,000 apiece. The Buffetts have long been active on the national front in Democratic politics. Buffett endorsed Clinton earlier this year. In her speech, Clinton outlined her economic agenda. A key part of that agenda is her infrastructure package. She has called for spending $275 billion over a five-year period to help rebuild the nations highways, bridges, ports and airports. She has said that she would pay for it with unspecified business tax reforms. She also said she would work to make college tuition free for the middle class, and to promote trades for people who dont want to go to college and get a four-year degree. My overriding mission as president will be to do everything I can to help our country create more jobs, with rising income, Clinton said. Clinton also took several verbal pokes at Trump. She criticized the businessman for having some of his retail products manufactured overseas. She noted that Trump-branded furniture is made in Turkey, while Trump-branded neckties are made in China. He says he wants to make America great again well, he can start by actually making things in America again, Clinton said. World-Herald staff writers Roseann Moring contributed to this report. Contact the writer: 402-444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com **** OPS: Students, staff at rally, but it wasnt school-sponsored While school doesnt start until later this month, North High students and staff, including football players and cheerleaders in uniform, stood behind Hillary Clinton during her rally Monday afternoon. Omaha Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Farmer estimated that about 70 students attended the rally, including members of the football team, cheerleading squad, choir, marching band and student council who wanted to show off their school pride. Student participation was optional, with parent permission. Farmer said that there also were many educators and parents in the crowd. Even longtime North High Principal Gene Haynes got a shout-out from Clinton. While school board policy limits the use of school property such as bulletin boards to promote or oppose political candidates or issues, Farmer said groups can apply to rent school facilities. The Clinton campaign rented the high school, which is an option open to other campaigns or groups such as churches or sports leagues. The event was not a school-sponsored event, Farmer said. The school district does not take any position on political campaigns. Erin Duffy World-Herald reporters sent live updates from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's visit to Omaha on Monday. More on Clinton visit: At Omaha rally, Hillary Clinton echoes convention promises on economy and education * * * Warren Buffett calls for nation's highest voter turnout in Omaha area * * * Clinton: Warren Buffett and I will 'dance in the streets of Omaha' * * * On stage with Clinton North High students and staff including football players and cheerleaders in uniform stood behind Hillary Clinton during her rally this afternoon. Omaha Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Farmer estimated about 70 students attended the rally, including members of the football team, cheerleading squad, choir, marching band and student council. Student participation was optional, with parent permission. Farmer said there were also many educators and parents in the crowd. Even longtime North High Principal Gene Haynes got a shout-out from Clinton. Erin Duffy * * * Protestors gather outside North High ahead of Clinton rally Some three dozen protesters gathered outside Omaha North High School as attendees were still filing in the door for Hillary Clinton's campaign event. Many were supporters of Republican congressional candidate Don Bacon and held signs that said Ashford = crooked Hillary. Bacon is running in the Omaha-based 2nd District against Rep. Brad Ashford, a Democrat. Stephen Bader, a Bacon campaign volunteer, told The World-Herald that the protesters included conservatives, Libertarians and Green Party activists. Another protester initially hesitated to say, but then acknowledged that most in the group were Bacon volunteers and interns. Seven people held signs for the Libertarian Party or its presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, and two had anti-abortion posters. Another six were Bernie Sanders supporters who stood away from the main group, holding No More War signs. Clinton defeated Sanders for the Democratic nomination. In the larger group, wearing a Hillary for Prison T-shirt, Derek Oden, 19, said he wants a candidate who stands up for liberty. He had no comment about who he would support for president, but said he was voting for Bacon over Ashford in the congressional race. Alia Conley * * * Mom, 2 young daughters drive from Broken Bow to see Clinton Hailee Clark drove three and a half hours from Broken Bow to take her two young daughters to see Hillary Clinton in Omaha. Stella, 4, and Gwyn, 2, wore American flag bandannas and white T-shirts with Hillary for Prez on the front and You go girl on the back in pink letters. The girls know Fight Song, a popular anthem by Rachel Platten used by the campaign, as Hillary Clintons song. Clark had explained the historical significance of Clinton being the first woman to be a major partys presidential nominee to the girls while they watched the Democratic National Convention last week. When Stella saw the glass ceiling break in a video during the convention, she turned to her mother and said of Clinton: She is a queen. Clarks family has been longtime Democrats and Clinton supporters. It could be that the first president that (my daughters) remember is a woman, Clark said. How empowering that would be for them. Alia Conley * * * Timelapse: Crowds filing in For more World-Herald coverage of the Clinton rally on Twitter, follow our "Clinton in Omaha" list for tweets from reporters Robynn Tysver, Roseann Moring and Alia Conley and photographer Megan Smith. * * * Omaha North grad, former class president among first in line Shakuan Smith and his grandmother were among the first in line for the Hillary Clinton rally, arriving about 8 a.m. Its no surprise that Smith is interested in politics he served as Omaha North High Schools class president. Smith, 18, graduated in May and hopes to become a U.S. senator someday. He said Clinton has done a good job of persevering and staying above the negative comments. Its history in the making, Smith said. Shes pushed what a woman can do in government. His grandmother Maggie Smith has been a longtime supporter of Clinton and said she was looking forward to hearing Clinton on her birthday. Last week, she enjoyed watching all the speeches at the Democratic National Convention. It was pretty good, Maggie said. Michelle (Obama) tipped it off for us. Alia Conley * * * Hundreds line up outside North High for speech Hundreds of people are waiting to go into Omaha North High School for Hillary Clinton's speech Monday afternoon. Many ate sandwiches to stay energized and others held umbrellas to stay cool in the hot sun. Others purchased buttons and T-shirts from vendors near the high school's front doors. One woman bought a T-shirt featuring Clinton as Rosie the Riveter with the iconic "We Can Do It" photo. "That's so cool," her friend commented. Alia Conley * * * Campaign stop prompts criticism from Omahan who survived Benghazi attack Hillary Clinton's campaign appearance in Omaha Monday prompted criticism of her from an Omaha man who survived the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya. Kris Paronto was one of six private contractors hired by the CIA to provide security at its Benghazi annex. He wrote a book with the four others who survived and a movie based on their account was released earlier this year. Paronto blames Clinton, who was secretary of state during the attack, for the deaths of four Americans that night in Benghazi. He said it was a failure of leadership. Anything that has to do with operations, or general daily activities, especially when it come to security ... the success or failure of anything falls on that high chain of command, he said. Paronto said he will vote for Donald Trump but will not endorse him. Trump is the lesser of two evils for me, Paronto said. Alia Conley * * * * * * Though he endorsed her, Brad Ashford won't be at Hillary's appearance Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., threw his support behind Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries, but lately hes been keeping his distance from her. Ashford skipped last weeks Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and will be absent Monday when Clinton campaigns in Omaha. Campaign manager Sam Barrett said the congressman was on a family trip Monday that had been planned for months. The Clinton visit was announced last week. As a first-term Democrat in a district that leans Republican, Ashford is viewed as among the most vulnerable incumbents in the country. Republicans were quick to pounce on Ashfords absence from Mondays event as part of their efforts to tie him to Clinton, who has poor favorability ratings. Joseph Morton Thousands of Nebraskans meet Morrill Hall during their school days. Theres wonder in those first trips to the University of Nebraskas state museum in Lincoln. Like Memorial Stadium, its one of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns most important front doors. Years later, many still remember Archie, the worlds largest Columbian mammoth fossil, found in Lincoln County. His gargantuan skeleton teaches perspective about the past. The museum, which holds one of the worlds two largest collections of mammal fossils, sparks childrens interest in our regions history. Now Archie is about to get more company. The museum is renovating its fourth floor, used for half a century as office, laboratory and classroom space, into display space. Private gifts of $11.4 million will add more than 10,000 square feet, or about 14 percent, to exhibition space by 2019. Plans include a display to highlight how Nebraskas geology, landscapes and wildlife have shifted over millions of years. Another will examine the states evolving biodiversity and climate. The expansion will allow the museum to display more of the 99 percent of its scientific collections currently kept in storage, Susan Weller, the museums director, told The World-Herald. And it will help the museum demystify the scientific process. Were often seen as people who come with tablets of knowledge, Weller said. Really science is very dynamic. Were always questioning what we know and looking for evidence to support or refute what we think is going on. New displays might not jostle Archie from his perch as the museums mascot, but they might inspire curiosity and return trips to the museum to learn more of Nebraskas stories. It was a variant on a traditional convention for a party seeking a third straight term in the White House, attempting to overcome an apparent post-convention bounce for the oppositions candidate: shades of 1988 or 2000 or 2008. Usually it starts with a valedictory speech by the incumbent president, followed by celebration of the new nominee and ending with a rousing acceptance speech. This years Democratic Convention was different because circumstances were different. Monday was about unifying the party, Tuesday about humanizing the nominee, Wednesday about disqualifying the opponent, and Thursday had sure-to-be-overlooked minor events leading to Hillary Clintons acceptance speech. Unifying the party is necessary because in a presidents second term, his partys wingers (left-wing Democrats, right-wing Republicans) usually get restive. They take his achievements for granted, rue his errors and yearn for roads not taken. Sometimes unifying the party seems easy. Conservative Republicans were unmiffed after seven years of Ronald Reagan. Left-wing dissatisfaction with Clintonian triangulation became apparent only when Ralph Nader votes were counted in November and December 2000. The Tea Party rebellion broke out only after George W. Bush left office. This year, Bernie Sanders contested the primaries to the end, and Sanders supporters arrived angry in Philadelphia. Sanders dutifully recited the litany of party unity and, not unreasonably, claimed credit for the left-wing platform and issue positions acquiesced in by Hillary Clinton. But its not clear that all the young people who voted 3-1 for him in the primaries will vote for Clinton or bother voting at all. Mission not fully accomplished. Humanizing a candidate isnt hard with nominees who are immensely likable (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton) or historically iconic (Barack Obama). It takes some doing for others. Bill Clinton got this assignment this year. In charming style, the 42nd president told how he wooed his wife and how she has always worked doggedly as a change maker. Like Michelle Obama, he underlined Hillary Clintons two undoubted strengths. She has more direct White House and foreign policy experience than most nominees (though claims shes the most qualified candidate ever will rankle admirers of John Quincy Adams). And she perseveres in her work despite setbacks and embarrassments (though, as Donald Trump said, he left out the most interesting chapter). Mission partly accomplished. Disqualifying the opponent was the main work of Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg and Tim Kaine. Donald Trump is a target-rich environment, and they went to work with gusto. No nominee has known less and been less prepared, Biden said. Hes a dangerous demagogue, said billionaire Bloomberg. Kaine contributed a charmingly goofy, geeky imitation of The Donalds oratorical style. These attacks were aimed at college-graduate whites, who have been fleeing Trump. Theyre probably less persuasive to whites who didnt attend college, who have been trending his way. Mission partly accomplished. Barack Obama embodied the tension for any party seeking a third presidential term: The incumbent wants to validate his achievements, and the nominee wants to focus on unsolved problems. He bragged about Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal issues other speakers avoided because theyre unpopular. He didnt dwell on Team Clintons favored topics the minimum wage, equal pay, family leave which poll well but probably swing few votes. He bragged that the country is in good shape an uphill argument when 70 percent think things are on the wrong track. He seemed to put Trump in bad company when he said anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end. Itll be a rough transition if Trump wins. Mission partly accomplished. The Clinton campaign strategy is to re-assemble Barack Obamas 51 percent 2012 coalition, which has been complicated by Trumps disruptive appeal. Her acceptance speech started off with a deft invocation of the Founding Fathers, contrasting them with Donald Trump, and segued to personal anecdotes, then launched into a familiar laundry list of issue positions, plus jabs at Trump. It was strongly delivered. But its unclear whether it overcame the qualms of the two-thirds of voters who consider her dishonest and untrustworthy. Mission partly accomplished. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aug. 1 By Demir Azizov Trend: A delegation of Uzbekistan headed by the countrys Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov will take part in the ministerial meeting in the Central Asia - US (C5 + 1) format in Washington, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a message Aug. 1. The foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries and the US will discuss practical issues of cooperation within the C5 + 1 at the meeting August 3. The program of the event includes meetings with businessmen and private investors. The C5 + 1 format was established in 2015. In September 2015, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries in New York. In November 2015, foreign ministers of the US and the Central Asian countries met in Samarkand in C5 + 1 format and adopted Samarkand Declaration, in which they approved creation of a new format of interaction (C5 + 1) for regular political dialogue between foreign ministries of the six countries on issues of common interest. In particular, the parties agreed to work in four areas such as economy, climate change, security and human rights. Working groups were created in order to achieve concrete results of cooperation, and they are ready to present a number of joint projects following the talks in Bishkek and Almaty cities in April 2016. Police cracks kidnapping and murder case, arrests mastermind Bengaluru oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bengaluru, Aug 1: The Jayanagar Police have cracked a case of kidnapping and murder and arrested the main accused, identified as Pratap 27 who has also confessed to the crime. In his confession, he admitted that he was disturbed by his close proximity to his girlfriend and thus eliminated him. Yogesh hails from Kolur village in Channapatna and was an executive in a real estate firm in Jayanagar. Pratap is a resident of Atthingere village in Magadi. His father Shivakumar is the president of Rajya Gorakshana Samiti. According to the police, the victim Yogesh was staying with his sister in Jayanagar 6th block. He left home on July 19, but did not return home. After waiting for his brother for two days, his sister lodged a complain with the Jayanagar police on July 21. On checking his call records, it was found that he was in constant touch with a girl in Mysuru and she in turn was in contact with Pratap. The police said, "On suspicion, both were summoned for questioning. While the girl revealed that she became friends with Yogesh several months ago through Facebook and had become very close. Pratap, who was in love with the girl, was unhappy with this. He had also warned Yogesh several times to stay away from her." Police further added, "Later, Pratap hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Yogesh and approached his friends for help, who agreed. On July 19 around 10 am, while Yogesh was walking at Jayanagar Sixth Block and the accused kidnapped him in a car and took him to Pratap's farm house in Atthingere village. The accused tied Yogesh's hands and assaulted him. Yogesh fell unconscious. Later, they took an iron rod and murdered Yogesh. They then buried the body in the farmhouse." What proved the genuinty of Pratap's involvement was his escape from the police station on July 23. Later, the police visited his father and discussed with him the repucussions. So, when Pratap came back home on July 28, his father informed the police. Police said, "The girl has no role in the murder and we are on the lookout for the other four accused who helped Pratap in the kidnap and murder. The body will be exhumed on Monday." OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 16:14 [IST] Railways to invest Rs 7,000 crore in northeast: Suresh Prabhu Business oi-PTI New Delhi, Aug 1: The Railways will invest Rs 7,000 crore in the current fiscal (2016-17) to develop its network in the seven northeastern states, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Sunday. "In 2014-15, the railway ministry invested Rs 2,702 crore for (this purpose). In the current financial year, the investment will be more than Rs 7,000 crore," Prabhu said here after flagging off the Agartala-Delhi weekly passenger train service. "Northeast India is a priority area for the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally giving special emphasis for the all round development of the region," he said. "Increase of inter-state connectivity and connectivity between the region and the rest of the country are being given the highest priority. Available connectivity will boost the region's economy," Prabhu said. Bangladesh Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain and top officials of the Indian and Bangladesh governments were present at the flagging off ceremony at the Agartala railway station. Prabhu invited the Bangladesh railway minister to come to Delhi to discuss the increased railway connectivity between India and Bangladesh. "India is keen to increase railway connectivity with Bangladesh. If the facilities of the Chittagong port can be used, then trade and economy of both northeast India and Bangladesh will flourish," he added. The railway minister said that to boost tourism in northeast India, his ministry would sign an agreement with the state governments of the region to undertake specific joint tourism development projects. He said a passenger train between Agartala and Kolkata will start in August. Bangladesh Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had announced a revival of all the pre-1965 railway connectivity with India. "We want very close connectivity between our two friends (India and Bangladesh) and more closer people to people relations." Hoque, who came here on Sunday to attend the function, said Modi and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had agreed to help Bangladesh to curb terrorism in the country. Sarkar said: "Without the development of connectivity, how can industrialisation take place and boost the economy?" He said earlier Congress Prime Ministers, including the late Rajiv Gandhi, seriously neglected the demand for extension of railway network in Tripura. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 8:48 [IST] In India terror down by 34%, civilian deaths by 90% since Art 370 scrapped: Shah Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh Last rites of soldier killed in Kashmir performed India oi-PTI Mathura, Aug 1: The body of a soldier who was killed while thwarting an inflitration bid in Kashmir brought to his native village of Jhandipur on Sunday where his last rites were performed. 28-year-old Bablu Singh was one of two soldiers killed in the army operation in Naugam sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district that also left two militants dead. Bulandshar native Vishal Choudhary was the other soldier who died in the gunbattle. Additional District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Awasthi said Singh's body will be brought here today. His remains will be taken in an army vehicle to his village where the last rites will be performed, Brigadier Sandeep Sharma said. Singh had joined the army's Jat regiment in 2005. He has two children-- a six year old boy and a 3-year-old girl. PTI Bulandshahr incident 'shocking, shameful': Punia India oi-PTI New Delhi, Aug 1: National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman PL Punia and Union Minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal today questioned the actions taken by the Uttar Pradesh government in the aftermath of the brutal gangrape of a mother-daughter duo, and called for administrative steps to prevent such incidents. "Whatever has happened in Bulandshahr is really shocking and shameful. It is a shame on the society," Punia, a senior Congress leader, said. "The state government has taken action and suspended a few policemen. But that is not enough. Some mechanism should have been worked out so that this kind of incident does not happen," Punia said outside Parliament. On Friday night, a group of bandits had waylaid a family travelling from Noida to Shahjahanpur by car, dragged the woman and her 13-year-old daughter out of the vehicle to a field, and raped them while the men were tied with ropes. Questioning the role of the policemen on duty, Punia accused the state police of indulging in rampant corruption. "What did they do? They do not perform their duties but collect money. This is happening every day everywhere in UP. Chief Minister (Akhilesh Yadav) must take responsibility." Patel, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare who hails from UP, said: "The CM has a moral responsibility. As a woman, I want to raise this question that whatever action he has taken after the incident is one thing, but the question is why did such an incident take place." She said the UP administration has to ensure the security of women in the state, adding that voters will teach the ruling Samajwadi Party a lesson in the assembly polls in 2017. Asked about the SP's claim that all culprits involved in the incident have been arrested, she said, "My question is why you are not prepared to prevent such incidents in the first place. Why is that the police were so insensitive towards crime against women. It gives a clear indication of the state of law-and-order machinery. What you do post-incident is another point." "As an elected representative from UP, there is a moral responsibility on all of us. But it is the state government who takes care of the law and order situation," she said. "Crimes against women is rising in the state. When will the government start thinking about it? she asked. PTI Should Kashmir be given to Pakistan: Row erupts after this question appears in MP civil service exam Cong leader Sushilkumar Shinde lambasts Centre's handling of Kashmir situation India oi-PTI Pune, Aug 1: Former Union home minister and Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde today hit out at the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the situation in Kashmir, saying it is only interested in "publicity". Referring to the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in the Kashmir Valley, Shinde said "If any militant is killed, why there is a need to make it public that he was a militant. See what has happened after the incident, 47 innocent people have lost their lives unnecessarily". "While handing executions of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab, the previous Congress-led UPA government had maintained secrecy. However, the present government likes to believe in publicity. See, what happened due to the publicity after the execution of (1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict) Yakub Memon as over 50,000 people had gathered for his funeral after his body was taken to Mumbai (from Nagpur)," Shinde said. On solution to the situation in Kashmir where normal life remained paralysed for the 24th consecutive day, he said, "the Centre should have a dialogue with newspapers in Valley and people of Kashmir". "During our (UPA) government, we emphasised on talks and even kept the separatist leaders in control. However, along with dialogue and cordial relations, we should be tight and alert when it comes to the sovereignty of the nation," Shinde told reporters here. On the use of pellet guns by paramilitary forces, he said its use was going on for a long time. "I do not know what the present government (at the Centre) is going to do about it, but during our time, we used rubber bullets. But one thing, there should be a fear in the minds of infiltrators and militants," Shinde said. He said the paramilitary forces are being criticised unnecessarily as they are doing their duty. "During our regime, we had executed Mohammad Afzal Guru for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. Since Afzal was from Kashmir, anticipating sharp reaction after his execution, we had already alerted the paramilitary forces and police in advance and stepped up security in the Valley. "If you see the then press coverage after the execution (of Guru), there were sporadic incidents of stone pelting in some places for two days and thereafter normalcy prevailed and there were no major incidents of law and order," he claimed. Shinde also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being silent on various issues including atrocities against the Dalit community. "Prime Minister should speak on these issues and all these cruelties are happening in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat," he added. PTI BJP MP scolds official for cleaning Yamuna with 'poisonous chemical' ahead of Chhath Delhi shocker: 16-year-old raped, murdered by stalkers India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, Aug 1: In yet another shocking incident, a 16-year-old teenager was allegedly raped and murdered by two stalkers. The incident is of Delhi's Gandhi Nagar locality. Reportedly, Police on Thursday found a charred body of the victim at her home. During initial investigation, police found out that two men were harassing the victim. Police initially suspected that it was a suicide case, but autopsy report later confirmed that the girl was first raped and then strangulated. Her body was also set on fire by stalkers. Latest reports say that Police have arrested the culprits and have registered a case of rape and murder against them. Dalit rape victim dies, angry DCW lashes out at Delhi police A police officer was quoted as saying, "During investigations, one of the victim's friends revealed that two young men from the locality used to stalk her and the dead girl". He further said, "One of the arrested men is a serial sexual offender. There are several cases against him". OneIndia News Explosion outside court in Mysuru, no causalities India oi-Vicky Banguluru, Aug 1: An explosion took place near a court in Mysuru today. A crude bomb was planted at a toilet near the court premises in Mysuru and a loud explosion took place at 4.15 PM today. No casualties have been reported. The Jayalakshmipuram police are investigating the matter. The police say that the motive is unknown and only further investigations will give a clear picture. The dog squad was pressed into service. The police say that traces of ammonium nitrate had been found. However the same has been sent for analysis, police officials also state. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that three batteries had been found at the spot. The explosion was low intensity in nature. The walls of the toilet have been damaged. Immediately after a loud sound there was panic in the area. Several people gathered around the spot. The police had a hard time dispersing the crowd. The Home Minister of Karnataka, Dr Parameshwar is likely to visit the spot and take stock of the situation. Police officials say that a SIM card found at the spot is also part of the investigation. It is too early to conclude anything or attribute any motive, the police also point out. Oneindia News Guj CM's resignation was long overdue: Cong India oi-PTI New Delhi, Aug 1: Congress today said the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel was "overdue" and accused the BJP leadership of trying to protect her in spite of "growing unrest" among Dalits and the Patidar community over her handling of issues related to them. All India Congress Committee General Secretary, in-charge of Gujarat, Gurudas Kamat also said if she is made a Governor of any state or accommodated into the Union cabinet, then it will amount to rubbing salt to the wounds of Dalits and the Patidar community. Patel today offered to resign, requesting the BJP leadership to relieve her from the post as she is soon going to be 75. BJP President Amit Shah said he will place her letter before Parliamentary Board which will take the final decision. "Anandiben Patel's resignation was long overdue. The BJP leadership tried to protect her for several months in spite of growing unrest among the Dalits for the atrocities, the brutal manner of handling against the Patidar community and also the massive corruption. "It would be like rubbing salt to their wounds if she is taken in the Union Cabinet or appointed as Governor," Kamat said. The state has been witnessing agitation by the Patidar community to fulfil their quota demand while Dalits are up in arms after seven of the members were flogged by a group at Una for skinning a dead cow. PTI Tehran, Iran, Aug 1 By Mehdi Sepahvand Trend: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has voiced plans to increase the countrys gas exports to 200 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) in future. Addressing a conference on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) in Tehran, Zanganeh said that exporting gas in the form of Liquefied natural gas (LNG) and also through pipelines to neighboring countries take priority, Trend's correspondent reported from the event. He also predicted that the countrys gas consumption in the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 20) will reach 284 billion cubic meters. Saying that the output of Irans South Pars gas field stood at 356 billion cubic meters in the last Iranian year, he forecasted that the giant gas fields output will reach 400 billion cubic meters in the coming Iranian calendar year. Additional reporting by Khalid Kazimov Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel offers to resign; BJP Parl Board to decide on replacement India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Ahmedabad, August 1: Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday, Aug 1 requested the party leadership to relieve her from the post. Reports of resignation comes in the wake of recent incident of dalits backlash in Una. In her official Facebook post, the chief minister wrote that she had requested the party leadership to relieve her of the CM's post as she was reaching 75 years' age. She added that she has resent the request on Monday. "This will also give the new leadership time to prepare for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2017," she wrote. "I got the opportunity to serve the people of Gujarat and I have done that to the best of my abilities. I have loved this state like my own family and the people have reciprocated that feeling. For this, I offer my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Gujarat," she wrote. BJP President Amit Shah said the party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the replacement for Patel, who will turn 75 on November 21 and is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat. "She has requested the party to relieve her of her post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah said in Delhi. In May this year, it was reported that the BJP was considering a replacement of Anandiben, as part of the strategy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP state president Amit Shah ahead of the state Assembly elections scheduled next year end. [Will BJP replace Anandiben Patel before Gujarat polls 2017?] Sources also indicated that Anandiben could be made the governor of any state while Nitinbhai Patel, an important minister in the state who holds a number of key portfolios, is among the front-runners to replace the former. Another reason behind Anandiben's resignation can be that she will cross the age bar of 75 years on November 21 this year. "This question about Patel, when she turns 75 is on everybody's mind," a BJP leader had earlier said on the condition of anonymity. "Speculations are on if she will be asked to quit or will she be an exception and allowed to continue for one more year till 2017 Assembly polls," another leader, who also refused to be named had said. Anandiben Patel had replaced Modi in May 2014 after the latter went on to become the prime minister of the country. Under the leadership of Patel, who has been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 and CM from 2014, the BJP for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat is facing a tough challenge from its opponents. Patel had to face defeat as BJP recently fared badly in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015. This was considered as a major loss for her as opposition Congress was able to win polls after almost 25 years in the state. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to BJP losing in rural local bodies polls, while retaining urban areas. Opposition Congress has also leveled allegations of corruption against her. OneIndia News Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Gurugrams waterlogging hogs limelight: Why nobody cares about Assams flood victims? India oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah Guwahati, Aug 1: "Flood in Chennai, attacks in Paris, Bangladesh...everybody prays for them. Flood in Assam, nobody bats an eye." This social media post aptly describes the plight of the flood victims of Assam, which is reeling under one of the worst natural calamities in a decade. The entire state is battling massive floods for the last one month but there is hardly any media coverage or social media outrage, which is generally the trend if anything as drastic as Assam flood hits the nation. The irony of the situation is that when floods in Assam have killed 31 and displaced 18 lakhs people so far, media attention was mostly focused on waterlogging in Gurugram, Mumbai and Bengaluru. "There is nothing wrong in highlighting the plight of mega cities like Bengaluru and Gurugram. However, the constant ignorance on the part of the centre and the media about Assam's massive natural calamity is beyond our understanding," said veteran Guwahati-based journalist Rupam Barua. The anger of social media users in Assam is not just directed against the media, but they also blame the previous and current governments at the centre for failing to provide succour to the residents of the northeastern state. "Where are the great national leaders with dynamic speech and golden promises now when our state Assam is submerged in floods since 1 month. Govt keep on changing time to time but attitude towards Assam remains the same...it's high time for our regional leaders to think about the issue...," wrote Ajitesh Dey on his Facebook page. As the river Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger mark, there was a fear that Guwahati-the biggest city in the region-might be inundated. "It was a valid fear. We have seen how water from Brahmaputra flooded several places in the city. Thankfully, river water has receded a bit. Otherwise, it would have caused huge devastation. The situation is still critical," said Arman Ali, Guwahati-based activist. The ongoing floods have affected lakhs of people in 22 districts of the state. More than 3,300 villages have been affected, as per government reports. The animals are the worst victims during these testing times in the state. Almost 80 percent of the Kaziranga national park, home to the one-horned rhino, is submerged in water. "Three rhinos, seven rhino calves and more than 18 deer have been killed in the deluge. This is the worst flood in Kaziranga since 1988," said government reports. Sources in the Congress party say Union home minister Rajnath Singh's visit to the state on Saturday (July 30) to take stock of the situation is too little, too late. After an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Assam, and meeting the victims in Morigaon district, Singh said, "The situation is grim." "No efforts are being spared (to help) and the people are satisfied with government's response," he added. "Declaring floods as a national calamity is not a solution to the problem. There is a need for an action plan to deal with such serious flood situation," he said. Critics of both the state and central governments say if an early plan to deal with floods in the state is not envisioned and executed, then the anger of the people won't be just restricted to the social media, but may soon spill out on to the roads. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 14:16 [IST] IIT joins hand with MIT to preserve Rabindranath Tagore's Santiniketan India oi-PTI Kolkata, Aug 1: Architecture students from IIT Kharagpur and America's MIT will soon conduct a joint study on how to preserve the heritage of Rabindranath Tagore's abode in Santiniketan. The department of architecture and regional planning at IIT Kharagpur has tied-up with the School of Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a course to study urbanisation in the current developing world. A group of 6-8 students, at graduate and undergraduate levels from each institute, will come to Santiniketan this October for their research work. Officials said during this period they will make a proposal regarding an integrated site management strategy for Visva Bharati university. They will also suggest guidelines to control the scattered and unsystematic development in the university campus and tailor it in sync with Tagore's ideology behind the inception of the place. Visva Bharati university authorities have been unsuccessfully trying for the past few years to get the tag of a World Heritage Site from UNESCO. A group of faculty members and researchers across MIT-Harvard Boston community and IIT Kharagpur would be guiding the students. They will also come up with a strategic plan for environmental stewardship and watershed management of the nearby 'Khowai' (canyon created by water and wind erosion and an intrinsic part of Bolpur), officials said. Soil loss, decreasing erodibility, change in morphology and loss of flora and fauna are some of the major issues of this sensitive ecological region. The primary reasons for these problems are often attributed to unstable soil structure, lack of vegetation, climatic condition, proneness to natural disasters and human intervention in an unplanned manner. PTI In pub capital Bengaluru, beer is bitter India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, Aug 1: Are you drinking a beer that has past its 'drink-by' date? Several complaints in Bengaluru have cropped up in this regard. The issue came to light when a regular beer drinker complained at least thrice last month that the taste of his beer was bitter. He had ordered a Tuborg beer and found that the taste was bitter. He then tried a Kingfisher beer and the result was the same. At first he thought that it may be spurious liquor. Mohammad Azar, said "I bought Tuborg beer from an MRP outlet in Bengaluru. Normally taste of the beer is sweet. But that day it was bitter. I had bought beer many times from the same store and this has happened thrice this month. Azhar who also bought beer of Kingfisher brand from a bar and restaurant went through a similar experience. He informed OneIndia that Kingfisher tasted bitter than usual. Another buyer, Sharmila said "I found the Tuborg beer bitter. The taste is usually sweet, but the beer I had tasted was bitter. This has happened to me several times. I am scared to drink the beer." It has now come to light that wine shops and bars are selling beer that past its 'drink-by' date. The question is how do they manage to sell such beer and how do they hoodwink the excise department? How bars and wine shops sell such beer A wine shop owner from Mysuru explains how this is done. Nataraj, the owner of the liquor shop says that if an individual has two wine shops then he is able to do it easily. What the person does is he takes the beer that has not been sold and passed drink-by date to the other shop. In the other shop he would have the empty beer bottles which have been sold and those have not passed drink-by dates. The empty bottles are then put into water and after a while the labels come off. These labels are then taken and stuck to the beer that has remained unsold and passed the drink-by date. Beer is best had within six months from the manufacture date. However in many shops beer remains unsold and hence the owners resort to this tactic of sticking different drink-by labels on the unsold bottles. While the customer cannot make out whether the beer has passed its drink-by date, the taste however varies. After six months the beer tastes extremely bitter. The shop owner explains that like other liquor, beer does not have a batch number. In bars and wine shops only the arrival date of beer is available to the excise department. Hence selling such beers is not that hard, Nataraj also adds. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 17:16 [IST] India's steel industry now 2nd biggest, target is to double crude steel output in 10 years: PM Modi India's total power generation capacity crosses 300 GW mark India oi-PTI New Delhi, August 1 India's total installed power generation capacity has crossed the 300-GW mark, which includes 42 GW of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind. India's total power generation capacity was 3,03,118.21 MW as on June 30, 2016, which includes 42,848.43 MW, stated Power Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today. According to the statement, private sector's cumulative installed power generation capacity was 1,24,995.51 MW as on June 30, 2016 while central plants account for 76,296.76 MW and state capacities 101,825,94 MW. The minister also stated that the country has generated 12.01 billion units of electricity from renewable energy sources till June-end this fiscal while the output was 65.78 billion units in 2015-16 and 61.78 billion units in 2014-15. The target from clean sources in 2015-16 was 70 billion units. The minister also told the House that 1,107.82 billion units of electricity were generated last fiscal. Thermal power constituted 85.19 per cent of the total generation in 2015-16 while hydro contributed 10.96 per cent and nuclear power's share was 3.38 per cent. India imported 5.24 billion units of electricity from Bhutan last fiscal, which was 0.47 per cent of the total output. Goyal also said that to meet the rising demand of power, as per 18th Electric Power Survey (EPS), the capacity addition target of 88,537 MW from conventional sources has been planned during 12th Five-Year Plan. Against this target, 86,565.72 MW has been achieved till June 30, 2016, he added. PTI Laxmikant Parsekar defends Goa CS in House India oi-PTI Panaji, August 1: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today defended State Chief Secretary R K Srivastava after he was targeted on the floor of the House by a legislator for having more than 30 cases against him. Goa Vikas Party MLA Fransisco Miccky Pacheco during the Question Hour today said that there are 36 cases pending against Srivastava which were filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Pacheco alleged on the floor of the House that state government was protecting the "tainted" officer. Defending Srivastava, Parsekar admitted in the House that he was ignorant about the cases pending against Chief Secretary initially but later took information from him. The Chief minister said a case was filed against Srivastava in 2008 after it was found that affidavits sworn in in one of the cases in which he acted as Registrar of Cooperative Societies were forged. Parsekar said that affidavits were cleared by his junior officer and when the disciplinary inquiry was initiated against him, the Ministry of Home Affairs had given him clean chit. Similarly, he has also got stay on the prosecution against one of the 36 cases filed against him in the trial court, he said.The chief minister said that MHA has given clearance for the state government to extend the service of Srivastava after his retirement. PTI African Swine Fever: 16 more pigs die in Mizoram; Toll rises to 770 in two months Mizoram bans import of domestic animals from Manipur India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Aizawl, Aug 1: Mizoram has decided to ban import of domestic animals like cattle, chicken, pigs and buffaloes from Manipur's Churanchandpur district in view of reported outbreak of Japanese encephalitis (JE). The Japanese encephalitis has claimed two lives in Manipur. High alerts have been sounded hospitals across the Mizoram. However, the state is yet to detect case of Japanese encephalitis. According to report, a rapid action committee has bene formed to fight the outbreak. According to WHO, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a flavivirus related to dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses, and is spread by mosquitoes. JEV is the main cause of viral encephalitis in many countries of Asia with an estimated 68000 clinical cases every year. It may result into death. It occurs mainly in rural parts of Asia. What is Japanese Encephalitis? It cannot spread directly from person to person. Encephalitis is a disease that results in inflammation of the brain. The patient's central nervous system is affected. It can be caused due to bacterial or viral infections of the brain, injection of toxic substances or increased complications of an infectious disease. In India, Japanese encephalitis has claimed many lives in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 13:54 [IST] NCW summons doctor for ill-treating minor gangrape victim India oi-PTI New Delhi, Aug 1: The NCW today summoned a doctor who conducted medical examination of the minor victim in the Bulandshahr gangrape case for allegedly ill-treating her and asking "awkward" questions and also slammed police for not including sections of POCSO Act in the FIR. National Commission of Women Chairperson Kumarmangalam said that the family had told the NCW team, which met the victims in Bulandshahr, that when the girl was taken for a medical examination, "she was abused by the doctor, who asked her a number of awkward questions and berated her". "The FIR in the case did not have sections of POCSO act. We had pointed it out to them. NCW members asked them why the FIR had no sections of POCSO Act, but no police official gave them a concrete answer," she said. Despite being pointed out, the police is yet to include sections of POCSO act in the FIR, she said. DIG Meerut Range Laxmi Singh told PTI POCSO Act has not yet been added in the FIR. Kumarmangalam said the NCW members were counselling the victims, as they were traumatised and had not been offered any such assistance by the UP Police. "Both the minor girl and her mother are severely traumatised. The police has not offered them any counselling, either clinical or psychiatric." NCW also alleged that the police initially did not allow their team to meet the two gangrape survivors. "We were to meet the victims in Noida but as soon as the police came to know about our plans they whisked them away to Bulandshahr. When our team reached Bulandshahr, for an hour they did not allow our members to meet them. We had to remind them that what they were doing was illegal," she added. Three persons have been arrested in the case. The gangrape occurred when the victims' car was stopped on NH91 by a group of dacoits when they were on their way to Shahjahanpur on Friday night. The women were dragged to a nearby field and gangraped while the family was robbed at gunpoint. PTI NIA lists out preachers who reportedly influence terrorists India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Aug 1: The government of India has seriously started looking into the role of preachers who end up influencing people to take up terrorism. The likes of Anjem Choudhary, Hamza Yusuf, Imran Mansoor among others have played a major role in the lives of several people who have ended up treading the path of terror. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is probing several cases relating to the ISIS in India has narrated how preachers have played a role. It has listed out the names of several such preachers in its chargesheet and spoken about the influence they have had on the youth. The NIA however, does not name these preachers as accused in the case. The role of the preacher If one listens to the speeches of these preachers, they do not directly ask you to join a terror outfit. They insist that America is the biggest terrorist and one must support any group fighting that country. They speak about the importance of Islam in liberating the world from the non-believers. There are also another lot of them who speak a bit more directly. They appreciate groups such as the ISIS or the al-Qaeda and explain why their battle is so important. They speak about giving up the good life and dedicating their life to the cause of Islam. NIA officials tell OneIndia that almost all those persons they have arrested in connection with the ISIS related case have been inspired by such preachers. They would listen to these speeches and share among each other. They would post these speeches on their social media accounts. The NIA makes a mention of one operative, Mohammad Furhan. The NIA says that he was highly influenced by Choudhary and after listening to his speeches he decided to join the ISIS. The NIA says that is it difficult to crack down on such material which is easily available on the internet. However, the elders in the community could play a much bigger role to speak to their children from a young age that the Islam being preached by such persons is not right, the officer also states. Intelligence Bureau officials say that blocking sites does not work all the time. "If we block one site another crops up. Even if such content has to go from the Internet, it cannot be done by one nation alone. It would require a global effort," officials say. A list of those inspired by Zakir Naik In another development security agencies have drawn up a list of 55 terror accused who are said to have been inspired by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. The list has been drawn up on the basis of investigation and interrogation of various terror accused who were said to be inspired by Naik. Most of these accused are part of the SIMI, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Indian Mujahideen and the ISIS. Security agencies are filing a report on Naik following a Home Ministry directive. His past cases and the details of the probes will also form part of the report. In addition to this, the security agencies are examining legal options. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 11:47 [IST] Over 70 terrorists have been shot dead this year: Manohar Parrikar India oi-PTI Jabalpur, July 31 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said we have put a check on infiltration along the Pakistan border and over 70 terrorists who were trying to enter India from Pakistan have been shot dead so far this year. "We have put a check on infiltration into India along the Pakistan border. Terrorists trying to sneak into India have either been shot dead or beaten a retreat," Parrikar said. "More than 70 terrorists who were trying to enter India from Pakistan have been shot dead this year so far", he said. Parrikar cited a "ratio" of the "martydom" of jawans to slain terrorists while speaking to reporters here. 14 jawans have attained martyrdom this year so far, the Minister said adding the figures reveal that if India lost one jawan, 5 terrorists had been killed against it. The ratio come to 1:5, Parrikar said adding earlier it was "1:1.5". Denying that the Chinese Army breaches India's border, the Defence Minister said several points have been made for dialogues along the Indo-China border. Border of India and China have not been demarked, he said, adding it is because of several historical reasons. As a result of this, Parrikar said Chinese Army by mistake enters India thinking it was it's areas. "We stop them and send them back. Sometime they return on their own. Such incidents are being reported since last 20-30 years but their per cent has dropped by 40 per cent," Parrikar claimed. PTI Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that negotiating with the US over the regional issues is a deadly poison. Khamenei made the remarks at a meeting with thousands of Iranians from various ethnicities in Tehran Aug. 1, the supreme leader's official website reported. The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action aka nuclear deal) proved futility of negotiations with the US, Khamenei said. Due to the JCPOA experience we say it is not possible to negotiate with the United Sates, Khamenei said, adding that negotiations deviate from the right path, as the US get privileges, but give nothing in return. He further said that the nuclear deal, as an experience, proved lack of US commitment, then accusing Washington of breaching its commitments under the nuclear deal. Six months have passed from the nuclear deal implementation and people feel no significant improvement in their life, he said. The sanctions against Iran still remain in place despite the JCPOA, the supreme leader said. Khamanei further commented on the recent developments in Turkey, saying there is a strong allegation that the coup attempt in Turkey was done with assistance of the United States. It will be a big scandal for the US, if the allegations are approved, he said. Saudi Arabia's dreaded Kafala system which plagues Indian workers India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Aug 1: Watching your fellow countrymen stand in queue for food is never a good sight. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that the number of Indians facing a food crisis in Saudi Arabia is not 800 as reported, but over ten thousand. Most of these employees from India have not been paid their wages and the minister of state for external affairs, General VK Singh would be in Saudi Arabia to sort out the issue. The problem being faced by the Indian workers in Saudi Arabia is not a simple one and would require a long term fix. Most of them are victims of the Kafala system and this has only ensured that these employees are unable to switch jobs even if their employer does not pay them. Tied to the employer Reports of abusive employers in Saudi Arabia is not uncommon. Several cases have been reported in the past about employees trying to flee after they have been abused, tortured and not paid. However, running away from such a situation is not easy and this is thanks to the regressive Kafala system that Saudi Arabia and other countries such as Oman, UAE and Bahrain follow. The Kafala system makes it mandatory for a person to take the consent of his employer before he quits the job. Many even have to deposit their passports with the employer and this only makes running away harder. Under this regressive system if a person leaves the job without his employers consent then he or she can be fined, imprisoned and also deported. Human Rights watch had in a report pointed out rampant employer abuses of migrant workers, including forcing them to work against their will or on exploitative terms. The visa system ties workers residency to employment and this grants the employer a lot of power to abuse the workers, the report also noted. In this context one must look at the recent case of Munirathna, a maid from Tamil Nadu. She worked for 15 hours a day and was provided just one meal. To make matters worse her employer even cut of her hand when she tried to run away. There are thousands of such cases in Saudi Arabia and working conditions have only gone from bad to worse. What is worse is that despite so many human rights violations being reported the Kingdom has done nothing to fix the problem. OneIndia News Sena accuses J&K Dy CM of insulting jawans India oi-PTI Mumbai, Aug 1: The Shiv Sena today hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh over his "accident" remark on the killing of Hizbul commander Burhani Wani, saying it amounts to "backing" terrorist and "insulting" the army jawans killed on the borders. The BJP ally said the comment will put Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a fix, who had recently said people speaking against the nation need to be "taught a lesson". "Parrikar has only expressed the sentiments of people but who is it that is discouraging our armymen? If Pakistan mourns the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani it can be understood. But it was (J&K CM) Mehbooba Mufti who first shed tears on his killing and then it was Nirmal Singh, who allegedly termed it as an accident," the Sena said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. On July 30, talking on the encounter of Wani by security forces, Nirmal Singh had said, "Police and security forces told us (the government) that they don't know who the terrorist is. It was an accident. Because when an operation takes place, precautions are taken but we didn't know it would be of such kind. Had we known about it, preparations would have been made." "This is like backing the terrorist on one hand and insulting our martyred jawans on the other. This will make it challenging for Parrikar who talks of teaching a lesson to those who speak against the nation," it added. It further said, "It is easy to teach a lesson to film stars who at times speak irrationally. But, what about those who wear a mask of nationalism and make the same statements?" it said. If killing Wani was an accident then the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is also an accident, it added. "What will you do if people make up their minds that this government in Jammu and Kashmir is an accident?" it asked. PTI Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary Supplementary Demands tabled in Parliament India oi-PTI New Delhi, August 1 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today sought Parliament's nod for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, though the cash outgo will be only Rs 20,948 crore. Through the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2016-17 he presented in Lok Sabha, Jaitley sought Parliament's approval for transfer of Rs 5,000 crore towards National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for providing funds to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore and Pudur. The government has also sought Rs 5,000 crore towards Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNGREGA). The Demands for Grants includes 51 Grants and one appropriation. "Approval of Parliament is sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 1,03,013.74 crore. Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 20,948.26 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings... aggregates to Rs 82,064.8 crore," the document tabled in Lok Sabha said. The government has sought approval for transferring Rs 1,000 crore to Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and providing Rs 1,000 crore as compensation from USOF to telecom service providers for various telecom services in the rural and remote areas. Jaitley also sought approval for additional assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to states affected by natural calamities like hailstorm and unseasonal rain under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The first batch of Demands for Grants also include Rs 40,000 crore as Ways and Means Advance to Food Corporation of India to meet the working capital requirements towards procurement of food grains for targeted Public Distribution System. Government is also seeking Parliament's approval for providing Rs 31,957 crore to Ministry of Raod Transport and Highways under various heads. The Supplementary Demands for Grants also include Rs 2,801 crore for providing additional grants through Direct Benefit Transfer under post matric scholorship for SCs and Dr Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Economically Backward Class. PTI Infantry Day: When Indian Army chased Pak out and saved Jammu & Kashmir 'Shaurya Diwas': Rajnath Singh says J&K entered new era of peace & prosperity after Article 370 abrogation In India terror down by 34%, civilian deaths by 90% since Art 370 scrapped: Shah Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh Top LeT terrorist Abu Dujana reportedly attends Kashmir gathering India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Srinagar, Aug 1: Abu Dujana, the most wanted terrorist of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) reportedly participated in a gathering organised at Karimabad in Pulwama district. Thousands of people reached at Karimabad graveyard on a call given jointly by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, moderate faction head Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Yasin Malik to pay tributes to the militants and civilians killed during the recent unrest. According to report, Dujana who was surrounded by many people was wearing a mask at the gathering. Pro-freedom and anti India slogans were raised during the gathering on Sunday. Top LeT commander Abu Ukasha arrested in Kupwara Dujana has been heading the outfit in the Valley after LeT commander Qasim was killed. Meanwhile,curfew continued in south Kashmir's Pulwama, Kulgam and parts of Shopian district and restrictions were still imposed in Srinagar, Badgam, Kupwara and Baramulla. OneIndia News Hafiz Saeed warns of countrywide protest if Rajnath Singh visits Pak International oi-PTI Lahore, Aug 1: Accusing Home Minister Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", Jamaat-ud-Dawah(JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the latter arrives in Islamabad to attend the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) ministerial conference. [Why Rajnath singh's Kashmir trip was a damp squib) "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement here. (Rajnath Singh appeals for peace in Kashmir; asks Pakistan to behave) "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday (August 1). The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3 (Wednesday). Saeed, who is carrying a $10-million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML-N government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis." Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing. PTI Melania's nude photos: Nothing to be embarrassed about, says Trump's advisor International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New York, Aug 1: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign's senior communicative advisor Jason Miller feels that the New York Post's publication of nude photographs of the former's wife---Melania Trump---is "nothing to be embarrased about", CNN Money reported. [New York Post publishes nude photos of Melania Trump] The social media went abuzz after the former model's nude photos came up on the Post's Sunday cover but Miller said on CNN's "reliable Sources" that they celebrated the human body as "art". The nude photographs were reportedly taken in 1995 when Melania was 25 and appeared in a French men's magazine which exists no more and had not been published online before. The headline of the Post cover was "the Ogle Office". Melania, a fomer Slovene, met Trump in 1998 and the two wed in 2005. The former was known as Melania Knauss before she married the New York real-estate tycoon. She is 70-year-old Trump's third wife and the two have a 10-year-old boy named Barron. According to a NY Post article on the photographs, Trump told it: "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common." A divertionary tactic? The Post endorsed Trump as the Republican nominee in April and according to some, the publication of the photos was a move made to divert the attention from the controversy that trump found himself in over his remarks against the father of a fallen American-Muslim soldier. On the other hand, it is nor the first time that Melania's nude photographs caught the headlines during this year's presidential election. Melania's nude photo created a storm in March as well In March, Trump crossed swords with Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who lost to him in the presidential race, in a reaction to a super PAC backing the latter over using a nude photo of Melania. The ad, which was widely circulated on the social media, bore the following words along with the photo: "Meet Melania Trump, your next First Lady. Or you could vote for Ted Cruz on Tuesday". Cruz retaliated on this and said his camp had no hand behind Melania's photo ad and called Trump "coward" and "classless" for attacking his wife. The ad featuring Melania Trump's photo was created by the super PAC Make America Awesome, which calls itself an independent group focused on 'unconventional and cost-effective tactics'. Oneindia News Instead of selling weapons to India, should partner to fight climate change: Democrat Bernie Sanders Sanders vows to "campaign vigorously" for Hillary International oi-IANS By Ians English Washington, Aug 1: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, vowed to "campaign vigorously" for party nominee Hillary Clinton. "I'm going to do a couple of things," the Vermont Senator said in a CBS interview on Sunday (July 31). "Number one, I intend to campaign vigorously to make the case that on issue after issue Clinton is far and away the superior candidate. Number two, to stay focused on the real issues impacting the American people," Politico quoted Sanders as saying. When asked whether his supporters would vote for Clinton, Sanders ticked off a series of issues popular among progressives, including overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, raising taxes on the wealthy and increasing the minimum wage, Politico reported. Clinton's positions on those issues, Sanders said, clearly showed that she was the best candidate. "So I would ask ... my supporters to get away from the personality conflicts that media tries to bring forward and focus on the real issues impacting the American people," Sanders said. "And when you do that, I think the choice is pretty clear, and that is that Hillary Clinton is far and away the superior candidate," Politico quoted Sanders as saying In contrast, Sanders slammed the campaign of Republican rival Donald Trump for dividing the nation. "That is not what our country needs," Sanders said, adding "In these stressful times, we ought to bring our people together, not divide us up, which is what Trump is trying to do." IANS Pathankot attack: No more confusion, number of terrorists was 4 New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Aug 1: On January 3, 2016 a call at the Pathankot air base was intercepted. In the conversation, the handler is heard telling the terrorists, "Those non-believers have no idea whether there are 4 or 6 fighters (terrorists)." If one may recall there was utter confusion on the day that the Pathankot air base was attacked. The confusion began when Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh announced that the attack was over and four terrorists were killed. However, a few hours later there was another message in which it was said that two more terrorists were holed up and the operation was still on. The operation then went on for another 48 hours before it was declared complete. Pathankot: They don't know how many of you are there, handler told terrorists The big question that cropped up was whether there were four or six terrorists. The NIA when it began its probe stated that they were probing the role of six terrorists. However, till date the NIA has not been able to find even an iota of evidence to suggest that there were more than four at the air base. Final number 4 The NIA has sent what was meant to be the charred remains of the two terrorists for forensic analysis. On two occasions the forensic analysis has stated that there is no evidence. The video footage at the air base too does not indicate that there were more than four terrorists. Moreover the NIA has only managed to recover four bodies. Further confusion was created after it claimed that two more backpacks had been found. However, the NIA has found no evidence of this as well. When the Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan visited India, the NIA had maintained that there were only four terrorists. Now with Rajnath Singh visiting Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference, there is likely to be a discussion on the probe update. While Rajnath Singh would rise with Pakistan on the sidelines of the conference the Pathankot probe, he would also raise the issue pertaining to the NIA's visit to that country. The NIA was supposed to visit Pakistan in connection with the probe, but no date has been fixed as yet. However when Rajnath would give a status update on the probe, he would maintain that four terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad had attacked the air base. OneIndia News Sohrabuddin encounter: Plea against Amit Shah dismissed by SC New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Aug 1: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition that challenged the discharge of BJP President, Amit Shah in the Sohrabbuddin encounter case. The petition was filed after the Bombay High Court had upheld Shah's discharge in the case. The petition was filed by social activist Harsh Mander. Sohrabuddin a gangster was killed along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005 by the Gujarat police. Tulsiram Prajapati an aide of the gangster was also killed a year later. It was alleged that the encounter was a fake one and since Shah was the home minister of Gujarat he should be made accountable. Appearing for the petitioner, Kapil Sibal, senior advocate told the court some people are above the law. The withdrawing of the appeal by Sohrabuddin's brother against the discharge of Shah raises doubts, Sibal also told the court. The court however stated that it does not consider anyone to be above the law. If the brother had come in appeal against the discharge it was an entirely different case, the SC observed. In this case Mander has no locus standi, the bench said while rejecting the petition. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 13:18 [IST] Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has offered her resignation after a week of protests across the state following the assault on four Dalits a group. There is no official confirmation on whether she will be resigning or not. I. n a Facebook post written in Gujarati, Patel has requested the party leadership that she be relieved from the responsibility as she turns 75 this November. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Commander of Iranian Army ground force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan confirmed that some Iranian citizens have joined the "Islamic State" (IS, aka ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group. The group has attracted some members from Irans western cities of Naftshahr and Qasre-Shirin, Pourdastan said, ISNA news agency reported Aug. 1. He referred to the group as a potential threat for the country. The IS terrorist group employed some people in Naftshahr and Qasre-Shirin cities as well as western regions of the country and was doing certain operations in these regions, he said, adding two Iranians who joined the group, were killed in the armed conflicts last March. He further said that presence of Iranian armed forces repelled the plans of the terrorist group. Over the past months, there have been numerous reports in which Iranian officials have announced the capture or destruction of terrorist groups trying to commit terror attacks in the country. Terrorists usually venture into Iran through borders with Pakistan in the east and Iraq in the west. Ongoing projects on Mahanadi river won't stop: C'garh Minister Raipur oi-PTI Raipur,August 1: Amid an ongoing row over Mahanadi river with Odisha, Chhattisgarh Water Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal today asserted his state will continue with the projects approved by Central Water Commission (CWC) on the river. "The ongoing projects, approved by the CWC on Mahanadi river (in Chhattisgarh), will not be stopped," Agrawal told . Notably, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his concern over structures and proposed irrigation projects over Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh and requested Centre's intervention into it. On July 29, during a meeting of CWC in Delhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand had given the state's approval on constituting a joint board to discuss issues related to Mahanadi and its tributaries between the two states. However, Odhisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi had said that a decision in this regard will be taken after discussing the matter with Patnaik. As per an agreement between then Chief Minister of the erstwhile undivided state of Madhya Pradesh Arjun Singh and then Odisha Chief Minister GB Patnaik in April, 1983, a joint control board to resolve the issues between the two states related to Mahanadi was to be constituted. It has not been done so far, Agrawal said. "Chhattisgarh had given its consent for the formation of joint board during the recent meeting in Delhi and now it's upon Odisha to take further decision," said the minister. The catchment area of Mahanadi up to the Hirakund dam is 82,432 sq km, of which 71,424 sq km lies in Chhattisgarh, which is 86 per cent of the total catchment. Average inflow of Mahanadi at Hirakund dam is 40,773 MCM, of which 35,308 MCM is contributed by Chhattisgarh. Present utilisation of water by Chhattisgarh is nearly 9,000 MCM, which is only 25 per cent of the available water in Mahanadi up to the Hirakund dam, he said. The structures are being made on the river to conserve the rain water in Mahanadi for its proper utilisation by people particularly farmers, Agrawal added. According to the Minister, the issue is being politicised by the Odisha government. "The state has always abided by the inter-state river water sharing norms and has used limited Mahanadi water without hurting Odisha's interest. The ongoing projects on the river by Chhattisgarh would not affect the interest of people of neighbouring state", he stressed. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, August 1, 2016, 12:53 [IST] Why are people worried about the Arabisation of Kerala? Thiruvananthapuram oi-Vicky Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 1: The case of the missing persons in Kerala who are suspected to have joined the ISIS has raked up major discussions and debates on the rapid Arabisation of the state. The Gulf connect to the state has done more harm than good. Gone are those days when the Gulf link was only related to money being remitted into the state. The past couple of years has seen the Gulf culture being imported into the state and in many areas this has done more harm than good. While the Wahhabi scholars made several trips into the state, the number of self financed religious institutions too began to grow. Before ISIS, there was the Tablighi Jamaat which radicalised Indian youth The parents of those who have gone missing and suspected to have joined the ISIS share their pain while pointing out that they saw the change occurring in their children. They had stop watching movies and would tell the parents too to follow suit failing which they would end up in hell. One of the missing persons, Hafeezuddin had refused to touch his father's vehicle as it was purchased on loan. He would say lending money for interest is anti Islam. Importing the Saudi Arabian culture If one looks at the profile of those alleged to have joined the ISIS, it is clear that they were educated and from well do to families. Ayesha, who was born Sonia Sebastin is one among the many who have gone missing. She converted to Islam and then took a decision to go away from Kerala. She has an MBA degree from a college in Bengaluru. Another case relates to a dental student, Nimisha who went on to become Fathima. The families blame the Saudi influence in the state for the problem. The police, on the other hand, say that there are many self financed religious institutions that have come up. In many of these institutions, the preachings are radical in nature. Indian ISIS was in touch with operatives in 25 countries: NIA This has led to the extensive use of the purdah by women and the men have started questioning the good life that their families lead. They have been made to believe that they need to be part of a group that is fighting for the establishment of a Caliphate and the implementation of the Sharia law. The Wahhabi preachers who lecture at such institutions constantly drill the point into their head that unless they give up the good life and fight for Islam, their lives are being wasted. In addition to this many Mosques which are designed on the lines of those in Saudi Arabia too have come up. There is a large amount of money that is being pumped in from Saudi Arabia to have mosques run by the Wahhabi school of thought. While on one hand the blame is on Saudi Arabia, on the other there are the likes of Abdul Nasar Madani who have only added to the problem. Madani facing charges in a terror case was known for his fiery speeches in which he would point out only Islam can liberate India. There are many others too who were part of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India who have spoke on similar lines with a large aim of radicalising the youth. Police say that there have been many let ups in the past and the time has now come to clean up the mess. First and foremost we need to regulate these self financed religious institutions and ensure that they are not teaching radical Islam. Further the preachers who come in from Saudi Arabia must be prevented. Mosques being constructed on money sent by the Wahhabis too must immediately be stopped, police officials also added. OneIndia News 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. by Graham Pierrepoint Earlier this month, fans of J K Rowling and the world of wizarding finally got the chance to see Harry Potter debut on Londons West End, via Harry Potter and The Cursed Child a play which sees events unravel several years after the final story in the series, The Deathly Hallows and the problems that face adult Harry, Ron and Hermione in their chosen full-time careers. As the first reviews have rolled in and as critics and attendees alike are advised not to spoil any of the storys secrets, there seem to be many reasons as to why no Potterhead should miss the extravaganza should it see an extended run, or why they should miss out on the publication of the scripts. Weve pulled out a handful of reasons to whet your appetite: The cast is terrific While this was one area that caused some concern amongst Potter fans ahead of the plays launch, much of the mainstream press and critics are praising a talented and varied cast that help to bring adult versions of the iconic characters to life a feat that will have been considerably daunting for even the most seasoned of board-treaders, given that the characters have been brought to life and ingrained in the form of Daniel Radcliffe and company. The press, however, is generally very keen to emphasise that the play is ideally cast. The stage is a perfect setting for Rowlings stories Fans will also likely have been holding their breath over whether or not a stage play would honour the characters and the wizarding world the way that they needed to be. Reports claim, however, that the staging and set design breathe new life into the franchise, offering a more organic and closer look at the characters weve come to know so well. While its early days to say whether or not the format outstrips the blockbusting movie franchise, signs show that the move to a traditional theatre were certainly worthwhile. The plays secrets are worth keeping Much as Alfred Hitchcock famously asked of cinemagoers to Psycho, and much as it is requested of attendees to long-running mystery play The Mousetrap, attendees are encouraged to keep plot secrets to themselves upon leaving. Certainly, this is retaining the magic of theatre and Rowling herself is said to be happy that spoilers are largely being blanked out. This aside, critics state that is not simply a case of the secrets being kept out of respect but that they are certainly worth keeping. The play has been described as a celebration of the Harry Potter universe and one which returns to the world of magic with a number of wry nods and moments to delight long-term fans of the franchise. This being said, it will remain to be seen just how far the story will go and with the play due to be published, it wont be long before fans far and wide will learn more about the latest addition to their favorite franchise. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Iranian army unveiled a new drone, on Aug. 1 during an exhibition in Tehran attended by Commander of Army's Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan. The new home-made drone is capable of creating disruptive noise in enemy communication systems, the official Mizan news agency reported. The Iranian armys other military achievements including various drones, artillery, military robots and invisible laser also were showcased at the event. Iranian media outlets claim that Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years. Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes since 1992. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 Trend: At the end of the siege of police headquarters in Yerevan, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic sought reassurance from the foreign minister of Armenia that journalists rights and safety during times of civil unrest would be protected, said OSCEs website. Mijatovic wrote to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian indicating that the government should implement practical steps to ensure restraint on the part of law enforcement representatives toward members of the media and suggested steps should be taken by the authorities to guarantee that the press is not targeted by the police or thugs. The police should be protecting journalists and members of the media. According to reports, on 29 July media reporting on the forced dispersal of demonstrators in the Sari Tagh district and other events were attacked, beaten and had their equipment destroyed. In some cases the attackers were uniformed police; in others, civilians armed with metal rods, said the website. GlobeNewswire 20 Sep 2022 By 2028, the global tea market is predicted to grow immensely, chiefly due to introduction of new tea flavors. Also, health.. Eurasia Review 14 Sep 2022 The Tripoli centre is imposing a siege politically, supporting every legitimacy that comes through Parliament, but not militarily.. Rumble 19 Oct 2022 17 . 2022 . Richard Fontaine, former advisor to Senator John McCain and head of think tank The Center for a New America.. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: Saudi Aramco, the worlds largest oil exporter, lowered the pricing terms for Arab Light crude sold to Asia by the most in 10 months, signaling Saudi Arabia has no plans to back down while OPEC rival Iran tries to regain market share amid a global oversupply, Bloomberg reported. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. said Sunday it will sell cargoes of Arab Light in September at $1.10 a barrel below Asias regional benchmark. That is a pricing cut of $1.30 from August, the biggest drop since November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company was expected to lower the pricing by $1 a barrel, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of eight refiners and traders. Earlier, in July, Chief Executive Amin Nasser told Reuters that Saudi Aramco wasn't worried about rival producers, such as Iraq, Iran and Russia, gaining ground in key market Asia, destination for about two-thirds of the kingdom's exports. "Customers are increasing, no we are not," he said. To maintain market share, Irans oil production has increased since January 16, 2016 when implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and lifting of sanctions began. Some 600,000 barrels per day (b/d) has been added so far and the government plans to raise it up to 800,000 b/d by the summer of 2016, reaching pre-sanction levels (prior to 2014). Saudi Arabia, which is the largest OPEC oil producer and exporter, produced 10.308 million barrels per day of oil in June compared to 10.242 million barrels per day in May, according to OPECs latest estimates. The BBC's Malik Mudassir says Taliban fighters are now providing security at his hotel in central Kabul. BBC News 17 Aug 2021 It's no secret that Shehnaaz Gill has now become a close part of Salman Khan and his family. Earlier, we saw Shehnaaz sharing a.. IANS INDIA 21 May 2022 Eurasia Review 11 Oct 2022 By Julian McBride A string of victories in the Kharkiv oblast has suddenly turned the Ukraine war in Kyivs favor,.. Mediaite 22 Aug 2022 Bowers is a life-long conservative who attributed his steadfast political views to being raised on a ranch and his deep faith Dutch Government Tightens Restriction on Curacao Published August 1, 2016 by Lee R Concerns of illegal activity spurred a movement in the Dutch government to tighten guidelines in Curacao. The Dutch government continues to move towards tightening Curacao regulation, with the extent all there is to be determined. Dutch Concerns Increased regulation is coming on the heels of Netherlands Acting Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Stef Blok's response to the Parliamentary question of Curacao-licensed operators serving Dutch gamblers and concerns regarding ties of Curacao gambling activity to organized crime. Formal Inquiry Standing in for Minister Plasterk as he recovers from heart surgery, Blok re-iterated the Dutch government's position in an anticipated response to two sets of question submitted in Parliament by Socialist Second Chamber Member Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) which arose last May out of concerns for ties of Curacao gambling activity to organized crime. Crown Intervention Blok confirmed to the Daily Herald his and State Secretary of Security and Justice Klass Dijkhoff's intent to move forward with a plan to block Dutch gamblers from sites belonging to Curacao licensees. The plan expands the precedent set by Dutch gambling authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) towards Curacao-licensed operators marketing to the Dutch public, curbing what the KSA called the transgressions of unlicensed entry operation within Dutch market borders by licensees from protectorate Curacao. Short Leash The fine line between Dutch jurisdiction and the autonomy of companies licensed through the Curacao government was addressed squarely by Blok, who said oversight of Curacaos online gambling operators remained in the hands of, and the responsibility of, the government and prosecuting office of Curacao. Blok acknowledged the Curacao government's national ordinance to regulate online gambling activity while recognizing the willingness of the Curacao prosecutor to take action to protect the integrity of the local government from unscrupulous actions in the gambling industry. No Way In Curacao is a fairly attractive market of entry, with dozens of prominent mid level operators led by Pinnacle. However, for those expecting to gain access to the lucrative Dutch market via this protectorate, this news represents a reminder that the Dutch government is fully aware of the Curacao presence and potential for entry, and is committed to preserving all activity and regulation within its borders to the auspices of its own licensing authority of its own regulatory body and government. Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: Troubled hedge fund firm Visium Asset Management has announced plans terminate 24 employees in its New York Office as the firm liquidates its funds after three of its former employees were charged over alleged insider trading. A report by Bloomberg said that Jacob Gottliebs firm is planning to start cutting the number of its staff on Oct. 26 and will continue for "a few months." Visium has already notified the New York Department of Labor about its plan to dismiss up to 33 employees. Visium employs 110 in New York. The notice comes days after asset manager AllianceBernstein Holding LP said it would not proceed with a deal to buy a fund from Visium. "Having determined that an opportunity involving the Visium Global Fund was not feasible, we will not proceed with the transaction," Alliance said in a statement last week. Visium to shut down four of its remaining hedge funds In June, Visium Asset, the once high-flying hedge fund firm that at its peak managed $8bn, said it was shutting down four of its remaining hedge funds after one ...................... To view our full article Click here Image Deleted Because Wiki Page Empty or Removed Image Aug. 1, 2016, Santa Clara CA: In just a few hours petitioners will be walking over to the Santa Clara Superior Court to deliver signatures from the change.org petition, "Remove Judge Aaron Persky from the Bench For Decision in Brock Turner rape case." Over 1 million people signed the petition. CNN states: The number appears resounding: More than one million people want Judge Aaron Persky to lose his job for what's been widely viewed as a lenient sentence in the Brock Turner rape case. So, more people than who live in San Francisco want to see Persky tossed out for handing a white, well-to-do former Stanford University athlete a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. And that's just the change.org petition. Other petitions at moveon.org and the White House's We the People site have each garnered more than 100,000 signatures. The event will be livestreamed on Facebook. The petition states: We the people would like to petition that Judge Aaron Persky be removed from his Judicial position for the lenient sentence he allowed in the Brock Turner rape case. Despite a unanimous guilty verdict, three felony convictions, the objections of 250 Stanford students, Jeff Rosen the district attorney for Santa Clara, as well as the deputy district attorney who likened Turner to " a predator searching for prey" Judge Persky allowed the lenient sentence suggested by the probation department. Turner has shown no remorse and plans to attempt to overturn his conviction. Judge Persky failed to see that the fact that Brock Turner is a white male star athlete at a prestigious university does not entitle him to leniency. He also failed to send the message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class, race, gender or other factors. Please help rectify this travesty to justice. Maria Ruiz, initiator of the petition, notes: If you are joining us today, make sure you are RSVPed on Eventbrite to stay up-to-date: We'll be meeting at 191 North First St. in San Jose. If you can't attend in person, make sure you're signed up for our ThunderClap! Trump/Putin - Part III As the controversy over Donald Trump's remarks about Russia and Ukraine go viral, the monumental ignorance of America's political leaders about world events has finally come front and center. Donald Trump doesn't know that Russia never invaded Ukraine, but he seems to think they might, while his Democratic adversaries are convinced it has, and that it annexed Crimea under military threat when in fact over 80% of its inhabitants are Russia and they overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to rejoin Russia, which the Crimea has always been part of except after 1954 when Khruschev, believing the Soviet Union was forever, gave it to Ukraine in a gesture of brotherly love. This brings us to the subject of Paul Manafort's past ties with the Ukrainian pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted in an American-backed Neo-Nazi coup in 2014. The media has mentioned these ties before, but probably because it hasn't a clue as to Russia/Ukraine relations past or present, it has avoided going into any detail. Today it is mentioned a friend of Manafort's is involved in Black Sea oil. (Note that the Crimea is a Black Sea peninsula") Here is a quote from today's Guardian: The coordinator of the Washington diplomatic corps for the Republicans in Cleveland was Frank Mermoud , a former state department official involved in business ventures in Ukraine via Cub Energy , a Black Sea-focused oil and gas company of which he is a director. He is also on the board of the US Ukraine Business Council. Mermoud has longstanding ties to Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who in 2010 helped pro-Russia Viktor Yanukovych refashion his image and win a presidential election in Ukraine." Hmmm, Cub Energy, here's what its website says: According to The World Fact Book, estimated oil production in 2012 was 80,400 Bbls/d, ranking Ukraine 52nd in the world in oil production. ". Naftogaz is the largest of the Ukrainian state-owned companies and it dominates exploration and production. Naftogaz also owns the main oil and gas pipelines, gas processing facilities, the import and transit rights of gas and gas distribution rights in Ukraine. Naftogaz has entered into agreements with many foreign companies to enable an acceleration of hydrocarbon development in Ukraine. Cub is among the foreign companies active in Ukraine along with the recent entry by Shell and Chevron. It doesn't make the front pages of American media, but some erudite figures in Washington have probably heard of Russia's various pipe-line projects to bring gas to Europe. One of them was set to pass through Ukraine, however after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, Russia sought other solutions including one which would bypass Ukraine for Turkey. Further of interest to the campaign currently gathering steam to impale Trump on his relations with Russia, further links on the CUb energy website clarify the US claim that Russia could invade Moldova after biting off a chunk of Ukrainian real estate in the east. Transcarpathian Basin The Transcarpathian basin means the approximate 7,500 km2 region located in Western Ukraine bordering Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. The basin is estimated to have 4 Tcf of natural gas which, to date, remains vastly under-explored with only approximately three percent of the region's hydrocarbon potential discovered. Cub Energy has a 100% working interest in two licenses and a 50% working interest in the third license for a total of 99,000 gross acres (net 61,500 acres). Moldova is part of the Transcarpathian basin. And lo and behold, the two Russian-majority rebel areas in the east of Ukraine are part of the Next Page 1 | 2 (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. A large explosion rocked the Afghan capital city of Kabul early Monday, knocking out the citys electricity. Local reporters claim a truck bomb was involved in the incident and said that there was ongoing attack by four gunmen at the Northgate hotel. The blast occurred in the middle of the night, at around 1:30 am local time. Some witnesses on Twitter claimed that the electricity had actually gone off in Kabul shortly before, and not after, the explosion. The blast has been described on Twitter as being so loud that it woke up people "all over the city." TOLOnews reports that Afghan security forces have cordoned off the area around the North Gate Hotel. There is still no word from officials on the total number of casualties from the terrorist attack, who was responsible for the strike, or what their motives were. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the North Gate hotel attack in the Afghan capital, local media said Monday. Earlier, a truck bomb explosion hit the Northgate guesthouse, located on Jalalabad Road in the Pul-e-Chakri area and frequented by foreigners. Several militants attacked the building after the blast. "It was a place of luxury for foreigners and hotel was far from civilian homes," the Taliban said, as quoted by the TOLOnews channel. Afghan security forces have now cordoned off the area, with sounds of gunfire no longer audible. It said by local reporters that there have been dozens of casualties although no official figure has been offered. Energy And Utilities Infrastructure Construction In Saudi Arabia To 2019: Market Forecast http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/760602 Timetrics 'Energy and Utilities Infrastructure Construction in Saudi Arabia to 2019: Market Forecast' contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). The databook provides historical and forecast valuations of the industry using the construction output and value-add methods.SummaryThis report is the result of Timetrics extensive market research covering the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry in Saudi Arabia. It contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). 'Energy and Utilities Infrastructure Construction in Saudi Arabia to 2019: Market Forecast' provides a top-level overview and detailed insight into the operating environment of the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry in Saudi Arabia. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Saudi Arabian construction value chain and for new players considering to enter the market.Get Sample Copy Of Report:ScopeOverview of the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry in Saudi Arabia.Historic and forecast market value for the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry by construction output and value-add methods for the period 2010 through to 2019.Historic and forecast market value by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) across the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry for the period 2010 through to 2019.Reasons To BuyThis report provides you with valuable data for the energy and utilities infrastructure construction industry in Saudi Arabia.This report provides you with a breakdown of market value by type of construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition).This report enhances your knowledge of the market with key figures detailing market values using the construction output and value add methods.This report allows you to plan future business decisions using the forecast figures given for the market.Marketresearchreports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. Marketresearchreports.biz services are especially designed to save time and money of our clients.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Sterile Medical Packaging Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=260 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Packaging is an integral activity in product manufacturing which ensures products safety along with easy transportation of products. Several packaging techniques are employed which varies on the basis of industries and product specifications. Picking out most appropriate sterilization packaging in the healthcare sector today is a provocative responsibility of the healthcare products manufacturers which includes both pharmaceuticals as well as medical devices and consumable manufactures.Different sterilization packaging types, such as wraps, pouches, and container systems, are available in the market in different sizes and specifications for sterilizing and packaging medical devices and other instruments. The application, performance, and selection of proper sterilization packaging systems is critical for executing the sterilization of the packaged content, maintaining sterility of the packaged contents until the package is open for use, and enabling removal of contents without contamination.Sterilization packaging systems used by healthcare facilities to package and sterilize surgical instruments and medical devices and equipment are controlled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Sterile Medical Packaging Market: Drivers & RestraintsIncreasing population and their health requirements, continuous attempts of consumers, manufacturers, and governments to increase the level of infection control, and rise in favorable healthcare policies are the major factors driving growth of the global sterile medical packaging market currently. Besides, factors such as increased spending capacity and growing healthcare awareness among consumers are anticipated to drive future growth and expansion of the global sterile medical packaging market.Get Free Sample Report Copy at :Sustainability of the sterile medical packaging market majorly depends on the price and supply of raw materials such as crude oil. Fluctuation in crude oil prices could render the value chain of the global sterile medical packaging market.Manufacturers are increasingly investing in research and development activities for developing more sustainable sterile medical packaging types.Sterile Medical Packaging Market: Market SegmentationThe global sterile medical packaging market is segmented on the basis of application into:Medical PackagingCatheter PackagingDrape and Gown PackagingIV and blood Therapy PackagingUrinary and Drainage packagingWound Care PackagingRenal Therapy PackagingHospital Sterilization PackagingPreformed Pouches and ReelsSealing MachinesRotosealersImpulse SealersNonwoven and Paper wrapsChemical Indicators and TapesSterile Medical Packaging Market: Regional-OutlookThe global sterile medical packaging market is segmented into seven key geographical regions, which include North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is currently the largest market for sterile medical packaging on account of the various regulations imposed by the FDA, which in turn is fueling demand for sustainable and quality products in the region. North America is followed by Western Europe and Asia Pacific. Increased spending capacity, coupled with growing healthcare awareness, is expected to create new opportunities for players operating in the sterile medical packaging market in the Asia Pacific region. Even the Western Europe and Middle East and Africa markets are also among the major growth contributors in the global sterile medical packaging market.Sterile Medical Packaging Market: Key playersSome of the key players in the Sterile Medical Packaging Market are,OrchidMultivacSelenium MedicalWIPAKDuPontSBAJANCO INC.Bemis Healthcare PackagingSealed Air Medical ApplicationsOliver Tolas Healthcare PackagingAbout TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Inkjet Coders Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=9602 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The inkjet technology is a reliable and cost-effective method used to mark and code a whole range of products. Inkjet coders are most commonly used in the packaging industry to differentiate products. These are a non-contact printing coders that can generate dates and batch numbers, and time any information to a variety of packaging products including containers, cartons labels, etc. Inkjet coders are used in industries, such as food and beverages, automotive, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, for marking purpose. The inkjet coders cost less but have higher maintenance cost, whereas laser coders have high cost and low maintenance cost. Inkjet coders are cost effective and are recommended for economical color printing. The substitute for inkjet coder is laser coder. Inkjet coders comprise different chambers containing different colors of ink. Recently, Videojet Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of coding, marking, and printing products, launched six new inks for larger inkjet printers. Making an innovation in coding solution, Hitachi America, Ltd. recently developed its latest generation of continuous ink jet printers, the UX Series.Drop on Demand (DOD), Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) and Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) are the three types of ink-jet technologies used in the packaging industry for coding applications. The drop on demand technology uses aqueous or UV curable inks to print on a wide range of products; it has a number of chambers which contains ink. Continuous ink jet is a non-contact coding and durable method. The small characters of CIJ coders generate expiry dates, lot codes, graphics, and bar codes on a variety of primary packaging and the large character of CIJ coders generate same for secondary packaging, i.e. for cartons, etc. Thermal ink jet coders make use of print cartridges. They contain a series of small electrically heated chambers, which can be controlled by a flex-circuit, and involve high speed coding for serialized data. (TIJ) technology is usually for generating high-quality graphics and high-grade two-dimensional symbologies such as DataMatrix codes. Generally, industries such as pharmaceuticals, tobacco, health, and beauty make use of TIJ coders.Get Free Sample Report Copy at:The global inkjet coder market is segmented based on product technology, end user, and geography. By product technology, the global inkjet coder market is segmented into Drop on Demand (DOD), Continuous Inkjet (CIJ), and Thermal Inkjet (TIJ). By end user, the global inkjet coder market is categorized on the basis of different industries, including food and beverages, cosmetics, personal and home care, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, tobacco, automotive and aerospace, building materials, chemicals, commercial printing and addressing, electrical components and electronics, and wire, cable and pipeTechnological developments in inkjet coders, such as advancement in software that controls and monitors ink viscosity and automatic flush systems that help save time by stopping and cleaning daily print head, are anticipated to create excellent growth opportunities for the inkjet coder market. Rise in demand for minimization of solvent evaporation and reducing mixing of air with ink are the major factors expected to drive growth of the inkjet coders market over the forecast period. However, factors such as high running cost and low quality of marks that result in non-permanent mark are expected to hinder the market growth. Also, inkjet coders spill some tiny droplets of ink while printing; therefore, their resolution is lower than the laser printers. Significant factors that influence the demand for ink jet coders are reduced downtime, which helps customers expand the visual and functional coding capabilities. Currently, increasing number of manufacturers are seeking high performance printing and coding equipment, thereby creating significant growth and investment opportunities for players in the inkjet coders market.By geography, the global inkjet coder market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Currently, North America and Europe dominate the market, accounting for the highest share of the global inkjet coders market in terms of volume. However, most of the major manufacturers in the market are from China, in view of the low capital cost required in the country, advancements in technology, and changing trends and requirements of players in the market. The global commercial and industrial markets play an important role in the development of the overall ink jet coder market.Some of the key players in the global inkjet coding market are Videojet Technologies, Inc., FoxJet, an ITW Company, Hitachi America, Ltd., ID Technology, LLC., KGK Jet India., Linx Printing Technologies, Domino Printing Sciences plc, Shanghai Rottweil Handyware Printing Technology Co., Ltd, Media Data Systems Pte Ltd, Elmark Packaging, Koenig & Bauer AG, Squid Ink Manufacturing, Inc., Markem-Imaje, a Dover Company, and Xaar plc.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Cerebrospinal Fluid Management Market to reach US$ 1,840.5 Mn in 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2590 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/csf-management-market.html Hydrocephalus is excessive accumulation of CSF inside the head caused due to disturbance of absorption, flow, or formation. The normal CSF production rate in adults is 0.35ml/ min. It indicates that 500 ml of CSF is produced in an entire day (24 hours). In normal situations, CSF is recycled three times in a day. Hydrocephalus is caused due to various reasons such as craniofacial anomalies, benign intracranial cysts, colloid cyst, choroid plexus tumor, intracranial hemorrhage, and meningitis. However, the overall care for patients with hydrocephalus has improved in the past 10 years due to better facilities, new approaches for treatment, and growing awareness.Free Brochure Of Sample Report:Based on product type, the global CSF management market has been segmented into CSF shunts and CSF drainage systems. CSF drainage system is further classified into ventricular drainage system and lumbar drainage system. The market for these segments and sub-segments has been extensively analyzed based on their utility, effectiveness, sales, and geographic presence.Rise in incidence of neurological diseases and brain disorders, increasing geriatric population diagnosed with neurological diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinson's diseases, growing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, and increased funding by government and private organizations are likely to fuel the growth of the market in the near future. The CSF management market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. Additionally, the development of healthcare infrastructure and rise in medical expenditure by governments and increase in disposable income by the people in emerging countries such as Brazil, India, China, and other countries in Asia and Latin America is likely to drive the CSF management market in the region. However, factors such as high cost of surgery and availability of CSF shunts can restrain the market. The report offers a detailed analysis of this high growth and outlines a possible growth trajectory at global as well as regional level in terms of value for each CSF management segment.CSF shunts was the largest product segment of the market in 2014. CSF shunts allow brain to return to a normal size by relieving the symptoms of hydrocephalus. These also ease the process of getting samples of CSF by health care providers. However, the risk associated with CSF shunts such as it leads to infection that is caused due to the patients own skin organism such as Staphylococcus epidermis that gains access to shunt tubing during the shunt procedure. This contamination further leads to colonization of bacteria on internal wall of valve and shunt catheter leading to bacterial colonies. This shunt infection also leads to headache, vomiting, general malaise, pyrexia, etc. This acts as a limitation and can hinder the growth of the CSF management market. A CSF drainage system clears CSF from ventricles, eliminates blood clots from intrathecal spaces, and reduces the incidence of vasospasm. CSF drainage system is found to be more accurate and cost-effective. The segment is likely to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The report has been compiled in order to update the stakeholders with the incumbent market dynamics through a graphical illustration and in-depth analysis of major sub-segments for each region considered in the study scope.Major players operating in the global market include DePuy Synthes (a J & J Company), Medtronic plc, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Sophysa S.A., Spiegelberg GmbH & Co. KG, Integra LifeSciences Holding Corporation, BeckerSmith Medical, Inc., and Moller Medical GmbH. The key market players are actively involved in constant innovations and developments related to technology and application to cater to the multi-dimensional needs of the end-users in order to maintain their positions in the global market.Browse Full Report@About Us:-Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact Us:-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Digital Health Market to be Driven by Increasing Demand for Advanced Information Systems in Healthcare Industry http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12473 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/digital-health-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Digital health is technology-enabled care that involves the convergence of digital media, health technology, and mobile devices. It is designed to help patients, care givers, and healthcare professionals access relevant data easily and improve the quality of both social and health care. Digital health is gaining impetus since it provides cost-effective solutions at a time when the demand for healthcare services is persistently increasing.Avail Free Sample Research Report:The rising aging population, increasing price of advanced treatments, and shrinking healthcare expenses by governments have impelled healthcare providers to look for complementing solutions to sustain future social and health care systems. Opportunities for deploying mobile technology in a healthcare set-up have significantly increased in the last few years. The proliferation of smart devices and smartphones has played a crucial role in propagating digital health. Notable developments in bio-sensing wearables such as glucose, blood pressure, and diabetes monitors are further expected to augment the interest in digital health.Digital health enables access to real-time health care data. Furthermore smartphones and wearable medical devices integrating an increasing range of sensors to facilitate monitoring changes in physiology. Therefore, the applicability of digital health is expected to surge extraordinarily in the near future.The report presents a granular analysis of the global digital health market, studying the various aspects influencing the markets trajectory between 2016 and 2023. Factors aiding and inhibiting the growth of the market have been analyzed in detail. The report also presents insights into the strategies adopted by various companies operating in the market.Digital health refers to a system or solution that delivers effective health care solutions using IT tools and products. It is possible to provide better and more efficient care compared to traditional healthcare via patient online services and digital diagnostic techniques. Latest digital health technologies such as electronic health records (EHR), wireless technologies, and digital diagnostic systems encompass data such as patient history, medication, allergies, immunization dates, radiology images, diagnosis, laboratory and tests results, treatment plans, and insurance information.The global digital health market is exhibiting robust growth due to the increasing demand for advanced information systems in the health care industry. Favorable policies by governments and the rising investment by players in the healthcare information system (HIT) have also been aiding the expansion of the digital health market. Additionally, the market is also gaining impetus from the growing demand for remote monitoring services in response to the proliferation of home healthcare services.On the flip side, certain restraints often associated with the global digital health market include high capital expenditure, privacy and security issues, expenditure incurred on maintenance requirement, and inadequate infrastructure of the healthcare industry in developing countries.Regionally, North America dominates the global digital health market and is expected to maintain its dominance through the forecast period. This exponential surge witnessed by the regional market is aided by the developed healthcare infrastructure, increased healthcare spending, and the increasing incidence of chronic illnesses in the region.The digital health market is also witnessing attractive opportunities in Europe. The European market is primarily aided by the increasing geriatric population, rising prevalence of chronic ailments, and technological advancements introduced in the HIT. However, during the forecast period, the Asia Pacific digital health market is expected to report growth at highest rate. The increasing investment in healthcare and IT will support the growth of the digital health market in Asia Pacific.To present insights into the competition prevailing in the market, the report also profiles companies such as General Electric Company, AT&T Inc., McKesson Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., and others.Browse Full Research Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Catharanthine Market Value Chain and Forecast 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1197 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1197 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/catharanthine-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Medicinal plants today form a major portion of rich biodiversity globally and are still not explored to its potential. The need for the new medicinal products out from the plant has received a great interest in the present research world due to high cost and the higher side effects that are associated with the chemically manufactured drug. Catharanthine is defined as an alkaloid which is isolated from catharanthus roseus, which is a potent medicinal plant for many of the pharmacological reactions such as antimicrobial, antioxidant and antidiabetic effect amongst others. The essential chemical, can be used as a starting material for the synthesis of the anti-tumour drugs vinblastine and vincristine. It stimulates the release of amylase from pancreatic fragments and causes extensive degranulation of pancreatic acinar cells. Catharanthine finds a number of application in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. It is highly utilized in the treatment of childhood cancer. Catharanthine is less known in the market and hence is at the initial stage of advancement showcasing high potential over the forecast period. Catharanthine is relatively new to the market and hence, the global catharanthine market is very niche. Moreover, with the increasing awareness among market players about the benefits of catharanthine, the market is anticipated to witness a high growth over the forecast period.Global Catharanthine Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe global catharanthine market is mainly driven by the growth in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Currently, the global healthcare expenditure represents 10.6% of the overall GDP and is anticipated to register a steady CAGR of 5% in the next five years. Catharanthine finds major application in healthcare industry. The rise in chronic diseases has led to the increase in the demand for pharmaceutical products, which in turn is projected to boost the global catharanthine market by the end of forecast period. Moreover, some of the other macro-economic factors affecting the global catharanthine market are aging population, changing lifestyle of people and the increase in disposable income of people. The global catharanthine market is anticipated to grow with the technological advancements undertaken by most of the global manufacturers. More and more players are expected to invest in the catharanthine production in the coming years.Request Free Report Sample@Global Catharanthine Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global catharanthine market is segmented intoCatharanthine sulfateCatharanthine tartrateOn the basis of end use industry, the global catharanthine market is segmented intoFood & beveragePharmaceuticalRequest For TOC@Global Catharanthine Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of geography, the global catharanthine market has been divided in to seven key regions including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa and Japan. The catharanthine market is concentrated in North America region and is expected to contribute maximum market share as North America contributes maximum share in the global pharmaceutical industry. This is typically due to the prominent role of US pharmaceutical sector. Asia Pacific is also expected to demonstrate highest growth rate in the global catharanthine market. This is basically due to the growing pharmaceutical industry in emerging economies such as India and China. The European countries are also expected to contribute a prominent share in the global catharanthine market.Global Catharanthine Market: Key PlayersKey players in the global catharanthine market include AK Scientific Inc, Stanford Chemicals, Cayman Chemicals, Bio Vision Inc, Enzo Biochem Inc, Hainan Yueyang Biotech Co Ltd, Abcam and ChemFaces.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Business Email Market Growth, Trends and Value Chain 2016-2026 by FMI http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1199 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1199 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/business-email-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Electronic mail solution or preferably called email solution, specializes in the day-to-day management of your email services which allows users to remain focused on more critical operations of business. Email solution providers make it simple for organizations and enterprises to communicate across as well as get tasks implemented by offering a reliable, business suited email software to meet such needs. The business email solution offers multiple layers of premium virus and spam protection and keep hosted email advertisement free. Business organizations across the globe are now steadily adopting the strategy of migrating their email to cloud to reduce costs. The enumeration of organizations migrating to cloud-based email and collaboration services has continued to build over the past few years, where previously small and medium business (SMB) were the key end-users of business email solutions, now larger organizations are aggressively moving to the cloud. The current number of email users worldwide in 2015 is recognized to be about 2.6 billion, and this figure is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR till 2026. While total worldwide email traffic estimated to about 200 billion email per day in 2015, the corporate emails represent the major share of this total value.Business Email Market: SegmentationBusiness email market is segmented on the basis of deployment model, end-user and region. According to deployment model, business email market can be segmented into on-premise and cloud-based deployment. On the basis of end-user, business email market can be segmented into small business, medium business and large enterprises. Regionally, business email market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Japan.Request Free Report Sample@Business Email Market: Regional OutlookBusiness email market is witnessing stable growth and is expected to grow steadily during the projected period. North America is the dominating region in business email market and is expected to remain dominant followed by Western Europe during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is expected to exhibit highest CAGR due to rapid progress in enterprise sector across evolving economies of countries like India, China and Philippines.Business Email Market: DriversBusiness email market is being primarily driven by organizations need for a formal communication platform. Growing influx of SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) and SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses) across the globe is driving the growth of business email market. Furthermore, increasing popularity of cloud-based business email solutions is expected to fuel the growth of business email market during the projected period. However, security concerns regarding cloud-based email solutions coupled with need for dedicated internet connection are expected to restrain the growth of business email market amidst the forecast period 2016-2026.Request For TOC@Business Email Market: Key PlayersThe key vendors in the Business email market include Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Yahoo Inc., Rediff.com India Ltd., Rackspace Hostings Inc., GoDaddy Inc., IBM Corporation, Intermedia.net Inc., Fastmail, Zoho Corporation and others. Major players in the business email market boost their market share by mergers & acquisitions with other players in the market. Furthermore, long-term collaboration with cloud-based storage providers is another strategy followed by major business email providers to gain competitive edge.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Cartilage Degeneration Market - Emerging Trends and New Technologies Research 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13229 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cartilage-degeneration-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Cartilage is the tough, complex but flexible living tissue that covers the bony surface of joints. Articular cartilage, fibro cartilage and elastic cartilage are the three different types of cartilage present in the body. Articular cartilage is the one which covers joint surfaces, elastic cartilage is found in the outer ear and fibro cartilage is present in the vertebral disc and knee meniscus. All these three cartilages in the body are distinguished by elasticity, structure, and strength. It is responsible for providing shock absorption, and thus enables the joints to bear the weight associated with the daily activities as well as in various kinds of sports.Download Free Sample Research Report:The most common type of cartilage damage is that of articular cartilage, and may be caused due to injury or degeneration. Articular cartilage cells may heal depending on the extent of degeneration, and location of injury, however only in cases where an injury penetrates into the bone beneath the cartilage. Self healing capacity of the cartilage reduces since the cartilage has no direct blood supply, so little or no capacity to repair itself.Cartilage is also responsible for providing shape and support to other parts of the body, such as nose, ears, and windpipe. Cartilage also provides protection to the bones by preventing them from friction against each other. Pain and restricted movement is observed in cases of injured, inflamed or damaged cartilage including joint deformity in some cases. There are several causes for cartilage problems which include genetic, trauma (injuries), nutritional, mal alignment and meniscus tear. According to a medical center in the U.S., more than 12 million people visit doctors due to knee pain each year, 50 % of them are diagnosed with cartilage damage.Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of cartilage damage. Osteoarthritis, which is also known as degenerative joint disease is characterized by a loss of cartilage, the bodys attempt to repair the cartilage and, ultimately the destruction of the bone underneath the articular cartilage. Since the cartilage tissue does not contain blood vessels or nerves, treating this degeneration pose a challenge and have a limited ability to re-grow. Various treatment options for cartilage degeneration, such as, arthroscopy, drug therapy and joint replacement, have yielded mixed results of regenerating the damaged cartilage.Medical researchers are also conducting various clinical studies in the U.S. of innovative stem cell therapy for repairing knee cartilage degenerated due to causes such as trauma, aging, or even arthritis. Cartistem is one such example by Rush University Medical Center which is developed from mesenchymal stem cells derived from allogenic umbilical cord blood. This Cartistem is administered surgically into the area of cartilage damage following an arthroscopic surgery. Studies and research on exploring various biological solutions to treat cartilage degeneration is currently one of the fastest growing area of research and development.The global cartilage degeneration market can be segmented based on therapy type and pipeline assessment on the basis of target site, molecule type, mechanism of action and route of administration. Therapy type can be classified as monotherapy or combined therapeutics. Various drug molecules in pipeline for cartilage degeneration include sprifermin, chondrogen, and MSB-CAR-001 amongst various others. The alternative for the drug treatment includes minimal invasive procedures such as arthroscopy. The other regeneration procedures include autologus chonrocyte transplantation, cell based cartilage resurfacing, meniscus transplant, micro fracture, osteochondral allograft, and mosaicplasty.Browse Full Research Report:Calzada Limited, Merck KGaA, Mesoblast Limited, Sanofi and Thrasos, Inc., are some of the key players contributing to the global cartilage degeneration market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Research report covers the Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment Market share and Growth, 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1218 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1218 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/pulmonary-arterial-hypertension-treatment-market www.futuremarketinsights.com According to World Health Organization (WHO), raised blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.5 million deaths around the world. Hypertension is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. In addition complications of hypertension includes peripheral vascular disease, heart failure, renal impairment, retinal hemorrhage and visual impairment.Having family history of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, change in life style, unhealthy food, and physical inactivity causes hypertension.To treat pulmonary atrial hypertension following treatments are availableMedicationSurgeriesMedications include blood vessel dilators (vasodilators), Endothelin receptor antagonists, phosphodiesterase III inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, anticoagulants, diuretics.Atrial septostomy and Transplantation are the two surgery option for patients who suffering from severe pulmonary atrial hypertension. Transplantation is may be an option for younger people who are suffering from idiopathic pulmonary hypertension.Request Free Report Sample@Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsAccording to World Health Organization, Globally the prevalence rate of hypertension was 40% in adults who aged 25 and above in the year 2008. The prevalence rate is high in Africa region and Americas having less prevalence rate in hypertension. Change in the life style, family history of pulmonary atrial hypertension, unhealthy food, and physical inactivity are the risk factors for hypertension as well as drivers for this market. Raising the geriatric population around the world also driver for pulmonary atrial hypertension treatment market. Guidelines form government organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control and Prevention plays a major role in the prevention of pulmonary atrial hypertension treatment.Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment Market: SegmentationPulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment Market is segmented into following types:Based on TreatmentMedicationBlood Vessel Dilators (Vasodilators)Endothelin Receptor AntagonistsPhosphodiesterase III InhibitorsCalcium Channel BlockersAnticoagulantsDiureticsBased on End UserHospitalDrug storeHospital PharmaciesPulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment Market: OverviewWith good awareness about healthcare among people and guidance from international organizations about the Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment, the market is expected to have a healthy growth in the forecast period (2016-2026)Request For TOC@Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension TreatmentMarket: Region- wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, the global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Treatment is high in North America because it is highly developed region, having good healthcare setup and people are having good awareness about health care. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a remarkable CAGR. Europe also having good growth in this market.Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension TreatmentMarket: Key PlayersSome of the key players in this market arePfizer inc.Bristol myers coNovartis AG.GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals LimitedBaxterDr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Afghan security forces have completed the operation against Taliban attackers at Kabul's Northgate hotel, with one police officer and two assailants killed, local media said Monday. Earlier, a truck bomb explosion hit the Northgate guesthouse, located on Jalalabad Road in the Pul-e-Chakri area and frequented by foreigners. Several militants attacked the building after the blast and were inside the compound, with security and special forces later launching an operation to clear the compound. The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack. The operation resulted in two more police officers and two special forces members getting injured, the TOLOnews channel reported. One attacker died in the blast, with his two accomplices killed in the ensuing gunfight, according to the channel. No casualties among hotel guests and staff have been reported, while the hotel and surrounding buildings have sustained significant damage, the news outlet said, citing its correspondent at the site of events. Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations, including the Taliban, continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets. Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator Market Growth, Forecast and Value Chain 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1222 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1222 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/wearable-cardioverter-defibrillator-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Wearable cardioverter defibrillator is an external defibrillator which is non-invasive it is used to prevent sudden cardiac attack. It has two partsA light weight vest that is worn under regular clothesA small portable unit that includes recorder and generatorSudden cardiac attack happens when there is an issue with the heart's electrical system. The electrical system guides the heart to relax and contract. Condition where there is abnormal rhythm in the ventricles of the heart is Ventricular Fibrillation. If VF occurs, a defibrillator sends an electrical current to the heart which is used to re-start a normal heart rhythm. Defibrillators are utilized for the treatment of life-threatening heart dysrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia. They control irregular heartbeat, prevent heart failure, and treat patients affected by sudden heart failure. Defibrillators can be internal (inside the body) and external (outside the body). The wearable defibrillator is a treatment given for patients who are at high risk for sudden heart failure or sudden cardiac death. Basically the wearable cardioverter defibrillator is used for outpatient.The global wearable cardioverter defibrillator market is categorized on the basis of condition type, end user and geography. The market is driven by some key factors such as future advancement in technology which help in introducing patient friendly devices by reducing the size and weight of the wearable cardioverter defibrillator, introduction of rental services for wearable cardioverter defibrillators and reducing the cost and making it affordable in developing countries, enhancing patient education and training. Wearable cardioverter defibrillator is used for the conditions like Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, Congenital heart disease and Inherited Arrhythmias.Request Free Report Sample@Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator Market: Drivers and RestraintsFactors contributing to the growth of wearable cardioverter defibrillator marketincludes the rise to prevalence of diseases, growing geriatric population, increasing number of training and awareness among the population base results in growth of market, technological advancements to propel the growth of the market, providing producers with future growth opportunities to bolster the growth of the marketHowever factors such as lack of knowledge about sudden cardiac arrest, problems related to the use of wearable cardioverter defibrillator devices, and the wearable cardioverter defibrillator does not monitor atrial arrhythmias therefore this hinders the growth of the marketWearable Cardioverter Defibrillator Market: OverviewThe wearable cardioverter defibrillator market is expected to have tremendous growth during the forecast period (2016-2026), with rising incidence of cardiac disorders, advancement and innovations in technology in medical field, and government initiative by increased spending in research and developmentWearable Cardioverter Defibrillator: Region- wise OutlookNorth America holds the largest market share of the overall industry and is liable to keep ruling the business sector asrising incidence of diseases, improvement in healthcare industry and extended growth. USA and Canada contribute to the overall defibrillator market in the region as lot of awareness about the sudden cardiac arrest and defibrillators. Europe has second largest market for defibrillator devices. The Market is appeared to be driven by increase in demand from emerging countries in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, where more workstations and business environments are introducing advancement in defibrillators. It is estimated to benefit the defibrillators market in upcoming yearsRequest For TOC@Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator: SegmentationGlobal wearable cardioverter defibrillatormarketis segmented on the basis of condition, end use and geography as following:By ConditionsPeripartum CardiomyopathyCongenital Heart DiseaseInherited ArrhythmiasBy End UserHospitalsHome Care SettingsCardiology ClinicsWearable Cardioverter Defibrillator: Key PlayerZOLL Medical Corporation is the key player operating in this segment.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technology and applications.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Synthetic Biology Market size and forecast, 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1226 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1226 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/synthetic-biology-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Synthetic Biology is one of the breakthrough technologies developed by mankind from chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering which ultimately changed the approach towards therapeutics. It has a varied areas of applications in biofuels, industrial enzymes, vaccine and antibody production, bio-based chemicals and synthetic biology life science research. Synthetic biologists develop such biological systems using by molding the core components (genetic circuits, part of enzymes and metabolic pathways) and understanding their performance while using these smaller parts or devices into the specific integrated systems. The production of new medicines is now done by using synthetic biology on a cellular, molecular and genetic level to address the emerging health issues.Synthetic Biology Market: Drivers & RestraintsInternationally, companies have started investing in Synthetic biology as many governmental bodies are turning towards biomass and climate change. In past few years synthetic biology has gained industrial interest which has a large scale applications and potential of new gene editing techniques are some of the drivers for this market. Traditional medicines are being replaced by genetically engineered products, DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis technologies. This market though has a potential there with any advances there are risks and hindrance like government regulations and policies, biosafety and biosecurity issues, bio-war but these issues are being addressed by the regulatory bodies and research institutions. The synthetic biology market has changed the complete approach towards traditional ways of combating with newer diseases and genetic challenges with the advanced computing and design systems.Request Free Report Sample@Synthetic Biology Market: SegmentationSynthetic Biology market is basically can be classified into products, technology and applications.The Synthetic Biology market based on product can be subdivided into following:Core Products.Synthetic DNASynthetic GenesSynthetic cellsDNA & RNA Purification KitsRecombinant ProteinsThe Synthetic Biology market based on technology can be subdivided into following:MutagenesisDNA sequencingGenome engineeringThe Synthetic Biology market based on applications can be subdivided into following:Pharmaceutical CompaniesResearch OrganizationsChemical IndustriesUniversitiesSynthetic Biology Market: Market OverviewSynthetic biology market is a technology which has now a massive demand in the biotechnology sector, chemical and biofuel industries and their products will outstrip the products of the other industries in the near future. There is progress towards making this technology useful in the therapeutic areas from which the society can be directly benefited. The success of synthetic biology in DNA sequencing and synthetic microbes in vaccines, faster and efficient modular DNA assembly methods has proved to be a potential market and thus there is a significant investment done by the pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.Request For TOC@Synthetic Biology Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, global radiofrequency ablation system market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.Europe is a leading market followed by North America, Europe has invested in developing synthesis of biologically based or biologically inspired systems. In North America Defense is a major contributor in the investment done in the past years. In Asia, India and China are said to progress in developments over future to be a part of the Synthetic biology market. The success of this market will depend upon the conversion from basic research to applications which will rise the future opportunities to understand the natural biological systems. Thus the market for synthetic biology is showing no sign for slowing down but managing the future social, ethical and legal responsibilities will lead to innovation.Synthetic Biology Market: Key PlayersThe major key players in the synthetic biology market are Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Agilent Technologies, GEN9, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Amyris Biotechnologies, Epoch Life Science Inc., Gevo Inc., Intrexon Corporation, Sangamo Biosciences and Gingko Bioworks.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Specialty Silica Demand to Reach 3,188.1 KT in 2016 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-577 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-577 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/specialty-silica-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Specialty silica demand will continue to be strong in 2016, fuelled by its wide-ranging applications in the rubber and plastics industry. Global demand will reach 3,188.1 KT (thousand tonnes) in 2016, up by 3.7% y-o-y, representing market value worth US$ 5.6 Bn.Rubber industry will continue to be the largest application segment for specialty silicas in 2016, accounting for 1,933.0 KT. Use of specialty silica in tyre manufacturing will drive demand, as focus on improving fuel-efficiency of automobiles continues to gain momentum. Plastics will be the second largest application segment, representing a revenue share of 8.8% in 2016.Precipitated silica will continue to witness the highest demand on the basis of product type, with total consumption set to reach 2,280.3 KT in 2016. Precipitated silica is a highly sought-after performance additive in tyre manufacturing, representing 70.7% worth of revenues in 2015. By 2016, global precipitated silica revenues are anticipated to reach US$ 3,997.5 Mn.Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) will remain the largest specialty silicas market in 2016, accounting for 1,315.8 KT in volume. High demand for speciality silica from the rubber sector, including footwear, industrial & mechanical rubber, and automotive tyres will continue to create sustained demand for specialty silica in the region.Request Free Report Sample@China is expected to continue its dominance as a major supplier for specialty silica in the global market in 2016 and beyond. To cater to the rising demand, China-based manufacturers are ramping up their production capacity. Global companies are following suit by setting up manufacturing bases in China. While regional Chinese players are increasing their capacity for conventional silica, global players are focusing on high-performance product grades, such as highly dispersible silica (HDS) that require use of advanced technical manufacturing process.Evonik AG, Solvay SA and Huber Engineered Materials are the leading players in the specialty silica market. These players are highly focused in expanding their market shares for high-end products and applications. This strategy of these players has made the market for high-performance products extremely consolidated. For instance, Solvay SA alone supplies over 50% HDS thats currently in use for manufacturing fuel-efficient tyres.Request For TOC@Long-term Outlook: FMI maintains a positive long-term outlook on the specialty silica market, projecting the market to increase at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period 2016-2026. Asia Pacific will remain the largest market throughout the forecast period, increasing at a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period.Browse Full Specialty Silica Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016 - 2026 Market Research Report atABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Acetic Acid market Size, Shares, analysis & trends up to 2020 http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/acetic-acid-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/acetic-acid-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Zion Research has published a new report titled Acetic Acid Market for VAM, Acetate Esters, Acetic Anhydride, PTA and Other Application: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 - 2021. According to the report, the global acetic acid market accounted for USD 8.37 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 13.65by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 8.5% between 2016 and 2021.The market growth of global acetic acid market has been accelerated by rising demand for vinegar owing to numerous health benefits associated with it. Increasing consumption of PTA in textile industry for polyester manufacturing coupled with increasing demand of VAM which is used as a precursor is expected to propel the growth of acetic acid market in coming years.Furthermore, growing textile & packaging industry is expected to fuel the growth of acetic acid market. In addition, being a chemical reagent and industrial chemical, it is used in production of cellulose acetate for photographic film, while polyvinyl acetate for synthetic fibers and fabrics. However, volatile prices of methanol and mature market of acetic anhydride may restrict the growth of market. Nonetheless, increasing demand for industrial application is likely to open growth opportunities for the market in the near future.Browse the full "Acetic Acid Market for VAM, Acetate Esters, Acetic Anhydride, PTA and Other Application: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2015 2021?" report atVinyl acetate monomer (VAM) segment dominated the acetic acid market with over 30% share of total volume consumption in 2015.Extensive use of VAM in adhesive and sealant industry are the major factors are expected to fuel the growth in forecast period. Acetate Esters is expected to be the strongest growth segment of the market due to growing demand from coating industry. Increasing demand of PET bottles on account of their light weight and recyclability is expected to propel growth of PTA segment.In terms of geography, Asia Pacific is the largest market in terms of consumption and production. China holds more than 40% of production share in 2015. Rising manufacturing industries in Asia Pacific is expected to prompt the growth of acetic acid market in coming years. The North America is projected to grow with CAGR of 3.6%.Free Request Sample @Some of the key players include in acetic acid market such as Eastman Chemical Company, Jiangsu Sopo Co. Ltd, Kingboard Chemical Holdings Ltd, LyondellBasell Industries N.V., BP Plc, SABIC, Sasol, Petro China, Daicel Corporation, Celanese Corporation and among others.This report segments the global acetic acid market as follows:Global Acetic Acid Market: Application Segment Analysis VAM Acetate Esters Acetic anhydride PTA OtherGlobal Acetic Acid Market: Regional Segment Analysis North Americao U.S. Europeo Germanyo UKo France Asia Pacifico Chinao Japano India Latin Americao Brazil Middle East and AfricaAbout UsZion Market Research is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Zion Market Research experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants uses proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact US:4283, Express Lane, Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803 GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: RightPatient Donates Patient Identification Software to Pediatric Cancer Centers "Atlanta, GA (July 26, 2016) RightPatient today launched an initiative to donate their cloud-based biometric patient identification software to Pediatric Cancer Centers across the country. The program is intended to strengthen patient safety by ensuring that patients are accurately identified prior to radiation or chemotherapy treatment.Time pressures, distractions, and complacency can cause patient identification errors before administering cancer treatments, an extremely dangerous scenario where outcomes could be lethal. Committed to supporting the safest possible environment for pediatric cancer patients, RightPatient recognized the chance to proactively prevent identification errors that could jeopardize child safety.RightPatient is a versatile, cloud-based biometric platform that can recognize patients from any encounter end point. When used with Photo Biometrics, patients are accurately identified following a simple, intuitive, and hygienic photo capture process. The solution can be used on patients as young as 12 months of age and significantly reduces the risk of medical errors associated with incorrect patient identification.Patient misidentification and record matching errors continue to be a pressing problem in the healthcare industry, said Michael Trader, Co-Founder and President of RightPatient. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to solving the identity crisis in healthcare and our desire to keep the most vulnerable and at-risk patients safe from adverse events stemming from improper patient identification.Patient safety is a collective focus of the entire healthcare industry, especially within environments such as cancer treatment which can be extremely dangerous if a patient is misidentified prior to receiving care, commented Todd Pawlicki, Vice Chair of UC San Diegos Department of Radiation and Applied Sciences. The use of RightPatient with Photo Biometrics for accurate pediatric patient identification ensures that specialists administer the right treatment to the right child through an intuitive multi-factor authentication platform. This is a vital and altruistic initiative to advance pediatric cancer care treatment safety.For more information on RightPatient and the Pediatric Cancer Center patient identification initiative, please visit their Web site or send an email to: info@rightpatient.com.RightPatient is the industrys most flexible and scalable patient recognition platform. The cloud-based solution is utilized by hospitals and health systems that collectively see over 38 million patients annually and represent more than 900 healthcare locations. These forward-thinking providers process thousands of daily transactions through RightPatient to prevent duplicate medical records, deter fraud, and increase patient safety. Interfaces already exist for various EHR systems, including Epic, Cerner, McKesson, Siemens, Meditech, CPSI and more. Backed by 14 years of experience in biometrics, cloud-computing, integration, and large-scale projects, we are dedicated to innovation and helping to achieve the Triple Aim by accurately recognizing patients from every encounter end point.RightPatient1050 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 850, Atlanta GA 30338John TraderVP of Communicationsjtrader@rightpatient.com410-491-5354" Discover brand consistency and instant personalisation with Roland DG at In-Store Asia 2016 www.rolanddg.com www.rolanddg.co.in www.apsom.com New Delhi, India, July Roland DG and India Master Distributor Apsom Infotex will be attending In-Store Asia at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, 4-6 August 2016; with two profit-driving retail solutions to bring to attendees. The Roland DG stand, DTP-11, is sure to be a popular attraction for retail businesses looking to differentiate their output and add value to their brand.As a worldwide industry leader, Roland DG is well known by sign makers, printers and design agencies as the number one producer of wide format print and print/cut technology in India. increased emphasis on in-store branding to meet the high-quality standards of retail consumers, professional production of vibrant decals, colour-matched wallpapers and eye catching POS has never been more important to differentiate brand quality and standard to potential customers, on anything from vinyl to 3D objects.With such a prestigious reputation for high quality production, the Roland DGs stand will show exactly why their next level technology is ideal for businesses looking to wow their customers with attractive advertising and dressing on a wide variety of media.Alongside Roland DGs print production methods, the In-Store Asia booth will also focus on the latest company offering; a fully tailored and comprehensive retail personalisation solution. With a focus on high quality customisation on a variety of retail-favourites from t-shirts to phone cases; instant personalisation is the ideal solution to drive footfall, generate word-of-mouth advertising and, most importantly, drive profits for physical stores.With a selection of three easy-to-use and reliable machines offering unique personalisation options, visitors to the stand (DPT-11) will be able to discover the various outputs produced with this new technology solution. Making instant personalised products, theres very little reason to not consider adding the personal touch to any giftware or accessory business.Roland DGs master distributor, Apsom Infotex Ltd provides not only the expertise, installation and training to ensure that your business gets the support it needs, and with over 1,000 installations countrywide, its easy to see why together Roland DG technology and Apsom Infotex Ltd can offer businesses optimal combination of products and services.To find out more about Roland DGs technology join us on Stand DTP-11 at In-Store Asia, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, 4-6 August 2016.About Roland DG CorporationRoland DG Corporation is a leading manufacturer of products designed to help professionals and hobbyists transform their imagination into reality, including SOLJET, TrueVIS, VersaCAMM, VersaUV and Texart series large-format inkjet devices, MDX milling and EGX engraving machines, CAMM-1 and STIKA vinyl cutters and MPX photo impact printers. In 2010, the company entered the healthcare market with Easy Shape DWX milling machines designed specifically for creating high-quality dental prosthetics. Roland DG also recently introduced the monoFab series of desktop 3D printers and milling machines for rapid prototyping and manufacturing. The company uses its proprietary cell production technology to manufacture products that are distributed worldwide.For more information, please visitAbout Apsom Infotex LimitedApsom Infotex Ltd is the master distributor to leading global brands, for Technology Products in the Large Format Digital Inkjet print markets. The main principals for Apsom are Roland DG and Colorjet India Limited. Apsom Infotex Ltd has a national distribution infrastructure, with offices across major cities in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.For more information please visitor email sales@apsom.comA 41, Arihant Apts.GH-4, Sector-56Gurgaon-122002 QYResearch-Japan Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016 http://www.qyresearchjapan.com/goods.php?id=116038 http://www.qyresearchjapan.com http://www.qyresearchjapan.com Report SummaryThe Japan Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Offshore Wind Power industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Offshore Wind Power market analysis is provided for the Japan markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.The report focuses on Japan major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Offshore Wind Power industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.The full contentes@Key Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry OverviewChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Offshore Wind PowerChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants AnalysisChapter Four Sales Analysis of Offshore Wind Power by Regions, Product Type, and ApplicationsChapter Five Sales Revenue Analysis of Offshore Wind Power by Regions,Product Type, and ApplicationsChapter Six Analysis of Offshore Wind Power Production, Supply, Sales and Demand Market Status 2010-2016Chapter Seven Analysis of Offshore Wind Power Industry Key ManufacturersChapter Eight Price and Gross Margin AnalysisChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Offshore Wind PowerChapter Ten Analysis of Offshore Wind Power Production, Supply, Sales and Demand Development Forecast 2016-2020Chapter Eleven Industry Chain Suppliers of Offshore Wind Power with Contact InformationChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Offshore Wind PowerChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Japan Offshore Wind Power Industry Report 2016The players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added)SiemensMHI Vestas Offshore WindSenvion GmbHAREVA GroupBARD GroupGamesa Corporacion TecnologicaHitachiSinovelShanghai ElectricEnvisionRelated Reports:Global Industry Market Research Report 2016China Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016Europe Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016United States Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016India Offshore Wind Power Industry Market Research Report 2016Note:We also offerGermany/Korea/Australia/Brazil/Russia/India/Indonesia/ Malaysia/Saudi Arabia/Middle East/Europe/Asia/Asia-Pacific/Southeast Asia/North America/ Latin America/South America/AMER/EMEA/Africa etc Countries/Regions and Sales/Industry Versions RespectivelyWoul like to place an order or have any question, please feel free to contact me~O(_)O~Contact : LemonEmail: lemon@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: 0081-345-704-342 or +86-20-8665 5165Web:About QYResearch LtdQYResearch Focus on Market Survey and ResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. the company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience). Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Contact : LemonApt 1408 1785 Riverside Drive Ottawa, ON, K1G 3T7 CanadaEmail: lemon@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: 0081-345-704-342 or +86-20-8665 5165Web: Hyundai, Volvo, Komatsu and Caterpillar are the leading Companies in Philippines Excavator Market https://www.kenresearch.com/manufacturing-and-construction/machinery-and-parts/philippines-excavator-market-report/42050-97.html The industry is considered as a major force driving the sale and rental activities in the Philippines excavator market. In the year 2015, Philippines managed to attract FDI worth USD 102.6 million in construction sector which is nearly 16 times increase compared to previous year. Growth in FDI is majorly boosted by passing PPP act attracting private investment in infrastructure and social sector.With estimated 58.2% contribution to GDP coming from services sector, sale of real estate office space and infrastructure development is also expected to increase the demand for sale and rental of construction machinery including excavators, hence generating revenue for the market.Backhoe technology is used in excavators specifically designed for digging and loading. In addition to this, the technology helps in maintaining the smaller size of machine, which helps in easy functioning. It gives better view of job executed by operator. These facts leads to construction workers buy the machine and generating revenue for market.The excavators equipped with this technology in the Philippines excavator market are minimum in number as these excavators are used only for long distances either high up in the air for demolition and for pulling down the structures.Absence of high rise buildings in the Philippines which needs to be demolished is the major factor which constrains the sale of long reach/long arm excavators.Rental may only be used for ultra large machines like dragline excavators and power shovels as their use is restricted due to specific expertise and maintenance requirement.Power shovel is sometimes preferred by people owing to its availability with back hoe and front shovel configuration. The equipments above 600 HP are considered as power shovel. Moreover, the features such as revolving device, crane with lifting arm and bucket, counterweight and controls further attracts the consumer towards these power shovel.Development of new technologies, improved fuel economy and price competition will lower rental rates attracting more business as they will provide service through highly skilled personnel, low maintenance cost and much easier to operate and service.Most major railway projects and expressway projects are concentrated in Manila region is another factor which has assisted growth in market share in excavator market saleHyundai heavy equipment is present in the Philippines in association with Good Morning International Corporation. The company dominated the Philippines excavators marketPhilippines BPO industry is expected to grow at a rate between 15.0%-20.0% from 2016 to 2018. This will boost demand for houses, office space, and other infrastructure and consumption of goods ultimately leading to use of rental excavators as majority of players in these projects are SMEs.Over the years, economy of Philippines is growing supported by positive growth in construction, which has also pushed the rental of excavators in the Philippines market. Excavators are number one construction equipment and will continue its prominence as they develop into multifunctional applications enhancing connectivity, monitoring and emission reduction.For more information on the market research report please refer to the below mentioned link:Contact:Ken ResearchAnkur Gupta, Head Marketing & CommunicationsAnkur@kenresearch.com+91-9015378249Ken Research is a Global aggregator and publisher of Market intelligence research reports, equity reports, data base directories and economy reports. The company is engaged in data analytics and aids clients in due-diligence, product expansion, plant setup, acquisition intelligence to all the other gamut of objectives through our research focus.27A, Tower B-2, Spaze I Tech Business Park, Sohna Road, sector 49 Gurgaon, Haryana - 122001, India Adherence to regulatory compliance https://lexcomply.com There was a time when corporates used to consider compliance of laws as a burden, gone are the days, now corporates consider it as its responsibility. In the past, there was not proper guidance system, due to which corporates couldnt comply with regulatory requirements. But now picture has been changed and with the passes of time, guidance system has been developed. Now corporates are complying all the legislations applicable on it with the help of professionals and with the help of compliance tool/software available in the market.Besides earning profit, the objective of organisations should be to take care of the interest of the stakeholders and to ensure the protection of interest of stakeholders, various laws are being implemented by Government. Complying with regulatory requirements should not be considered as burden rather it is a responsibility of corporates towards community and the society.J R D Tata the Chairman of the Tata Group believed that, to create good working conditions, to pay the best wages to its employees and provide decent housing to its employees are not enough for the industry, the aim of an industry should be to discharge its overall social responsibilities to the community and the society at large, where industry is located.Laws are there to help the organisations to keep transparency and to get the contribution done towards the development of our nation. In this direction, Government of India is trying to make the Indian legal system more flexible and simple. The Central Government's resolve to bring reform in the legal system of the country, to make it more accessible to the common man and to imbibe the principles of rule of law, has inter-alia, and began with the review of enactments which are obsolete, redundant and unnecessary. In fulfillment of this objective, the Central Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of laws and the legal system with a view to remove incoherent and redundant laws. A two-member Committee was constituted for review of obsolete laws for repeal. As per the committee India has total 2781 Central Acts lying on the Statute-Book as on 15th October, 2014 before two amendments came last year. Out of these 2781 Acts, Government of India has decided to repeal 1741 Acts. The Acts identified for repeal by the said Committee are categorized as-(i) 777 Central Acts identified for repeal wholly or in part;(ii) 83 Central Acts relating to State subjects to be repealed by State Legislatures;(iii) 624 Central Appropriation Acts enacted up to the year 2010; and(iv) 257 Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament for the States under President's Rule to be repealed by such states.And out of 1741 Acts 125 Acts have been repealed, 35 Acts by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 and 90 Acts by the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015 and 758 Acts are still in pipe line to be passed, for which a bill Repealing and Amending (Third) Act, 2015 was presented in Lok Sabha on 13th May last year.If we talk about manufacturing company, normally more than fifty enactments apply on it and on the other hand, in case of non-manufacturing company it attracts generally more than forty enactments. Corporates are to take care of regular compliance of these enactments. History is witness to the fact that all the organizations which have been adhering to compliance are enjoying the top position in corporate world.LexComply is a one-stop compliance management solution for practicing professionals and organization. It generates and send alerts for due date based, Ongoing and Event based compliances to the concerned official proactively. It serves as centralized repository of acts, rules, forms and other allied documents to make compliance efficient. It automates reminders, status reports, updates, task and compliance proof management. It also enables professionals to conduct Audit, Research,Due Diligence, Compliance Training and give opinion.Anuj Malik2/11B, Jangpura ANew Delhi011-26475456info@lexcomply.com Organic Cocoa Market Dynamics, Forecast, Analysis and Supply Demand 2015-2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1058 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1058 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/organic-cocoa-market www.futuremarketinsights.com The certified organic cocoa market represents a very small share of the total cocoa market, estimated around 0.5% of total production. However, the demand for organic cocoa products are growing at a very strong pace, the supply side faces a strong challenge to meet the demand of organic cocoa. Since, farmers are paying ample amount for producing organic cocoa, production of organic cocoa is more in least developed countries. Organic cocoa has many nutritional benefits such as more fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese and many other minerals. Moreover it also contains antioxidants, which helps to protect skin. Organic cocoa also helps to improve blood flow and lower blood pressure. Demand for organic cocoa products are very high in U.S, U.K and Germany, hence organic cocoa are supplied to developed economies of North America and Western Europe to manufacture organic cocoa products. Currently, Dominican Republic is dominating the organic cocoa market in terms of production that holds around 70 percent of the total market share; Peru, Ecuador and Mexico together hold around 20 percent of the market share in terms of production; rest around 10 percent is held by Bolivia, Ghana, Brazil and others.Organic Cocoa Market Segmentation:On the basis of product type the organic cocoa market is segmented into cocoa powder, cocoa paste, cocoa butter, cocoa beans and others (products containing cocoa). Products containing cocoa holds the highest market share in terms of value followed by cocoa beans and cocoa butter.Request Free Report Sample@On the basis of application organic cocoa market is segmented into confectionaries, bakery, functional food, health drinks, home cooking use and others (pharmaceuticals, ointments, and toiletries). Organic cocoa is majorly used in food industry as a main ingredient of chocolate.Geographically, Organic cocoa market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Latin America is dominating worldwide followed by Middle East and Africa (MEA) in terms of organic cocoa production. Majority of organic cocoa is exported to Western Europe followed by North America. U.K and U.S are the largest manufacturing countries of organic cocoa products in the world, since organic chocolate is more popular in U.K, U.S and Germany and consumers from those countries owe a significant inclination towards organic chocolates irrespective of high pricing of organic products.Visit For TOC@Organic Cocoa Market Dynamics:Chocolate is the main application of organic cocoa which is the main growth driver of organic cocoa market. Also, the organic cocoa market is expected to be largely driven by the health consciousness among consumers. However, lack of proper supply of organic cocoa restrains the global organic cocoa market which also leads to increase in price of organic cocoa. There is a huge opportunity in the North America and Western Europe and Japan. Asia Pacific excluding Japan is an untapped market which is also a potential market for organic cocoa. This is attributed to increasing inclination of consumers towards organic products, rapid urbanisation, strengthening supply chain for organic cocoa and rising health consciousness among consumers.Organic Cocoa Market Key Player:Some of the leading players are Kraft Foods Inc., Cargill Incorporated, Tradin Organic Agriculture B.V., Ciranda, Blommer Chocolate Company, Artisan Confections Company, PASCHA Company, InterNatural Foods LLC and Wilmor Publishing Corp.Full Report Analysis@Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said there is no doubt the U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen was at the center of July 15 coup attempt, Anadolu reported. In remarks made to the media at his official residence in Ankara late Sunday, Yildirim said military schools had been the source for Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). "They have taken the control of the [military] schools, and they have fortified their power from these schools," he said. "The ones who tried to refute it are in a vain effort. Fetullah Gulen is at the center of the coup," he added. Under a statutory decree, seen as part of the Turkey's current three-month state of emergency, military personnel found to be national security threats as well as members of FETO, or linked to FETO, have been stripped off their military ranks and expelled from the army. The decree also closes all of Turkeys war academies, military high schools, and high schools that train non-commissioned officers, to be replaced by a new university called the National Defense University underneath the Defense Ministry. The university will offer new institutions to train staff officers and give postgraduate education, including war academies and vocational schools that train non-commissioned officers. In addition, the decree assigns Ankara's Gulhane Military Medical Academy and military hospitals across Turkey under the Health Ministry. About his phone call with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on the extradition of Gulen last week, Yildirim said: "What I said to Joe Biden was: 'Let the evidences speak for itself after July 15.' What evidence? He tried to stage a coup, killed people, and yet you still ask for 'evidence'." He said he would receive the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, at the Cankaya Palace Monday. "U.S.A. is our strategic partner, so we just rely on their official declarations." Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, just days after a group of rogue military officers were defeated in their July 15 coup attempt. During a state of emergency, the Cabinet has the right to issue statutory decrees under the president of the republic without regard to routine procedures and restrictions in Article 91 of the Constitution. These decrees were first published in the official gazette and then submitted to parliament for ratification. More than 230 people were killed and nearly 2,200 injured in the coup attempt, which Turkish officials have repeatedly said was carried out by FETO, led by Gulen. Research Offers 10-Year Forecast on Tricalcium Citrate Market http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1115 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1115 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/tricalcium-citrate-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Tricalcium citrate is the most commonly used calcium salt of citric acid also referred to as tricalcium dicitrate tetrahydrate. Tricalcium citrate also denoted as calcium citrate is produced by neutralizing citric acid with a high quality calcium source such as calcium carbonate or calcium hydroxide. Tricalcium citrate is the most economic calcium salt, containing 21% of calcium. Tricalcium citrate is a white, odourless, crystalline powder or fine powder. Tricalcium citrate is freely soluble in diluted hydrochloric acid and slightly soluble in water. Tricalcium citrate is a better soluble at low temperatures as compared to other salts. Tricalcium citrate is insoluble in alcohol.As tricalcium citrate has inverse solubility, it is less soluble under heat treatment as compared to other calcium salts. Due to its better bioavailability, tricalcium citrate is preferred over inorganic calcium sources such as calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate. Various regulation or requirements that tricalcium citrate have to meet are US Pharmacopeia (USP), the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), and the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 231/2012.Tricalcium Citrate Market: Drivers & RestraintsIncreasing awareness for health, nutrition and food safety are the major drivers for tricalcium citrate market. Food safety measures in developing and developed regions and emphasis on processed food are also driving the demand for tricalcium citrate market. Growth of end user industries particularly food & beverage and healthcare are also proving to be the growth drivers of tricalcium citrate market in both developed and developing regions. Availability in different micronized granulations, better compressibility, and low reactivity compared to other calcium salts are some of the properties which makes tricalcium citrate more favourable as compared to other calcium salts.Request Free Report Sample@Tricalcium Citrate Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global Tricalcium Citrate market is segmented intoGranularMicro ionized PowderPowderOn the basis of end user application, the global Tricalcium Citrate market is segmented intoFood & BeveragePersonal CareCleaners & DetergentsHealthcareIndustrial ApplicationAgrochemicalsFertilizersPlasticsPolymersFeed & Pet FoodVisit For TOC@Tricalcium Citrate Market: Region-wise OutlookCurrent, North America serves as a largest market for tricalcium citrate due to flourishing end user industries such as healthcare, chemicals and consumer goods. Europe is estimated to be in second position. Europe accounting for a larger share in the market is due to growth in personal care and healthcare industry. Various efforts made by different regulatory authorities to promote processed food products have led to increase in the demand of tricalcium citrate in developed regions. Middle East & Africa tricalcium citrate market are also expected to grow during the forecast period. However, emerging countries such as India, China, UAE and Brazil are expected to have a significant market share in the near future. Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) is estimated to be the fastest growing market in terms of market share by value, particularly in fertilizers, personal care and healthcare end user applications.Tricalcium Citrate Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in the global Tricalcium Citrate market are City Chemical LLC, Parchem fine & speciality chemicals, Asiamerica Ingredients, Inc., Jost Chemical Co., Alfa Aesar, Dastech International Inc., Generichem, Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG, A.B. EnterprisesFull Report Analysis@Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Market will reach USD 11.0 Billion by 2020 http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/supervisory-control-and-data-acquisition-scada-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/supervisory-control-and-data-acquisition-scada-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/supervisory-control-and-data-acquisition-scada-market Zion Research has published a new report titled Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Market by Architecture (Hardware, Software and Services), by Components (Programmable Logic Controller, Remote Terminal Units and SCADA Communication System) for Oil and Gas, Electrical Power, Water & Wastewater Application, Transportation and Manufacturing Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 - 2021. According to the report, global demand for supervisory control and data acquisition was valued at USD 7.5 billion in 2014 is expected to reach USD 11.0 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.40% between 2015 and 2020.Supervisory control and data acquisition is defined as a system which assists to gather and analyze real time data of an application. This interface offers the telemetry units and reduces the cost of product. It decreases the faults in machineries and amount of defects in output. The far-reaching impact of technology, and the fact that SCADA systems can empower companies to quickly change their business processes to respond to real-time knowledge flow.Request Sample Report atHardware, software and services are three major architectural segments of the global supervisory control and data acquisition market. Among these three, hardware segment has dominance over the market for 2015. It generates around 50% shares of the total revenue of global supervisory control and data acquisition market. It is also further expected to continue its dominance in the market for the coming five years. In addition, service segment is also projected to witness lucrative growth owing to growing adoption of supervisory control and data acquisition solution in large enterprises for handling real time data.Programmable logic controller was the foremost component for global supervisory control and data acquisition market. It accounted around 53% share of the entire revenue generated in 2015 and also expected to grow at CAGR 7.7% in near future. Programmable logic controller was followed by SCADA communication system in the same year. In addition, SCADA communication system and remote terminal units are expected to grow at moderate pace growth over the future years due to rapidly increasing telecommunication industry across the globe.Browse the full "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Market by Architecture (Hardware, Software and Services), by Components (Programmable Logic Controller, Remote Terminal Units and SCADA Communication System) for Oil and Gas, Electrical Power, Water & Wastewater Application, Transportation and Manufacturing Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive and Forecast, 2015 2021" report atBased on application, electric power dominated the global supervisory control and data acquisition market. It accounted for 35% shares of the total market in 2015. Supervisory control and data acquisition helps in reducing the cost of electric power distribution and transmission. Thus, electric power segment is expected to exhibit significant growth in the years to come. Furthermore, water and wastewater management is another important segment of supervisory control and data acquisition market and is expected to show strong growth in the near future. Other applications like oil & gas and transportation are also expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period.North America was the leading regional market for supervisory control and data acquisition in 2015. It accounted for over 30% share of total revenue generated in 2015. This growth is mainly due to the adoption of advanced technology along with investment for SCADA technology. In addition, U.S. was the major contributor of supervisory control and data acquisition in 2015. Furthermore, Europe was the second largest regional market and is expected to witness significant growth in the years to come. This growth is attributed to the huge investment in oil and gas sector and water & wastewater sector in the region. Asia Pacific is a fastest growing market for SCADA market. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are also expected to exhibit significant growth within the forecast period.Purchase "Global Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Market" Report directly atSome of the key players in the global supervisory control and data acquisition market include Honeywell International, Inc., Siemens AG, Emerson Electric Co., Alstom SA,ABB Ltd., Rockwell Automation, Omron Corp., Schneider Electric and amongst others.This report segments the global supervisory control and data acquisition market as follows:Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Market: Architecture AnalysisHardwareSoftwareServicesSupervisory Control and Data Acquisition Market: Components AnalysisProgrammable Logic Controller (PLC)Remote Terminal Units (RTUs)SCADA Communication SystemSupervisory Control and Data Acquisition Market: Application AnalysisOil & GasElectrical PowerWater & Wastewater ApplicationTransportationManufacturingAbout Zion Market Research:Zion Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Zion Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading industry and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact Us:4283, Express Lane, Suite 634-143, Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803 GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651sales@zionmarketresearch.com Brenda Mallory has gotten some of her best ideas at the dump. The contemporary artist is known for her deconstruction, examination and reconstruction of materials - she's even torn apart her own work to create new art. Last year, she spent five months as a GLEAN Artist-in-Residence, rummaging through a waste transfer station for inspiration. The resulting pieces bear little resemblance to their sources. Mallory, 60, of Northeast Portland has created in numerous mediums: ceramics, sculpture, encaustic, fiber, found items and printmaking. Her work has appeared in venues ranging from Portland galleries to Portland International Airport to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indiana. Earlier this year, Portland Community College gave her its prestigious Diamond Alumni Award. And last month, she was the only Oregonian to receive one of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation's 16 National Artist Fellowships for 2016, out of about 250 applicants. The unrestricted fellowships, from $10,000 to $20,000, were awarded by a panel seeking "innovative types of works," said Francene Blythe, director of programs for the Vancouver-based foundation. "Taking on different things in new ways, that's where Brenda Mallory really shines." Jeffrey Butters, creative director at Butters Gallery, which represents Mallory, said, "She's a genius when it comes to taking materials and transforming them into something that is unique and mysterious and represents the natural world in a really authentic way." Mallory discussed her work last week; here are four key takeaways. How she became an artist: "Always in my heart I was an artist because I was a maker. When I was in my 40s I went back to art school at (the Pacific Northwest College of Art). ... I got more interested in fine art, more conceptual art, than just functional art, which is what I'd been making up to that point. ... I felt rather foundation-less in my own practice and I wanted a good intellectual foundation to go forward, and that's when I decided to go to art school." What her artistic themes are: "The big themes that I have addressed in various ways throughout my art career are disruption of systems, broken things, tossed-away things. ... What I like to do is emphasize the brokenness and the repair, or the disruption but the continuing viability of a system even though it may have changed." "Some of my best pieces I've felt have been most successful if somebody will come up and say, 'Uh, that's really kind of creepy.' ... You can't say about my work, 'creepy,' without also acknowledging the beauty of it, and I think that dichotomy of concepts right there is what art is about. The best art is not just one thing. If some of the work I've made is 'creepy,' it's because I want you to think about what's creeping you out here." "Some of the work I make, I make very purposely with tenuous connections. It feels like it might fall apart, and sometimes it actually might. Because I think things are tenuously connected." How her Cherokee heritage informs her art: "It's about this idea of disruption. All the tribes in this entire country have gone through pretty awful histories. ... That idea of things gone wrong, or something disrupting a system that's been in effect for thousands and thousands of years - suddenly trying new things on it and doing new things to it - I'm just interested in that disruption and sometimes destruction." "You hope it rises again in a different form, which so many of the nations and tribes have. They don't look like what they looked like 200 years ago, but they're viable, functioning groups." Why we should care about contemporary art: "It is of our time - it is addressing the issues in our world right now. If you only go to the museum and look at ancient art, you're stuck in a dark tunnel that provides not a lot to you right now. This is the world we live in: Let's look at what the artists, who are often thinkers, are making work about because those are the topics of our time." "I love artists who are making art about political issues because it gives people a way, an avenue into really hard topics that makes them think maybe a little deeper than just a bunch of facts hitting them over the head." "People need to challenge themselves. It's not about just looking at pretty pictures all the time. Sometimes you have to look at the the things that are not so pretty, because they're there." *** Who: Brenda Mallory is among the artists featured in the Butters Gallery's Anniversary Group Show. When: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday or by appointment through Aug. 27, 157 N.E. Grand Ave., Portland Admission: Free; buttersgallery.com or 503-248-9378 South Waterfront proposal A planning document shows the location of a California developer's proposal to bring as many as 1,200 more apartments to the South Waterfront neighborhood. (City of Portland) Four seven-story buildings proposed for Portland's South Waterfront area could bring as many as 1,200 new apartment units and 14,000 square feet of retail space, city records show. California-based Prometheus Real Estate Group wants each of the four buildings to have between 200 and 300 market-rate apartments, between 150 and 250 parking spaces and about 3,500 square feet of retail space. The developer is working with Portland-based GBD Architects to design the project and has a preliminary meeting Aug. 18 with city planners to discuss the proposal. On its website, Prometheus describes itself as "the largest private owner of multi-family properties in the San Francisco Bay Area." It already operates four apartment buildings in Portland and two in Beaverton. The site, owned by Prometheus, lies south of the existing condo towers, between the Willamette River, Southwest Bond Avenue, Southwest Lowell Street and Southwest Lane Street. A Portland Streetcar line travels northbound along that stretch of Bond. GBD and Prometheus did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. The project would add to an already-booming development scene in the South Waterfront. The Zidell family reached an agreement with the city last year that would add 20 to 25 new buildings to 33 acres straddling the Ross Island Bridge. And Oregon Health & Science University is planning nearly 1.1 million square feet of new development in the area, including a 332,000-square-foot research center. -- Luke Hammill lhammill@oregonian.com 503-294-4029 @lucashammill Oregon Bridges : Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge A two-and-a-half-hour standoff that shut down I-205 on Saturday had an anticlimactic ending when SWAT members entered a stolen motor home only to find it empty. (Bruce Ely | The Oregonian file photo) (Bruce Ely | Oregonian file photo) The two-and-a-half-hour standoff that shut down Interstate 205 on Saturday had an anticlimactic ending when SWAT members entered a stolen motor home only to find it empty. Police stopped a motor home near Vancouver at about 3 p.m. and discovered the vehicle had been stolen, Washington State Patrol spokesman Will Finn said. The driver fled, but officers thought they saw someone moving inside the motor home. They called for anyone to come out, but no one did. Officers and Vancouver SWAT members closed both northbound and southbound lanes of the highway while they continued to call for anyone inside the vehicle to come out. Finally, at about 5:30 p.m., SWAT members entered the motor home, only to find it empty. Even if it was a false alarm, Finn said the standoff was a success because no one was injured. "I know a lot of folks were hampered. We know this was an inconvenience for them and we appreciate their patience," he said. "Sometimes those decisions have to be made for the safety of the public and of officers." -- Samantha Matsumoto smatsumoto@oregonian.com, @SMatsumoto55 503-294-4001 fatal crash ridgefield.jpeg Washington State Patrol and TV crews converged on a black car involved in a fatal crash Aug. 1, 2016 on a southbound lane of Interstate 5 south of Ridgefield in Clark County. (Washington State Patrol) Update 7:28 a.m. Police identified the driver of the 1996 Saturn Ion as Luke Gill, 20, of Vancouver. A bicyclist died on a southbound lane of Interstate 5 Monday morning south of Ridgefield after a car crashed into him. The crash happened just before 3 a.m., and the male bicyclist, in his late teens or 20s, was in the inner left lane of the three-lane interstate, said Washington State Trooper Will Finn. The crash happened south of State Route 502, he said. The driver of the car, a 20-year-old man from Vancouver, cooperated with police after briefly leaving the scene to look for help, Finn said. There are no signs of impaired driving, he said. The location is a rural portion of the interstate with no lighting. Bicyclists are allowed only on the right shoulder of that stretch of I-5, Finn said. -- Tony Hernandez thernandez@oregonian.com 503-294-5928 @tonyhreports Risotto and lima beans Risotto and lima beans is a summer side that goes with everything. (Alicia Ross for Kitchen Scoop) You can't rush risotto. It's just not one of those dishes that can be sped up. Twenty-five years ago, with two toddlers and a full-time writing career, I never thought I would gladly stand at the stovetop and slowly stir risotto until it was light and creamy -- a task that takes about 30 minutes. Recipe included with this story: Risotto and Lima Beans But now, I think of my stirring as therapeutic, quiet time -- sometimes it's accompanied with peaceful background music and other times it's just the sound of the broth hitting the hot skillet and the light hum of the spoon circling the pan. There is no "get it on the table fast" pressure. There's just my wooden spoon, my risotto and me in culinary heaven. A couple months ago I featured a salmon patty recipe in this column. Shown in the recipe's photograph was a risotto and lima bean base. That photo prompted this request from reader Connie Bennett in Akron, Ohio: "I really would like to experience the salmon patty with the risotto and lima beans as shown in the article; would you share that recipe also?" If you missed the Perfect Salmon Patty recipe, you can find it on kitchenscoop.com. For Connie and any other readers who were wondering, here is the Risotto and Lima Beans recipe. I hope you enjoy! -- Alicia Ross, Kitchen Scoop 1clinton.JPG Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Thursday, July 28, 2016. (The Associated Press) By E. J. Dionne, Jr. PHILADELPHIA -- Charging that Donald Trump "wants us to fear the future and fear each other," Hillary Clinton took him on with the most powerful line in her party's tradition. "Well, a great Democratic president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, came up with the perfect rebuke to Trump more than 80 years ago, during a much more perilous time: 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'" Clad in white, the color of the women's suffrage movement, she noted her special role: that this convention marked "the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president." It was, she said, happy news "for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between." But she spoke first of her hopes for the country and how her vision and approach to governing contrasted so sharply with her opponent's divisive, angry and self-centered campaign. "Don't believe anyone who says: 'I alone can fix it.' Those were actually Donald Trump's words in Cleveland. And they should set off alarm bells for all of us." She made clear that she had no intention of ceding economically discontented voters to Trump. "Democrats," she declared, "are the party of working people." "My primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages, right here in the United States," she said. "From my first day in office to my last. Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind." This was a convention in which the word "we" was invoked by speaker after speaker, from President Obama to the Rev. William Barber, as a talisman and a commitment. Clinton embraced the communitarian theme, signaling that her "Stronger Together" slogan would remain at the heart of her campaign. "Every generation of Americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer and stronger," she declared. "None of us can do it alone. That's why we are stronger together." And she underscored the other side of that catchphrase by warning that Trump would divide the nation. "Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart," she said. "Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our Founders, there are no guarantees. [It] truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we're going to work together so we can all rise together." As she often has in the past, Clinton cited as her guiding principle a favorite teaching from her Methodist faith: "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can." She included a lengthy tribute to Bernie Sanders, whom she praised for having "put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong." And she pledged to live up to the hopes that inspired their engagement. "Your cause," she said, "is our cause." Her speech capped a star-studded, thematically coherent and methodically organized convention that contrasted sharply with a shambolic Trump gathering in Cleveland that most leading Republicans shunned. She faced the challenge of following a passionately persuasive address on her behalf by Obama, much as Obama had to follow a similarly successful speech by Bill Clinton four years ago. Her style was very different from Obama's. She spoke quietly, deliberately and often affectingly, particularly when discussing her mother, who was abandoned by her parents and "was saved by the kindness of others." It was a powerful speech in which she combined the personal with policy, a vigorous defense of the Obama record with an insistence that she would tackle the problems left unsolved and the injustices that still needed righting. Again and again, she came back to Trump's shortcomings and hypocrisies. Sounding a theme her campaign has signaled it will drive home, she highlighted Trump's failure to pay many who had worked for him -- "People who did the work and needed the money, and didn't get it -- not because he couldn't pay them, but because he wouldn't pay them." And she noted Trump's statement: "I know more about ISIS than the generals do ... ." She clearly enjoyed reciting the next line: "No, Donald, you don't." In the primaries, Trump's opponents were fearful of attacking him until it was too late. Clinton showed she would be a happy warrior with no compunction about taking him on. Democrats have often criticized themselves as putting too much faith in policy. She embraced her persona as someone who proudly sweats policy details. And she promised a campaign rooted in a moral challenge to her opponent: "Yes, the world is watching what we do." E.J. Dionne's email address is ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: EJDionne. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group 1hinckley.JPG In this Nov. 18, 2003 file photo, John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U.S. District Court in Washington. A judge says Hinckley, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan will be allowed to leave a Washington mental hospital and live full-time in Virginia. (The Associated Press) By Noah Feldman Two prominent legal decisions accidentally converged Wednesday, each likely to be deplored by a different political constituency. Baltimore prosecutors dropped all charges against three police officers who had been accused in the death of Freddie Gray, which will frustrate supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. And a federal judge is allowing John Hinckley Jr., who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan, to move into his mother's house in a "convalescent release" -- a decision already criticized by Donald Trump, among others. The two decisions have something important in common: They both came from conscientious public officials who were following the laws that govern their jobs. You may not like one or both of them. But if you value the ideal of a government of laws, not men, you should accept the decisions as understandable consequences of the law. Start with the police officers who were charged in the Freddie Gray case. The Baltimore state's attorney's office had previously tried to prosecute four officers; one of those prosecutions ended in a hung jury, and the three others led to acquittals by a state trial judge. Given those outcomes, the prosecutor decided to drop the parallel charges against the three remaining officers. It's not that the prosecutor thought the officers weren't guilty. The principle at play here is that confidence in a defendant's guilt isn't enough for prosecutors to bring charges. The prosecutor must also have reasonable confidence that a conviction is possible, according to the American Bar Association's ethical standards. After failure to convict the first three cops, there's no way the Baltimore prosecutor could say credibly that there was sufficient admissible evidence against the next three to support a conviction. The ethics here make a lot of sense. Bringing a prosecution is one of the most powerful exercises of state authority in the American system. Simply being charged and having to defend against that charge imposes enormous personal and financial costs on defendants. We don't want prosecutors to be able to bring charges that they know won't succeed just to send a message to the public or punish defendants whom the prosecutors believe to be guilty. It follows that you could believe the Baltimore police officers are guilty and still believe that the state's attorney had an ethical obligation to drop the charges. To accept that view, you have to be able to separate the specifics of the case -- the humans involved -- from the broader legal and ethical principles. That's what the law is all about. The Hinckley case is oddly similar. Remember that a federal jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity after his attempted assassination of Reagan in 1981. That was probably the correct result under federal law as it then existed. The jurors were told that essentially Hinckley should be found not guilty by reason of insanity if he was unable to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. In the aftermath of public outrage, the federal government and many states changed their insanity tests, reverting to an older standard that asked whether the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong. By that test, Hinckley would probably have been found guilty. But that test didn't apply to his trial. Having been found not guilty, Hinckley was nevertheless put in a federal mental institution. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman had to consider his request for convalescent leave against the backdrop of expert testimony and legal rules that govern the issue. The experts testified unanimously that Hinckley's depression and psychosis are in remission and have been for some time. Given this evidence, and the fact that Hinckley was never convicted of a crime, Friedman had little choice but to grant the convalescent release. The judge barred Hinckley from knowingly traveling to areas where the president or members of Congress live. And it barred him from any contact with the actor Jodie Foster, with whom Hinckley was obsessed at the time of his crime. Outrage about the decision has more to do with outrage about Hinckley's initial acquittal than anything else. In that sense, it may be justified. But the judge's job is to follow the legal rules, regardless of how unpopular the result will be. Hinckley was acquitted by reason of insanity and no longer poses a threat on that basis, so the law says he must be released. The law isn't perfect. For human judges and prosecutors to abstract from particular circumstances is an aspiration, not a scientific certainty. But if we believe in the law as a system, we should be prepared to accept its consequences, even when we don't like them. Noah Feldman, a Bloomberg View columnist, is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard. For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view. (c) 2016, Bloomberg View 1DNC.JPG The Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington. (The Associated Press) By David Ignatius ASPEN, Colo. -- For many decades, Russian intelligence agencies have used what they call "active measures" to destabilize their rivals. Now they seem to be turning those tools on the U.S. political system, though in the process they appear to have violated Rule No. 1 of the spy business: Don't get caught. U.S. officials say they have strong evidence that Russian intelligence agencies hacked the files of the Democratic National Committee over the last year. What's less certain is whether they deliberately leaked some of those files to WikiLeaks, with the aim of disrupting Hillary Clinton's election campaign -- though some experts think this "weaponization" of information was likely. "Anything's possible," President Obama told Savannah Guthrie of NBC "Today's" when asked Wednesday whether Russia might have deliberately tried to influence the U.S. election. "What we do know is that Russians hack our systems," he said, adding that "on a regular basis they try to influence elections in Europe." Russian President Vladimir Putin grew up in a KGB culture in which such use of active measures was a standard tool of the Cold War. He seems to have carried this tradecraft into the Kremlin -- employing hacking, black propaganda and other covert-action tools as part of what's politely described these days as "hybrid warfare." U.S. officials say that Russian intelligence in recent years has secretly funded right-wing political parties in Europe, sponsored covert propaganda channels, hacked the electrical grid of Ukraine and cyber-sabotaged other neighboring states, and created networks of "trolls" to attack enemies online. Why does Putin use these active measures to destabilize his rivals? Because they work. They're invisible, deniable and, for the most part, the targets don't fight back. But the DNC hack may have been a bridge too far. It triggered blunt responses this week from top national security officials who were gathered here for an annual conference known as the Aspen Security Forum. When the U.S. discovers evidence of foreign hacking, it should "be public about it," urged John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security. "Take it out of the intelligence channel ... that's the only way to change behavior," he argued. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said he wasn't yet ready to identify the perpetrator of the DNC hack, but he said that from an intelligence standpoint, the U.S. is already "at war" with Russia. "The Russians have for years had a doctrine of ... active measures," explained Elissa Slotkin, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. She said the Kremlin's tactics attempt "to sow dissent generally, either on a specific issue or just to cause political chaos ... in order to create an opening for themselves." What worries U.S. officials most is that given Russia's demonstrated willingness to use covert-action against its adversaries, the Russians might secretly intervene just before the November election. That might mean releasing embarrassing Hillary Clinton emails, as GOP nominee Donald Trump has urged Moscow to do. It might mean leaking phony news stories, or finding ways to upset financial markets. The American political system is an open and vulnerable target. Why would Russia target the DNC, in an operation that's eerily similar to the Nixon White House's 1972 burglary at the committee's headquarters at the Watergate? Partly, it was an information-gathering operation, like the reported Chinese intelligence hacks of the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008. But Moscow may have had a special animus toward Hillary Clinton. When she was secretary of state, she endorsed Russian dissenters in the 2011 and 2012 elections. A furious Putin charged back then that she "gave them a signal," and that the dissidents, "with the support of the U.S. State Department, began active work." In other words, Putin thinks Clinton shot first. The DNC noticed a problem in its computer system in April and hired a forensic firm called CrowdStrike to analyze the evidence. The firm concluded in May that two internet addresses linked to Russian intelligence had been inside the DNC systems. How did the DNC information get to Wikileaks? A supposed Romanian hacker who calls himself Guccifer 2.0 claimed credit. But some experts believe this is what's known in intelligence parlance as a "false flag" aimed at masking the Russian hand. And what about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump? Some have argued that he was the intended beneficiary of Moscow's DNC hack. But it seems more likely that Trump is what Russian intelligence officers sometimes describe as a "useful idiot" -- a person who unintentionally fosters Moscow's campaign of instability. David Ignatius' email address is davidignatius@washpost.com. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group Two more soldiers involved in an assassination attempt on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were captured early Monday in southwestern Turkey, an official told Anadolu Agency. An operation to capture 11 soldiers had been carried out in Sirinkoy Village in Ula district by gendarme forces, who clashed with rogue soldiers, an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency. There were no reports of casualties. Two of the captured soldiers were named as Mustafa Serdar Ozay and Muammer Gozubuyuk, according to an official. On Sunday night, Mugla Governor Amir Cicek told Anadolu Agency that Major Sukru Seymen, alleged commander of fugitive soldiers, was among nine suspects arrested. On July 25, three other fugitive soldiers were captured inside a culvert near the Marmaris-Mugla road. Over 20 suspected members of the military squad involved in the attack -- who are believed to have been ordered to capture or kill Erdogan -- were previously remanded in custody to face trial. On July 15, Erdogan told the nation on live television amid an ongoing coup attempt that he had narrowly escaped an attack on his life when the hotel in Marmaris where he was staying was bombed only 15 minutes after he left. Turkey survived a deadly coup attempt on July 15 by rogue elements within the military that killed more than 230 people and injured nearly 2,200 others. Citizens valiantly took to the streets on that night, upon a call by Erdogan, and became the biggest factor in ensuring the failure of the attempted overthrow of a democratically-elected government. Turkey's government has repeatedly said the coup attempt was organized by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and his Fetullah Terrorist Organization. Gulen is 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. windfarm.JPG Wind turbines in Blalock Canyon, near Arlington, a few miles off Interstate 84, in a file photo from 2011. (Jamie Francis/Staff) Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. -- John Adams, December 1770; in "Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials" By Daniel W. Nebert Concerned about "global warming" and "climate change," the European Union has been far ahead of the United States in solar- and wind-energy development. But -- economically -- how have they fared? The answer is: Not so well. In fact, not good at all. Denmark has been the EU leader in renewable energy. In 2012, the Danish Parliament agreed politically to 50 percent of energy consumption from wind power by 2020, 84 percent by 2035. The Danish government has now completely changed its mind. In recent months, it decided to abandon plans to build five offshore wind power farms -- to be functional by 2020. Denmark realized its green policies have become too expensive to maintain. Danish consumers and companies pay the highest electricity prices within the EU, according to Eurelectric, the European Electricity Association. In 2014, 66 percent of an average Danish electricity bill went to taxes and fees; 18 percent went to transportation, and only 15 percent for the electricity itself. (Germany was second highest, with 52 percent in electricity taxes.) The Danish climate minister recently stated: "We can't accept this, as the private sector and households are paying far too much. Denmark's renewable policy has turned out to be too expensive." It has become obvious that all the green energy plans mandated to reduce EU emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) will not achieve substantial reductions. In some cases, the actions are actually making matters worse. For example, in spite of the combined EU governments' spending over the past decade -- more than 1 trillion euros of taxpayer money on "Green Subsidies" -- CO2 emissions in the EU have actually risen. In 2015, CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion increased by 0.7 percent, compared with 2014. In Germany alone, CO2 emissions increased by an estimated 10 million tons from 2014 to 2015, a setback to that nation's claims of "climate leadership." According to the Institute of German Business, the cost of Germany's once highly publicized Energiewende (its transition to green energy) will increase -- in 2016 alone, another 31 billion euros (or $35 billion in U.S. dollars). This will further weigh down the already sputtering German economy. Last year, Germany actually paid wind farms $548 million to close down to prevent damage to the nation's electricity grid. Germany's wind and solar power systems, at unpredictable times, had provided too much power, which then damaged the grid and made the system more vulnerable to blackouts. RWE AG (founded in 1898 as Rhine-Westfalia Electricity plant, in Essen) is the second largest electricity producer in Germany. Over the past decade it has invested heavily in renewable energy. That company is now going bankrupt, showing 45 billion euros in long-term liabilities. This has resulted in rating agencies dropping RWE bonds to just above the "Junk" level. Part of the reason for "Brexit" in the U.K. has to do with citizens' concerns about fiscal responsibility. Indeed, in order to work on balancing the budget, the new Prime Minister Theresa May has disbanded the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Similar governmental actions have recently occurred in Australia. It has become obvious that green energy cannot be sustained without long-term government subsidies. Renewable energy costs in this sense can be thought of as a regressive tax, felt most by society's poorest. And the poorest countries. Agriculturists are aware that plants today are 25-percent "carbon-starved"; the plants would benefit from several times more atmospheric CO2 than what now exists. Climatologists dispute that CO2 is correlated with global warming. Realistically, the goals of attempting to decarbonize the world are without precedent in human history and must be examined closely. And rationally. A serious examination of successful and failed introductions of technology over the past 200 years might teach us some lessons. Perhaps Americans, especially Oregonians, should think more seriously about the consequences of our government's actions. * Daniel W. Nebert is professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati. He is now semi-retired and living, with wife and cats and near his children, in Oregon. 1trump.JPG Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, in Denver, Friday, July 29, 2016. (The Associated Press) By Jennifer Rubin Almost on cue, Donald Trump had a meltdown after the Democratic convention ended Thursday night to positive reviews. He launched a Twitter storm, whined that Hillary Clinton had not congratulated him (what, is he 10 years old?) and insisted that he had nothing to do with the much-criticized Republican convention. Despite previous statements that he was going to put on a great show in Cleveland, Trump insisted that all he did was show up to give a speech. Saturday he demonstrated how utterly despicable he is when in an ABC interview he attacked the Gold Star mother who stood by her husband Khizr Khan at the Democratic convention. Trump declared, "[L]ook 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 continued. "But a plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that." Actually, no one in public life but Trump would say something so cruel. But then the billionaire bigot was twisted enough to compare himself to parents who lost a child. Trump replied to Khan's statement that Trump has given "nothing" and "sacrificed nothing" by insisting he had sacrificed, too, because he employed people and gave charitable donations. Trump once again proves he is a moral monster. This all comes after his outburst on Thursday, when he threatened (or was it sarcasm?) violence: "I mean, the things that were said about me. I was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard their heads would spin, they'd never recover!" He continued, "I was going to hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin. He wouldn't know what the hell happened." That would appear to be former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg (who is worth about six times what Trump claims he is worth, which is widely believed to be exaggerated). It's almost as if he were bent on proving Clinton's point that he is dangerously ill-suited to the presidency. Trump was having a miserable week before all that, ever since he was slammed for his comments about Russia's alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee's computer and hinting that Russian President Vladimir Putin might get to keep Crimea. A YouGov poll showed that voters by a wide margin (54 to 30 percent) think Trump's comment suggesting that Russia should look for Clinton's deleted emails was inappropriate. A substantial plurality (40 percent) think he is too friendly toward Russia. Former CIA and National Security Agency director Gen.(Ret.) Michael Hayden observed, "Either he wanted Russian security services to capture the related State Department emails, which is problematic. Or he wanted the Russian government to capture the private emails of a person protected by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which is equally problematic. So I just find it to be an incredibly stunning commentary." As for Trump's comments on Article V of the NATO charter, Hayden remarked that "to create doubt in the minds of a potential adversary that you wouldn't respond to an attack is a very dangerous thing." While Trump is the object of ridicule in the United States for his bromance with Putin, our allies don't think he is the slightest bit amusing. In Japan, public- and private-sector officials expressed astonishment and alarm at Trump's rise. "There are no Trump supporters among officials in Tokyo, and it seems reasonable to say there are none in any other allied or just plain friendly capital: Seoul, Taipei, or Canberra (or for that matter New Delhi) facing China, Jerusalem or Riyadh or Amman or Abu Dhabi facing Iran, Warsaw or Vilnius or Prague or Kiev facing Russia," former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams writes. Trump likes to say that President Barack Obama is not respected overseas; should Trump get elected, God forbid, our allies may pine for Obama. For Eastern Europe, Trump is a nightmare. "I was born in 1970 in Siauliai, Lithuania. I grew up during some of the darkest days of the Soviet system, where many were afraid not only to speak up but even celebrate Christmas," said Erika Veberyte, former chief foreign policy adviser to the speaker of her country's parliament and diplomatic adviser to the acting president between 2001 and 2006. She told me: "Almost every family in Lithuania had someone killed or deported by KGB. I was 19 and a student at Vilnius University during the events of Jan.13, 1991, when we rallied to stand up to Soviet tanks." For Lithuanians (not unlike other former captives under Soviet rule), Trump and Putin are constant worries. "The media and politicians are continuously sounding alarm bells as Russia's soft power of propaganda is extremely well funded and is constantly felt in Lithuania," she said. "Obviously events in Ukraine have raised alarm bells, and the current government is working hard to increase defense spending. The level of concern is particularly high among those who experienced Soviet domination and ... joined their parents defending Lithuania's independence in 1991 and rebuilding independent Lithuania." Veberyte continued, "Our children are born in a free country and we want to see it that way. The progress we have made and the opportunities we have experienced cannot be compared to our censorship and freedom lacking childhood and early youth." As for Trump, she said, "Since Lithuania joined NATO, we strongly believe that NATO's Article 5 is equally valid to any and all NATO members. Thus, when such items are questioned by a U.S. presidential candidate, naturally, anxiety level increases." Rather than listening to himself ("I have a very good brain") and his pro-Russian lackeys, Trump might want to get out of Trump Tower and talk to real people who understand Putin better than he. Veberyte said: "Having watched, lived, and been a part of Lithuania's transition from a Soviet-occupied state to a democratic member of the E.U. and NATO, I understand how precious and fragile democracies are to keep the flame lit." She added, "I hope America will continue to be a role model for those of us who sprung free of authoritarian rule and not become like other countries, where nationalism is accepted as a normal phenomenon. I want to believe that its voters will choose the candidate that would guarantee it to be an exceptional nation, as they have always perceived it." We do, too. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Cabinet meeting chaired by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has started in the country, Anadolu Agency reported Aug. 1. This is already the second meeting of the Turkish government after the military coup attempt. Consequences of the attempted military coup in Turkey will be discussed at the meeting, according to the agency. Turkey will continue to fight with the movement of Fethullah Gulen involved in the military coup attempt, outside the country, Turkish Presidential Advisor Yigit Bulut said earlier, TRT Haber TV channel reported. Bulut added that the Turkish authorities will continue the purge in the ranks of the servicemen supporting Gulen. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: A number of reforms will be held in the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), the countrys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, the Sabah newspaper reported Aug. 1. Yildirim said that the reforms will be aimed at improving the intelligence service of Turkey. Its too early to say which pattern will be used for the intelligence service of the country, he added. The prime minister didnt mention when the reforms will be discussed and/or implemented. It was earlier reported that President Erdogan couldnt reach the head of intelligence service on the day of the military coup attempt. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is involved in the military coup attempt in Turkey, has been expanded and included the countrys financial sector, the Milliyet newspaper reported Aug. 1. Accounts of more than 4,000 companies have been blocked within the framework of the fight against the Gulen movement in Turkey. Also, a special commission has been set up to investigate the ties of a number of Turkish companies with the Gulen movement. It was established that more than 200 famous Turkish entrepreneurs, whose names have not yet been revealed, were having ties with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, according to the newspaper. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The Dow Chemical Co. plans to construct a new manufacturing facility to be located in south central Idaho, to be operated by Dow Building Solution, that will produce one of the companys products. The new facility in Burley, Idaho, will produce STYROFOAM Brand Extruded Polystyrene Insulation. Groundbreaking on the 60,000-square-foot project is expected to occur in 2016 with project completion targeted for the latter portion of 2017. Manufacturing of STYROFOAM XPS Insulation is expected to begin in early 2018. Construction of the project will employ approximately 80 workers during peak construction and create 21 full-time manufacturing jobs at the height of operation. The STYROFOAM Brand Insulation facility will come on-line utilizing DOW BLUEDGE Polymeric Flame Retardant Technology. The construction of the new XPS facility exemplifies Dows commitment to the DBS growth strategy and strengthens the companys ability to deliver sustainable insulation solutions to customers, especially in Western Canada and the United States. The facility also demonstrates Dows pledge to provide world-leading operations performance in natural resource efficiency, environment, health and safety, as outlined in Dows 2025 Sustainability goals. The construction of this new facility will allow us to respond to market demand and deliver sustainable building solutions to our customers, said Tim Lacey, global business director for Dow Building Solutions, in a press release. The strong collaboration with the city of Burley has been critical to reach this agreement and we look forward to continuing that exemplary collaboration together into the future. The governor of Idaho and the states director of economic development both spoke in favor of the new facility in a press release from Dow. Gov. C.L. Butch Otter said the decision speaks volumes about the states workforce and diversity. Its always great to welcome a new corporate citizen to Idaho, and Im especially excited about the opportunities for existing Idaho businesses to help meet the supply chain needs of this new enterprise, Otter said in a press release. To the editor: My story begins March 28, 2016. I had been visiting my son in Beaverton and was driving toward the halfway point in my journey to Youngstown, Ohio, and complete the trip the next day to New Holland, Penn., where my wife of 26 years was waiting for me. She elected not to accompany me. She had made the trips and shared the driving often. Joyce was born and raised in Lancaster County. I was born in Detroit with many transfers in Michigan. While I was driving en route to Youngstown, I fell asleep near Lodi, Ohio, around 4 p.m. I had failed to stop for a black coffee after lunch. My car was a total loss and I was taken to a trauma center near Lodi. I had a brain concussion and was bleeding. I regained consciousness the next day at Akron General Hospital. There were other injuries but the concussion was the most serious. After a week in Akron, with my son at my side, I was released to a rehab center in Denver, Penn., for a week. During the last week of May my family doctor in Lancaster put me on a drug called Sertraline. In about two weeks I experienced a serious side effect. My dizziness was really scaring me. I stopped taking the drug. My mood swings began to affect my relationship with my wife. I said some mean things. She no longer wants to be my wife. She has changed power of attorney from herself to my three children. I left Lancaster on June 12. I lived with my sons from June 14 until July 1. I now live in assisted living at Colonial Villa in Midland. My dizziness and mood swings have overwhelmed me. I desperately need a family doctor and a neurologist. Finally, my daughter was able to find a doctor who will see me. Thank you, President Obama, for a job well done. HOWARD K. REDCAP Midland On Nov. 8, 2016, the American people will decide between two presidential contenders who represent the starkest political choice in living memory. They will choose between one candidate with vast experience and a lifelong dedication to public service and another totally lacking in qualifications to be president. They will decide whether they prefer someone deeply familiar with the issues that are important to this nation or a person whose paper-thin, bumper-sticker proposals would be dangerous to the nation and the world if somehow they were enacted. Her opponent The Chronicle editorial page does not typically endorse early in an election cycle; we prefer waiting for the campaign to play out and for issues to emerge and be addressed. We make an exception in the 2016 presidential race, because the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is not merely political. It is something much more basic than party preference. An election between the Democrat Clinton and, let's say, the Republican Jeb Bush or John Kasich or Marco Rubio, even the hyper-ideological Ted Cruz, would spark a much-needed debate about the role of government and the nation's future, about each candidate's experience and abilities. But those Republican hopefuls have been vanquished. To choose the candidate who defeated them - fairly and decisively, we should point out - is to repudiate the most basic notions of competence and capability. Any one of Trump's less-than-sterling qualities - his erratic temperament, his dodgy business practices, his racism, his Putin-like strongman inclinations and faux-populist demagoguery, his contempt for the rule of law, his ignorance - is enough to be disqualifying. His convention-speech comment, "I alone can fix it," should make every American shudder. He is, we believe, a danger to the Republic. It's telling that so many Republicans have distanced themselves from their party's nominee. That sizeable list includes a number of prominent Texans, Bush family members foremost among them, as well as Sen. Cruz and House Speaker Joe Straus. These stalwart Republicans are concerned not only about the future of their party (and, with the exception of the two Bush presidents, their own political careers), but, more important, they're concerned about the future of this nation. It would not be surprising to discover that these experienced politicians and public servants share the existential concern that first lady Michelle Obama raised in her powerful speech on behalf of Clinton at the party convention in Philadelphia: "Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you can't make snap decisions. You can't have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed." Experience Americans know Hillary Clinton; post-Philadelphia, they're even better acquainted with "the real Hillary Clinton," as her husband phrased it. After her quarter century and more in the public eye, they know her strengths and her weaknesses. Anyone who has paid even a modicum of attention to her experience as first lady, as U.S. senator, as secretary of state and as candidate for president will have at least a general notion of her positions on the issues. As President Obama noted, she's the most qualified person in years to serve as president - "and that includes Bill and me." The only candidate to come close is George H.W. Bush. Whether voters like her personally is almost irrelevant at this "moment of reckoning," to use Clinton's words. She herself concedes that she's not a natural campaigner. She lacks Obama's oratorical gifts or her husband's folksy ability to connect with crowds. Too often she comes across as calculated, inauthentic. We're confident that she is, indeed, "steady and measured and well-informed" and that she would be a much better president than a presidential candidate. The issues On the issues, there's no comparison in terms of thoughtfulness, thoroughness and practicality. Acknowledging the influence of erstwhile competitor Bernie Sanders, for example, she will focus as president on repairing an economy that has left many working people behind and struggling. She will address income inequality and wage stagnation and will work to create jobs. She'll work with Congress to end tax loopholes, noting as she did on CBS's "Sixty Minutes" last weekend that an executive shouldn't be paying the same tax rate as his secretary. She also will push for equal pay for women, increasing the minimum wage and expanding tax credits for poorer families. Immigration reform Rejecting the ridiculous border-wall notion her opponent famously touts, she'll push for comprehensive immigration reform, building on a sensible plan that passed the U.S. Senate three years ago, only to be held hostage by a rump group of tea-party opponents in the House. She has said she intends within the first 100 days of her administration to introduce a path for the undocumented among us to earn citizenship. Health care Health care has been a decades-long issue for Clinton, at least since her days as the first lady of her adopted state of Arkansas. As first lady in the White House a few years later, her failed health initiative led to the creation of CHIP, the immensely successful children's health insurance program. She will work to improve the Affordable Care Act, not abolish it. Energy On energy, an issue of importance to Houston, she acknowledges the seriousness of climate change, the most "consequential, urgent, sweeping" problem the world faces. She has said she wants the United States to be the "clean energy superpower of the 21st century." She also acknowledges that clean-energy reforms will result in economic casualties, among them the coal industry. She has proposed a $30 billion plan to revitalize communities where coal production is in decline and, as Bill Clinton mentioned in his convention speech last week, she intends to dispatch him to West Virginia to help struggling families and communities build a viable economic future. Hillary Clinton has said she sees natural gas as a bridge fuel and foresees a new economy built on rapidly increasing shares of renewable energy. She has a record of supporting fracking, and she supports the Paris agreement on climate change. Foreign affairs On trade, another vital Houston issue, we have our differences with the Democrat. Although she now says she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal we support, we're confident she will be adept at negotiating deals that would grow wages and jobs and that would protect American workers. Despite his vaunted deal-making claims, her opponent, we suspect, would be lost at sea trying to meet the nation's trade goals. On foreign affairs, the former secretary of state is knowledgeable, dependable and trusted worldwide, unlike her blusterous opponent whose outrageous remarks last week about Russia were merely the most recent bizarre outburst to unsettle our allies. Needless to say, Clinton supports NATO, unlike Trump who, in the words of columnist Timothy Egan, "now stands ready to repudiate nearly 70 years of security for our European allies under an 'America First' banner. ." Temperament We could go on with issues, including her plans for sensible gun safety and for combatting terrorism - her policy positions are laid out in detail on her campaign web site - but issues in this election are almost secondary to questions of character and trustworthiness. We reject the "cartoon version" of Hillary Clinton (again to borrow her husband's phrase) in favor of a presidential candidate who has the temperament, the ability and the experience to lead this nation. These are unsettling times, even if they're not the dark, dystopian end times that Trump lays out. They require a steady hand. That's not Donald Trump. The times also require a person who envisions a hopeful future for this nation, a person who has faith in the strong, prosperous and confident America we hope to bequeath our children and grandchildren, as first lady Michelle Obama so eloquently envisioned in Philadelphia. That's not Donald Trump's America. It is Hillary Clinton's, who reminded her listeners Thursday night that "When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit." America's first female president would be in the Oval Office more than a century and a half after a determined group of women launched the women's suffrage movement, almost a century after women in this country won the right to vote. It's a milestone, to be sure. Few could have imagined it would be so consequential. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Rufiz Hafixoglu - Trend: Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Germanys charge daffaires in Ankara Robert Dolger over a court decision that prevented Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a rally in Cologne (Germany), Anadolu Agency reported Aug. 1. Currently, German Ambassador Martin Erdmann is not in Ankara. Germany's highest court on July 31 upheld a ruling that banned Erdogan from addressing a rally via a video call to protest the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey. The decision by the Federal Constitutional Court came after Cologne police prevented rally organizers from inviting the president to give a speech to thousands of supporters who attended Sunday's rally in Deutzer Werft. Police said the measure was for "security reasons, which was agreed upon by a local court. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Thirty-six of 37 servicemen who were planning to assassinate Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been detained, the TRT Haber news channel quoted the countrys Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus as saying Aug.1. The search for one remaining serviceman is underway, Kurtulmus said. The situation is gradually normalizing after the military coup attempt in Turkey, he said. The investigation and the testimony of the arrested generals involved in the coup attempt in Turkey has revealed that Ali Yazici, adviser to Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stands behind the assassination attempt on the president. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@rhafizoglu BLOOMINGTON Bond was set at $6 million Monday in McLean County Circuit Court for a Bloomington man accused of stabbing both of his parents to death Sunday morning. Brian Petersen, 25, was arrested at the family's home in the Lara Trace subdivision, just west of Bloomington off of Illinois 9. He appeared at a hearing Monday afternoon where prosecutors filed four counts of murder against him. At the hearing before Associate Judge Bill Yoder, prosecutors said Nancy Petersen, 63, was stabbed three times in the chest while sitting in a living room chair. Her husband, Bruce, 68, was stabbed in the back, but was able to call 911, said prosecutors. She died at the scene. Her husband was transported to Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal and then transferred to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where he was pronounced dead at 3:41 p.m. Sunday, said the McLean County Sheriff's Department and the Coroner's Office. Their son is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 12. Sheriff Jon Sandage said at 8:56 a.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to the Petersen residence. Upon arrival, sheriff deputies encountered a male suspect and took him into custody, Sandage said on Sunday. Danvers Rescue and Bloomington Fire Department paramedics were summoned to the scene where one victim was found to be deceased and another victim was found to have sustained life-threatening injuries. Ed Heitz, a neighbor, said the day started out as a normal Sunday in the wooded subdivision. I was out on my porch having a cup of coffee, he said. Then the deputies came in two cars and they get out and one of them was carrying his gun. I yelled Hey, what is going on? A few minutes later, they dragged the (suspect) out of the house, and he was kicking and fighting them all the way. "They threw him in the squad car. Ive never heard anybody scream so loud in my life. They had to pull him out and hog-tie him because he was trying to kick the windows out of the car. Heitz said he has lived three houses down from where the incident happened for 42 years. We never have anything like this happen, he said. I dont know who called 911. McLean County States Attorney Jason Chambers was notified of the homicide early Sunday and went to the scene with his first assistant, Adam Ghrist, to assist investigators. Our role is to assist the police with any warrant they may think is prudent as part of the investigation, said Chambers. Other staff from Chambers office also worked Sunday to secure a search warrant for multiple items or locations, said Chambers. Its our first homicide in 21 months in McLean County so they (police) have our full attention, said Chambers. Illinois State Police crime scene technicians and the McLean County Coroner's office also assisted at the scene. The McLean County Animal Control Department was also on the scene removing several pets from the residence. Edith Brady-Lunny contributed to this story. BLOOMINGTON A 25-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the Sunday stabbings deaths of his parents at the family's rural Bloomington home. Brian Petersen appeared to be delusional in the few comments he made to Associate Judge Bill Yoder during a 10-minute bond hearing held via a video link between a McLean County courtroom and the jail. He is accused of stabbing his mother, Nancy Petersen, 63, and his father Bruce Petersen, 68. "What's up?" Petersen said as the hearing began. When asked if he was Brian Petersen, he replied, "Who is Brian Petersen?" When told he was charged with four counts of murder, Petersen repeated the charges as if in disbelief. During the hearing, the judge muted the sound from the jail where three correctional officers stood watch over Petersen. Bond was set at $6 million, meaning he must post $600,035 to be released. The double murder marks the first homicides since November 2014 in the Twin Cities. The defendant could be seen gesturing constantly and rocking in his chair during the brief hearing. In a statement read in court, State's Attorney Jason Chambers said Bruce Petersen called 911 shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday, telling police he and his wife had been stabbed by their son, who lived with them. Bruce Petersen "was obviously having problems breathing" during the call, said Chambers, but he was able to provide officers responding to the home some information before he was taken to Advocate BroMenn Medical Center. He was later airlifted to a Peoria hospital where he died at 3:41 p.m. Sunday, said authorities. Nancy Petersen was stabbed three times while sitting in a living room chair, said Chambers, and was dead when officers arrived at the residence located in Lara Trace, a wooded subdivision located off of Illinois 9, west of Bloomington. Bruce Petersen was just getting out of bed when he heard commotion and found his wife had been stabbed, said the prosecution's statement. Chambers said Brian Petersen then stabbed his father in the back. The suspect made several statements to police, said Chambers, including an admission that he stabbed his parents. When asked why he had assaulted them, Petersen said he had reasons for his actions, but that they could not be shared at the time, said Chambers. Brian Petersen also told officers to "find it (expletive)" when they asked him about the murder weapon. He was aggressive and fought with officers as they tried to place him into custody at the house. That was what a neighbor saw, too. Ed Heitz said he was sitting on his porch Sunday morning having a cup of coffee. Then, the deputies came in two cars and they get out and one of them was carrying his gun. I yelled Hey, what is going on? A few minutes later, they dragged the (suspect) out of the house, and he was kicking and fighting them all the way. "They threw him in the squad car. Ive never heard anybody scream so loud in my life. They had to pull him out and hog-tie him because he was trying to kick the windows out of the car. During the arrest, Petersen also became emotional at one point, saying, "I'm sorry" and "I love you so much," said Chambers. The state's attorney declined to comment on Petersen's mental health condition, but noted that the defense may request a psychiatric evaluation. Illinois State Police crime scene technicians and the McLean County Coroner's office also assisted at the scene. The McLean County Animal Control Department removed several pets from the residence, too. An Aug. 12 arraignment is scheduled for Petersen. BLOOMINGTON Three people were injured in shootings early Monday in the area of Washington and Howard streets on Bloomington's west side. At 12:48 a.m. Monday, Bloomington police responded to Washington and Howard streets after receiving multiple reports of shots fired. When they arrived, officers found a 43-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the arm and a 16-year-old male with a gunshot wound to a leg. Bloomington Fire Department Rescue transported the victims to hospitals. A third victim, a 19-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the arm, had been taken to a hospital before police arrived, BPD said. None of the shooting victims were identified on Monday and no arrests had been made. There was no description of who fired the shots. A woman who lives in the neighborhood said she's concerned about violence in the area. "I live about a block away and ride the bus to my job every day," said Markeisha Young. "I have kids who like to play outside. But there is a point where it gets too dangerous." Circumstances surrounding the shootings remain under investigation, police said. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact detective Tim Power at 309-434-2579 or tpower@cityblm.org. If you want to remain anonymous, call McLean County Crime Stoppers at 309-828-1111. If your call leads to the arrest and indictment of a suspect or suspects, you may be eligible for a reward of as much as $1,000. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The militants of the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) have opened missile fire on Turkeys Hatay province, the Dogan news agency reported Aug.1. Seventeen rocket shells launched from Syrias territory have exploded in Hatay province. No casualties have been reported as a result of the shelling. In response, Turkish armed forces inflicted strikes on the positions of the IS militants in Syria. Earlier, a special security zone was created in Turkeys Hatay province on the border with Syria. Hatay province is periodically shelled by IS militants. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu JOLIET (AP) The 19th century home of Dr. William Dougall, an historic figure in Joliet who commanded a black regiment in the Civil War, could be coming down this year. The house is in disrepair with back taxes owed, and one city official said it would have been torn down five years ago but for its historic value and the hope that it could be preserved. But the Joliet Historical Preservation Commission last month declined to give approval to the demolition, putting the matter off to its next meeting July 27. "When you talk about a property that has historical significance like this one does, it's kind of tough to approve it because others didn't do what they were supposed to do," Quinn Adamowski, a commission member, said as the commission considered whether to give its approval to demolition. "What are the options other than demolition?" Options depend on money, and so far no one has had the money to spend to restore the 14-room, Victorian house. "As much as I hate saying it to you people in this room, it's definitely an eyesore," Alfredo Melesio, director of neighborhood services for Joliet, told the commission. Dougall was a Joliet doctor who saw patients at the house, which he built in 1872. He had been the chief surgeon for the Illinois & Michigan Canal Division. Furniture and medical equipment from his office are on display at the Will County Historical Museum in Lockport. Photographs of Dr. Dougall are part of a Civil War exhibit at the Joliet Area Historical Museum because of his service as captain of the Thirteen U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. Dougall served the same military role as Capt. Robert Shaw, who was depicted in the movie "Glory," about a black regiment fighting for the Union in the Civil War, noted Greg Peerbolte, director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum. "He's significant," Peerbolte said of Dougall. "At the time, they were called the colored regiments. The commanders of the colored regiments - there were not many at all. Anywhere he lived, he would be considered significant." Dougall's house is part of the Joliet East Side Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Historical significance and capital investment, unfortunately, don't always match up. Melesio pointed out the problem at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting. "Something we've been dancing around all evening," he said, "is we need better capitalized investors in historic districts. How do we do that?" The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has given its approval to demolition because of the condition of the house. The house now is owned by the Christ Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, which acquired it when it was already in disrepair. The church had hoped to use it for community services but has been unable to fix it up. "It's costly," Pastor J.E. Moore said. "We tried to start restoring it with some of our people. It's a slow process." Moore said the church paid about $30,000 for the house, making monthly payments. One vision was to make it available for the homeless. "I would like to see it repaired," Moore said. "For the church at this point, it's going to be a burden for us to have it repaired." At the same time the city seeks to demolish the house, it is scheduled to go on auction in September for more than $20,000 in back taxes. The predicament of the Dougall house is part of a wider problem in the city, said Michael Grady, another member of the Historic Preservation Commission. Grady pointed to a historic three-story mansion at 903 Western Ave. once occupied by Patrick "Packey" McFarland, a professional boxer of some fame in the early 1900s. The house has gone into foreclosure, has not been lived in for a year, and is beginning to deteriorate, Grady said. "It's a sin that we let this one get this far down the pike," Grady said, arguing that the city should impose stiff fines on banks and other owners that allow properties to fall into disrepair. The foreclosure process, however, has not yet been completed on the McFarland house, Melesio said. The city expects the house to be back on the market once the bank gets control, he said. In the meantime, he said, city officials have been watching the place and cutting away shrubs that have overgrown to the point that they are blocking the view for motorists. They even found a door open recently and secured it, he said. Melesio said stiff fines against property owners could just aggravate the problem of troubled properties, especially when owners are struggling to fund repairs. "The fines you're talking about will encourage people to walk away from the property," he told Grady. SPRINGFIELD Gov. Bruce Rauner occasionally mentions that he wants to find ways to reward state workers for ideas that help government agencies operate more efficiently and save money for taxpayers. "I'd love to give people 5 percent of every dollar they save with an idea," the Republican former venture capitalist said earlier this year at an Illinois Chamber of Commerce event in Springfield. "That could be a lot. And, boy, do our state employees have good ideas for saving money. They've got a ton." In fact, Illinois has had a system in place since the mid-1980s that's designed to reward employees for cost-saving ideas. Through a body now called the State Government Suggestion Award Board, Illinois has received ideas that have saved more than $566,000 since 1993, according to the board's annual reports. But since at least 2008, when the board began taking suggestions from the public as well as state workers, it hasn't given out a cent. What's more, the board has been inactive for more than three years following the retirement of its last chairman, former state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield. The Rauner administration says it's looking to revitalize the board and create programs that will reward state workers for finding ways to save money, drawing on a concept more widely used in the private sector. One such program was announced last week at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Department head Bryan Schneider told employees in a memo that they'll qualify for bonuses if they can save the state money while maintaining or improving service. The pilot program will pay eligible employees 25 percent of the money saved, according to the memo. "Each division will have performance targets that must be achieved to ensure that we aren't saving money by compromising on quality," Schneider wrote. "I would like to emphasize that this will be a group effort: performance targets will be group goals and savings will be measured on an agency-wide basis." The bonuses, which won't count toward employees' pensions, will be distributed evenly to all eligible employees based on the percentage of performance targets that are met. For example, if the department cuts spending by $1 million and meets all targets, $250,000 would be divvied up. If only half of the targets are met, $125,000 would be available for bonuses. Eligibility of many employees is contingent on agreement from their unions, and the Rauner administration has yet to reach deals with either the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or the Illinois Federation of Public Employees, both of which represent workers at IDPFR. AFSCME has been engaged in a heated contract dispute with the administration for well over a year, and an administrative law judge for the Illinois Labor Relations Board is weighing whether talks have reached an impasse. A decision isn't expected until November. Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, which represents about 36,000 state workers, said the union can't consider the so-called "gainsharing" programs or anything else until the administration returns to the bargaining table. The union is somewhat skeptical of the concept, Lindall said. "Our union believes, as a general matter, that the best and the fairest way for workers and for the public interest alike is to distribute any pay increases fairly across the entire workforce," he said. Given the varied and complex tasks assigned to employees with 800 job titles across nearly two dozen state agencies, coming up with fair ways to quantify performance could prove challenging, Lindall said. "It's difficult to imagine how you would do that when it comes to investigating child abuse and keeping kids safe or working as a correctional officer in a state prison or answering 911 calls for the state police," he said. A report to the Minnesota Legislature last year from Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans on similar programs in that state and nearly 20 others reached a similar conclusion. "Measuring gains is at times an imperfect exercise that could lead to inequitable results and rewards or, at the very least, could open the door to unnecessary employee disputes or appeals of rewards in which the employee feels entitled to a greater share of the gain," Frans wrote. "Programs within the state agencies vary greatly in terms of size, scope, structure, purpose and performance measurements," he wrote. "A uniform method to document savings across dissimilar programs is challenging." The Rauner administration says it aims to tailor programs to individual agencies and to distribute awards equally to groups of employees. Three people in Texas so far have died after acquiring a brain-eating amoeba from Harris County's Trinity River. All three fatalities were exposed to the brain-eating amoeba while they were swimming in the river, with the organism travelling up their noses and into their brains. Brain-Eating Amoeba In Texas The recent death was a 19-year-old Houston resident, who swam in the river earlier in July, KWTX reported. Two individuals in Texas have also died in the past 12 months after being exposed to the brain-eating amoeba. Resident Dale Johnson, who lives near the Trinity River, told KWTX that he doesn't swim in the river, but he usually sees big groups of children doing so. Johnson said "there might be 30 or 40 of them at a time," adding that the water's brain-eating amoeba contamination makes him anxious for other people's welfare, especially young children. Last year, three residents in Texas have died after acquiring the brain-eating amoeba (two in July and one in August). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state has seen a total of nine cases that involved the harmful amoeba since 2005, with eight of them fatal. The brain-eating amoeba or naegleria fowleri causes meningoencephalitis, an inflammation of the brain and the cerebral tissue that covers it. The infection is rare but is almost always fatal, with death occurring within five to 18 days. Symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, and headache, the CDC listed. The organism can be found all over the world, but it's naturally found in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, hot springs, naturally-hot drinking water sources, and swimming pools with poor maintenance and without chlorination, The Weather Network listed. The brain-eating amoeba thrives in the months of July, August, and September due to the warm weather. The organism, however, has low survival rates in salt water and in cooler waters. Other Brain-Eating Amoeba Sightings Texas' Trinity River isn't the only body of water where the brain-eating amoeba was found. Health officials also recently discovered the organism in the Rio Grande River that is situated along Texas' border with Mexico. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza told Breitbart Texas that a Mexican sewage plant dumps "unregulated amounts" of sewage (waste water and excrement) into the river. In June, eighteen-year-old Lauren Seitz of Ohio died due to exposure to the brain-eating amoeba in the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The rafting and kayaking center has since admitted that its faulty sanitation system encouraged the growth of waterborne illnesses. Teenagers who smoke daily are now having more health complains compared to previous years, a study involving Norwegian teenagers and published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research has revealed. This increase in health complaints comes even as the prevalence of teenage smoking has gone down, the researchers found. "Teens who smoke report significantly higher levels of health complaints than nonsmoking teens, and we found that this gap has widened over the years, even as the overall prevalence of teen smoking has dropped," said lead author Dr. Marc Braverman, as per PsychCentral. Braverman is an extension specialist in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University. PsychCentral: Teens Who Smoke Daily May Be Coping with Poor Health https://t.co/6Ee7tfJCJb George Huba (@DrHubaEvaluator) July 31, 2016 Teenage Smoking Data From Norway Used The researchers used data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study, an international collaborative project backed by the World Health Organization that involves 43 countries. In this project, 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds are questioned every four years. This particular study used data smoking behavior and health concerns in Norway because smoking rates have dropped significantly in this country, reported MPR. According to the report, the researchers found during the period of dramatic decline in smoking in 2001-2002 to 2005-2006, those who smoked daily smokers experienced increases in health complaints while no increases were noted in the intermittent and non-smoker groups. Teenagers Smokers' Health Complaints The teenagers in Norway gave information on their smoking behavior and the frequency of experiencing health complaints, both physical and psychological in nature. According to Daily Times, some of these complaints were backache, dizziness, feeling "low", headache, irritability, nervousness, sleep difficulties and stomachache. The study also found that teenaged girls who smoked daily reported greater levels of health complaints more than any other group of teenagers but the available data could not point out a reason for this. Braverman and other researchers from Oregon State University, together with colleagues from University of Bergen and Norwegian Institute of Public Health worked on this study. FLORIDA, USA- Four people who have contracted the Zika virus in Florida, early this July, have disease carrying mosquitos to blame, says the local health department. Although there have been numerous accounts of people contracting the Zika virus in the U.S., the Florida cases are among the first where in the victims have not travelled to where the virus is known to be prevalent. The major concern for the local officials, namely the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the C.D.C., is the area in the Wynwood neighbourhood of Miami. The officials have pinpointed the area as a breeding ground for the virus-carrying mosquitoes. While the director of the C.D.C, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, was quoted saying at a recent C.D.C. tele-briefing that "In terms of travel into the locations, we don't currently see a situation where we would advise people not to travel there or advise pregnant women not to travel there". This is likely soon to change when the number of Zika virus cases increase in the vicinity. A recent report from DirectRelief.org says that the CDC. currently confirms more than 2,000 cases of Zika virus in over 46 states and 3 territories in the United States, but the ones in Florida were the first to contract the virus without travelling abroad to where the virus is more common. In South America, the spread of the Zika virus has become rampant. Transmitted by unprotected sex, blood transfusions, and the mosquitoes that carry the virus, is slowly becoming an epidemic. According to Vice News, Brazil alone has had 90,000 suspected cases of the Zika virus in it's first nationwide statistical sweep. The symptoms of the Zika virus in adults are not necessarily harmful, ranging from no symptoms to slight fevers, with the exception of the rare temporary paralysis that it can cause. In developing infants, the virus may cause a condition called microcephaly, an abnormality where an infant is born with an unusually small head, associated with incomplete brain development. There is still currently no vaccine or specific treatment for the Zika Virus according to the C.D.C., and the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid initial contraction by keeping areas clean and free of mosquitos, not engaging in unprotected sex, and planning future travels to insure safety. Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland will visit Turkey Aug.3, the NTV channel reported Aug.1. During the visit, Jagland will hold a meeting with Turkish officials. The dismissals of Fethullah Gulens supporters from Turkeys state structures will be among the issues to be discussed during Jaglands visit. Fethullah Gulen was involved in the military coup attempt in Turkey. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu I have decided to participate in the 30 days of Devotion blog challenge that Galina suggested some of us do for August. Why not? And of course, it is best to start with the deity you know best in my case this is Hekate. Which is difficult, because, well, She is everywhere so I feel like I am just going to be writing the same things that everyone else has written. Still, She is who I know best, so where else should I start? And I do love to write about Hekate. As a note, I suspect many of these posts will be fairly short, especially in comparison to my novel sized posts. But that is probably all to the good for everyone reading! Also, one or two of the posts I may need to merge for various reasons, so it will actually be more like 27 or so days of devotion. And final note, I will likely not list much in the way of sources in each post instead I will leave that for the final post which is Suggestions for others learning about Hekate and thus best suited for listing the various resources about Her. Hekate is best known as a Goddess from ancient Greece, though in truth She likely originated elsewhere most of our records suggest Thrace of Asia Minor. Still, most of our information comes from Greek and Roman and some Egyptian records, so that is where it is best to look at Her. She is pre-Olympian, a Titan and was here before Zeus. However, She sided with Zeus and the other younger Gods in the war against the Titans and was thus not treated in the same way as many of the other Titans were. Indeed She was honoured by Zeus and rather than trying to limit Her as He did in some part with the other pre-Olympians, He was happy to let Her continue with Her dominion over the Heavens, Oceans and Earth. In modern times She is best known as the Goddess of Witches, and then perhaps equally as known as the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess which I will discuss in another post in this Devotional series. She is a Chthonic deity and leads the host of the dead She is also the one who leads the way for Persephone on Her trip to and from the Underworld each year. This is often where most people stop when they learn about Her, or more this is where most general mythology and sadly Pagan books tend to stop in regards to Her. Which is a pity because She is so very much more than this. She is so much more it is hard to keep track of just How much She is. Yes, She is a Goddess of magic and sorcery, witchcraft and necromancy, the night and darkness. She is also a protector of children, saviour of mankind but also our destroyer. She is the Goddess of the Crossroads, the one who bears the torches and brings the light, the keeper of the keys and the protector of the gates (of the Underworld). As has been mentioned, She rules over, has dominion over the heavens, the earth and the oceans, and obviously some in the Underworld as well. She is considered a lunar deity not only the dark moon as some suggest, but She is often depicted with a crescent moon. She is at times a three formed Goddess and is often depicted as having three separate bodies, all youngish maidens and each with their own head and arms and legs. Sometimes She is depicted with animal heads bull, hound and horse usually. She is a bestower of wealth, but She can also take it all away. In truth She is a forbidding and frightening Goddess, but also a kind and loving Goddess. It just depends on which side of Herself She chooses to show you, which side of Her you call on or deserve to know. This is all just a small amount of who and what She is. I guess well learn more about Her throughout this series, but even there, I will probably not be able to speak of everything She is. 30 Days of Deity Devotion 1 A basic introduction of the deity 2 How did you become first aware of this deity? 3 Symbols and icons of this deity 4 A favourite myth or myths of this deity 5 Members of the family genealogical connections 6 Other related deities and entities associated with this deity 7 Names and epithets 8 Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.) 9 & 27 Common mistakes and worst misconceptions about this deity 10 Offerings historical and UPG 11 Festivals, days, and times sacred to this deity 12 Places associated with this deity and their worship 13 What modern cultural issues are closest to this deitys heart? 14 Has worship of this deity changed in modern times? 15 Any mundane practices that are associated with this deity? 16 How do you think this deity represents the values of their pantheon and cultural origins? 17 How does this deity relate to other gods and other pantheons? 18 How does this deity stand in terms of gender and sexuality? (historical and/or UPG) 19 What quality or qualities of this god do you most admire? And find the most troubling? 20 & 21 Art and music that reminds you of this deity 22 A quote, a poem, or piece of writing that you think this deity resonates strongly with 23 Your own composition a piece of writing about or for this deity 24 & 25 A time when this deity has helped you, and refused to help 26 How has your relationship with this deity changed over time? 28 Something you wish you knew about this deity but dont currently 29 Any interesting or unusual UPG to share? 30 Any suggestions for others just starting to learn about this deity? Ive seen more passionate political arguments this year than any year since 1992. Having a Clinton in the Presidential race has something to do with it. So does the fact that both parties had seriously contested primaries with radically different personalities and positions. A few of these arguments actually have some facts and logic in them. Most are emotional appeals to vote for this candidate or against that candidate because reasons, and with claims that if you cared at all youd vote my way. Theres another theme running through this election. Its a fairly common theme in a Presidential election, but Ive never seen it this strong in both parties. Thats the idea that if we can just elect the right candidate, everything will be OK. Im seeing it from the Trumpites. Im seeing it from the Bernie or Busters. I saw a lot of it from the Ted Cruz followers. I even see some of it from the Hillary crowd, though like their candidate, they tend to be more pragmatic. These groups politics are radically different, but they all want a variation on the same theme. Theyre all looking for a savior. One of the advantages of getting old is knowing whats coming next because youre seeing history repeat itself. Ronald Reagan was supposed to be the savior of Evangelical Christians (funny I thought they already had a savior apparently some still want Barabbas). He was supposed to be the savior of the small government balanced budget crowd. Instead, he cut taxes, increased military spending (now where have I heard that plan recently?), and jacked up the deficit. Bill Clinton was supposed to be the savior of liberals. He signed the abominable Defense of Marriage act and promoted NAFTA (which was bad for American workers, good for American consumers, and good for Mexican workers nothing is ever black and white). Barack Obama was supposed to bring hope and change. The Affordable Care Act was the best he could deliver, even with a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. We still have troops in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay is still in operation. Little has been done on immigration reform and nothings been done on the systematic siphoning of income and wealth from the middle class to the very rich. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary, but he wouldnt have been a savior either. He would have had trouble getting his proposals through Congress, even if we manage to flip one or both houses back to the Democrats. Lets leave politics for now and move to the world of religion. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has power the President of the United States can only dream about. He can issue encyclicals and other statements, make unilateral appointments, remove office-holders, and do pretty much anything he wants. But for all the theologically inclusive and politically progressive things Pope Francis has done and said (which still fall short of affirming the full dignity of all people, especially women), he has changed the Catholic church very little. Thats because the Catholic church is huge institution with 5000 bishops, 400,000 priests, and 1.2 billion members. All of them have their own ideas about what it means to be Catholic, how much theyre willing to follow their leaders, and how much theyre able to change. Most of them dont like being told what to do any more than you do, even those whove taken vows of obedience. What makes you think a President of a country 320 million people, with thousands of elected government bodies, operating in a system where he or she has only 1/3 of the total power, can change a country in four years? There are no saviors. The longing for a savior is a natural response to a situation that overwhelms us. We know we cant fix racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and xenophobia. We know we cant fix an economic system that serves the very rich at the expense of everyone else. We know we cant fix those who would kill or enslave us for their own twisted reasons. We cant, but maybe someone else can. Surely anyone running for President on a major party ticket is super-smart, super-strong, and super-powerful and can do all those things we cant do. They cant. See Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Sanders, and Francis. We have to save ourselves. We have to save our country from the ground up. I like top-down solutions. I detest the concept of states rights and I celebrate Supreme Court rulings that expand liberty throughout the country all at once. But countless political decisions that affect all our lives are made at the local level and especially at the state level. The Tea Party has influence that far exceeds their numbers because they started at the bottom. Theyve yet to take over Washington (and I doubt they will) but theyve still been able to implement much of their regressive agenda. Pay attention to state and local races, and not just governor and mayor. Turnout in most local elections is abysmal even a small push from dedicated progressives can make a difference. And if you dont see any candidates who reflect your values, consider running for office yourself. Its a ton of work for very little reward except the reward of helping represent those who are suffering and the reward of promoting your values. We have to change hearts and minds where we are. Im convinced that very few people have a coherent political or even a religious philosophy. If something sounds good to them, they repeat it. If it sounds bad, they trash it. Perhaps most importantly, they want to be on the winning side. And if theyve never heard of it, theyre going to be suspicious. Thats why I blog. Thats why I have one profile on Facebook and almost everything I post is public. Thats why I dont shy away from religious or political questions at work or elsewhere. Its not much, but its what I can do and its something. There are conservative Christians who know a bit of truth about Paganism because of what I write. I have co-workers who know a bit of truth about immigration because of hallway conversations. I dont proselytize an obnoxious habit no matter what your religion or politics but I dont hide who I am either. We have to save ourselves and our families, because we cant depend on anyone else doing it. Regular readers of this blog know that while I have supreme confidence in the resilience of the human species, Im not optimistic about our short to medium term future. Things are bad and theyre going to get worse no matter who ends up becoming President. In many cases, making things better isnt possible the best we can do is to make things less worse. I have a long way to go before retirement, and hopefully a long way beyond that before Im no longer capable of caring for myself. But barring an unexpected beer truck barreling into me at high speed and sending me into the Otherworld before my time, that day will come. I have no children. Im have good relationships with a niece and a nephew, but they have their own lives to live and theyre 800 miles away. Will the government programs designed to care for our elders still be in place when I need them? Theyre already strained and underfunded, and the right wing wants to cut them further. The only way I can count on anyone caring about me much less for me is to be an active part of a real, vibrant, in-person community right here where I am. I have to contribute to my community and its upkeep, and care for those who need care now. For me, this is my local Pagan and UU communities. Now, thats not why I participate in my local religious communities. I participate in them because I share their values and their religious approaches and I enjoy working and worshipping together and because I like the people in them. But I also know that trying to get through life on your own isnt just lonely its damn near impossible. There have been 44 Presidents of the United States. Some have been really bad. Most have done OK. A few have been great leaders. None have been saviors. Neither will Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Neither would Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. Not even Saint Bernie. Since there will be no savior, which candidate will do the best job of advancing and defending your causes and your values? Since there will be no savior, who should you support for Congress, for your state legislature, and for your city council? Since there will be no savior, what can you do to make the world a better place? Since there will be no savior, what can you do to care for your community and those in it? Since there will be no savior, what do you need to do to take care of yourself and those closest to you? A savior isnt coming. We have to save ourselves. Regular readers of my Monkey Mind blog probably know the streams of Zen within which I practice derive through Japan. What people who do not practice Zen may not understand is how different the styles of Zen can be based a great deal upon what nations within which they took their shape. Nonetheless Japanese Zen is Zen, Korean Seon is Zen, Chinese Chan is Zen. Actually were all Chan, as thats the ultimate source for our school. This is one reason, among many, why I am so fascinated with the first tentative steps in forming of a Western Zen, or probably more correctly a North American Zen. (There will almost certainly also be a European Zen, maybe a South American Zen and possibly an African Zen. But I have not followed these tentative shoots as closely as whats going on here in North America) The point is wherever it takes root, Zen is going to have a new and unique shape. No doubt. But for it to be real Zen it must share some common characteristics. What these charateristics are is hard to name with much specificity. I suspect a devotion to just sitting practice and koan introspection to one degree or another will be essential. I also believe some understanding of lineage will be a fundamental mark of Zen in the west, although how that will come to be understood is pretty dynamic. Much of the rest is probably up for grabs, even possibly whether it need be Buddhist. There are a lot of tentative shapes taking form here and while most will probably resolve quickly by just disapearing, others will take generations to sort out. I bet. One way to find out what will be the more likely shape of our forming Western Zen, I believe, is to look broadly at the various schools of Zen, and their founding teachers as they come from their East Asian nations. As a practitioner within a Japanese-derived school (well, two, actually) one of the non-Japanese schools I find I most admire is the Kwan Um School of Zen founded by the late Korean Zen master Seungsahn. The Kwan Um School is the largest Zen school in the West. There are many things I find very attractive about the Kwan Um School and while I have some minor reservations here and there, as a Zen teacher I find bottom line I have no problem recommending them to anyone wanting an authentic community to practice with and authentic teachers to guide them. Master Seungsahn Daejongsa was born as Yi Deogin in what is now North Korea on this day in 1927. His parents were Christians in the dominant Presbyterian school. He was active in the anti-Japanese resistance, was arrested and spent time in prison. Later as a philosophy student at Dongguk University a friend gave him a copy of the Diamond Sutra. Not particularly religious up until this moment, he reconsidered his whole life. He left university and ordained as a Seon (Zen) Monk. He would eventually be recognized as a Zen master, receiving Dharma transmission from three masters including the renowned Kobong. He would eventually end up in America where he established what came to be called the Kwan Um School of Zen. He was no perfect master. And he hurt people in the wake of his life. And, he was a skillful and generous teacher who accomplished some amazing things. His influence in the formation of our Western Zen is near impossible to overstate. Master Seungsahn died in 2004 at the age of 77. What follows is a talk master Seungsahn gave on Zen meditation some years ago. Im intrigued by his style, his reaching for an American idiom while obviously a native Korean speaker. Im also caught off guard by some non-scientific assumptions about non-Zen styles of meditation, which tweak my Unitarian Universalist and rationalist perspectives. And, I come away once again feeling a genuine teacher has pointed the way. This Western Zen practitioner of a Japanese line (well, those two) and with a rationalist turn of mind finds himself enriched, corrected, and guided by a venerable ancestor of our Western Way. I hope you find similar value to this On Zen Meditation Master Seungsahn When I was in the hospital, the doctors checked my heart. The first time they checked, there were 23-25 mistakes (premature ventricular contractions) in one minute, out of about 80 beats. Many people have read about research by a Harvard professor who checked people with bad hearts, diabetes, etc. He checked people who did meditation and people who didnt. People who didnt do meditation were O.K. with medicine, but not O.K. without their medicine. But people who tried concentration meditation got better more quickly, and were O.K. without their medicine. The Transcendental Meditation people advertised this: Meditation can fix many sicknesses. So now many doctors like meditation. So my doctors said, Soen Sa Nim, you are a Zen Master, so you try! So I said, O.K., I will try. So I tried this fix-your-body meditation. In three days my heart was making only five mistakes usually it takes about one month to recover like this, so my doctors understood this meditation was helping my body, so they were very happy. After one week, my heart was only making one or two mistakes, and my doctors said, This is wonderful! Most people take two or three months to come down to only one or two mistakes each minute! So I said, Thank you very much, you have helped me, so I can get better quickly. But this is only fix-your-body meditation. This is not correct meditation. Why isnt this correct meditation? they asked. You can fix your body, your heart, your diabetes. In Korea, China, and India there are people who do yoga. They go to the mountains and do breath-in, breath-out meditation. They can live 500 years and not get sick. Keeping their bodies for a long time is possible; even flying in the sky is possible. Trying this style body meditation, anything is possible. A body is like a car. Use the car a lot, and in three years, it is broken. Only keep the car in the garage, then keeping it for a long time is possible. But finally after 500 years, then these yoga people die. Then what? Live a long time, then die; live a short time, then die it is the same! Dying is the same. The doctors understood. What is correct meditation then? I told them, I always try meditation. Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind. They thought meditation meant only concentration and keeping your body still. So I said, Meditation means keeping one mind. You must understand what is life? What is death? If you keep one mind, there is no life, no death. Then if you die tomorrow, no problem; if you die in five minutes, no problem. What do you mean, no problem? they asked. Maybe you do fix-your-heart meditation. Then, My heart is good, my body is good. It is very easy to become attached to this meditation. But when you get old, and your heart is not so good, then you try this meditation. Maybe it is still not so good. Then, Why doesnt my meditation work? Then your body, your meditation, become hindrances. If your meditation cannot help your body, then you dont believe in your meditation. Then what? So this style meditation is no good. Correct meditation means correctly understanding your situation moment by moment what are you doing now? Only do it! Then each action is complete each action is enough. Then no thinking, so each moment I can perceive everything just like this. Just like this is truth. Sick-time, only be sick. Driving-time, only drive. Only go straight then any situation is no problem. The doctors liked this; they wanted to hear more about Zen. So six doctors came to my room and I talked to them for two hours. One doctor asked me, I am very busy, at the hospital, then going home to my family how can I keep a clear mind? Clear mind, I told them, means moment to moment, what are you doing now? When you are with your patients, only 100% keep doctors mind. When you leave the hospital and you are driving home, 100% keep drivers mind. When you meet your wife, 100% keep husbands mind. This means each moment only go straight; dont make I, my, me. If you make I, my, me, then your opinion, your condition, your situation appear; then you have a problem. If, when you are with your patients, you think, Where is my wife? Is she spending a lot of money? Then this patient is talking to you and you only say, Uhm, yeah, mmm-hmm. So the patient is thinking, What does the doctor think? They dont believe you. If you are talking to your wife, and she is telling you something important, and you are thinking about the hospital, this is just your opinion, this is just thinking; it is not your just-now situation. So put it all down, only go straight. We say jeon il, completely become one. When you are doing an operation, you and this knife completely become one. When you are driving in your car, you and your car only become one. If you drive on a road with pebbles and you are not thinking, only driving, then you can feel these pebbles under your tires. Only become one means, you and your action completely become one, then you and the universe only-become one completely no-thinking mind. Inside and outside become one. The name for this is, only go straight, or put it all down, or dont make anything, or keep clear mind. If you are only in the present, how can you plan for the future or choose a direction? I have to plan for my patients, and for myself, my family, one doctor said. So I said, What is the purpose of life? I asked many old people in the hospital this question, or What did you get out of life? and many said, Nothing. Maybe they have a good job, good family, good wife or husband, but these things cannot help them now. They want something they cannot have, and they understand this, so they say, Nothing. This is understanding nothing. But understanding cannot help them, so they are suffering. Zen means attain this nothing mind. The Buddha said, If you keep clear mind moment by moment, then you will get happiness everywhere. Zen is attaining this nothing mind, and using this nothing mind. How can you use it? Zen means making this nothing mind into big-love mind. Nothing mind means no I, my, me, no hindrance. So this mind can change to Great Compassion mind, action-for-all-people mind. This is possible. Nothing mind does not appear, does not disappear. So moment by moment, it is possible to keep your correct situation. Then your mind is like a mirror when you are with your patients, only become one. Then helping them is possible. When you are with your family, only become one; then understanding what is best for them is clear. Just like this. The blue mountain does not move. The white clouds float back and forth. As a small additional treat, heres an appreciation of the master from the third anniversary observation of his death. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Iran, Russia taking partnership to new levels 08/01/16 Source: Press TV More signs have appeared showing that Russia is already working on what may be a special industrial alliance with Iran. The country says it is preparing a road map for dozens of joint industrial projects with Iran, adding that it would be signed by the related officials of the two countries in the near future. The announcement has been made by Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak after a meeting with the visiting Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mahmoud Vaezi. "My colleague from Iran and I agreed to sign a road map in the near future on industrial projects. This map now is being worked out. On it are more than 70 projects, which will be implemented between Iran and Russia," Novak has been quoted as saying by the Russian media. Novak said relations between Russia and Iran "have reached a new, unprecedented level". He added that a state visit to Tehran by the Russian President Vladimir Putin last November had already given a fresh boost to efforts by the two countries to expand their relations. The Russian official further emphasized that Iran and Russia will soon sign over a dozen agreements that he said would facilitate trade between the two countries. The agreements, Novak said, would specifically simplify procedures for transporting goods between the countries, customs formation and investing. "The main delay is the issue of monetary relations, interbank cooperation. We agreed to continue this work in order to open correspondent accounts, provide lending and increase investments," he has been quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS. On a related front, Vazei, who co-chairs the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, told reporters that the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will soon visit Moscow for talks regarding banking issues between the two countries. "We have agreed that the president of the Central Bank of Iran will pay a visit to Russia," Vaezi told reporters without providing any further details. Call for Submissions: 2017 Nowruz Banner Contest 08/01/16 Press Release by Farhang Foundation Farhang Foundation invites artists worldwide to participate in its Annual Official Nowruz Banner Contest! LOS ANGELES, CA, August 1, 2016 - Farhang Foundation is calling on aspiring and veteran graphic artists to submit original designs that conceptualize Nowruz (the Iranian New Year) commemorating Farhang's annual celebration of Nowruz in Los Angeles. Eligible designs will be considered as the central artwork featured on street banners and other marketing material that will proudly promote Farhang's 9th Annual Nowruz Celebration at our new home at UCLA's Royce Hall throughout prominent boulevards of Los Angeles in Februaryand March of 2017. The 2017 Nowruz Banner Contest offers contestants a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a vital part of Farhang Foundation's efforts to celebrate Nowruz with the public, receive recognition on Farhang's website and global PR campaigns, and have their design featured on hundreds of street pole banners throughout the city of Los Angeles! Eligible submissions will visualize some aspect of Nowruz or Iranian culture and must be the original work of the contestant. The selected design must be completed and submitted in high-resolution, printable .eps, .ai or .pdf, built to size. The winning designer is also required to be available and open to adjusting the final design, per the guidelines to be provided by Farhang Foundation and/or set forth by the City of Los Angeles. The final selected design must incorporate the following phrasing, as well as Farhang Foundation and UCLA official logos using the standard Banner Template. - Celebrating Nowruz / Iranian New Year - March 12, 2017 at UCLA - Presented by Farhang Foundation - Farhang.org For samples of past winning designs visit our Nowruz Banner Gallery. Selection of the winner is discretionary. Farhang Foundation reserves the sole right to select the design submitted. Upon selection, the artist is required to sign a release for the selected design to be used by Farhang Foundation for the purposes stated above. DEADLINE & SUBMISSION INFO: Submit your original conceptual design in low resolution format (.jpg, .png or .pdf format) by or before September 15, 2016 Include FULL NAME of the artist, location and TELEPHONE NUMBER All entries should be submitted via email to Nowruz@farhang.org. About Farhang Foundation Farhang Foundation is a non-religious, non-political and not-for-profit foundation established in 2008 to celebrate and promote Iranian art and culture for the benefit of the community at large. The foundation supports a broad range of academic activities in Southern California by funding university programs, publications and conferences. The foundation also supports diverse cultural programs such as the celebration of Nowruz, Shabe-Yalda, Mehregan, theater and dance performances, film screenings and poetry readings in Southern California. And, in cooperation with various cultural and academic institutions, Farhang Foundation funds major programs and exhibitions about Iran and its culture. However, the content, viewpoints or biases expressed by individual artists, academics, institutions or events supported by the foundation belong solely to each individual party and do not necessarily reflect the views of Farhang Foundation. For more info visit Farhang.org Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1 By Anakhanum Idayatova Trend: The normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey will increase security in the region, as well as will enhance the efficiency of common fight against terrorism, Vladimir Sotnikov, senior researcher at the International Security Center of Russian Sciences Academys World Economy and International Relations Institute, told Trend Aug. 1. Sotnikov said that the normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia shows that the parties have more common contact points rather than differences. The sides will further become closer; Russia and Turkey have many common projects, noted the expert adding that the decision on normalization of relations is the best choice for parties. He also touched upon the two countries economic partnership, which is, according to him, one of the key aspects of cooperation. Turkish Stream obtained a real chance of implementation, said Sotnikov, and the project is equally important for the two countries. The expert added that the normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey is also beneficial for Azerbaijan, because both Moscow and Ankara are close allies of Baku. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia on Aug. 9 and will have a meeting with the countrys President Vladimir Putin. Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated when Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber with two pilots on board. On June 27, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Putin over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident. After that, the two countries relations began to improve. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Microsofts new inking technology within Windows 10s Anniversary Update, Windows Ink, has just begun to recognize what you write. Its next chapter? Equations. Shortly before reviews of Windows 10s Anniversary Update hit on Monday, Microsoft showed off a rather sophisticated update to OneNote: Microsofts note-taking app was able to interpret mathematical equations entered using Windows Ink and also solve themand show its work. Microsoft will begin providing this technology to consumers in the coming months, the company said. Microsoft Windows 10 will soon interpret equations and even solve them. Why this matters: With Windows Ink and OneNote, Microsoft appears to be aiming for what one might call quick experiences, dropping into an application and accomplishing a task quickly. This approach originated with the Surface Pro 3, when the tablet debuted with the ability to quickly launch OneNote by clicking the eraser button on the Surface Pro 3s stylus. That same ability to launch apps with a simple button press is also found within the Anniversary Updates Windows Ink Workspace, the small collection of Microsoft-authored appsSketchpad, Screen Sketch, and Sticky Notesthat users can access via a pen icon on the taskbar. From quick notes to quadratic equations With Sticky Notes, users can write down a flight number, website URL, or phone number and Bing will interpret it as actionable data. In OneNote, you can ink a circle, select it with a lasso tool, and OneNote will turn it into a perfect circlenote the Convert to Shapes button, and also the new Math button in the screenshot above. (Unfortunately, another feature that Microsoft pitched for the Anniversary Updatedrawing a route inside the Maps appwas also delayed, but it too will appear over time, executives said.) The web is already populated with sites and services that will provide mathematics assistance; the most well known is probably Wolfram Alpha, designed by Stephen Wolfram, the original author of seminal mathematics program Mathematica. Wolfram Alpha also provides numerous possible solutions to the equation inked above, though step-by-step solutions for a number of them require a Pro subscription, currently $5.49 per user per month. Microsoft, though, doesnt seem to be charging anything for its solutionwell, beyond possibly making the feature contingent on an existing subscription to Office 365. (To be clear, though: Microsoft hasnt commented on this.) And theres one more feature: If solving equations isnt interesting enough by itself, Microsoft said it also plans to add rainbow- as well as a galaxy-themed pen inksfor when your astrophysics notes need a bit more flare, apparently. Uber Technologies has decided to cooperate rather than compete in China, with the ride-hailing app company set to announce a merger of its local operation with arch-rival Didi Chuxing, the largest ride-hailing company in the country. Under the deal, Uber China investors will hold 20 percent stake in Didi Chuxing in a deal that values the combined entity at around US$35 billion, according to reports on Monday. Didi Chuxing will also make a $1 billion investment in Uber Global. Didi Chuxing, which already had investments from key players such as Alibaba, SoftBank and Tencent, raised $7.3 billion in a financing round in June that included Apple investing in the company. The Chinese ride-hailing company company said in June it has close to 15 million registered car owners and drivers, serving about 300 million users, with a wide range of mobile technology-based transportation options. Didi Chuxing had recently set up alliances with other players to counter the growing influence of Uber. Besides a $100 million investment and collaboration with Lyft, which would allow Lyft users visiting China to access Didi Chuxing services from their native apps, the Chinese company has also invested in regional players like Indias Ola and Malaysias GrabTaxi. In a blog post distributed in advance to some news outlets, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick explained why his company had decided to give up the fight in China. He wrote that as an entrepreneur, he has learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart. Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both have yet to turn a profit there, he added. Uber wants more information from mapping technologies, including more data on traffic patterns and precise pickup and dropoff locations. The ride-hailing company that introduced mapping cars in the U.S. last year and more recently in Mexico now plans to extend the initiative soon in other countries as well, according to Brian McClendon, the former head of Google maps, who was hired by the ride-hailing company. Accurate maps are at the heart of our service and the backbone of our business, McClendon said in a blog post. Uber wouldnt exist if interactive digital maps hadnt been there first, he added. So critical are the new maps for the company that it is investing US$500 million in their development to remove its dependence on Google Maps that are used on the Uber app in most parts of the world, and pave the way for driverless cars, The Financial Times reported on Sunday, quoting a person familiar with the matter. Flush from a recent fund-raising of $3.5 billion, the company is increasingly in need of new research as it expands into new markets, rather than use standard, available technologies, the newspaper added. Google was an earlier investor in the ride-hailing company but Uber has pursued development in technologies such as self-driving cars quite independently from the Internet giant. Uber includes some of its own and third-party mapping technologies into its app, and has also acquired mapping and location company deCarta in March last year. It also acquired technology used by Microsofts Bing Maps besides about 100 Microsoft employees working on image collection and data analysis. Existing maps are a good starting point, but some information isnt that relevant to Uber, like ocean topography, wrote McClendon, who is vice-president of advanced technologies at Uber. The company also needs to be able to provide a seamless experience in parts of the world where there arent detailed maps or street signs, he added. Uber could not be immediately reached for comment. The maps are expected to be deployed eventually also in its self-driving cars. It isnt clear whether the company is developing the maps only for its in-house use, although that seems likely as it appears to describe the technology as a key input for the business. Russian military networks and other critical infrastructure have been hit by tailor-made malware, according to government officials. Networks at some 20 organizations in Russia including scientific and military institutions, defense contractors, and public authorities were found to be infected with the malware, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Saturday. The range of infected sites suggests that the targets were deliberately selected as part of a cyber-espionage operation, the FSB said. Analysis of the attack showed that filenames, parameters and infection methods used in the malware are similar to those involved in other high-profile cyber-espionage operations around the world. The software was adapted to the characteristics of each PC targeted, and delivered in a malicious email attachment, the FSB said. Once installed, it downloaded additional modules to perform tasks such as monitoring network traffic, capturing and transmitting screenshots and keystroke logs, or recording audio and video using the PCs microphone and webcam. The FSB is working with ministries and other government agencies to identify all the victims of the malware, and to limit its effects, it said. Russia is said to be the source, not the target, of another government-related cyber-attack. Last week, evidence emerged suggesting Russian involvement in an attack on computers at the Democratic National Committee, where recent data leaks have tarnished the campaign of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Rival republican candidate Donald Trump last week suggested Russian spies should infiltrate Clintons email system in search of 30,000 messages allegedly missing from an investigation into her use of a private email server for official correspondence while secretary of state. America is crippled by crime, terrorism and economic stagnation. Or: Strength through unity guides an already great nation through myriad challenges. After seemingly endless months of debates and primaries, allegations and celebrations, and, at last, this months Republican and Democratic conventions, the official campaign march to November is truly underway. And no one can say the two finalists havent crafted two very different strategies in hopes of securing the keys to the White House. And two starkly different visions of America. The GOP convention in Cleveland hammered home the notion that America is in peril and can be rescued only by Donald Trump and not Washington elites such as Hillary Clinton. The Democratic convention in Philadelphia boasted of Americas greatness and the need to tackle challenges collaboratively. Recent polls show a tight race between Clinton and Trump, who has made up ground on his opponent. Neither candidate is particularly popular with the general electorate, and both face doubts about their character and honesty. The common theme across both conventions and really the main theme emerging from this election is the passionate opposition to the other partys candidate, said Samara Klar, an assistant professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. But both conventions seemed to accomplish their secondary goal of convincing the American public that this election is terribly consequential, she said. Following tradition, the GOP convention was held first as Democrats hold the White House. In the modern era of primaries and caucuses, conventions have turned into staged political theater that sells a partys candidate to the public, said Michael Traugott, a professor emeritus of political communication studies at the University of Michigan. While the GOP brought us Ronald Reagan and his Morning in America optimism, this years conventions marked a role reversal of sorts for the parties, Traugott said. The Democratic Party was more optimistic and made more emotional appeals for Americans to unite, while the Republican Party was talking about isolating certain groups through social policies, he said. Jennifer Merolla, a political science professor at UC Riverside, said the GOP conventions theme was: We now live in an unsafe, uncertain and dangerous world. We heard from an array of speakers, including the nominee himself, talk about threats both at home and abroad, she said. Donald Trump portrayed himself as the candidate who is uniquely positioned to restore law and order in such a tumultuous world, in part because he is an outsider to the establishment. The policies that were highlighted played to peoples fears in building walls to keep out those who might take away jobs or threaten security. We heard about the need to restore America to its former greatness, the key theme of the Trump campaign, she said. SPLIT VISIONS Speakers at the Democratic convention, including President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, highlighted what was right with America, which included the historic nomination of the nations first female major party (presidential) candidate, said Jennifer Walsh, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Azusa Pacific University. Marcia Godwin, an associate professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said the Democratic convention generated a lot of visuals and sound bites for ads and stump speeches. The historic nature of (Clintons nomination) also led to lots of visuals of young girls, mothers and daughters, and delegates shedding tears. With the GOP convention, Trump was able to drag down Clintons poll numbers while he got a poll bounce, Godwin said. However, the convention seemed to be more about Trump and his family than the Republican Party, she said. We may have seen a repeat of the 1996 convention when Bill Clinton turned Bob Doles Bridge to the Past into the Bridge to the Future, Godwin added. Hillarys speech deftly turned Trumps rhetoric about how he alone has the ability to will fix things into We Can Fix It Together. WHO DID BETTER? Some political observers gave Democrats the edge when it came to which party had the better convention. The Democrats did a superior job of making a compelling, moral case for their candidate and their policy positions, Walsh said. Republicans, on the other hand, struggled to present compelling, conservative arguments to support Donald Trump. By regular standards, I would describe the Republican convention as a little disorganized and not very well orchestrated, Traugott said. It created enthusiasm among core supporters, but I dont think it added very much. What was unusual about this election year was that each convention had the primary goal of seeking party unity, Klar said. This isnt always the case. Given Sanders support of Clinton, the Democrats were probably more effective in unifying their party. But Joseph Anthony, CEO of Hero Group, a marketing firm geared toward millennials, said while the Democrats had better speakers and did a terrific job highlighting Donald Trumps psychosis the underlying narrative behind their vision for Americas future was not strong enough. The core message of the Democratic Party is that nothing is inherently wrong with our country, and that America is on the right track, he said. The problem with this message is that theres a large percentage of Americans who dont think Americas best days are ahead, and that a change of course is necessary. NOW WHAT? With both conventions over, Clinton and Trump are expected to focus heavily on swing states such as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. But dont expect to see them in California unless its to raise money; the Golden States electoral votes havent gone to a Republican since 1988. Clinton also hopes for a convention bounce to her poll numbers similar to what Trump received after the GOP convention. Traugott expects a very negative campaign ahead. Were probably going to end up with low (voter) turnout because people on both sides are dissatisfied with their candidate or party platform and (will) decide to stay home, he said. Regarding the long-term influence of the conventions, Godwin says she is uncertain of their impact. A political convention is like a dinner, she said. Its usually more about aftertaste than the meal itself, and the effects can be very short-lasting. Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com Firefighters and lawmakers have been droning on about the need for drone pilots to steer clear when aircraft splash bubble-gum-colored fire retardant or clear water on wildfires. But the message doesnt seem to be getting through. Stray drones continue to pop up repeatedly around the state when firefighting aircraft are making drops, forcing them to abort missions. And it happened again last week close to home. A firefighting helicopter was prevented from dousing a small brush fire burning along the 134 Freeway in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles. Photos on social media showed a small white drone flying just beneath a helicopter. Ultimately, water drops proved unnecessary. Los Angeles firefighters made quick work of the blaze, containing flames within an hour. But the chilling incursion underscored swelling concern about a problem that just wont go away. Somebody told me about that incident a couple days ago and I thought, No. I cant believe it, said Desiree Ekstein of Lake Elsinore, who goes by the nickname Drone Diva and possesses no fewer than 17 remote-controlled flying devices. How could people still be out there doing that? Its very frustrating, Ekstein said. COOLNESS OF FIRE VIDEO Harrison Wolf, an aviation safety instructor at USC and drone consultant, said hes not surprised. But hes as frustrated as anyone by the stubborn trend. The education campaign (to discourage flying drones around fires) has been less than successful, Wolf said. Since last summers nerve-rattling close call between a drone and planes attacking the nearly 50-square-mile Lake fire in the San Bernardino National Forest, firefighting agencies have persistently spread the message, If You Fly, We Cant! The coolness of capturing fire on video is making people stupid, it seems like, and putting firefighters at risk, Wolf said. Also frosted by the trend is Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, who tried unsuccessfully last year to pass a law to rein in rogue pilots and is pursuing a solution from a different angle. FORCING DRONES TO LAND This is a discussion we shouldnt be having, Gatto said in a phone interview Friday. This is a solvable problem. Earlier this year, Gatto unveiled his Drone Registration/Omnibus Negligence-prevention Enactment, or DRONE Act of 2016. Numbered Assembly Bill 2724, it passed the Assembly 54-17 in June and awaits action in the Senate. State lawmakers reconvene this week, following a summer recess. Among other things, Gattos bill would require: Drones of a certain size and equipped with GPS capability to be fitted with automatic shut-off technology that directs unmanned flying devices to land when approaching airports or fire zones. Owners to carry insurance beginning in 2020, to compensate victims when they are hurt or their property is damaged by drones. Gatto said about 80 percent of larger hobby drones, those big enough to cause havoc with aircraft, already deploy GPS. He said his legislation would mandate that that technology be tapped to prevent drones from straying near firefighting planes or passenger jets as one did in March on a Lufthansa Airbus A380s approach to LAX. BAD NAME Drone manufacturer DJI, whose Phantom drones are extremely popular, began making available a software system that does just that, Wolf noted. They can create a geofence environment that will say there is a fire in this area and will not allow drones to fly in this area, much like they do around the White House, Wolf said. Whether such geofencing will become mandatory hinges on whether Gatto can persuade the Senate to greenlight his legislation and, perhaps more important, Gov. Jerry Brown to sign it. Last year, Brown vetoed Gatto legislation that would have created penalties for rogue operators who interfere. Gatto said this years focus of prevention through technology stands a better chance of getting a signature. While its frustrating for officials, the continual popping up of drones where theyre not welcome is also annoying for operators, said Dirk Dallas, professor of graphic design and digital media at California Baptist University in Riverside. Its really disappointing when this news breaks because its a massive issue, Dallas said. But at the same time, it puts a bad name on all of us. The vast majority of operators fly responsibly, he said, and incursions are the work of a few bad actors. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact the writer: 951-368-9699 or ddowney@pressenterprise.com RIO DE JANEIRO They are, quite famously, short on a few essentials around here, but one of them most assuredly is not passion. No, Rio leads with its lips, leaning in close to welcome a total stranger in a manner that suggests complete familiarity. We give two kisses here in Brazil, she says, and Bianca Dominguez offers up one cheek and then the other, dispensing her first bits of passion by the peck. She is todays tour guide unofficial but hardly unattached a lifelong local who has agreed to introduce our photographer, Michael Goulding, to a place she adores, a place in which she has the same sort of pride we Americans love to celebrate as if its ours alone. Me? Im tagging along because I know so little about this city and its people that my ignorance glows brighter than the Olympic torch. Put it this way, if appreciating Rio was a competition at these Games, like, for example, the 110-meter hurdlers, Id plant my face only moments after I first attempted to plant my foot. I know this will be a success because Brazilians are very welcoming and friendly, Dominguez says, her opinion one not shared by some other folks particularly those from the outside. It will work out, absolutely. Apparently, it all depends on your perspective, and right now my perspective is coming from a helipad that overlooks much of Rio, spectacularly so, while still looking up at the citys most famous resident. Christ the Redeemer is the signature monument in an area where there are mountains and hills in seemingly every direction, each jutting at a different angle toward the heavens. From way up here, I can honestly say Ive never been closer to God. Today, however, the statue is playing more the part of Peek-a-Boo Jesus, poking out only on occasion from the lingering low-slung clouds that can wrap the mountaintops here in a shroud thats straight from a painters eye. No matter what happens during the next three weeks in Rio, no one will reach the heights of Christ the Redeemer. And remember, these Games will feature both Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. From here, you can also look off toward Copacabana Beach, one of the most famous stretches of sand on Earth and one beautiful enough to make a Southern Californian yearn. The beach volleyball will be decided on Copacabana, though, on this particular Sunday afternoon, about the most important decision being made is whether or not to have another beer. Yes, we have our problems, Dominguez says. But the environment is so agreeable, the people so willing to chill that we forget our problems. Its sort of hard to explain if youre not from here. Ah, yes, Rios problems. They have been explored and explained in depth and nearly to death the past several months. For instance, Rio de Janeiro means River of January, not River of Human Feces, Mutilated Body Parts and General Yuck That Couldnt Be Neutralized Even With Super Industrial Strength Formula 409 Potent Enough To Burn The Eyebrows Off Mount Rushmore. The polluted water conditions, especially in the Olympic venue that is Guanabara Bay, have been ridiculed intentionally as much as Rios corrupt leaders and failing economy and mounting murders. To be sure, there is something very wrong with any venue that has officials urging the competitors to keep their eyes focused but their mouths closed. Yet, isnt there a saying about people who live in glass countries, even people in the media who struggle to find anything but fault? Yes, the Rio Games are a colossal disaster financially and will leave in their wake a legacy of economic and social ruin. But isnt that what the Olympic Games any Olympic Games almost always do? The problem isnt Rios; the problem is the system that has been warped beyond repair by the greed of the bullies who run the Games and benefit most from these gatherings in supposed celebration of athletics. On Sunday here, no one seems terribly preoccupied with the Olympics or what might go wrong, at least not when compared to seizing the brilliant sunshine in the hillside neighborhood of Santa Teresa or the trembling energy along freshly christened Olympic Boulevard. There is no in-between with Rio, Dominguez says. You either love it or you hate it. Most of the tourists love it. People from Rio leave, but most of them come back. There is a spirit here, a spirit about enjoying life. This party concept were known for will happen. The tour is winding down now, setting right along with the sun. This waterfront neighborhood is called Urca, where locals have gathered as is their Sunday ritual to lounge along a low concrete wall, sipping beer and snacking on small talk. Dominguez says this is her favorite view of her favorite city, looking out over the bobbing boats and roughed horizon, Christ the Redeemer still standing tall but now off in the distance. Being a Brazilian isnt just about a nationality, she says. Anyone can be a Brazilian. Thats what we like to say. Anyone can be a Brazilian if they follow the right attitude. Down below, also bobbing in that water, are empty bottles, discarded shopping bags and other assorted garbage. This is Guanabara Bay and the locals love the view, as clearly as their passion confirms their love of Rio. Contact the writer: jmiller@scng.com Heres how strapped California local governments are these days: Three Riverside County cities are poised to ask voters to approve sales tax hikes to fund basic city services. That means public safety police officers, firefighters and their equipment street maintenance, tree-trimming and building upkeep. The city councils in Hemet and Temecula have already acted to put sales-tax measures on the November ballot. Riversides council will consider a similar ballot measure at its Aug. 9 meeting. The reasons are basically the same: Cities are battling the rising costs of salaries, medical benefits, pensions and deferred maintenance (things that dont get attention till they break). Hemet voters are getting a second crack at a tax hike. A measure that would have funded only police and fire service was rejected on the June ballot after it narrowly failed to get the two-thirds margin a special tax requires (it got 63 percent). Now Hemet and the other cities are proposing general taxes. Those require only a simple majority. To support those tax hikes, voters will need to trust that elected officials will spend the money wisely. If they dont use it as voters wish, as Hemet Mayor Bonnie Wright said, kick them out of office. Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey, City Manager John Russo and Assistant City Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez visited The Press-Enterprise editorial board last week to make a pitch for how important the 1-cent tax hike is to their city. (As a columnist, I am not part of the editorial board, but they were kind enough to let me sit in.) I thought the Riverside officials made a pretty good case for the tax increase. Russo outlined steps the city has taken to become more fiscally responsible, to stop kicking the can down the road by borrowing funds, using one-time funds for ongoing expenses and neglecting upkeep of city assets. Voters will want to know that the city has already tightened its belt before asking them for more money, Russo said, pointing to $10.7 million in budget cuts for fiscal 2016-17 budget to address the deficit that had been papered over for years. Marysheva-Martinez described the citys switch to a two-year budget cycle with a broader five-year plan, to break short-term thinking and ensure long-term problems are solved instead of getting masked year after year with Band-Aid fixes. Russo said the streets alone need $15 million a year in repairs. Earlier in the week, the City Council got a briefing from a consultant who conducted on a phone survey to gauge whether Riverside voters will support a 1-cent tax increase. Interestingly, only 22 percent of Riverside likely voters are concerned about the amount they pay in taxes, consultant John Fairbank (cq) said. And 63 percent think the city needs more funding. The kicker: 64 percent of those surveyed would support a hypothetical 1-cent tax measure. Someone in the audience asked why the city doesnt go for a 2-cent tax increase. Russo said the city doesnt want an increase that would push it into the top ranks of California tax rates. Right now Riversides sales tax rate is 8 percent; a 1-cent increase with put the rate at 9 percent, the same as several other Inland cities, including Palm Springs, Montclair and San Bernardino. A host of Los Angeles County cities have higher rates, including Avalon, Commerce, Culver City and Inglewood at 9.5 percent, and La Mirada, Pico Rivera and South Gate at 10 percent. Riversides proposed tax hike would raise $48 million to $52 million a year; Temeculas, $23 million; Hemets, $10 million. Russo said the days when cities and counties could count on federal block grants or state pass-through funding are over. They need to find other sources of revenue. I think hes right. We all know the state doesnt have enough money to fix highways and bridges, and it doesnt seem inclined to share scarce tax dollars with the localities. Fairbank told the council a high-turnout election favors the sales tax measure. November is a presidential election; those typically spur higher turnout. The downside of Novembers ballot is it will have 16 or 17 state propositions. Those would come higher up on the ballot than a city sales tax measure. Down-ballot races carry the risk of dropping off voters radar. Nevertheless, Temecula and Hemet took the chance their voters will support proposed tax hikes. Well find out next week if Riverside will go for it, too. Contact the writer: 951-368-9470 or cmacduff@pressenterprise.com Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has a fascination with darkness and an eye for detail. His visually striking movies include the ghost story Crimson Peak, the fantasy Pans Labyrinth and the science fiction action pic Pacific Rim, but he doesnt stop seeking out new things when he leaves the film set. The director has amassed a collection of sculptures, paintings, books, artifacts and curiosities that he keeps at a Los Angeles home office and workspace he calls Bleak House. In the quiet suburban residence, he spends time with his treasures and works on upcoming endeavors. Del Toro has loaned a good chunk of his collection to Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters, a traveling exhibit that will be at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through Nov. 27. The retrospective also will include items from LACMAs holdings. To find beauty in the profane, del Toro said in a LACMA news release. To elevate the banal. To be moved by genre. These things are vital for my storytelling. This exhibition presents a small fraction of the things that have moved me, inspired me and consoled me as I transit through life. Its a devotional sampling of the enormous love that is required to create, maintain and love monsters in our lives. LACMA has presented a number of film-related shows, but choosing what of del Toros to display was a challenge. Britt Salvesen, the Monsters exhibit curator and department head of the Wallis Annenberg photography department and the prints and drawings department at LACMA, began working on the show in 2014 and met with del Toro at Bleak House five times. During her first visit, del Toro gave her a tour and orientation to the logic of the place. Subsequent visits became more detail-oriented, discussing specific objects, making notes and taking photographs, slowly narrowing down the items the filmmaker would loan out. All told, there are nearly 500 pieces on display in Monsters. One thing I decided early on was I would not do a filmography, which would be one gallery on each film, one leading to another, but instead responding to the way del Toro talks about his work and the way he organizes his house, Salvesen said. He says, like a lot of other filmmakers, hes making the same film over and over again, which means that hes always returning to the same core ideas even though they take on so many different forms. At LACMA, the arrangement of Monsters is reminiscent of a labyrinth or clockworks, both ideas that are important to del Toro, Salvesen said. Even though his films may seem at some level sometimes chaotic with energy, theyre very precise in their organization and their visual detail, Salvesen said. Often youll see clockwork motifs within the films, and with del Toro that stands for a whole larger interconnected system that he sets in motion. There are eight main sections within the exhibit, beginning with Childhood and Innocence, reflecting del Toros films that have child protagonists who drive the story while also being vulnerable to harm and fear. Next is Victoriana, which incorporates the style and furnishings of the Romantic, Victorian and Edwardian ages and the atmosphere of romanticism conflicting with modernization and the industrial revolution, another theme in his movies, Salvesen said. An example is Crimson Peak, and three costumes from the movie are on display. Within Victoriana is a subset on insects, which are also prevalent in del Toros works. Hes very fascinated with insect physiology, but also with the way we have so many people respond in this very visceral way to insects, a fear response, even though if you look objectively as he does, theyre very great examples of natures design, Salvesen said. I think he likes to trigger those deep-seated reactions so lots of his monster designs relate to insect physiology in some way. Another subset is del Toros notebooks in which he records his ideas, especially for his creatures, both in writing and drawings. The notebooks are displayed open to set pages, but there are also digitized versions to look through. Monsters features a lot of framed artwork from del Toros collection. In looking closely at these drawings and prints, original art, you can see how del Toro has drawn on art history, especially Victorian and symbolist art, Salvesen said. LACMA will offer two film programs in conjunction with Monsters: Guillermo del Toro, a series of his movies, shown on select dates through Nov. 18, and Fuel for Nightmares: A Curated Series of Guillermo del Toros Inspirations, Influences and Favorite Films, with matinees on select Tuesdays through Oct. 25. Contact the writer: mjmills@scng.com Twitter: @mickieszoo The Moreno Valley Unified School District will host a candlelight vigil Wednesday, Aug. 3, to honor the three former students who died in a crash Saturday near Los Angeles International Airport, and to support a fourth who remains in critical condition. The vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the stadium at Valley View High School, 13135 Nason St. in Moreno Valley. Participants are asked to bring smokeless candles, flowers or balloons. Coroners officials on Monday identified one of the victims as Nicole Hache, 16, of Moreno Valley. Aldo Noe Verdin Acosta, 19, of Moreno Valley, also was killed, while Devin Thomas, 19, of Moreno Valley, was seriously injured. They were identified Sunday by the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said the final victim was a 24-year-old San Bernardino woman, but her relatives and friends have said she was a 16-year-old from Moreno Valley. A Los Angeles County Coroners Office official, asked Monday to clarify, said there was an issue with notifying that victims next of kin, and he could not confirm details. Moreno Valley school district spokesman Tim McGillivray said Hache was a student at Valley View High. Acosta and Thomas were 2015 graduates of Valley View and had attended Bayside Community Day School, an alternative school for students who are credit deficient. On behalf of our School Board and all our employees, I send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of all those involved in this terrible tragedy, Superintendent Judy White said in a written statement. We will do whatever we can to provide support for our students and staff, especially those within the Valley View and Bayside school communities. A crisis team will be available to provide counseling to students who go to school this week for registration, and counselors will be available at Valley View and Bayside when school starts Aug. 10. McGillivray said the school district is in touch with the families and have made services available to them as well. The victims were headed to the beach Saturday morning when they crashed, according to Thomas uncle, Damien Reedy. Their vehicle, driven by Acosta, struck a concrete column at the 405/105 interchange about 7:50 a.m., the CHP said. Investigators believe that Acosta had been speeding on the collector road that leads traffic back onto the 405 southbound near Century Boulevard, and that he failed to make a curve. CHP officials on Monday said no updates were available in the investigation into the crash. They ask anyone with further information to call investigators at 310-642-3939. Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 19:44) Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.1 Trend: 20:19 (GMT+4) A homemade mine set by terrorists on the way to the airport in Turkey caused the explosion, the Milliyet newspaper reported. The explosion occurred at around 17:45 (UTC/GMT + 3 hours) when a bus carrying police officers was running along the road. Police officers injured as a result of the explosion were taken to the hospital. Six police officers were killed, while three were injured as a result of the incident, according to the newspaper. The health condition of two of them is serious. 19:44 (GMT+4) A strong explosion has occurred on the way to the airport in Turkeys Bingol province, the Milliyet newspaper reported Aug.1. The cause of the explosion is yet to be determined. It is assumed that there was committed an attack on a patrol police car. Ambulances have been sent to the scene. Summer kicks in with two flag-flying holidays, Memorial Day and the 4th of July, both reminders to get outdoors, enjoy a barbecue or picnic and be grateful to be alive and be American. For those of a literary bent, book notes on related historical themes abound, with perhaps more emphasis on the Vietnam War than World War II, for the first year in memory. The Wall Street Journal reviewed work by Jack Estes, author of A Field of Innocence (2015) in a June article, Gurney. Tiny. Pig Pen. I Remember Them All. Estes muses about his war dead and all of the happy events he might have celebrated with them, had they lived. It is a thread of grief that has been awakened for many recently. With the escalation of police killings and news of retribution in Dallas, Americans need a collective time of reflection. Fortunately, younger people have been able to talk and write about combat, PTSD, traumatic injury, survivor guilt and family coping mechanisms surrounding trauma and death. The June issue of Poetry printed John Hodgens Forget-Me-Not, a reflection on the long-time-dying and the effects on surviving relatives: My brother is dying and I am not./ I drag him behind me like a spiritless balloon, like the first robot / like the night without sleep in Turandot. The nights without sleep havent changed, robots have become death-dealing drones, and we still dont deal well with violence in a civilian context. Some commentators push us to confront issues of gun violence and racial profiling; others sound like cheerleaders for civil strife. Maybe Americans need a tolerance-targeted summer reading program and time off with good literature. How about a Mark Twain vacation reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn while cruising down the Mississippi and visiting the writers boyhood home and museum in Hannibal, Mo.? Maybe a review of Letters from the Earth and a visit to Twains House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., would be just the thing. The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis might be the only reason for visiting that city, other than a business meeting, but the apocalyptic Slaughterhouse Five could be just the traveling companion. For the romantics who love Spanish moss dangling from majestic trees, William Faulkners Rowan Oak home in Oxford, Miss., is a respite from the authors depressing Snopes family tales. An audio recording of Bob Dylans Only a Pawn in Their Game would be appropriate for the drive. Faulkners favorite whiskey is, sadly, not on offer at the museum. As for that long night in Turandot, Austrias Bregenz Festival has a production of the opera with July and August performances for summer travelers. Whichever adventure, bon voyage! Old Mutual Ghana, a major player in the financial and insurance services industry, has introduced an enhanced funeral plan with a cover of GHS 50,000. The Transition (Funeral) Plan is a product designed to cater for a major component of the costs associated with funerals. The plan pays a lump sum on the death of the policy owner or selected spouse, children, parents and/or parents-in-law. Premiums are paid for a maximum of 15 years but the policyholder as well as all the selected dependents enjoy cover for the whole of their lives. The product aims to process and pay claims within 48 hours of reporting the claim provided all necessary documentation is submitted on time. The product also has a cash back clause whereby every 5 years if the policy is still in force the policy holder gets back 10% of the premiums that they have paid. Rita Boateng, Marketing Executive of Old Mutual Ghana, explained that the introduction of the product is as a result Old mutual Ghanas constant desire to meet the financial needs of the Ghanaian customer. The enhanced funeral plan is not only easy for customers to understand but also offers value for money. Rita Boateng emphasized that the introduction is also occasioned by the fact Old Mutual exists to partner Ghanaians and give them the best financial solutions to cater for both their expected and unexpected future needs. From an Old Mutual perspective, we aim to enable positive futures in communities within which we operate. Offering life assurance products that are relevant gives us that opportunity to assist our customers to achieve their financial goals, even in times of difficulty. Old Mutual, a relatively new entrant on the Ghanaian insurance landscape - having rebranded only about a year ago, is one of the largest and most respected insurers in the world. The company began operations in 1845 as South Africas first mutual life insurance company, offering financial security in uncertain times. Today, over 171 years on, it builds on this heritage of trust and accountability by meeting a broad range of retail and commercial customers financial services needs, at each stage of their lives. Old Mutual takes a long-term view, aiming ultimately to enable positive futures for all stakeholders. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President John Mahama has subtly rated the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) as Ghanas leading public university, saying UPSA is the greatest university in the world. The President made this remark while delivering the keynote address at UPSAs 8th Congregation held at the forecourt of the university on Saturday in Accra. He apparently ranked UPSA ahead of University of Ghana (UG), Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast (UCC), among others, in terms of infrastructural development and visionary leadership. USPA, President said, has time and time again proven that with an inquiring vision, an unwavering commitment, teamwork and support, one can achieve unimagined height of greatness. He indicated that I have always been impressed anytime I visit this campus at the range of growth of significant infrastructure that this university continues to put up. According to him, A significant proportion of the infrastructure on this campus has been constructed using internally generated funds. President Mahama noted that the completion of your (UPSA) auditorium complex, which can accommodate 3,000 persons at a time, will make it the biggest auditorium in the country bigger than the National Theatre and bigger than Accra International Conference Centre. Before the 8th congregation, President Mahama commissioned a library facility at UPSA, adding that it can accommodate up to 1,600 students at a time. I have always felt that UPSA is an example of how internally generated funds should be used, the President asserted. He credited Prof. Joshua Alabi, Vice Chancellor of UPSA for all the achievements the school had chalked in recent years, describing him as a trailblazer in the nations education sector. According to him, Prof. Alabi has led the university over the last seven years with distinction and deserves commendation from the entire UPSA family. UPSA, he said, from its very humble beginnings has really developed into a world renowned university. The President also seized the opportunity to pay homage to Chief Dele Momodu of the Ovation Magazine fame, who received the fourth Honorary Doctorate Degree of the UPSA on the occasion in recognition of his outstanding contributions. Academic Report Prof. Alabi, whose second tenure began on January 1, 2013 and will come to an end by December 31, this year, said in his address that a total of 2,575 students have fulfilled the eligibility requirements for graduation today. Of this number, there are 318 diplomats, 1,836 undergraduate and 421 postgraduate students, explained Prof. Alabi, who has been hailed by many for his excellent leadership in transforming UPSA from a mere professional tutorial institution into a leading university. At the undergraduate level, a total of 13, representing 0.71 percent of the graduating class obtained First Class degrees, 24.24 percent had Second Class Upper degrees, 38.07 percent with Second Class Lower degrees, 28.38 percent with Third Class degrees and the remaining 8.61 percent are going home with pass degrees, he said. Chancellor of UPSA, Drolor Bosso Adamtey I, in a statement, disclosed that we project that by the year 2017, the total student population will grow from the current 12,000 to 15,000, adding that the strategic initiatives being implemented for the next five years are on course. He said the 3,000 capacity UPSA auditorium was being constructed at the cost of GH77 million, noting that the project is due for completion in 30 months. 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 An investigative research report which is in possession of Today has called for the immediate dissolution of the countrys National Accreditation Board (NAB). Consequently the report called for the reconstitution of NAB by returning to Parliament to seek prosecutorial powers, so it [the NAB] can haul individuals and institutions that flout its legal instruments to court. The report titled: The Accreditation Challenges in Transnational Educational Ecology: The Ghanaian Experience, was conducted by two United States of America (USA) based-Ghanaian Professors, Dr. Prosper Yao Tsikata and Dr. A. Kobla Dotse. It examined the accreditation regimes across three countriesthe US, United Kingdom (UK) and Ghana. The research also took into consideration a comparative analysis of what a doctoral degree in its various formsresidency, online, and honoris causaentails. Although it noted that the UK and the USA operate different accreditation regimes, the report underscored that it was easy for anyone to ascertain the accreditation status of institutions operating in these countries. And while Ghana also operates an accreditation, the findings of the research asserted that the regime was fraught with peculiar problems that need urgent attention. That, according to the report, has brought the NAB under an immense public scrutiny. It indicted the NAB for failing to perform its gatekeeping role in protecting the credibility of educational products sold to the Ghanaian public by some unaccredited educational institutions. And that, the report indicated, was due to weak accreditation regime in Ghana which situation, individuals and institutions of dubious backgrounds have taken the NABs accreditation regime for granted and flouted its authority with impunity. It further indicated that some of the institutions in question were in breach of NABs instrument of authority, while others had acquired NABs accreditation under questionable arrangements. Some of the unaccredited institutions mentioned in the report include Atlantic International University, Honolulu, Hawaii, Dayspring Christian University of Mississippi and local affiliates in the Global Centre for Transformational Leadership and Pan African Clergy Council. Others are Almeda College/university, Atlanta, GA; European-American University, Commonwealth of Dominica and affiliates in Lagos, Nigeria, American Century University and Albuquerque. The rest are Thomas A-Bucket University Canterbury, Kent, UK, with affiliates in Pan African Mission Association, Lagos, Nigeria, and African Institute of Technology, Nigeria, Swiss Management Center (SMC), Zurich, Switzerland, University of Dublin, California and the Commonwealth University and the London Graduate School. It was therefore not a surprise, according to the report, that the recent revelations by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Education, Winneba that 61 percent of teachers in tertiary institutions in Ghana were unqualified to teach in such institutions. For instance, to buttress the University of Education VCs claim, the report said over 30 doctorate degree holders in Ghana were received from three institutions with questionable backgrounds. In this regard, the researchers expressed worry that the canker has eaten very deep into the fabric of the Ghanaian educational system. As a result of that, the report noted products coming out of Ghanaian tertiary institutions struggle to find their feet in the workforce. The findings of the research further noted that Ghanaian doctoral aspirants were being fleeced around the world with questionable qualifications which was not going to help the development discourse of the country in anyway. And to fight this accreditation challenges, the report recommended among other things like, forging functional links with other national/international accrediting bodies for the purposes of verification. It also suggested a mentoring process with the well-established universities in GhanaUniversity of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for the purposes of mentoring and supervising genuine online educational programs for quality assurance. Source: Today Newspaper 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 Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has identified the malfunctioning of the economy, energy and health sectors of Ghana, as challenges but said there was hope since the country has the potential to turn things around. According to the Asantehene, the raging energy crisis, popularly known as Dumsor, is crippling businesses, aside the existence of graduate unemployment and difficulties in the healthcare system. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made the observation last Friday in his keynote address at the opening session of the National Convention of Aglow International-Ghana (AI-G) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on the theme And Will Restore All Things. He said: Yes, there is unemployment for our youth who have graduated from school, the energy crisis is hurting businesses, our health delivery system is experiencing difficulties and this election year, threats of violence which can disrupt the peace we are enjoying are seemingly with us. Basing his views on Mathew 17:1-13, which speaks of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, expressed the hope that God would restore all lost things, and tasked the AI-G to continue praying for the country. I am impressed and fascinated by the monthly prayers you hold in the various regions for the nation and which culminates in an annual thanksgiving ceremony in Accra. The relevance of your theme and how your objectives are going to be realised will depend on the unbridled efforts you put in your desire to carry out your mandate. And I am confident you will make it, he admonished. Otumfuo Osei Tutu was impressed with the number of respectable, graceful and elderly women in the fellowship but charged the fellowship to consider forming a youth wing to seek the transformation of morality amongst girls which, according to him, is at a lowest ebb. The National President of the AI-G, Mama Dorothy Danso, in her welcome address, also acknowledged that Ghanaians were on the brink of despair but said there was still hope for a turnaround and they would work at it. Two years ago, we stood on our theme that there is a sound of abundance of good things to rain on us and God being so good and compassionate blessed us with plenty to eat. Foodstuffs and vegetables were in abundance during that season. Our expectation on the economy, health and sanitation, education, youth employment and social amenities were not satisfactory and needs much improvement. Though the nation is facing difficulties and challenging times and we are at the brink of despair we would not lose hope for our Redeemer lives; there will be light at the end of the dark tunnel and our God will restore to us all things lost. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Alexander Ackon, acknowledged the close relationship between the church and the government and asked the former to support the latter in its efforts towards improving the socio-economic conditions in the country to improve the quality of life of the citizenry. We are aware 2016 is an election year and very soon hectic campaigns are going to take centre stage in national political activities. Tension is going to rise and I entreat you to pray unceasingly that the presidential and parliamentary election will be free, fair and incident free, he pleaded. 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 The Ghana Nurse-Midwife Trainees Association (GNMTA) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to government to respond to their concerns over unpaid allowances and postings or face their wrath. Over 50 members of the association took to the principal streets of the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, on Friday July 29 to march against the government over the delay in paying their allowances. The trainees have warned that failure to heed their call will result in a demonstration on August 15. Speaking to journalists, the national president of the association, Godwin Akazi, said: It is heart-breaking and mind boggling and thought-provoking to complete, pass licensing examination, and register with the regulatory agencies and even serve the nation selflessly, diligently, and patriotically for a year and yet be abandoned to waste away at home without being employed. Government has not only breached the terms of the bond, but has failed to make use of the ever-ready human resource available in the health sector, he stated. As law-abiding citizens, who are aware of our civic responsibility, we will continue to explore every diplomatic route available to get our concerns addressed. We will be left with no option than to give the government another 14-day ultimatum to respond to all issues raised or we prepare for another peaceful demonstration in the nations capital on 15 August 2016 to drum home our long overdue demands. Source: Classfmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the Interior Ministry to provide the needed resources to the Ghana Prisons Service to enable them work effectively. He expressed worry over the poor conditions in the countrys prisons and called for urgent steps to address such concerns. The Asantehene made the remarks when the Interior Minister, Prosper Bani, paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace. The Ghana Prisons Service is doing a good job, but they are facing some challenges that need urgent attention. When they [prisoners] are being transferred to the court for hearing, they have to sometimes go in taxis. Recently, some of the prisoners were sent to work on farms as labourers. On their way back, they were involved in an accident, which resulted in their death; this is disheartening, so kindly improve on that, he stated. Source: Classfmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A 34-year-old Kenyan man allegedly chopped off the hands of his wife of seven years with a large knife because she cannot have children, in what is said to be the most atrocious cases of domestic violence. 28-year-old Jackline Mwende from Kathama Village, Masii in Machakos County, had her hands chopped off at the wrist by her husband, Stephen Ngila Thenge (right) on July 24. She is also nursing injuries on her head and neck from the gruesome attack. Relatives say the couple had been having issues and Ms Mwende wanted to leave her husband but was advised against it by "their pastor." Ms Mwende, who spoke told Nation Kenya at her father's Kathama home, where she now stays after her discharge from the hospital on Friday, July 29, said that before the attack, they had separated for about three months over failure to have children. "I could not understand why he was blaming me yet we had gone to hospital last year and the doctors had said he was the one with issues, which could be corrected," she said. She said her husband, a tailor at Masii town, refused to follow up on treatment. "He moved out of our house three months ago and came back on Sunday (July 24) at around 8.30pm. When I opened the door, he said today is your last day and started slashing me with the panga." Ms Mwende called out for help but the man fled before neighbours arrived. "They were all afraid of touching me, they thought I was dead. I was rushed to Machakos Hospital where I was given painkillers and got a blood transfusion. I was discharged on Friday." Shocked villagers described Mr Thenge is a very "polite man". The man was arrested on Monday July 25 in Machakos town hours after he fled his home in Masii. Ms Mwende's jobless parents are now appealing for help to take care of their child. Mr Samuel Munyoki said: "We want justice for our daughter. The person who did this should pay for it. She is now disabled and will need artificial hands to get her life together but we cant afford anything. We are poor, we cant even afford her painkillers." Ms Mwende said she was leaving everything to God even as she expected justice from the courts. Machakos women Representative Dr Susan Musyoka condemned violence and said justice must be done. Source: kenyans.co.ke 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 United States top military officer Monday reaffirmed Washingtons support for Turkish democracy in a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, according to the Prime Ministry, Anadolu reported. According to a statement posted on the ministry's website, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford strongly condemned the recent coup attempt which martyred more than 230 people and injured nearly 2,200 others. Dunford reiterated that the US was in full support of the democratic system in Turkey, and would continue to cooperate with Turkey in all areas, including the military, said the statement. During the meeting, Yildirim underlined the significance of the open and determined stance the U.S. adopted against the coup bid, which he said was the biggest threat ever against Turkish democracy and the Turkish people. Yildirim also reiterated Ankaras expectation that Washington extradite Fetullah Gulen, the U.S.-based preacher who masterminded the July 15 coup attempt. Earlier, Dunford visited the parliament building with his Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar and was shown the bombed parts of the building. He also met with Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman. Turkey's government has repeatedly said the deadly coup attempt was organized by Gulens followers. 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. The New Patriotic Party is not happy with moves by the Electoral Commission to opt for the electronic transmission of results from the 7th December polls. The EC is far-advanced in awarding the contract for e-transmission. Five companies were shortlisted and they are expected to do a demonstration of their respective solutions in the latter part of next week. So far, no political party or civil society organization has received invitation from the EC to attend the demonstration. Speaking on Sunday, Peter Mac Manu, the Campaign Manager of the opposition NPP, says the EC has not been able to convince the country why it intends to do e-transmission of poll results in December. First, there is no law which gives the EC the mandate to electronically transmit results. Nothing in the law before Parliament now, C.I. 94, makes mention of it, Mr Mac Manu says. Also, the law talks about the EC receiving all the collated results from the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results (pink sheets), signed by party agents at the constituency level, and the expectation is that they will be brought to the National Collation Centre before the winner of the presidential race will be declared, he says. One of the main demands from the election petition, which followed the 2012 presidential contest, is for the returning officer, Mrs Charlotte Osei, to not declare the results without having physical custody of all the collated pink sheets from all 29,000 polling stations nationwide. The EC has not said it intends to declare a winner based on the results transmitted electronically, however. The NPP is, therefore, not convinced why the EC will spend good money to invest in e-transmission. If the EC does not intend to declare results based on e-transmission, then for what purpose is that option to us? We require some good answers here, he says. The focus, we believe, should rather be on first ensuring that a certified true copy of the pink sheet, from each of the 29,000 is brought to the National Collation Centre before the Chairperson of the EC finally declares the winner. They can all be brought to Accra within 48 hours from even the remotest part of Ghana, Mr Mac Manu argues. The EC placed an Expression of Interest advert in the dailies on 2nd March 2016. 16 companies responded, five of them have been shortlisted. They are, namely, InfoTrend, BSystems/Computer Foundation, Persol Systems, Scytl and Smartmatic. The NPP is also raising other concerns over the integrity of e-transmission, which they believe has been compounded by the reluctance of the electoral management body to be transparent to key stakeholders and the general public on the details of the proposed e-transmission. Potentially, the results can be tampered with, and by that I mean modified mid-transmission. Particularly in the absence of strong network security and encryption. Also, if the system starts sending and breaks down midstream, there could be confusion. We have seen that in Ecuador, where for two weeks the results were not coming. We have seen that in Mexico and we have also seen e-transmission failing in Kenya, which was the main reason behind their election petition in 2012, the former NPP National Chairman recalls. He poses further questions: Should the partial results sent be accepted? How should the rest be captured? In the process could there be a manipulation of the result? Mr Mac Manu does not see e-transmission as addressing the critical challenges that the reform process seeks to do. For example, he notes, results transmission does not in any way control the abuse of the electoral process. It does not address foreign ballots. It is an after-the-fact process. If there are only 800 voters on the register how will the system prevent transmission of results cast in excess of that number? To the NPP, e-transmission can end up creating confusion where there is a discrepancy between the electronically transmitted results and what is contained on the actual pink sheet. Their Campaign Manager, however, admits that e-transmission will mean quick receipt of election results at the centre, which will mean, the outcome of national election can be determined quickly. But we should never substitute accuracy for speed. He further concedes, if done properly, the process of confirming or accepting receipt of e-transmitted results can be more open & transparent. But, if the EC was really serious about e-transmission then it should have backed that with legislation. No constitutional instrument supports this radical shift. Very ironic for a commission that insists on deleting names according to existing law even where the Supreme Court has ordered so, Mr Mac Manu says. Source: NPP Communications 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 legal advisor to President John Mahama, Tony Lithur has cautioned against the granting of pardon to the 'Montie 3'. According to him, if President Mahama heeds to calls to invoke Article 72 (1) to free the Montie 3 who have been sentenced to four months imprisonment, it will undermine the judiciary. "Let us step back for a moment. What will be the effect or, at least, the perception of the grant of pardon? It would constitute a direct undermining of the judiciary in a manner that is unprecedented in recent times save for the appointment by President Kufuor of an additional justice of the Supreme Court to achieve a collateral purpose. And what happened in that instance? President Kufuor was pounded by most of us including our development partners; and it is a legacy that has followed him into retirement from active politics? Is that what we want for our President?" he said in a statement. The ruling National Democratic Congress, Ministers, Members of Parliament and some groups have petitioned the President to invoke Article 72 (1) of the constitution which states "the President may in consultation with the Council of State grant a person convicted of an offence a pardon either free or subject to lawful conditions", to free Salifu Maase, Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako-Gunn. The trio were found guilty of scandalizing the Supreme Court. They agree the comments made by the trio were unacceptable; however, they feel the sentence imposed on them is excessive and harsh. Adding his voice to others who also feel the President should not heed to such calls, Lawyer Lithur said "while most people comment on the length of the sentence, it seems to be lost on us that the four months uncannily spans the hottest period of the campaign towards the presidential and general elections. By the grant of a executive pardon would we not be falling into a trap by dashing to the opposition a crucial rallying and campaign message of undermining the judiciary? I ask you all, very humbly and respectfully to pause for a moment and reflect on the immense pressure we are bringing to bear on the person who will lead the party into the next election to take a step that may harm the party's chances. Let's please reflect on this and reduce pressure on His Excellency the President". Read full statement below The feeling of anger and disgust at the sentencing of our friends by the Supreme Court is very understandable. I agree with you that whatever the wrongs the accused persons may have committed the sentencing, while it should serve as a measure of deterrent, should also have taken into consideration the constitutional requirements of freedom of speech and press freedom. In addition I think the judiciary should have borne in mind the perception that may be created of high-handed and judicial tyranny by the method of redress it had chosen and the severity of the sentences notwithstanding the real and palpable remorse publicly shown by the accused persons. However, the answer in my very humble view, is not the resort to executive intervention by the grant of pardon. Let us step back for a moment. What will be the effect or, at least, the perception of the grant of pardon? It would constitute a direct undermining of the judiciary in a manner that is unprecedented in recent times save for the appointment by President Kufuor of an additional justice of the Supreme Court to achieve a collateral purpose. And what happened in that instance? President Kufuor was pounded by most of us including our development partners; and it is a legacy that has followed him into retirement from active politics? Is that what we want for our President? While most people comment on the length of the sentence, it seems to be lost on us that the four months uncannily spans the hottest period of the campaign towards the presidential and general elections. By the grant of an executive pardon would we not be falling into a trap by dashing to the opposition a crucial rallying and campaign message of undermining the judiciary? I ask you all, very humbly and respectfully to pause for a moment and reflect on the immense pressure we are bringing to bear on the person who will lead the party into the next election to take a step that may harm the party's chances. Let's please reflect on this and reduce pressure on His Excellency the President. What are the alternatives? There is opportunity to apply for a review, for what it is worth. In the meantime let us continue to state publicly what our views are about the sentences, choosing moderate language and still showing respect to the judiciary. After all when it came to the crunch in 2013, it is this same body that held the balance. Let that body not see NDC as the enemy. Let's accept its verdict while we take formal steps to take a second bite at the cherry. In the meantime let's not forgot those who have been convicted. Let's visit them regularly and publicly and make sure they are as comfortable as is possible within the constraints of the prison. Let's show that we have not forgotten them. Let's make sure their families are not disadvantaged beyond their absence, and let us continue to pray for them. God bless the NDC Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Leaked confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca show how the Kufuor administration committed Ghana to an agreement with a foreign company for the development and operation of a five-star luxury hotel in Accra before seeking parliamentary approval. According to the leaked files, suspended chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Paul Afoko received over half a million dollars for fronting as a nominee director for the offshore company. Documents show that on 15 February 2006, the government of Ghana entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of the 300 000m decommissioned Accra Racecourse site. Under former president John Kufuor, the Ghanaian government committed Cascade Development Company and its affiliates, the firm that constructed the Kempinski Hotel, to a preliminary outline plan to develop the site into a user complex. The site, once inhabited by squatters, would see development of a five-star hotel, along with an office building, residential buildings and a shopping mall. Former chief of staff under the Kufuor administration, Kojo Mpiani, says he signed the MoU because the developers showed serious intent. The supporting agreement between the government and Cascade Development Company was given executive approval afterwards. Mpiani explains that the deal didnt go through cabinet approval because the president had the power to approve such agreements if he was satisfied with the details after review, which explains why the support agreement sent to Parliament for approval was given executive approval. The leaked confidential document from the office of the president dated 21 October 2008 says: I refer to your request for executive approval on the above subject matter dated 14 October, 2008. His Excellency the President has given Executive approval for the support agreement between Government of Ghana and Cascade Development Company for the development of a five-star hotel at the Accra Race Course. 50-YEAR SUBLEASE In the agreement, the government committed to sublease the land for 50 years. The agreement also required Cascade Development Company to manage the Accra International Conference Centre. The final agreement was signed on 11 January 2007. Article 181(5) of the Ghanaian Constitution says that parliamentary approval is required in respect of international business transactions which the state of Ghana is a party to. The parliamentary approval, however, was sought a year after the government signed an agreement with the Cascade Development Company. Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance, James Avedzi, whose party was in opposition during the period, says the government erred in signing the agreement before seeking parliamentary approval. In the supporting agreement approved by Parliament, the government indemnified the Cascade Development Company and Gold Coast Resort International from any liability to pay any tax on the income, profits, whether actual or accrued, earned or made by Cascade Development Company and its affiliates in respect of each sub-phase for a period of five years from the completion of such relevant sub-phase. Avedzi says these exemptions were granted in line with governments vision of making Ghana a preferred tourist destination. TAX EXEMPTIONS The exemptions also touch on imports of necessary materials and equipment for the project, as well as the withholding tax on dividends, royalties, license fees, rental payments and management fees paid by Cascade Development Company. But, lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School Dr Ibrahim Bedi is raising questions about the exemptions on the withholding tax paid by the developer and its affiliates with effect from opening of each sub-phase and continuing for a period of five years from the date of completion of each sub-phase. According to Bedi, this exemption is meant for real estate developers constructing apartments for low and middle income earners, and not the developer of luxurious hotel. This means, it gives Kempinski Hotel undue advantage over its competitors, such as Paloma Hotel, Labadi Hotel, Golden Tulip, Alisa Hotel and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel among others. The exemptions will enable the management of the hotel to improve their services or cut down cost of production, Bedi argues. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance disagrees. He says the exemptions must not be singled out but must be seen as a package to attract investors. The exemptions were granted under the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre incentives (GIPCI). Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Domestic Tax at the Ghana Revenue Authority Edward Gyamera explains that even though Cascade Development Company and its affiliates were granted all of the exemptions, incentives and tax concessions provided for in the GIPC, it is not possible for investors to enjoy all exemptions. Two months after the government of Ghana signed the MoU with the developers, Gold Coast Resorts International was incorporated, on 19 April 2006. It appointed Cascade Development Company. through its Ghana subsidiary, to develop the five-star hotel complex. Gold Coast Resorts is a web of offshore entities, with the largest shareholder of the company (45%) being Zakhem International SA, an entity registered in the tax haven of Luxembourg. At least two other shareholders of the Gold Coast Resorts Bethana Investments Inc and Uridor Investments SA were registered in Panama, another known tax haven. The government of Ghana, through the Ghana Tourist Board, owns 10% of Gold Coast Resorts. The Panama Papers confirm that Afoko, a leading member of the NPP and close friend of Kufuor was a shareholder in Gold Coast Resorts International. However, he transferred his shares to Zakhem International on 15 July, 2009. The transfer value of the shares was $640,000. The reason for the transfer is unclear, but Mr. Afoko is believed to have played a lead role in negotiations on behalf of an offshore company and the government during the period the NPP was in power. Afoko declined to comment on the story. HOTEL MANAGER The extent of the relationship between Afoko and Marwan Zakhem, a manager at Kempinski Hotel, are unclear, but Mossack Fonsecas records show that Zakhems name appears on the register of directors and officers of Afokos oil firm, the West African Petroleum Company. Afoko and Zakhem are shown in the documents as registered members of the company, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands. Zakhem had 250 shares, which were received on 13 January 2005. However he ceased to be a member of the company on 12 August 2010 and transferred his shares on the same date. Curiously, the Z2 Group Limited, which Zakhem is a director of, entered the register as member on 12 August 2010. In the leaked files, Zakhem is listed as a director GCC Resorts Limited, Zakhem Construction (Ghana) Limited and Cascade Development Company, the entity that constructed the five-star luxurious hotel. When officials of Kempinski Hotel were contacted, they too declined to comment, saying they only offer technical expertise to owners of the facility. On 15 July 2009, two months after Afoko was allocated his shares, he transferred them to Zakhem International SA for $640,000. Files show, however, that Afoko is still a shareholder in the company. When the company files were updated by on 26 November, 2012 by Bryan Scatliffe, the assistant secretary for and on behalf of Mossack Fonseca, Afokos name was still on the list with 576,000 shares. According to the records available at the registered office, the shareholders of the company are: Shareholders ...No of shares Zakhem International SA 5,760,000 Funsho Moses Kupolokum 2,205,000 Bounville Holdings Ltd 2,295,000 The Government of Ghana 1,280,000 Uridor Investments SA 1,260,000 Bethana Investments Inc 900,000 Paul Afoko 576,000 Ghana Tourist Board 1,280,000 Mossack Fonsecas records show the shareholding structure of Gold Coast Resort International: Shareholders ...No of shares... % represented Zakhem International S.A. 5, 760 000 45% Funsho Moses Kupolokun (former aide to Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo) 1, 800, 000 14% Bounville Holdings Limited (Seychelles) 1, 800 000 14% Ghanian Government 1, 280, 000 10% Uridor Investments S.A. 1, 260, 000 9.84% Bethana Investment Inc (Panama) 900, 000 7% Paul Afoko 576, 000 The shareholders provided funds for the financing of the project. The government was allotted the shares in terms of the support agreement signed on 15 July 2009. One of the emails between Mossack Fonseca and Gold Coast Resorts International states that the activity of this company is a holding company of a Ghanaian subsidiary. GCRI has invested in the Ghanaian subsidiary for the development and operation of a five-star luxury hotel in Accra, Ghana. George Kwatia, Ghana tax partner at PWC, said the benefits for the offshore companies far outweighed the benefits for Ghanas economy. Tax justice campaigner Bernard Adjei argued that incorporating offshore companies is a mechanism deployed by businesses to either pay low tax or avoid paying revenues to the government in the countries where they operate. Adjei wants government to plug legal loopholes that give offshore companies one-sided advantages of bilateral agreements that are signed. Panama Papers Source: kasapafmonline.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 Deputy Minister for Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has issued a sharp response to pressure group Occupy Ghana which has condemned the action of government appointees to sign a petition that seeks to call on President John Dramani Mahama to pardon what has become known as the Montie 3' jailed for contempt of the Supreme Court. Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a facebook post, accused the pressure group of "portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers", yet have the temerity "to stampede one arm of Government" (the Executive) from performing its duty. It is unfortunate that Occupy Ghana seeks to portray our actions as amounting to interference in the work of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has handed down its verdict. Which verdict has been swiftly enforced by the State. The three gentleman are languishing in jail and I know that for a fact because I have been there to visit them. How can anybody cognizant of these circumstances accuse us of interfering with the decision of the judiciary? The irony however is that while Occupy Ghana sermonizes on non- interference, they have no hesitation in not only interfering with the President's right to exercise his prerogative under Article 72, they are in addition busily issuing threats about how the President's exercise of his discretionary powers could be the subject of judicial review if he does go ahead to exercise it. They also resort to pressing the fear button by alluding to an imaginary constitutional crisis perhaps oblivious that the fear card is but an antiquated trick in the books that doesn't really work these days. It's even more disconcerting that while portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers they are in the same breath seeking to stampede one arm of Government - the executive from exercising its powers. Amazing! The deputy minister, who expressed no regrets in endorsing the "Free Montie 3" campaign, rather urged OccupyGhana to respect the rights of other Ghanaians. I, like all my senior colleagues have no regret in endorsing this campaign. Freedom and justice has never been presented to mankind as a sweet-smelling bouquet of flowers without controversy. All the freedoms we enjoy today have been bequeathed to us by men and women who stood up to be counted from Yaa Asantewaa to Nkrumah, Lincoln to Luther King Jnr, Biko to Mandela. No matter what, let history count me on the side of the oppressed than on the side of the oppressor. Here is the full text of Mr Okudzetos statement. OKUDZETO WRITES.. I have become aware of an Occupy Ghana press statement asking His Excellency the President to rebuke Ministers, Presidential Staffers and other members of the executive who have endorsed a signature campaign for free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and for President Mahama to exercise his prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. The statement in issue further describes the current signature campaign as "contrived" and a "facade". It seems to me that our friends at Occupy Ghana believe they are guaranteed more rights under the constitution than the rest of us. When they issue statements such as the one under reference, when they organize demonstrations and when they hold public fora amid other public manifestations, theirs isn't to be considered contrived and a facade but others is. Occupy Ghana even touts it's mission to be "Occupying Hearts & Minds for God and Country!!!" Claims we have all accommodated though there are those who may consider a self-imposed status of God's special envoys more blasphemous than flattering. Nonetheless, the Occupiers have been granted the benefit of the doubt and yet they choose to label the conduct of others simply exercising their rights as "incongruous and bizarre". It is troubling that to the Occupiers we cannot exercise rights under the constitution as citizens of Ghana simply because we belong to the executive arm of Government? I cannot reconcile why it is perfectly fine for Ministers to honour requests from Occupy Ghana to grant them interviews, to respond to their letters and even to give them documents for their numerous campaigns and advocacy as we oblige within the tenets of good governance and yet when other activists campaigning in honour of free expression, media freedoms, commensurate punishment and the constitutional right of a President to exercise his prerogative of mercy seek our endorsement we must ignore them even if we believe in their course because Occupy Ghana says so. If we don't then we must be viciously attacked and rebuked. Even if the President holds a different view and opts not to invoke Article 72, why should that warrant sanctions on ministers? I thought Occupy Ghana has often made reference to best practices in other jurisdictions. Did they not follow the recent Brexit debate where Prime Minister Cameron and his Ministers were free to take positions of their choice and to vigorously campaign for same. I find it strange that Occupy Ghana will assert that those of us who while condemning the pronouncements of the Montie Three hold the view that the jail term of four months is harsh are the ones slapping the judiciary in the face whereas Occupy Ghana takes no issue with those who have openly criticized the judges for being too lenient and not imposing longer jail terms. Perhaps it's all about convenience not principle. It is unfortunate that Occupy Ghana seeks to portray our actions as amounting to interference in the work of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has handed down its verdict. Which verdict has been swiftly enforced by the State. The three gentleman are languishing in jail and I know that for a fact because I have been there to visit them. How can anybody cognizant of these circumstances accuse us of interfering with the decision of the judiciary? The irony however is that while Occupy Ghana sermonizes on non- interference, they have no hesitation in not only interfering with the President's right to exercise his prerogative under Article 72, they are in addition busily issuing threats about how the President's exercise of his discretionary powers could be the subject of judicial review if he does go ahead to exercise it. They also resort to pressing the fear button by alluding to an imaginary constitutional crisis perhaps oblivious that the fear card is but an antiquated trick in the books that doesn't really work these days. It's even more disconcerting that while portraying themselves as apostles of the doctrine of separation of powers they are in the same breath seeking to stampede one arm of Government - the executive from exercising it's powers. Amazing! I however share in the view of the group that lessons must be learnt from this episode and that there can be no justification for reckless speech however may I humbly submit that it would do the group's image some good if it doesn't engage in worrisome selectivity but is heard equally on all despicable utterances including those that have been targeted at the President, the Bench, the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Voltarians, Gas, political opponents etc. And even more importantly those who have proceeded to carry out their threats though much to the chagrin of many are hailed as heroes within their political parties while civil society turns a blind eye. This is not about equalization, it is about adopting a principled stance in the national interest. It is about purifying the democratic process to ensure that it is issue driven and ideas based, nothing more. While at this, it is necessary to acknowledge the enhanced measures put in place by the executive and the national security apparatus as assurances for the safety of our revered judiciary and that they do not encounter any let or hindrance in the delivery of justice. The July 18 public statement issued by the Judicial Council confirming these arrangements and assuring it's members of continuous collaboration with the executive to guarantee their protection is the way to go and must be refreshing to all. No Ghanaian deserves to work under a cloud of fear be they judges, overlords, regional chairmen of political parties etc. I, like all my senior colleagues have no regret in endorsing this campaign. Freedom and justice has never been presented to mankind as a sweet-smelling bouquet of flowers without controversy. All the freedoms we enjoy today have been bequeathed to us by men and women who stood up to be counted from Yaa Asantewaa to Nkrumah, Lincoln to Luther King Jnr, Biko to Mandela. No matter what, let history count me on the side of the oppressed than on the side of the oppressor. May I conclude not by wishing that the members of Occupy Ghana be rebuked by those who read this piece, rather my wishes are that we all find common ground to work together in establishing for ourselves a fair and just society with love towards all and malice towards none. Ghana needs us all. God bless Ghana. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (MP) Deputy Minister for Education Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Common sense would dictate that if you want accurate statistics on methamphetamine use, you should assess the drugs dosages before punters use em. Science says the hell otherwise. Researchers at the University of South Australia have sidestepped the logistical and legal rigmarole of tracking ice usage prior to consumption, cause theyve been scouring Western Australias sewerage to gain an insight into the states drug usage. Their findings are actually even more concerning than the fact its some poor schmoes job to collect the wastewater samples: after testing a years worth of sewerage, its been discovered nearly 32 kilos of the drug are used in Perth each week. While their methods are nebulous and, to be frank, the public might be better off not knowing their techniques the results also reveal the drugs use state-wide. The people of Bunbury go through 558 doses per 1,000 people, compared to 344 in Perth and 314 in Geraldton. Test results from more rural locations are literally in the pipeline, but it is currently thought WA is going through about $2 billion worth of ice every year. Notably, Police Minister Liza Harvey said the state has also been able to assess the real-world affect of drug busts. She said weve seen spikes at certain points when theres been seizures made we see a dip in usage rates and so we can determine if were actually interrupting the supply chain. Not a bad return from literal shit. Source: ABC. As recent shootings overseas have demonstrated, its bad news for everyone if police officers immediately respond to the day-to-day circumstances of their job with violence. Yet, as tonights Four Corners demonstrated, Australian police officers who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have effectively been shunned despite the possibility of their mental illness having real, deadly ramifications. For Insult To Injury, the ABC programme spoke to a slew of former police officers who had been affected by PTSD in the line of duty. Time and time again, they spoke of an inability of the nations police forces to adequately deal with the issue. Former officer Brendon Bullock, who worked in counter-terrorism teams and kept tabs on organised crime figures, typified the issue by saying toughening up is just a part of the job. He went on to discuss the brutal culture of shame and silence that working on the force entailed. I dont think the culture of the New South Wales police force allows their members to have the confidence to open up to their superiors and disclose to them that they are feeling the psychological affects of everyday stresses that police go through. After witnessing the mutilated body of a murder victim in 2011, Bullock said he had to accept that I was unable to process and deal with trauma any longer. That event precipitated his mental illness, the symptoms of which were exacerbated by an arduous slog to gain compensation from the police forces insurance agencies. Bullock spoke of periods of intense surveillance from investigators hired by insurance firms; he claims their intrusion into his life, all while ignoring its impact on his mental wellbeing, brought him close to suicide. Oh, and the insurance agency dragged its heels on the claim to boot. Another former officer, only going by the name Greg, spoke of similar circumstances. After realising he was bringing the emotional trauma inflicted by his work home to his young family thereby placing them at very real risk of an outburst he sought a disability claim. What followed were more instances of surveillance and delays. Greg said what they say to people is, well, we dont believe you. And were going to fight you all the way.' And I mean, ultimately, I think what they want to do is drag it out as long as they can, so you can either give up or go and kill yourself. Speaking of his time on the force when he while dealing with his mental health issues, Greg said if youre a cop with a gun on your hip walking round the streets full of that much anger, its just not safe. Turn on #4Corners now for our investigation into the rotten treatment of cops with #PTSD pic.twitter.com/W9wsxKcuX5 Sally Neighbour (@neighbour_s) August 1, 2016 Thats a harrowing viewpoint which was mirrored through much of the broadcast, and the issue was brought into even sharper relief when one of the nations top researchers on the issue estimated one in five police officers has PTSD, or is at risk of developing the disorder. Moreover, 35 police officers have taken their own lives in the past twenty one years, with four committing suicide so far in 2016. Its absolutely brutal stuff, from the apparently toxic workplace culture to the protracted dealings with insurance agencies, and its definitely not the kind of thing you want to happen to those tasked with protecting our communities. Watch the full episode here. Source and photo: Four Corners / ABC. If you need support or assistance regarding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and related mental health issues, give Lifeline a call on 13 11 14. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and former Queensland supreme court justice Margaret White will lead the royal commission into the alleged abuses committed in the Northern Territorys juvenile detention system. Their appointment comes immediately after Brian Martin QC stepped down from the role, citing the lacking confidence of sections of the Indigenous community which has a vital interest in this inquiry, and a possible perception of bias owing to his daughters tenure working for the NTs attorney-general. Indigenous Australians currently represent a disproportionately large contingent of the NTs prison population, a figure that is also reflected in the territorys juvenile detention system. Indigenous groups had also called for more inclusion in the royal commission, and opposition leader Bill Shorten previously called for Mr Turnbull to listen carefully to the voices of Aboriginal Australians This royal commission has to be done with Aboriginal people, not to Aboriginal people. Goodas role as joint royal commissioner comes after his statement that the entire NT government should be dumped due to their lack of oversight. Asked if he still held that view in light of todays appointment, he said on the Tuesday [after the broadcast of Four Corners investigation], you know, was a day of emotions and people had all sorts of emotional responses. In the clear light of day I probably wouldnt think that. But at the moment Ive got a job to do. Gooda also spoke on his shock at the Four Corners footage. Mick Gooda says he did not understand the extent of the activities taking place at #dondale #auspol https://t.co/yBKPkc8hlS Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 1, 2016 Regarding whether the scope of the royal commission should be extended to include other states and territories, Gooda said I think I need to get my feet under the desk, if you like, and see where we end up. But at this point in time Im satisfied with the terms of reference and I do the job that Im asked to do. White suggested their appointment shouldnt impact the current timeline for investigations to commence. As is stands, an opening hearing is penciled in for early September. Source: The Guardian / ABC / news.com.au. Photo: ABC / Twitter. Just days after PM Malcolm Turnbull appointed him to the role, Brian Martin QC has resigned as head of the royal commission into the crooked Northern Territory juvenile detention system. The announcement comes after his appointment was met with a huge amount of criticism from key Northern Territory Indigenous community organisations, who argued hed be unable to preside over the commission objectively because of his previous work as a supreme court chief justice in the state. It was also pointed out that Martins own daughter, Joanna, worked at the NTs Justice Department during the period that most of the disgusting abuse exposed by Four Corners allegedly occurred. Martin called criticism of him disingenuous and ill-informed but conceded that his resignation was necessary. However, notwithstanding the nature of the commentary, it has become apparent that, rightly or wrongly, in this role I would not have the full confidence of sections of the Indigenous community which has a vital interest in this inquiry, he told media in Canberra. As a consequence, the effectiveness of the commission is likely to be compromised from the outset. I am not prepared to proceed in the face of that risk. This royal commission is far too important to undertake that risk and, in the public interest, personal considerations must take second place. He also took a swipe at those levelling criticism at his daughter. I do need to say, however, that, quite unnecessarily, my family has been drawn into the debate. I am not prepared to allow the unwarranted intrusion into the life of my daughter to continue. Martins resignation is mostly being viewed as a positive development; it means the Turnbull government has a second opportunity to appoint the best person for the job. NT Aboriginal groups have said it offers the chance for a fresh start in the appointment process and one which will hopefully rely on their consultation and / or at least two Aboriginal co-commissioners. The Government must consult with us if this process is to be regarded as credible and if we are to have confidence in this Royal Commission and its deliberations, read a statement. This is an important opportunity to get this right and work with us rather than to us. Attorney-General George Brandis is expected to address the situation later this afternoon. Well keep you updated. Photo: ABC. This article contains graphic imagery of injuries sustained by alleged domestic violence. If this topic could cause you distress of any kind, please be wary of continuing. If you would like to speak to someone about domestic violence, you can speak to the amazing people at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). Victims fleeing domestic abuse escape with their lives but, in many circumstances, not much else: everyday essentials like clothes, bedding, towels and cooking utensils are left behind. Now Aussie department store giant Myer has teamed up with The Salvation Army in an A+ initiative to help needy women and children who may have emerged from violent domestic environments with nothing to their name. Much the same as a traditional gift registry (but with lots more heart), shoppers can hop online and buy predetermined essential items from kettles and underwear to pillows and plates to help victims of DV rebuild their lives. For every item thats bought via The Give Registry, the bloody good folk at Myer will match its monetary value and donate that amount to the Salvos crisis accommodation and womens refuges. The Salvation Armys secretary for womens ministries, Colonel Karyn Rigley, reiterated how far one item could go towards helping out someone whos fled a violent domestic environment with nothing. Family violence is also the leading cause of homelessness for women and children and often when a woman leaves a violent situation she leaves with nothing but the clothes on her back, she said. Through the Give Registry well be able to provide further practical care to women in crisis. Our cold hearts just grew three sizes (maybe more). To learn more about The Give Registry, or to buy an item, visit the website HERE. Source: Mumbrella. Photo: Myer. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu late Monday had a Twitter spat with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurtz, Anadolu reported. Writing about a recent interview that Cavusoglu gave to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Austrian foreign minister tweeted, "I do not accept Cavusoglu's ultimatum and turn it back. The EU cannot proceed with dependencies and must protect its borders." In the interview, Cavusoglu had said, "We [Turkey] will have to take a step back from the readmission deal and March 18 agreement if visa-free travel is not granted to Turkish citizens." He added that Turkey is expecting an exact date from the EU for visa-free Schengen zone travel and the EU should not see this as a threat. Replying to Kurtz's tweet, Cavusoglu later said, "Das ist nicht [This is not] ultimatum Sebastian, it is my opinion. Freedom of expression, my friend." The Schengen area is a 26-nation region in Europe where passports are not needed. The readmission agreement between Turkey and the EU was signed in 2013 and went into effect in 2014. The deal enabled EU to return illegal migrants who traveled through Turkey back to Turkey in order to be processed before they are sent back to their country of origin. Citizens of Iraq and Syria, which make up the majority of illegal migrants, are not part of the deal. The March 18 deal aims to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Also under the deal, EU leaders agreed to cut visa requirements for Turkish citizens and accelerate Turkey's EU membership bid. Mark and Sarah Simmons Sarah and Mark Simmons (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) On July 12, the high in Phoenix was 110 degrees, according to Weather Underground. That's not quite hot enough to effectively fry an egg on the street, according to The Washington Post, but it is hot enough to severely burn the bottom of someone's feet. Police said that's exactly what happened when Mark Simmons decided to punish his 6-year-old son by "taking the boy outside and making him stand barefoot on the ground in the backyard as punishment," according to court records cited by ABC affiliate KNXV-TV. Simmons also allegedly told police that he used a belt to whip the child, leaving him with bruises. Police claim Simmons's child was forced to stand outside for about 10 minutes, the station reported. The child told police that his stepmother - identified as 30-year-old Sarah Simmons - was home at the time and aware of the brutal punishment, according to the Arizona Republic. In court documents cited by the paper, Sarah Simmons is accused of cutting blistered flaps from the bottom of her stepson's feet. The documents state that she told him that "if he didn't stop crying, he would go back outside and burn worse," KNXV-TV reported. The Republic reported that in the court documents police also claim that Simmons told investigators that she didn't initially seek medical treatment for the boy because she was "afraid the children in the house would be taken away." Simmons - who spoke with authorities last week - told police that she instead bandaged the boy's feet and used a spray medication to treat the pain, according to NBC affiliate KPNX, which cited police as saying that she has had "approximately 30 prior reports with the Department of Child Safety." "It was only when the victim's wounds became infected and the top of his feet became red that she and Mark decided to call the fire department for medical care," the documents state, according to the Republic. Simmons told police that she thought calling the fire department and informing a family friend - who is a nurse - was enough to satisfy her legal requirement to report the alleged abuse, according to azfamily.com. Mark Simmons was arrested and charged with two counts of child abuse the next day. His wife was arrested Thursday and charged with intent to commit child abuse, according to KPNX. Neighbors - who were not identified by KNXV-TV - told the station that they were revolted by the couple's alleged behavior. One neighbor indicated that the allegations didn't come as a shock to her. "I always see the kids out there by themselves," she said. "My kids have offered them water bottles when they come home from school. The parents don't open the door right away. We've tried to bring them in our house before." A local woman is less than pleased that an upcoming Donald Trump presidential rally is scheduled at a Cumberland County high school. Dr. Elena Man has contacted teachers, friends, school board members and the media to express her gripes with Trump -- or any other political candidate -- having a rally at the public school. The event is slated for 7 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School in Silver Spring Township. "I really cannot understand why this was allowed," Man said, adding that the location would be more suitable for debate, which features opposing viewpoints at the same time. "I don't think a public high school should be a place for a candidate to hold a rally. Allowing the rally to take place at Cumberland Valley High School sends a message to the community, Man said. She pointed to instances of violence at Trump rallies, as well as what she called hate speech against minority groups and divisive political tactics. "Anyone could have easily cited that as a reason for him not to speak at the high school," she said. "If the argument is that it's a public place and that school isn't in session, then it should be opened to anyone." Man, a Democrat, says she is against any politician, including Hillary Clinton, having a rally at the school. Trump poses a different set of issues because of the rhetoric of his campaign, Man said. Referencing school district policy (700 Property section, 707) against meetings that incite disorder and abusive conduct, Man said Trump's rally isn't in the public interest and goes against code. She added that allowing Trump to host the rally at the school opens the door for other partisan speakers and groups ranging from the Ku Klux Klan to Planned Parenthood, as long as they pay for the facilities. "They will have forfeited their very own policy by having this rally," Man said. In a letter responding to her concerns, Cumberland Valley Superintendent Frederick Withum III said that hosting the rally does not imply an endorsement of any candidate. He also noted that the campaign is paying all costs. "I would like you to know that as long as a legal organization meets the requirements to rent a public space under our Cumberland Valley School District policies and guidelines, we must rent to them," he wrote. "As a matter of fact we would be in a difficult situation if we did not provide the space and thus demonstrated a bias against a candidate." Man, a pediatrician and parent of a Cumberland Valley graduate, said she's also concerned about the message the rally will send to Muslim, Mexican-American, black and other minority students, including those with disabilities. She said she's heard about bullying issues in the school district and feels the rally will counter the atmosphere of mutual respect the the district tries to cultivate. "Trump doesn't espouse those philosophies," Man said. Man plans to be at the high school protesting the rally from a safe zone. She said she will hand out fliers with the specific part of the school district code in question, as well as questioning the district's moral code. Dr. Elena Man's flier against allowing Donald Trump to host rally at local school by PennLive on Scribd Working as a pediatrician, Man said she regularly deals with kids with anxiety and thinks this rally will have an effect on students. She said Trump's rally at the school will empower people who have bullied others, even though district officials have assured her there is no endorsement being made by hosting the rally. The Cumberland Valley School District issued the following statement Friday: On Friday evening, the Donald J. Trump campaign team announced that they will use Cumberland Valley High School as a stop on Trump's presidential campaign tour. As a public learning institution, our buildings are made available for community purposes, provided that such use does not interfere with the educational program of the schools and that all school district policies are followed. We are very proud of our facilities, which previously have been used for similar events including evening senatorial debates and educational programs hosted by legislators. Additionally, we uphold the electoral process each year when we open the doors to two of our buildings for voters to let their voices be heard. While we acknowledge that any electoral process often conjures strong feelings by many citizens, it is important to recognize that approval of this tour stop absolutely is not an endorsement of any political party or presidential candidate by the District. In addition, the campaign will cover all costs associated with rental of the facility. Equally as important to also note is that the event is scheduled to occur on a date in which school is not in session. Cumberland Valley School District will not be handling any ticketing for the event. General information about tickets and the event itself must be obtained through the Donald J. Trump Campaign. Trump's visit to the midstate falls on the heels of Clinton's campaign rally held in Harrisburg Friday night, just after she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia Thursday evening. Susquehanna River A swimmer takes to the waters of the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, in a file photo. The state has issued an advisory against recreation on the stretch of river due to coliform bacterial that may cause illness from contact or ingestion of the water. (JOHN C. WHITEHEAD/The Patriot-Ne) State environmental officials issued a series of new water quality advisories Monday, including warnings about harmful coliform bacteria in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. Water quality has improved along the river's northern reaches, but the entire watershed has been the subject of increasing scrutiny amid a series of fish kills, increasing algae blooms and a dwindling smallmouth bass population. A new report from the Department of Environmental Protection includes all of the state's 347-mile-long section of the Susquehanna as impaired for fish consumption. Nearly five new miles of the river near Harrisburg and Columbia, in Lancaster County, were listed as unsuitable for recreational uses. Another 1,665 miles of the river's tributaries, including Conodoguinet and Swatara creeks were listed as impaired for recreation and aquatic life. "DEP has dramatically increased the monitoring efforts of the Susquehanna River, and is developing analytic protocols that set the bar for scientific study of large river systems," said Patrick McDonnell, the DEP's acting secretary, in a written statement. The interactive map below includes highlights of major advisories included in the report. The recreational impairment advisories were prompted by high levels of coliform bacteria in the affected waterways, which can cause sickness from contact or ingestion of river water. Such bacterial occurs naturally, but can also be exacerbated by agricultural and sewer runoff. A fish consumption advisory put in place in 2014 for catfish will remain in effect for much of the lower Susquehanna from Sunbury south to the Maryland state line. The public has been advised to eat no more than one meal per month of channel catfish more than 20 inches long. For the catfish, the culprits are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), insulating chemicals most often found in electrical equipment like transformers. Despite a nationwide ban in 1979, they have lingered in the environment and are potentially carcinogenic to humans and animals alike. Catfish, which are bottom-feeders, tend to accumulate more of the contaminants than other fish higher in the water column. That means that humans would also consume a greater density of the chemical and the half-life of PCBs in the human body is estimated at 10-15 years. The declining population of smallmouth bass in the river did not contribute to any of the impairment designations outlined in the most recent report. According to the DEP, state officials are still trying to determine the cause, including parasites or pathogens in the water. John Arway, executive director of the state Fish and Boat Commission, said he's disappointed the DEP hasn't begun the process of addressing the smallmouth bass problem. He's pressed for an impairment designation for years. "It really does kick the can down the road again," he said. Most researchers have concluded that herbicides and endocrine-suppressing chemicals are responsible for at least some of the problems facing that fish population, Arway said. But there likely won't be a plan to, for example, recommend limits on herbicide until the next report in 2018. "The impairment designation starts a clock for the DEP to develop a plan to address the impairment," he said. "Without it, there's no rush." Another key problem for the river basin is the presence of invasive species, such as flathead and rusty crayfish, which compete with native ones for resources. DEP officials stressed, however, that the state is engaged in intensive monitoring of the waterway and that, in some areas, water quality has significantly improved. "I think it's good that (people) are concerned," said Josh Lookenbill, of the agency's water quality standards division. "It's also important to look at the information out there and see a lot of the work that has been done." In recent years, the agency has ramped up monitoring particularly in the Susquehanna's tributaries -- such as the Conestoga and Juniata -- that have generally seen greater concentrations of various contaminants. An example of how the Susquehanna River is divided by different water sources, taken from the DEP's draft report. "The focus here is on identifying and fixing the problems in the tributaries to see improvements in the river," Lookenbill said, during a webinar about the report Monday. Water quality on the Susquehanna itself can vary greatly based on where the sample is taken. Individual source waters tend to separate out into sections across the width of the river. Despite some of the report's more troubling findings, Arway said those who use the river for recreation should take it into context. Consumption limits are based on the amount of food that would be safe for a child or pregnant woman. And the DEP will also issue recreational advisories for specific sections of the river when the low water level and high discharge rates for certain chemicals make it particularly unsafe. "No one should be afraid of using the river," he said. "At certain times of the year, the river may be unsuitable for contact sports, for example, but I'd follow the DEP's advice when that's issued." Get involved: The state's full 2016 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report can be read here. The DEP will be gathering public comment on the report for 45 days beginning July 30. This article was updated to include comment from John Arway. Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook. Campaign 2016-Trump FILE - In this Thursday, July 28, 2016 file photo, Khizr Khan, father of fallen US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan and his wife Ghazala speak during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because they are Muslim. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) (J. Scott Applewhite) Former Congressman Chris Carney, who served as a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, called "disgusting and disgraceful" Trump's comments about the family of a Muslim-American soldier killed combat in Iraq. Carney joined with other veterans and military families from across Pennsylvania in responding to Trump's remarks about Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan, who spoke on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. "Folks like me who served this country honorably are absolutely disgusted at Trump," he said. "Those who have given the last full measure of devotion - he denigrates their service, he denigrates their families." FILE - In this Friday, July 29, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo over the weekend when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of a decorated Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because they are Muslim. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Gale S. Pollock, a United States Army Major General (Retired) from Gettysburg, said she "could not stand by" and watch Trump abuse the Khan family. She said the men and women of the Armed Forces shared in the "values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage," adding that when Trump said the military should resort to torture, he is suggesting that the men and women of the military carry out "illegal and immoral" orders. "I'm appalled," Pollock said. "Whether enlisted or an officer, we take an oath to defend and protect the Constitution." The latest firestorm around Trump comes in the wake of remarks he made this weekend about Khan's emotional speech before the DNC. Khan spoke about the heroism of his son, 27-year-old son Army Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq and was credited with saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. Trump ridiculed the soldier's mother - Ghazala Khan - for having remained silent while her husband delivered an impassioned speech about his son's sacrifice and criticizing Trump's statements support a curb in immigration of Muslims into the U.S. Holding up a small copy of the U.S. Constitution, Pakistani-born Khan directed to Trump the statement: "You have sacrificed nothing." Trump fired back, noting that Ghazala Khan remained silent during her husband's speech. "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," said Trump. He added that he had sacrificed a lot, by working hard and creating thousands of jobs. "This is another one of those cases where Mr. Trump has not been as respectful as he could have been," said Larry Holman, a past president of the Pennsylvania State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "Even though he was criticized by Mr. Khan, it's Mr. Trump's habit, ritual and procedure to respond in kind every time he gets criticized. I think this would have been one of those times for him to simply extend condolences. He could have made a political point and said 'I didn't vote for that war.' "That would have helped him, but to do what he did, basically attack a Gold Star Mother for her silence brought on by extreme grief, he missed an opportunity to make a political point and at same time to show empathy and compassion." Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who is seeking re-election, added his voice to the ranks of Republicans and Democrats defending the Khans, saying they "deserve our gratitude and honor; anything else is inappropriate." Sen. John McCain issued a lengthy statement, warning that: "While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, on Monday added his voice to growing ranks of private and public figures derided Donald Trump for disparaging remarks he directed at the family of a fallen Muslim-American soldier. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso) In addition, the families of more than a dozen service members killed in combat sent Trump a letter on Monday, calling his criticism of Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, "repugnant, and personally offensive to us." The letter was released by political action committee VoteVets. The head of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Brian Duffy, said: "Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression. There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one's life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard." "Somebody with such lack of sensitivity is not someone I would like to see as commander-in-chief, especially when we are still in war situations in various parts of the world," Holman said. "We need someone who values and respects everybody who takes that oath of office to serve in the military. This is not an example of that kind of respect by a potential commander-in-chief." Another combat veteran, Thomas Faley, a retired Army colonel who served in Vietnam said the Trump-Khan controversy is just another reminder of why he abandoned his support for the billionaire businessman. Faley, whose best friend was shot down over Hanoi, Vietnam in 1967, said he relinquished support for Trump when early on during the primary season he excoriated McCain for not being a true hero. "That to me was totally unfeeling and an insult to the families of those shot down," said Faley, a former South Middletown Township supervisor. "It hurt so much. That comment was so gross and insulting. That's where I closed the book on him." Faley noted that Trump had never backtracked nor apologized to the families of military personnel killed in action or shot down. Trump on Monday turned to one of his favorite social media platforms - Twitter - to defend himself and add further fuel to the outrage directed at him. As the Khans made appearances in the morning news circuit, Trump tweeted: "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!" Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 But in a state crucial to Trump's hopes of triumph in November, at least one Republican supporter voiced a measure of defense for the GOP contender. "I think Trump's comments were somewhat inelegant but he was responding to a direct attack from an individual at the DNC," said Al Bienstock, a Hampden Township commissioner and Vietnam veteran. "I can't comprehend how a parent who lost a child, how his mind works. I've never been in that situation. But this was something said not in the immediate wake of the loss of a child...I think pointing a finger at Trump particularly at a convention that anointed Hillary Clinton for president was wrong." Bienstock said Clinton had done worse to the families of the Americans killed in Benghazi when they returned to the U.S. "Hillary Clinton to their faces lied to them about the reason for the deaths," he said. "I look at that as far more egregious than Trump response to an attack." Pennsylvania native, Manan Trivedi, a former. Lt. Commander in the United States Navy, said Trump's comments were not the kind he wanted from the country's next president. "I find Donald Trump's comments disgusting, disgraceful and reprehensible," said Trivedi, who led one of the first medical battalions of Marines to enter Iraq. "It's just one more piece of prove that he lacks any kind of judgment to be commander in chief. If the last 10 outburst didn't prove that to you, this one should." The French Navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on patrol. (Photo : French Navy) France is pressing its allies in the European Union (EU) -- especially Germany and the United Kingdom (despite Brexit) -- to establish joint EU naval patrols of the South China Sea. France is urging the 27-nation EU to coordinate naval patrols in the South China Sea to ensure a "regular and visible" presence in the disputed waters illegally claimed by China, the latest sign of an international counter to China's militarization of this strategic waterway. Advertisement France has shown keen interest in leading naval patrols of the South China Sea by warships of the European Union to defend freedom of navigation still threatened by China's opposition to the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines that denied China's aim to own most of these waters. The French government said the protection of freedom of the seas is vital from an economic standpoint. It's also concerned a loss of this right in the South China Sea might lead to similar problems in the Arctic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea, said Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. "If we want to contain the risk of conflict, we must defend this right, and defend it ourselves," said Le Drian. Le Drian asserted that France will continue to sail its ships and fly its planes wherever international law allows, "and wherever operational needs request that we do so." The EU has urged the claimant states in the South China Sea, including China, to resolve their disputes peacefully, while calling for the continuation of free navigation through the South China Sea. Warships of the French Navy are expected to begin patrols of the disputed South China Sea, perhaps by as early as this year, as the government of President Francois Hollande seeks to enforce its defense of the rules based international order. Expected to lead the French Navy patrols in the South China Sea are its frigates, the backbone of the French surface fleet. French frigates secure the aero-naval space and escort other forces such as the aero-naval and amphibious groups. The French Navy has 26 frigates equipped for anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine operations. Firefighters leave for forest fire.jpg Firefighters from Pa. leave for two-week detail fighting forest fires in Wyoming. (DCNR) Two firefighting crews from Pennsylvania are spending two weeks helping to extinguish forest fires. Two 20-person crews left Friday from Harrisburg, and are assigned to the new Sawmill Mountain fire near Douglas, Wyoming, said Terry Brady, spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The 40 firefighters is a mix of state fire service employees from 20 state forest districts in central and northern Pennsylvania, along with members of area fire companies. The mix is usually 70-30 state and civilian workers, he said. They volunteer, but are paid, Brady said. They join with fire crews from New Jersey and West Virginia. This was the first crew sent so far this summer, Brady said, contrast to last year, which was a more active fire season. There will likely be at least a half-dozen more call-ups during the fire season, Brady said. Also, a 20-person forestry crew went to Ellicott City, Md. on Sunday to help with cleanup from Saturday's flash flooding, Brady said. barbara hafer Former state Treasurer Barbara Hafer pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that she allegedly lied to agents investigating corruption in Pennsylvania (File photo) Former state Treasurer Barbara Hafer pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that she lied to FBI and IRS agents who were investigating corruption, including "pay to play" deals. U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Schwab set an Oct. 4 trial date for Hafer and Richard Ireland, a businessman who allegedly shared millions of dollars in fees from the Treasury Department, after the two contested the charges against them. The trial will take place at the Federal Building in Harrisburg. Prosecutors charged Hafer, who served as treasurer from 1997 to 2005, with two counts of making false statements to federal agents in an interview, allegedly in order to conceal payments of $500,000 from the businessman after she left office. Ireland faces 79 counts, including charges related to money laundering, in what prosecutors said was an effort to bribe former state treasurer Rob McCord between 2009 and 2014. McCord, a Democrat, resigned his office and pleaded guilty last year. Hafer, 72, of Indiana, began her tenure as treasurer as a Republican but switched parties to become a Democrat in 2003. She also previously served as the state's auditor general. In a written statement last month, Hafer's attorney John A. Knorr said the charges against his client were based on "little more than simple lapses in memory." After Hafer, McCord and Budd Dwyer, a Republican who fatally shot himself during a 1987 press conference after being convicted of conspiracy charges, Pennsylvania has seen three of its state treasurers face federal indictments. That troubling statistic prompted a public statement from current Treasurer Timothy Reese, who stepped in after McCord's resignation: "While I will not comment on the ongoing legal proceedings, it is important to note that these indictments do not allege any improper use or mismanagement of public funds entrusted to Treasury." 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. In this handout photo provided by The Guardian, Edward Snowden speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. (Photo : Getty Images/Handout) Edward Snowden has recently revealed that he is assisting in the development of an iPhone case that detects government spying. Andrew Huang also revealed that the phone's radios might be off, but hey could actually still be at risk. The former National Security Agency contractor said that he planned to help develop a modified version of Apple's iPhone, The New York Times quoted him as saying during the one-day conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. This modified iPhone will be for journalists who are worried that they are targets of government spying. Advertisement Snowden talked through a video connection from Russia, where is now living in exile. He is currently working with the computer hacker Andrew Huang, who is also known as Bunnie. Huang, who studied electrical engineering at MIT, wanted to see if it was possible to modify a smartphone to alert anyone to electronic surveillance. Snowden was worried that cellphones and smartphones might be bugged as tracking devices. These gadgets might automatically become electronic dossiers that could give detailed information to governments without their consent. The ex-NSA contractor gave an example of the mortar attack in 2012 by the Syrian government that killed Marie Colvin. She was an American journalist who was reporting in Homs, Syria for The Sunday Times of London. He said that the Syrian Army intercepted the radio frequency emissions of her communications that she used to send the news reports. Governments in the overseas, like Syria or Iraq, usually have exploits that cause the journalists' phones to do things they are not supposed to do, Huang told Wired in an interview. He added that radios of phones that are turned off are still at risk. The hacker also said that the phone can still leak radio information, even if the user places it in a Faraday bag. He said that it only needs a clever malware to make the phone to appear switched off when it is not. They only want to allow the journalists to disable the phone's radio signals, while still using its other functions like taking notes and photographs. Huang revealed that the project was still in its experimental stages. He hopes that it would help the journalists in the future and provide them with phones that come in a special case with a separate display. This would then alert them when the phone was active and sending data at suspicious times. Check out Snowden's documentary video below: One of the three lieutenants of the lead in the action crime game Mafia III will be Cassandra, otherwise known as the Voodoo Queen. (Photo : YouTube/Mafia Game) One of the three lieutenants of the lead in the action crime game "Mafia III" will be Cassandra, otherwise known as the Voodoo Queen. Among the three companions of Lincoln Clay, Cassandra is said to be the most ruthless, sternest, and most mysterious, and her background involves being a Haitian Syndicate leader. She has seen the rampant practice of human trafficking by an Italian mob so she vowed to put a stop on this organization at any cost; however, there seems to be a catch in her desire to be part of Clay's team. Advertisement Accordingly, although Cassandra's commitment to extinguish criminality may be true, she is also driven by revenge. The studio's remark that "God help anyone that gets in her way" hinted many just how serious she is to get the job done. Cassandra and Clay are also joined by another veteran lieutenant in the character of Vito Scaletta. The goal of the family is to completely destroy the New Bordeaux's human trafficking organizations. Patterned with the realities involving the lives of the people and situations in New Orleans, "Mafia III's" setting is set in the illusory city of New Bordeaux in 1968. For those uninitiated, "Mafia 3" is handled by two big game developers, 2K Games and Hangar 13. "Mafia 3" has since been led by Lincoln Clay who happened to be a Veteran in the Vietnam War. He chose to be a mobster fighting syndicates after witnessing his friends' execution by the mobs. Since then, he lives by the principle that 'family isn't who you're born with, but it's who you die for'. With Cassandra, Vito, Burke, and Clay on board, "Mafia 3"powerhouse is now completed and they are now ready to take on the Italian mobs on Oct. 7, 2016 in PC, PS4, OSX, and Xbox One. A trailer featuring the highlights on the mysterious character of Cassandra has recently been released, and rumors have it that subsequent video trailer will be published soon. Know more about "Mafia 3's" Voodoo Queen below: A woman uses the Uber app on a Samsung smartphone on Sept. 2, 2014, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images) UPDATE: The suspect's last name has been identified by the local news as Ricafort. A quick search in Facebook shows a Karlou Ricafort profile where the photos match the image shown by the local TV news a night before. Even after Ricafort allegedly forced the female passenger to perform oral sex and to touch his genitals, he still wanted to get the PHP 300 (around $6.5) fee paid by the victim. There is no comment on Ricafort's side yet but his FB profile shows that he already has a girlfriend who also appears to be pregnant. Advertisement Ricafort's girlfriend posted on Facebook urging people to pray for him and to hear his side of the story. She adds that the truth will come out and that those who did wrong will be punished. ORIGINAL STORY: Uber is dealt another blow as an Uber driver from the Philippines allegedly tried to rape a 22-year-old female passenger during an afternoon but the victim fortunately escaped. Just as Uber was gaining traction along with Grab as transportation apps in the Philippines, the news could, once again, taint their good names. In 2015, an Indian court has found an Uber taxi driver guilty of the rape charges filed against him by a 26-year-old woman. The Filipino Uber driver picked up the female passenger in Quezon City at around 2:30 in the afternoon. At first, the woman was sitting in the back but the driver insisted that she sit in the front so that they can share stories. After several minutes, the Uber driver reportedly tried to force the woman to touch his genitals and to perform oral sex by pulling her hair. The official report filed in the local police station in the district was identified as Xstian Karlou John Marie, Inquirer has learned. Uber refused to name the driver but the company said that they have already removed him from their platform. The company also added that they are willing to help the authorities in the investigation. The local Philippine television news reports has reported that Karlou remains at large as he is still nowhere to be found. One of the Uber driver's school batch-mates claims that Karlou had already shown signs of excessive libido several years back by allegedly masturbating while inside the classroom. Uber officials and the driver are required to attend a hearing on August 10 with the Land Transporation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Coconuts Manila reported. LTFRB board member Ariel Inton expressed his dismay as passengers using the company's services would not be able to quickly file complaints against their drivers because they do not disclose the identities. While many rapists attempt to seek victims at night, the Uber driver incident in the Philippines shows that they do not choose a time for their urges. Passengers, both male and female, are advised to text the plate number of the cab or car they are riding in to their loved ones. Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov discussed aviation security measures with his Egyptian counterpart, Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi, the Russian ministry said Friday Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov discussed step-by-step aviation security measures at regular consultations with his Egyptian counterpart, Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi, the Russian ministry said Friday. Sokolov held another round of technical consultations with his counterpart The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere, the parties again discussed a step-by-step action plan for measures in the field of civil aviation, the ministry said. Sokolov said this week safety experts planned a visit to Egypt to inspect airport security in September. Fathi announced during a visit to Moscow earlier in July that an investigation into Russia's A321 passenger plane crash over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015 was entering final stages. The plane, operated by the Russian air carrier Kogalymavia and carrying 224 people, was heading to St. Petersburg from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. Russia's Investigative Committee has officially classified the plane crash as a terrorist attack. Search Keywords: Short link: Some Egyptian media have reported that foreign minister Sameh Shoukrys recent visit to Israel involved discussions on Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam Egypt denied on Monday rumours that it had requested Israeli mediation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue. In press statements carried by Egypt's state-owned MENA agency, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said that recent discussions held by foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and Israeli officials focused only on finding ways to solve the Palestinian crisis, as well as other bilateral issues. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a giant hydroelectric dam project being undertaken by Ethiopia, has been the source of contention between Cairo and Addis Ababa. Egypt, which relies almost exclusively on the Nile for farming and drinking water, fears the dam would significantly diminish its share of the river's water. Several media outlets have suggested that Shoukry's July visit to Israel was related to the dam issue, especially in light of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahus recent trip to several African countries, including Ethiopia. Israel launched a $13-million aid package to strengthen economic ties and cooperation with African countries, including Ethiopia, with a pledge to also provide certain African states with training in "domestic security." Abu Zeid stressed that the current trilateral framework between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan was guaranteed to accomplish the interests of the three countries. He added that the declaration of principles signed in March between the involved parties in Sudan was the ruling framework for the tripartite relationship. A sixth summit on the "presidential level" between Egypt and Ethiopia will be held in the coming months, according to Ethiopia's ambassador to Cairo. He added that the summit would be hosted by Egypt, yet declined to mention when precisely it would take place. Although Egypt has repeatedly expressed concern over the dam's possible effect on the country, Ethiopia insists it will not negatively affect the North African countrys share of Nile water. In December 2015, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi addressed the public and said that there is no reason to worry about the dam and that the matter would be resolved. "I totally understand the concern of Egyptians as water is a matter of life or death," El-Sisi added. Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian police will secure the airport, its terminals, in parking lots and in buildings The National Falcon Company for Airport Security will start screening luggage and passengers at Sharm El-Sheikh airport Monday, CEO Sherif Khaled said in an interview with weekly economic magazine Al-Ahram Al-Ektesady. Falcon will be in charge of passenger and luggage security in the airport's halls, while police will secure the airport, its terminals, in parking lots and in buildings, said chairman of the Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation Ismail Abul Ezz on Monday. New inspection equipment that came with a EGP 282 million pricetag was supplied to Egyptian airports, in adition to radars costing EGP 45 million for Sharm El-Sheikh and EGP 90 million for Cairo, Abul Ezz added. The company will take into consideration international recommendations for security at the airports, Khaled added. Falcon will start security operations at Cairo Airport's Terminal 2 after its reopening October, Abul Ezz said. No specific date has been specified yet for its inauguration, a Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation statement said last week. Terminal Building 2 is being upgraded and expanded through a $436 million project, with more than half of the cost -- $280 million -- financed by the World Bank. Later, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Luxor, Aswan and Borg El-Arab airports will also have their security procedures taken over by Falcon, Khaled said. The National Falcon Company for Airport Security is a joint venture between Falcon Group (20%) and the government's security authorities (80%), the company's CEO said. The company signed an agreement in June with British company Restrata for Consulting and Training to develop the skills of 7000 Egyptian Falcon Group personnel in airport security procedures. A number of countries including the UK and Russia continue to restrict travel to Sharm El-Sheikh airport after a Russian Metrojet airliner -- which took off from the south SInai airport -- crashed last October, killing all 224 people on board. A committee of British aviation experts visited Cairo International Airport to inspect security procedures last month, but has yet to issue a report. Search Keywords: Short link: The Colorado Freeride Festival set the stage for an awesome weekend here at Winter Park Resort for the Slopestyle event. The collection of riders that traveled here to compete was diverse, from BMX legends Ryan Nyquist and Drew Bezanson to returning CFF Slopestyle champ Carson Storch from Oregon, to first time being overseas seventeen-year-old Emil Johansson from Sweden. Several of the riders were pre-qualified for Crankworx Joyride next month in Whistler, but a lot of extra excitement and pressure was out there for the contenders that were focused on scoring one the two available Joyride wildcards offered at this venue. Many in attendance reflected on the good times and positive influence of the legendary Kelly McGazza McGarry, who was an integral part of the CFF Slopestyle. In fact, the ramp features used on-course for the event were built by McGarry. To top things off, Elevate Trail Building designed a fun course that all the riders enjoyed.The level of riding in Fridays qualifiers was undeniably impressive and it was the same come finals. For Saturdays grand finale, practice kicked off, but a heavy tailwind made it sketchy for big tricks. At the riders meeting, everyone supported the idea of taking a chance to see if the wind would let off in the afternoon. The wind did let off and the event picked back up just before sunset. The delay didnt throw the spectators off, they covered the hillside of the Sorensens run to watch the heavy antics as riders started sending it.After a 6-hour break, everyone came back to the Slopestyle course to witness the mind-blowing trickery.Finals wrapped, the riders hustled to the top of the course, the speaker blared out Black Sabbath's Ironman, and everyone sent a huge train down the course to honor Kelly "McGazza" McGarry.View full results and replay here That bikes a classic! Its a phrase we hear all the time, and often its used far too flippantly for its own good. But if we were to use a, erm, classic definition of the word classic it would mean that for any bike to truly deserve the title, it has to be of an exemplary standard within a traditional and long-established form or style. Of course, many of the bikes that grace our pages are far from being traditional in form. Hell, some are the exact opposite of that. But for the lucky few who do live up to the title, adoration of a bike that we know will look as good in 100 years as it does right now awaits. And the latest candidate for the title? Meet MONNOMs latest, a classic Honda CB550 cafe racer if ever we saw one. Based in Des Moines, Iowa, MONNOM is the sole creative work of Mike Gustafson. My wife Sandy and I also own and operate Nestcraft Studio, which creates high-end custom furniture on a commission basis. So I applied the same design aesthetic and attention to detail I use on my furniture commissions to create this project. Mike does some mechanical work, specifically on early to mid 70s Honda motorcycles for friends and fellow cafe enthusiasts, but he is most interested in creating classic, well-proportioned cafe racers with some modern performance upgrades. So many builds these days are utilising large, inverted forks and modern swing arms; sure they look amazing, but sometimes its easy to think that the classic cafe bike has got a little lost in all the noise. As have some of the more traditional materials. I am currently working on another custom build, a 1973 Honda CB 350 twin, which will expand on the use of wood. I guess you could say that the combination of would and metal is something that really interests me. This build began with a very sad 78 Honda CB550. The tank was in spectacularly rough condition, the electrical system was a mess and the engine had about as much compression as an antique garlic crush. The build began by stripping the bike down, cleaning things up and establishing some sort of logical starting point. The tank had been poorly altered by a previous owner, which included removing the recessed locking fuel cap cover and filling the remaining holes with scraps of tin can and Bondo. Tell us they have the death penalty in Iowa, please. My fabrication work began by removing the top portion of the CB 550 tank and replacing it with the top section of a CM 450 tank. I welded on the raised upper section and body worked the fillets, giving the stock tank a much more aggressive look. Then turned his attention to the electrical system. Sparck Moto supplied a custom loom to my specifications that included an upgraded regulator/rectifier unit. I then installed a new set of left hand controls with a simple on-off switch relay. The large-ish 7 headlight was the perfect size to custom flush mount a Motogadget Motoscope Tiny gauge. Mike then installed an LED rear light strip with a dual intensity circuit by Custom Dynamics, along with small LED turning indicators. A tiny 4 cell lithium-ion battery is tucked under the seat cowl and it supplies enough cranking amps to easily start the bike. An electronic ignition from Dyna and a new set of 5 OHM Dyna coils finished off the electrical side of things nicely. I rebuilt the top end of the engine with new rings, a cylinder hone, gaskets, cam chain slipper, seals and a valve job. The engine cases were then hand polished and the motor was painted, too. A freshly powdercoated, plated and polished set of CB 500 carburetors replaced the stock carbs that were literally falling apart. Mike then wrapped a new set of MAC 4 into 1 headers and added an 18 reverse cone stainless steel slip-on from Cone Engineering. CNC aluminum rearsets were installed with hand-fabricated linkages and the clutch basket was also rebuilt to Mikes exacting specs. He then added a second front rotor and caliper, and upgraded the master cylinder to a new Nissin 14mm piston which added a much-needed increase in front braking power. Next came drilling both the rotors to visually lighten up the front end and reduce the bikes weight a little. The front forks were rebuilt with new seals and progressive fork springs, the rear shocks were upgraded to 360mm units and the fuel tank position was also modified to give the bike a much more aggressive stance. I dropped one tooth off the front sprocket to liven the low-end of the bike and a new chain and rear sprocket smoothed out the rest of the power. The rear subframe was chopped off and a seat hoop was welded in. I shaped the rear seat cowl from foam and clay and laid out several layers of biaxial fiberglass and epoxy resin. The seat pan was then ready to receive a hand shaped solid Cherry wood seat I made. The wood was rough cut on a bandsaw and the final shaping was done with hand tools. The tank was body worked and then painted with a custom combination of House of Kolor Shimrin base color and a matte 2K clear. The bronze pinstripes were laid out by hand and I finished by sorting out the rest of the smaller details. The resulting bike is one that has about as much chance of ageing badly as Plato or da Vinci have of becoming the latest thing to be embraced by the cool kids and we wouldnt want it any other way. [MONNOM: Web Instagram | Photos by Erich Ernst] It was September 2005, and NASA administrator Michael Griffin faced down a room of reporters at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Griffin had only been in charge of the agency for five months, having been nominated by President George W. Bush to succeed Sean O'Keefe, who resigned in December 2004. In part one of our new Horizon Goal series, we examined how the president laid out a bold new vision for NASA in the wake of the Columbia accident that would retire the space shuttles in 2010, build and fly a new deep space crew vehicle by 2014 and land humans on the moon by 2020. The new program was called Constellation. At the time, the space shuttle was America's only means for shipping crew and cargo to the International Space Station, which was scheduled to be completed in 2010 and de-orbited in 2016. NASA's potential alternatives included relying on foreign partners, outsourcing ISS runs to the private sector, using the yet-to-be-built crew vehicle, or some combination of all three. To Griffin, this was untenable: NASA needed an in-house shuttle successor, and a plan to kick Constellation into high gear. He commissioned an agency-wide tiger team which produced a report called the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, or ESAS. The report concluded NASA should build two new rocket systems and make the crew vehicle a gumdrop-shaped capsule similar to the Apollo vessels that first carried humans to the moon. Constellation had a new look, and this press conference was the big reveal. In response to a reporter's question about the crew vehicle, Griffin made a remark that came to define the program. "Think of it as Apollo on steroids," he said. During the Apollo years, in 1966, NASA's budget peaked at $44 billion (all costs in this article have been converted to 2016 dollars for ease of comparison). But in 2005, the agency's budget was less than half of that, and that continues to be the case today. Could NASA really do Apollo on steroids with one-half the funding? Yasser Ali, the former presidential spokesman under Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi, is speaking up for the first time two years after his release from prison, saying that the Muslim Brotherhood was not ready to assume the presidency, yet dismissing accusations of Morsi's incompetence. "We were not completely ready in March 2012 to hold such a responsibility, I say this after a year of deep thinking in Aqrab prison," Ali said in an interview with Al-Jazeera network. "We were not ready for issues such as regional relations, yet we cannot accuse Morsi of incompetence." Ali, who served as a presidential spokesperson from July 2012 till February 2013, was imprisoned for almost one year in December 2013 after he was convicted of aiding former prime minister Hesham Qandeel to flee prosecution on criminal charges. Morsi was ousted on 3 July 2013 by the military following mass protests against his rule on 30 June 2013, one year after he came to power. "Morsi tried to sail the ship as best he could with the tools he had at hand [but] it cannot be denied that mistakes would naturally take place," said Ali, who had worked closely with Morsi before his appointment as the Islamist leader's presidential campaign coordinator in the 2012 election. Although he acknowledges that large segments of Egyptian society held grievances against the Islamists' way of governing for various reasons, Ali believes that the events of 30 June were instigated by other factors. "What happened on 3 July was the result of regional crises more so than internal economic and political issues," he said, explaining that it was caused by Morsi's stance on Egyptian-Israeli relations, his support for the Syrian revolution. Ali claimed that Morsi was warned by an Arab diplomat that his insistence on supporting the Syrian revolution and his vision that the mediation of the quartet Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt was a solution for the crisis in Syria was not supported by some regional parties who had another vision for the region. Ali says Morsi was concerned about the possibility of being ousted, though he insists the Islamist leader was not to blame for not avoiding the events that led to his ouster. On the relationship between civilians and the military in Egyptian society, Ali says that Morsi believed from his first day that a re-engineering of civil-army relations was essential. "There was great sensitivity in the relationship between the military and the presidency, especially with the discharging of [the head Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)] Hussein Tantawi and [former army chief-of-staff] Sami Anan," Ali said. Tantawi and Anan were ordered to retire in August 2012 by Morsi. On the same day, Morsi unilaterally abrogated the SCAF's controversial 18 June 2012 constitutional addendum, which had served to curtail the president's powers. Hence, Ali said, this decision by Morsi curtailed the possibility of a "coup attempt" at the time and eased people's concerns. When asked if Morsi took the Ittihadiya violent protests of 2012 as a warning, Ali said that although Morsi's government had to contend with considerable political and social pressure, they believed that the reengineering of civil-military relations would resolve any issue. In December 2012, clashes erupted between Morsi supporters and opponents after he issued a constitutional amendment in late November 2012 stipulating that his decisions were not subject to court oversight. During these clashes, Morsi supporters attacked and violently dispersed an anti-Morsi sit-in in front of the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace. The Muslim Brotherhood was officially designated a terrorist organisation by the government in December 2013 following several deadly attacks on security personnel blamed on supporters of the ousted president. Search Keywords: Short link: England's Sam Acheampong Ships 888Live Local London With 3-2 Offsuit for 21,950 August 01, 2016 Jason Glatzer Editor Yesterday, England's Sam Acheampong outlasted a field of 564 players to win the 888Live Local London 220 Main Event at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City for 21,950. The monthly event easily surpassed its guarantee of 88,000 with 564 entrants generating a sizable 111,870 prize pool, once again proving that the synergy between the live play experience and the 888poker brand is working well. The first of three opening days of the deep-stacked event with players starting off with 25,000 chips kicked off on July 28 with 21 of the 160 entrants surviving. A similar ratio of players navigated through Day 1b on July 29 (28 out of 186 entrants) and Day 1c on July 30 (37 out of 218 entrants) before the surviving 83 players merged into a single field for Day 2 on July 31. None of the 11 online qualifiers at 888poker were able to survive any of the opening days. Almost three-quarters of the Day 2 field were paid at least the minimum prize of 410. The bubble was somewhat anticlimactic with England's Amar Al Hussona failing to show-up and was eventually blinded off to finish in 64th place. After a busy day of play, the Day 2 field eventually whittled down to nine players with Romania's George Titoiu as the chip leader with 2.7 million chips. Seat Name Chip Count 1 Shah Athar 1,550,000 2 Andrew Abernethy 1,060,000 3 Gary Miller 725,000 4 Ning Lu 1,960,000 5 Sam Acheampong 1,630,000 6 Andreas Constantinou 995,000 7 Deividas Peleckas 2,000,000 8 George Titoiu 2,705,000 9 Andrew Sotiriou 1,475,000 Despite his chip lead, Titoiu's stack dwindled down and was eliminated in sixth place for 4,380 after he shoved from the button with . His hand was unable to hold after England's Gary Miller, who entered the final table with the shortest stack, called from the big blind with when the board ran out . After a few more eliminations, Miller entered the final table with a slight 7,870,000 to 6,225,000 against Acheampong. Acheampong was able to come back and eventually win the tournament in a grand fashion with what many believe to be the worst starting hand in poker. On the final hand Acheampong raised from the button and Miller called. Miller shoved his remaining stack with on a flop of which Acheampong decided to go for it with and called. Miller was looking good to double up when the to hit the turn needing to just fade five outs on the river. However, on the spiked the river giving Acheampong the winning two pair hand and the trophy along with a huge check. Final Table Payouts of the 888Live Local London Main Event Place Name Prize 1 Sam Acheampong 21,950 2 Gary Miller 15,230 3 Ning Lu 9,790 4 Deividas Peleckas 7,240 5 Shah Athar 5,430 6 George Titoiu 4,380 7 Andrew Abernethy 3,630 8 Andreas Constantinou 2,890 9 Andrew Sotiriou 2,180 Both 888poker and Aspers Casino are thrilled about how their 12-month partnership signed in March is bringing many 888Live Local events to the casino. Another low buy-in 888-branded event is just around the corner at Aspers Casino with the 110 888 Max Poker Event taking place on Aug. 4-7 featuring a 28,000. However, many poker players along with the organizers are already looking forward to the huge 888Live Local London Festival taking place from Oct. 13-23 with a handful of exciting tournaments. Head of Poker at Aspers John Scanlon shared that he is thrilled that the partnership with 888poker is leading to "bigger and better" poker festivals. "Our partnership with 888poker and our drive and commitment to provide players with the best product possible, meant it was an easy decision for Aspers to go even bigger and better," said Scanlon. "The 888Live London Festival on October 13-23 will feature various tournaments with buy-ins for everyone, ranging from a 220 Local event with a 100,000 guarantee, a 880 Main Event with a 200,000 guarantee, and a 2,000 high roller. We hope to welcome many of our regulars and new players to this amazing festival." Images courtesy of 888poker.com. Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+! The 2016 EPT Barcelona is Coming. Do You Know Who Cashed in the Main Event More Than Anyone? August 01, 2016 Frank Op de Woerd In two weeks' time, the PokerStars European Poker Tour Season 13 kicks off in Barcelona, one of the most popular EPT stops. The poker festival starts Wednesday August 17th with the 1,100 Estrellas Main Event and concludes Sunday August 28th with the 5,300 EPT Main Event final table. The schedule includes two 10,000 High Roller events, a 25,000 Single Day High Roller, a 50,000 buy-in Super High Roller, and countless smaller events spread out over the two-week festival. The entire schedule can be found on EPT.com. A Fixture on the EPT Calendar Since Year One Barcelona is a fixture on the European Poker Tour's schedule. In fact, it's the only stop that's been there each and every season after London disappeared from the EPT schedule last season. The event started as a 1,000 event in 2004 but became a 4,000 event in Season 2. In Season 3, the organization bumped it to 5,000 and even increased the buy-in to 8,000 over the next three years. Alexander Stevic became the first ever European Poker Tour champion back in 2004 after beating a field of 229 players. He walked away with a check worth 80,000 and would become prominent face on the tour in the events to follow, finishing third in that year's EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Last year it was John Juanda taking home the title and 1,022,593, coming out on top of a field 1,694 strong, the biggest ever EPT Main Event. PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event Champions Heaps of High Rollers With the Main Event buy-in rolled back to 5,000 in 2010 after being 8,000 for the three prior years, the EPT introduced a 10,000 event to accommodate the high rollers. The event hasn't left the schedule since, and in 2012 they introduced the 50,000 Super High Roller. Last season a 25,000 Single-Day High Roller was added to the program, and all three of these high roller events will return this year. An additional 10,000 event is organized at the start of the festival this time as well, to be held August 17-19. The first ever 10,000 event was won by Fernando Brito who made an even chop with Juha Helppi, granting them both 127,500. With a field of 36 the turnout wasn't huge, but the event would grow in years to come. Last year the event saw a record-breaking 506 entries, Mustapha Kanit walked away a winner banking 738,759 after striking a three-way deal with Kuljinder "Kully" Sidhu (640,000) and Nick Petrangelo (592,840). After agreeing to the chop, the three of them called it quits for the night and didn't play another hand of poker in one of the stranger finishes to a poker tournament that we can remember. Dan Smith took down the first ever 50,000 Super High Roller back in 2012, banking 962,925 after striking a deal with JC Alvarado who took home 788,675. The most memorable Super High Roller in Barcelona, however, might have been the one in 2014 when Olivier Busquet took down the event for 896,434. Busquet and eventual runner up Dan Colman wore politically charged T-shirts prompting PokerStars to ban displays of political statements at European Poker Tour events. If that weren't enough, Busquet made runner-runner on the felt to stay alive and eventually win his biggest prize to date in a hand that literally seemed "made for TV." The 25,000 High Roller was a new addition to the schedule last year. What was supposed to be a single-day event, it proved too popular and drew too big of a field to be completed within the first 25 levels. Three players returned two days later, with Liv Boeree (third, 391,000) and Mark Teltscher (second, 586,500) both falling to winner Martin Finger who banked 865,900. PokerStars EPT Barcelona High Roller Champions EPT Barcelona's Top Money Earners Sebastian Ruthenberg German pro Sebastian Ruthenberg, a recent bracelet winner and PokerStars Shooting Star at the time, took down the Main Event in 2008 when the buy-in was still 8,000 and only 10 percent of the players finished in the money, unlike the 15 percent it is today. He beat a field of 619 players to take home 1,361,000, the biggest EPT Main Event prize ever awarded in Barcelona. Sander Lyloff currently claims runner-up status in the all-time money list of players cashing in the EPT Barcelona Main Event. He beat Mark Teltscher heads-up back in 2007 to take home 1,170,700, leaving Teltscher just one spot shy of becoming (at the time) the first ever two-time EPT champion. # Player Country Cashes Winnings 1 Sebastian Ruthenberg Germany 1 1,361,000 2 Sander Lyloff Denmark 1 1,170,700 3 John Juanda Indonesia 2 1,098,693 4 Mikalai Pobal Belarus 3 1,034,150 5 Samuel Phillips United States 1 1,021,275 6 Tom Middleton United Kingdom 1 942,000 7 Steven Warburton United Kingdom 1 941,613 8 Carter Phillips United States 1 850,000 9 Martin Schleich Germany 1 850,000 10 Kent Lundmark Sweden 3 848,460 Most Cashes in EPT Barcelona Main Event History There's only a single player who has cashed the EPT Barcelona Main Event four times. Belgian pro Matthias De Meulder cashed for a combined 111,275 while making it in the money in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015. Year Position Players Prize 2010 37 757 15,000 2011 10 811 50,000 2012 61 1,082 14,150 2015 28 1,694 32,125 There are 24 players who cashed three times in the EPT Barcelona Main Event. Among them are Leo Margets (43,800), Andre Akkari (51,700), Mikalai Pobal (1,034,150), Davidi Kitai (521,300), Kitty Kuo (36,250), Jan Boubli (453,000), Mike McDonald (76,740), Ole Schemion (73,600), Kent Lundmark (848,460), and Roberto Romanello (53,200). A staggering 117 players have cashed in the event twice. Among them is last year's winner John Juanda, who in fact is the only player to make the final table of the EPT Barcelona twice. Besides winning last year (banking 1,022,593), Juanda final-tabled the event back in 2012 when he finished in eighth place for 76,100. Matthias De Meulder is the sole player to cash the EPT Barcelona Main Event 4 times Countries Represented at EPT Barcelona A total of 1,184 different players from 60 different countries have cashed in the EPT Barcelona Main Event in its 12-year history. A total of 1,352 places have been paid over 12 seasons. German players have the best results in EPT Barcelona history, looking at the amount of cashes (116), prize money (6,293,385) and titles (three Ruthenberg, Martin Schleich, and Andre Lettau). Country Cashes Prize money Titles 1 Germany 116 6,293,385 2 Spain 109 4,021,785 3 France 92 2,043,800 4 United Kingdom 89 4,696,833 5 United States 88 4,523,200 6 Sweden 81 2,906,930 7 Russia 79 2,012,795 8 Italy 69 2,177,250 9 The Netherlands 51 1,230,905 10 Finland 48 3,288,785 Some Other Fun EPT Barcelona Moments Ten years ago Phil Ivey, already a poker legend at the time, played his first ever European Poker Tour event in Barcelona. He didn't need to prove himself on European soil whatsoever, as he had already taken down the Monte Carlo Millions (immortalized by one of the most famous hands of poker ever) in Monaco the year before, but made for a great showing, anyway. He was close to earning his first ever EPT title, but came up short as a Norwegian by the name of Bjrn-Erik Glenne destroyed the final table. You can still watch the entire final table of YouTube or read PokerStars Blog's Brad Willis' account and the PokerNews.com recap. Another great moment happened during the 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event. The field of 1,082 was down to just three players at the start of dinner break. Joni Jouhkimainen (16,095,000 in chips) had a demanding lead over Mikalai Pobal (8,720,000) and Ilari Sahamies (7,460,000). Sahamies, coming off a fourth-place in the 50,000 event (291,900) and a week of abstinence, used the dinner break to slam down some vodka-orange juices, and Jouhkimainen joined him. The two Finns returned from a break with huge smiles on their faces, orange glasses in their hands, and shiny little hats on their heads, as reported by the PokerStars Blog. The drinks wouldn't do Jouhkimainen any good. He first unsuccessfully tried to five-bet bluff Sahamies (see video also) and lost the remainder not much later to finish in third. Pobal profited from the antics of the Finns, and won the event outright for a 1,007,550 payday. Live Reporting PokerNews.com will again be on site at EPT Barcelona for live reporting with coverage of the 5,300 main Event, the 50,000 Super High Roller, and the 25,000 Single Day High Roller. You don't have to miss a thing with the live reporters and video team on the ground in the Catalonian capital August 20 - 28. Lt. Randy Brandt of the San Leandro (CA) Police Department The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has selected Lt. Randy Brandt of the San Leandro (CA) Police Department as the recipient of its Officer of the Month Award for July 2016. Lieutenant Brandt says one of his greatest sources of pride through his 19-year law enforcement career is his participation, supervision, and management of the SLPD's SWAT team. Lieutenant Brandt's dedication led him to create the SWAT Fitness Challenge in 2007, a program established to promote fitness and camaraderie among the local tactical teams through competition and networking. Over the years the Challenge has grown, with more than 40 teams competing in 2015, some coming from as far away as Saskatchewan, Canada. "I brought it together to bring camaraderie and to bring training ideas together and networking," Lieutenant Brandt said. After a visit in 2014, Lieutenant Brandt decided to honor George Mark Children's House by making it the beneficiary of the Challenge's fundraising efforts. The George Mark Children's House is a pediatric palliative care center in San Leandro, providing hospice and respite care to children, in hopes of reducing the stress on patients and their families. "I was invited [to George Mark] as a motorcycle sergeant because the kids really liked motor cops. So we decided to bring our whole unit up there because we thought it might be a fun day," Lieutenant Brandt said. "Walking through there we were moved by what we were seeing more than the kids were about seeing us." Each team is asked to raise at least $500 for the pediatric care center, while Lieutenant Brandt raises funds to cover the cost of the Challenge. In 2014, they raised $25,000, and in 2015, they raised $32,000. The partnership has also garnered extensive media attention for the facility, helping raise its profile in the community. In 2016, the teams raised $96,000. Recently, one of the competitors in the SWAT Fitness Challenge learned that the child of his childhood best friend had passed away at George Mark Children's House. "That sort of brings it all home. I think it makes it all worthwhile. It's all beyond us, and it's more about them. That's what the event is about," Brandt said. In addition to the donations, Brandt also facilitated the opportunity for one of the George Mark Children's House teenage patients to be named an SLPD honorary officer, fulfilling a dream for the patient and his family. "[Lt.] Brandt has proven time and time again that he is a caring and dedicated individual and professional, who embodies SLPD's motto of Teamwork, Integrity, Professionalism, and Service," said Ken Sommer, Director of Advancement for George Mark Children's House. "Undoubtedly, Lieutenant Brandt's commitment to fitness and wellness are evidenced in his assignment choices and his accomplishments in the SWAT Fitness Challenge," SLPD Sergeant Troy Young said. "He has a great sense of the importance of the community and the role law enforcement should play in our communities." "Lieutenant Brandt's work with George Mark Children's House is commendable," Memorial Fund President and CEO Craig W. Floyd said. "Not only is his dedication to the wellness of his fellow officers, but to the children in his community. It's his life's work that earns him the July 2016 Officer of the Month Award." Located in the nation's capital, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of America's law enforcement officers. The Memorial Fund's Officer of the Month Award Program began in 1996 and recognizes federal, state, and local officers who distinguish themselves through exemplary law enforcement service and devotion to duty. Lieutenant Brandt, along with the other Officer of the Month Award recipients for 2016, will be honored during National Police Week at a special awards ceremony in Washington, DC, in May 2017. For more information about the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's Officer of the Month Award, visit www.LawMemorial.org/OTM. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* For too long in America the idea of patriotism, and indeed, national security was claimed as the sole property of the Republican Party. And although it has never been true in the past, it is certainly a fallacy today in 2016. Over the course of President Barack Obamas tenure in the White House, Republicans have shown their allegiance to America is often secondary to the interest of our allies. Today, by virtue of the Republican Partys fascist standard bearer, it appears that there has been a monumental shift in their allegiance away from our allies to the countrys main geopolitical rival, Russia. This is inherently true for most Republicans who are terrified of standing up to a reality television celebrity and calling out his devotion to the former Soviet Union; a devotion that not long ago would have garnered an accusation of high treason. Now, there are some who claim that Republican presidential candidate and avowed fascist Donald Trump was only requesting hackers who might be Russians to commit espionage on an American citizen, but they are Republican liars. Trump specifically called on his BFFs under Vladimir Putins control to commit cyber espionage on American soil. He said, Russia, if youre listening, I hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Notice that Trump didnt call on hackers to commit espionage on an American citizen, he specifically summoned Russia, the government and as many shocked Americans have noted, he likely committed a felony, and treason, by violating the Logan Act. As the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack said, Trump could have violated the Logan Act which prohibits Americans from siding with the enemy. Thats a no-no. You cant do that. Thats not legal, thats not right. Yesterday, Donald Trump sided with Russia and not with us. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also believes Trump violated the Logan Act. The Missouri senator said, The notion he would invite a foreign nation to conduct an attack against our country, its just beyond the pale. And I believe it violates the Logan Act and he should be investigated for that. The Logan Act (1799) was enacted specifically to prevent private citizens from interfering with U.S. government business by negotiating directly with hostile governments. Trump was certainly reaching out to a government hostile to America calling on Russia, and not simply hackers that might be Russians. He specifically called out, Hey Russia and not hey hackers. He is just too full of his own hubris to comprehend that Americans may be stupid, but they arent so stupid as to not see a deliberate outreach to a hostile foreign government. There is already strong evidence that the cyber-spies who illegally hacked the DNC were in fact agents of Vladimir Putins government. And, an independent investigation found the cyber-spies used the Russia-based Elite VPN service to communicate and leak documents directly with the media. This discovery strengthened [the private group ThreatConnects] ongoing assessment that [the cyber-spy] is part of an elaborate Russian propaganda effort and not an independent actor. Whether Trump knew about Putins propaganda machine is unclear as of yet, but even if he didnt, he still likely violated the Logan Act, and it is different than the previous two times Republicans in Congress came precariously close to committing a felony. Remember when then-Speaker of the House John Boehner went behind the Presidents back, and far outside of normal diplomatic channels, to call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress and lobby against American involvement in a United Nations deal with Iran, many pundits accused him of violating the Logan Act. Of course nothing happened because Republicans control Congress and claimed Boehner was simply appealing to a close ally to interfere in American foreign policy. Not long after Boehners seemingly treasonous action, a group of 47 Republican senators led by neo-conservative warmonger Senator Tom Cotton (R-ARK) signed on to a letter to the Supreme Council of Iran informing them that America was deceitful and would not honor its commitments in the nuclear agreement. Once again there were suggestions that the GOP senators were guilty of violating the Logan Act and again nothing happened; because they were acting on behalf of Americas ally, Israel. Now though, the leader of the Republican Party, and a man indebted to Russian oligarchs intricately connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being accused of violating the Logan Act. It remains to be seen if anything will happen to Trump, but there can be no doubt that in calling for a foreign government, and Americas chief geopolitical rival, to commit espionage against the interest of the United States government, Trump violated the Logan Act. That being the case, Trump needs to be investigated, indicted, and charged with a felony for being a traitor to America and willing actor on behalf of the Russian government and its leader Vladimir Putin. And yes, Trump has signaled that if elected he will act and govern according to the demands of Vladimir Putin to advance the interests of Americas chief geopolitical rival. Remember, Putin hates NATO, so Trump dutifully pledges to step away and not honor its commitment to defend our allies. Putin also hates that Russia was hit with several sanctions for its invasion and annexation of part of Ukraine. Again, Trump dutifully pledged to Putin that if elected he will unilaterally remove the international sanctions against Russia and give Putin official American permission to annex Crimea. The Clinton campaigns senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said: This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent. Thats not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue. Now what remains is to wait and see how many patriotic Republicans step up and call for an investigation into Trumps apparent collusion with a hostile foreign government. They are, so they claim, super-patriots most concerned with national security and holding Americas enemies in check, but they have been silent. It means they either support Trumps allegiance to a hostile foreign government and Americas chief geopolitical rival, or are no more American patriots than Vladimir Putin; common sense and logic informs they are frightened of crossing Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin making them cowards as much as Donald Trump is pro-Russia. Image: Credo Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Stymied in their attempt to buy the 2016 election for just under a billion dollars, the Koch brothers have decided to get what they can, which means blowing off Trump to focus on Congress (like spending $42 million to save McConnells job). Republicans havent been able to win the presidency since the disastrous Bush years, but theyve had a pretty good run legislative-wise. At one of their infamous weekend retreats, this one filled up with 400 wealthy conservatives in Colorado Springs, the kind of gathering Dr. Evil uses to plot the demise of his enemies, the Kochs expressed fear of Trumps response to Americas challenges (not least among them would be, as is often pointed out, these challenges are almost overwhelmingly invented by the conservative media). Surprisingly, even the Kochs seem to see this. You know, that crime isnt as bad as Trump makes it out to be. So Mark Holden, who is both general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, revealed to the Associated Press that not only are the Kochs focused on the Senate, but that in terms of crime (remember, Turmp made all those acceptance speech numbers up), Were much safer. Thats what the data shows. Somebody better text Fox News. Quick. Although why Paul Ryan, who was with the Kochs this weekend, doesnt get the message, is anybodys guess. After all, the Kochs own him too. Its kind of funny, really, this conundrum Republicans have found themselves in, you know, because its self-made. Charles Koch said, because his bid to buy the country fell through thanks to Trump, We dont really, in some cases, dont really have good options. In that regard, while Charles Koch says he wont vote for Trump, rumors that hell vote for Clinton instead are blood libel. Thats right: Republicans have not learned to distance themselves from Palinspeak. The first thing I want to do is correct a rumor that the media keeps stimulating, and that is that Im probably going to support Hillary. That is a blood libel. At this point, I cant support either candidate. But I certainly am not going to support Hillary. And yes, his audience of 1 Percenters cheered. Low or high brow, Republicans love themselves some blood libel. Trump gave the Kochs his usual send off in return, via Twitter: 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! Whether he actually got invited is another matter. More than likely it is like that imaginary letter Trump received from the NFL. Or his claim to actually know anything about anything. You can see why the small government Kochs might be afraid of Trump. Dictatorships are not exactly small-government affairs. Dictators can be intrusive fellows, as history has shown. And the Kochs are no doubt pretty familiar with Trumps intention to punish his enemies once he gets into the White House. When Trump talks bully pulpit he isnt speaking metaphorically. The current Koch budget for buying the country is only a little less than that originally envisioned, about $750 million (remember, it was originally valued at $889 million), so the battle between Trump and Kochs to destroy American democracy continues unabated. This is one of those very real scenarios where theyre all too evil to contemplate, and the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so totally untrue. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* It is interesting that, although not very often, a conservative regarded as a Republicans Republican will express their dismay and veritable disgust at the direction the conservative movement has taken and actually tells the truth; no matter how painful. And the dismay shared by a man known as an intellectual conservative is over his Partys embrace of Donald Trump due to the multi-decade Party adherence to white supremacy. In this case, the Republicans Republican, one Avik Roy, shared his remorse that his party, and the conservative movement in general, is going to die due to its being conservative and incapable of change. I dont think the Republican Party and the conservative movement are capable of reforming themselves in an incremental and gradual way, Mr. Roy said. Theres going to be a disruption. Avik Roy is an editor at Forbes and worked for three Republican candidates for president: Willard Romney, Marco Rubio and Rick Perry as part of his lifelong dedication to advancing conservative ideals. As a Republican, Roy is not enthralled that with the Republican Partys disruption, it will mean Democrats will have the upper hand in leading the nation, but he confesses the GOP is reaping precisely what its sown in Donald Trump. He is sad to report that the Republican Party has lost its right to govern because it is driven by white nationalism rather than a true commitment to equality for all Americans. According to a conversation with Voxs Zack Beauchamp, Roy said, Until the conservative movement can stand up and live by that [commitment to equality] principle, it will not have the moral authority to lead the country. I think the conservative movement is fundamentally broken. Trump is not a random act. This election is not a random act. The gravitational center of the Republican Party is white nationalism. Mr. Roy, like real historians and not Republican revisionists, traces the Partys racist gravitational center back to the 1960s and Barry Goldwater, a harsh opponent of the civil rights movement. It was during the immediate aftermath of the Civil Rights Act movement and passage that then-Southern Democrats became the white nationalist Republicans; because apparently representing the former Confederacy meant representing white supremacy and chasing African Americans from the Republican Party and portraying them and any non-whites as not real Americans. Today, that white supremacy has isolated and chased anyone out of GOP who is not a white Christian male; women have never been accepted by the GOP as real Americans unless they are subservient and willing perpetual birth machines. As this column has reiterated ad nauseam, it is that several decades-long whites only agenda that gave rise to Donald Trump as the GOP standard bearer. It will also mean, according to Mr. Roy, that the whites only agenda is going to be the undoing of the Republican Party. In 2012, two high-respected political scientists and longtime scholars of American politics, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, attempted to warn Republicans about their extremism in a damning Washington Post op-ed. Of course the two scholars, a liberal and a conservative, dealt with Republican extremism and dysfunction on everything and didnt focus on white nationalism, but they fairly cited exactly what is wrong with this country and who is ultimately responsible. They wrote: We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party. Obviously, as Mr. Roy noted, despite losing a presidential election and rejecting an official Party election post mortem citing stupidity and lack of inclusiveness of all citizens, Republicans were incapable of reforming. Instead of reining in the extremist rhetoric and demagoguery of anyone not white and not Christian, Republicans ramped up anti-immigrant rhetoric, attacked the LGBT community mercilessly, portrayed African Americans as thugs, and declared that all non-Christians (Muslims) were monsters and an existential threat. It is that sentiment that Donald Trump seized upon and why he is the Partys leader. Whether, as Mr. Roy contends, the Republican and conservative movement suffers a near-fatal setback or not, and they retool the movement to purge the Partys white nationalist branding, nothing will change. Republicans have spent the past 50-plus years inculcating white nationalism and Aryan entitlement into their racist base, and spent the past 8 years making it popular as the conservative movements raison detre. It is not going to go away no matter how inclusive the Party becomes. The GOP base will revolt against a humanistic reformation and that truly explains why no small number of Republican politicians are terrified of speaking out against hate, religious extremism, and particularly this idea that America was created by god for white Christians at the exclusion of all others. It is the story that elevated Donald Trump to lead the GOP and according to an acknowledged intellectual conservative, it will be the demise of the movement that avowed Republican Avik Roy asserted has lost the moral authority to lead. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Lies from Fox News are like death and taxes. Theyre inevitable. So when Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade say that an RNC speech from Patricia Smith, whose son was killed in the Benghazi attack was not covered by any networks, but everybody covered Khizr Khans, you have to look at the facts. First, here is the big lie: STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): [The Khan family] lost their son, but there is a double standard. The mainstream media is paying all the attention to the Khan family and yet not so much to the Smith family. Sean Smith lost his life in Benghazi and it was one week earlier at the Republican convention where Pat Smith directly and personally blamed Hillary Clinton for her son getting killed. And why isnt this getting coverage? [] BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Meanwhile, I was on the floor for that. I did not know that no networks covered her. Nobody covered those remarks live but almost everybody covered Khans, Mr. Khans remarks live. DOOCY: There is a double standard it seems. And now the facts: It turns out that as Media Matters for America has pointed out, 1) Fox News is the ONLY network to NOT cover Patrica Smiths speech; and, 2) EVERY network BUT Fox News covered Khizl Khans speech. So nobody from Fox News is in any position to complain about coverage of Patricia Smiths speech, since they didnt air it themselves. In fact, both speeches were equally covered because in each case, Fox News was notable by its absence. Which brings us to the issue of coverage of the so-called Benghazi scandal. Previously (September 2014), Media Matters for America detailed the amount of coverage dedicated to the Benghazi hoax by its creator, Fox News: 1,098 total Fox News evening segments that included significant discussion of Benghazi an average of about 13 segments per week In 18 of 20 months studied, Fox ran at least 20 Benghazi segments per month, with a high of 174 in October 2012 382 segments aired on Special Report, the networks flagship news program 478 segments invoked the talking points used for Susan Rices 2012 Sunday show appearances 281 segments alleging a cover-up by the Obama administration 144 interviews of GOP members of Congress versus only five interviews of Democratic members of Congress and Obama administration officials 120 comparisons to Iran-Contra, Watergate, and the actions of the Nixon administration 105 attempts to link Benghazi to Hillary Clintons potential presidential ambitions 100 segments promoting the lie that the administration issued a stand-down order And obviously, this is just Fox News and not the other networks, and the list above ends two years ago. The coverage has not ceased, or even let up. So when Fox News asks why people didnt talk about Benghazi, or specifically, Patricia Smiths speech, as much as theyre talking about the Khan speech, you are reminded that Fox News sole focus is on inventing Republican-friendly news rather than reporting actual events. Worse, the reason Fox News didnt air Khans speech is because it was airing a Benghazi attack ad instead. Stay classy, Fox. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print What makes a Trump supporter? We know he peeled off the no high school and only high school degree Republicans. But thats not all. He has plenty of educated supporters. So what gives? The one thing all of his supporters have in common is that they are easily manipulated, no matter their education level or status. Donald Trump appeals to the conspiracy-oriented fringers and the resentful, doomed by the kind of epistemic closure brought on by Fox News and the conservative medias refusal to deal with reality. They are easily tricked by claims of being a victim, something they inherently seem to relate to. Heres an up close look at a few of them. Buckle up. Sopan Deb, a Donald Trump campaign reporter for CBS News, reported Monday on this scary exchange with a Trump supporter, who believes anything found on the Internet, anywhere on the Internet (a clear inability to discern reliable information from unreliable, which makes total sense): This is an actual exchange I just had with a Trump supporter here in Ohio about Khizr Khan. On camera. pic.twitter.com/KWnahBCHmv Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) August 1, 2016 Michael Grunwald, Senior writer at Politico, Editor-at-large at The Agenda and author of The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era (a must-read if you havent), reported in a Monday tweet storm on this interaction with a crazy lady/conspiracy believer/tin-foil hat wearing bag lady Trump supporter: They were complaining how wimpy R's like their senator @JeffFlake are afraid of PC race-card liberals, when a crazy lady interrupted. 2 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 She was 60ish with bright red hair, face caked in makeup. She blurts out: "Did you see Flake said Trump delegates should be exterminated?" 3 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 Needless to say, @JeffFlake has not said Trump delegates should be exterminated. 4 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 The senators were anti-immigration right-wing Flake skeptics, but they kind of hemmed & hawed like they had been accosted by a bag lady. 5 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 But she's insistent. "Flake is as bad as the liberals. I'm telling you, none of the precinct captains will be with him in 2018." 6 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 It occurred to me that "precinct captain" would be pretty sophisticated for a bag lady. And she was an #RNCinCLE delegate. So we chatted. 7 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 Her name was Sandra, and she was for Trump because she was very scared and very angry. "Not angry," she told me. "PISSED OFF!" 8 Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 1, 2016 Not angry, but pissed off? Thinks a sitting Republican Senator ordered the extermination of Trump delegates, because Internets? Talk about a disconnect from reality and a love-affair with a perceived victimization. The press is left stunned by the impervious-to-facts beliefs of a Trump supporter because its hard to believe that people simply do not care about and/or refuse to believe facts. Trump supporters believe things like this: Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes defended Donald Trump comparing his sacrifices to those who served our country by saying Trump lost two marriages because he worked so much, You know what, creating jobs caused him to be at work, which cost him two marriages. Time away from his family to sit there and invest. Yes, it wasnt the infidelity or Trumps insecure need to replace each woman when she came into her own power or voice or aged out of his Silent Cheerleader Doll role. It was creating jobs you know, the jobs he often doesnt actually pay people for doing. President Obama has set actual historic records for consecutive months of private sector job growth, and not once has he whined about his sacrifice. Also, hes still married. Ive met quite a few Trump supporters on my own, and I cant explain their cultish devotion to this little Oz of a man. Some of them are intelligent people, people I respect aside from this issue. But one thing is consistent they all believe total faslehoods and cling to conspiracies regardless of contradictory evidence presented to them. This is the culmination of many years of epistemic closure come to fruition. The closing off of information, the teaching their voters that they cant trust anyone but Fox News, the unskewed polls, the paranoid belief in a liberal media lying to them, a belief that the world is against them these are the traits of a Trump supporter. The Republican Party built the Trump cult the long hard way, over decades, by playing the victim to avoid responsibility for their actions and by exploiting resentment and fear to get out the vote for their policies that often harm the very people they are deliberately manipulating. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In contrast to Trumps attack on a Gold Star family, President Obama defended the families of the fallen while speaking to the National Convention Of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. Video: #Obama gets loud cheers from vets when slams those who are "trash-talking" US military families. #Trump #Khan https://t.co/zCFXG0evUP Michael Gravesande (@OldBlackHack) August 1, 2016 The President said: Let me say this. No one. No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families. Michelle and I have spent countless hours with them. We have grieved with them. Theres a reason why in Philadelphia I was honored to be introduced by Sharon Belkofor from Ohio. A Gold Star mom, who son Tom, a Lt. Col. in Afghanistan. I requested Sharon to introduce me because I understand that our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us can not even begin to imagine. They represent the best of our country. They continue to inspire us every day every moment. They represent the truth strength of America. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them. Obama also called out Trump, without saying his name for trash talking Americas troops: The President said, As Commander In Chief, Im pretty tired of some folks trash talking Americas military and troops. President Obamas remarks were a strong and sharp contrast to those of the Republican nominee. Obama is helping to drive home the message that it is Democrats who care about vets, not Donald Trump. However, the problem of Republicans talking the talk but not walking the walk existed long before the rise of Trump. For years, many Democrats have seethed while watching Republicans wrap themselves in the flag as they worked to deny the nations troops and vets benefits and services that they were promised. The Democratic Party has become the party of patriotism and defending our vets. Donald Trumps repeated attacks on America have opened the door for Democrats to express their own patriotism loudly and proudly. Trump is reeling due to the backlash that his attacks on the Gold Star Khan family has inspired, and President Obamas remarks in Atlanta were a new nail in the coffin of the failing and sinking Trump campaign. A delegation from Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss the restoration of Deir El-Sultan Monastery. The visit, announced by the Church earlier this week, comes in agreement with officials from the Ethiopian Church with the aim of discussing the restoration of the ancient Deir El-Sultan Monastery in Jerusalem's Old City. Bishop Baeman, head of the Coptic Church's Crisis Management Committee, said that the exploratory visit will include the reviewing of documents that prove Egyptian ownership of the monastery. Deir El-Sultan is one of the most important Coptic landmarks in Jerusalem and is the oldest church in the world. The ownership of the monastery has been a source of contention since the aftermath of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war that saw Israel seize the religious house from Coptic Egyptian monks and hand it over to the Ethiopian Coptic Church. A high Israeli court had ruled on Egypt's right to the monastery's ownership following dozens of court cases Cairo had brought before Israeli courts. However, the verdict has not been upheld by the Israeli government. This visit is the fourth by church representatives since Coptic Pope Tawadros II visited Jerusalem to attend Bishop Ibrahim's funeral last November. The delegation will be joined by a group of Egyptian diplomats, as well as representatives from the Egyptian consulate, as the monastery issue has not been discussed since the war in 1967. According to Bishop Baeman, ecclesiastical visits should not be considered a violation of the churchs longstanding stance against Egyptian Copts visiting Israel. The bishop stressed that Pope Tawadros II is entitled to have final say on the travel ban to Jerusalem. The late Pope Shenouda III issued a formal papal ban on pilgrimages to Israel in 1979, a policy that remains in place today as a clear stance against the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem. Search Keywords: Short link: Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Trumps attack on Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, for a speech by Mr. Khan at the DNC, has brought outrage from from all sides, including Mitch McConnell, against an embattled Donald Trump, who has continued to strike back against criticism, whining just this morning on Twitter that, Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same Nice! and in another tweet, This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart! Of course, if its not about Mr. Khan, why does Trump keeping attacking Mr. Khan? People For the American Way President Michael Keegan released the following statement in response to the Trump attacks: Millions of Americans have been moved by the Khans eloquence about the meaning of our Constitution and their sons sacrifice on behalf of our country. Unfortunately, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is not among them. To this familys patriotism and loss, he responded with shameful bigotry and innuendo. Clearly the Khans need no one to speak for them. But we choose to stand with them in their call for Republican leaders to repudiate Donald Trump. More than 60 years ago, a dangerous, bullying demagogue was deflated with a simple question, Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? It has become abundantly clear that Donald Trump shares the cruelty and recklessness of Joseph McCarthy as well as his lack of decency. So we put the question to Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders who have rallied to Trumps side: Have you left no sense of decency? As the BBCs Kim Ghattas said on this mornings Morning Joe, Trumps attack on Muslims feeds a pattern of Islamophobia: The insinuation that somehow, whenever you speak about Muslim-Americans, you must bring up terrorism is very disturbing. Sadly, Trump has many defenders as well. There is no lack of religious bigots on the right and they have by and large fallen in behind Trumps plan to make the world safe for Fox News white Christian Americans. Trump and the Republican Party, minus a few outliers, have shown they have no decency and PFAW is right to call them on it. Their passive aggressive response to Trump has shown them to be wholly lacking in character, which puts them on par with the guy with whom they claim they want nothing to do. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. After months of construction, a trendy Swedish clothing retailer is almost ready to open its new Rochester store. H&M , one of the world's largest fashion retailers, plans to open the doors of new Apache Mall store at noon on Thursday. The "fashion forward" store features clothing and accessories for women and men. The Apache Mall location also will carry H&M's children's collection, for newborns up to teens. To spice up the opening, the first 100 shoppers in line will receive an "all-access fashion pass." The passes will each have "a mystery amount of store credit up to $300." H&M is asking shoppers to bring in "old garments to be recycled before the store opens" to get 15 percent off their next purchase and the chance to win a gift card valued between $50 and $250. The opening also will feature music from an in-store disc jockey. ADVERTISEMENT The 22,000-square-foot store is major a addition to the Apache Mall's retail lineup. It has entrances from the Scheels corridor of the mall as well as the JCPenneycorridor. Building is out of a re-shaped chunk of the mall. To accommodate it, several stores including the Northwoods Candy Emporium, Caribou Coffee, Payless ShoeSource and Aeropostalewere shifted to new locations within the mall. This will be the Stockholm, Sweden-based H&M's ninth store in the state. It has a location in the Mall of Americaas well as a two-story store in Minneapolis' Calhoun Square shopping center in Uptown. The company has pegged Minnesota as "a quickly growing market." -- Jeff Kiger HOLLYWOOD, Fla. With seven suicides in her family including those of her writer grandfather Ernest and her supermodel sister Margaux Mariel Hemingway hasn't just been affected by depression and suicide. She has been besieged by it. This history is why the actress, the youngest daughter of Ernest Hemingway's son Jack and famous for such films as "Manhattan," "Personal Best," "Star 80" and "The Mean Season," has spent the last several years speaking as a mental health and wellness advocate. "I started to realize I had a great understanding of the whole space," says Hemingway, who was in South Florida recently to speak at State of Recovery 2016 , a conference held at the Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood on behavioral health care. "I was drawn to being able to tell a story so that other people don't feel alone, so they don't feel isolated inside the darkness because there is so much darkness when you don't speak about it, and there's so much hope and light in recovery if you're able to tell your story." Hemingway, 54, the divorced mother of two grown daughters, is remarkably friendly and upbeat for someone whose family practically defines the phrase "troubled past," but then, she has dedicated herself to a search for peace ("I've traveled to different countries. I've chanted. I've done primal scream. I've eaten every way, and I've exercised too much I've tried to find all the different avenues to create balance"). She has long promoted lifestyle balance and wellness, but her public transformation to mental health advocate began several years ago, when a friend at OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network , suggested she make a documentary about her family (her eldest sister, Joan, suffers from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). Genetically predisposed ADVERTISEMENT At first, Hemingway demurred. But on further reflection, she realized the merit in such a work and grabbed the chance to reflect on her past in a positive light. "I did suffer depression myself; it wasn't clinical depression, but I had a genetic predisposition for it," she says. "I grew up watching a family that was completely amazing and creative but also destructive and self-medicating. All of them, they were addicts. I didn't want to end up like that. I was on a mission." The result was " Running From Crazy ," directed by Barbara Kopple. "Running From Crazy," which aired in 2013, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary in 2014 (there's a repeat screening Thursday on OWN). Last year, Hemingway, who had published self-help books on such subjects as yoga and healthy eating, continued what she calls her "journey" by publishing two memoirs: "Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family" and "Invisible Girl," written diary-style and aimed at teenagers, both co-written by Ben Greenman. 'Thought I could fix my family' Reaching out to young adults was important to Hemingway, who grew up in Ketchum, Idaho, and became a caretaker to her family at an early age (at 11, she used to drive her mother home from chemotherapy appointments). "I thought I could fix my family when I was a kid," she says. "If somebody could have talked to me, it would've taken all that pressure off me. I actually thought it was my job to make my family better because everybody was so messed up. I thought, 'Well, somebody's got to clean up after the crazy.' It's why movie sets were less messy than my home life. I was cleaning up after nights of too much wine all my life. When I started making movies it was an occasion. I thought, 'Oh my God, people give me things! They take care of me!'" The fact that her family never spoke of their issues Hemingway believes her grandfather, who shot himself four months before she was born in 1961 , suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder only makes her more determined to tell her story. Despite living in more transparent times, she believes the stigma against depression is alive and thriving. ADVERTISEMENT "There's still a stigma," she says. "It's funny, because I'm such a healthy, balanced person now. But with people in the industry, because of a couple of stories that came out, they were like, 'I don't know if we can hire her isn't she depressed?' But you can be a drug addict or you can beat your wife or husband, you can do all kinds of crazy stuff and still get hired, still get a promotion. But even now, when you talk about mental health, people are really afraid, because it's too close to home. Everybody has to deal with mental health issues at some level." 'Tremendous stigma' Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, chairman of the psychiatry department at UHealth University of Miami Health System, agrees with Hemingway's assessment on the pervasive stigma against depression-related issues. "It's robust in many ways," he says. "We have this fabulous cancer center at UM. It's so successful in raising money for research. But compare the amount Sylvester can raise compared to what we can raise in psychiatry it's a mere fraction. Strokes and Parkinson's are brain diseases. So is depression. What's different? They're both above-the-neck diseases. We still fight this tremendous stigma." The Russian Defense Ministry says a transport helicopter has been shot down in Syria, but the fate of the five people onboard is still unknown. The ministry says in a statement that the Mi-8 helicopter was shot down on Monday in Idlib province while returning to the Russian air base on the coast after delivering humanitarian goods to the city of Aleppo. The helicopter had three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation center. Search Keywords: Short link: Rochester police caught a man allegedly attempting to steal scrap metal from the Clarion Motel in Southeast Rochester on Friday night, according to Rochester Police Lt. Mike Sadauskis. Officers allegedly found 54-year-old Roger William Bishop, of Rochester, and a truck with the bed full of pipes and scrap metal. An officer noticed a vehicle parked outside the now-closed motel site and decided to check into it. Sadauskis said they've had other people try to steal pipes and scrap metal from the old motel. Officers found that hotel doors on the building's back side had been forced open. Inside the hotel, officers found walls torn apart and pipes missing, he said. Bishop could face third-degree burglary charges, Sadauskis said. A statue of William and Charles Mayo that once stood near the entrance to Mayo Civic Center was returned to its original home in Mayo Park on Monday. This is how it all transpired. 9 a.m.:Jeremy Strain slowly drives a heavy crane on sheets of plywood close to the granite memorial where a statue of William and Charles Mayo stood until 30 years ago. Then he and a crew of Hawk & Sons workers wait for the refurbished statues to arrive. 9:05 a.m.:Erin Okins, marketing manager at Mayo Civic Center, explains the statues first were put on the granite pedestal, with a granite amphitheater to the west, in 1950 as a way to honor the famed brothers who founded Mayo Clinic; they died in 1939. The statue, which first was moved to the front of the civic center, had to be moved to storage more than a year ago because the civic center is being greatly expanded. Also, the statue needed refurbishing. 9:10 a.m.:Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede said it's only fitting the statue be returned to where it belongs. "To me, they are going to be back to their rightful place," he said. ADVERTISEMENT 9:13 a.m.:The crane is in place, and a truck shows up bearing the statue with the top half wrapped in plastic. It's brought close to the crane. Laura Kubick, an associate conservator with Kristin Cheronis Inc., of the Twin Cities, said the statue weighs 11,000 pounds and stands on a granite base. There had been some corrosion of the bronze from urban pollution, as well as some vandalism, she said. Its patina had been lost, and it was partly green. With more than a year of work, flaws were fixed and a patina added. The work cost a bit less than $15,000, with money coming from the civic center. 9:36 a.m.:Strain expertly swings the heavy crane over the statue, and heavy straps are attached. The statue of Dr. Charles Mayo with his right hand on his brother's left shoulder is hoisted up and slowly lowered. Strain said it was kind of a special job because he seldom has an audience when he lifts building materials on a construction site. "You want to do your best," he said. Also, it was in an awkward place to work with trees around, and he had to be careful of the extra audience. 9:41 a.m.:The statue is in place, but four workers measure, remeasure and measure again to make sure it's in just the right place. 9:52 p.m.:It's in place. Workers begin cutting off the plastic. 10 a.m.:Plastic is off; people applaud. The Mayo brothers' statue is back. "I am really pleased to see it back here," Brede said. ADVERTISEMENT The Charter House had a record-breaking year as the 28th annual Sidewalk Sale raised $15,627 for local non-profit organizations. On July 15, the Charter House, a senior living community that is owned and operated by the Mayo Clinic, held its annual Sidewalk Sale in which the public can buy items such as furniture, books, clothing, baked goods and plants donated by residents. The money raised was donated to The Reading Center/Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota, Family Service Rochester, Dorothy Day Hospitality House and the Women's Shelter. MINNEAPOLIS August brings about new laws in Minnesota that will impact drug offenders, newlyweds and more. But the verdict is still out on some big-ticket items like tax relief and construction projects as leaders pursue a special session to wrap up that unfinished work. Here's a look at some of the new laws that take effect today: Digital lives after death Call it the will of the 21st century: Bequeath the house, the car, the bank account and then the Twitter and Facebook accounts. ADVERTISEMENT The new law allows Minnesota residents to specify who gets control of their digital assets after death or ensure no one can touch them. It was prompted by the death of 19-year-old Jacob Anderson in 2013. His parents, Kristi and Bill Anderson of Orono, were unable to access their son's iPhone that they hoped could answer some of the mysteries of why he was found dead along the Mississippi River. Pharmaceuticals Patients who face long drives to pick up medication are about to get some help. Starting in August, pharmacists can send patients home with a 90-day supply of medicine so long as they've already used up a month's worth of medication. The expansion doesn't apply to controlled substances, so patients on the state's medical marijuana program are out of luck. Drug sentencing It took a battle in the Legislature, but some of the state's drug sentencing guidelines will be reduced for first-and second-degree drug possession sentences, reserving harsher treatment for big-time drug dealers and violent offenders. The new guidelines supplant the more drastic changes set in motion late last year by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, which law enforcement and county officials complained would offer lighter treatment to drug dealers. Monday's change is meant to free up hundreds of prison beds amid concern that Minnesota's prisons are over capacity. Revenge porn ADVERTISEMENT Prompted by horror stories across the U.S. of men and women whose exes posted nude photographs online after a breakup, Minnesota law will now specifically ban disseminating sexual photos or images if both people depicted haven't consented. More than half of the United States bans so-called revenge porn. Marriage license Because "I declare you man and wife five days from now" just didn't have the same ring to it, the new law erases the waiting period after applying for a marriage license. That leaves Wisconsin as the sole remaining state with a lengthy wait. Minnesota joins most states in issuing marriages licenses immediately. Amid unrest around the country, Rochester's neighborhoods are the planning the largest National Night Out celebration in the city's history. Rochester is known for having a growing number of events and participants each year, but 2016 is expected to be much larger than recent years, said Darrel Hildebrant, the Rochester Police Department's Advanced Crime Prevention/CPTED specialist and National Night Out coordinator. "It's not even close. We're blowing all of the other years out of the water," he said. Hildebrant has 363 events registered in Rochester for Tuesday's National Night Out. That's up from 309 in 2015, which was a record-breaking number. There are 73,378 people invited to these events compared to 66,125 last year. Most events will start around 5:30 p.m. and run until sunset. Expect to smell a lot of hamburgers and hog dogs grilling around the city as neighbors get to know each other better. ADVERTISEMENT Of those neighborhood parties planned for Tuesday, 148 have requested to have police officers visit the gathering. "With all of the negative press for police, they all want to thank officers for their service. People are saying, 'We want to support our police.' I've heard that more than a few times," Hildebrant said. Of course, it might be difficult to get officers to so many events, particularly when they are on the job. However, Hildebrant said many off-duty officers do their best to visit the gatherings in the neighborhoods they cover. Some apartment complexes in Rochester cater National Night Out event for tenants. Other groups have inflatable bouncy houses for the kids and live bands for the adults. "A lot of these places take it very seriously," Hildebrant said. The Washington Neighborhood Association, in northwest Rochester, is very serious about having a lot of fun. The annual event in Cooke Park has grown in recent years as the association has invited people from outside the neighborhood's boundaries. "We have such a diverse neighborhood. We have elderly people. We have starter families. We have lots of ethnic groups. We long-time homeowners and renters in apartments," said event organizer Pat Staley. "I think that's what makes Washington Neighborhood unique." This year's potluck event event will feature lots of kids games and activities, a kid parade, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs provided by Ye Olde Butcher Shop, root beer from Kinney Creek Brewery and live music by After School Special, a local band. Businesses from the nearby Cooke Park Design District are also supporting the event. ADVERTISEMENT "It's all about community," said Staley. People want to get to know their neighbors better." A Pine Island motorcyclist was hospitalized after being injured in a crash late Saturday morning in Elma, Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol said Todd Foster, 41, was airlifted to Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus in Rochester. A clinic spokesman said Foster was in good condition today. With him was Brenda Stevenson, 64, of McIntyre, Iowa, who was also airlifted to Saint Marys. She was not listed as a patient today. The patrol said Foster was driving his motorcycle east on Maple Street when the front tire blew out, the motorcycle went into the north ditch and flipped, throwing both Foster and Stevenson off the motorcycle. ADVERTISEMENT The crash was reported at 10:35 a.m. MINNEAPOLIS A rapper in a music video looks angrily into the camera, warns someone that he's carrying a Glock pistol and tells them to "eat the lead up." Some of the men in the video carry what appear to be real guns. Minneapolis police say the men are members of the Tre Tre Crips gang, and they suspect the men were not making idle threats against their rivals in a gang called the Skitz Squad. According to the charges, police investigators say the group made several videos aimed at belittling rivals. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said, as in similar cases, these men crossed the line between free speech and criminal activity. "What we see in these videos again and again is people making very specific threats to other individuals often showing guns and with capacity to use those guns," said Freeman. Police say there's a history of violence between the Tre Tre Crips and Skitz Squad, as well as members of other north Minneapolis-based ally gangs. They say the conflict has helped push the number of nonfatal shootings on the north side up nearly 50 percent compared to the same period last year. ADVERTISEMENT Attorney Emmett Donnelly is representing one of the four men charged with making terroristic threats and illegal gun possession. He declined to comment directly on the case but said he's noticed a troubling trend. "There is often a direct law enforcement response to expression artistic expression in rap music, now called hip-hop, that you don't see in other forms of artistic expression," he said. Donnelly said it seems as though African-Americans artists face more harsh criticism than whites when they exercise their free speech rights. In the 1990s, rapper Ice-T, who is black, formed a rock band and sang the song "Cop Killer," which sparked a firestorm of controversy. But Donnelly says when Eric Clapton, who is white, covered the Bob Marley hit "I Shot the Sheriff," there was no outcry. The Minneapolis Police Department is not alone in using social media to crack down on gang violence. Last year, four gang members in St. Paul were convicted of weapons charges after they appeared in an online video that featured the men pointing guns at the camera. Minnesota ACLU legal director Teresa Nelson said it is illegal to threaten someone's life. However, she said before someone is locked up for something they say, the government has to prove that person had a subjective intent to threaten. "Anytime you're talking about putting someone in jail or prison for simply things they are saying, you can't have sort of a negligent standard," said Nelson. "Because that would be too chilling on speech." Nelson didn't have any data showing that African-Americans who post videos on social media are more likely than whites to be watched by law enforcement. However, she noted the disproportionate rates in which African-Americans are stopped and arrested by police compared to those for white people. ADVERTISEMENT Law enforcement officials say they will continue to monitor social media to prevent violent words from inspiring violent behavior. People in communities affected by the shootings continue to hope their prayers for peace will stop the violence. On July 8, the Rev. Jerry McAfee, of New Salem Baptist Church, led a group of about 100 people in prayer and in song near the intersection of Penn and Lowry avenues where earlier that day, 2-year-old Le'Vonte Jones was fatally shot. Jones was in a minivan with his father, 24-year-old Melvonte Peterson. Police say Peterson and another person engaged in a driving gun battle near the intersection. A bullet also struck Peterson's 15-month-old daughter in her leg. She survived. Police have not said if Peterson had ties to any gang. But McAfee made a plea to gang members whether their turf is the higher numbered avenues of north Minneapolis or the lower ones to put down their guns. "Whatever you're claiming," said McAfee. "High end, low end, YNT, Taliban, SUB. None of that makes any difference to us as a people." Hennepin County prosecutors recently deferred murder charges against a man police believed killed the toddler Le'Vonte Jones because of what a spokesperson said was "insufficient evidence." One of the deadliest bombings to ever hit Iraq killed 323 people, two thirds of whom needed DNA testing to identify, the health minister said, raising an earlier toll from last month's attack. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus in a crowded shopping area in Baghdad's Karrada district early on July 3, sparking infernos in nearby buildings that burned many victims alive. "One hundred and fifteen martyrs were identified directly after the bombing by their families," health minister Adila Hamoud told a televised news conference. But the identity of 208 more people killed in the blast, many of whose bodies were burned beyond recognition, could not be determined, and they were sent for DNA testing, Hamoud said. She had previously said that the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State militant group, had killed 292 people, of whom 177 were unidentified. People have been furious over delays in determining the fate of their loved ones, and have sharply criticised the Iraqi government for failing to protect them. IS group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant territory from the militants. The extremists have responded to battlefield setbacks by striking back against civilians, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the Militants continue to lose ground. Search Keywords: Short link: The way Dr. Ola Famuyide saw it, his toughest challenge in getting a world renowned fetal surgeon to practice at Mayo Clinic would simply be convincing him to come to Rochester. He was wrong. "He came. We liked him. He loved the practice, and I thought everything was hunky dory," said Famuyide, chairman of the clinic's Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. Then came the bad news. The accomplished fetal surgeon Dr. Rodrigo Ruano had done his medical training outside of the United States. Even though he had been practicing in Texas, he was ineligible to be licensed in Minnesota. To get licensed, he would have to dedicate up to a year studying to pass the U.S. Medical License Exam a tough sell for an experienced surgeon. But Famuyide wasn't satisfied. Several other states, including Texas, Ohio and New York, have provisions in law that allow extraordinarily skilled physicians who were trained abroad the chance to practice at academic health centers. So Famuyide asked Mayo Clinic lobbyist Erin Sexton what could be done. She didn't sugar coat things. With only 10 days left in the 2016 Minnesota legislative session, the prospects of getting a bill passed changing the state's physician laws seemed slim to none. But Famuyide was not deterred. ADVERTISEMENT "I said, 'I love playing long odds. Let's do it,'" he said. To the astonishment of Famuyide and others, lawmakers embraced the proposal. The bill sped through the Legislature and won DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's support. As of today, Ruano and other physicians like him can apply to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for a license to practice in the state. Ruano has accepted an offer to be director of Mayo Clinic's Fetal Diagnostic and Intervention Center. His job will be to help establish a fetal surgery program at the clinic. Only five or six such clinics exist in the United States, Famuyide said. "It's important work because it offers hope to mothers whose babies otherwise have serious and awful, lethal malformations," he said. A closer look at the new law The new medical faculty license allows a foreign-trained physician to practice in Minnesota if they are deemed to be a person with "extraordinary ability in the field of science or as an outstanding professor or researcher" as defined under federal regulations. The physician must also be a faculty member at one of the state's two academic health centers Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota to be eligible for licensure. The law is set to automatically expire July 1, 2018. Dr. Taylor Hays, chairman of Mayo Clinic's Personnel Committee, said the new law is a welcome change that will enable the clinic to compete for international talent. In the past, Hays said he has had to tell colleagues they can't pursue renowned surgeons who have done their training outside the U.S. "We've had a number of situations where I would have loved to have had this," he said. Hays said attempts to convince the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice to support an exemption went nowhere. No one had really thought to push it at the Legislature. ADVERTISEMENT "We would just throw up our hands and say, 'We can't do it,'" Hays said. He said he expects the clinic would rarely tap into the new law. But he said having it available means that Mayo Clinic will have the chance to pursue extraordinarily talented physicians. "It's a win win," Hays said. "I don't think there are any losers in this. And as much as I feel cynical about the Legislature, they did a good job with this." Not everyone pleased Not everyone was thrilled with the lightening fast passage of the bill. Ruth Martinez, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, said she first learned about the bill on May 16 two days after the board's last meeting. Six days later, the bill had cleared both the House and Senate and was on its way to to the governor's desk. Board members never got a chance to weigh in on the proposal. Martinez said she isn't necessarily opposed to the proposal, but she's frustrated by how it got done. "This went through without a hitch. (Mayo Clinic) is well connected and they had paved the way so that when it was introduced on the floor, it was a love fest," she said. But lawmakers who backed the change say the new law will in no way lower licensing standards. Instead, it provides a very narrow exception for extremely talented physicians. ADVERTISEMENT "We wanted to try to balance moving really quickly with trying to build in safeguards, which I think we did a good job of," said House Health and Human Services Finance Committee Chairman Matt Dean, R-Dellwood. Senate Health, Human Services and Housing Chairwoman Kathy Sheran said she supported the provision because other states already have similar laws in place. She said it's important that Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota are able to compete. "We needed to untie those handcuffs that we have placed on the systems, at least for awhile, to take advantage of this opportunity, and then have a more measured conversation," said Sheran, DFL-Mankato. Building a fetal surgery program Ruano is expected to be the first physician to take advantage of the new faculty medical license. A native of Brazil, Ruano earned his medical degree and did his residency in his home country. He also completed a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine in Paris. In 2012, he began practicing at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. Famuyide said that while fetal surgery remains a relatively new field, it can help improve outcomes for babies facing potentially life-threatening illnesses. He expects there will be challenges. Expectant mothers undergoing these procedures will likely have to stay in Rochester for months until the birth. But Famuyide said Mayo Clinic patients will benefit from being able to access this cutting-edge treatment. "What Mayo Clinic is known for is providing solutions, offering solutions for patients with complex problems," he said. "This is as complex as a problems get for expectant pregnant mothers." PHILADELPHIA -- The Democratic National Convention here was Broadway to the summer stock production that Republicans put on in Cleveland. The Democrats' show was polished and uplifting, while the grand spectacle Donald Trump had promised to produce was amateurish and angry. The chants of "USA! USA!" -- even if they were, at times, a device to drown out protests by Bernie Sanders' supporters -- and the impassioned waving of flags, were more reminiscent of past Republican gatherings than the typical Democratic convention. You half expected Lee Greenwood, the country star omnipresent on the Republican political circuit, to pop up, joining Katy Perry in a "God Bless the USA" duet. Yet this was not simply the tale of two conventions. It was, rather, a tale of three: Republicans versus Clinton Democrats versus the Sanders wing. The Clinton team confronted the delicate task of presenting -- or re-presenting, or re-re-presenting -- their nominee to the country as an acceptable, if not exactly cuddly, alternative to the threat of Trump. "I get it that some people just don't know what to make of me," Clinton said in accepting the nomination. That is the sanitized version of the skepticism, if not outright hostility, she faces from some voters. ADVERTISEMENT And the campaign had to do this all while assuring -- or re-assuring or re-re-assuring -- the Sanders crowd that she would behave as their kind of Democrat, not the incrementalist moderate they suspect she is at heart. The intraparty tensions that erupted at the convention's opening, inflamed by the WikiLeaked Democratic National Committee emails, were salved by the swift, even if not swift enough, dispatch of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Still, protests lingered on the floor, like a trash fire that is never entirely extinguished. And the underlying strains remain, reflected in the duality of the Democrats' message, pitched simultaneously to swing and Sanders' voters. Both are essential to Clinton's fate in November, and while it is possible to forge a common appeal to the white working-class and left-leaning Democrats in the anti-trade, raise-the-minimum-wage message, these remain two distinct constituencies. Thus the appearance Wednesday by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who endorsed Clinton even while noting that he has often disagreed with her and advising, "I know what it's like to have neither party fully represent my views or values." Thus the testimonial from Doug Elmets, a former aide to Ronald Reagan, albeit an obscure one. Thus the remarkable display of patriotic, even militaristic, themes, capped by Thursday's speech by retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, flanked by other retired military leaders. But then came Clinton, with what may have been the most liberal acceptance speech by a Democratic nominee in decades. One measure: This was the first since Jimmy Carter in 1980 not to mention the federal debt or deficit. "You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle class," President Obama told the convention four years ago. "We are wallowing in deficit," he said in 2008. "Our plan will cut the deficit in half in four years," John Kerry vowed in 2004. From Clinton on this score, silence. The only debt she mentioned was what students owe to colleges, as in, "Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition free for the middle class and debt free for all." ADVERTISEMENT Indeed, on this and other policy prescriptions, Clinton's speech, and the statements by her advisers leading up to the evening, went pretty much full Sanders. "I want you to know I've heard you," she assured Sanders supporters. "Your cause is our cause." But another cause, one that may end up being the most convincing of all, is defeating Trump. Which is why two of the most important moments of the convention may end up being Clinton's taunt "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons" combined with the even more powerful rebuke of Trump's ignorant intolerance by Khizr Khan, father of a fallen American and Muslim soldier. For me, two related images will linger: Khan, reaching into his jacket to retrieve a copy of the Constitution, while his wife stood by his side, draped in a headscarf. Clinton, holding Chelsea in an extended hug before beginning to speak. An intimate moment on the most public of stages, made all the more compelling because it took so long to arrive. Again this year, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation Board, staff and regional partners set out on a regional bus tour. We serve a large area 20 counties of south central and southeastern Minnesota, which houses 30 percent of Greater Minnesota's population and this bus trip is a good opportunity for all of our stakeholders to get a better sense of what's happening in the region. It's a great chance for our board and staff to see firsthand the impact of our foundation's work. Economically, geographically and demographically, Southern Minnesota is quite diverse, and comparing this year's trip to our three easternmost counties (Goodhue, Wabasha and Winona) to last year's western counties (Brown, Faribault, Martin and Watonwan) highlighted some of those differences. When I was in Congress, I would often refer to southeastern Minnesota as the New England of the Midwest. The rolling river bluffs, winding backroads and fall colors bring a range of tourists. Our bus ride was quite a contrast from last year's straight-lined farm fields on the prairie of our south central counties. However, just like last year, we had a chance to hear about the challenges, opportunities, changing demographics as well as causes for celebrations in the eastern part of our region. In all, SMIF has invested nearly $7.8 million in grants and loans in these three eastern counties. We were able to see some fruits of our investments along the way: ABA Water Systems in Plainview, our first loan client; a one-year recap of SE MN Together from Bill Spitzer, which was seeded by a SMIF One Big Thing grant; and barn murals along the Zumbro River and a chat with Red Wing Ignite on their new entrepreneurial efforts, both which were assisted by SMIF grants. ADVERTISEMENT Here are some other take-aways from the day: First, our foundation's AmeriCorps members are making change beyond their early childhood placements. We heard from Sam Brown in Winona, who started the Midwest Music Festival as part of his summer AmeriCorps project. Not only did he raise money for a tricycle course at the Winona Head Start, but the festival is in its eighth year and draws 2,000 to 3,000 visitors annually. Sam also opened the Midwest Music Store to support local artists. Second, workforce continues to be a top concern. We heard from city and county administrators and business owners alike that finding skilled workers is increasingly difficult. The foundation gave a One Big Thing grant to SE MN Together, a collaborative process to address workforce issues. But, given the scale of the workforce issue, it's one that many regional partners must keep working on if we hope to attract new businesses to our region. Throughout the day, ideas from mentoring programs to closer collaboration with community colleges were discussed. Third, in Plainview, the point was made that while there have been losses businesses, jobs, older residents there have also been gains. Judith Jordan, the EDA director for Plainview, talked about how some businesses were lost in the recession, but how others such as Kwik Trip and Family Dollar have moved into town. "As Rochester goes, so Plainview goes," she said. This seems to be the case with many of our smaller communities surrounding the ever-growing Rochester and its Destination Medical Center. Towns recognize both the challenges and benefits of that proximity, and this dynamic is one that will continue to be explored. Fourth, tourism along the river is a major factor for many of our eastern communities. Wabasha's National Eagle Center is a resounding success and a great example of what community members coming together can accomplish. It drew 83,000 visitors in 2015 from all over the world. We learned that the direct visitor spending of these visitors contributes more than $2.5 million to the Wabasha area. I would be remiss not to mention that - in keeping with our support of local foods we came home a little heavier and happier thanks to donuts from Bloedow's Bakery in Winona (an old college haunt of mine), lunch from Hanisch's Bakery in Red Wing, and ice cream at the end of the day from LARK Toys in Kellogg. Additionally, our partners at Renewing the Countryside joined us for the ride and spoke about all the exciting local foods activity in southeastern Minnesota. ADVERTISEMENT Overall, everywhere we went we were greeted with a warm welcome and people happy to talk about their communities. We look forward to next year's bus trip! Tim Penny is executive director of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. He can be reached at timp@smifoundation.org or 507-455-3215. Russia has become a major issue in this years presidential campaign. It should have been a major issue in the last one, but President Obama countered Mitt Romneys attempt to inject Russia into the debate with his sophomoric quip that the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back. Whether its ISIS (aka the jayvee) or Russia, Obama sure knows how to spot trouble. This year, both parties agree that Russia poses a serious threat. In this respect, and perhaps only this respect, the 2016 campaign is an improvement over last time. With attention now being paid, Peter Schweizers latest piece on the Clinton Foundation will perhaps make a mark. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Schweizer shows that under Hillary Clintons leadership, the State Department recruited and facilitated the commitment of billions of American dollars in the creation of a Russian Silicon Valley whose technological innovations include Russian hypersonic cruise-missile engines, radar surveillance equipment, and vehicles capable of delivering airborne Russian troops. Heres how it happened. As part of Hillarys Russian reset, the Kremlin committed $5 billion over three years to fund Skolkovo, an innovation city on the outskirts of Moscow billed as Russias version of Silicon Valley. Clintons State Department worked aggressively to attract U.S. investment partners and helped the Russian State Investment Fund identify American tech companies worthy of Russian investment. Dozens of U.S. tech firms, including top Clinton Foundation donors like Google, Intel, and Cisco, then made major financial contributions to Skolkovo. According to Schweizer, by 2012 Skolkovo had 28 Russian, American and European Key Partners. Of the 28 key partners, 17 have made financial commitments to the Clinton Foundation, totaling tens of millions of dollars, or sponsored speeches by Bill Clinton. Russian money also flowed to the Clinton Foundation. Schweizer reports that Andrey Vavilov, the chairman of SuperOx, part of Skolkovos nuclear-research cluster, donated between $10,000 and $25,000. Skolkovo Foundation chief and billionaire Putin confidant Viktor Vekselberg also donated through his company. As the Slolkovo project gained momentum, U.S. defense experts became alarmed. The U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Program at Fort Leavenworth warned: The Skolkovo Foundation has, in fact, been involved in defense-related activities since December 2011, when it approved the first weapons-related projectthe development of a hypersonic cruise missile engine. . . . Not all of the centers efforts are civilian in nature. Similarly, Lucia Ziobro, an assistant special agent at the FBIs Boston office, stated that the FBI believes the true motives of the Russian partners, who are often funded by their government, is to gain access to classified, sensitive, and emerging technology. . . Ziobro added, The [Skolkovo] foundation may be a means for the Russian government to access our nations sensitive or classified research development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial application. Hillary Clinton knew about the dual-use problem while she was Secretary of State. Schweizer notes that a State Department cable sent to then-Secretary Clinton (and obtained via WikiLeaks) mentioned possible dual use and export control concerns related to research and development technology ventures with Moscow. Clinton ignored the problem. Was this due to the millions of dollars in Clinton Foundation donations by Skolkovos key partners? Only Hillary knows for sure. But the burden should be on her to provide a more convincing explanation. In any event, Clinton is responsible for helping create a Russian Silicon Valley that has enabled the Krelim to boost its military and surveillance capacity. And lets not forget her role in enabling Russia to gain control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Russia has been well-served by Hillary Clintons cluelessness and greed. Have you noticed that when sensible, neutral, and longstanding rules and policies dont produce the racial outcomes desired by the left, it calls for changing those rules and policies? Plagued by a lack of solid family structure and constructive role models, young Black students as a class behave more poorly than White students and thus are disciplined more often. The solution? Change the disciplinary rules and tolerate disciplinary breakdowns with disastrous consequences for students Black and White. When Black students apply for college they perform abysmally as a class on the SAT. The solution? Race norm their scores, effectively adding hundreds of points when comparing their performance to that of White applicants. Or, if you are a state university like the University of Texas (Austin) finesse the SAT by admitting the top 10 percent of students in terms of grades at every high school in the state. When Blacks are finished with school, as a class they commit a disproportionate number of crimes and thus are incarcerated in disproportionate numbers. The solution? Lobby for changes in the criminal law, including shorter prison sentences. (Never mind that, as Jim Scanlan pointed out in a letter to the American Statistical Association, modifications that reduce adverse criminal justice outcomes tend to increase, not decrease, racial disparities in outcomes. The point is to let Black lawbreakers off the hook, not to cure disparate impact.) And while youre at it, try to discredit the police force as racist. The phenomena I have described are part of what I call the war on standards. Because adherence to reasonable standards is the hallmark of a successful people (as it is on a personal level), the war on standards is insidious. Now, in the aftermath of the Freddie Gray trials, we see the same imperative of outcomes that drives the war on standards prompting stirrings for something potentially more disturbing an attack on liberty. The Baltimore Sun reports that the decisions by Judge Barry Williams, who is Black, to acquit three police officers in the Freddie Gray case has spurred a call to make it more difficult for criminal defendants to be tried by a judge, rather than a jury: After losing those three trials, Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby announced last week that she would drop all remaining charges against the three other officers Porter, Officer Garrett Miller and Sgt. Alicia White. She said Williams opinions of the prosecutions case in the three bench trials would likely carry over to the remaining trials and result in more acquittals. Mosby went on to say that prosecutors lack of a say in whether a defendant in Maryland can elect a bench trial it is solely the defendants choice impeded justice in the Gray case. She said she would consider pushing legislation in Annapolis to change the rules. (Emphasis added) Mosby is a sore loser. But the Suns article shows that shes not alone in wanting to change the rules that applied in her cases. Jurisdictions vary regarding the ability of the prosecutor to have a say in whether a case will be decided by a judge or a jury. Reasonable people can and do disagree about the question. To me, it seems that the Freddie Gray cases, which by Mosbys admission, were a response to angry chants of no justice, no peace, are a perfect illustration of the virtues of a permitting defendants to have a bench trial upon request. Merits aside, whats offensive here is the push for a rule change based on this judges decision to acquit defendants in a racially charged case. Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, who chairs the Maryland Senates Judicial Proceedings Committee says just because you lose a case doesnt mean you change the entire framework of defendants rights. But for some, thats exactly what it means if the losing side was pushing a leftist narrative and/or agenda on matters involving race. Mosby did have one jury trial before the defendants began opting to have Judge Williams decide their fate. In that trial, involving Officer William Porter, the jury ended up deadlocked, but reportedly came within two votes of convicting Porter on one of the lesser charges. Had this become the pattern in the Freddie Gray cases, one can imagine a cry for changing the rules requiring that criminal convictions be unanimous. After all, racist white jurors shouldnt be able to thwart justice by holding out. Standardized tests are useful indicators of likelihood of success in college. School disciplinary standards and tough drug sentences serve important societal purposes. But protection against mob justice is more fundamental. If that protection is eroded (as it already has been on college campuses) in the name of Black Lives Matter or social justice, its game, set, and match to left-wing authoritarianism. The Republicans had a strong and widely-watched convention, and Donald Trump got a substantial bounce as a result. Now he has blown whatever momentum he had with an incomprehensibly stupid response to Khizr Khan, the Muslim father who spoke at the Democrats convention. The Democrats can hardly believe their good fortune, as Trumps duel with Khan dominates the headlines. The New York Times reports gleefully: Donald Trump reeled Sunday amid a sustained campaign of criticism by the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq and a rising outcry within his own party over his rough and racially charged dismissal of the couple. The confrontation between the parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, and Trump has emerged as an unexpected and potentially pivotal flash point in the general election. Trump has plainly struggled to respond to the reproach of a military family who lost a child, and he has repeatedly answered the Khan familys criticism with harsh and defensive rhetoric. And Trumps usual political tool kit has appeared to fail him. He earned no reprieve with his complaints that Khizr Khan had been unfair to him or with his repeated attempts to change the subject to Islamic terrorism. Hillary Clinton reprimanded Trump, saying at a church in Cleveland that Trump had answered the Khan familys sacrifice with personal disrespect, and with disrespect for U.S. traditions of religious tolerance. There is much more. For how many more news cycles will the Democrats and their press minions be able to beat up Trump with his own unforced error, rather than talking about the issues he is trying to run on? This is what comes of nominating an amateur to run for president. Hillary Clinton had a much worse problem when she was criticized, bitterly, by the parents and siblings of Americans killed in Benghazi. Her problem was infinitely worse than Trumps since she was actually responsible for those deaths, whereas Trump had nothing to do with the death of Khans son in Iraq. But the Benghazi relatives criticisms of Mrs. Clinton have never dominated the headlines, in part because she has responded to them competently, in the manner of a practiced politician. As, for example, yesterday. As Scott noted earlier today, her response was conciliatory: Hillary Clinton doesnt hold any ill feelings toward the mothers of Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attack who blame her for those deaths, she said Sunday. My heart goes out to both of them. Losing a child under any circumstance, especially in this case two State Department employees, extraordinary men, both of them, two CIA contractors gave their lives protecting our country, our values I understand their grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, said on Fox News Sunday. How hard is that? In some respects, Donald Trump is an impressive person. In other respects, he doesnt have the sense to come in out of the rain. The Republicans sent an amateur to do battle with professionals, and so far, the results arent pretty. Chris Wallace caught up with Hillary Clinton in Harrisburg to record an interview with her for Fox News Sunday (video below, about 24 minutes). Wallace did a poor job on the issues. The interview was lame. Several of the questions are simply pitiful in the Barbara Walters style. When Wallace get to matters of fact and substance, Clinton promulgated whopper after whopper in her usual style. Wallace played a clip of Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, speaking at the GOP convention. Wallace asked Clinton about Patricia Smiths comments that Clinton lied to her and the other families on the day when the Benghazi victims bodies returned to the United States. I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that, Clinton said. As other members of families whove lost loved ones have said, thats not what they heard. I dont hold any ill feeling for someone who, in that moment, may not fully recall everything that was or wasnt said. Gee, thats big of her. Recalling something that wasnt said is inventing it, but Clinton is the inventor here. Smith joins Kate Quigley and Charles Woods in recalling Clintons blaming the video and her promise to have the video maker arrested. We have a good summary here. Wallace then played a clip of Clinton at Andrews Air Force Base on the day that the Benghazi victims bodies returned to the United States. Weve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. Weve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with, Clinton said. Clinton asserted that the clip was unfair because she quoted other people in that speech who believed that it was terrorism. Those criticizing her are guilty of confusion. When Wallace touched on Clintons use of a private email server for her official business as Secretary of State, Clinton essentially blamed the more than 300 State Department officials whom she she communicated with via email. Wallace played the clip of Rep. Gowdy questioning Comey on her receipt and forwarding of classified information via email. In his answers Comey declared Clintons public statements to be false. Thats not what I heard Director Comey say, Clinton said. Comey said that my answers were truthful and what Ive said is consistent with what I have told the American people. Pause to take that in. Its a Gaslight world after all. As she has elsewhere, Clinton shifted the blame for her mishandling of classified information to her colleagues. The buck stops with them. I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked, Clinton said. So in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, Well, those among those 300 people they made the wrong call. At the time, there was no reason, in my view, to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country. Again, this is so big of her. Wasted as much of this interview was, one can still observe that the woman is a case study in pathology. When it comes to lying without conscience, she can go toe to toe with her beloved husband. Fox News has posted a good account of the interview. I have drawn on it for some of the quotes above. Yemeni government negotiators said they were leaving peace talks in Kuwait on Monday after Houthi militia foes rejected a United Nations proposal aimed to ending their country's war. Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi insisted the government was not abandoning the peace process, but suggested it would only return if the Houthis and a powerful local ally lifted their objections to the UN plan. "We've agreed to the initiative ... we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of Kuwait but we're not leaving the talks," Mekhlafi said while announcing the move. "We'll return at any moment, even an hour after our departure, if the other side agrees to sign this document which the (U.N.) envoy presented." U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed proposed that the government's foes in the armed Houthi movement quit three main cities they hold, including the capital Sanaa. Under this plan, new talks would then be convened on forming a government that would include the Houthis, delegates said. The envoy said in a statement the talks would continue. "The departure of the Government of Yemen delegation from Kuwait is not a departure from the Peace Talks," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said. "We agreed with the parties to keep the talks ongoing until we agree on next steps in the coming days which shall be dedicated to intensive meetings" with the government's foes as well as international diplomats, he said. The Houthis dismissed the U.N. proposal as a non-starter on Sunday, saying in a statement that any agreement would need to be comprehensive and not postpone a resolution on major issues. They said they would stay in Kuwait for the talks. The negotiations started in April have slowed the nationwide fighting that has killed at least 6,400 people and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Search Keywords: Short link: The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) have shortlisted 11 novelists as finalists for the 2016 prize for literature with the theme Book Party. Eight women were among the shortlisted novelists who competed in Nigerian prose and fiction on Sunday in Lagos. The nominees are: Maryam Awaisu (Burning Bright); Sefi Atta (A Bit of Difference); Mansim Okafor (The Parable of the Lost Shepherds); and Chika Unigwe (Night Dancer). Others were Ifeoma Okoye (The Fourth World); Elnathan John (Born on a Tuesday); Ogochukwu Promise (Sorrowss Joy); Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Season of Crimson Blossoms) and Yejide Kilanko (Daughters who Walk This Path). Also shortlisted were Ifeoluwa Adeniyi (On the Bank of the River); and Aramide Segun (Enitan-Daughter of Destiny). The 11 selected novels featured a range of human issues from love, religion, terrorism, rape, incest to anxieties of the youths. The Secretary General of CORA, Toyin Akinosho, said NLNG and CORA believed in organising interactions between the book industry and functional library to help develop the cultures of book writing and reading in the country. Everyone knows that we produce remarkably good books. But, we also know that we do not discuss them enough. The soft exchange of the book reading culture is not aggressively structured, he said. But, we believe in the efficiency of distribution and the profitability of the vocation of writing and reading of books available to us, so we strive to promote it, he said. Mr. Akinosho noted that CORA and NLNG felt that books that made it to the finals ought to be known and read in schools and communities. He said, Our ambition is to help promote the writing and the reading cultures in Nigerian communities. We do not want people to just read and write but for the book to be available in many states of the federation and for discussions. He, however, said that book readership promotion should go beyond Bring Back the Book Campaigns or Book Festivals. The General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, Kudo Eresia-Eke, said the prize money for the winner would be 100, 000 U.S. dollars. It is nice to have such knowledgeable artistic and dedicated individuals at CORA that want arts to survive, especially literature, he said. We are celebrating a good calibre of book writers with quality storytelling abilities and grammar. We have good books to exhibit to the world and we also have more works of art. Mr. Eresie-Eke, however, said for them at NLNG, excellence was the keyword, adding that, We want to pride ourselves with the best because Nigeria is the best. We at the NLNG have reduced gas flaring in the Niger Delta region to 20 per cent, so we want to create an environmental friendly country that can help people to read and write, he said. We noticed that most of our writers are based abroad but we want them to come home to a good environment and a cool one at that. One of the finalists, Ifeoluwa Adeniyi, said publishing is very tasking in the country. According to her, the constraints in publishing are enormous, you are not known, no publisher wants to touch you and again, they do a poor quality job and the distribution is nothing to write home about. The financial constraint will rear its head; I used my four months salaries to publish my book. Nigeria does not have good publishing companies that will proof read, publish and distribute it for you. Nigeria is not ripe for publishing, all the publishers just print exercise books, calendars and souvenirs, and not book publishing, she said. Mrs. Adeniyi, however, said that brand ambassadors should be encouraged to promote reading and writing of books. The industry cannot survive because government is not looking in the area of news prints. So writing is not being encouraged in schools and youths cannot take it on because there is no money in it, she said. (NAN) The Federal Government on Monday took a major step in its plan to revitalise the steel sector as it signed a renegotiated concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Limited for the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe. By the new agreement, the Ajaokuta Steel Complex has now reverted to the Federal Government, effectively freeing the entity from all contractual encumbrances that had left it uncompleted and non-functional for decades, while GSHL retains NIOMCO. The new agreement, which came after four years of mediation, was signed at a short ceremony presided by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in his office at the presidential villa on Monday. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, signed on behalf of the government, while the Chairman of GSHL, Prammod Mittal, signed on behalf of the company. The Minister of State for Solid Minerals Development, Abubakar Bwari; the International Mediator, Phillip Howell-Richardson, and top officials of the Ministries of Justice and Solid Minerals Development also witnessed the signing ceremony. Speaking at the event, Prof Osinbajo hailed the mediation process that led to the resolution of the problem that had made it impossible for the two national assets to be functional for years. It is one of the cases of failures, Mr. Osinbajo said. It is a tragedy of immense proportion that we have both Ajaokuta Steel Complex and NIOMCO and couldnt get anything out of them for years. The Vice President said making the entities to work remained a top priority of the administration, and urged GSHL to keep to the various timelines in the agreement in the spirit of mediation. He added that it was important the concession work so that Ajaokuta can take off too. Mr. Fayemi, who led the Federal Government side in the mediation process, said with the new agreement on NIOMCO, the next step was to commence the process of taking over Ajaokuta and ensuring that it was given out to a serious operator with proven technical and financial capacity. Mr. Fayemi said, It is our expectation that we would accomplish two things- bring NIOMCO to full function and starts the process of retaking Ajaokuta and then give it to a new operator. With this, we will move from being just a mineral nation to a mining nation. Once the first phase of the agreement is accomplished, it is the intention of the FGN to quickly move into accomplishing the objectives of concessioning the Ajaokuta Steel Plant to the most competent operator who meets the requirements of credible track record, technical capacity and financial competence. Overall, we are confident that this landmark settlement is a pointer to what to expect in the Governments determination to fix the Nigerian mining sector. This is one of the key milestones in the Road Map for the growth and development of the Nigerian mining sector and I want to thank our team from the Federal Ministries of Justice and Solid Minerals for their hard work and also thank GSHL for sticking to the provisions of the laws in seeking resolutions to the problem. Mr. Fayemi described the settlement as a landmark development that would help the diversification plans of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The GSHL Chairman, Mr Mittal, said the company waited for eight years to achieve this amicable settlement. He said his organisation was committed to the objectives of the agreement and guaranteed supply to Ajaokuta plant and Delta Steel Company, after which it would sell what is left to other interested parties. He assured the government of its readiness to commence operation soon, adding that in the next two years Nigeria would begin to produce steel. The International Mediator, Mr Richardson, lauded the government and GSHL for opting for mediation as a means of settling the dispute. Negotiations for amicable resolution of the Ajaokuta crisis had dragged on since 2008, leaving the countrys steel and industrial sectors largely comatose. Following this settlement, the steel sub sector is on the way to being revitalized and Nigerias industrial base solidified, officials said. Dispute over the ownership of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex and NIOMCO had made it impossible for government to make any longterm plans for the concession or privatisation of the two companies. President Buhari gave approval for the execution of the modified concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Limited, after he received the reports of the mediation meetings from the Ministry of Justice. The mediation meetings held in London, United Kingdom. The Federal Government team to the series of meetings was led by Mr. Fayemi, whose ministry is responsible for the steel sector. One major highlight of the settlement is that the Federal Government was able to negotiate a higher concession fee payable to the it from three per cent of turnover to four per cent of turnover . Also, the government was assured guaranteed and continued supply of iron ore to Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited as a priority customer. Speaker (Yakubu) Dogara has completely derailed, remains clueless, (and) keeps on with an unmatched ego and surely leading the House to the biggest scandal it may ever experience. Former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Adbdulmumin Jibrin, criticizing the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara whom he accused attempting to pad N30 billion into the 2016 federal budget. Both Dogara and Jibrin have been locked in an epic political battle, after the latter was removed as chairman, Committee on Appropriation (Source: Premium Times) I wont respond to jokes. Im not a mud wrestler. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said, while dismissing the allegation made by the former chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Adbdulmumin Jibrin, that he (Mr. Dogara) attempted to pad N30 billion into the federal government budget (Source: Premium Times) 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. Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha (Source: Premium Times) Ours is a journey that started from our mothers womb. .We are back because brothers do not let each other wander in the dark alone. We are back because we have tried the lonely road and it was not the same. Ace Nigerian musician, Peter Okoye of the PSquare, announcing that he and his estranged twin brother and partner, Paul, have re-united (Source: Twitter) Our motto is: When they go low we go high. The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, said during the democratic party convention, apparently attacking the U.S Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump (Source: NBCNews) We regret that while the masterminds of the heinous act are still moving around and parading themselves as statesmen, the members of Ironsis family have continued to wallow in pains and poverty. Ohaneze Youth Counci,l in a press statement by its National President, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, called on the federal government to immortalize the late Nigerias first military head of state, Gen Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, and also provide welfare for his family. Mr. Ironsi was murdered 50 years ago in the July 29, 1966, counter coup. (Source: The Nation) Stealing the mandate of the people is a serious crime and it is worse than armed robbery. Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, said in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during a breakfast meeting with the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (Source: Nigerian Tribune) The way PDP put fire on our economy it is not possible to rebuild it overnight. .The people who bled the treasury are now coming to tell you, the victims, that rice is now expensive, naira has suffered devaluation. Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, at APC campaign rally in the state (Source: The Cable) The South South has the feeling that the rest of the country wants to milk it, pollute it or completely milk it dry and then tell them goodbye. Former Akwa Ibom governor, Victor Attah, on why the states in Niger Delta region of Nigera, and other states in the federation, should be allowed to own and exploit resources found in their area (Source: Vanguard newspaper) This (Nigerian) Constitution was written by persons who appeared to have in mind only a Nigeria awash with petro-dollars. The number of government offices provided for by the Constitution can only be maintained by a stupendously rich Nigeria. The Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, making a case for the reduction in the size of government (Source: Vanguard newspaper) A former Chairman of the appropriations committee of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Monday announced that he would be visiting Nigerias major anti-corruption agencies today to shed light on his allegation of budget padding against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers of the lower chamber. He said he would fully cooperate with investigators to understand the depth of budget fraud and abuse of office by Mr. Dogara and other lawmakers. Mr. Jibrin made the announcement via his Twitter handle on Monday, hours after he appeared on Channels Television political programme, Politics Today, alleging widespread institutional corruption in the legislature. My lawyers have confirmed my appointments for today with security and anti corruption agencies to personally provide insight on my petition, Mr. Jibrin said in a series of tweets. We will be at the ICPC 10am, DSS 12noon, EFCC 2pm and Police HQ 4pm. The law will surely catch up with the corrupt Speaker Dogara and others. The lawmakers shuttle visits to anti-corruption agencies is his latest effort at ensuring Mr. Dogara; his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; Chief Whip, Alhassan Doguwa; Minority Leader, Leo Ogor; and some other lawmakers are investigated and prosecuted for alleged graft. Mr. Jibrin, who described himself as an accidental anti-corruption activist, began fighting the leadership of the House on July 21, after he was removed from his post by Mr. Dogara who accused him of betrayal of trust. Apart from Mr. Dogara and three other House principal officers, Mr. Jibrin also accused 10 heads of committees of inserting 2000 projects worth N284 billion in the 2016 budget. Giving a highlight of his petition, he said his case against Mr. Dogara and his colleagues included corrupt enrichment, abuse of office and public trust, living above means, massive movement of funds in the budget. After he spoke on Channels Television last night, Abonta Abonta, a member of the House, belonging to the PDP, came on air to dismiss his claims. On Monday morning, Mr. Jibrin descended on Mr. Abonta, calling on the authorities to probe the funds allocated to the committee on public relations chaired by the PDP lawmaker. I added one new name to my petition, Hon Abonta Abonta, he said. The member who spoke after me on Channels and denied corruption exists in the House. Let me use Hon Abonta as a case. I have asked the anti-graft agencies to investigate his office running cost. Wait for the shocking outcome. Mr. Jibrins attack on Mr. Abonta might discourage other lawmakers from coming out in defence of Mr. Dogara and his colleagues. After nine members of the appropriations committee addressed a press conference defending Mr. Dogara last week, Mr. Jibrin hit the committees vice chairman who led the briefing. He alleged that Chris Azubogu abused his position by demanding that the 2016 budget be padded with 111 projects. He also said nine other members who participated in the briefing received $20,000 each from Mr. Dogara, through his chief of staff, to address the press conference. Civil society organisations have called on Mr. Dogara to step aside to enable an unfettered investigation of the allegations. A group of lawmakers in the House, the Transparency Group, is also calling for a thorough investigation of Mr. Jibrins allegations. Mr. Dogaras spokesperson, Turaki Hassan, has in the past days repeatedly declined to comment for stories concerning Mr. Jibrins allegations against his boss. Last week, a member of the House of Representatives, Lawal Gumau, appeared on Sunrise, a current affairs programme on Channels Television. In the interview, the lawmaker, a member of a pressure group in the House, Transparency Group, spoke frankly about how budget padding is done in the National Assembly. Saying the corrupt practice had remained a yearly ritual, the lawmaker broke budget padding down in a way Nigerians can easily understand. The interview was transcribed by PREMIUM TIMES Ebuka Onyeji Excerpts So, what you are saying essentially is that this padding has been going on for a while and that it didnt start today? I came to the National Assembly in 2011 and I was fighting padding since 2012 and every year there was padding in the National Assembly. Nobody can tell anybody that there is no padding. Let us start investigation and everybody who investigate will know there was padding. What exactly is padding? Padding is to insert something into a document with the intention of comforting yourself or distorting information. Check any dictionary, that is the definition. Before we came out yesterday we had to look at different dictionaries and see the meaning of padding. Let us be fair to this people. So they inserted certain things to comfort themselves? For example, can you tell me in a situation where two members are here, one is representing a constituency in Bauchi then the other is representing another constituency in Bauchi. Mr. A is having four billion for his constituency while Mr. B is having only 70 million. Four billion and 70million. Can you see the frustration of Mr. B? And Mr. A did not inform the national assembly that he wants to put four billion in his constituency. In the statement of the house that was initially issued when Jibrin made his allegations, they said they have house tactics, that principal officers usually get a bigger chunk of the money allocated for constituency projects to the house or to the senate and that has been the tradition for a while. Thank you so much. Naturally you cant expect the general manager of Channels TV to get what you get. Naturally a leader must get something more than what the follower will get. But what we are saying is padding comes after that. For example, zonal intervention (projects) was shared between six geo-political zones. Between this six geo-political zones, every state has its own share. This one is known to everyone. Where the problem comes in is that there are some information that were hidden by the leadership which they did not divulge to members and this information was used by them alone. Cant you people see padding there? Naturally, a leader must get something more than, but can you imagine a leader getting four billion and a follower getting just 40 million. I have a friend in Anambra State. Up till today, nothing was put in his account by the speaker. For personal reason, for selfish reasons because they have differences. Even yesterday, he came to my office, telling me there is no kobo in his account. I advised him to go to the speaker and he said he went to the office of the speaker 10 times. Even before Jibrin was removed, he went to his office five times. Yet nothing. So it means, correct me if am wrong, the house does not get to see the final copy before it is sent to the senate for assent and after it has been sent to the executive the entire house does not see the final copy of the budget that people usually say they have approved. is that what happens? I pray one day you will be in the house to see these things clear. Now listen to me. After the budget from the committees go to the appropriation committee, they will now work on the budget. After working on the budget, the committee will return it to members of the chamber who will now read it and agree on it. If padding doesnt come in up to that point then immediately after the house passes the budget before they submit it to the president and that is where padding comes in. The president will not know that this project was not in the budget the members approved. The president will give assent. The members on the other hand will not know that after passing the budget that something was inserted. So what we are saying is that when they bring back the approved (assented) budget, that is where we the ordinary members will know something is inserted from what we approved. When you talk of insertion, are you talking of new line items inserted or just ordinary figures increased? Yes, new line items. Let me give you a clear example. This Kano film house that was in public debate, we did not approve it in the budget. It was inserted before taking it (the budget) to the president for assent and money was allocated to it. Go to the constituency of all the leaders, especially the ones Jibrin accused, you will be surprised that after zonal intervention given to their constituencies, they went ahead to insert billions of naira in their constituencies. WATCH VIDEO HERE: So this is not about the leadership tussle that preceded the inauguration of the House? It has nothing to do with it, Maupe (interviewer). The house had let that go and we had agreed, including the leaders, let there be no padding. Before Ramadan, there was an executive session, where precisely Hon. Babanle Bashir raised the issue that we dont want padding this year and we will not agree and we will not fight it internally but externally if need be. They promised they would not it and that they would sit down with members after two weeks that there will be no padding. Then up till today all this promises never happened. When we went to Mecca we came back assuming that after we came back that we would be called for executive session to decide but up till when we went on recess, there was no executive session. By that time the allegations had not come out? It has, Maupe (interviewer). But it was not yet in the public domain So its Jibrin that raised this allegations? You know God knows how to punish a criminal. What happened was that Jibrin was part of them. They were hiding these things. It was only Jibrin, as chairman of appropriation committee that knows everything that happened. We did not know. We only knew that most likely they would pad this budget because since 2011 that I came into the house every year there was no year they did not pad it. So you are saying that the allegations Jibrin made were true? Mind you, I am not supporting Hon. Jibrin. I am supporting the allegations and I am not saying that they are true because I am not a lawyer. What I am saying is that if Jibrin made allegations against them, why cant there be an investigation because padding is an offence. Who do you want to do that investigations? We dont want a committee within the house to do that investigation because they are all appointees of the speaker. We dont want the senate too because they are committees by the senate president. What is the attorney general of the federation doing? Is he not the law officer? If there is a petition, cant he order an investigation? We have EFCC, ICPC and we have the police. What are they doing that they cant investigate this issue. What we are just saying is let the house open this budget issue for investigation. The Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has broken his silence over the budget padding scandal rocking the lower chamber, following accusations of budget fraud made against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and others by former appropriations committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Mr. Gbajabiamila had remained silent since the House descended into a crisis that has drawn the attention of anti-corruption agencies, and sparked calls for the Speaker to step aside. Mr. Gbajabiamila gave his position via emails sent to members of the House on Monday. A lawmaker shared the message with a PREMIUM TIMES reporter. Mr. Gbajabiamila confirmed to this newspaper he disseminated the message in which he asked not to be dragged into an arena I tried very hard to stay out of. Mr. Jibrin had last year withdrawn from the speakership race to back Mr. Dogara who was then running a tight race against Mr. Gbajabiamila, the then anointed candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress. There were speculations last week that Mr. Jibrin had teamed up with Mr. Gbajabiamila to unseat the Speaker. But Mr. Gbajabiamila, through his media aide, Wasiu Olanrewaju, told PREMIUM TIMES he had no deal with Mr. Jibrin or any problem with Mr. Dogaras leadership. He however called for investigation of the allegations, and cautioned against taking sides. The Lagos lawmaker circulated emails to colleagues after some unknown people sent text messages around suggesting he was part of a group working discreetly to force a leadership change in the House. The anonymous message was sent from phone number 08119106894. It reads,Plot to destabilize the leadership of the House of Reps has taken a new dimension as the AGF working with Gbajabiamila, Jibrin & SGF has (sic) drafted charges to arraign and detain principal officers of the House so that the transparency group who recently met with Tinubus wife will effect a leadership change with Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Jibrin as Deputy. This is why Jibrin did not mention Femi in his allegations. The 8th House wont be anybodys rubber stamp. We will resist them like the senate resisted them. But Mr. Gbajabiamila, in his email to lawmakers, denied claims made in the anonymous message. He said, Since the budget controversy that engulfed the House about a week ago, I have pointedly maintained a dignified silence. I did this for the sake of the institution I represent and which I have laboured hard to grow and protect, knowing that whatever I say could be impactful both within the House and outside it. I was determined to keep in place the glue that holds an otherwise fragmented House, protect its integrity and at same time avoid eroding the little confidence and vestiges of hope Nigerians have in us. I am being dragged into an arena I tried very hard to stay out of only for the good of the House. The Speakership election has come and gone. The election was divisive and acrimonious but I have since worked hard to heal the wounds some of which still fester amongst members on both sides. It is my responsibility to bring all tendencies in a House I lead together and I have worked well with the Speaker and all other Principal officers in a bipartisan manner and in the interest of the institution and members. It is clear that our budget process needs radical reform and very quickly too. Yes, allegations have been made but I strongly believe judgment should not be passed based on allegations. We operate a constitutional democracy and we must at all times submit to its dictates and ethos. All parties are innocent until otherwise proven. This should be our guide. I plead with all members. The mudslinging must stop. This text message, which desperately seeks to finger me in some macabre plot to destabilize the House is a throwback and echoes our dark post Speakership election history. The resurfacing or resurgence of the faceless text messengers will not help us as a House and let me quickly add that it will fail. My strongest critics and biggest political adversaries in the House cannot deny the fact that my commitment has always been to strengthen the legislature and its processes and our democracy as a whole. I consider everyone a friend and colleague and urge that as we collectively work towards a stronger legislature and strive to deepen our democracy, we do not pull back the hands of the clock nor lose sight of the enormous responsibility placed upon us by providence as members of a critical arm of government. The Ekiti State House of Assembly has criticized human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, (SAN), for questioning the powers of the State Security Services to investigate members of the House of Representatives over their involvement in the padding of the 2016 budget, while he backed the agency when it invaded the assembly and arrested a member over allegations of fraud. The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Gboyega Aribisogan, on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, said Mr. Falanas new position on the SSS role at the National Assembly and the arrest of members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly over attempt to impeach the state governor was a show of hypocrisy. Mr. Falana had argued that there was no legal backing for the SSS to investigate budget padding, which he described as a straight forward case of economic crime. According to Mr. Falana, the agency, by virtue of National Security Agencies Act, is strictly limited to the preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria. He also criticised the SSS recent arrest and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly for attempting to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Abdulazeez Yari on grounds of alleged corrupt practices. Falana should be ashamed that he gave tacit support to the DSS when the agency engaged in illegalities in Ekiti, his home state and now elects to complain when the same DSS extended its illegalities to the House of Representatives and Zamfara State House of Assembly, Mr. Aribisogan said. The question that Mr Femi Falana (SAN) needs to answer is whether he just realised that the duty of the DSS according to the National Security Agencies Act, is strictly limited to the preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria. Also, Falana needs to tell Nigerians whether the DSS invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly that he supported was in preservation of internal security of Nigeria. He accused Mr. Falana of always finding his voice only when his political allies in his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) were involved. The question is, is Falanas human rights activism only about defending the interests of his political allies in his party, the APC?, queried Mr. Aribisogan. Could Falana have spoken against the DSS arrest of and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly if Zamfara was a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled State like Ekiti? It is our view that a credible rights activist will not blow hot and cold at the same time as being done by Falana, and Nigerians should stop taking self-centred political activists like him seriously. Mr. Falanas view was that the Nigerian government should allow appropriate law enforcement agencies to continue with the case without the SSS, since the lawmakers could challenge the agencys involvement in court and rubbish the entire investigative process. In the light of the foregoing, the Police and the anti-graft agencies should be allowed to get to the root of the criminality of budget padding in the national assembly, the lawyer had said. To facilitate and accelerate the investigation the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives should be compelled to set out the details of the budget of the National Assembly. The Speaker of the Zamfara State Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, on Sunday said lawmakers in the state have withdrawn the impeachment threat against Governor Abdulaziz Yari. Mr. Rikiji made the announcement in Gusau, the state capital, after a meeting of stakeholders. The stakeholders included the governor, all the 24 members of the Assembly and traditional rulers. The traditional rulers were led by Attahiru Muhammad, the emir of Anka, who is also the chairman of the state Council of Chiefs. The speaker told newsmen at the end of the meeting that the lawmakers gave the governor terms and conditions before they agreed to suspend the impeachment threat. He said the intervention of traditional rulers and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state helped in addressing the issues that caused the face-off between them and the governor. In a separate interview with newsmen, Governor Yari described the cause of the face-off between him and the legislature as the handiwork of the devil. The cause of the misunderstanding was addressed at the meeting and we have now agreed to put aside our differences and work together for the advancement of our state, he said. The lawmakers had threatened to impeach the governor for alleged abuse of budget implementation, misappropriation of bailout funds released to the state by the federal government. Other reasons listed by the legislators included deductions in workers salaries and failure by Mr. Yari to pay the salaries of 1, 400 youths employed by the government two years ago. (NAN) Three beneficiaries of the Nigerian government scholarships to study abroad under the Niger Delta Amnesty programme have bagged First class honours in UK universities. Eighteen others got Second Class Upper (2:1). Nicholas Goodness and Terubein Fawei who graduated from the University of Bedfordshire finished with first class honours in public relations, telecommunication and networking engineering respectively. Lucky Azibanagein also graduated with first class in mechanical engineering and Robotic system from the University of Liverpool. In an event organised by the Nigerian High Commission in the UK, on Friday, the Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme, Paul Boroh, congratulated the graduates for making Nigeria proud. He restated President Muhammadu Buharis commitment towards ensuring that the amnesty programme is sustained and its desired goals achieved. President Buhari is ever ready to implement the blueprint upon which the amnesty programme was established. The era of impunity and phoney contracts are gone for good, Mr. Boroh said. Mr. Boroh, a retired General of the Nigerian Army, also called on other militants such as the Niger Delta Avengers to emulate the militants who laid down their arms to embrace education that can make them indispensable to the world. He cautioned the economic saboteurs to embrace dialogue and support Mr. Buhari on his agenda to develop the Niger Delta region. Apart from the three that bagged First Class, 18 other students in various UK universities from different disciplines also graduated with second class upper division. Below is the complete list of the graduates: University of Bedfordshire NAMES COURSES CLASSIFICATIONS NICHOLAS NATHANIEL GOODNEWS PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRST CLASS TORUBEIN FAWEI TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING ENGINEERING FIRST CLASS ADELEYE ALEBIOSU LLB LAW SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 CLEMENT IYEBO CRIMINOLOGY SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 CHRISTOPHER ETUEMI WURUYAI LLB LAW SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 GOODNEWS DOMOTIMI LUE ACCOUNTING/FINANCE SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 IBIBA EFEREBO COMPUTER SCIENCE/SOFTWARE ENGINEERING SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 OBINNA OKOROCHA LLB LAW SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 OMOROKO OKEOGHENE ACCOUNTING/FINANCE SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 THOMAS ITORUWEI HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SECOND CLASS UPPER DIVISION 2.1 University of Liverpool NAMES COURSES CLASSIFICATIONS Lucky Godswill Azibanagein BEng Mech & Robotic Sys 1st Class Ogbara Queen BA Acct & Finance 2.1 second class upper Egbekun Sinla Accounting & Finance 2.1 second class upper Bourdillon Moses Ganminiwei Pharmacology 2.1 second class upper Galadima Samuel Geology 2.1 second class upper Okaniba Igbogobebi Mary BA Acct & Finance 2.1 second class upper Monday Elijah Ebiowei BA Politics 2.1 second class upper Swansea University NAMES COURSES CLASSIFICATIONS Kiribo Destiny Somiari BA (Hons) International Relations 2.1 second class upper William Okoi Law 2.1 second class upper Plymouth University NAMES COURSES CLASSIFICATIONS Promise Sopuruchi Ajoku Maritime business and logistics 2.1 second class upper University of Portsmouth NAMES COURSES CLASSIFICATIONS Christian Esudougha Business and management 2.1 second class upper The United States launched multiple airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Libya on Monday, opening a new, more persistent front against the group at the request of the United Nations-backed government, Libyan and U.S. officials said. Fayez Serraj, the head of Libya's U.N.-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean in northern Libya. No U.S. ground forces will be deployed, he said. The precision strikes, which targeted an Islamic State tank and vehicles, come amid growing concerns about the group's increased threat to Europe and its ability to inspire attacks across the region, even though its numbers have been shrinking because of attacks from local forces and allied international troops. "The presidency council, as the general army commander, has made a request for direct U.S. support to carry out specific airstrikes," Serraj said. "The first strikes started today in positions in Sirte, causing major casualties." The strikes mark the start of a more intense American role in the fight against IS in Libya, as the U.S. steps in to assist the fragile, U.N.-backed government. They were the first strikes by the U.S. on the group in Libya since February. Obama's authorization for action in Sirte covers strikes, intelligence and surveillance, but not ground operations, according to a White House official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the strikes and requested anonymity. Serraj said his government is joining the coalition against IS, adding: "This is the time for the international community to live up to its promises to the Libyan people." Serraj also noted that the strikes will not go beyond Sirte and its surroundings. He said that any other foreign intervention is not allowed without coordination. His warning comes after several French commandos were killed fighting Islamic State militants. U.S., French, British and Italian special operations forces and military experts have been assisting Libyan troops fighting IS group militants in eastern and western Libya. In a statement, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said President Barack Obama authorized the strikes following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They are consistent with our approach to combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local forces," said Cook, using another name for the Islamic State group. U.S. officials earlier this year estimated there were as many as 6,000 Islamic State insurgents in Libya, including some who have abandoned Syria. But in recent months, officials say, their numbers in Libya have dropped and the group is weakening there under pressure from local militias and the U.N.-brokered government. Just last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Islamic State fighters in Libya are facing the "distinct possibility" of defeat in their last stronghold. And Dunford estimated in mid-July that there were only a few hundred militants still inside Sirte, which the group has used as a headquarters. "I don't think there is any doubt that the Islamic State in Libya is weaker than it was some months ago," said Dunford, adding, that "They've suffered significant casualties in and around the Benghazi area." Without mentioning any future U.S. military plans in Libya, Dunford said that "whatever actions we conduct," aside from those meant to eliminate an IS threat to the U.S. homeland, "are going to be in conjunction with" the U.N.-backed government of national accord. In February, American F-15E fighter-bombers struck an Islamic State training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border, killing more than 40. Libya slid into chaos after the ouster and killing of leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The power and security vacuum left the country a breeding ground for militias, and militants including the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda affiliates. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes. The U.N. brokered a deal in December, which tried to mend the rift by creating a presidency council and a unity government. The deal envisions a transitional period of up to two years, followed by a vote on a draft constitution and then presidential or parliamentary elections. Libya's pro-government militias mainly from the western city of Misrata have been waging an offensive against the Islamic State group in Sirte since May, but it has recently stalled. Search Keywords: Short link: The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the change promised Nigerians by the All Progressives Congress is not a ruse. Speaking in Enugu at a town hall meeting for the South East organised by the ministry on Monday, the minister said the change was already manifesting in every sector of the nations life. He said contrary to the insinuations in certain quarters that the people were not feeling the impact of government, a lot had been done in moving the country forward. He said the government would remain undaunted in implementing its change agenda to improve the lot of Nigerians. Many have said they are yet to see the change we promised. Many more have called the promise a ruse, Mr. Mohammed said. In fact, they are now mocking us. But we remain undaunted because we know that the change we promised is real. In fact, the change we promised is already here, and it is manifesting all around us, he said. Buttressing his position, the minister said that the government had successfully stopped the looting of public funds which was responsible for underdevelopment. He said, Before now, public officials simply opened the public till, took as much money as they wanted and walked away without consequences. That explains why funds allocated to the military to fight Boko Haram ended up in the piggy banks of many unscrupulous Nigerians. Today, all those who looted the public treasury are being made to answer for their actions, as impunity gives way to accountability. Many have offered to return their loots, and many more are facing charges, Mr. Mohammed said with the introduction of the Treasury Single Account, funds meant for the federal government were directly paid in and used for development of infrastructure. He noted that before now, funds accruing to the government were paid into so many accounts and went to private purses. He said the government had successfully identified and stopped salaries hitherto paid to more than 30,000 ghost workers. According to him, We promised to diversify the economy away from oil, to ensure that other sectors are able to significantly contribute to sustainable development. In June 2016, for the very first time, about 70 per cent of the more than N500 billion raised from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee came from the non-oil sector, while 30 per cent came from the oil sector. It was the first time in 2016 that the Federal Government shared more than N500 billion among the three tiers of government. In the area of security, Mr. Mohammed said that the government had successfully crushed the Boko Haram terrorists and not a single territory was being administered by them. On infrastructure, the minister said that construction firms had been mobilised to sites on major roads in the country. He said, As they move to site, they are creating thousands of new jobs. No part of the country is left out of this. Where the contractors have not been seen on site, it is because of the rains, not because of lack of mobilisation. The minister said the complaints over perceived or real instances of lopsidedness in appointments were being addressed. There are hundreds of appointments yet to be made. It is an evolving scenario and any lopsidedness is being addressed as we progress, he said. The minister said the town hall meetings were held to bridge the communication gap between the government and the people and to carry the people along in the process of governance. (NAN) The people from the South-East region on Monday, in Enugu, booed the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, after he tried to defend appointments so far made by President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr. Ngige was in the Enugu State capital to speak at the Town Hall session for the South-East region organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. But as he spoke, he was repeatedly jeered by those in the hall who kept shouting No no no. At a point the hall became uncontrollable, and it took a lot of efforts for organisers to restore order. Some participants complained that Mr. Buhari had so far marginalised the zone in the appointments made so far. Mr. Ngige had tried to defend President Buharis appointments, saying a leader must be allowed to work with people he could trust, a line of argument that sparked further jeers. Some of those at the event expressed displeasure at the level of neglect they said the region was facing. Among the issues raised was the ongoing forgery trial of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, with the Ohanaeze Ndigbo vowing to resist any move to remove him. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and other notable speakers, including Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, urged the Buhari-led government to fulfill its promises to the people of the zone. The governor said the appeal became imperative following the epileptic power supply and bad roads in the region. He also tasked the Federal Government to make substantial investment in the Ugwuoba Gas Field in Oji River local government area of the state. He said, I recall the presidents campaign promise to revive the coal mines in Enugu and utilise it to generate electricity. Coal is a major energy source in some countries of the world and we have it in abundance in the state. If this is done it will directly or indirectly create job opportunities for millions of Nigerians. Speaking at the event, Archbishop Chukwuma warned against the dire consequences of removing Mr. Ekweremadu. He advised the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and other APC members to desist from hatching any plot to oust Mr. Ekweremadu, saying such an action would jeopardize Nigerias unity. On his part, the President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the plot by some forces within the APC to remove Ekweremadu is a very dangerous dimension. Ekweremadu is not a product of the South-East but the entire Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, any attempt to remove him as the Deputy Senate President will be resisted by the Ohanaeze Youth Council. We will make this place very hot for any person, groups, or cabal that tried to remove Ekweremadu. We will match to the National Assembly straight away, occupy the place and resist any move by anybody within the government of Buhari to remove Ekweremadu. It wont happen. Rabiu Idris, the Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Legislative Matters, has called for total scrapping of security votes. Mr. Rabiu said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Funtua, Katsina State, that such funds should be used to execute meaningful projects. According to him, the security votes are tagged in approved budgets as miscellaneous, without any specific projects attached to the provision, thereby giving the president, governors and local council chairmen the chance to do as they like with it. I vehemently condemn the security votes allocation and call for its scrapping, Mr. Idris said. Mr. Idris, a former member of Katsina State House of Assembly, said scrapping the security votes would enhance accountability and proper utilisation of public funds. The governors aide urged federal lawmakers to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his effort to promote transparency in governance. He criticised ongoing attempt to provide immunity to some lawmakers, describing the move as self-centred and detrimental to democratic growth. He said Nigerians must oppose the moves through constructive debates, to make the legislators concentrate on their duties. Mr. Idris also said current happenings in the National Assembly should make the electorate to ensure that, henceforth, only those with genuine intentions are voted to represent them. He advised Nigerians to always scrutinise the records of candidates and their capacity to deliver quality leadership, rather than material gains, during elections. According to him, electing the right people will bring about desired changes at all levels and ensure positive transformation. (NAN) A member of the House of Representatives from Ebonyi State, Linus Okorie, has accused the Presidency of plotting to remove Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the entire house leadership by capitalizing on the allegations raised by another member Jibrin Abdulmumin. Mr. Okorie, a two term member of the House, said in a statement on Monday that the plot would fail. According to him the Speaker and other members of the house had not done anything illegal. He also lambasted the State Security Services and other government agencies for sealing some offices in the National Assembly. According to him, the house has the constitutional powers to amend, reduce from or add to the estimates proposed by the executive and that that was what the house did. He said the constituency projects were never implemented by the legislatures but by the executive arm and wondered why the lawmakers were being branded corrupt. The PDP lawmaker, while declaring his loyalty to Speaker Dogara, said should the attempt to change the leadership of the house succeed and a new leadership forced on it, President Muhammadu Buhari led government would have completely unitarize Nigerias democracy and completed the push for a repressive and totalitarian brand of democracy hitherto unknown to literature. DEEFIELD TOWNSHIP A 76-year-old local man wounded in an exchange of gunfire with state troopers on Friday night is apparently responding to medical treatment, according his sister. Evelyn Zielke said she is hearing good things about her brother, Gerald Sykes. Zielke, a Monroe Township, Gloucester County, resident, declined to discuss the shooting, adding shes been advised not to talk to the media. Zeilke wouldnt say who provided that advice. However, Zielke said her brother is retired, but wouldnt discuss his previous employment. She also Sykes has lived in the house in the 300 block of Centerton Road for about 10 years. Sykes was struck by several rounds from state troopers responding to a 911 call made from a cellphone about 11:30 p.m. on Friday. According to the state Attorney Generals Office, the caller hung up before making contact with State Police, who tried to trace the cellphone to determine if the caller needed help. State Police were dispatched to the 300 block of Center Road, which was later determined to be the wrong location. Two state troopers arrived at Sykes home, where he lived with his wife, authorities said. Zielke said her brothers wifes name is Margot. Authorities said the troopers knocked on a sliding glass door at the back of the house while shining flashlights into the house and announcing that they were responding to a 911 call. At that time, there was an exchange of gunfire through the sliding glass door in which one of the troopers fired four rounds from his service 9mm handgun and Gerald Sykes fired a single round from a shotgun, according to a statement from the Attorney Generals Office. Sykes was struck by multiple rounds and retreated into his house, and was eventually airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, authorities said. Sykes was last listed in stable condition, and no update on his condition was immediately available on Monday. A South Sudanese minister and opposition figure resigned on Monday saying a peace deal designed to heal the troubled young nation was dead, while calling for President Salva Kiir's unity government to leave power. Lam Akol was agriculture minister in Kiir's administration and also announced he was quitting as longtime leader of the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party. "There is no more peace agreement to implement in Juba," Akol said at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "All of us agree that the regime in Juba must change," he added. Akol was the president's only serious challenger in a regional election held in 2010, the year before the semi-autonomous region known as Southern Sudan seceeded and gained full independence. He has also long opposed rebel leader Riek Machar, whose forces clashed in recent weeks with government troops loyal to Kiir. In December 2013, a skirmish in Juba between troops loyal to to Kiir and Machar degenerated into a ruinous civil war. The latest in a series of deals designed to end the conflict was signed in August 2015. It was under that agreement that Machar attained the position of first vice president and that 30 ministrial posts were distributed between the two and to other parties. Machar has not returned to Juba since fighting broke in early July, and a week ago Kiir named another member of his SPLM/A (IO) party to replace him as first vice president. On Monday Akol left open the possibility that he could join forces with Machar in some configuration after leaving his own party. "We are consulting as I speak how to organise so that the opposition to the government is consolidated," he said. "Since the agreement is dead and there is no free political space in Juba, the only sensible way to oppose this regime so as to restore genuine peace... is to organise outside Juba," Akol added. Search Keywords: Short link: 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. Turkey summoned a German diplomat Monday over a court decision that prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a demonstration in Germany, while the top U.S. military official visited Ankara as Turkey navigated through increasingly strained relations with key allies. The government has expressed growing annoyance over what it sees as a lack of support from its allies in the European Union over its response to the failed July 15 coup, saying it expected solidarity rather than criticism for the widespread crackdown on those suspected of links to the coup plotters. The attempted coup left 271 people dead in a night of violence when renegade sections of the military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to try to overthrow the government. Erdogan has accused the United States of harboring Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and who the president says masterminded the coup. Ankara has demanded Gulen's extradition, but Washington is asking for evidence of the cleric's involvement and says the extradition process must be allowed to run its course. Gulen was once an Erdogan ally until ties soured several years ago. In a sign of efforts to shore up relations, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, visited Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was briefly held captive by the rebels during the coup, as well as with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Ahead of the meetings, U.S. joint staff spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks said Dunford would "deliver messages condemning in the strongest terms the recent coup attempt." Hicks said the general would also reaffirm "the importance of our enduring partnership for regional security," citing operations out of the Incirlik air base against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and Turkey's contributions to NATO and the fight against the Islamic State group While in Ankara, Dunford was taken on a tour of the Parliament building, which was bombed during the night of July 15. At a small protest held near the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, demonstrators held up placards reading "Dunford go home, send us Fethullhah," and "Get out coup plotter Dunford." Meanwhile, the foreign ministry summoned Germany's charge d'affaires in Ankara to discuss a German court decision that prevented Erdogan from addressing via video link a Sunday rally in the German city of Cologne denouncing the coup attempt and showing support for Erdogan. The court ruled that messages from speakers elsewhere, such as politicians in Turkey, could not be shown on a video screen at the rally, which was attended by about 30,000-40,000 people. A message from Erdogan was read out instead. Germany is home to roughly 3 million people with Turkish roots. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Germany's action was contrary to freedom of speech. Kurtulmus said German courts normally address cases very slowly, "yet the German Constitutional Court prohibited our president addressing the rally via teleconference in less than 24 hours. . This is a clear double standard." German officials insist there was no wrongdoing. "The decision not to allow the broadcast was absolutely OK and also lawful," German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Monday. Relations between the two countries have soured since the German Parliament voted June 2 to label the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide. European officials and human rights groups have expressed increasing concern with the Turkish crackdown, in which nearly 70,000 people have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in sectors including the civil service, education, the judiciary, health care and the media. Authorities say they are suspected of involvement with Gulen's movement, which runs schools, charities, hospitals and businesses across the world. More than 18,000 people have been detained, most of them from the military, while the government has issued decrees bringing the powerful armed forces more under civilian control. Some 3,000 officers suspected of involvement in the coup or of links to Gulen's movement have been discharged from the armed forces since the failed attempt and Defense Minister Fikri Isik told CNN Turk television in an interview Monday that the purges from the military would continue. Isik said 311 military personnel believed to have participated in the coup were still on the run including nine generals. Turkey had also canceled this year's Aug. 30 Victory Day military parades because of the "extraordinary situation," the minister said. Kurtulmus said anyone associated with Gulen's movement would be purged from the public sector and his government "will show no mercy" toward suspects linked to the coup. "Citizens who don't have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear," the deputy prime minister said. "Sorry, but everything has a price." Search Keywords: Short link: Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has declared that his expansive political network would not support Donald Trump, questioning whether the Republican presidential nominee believes in free markets. During an exclusive gathering with some of the nation's most powerful Republican donors Sunday, the 80-year-old conservative icon also dismissed as "a blood libel" any suggestion he might support Democrat Hillary Clinton. "At this point I can't support either candidate, but I'm certainly not going to support Hillary," Koch told hundreds of donors gathered for a weekend retreat in a luxury hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. With Election Day just three months away, Koch and his chief lieutenants openly refused to support the Republican presidential nominee, focusing their tremendous resources instead on helping the GOP win competitive Senate contests in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Details on Koch's decision emerged Sunday, the second day of a three-day gathering for donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners a network of education, policy and political entities that aims to promote a smaller, less intrusive government. The ambitious Koch network has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to influence politics and public policy over the last decade. The network planned to invest heavily in the 2016 presidential contest, but sharply changed its course after Trump became the Republican standard-bearer. The decision was welcomed by many of the 400 donors who attended the weekend retreat, even though "a reasonably significant" number of attendees wanted the Koch network to support Trump, said Chris Wright, a Colorado-based energy entrepreneur. "Terrible and truly awful are the two choices," Wright said, suggesting that even if he voted for Trump in November and that's not decided he wouldn't go any further. "We're not going to give any money to support Donald Trump," Wright explained. Timothy Busch, a California-based donor, said he'd vote for Trump but do nothing more on his behalf. "He doesn't have enough civility and he's not a man of humility," Busch charged, citing specific complaints about Trump's positions on immigration and trade. Charles and David Koch have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but usually in private. A few of reporters, including one from The Associated Press, were invited to attend some of the forums. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any donors without their permission. Koch addressed the presidential contest in a general way on Sunday when reporters were present, but went further during a closed-door meeting later in the day. He outlined two primary criteria for deciding whether to support a candidate, Wright said: whether the candidate would "believes in and will fight for free markets" and whether he or she has a viable chance to win. Both Clinton and Trump failed the first test, Wright said. With reporters on hand, Koch described his first priority as "to preserve the country's financial future and to eliminate corporate welfare." "Since it appears that neither presidential candidate is likely to support us in these efforts," he said, "we're focused on maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will." Trump has been embraced by many Republican voters, but David and Charles Koch have deep policy differences. The libertarian-leaning Koch brothers oppose Trump's position on immigration, trade, minimum wage and criminal justice reform, among others. The day before, Trump thumbed his nose at the Koch gathering from Twitter. "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch," the New York billionaire tweeted. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!" The weekend's agenda featured a series of policy discussions and appearances from at least three governors, four senators and four members of the House of Representatives, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Asked about the Koch decision not to endorse Trump, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said, "I certainly respect their point of view on this." "I don't endorse everything about him. I certainly don't endorse everything he says," Walker told The Associated Press during a brief interview. But "In the end, choosing between the two, I still believe that any Republican including Donald Trump is better than Hillary." Koch has put the network's budget at roughly $750 million through the end of 2016. A significant portion was supposed to be directed at electing a Republican to the White House. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida. "To address the current political crisis, our first objective is to stop the worst federal policies regardless of who is the next president," Koch said. "We've got to remember that Republican presidents advance a lot of bad policies, just like Democrats do." Search Keywords: Short link: STUTTGART, Germany, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Borgward Group AG is reinforcing its management team and has become the first German automaker to create a Board of Management position for Design. Effective January 1, 2017, Anders Warming will become the company's new Board of Management Member for Design. "The creation of a separate Board of Management position for Design underscores design's importance for Borgward," said Ulrich Walker, Chairman of the Board of Borgward Group AG, in Stuttgart on Friday. "I'm very delighted that we can fill this position with such an extraordinary and experienced designer as Anders Warming." (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394476 ) The Danish designer Anders Warming, 43, worked for the BMW Group for a total of more than 16 years, including almost all of the last six years as Head of MINI Design in Munich. Under his leadership, the company created the new design of the MINI Cooper Hatch, the MINI Convertible, and the MINI Clubman. Prior to becoming the Head of MINI Design, Anders Warming was Head of BMW Exterior Design and Team Leader Advanced Design at the BMW Group. From 2003 to 2005, Warming was Team Leader, Design Center Europe at the Volkswagen Group. Warming studied design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena from 1992 to 1996. Further information Borgward Group AG Kriegsbergstrasse 11 70174 Stuttgart, Germany Marco Dalan Head of Global Communications Telephone: +49-711-365-10-1041 e-mail: marco.dalan@borgward.com http://www.borgward.com SOURCE BORGWARD Group AG LITTLE FALLS, New Jersey, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. (NYSE: CMN) announced today the appointment of Jorgen B. Hansen as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, effective today, consistent with the Company's long-term CEO succession plan. Mr. Hansen also will become a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hansen succeeds Andrew A. Krakauer, who will serve as a Senior Advisor for the Company until October 15, 2016. Charles M. Diker, Cantel's Chairman of the Board, stated, "We brought Jorgen Hansen to Cantel nearly four years ago. He's a dynamic, experienced leader in the medical device industry who has clearly demonstrated strong leadership and the vision necessary to achieve our full potential. In addition to leading the day-to-day operations for the Company, Jorgen played a key role in the development of our strategic plan including our expansion in international markets and the successful completion of 12 acquisitions. All of these accomplishments have reinforced our confidence in Jorgen's ability to lead the Company as Chief Executive Officer." Mr. Diker added "I also would like to thank Andy Krakauer for his exceptional service to the Company over the past 12 years. He has been an outstanding leader who helped Cantel achieve exceptional success during his tenure. His contributions and experience in the medical device industry have been invaluable to the Company." Mr. Hansen joined Cantel in November 2012 as EVP and COO, and was appointed to President and COO in November 2014. He also served as President and CEO of Cantel's Endoscopy business unit, the Company's largest division, from November 2012 to July 2015. Prior to joining Cantel, Mr. Hansen held leadership positions with increasing responsibility in the global medical device industry. He worked at ConvaTec from May 2009 - November 2012, most recently as Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Business Development, Science and Innovation. Mr. Hansen joined ConvaTec from Coloplast, where he held various leadership roles over a 13-year period in Asia and Europe, ranging from General Manager, Division Head and Senior Vice President of Global Operations. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Denmark Technical University, and an International Commerce degree from the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. "I am honored to be appointed as Cantel's CEO and lead this exciting company and talented team," said Mr. Hansen. "I would like to thank Mr. Diker and the Board for this opportunity, and as CEO, I will continue to pursue Cantel's vision to be the global leader in infection prevention. We will do this by executing on our business priorities focused on new products, market expansion and M&A, supported by continuous improvement." About Cantel Medical Cantel Medical is a leading global company dedicated to delivering innovative infection prevention products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers which improve outcomes, enhance safety and help save lives. Our products include specialized medical device reprocessing systems for endoscopy and renal dialysis, advanced water purification equipment, sterilants, disinfectants and cleaners, sterility assurance monitoring products for hospitals and dental clinics, disposable infection control products primarily for dental and GI endoscopy markets, dialysate concentrates, hollow fiber membrane filtration and separation products. Additionally, we provide technical service for our products. For further information, visit the Cantel website at www.cantelmedical.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in Cantel's filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Related Links http://www.cantelmedical.com SOURCE Cantel Medical Corp. WARSAW, Poland, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband, announced today that it is expanding its presence in Central and Eastern Europe. Partnering with Midis Group, a pioneer in operations management, Cradlepoint is entering Poland and the Czech Republic to gain further market reach. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160603/375346 ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT networking. Cradlepoint's regional sales teams in Central and Eastern Europe are the next step in continuing the accelerated growth that Cradlepoint has achieved over the past year. George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "We are at an exciting time in Cradlepoint's geographic expansion. Central and Eastern Europe have seen a migration to high-speed mobile networks enabling our unparalleled cloud-based solutions across market verticals. "Establishing in-region support for our channel partners will provide local knowledge, expertise and experience to deliver our sales programmes and will be key to the continued success of our customers." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "Cradlepoint's partnership with Midis Group will drive our growth in Central and Eastern Europe and strengthen our distribution channels. Midis Group will be working as a direct extension of our existing sales and marketing resources and will continue our strategy of building a highly experienced team to implement innovation that provides new areas of opportunity for channel partnerships to meet the needs of our joint customers." Husni Hammoud, General Manager, Emerging Markets, said: "Cradlepoint's technology solutions are world-class and ideal in markets such as retail, hospitality, public sector and transportation. Midis Group is well positioned to work as Cradlepoint's partner in Central and Eastern Europe with decades of operational expertise that will facilitate rapid growth." About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedized M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organizations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and 25 of the largest U.S. cities-rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint network solutions as the foundation for innovative managed service offerings. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with development centers in Silicon Valley and Kelowna, Canada, and offices in the UK, Australia and Japan. Cradlepoint EMEA, Hubert Da Costa Tel: +44-(0)1753-70-10-41 hdacosta@cradlepoint.com http://pl.cradlepoint.com http://cz.cradlepoint.com About Midis Group Midis Group is a privately-owned group of IT companies with over 4,500 employees in sales, technical support and operations. Its mission is 'to be a high-integrity partner, providing world-class technology brands and solutions into emerging markets and focusing on customer satisfaction'. Midis Group, Husni Hammoud Tel: +48-22-206-9834 husni.hammoud@midisglobal.com http://www.midisgroup.com SOURCE Cradlepoint DUBAI, UAE, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband, announced today that it is expanding its presence in the Middle East. Partnering with Midis Group, a pioneer in operations management, Cradlepoint is entering the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain to gain further market reach. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160608/376891 ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT networking. Cradlepoint's regional sales teams in the Middle East are the next step in continuing the accelerated growth that Cradlepoint has achieved over the past year. George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "We are at an exciting time in Cradlepoint's geographic expansion. The Middle East have seen a migration to high-speed mobile networks enabling our unparalleled cloud-based solutions across market verticals. "Establishing in-region support for our channel partners will provide local knowledge, expertise and experience to deliver our sales programmes and will be key to the continued success of our customers." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "Cradlepoint's partnership with Midis Group will drive our growth in the Middle East and strengthen our distribution channels. Midis Group will be working as a direct extension of our existing sales and marketing resources and will continue our strategy of building a highly experienced team to implement innovation that provides new areas of opportunity for channel partnerships to meet the needs of our joint customers." Husni Hammoud, General Manager, Emerging Markets, said: "Cradlepoint's technology solutions are world-class and ideal in markets such as retail, hospitality, public sector and transportation. Midis Group is well positioned to work as Cradlepoint's partner in the Middle East with decades of operational expertise that will facilitate rapid growth." About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedized M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organizations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and 25 of the largest U.S. cities-rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint network solutions as the foundation for innovative managed service offerings. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with development centers in Silicon Valley and Kelowna, Canada, and offices in the UK, Australia and Japan. Cradlepoint EMEA, Hubert Da Costa Tel: +44-(0)1753-70-10-41 hdacosta@cradlepoint.com http://me.cradlepoint.com About Midis Group Midis Group is a privately-owned group of IT companies with over 4,500 employees in sales, technical support and operations. Its mission is 'to be a high-integrity partner, providing world-class technology brands and solutions into emerging markets and focusing on customer satisfaction'. Midis Group, Husni Hammoud Tel: +971-4-435-0992 husni.hammoud@midisglobal.com http://www.midisgroup.com SOURCE Cradlepoint PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Acquisition brings inter-connectivity between CRF Health's TrialMax eCOA technology and Entra Health's cloud platform and mobile health devices, establishing a complete wireless solution for clinical data collection. CRF Health, the leading global provider of eCOA solutions for the life sciences industry, has acquired Entra Health, a global leader in mobile health IT, cloud-based remote monitoring, health data exchange and analytics solutions. The acquisition expands CRF Health's offerings into the expanding market of wireless medical and wellness devices, bringing a new level of connectivity to its eCOA technologies and establishing a complete network of solutions to collect, manage and analyze biometric and clinical trial data. The combination solidifies CRF Health as the most established provider of market-leading eCOA solutions and medical devices for remote patient monitoring, telemedicine and wireless health, backed by unrivalled expertise and regulatory know-how. The acquisition formalizes an existing relationship, enabling both companies to bring their solutions to customers as an end-to-end integrated offering. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Entra Health offers EntraCare, the most flexible and scalable remote monitoring solution on the market today. EntraCare has regulatory approval and is used by patients in more than 50 countries worldwide. Entra Health's FDA-cleared MyHealthPoint platform provides an integrated, secure and scalable system for collecting and analyzing biometric data across a variety of wellness and clinical devices. It delivers remote monitoring of clinical trial and non-trial patient populations across a multitude of therapeutic areas as well as post-surgical, preventative and chronic care. The company also manufactures the MyGlucoHealth brand of wireless blood glucose meters, and is an international market leader in supplying wireless glucose monitoring for clinical trials in diabetes research. "This acquisition represents a significant step in our growth and enables us to deliver our solutions to a wider market with the backing of CRF Health's global infrastructure," comments Richard Strobridge, CEO & Co-Founder of Entra Health. "The combination of the two companies will bring new opportunities for Entra Health's talented team and will allow us to strengthen our operational capabilities and invest in enhancing our technology and solutions into the future. Our customers benefit from being part of one of the most well-respected names in the industry, bringing a global support network and access to specialized expertise." Discussing the acquisition, CRF Health's CEO, Rachael Wyllie, said: "We see tremendous promise in the opportunities the acquisition of Entra Health brings, as well as the contribution this makes to our continued growth strategy as we broaden CRF Health's reach across the industry. Combining CRF Health's extensive global eCOA and electronic informed consent expertise with Entra Health's clinical platform, medical device innovation and regulatory insight, we can now offer selection, production and delivery of devices together with the complete integration of data. CRF Health is now positioned to build upon our patient-centric approach, bringing new levels of connectivity to devices and cloud services much in demand from our customers." For further information on CRF Health, please visit http://www.crfhealth.com. For further information on Entra Health, please visit http://www.entrahealth.com. About CRF Health CRF Health is the leading provider of electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) solutions for global clinical trials. With experience in more than 800 trials, over 100 languages and across 74 countries, CRF Health's TrialMax eCOA solutions consistently demonstrate the industry's highest data accuracy, patient and site compliance, and patient retention. CRF Health's TrialMax eCOA solutions improve trial engagement by fitting into the lives of patients and seamlessly integrating into sites to maximize protocol compliance. Their eCOA solutions include PROs (Patient Reported Outcomes), ObsROs (Observer Reported Outcomes) and ClinROs (Clinician or Rater Reported Outcomes). SOURCE CRF Health SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DJI, the world's leading maker of unmanned aerial vehicles, will open a DJI Arena in Korea, providing a safe and enjoyable environment for customers to learn how to fly a drone and a gathering place for aerial enthusiasts. The 1,395-square-meter arena is located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, 49 kilometers south of Seoul, and will open in mid-August. The indoor venue will be equipped with safety nets, an adjustable LED-lit circuit for those who want to test their skills, and a LCD TV for a more immersive experience via first-person view from their drone. A maintenance room will be fitted with charging docks and a workstation for people to do minor repairs. "DJI is committed to making aerial technology more accessible and easier to learn for anyone who wants to use it, and the DJI Arena is a great example," said Moon Tae-hyun, DJI Korea's Country Manager. "We hope to provide a safe and fun environment for people to experience the technology first hand, whether they are skilled enthusiasts or someone who is just curious to learn. Best of all, the indoor venue will provide a space for people to fly all year round despite weather conditions outside." The DJI Arena will be open for individual and group bookings, corporate event rental and a venue for DJI's New Pilot Experience Program and workshops. For skilled drone pilots and UAV clubs, the arena can also offer the stage for more advanced flying experiences and drone racing. Just four months ago, DJI opened its first overseas flagship store in Hongdae, Seoul. The Korea Flagship store has now become a gathering place for aerial enthusiasts to learn about DJI's latest aerial platforms and camera equipment. Information about the arena's availability and reservation will be available after mid-August. Download photos at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuqxh2i1i1kyago/DJI%20Arena%20Korea.jpg?dl=0 About DJI DJI is a global leader in developing and manufacturing innovative drone and camera technology for commercial and recreational use. DJI was founded and is run by people with a passion for remote-controlled helicopters and experts in flight-control technology and camera stabilization. The company is dedicated to making aerial photography and filmmaking equipment and platforms more accessible, reliable and easier to use for creators and innovators around the world. DJI's global operations currently span North America, Europe and Asia, and its revolutionary products and solutions have been chosen by customers in over 100 countries for applications in filmmaking, construction, emergency response, agriculture, conservation and many other industries. For more information, visit our website: www.dji.com Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DJI Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DJIGlobal Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/DJI Related Links http://www.dji.com SOURCE DJI Nigeria's army killed 349 people from the minority Shia Muslim sect last December in a series of clashes for which troops involved should be prosecuted, a judicial inquiry has concluded in a report. How the authorities respond to the inquiry's findings may indicate the extent to which reform is being implemented under a drive by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, to root out human rights violations by soldiers. The United States blocked arms sales to Nigeria and ended training of troops there under Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, partly on concerns over human rights such as the treatment of captured suspected insurgents. The report published on Sunday confirms claims by human rights groups such as Amnesty International that the army killed hundreds of Shia Muslims during three days of clashes in the northern city of Zaria. The army has repeatedly denied this. "The Nigerian Army used excessive force," said the report by a commission appointed by Kaduna state, where Zaria is located. "The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA (Nigerian Army) who participated in the killings of 12th - 14th December 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them," it said. The army has said Shia troops had blocked its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, and assassinate him. "We are aware that the report has been made public and we are studying it," Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said on Monday. The commission's findings contained in the report said 349 people - including one soldier - were killed. "Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave," said the report. The commission said it had received 3,578 memoranda - 132 letters and 3,446 emails - along with 39 exhibits and 87 witnesses testimonies in the course of the inquiry and the writing of the 193-page report Africa's most populous nation has around 180 million people, including several thousand Shia Muslims whose movement was inspired by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Shia Iran. The majority of the country's tens of millions of Muslims are Sunni - including the Boko Haram militants who have killed thousands in bombings and shootings mainly in the northeast since 2009. Search Keywords: Short link: Company Transforms Classic Cars of Yesteryear Into Electric Vehicles of Tomorrow, Extending The Lifetime & Long-Term Value of Today's Iconic Collectibles HELSINKI, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- e-Drive Retro, an early leader in transforming vintage cars into sustainably collectible electronic vehicles, today announced that it is officially open for business across Northern Europe. The company has also launched its new and improved web presence, located at www.e-driveretro.com. As the leader of an entirely new automotive category Electric Vehicle Classic Car Conversion e-Drive Retro has developed a proprietary EV drive train technology and a five-step conversion process, requiring nominal maintenance and compliant with zero emissions policies globally. Founded by engineering and business thought leader Michael M. Richardson, e-Drive Retro's leadership team includes world-class automotive engineers and global industry leaders. e-Drive Retro also has a strategic partnership with Grips Garage, Finland's most revered classic vehicle restoration specialist, to act as the central restoration garage for its classic car conversions in the region. "I am thrilled to share my life-long passion for innovative design, technology, and iconic automobiles through the launch of e-Drive Retro in Northern Europe," said Founder and CEO, Michael M. Richardson. "My vision of marrying state-of-the-art all electric drive-train technology, control system software and The Internet of Things (IoT) with the iconic car designs of the 50's, 60's, and 70's creates an entirely new class of authentic collectible automobiles which are not only timeless showpieces, but are also practical and reliable vehicles to enjoy driving every day, with a clean environmental conscience." The GT6-EV (license "E-DRIVE1") will be showcased at a test-driving event with Grips Garage, hosted by the Sportscar Breakfast Club near Helsinki on August 6th. For additional information about taking a turn at the wheel of this captivating classic, visit us at www.e-driveretro.com and at www.facebook.com/edriveretro. ABOUT e-DRIVE RETRO : e-Drive Retro is pioneering a new class of rolling art in the electric automotive industry. This international company combines a passion for vintage cars with precision European engineering and a white glove EV transformation methodology to convert stylish, iconic cars of yesteryear into reliably high performing, smart connected, sustainable electronic vehicles of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.e-driveretro.com. Media Contact: Beth Amorosi USA: +1 917 208 7489 Beth.Amorosi@e-DriveRetro.com Please Note: Photos & video available upon request. Related Links http://www.e-driveretro.com SOURCE e-Drive Retro - One of the first companies in Taiwan to successfully apply renewed ISO standards - HSINCHU, Taiwan, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Faraday Technology Corporation (Faraday Technology, TWSE: 3035), a leading ASIC and IP provider, has recently received ISO9001 Plus Award (QMS Knowledge Management Benchmark). ISO9001:2015 is the most significant renewal in 15 years. Being one of the first companies from Taiwan to earn the professional certification from SGS demonstrates that Faraday's overall quality in terms of management, operation, and cross-functional development throughout the chain are highly and specifically recognized. Founded in 1993, Faraday Technology has over 20 years of experience in silicon IP and ASIC design. Faraday has not only provided more than 3,000 IPs but also successfully carried out over 2,000 mass production projects for customers in mainland China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and US. The wide range of application includes consumer electronics, communication, multimedia and PC peripheral devices. To produce each customized chip, professionals in different fields and sophisticated operation at numerous stages are required starting from specification development, IP design, chip integration, manufacturing, package till testing. Therefore, since its launch, Faraday has focused on talent selection, cultivation and retention, R & D development and automatic manufacturing and selling processes to enhance work efficiency. As a result, Faraday has also repeatedly won TTQS (Taiwan Train Quality System) golden prize for years and received National Quality Award for talent training and development. "It is an honor to be one of the first companies to successfully apply for renewed ISO standards and earn ISO9001:2015 certification from SGS. We will continue to focus on quality and promises made to customers and the market, providing more professional, efficient and sophisticated design and mass production services," said Steve Wang, President at Faraday. About Faraday Technology Corporation Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading fabless ASIC and silicon IP provider. The broad silicon IP portfolio includes I/O, Cell Library, Memory Compiler, ARM-compliant CPUs, DDR2/3/4, low-power DDR1/2/3, MIPI, V-by-One, MPEG4, H.264, USB 2.0/3.1 Gen 1, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Serial ATA, PCI Express, and programmable SerDes, etc. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. Faraday is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, ticker 3035. For more information, please visit: www.faraday-tech.com. Press Contact Faraday Tech Evan Ke +886 3 578 7888 ext. 8689 evan@faraday-tech.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160727/393317 Related Links http://www.faraday-tech.com SOURCE Faraday Technology Corporation CAMBRIDGE, England, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Inivata, a global clinical cancer genomics company employing the precision of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis to improve personalized healthcare in oncology, today announces the appointment of Timothy Shannon as Chief Financial Officer. Tim will be based out of Inivata's US Research Triangle Park (RTP) office with global responsibilities for Inivata's financial and operational management. Tim joins Inivata from Baxano Surgical and Talecris Biotherapeutics, where he formulated and implemented financial controls and process improvements that supported business growth and expansion. His background in technology, life sciences, and distribution environments is particularly relevant as Inivata moves forward towards long-term business planning and commercialization of its InVision product line. While at Talecris, Tim managed the Initial Public Offering (IPO) at a $3.28 billion valuation and has managed merger and acquisition transactions. Tim also has operational business experience across critical issues including budgeting, investor relations, systems implementation, and risk management. Michael Stocum, CEO of Inivata, said, "We are delighted to welcome Tim to Inivata as our Chief Financial Officer. His broad financial and operational experience will augment the existing strengths of the management team as we build towards the commercial launch of InVision." "I'm excited to be joining Inivata as the Company works towards commercialization of its ctDNA platform, InVision, to deliver improved cancer patients outcomes and work with the many committed employees to support business growth," said Tim Shannon, CFO at Inivata. "After an impressive Series A fundraise, I look forward to working closely with the Board, senior management and rest of the team in executing Inivata's strategy and achieving clinical and commercial success." Inivata recently completed $45 million in Series A round, securing funds for clinical studies and validation of its technology platform for the analysis of ctDNA. Analytical validation, presented in April at AACR, showed its broad molecular profiling as a robust and reproducible method of detecting genomic alterations in ctDNA with stand-out sensitivity and specificity. Inivata's proprietary platform will be applied across a spectrum of solid tumors to provide oncologists with clinically actionable information to stratify patients, monitor treatment progress, and identify emerging tumor resistance. -ENDS- Photograph and interviews available on request Contact details: Liz Macfadyen Email: liz.macfadyen@inivata.com Phone: +44 (0)7739462323 Consilium Strategic Communications Chris Gardner/Laura Thornton Email: inivata@consilium-comms.com Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700 About Inivata Inivata, a clinical cancer genomics company, is employing the precision of ctDNA analysis to improve personalized healthcare in oncology. Using a simple blood test, ctDNA analysis is a new tool for oncologists to detect cancer, stratify patients, and assess individual response to treatment. Inivata's proprietary technology is based on pioneering research from the Rosenfeld Lab at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK-CI), University of Cambridge. Inivata's InVision ctDNA assay provides a highly sensitive analysis of a highly-select gene panel to identify actionable mutations for oncologists to treat their patients optimally. For more information and a full listing of investors, please go to http://www.inivata.com . Follow us on Twitter @Inivata SOURCE Inivata BRISBANE, Australia, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Megaport, the global leading provider of Elastic Interconnection services, is pleased to announce that it has successfully undertaken a private placement of 10,500,000 fully paid ordinary shares (Shares) to sophisticated and institutional investors to raise $17.85 million (Placement). The Placement was significantly oversubscribed with strong interest received from both existing and new investors. Megaport is also announcing that it will offer existing shareholders an opportunity to acquire additional Shares at the same price as the Placement under a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160510/365602LOGO Megaport is undertaking the capital raising to fund the company's elastic interconnection platforms continued expansion throughout Europe, APAC, and North America as well as staffing and marketing costs and general working capital requirements. Megaport's Chief Executive Officer, Denver Maddux, said: "The proceeds from this capital raising enable Megaport to align towards our major priorities. First, to accelerate revenue growth in all markets, especially North America and Europe. It will also enable continued ecosystem expansion with the addition of new partners and geographic reach and allow us to complete network development." DETAILS OF THE PLACEMENT Under the Placement, Megaport will issue 10,500,000 Shares at an issue price of $1.70 per Share, raising $17.85 million. The issue price of the Placement represents a 17.5% discount to the closing price on 27 July 2016 (the last trading day before Megaport announced the Placement). The Placement is within Megaport's existing capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 and accordingly shareholder approval is not required in connection with the capital raising. Settlement of the Placement is expected to occur on 4 August 2016, with the Placement shares expected to be allotted on 5 August 2016. Morgans Corporate Limited acted as lead manager and underwriter to the Placement. Further information in relation to the Placement can be found in an investor presentation that has been released to the ASX today. USE OF FUNDS The net proceeds of the Placement will be used for capital expenditure, ongoing cost of network, services and staff, and network investment. This will provide the funding for revenue growth, market development, and acquisition opportunities. Further information in relation to the use of funds can be found in an investor presentation that has been released to the ASX today. www.megaport.com/investor Supporting Resources Visit Megaport: https://megaport.com/ Follow Megaport on Twitter: @megaportnetwork Like Megaport on Facebook Follow Megaport on LinkedIn About Megaport Megaport is the global leading provider of Elastic Interconnection services. Using Software Defined Networking, the Company's global platform enables customers to rapidly connect their network to other services across the Megaport Fabric. Services can be directly controlled by customers via mobile devices, their computer or our open API. The Company's extensive footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe provides a neutral platform that spans many key data centre providers across various markets. Established in 2013 and founded by Bevan Slattery, Megaport built the world's first SDN-based elastic interconnection platform designed to provide the most secure, seamless and on-demand way for enterprises, networks and services to interconnect. Led by industry veteran Denver Maddux, Megaport has been built by a highly experienced team with extensive knowledge in building large scale global carrier networks and connects over 500* customers throughout its 132* locations in 36* markets in 19 countries. Megaport is an Amazon AWS Technology Partner, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute Partner, and Google Cloud Interconnect Partner. To learn more about Megaport, please visit: www.megaport.com. * Includes announced acquisition of OM-NIX and ECIX which are due to be completed in August, 2016. Media enquiries about Megaport: Email: media@megaport.com WENDY HILL SAPPHIRE COMMUNICATIONS PH: +614-2717-3203 EM: wendy@sapphirecommunications.com.au Related Links http://www.megaport.com SOURCE Megaport The antibody, targeting refractory leptomeningeal tumor neuroblastoma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is a potential breakthrough treatment for pediatric patients. Following transfer of Y-mAbs' lead cell line to Merck, services will include scale-up and GMP manufacturing of an antibody currently in late stage clinical development. "Pediatric brain cancer is an especially challenging therapeutic area that comes with an extreme sense of urgency," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. "Through our Provantage services, which offer a templated, nimble approach to development and manufacturing, we expect to accelerate progress of this innovative therapeutic for patients in need." "Through our agreement with Merck, Y-mAbs takes a major step towards our commitment of making these breakthrough pediatric treatments available to children with advanced and life-threatening cancers," said Thomas Gad, Y-mAbs' Founder, President and Head of Business Development and Strategy. "We expect to take delivery of cGMP drug product for our planned clinical trials by first half of 2017, and we are committed to making this leading immunotherapy product available to patients with life-threatening diseases worldwide." Merck's Provantage End-to-End solution is a comprehensive suite of products and services enabling biopharmaceutical companies to accelerate the progression of molecules into the clinic and toward commercialization. The turnkey package includes process development, cGMP manufacturing, facility design, equipment for pilot plant production, process and equipment training, technology transfer, equipment qualification and set-up for commercialization. All Merck news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service. About Merck Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of 12.85 billion in 66 countries. Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. The company holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials. Related Links http://www.merckgroup.com SOURCE Merck "Worst humanitarian crisis in 20 years" is brought into sharp relief in Borno state ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As aid organizations in northeast Nigeria gain access to areas previously under Boko Haram control, alarming suffering, need and devastation is becoming increasingly evident, according to the global organization Mercy Corps. In what a United Nations official is calling the "worst humanitarian crisis in 20 years," an estimated 7 million people are in need of lifesaving aid in the worst affected areas in the northeast; of those, an estimated 2.5 million people are malnourished and lack access to food and safe drinking water. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110818/DC54665LOGO-a "This grave, overlooked humanitarian crisis is unfolding on our watch," says Iveta Ouvry, Mercy Corps Country Director in Nigeria. "The world cannot sit by while innocent civilians who have survived unspeakable violence face acute hunger and the possibility of death." Due to constrained access in the region, humanitarian organizations have until recently focused primarily on providing assistance to those living in and around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Recent assessments including those conducted by Mercy Corps show that an estimated 800,000 people are living in burned villages and unstructured camps in 15 different locations across Borno, facing widespread malnutrition, little-to-no food or assistance, non-existent markets and no means to earn a living. Mercy Corps is working swiftly to respond to the crisis in Damboa and Sabon Gari, two of the heavily impacted and most vulnerable communities. The organization is planning distributions of food and other items essential for survival, hygiene assistance and protection for vulnerable civilians, particularly women and children. "In these two locations alone, we identified more than 100,000 people who are in immediate need of food and other help," says Michael Muazu, a Mercy Corps humanitarian projects manager who conducted the assessment. "Women are especially vulnerable because many have little to no ability to move safely outside the camps or conduct normal daily activities such as preparing food and bathing." Mercy Corps has been working in Nigeria since 2012 both to address urgent humanitarian needs and implement long-term solutions that help individuals and communities build resilience, with a particular focus on empowering adolescent girls, teaching conflict-mitigation skills and connecting people to financial services. Related Links http://www.mercycorps.org SOURCE Mercy Corps DAMMAM, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi contractor Mohammad Al-Mojil Group ("MMG") announced yesterday its 2016 half year results. MMG reported a net loss of 42 Million Saudi Riyals in the last quarter according to a statement posted on the Saudi bourse. In June 2016, the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD) - part of Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) - imposed prison sentences on three MMG executives. Founder Mohammad Al-Mojil and his son Adel were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment for claims relating to a 2008 IPO prospectus. Later that month, MMG's board resigned in its entirety, citing the "unlimited liability" on directors posed by the CMA's actions. The Al-Mojil family strongly criticised the CRSD judgement, describing the ruling as being based on "fundamentally flawed evidence" and a "biased investigation". Shortly afterwards, the CMA appointed an administrative committee to oversee MMG's affairs until the shareholders elect a new board. It is not known when MMG will hold its next shareholder assembly. Mr. Mohammad Al-Mojil still owns 50% of MMG. The remaining 50% is owned mainly by Saudi retail public shareholders. In their latest statement, the former board laments the perceived lack of assistance offered by Saudi Arabian authorities to help resolve an issue seriously impacting MMG - and the construction sector as a whole - regarding significant numbers of loss-making sub-contracts. Yesterday's published half year results show an increase in the accumulated losses by June 30th, 2016 (with the interim losses) to SR 3.6 Billion or 289% of paid-up capital. Such numbers render the long-term recovery of the company impossible without the collection of the off-balance sheet assets that it is owed by customers and/or the injection of fresh equity funding from external sources. In response to the latest financial results, a statement from the Al-Mojil family referred much of the responsibility for these losses to the mega projects' foreign contractors (EPC's) enjoying favouritism and protection on the expense of their local subcontractors when there are delays and disruptions on sites (a common feature in Saudi Arabia especially recently). MMG failed to recover hundreds of millions of assets it had to provide for as losses due to non-payment from contractors that won projects from a Saudi government related body and were paid billions of Riyals. They subcontracted and failed to pay MMG its fair and legitimate compensation. This is an inevitable outcome from the lack of meaningful support to MMG by Saudi government agencies and organizations, the latest of which is the CMA's recent heavy-handed and unrealistic verdict, which was not based on facts, but feelings and opinions fuelled by unjust and disproportionate rhetoric from certain shareholders and critics. Instead of tackling the real issues behind the complex and myriad problems affecting the Saudi construction sector in the last few years, the CMA concentrated its efforts on punishing MMG's founders, after it restricted the free market forces to set the share price and exchange ownership. For over 60 years under the patronage of the family, MMG - the first of two Saudi contractors to list on the stock exchange - has contributed to the development of the construction sector in Saudi Arabia, and has been a responsible well-known employer of thousands of Saudis, many of whom now find their future in jeopardy. The founder of MMG at this stage invites those critics of the company and its outgoing board to step forward to fill vacant positions on the board and showcase their managerial skills and vision. The statement added that the founder does not intend to vote in the upcoming shareholders' general assembly on any agenda item and will leave matters for the CMA and the rest of the shareholders to decide. SOURCE The Al-Mojil family Registration Opens for "Paris Lymphoma" and Immunotherapies in Cancer Congresses PLAINSBORO, New Jersey, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians' Education Resource, LLC (PER), the leading source for oncology and hematology continuing medical education (CME), and its international affiliate, PER Global, LLC, today unveiled full agendas for both its first European Congress on Hematology: Focus on Lymphoid Malignancies, and its first European Congress on Immunotherapies in Cancer. Being held from September 23-24, at the W Barcelona, in Barcelona, Spain, the 1st Annual European Congress on Immunotherapies in Cancer is a two-day comprehensive and interactive program focused exclusively on immunotherapies and their practical application to the management of cancer. Highlights of the comprehensive agenda include sessions on Immunotherapy for Gastrointestinal Cancers with Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD; Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy with Carl H. June, MD; and Resistance to Immunotherapy: Mechanisms and Clinical Approaches with Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD. Registration information and the agenda are both accessible online. The European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME) has approved this congress for CME accreditation. The European Congress on Hematology: Focus on Lymphoid Malignancies, also known as "Paris Lymphoma," is being held November 3-5, at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, in Paris, France. This highly practical and interactive program will focus on improving patient care for the clinician who manages patients with lymphoid malignancies. Highlights of this inclusive agenda include New Treatment Options in Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD; Managing Elderly Patients with Multiple Myeloma with Shaji Kumar, MD; and Choosing First-Line Therapy for Patients with Follicular Lymphoma with Gilles A. Salles, MD, PhD. Registration information and the agenda are both accessible online. An application has been submitted to the EACCME for CME accreditation of this congress. "We are very excited to share the comprehensive agendas of PER Global's first two congresses so that physicians can see the data that will be discussed at PER's newest European congresses," said PER president, Phil Talamo. "Given the fast pace at which practice-changing evidence continues to emerge, oncologists continue to face the constant challenge to maintain state-of-the-art care in managing patients, and we are confident that our new European meetings will provide them with the most relevant guidance from the most reputable oncology experts in the world." PER Global is the educational resource of choice for live and online activities focusing on oncology and hematology. Serving the oncology health care community, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and other health care providers who are involved in the treatment and management of patients with cancer, PER Global plans, develops, implements and evaluates educational activities using a wide variety of formats, as well as leading national and international faculty, targeted to the needs of health care providers. About PER As a leader in CME for nearly 20 years, PER educates more oncologists and hematologists through live annual CME-certified conferences than any other medical education provider in the United States. PER provides high-quality, evidence-based, CME-certified activities that translate the science of oncology into the art of patient care by featuring leading national and international faculty that focus on practice-changing advances that help the busy oncologist stay up-to-date with cutting-edge oncology knowledge and treatments. Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, PER serves the broader oncology health care community, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists. PER also consists of PER Global, which carries PER's mission of advancing cancer care through professional education outside the United States. PER is part of Michael J. Hennessy Associates Inc., a full-service health care communications company offering education, research and medical media. Related Links http://www.gotoper.com SOURCE Physicians Education Resource, LLC (PER) LONDON, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SBTech, a world-leading provider of online Sportsbetting solutions, management services and iGaming platforms, has been awarded a full Class 4 Remote Gaming License by the Maltese Gaming Authority. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160201/327805LOGO ) The Maltese licence adds to SBTech's ever-increasing portfolio of European permits, as the company continues to expand its operations across the continent and beyond. SBTech's expertise in equipping international operators with intelligent, localised sportsbook offerings is based on unrivalled industry knowledge, and is at the core of its exponential growth in recent years. Richard Carter, CEO of SBTech, explains: "Our ongoing strategy is to increase the number of markets we are licenced to operate in, in order to offer our tailor-made services to the new generation of Sportbetting platforms. Thanks to the efficiency and professionalism of both the Maltese Gaming Authority and our in-house legal team, I am delighted to confirm that we have fulfilled all the requirements and have secured this much sought-after licence." SBTech now aims to cement its position as a market-leading provider of bespoke sportsbooks to operators in regulated markets, using the MGA Remote Gaming Licence as a springboard to even greater success. As well as existing Malta-based clients including ComeOn and NetBet, SBTech expects to be signing additional deals with a range of other Maltese licenced operators in the near future. Joseph Cuschieri, Executive Chairman of the MGA, comments: "It was our pleasure to work with the SBTech team during the process of granting the company's Class IV Remote Gaming Licence. We are proud of the fact that our regulatory and technical standards are some of the most demanding in the global gaming industry, and we were satisfied with the company's diligence and thoroughness in providing us with all the information we required at every stage of the license process". About SBTech: SBTech, 2016 EGR Best In-Play Betting Software award winner, is a leading provider of interactive Sportsbetting solutions and services to traditional and regulated markets. The complete offering includes an innovative, dynamic and customisable suite of turnkey and fully managed solutions, specifically designed for top gaming operators, existing bookmakers and land-based networks. Contact: info@sbtech.com http://www.sbtech.com SOURCE SBTech CORAL GABLES, Florida, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TractorExport LLC, an international agricultural supply company located in Coral Gables, Florida, has entered into an agreement with Societe Gabonaise De Transformation Agricol (SOTRADER), a joint venture between Olam International and the government of Gabon, to service 375 Cat dozers and excavators over the next three years. In this three-year $70M agreement, Tractor Export will service 375 Cat dozers and excavators used for clearing land for the SOTRADER Project which is designed to create individual farming opportunity for the citizens of Gabon. This is the third of such agreements Tractor Export has signed involving Singapore-based Olam International. Currently, TractorExport LLC has 40 mechanics on the ground in Gabon serving a fleet of 250 Komatsu dozers and will be adding another 20 mechanics in connection with the new Caterpillar agreement. "We are excited to announce this third partnership we have developed with Olam International," says Steve Massey, CEO of Tractor Export. "We see an incredible amount of agricultural development through Africa and we are excited to be part of it." TractorExport LLC has a long history of providing equipment, parts and services to customer located in countries across the African continent. The company initially focused on suppling high-quality low-hour used combines, tractors, implements and parts to customers in Latin America and Africa. Lately, TractorExport LLC has become more involved in supplying parts and service on site to its international customers. With the addition of on-site teams and inventories, the company ensures their clients receive the equipment uptime availability they would expect from brand-new equipment. "We have found we can save our clients 30% to 50% over new equipment purchased locally," Massey stated. "The traditional dealer model does not work in these developing countries. We provide a different model that emphasizes on-site parts and service in remote areas. That type of support multiplies the cost effectiveness of our low-hour combines and tractors. When you combine price and value of high quality low-hour equipment plus on-site support and service, you just can't beat the cost-efficiency combination," Massey stated. For TractorExport's initial project in Gabon, its team of mechanics was able to increase the availability of the customer's fleet of 250 Komatsu dozers, located in the Gabon jungle, from 45% to 85% within 6 months. To accomplish this, the company supplied 30 on-site mechanics, supervisors and complete parts support. For the SOTRADER project TractorExport is supplying on-site parts, warehousing and field equipment including full-service mechanic trucks, lube trucks and crane trucks to SOTRADER's 5 sites located throughout the Gabon countryside. About Tractor Export TractorExport is an international agricultural supply company located in Coral Gables, Florida. TractorExport supports and sells John Deere, Case, JCB, Komatsu, and Caterpillar heavy equipment, agricultural implements, and parts. For more information, visit TractorExport.com. About Olam International Olam International is a leading agri-business operating from seed to shelf in 70 countries, supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 16,200 customers worldwide. The company has built a leadership position in many businesses including cocoa, coffee, cashew, rice and cotton. About SOTRADER SOTRADER is a public-private partnership between the Government of Republic of Gabon and Olam International. SOTRADER aims to develop smallholders' agricultural programs such as GRAINE (Gabon Agricultural Achievements and Initiatives National Engages) and promote sustainable development that benefits the local population of Gabon. Contact Information Viviana Malagon TractorExport LLC 2020 Ponce De Leon Boulevard Suite 1005A Coral Gables, FL 33134 United States +1 (786) 375-5409 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com Related Links http://TractorExport.com SOURCE TractorExport LLC French authorities have shut down around 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam since December, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. "There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don't respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women," the minister said. "That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others." Cazeneuve was speaking after a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France, about 120 of which are considered to be preaching radical Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam. He said that since 2012, 80 people had been expelled from France, and dozens more expulsions were under way, without giving further details. The meeting comes as France struggles with an unprecedented militant threat that has seen a raft of terror attacks, most recently a truck massacre in Nice which killed 84, and the murder of a Catholic priest in the Normandy village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The repeat attacks have raised tough questions about security failures, but also about the foreign funding of many mosques. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week that he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam. Cazeneuve confirmed that authorities were working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee total transparency in financing of mosques "with rigorous respect for secular principles."French authorities have shut down around 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam since December, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. "There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don't respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women," the minister said. "That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others." Cazeneuve was speaking after a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France, about 120 of which are considered to be preaching radical Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam. He said that since 2012, 80 people had been expelled from France, and dozens more expulsions were under way, without giving further details. The meeting comes as France struggles with an unprecedented militant threat that has seen a raft of terror attacks, most recently a truck massacre in Nice which killed 84, and the murder of a Catholic priest in the Normandy village of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The repeat attacks have raised tough questions about security failures, but also about the foreign funding of many mosques. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week that he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam. Cazeneuve confirmed that authorities were working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee total transparency in financing of mosques "with rigorous respect for secular principles." Search Keywords: Short link: PLEASANTON, California, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that's all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, launched their freeslate and freeslate jr. systems for biologics formulation, small molecule preformulation and process chemistry today. These platforms automate laboratory workflows that currently eat up tons of time for individual researchers. Freeslate takes on the hard stuff in the lab and gives scientists automated, high-throughput, end-to-end workflow solutions. Researchers can churn through more screens, conditions and structures earlier in the development process and get to their most stable biologic, the best druggable form of their API or primo reaction conditions way faster. Freeslate also lets them run hundreds of experiments in parallel and do it with way less material, so rapid and deep exploration of their formulation space or chemical formula is totally doable. Freeslate jr. lets researchers walk up, set up their run and walk away. It automates the hands-on, back and forth tasks scientists do one by one at the bench now, and turns all of it into one entirely routine, high-throughput process. Scientists can crank through more samples in a single day and get everything done the same, consistent way every time. "Today, freeslate and freeslate jr. systems are solving major workflow problems all over the place," said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. "Scientists dealing with bottlenecks in their biologics formulation, small molecule preformulation or chemistry workflows really need to check out the freeslate systems - odds are we have a solution that will break through them." About Unchained Labs Here's the deal. We're all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don't cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That's our mantra, our promise and we own it. We're located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com. Contact: Taegen Clary VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com 925.587.9806 Related Links http://www.unchainedlabs.com SOURCE Unchained Labs WYNNEWOOD, Pa., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Citizens, law enforcement agencies, community groups, businesses and local officials in over 16,000 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories and military bases worldwide will join forces to mark the 33rd Annual National Night Out (NNO) a police-community partnership event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW). Nationally, over 37 million people are expected to participate in 'America's Night Out Against Crime' this year. National Night Out 2016 corporate sponsors are ADT, Nextdoor.com, Associa and Ring. National Night Out creator, Matt Peskin, will join with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to help kickoff NNO 2016 in Detroit tomorrow evening. "Our feeling is that communities will turn out like never before," Peskin said. "Many areas are anxious to showcase their positive relationships with local law enforcement." National Night Out is a reflection of how hard neighborhoods are working and how strong the partnerships have become." National Night Out will feature thousands of block parties, cookouts, parades, festivals, ice cream socials, neighborhood visits by local police, fire and EMS, flashlight walks and neighborhood meetings. Local, state and federal officials will be attending NNO events in many communities. National Night Out is designed to: Heighten crime prevention awareness; Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. Peskin added, "It is a great night for neighborhoods and a special night for local law enforcement." For more information, visit natw.org. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160713/389165LOGO SOURCE National Association of Town Watch Related Links https://natw.org PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education is pleased to announce the return of Creative Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions 2016, a two-day CLE program exploring the latest techniques to address the multifaceted federal income tax consequences of real estate investments and transactions. By acting now, early registrants can save $200 on the in-person or web registration fee. The Washington, DC office of DLA Piper LLP (US) will host this event on September 26-27, 2016. Registrants will get expert guidance and learn successful approaches to minimize and defer taxes while meeting client business goals. In addition to esteemed practitioners from across the country, the faculty includes a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Senator Orrin A. Hatch, as well as representatives from the IRS and the Treasury Department. This year's topics include: Partnership issues: the new partnership audit rules, liability allocations, and workouts Maximizing capital gains in real estate transactions Making section 704(c) work for you Tax-free equity extraction techniques, including leveraged partnerships and Canal Corporation impacts Using equity-based compensation in partnerships Current like-kind exchange issues Partnership taxation primer (an optional courtesy session for new attendees) Registrants will enjoy the accessibility of the faculty, in particular during "open mic" sessions, where they can ask nagging questions and discuss pertinent issues. "We have the top subject matter experts in the country on the faculty, and they are all outstanding speakers. The panel format is a great way to share insights and ideas while keeping the program lively and entertaining," notes planning chair Blake D. Rubin, of Ernst & Young. Commercial real estate is rebounding and domestic and international investors are growing. Now more than ever, practitioners need to understand the tax consequences of their clients' transactions in order to help them manage tax burdens. This course helps them do that. Register by August 31 and save $200 on in-person or web registrations! Use coupon code CY004PR at checkout. For more information or to register, go to http://www.ali-cle.org/CY004. About American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education American Law Institute CLE is the continuing legal education division of the American Law Institute. American Law Institute CLE, a non-profit organization, is committed to the work of promoting continuing professional education for lawyers throughout the United States and to creating standards to ensure quality and relevance in CLE programs. American Law Institute CLE is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the legal profession, furthering a tradition of unparalleled service to lawyers. For more information go to www.ali-cle.org. CONTACT: Danelsy Medrano Senior Digital Marketing Manager ALI CLE (215) 243-1622 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150730/251174LOGO SOURCE American Law Institute CLE Related Links http://www.ali-cle.org MADISON, Wis., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT) today announced U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and non-GAAP consolidated unaudited earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations for the three months ended June 30 as follows: GAAP EPS from Adjusted (non-GAAP) EPS Continuing Operations from Continuing Operations 2016 2015 2016 2015 Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services $0.35 $0.26 $0.35 $0.29 Non-regulated and Parent 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.05 Alliant Energy Consolidated $0.37 $0.31 $0.37 $0.34 "The second quarter results reflect earning on our increasing rate base, while managing impacts to customers," said Patricia Kampling, Alliant Energy Chairman, President and CEO. "The results are in line with our expectations, allowing us to reaffirm our 2016 earnings guidance." Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services - Alliant Energy's Utilities, American Transmission Company LLC (ATC) and Alliant Energy Corporate Services, Inc. (Corporate Services) operations generated $0.35 per share of GAAP EPS from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2016, which was $0.09 per share higher than the second quarter of 2015. The primary drivers of higher EPS were timing of income tax expense, losses on sales of Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets at Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) in 2015, estimated temperature impacts on electric and gas sales, higher allowance for funds used during construction, lower retail electric customer billing credits at IPL, and lower energy efficiency cost recovery amortizations at Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL). Non-regulated and Parent - Alliant Energy's Non-regulated and Parent operations generated $0.02 per share of GAAP EPS from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2016, which was $0.03 per share lower than the second quarter of 2015. The timing of income taxes at the Parent contributed to the lower quarter-over-quarter earnings. Earnings Adjustments - Non-GAAP EPS for the three months ended June 30, 2015 excludes losses of $0.03 per share from the sales of IPL's Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets. Non-GAAP adjustments, which relate to material charges or income that are not normally associated with ongoing operations, are provided as a supplement to results reported in accordance with GAAP. Common Stock Split - In April 2016, Alliant Energy's Board of Directors approved a two-for-one common stock split and a proportionate increase in the number of authorized shares of common stock of Alliant Energy from 240 million shares to 480 million shares to implement the stock split. Alliant Energy shareowners of record at the close of business on May 4, 2016 received one additional share of Alliant Energy common stock for each share held on that date. The proportionate interest that a shareowner owns in Alliant Energy did not change as a result of the stock split. The additional shares were distributed on May 19, 2016 and post-split trading began on May 20, 2016. All share and per share amounts in this release have been reflected on a post-split basis. Details regarding GAAP EPS from continuing operations variances between the second quarters of 2016 and 2015 for Alliant Energy are as follows: Q2 2016 Q2 2015 Variance Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services: Timing of income tax expense, including impacts of tax benefit rider $0.03 Losses on sales of Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets in 2015 at IPL $ ($0.03) 0.03 Estimated temperature impact on electric and gas sales 0.01 (0.01) 0.02 Higher allowance for funds used during construction (primarily related to Marshalltown Generating Station) 0.02 Lower retail electric customer billing credits at IPL 0.01 Lower energy efficiency cost recovery amortizations at WPL 0.01 Higher ATC return on equity reserves at WPL (0.01) Higher stock-based performance compensation expense (0.01) Other (0.01) Total Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services $0.09 Non-regulated and Parent: Timing of income tax expense at Parent, including impacts of tax benefit rider ($0.02) Other (0.01) Total Non-regulated and Parent ($0.03) Losses on sales of Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets in 2015 at IPL - In April 2015 and July 2015, IPL completed the sales of its Minnesota gas and electric distribution assets, respectively, and received aggregate proceeds of approximately $145 million, including working capital adjustments and a $2 million promissory note. The premium received over the book value of the property, plant and equipment sold was more than offset by a tax-related regulatory asset associated with the Minnesota distribution assets, resulting in a $0.03 per share non-recurring loss recorded in the second quarter of 2015. Lower retail electric customer billing credits at IPL - IPL is providing customer billing credits to its Iowa retail electric customers of $105 million in aggregate over the 2014-2016 period in connection with its approved Iowa retail electric base rate freeze through 2016. In 2016, IPL will credit customer bills by approximately $9 million and the credits will occur ratably throughout the year. By comparison, the billing credits in 2015 were approximately $24 million. Higher stock-based performance compensation expense - Stock-based performance compensation is contingent upon achievement of specified performance criteria over a 3-year period, including total shareowner return relative to an investor-owned utility peer group. Total shareowner return is comprised of the change in the share price, plus any dividends paid over the period. Alliant Energy's stock price has outperformed a majority of its peers in the second quarter of 2016, thus stock-based performance compensation expense is higher when compared to second quarter 2015. 2016 Earnings Guidance Alliant Energy is reaffirming EPS guidance for 2016 as follows: Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services $1.77 - $1.90 Non-regulated and Parent 0.03 - 0.05 Alliant Energy Consolidated $1.80 - $1.95 Drivers for Alliant Energy's 2016 earnings guidance include, but are not limited to: Ability of IPL and WPL to earn their authorized rates of return Stable economy and resulting implications on utility sales Normal temperatures and operating conditions in its utility service territories Continuing cost controls and operational efficiencies Execution of IPL's and WPL's capital expenditure and financing plans Consolidated effective tax rate of 18% The 2016 earnings guidance does not include the impacts of any material non-cash valuation adjustments, regulatory-related charges or credits, reorganizations or restructurings, discontinued operations, further impacts from anticipated changes to ATC's authorized return on equity, future changes in laws or regulations, adjustments made to deferred tax assets and liabilities from valuation allowances and organizational structure changes, pending lawsuits and disputes, federal and state income tax audits and other Internal Revenue Service proceedings or changes in GAAP and tax methods of accounting that may impact the reported results of Alliant Energy. Earnings Conference Call A conference call to review the second quarter 2016 results is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2nd at 9:00 a.m. central time. Alliant Energy Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Kampling and Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer Robert Durian will host the call. The conference call is open to the public and can be accessed in two ways. Interested parties may listen to the call by dialing 888-221-9591 (United States or Canada) or 913-312-1434 (International), passcode 8244179. Interested parties may also listen to a webcast at www.alliantenergy.com/investors . In conjunction with the information in this earnings announcement and the conference call, Alliant Energy posted supplemental materials on its website. A replay of the call will be available through August 9, 2016, at 888-203-1112 (United States or Canada) or 719-457-0820 (International), passcode 8244179. An archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's Web site at www.alliantenergy.com/investors for 12 months. About Alliant Energy Corporation Alliant Energy is the parent company of two public utility companies - Interstate Power and Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light Company - and of Alliant Energy Resources, LLC, the parent company of Alliant Energy's non-regulated operations. Alliant Energy is an energy-services provider with utility subsidiaries serving approximately 950,000 electric and 410,000 natural gas customers. Providing its customers in the Midwest with regulated electricity and natural gas service is the Company's primary focus. Alliant Energy, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is a component of the S&P 500 and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.alliantenergy.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "forecast," "expect," "guidance," or other words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe future financial performance or plans or strategies are forward-looking statements. Such forward looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. Actual results could be materially affected by the following factors, among others: federal and state regulatory or governmental actions, including the impact of energy, tax, financial and health care legislation, and of regulatory agency orders; IPL's and WPL's ability to obtain adequate and timely rate relief to allow for, among other things, the recovery of fuel costs, operating costs, transmission costs, deferred expenditures, capital expenditures, and remaining costs related to electric generating units (EGUs) that may be permanently closed, earning their authorized rates of return, and the payments to their parent of expected levels of dividends; the ability to continue cost controls and operational efficiencies; the impact of IPL's retail electric base rate freeze in Iowa during 2016; during 2016; the impacts of WPL's retail electric and gas base rate freeze in Wisconsin during 2016 and WPL's pending retail base rate case for the 2017/2018 Test Period; during 2016 and WPL's pending retail base rate case for the 2017/2018 Test Period; weather effects on results of utility operations, including impacts of temperature changes in IPL's and WPL's service territories on customers' demand for electricity and gas; the impact of the economy in IPL's and WPL's service territories and the resulting impacts on sales volumes, margins and the ability to collect unpaid bills; the impact of customer- and third party-owned generation, including alternative electric suppliers, in IPL's and WPL's service territories on system reliability, operating expenses and customers' demand for electricity; the impact of energy efficiency, franchise retention, customer- and third party-owned generation and customer disconnects on sales volumes and margins; the impact that price changes may have on IPL's and WPL's customers' demand for electric, gas and steam services and their ability to pay their bills; developments that adversely impact the ability to implement the strategic plan, including issues with new environmental control equipment for various fossil-fueled EGUs of IPL and WPL, IPL's Marshalltown Generating Station, WPL's Riverside Energy Center expansion and related third party purchase options, proposed new wind generation, various replacements, modernization, and expansion of IPL's and WPL's electric and gas distribution systems, Alliant Energy Resources, LLC's electricity output and selling price of such output from its Franklin County wind farm or the potential transfer of the wind farm to IPL, and the potential decommissioning of certain EGUs of IPL and WPL; wind farm or the potential transfer of the wind farm to IPL, and the potential decommissioning of certain EGUs of IPL and WPL; issues related to the availability and operations of EGUs, including start-up risks, breakdown or failure of equipment, performance below expected or contracted levels of output or efficiency, operator error, employee safety, transmission constraints, compliance with mandatory reliability standards and risks related to recovery of resulting incremental costs through rates; disruptions in the supply and delivery of natural gas, purchased electricity and coal, including due to the bankruptcy of coal mining companies; changes in the price of delivered coal, natural gas and purchased electricity due to shifts in supply and demand caused by market conditions and regulations, and the ability to recover and to retain the recovery of related changes in purchased power, fuel and fuel-related costs through rates in a timely manner; impacts on equity income from unconsolidated investments due to potential changes to ATC's authorized return on equity; issues associated with environmental remediation and environmental compliance, including compliance with the Consent Decree between WPL, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Sierra Club, the Consent Decree between IPL, the EPA, the Sierra Club, the State of Iowa and Linn County in Iowa , the coal combustion residuals rule, future changes in environmental laws and regulations, including the EPA's regulations for carbon dioxide emissions reductions from new and existing fossil-fueled EGUs, and litigation associated with environmental requirements; and in , the coal combustion residuals rule, future changes in environmental laws and regulations, including the EPA's regulations for carbon dioxide emissions reductions from new and existing fossil-fueled EGUs, and litigation associated with environmental requirements; the ability to defend against environmental claims brought by state and federal agencies, such as the EPA, state natural resources agencies or third parties, such as the Sierra Club, and the impact on operating expenses of defending and resolving such claims; the ability to recover through rates all environmental compliance and remediation costs, including costs for projects put on hold due to uncertainty of future environmental laws and regulations; impacts that storms or natural disasters in IPL's and WPL's service territories may have on their operations and recovery of, and rate relief for, costs associated with restoration activities; the direct or indirect effects resulting from terrorist incidents, including physical attacks and cyber attacks, or responses to such incidents; the impact of penalties or third-party claims related to, or in connection with, a failure to maintain the security of personally identifiable information, including associated costs to notify affected persons and to mitigate their information security concerns; the direct or indirect effects resulting from breakdown or failure of equipment in the operation of gas distribution systems, such as leaks, explosions and mechanical problems, and compliance with gas transmission and distribution safety regulations, such as proposed rules recently issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; risks associated with integration of a new customer billing and information system, which was completed in the first quarter of 2016; impacts of IPL's future tax benefits from Iowa rate-making practices, including deductions for repairs expenditures and allocation of mixed service costs, and recoverability of the associated regulatory assets from customers, when the differences reverse in future periods; rate-making practices, including deductions for repairs expenditures and allocation of mixed service costs, and recoverability of the associated regulatory assets from customers, when the differences reverse in future periods; any material post-closing adjustments related to any past asset divestitures, including the sales of IPL's Minnesota electric and natural gas assets, RMT, Inc. and Whiting Petroleum Corporation, which could result from, among other things, warranties, parental guarantees or litigation; electric and natural gas assets, RMT, Inc. and Whiting Petroleum Corporation, which could result from, among other things, warranties, parental guarantees or litigation; continued access to the capital markets on competitive terms and rates, and the actions of credit rating agencies; inflation and interest rates; changes to the creditworthiness of counterparties with which Alliant Energy, IPL and WPL have contractual arrangements, including participants in the energy markets and fuel suppliers and transporters; issues related to electric transmission, including operating in Regional Transmission Organization energy and ancillary services markets, the impacts of potential future billing adjustments and cost allocation changes from Regional Transmission Organizations and recovery of costs incurred; current or future litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries; Alliant Energy's ability to sustain its dividend payout ratio goal; employee workforce factors, including changes in key executives, collective bargaining agreements and negotiations, work stoppages or restructurings; inability to access technological developments, including those related to wind turbines, solar generation, smart technology and other future technologies; changes in technology that alter the channels through which electric customers buy or utilize power; impacts of ATC's potential restructuring; material changes in retirement and benefit plan costs; the impact of performance-based compensation plans accruals; the effect of accounting standards issued periodically by standard-setting bodies, including revenue recognition and lease standards; the impact of changes to production tax credits for wind farms; the impact of adjustments made to deferred tax assets and liabilities from state apportionment assumptions; the ability to utilize tax credits and net operating losses generated to date, and those that may be generated in the future, before they expire; impacts of the extension of bonus depreciation deductions; the ability to successfully complete tax audits and changes in tax accounting methods with no material impact on earnings and cash flows; and factors listed in the "2016 Earnings Guidance" section of this press release. For more information about potential factors that could affect Alliant Energy's business and financial results, refer to Alliant Energy's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the section therein titled "Risk Factors," and its other filings with the SEC. Without limitation, the expectations with respect to 2016 earnings guidance in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based in part on certain assumptions made by Alliant Energy, some of which are referred to in the forward-looking statements. Alliant Energy cannot provide any assurance that the assumptions referred to in the forward-looking statements or otherwise are accurate or will prove to be correct. Any assumptions that are inaccurate or do not prove to be correct could have a material adverse effect on Alliant Energy's ability to achieve the estimates or other targets included in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included herein are made as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, Alliant Energy undertakes no obligation to update publicly such statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Note: Unless otherwise noted, all "per share" references in this release refer to earnings per diluted share. ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION EARNINGS SUMMARY (Unaudited) The following tables provide a summary of Alliant Energy's results for the three months ended June 30: EPS: Three Months GAAP EPS Adjustments Non-GAAP EPS 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 IPL $0.14 $0.07 $ $0.03 $0.14 $0.10 WPL 0.19 0.18 0.19 0.18 AE Transco Investments, LLC and Corporate Services 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.01 Subtotal for Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services 0.35 0.26 0.03 0.35 0.29 Non-regulated and Parent 0.02 0.05 0.02 0.05 EPS from continuing operations 0.37 0.31 0.03 0.37 0.34 EPS from discontinued operations (0.01) (0.01) Alliant Energy Consolidated $0.37 $0.30 $ $0.03 $0.37 $0.33 Earnings (in millions): Three Months GAAP Income (Loss) Adjustments Non-GAAP Income (Loss) 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 IPL $31.9 $16.5 $ $6.8 $31.9 $23.3 WPL 43.2 39.2 43.2 39.2 AE Transco Investments, LLC and Corporate Services 3.5 3.2 3.5 3.2 Subtotal for Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services 78.6 58.9 6.8 78.6 65.7 Non-regulated and Parent 5.8 10.0 5.8 10.0 Earnings from continuing operations 84.4 68.9 6.8 84.4 75.7 Losses from discontinued operations (0.5) (1.3) (0.5) (1.3) Alliant Energy Consolidated $83.9 $67.6 $ $6.8 $83.9 $74.4 The following tables provide a summary of Alliant Energy's results for the six months ended June 30: EPS: Six Months GAAP EPS Adjustments Non-GAAP EPS 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 IPL $0.34 $0.29 $ $0.03 $0.34 $0.32 WPL 0.40 0.38 0.40 0.38 AE Transco Investments, LLC and Corporate Services 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.02 Subtotal for Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services 0.77 0.69 0.03 0.77 0.72 Non-regulated and Parent 0.03 0.05 0.03 0.05 EPS from continuing operations 0.80 0.74 0.03 0.80 0.77 EPS from discontinued operations (0.01) (0.01) Alliant Energy Consolidated $0.80 $0.73 $ $0.03 $0.80 $0.76 Earnings (in millions): Six Months GAAP Income (Loss) Adjustments Non-GAAP Income (Loss) 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 IPL $77.5 $64.0 $ $6.8 $77.5 $70.8 WPL 89.7 84.1 89.7 84.1 AE Transco Investments, LLC and Corporate Services 6.8 6.0 6.8 6.0 Subtotal for Utilities, ATC and Corporate Services 174.0 154.1 6.8 174.0 160.9 Non-regulated and Parent 8.0 11.4 8.0 11.4 Earnings from continuing operations 182.0 165.5 6.8 182.0 172.3 Losses from discontinued operations (1.6) (1.3) (1.6) (1.3) Alliant Energy Consolidated $180.4 $164.2 $ $6.8 $180.4 $171.0 ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (Unaudited) Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 (in millions, except per share amounts) Operating revenues: Electric utility $675.9 $640.4 $1,344.8 $1,311.7 Gas utility 57.0 51.7 209.2 250.1 Other utility 12.4 14.8 25.6 31.2 Non-regulated 9.3 10.3 18.8 21.6 754.6 717.2 1,598.4 1,614.6 Operating expenses: Electric production fuel and purchased power 199.5 185.2 400.4 401.1 Electric transmission service 130.3 116.9 258.2 240.1 Cost of gas sold 24.6 21.9 119.8 152.7 Other operation and maintenance: Energy efficiency costs 10.5 12.2 24.4 29.2 Losses on sales of Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets 11.6 11.6 Other 134.0 133.5 265.2 264.4 Depreciation and amortization 102.1 100.4 204.6 200.6 Taxes other than income taxes 25.0 26.5 51.3 53.0 626.0 608.2 1,323.9 1,352.7 Operating income 128.6 109.0 274.5 261.9 Interest expense and other: Interest expense 48.0 46.5 96.0 93.1 Equity income from unconsolidated investments, net (9.1) (11.3) (19.6) (17.8) Allowance for funds used during construction (15.3) (8.6) (28.5) (15.4) Interest income and other (0.2) (0.2) (0.3) 23.6 26.4 47.7 59.6 Income from continuing operations before income taxes 105.0 82.6 226.8 202.3 Income taxes 18.1 11.2 39.7 31.7 Income from continuing operations, net of tax 86.9 71.4 187.1 170.6 Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax (0.5) (1.3) (1.6) (1.3) Net income 86.4 70.1 185.5 169.3 Preferred dividend requirements of Interstate Power and Light Company 2.5 2.5 5.1 5.1 Net income attributable to Alliant Energy common shareowners $83.9 $67.6 $180.4 $164.2 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding (basic and diluted) (a) 227.0 226.2 226.9 224.2 Earnings per weighted average common share attributable to Alliant Energy common shareowners (basic and diluted) (a): Income from continuing operations, net of tax $0.37 $0.31 $0.80 $0.74 Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax (0.01) (0.01) Net income $0.37 $0.30 $0.80 $0.73 Amounts attributable to Alliant Energy common shareowners: Income from continuing operations, net of tax $84.4 $68.9 $182.0 $165.5 Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax (0.5) (1.3) (1.6) (1.3) Net income $83.9 $67.6 $180.4 $164.2 Dividends declared per common share (a) $0.29375 $0.275 $0.5875 $0.55 (a) Amounts reflect the effects of a two-for-one common stock split distributed in May 2016. ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 (in millions) ASSETS: Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $6.5 $5.8 Other current assets 695.8 821.0 Property, plant and equipment, net 9,846.4 9,519.1 Investments 324.8 346.3 Other assets 1,811.9 1,803.0 Total assets $12,685.4 $12,495.2 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY: Current liabilities: Current maturities of long-term debt $314.0 $313.4 Commercial paper 220.6 159.8 Other current liabilities 838.6 886.1 Long-term debt, net (excluding current portion) 3,588.4 3,522.2 Other liabilities 3,733.6 3,689.6 Equity: Alliant Energy Corporation common equity 3,790.2 3,724.1 Cumulative preferred stock of Interstate Power and Light Company 200.0 200.0 Total equity 3,990.2 3,924.1 Total liabilities and equity $12,685.4 $12,495.2 ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 (in millions) Cash flows from operating activities $510.0 $517.3 Cash flows used for investing activities: Construction and acquisition expenditures: Utility business (491.0) (436.2) Alliant Energy Corporate Services, Inc. and non-regulated businesses (28.9) (32.2) Other 19.1 (1.9) Net cash flows used for investing activities (500.8) (470.3) Cash flows used for financing activities: Common stock dividends (133.2) (122.9) Proceeds from issuance of common stock, net 13.8 139.5 Payments to retire long-term debt (1.8) (151.4) Net change in commercial paper 127.8 90.8 Other (15.1) (5.1) Net cash flows used for financing activities (8.5) (49.1) Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 0.7 (2.1) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 5.8 56.9 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $6.5 $54.8 KEY FINANCIAL AND OPERATING STATISTICS June 30, 2016 June 30, 2015 Common shares outstanding (000s) (a) 227,334 226,527 Book value per share (a) $16.67 $15.98 Quarterly common dividend rate per share (a) $0.29375 $0.275 Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Utility electric sales (000s of MWh) (b) Residential 1,586 1,580 3,427 3,632 Commercial 1,537 1,526 3,133 3,122 Industrial - IPL co-generation customers 224 227 486 458 Industrial - other 2,654 2,739 5,158 5,368 Retail subtotal 6,001 6,072 12,204 12,580 Sales for resale: Wholesale 925 771 1,905 1,635 Bulk power and other 97 255 196 673 Other 26 37 51 74 Total 7,049 7,135 14,356 14,962 Utility retail electric customers (at June 30) (c) Residential 806,663 851,999 Commercial 141,145 139,367 Industrial - IPL co-generation customers 4 4 Industrial - other 2,548 2,882 Total 950,360 994,252 Utility gas sold and transported (000s of Dth) (b) Residential 3,804 3,285 15,920 18,271 Commercial 3,138 2,695 11,222 12,263 Industrial 681 528 1,652 1,551 Retail subtotal 7,623 6,508 28,794 32,085 Transportation / other 19,078 15,854 41,313 38,441 Total 26,701 22,362 70,107 70,526 Utility retail gas customers (at June 30) Residential 364,586 364,254 Commercial 44,560 44,799 Industrial 390 395 Total 409,536 409,448 Estimated margin increases (decreases) from impacts of temperatures (in millions) - Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Electric margins $5 ($4) ($1) $1 Gas margins (1) (3) 2 Total temperature impact on margins $5 ($5) ($4) $3 Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 Normal (d) 2016 2015 Normal (d) Heating degree days (HDDs) (d) Cedar Rapids, Iowa (IPL) 651 582 702 3,720 4,272 4,134 Madison, Wisconsin (WPL) 828 721 835 4,086 4,555 4,354 Cooling degree days (CDDs) (d) Cedar Rapids, Iowa (IPL) 297 200 218 297 200 220 Madison, Wisconsin (WPL) 201 161 179 201 161 181 (a) Amounts reflect the effects of a two-for-one common stock split distributed in May 2016. (b) In July 2015 and April 2015, IPL completed the sales of its Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets, respectively. Following the electric sale, Minnesota electric sales were reported as wholesale versus retail. (c) Electric customer count decrease was largely due to sale of IPL's Minnesota electric distribution assets in July 2015. (d) HDDs and CDDs are calculated using a simple average of the high and low temperatures each day compared to a 65 degree base. Normal degree days are calculated using a rolling 20-year average of historical HDDs and CDDs. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20020405/LNTLOGO SOURCE Alliant Energy Corporation Related Links http://www.alliantenergy.com NEW YORK and PARIS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wendel SE (MF.PA), a global listed investment firm, today announced that its portfolio company AlliedBarton Security Services has completed its merger with Universal Services of America, creating the leading security company in North America. The combined company being launched today, which operates under the Allied Universal brand, provides clients localized response and national support with industry-leading technology solutions and approximately 140,000 highly-trained employees. Allied Universal will maintain headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif., and Conshohocken, Pa. It is expected to have total annual revenues of approximately $4.5 billion and adjusted pro forma synergized EBITDA of approximately $440 million including approximately $100 million synergies. Steve Jones, formerly Chief Executive Officer of Universal Services of America, is the CEO of Allied Universal and Bill Whitmore, former CEO of AlliedBarton, is the company's Chairman of the Board. AlliedBarton Security Services was a portfolio company of Wendel, and Universal Services of America was a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus and Partners Group. Following completion of the transaction, in exchange for its contribution of its shareholding in AlliedBarton Security Services, Wendel SE received approximately 33% of the shares of Allied Universal and a cash payment of $388 million. Warburg Pincus and Wendel are lead investors in the combined entity with equal voting rights and three board members each. The remainder of the share capital is split between management and other investors. Wendel acquired AlliedBarton Security Services in December 2015 for approximately $1.68 billion. As part of the transaction, Wendel made an equity investment of approximately $687 million, for an approximate 95% ownership in the company, alongside AlliedBarton's management team. "Allied Universal is the coming together of two industry leaders, and the combining of best practices, leadership and expertise is an opportunity to provide even greater support to our clients and employees," said Steve Jones, CEO, Allied Universal. "Our shared commitment to the success of our clients and the development of lasting partnerships has created a seamless melding of purpose and cultures." "Allied Universal is poised to make an even more significant contribution to the advancement of the security and facility services industries," Jones added. "The growth of this industry and the expanding need for safer and more secure environments in response to emerging threats is tremendous," said Bill Whitmore, Chairman of the Board, Allied Universal. "Through the continuous evolution of our business, we are positioned to help our clients succeed. Allied Universal combines high quality people and technology to deliver customized solutions to meet clients' specific needs." Frederic Lemoine, Chairman of Wendel's Executive Board, said, "Wendel is very proud to have this opportunity to have led AlliedBarton Security Services into this transformational merger. This transaction offers great profitable growth prospects. Allied Universal will benefit from the resilience specific to the security industry combined with an improved profitability profile resulting from the synergies. Our investment thesis for AlliedBarton Security Services has been based from the outset on our view that the US security services market is consolidating. Only nine months after our initial investment, we are pleased that our analysis has been validated, with a major transaction creating one of the largest companies in our Group. Bill and Steve are among America's most talented entrepreneurs in the industry. We are eager to work with them and their staff, at a time when threats to security are omnipresent, to develop the North American leader in security services." Along with Allied Universal Security Services, additional company service lines include Allied Universal Security Systems, Allied Universal Building Maintenance Services and Allied Universal Staffing Services. About Allied Universal Allied Universal, a leading facility services company and the largest security force in North America with over 140,000 employees, provides unparalleled security services and solutions. With headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif., and Conshohocken, Pa., Allied Universal combines people and technology to deliver evolving, tailored solutions that allow our clients to focus on their core business. An unrelenting focus on clients' success creates partnerships rooted in quality and value, and is supported by experience gained from being in business for over 50 years. Through our people and leading services, systems and solutionsAllied Universal is there for you. For more information, please visit www.AUS.com. About Wendel Wendel is one of Europe's leading listed investment firms. The Group invests internationally, in companies that are leaders in their field, such as Bureau Veritas, Saint-Gobain, Cromology, Stahl, IHS, Constantia Flexibles and AlliedBarton Security Services. Wendel plays an active role as industry shareholder in these companies. It implements long-term development strategies, which involve boosting growth and margins of companies so as to enhance their leading market positions. Through Oranje-Nassau Developpement, which brings together opportunities for investment in growth, diversification and innovation, Wendel is also a shareholder of exceet in Germany, Mecatherm and in France, Nippon Oil Pump in Japan, Saham Group and SGI Africa in Africa and CSP Technologies in the United States. Wendel is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris. Standard & Poor's ratings: Long-term: Long-term: BBB-, stable outlook Short-term: A-3 since July 7, 2014. Wendel is the Founding Sponsor of Centre Pompidou-Metz. In recognition of its long-term patronage of the arts, Wendel received the distinction of "Grand Mecene de la Culture" in 2012. For more information: www.wendelgroup.com Follow us on Twitter @WendelGroup and @_FLemoine_ Financial calendar 9/8/2016 H1 2016 earnings / Publication of NAV (pre-market release) By conference call 12/1/2016 2016 Investor Day / publication of NAV and trading update (pre-market release) In London SOURCE Wendel Related Links http://www.wendelgroup.com GLENDALE, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. ("ApolloMed" or "the Company") (OTC: AMEH), an integrated population health management company, today announced that one of its affiliated medical groups, ApolloMed Hospitalists, has entered into an agreement to provide comprehensive hospitalist services for Beverly Hospital. Under the terms of the agreement, ApolloMed will provide 24/7 hospitalist services for the hospital. ApolloMed will partner with the hospital administration, medical staff, nurses and case managers to enhance clinical core measures scores, improve clinical documentation, optimize lengths of stay, reduce hospital readmissions and to enhance patient satisfaction scores. Located in Montebello, California and founded in 1949, Beverly Hospital is a non-profit, 224-bed acute care facility that provides the full range of inpatient and outpatient care, including designation as a STEMI (heart attack) receiving center, neurosurgery services, a 25-bed intensive/critical care unit and 10-bed Level II neonatal ICU. The hospital also has a Diabetes Treatment Center, Women's Care Center, Breast Center, Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine, and has been the recipient of the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence multiple times. "Building a value-based healthcare delivery system is a pivotal mission of Beverly Hospital," stated Alice Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of Beverly Hospital. "We look forward to partnering with ApolloMed in achieving our vision for quality excellence." "We are honored to have been selected as the new hospitalist group at Beverly Hospital," stated Warren Hosseinion, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Medical Holdings. "We look forward to collaborating with the hospital staff to optimize medical outcomes and improve patient satisfaction." About Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Glendale, California, ApolloMed is an integrated population health management company committed to providing exceptional multi-disciplinary care in the communities it serves. ApolloMed is addressing the healthcare needs of its patients by leveraging its integrated healthcare delivery platform comprised of: ApolloMed Hospitalists, ApolloMed ACO (Accountable Care Organization), Maverick Medical Group (Independent Physician Association), Apollo Care Connect, Apollo Medical Management and Apollo Palliative Services. ApolloMed strives to improve medical outcomes with high-quality, cost-efficient care. For more information, please visit www.apollomed.net Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of future expectations, plans and prospects for Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. ("the Company"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "predicts," "believes," "expects," "intends," "seeks," "estimates," "plans," "anticipates," and similar conditional expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "might," "should," "would" and "could" are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, our representatives may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. Any such statements, other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of the Company's management. Such statements are, therefore, subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, its subsidiaries and concepts to be materially different than those that may be expressed or implied in such statements or anticipated on the basis of historical trends. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the Company's actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from those described in the relevant forward-looking statement as being expected, anticipated, intended, planned, believed, sought, estimated or projected. Unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company's future results. The forward-looking statements included herein are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2016 and in any of the Company's other subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ApolloMed Gary Augusta 818-839-5200 or via email at [email protected] SOURCE Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.apollomed.net A Go-Anywhere Taste Adventure Perfect for adding to lunch boxes or as an after-school snack, Sabra Hummus To Go with Pretzels pack a quick burst of fresh flavor for an on-the-go taste adventure. The single-serve, portable cups are available in three flavors Classic, Roasted Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic and offer the authentic hummus flavor your family will love paired with pretzels for quick, easy dipping. For more lunch and after-school snack ideas, visit sabra.com . Pens with Personality From kindergarten to college, today's students are kicking those boring black ballpoints to the curb and expressing themselves in full color with gel pens. Ideal for everything from notebooks to yearbooks, Gel Bee pens use only the highest quality inks and tips for a super smooth writing experience. Available in Glitter, Classic and Pastel collections, the pens can be found at CVS, Dollar General and Walgreens stores nationwide. Visit gel-bee.com for more inspiration. An Essential Tool for Education Just in time for back-to-school, Texas Instruments introduced two new colors to the colorful collection of TI-84 Plus Color Edition (CE) graphing calculators. The limited-edition, metallic gold, "Golden Ratio," and sleek white, "Bright White," will send students back to school in style. Now thinner and lighter with six times the memory, the dedicated math and science machine can crunch numbers for up to a month on a single battery charge. Available in retail stores this summer. For more information, visit education.ti.com. A Convenient Meal Before or After School Ready to make the honor roll this year? Kids perform better in school when they eat a hearty, protein-filled breakfast. Start your mornings with El Monterey breakfast burritos, packed with real scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and sausage, wrapped in fresh-baked flour tortillas. At night, bring your family around the dinner table with signature burritos, which are perfect for checking in with your kids and asking about the school day. Find them in the frozen food aisle and learn more at elmonterey.com. A College Dorm Room Storage Solution Low on closet storage space in your dorm? Consider the Closet Maximizer. Featuring four shelves and an adjustable, double-hang rod, the system takes 30 minutes to install and requires no tools. Create additional storage outside of the closet with Decorative Storage units, which come with full-backers and robust outer frames. They are available in a variety of sizes and colors, and can be customized with fabric bins. Learn more and buy these products at closetmaid.com. Food at Your Fingertips Even the best college cafeterias don't answer every craving, especially when you get a middle-of-the-night snack attack while studying. A mini refrigerator is a dorm room addition your stomach will thank you for. Look for a model that has can storage in the door, so you can leave the shelves open and stock up on your favorite treats. And ask mom to make extra helpings of your favorite meals when you visit, so you can nosh on the leftovers when you return to campus. Michael French [email protected] 1-888-824-3337 editors.familyfeatures.com About Family Features Editorial Syndicate Established in 1974, Family Features is a leading provider of free food and lifestyle content for print and online publications. Our articles, photos, videos and web content solutions save you time, money and help create advertising opportunities. Registration is fast and free with absolutely no obligation. Visit editors.familyfeatures.com for more information. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394493 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394494 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394496 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394495 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394497 SOURCE Family Features Editorial Syndicate Related Links http://www.familyfeatures.com IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bioniz Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class peptide therapeutics that selectively and simultaneously inhibit multiple cytokines to treat immuno-inflammatory diseases and cancer, announced today that it has raised $13 million in its Series A funding. The investment syndicate was co-led by Takeda, via its corporate venture arm Takeda Ventures Inc., and Dr. David Pyott, and also includes investments from Mr. Joe Kiani, and Cota Capital. The Company also announced that it has appointed Dr. David Pyott as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Dr. Pyott is the past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Allergan Inc. (AGN). In connection with the financing, Ilan Zipkin Ph.D., Senior Investment Director, Takeda Ventures, and Joe Kiani, Chairman and CEO of medical device company Masimo Corporation (MASI), have also joined the Company's Board of Directors. The Series A funding will allow Bioniz to further advance its peptide platform technology focused on selective blockade of key cytokines that modulate serious diseases. The lead programs are BNZ-1 and BNZ-2. BNZ-1, a selective inhibitor of cytokines IL2/IL9/IL15, is intended for the treatment of HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy (HAM) and for certain T-cell Leukemias. HAM is a progressive neuroinflammatory and immune-mediated orphan disease associated with serious, chronic morbidity. BNZ-2, a selective inhibitor of cytokines IL15/IL21, is in pre-clinical development for the treatment of Celiac Disease and other immuno-inflammatory disorders for the gastro-intestinal tract. Additionally, the Company announced that an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for BNZ-1 has been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers is expected to commence shortly in close partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "This financing is an important step needed to drive the development of new potential treatments for patients affected by very serious cytokine-driven diseases. The acceptance of the BNZ-1 IND is a great accomplishment by our team and we are excited to collaborate with the NIH on the clinical advancement of this program. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to work with such a dedicated group of people and organizations who share our vision for success in bringing these therapies to patients," said Dr. Nazli Azimi, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are also delighted to welcome David as the Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors. His well-known industry accomplishments, business acumen, and executive leadership will be of great value to our rapidly emerging organization," added Dr. Azimi. Dr. Pyott commented, "Bioniz is an exciting, emerging biotechnology company with a truly novel approach to addressing autoimmune diseases and cancer. I look forward to working with the Company and its leadership, and together, realize our vision to create the next generation of selective immune therapies." From 1998 to 2015, Dr. Pyott served as CEO of Allergan Inc., where he was recognized by the Harvard Business Review as one of "The 100 Best Performing CEO's in the World." Under his leadership, Allergan was transformed from a small eye care business with approximately $1 billion in sales to a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company, with sales over $7 billion in 2014 and more than 10,000 employees. Prior to Allergan, Dr. Pyott served as the Head of the Novartis Nutrition Division and as a member of the Executive Committee of Switzerland-based Novartis AG. Dr. Pyott is a member of the Board of Directors of Avery Dennison Corporation, a member of the Board of Directors of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips in the Netherlands. He is a member of the Governing Board of the London Business School, President of the International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Pyott holds a Diploma in International and European Law from the Europa Institute at the University of Amsterdam, a Master of Arts degree and an Honorary Degree in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the London Business School About Bioniz Bioniz is a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class multi-cytokine inhibitory peptide therapeutics to address immuno-inflammatory diseases and cancer, with an initial focus on orphan diseases that have an immune component. Bioniz leverages its world class expertise in cytokine biology, originating in research conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop a novel approach to selectively inhibit functionally redundant cytokines while leaving the rest of the cytokine network intact. Bioniz' innovative platform has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications in notable scientific journals. For more information, please visit www.bioniz.com. About HAM Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV), is a virus that infects T-cells. A subset of patients infected with HTLV-1 develop a disease called HTLV-I Associated Myelopathy (HAM). HAM is a progressive orphan neuroinflammatory and immune-mediated disease with similar clinical manifestations to Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. HAM is a devastating disease where patients suffer from neurological damage to their spinal cord that ultimately results in paralysis of their lower limbs, wheelchair dependency, and a shortened life expectancy. The Company's product candidate BNZ-1 is a selective inhibitor of three interleukin cytokines (IL2/IL9/IL15) which are known to be major disease drivers in HAM. There is no FDA approved therapy for HAM. About T-Cell Leukemia "Leukemia" refers to cancer of white blood cells or lymphocytes, which are key components of the immune system. T lymphocyte malignancies (T-cell Leukemia), include a group of rare and often aggressive leukemias with limited treatment options and poor prognosis. Bioniz' product candidate BNZ-1 is a selective inhibitor of two cytokines IL2 and IL15 that are potent T-lymphocyte growth factors and key disease drivers in these T-cell malignancies. With a dual mechanism of action, BNZ-1 blocks tumor proliferation and mobilizes patient's internal immune response by eliminating regulatory T-cells to fight the cancer. SOURCE Bioniz Therapeutics, Inc. Related Links http://www.bioniz.com TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The heat is on! Available now through Aug. 20, flavor fanatics can stop by Burger 21, an award-winning, "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise, to savor the all-new Sweet Heat Chicken Burger and Watermelon Shake, available at all of its restaurants nationwide. As part of its unique culture, Burger 21 offers a different featured burger and shake on the 21st of every month. In addition, the brand donates 10 percent of its restaurants' sales to a local charity or school in the communities it serves on this day. Created by Burger 21's Corporate Chef Mike Remes, the Sweet Heat Chicken Burger features a buttermilk-dipped crispy chicken burger topped with creamy avocado, sweet watermelon and a house-made sweet heat sauce. The Watermelon Shake combines a refreshing blend of vanilla ice cream, watermelon puree and diced watermelon that's topped off with whipped cream and a watermelon slice. "At Burger 21, we pride ourselves on creating memorable experiences for our guests and have set ourselves apart by creating fun and flavorful burger and shake combinations that keep them coming back for more," said Remes. "We're excited for guests to enjoy the new Sweet Heat Chicken Burger and Watermelon Shake, and look forward to continue going above and beyond their expectations when it comes to menu variety." To further celebrate this month's featured menu offerings, all Burger 21 loyalty app users who dine at their local Burger 21 restaurant on National Watermelon Day, Aug. 3, will receive a double-punch via Burger 21's "B Loyal" app. Recognition for Burger 21 includes being named one of Entrepreneur magazine's Top New Franchises of 2016. Additionally, the company has been ranked on Fast Casual's Top 100 "Movers and Shakers" for the last three consecutive years, while Burger 21 Founder and President Mark Johnston was acknowledged as one of Fast Casual's "Top 25 People" of 2014 for his strategic leadership in the brand's growth and development. Burger 21 also was named one of QSR's "Best Franchise Deals" of 2014. For more information on Burger 21, please visit burger21.com and follow Burger 21 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For the latest special offers and promotions, join the B21 Club or download Burger 21's "B Loyal" app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. To learn more about ownership opportunities with Burger 21, contact Ashley Sawyer, director of franchise development, at 813-327-7881 or [email protected], or visit www.burger21franchise.com. About Burger 21 With 24 locations now open in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas, with approximately 20 in development in seven states, Burger 21 is a "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise concept founded in 2010. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Burger 21 is a chef-inspired brand with offerings including 21 unique burger creations ranging from hand-crafted, freshly ground Certified Angus Beef to chicken, turkey, vegetarian, shrimp and tuna burgers, fresh salads, all-beef hot dogs, chicken tenders and an extensive shake bar including hand-crafted shakes, floats and sundaes. Since its inception, the company has provided more than $127,000 in contributions as part of its "B Charitable" initiative, in which it donates 10 percent of its restaurants' sales to local schools and charities on the 21st of each month. For more information, visit http://www.burger21.com. CONTACT: Jessi Nunez Fish Consulting (954) 893-9150 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130214/NY60474LOGO SOURCE Burger 21 Related Links http://www.burger21.com LITTLE FALLS, N.J., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. (NYSE: CMN) announced today the appointment of Jorgen B. Hansen as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, effective today, consistent with the Company's long-term CEO succession plan. Mr. Hansen also will become a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hansen succeeds Andrew A. Krakauer, who will serve as a Senior Advisor for the Company until October 15, 2016. Charles M. Diker, Cantel's Chairman of the Board, stated, "We brought Jorgen Hansen to Cantel nearly four years ago. He's a dynamic, experienced leader in the medical device industry who has clearly demonstrated strong leadership and the vision necessary to achieve our full potential. In addition to leading the day-to-day operations for the Company, Jorgen played a key role in the development of our strategic plan including our expansion in international markets and the successful completion of 12 acquisitions. All of these accomplishments have reinforced our confidence in Jorgen's ability to lead the Company as Chief Executive Officer." Mr. Diker added "I also would like to thank Andy Krakauer for his exceptional service to the Company over the past 12 years. He has been an outstanding leader who helped Cantel achieve exceptional success during his tenure. His contributions and experience in the medical device industry have been invaluable to the Company." Mr. Hansen joined Cantel in November 2012 as EVP and COO, and was appointed to President and COO in November 2014. He also served as President and CEO of Cantel's Endoscopy business unit, the Company's largest division, from November 2012 to July 2015. Prior to joining Cantel, Mr. Hansen held leadership positions with increasing responsibility in the global medical device industry. He worked at ConvaTec from May 2009 - November 2012, most recently as Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Business Development, Science and Innovation. Mr. Hansen joined ConvaTec from Coloplast, where he held various leadership roles over a 13-year period in Asia and Europe, ranging from General Manager, Division Head and Senior Vice President of Global Operations. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Denmark Technical University, and an International Commerce degree from the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. "I am honored to be appointed as Cantel's CEO and lead this exciting company and talented team," said Mr. Hansen. "I would like to thank Mr. Diker and the Board for this opportunity, and as CEO, I will continue to pursue Cantel's vision to be the global leader in infection prevention. We will do this by executing on our business priorities focused on new products, market expansion and M&A, supported by continuous improvement." About Cantel Medical Cantel Medical is a leading global company dedicated to delivering innovative infection prevention products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers which improve outcomes, enhance safety and help save lives. Our products include specialized medical device reprocessing systems for endoscopy and renal dialysis, advanced water purification equipment, sterilants, disinfectants and cleaners, sterility assurance monitoring products for hospitals and dental clinics, disposable infection control products primarily for dental and GI endoscopy markets, dialysate concentrates, hollow fiber membrane filtration and separation products. Additionally, we provide technical service for our products. For further information, visit the Cantel website at www.cantelmedical.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in Cantel's filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially from those projected or anticipated. SOURCE Cantel Medical Corp. Related Links http://www.cantelmedical.com Prominent Republicans are speaking out Monday against their own presidential candidate after he chose to scuffle with the grieving parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq. Khzir and Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in 2004, have refused to back down from their criticism of Trump even as he has complained of being "viciously attacked." Republicans, from Trump's staunch supporters to those who have previously been reluctant to engage with Trump, have spoken out overwhelmingly in support of the Khans. None, however, has withdrawn an endorsement of Trump. Here are some of their comments: "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statements. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers or candidates... While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a prisoner of war in Vietnam who Trump has derided for being captured. "I am dismayed at the attacks Khizr and Ghazala Khan have endured after they spoke about their son's service and sacrifice. There is never enough honor we can show to the families of those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Service to our country is above politics." -- House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas. "The Khans have made the greatest possible sacrifice for our country; they deserve to be heard and respected. My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton." -- Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri. "First of all, I just think that anyone that has died in the service of our country is a hero. And I think that (Trump's approach) was a mistake. I believe the focus needs to be on the differences that he has with Hillary Clinton in terms of policies."--Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. "Capt. Khan was killed-in-action while honorably serving his nation, and as a country, we are forever indebted to him and his family for his dedication to duty. Heading into November, our party must have a laser focus on the issues that will defeat Hillary Clinton. Period." -- Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina "Capt. Humayun Khan, and all the Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, deserve our deepest respect and gratitude." -- Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin "The Khan family, like all Americans who lose loved ones in the defense of our country, deserve our gratitude and honor. Anything else is inappropriate." -- Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who has not endorsed Trump. Sen. Rob Portman, does not agree with Donald Trump's remarks and believes that Captain Khan was an American hero who gave his life for his country. As he has said previously many times, Rob does not agree with the idea of banning people from entering the country based on their religion." -- Michawn Rich, spokesperson for the Ohio senator. "Having served in Iraq, I'm deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war." -- Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. Search Keywords: Short link: NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's LLC, the leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today plans to expand its presence in Louisiana. Steve Bielewicz, senior director of franchise development, will be at the Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality Expo on August 6-8 to meet with prospective franchisees. Captain D's currently has seven restaurants located throughout the state, with a new corporate location slated to open in Denham Springs at the end of this year. The company just released its second quarter success, generating a 3.1 percent system-wide same store sales increase and achieving its 19th consecutive quarter of positive growth. Captain D's efforts in Louisiana are part of the brand's overall franchise expansion plans this year, with a goal to open 17 restaurants by the end of 2016. "Captain D's has been experiencing tremendous growth this year, with a handful of new restaurant openings and franchise agreements to bring Captain D's to cities nationwide," said Michael Arrowsmith, chief development officer at Captain D's. "In addition to the corporate growth we have planned over the next several years, we're also seeking qualified candidates in Louisiana to expand the company's presence to help us reach our long-term goal of opening 15-20 new Captain D's locations in the market." Those interested in developing Captain D's restaurants in Louisiana are encouraged to contact Steve Bielewicz, senior director of franchise development at (480) 390-3053 to discuss opportunities. Bielewicz will be at booth 507 at the Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality Expo on August 6-7 from 11 a.m. 5 p.m. and August 8 from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, located at 900 Convention Center Blvd. With 512 restaurants in 21 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-550-4877. ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has 512 restaurants in 21 states, plus military bases around the world. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for 47 years. Captain D's serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature hand-battered fish, which is cooked to order to ensure freshness. The restaurants also offer premium-quality grilled fish, as well as shrimp, chicken, surf and turf, hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com. Contact: Andie Biederman Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160202/328742LOGO SOURCE Captain D's Related Links http://www.captainds.com AUBURN, Ala., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only southern inspired, fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today it will be expanding in Florida with its first location in Port Orange. The new restaurant will open on Tuesday, Aug. 9 and is located at 1760 Dunlawton Ave in the Dunlawton Commons. This location is owned and operated by existing husband-and-wife franchisee team Buck and Brooklyn Harris, who also own the Chicken Salad Chick restaurant in Ormond Beach and plan on opening a third location in Florida in the near future. Their Port Orange restaurant marks the 13th Chicken Salad Chick location in Florida. During grand opening week, guests will enjoy southern hospitality through giveaways and specials at the new Chicken Salad Chick restaurant: Tuesday, Aug. 9 The first guest will win a free pound of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 99 guests receive a free pound of chicken salad per month.* The Vibe radio station will also be broadcasting live from the restaurant. The first guest will win a free pound of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 99 guests receive a free pound of chicken salad per month.* The Vibe radio station will also be broadcasting live from the restaurant. Wednesday, Aug. 10 The first 100 guests will receive a free Chicken Salad Chick cell phone armband. The first 100 guests will receive a free Chicken Salad Chick cell phone armband. Thursday, Aug. 11 The first 100 guests to order will receive a "Meet the Chicks" punch card. For sixteen weeks, guests can try one free scoop of the chicken salad 'flavor of the week', allowing guests a tour of every Chicken Salad Chick flavor. The first 100 guests to order will receive a "Meet the Chicks" punch card. For sixteen weeks, guests can try one free scoop of the chicken salad 'flavor of the week', allowing guests a tour of every Chicken Salad Chick flavor. Friday, Aug. 12 The first 50 guests to buy two pounds of chicken salad will receive a free Chicken Salad Chick mini cooler. The first 50 guests to buy two pounds of chicken salad will receive a free Chicken Salad Chick mini cooler. Saturday, Aug. 13 The first 100 guests will receive a complimentary Chicken Salad Chick Selfie Stick. All guests who make a purchase within the first week of business can also enter themselves into a drawing to win a free Louis Vuitton bag, valued at $950. The drawing will take place on August 13, and the winner will be notified the same day. ** "With more than 15 years of experience in foodservice, I truly believe that Chicken Salad Chick's culture and menu offerings are unmatched in the fast casual industry," said Buck Harris, Port Orange Chicken Salad Chick franchisee. "Once my wife and I saw the success of our Ormond Beach location, we knew it was time to open a second restaurant. I'm confident the local community in Port Orange will fall in love with the brand's chicken salad and enjoy the genuine hospitality that is offered at all Chicken Salad Chick restaurants." The husband-and-wife duo opened their first Chicken Salad Chick restaurant in Ormond Beach in October 2015. Prior to Chicken Salad Chick, Buck owned and operated a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Ormond Beach for 15 years. He ultimately made the switch and became a Chicken Salad Chick franchisee after experiencing the brand's culture and product offerings firsthand. Buck and his wife have agreed to develop multiple Chicken Salad Chick restaurants in Central Florida over the next several years. The Chicken Salad Chick concept, born in Auburn, Ala., was established in 2008 in the kitchen of founder, Stacy Brown. When Stacy discovered that the local county health department would not allow her to continue making and selling her delicious recipes out of her home kitchen, she overcame that obstacle by launching her first restaurant with the business expertise of her future husband and fellow founder, Kevin Brown. Together, they opened a small takeout restaurant, which quickly grew; the company now has 58 restaurants across the Southeast. Chicken Salad Chick in Port Orange will be open Monday Saturday from 10:30 a.m. 8 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.chickensaladchick.com, or call 386-265-5250. Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends. *Eligible winners must be over 16 years of age and are required to download the CravingCredits app. **Eligible winners must be over 16 years of age. About Chicken Salad Chick Chicken Salad Chick puts an edgy twist on a Southern classic, offering guests a "custom fit" chicken salad experience, with 15 original flavors to choose from, as well as gourmet soups, flavorful side salads and freshly-baked desserts. Chicken Salad Chick serves southern style chicken salad with heart and strives to spread joy, enrich lives and serve others every day. Today, the brand has 58 locations across the Southeast, and has currently sold 146 franchises to be developed across the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas. The brand was recently named as the top chicken salad in the country to try in the 2015 March/April issue of Cooking with Paula Deen, as well as one of FastCasual.com's top Movers and Shakers and one of NRN's 2015 Breakout Brands. Corporate offices are located at 724 North Dean Road in Auburn, Alabama. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information. Contact: Ellie Mannix Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151005/274280LOGO SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick Related Links http://www.chickensaladchick.com DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC: CHRO), announced today that its smart home business and wholly owned subsidiary, Zen Technologies, Inc. ("Zen), is going live and operational starting today. Zen's mission is to make the Smart Home a reality for the masses, and with today's announcements of its customer facing e-commerce website - livewithzen.com, the Company is ready to fulfill that mission as it begins onboarding both commercial and residential customers and evolving from its pre-revenue state and into the marketplace. Effective today Zen is launching its Business Services division, whereby the Company will sell alarm/protection, video/CCTV and other smart controls to businesses (B2B). The Company has already been in early stage discussions with multiple business parties and expects to announce new business customers in the near future. More information can be found at the Zen corporate website www.zenhomeservices.com, which will go live today at 1:00 PM Central. Effective Monday, August 8th, Zen will then launch its full e-commerce site at www.livewithzen.com to sell its products and services to residential customers. Via this new site, Zen offers customers a range of smart home solutions, encompassing door and window sensors, glass break sensors, image sensors, various panel options, video capabilities, and automated lights, locks and thermostats. The Company has developed five (5) base product lines that range from a base security package that includes door sensors, motion sensor and a keypad, to a comprehensive automation package that includes smart switches, automatic door locks, a garage kit, a smart thermostat, indoor camera with night vision and a Wi-Fi doorbell camera. The Company's initial launch will be limited to the Texas marketplace, however the Company plans to be operational in the majority of the Continental U.S. by the end of this year. Byron Young, CHRON Chairman, stated, "We believe that we have laid a solid foundation for our vision of the 21st century smart home company to flourish. With our commercial services infrastructure now operational and with next week's launch of our e-commerce site for onboarding residential customers, we are now positioned to start earning revenues and creating added value for our shareholders." Alex Rodriguez, CHRON President, added, "After months of tireless work, the entire CHRON team is proud to have reached this milestone. I consider the next few months to be our initial market-testing period, in which we will gain valuable insight about the market and the overall customer experience. Accordingly, I expect us to make tweaks and improvements to our offering over the next 90 days. Moreover, this is all a part of the preparation required before we go aggressive with our marketing channels." ABOUT THE CHRON ORGANIZATION, INC. The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTCPK: CHRO), is an entrepreneurial-minded company founded and envisioned by Mr. Byron Young and Mr. Alex Rodriguez. The Company's purpose is to develop a portfolio of highly successful and unique wholly owned businesses by providing incubation, advisory and capital services to the same. CHRON's interests include the smart home services, Internet of Things (IOT) platforms, deregulated energy & energy efficiency offerings. To learn more about CHRON, visit the company's corporate website at www.chronorganization.com. ABOUT ZEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Zen Technologies, Inc. (Zen), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC: CHRO), is a 21st century home services company whose mission is to make the "Smart Home" a reality for the millions of homeowners and apartment homes across the United States. Zen provides homeowners with the latest in security, monitoring and automation controls enabling homeowners to have a Smart Home at an affordable price. Zen combines that with its green energy services, reducing both their carbon footprint and their monthly energy expense. The Company's plan is to capture 5% of the homeowners' market while dramatically reducing the nation's peak electricity demand. To learn more, visit www.zenhomeservices.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS & DISCLAIMER This release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this news release concerning the Company's expectations, plans, business outlook or future performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are by their nature subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those stored in such statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to the risks set forth in the Company's filings at www.OTCMarkets.com. SOURCE The Chron Organization, Inc. Related Links http://www.zenhomeservices.com MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ciceron (http://www.ciceron.com), a digital agency in Minneapolis, today became one of the first agencies in the country and the first in Minnesota to launch a Spotify programmatic campaign through a demand side platform (DSP). Spotify announced on July 20, 2016, that it would give buyers access to its audience of more than 70 million music fans globally through programmatic audio. City & County Credit Union (CCCU) is the first of Ciceron's clients to use programmatic audio. "We're delighted to be one of Ciceron's first clients to harness this incredible technology," says Megan Primeau, vice president of marketing for CCCU. "At CCCU our focus is on digital marketing that ensures we reach the right audience by delivering relevant and engaging experiences online. With the high minimum spends, Spotify audio advertising wasn't a possibility for us until Ciceron approached us with this innovative solution that allows us to not only reach our target audience, but to do it even more effectively and efficiently than we ever imagined." Spotify's programmatic audio allows companies to target specific audiences listening to playlists and genres to ensure that their message is received at a precise moment. Ciceron leverages media channels, such as Spotify, and uses a unique array of ad technologies to purchase display, video, native, rich media, connected TV, mobile and now audio inventories at scale to target specific audiences. Learn more about Ciceron's programmatic services at http://www.ciceron.com/programmatic-offerings/. About Ciceron: Ciceron is a full-service digital marketing firm in Minneapolis. Clients hire Ciceron to connect customers, employees, leaders and the marketplace through digital experiences, valuable content and real human relationships. Learn more at http://www.ciceron.com. About City & County Credit Union: City & County Credit Union is a cooperatively owned, not-for-profit credit union based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with more than 34,000 members and $419 million in assets. Founded in 1928 to serve the employees of Ramsey County and Saint Paul, City & County Credit Union now serves those who live, work, worship or attend school in Ramsey, Washington or Dakota County. To learn more, call 651-225-2700 or visit www.cccu.com. SOURCE Ciceron Related Links http://www.ciceron.com EUGENE, Ore., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources, has recently released its 2016 ranking for the Most Affordable Online MBA Programs. (http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/most-affordable-online-mba-degree-programs/) As the demand for a more educated business workforce grows, so too does the amount of universities and colleges that are bringing graduate business degrees online. College Choice has taken the time and done the research to ensure that working professionals who are looking for an affordable online MBA program find the best school for them from this new ranking. "Committing to formal study in management, leadership, or entrepreneurship are sure-fire ways to invest in your business career, but not all aspiring leaders in commerce can relocate to attend school, which means online education is practical and necessary for career advancement," Christian Amondson, Managing Editor of College Choice, said at the release of the ranking. The College Choice 2016 ranking of Most Affordable Online MBA Programs takes into account a school's online portal and support services, tuition rate, financial aid services, time to completion of the degree and more. Special accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs and the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education is also taken into account. This information was gathered using a combination of a school's website and independent ranking and statistics website such as U.S. News and World Report to create an objective view of each program. Columbia Southern University takes the lead in this ranking. It is closely followed by Western International University and Indiana Institute of Technology. The complete ranking is as follows (in alphabetical order): American InterContinental University, Schaumburg, IL Ashford University, San Diego, CA Baker University, Baldwin City, KA Capella University, Minneapolis, MN Colorado Technical University, Colorado Spring, CO Columbia Southern University, Orange Beach, AL Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ Indiana Institute of Technology, Fort Wayne, IN Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY National American University, Roseville, MN Northcentral University, Scottsdale, Arizona Norwich University, Northfield, VT Ohio Christian University, Circleville, OH Regent University Online, Virginia Beach, VA Saint Joseph's College (Maine), Standish, Maine Saint Leo University, Tampa, FL Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Winona, MN South University Online, Savannah, GA Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH Spring Arbor University Online, Spring Arbor, MI St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY University of Delaware, Newark, DE University of Northwestern Ohio, Lima, OH University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth, KA Walden University, Minneapolis, MN Western International University, Phoenix, Arizona College Choice is the leading authority in college and university rankings, searches and resources dedicated to helping students and their families find the right college. The site publishes rankings and reviews that make finding the best colleges for different interests easier and more fun, as well as resources to help students get into, pay for, and thrive at the college of their choice. Contact: Christian Amondson Managing Editor, College Choice Web: http://collegechoice.net Email Phone:(541) 255-3801 SOURCE College Choice Related Links http://www.collegechoice.net Cormack and his family became involved with Children International in 2013 when they began sponsoring two children from the Dominican Republic. Soon after, they decided to sponsor more children, this time in Colombia. "We love sponsoring children below the poverty line, but we felt the need to do more," Cormack said. "After having the opportunity to visit other Children International community centers, my family and I recognized the importance of these safe spaces, including medical and dental clinics, and educational support, and how much they mean to the children and the families who benefit from them. We knew we wanted to help fund a center so that more kids have the opportunity to utilize CI's services." The Cormack family, including Dave, wife Fiona, son Craig and daughter-in-law Pam, attended the inauguration event for the new community center on June 23. Funded through the generosity of Brightree, the community center includes the Brightree Youth Computer Center where teens can do homework, research on the internet and learn valuable skills such as English as a Second Language. The community center also houses medical and dental clinics, a pharmacy, library and several other meeting spaces. The youth center has an outdoor multi-sports court, an art studio and other safe, multi-use spaces. These centers are places where families are treated with dignity, are invested in and empowered with life-changing programs. It is a place to escape the negative influences in their impoverished communities. Children International has been working in Colombia for more than 25 years to help kids break the cycle of poverty. The organization provides children and youth with access to 1) a safe place (like the Cormack Family Community Center and Youth Center), 2) a caring team of doctors, dentists, mentors, staff and volunteers, and 3) a clear path out of poverty through programs focused on health, education, empowerment and employment. "The community centers are unique facilities that enable Children International to reach its goal of eradicating poverty from children's lives," said Susana Eshleman, Children International's president and chief executive officer. "We are so thankful for generous donors like the Cormack family who recognize the importance of these safe and edifying spaces and all of the benefits that they can provide for the impoverished children and youth we serve." Today, Children International has 10 community centers in Colombia serving more than 40,000 children and youth. Learn more about Children International's community centers. Learn more about sponsoring a child. About Children International Children International is a top-rated humanitarian organization focused on ending poverty by helping children and youth. We take a holistic approach to our programs and work through local professional staff at each of our 70+ community centers worldwide. Our goal is that each child graduates from our program healthy, educated, employed and empowered to break the cycle of poverty. For more information about Children International, visit children.org. Follow Children International on Facebook and Twitter. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Brittany Gelbach Public Relations Children International Direct: (816) 943-3832 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160727/393512 SOURCE Children International Related Links http//www.children.org ZEPHYR COVE, Nev., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSE MKT: VHC), an Internet security software and technology company, announced today that on July 29, 2016, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, issued a new order in the Company's pending litigation, Case No. 6:10-cv-417 ("Apple I") and, Case No. 6:12-cv-855 ("Apple II"), against Apple Inc., vacating it's previous order consolidating the two cases and ordering the parties to retry them as separate cases. According to the order, Apple I is now scheduled for Jury selection on September 26, 2016, unless the parties agree otherwise on an alternative date, and Apple II will now be retried after Apple I. The issue of willfulness in each case has been bifurcated and will be tried separately after each trial. "We are disappointed by the Court's decision to vacate its prior ruling on consolidation and ordering the parties to retry the cases as two separate matters," said Kendall Larsen, VirnetX CEO and President. "We are reviewing all our options and will follow the Court's direction as we start preparing for these retrials. We are confident that we have the resources required for these retrials. We trust that the jury will again make the right decision in the retrials." VirnetX has two currently-pending patent infringement lawsuits against Apple Inc., in United States Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. The Apple I case includes unresolved remanded issues related to (1) damages owed to VirnetX for infringement by Apple's original VPN-on-Demand (VOD) and (2) the alleged infringement, damages and willfulness of Apple's original FaceTime product. The Apple II case covers issues of alleged infringement, damages and willfulness by Apple's redesigned VOD in iOS 7 and 8, the redesigned FaceTime in iOS 7 and 8 and OS X 10.9 and 10.10 and iMessage. About VirnetX VirnetX Holding Corporation is an Internet security software and technology company with patented technology for secure communications including 4G LTE security. The Company's software and technology solutions, including its secure domain name registry and Gabriel Connection Technology, are designed to facilitate secure communications and to create a secure environment for real-time communication applications such as instant messaging, VoIP, smart phones, eReaders and video conferencing. The Company's patent portfolio includes over 115 U.S. and international patents and over 50 pending applications. For more information, please visit www.virnetx.com Forward Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact, including statements regarding the strength of VirnetX's intellectual property, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections about the markets in which the Company operates, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by management and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to (1) the outcome of any legal proceedings that have been or may be initiated by the Company or that may be initiated against the Company; including pending and future inter-partes review proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office; (2) the ability to capitalize on the Company's patent portfolio and generate licensing fees and revenues; (3) the ability of the Company to be successful in entering into licensing relationships with its targeted customers on commercially acceptable terms; (4) potential challenges to the validity of the Company's patents underlying its licensing opportunities; (5) the ability of the Company to achieve widespread customer adoption of the Company's Gabriel Communication Technology and its secure domain name registry; (6) the level of adoption of the 3GPP Series 33 security specifications; (7) whether or not the Company's patents or patent applications may be determined to be or become essential to any standards or specifications in the 3GPP LTE, SAE project or otherwise; (8) the extent to which specifications relating to any of the Company's patents or patent applications may be adopted as a final standard, if at all; and (9) the possibility that Company may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under the heading "Risk Factors" in Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 10, 2016. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of the subject matter of this press release are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Except as required by law, the Company is under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform to actual results. Contact: Investor Relations VirnetX Holding Corporation 775.548.1785 [email protected] VirnetX, Gabriel Collaboration Suite, Gabriel Secure Communications Platform and GABRIEL Connection Technology are trademarks of VirnetX Holding Corporation. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE VirnetX Holding Corporation Related Links http://www.virnetx.com BEIJING, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Based in Silicon Valley, USA, Ms. Patwardhan will work closely with CreditEase's fund management team in China to support its global investment strategy, deal sourcing and investment management. With her deep expertise of the global financial services industry, Fintech ecosystem and regulatory engagement, she will play a key role in accelerating the fund's position as a preeminent global Fintech investment platform. Ms. Patwardhan is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), with further professional qualifications in risk management, board directorship and art appreciation. She is a Distinguished Fellow of Singapore Institute of Banking and Finance, the highest financial services industry accolade in Singapore. She serves on the World Economic Forum (WEF) steering committees on "Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services" and "Internet for All". She is also an advisor to the Government of Estonia on their e-residency program. CreditEase, established in 2006, is a leading Fintech company in China, specializing in small business and consumer lending as well as wealth management for high net worth and mass affluent investors. Its wholly owned subsidiary Yirendai (NYSE: YRD), an online consumer finance marketplace, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Since 2012, CreditEase has set up a series of funds to invest in leading venture capital funds in China and globally. It established the Fintech Investment Fund in 2015 which shall raise, in several tranches, an equivalent of USD1 billion and aims to identify global leaders in the financial technology industry. Other funds include a credit fund to invest on international marketplace lending platforms and an Israel Innovation Fund to invest in specialized innovative companies. Ms. Patwardhan is a globally recognized and awarded Fintech thought leader and influencer. She is an advocate of financial inclusion and a supporter of women in technology. She has been a speaker at the United Nations, Asian Development bank, WEF, regulatory symposiums, on nationally televised panel discussions in China and Singapore, and at other conferences. Mr. Ning Tang, CreditEase Founder and CEO, said: "Ms. Patwardhan is a distinguished banker with profound understanding of inclusive finance which CreditEase has been fostering and practicing for years. She also has the depth of experience and expertise required to support our Fintech agenda. We believe that apart from the role of Venture Partner for CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund and Fund of Funds, Ms. Patwardhan will also contribute tremendously on other business sectors of CreditEase. We wish Ms. Patwardhan a success in her new role and we're looking forward to continuing to create value for our investors." Ms. Patwardhan has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry, having worked at Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in global and regional leadership roles in Innovation, risk management, operations, digital banking and internal audit across Asia, Africa and Middle East. Her last role at SCB was as Global Chief Innovation Officer until July 2016. She was also a member of bank's global leadership team, member of global Technology and Operations Management Group and Non-Executive Director on the Board of SCB Thailand. SOURCE CreditEase TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CrowdRiff, the leading visual influence platform for the travel and hospitality industries, today announced a technology partnership and integration with award-winning digital agency Tempest. The integration provides an end-to-end solution for destination marketers wishing to showcase user-generated content on their websites via the Tempest platform. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394320 "We're excited to provide destination marketing organizations [DMOs] with the ability to become the visual authority of their destination, by bringing together both user generated and owned visual content in one robust integrated platform," said Dan Holowack, CEO of CrowdRiff. "This collaboration with Tempest allows any destination to bring their website to life with authentic visuals that entice both visitors and locals." Destination websites powered by Tempest serve millions of visitors monthly, showcasing the DMOs as the leading authorities of their destination. They are built around the visual content that inspires travel and engages locals and visitors. The CrowdRiff integration adds a turnkey solution for Tempest users to easily browse CrowdRiff galleries, preview photos exactly as they'd appear on the website, and quickly insert them into any page without any code required. "We've been impressed with the success our clients have achieved leveraging the CrowdRiff platform to visually inspire travel to their destinations. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to create a deeper integration and provide added value to our clients." said Alex Heimann, CEO, Tempest. "Our clients can now seamlessly integrate CrowdRiff into their websites with just a few clicks." CrowdRiff is demonstrating its new Tempest integration live at the 2016 DMAI conference in Minneapolis. For more information visit www.crowdriff.com/tempest. About CrowdRiff CrowdRiff is the leading visual and social marketing solution for destination and travel brands. They make it easy for our customers to have the best photos and videos and use them to create compelling experiences across their digital channels, easily and intuitively. CrowdRiff customers include Colorado Tourism, Travel Portland, Explore British Columbia, Azamara Cruises, Pebble Beach Resorts and the Royal Ontario Museum. Visit CrowdRiff.com for more information. About Tempest Tempest, a full service interactive design and marketing agency, partners with tourism organizations around the world to deliver digital experiences that inspire. Tempest offers bold ideas, award-winning creative, cutting-edge tech, and integrated digital marketing. Through its iDSS division, Tempest delivers a cloud-based software platform to power destination marketing organizations globally. Visit Tempest.im for more information. Press contacts: Amrita Chandra Head of Marketing, CrowdRiff Tel: 1.888.702.8260 Email: [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE CrowdRiff Related Links http://www.CrowdRiff.com FALLS CHURCH, Va. and ATLANTA, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CSRA Inc. (NYSE: CSRA), a leading provider of next-generation IT solutions and professional services to government organizations, and Racemi, a U.S.-based pioneer in migrating applications to the cloud, today announced an extension of their strategic partnership. The companies will collaborate to deliver cloud migration services that help public sector customers accelerate their transformation to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, and the AWS FedRAMP-certified GovCloud. A key element of this collaboration is the delivery of all the critical components needed to conduct a cloud migration project. The comprehensive approach afforded through this partnership provides customers with a full picture of their current landscape and a roadmap of how to complete the migration. The three-phased, bundled services approach includes discovery and design; target preparation; and assisted server migration. This innovative solution was at the core of the successful cloud migration initiative CSRA implemented as a result of the formation of the company from the spin-off of CSC's North American Public Sector business and merger with SRA International in November 2015. The proven processes helped CSRA successfully migrate mission-critical apps to the AWS GovCloud in record time. "Today's CIOs adopt cloud transformation strategies that require migration solutions to mitigate the risks inherent with moving entire data centers into the cloud," said Peter O'Donoghue, CSRA vice president, Solutions and Alliances. "By leveraging the first-hand experience and knowledge our brilliant teams gained from our own cloud migration efforts, and this great partnership with Racemi, we are well-positioned to effectively guide our federal government customers and help them seamlessly accelerate their path to the cloud." "Cloud migration is no longer a barrier for customers to start their transformation to the cloud and CIOs no longer have to factor in long timelines to migrate their mission-critical applications to the cloud," said Lawrence Guillory, Racemi, president and CEO. "With software technology and services from Racemi, we have automated the full cloud migration process that greatly accelerates moving entire data centers into the cloud. Partnering with CSRA combines the experience and technology CIOs are looking for to mitigate risk in complex cloud migration projects for the public sector." The packaged, bundled offerings of these proven processes and technologies are available through the NITAAC Chief Information Officer Commodities and Solutions (CIO-CS) GWAC, which was designed for next-generation IT acquisitions. The CIO-CS contract is fast, flexible, and cost competitive and allows customers to easily procure the bundled services offerings to accelerate their cloud transformation strategies. About CSRA Inc. Every day CSRA (NYSE: CSRA) makes a difference in how the government serves our country and our citizens. We deliver a broad range of innovative, cloud-enabled, next-generation IT solutions and professional services to help our customers modernize their legacy systems, protect their applications, infrastructure, and assets and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of mission-critical functions for our warfighters and our citizens. Our 18,000 employees understand that success is a matter of perseverance, courage, adaptability and experience. CSRA is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. To learn more about CSRA, visit www.csra.com. About Racemi Racemi, the moving company for the cloud, is an AWS Leadership Award winner, and has over 1,800 customers and partners around the globe. The company develops server provisioning and cloud migration software that allows businesses to quickly migrate their existing physical and virtual servers between dissimilar physical, virtual, and cloud platforms and across geographies. Racemi services are available to enable the mass migration of live server workloads. Racemi utilizes its RACE Data Center Migration Methodology to deliver a holistic approach to enterprise migrations from planning and discovery to post migration and final documentation. For more information, visit: www.racemi.com. Forward-looking Statements All statements in this press release and in all future press releases that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements represent CSRA's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, including statements about network and asset protection and improving mission-critical functions. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of CSRA. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements. For a written description of these factors, see the sections titled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in CSRA's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. CSRA disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent event or otherwise, except as required by law. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151207/293934LOGO SOURCE CSRA Inc. Related Links http://www.csra.com Related Egypt denies IMF has imposed conditions on loan package Egyptians will "very soon" be able to purchase U.S. dollars at a unified rate, state television quoted President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as saying on Monday. "The next few days will see a lot of good news for the Egyptian people," Sisi told youth participating in a leadership programme. The comments come two days after Egypt's government started talks with the International Monetary Fund to secure a $12 billion loan programme. The gap between the official and black market exchange rates has narrowed since the loan was announced. Search Keywords: Short link: DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lennox Industries Inc. has been honored with the "Partners of Choice" Award from David Weekley Homes, the largest privately held homebuilder in America. Of the 200 companies evaluated by David Weekley Homes, only 8 including Lennox, a recognized name in heating and air conditioning systems were recognized for an "A" ranking in service. This is the sixth time for Lennox to have been recognized as a "Partners of Choice" award winner. "The David Weekley Homes evaluation platform is really an ongoing continuous improvement program with constant two-way dialogue on how to make our channel delivery as streamlined and efficient as possible. Certainly our relationship with our customer, David Weekley Homes, is stronger because of it, but the benefits for us extend even beyond," said John Webster, Lennox Director, Residential New Construction (RNC). "We are delighted to be recognized by such a prestigious homebuilder and it is truly a team effort, from our installing independent Lennox RNC dealer to our dedicated Lennox sales team. And of course, all the work that goes on to make that relationship possible: our engineering, manufacturing, distribution, customer service, and technical support teams. Everyone plays a role in making this award possible." At the heart of the evaluation platform is the homebuilder's National Trading Partner Survey. Approximately 1,000 David Weekly team members review approximately 200 national trading partners on a quarterly basis to determine an annual rating. "We challenge our entire Supply Chain to provide the highest levels of quality products and superior service. Through our rigorous process we are able to measure world-class excellence in a very practical way that benefits both us and our supplier partners," said Bill Justus Vice President of Supply Chain Services for David Weekley Homes and primary author of this world-class platform. "With this program David Weekley Homes demonstrates a true partnering proposition toward all of our suppliers, as we work together to ensure our homeowners receive a world-class home buying experience from the entire Team, including our trading partners." About David Weekley Homes David Weekley Homes, the nation's largest privately-held home builder, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016. Headquartered in Houston, the company operates in 24 cities and 13 states across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes "America's Best Builder," "National Housing Quality Award" and "National Builder of the Year." David Weekley Homes has also appeared 10 times on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. Since 1976, the company has closed more than 80,000 homes. For more information, visit www.davidweekleyhomes.com. About Lennox Industries Inc. Lennox Industries Inc. is a leading provider of home heating, cooling and indoor air quality products that are designed to deliver customized comfort, efficiency and functionality, with the most innovative and reliable features available. Lennox has been honored four times by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy as an ENERGY STAR Manufacturing Partner of the Year for its outstanding contribution to developing and promoting energy-efficient products. For more information, visit www.Lennox.com, call 1-800-9-LENNOX, or find us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Contact: Phil Gee Director of Communications & Public Affairs 2140 Lake Park Blvd. Richardson, TX 75080 phone: 972-497-7133 [email protected] SOURCE Lennox Industries Inc. Related Links http://www.lennox.com DELMAR, N.Y., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Staggering numbers of deaths of people with disabilities in New York State are never criminally investigated and are being covered-up says the Jonathan Carey Foundation. The JCF "Civil Rights Walk for the Disabled" is going to Washington D.C. insisting on federal civil rights and criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice. On average 11-12 deaths of people with disabilities are reported to the New York State's abuse hotline, established by Governor Cuomo, everyday. Large numbers of reported suspicious and untimely deaths and possible crimes are purposefully never criminally investigated. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/34c9c059196a4b70bc8ded92d2fbe4b7/9-deaths-no-charges-raise-questions-about-oversight-agency http://bigstory.ap.org/article/27b17232ed3c41d1b79db9c444e0e484/new-protocol-agency-sent-death-reports-nowhere Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394445 Of these staggering numbers of deaths of people with disabilities or mental illness most are never reported to District Attorney's, medical examiners or coroners. Documents obtained through New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) reveal a distinct pattern that New York State is keeping most reported alleged crimes and deaths from local authorities. Bypassing 911 Emergency call systems regarding the disabled even when they stop breathing denies this "specific group of people" their "equal rights." and almost always ensures that they have no chance to be revived. Individuals with disabilities living outside of their family home in state run or private state certified residential care facilities and group homes are being discriminated against. Bypassing 911 has been and continues to be the key that allows the cover-ups to continue in NYS. When crimes, including negligent deaths are kept from local authorities such as local police, emergency medical personnel, District Attorney's, medical examiners or coroners and local courts, vital evidence is not swiftly obtained and almost everything disappears. It is an absolute travesty what continue in NYS, these are gross civil rights violations and without question numerous State and federal laws are being broken. The Jonathan Carey Foundation was named after 13 year old Jonathan Carey who had autism and was killed by his NYS caregivers in 2007. Jonathan's death was preventable. The Jonathan Carey Foundation "Civil Rights Walk for the Disabled" started at Cuomo's State abuse hotline called the "Justice Center" in Delmar, New York and will end at the U.S. Department of Justice. Cuomo's "Justice Center" is really an "Unjust Center and whitewash entity" where most cases disappear. The Jonathan Carey Foundation is calling for both civil rights and criminal investigations. People with disabilities lives matter, all people's lives matter, no longer can 1,000,000 New Yorkers with disabilities with disabilities or mental illness be denied their Constitutional rights to "equal protection of laws" promised them in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Distinct actions were taken by the Cuomo administration following the award winning New York Times "Abused & Used" investigative reporting series that came out throughout 2011 to remove all independent oversight and take total control. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/nyregion/abused-and-used-series-page.html . In doing so NYS makes sure most crimes and deaths against the disabled are never criminally investigated and the vital evidence rarely obtained or retained that could be used against NYS or their sub-contracted private providers. New York State is treating their most vulnerable with disabilities "unequally" and tragically as considerably lower class residents which must end. A small glimpse into this wide-scale public corruption and fraud has been reported on recently by the Associated Press and BuzzFeed. What these media outlets have reported on is only a tip of the iceberg of this egregious public corruption. Please help end decades of discrimination and civil rights violations by going to www.jonathancareyfoundation.org and sign our petition. The 911 call systems were put in place to protect and assist everyone, not to negate the disabled. Contact: Michael Carey Email (518) 852-9377 SOURCE The Jonathan Carey Foundation Related Links http://www.jonathancareyfoundation.org HOUSTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO) today reported results for the second quarter of 2016. Three Months Ended Thousands of dollars, except per share data June 30, 2016 March 31, 2016 Change Total revenues $ 388,747 $ 470,543 (17)% Operating (loss) income (626,669) 111,569 (662)% Adjusted operating income 51,476 111,569 (54)% Net (loss) income (589,937) 87,425 (775)% Adjusted net income 22,295 87,425 (74)% (Loss) earnings per diluted share ($4.30) $0.64 (772)% Adjusted earnings per diluted share $0.16 $0.64 (75)% "Despite facing both market and operational headwinds during the quarter, Diamond was able to record adjusted earnings per share of $0.16," said Marc Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer. Results for the second quarter were significantly impacted by impairment charges and related taxes of $612 million, or $4.46 per diluted share, primarily relating to the carrying value of eight semisubmersible rigs and associated inventory. Operational efficiency of the Company's fleet was 92.7% in the second quarter, compared to 98.2% in the first quarter of 2016. The decline in operational efficiency was primarily driven by issues experienced within the ultra-deepwater floater category, specifically as it relates to four unplanned retrievals of blowout preventers. Utilization in the deep-water segment increased by 25% in the second quarter of 2016, compared to the first quarter of 2016. The increase was driven by the Ocean Apex beginning its 18-month contract with Woodside in Australia at a rate of $285,000 per day. The rig was recently awarded a three-month extension at $205,000 per day, which will keep the rig working until February 2018. During the quarter, the Company elected to cold stack the Ocean Endeavor and Ocean Scepter. The Company's decision was guided by its desire to minimize costs associated with the rigs, while ensuring the rigs are preserved in such a manner as to enable a quick reactivation when the market recovers. Additionally, the Company intends to scrap the Ocean Quest and Ocean Star. As of June 30, 2016, the Company's total contracted backlog was $4.4 billion, which represents 28 rig years of work. Approximately 86% of the Company's available ultra-deepwater rig days for the remainder of 2016 are contracted with top tier customers. Edwards also commented on the recently announced Helical Buoyancy riser joint development agreement with Trelleborg, stating, "This is another example of Diamond Offshore differentiating itself in an oversupplied market. As with our Pressure Control by the Hour service model, Diamond Offshore is providing the industry with thought leadership to drive efficiencies and lower the cost of operating offshore." Reflecting on the market, Edwards went on to say, "Although the market continues to be challenged, our focus is on striking a balance between controlling costs and laying the foundation to ensure Diamond Offshore is well positioned for the recovery." CONFERENCE CALL A conference call to discuss Diamond Offshore's earnings results has been scheduled for 7:30 a.m. CDT today. A live webcast of the call will be available online on the Company's website, www.diamondoffshore.com. Those interested in participating in the question and answer session should dial 800-247-9979 or 973-321-1100, for international callers. The conference ID number is 47948706. An online replay will also be available on www.diamondoffshore.com following the call. ABOUT DIAMOND OFFSHORE Diamond Offshore is a leader in offshore drilling, providing contract drilling services to the energy industry around the globe. Additional information and access to the Company's SEC filings are available at www.diamondoffshore.com. Diamond Offshore is owned 53% by Loews Corporation (NYSE: L). FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements contained in this press release or made during the above conference call that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected by management of the Company. A discussion of the important risk factors and other considerations that could materially impact these matters as well as the Company's overall business and financial performance can be found in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and readers of this press release are urged to review those reports carefully when considering these forward-looking statements. Copies of these reports are available through the Company's website at www.diamondoffshore.com. These risk factors include, among others, risks associated with worldwide demand for drilling services, level of activity in the oil and gas industry, renewing or replacing expired or terminated contracts, contract cancellations and terminations, maintenance and realization of backlog, competition and industry fleet capacity, impairments and retirements, operating risks, changes in tax laws and rates, regulatory initiatives and compliance with governmental regulations, construction of new builds, casualty losses, and various other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Given these risk factors, investors and analysts should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based. DIAMOND OFFSHORE DRILLING, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (In thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Revenues: Contract drilling $ 357,409 $ 617,442 $ 800,932 $ 1,217,019 Revenues related to reimbursable expenses 31,338 16,590 58,358 37,069 Total revenues 388,747 634,032 859,290 1,254,088 Operating expenses: Contract drilling, excluding depreciation 198,336 342,869 411,177 693,527 Reimbursable expenses 16,527 16,336 43,318 36,428 Depreciation 105,016 123,329 209,256 260,628 General and administrative 18,139 16,548 33,537 34,000 Impairment of assets 678,145 -- 678,145 358,528 Restructuring and separation costs -- 993 -- 7,161 Gain on disposition of assets (747) (164) (1,043) (775) Total operating expenses 1,015,416 499,911 1,374,390 1,389,497 Operating (loss) income (626,669) 134,121 (515,100) (135,409) Other income (expense): Interest income 269 584 442 1,167 Interest expense (24,156) (25,468) (49,672) (49,450) Foreign currency transaction (loss) gain (3,513) (3,473) (7,121) 2,117 Other, net (12,046) 264 (11,468) 485 (Loss) income before income tax benefit (expense) (666,115) 106,028 (582,919) (181,090) Income tax benefit (expense) 76,178 (15,642) 80,407 15,767 Net (loss) income $ (589,937) $ 90,386 $ (502,512) $ (165,323) (Loss) income per share $ (4.30) $ 0.66 $ (3.66) $ (1.21) Weighted-average shares outstanding: Shares of common stock 137,170 137,159 137,166 137,155 Dilutive potential shares of common stock -- 42 -- -- Total weighted average shares outstanding 137,170 137,201 137,166 137,155 DIAMOND OFFSHORE DRILLING, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (In thousands) Three Months Ended June 30, March 31, June 30, 2016 2016 2015 REVENUES Floaters: Ultra-Deepwater $ 214,102 $ 325,961 $ 315,670 Deepwater 67,191 59,117 181,104 Mid-water 56,694 47,672 96,926 Total Floaters 337,987 432,750 593,700 Jack-ups 19,422 10,773 23,742 Total Contract Drilling Revenue $ 357,409 $ 443,523 $ 617,442 Revenues Related to Reimbursable Expenses $ 31,338 $ 27,020 $ 16,590 CONTRACT DRILLING EXPENSE Floaters: Ultra-Deepwater $ 127,185 $ 123,736 $ 161,485 Deepwater 34,776 47,509 86,464 Mid-water 25,862 23,884 66,735 Total Floaters 187,823 195,129 314,684 Jack-ups 6,876 6,055 20,873 Other 3,637 11,657 7,312 Total Contract Drilling Expense $ 198,336 $ 212,841 $ 342,869 Reimbursable Expenses $ 16,527 $ 26,791 $ 16,336 OPERATING (LOSS) INCOME Floaters: Ultra-Deepwater $ 86,917 $ 202,225 $ 154,185 Deepwater 32,415 11,608 94,640 Mid-water 30,832 23,788 30,191 Total Floaters 150,164 237,621 279,016 Jack-ups 12,546 4,718 2,869 Other (3,637) (11,657) (7,312) Reimbursable expenses, net 14,811 229 254 Depreciation (105,016) (104,240) (123,329) General and administrative expense (18,139) (15,398) (16,548) Impairment of assets (678,145) -- -- Restructuring and separation costs -- -- (993) Gain on disposition of assets 747 296 164 Total Operating (Loss) Income $ (626,669) $ 111,569 $ 134,121 DIAMOND OFFSHORE DRILLING, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (In thousands) June 30, December 31, 2016 2015 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 103,279 $ 119,028 Marketable securities 57 11,518 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for bad debts 324,588 405,370 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 112,293 119,479 Assets held for sale 6,200 14,200 Total current assets 546,417 669,595 Drilling and other property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation 5,848,172 6,378,814 Other assets 110,689 101,485 Total assets $ 6,505,278 $ 7,149,894 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Short-term borrowings $ 327,300 $ 286,589 Other current liabilities 300,688 339,134 Long-term debt 1,980,324 1,979,778 Deferred tax liability 114,384 276,529 Other liabilities 164,505 155,094 Stockholders' equity 3,618,077 4,112,770 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 6,505,278 $ 7,149,894 DIAMOND OFFSHORE DRILLING, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES AVERAGE DAYRATE, UTILIZATION AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY (Dayrate in thousands) Second Quarter 2016 First Quarter 2016 Second Quarter 2015 Average Dayrate (1) Utilization (2) Operational Efficiency (3) Average Dayrate (1) Utilization (2) Operational Efficiency (3) Average Dayrate (1) Utilization (2) Operational Efficiency (3) Ultra-Deepwater Floaters $452 47% 86.7% $533 61% 98.4% $483 63% 90.9% Deepwater Floaters $301 35% 100% $335 28% 97.1% $451 63% 99.3% Mid-Water floaters $313 30% 99.4% $263 25% 97.7% $278 32% 99.7% Jack-ups $335 13% 100% $118 18% 100% $83 53% 98.6% Fleet Total 92.7% 98.2% 95.9% (1) Average dayrate is defined as contract drilling revenue for all of the specified rigs in our fleet per revenue earning day. A revenue earning day is defined as a 24-hour period during which a rig earns a dayrate after commencement of operations and excludes mobilization, demobilization and contract preparation days. (2) Utilization is calculated as the ratio of total revenue-earning days divided by the total calendar days in the period for all specified rigs in our fleet (including cold-stacked rigs, but excluding rigs under construction). As of June 30, 2016, our cold-stacked rigs included four ultra-deepwater semisubmersibles, four deepwater semisubmersibles, four mid-water semisubmersibles and five jack-up rigs. (3) Operational efficiency is calculated as the ratio of total revenue-earning days divided by the sum of total revenue-earning days plus the number of days (or portions thereof) associated with unanticipated equipment downtime. Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited) To supplement the Company's unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements presented on a GAAP basis, this press release provides investors with adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per diluted share, which are non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that these measures provide meaningful information about the Company's performance by excluding certain charges that may not be indicative of the Company's ongoing operating results. This allows investors and others to better compare the company's financial results across previous and subsequent accounting periods and to those of peer companies and to better understand the long-term performance of the Company. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered to be a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Reconciliation of As Reported Operating (Loss) Income to Adjusted Operating Income: (In thousands) As reported operating loss $ (626,669) Impairments and other charges: Impairment of rigs and associated inventory (1) 678,145 Adjusted operating income $ 51,476 Reconciliation of As Reported Net Loss to Adjusted Net Income: (In thousands) As reported net loss $ (589,937) Impairments and other charges: Impairment of rigs and associated inventory (1) 678,145 Tax effect of impairments and other charges: Impairment of rigs and associated inventory (2) (143,165) Discrete tax items (3) 77,252 Adjusted net income $ 22,295 Reconciliation of As Reported Loss per Diluted Share to Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share: As reported loss per diluted share $ (4.30) Impairments and other charges: Impairment of rigs and associated inventory (1) 4.94 Tax effect of impairments and other charges: Impairment of rigs and associated inventory (2) (1.04) Other discrete tax items (3) 0.56 Adjusted earnings per diluted share $ 0.16 ______________________________ (1) Represents the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized during the second quarter of 2016 related to eight of our drilling rigs and associated inventory. (2) Represents the income tax effects of the aggregate impairment loss recognized in the second quarter of 2016. (3) Represents the aggregate of certain discrete income tax adjustments recognized during the second quarter of 2016, primarily related to valuation allowances for current and prior year tax assets associated with foreign tax credits, which we no longer expect to be able to utilize to offset income taxes in the U.S. tax jurisdiction. Contact: Samir Ali Sr. Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Development (281) 647-4035 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130725/NY53104LOGO-b SOURCE Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. Related Links http://www.diamondoffshore.com ATLANTA, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The benefits of using telemedicine to close nighttime staffing gaps at hospitals will be the topic of a webinar sponsored by the National Rural Health Association and Eagle Telemedicine, an industry pioneer solving hospital challenges through a variety of innovative telemedicine solutions. "Telemedicine Night Coverage Solutions: Why They Work for Hospitals and Physicians" is scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 4. Register here. Admission is free. "Staffing has become a systemic problem for many hospitals," said Talbot "Mac" McCormick, MD, President and CEO of Eagle Telemedicine and Eagle Hospital Physicians, and webinar presenter. "Band-aid approaches might work for the short term, but telemedicine offers a more sustainable solution for rural hospitals, as well as larger hospitals that need help with nighttime ED admissions and cross-coverage." Participants will learn how: Telenocturnist care by remote physicians can leverage night staffing and prevent night callsand burnoutfor local physicians. Telecross-coverage by remote physicians covering floor calls can keep ED nocturnists focused on admissions and ease stress levels. Remote physicians backing up NPs and PAs can strengthen collaborative care in hospitals, and relieve the pressure to hire physicians to share night shifts. Night coverage solutions a new area of telemedicine growth In telemedicine, a robot on a rolling stand is equipped with a digital stethoscope and other diagnostic equipment, as well as a teleconferencing monitor and camera that enable physicians from remote locations to communicate directly, face to face, with hospital patients and staff. Working behind the scenes is a cloud-based telehealth network that enables the connection between patient and physician, and a small team of telemedicine physicians specifically assigned to a particular hospital. "Telemedicine is helping boost patient census for rural hospitals by enabling them to provide care for more patients on-site rather than transferring them to larger facilities miles away," said Dr. McCormick. "With telemedicine physicians always on hand at night via teleconferencing and remote diagnostic technology, critical decisions can be made quickly without having to wait until morning, when daytime physicians begin their day." Larger hospitals in metropolitan areas also see benefits. "Nocturnists often have to be in two places at once in busy hospitals: handling admissions, rounding on patients in the ED, and providing cross-coverage consultations to patients on the floor," said McCormick. "Stress and burnout can run rampant. It's the reason we're seeing widespread interest from mid-size and large hospitals in Eagle telecross-coverage programs that were designed to support their night coverage teams." With telecross-coverage, Eagle physicians can remove the burden of floor calls and consultations from onsite ED noctunists, and are also available to help with ED admissions during peak periods. "We're excited about this relatively new application for telemedicine in the hospital setting," Dr. McCormick said. "We look forward to sharing details about our telenocturnist solutionsand the hospital industry's growing interest in themwith webinar attendees." Eagle Telemedicine Founded in 2008, Eagle Telemedicine was one of the first companies to emerge in the telemedicine physician service arena, and continues to serve as a pioneer in the industry today, offering practical solutions, management tools, and innovation through the use of telemedicine. Eagle currently offers telemedicine programs and solutions in Hospitalist Medicine, Stroke and Acute Neurology, Psychiatric Care, Critical Care, ID, and Nephrology. The company was launched through Eagle Hospital Physicians, which develops and supports hospitalist physician practices serving hospitals nationwide. For more information, visit www.eagletelemedicine.com. SOURCE Eagle Telemedicine Related Links http://www.eagletelemedicine.com NEW YORK, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- FAIR Health, a leading national, independent, nonprofit organization that advances system-wide healthcare cost transparency through consumer resources, data products and health services research support, announced today the latest addition to its array of educational tools designed to make healthcare and health coverage more understandable to Hispanic consumers. "Immigration and Health Insurance Coverage: What Are Your Options?," an original article available through FAIR Health's consumer website, www.fairhealthconsumer.org, now has been translated into Spanish. The article gained widespread media attention when published in English for the simple and straightforward way it explains public health coverage options available to immigrants. The Spanish translation, entitled, "Inmigracion y cobertura de seguro de salud: Cuales son sus opciones?," can be found in the FH Health Insurance 101 educational curriculum section of www.consumidor.fairhealth.org, the Spanish-language version of FAIR Health's consumer site. FAIR Health is known nationwide for its role in bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information for all stakeholdersfrom insurers and providers to policy makers, researchers and consumers. The organization's free consumer-focused websites and mobile apps feature medical and dental cost lookup tools, powered by the nation's largest repository of privately billed healthcare claims. These tools enable consumers to estimate the costs of out-of-network procedures in their geographic area. The website also offers original health coverage-related educational articles, glossaries of health insurance terms and links to external resources. FAIR Health resources available to Spanish-speaking consumers include: Spanish-language consumer website. All features of the English-language site have been translated for this culturally sensitive Spanish-language version, including most of the CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) and HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) code descriptors for medical procedures and services included in the site's cost lookup tools. This feature alone greatly simplifies healthcare cost research for Spanish-speaking consumers. All features of the English-language site have been translated for this culturally sensitive Spanish-language version, including most of the CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) and HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) code descriptors for medical procedures and services included in the site's cost lookup tools. This feature alone greatly simplifies healthcare cost research for Spanish-speaking consumers. Spanish-language consumer mobile app. As part of HELP (Healthcare Engagement for the Latino Population), a program funded by a grant from the New York Community Trust, FAIR Health developed FH CCSalud (FH Calculadora de Costos de Salud ), a Spanish-language version of our English-language mobile app , FH Cost Lookup, intended to help New York City's Hispanic population estimate their healthcare costs and learn about health insurance . FAIR Health also arranged for the app's dissemination through outreach efforts targeting Hispanic communities city-wide. The app, which also can be used by Spanish speakers nationally, is available for download at the App Store and Google Play. As part of (Healthcare Engagement for the Latino Population), a program funded by a grant from the New York Community Trust, FAIR Health developed FH CCSalud (FH Calculadora de ), a Spanish-language version of our English-language mobile app FH Cost Lookup, intended to help Hispanic population estimate their healthcare costs and learn about health insurance FAIR Health also arranged for the app's dissemination through outreach efforts targeting Hispanic communities city-wide. The app, which also can be used by Spanish speakers nationally, is available for download at the App Store and Google Play. Coming soonConnecticut-centric consumer mobile app in English and Spanish. By the end of summer 2016, FAIR Health will make available a Connecticut -specific mobile app available in English and Spanish that is designed to help improve health insurance literacy, increase consumer engagement in healthcare and promote transparency in medical and dental costs among the state's residents. Funded by a grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation, the app will enable consumers to estimate the costs of medical and dental procedures received throughout Connecticut , as well as in neighboring statesNew York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island . The app also will provide educational materials that explain the fundamentals of health coverage, identify specific healthcare issues in the state and include links to state-specific healthcare resources. FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated, "FAIR Health is committed to our founding mission of making transparent, reliable information about healthcare costs and health coverage available as broadly as possible, with a special focus on providing easy-to-use, helpful information to consumers. Our goal goes beyond simply making that information available to consumers who request itwe continue to seek out audiences in underserved and vulnerable populations who particularly need tools to navigate the complicated healthcare system." About FAIR Health FAIR Health is a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health uses its database of billions of privately billed medical and dental claims to power an award-winning free consumer website and to create data products serving all healthcare stakeholders, including government officials, researchers, consumers, providers, insurers and other businesses. FAIR Health has been certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a Qualified Entity, eligible to receive all Medicare claims data for use in nationwide transparency efforts. In addition, FAIR Health's data have been designated as the official data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) programs, as well as state consumer protection laws governing surprise out-of-network bills and emergency services. For more information, visit www.fairhealth.org. Contact: Dean Sicoli Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations FAIR Health 646-664-1645 [email protected] CPT 2015 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved Related Links http://www.fairhealth.org SOURCE FAIR Health Dave Connor, Financial Media Exchange's Vice President of Channel Development, said; "Incorporating Redtail CRM as a core functionality in FMeX's platform is another example of our focus on helping advisors demonstrate value to their clients by embracing an open technology ecosystem to improve the daily management of their practices. We want to deliver an experience for advisors that best meets the needs of today's investor." "Redtail and FMeX share a commitment to investing in innovations that keep financial advisors ahead of fluctuating investor demands," Brian McLaughlin, CEO of Redtail Technology, said. "The evolution of Financial Media Exchange's Content-As-A-Service offering illustrates their continued commitment to delivering valuable tools built specifically for independent advisors." "Our formula is really simple" explained Ric McConkey, CEO of Financial Media Exchange, "FMeX wants to help financial advisors ensure that their content is relevant, distributed effectively on the right device, at the right time and to the right client." About Financial Media Exchange, Inc. FMeX is the world's largest content library built exclusively for the financial services industry. Our single mission is to help financial professionals provide personalized marketing content to their clients in order to enhance client relationships and increase sales. FMeX was founded by experts in the financial services industry and is the first Content-As-A-Service company with headquarters in Plymouth, MA and regional offices in New York and Kansas City. Individuals and organizations of all sizes benefit from our sophisticated content enablement platform that allows for aggregation, curation, and distribution of content from any device; in addition to measuring content utilization, remaining compliant with industry regulations and elevating the customer experience. For more information, visit www.fmexc.com. About Redtail Technology Redtail Technology is a leading provider of web-based Client Relationship Management (CRM), paperless office, and email archiving solutions, in the financial services industry. Easily affordable, easy to implement, and offering integration with many of the industry's most widely used applications. Redtail is committed to providing financial advisors with the core technologies that drive their day-to-day operations. www.redtailtechnology.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394339 SOURCE Financial Media Exchange Related Links http://www.fmexc.com DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, in a dramatic announcement, Fracking launched an independent bid for the presidency. The announcement was made in a 60 second ad on social media. Americans across the country viewed the video on mobile devices and computers all made possible by the candidate's work. Fracking who was born near Hugoton, Kan., in 1947 has been praised by politicians on both sides of the aisle. Her entrance into the tumultuous presidential race provides an attractive alternative for Americans dissatisfied with current choices. The candidate's campaign theme, Powering the People, embodies her proven record and future agenda of creating jobs, lowering consumer prices, strengthening energy security, reducing air pollution, and providing funding for critical public services. "In 2016, America doesn't just need a leader who can reenergize our country, but one who has a record of actually doing so," said Fracking. "For nearly 70 years, I have been giving power to the people in states all across the country, from Pennsylvania and Ohio to Texas, Colorado, and California. This is the most important election of our lifetimes, and I ask for your support in this great campaign for our future." In the coming weeks, Fracking will launch a virtual bus tour that will take her across the United States and culminate with the selection of a vice presidential candidate. She looks forward to the fall debates where she can compare her record of improving the economy against the rhetoric of her opponents. For more information about the candidate and her platform, visit www.frackingforpresident.com and follow her on Twitter and Facebook. About Fracking for President Fracking for President is a project of FrackFeed and North Texans for Natural Gas. It is intended for educational purposes only, although we can't help it if people laugh too. SOURCE North Texans for Natural Gas Related Links http://www.frackingforpresident.com DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Freeman, the leading global provider of brand experiences, announced expanded roles for Albert Chew and Ken Sanders, President of Expositions and President of its Audio Visual business. The expansion of these key roles supports Freeman's continued efforts to ensure its growing business remains strong, nimble and efficient as it leads the industry and expands the brand experience category for clients worldwide. In addition to his role as President of Expositions, Chew will take on the added role of Chief Operating Officer for Freeman. In this capacity, Chew will focus on leading the integration of Freeman-branded operations to present a unified approach to Freeman clients. Chew has long been touted for his ability to understand complex issues and distill them to their essential components. He has been a champion for efforts to transform Freeman and simplify collaboration across the enterprise, and he will continue his focus on improving Freeman's operations as the company continues to expand domestically and globally. A key player in Freeman's audio visual (AV) acquisitions, Sanders has been tapped to lead merger and acquisition initiatives across all Freeman and the company's Encore business. Sanders' work has helped grow Freeman's AV hotel business on international levels, with expanded and noticeable presence in both Mexico and Puerto Rico. That acquisition propelled Freeman's AV portfolio to nearly $1 billion in annual revenue with in-house and extended-service hotel properties. Sanders is also credited with the vision to add Staging Connections to Freeman's portfolio last year, which served to establish a firm foothold from which to grow its presence in Asia Pacific. Both Chew and Sanders will continue to report to Freeman President Bob Priest-Heck. "We are taking essential steps to leverage our business growth and lead real change for our company and the industry. Ken and Albert are exceptional, talented leaders who have already been working and excelling in these roles," said Priest-Heck. "This is a natural evolution of the work they have already been doing, now formalized. I am so appreciative of their willingness to take on this important work and know that our business is in the capable hands of leaders who understand how to transform Freeman, help us lead our industry and guide our clients and teams into an even brighter future." ABOUT FREEMAN Recognized by Advertising Age as one of the world's largest brand experience companies, Freeman uses the power of integrated digital and live brand experiences to move markets, connect people, support growth and generate revenues for the world's leading organizations. A design-driven company, Freeman generates insights that define program strategies, target audiences and deliver messages that generate meaningful results. Through its expansive global network of offices, talent and partnerships, Freeman has the reach and access that is unmatched in the industry. A family and employee-owned company, Freeman is known for its 89-year history of stability, strength and customer service achievements. Freeman is a values-driven company with a strong and purpose-built culture that is dedicated to connecting people in meaningful ways. This is accomplished through a process of continuous innovation and improvement. Freeman produces more than 5,000 expositions annually and 12,500 other events worldwide. Freeman has been awarded seven consecutive J.D. Power awards for the excellence of its Customer Call Center. For more information, visit www.freemanco.com. Freeman Social Networks: Web: www.freemanco.com Blog: www.blog.freemanco.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/freemanco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freemanfans LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-freeman-company SOURCE Freeman Related Links http://www.freemanco.com CHICAGO and TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Harmony Health Plan, Inc., a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), announced today it has named Traci Powell, M.D., FAPA, as behavioral health medical director. In this newly created position, Dr. Powell will provide clinical behavioral health leadership and oversee the integration of behavioral health into all areas of the health plan. She will also collaborate with providers to identify best clinical practices and quality improvement opportunities. In Illinois, more than one out of ten people are receiving treatment for a behavioral health issue. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, many people who suffer from a depressive disorder also have a chronic condition such as asthma or diabetes. "Dr. Powell has an extensive health care background with broad experience in government health plan operations and clinical medicine," said Dr. Robin L. Jones, medical director, Harmony Health Plan. "Her leadership will be instrumental in ensuring our members receive the integrated, whole-person care they need to live better, healthier lives." "I am honored to be a part of Harmony's efforts to collaborate with the state, providers and community partners to help our members receive the care and services they need to achieve and maintain optimal health," said Dr. Powell. Dr. Powell most recently served as the behavioral health medical director for Molina Healthcare of Illinois. She has significant clinical experience, which includes time in private practice, community mental health and as a staff psychiatrist at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and Hartgrove Hospital. Both hospitals are located in Chicago. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she also completed her residency. Dr. Powell is a fellow of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and licensed in Illinois and Indiana. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, the Illinois Psychiatric Society, the American Association for Physician Leaders and the American Medical Association. As of March 31, 2016, WellCare and Harmony Health Plan serve approximately 207,000 members in Illinois, including 164,000 Medicaid members, 15,000 Medicare Advantage plan members and 28,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members. About WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. WellCare serves approximately 3.7 million members nationwide as of March 31, 2016. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com or view the company's videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/WellCareHealthPlan. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151111/286471LOGO SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Related Links http://www.wellcare.com LONDON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "The heat shield market is projected to reach USD 4.19 billion by 2021" The market size of heat shield is projected to reach USD 4.19 billion by 2021 and is projected to register a CAGR of 5.06% between 2016 and 2021. The growing demand from the end-use industries such as automotive, aircraft, and defense is expected to drive the demand for heat shield. Increasing automotive and aircraft production and rising concern towards safety and security, especially in the exhaust system of automotive and aircrafts, are the major factors boosting the heat shield market. "Automotive industry is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period" The automotive industry is expected to witness the highest growth rate between 2016 and 2021. The demand for heat shields in this industry is estimated to rise, especially due to the rise in the demand for passenger cars in the emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil. The market is also expected to grow due to rising safety concerns in the exhaust system of automotive. Rising demands for luxury cars which require more heat shield protection due to large number of comfort and high-end features is further expected to boost the heat shield market. "Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market during the forecast period" Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest-growing heat shield market, in terms of value. Increasing middle class population, rise in the automotive manufacturing activities in the region, and the presence of key heat shield manufacturers in the region are the major factors boosting the heat shield market in the region. Break-up of profiles by the primary participants for the report - By Company Type Tier 137%, Tier 250%, and Tier 313% - By Designation C Level50%, Director Level31%, and Others19% - By Region North America28%, Western Europe24%, Central Europe17%, Asia-Pacific14%, the Middle East & Africa10%, and Latin America7% The report includes company profiles of key players and recent activities undertaken in the market such as new product launches, expansions, and R&D. Some of the major companies profiled in this report are Morgan Advanced Materials (U.K.), Dana Holding Corporation (U.S.), Federal Mogul Holding Corporation (U.S.), Autoneum Holdings AG (Switzerland), Lydall Inc. (U.S.), Elringklinger AG (Germany), Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG (Germany), UGN Inc. (U.S.), ThermoTec Automotive (U.S.), and Zircotec (U.K). Reasons to Buy the Report: While making strategic decisions in business, timely and useful information is required. This report meets the requirements of various stakeholders including material suppliers, product manufacturers, investors, and executives. Some of the salient features of this report include: - Porter's Five Forces Analysis - Value Chain Analysis - Market Segmentation (Type, Application, and Region) by Volume and Value - Competitor Analysis Detailed Information on Strategic Developments in the Industry Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3984709/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com In the coming few days, MPs will discuss a draft law on the construction and reconstruction of churches. The constitution stipulates that this bill has to be passed in the first legislative season The construction of churches: Do we really look for an answer? Adopting a democratic and fair law that ends discrimination among citizens will certainly open the door for the social cohesion that the state and citizens aspire to. However, there is scepticism that this law might be obstructed or if adopted it would fall short of attending to the core problems that we are currently facing. The problem at hand is old and complex while the answers could be easy and possible. This, however, requires perception and will. Answers will be impossible in the case some lack determination, or if there is no true understanding of what this problem is really about and what it could lead to. First, we have to establish that all Christians, Copts and others, are as eligible to equal rights as Muslim citizens. This is a matter that is decided by the constitution in very explicit text that stipulates in black and white that all Egyptians are equal. Copts are not an ethnic minority; they are just as Egyptian as could be and they are no different from any other Egyptian. A poor Coptic peasant is not any different from a poor Muslim peasant: they dress alike, they talk alike and unfortunately they equally violate the law and subject their daughters to the shared horrible practice of female genital mutilation, with no discrimination between a Muslim and Copt. This is too the case of Copts and Muslims who live in the cities: they live in the same buildings, work at the same places and shop at the same markets. You would only discriminate one from another, sometimes and not always, by their names something that was not easy to identify during the liberal years when all Egyptians opted away from names with any religious identification, unlike the case now. As such, I think it is silly and superficial to talk either of a minority or of the "two elements" of society. However, we have to admit that in real life the constitution and laws are more often ignored than observed. Copts are denied access, for example, to many jobs in the state. Moreover, Copts are also denied employment with some private businesses. This instigated some Coptic entrepreneurs to exclusively employ Copts. Discrimination is prevailing when it comes to government bodies. Obviously, it is essentially a class-based discrimination whereby the poor are not treated in the same way like the economically privileged. This is also the case for Copts, especially if we are talking about a poor Copt from Upper Egypt because there we are talking about the worst treatment possible that anyone gets in, say, a civil registrar office. Of course, Copts had a moment of joy when the president visited them during the Christmas Mass, for two consecutive years. They thought, for the most part, that this visit indicated a new policy from the state towards its Coptic citizens and that a new phase of citizenship was coming around the corner. Unfortunately, this proved not to be true. And it simply turned out that the visits were mere gestures of courtesy from a president who wished to express appreciation for the Copts for having supported him. But in real life Egypt, the smallest ranking police officer would not hesitate to shrug Copts if he happened to think that this is what needs to be done according to his social creed. The presidential visits are only significant if they allow for a positive impact to be sensed by Copts living in the remotest parts of the country. This we did not see in the village of Minya where a Coptic lady was aggressively assaulted, with no serious reprimands to follow. I am convinced that the "police state" is responsible for the exacerbation of the problem as it insists on not bringing assailants to justice and not applying the law in what harms the image of the state to a great extent. The state cannot count on out of court settlement thoroughly. These kind of settlements are only efficient if there is a clear understanding that the law would be applied and that wrong doers would be brought to justice. This of course requires honest police investigation and interrogation, something that I dare say is far from being customary. The sign that the state sends, intentionally or otherwise, is exactly the opposite when the state turns blind eyes to an official at the Ministry of the Education who denies the assignment of a Coptic headmistress on a religion basis or to a school headmaster that denies enrollment of Copts in his school. All of these are unconstitutional acts and they should be firmly prohibited by the law. Obviously, laws are not enough in and of themselves. There is a desperate need for a well-conceived media campaign that should inform all Egyptians, including those living in the remotest and most challenged areas, of the need for equal rights among all Egyptians, faith aside. This is not happening. Instead, many Egyptians are left to follow the discriminatory views of the clergy in the smallest mosques or the Salafi youth who simply incite strife, more often than not under the eyes and ears of low ranking state officials, like mayors, who are actually generally sympathetic to radical calls and supportive of discriminatory acts. During the work of the constitution amending committee in the autumn of 2013, I proposed to a small group of the committee, including Amr Moussa, Gaber Nassar and Mona Zulfacar, to include a constitutional article on the right to build churches. They agreed and we drafted an article that I discussed with the Grand Mufti twice, seeking his approval for this simple amendment. I later took the article to Father Paula who also agreed to the draft. The article was adopted. It is now up to legislators who had reached their seats in many parts with the support of Copts to issue the relevant laws to make sure that this article is put into practice. If an adequate law is adopted then things would be much easier for everyone not just Copts but also the state. However, if the law that will be passed falls short of honouring the principle included in the constitution then we would be up for some rough times. The matter is really very simple. Copts are part of this nation and they have the right to practice their faith without any hindrance. The legislators attending to the law need to remember that Egypt housed churches long before it had its first mosque. Christians are part of the Egyptian people that has become clearly opinionated after the January Revolution. I am convinced that Copts will no longer accept to be second class citizens. This is something that the state has to realise. I also think that the security bodies have to realise that the Coptic clergy who are criticising the attacks against Copts could not do less under the pressure of the angry masses. The sooner the state realises the radical changes induced to this society as a result of the 25 January Revolution, the better for everyone. The writer is head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. Search Keywords: Short link: NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Heineken, the world's leading international brewer, kicks off the seventh year of its coveted #Heineken100 initiative with TUMI, the global leader in premium travel, business and lifestyle accessories; with its first of three custom TUMI collection pieces. The longest running and most premium product collaboration in the beer space, #Heineken100 partners the brewer with the most innovative names in retail to develop limited-edition co-branded products that are seeded to 100 of the world's most influential men. Selected for both a defined aesthetic vision and sphere of active cultural influence, #Heineken100 partners have included Public School, Garrett Leight, retailer Union Los Angeles, Parabellum Mark McNairy, retailer KITH and Neighborhood Japan, among others. Today, Heineken, the world's leading international brewer, kicks off the seventh year of its coveted #Heineken100 initiative with TUMI, the global leader in premium travel, business and lifestyle accessories; with its first of three custom TUMI collection pieces. The first #Heineken100 2016 release is a custom Miami-inspired TUMI tote with signature Heineken-green detailing, and designed with superior interior functionality. TUMI, a leader in providing sophisticated global citizens another reason to... Today, Heineken, the world's leading international brewer, kicks off the seventh year of its coveted #Heineken100 initiative with TUMI, the global leader in premium travel, business and lifestyle accessories; with its first of three custom TUMI collection pieces. The first #Heineken100 2016 release is a custom Miami-inspired TUMI tote with signature Heineken-green detailing, and designed with superior interior functionality. TUMI, a leader in providing sophisticated global citizens another reason to... Today, Heineken, the world's leading international brewer, kicks off the seventh year of its coveted #Heineken100 initiative with TUMI, the global leader in premium travel, business and lifestyle accessories; with its first of three custom TUMI collection pieces. The first #Heineken100 2016 release is a custom Miami-inspired TUMI tote with signature Heineken-green detailing, and designed with superior interior functionality. TUMI, a leader in providing sophisticated global citizens another reason to... The first #Heineken100 2016 release is a custom Miami-inspired TUMI tote with signature Heineken-green detailing, and designed with superior interior functionality. TUMI, a leader in providing sophisticated global citizens another reason to travel, is a first-time #Heineken100 partner, as well as the most prevalent brand to ever participate in the program. "We're excited to partner with Heineken, as both our brands represent global, premium craftsmanship and a shared dedication to our customers," explains TUMI Global Creative Director, Michael Petry. "We are constantly inspired by our Global Citizens and look forward to perfecting the journeys of these new innovators and tastemakers as they embark upon their next adventure. The second TUMI #Heineken100 product, curated for New Yorkers, will debut in September, while Amsterdam's item will round out the 2016 initiative in October. "Every year, #Heineken100 exceeds our goals and expectations," said Quinn Kilbury, Heineken Senior Brand Director. "This year, we are expanding the program's reach and utilizing it to strategically support our sales growth." Watch the #Heineken100 hashtag for more information. About HEINEKEN USA HEINEKEN USA Inc., the nation's leading upscale beer importer, is a subsidiary of HEINEKEN NV, the world's most international brewer. Core brands imported into the U.S. are Heineken, the world's most international premium beer brand, the Dos Equis franchise, the Tecate franchise and Strongbow Hard Apple Ciders. HEINEKEN USA also imports Amstel Light, Newcastle Brown Ale, Red Stripe, Sol, Indio, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands. For the latest information on our company and brands, follow us on Twitter @HeinekenUSACorp, or visit HEINEKENUSA.com. About TUMI TUMI (NYSE: TUMI) Since 1975, TUMI has been creating world-class business and travel essentials, designed to upgrade, uncomplicate, and beautify all aspects of life on the move. Blending flawless functionality with a spirit of ingenuity, we're committed to empowering journeys as a lifelong partner to movers and makers in pursuit of their passions. Designed in America, for Global Citizens everywhere. The brand is sold in over 350 stores from New York to Paris to London and Tokyo, as well as the world's top department and specialty stores and travel retail in more than 75 countries. For more about TUMI, visit www.TUMI.com, www.facebook.com/TUMItravel, www.twitter.com/TUMItravel. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394489LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394490 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394492 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394491 SOURCE HEINEKEN USA Inc. Related Links http://heinekenusa.com WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, today announced that applications are open for its 2017 scholarship programs. With the goal of awarding nearly $14 million in undergraduate and graduate scholarships in 2017 to more than 1,800 students, the Association operates one of the largest privately funded, need-based scholarship programs in the country. Applications for national- and state-level scholarships are now being accepted through October 25, 2016. Students interested in applying for Horatio Alger Association scholarships must meet a series of requirements related to education, character and family income. Once chosen, Horatio Alger Scholars are provided with resources to ensure a successful higher education experience, including financial aid advice, access to guidance and crisis counselors, mentoring programs, channels to interact with other Scholars, tools to manage the disbursement of funds and access to educational staff for assistance with their scholarships. "Each year, the new class of Horatio Alger Scholars exemplifies inspiration, hope and the undeniable power of the American Dream," said Tony Novelly, chairman, Horatio Alger Association. "These remarkable young men and women, having overcome some of life's most difficult challenges, define what it means to have a resilient spirit. We are continually moved by their strength and determination and are pleased to support them as they pursue their dreams. Through the generosity of our Members, we welcome applications for the Association's 2017 scholarship programs. " Through its robust scholarship programs, Horatio Alger Association supports high school students of exceptional character who demonstrate a commitment to continuing their education and serving their communities, despite facing great adversity. Since 1984, more than 22,000 students, from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have received more than $125 million in scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies. In addition, Horatio Alger Association recently completed its Investing in America's Future Campaign, raising $250 million toward its endowment fund. This fund will enable the Association to increase the value of its scholarships and to endow them in perpetuity. Currently, Horatio Alger National Scholarships are valued at $25,000 and State Scholarships are predominantly valued at $10,000. Recipients of the Horatio Alger National Scholarship are invited to attend the National Scholars Conference, held in conjunction with the Awards Induction Ceremonies, where they connect with current Members, many of whom will serve as mentors to these young students. Horatio Alger Association was founded in 1947, and since 1984, it has administered one of the nation's largest privately-funded, need-based scholarship programs. The Association has awarded more than $125 million in undergraduate, graduate and specialized scholarships to students from across the United States (including all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) and Canada. In 2000, 16 years after the establishment of its National Scholarship Program, Horatio Alger Members began funding scholarships concentrated in each state to further the Association's mission of helping deserving young people pursue their collegiate goals. For more information about Horatio Alger Association, please visit www.horatioalger.org. To engage on social media, please "Like" the organization on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/HoratioAlgerUS); and "follow" on Twitter (https://twitter.com/HoratioAlgerUS) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/horatioalgerassociation/). About Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans: Founded in 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. is dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles. The Association honors the achievements of outstanding leaders who have accomplished remarkable successes in spite of adversity by bestowing upon them the Horatio Alger Award and inducting them as lifetime Members. Horatio Alger Members support promising young people with the resources and confidence needed to overcome adversity in pursuit of their dreams through higher education. Through the generosity of its Members and friends, the Association awards more than $12 million annually in undergraduate and graduate need-based scholarships across the United States and Canada and provides college support and mentoring services to its Scholars. Since 1984, the Association has awarded more than $125 million in college scholarships to more than 22,000 deserving young people. For more information, please visit www.horatioalger.org. CONTACT: McKenna Young 484-385-2913 (office) [email protected] SOURCE Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. Related Links https://www.horatioalger.org ANAHEIM, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotelbids, Inc. launched its long awaited App in India, with a beta that reached 1700 hotels in 63 cities. Hotelbids - [email protected] Price is an app that targets last-minute hotel bookings. The app is the brain child of Inder Sharma, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Hotel.com in 1996. Having been connected with the hospitality industry for over 20 years, he realized customers were not getting what they deserve. Hundreds of online travel agencies (OTAs) claim the best deals, even though the difference in price remains just few dollars. Every night approximately 1.7 million rooms go empty globally. This gap created a need for a platform which is both customer-centric (to get the best deal) and hotel-centric (to fill to capacity). Hotel.com Founder Inder Sharma Eyes America After Successful Launch of Hotelbids' [email protected] Price App in India. Revolutionary App Connects Customers to Hotels Directly Through a Top-Flight User Experience. To use this platform, a customer uses the app to request hotels in a particular city. This request is broadcast to all hotels in the Hotelbids network, which can respond immediately to accept the offer. Customers can then review the specifics of the hotel before making their decision. In this simple and transparent way, both hotels and customers win. It is a two click last minute room booking app. About the Company Hotelbids, Inc. is founded by serial entrepreneur Inder Sharma's incubator ibos.com, based in Los Angeles, California,(USA) with a development and marketing office in Delhi-NCR (India). Sharma has founded over 13 companies including Hotel.com. This particular company is funded by hospitality professionals from the USA. Hotelbids is now a valued member of AAHOA (Asian American Hotel Owners Association), whose members collectively own approximately 23,000 hotels in the US. The Hotelbids company launched in India in 2015 and plans to expand to major international markets soon. The company has begun the hotel registration process in the United States and Hong Kong, with a full US launch planned in December 2016. Hotelbids apps can be downloaded from Google store or apple store. Website: www.hotelbids.com Related Images image1.png Related Links Hotelbids APP Hotelbids USA website Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44FeSKkBas This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394659LOGO SOURCE Hotelbids, Inc. Related Links http://www.hotelbids.com Dr. Vinton Cerf, a Google vice president and chief Internet evangelist, sent a buzz through the crowd as opening plenary speaker. Being a principal Internet architect, the IEEE Fellow had everyone's attention. He shared that one of his bosses at Google won't let him leave. "I was told by Eric Schmidt that I'm not allowed to retire," Cerf related. "I said, 'Why not?' He said, 'Because you're only half done. Only 50 percent of the world is online. You have another 50 percent to go.'" IEEE-USA President Pete Eckstein was pleased with the interplay between presenters and audience. "I was very impressed, not just with the speakers but with the quality of the attendees. They were really terrific," Eckstein said. "They were very attentive, really absorbing the material. Several of them came up to thank me as a representative of the conference organizers for putting on the program. "All the comments I heard were positive." The Future Leaders Forum began with a dinner cruise on the Steamboat Natchez. Friday night featured dinner at Mardi Gras World. The Chris Washburne Ragtime Band entertained event participants with jazz music. Bandleader and trombonist Dr. Chris Washburne is associate professor of music and founding director of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program at New York's Columbia University. He explained how jazz originated in the United States from the creative minds and souls of freed slaves. He added that his band doesn't practice together because jazz performances are completely original. Band members feed off the audience and one another during a show and adapt accordingly. Washburne's key message was that it's OK to fail. "I would like to see a resume of failures rather than one of achievement," he said. "We learn a lot more by failing than by succeeding." Washburne's pronouncement echoed that of Nancy Martin's. She is manager, technical development at the GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y. GE employs more than 55,000 technologists. "I agree with the message of it being OK when you fail," said Paulina Barreto, a rising sophomore industrial engineering major at Louisiana State University. "I really like Nancy Martin, how she said, 'I'm a recovering perfectionist.' "I could really relate to that." IEEE-USA will likely stage a Future Leaders Workshop in 2017 followed by the second Future Leaders Forum in 2018. Many longtime IEEE-USA meeting attendees think the New Orleans forum was perhaps the finest event the organization has ever produced. "Hopefully a lot of these people will come back and continue to enhance their careers," Eckstein said. "I'd like to see a whole bunch of new faces in two years." IEEE-USA serves the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of nearly 200,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE. Web: www.ieeeusa.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/ieeeusa Twitter: www.twitter.com/ieeeusa Benefits of IEEE membership: www.ieee.org/join Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394731 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150814/258612LOGO SOURCE IEEE-USA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Related Links http://www.ieeeusa.org MOBILE, Ala., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- International Shipholding Corporation (OTCQX: ISHC) announced yesterday that it and certain of its subsidiaries have each filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Company currently intends to continue operating in the normal course of business without interruption. To facilitate the Chapter 11 process, the Company has entered into a debtor-in-possession $16 million credit facility. The debtor-in-possession credit facility may be used to fund, among other things, the Company's working capital needs while in Chapter 11. Erik L. Johnsen, President and CEO, commented, "Today, we took a critical step toward right-sizing the Company's balance sheet. While the company is facing challenges with its debt and capital structure, we believe our core business segments are performing satisfactorily. During the Chapter 11 process we look forward to continuing to provide our customers the same high quality, reliable shipping services they've come to consistently expect from us." The Company has filed a series of first-day motions with the United States Bankruptcy Court to allow the Company to continue to operate in the ordinary course of business. The first day motions ask the United States Bankruptcy Court to approve, among other things, the payment of wages, salaries and other employee benefits during the Chapter 11 process as well as payments to certain critical vendors and foreign vendors. The Company expects that the United States Bankruptcy Court will approve these requests. During the Chapter 11 process, suppliers will be paid in full for all goods and services provided after the filing date as required by the Bankruptcy Code. For access to United States Bankruptcy Court documents and other general information about the Chapter 11 cases, please visit https://cases.primeclerk.com/ish. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and projections about future events based upon knowledge of facts as of the date of this press release and its assumptions about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties many of which may be outside the Company's control, including the outcome and timing of various approvals and confirmations by the Bankruptcy Court, the outcome of other deliberations during the Chapter 11 process, adequacy of our capital resources, current industry conditions, and other factors impacting our operations and liquidity. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact: James T. Higginbotham (251) 243-9114 [email protected] Sheila Dean (251) 243-9230 [email protected] International Shipholding Corporation Erik L. Johnsen, President and CEO (251) 243-9221 Manny Estrada, V. P. and CFO (504) 249-6082 601 Poydras Street Suite 1850 New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 Phone: 504-249-6088 Fax: 251-706-6919 SOURCE International Shipholding Corporation LYNN, Mass., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kettle Cuisine, artisan producer of refrigerated and frozen premium quality, all natural soups, announced today that it has acquired Del Monaco Foods, a privately held custom food manufacturing company based in Morgan Hill, California. Del Monaco Foods is trusted by companies for outsourced, private label, contract manufacturing of soups, sauces and other specialty items since its establishment in 1998. This transaction represents the second acquisition completed by Kettle Cuisine since being acquired by Kainos Capital in August 2015. Kettle Cuisine will lead the industry as the only true coast to coast fresh soup producer, having two world class SQF Level 3 certified facilities in Lynn, Massachusetts and Morgan Hill, California. This national platform enhances the company's capabilities to national, retail and food service customers. "We are very pleased and excited about the future growth and development possibilities for our Team Members and Business Partners that this partnership will bring us. We believe that Liam McClennon, our new CEO, shares our passion for the food industry and epitomizes the executive leadership we need to lead us collectively toward the founding vision of Del Monaco Foods to be the most trusted food company in the world." -Vic and Tony Del Monaco "Del Monaco Foods is an impressive business. Vic Del Monaco and Tony Del Monaco have done a fantastic job of building a solid and successful team that has resulted in growth year after year since its founding. We're excited to merge Del Monaco Foods with Kettle Cuisine and offer a truly national fresh soup program. Our commitment to shared values of service, food safety, quality and innovation align us for further growth and continued success in providing our customers with best in class products," says Liam McClennon, CEO. About Kettle Cuisine: Based in Lynn, Mass., Kettle Cuisine is at the forefront of a growing demand for exceptional tasting real food that satisfies everyday wellness lifestyles. By using the finest quality natural ingredients and classical artisan cooking techniques and by treating food the way it should be treated from the source to their kitchens to you, Kettle Cuisine consistently delivers top quality soups with no artificial ingredients. Visit www.kettlecuisine.com for additional information. Kettle Cuisine 330 Lynnway Lynn, MA 01901 617-409-1100 About Del Monaco Foods: Del Monaco Foods is a leader in custom food manufacturing. A privately held company based in Morgan Hill, California, trusted by world class, quality driven companies for outsourced, private label, contract manufacturing of soups, sauces and other specialty items. The values of trust and quality are two cornerstones that have resulted in sustained growth, year after year since 1998. Visit www.delmonacofoods.com for additional information. Del Monaco Foods, Inc. 18675 Madrone Pkwy, #150 Morgan Hill, CA 95037 408-500-4100 Media contact: Liam McClennon, 617-409-1293 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394604LOGO SOURCE Kettle Cuisine Related Links http://www.kettlecuisine.com BOSTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LEERINK Partners, a leading healthcare investment bank, announced that Jim Ratigan will join its Investment Banking team as a Senior Managing Director. Mr. Ratigan will focus on building an industry leading M&A practice at LEERINK, working closely with Jim Boylan and Dan Lepanto. Mr. Ratigan will join the firm in September and will be based in New York. Mr. Ratigan brings to LEERINK Partners over 25 years of experience providing strategic advice on high-profile and complex M&A transactions. Most recently, Mr. Ratigan was the Head of Americas M&A for Deutsche Bank where he advised on transactions across industries and structures. Mr. Ratigan joined Deutsche Bank in 2009 as a senior mergers and acquisitions banker after approximately 18 years in the M&A Group at Merrill Lynch. "I worked with Jim at Merrill Lynch for twelve years and am delighted to welcome him to LEERINK Partners. Jim is an industry leader and an accomplished M&A veteran. I look forward to working closely with him again to build a leading M&A advisory business," said Jim Boylan, President and Head of Investment Banking. "I am confident that Jim will serve our clients exceptionally well and add great value to our firm." "I am excited to join LEERINK Partners," said Mr. Ratigan. "Now more than ever, our clients need trusted and knowledgeable advisors to help them navigate the rapidly changing business environment. With its market leading healthcare knowledge and sector insights, LEERINK is uniquely positioned to help clients on their most important strategic transactions. I look forward to working with Jim and the team again to build on the momentum of LEERINK's M&A franchise." "We are delighted that our firm has excelled to the point where we are able to attract the most accomplished bankers in their areas of expertise," said Jeff Leerink, Founder, Chairman and CEO. "The hiring of Jim Ratigan and the recent addition of Prasanth Burri Rao-Kathi should be a clear signal to our clients and prospects that we intend to provide superior service across all product areas." About LEERINK Partners LEERINK Partners LLC is a leading investment bank, specializing in healthcare. Our knowledge, experience and focus enable us to help our clients define and achieve their strategic, capital markets and investment objectives. We partner with companies that develop and commercialize innovative products and services that are defining the future of healthcare. LEERINK Partners LLC is a member of FINRA/SIPC. For more information, please visit: www.leerink.com. Contact: Marissa Devnew LEERINK Partners (617) 918-4030 Contact: Jason Marshall Weber Shandwick 212.445.8042 SOURCE LEERINK Partners Related Links http://www.leerink.com Located in the nation's capital, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of America's law enforcement officers. The Memorial Fund's Officer of the Month Award Program began in 1996 and recognizes federal, state, and local officers who distinguish themselves through exemplary law enforcement service and devotion to duty. Lieutenant Randy Brandt, along with the other Officer of the Month Award recipients for 2016, will be honored during National Police Week at a special awards ceremony in Washington, DC, in May 2017. KEY FACTS Lieutenant Brandt says one of his greatest sources of pride through his 19-year law enforcement career is his participation, supervision and management of the SLPD's SWAT team. Lieutenant Brandt's dedication led him to create the SWAT Fitness Challenge in 2007, a program established to promote fitness and camaraderie among the local tactical teams through competition and networking. Over the years the Challenge has grown, with more than 40 teams competing in 2015, some coming from as far away as Saskatchewan, Canada . . "I brought it together to bring camaraderie and to bring training ideas together and networking," Lieutenant Brandt said. After a visit in 2014, Lieutenant Brandt decided to honor George Mark Children's House by making it the beneficiary of the Challenge's fundraising efforts. The George Mark Children's House is a pediatric palliative care center in San Leandro, providing hospice and respite care to children, in hopes of reducing the stress on patients and their families. "I was invited [to George Mark ] as a motorcycle sergeant because the kids really liked motor cops. So we decided to bring our whole unit up there because we thought it might be a fun day," Lieutenant Brandt said. "Walking through there we were moved by what we were seeing more than the kids were about seeing us." ] as a motorcycle sergeant because the kids really liked motor cops. So we decided to bring our whole unit up there because we thought it might be a fun day," Lieutenant Brandt said. "Walking through there we were moved by what we were seeing more than the kids were about seeing us." Each team is asked to raise at least $500 for the pediatric care center, while Lieutenant Brandt raises funds to cover the cost of the Challenge. In 2014, they raised $25,000 , and in 2015, they raised $32,000 . The partnership has also garnered extensive media attention for the facility, helping raise its profile in the community. In 2016, the teams raised $96,000 . for the pediatric care center, while Lieutenant Brandt raises funds to cover the cost of the Challenge. In 2014, they raised , and in 2015, they raised . The partnership has also garnered extensive media attention for the facility, helping raise its profile in the community. In 2016, the teams raised . Recently, one of the competitors in the SWAT Fitness Challenge learned that the child of his childhood best friend had passed away at George Mark Children's House. "That sort of brings it all home. I think it makes it all worthwhile. It's all beyond us, and it's more about them. That's what the event is about," Lieutenant Brandt said. In addition to the donations, Lieutenant Brandt also facilitated the opportunity for one of the George Mark Children's House teenage patients to be named an SLPD Honorary Officer, fulfilling a dream for the patient and his family. SUPPORTING QUOTES "[Lt.] Brandt has proven time and time again that he is a caring and dedicated individual and professional, who embodies SLPD's motto of Teamwork, Integrity, Professionalism and Service," said Ken Sommer , Director of Advancement for George Mark Children's House. , Director of Advancement for George Mark Children's House. "Undoubtedly, Lieutenant Brandt's commitment to fitness and wellness are evidenced in his assignment choices and his accomplishments in the SWAT Fitness Challenge," SLPD Sergeant Troy Young said. "He has a great sense of the importance of the community and the role law enforcement should play in our communities." said. "He has a great sense of the importance of the community and the role law enforcement should play in our communities." "Lieutenant Brandt's work with George Mark Children's House is commendable," Memorial Fund President and CEO Craig W. Floyd said. "Not only is his dedication to the wellness of his fellow officers, but to the children in his community. It's his life's work that earns him the July 2016 Officer of the Month Award." For more information about the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's Officer of the Month Award, visit www.LawMemorial.org/OTM. About the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Established in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a private non-profit organization dedicated to telling the story of American law enforcement and making it safer for those who serve. The Memorial Fund built and now operates and maintains the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, which contains the names of 20,789 officers who have died in the line of duty throughout U.S. history. The Memorial Fund is now building the National Law Enforcement Museum, which will tell the story of American law enforcement through high-tech, interactive exhibitions, historical artifacts and extensive educational programming. For more information, visit www.LawMemorial.org. MEDIA CONTACT Jaclyn Barrientes [email protected] | (202) 737-7989 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394515 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121001/DC84302LOGO-b SOURCE National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Related Links http://www.LawMemorial.org SAN DIEGO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mast Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MSTX), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, clinical-stage therapies for sickle cell disease and heart failure, today reported that the first patient has been enrolled in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical study of AIR001 in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The 100-patient study, known as the Inorganic Nitrite Delivery to Improve Exercise Capacity in HFpEF (INDIE-HFpEF) study, is sponsored by Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) as the Coordinating Center for the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network (HFN) and is being conducted at premier clinical centers that are part of the HFN. HFpEF is a common form of heart failure. Earlier this year, the Company reported positive top-line results from a blinded and randomized Phase 2a clinical study of AIR001 in HFpEF patients as well as positive interim results from an ongoing Phase 2a clinical study of AIR001 in patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with HFpEF. "AIR001, a sodium nitrite solution administered via inhalation, has potential as an effective treatment for heart failure, and we are pleased that patient enrollment is underway," stated Brian M. Culley, Mast Therapeutics' CEO. "This study will advance our efforts to characterize the efficacy of AIR001 for patients who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. There are more than 1 million heart failure hospitalizations each year in the U.S., about half of which involve patients with HFpEF. Currently, no proven effective therapeutic agents are available for this large patient population. We look forward to continuing to support DCRI and the HFN on this study." The HFN was established by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to expedite clinical research on treatments and strategies to improve the management of acute and chronic heart failure. The HFN's work is supported by a grant awarded by the NHLBI, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Aires Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is providing test materials, nebulizers, and regulatory, technical and additional financial support for the INDIE-HFpEF study. The Chair of the HFN Executive Committee is Dr. Eugene Braunwald, Distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. About the INDIE-HFpEF Study The INDIE-HFpEF study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study to evaluate the effect of AIR001 on peak exercise capacity as assessed by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Approximately 100 patients with a diagnosis of HFpEF will be enrolled across approximately 20 clinical centers in the United States. The primary endpoint will be the peak oxygen consumption (VO 2 ) after four weeks of treatment with nebulized inhaled AIR001 or placebo as assessed by CPET performed at peak drug levels. Secondary objectives include (i) submaximal activity tolerance chronically, (ii) quality of life, (iii) chronic filling pressures as assessed by echocardiography and natriuretic peptide levels, and/or (iv) ventilator efficiency or submaximal exercise capacity at peak drug levels, and evaluation of the safety and tolerability of AIR001. About the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network (HFN) The HFN is an NHLBI clinical research network. The primary goal of the HFN is to conduct multiple clinical trials to evaluate treatments and strategies to improve management of acute and chronic heart failure. The HFN provides a unique platform for collaborative research by bringing together many premier centers across North America. HFN is composed of nine Regional Coordinating Centers and their affiliated sites, whose investigators provide scientific leadership in the collaborative development of the HFN's scientific agenda. The HFN is recognized for robust enrollment in heart failure clinical trials and high scientific productivity. The goal of partnering with HFN is to accelerate research and medical innovation, and provide early results that may improve public health. More information can be found on the HFN's website, https://www.hfnetwork.org/. About AIR001 AIR001 is a sodium nitrite solution for intermittent inhalation via nebulization. Nitrite is a direct vasodilator and can be recycled in vivo to form nitric oxide (NO) independent of the classical NO synthase (NOS) pathway. Nitrite mediated NO formation has several beneficial effects, including dilation of blood vessels and reduction of inflammation and undesirable cell growth. Generation of NO from sodium nitrite is not dependent upon endothelial function and is enhanced in the setting of tissue hypoxia and acidosis, conditions in which NOS activity typically is depressed. In early clinical studies, AIR001 demonstrated positive hemodynamic effects with reductions observed in right atrial pressure and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, as well as improvements in mean pulmonary artery pressures, cardiac output, and exercise tolerance as measured by six-minute walk distance. In a recently completed randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2a study of AIR001 in 30 patients with HFpEF, the AIR001 treatment group showed a statistically significant decrease in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure during exercise compared to the control group and was generally well-tolerated. About Mast Therapeutics Mast Therapeutics, Inc. is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, California. The Company is developing two clinical-stage investigational new drugs for serious or life-threatening diseases and conditions. Vepoloxamer, the Company's lead product candidate, is in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of vaso-occlusive crisis in patients with sickle cell disease and in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of patients with heart failure. Enrollment in the Company's 388-patient Phase 3 study of vepoloxamer in patients with sickle cell disease, known as the EPIC study, was completed earlier this year. Enrollment in the Company's Phase 2 study of vepoloxamer in patients with chronic heart failure is ongoing. AIR001, the Company's second product candidate, is in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Enrollment in Phase 2 studies of AIR001 in patients with HFpEF are ongoing, including a 100-patient, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 study in patients with HFpEF being conducted by the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network. More information can be found on the Company's web site at www.masttherapeutics.com. (Twitter: @MastThera) Mast Therapeutics and the corporate logo are trademarks of Mast Therapeutics, Inc. Forward Looking Statements Mast Therapeutics cautions you that statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "expect," among others, and include, but are not limited to, statements relating to prospects for successful development of AIR001 as a treatment for heart failure patients. There are a number of factors that could cause or contribute to material differences between actual events or results and the expectations indicated by the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: that the Company is not the sponsor of the INDIE-HFpEF study and has no control over the conduct of the study, including whether the study will be completed on anticipated timelines, or at all; the Company's reliance on third parties for the manufacture and supply of test material and nebulizer devices for use in the INDIE-HFpEF study and that the Company may not be able to supply such material or devices for the study on a timely basis, or at all; the inherent uncertainty of outcomes in clinical studies of new investigational drugs, such as AIR001 and vepoloxamer and the risk that these product candidates may not demonstrate adequate safety, efficacy or tolerability in ongoing or future clinical studies; the risk that, even if current and planned clinical studies are successful, the FDA or other regulatory agencies may determine they are not sufficient to support a new drug application; the risk that the Company is not able to obtain and maintain effective patent coverage or other market exclusivity protections for its products, if approved, without infringing the proprietary rights of others; risks associated with the Company's ability to manage operating expenses and obtain additional capital as needed; the Company's potential inability to continue as a going concern if it does not raise additional capital as needed; uncertainty related to the Company's ability to remain in compliance with the terms and restrictions under its debt facility and the potential that it may be required to repay outstanding debt obligations on an accelerated basis and/or at a time that could be detrimental to the Company's financial condition, operations and/or business strategy, including the prepayment of $10 million of the principal balance if results from the EPIC study are not positive and/or not available on or before October 14, 2016; the potential for the Company to significantly delay, reduce or discontinue current and/or planned development and commercial-readiness activities or sell or license its assets at inopportune times if it is unable to raise sufficient additional capital as needed; the Company's dependence on third parties to assist with important aspects of development of its product candidates, including conduct of its clinical studies and supply and manufacture of clinical trial material, and, if approved, commercial product, and the risk that such third parties may fail to perform as expected, leading to delays in product candidate development or approval or inability to meet market demand for approved products, if any; the risk that, even if the Company successfully develops a product candidate in one or more indications, it may not realize commercial success and may never achieve profitability; and other risks and uncertainties more fully described in the Company's press releases and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are available at www.sec.gov. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date when made. Mast Therapeutics does not intend to revise or update any forward-looking statement set forth in this press release to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof, except as may be required by law. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120612/LA22456LOGO-a SOURCE Mast Therapeutics, Inc. Related Links http://www.masttherapeutics.com MIAMI, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mi9 Retail, a premier provider of enterprise retail and e-commerce solutions, announced today it will feature the topic of "Payment and Data Security in an Omni-Channel World" at its annual customer conference, Synergy 2016. The invitation-only event is taking place on September 14-16 at The W South Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida. According to a special report published in January 2016 by Boston Retail Partners, data security breaches still pose a great threat to retailer resources. In today's environment, retailers are beginning to re-evaluate payment architectures in order to cover all aspects of security and fraud protection. "Only 22% of retailers currently support EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) Chip Card Technology, another 53% plan to implement within 12 months, and 38% of retailers indicate that payment security is a top priority." 1 According to The Nilson Report, from 1993 to 2014, worldwide losses from card fraud grew to $16.31 billion annually and issuers and merchants lost $2.95 billion in the U.S alone. Additionally, as online sales grow at the expense of bricks-and-mortar retailers, payment and data security will continue to require innovation and prioritization as card fraud is expected to reach $35 billion per year worldwide by 2020. 2 Security protocols, payment security objectives, and the challenges facing today's retailers will be discussed by industry experts who include: Daniel Montellano from Shift4, Brad Pinneke from Vantiv, Vince Torres from Verifone, and Perry Kramer from Boston Retail Partners. Attendees will learn from these experts about EMV compliance, multi-tiered, end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and the critical relevance of these approaches for retailers processing payments through online and traditional in-store channels. Brian Bunk, a Principal and leading IT strategist with Boston Retail Partners, will host this session. "Our business partners like Boston Retail Partners, Shift4, Vantiv and Verifone have deep domain knowledge that helps our customers optimize their investments in Mi9 Retail solutions," said Neil Moses, President of Mi9 Retail. "The discussion of data security best practices and managing payment risks is something that many retailers face and these experts will provide useful insights our customers can take back and put into practice immediately." About Mi9 Retail: Mi9 Retail, the premier provider of enterprise retail merchandising, business intelligence and customer-centric software, empowers the world's most successful retailers to build strong personal relationships with their customers, process high volumes of transactions in real time and optimize inventory across all channels utilizing a single, accurate source of the truth. Built using cutting-edge technology, the software minimizes costs of ownership and provides the industry's fastest time to value. The company's global headquarters are located in Miami, FL, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. To learn more, please visit www.mi9retail.com. 1 Boston Retail Partners. 2016 Special Report: Payment/Data Security in an Omni-Channel World https://bostonretailpartners.com/2016-special-report-payment-security/ 2 The Nilson Report. 2015 Global Fraud Losses Reach $16.31 Billion https://www.nilsonreport.com/publication_newsletter_archive_issue.php?issue=1068 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160701/385734LOGO SOURCE Mi9 Retail Related Links http://www.mi9retail.com (Beijing) - A Chinese scientist who discovered a new protein that can be used for genome editing has defended the finding amid questions raised by foreign researchers who say they failed to replicate the process. Han Chunyu, an associate professor of biology at Hebei University of Science and Technology in northern city of Shijiazhuang, and his team published their findings about a genome editing technique using a bacteria known as Natronobacterium gregory Argonaute or NgAgo in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology in May. The finding was hailed as a major breakthrough in genome studies by Chinese scientists interviewed by the South China Morning Post immediately after the journal article was published, because it offers an alternative to a widely adopted gene editing technique known as CRISPR/Cas9. Han's research has the potential to be used in solutions for cancer and even ageing, according to scientists both at home and abroad. Chinese media praised the 42-year-old as a prime example of the country's homegrown research and development talent because Han had never studied or trained abroad. However, in a blog entry on July 29, Gaetan Burgio, a professor of genetics at Australian National University, said he was unable to replicate Han's experiment using a different sequence of genes from a zygote of a mouse in the last two months. He said his experiments also suggested that the NgAgo enzyme needs to be heated to over 50 degrees Celsius before it can function, which is at odds with the 37 degrees Celsius stated in Han's paper. Burgio says he was skeptical of Han's research, not because his own experiment failed, but because other foreign labs that tried to replicate the proposed technique had all been unsuccessful. "... all laboratories that have tried this system or a similar one in the last two months were unsuccessful (I've been told 74 laboratories just in the United States)," Burgio wrote in an email to Caixin on August 1. "Collectively, yes the evidence is sufficient to qualify Han's work as problematic." In response to a Caixin inquiry, Han said the blog article posted by Burgio was "unscientific" and Burgio's experiment is nothing like what his team did. Han has had to defend his research from criticism coming from other sources as well. Dr. Lluis Montoliu from Spain's National Center for Biotechnology told Caixin in an email on July 30 that his team was excited after learning about Han's paper as a similar research at his lab over the past two years was yet to produce promising results. Montoliu says he immediately contacted Han and requested access to his NgAgo plasmid, the reagent or substance needed to reproduce Han's research. Han provided this in early June, Montoliu wrote. However, experiments at labs around the world showed that this reagent is not delivering the results as advertised, Montoliu wrote. He said he had also asked Han to share his raw data and exact conditions under which the experiments were done, so that other scientists could have a better understanding of how to reproduce his findings and to identify the mistakes in their own processes. "We can't waste more funds, people, time and animals with experiments that do not work," Montoliu said. "We should wait for newer instructions or details from Han or for the release of a more robust NgAgo from other bugs." Han refused to comment when asked whether he would release the raw data as requested. Nature Publishing Group, which owns journal Nature Biotechnology, has not responded to a Caixin inquiry on whether it would take any action after several scientists had raised questions about Han's journal article. (Rewritten by Li Rongde) Crowds watched in awe from the banks of the Elbe River as the UAV rapidly flew to the person in distress and dropped a compact rescue device called RESTUBE, which automatically inflated. The swimmer was able to grab onto the RESTUBE and float until they could be reached by a human lifeguard and brought back to safety. "An adult drowns in approximately 60 seconds and a child in only 30. All too often, this is not enough time for the victim to be reached by a lifeguard," explained Christopher Fuhrhop, founder and CEO of RESTUBE. "Flying over the water is a much quicker way to reach the victim. By combining UAVs and RESTUBE flotation devices, we are able to buy the drowning person valuable time that could very well mean the difference between life and death." The UAV used in the rescue was the microdrones md4-1000. This quadcopter drone features specially developed motors, carbon fiber housing, highly efficient batteries, and an integrated GPS system that allow the UAV to fly and stay in position in strong winds over the water. md4-1000 was equipped with an imaging camera that streamed live to the specially trained lifeguard operating the drone, allowing them to easily see the precise location to drop the RESTUBE flotation device. Last July, RESTUBE won the gold German Founders Award, the most significant prize for entrepreneurs in Germany. Just one year and many awards later, RESTUBE has shown great potential in numerous rescue applications. microdrones and RESTUBE team members, DLRG Horneburg/Altes Land e.V. lifeguards and leadership, fire fighters, police personnel, and many locals were there to celebrate the outcome of this rescue simulation. "One of the greatest obstacles to rescuing a drowning swimmer is that they panic and we often can't reach them in time," said Robert Rink from the DLRG Horneburg/Altes Land e.V. "After seeing what I saw here today, I have no doubt that drones will play a significant role in the near future of water rescue and that we'll see less fatalities as a result." Rink outlined other possibilities for using microdrones quadcopters to solve common issues in lifeguard rescue scenarios. Some of these included: Locating people more quickly and easily using thermal imaging cameras attached to UAVs Collecting data on the condition of leaking and burst banks on hard-to-reach embankments Better distribution of rescue personnel, due to the availability of live imaging Delivery of important medicines and supplies from nearby tankers and container ships "We were very pleased today to be able to show off the potential of this approach to rescue," said Sven Juerss, CEO of microdrones. "Days like these are what motivate the team at microdrones to strive for new solutions. Days when our technology comes together with others' in ways that change the world for the better. We're very proud to work with innovative organizations like RESTUBE, DLRG Horneburg/Altes Land e.V., and many others on UAV solutions that save lives." About microdrones microdrones was founded in Germany in 2005, with the launch of groundbreaking and reliable unmanned aerial vehicles. As the pioneer of quadcopter drones for commercial applications, a heritage of German engineering is evident in the quality of every solution they create. By integrating the most capable and dependable UAS platform with the latest sensor, photogrammetry, photography, and data interpretation technology, microdrones has helped companies all over the world to make better business decisions. With successful implementation of UAVs for professional applications in Europe, Asia, Russia, and North America, microdrones is a global leader in the commercial space. The newly expanded company is positioned to serve new geographic and vertical markets and welcomes questions from any organization that aims to collect and interpret data more accurately and efficiently. To learn more about microdrones, visit www.microdrones.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394580 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394581 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160623/382794LOGO SOURCE microdrones Related Links http://www.microdrones.com PUNE, India, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market by Service Type (PaaS, IaaS, CDN/ADN, Managed Hosting & Colocation Services), Service Provider, Deployment Model, Industry Vertical, and Country (KSA, UAE & Qatar) - Forecast to 2021" published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to grow from USD 2.31 Billion in 2016 to USD 7.46 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26.4%. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 66 market data Tables and 46 Figures spread through 134 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/middle-east-cloud-infrastructure-service-market-232083679.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The major forces driving the Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market are easy access to disaster recovery, faster deployment of infrastructure services & scalability features, and enhanced efficiency & business productivity. The Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market is growing rapidly because of the transformation from on-premises infrastructure to cloud-based infrastructure across industries. Platform as a Service (PaaS) expected to grow at the highest CAGR There are various types of cloud infrastructure services offered by service providers such as Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Content Delivery Network / Application Delivery Network (CDN/ADN), managed hosting, and colocation services. As organizations have several applications to run on cloud, it is not feasible to run them without an appropriate interface or middleware. Thus, the demand for PaaS is increasing at the highest CAGR among all service types in the Middle East. BFSI vertical to have the largest market size in 2016 The Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market also segmented by various industry verticals; the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) vertical is expected to contribute the maximum to the market growth as there is an increasing need for business agility, cost savings, and assertion of business continuity across this vertical. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) expected to dominate the Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market during the forecast period KSA expected to hold the largest share of the Middle East Cloud Infrastructure Services Market in 2016 due to the higher IT skills and higher IT budgets across industries in the country. However, the market in Qatar is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021. The primary driving forces for this growth are technological advancements, along with mandatory regulations imposed by government regulatory entities to adopt the best-in-class technology and standards. Ask for Sample Pages @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=232083679 The report also encompasses different strategies, such as mergers & acquisitions, partnerships & collaborations, and product developments, adopted by major players to increase their share in the market. Some of the major technology vendors include Cisco Systems (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), HP Enterprise (U.S.), Equinix, Inc. (U.S.), AWS (U.S.), Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Injazat Data Systems (UAE), Malomatia (Qatar), Etisalat (UAE), Orixcom (Ireland), and eHosting Datafort (Kuwait). Browse Related Reports: Hybrid Cloud Market by Solution (Cloud Management and Orchestration, Disaster Recovery, Security and Compliance, and Hybrid Hosting), by Service (Professional Services and Managed Services), by Service Model (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/hybrid-cloud-market-1150.html Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Market by Solution (Managed Hosting, Storage as a Service, DRaaS, Colocation, Network as a Service, Content Delivery, High Performance Computing as a Service), Deployment Types, End users, verticals, and Region - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/infrastructure-as-service-market-262058075.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/telecom-it Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Lawyer magazine's annual A-list ranking has just been issued and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP was named the Number 3 most elite law firm in the country based on its combined scores in four separate areas of performance: financial success, pro bono commitment, diversity and associate satisfaction. Milbank has been a regular on Am Law's A-List for the past decade the magazine highlights only 20 winners for its short list of the nation's most well-rounded and prestigious firms. Milbank has been included among the Top 10 picks since 2011, and this year's third place selection was its highest ever, in part reflecting a substantial jump in Milbank's associate satisfaction numbers for the past year. The firm scored 195 out of a possible 200 perfect score among associates rating their job satisfaction of working at the firm. Further completing the picture, Milbank scored 193 for its pro bono work; 188 for its commitment to diversity; and 180 for reported revenues per lawyer - an overall score of 1,129 points. As Am Law's editors note in announcing their A-List picks, "These firms are firing on all cylinders." ABOUT MILBANK Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy is a leading international law firm that has been providing innovative legal solutions to clients throughout the world for nearly 150 years. Milbank is headquartered in New York and has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC. The firm's lawyers provide a full range of legal services to the world's leading commercial, financial and industrial enterprises, as well as to institutions, individuals and governments. Milbank's lawyers meet the needs of its clients by offering a highly integrated and collaborative range of services across key practice groups throughout its global network. Milbank's integrated practice is underpinned by its attorneys' acknowledged technical excellence, sectorial experience and a strong tradition of innovation and client service. To learn more about Milbank and its attorneys, please visit www.milbank.com Further information on Milbank available at www.milbank.com/news. From: Jocelyn De Carvalho, Public Relations Manager, 212-530-5509, [email protected] SOURCE Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP Related Links http://www.milbank.com BOSTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Minuteman Health (www.minutemanhealth.org) on Friday filed a lawsuit in Boston federal district court against U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) administrator Andrew Slavitt and their respective agencies, claiming that the federal Risk Adjustment program has illegally cost Minuteman and its members millions of dollars. Minuteman, which on June 30 was ordered to pay out $16.7 million under the Risk Adjustment formula, said it was bringing the suit "to put a stop to this system that is supposed to stabilize the market but instead has already caused tremendous destabilization and wreaked havoc for thousands of consumers trying to find an affordable health insurance policy." The Risk Adjustment program is meant to compensate insurers in the individual and small group markets whose enrollees are considered to be sicker and, therefore, costlier. The theory of risk adjustment is that plans should not fail or succeed only because they attract sicker or healthier enrollees, but should compete based on other factors such as price, efficiency, and service quality. But Minuteman argues that the federal government has implemented the Risk Adjustment program illegally. "Congress directed CMS to transfer funds between insurers based on the health status of their members," said Minuteman CEO Tom Policelli. "Instead, CMS created a program that rewards expensive insurance companies who cater to consumers buying expensive products. CMS penalizes innovative, lower-premium carriers whose mission is to provide products to price-sensitive consumers. That is not what Congress directed CMS to do." Minuteman says that the government has effectively levied a significant tax on the company and its members just because Minuteman offers a lower cost product. In addition to arguing that the government illegally penalizes issuers with lower premiums, the Complaint also alleges that it penalizes issuers who sell Bronze products and fails to correctly calculate actuarial risk of members. "CMS has created a program that violates the plain text of the Affordable Care Act," said Minuteman general counsel Susan Brown. "Our lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the illegal Risk Adjustment methodology and institute necessary changes immediately." CMS has acknowledged that the federal risk adjustment program needs to be fixed, but those changes will come too late for many issuers and their members. Minuteman has been generating positive cash flows through 2015 and is the only Consumer Oriented and Operated Program ("CO-OP") member not under a CMS Corrective Action Plan. "Our operating fundamentals are strong. We can afford to make these payments, but that isn't the point. We cannot continue to allow CMS to take our members' money illegally and give it to more expensive insurance companies," said Policelli. "CMS has essentially created a reverse Robin Hood program, which harms consumers, small companies, and taxpayers." Minuteman is a founding member of CHOICES, a national coalition formed to support healthcare consumers by advocating for improvements in the current Risk Adjustment program. More information can be found at the CHOICES website (www.choicescoalition.org). Pepper Hamilton LLP prepared the complaint and is representing Minuteman Health in the lawsuit. About Minuteman Health Minuteman Health, Inc. is a member-governed, non-profit health maintenance organization (HMO) committed to removing inefficiencies from today's health insurance system to provide high-quality care, cut administrative costs and reduce premiums for individuals and businesses in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Minuteman Health's In-Plan Provider network includes over 11,300 hospitals, physicians, and specialists who provide high quality care at lower costs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Updates on Minuteman Health's evolving provider network can be found at www.minutemanhealth.org. Minuteman is marketed in Massachusetts through its website, brokers, Health Services Administrators (www.HSAinsurance.com) and the Massachusetts Health Connector. It is marketing in New Hampshire through its website, brokers, and the Federal Healthcare Exchange. Contact: Jim Borghesani [email protected] 617.833.9327 Lisa McTighe [email protected] 857.265.3331 SOURCE Minuteman Health Related Links http://www.minutemanhealth.org WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media will have an opportunity to photograph NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft and interview mission officials at 8 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 20, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample the surface of an asteroid and return the sample to Earth. There will be three opportunities to photograph the spacecraft. Buses will depart the Kennedy Press Site at 8 and 11:30 a.m., and again at 2:30 p.m., for transportation to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). Due to space restrictions, only two representatives from each media organization will be allowed to participate, and no more than 15 participants may sign up for each of the three viewing opportunities. All media must RSVP for this event no later than Monday, Aug. 15 by emailing Jennifer Horner at [email protected] and specifying a preferred viewing time. Media requiring access credentials for Kennedy should apply online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov The deadline for U.S. citizens to apply is Aug. 15. International media must apply by 4:30 p.m. Aug. 9. Media credentials must be picked up between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at the Kennedy Badging Office, located on State Road 405, east of the Kennedy Visitor Complex. Two forms of government-issued identification are required, including one with a photograph, such as a driver's license or passport. Media Access Instructions Please read access instructions carefully to avoid being denied entry to the clean room after arrival at the PHSF. OSIRIS-REx has a science requirement to bring back to Earth a "pristine sample." In order to do so, strict contamination control protocols must be followed. Since part of the investigation is to determine whether organics are present on the asteroid, the mission adopted a stringent prohibition against any material with amino acids. Therefore, nothing made of or containing nylon can be permitted in the PHSF high bay. Long pants and closed-toe shoes must be worn. No tank tops, shorts or skirts will be permitted. Procedures for optically sensitive spacecraft must be followed by individuals entering the clean-room where the spacecraft is being prepared for launch. Full clean-room attire must be worn and will be furnished. Attendees may not wear perfume, cologne, hair spray, nail polish or makeup. Those wearing makeup will be required to remove it prior to entry. Photographers will need to clean camera equipment under the supervision of contamination control specialists. All camera equipment must be self-contained; no portable lights will be allowed. Non-essential equipment, such as suede, leather or vinyl camera bags, carrying cases, camera straps, accessories with Velcro and selfie sticks must be left outside the clean room. No notebook paper, pencils or click-type ball point pens are permitted; clean-room paper will be provided. Use of wireless microphones and cellular telephones will be permitted if not contained in external cases or holding devices. Electronic flash will be permitted. The lighting in the facility is high-pressure sodium (orange). No food, chewing gum, tobacco, lighters, matches or pocketknives will be allowed and so should not be brought to the PHSF. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 8 from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to survey the surface, then retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material and return it to Earth for study. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the asteroid in 2018. The sample return is planned in 2023. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations after launch. Dante Lauretta, of the University of Arizona, is the mission's principal investigator. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov "It's a privilege to receive an SBIR award through the National Science Foundation because it enables us to accelerate our growth and focus on a particularly large market opportunity for our low-hazard, low-cost quantum dot technology," said Dr. Hunter McDaniel, founder and president of UbiQD. "Our vision is to turn ubiquitous, everyday windows into sunlight harvesters. Think of skyscrapers that power cities." Until now, UbiQD has broadly explored potential markets for its patented technology, including lighting, security, design, and safety applications; earlier this month the company was issued a patent for "quantum dot security inks." With this new award and other recent developments, however, the company will focus its efforts primarily on solar energy. "This new investment will further important research at UbiQD to strengthen the intersection of solar energy and advanced materials such as nanoparticles," said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in reference to the award and UbiQD's focus on solar technologies. "It's another great example of how technology developed at our national laboratories can spur industry and create jobs here at home. New Mexico, with its abundant solar resources, can and should be at the epicenter of America's clean energy economy. I will continue to do all I can to ensure this becomes a reality." UbiQD's new SBIR grant and technology license are just two of several recent milestones for the company, as they also recently brought on two new employees to the team Dr. Karthik Ramasamy to lead manufacturing and Dr. Aaron Jackson to lead nanocomposite development. UbiQD has filed several new patents this year, including one related to sunlight-harvesting safety glass windows. Previously based out of the New Mexico Consortium, in July UbiQD began operating from a newly renovated Los Alamos-based facility. The 9,000-square-foot space allows for scale-up of manufacturing and continued expansion. About UbiQD, LLC UbiQD is a nanotechnology company that manufactures inexpensive, low-hazard quantum dots and nanocomposites in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Quantum dots are particularly advantageous for many applications due to their bright and strongly size-tunable color of photoluminescence they glow under light and compatibility with liquid solution processing, which enables low-cost manufacturing techniques. Spun out of technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the company envisions a future where quantum dots are ubiquitous in a wide spectrum of applications. Today UbiQD supplies materials for development of new products in lighting, solar, security, safety, and other markets. For more information, visit www.UbiQD.com. MEDIA CONTACTS UbiQD, LLC: [email protected] | 505.310.6767 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394508 SOURCE UbiQD, LLC Related Links http://www.ubiqd.com NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nadeem Faruqi, founding partner at Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities firm headquartered in New York City, is investigating the Board of Directors of NetSuite Inc. ("NetSuite" or the "Company") (NYSE:N) for potential breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the sale of the Company to Oracle Corporation for approximately $9.3 billion. The Company's stockholders will only receive $109.00 cash per share for each share of Company common stock they own. However, this consideration is below at least one analyst's price target of $130.00 per share. Click here for more information: www.faruqilaw.com/N. There is no cost or obligation to you. The investigation focuses on whether NetSuite's Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to the Company's stockholders by failing to conduct a fair sales process and whether and by how much this proposed transaction undervalues the Company to the detriment of NetSuite's shareholders. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is a national law firm which represents investors and individuals in class action litigation. The firm is focused on providing exemplary legal services in complex litigation in the areas of securities, shareholder, antitrust and consumer litigation, throughout all phases of litigation. The firm has an experienced trial team which has achieved significant victories on behalf of the firm's clients. To keep track of the latest securities litigation news, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MergerActivity or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FaruqiLaw. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is working together in this investigation with Juan E. Monteverde from Monteverde & Associates PC. If you own common stock in NetSuite and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit us at www.faruqilaw.com/N or contact Nadeem Faruqi, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330. You may also contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341. Contact: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP 685 Third Avenue, 26th Floor New York, NY 10017 Attn: Nadeem Faruqi, Esq. [email protected] Toll Free: (877) 247-4292 Phone: (212) 983-9330 Attorney Advertising. (C) 2016 Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We are happy to discuss your particular case. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120119/MM38856LOGO SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Related Links http://www.faruqilaw.com "Our guests know what it takes to be the life of the party, so it was easy to trust our online fans to come up with something festive and creative for our new cocktail," said Amanda Corral, Head of Digital Marketing with On The Border. "You could see people really having fun with this contest, and getting excited to try the new drink at their local OTB restaurant. We think guests will enjoy ordering The Mango Mariachi as much as they enjoyed naming it." The winning name submission by Ray Osborne, of Denver, CO, was chosen from hundreds of entries for its clever creativity that reflects both the lively spirit of the On the Border brand and the zesty unique taste of the cocktail itself. Made with Herradura Silver Tequila, the top-shelf cocktail is a vibrant blend of mango syrup, sweet and sour mix, orange juice, and Sprite plus an orange slice garnish. Now that it's been officially named, the cocktail will remain available at all participating On the Border locations for its regular price of $8.99. But, just like a wandering mariachi band, it won't stick around forever. Guests will only be able to sip Mango Mariachis until Labor Day, so fans should visit their favorite local OTB location to get in on this party while it lasts. About On The Border On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand, offering an extensive menu of great-tasting, classic and contemporary Mexican food, like sizzling mesquite-grilled fajitas, and Margaritas as big and bold as the border itself. On The Border is owned by Border Holdings, LLC, with more than 150 restaurants in 34 states, Puerto Rico, Asia and the Middle East. Follow and 'like' On The Border on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnTheBorderMexicanGrillandCantina, and @OnTheBorder on Twitter. For more information, visit www.ontheborder.com. Contact: Jessica Chacoff 888.869.7899 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160728/394037 SOURCE On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina Related Links http://www.ontheborder.com PUNE, India, August 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest report on nitrocellulose market available at AskLinkerReports.com is titled "Global Nitrocellulose Industry 2016 Market Research Report" and spreads across 160 pages analysing the market and companies worldwide. The Global Nitrocellulose Market Research Report 2016 analyses manufactures and provides information by capacity, production, price, cost, production value, product picture and specification and also provides contact information. Complete report on nitrocellulose market analysing major companies and supported with table and figures is available at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/3443-nitrocellulose-market. The Global Nitrocellulose Industry 2016 Market Research Report attempts to present a comprehensive study of the market for Nitrocellulose across the world during the period from 2016 to 2020. On the basis of an analysis of the driving forces, restraints, current as well as upcoming trends, opportunities, and future prospects of the global Nitrocellulose market. The report analyzes the worldwide Nitrocellulose market on the basis of various market parameters such as the type of product available in this market, their application of Nitrocellulose, and the regional distribution. The region analysed are North American, Europe and Asia etc., and the main country including United States, Germany, Japan and China etc. The performance of each of the segments has also been discussed in this report. The production chain, the price and the profit generated in the global Nitrocellulose market are the key factors; the report has considered determining the attractiveness of this market. The production volume, manufacturing capacity, and the cost structure incurred have also been taken into consideration by market experts while performing the analysis. In report, all the significant factors impacting the global Nitrocellulose market has been quantitatively as well as qualitatively evaluated to provide a comparative analysis of this market. The major enterprises functional in the worldwide Nitrocellulose market have also been analyzed, using various analytical tools such as feasibility analysis, investment return analyses, and SWOT analysis to understand and present the competitive landscape of this market. The main objective of this research study is to assist players, consultants, and stakeholders operating in the global market for Nitrocellulose to create crucial strategies and make rewarding decisions for the expansion of their businesses. Order a Copy of nitrocellulose market report at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/contacts/purchase/3443. The report including six parts, the first part mainly introduced the product basic information; the second parts mainly analyzed the Asia Nitrocellulose market; the third part mainly analyzed the North American Nitrocellulose industry; the fourth part mainly analyzed the Europe Nitrocellulose industry; the fifth part mainly analyzed the market entry and investment feasibility; the sixth part was the report conclusion chapter. 2016 Market Research Report on Nitrocellulose Industry - Major Points from Table of Contents Part I Nitrocellulose Industry Overview Part II Asia Nitrocellulose Industry Part III North American Nitrocellulose Industry Part IV Europe Nitrocellulose Industry Analysis Part V Nitrocellulose Marketing Channels and Investment Feasibility Part VI Global Nitrocellulose Industry Conclusions Explore other reports on chemical market at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/category/chemical-market-research. About Us: AskLinker Reports is an aggregator of market research and industry intelligence reports providing data analysis of sectors including chemical, medical, machinery, food, energy, automotive, environmental protection, transportation, electric power, light industry, petroleum, electronics and other categories. These reports are by AskLinker Research team backed by research institutions as well as senior, expert researchers. Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. Tel: +1-888-391-5441 [email protected] Connect With Us: G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/100522247534014319619 Twitter: https://twitter.com/AskLinker Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AskLinker-1406292919396252/ RSS / Feeds: http://www.asklinkerreports.com/feed SOURCE AskLinker Reports CHANTILLY, Va., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Notal Vision, Ltd., a privately-held ophthalmic company that introduced ForeseeHome, the first home-based monitoring system for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan Orr, OD, to Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs. Dr. Orr brings more than 19 years of ophthalmic and retina strategy, development, and operational experience to Notal Vision. "We are delighted to welcome Susan to the Notal Vision executive team," commented Quinton Oswald, Chief Executive Officer of Notal Vision. "Her broad ranging expertise will undoubtedly play an instrumental role in enhancing and driving the strategy for ForeseeHome, as well as future clinical development programs. I am confident Susan's contributions will build on our momentum as we enter a pivotal phase in Notal Vision's growth." Prior to joining Notal Vision, Dr. Orr served as Leader of Global Medical Affairs, Strategy, and Search & Evaluation for the Ophthalmology franchise at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson. During her tenure, Dr. Orr was involved in the creation of a retina medical affairs capability and led evaluation of clinical programs, as well as future pipeline development and strategic alignment. Prior to Janssen, Dr. Orr held several key leadership positions in business development, marketing, and research & development during her 17-year tenure at Alcon, a Novartis company. Susan received her Doctorate of Optometry from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and was in private practice for 10 years. "Notal Vision is a true pioneer in AMD early detection and I'm honored to be joining this cutting-edge organization," said Dr. Orr. "I have tremendous respect for Quinton Oswald and his leadership team, and look forward to collaborating with such a talented group of people and the ophthalmic community to advance this technology. Regular telemonitoring to detect disease progression at its earliest stage is integral to the increasing need for patient-centric, outcomes-based medicine. ForeseeHome is the only home-based Medicare-covered technology that has demonstrated the ability to detect choroidal neovascularization (CNV) earlier than standard care methods in a large NEI-sponsored trial, allowing for timely treatment and subsequent preservation of vision. Recent analyses of long-term AMD trials indicate that early detection of disease progression results in superior visual outcomes, reinforcing the importance of frequent observation to identify CNV. This technology offers patients and physicians the unprecedented ability to monitor disease progression in a way that is truly revolutionary." About Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss and blindness in adults over age 50. The early stage of the disease, known as dry AMD, causes damage to the part of the retina called the macula, which is responsible for detailed central vision tasks like reading, driving and facial recognition. Patients with dry AMD may progress to the wet form of AMD, in which blood vessels form and may leak fluid and blood onto the retina. Several studies indicate that early detection of warning signs of disease progression provides patients the best chance to start therapy and maintain good vision and a better quality of life. About ForeseeHome AMD Monitoring Program ForeseeHome Monitoring uses a technology known as preferential hyperacuity perimetry (PHP) to detect pattern defects across 500 points in the central 14 of a patient's retina. Over 1 million tests have been performed using the ForeseeHome device. The test, which takes about 3 minutes per eye is simple to perform, and results are automatically transferred to the Notal Vision monitoring center and are available to the patient's eye doctor through a secure website. When a statistically significant change is detected on a patient's test, Notal Vision sends a prompt to the doctor to schedule a follow up appointment. To learn more, visit http://www.foreseehome.com About Notal Vision Notal Vision was founded by two ophthalmologists, and is committed to providing retina specialists with innovative, home-based, technology solutions that support visual health in patients with AMD. The company's ForeseeHome device is the first FDA-cleared home telemonitoring device that detects and characterizes visual distortion in AMD patients as an aid to monitoring progression to choroidal neovascularization. To learn more, visit http://www.foreseehome.com/about-notal.html SOURCE Notal Vision, Inc. Related Links http://www.foreseehome.com CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ocean Tomo announced today the creation of Ocean Tomo Investment Group, LLC, an independent licensed broker dealer under federal and state securities law. Ocean Tomo Investment Group provides technology-rich companies with holistic corporate advisory, investment banking and capital raising services. Director Ryan Zurek, who holds series 7 FINRA registration, joins Andrew W. Carter and James A. Trueman in operating the subsidiary of Ocean Tomo. Mr. Zurek, commenting on the uniqueness of Ocean Tomo Investment Group, explains, "Our capabilities as a broker dealer allow us to fill a void in traditional investment banking by bringing advisory, investment banking and capital raising services to the intellectual property community. Intellectual Property (IP) is an underutilized asset class that requires specific expertise to understand and extract value, and the formation of Ocean Tomo's broker dealer allows us to leverage decades of IP expertise in a new capacity to better serve the needs of our clients." Ocean Tomo CEO, James E. Malackowski presents the importance of understanding the value of intangible assets as value drivers in many transactions when he noted, "Over the past 35 years, the United States and developed world economies have experienced an economic inversion transforming from manufacturing into tangible asset-lite, innovation-based economies. This transformation is one of the most underexploited themes in contemporary economics, finance and investing." James A. Trueman adds, "Building upon Ocean Tomo's success within the intellectual property transaction marketplace, successfully closing hundreds of transactions where disruptive technology has played a key role, with cumulative transaction value in excess of $650 million, the Investment Group Subsidiary enhances and complements our current service offerings by executing capital strategies for clients of the firm." Driven by our ability to understand the value of intangible assets, Ocean Tomo Investment Group provides advisory, investment banking and capital raising services on behalf of our clients. We are committed to working with entities public and private, small and large, investor or strategic to optimize the value of this important asset class. Ocean Tomo Investment Group provides capital raising services through our network of third party investors. About Ocean Tomo Ocean Tomo, the Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc firm, provides financial services related to intellectual property and intangible assets including financial expert testimony, valuation, strategy consulting, investment advisory, innovation management consulting and transaction brokerage. Our Opinion, Management, and Advisory Services are built upon more than two decades of experience valuing intellectual property in the most rigorous of venues State, Federal and international courts. Our financial, market and technical experts provide a unique understanding of the contributory value of proprietary innovation. This is the cornerstone of our business. This insight permeates every practice. Collectively, Ocean Tomo professionals have: Executed over 750 engagements involving IP worth in excess of $10 billion ; ; Successfully closed transactions where disruptive technology played a key role, with cumulative transaction value in excess of $650 million ; ; Conducted over 250 valuation engagements and 300 financial damages expert testimony engagements. Ocean Tomo assists clients corporations, law firms, governments and institutional investors in realizing Intellectual Capital Equity value broadly defined. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Contact: Kristi L. Stathis Ocean Tomo [email protected] +1 773 294 4360 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394257LOGO SOURCE Ocean Tomo Related Links http://www.oceantomo.com CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to helping sell homes, some brokers love open houses. Others avoid them if possible. There is agreement, however, that open houses offer lots of useful information to homebuyers. Visiting several open houses is an ideal way for buyers to dip their toes into the local housing market, contends Paul Booth of RE/MAX 10 in Palos Park, Ill. "When folks start house hunting, what they want often isn't clear to them, and open houses can help clarify their thinking. That's especially true with couples because while both may agree it's time to move, they may not have a shared vision of their new home. Buyers need to vocalize what they want to each other and to their Realtor, and visiting open houses helps that happen," Booth said. Going to open houses is a good way to learn the lingo of real estate and helps buyers understand which features they prefer in a home, while offering a chance to see and learn about different geographic areas, he noted. "Buyers also should understand that for the broker who holds an open house, there are two objectives," explained Donna Glazer of RE/MAX Enterprises in Downers Grove, Ill. "The first is to expose the property to possible buyers. The second is to meet potential clients. So, if you are looking for a broker to help with your home search, going to open houses can be a good way to check out some candidates." While everyone is welcome at an open house, there is correct etiquette for attending an open house. Here's a brief list of open house tips from Matt Pittman of RE/MAX Achievers, Lombard, Ill. Don't just walk in unless the home is clearly marked as an open house. Knock or ring the bell if you don't see an Open House sign. Once inside, if no one greets you immediately, walk through the house toward the kitchen and look for the broker who is hosting the event. If you don't find the broker, look for a sign-in sheet, and use it. If you're working with a broker who isn't with you, include that information on the sign-in sheet. Ask the hosting broker if it is OK for you to walk through the home on your own. That is usually the case, but occasionally, a homeowner will insist that all visitors be escorted. Unless indicated otherwise, feel free to go into every room in the house, turn on lights and even open the closets to assess storage capacity. However, respect the privacy of the homeowner. Don't open drawers or inspect personal possessions. If you want to see how a fixture operates, such as the furnace, shower or hot tub, ask permission first. However, it's OK to turn on a sink faucet if you want to check the water pressure. When going to an open house, keep in mind that the broker can be a great source of information, noted Gail Bergstrom of RE/MAX At Home in Rolling Meadows, Ill. "The broker can answer not only your questions about the home, but also about recent sales in the area, local schools, and a variety of other valuable details for a buyer new to the area," she said. Bergstrom also offers two other etiquette tips. She urges visitors not to take food or drink into an open house and to think twice about bringing small children. Viewing a home without distractions created by children is the better choice. However, if bringing the kids is unavoidable, parents should always accompany them during the visit. "At one open house I held, someone even insisted on bringing their dog," she recalled. "They told me they couldn't buy a home without the dog's approval, so I let the dog have a look." RE/MAX agents consistently rank among the most productive in the industry. In 2015, RE/MAX Northern Illinois agents averaged 18 transaction sides. RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989 and is continually growing. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network, with headquarters in Elgin, Ill., consists of more than 2,250 sales associates and 106 independently owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of residential and commercial brokerage services. Its mobile real estate app, available for download at www.illinoisproperty.com, provides comprehensive information about residential and commercial property for sale in the region. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX, a global real estate organization with 104,000+ sales associates in 90+ nations. Contact: Stephen Johnson RE/MAX Northern Illinois 847-428-4200 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394613LOGO SOURCE RE/MAX Northern Illinois Related Links http://www.illinoisproperty.com WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the closing of Democratic and Republican national conventions, the Organization of Iranian-American Communities-US (OIACUS), as the largest, most active and enduring grass root organization of Iranian-Americans in the United States, calls on the Iranian-Americans to actively and enthusiastically participate in the 2016 elections. OIAC-US considers these elections as one of the most historic and consequential elections since its inception. Iranian-Americans have benefited from long held values that have been enablers of our success in America and motivate our continued interest in our native land's disposition. We recognize America is facing both challenges and opportunities in many areas such as the criminal justice system, education, immigration, the economy, the environment, foreign policy, and science and innovation. Our native land, Iran, meanwhile, continues to see escalated human rights violations, systematic and systemic suppression of women and youth, terror and crimes in the name of Islam, and harassment and censorship of journalists and press. OIAC US believes it is the Iranian-Americans' civic and moral obligation to contribute to solutions and as such must have a voice in the 2016 elections. The diverse political views amongst the OIAC-US members are indeed our strength. We take pride and celebrate all of our local and national efforts during the primary elections. We will take the same energy, focus, and enthusiasm to the general elections. We are, however, unified in the belief that democracy and human rights in Iran are imperative to the national security of America and peace in the Middle East and beyond. OIAC-US takes pride in its duty to address the promotion of a democratic secular and non-nuclear government in Iran; founded on the respect for human rights, gender equality, religious and ethnic tolerance, as wells as social, economic justice, and security for America. By launching its nationwide effort, OIAC-US will encourage Iranian-Americans to fulfill their civic duty through active engagement in the 2016 general elections to help inform candidates of our communities' policy priorities. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160712/389600LOGO SOURCE Organization of Iranian American Communities - U.S. (OIACUS) "I am so grateful to John for his leadership and all he has done for our organization and helping to identify a successor like Oscar," said Wright. "I'm especially thankful for John's willingness to allow for an extended transitiongiving us the chance to continue to tap his invaluable knowledge as he returns to semi-retirement." Raposo brings to UWNYC decades of experience in global finance and operations across industrial, consumer and financial servicesin both the public and private sectors. Most recently, Oscar served as Managing Director of Finance for the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a $1.6BN revenue enterprise. Prior to joining DTCC, Raposo had a distinguished 20-year career at General Electric, where he held various senior global finance and operational roles, including divisional CFO for GE's Components Business. "Oscar brings tested strategies for success and a track record of taking on complex assignments that deliver financial results. I couldn't be more excited to have such an accomplished professional join us in our work," added Wright. Raposo's appointment aligns with UWNYC's accelerated expansion of its bold goal, which defines its work for the next decade. By 2025, UWNYC will help 50,000 New Yorkers in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty make meaningful and measurable progress toward the pivotal milestone of self-sufficiency. UWNYC will leverage the successes of its programs to ultimately achieve citywide policy and system changes to reach all low-income New Yorkers. Raposo has a history of partnering with business leaders, improving and growing global businesses, developing strong finance teams and driving business performance. He has served on operating, investment, technology, compliance and diversity committees of organizations, is an avid supporter of philanthropic organizations and is committed to contributing his significant talents to UWNYC's mission. "United Way of New York City's vision is true to my passion for community change," said Raposo. "I look forward to bringing my experiences to UWNYC and helping to drive its mission forwardimpacting NYC's most-challenged communities." For inquiries, contact Lesleigh Irish-Underwood at 212-251-2461 or at [email protected]. About United Way of New York City United Way of New York City (UWNYC) has been a trusted partner to government, corporations, and community-based organizations for nearly 80 years. Serving low-income New Yorkers, UWNYC's collective impact approach enables the diagnosis of neighborhood challenges and the design of solutions to expand education, financial stability, and health opportunities. UWNYC then deploys resources and volunteers while also driving policy change that is guided by measured results. UWNYC envisions caring communities where all individuals and families have access to quality education and the opportunity to lead healthy and financially secure lives. Learn more at www.unitedwaynyc.org. Contact: Lesleigh Irish-Underwood212-251-2461 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394599 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141023/154035LOGO SOURCE United Way of New York City Related Links http://www.unitedwaynyc.org HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) will participate in more than a dozen National Night Out events across the state this year, reaching thousands of young people, parents and community leaders and spreading a message against underage and dangerous drinking. "Each year, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, through its Bureau of Alcohol Education, reaches out to millions of people across the state to talk about the dangers of underage and dangerous drinking. Participating in National Night Out events is an excellent way to meet with children and their parents and drive home a critically important message," said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. "We're proud to be a part of these wonderful community events." Over the past several years, the PLCB has participated in National Night Out events at dozens of locations statewide by distributing materials on PLCB programs, offering coloring sheets and bookmarks for children and providing informational brochures about the dangers of alcohol. On Tuesday, August 2, PLCB team members will join National Night Out events at: Willow Park , 25th and Market streets, Camp Hill , Cumberland County 6 PM to 8 PM ; , 25th and Market streets, , ; Logan Park , Logan Rd., Carroll Township ( Dillsburg ), York County 5 PM to 9 PM ; , Logan Rd., ( ), ; Roof Park, 599 Lewisberry Rd., Fairview Township , York County 5 PM to 9 PM ; , ; George Park , 300 Nyes Rd., Lower Paxton Township , Dauphin County 6 PM to 9 PM ; , 300 Nyes Rd., , ; Target store parking lot, 2250 Chemical Rd., Plymouth Meeting , Montgomery County 5:30 PM to 9 PM ; , ; Campbelltown Volunteer Fire Co., 2818 Horseshoe Pike, Palmyra ( South Londonderry Township ), Lebanon County 6 PM to 9 PM ; Volunteer Fire Co., 2818 Horseshoe Pike, ( ), ; Downtown Bedford , Bedford County 6 PM to 8:30 PM ; , ; Adams Ricci Park , 100 E. Penn Dr., Enola ( East Pennsboro Township ), Cumberland County 6 PM to 8 PM ; , 100 E. Penn Dr., ( ), ; Broomall Fire Co., 10 N. Malin Rd., Broomall ( Marple Township ), Delaware County 5 PM to 8 PM ; Fire Co., 10 N. Malin Rd., ( ), ; Mackenzie Park , Church & Bullock streets, West Conshohocken Borough 6 PM to 9 PM ; , Church & Bullock streets, ; Vanatta Park , S. 48th St. (4800 block of Derry St.), Swatara Township , Dauphin County 6 PM to 9 PM ; , S. 48th St. (4800 block of Derry St.), , ; Recreation Park, 108 Montgomery Ave., Lewistown , Mifflin County 5:30 PM to 8 PM . Also, the PLCB will participate in a National Night Out event that will be held at Latrobe Memorial Stadium in Latrobe, Westmoreland County, on Tuesday, August 9, from 5:30 PM to 8 PM. National Night Out, "America's Night Out Against Crime," began in 1984 as an effort to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. National Night Out is held annually on the first Tuesday of August. The program, now in its 33rd year, has grown since it started, with more than 38 million people in about 16,000 communities in all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian communities and military bases worldwide are expected to participate in 2016. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board works to educate the public about the dangers of underage and dangerous drinking through a variety of avenues, including a poster contest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, a free annual alcohol educational conference, the creation and distribution of a wide range of educational materials and training and technical assistance for organizations working to address the issues related to irresponsible consumption. The PLCB also provides millions of dollars in alcohol education grants to communities, educational institutions and law enforcement agencies. The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide and licenses more than 20,000 beverage alcohol producers and retailers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups and licensees. Taxes and store profits totaling more than $14.5 billion since the agency's inception are returned to Pennsylvania's General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania's schools, health and human services programs and law enforcement and public safety initiatives across the state, among other things. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit www.lcb.state.pa.us. MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn Kelly, 717-303-8522 SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Related Links http://www.lcb.state.pa.us By the number of views, the five most popular interviews on the PPAHS YouTube channel are: #5 Patient Safety Interview - Opioid-Induced Respiratory Compromise Can Be Prevented This interview features Cindy and Brian Abbiehl, whose 18-year old daughter, Amanda, died after receiving opioids to manage her pain - "As parents of a teenage daughter, our worst fears were that our daughter would become pregnant, take drugs, or drink and drive. Never did we imagine that our daughter would go into a hospital with an infection, be hooked to a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump to manage her pain, and never come out alive; but this is exactly what happened." (http://www.promisetoamanda.org/amandas-story/). To listen to this interview, please click here. #4 Patient Safety Interview - Return on Investment of Continuous Electronic Monitoring: Interview with Eyal Zimlichman, MD Eyal Zimlichman, M.D., MSc, who is Deputy Director General and Chief Quality Officer at Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital, discusses research showing the benefits of the return on investment of continuously electronically monitoring of patients receiving opioids. Dr. Zimlichman says, "maybe ten years from now, we'll be seeing continuous monitoring on every bed in the hospital. It's industry's responsibility and ours as researchers to find the right technology for the right setting." To listen to this interview with Dr. Zimlichman, please click here. #3 Patient Safety Interview - Avoiding Respiratory Depression During Conscious Sedation: An Interview with Richard Kenney, RRT According to Richard Kenney, MSM, RRT, NPS, ACCS, RCP (Director, Respiratory Care Services, White Memorial Medical Center), White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles has experienced a "better than fifty percent reduction in calls of rapid responses." To listen to this interview with Mr. Kenney, please click here. #2 Patient Safety Interview - 6 Nursing Lessons to Avoid Respiratory Compromise: Interview with Pamela Parker, BSN, RN, CAPA In this interview with Pamela Parker, BSN, RN, CAPA discusses the death of her 17-year old son, Logan. Logan had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with elements of central sleep apnea. He underwent surgery to open his airway. He tragically died of opioid-induced respiratory depression. Ms. Parker discusses Logan's death and lessons she has learned from it. To listen to this interview with Ms. Parker, please click here. #1 Patient Safety Interview - 5 Keys to Reducing Harms from Opioids: ECRI's 2016 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns This interview features a discussion with ECRI Institute's Patient Safety Analyst, Stephanie Uses, PharmD, MJ, JD. ECRI recently released the 2016 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations. Of ECRI's top 10 patient safety concerns, inadequate monitoring for respiratory depression has the greatest likelihood of preventable harm. This occurs when the patient receives opioids and is not monitored effectively and sufficiently. ECRI says that inadequate monitoring for respiratory depression in patients receiving opioids poses the greatest risk to patients and assigned it a risk map of 80. To listen to this interview with Ms. Uses, please click here. About Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to promote safer clinical practices and standards for patients through collaboration among healthcare experts, professionals, scientific researchers, and others, in order to improve health care delivery. For more information, please go to www.ppahs.org Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5xiuUaIykM Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131024/CG03341LOGO SOURCE Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Related Links http://www.ppahs.org NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Porter Novelli (PN), a global public relations leader, announced multiple senior hires across its global Health and Wellness Practice. The agency is responding to its growing work with clients around patient engagement and advocacy. The newest hires will deliver diversity, depth and breadth of healthcare experience that will be an incredible asset for clients and the team. "We've seen increased demand for our smart, specialized health and wellness talent and offerings," said Paul George, executive vice president, partner and global director of health and wellness, Porter Novelli. "Hiring strategically across regions allows us to continue to deliver an integrated approach to all clients." In just the last few months, new hires have been added to many of the agency's key global offices. Maura Bergen joins Porter Novelli in the New York headquarters as executive vice president, U.S. pharmaceuticals. She previously worked at Cohn & Wolfe, where she was a senior leader in the healthcare practice. Bergen also worked in-house at Novartis, managing several brands and overseeing agency relationships. Her tenure in the industry includes clients such as Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda. Brian Thompson also joins the agency's New York office as a senior vice president. Prior to Porter Novelli, Brian was Vice President at Feinstein Kean Healthcare, an Ogilvy company, where he led all of the firm's Pfizer Vaccines business. Shelly Spoeth is a senior vice president and the practice lead for health and social impact in the agency's Atlanta office. Before joining PN, Shelly managed multiple contracts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on behalf of Washington D.C.-based agency Hager Sharp. Veronica Gonzalez began leading Porter Novelli's health and wellness team as practice leader at the end of last year. She previously spent time at both Jeffrey Group and Cohn & Wolfe, working on clients such as Mead Johnson Nutrition, Merck, Novartis and Johnson and Johnson. Danielle Friskes joins Porter Novelli as account director, healthcare from Edelman, where she was an associate director. She will lead the agency's health and wellness practice in the Netherlands with a focus on expanding the region's pharmaceutical reach. Olalla Loureiro joins Porter Novelli's Madrid office as account director from Atrevia, where she was a director in the healthcare practice. Her career previously included roles as a communications consultant for the Spanish trade association, Famma-Cocemfe, and the Spanish Psychiatry and Mental Health Foundation. Rachael Crowell joins Porter Novelli's Canada office as a vice president, where she oversees major client portfolios such as Pfizer EpiPen, P&G Personal Health Care and the Canadian Hemophilia Society. Rachael has led mandates at Weber Shandwick and MSL for Roche Canada, Novartis, Celgene, Johnson & Johnson, as well as the Canadian Diabetes Association, Heart & Stroke Foundation Canada and the Healthy Grains Institute. Veronica Barranco will lead the healthcare practice in Brazil starting on August 1st. She is in charge of accounts including: Roche Pharma, Roche Diagnostics and GSK Vaccines. Veronica will lead all growing efforts - prospecting new clients and accelerating organic growth with current clients. Previously, Veronica was an account director at Edelman where she led consumer, health and tourism teams. In addition, PN London has created a new role for Lisa O'Sullivan as director of the European region health and wellness client service to support the regional healthcare practice leads. Lisa will be partnering with the practice leads to help accelerate growth for their practices as well as lead marketing and thought leadership activities for the PN European region network. Lisa will work closely with Nicole Yost, head of the London healthcare practice, who has contributed to significant client growth since joining the agency in 2015. "We are so pleased to broaden the global health and wellness team at Porter Novelli. Over several years, we have made pointed talent decisions to extend the efficacy and reach of this practice," said Brad MacAfee, global CEO, Porter Novelli. "Our strong global leadership and the new hires will aid us in refining current strategies, engaging our clients creatively, and continuing to lead in the health and wellness space." About Porter Novelli Porter Novelli is a global public relations agency built on a rich heritage of marketing for social good. We've been motivating people to change deeply ingrained behaviors rooted in cultural and social norms for more than 40 years. Porter Novelli is a different kind of agencyand we recognize, respect and champion companies with the spirit, drive and tenacity to do things differently. We like taking on big challenges, and even bigger challengers, and we seek out clients who feel the same wayclients who have the conviction to tell their own story, and the courage to innovate from who they have been into who they know they can be. For additional information, please visit www.porternovelli.com. Porter Novelli is a part of the DAS Group of Companies. About Omnicom Public Relations Group Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and eight specialist agencies in public affairs, marketing to women, fashion, global health strategy and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,000 public relations professionals in more than 330 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Contact: Amy Marriott Porter Novelli [email protected] 404-995-4537 SOURCE Porter Novelli Related Links http://www.porternovelli.com ATLANTA, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS) ("we", "our", the "Company" or "Preferred Apartment Communities") today reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. Unless otherwise indicated, all per share results are reported based on the basic weighted average shares of Common Stock and Class A Units of the Company's operating partnership ("Class A OP Units") outstanding. "We are pleased with our second quarter 2016 results and especially pleased with the quality of the assets we continue to add to our portfolio" said John A. Williams, Preferred Apartment Communities' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Williams added, "We believe our portfolio growth leaves us well positioned to meet or exceed our goals for 2016." Second Quarter 2016 The Company reported net loss attributable to common stockholders under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, for second quarter 2016 of $(9,239,588), or approximately $(0.40) per share, compared to net loss attributable to common stockholders for second quarter 2015 of $(3,679,421), or approximately $(0.17) per share. The increase in the second quarter net loss was primarily driven by additional depreciation and amortization expense of approximately $10.0 million and additional real estate taxes of approximately $3.2 million, both resulting from the growth of the Company described in more detail below. Second quarter net loss was also increased by additional (a) acquisition costs of approximately $1.0 million; (b) insurance, professional and other expenses of approximately $0.3 million related to the extension of the management agreement; and (c) general and administrative costs of approximately $0.7 million. The Company reported Normalized Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders, or NFFO, for second quarter 2016 of $7,593,567, or $0.31 per share, compared with NFFO for second quarter 2015 of $6,027,898 or $0.27 per share. This represents an increase of approximately 26.0% in NFFO and an increase of approximately 14.8% in NFFO per share. The second quarter NFFO increase was primarily driven by the growth of the Company as described in more detail below. NFFO is calculated by beginning with Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders, or FFO, as defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or NAREIT, and making certain adjustments to FFO, which are either not likely to occur on a regular basis or are otherwise not representative of the Company's ongoing operating performance. The Company reported Adjusted Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders, or AFFO, for second quarter 2016 of $7,399,071, or $0.31 per share, compared with AFFO for second quarter 2015 of $6,652,938, or $0.30 per share. This represents an increase of approximately 11.2% in AFFO and a 3.3% increase in AFFO per share. As with NFFO, the second quarter AFFO increase was primarily driven by the growth of the Company as described in more detail below, offset by higher amortization costs from acquisitions and increased capital expenditures and leasing costs. AFFO is calculated by beginning with NFFO and adjusting for certain items that the Company believes by their nature are not comparable from period to period or tend to obscure the Company's actual operating performance. The items adjusted are discussed below in more detail. The Company reported FFO for second quarter 2016 of $4,330,394, or $0.18 per share, compared with FFO of $4,213,904 for second quarter 2015, or $0.19 per share. This represents an increase of approximately 2.8% in FFO and a (5.3)% decrease in FFO per share. As with NFFO and AFFO, the second quarter FFO increase was primarily driven by the growth of the Company as described in more detail below, offset by the additional acquisition costs, insurance, professional and other expenses, and general and administrative costs described above. In addition, FFO per share was negatively affected by additional weighted average shares of Common Stock and Class A OP Units outstanding for the second quarter. For second quarter 2016, there were 24,212,009 basic weighted average shares of Common Stock and Class A OP Units outstanding, compared to 22,496,023 basic weighted average shares of Common Stock and Class A OP Units outstanding for second quarter 2015, an increase of approximately 7.6%. At June 30, 2016, the Company had outstanding: (1) 23,723,168 shares of Common Stock, including 30,990 shares of restricted Common Stock, and (2) 886,168 Class A OP Units. NFFO, AFFO and FFO are all calculated after deductions for all preferred stock dividends. A reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders to NFFO, AFFO and FFO is included in the Supplemental Financial Data Report attached to this press release on the Company's website and is available using the following link: http://investors.pacapts.com/download/2Q16_Earnings_and_Supplemental_Data.pdf. The Company reported total revenues for second quarter 2016 of $45,853,944, compared to total revenues for second quarter 2015 of $24,088,827, an increase of approximately $21.8 million, or approximately 90.4%. The increases in NFFO, AFFO and revenue were primarily due to the growth of the Company which included: (1) a full quarter of operating results from the twelve multifamily communities and the five grocery-anchored retail shopping centers acquired in last three quarters of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, which included additional rental revenue and additional operational expenses; (2) a full quarter of income from additional real estate loans that were originated in last three quarters of 2015 and first quarter of 2016; (3) a partial quarter of income from additional real estate loans that were originated in second quarter 2016 and (4) a partial quarter of operating results from two multifamily communities and seven grocery-anchored retail shopping centers acquired in second quarter 2016, whereas second quarter 2015 operating results did not reflect the effects of the these new investments. However, the increases in second quarter 2016 were partially offset by the payoff of four of our real estate loans in connection with our acquisition of the underlying projects in second quarter 2015 and first quarter 2016. Multifamily Same Store Financial Data The Company presents same store operating results for the Company's multifamily communities that have been owned for at least 15 full months, enabling comparisons of the current reporting period to the prior year comparative period. The Company excludes the same store operating results of properties for which construction of adjacent phases have commenced (the Company holds a real estate loan partially supporting a third phase of the Summit Crossing multifamily community, which is excluded as well). For the periods presented, same store operating results consist of the operating results of our Stone Rise, Lake Cameron, Ashford Park, McNeil Ranch Enclave at Vista Ridge, Stoneridge Farms at Hunt Club, Vineyards, Avenues at Cypress, and Avenues at Northpointe multifamily communities. For the Company's same store communities, rental revenues increased 4.2%, total revenues increased 4.7% and operating expenses increased 5.8% (primarily driven by a 16.5% increase in property taxes) during second quarter 2016, all compared to second quarter 2015, resulting in a 3.7% increase in Same Store NOI. Same Store NOI is a supplemental non-GAAP financial measure. A reconciliation of Same Store NOI to net income (loss) is included in the Supplemental Financial Data Report, which is attached to this press release on the Company's website and is available using the following link: http://investors.pacapts.com/download/2Q16_Earnings_and_Supplemental_Data.pdf. Total Assets and Leverage As of June 30, 2016, the Company's total assets, on a GAAP basis, were approximately $1.8 billion compared to approximately $0.9 million as of June 30, 2015, an increase of approximately $0.85 billion, or approximately 93.3%. This growth was driven almost entirely by the acquisitions and new loans described above. At June 30, 2016, the Company's leverage as measured by the ratio of its debt to the undepreciated book value of its total assets was approximately 56.9%. Capital Markets Activities The Company's registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-183355) (the "Follow-On Registration Statement"), was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on October 11, 2013. This registration statement allows us to offer up to a maximum of 900,000 Units, with each Unit consisting of one share of Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock and one Warrant to purchase up to 20 shares of Common Stock (the "Follow-On Offering"). The price per Unit is $1,000. The Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock ranks senior to the Company's Common Stock with respect to payment of dividends and distribution of amounts upon liquidation, dissolution and winding up. The Units are being offered by International Assets Advisory, LLC, the dealer manager for the Follow-On Offering, on a "reasonable best efforts" basis. The Follow-On Offering commenced sales on January 1, 2014, immediately following the December 31, 2013 expiration of the earlier registration statement on Form S-11, as amended (File No. 333-176604), related to the Company's offering of up to 150,000 Units (the "Primary Series A Offering"). The Follow-On Offering will terminate on October 11, 2016, as the Company exercised its one-year extension option, unless earlier terminated by us. The Company intends to invest substantially all the net proceeds of the Follow-On Offering in connection with the acquisition of multifamily communities, other real estate-related investments (including the acquisition of retail shopping centers) and general working capital purposes. During second quarter 2016, we issued and sold 101,569 Units resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $101 million. In addition, during second quarter 2016, we issued 616,800 shares of common stock pursuant to the exercise of warrants issued in these two offerings, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $6.4 million. On June 9, 2015, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-211924) (the "Third Series A Registration Statement"). This registration statement, once effective, will allow us to offer up to a maximum of 2,000,000 Units, with each Unit consisting of one share of Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock and one Warrant to purchase up to 20 shares of Common Stock (the "Third Series A Offering"). In addition, because the Company filed the Third Series A Registration Statement, the Company may extend the Follow-On Offering until the earlier of the effective date of the Third Series A Registration Statement or 180 days after October 11, 2016 pursuant to SEC Rule 415(a)(5) and (a)(6). On July 18, 2016, the Company filed a prospectus for its registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-211178) to issue and sell up to $150 million of Common Stock from time to time in an "at the market" offering (the "ATM Offering") through JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, FBR Capital Markets & Co, and Canaccord Genuity Inc, as its sales agents. The Company intends to use any proceeds from the ATM Offering to repay outstanding amounts under the operating partnership's $70.0 million revolving credit facility and its $35.0 million term loan facility and for other general corporate purposes, including making investments in accordance with the Company's investment objectives. Dividends Quarterly Dividends on Common Stock and Class A OP Units On May 5, 2016, the Company declared a quarterly dividend on its Common Stock of $0.2025 per share for second quarter 2016. This represents a 12.5% increase in our common stock dividend from our second quarter 2015 common stock dividend of $0.18 per share, and an annualized dividend growth rate of 10.9% since June 30, 2011, the first quarter end following our initial public offering in April 2011. The second quarter dividend was paid on July 15, 2016 to all stockholders of record on June 15, 2016. In conjunction with the Common Stock dividend, the Company's operating partnership declared a distribution on its Class A OP Units of $0.2025 per unit for second quarter 2015, which was paid on or around July 15, 2016 to all Class A OP Unit holders of record as of June 15, 2016. Monthly Dividends on Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock The Company declared and paid monthly dividends of $5.00 per share on its Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock, which totaled approximately $9.4 million for the three-month period ended June 30, 2016 and represents a 6% annual yield. Multifamily Physical and Average Economic Occupancy For the three-month period ended June 30, 2016, the Company's multifamily average occupancy was 94.7%. The Company defines "multifamily average occupancy" as market rent reduced by vacancy losses expressed as a percentage. All our multifamily properties are included in this calculation except for properties which are not yet stabilized, which we define as properties having first achieved 93% physical occupancy (Citilakes was not yet stabilized at the beginning of the second quarter), properties which are owned for less than the entire reporting period (Avalon Park), and properties which are undergoing significant capital projects or are adding additional phases (Summit Crossing, Stone Creek, Sandstone Creek and Baldwin Park). Retail Occupancy As of June 30, 2016, our retail portfolio was 94.4% leased. We define percent leased as the percentage of gross leasable area that is leased, including lease agreements that have been fully executed which have not yet commenced. 2016 Guidance: The Company does not provide guidance on net income (loss) per share. The Company is actively adding properties and real estate loans to its real estate portfolio and the specific timing of the closing of acquisitions is difficult to predict. Such activity by nature can cause material variation in reported acquisition costs, depreciation and amortization expense and interest revenue. Since net income (loss) per share is calculated net of acquisition costs and depreciation and amortization expense, net income (loss) results can fluctuate widely. For this reason, the Company is unable to reasonably forecast this measure. The Company currently projects NFFO to be in the range of $1.25 - $1.29 per share for the full year 2016. The Company currently projects total revenues to be in the range of $180 million - $205 million for the full year 2016. Conference Call and Supplemental Data Preferred Apartment Communities will hold its quarterly conference call on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its second quarter 2016 results. To participate in the conference call, please dial in to the following: Live Conference Call Details Domestic Dial-in Number: (800) 860-2442 International Dial-in Number: (412) 858-4600 Company: Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 Time: 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) The live broadcast of Preferred Apartment Communities' second quarter conference call will be available online, on a listen-only basis, at the company's website, www.pacapts.com, under "Investors" and then click on the "Upcoming Events" link. A replay of the call will be archived on Preferred Apartment Communities' website under Investors/Audio Archive. Preferred Apartment Communities also produces a Supplemental Financial Data package that provides additional information regarding the Company's overall financial position. This Supplemental Financial Data is considered an integral part of, and is attached to, this earnings release and is also available on the Company's website at http://investors.pacapts.com/download/2Q16_Earnings_and_Supplemental_Data.pdf, or by contacting Leonard A. Silverstein in Investor Relations at (770) 818-4100. Non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release. The non-GAAP financial measures include FFO, NFFO, AFFO and Same Store NOI. The definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures are summarized below. The Company believes that these measures are helpful to investors in measuring financial performance and comparing such performance to other REITs. Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders ("FFO") Analysts, managers and investors have, since the first real estate investment trusts were created, made certain adjustments to reported net income amounts under U.S. GAAP in order to better assess these vehicles' liquidity and cash flows. FFO is one of the most commonly utilized Non-GAAP measures currently in practice. In its 2002 White Paper on Funds From Operations, which was most recently revised in 2012, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or NAREIT, standardized the definition of how Net income/loss should be adjusted to arrive at FFO, in the interests of uniformity and comparability. The NAREIT definition of FFO (and the one reported by the Company) is: Net income/loss: excluding impairment charges on and gains/losses from sales of depreciable property; plus depreciation and amortization of real estate assets and deferred leasing costs; and after adjustments for the Company's proportionate share of unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Not all companies necessarily utilize the standardized NAREIT definition of FFO, so caution should be taken in comparing the Company's reported FFO results to those of other companies. The Company's FFO results are comparable to the FFO results of other companies that follow the NAREIT definition of FFO and report these figures on that basis. The Company believes FFO is useful to investors as a supplemental gauge of our operating and cash-generating results. FFO is a non-GAAP measure that is reconciled to its most comparable GAAP measure, net income/loss available to common stockholders. Normalized Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders ("NFFO") Normalized FFO makes certain adjustments to FFO, which are either not likely to occur on a regular basis or are otherwise not representative of the Company's ongoing operating performance. For example, since the Company is acquiring properties on a regular basis, it incurred substantial costs related to such acquisitions, which are required under GAAP to be recognized as expenses when they are incurred. The Company adds back any such acquisition and pursuit costs, including costs incurred in connection with obtaining short term debt financing for acquisitions and beginning January 1, 2016, amortization of loan coordination fees, to FFO in its calculation of NFFO since such costs are not representative of our fund generating results on an ongoing basis. The Company also adds back costs incurred related to the extension of our management agreement with our Manager, realized losses on debt extinguishment and any non-cash dividends in this calculation. NFFO figures reported by us may not be comparable to those NFFO figures reported by other companies. We utilize NFFO as a measure of the operating performance of our portfolio of real estate assets. We believe NFFO is useful to investors as a supplemental gauge of our operating performance and is useful in comparing our operating performance with other real estate companies that are not as involved in ongoing acquisition activities. NFFO is a non-GAAP measure that is reconciled to its most comparable GAAP measure, net income/loss available to common stockholders. Adjusted Funds From Operations Attributable to Common Stockholders and Unitholders ("AFFO") AFFO makes further adjustments to NFFO results in order to arrive at a more refined measure of operating and financial performance. There is no industry standard definition of AFFO and practice is divergent across the industry. The Company calculates AFFO as: NFFO, plus: non-cash equity compensation to directors and executives; amortization of loan closing costs, excluding costs incurred in connection with obtaining short term financing related to acquisitions; depreciation and amortization of non-real estate assets; net loan fees received; and deferred interest income received; less: non-cash loan interest income; cash paid for pursuit costs on abandoned acquisitions; cash paid for loan closing costs; amortization of acquired real estate intangible liabilities; and normally-recurring capital expenditures and capitalized retail direct leasing costs. AFFO figures reported by us may not be comparable to those AFFO figures reported by other companies. We utilize AFFO as another measure of the operating performance of our portfolio of real estate assets. We believe AFFO is useful to investors as a supplemental gauge of our operating performance and is useful in comparing our operating performance with other real estate companies. AFFO is a non-GAAP measure that is reconciled to its most comparable GAAP measure, net income/loss available to common stockholders. Same Store Net Operating Income The Company uses same store net operating income as an operational metric for properties the Company has owned for at least 15 full months, enabling comparisons of those properties' operating results between the current reporting period and the prior year comparative period. The Company defines net operating income as rental and other property revenues, less total property and maintenance expenses, property management fees, real estate taxes, general and administrative expenses, and property insurance. The Company believes that net operating income is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for a REIT's operating real estate because it provides a measure of the core operations, rather than factoring in depreciation and amortization, financing costs, acquisition costs, and other corporate expenses. Net operating income is a widely utilized measure of comparative operating performance in the REIT industry, but is not a substitute for its closest GAAP-compliant measure, net income/loss. About Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. is a Maryland corporation formed primarily to acquire and operate multifamily properties in select targeted markets throughout the United States. As part of our business strategy, we may enter into forward purchase contracts or purchase options for to-be-built multifamily communities and we may make real estate related loans, provide deposit arrangements, or provide performance assurances, as may be necessary or appropriate, in connection with the development of multifamily communities and other properties. As a secondary strategy, we may acquire or originate senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or mezzanine debt secured by interests in multifamily properties, membership or partnership interests in multifamily properties and other multifamily related assets and invest not more than 20% of our assets, subject to any temporary increase unanimously approved by our board of directors, in other real estate related investments such as grocery-anchored shopping centers, senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or mezzanine debt secured by interests in grocery-anchored shopping centers, membership or partnership interests in grocery-anchored shopping centers and other grocery-anchored shopping center related assets as determined by our manager as appropriate for us. At June 30, 2016, the Company was the approximate 96.4% owner of Preferred Apartment Communities Operating Partnership, L.P., or the Operating Partnership. Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commencing with its tax year ended December 31, 2011. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. As a general matter, forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, guidance, goals, objectives, future performance and business. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "should," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates," "projects," "intends," "believes," "goals," "outlook" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release and in our Supplemental Financial Data are based upon our historical performance, current plans, estimates, expectations and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. The inclusion of this forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which cannot be predicted with accuracy and some of which might not even be anticipated. Future events and actual results, financial and otherwise, may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: our business and investment strategy; our projected operating results; our guidance and goals; estimates relating to our ability to make distributions to our stockholders in the future; availability of qualified personnel; local and national market conditions and trends in our industry; demand for and lease-up of apartment homes, supply of competitive housing product, and other economic conditions; availability of debt and/or equity financing and availability on favorable terms; changes in our asset values; our ability to maintain our qualification as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes; and economic trends and economic recoveries. Additional discussions of risks, uncertainties and certain other important information appear in our publicly available filings made and to be made with the SEC, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, which we intend to file later this month, and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 filed with the SEC on March 14, 2016 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 9, 2016, all under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." All information in this release is as of August 1, 2016. The Company does not undertake a duty to update forward-looking statements, including its projected operating results. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company may, in its discretion, provide information in future public announcements regarding its outlook that may be of interest to the investment community. Additional Information The SEC has declared effective the registration statement (including prospectus) filed by the Company for each of the offerings to which this communication may relate. Before you invest, you should read the final prospectus, and any prospectus supplements, forming a part of the registration statement and other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the Company and the offering to which this communication may relate. In particular, you should carefully read the risk factors described in the final prospectus and in any related prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference in the final prospectus and any related prospectus supplement to which this communication may relate. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the Company or its dealer manager, International Assets Advisory, LLC, with respect to the Follow-On Offering, and JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, with respect to the ATM Offering, will arrange to send you a prospectus if you request it by calling Leonard A. Silverstein at (770) 818-4100, 3284 Northside Parkway NW, Suite 150, Atlanta, Georgia 30327. The final prospectus for the Follow-On Offering, dated October 11, 2013, can be accessed through the following link: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1481832/000148183213000128/a424b3prospectus900m.htm The ATM Offering prospectus, dated July 18 2016, including a base prospectus, dated May 17, 2016, can be accessed through the following link: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1481832/000148183216000152/atmprospectus.htm Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160707/387211LOGO SOURCE Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. DULLES, Va., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has opened its newest cyber facility in Augusta, Georgia, to deliver a wide range of cybersecurity capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense, particularly the U.S. Army Cyber Command as it relocates to Fort Gordon. "Our DoD customers have come to rely on Raytheon to solve their toughest cybersecurity challenges from cyber hardening to computer network defense and training," said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business. "Building our presence in Augusta allows us to strengthen our partnership with the Army's new Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon." With more than three decades of experience in fighting the most serious cyber threats, Raytheon is expanding its reach by bringing its cyber expertise to the Fort Gordon area. The U.S. Army projects it will add 2,600 military, 900 civilian and 200 contractor jobs to Fort Gordon's workforce by 2019, and boost the post's student population by about 500 service members annually. Fort Gordon is one of only a few military installations projected to grow over the next few years. Besides being the home of the Army Signal Regiment, it will continue to build the Army Cyber branch and school. Raytheon is a recognized leader in providing full-spectrum cyber capabilities, including computer network defense, managed security services, cyber hardening, security operations centers, cyber ranges, vulnerability assessment and cyber training capabilities. The company has invested $3.6 billion in research and development and acquisitions over the last 10 years, developing renowned global talent and building resources in 24 cyber facilities serving customers in 80 countries. About Raytheon Raytheon Company, with 2015 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 94 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter @Raytheon. This document does not contain technology or Technical Data controlled under either the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. E16-YXKR. Media Contacts Raytheon Roela Santos +1.571.250.1106 [email protected] SOURCE Raytheon Company Related Links http://www.raytheon.com O'Brien's speech connected with an audience of people who scored in the top 2% of the general population on an IQ test. The audience related to O'Brien as he recalled his earlier years when he was bullied for being different. In his presentation, O'Brien showed that Emotional Quotient, or EQ, was just as important--if not more important--than IQ. "It was a steep learning curve," O'Brien said of his journey that would later inspire CBS's number one television drama, Scorpion , which is based off O'Brien's earlier life. A problem-solving expert and the CEO and founder of one of the world's most advanced consulting firms Walter O'Brien has worked with governments, international heads of state, the United States Navy, Air Force and Fortune 500 firms to design, implement and maintain computer security and information-technology systems. His firm helps ordinary people do extraordinary things through Concierge Up, a "think tank for hire" offered through Scorpion Computer Services. 2016 Annual Gathering Chairperson, LaRae Bakerink said, "Mr. O'Brien struck a note with our members. We appreciated the education he went through for EQ." Walter O'Brien said of MENSA's annual gathering that, "I felt right at home with people who can relate to my story personally. It was an honor to meet and speak with many of the members and hear about their journeys and opportunities." ABOUT WALTER O'BRIEN Walter O'Brien is the founder and CEO of Scorpion Computer Services, Inc., and CEO of Scorpion Studios. He is the Executive Producer and the inspiration behind the hit CBS television drama, Scorpion, with over 26 million viewers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has certified Walter O'Brien as being a person of national interest to the United States and granted him an Extraordinary Ability EB 1-1 Visa. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, plus Navy and Air Force systems to deploy artificial intelligence that protects American military personnel. In addition he has worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies including the world's largest mutual fund, Fujitsu, Trados, Oracle Corporation, Baltimore Technologies and Critical Path. O'Brien serves as chairman or board member for Strike Force Solutions, Talentorum Alliance Houston Technology Center and Lawloop. O'Brien regularly donates his time to charities and the community in general to encourage all generations to celebrate intelligence. He is a frequent media commentator, public speaker and radio show guest. O'Brien provided the seed funding for TaxiWatch Kilkenny, a suicide prevention program that has saved 100 lives since its inception in 2015. Also in 2015 O'Brien contributed to the next XPRIZE selection as part of XPRIZE Visioneering. ABOUT AMERICAN MENSA "American Mensa is an organization open to anyone who scores in the top 2 percent on an accepted, standardized intelligence test. Mensa has more than 56,000 members in the United States and more than 110,000 members globally. Mensa strives to recognize and support intelligent people and their endeavors. For more information about Mensa, visit americanmensa.org/join or call (800) 66-MENSA." Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160731/394417 SOURCE Scorpion Computer Services Related Links http://scorpioncomputerservices.com GRAPEVINE, Texas, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Epson America, Inc., a leading supplier of value-added Point of Sale (POS) solutions, today announced at RSPA RetailNOW that SALIDO has certified the Epson TM-m30, TM-T88V and TM-U220 mobile POS printers for its unified, cloud-based restaurant management system and has joined the Epson EnvisionSM mSelect Partner Program. The joint solutions are available from SALIDO today. By using SALIDO, restaurants can get unprecedented insight into their operations and their customer base through its single-platform operating system, which allows hospitality businesses to control, analyze and leverage their critical data. For example, operators can easily create a list of the top 100 customers and their drinking habits or access real-time sales and labor data, which allows them to tailor their promotions and service accordingly. "At SALIDO we are creating a groundbreaking system that puts power in the hands of restaurant operators," said Matthew Gaines, SALIDO co-founder and director of product. "This process includes aligning with the right partners that offer the best resources available to us. The high-standard Epson POS solutions and the mSelect program support our vision for enabling customers to run profitable businesses." As a member of the Envision mSelect program, SALIDO will have access to a variety of tools and resources, including sales incentives, marketing and technical support, education and training opportunities. Sales benefits for instance can include sales support for developing business opportunities and closing critical sales, discretionary seed units, development samples, software support, and more. "SALIDO provides an excellent platform for restaurant management and together with our mobile POS solutions they can further enable businesses to manage the entire restaurant experience from the floor to the kitchen to the menu, and ultimately, customer relationships," said Tom Kettell, director Commercial Channel Sales, Epson America. "We are also very pleased to add SALIDO to our new mSelect partner program initiative and are confident that by giving them access to the comprehensive resources and support the program offers, they will be able to stay competitive while continuing to grow their business." Epson TM-m30 POS Receipt Printer The TM-m30 POS receipt printer offers the freedom to print 3" receipts from virtually any mobile device and/or desktop PC. Ideal for most environments, its modular casing can switch from a top-load to front-load configuration. It features simple integration with mobile POS environments, intuitive functionality and advanced connectivity and has the added convenience of only using one power source for mobile devices and printers, which is exclusive from Epson. The TM-m30 is the first printer of its kind designed exclusively for today's advanced POS environment. Epson TM-T88V Epson's mobile POS-friendly TM-T88V is a fast, reliable and easy to configure POS thermal printer that supports all the leading mobile operating systems including iOS, Android and Windows. It features fast printing up to 300mm/second, multiple ease-of-use features, dual interfaces and print options that reduce paper usage up to 30%. Epson TM-U220 Receipt/Kitchen Printer Epson's mobile POS-friendly TM-U220 impact receipt and kitchen/bar printers are compact, reliable and optimized for high-speed throughput. They work right out of the box with mobile POS applications and can print directly from iOS, Android and Windows devices. They feature two-color printing for exceptions, right-side-up printing and crisp, clean logo printing. About SALIDO SALIDO, a New York-based company, offers a restaurant operating system (rOS) that empowers hospitality businesses to control, analyze and leverage their critical data. Using a cloud-based, single-platform system, the SALIDO rOS offers point of sale, CRM, advanced reports, labor management and kitchen supply management. Together, these functions offer a full-stack system that enables businesses to manage the entire restaurant experience, from back-of-the-house operations to all consumer-facing aspects, ultimately building and managing customer relationships. www.salido.com About Epson America, Inc. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Long Beach, CA, Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. For over 40 years, Epson's advanced technology has been at work in millions of POS systems around the world. Today Epson's Business Systems Division continues to bring industry-leading, open architecture, smart technologies to the point of service. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (http://twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/EpsonAmerica). EPSON is a registered trademark and EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Envision is a service mark of Epson America, Inc. All other trademarks and/or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121130/LA21891LOGO SOURCE Epson America, Inc. Related Links http://www.epson.com RACINE, Wis., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, SC Johnson announced a donation of more than 500,000 OFF! Deep Woods Towelettes to the CDC Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The personal insect repellent will be provided to the CDC Foundation and disbursed through a variety of channels, including Zika prevention kits in U.S. territories as well as through other activities and events taking place in Puerto Rico. Donated OFF! Deep Woods product being loaded for shipment to organizations for distribution to those in need. "The people of SC Johnson are proud of the continuing partnership we've built with the CDC Foundation to help protect needy families in the U.S. and Puerto Rico from the mosquitoes that may carry Zika," said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. "We were honored to be the first company to respond to the CDC earlier this year. This new donation will help the CDC extend their efforts to help prevent this devastating disease, particularly for pregnant women." "SC Johnson is a vital partner to us in the Zika response," said Dr. Judith Monroe, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. "Through this generous and essential donation, we are able to help protect people who are at most risk for Zika." Earlier this year, SC Johnson sent an initial donation of 60,000 units of OFF! personal repellent, which contains DEET, to the CDC for Zika prevention kits that were targeted to help pregnant women in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. The kits included educational materials, products and tools to help prevent the contraction and transmission of Zika. Today's donation is the latest announcement in SC Johnson's ongoing efforts to provide up to $15 million in resources globally to help protect against mosquitoes this year. To date, more than $7 million of OFF! products and financial donations have been provided to organizations to aid in mosquito protection around the world, especially those regions with high risk of Zika virus and dengue fever outbreaks. In coordination with the CDC Foundation, SC Johnson supported the Zika Action Plan Summit held by the White House and the CDC on April 1. Donations have also been made to the American Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross, Feeding America, PSI, AmeriCares, the Rio de Janeiro-based Children's Health Association and the County of Hawaii Civil Defense Agency. SC Johnson is the world's largest manufacturer of insect repellent and household insecticides, including OFF!, Raid, Autan and Baygon. For 60 years, SC Johnson entomologists have studied insects at the Entomology Research Center in Racine, the largest private, urban entomology research center in the world. In their research, they create products consumers can trust to meet their pest control needs. For more information, please go to www.scjohnson.com/mosquitoes For more information on the CDC Foundation, please go to www.cdcfoundation.org/zika-response For downloadable materials and educational assets, please visit our media microsite About SC Johnson SC Johnson is a family company dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, pest control and shoe care, as well as professional products. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE, KIWI, OFF!, PLEDGE, RAID, SCRUBBING BUBBLES, SHOUT, WINDEX and ZIPLOC in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN, TANA, BAMA, BAYGON, BRISE, KABIKILLER, KLEAR, MR MUSCLE and RIDSECT. The 130-year-old company, which generates $10 billion in sales, employs approximately 13,000 people globally and sells products in virtually every country around the world. www.scjohnson.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394585 SOURCE SC Johnson Related Links http://www.scjohnson.com SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Seno Medical Instruments, Inc., the leader in improving the process of diagnosing breast cancer through the development of an opto-acoustic (OA) imaging device, today announced the appointment of Tammy Garcia as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Ms. Garcia previously served as the General Manager, Breast Imaging for GE Healthcare. Ms. Garcia brings more than 25 years of commercial and marketing leadership in medical devices and diagnostic imaging with a significant part of her passion and career focused on women's health and improving cancer detection. "Tammy's track record of success in commercializing new technologies will be invaluable as we move closer to bringing the Imagio breast imaging system to market," said Tom Umbel, CEO of Seno Medical. "We are very excited for Tammy to join our company as we prepare to launch our products in Europe early in 2017." During her 13-year tenure at GE Healthcare, Ms. Garcia held several leadership roles where she established commercial teams focused on double-digit growth in Orthopedics and Breast Imaging. Additionally, Ms. Garcia led the sales and marketing efforts in the launches of disruptive technologies with MAKO Surgical, an orthopedic robotic device and implant company, and InSightec, a MR-guided Focused Ultrasound non-invasive surgical therapy company. Ms. Garcia has an MBA from University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ. "I am thrilled to be joining the Seno Medical family--the creators of the revolutionary Imagio breast imaging system," said Ms. Garcia. "The Imagio opto-acoustic technology fuses functional and anatomical information real time, with the ultimate goal of improving the accuracy of cancer diagnosis non-invasively. This novel technology has the potential to give clinicians another tool in their arsenal to analyze a breast lesion, co-registering the functional/metabolic information with sonographic images. We believe this will provide the radiologist with more confidence to rule out malignancy without exposing patients to additional radiation. I can't wait to further expand this technology in Europe and eventually introduce this technology to patients and clinicians in the United States." The Imagio OA breast imaging system was designed to facilitate the identification of the two functional hallmarks of cancer: the presence of abnormal blood vessels (tumor angiogenesis) and the relative reduction in oxygen content of blood that occurs in cancer compared to benign masses and normal tissues. The technology used by the Imagio system is non-invasive and does not require patient exposure to contrast agents, ionizing radiation (x-ray) or radio-isotopes, which are required for other modalities that are capable of functional imaging, including MRI or positron emission tomography (PET). About Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based medical imaging company committed to the development and commercialization of a new modality in cancer diagnosis: opto-acoustic imaging. Seno's Imagio breast imaging system fuses opto-acoustic technology with ultrasound to generate functional and anatomical images of the breast. The opto-acoustic images provide a unique blood map in and around suspicious breast masses while the ultrasound provides a traditional anatomic image. Through the appearance or absence of the two hallmark indicators of cancer angiogenesis and deoxygenation Seno believes that the Imagio OA breast imaging system will be a more effective tool to help radiologists confirm or rule out malignancy than current diagnostic imaging modalities without exposing patients to potentially harmful ionizing radiation (x-rays) or contrast agents. To learn more about Seno Medical's opto-acoustic imaging technology and applications, visit www.SenoMedical.com. Media Contact Erich Sandoval Lazar Partners Ltd. Tel: +1 917-497-2867 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago area gynecologist, Dr. M. Susan Scanlon (http://www.thegynesguide.com/), author of "The Gyne's Guide for College Women: How to Have a Healthy, Safe and Happy Four Years," and host of the popular "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself" college prep workshops, says young women are not prepared for the safety, social and health issues they will face in college. According to the United States Justice Department, one in five college women will be the victim of a sexual assault or an attempted one. The first semester of college is known as the "red zone' a time when young women are most at risk. Dr. Scanlon says with better preparation, young women can cut their risk of sexual assault and other issues dramatically. "Just like they practice for the ACT and SAT, young women must practice safety and health before going to college," says Dr. Scanlon. "There are six things they should do before heading to college." Take a self defense class. It will make protecting yourself an instinct rather than a reaction Review a blood alcohol calculator website to learn your alcohol limit and stick to it. Load safety apps on your phone like Circle of 6 and Companion. Input the campus shuttle schedule and load a taxi app on your phone. Plan your contraception method before you are sexually active. Keep condoms in your purse to protect against STDs. Practice the power of the word no and other key phrases you can use to get yourself out of bad situations. Ask yourself what type of woman am I and what are my boundaries. Apply your personal values to the situations you will face in college. Dr. Scanlon leads a team of experts conducting interactive college prep workshops around the country for young women and their mothers. The workshops include self defense classes, mock scenarios with young men, information about alcohol, safety apps, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, dorm room workouts, stress management and healthy eating tips. "We give the young women strategies to navigate college in a safe and healthy way so these four years can be happy ones," says Dr. Scanlon. "Every year after the first semester in college, I treat patients and it is heartbreaking because many of the problems they are dealing with could have been avoided if they had been better prepared." Media Contact Anne Kavanagh, [email protected] (847) 682-3422. SOURCE Dr. M. Susan Scanlon Related Links http://www.thegynesguide.com MIAMI and DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits ("Southern Glazer's")the largest North American wine and spirits distribution companytoday announced the new state leadership appointments for the Central Region in Colorado, Missouri and Texas. Reporting to Mike McLaughlin, Central Region President for Southern Glazer's: Colorado Steve Noorlun has been named Executive Vice President, General Manager of Colorado. Noorlun has more than 30 years of experience in distilled spirits sales, and has been with the former Southern Wine & Spirits of America (Southern) since 1998. Since 2005, Noorlun served as Vice President, General Sales Manager for Southern of Colorado. Noorlun succeeds Richard Crossland, who was previously announced as Executive Vice President, General Manager of Indiana. Texas Matt Metz has been named Executive Vice President, General Manager of Texas. Metz has nearly 25 years of experience in distilled spirits sales, including spending two decades at Beam, Inc., in varying sales and strategy leadership positions. Metz joined the former Glazer's as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing in Texas in 2013. Reporting to Scott Westerman, Executive Vice President, General Manager of the North Central Sub Region for Southern Glazer's: Missouri Randy Myers has been named Senior Vice President, General Manager of Missouri. Myers has 30 years of experience in wine sales, since first starting in the industry at E&J Gallo in 1986 and holding various sales roles within the company. Myers joined the former Glazer's in 2007 and most recently served as Senior Vice President in Missouri. Commenting on these appointments, Brad Vassar, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer said, "Steve, Matt and Randyalong with the other state leaders of Southern Glazer'sare well-equipped to drive topline performance, while ensuring consistency and continuity of service for Southern Glazer's customers and suppliers throughout their respective states." McLaughlin added, "As a result of the recent combination between Southern and Glazer's, we are confident that the exemplary skills and long experience of the leaders we have in place will continue to strengthen our sales and commercial strategy efforts across the Central Region." About Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits is North America's largest wine and spirits distributor, and the preeminent data insights company for alcoholic beverages. The Company has operations in 44 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Canada, and the Caribbean, and employs more than 20,000 team members. Southern Glazer's urges all retail customers and adult consumers to market, sell, serve, and enjoy its products responsibly. For more information visit www.southernglazers.com. Press Contact: Lee Brian Schrager Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC Senior Vice President, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility Office: (305) 625-4171, ext. 1040 Mobile: (786) 417-5164 Email: [email protected] Cindy Haas Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC Senior Director, Public Relations Office: (305) 625-4171, ext. 1166 Mobile: (786) 498-7640 Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160718/390578LOGO SOURCE Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC Related Links http://www.southernglazers.com Hi-C experiments generate terabases of data to create high-resolution contact maps and to comprehensively map the loops that the genome forms when it folds up inside the nucleus of a cell. Identifying these loops is crucial to understanding genetic regulation, which could improve our understanding of genetic diseases or inform drug development. Juicer features a fully automated pipeline that allows users with little or no computational background to transform raw next-generation sequence data into genome-wide maps of looping. The DRAGEN hardware greatly accelerated the processing of the extensive datasets generated by the sequencing pipeline, with specific analysis time summarized in the table below. System Total Time to Process 1.5 Billion Paired-End Hi-C Reads (Hour: Minute) Amazon Web Services g2.8 x Large 8,906:11 Broad Univa Grid Engine 11,959:01 Rice PowerOmics 4,819:36 Rice PowerOmics + FPGA (DRAGEN) 608:59 In 2009, Dr. Aiden and collaborators at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and at UMass Medical School invented Hi-C, a method that produces a genome-wide measure of the probability of contact between pairs of loci. Hi-C combines high-throughput sequencing with earlier technologies, including Nuclear Ligation Assay and Chromosome Conformation Capture. In 2014, members of Dr. Aiden's team showed that it was possible to use Hi-C to create a genome-wide map of loops, in which the genome bends backward, bringing genes close to crucial regulatory elements that lie far away in one dimension. But there was a catch: even a single map requires billions of reads to generate. The researchers immediately recognized that new hardware solutions for analyzing massive sequencing datasets would be crucial to the fledgling field. In the current study, researchers tested Juicer by creating the deepest 3-D map to date, spanning over three terabytes of sequence data drawn from a single experimental condition. The team, led by Neva Durand, Ph.D., Muhammad Shamim, and Ido Machol, also benchmarked the performance of Juicer on four different cluster systems, including a system based on Edico's DRAGEN platform and IBM's Power8 architecture. The DRAGEN-based system yielded the fastest analysis times of all the systems tested. "The study published in Cell Systems describes our team's new, end-to-end system for analysis of 3-D genome sequencing data. It is the first system of its kind, making it possible to map the loops in a mammalian genome in a fully automated fashion," said Dr. Durand, a senior scientist at TC4GA and co-first author of the study. Mr. Machol, a co-author of the study, added, "When we ran our pipeline on a hybrid DRAGEN/Power system, the data analysis was 20-fold faster than running the pipeline on an industry standard cluster. That kind of difference opens the door to many analyses that would have been very impractical before." "Dr. Aiden and his team's application of DRAGEN to accelerate Juicer is a great example of DRAGEN's effectiveness in processing massive amounts of raw sequencing data in minimal time and without requiring any additional training or post-graduate degree. In addition, one DRAGEN/Power system replaces a cluster of servers, making for a very compact and economic bioinformatics solution," said Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Edico Genome. "We are continually working to optimize DRAGEN and expect the next version to be even faster than the speed we have already achieved." DRAGEN is highly reconfigurable, using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to provide hardware-accelerated implementations of genome pipeline algorithms, such as BCL conversion, compression, mapping, alignment, sorting, duplicate marking and haplotype variant calling. The flexible DRAGEN platform allows users to develop custom algorithms as well as refine and improve existing pipelines. Updated versions are made available for customers through simple remote downloads. Although pipelines for Hi-C data analysis exist, current solutions are not designed to annotate loops or process data at the terabase scale. Juicer features the ability to automatically annotate loops and contact domains, and is compatible with multiple cluster operating systems and with Amazon Web Services. Juicer is available at http://aidenlab.org/juicer/. "Given the dramatic acceleration that we observed, we are excited about the extraordinary potential of FPGA technology in 3-D genomics," said Mr. Shamim, who is co-first author of the study and currently working towards a M.D.-Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine. The Cell Systems paper can be found by visiting http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2016.07.002. Other contributors to this work include James T. Robinson, Jill P. Mesirov, and Eric S. Lander of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Suhas Rao and Miriam Huntley, from The Center for Genome Architecture. About Edico Genome Edico Genome has created the world's first bioinformatics processor designed to analyze next-generation sequencing data, DRAGEN. The use of next-generation sequencing is growing at an unprecedented pace, creating a need for a technology that can process this big data rapidly and accurately. Edico Genome's computing platform has been shown to speed whole genome data analysis from hours to minutes, while maintaining high accuracy and reducing costs, enabling clinicians and researchers to reveal answers more quickly. For more information, visit www.EdicoGenome.com or follow @EdicoGenome. About Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston is recognized as a premier academic health sciences center and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care. It is the only private medical school in the greater southwest and is ranked 20th among medical schools for research and 9th for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. Baylor is listed 20th among all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding and number one in Texas. Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals and jointly owns and operates Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, part of CHI St. Luke's Health. Currently, Baylor trains more than 3,000 medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, physician assistant and orthotics students, as well as residents and post-doctoral fellows. Follow Baylor College of Medicine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BaylorCollegeOfMedicine) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCMHouston). About the Aiden Lab and The Center for Genome Architecture at Baylor College of Medicine Directed by Erez Lieberman Aiden, The Center for Genome Architecture is a world leader in the study of 3-D genomics. In 2009, Dr. Aiden and colleagues introduced the Hi-C technology, the first method for sequencing entire genomes in 3-D. In 2014, researchers at TC4GA published the first reliable map of loops across the human genome. In 2015, researchers at TC4GA performed the first successful surgery on the human genome, changing how it is folded inside the nucleus of a cell by means of ultra-targeted DNA modifications. Their work has appeared on the cover of Nature and Science; the laboratory has also been recognized on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for its discoveries about the structure of DNA. For more information, visit www.tc4ga.com or follow @theaidenlab on twitter. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140716/127788 SOURCE Edico Genome Related Links http://www.edicogenome.com AAAS Retailer Initiative Following the enormous success of last year's book drive donation, Subaru retailers will once again partner with AAAS, a nonprofit organization that helps give children greater access to science books. For this year's Subaru Loves Learning initiative, participating Subaru retailers will be matched with local schools in need and will donate award-winning textbooks to help further promote science education. During the month, over 40,000 books will be donated by Subaru retailers. In addition, Subaru will proudly donate over 1,500 books to Camden, NJ students in need as part of its ongoing commitment to aid the local community of its future U.S. headquarters. AdoptAClassroom.org Partnership On average, teachers in the U.S. spend $600 of their own money each year on school supplies for their classroom and students. Subaru is continuing its support of AdoptAClassroom.org, a nonprofit organization that helps teachers access the supplies they need to succeed to educate today's youth. As part of the Subaru Loves Learning partnership, participating Subaru retailers will work with local schools and sponsor pre-packaged classroom supply kits from AdoptAClassroom.org. Each kit is outfitted to supply a classroom of 25 students, with the total initiative benefitting more than 300 teachers and more than 8,000 students nationwide. Throughout August, Subaru retailers will invite their customers to share the gift of knowledge in partnership with two worthy organizations. By simply signing a customized label for a donated book, taking a customized thank you note home to give to a special teacher or snapping and sharing a photo of the Subaru Loves Learning display, Subaru customers can make a positive impact on the education of young people in their local communities. This year alone, more than 50,000 students will benefit from nearly 300 participating Subaru retailers across the country. "Subaru Loves Learning is all about making the pursuit of knowledge as attainable as possible and we are proud to work alongside The American Association for the Advancement of Science and AdoptAClassroom.org to continue working towards that goal," said Thomas J. Doll, President and COO of Subaru of America, Inc. "We hope that through these programs, Subaru and our retailers nationwide can help provide students and teachers with the tools they need to educate and inspire the next generation." For information about Subaru Loves Learning and to find out more about the partners that Subaru supports, visit http://www.subaru.com/loves-learning. About Subaru Love Promise The Subaru Love Promise is a promise to do right by our community by partnering with nonprofit education, health, community, environment, and animal organizations - to set Subaru apart through our deeds and the deeds of our partners. To be unlike any other car company by doing what is right and good, just for the sake of doing it. About Subaru of America, Inc. Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts, and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants, and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information, visit media.subaru.com. About AAAS The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling, a digital, open-access journal, Science Advances, Science Immunology, and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert! (www.eurekalert.org), the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS. See www.aaas.org. About AdoptAClassroom.org AdoptAClassroom.org gives teachers a hand by providing much needed classroom supplies and materials to help their students learn and succeed. As an award-winning 501(c)(3), AdoptAClassroom.org makes it easy for individual donors and corporate sponsors to provide funding and support to K-12 classrooms in public, private and charter schools throughout the U.S. On average, teachers spend $600 of their own money each year to equip their classrooms - 20% of teachers spend more than $1000 annually. Since 1998 AdoptAClassroom.org has raised more than $28 million and benefited more than 2 million students throughout the U.S. AdoptAClassroom.org holds a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. For more information, or to adopt a classroom, please visit www.adoptaclassroom.org. Diane Anton Subaru of America, Inc. 856-488-5093 [email protected] Michael McHale Subaru of America, Inc. 856-488-3326 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394471 SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc. Related Links http://www.subaru.com SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Santa Clara County Superior Court Professional Employees Association (SCPEA) will protest outside a judicial conference where California's Chief Justice is scheduled to speak. The clerks will attempt to meet with the Chief Justice and present a letter pleading for her intervention to avoid a strike. Court clerks have gone 8-years without a pay increase and been negotiating for over 2-years while the court is spending over $200 million dollars on a new courthouse in San Jose that includes imported Italian marble. Impasse has occurred and a strike has been authorized by the membership. SCPEA represents over 350 court clerks. Who: Santa Clara County Superior Court Professional Employees Association Ingrid Stewart, President of SCPEA What: Protest at Judicial Conference attended by California Chief Justice and other judges from throughout California. When: Monday, August 1, 2016 7:00 AM-10:00 AM Where: Dolce Hayes Mansion 200 Edenvale Ave San Jose, CA 95136 Front Parking Entrance SOURCE The Santa Clara County Superior Court Professional Employees Association CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ted Rollins and TXG Capital have announced Carmaletta Hinson as the winner of their annual eco scholarship. Hinson graduated from Kenston High School and will be attending Case Western Reserve University located in Cleveland, Ohio in the fall. Hinson has plans to study biology and cognitive science and will receive $1,000 that may be used to assist with the cost of tuition, books or living expenses. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394165 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394166LOGO Ted W. Rollins, Co-Chairman, is a seasoned real estate ecopreneur with more than 30 years of experience in real estate investment banking, development, structured finance, start-up businesses and construction. He is focused on niche opportunity investing in both real estate and financial service sectors, particularly those that balance economic, environmental and social outcomes. Contact Ted Rollins, TXG Capital 9101 Southern Pine Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28273 Email http://tedrollinsecoscholars.com SOURCE TXG Capital Throughout the month of August, Texas de Brazil's domestic locations will provide guests the opportunity to donate money directly at the bottom of their check to the hospital. As an added incentive, the restaurant is providing gift certificates for future visits to guests who donate $5 or more. Texas de Brazil will join guests in making a contribution and will match donations up to $25,000. "St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases," stated Salim Asrawi, Chief Operating Officer of Texas de Brazil. "Thanks to its many individual contributors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Texas de Brazil is honored to support this cause, and provide our customers with an opportunity to contribute." For more than 50 years, St. Jude has helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 to 80 percent, and won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude also freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. No purchase is required to donate. Call your local Texas de Brazil for more information. About Texas de Brazil Texas de Brazil is an authentic churrascaria, featuring a continuous dining experience that blends together the unique culture of Brazil, with the generous hospitality of Texas. The menu features a vast selection of grilled meats, a 50-item gourmet salad area, an award-winning wine list and a-la-carte dessert selections. Founded in 1998 as a family-owned business, Texas de Brazil now has 46 domestic and international locations. Read more about the art of churrasco cooking in Churrasco: Grilling the Brazilian Way by Evandro Caregnato, Culinary Director, Texas de Brazil which is available at retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. For more information on Texas de Brazil, please visit http://www.texasdebrazil.com/. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160801/394577 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141030/155709LOGO SOURCE Texas de Brazil Related Links http://www.texasdebrazil.com "We pride ourselves on our fast, accurate communication and our knowledge of the local real estate market," said Young. "Our decision to become a Keller Williams Housefax PRO subscriber, supports our desire to deliver more value to homebuyers. I personally have witnessed how providing a Housefax Report can seal a deal, benefitting both buyers and sellers." Since 2012, tens of thousands of homebuyers have requested Housefax Reports, which contain property-specific information that helps buyers make an informed purchasing decision, such as building permit and loan history, fire incidents and nearby natural hazards. In a recent study, 30% of homebuyers purchased a home after viewing its Housefax Report. And when asked if Housefax played a role in their decision, another 68% said "yes." "We are proud to partner with Jennifer Young Homes, who was ranked one of the top 150 real estate teams by the Wall Street Journal," said Eddy Lang, CEO of Housefax. "Housefax was created to bring more transparency to the real estate industry. It's the cutting edge agents like Jennifer Young who believe in transparency and embrace it that are the most successful." About Jennifer Young Homes Founded in 2001, the Jennifer Young Homes Team is ranked as one of the Top 150 Teams by the Wall Street Journal. Jennifer also currently ranks as number one among over thousands of Keller Williams Realty agents in Virginia. Jennifer Young Homes is made up of a highly successful team, which operates in Fairfax County and sells homes everywhere in VA, DC and MD. We sell our listings for top dollar and offer a Guarantee Buy program. To learn more visit: http://www.searchfornorthernvirginiahomes.com/ About Housefax Founded in 2012, Housefax is a leading provider of residential property history reports for real estate consumers and industry professionals. Housefax offers instant access to property details, voluntary liens, building permit history, emergency incidents and natural hazards. Housefax PRO is a monthly subscription service designed to give industry professionals access to Housefax Property History Reports at preferred pricing. In February 2016, Housefax partnered with Keller Williams to create a customized version of Housefax PRO for Keller Williams associates. For more information and to view a sample report, visit http://housefax.com/kw/about Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXyGUs2Oik Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160217/334114LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160217/334115LOGO SOURCE Housefax Related Links http://housefax.com SAN LEANDRO, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNet Group, Inc. (NYSE: TNET), a leading provider of a comprehensive human resources solution for small to midsize businesses, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016. TriNet also announced the refinancing of its senior secured credit facilities on July 29, 2016. Second quarter highlights include: Total revenues increased 17% to $745.8 million , while Net Service Revenues increased 22% to $149.2 million , each as compared to the same period last year. , while Net Service Revenues increased 22% to , each as compared to the same period last year. Total WSEs at June 30, 2016 increased 8% from June 30, 2015 , to approximately 325,000. increased 8% from , to approximately 325,000. Net income was $12.3 million , or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $1.3 million , or $0.02 loss per diluted share, in the same period last year. , or per diluted share, compared to net loss of , or loss per diluted share, in the same period last year. Adjusted Net Income was $19.5 million , or $0.27 per diluted share, compared to Adjusted Net Income of $10.5 million , or $0.15 per diluted share, in the same period last year. , or per diluted share, compared to Adjusted Net Income of , or per diluted share, in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $42.6 million , a 72% increase from the same period last year. "I am pleased with our second quarter results," said Burton M. Goldfield, TriNet's President and CEO. "We delivered strong financial results and made further progress aligning our vertical sales channel and building bundled products tailored to select industries. Our differentiated vertical product offerings are resonating in a market in need of innovative solutions, and we believe we are well positioned for the second half of the year." TriNet's total revenues for the second quarter of 2016 increased 17% from the second quarter of 2015 to $745.8 million, while Net Service Revenues increased 22% from the second quarter of 2015 to $149.2 million. Net Service Revenues consisted of professional service revenues of $109.6 million and Net Insurance Service Revenues of $39.6 million. Net Insurance Service Revenues consisted of insurance service revenues of $636.3 million, less insurance costs of $596.7 million. Professional service revenues for the second quarter of 2016 increased 12%, and Net Insurance Service Revenues increased 63%, compared to the second quarter of 2015. Results for the second quarter of 2016 reflect a net increase of 23,091 WSEs since June 30, 2015 representing 8% growth. TriNet ended the second quarter with 471 Total Sales Representatives, down from 486 at the end of the second quarter of 2015, a decrease of 3%. At June 30, 2016, TriNet had cash and equivalents of $166.7 million and total debt of $476.8 million. On July 29, 2016, TriNet refinanced its tranche B term loan in a leverage-neutral transaction: $135 million principal amount of tranche B term loans outstanding at June 30, 2016 and maturing July 2017 were replaced with the same amount of tranche A-2 term loans maturing July 2019 pursuant to an Incremental Amendment to TriNet's Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. The $342 million of tranche A term loans outstanding at June 30, 2016 and the revolving credit facility were not modified. Additional details regarding the terms of the refinancing and a copy of the Incremental Amendment to the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement are provided in TriNet's Current Report on Form 8-K dated August 1, 2016, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earnings Conference Call and Audio Webcast TriNet will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) today to discuss its quarterly results and the outlook for the 2016 second half. TriNet encourages participants to pre-register for the conference call. Callers who pre-register will be given a unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the live operator. To pre-register, go to: http://dpregister.com/10090202. For those who would like to join the call but have not pre-registered, they can do so by dialing +1 (412) 317-5426 and requesting the "TriNet Conference Call." The live webcast of the conference call can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of TriNet's website at http://investor.trinet.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on this site for approximately one year. A telephonic replay will be available for one week following the conference call at +1 (412) 317-0088 conference ID: 10090202. About TriNet TriNet is a leading provider of a comprehensive human resources solution for small to midsize businesses, or SMBs. We enhance business productivity by enabling our clients to outsource their human resources, or HR, function to one strategic partner and allowing them to focus on operating and growing their core businesses. Our HR solution includes services such as payroll processing, human capital consulting, employment law compliance and employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans and workers compensation insurance. Our services are delivered by our expert team of HR professionals and enabled by our proprietary, cloud-based technology platform, which allows our clients and their employees to efficiently conduct their HR transactions anytime and anywhere. For more information, please visit http://www.trinet.com. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to TriNet's financial results as determined in accordance with GAAP are included at the end of this press release following the accompanying financial data. For a description of these non-GAAP financial measures, including the reasons management uses each measure, please see the section of the tables titled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures." Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains, and statements made during the above referenced conference call will contain, forward-looking statements including, among other things, TriNet's expectations regarding: the growth of its customer base, its ability to deepen its presence across a range of industry sectors, its ability to roll out additional product offerings as and when planned, its ability to make enhancements to its technology platform, its ability to execute on its vertical market strategy and penetrate the market for HR solutions for small to midsize businesses. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but are based on management's expectations as of the date hereof and assumptions that are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include: risks associated with the market acceptance of outsourcing the HR function, and the anticipated benefits associated with the use of a bundled HR solution; our ability to continue to expand our direct sales force and the efficacy of our sales and marketing efforts; our ability to gain new clients, and our clients' ability to grow and gain more employees; our ability to effectively acquire and integrate new businesses; the effects of seasonal trends on our results of operations; the unpredictable nature of our costs and operating expenses, in particular our insurance costs; changes to and our ability to comply with laws and regulations, including both those applicable to the co-employment relationship as well as those applicable to our clients' businesses and their employees; the continuing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including its application to the co-employer relationship; our ability to effectively manage our growth; the effects of increased competition and our ability to compete effectively; and our ability to comply with the restrictions of our credit facility and meet our debt obligations. Further information on risks that could affect TriNet's results is included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Commission on April 1, 2016, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Except as required by law, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. TriNet, Ambitions Realized and the TriNet logo are registered trademarks of TriNet. TriNet Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands, except share and per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Professional service revenues $ 109,593 $ 97,799 $ 221,996 $ 194,815 Insurance service revenues 636,253 542,208 1,256,789 1,070,770 Total revenues 745,846 640,007 1,478,785 1,265,585 Costs and operating expenses: Insurance costs 596,673 517,994 1,166,362 1,001,197 Cost of providing services (exclusive of depreciation and amortization of intangible assets) 44,034 37,672 89,739 74,042 Sales and marketing 43,800 41,119 92,508 78,743 General and administrative 18,951 15,801 46,601 31,265 Systems development and programming costs 6,457 7,633 12,846 14,858 Amortization of intangible assets 5,005 10,608 9,985 21,825 Depreciation 4,559 3,195 8,475 6,629 Total costs and operating expenses 719,479 634,022 1,426,516 1,228,559 Operating income 26,367 5,985 52,269 37,026 Other income (expense): Interest expense and bank fees (5,038) (4,764) (10,080) (9,968) Other, net 163 68 121 518 Income before provision for income taxes 21,492 1,289 42,310 27,576 Provision for income taxes 9,210 2,597 18,451 13,073 Net income (loss) $ 12,282 $ (1,308) $ 23,859 $ 14,503 Net income (loss) per share: Basic $ 0.17 $ (0.02) $ 0.34 $ 0.21 Diluted $ 0.17 $ (0.02) $ 0.33 $ 0.20 Weighted average shares: Basic 70,728,934 70,305,185 70,625,000 70,251,980 Diluted 72,319,992 70,305,185 72,022,065 73,090,962 TriNet Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands, except share and per share data) (Unaudited) June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 166,664 $ 166,178 Restricted cash 14,558 14,557 Prepaid income taxes 7,671 4,105 Prepaid expenses 12,922 8,579 Other current assets 2,049 1,359 Worksite employee related assets 947,571 1,373,386 Total current assets 1,151,435 1,568,164 Workers compensation receivable 39,803 29,204 Restricted cash and investments 112,807 101,806 Property and equipment, net 47,320 37,844 Goodwill 289,207 289,207 Other intangible assets, net 37,087 46,772 Other assets 18,817 19,452 Total assets $ 1,696,476 $ 2,092,449 Liabilities and stockholders' equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 16,629 $ 12,904 Accrued corporate wages 25,676 28,963 Current portion of notes payable and borrowings under capital leases, net 25,006 32,970 Other current liabilities 11,197 11,402 Worksite employee related liabilities 943,403 1,369,497 Total current liabilities 1,021,911 1,455,736 Notes payable and borrowings under capital leases, net, less current portion 447,399 460,965 Workers compensation liabilities 130,523 105,481 Deferred income taxes 54,815 54,641 Other liabilities 8,365 7,545 Total liabilities 1,663,013 2,084,368 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' equity: Preferred stock, $.000025 per share stated value; 20,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 Common stock, $.000025 per share stated value; 750,000,000 shares authorized; 70,500,720 and 70,371,425 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively 513,439 494,397 Accumulated deficit (479,680) (485,595) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (296) (721) Total stockholders' equity 33,463 8,081 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 1,696,476 $ 2,092,449 TriNet Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands) (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 Operating activities Net income $ 23,859 $ 14,503 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 17,919 27,944 Deferred income taxes 1,977 Stock-based compensation 13,905 8,803 Excess tax benefit from equity incentive plan activity (703) (17,673) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Restricted cash and investments (21,041) (13,413) Prepaid expenses and other current assets (5,033) (5,082) Workers compensation receivables (10,599) (5,083) Other assets 238 (14,509) Accounts payable 2,488 (35) Prepaid income taxes (2,863) 23,953 Accrued corporate wages and other current liabilities (719) (612) Workers compensation and other liabilities 25,792 25,532 Worksite employee related assets 425,815 796,897 Worksite employee related liabilities (426,094) (798,024) Net cash provided by operating activities 42,964 45,178 Investing activities Acquisitions of businesses (300) Purchases of restricted investments (14,959) Proceeds from maturities of restricted investments 24,998 Purchase of property and equipment (16,714) (10,349) Net cash used in investing activities (6,975) (10,349) Financing activities Proceeds from issuance of common stock on exercised options 2,220 4,639 Proceeds from issuance of common stock on employee stock purchase plan 2,304 2,723 Excess tax benefit from equity incentive plan activity 703 17,673 Repayment of notes payable and borrowings under capital leases (22,810) (35,325) Repurchase of common stock (16,459) (30,000) Awards effectively repurchased for required employee withholding taxes (1,485) (358) Net cash used in financing activities (35,527) (40,648) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 24 (109) Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 486 (5,928) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 166,178 134,341 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 166,664 $ 128,413 Key Operating Metrics We regularly review certain key operating metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance and make strategic decisions. Our key operating metrics for the periods presented were as follows: Three months ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, Key Financial and Operating Metrics 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Insurance Service Revenues (in thousands) $ 39,580 $ 24,214 $ 90,427 $ 69,573 Net Service Revenues (in thousands) $ 149,173 $ 122,013 $ 312,423 $ 264,388 Total WSEs 325,466 302,375 Total Sales Representatives 471 486 Non-GAAP Financial Measures We use Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted to provide an additional view of our operational performance. Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted are financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP. We define Net Insurance Service Revenues as insurance service revenues less insurance costs, which include the premiums we pay to insurance carriers for the health and workers compensation insurance coverage provided to our clients and WSEs and the reimbursements we pay to the insurance carriers for claim payments within our insurance deductible layer. We define Net Service Revenues as the sum of professional service revenues and Net Insurance Service Revenues. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), excluding the effects of our income tax provision, interest expense, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation. We define Adjusted Net Income as net income (loss), excluding the effects of our effective income tax rate, stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, non-cash interest expense, debt prepayment premium, and the income tax effect of these pre-tax adjustments at our effective tax rate. For purposes of our non-GAAP financial presentation, as a result of a 2015 increase in New York City tax rates and an increase in blended state rates, we have adjusted the effective tax rate to 42.5% for the periods ended June 30, 2016, from 40.5% for the periods ended June 30, 2015. Each of these effective tax rates exclude income tax on non-deductible stock-based compensation and discrete items including the cumulative effect of state law changes. Non-cash interest expense represents amortization and write-off of our debt issuance costs. We believe that the use of Net Insurance Service Revenues provides useful information as it presents a measure of revenues from our provision of insurance services to our clients that eliminates the cost to us of that insurance. We believe that Net Service Revenues provides a useful measure of total revenues for the two main components of our revenues calculated on a consistent basis. We believe that the use of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted provides additional period-to-period comparisons and analysis of trends in our business, as they exclude certain non-cash expenses. We believe that Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted are useful for our stockholders and board of directors by helping them to identify trends in our business and understand how our management evaluates our business. We use Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted to monitor and evaluate our operating results and trends on an ongoing basis and internally for operating, budgeting and financial planning purposes, in addition to allocating our resources to enhance the financial performance of our business and evaluating the effectiveness of our business strategies. We also use Net Service Revenues and Adjusted EBITDA in determining the incentive compensation for management. Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted are not prepared in accordance with, and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measurements required by GAAP. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. As non-GAAP measures, Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. In particular: Net Insurance Service Revenues and Net Service Revenues are reduced by the insurance costs that we pay to insurance carriers; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the amounts we paid in taxes or other components of our tax provision; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments; Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted do not reflect the non-cash component of employee compensation; Although depreciation and amortization of intangible assets are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized often will have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and Other companies in our industry may calculate these measures or similar measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, you should consider Net Insurance Service Revenues, Net Service Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share diluted alongside other financial performance measures, including total revenues, net income (loss) and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP. The table below sets forth a reconciliation of GAAP insurance service revenues to Net Insurance Service Revenues: Three months ended June 30, Change 2016 vs. 2015 Six Months Ended June 30, Change 2016 vs. 2015 2016 2015 $ % 2016 2015 $ % (in thousands, except percentages) Insurance service revenues $ 636,253 $ 542,208 $ 94,045 17% $ 1,256,789 $ 1,070,770 $ 186,019 17 % Less: Insurance costs 596,673 517,994 78,679 15% 1,166,362 1,001,197 165,165 16 % Net Insurance Service Revenues $ 39,580 $ 24,214 $ 15,366 63% $ 90,427 $ 69,573 $ 20,854 30 % The table below sets forth a reconciliation of GAAP total revenues to Net Service Revenues: Three months ended June 30, Change 2016 vs. 2015 Six Months Ended June 30, Change 2016 vs. 2015 2016 2015 $ % 2016 2015 $ % (in thousands, except percentages) Total revenues $ 745,846 $ 640,007 $ 105,839 17% $ 1,478,785 $ 1,265,585 $ 213,200 17 % Less: Insurance costs 596,673 517,994 78,679 15% 1,166,362 1,001,197 165,165 16 % Net Service Revenues $ 149,173 $ 122,013 $ 27,160 22% $ 312,423 $ 264,388 $ 48,035 18 % The table below sets forth a reconciliation of GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA: Three months ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 (in thousands) Net income (loss) $ 12,282 $ (1,308) $ 23,859 $ 14,503 Provision for income taxes 9,210 2,597 18,451 13,073 Stock-based compensation 6,508 4,883 13,905 8,803 Interest expense and bank fees 5,038 4,764 10,080 9,968 Depreciation 4,559 3,195 8,475 6,629 Amortization of intangible assets 5,005 10,608 9,985 21,825 Adjusted EBITDA $ 42,602 $ 24,739 $ 84,755 $ 74,801 The table below sets forth a reconciliation of GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted: Three months ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 (in thousands) Net income (loss) $ 12,282 $ (1,308) $ 23,859 $ 14,503 Effective income tax rate adjustment 76 2,075 469 1,905 Stock-based compensation 6,508 4,883 13,905 8,803 Amortization of intangible assets 5,005 10,608 9,985 21,825 Non-cash interest expense 849 804 1,624 2,021 Income tax impact of pre-tax adjustments (5,254) (6,599) (10,843) (13,223) Adjusted Net Income $ 19,466 $ 10,463 $ 38,999 $ 35,834 GAAP Weighted average shares of common stock - diluted 72,320 70,305 72,022 73,091 Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted $ 0.27 $ 0.15 $ 0.54 $ 0.49 SOURCE TriNet Group, Inc. Related Links http://www.trinet.com LAS VEGAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Inc. is pleased to announce the launch and immediate availability our new www.go2vanguard.com website. The primary objective with the website is to provide visitors with a simple method to learn and stay updated about Vanguard Integrity Professionals and our rich offering of cybersecurity solutions. The website is interactive and automatically adjusts to the viewing device. It also provides better access to the solutions we offer and the collateral our experts have developed related to those solutions. The site includes extensive product and detailed solution information to help customers understand Vanguard's complete range of cybersecurity solutions. Data Sheets, Solutions Briefs and Corporate Overviews work together to provide a comprehensive overview of Vanguard's capabilities across a wide range of industry verticals, including the "nation's critical infrastructure" Vanguard so proudly protects. The website highlights the foundation of the Vanguard Cybersecurity framework based on Vanguard Administration a powerful cybersecurity solution that automates processes, offers powerful reporting with real-time management and provides control over policy administration; saving time, resources and money. To meet todays need for comprehensive Enterprise Authentication, Vanguard delivers the most robust, scalable, modular authentication solution enabling enterprises to control and secure access to the entire IT infrastructure. Vanguard simplifies enterprise authentication and access control. When Compliance is critical Vanguard can help with Vanguard Audit & Compliance, an extensive audit and compliance solution, enabling configuration, adjustment and continuous monitor using the latest standards and data security policies to determine, isolate and ensure standards compliance. Created with the user experience firmly in mind, the website was designed using the latest web-development technology so it is compatible with the latest browsers and mobile devices. Additionally, customers and prospects will find fresh, new content, providing a much richer online experience with easy navigation and the ability to share with others, while assisting in the selection of powerful solutions designed for large enterprise cybersecurity. Prospects and customers can also stay up-to-date and informed with the latest on Vanguard and our industry leading cybersecurity education and training programs. "Vanguard is dedicated to continual improvement of our products and solutions and rapid innovation in cybersecurity. Our primary goal with the new website is to reflect the impact and value of our cybersecurity solutions especially when risk to critical systems is so great around the globe," said Brian Caskey, chief marketing officer at Vanguard. "We are excited to launch the new site and we hope that our customers and prospects will enjoy the new, innovative Vanguard experience." Key Takeaways Vanguard has an exciting new website, www.go2vanguard.com. New, fresh content including Data Sheets, Solutions Briefs, White Papers, Executive Summaries, Fast Facts and Corporate Brochures. Vanguard's new website supports a vast array of browsers and can be viewed by any computing platform, mobile device or tablet. About Vanguard Integrity Professionals Vanguard Integrity Professionals provides enterprise security software and services that solve complex security and regulatory compliance challenges for financial, insurance, healthcare, education, transportation and government agencies around the world. Vanguard provides automated solutions for Audit and Compliance, Operational Security, and Intrusion Management. The world's largest Financial, Insurance, Government Agencies and Retailers entrust their security to Vanguard Integrity Professionals. Vanguard is committed to protecting and securing the Cloud, z/OS Security Server and Enterprise environments. Vanguard provides 24/7/365 live customer support from the United States of America. z/OS is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151202/292653LOGO SOURCE Vanguard Integrity Professionals Related Links http://www.go2vanguard.com DALLAS, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertical Nerve, a leading data-driven optimization agency offering tailor-made digital marketing services receives designation of Premier Agency Status by Google. The exclusive Premier Google Partner badge is reserved only for Google's most valued agencies and is designed to recognize companies that are able to provide the highest quality services according to Google's best practices. Furthermore, achieving partner status means that an agency has demonstrated AdWords skill and expertise, delivered agency and client revenue growth, and sustained or grown their client base. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394191LOGO "Vertical Nerve is extremely proud to have earned Premier Google Partner status," says Tyson Kirksey, Chief Operating Officer at Vertical Nerve. "We help brands that struggle to generate traffic and build customer relationships. Our highly experienced team of certified digital experts develop cutting-edge strategies to help clients achieve overall growth. This certification awarded by Google is testament to that." In addition to being a Premier Google partner, Vertical Nerve is a Google Tag Manager Certified Partner, Google Analytics Certified Partner, Google Analytics 360 Authorized Reseller and Google AdWords Certified Partner. To inquire about Vertical Nerve analytics, search marketing and web development services visit verticalnerve.com or call 1-800-330-9450. About Vertical Nerve Vertical Nerve is a digital optimization agency helping clients acquire traffic and convert that traffic to leads and sales. The company's specialties include search engine marketing, website development and design, digital analytics, search engine optimization and conversion rate optimization. The dedicated team works to bring brands to people and people to brands. About Google's Premier Partner Program Google offers the Premier Partner badge to recognize leading agencies that are higher spending, meet additional certification and company performance requirements. Once an agency joins the free Google partner's program, it can qualify for Google Partner status. Achieving Partner status means that the agency has demonstrated AdWords skill and expertise, met AdWords spend requirements and delivered overall agency plus client revenue growth. Related Images image1.png image2.png Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqtC1XjOfV8 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Vertical Nerve Related Links http://www.verticalnerve.com OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Full Cycle Bioplastics has been awarded Think Beyond Plastic's highest honor: Most Innovative Business of 2016. Full Cycle was selected for their innovative approach to the conversion of food, agricultural, cardboard and paper wastes into a high performance and cost-competitive replacement for petroleum based plastics called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs naturally biodegrade in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and help solve the growing challenges of plastic and organic waste pollution. "Full Cycle is honored to receive this award. As a startup, it is important to externally test and validate our business model, and this is a great boost to our confidence that we are on the right path," said Andrew Falcon, Full Cycle's CEO. Think Beyond Plastic hosts a yearly competition in order to find and highlight innovations that can eliminate global plastic pollution. This year, the organization received 145 applications from 35 countries in Africa, Asia, the European Union, and North and South America. "Full Cycle Bioplastics' innovation is a true example of a circular economy application - an innovative material coupled with an innovative business model," said Daniella Russo, Founder and CEO of Think Beyond Plastic. Full Cycle will be participating in Think Beyond Plastic's startup accelerator. The program kicks off September 1, 2016 in San Francisco, CA. About Full Cycle Bioplastics: Full Cycle Bioplastics' patent pending biotechnology converts organic waste into polyhydroxyalkanoate biopolymers (PHAs). PHAs are compostable in marine, home and industrial environments, yet is a cost-competitive, high performance replacement for conventional, petroleum based polymers. Full Cycle licenses this technology to companies with large waste streams, who can then create the highest value from their waste by generating revenue, reducing costs, diverting waste from landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing plastic pollution. www.fullcyclebioplastics.com About Think Beyond Plastic: Think Beyond Plastic is dedicated to building and expanding the innovation eco-system with a focus on plastic pollution. It mobilizes and inspires broad-based innovation through its annual Innovation Competition and produces an annual Accelerator class for 10-20 startups delivering new materials, manufacturing, product design and end-of-life innovation. The organization has also produced numerous events on Capitol Hill focused on ending ocean plastic pollution and is actively working with the UN Environmental Programme to set guidelines for Green Chemistry initiatives that can transform the marine plastics and plastic pollution problems. www.thinkbeyondplastic.com Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Full Cycle Bioplastics Related Links http://www.fullcyclebioplastics.com A Wild Turkey fan, McConaughey first visited the lauded distillery a couple of years ago, which is only about a 20-minute drive from the University of Kentucky, the place where his parents first met. It was there at the distillery, high above the Kentucky River, that he was introduced to Jimmy and Eddie Russell, the Bourbon Hall of Fame father and son Master Distiller team who have worked at the Wild Turkey Distillery for 97 years collectively. The actor, whose intense and passionate portrayals can be seen in such work as "Dallas Buyers Club," "Interstellar," "True Detective," and the recent "Free State of Jones," was intrigued by the three-generation family behind the Bourbon and the untold story of a truly iconic American brand. "Wild Turkey has the history and qualities of a brand that depicts the dedication of someone to do something their own way even if that way isn't always the most popular," said McConaughey. "I want to help share their unique story, starting with a new ad campaign that I feel really captures the special essence of this brand while introducing itself like never before." McConaughey will first be seen today on the Wild Turkey YouTube channel in the short film which chronicles a visit to the Wild Turkey Distillery, as he bonds with three generations of Russells and explores what has made Wild Turkey a legend in the Bourbon business. That will be followed by McConaughey demonstrating his creative vision in a series of advertising spots, directing and starring in a global campaign slated to begin running in September. He will also be featured in a print campaign. Wild Turkey's new television advertising campaign will see McConaughey serving as a commercial creative director and behind-the-camera director for the first time in his illustrious career. "When making a movie, you have two hours to tell a story," remarked McConaughey. "Here I have 30 seconds to reintroduce the world to this authentic American brand that has helped shape an entire U.S. industry, Bourbon. It will be a very interesting and fun challenge." "I've spent more than 60 years doing what I love every single day. Everyone at Wild Turkey is passionate about making whiskey, and making it the right way, never wavering from what we thought was best," said Wild Turkey Master Distiller Jimmy Russell. "As we introduce a new generation to Wild Turkey, it was important to me to find someone who shares our passion and understands what makes Wild Turkey special. After spending time with Matthew at the distillery, I was impressed by how much he knew about Wild Turkey and how interested he was in telling the world more about us. It is incredible to think that an Oscar winner would want to help tell Wild Turkey's story, but like an extra scoop of ice cream on pecan pie, I will certainly take it." "It's a new era for Wild Turkey," added Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO at Gruppo Campari, owner of Wild Turkey, "We've made a significant investment into the brand over the last several years, as we've always strongly believed in the quality of the product and the special story behind the people who make it. With Matthew McConaughey now on board, we believe we are ready to share that story with the entire world." About Matthew McConaughey Texas native Matthew McConaughey is one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men. A chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer Don Phillips led him to director Richard Linklater, who launched the actor's career in the cult classic "Dazed and Confused." Since then, he has appeared in over 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion; and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist all the while sticking to his Texas roots and "jk livin" philosophy. 2014 was a game-changing year for McConaughey. For his riveting portrayal of Ron Woodruff in "Dallas Buyers Club," McConaughey received an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Gotham Award for Best Actor, the Best Actor Award at the Rome Film Festival as well as the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival. He also made the move to TV starring alongside Woody Harrelson in the HBO dramatic series "True Detective." The show was met by rave reviews from critics and fans alike and earned Matthew a Critics Choice and TCA Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series as well as an Emmy Nomination. Later that year he starred in "Interstellar," directed by Christopher Nolan, and also starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Next he will be seen in the upcoming Stephen Gangham directed, "Gold" as well as opposite Idris Alba in "The Dark Tower" based on the popular Stephen King novels. In 2008, Mr. McConaughey started The just keep livin Foundation (www.jklivinfoundation.org), which is dedicated to helping boys and girls transform into men and women through programs that teach the importance of decision-making, health, education, and active living. The Foundation has partnered with Communities in Schools (CIS) the nation's largest, non-profit, dropout-prevention organization in West Los Angeles to implement fitness and wellness programs in two large urban high schools. Through an afterschool program, they are able to give kids a healthy start in life and the promise of a healthy future. About Wild Turkey The Distillery for Wild Turkey Bourbon is located in Kentucky, situated on a deep limestone shelf on the Kentucky River. The shelf acts as a natural filter and provides the distillery with crystal clear water, vital to making such a high quality product. The whiskey is fermented for 72 hours. Wild Turkey features the legendary father and son Master Distilling team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell, who have 97 years of combined experience making bourbon. The famous Wild Turkey brand name first came about back in 1940 when distillery executive Thomas McCarthey took a few warehouse samples on a Wild Turkey hunting trip with a group of friends. The following year, his friends asked him for "some of that Wild Turkey whiskey" and the brand was born. Wild Turkey is distilled and put into new oak barrels at a much lower ABV than most bourbons. This results in a much richer flavor, as less is cooked out during the production process. Ageing in the highest quality new American oak barrels with the heaviest char available (the Number 4 "alligator" char), imparts a smooth flavor and deep amber color to the whiskey. Wild Turkey is one of only a few bourbons to use this expensive, deep char. The barrels are filled at the distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Website: wildturkey.com For Additional Information, Contact: Jared Ricardo Gruppo Campari Krista Tietjen Sunshine Sachs (415) 923-8732 (212) 691-2800 [email protected] [email protected] ABOUT GRUPPO CAMPARI Gruppo Campari is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Campari, Aperol, SKYY, Wild Turkey, Appleton and Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. The Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari owns 18 plants and 4 wineries worldwide and has its own distribution network in 19 countries. The Group employs approximately 4,000 people. The shares of the parent company, Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR IM), have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. For more information: http://www.camparigroup.com Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmZZNbUsyt8 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394330 SOURCE Wild Turkey Related Links http://wildturkeybourbon.com Dehradun/New Delhi, July 27 : The Uttarakhand government said on Wednesday that Chinese troops had been spotted within its territory on July 19 by local officials who were asked to return. Army sources however said the incident took place on July 22. The defence ministry however maintains that there are no incidents of "incursion" by Chinese troops and the "transgressions" occur due to different perception of borders. Senior state government officials said the incursion was spotted in Badahoti in Chamoli district. District Magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman told IANS that he had sent a report to "appropriate authorities" but refused to elaborate. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat also confirmed the incursion, saying he had reported the matter to the Union Home Ministry. "It is a serious matter. I am sure the central government would look into the issue," he added. Uttarakhand shares a 350-km-long boundary with China and incursions have been reported in the past too. Only last year some boys grazing cattle were beaten up by Chinese troops and asked to retreat. Sources said the administration sends teams to Badahoti, which lies in very tough terrain over 100 km from Joshimath, thrice a year -- twice in summer and once in winter. The area can only be reached on foot. A team of 19 government officials, led by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Yogendra Singh had on July 19 left for the "summer inspection". The team is said to have spotted the "presence of Chinese soldiers on the soil". When they engaged in eye-to-eye contact with the soldiers, the Chinese troopers asked them to leave and go back, an official said. The team retreated to Rimkhim and informed the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) teams posted there. They then informed the district magistrate who passed the information to the chief ministers office. The Chinese retreated to their own side after spending 40 minutes on Indian soil. The defence ministry has meanwhile maintained that there are no incidents of 'incursion' by the Chinese side, referring to different perceptions of boundary. Responding to questions in the Lok Sabha last week related to intrusion in Indian territory by Chinese troops, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said: "There have been no instances of intrusion by troops of China or Pakistan into Indian territory. "However, as there is no commonly delineated Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, there are areas along the Indo-China border where both sides have differing perception of LAC. Due to both sides undertaking patrolling upto their perception of the LAC, transgressions do occur." The minister also said in a written replies that the government "regularly takes up any transgression along LAC with the Chinese side through established mechanisms including Flag meetings, Border Personnel meetings, meetings of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs and diplomatic channels". He added that the two sides have appointed Special Representative (SR) to explore the framework for a boundary settlement from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship. The 19th Round of SR Talks on India-China boundary question was held in China from 20-21 April, 2016. New York, July 28 : More and more people are gradually viewing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and enterprise social media LinkedIn negatively than in the past, an interesting study has revealed. The team from American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) which tracks opinions of search engines, news outlets, social media sites and other 'e-businesses' found that consumers view Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn more negatively than in years past, bizjournals.com reported. Facebook and Twitter saw the largest declines -- at nine per cent and eight per cent, respectively. An increase in restless user base on some of the largest social media sites is forcing advertisers and the businesses who run them to put their money elsewhere. The declines are driven in part by the presence of advertising on services that are still regarded as "free", the report said. "Consumers have not fully accepted advertising as a necessary cost for online services they have come to expect as free," Claes Fornell, ASCI chairman, was quoted as saying. "There is little companies can do to change that perception beyond making sure that those advertisements are relevant and non-disruptive," he added. Facebook was mired in controversy over "curated" news where it was accused of political bias in its "trending news" section after news broke that stories from politically conservative sources were sidelined. However, the company denied such a bias. Earlier this year, reports said that Twitter irked many users when it tweaked its newsfeed from a chronological system to a new algorithm based system. It has also failed to keep pace with ever-evolving social apps including Snapchat, Imgur and Instagram. "It's impossible for global brands with massive user bases to like Facebook and Twitter to keep everyone happy," ACSI managing director David VanAmburg added. Istanbul, July 28 : At least five persons were killed and 12 injured in two separate attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey on Thursday. Two policemen were killed in a car bomb attack near a checkpoint in the city of Hakkari, Efe news cited an Anadolu news agency report. Moreover, three soldiers died when a bomb explosion hit a military armoured vehicle in Siirt province on Wednesday night. New Delhi, July 28 : The Central government on Thursday denied any incursion by Chinese troops in Barahoti area of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, saying it was just a transgression. "There was no incursion as reported in media. It was just a transgression from Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Lok Sabha while making a statement on the issue. The minister said there is a well defined mechanism to settle such transgressions. He said that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China "has not been demarcated" and due to this perception of differences arise. "Sometimes transgression takes place," he added. Parrikar said that instances of transgression from the Chinese side have reduced. New Delhi, July : A Lok Sabha panel meant to probe AAP lawmaker Bhagwant Mann's alleged breach of Parliament security on Thursday gave him 48 hours to present his case in writing, informed sources said. Mann, who appeared before the Committee, expressed his readiness to give an unconditional apology if it felt he had made a mistake by recording a video of Parliament Complex and uploading it on Facebook. But the panel expressed its displeasure over Mann's response, saying the AAP leader had mixed up his unconditional apology with references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot. "This doublespeak is not acceptable to the Committee. He has been given 48 hours to present his case in writing. He has asked to appear before the Committee on Monday," a source told IANS. Earlier, Mann, in a five-page letter to the Committee, said if the committee felt he had made a mistake, he was ready to tender unconditional apology. But Mann insisted that Modi should also be summoned by the Committee as he had allowed Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI to visit the Pathankot airbase after the terror attack. The nine-member panel is headed by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. The Committee is holding meeting daily as it has to submit its report by August 3 until when Mann has been told not to attend Parliament. The Speaker said Mann's act of making a video had put the security of Parliament in peril. The AAP maintains no security breach has taken place and that the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Akalis had ganged up against the Lok Sabha member from Sangrur in Punjab. On his part, Mann has maintained that he took a video of how members' questions for zero hour were subject to a lottery every day and that this was meant to educate his electorate. New Delhi, July 29 : The Rajya Sabha was disrupted on Friday after the problem of unemployment was raised during zero hour. Congress members alleged that there was an atmosphere of disappointment in the country. This prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to say that the disappointment may be in the Congress. This led to uproar, leading to an adjournment. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav said: "Unemployment is a big problem. The government promised two crore jobs every year. You are giving all kinds of slogans, but no one is getting a job." CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury added his voice to Yadav's: "Every year 1.3 crore youth join the job market. Organised (sector) jobs are less than seven per cent; 93 per cent jobs are casual." Congress leader Anand Sharma said: "It is a serious issue. The situation in the country is such that the youth is disappointed. They are not getting employment. "The house should discuss the issue. Employment is going down. Just talking about Start Up India and Make in India will not help." Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi responded: "There is an atmosphere of faith and development in the country... In every field employment opportunities have arisen. "Anand Sharma says there is disappointment, if the disappointment is among friends from Congress, we cannot do anything," Naqvi said, eliciting protests from the Congress. Congress members said naming their party and saying it was disappointed was unparliamentary. Naqvi said saying there was a state of disappointment in the country was equally unparliamentary. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien assured both sides that unparliamentary remarks would be expunged. Congress members, however, trooped near the Chairman's podium shouting slogans. In the din, the house was adjourned until 12 noon. Lucknow, July 29 : Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over increasing attacks on Dalits and price rise, and accused him of failing to fulfil the aspirations of the people. Taking part in 'Udghosh' -- a first of its kind interactive session with party workers in the state -- Gandhi said BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat have witnessed violence against Dalits and the oppressed but the Prime Minister was mum on these incidents. He also said the Congress will take up the cause of such people and would ensure that issues dear to the common people are given voice. Dressed in a white kurta and a denim jeans, walking on a wooden ramp, the Gandhi scion answered 50 posers from the party workers. Gandhi also assured the workers that if they worked hard then the Congress would bring back the glory of Uttar Pradesh and develop it into a front-ranking state. He also warned the state party leaders that indiscipline would not be tolerated and the Congress will act tough against such people even if they are senior leaders. Gandhi was accompanied by UPCC President Raj Babbar, its chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. He was to take out a 'padyatra' (march) but it was cancelled after the district administration of Lucknow refused permission for the 12-km-long event. New Delhi, July 29 : 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. 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". "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. 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." 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. 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. "They have standard operating procedure, all passengers were from defence forces." 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. 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. The minister added that he was personally monitoring the whole operation, and he was getting updates every few hours. Lucknow, Aug 1 : Opposition parties on Monday demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the gang rape of a Noida-based mother and daughter near Bulandshahr and also asked him to own up moral responsibility of the heinous crime. Former Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati demanded a "personal explanation" from Akhilesh Yadav on whether "he would be able to return to lost honour of the victims". Around six armed men stopped the family car on the Delhi-Kanpur highway early Saturday morning, according to the FIR registered later on Saturday. The armed men dragged the members to nearby fields and proceeded to rape the teenager and her 35-year-old mother. The other members of the family were tied up, the FIR added. "There is complete lawlessness in the state for the last four years and the chief minister has not only failed to spruce up the law enforcement machinery but has also failed to protect the women in the state," she said. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Raj Babbar said the Bulandshahr incident was yet another blot on UP and sadly showed that there was 'jungleraaj' in the state, be it illegal mining, sale and manufacture of illicit liquor, land grabbing, dacoity, rapes. "It is complete chaos under the watch of the chief minister," he said. District president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Bulandshahr Rajiv Chowdhary said the crime was so heinous that Akhilesh Yadav should go beyond suspension of a few officials here and there and should rather quit himself. Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said by merely talking of expressways and better highways, the chief minister was fooling the people and himself too as they were of no use when people travelling on them were unsafe. "It is yet another sad day in UP. What is more worrying is the fact that neither the women helpline nor the 100 number of the police responded when the victims were calling them in distress" the BJP leader said. National Womens Commission has also trashed the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state and a member said that in "Akhilesh rule, the compensation of a lost honour was Rs 1 lakh". The panel, which sent a fact finding team to Bulandshahr on Sunday also questioned the lethargy of the police in reacting to the crime. A member of NWC said that the police was non-cooperative and did not allow them to speak to the victims. Meanwhile, UP police have claimed to arrest three accused and said that they were identified by the victims. A 300-member task forced was set up on Sunday to arrest the attackers. The chief minister has also suspended the Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishan, SP (City) Rammohan Singh, Circle Officer Himanshu Gaurav, SHO Ramsen Singh and four other officials for dereliction of duty. Chandigarh, Aug 1 : Border Security Force (BSF) troopers foiled an intrusion attempt from the Pakistani side in Punjab's Ferozepur sector and killed one intruder, officials said on Monday. The intrusion attempt was made on Sunday evening and one intruder was killed in the counter offensive by troopers in the Border Out Post (BOP) Kassoke in Hussainiwala sector, 280 km from here. The body of the unidentified intruder, believed to be a Pakistani, was recovered from beyond the border fence and handed over to the Punjab Police. BSF officials said that five intruders were detected moving suspiciously close to the border fence. When they were challenged, they fired at the BSF troopers. In the counter offensive, one intruder was killed while the others escaped. The BSF is on high alert along Punjab's 553-km long international border with Pakistan since last year. Terrorists had intruded in Gurdaspur district in July last year and carried out an attack in Dinanagar town close to the India-Pakistan border. Patna, Aug 1 : A Bihar court on Monday granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in the toppers' scam, a government lawyer said. A special juvenile court here granted her bail after hearing a petition. Earlier, the court had denied her bail twice. Ruby had pleaded that she should be granted bail as she is a minor. Last month, she was shifted from Beur jail to a remand home after the court accepted Ruby's age on the basis of her matriculation certificate that states her date of birth to be November 15, 1998. Ruby had topped this year's Class 12 examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) in humanities stream. She got into trouble after after a sting by a TV news channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects. Class 12 science stream topper Saurabh Shreshtha was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic science questions about his subjects. The sting suggested that the 'toppers' might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their top ranks. Both Ruby and Saurabh belonged to V.R. College in Vaishali district. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police then lodged an FIR against Ruby, Saurabh and two other exam 'toppers'. New Delhi : Mysuru (Karnataka), Aug 1 (ANS) Thousands of people on Monday bid farewell to Rakesh, elder son of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who died in Brussels last week, at the exhibition ground in the city, about 150 km from Benglauru. "As scheduled, the cortege carrying the mortal remains of Rakesh was brought here in a special aircraft from Bengaluru after it was flown from Brussels by an Emirates Airlines flight earlier in the day," an official said. Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, their daughter-in-law and younger son Yathindra accompanied the cortege from Brussels. Rakesh, 39, died of multiple-organ failure on Saturday at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels. He was undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the hospital where he was admitted after developing sudden health complications when he was on a personal trip to Europe since July 21. The body will be taken on road to T. Katur, about 40km from here, for the last rites at Siddaramaiah's farmhouse in the evening. Besides state Governor Vajubhai Vala, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, state ministers, lawmakers and leaders of political parties offered floral tributes to the departed soul. Holding back tears and with folded hands, an emotional Siddaramaiah stood by the cortege and expressed gratitude to all the people who came to the venue for paying respects to Rakesh and sharing his grief over the personal tragedy. Elaborate security arrangements were made by the district authorities to regulate the flow of mourners in thousands and prevent any untoward incident. Apart from people from Mysuru, Siddaramaiah's home city, hundreds of others from his Varuna village and Chamundeshwari, which he represents in the legislative assembly as the ruling Congress lawmaker, made a beeline for a last glimpse of Rakesh's body, which was kept on a raised dais for paying homage. Kolkata, Aug 1 : The West Bengal government has sought help from scientists to crack down on the menace of rats boring deep holes at the base of a 380 metre-long key flyover in the eastern metropolis, an official said. Built in 1963, the Dhakuria flyover in south Kolkata is one of the oldest concrete flyovers in the city and is a lifeline for commuters to and from Garia, Jadavpur and other areas in the south. It stands on inclining concrete walls filled with earth or sand. "Rats are again boring holes. We have sought help from scientists. Nowadays the bridges are constructed on pillars but earlier they used to be on a support above soil," Firhad Hakim, Minister in Charge Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Department, Bengal, told reporters here. In 2013, a portion of the bridge walkway collapsed prompting the state government to ask a central engineering consultancy company for a check-up of the structure. Prior to the collapse, an investigation revealed rats had burrowed large holes underneath the structure that continues to function way past its retirement age. Bhopal, Aug 1 : All higher education institutions run by the Madhya Pradesh government have been asked to hoist the national flag and display the pictures of the President, the Prime Minister and three national icons. An order to this effect was issued on Sunday by the Higher Education Minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and is aimed at fostering a love for the country among the academic communities. It said the state government-run institutions of higher education should hoist the tricolour and display the pictures of the current President, the current Prime Minister, as well as Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekanand, and B.R. Ambedkar. In hoisting the tricolour, the flag code of India must be diligently complied with, said the order to the college principals and Additional Directors of Higher Education. London, Aug 1 : With Manchester United adding several star players to their squad along with celebrated manager Jose Mourinho, captain Wayne Rooney is confident that the former English Premier League (EPL) champions are poised to regain their past glory. Manchester United have added veteran Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and the talented Henrikh Mkhitaryan to their squad while France's star midfielder Paul Pogba appears set to complete a high profile move from reigning Italian champions Juventus. "I think the players feel this is more like the old Manchester United. It's not just the new signings, we've got Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford from last season who made such an impact," Rooney told the Daily Mail. "We're in a very good spot now. We think we can challenge for the Premier League and we want to put a marker down in the Community Shield with Leicester," he added. Rooney asserted that Pogba, who left Old Trafford for Juventus in 2012, will energise the United squad further and the France midfielder has a point to prove with United. "He had great ability, some of the things he could do, and he's gone up a level since he left us. I hope he is going to want to return to United and prove he's a top-class player. I'm sure he'll feel there is unfinished business," Rooney said. Mourinho, who took over as United manager recently, has asserted that he will reinstall Rooney in his former role as a striker, rather than utilise the England forward as a midfielder -- a position he played in during the previous season. Rooney feels that Mourinho's plans should give him the freedom he enjoys and have led to a switch in his mentality. "When he came to see me before the tournament, I came away very happy. He wants us to play with a lot of freedom, a lot of rotation in the forward positions, lots of opportunities to score goals, and I think I can do that, score the goals to help us be successful," he said. "Getting that mentality back, from being a midfield player to being a goalscorer again is what I've been working on all pre-season." Rooney also asserted that he sees glimpses of legendary former manager Alex Fergussen in Mourinho, adding that he has been impressed by the training methods of the new United boss. "I've seen that in him already. The way he speaks to individuals, the way he talks to the group, the way he makes players feel so confident. I've heard him talk to players, and you know that player will now be feeling on top of the world. He's done it with me, he's done it with all of us -- that is one of his qualities," Roney remarked. Imphal, Aug 1 : The Mizoram government is scheduled to hold parleys with the Hmar People's Convention (Democratic) from the second week of August, for which it has set up a committee headed by state Home Minister R. Lalzirliana. The panel will formulate the modalities of the talks with the Hmar group. The proposal had already been approved by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla. The HPC (D) has been demanding creation of an autonomous district council comprising contiguous areas of Mizoram and other states. Highly placed officials of Manipur, the state with a considerable population of Hmar tribals, feel the state government should also be taken into confidence over the coming parleys. Seoul, Aug 1 : The South Korean government will be funding the operational costs of the welfare foundation for "comfort women", or the sexually enslaved victims of colonial Japan during the Second World War, officials said on Monday. The funding of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation has been a bone of contention among the South Korean public ever since the foundation deal reached an agreement in the Korea-Japan ministerial summit of Foreign Affairs in December 2015, Yonhap News Agency reported. "We accepted the request by the board of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation that the state cover the foundation's managerial costs so that it can set aside the 1 billion yen ($9 million) compensation money from the Japanese government to be used entirely for the welfare budget for the victims," an official of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said. The South Korean government's funding plan for the comfort women foundation may lead to another round of controversy, with some critics demanding that the Japanese government be responsible for all the costs of its victims' foundation. Also remaining in question is the nature of the 1 billion yen compensation fund from Japan. Shortly after the December agreement, Japanese news outlets reported that the fund is not in fact a compensation fund, arousing another feud among South Koreans. The South Korean officials vowed to use the compensation fund directly for the welfare of the comfort women victims, but the Japanese counterparts countered that the fund should be spent in "futuristic" ways. Seoul officials expect that the agenda will be raised again in depth at the Korea-Japanese director general-level conference set to be held mid-August. Ankara, Aug 1 : Turkey on Monday summoned the country's Ambassador to Germany, a day after Berlin prevented President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a rally via video link in Cologne. Tens of thousands of Turks living in Germany on Sunday gathered in Cologne to condemn the July 15 coup attempt, Xinhua news agency reported. Germany's Federal Constitution Court had upheld a ban on Erdogan broadcasting a message to his supporters at the rally. German police said the measure was taken for "security reasons", while a local court agreed on the decision and issued the ruling. "This is a double-standard by German judicial authority," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said, describing the move as a "ban on the freedom of expression". Turkey demands that Germany extradite supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who Ankara accused of masterminding the failed coup. This is the second major incident marring bilateral relations in two months. On June 2, Turkey recalled its mission after the German parliament adopted a resolution recognising the 1915 killing of Armenians as "genocide". Tehran, Aug 1 : Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said the US was not trustable as, according to him, Washington failed to fulfil its obligations over the nuclear deal titled "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action". The experience of Iranians about the failure of the US in the fulfilment of its obligations pertaining to a nuclear deal signed on July 14 showed that it can never be trusted, Xinhua news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. "The US has violated its obligations (over the nuclear deal) and is busy destroying Iran's economic ties with other countries," he said. Khamenei also accused Saudi Arabia of committing a "grave crime" by bombing innocent people in Yemen. "Raiding Yemen, uninterrupted bombing of homes, hospitals and schools, and the killing of children are a grave crime of Saudi Arabia which is done by the green light of the US," Khamenei said. He described the recent negotiations of Saudi Arabia with Israel as a "dagger from behind", saying "Saudi relations with Israel are a big sin and a treason". In building Saudi ties with Israel, "the US has played a role, as the Saudi officials are obsessed by the whims of the Americans", he said. The Iranian leader said Saudi Arabia had raided Bahrain with the help of the US. New Delhi, Aug 1 : The Delhi government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it will soon issue a notification to ban the Chinese kite string and allow use of string made only of cotton or other natural fibre for flying kites. A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was informed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government that it was in the process of issuing the notification for banning the Chinese 'manja' (string) as it is conscious of injuries caused by kite-flying thread made of nylon. In its affidavit submitted to the court, the government said: "A draft notification imposing complete ban or the sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese 'manja' and any other kite-flying thread that is sharp or made sharp by lacing it with glass, metal or other sharp objects in Delhi and allowing kite-flying only with a cotton thread/natural fibre, free from any metallic/glass components was prepared by Delhi government's Environment Department and vetted by its Law Department." It added: "The proposed draft notification is under process from the competent authority." The government's response came on a public interest litigation to demand immediate ban on the Chinese kite string. The petitioner had calloed for a ban on the manufacture, sale, use and purchase of the nylon 'manja', alleging it is "razor sharp" and has caused several deaths across the country and is capable of slicing through the human skin. Petitioner Zulfiqar Hussain said earlier the victims of the synthetic thread were mostly birds "but now humans are also under threat". New Delhi, Aug 1 : A 25-year-old garment sewing unit owner has been arrested for killing a 16-year-old girl by setting her ablaze after raping her, police said on Monday. The accused, Danish, was arrested on Sunday from his residence in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishipal said that Danish burnt the girl on July 28 to destroy evidence of rape. He was the girl's neighbour. "The girl's partially burnt body was found lying on a cot inside her second floor house. She had returned home from school at about 1 p.m. and was alone as her mother and brother had gone for work. The accused sexually assaulted her and then burnt her by pouring kerosene on her body," the officer said. The officer said they got a clue about Danish while interrogating one of the victim's friends who informed that he sought sexual favours from her. "She had made allegations against Danish and his brother Ashu for sexually exploiting her," the officer said. The officer said that they have registered a fresh case on the allegation of the victim's friend and arrested Ashu. The officer said that Danish, who runs a small garment unit in Gandhi Nagar for sewing clothes, used to bully others in the locality to maintain his dominance. Jammu, Aug 1 : India and China on Monday agreed to maintain peace on the border as ceremonial Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) on the occasion of People's Liberation Army (PLA) Day were held on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region, an Indian Army official said. The meetings were held at Chinese BPM Hut in Moldo Garrison and at Ten Wen Den at Daulat Beg Oldie in Chushul sector. "The delegations at Moldo were led by Brig. Navneet Kumar from the Indian side and Senior Colonel Fan Jun from the Chinese side," Colonel S.D.Goswami, spokesman of army's Udhampur headquartered Northern Command told IANS here. At Ten Wen Den, the garrisons were led by Colonel B.S. Uppal from the Indian side and Colonel Song Zhou Li from the Chinese side. "The ceremonial border personnel meetings were marked by saluting the national flag of China by both the delegation members. "This was followed by the ceremonial address by the delegation leaders which comprised of exchange of greetings, wishes and vote of thanks and reflected the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border. "Thereafter, a cultural programme showcasing vibrant Chinese culture and traditional grandeur was organised. "At both the locations, the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment, and parted amidst feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). "Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling to uphold the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC," said Goswami. New Delhi, Aug 1 : The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016, with the government making the case for a banking system without loopholes that otherwise permit bad loans to grow. Piloted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the bill seeks to amend four laws - the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993; the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; and the Depositories Act, 1996. The bill was passed by a voice vote after the amendments moved by opposition members were either withdrawn or negated. "The present law simplifies the procedures by which there will be a quick disposal of claims of banks and financial institutions," Jaitley said, adding that most suggestions made by a joint committee of parliament on the issue have been accepted by the government. We cannot have a banking system where people take loans and do not repay. "If loans are to be waived off, someone has to step in. We should not create a culture that I have taken a loan and I can sleep well and banks should be answerable. "Write-off will put banking structure into a position where banks are not able to extend loans," he added. Replying to queries on the bill from members, the Finance Minister said the new law will empower the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to examine the statements and any information of asset reconstruction companies related to their business. "The bill further empowers the RBI to carry out audit and inspection of these companies. The RBI may penalise a company if it fails to comply with any directions issued by the central bank," officials said. It says stamp duty will not be charged on transactions undertaken for transfer of financial assets, including loans and collaterals, in favour of asset reconstruction companies. New Delhi, Aug 1 : As the search for the missing AN-32 continued for the 11th day on Monday, the absence of an underwater locator beacon in the missing aircraft is proving an obstruction for search operations. India is not only using its own satellites, but has also contacted the US for any information their satellites may have captured on the missing plane. According to available information, none of the upgraded AN-32s have underwater locators. The aircraft had two Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT), one at the tailfin, and other in the cockpit. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Rajya Sabha that the ELT would get activated only if the aircraft hit water with a force of 20 G. The ELT, however, depends on a battery, the life of which is around 72 hours. According to sources, the AN-32, however, did not have a Underwater Transmitter Locator Beacon. This locator gets activated when it comes in contact with water and emits signals for around a month. Sources also said that the Indian Air Force was in process of procuring underwater locators. The AN-32, with 29 people on board, went missing on July 22 when it was on a routine sortie from Chennai to Port Blair. Jeddah, Aug 1 : As India said it will try to bring back over 10,000 Indians rendered jobless in the Gulf, the Indian diplomatic mission in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is working on a mechanism to retrieve the pending arrears of the retrenched Indian workers from their Saudi employers. Most Indian workers are unwilling to leave without getting back their money from the Saudi companies that have shut down. Addressing a media conference here on Monday, Indian Consul General Noor Rahman Sheikh said the overwhelming majority of workers intend on continuing their stay in the Gulf kingdom by switching to other employers, while others want to return home only after retrieving their pending wages and other benefits from their employers. Only a handful were willing to return home without retrieving their pending dues, he said, when asked. In what has come as a shocking humanitarian crisis, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday that over 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia were facing a "food crisis" after their factories were shut down and salaries were not paid. Sheikh also said that the validity of passports of some of the Indian workers has expired and the Indian consulate was renewing those documents. The validity of the exit visa and Iqama (residency visa) of some of these workers have also lapsed and the Indian mission was working to sort out these issues with local authorities, Sheikh said. He revealed that a Saudi employer has come forward to absorb 1,000 workers and some other Saudi employers were also contacting the Indian mission. The Consul General said Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh would be arriving on Wednesday in Jeddah where he will meet Saudi officials and is also planning to visit some of the labour camps here. The Indian mission in Jeddah has been pursuing the grievances of the workers for the last couple of months and brought these to the attention of local Saudi authorities and also to the management of one of the top companies, he said. Sheikh said that not just in two leading construction companies but Indian nationals working in their affiliated companies and sub-contractors have also been affected by the crisis. "Though salaries were not being paid for the last few months to its employees by a leading construction company, it was operating its food mess for workers till last week. The problem surfaced after it stopped the food supplies," he said. The Consul General said the Indian mission in Jeddah has ensured provision of food for 2,530 Indian workers of one of the construction companies. "We are working round-the-clock to collect information about distressed workers," he added. Sheikh praised the Indian community living in Jeddah area for their support to the distressed Indian workers. (Irfan Mohammed is a Jeddah-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at telltoirfan@gmail.com) New Delhi, Aug 1 : A woman and her two children were crushed to death in their sleep when the roof of their first-floor house collapsed in west Delhi's Uttam Nagar area on Monday. The deceased were Manju, 40, and her children Tanu, 2, and Daksh, 4, police said. The Delhi BJP accused the AAP-led Delhi government of "criminal negligence", a charge denied by the Aam Aadmi Party. Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Satish Upadhyay, who met the family of the deceased, said the accident was caused as the Delhi government had laid sewer lines in the area. He termed it an act of "criminal negligence". The fire brigade received a call of building collapse from Mohan Colony at 2.46 a.m., a fire officials told IANS. "A portion of the roof of the first floor building in which the victims were staying collapsed, resulting in the three deaths," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Pushpendra Kumar told IANS. The officer said no construction was going on in the building. "The building was old and probably in bad condition, that's why it fell," the officer said. The woman's husband sustained minor injuries and was shifted to hospital, police added. According to area residents, the Delhi Jal Board has been laying drain pipes for the last two years but the work has not been completed yet. "During rains, water accumulating in the pipeline enters the houses," area resident Mukesh Sharma told IANS. "Sewerage work of the DJB in the area may have led to the incident," he added. Upadhyay said: "It's criminal negligence on part of Water Minister Kapil Mishra, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan, officials of the DJB (Delhi Jal Board) and the DSIIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation)." Upadhyay said Mishra and Balyan had full knowledge about waterlogging in about 20 houses in the area due to "negligence" in the work of laying sewer lines. "They did not take any concrete steps to solve this problem though the locals had brought this case to the knowledge of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia several times," he said. Balyan, the AAP legislator from Uttam Nagar, denied the BJP's allegations terming them as baseless. "All the allegations of the BJP are baseless," Balyan told IANS. "No politics should be done on this issue," Balyan said, adding that "drainage and waterlogging issues lie with the MCD (municipal corporations of Delhi)". DJB officials could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. New Delhi, Aug 1 : The government is likely to come up with fresh proposals over pending Congress demands on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill to get the opposition party's support for the long-pending legislation listed to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Government sources said that while a key Congress demand to drop the proposed one per cent additional tax on interstate sale had been met last week as the Union Cabinet decided to amend the bill, the government is willing to walk some distance on its other two demands -- a cap of 18 per cent on the GST rate and an independent dispute redress mechanism. The government lacks majority in the Rajya Sabha, where the Congress is the single-largest party. The sources said the dispute redress mechanism will be structured in a way that the states will have a greater say in the matter. They said that the GST rate will also be based on a principle that is fair to both the states and the consumers. The mechanism to compensate states for the loss of revenue for five years has already been incorporated in the amended bill. The Bharatiya Janata Party has issued a whip to all its Rajya Sabha members to be present in the house for the next three days to get the GST Bill passed. "The GST Bill is listed for Wednesday. We hope it will be passed through consensus," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters here. "The mood is in favour of passing the bill," he said, adding that parleys are being held with different political parties as the bill concerns all the states. The government had initially planned to take up the Goods and Services Tax Bill on Tuesday but opted to delay it by a day apparently because of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's scheduled programme in Varanasi on Tuesday, which is likely to be attended by many party leaders as well Rajya Sabha members. The Congress said on Monday that it was prepared to accept every reasonable solution on the GST Bill but added that the consultations are still on. "We are prepared to accept every reasonable solution which does not adversely affect business and industry, and does not adversely affect the federal structure and the consumer at large," Congress spokesman P.L. Punia told reporters. Noting that the GST is very important for the economy, industry, business and also for the consumers, he said: "We agree with that objective in mind. It is the Congress party which mooted the idea of GST, which was opposed by the BJP and especially the present Prime Minister, Narendra Modi." "We had raised certain valid issues and the negotiations are still on." The GST Bill, first mooted by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, envisions a pan-India GST to thoroughly overhaul India's indirect tax regime. It has been already passed by the Lok Sabha. The states will draft their own State GST (SGST) bills based on the draft model law with minor variations, incorporating state-specific exemptions. The Centre and the states will also have to approve the integrated GST law or iGST, which will deal with inter-state movement of goods. The constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by more than half of the states. Shillong, Aug 1 : The Mukul Sangma government in Meghalaya on Monday annulled the decision taken during the previous D.D. Lapang regime to leas 422 hectares of land to Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) for pre-mining activities in South West Khasi Hill district. "We (the cabinet) have revoked the earlier cabinet decision taken on August 24, 2009 relating to pre-mining activities which is a precursor to uranium mining," Sangma told journalists after chairing the cabinet meeting. The decision to annul the leasing of land to the UCIL was adopted after the government-owned mining company had recently floated the expression of interest (EOI) for a mine and processing plant of uranium ore in South West Khasi Hills without the consent of the state government. "This decision is a strong message that any initiatives relating to pre-mining activities which is precursor to uranium mining cannot be allowed until and unless the people of the state are taken on board," Sangma said. He said the cabinet has also directed the departments concerned to communicate the cabinet's decision to the UCIL. Meghalaya is the third uranium-rich state in the country after Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The state accounts for 16 percent of India's uranium reserves, with deposits estimated to be around 9,500 tonnes and 4,000 tonnes respectively at Domiasiat and Wakhaji, both in South West Khasi hills district. However, the proposed open-cast uranium mining in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district has been hanging fire since 1992 after several groups expressed fears of radiation impact on human health and environmental degradation. The UCIL had pegged Kylleng Pyndengsohiong Mawthabah project in Meghalaya for Rs.1,100 crore. The ores are spread over a mountainous terrain in deposits varying from eight to 47 metres from the surface in and around Domiasiat, 135 km west from here. The UCIL plans to produce 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore a year and process 1,500 tonnes of the mineral a day. Chennai, Aug 1 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has arrested two senior former employees of non-banking finance company (NBFC) First Leasing Company of India Ltd in the over Rs.500 crore bank fraud case. In a statement issued here, the ED said it has arrested S.Dilliraj, former Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and L.Sivaramakrishnan, another former CFO, under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED had registered a money laundering case against First Lasing and others in relation to a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for cheating IDBI Bank and State Bank of India to the extent of over Rs 500 crore. The ED had earlier arrested Farouk Irani, former Managing Director of the company and properties worth Rs 51 crore were attached. According to ED, Dilliraj and Sivaramakrishnan had admitted their role in fudging of First Leasing accounts to obtain undue bank loans and enriching themselves and others like Irani. New Delhi, Aug 1 : The Health Ministry has sent a team of specialists for assessment of incidents of malnutrition deaths among children in Nagada village in Jajpur district of Odisha, said an official statement. "In response to the report of deaths due to malnutrition in Jajpur district of Odisha, and based upon the request received from Minister of State(IC), Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, a high level team has been constituted by the Health minister J.P. Nadda to carry out an on the spot assessment of the situation and investigate into the causes that led to the incident," said the statement. The team comprises of senior officers and public health experts from Health ministry and the Women and Child Development ministry. The team is visiting the Nagada village under Sukinda block to carry out a detailed on the spot assessment and will submit a report on the matter to Health Ministry. According to a statement, the Centre is ready to extend all assistance to Odisha in terms of preventive and curative measures for managing the situation in the district. Venice, Aug 1 : Police in arrested a German-Turk in Venice on Monday after they found a machete and rocks inside his rucksack and also held a Turkish man currently studying in Slovenia. The 49-year-old German-Turk and the 24-year-old Turkish student were praying with a group of foreigners at Venice's main train station and tried to run off when they were approached by a security guard, who then called police. Police will question the two men, who could face expulsion from Italy, which is on high terrorism alert after a recent wave of attacks, several which were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. In July, IS took credit for an attack by a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker who injured four people on train with an axe and knife in Wuerzburg, southern Germany, before being shot dead by police. Tripoli, Aug 1 : The first air strikes by the US against the Islamic State jihadist group in Libya on Monday were staged at the unity government's request, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj said in a televised speech. "The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... in Sirte," Sarraj said. The operation would be of "limited duration" and no US ground forces would be deployed, he added. The TV address confirmed a statement earlier on Monday from the Pentagon that the raids were launched in response to a request from the Libyan national unity government. The raids, the first such US military intervention co-ordinated with the Libyan unity government, aim to support pro-government forces "seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS. The Tripoli-based national unity government launched an operation in May to retake the IS stronghold of Sirte, hometown of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi which IS has controlled since June 2015. Western powers have become increasingly concerned at IS's presence in conflict-wracked Libya, where the chaos has left the North African country vulnerable to an influx of IS fighters, many from Syria. The fall of Sirte, 450 kilometres east of Tripoli, would be a major blow to IS, which has been weakened in Syria and Iraq according to a 23-member international coalition fighting the group. Washington, Aug 2 : A New York FBI employee pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Monday to acting as a Chinese agent in the US, officials said. Kun Shan Chun, 46, who is known as "Joey Chun", was charged with four counts of providing false statements about his contact with foreign nationals. In a complaint, the FBI alleged that Chun travelled to Europe and met with those foreign nationals without telling the agency, as he was required to do, NBC News reported. "Americans who act as unauthorised foreign agents commit a federal offence that betrays our nation and threatens our security," said Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "And when the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," Bharara added. In the complaint, the FBI said that it introduced Chun to an undercover agent in February 2015. He allegedly told the agent that he would send the US technology to a company in China and as per the complaint, "indicated that his Chinese associates deal with the Chinese government and probably have some government people". According to NBC News, Chun allegedly told the FBI that his access to sensitive US government information could be valuable and that China would be willing to pay for it. In return, the complaint said, Chun allegedly "expected a cut of any payment" for that information. Chun was not charged with actually passing along sensitive US information to the Chinese. The FBI said Chun had top secret security clearance since approximately 1998. Ankara, Aug 2 : A bomb attack in southeastern Turkey killed six police officers and injured four others on Monday, Dogan News Agency reported. An explosion took place when a suspected bombing truck of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants hit a police shuttle bus at 5.45 p.m. local time (1445 GMT) in the province of Bingol, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying. Ambulances and firefighters soon arrived at the explosion scene on the ring road about 15 km from Bingol Airport. The injured were sent to Bingol State Hospital, and investigation has been launched to the attack. Meanwhile, the social media account of a Kurdish fighter "Mitanni" claimed that the attack had killed 10 police and injured six more. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. New laws introduced at the beginning of July mean that foreign owners of property in Australia worth 2 million or more face paying an extra 10% in tax. Sellers must have proof that they are Australian citizens to avoid the tax which has been introduced in a bid to deter wealthy forging buyers from pushing up property prices. The change came at a time when prices in Australian state capitals were soaring and much of this was blamed on so called wealthy investors, especially from China. The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) supports the legislation, but is concerned that there has not been enough publicity and stressed the importance of real estate and legal professionals understanding their obligations under the new laws. Essentially this is the Goods and Services Tax (GST) process coming into effect in the housing market, which is long overdue in Australia, said REIA president Neville Sanders. Failure to get a clearance certificate stating their Australian residency will mean vendors fall under the same conditions as foreign investors and will be required to pay this immediate 10% tax, he explained. It is of the utmost importance that legal professionals ensure the timely receipt of clearance certificates for their clients, to ensure settlements proceed without delay, he added. According to Peter Malone, chief executive of GlobalX Legal Solutions, it means that legal professionals are required to ensure their clients are taking the right steps in the selling or buying of property. These changes will affect the growing number of high value homes of Australian buyers and sellers, so it is imperative legal professionals and conveyancers are prepared, he added. The new legislation is expected to generate $330 million in revenue over the next four years, with a $770 million compliance cost over the next decade and has been introduced to deter wealthy investors pushing up property prices and making them less affordable for Australians. Maloney said while the imposed tax on foreign investors would help boost the Australian economy and recoup investor funds sent offshore, it was crucial for legal and conveyancing professionals to understand the intricacies of the changes. The onus of proof will now fall on Australian vendors to prove their residency status to exempt them from the new 10% non-final withholding tax but, provided property lawyers and conveyancers are prepared to ensure the necessary documents are readied in advance, this shouldnt be a timely and complicated process or cause unnecessary delays in the settlement process, he explained. We are currently offering our clients a range of informational webinars and sessions to equip them with the knowledge and technical understanding of these changes to ensure the buying and selling process remains a seamless and smooth process for their clients, he added. Considering the amount of money the city has spent chasing down dispensaries, it certainly makes sense to consider bringing the market above ground and generating some revenues from it. Today, the San Bernardino Regulate Marijuana Act of 2016 (SBRMA) announces that the citizen-backed initiative submitted more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the upcoming November ballot. SBRMA projects that passage of this model legislation will result in an economic windfall for San Bernardino government and residents with $15-20 million in new revenue and over 1,200 living wage jobs. Today, San Bernardino has more than 30 illegal marijuana businesses near schools and homes despite a citywide ban. SBRMA will restrict the location of authorized dispensaries and generate the funds needed to enforce these common-sense regulations. Considering the amount of money the city has spent chasing down dispensaries, it certainly makes sense to consider bringing the market above ground and generating some revenues from it, wrote the San Bernardino County Suns editorial board on June 28, 2016. If anything has been accomplished by decades of prohibition, it is the enrichment of the black market. Common-Sense Regulation Keeps Marijuana Away from Schools and Homes SBRMA is the first comprehensive, municipal ballot initiative that builds on Californias recent Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act. SBRMA addresses citizen concerns for public safety, nuisance and safe access. It does so by restricting the location of marijuana businesses, moving them away from schools and homes and by regulating security concerns, criminal background checks, odor, hours of operation and much more. California cities like San Diego, Palm Springs and San Jose have already benefited from similar efforts. Cities that regulate this market see a significant increase in revenue and a dramatic decrease in the number of illegal businesses, criminal activity and citizen complaints. The SBRMA initiative will generate new revenue from a variety of regulated businesses, including medical marijuana dispensaries. This will pay for law enforcement and contribute to the overall city budget. This ballot initiative incorporates the best practices of successful cities across California and will deliver similar results. San Bernardinos Failed Ban In 2007, San Bernardino banned the sale of medical marijuana. Yet, over 30 illegal marijuana businesses operate in violation of this ban and near schools and homes. "The effort to shut [dispensaries] down has been unsuccessful," said San Bernardino Mayor Carey Davis. "We need to restrategize our approach." Rather than encouraging an illegal black market to profit, cities like San Diego, Palm Springs and San Jose have seized the opportunity to license and regulate the market. By signing the petition, San Bernardino voters are asking for similar responsible legislation that acknowledges the futility of banning medical marijuana and regulates it, generates revenue and keeps it away from children. These voters are demanding comprehensive regulation with the power of real enforcement and the benefit of new revenue for police officers, the fire department, infrastructure improvements and city services. Enthusiastic Voters Demand Fast Action As recently as 2014, the City Attorney encouraged fast action. The voters enthusiastic response to SBRMA meant that this important initiative obtained signatures in record time with over 6,000 signatures submitted. While San Bernardino has a network of illegal marijuana businesses that attract criminals, other California cities regulate this market with responsible policy and collect millions of dollars. San Bernardino citizens demand similar regulations that eliminate confusion, generate new revenue and offer legitimate patients safe access to a handful of well-regulated dispensaries. Competing Measures May Reach the Ballot Two competitive measures may also appear on the upcoming ballot. The city attorney is rushing an initiative to the ballot, notes Craig Baresh, Executive Director of the California Cannabis Coalition. But this measure is a mess. It does not generate any funds for enforcement and violates the citys own law for planning commission review of any zoning changes. Also, given that the city found that dispensaries have adverse effects on traffic and noise, this measure invites lawsuits because it violates state environmental law. A second measure may also appear on the ballot, but it is a flagrant attempt to protect the existing illegal dispensaries and exempt them from any taxes. And this second measure offers no regulations if state voters pass the initiative to legalize recreational use. SBRMA will be the only comprehensive measure on the ballot that generates revenue for enforcement and doesnt protect illegal operators or invite lawsuits. Act Now The time has come for common-sense regulations. SBRMA encourages voters to contact city councilmembers to support SBRMA and to vote Yes on SBRMA in November. Learn more and volunteer at http://www.sbrma2016.com. About San Bernardino Regulate Marijuana Act of 2016 The San Bernardino Regulate Marijuana Act of 2016 (SBRMA) is a citizen-backed initiative that will bring comprehensive and rational reform to medical marijuana laws in the city and projects $15-20 million in new revenue and 1,200 living wage jobs. This projected revenue will deliver an economic windfall to the City of San Bernardino through new revenue to support public safety and enforcement. To achieve this, SBRMA will end the current ineffective ban, eliminate illegal marijuana businesses and offer licensing for well-regulated businesses located far from schools and homes. SBRMA will be on the ballot on November 8, 2016. Learn more at http://www.sbrma2016.com. StaMedia Advertising By taking StaMedias patented ad layer coupled with power of Meteoras app based programmatic media buying platform, we have birthed a digital offering unlike anything else in the marketplace. Dallas based StaMedia Group has successfully completed an acquisition of Meteora Media (also Dallas based) to expand upon StaMedia's existing suite of easy to manage digital advertising products, including their patented ad creative based customer engagement and prospecting technology. The acquisition gives StaMedia Group an internal offering of mobile and desktop targeting ad technology which is the backbone of the Meteora advertising app suite, including Meteora's location based Proximity Targeting, search based ad retargeting, behavioral targeting and customer data acquisition technologies. By doing so, StaMedia has cornered the market on interactive and mobile first ad platforms, bringing a unified programmatic offering to market. By taking StaMedias patented ad layer coupled with power of Meteoras app based programmatic media buying platform, we have birthed a digital offering unlike anything else in the marketplace. We are excited to have both companies under one roof and look to the future with nothing but optimism! added Shawn Sandifer, Co-Founder/President of StaMedia Group. StaMedia will immediately begin integrating Meteora's Proximity Targeting technology into its applications to offer customers the ability for competitive targeting (based on location), location targeting and event targeting. Before the acquisition, Meteora's flagship ad technology has been its Meteora Proximity Targeting offering which serves customers ads with offers and discounts based on where they are physically standing, bypassing the need for physical ad beacons. Meteora customers include McDonalds, Ford, Costco and other national brands. "The AdTech marketplace has continued to fragment itself apart for some time now says Nicholas Waken-Paschal, Founder of Meteora, My goal with Meteora was to create one central demand side framework filled with free to use technologies that ordinarily require suffocating minimum fees and multiple partnerships to leverage. Proximity targeting is just 1 of 30+ apps we've been able to create in house and offer to our clients who want extreme power at no additional cost to their ad buys. I'm extremely excited about teaming up with the StaMedia enterprise and I can't wait to show our customers the next wave of apps we have in the works. About StaMedia StaMedia gives the user an uninterrupted browsing experience by allowing them to "stay" on a website, mobile app, in-progress video or any other medium with a simple mouse click or tap of the screen. Upon the user's click or tap, an expected item of interest ("Deliverable") is given from the advertiser (keep in mind, by the user's request) with more information about their product, coupon, or value trade. The user (potential customer) gets to experience this ad intently from the advertiser in a non-aggressive, requested format. This provides the advertiser with a highly interested, potential customer to present their offering in greater detail rather than try to fit their message in a standard, small banner ad. About Meteora Meteora is an advertising technology company designed to skyrocket digital sales initiatives, brand presence and client engagement. Meteora specializes in customized audience targeting harvesting site traffic into segmented audiences for highly specific ads across the web. By tracking a website users, compiling 3rd party user data that fits advertiser goals, and optimizing ad delivery through real time bidding strategies, Meteora provides an unmatched level and quality of online targeting, while still providing the most economical CPM prices around. The acquisition will further enhance our commitment to providing the latest innovative technologies, specifically in the high-growth neuromodulation market. Cirtec Medical, a leading provider of design and contract manufacturing services for active implantable and minimally invasive medical devices, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Stellar Technologies, Inc., a medical device machining and component manufacturer, located in Brooklyn Park, MN. We are very excited to join Minnesotas Medical Alley with this acquisition, said Brian Highley, CEO of Cirtec. The greater Twin Cities area has long been known as a major center for medical technology and device companies. A defining benefit of this acquisition is obtaining access to the talented and well-educated workforce in the area, as well as providing continued support to our customers based here. The acquisition will further enhance our commitment to providing the latest innovative technologies, specifically in the high-growth neuromodulation market. We are thrilled to welcome Cirtec to Medical Alley, said Shaye Mandle, President and CEO of the Medical Alley Association. Cirtecs innovative and cost-saving solutions will bring great value to our community. Stellar Technologies has been providing complete medical machining and component manufacturing of implantable and disposable medical device assemblies since 1995. The company has supplied its customers with a wide variety of precision components and assemblies including mechanical assemblies, neuromodulation lead wire assemblies, delivery systems and electro-mechanical medical device assemblies. Located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, the company has over 300 employees and a 52,000 square foot manufacturing facility. We look forward to welcoming our Stellar Technologies colleagues to the team. said Highley. We believe the combination of the two companies represents a great growth opportunity. Together, we are bigger, stronger, and better positioned to provide innovative outsourcing solutions to our customers. About Cirtec Medical For over 25 years, Cirtec has been providing design, development, manufacturing and product transfer services to the medical device industry. With facilities in Los Gatos, CA and Enfield, CT, the company specializes in outsourcing solutions for active implantable devices in the areas of neuromodulation, drug delivery, cardiac rhythm management, ventricular assist, and minimally invasive devices. Companies rely on Cirtecs expertise throughout the entire development cycle to bring life-enhancing therapies to market. Highlights from the Lamps Plus 2016 Lighting Survey We anticipated that energy efficiency would rank as a top concern for consumers. Whats surprising is that this concern is not matched by a similar level of product adoption. Leading national lighting and home furnishings retailer and manufacturer Lamps Plus today announced the results of its nationwide 2016 Home Lighting Survey. The survey found 81% percent of respondents feel either confident or very confident about choosing the overall lighting for a room. Likewise, 81% of respondents rank energy savings as an important or highly important factor in choosing lighting for their home. A deeper look at the numbers however uncovers areas where respondents can increase efficiency around the house. While energy efficiency is clearly a top priority among Americans, usage of LEDs (the most energy-efficient and money-saving type of lighting available today) is relatively low. Only 45 percent use them in their table or floor lamps, and a mere 13 percent use them in chandeliers. Use in bathroom lights is nearly non-existent at only 2 percent. "We anticipated that energy efficiency would rank as a top concern for consumers. Whats surprising is that this concern is not matched by a similar level of product adoption. LEDs are by far the most efficient lighting source, and they are more affordable and available than ever before, so now is the time for consumers to make the switch" said Dennis Swanson, CEO and Founder of Lamps Plus. "Additionally though there is much talk and investment in smart home technology, we found people rank organization and storage as more important." With regards to chandeliers, a top-selling category for Lamps Plus, 24% of respondents view them as for use only in formal settings, and only 13% view them as not affordable, suggesting a general openness to the chandelier as a lighting option around the home. And while only 28% view chandeliers as difficult to hang, 54% say they would still prefer to hire a professional to install an overhead lighting fixture vs. installing themselves. In yet another area where long-lasting LED bulbs offer an advantage (in terms of minimizing bulb replacements in hard-to-reach locations), only 13 percent of respondents report using them in chandeliers. In purchasing ceiling fans, respondents rank design (36%), and energy efficiency (31%) as the most important considerations, over motor specifications (6%) and blade construction and pitch (7%). And unlike with chandeliers, a majority of respondents (52%) percent state they would install ceiling fans themselves versus 48% that state they would hire a professional. However, only 18% name "easy installation" as the most important aspect when considering. A number of interesting findings arise with regards to outdoor lighting. While energy-efficiency is a high-priority among the majority of respondents, only 28% utilize LEDs outdoors. Security is cited by only 10% as the most important function of home lighting. However, 20% cite safety as the most important function. Broken down into the types of outdoor lighting respondents would most likely change or add during the fall/winter, respondents identify safety and security uses like front door lighting (21%), pathway lighting (18%), and lighting the sides of the garage (12%). Additional findings of the Lamps Plus 2016 Home Lighting Survey show Americans are not confident purchasing large furniture pieces online, such as bathroom vanities (54%), sofas (53%), and bedroom furniture (49%). However, respondents are confident purchasing lighting (54%) and ceiling fans (53%). Lastly, on an anecdotal note, Americans generally keep a clean home with only 8% of overhead lighting cited as never being cleaned. Among the types most often "never cleaned" are under cabinet lighting (22%) and outdoor lighting (23%). Russell Research conducted the study online from April 22nd to the 25th, 2016, for the retailer. A total of 1,025 adults across the United States were asked about their lighting preferences, use of energy efficient products in their home, and seasonal lighting choices, among other topics. The respondents were representative among race, sex, geographic location, and income levels. About Lamps Plus Established in 1976, Lamps Plus is the nations largest lighting retailer, and 2016 marks the companys 40th anniversary of providing customers a leading combination of selection, service and value. Lamps plus operates more than three dozen retail showrooms across the western United States and upholds a thriving online presence. In addition, Lamps Plus designs, manufactures and distributes a wide range of exclusive and patented products, offering functional and decorative lighting fixtures, furniture, accessories and home decor. In 2014, LampsPlus.com was named a Top 10 Housewares/Home Furnishing e-tailer and a Hot 100 worlds best retail site by Internet Retailer Magazine. Visit LampsPlus.com and the warehouse discount site LampsPlusOpenBox.com. AutoKIID is a user-friendly, financial services solution, that can automate the creation, monitoring and dissemination of PRIIPs KIDs & UCITS KIIDs. We are committed to bringing fully automated and robust financial solutions to the fund management industry, freeing up the time of fund managers to concentrate on the things they do best managing the performance of their funds. The Packaged Retail and Insurance based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation is due to be in place by December. It lays down uniform rules on the format and content of such documents and on their provision to retail investors. autoKIID is the solution to the UCITS IV regulations that came into place across 2011 and 2012. Then autoFactsheet launched shortly after to extend the product range. Now Tribeca Technology Group are proud to announce that autoKIID will cater for PRIIPs KIDs. autoKIID can handle multiple sub-funds, share classes, languages and a full audit trail. The programs have been designed in an easy to use and intuitive manner, and full product support is provided to aid with any issues users may face. autoKIID is the answer to keeping compliant with PRIIPs Regulations when they go live in December 2016. So don't leave it until the last minute to look at the right solution for PRIIPs KIDs; test that autoKIID is the right product for the job before it's too late by signing up for a free trial of autoKIID now, by clicking here. About Tribeca Technology Group Tribeca Technology Group have been supporting the fund management industry since 2006 with creative technology and support solutions. Created by Mark Instance, who has a wealth of experience supporting funds, Tribecas first office was in Mayfair, London with a second that opened shortly afterwards in North Kent which holds a secured data centre. Tribeca have since opened offices in New York and Hong Kong, giving their clients around the clock support in offices all over the UK, USA (New York, Chicago and Indiana), and Canada. It also supports clients in Brazil, Greece, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Singapore giving it a truly global range. To learn more about Tribeca Technology Group go to: http://www.tribeca-it.com For further information, please contact Tribeca on: T: +44 (0) 207 993 9734 E: info(at)tribeca-it(dot)com InstallAware Software, the technology leader in software installation, repackaging, and virtualization solutions for application producers and enterprises, announced today the launch of InstallAware X5. InstallAware is the most flexible platform for traditional and agile development teams creating Windows and Azure software installers, as well as APPX Universal Windows Platform, Microsoft App-V Virtualization, and agentless, royalty-free InstallAware Virtualization packages. With zero-day support for the entire Windows 10 Redstone eco-system, InstallAware X5, among other things, gives developers confidence that their installations are compatible with the latest technologies including Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2, Microsoft Visual Studio 15, and SQL Server 2016. Brand-new in InstallAware X5 is a full implementation of Microsofts Project Centennial. Developers preserve all of their investment in their existing InstallAware setup projects and scripts by instantly building them as APPX packages targeting Microsofts Universal Windows Platform. Win32, Win64, and .NET apps are bridged effortlessly into the future, and all from a single source, using InstallAware X5. The InstallAware X5 IDE, with brand-new touch controls, accelerated design views, and high-DPI support, is a pleasure to behold and a joy to work with across a very wide spectrum of devices from hand-held tablets to ultra-high resolution flat displays. Just the same way that setups built with InstallAware are the most flexible, the InstallAware IDE is also the most productive and scalable; always offering two views of any setup project: Low-level script/code and high-level visual editors. Both views are always integrated, and changes made in one view seamlessly update the other; ensuring maximum productivity and customizability all at once. This level of flexibility is unmatched by neither the incumbent nor the challengers in the installation development space. Application producers need to have confidence that their installer makes a positive first impression for their software, running properly on Microsofts ever growing number of Windows versions. InstallAware X5 is the only installer which produces a single package capable of installing on all Windows versions starting with 32-bit Windows XP, going all the way through to the very latest version of 64-bit Windows 10 Redstone. The intelligent scripting available in InstallAware X5 empowers developers to intelligently adapt their setup packages to each target platform while retaining a single code base and shipping a single setup package for all of their customer scenarios; seamlessly meeting customer demands, reducing support costs, and eliminating installer errors a level of flexibility unavailable with any other installer. Moreover, developers enjoy InstallAware X5s complete integration with Microsofts development stack, including Visual Studio versions 15 through 2003, Team Foundation Server versions 2015 through 2010, and SQL Server versions 2016 through 2005. InstallAware X5 creates setups, new APPX packages, and App-V virtualization packages from any existing Visual Studio project, automatically detecting project files and technology dependencies such as .NET, adding them to installers as needed. From tight source control integration to MSBuild-automated build processes, InstallAware X5 is and end-to-end solution for globally distributed development, and agile, continuous integration practices. Developers effortlessly stay current with the latest technologies and create installers reflecting their company and product branding, design ethos, and business logic targeting an ever growing number of platforms from a single, unified code-base with a fractional investment of time and money compared to alternatives. About InstallAware Software InstallAware Software, founded in 2003, is the leading Cloud Infrastructure Company with its laser sharp focus on bullet-proof enterprise software deployment. InstallAware has been recognized by multiple awards coming from Microsoft, SDTimes "Leader of the Software Development Industry", Visual Studio Magazine Reader's Choice, ComponentSource, WindowsITPro, among other recognition. InstallAware X5 is available in a free edition for all Visual Studio users and paid editions with prices starting at $329. For a fully functional 30 day trial and more information, visit http://www.installaware.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Jason Strathmore InstallAware Software 336 Guerrero San Francisco, CA 94103 415 358 4094 jase(at)installaware(dot)com http://www.installaware.com/ Pure Visibility is proud to announce that the company has been selected among early round recipients of Google's Premier Partner status, as Google rolls out the new program. The new qualification was launched by Google earlier this summer to provide additional distinction for businesses managing higher ad spends as well as meeting more rigorous performance and certification requirements. In a letter to the company, Allan Thygesen, VP Global Sales & Operations at Google, informed Pure Visibility of the distinction; "In recognition of your dedication to digital media and to keeping your clients on the cutting edge of advertising, we are delighted to announce your new status as a Premier Google Partner." Founder and CEO of Pure Visibility, Linda Girard expressed her enthusiasm; "We're thrilled to be a Premier Partner with Google. Pure Visibility has been certified by Google since 2005, which is almost as long as they've been offering certifications. We consider ourselves pioneers in the industrymy team is voracious about keeping their skills currentso it's exciting for us to grow with Google, as they offer new ways to stay on top of search marketing." As a Premier Google Partner Pure Visibility has been recognized for its specific expertise in search ads, mobile ads, and display ads. Through the program, the company will now have access to exclusive benefits such as staff training and executive conferences, real-time access to product news and updates, priority support, and opportunities to host Google co-sponsored events. In addition to being a Premier Google Partner, Pure Visibility also maintains long-term certification in Google Analytics. About Pure Visibility Pure Visibility is an award-winning, Google Certified and Bing Accredited internet marketing agency located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since 2005, the company has provided expert digital marketing guidance and strategy for businesses looking for next-level solutions for lead generation. Pure Visibility specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), paid search advertising (PPC/SEM), social media marketing, and website analytics. Visit purevisibility.com for more information. Businesses are constantly looking to improve and accelerate the pace of production. For Fermento, the newest resident of the University City Science Centers Port business incubator, that means speeding up the beer brewing process. Recent winners of the University of Pennsylvanias Y-Prize Competition, Fermento is now occupying lab space at the Port to further develop the technology behind its Microdroplet Maker. With this technology, brewers will be able to ferment beer up to three times faster than by traditional methods. By streamlining the fermentation process, brewers can avoid the often weeks-long bottleneck that can occur when waiting for yeast to convert sugar to alcohol. Two other startups, BioSignal Analytics and SphereVis LLC, have also moved into the Port. A spinout from Temple University, BioSignal Analytics uses big data and machine learning to create clinical tools that recognize and interpret physiological signals. The company's first product, AutoEEG leverages deep learning techniques and the world's largest EEG database to perform real-time seizure detection in an ICU setting. SphereVis LLC is developing microscope cover slides that improve image resolution. SphereVis high resolution imaging of biological and photonic structures can be achieved using conventional microscopes, at a fraction of the cost of adding a high-resolution lens or purchasing an often expensive super-resolution imaging microscope. SphereVis was launched through the University of Pennsylvanias UPStart program. The Port business incubator helps emerging life sciences, physical sciences, and digital technology companies operate and grow through a suite of related programs and facilities. The Port provides coworking spaces, cubicles, fully furnished offices, and wet and dry labs directly in the heart of the Science Centers legacy campus at uCity Square. The Port also connects its residents to Greater Philadelphias diverse and supportive innovation ecosystem. About the Science Center Located in the heart of uCity Square, the University City Science Center is a dynamic hub for innovation, and entrepreneurship and technology development in the Greater Philadelphia region. Founded in 1963 as the nations first urban research park, it provides business incubation, programming, lab and office facilities, and support services for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and growing and established companies. Graduate firms and current residents of the Science Centers business incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in Greater Philadelphia and drive $12.9 billion in economic activity in the region annually. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www.sciencecenter.org. Durham School Services, a leading provider in student transportation, received a perfect score of 100 percent on their recent fleet inspection by the State Transport PoliceSouth Carolina Department of Public Safety. We set our standards high in regards to safety which entails continuous improvement. Receiving a perfect score on our recent fleet inspection validates our strenuous dedication to the maintenance of our fleet, said Daniel J. Gleich, Durham shop manager for Charleston. We are committed to ensuring our fleet is well maintained to get our students to school safely, on time and ready to learn. The inspection performed by State Transport Police encompassed an assessment of 140 school buses to ensure the fleet is well equipped to safely transport the students of 86 schools serviced by Durham School Services in Charleston. I have been inspecting your buses since you (Durham) came to Charleston, said Cpl. Gerald D. Smith, State Transport Police/Special OPS. I believe inspecting buses is one of the most important inspections that I do. Please continue the good work with the maintenance, and keeping the buses safe for the children that ride in them. # # # About our company Durham School Services, Stock Transportation, Petermann Bus and National Express Transit Corporation, make up National Express, headquartered in Warrenville, Ill. As a leader in transit and student transportation, National Express is committed to exceptional safety, outstanding customer service and positive employee relations. Our North American companies operate 23,000 buses and serve over 500 clients in 36 states and four provinces. Google Premier Partner Badge Becoming a Google Premier Partner will give us additional resources to take our services and expertise to the next level. Converge Consulting officially announces its status as a Google Premier Partner. This distinction signifies that the company has met requirements for recognition as one of Googles top-tier agency partners. Googles Premier Partner badge was launched in late June as an extension of Google Partners, which helps businesses reach professionals with Google knowledge and certification. Premier Partner agencies receive access to a wide range of benefits including training events, professional networking, promotional offers and rewards, free product exams and certifications. Becoming a Google Premier Partner will give us additional resources to take our services and expertise to the next level, said Hayley Warack, vice president of digital strategy at Converge. Premier Partner status is granted to select agency partners who manage extensive campaigns with Google and have proven to provide clients with significant results. Recognized companies are required to maintain additional certification requirements to sustain their statuses as top-tier Partners. More than half of Converges client services team is Google certified. Our digital advertising team and client portfolio have grown tremendously this year, and weve on boarded four new strategists and more than 20 new clients, including UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management, New Mexico State University and the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago, said Warack. We have continued to enhance our products and offerings while improving results month to month for our clients. These certifications, combined with a newly minted Premier Partner status, solidify the companys standing as a top-tier Google partner. With this recognition, Converge will receive enhanced support from Google to deliver even better results for clients. For more information on Google Partners, visit this website. Converge Consulting is a digital agency for higher education with offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Denver, Colorado and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Converge uses whats new and next in inbound marketing, website design, content strategy, search engine optimization, digital advertising and web analytics to positively impact student recruitment and alumni engagement for colleges and universities around the world. This new series of articles allows our physicians to share their expertise and bring meaningful health care information to the broader community. Care One, New Jerseys largest privately-owned senior care provider, recently released the first article in a new series highlighting relevant health care tips for seniors and caregivers. Its online series, The Doctor is In, will feature a monthly article on topics of interest, such as recognizing Alzheimers symptoms, heart health and chronic pain management. Written by leading physician experts affiliated with Care One, each article will provide valuable information to empower and encourage seniors and their caregivers to be proactive when dealing with health issues. CareOne works closely with premier physicians to develop specialized medical programs to provide a higher quality of care for patients at our skilled nursing facilities, said Care Ones Chief Strategy Officer Tim Hodges. This new series of articles allows our physicians to share their expertise and bring meaningful health care information to the broader community. The first article in the series, written by geriatrician and CareOne at Valley Attending Physician Dr. Ritu Suri, explores medication management tips for caregivers. Visit http://www.care-one.com/careone-news/the-doctor-is-in-a-medication-management-guide-for-caregivers/ to read the article. About CareOne With services that include post-hospital care, rehabilitation, assisted living, long-term care and a variety of clinical specialty programs, Care One offers compassionate care in gracious, professionally-managed centers and communities. Care One serves thousands of patients every day and admits/discharges more than 20,000 patients every year. With more than 29 centers under management, Care Ones outstanding programs and services are conveniently located throughout New Jersey. For more information about Care One, please visit http://www.care-one.com. Follow us on Twitter at @CareOneMgt, on Instagram at @careonemgt, on Facebook at CareOne Management, LLC, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/careone-management-llc. These tunes and artists were heard everywhere in the 70s and early 80s. KSO Music Director, James Cassidy. For the past 22 summers, the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra has brought multiple generations together on the lawn in Devou Park. The KSO has performed a variety of musical genres that have all but disappeared from live performance (Spike Jones, Ragtime, Vaudeville, etc). Continuing this nostalgic niche programming on August 6, the Symphony serves up tasty, smooth and crossover jazz by iconic names Chuck Mangione, Spyro Gyra, Deodato and Chick Corea. These tunes and artists were heard everywhere in the 70s and early 80s. said KSO Music Director James Cassidy. It was kind of our collective instrumental sound-track for a more laid back time. The program offers several Spyro Gyra hits (Morning Dance, Catching the Sun and Heliopolis) by Jay Beckenstein, who was the reed man for the group. Steel drums, marimba along with rhythm and sax created Spyro Gyras signature sound, and also infused their tunes with a breezy tropical flavor. Chuck Mangiones 1978 concert and live recording at the Hollywood Bowl was dubbed A Night of Magic. The KSO replaces the LA Phil with a slightly scaled down accompaniment of these fabulous Mangione tunes Feels So Good, The Hill Where the Lord Hides, Land of Make Believe and Children of Sanchez. Brazilian pianist, Emuir Deodatos funk/jazz fueled version of Richard Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra rocketed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1973, and won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental. Chick Coreas rhythmically-catchy tune Spain has become a true jazz standard. The depth of the Greater Cincinnati talent pool is one of the reasons that the KSO founder (Cassidy) started the orchestra 24 years ago this month. You cant begin to play this music without musicians who get it, know it and have played it. This music is really all about style, Cassidy remarked. The Phil DeGreg trio (including pianist Phil DeGreg, bassist Aaron Jacobs and John Taylor on drums) propels the band along with Brad Myers on guitar and Brian Malone on assorted percussion. Side men Hal Melia, reeds, Rob Parton, flugelhorn, and Dominic Marino, trombone headline the crew fronting the KSO for this show, which will make cloud and star-gazing both a sonic and visual treat. Join Music Director James Cassidy for the Symphonys 22nd Summer in Devou Park, Saturday, August 6 at 7:30 p.m. Bring blankets or lawn chairs. Free admission and parking, donations suggested. For more information, visit the KSO at http://www.kyso.org or call (859) 431-6216. About the KSO: Since 1992 The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra has taken the phony out of symphony through live thematic concerts that culturally enrich, educate and entertain the residents of Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. The KSO performs throughout Northern Kentucky performing three series of concerts. Thomas Oronti and Jose Tomas Contreras, President of ADOZONA Historically, ADOZONA has played an important role in defending the best interests of the Free Trade Zones through active participation in various business and government agencies. I am very honored for the nomination." The Assembly of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (ADOZONA) unanimously elected Thomas Oronti, CEO of Advensus Contact Centers, as Executive Member of the Board and Head of the Call Center Commission of that entity for the 2016-2017 period. With a recognized professional trajectory in the free zone contact center field, Mr. Oronti has had an active presence in the BPO industry of the country, where he has been a member of the board of the Contact Center & BPO Cluster of the Dominican Republic since its foundation and a known promoter for the best interest of the sector in the Caribbean nation. For the last ten years, Thomas Oronti has been the Chief Executive Officer at Advensus Contact Centers, the most important provider of contact centers services in the Dominican Republic, with 5 modern buildings in central areas of Santo Domingo and more than 4,000 operational positions. Advensus also has presence Virginia in the United States with 250 seats. As head of the Call Center Commission, Mr. Oronti will be representing the BPO business in this organization as an advocate for the sector. The contact centers have become a very important segment of the thriving Free Trade Zone industry, due to the growth experienced by this business activity in the past ten years; activity that currently employs more than thirty thousand people in the Dominican Republic. Historically, ADOZONA has played an important role in defending the best interests of the Free Trade Zones through active participation in various business and government agencies. I am very honored for the nomination and look forward to the opportunity to drive this valuable industry to the next level, promoting the Dominican Republic as a competitive location for Call Centers and endorsing initiatives for the benefit of the sector expressed Mr. Oronti. The nomination of Oronti at ADOZONA was attended by a broad representation of members of that entity from call centers and free zone companies operating throughout the country. Among the initiatives that will be carried by the Call Center Commission under Thomas Oronti is direction will be to endorse the furthering of English as a second language specifically for the Contact Center industry with the help of the government education bodies, and a general campaign to promote the image of the sector in order to make it better known among its stakeholders. About Advensus Advensus began operations in 2006 in the Dominican Republic under the name of Nearshore and 100 tele marketing positions. Ten years later, the company has evolved into the most important service provider of contact centers services in the country with five world class infrastructure facilities PCI certification, best in class technology and human resources operating in a friendly and inclusive work environment. Advensus also offers a US option with facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia, always operating under the highest standards of safety and technology with the sole purpose of achieving customer satisfaction and the loyalty of its employees. Advensus helps medium and large enterprises provide outstanding care to their customers by supplying inbound and outbound contact center solutions including: customer service, technical support, sales, lead generation and collections in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese languages. For more information, visit http://www.advensus.com. Veronica Saltz Turner, Shareholder, (pictured), and Wendy Lappin Barragree, Senior Counsel, join Chamberlain Hrdlicka. The addition of litigators like Veronica and Wendy continues to broaden our services in the Philadelphia market. Continuing the expansion of its Philadelphia office, Chamberlain Hrdlicka is pleased to announce that it has added veteran trial lawyers Veronica Saltz Turner as a shareholder and Wendy Lappin Barragree as senior counsel to its Philadelphia office. Shareholder Ken Trujillo said the addition of litigators like Veronica and Wendy continues to broaden our services in the Philadelphia market. Were delighted to welcome them to Chamberlain Hrdlicka. Saltz Turner practices aviation, product liability, employment discrimination, ERISA, life, health and disability, hospitality litigation, transportation, property and commercial litigation. In practice since 1989, she has trial experience in both state and federal courts in various jurisdictions. She has tried more than 100 cases in both federal and state courts with a remarkable rate of successful outcomes for her clients. In addition to her trial work, she also conducts training courses and seminars on prevention of employment litigation, general liability issues and claims handling. After receiving a bachelors degree from Fordham University, Saltz Turner earned her law degree from Georgetown University. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Lappin Barragree enjoys an active and diverse civil defense practice involving medical negligence, automobile and premises liability, employment, employee benefits, and casualty claims. Lappin Barragree has successfully defended employers, medical providers, corporations, business owners, and individuals in federal and state courts. She received a bachelors degree from West Chester University and her law degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. To learn more, visit our website. About Chamberlain Hrdlicka Chamberlain Hrdlicka is a diversified business law firm with offices in Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Antonio. The firm represents both public and private companies as well as individuals and family-owned businesses across the nation in a wide variety of practice areas, including commercial and business litigation, tax planning and tax controversy, corporate, securities and finance, employment law and employee benefits, energy law, estate planning and administration, intellectual property, international and immigration law, and real estate and construction law. Vaccinations protect both large and small animals against an array of diseases and viruses, ensuring they live long, happy and healthy lives. August marks National Immunization Awareness Month, a time to emphasize the importance of making sure your pet is up-to-date on all immunizations. Vaccinations protect both large and small animals against an array of diseases and viruses, ensuring they live long, happy and healthy lives. Compliance among pet owners is key to sustaining a pet's health and preventing the spread of disease. Vaccination awareness month serves as a reminder for pet owners to comply with recommended guidelines and discuss the purpose, risks and benefits of each vaccination with their veterinary health care team. One such discussion may revolve around the FVRCP vaccine (feline rhinotracheitis virus, calicivirus and panleukopenia), also referred to as the feline distemper vaccine, which safeguards cats from three deadly airborne viruses. The American Association of Feline Practitioners recommends the following schedule for this vaccine: one dose as early as six weeks old followed by two to three booster vaccines spaced three or four weeks apart until the cat reaches 12 to 16 weeks. Adhering to this schedule is vital for the vaccines effectiveness. Pet owners may be more likely to comply, and therefore improve the effectiveness of vaccinations, when they receive electronic and print reminders from veterinary practices. Compliance among pet owners is crucial for the rabies vaccine because it is required by law in most states and is a deadly yet preventable virus. The first dose must be administered to cats within their first three months and to puppies between 12 to 24 weeks of life. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that about 10 percent of all animal rabies cases are domestic, which means it is still prevalent among cats, dogs, horses and show animals (sheep, goats, cattle, etc.). Vaccinating all of these animals against rabies is critical to build a barrier between humans and this deadly disease. Another essential vaccination specifically for dogs is canine DHPP (distemper, adenovirus [hepatitis], parainfluenza and parvovirus). This immunization protects dogs from viral diseases of the lungs, liver, intestines, brain and infectious bronchitis. The American Animal Hospital Association provides guidelines with regards to the appropriate vaccination schedule. Other recommended vaccinations depend on species, state laws, geographic locations, special circumstances and age, among other factors. Veterinary teams are the best line of defense for information on vaccination protocols. About the Texas Veterinary Medical Association Founded in 1903, the Texas Veterinary Medical Association is a professional association composed of more than 3,700 veterinarians committed to protecting public health, promoting high educational, ethical and moral standards within the veterinary profession and educating the public about animal health and its relationship to human health. For more information, call 512/452-4224 or visit http://www.tvma.org. ### McKee Foods is one of several donors supporting the provision of free outdoor gyms with sturdy, weather-resistant cardiovascular and weight-training machines in North Carolina. These fun and accessible fitness environments will empower area residents to get out and get active, and the gyms have the potential to help improve visitors overall health and increase outdoor happiness. We are excited to partner with The Trust for Public Land on these outdoor fitness zones, said Chris McKee, executive vice president of Marketing & Sales at McKee Foods. Getting people outside and happy is what the OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement is all about. Research shows that parks and The Trust for Public Lands Fitness Zone areas in particular directly improve our health and wellness, said Kent Whitehead, The Trust for Public Lands senior project manager. Installing free outdoor fitness equipment in neighborhoods where gym memberships are too pricey to be practical empowers communities in the fight against obesity. 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. The OH! 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, Tenn.; 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. A Hot Dog is Not a Sandwich It is clear Americans recognize the hot dog for what it is: a cultural icon that is a category unto itself. The people have spoken, and we hope this new data will help settle many of the heated debates that are stiil ongoing today. At a time when American political ideologies are almost evenly split around two Presidential candidates, new polling shows Americans are far less divided about the question, Is a hot dog a sandwich? Newly released poll results show that 57 percent of Americans say hot dog on a bun is NOT a sandwich compared to 33 percent who believe it IS. Meanwhile, 10 percent remain undecided. The polling was conducted online among more than 2,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older in May 2016 by Harris Poll on behalf of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC), The epic debate has dominated social media at times in 2016. The polling reveals that Americans age 18-34 (64 percent) and 35-44 (61 percent) are more likely than their older counterparts age 65+ (44 percent) to believe that a hot dog is not a sandwich. In fact, Americans over the age of 65 (44 percent) are the only demographic group where more say a hot dog is a sandwich (50 percent) than is not. Southerners (62 percent), Northeasterners (58 percent) & Westerners (58 percent) are all more likely to agree that a hot dog is not a sandwich than Midwesterners (49 percent). It is clear Americans recognize the hot dog for what it is: a cultural icon that is a category unto itself, said NHDSC Queen of Wien Janet Riley. The people have spoken, and we hope this new data will help settle many of the heated debates that are still ongoing today. In late 2015, when the social media debate was at its peak, the NHDSC officially declared that the hot dog is not a sandwich, saying Limiting the hot dogs significance by saying its just a sandwich is like calling the Dalai Lama just a guy. The NHDSC also developed a list of a dozen reasons why the terms hot dog and sandwich are not interchangeable. The online debate has persisted with celebrities, politicians, professional athletes and Americans of all ages weighing in with their own take. With such large scale discussion of this important issue, the NHDSC is taking its message to one of the most passionate hot dog cities in the country at the fourth annual Chicago Hot Dog Fest, presented by the Chicago History Museum this Friday-Sunday in Chicagos Lincoln Park. There Riley will debate Museum historian Peter T. Alter about whether a hot dog is a sandwich on Friday, August 5 at 4pm CT with the audience declaring the winner. It is the Chicago Hot Dog Fest, not Chicago Sandwich Fest, said Riley. A sandwich fest, while still delicious, would have to work harder to draw tens of thousands year after year. The hot dog is a magnet for fans. For more answers to common hot dog debates, questions and more visit http://www.hot-dog.org and for regular hot dog news and updates, check out the NHDSC on Facebook. Survey Methodology The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of NHDSC from May 17-19, 2016 among 2,026 adults ages 18 and older. The survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Eric Mittenthal. About The Harris Poll Over the last 5 decades, Harris Polls have become media staples. With comprehensive experience and precise technique in public opinion polling, along with a proven track record of uncovering consumers motivations and behaviors, The Harris Poll has gained strong brand recognition around the world. Contact us for more information. About the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council Established in 1994, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council conducts scientific research to benefit hot dog and sausage manufacturers. The Council also serves as an information resource to consumers and media on issues related to quality, safety, nutrition and preparation of hot dogs. LuminAID, the Chicago-based startup that invented the worlds first solar inflatable light is launching a new line of patented solar lights. 2016 has been an exciting year for the innovative startup. The year started off with a January follow-up appearance on ABCs Shark Tank by co-founders Andrea Sreshta and Anna Stork, who had reeled in offers from all five Sharks in 2015. In May, the duo won the TOMS Shoes Pitch for Good Contest and secured an investment from Blake Mycoskie in the process. And in June, the inventors received a wide-ranging patent on LuminAIDs portable solar technology. Now, the company is introducing an all new line of inflatable solar lanterns for use in disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and outdoor recreation. "This was a big year for LuminAID and for us as entrepreneurs and inventors. We are excited to come out with this new product line that extends on our technology, and can't wait to see it in stores soon!" said LuminAID Co-Founder Andrea Sreshta. The new lineup consists of the following lanterns: LuminAID PackLite Nova The PackLite Nova is the next generation of LuminAIDs award-winning PackLite 12 collapsible solar lantern. It weighs only 4 oz, and is 4.65 wide x 4.75 high. The lantern compresses flat to under 3/4" thick. It offers 75 Lumens on its highest setting and provides 24 hours of LED light on a single charge. The PackLite Nova charges in 10 hours of sunlight and requires no additional batteries. The PackLite Nova has a 4-level charge indicator and adjustable strap for hanging. Due to its unique expandable design, the PackLite Nova is waterproof and dust-proof (IP67 rated), and floats in water. Given its high performance but compact size, the PackLite Nova makes an ideal light for everyday use, home and garden, campsites, backyards and emergency kits. LuminAID PackLite Spectra LuminAID is also releasing an updated version of the family favorite PackLite Spectra color-changing solar lantern with 9 light modes, including 7 solid colors, white, and a multi-color rainbow fade. The new and improved light is only 4 oz, and expands to 4.65 wide x 4.75 high. This ultralight lantern packs flat down to less than 3/4" thick. The PackLite Spectra is waterproof and dust-proof (IP67 rated), and floats in water. With its high performance battery, the PackLite Spectra lasts for 8-12 hours at full charge. The PackLite Spectra also charges in 10 hours of sunlight and requires no additional batteries. The PackLite Spectra brightens up any poolside party and makes a great accessory for outdoor concerts and festivals. LuminAID PackLite Max Waterproof, 4 times the size of the original PackLite 12 and significantly more powerful, the PackLite Max is the next big thing in solar inflatable lights. The PackLite Max is a powerhouse, at 6.8 oz, 5.8 wide x 6 high. It offers 150 Lumens on its highest setting, and lasts up to 50 hours per charge. The lantern packs flat to under 3/4" thick. The PackLite Max has a 4-level charge indicator and adjustable strap for hanging, as well as a USB charge port. The PackLite Max fully charges in 1.5 hours with the USB and 12 hours in the sun. This high-performance solar lantern is also waterproof and dust-proof (IP67 rated), and floats in water. Given the PackLite Maxs dual solar and USB-charging capabilities, it is an ideal lantern for family and RV campers. The company will continue to offer its PackLite 16 lantern, which is LuminAIDs flagship product for use in disaster relief aid and has been used in more than 70 countries around the world. The new line of PackLite lanterns are bigger and brighter than previous lanterns by LuminAID. Nonetheless, they maintain their smart light-weight design. In addition to the new line, LuminAID has plans to expand upon programs for custom co-branded and printed lights. The company will offer limited edition selections like the camouflage-printed PackLite Renegade, launched earlier this year. The new products will be available for pre-order this fall, and available to consumers online in time for the holiday season. About LuminAID LuminAID develops innovative, solar-powered products for humanitarian relief aid and outdoor recreation. The companys first product, the patented LuminAID light, is a solar-powered, inflatable lamp that packs flat and inflates to create a lightweight, waterproof lantern suitable for outdoor recreation and emergency situations. Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta, co-founders of the company, invented the inflatable solar lights in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti while they were graduate students at Columbia University. LuminAID lights have been sold to individuals in more than 70 different countries, and outreach projects with NGO partners have put more than 15,000 donated lights on-the-ground in more than 50 countries including Haiti, Nepal and the Philippines. LuminAID has supplied its lights to Shelterbox, Doctors Without Borders, and several organizations in the United Nations for distribution on the ground after disasters and in refugee camps. Most recently, LuminAID lights have been used by Syrian refugees in camps across the Middle East and Europe. LuminAID lights, which can be used for personal enjoyment as well as home emergency preparedness, are available for purchase at select retailers including The Container Store, the L.L Bean Catalog, and Amazon.com. LuminAID was featured on ABC's Shark Tank, received offers from all five "sharks," and made a deal with the billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Visit: http://www.luminaid.com Follow LuminAID on Twitter and YouTube @LuminAIDLab, Facebook http://www.fb.com/luminaid, and Instagram @luminaid Just a few months ago, my team found the back door of a network left open by a previous penetration tester for one of our clients, explains HORNE Cybers Director of Cyber Operations Wesley McGrew. HORNE Cybers Wesley McGrew challenges the status quo of penetration testing by disclosing the common weaknesses of current off-the-shelf tools that train penetration testers but leave clients exposed to major devastation. According to McGrew, though there are widely available learning materials used to train penetration testers, they often lead to inadequate protection of client data and penetration testing operations. Malicious threat actors are incentivized to attack and compromise penetration testers, and given current practices, can do so easily and with dramatic impact. Just a few months ago, my team found the back door of a network left open by a previous penetration tester for one of our clients. Unfortunately, clients think they are taking the necessary steps to protect their data but not all penetration testers are created equal, explains McGrew. McGrew will be taking the stage at Black Hat USA on August 3 and DEF CON on August 6. His presentation will include a live demonstration of techniques for hijacking a penetration tester's normal practices, as well as guidance for examining and securing current testing procedures. About HORNE Cyber HORNE Cyber, a leader in offense-oriented cybersecurity, focuses on building the cyber-resilience of organizations. HORNE Cybers anticipatory approach to cybersecurity uncovers hidden cyber risk and significantly reduces exposure to security threats allowing clients to stay compliant with ever-growing regulations and use technology as a lever for growth. To learn more, visit http://www.hornecyber.com. Potential game changer for Georgia's manufacturing future. E.G.O. North America, in Newnan, GA, is the U.S. headquarters of a German company that manufactures heating elements for commercial and industrial facilities. Their CEO, David Keller, is helping launch an apprenticeship program in conjunction with the school board of Coweta County. The program is modeled after the apprenticeship programs that have been in use in Germany for the past 100 years. Jason Moss, the founder of the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA), a grass roots organization created to promote, educate, and connect Georgia manufacturers with one another, recently met with Keller and Mark Whitlock, a representative of the Coweta County school system, to discuss how the GMA could help promote the apprenticeship program to other companies and schools across Georgia. It is vital to the health of Georgias manufacturing sector that employers and secondary schools across the state adopt an apprenticeship program to attract young people to good paying jobs in manufacturing, said Moss. The German program has helped make German manufacturing companies the envy of the world. There is no reason why manufacturers in Georgia cant achieve that same level of success. At the GMAs annual Manufacturing Summit at the Cobb Galleria on October 26th, a panel discussion on the German-style apprenticeship program will include manufacturers and school system representatives from Coweta County as well as officials from the states economic development department and the Technical College System of Georgia. This is one of six educational sessions that will be provided at the Summit. We are very excited that TSI Solutions of Stone Mountain will be co-sponsoring this session about Georgias apprenticeship program, said Moss. GMA is uniquely positioned to help facilitate the spread of this apprenticeship program across Georgia, said Moss. It has the potential to be a game changer for the states manufacturing community. On August 2nd, Lt. Governor Cagle will host a ceremony at the Georgia State Capitol to mark the launch of a new German-style apprenticeship program in Coweta County. http://goo.gl/NjglYE Details about the GMA Summit are available on the organizations website at http://www.GeorgiaManufacturingSummit.com. About the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance is a professional organization founded in 2008 to support Georgias manufacturing community. GMA provides monthly plant tours, educational sessions and unique networking opportunities designed to help make profitable business connections for its members. To learn more about the organization, visit GeorgiaManufacturingAlliance.com. "We are pleased that Lexalytics is making its Semantria text analytics platform available on the Azure Cloud," said Nicole Herskowitz, senior director of product marketing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp. Lexalytics, a leader in cloud and on-premises text analytics solutions, announced today that Semantria, the companys Software-as-a-Service, cloud-based text and sentiment analytics platform, is now available on the Microsoft Azure Cloud. With Semantria on Azure, data scientists, voice of the customer (VOC), and customer experience management (CEM) teams can access enterprise-level natural language processing (NLP) and analytics, easily integrating with other Azure cloud services like Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, to gain deeper insights into what their customers are saying and thinking. As brands are increasingly inundated with unstructured data in thousands of documents from sources like Facebook, Twitter, customer satisfaction surveys, blogs, the news media, customer service calls, and more, the need to process and make sense of that data grows along with it. In addition, more businesses are eager to take advantage of the flexibility and scalability that the cloud offers. Semantria on Azure is the solution for businesses looking for this combination of enterprise-level sentiment analytics and the flexibility the cloud has to offer. Lexalytics has seen strong demand for its cloud API since pioneering the space with Semantria nearly five years ago, said Jeff Catlin, CEO at Lexalytics. Were excited to extend the platform to the Microsoft Azure Cloud and expand the cloud options available to our enterprise customers. Our customers are increasingly looking for analytics capabilities that improve business outcomes through the improved insights gained from unstructured data, said Nicole Herskowitz, senior director of product marketing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp. We are pleased that Lexalytics is making its Semantria text analytics platform available on the Azure Cloud. Azure is a growing collection of integrated cloud servicesanalytics, computing, database, mobile, networking, storage, and webfor moving faster, achieving more, and saving money. About Lexalytics Processing billions of unstructured documents every day globally, Lexalytics is an industry leader in translating text into profitable decisions. Lexalytics deploys state-of-the-art cloud and on-premise text and sentiment analytics technologies that transform customers thoughts and conversations into actionable insights. The on-premise Salience and SaaS Semantria platforms are implemented in a variety of industries for social media monitoring, reputation management and voice of the customer programs. Based in Boston, MA, Lexalytics has offices in the US and Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.lexalytics.com, email sales(at)lexalytics(dot)com or call 1-617-249-1049. Follow Lexalytics on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. People like Eddie, Blake, Jeff, John, Paul and Joel, and all the other folks who attended the event and who work hard every day to bring value to their investors, drive more and more awareness of what is possible in the small balance real estate world. Four small balance real estate (SBRE) entrepreneurs received awards as best in class in their respective categories for 2016. Awards were given in SBRE categories as follows: SBRE Syndicator of the Year, SBRE Emerging Fund Manager of the Year, SBRE Fund Manager of the Year, and SBRE Entrepreneur of the Year. Each category contained five finalists from whom a winner was chosen based a combined formula of fan voting, peer voting, investor voting, and Fairway America voting. The winners of the SBRE Awards were Worcester Investments from Kansas City MO as SBRE Syndicator of the Year. Brothers Paul and Joel Worcester accepted the award on behalf of the company. SBRE Emerging Fund Manager of the Year went to Alturas Capital of Boise ID, whose CEO Blake Hansen accepted the trophy. SBRE Fund Manager of the Year went to Grand Coast Capital of Boston MA, whose CEO Jeff Carter was on hand to accept the award. Finally, SBRE Entrepreneur of the Year went to John Helmick whose company Gorilla Capital is based in Eugene OR. Winners were determined based on four inputs. Forty percent of the determination was weighted based on general online fan voting, which totaled 683,667 votes. Twenty percent was based on votes from registered investor users on Fairway Americas online site, SBREfunds.com. Another twenty percent was based on voting from Fairways community of fund manager and SBRE entrepreneurial peers. The final twenty percent was based on Fairway Americas sole vote. Fairway America created the SBRE Awards to help recognize pioneers and leaders in the rapidly growing Small Balance Real Estate industry. SBREfunds.com is the industrys leading community for both SBRE managers and the high net worth investors who capitalize them. It provides education, tools and access to both constituents. We are very proud of the event and particularly of the SBRE Award winners, said Fairway America CEO Matt Burk. All of these SBRE entrepreneurs, including the finalists, are deserving of the recognition they received. They help make the industry great. The CapitalFlow Conference was designed with a different formula to augment the SBRE Summit and to continue to help facilitate the SBRE community of entrepreneurs and investors. The inaugural event included nearly 150 entrepreneurs and fund managers from around the United States for mind share and mutual learning, collaboration on the key issues they all face, and to enhance their capacity to successfully raise capital for their SBRE enterprises. The event is expected to be held annually in Fairways home town of Portland OR. We couldnt be happier with the way the event turned out, said Burk. If we can deliver great value, the event will just get better and better every year. In addition to the award winners, the first ever inductees into the SBRE Hall of Fame, Eddie Speed of NoteSchool and Colonial Funding Group and Matt Burk of Fairway America and SBREfunds.com, were honored at a lunchtime ceremony. Speed is a veteran of the discounted note purchasing industry and a dedicated educator of entrepreneurs and investors interested in that sector of SBRE. People like Eddie, Blake, Jeff, John, Paul and Joel, and all the other folks who attended the event and who work hard every day to bring value to their investors, drive more and more awareness of what is possible in the small balance real estate world. The first ever SBRE Shark Bowl contest was held after the SBRE Awards ceremony. Five SBRE entrepreneurs were each given 10 minutes to pitch their investment opportunity to a panel of five judges. The judges scored each presenter on a scale of 1 to 10 with the lowest score being dropped and Aaron Gillingham of Aries Capital NW based in Portland OR edged out David Sobelman with Generation Income Properties to capture the $100,000 capital commitment from one of Fairway Americas proprietary investment funds contingent on the completion of due diligence. About Fairway America Fairway America, LLC is a longtime real estate asset based fund manager and real estate finance advisory firm providing strategic business planning services nationwide to SBRE entrepreneurs around the structure, architecture, and administration of proprietary 506 Regulation D pooled investment funds. Fairways related entities manage two proprietary funds, Fairway America Fund VI, LLC, and Fairway America Fund VII LP, each focused on the SBRE space with different asset allocations and investment features. Both funds consider investments nationwide. About SBREfunds.com SBREfunds.com is an online education, information and match-making site that exclusively lists small balance real estate investment opportunities. Created by Fairway America, SBREfunds.com provides entrepreneurs and investors with education and connectivity to better capitalize and grow an SBRE enterprise. From connection with investors to strategic capital raising plans to live events, SBREfunds.com is the definitive resource for SBRE entrepreneurs and accredited investors to understand how to successfully work with one another for mutual benefit and growth. Neither Fairway America nor SBREfunds.com is a registered broker-dealer or investment advisor. None of the Fairway companies perform any activities of a broker or investment adviser, including but not limited to, soliciting investors, providing investment advice, negotiating securities transactions or the terms, conditions or provisions of any offering, or recommending the purchase of securities. This press release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell securities in any of the companies mentioned, any funds presenting at SBRE Summit events, or any related or associated companies. Investors must not rely on information provided in this press release for investment decisions. 1991 Blend represents our origins and our journey as a company over the past quarter century. With each year, we increase the focus on our responsibility to represent the hard work that local farmers put into growing each bean. Past News Releases RSS Crimson Cup Welcomes The Office... Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea... Barista Magazine Names Crimson... In August 1991, The Fresh Prince was fresh, MS-DOS 5.0 was cutting-edge tech, fava beans were all the rage, and Greg Ubert roasted his first coffee beans. This week, the Founder and President of Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea kicked off the Columbus roasters 25th anniversary celebrations by introducing a new, limited-edition coffee: 1991 Blend. 1991 Blend represents our origins and our journey as a company over the past quarter century, he said. With each year, we increase the focus on our responsibility to represent the hard work that local farmers put into growing each bean, and we make a point to meet with as many individual farmers as possible. Over the past two years, the coffee-buying team has traveled more than 25,000 miles to forge direct trade relationships with small-plot coffee farmers. To create the new blend, Coffee Sourcing and Education Manager Brandon Bir and Coffee Buyer Dave Eldridge mixed two of their favorite small-lot relationship coffees. After cupping several contenders, we settled on a Guatemalan Pacamara from the Antigua area and a natural processed heirloom varietal from the Limmu region of Ethiopia, Bir said. The resulting cup has flavors of chocolate-covered cherries and strawberries with a syrupy body and sweet finish, Eldridge added. 1991 Blend comes in bright, retro packaging that recalls the 1990s. This was the decade that specialty coffee and cafe culture really took off in the states, Ubert recalled. It seemed as if a new coffee shop opened nearly every day. While supplies last, Crimson Cups 1991 Blend can be purchased on the company website, at its Clintonville and Upper Arlington coffee houses, at The Hills Market Downtown and at Weilands Market in Clintonville. A 12-ounce bag sells for $17.95. About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year, is celebrating 25 years of Coffee + Community. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, colleges and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the companys own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com The SBS Group Master VAR program provides a successful roadmap for partners to grow their business by using our centralized support, training and marketing resources across North America. SBS Group, the exclusive Microsoft Master VAR, expands their Partner Network Program with the addition of a new partner. i.SOLUTIONS Midwest is a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri and will now represent the SBS Group Kansas City Office. Joseph Longo, Chief Operating Officer at SBS Group, says The addition of i.SOLUTIONS expands our presence in the U.S. Midwest region. The SBS Group Master VAR program provides a successful roadmap for partners to grow their business by using our centralized support, training and marketing resources across North America. SBS Group also offers the full suite of Microsoft Dynamics solutions, exclusive vertical solutions, plus CRM, SharePoint and network infrastructure solutions. Partners affiliated with SBS Group can leverage a large network of product knowledge and supporting resources to enrich their customer experiences. Ken Johnson, Principal of i.SOLUTIONS Midwest, says, We are excited to join the SBS Group Partner Network which will allow us to continue our commitment to building close and lasting customer relationships. i.SOLUTIONS appears to be a great fit for the SBS Group business model and we look forward to enhancing our ability to offer our clients additional products and services as a result of this affiliation. About i.SOLUTIONS Midwest Established in 2003, i.SOLUTIONS Midwest has provided sales, implementation, training and support services to mid-market business partners using Microsoft Dynamics GP. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, i.SOLUTIONS has helped clients to gain benefits from their accounting systems by using a team approach to understand their specific business needs and leveraging leading edge technology to provide them with a strategic advantage that allows for growth and success. About SBS Group SBS Group is a national Microsoft master VAR (Value Added Reseller) with Gold level competency in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). Over the past 30 years, they have been recognized as Microsoft Partner of the Year, Inner Circle Member and Microsoft President's Club member multiple times. The company is headquartered in Edison, New Jersey and operates offices across North America. For more information, please visit SBS Group's website at http://www.sbsgroupusa.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/sbs-group, on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sbsgroup and find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SBSGroupUSA. Go Back to School with Goodwill Horizon Goodwill CEO John McCain. Todays economy often requires us, as consumers, to compare and research the best offers. We aim to have the best prices throughout the four-state. August 1, 2016 It may feel as though summer just began, but the back-to-school shopping season has already started. Many families will wait until the last minute to shop for clothes, backpacks, accessories, and supplies. These parents face empty shelves, long checkout lines, and disappointed children. To help, Horizon Goodwill provides useful back-to-school shopping tips. CEO, John McCain said, "If you are looking for kids clothing, be sure to give yourself enough time to go through the racks. You never know what hidden treasures you can find in between other items." Giving yourself extra time to search will also alleviate the stress of rushing around trying to find the right clothing or school supplies before your next appointment. While shopping, ask about discounts. Horizon Goodwill stores offer sales such as 99-cent color tags, which vary from week to week. Ask an employee or visit Horizon Goodwills Facebook and Twitter pages to begin hunting for savings. We are always looking for ways to help our customers save money, says Horizon Goodwill CEO John McCain. Todays economy often requires us, as consumers, to compare and research the best offers. We aim to have the best prices throughout the four-state. Never assume that clothes will fit. If your kids are with you, have them try on the clothing. If you dont bring them, take their measurements. Remember that sizes can vary between brands and items will sometimes shrink. Horizon Goodwill Industries, whose mission is Removing Barriers, Creating Opportunities, is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people have access to jobs despite significant obstacles. Horizon Goodwill serves over 5,000 clients annually in a 17 county region that includes parts of the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. For more information, please visit http://www.horizongoodwill.org. ### Bijou, an aged goat cheese, earned one of Vermont Creamery's nine wins at ACS. These awards are a reflection of the collective hard work of our farmers and the dedication and expertise of our cheesemakers. Vermont Creamery was again recognized for excellence, taking home nine ribbons from the annual American Cheese Society Competition (ACS) in Des Moines, Iowa on July 29. First place blue ribbons were awarded to Bijou, Feta and Creme Fraiche; second place ribbons went to Bonne Bouche, Quark, Fresh Crottin, Mascarpone and Cultured Butter with Sea Salt and Maple; Classic Spreadable Goat Cheese took third, all in their respective categories. This is the third consecutive year Bijou has taken first place in its category at the ACS Competition. These awards are a reflection of the collective hard work of our farmers and the dedication and expertise of our cheesemakers; recognition by ACS is a source of great pride for our company as we continue to grow and perfect our craft, said Allison Hooper, Co-Founder of Vermont Creamery. This year, 1,843 cheeses were entered in the 33rd American Cheese Society Competition; of that, 35 ribbons were awarded to Vermont cheesemakers. ACS is the leading organization supporting the understanding, appreciation and promotion of farmstead, artisan and specialty cheeses produced in the Americas. Since its founding in 1983, ACS hosts North Americas foremost annual educational conference and world-renowned cheese judging and competition. For the complete list of the 2016 American Cheese Society winners, visit CheeseJudging.org. About Vermont Creamery Combining the European tradition of cheesemaking with Vermonts terroir, Vermont Creamerys line of fresh and aged goat cheeses, cultured butter, and creme fraiche have won over 100 national and international awards. In their 32nd year of business, Vermont Creamery supports a network of more than 15 family farms, promoting sustainable agriculture in the region. B Corp Certified in 2014, Vermont Creamery is the founder of Ayers Brook Goat Dairy, the countrys first demonstration goat dairy. For more information, visit http://www.vermontcreamery.com. For more than 20 years, FranNet, North Americas most respected leader in matching individuals with franchise ownership opportunities, and JAN-PRO, the worlds largest commercial cleaning company, have been working together to help franchise candidates find success within the JAN-PRO system. According to FranNets CEO Jania Bailey, the reason the relationship has been so beneficial is because her team has come to deeply understand the JAN-PRO concept and the traits that will produce the most effective candidates. By leveraging that knowledge, FranNet consultants and JAN-PRO are able to work together to create the perfect, most impactful match. For example, 15 years ago, Ron Rush stepped into Atlanta FranNet consultant Phil Kubans office looking for guidance. Kuban has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs find their perfect franchise match. When Rush explained that he had recently lost his job and he was looking for a business that could help him replace his lost salary, Kuban recommended an opportunity with JAN-PRO, the worlds fastest-growing commercial cleaning franchise. People are always skeptical at first when I recommend a future with a commercial cleaning companythat is, until I explain to them the immense opportunity that lies within it, Kuban said. People come to me and I start telling them about a company that has an outstanding reputation and the kind of professionalism only seen on the elite level of franchisors. I tell them about its history and how stable it is. And I tell them about how this is helping hundreds of blue-collar families by providing them with a chance to finally create something with meaningsomething that can build a legacy for their kids. I then tell them that all of this resides in a company that does commercial cleaningJAN-PRO. Theyre not just getting into franchisingtheyre changing lives." Rushs experience with JAN-PRO from that moment on was just thatlife changing. In August 2001, Rush became the new Master Franchisee for JAN-PRO of Atlanta, a role that would have him spearheading the development for the entire territory by creating a system of individual unit owners. Alongside his son, Brad, who now serves as President and CEO of JAN-PROs Atlanta headquarters, Rush has built a strong network of 230 franchisees. Today, their business generates nearly $15 million a year in revenue, putting them at the No.2 spot in the JAN-PRO system. A lot of our clients are looking for a tried-and-true franchise that has a proven, consistent track record, solid operations and a time-tested model. Many times, that will bring us back to JAN-PRO. Franchise concepts come and go all the time, but few others have JAN-PROs 25-year-old history and impressive expertise, Bailey said. Scott Hockensmith shares a similar story. In the midst of a career transition in 2001, he visited Stacy Swift, a FranNet consultant in Colorado, in search of a newand more rewardingopportunity. Coming from a top-level executive position for a major company, his goal was to find a career that would help him repurpose those hard-earned skills. But more importantly, he wanted to find a business that he could feel good about. Swift recommended Hockensmith to JAN-PROs Master Franchisee model. Fifteen years later, hes built up his territory in Denver to a company that generates nearly $15 million in revenue a year. And much like Ron and Brad Rush, hes led the region to become one of the top three in the entire JAN-PRO system. In addition to being a lucrative and sustainable opportunity with one of the fastest-growing companies, in the end, we love recommending JAN-PRO because its a business that people can feel proud of. And thats an intangible element that you could never put a value on, Swift said. In the years to come, FranNet and JAN-PRO plan to further enhance this strong relationship by expanding that same success to Maid Right, JAN-PROs sister company, which offers residential cleaning services. For a while, JAN-PRO had struggled because of the way the business model was being approachedon the surface, were a janitorial cleaning company, said Jack LaPointe, the founder of JAN-PRO. Its not the sexiest-sounding opportunity. Ultimately, I knew I wanted to build a Master Franchise program, and in order to do that, we had to pursue corporate executives. Thats when we turned to FranNet for help in better positioning our brand. Today, I can comfortably say that JAN-PROs success wouldnt have happened without them. If you truly believe in the system and what it can offer, youre not selling ityoure offering it. Thats what FranNet helped us realize. When you look at the stories of people like Ron Rush and Scott Hockensmith, its clear that JAN-PRO represents a life-changing opportunity. At its core, its about people helping people. ABOUT FRANNET FranNet is North Americas most respected leader in matching individuals with franchise ownership opportunities. Founded in 1987, FranNet has more than 100 experienced consultants across the United States, Canada and Germany. FranNet uses a proprietary profiling and consultative process to determine a business model unique to each clients goals, skill sets and interests, and has matched thousands of prospective business owners to rewarding small business franchise opportunities. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, FranNet has been recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America for the last six years. ABOUT JAN-PRO JAN-PRO International was founded in 1991 in Providence, Rhode Island, to offer the highest-quality cleaning techniques and systems available to offices and commercial and healthcare facilities. JAN-PROs global network of thousands of unit and master franchisees serves more than 35,000 customers in 13 countries. The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company, a subsidiary of Premium Franchise Brands, was recognized with the No. 1 ranking for global commercial cleaners in Entrepreneur magazines 2015 Franchise 500. For more information about franchising opportunities please visit: http://www.jan-pro.com/franchising/ We are very excited to share the comprehensive agendas of PER Globals first two congresses so that physicians can see the data that will be discussed at PERs newest European congresses. - PER president, Phil Talamo. Physicians Education Resource, LLC (PER), the leading source for oncology and hematology continuing medical education (CME), and its international affiliate, PER Global, LLC, today unveiled full agendas for both its first European Congress on Hematology: Focus on Lymphoid Malignancies, and its first European Congress on Immunotherapies in Cancer. Being held from September 23-24, at the W Barcelona, in Barcelona, Spain, the 1st Annual European Congress on Immunotherapies in Cancer is a two-day comprehensive and interactive program focused exclusively on immunotherapies and their practical application to the management of cancer. Highlights of the comprehensive agenda include sessions on Immunotherapy for Gastrointestinal Cancers with Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD; Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy with Carl H. June, MD; and Resistance to Immunotherapy: Mechanisms and Clinical Approaches with Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD. Registration information and the agenda are both accessible online. The European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME) has approved this congress for CME accreditation. The European Congress on Hematology: Focus on Lymphoid Malignancies, also known as Paris Lymphoma, is being held November 3-5, at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, in Paris, France. This highly practical and interactive program will focus on improving patient care for the clinician who manages patients with lymphoid malignancies. Highlights of this inclusive agenda include New Treatment Options in Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD; Managing Elderly Patients with Multiple Myeloma with Shaji Kumar, MD; and Choosing First-Line Therapy for Patients with Follicular Lymphoma with Gilles A. Salles, MD, PhD. Registration information and the agenda are both accessible online. An application has been submitted to the EACCME for CME accreditation of this congress. We are very excited to share the comprehensive agendas of PER Globals first two congresses so that physicians can see the data that will be discussed at PERs newest European congresses, said PER president, Phil Talamo. Given the fast pace at which practice-changing evidence continues to emerge, oncologists continue to face the constant challenge to maintain state-of-the-art care in managing patients, and we are confident that our new European meetings will provide them with the most relevant guidance from the most reputable oncology experts in the world. PER Global is the educational resource of choice for live and online activities focusing on oncology and hematology. Serving the oncology health care community, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and other health care providers who are involved in the treatment and management of patients with cancer, PER Global plans, develops, implements and evaluates educational activities using a wide variety of formats, as well as leading national and international faculty, targeted to the needs of health care providers. About PER As a leader in CME for nearly 20 years, PER educates more oncologists and hematologists through live annual CME-certified conferences than any other medical education provider in the United States. PER provides high-quality, evidence-based, CME-certified activities that translate the science of oncology into the art of patient care by featuring leading national and international faculty that focus on practice-changing advances that help the busy oncologist stay up-to-date with cutting-edge oncology knowledge and treatments. Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, PER serves the broader oncology health care community, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists. PER also consists of PER Global, which carries PERs mission of advancing cancer care through professional education outside the United States. PER is part of Michael J. Hennessy Associates Inc., a full-service health care communications company offering education, research and medical media. # # # Media Contact: Becky Taylor 609-240-6886 becky(at)btaylorpa(dot)com PG3 believe that it is vital for every business to encourage strong relationships within their firm PG3 will host an exciting team building event next month which will involve a fun day out paintballing as well as several other team building activities including an exclusive dinner and drinks. PG3 are confident that the day will be a huge success and will actively encourage the firm to work together towards common goals; a skill they want to implement into their day-to-day business activities. About PG3: http://pg3london.co.uk/ PG3 believe that it is vital for every business to encourage strong relationships within their firm as it is these lasting bonds which encourage each individual team member to work harder, as they will not want to let their team down. Additionally, creating an environment where everybody is comfortable with each other allows for a stronger learning environment where people are confident enough to express their views and ask for advice. PG3 states that this leads to a better company culture for everyone. PG3 believe that it is incredibly important for their contractors to learn to operate as a unit despite being self-employed. The firm say that this comes down the fact that all of their self-employed contractors aspire to be entrepreneurs and state that if these individuals do go on to own their own businesses, they will need to understand how to work as part of a group, striving towards a common goal. PG3 regularly host team building activities including social nights and breakfasts in order to encourage lasting relationships as well as offer fun, relaxing activities; all of which help to refresh their minds and create a strong company culture. Often, the firm organise entire days assigned to team building activities, like the upcoming paintballing day. PG3 is a trading name of AJG Direct. The firm is a London-based sales and marketing company that works on behalf of their clients brands in order to deliver highly personalised and unique marketing campaigns directly to consumers. PG3 work closely with their clients to establish goals and acknowledge ideal consumers, this information is then implemented into their campaigns via face-to-face marketing, allowing them to make one-on-one connections with consumers. This helps to establish long-lasting and personal business relationships between brand and consumer. PG3 state that, in turn, this often leads to increased customer acquisition, brand awareness and brand loyalty for their clients as well as a guaranteed high return on investment. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Scholastic has yet release its initial sales figures for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2, which became available to the public at precisely 12:01 a.m. on July 31, but initial reports indicate that the book has hit its very high performance expectations. Critical reaction to the book, however, is lukewarm. After months of preparation and a 4.5 million-copy first printing in North America, Scholastic released Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2 on Sunday. The title is the script version of a new Harry Potter play written by Jack Thorne (and based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne, and John Tiffany), and became available following the play's official premiere in London's West End. Booksellers rang in the occasion with a raft of midnight release parties. Susan Tunis event coordinator at San Francisco's Bookshop West Portal, said her store's Potter soiree resulted in a sold-out run on Cursed Child, despite the fact that her staff had ordered a "generous number" of copies. "In the end," she said, "it was one of the most successful days in the store's 10-year history, by any metric." New York City's Strand Bookstore also had a Cursed Child midnight party, with the event being one of the largest Potter happenings in New York City. AM New York reported that the store sold almost all of its 1,000 pre-ordered copies of the title. Barnes & Noble Union Square also threw a major party to ring in the book's release (and move copies), while New York City's oldest children's bookstore, Books of Wonder, had three live owls on hand, among other things, for its evening bash. Reporting in the New York Times about some of the midnight release parties around the country, Ashley Ross noted that "so-called Potterheads swarmed bookstores Saturday night... as if they had found the secret winged key that not only let them back into their childhoods but also opened the door to another generation." Despite the fact that Potter fans turned out in droves, yet again, to get a copy of the latest book extending Rowling's brandthe play picks up where the last Potter book, Deathly Hallows, leaves offnot all critics were bowled over by Cursed Child. While Michiko Kakutani raved about the book in the New York Times, she said that "even though it lacks the plays much-talked-about special effects, it turns out to be a compelling, stay-up-all-night read," others were less enthusiastic. Sara Keating, reviewing the book in the Irish Times, noted that it's not actually written by Rowling, and this fact shows. Noting that the book lacks her "depth of magical and fantastical description," she said many fans will ultimately "be disappointed with this offering." The PW review of the book noted that "reading this playmore than 300 pages of dialogue and a few scant instructions for the actorsis, of course, an entirely different experience" than reading one of the official Potter books. Mashable highlighted the fact that a number of Potter of fans are trying to distance Cursed Child from the official Potter series, pointing to disgruntled reactions from readers who are insisting that, for them, Potter's story ended with Deathly Hallows. In addition to Scholastic's hardcover edition of Cursed Child, Pottermore has released the e-book edition of the title. It went on sale, globally, following the play's official premiere in London, just after midnight British Standard Time. In a press release from Pottermore, the company noted that the e-book marks its "first front-list title since the companys launch in 2012." NOTE: This story was been updated from its original version to reflect newly published reviews of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Experts from throughout the Midwest will discuss the latest livestock pasturing trends and topics during the Dubois-Perry-Spencer Greener Pastures Field Day. The event will be held at 6 p.m. EDT Aug. 23 at the Marion McMurtrie Trust Farm, 7827 W. Old Road 64, in Holland. Session topics include watering systems, pasture renovations and construction, and alternative feed sources, such as annuals, cover crops and crop residues. "The purpose of this workshop is to give livestock farmers information they can use to improve efficiency and productivity," said Kenneth Eck, Extension educator in Dubois County. "In addition to learning about ways to improve their pasturing practices, people can also network and talk to other producers to see how they're managing these challenges." This year's speakers are Jeffrey Lehmkuhler, associate professor and Extension beef cattle specialist at the University of Kentucky; Bret Winsett, national sales manager at Hood River Seed; and Robert Zupancic and Susannah Hinds, grazing specialists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil and Water Conservation District (USDA-NRCS). The Purdue Extension and USDA-NRCS offices in Dubois, Perry and Spencer Counties present the field day jointly. Funding was provided by Purdue Extension and Clean Water Indiana. Registration is $5 per person and must be received by Aug. 12. A catered meal will be provided. Participants can register by calling the Extension offices in Dubois County at 812-482-1782, Perry County at 812-547-7084, or Spencer County at 812-362-8066, or by emailing Sara Dzimianski, sdzimian@purdue.edu. Writer: Jessica Merzdorf, 765-494-7719, jmerzdor@purdue.edu Source: Kenneth Eck, 812-482-1782, kjeck@purdue.edu Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-2722; Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page Sunday's calendar still said July, but two well-attended back-to-school bashes were held at Moline's Riverside Aquatic Center and Rock Island's Schwiebert Riverfront Park. Each celebrated its second year, giving students and families a great time outside before the new school year starts. For the Rock Island-Milan district (which has long had a balanced calendar), the first day back for kids is Wednesday. United Township High School freshmen start Tuesday, all students Wednesday, and all other East Moline schools start Aug. 22. The first day for Moline-Coal Valley students is Aug. 23. Sunday's events also were open to any area families. "It's before everybody goes back to school. Rock Island goes back so early, we wanted to catch those people, too," Amanda Bolt, Moline's recreation coordinator, said of the Riverside event. Compared to a typical $5 admission (for those older than 3), it was just $1 Sunday, including a bounce house, bag toss and free backpacks and school supplies for the first 100 students, sponsored by A.D. Huesing and Sam's Club Moline. Christopher Nowak, of Rock Island, attended with his 14-year-old stepson, 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. "With the discount prices they were giving, back to school (this week), we're getting our last days of summer out," he said, noting this was his first time at Riverside, while the kids had been there before. "It's a nice park, really nice," Mr. Nowak said. His children have no problem starting school this week. "They haven't known anything different. They're fine with it," he said. "They get two weeks off in October, so it's not too hard on them." They also went to Schwiebert Park later in the day. Kimberly Houessou, of Moline, with her kids ages 7 and 8, showed up to Riverside two hours early (at 10 a.m.) to be sure they got the school supplies and backpacks. She said usually waits until a week before to buy school stuff. "This is a really good event, very affordable," said Aletta Johnson, who's moving from Rock Island to East Moline and was with a family group with eight kids. "Offering school supplies is needed." Her 4-year-old son enjoyed the pool and its slide before starting school soon at Skip-A-Long in East Moline. They got to Riverside at 11 a.m., and there already was a long line, Ms. Johnson said. Rock Island "rocks" the new school year At Schwiebert Park, volunteer Drew Nagle -- pastor at Gloria Dei Presbyterian Church and chair of the Neighborhood Partners' community/school task force -- said any school district has a need to feel good about the upcoming school year. "But particularly Rock Island-Milan, with having to start so early in August, many students and families are not ready to jump on board immediately," he said. "The idea was to have the whole community -- not just parents and students and teachers -- but the whole community ready to rock the school year," Mr. Nagle said of several area organizations and businesses that had displays Sunday. The free event included live music, Kona Ice for sale and free food from Rock Island Boosters (including hot dogs, chips and water). All booths had some type of activity or giveaways, and every school had its own table with staff and volunteers. If families hadn't registered for school yet, they could do that Sunday, Mr. Nagle said. Rock Island High School world history teacher Mike Mertell is starting his third year since graduating from Augustana in 2014, noting the "year-round" calendar is perfect, he said. "I don't know if I could go into a traditional schedule after this," he said. It's good knowing you have a two-week break coming up "to reflect and get excited about going forward," Mr. Mertell said. A shorter summer break also helps with student retention of knowledge, he said. It is difficult for kids who are new to the district. "That's why they do this event, to make them aware," Mr. Mertell said. Sunday was "awesome, seeing a lot of high-schoolers and incoming 9th-graders. I teach freshmen, so they're a little nervous, obviously. But this event makes it a little more exciting, going back to school." Doug Rowland, of Rock Island, checked out the booths with his 5-year-son, Zander, who's starting at Rock Island Academy. They rode their bikes Sunday to the park. "It's been good," Mr. Rowland said, noting they got a backpack, notebook and information about bus routes and safe bike riding. "I love it's bringing the community together, and there are organizations from this area. One of the hardest things is letting people know what's available to them, so having a one-stop shop like this, on a beautiful day, is great. Hopefully, people will utilize them. There are some I knew nothing about. "That's a pretty cool thing, to get everybody together," he said. "It's great." The vendors included Metro, Hy-Vee, Rock Island County NAACP, Activate Rock Island, Be Healthy QC, University of Illinois Extension and Rock Island Parks and Recreation. Jennifer Hassan, of Rock Island, with her husband, Yaser, had fun watching their four kids (ages 4 to 10) romp through the playground and bubbling, spraying water features. "It's really nice. The kids get to come out, have fun, see people from school," Mrs. Hassan said. "They can't wait. They love going to school," she said of her three older ones. "They're ready to go back. They love their school. Denkmann's a really good school." Mr. Nagle has had two daughters go through the district. All Rock Island-Milan schools became "year-round" in 2001-02, consisting of the same number of school days as other districts but more spread out. Horace Mann Choice School was first to adopt that schedule several years earlier. Sunday's Schwiebert Park event had many sponsors, including Modern Woodmen, Royal Neighbors, Groove 92.5, Quad-Cities CW, Gas & Electric Credit Union, WHBF-TV and IlliniCare. So when Karen Meredith heard the grieving parents of a decorated Muslim Army officer being belittled by Donald Trump, she cried. Meredith said she hadn't wept over her son's death for a long time, but the Republican presidential nominee "ripped the wounds right open again." "You don't attack one Gold Star family, because if you do, you're attacking a lot of us," Meredith, 62, of Mountain View, California, said Monday. Trump has been engaged in an emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber on June 8, 2004. Trump stoked outrage by implying that Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at last week's Democratic convention because of their Muslim faith. And he disputed their right to question his grasp of the Constitution. Some of America's Gold Star families, or those who lost loved ones in war, have demanded that Trump apologize. Meredith organized a letter to Trump that has been signed by 23 families so far. She said she did so after seeing so much "hurt and anger" among Gold Star families on social media. Trump refused to back down Monday, complaining anew that he has been "viciously attacked" by the Khans. Meredith's son and only child, Army 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, was killed during a firefight in Iraq on May 30, 2004, at age 26. "Most people in this country, before this, did not know what a Gold Star family was, let alone what our sacrifice was," Meredith said. "For him to attack a Gold Star family and not understand the grief that Mrs. Khan was going through and why she wouldn't have spoken, just validated my feelings toward Mr. Trump as an unfeeling, empty person." The letter was released publicly on Monday by VoteVets.org, a left-leaning group dedicated to electing liberal veterans to Congress. Meredith is a Democrat but said this is a nonpartisan issue. Celeste Zappala, who also signed the letter, said the grief that Gold Star families suffer earns them the right to say whatever they want. Zappala's son, Army Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, was also killed in Iraq in 2004. She said she cried after hearing Trump's comments, too. "Mr. Trump has made a firestorm happen that didn't need to happen and that insults everybody who served," said Zappala, of Philadelphia. "Nobody should say anything other than 'Thank you for your service.'" Both Zappala and Meredith stressed that they aren't speaking on behalf of all Gold Star families, and that there are others who back Trump. Ryan Manion Borek, a Republican from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, said she is happy the Khans got to share their son's story and hopes the backlash prompts both candidates to address Gold Star issues. Her brother, Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion, was killed in Iraq in 2007. Gold Star families represent such a small fraction of the population, "it's super important that the people making the decision to send men and women off to war understand what that means," said Borek, who hasn't decided which candidate she will vote for. Prominent Republicans spoke out Monday against Trump. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said that while the party has bestowed upon Trump the nomination, "it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." The Veterans of Foreign Wars said it won't tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right to free speech. President Barack Obama addressed the Disabled American Veterans' annual conference in Atlanta on Monday. He didn't mention Trump by name but implicitly rebuked him for criticizing the Khan family. "No one no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," Obama said. "They continue to inspire us every day, every moment." Ami Neiberger-Miller, of Purcellville, Virginia, knows the Khans because her brother is buried near their son at Arlington National Cemetery. Army Spc. Christopher Neiberger was killed in Iraq in 2007. She said she emailed the Khans after the Democratic National Convention speech, telling them how brave they were. As for Trump's response, Neiberger-Miller said she found it "very disturbing and distasteful." "The comments about Mrs. Khan because she didn't speak on stage, that seemed very cruel," she said. "I actually saw her standing there as a kind of strength. As a bereaved parent, that might be what she could do that day." Neiberger-Miller said the one positive thing to come out of this may be that Americans are learning more about Gold Star families. "We're the families who really live with the price of war, who live with the price of service and honor and duty to country, and all of the things that go with it," she said. "There is a sense of disconnect at times between us and the rest of the country." Press release submitted by Ashton Hockman DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 1, 2016) Today, MidAmerican Energy Company is launching its Slam the Scam awareness campaign to prevent customers from falling victim to energy scams. On average, MidAmerican Energy receives approximately 100 reported scams each month, and this year, customers have reported losing nearly $9,000 dollars to scammers. Our message is simple, said Terry Ousley, vice president of customer satisfaction for MidAmerican Energy. If you receive a questionable phone call or if someone suspicious shows up at your home or business, slam down the phone or slam the door and immediately call MidAmerican Energy to check on your account, and call local police to report the scam. Ousley said scammers target all customers in all regions. Theyre bold, aggressive and use sophisticated tactics, he said. Once people start to catch on, the scammers move to a different area and change their approach. While we cant stop their calls, we can educate our customers to try to make their attempts unsuccessful. One of the most common scams works like this: A scammer calls a customer pretending to be a MidAmerican Energy representative. Often, scammers spoof caller ID to make the call appear as if it is coming from MidAmerican Energy when it is not. The imposter tells the customer their account is past due and threatens to immediately disconnect service if they do not make a payment. One of the biggest red-flags is the scammer demanding payment in the form of a credit card or prepaid debit card, often referred to as a Green Dot card, and wanting it quickly sometimes in less than an hour. MidAmerican Energy does not accept prepaid debit cards as a way to pay bills, and they do not ask for credit card information over the phone. That is not how we operate, said Ousley. If someone is behind on payments, they will receive several notifications, including a notice in the mail, before disconnection takes place. We offer many payment options. Disconnection is a last resort, not a first step. Some scammers are even brave enough to approach customers in person, either by ringing their door bell or showing up at their business. The scammers may arrive in what looks like a MidAmerican Energy work vehicle, and they may wear official-looking vests or uniforms to appear like an energy worker. Typically, they threaten to disconnect power or claim that the customer needs a new energy meter in exchange for payment, or they pretend to be an energy auditor and offer to perform a home assessment. MidAmerican Energy does offer a free home assessment called HomeCheck. These assessments are scheduled by the customer. Our energy experts do not show up unannounced. MidAmerican Energys Slam the Scam campaign will use a variety of articles and videos as well as customer outreach and social media efforts to educate customers on scams and prevent them from being taken advantage of by scammers. A video and campaign information can be found on the Slam the Scam webpage. If customers receive a call that sounds like a scam, or if someone suspicious shows up at their business or residence, they should Slam the Scam by hanging up or shutting the door and calling MidAmerican Energy at 888-427-5632 and their local police. Customers should follow these tips to protect themselves: Hang up if the caller insists on immediate payment using a prepaid debit card or Green Dot card. Ask to see identification from anyone who shows up at your door. MidAmerican Energy employees carry an employee ID badge at all times. Dont trust the name and number on your caller ID. Use the number published on MidAmerican Energys website or in the phone book: 888-427-5632. Help us spread the word; educate your family, friends and neighbors on what to do if they are faced with a scammer. About MidAmerican Energy Company MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy provider serving 752,000 electric customers and 733,000 natural gas customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota. It is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Information about MidAmerican Energy is available on the companys website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages, which can be accessed via MidAmerican Energy Companys website. 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! While the new British government says it is unlikely to trigger negotiations for the countrys exit until the end of the year, the effects of the vote are already being felt even though it will be at least two years from the start of negotiations until Britain actually ceases to be an EU member. As we report this month, one of Britains rail freight operators, GB Railfreight, has already suffered a nasty shock as the price of a fleet of 50 freight wagons it is purchasing from Greenbrier Poland went up overnight to the tune of 10,000 per wagon due to the sudden drop in the value of the pound following the referendum result. The pound fell from $US 1.50 on June 23 to $US 1.28 on June 24, a new 10-year low, and was still trading at around this level on July 19. The situation for the Euro is slightly worse. The pound dropped from 1.31 to 1.22 overnight on June 23-24, and has declined in value since then to 1.19. This obviously has serious consequences for the import of railway equipment, although exporters will benefit from the weaker pound. But all rolling stock production in Britain is for British train operators, and Britain imports a lot of new trains particularly from Siemens and latterly CAF. Economists are predicting that the weak pound and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, which is causing companies to reconsider their investment plans, will reduce growth. This was confirmed by International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 19, when it announced that it has cut Britains growth forecast from 1.9% to 1.7% for this year, and from 2.2% to just 1.3% in 2017. The IMF also predicts that the slowdown in Britain, which is the fifth largest economy in the world, will reduce global economic growth by 0.1%. While the IMF has revised its pre-referendum warning that Britain could face a recession if it left the EU, and the British government and the Bank of England say they will take steps to shore up the economy, there is still considerable uncertainty about what the future holds. There are already signs that bidders for the next passenger franchises are reworking their bids to reflect a possible slowing of growth, while managers of existing franchisees will be starting to have sleepless nights as they wonder whether they will be able to meet their escalating premium payments if growth falters. Britain has been honey pot for train builders with a series of large orders in recent years fuelled by growing traffic, the need to replace life-expired vehicles, and major projects such as Thameslink and Crossrail. But orders could soon dry up if franchisees become more cautious. If this happens, then Britains two train builders, Bombardier and Hitachi Rail Europe, may well decide to switch production to their plants within the European Union. Britains new secretary of state for transport, Mr Chris Grayling, will have a lot to think about in his new job. He has already tried to reassure the industry by backing the HS2 high-speed project to link London and Birmingham initially with a second phase taking the line on to Manchester and Leeds. But Grayling has yet to make a long-awaited decision on where to site a new runway in the London area. Heathrow or Gatwick airports are the only remaining options, and if Heathrow is chosen, rail will be expected to provide additional capacity to cope with the expected increase in air travellers. Gatwick is already well served by rail, but capacity constraints on the busy London Brighton main line, which serves Gatwick, will be difficult to resolve. Grayling will also need to ponder the future of Britains infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR). Many existing rail projects have an element of EU funding, and it is far from clear whether the government will make up the shortfall, and NR already faces a funding crisis as project costs are soaring. But NRs current response is either to scale projects back or delay them rather than getting to grips with the real causes of rising costs. NR could make a start by conducting a reality check to see what things cost in the real world. If Britains economy starts to falter then there will be less money for investment in rail. The only saving grace is that rail transport is a long-term business which means it is able to withstand the ups and downs of the economic cycle better than other industries. But it all depends how bad and how long an economic downturn turns out to be. Only time will tell. THESE are difficult times for Britains rail freight industry. Statistics published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on May 19 show the total amount of freight lifted in the 2015-16 financial year fell 22.2% to 86 million tonnes, its lowest level since 1984-85, when the Miners Strike led to an 85.5% drop in coal traffic. The total volume of freight moved in 2015-16 declined by 17.8 billion tonne-km, a 20% reduction. This downturn has been fuelled by plunging demand for thermal coal, until recently the largest commodity group and a source of steady business for freight operators. For decades coal was the jewel in the rail freight crown and the power generators switch from domestic to imported coal in the 1990s and early 2000s helped to invigorate the newly-privatised rail freight industry with lucrative long-hauls from ports to power stations giving operators the confidence and the revenue to invest in new equipment, which in turn boosted productivity. With the closure of many coal-fired power stations, the shift to renewable energy and the doubling of the top-up carbon tax from April 1 2015, the post-privatisation coal boom has come to a swift and abrupt end. The total amount of coal lifted fell 54.6% in 2015-16 to a 30-year low of 19.8 million tonnes and volumes plummeted 64.2% to 2.3 billion net tonne-km. Once by far the largest commodity group, coal is now a lowly third behind domestic intermodal and construction, accounting for just 13.1% of overall freight volumes. With the government planning to phase coal-fired plants out completely by the mid-2020s, most remaining coal traffic looks set to vanish over the next decade. Founded in 2001, GB Railfreight (GBRf) was one of the new entrants that capitalised on the burgeoning coal business, and while the company has succeeded in building a broad portfolio across the full spectrum of commodity groups over the last 15 years, the loss of coal has still hit the business hard. In early July GB Railfreight coal traffic amounted to little more than 15 coal trains a week, a fraction of the activity recorded just a year ago. Briefing journalists in London on July 5, GBRf managing director Mr John Smith said coal had helped to shape a competitive rail freight landscape in Britain, but admitted coal volumes have waned more quickly than many anticipated. GBRf speculated in coal assets and built a relationship with [electricity generator] Drax, which encouraged us into the coal market, he explains. Coal traffic went through the roof during this period and the Indian Summer for coal rode us through the recession, providing us with the money to buy new equipment. The demise of coal has left both GBRf and its competitors seeking new uses for sunken assets which are underutilised or in some cases surplus. Greenbrier Europe has recently built a new fleet of open wagons for Freightliner using bogies from redundant coal hoppers, to provide rolling stock for a new aggregates contract. WH Davis, Britain, has converted former GBRf coal hoppers for the same purpose. Construction is now the second largest commodity group, accounting for 22.4% of volumes in 2015-16. Smith sees potential for growth in this sector, and he believes major infrastructure projects could offer a significant boost to rail freight, provided they still go ahead in the wake of Britains decision to leave the European Union. A lot of business models in the construction sector are based around big infrastructure opportunities, he says. For example, there are 16 million tonnes of earth to move out for High Speed 2 as well as all the materials going in. If we go through with Brexit we have to invest in the country, and this is hugely important to the construction market. Greenbrier Europe is currently building 50 aggregate wagons for GBRf at its plant in Swidnica, Poland, which will be delivered by next June. Smith notes with some frustration that the collapsing value of the British pound added around 10,000 to the cost of each wagon in just one day after the EU referendum, and such volatility does little to support the case for further investment in new equipment. Financiers are not confident about the prospects for rail freight post-Brexit, he says. It may well come back - we believe we have a successful business model, and hopefully they can see that. While Brexit undoubtedly piles more uncertainty on operators at a time of turbulence in the rail freight market, Smith believes the opportunities for growth are still out there. In recent years both GBRf and DB Cargo have won contracts to move imported biomass from ports to Britains largest power station at Drax in North Yorkshire, where three generating units have been converted from coal to biomass and Drax has invested in new wagons and unloading facilities to handle the material. Biomass offers several advantages for rail freight. Unlike coal, biomass stockpiles at power stations are small due to the volatility of the material, which means the demand for trains is constant. Train movements are therefore rigidly timetabled, making capacity allocation more straightforward. In northeast England, GBRf has secured a 10-year contract to move biomass from the Port of Tyne near Newcastle to Lynemouth power station in Northumberland, which is being converted to burn biomass. The Port of Tyne is investing 100m in transhipment facilities and GBRf is buying 50 hopper wagons for the contract. Smith notes that investment in additional biomass capacity could make rail freight operations in this sector more efficient, helping to offset the decline in coal volumes. Rail freight operators are running at about 70% capacity with three generating units burning biomass at Drax, he explains. Converting a fourth generating unit from coal would make that figure 95% for GBRf. Infrastructure With Network Rail (NR) carrying out a significant programme of investment in the network, infrastructure renewals and enhancements are a key source of traffic for freight operators. However, here too there is uncertainty over whether the current level of activity, which accounts for a 100-150m chunk of the 800-850m rail freight market, will be sustained. Within the next few months the periodic review process will begin, which will determine NRs outputs and funding for 2019-2024 (Control Period 6). Since the last periodic review the situation for NR has changed radically - in 2014 the company was reclassified as a public body, adding its 38bn debt to the state deficit. Cost overruns on major projects led to a review of NRs activities, with some schemes being pushed back into CP6. Add in the impact of Brexit on the economy and the public finances, and the investment outlook for CP6 looks decidedly murky. This feeds into another big issue hanging over the future of rail freight in Britain - capacity. Many pin hopes of a rail freight revival on intermodal, a sector which has grown strongly since privatisation despite the impact of the global financial crisis on international trade. However, most of the key intermodal corridors also happen to be some of Britains busiest passenger lines - most freight trains from Felixstowe, the countrys largest container port, to central and northwest England and Scotland are routed via the Great Eastern Main Line, London, and the West Coast Main Line (WCML). A pro-rail policy has yielded a significant improvements in facilities at Felixstowe in recent years. Hutchison Ports UK has invested in new cranes and extended sidings to create additional capacity at the South Terminal and in June 2013 the opening of a new 40m North Terminal, co-financed by the European Union Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme, doubled rail capacity at the port to 1.35 million TEU a year. Unfortunately investment in terminal facilities has not been matched with enhancements to hinterland rail infrastructure, which is now severely constrained. Escalating costs have already put paid to track-doubling on the Soham - Ely line, a major capacity constraint for freight on the cross-country route between Felixstowe and the WCML at Nuneaton, which avoids the congested route via London. However, Smith believes the biggest obstacle to growth is the 19.5km line from Ipswich to Felixstowe. In 2002, when GBRf began operating intermodal trains from Felixstowe, the largely single-track branch from Ipswich was used by 13 freight trains per day and an hourly passenger service. While the passenger service is still hourly, NR now has to find capacity for 33 intermodal trains a day, and operators are clamouring for more paths as the increasing size of container ships gives rail a competitive edge when it comes to getting boxes off the dockside as quickly as possible. Forwarders are increasingly saying we cant get containers out quickly enough by road, so lets buy a train, Smith says. With 1.5bn being invested in widening part of the A14 highway, which roughly parallels the Felixstowe - Nuneaton route, Smith is vexed by the lack of progress on what is a relatively simple track-doubling project. The key factor for intermodal is for the government to understand where the easy wins are, Smith says. The rail freight market has to grow - things will get nasty if we just fight between ourselves over whats left. We need demand to increase and to do that we need capacity in intermodal. The government needs to understand the key corridors, and the need for intelligent, cheap investment in those corridors. Rail currently has 25% of the market out of Felixstowe, 10 more trains would take that to 35%, which is achievable if we have capacity. Smith welcomes NRs decision earlier this year to create a virtual route for freight, with a dedicated managing director looking after freight interests at a national level, but he stresses the issue of freight-orientated capacity enhancement on one of the busiest passenger railways in the world cannot be dodged any longer. Diversifying One of the notable successes of GBRf has been its diversification into non-freight operations. The companys portfolio has expanded in recent years to include mail trains; providing traction and drivers for London - ScotlandCaledonian Sleeper services and the Belmond Royal Scotsman luxury train; and supporting the introduction of new Hitachi trains on the Great Western Main Line. As a subsidiary of Eurotunnels rail freight unit Europorte, GBRf would also appear to be in a strong position to develop rail freight through the Channel Tunnel, which accounts for just 2.7% of volumes in Britain. The recent migrant crisis has put further strain on a sector which has suffered almost continuous setbacks over the last 20 years, but Smith believes cross-channel rail freight will make a slow recovery, and there are already green shoots. On July 4 GBRf operated a train of Honda cars from Bristol to Ghent in Belgium, the first car train to traverse the Channel Tunnel in six years. The initial trial contract is for 10 trains, but Smith is hopeful this will become a regular flow. Indeed, Smith doesnt rule out establishing operations elsewhere in Europe, and with French and Belgian operators already in the Europorte portfolio, expansion into other markets looks a realistic prospect. We have efficient freight operations in Britain and I think that is sellable elsewhere, he says. There is huge scope to diversify and I think we would go abroad. While the potential consequences of Brexit occupies the thoughts of many business leaders in Britain, Smith believes rail freight operators have little time to ponder the wider implications of this momentous decision. Do we batten down the hatches and seek better productivity from people and trains? asks Smith. I prefer to carry on building up, but we have to be realistic about the future of the business. Change is never a bad thing for a business but with the current market situation were a bit less flexible than before, and the current political vacuum doesnt help. Facing challenges on multiple fronts, theres little doubt operators will have to adapt to survive, but there are encouraging signs of innovation and a willingness to diversify. However, this needs to be matched with a commitment from politicians and the infrastructure manager to ensuring track and terminal capacity meet the requirements of the industry. History and experience elsewhere in Europe show gaining that support wont be an easy task. The locomotives will be produced at the new Vossloh Locomotives factory in Kiel Suchsdorf starting from the end of this year. The order is a great sales success for Vossloh Locomotives and provides our new location in Kiel Suchsdorf with a very good basic capacity utilisation for several years, says Mr Thomas Schwichtenberg, managing director of Vossloh Locomotives. We will move into the new facilities starting in autumn 2016. The line will have three stations through the central parts of the city, and construction is expected to be completed in the next five years. Over 30 construction companies presented bids in the metro tender process, which lasted 4.5 years. The project will be financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank. We have seen this contract as a crucial beginning for us in Ukraine, says Limak Holding board member Mr Serdar Backakisiz. Even though the construction time was set at five years, we are sure that we will complete the work earlier than this. TIGER VIII announces additional rail projects Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman , Editor, Railway Track & Structures; and Engineering Editor, Railway Age The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced on July 29 additional rail project awards to its eighth round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The additional awards include rail projects in California, Oregon, South Carolina, Arkansas and Delaware. Twelve rail projects now totaling $135.3 million have been awarded TIGER grants. Projects that are rail specific or rail related that will benefit from TIGER VIII include: $25 million to the city of Chicago for the Garfield Green Line Gateway. The $50 million project will completely rehabilitate the Chicago Transit Authoritys (CTA) Garfield Station, which is one of the oldest transit stations in the country. CTA is finalizing designs for the work, which is expected to begin in 2018 and be completed by 2019. $15 million to Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to separate the roadway and rail tracks at the intersection of Rosecrans and Marquardt Avenues in Santa Fe Springs, which sees more than 45,000 vehicles and 130 train crossings daily. This intersection has been rated by the California Public Utilities Commission as the most hazardous grade crossing in California. $14 million to the city of Springfield, Ill., for the Springfield Rail Improvements Project. The project will relocate all passenger and freight traffic from the Third Street corridor to Tenth Street; construct roadway underpasses at critical rail crossings on both the Tenth and Nineteenth Street corridors; and eliminate train horns in the city between Stanford and Sangamon Avenues. $13.1 million to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) to build a new commuter rail station between Dexter and Conant Streets in Pawtucket. RIDOT will work with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to provide service at the station, which will offer a connection to Wickford Junction, T.F. Green Airport, Providence, as well as other stops all the way up to Bostons South Station. $10 million to the city of Natchez, Miss., to upgrade five structurally-deficient bridges along the Natchez railway between Natchez and Brookhaven. The bridge repair work would permit railcars that meet the 286,000-pound industry standard to traverse the bridges and allow trains to travel at 25 mph over the repaired bridges. Trains are currently limited to lighter loads and must travel at 10 mph over the bridges. $10 million to the Port of Everett in Washington state for the South Terminal modernization project. The project will strengthen on-dock facilities and double the ports rail capacity by constructing approximately 3,300 lineal feet of rail to increase on-site storage from 46 cars to 106 cars. $10 million to the Delaware Transit Corporation for the Claymont Regional Transportation Center. The $40 million project will expand and redesign Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authoritys rail station at Claymont with Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant features and integrate it with a transit-oriented development. $9.7 million to Horry County Government in South Carolina for the Moving the Carolinas Forward: A Rural Freight Rail Project. The freight rail route between Mullins, S.C. and Chadbourn, N.C., will be rehabilitated by replacing more than eight miles of existing rail, install more than 50,000 crossties, surfaces approximately 75 miles of track and upgrade more than two dozen grade crossings. $8.67 million to the San Bernardino Associated Governments for the Redlands Passenger Rail Project. The $250 million project will build nine miles of track for new passenger service between San Bernardino and the University of Redlands. $7.3 million to the Port of Portland for the Portland Marine Terminal Freight and Jobs Access Project. The $19.54 million project will build a grade separation to relieve travel delays of trucks and trains accessing the port. $6.3 million to San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit to refurbish the 19th Street Oakland BART station, including better bicycle and pedestrian access. $6.15 million to the Little Rock Port Authority for the Little Rock Port Authority Growth Initiative. The $10.2 million project will build improvements to the slackwater harbor area, including a new dock with direct dock-to-rail capability and additional rail storage. Additionally, Utah Transit Authority (UTA) was awarded a $20 million TIGER grant and the Maryland Department of Transportation (Maryland DOT) was awarded a $10 million grant. While the grants will not build any rail infrastructure and are not included in the total for rail projects, UTA plans to use the money on several smaller projects to improve access to transit and Maryland DOT will use a portion of its funds for a subway station improvement. USDOT had $500 million available for this round of TIGER, but received 585 applications requesting $9.3 billion. Since 2009, TIGER has provided nearly $4.6 billion to 381 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including 134 projects to support rural and tribal communities. Overall, the U.S. Department of Transportation has received more than 6,700 applications requesting more than $134 billion for transportation projects across the country. With addition of the latest round of awards, approximately 72 rail specific or rail related projects have been awarded more than $1.12 billion in TIGER grants since the programs inception. In 2016, USDOT said its focus for the TIGER program was on capital projects that generate economic development and improve access to reliable, safe and affordable transportation for communities, both urban and rural. Editors note: This version updates figures and projects based on USDOTs official TIGER grant press release. 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 The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PardeeRAND.edu) is home to the only Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs offered at an independent public policy research organizationthe RAND Corporation. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recently unveiled a proposal to offer tuition-free enrollment at in-state public colleges and universities for students from families making up to $85,000 annually, a figure that would increase to $125,000 by 2021. Budgetary implications aside, Clinton's proposal is a well-intentioned idea that would help ensure students have greater access to higher education in an era when net tuition and fees at public four-year institutions have risen by 74 percent since 1995. And tuition subsidies are known to increase enrollment, which is an admirable outcome. But almost 30 years ago, then-Secretary of Education William Bennett warned that tuition subsidies may also encourage institutions to raise tuition, since the government would foot the bill. Research on what came to be known as the Bennett Hypothesis increasingly suggests the secretary was correct. So how can we encourage institutions to avoid raising costs in response to increased tuition subsidies while also enabling them to take on an ideally large number of new students in a cost-effective manner? One answer may be the growing movement among policymakers, researchers and a cadre of nonprofit organizations including the Lumina Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop and implement policies to encourage greater productivity from higher education institutions, that would include faster and more efficient completion of high-quality academic degrees and other credentials. These organizations have pursued a variety of promising strategies such as reforming post-secondary developmental education and developing more seamless degree pathways for students, but a primary focus has been on working with state policymakers and key post-secondary stakeholders (such as students, faculty and employers) to better align state funding for post-secondary institutions with state goals of increasing educational productivity and efficiency while ensuring quality is high. Through such efforts, 32 states now allocate a portion of state funding for post-secondary education through performance-based funding models that reward institutions for productivity, efficiency and quality improvements, according to a recent report by the National Council of State Legislatures. Importantly, this approach has the potential to improve access to post-secondary education and address the underlying reasons for rapid cost growth by encouraging institutions to focus on productivity. A primary reason for the upward cost pressure in post-secondary education is that the majority of institutions receive funding based on the amount of instruction they provide to students (known as seat time), giving schools little incentive to develop and implement more efficient and affordable pathways to credentials. By encouraging institutions to focus on these factors, states could save money part of which could be returned to those institutions as an ongoing incentive. While the productivity agenda has seemingly resonated more with such former 2016 Republican presidential candidates as Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, its core focus is the same as Clinton's plan: to ensure access to high-quality and affordable post-secondary education. Why not consider a dual-pronged approach that ties increases in federal tuition subsidies to efforts to improve productivity, efficiency and quality? Such an approach would provide a tuition-free college education for students from lower- and middle-income families. But it would also help address the potential for tuition subsidies to drive up overall costs by encouraging institutions to be more efficient and productive. This would help reduce the public cost of the tuition subsidies and help keep tuition down for middle-class families whose incomes exceed the threshold for free college. Encouraging productivity also could help position institutions to shoulder the likely increase in enrollment that increased subsidies would bring. Making college more affordable and accessible for more young Americans is an exciting prospect. But policymakers as well as potential presidents would be wise to remember the Bennett Hypothesis and the need to pursue carefully designed policies that expand access while limiting the potential for cost growth. Trey Miller is an economist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on July 28, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. After years of the U.S. suffering losses valued in the billions of dollars due to economically-motivated cyber espionage from China, there are some signs that China has begun to reduce its intrusions into U.S. private sector firms' computer networks. What led to this unexpected change in Chinese behavior? Is it because of the high-profile agreement signed by President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping last September? How sustainable is that agreement? And what broader implications does it have for the overall U.S.-China relationship? The answers to these questions carry important consequences for U.S. national interests. It remains somewhat unclear whether China has indeed reduced its intrusions into U.S. private sector computer systems, as some U.S. cybersecurity firms that previously tracked Chinese cyber threat actors have claimed. The nature of hacking is such that it is virtually impossible to ever know for certain exactly what level of intrusion sets are occurring. If China did reduce its economically-motivated cyber espionage, there are a number of possible explanations for why it did so. Some observers have argued that China actually started cutting back several months before last fall's summit agreement, perhaps taking steps to exert greater control over the community of military hackers. Other observers suspect that Chinese hackers may have simply redirected their efforts to other, more valuable or more vulnerable targets in other countries. Others believe China was spurred to curtail its theft of intellectual property by the U.S. indictments of five Chinese military officers in 2014. Such observers also point to the hurried, unscheduled visit to Washington in early September last year of Meng Jianzhu, a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official in charge of political and legal affairs, just after the U.S. announcement that it was planning to push ahead with sanctions against Chinese actors for cyberespionage. In this view, Meng's last minute visit suggests that the Chinese leadership agreed to reduce its hacking of U.S. firms out of a fear that Xi's visit might be preceded by additional U.S. indictments of Chinese hackers. Finally, some analysts worry that Chinese hackers, who were notoriously sloppy in their operational security, may simply have improved their practices and are now better able to mask their behavior, meaning that hacking hasn't actually gone down, it simply isn't being detected as frequently as in the past. None of these explanations suggest that China changed its behavior because it concluded that private sector firms are illegitimate targets. China's assertions about cyberspace norms focus on the right of states to censor access to online information. Moreover, China's economy, the commanding heights of which are controlled by the state, differs dramatically from a market economy, where the private sector and the government are cleanly separated, making the U.S. argument that private sector actors are illegitimate targets an alien one to Chinese leaders. Many observers suspect that China's apparent compliance with the cyber agreement represents little more than a shift in tactics that is probably temporary. Such analysts note that China did not lay down a costly marker, since it did not admit to having previously engaged in cyber espionage. Because it seems unlikely that China has suddenly changed its view of economically motivated cyber espionage wholesale, it is important for U.S. policymakers to keep focused on this issue. The U.S. should make clear that indictments may once again be sought if Chinese hackers resume cyber espionage against U.S. firms. At the same time, the United States should seek to expand the value of the bilateral agreement by supporting the inclusion of U.S. allies and partners so as to guard against possible backsliding or simple retargeting by China. The 2015 cyber agreement should be seen as a potentially important first step, but by no means a final step, toward addressing the broader problem of Chinese espionage. At its heart, reducing cyber espionage against U.S. companies merely addresses a question of means, not ends. Even if China completely eliminates cyber espionage against U.S. companies, it will still continue targeting traditional U.S. national security actors through various means, including cyber espionage. Similarly, Chinese efforts to steal valuable intellectual property and business proprietary information from U.S. private sector enterprises through human agents can also be expected to continue. Additional U.S. attention and resources will be needed to address these challenges. A genuine reduction in Chinese economically-motivated cyber espionage could go some way toward easing tensions in the broader bilateral U.S.-China relationship. But absent changes in Chinese behavior toward U.S. friends and allies, a better attitude toward international law, and improvements in domestic human rights, the ultimate impact of a reduction in economic cyber espionage may simply not go far enough to restore the bilateral relationship to a healthy state. Scott W. Harold is the associate director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, a political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. This commentary originally appeared on The Cipher Brief on July 31, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. A month later than expected Colombias public media system, RTVC, has finally released its video-on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) platform. RTVC Play is a free service which has kicked off with over 400 titles including series, films, documentaries and some news programmes.Available for desktop and mobile devices through an iOS and Android app, the platform aims to grow as it adds shows from Senal Colombia, like Josefina en la Cocina and Los Puros Criollos, as well as documentaries and series from Canal Institucional. In addition, Yurupari, a documentary series from the 80s, has been restored and is already available on the service.The project, which was tested out during the first weeks of June, is intended to open Colombias public media up to new ways of consuming content.This launch shows RTVCs commitment to delivering the very best of our content to our viewers, no matter where they are, said John Jairo Ocampo, GM, RTVC. This digital platform makes it easier for Colombians to access cultural and educational content. Indonesias Ministry of Tourism is teaming up with English language channel AXN as presenting sponsor for the forthcoming season of The Amazing Race Asia. The series, which returns to Sony Pictures Television Networks channel AXN in October, will feature 11 teams racing around the world and participating in physical and mental challenges in the quest to win US$100,000 in prize money.The fifth season of the Asian version of the Emmy Award-winning adventure reality show will, once again, be hosted by Chinese-American actor Allan Wu.We are pleased to welcome the Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia as a presenting sponsor for The Amazing Race Asia Season five. The first four seasons on AXN thrilled millions of viewers who love travel, culture and adventure so the series is an ideal platform to inspire endless holiday plans, said Ang Hui Keng, senior vice president and general manager, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia.Indonesia is one of the worlds most spectacular tourism destinations, and while we cannot reveal the exact race route, we can say that Indonesia will form a wonderful backdrop for the racers during the series, he added.The Amazing Race Asia season five is produced in collaboration with international production company, Profiles Television and programme creators Bertram Van Munster and Elise Doganieri. Leading independent media services and post-production house TVT has been contracted for the provision of compliance, reversioning and media management services at A+E Networks. The channel is home to media brands HISTORY, Lifetime, Crime + Investigation and H2, and currently operates 18 channels across 45 million homes in the UK, Scandinavia, Benelux, Central & Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.TVT will deploy its ContentSelect platform to orchestrate and track all media workflows including specialist compliance viewing and editing services. This, it claims, will ensure that it meets the highest editorial standards across all channels and with fast and efficient delivery to international playout and distribution platforms. The company will also handle both English and Polish original language content for A+E Networks. TVT is also supporting production of all foreign language subtitles and audio files as well as delivering content in multiple formats to the end distribution hubs.TVT is an expert in this field and its ContentSelect platform gives us full management oversight of the compliance, re-versioning and media management workflow, explained A+E Networks UK chief operating officer Nicolas Eglau. This gives us full confidence that our shows meet the highest standards we require for our brands as well as the technical and operational standards of our broadcast partners. As we continue to grow into new regions, with more channel and new business models, working with trusted partners like TVT is vital to our continued success. Apple loses appellation against dismissal of claim against Russian Customs Service MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI) The 9th Commercial Court of Appeals has upheld the lawfulness of the Central Directorate of the Federal Customs Service (FCS) decisions with regard to classification of Apple Watch products Apple Rus, Apples subsidiary in the country, imports in Russia, the court records read. Apple Rus has turned to a court seeking to reverse the preliminary decisions FCS issued on November 13, 2015, with regard to the classification of smart Apple Watch products not as data transmitting devices exempt from duties, but as ordinary watches subject to import duties at up to 10%. On May 18, the Moscow Commercial Court dismissed the Apple Rus claim against this decision. The company took the appeal to a higher court, but lost its claim this Monday, as the court of appeals upheld the lower courts ruling. A companys representative maintained that data transmitting module was the devices key module and the product should be classified by this component, not the gadgets functions, noting that it had no time measuring mechanism at all. Nevertheless, an FCS representative insisted the gadget was multifunctional and rightfully classified by its core function. The Moscow Commercial Court ruled in favor of FCS saying its decisions were in line with the current customs regulations and did not infringe on the rights and lawful interests of the claimant as concerned its business activities. The court noted that it was common knowledge that Apple Watch was a wrist-wearable time measuring device looking and being used as such as its very name confirmed. Earlier, the Commercial Court of Moscow has reviewed yet another lawsuit by the company against the rulings of the Central Directorate of the Federal Customs Service over classification of Apple Watch. That lawsuit was dismissed on June 1. Russian court arrests assets of Russias hydropower giants ex-chairman MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) The Basmanny District Court has arrested the property of the former Management Board Chairman of Russias hydropower giant RusHydro Yevgeny Dod and his family in an embezzlement criminal case, RAPSI learned from the courts press-service on Monday. Earlier, the defendants lawyer has confirmed that Dod was ready to compensate 73.2 million rubles ($1.1 million) in damages. Dod will stay in detention until August 22. As it has already been reported, Dod pleaded not guilty to 73.2 million rubles ($1.2 million) embezzlement, but expressed his willingness to reimburse the company for damage. Another defendant in the case, Chief Accountant of RusHydro Dmitry Finkel also pleaded not guilty. According to investigators, Dod and Finkel have committed a large-scale fraud with regard to RusHydro. The official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin has earlier said that after the companys financial report had been approved, the defendants drafted an order On special bonus payments to the RusHydro Management Board members in 2013, which was signed by Dod. Under this order, Dod charged to himself a bonus amounted to 353.21 million rubles ($5.5 million) and thus illegally overrated the bonus by no less than 73.2 million rubles. TOLOnews.com, July 29, 2016 By Jawed Zeyartjahi Six-year-old child bride married to 60-year-old cleric in Ghor province. (Photo: TOLOnews.com) Six-year-old child bride married to 60-year-old cleric in Ghor province. (Photo: TOLOnews.com) Police in Ghor province on Friday reported that security forces have arrested a 60-year-old man for allegedly marrying a six-year-old girl, whose family claims she was abducted by the man. The man, named Mohammad Karim, has claimed that the girl was offered to him as a gift by her father while he was teaching her. Ghor police have dismissed the claims and said that the victim had been kidnapped by the cleric from Herat a month ago. The suspect, who is now in police custody, has claimed that the girl had been offered to him by her father, however they married on the first night of Eid ul-Fitr. "We formally got engaged, her family told me to take her anywhere you want," said the man. Ghor police have said the girl's family has 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," said Zaman Azimi, the Ghor police chief. Meanwhile, 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. "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 percent of all criminals involved in such acts in the country were not prosecuted. Khaama Press, July 31, 2016 A group of the Taliban militants have reportedly gang raped a woman in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local security official has claimed. The official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the incident took place four days ago in Balo Jan village in Nahr-e-Saraj district. The official further added that four Taliban insurgents were involved in the incident who were fighting under the command of commander Omari. According to the official, the Taliban insurgents forced into a residential house in the village and attacked the woman and raped her in front of the children, including a 14-year-old boy. The individuals involved in the incident have been arrested by commander Omari, the official said, adding that commander Omari has warned the woman to keep the issue as a secret without informing anyone. The Taliban militants have not commented regarding the report so far. This is the not the first the group has been accused of sexual violence against the ordinary civilians of the country. Earlier the group was accused of raping some women in a hostel in northern Kunduz city which was briefly captured by the group last year. At least 16 people were killed early Saturday morning in the crash of a hot air balloon in Texas, officials said. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the balloon caught fire during its flight and crashed into a pasture, killing all aboard. Local authorities were trying to confirm the identities of the victims. The FAA was investigating, and officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were also on their way to the scene. As we see a surge in inflation globally, it is now critical that everyone is aware of the implications this will have along every step of the insurance and reinsurance value chain. On March 25, the National Security Council in Washington announced that the United States would be joining the Gulf Cooperation Council in waging war in Yemen, the Middle East's poorest country. There was no declaration of war, nor any indication of congressional approval of the NSC action. The announcement followed the open secret that U.S. forces had been providing logistics and intelligence support for months before that to Saudi Arabia in waging a war that has perhaps even less reason for U.S. involvement than the other conflicts America is waging in the Middle East region. These include Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Syria. The ongoing civil war in Yemen includes a disparate group of elements, although it is basically an intra-Muslim war between Sunnis and Shiites, which The truce was intended as a goodwill gesture ahead of formal peace negotiations in Oslo next month. President Rodrigo Duterte lifted the unilateral truce Saturday, six days after is was issued, because the rebels had not responded to a deadline to reciprocate. A senior Philippines official says the government may reinstate a ceasefire with Maoist-led rebels. Sunday, the Communist Party of the Philippines said in a statement it would be "willing to issue a unilateral ceasefire declaration separately but simultaneously with the Duterte government on Aug. 20." Jesus Dureza, presidential peace adviser, said the statement from the Communist party is "what we have been waiting for." Dureza said in a statement that the rebels announcement through the media was "belated, but still strategic" and was an "awaited decision." The peace talks in Norway resume on Aug. 20. 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: Cement Creek Department of Land Transfer Info Equipment Feedback Other Claims for Sale Contact Us Add To Favorites SUNNYSIDE GOLD Mine SN: CMC288340 20 Acre Unpatented Placer Mining Claim on Federal Land / Silverton, Colorado (Scroll down to see all pictures) Buyer will receive the following with their completed transaction:Quitclaim deed showing full ownership of the claim. This will be stamped, recorded and verified with the County and the BLM offices.Welcome packet with all of the rules and r... 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Price: $ 7,999 Seller State of Residence: NEW YORK (NY) Property Address: 122 N Franklin st State/Province: Pennsylvania City: Shamokin Number of Bedrooms: 6 Number of Bathrooms: 3 Property Type: House Sale Type: Existing Home For Sale by: Owner Zip/Postal Code: 17872 Location: 112**, Brooklyn, New York You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 17872 By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 08/01/2016 ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Colt Releases New Expanse M4 Just a few days after Sam Colt's birthday, his 175 year old company released a new rifle. Officially the new Expanse M4 is an upgraded model of the CE1000; it's called (wait for it), the CE2000. The new(ish) weapon will be an improved version of their entry level rifle. The most significant update to the rifle over its predecessor is the addition of a Cold dust cover and a forward assist which of course begs the question for many riflemen, why not include them in the first place? Unfortunately, Justin Baldini, Product Director for Colt, didn't address that question in his statement for the press release. Says Baldini, This was a natural move for us. We simply listened to what our customers and our Colt Stocking Dealers were telling us, and the story was simple. Folks want the added features of a real Colt dust cover and forward assist, and they want it to come that way from the factory. Colt's senior VP didn't do much to clarify things either. His PR statement was more standard fare and typically banal. Says Paul Spitale, We couldnt be happier to deliver to our customers exactly what they want. Its a proud moment to be able to build on the success weve had with the Expanse M4 in a way that provides an even better ownership experience to the discerning firearms enthusiast. The newest iteration of the Expanse M4 will be released in 5.56mm x 45 NATO, has Colt forgings, bolt, and other features we saw previously with the CE1000. It will retail for $749, putting it in relatively easy reach for someone looking for a sub-$1000 rifle built by an established manufacturer. For those of you not in the know, the Colt Expanse for Colt is essentially what the M&P-15 Sport is for Smith & Wesson; a reasonably-priced, baseline AR which functions as a good starting rifle, or a decent backup gun. The comparison is even more accurate, given the press release below announces that a new model of the Expanse, the CE2000, is now available with a dust cover and forward assist, just like the Sport II added a dust cover and forward assist over the original Sport. As they say, those who dont learn from history Soldier Systems Daily This will be welcome news for Colt fans who don't live behind enemy lines (in California, Massachusetts, etc.), but we're not going to lie. We'd rather they release a modern version of the Model 1855 Revolving Rifle. That would be exciting news. Nothing against the new CE2000 or [insert another version of the AR15 here] but we'd like to see some retro awesomeness on the range. You can learn more about the rifles Colt has available right here. Samsung is expected to use parts made by perennial rival LG for its Galaxy series of smartphones. Samsung on Sunday said it is assessing the 2-metal chip-on-film from LG Innotek, a part that connects display panels to a main circuit board. It is rare for Samsung to use parts by a competitor in the key areas of smartphones, TVs and other home appliances. It has usually bought chips and LCD panels from SK Hynix or Chinese companies, but hardly ever from LG. The traditional culture of Korean conglomerates means that they all have fingers in every pie rather than concentrating on key areas, so LG Innotek competes directly with Samsung Electro-Mechanics. An industry insider said this could mean a shift at Samsung to a more modern approach under de facto chief Lee Jae-yong, who wants to use the best products and components regardless of the origin. The film-type component from LG can be folded, unlike rival products, and can be used in Samsung's smartphones with curved edges. LG plans to begin full-fledged production of the component in the second half of this year. Porterville, CA (93257) Today Sunny skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 78F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. Among other things, this policy bans plagiarism in all of its formsstudents who cant follow it can expect, at minimum, a final course grade of F and, in some cases, expulsion. Perhaps we should send Melania Trump a note inviting her to join them following her cribbed convention speech. Athens is full of quirky and exciting things to do and see. Some of these places are well-known. However, some are harder to find and may take FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2015 file photo, actor Michael B. Jordan, right, and writer-director Ryan Coogler pose for a portrait in Los Angeles. The pair, who have worked together on "Creed," and "Fruitvale Station," are reuniting once again for "Black Panther." (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File) SHARE By RYAN PEARSON, AP Entertainment Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) Two reunions make "Black Panther" an especially personal chapter in the Marvel cinematic universe. The movie, set to begin filming in January, will mark the third time director Ryan Coogler has worked with actor Michael B. Jordan. They teamed up previously on "Creed" and "Fruitvale Station." They're joined by Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira, the star and writer, respectively, of the Tony-nominated play "Eclipsed," which concluded its run on Broadway last month. Chadwick Boseman stars as T'Challa, also known as Black Panther. "They've been doing a really good job of keeping this a secret even from the cast," Jordan said after his role was revealed to fans at Comic-Con over the weekend. "I'm really excited to get back to working with Ryan Coogler." Jordan plays the villain in the movie, set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda. "I'm really, really curious to start diving into a side of my personality that a lot of people don't get a chance to see. It's always cool to show a different side," the 29-year-old actor said. Coogler, 30, is still polishing the script for the movie, which features the first black superhero in comics, at a time of turmoil in the U.S. over police killings of black men. "I feel fortunate and excited to be making a film like this. No time better than now," he said. Though best known for her role in "The Walking Dead," Gurira's "Eclipsed," about five women caught in Liberia's civil war, garnered six Tony nominations. She grew up in Zimbabwe. "To see an epic story like this told with the Marvel engine, the Marvel abilities through the personhood, really, of African people is really, really thrilling," she said. "It's a dream come true for a little African girl who spends her life watching other folks do those types of stories and gets to see Africans do that story. I mean, that's pretty amazing." The Oscar-winning Nyong'o credited "God's good grace" with reuniting her with Gurira, "because I had no say in the matter." "We did a secret jump up-and-down while we were working on 'Eclipsed,'" she said. "I don't mind carrying on the rest of my life with her." "Black Panther" is set for release in 2018. Max and Lorrain Mullen SHARE Lorrain and Max Mullen 75th Anniversary Lorrain and Max Mullen of Anderson celebrated their 75th anniversary on June 26, 2016. They were married on June 26, 1941, in Myrtle Point, Oregon. After World War II, they moved from Oregon to Anderson, where they raised their family. Max worked in the logging industry, served with the U.S. Navy during World War II and then drove a Greyhound bus for more than 30 years before retiring. Lorraine was a housewife and then worked in banking, at Payless Drug Stores and J.C. Penney. She was involved in Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts. The couple spent much of their retirement traveling around the Western United States. They both turned 96 this summer. Their children are Claudeen Redman of Chico and Richard Mullen of Anderson. They have four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 file photo, a man enters the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass. The museum has compiled a digital archive of more than a hundred thousand names of men who embarked on whaling voyages out of the Massachusetts port before the final one in 1927. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) SHARE By MARK PRATT, Associated Press BOSTON (AP) A digital list of the tens of thousands of men who embarked on whaling voyages out of New Bedford, from 10-year-old boys to a 70-year-old sailor who drank himself to death in South Africa, is a valuable resource for anyone researching their family's seafaring past. Just be warned: You might not like what you find. One man who found an ancestor's name in the database went to the ship's logbook for more information and got quite a shock, said Mark Procknik, the librarian at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which compiled the list of more than 127,000 men who set sail on whaler ships from 1809 until 1927. When the ship made a stop at Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific, someone sabotaged the vessel by boring holes in the hull. It turns out the villain was an ancestor. "They threw him in irons, and when the ship reached Peru, they threw him off," Procknik said. Some people who for years have heard stories about an ancestor who was a captain on a whaling vessel have searched the database only to find out that their forebear was a greenhand, the lowest rank on board, said Judith Lund, a historian and author who led a platoon of volunteers in compiling the database. The searchable list includes the sailor's name, age, job title, home state or country, and in some cases notes physical characteristics, including skin and hair color. It lists men from 33 states, two U.S. territories and more than 100 foreign nations. It illustrates what Herman Melville so eloquently described in "Moby-Dick" of a city teeming with the strangest characters from all corners of the globe. Melville writes of "the Feegeeans, Tongatobooarrs, Erromanggoans, Pannangians, and Brighggians," and "the wild specimens of the whaling-craft which unheeded reel about the streets." "Imagine coming to this little town in the middle of the 19th century and seeing all these strange people," Lund said. Sometimes the list contains tidbits of information that shed more light on the life or death of a sailor. Charles Harmond, of Wareham, was 10 years old when joined the crew of the George Washington in 1832. H. Carleston, of New Bedford, was 70 when he embarked on the Charles W. Morgan in 1908. He never made it home. "Died at Durban after becoming intoxicated," the records note. Some crewmen are listed under a single name, such as Chevelor, who joined the crew of the Java in 1841 and deserted the following year at Sandwich Island what we now call Hawaii. And yes, Melville is in the database, although the information is scant. All the records show is that he set sail on the Acushnet in 1841 as a greenhand. The archive, also valuable to genealogists, anthropologists and sociologists, is actually a combination of a project that began years ago at the New Bedford Free Public Library and a more recent museum project, said Michael Lapides, the museum's director of digital initiatives. It's based on handwritten customs documents that were in turn copied by the chaplains of the New Bedford Port Society. The original records were written by customs officers who may not have been accomplished spellers and who got the information from seamen who may not have been certain of how to spell their own names. Therefore, the way a family spells their name today may not be how it is spelled in the database. In fact, a single sailor's name may have been spelled different ways if he went on multiple voyages. The information was kept because the men often never returned, Procknik said. "There were deaths on every voyage, and desertion was rampant," he said, noting that even Melville deserted. Brick-and-mortar bookstores can do some things that online retailers can't, like the big midnight release parties that guarantee you'll get a much anticipated book on the first day it's available. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Get out of the common room, grab your Marauder's Map and head over to one of these Chicagoland bookstores for a "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" release party July 30. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One & Two" is a new, two-part play written by Jack Thorne and based on a story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Thorne. Tickets for the play's debut run in London are already sold out into May 2017. Advertisement "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" takes place 19 years after the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." In the play, Harry, who now works at the Ministry of Magic, is the father of three school-age children. Potter's youngest son, Albus, struggles with the weight of his father's legacy and a family history that refuses to stay in the past. The new story, which is being printed while the show is still in preview, is a working script, meaning some changes might be made in future editions but the core storyline will remain. The book is the top-selling pre-order of 2016 for both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Advertisement "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is considered canonical, thereby making it the eighth story in Rowling's series. Chicagoland stores will be gearing up for the July 31 release Harry's birthday with a slate of parties leading up to a midnight release. Here's a brief look at some area stores that solemnly swear they are up to no good. No invisibility cloaks required. Anderson's Bookshop 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville; 5112 Main St., Downers Grove; 26 S. La Grange Road, La Grange Midnight July 30 www.andersonsbookshop.com Purchase of the book includes a ticket to The Return of the Party That Shall Not Be Named, featuring games, trivia, prizes and costume contests. Each ticket is coded to represent one of the four Hogwarts Houses for House Cup activities. Barbara's Bookstore Advertisement 810 Village Center Drive, Burr Ridge; The BookMarket at Hangar One, 2651 Navy Blvd., Glenview 10:30 p.m. July 30 www.barbarasbookstore.com Two Barbara's locations will be hosting a night of Potter-themed events, including a Sorting Hat ceremony, wand building, trivia, charades and more. Barnes & Noble Various locations Advertisement 8 p.m. July 30 www.barnesandnoble.com All Barnes & Noble stores will be holding Countdown to Midnight Party that will include a Muggle Wall where customers can share favorite Harry Potter memories, giveaways and activities. More events and activities will take place 9 a.m. July 31. The Book Bin 1151 Church St., Northbrook 11 p.m. July 30 Advertisement www.bookbinnorthbrook.com The Book Bin's release party will include refreshments, games and a reading of the book until 1 a.m. The Book Cellar 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago 10 p.m. July 30 www.bookcellarinc.com Advertisement Be sorted into your House, search for the Golden Snitch, enjoy a butterbeer and enter a costume contest at this Lincoln Square bookstore that is "SUPER STOKED" and feeling an "INSANE AMOUNT OF EXCITEMENT" for the latest Potter installment. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 Jamie Parker as Harry Potter and Sam Clemmett as Albus Potter in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." (Manuel Harlan) Books-A-Million Various locations 9 p.m. July 30 www.booksamillion.com Each Books-A-Million in the area will be celebrate the release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" with a night of costumes, trivia, face painting, coloring and more. Please note the Loop location (144 S. Clark St.) will not be holding a release party and will observe its regular business hours. Advertisement The Bookstore 475 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn 10:30 p.m., July 30 www.justthebookstore.com The Bookstore will be offering a costume contest, trivia challenges and treats "worthy of the Hogwarts Express Trolley." The store will open at 10 p.m. for pre-payment services of the book. 57th Street Books Advertisement 1301 E. 57th St., Chicago 8 p.m. July 30 www.semcoop.com Muggles of all ages are invited to partake in a costume contest, consumption of "Hogwartian refreshments," trivia and a wand-making workshop. The event also will feature door prizes. Frugal Muse 7511 Lemont Road, Darien Advertisement 10 p.m. July 30 www.frugalmusebooks.com Tickets are $25 plus tax, which includes a copy of the book. There will be a costume contest, Quidditch pong, crafts, trivia, Sorting Hat ceremony and more. The cover of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II." (Arthur A. Levine Books) Lake Forest Book Store 662 N. Western Ave., Lake Forest 8 a.m. July 31 Advertisement www.lakeforestbookstore.com Birthday cake, coffee, treats and more will be served in honor of the book's release and Harry's 36th birthday. Magic Tree Bookstore 141 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park 10:30 p.m. July 30 www.magictreebooks.com Advertisement Purchase of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" includes admission to the party which will include a costume contest, trivia contest, wand-making activity and butterbeer. Roscoe Books 2142 W. Roscoe St., Chicago 11 a.m. July 31 www.roscoebooks.com Roscoe Books will be celebrating the release of the book on Harry's birthday with a day of cake, butterbeer, snacks and activities. Pre-order of the book includes entry to a raffle for bookish prizes. Advertisement Unabridged Books 3251 N. Broadway St., Chicago 7 p.m. July 30 www.unabridgedbookstore.com This Lammas Eve party celebrates the release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" and Lammas, the harvest festival honoring the first day of August. Unabridged will be offering baked bread, beer and more, including a 10 percent discount throughout the store and a 20 percent discount on midnight purchases of the book. Volumes Bookcafe Advertisement 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago 9 a.m. July 31 This Wicker Park bookstore and cafe will be hosting a day of wand-making, Sorting Hat ceremonies, Quidditch, giveaways and more to celebrate the release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" and our hero's birthday. Pioneer Press reporter Myrna Petlicki contributed. jmikula@chicagotribune.com Twitter @jeremymikula Taiwan's president has for the first time, formally apologized to the country's indigenous people for centuries of suffering. Tsai Ing-wen said Monday, "I apologize to the indigenous people on behalf of the government, to give our deepest apology over the suffering and injustice you endured over the past 400 years." She said "We need to look at history seriously and speak out the truth" as a way to "step forward." The president said a justice and historical justice commission will be established to review past indignities. The Honda Jazz is a venerable premium hatchback that has garnered a cult following in India due to its versatility and the sheer brand value of the Honda badge. Thus for its second innings in the country, Indian automobile website MotorBeam.com inducted the hatchback in its long term fleet. The third generation Honda Jazz is considered a thinking man's premium hatchback, who prefers space and foldable rear seats over stylish headlamps and curved wheel arches. But in a country like India, the looks of a vehicle are only second in order of importance after fuel efficiency figures. Hence the Jazz, despite its Honda badge smugness, is a distant third in sales figures, behind the Hyundai Elite i20 and Maruti Suzuki Baleno. But if one looks over the bulky exteriors of the vehicle and the price, things are a little bit different. The exterior of the vehicle is typically Honda, where function is given precedence over form. The unmistakable MPV like silhouette of the Jazz generate mixed responses from people, who either like the styling and appreciate the space it offers or simply term it as an egg on wheels. Our long term Honda Jazz is the top-spec VX model and cars sufficiently orange colour does look eye catchy. The interior of the car is the real USP of the vehicle. There are just acres of space on the inside and the flexi-luggage options are such a boon. The Jazz VX trim gets a touch-screen infotainment system with all kinds of connectivity, but it certainly isn't the best one out there due to laggy touch responses and broken Bluetooth audio calling. Other than that, very well sorted out ergonomics and the practicality theme running through the car, such as the number of cubby holes near the handbrake which can give your cupboard a run for its money, make this vehicle the most sensible family hatchback in the market. The rear 'Magic Seats' are a different story altogether. Honda used some mechanical witchcraft to make the seats fold in the most practical way possible so that one can carry a huge load of stuff without a fuss, including a cycle. The front seat reclines all the way down to join the rear seat, making it a bed of sorts. But the car for its price feels a bit spartan in terms of equipment levels such as the missing keyless entry, push button start and auto locking doors. The Honda Jazz is powered by the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel unit that generates 100 PS of power, while mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. The NVH levels are acceptable but fall short considerably when compared to its rivals. The engine redline comes in fast at just a shade above 4000 RPM, but the car is able to achieve its top speed of 170 km/hr without much trouble. Lag is almost non-existent and that makes driving in the city such a breeze. The ride and handling balance package on this car is a real matured setup in a typical Honda fashion, along with the steering wheel which feels so rich in feel that you fall in love with it. But the grip from the low rolling resistance pizza-cutter tyres needs to be better, especially in the monsoons. One can easily extract 20-plus km/l fuel efficiency numbers and those with a sedate driving style will be happy to post a thoroughly impressive 22-24 km/l. At the end of the day, the Honda Jazz seems to be a smart, spacious, adequately equipped and reliable mode of transport which will surely gobble up anything the owner throws into it. We do see a lesser number of Honda Jazz cars on roads than we hoped, largely due to a plain-jane styling and not-so-premium feeling from the car - features which are of prime importance in this segment. But live with the car and you know why 'Nothing else is a Jazz'. Powered by Cabinet to take up proposal to extend operation & maintenance contracts from 9 to 29 years The government is mulling extending operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts for highways from the current nine years to 29 years, aiming to attract pension funds and other investors. The Union Cabinet would take up the proposal soon, which is likely to usher in a major reform in the sector, said a senior government officer in the know of the developments. Sources said the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are working together to attract foreign investors into domestic infrastructure space. One way to do so, they feel, is by increasing the tenure of contracts. International pension funds or other foreign institutional investors would be able to pump money into these O&M projects for 29 years, an official told Business Standard. After recovering their costs over the stipulated period, they would hand over the projects to the government, he added. The proposal that the Cabinet is considering covers both new contracts and also those projects for which the contractor at present is the NHAI. But, if the proposal is cleared, would it mean a higher toll? According to Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director, Deloitte, be it any highway, it really does not matter whether the O&M contract is for nine years or 29 years. One thing that the government and NHAI could do is take one or two highway projects on a pilot basis. The advantage for the government with global pension funds is that they bring in a lot of funds in the beginning of the contract. The proposal has been in the making for at least a year and could soon see the light of the day. The development comes on the heels of international investors - Macquarie, Brookfield and Cube Highways - taking up equity in 10 national highway projects worth Rs 4,150 crore from which private promoters had exited. The Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereign funds are also expected to make an entry in the domestic roads and highways sector. The government is mulling extending operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts for highways from the current nine years to 29 years, aiming to attract pension funds and other investors. The Union Cabinet would take up the proposal soon, which is likely to usher in a major reform in the sector, said a senior government officer in the know of the developments. Sources said the union ministry of road transport and highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are working together to attract foreign investors into domestic infrastructure space. One way to do so, they feel, is by increasing the tenure of contracts. International pension funds or other foreign institutional investors would be able to pump money into these O&M projects for 29 years, an official told Business Standard. After recovering their costs over the stipulated period, they would hand over the projects to the government, he added. The proposal that the Cabinet is considering covers both new contracts and also those projects for which the contractor at present is the NHAI. But, if the proposal is cleared, would it mean a higher toll? According to Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director, Deloitte, be it any highway, it really does not matter whether the O&M contract is for nine years or 29 years. One thing that the government and NHAI could do is take one or two highway projects on a pilot basis. The advantage for the government with global pension funds is that they bring in a lot of funds in the beginning of the contract. Photograph: Reuters Prices in most areas have been stagnant but some regions are showing reasonable appreciation. In the past couple of years, property prices in many parts of the country have stagnated, due to a shift in investment from real estate and gold to financial assets. Nonetheless, real estate being a highly localised theme, it is still possible for the diligent investor to zero in on micro-markets that have the potential to offer at least 10 per cent return in the next one year. Some places that experts think will be able to beat the sectors sluggishness and offer reasonable returns include: IMAGE: Economic activity is picking up, the city offers good potential to buyers. Photograph: Reuters Hyderabad: The residential market here was stagnant for a long time, owing to the Telengana agitation. Now, that this political issue has been resolved and economic activity is picking up, the city offers good potential to buyers, says A S Sivaramakrishnan, head, residential services, CBRE South Asia. The high level of confidence in the market is evident from new builders from Bengaluru and other cities moving in, and the number of project launches rising in the past 12 months. According to Sivaramakrishnan, the western corridor, comprising Kokapet, Nanakramguda and Gachibowli, offers good prospects. Many projects in these areas have seen appreciation of eight-12 per cent in the past year. Demand is good because the price range of Rs 3,700-4,500 per sq ft suits the pockets of double-income families from the information technology (IT) sector. IMAGE: Two pockets, Kota and Chandkheda, offer good potential. Photograph kind courtesy: Manjil Purohit/Wikimedia Commons Ahmedabad: Two pockets, Kota and Chandkheda, offer good potential, according to experts. Kota has seen seven per cent appreciation in the past year, while prices in Chandkheda grew about three per cent. With the pace of economic activity within the city rising in the year to come, we expect these pockets to offer good appreciation, says Anurag Jhanwar, business head (consulting and data insight), PropTiger.com. Both areas have good liveability scores, which means that they provide adequate basic amenities and social infrastructure. IMAGE: Completion of the metro rail and monorail is expected to enhance the areas attractiveness. Photograph: Reuters Bengaluru: Thanisandra Road in north Bengaluru offers potential for eight to 10 per cent return, according to experts. Prices here range from Rs 3,800 to 5,200 per sq ft. Travel time to the airport is 20-25 minutes, while the city centre takes about 30 minutes. The area is also close to Embassy Manyata Tech Park and Bhartiya City Tech Park, says Sajid Mustafa Baig, manager, Silverline Realty. Over the next five years, at least half a dozen IT parks will come up in north Bengaluru. The completion of the metro rail and monorail is expected to enhance the areas attractiveness. Kanakapura in South Bengaluru also offers good prospects. The current price of apartments here is Rs 3,800-6,000 per sq ft. The area is close to Electronic City and Bannerghatta Road. Kanakapura is witnessing good demand in anticipation of the Metro connecting it to MG Road by 2018, which will reduce travel time to the city centre to less than 30 minutes, says Baig. IMAGE: Prices are still relatively affordable at around Rs 4,000 per sq ft. Photograph: PlaneMad/Wikimedia Commons Chennai: Madambakkam in south-west Chennai is poised for higher price growth in the short to medium term. Prices here are still relatively affordable at around Rs 4,000 per sq ft. The area has an inventory overhang of only 20 months. Tambaram (average price Rs 4,238 per sq ft) is also gaining in prominence. Demand in these areas comes from people employed in the IT-ITeS hubs of Old Mahabalipuram Road and Grand Southern Trunk Road. IMAGE: Thane-West area is already well populated and affordable. Photograph: Reuters Mumbai: Thane-West and Badlapur have seen healthy absorption in the past 12 months. The momentum is expected to continue this year. The Thane-West area is accepted as a part of Mumbai. It is already well populated and is affordable with apartments available in the Rs 9,000-10,500 per sq ft. range, says Jhanwar. Badlapur is another area where demand is high currently due to the affordability factor. Earn from capital appreciation If you are looking for capital gains, stick to micro-markets where prices havent shot up too high. Opt for those that are liquid (where transaction volumes are good) and inventory levels (unsold stocks) not too high. The area should enjoy good connectivity with the city's economic hubs, such as IT corridors and manufacturing centres, with travel time not exceeding 45 minutes. The area should also offer adequate social infrastructure. The developer should have a sound reputation for timely delivery. Experts warn against entering the real estate market currently with a short investment horizon. Says Shveta Jain, managing director, residential services, India, Cushman & Wakefield: If you are investing in the mid-segment, say, in the Rs 4,000-6,000 per sq ft range, have a horizon of at least five to seven years to be able to earn sound returns. She adds that when buying in locations that are at a nascent stage, invest in those where infrastructure developments are planned. Backed by Nandan Nilekani and impact fund Lok Capital, Drishti, an affordable eye care chain has lit up the lives of scores of people in rural areas, finds Nirmalya Behera. IMAGE: Dristis focus is to bring affordable high-quality eye care. Photographs kind courtesy: Dristi Sometime in October 2014, Anandacharya, a chronic diabetic with a vision impairment, walked into Drishti vision centre in Bagepalli, an idyllic rural town of 28,000 people in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. Bagepalli had no ophthalmologist and Dristhi was his only hope. After preliminary consultations, Anandacharya, suffering from diabetic retinopathy, was transferred to Drishtis base hospital 70 km away, where timely treatment restored his vision. Like him, Drishti, an affordable eye care chain in the state, has lit up the lives of scores of people in rural areas. The start-up has attracted the attention of many, including Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who recently pledged funds to it. After about 18 years in the information technology industry, I and Anjali (wife) were looking to work in areas that deliver social impact. We wanted our venture to be sustainable and scalable. We visited Aravind eye hospital in Madurai and were influenced by their model. We decided to start Drishti to achieve a similar impact in Karnataka and other places, says Kiran Anandampillai, founder and chief executive officer. A telecom engineer, worked as a volunteer for the Aadhar project with Nilekani. The opportunity Data from the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) shows one per cent of Indias population has avoidable blindness. The major chunk of this population lives in semi-urban and rural India. This is where Drishti wants to play a pivotal role. Our focus is to bring affordable high-quality eye care. We intend to serve the whole pyramid with a special focus on economically backward people, said Anandampillai. Business model Drishtis hub-and-spoke model employs community health workers to screen people from door to door. Mobile eye clinics then visit villages to treat patients. The requiring detailed evaluation are transported to Drishtis district hospitals. Drishti also delivers services to patients through telemedicine-based vision centres in small towns and areas where specialists cant go. These centres help reach people at taluks with populations of 15,000-50,000. The centres focus on primary eye care where treatment requires medicine or spectacles. Patients needing surgical or specialist care are referred to the district hospitals. Drishtis model is self-sustaining, scalable and replicable. In every million ppopulation in India, about 30 per cent require some form of eye care and the bulk of them require glasses, says Anandampillai, who was also a founding member of OnMobile, a company spun out of Infosys. While surgery and spectacles contribute 40 per cent each to Drishtis revenue, medicines and consultation fees contribute 15 per cent and five per cent, respectively. About 70 per cent of the patients pay in cash and the balance comes from social insurance schemes. Drishti has a differentiated model and ventures into areas other players find it difficult to go. In the eye care market in India, all the major players are fighting over the urban market. We saw an opportunity to invest with an individual who was keen to create something new at the ground level, said Aditya Sharma, director, Lok Capital, which has invested in Drishti. Sharma said it would not be difficult for Drishti to replicate the model in other states. Drishti received seed funding from Lok Capital in 2012. In June, Nilekani invested an undisclosed amount in Drishti in a Series-A round of funding. Expansion plans Drishti operates in four districts of Karnataka - Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagar and Chitradurga - with three hospitals, three vision centres and two mobile eye clinics. With the fresh infusion of funds, Drishti is looking to set up six to ten vision centres in each district where it has presence, start services in six other districts in Karnataka, and meet its working capital requirements. It aims to break even in 2017-18 and wants to treat 120,000 patients by March 2017 and over a million patients every year within the next five years. We plan to be among the top five organised players in this segment by 2020, says Anandampillai. FACT BOX Area of business: Affordable eye care Area of operations: 4 districts of Karnataka Infrastructure: 3 hospitals, 3 vision centres Treated: 75,878 patients since 2012-13 Target: 120,000 patients by 2017-18 Investors: Lok Capital and Nandan Nilekani EXPERT TAKE: Eye care was one of the first single specialities to really take off in India, a country that has one of the highest cataract prevalence rates globally. The emergence was originally driven by welfare-oriented eye care organisations like Aravind Eye Care and Sankara Nethralaya. With the industry maturing, private operators came out of the woodwork. Prominent among them were Dr Agarwals Eye-Q, ASG, Maxivision and Vasan Healthcare. Drishti is an organisation which, works at the grassroot-level to implement quality eye care. Its model is more intensive, with initial consultations and treatment at the doorstep, removing the impediment of travel. This reduces the slippage of patients between the initial health care camps and actual treatment at the main hub. While Drishtis model is focused on semi-urban and rural towns, the volume this model can generate makes it economically viable. Using community health groups allows the company to reduce its customer acquisition costs, which in turn make its services affordable for poor patients. Prashant Jain is director, o3 Capital. Aggressive acquisitions & deep pockets fuel real estate competition; experts suggest future partnership The rivalry between Blackstone, a private equity major from the US, and Singapore-based sovereign fund GIC is keeping the real estate sector hot and happening. A proposed stake sale in the rental arm of DLF is the latest round between the two. The promoters of DLF are selling a 40 per cent stake in the groups rental arm, DLF Cyber City Developers. According to people in the know, Blackstone, GIC and a consortium of sovereign funds from Abu Dhabi have emerged as the front runners in the bid. The first two are leading. When the deal goes through, possibly in September, it could fetch the developer up to Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion). This is not the first time the rivals would face off - they have done so often in the past three-four years. In March this year, GIC bought a 50 per cent stake in Viviana Mall in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai for Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion). Blackstone, too, had bid for the stake, but did not go ahead with the deal because of some differences with the promoters, said a source. The rivals have also locked horns over buying stake in a special economic zone (SEZ) in Pune in 2013, in listed company Nirlon, and 247 Park in Mumbai. There is intense competition between the two, but both are equally aggressive and have deep pockets, said Ajay Jain, executive director, investment banking, and head, real estate group, Centrum Capital. A senior executive with a property consultancy, who did not want to be named, said: Though Blackstone has acquired more assets, GIC is not far behind. On the face of it, Blackstone looks more aggressive but GIC has quietly acquired many marquee assets. When the GIC bought Nirlon, which owned the Nirlon IT Park in Mumbai, for Rs 1,280 crore (Rs 12.8 billion) in 2014, it outbid Blackstone by a narrow margin, another source pointed out. The difference in cap rates was just 0.5 per cent, he said. GIC did not respond to a query emailed by the Business Standard. Blackstone said, "As a matter of policy, we do not offer any comment on media speculations. Blackstone entered real estate sector in the country by acquiring a stake in a realty services company. It is now the largest owner of office assets in the country with a portfolio of 35 million sq ft. The company has invested about $3 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) in the sector, mostly in FDI-compliant office complexes, which made it the biggest private equity (PE) investor in real estate in the country. The US PE major manages assets of $93.2 billion in real estate globally, as against $91.5 billion in PE. It managed a $333.9 billion in assets globally as of end-September, 2015. Blackstone and its partners-Embassy Group of Bengaluru and Panchshil Realty of Pune have already started the process of consolidating office properties ahead of floating a real estate investment trust (REIT). Though GIC was conservative in buying real estate till 2014, it invested or committed to invest about $1 billion (Rs 6,700 crore) in the sector in the country since then. Last year, GIC signed a Rs 1,990-crore (Rs 19.9 billion) joint venture with DLF to develop two residential projects. It also has joint ventures with the Vatika Group in the National Capital Region and the Brigade group in Bengaluru. A senior property executive said there is a key difference between GIC and Blackstone. GIC gets money perpetually from the Singapore government and does not have any pressure to exit. But Blackstone has a fixed fund life and needs to exit after some time. It took three to four years for GIC to understand the market here. In the future, it can acquire more as Blackstone exits some of its investments, said a senior executive, who has worked with GIC in the past. In the next two years, competition will increase as more players are coming in. It is better that both players collaborate. There is no point in bidding and increasing the valuation, he said. Photograph: Reuters 'Other countries go out on a limb to save even a single life. What to talk of civilian accidents and disasters, even our military does not have a priority for Combat Search and Rescue...' 'It is an irony that the very same country that launches satellites for the Americans had to rely on American satellites to pick up possible signals from the AN 32's rescue beacon.' 'Why is this not a priority for our nation?' says Group Captain Group Captain P I Muralidharan (retd). The IAF has lost aircraft and aircrew in large numbers earlier in the annals of Indian aviation history, sometimes in the hills with very delayed recovery of crash debris and mortal remains -- in one event, this materialising after several years. Nevertheless, the anguish and heart wrench of the past week, caused by the ongoing reportage of the missing IAF AN 32 ought to make all professional fliers and policy makers rethink our nation's priorities in the vital ambit of Air, Land and Sea Rescue (SAR for short). Surely, we do not need sagas such as that of the Malaysian MH 370, the Air France jet earlier in the Atlantic or this recent unfortunate IAF mishap to make us sit up. It is well known that our country does not have a dedicated SAR agency, much less dedicated Air Rescue Squadrons a la the US Air Force. They have over fifty of them, one approximately for each of the 50 states. That now is something to speak for specialised air missions alright. One must admit that overall the SAR efforts of single service agencies have been comparatively more successful than others involving wholly civilian or other mixed air assets. And to think that we now have a dedicated National Disaster Management Agency, but clearly oriented towards natural and man-made disasters and without any SAR mandate as such. The funding required to provide the latest available technologies and equipment to the concerned single service agencies need to be provisioned, to address a key aspect directly linked to national and military morale. This applies not only in peace, but in war too. Our Combat Search and Rescue capability needs buttressing too, so that we do not land up in situations of unrecovered Prisoners of War as indeed did happen in our 1965 and 1971 wars. A holistic approach to SAR is called for marshaling resources available with the three services, the Coast Guard, the DRDO, our Intelligence agencies such as the NTRO and perhaps even private industry, to facilitate a timely and apt response to any kind of mishap involving our fighting assets, civil aircraft and other citizenry who become victims of natural and other calamities across the nation's air, land and sea frontiers. Air element of rescue The first responder in any contingency as articulated here in is normally the air element, from the IAF, Army Aviation or the Indian Navy. Perhaps on account of the flexibility that the medium affords, in terms of mobilising quickly. Some IAF helicopter units had been tasked sectorally with SAR duties. They generally catered for fighter crashes, floods, earthquakes, fires, train/ bus crashes and likewise events. The quantum of air effort required for SAR is dictated by the immensity of the disaster such as numbers of personnel involved, expected area of search and, of course, the terrain wherein the event occurred. For a localised accident such as a fighter crash, the effort involved is normally focused in the area and numbers of casualties. Also the prevailing SAR apparatus at various IAF stations is geared up to cope with it, given the specificities in aerial/ ground witnesses, radar assistance/air traffic control assistance which are normally available and the consequent triangulation of the accident site. Should the area of incident/accident be vast or under water or even immersed in thick foliage as normally obtains in the eastern sector, the assets required would be of a different order. Now after a week's search above water in the Bay of Bengal, we are reportedly having to switch our search domain to under water. Too late in the day perhaps, one could argue. Some worthy erstwhile colleagues have been articulating on social media about the likely causes of this particular AN 32 disaster. Given the reported prevailing monsoon weather conditions, they feel it could well have been the result of rapid inflight icing over the wings or engines, leading to an uncontrolled left hand 'graveyard spiral.' This whilst the pilot apparently wished to skirt weather to the right. Such inputs and quick analysis by concerned operations staff or from data that would invariably be available with the flight safety organisation concerned, which would help us focus on a realistic mode for the search. Doubts crop up when the weather is suspect or a factor preventing meaningful search operations post the accident. But an intelligent appreciation of the most probable causative factor would help in arriving at the optimal search zones. Search over water bodies Thus, any planned search pattern over water would normally start with initial scans over the skies immediately on the surface of that water body, be it the sea, a lake or a river from aerial platforms. When it becomes evident that there is nothing to look for above the sea or river or lake, that is when the real challenges emerge in terms of underwater sensors such as sonars and bathyspheres. Depending on the expected area of search several numbers of these assets coupled with diver assets would be called for. A watery grave is not something any soldier or citizen deserves. The nation has the moral responsibility to bring those bodies home for a decent cremation or burial at the earliest. The goodwill generated thence would help hugely in bringing a sense of closure to the kin of the unfortunate victims. Soon India is expected to have on its inventory large amphibious aircraft, to be acquired from Japan ,which could possibly be utilised to deploy specialists and divers rapidly to the expected disaster site, especially into large water bodies where suitable float-fitted SAR helicopters are not available. Intelligent use of other unique assets such as Aerostats, AWACS and C 130Js need to be done. Land search & satellite tracking Search and rescue over remote, inaccessible areas in mountainous or forested areas would pose their own peculiar challenges. Not only would mountaineering teams be required, communication gear, associated GPS devices and dog squads would be needed. They would need to work in tandem with aerial platforms and paramedic teams. Noise augmentation devices and other acoustic sensors would be required perhaps. One of our veteran Air Marshals tells his story of eons ago when after an ejection from a fighter in the Tezpur sector, he could not be picked up for several days, hidden as he was in the thick foliage. It is not far fetched to think of miniature drones as a standard fit in our survival packs. The agility and ease of maneuvering of these gadgets has to be seen to be believed. Of course, they would need GPS cueing or some other pre-programmed navigational software. But now we are in the era of drones and satellite technology and nothing ought to stay unknown, or un-pinged for any length of time. It is an irony that the very same country that launches satellites for the Americans had to rely on American satellites to pick up possible signals from the AN 32's rescue beacon. Why is this not a priority for our nation? Surely we could plan for our own geostationary sensors to pick up distress signals from any of our aircraft, ships or even mountaineers for that matter. One understands there are issues of masking of satellites etc, but emphasis on fail safe pinging on multiple sensors of the international distress frequencies such as 121.5 MHz or 243.0 MHz. Further, it is believed that satellite monitoring on both these frequencies have been discontinued of late and the US Coast Guard only monitors digital 406 MHz as of February 1, 2009. Are international agencies and India on the same 'frequency'? India has already sent up two indigenous GPS satellites. Shouldn't we be prioritising to have our own satellite tracking capability over the subcontinent and adjoining sea boards? Uncertainties in SAR Despite any amount of infrastructural design, we are still bound to have situations wherein aircraft especially vanish into thin air, indicating the tremendously uncertain realms of aviation in general. Stories from the 'Bermuda Triangle' era abound and examples such as that of the Malaysian MH 370 stand out. India needs to have tie ups with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives to monitor distress frequencies from ground stations. Likewise, suitable civil and military installations on the Eastern and Western seaboard need to have the capability to monitor and record these frequencies. National ethos As a nation we unfortunately do not value lives. Other countries go out on a limb to save even a single life. What to talk of civilian accidents and disasters, even our military does not have a priority for Combat Search and Rescue, CSAR. Proper attack helicopters, FGA aircraft and trained special forces need to be at hand to undertake effective CSAR. The same assets could be deployed in peacetime for anti-terror, anti-smuggling or counter insurgency situations. Onboard equipment Countries which are surrounded by water have a serious sea survival and SAR system in place. The UK is a classic example. The regimen for sea survival and rescue in the RAF is legion. Such a training regimen ensures the optimal serviceability of all rescue equipment such as life jackets, dinghies, SARBE beacons, associated batteries and the works. The Indian Air Force earlier on had a problem because our aircraft fleet were disparate, divided between Russian and limited Western gear. Now we have almost even numbers of both types of technologies and it is that much easier to standardise rescue gear such as personal rescue beacons, their power packs, radio frequencies and the like. Any lackadaisical or delayed reaction by the system to activate effective SAR measures is tantamount to an anti-national disservice. One stands to lose not only the well known high morale of our fighting units, but also hazard generating ill will amongst citizens at large through the hurt and anguish caused to the near and dear ones from prolonged unresolved accidents and incidents. Contrariwise, a timely rescue effort generates out of proportion goodwill. Apex bodies such as the National Security Council or the Cabinet Committee on Security would have to coordinate the national effort for SAR depending on the nature of the disaster, whether military or civil assets and personnel are involved and the terrain/ sector of occurrence. Single service agencies normally cut in their actions much ahead of others. But then some capabilities, such as deep sea search for example in the current disaster, may be beyond the capabilities of indigenous elements and extraneous assistance may have to be sought. Suitable Memoranda of Understanding with other nations and international agencies would pay dividends when the disaster actually strikes. Besides our nation's overall SAR architecture needs to be rehashed to make available the most timely and effective response to all sectors. IMAGE: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar being briefed on the search and rescue operations in Chennai. 'This influence of anchors like Arnab Goswami is mostly negative because their focus is on issues that concern upper class anxieties.' 'Those that affect the majority of people, hundreds of millions of Indians, like health, primary education and nutrition, are not discussed.' 'There reasons why this is happening and why it will not change easily,' says Aakar Patel. Have television anchors become too powerful in India? I would say yes, especially English anchors like Times Now's Arnab Goswami. By powerful I mean that they can influence what should be debated daily and what is important. This is a power journalists in print and on the internet do not have and have never had. I also mean that this influence of anchors like Goswami, left, is mostly negative because their focus is on issues that concern upper class anxieties. Those that affect the majority of people, hundreds of millions of Indians, like health, primary education and nutrition, are not discussed. And this is not because the anchor is evil or means to do harm. There are structural reasons why this is happening and why it will not change easily. Let us have a look at them. First, India is an unusual nation in terms of language. It is the only major country whose elite's first language is a foreign one. This has a very serious cultural fallout, and we can look at that another time. The estimate is that about 10 per cent of Indians can speak some sort of English. I think one quarter of this, or less, is the population for which English is the first language. This upper class is the only linguistically connected population of India because English is a link language. There is no way a poor Tamilian can communicate with a poor Kashmiri or a poor Gujarati. But the upper classes of these states can communicate through English. This is the reason why this class can so easily work in private sector jobs and without difficulty be transferred across a subcontinent that has a dozen official languages. The second structural reason is that the media in India is highly subsidised. Newspapers here cost at the most Rs 4. For this price you could get a broadsheet English paper of 40 pages. In the United States and Europe and elsewhere, this paper would cost Rs 70. Even in our neighbourhood, in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, newspapers are often four times as expensive as papers in India. The cost of newsprint, meaning the paper on which news is printed, is the same worldwide. India's major dailies buy Canadian newsprint in dollars and my estimate is that just the cost of newsprint for each copy is over Rs 12. How can the paper's owners afford to sell such a product for Rs 4? Who is subsidising the reader? The advertiser, of course. Similarly, the Tata-Sky English news pack gives us over 20 English news channels for Rs 60 a month. We can watch Times Now for Rs 3. Fox News in the United States costs 20 times more to subscribe. Again, who is subsidising our English news channels and who is paying for the anchors' salaries? Advertisers. The advertisers are interested in only certain groups of consumers: Those with the capacity to spend. To attract and retain these consumers, television channels must focus on content and reports and analysis that concern this group above all. This is why we have no prime time debates on malnutrition and the government's inability to run primary schools competently. It is why we have such disproportionate focus on terrorism and extremism and such things that the upper class is interested in. Of course, it is also true that often the anchor confuses these structural aspects of their content's popularity with their personal genius. They may become self-important and lapse into dangerous personal attacks, as we are seeing these days against Barkha Dutt and others who are being called Pakistani agents. But it is for the structural reasons we have looked at above that the English anchor has become overly powerful. And it will remain that way so long as the power imbalance that language has produced exists. For a few years now the government has had to trim its policies and actions in line with what anchors like Arnab demand. A knowledgeable individual who is in the government gave me his analysis, of which I am reproducing a part. The individual said: "Arnab is now setting the agenda... any visit from or to China or Pakistan was preceded with images or infra-red images of infiltrators from across the border -- all designed as campaigns to put off the visit or to dilute its impact." This should be a matter of grave concern because the television anchor has no higher interest than popularity and ratings. He or she may believe that this popularity coincides with national interest, but it is indisputable that on some issues this may not be so. How much damage occurs to us in such instances? That is unlikely to be the subject of a television debate. Aakar Patel is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own. With the Supreme Court judgment stating that former chief ministers are not entitled for lifetime taxpayer-sponsored accommodation, several former Bihar chief ministers including Lalu Prasad, will have to vacate their bungalows. M I Khan/Rediff.com reports from Patna. The Supreme Court on Monday held that former chief ministers are not entitled to government accommodation for lifetime. A bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave, which pronounced its verdict on a 2004 plea, said that any such government accommodation should be vacated within two to three months. They dont have the right to occupy government accommodation for a lifetime, the bench said. This puts nearly half a dozen former chief ministers in the state of Bihar in a hotspot. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers, are currently residing in the sprawling 10 Circular Road. Lalu was chief minister from 1990 to 1997 and Rabri Devi was chief minister from 1997 to 2005. The couple has shifted to this bunglow from 1 Anne Marg, the official residence of the state chief minister, after the RJD was ousted from the power in November 2005 when the Janata Dal-United-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance led by Nitish Kumar defeated them. The couple's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, currently Bihars health minister, and younger son Tejaswi Yadav, the state's deputy chief minister, also reside in the same bunglow. According to officials of the building department in Patna, the bungalow is spread across acres of land. Similarly, Jagannath Mishra, who had served as chief minister in 1980s, has been staying in a government-owned bungalow for decades. Satish Kumar, who had served as chief minister for only three days in 1968, has also been staying in a government bungalow for years. Jitan Ram Manjhi, who was chief minister from May 2014 to March 2016, is staying in considerably large bungalow. Even incumbent Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been occupying a sprawling bungalow at 7 Circular Road in his capacity as a former CM. The court had denied bail to her twice last month, reports M I Khan/Rediff.com from Patna. A special juvenile court in Patna on Monday granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in Bihar toppers scam. Last month, the court had denied bail to her twice. "After hearing her petition, the court has granted a bail to Ruby Rai," her lawyer said. According to the lawyer, the court observed that Rai has already spent over a month in the judicial custody, first in Beur jail in Patna and then at a remand home after another court ordered for it as she is a minor. Rai, who emerged as the topper of Bihar Class 12 examinations in the Arts this year, was arrested in June by the Special Investigation Team after the scam surfaced. Rai scored 444 out of 500 marks but her result was cancelled after she failed a re-test conducted by the Board of Secondary Education. While talking to a reporter after she topped the exams, Rai had described political science, which she pronounced as prodigal science, as a subject that deals with cooking. The video of this conversation went viral on social media and triggered an outrage after which the exam fraud was unearthed. After being arrested, Rai told the police that it was one 'Bachcha chacha (uncle)' and her father who helped her top the exam. She was referring to Bachcha Rai, the alleged kingpin of the scam and former director and principal of V R College in Bihars Vaishali district, who was arrested earlier this month and is currently lodged in a jail in Patna. The SIT probing the scam had arrested Rai as a first information report was lodged against her and three other toppers. In a surprise move ahead of Assembly polls, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who is in the midst of several challenges, on Monday decided to step down, saying it was time for new leadership to take over as she is soon going to turn 75. During Patel's over two-year-old tenure, the Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time in the post-Narendra Modi era in Gujarat has faced multiple challenges including defeat in rural areas in the civic polls, a powerful agitation by Patel community for OBC quota and the ongoing Dalit unrest over the flogging incident after the skinning of a dead cow in Una. Patel took to Facebook to request the party leadership to relieve her of the post though speculation has been rife for quite some time that she is on the way out. Elections are due in later part of 2017. BJP President Amit Shah said the party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the replacement for Patel, who wrote a letter to him offering to resign. Patel will turn 75 on November 21 and is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat. "She has requested the party to relieve her of her post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision," Shah told PTI in Delhi. An unwritten age bar of 75 has been set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP leaders to hold positions in state and central governments. A minister in the BJP government since 1998, Patel succeeded Modi as Chief Minister on May 22, 2014. "For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November," Patel said in the Facebook post. "Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and on Monday also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," she said. "I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said. "It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she added. Congress claimed Patel has decided to step down due to pressure from the top leadership of BJP, which is "losing ground" in the state and also termed the move as an indication of the saffron party's defeat in the polls. Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said the offer came due to BJP high command's diktat while Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary, tweeted that her resignation is an indication of BJP's "sure defeat" in 2017. The move by Patel came a day after thousands of Dalits converged in Ahmedabad on Sunday and took out a rally where they were called upon to send a strong message to the Gujarat government ahead of the 2017 assembly polls. Soon after Patel went public with her offer to quit, Shah said she wanted her replacement to get adequate time to prepare for Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in January 2017 and the assembly polls later next year. He said Patel had twice offered to resign and also broached the issue in the partys National Executive meet in June and wrote to him again today morning. Referring to reasons, including that she will turn 75 in November, cited by her to quit, he said she has set a good precedent. She has requested the party to relieve her of the post. I will place the letter she has written to me before the Parliamentary Board and it will take a decision, Shah said. She has said that if a new person has to be brought in, then he should get time. Gujarat elections have to take place and there is also Vibrant Gujarat summit, which has been a long tradition, to be held in January. She said if Vibrant Gujarat has to happen in January, then new person should get the opportunity now, he said. Asked about the replacement for Patel, he said the parliamentary board will decide on the new chief minister. The Dalit uprising after the Una trashing incident had also dented the image of party. The Congress and other opposition parties have unleashed a nationwide attack on the BJP and its dispensations at the state and the centre over the issue. Patel had faced an upset with the BJP faring badly in the rural civic body polls in December 2015 and the opposition Congress making gains at the cost of the saffron rival. She also had to face the fierce Patel community quota agitation, one of the factors which contributed to the BJP losing in rural local body polls, while retaining urban areas. It has become an unwritten convention in BJP that those turning 75 have to quit the posts they are holding, which saw Najma Heptulla quitting the Union Cabinet after she was reportedly sounded to do so on attaining the age bar. Earlier, a couple of ministers in Madhya Pradesh including BJP veteran Babubal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the state cabinet by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan due to age bar. In 2014, when the Modi government came to power, the age limit had apparently come in the way of ministerial berths for old guards like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha. The BJP government in the state has also been under attack over flogging of Dalits in Una village by cow vigilantes. Accusing Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the home minister arrives in Islamabad to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ministerial conference. "I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement. "It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday. The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris". He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on August 3. Saeed, who is carrying a $10 million US bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces". The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government "must also refuse to receive the Bharatiya Janata Party leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis." Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing. The Pakistani government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference, he said. "Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing the 'Azadi Kashmir March' on Sunday. He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir for the past 23 days and the Valley had turned into a 'volcano for India that could explode any time'. "It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday underscored the need for adopting a policy towards the state which is based on "humane values" and not security considerations alone, saying it deserved a "special place in the hearts and minds of people of the whole country". She also sought confidence building measures to be undertaken on the lines of those initiated in 2002. The chief minister, who was interacting with civil society members in Baramulla in North Kashmir, said, "We need to reach out to the people in Jammu and Kashmir to address their concerns and aspirations and win their hearts and minds." she said. She said the country's policy on Jammu and Kashmir should not be based on strategic and security considerations alone but on ideological and humane values. "If we were to base our J&K policy on the ideological values of democracy, rule of law and tolerance, which have been the defining strength of India, we will expand the constituency of peace at the micro level of individuals as well as institutions," she said. She called for confidence building measures like the ones undertaken in 2002 when her PDP had formed a coalition government with the Congress party. The PDP-Congress alliance government had started road connectivity between Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir and dialogue was initiated with the separatists and Pakistan when an NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was at the Centre. Denouncing violence in all its forms and manifestations, Mehbooba said resorting to violent means to achieve political objectives "is not only ineffective, but meaningless and destructive". Mehbooba said people must understand that by taking to violence, they are working against their own interests. "Besides loss of precious human lives, violence destroys the very socio-economic fabric of a society, which is unfortunately happening in Kashmir," she said in her address. She said that while the separatists may be having their own ideologies, the present law and order situation seems to have been "exacerbated by some vested interests....having their own interests to take care of by perpetuating violence." The chief minister called for a collective effort to reach out to the people of state, especially the youth, to expand and consolidate the constituency of peace. She claimed that there was a "larger design behind orchestrated eruptions to push Kashmiris into perpetual educational and economic deprivation and social disorder". "We have to mull over that how long it is going to be like this for the hapless people here," she said. Mehbooba, who has been struggling to restore law and order in the state which was plunged into turmoil following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8, said the issues can be resolved only through dialogue and not violence. "Violence has been rejected globally as a means to achieve political objectives," she said. Calling for introspection, the chief minister said the people have to ponder over how the educational, economic and social structure of Kashmir is being systematically ruined because of the prevailing law and order situation. "We have to see why such awful situations are being always triggered in Kashmir when the economic activity starts picking up as had happened this summer with encouraging tourist arrivals," she said. The proponents of violent protests in Kashmir must also engage in dialogue to resolve the issues instead of causing death and destruction to their own people, she said. To achieve sustainable peace in the state and the region, "we have to unshackle the political thinking from the legacies of the past and have confidence in ourselves, our institutions and above all our people," she said. IMAGE: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti along with party MLAs discussing ongoing Kashmir situation with civil socities members during a meeting, at Baramulla district of north Kashmir on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo A hill in southeastern Bolivia is home to over 5,000 fossilised dinosaur tracks. Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre in Bolivia, is one of the biggest sites for fossilised footprints ever found. The location is a huge draw for tourists, welcoming some 1,20,000 visitors a year. Some 65 million years ago, the land in the area was muddy and flat. With the passing of time, "movements of tectonic plates, skid plates and marine continents" beneath the surface pushed the ground into its nearly upright position, while the mud also dried into limestone. The footprints were first discovered in the mid-1990s, when rain and erosion uncovered them. Another part was discovered when the cement factory started exploiting the nearby quarry. Rediff.com presents the terrifying T-Rex footprints and the massive titanosaurs that stun visitors from around the world. WELCOME TO JURASSIC PARK: Visitors walk under a tyrannosaurus replica inside the Cretacic Park. The site, consisting of a limestone wall covered with the tracks of at least six types of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, is the largest dinosaur track site known in the world today. All Photographs: David Mercado/Reuters SMILE PLEASE: A mother takes a photograph of her children while they pose in front of the replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia. SIZE DOES MATTER: Visitors walk underneath a replica of a Titanosaur at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia. WE NEED A BIGGER TAPE: Paleontologist Sebastian Apesteguia measures the footprint made by a meat-eating predator some 80 million years ago and one of the largest of its kind ever found, at the Maragua Syncline, Bolivia. CLASH OF THE TITANASAURS: The replica of a Titanosaur is seen at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia. NO TOUCHING: Children play with the replica of a dinosaur fossil at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia. THE LAND BEFORE TIME: A replica of an ancient dinosaur stands tall at the park. WAS THIS A MINI GODZILLA: A paleontologist measures the footprint made by a meat-eating predator some 80 million years ago and one of the largest of its kind ever found. IN CASE OF DINOSAUR RUN UP: A child walks up a playground climber with dinosaur footprints at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia. BOOM WENT THE VOLCANO: A piece of volcanic rock with dinosaur footprints is displayed at the Cretaceous Park of Cal Orcko at the FANCESA limestone quarry in Sucre, Bolivia. Frequent landslides at the paleontologic site of Cal Orcko constantly reveal new track ways, with some belonging to new species, according to local media. In a unique move, the country's defence assets like Main Battle Tank Arjun and BramHos missile will be on display in Parliament complex on Wednesday to make the MPs aware about the country's defence preparedness. The Defence Reasearch and Development Organsiation is attempting to give India's lawmakers 'a first-hand account of huge work undertaken by the agency'. A 3-day long exhibition, to be inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on August 3, will display numerous state-of-the-art defence technologies, products and systems developed by the DRDO. Among the systems on display would be the BrahMos missile, the Arjun main battle tank, airborne early warning and control system, the multi-barrel rocket launcher Pinaka, a remotely-operated vehicle, a NBC recce vehicle, a wheeled armoured platform, the laser ordnance disposal system, the Varunastra torpedo, the Mobile Automatic Robotic System and various type of radars. During the exhibition, the DRDO will also organise a virtual reality display of the Main Battle Tank Arjun, BrahMos missile and the Light Combat Aircraft-Tejas. The defence ministry recently cleared acquisition of weapons and systems worth over Rs 2 lakh crore designed and developed by the DRDO. Images: Weapons systems, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization, on display at Parliament House to mark the completion of 70 years of independence. Photographs: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea against the discharge of Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, questioning the locus standi of petitioner Harsh Mander, a social activist, in the matter. "Rejected," a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said after nearly a half-an-hour hearing on the plea filed by former bureaucrat Mander challenging the Bombay high court order which had upheld the discharge of Shah by the trial court in the case. "When the person is genuinely aggrieved then the issue takes a different colour but when the person is not remotely connected and wants to revive the case then it is a different matter," said the bench, while giving relief to Shah. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, said, "Public must get the feeling that nobody is above the law". To this, the court said it does not consider anyone "above the law". Sibal said, "The CBI has filed the charge sheet but I am unable to understand why did they turn turtle. Even his (Sohrabuddin) brother who filed the case against Shah withdrew his case later." He said that it is a high profile case which was transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra and added that justice to the people of India should be done. At the outset, the bench questioned the locus standi of Mander in the case. Sibal cited some earlier judgments of the apex court and said any member of society can have a locus in the case. He said that the high court should not have dismissed Mander's application and could have taken suo motu cognizance of the issue. He said, "The CBI has filed a charge sheet and had made Shah accused number 16. It is a case of murder." Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Shah, cited various judgments of the apex court and questioned the locus of Mander in the case. He said, "This court has already held that if one is not connected with the case, he cannot interfere with anyone's trial." Salve further said, "It cannot be a case that if State is not going to file an appeal, I will file the appeal." He also said this court has held that a third party cannot be allowed to interfere in the trial unless it is an aggrieved party. In the petition, Mander had sought quashing of the December 30, 2014 order of a Mumbai sessions court giving clean chit to Shah in the case. The petitioner had questioned the findings of sessions court which was endorsed by the high court exonerating Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati killing case, holding that there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". Mander had approached the Bombay high court against the sessions court order. The high court had dismissed the plea in March this year. Sohrabuddin, a gangster was killed by Gujarat police along with his wife Kausar Bi in 2005, when Shah was the Home minister of Gujarat. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was also killed allegedly by the police in 2006. At a time when the country continues to reel from the gang rape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on gunpoint on Friday night after dragging the family out of a car near Bulandshahr, another sordid tale of rape emerges from East Delhi in which the perpetrators burnt the teenager. According to the police, two young men have been detained after they raped, murdered and then burnt the 16-year-old in Delhis Gandhi Nagar area. The incident happened on July 28 when police recovered the charred body of a teenage girl from a house in East Delhi. During the preliminary investigation, police assumed that it was a suicide, but the autopsy report of the deceased revealed that she was strangulated to death and her body was set on fire. Sources close of the investigation said that they suspected that it could a case of sexual assault because lower portion of victims body was found burned. Police sources have confirmed that the duo, who have since been arrested, had confessed to rape and murder by strangulation, and said they had burnt the bodys lower portion and wrapped the body in a blanket. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple after leading a roadshow organised by the party in Varanasi on Tuesday. The party's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Sheila Dikshit, said this at a press conference in Varanasi on Monday, adding that UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pramod Tiwari, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Zafar Ali, Sanjay Singh, Rana Goswami, Rajesh Mishra, Ajay Rai, Rajeshpati Tripathi etc. will take part in it. The roadshow will begin from Kachahari at 12 noon after party leaders garland the statue of BR Ambedkar and will cover a distance of around eight kilometers in three hours. It will conclude at Englishiyaline where Sonia is expected to deliver a short speech and garland the statue of former Union minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Kamlapati Tripathi. Maintaining that the roadshow is a part of the party's '27 saal, UP Behaal' campaign, Dikshit launched an attack on the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state for the recent Bulandshahr gang rape incident. "Law and order in the state under the SP has worsened and the recent incident of Bulandshahr was highly condemnable," she said, adding that the Congress wants to rid the state of "the SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party misrule of the last 27 years" and put it on the path towards development. Replying to a query, Dikshit, who claimed herself to be a "UP wallah", said her age was not an issue till the time she had the "will to work in public interest". "I became the Delhi chief minister at the age of 60. Even then, people used to talk about my age but I served for almost 15 years. "I will be fortunate to get a chance to serve my own state, Uttar Pradesh. I will put in my best efforts for its betterment. I am 78 but my age is not an issue till the time I am willing to work," she said. Dikshit claimed the development of Uttar Pradesh was visible 27 years ago when the Congress was in power in the state but subsequent governments led by the SP, BSP and BJP "misruled by playing out religion and caste-based politics". Lamenting the lack of job opportunities for the youth in the state, she claimed that her party would change the scenario by setting up industries if voted to power. Newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Babbar claimed the party was confident of forming the government in the state in 2017. Defending Dikshit's selection as the party's chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, he attacked the BJP saying, "The Congress gives respect to its elder members, unlike another party that sidelines them." Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Raja Singh has defended the cow vigilantes in the backdrop of flogging of Dalits at Una in Gujarat, saying those who consume cow meat are bringing disgrace to the entire community and should be taught a lesson. In a video (external line) uploaded on his Facebook page with the caption, 'My comments on recent ?#?Una Dalit incident' the legislator from Gosamahal in Hyderabad blamed Mayawati for 'dragging' all Dalits into the issue. "I am asking those Dalits (who kill cows). Is it necessary to murder cow and eat its meat? This is absolutely wrong. It is because of such 'galeez' (dirty or disgusting) Dalits, that the image of whole Dalit community which is patriotic, follows dharma, and worships cows, is tarnished. "I support the beating of Dalits whoever slaughter cows to consume its meat. It is apt. I also support those who taught them a lesson," Singh said in his two-and-half minute video, which was uploaded on July 30 and has so far got 65,000 views. He said there are so many Dalits in Telangana who take part in 'Gau Raksha' along with him. "I want to ask people who proclaim to be secular and Mayawati in particular, why Dalits are being dragged into this? I want to tell everyone, not only Dalits, but all sections of this society, be it Kshatriya, Yadav, if they resort to cow slaughter, we will teach them lesson in the same way. You please remember this," he further said. According to him, 'gau rakshaks' should not keep quiet until the cow is declared as "Mother of the nation". On July 11, four Dalit youths were beaten up by cow vigilantes at Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district when they were skinning a dead cow. Though the youths pleaded that they are from the skinning community, the cow vigilantes thrashed them alleging that they were involved in cow slaughter, sparking an outrage. A Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel housing foreign contractors on Monday ended with the death of all three Taliban fighters seven hours after the assault began, police said. On Monday morning, a Taliban truck bomb blasted through Northgate, a hotel for foreigners, just days after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for 15 years. IMAGE: Police officials said that none of the hotel staff was injured during the gun battle. Photograph: Omar Sobhani/Reuters The powerful bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility, close to Kabul international airport. The attack on Northgate, a compound for foreign contractors which was previously attacked in July 2013, underscores the worsening security situation as the Taliban ramp up their annual summer offensive. Afghan commandos cordoned off all arterial roads leading to Northgate, with erratic grenade explosions and gunfire coming from the scene after daybreak. IMAGE: Afghan policemen keep watch near the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photograph: Omar Sobhani/Reuters The operation is over now. One policeman lost his life and three others were wounded but none of the hotel staff or guests were hurt, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi was quoted as saying. The attack comes after twin bombings left 80 people dead in the Afghan capital on July 23, in the deadliest attack in the city since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazara protesters as they gathered to demand that a major power line be routed through the central province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan. That assault was claimed by the Islamic State group, which is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf. Donald Trumps comments against father of a slain Pakistani-origin American Muslim soldier appears to have shaken the United States presidential race as his own party leaders came out openly against the Republican presidential nominee. While House Speaker Paul Ryan said a religious test for entering the US is not reflective of the countrys fundamental values, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the reality TV stars remarks were disrespectful in targetting a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for the country. Ryan hailed Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004, and said Americas greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it. As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it, he said in a statement. Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice -- and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan -- should always be honoured. Period, he said. Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted: Theres only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honour and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family. Kasich was joined by Bush on Twitter in slamming Trump. This is so incredibly disrespectful of a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for our country, said Bush, who badly lost the Republican primary to Trump. In an interview to CNN, Senator Jeff Session who was among the first few top Republican leaders to endorse Trump said that he rejects and is disappointed over the remarks made by the billionaire from New York against Khan. The 70-year-old real estate tycoon sparked controversy last week when he lashed out at Humayuns father Khizr Khan over his speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in which he was highly critical of Trump and said that the billionaire has sacrificed nothing for the country. A day later, Trump hit back, saying he created thousands of jobs and questioned whether his wife was even allowed to speak, triggering a national outrage following which he later called Humayun a hero. He, however, continued to criticise Khizr, drawing a flood of criticism on Sunday. Many criticised him both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered the remarks racist and anti-Muslim, especially because they came from someone who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. I was viciously attacked by Mr Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! Trump tweeted, even as his running mate came to his rescue giving another set of clarification. Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American, Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said as the national outrage over Trumps comment refused to die down. In an op-ed in The Washington Post, Ghazala Khan, mother of Humayun, lashed out at Trump and said that he is ignorant about Islam. Ghazala said: When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. If he studied the real Islam and Quran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion. Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesnt know what the word sacrifice means. In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid urged the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Ryan to revoke their endorsement of Trump. Anything short of Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan revoking their endorsements of Donald Trump is cowardice, he said. The Council on American Islamic Relations on Sunday demanded that Trump apologises on his comments and is urging Muslim women to speak out against him. Pence said: Captain Khan gave his life to defend our country in the global war on terror. Due to the disastrous decisions of Barack Obama an Hillary Clinton, a once stable Middle East has now been overrun by Islamic State. This must not stand. By suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism, rebuilding our military, defeating IS at its source and projecting strength on the global stage, we will reduce the likelihood that other American families will face the enduring heartbreak of the Khan family. Image: Khizr Khan, father of deceased Muslim U.S. Soldier Humayun SM Khan, delivers remarks on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images In yet another controversial move, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested the United States accept the Russian annexation of Crimea if it helps in getting stronger cooperation from Moscow in fighting the Islamic State. IMAGE: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pro-Russia statements run in opposition to the current policy of the United States. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters This view runs counters that of the Obama administration, which had imposed economic sanctions against Russia for annexing the territory in Ukraine two years ago. The opposition to the Russian annexation of Crimea includes the United Nations, and some top Republicans who staunchly defend Crimea against what they consider Russian aggression. Trump suggested that the people of Crimea would rather be part of Russia. However, the US hasn't recognised the legitimacy of Russian referendums in Crimea and believes they were not conducted fairly. The Clinton campaign responding to Trumps affirmations stating that Trump knows about the subject and argued that the Republican is repeating Putin's talking points on Crimea. "This is scary stuff," Clinton campaign spokesman Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "But it shouldn't surprise us. This comes on the heels of his tacit invitation to the Russians to invade our NATO allies in Eastern Europe. And it's yet more proof why Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief." In the past, Trump's campaign manager, political strategist Paul Manafort lobbied for Viktor Yanukovych, a Ukrainian president and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort claimed that neither he nor anyone with Trump's campaign pushed for the platform changes. Trump dismissed suggestions that he has any kind of relationship with Putin, saying he has neither met Putin nor spoken on the phone with him. Asked why he had said several times in the past that he had a relationship with Putin, Trump said he doesn't know what "having a relationship" means. Trump said it would be a "great thing" if the US got along with Russia and if Russia would help fight the Islamic State. "We'll have a better relationship with Russia," he said. "And having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing." Government complicity slows progress on trafficking in RFA broadcast countries: Report Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 30 June 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Government complicity slows progress on trafficking in RFA broadcast countries: Report, 30 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef510c.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-06-30 By Richard Finney A file photo of inmates at a women's labor camp in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China. EyePress News Despite government efforts last year in several East and Southeast Asian countries to combat human trafficking for sex or labor, progress has stalled in many cases due to complicity or neglect at lower levels of official authority, according to a U.S. State Department report released on Thursday. The annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report ranks 188 countries rating them as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, or Tier 3 based on whether they meet the minimum standards set by U.S. law to eliminate human trafficking, as mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Four of the six countries covered by RFA China, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea were placed in the same categories in which they appeared in last year's report, with North Korea ranked lowest at Tier 3, Laos and Vietnam ranked at Tier 2, and China at Tier 2 Watch List. Another, Cambodia, moved up to Tier 2 from Tier 2 Watch List status, while Myanmar, called Burma in the report, dropped from Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 3 an automatic drop in rank after lingering on the Watch List for four years. Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards set by U.S. law but are seen as making significant efforts to bring themselves in line, while Tier 3 countries have not complied or made significant efforts to do so. Corruption at lower levels In China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam last year, women and girls were forced into sexual slavery after being promised employment in other jobs either at home or in neighboring countries, the State Department said in its report. Men and boys were meanwhile subjected to forced labor, often through debt bondage, on fishing vessels, in farm work, or in construction. And though government authorities in these countries made efforts in many cases to bring trafficking under control, their work was hindered by corruption at lower levels or by requirements to provide labor for state-mandated projects, the State Department said. In Cambodia and in transit-and-destination countries Thailand and Malaysia, "corrupt officials ... cooperate with labor brokers to facilitate the transport of victims between countries," the State Department report said. "Local observers report corrupt officials often thwart progress in cases where the perpetrators are believed to have political, criminal, or economic ties to government officials." Bribes from traffickers Meanwhile, in Vietnam, "Vietnamese officials, primarily at commune and village levels, facilitate trafficking or exploit victims by accepting bribes from traffickers," by turning a blind eye to evidence of trafficking and by demanding that victims' families pay money to be reunited with their loved ones. Local officials in Laos also profited last year from the trade in humans, "accepting payments to facilitate the immigration or transportation of girls to Thailand," where they were trapped into sex work or forced labor, the State Department said. In Myanmar, military and civilian officials continued during the reporting period to compel civilians into forced labor as porters, as workers on public construction projects, and as child soldiers, the report said. "Despite several laws that prohibit underage recruitment into the military, the government has never prosecuted any military personnel or civilian brokers for child soldiering offenses in civilian courts." Reports from China meanwhile showed continued government complicity in forced labor "including through state-sponsored forced labor policies," the State Department said. Though China's program of "reform through labor" was formally abolished in 2013, "unverifiable reports continued of forced labor in government detention centers outside the penal process." "Overseas human rights organizations and media [also] report local officials in Xinjiang coerced Uyghur men and women to participate in forced labor in and outside of the province," according to the report. Even in matters brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities, "the [Chinese] government handled most cases with indicators of forced labor as administrative issues and initiated prosecutions of the traffickers in relatively few cases," the report said. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China set to prosecute top rights lawyer, three activists for subversion Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 15 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China set to prosecute top rights lawyer, three activists for subversion, 15 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51125.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-15 Activists in Hong Kong demonstrate for the release of rights lawyers detained on the Chinese mainland, Aug. 25, 2015. RFA Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin will prosecute the head of a top Beijing law firm and three legal activists on charges of "subverting state power," the state prosecutor in Tianjin said on an official blog on Friday. Zhou Shifeng, the detained head of the Beijing Fengrui law firm at the center of the sweeping crackdown on human rights defenders that began on July 9, 2015, and activists Hu Shigen, Cui Yanmin and Gou Hongguo will be prosecuted on subversion charges, according to the official blog of the Tianjin People's Procuratorate, Second Branch. The charge of "subversion of state power" carries a minimum jail term of 10 years in cases where the person is judged to have played a leading role. China's best-known political prisoner, Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo is currently serving a 13-year sentence on the lesser charge of "incitement to subvert state power." Wang Xiaoguang, former defense lawyer for Zhou whom authorities claim was fired by his client, said he has maintained contact with Zhou's family and will help them to handle some legal issues. "Zhou Shifeng's family has sent me some information and it is not good to disclose it now. This is not the right time to take over this case. It depends if the trial will go public. Then we will know the details of the case," he told RFA's Cantonese Service. The Tianjin prosecutor's blog post did not mention a trial date. Gou Hongguo's defense lawyer, Ji Zhongjie, who was also told by Tianjin police that his client had fired him, said he will still try to work on the case. "We only learned the news from the media. We were hired (by his family) but have never been able to work on the case," Ji told RFA. He added, however: "Definitely, we will work on the case. We still have the contract and they never withdraw it." Legal defense denied China has detained, questioned, or otherwise placed restrictions on at least 319 lawyers, law firm staff, human right activists, and family members since the July 9 crackdown began, according to a Hong Kong-based rights group. At least 23 remain in criminal detention or formal arrest on subversion, state security, or public order charges, while others have been banned from leaving the country or placed under house arrest or other forms of surveillance, the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said on its website. Dozens of Chinese lawyers have hit out at the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which controls police and courts, for refusing to allow the detained lawyers access to attorneys hired by their families, amid unconfirmed reports that some have been subjected to torture and abuse in detention. The year-old crackdown on China's embattled legal profession comes amid a broader clampdown on rights activists and non-government organizations (NGOs) campaigning for social justice. Raids that began on July 9 and 10, 2015 of Beijing's Fengrui law firm widened to include the detention and interrogation of some 319 lawyers, paralegals, law firm employees and rights activists. Reporting by RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated by Wong Lok-to. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Mystery surrounding detained China legal aide deepens, lawyer silenced Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 14 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Mystery surrounding detained China legal aide deepens, lawyer silenced, 14 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef5116.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-14 A screen shot from the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group's Facebook page showing detained family members and attorneys, June 7, 2016. RFA The whereabouts of Chinese legal aide Zhao Wei following her reported release from detention last week remained unclear on Thursday as her husband traveled to Zhao's parents' home in central China and found it empty. Zhao's lawyer, Ren Quanniu, meanwhile, remained under interrogation and was denied access to his attorneys, his lawyers said. Zhao, 24, was working as an assistant to a top Beijing rights lawyer when she was swept up in a crackdown on hundreds of human rights lawyers and defenders that began on July 9, 2015. She was held for nearly a year in the police-run Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power" and released on bail last week, according to a July 7 posting on the social media account of police in the northern city of Tianjin. Zhao, however, remains unaccounted for, and a Hong Kong newspaper report that quoted her as saying she was resting with her parents in Henan province turned out to be incorrect. Zhao's husband, You Minglei, told RFA's Cantonese Service that he traveled to the home of his wife's parents in Jiyuan, Henan on Wednesday and found "nobody there." "Nobody, including her brother, sister-in-law and their kids is at home. The door, windows and even the blinds have been tightly shut. No clothes were hanging on the balcony," he told RFA. "The neighbors said they had not seen the family for a long time. I think that no one has been there for a while. I can only wait and there is no place I can get any news. Even if I try to check with other people, no one will tell me," said a frustrated You. You traveled to his in-laws' home after Zhao was quoted in an interview with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post as saying she was back at her home in Henan province and was staying with her parents. "I arrived back in Fuzhou this morning. I was unable to see any family members of Zhao Wei," You told RFA on Thursday. The telephone interview with Zhao on Sunday in the English-language daily has raised suspicions, because in it she renounced her early work as a legal assistant to prominent human rights attorney Li Heping. "I have come to realize that I have taken the wrong path. I repent for what I did. I'm now a brand new person," she told the Post. The newspaper said it could not verify Zhao's location or whether she was under surveillance during the interview. Zhao's lawyer in detention A tweet from her account earlier this week thanking her supporters and the "countless helpful and sincere uniformed police officers who worked on my case" had aroused suspicions that the message was dictated, or even sent, by police. But Zhao told the Post she had sent the tweets. Zhao's husband called on the newspaper to release audio of the interview. "The SCMP's report is only text. If their interview was via phone, I ask them to broadcast this audio file and let the public know," You told RFA. Zhao's defense lawyer Ren, who wasn't allowed to meet with her during her year in detention, was detained last week after he went to Tianjin police to investigate reports that she was sexually abused in jail. He stands accused of "spreading rumors" after he looked into the sexual assault reports. Ren's defense lawyers, Chang Boyang and Zhang Junjie went to the detention center for two consecutive days to request a meeting with Ren but failed, Chang said. "I just went to the detention center with attorney Zhang Junjie today to ask to see lawyer Ren, but we were not allowed to meet him. The reason is that investigators are still interrogating him," he told RFA's Mandarin Service on Thursday. "We tried to visit him yesterday as well but were told that the investigators were still questioning him. And today they gave us the same answer. We protested against this refusal, requesting a meeting with Ren in 48 hours," Chang said. Ren's wife has also been summoned for questioning, the lawyers said. The year-old crackdown on China's embattled legal profession comes amid a broader clampdown on rights activists and non-government organizations (NGOs) campaigning for social justice. Raids that began on July 9 and 10, 2015 of Beijing's Fengrui law firm, where Zhao worked as an assistant, widened to include the detention and interrogation of some 319 lawyers, paralegals, law firm employees and rights activists. Reporting by RFA's Cantonese Service and Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Chen Ping and Wong Lok-to. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's Shan state parliament approves urgent proposal to stop armed clashes Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 15 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's Shan state parliament approves urgent proposal to stop armed clashes, 15 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51215.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-15 A resident of Minenaung subtownship who fled fighting between Myanmar government troops and Shan ethnic army groups holds her baby inside a temporary evacuation center at a Buddhist monastery in Laihka, northern Myanmar's Shan state, Nov. 17, 2015. AFP Myanmar's Shan state parliament on Friday approved an emergency proposal calling on the central government to find a solution to stop the armed clashes that have been on an upswing during the past several months, a local lawmaker said The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the predominant political party in the conflict-ridden northern Myanmar state, submitted the proposal on Thursday, SNLD lawmaker San San Aye told RFA's Myanmar Service. "Because of the fighting, people are fleeing from their homes," she said. "They can't work at their jobs, and their children can't go to school. Their houses have been destroyed, and some villagers were taken by force to be used as porters." "That's why we have called on the Shan state government and Union government to do something to stop the fighting and prevent further tensions between ethnic armed groups and the national army," she said. Some lawmakers who discussed the proposal called for an investigation of the recent murder of seven civilians by a Myanmar army battalion in late June in Mong Yaw subtownship, and for action to be taken against the perpetrators, San San Aye said. Resumption of hostilities Hostilities resumed between the government military and the Shan State Army-North last October, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in the central part of Shan state. And clashes between the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar military, and Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) flared up last November and again this year. Both conflicts displaced thousands of civilians. The fighting began after the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political organization that oversees the SSA, signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement with the central government and other armed ethnic groups. The TNLA, which was excluded from the pact because it was engaged in fighting against the Myanmar army, accused the government army of supporting the RCSS/SSA in the recent clashes, though the Shan rebels denied the claim. At the time of the flare-ups, local civil society groups urged the international community to "break its silence on the war crimes" being committed by Myanmar government troops in Shan state with their repeated air and ground missile attacks on densely populated civilian areas, along with the shootings and rapes of villagers. Attack in Mong Yaw On June 25, about 100 Myanmar army soldiers from a local light infantry battalion arrived in Mong Yaw and opened fire. They detained and questioned farmers who ran for cover from a cornfield and drivers traveling into the area to find out if they had seen any armed ethnic Shan soldiers. The soldiers detained 11 villagers or passersby from the cornfield near Lashio township, and shot dead two young men on motorbikes when they failed to stop at a checkpoint. They later released six of the 11 who were detained, but the other five turned up in shallow graves with the corpses of the two young men a few days later. On July 3, a Myanmar army deputy regional commander visited the families of five of the victims in Mong Yaw and gave each a "donation" of 300,000 kyats (U.S. $257), according to local media reports. Rights groups have accused both government troops and ethnic rebel soldiers of human rights violations in Shan state, including kidnapping, torturing, and killing civilians, and forcing them to work as laborers. The Ta'ang Women's Organization (TWO) issued a report in June, detailing human rights violations against civilians committed by the government army in Shan state. The report entitled "Trained to Kill" is based on interviews with more than 100 local ethnic Palaung residents where clashes occurred between March 2011 and March 2016 and chronicles the torture by the Myanmar military that they endured. After authorities in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon on Monday twice prevented TWO from holding an a press conference on the report, the ethnic women's organization said it would submit the report to President Htin Kyaw and members of the National Assembly. Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. North Korean authorities order tech workers to ramp up industrial espionage in China Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 15 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, North Korean authorities order tech workers to ramp up industrial espionage in China, 15 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51315.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-15 Portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung (L) and Kim Jong Il (R) are displayed on the side of a building in Pyongyang, May 5, 2016. AFP North Korean authorities are increasingly sending information and communication technology workers abroad to steal advanced technology from China that the isolated country cannot develop on its own, sources inside North Korea said. "The cutting-edge technology data collected overseas by North Korea's State Security Department and Military Reconnaissance General Bureau has helped the country to rapidly develop scientific technology," a source in the capital Pyongyang told RFA's Korea Service. "[Leader] Kim Jong Un has emphasized that this is the example that information and communication technology (ICT) workers should follow," he said. Kim Jong Un has encouraged ICT workers to steal advanced technology because he believes that North Koreans cannot develop it on its own even in 10 years, the source said. "He told top executives that this was an expansion of a secret operation to introduce new cutting-edge technologies that were brought in from advanced nations," he said. The scheme includes roughly 1,000 North Korean ICT specialists who currently reside in China, he said. Kim Jong Un praises them as "patriots." Kim Jong Un has issued special orders to executives in charge of these ICT experts to extend their length of stay overseas accompanied by their families, he said. 'Use every method possible' A North Korean trader who was dispatched to China told RFA that during a secret meeting held in one of his country's diplomatic offices in China last June, ICT experts working in China were ordered to collect advanced energy- and military-related technology. "During the meeting, plans were discussed about gathering as much cutting-edge technology as possible without being too exposed to Chinese institutions," he said. "North Korean authorities told them not to hesitate to use every method possible, including buying or hacking to gather classified information about cutting-edge technology," he said. North Korean authorities have dispatched ICT workers to various parts of Shanghai under the pretext of earning foreign currency to transmit back home, the source said. But China found out that the workers had previously engaged in hacking and denied them work visas. "This kind of reckless behavior of North Koreans in China has become a huge issue," he said. Many North Korean authorities are aggressively becoming involved in cultivating ICT experts and dispatching them to foreign countries, the North Korean trader said. North Korean ICT workers are believed to be less expensive than their counterparts in China. "North Korea has its eyes on cutting-edge technology, especially on weapons of mass destruction as well as military data, nuclear power plants, and construction-related technology," he said. "This is very comprehensive." Many North Korean traders and diplomats complain that the authorities are risking the lives of ICT workers who have been ordered to steal advanced technology, he said. They also complain that once North Korea has the technology in hand, authorities do not use it to benefit ordinary people. "China and other nations are aggressively seeking out those who engage in industrial espionage," he said. "Many people are nervous about the possible consequences that could occur if this continues." Reported by Jieun Kim for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. North Koreans labor under 'harsh conditions' on construction in Pyongyang Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 15 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, North Koreans labor under 'harsh conditions' on construction in Pyongyang, 15 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51410.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-15 Buildings in North Korea's capital Pyongyang are shown at night in a file photo. Robert Harding World Imagery In a symbolic rebuke of international sanctions imposed for nuclear weapons tests, North Korea is forging ahead with a massive construction scheme, drafting thousands of Pyongyang city residents to labor on the showcase project till late at night under harsh conditions, North Korean sources say. The construction of apartment blocks and other public buildings on Pyongyang's Yeomyong Street has pulled in "hundreds of thousands" of workers from the capital city alone, with others brought in from other provinces, a source from South Hamgyong province told RFA's Korean Service. "[They] are undergoing terrible sufferings in their work," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. City residents including ordinary workers, city officials, and private businesspeople are all being forced to work with inadequate equipment at Yeomyong till late at night, the source said. "They march straight to Yeomyong Street in the evening at the end of their own daily work," he said. "The soldiers and laborers from construction battalions working there now do not get enough sleep and are forced to camp out at the construction site," he added. Work shared among provinces Responsibility for completing the work is being divided among ruling Korean Workers' Party organizations in provinces across the country, with factories in North Hamgyong ordered to send from two to three workers each to the Yeomyong site, one source in the province said. "Workers in construction battalions were told by authorities to bring 10 kg [about 22 lbs.] of corn with them when they came, so they all brought food to Pyongyang," he said. Officials in charge of the project are pushing workers hard to finish frame construction on the buildings, which include a 70-story high-rise apartment building and at least 60 other structures, before the weather gets too cold, sources said. South Korean analysts believe the massive project when finished will be held up as a symbol of defiance of U.N. sanctions enacted to punish North Korea for a recent nuclear test and missile launch. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, followed on Feb. 7 by the launch of a satellite-bearing rocket that the world viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. That test prompted the latest and strictest of several batches of U.N sanctions on Pyongyang. Reported by Young Jung for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Thousands of Cambodians mourn slain critic Kem Ley Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 16 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Thousands of Cambodians mourn slain critic Kem Ley, 16 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef515c.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-16 Mourners pack Phnom Penh's Watt Bodhiyaramea for a Buddhist funeral ceremony for slain social critic Kem Ley, July 16, 2016. RFA Thousands of Cambodians gathered at a Buddhist temple in the capital on Saturday to mourn slain government critic Kem Ley, a popular commentator praised as a hero for his fearless political analysis. Supporters gave funeral alms to 600 Buddhist monks at Watt Bodhiyaram in Phnom Penh , where Kem Ley's flower-covered glass coffin was being displayed. "It's hard to find such a brave person like him in Cambodia," Hak Kin, a mourner at the temple, told RFA's Khmer Service. "If I were able to trade in my life with his to make him alive now, I would not hesitate to do so. His life is more important," he said. "I am very saddened by this great loss," said Ath Thun, president of Cambodia's largest independent trade union, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union. "He's a real hero in our hearts. Even though there was no such official recognition, he truly was our hero," he told RFA. Kem Ley, 46, was murdered on July 10 at a gas station convenience store that he often stopped at to talk with friends. He was shot twice at point-blank range. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oueth Ang with premeditated murder on Wednesday for the execution-style killing of Kem Ley. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, but many in Cambodia question that explanation. Initial plans to move Kem Ley to his home village in Takeo province have been put on hold in the face of potential conflict over what is expected to be a large funeral procession . "If there are any constraints or tension in the procession of Kem Ley's body to his home village then I will decide not to go there," Kem Ley's pregnant widow, Pou Rachana told RFA. "I do not want to move Kem Ley's body to a distant location to his home village as planned because I think that my family's situation is very fragile and it will be very difficult to travel back and forth," she said. "The best choice would be looking for a nearby location." Fearless critic mourned Kem Ley was also honored by Cambodian communities in the United States, with ceremonies at Buddhist temples in Massachusetts, Florida and other places. Political tension between long-ruling strongman Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been intensifying this year as the parties prepare to contest local elections in 2017 and a general election in 2018. A widely quoted analyst, Kem Ley had appeared on a RFA Khmer Service call-in show to discuss a report by the London-based NGO Global Witness documenting how Hun Sen and his family have amassed a $200 million fortune. The Hun family has dismissed the report. "I listened to Dr. Kem Ley on radios. I liked him for being very straightforward and truthful in his criticism," Phnom Penh taxi driver Phuong Ko told RFA. "He was a Khmer hero. He loved his country and people so much. He was killed because he spoke the truth." Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin and Nareth Muong. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan religious leader is freed from prison after sentence ends Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 16 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan religious leader is freed from prison after sentence ends, 16 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef516e.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-16 Khenpo Kartse is shown in an undated photo taken after his release from prison. Photo from social media Popular Tibetan religious teacher Khenpo Kartse has been released from prison after serving two and a half years following his conviction on charges widely believed to have been fabricated by Chinese authorities, Tibetan sources say. Kartse was taken into custody on Dec. 6, 2013, in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu and charged at first with "harming state security." He was later accused of harboring a fugitive monk linked to a bombing incident, and was sentenced on that charge. He was released from prison in Chengdu on June 4 after completing his sentence, the online Tibet Times reported on July 15, quoting a source in Dharamsala, India. "But he has not been allowed to return to his monastery, and is staying under close supervision with a relative in Yulshul [in Chinese, Yushu]" prefecture in neighboring Qinghai province, the Times said in its report. "His current health condition remains unknown," the Times said. 'Many passes still to climb' An undated posting on social media apparently by Kartse himself and accompanied by a photo taken after his release thanks his friends and supporters for their concern during his time in jail. "In order to fulfill my secular and spiritual duties, I have returned in good health," Kartse wrote. "But I still have many passes to climb." "May the light rays of freedom shine on our world." Kartse, whose title Khenpo denotes a senior religious teacher or abbot, was active before his imprisonment in social work in the Yulshul area, including in relief efforts following a devastating April 2010 earthquake, and was well-respected among Tibetans for his work to protect and promote the Tibetan language, culture, and religion. At the end of December 2013, 16 monks from Kartse's Japa monastery in Yulshul's Nangchen (Nanqian) county were detained after protesting for Kartse's release, sparking wider protests by Tibetans at Japa the following month. Reported by Sonam Lhamo for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan woman detained in new solo protest in Ngaba Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 16 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan woman detained in new solo protest in Ngaba, 16 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef517e.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-16 Map showing Ngaba county in Sichuan province. RFA Chinese police in Sichuan's Ngaba county detained a young Tibetan woman on Thursday after she staged a solitary protest opposing Beijing's rule in Tibetan areas, according to a local source. The unidentified woman, who wore a white dress and appeared to be in her 20s, was taken into custody at around 4:00 p.m. on July 14 while walking down a street known locally as Heroes Road in the Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county seat, an area resident told RFA's Tibetan Service. "She was holding up a photo of [exiled Tibetan spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Chinese police stationed along Heroes Road, the site of many protests by Tibetans in the past, quickly overpowered the woman and took her away, the source said. The woman's name and current whereabouts and condition are still unknown, he said. The protest sparked a brief flurry of comments online from area residents, with some saying the still unidentified woman had come from Ngaba county's Churle Karma village, where one resident told a reporter on Friday he had not heard about the incident. "Besides, it is inconvenient for me to speak about this on the phone. It is better in particular not to say anything about issues related to Tibetan politics," he said. Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas closely watch exchanges on the internet and record conversations on the popular social media platform WeChat, routinely detaining and questioning anyone suspected of spreading news about Tibetan protests to outside contacts. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Cambodia National Rescue Party isn't backing down Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 18 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Cambodia National Rescue Party isn't backing down, 18 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51811.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-18 Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Kem Sokha(L)and CNRP lawmaker Mao Monivann, July 18, 2016, July 18, 2016. RFA In the face of beatings, arrests, political payback, and possibly assassination, leaders of the embattled opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party on Monday vowed to continue pressing for change in Phnom Penh. "Over the past year we have experienced the greatest tragic episodes of beatings and constant persecution inflicted upon the CNRP," acting party leader Kem Sokha said as the CNRP marked its four-year anniversary at CNRP headquarters in Phnom Penh. "However, we believe we have been walking down the right path thanks to our strong and unbreakable unity," he added. Kem Sokha should well know the feeling of persecution as he has been holed up in the CNRP headquarters since heavily-armed police attempted to arrest him in May for ignoring court orders to appear as a witness in a pair of defamation cases related to his alleged affair with a hairdresser. He has also seen his parliamentary immunity lifted in response to refusing to heed the court summonses and has been barred from leaving Cambodia. These actions are seen by many civil society groups and outside observers as an effort by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to discredit the CNRP and maintain their three-decade-long grip on power in Cambodia. Kem Sokha's words were echoed by CNRP President Sam Rainsy, who accused the government of sanctioning violence in its efforts to silence government critics like Kem Ley, who was gunned down at a Phnom Penh gas station on July 10. 'They used violence to gun down Dr. Kem Ley' "They have used violence. They have used their court to pressure, threaten, and intimidate the CNRP and its supporters," Sam Rainsy said via Skype. "Recently, without hesitation, they used violence to gun down Dr. Kem Ley, who was a patriot and who was not even a member of the CNRP, because he dared to call a spade a spade and gave truthful criticism against the government." Kem Ley, 46, was shot twice at point-blank range at a gas station convenience store that he often stopped at to talk with friends. Just days before, he'd discussed a report by the British NGO Global Witness detailing the extent of the Hun Sen family's wealth. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oueth Ang with premeditated murder on Wednesday for the execution-style killing of Kem Ley. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, but many in Cambodia question that explanation. Thousands have turned out to mourn Kem Ley at Watt Bodhiyaram in Phnom Penh, where his flower-covered glass coffin has been displayed. His body will be taken to his home village of Takeo on July 24, said But Buntenh, president of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice and a member of Kem Ley Funeral Committee. "There has been some external pressure to take the body out of Phnom Penh at the earliest convenience," he said during and RFA Live TV interview. "The authorities appear to be paranoid about the body being kept in Phnom Penh." Not just the CNRP Sam Rainsy also knows firsthand the feeling of persecution, as he has been living abroad since he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in 2015 because of a warrant issued for his arrest in an old defamation case. He has also been the victim of violence, as an apparent attempt to assassinate him in a 1997 grenade attack failed. While he escaped, the attack killed his bodyguard and at least 15 other people and injured more than 150. No one has been brought to justice for the attack. Since Sam Rainsy left the country, Kem Sokha has been acting president of the CNRP. While CNRP leaders say they have been targeted, Kem Sokha said the current political turmoil effects more than just the CNRP. "Not only has the current political crisis affected the CNRP and its leadership, but it also affects civil society organizations, the National Election Committee, independent political commentators and analysts, investors, and people who want peace and social justice," he said. Kem Sokha may have been able to avoid arrest, but four employees of the human rights group ADHOC and a member of the National Election Commission (NEC) weren't so lucky. An arrest warrant has also been issued for a U.N. worker. 'Illegal acts' CPP spokesman Sok Eysan told RFA's Khmer Service the CNRP is playing politics. "They have failed to acknowledge the truth about their illegal acts," he said. "Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha themselves, and Hong Sok Hour, Um Sam An, and the like have broken the laws. Yet they are politicizing the current situation to cover up their mess." About a dozen opposition party members, including Hong Sok Hour and Um Sam An, are jailed in the country's Prey Sar prison on various charges. The government may be preparing to toss other opposition lawmakers in jail as the National Assembly convened a session on Monday to strip two more CNRP lawmakers of their immunity. On June 30, the Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana submitted a request to National Assembly President Heng Samrin seeking to lift the immunity of CNRP lawmakers Tok Vanchan and Pin Ratana for violating Cambodia's anti-prostitution ordinance. Senior CNRP lawmakers Eng Chhai Eang and Son Chhay called the move unconstitutional. Reported for RFA's Khmer Service by Maly Leng. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Editors announce 'end' of top Chinese political magazine after staff reshuffle Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 18 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Editors announce 'end' of top Chinese political magazine after staff reshuffle, 18 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef519e.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-18 Magazines about Chinese politics are displayed in a bookstore in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, Jan. 5, 2016. AFP The editorial staff at a cutting-edge Chinese political magazine say they will have nothing more to do with its publication any more following a slew of high-level sackings and the imposition of new editorial leadership last week. Du Daozheng, who was fired from his post as publisher of Yanhuang Chunqiu by its parent organization, said in a statement circulated online on Sunday that the magazine would now cease production. "Anyone who publishes a periodical bearing the title Yanhuang Chunqiu will have nothing to do with [the existing editorial team]," Du, who is in his nineties, wrote. The statement said that editorial staff had made the decision after Du was fired by the Chinese National Academy of Arts, an organization linked to the Ministry of Culture that sponsors Yanhuang Chunqiu last week. A member of the editorial team who asked not to be identified said the academy has now posted staff to keep an eye on the running of the magazine, which often challenges the ruling Chinese Communist Party's official view of historical events. "Nobody here accepts the ruling by the National Academy of Arts," the staff member said. "Of course, there's nothing we can do about it, because they have sent in staff to manage the transition, and they are sitting in the editorial department." "Du is now in hospital, because of the shock of the announcement; he has high blood pressure," the staff member said. "It's not clear what will happen next, but to a lot of people it's looking like the final ax-blow." A Beijing-based academic, who also asked to remain anonymous, agreed that the end looked pretty final for the magazine, which had enjoyed the support of high-ranking reformers inside the ruling party. "They have gotten rid of all of the old staff, and they are bringing in new people like Jia Leilei, who used to be vice-president of the arts academy; the new editor is also from the academy," the academic said. Breach of contract Beijing-based rights lawyer Mo Shaoping said Du plans to sue the academy for breach of contract. "Mr. Du has told me he finds this totally unacceptable," Mo said. "From a procedural point of view ... I have been instructed as their lawyer, so I will be looking at the contracts between the arts academy and the staff of Yanhuang Chunqiu." "There are very clear provisions in the contract regarding the exercise of editorial and financial control, as well as regarding personnel matters," he said. "Yanhuang Chunqiu was given total autonomy." Du's sacking came after China's media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) told the magazine's editorial team in April that 37 articles published since the beginning of the year were in breach of political guidelines. The magazine, founded by Du in 1991 to produce reform-minded scholarly articles on history and politics, appears to be the latest publication to run afoul of President Xi Jinping's ongoing ideological campaign to make all press and media organizations toe the party line. Du was edged out under a rule, seldom enforced, that prevents party elders from taking up new posts after the age of 70. Du had reemerged from retirement to take the helm of Yanhuang Chunqiu, rendering him ineligible, the Chinese National Academy of Arts said. Ideological 'rectification' The latest reshuffle looks likely to deal a final death blow to the magazine in its original form, although many previously cutting-edge media have continued to publish under their former names after ideological "rectification," a mere shadow of their former selves. Bao Tong, a former aide to late ousted premier Zhao Ziyang who was toppled for taking too liberal a line with student-led democracy protests in 1989, challenged the government to explain the attack on Yanhuang Chunqiu. "In my view, this magazine, which has been running for the past 25 years without spending a penny of taxpayers' money, has been stripped of its parent research institute and its freedom of press and publication," Bao wrote in a commentary for RFA's Mandarin Service. "So why do it? Surely the institute and Yanhuang Chunqiu must have done something wrong, to merit such coercive measures?" he said. "But disagreeing with the party line shouldn't be grounds for this sort of behavior," he wrote. "The magazine is there to serve its readers, and it's their opinion that matters. The preferred line of its parent organization is neither here nor there." Yanhuang Chunqiu has published more than 200 issues in its 25-year history and is no stranger to official criticism. It has been slammed for publishing articles about both late ousted premiers Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, for writing about the separation of powers, forbidden by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, and for publishing accounts of Mao Zedong's early life written by his former secretary, Li Rui. In 2011, China's censors shut down the magazine's website after it called for reforms to China's political system. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Ethnic rebel coalition meets with Aung San Suu Kyi to prepare for Myanmar peace conference Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 18 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Ethnic rebel coalition meets with Aung San Suu Kyi to prepare for Myanmar peace conference, 18 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51a9.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-18 Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (C) holds talks with leaders from the United Nationalities Federal Council at the National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Yangon, July 17, 2016. AFP A coalition of Myanmar's armed ethnic groups that have met with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss preparations for peace negotiations in late August say a political framework is crucial for the government's peace conference to be a success. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto national leader, has made peace and national reconciliation a key goal of her civilian-led administration, which came to power in April. On Sunday, United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) a coalition of nine ethnic rebel groups that did not sign a national cease-fire agreement (NCA) with the previous government last October met with Aung San Suu Kyi in her capacity as chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Yangon to talk about run-up to the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference. The UNFC, which represents both groups that have signed the NCA and those that have not, is advocating for the formation of a federal union. It also is insisting that all rebel groups be included in the peace conference. "If we can't finish discussions on the framework, it will be impossible to hold the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference," said UNFC general secretary Khu Do Reh at a press conference in Yangon. "That means that holding a successful peace conference hinges upon the framework discussions." 'Everybody is responsible' The UNFC requested that Aung San Suu Kyi mediate negotiations between the Myanmar army and ethnic rebel groups so they agree on declaring a cease-fire at the same time, Khu Oo Yal said. Aung San Suu Kyi promised that she would discuss the issue with the military, he said. "What we've got to understand is that we all fought together for freedom," Khu Oo Reh said. "Everybody is responsible for working towards development and peace in this country." Khu Oo Yal also said the nonsignatories will attend framework discussions for holding the Panglong Peace Conference, named after a similar meeting of ethnic groups spearheaded by Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, in 1947. But his assassination a few months later prevented the agreements made during the conference from reaching fruition, and many ethnic groups then took up arms against the central government in wars that have ground on in some cases for more than five decades. Armed ethnic groups will meet in Mai Ja Yang territory controlled by the Kachin Independence organization (KIO) in northern Myanmar's Kachin state on July 26-29 to discuss attending the Panglong Peace Conference and creating a federal union, Kho Oo Reh said. The KIO is the political branch of wing of the Kachin Independence Army, which has not signed the NCA. The UNFC said it will invite Wa and Ming La ethnic groups to the meeting. Seven letters sent Tin Myo Win, the government's peace envoy, has sent invitation letters to seven of the nonsignatory groups to participate in the political framework review meetings, said Hla Maung Shwe, secretary of the government's peace conference preparatory subcommittee. Thein Zaw, vice chairman of the government's Union Peace Making Work Committee, will soon meet with representatives from the Arakan Army (AA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) the three groups excluded from the NCA because of ongoing hostilities with the Myanmar army he said. General Mutu Say Pho, leader of the Karen National Union (KNU), is urging the armed ethnic groups not to make too many demands during the peace negotiations and to work for reasonable results. "Our needs and demands should be reasonable according to the country's current situation, and we need to have practical results that all groups can accept,' he said while delivering the opening speech at Monday's meeting in Chaing Mai, Thailand, with groups that did not sign the NCA. "We shouldn't say that we will accept the result only if we get everything we want," he said. "The result should be a reasonable one." Leaders from Chin National Front (CNF), All-Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), Pa-Oh People's Liberation Organization (PPLO), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) will attend the meeting. The eight armed groups that signed the NCA are currently holding a two-day meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to prepare for the Mai Ja Yang summit. Reported by Thiha Tun, Aung Theinkha and Aung Moe Myint of RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Vietnamese TV station drops Chinese program over actors' comments on South China Sea Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 18 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese TV station drops Chinese program over actors' comments on South China Sea, 18 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51b23.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-18 A Chinese coast guard ship (back) sails next to a Vietnamese coast guard vessel in disputed waters in the South China Sea, May 14, 2014. AFP A television station in southeastern Vietnam's coastal Binh Thuan province has dropped a Chinese series partway through its run, citing actors' criticisms of an international court ruling rejecting Beijing's exclusive claims to the South China Sea. The series, Shanghai Bund, was abruptly canceled at 11:50 a.m. on July 16 in order to uphold the views of Vietnam's own ruling party in the station's role as government "mouthpiece," according to a report the same day by the Vietnamese paper Dat Viet. On July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in a case brought by the Philippines that China has no right to resources within a U-shaped, nine-dash demarcation line used by Beijing to claim almost the entire South China Sea. Some of the world's busiest sea lanes traverse the South China Sea, called the East Sea by Vietnam, which is also a rich fishing ground and may contain petroleum reserves under the sea bed. Actors in the popular show had recently defended China's claims in a petition criticizing the court's ruling, "and we saw that we should no longer promote those actors, so we decided to suspend the series," station vice director Dang Thi Kim Oanh told Dat Viet. "When they assert China's U-shaped line, they are saying that Vietnam is wrong [to defend its own sovereignty in the Sea]," Oanh said, adding, "They have every right to love their own country, but so do we." In a review aired before the suspension was announced, station staff summarized the remaining episodes of Shanghai Bund for their viewers, and a South Korean television series will now be aired in its place, she said. The Vietnamese station's move turns the tables on China, where the state-backed Communist Youth League and nationalistic netizens frequently mount shaming campaigns or boycotts against celebrities from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Western countries when they have made statements that reject or criticize Beijing's policies. In the latest such case, American-Japanese actress Kiko Mizuhara was pressed to issue a videotaped apology after she triggered a firestorm of Chinese criticism for "liking" a photo on social media deemed offensive to Beijing. Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Hong Kong election hopefuls told to sign anti-separatist pledge Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 18 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong election hopefuls told to sign anti-separatist pledge, 18 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51b6.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-18 Demosisto Party democracy campaigners urge greater freedom for Hong Kong, July 14, 2016. RFA A new requirement that would-be lawmakers in Hong Kong renounce separatism before they can run in September's elections has sparked huge controversy in the former British colony, where many fear the city's traditional freedoms and promised autonomy are now a thing of the past. Candidates for Sept. 4 elections to the city's Legislative Council (LegCo) are being asked for the first time to sign a form declaring that they accept Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China. Candidates are also required to declare their support for the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and their allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the city's Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) announced last week. Pan-democratic candidates and lawyers have hit out at the move as yet another sign that Beijing is seeking to curb free speech in the once-freewheeling city. Beijing officials say the city's government is obliged to "safeguard national sovereignty." Pro-Beijing lawmaker Tam Yiu-chung said the form is meant to force potential candidates to reflect on their own loyalty before signing up to fight the election. "I have absolutely no problem signing it, because I think it's so natural and obvious," Tam said. "How could legislators take part in any action that would split the country, or fight for separatism or independence for Hong Kong?" "All of that would be totally in breach of the Basic Law, and it's not the sort of thing that we, as Chinese, should be doing." Moves against Leung But new political party Demosisto, which is campaigning on a platform of "self-determination" for Hong Kong, says its chairman Nathan Law has entered himself as a candidate to contest a directly elected seat on Hong Kong Island. Led by former student leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy movement, the group has refused to rule out discussion of independence for Hong Kong, if that is where its citizens want to go. Law said the top priority of pan-democratic politicians should be to topple the city's deeply unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying. "The progress of democracy in Hong Kong cannot be allowed to be halted by an insistence on following the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party's official line," Law said in a statement on the group's Facebook page. "Instead, it should hold to its aim of dislodging the chief executive," he said. He said he has confidence that even conservative voters among the 3.8 million eligible to cast a ballot will be worried about where Hong Kong is headed under Chinese rule. "I think a continuing democracy movement, going forward, will have the support of large numbers of voters," he said. Just the beginning Former Occupy Central leader Joshua Wong said Law's candidacy is "only a beginning" for self-determination. "LegCo shouldn't be a club for the elite few," Wong said. "Nor should it serve the interests of a few ageing politicians." "It should be an agent of hope, and the democratic movement should deliver change," he said. Several pan-democratic lawmakers have already refused to sign the new form. It is unclear whether potential candidates will be prevented from running if they don't sign it. The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) has said it is "open-minded" on the issue, while top barristers claim that there is no legal basis for the new requirement. Of 70 seats in LegCo, 35 will be returned through direct ballot in five geographical constituencies, while the remainder are chosen by members of trades, professions, and industry groupings. Beijing rules, it says A June 10, 2014 white paper by China on Hong Kong issued a strong reminder that Beijing rules the city, sparking renewed calls for fully democratic elections in 2017 and a 79-day civil disobedience campaign. The city was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 return to Chinese rule within the "one country, two systems" framework agreed between British and Chinese officials and enshrined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. However, China's cabinet, the State Council, has said such autonomy is still subject to the will of Beijing. The row over the elections comes as some 42 percent of Hong Kong residents are thinking of leaving, citing concerns over housing, the quality of government, and education, a recent survey indicated. The number of Hong Kong people emigrating to Canada almost doubled in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, and the number moving permanently to Taiwan rose 36 percent over a similar time frame, Reuters reported. The cross-border detentions of five Hong Kong booksellers accused of selling "banned books" to customers across the internal border in mainland China have eroded confidence that Beijing will respect the city's separate identity. Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Chen Pan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Aung San Suu Kyi, military chief pay tribute to Myanmar's independence heroes Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 19 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Aung San Suu Kyi, military chief pay tribute to Myanmar's independence heroes, 19 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51c15.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-19 Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) and military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (R) pay their respects to two Buddhist monks to commemorate Martyrs' Day in Yangon, July 19, 2016. AFP Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's military commander-in-chief attended a commemorative ceremony on Tuesday in the commercial capital Yangon honoring the fallen heroes of the country's independence movement, including her father, General Aung San. The Martyrs' Day national holiday is observed annually to commemorate the deaths of Aung San and seven other leaders of the pre-independence interim government who were assassinated on July 19, 1947, a year before Myanmar, then called Burma, gained its independence from British colonial rule. On this day, top-level government officials visit the Martyrs' Mausoleum, dedicated to Aung San and the others who were killed, near the northern gate of the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda in the commercial capital Yangon. In the past, Myanmar's powerful military had largely ignored the holiday. But this year, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing participated in the ceremony for the first time in years and attended a Buddhist prayer service along with other military commanders at Aung San Suu Kyi's residence. "Martyrs' Day was fading for many years in the past, but many people have attended the Martyrs' Day ceremony this year," said writer and film director Maung Moe Thu. "It means history cannot fade away, and will one day appear [again]." "Seeing military chief Min Aung Hlaing at today's ceremony, we hope that the military will accede to what we demand or want in the future," he said. "The military ignored Martyrs' Day for a long time, so it's strange to see them attend a public ceremony like this. It shows a change, but we don't know how much they will change." Military repression A military junta in Myanmar, which seized power in 1962 and ruled the country for 50 years, kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years and imprisoned several of her aides from the pro-democracy National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The regime brutally repressed a popular pro-democracy uprising in 1988, and two years later denied the NLD a legitimate victory in national elections. "But after 1988, Martyrs' Day was not held as a state ceremony anymore," said Tin Myint, son of Abdul Razak, a well-respected Muslim politician who advocated for a secular state in the majority Buddhist country and was killed alongside Aung San. When the NLD won national elections last November, Min Aung Hlaing pledged to honor the election results and work with the new civilian-led government that came to power in April. Though Aung San Suu Kyi is prohibited from becoming president under the constitution, drafted in 2008 when the junta ruled the country, she essentially runs the country in her role as state counselor under proxy President Htin Kyaw, her aide and close friend. 'We should work together' People of all faiths also commemorated the day by participating peacefully in ceremonies at a time when Myanmar's minority Muslim population has come under fire by ultranationalist Buddhists. "All the martyrs were from different ethnic groups and practiced different religions," said writer and former political prisoner Tun Zaw Htay. "But they worked together to gain freedom from the British. They didn't work by setting their sights only on religion or nationality." "We should work together like they did by loving everybody all ethnicities and nationalities and the country,' he said. Aung San Suu Kyi is organizing peace talks with armed ethnic groups and the national army to end decades of fighting and complete a nationwide cease-fire pact. She has dubbed the summit the 21st-century Panglong Peace Conference after a 1947 meeting in which her father granted autonomy to the Shan, Kachin, and Chin ethnic minorities before Myanmar gained its independence. His assassination a few months later prevented the agreements made during the conference from reaching fruition, and many ethnic groups then took up arms against the central government in wars, some of which continue today. Myanmar's military plays a crucial role in Aung San Suu Kyi's plan for permanent peace because officers hold a constitutionally guaranteed quarter of the seats in parliament and control three defense and security-related ministries. Reported by Tin Aung Khine, Nay Rein Kyaw and Khet Mar for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Cambodia's opposition seeks to reinstate 'culture of dialogue' Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 19 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Cambodia's opposition seeks to reinstate 'culture of dialogue', 19 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51d12.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-19 Cambodian Buddhist monks sit next to the body of independent political and social analyst Kem Ley as he is transported from the scene of his murder, July 10, 2016. AFP The leaders of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) are toning down their rhetoric as they hope to restart the "culture of dialogue" with Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP), a senior CNRP official told RFA's Khmer Service. After visiting 15 jailed opposition party activists on Monday, CNRP lawmaker Pol Ham told RFA that his party is following the advice of the U.N. and other international organizations that have pushed for a rapprochement. "The CNRP is not under any pressure from the international community, except the recommendation from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who wanted both parties to return to the negotiating table," Pol Ham said. "The European Community, the U.S., and several foreign diplomats would like us to resume our dialogue. The CNRP has been consistent in our desire to resume the dialogue." It's unclear if the CNRP will be successful as the CPP has failed to respond to the overtures. The CPP controls the courts and law enforcement agencies that have been jailing the opposition on what independent analysts say are flimsy charges. The culture of dialogue was the name given to the shaky truce Hun Sen and CNRP President Sam Rainsy formed to bring an end to the months-long political standoff that came amid the bloody aftermath of the 2013 elections. Pol Ham told RFA that failure to restart the culture of dialogue lies at the feet of Hun Sen and the CPP. "We are not at fault if there is no dialogue," he said. "We have fulfilled the will of our fellow Cambodians and the international community." Pol Ham's words come as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski visits Cambodia. Malinowski was scheduled to discuss the importance of human rights, free and fair elections, labor rights, and the need to uphold international human rights standards regarding the protection of civil society. His visit comes after government critic Kem Ley was gunned down on July 10 at a convenience store that he stopped at to talk with friends. Just days before, he'd discussed a report by the British NGO Global Witness detailing the extent of the Hun Sen family's wealth. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oeuth Ang with premeditated murder on Wednesday for the execution-style killing. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, but many in Cambodia question that explanation. A pair of witnesses to the crime are seeking asylum in a third country because they fear for their safety, one of the witnesses told RFA. Chum Hour and Chum Huoth, twins who were close to Kem Ley, became afraid after they posted criticisms about the investigation on their Facebook pages and gave accounts of Kem Ley's murder to the U.S. embassy. They filed their application for asylum with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee, Chum Huoth said. Reported by Chandara Yang and Sarada Taing for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Hong Kong election candidates refuse to sign loyalty declaration Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 19 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong election candidates refuse to sign loyalty declaration, 19 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51ec.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-19 Youngspiration Party candidate Wong Chun-kit (C) campaigns for election to Hong Kong's Legislative Council, July 18, 2016. Youngspiration Party Web Site One in three candidates hoping to run in elections to Hong Kong's legislature on Sept. 4 have refused to sign a declaration accepting Chinese rule and renouncing independence for the city, election officials said. The office handling nominations for candidacy in the Legislative Council (LegCo) poll says it 33 received applications on Saturday, the first day of a two-week nomination period, the Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) reported. "Nearly a third did not sign the declaration which also includes a pledge of allegiance to the Hong Kong government," the paper said. The new form, which requires candidates to accept that Hong Kong is "an inalienable part of China," appears to be aimed at ruling out those who campaign for greater autonomy for the city, or outright independence from Beijing. Officials have given out mixed messages, with some saying that a refusal to sign would invalidate a candidate, and the nominations office saying it will process all applications regardless. A number of pan-democratic candidates and those open to the idea of independence have said they won't sign the form, which they have slammed as a further attack of freedom of speech in the former British colony, which was promised the continuation of its existing freedoms for 50 years after the 1997 handover to China. 'None of us signed' Pro-independence Hong Kong National Party convenor and LegCo hopeful Andy Chan said none of his party's candidates had signed. "None of us signed the declaration form, because we don't think it was crucial to hand it over as part of the application process," Chan told RFA on Tuesday. "There will be no legal problems if we don't, so we're not going to do something that is unnecessary." But he said it remains unclear how the government will treat such applicants for nomination. "I think the whole aim of this declaration was to rule out pro-independence candidates," Chan said. "I'm not sure that they can actually achieve that [under existing election rules], however." "If they try, they will face much bigger legal and political consequences," said Chan. Backlash seen Candidate Wong Chun-kit from the youth activism group Youngspiration said he had declined to sign the form, too. "The government is trying to strip us of our right to stand for election," Wong told RFA. "They will be responsible for the consequences." "The greater the suppression, the greater the backlash that will follow," he warned. Edward Leung of the localist group Hong Kong Indigenous also refused to sign the declaration when he filed his candidacy on Saturday, HKEJ reported. Beijing University law professor Rao Geping, a constitutional scholar who serves on Hong Kong's Basic Law Committee, said the declaration is a political requirement that is consistent with the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and China's own constitution. But Hong Kong barrister Linda Wong said there are no legal grounds requiring candidates to sign it. "There isn't any way for them to stop a candidate running in the election, just because they didn't sign the form," Wong told government broadcaster RTHK. "However I look at this, I can't see anything that mentions any kind of legal basis for this declaration, and the electoral officer can only prevent someone's candidacy for the strongest of reasons," Wong said. "Of course, if things did go [that far], I think the matter would definitely be settled in court." Eligibility not affected Meanwhile, members of the pan-democratic camp have quoted the chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, judge Barnabas Fung, as saying that the new form isn't mandated in law, RTHK reported. The Civic Party's Dennis Kwok said the form had been brought in for "administrative convenience," and that candidates' eligibility would not be affected if they refuse to sign it. Kwok called for the form to be scrapped. Beijing officials have defended the declaration, however, saying that Hong Kong's government is obliged to "safeguard national sovereignty." Pro-Beijing lawmakers have said potential candidates should reflect on their own loyalties before signing up to fight the election. Of 70 seats in LegCo, 35 will be returned through direct ballot in five geographical constituencies, while the remainder are chosen by members of trades, professions, and industry groupings. The city was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 return to Chinese rule within the "one country, two systems" framework agreed between British and Chinese officials and enshrined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. However, China's cabinet, the State Council, has said such autonomy is still subject to the will of Beijing. Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China moves to quash anti-KFC, foreign goods protests after maritime ruling Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 20 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China moves to quash anti-KFC, foreign goods protests after maritime ruling, 20 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51f25.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-20 Chinese netizen Xiucai Jianghu and friends mock nationalist anti-KFC protests in China, July 19, 2016. Photo courtesy of Xiucai Jianghu's Twitter account Media outlets controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party moved on Wednesday to tamp down spreading patriotic protests in the wake of an unfavorable arbitration decision over Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last week, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in The Hague ruled in an arbitration case initiated by the Philippines to limit the size of territorial waters claimed by China in the disputed maritime region. China immediately reissued claims to sovereignty over all land features in the South China Sea, as well as entitlement to internal waters, territorial seas, an exclusive economic zone, and the continental shelf. Scattered protests have already broken out around fast-food outlet KFC and other U.S.-linked targets, with some calling for a boycott of U.S. goods in the wake of the ruling. "The protest against the KFC is obviously irrational," the Global Times newspaper, which has close party ties, said in an editorial on Wednesday. "Whether it is a spontaneous demonstration or one manipulated by other forces is still unknown," it added, without elaborating. But it called for a "rational" patriotism that protects and safeguards the safety of Filipinos, who brought the arbitration case, as well as the U.S. and Japan, who have opposed Chinese claims in the crucial shipping lanes of the South China Sea. "Extreme nationalism does not reflect the mainstream attitude in Chinese society," the paper said. Public order warnings Meanwhile, party mouthpiece the People's Daily warned against any breach of public order. "Any action that promotes national development can rightfully be called patriotic," the paper said in an editorial. "But so-called patriotism that willfully sacrifices public order will only bring damage to the nation and society," it warned. Posts circulated widely on Chinese social media following last week's ruling against China by The Hague arbitration tribunal, with one post calling on the public to boycott KFC and McDonalds on July 15 and 16, while small numbers of protesters showed up outside a KFC outlet in the northern province of Hebei on July 17, it said. "Boycott U.S., Japan and the Philippines! You are eating KFC from the U.S. and bringing shame on China!" their banners read. Similar protests also popped up in Hunan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces. The protests have sparked counter-protests by others who defend their right to eat at KFC if they want to. There have also been calls for boycotts of Philippine mangoes and iPhones, while a Hangzhou-based company issued a directive banning its employees from buying the new iPhone7, saying they would offer subsidies for employees buying Chinese-made smartphones instead, the paper said. 'Angry youth' Some social media users, who are assumed to be members of the "angry youth" generation born in the 1980s, have posted images of themselves smashing their iPhones, wearing patriotic slogans. But trade officials have played down any suggestion of boycotts of foreign goods in response to the ruling, while the official news agency Xinhua said recent protests had little to do with patriotism. "In the farce of the South China Sea arbitration, we take a tit-for-tat approach, but still hold the moral high ground," the agency said in a commentary. The government appears to be trying to avoid a repeat of scenes in late 2012, when tens of thousands of angry protesters thronged the streets of cities across China to protest the nationalization of the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku island chain in the East China Sea, with some smashing Japanese cars and injuring their drivers. But Chongqing-based scholar Zhang Qi said there is far less unity to be found in online comment than there was just a few years ago in China. "We can see from the KFC incident that the government no longer has the same hold on public opinion that it did 10 years ago," Zhang said. "A lot of people are calling for boycotts of U.S. and Japanese ... goods, but there are some people calling for a boycott of goods made by idiots, too." "This definitely helps the forces pushing back against the Chinese government's attempts to manipulate nationalist fervor," he said. Patrols to continue China refused to participate in the arbitration and has refused to recognize last week's ruling overturning its territorial claims in the South China Sea. The People's Liberation Army (PLA), meanwhile, has vowed to continue air patrols and a program of island-building on disputed reefs. China says it wants direct talks with the Philippines over the dispute, but Manila has said Beijing should first recognize the arbitration tribunal's ruling. Hong Kong political commentator Willy Lam said there is little immediate threat from heightened military tensions in the region, in spite of recent PLA military exercises around the Paracel Islands ahead of the court ruling. "The likelihood of a mishap from accidental firing of weapons is still pretty low," Lam said. "Most of Beijing's ire is directed at Japan and the U.S., and the ... issue was discussed during the visit of U.S. Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson to Beijing." He said continued PLA military exercises in the region were just a show of force. "China knows very well that any kind of clash will carry little benefit for Beijing or for any other country," Lam said. "It's all done to raise morale." Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan monk handed three-year prison term in a secret trial Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 19 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan monk handed three-year prison term in a secret trial, 19 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef51f6.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-19 Map showing Ngaba county in Sichuan province. RFA Authorities in southwestern China's Sichuan province on Tuesday sentenced a Tibetan monk to three years in prison for staging a solitary protest in Ngaba county opposing Beijing's rule in Tibetan areas, sources in the region and in exile said. The monk, who was identified only by his first name Lobsang, was sentenced in a secret trial, with none of his close family members informed at first of the verdict, a Tibetan man living in Switzerland told RFA's Tibetan Service. "Lobsang will serve his sentence at the prison in Maowun [Mao] county," the source named Sonam said, citing contacts in the Ngaba area. Lobsang was taken into custody in September last year after calling out in public for Tibetan freedom and the long life of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, "and was severely tortured and beaten during his ten months in detention," Sonam said. Lobsang's protest followed three similar protests in Ngaba that week, one earlier that same day and two others a few days before. Separately, a Tibetan source inside Ngaba confirmed Lobsang's sentencing, saying that his Sept. 10, 2015 protest and subsequent detention had occurred "at a time when the Chinese had clamped down on internet and phone connections in Ngaba." "So nothing was reported in the news media until now," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Lobsang had staged his protest on a street locally known as Heroes' Road in the Ngaba county seat, he said. "Chinese police quickly overpowered him and beat him severely in front of bystanders," the source said, adding, "He had been held in secret ever since, and his whereabouts remained unknown until he was sentenced." Details of Lobsang's physical condition are still unknown, and his family members and other relatives remain deeply concerned about his health, he said. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Sonam Wangdu, Lobe Socktsang, and Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Hangzhou bans unofficial Christian worship ahead of G20 summit Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 20 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Hangzhou bans unofficial Christian worship ahead of G20 summit, 20 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52015.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-20 Authorities tear down a cross from a Protestant church in Hangzhou's Dingqiao township, Dec. 19, 2014. Photo courtesy of China Aid Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou have warned an unofficial Protestant "house church" with around 2,000 members that they are hosting "illegal gatherings," church members told RFA. The church, which currently occupies premises on the ninth floor of the Xingye Mansions building in Hangzhou's Jianghan district, received a notification from the religious affairs bureau of the local government warning it to "reform its illegal gathering activities." Lawyer Li Guisheng said he had been asked by the church to offer legal advice during a recent business trip to Hangzhou. "They arranged a meeting with me to ask for legal advice, because the local government and police station had banned them from meeting, on the grounds that they were carrying out illegal gatherings," Li said. "This church has a particularly long history, and the government has been trying to get them to join the Three-Self Patriotic Association," Li said, in a reference to the state-sponsored official body regulating Protestant Christians in China. "But they don't want to, so the government is stopping them from meeting at all," he said. 'No end to government power' The church has held unofficial worship ceremonies for more than 40 years, dating back to before nationwide purges of religious beliefs and practice during the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), according to U.S.-based Christian rights group China Aid. Since the notice was issued, the local government has sent officials around to the church premises to tear down a large cross displayed on a wall, Li said. "A lot of people are saying that there seems to be no end to government power at the moment," Li said. "They also have no idea how to pursue and stand up for their own rights." An official who answered the phone at the Sijiqing neighborhood committee offices, which sent officials to remove the church's cross, declined to comment. "I don't really know the details," the official said. "You'll have to speak to religious affairs chief Gao. But repeated calls to the number provided resulted in a fax tone on Wednesday. Government clamp down Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, similar treatment has been meted out to other Protestant churches in Hangzhou ahead of the city's hosting of the G20 summit in September. "They have been forcing house churches not to meet ahead of the G20 summit," Zhang said. "They have also been forcing them to join the Three-Self Association in the past couple of years." "The government has been clamping down on house churches in recent years, trying to manage them more closely, but they are a bit amorphous sometimes, so they have just told them they can't meet for worship," he said. "But the Bible teaches that we can't stop meeting." The move to stop house churches meeting follows a prolonged cross demolition program in the past year or so by authorities in Zhejiang province, of which Hangzhou is the capital. The demolition of "illegal" Christian crosses from the roofs of churches came amid growing resistance from local believers, but was billed as a civic pride and building safety campaign in official media. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Wife, child of Tiananmen activist arrive in U.S. after fleeing China Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 20 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Wife, child of Tiananmen activist arrive in U.S. after fleeing China, 20 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52115.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-20 Liu Xiaodong, (second from left), wife of jailed dissident Zhao Changqing, and her 4-year-old son, with supporters after their arrival at San Francisco Airport, July 20, 2016. Photo courtesy of Yang Jianli. The wife of a Chinese activist detained by police after marking the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre last month has arrived in the United States with the couple's child after fleeing China via Thailand. Liu Xiaodong, wife of Zhao Changqing, and the couple's four-year-old son arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday after applying for political refugee status at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok. "After we got off the plane and went through immigration, I felt as if I was in a dream of peace and freedom," Liu told RFA in an interview soon after her arrival. "I am really excited to be here, but I feel a lot of complicated emotions, because there are so many families of democracy activists still in China, still having to go through all the pain and despair that we did," she said. "They have very difficult lives when their husbands are in detention." Zhao was detained on June 1 in Beijing after meeting in private with a group of fellow activists to mark the 27th anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. Liu said she fled China to seek a better life for the couple's son. "He is growing up fast, and he would have had a lot of problems [because of his father's activism], including the problem of finding a school," she said. "It would be very hard for a family like us to offer him a stable environment for a good education." "Then there's the issue of where we would live; we could be told to leave a place by police at any time, because they would put pressure on our landlord to make us move," she said. "That happened a lot." Dissidents' children are frequently targeted by the ruling Chinese Communist Party for retaliation over their parents' political activities, with some being denied schooling altogether. U.S.-based rights activist Yang Jianli, who advised Liu Xiaodong on her application, said Zhao, 47, had been concerned for the safety of his wife and child for some time, and had wanted them to leave China. "He said he would feel better about everything if he knew that his kid was able to go and live a normal life in a safe place," Yang said. "The first time he went into jail for his activism with the New Citizens' Movement, his kid was just four months old," Yang said. "He wrote to me from prison asking me to take care of his son." To do that, Yang flew out to Bangkok on July 16, helping Liu to fill out the correct forms on the 17th, and escorting her to the U.S. Embassy on the 18th, he said. They got their visa to enter the U.S. on the same day, and took a flight to San Francisco the very next day. "So many people have found their route to freedom via the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok," he said. "It was very emotional. I told Liu that we were going there to find freedom [for her and her son]." Precarious lives in Thailand Fellow U.S.-based democracy activists welcomed Liu's safe arrival. We have been working towards this all along, so that Zhao Changqing's wife and child can come to the U.S.," 1989 protest veteran Zhou Fengsuo told RFA. "These are very difficult times, so it hasn't been easy. Now they can start a new life," he said. Not everyone has been as lucky as Liu and her son. Many Chinese refugees in Thailand, which is run by a military junta with close ties to Beijing, are now effectively on the run, constantly moving around in a bid to evade arrest and deportation on illegal immigration charges, activists have told RFA. Last November, Chinese asylum seekers Jiang Yefei and Dong Guangping, who had fled persecution in their home country, were handed back to Chinese authorities in a move that drew strong criticism from the U.N. They are now in pretrial detention in the southwestern city of Chongqing, and their families fear they may be at risk of torture or mistreatment. Zhao, who has already served two-and-a-half years in prison for "gathering a crowd to disrupt order of a public place" after being detained in April 2013 and released in October 2015, was detained alongside other activists who also tried to mark the politically sensitive anniversary, including Li Meiqing, Li Wei, Liang Taiping, Lu Fuhai and Zhang Baocheng. Most are being held on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," while Lu Fuhai faces charges of "incitement to subvert state power." The group had also posted a photo of themselves online, sitting in front of a slogan calling for the release of political prisoners Guo Feixiong and Yu Shiwen, and calling for a memorial for the victims of the June 4 military crackdown, which ended weeks of pro-democracy protests in Beijing. The detentions came amid tight security ahead of the June 4 anniversary, public commemoration of which is banned by the government, which styles the 1989 democracy protests a "counterrevolutionary rebellion." A native of northern Shaanxi province, Zhao has served three jail terms in total, including after taking part as a student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy movement. Since his release in 2007, he has devoted himself to promoting civic activism and organizing advocacy campaigns on issues ranging from equal education rights to anti-corruption measures. Reported by C.K. for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Calls grow for an end to force-feeding of hunger-striking Chinese dissident Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Calls grow for an end to force-feeding of hunger-striking Chinese dissident, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52215.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 Guangdong rights activist Guo Feixiong in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of activists Prominent jailed rights activist Yang Maodong, widely known as Guo Feixiong, is being subjected to forced feeding as his hunger strike enters its third month, amid growing calls for his release and access to medical treatment. Guo, 49, has refused to end the hunger strike he began in early May, despite shedding significant weight, his lawyers and relatives have said. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to order an end to the force feeding of Guo by guards at Yangchun Prison in the southern province of Guangdong. "Chinese authorities should immediately end their abusive treatment of Guo Feixiong," HRW China director Sophie Richardson said in a statement on the group's website. "Guo's case highlights China's poor treatment of detainees, made even worse by denying them access to adequate medical care," Richardson said. Prison authorities began in mid-May to force-feed Guo once a day, then twice every other day since mid-June, in a painful procedure that involves forcing a feeding tube into his nostrils and down his throat into his stomach, delivering a liquid nutritional supplement, HRW said. Force-feeding widely condemned It said the procedure is risky, and can lead to major infections, pneumonia, collapsed lungs, heart failure, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological trauma. Force-feeding prisoners who are on a voluntary and informed hunger strike a form of peaceful expression goes against internationally agreed standards on the treatment of prisoners that China has agreed to, it said. It said the World Medical Association has repeatedly condemned force-feeding of competent prisoners. Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia called on the international community to protest Guo's treatment. "The authorities can't be allowed to do as they please behind closed doors," Hu told RFA on Thursday. "The Communist Party [is fine] with him refusing food, because that way, they don't need to execute him by lethal injection or with a bullet." "But things have reached a crisis point ... and it looks as if Guo may wind up paying the price with his life," he said. Hu, who has himself refused food while in detention, said every day can easily seem like a year, as the prolonged hunger starts to take its toll on the body. "I really don't want to see Guo turn into a martyr for the cause," he said. Health deteriorating Guo looked as if he had lost around one-third of his former body the last time his lawyer visited him on June 20, while his sister Yang Maoping has been denied permission to see him since June 7, HRW said. Yang told RFA in a recent interview: "His health is getting worse and worse. He's no longer on hunger strike because they are force-feeding him, but he's still not getting enough nutrition, and he is losing weight." "I really hope that he will stop refusing food, and that they will give him a proper medical check-up," she said. Guo has vowed to continue his hunger strike until the authorities implement democratic reforms, end the use of electric shocks in prison, improve the treatment of political prisoners, and ratify a United Nations covenant on civil and political rights. During pretrial detention, Guo was held in a cell for two-and-a-half years without being allowed out for exercise, contrary to prison regulations. Over the past year, he has suffered intermittent bloody or watery stools, as well as occasional bleeding in the mouth and throat, according to his sister. According to HRW, Yangchun Prison twice admitted him to hospitals once to Yangchun Prison Hospital and another time to Yangjiang City People's Hospital in Guangdong Province between April and May. "He was given medical checks, he was not treated or diagnosed," HRW said, adding that Guo is currently in a crowded cell where the prison guards frequently insult him. Guo began his hunger strike after being subjected to a forced rectal cavity search at the instigation of state security police, as well as forced head shaving and verbal abuse from prison guards, rights groups have said. Guo was sentenced last November for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" and "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" after a prolonged period in pretrial detention. During his sentencing hearing, Guo shouted in protest at his treatment while in police custody, where he was held in solitary confinement in a small, dark cell and denied permission to exercise outdoors since August 2013. According to a June report from the Pew Research Center, more than 60 percent of respondents in 14 democratic countries across North America, Europe, and Asia believe that the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. In the United States, around 80 percent of people polled think that the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. Attitudes have become more negative since President Xi Jinping came to power, launching nationwide crackdowns on freedom of speech, non-government rights activism and civil society, the U.S.-based Dui Hui Foundation cited the report as saying. Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Democracy activists found guilty of 'unlawful assembly' in Hong Kong court Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Democracy activists found guilty of 'unlawful assembly' in Hong Kong court, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52313.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow speak to reporters outside Hong Kong's Eastern Court, July 21, 2016. RFA Three leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong have been found guilty of public order charges linked to a mass sit-in that kicked off the 79-day Occupy Central campaign for fully democratic elections. Former student leaders Joshua Wong and Alex Chow, and legislative election candidate Nathan Law, were found guilty of taking part in an unlawful assembly at the city's Eastern Magistrates Court on Thursday. All three had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment. However, presiding judge June Cheung acquitted Wong of a charge of inciting others to take part in the illegal assembly. Law was found guilty of the same charge. The three activists remained defiant after their bail was extended pending sentencing on Aug. 15. "Apart from respecting judicial independence and the rule of law, I still disagree with the final result from the court, because I think that everyone should ensure and gain the right to organize and participate in any kind of assembly," Wong told reporters outside the court. "I think that is the human right of every citizen who lives in Hong Kong." "We may need to go to prison," he said. "But whatever the penalty or the price we have to pay, we will continue to fight against suppression from the government." Wong said the fight for democracy under the ruling Chinese Communist Party is "a long-term battle." Less room for dissent Law said the case shows that there is less and less room for dissent in Hong Kong, which was promised the continuation of its traditional freedoms of speech and assembly for 50 years, under the terms of the1997 handover to China. "We are not afraid of any repression, and when it gets stronger, we will also get stronger," said Law, who recently tendered his nomination papers to run in September's Legislative Council (LegCo) elections for the fledgling political party Demosisto. "This case will be a very important case [that shows] the attitude of the Hong Kong government towards peaceful assembly is ... getting tightened, and they will use whatever tools they can to repress people who fight for their rights," he said. The charges were brought after the three activists climbed into a cordoned-off area in front of city government headquarters, an area known as Civic Square, at the start of the Occupy Central movement in September 2014. Rights groups hit out at Thursday's verdict, saying it sent a "chilling warning" on freedom of expression in the formerly freewheeling city. "The prosecution of student leaders on vague charges smacks of political payback by the authorities," Mabel Au, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said in a statement. "The continued persecution of prominent figures of the Umbrella Movement is a blow to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Hong Kong," she said. Vague wording Police handling of the initial protest and the arrests of the student leaders at that time were a crucial factor in tens of thousands of pro-democracy supporters taking to the streets in the days immediately afterwards, the group said. It hit out at "vague" wording in public order legislation, which has been repeatedly criticized by the UN Human Rights Committee for failing to fully meet international human rights law and standards on the right of peaceful assembly. "The authorities must stop using vague laws in an attempt to intimidate people from exercising their right to peaceful assembly," Au said. "Prosecutions aimed at shutting down participation in peaceful protests must be dropped." The group cited police figures showing that more than 1,000 people were arrested in connection with the Occupy Central, or Umbrella, movement, of whom 216 people have been prosecuted,or continue to face charges for their alleged involvement in the protests. The Occupy movement campaigned for Beijing to withdraw an Aug, 31, 2014 electoral reform plan, which it rejected as "fake universal suffrage," and to allow publicly nominated candidates to run for chief executive in 2017. The plan, which offered a one-person, one-vote in 2017 elections for chief executive,but required candidates to be vetted by Beijing, was voted down on June 18, 2015 by 28 votes to eight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, leaving the city with its existing voting arrangements still in place. Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Demolition begins at Larung Gar Buddhist academy in Sichuan Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Demolition begins at Larung Gar Buddhist academy in Sichuan, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52415.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 Destroyed structures are shown at Larung Gar as demolition work begins, July 20, 2016. Photo sent by an RFA listener Chinese work crews on Wednesday began to tear down large sections of a sprawling Tibetan Buddhist study center in southwestern China's Sichuan province, moving ahead under central government orders to reduce the institute's size. The demolition at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serthar (in Chinese, Seda) county began in the early morning hours, a resident monk told RFA's Tibetan Service, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The work started at 8:00 a.m. on July 20, beginning with those structures that were not already recorded in the government's record of permitted dwellings," RFA's source said. "The work crews are all [Han] Chinese," he said. Larung Gar's monastic leaders have urged the institute's monks and nuns not to protest or resist the destruction of their homes, and the work is proceeding so far without interference, the source said. "But with an uncertain future hanging over our heads, we are filled with sadness and sorrow." Many thousands of Tibetans and Han Chinese study at Larung Gar, which was founded in 1980 by the late religious teacher Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok and is one of the world's largest and most important centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism. The order now to reduce the number of Larung Gar's residents to a maximum level of 5,000 is not a county plan "but comes from higher authorities," with China's president Xi Jinping taking a personal interest in the matter, sources told RFA in earlier reports. "We don't know how much has already been torn down, as we are not allowed to visit the site," RFA's source said. Larung Gar usually bustles each summer with pilgrims who come from other parts of China and Tibet to visit, "but now there are restrictions on traveling here," he said. "Our monks and nuns are consumed with worry, but there is nothing we can do." In a statement Thursday, London-based rights group Free Tibet condemned the demolition under way at Larung Gar. "Whether it is demolitions of monasteries or arresting Tibetans for possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama, religion in Tibet is subject to relentless interference by the Chinese government," Free Tibet said. Reported by RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. In China's Xinjiang a way of life waits to die Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, In China's Xinjiang a way of life waits to die, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52513.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 Tomurti villiage in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is shown in this undated file photo. RFA Yadi Rehim sat outside his mud house in Tomurti village waiting for his way of life to disappear. The Tengritagh (in Chinese, Tianshan) Mountains still reach for the azure sky like they always have. The bleats of goats still echo through the high mountain valley and the smell of wood cooking smoke still clings to the buildings. But as Radi Rehim sits in front of his house, he knows his days here are numbered. "There are only 24 families left in our village because they refused to sign agreements to be relocated," Yadi Rehim tells RFA's Uyghur Service. "I am one of the few remaining holdouts." Yadi Rehim and his village are facing the human equivalent of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates that lifted the Tianshan Mountains toward the sky. Yadi Rehim and the rest of the Uyghurs an ethnic Turkic people who practice Islam are caught between the inevitable push of modernity and the Chinese desire to exploit the area for its mineral wealth and tourism potential. "I don't know what will happen us in the near future," Yadi Rehim said. "The school, hospital, and other facilities are already closed, and our kids can't go to school anymore." Rights groups accuse Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people. China regularly vows to crack down on what it calls the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism in Xinjiang. But experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur separatists, and that domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012. Many Uyghurs fear that the Han Chinese are, at best, trying to marginalize them, and, at worst, trying to stamp them out completely. "We have seen our villages and pastures being turned into tourist resorts. Now Chinese companies occupy our villages," Radi Rehim said. "The old life and local nomadic heritage is going to vanish without a trace." A massive move According to the official Xinhua news agency, Chinese authorities plan to move 600,000 local farmers and herders in Xinjiang away from their farms and pastures into more urbanized settings as part of its 12th Five Year Plan, covering 2011-15. Another villager, Eysa Yehya, told RFA that two years ago most of the local herders about 1,200 of the residents of Tomurti and nearby Nernasu village in Tengritagh (Tianshan) township were relocated to the suburban resettlement areas of Kumul city (in Chinese, Hami). To the Chinese, Beijing is freeing the Uyghurs from their centuries of toil. "Araturk (Yiwu) County's party committee and government has issued a plan to liberate farmers from the ketmen and herders from the qamcha," said a high ranking county official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A ketmen is a traditional digging took used by Uyghur farmers, while a qamcha is a type of whip used by Uyghur herders. "We have a plan where there will be no room for anyone who engages purely in farming or herding within three to five years in the future at Araturk county," the official told RFA. On Dec. 23, 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban-rural Construction of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Government published new statistical data stating that the during the 12th Five Year Plan, the Xinjiang government invested a total of 120 million yuan (U.S. $20 million) to start a new resettlement construction project for 1.5 million local families and relocated almost six million farmers and herders. According to the Asian Central Times (Yazhou Zhongxin Shibao) which is published by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Political Consultative Committee, local authorities relocated as many as 300 families from nearby villages during the past five years. Chinese authorities don't plan on stopping there, having announced that a half-million local farmers and herders in Xinjiang are waiting to be relocated, and RFA has learned that the autonomous regional government plans to broaden investment in its relocation project during the 13th Five year Plan, which covers 2016-20. 'Two basic intentions' "I think there are two basic intentions behind the government's relocation plan," says Yadi Rehim. "One is that the territory of our mountain village is full of various mines and underground resources. "The other one is that the beautiful mountain scenes and the snow have attracted Chinese tourism companies' attention. Therefore, the authorities forcibly moved us from our old villages, where our parents and ancestors lived for centuries." Since the end of the 1990s, Araturk County has sped up industrialization following China's "great western development" policy, a high-ranking Uyghur official told RFA on condition of anonymity. The policy was instituted in the late 1990s in an effort by Beijing to boost the economy of western China to help it catch up with booming coastal areas. "Mining and newly developed industries changed everything in our county," the Uyghur official said. "The local traditional lifestyle and semi-nomadic, semi-agricultural production ways were challenged by the new industry." 'New socialist workers' He added: "Most of the herders and farmers were relocated. The local farmers were liberated from their land and herders from their pastures within three to five years. Thus, most of the local farmers and herders became new socialist workers." Work, however, seems to have eluded the Uyghurs. "They complain to me that the authorities only provide the elderly people with a so-called poverty subsistence allowance around 300 yuan (U.S. $50) per month," Yadi Rehim said. "The situation of young people is more difficult. Some of them were only given janitorial jobs and other low-paying work. Some of them became jobless." Other promises made by the Chinese to get the Uyghurs to move have also been broken, he said. "In order to persuade us to move, they gave us various promises such as new apartments, jobs, monthly living allowances and free medical insurance as well as five years free of taxes," Yadi Rehim said. "So, some of residents signed the agreements to be relocated and most of the village has been moved out." But Yadi Rehim says the villagers began to have second thoughts. "Some of the relocated families regret their decision and want to return to their old village, but they have lost their ancestral living spaces forever," he said. "In the past, although they didn't have enough money, they had their own houses, living spaces, pastures and livestock. Now, they have nothing but a small cement apartment." Reported and translated by Eset Sulaiman for RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Rights group calls on Myanmar government to try soldiers in civilian courts Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Rights group calls on Myanmar government to try soldiers in civilian courts, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52611.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 By Roseanne Gerin Villagers prepare to carry the corpse of a civilian found in a shallow grave in Long Mon village of Mong Yaw subtownship in Myanmar's northern Shan state, June 30, 2016. RFA An international rights group called on the Myanmar government on Wednesday to try national army soldiers who killed five unarmed civilians in volatile northern Shan state last month in a civilian court to ensure justice for victims of human rights abuses by the armed forces. A battalion of soldiers, who arrived in Yong Maw subtownship on June 25 looking for Shan rebel troops, shot dead five villagers during an interrogation near a cornfield where some of them were working and dumped their bodies in shallow graves. They also deposited the bodies of two young men they shot who were passing through the area on motorbikes and failed to stop at a checkpoint. The seven were from the Shan or Palaung (Ta'ang) ethnic minority groups who live in Shan state. The military, in a rare admission of wrongdoing, said Wednesday that some of its soldiers had killed the five villagers, but did not take responsibility for the deaths of the other two men. Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo, Myanmar's chief of military intelligence, told a press conference in the commercial capital Yangon that the army is investigating the cases of the seven deaths and will try the soldiers who killed the five civilians in a court martial. In response, London-based Amnesty International issued a statement urging the national government to ensure the military is held accountable for human rights abuses and to make those who commit them stand trial in a civilian court. "This case is an important reminder of the need to reform the military and judicial systems in Myanmar," said Rafendi Djamin, director for South East Asia and the Pacific, in a statement. "Although it is important that steps are taken to ensure those responsible for serious human rights violations are held to account, military tribunals are not the solution," he said. "The authorities in Myanmar must take immediate action to ensure that human rights violators can be effectively tried before independent, civilian courts anything less would only serve to perpetuate the cycle of impunity," he said. Willing to cooperate The killings come at a time when Myanmar's powerful army has indicated a willingness to participate in the government's peace conference in late August with various armed ethnic rebel groups. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto national leader, has made peace and national reconciliation a key goal of her civilian-led administration, which came to power in April. The military and eight armed ethnic groups agreed to end hostilities in a nationwide cease-fire agreement signed last October under the previous army-backed government, though other rebel armies were excluded or refused to participate. But rights groups believe that Myanmar's military needs to undergo reform to keep in step with the country's continued democratic development. A military junta ruled Myanmar for five decades until 2011, and continues to control a quarter of the seats in parliament as well as three key defense and security ministries. It has also continued to engage in battles with armed ethnic rebels groups in Shan state and elsewhere. Rights groups have accused both government troops and ethnic rebel soldiers of human rights violations in Shan state, including kidnapping, torturing, and killing civilians and forcing them to work as laborers. Victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by the military are often fearful of speaking out. "While it's positive that the authorities are investigating this case, the reality is that all too often victims and their families are denied access to justice, truth and reparations, and have faced reprisals when reporting cases of military abuse," Djamin said about the killings in Yong Maw. "This has to stop and Myanmar's new government must make it clear that no one is above the law," he said. Denying involvement After villagers discovered the corpses on June 30, the government army denied any involvement, and the military-owned news outlet Myawaddy issued a report saying that the bodies belonged to Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) rebels. The TNLA one of the armed ethnic groups that still engages in clashes with the Myanmar army in Shan state was excluded from signing the peace pact last October because of ongoing hostilities with the Myanmar army. Fighting in the state between the national army and ethnic insurgents has displaced thousands of people. Nevertheless, a Myanmar army deputy regional commander visited the families of the five victims in Mong Yaw in early July and gave each a "donation" of 300,000 kyats (U.S. $257). The parents of the two brothers who were shot on their motorbikes have filed a missing persons report with police in Lashio township to start an official investigation of the incident. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Police in China's Sichuan hold petitioners, activist ahead of G20 finance talks Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Police in China's Sichuan hold petitioners, activist ahead of G20 finance talks, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52720.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 Petitioners seeking to air complaints about China's government are taken by bus away from the site of G20 finance meeting, July 21, 2016. Photo courtesy of Huang Qi. Authorities in China's southwestern province of Sichuan have detained the founder of a prominent rights website, taking him and 17 other activists on a forced "vacation" ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in his hometown at the weekend. Chengdu-based rights activist Huang Qi, who founded the Tianwang rights website, spoke to RFA en route to the remote mountainous region of Xichang in southwestern Sichuan. He is currently being escorted and watched round-the-clock by four state security police. "Six police officers came to my home at 10.00 a.m. today, and asked for my cooperation," Huang said. "They wanted me not to be in Chengdu for the duration of the G20 summit, so they sent people to escort me to Xichang on vacation." "I am en route to Xichang right now," he said, adding that he had no option but to go along with the plan. "The police told me very clearly that I would be able to carry out all of my normal activities remotely, and they would send somebody with me," Huang said. "I will be able to continue all of my rights work from Xichang," he said. At least 17 detained Huang said some 17 Chengdu activists were also detained. The Tianwang website, which mostly tracks attempts to lodge complaints against the ruling Chinese Communist Party through official channels, relies on petitioners and citizen journalists for its updates on rights campaigns. "I know of 17 people who have been detained near the venue for the summmit," Huang said. He said the petitioners, who included petitioners Dong Chunmo, Li Tinghui, Ye Shanghong, Li Zhaoxiu and Li Jianying, had planned to protest the loss of their farmland outside the summit, but were taken instead to a nearby police station. "Some of them were escorted away on 'vacation,'" Huang said. "There were some who traveled up from Chongqing in the hope of heading to the G20 venue, but I'm pretty sure they were sent away on vacation by the authorities as soon as they got there." Chengdu-based Li Jianying said he had seen large numbers of police vehicles parked up around the G20 meeting venue. "Today, I went to the G20 summit venue to air my grievances, and now I've been locked up by police in Maijia guesthouse in Fenghuang Shan, along with a group of other petitioners," he said. "I am calling you without their knowledge." "There are police, police cars and even fire trucks," Li said. "There are also several dozen private security personnel and the police have cordoned off the whole area around the summit venue." Li said he had counted 17 detainees in total. Round-the-clock surveillance Some of those detained were from Sichuan's Mianjiang district, fellow petitioner Wang Rongwen told RFA. "Three people came from the neighborhood committee [in Mianjiang] and took [Luo Xiuling] on vacation," Wang said. "She refused to go, so they dragged her off, and forced her to go." "She's under round-the-clock surveillance in the Xilin mountain district now. They also forcibly vacationed Peng Tianhui and Yan Tafeng from Jinniu district." China, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20 group of nations this year, will host a meeting of finance ministers and officials in Chengdu from July 23-24. The summit mechanism was set up at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, in a bid to kickstart a global economic recovery. Huang was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2011 after launching an investigation into shoddy school construction blamed for thousands of child deaths during the massive 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Huang was convicted of "illegally possessing state secrets" by the Wuhou District Court in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu. Huang's wife Zeng Li said at the time that the court handed down a severe three-year sentence because of what it described as his "tendency to relapse into criminal activities" following his release from jail in 2005. Huang launched the Tianwang website in 1999, initially to provide assistance to China's most vulnerable citizens, but soon became involved in more contemporary rights work, in particular giving a voice to people displaced by government land grabs and forced evictions. He was arrested June 3, 2000, on charges of voicing grievances for victims of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and for sympathizing with members of the banned Falun Gong religious group. After being sentenced on May 9, 2003 to a five-year jail term, Huang was released in 2005 after his pretrial detention period was counted towards the total. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Lao police investigate killing of Chinese national in Vientiane Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Lao police investigate killing of Chinese national in Vientiane, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef527c.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 The map shows Sikhottabong district of the Lao capital Vientiane where a Chinese national was shot dead on July 11, 2016. RFA Lao police are hunting for the person who shot dead a Chinese woman during an attempted robbery as she and her husband walked along a road in the capital Vientiane on July 11, the police officer in charge of the case said Wednesday. Lee-Yen Tin, the 45-year-old manager of the Sang Chieng Chinese trade center in the capital's Sikhottabong district, died during the apparent robbery that turned deadly on the T2 road, also known as Asean Road, said a person close to Tin who requested anonymity. A witness said a man and a woman pulled up on a motorbike, confronted the couple with a gun, and demanded her handbag around 9:25 p.m., according to a Vientiane Times report. When she refused, the woman on the bike shot her in the back, killing her instantly as the bullet passed through her chest, the report said. "We have not yet arrested the perpetrator and are now collecting information and evidence from witnesses and CCTV video cameras in order to capture the image of the killer," the officer, who requested anonymity, told RFA's Lao Service. "If the killer is Chinese we will hand her over to Chinese authorities, but if she is Lao, she must be prosecuted here," he said. The Chinese embassy is urging Lao authorities to arrest the shooter as quickly as possible. "We are cooperating with local police to investigate and arrest the perpetrator and punish her," Hong Chiang, secretary to the Chinese ambassador to Laos, told RFA. "According to a witness, the motive was robbery," he said. "The investigation is the responsibility of Lao police," Hong Chiang said. "If there are businessmen or Chinese people who know about the killing, we want them to provide details to the police as further evidence." Other shooting deaths Other incidents of Chinese nationals being shot to death in Laos occurred earlier this year, although robbery did not appear to be the motive of the attacks by unknown gunmen. On March 1, a Chinese man died and three others were injured when armed "bandits" shot them as they were logging in Viengkham village in Luang Prabang province's Phoukhoun district, a retired soldier with high-ranking contacts and Lao authorities told RFA at the time. The logging company they worked for is clearing land for the Nam Ngum 3 hydropower project. Later that same month, unidentified gunmen wounded six Chinese nationals on a bus along a road in central Laos between Tham and Houasan villages in the Kasy district of Vientiane province about 175 kilometers (105 miles) north of the capital Vientiane. The bus was heading to the Lao capital from Kunming in southwestern China's Yunnan province. China is an important investor and trade partner for fellow communist country Laos. Although China's growing economic footprint in Laos has caused some local discontent, none of the attacks that have involved Chinese nationals has been accompanied by political statements or any indication of motive. Reported by Lanxang for RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanah. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Three Lao workers held in Vientiane are denied family visits Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 21 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Three Lao workers held in Vientiane are denied family visits, 21 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52815.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-21 A map showing Laos. RFA Three Lao citizens arrested in March for criticizing their government and ruling party via social media while working in Thailand are being held in a jail in the capital Vientiane, where they are denied family visits while waiting to be tried, sources said. Somphone Phimmasone, 29, his girlfriend Lod Thammavong, 30, and Soukane Chaithad, 32, disappeared after returning to Laos earlier this year to renew their passports, their family and friends told RFA's Lao Service in a previous report. Police acknowledged in May that the three had been taken into custody in Laos' Khammouane province and later transferred to Vientiane. They are now detained at the Phonethan jail in Vientiane's Sisatthanak district, Soukane's father told RFA's Lao Service. "They are being held there for sure, because we can bring food to them there, though we are not allowed to meet with them," Soukane's father said. "The police have told us that we will be able to see them sometime during the next few months after they have been tried and sentenced," he said. Reached by an RFA reporter for comment, Lt. Col. Phoumiphone Somsihapanya of the Ministry of Public Security's intelligence department refused to discuss the case. Media controls Lao journalists have been similarly discouraged from looking too closely into the matter, one local reporter told RFA. "In the case of the three detained workers, I once asked the police for an interview and they told me to send them a letter requesting permission," the reporter said. "But when I sent it to them, they never replied," he said. Media controls in Laos have meanwhile been tightened even more as talks get under way at the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, scheduled for July 21 through July 26 in Vientiane, one source working in the Lao media said. "We are being restricted in our reporting on the Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and all news must come from press releases issued by the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "A few days ago, a ministry official accused one reporter from a Lao news agency of editing the content in a press release, and his report was taken off of their website," he said. Reported and translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA's Lao Service. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Detained Tibetan protester identified as housewife, mother of two Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Detained Tibetan protester identified as housewife, mother of two, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52912.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 Tibetan protester Konchok Drolma is shown in an undated photo. Photo sent by an RFA listener A previously unnamed Tibetan woman detained by police last week for staging a solo protest in Sichuan's Ngaba county has been identified as Konchok Drolma, a housewife and mother of two young children, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile say. "She has a seven-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter," a Tibetan man living in Switzerland named Sonam told RFA's Tibetan Service on July 22, citing sources in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county. "She is a stay-at-home mother and an ordinary housewife," Sonam said. "Her mother's name is Tamdrin Kyi." Drolma, who wore a white dress and appeared to be in her 20s, was taken into custody at around 4:00 p.m. on July 14 while walking down a street known locally as Heroes Road in the Ngaba county seat, an area resident told RFA's Tibetan Service in an earlier report. She was holding up a photo of [exiled Tibetan spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Drolma was quickly overpowered and taken away by Chinese police stationed along Heroes Road, the site of many protests by Tibetans in the past, the source said. Her current condition and whereabouts are still unknown. 'Inconvenient to speak' The protest sparked a brief flurry of comments online from area residents, with some saying that Drolma, then still unidentified, had come from Ngaba county's Churle Karma village, where one resident told a reporter on Friday he had not heard about the incident. "Besides, it is inconvenient for me to speak about this on the phone. It is better in particular not to say anything about issues related to Tibetan politics," he said. Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas closely watch exchanges on the internet and record conversations on the popular social media platform WeChat, routinely detaining and questioning anyone suspected of spreading news about Tibetan protests to outside contacts. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Sonam Wangdu and Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Lao officials tell Chinese company to take down illegal wall along major roadway Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Lao officials tell Chinese company to take down illegal wall along major roadway, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52a28.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 A motorcyclist rides along Route 13 beside a brick wall built by a Chinese company in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, July 2016. RFA Lao officials have asked a Chinese construction company to destroy a brick wall it illegally erected along a major roadway as part of a dam project in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, a provincial transportation official said. The wall extends from a bridge across the Nam-Ou River on which the company has built the Nam-ou 1 dam. The Chinese Nam-Ou Dam Company Ltd. erected the 600-meter (1,970-foot) long, two-meter (6.6-foot) high wall in Pak-Ou district in 2015 much closer to highway Route 13 than the distance stipulated by law, said Fasanan Thammavong, director general of the Public Works and Transport Department in Luang Prabang. The areas on both sides of national main roads are reserved for possible future expansions and upgrades, and nothing can be built on them, he said. "We informed the Ministry of Energy and Mines to cooperate with the Chinese [company] to strictly implement the law pertaining to national highways by destroying the wall because there must not be any buildings within 25 meters [82 feet] on either side of the roadway," Fasanan told RFA's Lao Service on Wednesday. "The Chinese company that constructed the dam has not respected the rule of law," he said. Provincial authorities have ordered the company to destroy the wall along the part of the main road which is under the provincial administration of the Luang Prabang Public Works and Transport Department, he said. The national main road is under the administration of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. "The provincial public works and transport department had a meeting and told the company to stop building the wall, but the company still insisted on building it because it said the area is included in its land concession," he said. A bad example "Th wall violates the law along the national main road and causes barriers for road construction and upgrades," Pheang Douang-ngeun, director general of the national ministry's Road-Bridge Department, said, according to a document obtained by RFA. Building the wall sets a bad example for other companies working on projects because they will also assume that they can build on the reserved areas along other main roads, Pheang said. The wall is not only illegal, but also obstructs motorists' vision, and sometimes causes accidents, according to local villagers. A New Zealand man who was touring Laos by motorcycle crashed into the wall on June 13 and was killed instantly, they said. Route 13 is the most important highway in the country. It begins at the Lao town of Boten at the Chinese border, links the capital Vientiane with Luang Prabang in the north, and roughly follows the Mekong River to the Cambodian border. Although it is a major thoroughfare, it is narrow with some sharp curves, unlit at night, and lacks road markings. Reported by RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Former leader of China's rebel village formally arrested as protests continue Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Former leader of China's rebel village formally arrested as protests continue, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52a9.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 Detained former Wukan village party secretary Lin Zuluan is shown in a file photo in 2014. AFP Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have formally arrested the former head of a rebel village government, amid ongoing protests over a bitter land dispute in the coastal village of Wukan. Lin Zuluan, who was detained amid renewed protests last month, has been formally arrested on suspicion of "accepting bribes," according to an online statement by the Shanwei municipal government, which oversees Wukan but was sidelined by provincial authorities in the resolution of 2011 clashes in the village. "Lin Zuluan has been formally arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, and investigations continue," the statement said. Prosecutors have accused Lin of pocketing a large sum of money through contracting village infrastructure projects, and he has "confessed" on local television. But local people remember earlier clashes in 2011, when Lin directed a series of nonviolent protests over the mass selloff of land by his predecessor Xue Chang, during which protester Xue Jinbo died in police custody, igniting mass displays of public mourning that further kindled public anger. "Every day, about 5,000 or 6,000 people march through the streets to demand justice for party secretary Lin," a Wukan resident surnamed Zhang told RFA on Friday. "They gather every day at about 5.00 p.m. outside the village government offices." "Lin was framed," Zhang said. "We will keep doing this until they let him go. All of the villagers are behind him." He said police hadn't yet tried to stop the protests, but were patrolling the village on a daily basis, watching the proceedings. Many protesters' phones are now being monitored, he said, making it harder for them to make contact with the outside world. "They locked us down. The whole area is now under government control," Zhang said. "The internet, the phones, everything is under their control." "We can't even make calls outside the area," he said. Lawyers denied access Two rights lawyers hired by Lin's family to represent him have been denied access to their client, and were warned off taking the case by local authorities, who appointed their own lawyers instead. An employee who answered the phone at the offices of Lin's government-appointed lawyers said that neither of them was there. "I don't know [when they're coming back]," the employee said, before taking a message. No response was received by the time of publication. Hubei-based electoral expert and former independent People's Congress deputy Yao Lifa said the authorities are playing it safe around Wukan, in the hope of avoiding an escalation of the kind that brought it world media attention back in 2011. "The government is being very clever about this," Yao said. "You may be sure that they have calculated very precisely when to move and when to do nothing." He called on the government to address the root cause of the protests the return of Wukan farmland as soon as possible. Calls for release Wukan residents have been protesting for Lin's release on and off since last month, carrying Chinese national flags and banners, and chanting: "Give us back our land! Give us back our party secretary!" and "Lin Zuluan is innocent!" In 2011, Wukan's villagers manned barricades to stop police from entering their homes and detaining any more people. Their cause was eventually taken up by the Guangdong provincial authorities, who overruled local officials in Lufeng, removing Xue Chang from his post on corruption charges and ordering a one-person, one-vote election for his replacement. However, though Lin was appointed head of the village committee and several of the 2011 protest leaders were elected as a result, very little was done to retrieve Wukan's lost farmland, villagers said. Then, in July 2014, former protest leaders Hong Ruichao and Yang Semao, who had both served on the newly elected village committee, were jailed for four and two years respectively for "accepting bribes." Relatives said the charges against them were trumped-up by local officials in an act of political revenge. Villagers last month persuaded Lin to mastermind a new land petition campaign, which he had always insisted must be orderly and respectful of the law. But his detention pre-empted a planned public meeting, and set renewed street protests in motion. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. North Korea bans formerly approved films now deemed sensitive Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, North Korea bans formerly approved films now deemed sensitive, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52b12.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 A man walks through a deserted film set at the Korean Feature Film Studio just outside Pyongyang in a file photo. AFP Government authorities in North Korea have banned 10 films formerly approved by the state and produced at government expense, fearing that the movies' themes may inspire popular discontent with the rule of national leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean sources say. Many of the films had been in circulation for years, and had already been shown many times in theaters and on television. Though films produced in North Korea have been banned in the past, "this is the first time that so many have banned at one time," a source in North Korea's North Hamgyong province told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity. "No explanation was given to the public for the order," RFA's source said. The now-forbidden films include "Unknown Heroes," "Nunsokyi of the Spring," "Taehongan, High-Ranking Secretary," and "The Schoolgirl's Diary," among other titles, and all had been produced and previously promoted by North Korea's government at great expense. Some of the banned films carry historical themes focusing on corruption and political misrule and on the overthrow of incompetent rulers, though, the source in North Hamgyong said. "North Koreans who have watched these movies have been surprised at how well they reflect the reality of life in North Korea, and this may be why they were banned," he said. Another reason for the ban may be that the male lead in one film, and female lead in another, had been closely related to Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed in December 2013 for "having attempted to overthrow the state," a second North Hamgyong source said. "North Korean citizens don't watch North Korean movies anymore, even if they are told to," the source said. "All you see on television are videos about worshiping Kim Jong Un." "Why would anyone want to look at North Korean movies?" he asked. Reported by Jieun Kim. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Political alliance crafts a common policy for Myanmar peace conference Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Political alliance crafts a common policy for Myanmar peace conference, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52c13.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 The map shows the town of Mai Ja Yang in northern Myanmar's Kachin state. RFA Myanmar's United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) is working on the formation of a coordinated platform based on common policies on key issues as it prepares for the government's Panglong Peace Conference in late August, an official involved in the process said Friday. The members of the group, which consists of a dozen ethnic political parties, will attend an armed ethnic groups' summit on July 26 in Mai Ja Yang in northern Myanmar's Kachin state, to discuss a federal union, politics, the military and an interpretation of the original Panglong Peace Agreement of 1947. For help with sorting out a unified policy for the peace conference, the UNA has consulted the Ethnic Nationalities Affairs Center (ENAC), an independent organization created in July 2013 to support Myanmar's peace process and the development of democratic institutions in the country by engaging with political stakeholders, civil society, and the international community. "The ENAC has created nine policies, including ones pertaining to education, health care, and natural resources, with different organizations outside Myanmar," Sai Nyunt Lwin, General Secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), a UNA member. "Because we will begin the 21st-Century Panglong Conference soon, we are updating these policies with UNA member groups inside Myanmar for the first time today," he told RFA's Myanmar Service. The UNA will make any necessary amendments to its policies during the meeting next week, after which the group will discuss the policies with other political parties and civil society organizations, he said. "Every political party has its basic policies," Nyunt Lwin said. "If a party is in talks without having a policy, it could be chaotic. But we will not stand only on our policies and will welcome better ideas and other thoughts." In the meantime, the UNA is trying to settle on an approach for getting concrete policies upon which every group agrees, he said. "When the Panglong Conference begins, we can quickly discuss these policies if we have our draft policies ready," Nyunt Lwin said. Government peace negotiators, military representatives, and leaders from various political and armed ethnic groups will attend the Panglong Conference organized by Myanmar's de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "I think the ethnic groups will have something that they want after the Panglong Conference, but it depends on the willingness and wishes of the military and government as well as all stakeholders' goals and goodwill," Nyunt Lwin said. The UNA also discussed preparations for the peace conference and forming a federal union during a meeting it held on June 30-July 2. A common goal Aung San Suu Kyi has made peace and national reconciliation between Myanmar's armed ethnic groups and the government military a priority of the NLD government. Her father, General Aung San, arranged the first Panglong Conference in 1947 to grant autonomy to the Shan, Kachin, and Chin ethnic minorities before Myanmar gained its independence from colonial rule by Britain. Panglong is a town in southern Shan State where the first conference was held. But Aung San's assassination in July 1947 prevented the agreements made during the conference from being implemented, and many ethnic groups took up arms against the central government in wars that continued for decades. "When [the first] Panglong Agreement was signed, all ethnic groups shared the goal of fighting together for freedom from the British, and we achieved our goal," Nyunt Lwin said. "But we haven't achieved a federal union with equality of rights and power yet. We must try to achieve this goal during the 21st-Century Panglong Conference." "Working on peace between previous and current governments is not that different, although the people who are working on peace have changed," he said. "We should have hope for peace because goodwill can be changed as people change. It is better to be in peace talks than to be fighting." Besides the SNLD, UNA's members include the Mon National Party, Kayan National Party, Kayin National Party, Rakhine National Party, Shan State Kokang Democratic Party, Zomi Democracy Federation, Kachin National Democracy Congress Party, Khume (Khami) National Party, Rakhine Patriotic Party, Mro National Democracy Party, and Danu Nationalities Democracy Party. Eight armed groups that signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement with the previous government last October will also attend the Mai Ja Yang summit. Reported by Myo Zaw Ko for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Tibetans in Sichuan parade photo of Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese ban Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Tibetans in Sichuan parade photo of Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese ban, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52dc.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-22 Map showing Bathang county in Sichuan's Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. RFA Defying Chinese bans and threats of punishment, villagers in a Tibetan-populated county of southwestern China's Sichuan province carried a large photo of the Dalai Lama in open procession this week at the beginning of an annual summer picnic and horse race, sources said. The July 17 parade by residents of Powa village in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) prefecture's Bathang (Batang) county was led by a motorcade carrying a life-size image of the exiled spiritual leader and followed by a score of horsemen in traditional dress, a Tibetan living in New York told RFA's Tibetan Service. "The colorfully decorated motorcade carrying the Dalai Lama's image moved on amid the blowing of horns and clashing of cymbals to a sacred site on a hill at the foot of a mountain," RFA's source said, citing contacts in his native Bathang. "There, everyone gathered with ceremonial scarves in their hands to pray for his blessing." The annual summer picnic at Powa village, which lies about three hours' drive from the Bathang county seat, draws an estimated 2,000 people each year from nine communities in the area, the source said. "But the procession with the Dalai Lama's photo was begun four years ago, with the image carried at first on horseback and then moved to a motorcade last year." Chinese authorities blocked mobile phone and internet connections ahead of this year's festival, but no police restrictions were reported at the festival site itself, RFA's source said. The Dalai Lama, 81, fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 national uprising against Chinese rule, and public displays of his photo in Tibetan areas of China have been met with harsh punishment in the past. Reported by Guru Choegyi for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Millions of Cambodians join Kem Ley funeral procession Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 24 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Millions of Cambodians join Kem Ley funeral procession, 24 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52e4.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-24 Cambodian mourners pack the streets of Phnom Penh as Kem Ley's funeral procession leaves the capital for his home in Takeo province, July 24, 2016. RFA Millions of mourners lined Cambodia's highways to pay respects to popular government critic Kem Ley on Sunday, two weeks after his murder shocked the nation and underscored simmering political tensions. Two million people turned out to see the flower-covered glass coffin of Kem Ley taken from Watt Bodhiyaram in the capital Phnom Penh to his home village in the southwestern province of Takeo. Mourners from all walks of life and many parts of the country joined in the funeral procession, some traveling the entire 78 km (50 miles) from the capital to Takeo. Others stood on both sides of the road as the funeral procession passed, sharing supplying food, fruits and water to marching mourners. Kem Ley, 46, who will be buried on Monday, was also honored in large gatherings across the nation on Sunday, two weeks after he was shot dead at a gas station convenience store where he was having coffee. "The authorities must launch a full investigation with the participation of independent experts participate to reveal the truth," said Eng Chay Eang, a senior official of the opposition Cambodia National Renewal Party (CNRP), who joined the funeral procession. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oueth Ang with premeditated murder on July 13 for the execution-style killing of Kem Ley. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, but many in Cambodia question that explanation. Prime Minister Hun Sen did not make any statement on Kem Ley' funeral. But a spokesman from his ruling Cambodian People's Party expressed regret at the loss a prominent scholar and intellectual whose policy suggestions he said the CPP had adopted. "We will make efforts to encourage the authorities to investigate the offender. We hope that Dr. Kem Ley's soul will rest in peace," said CPP spokesman Sok Eysan. Cambodia's Royal Palace also honored Kem Ley, calling him a "hero of expressing opinions with Golden Words, providing insight on society through analysis." Political tension between long-ruling strongman Hun Sen's CPP and the CNRP has been intensifying this year as the parties prepare to contest local elections in 2017 and a general election in 2018. About a dozen opposition party members, including lawmakers Hong Sok Hour and Um Sam An, are jailed in the country's Prey Sar prison on various charges. CNRP leader Sam Rainsy is in exile, and acting leader Kem Sokha has been holed up in party headquarters since heavily-armed police attempted to arrest him in May for ignoring court orders to appear as a witness in a pair of defamation cases related to his alleged affair with a hairdresser. Asked about the prospect of restarting dialogue between the parties, the CNRP's Eng Chhay Eang said his party is "the victim as they have arrested and put our activists in jail. They have banned our leader from returning to the country and our other leader has not been able to do any activity." CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said negotiations would resume after court procedures are completed on the opposition cases. He called on the CNRP, which believes its members are being jailed to discredit the party before elections, to end its boycott of the national assembly. Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China bans major online portals from independent newsgathering Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China bans major online portals from independent newsgathering, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef52f15.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Lin Songtao, vice president of Tencent Mobile Business Group, speaks at a press conference of Tencent in Haikou, China's Hainan province, April 23, 2016. AFP The ruling Chinese Communist Party has banned major online news portals from engaging in independent journalism, as part of an ongoing campaign to ensure that only its version of the news gets published. The government's powerful Cyberspace Administration has "criticized in the strongest terms" major news portals Sina, Sohu, Netease, and Phoenix, ordering them to shut down areas of their sites that feature original reporting, official media reported. The companies had "seriously violated" internet regulations by carrying large amounts of news content obtained through original reporting, causing "huge negative effects" on society, according to a report carried by a number of official sites, including the Beijing News. The portals will in future be restricted to carrying syndicated news that has been approved by the government, the reports said. The Cyberspace Administration has launched a nationwide crackdown on websites that spread "fake" or "substandard" news in recent months, handing out fines and reprimands to website owners whose content doesn't comply with its rules, according to its official website. "Our offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hunan, and other places have reported speaking to Sina, Netease, Phoenix, and China.com about their posting of fake news," the agency said in its second quarterly report on the crackdown. "Warnings and fines were issued to the websites concerned," the report said. Breach of the rules A regulatory official told the Beijing News that the portals had been in breach of the "Regulations on the provision of online news," clause 16. "The majority of their stories were the result of their own reporting activities, which is a serious violation of those rules," the paper quoted an unnamed official as saying. "This had a pernicious effect on society." A Beijing-based internet user who goes by the online nickname Wuti said many Chinese who wish to look beyond the complex system of blocks, filters, and human censorship known as the Great Firewall now use circumvention tools to read news from outside the country. But he said the government's online information war could yield results in the longer term. "Eventually, they will succeed in eroding people's critical faculties, and the general level of knowledge among the general public," Wuti said. "This will be a long process, and it's already in place, which is pretty serious," he said. "We won't see the effects immediately. 'A step backwards' Independent writer Wang Jinbo said the concept of original reporting by news websites is anathema to the authorities. But he said a lack of diversity in news provision is the opposite of progress. "If they want progress, they should allow some websites to do more original reporting, not less," Wang said. "Independent journalism is progress. This is a step backwards." Earlier this month, the Cyberspace Administration banned news from unofficial sources, including social media, from appearing as online news. Websites and mobile content providers wishing to use social media as a source for stories must first independently verify the contents of the posts or tweets, the country's powerful Cyberspace Administration said in a statement on its website. It added: "Websites are strictly prohibited from using fabricated news, or news stories based on unnamed news sources, hearsay, or guesswork." Media outlets must provide true, objective, and impartial coverage by improving news production procedures and internal checking mechanisms, it said. The administration has already sanctioned some major news portals after accusing them of "fabricating" stories this year, it warned, citing sina.com, ifeng. com, 163.com, and Tencent as examples. Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Kirti monk held in secret on unknown charge Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Kirti monk held in secret on unknown charge, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef5302b.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Tibetan pilgrims are shown outside Ngaba's Kirti monastery in a file photo. AFP A Tibetan monk missing since November last year and believed detained by Chinese police has been located by his family at a prison in Sichuan, a source in the region says. The monk, enrolled in Ngaba prefecture's restive Kirti monastery and identified only by the name Lodroe, was secretly taken into custody on November 18, "with his whereabouts later unknown," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "His family and other relatives searched for him far and wide, and finally found him languishing in a prison in Lunggu [in Chinese, Wenchuan] county" in Ngaba (Aba), the source said, adding, "The charges against him have never been announced." Previously arrested in October 2011 for making a Tibetan national flag and released after serving a three-year sentence, Lodroe may have been detained again for celebrating the birthday last year of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, RFA's source said. "He and some friends who had also been released from jail formed a group on [the social media platform] WeChat coinciding with the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday, so some believe he may have been detained because of this," he said. Hundreds of Tibetans gathered at monasteries in western China's Qinghai and Gansu provinces last year in defiance of Chinese bans to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama, burning incense and offering prayers in honor of the exiled spiritual leader, sources told RFA in earlier reports. The celebrations were held despite widespread efforts by officials across Tibetan-populated regions to warn against observances of the politically sensitive event and to block public gatherings that could be linked to it. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, and Lodroe's Kirti monastery has been the scene of repeated self-immolations and other protests by Tibetan monks, former monks, and nuns. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Chinese court rejects lawsuit from purged political magazine Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Chinese court rejects lawsuit from purged political magazine, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef530c.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Staff of Chinese cutting edge political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu at a gathering, July 22, 2016. Photo courtesy of an RFA listener. A court in the Chinese capital has refused to accept a lawsuit filed by the former editors of the cutting-edge political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu against the arts institute that owns it following a major change of leadership imposed from above. The Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing rejected the bid to file the lawsuit after the application was made on Friday, lawyer Mo Shaoping told RFA. "They told me verbally at the window where you file lawsuits that the case wouldn't be accepted," Mo told RFA. "I asked for an official letter of refusal, but they didn't give me any documents." He said under current judicial procedure, a documentary refusal should be issued, so that the would-be litigant can appeal the decision. "The litigant may, if they disagree with the decision, appeal to a higher level of People's Court," Mo said. "They have actually broken the law by not issuing a written decision." The refusal comes after officials from the Xicheng District cultural enforcement bureau found "illegal publications" at the magazine's offices amid an ongoing investigation into its activities. Du Daozheng, who was forced out of his post as publisher of Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine by its parent organization, the National Academy of Arts last week, has said the cutting-edge political and historical journal will no longer be published. A new management team has been installed, and is now encamped in the magazine's editorial offices round the clock, Du told RFA last week. Xi enforces party line The move against the magazine, founded by Du in 1991 to produce reform-minded scholarly articles on history and politics, appears to have been in the making for many months. Du's sacking came after China's media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) told the magazine's editorial team in April that 37 articles published since the beginning of the year were in breach of political guidelines. The magazine is the latest publication to run afoul of President Xi Jinping's ongoing ideological campaign to make all press and media organizations toe the party line. Du was edged out under a rule, seldom enforced, that prevents party elders from taking up new posts after the age of 70. Du had reemerged from retirement to take the helm of Yanhuang Chunqiu, rendering him ineligible, the Chinese National Academy of Arts said. Former top ruling Communist Party official Bao Tong, who lost his job with the fall of late ousted premier Zhao Ziyang, said the authorities were refusing to apply the rule of law in spite of promises by Xi's administration to make this a focal point. "The rule of law is more important than whether or not somebody loses face," Bao wrote in a commentary for RFA's Mandarin Service on Monday. "The most face-saving thing of all would be to actually rule the country by law." He cited the magazine's charter, which granted "full autonomy" to Yanhuang Chunqiu to carry out its editorial, financial and personnel-related duties. Now, the parent organization has sent its own team to live in the magazine's offices, he said. "Some people are saying that this is the return of Chairman Mao's Red Guards," Bao wrote. "Others say that the thieves and bandits are here." "But it's more correct to say that the parent organization simply ripped up the agreement it had [with the magazine]. Where is its full autonomy now?" On the refusal of the court to accept the lawsuit, Bao commented acidly: "Perhaps it's actually legal to break the law under a society with Chinese characteristics?" But he added: "The truth will out ... The smallest child can see what is going on here, let alone the mature adults." "Do the right thing and cancel this illegal decision," he said. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar's upper house passes motion to combat drug gangs in Shan state Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar's upper house passes motion to combat drug gangs in Shan state, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef5326.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Myanmar children walk through an opium plantation in Pekon township in the southern part of Shan state, March 5, 2016. AFP Myanmar's upper house of parliament on Monday unanimously approved a motion submitted by an ethnic Shan lawmaker to combat rampant illegal drug sales and use in impoverished northern Myanmar's Shan state. Sai One Hlaing Kham, a deputy from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) party, submitted the proposal to take more effective action against drug gangs who sell heroin and methamphetamine, an extremely addictive stimulant in the form of a white, bitter-tasting crystalline powder, commonly sold as "yaba" tablets. "There are many drug gangs and users not only in the towns, but also in the villages, and there is especially a lot of heroin and yaba, or methamphetamine, in the region," Sai One Hlaing Kham said. "When people report the gangs and users, police arrest and take action against the dealers and users," he said. "They disappear for a short time after they are arrested, but then they come back again." People in Shan state use methamphetamine because they believe it will help them to work longer hours, he said. Sai One Hlaing Kham also proposed building a rehabilitation center for drug users with Shan state budget funds. Maandalay's antidrug campaign In a related development, police in Mandalay region began an antidrug campaign on Monday to arrest major drug dealers an operation involving more than 300 officers in Pyi Gyi Tagon, Aung Myay Tharzan, and Pathein Gyi townships, a police official said. Police Colonel Han Tun said the operation is one of the "100 Days" priority reform programs under the new civilian-led government of President Htin Kyaw. "We received some reports about drug users, and we have to investigate them," he said. So far, authorities have arrested and charged five people who entered empty houses to inject heroin in Pyi Gyi Tagon township, but they failed to arrest any drug sellers or dealers, he said. "We investigate people when we receive letters and phone reports, and we also do surprise checks," he said. In March, more than 36 billion-kyat (U.S. $30.5 million) worth of heroin and methamphetamine was found in Pyi Gyi Tagon township, he said. Opium in Kachin state Shan state and Mandalay region are not the only areas of Myanmar that suffer from the illegal narcotics trade. In February, Myanmar's lower house of parliament passed an emergency motion submitted by lawmaker Lagan Zai Jung, calling on the government to encourage and support public participation in drug eradication campaigns in northern Myanmar's Kachin state. Heroin and yaba are openly sold in Kachin, Tin Soe, a lawmaker representing the state's Hpakant constituency, told parliament at the time. The emergency motion was submitted following Feb. 25 attacks by unknown assailants on members of the antidrug activist group Pat Jasan as they attempted to destroy opium poppy fields in the Kanpaiktee and Sadon areas of the state. Farmers, local militias and corrupt government officials who profit from the multibillion-dollar trade in opium and heroin oppose the group's activities. Myanmar is the world's second-biggest producer of opium after Afghanistan, with most of its poppies, which are used for opium and heroin, grown in Kachin and Shan states. Reported by Win Ko Ko Latt and Kyaw Thu for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Police detain hundreds of protesting former teachers in Beijing Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Police detain hundreds of protesting former teachers in Beijing, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef53320.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Police take away a petitioner in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Dec. 4, 2013. AFP More than 1,000 former teachers converged on a central government complaints office in Beijing on Monday in protest over years of service with unequal pay. The former teachers from across China gathered outside the State Council complaints office, calling on the government to retroactively implement its promise to award them civil service pay and benefits, which include a retirement pension and healthcare. Protesters included groups of more than 300 former contract teaching staff from the northern province of Hebei, around 100 from the eastern province of Shandong, and around 30 each from the eastern province of Jiangsu and the southeastern province of Fujian, protesters told RFA. But they were met by a large police presence, who forced many of them onto buses before taking them to a large, unofficial detention center at Jiujingzhuang on the outskirts of Beijing, a protester from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang told RFA. Police accused protesters of "disturbing public order," the petitioner said. "We're not in Beijing to disturb public order; what's that supposed to mean?" the former teacher said. "How can this be 'illegal petitioning'?" "It's not as if we are kicking up a fuss on purpose, or spreading rumors," the teacher said. "We are just lodging a petition at the complaints office in the normal manner." Police took 18 busloads of petitioners away to Jiujingzhuang after cordoning off the area, protesters said. The former teachers are appealing to the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing after being turned away from complaints offices closer to home, a petitioner from the central province of Hubei told RFA. "They are trying to block petitions, so they are retaliating against anyone who complains," the petitioner said. "They now have a rule here in Hong An county saying they are aiming for zero petitions." "We got no joy from the government the last time we called on them to resolve this issue." Back-pay and benefits Petitioners say they are owed years of back-pay and benefits at a much higher rate than the one they were paid. "The salary for a casual-hire teacher is incredibly low, just 1,380 yuan (U.S.$206) a month," the Hubei-based teacher told RFA. "The minimum wage in Hong'an county, Hubei was 1,550 yuan a month, and it was very hard to raise a family on that." Meanwhile, the Heilongjiang petitioner said teachers have been fighting for 16 years to receive benefits promised to them by local government in 1984. "Casual-hire teaching staff were supposed to be given the opportunity to sit an exam to become civil service teaching staff in reforms brought in in 1986," the petitioner said. "When the results came out, we had all passed the exam, but the local authorities here in Qing'an wouldn't honor that, and so they bought us out for just 30,000 or 40,000 yuan (U.S.$4,500-5,000)." Many more former teachers said they had been prevented from traveling to Beijing to join in the mass petitioning event, however. Teachers in China can be hired on civil service or non-civil service contracts, and those on the latter frequently complain of wages that are below a minimum living standard and often go unpaid for months. Directive No. 32, 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. But cash-strapped local authorities have dragged their feet over the new rules. China's army of petitioners say they are repeatedly stonewalled, detained in "black jails," beaten, and harassed by authorities if they try to take complaints against local government actions to higher levels of government. Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Tibetan monk released from prison after sentence ends Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Tibetan monk released from prison after sentence ends, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef53415.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-25 Lobsang Tingdzin is shown in an undated photo following his release. Photo sent by an RFA listener Authorities in southwestern China's Sichuan province have freed a Tibetan monk jailed since 2013 on a charge of having helped a fellow monk self-immolate in a protest challenging Chinese rule in Tibetan areas, Tibetan sources say. Lobsang Tingdzin had served two and a half years in prison and was released on July 20, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA's Tibetan Service, citing contacts in the region. "He returned to his hometown in Dzoege [in Chinese, Ruo'ergai] county to a warm reception by family members and local supporters, who greeted him with ceremonial scarves," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tingdzin was one of five Tibetans detained in connection with the self-immolation of Soktsang monastery monk Konchok Sonam, 18, who set himself ablaze and died on July 20, 2013 in Dzoege while calling out for Tibetan freedom. Two of those detained, Sonam's mother and teacher, were quickly released, but Tingdzin and two other monks Sangye Palden and Lobsang Yonten were detained and interrogated at the Dzoege county jail, RFA's source said. All three were sent following their trial to Mianyang prison outside Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu, where Palden and Yonten are still serving sentences of five and three years, respectively, the source said. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Lobe Soktsang for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Myanmar migrants found on fishing boat in Thai waters return home Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Myanmar migrants found on fishing boat in Thai waters return home, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef5361a.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-26 Myanmar nationals and migrant workers work on a fishing boat in waters off Ban Nam Khaem village in southern Thailand's Phang-nga province, Dec. 3, 2014. AFP Fourteen Myanmar migrants forced to work on an Indonesian fishing boat returned to Myanmar on Tuesday after their government and an international organization arranged their release, the government said. Government officials and officers from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomed the migrants after they arrived at the airport in the commercial city Yangon, according to a post on the Facebook page of Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The 14 men were part of a larger group of 19 trafficked Myanmar migrants rescued on July 10 from slave-like conditions on a boat moored off the southern Thai city of Pattani, near the Thailand-Malaysia border. The ministry did not mention the status of the other five migrants. The Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), a Myanmar nongovernmental organization that helps migrant workers, and the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) of the Royal Thai Police had found the men locked inside the boat. The men range in age from 13 to 34 and are from southern Myanmar's Mon and Tanintharyi regions and from western Rakhine state, said MAT director Kyaw Thaung in a previous RFA report. Thai authorities have arrested two traffickers, a Thai businessman and a Myanmar woman from Mon State. The woman had promised some of the migrants factory jobs in Pattaya, a resort city on the Gulf of Thailand, but instead transported them to Pattani, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported. Thailand's fishing industry relies heavily on trafficked and forced labor, especially from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, according to a 2014 report issued by the Environmental Justice Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting the environment and defending human rights. Many of the estimated 200,000 migrants from Thailand's neighboring countries have been trafficked and forced to work in appalling conditions with no pay and subjected to brutal control, the report said. Migrants in Malaysian camps In a related development, the Myanmar government said Tuesday that it will bring 3,000 Myanmar migrant workers back from detention camps in Malaysia starting in August. Thein Swe, minister of labor, immigration and population, told reporters after a parliamentary meeting that the migrants had already served their terms for illegally entering Malaysia. The workers are from Kyauktaw township in the Sittwe district of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, he said. Nearly 2,000 migrant workers from Myanmar are being held in camps in Malaysia for various reasons, including immigration violations, according to a recent report in the Myanmar Times. More than 300 have already served their sentences but they are unable to return to Myanmar because they have no money, the report said. More than 60 Myanmar workers left the camps and returned home earlier this month after authorities confirmed their citizenship status, it said. Many Myanmar migrant workers in Malaysia and Thailand especially those in the country illegally are at risk of being trafficked as sex workers or for slave-like labor on fishing boats, experts warn. Reported by Win Ko Latt for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Soe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Kem Ley murder recalls a familiar pattern of political intrigue in Cambodia Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Kem Ley murder recalls a familiar pattern of political intrigue in Cambodia, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef5364.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-26 Cambodians jam the streets during a funeral procession in Phnom Penh for Kem Ley, a Cambodian political analyst and pro-democracy campaigner who was shot dead in broad daylight on July 10 at a convenience store, July 24, 2016. AFP As mourning for popular pundit Kem Ley draws to its close, the investigation into his murder turns up no new leads, and key witnesses and supporters go into hiding, Cambodia appears to be following a script that should now be familiar to all Cambodians. "This is not the first time intellectuals, patriots, and activists who fought to rescue our country have been slain," Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Sam Rainsy said on RFA's Special Discussion Show. "I have noted that the slaying of activists follows the same well-orchestrated style set by the authorities." While Sam Rainsy didn't directly accuse Prime Minister Hun Sen's government of carrying out the fatal attack, he recited a litany of killings that he claims all have similar hallmarks. These killings would be impossible to carry out with official cover, he said. "Those include the grenade attack [on an opposition political rally] on March 30, 1997; the killings of well-known union leader Chea Vichea, and two other union leaders, namely Ros Sovanareth and Hy Vuthy; as well as Chut Wutty and the recent case of Dr. Kem Ley," he said during the July 23 broadcast. At least 16 people were killed and more than 150 injured in the 1997 grenade attack that came as Sam Rainsy and his supporters gathered in a park across from the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to denounce the Cambodian judiciary's lack of independence and its corruption; Chea Vichea was the leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) when he was shot in the head and chest early in the morning while reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom Penh in 2004; Hy Vuthy, a senior leader of the FTUWKC, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle while heading home from a Phnom Penh garment factory at the end of a night shift in February 2007; Ros Sovanareth, a labor activist at a major textile factory, was killed in 2004 when unidentified gunmen shot him twice as he rode his motorbike near Phnom Penh University; Chut Wutty, founder and Director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, was shot dead in 2012 near a protected forest in Koh Kong Province, where he had repeatedly attempted to expose illegal logging rackets that involved military officials; On July 10 Kem Ley was gunned down at a convenience store where he stopped to talk with friends. Just days before, he'd discussed on RFA a report by the British NGO Global Witness detailing the extent of the Hun Sen family's wealth. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oeuth Ang with premeditated murder for the execution-style killing. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, who gave his name as Chuob Samlab, a Khmer name meaning "meet to kill." "In such cases the authorities have always failed to find the real perpetrators. Scapegoats are always hired or threatened to cover up their mess," Sam Rainsy told RFA. "Only those who have the highest authority would be the ones who ordered such killings." A pair of witnesses to the killing of Kem Ley are seeking asylum in a third country because they fear for their safety, one of the witnesses told RFA. Chum Hour and Chum Huoth, twins who were close to Kem Ley, became afraid after they posted criticisms about the investigation on their Facebook pages and gave accounts of Kem Ley's murder to the U.S. embassy. They filed their application for asylum with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Chum Huoth said. While authorities have a suspect in custody, they told RFA they have hit a dead end. "I have learned that the perpetrator is very stubborn," said Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak. "He now doesn't even recognize his own mother. Because he is uncooperative, our investigation is difficult." Senior CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhai Eang told RFA it is time to get outside help in the investigation. "Given the location of the crime scene I don't think the investigation should be that difficult," he said. "When the murderer is uncooperative, the authorities should not rely only on him for answers. They should look into other relevant sources of evidence." He added: "If they were really facing difficulties, why didn't they seek assistance from experts in such criminal investigations? I believe that if the authorities were of genuine will, they would ask for help from foreign friends." Smelling "a rat" But Buntenh, president of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice and a member of the Kem Ley Funeral Committee, told RFA that he feared for his safety after authorities went to his home village searching for his identification documents. "The threat is significant," he said in an RFA Today interview, saying local authorities had asked his parents for his ID without his knowledge. "My parents then smelled a rat," he said. "They rushed to the village office to seek some answers. The village officials told them that they took the documents so that they could make the identification card for me. I take that as a threat, for no third person is allowed to act on my behalf to make my ID card." Sam Rainsy was believed to be the target of the 1997 grenade attack, but he was spared when his bodyguard, Han Muny, shielded him from the blast. Han Muny was among those who died. While Sam Rainsy stayed in the country then, he later went into self-imposed exile following his removal from parliament in November 2015 by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party because of a warrant issued for his arrest in an old defamation case. Kem Ley's killing has gripped Cambodia, with an estimated two million people turning out on Sunday to view his funeral procession as it moved from Watt Bodhiyaram in the capital of Phnom Penh to his home village in the southwestern province of Takeo. While the government claims his death came over a debt, few in Cambodia believe that. Who would benefit from Kem Ley's death? And while the average Cambodian doesn't believe the authorities, government-aligned news outlets say they know who is to blame the CNRP. Over the past few days CPP-aligned media have offered up a new script for the slaying, insinuating that the CNRP and the party's deputy leader Kem Sokha are behind Kem Ley's death. "The question is in this situation who is it that would be happy with the result?" said an article on Kem Ley's death posted to the popular and CPP-aligned Fresh News website early this week. "There's only the opposition party, because they have gathered together to squeeze and put a vise on the government [by saying] that because of poor control of public order, a homicide easily happened in the city." Authored by "A Special Group," the piece was quickly shared on Facebook by Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan. It argued that Kem Ley's slaying had only caused problems for Hun Sen, and that acting CNRP leader Kem Sokha had grown suspicious of the analyst. While Hun Sen ordered a thorough investigation into the killing and announced a large-scale campaign to strengthen security and social order in the aftermath of the murder, his own remarks seem to have anticipated the report in the CPP-friendly media. "This is a loss. It badly affects the reputation of the government," he said on July 11. "Who will benefit from such a thing when the government is talking about peace and security?" 'Ill rhetoric' Sam Rainsy dismissed the pro-CPP reports and the prime minister's remarks, telling RFA they also follow an old script. "I'm so accustomed to the ill rhetoric by the Hun Sen government," he said. "The government even accused me of throwing the hand grenades to kill myself because I wanted fame. I was accused of hiring people to throw the grenades at me!" It's the same with Kem Ley, he added. "Likewise, as in Kem Ley's murder case, they are trying to cover up their mess by blaming the CNRP for the killing," he said. "That's a very absurd and cheap tactic." It appears that the CPP wants to plant the idea that Kem Sokha had Kem Ley killed because he feared being usurped within the CNRP. (While both men have a similar name in Khmer, they are not related.) Kem Sokha was named the CNRP's acting president after Sam Rainsy left the country. Divide and conquer It's a notion that Sam Rainsy has disputed, saying Hun Sen and the CPP are seeking to divide the opposition. "On June 3, 2016, Kem Ley and his wife met with Kem Sokha at the CNRP headquarters," Sam Rainsy said. "He said we shared the same values. We loved our country and people. We therefore needed to work together for the next elections. This made the others worry. For this reason, they killed him." Once again, he said, this follows the old Hun Sen script, recalling a conversation in mid-2015 in which Hun Sen tried to get Sam Rainsy to break with Kem Sokha. "Hun Sen approached me and said I was a person whom he found easy to work with," he said. "He said he didn't like working with Kem Sokha. He said if I disposed of Kem Sokha, I would be safe and sound and get everything I wanted." After Sam Rainsy spurned the offer, Hun Sen made a similar appeal to Kem Sokha, he said. "He has reached out to Kem Sokha and asked him to dispose of me if he wanted to be safe and sound," Sam Rainsy explained. "Hun Sen asked Kem Sokha to kick me out in the form of a coup within the party. However, Kem Sokha told Hun Sen that he wouldn't do that. He has treated me as his life-and-death partner to rescue our nation. Kem Sokha has not followed what Hun Sen wanted." Although unable to turn the two opposition figures against each other, Hun Sen has still managed to keep Sam Rainsy out of Cambodia and has bottled up Kem Sokha. Kem Sokha has been under virtual house arrest after heavily-armed police attempted to apprehend him in May after he refused to testify in a pair of defamation cases related to his alleged affair with a young hairdresser. The CNRP and its supporters claim the charges are a trumped-up attempt to damage the party ahead of elections slated for 2017 and 2018. Without directly mentioning his name, Hun Sen warned in a speech last month that the government could arrest Kem Sokha at any time. "It is just not the [right] time yet," Hun Sen said during a speech at the Cambodian customs department. "You said that Hun Sen is afraid of losing the election, but you are in jail forever. You have no way out. I am telling you, the prisoner, do not be too insolent!" Sam Rainsy accused the government of fabricating the charges. "Kem Sokha has also been persecuted over fabricated and alleged personal issues," he said. "The CPP is trying to jail both of us." Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. China: Second Tibetan jailed over Dalai Lama WeChat group Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, China: Second Tibetan jailed over Dalai Lama WeChat group, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef53715.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-26 Argya Gya is shown with his wife in an undated photo. Photo sent by an RFA listener A second Tibetan has been arrested and sent to prison in China's Sichuan province for his involvement in a social media chat group celebrating last year's 80th birthday of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, RFA's Tibetan Service has learned. Argya Gya, formerly a monk at Kirti monastery in Sichuan's Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county and now a layman, was taken into custody on Nov. 18, 2015, a Tibetan living in the area told RFA. "He is currently being held in a prison in Lunggu [Wenchuan] county," RFA's source said. Gya, who had previously served a three-year term in Sichuan's Mianyang prison in connection with the self-immolation in 2011 of another Kirti monastery monk, now joins at least one other prisoner in Lunggu, a monk named Lodroe, over their involvement in the online WeChat group. News of Gya's arrest was delayed in reaching outside contacts due to communications blocks imposed by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas. Hundreds of Tibetans gathered at monasteries in western China's Qinghai and Gansu provinces last year in defiance of Chinese bans to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama, burning incense and offering prayers in honor of the exiled spiritual leader, sources told RFA in earlier reports. The celebrations were held despite widespread efforts by officials across Tibetan-populated regions to warn against observances of the politically sensitive event and to block public gatherings that could be linked to it. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing's rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama's return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Shan state farmers summoned to court for using land claimed by Myanmar army Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Shan state farmers summoned to court for using land claimed by Myanmar army, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef53813.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-26 The map shows Kyauktaw township in western Myanmar's Rakhine state and Taunggyi township in eastern Myanmar's Shan state. RFA One hundred farmers from a village in eastern Myanmar's Shan state appeared in court on Monday after the national army filed a lawsuit against them for planting on confiscated land in a move that runs counter to the government's efforts to return land that the military previously grabbed from locals during the country's junta era, a villager said. The army's Eastern Command confiscated 2,000 acres of land in Ye Pu (Hot Water) village in the state's Taunggyi township in 2004, during the rule of a military junta that controlled the country for 50 years until 2011, said villager Maw Maw Win. From 2010 to 2015, the command allowed local farmers to plant on the land if they paid an annual fee of 10,000 kyats (U.S. $8.40) per acre, he told RFA's Myanmar Service. In May, army officials asked the farmers to sign documents saying that the land belonged to the military, he said. About 100 farmers from Ye Pu village refused to sign the documents and continued planting on the land, prompting the army to file the lawsuit charging them with trespassing, Maw Maw Win said. In early July, the Shan state government said it would return more than 40,000 acres of land confiscated by the Myanmar military to farmers. Soe Nyunt Lwin, Shan state minister for planning and finance, also said the military would return more land to its original owners in the near future. Fees for Rakhine farmers In a similar case, the Mro National Democracy Party based in western Myanmar's Rakhine state requested on Monday that the state government ban the national army from collecting fees from farmers who want to plant crops on lands that soldiers had previously confiscated in Kyauktaw township, the party's chairman said. The party was formed two years ago to represent the Mro ethnic people in Rakhine and in western Myanmar's Chin state. The Myanmar army's light infantry battalion No. 374, members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and other government organizations based in Kyauktaw township confiscated 200 acres of land from residents in three villages under General Than Shwe, the strongman politician who ruled Myanmar from 1992 to 2011, said party chairman Oo Mya Tun. The soldiers allowed villagers to plant crops for an annual fee per acre during that time, he said. But now the army is still keeping 40 acres of land although other organizations have returned confiscated land farmers, he said. Righting past wrongs Former landowners in various parts of the country have long appealed to government leaders to return property seized decades ago under the military junta, and the new civilian government under de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to right this past wrong. Some landowners recently inundated Myanmar's parliament with thousands of complaints about farmland seizures. A parliamentary committee on confiscated farmland is responsible for dealing with land disputes and puts pressure on relevant government ministries to return appropriated land or compensate the rightful owners. Farmers in south-central Myanmar's Bago region staged a protest on July 6 demanding that the army return more than 4,000 acres of land it confiscated from them 25 years ago. RFA's Myanmar Service reported in May that Myanmar's government would return 2,500 acres of confiscated land to farmers in Tant-Se township in the country's northwestern Sagaing region, more than 35 years after it was taken. The Burma Socialist Programme Party, formed by the regime led by military commander Ne Win that seized power in 1962, confiscated nearly 4,000 acres of the township's land in Shwebo district for a government farm project named "Wet Toe" in 1980. Reported by Thiri Min Zin and Min Thein Aung for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Soe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Two Hong Kong journalists jailed over sale of political magazines in China Publisher Radio Free Asia Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as Radio Free Asia, Two Hong Kong journalists jailed over sale of political magazines in China, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579ef539e.html [accessed 28 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 2016-07-26 Magazines about Chinese politics are displayed in a bookstore in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, Jan. 5, 2016. AFP A court in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Tuesday jailed two veteran journalists from neighboring Hong Kong after they sent their political magazines to subscribers across the internal border in mainland China. Wang Jianmin was sentenced by Shenzhen's Nanshan District People's court to five years and three months' imprisonment. Fellow defendant Guo Zhongxiao, a former editor at the weekly news magazine Asiaweek, was jailed for two years and three months on the same charge. The sentences come amid an ongoing crackdown by Chinese authorities on the media and publishing industry in the former British colony. Both men, who pleaded guilty at their trial last November, had edited and published New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face magazines, which were published in Hong Kong, but had some subscribers in mainland China. Hong Kong-based veteran journalist Ching Cheong said the sentences come amid a concerted campaign by the Chinese government targeting "banned" publications that began with the jailing of 79-year-old Hong Kong publisher Yiu Man-tin for 10 years after he edited a book highly critical of President Xi Jinping. "Starting with Yiu Man-tin, they have been using such charges to refer to any activities linked to what they regard as banned books," Ching said. "We have seen this so many times that we are used to it now." "But this is an attack on freedom of speech and publication in Hong Kong, because it is a direct threat to the exercise of our freedoms," he said. Jimmy Pang, who heads the alternative news site Subculture, called on the court to make public the evidence used to prosecute Wang and Guo. "Otherwise, people in the Hong Kong publishing industry will be very worried, because they won't know which actions are considered to be a crime," Pang told RFA. "If we don't know what constitutes a criminal action ... how will we take decisions in future?" he said. Promises, promises Under the terms of its 1997 handover to China, Hong Kong was promised the continuation of its existing freedoms of press, publication and assembly for at least 50 years. But the cross-border detentions last year of five Hong Kong booksellers accused of selling "banned books" to customers across the internal border in tightly controlled mainland China have rocked the once-freewheeling city. Wang, who holds a U.S. passport, was also found guilty of two other charges bid-rigging and bribery. The two magazines were both published by the Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Ltd., while Wang and Guo had permanent residency in the city. They often carried exposes of factional strife and internal power struggles at the heart of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Local media reported that the magazines only had eight subscribers in mainland China, while the defense team argued that they were legally published in Hong Kong, and that the impact of their mainland Chinese sales was too small to constitute such an offense. According to the defense, Guo edited the magazines, and had nothing to do with the business side of their operations, nor did he know about the mainland Chinese subscribers. Guo's shorter sentence means that he may soon be up for release, as he has already spent two years and two months in pretrial detention. The court also handed down a one-year suspended sentence Wang's wife Xu Zhongyun, who helped send the magazines, and a two-year suspended sentence to freelance writer Liu Haitao. None of the defendants plans to appeal, according to the Hong Kong-based Initium news site. Booksellers detained Under the terms of the handover and the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, China has promised to allow Hong Kong to continue with its existing way of life until 2047. The "one country, two systems" policy pledged to allow the city to continue as a separate jurisdiction for law enforcement and immigration purposes, and with wide-ranging freedoms of expression and association. But the detention of Causeway Bay Books publisher Gui Minhai at his Thai holiday home last October, followed by the detentions of four of his colleagues, prompted a public outcry. Store manager and British passport-holder Lee Bo, 65, went missing from his workplace in Hong Kong on Dec. 30, while general manager Lui Bo (also spelled Lui Por), and colleagues Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kei were detained after they crossed the internal border into China from their usual base in Hong Kong. The U.K. government has said in an official report that Lee was "involuntarily removed" from the city, while the U.S. State Department said in its Hong Kong Policy Act Report in May that the booksellers' detentions "have raised serious concerns in Hong Kong and represent what appears to be the most significant breach of the "one country, two systems" policy since 1997." Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) called on the city's government to do much more to protect press freedom, citing a "grave threat" to its traditional freedoms of expression and association. In a report titled "One Country, Two Nightmares," the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said the city's government should take a "much more robust approach towards the protection of press freedom and other rights integral to Hong Kong's success." Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Link to original story on RFA website Copyright notice: Copyright 2006, RFA. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Santa Ana, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/01/2016 --The 76th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is coming up August 8-14, 2016 in the middle of Main Street in Sturgis, South Dakota. Past events have been the largest gatherings of motorcycle enthusiasts. Many thousands of fans anticipate the event months in advance and label it as the best biker experience, saying that few places on earth offer the riding available along the roads that lead through the Black Hills National Forest. Riders look forward to experiencing destinations that include Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, Bear Butte State Park, the Badlands, and Devil's Tower National Monument. Bikers also look forward to the hospitality of locals and shopping with vendors that have anything and everything needed for biker style on person or on the bike. Motorcycles are also available to demo. Bike owners can inquire and begin chrome plating to have custom Harley wheels before and during the event. Motorcycle riders who want a custom look added to their Harley Bagger, Hayabusa, and many more brand name manufacturers, as well as aftermarket wheels and parts. Custom wheel styles include chrome, copper, black chrome, and candy chrome styles. One of the top looks many Sturgis goers have applied to their wheels is chrome and copper. Classic Chrome Plating's 24-step process provides a superior, show-quality finish and is featured in top industry leading magazines, including Urban Bagger and American Bagger. With more than 75 years of experience in the chrome plating industry, Classic Chrome Plating consistently produces quality custom Bagger wheels with chrome plating. Many of the bikes we've chrome plated have won trophies in competitions. One happy customer wrote to us saying how our wheels made the difference in him winning first and third place for his Hayabusa. Many clients trust Classic Chrome Plating with their motorcycles and classic cars, including the Discovery Channel's Wheeler Dealers host, Mike Brewer, for his restoration of a 1952 Desoto Firedome. For more information about Sturgis, visit http://www.SturgisMotorcycleRally.com, and plan for the rally. 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Grand Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705 888-327-4189 sales@chromeplating.com 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. 25 Years of Singing Chorus Abilene will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a special reunion concert beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. The concert will feature youth and adult chorus members, both current and past. Chorus Abilene founder Betty Karol Wilson will conduct a commissioned piece by composer Nicholas White. Tickets cost $10 and are available at 325-673-7464 or at www.ChorusAbilene.net. Become a Shooting Star The annual Meals on Wheels Plus Sporting Clays Classic will take place Aug. 27 at Abilene Clay Sports, 1102 E. Spur 707. Shoot times are 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Entry fee is $140 per shooter. The fee includes 100 targets, a continental breakfast, one raffle ticket for a special gun lover's prize, an event T-shirt and a barbecue lunch. Raffle tickets are available for $10 each or three for $20. Tickets are available at Meals on Wheels, 717 N. 10th St. Proceeds will be used to help provide home-delivered meals to at-risk adults and seniors. For sponsorship information, or to enter, contact Rob Chastain at 325-672-5050 or rchastain@mealsonwheelsplus.com. Christian Women's Connection The next Christian Women's Connection luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Cost is $16. Tomi Calmes, of Lubbock, will present 'The Ultimate Artist' and Sharon Riley will share 'Memories of Millie.' For reservations, contact Sharlyn Garoutte at 325-370-6567 or AbileneCWC@aol.com. Looking Skyward The Morgan Jones Planetarium, 700 N. Mockingbird Lane, offers educational presentations during the summer. A public showing of 'Microcosm' is set for 6 and 7 p.m. Tuesday. Other presentations include: 'Cowboy Astronomer' at 4, 5, 6 and 7 p.m. Saturday 'Force Five' at 6 and 7 p.m. Aug. 9 'New Horizons' at 6 and 7 p.m. Aug. 16 'Two Small Pieces of Glass' at 6 and 7 p.m. Aug. 23 'Earth to Universe' at 6 and 7 p.m. Aug. 30. Cost is $3 for adults and $2 for students and children. For more information, call 325-677-1444. Mail information to Jan Woodward in care of 'Around Town,' Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX 79604. Email jan.woodward@reporternews.com or fax information to 325-670-5242. Deadline for submission is noon seven working days before publication. If you love being in the great outdoors, chances are you will also love camping. We here at the Abilene Public Library seem to have camping on the brain this summer! Such outings can be great fun, but to insure an enjoyable and safe experience, preplanning is important. We are a great place to start, with all kinds of books and online resources. Two books I particularly like are 'The Camper's Companion: the Pack-Along Guide for Better Outdoor Trips' by Greenspan and Kahn and 'The Happy Camper: An Essential Guide to Life Outdoors' by Keven Callan. The 'Companion' explains how to pack the right gear, food and clothing and prepare a first-aid kit before you leave home. Among many other topics, it covers where and how to pitch a tent, how to weather a bad storm, fish for supper, cook a 'four star meal,' avoid getting lost in the woods and how to enjoy camping with youngsters and even with your dog. Among a myriad topics, Callan suggests what essentials to pack, how to select a campsite, read a map and compass, build a fire and ward off bugs and other unwanted wildlife. He also covers such diverse topics as how to paddle a canoe or kayak and photograph a landscape. Much shorter, quicker reads would be 'A Guide to Happy Family Camping' by Tammerie Spires and 'Camping for Mere Mortals: It Ain't No Five Star Hotel' by Michael Hodgson. Spires offers 90 useful tips including suggestions for places to go and see as well as essentials when packing. She reminds us that 'the more situations you are prepared for, the more you are prepared to enjoy.' Hodgson takes a humorous approach while offering many good ideas. Among the chapters in his book: 'Mosquitoes are an Emergency, a Broken Nail Ain't' and 'Nature Study and Photography are Grounds for Divorce'. Fewer than 40 pages, 'Essential Camping for Teens' by Kristine Hooks lacks detail but still covers the essentials of how to prepare and then enjoy a safe experience in the wilderness. It seemed to me appropriate for anyone, not just teens. Before heading out on a camping trip in Texas I would want to consult the comprehensive directory 'Texas Parks and Campgrounds' which covers in great detail over 400 public parks with campgrounds statewide. Included are all state and national parks, national forests and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers parks with public camping. If heading to neighboring New Mexico consult 'New Mexico Campgrounds: The Statewide Guide' and/or 'Best Tent Camping New Mexico.' Privately owned campgrounds and parks are detailed in 'Woodall's North American Campground Directory,' which lists nearly 13,000 parks and campgrounds. The 'National Forest Campground & Recreation Directory' is a complete guide to some 4300 national forest campgrounds in America. If you go to the library's website www.abilenetx.com/apl and click on 'E-Resources,' 'Web Guide,' 'Sports' and then 'Outdoor and Recreation,' you'll see some great Internet resources. We suggest www.camping.com (anything & everything camping and RVing) which has extensive reviews of campgrounds and dozens of interesting and timely articles. 'American Trails' lists the best trails to hike in the 50 states and Canada. So, even if you feel the summer slipping away at a faster and faster pace, there's still time to get in a camping trip, with the help of your Abilene Public Library. Dennis Miller is Business Specialist at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. 2022 Abilene, Big Country high school volleyball playoff pairings Find out who your favorite Big Country high school volleyball team plays in the playoffs Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Rock group Scorpions to perform two shows in China From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-08-01 11:24 The German rock group, the Scorpions, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, will perform two shows in China. [Photo provided to China Daily] The German rock group, the Scorpions, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, will perform two shows in China in Guangzhou on Aug 12 and in Beijing on Aug 14. The band will perform some of its biggest hits such as Big City Nights, The Zoo and Rock You Like a Hurricane, as well as songs from its latest album, Return to Forever, which was released in 2015. A documentary on the band, Forever and a Day, will also be screened at the shows. The German band made its debut in China on May 1, 2015, with a 90-minute performance at the two-day Changjiang International Music Festival, which was held in Zhenjiang, a small city on the banks of the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangsu province. According to Tang Xiaolei, a manager based in Los Angeles, who is the main producer of the festival, which attracted more than 100,000 fans, the band hopes to use the shows to meet more Chinese fans. The band currently comprises Rudolf Schenker from Hannover, who founded the band in 1965; Meine, who joined in 1969; Matthias Jabs, who joined in 1978; and James Kottak and Pawe Maciwoda, who joined subsequently. The band's albums have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful European rock bands. Related: Music giants revel in potential of digital business Taiwan violinist joins Universal Music In these undated file photos, Hun Sen ( right ) and Sam Rainsy speak to reporters after a meeting at the National Assembly. The brutal slaying of political critic Kem Ley continued to reverberate across Cambodias political landscape on Monday as Prime Minister Hun Sen sued a pair of opposition lawmakers for suggesting he was involved in the murder. According to the lawsuit filed in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court by Hun Sens attorney Ky Tech, the prime minister contends he was defamed by remarks Cambodia National Rescue Party President Sam Rainsy posted on Facebook that links Cambodian authorities to the July 10 killing. Sam Rainsy Party Senator Thak Lany also faces a defamation suit for making similar allegations in a speech. While the Sam Rainsy Party merged with the Human Rights Party to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the party still holds seats in the Senate. It is expected to fully integrate with the CNRP after the national elections in 2018. A Cambodian court has charged a former soldier named Oeuth Ang with premeditated murder for the execution-style killing of Kem Ley. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, who gave his name as Chuob Samlab, a Khmer name meaning meet to kill. Authorities contend that Oueth Ang confessed to the killing, but few appear to believe the official version of the story. More than a million Cambodians turned out on July 24 for Kem Leys funeral procession from Phnom Penh to his hometown in southern Takeo province. An attempt to mislead, attack and incite Ky Teck told RFA that Monday's suit asserts that Sam Rainsys accusation is an attempt to mislead the public, defame Hun Sen, attack the dignity of Hun Sens government, incite social upheaval and interfere with ongoing judicial proceedings. The attorney says that on July 29 Senator Thak Lany spoke to several CNRP supporters at a forum held in Ratanakiri province telling them: Now Hun Sen, who has been frustrated and restless, shot Kem Ley, the political analyst. You see? Ky Tech contends her speech was an attempt to implicate Hun Sen in the murder and could trigger public anger and cause social unrest. On July 30, Thak Lany denied to RFA that she made the statement, adding that someone altered her words in a Facebook post to make it appear as if she was linking Hun Sen to the killing. Senior CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhai Eang was less apologetic, addressing Hun Sen directly. If you are not happy with being accused, you need to take transparent and realistic measures to hold the murderer and those involved in the crime accountable, he told RFA. After that, what a person says about you will be of no relevance. Let a politicians opinion be judged by the people, not by the court. The suit asks Sam Rainsy to pay 100 riel ($0.025) to Hun Sen as compensation and urges the court to punish the opposition leader. The complaint's allegation of inciting the public suggests that Sam Rainsy could also face a charge of inciting social unrest in addition to defamation if the court accepts the lawsuit. Legal attacks The government is pursuing a number of cases against high-profile opposition party officials and rights workers, drawing widespread condemnation from the international human rights community as well as from foreign aid donors, excluding China. CNRP President Sam Rainsy has been staying in France or traveling since an arrest warrant was issued for him in November over a 2008 defamation case and he was removed from his office and stripped of his parliamentary immunity. After Sam Rainsy left the country, the CNRP named Kem Sokha its acting president. Other cases include a push by Hun Sens government and the ruling CPP to bring Kem Sokha before the courts for questioning regarding his alleged affair with a young hairdresser. That case has seen the arrest of four employees of the human rights group ADHOC and a member of the National Election Commission (NEC), while an arrest warrant was also issued for a U.N. worker. Heavily armed police also attempted to arrest Kem Sokha at CNRP headquarters in May. The Kem Sokha-related cases are not the only ones that are tied up in the Cambodian judicial system. About a dozen opposition party members are imprisoned in Cambodia, including Hong Sok Hour, a member of the senate from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. Black Mondays return While Hun Sen and the CPP are pushing their case in court, outspoken land rights activist Tep Vanny led a group of villagers on Monday in a resumption of the Black Monday campaign of weekly civil rights protests. After taking a break from the Monday protests, the demonstrators expanded their 13-week protest for the release of the jailed rights activists and the NEC member to include the investigation of Kem Leys murder. We want them to cooperate with the court to find justice for the jailed human rights workers and other jailed activists, Tep Vanny said. We call on the government to find the real killer of Dr. Kem Ley and those who are behind it. If the government is clean, as it claims to be, it has to prove it, Tep Vanny added. We cannot let our patriots get killed one after another while the real perpetrators always remain at large. Reported by Chandara Yang and Tha Thai for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan have handed a 12-year jail-term to a prominent Christian pastor for "fraud" and "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order," sparking concerns that the government is broadening its campaign against large religious groups. The sentence handed down to Nanle county pastor Zhang Shaojie suggests the ruling Chinese Communist Party is becoming less and less tolerant of organized religion, even in its state-approved form, rights activists said. The court ordered Zhang, a former president of the government-sanctioned Protestant association and adviser to the county People's Political Consultative Conference, to pay a fine of 100,000 yuan (U.S.$ 16,000). Zhang's daughter Zhang Yunyun said the sentence was handed down last Friday, and that the family plans to appeal. "A lot of the congregation had planned to go to the courtroom, but a lot of [them] were confined to their homes by plainclothes police," she said. "The majority of our church workers and leaders were forced to stay home, and one preacher was taken away by them." Innocent Zhang Yunyun said her father is innocent of the charges, adding that her aunt Zhang Cuijuan and preacher Chao Junling are also in detention on charges of "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." Zhang's lawyer Zhang Xinyun said there was "no basis" for the charges against his client. "They have sentenced an innocent person," Zhang Xinyun said. "Not only is this a step backwards for justice in China, but it will also have a chilling effect on Protestant worshipers and the general public." "This isn't a question of whether the sentence was too heavy; it's a miscarriage of justice," he said. "This judgement is clearly wrong." He said he argued at the trial that police had detained Zhang Shaojie first, before seeking evidence to use in bringing charges. "A lot of the evidence was also very contradictory," he said. The Chinese authorities had been cracking down on Zhang's government-approved Nanle church for about a month before his detention last November following a land dispute that pitted the popular preacher against the county government. The crackdown on a state-approved church surprised many observers as the Communist government officially allows Christians to only worship in such churches, while unregistered congregations tend to be harassed. Church supporters say the county government reneged on an agreement to allocate Zhang's church a piece of land for the construction of a new building. Criminal detention Zhang was held under criminal detention on Nov. 17, while officials later later seized control of the state-sanctioned church, sealing it off from the congregation. Hundreds of Protestant worshipers from Shenzhen, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hebei, Shandong, and Beijing converged on Nanle county over Christmas to show support for the church, which is a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's Three-Self Patriotic Association of Protestant churches. Some 20 members of the congregation were detained, but have mostly been released, with the exception of two preachers, whose whereabouts are unknown, Zhang Yunyun told RFA. Meanwhile, prosecution witness and alleged fraud victim Li Cairen has been missing since December 2013 after she was abducted from Zhang's home, and was thus unable to testify for the defense, the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) group said. Zhang's detention, which came amid beatings and harassment of his relatives and supporters, was likely a form of official retaliation for the pastor's active role in the land dispute, CHRD said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. "The detentions were presumably in retaliation for Zhang's efforts to help others seek redress for rights abuses," CHRD said. "Police did not appear to have a probable cause for Zhang's initial detention, as evidenced by the differences in the nature of the original and newer charges, and the fact that the government failed to produce records of any earlier investigations," it said. "The harsh sentence reflects that Chinese authorities are expanding harassment and persecution usually aimed at underground house churches by going after officially sanctioned religious institutions," the group said. Zhang's sentencing comes amid a campaign in eastern China to remove prominent symbols of Christian worship from public places, it added. Notification about crosses Authorities in Zhejiang have stepped up a clampdown on Christian places of worship in the region, with dozens of groups receiving notification that crosses must be taken down from buildings. Local officials are targeting any crosses that are visible from state highways and railway lines, according to local sources. Within days of the demolition of the the Yahui church's cross in Pingyang county near Zhejiang's Wenzhou city last Friday, some 40 churches in Pingyang and neighboring Cangnan counties have been informed that their crosses will be next. Officially an atheist country, China has an army of officials whose job is to watch over faith-based activities, which have spread rapidly in recent decades amid sweeping economic and social change. Party officials are put in charge of Catholics, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Protestants. Judaism isn't recognized, and worship in non-recognized temples, churches, or mosques is against the law. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin have reportedly released on bail a prominent human rights lawyer, while rights groups say the subversion trials of several others could begin soon. Wang Yu, whose July 9, 2015 detention marked the start of a nationwide police operation targeting rights lawyers, law firm employees, and rights activists, was released on bail after making a televised confession on Phoenix TV, which has links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, media reports said. The detentions of Wang, her husband Bao Longjun, and their colleagues at the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm later widened to include the detention and interrogation of more than 300 lawyers, paralegals, law firm employees, and rights activists. Bao, Zhou, and 12 others are now under formal arrest on subversion-related charges, many of them in police-run detention centers in the northern city of Tianjin, where they have been denied access to their own lawyers. Wangs bail comes after she reportedly confessed to "subversion of state power," Hong Kongs Oriental Daily News reported on Monday. "I received humane treatment, and experienced Chinas rule-of-law culture, she told Phoenix in an interview at an unknown location. She also rejected awards from the American Bar Association and the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Prize for her work defending human rights, saying that they were intended to blacken the reputation of the Chinese government. I am Chinese. I only accept the leadership of the Chinese government, Wang said. I do not accept these awards, and will not accept them in future. Confession 'heavily scripted' But Henan-based rights lawyer Ma Lianshun said Wangs confession seemed heavily scripted. I just saw the footage, and my feeling was that she was reading from a script, or that she had memorized a prepared script by heart, Ma said. I also thought it was funny that her comments sounded just like a statement by the foreign ministry. Beijing rights lawyer Li Fangping said the televised confession is now a regular occurrence in criminal cases where the government is trying to manipulate public opinion in its favor. The purpose of the so-called CCTV confession has never been to support charges, but to smear people and to manipulate public opinion, Li said. Its a very common way for them to release details on cases where they are in total control of the people concerned. Veteran journalist Gao Yu also made a televised confession before eventually being released on medical grounds. She later retracted it, saying the authorities had made threats against her son. Wangs teenage son Bao Zhuoxuan was detained last October in Myanmar as he tried to flee China after police confiscated his passport. Two activists who tried to help Bao flee China through Myanmar after his parents' arrest were handed over to Chinese police by the authorities in Shan State, and now face people-smuggling charges. Wangs bail follows the release on bail last month of legal assistant Zhao Wei, who is being held in an unknown location, possibly alongside members of her extended family. Her husband has been unable to find her, and her lawyer Ren Quanniu has himself been detained. Other trials imminent Meanwhile, Wangs former boss at Fengrui, Zhou Shifeng, looks set to face trial soon on subversion charges alongside Hu Shigen, Gou Hongguo, and Zhai Yanmin, an overseas rights group reported. The four, who have been held incommunicado since their detention, could face imminent trial at the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate Peoples Court on charges of subversion of state power, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network reported. The trials may begin as soon as Monday, August 1, according to unconfirmed information, the group, which compiles reports from rights activists inside China, said in a statement on its website. It said the authorities hadnt notified the detainees families or lawyers, however. Several family members were briefly detained by police on Friday and two people disappeared on Sunday night as they tried to confirm with the court where and when the trials would take place, CHRD said. Under Chinese criminal procedural law, the authorities must notify lawyers and families at least three days before holding a trial. Reported by Yang Fan for RFAs Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Stung by unfavorable press coverage in a growing number of countries, North Korean diplomats are pushing back hard against media reports deemed to have cast their country or national leader Kim Jong Un in a negative light, sources say. We will not tolerate any dirty articles criticizing our supreme leader, North Korean ambassador to South Africa Kim Chang Ryeop wrote in a letter published on July 17 in South Africas Daily Maverick newspaper. The letter, which was threatening in its tone, came in response to an article printed earlier by the Maverick detailing North Korean diplomats attempts to smuggle rhinoceros horns out of the country in a scheme to earn money for the cash-strapped and sanctions-hit North Korean regime. North Korean missions in southern Africa have long been involved in the trade in endangered species to generate income for the central government and for North Korean embassies abroad, according to a report this month by the Geneva, Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. The countrys diplomats rely on their immunity from detention and arrest and do much of their smuggling through diplomatic pouches, bags, or shipping containers exempt from inspection by police and customs officers, sources say. In other cases, North Korean officials have been even more direct in their complaints, bursting into the offices of media outlets and demanding to know the sources of embarrassing stories, sources say. In May, North Koreas ambassador to Congo, Jo Young Nam, and embassy secretary Choi Myong Hoon went on a rampage in the offices of Congos daily newspaper Le Potentiel after the paper ran a story saying that a camp for North Korean prisoners had been set up in neighboring Equatorial Guinea, one source told RFAs Korean Service. "They aggressively demanded the identity of the story's source." Later, on June 15, Congos LObservateur daily published an article exposing what it called the illegal operation of North Korean medical clinics in African countries, RFAs source said. North Korean embassy officials then threatened to sue the paper for spreading false information. A positive image North Korean officials have also tried recently to promote a more positive image of their country in the foreign press, sources say. On June 18, Kim Hyun Il, North Koreas ambassador to Angola, visited Angolas major news agency ANGOP to request favorable news coverage of North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un, one source said. However, this request was rejected. A request apparently along the same lines by Ahn Gwan Gil, North Koreas ambassador to Indonesia, on July 19 was similarly turned down by Jakartas daily paper The Jakarta Post, though no public statement was made giving details of the meeting, sources in the country said. North Koreas provocations, aggressive behavior, and threats are unacceptable to the people of Indonesia, Hwang Miri, a Korean-American businesswoman living in Indonesia, told RFA. Many people are now criticizing North Korea because of its behavior, she said. Reported by Albert Hong for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Richard Finney. The Jupaoyan Cassava Processing Co., Ltd. is releasing effluents into a nearby stream in Phonesamphan village, Long district, in northern Laos' Luang Namtha province, July 26, 2016. More than 400 families in two villages in Long district of northern Laos Luang Namtha province are being increasingly affected by a cassava-processing plant operated by a Lao-Chinese company that releases pollutants into a nearby stream on which they depend for water, a local resident said. The plant owned by Jupaoyan Cassava Processing Co., Ltd. turns the edible, starchy, tuberous root into biofuel for power generation. But the effluent it releases has polluted a stream used by the residents of Phonesamphan and Taohom villages, said the villager who declined to be named. The plant drains debris and water into a stream that villagers rely on, and no one dares bathe in the stream, he said. The operators of the plant, which was built in 2002, have created small ponds to hold the polluted water, but they continue to release the effluent into the stream, he told RFAs Lao Service. In addition, in the rainy reason the water will burst the banks of the ponds three to four times a year, he said. In the past, officials from the districts natural resources and environment office used to come to test water, but after that the problem was not addressed, the villager said. Now there are no fish in the stream. No one answered the phone when RFA contacted Jupaoyan Cassava Processing Co on Monday. Resolving the problem Long district officials say they and the operators of the plant are looking for a new way to begin handling the effluent starting this month. We will resolve the problems as soon as possible, District Governor Phommasouk Vilaykhoun told RFA. On Monday, a district government official had a meeting at the company and signed a memorandum of understanding in which the company agreed to build more four ponds installed with wastewater treatment systems. The company is preparing the land to build a water-management system to ensure there will be no problems in the future, he told RFA. It is expected to start in August. The environment in Luang Namtha province has been polluted not only by the cassava plant, but also by herbicides and pesticides used on banana plantations as well as waste from mine excavation companies backed by Chinese investors. Another cassava power-generating company located in Natham village in the Pak-Ngum district of Vientiane municipality released contaminated water into Nong-han Lake, killing hundreds of tons of fish between 2009 and 2015, according to a villager who requested anonymity. Though the government failed to address the issue, the company, backed by a Korean investor, eventually went bankrupt and shut down, he said. Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Authorities in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province have sentenced a Tibetan monk to three years in prison for staging a solitary protest in Ngaba county opposing Beijings rule in Tibetan areas, sources in the region and in exile said. Jampal Gyatso, 22, was sentenced in a secret trial, with no opportunity given to his parents or other relatives to attend the hearing or hire a lawyer to present his case, a Tibetan living in the area told RFAs Tibetan Service on Monday. His family members learned about this only today, Aug. 1, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. We now know he is being held in a prison in Maowun [Mao] county, about 350 kilometers [217 miles approx.] from the Ngaba county seat, the source said. Details of Gyatsos present health condition and the charges on which he was sentenced are still not known, the source said. Gyatso, a monk from Ngabas Kirti monstery, was detained in September 2015 after he called out in public for Tibetan freedom while carrying a photo of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on the main street of the Ngaba county seat, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Chinese police stationed along the road quickly seized him and took him away, sources said. At that time, several Tibetans who witnessed the scene shouted in support of the protester, one source said. Gyatso and his familyfather Surya, mother Tare Kyi, and a brother and sistercome from Ngabas Meruma village group no. 3, a Tibetan source living in India told RFA, citing contacts in the region. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijings rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have also set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lamas return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated b Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. It's probably a good idea to keep a close eye on those tough guys standing behind Vladimir Putin sporting sunglasses and dark suits. Because you never know where one of them will pop up next. One of the things that jumped out at me in last week's massive reshuffle of regional and federal elites was that yet another one of Putin's former bodyguards got a promotion when Yevgeny Zinichev was named Kalinigrad's new governor. Now, Zinichev's rise has been nothing short of meteoric. He rose from being a member of Putin's personal security detail to being head of the Kaliningrad branch of the FSB to being the region's governor in just a matter of years. Zinichev's ascent mirrors that of another former Putin bodyguard, Aleksei Dyumin. He came out of nowhere to be named deputy defense minister in 2015 and then was named governor of the Tula region earlier this year. And then, of course, there is Viktor Zolotov. He led Putin's security detail when the Kremlin leader was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg back in the '90s. He accompanied Putin to Moscow, where he led the Federal Protection Service. Today, he heads Russia's powerful National Guard, a 400,000-strong force that answers to Putin alone and has been called the Kremlin leader's Praetorian Guard. And then, of course, there were those reports back in December that the Federal Guard Service, which oversees Putin's personal security detail, had dispatched a special task force to monitor the mood in the country's regions. Here a bodyguard, there a bodyguard, everywhere a bodyguard. It sort of makes you wonder, what exactly is Putin afraid of? Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. 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." Syntaos co-founder: green finance, key to SHs green development By:Jiang Wenran | From:english.eastday.com | 2016-07-28 14:52 Shanghai, July 28- Green finance is a new trend of concern, said Syntaos co-founder and general manager Guo Peiyuan, Finance is the upstream of the whole economy system and last to feel the environmental pressure. From western practice, it will be a good turning point for the environment when we started to pay attention to green finance. Invest in Green FutureCSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and Innovation 2016 Shanghai Summit, guided by the Shanghai Information Office, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, is held by Shanghai Observer under Jiefang Daily, Shanghai Daily and Eastday.com yesterday afternoon. Experts and scholars as well as enterprise representatives gathered together and had in-depth discussions and exchanges on Shanghais green development path towards global city construction. Guo attended the summit and gave a keynote speech. Green finance has become a hot spot both internationally and domestically, Guo introduced that China Financial Forum has set up Green Financial Professional Committee supported by the People's Bank of China while Shanghai Stock Exchange is promoting green bonds. Besides, the coming G20 Hangzhou Summit will also focus on green financial issues. Shanghai, one of the international financial centers, has good basic conditions in developing green finance. Guo pointed out that some financial institutions in this city have done some pioneering work, Green finance should be a key to Shanghais green development. Guo also noted that non-financial institutions can participate in green finance and make a profit through issuing green bonds, promoting energy efficiency financing and green supply chain finance, etc. Ukrainians have increasingly woken up to the sound of suicide drones as Russia turns to Iranian-made imports to destroy civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Now they may have another deadly Iranian weapon to worry about -- ballistic missiles. Cheap but effective, Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 "kamikaze" drones have already made a deadly impact in Ukraine. If U.S. intelligence assessments pan out, Russia will soon be able to supplement its use of Iranian suicide drones and its own cruise and ballistic missiles with powerful short-range Iranian Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles. Coming as the Kremlin is reportedly struggling to maintain its depleted stockpile of aerial weapons as it ramps up strikes, the missiles would potentially boost Russia's ability to continue its costly air campaign. Jeremy Binnie, a Middle East defense specialist at the global intelligence company Janes, said having more missiles gives Russia the ability to sustain the bombardment against Ukraine." Going Ballistic The Fateh-110, which was unveiled in 2001 and has a stated range of 300 to 500 kilometers, was developed from a heavy artillery rocket dating from the 1980s. To increase the weapon's accuracy, the Fateh-110 was given a guidance system and movable fins that allow it to be steered as it approaches its target. The Zolfaghar, which debuted in 2016 and also has guidance capabilities, comes from the same family as the Fateh-110 but boasts a much longer range due to its use of a lighter carbon-fiber airframe and a smaller warhead. Binnie said the Zolfaghar's use against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in eastern Syria confirmed that the missile was capable of reaching at least 650 kilometers, which he said is "a statement of how much the Iranian tactical missile program has really advanced over the years." Iran's claim that the Zolfaghar can travel even farther -- up to 700 kilometers -- would put the western Ukrainian city of Lviv within range of strikes launched from Russian territory, while the more powerful Fateh-110 could potentially hit the city from Belarus, which has served as a staging ground for Russian attacks. While there has been no indication that Russia plans to purchase launching systems from Iran, Binnie suggests that the Russian military could pair the missiles with existing equipment because the Iranian launchers were adapted from a Soviet-era system. "It might be possible for the Russians to quickly adapt some old equipment they have lying around into launch systems," Binnie said. The Iranian military, he added, fitted the Soviet system to trucks, allowing for mobility and concealment. "Those civilian trucks can be covered over to make it hard to spot that they're actually missile launchers," Binnie said. 'Lawnmowers' And 'Mopeds' Iranian military drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been homing in on targets across Ukraine since late August, according to the United States. The buzzing sound of the Iranian Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones, built with off-the-shelf components, have earned them derisive monikers such as "lawnmowers" and "mopeds." But the slow-moving, low-flying drones, which are maneuvered to crash into their target, have proven themselves capable of hitting their mark both in terms of military effectiveness and cost. It is capable of extracting or delivering attrition and damage when launched, but it costs little compared to other UAVs that Russia has in its own arsenal," said Samuel Bendett of the Virginia-based Center for Naval Analyses (CNA). Ukraine alleges Russia has ordered 2,400 of the Iranian suicide drones, and its military has claimed to have shot them down in great numbers, often using conventional anti-aircraft guns or even small-arms fire. But their ability to be launched in bunches of five -- often from the cover of civilian trucks -- improves their chances of reaching their target. "The Ukrainians are stopping most of these, but the whole point of these drones is that they fly in a large mass," Bendett said. "The air defense does not always catch all of them. All it takes is for several or even one to make it through." The estimated range of the Shahed-136 varies, but Iran says it is capable of traveling 2,500 kilometers. The slightly smaller and older Shahed-131, which has been used by Huthi rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi targets in the Arabian Peninsula, has been estimated to have a range of 900 kilometers, according to tests conducted by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has published multiple images of downed Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks, and the Ukrainian National Guard on October 19 claimed to have shot down a Shahed-131. Ukraine has also claimed to have shot down a more advanced Iranian combat UAV, the Mojer-6 drone capable of carrying out both reconnaissance missions and aerial strikes within a range of 200 kilometers. There have also been reports of Russian interest in obtaining Irans Shahed-129 and Shahed-191 combat drones. "When launched from any territory that Russia controls or is allied with -- anywhere from the south, from the Donbas, from Belarus -- they're able to strike a lot of Ukrainian targets," Bendett said. In addition to the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia will soon boost its arsenal with Iranian ballistic missiles, as first reported by The Washington Post on October 16, the White House on October 20 said that Iranians are now "directly engaged on the ground" in Moscows war against Ukraine after sending "a relatively small number" of personnel from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to assist Russian forces in using the Iranian drones. Iran has denied sending combat drones to Russia, and Moscow has rejected claims that it is using Iranian UAVs. Images of downed Iranian drones appear to show that they have been rebranded to look Russian-made, experts say, with the markings in Cyrillic naming them as the Geran-1 (the Shahed-131) and Geran-2 (the Shahed-136). Observers are widely skeptical of Russia's denials, noting that the drones are essentially identical right down to the font of the serial numbers. Even Russian Defense Ministry experts have unwittingly admitted that the suicide drones are Iranian. But the rebranding of the drones to make them appear to be Russian has opened the possibility that Moscow could, if it is not already doing so, seek to manufacture or assemble the Iranian drones on its own territory. Sustaining A Campaign The new aerial weaponry fits well with the Russian military's renewed focus on striking military and civilian targets far from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine. The air assault has ratcheted up following the October 8 appointment of Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, a former Aerospace Forces commander, to lead the Russian war effort. Just days after Surovikin's appointment, Russia launched the biggest air strikes since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February. Moscow said the drone and missile strikes, which targeted civilian areas and infrastructure in cities throughout Ukraine, were in response to a bomb blast that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. While the Kremlin has accused Ukraine's intelligence services of carrying out the "terrorist" attack on the Crimea Bridge, Ukraine has denied responsibility. Since the initial air assault in response to the bridge blast, Russia has continued to pound Ukrainian infrastructure, often targeting power plants in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said is a deliberate effort to wear down the Ukrainian people by denying them heat and electricity as winter approaches. "Civilian infrastructure is obviously the new layer in this war. The Ukrainian economy is now the target, the Ukrainian population is now the target," Bendett said. Hard To Stop The hypersonic speed and high trajectory of Iran's Fateh-110s and Zolfaghars, should they arrive, would be extremely difficult for Kyiv to counter without a network of high-tech and costly antimissile batteries it currently does not possess. Ukraine has repeatedly requested more advanced missile-defense systems from the West, and in the face of the threat of the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles reportedly sent an official request to Israel this week for components of its "Iron Dome" system. While the United States has said that it is seeking to expedite the process of sending two U.S. air defense systems known as NASAMS, Washington has appeared reluctant to provide more advanced Patriot missile systems. Janes' defense expert Binnie is skeptical that the delivery of the Patriot system, which has proven to be successful in shooting down ballistic missiles, is realistic for Ukraine. "It's eye wateringly expensive and it's probably not really practical because each [missile] battery only covers one city," he said. "You would never get enough batteries to get the coverage you would want. You just wouldn't be able to find them, produce them, and train enough Ukrainians." President Hassan Rohani has ordered the postponement of state recruitment exams for Iranians seeking government jobs, saying that gender quotas must be fixed and based on "justice." Rohani's order on July 31 followed Iranian media reports alleging that some of the 13 state bodies participating in the exam, which had been scheduled for September 6, have quotas that discriminate against women. Rohani ordered Iran's Management and Planning Organization to cancel quotas that are based on "unjust discrimination," the official government website said. It said he demanded quick action to ensure that gender quotas are based on justice and merit and are in line with his plans and promises. Rohani has criticized the "culture of sexual discrimination" in Iran and promised to give women more rights and equal opportunities. His vice president for women's affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, said earlier this year that some of the gender quotas in place were discriminatory and did not conform with Rohani's promises. Molaverdi was quoted in April by Iranian media as saying that she had corresponded with Rohani and other relevant authorities in hopes of amending the quotas. The daily Vaghaye Etefaghieh reported last week that out of the roughly 3,000 jobs advertised in the exam, only 30 percent were designated for women. It said that "961 job opportunities belong exclusively to men, meaning that 30 percent of the jobs -- only 16 titles -- are for women," adding that the situation had improved since last year, when 2,284 of the 2,800 job opportunities were for men only. With zero job offers available for women, Iran's Islamic Propaganda Organization has the most discriminatory recruitment practice. The organization says that "wearing clerical garb" is mandatory for all applicants. Out of the 271 jobs advertised by the country's Prisons Organization, 31 would go exclusively to men while 13 were set aside for women, with the rest potentially open to both genders. In addition to the unequal quotas, the BBC reported that the majority of management-level positions were set aside for men, while women were offered lower posts. While an estimated 60 percent of university entrants are female, women make up less than 20 percent of Iran's workforce. Iranian government officials have expressed concern about high unemployment among women, which unofficial figures put at about 40 percent. In March 2015, a group of women's rights activists blasted the gender quotas as "overt discrimination against women" and blamed high female unemployment on state policies they said aim "to eliminate women from society." The World Economic Forum's 2015 Gender Gap Index ranked Iran 141st out of 145 surveyed countries, meaning that it found only four countries to be more discriminatory toward women. A battle between Taliban gunmen and Afghan security forces raged through the night at a guesthouse and logistics facility used by foreign contractors in Kabul. Police said a powerful truck bomb exploded at the gates of the Northgate Hotel at about 1:30 a.m. on August 1, after which militants stormed into the compound. Roads in the neighborhood were blocked off by Afghan security forces and columns of vehicles with Afghan troops and police were deployed in the area. Afghan media reported that forces from NATO's Resolute Force mission also were involved in what correspondents described as a "clearing operation." Correspondents also reported hearing the sound of rocket-propelled grenades being launched and exploding within the heavily guarded compound to the east of Kabul's international airport. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said one attacker died when his vehicle detonated and two other militants were killed by police in the gunbattle, which is now over. One police officer was also killed and four others were wounded. The guests and staff at the Northgate Hotel were unharmed. Power in parts of Kabul was briefly cut off shortly after the blast. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the truck bomb cleared the way for Taliban fighters to enter the compound with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles. Afghan officials did not immediately release complete casualty figures. But the BBC reports that Kabul police confirmed at least one policeman was killed and another injured by gunfire. The Taliban, which is known to exaggerate casualties caused by its attacks, claimed that more than 100 foreigners had been killed and wounded -- calling them "American invaders." In addition to housing foreign guests, the Northgate Hotel is a logistics facility that provides support services to foreign military and civilian contractors in Afghanistan. In 2013, the facility was granted diplomatic status, allowing it to continue using private foreign security companies rather than the Afghan Interior Ministrys Afghan Public Protection Force. A similar Taliban attack against the Northgate Hotel in July 2013 -- a truck bomb followed by a gun battle -- killed nine people, including four Nepalese and one Briton. The latest attack comes about a week after the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people. It also follows an attack in June on a convoy of Nepalese security contractors who worked for the Canadian Embassy and other attacks against foreigners in Kabul -- including a suicide attack in January at Camp Baron, a camp used by foreign contractors. With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, Tolo TV, and BBC ALMATY -- Kazakh officials say two police officers have died after sustaining gunshot wounds in an attack last month. Almaty police said on August 1 that Serik Abildaev and Meirambek Rakhmatullaev died in hospital, bringing to eight the death toll of multiple attacks in Kazakhstans commercial capital that President Nursultan Nazarbaev described as a "terrorist act." On July 18, a 26-year-old Almaty resident, Ruslan Kulekbaev, opened fire at the offices of the Almaty police department and National Security Committee, killing six people, including a retired police officer, a border guard officer, and four police officers. Kulekbaev was arrested and charged with terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. Officials have said Kulekbaev, who served time in jail in the past, was a lone terrorist, whose actions were motivated by hatred toward police. With reporting by Interfax BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities have arrested another member of the opposition People's Parliament movement suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on August 1 that Toigonbek Kalmatov was detained on July 30. Eight other opposition politicians have been arrested in the case since May, including People's Parliament leader Bekbolot Talgarbekov, a former agriculture minister, former judge Marat Sultanov, and a politician who has previously run for president, Torobai Kolubaev. Authorities have said leaders and activists of the People's Parliament had planned to seize power during a rally in Bishkek in May. The group had demanded President Almazbek Atambaev leave his post before May 17. Kyrgyzstan has seen two governments overthrown, in 2005 and 2010. MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has refused to change the suspended sentence of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to an actual prison term. The Lyublino District Court ruled on August 1 that the request by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to change Navalny's suspended sentence cannot be satisfied, saying there were no gross violations in his actions in executing the sentence. The FSIN requested Navalny's immediate imprisonment, complaining that he had regularly violated the conditions of his suspended sentence by failing to visit a parole officer. Navalny, along with his brother Oleg Navalny, was found guilty in December 2014 of large-scale theft from two Russian firms between 2008 and 2012 and handed a 3 1/2 year suspended sentence. His brother was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Both brothers rejected the charges as politically motivated. With reporting by rapsinews.ru and TASS On July 19, Abdufattoh Ghoib, the head of Tajikistan's Customs Service, announced that the Tajik government was considering making an application to enter the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Ghoib's declaration followed an announcement from Leonid Slutsky, the Russian State Duma member overseeing Eurasian integration, in which he stated that Tajikistan would likely apply for EEU membership in 2017. If Tajikistan joins the EEU, Tajikistan will be entrenched further into the Russian sphere of influence. From a purely economic standpoint, Tajikistan's dependence on remittance revenues from guest workers living in Russia makes EEU integration a natural step. Yet deeper integration with Russia has been surprisingly controversial in Tajikistan. Even though Tajikistan is economically beholden to Moscow, a sizable minority of Tajiks are opposed to EEU accession. In addition, some Tajik military officers are angered by Russia's lack of consultation with Tajik officials on important military-base activities and crimes perpetrated by Russian soldiers at Moscow's Tajik base. Why Many Tajiks Oppose Economic Integration With Russia Although Russia and Tajikistan have been allies since Tajikistan's creation as an independent state in 1991, many Tajiks fear that deeper economic integration with Russia will stymie Tajikistan's long-term economic development for two reasons. First, some Tajik business elites fear that EEU accession will damage Dushanbe's economic and diplomatic relationships with non-EEU actors. In particular, China and other important secondary trade partners, like Qatar and Iran, could view Tajikistan as a Russian client state if it joins the EEU. This perception could cause vital foreign investors to scale back their capital provisions to the Tajik economy. Zafar Abdullayev, director of the Content think tank, argued in a July 2015 Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) briefing that heightened Kremlin control over Tajikistan's economy and political system could also severely strain Washington-Dushanbe relations. Deeper U.S. involvement in Tajikistan's internal politics would likely result in Russia reciprocally tightening its grip over Tajikistan. This scenario could compromise Tajikistan's sovereignty and inextricably link Tajikistan's economic future to the trajectory of the Russian economy. Second, economic crises in the EEU's two largest countries, Russia and Kazakhstan, have reduced public support for Eurasian integration. Tajikistan's diminished enthusiasm for the EEU can be demonstrated by a decline in Tajik labor migration to Russia. According to a July 21 statement by Tajikistan's minister of labor, migration, and employment, Sumangul Tagoyzoda, the number of migrant workers leaving Tajikistan decreased by 8 percent during the first half of the 2016 calendar year. Anti-immigration sentiments in Russia, the declining value of the Tajik currency, and tighter visa restrictions for non-EEU migrants played a major role in this decline. Nevertheless, as Carnegie Endowment for International Peace fellow Paul Stronski notes, the steepness of the decline in Tajik migration to Russia can be at least partially explained by a sizable number of Tajiks returning home by choice. As economic prospects for Tajik workers in Russia decline, many Tajiks have concluded that the negative attributes of life as a guest worker in Russia outweigh the economic opportunities. In the first six months of this year, 436 Tajik citizens died in Russia. Many of these deaths were attributable to accidents and racist attacks. According to RFE/RL's Tajik Service, 6,000 Tajik workers who typically would have migrated to Russia have settled in Kazakhstan instead. Large-scale Tajik emigration from Russia the year before a potential EEU membership application differs strikingly from the situation in Kyrgyzstan before Bishkek joined the EEU in July 2015. While much of the 5.4 percent increase in Kyrgyz worker migration to Russia in 2015 can be attributed to Kyrgyzstan's EEU accession, the trend line in the first half of last year was uniformly positive. As Catherine Putz argued in a recent article for The Diplomat, Kyrgyzstan's Eurasian integration struggles could have sullied Tajik perceptions of the EEU and contributed to a decline in Tajik migration to Russia. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will likely support EEU accession to preempt unrest caused by rising poverty levels and returning guest workers. To appease anti-EEU Tajiks who fear growing Russian hegemony over Tajikistan, Rahmon will try his best to strengthen economic ties with Dushanbe's extra-regional allies. As Tajikistan lacks the natural resources Kazakhstan possesses and has an even poorer investment climate than Kyrgyzstan, Rahmon's bid to combine EEU membership with trade diversification is an uphill struggle. Concerns About Russia's Role As Guarantor Of Tajik Security Russia has been the primary guarantor of Tajikistan's security since the 1992-97 civil war. But Moscow's commitment to preserving Tajikistan's security was called into question by Russia's February decision to downgrade its military presence from a "division" to a "brigade." As Tajik nationalists resent Russia's military presence in Tajikistan and Russia had announced plans a few months earlier to expand its division from 7,000 to 9,000 men, some analysts speculated that tensions between Rahmon and Putin were responsible for Russia's change in policy. While rumored frictions between the Russian and Tajik presidents are unsubstantiated, Dmitry Popov, a Central Asia expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, claims that Russia's military downgrade was motivated by a desire to appease Tajik officials who resisted Moscow's dictation of Tajikistan's security policy. Some Tajik officials disdain Russia's policy of expanding and reducing its troop presence in Tajikistan without consulting the Tajik government. As Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov admitted to Deutsche Welle that he was not informed about February's redistribution, opposition to Russia's secrecy on military base activities has continued to fester. Frustrations with Russia's unwillingness to consult the Tajik government on military activities impacting Tajikistan's security have been exacerbated by criminal activity on Russia's military base. Joshua Kucera of Eurasianet described in July 2015 how Russian military personnel had been implicated in a string of violent crimes in Tajikistan. These crimes included the murder of a Tajik taxi driver in fall 2014, and an assault of a Tajik waiter in early 2015. As Russian military base personnel are given de facto immunity for crimes committed on Tajik soil, a sense of injustice has created strains between Russian troops and their Tajik hosts. On July 28, the Tajik government lodged a protest over a Russian soldier's killing of a Tajik woman named Shoira Jabborova, and urged Moscow to crack down on violent crime by servicemen at Russia's Tajik base. In March 2015, Tajik courts lifted a ban on Tajiks serving in the Russian military to reduce unemployment rates in Tajikistan. This decision allows Tajiks who speak Russian and have received Russian military training to find employment in their home country. The Tajik government's aim is to stop Russia's use of its Tajik military base as a dumping ground for poorly trained and insubordinate conscripts. This policy has angered opponents of deeper economic integration with Russia. As Russian military participation gives Tajiks Russian citizenship and an opportunity to work in Russia full-time, EEU integration could result in the defection of the most capable Tajik military personnel to Moscow's military base. This would drastically increase Tajikistan's security dependence on Russia and compromise Dushanbe's sovereignty. Increased Tajik presence at Russia's base has not made Moscow's military activities more transparent to Tajiks. A December 2015 report from Tajik private media outlet Asia-Plus alleged that Russian diplomats held a covert diplomatic summit with Taliban representatives in Tajikistan without the Tajik government's consent. The veracity of this report was confirmed by the Russian ambassador to Tajikistan, Igor Lyakin-Frolov, who insisted that Russia merely held discussions with Taliban officials, and did not negotiate with the Taliban. Frolov's calibration response did little to assuage Tajik frustration with the opacity of Russian interventions into Tajikistan's internal politics. In light of Russia's breaches of Tajikistan's sovereignty, deeper economic integration with Russia could result in a backlash from Tajikistan's military command and a possible repeat of last fall's highly destabilizing mutiny. The Tajik Defense Ministry has vehemently denied military brain-drain speculation. But if EEU integration causes too many Tajiks to pursue Russian citizenship, Rahmon could reinstate his ban on Tajiks enlisting in the Russian military. That move would appease Tajik nationalists, but could exacerbate poverty at a time when the Tajik financial system is veering toward insolvency. The majority of Tajiks support Rahmon's push for EEU integration. But closer ties with Russia have also proven to be more controversial than Tajik policymakers expected. In order to prevent instability and appease nationalists, Rahmon has to demonstrate that deeper integration with Russia will not jeopardize Tajikistan's sovereignty and relationships with non-EEU trade partners. As Russia shows few signs of backing off on its hegemonic aspirations in Central Asia, Rahmon could have a difficult time proving his case for swift EEU integration. Samuel Ramani is a doctorate-of-philosophy candidate in international relations at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, specializing in post-1991 Russian foreign policy. He is also a journalist who contributes regularly to The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and The Diplomat magazine. He can be followed on Twitter at @SamRamani2. Two U.S. cybersecurity companies say their analyses of a hack on the computers of a Democratic Party fund-raising group shows Russian hackers to be responsible. The two American firms said in statements on August 1 that the Internet domains and registrants used to hack the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee computers point to a Russian hacking group, Fancy Bear, that is linked to Russian intelligence services. Fancy Bear was also connected to the breach of computers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in June, said the firms, Fidelis Cybersecurity and ThreatConnect. The DNC case ignited a controversy within the U.S. presidential race when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton accused Russian hackers of involvement. In a July 31 interview, Clinton said, "We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC." The Kremlin rejected allegations it was behind the DNC computer hack. Sensitive DNC e-mails were later released by WikiLeaks, leading to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on August 1 that Clinton's comments were "of the preelection rhetoric genre." "In this case," Peskov said, "[the Americans] are trying to camouflage some of their own [preelection] shenanigans by demonizing Russia. The United States has not publicly accused Russia of being behind the hack of Democratic Party computers, but U.S. officials said they believe Russia engineered the release of the e-mails to influence the November 8 U.S. presidential election. Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and TASS Writer and poet Fazil Iskander once described the Soviet Union as a "strict-regime kindergarten," an adjective usually reserved for the worst of the Soviet labor camps. Iskander, one of the most important and beloved writers of the late-Soviet period, died on July 31 at his home outside Moscow at the age of 87. "He was probably the most cheerful and charming writer of the generation of the 1960s," literary critic and professor Oleg Lekmanov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. "It is as if we have all lost a close relative." A memorial service will be held in Moscow on August 2, and he will be buried at the city's Novodevichy Cemetery --- the resting place of prominent Russian and Soviet figures from Anton Chekhov and Mikhail Bulgakov to Nikita Khrushchev and Boris Yeltsin. Iskander was born in Sukhumi, in Georgia's Abkhazia region, in 1929. His father, an ethnic Persian, was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1938, and Iskander never saw him again. He grew up with his mother's Abkhaz relatives in the village of Chegem, which he would later immortalize in many of his stories, including the classic novel Sandro From Chegem. He came to national and international prominence as a leading member of the so-called "shestidesyatniki," or '60s generation, writers and poets who were quick to take advantage of the relative cultural liberalism that came with Soviet leader Khrushchev's partial de-Stalinization. His stories and novels usually gave a humorous, wise, uncomprehending village-eye view of the arbitrariness of Soviet rule. His first novella, The Goatibex Constellation, tells the story of a young Abkhaz journalist who becomes part of a Soviet publicity campaign for the creation of new hybrid animal. The novel humorously savages Khrushchev's various agricultural campaigns and sinister Soviet theories of genetics. Crippled By Censorship However, like most of the writers of that generation, Iskander soon ran up against the limits of that liberalism. His Sandro From Chegem was only published in a heavily redacted version in the Soviet Union, prompting the writer to send the complete manuscript to Ardis, a small publisher in the United States that specialized in banned Soviet literature. Ardis published the complete novel in 1979 and it quickly made its way back into the Soviet Union. "Censorship completely destroyed that book," said Ellendea Proffer, who founded Ardis together with her husband, Carl, in an interview with RFE/RL in 2003. "You could say that the whole text was a healthy person, while the edited version was a cripple. Sandro From Chegem is a brilliant thing -- but Soviet censorship removed whole chapters -- for example, Balthazar's Feast. That is, they ripped the beating heart out of the book. Soviet censorship of that period was very harsh." Proffer added that translating Iskander's works into English was very difficult, and he is not readily accessible to English-speaking audiences. His style bears no relation to "traditional manners of Russian writing" and his works share the penetrating power of William Faulkner and the "humor and simplicity" of Mark Twain, she said. "But unlike such American writers, Iskander has an oriental style, reminiscent of A Thousand And One Nights." Asked about his own writing style and use of humor, Iskander once said: "In order to have a good sense of humor, one must walk to the very edge of pessimism and look into that gloomy abyss, convince oneself that there is nothing down there, and then quietly walk back. The footsteps one leaves on the journey back -- that will be real humor." 'The Poetry Of Life' Iskander wrote his books in Russian and was proud to call himself a Russian writer, despite his Abkhaz roots. "I am definitely a Russian writer," he said in an interview in 2011, "who has written a lot about Abkhazia. Unfortunately, I haven't written anything in Abkhaz. The choice of Russian culture was obvious for me. Our classical literature is recognized around the world as the most conscientious." To the end of his life, Iskander regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union and remained nostalgic about what he called the "sense of community" that he experienced in that country. He noted ruefully that the Abkhazia that emerged following the region's 13-month war to break away from Georgian government control in 1992-93 bore little resemblance to the naive, pastoral Abkhazia depicted in his stories. Iskander "was one of the Russian writers who was entirely deserving of a Nobel Prize," writer Viktor Yerefeyev told Izvestia on August 1. "I would give him a Nobel Prize just for the fact that he created his own literary language. For me, Fazil was a man of amazing moral clarity." "His personality was stronger than the political system," Yerofeyev added. "He tended more toward the poetry of life than to the politics of life." RFE/RL's Russian Service correspondent Aleksandr Genis contributed to this report CSR and Innovation 2016 Shanghai Summit held By:Jiang, Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2016-07-27 21:16 Shanghai, July 27- Invest in Green FutureCSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and Innovation 2016 Shanghai Summit, guided by the Shanghai Information Office, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, is held by Shanghai Observer under Jiefang Daily, Shanghai Daily and Eastday.com this afternoon. Officials from Information Office of Shanghai Municipality, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, enterprise representatives and experts and scholars in corporate social responsibilities gathered together and had in-depth discussions and exchanges on Shanghais green development path towards global city construction. Zhu Yonglei, Deputy Secretary General of the CPC Shanghai Committee, Vice Minister of Publicity Ministry of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC and Director of the Shanghai Information Office, attended the summit and gave an opening speech. (Photo: Xu Cheng) He spoke highly of the important role of this program in promoting Shanghais construction of new type of green global city. Zhu noted that many enterprises considered it a good platform to show both Chinese and foreign companies social responsibility as well as Shanghais confidence and strength to promote sustainable development of its economy. Deputy Director of the Shanghai Information Office Chen Jingxi, Deputy Director of Shanghai Commission of Commerce Gu Jun, Chief engineer of Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau Luo Hailin, Party Secretary of Jie Fang Daily Li Yun, Editor-in Chief of Jie Fang Daily Chen Songqing, Party Secretary and chairman of Eastday.com He Jiliang, Deputy Editor-in Chief of Eastday.com Zhang Sang and Editor-in Chief of Shanghai Daily Wu Zheng awarded prizes for enterprises. Todays summit is a summary and climax of the CSR program started since April. Expert panel leader Dr. Zhu Dajian, Syntaos co-founder and general manager Guo Peiyuan, Secret General of CSR Manager Club, Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment Zhang Jing, Annette Wiedenbach, Head of Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainability, Covestro Greater China, Zhou Ting General Manager and Press Secretary of Brands and Public Communications Department, FosunPharma gave keynote speeches during the summit. Expert panel leader Dr. Zhu Dajian gave a key note speech. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Zhu noted that the theme of green development makes sense during Shanghais construction of global city. He also shared some opinion on the relations between CSR and this citys construction of global city. Panel session on Green Innovation: new engine of sustainable development. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Panel session on Shared value: new pattern of mutual development. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Representatives from multinational companies, state-owned enterprises as well as private enterprises discussed social responsibilities during two panel sessions, sharing their referential experience on innovation and structural upgrade. The program kicked off in April, attracting more than 400,000 peoples attention and participation on new media platforms. Through panel evaluation and online votes, 49 CSR excellent cases, as samples of Shanghais green development, finally stood out of 100 cases from 83 companies. The program, through expert panel evaluation led by Dr Zhu Dajian, distinguished professor of School of Economics & Management, Director of Think-tank of Sustainable Development and New Urbanization, Head of Department of Public Management and Policy, and Vice Chairman of University Academic Committeeat Tongji University in Shanghai and online votes, finally selected out cases from three aspects of green awards, shared value awards and responsibility innovation awards, which are full of innovation, demonstration effect and sustainability and enjoy a certain influence and significance in their own industry. Editor-in Chief of Shanghai Daily Wu Zheng (L1) and Deputy chairman of Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment Zhang Rongjie (R1) are presenting Contribution Award. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Deputy Director of Shanghai Commission of Commerce Gu Jun (R1) and Deputy Editor-in Chief of Eastday.com Zhang Sang (L1) are presenting Green Awards. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Editor-in Chief of Jie Fang Daily Chen Songqing (L1) and Chief engineer of Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau Luo Hailin (R1) are presenting Shared Value Awards. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Party Secretary of Jie Fang Daily Li Yun (L1), Party Secretary and chairman of Eastday.com He Jiliang (R2) and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Information Office Chen Jingxi (R1) are presenting Responsibility Innovation Awards. (Photo: Xu Cheng) Eastday.com is one of the CSR Program organizers. Party Secretary and chairman of Eastday.com He Jiliang noted that the main purpose is to promote the citys healthy and orderly development in accordance with the idea of green and pro-environment. He also considered it a very important responsibility for media to present enterprises best cases of CSR, innovation and green development. This year is the start of the implementation of the thirteenth Five-Year Plan with five development idea of innovation, coordination, green, open and sharing. The program, organized during the construction of Shanghai international financial center, international trade center, international economic center, international shipping center and science and technology innovation center with global influence, can on one hand help summarize the successful experience of excellent enterprises, promote the green and harmonious development of Shanghai economy and show the citys ability and determination to construct a global city with better-off integration of green economy and citizens high-quality lives, and on the other hand help create a public opinion atmosphere of green innovation and shared value so as to spread Shanghais innovation and structural upgrade goal as well as an international metropolis image of the city. ON MY MIND So Aleksei Navalny won't be going to prison, at least for now. A court in Moscow declined a request from the Federal Penitentiary Service to change Navalny's suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher fraud case -- a case widely believed to be politically motivated -- to a real prison term. But one has to wonder why the appeal even saw the light of day. With State Duma elections approaching, the Kremlin no doubt remembers how Navalny stole the narrative back in 2011 -- branding the ruling United Russia party as "the party of swindlers and thieves," encouraging his supporters to vote for anybody but United Russia to deny them a majority, and then leading mass street protests after the vote. With elections less than two months away, the Kremlin isn't interested in seeing a repeat performance. So the regime appears to be putting Navalny on notice. IN THE NEWS Some 250 Russian athletes who thought they had been cleared to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro have discovered they still face one final hurdle. All Russian athletes must now be cleared by a new International Olympic Committee panel. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says Russian intelligence services hacked into Democratic National Committee (DNC) computers and accused Republican contender Donald Trump of backing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service has declined to comment on allegations that Russian intelligence hacked the Democratic National Committee's e-mail server. The Republican candidate for U.S. president, Donald Trump, has said that, if elected, he would consider recognizing Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. A Russian helicopter has reportedly been shot down in Syria. A court in Moscow has ruled against imprisoning opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service had appealed for the opposition leader be given a real prison term -- instead of a suspended sentence -- in the Yves Rocher fraud case. LATEST POWER VERTICAL PODCAST In case you missed it, the latest Power Vertical Podcast looked at the recent escalation in the Donbas and what is behind it. Joining me are co-host Mark Galeotti and RFE/RL's Ukraine correspondent Christopher Miller, who is on the front lines in eastern Ukraine. TODAY'S POWER VERTICAL BRIEFING Today's Power Vertical Briefing looks at the fallout from last week's shakeup of regional and federal elites. WHAT I'M READING McFaul On Countering Moscow Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, has an op-ed in The New York Times on How To Counter Putin's Playbook. "A quarter-century ago, at the end of the Cold War, it seemed that only democracies promoted their values abroad. Today, autocracies have entered the arena again, exporting their ideas and methods -- even to the United States," McFaul writes. "Everywhere, autocrats are pushing back against democrats, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is the de facto leader of this global movement." Assessing The Putin Threat Nikolas Gvosdev of the U.S. Naval War College has a piece in The National Interest asking How Dangerous Is Russia? Kaliningrad's New Governor Writing in Slon, Oleg Kashin takes a look at Yevgeny Zinichev, the new governor of the Kaliningrad region. Yakunin Speaks Yulia Taratura, editor in chief of Slon.ru, interviewed Vladimir Yakunin, a longtime crony of Vladimir Putin who was sacked as head of Russian Railways last year. SRB Podcast: The Soviet 'Humanitarian Invasion' Of Afghanistan The latest SRB Podcast, hosted by Sean Guillory of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies, looks back at Soviet development policies in Cold War-era Afghanistan. Sean's guest is Tim Nunan, author of the book Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development In Cold War Afghanistan. Ukraine Calling Podcast: Religion And Hybrid War On the latest edition of Hromadske Radio's Ukraine Calling Podcast, host Marta Dyczok looks at the role of religion in hybrid war. The Republican candidate for U.S. president, Donald Trump, has said that, if elected, he would consider recognizing Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. "I'm going to take a look at it," Trump said in an interview broadcast on July 31 on the U.S. television program This Week. "But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also." The move would be a reversal of the Obama administration's policy of refusing to recognize Russia's occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014. He also suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin had no designs on Ukraine. "Just so you understand. [Putin is] not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down and you can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want," before admitting, after prodding by the program's host, that, "OK, well, hes there in a certain way, but Im not there yet," an apparent reference to the U.S. presidency. Writing on Facebook, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called Trump's remarks "shameful," adding that "a marginal who support Putins dictatorship cannot be a guarantor of democratic freedoms in the U.S. and the world." Former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called Trump's comments "a challenge to the values of the free world." "It can hardly be called ignorance, Yatsenyuk said. This is a breach of moral and civilized principles." Trump also blamed U.S. President Barack Obama for the "mess" in "that whole part of the world" and said he had not been involved in a move that decreased support for Ukraine in the Republican Party platform. His supporters at the Republican National Convention in July prevented a reference being added to the partys foreign policy agenda on providing offensive weapons to Kyiv for its fight against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Trump also denied having any kind of relationship with Putin, saying hed neither met Putin nor spoken on the phone with him. Trumps campaign manager, political strategist Paul Manafort, previously had been a lobbyist for Ukraines ousted pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, USA Today, ABC-TV, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, talking about U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he calls the "mastermind" of the July 15 coup attempt against him, said: "Unfortunately, we have made serious mistakes [in the past on Gulen.] May God forgive us!" And he added, "If you had told me that 20 years ago, 10, three, or four years ago, even I wouldn't believe it." Well, he should know. In those years he was a powerful prime minister running the government himself. Outsiders may not understand what he meant by "mistakes in the past." Erdogan was referring to the period at least from the time he came to power in 2002 to 2013, when they were close allies fighting Turkey's old secular, republican system with its strong military. The peak of this dangerous and destructive alliance was when a group of newly recruited prosecutors and judges led a number of sensational, high-profile trials against more than 750 leading military officers, justice-system employees, journalists, and lawmakers. They were accused of creating a clandestine criminal group called "Ergenekon," which in Turkey is now a synonym for Turkish-style Stalinist show trials. The defendants were accused of an armed coup attempt by the army against..., against whom? Against then-Prime Minister Erdogan and the government of his ruling Justice and Development Party. The alleged "plotters" were mostly traditional Turkish secularists critical of the Erdogan government out of fear that it would derail the country from its secular path onto a "hidden Islamism." Generals, prosecutors, prominent journalists, and politicians were taken away in shame, held in detention for years without any -- or as it turned out -- on fake and fabricated evidence. That strongly supported Erdogan in an overwhelmingly secular government environment in the late 2000s. To some, it even guaranteed Erdogan's hold on power when his political career was on the balance in cases raised by the country's Constitutional Court. But in a few years two things became clear: 1) the trials were based on fake documents and imaginary claims, and 2) the prosecutors and judges who ran the show trials were Gulen supporters implanted with the Erdogan government's support or at least tolerance just a few years back into the judiciary and military. Finally, in April this year, Turkey's highest appeals court ruled that those show trials' verdicts will be overturned since there was no "criminal group called Ergenekon" to undertake that coup attempt in the first place. In 2010, Erdogan started himself to act against the Gulen movement's dangerously growing power. From 2013 on, he began to clean Gulen supporters out of the government, military, and media. Meanwhile, the strongman president of Turkey preferred not to comment on the Ergenekon show trials, its victims, and the damage done to the country's military and state system. "The judiciary is independent in Turkey," he used to say. "We prefer not to comment in order not to influence the courts' decisions." That is why, on a different occasion, complaining again about his former ally, Erdogan said, "What did they [Gulenists] ask for that we didn't give them?" Today, more than two weeks since the coup attempt, it has been reported that at least 60 percent of the military's generals and admirals have been fired for allegiance with the Gulen movement. "The Turkish military is now a broken force and it will take years for it to heal," Aaron Stein of the Washington-based Atlantic Council told Reuters. Many of the high-ranking officers of the recent coup attempt are reported to be recruits of Gulenists in the army over the last 20 years. Nobody knows if God will forgive Erdogan. But people will remember Gulen's orchestrated Ergenekon trials for years to come -- something that first helped Erdogan establish his unchallenged rule and then pulled the entire country into the July coup attempt. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is demanding unfettered access across eastern Ukraine after one of its monitoring missions there was threatened at gunpoint by Russia-backed separatists. Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor for the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, told RFE/RL that failure to prosecute those responsible for such attacks would only invite more. "As long as there is no follow-up, no one identified as responsible, and as long as impunity prevails, there will be more of these incidents," Hug said. "If there is no follow-up, it is an open invitation for more of the same." He said that if the monitors were prevented from carrying out their work, there was little chance of resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,400 people have been killed since April 2014. "If we can't do our job as monitors, it will be very difficult to assist the sides in finding the path to swift normalization in the eastern part of the country," Hug stressed. The OSCE said a team from its 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 monitors were following what the mission said were fresh tracks, likely left by an infantry fighting vehicle. The separatists blocked the road with their camouflaged jeep, 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 5 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. Hug said there had been "no concrete feedback" from the separatists regarding the latest violation, which the OSCE official stressed was not an isolated incident. "We've had, of course, our patrols shot at previously. We had patrols be under crossfire, including involving artillery," Hug explained. "We had our colleagues being kidnapped earlier on, in 2014, when eight of our colleagues were taken and held for over a month. So, there are, of course, different scales of incidents." On December 5, 2015, the OSCE said, armed individuals guarding heavy weapons in the separatist-controlled town of Yurivka in the Luhansk region fired into the air as SMM monitors tried to approach. On April 7, 2016, the OSCE said an SMM vehicle was hit by a bullet not far from Snizhne in a separatist-controlled area of the Donetsk region. The same day, the OSCE said a SMM vehicle was stopped on a highway checkpoint north of Smile in a separatist-controlled area of Luhansk. In this incident, a monitor had a gun pointed at him from a distance of about 7 meters. Just two days later, on April 9, an SMM patrol including five monitors and travelling in two armored vehicles was in Zhovanka, a government-controlled part of Zaytseve (50 kilometers northeast of Donetsk). The SMM was accompanied by Ukrainian military personnel. According to the OSCE, a mortar was fired in the direction of the SMM, followed by small-arms fire. According to the monitors, at least three or four bullets flew 1 or 2 meters above their heads. No one was hurt in the incident. The latest incident in July came at the end of what has been the deadliest month for the Ukrainian military in nearly a year after a sharp spike in violence. This despite an 18-month-old Minsk cease-fire deal that was meant to halt the fighting. But many of its key points -- including the complete withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line -- have not been implemented. On July 19, Ukraine reported seven soldiers had been killed and 14 wounded over the past 24 hours in fighting against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Days later, on July 24, Ukraine's military said six more soldiers were killed. "It is indeed true that we see a correlation between an increase in cease-fire violations and in violence in general, and an increase in violations that affect our own monitors. And that is once again a reason why it is important that the security of our patrols are being looked after properly by the sides, Hug said. The State Corporation Commissions Bureau of Insurance last week released a long-awaited analysis of the proposed merger between insurers Anthem and Cigna, finding that Anthems intended $54 billion acquisition is not in Virginians best interests. The analysis, released Wednesday, is meant to provide more information to Virginias SCC as it considers approving or blocking Anthems attempted acquisition. The Bureau has determined that the merger will impact competition at both a state and local level in the market for large group comprehensive medical insurance, the report states. Despite general claims of benefits and mitigating factors, the Bureau further has determined that this impact raises the potential of harm to policyholders as well as the general public. The analysis comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed in mid-July by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states attorneys general including Virginias Mark R. Herring that attempts to block the proposed Anthem-Cigna merger as well as Aetnas attempted $34 billion acquisition of Humana. The mergers have to be approved federally and within each individual state. While the DOJs lawsuit could block the potential mergers nationally, the SCC can still allow, regulate or block the mergers in Virginia. After a public hearing held on the merger in late May, Commissioner Mark C. Christie said the agency was waiting for the bureaus report before making a decision on Anthems possible acquisition. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Insurance released a report stating that the Aetna-Humana merger would not have a detrimental impact on Virginia consumers. While it has found that the Anthem-Cigna merger could have a negative impact on Virginians, the bureau also recommends that the SCC allow Anthem 30 days to respond to the analysis so the company may include proposals that may alleviate the competitive concerns expressed in the report, such as specific and measurable proposals concerning premium rates as well as maintaining network access and quality of service for existing policyholders. In an emailed statement, Anthem spokesman Scott Golden said the insurers merger with Cigna is one way that Anthem will continue its mission of improving consumer choice, quality and affordability. While we disagree with the Virginia Bureau of Insurances recommendation, we expect to have continued constructive dialogue with the commonwealth and are confident we can address their concerns, complete the transaction and deliver its benefits at a critical time when American consumers are seeking high-quality health care services with greater value at less cost, Golden states in the email. Cigna declined to comment on the bureaus analysis. Covering nearly 3 million residents, Anthem is by far Virginias largest insurer. As of June 2015, it had 22.14 percent of the states accident and sickness insurance market, while Cigna held 1.99 percent. The bureaus analysis hinged on its finding that the merger may cause or tend to cause a substantial lessening of competition in Large Group insurance, the report states. Large Group insurance provides plans to companies with 50 or more employees, according to the report. Together, Anthem and Cigna account for 25 percent of the statewide market for Large Group products. Anthem has argued that, while it is the largest insurer in Virginia, Cigna holds a much smaller market share, meaning the merger would not significantly reduce competition. But the bureau points out that Anthem is the largest commercial carrier of Large Group insurance and, unlike its other lines of commercial insurance in Virginia, Cigna has a higher market share in Large Group as well. Additionally, the bureau confirmed that that reduction would be detrimental to policyholders and the public in general. The effects of the potential harms are exacerbated by a number of factors, the report states, including new competitors barriers to entering the market and possibly creating a captive group in the buyers of Large Group insurance, which will have fewer alternatives should the merger take place. The bureau also acknowledges arguments made against the merger by several advocacy and hospital groups, including claims that it would mean increased premiums and reduce options for consumers. But the analysis acknowledges that those arguments largely arise from conflicts between two major groups of stakeholders (insurers and providers) in the health care market each arguing that increasing their own concentration will benefit the public while an increase in the concentration of the other stakeholder will harm the public. These arguments highlight broader problems within the health care market but much of the ability to balance the scales lies beyond the Bureaus regulatory authority, the report states. At 9:01 p.m. last Tuesday, an email blast went out to those on the city of Petersburgs mailing list, giving notice of a special meeting by the City Council the next day. Less than 24 hours later, the council debated and approved a real estate deal that will flush $1.3 million into the citys empty coffers. Just half a dozen residents, mostly regulars concerned with the citys mismanagement of finances, crammed into the tiny mayors conference room on the second floor of City Hall, with more waiting in the hallway. With standing room only for just a handful of people around the conference table where council members were seated, it was an unusual setting for a vote on a controversial proposal to redevelop three city-owned properties into affordable housing for veterans. The gathering, which ended in less than 30 minutes, was the latest in a series of council meetings scheduled on short notice, many of them at small venues and often at odd hours, testing the flexibility of residents who want to attend. Some say the citys leadership, in particular those responsible for planning the meetings, demonstrates a disconcerting pattern of suppressing civic participation. They show a lack of commitment to open government by scheduling, during the workday, in rooms with scant public seating, and or without adequate notice, just about every meeting other than the regular bimonthly Tuesday night council meetings, said Barb Rudolph with Clean Sweep Petersburg, a group of local activists and a Facebook group with more than 600 members. The leaderships secretive circle-the-wagons mentality erodes the publics confidence in their being able to confront and resolve the citys many thorny issues, Rudolph said. Mayor W. Howard Myers, in a phone interview Friday, denied Rudolphs allegation and said neither he nor any other member of the City Council intends to exclude the public from participating in the process. Nothing is done to prevent the public from being there. That doesnt cross anyones mind, and it is far from the truth, Myers said. Any additional meetings that were called were with respect to facilitating the best interests of the city, as we are dealing with the budget crisis and furthering economic development. Were not trying to hurt our citizens; we are trying to serve them. Yet Clean Sweep Petersburg last week filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia that accuses the Petersburg City Council of actively suppressing citizen participation in/awareness of the conduct of city business. Although she had not yet reviewed the complaint by Friday afternoon, Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the policy at the heart of the Freedom of Information Act should be the principle that guides all state and local officials and employees in the conduct of public business. Under the law, public affairs are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government. The activities and conduct of the Petersburg City Council reported to us appear to be inconsistent on their face with the spirit of the act, if not the letter of the acts specific provisions, Gastanaga said. *** The City Council began adding more meetings to its calendar in February, when the citys budget crisis escalated after an annual audit found overspending of the total general fund budget by $1.8 million and a total budget shortfall of nearly $6 million for fiscal 2016, which ended June 30. The deficit is expected to nearly triple in the current fiscal year. After much public pressure calling for his termination, the City Council fired City Manager William E. Johnson III in March. City Attorney Brian K. Telfair stepped down the same day, followed by Finance Director Irvin Carter, who left in April. But many residents remain frustrated with what they call a lack of transparency, alleging that the council deliberately misleads the public about the special meeting schedule in addition to making it harder to attend many of the meetings. Since February, the council has held 13 special meetings, which can be requested by the mayor or two or more members. A 14th meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. At least nine of these sessions were advertised on the city website as closed, suggesting that the public couldnt attend which is contrary to the FOIA section of the state code requiring that all meetings of public bodies shall be open. While state law allows a public body to go into a closed session to discuss personnel matters, disciplinary matters, acquisition of real property, prospective business transactions and similar issues no resolution, contract, regulation or motion can be adopted in closed session. The body must reconvene in an open meeting before taking action. The law specifically prohibits a public body to hold a closed meeting unless it has approved publicly in an open meeting a motion to go into closed session. Hence, closed sessions always are part of a public meeting. Several of the sessions widely advertised as closed to the public read special meeting or even regular meeting on that days agenda. Because of the discrepancies, critics say the Petersburg council frequently attempts to disguise meetings as being not open to the public. And on at least three occasions, the council has used special sessions to make decisions that they had earlier stated, in public, would be deliberated in regular meetings. The Freedom of Information Act requires the public to be notified at least three days before meetings through newspaper ads, newsletters, public websites and on the Commonwealth Calendar, an electronic calendar maintained by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. The Petersburg City Councils most recent meeting last Wednesday was advertised within less than 24 hours which is permitted under special circumstances, interim City Attorney Mark Flynn said. Three days, thats the general rule. But this code provision doesnt apply to emergency and special meetings that can be set as late as an hour before the meeting, Flynn said. On Wednesday, the council met on short notice to accommodate a developers deadline, Flynn said. Then there is the concern about venues and the sometimes unusual times of these gatherings. The bimonthly regular business meetings are set at Union Station, which has a capacity of about 300. But of the 13 special meetings since February, three were set at particularly small venues. Two were set at the mayors conference room at City Hall, which has a small table that comfortably seats six to eight city officials but has no additional seating for the public. Another meeting was held at a conference room at the Multimodal Transit Station, which is larger but provides less than a dozen seats for the public. The meeting planned for Wednesday, where state auditors will present their findings on the citys $17 million budget gap to the council, also will be held in that room. That meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., making it the eighth among the 14 sessions since February where the council got together during work hours, making it harder for the public to attend. Myers said the city has limited space to accommodate larger public gatherings, which forces the council to operate within its means. If a space is not available, then we have to work with what we got, Myers said. It really comes down to that. *** Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said most public bodies hold meetings in the late afternoon or evening, but there is nothing that prohibits them from meeting during work hours. But its not the best idea, she said. You cant have a meeting and call it a public meeting when the public is unable to attend, whether it is because of the time of the day or the location. But even an adequate venue and start time has not stopped Myers from prohibiting residents to address the council during meetings. Last year, the city settled a federal lawsuit against the city and Myers involving a Petersburg man who claimed that his First Amendment rights had been violated. The ACLU of Virginia had filed the suit on behalf of Linwood Christian, a member of a local activist group, after Myers had silenced him during the public comment portion of a regular council meeting in January 2015, citing as a reason $1,100 in unpaid fines Christian had incurred during an unsuccessful bid for the Petersburg School Board. In spite of this success for the local civic groups, Ben Greenbaum, a Petersburg resident who repeatedly has criticized the citys leadership, said that even the most vocal critics rarely get something accomplished. Two of the five men involved in a shooting on West Broad Street on July 16 have been arrested and charged with multiple felonies. Richmond police are still searching for the other three men involved. Kiante M. Smith, 20, of the 7000 block of Meadowburn Drive in Chesterfield County, turned himself in July 30. He is charged with attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. D-Vonn A. Reaux, 20, of the 3700 block of Lucky Lee Crescent in Chesterfield turned himself in July 26. Reaux is also charged with attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Montrell Graves, 22, of Chesterfield, is wanted on charges of attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Graves is considered armed, dangerous and shouldnt be approached. Anyone who sees Graves should call police immediately. Graves is a black male, 62 tall, weighs 225 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. The police are also searching for two unidentified suspects who were captured on video prior to the shooting. The first suspect is a black male with light facial hair. He wore a black T-shirt with a design on the front and dark shorts at the time of the shooting. The second suspect is also a black male with facial hair who wore a Baltimore Ravens shirt with Lewis #52 on the back and jeans. On July 16 around 2:45 a.m. police responded to the call of a person shot on the 1100 block of West Broad Street. When they arrived, they found an adult male lying in the street, suffering from a gunshot wound. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Detectives continue to pursue all available leads, and, thanks to the communitys help, they have already made great progress in this case, said Sgt. Claude Picard with the Major Crimes Unit in a press release. At present, were still searching for three individuals involved with this shooting two of whom were hoping the public can help us to identify. Anyone with any information about this case or the whereabouts of the suspects is asked to call Major Crimes Sergeant Claude Picard at (804) 646-4060 or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. Citizens can also text Crime Stoppers at 274637, using the key word ITip followed by your tip or submit a tip online at www.7801000.com. A Richmond man has been arrested and charged with two felonies in connection with a shooting that took place in July on Midlothian Turnpike. Corey E. Young, 26, of the 400 block of Westover Hills Boulevard, turned himself into police Monday morning. Young is charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Around 7:30 p.m. on July 20, officers responded to the 4000 block of Midlothian Turnpike for the report of a person shot. When officers arrived, they found an adult male inside an apartment suffering from a gunshot wound. The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. Last weeks unveiling of a sculptors plans to install a series of 17-foot-tall rings along Richmonds riverfront left some residents wondering why a city that has trouble maintaining its schools and cutting its grass is spending $200,000 on an art project. The straightforward answer is that Richmonds 1-percent-for-the-arts ordinance requires it though incumbent Richmond politicians and the current crop of mayoral candidates are split on whether the mandate should be revisited in light of the citys current fiscal constraints. Under the 1997 program, when the city undertakes a capital project that costs more than $250,000, 1 percent of the budget is earmarked for art. Legal obligations aside, the citys public art director, Ellyn Parker, described fielding a round of unhappy emails from residents complaining about potholes and other city needs after plans for the latest project were introduced publicly. To date, the city has appropriated about $4 million for art under the ordinance. Of that, the citys public art commission has $2.89 million left to spend, according to city spokesman Michael Wallace. He said the construction of four new schools and the new city jail generated the bulk of the funds. The $200,000 for riverfront art was set aside in the citys 2014 capital budget. It will decorate the Manchester side of the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, a pedestrian crossing over the James River from Browns Island that the city is in the process of refurbishing. Two mayoral candidates, former Del. Joe Morrissey and former Councilman Bruce Tyler, said they believe appropriations for art need to be reconsidered. Im a supporter of the arts, but in this particular situation, I want to put the money into solely municipal needs, and then, only if there are available funds afterward, would we consider programs like 1 percent for the arts, Morrissey said. Tyler struck a similar tone and said he would ask to suspend the ordinance: Im going to support schools first and everything else goes second, he said. Four other mayoral candidates said they support maintaining the program: Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles, former Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry, former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney, and architect Lawrence Williams. I think art is an important part of our culture, and it inspires creativity and is limited only by the power of your imagination and not by your ZIP code or status in life, said Baliles, who served as secretary of the citys Public Art Commission from 2010 to 2012. Berry, who offered his unequivocal support for the arts program, said he believes the city can find money to continue supporting art and other needs, such as schools. This is an arts town, and the arts are helping to propel the creative economy of the city, he said. Williams cited the arts as educational and an important element in communicating the citys culture. A spokesman for Stoney said: Other capital cities, like Raleigh, are finding ways to both be fiscally responsible and invest in city beautification. Levar does not view this as an either/or scenario. Two other candidates, Councilwoman Michelle Mosby and former real estate consultant Bobby BJ Junes, could not be reached for comment. In addition to Baliles, only two other sitting council members returned interview requests about the program. Likewise, Mayor Dwight C. Jones didnt respond to a request for comment. The program did not come up in this years heated budgetary debate. Outgoing Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano said it was worth having a conversation about the program, but she called the money in question a minuscule amount compared with the amount of money that the schools need. Councilman Charles R. Samuels, who also is not seeking re-election, said that while he supports the program, he said at this point it should take a back seat to fully funding public education, public safety and the other core functions of government. *** In addition to budgetary concerns, last weeks announcement of Colorado artist Joshua Wieners plan for the riverfront generated another familiar question: Why did the city look to a faraway artist for the project rather than hire someone local for the job? The committee put out a national call for artists for the project in 2014 and selected Wiener this year. Parker said national calls for big projects are standard in the public art world. She said 126 artists responded to the citys call. Of them, 16 applicants were from the Richmond area. The bulk of local applicants, however, were muralists, which was not the direction the commission wanted, she said. Local artist and public art commission member Ed Trask said Wiener was definitely the most qualified person and that his final design did not disappoint. I wish the artist was local, he said, but it just didnt work out that way. The subcommittee of the Public Art Commission overseeing the project unanimously signed off on Wieners design, titled The Path Untraveled, at a meeting last week. It will go before the full commission this month. Anne Fletcher, chairwoman of the subcommittee, praised the work as a very interesting proposal that really engages the whole site. Fletcher said the commission has and will continue to provide opportunities for local artists. She said the commission plans to formalize its approach as it completes its art master plan. Tim Kaine says he steered Virginia through some dark days as governor, but none was worse than April 16, 2007. That was the day a gunman murdered 32 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech before he took his own life. In the aftermath, Kaine says he turned his attention to Virginias gun laws. At a monthly news conference in Beijing Thursday morning, Col. Yang Yujun, a spokesman for Chinas defense ministry, announced that Chinese and Russian navies would be holding joint military exercises in the South China Sea. The announcement comes amid heightened tensions in the region following a July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague rejecting Chinese claims of sovereignty over 90 percent of the islands and waters in the South China Sea. The case had been brought to the court by the Philippines. Like most nations in the region, Manila is concerned about Chinas rapidly growing military presence in one of the worlds busiest sea trade routes. Beijing was quick to rebuff the ruling, calling the verdict illegal and invalid and claiming the court had no jurisdiction in the matter. Russia has supported Chinas claims and urged nations without a presence in the area to remain silent on the issue. Longtime rivals, Beijing and Moscow have forged an uneasy partnership in the past few years and this naval exercise is aimed at deepening ties between the two communist nations. Yang said the routine exercise that will be held in September isnt targeted at a specific third party but rather aimed at improving both militaries responses to maritime threats. Both nations are anxious to stem a growing American presence in the region. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said last week that the Obama administration has made it absolutely clear to Beijing that the United States will continue naval activities in the disputed waters. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search Dileep, in his petition, argued that the revelations of director Balachandra Kumar in the report were false, and therefore asked the court to reject the remainder of it from impeding the case. It's clear that demographics hit sales of every product imaginable; marketing people don't move without knowing what consumers are doing and thinking. But the diamond and jewelry industry face a particular problem which may be beyond the ability of even the most skilled marketers to fix. Around the world and particularly in the important U.S. market and across Europe marriage rates are falling. Young people are less committed to the institution of marriage and if they do get married they often forego the need for a wedding ring or buy a much lower-priced one than couples did in the past. The problem is even more serious when one takes into account the fact that the bridal market in the United States and Europe is the bedrock of retail jewelry sales. Holiday season sales are vital and events such as Valentine's Day also bring in much needed revenue, but bridal jewelry is the base. A look at some statistics illustrates the point well: the marriage rate in the United States fell to an all-time low point in 2013, indeed the figures are nothing less than astonishing. There were 31 marriages per 1,000 women in that year, according to the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, whereas in 1920, less than a century ago, it stood at 92.1 per 1,000 women. Meanwhile, Census data in a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, a major U.S. demographics research institute, show that the number of married households fell to 50.5 percent in 2012 from a high of about 72 percent in 1960. There could be some hope in the fact that the desire to marry remains strong. In a 2013 Gallup Poll, only 5 percent of Americans reported that they did not want to marry. People are increasingly deciding to live together rather than get married. U.S. Census data show that the number of cohabiting couples rocketed to 7.5 million in 2011 from 450,000 in 1960. The average age of a woman getting married for the first time in the United States is now 27, the highest ever figure. Experts are predicting that this age will continue to rise as couples wait to get married. That, however, is not necessarily a bad thing older people generally have more money to spend, meaning that it if a marriage does take place they are likely to feel more financially secure about buying a larger diamond ring. This is a big number of people that has done away with the purchase of the traditional diamond engagement ring and other wedding-related jewelry and a huge loss for jewelers. While 75 percent of American brides once received a traditional diamond solitaire engagement ring, now far fewer brides-to-be are receiving such rings. They are more likely to receive a family jewelry item, a piece of estate jewelry which is often re-cut, or a fashion ring. All of that means fewer people are going to jewelry stores to buy new items. In addition, the rate of second or subsequent marriages has also dropped sharply in recent years. Twenty years ago, almost 10 percent of all women were in their second or subsequent marriage. Now, only about 5 percent have married more than once. This is also a loss for the diamond jewelry market because the size and value of the diamond engagement ring typically increases for each subsequent marriage. Another interesting aspect is that although in former times it was the man who proposed marriage, it has now become a joint decision. Although people often imagine the man getting down on bended knee, industry observers say that is increasingly an outdated image. There are several reasons, including a greater cultural acceptance of cohabitation and having a child while not being married. Meanwhile, the recession of 2009 and 2010 following the huge financial crisis of 2008 is still having an effect: it is continuing to lead couples to delay their weddings. Add to the mix the fact that women have become an increasingly significant part of the workforce in the Western world in the past half a century; in other words they no longer feel that they need a husband to financially support them and value their independence greatly. Single women are acquiring homes on their own and see that as a liberating experience, consequently marriage is no longer seen as something you have to do. The importance of the bridal market to the jewelry market can be seen in the statistics. Although these figures relate to the U.S. market, the percentage terms can be assumed to be similar for other markets such as Europe. Diamond engagement rings account for approximately $5 billion to $6 billion of total U.S. jewelry sales which is almost one-fifth of total U.S. diamond jewelry sales of about $27 billion. Meanwhile, the bridal business, including diamond engagement rings, brides and grooms jewelry gifts, wedding bands, and other jewelry related to the bridal market are estimated to have a value of $15 billion-$18 billion of total jewelry sales, making up anywhere from 20 to 25 percent of the total. Even when young couples are getting married, traditional marriages out with a more personalized experience in demand. Couples often want to show what's unique about them. And that is making life difficult for retailers who want to advertise their goods to couples, but are not in line with what the consumers are thinking. It may simply be safest to assume that conventional thinking is out and that the traditional diamond engagement ring is not an automatic choice. Diamonds are most often in the news when a celebrity gets engaged, but many younger couples don't exactly see reality TV stars as role models. Falling bridal jewelry sales is not a problem only affecting the United States. In Britain, such sales, traditionally a solid source of income for jewelers, could come under a long-term threat after new figures showed a sharp drop in the number of people getting married. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the number of people getting married for the first time has fallen to a record low, with just 2.5 percent of single women in England and Wales marrying in 2013. In addition, the number of weddings also dropped for the first time since 2009. There was a drop of 8.6% in 2013 from 2012, and a 40% decline in 40 years, according to the figures. The ONS said that marriage numbers have been declining since 1972, however it suggested that the sharp drop in 2013 could have been related to fears and superstitions about the number 13 . And the institution of marriage has become an increasingly hard sell even in the traditionally Catholic countries of Europe Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland. Last year, 145,571 first-time marriages between Italians were registered in Italy, the lowest on record and down 20% from 2008. Antonella Guarneri, a researcher with Italys National Institute of Statistics (Istat), said the decline could mostly be attributed to changing demographics and Italys ageing population: there are simply fewer young people of the age at which couples usually get married. But there are other factors too, including a rise in the number of couples opting to have children without getting married (one in four babies were born to unwed parents last year, compared with fewer than one in 10 in 1995) - the weakening influence of the Catholic church, and the economic crisis that has battered Italy since 2008 and is only just beginning to improve. When young Italians talk about the financial crisis affecting their desire to get married, it is often not just because they want to enter marriage on a strong financial footing, but because the wedding itself is so expensive, Guarneri said. By our Israel correspondent Abraham Dayan Lena Fyodorova, Director of Olonkholand Complex Design Company told Rough&Polished about the possibilities arising with the creation of the Diamond and Jewellery Centre in Yakutsk within the framework of the Olonkholand Complex. Please tell our readers about the Olonkholand Project. The construction of the Diamond and Jewellery Centre in Yakutsk to be located in Residential Quarter 67 was coordinated with the government of Yakutia back in 2008. The proposal about the construction of the Diamond and Jewellery Centre in Yakutsk was voiced by the cutters and jewelers as far back as in 2004. That is why the concept of the Olonkholand Complex (under Decree of the President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) No. 1904 dated 26.04.2010) initially included the establishment of the Diamond and Jewellery Centre that was also naturally complemented by the Diamond Bourse proposed by the authors to be set up in Yakutsk. In this case, the Project could be self-sustained and comply with the requirements of the Law on the Territories of Priority Social and Economic Development (TPSED) with a possible establishment of the Olonkholand TPSED comprising the Diamond Bourse for trading in precious stones and metals and jewellery, including rough and polished diamonds. However, due to economic considerations and a number of other factors, ALROSA took the decision to set up the Diamond Bourse in Vladivostok. Thus, the cutting&polishing units and the jewellery manufacturers of the diamond- and gold mining industries of Yakitia and Russia turned out to be financially unsustainable and have no potential to attract investments for the development of the TPSED. The Olonkholand Complex concept What was behind the decision to create the Diamond Centre in Yakutsk? Yakutia is establishing a TPSED, called Kangalassy Industrial Park and the municipal authorities show their interest in complementing it with a diamond and jewellery component. There is a number of proposals to create a cutting&polishing and jewellery cluster in Kangalassy, Markh or Yakutsk. The polished diamond and jewellery manufacturers made their choice in favour of creating it in Yakutsk within the Olonkholand Complex being set up. Their opinion was included as the recommendations to the Resolution of the 1st Business Forum devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Tuymaada Diamond JSC and the cutting&polishing industry in Yakutia that was held in Yakutsk on April 29, 2016. Cutters and jewelers propose two options: - To increase the area of the Kangalassy Industrial Park TPSED through adding the territory of the National Innovation Olonkholand Complex of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) including the Yakutia Diamond Centre located in Residential Quarter 67 in Yakutsk to make a shared center for the cutting&polishing and jewellery units of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) having a common storehouse, manufacturing and trading sites, office building and the related infrastructure; - To create an independent Olonkholand TPSED in Residential Quarters 67 and 68 in Yakutsk as a shared center for the cutting&polishing and jewellery units of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Yakutia Diamond Centre having a common storehouse, manufacturing and trading sites, office building and the related infrastructure. What is proposed to be built as part of the Yakutia Diamond Centre Project? The Yakutia Diamond Centre is proposed to be a 30 sq. km building for cutting&polishing, jewellery companies, specialized customs point and gold miners offices. It is possible to locate the ALROSAs Yakutsk unit for the rough diamond trade here because it does not have its own premises and rents the buildings. It will also have the floor-space for jewellery stores, banks, cafes and restaurants. Retail chains and the restaurant will be on the ground floor. The banks, offices and manufacturing facilities will be located on the upper floors. The ground for the Diamond Centre in Residential Quarter 67 is in a very convenient place in the historical zone of Yakutsk on the shore of the sacred Lake Saysary and is a short stroll away from the North-Eastern Federal University named after M. K. Ammosov, a source of manpower for cutting&polishing and jewellery industries. Gradually, the components of the Complex will be built on the area of 47 hectares: IT-Park, Olonkho International Centre with theatres, museums, exhibition and congress halls and facilities, car parks, recreation park area and innovation settlement with all the social infrastructure school, kindergarten and sports-grounds. Thanks to the IT-Park, the Complex will be fitted with the electronics and advanced technologies. All the buildings will be connected via heated galleries to provide comfortable environment for residents in cold winter and hot summer. The concept model of one of the would-be facilities of the Olonkholand Project in Yakutsk (in Residential Quarter 67). Designer: Vittorio Grassi (Italy). In general, the people living in the Complex will be creating the intellectual and jewellery products, including the polished diamonds; the polished manufacture does not require great transport osts, no need to bring heavy and large equipment, roughs, raw and other materials. Creative skills, craftsmanship and source of inspiration the age-old traditions - will never vanish. In the Diamond and Jewellery Center, comfortable conditions will be maintained for the manufacturers, and the specialized customs point and the related infrastructure will be built up as well. At large, it was planned to construct the IT- Park, centres of the registration, patenting and commercialization of the intellectual property, innovation dwelling houses for the residents of the Complex, a school, kindergarten, gyms, etc. This Complex will be a growth area for the creative economy of all the Far East of the Russian Federation. You can find more details about Olonkholand Project at olonkholand.ru. A. S. Nikolayev, CEO of CC SIR, one of the participants in the Forum, has shown his willingness to finance their part of the Diamond Centre construction. The total value of the construction is about US$30 mln (US$900-1 000 per 1 sq. m). All those members or investors interested in the Centre can take part in this Project. Please tell us about the Business Forum held on April 29, 2016 in Yakutsk. Business Forum Best Practices, Problems and Prospects of the Development of the Cutting&Polishing and Jewellery Units of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Tuymaada Diamond JSC and the cutting&polishing industry in Yakutia. The Forum was organized by the G. P. Yakovlev Foundation, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Guild of the Polished Diamond and Jewellery Manufacturers of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), North-Eastern Federal University Named after M. K. Ammosov and Foundation Olonkholand Complex Design Company. Support was given by the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Ministry of vocational Education, Training and Placement of Cadres of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Over 150 experts, students, lecturers and veterans of the Yakutias cutting&polishing and jewellery industries took part in the discussions of the challenges facing the Republics cutting&polishing and jewellery industries. Proceedings of the 1st Business Forum Best Practices, Problems and Prospects of the Development of the Cutting&Polishing and Jewellery Units of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) were published. The Forum theme and prospects raised and considered at the plenary sessions and discussions have both practical and theoretical importance for the scientific investigations in the cutting&polising and jewellery industries. The implementation of the Olonkholand Project with the Diamond Centre will require not only the significant financing but also taking decisions at the level of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Russian Federation. What steps are you taking in this regard? We work in various lines and in co-operation with various governmental structures. For example, on the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in team with the Foundation Olonkholand Complex Design Company, the meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the parliamentary hearings in the State Assembly (Il Tumen) of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The participants in these events propose, in particular, as follows: 1) To take actions for the state stimulation in customs regulation of the precious metals market; 2) To provide a package of proposals to make changes and additions to the legislation of the Russian Federation in the sphere of taxation, use of subsurface resources, turnover of precious metals, precious and semi-precious stones and products; 3) To develop the draft of the federal target-oriented programme of the state support and development of the cutting&polishing and jewellery complex with account of the proposals considered by the Committee at the extended session on 30.05.2016, including such proposals as follows: - To increase the area of the Kangalassy Industrial Park TPSED through including the territory of the National Innovation Olonkholand Complex of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) with the Yakutia Diamond Centre located in Residential Quarter 67 to make a shared center for the cutting&polishing and jewellery units of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) having a common storehouse, manufacturing and trading sites, office building and the related infrastructure; - To develop - jointly with Brillianty ALROSA - an AK ALROSA (PJSC) business unit, the mechanism of interaction with the cutting&polishing and jewellery units in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) regarding the rough diamonds using a tolling scheme for up to US$100 mln per year; - To develop the mechanisms of subsiding the 1/4 of the bank credit interest rate using the budget money for the cutting&polishing and jewellery units, and purchasing part of production by SUE Komdragmetall of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); - To take actions to co-finance the expenditures for the participation of the SMEs of the cutting&polishing and jewellery industry in the national, international jewellery exhibitions using the federal and republican budgets. Thank you. Good luck and success to you! Yuri Danilov, for Rough&Polished Unolux Metallo Valenza S.R.L., the company which has developed Lumineux Uno, a new age metal, has awarded exclusive marketing rights to Leading Jewelers of the World (LJOW) India, says a press note. Lumineux Uno is a metal amalgamation of Gold, Platinum, Palladium and Silver that consists 95.5% of pure precious metals, which will be available in India in the form of bars and coins. The metal offers the durability and beauty of gold and platinum at a fraction of their prices. Lumineux Uno will have authorised third party XRF certification, adds the press release. Lumineux Uno will be distributed through LJOW, India through its exclusive agents and distributors across 50 towns and cities of India. Sanjeev Agrawal, LJOW, Director, said, The price of gold in India has seen the highest jump in the recent months an increase of over USD 200 per ounce because of global investment demand, following the UK votes favoring exit from EU. So while the investor community is very pleased with this global phenomenon making gold and silver as all-time favorites for investment returns, the Indian retail trade and consumer is faced with some amount of disappointment with the gold jewelry prices sky rocketing. Lumineux Uno is an innovation that promises to provide an alternative precious metal with a higher lustre; is sharper and more malleable; at far more affordable price than gold and platinum and more precious than silver. Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished Stellar Diamonds has signed binding heads of terms with a Dubai based commodities group, Citigate Commodities to formulate joint ventures over the Baoule kimberlite project in Guinea and two new exploration licences in western Liberia that were recently awarded to the diamond development company. The proposed joint ventures would allow Stellar to focus efforts on the development of the high-grade Tongo project in Sierra Leone, it said in a statement emailed to Rough & Polished. The deal remains conditional upon completion of due diligence by Citigate and the parties entering into definitive joint venture agreements for each project. Pursuant to entering into a definitive joint venture agreements, Citigate would have a staged earn-in of up to 75 percent of the equity in Resources Tassiliman Baoule (RTB), which holds the Baoule kimberlite project. Stellar currently holds 75 percent of RTB with the local partner holding the remaining 25 percent. Both Stellar and its local partner would dilute to 25 percent of the project equity should Citigate fully fund all three phases of work, it said. Should Citigate progress to fund the third phase of the works, Stellars equity position in relation to the Baoule project would fall to 18.75 percent. Citigate would also have the right to invest $6,250,000 over three separate phases in return for an 85 percent interest in the Liberia Licences, leaving Stellar with a 13.5 percent equity interest and the local partner with a 1.5 percent interest. The first phase of the programme would entail further reconnaissance and follow up stream sampling at a budgeted cost of $250,000 and would earn Citigate a 25 percent interest in the Liberia Licences. Should Citigate elect to progress to the second phase of the programme it would invest a further $2 million for an additional 25 percent interest and would make a further investment of $4 million at the third phase programme for an additional 35 percent interest. The terms of the joint ventures are highly attractive to Stellar in that we have essentially secured a free carried interest at both Baoule and our new Liberian licences, said company chief executive Karl Smithson. Importantly, we will receive a proportion of revenues from on-going trial mining at Baoule at zero cost and have an up-front payment for managing the projects during the first phase of work. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished DIVA, the new museum for goldsmithing & silversmithing, jewelry and diamonds, is seeking a commercial partner to run a sales outlet for diamonds, jewelry and merchandise (shop), and possibly additional retail areas for private (group) sales, AWDC reported. The commercial partner should provide a positive financial contribution to assist with the further development of DIVA and should enjoy supplementing its commercial activity with other events, such as leasing the available polyvalent space to companies, industry delegations and private parties. Serving as a partner, by running the shop in the entrance foyer of DIVA you will play a role in determining the first impression we give our visitors, assures DIVA. DIVA is offering a concession agreement to run the shop for a minimal duration of five years. Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels The Belgian Federation of Diamond Bourses (BFDB), the umbrella organization for Antwerp's four diamond bourses, has announced the names on the new Board of Directors for the respective bourses as well as BFDB's own Executive Committee. The new leadership as of 2016 is as follows: Belgian Federation of Diamond Bourses Executive Committee President: W. ROTTI Vice-president: J. KORN General secretary: P. STERNBERG Treasurer: D. FRAENKEL Second Secretary: F. GABEL Boards of Directors Antwerpsche Diamantkring (The Rough Diamond Bourse) F. INZLICHT M. SCHONFELD D. WAHL Beurs voor Diamanthandel (Antwerp Diamond Bourse) J. KORN V. GABEL R. GEHANI Diamantclub van Antwerpen (Antwerp Diamond Club) W. ROTTI Ph.BARSAMIAN D. FRAENKEL Vrije Diamanthandel J. DRYBOOMS S. ROTSZTAJN P. STERNBERG Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels Firestone Diamonds has agreed to further extend the date by when all conditions for the disposal of its Botswana operations to Tango Mining must be satisfied. The company entered into a conditional sale agreement with Tango Mining for $8 million in July 2015. It said all conditions of the conditional sale agreement (CSA) must now be satisfied by no later than 29 August 2016. This extension is to enable Tango Mining to finalise the proposed $30.0 million loan commitment with Vanderbilt Commercial Lending to finance the acquisition of the company's Botswana operations and to recommence operations at the BK11 mine, it said. Firestone had previously said that all conditions of the conditional sale agreement (CSA) and amendment letter should be satisfied by no later than 29 July, but indicated the revised drop dead can be extended, in certain circumstances, to 29 August 2016, as was the case. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Wei d'Cargolux um Meindeg bekannt ginn huet, halt de Vizepresident vum Exekutivcomite Jason Holt op. De Claude Zehren iwwerhelt op dei nachsten Zait den Interim. Dann huet um Meindeg de Richard Forson de Poste vum President a CEO vun der Cargolux an domadder dSuccessioun vum Dirk Reich iwwerholl. Den Daitschen huet dCargolux op eegene Wonsch hi verlooss. Media Release Cargolux appoints new EVP Flight Operations Luxembourg, 1 August 2016 Cargolux Airlines International S.A. has appointed Claude Zehren Interim EVP and Nominated Person Flight Operations. Mr. Zehren takes over all duties from Jason Holt with immediate effect. Claude Zehren has been with Cargolux for 18 years and his wealth of experience, not only as a pilot, but also as a member of the management structure, is a valuable asset for Flight Operations and for Cargolux. It is my pleasure to welcome Claude Zehren in his new position and as part of the new ExCom team, Mr. Forson states. Having worked with him closely throughout the last couple of years, I am convinced that he will be an excellent addition to the Cargolux leadership team. Media Release Cargolux Executive Vice-President moves on Luxembourg, 1 August 2016 Jason Holt, Executive Vice President for Flight Operations, has decided to move on to a new opportunity. Jason joined Cargolux last year from the UKs leading low cost carrier easyJet where he ran the Gatwick Division and then led their Operational Strategy & Transformation business changes. In the short time he has been with us, Jason has played a significant role in the development of Cargolux and has made invaluable contributions to our organization. This included, following the departure of the then incumbent, assuming responsibility for its Global Logistics Division, covering the airlines network (including Luxembourg), whilst retaining his responsibilities as EVP Flight Operations. Incoming CEO, Richard Forson states that, Jason has made a major contribution to the airline by bringing his experience and talent to bear on the airline, including playing a major role in achieving the CWA agreement with our unions in December 2015. On behalf of my ExCom colleagues, I thank him for all the hard work, dedication and initiatives he has given us and wish him all the best for his future. We will miss him. Jason states that it's been a fast and furious year learning new skills in aviations most demanding sector. It has been a pleasure to be with Cargolux and I look forward to hearing of their positive transition under the new CEO and management team who now pick up the baton ahead of this years forthcoming high season. Wells Fargo (WFC) announced it has completed the purchase of the Australian and New Zealand segments of GE Capital's Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) . The acquisition includes CDF assets, and 123 team members across 5 sites in Australia, along with CDF assets and 7 team members across 2 sites in New Zealand. As previously announced, Wells Fargo agreed to purchase GE Capital's CDF and Vendor Finance platforms as well as a portion of its Corporate Finance business. Wells Fargo completed the purchase of the North American businesses on March 1, 2016, and completed the Asia segment on July 1, 2016. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segment is expected to close later this year. As part of Wells Fargo, CDF will continue to serve dealers and manufacturers from a variety of sectors, including , marine, caravans, recreational products, and outdoor power equipment, among others. With this transaction, Wells Fargo International Finance, LLC is acquiring the CDF assets in Australia, and Wells Fargo International Finance (New Zealand) Limited is acquiring the assets in New Zealand. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Brad Paisley has released plans for a free show in the state of Ohio next month. The show will take place on August 6 in Cincinnati, at the Riverbend Music Center and will come just a day after the conclusion of the Buckle Up Music Festival. "I had a day off, and I love your area, and I love the amphitheater," Paisley told the DJs at Cincinnati's B 105.1 (quote via a press release), "so we're going to do a free concert." Paisley also made headlines this week when he joined Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas on stage during a recent appearance in Washington, D.C. The latter two are currently out on a U.S. tour and Paisley hit the stage with them for a performance of his duet with Lovato called "Without A Fight." Speaking of the collaboration Paisley joked, "I think she can hit notes that we can't hear," calling her voice "otherworldly." "It's hard to have character when you can sing that high. But she does." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Entertainment News Estonia's industrial production declined for the second straight month in June, figures from Statistics Estonia showed Monday. Industrial production fell a working-day-adjusted 4.6 percent year-over-year in June, which was worse than the 2.0 percent drop in May. Production in the mining sector tumbled 57.4 percent annually in June, led by the oil-shale mining decline due to low demand caused by the low price of oil and oil-shale products. Manufacturing output decreased 1.4 percent, while energy production logged a growth of 14.2 percent. On a monthly basis, industrial production slipped a seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent in June, following a 3.2 percent fall in the prior month. It was also the second consecutive monthly drop. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Nedbank Group Limited, the majority-owned South African banking subsidiary of Old Mutual plc (ODMTY.PK,OML.L), in its 6-month interim results, posted growth in its headline earnings and declared about 6 percent rise in interim dividend. For half year, Nedbank's headline earnings grew 2 percent to 5.427 billion South African Rand, underpinned by strong net interest income and non-interest revenue growth, as well as impairments remaining below the midpoint of our through-the-cycle target range. Excluding both the loss in associate income and funding costs relating to ETI, headline earnings from Nedbank's managed operations rose 20.1 percent to 6.030 billin Rand. Headline earnings per share grew 1.6 percent to 1 119 cents. Excluding ETI, headline earnings per share was up 19.7 percent. Nedbank's net interest income increased 11.6 percent to 13.028 billion Rand, driven by growth in average interest-earning banking assets of 10.9 percent and slight net interest margin expansion to 3.37 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Petrofac Ltd. (POFCF.PK,POFCY.PK,PFC.L) said it has concluded the independent investigation commissioned by the Board into allegations in the media related to the historical provision of services to the company by Unaoil, a Monaco based company. Petrofac's Board has confirmed that no evidence was found that any director of the company was aware of the alleged misconduct that is the subject of the allegations. Further, the company noted that the independent investigation thoroughly investigated the allegations, based solely on the information available to the company, and recognising their historical nature and wider context beyond Petrofac. Petrofac confirmed that it engaged Unaoil for the provision of local consultancy services primarily in Kazakhstan between 2002 and 2009. The independent investigation did not find evidence confirming the payment of bribes. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News European stocks slipped into red after a positive start Monday, as an early rally in banking stocks lost steam and weak Eurozone and British manufacturing data revived growth worries. A closely-watched survey showed that British manufacturing activity tumbled to its lowest level since 2013 in the wake of the U.K.'s decision to exit the European Union. The final Markit Purchasing Managers' Index for the factory sector plunged to 48.2 from 52.4 in June, marking its lowest level since February 2013. The flash estimate for the index stood at 49.1. Eurozone manufacturing activity grew at a slower pace in July, but the pace of expansion was faster than the initial estimate, final data from Markit showed. The corresponding PMI fell to 52.0 from a 6-month high of 52.8 in June. The flash reading for July stood at 51.9. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down half a percent in midday trading after rising earlier in the session, as the results of stress tests carried out by the European Banking Authority showed most of the region's banks are resilient enough to cope with downturns in the and the markets. The German DAX was marginally lower, France's CAC 40 index was moving down 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent. Banks tumbled after a positive start, with BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland losing 2-3 percent. Italian lender Monte dei Paschi, which fared worst in EU stress tests, traded 4 percent higher while Unicredit slumped 8 percent. Dutch brewer Heineken lost 3 percent after warning of increasing currency headwinds and "tough comparatives" in the second half. Air Liquide shares tumbled 3 percent in Paris. The industrial gas company reported a drop in first-half profit in the face of depressed demand conditions for gas installations at factories and refineries. Oil services firm Petrofac rallied 3 percent in London on saying its independent investigation into allegations of bribery by Monaco-based oil contractor Unaoil SAM found no evidence of its involvement. Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline added half a percent after announcing a joint venture with a unit of Google's parent to develop and commercialize bioelectronics medicines. French water and waste utility Veolia Environnement rose 1.5 percent after affirming its FY16 outlook. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com First Data Corp. (FDC) reported second-quarter net income attributable to company of $152 million compared to a net loss of $26 million in the prior year period. Profit per share was $0.17, for the period. Adjusted net income was $323 million or $0.35 per share, up $179 million versus the prior year period, driven by improved operating results and lower interest expense. Consolidated revenue for the second quarter was $2.9 billion, up 2% versus the prior year period, or up 3% excluding currency impacts. Total segment revenue was $1.8 billion for the quarter, up 2% versus the prior year period, or up 4% excluding currency impacts. "This quarter's results were highlighted by net income growth, healthy margin expansion and strong cash flow generation. We saw impressive growth in Global Financial Solutions and in Latin America, and continued client momentum in the enterprise space," said First Data Chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Biogen Inc. (BIIB) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IONS) said that nusinersen, their investigational treatment for spinal muscular atrophy or SMA, met the primary endpoint pre-specified for the interim analysis of Endear, the Phase 3 trial evaluating nusinersen in infantile-onset (consistent with Type 1) SMA. The analysis found that infants receiving nusinersen experienced a statistically significant improvement in the achievement of motor milestones, compared to those who did not receive treatment. Nusinersen demonstrated an acceptable safety profile in the trial. As a result of these findings, Biogen has exercised its option to develop and commercialize nusinersen globally and paid Ionis a $75 million license fee. Biogen will initiate regulatory filings globally in the coming months. Based on the results of the pre-specified interim analysis, the Endear study will be stopped and participants will be able to transition into the Shine open-label study in which all patients receive nusinersen. Data from the other endpoints of Endear will be analyzed when the full data set is available. Biogen noted that it is now responsible for all nusinersen development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs. Ionis will complete the Phase 3 studies and work with Biogen on regulatory filings. Ionis is eligible to receive tiered royalties on any potential sales of nusineren up to a percentage in the mid-teens, in addition to up to $150 million in milestone payments based on regulatory approvals. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Texas officials have imposed a fine of $175,000 on Blue Bell Creameries for last year's listeria outbreak. Blue Bell Creameries has also agreed with the health officials to continue to test and monitor its ice cream. Last year's Listeria outbreak linked to Blue Bell products made in Brenham affected 10 peopled, including three deaths. Under the settlement, Blue Bell has been fined $850,000 and will have to pay $175,000 within 30 days, while the remaining $675,000 will be paid only if the company violates the terms of the agreement during an 18-month period. "Upon successful completion of the eighteen-month term, the remaining balance of funds held in abeyance will be forgiven," the agreement said. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., released a strongly worded statement Monday criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's attacks on the family of a fallen Muslim soldier. In the statement, McCain argued that the GOP's nomination of Trump does not give the real estate tycoon the right to defame the parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan. "In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents," McCain said in the statement. "He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States to say nothing of entering its service." "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement," he added. "I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates." Khizr and Ghazala Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week, attacking Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) announced it is shifting businesses based in the Latin America and Benelux regions to a Worldwide Network partner model by entering into definitive agreements to divest the domestic operations in these regions. The aggregate value of both deals, inclusive of upfront consideration of $39 million and ongoing fees, is in excess of $200 million. The company expects the transactions to be accretive to operating income and EPS in 2016 and 2017. Upon closing the transactions, Dun & Bradstreet expects to record a non-cash GAAP loss of approximately $88 million, driven entirely by accumulated currency translation. Organic revenue growth is not impacted by the transactions. Dun & Bradstreet announced, for fiscal 2016, the company expects: as adjusted organic revenue growth unchanged at 1.5% to 3.5%, before the effect of foreign exchange; as adjusted total revenue growth unchanged at 4% to 6%, before the effect of foreign exchange; as adjusted operating income of 1% to 5%, increased from previous guidance of flat to 4%; and as adjusted EPS of between a decline of 2% to an increase of 3%, updated from previous guidance of a decline of 3% to an increase of 2%. For the second quarter ended June 30, 2016, GAAP revenue was up 6% year over year, after the effect of foreign exchange. As adjusted revenue was up 5% year over year, both before and after the effect of foreign exchange, and organic revenue up 2% year over year. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News New Maruti S-Cross Facelift receives revised exterior styling with a modified front end boasting of new bonnet, prominent chrome grille, headlights with integrated DRLs and an updated bumper. At the rear, no significant changes are evident while revised bumper and tail lamps were seen. Maruti S-Cross facelift was unveiled in Hungary last year. Already launched in the UK, for a starting price of 14,999 (INR 12.93 lakh), the crossover now gets ready for India launch, which is going to take place this month. Speaking about interior updates, it comes with new instrument cluster with multi information display, a new dashboard design and modified seating with fresh color schemes. It also gets Marutis new touchscreen infotainment system which is powered by SmartPlay. It takes care of rear parking display, navigation, and infotainment. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is also compatible. Engine specifications to be seen on new Maruti S-Cross Facelift will be same as on offer with current S-Cross. This will be in the form of 1.3 liter diesel engine generation 90 PS and 200 Nm. Top of the line variants will get 1.6 liter diesel engine generating 120 PS and 320 Nm. Transmission option on offer will be a 5 speed MT and 6 speed MT. Features on offer with top end will include 17 inch alloys, projector headlamps with LED strips, front and rear parking sensors, wheel arch extensions, heated door mirrors, cruise control with speed limit, dual zone climate control, front fog lamps, roof rails, skid plates, rear privacy glass, radar brake support, leather upholstery, heated front seats, panoramic sunroof, etc. 2017 Maruti S-Cross Facelift will be produced from the companys plant in Manesar. Expect the price to range from INR 8-11 lakhs, ex-showroom. Once launched, it will rival the likes of Renault Duster and Hyundai Creta. More details will be revealed once the car is launched later this month. Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... By SA Commercial Prop News Speaking to delegates at the Student Housing Symposium at the University of Pretoria on Thursday, Nzimande said his department had insufficient funds to deal with student housing backlog. Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande decries the lack of private sector involvement in resolving the accommodation crisis experienced at universities. As the Higher Education Department is developing a funding model to ease access to affordable education, accommodation has also proven to be a developing crisis with a shortage of housing for 200,000 students in higher learning institutions. Speaking to delegates at the Student Housing Symposium at the University of Pretoria on Thursday, Nzimande said his department had insufficient funds to deal with the backlog. Also read: New specialized JSE listings in property unlikely Nzimande said that while the government was prioritising accommodation for students, it needed assistance from the private sector. I am very concerned about the private sectors failure to respond, the minister said. He had made a call to the private sector to come in and play a role, but theres hardly been anything, said Nzimande. He said the department had requested more funding from the Treasury to expand student housing infrastructure, and renewed his call to companies and investors to assist. Also read: Indluplace Properties the first Residential REIT to list on JSE The results on both fronts have been disappointing. While we have made some progress in securing an increased budget allocation for student residences, it is nowhere near enough to meet the need. He said in the past three years, R1.6bn in government grants to universities for student housing projects had been supplemented by university funds of R700m. The combined amount of R2.3bn had provided only 9,000 additional beds, but the department had now teamed up with other role players to find a solution to the issue. Also read: Private Sector hungry for Student Housing Boom These partners include the EU Infrastructure Investment Fund, which has provided R30m for feasibility studies to look into the student-housing programme. The Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Public Investment Corporation, the Department of Public Works and financial institutions will also provide funding. Private sector and government delegates to the symposium were joined by university vice-chancellors, principals of technical and vocational education, and training colleges and students, who painted a bleak picture of student housing. Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University vice-chancellor Chris de Beer said he was worried about the universitys infrastructure, which was in such disrepair it did not comply with health and safety standards. Also read: Patrice Motsepes foray into property sector De Beer said there were 250 uninhabitable units that had to be replaced by 2018, and 1,700 students had to be moved to the Pretoria city centre to comply with health and safety laws. Stephen Smith, a policy adviser at the Association for Savings and Investment SA, a lobby group that represents insurers and asset managers, said the institutions were excited about the discussions. He said funding required coordination. There are a lot of moving parts lets have a unit put together by government to roll out a programme. By SA Commercial Prop News A lack of activity in SA's property market suggest we may not see any significant new specialized property funds coming on to the JSE. A lack of activity in South Africa's property market suggest we may not see any significant new specialized property listings coming on to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) this year. This is because of a shortage of quality properties and the fact that those that are available are expensive. Despite the expectation that specialized listed property funds would be the next big thing, they have struggled to gain popularity in SA. Few sizeable focused real estate investment trusts (Reits) have managed to come to market, given a weak economic environment and a lack of institutional quality stock. Also read: AUCTION Corporate disposal to hit the auction block The South African economy has barely grown over the past couple of years, which has been one of the factors that prompted South Africans to buy into offshore markets. Many property investors have chosen to invest in the UK or Europe, instead of in specialised funds locally. It will take some time before specialised funds gain critical mass and clout on the JSE, and fund managers will need logical reasons to invest in them. In the US, specialist funds tend to attract premium valuations, thereby allowing them to reduce their cost of capital. The rationale for this premium rating is simple the management team is focused and should, therefore, extract the most shareholder value from a focused approach, Grindrod Asset Management chief investment officer Ian Anderson said. While the same argument should hold true in SA, a more significant driver of relative value has been size and liquidity, particularly as companies started to enter widely followed global and domestic equity indices, he said. Also read: Political risks turn off local and foreign property investors Apart from shopping centres, no other property specialisation would give the company the scale and size needed to enter one of these equity indices, and in so doing, give the company a significant cost of capital advantage, Anderson said. One specialised property company that was well supported at listing was Stor-Age Property Reit. Yet the company listed at R9.89 in November 2015, and its shares are now trading at R9.59. Nevertheless, the company has rewarded shareholders. Since listing as the first self-storage company on the JSE, in the four-anda-half months to March the groups distributions to shareholders totalled R39m, translating into a distribution per share of 30c. Self-storage firms have grown tremendously over the past 10-20 years in the US. Time will tell if Stor-Age and nonlisted self- storage firms enjoy similar success. Also read: Emira turns down Arrowheads proposal There has also been a first residential-only listing on the JSE with the introduction of Indluplace Properties, which was spun out of Arrowhead Properties. Demand is strong across many types of residential property and should boost the likelihood of future residential-only fund listings. Among the specialised property groups that may pursue a listing are student housing providers Respublica and CampusKey. Meago Asset Management executive director Jay Padayatchi said he thought specialised property funds would be a natural progression for the listed sector. I think going offshore represents some level of specialisation. But domestically, we will see specialised funds eventually. We did not have residential funds in the past, and now we do. Investors are looking for opportunities, but some may wait for better market conditions before they take them, he said. Visits by groups of students from Aucklands Epsom Girls Grammar School who are interested in careers in medicine, are almost creating a new phrase, Career Tourism. Earlier last month, 24 Year 12 and 13 girls not only had the chance to visit health-related facilities to learn about health and medical issues in Samoa from leading figures such as Toleafoa Dr Viali Lameko, but it also fired up their own plans to return as tourists or volunteers in the future. The prime organiser and spokesperson Rachel Heeney has confirmed that another group of 21 students will be visiting Samoa in September. Rachel, who did a teaching placement here 21 years ago said one of the reasons for the success of the visits and the decision to return with other groups was that they have been offered many opportunities to see medicine from a number of angles. On their visit in July, as well as an inspirational talk from Toleafoa the students visited the hospital, Mapuifagalele; the Cancer Society; the Poutasi Community Hospital; the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and the Cultural Centre in Apia. A 36-year-old male from American Samoa who was a passenger of the Lady Naomi was arrested and charged with possession of a utensil [glass pipe) used to smoke drugs. According to the Police Spokesperson, Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona last week, the accused was travelling from American Samoa to visit his family in Samoa. Maotaoalii said the matter was referred to police by the Customs around 12:30am Friday night 22 June2016. He was caught by the K9 Unit during their routine inspections on the wharf. The accused was carrying a glass pipe used to smoke methamphetamine and the maximum penalty for such offences is not exceeding five years imprisonment. There was meth inside the glass pipe, and that is being taken to the S.R.O.S. office to analyze. The 36-year-old defendant is being held in custody and will appear for mention on the 8 August 2016 in the Supreme Court. Dear Editor, Re: Your article The A.B.C. of L.G.B.T.Q.I. of 27 June & Your body your sovereignty of 4 July Many Samoans here and abroad were saddened and hurt by what had happened to Jeanine Tuivaiki. But what I found alarming was the writers reference to a Think A Minute article Coming out of the closet, saying that . its the kind of article that actually drives people to committing suicide. Rachael, I read that article, and there was no mention of the word suicide or any suggestion of it. Your own mouth spoke out these damaging words into existence. They can easily trigger off negative thoughts, ideas, temptations in the hearts and minds of the weak and vulnerable to commit such an act. Words are powerful. The Bible teaches us that whatever we say with our mouths, we have what we say. The communities and authorities are struggling to find a solution to this suicide problem, but your words are very irresponsible and unwise. If we are ever going to speak words, we need to speak positive words that are encouraging, life building, spirit lifting, words that brings healing, peace and removes burdens and blesses people, and not words that can cause destruction in a persons life. I find your article very offensive, corrupted and against Christianity, God and His Word. To say that .many people have a habit of thinking of only 2 genders with matching sex, wow! Where were you when God created man and woman? This is what God is saying to you: 1) Who is this that makes my purpose unclear by saying things that are not true? 2) Where were you when I laid the earths foundation? 3) Were you there when I put limits on the sea and puts its doors and bars in place, when I said to the sea, you may come this far, but no further, this is where your proud waves must stop? 4) What is the path to lights home and where does darkness live? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the way to their homes? Surely you know, if you were already born when all this happened! Have you lived that many years? 5) Is it through your wisdom that the hawk flies and spreads its wings toward the South? 6) Are you the one that commands the eagle to fly and builds its nest so high? Job, chapter 38. Your writing is deceptive and is polluting the minds of the weak and vulnerable especially our faafafines. Nobody loves the faafafines, not even you, more than God, because Jesus precious blood was shed for them too. Nearly all Samoan families here and abroad have faafafines, and we love our faafafines as God loves them, because first, they are human beings just like us. Second, they are our brothers. Yes, our brothers because thats who they really are as God made them Rachael. God did not make a mistake when He created man and woman. And most of our faafafines even admitted in street talk they preferred to be called he, because they know they were born a he. Thats who they are and are comfortable with it. Who are you to say otherwise? If others want to be called she or whatever, again, that is their choice. So please, stop contaminating their minds with lies and trying to influence their choices as if you were there when they were created and had a say in it. You can be accountable for someone elses life if they end up in hell. As Christians, we are responsible to tell our faafafines and LBGTQI the truth. They need to know that, so they can decide if they want to continue with gay life that leads to the pit of hell or choose Jesus Who is the Way, the Truth and Life Everlasting. This is the love of God reaching out to everyone because is fair. Faafafines are part of our close-knit families. God doesnt love them any less just because they are faafafines. They are treated the same way as their other siblings and everyone else in the family. They are not discriminated against within their families and communities, because everyone knows and understands their faafafines and their sense of humor. And yes, they have weaknesses too, just like everyone else. Growing up as kids, if they disobey their parents or do something wrong, they were disciplined and corrected the same as their other siblings. Thats the upbringing we all grew up with (you would know and feel this if you grew up in Samoa all your life or most of your life). Parents would be teaching the kids and instill in them Godly values to respect others, reach out to the needy, the insignificant, the poor, love one another to name a few. This will prepare them to become responsible, caring, and loving adults to promote peace and harmony in society, etc. Unfortunately, some families have interpreted discipline into a beating instead of a light smack to teach the child a lesson. I have faafafine friends who like many, have become responsible strong supporters of their families. Some have been caregivers for their elderly, and have contributed to their families in so many ways. One chose Jesus and salvation of the Lord and enjoying his blessings, a life of peace and contentment in the midst of circumstances. So yeah, Samoan families love their faafafines and are not prejudiced against them, because they are their flesh and blood. In every family with or without a faafafine, siblings always have little fights of their own, but eventually they make up again. The Word of God is very clear concerning this issue. God will not violate the will of mankind, but He has given each and every person on earth the freewill and ability to choose in life. God said, choose life not death. So, yes indeed. You, me, faafafines, the 23% of LBGTQI and everyone else has a choice. No one is stopping you from exercising your free choice as if the whole world is against you. That is not what Im advocating here. Just dont inject evil thoughts in peoples minds to follow that sin. In the eyes of God everyone is equal and there are no minorities. You dont need to gather up an army of LGBTQI to justify the kind of lifestyle you are advocating especially in Samoa, because that will bring curse to our beloved Samoa. God loves everyone all the same. When you come to the full knowledge and understanding of the Love of God and the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, it will dispel darkness. You will not struggle anymore trying to fit in, and you will not experience being boxed with a label either. And just because there is Facebook shares and celebrities talk on LGBTQI, that doesnt make it right for Samoans or anyone else to follow your agenda. Samoa is founded upon God, though she is not perfect but still trying. For Jesus did not come for the righteous but sinners like all of us. You and the sin that youre trying to push through, and promote in Samoa however you cut it, will never change or move that Solid Rock foundation in the mightiest name of Jesus. If that is the lifestyle you want to live in, that is your free choice and you take responsibility of your own life come judgement day. Nobody has any business with that but you alone. But I caution you to not influence or encourage others that its an ok thing to do, because it is sin. They too, have their own choices to make and are responsible for it. Im telling you this because Jesus loves you. Leviticus 20: 13 says this: If a man has sexual relations with another man, as a man does with a woman, these two men have done a hateful sin. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves. The reason why you feel weird reading the truth about God and that same sex marriage is a sin, is because you dont allow yourself time to read the Bible (yes, thats the good book youre referring to) and check out the truth of what God is saying about everything in life. The Word of God, the Bible is not a book of ideas and opinions. It is the power and mind of God that will also give you greater understanding of how we are fearfully and wonderfully made Not science. I guarantee you that if you keep an open mind, desire to know the truth, shut out the world for a few hours, and zero in on reading the Bible to test if it is true, God will illuminate His Word and you will begin to see things in a different light. Just like Yoga. Its hard to be flexible in the beginning, but if we keep at it like you as a Yoga teacher who has perfected it, practice makes perfect! I strongly encourage you, in fact I challenge you to check out the Bible and have a read. Dig deep and see for yourself firsthand what God is saying because in it from Genesis to Revelation, lies all the answers and the truth in life and concerning LBGTQI that you would want to know about. May God bless you. Taranaki Mailei Mothers throughout the country are being encouraged about the importance of breastfeeding this week. The message comes as the nation commemorates Breastfeeding Week, which was officially opened yesterday in front of the T.A.T.T.E building. The Police Marching band led a parade that included five floats from C.C.C.S Utualii, C.C.C.S Toamua, C.C.C.S. Vaitele-Uta, Women Committee from Tiavea and Lalelei from Apia. The Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama, highlighted the advantages of breastfeeding. For baby, this helps protect against diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, diarrhea, childhood diabetes and childhood obesity and malnutrition, Tuitama said. For your family, it saves money to be used for other family needs, there is no need to worry about milk supplies during natural disasters that frequent the islands and lower health costs because there will be less visits to the doctor or hospital. For working mothers and employers, there will be less time of the mother because there is less worry for baby. For Samoa, it reduces overseas spending in infant formula and baby products such as milk bottles and reduces health care costs for treatment of cancers, diabetes, malnutrition Tuitama also spoke about the linkage between breastfeeding and sustainable development. We also see that the Samoa challenge of beating diabetes lies within the ensuring that this breastfeeding practice continues in Samoa, he said. Thus there is still a need to improve breastfeeding practices in Samoa, hence we must continue to collaborate with each other to promote, protect and support breastfeeding starting with our families, churches, communities and workplaces. Result of yesterdays float competition: 1st - C.C.C.S Utualii, 2nd - C.C.C.S Toamua, 3rd - C.C.C.S. Vaitele-Uta, 4th - Women Committee from Tiavea and 5th - Lalelei from Apia. The Ministry of Health will continue to object to smoking despite the government granting another license to allow a tobacco factory in the country. During an interview with the Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, he maintained that Healths position is that tobacco is not good for anyones health. We are advertising that tobacco is a health hazard, he said. But most tobacco factories are complying with regulations that they are forced to place those photos on packet of cigarettes to remind people that its bad for them. We cant say that cigarettes are good its proven to be bad for your health but its also comes down to the decision of a person. Leausa said cigarettes are heavily taxed because of their negative impact on health. He added that the most expensive campaign is one that is against what people do, like smoking. I feel that the only reason why the factories are still in business is because of us (smokers), said Leausa. And we advise people its not good for their health. The Director General was also asked how much the Ministry spends on their smoke-free campaign. In response, Leausa said he could not say specifically as the Ministry does health promotions on many different diseases put together. But I can say that once you go to the media (advertisements), the package is very expensive. The new cigarette factory is owned by Chinese businessman, Tuituioaiga Teeking Weng. He is also the owner of the Coin Save chain of stores. Last week, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi defended the governments decision to grant the license. He said there are no are no laws to prohibit the establishment of a new cigarette factory. If there was legislation to stop the production of cigarettes and the importation of cigarettes, then that topic would be important, he said. We cannot stop people who have already made the decision to smoke cigarettes. Tuilaepa said there are more important issues to talk about. He added that the new tobacco factory would not mean cheaper cigarettes and easier access to cigarettes for members of the public. The prices (of cigarettes) will continue to increase, he said. The government is trying to stop it (smoking) by increasing the prices and from that the government gets more money for its development. A group of about twenty youths who branded themselves as Original Blood Outlaw (O.B.O.) were on their knees yesterday before the village council of Vaimoso begging for forgiveness. The youngsters made the plea before the Council following a meeting between the village of Vaimoso and four Police officers in the village yesterday morning. Each one of them admitted to their involvement and took turns to apologise to the matai for shaming the village and vowed to stay out of trouble.They also promised to disband O.B.O. The meeting by Police and the villagers was an attempt from by Police to reach out to the villages in town area to assist in capturing the youths and ensuring they stay out of trouble. The group is a mixture of students, school drop outs and a few that are currently working in their family businesses. During an interview with the village spokesperson, Aulavemai Tafito Selesele said it has brought to their attention that some of the O.B.O members are from their village. Aulavemai ensure that the village is taking action and putting an end to the gang. The youths have knelt on their knees and asked for forgiveness, said the matai of Vaimoso. They have been forgiven but in moving forward if anything else comes up it will not be tolerated and the village will deal with them. But at the meantime the village is gathering information and we have found that not all of them are from this sidewe do apologise to the country and those that have been affected and had their properties destroyed by the children and we assure them that the village is dealing with them. Aulavemai maintained that the village has selected a special committee to patrol the streets at night to keep it safe and any youths marking around that time will be sent home. He also added that the youths have been forgiven and have been ordered to put an end to the O.B.O. They will be dealt with and have been told that the gang O.B.O. can no longer be spoken about and will be erased starting from today, he said. Some villagers have offered to fund the repainting of some of the businesses that had their properties vandalized by O.B.O. and these youths will be repainting it. We have also talked about giving the youths some development work they can do to occupy their time like working the land. Aulavemai was also asked about the reasons given by the youths on why they had setup O.B.O. According to him one of the youths that led the group said O.B.O. was setup to build the relationship between the youths from Vaimoso, Taufusi and other villages. But what we had found out the name gives a different impression and the meaning of the name does not reflect that and the village has stepped in and put an end to it. Some of the children in the gang dont even know what they are getting themselves into they had gone with it because of peer pressure but have no understanding of what it is. As for the Ola Poo le Oti, Aulavemai said the youths had claimed that it was a short name they are known by. Asked if the youths have been charged by Police, Aulavemai said no. Nothing like that was said (in meeting with police), he said. They only came to seek our assistance in this matter to put an end to gangs. The village has no intention for the youths to be taken to Court but as I mentioned we want to nurture them and deal with them through their parents, churches and village. It was not possible to get an official comment from the Ministry of Police yesterday. Police Spokesperson, Maotaoalii Kitiona Kaioneta is in New Zealand and SuaMuliagaTiumalu was not available when contacted. The youth gangs are suspected to have been taken in by police during their operation in the Savalalo market on Saturday last week. A bystander who did not wish to give his name was one of the many people that were inspected by the police that were in casual clothes. The eyewitness claimed that more than twenty youths were taken in on Saturday morning after police found red clothing on them and were suspected to be O.B.O. members. One of the police officers that met with the Vaimoso village council yesterday told the gathering that one person has died and the youths are suspected to be involved. Gangs have reached our shores and threatening the safety of the public, he said. There are only a few police officers that deal with thousands of people and we need your help and assistancewe depend on each other and we work together especially when its our children that are involved in these gangs. The new President of the Land and Titles Court, Fepuleai Letufuga Atilla Ropati, was officially sworn in yesterday by the Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi. And having taken his oath at the Samoa Convention Center at the Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi building, Fepuleai is now ready to take on his responsibility in his new role. More than a hundred, government officials together with friends and families of Fepulea'i from Savaii were there to witness occassion. The brief ceremony was led by Pastor Samoa Unoi of Peace Chapel in a prayer joined by the choir from the Legislative Assembly staff and the Land and Titles Court workers. The Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu and other Judges were also there. Fepuleai was thankful for the appointment. I thank God for the appointment, he said. I think the hymn says it better when it said that it is up to God and whatever appointment he gives and calls us upon. The President is a former employee of Samoa Shipping Corporation. He had also worked with the Petaia Law Chambers for three years and had previously worked in the Land and Titles Court for 12 years. As he walks out of the Legislative Assmebly, Fepuleai believes that his experience with the Office is of great benefit to him and his new role. Knowing the law is a big help (in new role) because reading it is not the same as sitting there and listening to Members of Parliament discussing the legislations. Fepulea'i is the former Clerk of the Legislative Assembly. Having served the office for eight years as the Clerk he was later recommended and appointed as the new President. He takes over from his predecessor, Le Tagaloa Tuala Kerslake. Asked about his view on the Commission of Inquiry into the Land and Titles Court judges, Fepuleai said he could not comment on it. Fepulea'i hails from the villages of Saleaula and Iva Savaii. He is 48-years-old and married to Neta Ropati. Las Vegas, NV -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/01/2016 -- Nevada Social Security Disability advocacy firm, Disability Help Center, is excited to showcase its brand new website and resources helping others receive social security disability and SSI benefits. This up and coming way of advocacy is designed to empower the disabled while helping them obtain their Federal disability benefits. At Disability Help Center, the leading Social Security disability assistance firm in Nevada, it is a priority to match clients with disability advocates who can assist and provide guidance navigating the ever-complex world of Social Security disability laws and regulations. Serving nationwide for over 10 years, the company is ready to offer its products and services in a new light. The main purpose of the company's new website, http://www.disabilityhelpcenternv.org/, is to make the online browsing experience both simple and educational for prospective and current clients. The website is divided into separate categories, making it much easier for its prospective customers to find exactly what they need. The company offers primarily free social security disability assistance services as well as low cost legal services for social security disability and SSI benefits. It specializes in all stages of the disability process including filing an application, appeal and presenting your claim before an administrative law judge at a hearing. Disability Help Center is dedicated to providing assistance and guidance. To learn more about the company and its services, fill out a free consultation form online or get social with them on various social media sites. Those interested can also give the company a call by dialing 1-855-704-4222. The company is pleased to move forward with this initiative and anxious to share the excitement and experience with the disability community and families. About Disability Help Center The Disability Help Center is a leader in Social Security disability advocacy. They offer free services starting from basic assistance with questions about the Social Security Disability Benefits process all the way to low cost full legal representation. The help center's team of advocates and attorneys are among the best in the business and are friendly and helpful. Media Contact: Business name: Disability Help Center Nevada Contact Name: Jacquelynn Wigley Address: The Disability Help Center NV, 8635 W Sahara Ave. #657 Las Vegas, NV 89117 Email: info@disabilityhelpcenternv.org Website: http://www.disabilityhelpcenternv.org Phone: 855-704-4222 Pune, India-- (SBWIRE) -- 08/01/2016 -- The report titled "Global Luxury Sunglass Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020)" provides an in-depth analysis of the global luxury sunglass market with detailed analysis of market size on the basis of value and volume along with the growth in the global average selling price if the luxury sunglasses. Purchase a copy of this "Global Luxury Sunglass Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020)" research report at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=493878. The report provides detailed regional analysis of the developed and emerging markets. The analysis of developed markets includes Europe and the U.S., while emerging markets include, China, Mexico, India, Brazil and Australasia. The regional analysis of the developed markets includes market size by value and volume along with the average selling price of the product and the analysis of emerging markets include the market size on the basis of the value. The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global luxury sunglass market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The competition in the global luxury sunglass market is stiff and dominated by the big players like Luxottica. Further, key players of the market Safilo and Fielmann are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies. Regional Coverage - Europe - United States - China - Mexico - India - Brazil - Australasia Company Coverage - Luxottica Group SpA - Safilo Group SpA - Fielmann AG? Luxury Sunglasses also known as premium sunglasses have been characterized as sunglasses that are fitted with non-solution lenses, and subsequently are not utilized for vision correction. They are fundamentally utilized for stylish purposes and for securing the eyes against hurtful bright (UV) beams. The global luxury sunglass market increased at a significant CAGR during the span of 5 years, i.e., 2010-2015 and projections are made that the market would rise in the next five years i.e. 2016-2020 tremendously. The market is highly concentrated in Europe and the U.S., accounting a significant proportion of the market as European countries are popular as tax free shopping destinations among tourists and growing number of consumers who can afford branded sunglasses in the United States. In fact, the market is emerging in the developing nations such as China, Mexico, India, Brazil and Australasia at an increasing annual growth rate. Complete report available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/493878.html. The major growth drivers for the global luxury sunglass market are: premiumization, airport retail channel, rising consumer holidays and health benefits of using sunglasses. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as: availability of counterfeit products and bad economic conditions. Major Points from Table of Contents Provided in Global Luxury Sunglass Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020): 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction 2.1 Introduction to Sunglass 2.1.1 Sunglass Lens 2.1.2 Sunglass Frame 2.1.3 Types of Sunglass 2.2 Evolution of Sunglass 2.2.1 Styles of Sunglass 3. Global Market Analysis 3.1 Global Sunglass Market Analysis 3.1.1 Global Sunglass Market by Value 3.1.2 Global Sunglass Market by Volume 3.1.3 Global Sunglass Average Selling Price 3.1.4 Global Sunglass Market by Segments 3.2 Global Luxury Sunglass Market Analysis 3.2.1 Global Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 3.2.2 Global Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Volume 3.2.3 Global Luxury Sunglass Retail Average Selling Price 3.2.4 Global Airport Retail of Luxury Sunglass 3.2.5 Global Luxury Sunglass Market by Region 4. Regional Market Analysis 4.1 Europe Luxury Sunglass Market Analysis 4.1.1 Europe Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.1.2 Europe Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Volume 4.1.3 Europe Luxury Sunglass Retail Average Selling Price 4.2 The U.S. Luxury Sunglass Market Analysis 4.2.1 The U.S. Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.2.2 The U.S. Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Volume 4.2.3 The U.S. Luxury Sunglass Retail Average Selling Price 4.3 China Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.4 Mexico Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.5 India Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.6 Brazil Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 4.7 Australasia Luxury Sunglass Retail Market by Value 5. Market Dynamics Explore more related reports on consumer goods market at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/cat/consumer-goods-market-research.html. About MarketReportsOnline MarketReportsOnline comprises of an online library of 2,50,000 reports and in-depth market research studies of over 5000+ micro markets. We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers. Get in touch with us for your needs of market research reports. Contact Us: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: 888-391-5441 E-mail: sales@marketreportsonline.com Chattanooga, TN -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/01/2016 -- Center for Facial Rejuvenation, a plastic surgery practice and medical spa based in Chattanooga, TN, TN founded by cosmetic surgeon Dr. Rex Yannis, is proud to welcome the latest addition to their talented staff, Kathy York. Kathy is a nurse practitioner that has been specializing in medical aesthetics for over six years. She has extensive experience administering Botox, dermal fillers and other skin rejuvenation treatments. Dedicated to the same goal of helping individuals achieve their medical aesthetic goals as the rest of the highly trained providers at the practice, Kathy said, "While we can't stop the aging process, I love to have conversations with women about aging gracefully with dignity. Research has shown a direct correlation between body image and psychological well-being, and it is my belief that women can be more confident and look more beautiful as we age!" Upon hearing about Kathy's latest career move, one patient named Christie is exclaiming, "Wow! CFR is so lucky to have snagged Kathy! She does an amazing job helping anyone wanting to age gracefully and subtly!" Another patient named Robbin shared, "I have had the pleasure of being injected by Kathy. She was great and didn't try to do more than I needed." Her old colleague Summer also voiced her support, "Kathy and I worked together for years. She is not only fantastic at what she does, but is a beautiful person inside and out." With overwhelming support from her past patients and co-workers, Kathy is excited to begin working with Dr. Yannis, Cindy Wilson, FNP and the rest of the staff at Center for Facial Rejuvenation. Committed to patient care and comfort, Kathy looks forward to meeting new patients and discussing how she can help them be more confident in their age and beauty. About Center for Facial Rejuvenation Center for Facial Rejuvenation opened its doors at the beginning of 2009 with the mission to provide clients with skillful delivery of safe and effective cosmetic procedures resulting in radiant, natural- looking enhancements. Services include injectable rejuvenation, laser treatments, permanent cosmetics and medical grade facials. Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Rex A. Yannis skillfully provides surgical and non- surgical procedures such as face lifts, blepharoplasty, CO2, and fat transfers, among others. To learn more about Dr. Rex A. Yannis, and Cindy A. Wilson, FNP or the Center for Facial Rejuvenation, call 423-648-2035 or visit www.chattanoogaface.com. Media Contact: Aesthetic Brand Marketing Michelle Hartwell Email: mhartwell@aestheticbm.com Website: www.aestheticbrandmarketing.com Center for Facial Rejuvenation Location: 7268 Jarnigan Rd. Chattanooga, TN 37421 Website: www.chattanoogaface.com The scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employed drones to monitor and study the whales and dolphins in Hawaiian waters. It is the first organization that used drones for whales and dolphins research. The drone expedition is led by Erin Olsen from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said that this is the first time that they have used (drones) as part of their research in the Pacific islands. He further said that this is also the first time it's been used to estimate group sizes and they wanted a way of calibrating the observers. Phys Org stated that the team used a large ship to explore the coasts of the main Hawaiian Islands and a hexacopter drone to take a picture of the whales and dolphins. By using the drones, they can get the better picture of groups of whales because they are not bothered by the approaching ship or boat, according to Olsen. With the drones, the researchers were able to accurately count the number of individual in the pod. These include the mothers and calves that sometimes stay underwater. They were able to get more accurate sizes of the individual whales too. Elizabeth Josephson and Lisa Conger, other researchers and certified NOAA UAS pilots explained that studying whales and seals will not be the same for NEFSC marine animals. Conger said that she have spent many years looking at right whales, but using drones adds a dimension which will help them gain new information. She further said that they have learned a lot and plan to incorporate the hexacopter into upcoming field work as noted by Babw News. Meanwhile, Olsen stated that there are more than 20 species of dolphins and whales around the Hawaiian archipelago. They also took samples and attached satellite tags to some whales to observe their movements. This could lead a way to understand the impact of climate change and warmer water temperatures. Within their research, they had encountered killer whales. These are rarely seen in Hawaii. They also found one pod of orcas off the coast of Maui and another off the coasts of Big Island. Olsen explained that if the populations of whales and dolphins decrease, the ocean food chain becomes unbalanced and could impact the entire ecosystem. California's Lake Tahoe is getting warmer by about 15 times its historic average because of global climate change, according to scientists. This could alter the lake's ecology. Geoffrey Schladow from the Tahoe Environmental Research center (TERC) at the University of California Davis explained that the occurrence of rising air temperatures at Lake Tahoe has been known about for many years now and with it the warming of the lake. He further explained that what is different this year is that they are seeing more aspects of the lake's internal physics changing and that is bound to alter the ecology, as noted by Christian Monitor. Standup paddleboarding on Lake Tahoe. pic.twitter.com/pqf7xdUvNS Fascinating Pictures (@Fascinatingpics) July 31, 2016 The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center stated that the continued warm and dry conditions contributed to several record-breaking measurements at Lake Tahoe in 2015. This raised concern about the ecological impacts of climate change on the second-deepest lake in the United States. The study reveals that the temperature in 2015 warmed nearly one-half of a degree from the previous year to a record 53.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Its temperature increased over 0.3 F per year. This is about 15 times faster than the long-term average rate of 0.018 per year, according to SF Gate. The warming of water at Lake Tahoe has major implications such as reduced mixing of the water. The mixing happens when the cold inflows sink to the bottom of the lake and push water from the depths to the surface. Schladow said that the lake is warming due to climate change. He further said that the same factors that are affecting Tahoe are playing our in each lake and reservoir not just in California but through the entire west. About 77 million newborns, or 1 in 2 who are not breastfed within an hour after they were born. Because of this, they do not get the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother to protect them from disease and death, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said. France Begin, UNICEF Senior Nutrition Adviser said that making newborns wait to have their first contact with their mothers decrease their chances of survival, limit milk supply and also reduce the chance of being exclusively breastfeed. . "If all babies are fed nothing but breastmilk from the moment they are born until they are six months old, over 800,000 lives would be saved every year," he added. According to immortal.org, UNICEF data revealed that encouraging mothers to breastfeed their newborn within the first hour of life had had a very slow progress in the last 15 years. An example given was the mortality rates of children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa. It was found that it has the highest mortality rate in the world, and early breastfeeding in East and Southern Africa increased by just 10 percent since 2000, while the numbers in West and Central Africa has remained unchanged. In South Asia, rates of early breastfeeding have tripled in the last15 years, from 16% in 2000 to 45% in 2015, however, the change in numbers still means that 21 million newborns wait too long to be fed. A report in Huffington Post revealed that the time breastfeeding is delayed play a major role in the infant's mortality in the first month. Delaying breastfeeding by two to 23 hours after birth raises the risk of death in the first 28 days of life by as much as 40%. Delaying it for more than 24 hours increases the risk to a whopping 80%. This is mainly due to the fact that "breast milk is a baby's first vaccine, the first and best protection they have against illness and disease," Begin says. UNICEF studies revealed that women are not getting enough assistance to start breastfeeding immediately after giving birth, even when a doctor, midwife or nurse is present to assist in delivery. In countries like the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, women who give birth with a medical professional present was found to less likely start breastfeeding in the first hour, compared to those who had non-professional relatives or friends present. In some countries, babies are generally fed infant formulas, cow's milk or sugar water in the first three days of life, instead of breast milk. Doing this makes it more difficult for mothers to start and continue breastfeeding. It was found that only 43% of babies under 6 months old are exclusively breastfed worldwide. Those infants who are not breastfed at all are reportedly 14 times more likely to die early than those who were fed with breastmilk only. Apple Inc. recently asked the US Supreme Court to help them secure hundreds of millions in damages against Samsung Electronics CO. Ltd. over smartphone design patents. Apple wants to take its beef with Samsung to the Supreme Court https://t.co/bFrAxQ1709 pic.twitter.com/0zD7uCVgO7 Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) July 31, 2016 Both known as rivals in the smartphone business, the companies have been feuding over these said patents since 2011, when Apple claimed that Samsung infringed on their patent and designs, even trademarked appearance. In the legal brief dated on Friday, July 29, Reuters reported that Apple said Samsung was not able to provide evidence to support its claim that patent damages should be decided on one component of a smartphone, rather than a whole product. In simpler terms, Samsung refused to be sued for the violation of a tiny design patent, saying that it should not be penalized based on the profits of the entire phone, saying that it has suffered "excessive penalties." According to Yahoo!, Samsung already paid Apple $548 million in settlement for this case, which means that the company is currently fighting to get a refund. It is also fighting for PR and precedent, however, if Samsung can get part of the ruling overturned and get money refunded, it will go a long way to be able to fixing its public image. Right now, most people think Samsung is a copier and not an innovator, something they need to recover from. In a filing from last month, the US Department of Justice said that the case should be sent back to the lower court, but Apple said that the congress was clear on the issue of design patent damages, insisting that there was no need for the court to send the case back to lower courts for further proceedings. Thus, there is no need for the court to allow Samsung to make additional comments. When faced with dangerous stunts, people are always advised to make safety a priority. However, a US skydiver went out of his way to trash said precautions as he jumped off the plane 25,000 feet in the air - with no parachute on his back. After more than 25 years of skydiving, Luke Aikins ditched his chute to free fall 25,000 feet above desert terrain. https://t.co/fq5Z8270C1 NPR (@NPR) July 31, 2016 The diver, Luke Aikins, fell above the desert landscape of Simi Valley in California, landing squarely in a 100 x 100-foot, two-tiered net that is set to catch him. He nailed the landing though, at 120mph - a somewhat terminal velocity, as noted by CNN. Aikins was a self-described "member of the Red Bull Air Force, professional skydiver, BASE jumper, stuntman, pilot ... (and) aviation expert." Before he landind on the safety net that broke his fall, he did a last-second roll onto his back to land in the right position to avoid accident, or worse, death. Upon landing, he was said to have remained motionless for awhile, but was able to stand to embrace his wife as he regained his composure and dusted himself off. The stunt, billed as "Heaven Sent" was broadcast live on Fox, and according to Telegraph UK, was watched by members of his family as a crowd of well-wishers watched from an improvised spectator stand in the desert. The stunt had 18 months of preparation, and the Screen Actors Guild, who was looking after the project, initially insisted that Aikins wear a parachute as a precaution. After negotiations, however, the requirement was lifted. Aikins also said that having a parachute would have made the stunt all the more dangerous because of the need to adjust his position as he approached the net. According to Independent UK, Aikins was accompanied by three other skydivers who had parachutes - one collected the oxygen mask he discarded, another had a smoke canister to make them visible to those on the ground, while a third jumper was filming. Speaking about the experience, Aikins shared, "I am almost levitating. It is incredible what has happened. It is awesome." The increasing temperatures hit Russia's Yamal tundra, and provinces got 10 degrees Farenheit warmer than normal. In the fields are large bubbles of vegetations that appeared above the melting permafrost, and pockets of methane and water appeared. Anthrax outbreak in Siberia blamed on 75-year-old reindeer corpse https://t.co/U3oE79S2ws The Independent (@Independent) July 31, 2016 The warm temperature that caused the layer of frozen soil to thaw was suspected to be the one that unleashed the bacteria - scientists believed that the melting unearthed the carcass of a reindeer that died in the last anthrax outbreak in 1968. However, one of the more unusual symptoms of unseasonable warmth is a dormant bacteria that has recently become active. For the first time since 1941, anthrax struck the area, initially taking on 13 Yamal nomads, four of whom are children. According to the Independent UK, the toll is worse on wildlife, claiming around 1,500 reindeer beginning Sunday. However, numbers have been rising, and according to Vice News, the number of people hospitalized has since increased, numbering 40 in all. Governor Dmitry Kobylkin has already declared a state of emergency and evacuated the communities that have been quarantined and is most at risk of infection, such as the nomadic reindeer herders. Anna Popva, the state sanitary doctor in Russia told CNN that there is a possibility the quarantine could last until September. To ensure safety of everyone else in the area, a mass vaccination for the reindeer is also underway. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu already deployed special biological warfare troops from the Chemical Radioactive and Bilogical Protection Corps, and the troops have been carrying out lab tests and working to sidpose of the infected animal carcasses properly. Anthrax, a highly contagious disease, is caused by a bacteria and can be caught through breathing spores and by eating infected material, even through contact with broken skin. The most virulent forms have seen anthrax being weaponzied in 2001, when offices of media outlets and two US Senators were sent letters containing said spores in an outbreak that killed five people and infected 17 others. NASA has reportedly signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement with SpaceX for its upcoming Red Dragon Mars lander mission which will see an unmanned spaceship making its way to the Red planet as early as 2018. It is estimated that SpaceX's Red Dragon mission will cost around $320 million. Addressing the NASA Advisory Council's technology committee meeting, Jim Reuter, deputy associate administrator for programs in NASA's space technology mission directorate, said that the space agency us going to invest $32 million into the project over four years, reported SpaceNews. He added that no exchange of funds will take place between NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX. The $32 million will be offered as salaries to employees who provide technical support to SpaceX. In exchange for the support, the space agency will get access to the data collected during the Dragon's landing on Mars. The main aim of the mission will be to check whether SpaceX is capable of landing heavy payloads on Mars, reported SpaceFlight Now. According to Reuter, if successful, the Red Dragon spacecraft will be the largest lander ever to reach Mars, weighing at around eight to 10 tons. NASA's Curiosity rover which landed on the Red planet back in August 2012 weighed in at about a ton. The demo mission will inform about technicalities required for astronauts to land on Mars. The spacecraft will depend on a propulsive landing rather than landing on parachutes. It will be launched atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. "The two technologies that are needed no matter which way we go are precision landing and supersonic retro-propulsion," Reuter said. It is expected that data collected from Red Dragon mission will help NASA prepare the architecture for its own human Mars mission. While, SpaceX has not revealed much details about the mission, company chief Elon Musk is expected to announce about the plans at a global space conference scheduled to be held in Mexico in September. SpaceX, Musk's private space launch company, successfully test fired a used rocket for the first time at the Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor. This may provide important information on how rockets could withstand repeated burns caused by lif offs. SpaceX CEO has said that the actual launch of a recovered rocket stage will be in September or October. No information about the recent test firing was released, Fortune reported. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was used in the test was also previously used to deliver JCSAT-14 communications satellite into space. However, Falcon 9 is not expected to be sent back to space again even if it was successfully recovered, Design and Trend reported. Since December, Musk's company has successfully landed five rockets, both on barges and on land. However, they have not tried to relaunch any of them yet. Musk says looks forward to the day when launches are commonplace and no longer newsworthy events. He believes that successful recapture of the rockets is only the first step while it is the relaunching part of the equation which is essential to the business model for more affordable space travel. Meanwhile, President and COO of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell says she hopes the reuse of rockets will cut cost of a rocket launch, typically around $61 million, by as much as a third. Saving costs is the driving factor behind rocket relaunch. SpaceX Falcon 9, however, is an ambitious plan for the future. Musk's SpaceX ultimate goal is to send humans to Mars. However, in the short term, it is planning to launch its triple rocket Falcon Heavy and the first commercial reuse of another Falcon 9 rocket in a delivery mission to the International Space Station. Mohammad Mehdi Benchari, gm of Bushehr Province Department of Ports and Maritime Organisation, said the calls had contributed to a 60% period-on-period surge in oil exports from the terminal in the first four months of the Iranian calendar year which began on March 20. Benchari was quoted by various Iranian news agencies, including the Islamic Republic News Agency and PressTV, as saying more than 35.8 million tons of products were exported or imported through Kharg in the same period. Carriers from France, Spain, Greece, Poland, The Netherlands, Italy and South Korea had docked at Kharg Island since the January 16 implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he said. The JCPOA was signed on July 14, 2015, following the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries the five permanent members of the UN Security Council the US, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany. Reuters reports that state-controlled shipper China Shipping Development, PetroVietnam and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan are among the non-Iranian companies currently chartered to carry Iranian oil. Greek, Turkish and Seychelles-owned tankers are also said to be carrying Iranian oil. With international vessels supporting Iran's own tanker fleet, oil exports are close to pre-sanction levels of around 2.5m barrels per day (bpd); between 2.1 and 2.3mbpd were reportedly transported in April and May with India, China and Japan the main importers. An increase in insurance cover by The International Group of P&I Clubs, which represents the world's top 13 ship insurers, has made the resumption of international shipping of Iranian oil possible, Reuters says. P&I Clubs increased the amount covered by so-called "fall-back" shipping insurance, designed to offset any shortfall in payments from U.S. reinsurers who are still not allowed to deal with Iran, from 70m to 100m ($113.36m) in April. Kharg Island is located 25km off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Gulf. It is 483 km northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil exports passes. PressTV reports storage capacity on the island is 30m barrels and that Tehran had prepared its nationwide terminals for as much as 6mbpd of exports in the countdown to the lifting of sanctions. The repair of two subsea pipelines which had been damaged during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war were part of a year-long readying of undersea oil pipelines and other marine salvage operations at Kharg Island, it reported. In its second quarter newsletter Precious Shipping md Khalid Hashim noted that the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) had bounced back from the misery of 290 point in February to the lofty level of over 700 points in July (although it currently stands at 656 points). However, it was still extremely hard for owners to avoid negative cashflow unless they had extremely low operating costs. Looking at the increase in the BDI in the first half of the year Hashim said that based on numbers from China in the period there were no reasons justify the current surge. Instead the scrapping of 22.74m dwt of bulker tonnage in the first half, compared to 20.5m dwt in the same period in 2015, combined with virtually all newbuilding orders being delayed or converted to other ship types, had helped reduce pressure on the supply side resulting in a gradual rise of the BDI. However, it was noted that scrapping had slowed to a crawl by the end of Q2 resulting in 0.84% fleet growth in the first half of the year when negative fleet growth had been expected based on Q1 scrapping numbers. Hashim warned: If scrapping doesnt accelerate in the second half of this year then the BDI will start to drop from the current levels and we may be faced, once again, with rates that equal the all time low reached in February. The warning echoes that of Bimco at the start of June when it stated that zero fleet growth would be required over the next few years to bring dry bulk shipping back into profitability by 2019. Bimco president, Philippe Louis-Dreyfus said the industry needed to demolish and enormous number of ships. Meanwhile, Precious Shipping reported a second quarter net loss of $13.48m compared to $12.03m in the same period in 2015. The Singapore port authority said its investigations in May and June this year showed AC Oil made wrongful declarations in its records onboard their bunker tankers, and there were incidences of bunker transfers between bunker tankers conducted without MPAs approval. In addition, despite being licensed to carry only marine gas oil, (a Class C petroleum product), the bunker tankers operated by AC Oil were found to have carried Class B petroleum, a more easily flammable grade (with a lower flash point) as compared to marine gas oil, MPA explained. AC Oils contraventions increased the safety risks to their own tankers, the crews onboards, and other port users. MPA has revoked AC Oils licences as they had breached the terms and conditions of their bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licences, it said. The investigation on AC Oil is part of MPAs ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure the safety, reliability and quanlity of bunker supplies in Singapore, which is the worlds largest bunkering port by sales volume. As at 27 July 2016, MPA listed 59 licensed, or accredited, bunker suppliers in Singapore, including AC Oil. The last time that MPA took such similar action was in April this year when it revoked the bunker craft operator licence of Seaquest Tanker and the bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licences of Vermont UM Bunkering for their breach of the terms of their licences. Over the last few years, MPA has revoked the bunkering licences of several bunker suppliers for breaching the licensing requirements, due mainly to allowing other companies to use their government-approved Bunker Delivery Notes (BDNs) to supply bunkers. The rains and ensuing floods were the product of stormy weather across parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast over the weekend. Ellicott City happened to be caught where one storm formed right after the other and where slow-moving rains continually fell over the same area. While downpours that intense are rare, heavy rainfall events have been on the rise in the region and nationwide thanks to the warming of Earth's atmosphere caused by accumulating greenhouse gases. That trend is expected to continue as temperatures steadily rise. The streets of Ellicott City, Md., became raging rivers on Saturday, with cars tossed around like toy boats after nearly 6 inches of rain fell in just two hours. Rainfall that intense is a 1-in-1,000 year event for the area, according to the National Weather Service. The high moisture content of the atmosphere also meant there was plenty of water for the storms to wring out. More than 4.5 inches of rain fell in just one hour, the NWS reported. The total for the whole event was 6.5 inches. "It was pretty impressive," Luis Rosa, a meteorologist with the NWS office for Baltimore and Washington, D.C., said. Unlike the massive floods that swept through parts of West Virginia in June, this flooding "was very localized," Rosa said. And while the rugged topography of West Virginia helped concentrate flooding in narrow valleys, the urbanization of the impacted area of Maryland contributed in this case. Concrete and asphalt block the absorption of water into the ground, meaning more water contributing to floods. That water also poured into the Patapsco River, which "rose from nothing to major flooding" in a couple hours, Rosa said. RELATED: Animals Cool Down in Stifling Summer: Photos Two people swept away by the floodwaters were killed, according to news reports. Preliminary calculations by a NWS hydrologist suggest the rain event was a once-a-millennium event, or one that has a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in any given year, according to the Baltimore Sun. While river levels have subsided and cleanup has begun, Maryland, like the U.S. as a whole, faces more such events in the future as the planet continues to warm thanks to human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Trends in heavy precipitation of more than 2 inches in Baltimore, Md. As the temperature of the atmosphere rises, it can hold more moisture, meaning the storms of the future will have more available to turn into torrential rains. This trend is already visible across the U.S., as well as in Maryland. Between 1958 and 2012, the heaviest 1 percent of all rainfall events rose 71 percent in the northeastern part of the country, including Maryland. RELATED: Searing Kuwait Temp Could Rank Among World's Hottest There has also been a jump in the number of days per year with more than 2 inches of rain in Baltimore since 1950, as well as a steady increase in that measure nationwide. In terms of inland flooding, which depends not only on rainfall, but on factors like topography, land use, and structures like levees, Maryland is expected to see increases of between 40 and 60 percent in the intensity and duration of such events by mid-century, according to a Climate Central analysis. More From Climate Central: This story originally appeared on Climate Central, all rights reserved. Last week, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, appeared in a rebuke to the stated policy proposal of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that would bar Muslims from entering the United States. In an op-ed response that followed criticism by Trump that Ghazala Khan didn't say anything during the DNC appearance, Ghazala Khan wrote (emphasis added): Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart. RELATED: Memorable Images from the Iraq War A Gold Star family is one honored by the military for the service of soldier who was killed in action. There are also Silver Star and Blue Star families. Silver Star families are those with a loved one wounded in action. Blue Stars are awarded to relatives with active-duty service members. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine wore a pin with the Blue Star during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. The North Carolina Republican Party initially mistook the pin for a Honduras flag when it tweeted that it was "shameful" that the candidate was wearing "a Honduras flag pin on his jacket but no American flag." Kaine was wearing the Blue Star flag in honor of his son, Nat, who is serving in the U.S. Marines and was just deployed to eastern Europe. The stars refers to the military service flags used by families during times of war or hostilities. Family members authorized to display the flags include spouses, parents, step-parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, children, step-children, adopted children, brothers, sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters. In terms of the flag's design, as Lt. Col. Karen Castillo with Keesler Air Force Base writes: The flag itself is a white field with a red border and a blue, silver or gold star. The blue star symbolizes hope and pride, the silver star, gallantry, and the gold star stands for a sacrifice made for honor and freedom. The flags first became a part of military family tradition during World War I, created by Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner, who had two children serving. Since then, the banners can be seen in the front windows of military households across the country. RELATED: One in 10 Iraq War Vets Face Mental Health Problems In 1936, the United States began observing Gold Star Mothers' Day. Near the end of World War II, Gold Star Wives formed, and a Gold Star Lapel Button was established in 1947. Various organizations also bring together relatives of Gold, Silver or Blue Star families. American Gold Star Mothers Inc. is one such group, a veterans service group chartered by Congress in 1984 "to honor our sons and daughters through service -- service to veterans and patriotic events," writes the group on its website. Gold, Silver and Blue Stars are reminders of the sacrifices shared both by American service members and the people who care about them most. WATCH VIDEO: The Biker Gang Protecting Veteran Funerals About 5,600 years ago, on what is now Alaska's St. Paul Island, an isolated population of woolly mammoths gradually disappeared, and now scientists think they know why. Decreased water levels in the island's lakes, along with decreased quality of the water, likely doomed the mammoths, according to a new study by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers. "Freshwater resources look like the smoking gun for what pushed them into this untenable situation," said study co-author Matthew Wooller in a statement. Woolly mammoths became isolated on the island after the Bering Sea land bridge was covered by water during a period of rising sea levels. The island gradually became smaller, hampering the mammoths' chances to find new places with ample water. RELATED: Woolly Mammoth Mummy Yields Well-Preserved Brain Wooller and his colleagues extracted core samples from the bed of a freshwater lake on St. Paul Island, testing the remains of aquatic insects preserved in the sediment. Key chemical signatures retained by the insects remains allowed the scientists to read the lake's water level and quality before, during and after the time of the mammoths. The analysis of the core told the researchers that water abundance and quality had indeed both diminished. Meanwhile, chemical analyses of mammoth bones and teeth indicated that the island had grown progressively drier in the run-up to the animals' die-off. RELATED Woolly Mammoth Found by Michigan Farmers The drier conditions and decreased lake levels "paints a dire picture of the situation for these mammoths," said Wooller. Woolly mammoths disappeared from mainland sites some 10,000 years ago. About the size of today's African elephants, the last among them died out about 4,000 years ago on Russia's Wrangel Island, north of Siberia in the Arctic Ocean, an island also cut off by the submerged Bering Sea land bridge. The St. Paul Island mammoths would have enjoyed the vegetation of the time, which was much as it is today, Wooller said in 2014. There's no evidence humans occupied the land at the same time as the mammoths. Wooller and his team have published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. WATCH VIDEO: Woolly Mammoth Brain Found: Time To Clone? Mexico's government has launched drones to back last-ditch efforts to prevent illegal fishing activities that have led to the near extinction of the vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise. The navy and the environment ministry on Thursday unveiled three Arcturus T-20 unmanned aerial vehicles, armed with high-resolution cameras to police the upper Gulf of California day and night. It is the latest step taken by the government to save the vaquita, a species found only in a small area of Mexico's northwest gulf. "There is a lot left to be done and time is a decisive factor," Admiral Vidal Francisco Soberon, the navy's chief, said. "We can't allow our seas to see another species disappear." RELATED: Vaquita Porpoise Nearly Extinct, Only 60 Left President Enrique Pena Nieto deployed navy ships in April 2015 to enforce a two-year ban on gillnets and increased the vaquita protection area tenfold to 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles). But a census released last May warned that there are only 60 of the sea creatures left, down from fewer than 100 in 2014 and 200 in 2012. Scientists fear the porpoise could vanish by 2022. The vaquita's fate has been linked to a critically endangered fish, the totoaba, which is illegally caught for swim bladders that are dried and sold on the black market in China. The vaquita, a shy 1.5-meter-long (five-foot) cetacean -- a kind of marine mammal -- with dark rings around the eyes, is said to be the victim of bycatch in illegal totoaba gillnets. RELATED: Rare Vaquita Porpoise Could Be Extinct in Four Years Oona Isabelle Layolle, captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose ship has helped to catch illegal fishnets in the area, said drones are an effective tool to find poachers. The international conservation group has used its own small drones with night-vision cameras to spot fishermen using illegal nets after dark. "It's one of the best tools," Layolle told AFP. "We can see if they fish illegally without them seeing us." But she said that the authorities need to ban all types of nets because poachers will "hide behind legal fishing permits" to continue their illegal activities. WATCH VIDEO: Why Endangered Species Are Doomed It's been a little more than a month since the U.K. voters opted by a narrow margin to support leaving the European Union, a move that led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and the ascension of a new leader, Theresa May. And although that nation's government has yet to actually evoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the process of departing from the EU, many already are worrying that the pullout will hurt the environment, by hindering European efforts to fight climate change, clean up polluted waterways, and reduce the use of pesticides that may be killing off bees and other pollinators. The most strident alarm may have been sounded by the Guardian, the U.K.'s left-leaning newspaper, which called the vote a "red alert" for the environment, and warned that the "Leave" movement saw environmental regulations as part of the burdensome EU red tape that it wanted to slash. The paper pointed out that European regulators had pushed the U.K .to clean up air pollution that kills an estimated 40,000 people a year, and sewage contaminating the nation's beaches, and that many of the U.K.'s protections for wildlife stem from European rules. RELATED: Is Europe Safe to Visit This Summer? On the other side of the Atlantic, the Washington Post warned that the Brexit might hinder Europe from achieving its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent, as part of the fight against climate change. But two European environmental activists tell Discovery News that the effects of the Britain's eventual departure are difficult to predict, and may not be as disastrous as some have envisioned. Lady Bryony Worthington, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund Europe, said that the impact of Brexit could be "both good and bad," because of the UK's inconsistent stance on environmental regulation, in which it was head of the curve on some issues but resistant to change on others. When it comes to climate change, for example, Worthington points out the UK actually started moving to limit carbon emissions before the EU, with its passage of the 2008 Climate Change Act. A few days after Brexit's passage, she notes, the U.K. government announced a new goal of reducing the country's emissions by 57 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. "It's unclear, she said, whether Britain will continue to participate in the European carbon market, which seeks to reduce emission by awarding limited credits and allowing nations to trade unused ones. "It would make sense for the U.K. to continue to be linked to the EU" in that regard, she said. RELATED: Biggest Electric Vehicle Rally Zips Across Europe But Worthington notes that the U.K. has resisted European efforts to improve air quality. Brexit might mean that the the country's own air will become less breathable -- while Europe may actually be free to impose stricter pollution controls. But environmentalists also are worried that Brexit will weaken European efforts to improve energy efficiency, a big part of meeting the continent's goal of cutting its carbon emissions significantly by 2030. They fear the UK's willingness to walk-away could embolden other countries, such as Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, to insist that efficiency regulations are too burdensome to their less-advanced economies. "Some in the (European) Commission are saying that the last thing we want to do is give more ammunition to countries who have a lot of Euroskeptics," said Brook Riley, an official with the Climate and Energy Program for Friends of the Earth Europe. Riley said that the biggest effect of Brexit may be to give a wake-up call to European environmental activists. "The thing that Brexit reveals is that the EU is getting more disconnected from the guy in the street," he said. That makes it important to do a better job of communicating how environmental policy can benefit people, and not just the larger planet. "For example, there are a lot of good studies showing the benefits of energy efficiency," Riley said, "lower utility bills, reduced need to import oil and gas from Russia. We should be emphasizing these points -- that we're doing it because it can have a significant, positive impact on everyone's lives." Press Release July 31, 2016 Senator Gatchalian Supports Senate Con-Con Reso Senator Win Gatchalian has thrown his support behind Senator Franklin Drilon's Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, calling for a Constitutional Convention to revise the 1987 Constitution. "Con-Con is the better vehicle for revising the Constitution. There are too many vested interests in Congress which could negatively affect the revision process. Genuine reforms will not be achieved through a Con-Ass," said Gatchalian, a former two-term congressman from Valenzuela City. According to Gatchalian, sensitive provisions in the Constitution such as the anti-dynasty clause, party-list system, and the economic provisions should be studied and amended accordingly by objective constitutional experts instead of politicians whose personal interests are at stake. "The revision of the Constitution must be insulated from politics as much as possible," said Gatchalian. In pursuit of a non-political constitutional convention, Gatchalian said he supports the inclusion of safeguards which would prohibit incumbent elected officials, losing candidates in the May 2016 elections, and members of political dynasties from serving as delegates to the convention. Gatchalian said that he would also push for the institution of high academic and professional qualifications for delegates to ensure that only seasoned legal minds and constitutional experts would be able to sit as delegates. "We need to bring our best legal minds together to complete the transcendentally important task of crafting a new constitution, the charter which will serve as the covenant between the State and its citizens for generations to come," said Gatchalian. Although he understands President Rodrigo Duterte's concerns about the high cost of a constitutional convention, Gatchalian explained that the long-term benefits of a constitutional convention outweigh the short term costs. "We should not save any expense in revising the Constitution, especially since the Con-Con delegates will be debating the merits of a fundamental shift in our form of government, from unitary to federalist," Gatchalian said. In addition, Gatchalian noted that Con-Ass would take too much time from legislators's schedules, potentially bringing legislative work to a standstill. "Con-Ass would distract legislators from their primary work of passing laws, resulting in a long delay in passing the President's legislative agenda through both houses of Congress," said Gatchalian, a member of President Duterte's super-majority in the Senate. Press Release July 31, 2016 Lacson bill offers big rewards for whistleblowers in corruption cases A bill filed by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson seeks to offer substantial rewards and better protection to witnesses in exchange for coming out and testifying against government officials or employees involved in corruption. Lacson said that by getting the cooperation of "credible witnesses with reliable information," his bill may address the difficulty of fighting corruption, especially those involving acts behind closed doors. "This proposed legislation seeks to encourage whistleblowers to come out in the open and put an end to the corrupt practices of some government officials or employees. At the same time, it aims to strengthen the present machinery in ensuring the full protection and security of these brave witnesses against any form of retaliation or ostracism, and establish a rewards-and-benefits system in order to ensure the livelihood and welfare of these whistleblowers," he said in Senate Bill 258. But Lacson, who served as a law enforcer for 30 years, including as Philippine National Police chief from 1999 to 2001, also pointed out the bill also includes a rigid procedure to prevent abuses or false witnesses. His bill covers cases involving violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the code of ethics for government officials and employees, the Anti-Plunder Law, and other crimes committed by public officers. The proposed act will reward whistleblowers or informants from the public or private sector who make disclosures that are voluntary, in writing and under oath, and relate to conduct constituting graft and corruption. Such disclosures should not yet be subject of a complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman or investigated by any other investigating agency, unless the Ombudsman deems such disclosure is needed for an effective prosecution, or for the acquisition of material evidence not yet in its possession. The disclosures should also be corroborated; and lead to a successful gathering of evidence and/or investigation that can in turn result in the filing of a criminal complaint before a court. While a whistleblower need not testify in court to enjoy the benefits under Lacson's bill, he or she shall be entitled to additional benefits and protection under the Witness Protection Program if his or her court testimony is needed. Also, the bill gives the Office of the Ombudsman added powers to implement its provisions. An initial P100 million is to be appropriated from the National Treasury to implement the act. Financial rewards Whistleblowers shall be entitled to a monetary reward in accordance with the salary grade of the respondent, including the President (Salary Grade 33). The bill's proposed financial rewards also include: - Salary Grade 33: P5 million - Salary Grade 32: P4 million - Salary Grade 31: P3 million - Salary Grade 30: P2.5 million - Salary Grade 29: P2 million - Salary Grade 28: P1.5 million - Salary Grade 27: P1 million - Salary Grade 26: P900,000 - Salary Grade 24-25: P800,000 - Salary Grade 22-23: P700,000 - Salary Grade 20-21: P600,000 - Salary Grade 18-19: P500,000 - Salary Grade 16-17: P400,000 - Salary Grade 14-15: P300,000 - Salary Grade 12-13: P200,000 - Salary Grade 10-11: P100,000 - Salary Grade 5-9: P75,000 - Salary Grade 1-4: P50,000 Whistleblowers can get half the reward after being qualified admitted to the program by the Office of the Ombudsman, and the remaining half before the filing of a case in a proper court. In cases such as plunder, forfeiture of ill-gotten wealth, bribery, malversation and damage or injury to government, the whistleblower shall be entitled to an additional reward of up to 10 percent of the amount recovered by final judgment. Should the case drag on, the whistleblower may get an advanced payment equivalent to 25 percent of the additional reward of the total award due, consistent with the nature of the case and the amount involved and deemed recoverable. Protection and conditions A whistleblower or informant is entitled to absolute confidentiality as to: - his or her identity - subject matter of his or her disclosure - the person to whom such disclosure was made While a whistleblower can receive state protection, he or she should first execute a Memorandum of Agreement where he or she agrees to avoid committing a crime and take precautions to "avoid detection by others of the facts concerning the protection" provided him or her. He or she must also cooperate with respect to all reasonable requests of officers and employees of the government who are providing him or her protection; and regularly inform the appropriate program official of his or her current activities and address. Violating the agreement will result in termination of the protection. Before ending the protection, the Ombudsman shall send a notice to the whistleblower concerned, stating the reason for the termination. The informant will be given reasonable time to take security precautions. A whistleblower shall be immune from any administrative, civil, criminal or other liability for making his or her disclosure, especially from the subject of his or her disclosure. He or she is also immune from disciplinary, retaliatory or prejudicial action in the workplace for making his or her disclosure. An employer who "encourages, causes or does retaliatory action or reprisal" against an informant or anyone suspected to be one shall be held liable, while an employee who refuses to follow orders that may cause them to violate this proposed law shall be protected from reprisals and retaliatory action in the workplace. The bill also provides that all proceedings involving application and/or enjoyment of the benefits under the Office of the Ombudsman shall be kept confidential in nature. "No information or documents given or submitted in support thereof shall be released except upon written order of the Office of the Ombudsman, and provided such disclosure shall not endanger the life of a qualified whistleblower," the bill said. It added the fact of the entitlement of the qualified whistleblower to protection and benefits "shall not be admissible in evidence to diminish or affect his credibility." Abstract An abstract of the proposed law shall be displayed in all government agencies, offices, bureaus and local government units, including government-owned or controlled corporations, and the local government units. Government agencies are required to adopt internal procedures for dealing with whistleblowers, with the internal procedures widely disseminated to all employees. Failure to post an abstract may net a fine of P100,000 for the first offense, with the amount doubled for every succeeding offense; and imprisonment of up to six months. If the offender is a public officer or employee, he or she faces suspension of the right to hold public office. Penalties Anyone who deliberately and voluntarily gives false or misleading information on graft and corruption faces up to 12 years' imprisonment. If the offender is a public officer or employee, he or she also faces perpetual absolute disqualification from public office. Meanwhile, a person under obligation to report a disclosure to the Office of the Ombudsman but fails to do so within two months, or who fails to act or cause an investigation, faces up to one month's imprisonment and/or a fine of up to P50,000. Retaliatory acts Retaliatory attempts and acts against a whistleblower including those that hinder, delay, prevent or dissuade a whistleblower from testifying, reporting a crime, seeking the arrest of another person in connection with the offense face a fine of up to P100,000 or imprisonment of six months to six years. Government officials or employees who engage in such acts also face perpetual disqualification from holding public office. Anyone who violates the protection of confidentiality of a protected disclosure may face six months to six years in jail. If the violator is a government official or employee, he or she faces an accessory penalty of temporary absolute disqualification from public office, and will have to indemnify the informant. In the workplace, anyone who commits a retaliatory act against an employee who is a whistleblower or suspected to be one, will face up to six months' imprisonment. If the offender is a public officer or employee, he or she faces suspension of the right to hold office and shall be civilly liable to indemnify the whistleblower. "Toward this end, the aggrieved whistleblower shall be entitled to the provisional remedy of injunction against any retaliatory action in the workplace, prejudicial conduct or discriminatory treatment by reason of the whistleblower's disclosure," the bill said. Also, the aggrieved person may take action before the Civil Service Commission or the Department of Labor and Employment for unfair or discriminatory practices, back wages, or other labor disputes. Meanwhile, a person, firm, corporation, office or employer who shall deny a qualified applicant for employment due to knowledge or suspicion that the applicant is a whistleblower may face up to six months' imprisonment. If the offender is a public official or employee, he or she faces suspension of the right to hold public office, and may have to indemnify the informant. Ombudsman powers The Office of the Ombudsman shall supervise, monitor and coordinate all efforts in implementing this act, and investigate disclosures made under this act and prosecute when needed. It will evaluate the qualification of whistleblowers or informants and work with private and public sectors to hold a public information campaign on the act. It will also develop and implement programs to further encourage whistleblowers. Legislative whistleblower program The Senate and/or the House of Representatives may establish a joint or separate program for the benefit and protection of a whistleblower, to encourage witnesses of acts constituting graft and corruption to testify before investigations in aid of legislation. A whistleblower may be admitted to the program upon the recommendation of the committee where his/her testimony is needed and upon approval of the Senate President or the House Speaker. "(A)dmission in the legislative whistleblower program shall not be a bar for admission to the program for whistleblowers of the Office of the Ombudsman with the same rights and privileges including the right to the monetary reward provided for therein," the bill said. However, a whistleblower can receive monetary reward from either Congress or the Ombudsman, and not from both. Press Release July 31, 2016 STATEMENT OF SEN. PANGILINAN ON CROWDED JAILS Isa sa mga pinaka-napabayaang bahagi ng Philippine criminal justice system ay ang mga kulungan. Jails, run by local law enforcement or local government agencies, are meant to hold inmates awaiting trial usually for short-term stay. Prisons, operated by the national government, are for those convicted of serious crimes and normally for long-term incarceration. The news item on jails gave Quezon City Jail as an example. Built 60 years ago to house 800, it now has almost five times its original capacity at 3,800 inmates. Sobrang dami noon. Sobrang sikip. Hindi makatao. Kahit ang mga hayop, nangangailangan ng tinatawag na "space boundaries." Sa pagtatanim ng mga halaman, ganun din. Kailangan may puwang sa pagitan nila, para makahinga at lumago. Eto ang mga pangunahing pangangailangan at karapatan ng tao: pagkain, tubig, tirahan, damit, exercise, tulog, hangin. I mention air because from the pictures, I can imagine how hard it is to breathe there, how hot, and how prone to getting sick. As the Duterte administration's anti-crime campaign goes into full gear, with hundreds of drug users and pushers surrendering, our jails and prisons will become increasingly crowded, increasingly uninhabitable, increasingly unbearable. This deplorable situation in jails and prisons is one of the reasons why high-profile suspects of high crimes evade jail or prison time -- at all costs, including the cost to justice. Improving the conditions in jails and prisons would serve justice. We would be able to see plunderers behind bars, not in hospitals or rest houses or special cells built for them, exacerbating the injustice of the system reserving jails and prisons only for the poor and the powerless. As Congress awaits the budget proposal for 2017, I urge the agencies directly in control of jails and prisons to consider their wards' needs. We will support budget increases toward these and we will monitor their use after. Dahil Linggo naman, hayaan nyo na akong mag quote mula sa bible. Matthew 25:36: "I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." That was Jesus. Press Release July 31, 2016 FELLOW EX-STUDENT ACTIVISTS HONOR PANGILINAN FOR 'COMMITMENT, CONSISTENCY' IN PUBLIC SERVICE MANILA - Fellow former student activists on Saturday night honored Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan and other government officials for their "commitment and consistency" in public service at a thanksgiving dinner entitled "Celebrating the Samasa Brand of Public Service: Commitment and Consistency." At the event that also celebrated the victory of Vice President Leni Robredo over the son of the former dictator, Pangilinan said the recognition is a "very touching honor for me, I've had many. But coming from Samasa, it's more important to me, it's more valuable to me." Samasa or Sandigan para sa Mag-Aaral at Sambayanan, a student political party in the University of the Philippines-Diliman during the 1980s at the height of the fight against Martial Law, was also at the forefront in the fight against the election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as vice president in the May 2016 vote. Pangilinan, who ran and won in various college and university student council positions under the Samasa banner, said: "Natutunan ko ang aking pamamahala, pamumuno, pananagutan mula sa pagiging aktibista (What I learned in administration, leadership, and responsibility started from my student activism)." A major consideration in every decision he had to make included this important question: "Can I explain this to my constituency? I used to be UP student council president. If I cannot explain my decisions to those I campaigned with, to those who offered their lives to a cause larger than ourselves, for the love of our country. If I cannot explain it to them, then there's no reason, no business for me making this decision. It was haunting in a sense. A good haunting." "Every decision since, the question has been: Nasaan ang tao? Nasaan ang taumbayan? Nasaan ang paninindigan? Nasaan ang tunay na pagbabago, doon tayo. That is why, lagi, lagi, kapag nariyan na ang pagsubok, nariyan ang pagpapasiya, nariyan na ang oras de peligro, ang tanong, 'Paano ko maipapaliwanag ito sa mga nakasama ko sa UP? Kasama sa pakikibaka? Kasama ko sa pagmartsa? Dahil kung babatikusin ako at tututulan, di dapat tayo magpasya sa ganung paraan' (Where are the people? Where is the nation? Where are the principles? Where is the real change, that's where we are. That is why, always, always, when we are being tested, or asked to make a crucial decision, or in the hour of danger, the question is, 'How do I explain this to my comrades in UP? My companions in the struggle? My fellow street parliamentarians? If they will criticize and oppose me, we should not decide that way')." "That is why this is precious," he said of the Samasa honor certificate, "because it is a reiteration [of that commitment]...an inspiration as I enter my third term as senator." Like Robredo, Pangilinan said the 1983 assassination of his fellow Upsilonian fraternity brother Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was a turning point for him, inspiring him to join the student movement. If the dictator had not been ousted in 1986, Pangilinan said he would've joined the rebels in the hills to continue fighting the repression and injustice of that era. But the restoration of elite democracy allowed him to run and win as Quezon City councilor in 1988. He later ran and won as senator in 2001 and again in 2007. Pangilinan, who spoke last among the honorees, asked his fellow former student activists: "Why are we all here? What is this all for? Why did we organize [for Leni] in the last elections? All of us here, at one point in our lives, we were willing to die for this country. If we still are, wonderful. Because as we see the nation, as the events unfold, we still have a lot to do. "When we took a stand 30 years ago, when we were willing to sacrifice our lives for our nation, there was a cause we were committed to and our cause was just. Today, our cause is still just. Our cause is still a cause worth dying for. "I must admit, given how jaded perhaps many of us are. Matanda na tayo. Pagod na tayo (We are old. We are tired). We've done our share...In the final analysis, we all love our country. Problems are still there. The challenges are still serious. "This experience with Leni, this campaign of Samasa is just the beginning. And it ought to be. We have more campaigns to come. In 20 years, 25 years from now, when we are in our 70s or 80s, when we are in our death bed, finally, we will say, the country is on the right track because we all committed, because we all sacrificed to move our nation forward. We have 25, 30 years. If you think the last 30 years happened so fast because we were student activists 30 years ago, mas mabilis ang susunod na tatlumpung taon. Wala na tayong oras pang magpagewang-gewang (the next 30 years will happen faster. We don't have time to dilly-dally). "Kinakailangan manindigan, kinakailangan tumaya para sa pagdating na ililipat na natin ang tungkulin sa susunod na henerasyon, masasabi natin sa bawat isa, 'Tumaya pa rin tayo, nanindigan pa rin tayo, kumilos pa rin tayo (We need make a commitment, we need to make our bets so that when it is time to pass the job on to the next generation, we can say to each other, 'We placed our bet, we committed, we acted)." The other honorees included Quezon City Rep. Kit Belmonte, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, Las Pinas Rep. Zardi Abellera, Zambales Rep. Cheryl Deloso-Montalla, National Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) head Arnel Casanova, Mayor Eric Constantino of Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro and his wife and also former mayor of the town Maria Gloria, and former Akbayan party-list Rep. Barry Gutierrez. The thanksgiving party "marks both the culmination of our Never Again campaign during the last elections, and a commencement of our continuing campaign against historical revisionism," said Samasa in its invitation to its members. Press Release July 31, 2016 Recto files '1 town, 1 doctor' MD scholarship bill Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto has filed the "One Town, One Doctor" bill, a novel scholarship program in which government will fund the schooling of one medical student chosen from among the youth of a town--on the condition that when he becomes a doctor, he will go back to his town to serve for four years. "In short, this is a 'galing sa bayan, tungo sa bayan' scheme of producing doctors. We pick from among the town's best and brightest, finance his medical studies, and when he becomes a doctor, he repays it by serving his townmates," Recto said. And while the doctor is doing his mandatory four-year community service, another bright young student from the same town starts medical schooling so that there will be a replacement after four or five years, Recto explained. "If we're facing a lack of rural doctors, this is one way to guarantee supply. This is an education and a health program rolled into one. We tap local human talent in training a professional who will perform health service among his people," Recto said. "This is one investment with a high social ROI. If we can afford to spend P2.4 million to produce one Philippine Military Academy graduate, why scrimp in producing doctors who are badly needed?" Recto said. According to experts, the country's public health system is grappling with a shortage of 60,000 doctors. As result, six out of 10 Filipinos die without seeing a doctor. To be administered by the Department of Health (DOH), the scholarship will cover "tuition, laboratory and miscellaneous fees, and other related school fees; textbooks, supplies and equipment; clothing and uniform allowances; traveling expenses and subsistence and living allowance." The scholar must belong to the upper 30 percent of a graduating class of any of the undergraduate prerequisite courses for a doctoral degree in medicine. Said candidate must have passed the admission tests and related requirements of the medical school that the scholar plans to enroll in. If none from a town qualifies for the program, the allotted slot may be assumed by a scholar coming from another town in the same province. The scholar, however, upon getting his license to practice will serve in the town which provided the slot. Recto said the One Town, One Doctor program can be financed by state gaming income, from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corporation (PAGCOR). PCSO booked a gross income of P37.4 billion in 2015, while on the first half of this year PAGCOR had already raked in a gross revenue of P24.8 billion, of which P15.6 billion went to state coffers. Don't pull trigger, push reboot button - Recto urges gov't, Reds I urge the NDF and the government not to pull the trigger, but to push the reboot button. In the search for peace, deadlines should be extended, or it results in more dead bodies. It is the NDF's turn to take the high ground by declaring their own unilateral ceasefire. Then they should give the government a period longer than what was given them to respond with their own. If the NDF declares, I believe government will have no choice but to respond positively. Peace has always been an irresistible proposition. Under the new administration, the prospect of peace has been off to an auspicious start. Why waste the initial goodwill earned? Let us continue with confidence-building measures necessary for agreements to mature. Isa pa, may parating na bagyo. Pwede bang mag-typhoon truce muna? On another note, let not the heat of the propaganda war derail the peace talks. Parties can trade barbs in Twitter for as long as combatants do not exchange fire on the ground. Pwedeng magpalitan ng mura, huwag lang bala. Trillanes bats for pay hike for teachers, soldiers, police In light of the recent pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte on increasing the salary of teachers, military and police personnel, Senator Antonio "Sonny" IV pushes for the passage of Senate Bill No. (SBN) 90, or the Salary Standardization IV. Trillanes said, "Consistent with the promise made by President Duterte, SBN 90 includes teachers, military and police personnel in the proposed increase, and would at least double their salary." The improved salary scale provides the lowest government rank, Salary Grade 1, with a base pay of Php18,956 from the present rate of Php9,478; and cabinet secretaries with a base pay of about Php585,430 from the present rate of Php117,086. For military and police personnel, Private/Police Officer 1 will receive Php35,460 from their present salary of Php14,834; and General/Director General will receive Php481,770 from their present salary of Php67,500. According to Trillanes, passing the measure would also be a major step in the government's anti-corruption campaign; and would enable the government to attract, retain, and maintain a corps of competent government workers including teachers, military and policemen. "With this proposed competitive compensation package, our public servants will be dissuaded from resorting to unscrupulous activities in order to augment their meager income, and, instead, be encouraged to become efficient and effective public servants," Trillanes further explained of the bill's anti-corruption component. Trillanes also challenged Duterte to fulfill his promise, "The President has promised to increase the salary of teachers, military and police personnel; thus, I filed this measure which would serve as an instrument to fulfill it." Press Release July 31, 2016 VILLANUEVA PUSHES FOR EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENT IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION TO ADDRESS HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE Senator Joel Villanueva, who was recently given the chairmanship of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, has expressed his worry over the high unemployment rate in the country. According to the World Bank, the Philippines' unemployment rate is highest at 7.1% from 2010 to 2015. It is during the same period when the country was considered as one of the fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia which registered the highest annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at an average of 6.2%. "We can maximize our country's economic growth by attracting more investments that would create jobs," the senator said. Villanueva has also expressed his concern over the high unemployment rate among the youth. World Bank figures show that the unemployment rate among Filipino youth aged 15-24 is averaged at 16.5% in the same period of 2010 to 2015. The Philippines ranks second to Indonesia with an average of 22.1% in the same period. However, Indonesia managed to reduce the proportion of unemployed youth to 21.8% in 2015 from 25% in 2010. Philippines, on the other hand, remained its youth unemployment rate above 16% during the same period. "The unemployment rate among our youth is already troubling. That is why it is important to strengthen our technical education and the availability of alternative learning system that would hone the in-demand skills in the labor sector," Senator Villanueva noted. He added that more people must be able to access these opportunities. "We have shown during our time in TESDA that technical education improves the employability of our workers. We need to strengthen it and make it more accessible. More budget should also be allocated to education and human resource development," said Senator Villanueva, former secretary of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. Another issue is the country's real wage rate. The growth in real wage rate is among the lowest in the region, second to Singapore. World bank studies show that the growth in real wage rate in the Philippines is at an average of 1% from 2010 to 2015, only a bit higher than Singapore which saw an average annual increase of 0.8% in the same period. The study also goes to show that the rapid GDP growth did not translate to a tantamount increase in the purchasing value of wages despite the Philippines' recorded GDP growth at an average of 6.3% annually from 2010 to 2013. "To address the rising cost of labor, I am planning to file a resolution that would look into the feasibility of telecommuting. The purpose of which is to allow work flexibility which based on academic studies can actually increase productivity of workers, reduce the negative impact of traffic and support the work-life balance of our workers. The senator is also studying the possibility of adjusting the minimum wage. "It is high time for our workers to reap the fruits of our economic growth. Progress can only be felt when our hardworking laborers can afford to have adequate food on their table and enough money to save up for their future needs. Indeed, a lot of work has to be done in both Houses of Congress," Villanueva said. Congress has sole power to determine mode of amending Constitution, says Drilon The Congress has the sole authority to decide on the mode of amending the Constitution, Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon stressed today. "The mode of amending the Constitution, whether by Constitutional (Con-Ass) Assembly or Constitutional Convention (Con-Con), is the sole prerogative of Congress," Drilon underscored. Drilon explained that unlike ordinary bills, a resolution calling for a review of the Constitution is not subject to the approval of the President. "A resolution calling for a Con-con or Con-Ass does not need the approval of, and cannot be vetoed by, the President," Drilon said. He said that it is the Filipino people who will ultimately decide whether or not they will ratify the amendments to the Constitution. "The amendments to the Constitution itself are not approved, and cannot be vetoed, by the President, but is submitted directly to the people for approval or rejection in a plebiscite," Drilon emphasized. Drilon said Congress should debate on the best mode to amend the Constitution, taking into consideration the views of all stakeholders, the President, and Constitutional and legal experts. Drilon is the author of Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 at the Senate calling for a constitutional convention to review the 1987 Constitution. He is the chairman of Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws that will hear all measures calling for the amendment of the Constitution. As its chairman, Drilon vowed to give the resolution to amend the Constitution "the highest the priority." He said the committee will take it up as soon as the organization of the Senate is finalized and completed. Press Release August 1, 2016 Ejercito Lauds the Enactment of Various Economic Laws Senator JV Ejercito welcomes the enactment into law of various legislations of the Economic Affairs Committee which he chaired during the 16th Congress. "I am really overwhelmed with the positive outcome of all our hardwork in the Economic Affairs committee. Through our partnerships with various stakeholders, the committee had been instrumental in enacting three important laws," Ejercito said. He added, "Today we finally amended the restrictions to foreign investment through Republic Act 10881. The MIMAROPA Region is now established through Republic Act 10879 and Republic Act 10922 instituted the Economic and Financial Literacy Week." The Senator said that RA 10881 (Amendment to Foreign Investment Restrictions) will liberalize investment activities and areas which significantly contribute to industrialization and socioeconomic development. These investment activities include lending, adjustment, financing and investment houses which are governed by specific laws. RA 10879 will give MIMAROPA a distinct regional status from its present position as part of Region IV and should boost its economic standing, promote tourism, and propel its agriculture. Meanwhile, RA 10922 declares the 2nd week of November as Economic and Financial Literacy Week. There will be consciousness-raising and knowledge-expanding activities that could be integrated in the school curriculum. The law also mandates the printing and distribution of financial literacy materials, as well as the active participation of the private sector and the civil society. Ejercito also underscores the commitment of the various stakeholders from the government and the private sector. "The committee had been really productive during the last Congress because of the cooperation and commitment of the people involved, both from the government and the private sector. I believe that the committee did its part in contributing to the country's sustainable economic growth," Ejercito said. Press Release August 1, 2016 Legarda: PH Dev't Possible Even with Low Carbon Economy Senator Loren Legarda today said that the country's development can still be at full speed even as it keeps its commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience, said the government should consider a long-term transition to a low carbon economy but maintained that industrialized nations have greater responsibility to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte said, "Addressing global warming will be our top priority, but upon a fair and equitable equation. It must not stymie our industrialization." Legarda agreed with the President's statement, stressing that the Philippines has long been calling for industrialized countries, which have the historical responsibility in causing global warming, to financially and technically assist developing countries in climate adaptation and mitigation efforts while reducing their own GHG emissions. "There is no provision in the Paris Agreement that would prevent our industrialization. The Agreement also obliges developed nations to assist us and other developing countries, through financial and technical support, in preparing for natural hazards, reducing disaster risks, addressing climate change impacts, and moving towards a low carbon economy," Legarda stressed. "That is why, the proposed GHG emissions we submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is conditional. This means that the success of our goal to reduce our GHG emissions to 70% by the year 2030 will depend on both our efforts and the assistance that will be provided to us by industrialized nations," she explained. Under the Paris Agreement, emission reduction efforts should be substantially undertaken by developed countries that have the capacity to do so. Legarda further explained that even with the absence of any international agreement, "it makes good economic and environmental sense to invest in clean energy and low carbon infrastructure. A low carbon economy may seem ideal at first but if we look at the worsening effects of conventional energy sources it should not be hard to understand the need to adopt this concept. Growth is difficult to imagine without energy; but energy that does not take into consideration the needs of future generations can only destroy and not build." The Philippines, as Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), was among the most influential countries that helped craft the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which seeks to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and possibly not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Philippines also signed the Paris Agreement in New York last April 22 but it has yet to ratify the Agreement. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Two young men were arrested for trespassing Sunday after scaling the 525-foot tower at the end of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, said Officer Vu Williams, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The men, who are 18 and 23 years old, walked up the bike path on the southern side of the new bridge and then climbed over a railing that separates the path from the tower, Williams said. They then walked up a large suspension cable to the top of the tower structure. PITTSBURGH A block away from Hillary Clintons rally Saturday in Pittsburgh, Jason Gutierrez plopped down on a milk crate outside the restaurant he cooks at and wiped a forearm across his brow. He looked at Clintons supporters lined up around the corner and two dozen Donald Trump supporters haranguing them from across the street. He watched, interested. But hes not sure if hes going to vote. Gutierrez thinks Trump is an idiot and would never vote for him. All the things hes said about Hispanic people ... man, he said and shook his head. He likes that Clinton has a plan about what shes going to do but Ive heard a lot of bad stuff on TV about her. That shes a liar. Honestly, I want to vote, I really do, I got the (registration) papers and everything, said Gutierrez, 29, who lives in Pittsburgh. But, you know, I really dont think it will matter that much. And thats a problem for Clinton in swing state Pennsylvania, which has seen a 29 percent boost in the registration of Millennial voters those between 18 and 36 in the past four years. A survey of Millennials in 11 key swing states released last week by NextGen Climate and the Global Strategy Group found that they follow politics, that they want to do something to help the world. Theyre more independent politically than older Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, but they still lean Democratic. And they hate Trump so much that the survey found he was less popular than Lord Voldemort, the icon of evil in the Harry Potter series that some in the younger generation were weaned on. Despite all of those factors seemingly in her favor, Clinton faces a few problems getting them to vote for her. Millennials hate Donald Trump and they dislike Hillary Clinton just like the rest of America, said David Winkler, director of research for Project New America, a Democratic research firm out of Denver that worked on the study. Somewhere in that parsing of Americas loathing, Clinton is leaving a lot of Millennial votes on the table that might help her win swing states and the White House. Clintons second challenge: Voting is only one way that young people feel that they should participate in politics, said Ben Wessel, Millennial vote director at NextGen Climate the firm founded by Tom Steyer, a billionaire San Francisco environmentalist. The organization will spend at least $25 million this year on a get-out-the-vote campaign targeted at Millennials in swing states. Theyre as interested in what they can do the day after election day. And heres a third problem for Clinton: A lot of young voters preferred Clintons more progressive primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Despite the patina of unity at last weeks Democratic National Convention, theyre not all ready to sing support-the-nominee Kumbaya. The study found that 1 in 5 of Sanders supporters wouldnt vote for Clinton in a four-way race that includes Trump, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party standard-bearer Jill Stein. Of what the study calls Sanders Holdouts, 16 percent intend to vote for a third-party candidate, and 14 percent say they will sit out the election. It makes Ellie Perez angry and resentful when she hears people talking about sitting out the election. The Arizona resident was brought to the U.S. as a child by her parents, who entered the country illegally from Mexico. Even though she cant vote, she is campaigning for Clinton because she fears that if Trump is elected, she will be deported. Its very frustrating to hear that. It angers me a lot, Perez, an aide to the vice mayor of Phoenix, told me last week in Philadelphia. When you say that, you really dont understand what youre saying. When you say that youre not going to vote, or youre going to vote for a third party, you have a privilege that a lot of people do not have, Perez said. Because not voting is staying silent, and being on the sidelines and letting things happen around you. Wessel said Clinton could appeal to the holdouts by talking about issues that matter to them, like climate change (which is the raison detre for the environmental activists at NextGen Climate, we hasten to add). Making that appeal is easier said than done for Clinton. Climate change is a tough subject to even mention in western Pennsylvania, which is the states fiercest battleground. Many working-class white Democrats the voters that Trump has been poaching hear climate change and equate it with environmental regulations that shut down their coal mine or their dads coal mine or other heavy industry. So Clinton didnt mention climate change at all at the Pittsburgh rally Saturday and only made a passing reference to clean energy. Instead, she talked up her infrastructure program, which she said would help bring jobs to the citys dwindling industries. Issues aside, Clinton cant close the gap with young voters by trying to be something she isnt: hip. Instead of doing stunts like her much-mocked effort to learn how to dab (thats a dance move) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January, she should just concentrate on being her genuine wonky self. Shes not cool. Shes a grandma, Wessel said. And young people are responsive to that. Thats what Bernie did. Hes a 74-year-old Jewish guy and he wasnt like, Whats up, yall? The more she focuses on issues that young people care about, like climate change and energy, Wessel said, the more were listening, Said Wessel: I just want to see Grandma Hillary be a dope grandma. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli This article was first published on NerdWallet.com. You dont have to make a deal with the devil and take a high-paying job you hate to pay off your student loans. There are federal and state programs specifically designed to help you afford your loan payments as a do-gooder, traveler, volunteer or starving artist. Some will even get you off the hook for part of your loan balance. Depending on the option you qualify for, you could get your loans forgiven after a period of time, get money to pay your bill or lower the amount you owe every month. All of these programs are free to sign up for, but they take some work to find. Well help you with the second part. Check out the basics below. Student loan forgiveness: Pay back just a portion of your loans Working in the public interest can pay off in the form of loan forgiveness through these three programs. Your eligibility depends on your job and the type of loans you took out. Public Service Loan Forgiveness If you work at a nonprofit or for the government, Public Service Loan Forgiveness should be on your radar. Its the granddaddy of student loan forgiveness programs because its one of the most generous and most widely available. The program went into effect in 2007, which means the first eligible borrowers will receive forgiveness in October 2017. It was created to encourage people to do what they want to do, to get into these public service industries and still not be completely burdened with debt, says Kristin Bastian, financial education manager at Origin SC, a financial counseling nonprofit in Charleston, South Carolina. You must make 120 on-time loan payments while you work at least 30 hours a week for a qualifying employer, and you can work one full-time job or a few part-time jobs at once. At the end of that period, the government will forgive your remaining federal student loan balance. A big plus is that you wont pay taxes on the amount youre forgiven. Perkins loan cancellation If you work in certain public service jobs and have Perkins loans, which are for undergrad or graduate students with particularly high financial need, you can get up to 100% of those loans forgiven under a separate program. Perkins loan cancellation generally happens in increments over five years, but you can postpone payments while youre working if you expect forgiveness. That means no payments, then full forgiveness once you meet the requirements. Score. Teacher loan forgiveness Teachers have a few additional forgiveness options. Teacher loan forgiveness is available for federal direct and Stafford loan borrowers who teach in certain schools for five years. If you expect to teach for 15 years or more, you can take advantage of the one-two punch of teacher loan forgiveness and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Several states have their own programs, too. Search for them in the American Federation of Teachers funding database by choosing Loan Forgiveness in the Funding Type drop-down menu. This resource also lists state teacher loan-repayment assistance programs, which well tackle next. Learn more about each of these programs and how to apply for student loan forgiveness. Loan repayment assistance: Get money to put toward your loan bill Some employers, states and universities run loan-repayment assistance programs, which give borrowers money to offset their student loan payments. State and federal programs may require you to work in an area or specialize in a subject in which theres a critical shortage of workers. Loan repayment assistance can often be applied to private student loans, which cant be forgiven under the federal programs listed above. Equal Justice Works has a comprehensive list of loan repayment assistance programs for lawyers. Doctors, dentists and mental health providers can receive up to $50,000 in assistance from the National Health Service Corps if they work for two years in an underserved area. Some states offer similar programs for health professionals. Contact your state for more information. Income-driven repayment: Pay less each month You can ease your student loan burden no matter where you work thanks to income-driven repayment plans for federal student loans. These plans cap your bill at 10% to 20% of your income, and the newest plan, Revised Pay As You Earn, is available to all federal loan borrowers regardless of income. If your loan balance is large enough and theres still some left to repay after 20 or 25 years, itll be forgiven. Current tax law states youll pay income taxes on that amount. If you qualify, the big money-saving move is to repay your loans on an income-driven plan while youre working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Youll have a lower payment now, forgiveness later and no tax bill to worry about. Because private student loans dont offer forgiveness, you can take your savings from income-driven repayment and put the money toward your private loan bill, if you have one. You can also refinance your private loans to cut down on the amount of interest you pay if you meet the requirements. Its possible to take that world-saving but low-paying job of your dreams when you have student loans. The key is to take advantage of the opportunities that are available, even if that means spending a few hours filling out tedious paperwork. Your happiness at work and in life is worth it. Brianna McGurran is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter: @briannamcscribe. This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by Forbes. The article How to Do What You Love and Pay Off Your Student Loans originally appeared on NerdWallet. A man who was beaten by Alameda County sheriffs deputies in an alley in San Franciscos Mission District filed a federal lawsuit Monday, alleging that the deputies violated his civil rights in the arrest that garnered nationwide attention after it was caught on video. Stanislav Petrov, 29, suffered very severe and permanent injuries after Deputies Paul Wieber and Luis Santamaria repeatedly punched him and rained baton blows on him on Nov. 12, according to the lawsuit filed at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The lawsuit seeks damages from Sheriff Greg Aherns office and at least six other deputies who either participated in the encounter, observed it taking place, or failed to stop or report it. The lawsuit singles out former Deputy Shawn Osborne, who was fired last week for allegedly taking a gold chain and money from Petrov and using the goods to bribe a homeless couple who witnessed the beating. The San Francisco district attorneys office charged Wieber and Santamaria in May with assault with a deadly weapon, assault under the color of authority and battery. They subsequently pleaded not guilty. The criminal investigation is ongoing into the allegations against Osborne, whose attorney has denied he did anything wrong. The internal affairs and criminal investigations into the Petrov case remain open and active, Sgt. Ray Kelly, an Alameda County Sheriffs Office spokesman, said Monday. We have not officially received the current civil complaint, but are aware that it is another part of the case that needs to be addressed. We will continue to do a thorough, fair and cooperative investigation with all involved parties. Wieber, a three-year department veteran, and Santamaria, who has been with the agency for 14 years, remain on paid administrative leave. Osborne had been with the department for 19 years before he was fired. The beating began after Petrov allegedly led Wieber and Santamaria on a half-hour chase in a stolen car, from Castro Valley over the Bay Bridge to the corner of Clinton Park and Stevenson Street at about 2 a.m. Video footage showed the deputies tackling Petrov to the ground, then punching him and hitting him with their batons even after he appeared to surrender with his hands on his head. According to the lawsuit, as Petrov lay bleeding on the ground, other deputies arrived on scene and exchanged high fives. I need help ... Please ... Oh God ... Somebody, please help me, Petrov moaned, according to the lawsuit. In response, Deputy Darrin Shelton needlessly placed his foot on Plaintiffs head and/or neck, cruelly pushing plaintiffs head into the pavement for minutes, the lawsuit states. In his report, Shelton said he was trying to prevent Petrov from spitting blood at deputies, while Wieber and Santamaria wrote in their reports that Petrov had resisted arrest and posed a threat. Michael Haddad, Petrovs attorney, questioned why they were allowed to revise their reports after they viewed the video and spoke to their attorneys. Petrov was not charged in connection with the Nov. 12 incident, but is in custody on federal gun and drug charges. His mother said he became uncontrollable after the beating due to post-traumatic stress. The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages, but asks that the Sheriffs Office be barred from engaging in the unconstitutional customs, policies, practices, procedures, training and supervision as may be determined and/or adjudged by this case, and from following a code of silence. In the months since the beating, Ahern has said his office has taken strides to improve training and policies, including how deputies are scrutinized after using force and how they deploy body cameras. Each of the deputies in the Mission District alley failed to activate body cameras; at the time, turning them on was optional under department rules. 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 San Francisco officials have asked a federal magistrate to dismiss a suit by the parents of a woman who was shot to death on a city pier last year by an immigrant who had been released from city custody 2 months earlier. The city argues that it had no duty to notify federal immigration officials of the mans release, and bears no responsibility for the womans death. The law does not require (government officials) to foresee or prevent criminal acts by a third party who has been released from custody, City Attorney Dennis Herreras office said last week in seeking dismissal of the suit by the parents of Kathryn Steinle. Steinle, 32, was shot to death in July 2015 as she walked with her father along Pier 14 in San Francisco. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, released from jail in April, has been charged with her murder. Lopez-Sanchez has admitted firing the fatal shot but his lawyers contend it was an accident, citing evidence that the bullet bounced off the pavement before striking the victim. In a lawsuit filed this May, Steinles parents said the gunman would have been kept in custody and deported if city and federal officials had done their jobs. Lopez-Sanchez had been deported five times in the past and had just spent 46 months in federal prison for illegal re-entry when federal officials turned him over to San Francisco in March 2015 to face an old marijuana charge. City prosecutors dropped the charge, and the Sheriffs Office released Lopez-Sanchez in April 2015, disregarding federal agents request to return him to them. Then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said he relied on San Franciscos sanctuary-city ordinance, which allows local officers to ignore federal agencies orders to keep unauthorized immigrants in custody and turn them over for deportation. But the parents lawsuit said Mirkarimi was acting on his own, because the ordinance did not prohibit communication with immigration officials. A new ordinance backed by Mirkarimis successor, Vicki Hennessy, allows contact with federal officials before release of an unauthorized immigrant with a serious criminal record. Federal officials were also at fault, the suit said, because they had known about Mirkarimis refusal to comply with their detention orders. In response, the citys lawyers said neither the local ordinance nor state or federal law required San Francisco to disclose Lopez-Sanchezs release date to immigration officials. The city also said a long line of court rulings protects government agencies from responsibility for crimes by a released prisoner, unless they had reason to know that a specific victim was in danger. All of the evidence shows that Lopez-Sanchez randomly chose a victim, Deputy City Attorney Margaret Baumgartner said in the court filing. City officials, she said, had no way of knowing (Steinle) in particular would be harmed, and thus bore no responsibility for her death. Frank Pitre, a lawyer for Steinles parents, declined to comment Monday but said he would file a written reply to the citys arguments. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Giants finished July at 11-13, their National League West lead at two games over the Dodgers. The Giants advantage is particularly precarious given their upcoming nine-game trip to Philadelphia, Washington and Miami. Their history on long, hot trips east is not good, but at least manager Bruce Bochy should be able to field some semblance of his A lineup in the series opener at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night. Denard Span and Brandon Crawford, who have not started since Hunter Pence returned Saturday, should be back. Crawford bruised his left hand when he was jammed on a pitch Friday. Span hurt his left quadriceps in a first-base mishap the same night. Spans leg looked fine Sunday when he hit a pinch triple in the seventh inning. Span was thinking double until he saw the ball split the defense in right-center. Once I got going, I was OK, he said. The first couple of steps out of the box, it was stiff. Once I got going, the adrenaline and the noise from the crowd got me going. The Giants might not have Mac Williamson, however. He had to leave Sundays game after jamming his left shoulder on an odd sixth-inning play. He dropped a Chris Heisey sinking liner in left and hit the ground. He felt an odd grinding sensation in his shoulder as he pushed off the ground trying to get the ball. Williamson rolled over and threw a groundball to third for a force on Anthony Rendon, who froze, thinking Williamson might catch it. Williamson said he does not believe the injury is serious because he passed range-of-motion and strength tests. Bochy listed Williamson as day to day. Briefly: Matt Cain joined Mike Krukow (1983) and Tim Lincecum (2014) as the only San Francisco Giants to throw five or more innings and be lifted with a no-hitter intact. ... Madison Bumgarner, who doubled in the fifth, became the first Giants pitcher with a pinch extra-base hit since Don Robinson homered against the Padres in 1990. ... Sergio Romo was not available after throwing Friday and Saturday. Derek Law, whose responsibilities have grown, retired Wilson Ramos and Rendon in the eighth after Javier Lopez struck out Bryce Harper. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Leading off Good start: Eduardo Nunez on Saturday joined Johnny Vergez (1931) and Fran Healy (1971) as the only players to have at least two RBIs and one steal in their first start with the Giants. Henry Schulman On deck Monday Off Tuesday at Phillies 4:05 p.m. CSNBA Bumgarner (10-6) vs. Eflin (3-4) Wednesday at Phillies 4:05 p.m. CSNBA Cueto (13-3) vs. Nola (6-9) Apparently Pele, Hawaii's fire goddess, is in a good mood. A chopper of the tour company Paradise Helicopters captured video of a smiley face forming in the crater of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island. Kilauea has been busy erupting recently, spewing lava that has flowed from the volcano's Pu'u O'o vent and into the sea for the first time since 2013. Acclaimed videographer Mick Kalber shot the video, which shows a jagged, jack-o'-lantern-type smile under two glowing "eyes". This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Frederick Wisemans documentary career is a half-century old, and hes as relevant as ever. It seems each year brings a new observant Wiseman doc to theaters, including, just since 2013, In Jackson Heights, National Gallery and At Berkeley. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is celebrating Wiseman, 86, with restorations of three of his early films: Titicut Follies (1967), which takes us inside a prison for the criminally insane; High School (1968); and Hospital (1970). All are on black-and-white 35mm prints. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 26 Aries Show More Show Less 2 of 3 26 Aries/MICHAEL NAGLE/The New York Times Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Arcades dotted the landscape in the 1980s and 1990s, pumping up the economy one quarter at a time. But there was never a place like New York Citys Chinatown Fair, which opened in 1944, featured a dancing chicken that appeared on David Lettermans show and became the textbook definition of an arcade four decades later. In The Lost Arcade, filmmakers Kurt Vincent and Irene Chin operate the joysticks in this surprisingly moving documentary that mourns the passing of classic arcade culture and the multicultural bonds it fostered. WASHINGTON A rising chorus of Republican lawmakers and veterans groups hastened to disavow Donald Trumps repeated criticism of a bereaved military family Monday, but the GOP presidential nominee refused to back down. He complained anew that he had been viciously attacked by the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war, led the charge, saying Trump did not have unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nations oldest and largest veterans organization, called Trump out of bounds for tangling with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in 2004. Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression, VFW leader Brian Duffy said. President Obama chimed in, too, addressing the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He said of families who have lost family members in the military service: No one has given more to our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families. ... They represent the very best of our country. Several other GOP lawmakers also chastised Trump for sparring with the Khans, who appeared at the Democratic convention on behalf of Hillary Clinton. But like McCain, none revoked his support of the GOP nominee in the White House campaign. In an emotional appearance at last weeks convention, Khizr Khan criticized Trump for proposing to temporarily freeze the entry of foreign Muslims into the U.S. and accused him of making no sacrifices for his country. The billionaire businessman challenged that assertion and also implied Ghazala Khans religion prevented her from speaking. On Monday, he tweeted that Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same. For some of Trumps allies, it was the latest example of a troubling pattern: The real estate mogul frequently continues to hit back at perceived slights or insults, regardless of the political implications. He has stunned rivals with his ability to survive self-created controversies during the GOP primaries, but faces a broader set of voters in the general election. Indeed, some Republicans said privately that it was the timing of this flare-up that had them on edge the spectacle of their candidate tangling with a military family just three months before election day. McCain was among several lawmakers many facing re-election this fall who distanced themselves from Trumps comments Monday. Rep. Mike Coffman, a vulnerable Republican on the ballot in a competitive Colorado district, said Monday he was deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war. Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt said the Khans deserve to be heard and respected. 1 Superstorm fraud: An engineering firm that was hired by insurance companies to evaluate damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 was charged Monday with illegally altering reports prepared by inspectors. HiRise Engineering and one of the companys managers, Matthew Pappalardo, were charged with felony fraud. He and the company pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Mineola, N.Y. The charges are the result of an investigation opened after lawyers for scores of homeowners filed civil lawsuits claiming that altered engineering reports had led to them getting less insurance money than they deserved. 2 Terror plot: A man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group during President Obamas 2015 State of the Union address pleaded guilty Monday in Cincinnati to three federal charges. Prosecutors said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the Oct. 31 sentencing for Christopher Lee Cornell, 22. FBI agents arrested Cornell at a gun shop in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. They have said he planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs, then shoot people as they fled. He was arrested Jan. 14, 2015, less than a week before Obamas address. Clarion Alley doesn't look like much on Google Maps. It is a narrow street, tucked away in San Francisco's Mission District, off the now trendy Valencia Street. But anyone who has wandered by from the nearby 16th and Mission BART stop knows it has an unbelievable amount of artistic expression packed into an otherwise easy to miss space. I've been photographing the alley for years, documenting the figments of artists' imaginations. As a lover of street art, I find some of the murals to be outstanding. Some of the images tell a political story. Most leave interpretation to the imagination of the viewer. Since 1992, the alley has been covered in murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP). The small roadway has an interesting history. The warehouse at 47 Clarion was originally known as the Woodmen Building, with the main door at 3345 17th Street. It was a meeting hall for the Industrial Workers of the World. The building is where Tom Mooney once attempted to organize railway workers. Mooney was later convicted for the Preparedness Day bombing, San Francisco's bloodiest terrorism attack, which happened one hundred years ago this July. The Woodmen, a fraternal organization, apparently loaned or rented the hall to the labor radicals Tom Mooney and Warren K. Billings who attended strike-planning meetings there in 1915, the year before they got framed for the Preparedness Day bombing and put away for more than twenty years. Years later, the site would be home to many creative types. According to the IWW website, the organization became associated, rightly or wrongly, with terrible violence, including the bombing of the governor's mansion in 1917. According to CAMP, the warehouse later became home to artists and musicians from the early sixties through 2001. Residents of note included Terry Riley, Lise Swenson of Artists' Television Access, and two of the alley artists, Rigo 23 and Aaron Noble, founding members of the Clarion Alley Mural Project. 47 Clarion was demolished in 2001, and a parking lot for the condominium project on 17th Street replaced it. This was a sign of the gentrification that was to come. Courtesy photo But, the most colorful of residents to use the space were the San Francisco theatrical group, The Cockettes. According to the site, The Other, The Cockettes were a communal group and theatrical group. Formed in the late 1960's, they were sexual revolutionaries of the time, with the men often dressed in what was called "gender bending,", a form of drag, where a man might still sport facial hair, or hippie drag. They burst into the San Francisco scene in 1969, just a few years after the Summer of Love. In the early days, the murals remained pretty much untouched. Then taggers started to mark their territory, defacing some of the images beyond restoration. The silver lining that came out of that is that the images are ever-evolving, painted over by other artists. A few of the originals remain. But the landmark is not an artistic free-for-all. "The alley is curated. There is a revolving collective of CAMP organizers who select the artists and organizations that we work with. Once a wall is no longer being taken care of by the artists who painted the work, then it gets curated to someone else, and this can be temporary." You can visit the Clarion Alley website here. There is one other street with a longer history of street art, Balmy Alley, also in the Mission. I was first introduced to that one years ago, during a Day of the Dead celebration. The procession went through the alley. It was also mesmerizing. It is deserving of a visit on its own. Above I've selected some of my favorite Clarion Alley photos. I hope you enjoy the latest gallery. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Hundreds of dead trees ignited like matchsticks in Central California on Sunday as a fast-moving fire swept over dry hills, forcing Fresno County residents to evacuate their homes and scramble to safety. The wildfire started Saturday afternoon off of Gooseberry Lane and Morgan Canyon, south of the town of Prather. As of Sunday afternoon, the flames had engulfed 1,500 acres and were just 5 percent contained, according to Stacey Nolan, a fire prevention specialist with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. At least 300 homes had been evacuated. We watched it explode, coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, Dana Bays told KFSN-TV. To the west, the massive Soberanes Fire continued to rage around Big Sur. By Sunday morning, the blaze had grown to 38,000 acres larger than San Francisco and was 15 percent contained. The blaze started more than a week ago in Garrapata State Park in Monterey County and has destroyed 57 homes and threatens 2,000 more in the region. A state of emergency has been declared, which allows authorities to tap into resources from around the state. More than 5,300 people, including firefighters, have been deployed to help, according to Cal Fire. Officials have lifted evacuation orders in the Carmel Highlands area, and Riley Ranch Road and Corona Road have been reopened to traffic. The Palo Colorado community and residents around Old Coast Road and Rocky Creek Road among others are still under evacuation orders. Additionally, on Sunday morning, the Monterey County Sheriffs Department issued an evacuation warning for portions of the Cachagua and Tassajara communities. Robert Reagan III, a Friant (Fresno County) bulldozer operator working with a private contractor, died Tuesday after rolling the heavy equipment in a remote area of the Soberanes Fire. Several state parks, including Pfeiffer Big Sur, Andrew Molera and Garrapata, remain closed. The area, which depends heavily on tourism, also has taken a hit as fire officials have warned that crews will likely be battling the blaze for another month. Cal Fire officials recommended that people considering travel to the area check online for additional closures. In Los Angeles County, crews have nearly surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. That fire was 93 percent contained Sunday, nine days after it broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest, officials said. Authorities have not determined the cause. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Cynthia Dizikes is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cdizikes A 27-year-old Oakland man was critically wounded after being shot in the head early Monday while exiting Interstate 80 in Emeryville, officials said. The victim, whose name was not released, was exiting eastbound I-80 on Powell Street when an assailant opened fire around 2:25 a.m., California Highway Patrol officials said. Republican nominee Donald Trump is the first candidate to actually lose overall support based off of the convention in which he was nominated, according to new numbers from Gallup. Following the Cleveland convention last month, 36 percent of adults said they were more likely to support the New York businessman, while 51 percent said they were less likely to vote for Trump. #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... Hillary Clinton must have another private server to hide her emails to Satan according to the 18 percent of voters in a recent poll who believe the Democratic nominee for president has "ties to Lucifer." The Public Policy Polling poll of 1,276 likely voters nationwide found that 18 percent of them believed that Clinton is friendly with the Lord of the Flies. Another 21 percent were "not sure," probably pending clouds of locusts emerging from her mouth. KABUL A group of militants, including a suicide truck bomber, targeted a Kabul guesthouse for foreign contractors early Monday, killing one police officer and wounding four, Afghan authorities said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The Interior Ministry said terrorists used a truck full of explosives to breach the perimeter wall of the Northgate Hotel around 1:30 a.m. Three gunmen then entered the premises and started shooting. The ministrys deputy spokesman Najib Danish said the truck driver was killed when he detonated the explosives. The blast in the eastern part of the Afghan capital shook the city and was followed by widespread power outages. A Taliban statement said they had sent heavily armed operatives as part of the attack. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the Kabul chief of police, said all the attackers who were on foot had been killed and that none of the hotels residents were harmed. A man identifying himself as Steve Jones answered the phone at the hotel and said all the guests were safe. We have 100 percent accountability, he said. However, as daylight broke and Afghan police deployed at the site kept the roads leading to the hotel sealed off, questions remained as to how the insurgents were able to bring a truck loaded with explosives into the Afghan capital. Foreign guesthouses have long been a Taliban target. The Northgate Hotel was attacked in July 2013, in a similar manner, with a truck bomb breaching the gate and gunmen storming the compound. Reports at the time said four security guards were killed before the attackers were shot dead. The Northgate, which is east of Kabuls international airport and near the Bagram Air Base, is typical of many prefabricated compounds that offer accommodation to foreigners working in the Afghan capital. According to its website, it offers the same services as most hotels, along with high security, sniffer dogs, airport transfers and background checks, if necessary. The ministrys statement on the hotel attack said police commandos arrived and surrounded the facility, but had to be careful because fuel tankers were stored in the area. They waited until dawn before trying to find the gunmen. The operation finished at 7:30 a.m. when the terrorists were killed, the statement said. Mondays attack followed a massive suicide bombing that struck a peaceful rally by Afghanistans minority ethnic Hazara community on July 23 that killed more than 80 people and wounded hundreds. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group. The Taliban statement on Mondays attack noted that guesthouses occupied by foreigners, especially Americans invaders, are frequent targets. 1 Syria fighting: Rebels launched an offensive aimed at breaking the governments siege of eastern Aleppo on Sunday, where the United Nations estimates 300,000 people are trapped with dwindling food and medical supplies. As the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham faction announced the rebels campaign, residents in the citys besieged opposition quarters burned tires to reduce visibility for fighter jets flying overhead, according to a local activist. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels and pro-government forces were clashing along several fronts on the outskirts of the divided city. Aleppo was Syrias largest city and its commercial capital before the war. The United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks. 2 Germany tribute: The city of Munich paid tribute Sunday to the victims of the July 22 shooting in which nine people were killed with a church service attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck. An 18-year-old German Iranian man killed nine people and wounded over 30 others before killing himself. MOSCOW Rebels in Syria shot down a Russian combat helicopter Monday amid fierce fighting around Aleppo, killing all five people on board in the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since it became embroiled in Syrias civil war 10 months ago. The downing came as the Syrian army, under Russian air cover, fought to repel a rebel attempt to break the governments siege of Aleppo, killing more than 800 militants, according to the Russian military. The Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province while returning to Hemeimeem air base on Syrias coast after delivering humanitarian goods to Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It said all three crew members and two military officers on board died. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Videos uploaded online by Syrian opposition activists showed the burning wreckage of a Russian helicopter in footage seemingly taken in the first moments after it crashed. In one video, men, some of them armed, were shown standing near the wreckage taking cell phone photos, some cheering and shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great in Arabic. The body of one Russian soldier was seen being dragged by the legs while a man jumped on the half-naked body of another soldier. The helicopter appeared to have broken up as it crashed: Its tail could be seen lying separately from the aircrafts body in flames. International human rights groups have repeatedly accused Russia of hitting civilians and using cluster munitions since it began its aerial campaign in Syria. The Russian military has denied hitting civilians, and also rejected claims that its aircraft targeted moderate elements of the Syrian opposition along with its declared targets, the Islamic State group and al Qaedas branch in Syria, the Nusra Front. Russias air campaign in Syria, launched in September, has shored up President Bashar Assads government, which was on the verge of collapse after a series of military defeats last year. WASHINGTON The United States launched multiple air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya on Monday, opening a new, more aggressive front against the group at the request of the U.N.-backed government, officials said. Fayez Serraj, the head of the U.N.-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the Islamic State bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean in northern Libya. No U.S. ground forces will be deployed, he said. MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday his government would pursue peace talks with communist guerrillas despite an initial setback when he withdrew a cease-fire order after the rebels killed a militiaman in an attack. Duterte also announced he would release a top rebel couple, Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, from detention in another move to bolster the resumption of peace negotiations scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in Norways capital of Oslo. Its always a rocky road. There is no negotiation that comes easy to us, especially given the turmoil of our country, Duterte said. We are hoping that we could just talk, maybe we did not understand each other. And so, the best way is really is to talk again and find out whether it is reachable or beyond our reach. Duterte declared a cease-fire July 25 but withdrew it five days later after the rebels killed a militiaman in a land-mine attack in southern Davao del Norte province and failed to declare their own truce by Saturday. The president held a Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss how his government would pursue talks with the communist insurgents and two groups of Muslim rebels in the countrys south, while excluding the brutal Abu Sayyaf extremist group. The Maoist guerrillas said in a statement Sunday that they still fully back the resumption of long-stalled talks and were willing to declare a unilateral cease-fire simultaneously with the government when the talks resume. Duterte withdrew his truce order before the guerrillas could announce their own cease-fire on Saturday, the rebels said. The decades-long communist insurgency has left about 150,000 combatants and civilians dead since it broke out in the late 1960s. "FASHION IS THE ARMOR TO SURVIVE THE REALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE" -Bill Cunningham Recently, legendary New York Times street style/fashion photographer Bill Cunningham passed away at 87 and it shocked the fashion world. Bill was a genius and as sweet as candy pie, a true artist. His photographs are fast, sharp and exquisite. He inspired me to be cool, he reminded me to be kind, and I will miss him; I had the honor to meet him during NYC Fashion Week in 1996 at a coffee truck. Cunningham understood what fashion is and can be, how it heals and lifts us up out of the mire of the mundane. It is what art should always be. Brilliant. Eternal. Sublime. Style is what you do with this shining fire called fashion. Style is unique and pure and cannot be taught or bought. Style is rare and you'll never find it at North Face. OK mebbe if you rock it with a slash of old-skool sea-punk dipped in chaos magic, perhaps? Yes, I dare you! Make North Face avant and style forward. I double dare you!! This is the only way to exact style out of the ether. You don't need to know or even understand fashion to have amazing style. It's happening right now globally in very poor countries (check out books like (un)Fashion by Tibor and Maira Kalman). It's happening in very rough ghettos and upper crust prep schools. You don't need anything but passionand bonuspassion is free! That beautiful snowflake of uniqueness that got squashed out of you cuz life got hard or you had kids or forgot your dreams or lost all your cha-chinga? Be here now, baby. Not in 5 pounds or when your hair grows out. N-O-W! You don't need to be rich to look like a super fine bitch! I wear a $4 dress I got at Buffalo Exchange in Albuquerque and bop around town and get a billion compliments on said frock. No one knows the price. OK, now you do, but SHHH! It's the multicolored schmatta with the plunging butt action: GENIUS! If you give even a microscopic shit what the world thinks of you, you are pretty much sunk in the Style department. Actually, in every department Santa Fe is a bubbling cornucopia of unpicked genius style at every turn, from the flea markets to the second-hand stores to sales at Bodhi Bazaar (DeVargas Center, 564 N Guadalupe St., 982-3880), Spirit (109 W San Francisco St., 982-2677) and Santa Fe Dry Goods (53 Old Santa Fe Trail, 992-8083). We have juicy pickings from incredible talents like Isabel Marant to vintage London brand Ghost at consignment shops like Ooh La La (518 Old Santa Fe Trail, 820-6433) and the Marfa hipster meets Parisian chic at eclectic gen, La Boheme (663 Canyon Road, 992-8043). It's a wild giddy treasure hunt! Style is ageless, timeless and ruleless. It's vintage rich hippy draped in dime store beads. It's your fave sweatshirt with pale glitter dusted stilettos. It's pocket squares and norm-core with dreadlocks. It's what makes you youthe best version of you. Even that weirdo North Face you insist on wearing? If it's you and makes you feel wicked-ass rad then, voila! It's your style. I may not dig it but so what? You don't care, right? Right. Right. Friggin'. ON! So, on cool Santa Fe nights under our sapphires skies with a smile more brilliant than all the stars scattered throughout the cosmos, wear what makes you you. Be true and know you are home and we are rich. GLOBAL: Finnish Up I am gagaloo for AALTO, the Finnish brand created in Paris by Tuomas Merikoski. Homeboy has also collabo'ed with LV and Givenchy. His SS 2016 Resort collection Endless Sun is brilliant! Day-glo ink-splattered sweatshirts and dull grey slouchy pants with a very Euro-dipped, "I don't care!" 'tude dolloped on top. Quite scrumptious! GLOBAL RUNNER-UP: All Gucci for the Last Three Seasons Rumpled dandy/bad boy Alessandro Michele has taken the brand by the balls and squeezed hard. Everything is delish, albeit campy and trampy and day-glo flouncy and lacyand that's just the menswear. It's perfect for a stroll through Best Buy on Cerrillos Road. LOCAL: Monica Watson's Afterlife Alchemy Jewelry Beauty and true-style fiend Monica Watson has created some of the most dazzling piece in her Afterlife Alchemy line. From totally mundane to precious to insane objects: a ruby kyanite bullet necklace? Porcupine quills, glittery butterfly wings and emerald shimmer-dipped beetles as earrings?! Oh, yes please! My own purchase of Rasta spray-painted puzzle piece earrings? A true delight. And quite a deal dontcha know. Find her work at Meow Wolf (1352 Rufina Circle, 395-6369) and Mira (101 W Marcy St., 988-3585). Santa Fe Reporter Rainy Forecast Good news for people waiting for New Mexicos monsoon season. The skies opened up, dumping rain across much of the state over the weekend and National Weather Service this week. Rain or Shine, More Light Needed on Budget Talks Open government advocates oppose Gov. Susana Martinez suggestion that lawmakers pre-negotiate state budget fixes before convening for a short session to vote on the deal. Lawyers at the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government say the legislators are during meetings open to public before taking a quick vote. Oil Prices Expected to Stablize It may be too late to help New Mexico 2017 budget, but the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predicts early next year as prices increase and stabilize. Renewable Energy Market Grows New Mexico has the third highest concentration of people working in the solar industry and those . Even better news for renewable energy advocates: According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, New Mexico recently ranked sixth in the nation for utility-scale electricity generation from solar energy. White Endorses Johnson Darren White, who resigned his post as secretary of the Department of Public Safety after then-Gov. Gary Johnson came out in support of marijuana legalization, is . White has come a long way since the early 90s. White, also a former Bernalillo County Sheriff, hosted the grand opening of his new medical marijuana dispensary, , on Saturday in Albuquerque. . Environment Secretary Resigns Gov. Martinez has accepted the resignation of New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn. Deputy Cabinet Secretary beginning Aug. 12. Flynn, whose term was , was an attorney at Modrall Sperling before taking the post at NMED. He said he as two daughters under the age of 3 and wants to spend more time with them. Teen Addicts Shut Out Teens struggling with addiction could have an even more difficult time facing lifes challenges when the Department of Health closes its adolescent treatment facility in Albuquerque. The department says it will focus on adult addicts instead of teens. Lawmakers are asking state administrators to the at a Legislative Health and Human Services Committee meeting Sept. 23. Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino says hes not sure the agency should even be able shift the $2 million earmarked for the treatment program in 2013 to other services. Instead of shutting it down, we should make it work, says Ortiz y Pino. Water Project Money Goes Unspent The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee says nearly , triggering another call for reform in handling capital construction initiatives, reports Rebecca Moss at The New Mexican. In a report released last week, the committee staff said this is the highest percentage of idle money of its kind in the nation. Meanwhile, the state needs more than $3 billion to finance drinking water improvements, sewage treatment and other projects statewide, the committee said. Pot Block New Mexicos medical cannabis industry may be the fastest growing sector in the state, with sales forecast to top $45 million this year, but forget about seeing any New Mexico True labels on the medications packaging. ABQ Free Press reports the state in the program even though the cannabis is all grown in the state. Shootings Rise in Albuquerque At the same time gun law reforms are stalled in Congress, the number of . There were, according to an Albuquerque Journal data project, 219 in shooting 2015 and 130 have already been recorded this year. Those numbers dont even include self-inflicted wounds. ABQ Rapid Transit Project Can Start Federal District Judge Kenneth Gonzales, the former US Attorney for New Mexico, ruled Friday that the City of Albuquerque along Central Avenue, starting as early as Wednesday. Completing the ART project on time will address existing safety concerns sooner and save the public money due to construction delays, says Gonzales. Santa Fe Reporter Santa Fe Art Tours founder Elaine Ritchel graces our print edition's Arts & Culture section this week, but we wanted to go a little further and see what her tour entails. "You start thinking about all sorts of details when you're a tour guide," says Ritchel. She refers to details such as good places to meet up with peopletry the front porch of Art House (231 Delgado St., 995-0231) where there's lavender water in the summeror the nearest public restroom from your next stop (Canyon Road only has one, at 225 Canyon Road, but gallery owners are usually nice about letting you use their facilities). Here are Elaine's favorite stops on Canyon Road, and a few background thoughts about 'emthough you'll have to join her on a tour for the full Santa Fe Art Tours experience. El Zaguan "I'm looking for spaces where people can gather or feel comfortable, like the big porch at El Zaguan. This building is the seat of Historic Santa Fe Foundation. I love to go there, because it gives a really nice idea of the way Canyon Road once was. There's an artist residency there, so it feels really bohemian." Art House "I like to go to galleries that have touchable, interactive artworks. Art House always has stuff that you can play with. It's a good icebreaker gallery, because the work is so different. People always relate to it, and they get really excited about it." Chiaroscuro Contemporary (Chiaroscuro Contemporary) Chiaroscuro Contemporary "Chiaroscuro represents a couple of amazing local Native American artists. Emmi Whitehorse and Rose B Simpson are the two that we typically spend a lot of time with. It's an airy space, and everyone who works there is wonderful and friendly. They do temporary exhibitions highlighting one artist on the bottom floor, and a selection of artists they represent on the top floor. That's a bit different from a lot of galleries on Canyon Road." Zaplin Lampert Gallery "Zaplin Lampert is excellent for people who are interested in Western art, and art by the Taos Society of Artists and the Santa Fe Art Colony. They have a nice selection of Gustave Baumann's work, who happens to be one of my favorite New Mexico artists. If they have a minute, they will always accommodate you and show you a few highlights. They'll take pictures off the wall and show you the back, or dig up a study for a paining to show you the process, which people really love." Matthews Gallery "I don't think there's anywhere else on Canyon Road where you can count on seeing work by European modernists. Right now, they have a bunch of Marc Chagall prints up." ViVO Contemporary (ViVO Contemporary) Vivo Contemporary "Vivo is an artist collaborative gallery with all local artists. There's always an artist working, which is great. People love talking to the artists. We'll have an activity and have people look around, and then I always ask the artist to say some words about their work." Bindlestick Studio "Jeffrey Schweitzer, who owns Bindlestick, is doing something really unique. He does these amazing illustrations for books that he writes. It's brilliant, because he has the original work that he can sell, but he also has books that are very affordable. He'll sign them for you, and it's an amazing souvenir that you can just pack in your suitcase." Sign up for your own adventure with Santa Fe Art Tours by clicking here. Santa Fe Reporter ANZ Bank New Zealand, the country's bigger lender, has warned dairy farmers are unlikely to see positive cashflow for another 18 months. In analysis published shortly after Fonterra Cooperative Group confirmed its milk price forecast of $4.25 per kilogram of milk solids, ANZ's agri-economist Con Williams said most farmers had budgeted at around $4.30/kgMS and "most continue to show a cash loss of $0.50-0.70/kgMS at these figures despite a number of cost reductions and farm management changes." Positive cashflow is not expected until early 2018. ANZ expects the price to be in the "mid to high-$4/kgMS" for the 2016/17 season but added that international prices would need to break outside the current range to achieve this. The Fonterra payout to farmers peaked at $8.40/kgMS in the 2013/14 season, which if ANZ's forecast is correct, would mean a downturn that has lasted for around four years. The planned increased dividend to farmers by Fonterra of 50-to-60 cents/kgMS is described by ANZ as signalling underlying improvement from higher margins, efficiency gains, improvements in Australia and the scaling back of capital expenditure. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update Locally developed synthetic compounds showing good results in slowing the progress of Alzheimer's disease have got an $857,000 injection aimed at formulating a treatment and ultimately bringing it to market. Victoria University scientists Peter Tyler, Olga Zubkova and Ralf Schworer have been working with the University of Liverpool's Jerry Turnbull since 2008 to use complex sugars known as heparan sulphates to control the degradation of proteins in the brain associated with memory loss. They've made those sugars synthetically and found some of them are able to target an enzyme believed to be the cause of Alzheimer's. "We've managed to synthesise a small discrete compound of the natural material that acts as a natural inhibitor," Tyler told BusinessDesk. The Victoria University scientists' skill is in developing the compound, while Liverpool University's Turnbull focuses on the biology. The research has attracted $392,000 of funding from KiwiNet's pre-seed accelerator fund, a 260,000 British pound grant from the UK Alzheimer's Society, and a $15,000 research grant from the New Zealand Federation of Women's Institutes. The UK grant funds Turnbull's work, while the KiwiNet money will pay for animal trials which will then be compared with another Kiwi-made compound that's currently in clinical trials, Tyler said. The funding "will cover the animal model, it will cover some preliminary toxicology, and some analytical development," Tyler said. "It's covering a lot of basics of what you need to have an investor ready package to go to the clinic." Last year the Kiwi researchers also won a $790,000 grant from the Marsden Fund to investigate whether those synthetic compounds can be used more widely. "It's looking at different targets, which would be to do with cancer and a number of things to do with cell signalling, taking that skill and using it on different targets," Tyler said. "So we're going to be making different molecules, so using that skill of how to synthesise different things." BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update BENGALURU: Infor, a New York headquartered company that specialises in enterprise software, today announced a new thrust on India, the Middle East and Africa withthe creation of its IMEA business unit. Tarik Taman, who has led Infor's global HCM (Human Capital Management) business since 2009, will lead the IMEA business unit from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the company said in a release. Under Taman's leadership, Infor plans toquintuple its market share in the region by 2020, it added. "With more than 5,000 existing customers, Inforalready has a solid footprint across the region, but thegrowth opportunities are virtually limitless,"Infor General Manager (IMEA) Tarik Taman said. "India is one of the few major economies worldwide still growing at near double digits. The Middle East istransforming itself from oil-based economies to the private sector,driving large investments in the cloud, and Africa is the last economic frontier - all factors that made creating a dedicated IMEA region a compelling decision for Infor," he said. Infor said that to support its IMEA business, the companyhas made several appointments in the region, both at its hub inDubai's Internet City and in its newly opened office in the iconic Kingdom Tower in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Across the region, Infor now has more than 2,100 employees. Infor's expanded direct presence will complement its existing network of partners across the region and provide sales, services, value engineering, marketing, and other functions, it added. Read Also: Xerox India Targets SBM Sector With New Product Govt Intends To Encourage IT Enterprises: Narayanasamy NEW DELHI: Art lessons will no longer be a monotonous interaction between teachers and students in classrooms, thanks to the exclusive online platform "Virsa", which was launched recently with an aim to give free digital learning on Indian culture and music to children across India. Delhi-based NGO Routes2Roots in association with the Ministry of Culture launched India's largest interactive digital learning platform "Virsa" to promote and preserve India's rich cultural heritage and legacy of Performing Arts here on Saturday. "Virsa will operate through live videos recorded by renowned teachers at our studio in Delhi. That way, kids will have a chance to attend live sessions in various parts of the country. We through 'Virsa' will help them identify their talent by organising workshops," Tina Vachani, Co-founder of Routes2Roots told IANS. "During our visit to various schools, we found that many schools did not cater to any musical classes at all. We felt that this dying culture of Indian performing arts must reach children in schools across India," she said. "Now children will be exposed to the cultural legacy in addition to academics thereby completing their outlook as a balanced individual," she added. Workshops and lectures in different genres will be delivered by renowned artists like Pandit Birju Maharaj, L. Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shovna Narayan, Shafquat Amanat Ali, Juhi Chawla, Ehsaan Noorani and Surinder Lal Malik. "There will be a huge responsibility to explain everything nicely to the kids. We hope to connect with children in remote areas," Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj said during the launch. A total of 21 schools from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have got their classrooms equipped with monitors, cameras and wifi connectivity. Read Also: An Indo-U.S. Facility That Can Make Designer Humans? World's Lightest Electric Paraglider Trike Developed KOLKATA: Government is open to deliberating on the issue of mega merger of state-owned oil firms for creating a behemoth, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. "The government plans to deliberate on the issue of merging the E&P companies and oil marketing firms in the public sector," the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas told PTI. The state-owned oil companies are IOC, BPCL, HPCL,ONGC and OIL. He said with crude oil prices falling, the profits and margins of state-owned E&P (exploration and production) firms ONGC and Oil India were getting eroded. "Both ONGC and OIL are taking a hit on profits. The issue had been recently flagged by a director of one of the PSUs that it was in interest of the E&P firms to get merged with the oil marketing companies. "There is nothing wrong in discussing the issue within the ministry," he said. Regarding the mega refinery on the west coast, he said the process of land acquisition is yet to begin. The proposed west coast mega refinery would come up in Maharashtra with a capacity of 60 million tonnes (in two phases). Pradhan said an SPV involving IOC, BPCL and HPCL has been formed for the project. "The exact equity pattern, quantum of land required and the total investment required is to be decided by the promoters," Pradhan said. To a query, the minister said he did not foresee any problem regarding land acquisition for the project. Asked about the government's response to private sector Reliance seeking subsidy for LPG distribution, Pradhan said, "We are giving subsidised LPG through PSUs only because they are assigned to do that. Subsidy is involved in the issue". Pradhan said he would be going to the UK for a roadshow in September as the Indian PSUs had bid for small fields (oil and gas) in that country. Read Also: Over 7 Lakh School Teachers Equipped With IT Skills In India: Microsoft IT-Enabled Power Supply In 4,041 Urban Towns In Next 3 Yrs NEW DELHI: At a time when global technology giants are making a beeline to contribute towards the Digital India initiative,Intel India is already on the job. As part of its plan tocreate a blueprint for the digitisation of non-urban India, Intel has so far inaugurated 40 Unnati Kendras at the government's Common Service Centres (CSCs) across the country. Currently operational in Telangana, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, Intel India will open up 60 more Unnati Kendras in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh over the next month. "Approximately 60,000 local citizens have visited Unnati Kendras in less than two months since their inauguration and computer education has been one of the most popular talking point," said Sandeep Aurora, director, Marketing and Market Development, Intel, South Asia. "The computer will be a life-changing experience for people in the rural areas, helping students, housewives and budding entrepreneurs in fields like education and health care," Aurora toldIANS. At CSCs which are the information and communication technology (ICT) access points, each Unnati Kendra is being equipped with Intel-powered devices, local language content and relevant training modules for non-urban citizens, thus creating opportunities for skill development and digital empowerment. According to Debjani Ghosh, managing director for South Asia at Intel, they set up the first Unnati Kendra at Nadimpalli village, south of Hyderabad, with a population of approximately 1,000 people. "This village is on its way to becoming a digital village, and hope to replicate the same success story across the country," she had said earlier. Trained personnel at these centres are conducting in-depth sessions on digital literacy, computer skills and internet facilities, along with dedicated guidance sessions in entrepreneurship, language and vocational training to improve citizen education and employability. "Our aim is to equip CSCs with all the technical know-how that Intel has. The idea is to provide relevant curated content so that the rural citizens can use it and better their lives," Aurora said. For Ravi Kumar, a village-level entrepreneur from Waddepally Mandal in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana, the Intel initative came at the right time. "After finishing my education in Hyderabad, I wanted to start something which could help people largely farmers in my society. I opened the CSC thinking that my people will not need to travel all the way to Mahabubnagar city to avail of CSC services," he told IANS. Intel India empowered him with digital literacy. "Now, I can help farmers on how technology can improve their lives. I train them on how they can predict weather trends and learn more about new techniques in farming. This is making a big difference," Kumar stressed. Unnati Kendra started at his CSC in April and so far, over 2,500 people have been trained at the centre. In India, tier II and tier III cities and villages have a huge potential for PC penetration and related benefits. "The most important thing is the lack of innovation or the lack of culture of innovation in India. If India has to progress and if 'digital India' has to become successful, innovation has to begin from the grassroot level. Innovation cant be superficial or can't be imported," emphasised Aurora. As you create the culture of innovation and as you create a large market everything else will follow. So if we start the culture of innovation, this whole "digital India' initiative can take a very different form. Intel India has collaborated with Acer, Asus, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo and with leading content providers including Dailyhunt, Dgflick and Skilltrain for the Unnati Kendra programme. As for the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) running these Unnati Kendras, there is also a strong desire to own devices (including computers) once the usage and benefits are clear. This has helped create more income generation opportunities for the VLEs. According to Ghosh, we are off to a great start and making steady progress. "However, we still have a long journey ahead of us and must provide access to last mile connectivity and infrastructure. There is also a need to inculcate a temperament of innovation in our education system to ensure sustainable technology development to solve local problems," she had told IANS. A strong public-private partnership will be critical for bridging the digital divide and taking technology to non-urban areas in a better, faster way, added Aurora. Read Also: Over 7 Lakh School Teachers Equipped With IT Skills In India: Microsoft IT-Enabled Power Supply In 4,041 Urban Towns In Next 3 Yrs WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton today said her economic plan would create 10 million jobs in the US while that of Donald Trump would cost three and half million jobs as the Democratic presidential nominee underlined her Republican rival is not offering "real change" but "empty promises". "My plans would create millions more jobs than Trump's," Clinton said at an election rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. "In fact, under my plans, the economy would create at least 10 million jobs in our first term," she added. "As for Donald Trump? Well, his policies were found that they would actually cost us nearly three and a half million jobs," the 68-year-old former secretary of state said, referring to a study done by a top economist associated with the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain. "In fact, the more you listen to Donald Trump, the more you realise he is not offering real change. He's offering empty promises, and what little we know about his economic policies, from running up our debt, to starting trade wars, to letting Wall Street run wild, could devastate working families," Clinton said. She said her vision of America is in "sharp contrast" to what Trump is "laying out, because I don't think we're weak". "I don't think we're in decline. I think we can pull together because we are stronger together, and if anybody like him spent a day on the factory floor here, they'd see what teamwork looks like. They'd understand what it means to create and build." Clinton, who was joined by Senator Tim Kaine, is on a bus tour in Pennsylvania and Ohio with her vice presidential running mate. During the tour, they said in the first 100 days in office, they would announce to make the largest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II. Visiting Johnstown Wire Technologies, a factory with a record of creating jobs and investing in America, Clinton highlighted her plans to invest $10 billion to strengthen manufacturing communities like Johnstown. Clinton and Kaine contrasted their shared vision for an American economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, with Trump's long record of outsourcing products to be made overseas, instead of here in America. "Donald Trump, you hear him, he talks a big game about putting America first. Well, with all due respect, please explain to me what part of America first leads Trump to make Trump dress shirts in Bangladesh, not Ashland, Pennsylvania. "Or to make Trump furniture in Turkey, not Freeburg, Pennsylvania. Or Trump picture frames in India, not Bristol, Pennsylvania," Clinton said. The Trump Campaign criticised her for visiting this township in Pennsylvania, saying Clinton visiting Johnstown is like a "robber visiting their victim" as the state has lost 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs since China was put in the World Trade Organisation. Kaine said: "We are on this tour so that we can talk about the American economy: to talk about manufacturing; to talk about the way to grow jobs and make sure everybody benefits from our economic growth, not just a few." Stephen Miller, senior policy advisor to the Trump Campaign said "the state of Pennsylvania has lost 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs since China was put in the WTO with Hillary's support. The Johnston region lost nearly 1 in 2 manufacturing jobs since Hillary-backed NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) went into effect". Clinton's next assault on Johnstown will be the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he said. "Donald Trump delivered a detailed 7-point plan to restore American manufacturing, including countervailing duties on trade cheaters like China and immediate withdrawal from the TPP. Hillary has no plan because her donors won't let her," he said. Read Also: Indian-American Girl Becomes Youngest Delegate At DNC Indian-Americans In Spotlight During Democratic Convention Source: PTI STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Alice Austen is taking center stage in Manhattan this month. A play about the Staten Island-based Victorian documentarian, "Alice in Black and White," tells the story of Austen's two great loves: Her partner Gertrude Tate and photography. The production is the latest in a string of national and city-wide interest in Austen. In March, academic experts from all over the country met at the Whitney museum to present their research on Austen's social and historical contributions. This time, the interest comes from Kentucky, where the Louisville-based theater company "Looking for Lilith" is bringing the play to the 59E59 theater in Manhattan August 3 through 14. Some of the actors will perform a special reading for Staten Islanders on August 6 at the Alice Austen House museum in Rosebank (see details below). Penned by the award-winning playwright Robin Rice, "Alice in Black and White" takes both a comedic and tragic approach to Austen's journey at the turn of the 20th-century, from her romance with Tate to her fall into poverty later in life. It also covers the rediscovery of her photographs by historians at the end of her life. Some of the tickets for the show are already sold out, but the remaining showtimes are listed here. "Alice Austen House is pleased to welcome Looking for Lilith Theatre Company to New York City to perform this thoughtful production of the fascinating story of Alice Austen," said the museum's Executive Director Janice Monger. "The play is a wonderful way for Alice Austen to receive more exposure in Manhattan through this creative endeavor presented as part of the year-long celebration to honor the 150th Anniversary of Alice Austen's birth." Rice's original production won the StageWrite Women's Theatre Initiative Award in 2012. Six of the seven original actors, together with all the original production team, return for this production. The museum and the theatre company will co-host three events in conjunction with the performance: Fundraiser Reception with Director and Playwright Thursday, August 4, 5:30-7 p.m. Hosted by Historic House Trust, Arsenal Rooftop, Central Park Cocktails and refreshments served. $50 advance tickets, plus receive discount code for 20 percent off play tickets to any performance. Tickets can be purchased at: aliceausten.org/aliceinblackandwhite Reading at Alice Austen House Saturday, August 6, 2 p.m. Alice Austen House Lawn Actors will perform excerpts of the play on the museum lawn! Q&A follows. Free. Talkback with Playwright and Alice Austen House Executive Director Tuesday, August 9, following the 7:30 p.m. performance 59E59 Theaters, Manhattan STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Tech guru Sree Sreenivasan will be the new face of the city's technology ecosystem, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. Sreenivasan, who was recently let go as the Metropolitan Museum of Art's chief digital officer and spoke to Staten Island's leaders about social media last month, will take on the same role for the city starting this fall. The job involves helping to increase access to City-led technology initiatives, focusing on outreach to the tech community, and direct citywide digital policy. The appointment follows Sreenivasan's public departure from the Met as the result of cost-cutting measures -- the museum is facing at least a $9 million deficit, and high-level leaders like Sreenivasan don't come cheap. Sreenivasan was paid $328,900-a-year, according to the Wall Street Journal. His salary with the city will be $190,000 a year, a city spokeswoman said. Sreenivasan said he'll draw on his previous experience in the education, media, arts and culture, and nonprofit industries. Prior to helping bring the Met into the social media age, he was Chief Digital Officer at Columbia University and taught journalism at the university. "To move our city's digital ecosystem into the 21st century, we need to ensure our city's resources are at the fingertips of every New Yorker," de Blasio said in a statement. The job was previously filled by Jessica Singleton and Rachel Haot. Sreenivasan said he'll be building off of his predecessors' work, which included things like expanding wifi and attracting diverse tech talent to the city. "With Sree Sreenivasan's wealth of experience, I am confident that he will work to promote transparency, access, and progressive values with our digital tools, helping spread access across the five boroughs." An immigrant from India who now lives in Manhattan, Sreenivasan was born in Japan and lived all over the world, from Bhutan to the former Soviet Union, to New York City. He received a Bachelor's degree in history from St. Stephen's College in Delhi and received a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 1993. In his role, Sreenivasan will direct the Office of Digital Strategy (NYC Digital) to launch digital products that encourage civic engagement, like Mayor's Digital Handbook. He'll also work to increase government transparency and "support New York City's thriving tech ecosystem," a statement from the city said. njstatepolice.jpg New Jersey State Police said a man who shot himself on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday night had his dead wife in the trunk. ((Alex Zdan /The Times)) RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. -- A man who shot himself on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday night had his dead wife in the trunk, police said. Franklin Osgood, 61, of Providence, R.I., was found at 9:36 p.m. in his car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he led police on a brief chase on the Turnpike in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey State Police said in a Facebook post. After State Police troopers searched Osgood's 2007 black Dodge Charger, they found the dead body of his wife, Mary Jo, in the trunk, police said. Also found in the car was a semi-automatic handgun in the middle console. Franklin Osgood was a former officer with the Providence Police Department who retired in 2007, the city's police chief, Hugh Clements, said at a news conference, according to WPRI-TV. Troopers were on alert for Osgood after Providence police contacted them shortly after 9 p.m. to report that Osgood was a murder suspect and considered "armed and dangerous," police said. Providence police believed he may be on the Turnpike. About 40 minutes later, a trooper spotted Osgood's Charger on the northbound side of the Turnpike near exit 18W, State Police said. Osgood refused to pull over when troopers attempted to stop him. He eventually lost control of his car near milepost 117.1, struck a metal guardrail and then crashed into a State Police trooper patrol car, police said. The trooper involved in the crash suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. Osgood was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when troopers approached his vehicle. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was pronounce dead at 11:32 p.m. Mary Jo Osgood was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:25 a.m., police said. The investigation of her death is being handled by the Providence Police Department. Page Content Minister of Education Silveria Jacobs issued a tribute with respect to civil servant Chantal Schaminee-Ringeling who worked at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. Chantal Schaminee-Ringeling was a bright light full of energy, motivated with a bubbly and positive attitude, always ready to help everyone she could, with the ability to light up a room. Husband John, daughter Thalia, mom Carmen and brothers, her live spirit and positive energy could no longer be contained in this frail human form we inhabit, she now lives in the vast expanse of time and space and lives within each and every one she has loved or touched in some special way. Today I'd like to offer words of comfort and hope through these words of scripture. 2 corinthians 4: 16-18 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Romans 8: 38, 39 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So we will miss the powerful physical presence of our tiny dynamo Chantal, but please accept, and I can personally attest to having experienced a deeper bond with my mom since she passed almost 4 years ago, that she is with you all as she lives on in you. My first memory of Chantal was as a fellow student in MPC in the 80s... and though she was a tiny girl, she shone with energy, confidence and happiness. Another fact is that where there was Chantal there was Johnnie as we called him then. They were inseparable an remained for me a ray of hope that true love exists and thrives where there is dedication and commitment to making it work. Memories of Chantal are filled with animated conversations on any topic, visions of her beautiful smile, classy style of dress and bubbly personality. She has touched the lives of so many and left a mark on this world... she has lived up to the saying that "To teach is to make a difference". Based on the testimonies of her many students including my own daughter who also shared a special bond with her - Chantal made a difference. Chantal made history throughout her short life, as the first female director of Havo/Vwo, as recounted by her friend and colleague Yvette Halley who currently runs the Inspectorate in her absence. She was community minded serving as Leo and Lion practically all her life. She was also the first to head the Inspectorate after St. Maarten gained its new status. We, as colleagues at MECYS, her former students, club members, teachers, schoolboards, and friends will treasure and should try to internalize the lesson her life teaches us - an example of strength, courage, determination and hope even in the face of great adversity! Continue to shine you light throughout the world!!! RIP Chantal, May God bless her soul and grant her loved ones peace, courage and strength. 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 Franz J. Allmayer and Team (FutureLab Europe) The story of the European project began when former friends decided to build a political and economic community based on the same values. Today, thanks to the existence of the Union, Europeans can work, study, travel and live in different parts of this continent. Democracy in Europe is, however, now facing significant challenges at a local, national as well as European level. Political mistrust is growing in every country and across all generations. To change this development, European policy needs to be revived, which would increase democratic legitimacy. The EU should play a key role in this sense for the pillars of the European policy currently stand on it. In the first phase, it would be necessary to change the functioning of the political culture. The decision-making process in the EU is currently lengthy while it is trying to satisfy as many EU players as possible. Such processes are indeed directed at finding consensus, though not at finding effective solutions. The lack of transparency and clarity in the accountability of various players for their decisions is also problematic. An important step designed to overcome the political crisis in Europe would be a greater use of technology as a tool of political participation. In this sense, it would be very appropriate to set up a centralized platform within which the main legislation would be discussed in several languages and people could use it to raise questions to their representatives. The question, however, remains how to effectively improve the possibility of harnessing the potential of the European Citizens Initiative (ECI). According to the resolution of the European Parliament (EP) in October 2015, it is important to raise awareness about the ECI among European citizens as well as simplify the use of the tools associated with the initiative. From the perspective of the EU, the fact that many EU citizens do not believe that the Union has a strong influence on the direction of policy-making in their country plays a negative role as well. This situation must be improved also by a further promotion of various educational programs, so that EU citizens have a greater awareness of this situation and related challenges facing the Union. Generally speaking, one can currently observe a constantly growing apathy, mistrust and euroscepticism in individual EU Member States. The low turnout in the EP elections in 2014 and the growing popularity of nationalist parties acting against the Union can serve as evidence supporting this argument. Therefore, the EU should not hesitate to look for steps that would respond to the current situation. It is the EU and not anyone else who need to sort out its own problems. (The study can be downloaded here:http://www.futurelabeurope.eu/read/items/futurelab-europe-launched-the-publication-bring-back-the-citizens-how-to-revive-democratic-participation-for-a-citizens-led-euro.html) The Australian National University has pledged to be the first Australian university to move away from Year 12 ATARs as the sole determinant for entry. Celebrating the university's 70th birthday on Monday, Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt committed the ANU to "revamp the way it deals with student admissions and move away from judging students only on their year 12 ATAR results". ANU Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt: students applying to the university will have co-curriculum and community contributions recognised. Credit:Graham Tidy Professor Schmidt also announced a series of new initiatives to attract top undergraduates, a Union Court revitalisation worth $230 million, $20 million over five years to support early to mid-career researchers and moves to help ANU work more collaboratively with business and government. The ANU has long been critical of ATAR entries being administered through state-based university admission centres. The university attracts more than half its students from interstate. Earlier this month the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it would investigate admission centres in Western Australia and South Australia for favouring state-based universities, following a complaint from the ANU. The passage of time will no longer be a barrier for ACT survivors of child sexual abuse to sue institutions like the Catholic church for justice. The ACT government will introduce a bill on Tuesday to scrap time limits that prevent survivors from lodging civil claims too long after their abuse has occurred. Attorney-General Simon Corbell said it was clearly unrealistic to expect children who were just finding their feet as adults to come forward and pursue a civil claim for abuse. Credit:Elesa Kurtz Such time limits have been criticised as "clearly inappropriate" for abuse victims, and fail to recognise the terrible psychological toll the crimes take. The statute of limitations for abuse claims before 2003 was six years, which began when the young person turned 18. A website that allows people to sell their home privately without the use of an agent says the real estate industry is "ripe for disruption". BuyMyplace.com.au reported a 22 per cent increase in new listings in the first quarter and says it expects to see strong growth throughout the financial year despite the slowdown in the housing market. Selling a house through real estate "disrupter" buyMyplace.com.au is "like selling your car online". The company, which listed on the ASX in March, said an advertising campaign was helping drive more people to the site. "People are frustrated with the traditional ways of selling real estate," chief executive Paul Heath said. Control of one of Australia's most iconic companies, Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation, is to go offshore, to an arm of the Singapore government, in a $400 million deal which ends the prospect of a sharemarket float that has emerged regularly over the years. The deal may make millionaires out of a number of its employees since as many as one in 10 holding shares in the company, which was sold by the federal government to employees in 1993. Snowy Hydro scheme developer has been sold to an arm of the Singapore government. Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation has more than 5400 employees, most of whom are employed in a broad spread of offices around the world. The company has expanded from its beginnings building the Snowy Mountains Scheme to develop into a globally recognised consultancy which specialises in infrastructure projects. It has been acquired by Surbana Jurong, which is owned by an arm of the Singapore government, Temasek. Surbana Jurong is a consultancy which specialises in urban projects and last year decided to focus on trebling annual revenues to $S1.5 billion ($A1.5 billion) by the end of 2016. If communicating internally at the UN was challenging, interacting with the outside world was even harder. How would we reach people in places where newspapers and televisions are still not widely available? How could we generate media coverage in countries where unpaid or underpaid reporters expect "brown envelopes" (full of cash) in exchange for stories? Finally, my South African boss had to explain what would never have occurred to me: in many cultures, it is rude to say no. So some people would say yes to anything I asked, regardless of whether they had any intention of delivering. You have to pick up on body language and other contextual cues to realise that your colleague who just said yes to you has actually communicated that she does not agree to your plan. Credit:Greg Bakes My colleagues almost always responded with a resounding yes, but all too often, the deadlines came and went without the requested material, leaving me bewildered and upset. When I worked as a global media co-ordinator for the United Nations several years ago, I organised bi-weekly conference calls, during which I would ask my colleagues around the world to provide information by particular deadlines. Communicating globally may require changing the way you interact with both your colleagues and your target audiences. For a book, I spent a year interviewing senior communication professionals in 31 countries about how they help clients modify their messages and strategies for particular cultures. I have found that some of the biggest factors to consider when communicating in a new culture involve emotion, context, conceptions of time and social expectations. As an example of emotional differences, if I were to do a media interview in the US and become visibly angry at a reporter's 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 realise 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 US, 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 organisations to explain how their work and presence in the country benefits "Mrs Juanita", a Chilean term for the average person. Beijing: Travis Kalanick's multi-billion dollar assault on China's lucrative ride-hailing market has come to an end, with Uber's Chinese operations to be acquired by local frontrunner Didi Chuxing. The merger, which will see the two bitter rivals form a ride-hailing behemoth worth a reported $US35 billion ($46 billion), comes after a bruising price war which has seen both companies spent significantly on discounts and incentives to attract both drivers and customers. While Uber is profitable in numerous developed markets, it is said to have lost more than $US2 billion chasing market share in mainland China. Uber's chief executive Travis Kalanick has spoken at length about his ambitions of conquering the Chinese market, but has come under sustained pressure from investors to shed the loss-making venture with a view to a future public listing. The Riverview development will also be very close to Gininnderra Falls, another treasure to the north-west of our once fair city. If you value our open spaces and what they hold, get active. Join the Gininnderra Falls Association, push for better environmental protection of our precious Murrumbidgee River as it winds its way to the stressed Murray-Darling Basin. If you hear the Riverview consortium deserves congratulations for its extensive consultations with stakeholders and its recognition of environmental protection, ask what the consultations achieve and whether its environmental protection measures are stringent enough. Also how "independent" are the consultants engaged to comment on aspects of the development? Who will benefit most? Consider too the Greenway development adjacent to the Murrumbidgee in Tuggeranong. It's all too much. Judy Kelly, Aranda Northbourne gridlock The question for Northbourne Avenue is not trams or no trams. It is how best to overcome the growing delays in peak hours. Increasing numbers of commuters enter Northbourne from expanding Gungahlin, from Murrumbateman, Yass and even Goulburn. The delays have resulted in "rat running" down adjacent streets. Providing additional buses along the existing roadway makes no sense: they would add to the congestion. Widening the road to four lanes each way may be feasible but would take away the cycle lanes, narrow the footpaths and destroy the boulevard design. Two ways of reducing traffic congestion have been proposed. Labor is proceeding with dual tramlines along the median strip. The Liberals have, somewhat tentatively, suggested a single lane busway flanked by two cycleways, along the median, the buses heading south in the morning and north in the evening and returning in the opposite direction along the existing road. These are the choices. If the Liberals' busway is to be a credible alternative, a developed proposal needs to be put to the electorate. Otherwise the trams win by default. Denis Robinson, Braddon Wonders of low-tech I remember as a boy in the 1960s my mother doing the clothes washing in an old boiler. Even when the wondrous new technology of fully automatic washers made life easier, she'd often say she wished she still had the boiler, which she said was simpler and more effective at getting the clothes truly clean. I remembered this when reading Ian Warden's story about the new virtual reality technology developed by Dave Budge working with the CBR Innovation Network ("The new reality is that virtually anything is possible", August 1, p10). Not at first mind you. It was only when I then noticed on page 44, in your advertising promotion "What happened on your birthday?", which invites readers to explore the Fairfax archive of the front pages of its newspapers from 1945, you had chosen a front page from July 22, 1969 headed "Flight from moon begins". In those days, they knew how to do things with low tech. Greg Ellis, Murrumbateman Top cop's tough ask Conspiracy laws and convictions are not enough. Police already can legally "disappear" people albeit only temporarily. Now Assistant Commissioner Lammers supports tougher detention laws but only if they comply with "ACT human rights legislation and acknowledged they were controversial" ("Police chief wants laws beefed up in terror fight", August 1, p2). The man is worthy of biting satire. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Greens the right-wing wolves in progressive sheep's clothing? I think the appointment of Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Liberals in 2015 was the cleverest "trick" by the right wing forces in Australia. I am from the generation that peeled off from the Menzies-dominated era of 23years of conservative government and voted for the great revolutionary Labor leader, Gough Whitlam. Revolutionary simply because Australia had become a conservative backwater. Successive Labor leaders led the workers and intellectuals of Australia with progressive policies in health, education, the environment and energy. Unfortunately the turmoil during the Rudd-Gillard years meant that many of us as ALP supporters became disillusioned by Labor. Step forth, the "great white hoax" of Turnbull. We believed his progressive inclinations and we were swayed by his smile. Many of us abandoned Labor in response but not wanting to quite embrace or believe the Turnbull promise of societal progress, we moved to the Greens. We now have a Turnbull government dominated by right wing Abbott conservatives. And the Greens who are great at putting forth socially responsible ideas, BUT not at implementing them. And the Greens are targeting ALP seats rather than the Coalition's. Perhaps the Greens are really a right-wing wolf in a Trotskyite sheep clothing? Anne Morris Bannerman, Alstonville, NSW Duty of care in jail I support Ian Jannaway's views (Letters, July 19) on the issue of free needles in our jail. In the August 19-25, 2010, edition of City News, Dr Alex Wodak, AM, wrote as part of his letter, that "Prison authorities are responsible for the occupational health and safety of correctional officers and also owe a duty of care to inmates." About 32 years ago my role at Commonwealth Health was to use the Occupational Health and Safety Act, in conjunction with the transport ministry, to negotiate a ban on smoking on domestic aircraft. It happened. Obviously the health of passengers was important but the cabin stewards carried the thrust under the act because they were always exposed to smoke at work, and many had come down with emphysema and cancers of the throat and lungs. Danger to correction staff from needle attacks and needle-stick injuries could be likened to danger from second-hand smoke on aircraft. If use of a legal drug (smoking) can be banned under occupational health and safety laws on aircraft not places of rehabilitation the same laws must override the use of illegal substances and their delivery equipment in a place of rehabilitation our jail. And in discussing on the issue of needles, it is important to note that Geoffrey Farrell, professor of hepatic medicine at the ANU medical school at the Canberra Hospital, has said, "Injection of contaminated blood by drug users is now virtually the only means of acquiring the virus [hepatitis C]" (CT, February 8, p11, 2011). If the ACT government is fair dinkum about protecting/saving prisoners, it can follow the example of the WA government which provides $3 million annually to Dr George O'Neil's slow release naltrexone implant treatment, aimed successfully at getting addicts free of drugs. Colliss Parrett, Drug Advisory Council Australia Wrong on Clinton It's open season on Hillary Clinton ("Much still standing in Clinton's way", Editorial, July 29, p16), and Australians should resist joining the Trump wagon. Your editorial is wrong at its beginning and its end, but right in the middle. "Among America's most unloved politicians" is debatable (wait till November elections): whenever were high-achiever heads of government loved? Mrs Clinton has served an admirable apprenticeship (OK, the Clintons are political animals). While Australians might voice reservations about her lukewarm support for a Pacific free trade agreement, we should not stray within a country mile of the ill-disguised knocking, quasi-bullying of a high-achieving woman set to become the world's most powerful. C. Lendon, Cook Sop to tax avoiders Negative gearing never became a big issue during the recent elections as Labor's measures to combat this tax-avoidance pathway, by confining it to new homes, was limited by a "grandfather" clause. The clause allowed the continuation of arranged losses by investors on residential properties to offset the tax on their income derived from other, more profitable sources. Negative gearing is dividing the nation. Billions of dollars are lost to the government annually by this crude tax-avoidance measure, first home buyers are outbid at auctions by investors encouraged by conservative governments to buy established homes for rental purposes. This enables governments to reduce public housing stock, adding to the long waiting time for potential tenants, many of whom cannot afford commercial rents. Like an episode from past class-divided societies, wealth inheritance of property is growing rapidly, encouraged by governments pandering to a voter base of privileged tax avoiders. Keith McEwan, Bonython Who's black hole? It's beyond rich, it's uber rich for Chief Minister Andrew Barr to accuse the Canberra Liberals of having a budget black hole (Christopher Knaus, Kirsten Lawson, "Labor in budget warning", CT, August 1, p1). Light rail propaganda that has been widely disseminated by the ACT Government and Transport Canberra includes the spurious claim that the cost of light rail will be less than 1per cent of the ACT government budget. Not only does that claim depend upon unrealistically rosy forward projections of profits from government land sales and the future level of Commonwealth government grants, it takes no account of any of the cost of Stage 2. Nor does the government's budget include realistic costings for Mr Barr's extravagant City to the Lake project. In the event that the Canberra Liberals do manage to win the election, Jeremy Hanson should move quickly to save $2 million by terminating Mr Barr's cynical sinecure for Brendan Smyth. Bruce Taggart, Aranda TO THE POINT RUDD, MAN OF PEACE ... As UN boss, Kevin Rudd could have brought peace to the world by confusing and exasperating warring parties with a torrent of words. Rod Matthews, Melbourne ... BUT A SORE LOSER Again Rudd is going bitter and divisive. Mokhles K. Sidden, South Strathfield TURNBULL GETS A PAT Lucky Mr Turnbull! In exchange for blocking a fellow Australian's candidature for the position of UN Secretary-General, he has received the great honour of a pat on the head from Senator Cory Bernardi. Who knows? If he keeps pandering to spiteful nonentities on the far right of his party, he might yet receive the ultimate reward a dog biscuit. (Dr) William Maley, Reid REFERENCE DECLINED PM Turnbull should be thanked for not giving a "reference" to Rudd. Some people provide references to help people move into other positions. Honest referees do not provide a "reference". Phillip Hore, Scullin READING LESSONS It seems John Mason (Canberra Times, Letters, August 1) can't read. I didn't say in my letter of July 28 that all Muslims were bad and intolerant. I just suggested they bend a little. He should get on his bike and go somewhere where he can learn to read properly. Stan Marks, Hawker TROUBLED WORD USAGE Long ago we lost the word "gay" meaning happy, and I'm slowly but reluctantly accepting that "progressive" is the buzz word for every trendy left wing idea, but I draw the line when a young thug can be described as a "troubled youngster". Modifying language to avoid giving offence is not a bad thing, but doing to so avoid responsibility will not help anyone. Roger Dace, Reid NICE LITTLE EARNER Thanks to Josh Ceramidas, Labor candidate for Kurrajong, for telling me in a doorknob flyer that he wants Canberra to be a city "where we actually look out for one another". Spot on, I reckon. I'm all for it. And good to see that our Chief Minister, by appointing his erstwhile opponent Brendan Smyth to a nice little earner with a bit of foreign travel, is leading by example. Stephen Foster, Ainslie ABBOTT'S NEW VOICE Has Malcolm Turnbull become Tony Abbott's ventriloquist dummy or does it just appear that way? D. J. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld The Atheist Foundation of Australia is sponsoring a campaign to increase the numbers of people ticking "no religion" in the census on August 9. To do this, it is trying to convince Australians who ordinarily identify with a religion that they actually shouldn't. I am all for the census being an honest and true reflection of the state of the nation. I do not want to inflate the figures so as to give an artificial indication of the influence of religious institutions in Australia. Some of the arguments that the foundation has put forward are convincing. For example, having Christian "values" doesn't make you "Christian". And the AFA want people to stop writing "Jedi Knight" or "Pastafarian" because these answers don't count towards the "No Religion" total. No argument from me on either of these. But the campaign is guilty of laughable overreach on two counts. First, the foundation wants people to count children and teens as having "no religion". It argues that you can only validly claim to have a religion as an adult. So, it wants me, an Anglican minister, to tick "No Religion" for my four kids, even though they all go to church weekly, read the Bible for themselves, and profess to having a Christian faith. I have no doubt, from the vigorous debates we have around the dinner table, that their beliefs are very much their own. Anyone who has worked with children in religious education will be able to tell you that children very often have their own religious beliefs that are not simply parroting what their parents tell them from a very young age. I know atheist children of religious parents and Christian children of atheist parents. But even if a child shares, at this moment, the religion of her parents, that does not invalidate her beliefs. Of course, children's religious views are in the process of being shaped throughout childhood. But so are their views on absolutely everything. You know that what passes for political debate in Australia has well and truly jumped the shark and headed off into the stratosphere when someone can come up with the truly bizarre and outlandish suggestion that as President, Hillary Clinton might nominate Kevin Rudd for UN Secretary-General. Is it a flight of fancy, or should we treat this rather as a desperate cry for help. Probably the latter. It suggests such complete detachment from our own corporeal reality that they couldn't possibly have anything more than a passing acquaintance with the world the rest of us inhabit. So if you meet someone, anyone, who thinks Rudd's been dudded by being "denied" the nomination, treat them gently. They obviously prefer living in a world of fantasy. Once we leave childhood, most people realise that just wanting something to be true isn't enough. Even if you want it very badly, squeeze your eyes tight shut, and pretend very, very hard, it doesn't mean the world will change. The trouble is that our political discourse is rapidly degenerating under this pressure. We need to escape, so let's look at the facts. These are not theory dependent. The key point is that Rudd never had a hope of getting the gig. Start from that point and you realise that this was only ever about his own vanity. Twelve (solid) candidates have already nominated for this job and none are leaders who were dispatched by their own party. Nor have any revealed the plurality of personal flaws Rudd has demonstrated. Finally, convention suggests this is the time for a woman or an east European. That's why in April Rudd (cutely) told The Hindu newspaper, "last I looked, my name is not Rudovich". Publicly, Rudd denied he was a candidate, yet behind the scenes he was desperately pleading, pushing and bullying his way onto the ticket. As so often, his public face was nothing more than a puffed-up confection. So why did he continue to mislead us? Peter Martin ("The campaign's other big lie") was right to criticise the Turnbull government's deceptive peddling during the election campaign of "free trade agreements" as "export agreements". They are not export agreements and, in any case, raising exports per se is not the road to higher living standards. Rather greater prosperity rests on Australia raising productivity, which is affected, more than anything, by policies at home, including opening our markets to global imports. That is not to say FTAs are in any way "import agreements". Raising imports from FTA partners would not increase our total imports if trade was simply diverted from non-preferential sources. This would not necessarily lift our living standards. Only if our liberalisation raised total imports would national wellbeing be enhanced by lifting the economy's efficiency and associated productivity. Thus another and probably the biggest lie is calling trade agreements FTAs since they do not promote "free trade" but only imports from preferential sources even if they are not the cheapest and most efficient source. The story of FTAs is even bleaker for another reason. In reality, FTAs are unlikely to significantly affect trade in sensitive products. The political reality is that contrary to their advertised purpose, they are negotiated by governments to have minimal impact on preferential imports where it would erode protection at home for non-competitive industries. As parties try to out-negotiate each other by having the other party reduce mainly tariffs while conceding as little self-openness as possible in return, liberalisation by either party is heavily constrained. Areas of negotiation are usually limited to those where tariffs do not matter (or ensuring that their competitive impact is negated by restrictive rules-of-origin and/or phasing-in of reductions over lengthy time periods) or where other restrictive measures can be applied instead. That is why any opening from FTAs is usually Clayton's liberalisation. Take Australia's steel industry. Senator Nick Xenophon and others are generally expressing protectionist views and now shamefully claiming we cannot have a viable manufacturing sector without a steel industry. This is rubbish, and reminiscent of the same arguments used to justify assistance to car making which was, thankfully, eventually dismissed as an economically irrational plea from vested interests to maintain protection. Osama bin Laden's group advised that Islamists should emphasise taking care of civilians they conquered. Islamic State hasn't heeded its words but the US should. Credit:AP Could a movement calling itself Islamic State survive without being able to defend and hold an Islamic state? It looks increasingly likely that we're going to find out, and sooner than most of its enemies had dared hope. After being chased out of its other cities and urban centres in Iraq, the group now holds only a single Iraqi city, its de facto capital in Iraq Mosul. And after two months of intensifying pressure by Iraqi-led forces, there is evidence that Daesh is on the cusp of losing it. Mourners remember victims of the terror attack in Nice. Credit:AP "Many Daesh families and leaders in Mosul have sold their property and sneaked out towards Syria," Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said at the weekend. Iraq's government has promised to retake Mosul by the end of the year, a timetable that would allow US President Barack Obama to claim success against Daesh in Iraq before he relinquishes power in January. Demonstrators chant pro-IS slogans in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which Iraqi forces have promised to retake by the end of the year. Credit:AP Daesh has been preparing its followers for the accelerating loss of its territory in Iraq and also in Syria, the connected landmass that comprises its so-called caliphate. "While we see our core structure in Iraq and Syria under attack, we have been able to expand and have shifted some of our command, media and wealth structure to different countries," a long-standing but unnamed Daesh operative was quoted as telling The Washington Post two weeks ago. The Obama administration's point man on Daesh, also known as ISIL, Brett McGurk, said recently: "Overall in Iraq, we've liberated about 50 per cent of the territory from ISIL and more than 700,000 Iraqis have returned to their homes in areas that ISIL used to control." And it's losing ground in Syria too, a fact it's trying to conceal from its subjects. Reports from Daesh-controlled areas say that the jihadis have been closing internet cafes and destroying TVs and satellite dishes. It is this battlefield retreat that helps explain the proliferation of terrorist attacks around the world in recent weeks. The Daesh operative explained that, when would-be recruits make contact lately to offer to join the fight, "we tell them to stay in their countries and rather wait to do something there". As the centre of its empire collapses, it has energised its agents at the periphery. As Daesh loses the core of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria, it orders individual terror attacks in Germany and France. Another way of looking at it is that as its project in wholesale domination fails, it increasingly turns to retail mayhem. "As IS continues to lose territory, it will likely ramp up the levels of violence," a terrorism expert at America's RAND Corporation, Seth Jones, told ANU's National Security College last week. "It's likely to get more violent until it calms down." Unfortunately, as the central project of the "caliphate" is slowly strangled, the murderous convulsions of its various peripheral limbs are sowing fear and despair in the target nations. Even as the "caliphate" comes apart, just as bin Laden foresaw, its hateful mayhem continues to tear at the security and harmony of the civilised world. University leaders are calling for a radical rethink of how student fees and funding rates are set for different courses, with the current system widely seen as outdated, overly-complicated and riddled with anomalies. Under the current system, undergraduate law and accounting students can be charged up to $10,440 a year while humanities, teaching and nursing students are charged $6256 a year. The federal government allocates all undergraduate subjects to one of eight different funding bands, based on a formula including how much graduates are expected to earn and how much courses cost to teach. Despite much talk to the contrary, doing law is still a very good way to get a job with a good salary compared to most other degrees. Credit:Louie Douvis Other counties, such as Britain, use a flat system where all students can be charged up to 9000 a year for any course. Groups representing universities across the sector have called for the system to be reviewed in submissions to the Turnbull government on higher education reform. Australia is likely to have military assets in the South China Sea to gather vital intelligence on a joint drill between Chinese and Russian forces next month, Fairfax Media understands. The exercise between Chinese and Russian ships and planes is intended to send a signal of defiance to the West but defence sources and experts say it will also provide a gold mine of intelligence on how the major powers' militaries work together. A Defence source told Fairfax Media that assets were expected to be used to collect information, though the source declined to say what kind. "It would be foolish for Defence to miss an opportunity like this," the source said. Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi says his new Australian Conservatives group has recorded more than 50,000 online registrations and raised enough money to hire a spokesperson. The right-wing South Australian senator launched the group in July, amid his high-profile complaints about the Coalition's election campaign result and criticism of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's performance. Conservatives hope the group will ultimately rival the progressive lobby group GetUp!, with Queensland MP George Christensen saying "if we do nothing, we will let the forces of socialism and globalism conquer". On Monday, Senator Bernardi used an email seeking donations to report more than 50,000 people had filled in a registration form on the Australian Conservatives website. Of the close to 1600 people being held in immigration detention centres in Australia, 199 of them are Kiwis, new figures show. New Zealanders are now the biggest group by nationality in Australian detention centres - making up 12.6 per cent of detainees - followed by Iranians. New Zealand Labour is calling for action from the NZ government over the number of Kiwis being held in Australian detention centres. The figures from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection also show 1375 people are being held in mainland detention centres, while just over 200 are at the Christmas Island facility. New Zealand Labour's corrections spokesman, Kelvin Davis, says the new figures should spur the NZ government into action. Malcolm Turnbull's heavily criticised royal commission into the Northern Territory's youth detention system has been given a second chance at success after the initial royal commissioner, Brian Martin, bowed to pressure by quitting just three days in to be replaced by a former Queensland justice, Margaret White, and Indigenous community leader Mick Gooda. The selection of the replacement joint commissioners has met widespread support from both sides of politics, Aboriginal leaders and lawyers, especially as both commissioners are considered outsiders to the Northern Territory, and because of Mr Gooda's status as a leading human rights advocate and prominent Indigenous community voice. But Mr Gooda has since come in for criticism on conflict-of-interest grounds also because of his initial emotional reaction to the Four Corners vision, which had sparked the royal commission last Monday. In a tweet on the night, he had advocated that the Prime Minister "sack" the NT government and subsequently observed: "Let's have another intervention and put an administrator in the Northern Territory, 'cos it looks to me like they're incapable of managing anything up there." Another excruciating exercise in administrative mediocrity. The result of important policy action constructed with too little consultation and too much speed. The party that in opposition, had indignantly railed against Labor for its haste on live exports on the back of "a TV program", had done the same thing itself. It is less than a week since last Monday's Four Corners broadcast, and yet the nation has seen a royal commission first flagged, then designed, and finally instituted, all in double-quick time. Then it was all but gutted. Brian Martin is an eminent jurist. Whether his appointment was appropriate is now moot. He has resigned, citing unfounded criticism about his role as a former judge yet pointing also to the very thing that the government had pilloried: the foundational requirement for public confidence in the breadth, representation, and rigour of the inquiry. Their regular stomping ground may be London, but Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone have found their "spiritual home" in Sydney. When asked by Fairfax Media on the hot pink carpet at the highly anticipated Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie on Sunday if the outrageous pair would get away with their uncensored antics here, Jennifer Saunders said: "Yes they would. I think Australia has a similar kind of attitude and feel. "It's a beautiful city full of crazy people," she added. While her partner in fashion crime, recreational drug-taking, man-eating and booze-swilling, Joanna Lumley, who was visiting the land Down Under for the first time, added: "I thought we were quite extreme until we came to Sydney." Dr Andrew Churchyard took his own life after he was committed to stand trial over sex abuse allegations. The Cabrini clinician, who Fairfax Media has chosen not to name, denies saying Churchyard was a good bloke. "I also advised Ms Wilson that I did not know the details or the rights or wrongs of the allegations made by the patient which AHPRA [Australian Health Practitioner Registration Association] and the police had, and that the allegations would, and should, be assessed and handled by the court at the appropriate time. Ms Wilson told me that she did not agree with my decision at that time." Former Victorian health commissioner Beth Wilson. Credit:Samantha Robin Monash Health, where Churchyard also practised, took a different approach to Cabrini's, as did sex crime detectives. In July, 2015, Churchyard was charged with two counts of indecent assault, and Monash Health immediately suspended him. Cabrini allowed Churchyard to keep seeing patients for seven more months, albeit in the presence of a chaperone. This condition was part of Churchyard's bail and was supported by the medical profession's regulator, the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Association AHPRA. Cabrini said it acted on the Medical Board's recommendation. But as a means of protecting patients, it appears to have badly failed. Early this year, AHPRA was notified by another patient that Churchyard had allegedly sexually assaulted him despite the presence of a chaperone. Only then did the Medical Board of Australia (which works with AHPRA) suspend Dr Churchyard's registration, and Cabrini removed his accreditation. Then, in May, June and in early July, three more victims emerged, along with multiple allegations of sexual assault dating back to 2010. The evidence now strongly suggested that Churchyard was a serial sex abuser. As sex crimes detectives ramped up their investigations, there was a further tragic turn of events. In late July, Churchyard took his own life. His death is deeply upsetting for family and colleagues. But along with grieving and shocked relatives, Churchyard also left behind several alleged victims who never got their day in court. His case also leaves open serious questions for Australia's medical regulator and the health profession. Data given to Fairfax Media reveals there are almost 50 doctors across Australia working with a chaperone in circumstances in which most of their patients will have no idea why third party oversight is needed. Double that number of doctors have been suspended in the past two years. A small number of doctors are also facing charges of serial sexual offending, sometimes over many years. The Churchyard case underlines a broader question facing the medical profession: can more be done to prevent patient abuse? Dr Churchyard waited until 19-year-old Tom Monagle was at his most vulnerable before he allegedly asked him to strip naked in May 2015. Monagle is a bright, thoughtful, but shy law student who was seeking Dr Churchyard's help dealing with his Tourette Syndrome (a neurological condition characterised by motor or vocal tics) and associated anxiety. Perhaps Dr Churchyard thought Monagle would be too scared or confused to tell anyone about how the neurologist allegedly groped him. Perhaps the veteran doctor was emboldened. After all, according to the later testimony of his victims, Dr Churchyard had previously got away with abusing several other young men. But Monagle, although scared, would not stay quiet. Monagle's parents are both doctors and were shocked at their son's story. With their support, Monagle reported Churchyard to AHPRA on May 5 last year. AHPRA's response, says Tom's mother, Dr Sharon Monagle, was far from ideal. "I was surprised and concerned when we told AHPRA about the complaint, recognising that it comprised not only professional misconduct but an alleged criminal offence, that they confirmed they would not notify police. This was despite the fact that we made it very clear that this was our wish." Another of Churchyard's alleged victims told Fairfax Media that when he complained to AHPRA about Churchyard this year, he had no idea there were other complaints or an existing police probe, and was given no encouragement to contact police. AHPRA told Fairfax Media that it "generally" encourages victims to go to police, but that "very strict privacy obligations" sometimes prevents information from being shared with authorities. This means AHPRA does not necessarily tell police information that may expose a serial offender or corroborate an existing police complaint. "It's not a perfect system," an experienced detective says. "They do need to improve the way they deal with the authorities." Two days after Tom Monagle contacted AHPRA, he contacted police directly and made a formal statement. Detectives acted quickly, searching Churchyard's consulting suite at Cabrini Hospital and arresting him for questioning. "I assume this relates to Tom Monagle," Churchyard said when first confronted by police. Churchyard co-operated initially with detectives, but when the questioning turned to his alleged offending, he requested a lawyer and declined to comment further. Police charged him a short time later. Of his five known alleged victims, Fairfax Media has spoken to three and has the statement of a fourth. Each tell a very similar story of a doctor who sought to conceal his abuse in his treatment. "We are brought up to trust our doctors 100 per cent, from the moment we see one, and that is why people get away with it," Monagle says. "Because the patients may be vulnerable, there is a massive amount of trust and a huge imbalance of power." Another alleged victim, who is now 26, says he is not only dealing with years of assault, but the fear that Dr Churchyard may have delayed his recovery so he could continue re-offending. Evidence also strongly suggests that Churchyard assaulted at least one of his victims after AHPRA was first notified of Monagle's complaint. That assault came after Monagle's mother, Dr Sharon Monagle, had warned the health regulator, saying in July 2015: "I cannot really understand how the Medical Board would permit him to continue to work in this way". She said at the time it was"extremely unethical" not to require Churchyard to tell patients why a chaperone was needed. AHPRA required that, by way of notification, Cabrini post a notice in the waiting room, "clearly visible to all patients ... setting out the requirement that a chaperone will be present in certain circumstances". Seven months later, in the presence of a chaperone, it is alleged Churchyard used a curtain to block the chaperone's line of sight and then assaulted another male patient. Cabrini Health said it had at all times acted in accordance with the Medical Board's directions. It's not the first time in Australia that the chaperone system has failed. Last year, the Queensland Health Ombudsman called on AHPRA to introduce reforms after a doctor accused of sexual harassment repeatedly ignored the conditions including working with a chaperone that AHPRA had placed on him. Data from the medical regulator reveals that 47 medical practitioners across the nation currently have "some form of chaperone restriction." (In the past two years, AHPRA has also suspended 97 medical practitioners.) But patients, including the man whom Dr Churchyard assaulted in the presence of a chaperone, are not told why a doctor needs oversight or if they have been charged with a serious criminal offence. "Chaperones don't work," says former Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson of a practice designed to mitigate against future offending while acknowledging a doctor's right to be afforded the presumption of innocence. "Patients are not told why they are there. A patient has a right to know if their doctor is facing court on sex assault or other serious criminal charges. If you think that a patient may not be safe from assault without oversight, then a doctor should not be interacting with patients. They can do research or other work." The decision by Monash Health to immediately suspend Churchyard a move that Wilson endorsed while Cabrini Health allowed him to keep practising with a chaperone is another perplexing aspect of the Churchyard case. Wilson warns that some in the medical profession too readily give the benefit of the doubt to doctors accused of acting improperly or illegally. Add the failure of AHPRA or individual doctors to always pass on allegations of criminal conduct to police, and Wilson says the case for reform is strong. This is certainly the view of the Monagle family. Among the most troubling aspects of the Churchyard case is the challenges they faced in raising allegations. If an educated, articulate law student and his two doctor parents found the complaint system and health profession at times inadequate and unsupportive, how will an average patient cope? "This is not just about me. It is about the other potential victims who feel silenced and who are living with this," says Tom Monagle. Monagle's testimony at Churchyard's committal hearing earlier this year was described by one experienced observer as "the best victim testimony I've ever seen". Prior to Churchyard's death, the magistrate committed the neurologist to stand trial, ruling there was enough evidence for a jury to find him guilty. Police were also set to take statements from more of Churchyard's alleged victims. Victorian acting health minister Martin Foley described this as "an extremely concerning case". "It is the Government's strong expectation that AHPRA act in quick and transparent manner that prioritises patient safety, and we will continue to lobby for national reform to ensure we have a health complaints system that puts patients first," he said. Victoria plans to bring a package of reform to the October Council of Australian Governments meeting. Last week, leading members of Victoria's neurology community sent an invitation to many of Churchyard's patients to attend a special tribute to recognise Churchyard's "compassion and care of his patients". Hours before Pauline Hanson lost her 1998 re-election bid, the firebrand Queenslander was asked by journalists if then prime minister John Howard should be scared of her winning. "I think they all need to be," the One Nation leader said of politicians everywhere. "I want to walk into that House ... and say 'I'm back'. I told them I would be." Pauline Hanson launches her "Easytax" policy in 1998. Credit:Dean Sewell Engaged in a tumultuous relationship with the media, Hanson walked away from the press conference. "I think you got enough out of me," she said. Sixty-seven days have now passed since The Australian newspaper apparently breached an ACT Supreme Court order to suppress a report that is seemingly of substantial interest to Canberrans. And 67 days have passed without the court referring the matter to police while continuing to insist that The Canberra Times, which actually serves this city, upholds its non-publication order. That is, the court is appearing to apply the law in an entirely arbitrary manner. We won't delve into all details of this case again (see last month's column) but, in brief, it involves an "explosive and highly inflammatory" report written by KPMG, which describes alleged irregularities in the Brumbies rugby club's sale of its training ground in Griffith. The federal police are investigating KPMG's findings, and the matter has become embroiled in political debate before the ACT's October election. The ongoing suppression order certainly isn't helping to sift fact from slur. An "explosive" report on the Brumbies' sale of its training ground in Griffith to a developer remains hidden from public scrutiny. Credit:Melissa Adams Since our last column, Justice Richard Refshauge published a decision that touched on why he hadn't acted to protect the court's reputation: he effectively said he couldn't. We spoke to several lawyers of that court, all of whom agreed that nothing prevented a judge from referring an apparent contempt of court to the police for investigation. Anyway, here's Refshauge: Among other things, a government's effectiveness and order are affected by the ways in which it arranges and operates the machinery of government: how it structures cabinet, allocates functions to ministers and their departments, and treats statutory authorities, which are created to remove parts of the administration from ministers' direct supervision. In parts, the Rudd and Gillard governments' allocation of functions to ministers and departments was messy. They complicated lines of authority and accountability via forms of matrix management that had ministers responsible for functions across different departments. Although not of great consequence, they also gave their ministries silly names perhaps none sillier that the ministry of sustainability, environment, water, population and communities. The Abbott Government removed some of the Rudd-Gillard follies. Via Finance Minister Mathias Cormann's efforts, it also took an interest in the large number of non-departmental organisations, abolishing some, amalgamating others and bringing forth a related statement of policy. This was a bit hit-and-miss but it's unusual for governments to concern themselves with the detail of administrative machinery and Cormann's efforts were worthwhile. On the other hand, the Abbott government behaved badly towards independent agencies who dared not to toe its line; the Human Rights Commission and the ABC, for example, were boxed around the ears. It also took a relentlessly partisan line on senior appointments sacking departmental secretaries because of work they undertook professionally under the old regime and making sure that appointees to statutory positions were politically congenial; habits that Malcolm Turnbull disavowed to a significant degree after he turfed Abbott. Turnbull's approach to organising the administration has otherwise been minimalist. He's not sacked any departmental secretaries indeed, he brought back an Abbott victim, Martin Parkinson and his alterations to the Administrative Arrangements Order (the document allocating functions to departments) involved little change, both when he became Prime Minister and after last month's election. Indeed, the post-election alterations have not thus far resulted in a new order, merely an amendment to the old one. That's unusual. Before getting into details, it should be appreciated that the overall structure of any democratic government's administration will be as much affected by political considerations as what might be suggested in a world where rational principles of organisation can be more strictly applied. The strength of political factions and the interests and abilities of the main political players often have the same influence as things like the co-location of like functions, an even spread of responsibilities and manageable spans of control. Turnbull may be trying to keep as many inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in. So let's start from the top with the new machinery of government: its cabinet. Turnbull's now has 23 members. That's a big number; the biggest since Gough Whitlam's in the 1970s. Robert Menzies' 10th cabinet had 15, Bob Hawke's first and John Howard's third had 15, and Kevin Rudd's first had 20. The simple point is that bigger cabinets can be more unwieldy than smaller ones, other things being equal. In what appears to be a slightly fractious Coalition, it may be that the Prime Minister, to use Lyndon Johnson's graphic terms, is trying to keep as many inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in, although with the three amigos Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and Cory Bernardi not holding back, the dominant flow is hard to assess. In defence of portfolio tweaks So far as specific administrative arrangements are concerned, two aspects have attracted a good deal of comment: Christopher Pyne's appointment as Defence Industry Minister and the combination of the government's energy and conservation functions into a single portfolio. Two commentators in Fairfax Media, no less, have misunderstood the Pyne appointment. Nicholas Stuart says it is "a reckless splitting of the defence portfolio"; Alan Gray says it has "split the defence portfolio" akin to the creation of the Department of Defence Support in the 1980s. This, these columnists say, is "perhaps one of the worst decisions to affect defence in the past 20 years", will "add another layer of ministerial oversight" and will lead to "acrimony between two portfolios". The consequences are claimed to be "ongoing paralysis", a "compromise of the ADF's overall effectiveness" and with "industry needs" now determining "the future shape of the forces, not strategic requirements", among other things. These analyses are a fair way up the creek. The defence portfolio has not been split. That's clear from the ministerial list the government has published. Pyne's appointment required no amendment to the Administrative Arrangements Order. There is no Department of Defence Support. Defence remains a single entity with a number of ministers responsible for different aspects of it, as has long been the case. The fourth Howard ministry had two defence ministers and a parliamentary secretary; Rudd's first had ministers for defence, materiel, science and personnel in various combinations, as did the first and second Gillard governments. And these arrangements were not required for the existence of the Defence Materiel Organisation as an executive agency from 2005 to 2015. Moreover, at least since the great machinery of government changes in the mid-1980s, many portfolios have had more than one minister and many still do. The fact is that spans of control for ministers in defence are large; the provision of extra ministers can narrow them. That doesn't "add another layer of ministerial supervision". Ministers will divide responsibilities and get on with it in the expectation that one will need to seek the agreement of the other only infrequently. Far from causing "paralysis", it should speed up the despatch of business and improve the ADF's effectiveness. A genuine oddity of Pyne's appointment is that it puts him as a notionally political senior to Defence Minister Marise Payne in what has been a junior position within the defence portfolio. No doubt as companionable fellows, they'll be able to sort out a workable relationship. A more serious problem with Payne and Pyne may be that they will allow their state loyalties to have an undue influence. However, even if that happened and South Australia became an even greater defence largesse, the idea that "industry needs" would "determine the future shape of the forces, not strategic requirements" seriously overstates the risk. The combination of the government's energy and environment functions in one portfolio may be more problematic. Obviously, the interest of these functions will often conflict. Placing both in one portfolio will likely mean that conflicting views will typically be resolved within the minister's department, with a single view being presented to the cabinet. That is, cabinet will be less fully informed on contending views than if the functions were represented by separate ministers. Take an analogy: if social security functions were merged into the Finance Department, what chance would the former have a strong voice in cabinet? These few considerations aside, however, Turnbull's new administrative arrangements involve minimal change. They're a sign of the kind of stability credit-rating agencies and some business types admire. Barr's gutter politics To end on a sleazy note, we turn to the ACT government and its appointment of an opposition politician, Brendan Smyth, as a commissioner for international engagement. The position was filled a couple of days after its creation was announced and clearly without proper process, like canvassing possible applicants via advertising or any other means. It's gutter politics calculated to gain political advantage in the forthcoming ACT election. It's malodorous enough, however, to be futile. At the same time, the ACT government seems determined to further restrict the scope for its officials to express their views publicly. The commissioner for public administration, Bronwen Overton-Clarke, reportedly said public servants must "uphold the good reputation of the ACTPS at all times they are identifiable as a public servant". To rub salt into the wound, the explanatory memorandum on the proposed rules says "the need to retain public confidence in the public service outweighs any impingement on an individual's right ... to freedom of expression or participation in the democratic process". That's right: "at all times" and "any impingement". Wollongong MP Noreen Hay has announced her resignation from the NSW parliament after 13 years. Hours after Fairfax Media revealed the announcement would be made, Ms Hay released a statement on Tuesday confirming that she would leave parliament at the beginning of next month. Wollongong MP Noreen Hay is set to announce her resignation from parliament Credit:Sylvia Liber "It has been an honour and a privilege to represent the people of Wollongong for the last 13 years," she said. "Therefore it is with great regret that I announce my intention to retire from the parliament effective 1 September, 2016". We will press pause on the live blog for now, but will update readers once Bruce Highway has reopened. The Bruce Highway remains closed at Palmview as the clean-up continues. A Queensland Police spokeswoman says there is "quite a bit" of debris still left on the highway to be cleared before southbound and northbound lanes could be reopened. Those travelling northbound are experiencing delays from Bells Creek. The Sunshine Motorway traffic has cleared. CreditEase Corp appoints new venture partner Updated: 2016-08-01 17:27 By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou(chinadaily.com.cn) CreditEase Corp, a Chinese peer-to-peer lending and wealth management company, today appointed Anju Patwardhan, former global chief innovation officer of Standard Chartered Bank, as venture partner for its Fintech Investment Fund and fund of Funds. Patwardhan will work closely with CreditEase's fund management team in China to support its global investment strategy, deal sourcing and investment management, according to the company. In the announcement, CreditEase said Patwardhan will play a key role in accelerating the fund's position as a preeminent global fintech investment platform. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management, Patwardhan gained her professional qualifications in risk management, board directorship and art appreciation, after having over 25 years of experience in the banking industry. CreditEase established the Fintech Investment Fund in 2015, which raises, in several branches, an equivalent of $1 billion and aims to identify global leaders in the financial technology industry. Paramedics treated a number of students at Deception Bay North State School after they ingested a substance used to change the colour of flames. Paramedics were called to the school just before 2.30 after about 20 pupils ingested a substance called Mystical Fire, a commercial product that contains metal compounds and fuels which, when added to a fire, turns the flames different colours. Queensland Ambulance's Peter Batt said paramedics arrived at the school to find a number of students suffering effects from ingesting the substance. "(The students) were told it was some sort of popping candy and they were trying it out," Mr Batt said. Judy Antonio, the wife of Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio, has died seven years after she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Mrs Antonio died in Toowoomba on Sunday night. She was 64. The Antonio family has asked people to donate to Motor Neurone Disease research - a cause supported by the ice bucket challenge - rather than send flowers. Credit:YouTube Toowoomba Regional Council chief executive Brian Pidgeon said the Antonio family had asked residents to donate to MND research in lieu of flowers. "Judy was a life-long resident of the Darling Downs and touched so many lives in our community," he said. Brisbane's free wi-fi system has seen a massive surge in the past month as mobile phone-wielding Pokemon trainers descended on the inner-city, the council has claimed. The app-based phenomenon has also raised some legal questions for players and those who could find themselves interacting with them. Pokemon Go users have caused a significant usage spike in Brisbane City Council's free wi-fi system. Credit:Brendon Thorne While other Australian cities had fielded complaints about Pokemon Go players congregating around sacred sites, such as war memorials and cemeteries, a Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said that had not been the case in the Queensland capital. "Council does not have any records of complaints about Pokemon Go usage around the city, or any related public safety concerns," she said. Jetstar and Tigerair have restarted flights to and from Bali after conditions caused by volcanic ash cloud near Denpasar International Airport improved on Monday night. Holidaymakers en route to the island were left stranded in Darwin on Monday after their flights were turned around and diverted to Darwin because of strong headwinds. A spokesman for Tiger Airways said that the latest advice from their team of meteorologists were that conditions had improved. "We will continue to work closely with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre to monitor the situation throughout the day," the spokesman said in a statement. He said the airline was working on recovery flight options for all passengers whose flights were cancelled on Monday. Former police officers who sought compensation for post traumatic stress disorder have been placed, along with their families, under surveillance by insurance companies, exacerbating their symptoms. An ABC Four Corners program, aired on Monday night, detailed the officers' trauma, and their continuing struggle for help. Sufferers who sought compensation say they have been treated like criminals by the insurers. Brendan Bullock, a decorated former NSW police officer, said he had been left a "broken" man by PTSD but also the treatment he received at the hands of his insurer. The death of a teenager who attacked two policemen was the catalyst for another young man to plan a terror attack that focused on beheading a police officer at an Anzac Day commemoration, a court has been told. Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19, was with friend Numan Haider in the hours before the 18-year-old stabbed a federal policeman and a Victorian officer outside the Endeavour Hills police station on the night of September 23, 2014, before the Victorian officer recovered and shot Haider dead. Sevdet Ramadan Besim plotted to run down and behead a policeman after his mate was killed by an officer. Credit:Channel Nine It was Haider's death that then prompted Besim to plot to run down with a car a police officer at an Anzac Day service last year, behead the officer and then steal the officer's gun, the Supreme Court heard on Monday. Besim was arrested at his Hallam home a week before his intended attack, and last month pleaded guilty to one charge of planning a terror attack, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Dashcam footage and audio recordings showing a police officer allegedly shooting a man three times from point blank range, and then planting a knife on his body, have been put to a Melbourne court. Leading Senior Constable Timothy Howard Baker, 44, is accused of murdering Vlado Micetic, 46, on August 25, 2013, after pulling him over for a routine traffic stop on Union Street in Windsor. Timothy Baker arrives at the Magistrates Court for his committal hearing. Credit:Chris Hopkins The Crown alleges Mr Baker killed Mr Micetic before taking a small flick-knife from his own pocket and putting it near the body. The video was shown on the first day of Mr Baker's committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, during which a magistrate must decide whether Mr Baker will stand trial for murder. It's the military commander's version of a grand chessboard, combined with a supercharged video game and potentially deadly consequences. Imagine an attack drone hovering silently overhead and trained on a target, warships on the water, submarines beneath, jet fighters screeching overhead and heavy artillery on land - all watched from far above by a satellite orbiting in space, and each one beaming back live video and sensor readings to a command centre. A F-35 stealth fighter; Trump vowed to spend more on defence if elected. And on this modern battlefield, the commander must decide who is ready and in the best position to strike. Designing sophisticated computer software to help direct attacks will be one of the goals of a new high-tech laboratory to be opened later this year in Melbourne. Incredible photos have emerged of a bouncy castle flying through the air at a race meet in Kalgoorlie on Sunday - fortunately with nobody aboard. Amazingly, nobody was injured when the bouncy castle was torn from its moorings and tossed more than 300 metres from near the main straight at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder race meet. There was a moment of panic when a Racing Gaming and Wagering steward dived into the inflatable castle and tried to deflate it with a rock when he saw what looked like a small child bobbing up and down as the inflatable took flight. It turned out to be a "pirate figure" in the castle. Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club CEO Tim Beaver said seeing the Jump 4 Us Party Hire castle airborne was "very scary". Minister: PLA to firmly protect maritime rights Updated: 2016-08-01 02:12 By ZHANG YUNBI(China Daily) Defense Minister Chang Wanquan speaks with foreign military attaches on Sunday at a reception in Beijing ahead of the 89th anniversary of Chinese Army Day on Monday. Xu Jingxing / China Daily The Chinese military will staunchly protect the country's maritime rights and interests and is "fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations", a senior military leader said on Sunday. State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan did not directly refer to the South China Sea situation, but tension there was heightened this year by increased US patrols and the arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China. Addressing a reception in Beijing marking the 89th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army, Chang said the PLA will "unswervingly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests including territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests". "It will always stand ready to be called upon and be able to fight and win," he said. In July, the PLA conducted two military drills in the South China Sea. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the increased US military patrols and joint drills with allies "have imposed military intimidation (on China) and fueled regional tension". However, China's recent drills in the South China Sea are "of a totally different nature," as the PLA drills in Chinese territory, while the US, an outsider to the region, covers thousands of miles to come to China's doorstep, Zhang said. Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said some senior US defense officials had made hard-line comments about the region recently, and Washington "will possibly continue its tough gestures". Reaffirming China's defense policy, Chang said the PLA will provide additional public security through enhanced participation in United Nations peacekeeping, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. Chang also touched on the cross-Straits situation by reiterating that "both the mainland and Taiwan are part of the one and same China". He said "adherence to the 1992 Consensus and opposition to Taiwan secession' is the political foundation for cross-Straits relations to develop peacefully". Taiwan's new leader, Tsai Ing-wen, has not directly reaffirmed commitment to the 1992 Consensus, which states that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China. "Secessionist attempts in any form by anyone at any time will never be accepted by the PLA, the 1.3 billion Chinese people or the Chinese nation as a whole," Chang added. zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn London: An Australian family living in Scotland faces deportation unless they can find a job before midnight on Monday, local time Tuesday morning in Australia. Kathryn and Gregg Brain launched a last-minute media blitz on British TV and radio, pleading for an employer to come forward so they can continue their life in Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. "We just don't know what will happen after midnight tonight," Mrs Brain told BBC radio Scotland. "Today we're just trying to hope and pray and employer will come forward. The next 24 hours we just don't know what will happen. "The wee boy has been an absolute trooper but it's been 15 to 18-hour days just trying to keep up with everything, plus trying to function as a normal family." For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser 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. Santa Clarita Fire 93% under control, as a third California fire breaks out near Fresno The big sur fire as seen from NBC's chopper BIG SUR, Calif. Firemen battled a massive wildfire near California's Big Sur that is threatening 5,000 homes and has burned for ten straight days. Meanwhile a third fire in Fresno County started and quickly spread, damaging homes as it grew to more than two square miles Sunday. The newer blaze had damaged some of the 300 evacuated homes in the area, but it wasn't yet clear how many, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The Soberanos blaze north of Big Sur expanded to 59 square miles Sunday night, Cal Fire officials said. The wildfire has destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings and is threatening 2,000 more structures. It was 15 percent contained Sunday morning. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling a wildfire, which killed a man operating a bulldozer as it worked the fire line. The blaze, about the size of San Francisco, has also scared away tourists who are cancelling bookings after fire officials warned that crews will likely be battling a wildfire raging in steep, forested ridges just to the north for another month. In Central California, the fast-moving Big Sur fire is being fueled by hundreds of dead trees amid triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidity that are expected to last for several days. Residents of the rural area surrounded by rolling hills told reporters they scrambled to evacuate with their animals as the wind-driven blaze swept through dry slopes. Fire along a Monterey County freeway "We watched it explode, coming across Old Millerton Road, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger," resident Dana Bays told KFSN-TV. The 2.3-square-mile wildfire started Saturday afternoon south of the town of Prather about 30 miles northeast of Fresno. The blaze was 5 percent contained Sunday, Cal Fire said. Highway 168, closed from Millerton Road to Auberry Road in Prather, reopened Sunday, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, crews had nearly surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes. That fire was 93 percent contained Sunday, nine days after it broke out in suburban Santa Clarita and spread into the mountainous Angeles National Forest, officials said. Authorities have not determined the cause. 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." California Also Has Former Prisoners Unable to Survive on the Outside A major shortcoming in typical US prison programs was highlighted by the seemingly bizarre behavior of 59-year-old Linda Patricia Thompson this week. Thompson walked into a US Bank in Cheyenne and handed the teller a cardboard note that said "I have a gun. Give me all your money." The teller turned over thousands of dollars. Back outside, Thompson threw some of the money into the air and offered the rest to passers-by, then she sat down and waited for the police. When Cheyenne police Lt. Nathan Busek arrived, he found Thompson still with a large sum of cash. "I just robbed the bank," she said, "I want to go back to prison" 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. Since then, Thompson has been homeless. Unable to find a space in a shelter, she suffered facial fractures after she was assaulted by strangers in a park. She decided to rob the bank on Wednesday because she felt she could no longer stay on the streets, court records say. Like many former inmates, Thompson left the Oregon prison with little more than the clothes on her back. She had been homeless when arrested in 2010, and had nowhere to go and no one to turn to upon her release six years later. In fact, she told investigators that she had informed the Oregon parole office that she didn't want to be released because she didn't think she'd do well. So-called "gate money" for indigent prisoners in Oregon is only $25, along with one outfit of clothing (if needed), and a bus voucher if no one is picking them up. Obviously, a person can't survive for long with $25, but that is not an unusually low figure for release funds anywhere in the country. California provides $200 (minus the cost of clothing), along with transportation to a shelter or a bus station, for someone who has been incarcerated for more than six months, and it is one of the more generous states. Given the impossibility of this financial situation, it is no surprise that many recent parolees are in such a desperate state that they return to crime. In one follow-up study, 75% of the released inmates became homeless within 30 days. Once homeless they are much more likely to stop reporting to their parole officer. A prisoner who doesn't already have an outside support system in place is more likely than not to fail. Even inmates who have built up a cash account at the prison by either working or receiving gifts from the outside may struggle to access that money. Typically, they are given a small amount from their account in actual cash, as little as $10, and the rest in the form of a check. If they do not have a current ID or someone to help them, they may not be able to cash that check. Possessions acquired within the prison system, such as televisions, are generally of low quality, and left behind to other prisoners. In fact, an inmate may not even take possessions with him or her if transferred from one facility to another. Some states will allow 30 days to pick up items left behind, but realistically those things are not available to pawn or sell. While a certain draconian segment of the population may think that parolees should continue to suffer in this way, common sense says that releasing people into poverty is going to lead to increased criminal activity. Most people would rather steal than starve. Programs that help inmates re-enter society are critical, but this need is only randomly met by a hodge-podge of government or private programs. Being specifically assigned to a half-way house reduces recidivism, as does job training or earning a college degree, but these can all be expensive projects. Many states feel they can't afford it. On a more basic level, help is needed just to navigate the complexities of a modern world on a few dollars a day. Many US prisoners have no money and nowhere to turn for help when they are released. Here in California, the "Ride Home Program" from the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in California employs former inmates to pick up ex-inmates on the day they are released to guide them through their first day in a changed world. The drivers spend all day with the released prisoners, helping them to buy them buy food, get a haircut, or find shelter. They offer advice on finding work, show them how to use a smart phone, and may even help them locate family members with Facebook or other social media. In other words, they reintroduce them to the culture. Former prisoners themselves, the drivers understand the shock that these newly freed men and women might feel. As for Linda Patricia Thompson, she didn't have the support she needed to escape from a desperate situation that included actual physical injury, so she had to find her own way out. Her detention hearing will be on Tuesday on a bank robbery charge, and she does not yet have an attorney. 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? Quortus expands into new HQ to support growing global demand Posted by Publisher Networking New location will cater for growing team and customer base at leading telecom software company Camberley, UK 1st August 2016 Quortus has today announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters and main engineering center to a state-of-the-art facility in Camberley, 50km south-west of London, UK. The new location will accommodate continuing growth of the Quortus development, support and commercial teams, as well as providing a presence close to London, the telecom research and development facilities at the University of Surrey, and the expanding cluster of high-tech, defense and critical communications companies in the area. Quortus delivers leading edge software which allows mobile network operators to offer innovative, more cost-effective services to businesses, consumers and government organizations. The company is at the forefront of developments in virtualization and so-called mobile edge computing, a technology that combines IT-style and cellular communications to enable faster, better tailored user experiences via the mobile network. Consistent year-on-year growth in our business has seen us outgrow our current location, said Andy Odgers, Quortus Founder and CEO. Thanks to the efforts of our experienced development team, weve established first mover advantage in key technology areas; and our determination to provide best-in-class customer support has seen headcount grow in that area, too. The new Camberley facility will provide an outstanding working environment for these expanding teams, who are absolutely key to our current and future success. Were now set up to move the company to the next level. The move to the new 700sqm (7500sqft) facility also offers the opportunity to significantly strengthen the companys IT infrastructure and lab testing capabilities, and provides improved demonstration facilities for the companys virtualized core networking products. As part of the local business network Quortus will offer the local community new job opportunities to support planned expansion in this high technology environment. Quortus new offices are located at: Building A Riverside Way Watchmoor Park Camberley Surrey GU15 3YL Tel: 01276 587 100 Battery Ventures Acquires Bluepoint Solutions, Merges Company With Alogent BOSTON, MA (Marketwired) 08/01/16 Battery Ventures, a global investment firm, has reached an agreement to acquire Bluepoint Solutions, a privately-owned, financial technology company based in Henderson, NV. Bluepoint Solutions will merge with Alogent, another financial technology company acquired by Battery Ventures in June. Together, the companies will create a dynamic check-image capture and document-management company focused across all segments of the banking industry. The combined companies will be headed by current Alogent CEO Dede Wakefield. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Bluepoint and Alogent have unique and complementary strengths serving the financial services industry, from Tier-1 banks to community banks and credit unions, said Dede Wakefield, CEO. The combination of Alogent and Bluepoint will infuse both businesses with additional resources to accelerate growth and broaden our product and service offerings. Bluepoints financial-software technology allows clients at over 1,400 credit unions and regional banks to deposit checks on-the-go, make payments online or from mobile devices, and access and sign documents electronically, away from a bank branch. Alogents software solutions provide global, Tier-1 banks the ability to electronically capture, process and analyze check data and images, including those captured on mobile devices. The merger of the two companies will allow them to share operational and technical knowledge, as well as extend their reach and expand their product offerings for the financial services community. This is great news for our customers and employees, as we now have a partner to help us pursue our growth potential, said Hal Tilbury, founder and former CEO of Bluepoint, who will serve as vice chairman for the combined company. I look forward to working with management to evolve the business and meet the long-term objectives for the newly combined companies. After closing our Alogent acquisition in June, it is exciting to make such quick progress in expanding our product portfolio with Bluepoint Solutions, said Russell Fleischer, a Battery Ventures general partner. As we enhance the platform, we will continue to invest in Alogents and Bluepoints technology, as well as seek out additional complementary companies with strong technologies. Battery is a longtime investor in financial technology. Active investments in companies that provide software solutions for the financial industry include: Alogent, Cortera, Earnest, IDI Direct Insurance, Istra Research, Panjiva, Precidian Investments, PrimeRevenue, Q2eBanking and TechProcess.* The combined companies will be headquartered in Norcross, GA, while Bluepoint will maintain the companys offices in Henderson, NV and Carlsbad, CA. Raymond James served as financial advisor to Bluepoint in the transaction. *For a full list of all Battery investments and exits, please click . Battery strives to invest in cutting-edge, category-defining businesses in markets including software, infrastructure, digital media and industrial technologies. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at stages ranging from seed to buyout and invests globally from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at and find a full list of Batterys portfolio companies . Bluepoint Solutions provides end-to-end payment processing and content management solutions to financial institutions nationwide. Over 1,400 credit unions and banks that have deployed its enterprise technology are successfully achieving their strategic goals of increasing employee productivity, reducing operating costs, enhancing performance levels, and meeting relentless technology and industry changes with resilience and excellence. Website: Alogent Corporation helps financial institutions reduce costs, increase transaction processing efficiencies, generate revenue, mitigate fraud and optimize the customer experience from any point of presentment in person, online or on the go. Alogent solutions have been successfully deployed and proven at some of the largest, most sophisticated financial institutions in the world. They provide exceptional scalability, usability, integration capabilities and control to financial institutions in support of enterprise image capture strategies. Alogent was formerly part of Jack Henry & Associates. Website: CONTACT: Alicia Halatsis Marketing Manager Battery Ventures 650-292-2046 Charleston Payroll and Human Capital Management Firm Appoints New Chief Operating Officer CHARLESTON, SC (Marketwired) 08/01/16 Charleston payroll and human capital management (HCM) firm AAP announces it has appointed as chief operating officer, effective immediately. In this role she will support AAPs team of professionals while helping to grow the company. Ms. Kacer has 25 years experience in finance, accounting and operational management. Prior to joining AAP, she spent 10 years in increasingly responsible positions with a McDonalds franchise in Central Florida, culminating in the position of CFO, at which time she oversaw operations of 24 restaurants with 1,500 employees. Janet has walked the walk. She brings not just operational experience but a proven record of streamlining operations and innovative thinking to help drive growth, said AAP president Andrew Osborne. She will be a great asset to AAP. Ms. Kacer is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management, ARETE Executive Women of Influence, and a passionate supporter of Ronald McDonald Childrens Charity. Ms. Kacer has relocated to Summerville, South Carolina, from Titusville, Florida, along with her husband and two children. AAP, celebrating its 20th year in business, serves clients in all 50 states, providing human capital management (HCM) services integrating payroll, human resources, time and labor management, and payment solutions to businesses. AAP provides secure solutions for a proficient payroll system with additional services handling workers compensation, 401(k) and flexible spending accounts, and health insurance as well as ACA compliance. Its corporate headquarters are in Summerville, South Carolina. For more information, visit . CONTACT: Sylwia Majewski Adamus 843.388.7982 Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER 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. When food is fodder for politics Updated: 2016-07-29 08:02 By Chris Peterson(China Daily Europe) What does the choice of cuisine say about a people? Listen to some of their famous leaders and you may find out It doesn't matter which political leader you read about, they've all used references to food over the years. Take Mao Zedong, for example. A native of Hunan province, he once berated a hapless Soviet official, saying: "You can't be a revolutionary if you don't eat chilies." He also famously came out with one of his oft-quoted sayings: "A revolution is not a dinner party." World War II leader Winston Churchill, as fond of his food as he was of his brandy and cigars, once rumbled: "It is as well to remember that the stomach governs the world." Not to be outdone, iconic French president Charles de Gaulle, who led his country through highly turbulent times in the 1950s and early 1960s, once despairingly asked: "How can I govern a country that has 246 different kinds of cheese?" Former French president Jacques Chirac, perhaps typifying the love-hate relationship that exists between France and Britain, was overheard in conversation with Russia's Vladimir Putin and then-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder saying of his British allies: "Of course, one cannot trust a people whose cuisine is so bad. After Finland, it is the country with the worst food." Hmmm. Well, moving on, as they say, I can't help but notice how a love of food and concern for health govern various cultures. My mother-in-law, bless her, is from Vietnam, and inevitably we will arrive at her house in Ho Chi Minh City after having eaten either on a plane or from a sumptuous hotel buffet breakfast, and the question is always the same. "Hello, Chris. Have you eaten?" It was only after several years that my wife explained that in Vietnam this was not an invitation to an immediate four-course meal, but the local equivalent of saying "Hello, how are you?" The same, it turns out, is true in China. You would no more answer that one with a long and detailed list of your recent ailments (at least, I hope you wouldn't) than I would answer my mother in law with "Oh, thanks very much, I will have a bowl of pho and some seafood, please." I should say, for the record, that I have enjoyed many a fine Vietnamese meal at the family home. Food, and the ritual surrounding it, plays a big part in various cultures. In China, as in Vietnam and other neighboring cultures, getting together with family or friends around a hotpot in a restaurant is a high point, socially. Doing business in Asia inevitably involves a more formal banquet. I've never forgotten my first formal Asian feast, when I arrived in Singapore as a young correspondent in 1972. The meal was given by the local Chinese newspaper owners, and after a huge banquet of assorted animal parts (or so it seemed), my neighbor leaned back contentedly in his chair and asked me what I thought of the Reuters office at the time in Singapore. It was located at an old villa on Peck Hay Road. A rather curious shape, the newsroom was located in the atrium and all the offices were located off a sort of circular gallery one floor up. "Yes," reflected my neighbor, who must have been well into his 80s. "Before the war that was the best brothel and nightclub in Singapore. Count the number of bathrooms." I think I mumbled a suitably astonished response and applied myself to the brandy that was now circulating. Fast-forward a couple of months and I found myself newly appointed as a correspondent in Saigon, capital city of the old South Vietnam regime. Every year, Cookie, our formidable Chinese amah, would usher us all outside for a couple of hours on All Souls Day while she and her acolytes constructed an enormous feast, pushing the desks together as a table. Only after the wandering spirits had their fill were we ravenous round-eyes allowed back in to eat and drink what was left. I think Mao was right - after eating that feast, none of us felt like starting a revolution. Just a nice, gentle siesta. The author is managing editor of China Daily European Bureau. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com (China Daily European Weekly 07/29/2016 page11) 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 The U.S. Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite System (DMSP)-19 satellite stopped accepting commands in February because of a power failure in the command and control subsystem. WASHINGTON A power failure affecting an encrypted command-and-control system on board the U.S. Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight-19 spacecraft is to blame for the loss of the two-year-old weather satellite, the Air Force announced July 25. The DMSP-F19 flight team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates all civilian and military weather satellites under an 1994 presidential directive, lost the ability to control the satellite Feb. 11 but continues to receive telemetry and some real-time weather data from it. The Air Force has given up on returning the satellite to normal operations. Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems and launched in April 2014, DMSP-F19 helped weather forecasters predict fog, thunderstorms and hurricanes that could have an impact on military operations. The spacecraft was the Air Force's newest weather satellite on orbit and had a five-year design life. "The satellite is not repairable and no further action will be taken to recover it," the Air Force said in a July 25 press releaseannouncing that its so-called satellite anomaly resolution team had completed its investigation. "The anomaly team determined there was a power failure within the command and control system affecting on board cryptographic equipment," the Air Force said. "Due to this failure, commands are unable to reach the command processor. Both the A and B side of the command and control subsystem failed, eliminating the possibility of commanding via a back-up command path." While NOAA operators are unable to control DMSP-F19, the satellite remains in a "safe and stable configuration" and continues to provide some real-time tactical weather data, the Air Force said. However, the quality of that data is expected to degrade as the satellite's pointing accuracy degrades and will eventually become unusable. Lauren Fair, a Lockheed Martin spokeswoman, said that as the prime contractor, the Sunnyvale, California, company was responsible for the subsystem. "We fully supported the Air Force's efforts to review the anomaly experienced by DMSP-19and continue to provide ongoing sustainment and operations for the constellation," she said in a July 25 email to SpaceNews. The DMSP constellation requires at least two primary satellites and two backup satellites to gather cloud imagery. As a result of the problem, the Air Force in February reassigned an older satellite, DMSP Flight 17, which launched in 2006 and had been serving as a backup, into a primary role. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. SpaceX's "Red Dragon" concept envisions using a Dragon spacecraft with only minor modification to land on the surface of Mars as a precursor to later human missions. WASHINGTON NASA estimates that SpaceX is spending on the order of $300 million on its Red Dragon Mars lander mission, a down payment on the companys long-term ambitions for human Mars missions. At a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's technology committee in Cleveland July 26, Jim Reuter, deputy associate administrator for programs in NASA's space technology mission directorate, provided an overview of NASA's agreement with SpaceX, announced in April, to support that company's plans for an uncrewed Mars landing mission that could launch as soon as May 2018. That agreement, in the form of an unfunded Space Act Agreement, does not include any exchange of funds between NASA and SpaceX. Reuter said NASA estimates it will spend approximately $32 million over four years, primarily in the form of NASA personnel providing technical support for SpaceX. About $6 million of that will be spent this fiscal year, he added. [SpaceX's Red Dragon: A Private Mars in Pictures] Asked by the committee how much SpaceX was spending, Reuter indicated that the company's investment was 10 times that of NASA. "They did talk to us about a 10-to-1 arrangement in terms of cost: theirs 10, ours 1," he said. "I think that's in the ballpark. Given NASAs investment, that implies SpaceX is spending around $300 million on Red Dragon. SpaceX has not disclosed its estimated cost of the mission, or how it will pay for it. "I have no knowledge" of how the company is financing the mission, Reuter said when asked by the committee. Reuter also provided some additional technical details about the mission. The Red Dragon spacecraft, launched on a Falcon Heavy, will be based on the Crew Dragon spacecraft SpaceX is developing for NASA's commercial crew program. Much of the capsules interior will be stripped out, including displays and environmental controls not needed for the mission. The unpressurized trunk section attached to the capsule will have more substantial modifications, he said, primarily in the form of solar array placement and thermal controls. NASA is providing expertise in several areas to support the Red Dragon mission. The agency has already provided landing site selection advice and engineering support, he said. Other support ranges from consultation on planetary protection protocols for the mission to the use of the Deep Space Network for communications with the spacecraft. NASA made this investment into supporting Red Dragon because it concluded the mission appeared feasible. "We determined there was a reasonable likelihood of their concept being a successful mission," he said. "We thought our expertise would enhance that." In return, NASA will gain access to data SpaceX collects during its landing attempt, which will use a technique called supersonic retropropulsion that the agency has identified as a key means to allow the landing of larger spacecraft on the surface of Mars. While NASA has landed spacecraft weighing about one ton on Mars, Reuter said Red Dragon will weigh 8 to 10 tons at landing. An alternative to Red Dragon, Reuter suggested, would be for NASA to fly its own technology demonstration mission to show how well supersonic retropropulsion works. "In this case, it would be the late 2020s or early 2030s" before such a mission would fly, he said. Data from Red Dragon could come a decade sooner and help inform NASA decisions expected around 2020 on its architecture for human Mars missions. That assumes, however, that Red Dragon will launch as planned in May 2018, something Reuter sounded skeptical about. "That's an extremely aggressive schedule, he said. The agreement with SpaceX, he said, does include milestones to allow NASA to judge how well the company is sticking to that schedule, starting with a "system mission discussion" near the end of this year. Reuter said that SpaceX has indicated that its Red Dragon work is a lower priority for the company than its other missions for paying customers. "Their first priority is ISS crew, the next priority is to meet all their other commitments for launch services," he said. "This comes after that." Red Dragon is, for SpaceX, only the first in a series of missions as part of the company's long-term plans for human expeditions to, and settlement of, Mars. Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of SpaceX, said at a conference last month that he plans to send missions on "every Mars opportunity from 2018 onwards," a reference to the launch windows that open every 26 months. The first human mission, Musk said then, could launch as soon as 2024, landing on Mars in 2025. Musk plans to disclose details about his Mars mission architecture in a September presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Reuter said there have been no talks with SpaceX about any NASA role on the companys Mars plans beyond cooperation on Red Dragon. "We've not had any discussions at all with them on that," he said. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. THAAD will destroy regional balance Updated: 2016-08-01 07:37 By He Yafei(China Daily) Protesters attend the rally to denounce deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) near the US embassy on July 13, 2016 in Seoul, the ROK. The ROK's defense ministry announced on July 13, 2016 that it will deploy the US military's THAAD anti-missile defense unit in Seongju county. [Photo/VCG] Despite the strong opposition of China, the United States and the Republic of Korea have agreed to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the ROK. Although the US claims THAAD is aimed at countering the "nuclear threat" posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea", it is actually targeted at China. Why is THAAD's deployment in the ROK strongly opposed by China? THAAD will undermine the regional strategic balance in East Asia and create more obstacles to the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. When the strategic balance of a region is broken, an arms race follows and regional disputes and conflicts intensify. The Korean Peninsula is one of the few places in the world where the fear of war is still real. The peninsula nuclear issue has been threatening security in the region for over a decade, and negotiations, including "the Six-Party Talks", to settle the issue have been stalled. In such a sensitive region, THAAD's deployment could open the door to a military confrontation. One way of rectifying the strategic imbalance is for the US and the ROK to rescind their agreement to deploy THAAD. The second way is for Beijing to strengthen its nuclear capability, for once THAAD is deployed in the ROK, major parts of China will be under its anti-missile system umbrella. The deployment of THAAD in the ROK is part and parcel of the US missile defense system in East Asia, a region of strategic importance to the US where it sees China challenging its "DLP" (dominance, leadership and primacy). The US has singled out China as the target for its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. And THAAD is an indispensable component of that "rebalance". John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard University recently published an article in Foreign Affairs outlining "rebalancing to Asia" strategy as a superior "grand strategy" to be applied seriously by the US in East Asia and Europe. These two neoconservative theorists have identified China as "likely to seek hegemony in Asia" and call on the US to undertake major efforts "to prevent it from succeeding". "Rebalancing to Asia" first calls for the US to "rely on local powers to contain China". Should that fail, the US may "have to throw its considerable weight behind them". THAAD is a case in point. The US' involvement in the South China Sea issuesupporting the Philippines in its political farce of seeking "international arbitration" and the exhibition of force by the US Navy and Air Forceis another example of its "rebalancing to Asia" strategy. The US is used to thinking and acting as a hegemonic power. But we live in an era of globalization where countries are more interdependent than ever. No country can be "balanced" or "rebalanced" away as the US wishes. As such, the deployment of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe and East Asia will hurt global stability. THAAD's deployment will worsen the divide in East Asia, where regional arrangements for economic growth are shaped with China at its core while regional security is assumed to be based on the US-centered military alliances. Should this contradictory situation develop further, neither regional economic growth nor security can be sustained. In short, THAAD is detrimental to the regional security of East Asia. No country can expect to achieve absolute security at the expense of other countries' insecurity. East Asia should enjoy peace and stability based on common and cooperative security. Therefore, the countries involved in the power game should reconsider their ill-conceived decisions in order to restore the regional strategic balance. The author is former vice-minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and former vice-minister at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Courtesy: Chinausfocus.com Khan parents chide presidential candidate Trump for lack of empathy Updated: 2016-08-01 22:47 (Agencies) Khizr Khan, whose son, Humayun S. M. Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving in the US Army in the 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, offers to loan his copy of the Constitution to Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump, as he speaks while a relative looks on during the last night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US July 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON - In a growing dispute between Donald Trump and the parents of a Muslim US Army officer killed in the Iraq war, the father said on Monday that the Republican presidential nominee lacked the empathy to be a leader and chided him for throwing the first salvo in their exchange. Trump responded simultaneously on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan's morning television appearances, saying he was being "viciously" attacked. Asked on CNN what message he could give Trump, Khizr Khan said he wanted to maintain his family's dignity and convey to Trump "that a good leader has one trait ... empathy." "It is basic character, realizing, feeling the pains, the difficulties of the people that you wish to lead," Khan said. "And that is missing." The issue has dominated the election campaign in recent days after Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, with his wife standing at his side. The Khan's son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2004, and the father spoke emotionally of the sacrifice his son had made for the country as an American Muslim, specifically criticizing Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. In response to the speech, Trump said Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some traditional Muslims. "There was no need to comment the way he commented," Khan said on Monday. "That initiated this conversation." Ghazala Khan wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday saying that she had remained silent during her husband's remarks to cope with making her grief public during the convention. The parents have appeared on television numerous times over the weekend and several leading Republicans have weighed in to express support for the family and to honor their sacrifice. The dispute is the latest in a series of missteps by the freewheeling, unorthodox campaign of Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected political office but who beat 16 rivals to become the Republican presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. He has made some deeply controversial campaign proposals, including the ban on Muslims and building a wall along the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. In interviews on Monday, the Khans spoke about their son and described the outpouring of support they have received during their very public exchange with Trump. Ghazala Khan said on CNN her family had always felt safe and protected as Muslims in the United States. MCCAIN'S DISAPPROVAL In response, Trump has tried to shift focus from the Khans. "This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the US Get smart!" Trump said Monday on Twitter. He has accused Mr. Khan of "viciously attacking him." On Sunday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said Trump had scapegoated the parents. Leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued statements in support of the family. Trump drew similar opprobrium a year ago when he said US Senator John McCain, who was taken prisoner for five years during the Vietnam War, was not a hero since he had been captured. McCain, a leading voice in the party on military issues, on Monday condemned Trump for disparaging a fallen soldier's parents, saying in a statement his remarks do not represent the views of "our Republican Party." In an open letter, nearly a dozen so-called Gold Star families - families who lost relatives in wars - said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology. "This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency," it said. "That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness.'" Shaheed El Hafed, August 01, 2016 (SPS) The Office of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front denounced Sunday Morocco's defiance of international legitimacy and Security Council resolutions, in a statement following a meeting chaired by Brahim Ghali, President of the Republic and Secretary-General of the Polisario Front. The Office called on the Security Council to stand firm against the intransigence of the Moroccan occupier and implement its latest resolution on the return of the civilian component of MINURSO so that it can fully exercise its functions and secure a timetable for the organization of a self-determination referendum for the Saharawi people. The meeting requested the United Nations to assume its full responsibilities and exert pressures and sanctions necessary to put an end to Moroccan illegal occupation of Western Sahara, dismantle the wall of shame that constitutes a crime against humanity. It condemned the repressive practices, harassment and military siege imposed by the Moroccan occupying state on the population of the Intifada of independence in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and southern Morocco. It noted the support of the Security Council during its briefing on Tuesday to the efforts of the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy and its call on the Kingdom of Morocco to engage in the process of negotiations to find a solution to the Saharawi-Moroccan conflict, and therefore the completion of the decolonization of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa. The statement criticized the "shameful" position of some countries known by its colonial past for their support to the Moroccan expansionist policy and their involvement in the looting of the wealth of the people of Western Sahara, a territory registered on the UN GA list of colonial countries and peoples waiting for their right to self-determination and independence. The meeting also reviewed a report about the deliberations of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning the case between the Polisario Front and the EU Council and Commission following the cancellation of the agricultural agreement concluded in 2012 between the EU and Morocco. In this context, the Office expressed conviction that Europeans will opt for law, legality and justice, in accordance with the values and principles of the EU in favour of protection the wealth of peoples and their inalienable rights to self-determination and independence. (SPS) 062/090/TRA Windhoek, 31 JUL (SPS) Human rights violation committed against the Saharawi people, illegal and shameful exploitation of natural resources by members of the European Union (EU) and Morocco's unlawful occupancy over Western Sahara must come to an immediate end. On Friday, the Pan-African Womens Organisation Southern African Regional Office (Pawo-Saro) led a demonstration of about 50 people to the offices of the United Nations (UN) here to hand over a petition to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Speaking during the handover, Pawo-Saro Regional Executive Secretary Mildred Nontobeko Jantjies strongly demanded an end to the insurgence of Morocco over Western Sahara. We demand an immediate stop to the continued human rights violations in Western Sahara by Morocco and the immediate release of all Saharawi political detainees, in particular the group of Gdeim Izik, said Jantjies. She also fumed at the glaring flouting of the International Court of Justices decision and numerous Organisation of the African Union (OAU), now African Union (AU), resolutions. She demanded a referendum be held by February next year for the people of Western Sahara to determine their own destiny in a ballot specified by a number of OAU/AU resolutions and the UN Security Council Resolution 690 of 1991. Resolution 690 0f 1991 amongst others resolved that a referendum of self-determination be held no later than February 1992. According to Jantjies, the world and some UN Security Council members chose to ignore the desperate pleas of the colonised and oppressed Saharawi people. Jantjies said Western Sahara is home to barely 500 000 people, many of whom live in despicable poverty as unabated brutal fighting at the hands of Morocco's' supremacy displaced tens of thousands of people, with some feared dead or wrongfully imprisoned for more than 35 years. Morocco and its allies should immediately stop plundering the Western Saharas natural resources. Members of the EU who are currently benefiting from Moroccos illegal exploits should cut off these shameful ties, she fumed. She also called for support towards Resolution 2218 of 2005 of the UN Security Council by the AU and its member states, the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S) of America. Jantjies also commended the UN SG for the bravery of giving an undiluted report on his findings upon a visit to Western Sahara recently. She said cooperation amongst member states of the EU and AU will ensure enhanced resolution to contribute to the stability and security in the Sahel region. Jantjies further demanded that efforts should be improved to keep all peacekeeping operations, including the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. The council must pursue a rigorous and strategic approach to peacekeeping deployments and effective management of resources in Western Sahara, she urged. UN Country Representative Kiki Gbeho received the petition on behalf of the UN SG and vowed to transmit it. I take note of your call for a political and peaceful solution to this challenge, and I promise to transmit this to the SG of the UN, said Gbeho. (SPS) http://www.lelamobile.com/content/63972/Pawo-Saro-demands-peace-and-stability-in-Western-Sahara/ 062/090 Bir Lahlou (Liberated Territories), August 1, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Brahim Ghali said Sunday that the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik" are leading today the peaceful resistance in occupied Western Sahara territories and in the south of Morocco." In a letter to Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik, the president of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also secretary-general of the Polisario Front, told them "you are writing history pages that will remain engraved in the collective memory of the Saharawi people, as you represent the best example of loyalty to martyrs." "Through your unmatched resistance and your defiance of the arrogance and tyranny of the Moroccan occupation authorities and your hunger strikes, you have stressed your refusal to submit to the colonizer despite all forms of abuse, torture and harassment." "Moroccan occupation authorities' tactics will not deceive Western Sahara people," President Ghali emphasized. They only "reflect the confusion of Moroccan torturers after they failed to break Western Sahara people's will." Morocco's new tactics, which "are aimed at prolonging the tragedy of Saharawi people," show "Morocco's failure," he said. Six years after the incarceration of 23 Saharawi of Gdeim Izik in Rabat-Sale and three years after they were given heavy sentences by a military court, the Moroccan court of cassation has referred the case back to the civil court. "Sending the case of the political Saharawi prisoners (of Gdeim Izik) to a civil court is recognition that their (previous) trial was illegal and as a result they should be set free." (SPS) 062/090/700 The cavalcade and display of machines old and new was staged by Culture Coventry to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the start of production of the iconic Ferguson TE20 tractor. In July 1946, the first Ferguson TE20 tractor, affectionately known as the Little Grey Fergie, rolled off the assembly line at its former Banner Lane manufacturing plant in Coventry in the UK. The tractor was the brainchild of engineer and inventor, Harry Ferguson, a founder of the present-day Massey Ferguson, one of the worlds foremost producers of farm machinery for global markets. The tractors for the event were brought together by the Friends of Ferguson Heritage Club. Led by a 20.3hp 1947 Ferguson TE20, equipped with a 2-furrow plough, and the mighty 400hp MF 8737 - the most powerful tractor in the current Massey Ferguson line-up - the procession wound its way through Coventry finishing at Millennium Place outside the Transport Museum. Unusually, it was not the familiar Massey Ferguson red livery for the MF 8737. Instead, it had been especially prepared by Massey Ferguson with striking black paintwork paying homage to the prototype Ferguson Black tractor of 1933 which was the first to incorporate Harry Fergusons pioneering ideas for a three-point linkage system to connect tractor and implement. In a tribute to the manufacturing legacy of the Banner Lane plant, Massey Ferguson named the black MF 8737 the City of Coventry. Seated in the cab for the duration of the parade was the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Lindsley Harvard. It was a marvellous event and wonderful to see this pageant celebrating the brilliant engineering of the Ferguson TE20 which changed the world of farm mechanisation. says Campbell Scott, Massey Ferguson Director Marketing Services (who himself drove a 1949 TEA20 tractor in the blue livery of Brighton Corporation). We are so proud of this superb legacy of practical and innovative technology which continues to inspire our design engineers and is at the heart of Massey Fergusons 21st century mission to produce straightforward, dependable equipment to increase the efficiency and productivity of farmers all over the world. Today, more than 200,000 tractors bearing our famous Massey Ferguson Triple Triangle brand are built every year for global markets. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WESTPORT Oscars Delicatessen, one of the last small businesses in downtown Westport and a cornerstone of Main Street, shut down Monday after 42 years of service. Owner Lee Papageorge is battling lung cancer in a New Haven hospital and was forced to close. The closure marks the loss of a community hub a place where Westport residents could get a quality pastrami sandwich and gather in a friendly environment. Sunday, hundreds of loyal customers, friends and members of the community came out to show support for their beloved deli on its last day of operation. In a Facebook post following the farewell event, Oscars said, Our family would like to thank all of our supportive customers. You held us up today, and we want to thank you for that. Papageorges brother, Luke, said Lee really didnt want to close Oscars and that Nobody else can keep it going. This was his domain. First Selectman Jim Marpe, who is partial to Oscars chicken noodle soup, would routinely grab breakfast at the deli while he waited for his daughter to finish her swim lessons at the old YMCA. Oscars was important to Westport because it was the embodiment of the small-town character that we all want to maintain for our community. Moreover, Lee Papageorge is a great example of the small business owner who is willing to go that extra mile to benefit the community, Marpe said. More Information Oscar's Sandwichs Corned Beef Hot Pastrami Tongue Turkey Smoked Turkey Roast Beef Baked Ham Imported Ham & Swiss Cheese Liverwurst Imported Swiss Cheese American Cheese Muenster Cheese Tuna Fish Salad Chicken Salad Lobster Salad Egg Salad German Bologna Chopped Liver Hebrew National Salami Hard Italian Salami Genoa Salami Hebrew National Hot Dog Hebrew National Knockwurst See More Collapse All of us who experienced the welcoming sense of community of Oscars as well as the great deli food will truly miss it. And our prayers and encouragement go out to Lee as he battles cancer in the coming weeks and months, Marpe said. Joe Canicatti, owner of Joes Pizza & Italian Restaurant on Main Street, was dismayed to hear of Oscars closing. Its really sad. Oscars has been there for a long time. He had a nice business there; really nice man and I feel really bad about his health problems, Canicatti said. He had a great business; it was really a landmark of Westport. He was loved by a lot of people. I used to love the pastrami. The best, Canicatti added. Luke Papageorge said his brother has a large support system and is prepared to fight the illness. He was here for 42 years and he has a lot of friends in this town and theyre all pulling for him, Papageorge said. @chrismmarquette/ cmarquette@bcnnew.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD A former White House attorney who nearly bludgeoned his wife to death with a flashlight wants to delay paying her a $30 million settlement. The attorney for Michael J. Farren asked Superior Court Judge Robert Genuario in Stamford on Monday to stop Mary Margaret Farren from collecting on a $28.6 million civil settlement until her clients U.S. Supreme Court appeal is heard. Michael Farren, 63, who served as an attorney for both Bush administrations, is serving a 15-year prison term at the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, for the attempted murder of his wife during a violent, prolonged and vicious domestic assault in their New Canaan mansion in 2010. The state Appelate Court upheld the civil jurys December 2013 decision. Farren, who is not due for release until March 2029, now hopes the highest court overturns the ruling. What he is trying to do is block further attempts to execute judgment, Mary Margaret Farrens attorney, Paul Slager said following the hearing on Monday. He has money in a variety of places and to stop any further efforts in that regard. Genuario said he needed a few days to reach a decision. Michael Farren did not attend the 15-minute hearing and was not present during the civil or criminal trials. Part of Farrens appeal focuses on him not being present for the civil trial. However, Slager has said Farrens legal shenanigans involved putting himself in Hartford Hospital for having suicidal ideations on the eve of the trial to avoid having to defend himself. The Appellate Court ruled the Stamford trial court did not know he had been committed to the hospital. His attorney, Emily Gianquinto, told the judge on Monday he had the authority to make a stay in the case until the U.S. Supreme court makes a ruling. But Slager, told Genuario he did not have the authority to delay his client from collecting the settlement. He said the Appellate Court already denied Farrens appeal and now his attorney is going behind the higher courts back. But Gianquinto told Genuario, Mr. Farren has exercised his right to take his appeal further. They lost that, Slager said. And they are essentially seeking to appeal the decision of the Appellate Court with your honor, which is wholly improper. Slager said Farren has been withholding the money from his client since the settlement was awarded more than two years ago. Based on the justice that happened here, this is one after the next, after the next, after the next, in a series of delays, Slager said. This is only the latest in a long string of attempted delays. Gianquinto said after the hearing Mary Margaret Farren has collected some of the settlement money, but she was not sure how much. jnickerson@scni.com; O f all the brilliant things about being on holiday - the endless free time and lunchtime drinking aside - its pretty damn great not to have to blow-dry your hair. But its not everyone who finds this a pain-free process. Witness Friends Monica Geller on the beach in Barbados. Yes, while that fresh-off-the-beach look is a brilliant one, add a shower and heightened humidity and your salty, carefree waves are all in a frizz. Clearly its not as straightforward as walking out of the house with wet hair. Rather, the trick to maximising the joy of the air-dry lies in packing the right essentials. If you think that without using styling products your hair will air-dry and look incredible, it wont, says Michael Lendon, Avedas advanced master creative director. Whether your hair is prone to frizz, it requires hold or you have curls that need some encouraging, only products will really make a difference - and be prepared to use more than one product, as they do different jobs. The right cut is also the foundation for great air-drying. As hairstylist extraordinaire George Northwood points out: A really solid haircut that relies on styling to look good is not best for air-drying, but a choppy, looser shape will air-dry in a more natural and cool way. The right climate is also key. Dont air-dry on really windy or blustery days or youll end up looking like youve been pulled through a hedge backwards, advises Northwood. Its best for hot, still days. He also acknowledges that it may not be the best solution for control freaks. It does give you quite a wild, undone look, so if you like a more polished finish then it will be a challenge, he says. If you like soft, wavy, natural hair, then it will work for you. It may sound obvious but a thorough towel-dry when you step out of the shower is the best way to start your air-dry. But theres a right way to do this too. Gently squeezing excess water out of the hair and patting it dry will really help to speed up the process, says Lendon. Its important not to rub the hair, though, as this will create unwanted frizz. Now for the products: crucially, avoid formulas which are heat-activated as they will be useless without a hot blast from a hairdryer. Bumble and Bumbles Dont Blow It (H)Air Styler (12, bumbleandbumble.co.uk) and Shu Uemuras Wonder Worker Air Dry Primer (22, shuuemura.co.uk) are both designed to smooth flyaways and give hair a natural, textured tousle without the need for heat styling, while O&Ms Surf Bomb Sea Salt Spray (19, selfridges.com) requires little more than a good scrunch for creating envy-inducing beach waves. If your hair is naturally curly, boost bounce with Philip Kingsleys Curl Activator (19, philipkingsley.co.uk) before piling hair on top of your head and wrapping in Bouclemes Curl Towel (25, spacenk.com) - an innovative wrap made with moisture-absorbing bamboo fibres to help soak up excess water and encourage curl formation. Air drying products - in pictures 1 /9 Air drying products - in pictures Morrocanoil Original treatment oil, 31.85 O&M Surf Bomb Sea Salt Spray, 19 Bumble and Bumble Dont Blow It (H)Air Styler, 12 Aveda Thickening Tonic, 20 Philip Kingsley Curl Activator, 19 Shu Uemura Wonder Worker Air Dry Primer, 22 Boucleme Curl Towel, 25 As for fine or straight hair types, skip the styling products in favour of formulas that smooth and nourish. Morrocanoils original treatment oil (31.85, moroccanoil.com) has long been a cult favourite for keeping dry tips hydrated in the heat, while a touch of Percy & Reeds Volumising No Oil Oil for Fine Hair (14, percyandreed.com) through the lengths will provide mirror shine. Lendon also recommends a thickening agent - such as Aveda Thickening Tonic (20, aveda.co.uk) - to help mimic the volume usually powered by a hairdryer. Finally, finish with a good blast of Redkens Wind Blown Dry Finishing Spray (13, redken.co.uk) to give your air-dry a weightless, windswept zhush. A mber Atherton the former star of reality TV series Made in Chelsea who set up online charm-jewellery retailer MyFlashTrash has sold the business to a Hong Kong buyer. The ex-model, who grew up in Hong Kong and developed the business out of a blog she began while at Benenden School in Kent, counts Cara Delevingne, Rihanna and the Duchess of Cambridge among her customers. The buyer is Hong Kong-based Nefertiti Group, which makes jewellery for the likes of Asos, Topshop, H&M and Zara. Founder Peggy Tang, who is understood to have paid almost 2 million for the business, said she wanted to take the company to a new level as a global power jewellery brand. The 25-year-old Atherton will retain a holding in MyFlashTrash but intends to focus on her new social media venture, named Brand Fan Girl. The Evening Standard understands that Lion Capital founders Lyndon Lea and Robert Darwent have retained their stake in the business. T wo of the worlds biggest companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Google, are teaming up to make what could be the human bodys smallest life-saving gadgets after signing a 540 million deal. Britains biggest pharmaceuticals firm, GSK, and Googles owner Alphabets Verily Life Sciences arm are injecting the money over seven years in their new joint venture. The new company will be based in Stevenage and marks Glaxos second major UK investment in a week in a week after pumping 275 million into three UK sites. Galvani Bioelectronics will create tiny, implantable devices that can modify the bodys nerve signals, potentially treating chronic conditions including arthritis, diabetes and asthma. Embedded electrical devices are already used in the human body for heart pacemakers and, in the brain, to help Parkinsons disease. GSK, whose chief executive Sir Andrew Witty has been trying to move the drugsmaker beyond white pills and western markets, believes it has a head start over its major rivals in bioelectronics. This is the science of developing medicines using electrical impulses rather than chemicals or proteins, which it began researching in 2012. Verilys investment is part of Googles latest attempt at branching out beyond search. Verily is already working on a smart contact lens with an embedded glucose sensor to monitor diabetes. The new company will be in Stevenage with a second hub in San Francisco, initially employing around 30 scientists, clinicians and engineers. GSK will own 55% of Galvani and Google the rest. Moncef Slaoui, GSKs chairman of global vaccines, said. Bioelectronic medicines vision is to correct the irregular patterns found in disease states, using miniaturised devices attached to individual nerves. Business Secretary Greg Clark said the deal was a significant victory for UK business and our global leadership in life sciences. A lmost half of companies in the capital are concerned about a looming hike in business rates, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned. The organisations snapshot of more than 500 businesses found that 44% of respondents were worried over the potential revaluation of business rates due to be announced in October rising to 55% among those employing 10 or more people. Since 2010, nationwide business rates have been calculated using the much higher, 2008 pre-recession property values. But while rents in London have recovered from the crash and risen further, they have stagnated across the rest of the country. The revaluation basing rents on April 2015 levels from next year, is likely to massively increase the burden on companies in the South. According to research by Colliers, 324 of 431 UK retail centres will see a decrease while 76 all in London and the South-East face rises. LCCI chief executive Colin Stanbridge said: The Government must ensure that implementation is done transparently and in consultation with the capitals local businesses who are stumping up, or we run a very real risk of businesses shutting up shop and moving out of London. The organisation also found that 42% of businesses said they were unsure if giving more control of business rates to London local government would have a positive impact on them. Stanbridge added: While LCCI welcomes the devolution of business rates in principle and recognises the role that businesses can play to fund infrastructure that benefits their locality, the Treasury needs to outline how reforms will work in London. The Standard is calling for a revamp of the business rate system. B ritish Airways owner IAG hit some turbulence today as Qatar Airways came good on a promise to buy a bigger slice of the group. Shares in IAG, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, have lost almost a quarter of their value since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Qatar Airways said it had spotted an attractive opportunity to increase its holding from 15.67% to 20.01%. The Doha-based carrier first invested in IAG in 2015 and is keen to exploit the groups presence in the US, but the stakebuilding will fuel concern about its influence over IAG. Qatar Airways has already ruled out seeking a board seat at IAG and today reiterated its interest was purely financial. Boss Akbar Al Baker also reassured with an expression of support for IAGs strategy and management and said there were no plans to hike the stake further unless there were material changes to the current situation. Still, IAG shares tumbled 4.2p to 401.8p, making it one of the blue-chip indexs top fallers. The fTSE 100 was 13.54 points higher at 6737.97 as traders shrugged off Goldman Sachs gloomy assessment on equities. The investment banking giant cut its three-month rating on equities to underweight after its risk-appetite indicator turned neutral, suggesting markets are more vulnerable to slower growth and policy disappointments. Leading the Footsie gainers was Anglo American, up 35.7p at 866.2p, after UBS upgraded its earnings forecasts. T-shirts-to-sugar manufacturer Associated British Foods, which was reclassified as a buy rather than hold by Deutsche Bank, was close behind with a 78p gain to 2769p. Winner: Primark-owner Associate British Foods / Luke MacGregor/Reuters Testing group Intertek was on the losing side after failing to impress with first-half organic revenue growth of just 0.5%. Its shares sank 57p to 3568p. Likewise, supermarket Morrisons fell 4.5p to 181.3p following a fresh round of price cuts. It dragged rivals Tesco and Sainsburys with it, dropping 2.45p to 153.6p and 1.8p to 222.4p. Elsewhere in retail, clothing chain French Connection withstood growing pressure from activist investor Gatemore Capital Management and the shares edged up 0.75p to 42.3p. The shareholder, which owns 8%, wants French Connection to ditch its FCUK brand and to shake up management to catch up with the likes of Ted Baker and SuperGroups Superdry. On Aim, bakery and ingredients firm Real Good Foods slipped 3.5p to 31.98p despite returning to profit after selling its sugar division. S ir Steve Redgrave today urges us to get behind the stars of Team GB as they prepare for the Olympic Games in Rio, which open on Friday. It is apposite that the call should come from one of Britains greatest Olympians, a man who knows not only about the excitement of international competition but also the sacrifices that top sportsmen and women make in the pursuit of excellence. This time around, Team GB has been set stiff medal targets by UK Sport: to achieve the mark of 48 would make the 2016 Olympics our most successful overseas Games ever. And there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Mo Farah, who so memorably won double gold in London four years ago, is in prime form and expectations are high that he can defend his titles even without the benefit of a partisan crowd roaring him on this time. Jessica Ennis-Hill is also out to repeat her glorious performance of 2012, while rising stars such as sprinter Dina Asher-Smith will enthral a new generation of Olympic-watchers. And thats just on the running track Chris Froome, Andy Murray and Charlotte Dujardin are among others going for gold. For the organisers, the opening ceremony will come as a relief. The months leading up to this years Games have been dogged by controversy, with concerns over the Zika virus and delays to infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Russian doping scandal has left the International Olympic Committee reeling. Thank goodness, then, that sport is about to take centre stage. And for anybody wondering whether the Olympic spirit remains intact, the appearance of a 10-strong refugee team under the IOC flag is proof to the positive. Fair rates for business The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) warns that nearly half of London companies are worried about the revaluation of business rates due to be announced in October. In the past six years, rates have been calculated using pre-recession values. A reappraisal against 2015 rent levels would help other parts of the country but has the potential to hit London hard because rental values here have continued to rise since the economic crash. In these challenging, post-Brexit times, it is the last thing London firms need to contend with. As Rohan Silva says on the page opposite, establishing a start-up or running a business is highly stressful. Perhaps as a result of that, entrepreneurs have an unrivalled ability to meet whatever obstacles are put in their way. That is why, amid some hysterical postulations of economic woe after the EU vote, most businessmen and women have simply rolled up their sleeves and got on with it. But that isnt to say they dont need a helping hand, and the impact of a hike in the business rates they pay must be considered very carefully. Colin Stanbridge, the LCCIs chairman, has called on the Government to ensure that the planned revaluation is conducted in a transparent manner, which is the least business-owners can expect. Rates must be fair, but also be seen to be fair, so London can remain the great centre it is for entrepreneurial excellence. Our Progress 1000 Olympic stars and top entrepreneurs have a shared motivation: progress. That is the theme of the Standards annual list of the 1,000 most influential Londoners, to be announced next month. Our particular focus this year is on maths, science and technology, all fields in which London excels. But in every sector from infrastructure to the arts, politics and sport we will celebrate those who by their endeavour are driving London forward. T heres a good deal of hem-hemming going on over the leak of nominees for David Camerons resignation honours list. Shock! Prominent Remain campaigners and party donors such as Ian Taylor and Andrew Cook, whove each bunged the Tories north of a million quid are up for knighthoods! Horror! Four Cabinet ministers who campaigned against Brexit are headed the same way! You know what? I think thats fine. Good, in fact. There is a long tradition suggesting that this is what the honours system is actually for. Why shouldnt party donors and loyal political footsoldiers get a knighthood or two? The honours for sale scandal ignores the essential, glorious fact that honours are intrinsically worthless. A mere escutcheon, as Falstaff would put it. They pay a million quid; you give them a fancy name. Theres a case not at all a bad one for political parties to be publicly funded in a modest way. But that case is not, in general, being seriously made. None of the main parties fancies it, and even well-wishers will be able to imagine the legal wrangling, the workarounds, the nightmarish negotiation that would involve. So, living in the world were living in where politicians are, like Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, dependant on the kindness of strangers what is the least bad way to reward them? The honours system looks, to me, like it. I mean, put it this way: would you rather a billionaire wrote a cheque to a politician and got a favourable tweak to legislation in consequence, or that a billionaire wrote a cheque to a politician and got three letters before or after his name in consequence? Honours row: Isabel Spearman (right) has been recommended for an OBE after helping Samantha Cameron with her diary and outfits for various engagements / PA The honours system is essentially free, means nothing much, and as the continued existence of Sir Philip Green underlines is moving in the direction of being actively satirical. When I was at my posh public school (I went groan, sigh etc to Eton) I marvelled at the efficiency with which potential troublemakers were co-opted. All the coolest and most popular boys were elected to a prefect body called Pop (standing for popular). They all longed for this distinction because it allowed them to wear grey rather than black trousers, and coloured waistcoats. In exchange for being allowed to peacock thus, they would spend hours on a Saturday night standing on Windsor Bridge in the rain to apprehend younger boys sneaking to the pub. They regarded tedious duties as a privilege because the authorities had pandered to their vanity, the big idiots. So it is with honours. Peerages, which give you a seat in the legislature, are another issue. But knighthoods, CBEs, MBEs, KCMGs and all the rest of it here are harmless baubles that flatter donors at no cost to the public purse and at no cost to the integrity of our law-makers. Whats more, they tend to act as red flags, happily identifying the vain and silly and their relationship with their political patrons. Coloured waistcoats. Bought and sold. Thats transparency, of a sort. If legislative favours are also on offer, its going to be that much more obvious to those of us sitting in the peanut gallery. If the choice is between selling influence and selling flattery, in other words, Im for the latter. Change the law or burger off Theres a huge campaign being waged where else? on social media to boycott the burger chain Byron. This pains me because on the one hand I would like to be right-on, but on the other hand I very dearly love Byrons double chilli burgers, and the way to my heart is through my stomach. Byron stands accused of having dobbed in a number of illegal immigrant employees to the Home Office, and making the latters work easier by rounding up those employees under the guise of a health and safety meeting in order to have them deported. Thats a sneaky trick, admittedly. But the laws the law. If people are working on fake papers, we cant be surprised if the Home Office wants them out and that employers might feel its sensible and, yes, right to co-operate. If you dont like the law, campaigning to change it is a better use of your energies than launching a hamburger embargo. Now: chilli burger. Nom nom. If you need a joke, you can discover the Trump Factor Its starting to dawn on even those optimists among us that Donald Trump is in serious danger of becoming the most powerful man in the world. A sober and careful weighing of his strengths and his shortcomings yields a physical result: you go rigid with horror. I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilisation, his ghostwriter told The New Yorker, using the word excellent excellently. We may as well fiddle while Rome burns. I was tipped off this week to an algorithmic analysis of his rhetoric at untrumpit.com. Paste in his latest speech and itll calculate a Trump Factor: The higher the number, the greater the distance from the Gettysburg Address. Ha ha. We gets our yuks where we can, right? The best festival for the middle aged and idle I spent a lovely weekend at the Port Eliot literary festival in Cornwall, where I chaired three first-rate writers: Max Porter (Grief is the Thing with Feathers), Geoff Dyer (White Sands) and Alexander Masters (A Life Discarded). Port Eliot is a great festival: small enough that you can walk from one end of it to the other in 10 minutes or so, which is good for the middle-aged and idle. Nor do you much fear having stuff stolen from your tent. Its civilised. Or semi-civilised, at least. Four chefs did a panel event where they were more or less too drunk to speak; another distinguished writer was sick on his publicist. My main takeaway from the weekend, anyway, was that the food writer Tom Parker Bowles is the dead spit of Fry from Futurama. Spread the word. " We have imported a monster, and this monster is called Islam, Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch far-Right Freedom Party, said this week. His anti-immigrant party currently has a strong lead in the opinion polls. Following the slaughter of European citizens in recent weeks by Muslims who have pledged allegiance to IS or who have taken inspiration from jihadist propaganda, there exists almost a sense of inevitability in the rise of far-Right populist parties exploiting the prevailing sense of fear and insecurity. Far-Right sentiment can also lead to its own deadly end, as we have seen: 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly, who lured teenagers into a McDonalds in Munich and then gunned them down, was a far-Right extremist who believed it was a special honour to share a birthday with Adolf Hitler. Extremists of both the Islamist and far-Right variety have more in common than divides them. They both yearn for a final clash of civilisations. They hate our democracy and liberal values. They detest a society where different views and faiths can co-exist peacefully. ISs call on Muslims to commit acts of terror have an underlying motive to polarise and divide our societies and wipe out what IS calls the grey zone of co-existence. Establishing its so-called caliphate, IS seeks to divide the world into two. The land of Islam includes those Muslims who have pledged allegiance to ISs caliphate; this is ranged against the land of disbelief, made up of non-Muslims and those Muslims who reject the Islamist worldview and as a result are declared apostates. There is no doubt that these acts of terror have changed the political discourse in Europe and the United States. Far-Right narratives are seeping into the mainstream and hate crime across Europe is on the rise. Yet when Wilders calls for a ban on Muslim immigration that would de-Islamise Europe, rhetoric that would have been unthinkable in the decades after the Nazi Holocaust, he and others on the far-Right spectrum help form the binary world IS seeks to create. Donald Trumps xenophobic language about Muslims, which no respectable politician would have used up till now, is another prime example. The common inference by such divisive language is that every individual who adheres to Islam is a terrorist in the making. If we are going to prevent a dangerous drift into the politics of hate dominating across the West, then Western societies have to re-think the national discourse about their Muslim citizens, who can be the most powerful ally in defeating the threat from global Islamism. The greatest threat to IS are Western Muslims who reject its call for jihad and strive to build peace, security and co-existence in their respective countries. As IS targets Jews, Christians and others, it can be easy to forget how IS hates Muslims who dont subscribe to their worldview. IS killed hundreds of Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan this year. It has slaughtered anti-Islamist Muslim clerics. Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the truck-driving killer in Nice, was no doubt indifferent when he claimed his first victim, 62-year-old Fatima Charrihi, who was walking with her family on the promenade. Hers is one of many such stories Muslims being the main victims globally of Islamist-inspired terror. We have a vested interest in ensuring that our society does not become more polarised. The political class must work alongside those British Muslims who are actively countering the Islamist worldview and who are striving for a future based on compassionate co-existence to ensure this appalling and deliberate strategy is not realised. This means rejecting outright the arguments of populist rhetoric from Wilders, Marine Le Pen and Trump, and also taking on the insidious ideology of Islamists, both violent and non-violent, without the fear of political correctness or worrying about causing offence. We must also reach out to young people and confidently counter the arguments and worldview that have prepared the ground for terrorist radicalisers to operate. This is of paramount importance; there are third-generation European and British Muslims some as young as 13 who desire to live in IS territory and who believe the measure of a good Muslim is ones hatred for the West. British Muslim youth must be shown in clear terms that it is not the West that is the enemy; it is Islamist extremism which forces them to reject their multiple identities, their future careers, their own families and universal human rights. Politicians and wider society must recognise these nuances as opposed to the distorted image offered by Islamist propagandists. That particularly applies to the Left, where some have got into bed with Islamist-sympathising groups that have no interest in Western Muslim integration. These groups push a constant victimhood narrative where Britain is portrayed as an inherently Islamophobic society that seeks to destroy Islam and deny Muslims the freedom to practise their faith. This conspiratorial view is being pushed aggressively, and it is vital that public institutions work with Muslim groups trying to counter this toxic narrative. Whether in communities, in universities or on social media, it is vital we counter the arguments of Islamists, otherwise an uncontested space is left open and their message will be taken as truth not just by Muslims but well-intentioned young activists who oppose racism and prejudice. Countering the appeal of Islamist extremism is not an impossible task. There are Muslim civil society groups doing vital work in cities and towns across the UK challenging Islamist extremism and preventing radicalisation. These Muslim voices present a thorn to IS but equally an uncomfortable truth to those such as Wilders and Trump. And in the fight against Islamist-inspired terrorism those British Muslims who are countering Islamism and championing human rights are our natural allies. At this juncture when global Islamist extremism seeks to destabilise societies, we should strive harder to become even more united in our shared values to defeat the extremists who want to divide us. Sara Khan is co-director of Inspire and author of The Battle for British Islam: Reclaiming Muslim Identity from Extremism, co-authored with Tony McMahon. It will be published by Saqi Books on September 5. F ree Fire, the much-anticipated action thriller from British director Ben Wheatley, will close this years BFI London Film Festival. The movie, tipped to be one of the biggest releases of 2016, will receive its European premiere on Sunday, October 16 at the Odeon Leicester Square the closing night gala of the capitals largest festival of film. Set in Seventies Massachusetts, it stars Brie Larson, who won the best actress Oscar this year for Room, Cillian Murphy, Sam Riley, District 9 star Sharlto Copley and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.s Armie Hammer. In the film, Justine (Larson) organises a meeting between two Irishmen (Murphy and Michael Smiley) and a pair of arms dealers (Copley and Hammer). When a weapon goes off during the handover, chaos ensues. Wheatley, who was born in Essex, has received critical acclaim for his occult horror film Kill List, black comedy Sightseers, psychological thriller A Field In England set during the English Civil War and his recent adaptation of J G Ballards High Rise. He and his wife, Amy Jump, co-wrote Free Fire. Of having his film close the LFF, he said: I am still trying to get my head around it. I was told and I was like, Oh, thats good. Then I looked at the other films that have closed it in the past and was like, Oh wow, okay thats bloody brilliant. It is a huge honour. Its nice how it has grown over the years too after Sightseers was screened at the festival then High Rise last year which was so well received and now this. I am very much massively looking forward to it. It is the icing on the cake of a brilliant year for me. He said he was working on new projects and recently completed a music video for Radiohead. The last film to be screened on the gala night, which cast and crew attend, was Danny Boyles Steve Jobs. The 60th London Film Festival, which continues its partnership with American Express, will take place at venues across the capital from October 5 to 16. This year, the LFF and the British Film Institute, in partnership with watchmakers Schaffhausen, have launched the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmakers Bursary Award. The 50,000 prize money will go to an outstanding British writer, or director, whose first or second fiction feature film premieres at the festival. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout T he Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick has announced plans to move into a new building. The move is part of wider plans to redevelop Queens Yard, a creative hub that is also home to the Live Art Development Agency, sustainable fashion company Everything in Colour and the UKs first ever dedicated tank bar, the Howling Hops. The Yard Theatre is known for being the starting point for work that goes on to make a huge impact on the cultural scene. Michaela Coels Chewing Gum began life there before it became an E4 series, and Alexander Zeldins play about zero-hour contract workers, Beyond Caring, was performed at The Yard before moving to the National Theatre and a national tour. Initial plans for the new building include an expansion of seating, new offices, and a new bar. Executive Director Lucy Oliver-Harrison said that The Yard would be working with developers to ensure that grassroots cultural activity continues to thrive in Hackney Wick. The Yards Artistic Director, Jay Miller, said that it would make their work more accessible to both local and national audiences, and allow them to continue long-term support for new artists. This is the beginning of a process that we anticipate will take some years to complete, he said. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout A nton Chekhov has made quite an impression on the theatrical canon and if you go to the National Theatre this summer, hell make quite an impression on you. Its possible to see three of Chekhovs plays all in one day, so its good news for anyone who is in need of an extravagantly long sit down, but also for anyone who wants to see some of the most critically-lauded drama ever made. After charming audiences at Chichester Festival Theatre last summer, director Jonathan Kent and playwright David Hare are bringing their Chekhov trilogy to the National, a series of plays that charts the Russian playwright's early career. If youre not sure why everyone has been banging on about Chekhov for so long, or who he even was, then let us explain. He was a pioneer of psychological realism in drama Chekhov made it his business to explore the human condition on stage, creating characters with entire histories and inner lives. Often the characters are weathering disappointments and unfulfilled expectations, as well as confronting changing social structures. His childhood was difficult Chekhov, who was born in 1860, described his upbringing as infected by despotism from his father, who was physically abusive. His father was an Orthodox Christian who fled to Moscow when he was declared bankrupt, meaning the family had to live in poverty. Chekhov stayed behind to finish his education and became responsible for his family, sending money to them to support them. He practised as a doctor for his whole life Chekhov once said that medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. Throughout his career as a physician he often treated people for free. He began writing just to nab some cash Chekhov wrote short stories and sketches under pseudonyms so that he could send money home to his family. After his writing was noticed, he began to be offered more money and more space in newspapers, and won the famous Pushkin Prize in 1888 for his short story collection At Dusk. He was a much nicer landlord than youd get these days When Chekhov bought the Melikhovo estate in 1892, he organised relief for the local peasants when cholera and famine broke out, and also built three schools, a fire station, and a local clinic. His career in the theatre was rocky He wrote his first play, Ivanov, in a fortnight, and described the experience as sickening; the first production was disaster and the actors forgot their lines. He turned his back on the theatre again when The Seagull opened to a hostile reception and was booed by audiences. It's now widely recognised as his masterpiece. Fortunately his fall out with the stage was only temporary he went on to write some of his greatest works: Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard. He wasnt keen on marriage Chekhov had a stellar reputation with the ladies as well as with the critics. He was known for his many affairs, and although he did marry actress Olga Knipper in 1901, they lived largely in separate cities. Chekhovs gun has become a lasting principle in drama Remove everything that has no relevance to the story, Chekhov once said. He believed that a writer should not have a rifle hanging on the wall in the first chapter if it was not going to be fired later in the story. His death could have been a scene from a play According to Chekhovs wife, he sat up in bed and said Im dying in German despite knowing almost none of the language. After being calmed by the doctor, Chekhov took a glass of champagne and said, its a long time since I drank champagne and drained the glass. He lay back down and died. Find out more about the Young Chekov trilogy at the National Theatre website. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout H arry Potter fans who werent able to get their hands on tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child wont have to wonder any longer at the fate of Harry, Hermione and Ron, as a book version of the script has just been released in the UK. The script, written by Jack Thorne, catches up with the characters 19 years after the book series ended, and promises to answer many of the questions Potter fans were left to ponder over the subsequent years. J K Rowling has been keen to keep spoilers at bay for super fans, leading a #KeepTheSecrets hashtag online - although details of the plays script have been leaked online ever since it launched at the Palace Theatre in London in July. Want a taster of whats to come? Here are three of the most interesting things we learnt from the new book. Read on at your own risk, Potter fans. Warning: spoilers ahead Harrys son is sorted into Slytheryn In one of the most shocking twists of all, Harrys second son is sorted into the most loathed of Hogwarts houses. And once hes sorted into Slytherin, he quickly ditches Rose Weasley and makes best friends with fellow housemate and Draco Malfoys son, Scorpius. The two boys bond over the pressures of having famous fathers and a rumour that Scorpius real father may be none other than Lord Voldemort. Could this be the book series most unlikely friendship yet? Watch this space... The play is on at the Palace Theatre / PA Hermiones career dreams come true as shes appointed Minister of Magic Hogwarts smartest witch has risen the ranks of the Ministry over the past 19 years, ascending from head of the Department of Magical law Enforcement ot the highest position of all - Minister of Magic. The promotion means the wizarding world has its first female, muggle-born minister at the helm. As for Harry? Hes now the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and in a throwback to their time at Hogwarts, drives his boss, Hermione, crazy by not doing his paperwork on time. Harry Potter And The Cursed Child opening 1 /6 Harry Potter And The Cursed Child opening Dave Benett/Getty Images Dave Benett/Getty Images Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange have a daughter named Delphi Yep, He Who Cant Be Named has a legacy at Hogwarts in the form of unsuspecting Delphi. Shes first introduced into the story as Amos Diggorys niece, but we soon find out that shes actually Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestranges secret daughter who is plotting to help her father rise to power once again. Time Turners are back and play a big part of the new story, thank to former Slytheryn student Thedore Nott who is found with an illegal device in his possession. As you can imagine, this leads to lot of time traveling adventures and the climax of the plot finds both Albus and Scorpius and their parents at one of the most pivotal scenes in the entire franchise - at Godrics Hollow as Voldemort is about to murder James and Lily Potter. Do they intervene with the course of wizarding history? Well, we wont spoil that one for you Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle R ussian designer-turned-author Vasily Klyukin warns against the encroachment of Big Tech on our private lives in his new novel Collective Mind, a gripping dystopian thriller in which artificial intelligence threatens to rob mankind of its creativity. Klyukin conceives AI not as an army of vengeful robots but as the Collective Mind, a vast server full of the harvested memories and intellects of millions of ordinary people. Such a powerful resource, though useful in curing the worlds ills, comes at a price. Creativity donors, people who willingly give up their intellect for cash Klyukin calls them Happies live out their days in a state of bland contentment, devoid of imagination and unable to break the placid conformism enveloping this future society. Collective good is weighed against the importance of individual expression as the protagonist, Isaac Leroy, a barman, rubs up against the corporations bleeding humanity of its brain power. Isaac identifies within himself a reckless streak that puts him at odds with the conformist culture, and together with a dynamic assortment of spirited youngsters, he rises to strike against the parasitic tech conglomerates bleeding humanity dry. Klyukin worries that advanced technology will lead to a new age of primitiveness as humanity divests itself of the guile that made such progress possible in the first place. But for all that Collective Mind is steeped in ideas, it remains pacey and propulsive right to the final page. Comparisons with Orwell and Bradbury are inevitable, but Klyukin insists that, unlike those sci-fi titans, the subject of his anxiety is not where society is heading but how it is now. W e may have avoided the Prosecco drought, but let's not take our chances. There is another way to fuel your love affair with Prosecco: Riosecco. Ready for Rio 2016, M&S has launched Riosecco; a crisp and refreshing sparkling wine from Brazil. If you weren't already excited for the Olympics, you will be now. Made in the same way as Prosecco is in Italy, Riosecco is produced in the Serra Gaucha region of Brazil where the famed Glera grapes thrive on the hillsides. What could be better than sipping on Brazilian fizz while you watch Mo Farah whizz around the track? Jeneve Williams, M&S Winemaker, said: Its a light, easy drinking sparkling, perfect for a picnic in the park or popping at a party. Tasting of peach, apricot, and citrus flavours, this tipple will certainly keep the autumn blues at bay a little while longer yet. Riosecco is going for 12 for two bottles until September 5, so we won't blame you for stocking up while you can. Riosecco is available at M&S stores now or online at www.marksandspencer.com Follow us on Twitter @eslifeandstyle L ondoners are obsessed with transport we apparently spend 350 hours a year getting to and from work. Thats the equivalent of more than two weeks. But there are some futuristic technologies under development in research labs across the world that could transform the daily grind for the capitals commuters. Here is what the journey of the future looks like. Vacuum packed Driverless trains could become a reality. We already have the DLR and Victoria, Jubilee and Central line Tube trains already have the ability to drive between stations and stop and start automatically the driver is there to ensure passenger safety. Further ahead, the future of trains is magnetic. Japans maglev trains reach close to 370mph because they use carefully designed magnets to keep their trains floating above steel rails. But researchers in California believe they can make them even faster. Hurtling through the air at high speeds takes a lot of energy, so theyre attempting to build a maglev train that travels through huge vacuum tubes. If theyre successful and its very early days these trains could travel at close to the speed of sound, taking you from London to Edinburgh in 20 minutes. Electric dreams A growing number of buses on Londons roads are hybrids, using both an engine and an electric motor to power them. But as efforts to reduce emissions in the city centre pick up pace, were likely to see a wider move to fully electric buses. A charge-while-you-drive system is being trialled in Gumi, South Korea. As an electric bus interacts with magnets buried in the Tarmac, a receiver on each bus converts this energy into an electric current, charging the batteries. Foldable headphones - in pictures 1 /6 Foldable headphones - in pictures Beats by Dr Dre Solo 2 Wireless Bluetooth Headphones A rose gold hue and matte finish make this a perfect choice for the fashion pack. The Solo 2 headphones offer strong bass tones, a built-in mic for hands-free phone calls and memory foam earpads. 225, Currys, Buy it now Bowers & Wilkins P3 Foldable Headphones If youre looking for a smart option, then this incredibly sleek pair from British brand Bowers and Wilkins are right up your street. Its square-shaped earphones fit snugly over ears, while the impressive noise cancellation makes them worth the hefty price tag. 170, Mr Porter, Buy it now Sennheiser PX200-II On-Ear Headphones The lightweight PX200-II is a great bang-for-your-buck option if youre on a budget, but still want some high-quality headphones. These on-ears feature flexible cups that can be turned up to 90 degrees and a tough steel-reinforced headband. 69.95, John Lewis, Buy it now Sony MDRZX310 Foldable Headphones Slim, sleek and colourful, this stylish option from Sony is powerful yet easy on the wallet. Its 30 mm drivers ensure you never miss a beat and theres a choice of four other colours. 15.85, Amazon, Buy it now AKG K451 Headphones Not only is this pair compatible with iOS Apple devices, but it also offers well balanced sound and a closed-back design for easy storage. A hard carry case and detachable cables are also included. 44.99, Amazon, Buy it now But perhaps theres an even better solution. Hydrogen fuel cells in cars produce their own electricity by continuously combining oxygen gas (from air) with hydrogen gas (made using excess energy from wind turbines). These cars still need to refuel their hydrogen tank but, unlike vehicles powered by petrol or diesel, they emit only water vapour. Currently there are only three hydrogen refuelling stations in London: at Teddington, Heathrow and Hendon. But with six major car brands now manufacturing fuel-cell vehicles, more stations will be built, leading to cleaner air for everyone. Free wheeling As more people get on their bikes, the city is becoming more cycle- friendly. A system being trialled here uses radar and thermal cameras to detect the presence of cyclists sitting at a junction. Where high numbers are present, it can adjust the traffic signal immediately to make the green light last longer for cyclists. More trials are planned, and if successful, London will become the first city in the world to give cyclists an official head start. Similar technologies are gradually being rolled out for pedestrians too, giving large crowds longer to cross the road. The city is becoming more cycle- friendly / Shutterstock Walk it, baby Imagine you could generate electricity just by walking along a Tube station platform. The idea may not be as far-fetched as you think. Paving slabs and floor tiles that harvest energy are under development now. These tiles produce enough electricity to power lights or ticket gates. They are being trialled at Heathrow Airport. Give it the red light US scientists recently found that by continuously communicating with each other, driverless cars could speed through junctions safely no green lights needed. Self-driving buses are currently being tested on public roads in the Dutch town of Wageningen, so watch this space. Air max The air we breathe will also get an upgrade. By planting more trees in London, well cool the city, reducing the use of air-con. Trees also absorb huge quantities of carbon dioxide this inspired researchers in Canada to develop a giant wall of fans that can do the same thing, especially for areas where trees cant grow. Another air-cleaning tech is titanium dioxide. Tiny particles of this chemical can be applied to billboards, roof tiles, paving slabs and building facades. In the presence of light and oxygen it purifies air by breaking down pollutants and transforming them into much cleaner compounds. Follow Laurie Winkless on Twitter: @laurie_winkless Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis, by Laurie Winkless, is out on August 11 (16.99, Bloomsbury Sigma). I ts late, dark and desperately quiet. All I can hear are trees gently combed by the breeze, while a lone bat skillfully navigates the void. At this time of night the village of Valdemoros remains shrouded in mystery. Come morning, its a different picture. The view from my window reveals an enchanting, Disney-esque landscape dappled in sunlight that seems to have Instagram set firmly in its sights. They call it Green Spain but the verdant trees and pastures of Asturias are only part of the spectrum. Its not difficult to see why artists are drawn to this area. Asturias feels like real Spain. Thats not to say Andalucia and its southern heat are less authentic but theres more to the country than brain-frying sun and refried calamares. Up on the northern coast between Cantabria and Galicia, fanned by Atlantic winds and bolstered with fertile soil, this stretch of land encompasses the beach-strewn Costa Verde, smart towns and a wild interior that belies its diminutive size. Its the scale and diversity of Asturias that appeals. With a car and three days to spare you can slice through the region, soak up most of its highlights and sample a unique guest-house culture thats far from the madding crowd. And with new flights that launched from London earlier this summer, the region is even more accessible than ever. Torre de Valdemoros is one of a number of farms and grand houses branded as Casonas Asturianas that have been revamped into hotels. Its a quiet, recuperative kind of place, much like the region itself, dominated by a 15th-century stone tower and bags of rustic eye candy. Think boutique medieval with a calm, modern accent. Owner Manolo is as genial as his property, offering advice on the area while serving up the perfect breakfast. This is not the fast life, he says, squeezing oranges, but its a good one. I make a pilgrimage to Figueras del Mar, a nondescript town on the Galician border thats home to the Palacete de Penalba, a lemon fondant fancy of a building designed by Gaudi protege Angel Arbex. Now a luxury hotel, this remarkable confection is a standout example of Modernista Indianos, a wild combination of Art Nouveau and vintage Latino thats as exuberant as that sounds. The stunning rock formations of Playa de las Catedrales / Alamy Built as show homes by wealthy Spaniards returning home from Cuba and Argentina, Indianos properties are a feature of the area, even those that stand half derelict are somehow more beguiling and beautiful because of it. Im so close to Galicia at this point it seems churlish not to visit the jaw-dropping Playa de las Catedrales. But Asturias soon lures me back. It looks like a more extreme version of Cornwall: pointy, pixie-like and full of intriguing spots including fishing harbours such as Viavelez, with its solitary bar overlooking a dark green sea. The countryside is relentlessly beautiful but marred at points by factories pumping out noxious smoke. At times it feels like the Swiss Alps by way of Sheffield but theres more green than grey, and colour lurks around every bend. Hotel Torre de Valdomoros Although touristy, I cant resist visiting Cudillero, often cited as one of Spains prettiest towns. A steep decline down a windy road reveals a platoon of tall timbered houses, as if Puerto Rico has been reimagined by Baz Luhrmann. Undoubtedly attractive, it becomes packed in high summer, and the abundance of cafes, although empty today, bears this out. Im fed by a weary-looking woman more interested in Candy Crush than pale-faced day trippers. Its dead, she says, gesturing to the lack of customers as she serves up a plate of fabada, a thick bean stew livened up with chunks of black pudding. Theres no point lingering in Aviles, except to see its one significant feature. The Centro Niemeyer hits you like a giant space-age jellybean a tour de force from Oscar Niemeyer, the architect behind many of Brasilias most iconic structures. The melding of art and industry worked well in Bilbao but this fantastically ambitious project housing a concert hall, cinema and virtual landing strip seems slightly adrift. Fans of Joe 90, Pierre Cardin and Moonraker will eat the place up but Aviles as a town needs to be equally appetising. I push on towards Ribadesella, a genteel whisper of land that was once the summer getaway of Spains Princess Letizia. Its split between a manicured beach and jolly harbour where locals play cards and the headstrong drink cider like tap water. The comparison is especially apt when you discover how its dispensed poured from a great height, often a little clumsily. Centro Niemeyer, in Aviles / Carlos Sanchez/REX Sticky of foot, I walk down a private beach and lay my hat at Villa Rosaria, a huge Addams Family-style affair that takes the Indianos concept to new heights. The room looks straight out to sea, and waves crash in like a saline lullaby. On a mornings drive through the Picos de Europa, mountain peaks are topped by snow, while golden calves with eyelash extensions knock out disco percussion with their cowbells. Its nature with knobs on and a welcome rest before urban life beckons. Theres a distinct rivalry between Gijon and Oviedo, only 19 miles apart, but they couldnt be more different. Gijon benefits from a city beach but lacks the good looks of Asturiass capital. Perhaps its the large student population spilling out of rock bars but its a world apart from Oviedo, where civic pride, history and wealth prevail. This is apparently Woody Allens favourite Spanish city. But dont let that put you off. No one can lay claim to Asturias, its far too set in its ways. The best islands in Europe - in pictures 1 /13 The best islands in Europe - in pictures 1. Santorini, Greece Rex 2. Mallorca, Spain Rex 3. Madeira, Portugal Rex 4. Crete, Greece Rex 5. Tenerife, Spain Rex 6. Rhodes, Greece Rex 7. Gran Canaria, Spain Rex 8. Corsica, France Rex 9. Jersey, Channel Islands Click through to see which other destinations made the list... 10. Capri, Italy Rex Details: Asturias Iberia Express (00 34 913 894 375; iberiaexpress.com) flies from Gatwick to Asturias. Hotel Torre de Valdomoros (00 34 985 645 264; torrevillademoros.com) offers superior doubles from 100, room only, and the Torre Suite from 278. Hotel Villa Rosario (00 34 985 860 090; hotelvillarosario.com) offers doubles from 219, including breakfast. Spanish Tourist Office (00 44 207 317 2011; spain.info). T wo girls sunbathe on the deck; one holds a carefully positioned book, the other nonchalantly drapes her foot in the swimming pool. An inflatable gold swan drifts past, while over at the pools glass edge a beefed-up bro composes the perfect selfie overlooking the river. Moored on the Left Bank, at Quai dAusterlitz, Off Paris Seine is clearly attempting to become the French capitals hottest new address and it seems to be working. Opened in June, its Pariss first floating hotel; though more boxy than a boat, it has a touch of the catamaran about it, with two rows of rooms stacked over two levels, connected by a sky-lit corridor. There are 54 rooms, ranging from entry-level Left and Right Bank Rooms (with views of the concrete quayside or the river respectively) to the larger Horizon Suites and top-level Designer Suites. The decor across the lower categories is chic, minimalist and mostly monochrome, with touches of dark wood. In the Designer Sunset Suite orange is the only colour youll find, while the Designer Silver Suite is decked out in mirrors and muted tones, with the exception of the yellow bath. My boyfriend and I were in a Right Bank Room, which felt a little too small for two more like a cruise ship cabin than a hotel room. The lack of space made rummaging through two suitcases a bit of a challenge, though there are some clever storage solutions, including an overhead shelf, which I might have used if Id been staying longer than one night. Despite its size, the room is light and bright, with a generous window from which to admire the river and the pleasure boats drifting past. A glass-fronted shower room lets you make the most of the view. The Right Bank Room A little more information wouldnt have gone amiss in our room there was no printed material or tablet with details on the hotel, and no minibar menu, which left us wondering whether its contents were free (we asked, and theyre not). As well as being a hotel, Off is a bar, open to the public, with two glass-walled rooms (ideal for checking out the view over a sundowner), separated by the lap pool and deck; downstairs theres a separate smoking area with more tables. On the Saturday night we were there, the bar was packed with a sophisticated crowd sipping cocktails. Theres no restaurant but the bar serves very tasty tapas, including cod croquettes and little gem lettuce with a cheese sauce. The minimalist lines of the Designer Silver Suite The neighbourhood The area around the hotel the 13th and 5th arrondissements is on the up. Gare dAusterlitz, one of Pariss major stations, is having a revamp, while next to the hotel is La Cite de la Mode et du Design (the City of Fashion and Design). Also called Les Docks, this eye-catching former storehouse, with its serpentine green frontage, has been converted into galleries, rooftop bars and restaurants. On the other side of Off youll find LAsile, a makeshift bar and grill set within a few trailers, with waterfront seating. Youre also short stroll away from Jardin des Plantes, with its manicured flower beds and zoo, while a half-hour walk along the Seine will bring you to tourist sights such as Notre Dame Cathedral. Further afield, in the 2nd arrondissement, director David Lynchs club Silencio serves wines and cocktails in surreal surroundings. Members only before midnight. Off Paris Seine, 20-22 Port dAusterlitz, Paris, France (00 33 1 44 06 62 65; offparisseine.com). Doubles from 160, room only. Eurostar (eurostar.com) serves Paris from St Pancras, from 29 one way. A Londoner who killed his parents had been arrested and bailed for chasing a stranger with a knife just days before, an inquest has heard. Ashraf Amrani, 30, was on bail when his body was discovered on a first-floor roof in Westbourne Park Road on February 13 last year. When police went to inform his parents the following day, Hassan, 72, and Zohra, 59, they were found dead at their flat, which was on the same street. An inquest into the deaths at the Royal Courts of Justice heard that police found Hassan Amrani fully clothed in a bath in the upstairs of the flat with a stab wound to his liver. His wife was found lifeless in the foetal position in a downstairs bathroom with a bag over her head. A post-mortem examination determined she had been strangled and her head had also received blunt-force trauma. Police described finding the property covered in blood which was "consistent with a struggle" and found a knife on the bedroom floor. Their son had a "significant" head injury and what appeared to be a number of self-inflicted wounds when emergency services reached him, with a post-mortem finding he died from injuries caused by a fall. Coroner Bernard Richmond QC said in his opening: "There is no suggestion that anyone other than Ashraf Amrani is responsible for the killings." On February 10 2015, Amrani had been arrested on suspicion of affray, having reportedly pursued a stranger through the street with a large knife, the court heard, but was taken to St Mary's Hospital after falling ill from having taken ecstasy. He was released on street bail - when a suspect is bailed without being taken to the police station - and left hospital the following day. Witness statements from neighbours, friends and colleagues spoke of how Amrani had been acting in an unsettling manner on the week of his death, with several speculating that he was on drugs. One friend, Trevor Brown, said in a statement how Amrani had visited his house on February 11 and acted in a threatening way, at one stage taking a knife out of a kitchen drawer and pacing around. Victim: Zohra Amrani Another friend recounted how Amrani had once flown into a rage and attempted to throttle him. Neighbour Catarina Feliciano said she was left frightened when she walked past Amrani on February 12. She said in a statement: "He looked like he wanted to kill me - he looked like he was about to kill someone or me." Amrani had served several years in jail after being convicted of rape in 2010 and his relatives spokes of how he felt "shackled" by his licence conditions, which had forced him to move in with his parents. His brother-in-law Jalil Essbai told the court Amrani "never felt he did what he was convicted for". Asked when Amrani started using drugs following his release from prison, Mr Essbai said: "When he started to find it difficult in life, when he couldn't find work and couldn't support himself - about a year after he came out of prison." Amrani had a history of drug abuse and traces of cannabis and MDMA were discovered in his system after he died. His family had sought to get him psychiatric care in the past and his GP said he had reported suicide attempts. The court was also told how Amrani's "volatile" relationship with his mother had forced her to leave home to stay with relatives at times. A tribute from Tohfa Amrani, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Amrani and the sister of Ashraf, was read to the inquest. She spoke of how her mother lived her "for others" and how her father was a "unique" man and passionate cook. She added: "I feel so sorry for my brother and all he suffered." It ended: "The words 'I miss you' are not enough." Additional reporting by the Press Association. T he mother-in-law of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestones was today freed in a dramatic raid by armed police after being snatched by kidnappers demanding a 28 million ransom. In emotional scenes, Aparecida Schunk wept as she was embraced by relatives following nine days in captivity with her abductors in Brazil. The 67-year-old mother of the tycoons Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi was abducted from her home in Sao Paulo by the suspects who posed as delivery men. Her ordeal was brought to an end apparently without a ransom being paid after police officers stormed a hideout in the nearby city of Cotia last night and found Ms Schunk tied up. She was overcome with emotion as she hugged family and friends waiting outside. She issued a warning to prospective kidnappers as she was freed Speaking briefly before being led away, she said: I just ask that the crooks do not kidnap anyone else in Sao Paulo because they will be arrested. Sao Paulos elite anti-kidnap division traced her to the house in a rundown neighbourhood after investigators monitored phone calls between the kidnappers and the Ecclestone family. Neighbours said officers broke down a door to rescue her and no shots were fired. Officers said two men were arrested at the hideout amid reports police were still hunting other members of the gang, including the alleged ringleader. Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police said the ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid. Mr Ecclestone, 85, married Ms Flosi, 38, in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The pair live in the UK. The tycoon is the UKs fourth richest person with an estimated 3.2billion fortune, and one of the most powerful people in sport. It is understood he had wanted to come to Brazil to help in the investigation and had even offered the services of a private security company to deal with the kidnappers. But police told him that his presence in Brazil might be counterproductive and advised him and his wife to remain in the UK. The arrested men were named locally as Vitor Oliveira Amorim and Davi Vicente Azevedo. The men had reportedly seized Mrs Schunck from her home in Interlagos, Sao Paulo, close to the Brazilian Grand Prix venue before making off in two cars. Using only part of the number plate, police were able to track her down to Cotia, where they monitored until until last night, when they launched a rescue bid just after 6.30pm. In the meantime, the kidnappers were in contact with the Ecclestone family. The property where Ms Schunck was found is divided into five flats. The owner of the house said his wife had not stopped crying since she found out that Ms Schunck had been held right under our noses. He said one of the suspects arrested on Sunday had started renting the flat three months previously and had told him he worked nightshifts. He said he had recently gone to the one-bedroom flat to check on the state of the kitchen but had been told by his tenant: Dont go in there, my girlfriend is in there. Ms Schunk was kidnapped on July 22 and her captors had apparently asked for the 120 million reais (28 million) to be paid in pounds sterling and divided into four bags of cash. Mr Ecclestone was previously married to Croatian model Slavica Malic, the mother of socialites Tamara and Petra. The couples undisclosed 2009 divorce settlement estimated at more than 594million is one of the largest in UK history. As Brazil counts down the days to the Rio Olympics which start on Friday, security has emerged as the top concern, including violence possibly spilling over from the citys slums. Fears for the safety of athletes have also been raised after two members of the Australian Paralympic sailing squad were robbed at gunpoint. Paralympic sailor Liesl Tesch and team official Sarah Ross were confronted by two men while riding their bicycles in at Rio park in June. One of the men was carrying a pistol and the women were robbed of their bicycles. Authorities have said they will be prepared for possible violence and that some 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling the streets during the competitions. Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars. A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer. T wo housing wardens responding to a complaint about anti-social behaviour on an estate were beaten up by a hooded youth. Two Circle housing wardens approached a group of youths on July 6th on Swains Road in Tooting after complaints about anti-social behaviour. After being confronted, both of the wardens were attacked and left badly bruised. One of the wardens was unable to return to work for a few days due to the injuries sustained in the attack. Appeal: Police are urging anyone with information to come forward / Merton Police A Merton Police spokesman said: "The male (pictured) who was with others, attacked two wardens who were responding to complaints about anti social behaviour. "The male assaulted both victims leaving one unable to work for a few days due to the injury." Merton Police has released images of the suspect on their Facebook page in a bid to identify him. Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 1408172/16 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A schizophrenic knifeman was today sentenced to life in prison after going on an Islamic State-inspired rampage at a Tube station. Somali-born Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted strangers at random in the ticket hall at Leytonstone Underground station in east London on December 5 last year. He grabbed fellow passenger Lyle Zimmerman and tried to behead the 56-year-old musician after they travelled on the same train from Stratford to Leytonstone, where Mire lived alone in Sansom Road. One onlooker shouted at him: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv", after he declared he was going to "spill blood" for his "Syrian brothers". Smali-born Muhiddin Mire, jailed for life today The former Uber driver launched the assault in response to British bombing of Syria, swinging wildly at four commuters who tried to intervene. Judge Nicholas Hillard QC, the Recorder of London, today ruled Mire was acting as a terrorist as he sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum of eight-and-a-half years, consigning him to Broadmoor mental hospital until he is fit to be transferred to prison. Mire has a history of mental illness and psychosis, including the paranoid belief that he was being persecuted for his religion and stalked by MI5 and MI6. He was previously described by a prison psychiatrist in court as a very severe high risk to the public who needs to be kept in high-security premises. Muhiddin Mire had a history of mental illness The judge praised the heroic actions of Londoners who tried to help Mr Zimmerman. These included Serena Valori, security guard Andrius Sabaliauskas and lift engineer David Pethers who narrowly avoided being stabbed by Mire during the violent rampage through the tube station. Muhiddin Mire, 30, tried to behead a musician in Leytonstone station Another victim, Daniel Bielinski, jumped out of the way of Mire's blade, then started to film the incident while calling out warnings to others and urging bystanders to call the police. Junior doctor Matthew Smith helped save Mr Zimmerman's life by attending to him until paramedics arrived, while another bystander Louise McGuinness repeatedly called out for Mire to stop the attack, and only fled when he turned and chillingly told her: "You're next". "It would have been very easy to continue one's journey on, but that did not happen", said the judge. "I commend them for the courage and presence of mind each of them showed." Judge Hilliard also praised the police officers who "carried out their duties in extremely frightening circumstances." Mire's actions, on December 5 last year, were initially classed as a terrorism, coming just three weeks after 300 people died in IS-inspired attacks in Paris. However, during his trial for attempted murder and four counts of attempted wounding, evidence emerged of Mire's fragile mental health over the last decade including repeated spells in hospital. He has suffered from paranoid delusions and psychotic episodes, believing Tony Blair was his "guardian angel" and he was being followed by security service spies. Mr Zimmerman was carrying a mandolin and a guitar when he was attacked by Mire on his way through the tube station ticket hall, and told the court he felt "lucky to have survived this attack". Horrified eyewitnesses saw a wide-eyed Mire sawing at his neck with a bread knife for at least 15 seconds, muttering "Allahu Akbar" and telling Mr Bielinski: "If you are in Syria, they bomb you." He had images of Fusilier Lee Rigby and British Islamic State (IS) executioner Jihadi John on his mobile phone, along with material linked to IS. Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said: "This was a revenge attack in retaliation for what had happened in Syria. "It can be no coincidence that he carried out the attack three days after Parliament had voted to extend the bombing campaign against ISIS to territory in Syria. "The evidence clearly establishes that the motive underpinning this attack was that bombing campaign in Syria. That was at the very forefront at his mind." Judge Hillard said: "I'm sure the defendant did have an independent interest in extremism which led him to embrace it - his interest in ISIS and terrorism went back to the end of 2014. "The extremely serious offence that the defendant was intent upon was designed in all the circumstances to intimidate at least a section of the public who were there to witness what he was doing. "This was not carried out in secret, but very brazenly indeed. It was carried out to advance a religious and ideological cause." Somali-born Mire came to the UK as a young boy but began having paranoid psychotic episodes in 2006 when he was first admitted to hospital. He moved to Leytonstone in 2011, taking jobs as an Uber taxi driver and a council estate caretaker but he was forced to give up work because of anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. He missed an appointment with a community mental health worker four days before the attack because he was suffering from paranoid delusions that he was being followed by MI5 and MI6 agents. Mire, of Sansom Road, Leytonstone, will be held at maximum security Broadmoor mental hospital until he is well enough to be moved to a prison to finish his sentence. He was flanked by medical professionals and guards in the dock at the Old Bailey during sentencing, displaying no emotion as he was led away to the cells. T he daughter of late Labour peer Lord Janner's has described child sex abuse allegations against him as "grossly unfair". The peer, who died aged 87 in December, is alleged to have abused youngsters over a period spanning more than 30 years dating back to the 1950s, with offending allegedly taking place at children's homes and hotels. But his daughter Marion Janner said her father was the only person to be "picked out" in the allegations and insisted he is "entirely innocent". "Anyone can say anything because there's no cross-examination so people can say whatever they like without being properly challenged," she told ITV News. She said the people making the claims will be "automatically believed". And she told BBC Newsnight: "It's an outrage. It's an absolute outrage," "Now dad is dead and so there's not the possibility of the other side of the story being heard. "It's the people making the accusations' word against a corpse, which doesn't work - it cannot be just, it cannot be right." Hearings into the allegations against Lord Janner are due to take place in March next year. An examination of claims linked to the late politician is one of 13 investigations launched by the public inquiry, which is set to last for five years. The inquiry will consider whether there were institutional failures to protect children, with bodies including Leicestershire County Council, the police and the Labour Party set to come under scrutiny. T his is the moment a woman hurled goods to the ground in front of shop staff in an apparent racist rant outside a grocery store in east London. CCTV footage shows the woman throwing items from a delivery across the pavement and into the road outside the shop in Bethnal Green. Police said the woman began shouting racial abuse and hurling drinks at staff at the Fresh Go store in Roman Road, after they refused to sell her alcohol because she appeared drunk. She is said to have blocked the doorway and prevented customers from entering, while demanding she be allowed to buy spirits. Appeal: Police want to speak to this woman in connection with the assault / Metropolitan Police When the staff stood their ground, she shouted racial abuse at them and began trashing the delivery before walking off into Palmers Road. Police were called to a report of a racially aggravated assault at the store at about 12.15pm on June 26. Officers today released the CCTV footage to try to identify the suspect pictured. The suspect is described as a black woman in her mid-20s, large build, 5ft 5ins tall with black, shoulder length hair and black rimmed glasses. She wore wearing a grey t-shirt, black trousers, white trainers and a chequered shawl. Police are keen to hear from anyone who may recognise or witness the woman shown on CCTV. Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 218809 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Y oghurts sold in five supermarkets have been recalled over fears they could contain pieces of rubber. Yeo Valley, which manufactured the products, has urged Asda, Co-operative, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose to remove a selection of yoghurts from their shelves. The Food Standards Agency warned the companies that they posed a "possible risk to health". The yoghurts include supermarket-own brands such as Asda Fat Free Cherry Yoghurt, a four-pack of Sainsburys Basic Fruit Selection Yoghurts and Tesco Finest Strawberries and Cream Yoghurt. Some snacks from The Collective Dairy brand may also be affected. The affected dairy products from Asda include: Asda Extra Special Scottish Raspberry West Country Yogurt (150g); Asda Fat Free Red Cherry Yogurt (450g); Asda Fat Free Red Cherry Yogurt (four pack); Asda Low Fat Coconut Yogurt (450g); Asda Low Fat Lemon four pack Yogurt; Asda Low Fat Lemon Yogurt (450g); Asda Low Fat Mango & Passion fruit Yoghurt (450g); Collective Dairy Wild Blueberry Yoghurt (150g); Collective Dairy Wild Blueberry Yoghurt (450g). Tesco: Tesco Finest Strawberries and Cream Yoghurt (150g); Tesco Low Fat Coconut Yoghurt (450g); Tesco Low Fat Lemon Yoghurt (450g); Collective Dairy Wild Blueberry Yoghurt (150g). Co-Op: Co-op Rise and Shine Greek Style Yogurt and Raspberry (160g); Co-Op Strawberry and Raspberry Low fat Yogurts (four pack); Co-op Truly Irresistible Limited Edition Mango, Brazilian Orange and Coconut Yogurt (150g). Sainsbury's: Sainsbury's Basics Fruit Selection Yogurts (four pack, two strawberry and two peach); Sainsbury's Basics Strawberry Yogurt (125g). Waitrose: Deliciously fruity raspberry low fat yogurt (125g); Fragrant creamy Scottish raspberry yogurt (150g); Multipack Deliciously fruity low fat yogurt (four pack, two strawberry and two raspberry); The Collective Dairy wild blueberry yoghurt (450g); The Collective Dairy Wild Blueberry Yoghurt (150g). Customers who have bought any of the yoghurts are advised not to eat them. They can return them to the supermarket where they were purchased for a refund. C rowds of protesters gathered outside a branch of Byron in Holborn this evening amid a continuing storm over an immigration sting. The chain closed its Holborn restaurant ahead of this evening's demonstration after 1,300 people said they planned to attend. It comes following claims that Byron enticed migrant workers into some of its London restaurants so they could be caught by Home Office officials. Police stood guard outside the venue this evening, as crowds of protesters gathered on the pavement outside. Many held up placards with the words "No one is illegal". One person even carried a cardboard cutout of Paddington Bear carrying a sign reading: "Migration is not a crime." At one point, a chant went up of: "How do you like your burger? Without deportation." Others yelled: "No burgers, no nations, stop deportations." Student Alex Bradbrook told the Standard: "I came along because I was really disgusted with the way the workers were treated by their company. "To be lured to a training session only to be deported,without being able to say goodbye to their friends and their lives in the UK, shows such a lack of compassion and humanity. "I accept they were here illegally but this was unnecessary and brutal." A statement was read to the crowd from a chef working in a Byron restaurant who had been taken away "in the most brutal way" and has been deported. It read: "It made me feel like I never had before. My heart was completely broken about everything. "They destroyed my family. We were a family but they took some piece of me. Demo: An activist carries a cutout of Paddington Bear / Lucy Young "I've been crying loads and loads thinking about them. I was like, 'Oh my God, look after them'. "I can't do anything but pray. It was really horrible." Byron had earlier pleaded with protesters to respect the safety of customers and staff after activists said they released thousands of insects into the burger chain's Central St Giles and Holborn branches on Friday evening. The company claims it had carried out right to work checks on migrant staff and says it was unaware that any of their workers were in possession of counterfeit documents. Byron said in a statement: "In response to the recent Home Office investigation, we would like to reiterate the following. "Byron was unaware that any of our workers were in possession of counterfeit documentation until the Home Office brought it to our attention. "We carry out rigorous 'right to work' checks, but sophisticated counterfeit documentation was used in order to pass these checks. "We have cooperated fully and acted upon the Home Office's requests and processes throughout the course of their investigations: it is our legal obligation to do so. "We have also worked hard to ensure minimal impact on our customers while this operation was underway." A lmost 40 stars of the black business community are named today as finalists for awards that honour their achievements. The third Black British Business Awards ceremony will be held at the Grange St Pauls Hotel on October 6 with nominees in 12 categories. The 37-strong list is a mix of established leaders and rising stars in the financial services, media and arts, professional services, science and technology, and consumer and luxury goods sectors, as well as entrepreneurs who started their own businesses. The finalists range from Dragons Den winner Chika Russell, whose business offers snacks inspired by African cuisine, to City pioneer Carol Lake, managing director of JP Morgan. Melanie Eusebe, chairwoman and co-founder of the BBBAwards, which are supported by the Evening Standard, said: I am delighted to be celebrating another year of incredible BBBAwards finalists. The programme has grown rapidly since its inception and we are honoured to be working with all of our supporters and sponsors to identify and accelerate exceptional BAME talent in the UK workforce. This year we received an unprecedented number of nominations, evidence of the strength of the BAME pipeline and the wealth of talent contributing substantially to the UKs economy. All of the 2016 finalists are exceptionally talented role models and ambassadors across all of the business sectors, and represent the very best of British industry. The 18-strong judging panel includes Tim Campbell, who won the first series of The Apprentice and is now head of client services at recruitment firm Alexander Mann, and Kenneth Tharp, chief executive of London dance centre The Place. Karen Blackett, who chairs media buying agency MediaCom and is a judge of the awards, said they enable people to prove that, no matter where one starts off in life, it is possible to contribute to society in terms of its economic prosperity and achieve personal commercial success. L ondoners were today told to run away as far as possible if Islamic State terrorists hit the capital as Britains most senior counter-terror officer made an unprecedented appeal to the public to prepare for an attack. Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said people should also hide once they were unable to flee any further and call the police. He said that by learning the basic rules people could save their own lives and help to reduce the death toll if IS terrorists began a mass casualty attack. It may seem blindingly obvious, but some people dont run, they will duck down where they are, do all sorts of different things in the panic, Mr Rowley told the Standard. So lets be really clear run as far away as possible and when you cant run any further, hide, and then tell call the police because weve got the people, the resources, the firearms to deal with it. Its very straightforward. The advice comes in the wake of a major attack in Nice / AP Mr Rowley also called on workers across London from Canary Wharf to local high streets to help police foil terror plots by looking out for suspicious individuals who might be carrying out reconnaissance in a shopping centre or buying a vehicle to use as a weapon. It may seem blindingly obvious, but some people dont run, they will duck down where they are, do all sorts of different things in the panic His appeal to the public to prepare for terrorists to hit London follows the recent spate of attacks in France and Germany and a warning from Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe that it is a matter of when, not if an IS outrage is carried out in Britain. Mr Rowley, the police national head of counter-terrorism, said that officers were currently carrying out hundreds of investigations into terror suspects and facing a steady flow of plots by stay-at-home jihadis inspired online. He said that more armed officers were already being deployed across London in response and that the number of high calibre firearms specialists would rise further over the coming weeks. France has been hit with a series of attacks in recent weeks / REUTERS But he insisted that no individual attack was inevitable and that public vigilance could be crucial in foiling plots. Appealing for the public to follow police advice on how to cope with the terrorist threat, Mr Rowley added: Every Londoner can help the fight against terrorism, whether its being more prepared personally or at work or if you are suspicious about something or someone if you see someone acting suspiciously near where you work then straight away contacting us, whether you are working in Canary Wharf or the local high street. Met police terror exercise That person whos suspicious may be someone doing reconnaissance because they want to attack a shopping centre or it may be someone who is preparing in a different way, hiring a car or a lorry, it could be all sorts of ways, but we say to the public, trust your instincts and pick up the phone to us. We the police arent being defeatist, we are arresting more and more people, we are bringing more firearms officers on patrol, were putting more on foot patrol in crowded places, doing everything we can to flex our resources to protect the public and what we are saying is we arent being defeatist, its important the public arent defeatist as well. Loading.... We need more help, more preparedness from the public. We are asking the public to roll the sleeves up and help us. On the advice to run, hide, tell, which is set out in full in a Stay Safe online film published by police, Mr Rowley added: We should all do everything possible to stop attacks happening, but when we look at the events of the past few months in Europe it would be foolish if we were not to put out advice saying if you get caught in something here are some simple rules about what to do and give yourself a better chance of survival. "This is based on whats happened in attacks across the world. If you get a chance, run to get away, hide and call us. Stay safe- Firearms and Weapons Attack I know the case of somebody who had seen the video who was a British citizen who was caught up in the attack in Tunisia in Sousse and she would say that it changed what she did and saved her life. "She went to her bedroom on the fifth floor, buried herself in that and locked the door. Its basics but its really important. Funding for an extra 600 firearms officers was announced by the government last year following the Paris attacks. Mr Rowley said they were still being trained, but that by working overtime and other methods police were putting more armed patrols on the streets. The critical point is that this 24/7, specialist officers with the weaponry and equipment to confront a terrorist. This is high calibre, highly trained specialist people. They are on patrol in vehicles across London, sometimes they will be on foot, and based on intelligence, based on disrupting terrorism, they will vary between shopping centres, places like Oxford Street, sometimes sporting events, religious premises. "We will have a much bigger, stronger capability to deal with anything that hits us in London. On the scale of the threat, Mr Rowley added: What we see reflects whats going on across Europe. "Most of them arent people who have travelled to Syria, but they are being inspired, trying to pick up weapons, to plan an attack here. Thats what weve been wrestling with most of all. Weve had a steady flow of people thinking about that sort of attack. The second thing that weve got to guard against is people returning from Syria more determined, more deadly, more highly skilled in weaponry. If those people were to reach the UK that would be a major concern. We have got hundreds of investigations ranging from extremists right on the periphery through to small numbers of the highest risk operations of people who are looking to do an attack. Weve got large numbers of people we have got degrees of concern about, weve got high risk individuals, the highest-risk operations, and thats one of the reasons that public information helps us. "We are constantly trying to sift who are the highest risk individuals on our radar, and a member of the public might spot something about someone we think is low priority that we havent. Mr Rowley also confirmed that counter terror officers are helping Norfolk Police investigate the attempted kidnap of an airman outside RAF Marham earlier this month, but that the motive for the crime was still unclear. The Stay Safe video on what to do in a terror attack can be viewed here R oads were closed off today as hundreds marched from Brixton to Parliament Square calling for reparations to be made for slavery. The Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations March is part of a campaign calling for amends to be made for enslavement endured by generations of African people. Organisers carried a petition to central London demanding the government acknowledges the historic and ongoing impact of colonisation and slavery. The petition states: The blood, sweat and tears of our Ancestors financed the economic expansion of the United Kingdom. Protest march: The demonstration will go from Brixton to Wesminister / @JosephTumaini The immoral and illegal acts inflicted on Afrikans against their will cannot all be undone. However, the perpetrators, their descendants and all other beneficiaries, ought to be compelled to address the harm that has resulted from them. Today the offspring of the stolen Afrikans encounter direct and indirect racial discrimination daily. This results in impoverishment, lack of education, unemployment, imprisonment and ill health. Petition: The march is in support of the Stop the Maangamizi petition / @JosephTumaini Now is the time for the victims of these inhumane atrocities to demand, effect and secure holistic, adequate, comprehensive and intersectional reparations for the wrongs that continue to be inflicted on Afrika, Afrikans on the Continent and in the Diaspora. Deputy leader of The Green Party Shahrar Ali joined in with the marchers. He tweeted: "Really proud to join Reparations march. Vital opportunity to reflect on struggle to overcome enslavement and fight against prejudice." The protest is due to return to Windrush Square this evening after delivering the petition to Westminster. Parts of the A23 are being closed off to make way for the march and Transport for London are advising people to check bus and train routes for disruptions. A big-hearted teenager is attempting to visit all 270 London Underground stations in one day as a tribute to his older brother. Alasdair Clift, 13, from Wirral, has taken on the Tube Challenge to raise money for Bloodwise after his 17-year-old brother Adam died from lymphoma in March. Alasdair began his journey at Chesham station at 5.15am and is expected to finish at Heathrow airport shortly before midnight. Supporters on social media have wished the teenager well on Twitter using the hashtag #WheresAlly as donations soared to more than 10,000 following an initial 100 target. Recognised achievement: Alasdair is presented a certificate at Southwark Underground station during his attempt to visit all 270 Tube stations / PA Wire The teen is being accompanied on the Tube trek by his father Richard Clift, 50, who said they were having a good time despite being "hot, sweaty and tired". He said: "There's a good feeling. "It's the random gestures of complete strangers, for example dashing onto the train at London Bridge, saying: 'You're the guys doing the tube challenge' and immediately giving us 20. Touching tribute: Alasdair organised the challenge in memory of his older brother Adam after the 17-year-old died in March / PA Wire "The staff of Transport for London have been incredibly generous, entering into the spirit of the day. We've had lots of waves and lots of help." Alasdair was allowed to ride in the front cab for the first two journeys of his challenge and was given a certificate recognising his achievement from Mark Wild, managing director of London Underground, at Southwark station. Mr Clift said he and his wife Caroline, 51, had been "overawed" by Alasdair, who has single-handedly arranged the challenge. "We're very proud - and very proud of his organisation skills because Caroline and I have had absolutely nothing to do with it," he said. "He's done the entire timetable, he's worked it all out. We get to a station and he says we need to be over on platform two or three and not only that, he remembers it all." Donations for Alasdair's Tube Challenge can be made through JustGiving at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Alasdair-Clift T hese dramatic images show firefighters rescuing dozens of people, including six children, stuck 65ft in the air after a ride broke down on the South Bank yesterday. Terrified tourists were left dangling on the Starflyer ride, part of the London Wonderground festival, for more than three hours after it suffered a "technical malfunction". In the series of photos, posted on Instagram by user 'dannorthover', a boy can be seen nervously edging out of one of the ten pods and being guided onto a cherry-picker aerial platform. The user later posted a snap taken from the ground, accompanied by the caption: "Finally back to earth. Thankyou @Londonfirebrigade for the #cherrypicker." Ambulance staff were waiting on the ground to assess the 19 visibly shaken tourists, who were brought down one pod at a time, with some stepping off the platform in tears. An investigation into the breakdown is underway Police officers were also in attendance, creating a cordon to keep back the crowd of hundreds which gathered to watch the lofty rescue operation. Sisters Naima, 10, Aaliya, 12, and Saalihah Kaaynaat, 14, were the last passengers to be rescued after being lifted down to safety with their father at 9.20pm, having boarded the ride at just before 6pm. Saalihah told the Standard: I knew something was wrong because when I was standing in the queue waiting to go on the ride I didnt see it stop mid-air like that. At first everyone was taking pictures but when it didnt start up again I began to get scared. To pass the time, my sisters and I started singing songs and dancing in our seats. Everyone cheered each time someone got rescued. Some people were crying even when they got off the ride. Childrens shoes fell off their feet. Her sister Aaliya added: I thought the ride had stopped so we could see the view but we were sat there for hours. I was cold, hungry, scared and needed to go to the toilet. The ride, which costs 7.50 and has swinging pods around a 200ft high pillar, has been closed while an investigation into the incident is underway. Owned by Mellors Group, it is the tallest mobile ride in the UK, and previously appeared at Hyde Parks Winter Wonderland. A spokeswoman for the Southbank Centre, which runs the Wonderground festival, said: A fault occurred in the Starflyer ride at 5.30pm on Sunday evening. 19 people rescued from stuck London fairground ride London Fire Brigade were called and arrived at 6pm. They worked methodically to get everyone safely off the ride by 8.45pm. Our first concern was for the safety and wellbeing of those trapped and now that everyone has been safely rescued we will work with the operators of the ride, Mellors Group, to establish the cause of the problem. The ride will remain closed for the time being. We are grateful to the London Fire Brigade for their assistance. T ourists today told of their terror after being left dangling 65ft up for more than three hours after a fairground ride on the South Bank broke down. Fire crews plucked 19 stuck passengers, including six children, from 10 hanging capsules after the 260ft-high Starflyer swing-ride suffered a technical malfunction. Hundreds of passers-by stopped to watch the rescue operation overhead as the cages were emptied one-by-one, with frightened passengers guided by rescuers onto two cherry-picker aerial platforms. Many were visibly shaken and some stepped from the platform in tears before they were checked over by waiting ambulance staff. People were stuck on the ride for more than three hours / Nigel Howard The Starflyer ride, which towers over the Southbank Centre as part of the London Wonderground festival, has been closed as an investigation into the cause of the drama continues. A major operation was launched to bring people stranded on the ride safely back to the ground / Nigel Howard Sisters Naima, 10, Aaliya, 12, and Saalihah Kaaynaat, 14, were the last passengers to be rescued after being lifted down to safety with their father at 9.20pm, having boarded the ride at just before 6pm. Saalihah told the Standard: I knew something was wrong because when I was standing in the queue waiting to go on the ride I didnt see it stop mid-air like that. At first everyone was taking pictures but when it didnt start up again I began to get scared. To pass the time, my sisters and I started singing songs and dancing in our seats. Everyone cheered each time someone got rescued. The Starflyer ride has now been closed as an investigation is carried out / Nigel Howard Some people were crying even when they got off the ride. Childrens shoes fell off their feet. Her sister Aaliya added: I thought the ride had stopped so we could see the view but we were sat there for hours. I was cold, hungry, scared and needed to go to the toilet. I was happy when we were rescued by the firefighters. I wouldnt go back on that ride. The family, visiting London from Peterborough, were among hundreds who paid 7.50 a ticket for a flight on the Starflyer, which is supposed to last only four minutes. Police placed a cordon around the ride to ensure the fire brigade could carry out their work away from crowds. The hub was gently rotated to allow stuck passengers to clamber onto the two aerial platforms before being lowered to safety. The last passengers were brought to safety at 9.20pm / Nigel Howard Paul Pullan, 46, a decorator from Leeds, had been on the ride earlier in the day and told of his horror as he saw police, fire and ambulance crews surrounding the base. He said: When I was on there it was okay, but around 5.30pm I saw blue lights flashing and ambulances and fire brigade turning up. I heard kids screaming, and saw a few people being rescued and taken to the ambulance. One of the parents was crying. People looked frightened and were visibly shake and saying that they wouldnt go on the ride again. People were screaming in fear after becoming trapped 65ft above ground / Nigel Howard The attraction, owned by Mellors Group, is the tallest mobile ride in the UK, and previously appeared at Hyde Parks Winter Wonderland. Witness Rose Biggin watched as a workman attempted to fix the ride before emergency services arrive. She said: We were walking past and slowly became aware that the ride was not moving and their were all these legs were dangling. A crowd gathered to watch as people realised it was stuck. A man climbed up the middle and we saw him hammering away at the stuck bit, but nothing was moving. Station manager Clive Robinson said: Crews used an aerial ladder platform to reach people and bring them back down. Windy: witnesses said they could see the cars swinging / Nigel Saunders It was slow work as we needed to access each cage on the ride individually, and ensure they were secure before moving them from the ride onto our platform to bring them back down to the ground. A spokeswoman for the Southbank Centre, which runs the Wonderground festival, said: A fault occurred in the Starflyer ride at 5.30pm on Sunday evening. London Fire Brigade were called and arrived at 6pm. They worked methodically to get everyone safely off the ride by 8.45pm. Our first concern was for the safety and well being of those trapped and now that everyone has been safely rescued we will work with the operators of the ride, Mellors Group, to establish the cause of the problem. The ride will remain closed for the time being. We are grateful to the London Fire Brigade for their assistance. A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said: We are aware of the incident and we are making inquiries. Mellors Group could not be reached for comment. F urious food fans have slammed a pizza and music festival at Wembley Park, describing it as a "farce" and demanding refunds. Punters took to social media to vent their anger at My Slice Fest on Saturday lamenting hour-long queues, its location in the corner of a car park, pizza running out four hours early and poor sound quality. The debut festival, described as "London's biggest pizza party" and "a day full of fun, food and a dash of mayhem... guarenteed to deliver", cost 25 in the general release and 49.50 for a VIP ticket. Organisers admitted today the event had not lived up to their high expectations but insisted some people did enjoy the festival. 'Farce': Pizza ran out four hours early / Methods Unsound Toni Ratcliff, food writer for Methods Unsound, a pop culture website, described it as "serving up hot slices of pure disappointment". She said: "Although the MySliceFest website did state that the festival would be next to Wembley Stadium, I dont think that anybody was expecting it to actually be in a fenced off corner of the car park surrounded by building sites and derelict factories. "An airstream trailer was parked up a short-ish distance away to the right of the stage with a couple of DJs inside pumping out music to about four people. My husband joked that maybe that was second stage? And sadly this turned out to be true. "I only counted five pizza vendors at the whole festival and most seemed like pretty small scale operations who were definitely not up to the task of feeding the thousands and thousands of hungry people who were queuing up to eat pizza at the same time." Music and pizza: It was described as "serving up hot slices of pure disappointment" / Methods Unsound She added: "I hope that the creators of MySliceFest are hanging their heads in shame today." Cult garage duo DJ Luck and MC Neat were among the acts who performed at the festival, alongside DJs including Dean Eg and Swerve from Kiss FM. Organisers Xclusive Touch also advertised 15 pizza vendors, offering exotic flavours such as waffle pizza and dessert pizzas. However, a torrent of aggrieved festival-goers demanded refunds on social media, claiming all pizza ran out at 5pm, four hours before closing time. Chris Wheatley, 34, a sales and relationship manager based in Wandsworth, told the Standard: "The main issue was the lack of organisation, the lack of vendors, the lack of what was promised. "From 3pm onwards the queue for one slice of pizza was minimum one hour. "We queued for an hour and a half only to be told, when we were six places from the front, that they had just run out. Festival: The event was held in a car park / Methods Unsound "Even the Man versus Pizza contest was a joke, it was delayed starting and there wasn't enough pizza," added Mr Wheatley, who had two friends fly over from Belgium for the event. Another, Amanda Hughes, contacted the organisers and ticket vendor to request a refund, but is yet to receive a reply. She said: "The sound coming from the stage was all over the place, clashing and sounding extremely poor. "There were actually five pizza vendors not 15. The queues were out of control, we queued for two hours at one pizza vendor, to eventually find out that their oven had actually broken, choosing not to tell anyone in the queue. Advert: How it was meant to look "We left just a few hours in, hungry. Extremely disappointing, given I travelled to it and bought these tickets for friends who flew over from Ireland for the event." Holly Pemberton, from Surrey, tweeted: "@myslicefest was an absolute joke 2 hour queues to get pizza & sit in a car park - how do I get a refund? #false advertising." A spokesman from Wembley Park said: "Weve made contact today with MySliceFest, the promoter and organiser of the event, to find out more about the issues raised. "We understand they are responding to complaints on an individual basis and we will be monitoring the situation." A spokesman for the festival said: "We're really sorry some people felt the queues for pizza let down their experience of MySliceFest on Saturday. "We're an enthusiastic and committed events company and what we delivered didn't live up to our high expectations for everyone. We take this very seriously and will be replying individually to everyone who has taken the time to get in touch. In spite of this, thousands of people did enjoy our unique festival of music and pizza, and we'll be learning from what worked and what we needed to improve on as we go forward." T heresa May said she will not intervene with David Camerons honours list despite calls for her to block it amid cronyism claims. The Prime Minister announced she would not be involved in the official approval of Mr Camerons resignation honours list because it would "set a very bad precedent. Mrs May today faced calls to intervent with the list following accusations the former Prime Minister is rewarding allies, party donors and staff, including his wifes stylist. But a Downing Street spokeswoman said: It is standard for an outgoing prime minister to submit a resignation list. Resignation: David Cameron with wife Samantha and children Nancy, 12, Elwen, 10, and Florence, 5 / PA "The names on the list were at the former prime minister's discretion and they will now go through all the proper processes and committees. "It would set a very bad precedent for a new prime minister to interfere in the official processes." Labour politicians are calling for changes to the system, with deputy leader Tom Watson saying the decision risks undermining Mrs Mays reputation. He said: "I hope Theresa May is not going stake her reputation on David Cameron's old boys network. Sir Alastair Graham on leaked honours list: 'It probably does devalue the honours system' "That Mr Cameron proposes to reward his friends network on such a huge scale will not only bring the honours system into disrepute, it will undermine the reputation of the Theresa May. "It's cronyism, pure and simple and proof the Tories will always put their own interests before those of the country." Shadow home secretary tweeted: The Honours Committee should turn down Cameron's list. If they accept it, will destroy any remaining shred of respect for the honours system. Jeremy Corbyn addresses honours list controversy Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith also called for a revamp of the system in light of the controversy. "I'm disappointed that the former prime minister should use the system to slap his friends on the back, he said. Yet it shows just how warped a sense of perspective this Tory party has governed with. The row was sparked after the Sunday Times published an article about the leaked list, which includes four pro-EU cabinet colleagues, Philip Hammond, Michael Fallon, Patrick McLoughlin, and David Lidington. Mr Cameron also reportedly requested honours for dismissed chancellor George Osborne and head of the failed pro-Remain campaign Will Straw. Among those reported to be recommended for OBEs is Isabel Spearman, who helped Samantha Cameron with her diary and outfits for various engagements. It was also claimed Mr Cameron recommended knighthoods for major Tory donors Ian Taylor and Andrew Cook. O utspoken columnist Owen Jones has been labelled as a Blairite traitor over his fears about "oblivion" for Labour despite being a longstanding backer of Jeremy Corbyn. The Guardian columnist and left-wing enthusiast has written a blog about how the Labour party is facing a crisis. Mr Jones has long been a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, and has shared the stage with the Labour leader on many occasions. He wrote: As Jeremy Corbyn is surrounded by cheering crowds, Labour generally, and the left specifically, are teetering on the edge of looming calamity. He added: A snap election is entirely plausible, and as things stands, thanks to the actions of all sides of the Labour party Labour faces electoral oblivion. Throughout the blog, Mr Jones questions the current direction of the party and the lack of media strategy in the campaign. He accused the Labour leader of going missing throughout key political moments including Theresa May being appointed as Prime Minister and hate crimes following the EU referendum result. He added that the party was facing a crisis that could not be solved by the mass Corbyn rallies going on around the country. Labour: The problems facing Jeremy Corbyn's party He wrote: And thats why it feels like Im at a party on the edge of a crumbling cliff. As things stand, all the evidence suggests that Labour and the left as a whole is on the cusp of total disaster. Call me a Blairite, Tory, Establishment stooge, careerist, sellout, whatever makes you feel better. The situation is extremely grave and unless satisfactory answers are offered, we are nothing but the accomplices of the very people we oppose. After releasing the blog, Corbynites were quick to criticise Mr Jones for questioning the Labour leader, labelling him as a Blairite. But Mr Jones separated himself from attacks on the Labour leader, saying his criticism comes from wanting the party to succeed. D owning Street and the Foreign Office have been advised to keep their cats inside after a vicious row over territory this morning. Larry, number 10s chief mouser, and Palmerston of the Foreign Office violently clashed on Downing Street as bystanders were forced to separate them. Experts from Battersea Dogs and Cats home have now warned officials to keep the cats inside to avoid further fighting. Batterseas head of Catteries, Lindsey Quinland, said: Our feline welfare specialist has been in contact with the teams in Westminster to advise them regarding Larry and Palmerstons behaviour. Cat fight: Photographers had to separate the two felines / @Politicalpics These cats were chosen to be chief mousers to 10 Downing Street and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office based on their sociable, bold and confident nature. The only downside to these behaviour traits is that aggression can sometimes occur when the territories of two cats overlap. @PoliticalPics A photographer who separated the two felines claimed both cats were limping after their latest fight. Larry has also received treatment for an injured right paw after battling with Palmerston over territory. The photographer expressed concern that their battle may turn fatal if it continues to escalate. Although Larry and Palmerston have both been neutered, their battle shows no signs of ending, and could escalate further after the Treasury introduced their new cat, Gladstone. Ms Quinlan added that it would be a good idea to keep both cats indoors to avoid further violence. Larry the cat spared eviction from Downing Street She said: It may be advisable that Larry and Palmerston have temporary restrictions on their outside access to reduce the risk of them meeting in their early days; there is plenty of space for more than one cat on the block in Westminster. They should be able to roam outside their Westminster homes in their designated areas without meeting each other while still being able to fulfil their important duties. A theme park has banned all childrens scooters after a grandmother suffered a horrific compound fracture in her knee. Grandmother of 10 Jane Moran, 63, was sent sprawling by a six-year-old boy who lost control of his scooter. When she looked down, her patella bone was sticking out of her right leg and her ankle was shattered. She remains in hospital due to her injuries 10 days after the Friday, July 22 accident. She told the Mirror: I dont know if Ill fully recover. Its just constant agony, they have to keep loading me up on painkillers." Ms Moran, from Birmingham has been offered a free day out at Drayton Manor, which has confirmed that scooters are now banned from the theme park. A giant 15-pound lobster believed to be 110 years old has died on its way to an aquarium after being rescued from the cooking pot at a restaurant in the US. The huge crustacean, who had been named Larry, was being transported from a restaurant in Sunshine, Florida to Maine when it passed away during the 1,530-mile journey. It had been rescued from the dinner plate by animal rights activists but staff at the West Boothbay Harbour discovered it had died when they unpacked it. Larry, who weighed three times the size of an average lobster, had travelled inside a Styrofoam box with seaweed and freezer gel packs. The lobster weighed three times more than one of an average size / IRescue Wildlife/Facebook A rescue group had stepped forward to save the lobster after the restaurant owner called a TV station in Florida last week to show off the lobster's unusual size. The lobster was headed for the stock pot after a man saw him in the tank at the Fish Tin seafood restaurant in Sunrise, bought him from chef Joe Melluso and reserved a table for his family the following week. Larry the lobster was packaged inside a styrofoam box / IRescue Wildlife/Facebook But the animal rights activists intervened and arranged for Larry to live out his natural life in the aquarium. Mr Melluso said he had bought the lobster from a vendor and was astounded by his size. Amir Rossi, who helped in the effort to save Larry, told local media the stress of the journey may have contributed to his death. "We're all disappointed with the situation," he said. O ne of Bernie Ecclestone's helicopter pilots has been arrested over an alleged plot to kidnap his mother-in-law in Brazil for a 28 million ransom. Aparecida Schunck, the mother of the Formula One boss's wife Fabiana Flosi, 38, was abducted from her home in Sao Paulo more than a week ago. Police said they rescued the 67-year-old after finding her tied up but unharmed in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo on Sunday. Pilot Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria, who works for Ecclestone in Brazil, is one of three men arrested in connection with the kidnapping, police said. A spokesman for Sao Paulo police said he was arrested along with two other men, Vitor Oliveira Amorim and David Vicente Azevedo. "The investigation continues and the police did not rule out the involvement of other suspects," he added. Brazil: Formula 1 chief's mother-in-law released It is believed investigators monitored phone calls between the family of Ms Schunck and the captors, tracing them to the location where she was being held. She was was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping division. Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police told the BBC that the ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid. Ecclestone, 85, married Ms Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Brazilian magazine Veja had reported that the ransom for Ms Flosi's mother had been demanded in pounds sterling and divided into four bags of cash. Ecclestone has declined to comment on the abduction. It is understood he wanted to fly to Brazil to assist police and also offered the use of a private security company to deal with the abductors. Brazil is hosting this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which starts this week. Security has emerged as the top concern, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during competition. Additional reporting by the Press Association. A suspected burglar has died after the man whose home he targeted allegedly tied him to a tree using multiple layers of masking tape, leaving him unable to breathe. Nathaniel Johnson allegedly goaded a thief into making an attempt on his Alabama home after becoming fed up with being targeted. He parked his car at a neighbours home to make his property seem empty before waiting by his back door for burglars to turn up, authorities say. He then confronted a suspected burglar and tied his hands behind his back before placing duct tape over his mouth and strapping him to a tree with electrical wire, a washing line and more tape. He went inside to call police, but by the time police arrived the man was dead, Mr Johnson claims. Sheriff Stringer told WALA that he used multiple layers of masking tape that he had wrapped around his mouth and all the way around his head. Johnson returned to his home to call the police at which point the suspected robber, later identified as Cleveland Jones Gully, 31, was still alive, authorities confirmed. Attempted capture: Nathaniel Johnson, 68, "intended to capture" an intruder at his home in Leeroy, Alabama / WALA When the sheriffs deputies arrived at Johnsons home 10 minutes later Gully was dead, Sheriff Stringer added. He told US media: I dont think he was intending to kill the intruder. I think he wanted to capture him and have him arrested. He told Al.com that Gully who lives nearby and had a reputation for breaking into homes had cuts around his body from the wire used to tie him up but no other visible injuries. Johnsons niece, Simone Johnson, told WALA that her uncle hates what happened and that his family are hurting too. The alleged intruders uncle, Michael Gully, told WALA that he was shocked by the allegations levelled against his relative. Sheriff Stringer said Johnson is not facing criminal charges while authorities await the results of an autopsy into the cause Gullys death. Police held him in custody for 72 hours, WALA reported. I ts already August, and yet it feels like summer has never quite taken off this year so its no wonder the Made In Chelsea lot have gone abroad for another holiday. If Britains grey skies are getting you down, prepare to feel hugely envious of the London socialites latest trip as they venture to the South of France for a six-episode spin-off. Heres what you need to know about the new summer series. 1) Francis Boulle is back After spending his recent years looking for gold in the jungle (no, really hes the heir to a diamond fortune), Francis Boulle is back on the show. It seems not everyone knew he was returning the look on Jamies face when hes reunited with his buddy is one of real shock and happiness. Finish your book at our place,stay with us as long as you want, itll be epic! Jamie enthuses though Boulle seems somewhat reluctant to get sucked back into the MIC swirl of drama. 2) Not all the regulars are in it While Francis is back on the scene, a few of the other cast members are taking a break Lucy Watson and her boyfriend James Dunmore arent appearing, which sadly also rules out an appearance from adorable dog Digby. While Louise Thompson will be on the summer series, her American boyfriend Alec is a no-show, as is Alex Myttons now ex-girlfriend Nicola Hughes. Made in Chelsea: South of France-Trailer 3) Its devastatingly good-looking The South of France might not sound as glamorous a destination as previous summer series in LA and New York, but the locations are all stunning. The series was largely shot in Cannes and around the Mediterranean coastline of the French Riviera. With deep blue seas, powder-blue skies, and sandy-white beaches, it looks like paradise. Made in Chelsea season 10 launch party 1 /13 Made in Chelsea season 10 launch party Boys night Spencer Matthews and James Dunmore pose for a photo at the Made in Chelsea series 10 premiere at the Ham Yard Hotel Anthony Devlin/PA Newbies Millie Williamson and Emily Welter join the cast for a season premiere party Anthony Devlin/PA Happy couple Nicola Hughes and Alex Mytton cosy up for a photo at the event Anthony Devlin/PA Ladies man Spencer Matthews flashes his chest hair as he strikes a pose with Jess Woodley and Rosie Fortescue Anthony Devlin/PA He's back! Binky Felstead welcomes co-star and best friend Ollie Locke back to the reality show Anthony Devlin/PA BFFs Chelsea's fabulous twosome, Mark Francis Vandelli and Victoria Haber-Baker, know how to work the camera Anthony Devlin/PA Looking fierce Mark Francis Vandelli works his chiseled cheek bones for the camera Anthony Devlin/PA Sister act Lucy Watson and Tiff Watson turn heads in their mini skirts Anthony Devlin/PA Leather look Louise Thompson parties at the premiere launch ahead of her move to New York Anthony Devlin/PA Baby brother Louise's younger brother Sam Thompson is in for a shock this series when he discovers Tiff Watson has kissed another guy Anthony Devlin/PA 4) Everyones coupled up The on-again, off-again, did-you-cheat-on-me relationship of Sam Thompson and Tiffany Watson has spurred a huge amount of drama in recent series, but the duo seem to be back in a better place. Heading into the South of France series, theyre properly together again but will they be able to resist the temptation of a holiday romance elsewhere? Also back on better ground are Jamie Laing and Frankie Gaff. Not only are they together in the show, but their social media presence shows us that theyre still together now has Laing finally settled down and matured? E4, 9pm This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Monday, 01 August 2016 10:41:17 (GMT+3) | Shanghai Henan Province-based Chinese steelmaker Anyang Iron and Steel Co. (Anyang Steel) has announced that it recorded an operating revenue of RMB 11.48 billion ($1.73 billion) in the first half of the current year, up 2.75 percent year on year, with a net profit of RMB 94.408 million ($14.24 million) compared to a net loss of RMB 393 million in the same period of 2015. In the first half of the current year, Anyang Steel produced 4.46 million mt of pig iron, 4.38 million mt of crude steel and 4.33 million mt of finished steel, equivalent to 50.68 percent, 50.52 percent and 51.55 percent of the companys respective targets for the whole of 2016. Monday, 01 August 2016 23:53:28 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo A Brazilian government official said on Monday the country is waiting for a decision from the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which should rule on a Department of Commerce anti-dumping (AD) determination on the Brazilian-made CRC that is exported to the North American nation. According to the Brazilian official, the South American country could appeal the AD determination to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The US Department of Commerce said last week Brazil was subsidizing CRC through seven export programs. The US Department of Commerce has then passed its AD determination to the ITC to rule on it. Depending on the decision by the ITC, duties of up to 11 percent on the Brazilian exports of the product to the US could be applied. Brazilian steelmakers Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) and flats steelmaker Usiminas dominate much of the products trade to the North American nation. Reuters noted the US case targets Brazilian incentive programs that include the so-called ex-tarifario and drawback regimes that reduce import taxes on machines and inputs for making steel. Daniel Godinho, Brazil s undersecretary of foreign trade, contested the US claims and said that "never before in the history of Brazilian foreign trade anyone has questioned the ex-tarifario and drawback programs, Reuters quoted the official as saying. Accordingly, Calvi Holding has sold a non-controlling interest in its subsidiary Siderval to Manoir Group for 26.6 million. Meanwhile, Siderval and Yantai Taihai Group will also establish a joint venture in China , specifically in the province of Shandong, to install a large-scale hot extrusion plant for the production of special profiles. This will allow Siderval to consolidate its international leadership by complementing and expanding the range of its products as well as of the industrial sectors it serves. For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net loss of JPY 2.06 billion ($20.15 million), compared to a net profit of JPY 11.88 billion in the first quarter of the previous financial year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues in the given quarter amounted to JPY 404.46 billion ($3.94 billion), down 12 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Kobe Steel has revised its consolidated forecast for the financial year 2016-17 from the previous forecast announced on April 28, primarily due to the concerns in the world economy over the prolonged slowdown in the economic growth of China and Southeast Asia and the increasing uncertainty of the business environment in Japan and overseas. The company now forecasts net sales of about JPY 1.73 trillion ($16.87 billion) and net income of about JPY 10 billion ($97.5 million) in the fiscal year 2016-17. The previous guidance for the full financial year was for net sales of about JPY 1.75 trillion and net income of about JPY 20 billion. Monday, 01 August 2016 15:19:38 (GMT+3) | Istanbul According to the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), in June this year Turkey s steel imports increased by 10.8 percent to 1.84 million mt, with a value of $1.12 billion, up 3.1 percent, both year on year. In the given month, Turkey s semi-finished imports increased by 10.1 percent to 772,000 mt, while Turkey s flat steel imports increased by 12.9 percent to 790,000 mt, both compared to the same period last year. In the January-June period of this year, Turkey 's steel imports increased by 8.8 percent year on year to 9.82 million mt. In the first six months of this year, Turkey s semi-finished imports fell by 0.7 percent to 3.61 million mt, while Turkey s flat steel imports continued to increase with a 14.2 percent rise to 4.73 million mt, both compared to the same period last year. As stated by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), Turkey s steel imports from China in the January-June period of this year rose by 53.2 percent on year-on-year basis to 1.42 million mt. In the first half of this year, Turkey s semi-finished imports from China increased by 613.9 percent year on year to 790,000 mt, consisting only of billets. In the first six months, Turkey s flat steel imports from China decreased by 55.2 percent to 235,740 mt, while its long steel imports from China were up by 66.3 percent to 177,514 mt and the countrys pipe imports from the same source increased by 22.9 percent to 142,000 mt, all on year-on-year basis. Monday, 01 August 2016 11:40:08 (GMT+3) | Istanbul According to market sources, ex- US offers to Taiwan for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers are currently at $210/mt CFR. 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 (658) Reuters Ever since former U.S. President Donald Trump launched a new media company aimed at rivaling Twitter, there has been a mystery over who provided the money. Now there are some answers in a cache of documents provided by lawyers representing William Wilkerson, a former executive who filed a whistleblower claim with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the media company and Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check firm taking it public. The documents show Truth Socials early backers include six businessmen outside of the Silicon Valley mainstream including two executives from an oil company and a gym chain, several Republican donors, a former U.S. ambassador to Portugal and the head of a mail-order fruitcake company. Missouri Care has signed a deal with BJC HealthCare and Washington University Physicians after failing to come to an agreement with SSM Health. The deal will give about 117,000 individuals access to BJC facilities and its partnering physicians. Missouri Care manages health insurance for individuals enrolled in Medicaid, the state's health coverage for the poor. In June, the Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri Care and SSM Health could not agree to terms in a new contract agreement. Notices posted in at least one SSM hospital notified Missouri Care patients that effective July 1, they would no longer have access to Creve Coeur-based SSM Health facilities and its providers. A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services previously said members had the option to switch to another health plan or continue with the existing Missouri Care plan. Besides Missouri Care, there are two other Medicaid managed care providers in the state: Aetna Better Health of Missouri and Home State Health, a subsidiary of Clayton-based Centene. Both plans have BJC and SSM in their networks, according to their online directories. As of March 31, Missouri Care had approximately 130,000 members in Missouri; 117,000 enrolled in Medicaid and 13,000 Medicare prescription drug members. Updated at 3:53 p.m. DALLAS Two major unions at Southwest Airlines are demanding that the carrier replace its CEO because of the technology outage that caused the airline to cancel or delay thousands of flights in July. Technology experts are questioning whether Southwest fell short in designing and testing its computer systems. A top Southwest executive told said Monday that the July 20 outage will cost the airline into the tens of millions of dollars a huge increase in the original estimate of between $5 million and $10 million. The company will recover many bookings that were lost while its website was down, said Robert Jordan, Southwests executive vice president and chief commercial officer. But it will lose money from a couple hundred thousand people whose flights were canceled and from refunds to stranded passengers, he said. Jordan said the outage was the worst he could recall in his 28 years at Southwest, the nations fourth-biggest airline and the dominant passenger carrier at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. It has become a rallying point for unions who believe they deserve raises while Southwest Airlines Co. earns record profits. The pilots union said that its board voted 20-0 to ask that Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly and Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven be removed. Union President Jon Weaks said the company had focused too much on controlling costs and buying back its own shares and not enough to upgrade critically outdated IT infrastructure and flight operations. The leader of the mechanics union, Louie Key, said the outage was the final straw on top of unsettled contract negotiations and other disappointments. Southwests senior vice president of labor relations, Randy Babbitt, said union demands were just part of the contract-bargaining process. Their maneuvering is not about our leaders. Its not about IT infrastructure, Randy Babbitt said in a statement released by the company. This is about the unions approach to contract discussions and its attempt to gain leverage in negotiations. Southwest officials blamed a faulty router for a July 20 outage that briefly grounded all flights. Southwest struggled for several more days with unusually high cancellations and delays. The outage briefly caused Southwest to delay all departures and hold planes at their gates. Passengers couldnt check in for flights electronically, and customers couldnt book new flights. The outage lasted about 12 hours, but Southwest said that it canceled 2,300 flights 12 percent of its schedule over five days as it struggled to recover. Southwest did not say how many flights were delayed during that period, but tracking service FlightStats put the number at more than 8,000. Independent experts in information technology said the outage was probably more complex than a single failed router. Routers connect networks and help sections communicate with each other, and networks are designed to avoid so-called single points of failure. You cant blame the router. The router triggered a chain reaction that should not have happened, said Doron Pinhas, chief technology officer of Continuity Software Inc. He said it was likely that Southwest didnt test its system adequately to see what would happen when that part failed. Lev Lesokhin, executive vice president of Cast, a software-analysis company, said Southwests explanation doesnt add up. When you have an outage like this that lasts as long as this one did and takes as long to put back on track, thats typically a software issue, which is much more complex, he said. Jordan, the Southwest executive vice president, said that a Cisco router, one of about 2,000 in the airlines network, failed in a very abnormal way. The router did not send messages to other parts of the network or connect with backup systems, he said. Jordan said Southwests routers are designed to last seven years but are replaced more frequently. He said the airlines network had plenty of redundancies built in, but that the company was still studying the outage. Oversight of computer systems is primarily done by Southwest Airlines now, Jordan said, and as we transition to a new data center over the next year, that will change and mostly be handled by contractors. The decision to contract out much of the data center work was made long before last months outage, he said. Shares of Southwest fell 3 cents to close at $37.04. They have fallen 14 percent in 2016. Investors have turned against three of the largest U.S. crops, betting that timely rainfall will further swell grain supplies and exacerbate price drops. Hedge funds and other money managers are now holding a record wager on further declines for wheat, have increased their bearish outlook on corn and dumped bets on a soybean rally for a seventh straight week. A combined measure on the big three U.S. crops turned negative last week for the first time in three months. The Bloomberg Grains Subindex plunged 10 percent in July, the most since the same month of 2015. While worries of continued heat and dry weather across the U.S. Midwest lifted crop prices in June, timely July rains proved favorable. Corn conditions climbed during the critical pollination period, soybean ratings stayed high and the harvest of winter wheat added to a global glut. "The backdrop heading into this year was one where you had adequate grain stocks across the world, particularly in corn and wheat," said Matt Campbell, a risk-management consultant at INTL FCStone in West Des Moines, Iowa. "If there wasn't going to be a relatively significant weather problem, this was a year where it was going to be tough to sustain a meaningful rally." The combined position across the three crops turned net-short to 74,033 contracts in the week ended July 26, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data published three days later. That compared with a net-long holding of 7,724 a week earlier and is the first bearish outlook since mid-April. The Bloomberg Grains Subindex is down 6 percent in 2016. The U.S. is coming off back-to-back years of bumper corn and soybean production, and the world is saddled with record wheat inventories. The International Grains Council on Thursday boosted is outlook for combined global stockpiles of wheat, corn and other grains by 1.2 percent, predicting an even bigger all-time high. After a late-spring heat wave, some traders had worried that it was going to be a hot, dry U.S. summer and crop concerns ramped up. Instead, for farmers including Philip Volk of North Dakota, rains came just in time to establish solid crops. "They have moisture to draw on, and the plant population is there," said Volk, who grows spring wheat, corn, soybeans, barley and pinto beans on 4,000 acres near Rugby. "Everything would say it could be near the top of the yields." On Monday, participants began surveying U.S. corn and soybean fields as part of the MDA Weather Services crop tour that will travel the largest producing states, including Iowa and Illinois. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to release its first survey-based production forecasts for the crops on Aug. 12. Even the recent rains came too late to rescue some crops. Volk said that while yields for his corn and soybeans have strong production potential, spring wheat could suffer from the early lack of moisture. Yields for the crop across the state will probably drop to an average of 45.7 bushels per acre, according to results issued July 28 at the end of the Wheat Quality Council's annual crop tour. That's down from the tour's forecast for 49.9 bushels last year. At the same time, weather in August could pose risks, particularly for soybeans, which have begun to set the pods that fill with oilseeds. A few "lingering dry spots" in the Midwest are the main threat through early August, Commodity Weather Group said in a report emailed Friday. Amid a looming La Nina weather event, "the big question mark was if the usual hot, dry conditions that come with that will come during the growing season or further out in November, when it doesn't matter as much for crops," said Alex Norton, director of risk management at commodity-consulting firm Beeson & Associates Inc. in Crestwood, Ky. "It seems like the heat is here, but the dryness isn't really happening. The weather hasn't been as bullish as people thought." BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Fans and TV critics alike thought the Starz period drama "Outlander" probably should have landed some Emmy nominations, at least for leads Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Didn't happen. Other potential nominees "Power," "Survivor's Remorse" and "The Girlfriend Experience" were also ignored, and the entire network got just four Emmy nods, all in behind-the-scenes categories. Asked about the snubs, Starz boss Chris Albrecht was philosophical, if annoyed. I dont think well ever break through with those people on those shows," he said. At HBO, where he worked before Starz, "I was part of the team that invented how to campaign for Emmy Awards," Albrecht told TV critics meeting in Los Angeles. "Trust me, its not a level playing field." Money spent campaigning, and the momentum it brings, are responsible, he suggested, along with the Television Academy's narrow membership base. Nevertheless, "We couldnt be more proud of the work thats being done by the people on the shows, he said. "Outlander" and other Starz shows are "award-worthy." Albrecht said. "Whether its an Emmy Award or not is not the point. Starz is now No. 2 in subscribers among premium cable networks, he said, and eventually, "there will be a show that comes along ... and all of a sudden, it will be the one" to become an awards sensation. Albrecht didn't say so, but that show could be next year's "American Gods," the Bryan Fuller-Michael Green adaptation of Neil Gaiman's epic novel about a battle between the old gods and the new. Fuller and Green talked about the series, now in production in Canada, and showed the trailer introduced at San Diego Comic-Con. Fuller also said he and Green are working closely with Gaiman. The book is the map we just stick to, Fuller said. But so far, everthing run by Gaiman has been greeted positively. Every time we come to Neil with something, he says thank you, I love it.' Gail Pennington is attending the TV Critics Association summer press tour. Follow her on Twitter (@gailpennington), Facebook (@tubetalkPD) and here at stltoday.com/tubetalk. After making his sixth trip to the Andrea Doria, this time to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the ship sinking, Mark Sharky Alexander of St. Charles is back home, on dry land. "Everybody came back safe, so that's the main thing," Alexander said of the adventure that began July 24. "And each of the 17 (divers) on the trip got to touch the wreck, so it was a great trip," he said. Alexander is an instructor and a paramedic/EMT with the St. Charles Ambulance District. He lives in St. Charles, with his wife, Julie, and their daughters, Alana and Malia. (They also are divers.) This was Alexander's sixth to the shipwreck, and fourth leading an expedition through his company, Sharkys Underwater Expeditions. On July 24, 1956, the Andrea Doria, with 1,706 aboard, was headed to New York when the Swedish liner Stockholm struck it broadside. The ship capsized the next day; 46 people on the Andrea Doria died. It now lies in about 200 feet of water, about 50 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Mass. "I was second captain on the dive boat and was supervising diving, so I was more concerned with that sort of stuff," Alexander said. "But I got in one really good dive." Federal health officials Monday issued an unprecedented travel warning for a Miami neighborhood because of a risk of transmission of the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects. Pregnant women should avoid travel to the Zika-stricken area, and expectant mothers who have visited the neighborhood since June 15 should get tested for the virus. The number of people suspected to be locally infected through mosquito bites climbed to 14, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Nearly all of the infections have been linked to a 150-meter area surrounding two workplaces in the Wynwood arts district, but the travel advisory was broadened to a buffer zone five times larger. State health officials went door to door in the area and identified infected people through urine tests, because most did not report any symptoms. The first four cases were announced on Friday, with 10 more counted over the weekend. In its warning Monday, the CDC also said men and women who recently have visited the area should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive a child. Pregnant women who live or work in the area should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said there is no history of a medical travel advisory in the U.S. An emergency response team of eight CDC experts was dispatched to Florida at the request of Gov. Rick Scott to help combat the spread of the virus. We do expect that additional individual infections will be reported, Frieden said in a conference call with reporters. Mosquito control efforts in the neighborhood have not been as effective as hoped, Frieden said. The mosquitoes that carry the virus, Aedes aegypti, may have developed resistance to the pesticides used, or the spraying has not reached all of the insects breeding areas. The mosquito is also particularly difficult to kill off because it thrives in urban areas. The risk is highest for people living in crowded conditions without window screens or air conditioning, which is partly why the virus has flourished in Latin America and the Caribbean. There have been no Aedes aegypti mosquitoes trapped in the St. Louis area this summer, according to a vector control supervisor with the St. Louis County health department. The mosquito most commonly found in the region, the Culex, is not believed to carry Zika. The first-ever travel warning in the U.S. probably was issued to help contain the virus, said Dr. Alexander Garza, associate dean for public health practice at St. Louis University and former medical chief for the Department of Homeland Security. There are going to be pockets that pop up here and there they can react to promptly. Thats probably the strategy theyre adopting right now, he said. The relatively small area covered by the warning indicates the threat is limited. The risk comes from the number of Floridians who travel outside the country combined with a high concentration of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the state. Since the insects mainly feed on humans and have a small flight range, urban areas are more prone to outbreaks and widespread transmission is unlikely. Fighting mosquito-borne disease outbreaks typically takes two approaches: preventing bites in people and killing off the insects and their larvae. An added challenge with Zika is its ability to be transmitted through sex. Efforts to stop similar mosquito-borne viruses Chikungunya and Dengue have been effective in the past during small outbreaks in Texas and Florida, even without door-to-door surveillance. The reason theyre being much more aggressive about trying to find out how much penetration there is (with Zika) is because of the really devastating outcomes for women that are pregnant, Garza said. Most people who catch Zika have no symptoms or mild fevers, joint pain, pink eye and rash, but if the virus crosses the placental barrier it can cause brain damage to the fetus. While it is unknown how the warning will affect tourism in Florida, most people should not change their travel plans, said Dr. Antonio Crespo, an infectious disease specialist at Orlando Health. There have been no cases of Zika linked to mosquitoes in Orlando or other parts of the state, Crespo said. Its very, very localized, Crespo said. At this point, we dont need to panic. I would recommend to stay tuned and follow the developments. Florida health officials said theyve tested more than 200 people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in the last month. Of the 14 people believed infected in the Miami neighborhood, two are women and 12 are men. Officials did not say whether the women are pregnant. U.S. health officials do not expect widespread outbreaks as seen in Latin America and the Caribbean, mostly because the U.S. is more sparsely populated and the Aedes aegypti mosquito does not circulate nationwide. Aside from the 14 locally acquired cases in Florida, more than 1,650 cases of Zika linked to travel abroad have been reported in the U.S., including 12 cases in Missouri and 29 in Illinois. ST. LOUIS Five men, four homicides, more shootings and one carjacking have been tied to guns police seized in February from a home in south St. Louis. Police Capt. Mary Warnecke said all of the crimes were tied to the heroin trade. This is pretty big, she said Monday. Indictments unsealed Monday afternoon name Marquise R. Henderson, 26, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, and Marcus T. Jackson, 21, of St. Louis, on charges of first-degree murder and other major felonies. Jordan Brown and Nathan Tilson, both 22 and of St. Louis, were charged with first-degree assault. All were in custody. A fifth man, Cortez Smith, 18, of Pine Lawn, was charged with second-degree robbery in a carjacking that was linked by shell casings to the same home, officials said. The charges follow a grand jury investigation in conjunction with the St. Louis circuit attorneys office and police department. Warnecke noted that the extensive investigation was expedited by a policy started last year to involve a prosecutor in murder cases early on. We wouldnt be where we are today if we would have had to do it the old way, she said. Its been a huge success. I cant credit the detectives enough. Officials asked for people with knowledge of these and other crimes to come forward. Beth Orwick, chief trial assistant for Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, said, We believe there are more incidents. But we cannot do this without the publics help. Ballistics will get you so far, but we need information, and thats why were asking for help. Brown, Henderson and Tilson already were charged in February with shooting at two undercover St. Louis County officers near Calvary Cemetery. The officers were not hurt. Court records say that when police arrested them at a home in the 4500 block of Minnesota Avenue, officers seized a .45-caliber pistol, an AR-15 rifle and a 9mm pistol. Ballistics tests on those guns matched evidence at three shooting scenes a month earlier in which four men were slain: Jan. 10: Tylan Bogan, 23, was found dead in the drivers seat of a car that had crashed into a concrete barrier at North 14th and OFallon streets. Bogan had been shot in the head. Henry Williams Jr., 24, was found dead in the street nearby with multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities said physical evidence links Henderson to the crime scene. Jan. 12: Patrick Hunter Jr., 23, died at a hospital from a gunshot wound to the head sustained while driving a Chevrolet Impala in the 1500 block of Destrehan Street. Officials said he had been looking to buy heroin. A witness in Hunters car reported seeing a passenger fire shots from a red Jeep Grand Cherokee. Casings at the scene matched the AR-15 taken from the home on Minnesota Avenue. Police later linked the Jeep to Jackson from receipts he signed to have it repainted at a shop in Cool Valley. The guns also matched casings found at the scene of a nonfatal shooting on James Cool Papa Bell Avenue. Jan. 18: Lenny Hogan, 29, was found fatally shot in the passenger seat of a Ford Crown Victoria about 10:45 a.m. in the 4000 block of St. Ferdinand Avenue. Police seized casings from five guns at the scene. Ballistics tests matched the three guns taken from the home on Minnesota Avenue. Shell casings found at a nonfatal shooting that day in the 3200 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard also matched two of the seized guns. Henderson is charged in the shooting deaths of Bogan, Williams and Hogan. Jackson is charged with killing Hunter. Brown is charged in two nonfatal shootings, along with Henderson and Jackson. Tilson is charged in one of the nonfatal shootings. Smith was charged with one count of robbery after two 9mm shell casings found in a Chevrolet Malibu taken in a Jan. 21 carjacking and abandoned in East St. Louis matched a pistol seized from the home on Minnesota. Smith is not charged in any of the killings. In February, undercover St. Louis County officers were watching Brown as a suspect in the Dec. 22 shooting of a pregnant woman he had met at a Family Dollar store in the 11000 block of Benham Road. She survived. Police said shots were fired from a vehicle at the unmarked county police car near West Florissant and Partridge avenues. The attackers eluded officers in a chase but were soon tracked to the address on Minnesota. Henderson and Jackson were being held without bail. Browns bail is $1 million, Tilsons $900,000 and Smiths $100,000. Court documents show that Henderson pleaded guilty in St. Louis in 2008 of robbery, armed criminal action and resisting arrest, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Brown pleaded guilty in St. Louis in 2012 of unlawful use of a weapon and received probation but it was revoked, and he was sentenced to three years in prison. Jackson pleaded guilty in 2012 in St. Louis County of stealing a car in Florissant and was sentenced to three years in prison. Tilson has pending charges in St. Louis of first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly shooting at county officers. Smith has pending charges in St. Louis of selling drugs, unlawful use of a weapon and vehicle tampering. Updated at 6 p.m. with car being found. CARBONDALE A police officer in Carbondale was shot and seriously injured late Sunday night when a suspect fired several gunshots from a fleeing vehicle in a police chase. The officer was taken to a St. Louis hospital. He remained in serious condition Monday morning. "We are working diligently to identify the identities of those involved," he said. At 11:38 p.m. Sunday, Carbondale officers were on patrol in the 700 block of North Robert A. Stalls Avenue. They heard shots fired and started driving toward the sound of the gunfire. Police then saw a tan, four-door vehicle speed off. The officers tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over. During the pursuit, someone in the vehicle fired several shots at the officers. One police car and the officer were hit. Police did not return fire, authorities say. The injured officer was first taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, then transferred to a St. Louis hospital. The name of the officer hasn't been released. Stalls Avenue is a few blocks northeast of the intersection of Main Street and North Illinois Avenue, and just west of Attucks Park. A police summary of the shooting didn't say how long the pursuit lasted or where the chase was when the officer was hit. The shooting is being investigated by the Illinois State Police with help from the Jackson County states attorney, the Jackson County Sherriffs Department and the Southern Illinois University Department of Public Safety. Anyone with information is asked to call the Carbondale Police Department at 618-457-3200, the Carbondale/SIU CrimeStoppers anonymous tip line at 618-549-2677 or the Murphysboro/Jackson County anonymous tip line at 618-687-2677. BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS The family of a 13-year-old girl suspected of shooting a couple who were working at a beauty supply store tried to get the girl help multiple times before the shooting, according to the St. Louis NAACP. The girl had been troubled, according to Adolphus Pruitt, head of the St. Louis NAACP. The group has been working with the family since the shootings on July 19. Pruitt said the girl had exposure to alternative education and counseling, but that exposure to those things did not outweigh her exposure to the wrong crowd. We are confident that the parents did the right thing to reach out and help her along the way, Pruitt said. The family was not ready to speak publicly Monday, he said. The girl, who has not been publicly identified, is accused of shooting a man and woman, both in their 70s, while they were working at their daughters store, Kings Beauty Supply, at 10073 Lewis and Clark Boulevard. The couple were critically wounded, though a family friend said last week that they were improving. Their current conditions were not immediately available. A neighbor of the girls mother told police that the mother had sent the girl to live with her father for the summer because she was fed up with her behavior. Pruitt said the girls father is legally blind. After the shooting, the father convinced the girl that turning herself in was the right thing to do. The girl, flanked by her father and a few of her aunts, surrendered to police the morning after the shootings. The NAACP is working with the family to make sure the girl receives due process, and theyre hoping she wont be tried as an adult. Pruitt said the group hired a lawyer, Donnell Smith, for the girls Family Court proceedings. She has a status hearing Monday afternoon. No date is set yet on a certification hearing where a judge could decide to try her as an adult. In a letter to the Department of Justice, the NAACP asks that federal authorities keep an eye on the girls case to help ensure that she receives due process following the departments investigation into the St. Louis County Family Court system for alleged racial disparities in the way children are treated. In a 2015 report, the Justice Department found that St. Louis County Family Court showed harsher treatment of blacks than whites and failed to provide adequate defense before adult certification, among other things. The family is concerned about the teen as she goes through the Family Court process, but they are also concerned about the victims of the shooting, Pruitt said. We plan to figure out what we can do as a community to help them when they reopen their business, he said. But we also need to figure out what went wrong so we dont have other kids getting to this point in their lives. UPDATED at 10:35 a.m. Monday with increased cash-only bail. CLAYTON St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph S. Dueker on Monday doubled the cash-only bail of a St. Louis man charged with shooting and paralyzing a Ballwin police officer to $1 million. Antonio Taylor, 31, was held on a $500,000 bail on charges of shooting Ballwin officer Michael Flamion last month. He was charged with first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a weapon. In a court filing last week, St. Louis County Assistant Prosecutor Jason Denney asked the judge to raise the bail because Taylor "has implicated himself in these offenses," may be a flight risk because of "minimal" ties to the St. Louis area and has previous weapons-related offenses. Denney also noted that the "true severity of the victim officer's serious physical injuries has become more apparent." Flamion was paralyzed after being shot in the neck during a traffic stop on New Ballwin Road, police have said. Police said Taylor shot Flamion with a .22-caliber pistol. A ventilator was helping Flamion breathe after the shooting. Flamion's "injuries are indicative of the danger the defendant poses to the victim and the community and should be considered by the court," Denney said in a filing last week. Taylor's address is listed in court records as being in the 1200 block of Tower Grove Avenue in St. Louis. He is being represented by public defenders Kayla Williams and Beverly Hauber. Taylor's criminal history in Missouri includes 2011 convictions of unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. In those cases, he was given a two-year prison sentence. He served prison time in Oklahoma for robbery from November 2006 to January 2009. After getting out of prison, court records say, police say Taylor was stopped by officers in Beckham County, Okla., in July 2009 for faulty headlights and was found with a loaded .22-caliber rifle lying on the floor of the car. The rifle had been reported stolen out of St. Louis. Taylor was later sentenced to federal prison for 30 months for a conviction of being a felon in possession of a gun. He was released last year. Community members have raised thousands of dollars at various events and fundraisers for Flamion. Some coming up include: If you buy tickets for the soccer match Monday night at Busch Stadium between Liverpool and AS Roma using the code BALLWINPD, 50 percent of proceeds from your purchase will go toward a new house for Flamion and his family. 5 p.m.-close Wednesday, Buffalo Wild Wings will donate 10 percent of its sales to Flamion at its St. Louis area locations. Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, the Museum of Transportation will host a benefit at 2933 Barrett Station Road in Kirkwood. UPDATED at 9:55 a.m. Monday with name of man who died. ST. LOUIS COUNTY A man was fatally shot and another man was injured in the Glasgow Village area Sunday afternoon. The double shooting was in the 300 block of Lancashire Road. St. Louis County police said the shooting was reported about 2:30 p.m. They arrived to find two men had been shot. The man who died is identified as Maurice Parker, 21, of the 7800 block of Tennessee Place. The man who survived was taken to a hospital. His condition was not available, but police said he was stable. Authorities asked anyone with information to call St. Louis County Police, or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477. One day before voters head to the polls, the campaign working to reelect U.S. Congressman William Lacy Clay has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing his opponent state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal of violating campaign finance law. Clay, who is seeking his ninth term in Congress, faces challengers Chappelle-Nadal and Bill Haas in Tuesday's Democratic primary. In a statement pushed out by the Clay campaign on Monday, Chappelle-Nadal is accused of using cash raised as part of her Missouri Senate campaign to benefit her in the 1st District race. Chappelle-Nadal has made contributions to local candidates on the August primary ballot in the 1st Congressional District, but outside of her own state senate district, in the amount of $92,200, the statement said. Chappelle-Nadal responded on Monday, calling the accusations a textbook smear drawn up by the political cronies that have kept Lacy Clay in office. State ethics laws allow candidates to contribute to other candidates they believe in indeed that's what real Democrats do, she said. Chappelle-Nadal further said that she welcomes an investigation from the FEC. An FEC spokesman confirmed that Michelle Clay, the congressman's sister, has filed a complaint against Chappelle-Nadal for Congress. Michelle Clay is paid $6,000 a month by her brother's campaign. Christian Hilland, deputy press officer with the FEC, said, because of agency rules, he couldn't confirm whether the agency is actively investigating the matter. JEFFERSON CITY The lone independent member of the Missouri House is seeking re-election to his Florissant-based district. Rep. Keith English, who last year signaled he wouldnt be running again, filed signatures Friday with the Missouri Secretary of State's office to seek another two-year term representing the 68th House District. He said he reversed course after seeing who was running for the Democratic nomination in Tuesdays primary election. I think I am more well-suited for the job, English said Monday. Democratic voters will choose between former Rep. Bert Atkins and Jay Mosley, both of Florissant. The winner will face English in November, pending a review of his nominating petitions. Click here to create a customized ballot and learn about races in our Voters Guide. English, a union electrician, was elected as a Democrat in 2012, but became an independent in 2015. The move comes amid some upheaval in Englishs housing arrangement. In April, he filed a statement with the Missouri Ethics Commission saying he lived at 470 S. Castello Street. Records filed in 2014 note he lived at 755 Pelican Lane. He filed his paperwork with the Missouri Secretary of States office on Friday listing his address as 745 Pelican Lane. He said he has rented an apartment there since February. English said he and his wife, Kelly Sullens, are in the process of purchasing a historic home in Florissant. Records show Sullens has a house in Jefferson City where she works for the state. The Missouri Constitution requires members of the House and Senate to live in their districts. On Tuesday, English said he will use the historic house in Florissant as his voting address as he hits the campaign trail. Well be pounding the pavement in my district through November, English said. ST. LOUIS U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., took issue today with Donald Trump for berating the Muslim parents of a decorated Army captain killed in Iraq though he isn't withdrawing his endorsement of the controversial GOP presidential nominee. "I remember how much I worried about my son Matt during his years of active duty, Blunt said in a written statement sent to reporters today. The Khans (parents of the fallen soldier) have made the greatest possible sacrifice for our country; they deserve to be heard and respected. The statement concludes: "My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton." Blunt spokesman Tate O'Connor, when asked whether Blunt was withdrawing his earlier endorsement of Trump, responded with a one-word email: No. Khizr Khan, the father of Capt. Humayun Khan, spoke at the Democratic convention last week, criticizing Trump's proposals against Muslim immigration and saying Trump has made no sacrifices like those of Gold Star parents, the parents of fallen soldiers. Trump in defiance of standard political strategy that would call for thanking them for their sacrifice and moving on has kept the story alive for several days now with television interviews and Twitter comments on it. In one interview, Trump pushed back on the suggestion that he's made no sacrifices, saying the creation of jobs through his businesses was a sacrifice. Today on Twitter, he complained that the elder Khan viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC . . . Nice! Blunt's reaction distancing himself from Trump's remarks, while still maintaining his tepid endorsement of the party nominee echoes what other prominent Republicans have done in recent days, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Blunt is running for re-election this year. He faces no serious competition in Tuesday's Republican primary, but his expected November general election battle with Democratic challenger Jason Kander is shaping up as a nationally important race. Kander spokesman Chris Hayden issued a statement in response to Blunt's statement: "Even when he knows Donald Trump is wrong, Senator Blunt refuses to challenge him. Offering Donald Trump political advice is not the same thing as rebuking his horrible comments about a war hero's family." When city voters head to the polls on Tuesday, theres a good chance someone with a clipboard will approach them to talk about police body cameras. The idea is to get enough people to sign a petition that would set in motion a series of steps with the end goal of providing body cameras for every uniformed patrol officer within the St. Louis Police Department. The plan was put together by two of St. Louis most unlikely allies: Democratic state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed and conservative activist and businessman, Rex Sinquefield. Together, they are trying to collect 20,000 signatures over the next two months, including 10,000 on Tuesday as people arrive at and leave from their voting places. Twenty thousand signatures would get a measure on the Nov. 8 ballot to amend the city charter to allow the city assessors office to absorb the functions currently handled by the recorder of deeds office. According to research from the Nasheed-Sinquefield alliance, the resulting saving would free up about $1 million presumably enough to launch a body camera program in St. Louis. Sinquefield could not be reached for comment but Travis H. Brown, his top political adviser, called the plan an act of philanthropy. Everything Mr. Sinquefield does for St. Louis is because he wants to make it a better place to live, Brown said. If the effort is successful, it would cost at least a few people their jobs, and it would most likely end the career of Sharon Quigley Carpenter, the citys longtime recorder of deeds. Even if the petition drive doesnt result in a body camera program, a number of prominent people agreed that the merger of two government offices would alone be worth it. Nancy Rice, executive director of Better Together St. Louis, along with Mayor Francis Slay and a police union spokesman, all said they favor efforts to streamline city government. The independently-elected Recorder of Deeds Office is part of this Citys archaic and fractured government, Slay said in a statement. I applaud this groups efforts to dissolve it. For others, including Nasheed, the goal is about outfitting cops with cameras. Research has shown that both police and the people they encounter are better behaved when both sides know theres a camera present. Ive been trying for two years to get funding at the statehouse for body cameras, but I keep getting blocked by Republicans, Nasheed said during a meeting at her north St. Louis office this week. They say its an attack on cops. This is not an attack on police, and this is not an attack on anyone else, she said. Carpenter isnt so sure. Political motives? Carpenter was appointed recorder of deeds in 1980, and elected to her first term two years later. She ran into trouble in July 2014, when it was discovered that shed hired her great-nephew for summer work a violation of the states nepotism law. She was forced to resign, but ran again later that year, winning re-election with 61 percent of the vote. In the two years since, Carpenter has found herself on the outs with Slay, even though she used to baby-sit him as a child. Additionally, fellow Democrats, including Nasheed and Gov. Jay Nixon have called on her office to be audited. An audit released this year found that she misspent at least $3,000 of her offices money. Enron didnt get audited as much as me, Carpenter said from her office last week, expressing remorse for times when shes misread the law. It was not a proud moment for me when you find out youve violated a law when you certainly had no intention of doing that, she said. It was embarrassing to find out that I was wrong. That rough patch in office is part of the reason Carpenter said she cant shake the feeling that the petition drive to dissolve her office might have more of a political motive behind it than simply funding body cameras. My suspicion is that there are still a few people who are unhappy that I won re-election, she said. If someone is mad at me, Im sorry, but I won re-election without saying a bad thing about anyone. Still, some people believe I shouldnt have won. On the issue of body cameras, Carpenter said the Nasheed-Sinquefield alliance would be better served focusing on U.S. Department of Justice grants that exist specifically to support local law enforcement. I belong to a lot of (professional) organizations, she said. I dont know of one place in the U.S that has a recorder of deeds merged with an assessor's office. Carpenter said its too early for her to actively be fighting the petition drive, but she anticipates doing so if it makes it onto the ballot. She said she owes it to her 39 employees. Most important records The Recorder of Deeds office has been around since 1764 when it was founded by the French and housed in the Old Courthouse. Its main function was to handle disputes related to property and marriage. Today, the office records and archives records related to land, marriage, births and deaths. We handle the most important records in a persons lifetime, Carpenter said. Ultimately, Carpenter thinks her office will be saved by a Missouri statute that specifically says that in each county in the state, there shall be an office of recorder. However, supporters of the Nasheed-Sinquefield proposal dismissed that argument. They said the functions of the recorders office would still exist in some capacity under their plan. Nasheed, while acknowledging the likelihood of layoffs should the Recorder of Deeds office be dissolved, said the goal is to keep the damage minimal. The employees of that office will have the opportunity to apply for other positions with the same salary and same benefits, she said. The recorders office has an annual budget of about $2.8 million, with $2.5 million of that made up of salary and benefits. Carpenter makes $101,783 a year. Body camera debate Jeff Roorda, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said hes not necessarily against the idea put forward by Nasheed and Sinquefield, but not exactly on board either. There is tremendous waste in city government, he said. But our question is why does the city government always have time and money for pet projects like body cameras but not for police compensation. After receiving $4,000 raises in recent years, St. Louis police are still the lowest paid in the region, Roorda said, with average salaries $8,000 below the regional average. Roorda said hes seen estimates that could put the price of launching a body camera program at $6 million. This is a case of misplaced priorities, he said. Lets spend the $6 million to fix some of the things that cause the problems we have. Lets spend the money on education and summer job programs. Meanwhile, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson put the cost of a body camera program at $1.2 million to launch and roughly the same amount to keep it running annually. Additionally, he estimated that the cameras and their accompanying equipment would have to be upgraded every three to five years. Dotson acknowledged that his department of 1,300 officers is short about 160 people, and that morale is at risk when city officers are paid less than their counterparts in the county. But Im absolutely in favor of body cameras, he said. If I was a young police officer, Id want to wear one, and Id wear one every time I left the station. My job as a police officer is to go out and keep people safe, and do it in a lawful way. Theres nothing I should be embarrassed about; theres nothing I should be ashamed of. Dotson added that body cameras will help prove wrong critics who question the legitimacy of the job officers do. Should the money for body cameras materialize, the Nasheed-Sinquefield plan would have one more hurdle to jump: The contract between the Police Department and the police union requires that both sides would have to agree on the use of the cameras before the departments roughly 800 uniformed patrol officers start wearing them. If a stable funding source for body cameras materializes, Dotson said they could be phased in over 24 months in the best-case scenario. JEFFERSON CITY When Emily van Schenkhof sat down for a session on human trafficking put on the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, she wasnt expecting presenters to admit that theyd never tried a trafficking case. But data provided by the Office of State Courts Administrator showed her why that could be. Of 20 human trafficking charges in Missouri between 2010 and 2015, 14 were dismissed. It doesnt mean those offenders werent prosecuted, or didn't see jail time, said van Schenkhof, the deputy director of Missouri KidsFirst, a group that advocates for policies that prevent child abuse. Typically, they plead to a crime like rape or child abuse, she said, and the trafficking charge gets dismissed. During a free two-day training last week, the Attorney Generals Office teamed up with the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute to educate state prosecutors and law enforcement on how to develop a human trafficking prosecution. My office is providing this training to help Missouris prosecutors and law enforcement to recognize trafficking, bring traffickers to justice, and assist the victims, Koster said in a statement when the training was announced in May. His office couldnt be immediately reached for comment. Some sessions were open to representatives from advocacy groups, like van Schenkhof. Topics discussed included interviewing techniques for talking to victims, investigative tips, and the ethics surrounding human trafficking case studies. Getting prosecutors and police more comfortable and familiar with human trafficking charges would mean more frequently penalizing traffickers to the fullest extent of the law, van Schenkhof said. In child advocacy centers were seeing trafficking cases charged under other crimes. If theres a way to get us 20 to 25 year sentences for folks who do this, I think we need to use it, she said. Its a tool were not using in this state. Still, theres been a variety of other efforts to combat the state's trafficking problem, including legislation signed into law last month that expands the crime to include advertising the availability of a minor or non-consenting adult for sex or pornography. Another new law adds victims of human trafficking to those eligible to participate in the Secretary of States Safe at Home Program, which keeps their address confidential and unavailable to their abusers through public records. Both were pushed by the Missouri Human Trafficking Task Force, a panel of lawmakers created in 2015 to raise awareness of the issue and centralize efforts scattered throughout the state. Theyre still working on how to combat the problem without constantly reinventing the wheel, said Rep. Elijah Haahr, a Springfield Republican who chairs the task force. Thats one of the things were always talking about. How do we collaborate with all these units, governmental and non-governmental? Haahr said. We dont want people doing the same duplicative thing other groups are doing. We want to all be pulling in the same direction. With regard to the governmental side, Kosters recent training sessions and Secretary of State Jason Kanders expanded Safe at Home Program are just a couple of examples. The Missouri Department of Transportation also has a partnership with a group called Truckers Against Trafficking, which works with state departments to distribute educational materials to truck drivers. The idea is for the drivers to learn how to identify potential victims during their travels. And U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, who has sponsored federal efforts to eliminate trafficking, conducted her own training in March to help educators understand the effects of trafficking in schools. Now its a matter of grappling priorities of lawmakers and state agencies with those of the victims organizations on the front lines. Were missing some coordination. Theres a lot of good people doing good things, but were missing a strategic vision, van Schenkhof said. We need a statewide plan. Theres clearly so much interest. Awareness can be a big part of that, not just for truck drivers and prosecutors, but for citizens too, something Gov. Jay Nixon pointed out after signing the human trafficking bills from the spring session. We tend to think of trafficking as something that happens in distant, undeveloped countries. But the tragic reality if that right here in the United States, human trafficking is a real and growing problem, Nixon said. The next steps for the task force, which terminates at the end of this year, will be looking at a budgetary component where state tax dollars are appropriate and can have an impact helping victims, Haahr said. One thing well be looking at is housing. Some victims need housing for up to two years, and thats incredibly expensive, so were looking at proposals to deal with that, he explained. Haahr also said he hopes the current momentum the state has for tackling the issue doesnt let up anytime soon. There are so many things, funding higher ed theres always other stuff that occupies the central amount of time we have, Haahr said. I think sometimes after passing a trafficking package theres this thought, that okay, weve done that, now we have to go back to these broader issues. CHICAGO Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed a measure designed to prevent people with mental disabilities from owning guns. The measure Rauner signed Friday strengthens existing law by requiring circuit court clerks to report the names of people a judge deems mentally disabled to the Illinois State Police at least twice a year. The new law takes effect immediately. Under the old law, a person deemed by a judge to have a mental illness could lose his or her gun owner identification card. One of the plan's sponsors, Democratic state Sen. Julie Morrison, had said that not all counties in the state were complying. She has said her proposal would create better communication between court clerks and state police Legislators approved the plan unanimously. ___ The legislation is SB2213. The retirements of two veteran sheriffs, votes by GOP legislators against right to work and changing demographics in north St. Louis County are inspiring vigorous local contests in Tuesdays Missouri primary. Area Democratic and Republican ballots include battles for more than a dozen state legislative seats, judgeships and other county offices, and local tax proposals. Primary winners must face voters again in November, although not always with opposition. Click here to create a customized ballot and learn about races in our Voters Guide. Here are some major local contests: In Jefferson County, three Republicans and a Democrat want to replace Sheriff Oliver Glenn Boyer, who has been in office since 1993 and is not seeking another term. The Republicans are sheriffs department captains Ron Arnhart and Dave Marshak, and Madison County, Mo., sheriffs Sgt. Sean Cooper. The winner will face the Democrat, Lt. Col. Steve Meinberg, who is Boyers second in command, on Nov. 8. In Franklin County, three Republicans seek to replace Sheriff Gary Toelke, in office since 1988, who also is retiring. They are sheriffs department lieutenants Jason Grellner and Steve Pelton, and retired St. Louis County Police officer Dan Page. No Democrat filed. Four Democrats seek to replace St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, in office since 2001, who isnt seeking another term. They are Mary Pat Carl, the circuit attorneys chief homicide prosecutor; state Rep. Kimberly Gardner; assistant circuit attorney Patrick Hamacher; and Steve Harmon, a staff lawyer for the St. Louis Public Schools and former city police officer. No Republican filed. Also in St. Louis, five Democrats vie to replace Sheriff Jim Murphy, who will retire after 28 years in office. The city sheriffs office provides courthouse security and prisoner transfers. The five are former deputies Vernon Betts and Johnnie Chester, former Alderman Jimmie Matthews, Alderman Joseph Vaccaro and deputy Charley Williams. The winner will face Republican John Castellano III, also a deputy. In St. Charles County, three Republicans and two Democrats want to fill the state Senate seat of Tom Dempsey, who resigned last year. They are businessman Bill Eigel, state Rep. Anne Zerr and Wentzville municipal judge Mike Carter. The Democrats are Richard Orr and Greg Upchurch. The GOP contest is one of several being watched statewide because of the right-to-work issue. Both Dempsey and Zerr bucked their party and opposed it in legislative votes. Unions support Zerr, and Eigel has major backing from David Humphreys, a Joplin building-products executive who has spent heavily to unseat Republicans who oppose right-to-work legislation. The Republican-leaning 23rd Senate District in the eastern half of the county includes many union members. Under right to work, a major state GOP priority, employees covered by union contracts dont have to pay dues or fees. Unions fiercely oppose it, saying it would diminish bargaining power. In the 15th District of Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, two seasoned Republicans want to replace him. They are Rick Stream, GOP candidate for county executive in 2014 and a former state House member, and state Rep. Andrew Koenig. Term limits are forcing out Schmitt. The winner will face Mark Boyko or Stephen Eagleton, two Democratic candidates. North County Democrats in the County Council 4th District will choose between incumbent Mike OMara and state Rep. Rochelle Walton Gray. Both have political steam and pedigree. OMara, a business representative for Pipefitters and Plumbers Union Local 562, has served since 2000, following his father, the late James OMara, to the 4th District seat. Gray, who cannot seek re-election to the House because of term limits, is a daughter of activist attorney Elbert Walton, a former legislator. The contest is seen as a test of North Countys traditional union base and its increasing percentage of black voters. The winner will face Republican Curtis Faulkner and Libertarian Jeff Coleman. Glendale voters will consider a -cent sales tax for improvements to their Fire Department, including a new pumper. In St. Charles County, voters in St. Charles, OFallon and St. Peters will decide parks-related taxes. The Post-Dispatch Voters Guide at stltoday.com/votersguide has information on more than 300 candidates in 150 races across the region. Users who submit their address are guided through customized ballots showing the choices they will have on election day. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Below is a synopsis of state and local candidates the Post-Dispatch recommends in Tuesdays primary election. Please note that a primary endorsement does not necessarily signify a candidate preference in the general election. These endorsements are based on interviews and answers candidates submitted to a questionnaire. Detailed explanations are available online at stltoday.com/news/opinion or in the July 24-26 editions of the paper. STATEWIDE Governor Democrat Attorney General Chris Koster, 51, is the overwhelming primary favorite. None of his opponents poses a serious challenge. Republican Only one GOP candidate, Catherine Hanaway, 52, has shown herself by word and deed to be worthy for the states top post. Her temperament and experience as a former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker ideally suit her to represent the GOP in the general election. Lieutenant governor Democrat Russ Carnahan, 58, of St. Louis, has deep experience as a former member of both the U.S. House and Missouri House. Republican State Sen. Mike Parson, 60, of Bolivar, is a respected conservative who knows his way around Jefferson City. Attorney general Democrat Jake Zimmerman, 42, of Olivette, has the experience as current St. Louis County assessor, former Missouri deputy attorney general and state legislator. Republican Josh Hawley, 36, is a constitutional law specialist and former associate law professor with experience as a civil litigator and corporate attorney. Treasurer Democrat Pat Contreras, 35, of Kansas City, has energy and broad-based experience as a former U.S. diplomat and Federal Reserve staffer. Republican State Sen. Eric Schmitt, of Glendale, is running unopposed. Secretary of state Democrat Robin Smith, 61, is a former Channel 4 news anchor with no prior elective-office experience. In this weak three-candidate field, she emerges as the best choice. Republican Jay Ashcroft, 43, of St. Louis County, marginally holds the edge in a race that has been somewhat negative and marred by big-dollar donations to his opponent. Since the job involves election administration, we prefer a candidate who isnt beholden to wealthy donors. LOCAL Circuit attorney Mary Pat Carl, 39, is the lead homicide prosecutor in the office of incumbent Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, who is stepping down. Joyce endorses Carl, who has worked in the circuit attorneys office for 13 years. Sheriff Five Democrats and one Republican are vying for this job, which carries a six-figure salary. We have no recommendation other than the need for this office to be transformed by the Legislature into an appointed position. Treasurer Incumbent Tishaura Jones, a Democrat, is unopposed in the primary as is her GOP counterpart, Darren Grant. Jerome Bauer and Don De Vivo have filed as Green Party candidates. Not to rush the general election on primary day, but come Nov. 8, Missouri voters will be asked to approve a voter ID measure. The constitutionality of voter ID was cast in severe doubt by three federal courts during the past two weeks, so Missourians should be prepared to vote no and save the state some money. Amendment 6, as it will be titled on the November ballot in Missouri, would require voters starting next year to present a government-issued photo ID before casting ballots. Such measures in other states have failed federal court challenges. Amendment 6 would force Missouri to spend a lot of money defending a law that doesnt deserve to be defended. It is the fruit of a decade-long effort by Republican lawmakers to make it harder for many Missourians to exercise their rights to vote. In 2009, then Secretary of State Robin Carnahan estimated the number at 240,000 and identified most of them as minorities, the disabled and elderly. Until this year, various voter ID bills passed by the Legislature came to naught. This year the Legislature crafted a bill with some wiggle room: Voters without photo ID would be able to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity, present some sort of non-photo ID or cast provisional ballots that would be counted if they later showed up with ID. This amounts to an undue burden to address an almost nonexistent problem. The most comprehensive study of fraud by voter impersonation, done by law professor Justin Leavitt, found only 31 credible incidents among 1 billion ballots cast since 2000 in state, local and federal elections. The odds that voter impersonation could sway an election are statistically zero. So why require photo ID? To suppress Democratic votes, as an honest Pennsylvania lawmaker blurted out in 2012. In Missouri and elsewhere, lawmakers have been more circumspect, arguing that you need a photo ID to board an airplane, so why not to vote? Answer: Boarding an airplane is not a constitutional right. In throwing out North Carolinas voter ID bill on Friday, the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals noted the almost surgical precision with which the law targeted black voters. The court restored same-day voter registration and early voting periods as well. Also on Friday, U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson threw out key provisions of Wisconsins 2011 voter ID law, writing, The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections. Reaching similar conclusions, an appeals court threw out Texas voter ID law on July 20. In Missouri, lawmakers tried to finesse some of these problems. But the bottom line is the same: Photo ID laws are blatantly partisan and present an undue burden to one class of citizens. Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri? LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Amazon and NatWest add to economic worries Friday, October 28, 2022 - 12:39 Outlooks by US e-commerce platform Amazon and UK lender NatWest added to investor fears of dwindling consumer activity, pushing down London and other stock markets on Friday. "Having held the line for most of this week, the FTSE 100 finally caved to the negative pressure from big tech disappointments across the pond," AJ Bell head of investment analysis Laith Khalaf said. "The FTSE 100 may be under-represented on the technology front but the wider hit to sentiment from some of the world's largest companies dropping the ball couldn't be entirely avoided." Amazon was down 12% to $97.74 in pre-market trade in New York on Friday, as the e-commerce platform late Thursday reported a decrease in third quarter net income on foreign exchange headwinds, but did book a rise in sales. However, Amazon's guidance for fourth-quarter revenue of $140 billion to $148 billion was below consensus expectations of $155 billion and represented annual top-line growth of just 2% to 8%, noted analysts at Wedbush Securities. "Take a breadth, it wasn't that bad," the broker said. Wedbush lowered its Amazon price target to $140 from $175, but kept its 'outperform' rating. Apple fared better after its own quarterly result, the stock rising 0.5% before the US open. In London, the FTSE 100 index was down 36.77 points, or 0.5%, at 7,036.92, fighting its way back from steeper loss seen earlier in the session. At this level, the blue-chip index has added 1.0% this week. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 193.63 points, or 1.1%, at 7,036.92, and the AIM All-Share was down 5.96 points, or 0.7%, at 803.50. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.8% at 701.18, the Cboe UK 250 down 1.2% at 15,346.29, and the Cboe Small Companies down 0.3% at 12,368.06. In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.5% lower - with both following a similar pattern as the FTSE 100 of repairing harsher opening losses. Helping the mood improve in Germany, its economy expanded in the third quarter, according to flash estimates from the Federal Statistical Office, a significant outperformance over market consensus. Europe's largest economy is thought to have grown by 0.3% in the third quarter versus the previous quarter. Market consensus - according to FXStreet - forecast a 0.2% contraction. Versus the year prior, Germany's gross domestic product is estimated to have grown by 1.1%, again well ahead of consensus, which was predicting a 0.7% rise. ING said: "Looking ahead, the surprise growth in the third quarter does not mean that the recession narrative has changed. All leading indicators point to a further weakening of the economy in the fourth quarter and there doesn't seem to be any improvement in sight. "Companies and households are increasingly suffering under higher energy bills and ongoing high inflation, adjusting consumption and investments. The government's latest support package, if not implemented retroactively, will be too little too late to prevent a winter recession. It will only be able to soften such a recession." Keeping the DAX in the red, however, was a 2.5% drop for shares of automaker Volkswagen. VW posted a drop in earnings despite a significant increase in revenue as it dealt with an increase in costs. In the three months that ended September 30, pretax earnings dropped 4.7% to 2.94 billion from 3.08 billion the year before. While the Wolfsburg-based carmaker's revenue increased 24% to 70.7 billion from 56.93 billion last year, the company's cost of sales widened to 58.04 billion from 48.01 billion last year. It also faced increasing administrative expenses and a negative financial result of 1.33 billion, swung from a positive contribution of 484 million last year. Meanwhile, recently spun-off subsidiary Porsche AG delivered an increase in profit in its first report as a separate company. Porsche was 1.7% lower. The euro traded at $0.9938 midday Friday, down from $0.9984 late Thursday, continuing its slide slower after yesterday's dovish European Central Bank update. The ECB said interest rates would need to be raised "further" - a slight change in language after it previously said rates would need to be hiked over the "next several meetings". All eyes are now on the US Federal Reserve, which announces an interest rate decision next Wednesday. Markets are hopeful for signs of a pivot by the central bank, which has raised rates rapidly in a bid to tame inflation. The Bank of England's next rate decision is a day after its US counterpart. In London, Centrica was the best performer large-cap on Friday, gaining 5.7%. The gas utility has reopened its Rough natural gas storage facility off the east coast of England after completing "significant engineering upgrades" over the summer. Centrica, which owns British Gas, said the facility is operational for winter. The facility increases the UK's storage capacity by 50% despite it operating at just 20% of its previous capacity. Stuck to the bottom of the FTSE 100, NatWest slumped 9.3%. The bank reported strong income growth in the third quarter, boosted by both increased lending and higher interest rates, but it warned it is keeping a close on eye on any change in behaviour from its customers. "At a time of increased economic uncertainty, we are acutely aware of the challenges that people, families and businesses are facing up and down the country. Although we are not yet seeing signs of heightened financial distress, we are very conscious of the growing concerns of our customers, and we are closely monitoring any changes to their finances or behaviours," Chief Executive Alison Rose said. High-street banking peers Lloyds and Barclays lost 3.6% and 3.3%. British Airways-parent International Consolidated Airlines tumbled 3.4% lower, despite posting a positive quarter. IAG swung to profit in the third quarter, as revenue improved on pre-pandemic levels, despite lower capacity. It swung to a pretax profit of 1.01 billion from a loss of 714 million a year before. Revenue nearly tripled year-on-year to 7.32 billion, from 2.71 billion. Passenger revenue saw the strongest recovery, growing to 6.42 billion from 2.00 billion. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, it was 22% higher. Looking ahead to the open in the US on Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was poised to open 1.1% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was pointed down 0.2%, and the wider S&P 500 down 0.7%. The Nasdaq is facing continued pressure from a disappointing series of tech earnings. Sterling was quoted at $1.1539 midday Friday, down from $1.1573 at the London equities close on Thursday. The dollar was trading at JP147.65 midday Friday in London, sharply higher from JP145.90 late Thursday. The yen was under pressure after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government approved a hefty economic package that will include government funding of about JP29 trillion, about $197 billion, to soften the burden of costs from rising utility rates and food prices. Inflation has been rising in Japan along withside globally surging energy prices, while a weakening of the yen against the dollar has increased the cost of all imports. Announcing its latest policy decision on Friday, the Bank of Japan kept its long-standing lax stance in place. The central bank has kept its benchmark rate at minus 0.1% since 2016. Gold was priced at $1,648.70 an ounce midday Friday, lower from $1,662.60 on Thursday evening in London. Brent oil was trading at $94.49 a barrel, soft from $94.75 late Thursday. Still to come on Friday, three is the personal consumption expenditures inflationary gauge from the US at 1330 BST. Core PCE is the Fed's preferred inflationary measure. Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. In 2013, two of my favorite cigars happened to be Abaddon and Ouroboros, both of which are made exclusively for Blue Havana, a tobacconist in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago (not far from where I live). They were blended by Chris Schedel with help from Skip Martin of RoMa Craft Tobac. Both are made at Martins Fabrica de Tabacos Nica Sueno in Esteli. And both are to blame for sparking my admiration for RoMaa healthy obsession that continues to this day. RoMas fine cigar brandsincluding Intemperance, CroMagnon, and Aquitaineare available at many tobacconists (a number, Id bet, thats growing, if Skip Martins Facebook posts from the just-concluded IPCPR Trade Show are any indication). For a time, Abaddon and Ouroboros could only be purchased in-person at the Chicago shop. Now, fortunately, everyone has access to these exclusive blends via Blue Havanas online store. Thats definitely good news. Abaddon is named for the dwelling place of the dead in the Hebrew Bible and features a Nicaraguan hybrid (Criollo/Corojo) wrapper. Ouroboros is named for an ancient symbol of a dragon eating its own tail and is wrapped in a Brazilian Mata Fina leaf. Until last fall, both were only available in a single size (6.25 x 52). Now they are also available in a Lancero format. Covering the Ouroboros Lanceros Indonesian binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic is a rustic, lumpy wrapper with few veins and highly visible seams. Pre-light notes of smoky molasses emanate from the closed foot. A V-cut is all thats needed at the head to reveal a smooth cold draw. The opening flavor is gritty with ample pepper spice and black coffee. The sandy texture fades after a half-inch, giving way to a creamier mouthfeel while still maintaining full body. Espresso, roasted nut, cayenne heat, earth, and paprika come and go. Like the original Ouroboros size, the Lancero does not increase in intensity in the final third; rather, the finale is characterized by the welcome additions of cream and cedar. Thats a nice change of pace. And I think most seasoned cigar veterans will agree this cigar is teeming with strength, balance, and complexity. With superb combustion properties and a price tag around $9, this isnt a cigar you want to missespecially if, like me, youre a fan of RoMa Craft Tobac. I continue to love this blend, and the thin, elegant format serves it well. The Ouroboros Lancero is worthy of a stellar rating of four and a half stogies out of five. [To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.] Patrick A photo credit: Stogie Guys 01 August 2016 Happy 1 August Cluster Munition Coalition delegation at the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 2015 Lara Brose / Handicap International 1 August 2016 marks the 6th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In remembering cluster munition victims around the world, the Cluster Munition Coalition and its members in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Senegal, Sri Lanka, United States, Vietnam, Yemen and many other countries mark the anniversary of the Convention by taking action to remind their governments and the international community of the need to eradicate cluster munitions. Activities include public events, conferences, workshops, meetings with decision-makers, writing letters to Heads of States, ministers, ambassadors, Members of Parliament, social media campaigns, briefings for journalists, posting blog stories and publishing articles. Actions aim to make sure that members of the Convention on Cluster Munitions are on track to achieve their obligations and that States that havent joined, come on board the Convention as soon as possible. Eight years ago this month Israel dropped cluster munitions containing millions of submunitions into south Lebanon, with devastating impacts for civilians which prompted international urgent humanitarian action and helped bring about the global ban on cluster munitions. However, even as the world celebrates the lifesaving achievements of the global ban, cluster munitions continue to be used by Syrian forces and Russia in Syria. Despite worldwide condemnations, Syrian forces and Russia continue using the indiscriminate weapons. Similar violations of international humanitarian law and the norms established by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions continue to occur in Yemen, where cluster munitions used by the Saudi-led coalition are causing significant civilians casualties. Unfortunately, the unexploded remnants of cluster munitions in Yemen and Syria will continue taking heavy toll on civilians for long time, if they are not cleared and destroyed immediately. The Cluster Munition Coalition strongly condemns the use of cluster munitions in Syria and Yemen, and urges the Saudi-led coalition, Russia and Syria to immediately stop using cluster munitions and to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay. The Convention on Cluster Munition has been making a significant difference to our world. 119 states have joined it, of which 100 are States Parties to the Convention. Over 1.3 million cluster munitions and 160 million submunitions have been destroyed by States Parties. Eight countries which used to be affected by cluster munitions have been freed from the danger of cluster munitions as a direct result of the Convention. States Parties have to stay committed until they achieve a world without cluster munitions and they must step up efforts to realize the goals of the 2015-2020 Dubrovnik Action Plan. Asma Forhat points out a cluster munition she has just found to the team supervisor. It was destroyed in a controlled demolition shortly afterwards. @SeanSutto BEIJING, Aug. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) (the "Company" or "Dangdang"), a leading business-to-consumer e-commerce company in China, today announced that it has called an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (the "EGM"), to be held at 2:00 p.m. Beijing Time on September 12, 2016, at the Company's office at 12/F, Jing An Center, No. 8 North Third Ring Road East, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100028, People's Republic of China, to consider and vote on, among other things, the proposal to authorize and approve the previously announced agreement and plan of merger (the "Merger Agreement") dated May 28, 2016, by and among Dangdang Holding Company Limited ("Parent"), Dangdang Merger Company Limited ("Merger Sub") and the Company, the plan of merger required to be filed with the Registrar of Companies of the Cayman Islands, substantially in the form attached as Annex A to the Merger Agreement (the "Plan of Merger") and the transactions contemplated thereby (including the Merger, as defined below). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement and the Plan of Merger, Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company (the "Merger"), with the Company continuing as the surviving company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent in accordance with Cayman Islands Companies Law. If completed, the Merger will result in the Company becoming a privately-held company. Dangdang's American depositary shares ("ADSs"), each representing five Class A common shares of the Company, will no longer be listed on The New York Stock Exchange and the American depositary shares program for Dangdang's ADSs will terminate. In addition, Dangdang's ADSs and Dangdang's Class A common shares represented by the ADSs will cease to be registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company's board of directors, acting upon the unanimous recommendation of the special committee of the board of directors of the Company comprised of independent directors unaffiliated with Parent or Merger Sub or any member of the buyer group or the management of the Company, authorized and approved the Merger Agreement, the Plan of Merger and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the Merger, and recommended that the Company's shareholders and ADS holders vote FOR, among other things, the proposal to authorize and approve the Merger Agreement, the Plan of Merger and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the Merger. Shareholders of record as of the close of business in the Cayman Islands on August 26, 2016 will be entitled to attend and vote at the EGM. ADS holders as of the close of business in New York City on August 8, 2016 will be entitled to instruct The Bank of New York Mellon, the ADS depositary, to vote the Class A common shares represented by the ADSs at the EGM. Additional information regarding the EGM and the Merger Agreement can be found in the transaction statement on Schedule 13E-3 and the proxy statement attached as Exhibit (a)-(1) thereto, as amended, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which can be obtained, along with other filings containing information about the Company, the proposed Merger and related matters, without charge, from the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). In addition, the Company's proxy materials (including the final proxy statement) will be mailed to shareholders and ADS holders. SHAREHOLDERS AND ADS HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY THESE MATERIALS AND OTHER MATERIALS FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY, THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS. The Company and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be "participants" in the solicitation of proxies from its shareholders with respect to the proposed Merger. Information regarding the persons who may be considered "participants" in the solicitation of proxies is set forth in the final proxy statement and Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement relating to the proposed Merger. Further information regarding persons who may be deemed participants, including any direct or indirect interests they may have, is also set forth in the final proxy statement. This announcement is neither a solicitation of proxies, an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities and it is not a substitute for the proxy statement and other materials that have been or will be filed with or furnished to the SEC. Safe Harbor and Informational Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "if," "will," "expected," and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include: uncertainties as to how the Company's shareholders will vote at the meeting of shareholders; the possibility that competing offers will be made; the expected timing of the completion of the merger; the possibility that various closing conditions for the transaction may not be satisfied or waived; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in documents filed with the SEC by the Company, as well as the Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement and the proxy statement to be filed by the Company. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's expectations as of the date of this press release. You should not rely upon these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. About Dangdang E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. is a leading business-to-consumer e-commerce company in China. On its website dangdang.com and through mobile Dangdang, the Company offers books and media products as well as selected general merchandise products including fashion and apparel, baby, children and maternity and home and lifestyle products, among others. It also operates the dangdang.com marketplace program, which allows third-party merchants to sell their products alongside products sourced by the Company. Dangdang is transforming itself into an integrated online shopping experience with prominent destination categories. Dangdang's nationwide fulfilment and delivery capabilities, high-quality customer service support and scalable technology infrastructure enable it to provide a compelling online shopping experience to customers. For more information, please visit ir.dangdang.com. For more information, please contact: Ye JiInvestor RelationsE-Commerce China Dangdang Inc.Phone: +86-10-5799-2306E-mail: [email protected] Elaine Ketchmere, CFACompass Investor Relations+1-310-528-3031Email: [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/e-commerce-china-dangdang-inc-announces-extraordinary-general-meeting-of-shareholders-300306753.html SOURCE E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. ATLANTA, July 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, today announced it has acquired the Hong Kong prepaid distribution business of ValuAccess, a leading provider of stored value programs, loyalty programs and transaction processing to Asian retailers. Prior to the acquisition, InComm and ValuAccess achieved marked success in the Hong Kong market through a partnership formed in 2012 that combined InComm's global reach with ValuAccess's proven insight into the needs of the Hong Kong consumer and retail markets. The partnership offered local consumers a suite of products including prepaid cards, gift cards and other stored-value programs while increasing sales and foot traffic at participating retailers. This ongoing success and the significant growth in the business ultimately led to this transaction. "This acquisition strengthens InComm's international presence and reaffirms our commitment to the Asian market," said Frank Monaco, Executive Vice President and General Manager, International at InComm. "Asia continues to be a key strategic focus for InComm and this will enable us to continue to build on our success throughout the region." "InComm has been a great partner to ValuAccess over the years," said Alistair Gordon, CEO of ValuAccess Limited. "We will continue to support InComm by distributing our local stored value gift card products through their retail distribution partners and providing local processing support." About ValuAccess ValuAccess was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Hong Kong. The company provides creative branded stored value, gift card and loyalty programs for the fast-growing Asia Pacific market. For more information, visit http://www.valuaccess.com. About InComm Leveraging deep integrations into retailers' point-of-sale systems, InComm provides connectivity to a variety of service providers that allow consumers to conduct everyday business at more than 500,000 points of retail distribution. Whether those consumers are activating prepaid products, paying bills, enjoying real-time discounts through a membership card, purchasing digital goods in-store or adding funds to an online account, InComm is there to provide unique gift-gifting opportunities, cater to on-the-go shoppers, deliver added value through loyalty programs and serve cash-based consumers. With 206 global patents, InComm is headquartered in Atlanta with a presence in 31 countries. Learn more at www.incomm.com or connect with us on www.twitter.com/incomm, www.facebook.com/incomm, www.linkedin.com/company/incomm or www.incomm.com/blog. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141120/159878LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/incomm-strengthens-presence-in-asia-through-latest-acquisition-300304156.html SOURCE InComm A Citigroup office is seen at Canary Wharf in London, Britain May 19, 2015. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett - RTX1DT8L (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) said on Monday it did not experience any "significant negative impact" on its results or client activity as a result of Britain's vote to exit the European Union. Citi said in a regulatory filing that while market activity increased following the referendum in the UK, the bank expects the operating environment to continue to be challenging. (http://bit.ly/2aFQlwd) The bank's UK asset exposure was $108.4 billion as of June 30, according to the filing. Citi said only 30 percent of its corporate loans booked in the UK were to UK-domiciled entities, while the rest were mostly to European counterparties. The bank left its estimate for possible unreserved legal costs, as of June, unchanged at $3 billion. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel) By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's first and only law firm set up by a foreigner, Hay, Kalb & Associates, will suspend operations, the firm's principal said in a statement on Monday, as the country grows increasingly isolated. The firm is a joint venture between the North Korean state and British-French citizen Michael Hay, who has represented foreign clients in the capital, Pyongyang, for 12 years. Hay said he had made the decision based on "business and geopolitical principles". "This decision has been taken only after lengthy and thorough deliberation and an examination of the continuing deterioration of inter-regional relations pertaining to the Korean peninsula," Hay said in a statement. "It is not unreasonable to assume that no meaningful change or indicator of change in relations shall occur, if at all, until well after the United States Presidential Inauguration, on January 20, 2017," Hay said in the statement. North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to a new U.N. Security Council resolution in March that tightened sanctions against Pyongyang. The majority of Hay's clients are foreign investors, many of whom have been negatively affected by the sanctions, Hay told Reuters. "Sanctions are hurting legitimate foreign investors. There still is no credible, consistent evidence I see of DPRK companies hurting," Hay said. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official title. Very few foreigners live or work in North Korea. Those who do are usually members of the diplomatic or NGO community, although a small group of foreign investors have maintained a quiet and steady presence inside the country. The suspension takes effect from midnight on Monday, Hay said, with an official suspension scheduled for Aug. 14, the firm's 12-year anniversary. Hay, who bills his firm as the only foreign-invested firm in North Korea, said he will still maintain an office in Pyongyang. North Korea has more than 8,000 law graduates, according to an official 2008 census, half of whom are based in Pyongyang. Most are employed by the state. (This version of the story corrects headline, lead and penultimate paragraphs after lawyer clarifies the law firm is the only foreign-invested one in North Korea) (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Paul Tait) U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on the third night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - During a visit from Singapore's prime minister on Tuesday, President Barack Obama will extol the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and commit to getting the deal done, a top White House official said on Friday, even though Obama's fellow Democrats panned it at their convention this week. Obama wants the U.S. Congress to approve the 12-nation trade deal, which he sees as a central part of his economic and foreign policy legacy, before he leaves the White House on Jan. 20. Free trade deals have been blamed for U.S. manufacturing plant closures, job losses and stagnant wages. Obama has cast the TPP as righting the wrongs of past trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Both countries also are part of the TPP. Both Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump oppose the TPP, and it has become a hot-button issue in the campaign to replace Obama. Congressional leaders have been pessimistic about the odds of ratifying the deal either during the short session in September, or during the brief "lame duck" session after the Nov. 8 election. When Obama rolls out the red carpet for Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, one of the main goals will be "lifting up the benefits" of the TPP, said Daniel Kritenbrink, top Asia policy adviser at the White House National Security Council. "I predict he will also once again say to the prime minister that he's committed to getting TPP done and doing so before the end of his term," Kritenbrink told reporters on Friday. "TPP is going to be great for the American economy, for American workers and American companies," Kritenbrink said, noting Singapore, a signatory to the deal, strongly supports it. Trump has argued vociferously against multinational trade deals like TPP, saying he would prefer instead to have deals with specific countries one on one. On Thursday night at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump said TPP should be rejected. "I like trade where the United States makes a lot of money," he said. Trump has been critical of Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state, and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine, for shifting their positions to oppose the trade deal. Signs protesting the deal were prominent during the Democratic convention, which wrapped up on Thursday. Kaine, a Democratic senator who had praised the TPP deal until he joined Clinton's ticket, told CNN on Friday that he was concerned the deal gives corporations the power to challenge trade practices, but not unions or environmental groups. "The deal is going to come up for a vote and I can't vote for it with these secret courts that are open to the companies only," Kaine said in the interview. Obama is "acutely aware" of the difficult election year politics for the TPP but that will not stop him from forging ahead, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on Friday. "The president absolutely believes this deal should pass this year," Schultz said. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Ayesha Rascoe, Richard Cowan and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Jeffrey Benkoe) Lam Akol, South Sudan's head of the opposition Democratic Change group, addresses a news conference in his office in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed in South Sudan over the weekend in renewed clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his longtime rival Riek Machar, a spokesman for Machar said on Monday. Machar, the former vice president, and his SPLM-IO group have been caught up with more than two years of on-and-off, ethnically charged fighting with supporters of Kiir. Machar returned to the capital Juba in April after a shaky peace deal but left again last month when new clashes broke out. Kiir replaced Machar as vice president last week with Taban Deng Gai, after Machar ignored Kiir's request to return to Juba, further deepening a split in Machar's SPLM-IO party. Nyarji Jermlili Roman, the deputy spokesman for Machar, said the nine died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya county in Central Equatorial state. "The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre," Roman said. Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was "small fighting" between the SPLA and Machar's forces. "We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations," Koang said. Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling the government military positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions. Nothing has been heard from Machar since and Kiir replaced him as vice president. In a further sign of trouble for the peace deal, Lam Akol, head of the opposition Democratic Change group, stepped down from his post as agriculture minister that he assumed after Kiir named a new unity cabinet following the peace deal. "One side has decided to abrogate (the peace deal)," Akol told a news conference in the capital of neighboring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, on Monday. The United States said over the weekend it had received "disturbing reports" of renewed violence in the south of the country and the United Nations is considering imposing an arms embargo. (Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Tom Heneghan) UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) July 31, 2016 CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 001-31337 22-1760285 (State or other jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Identification of incorporation) File Number) Number) 150 Clove Road, Little Falls, New Jersey 07424 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) Registrants telephone number, including area code: (973) 890-7220 (Former name or former address, if changed since last report) Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions: o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. As previously announced, Andrew A. Krakauer stepped down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and as a director of Cantel Medical Corp. (the Company) on August 1, 2016. He will serve as a Senior Advisor to the Company until October 15, 2016. Jorgen B. Hansen, formerly President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Company, has been appointed as CEO effective August 1, 2016. He also remains President of the Company. In addition, effective August 1, 2016, Mr. Hansen was appointed a director of the Company to fill the vacancy created by Mr. Krakauers resignation from the Board. Mr. Hansen, age 48, has served as President and COO since November 2014. Prior thereto, from November 2012 to November 2014, he served as Executive Vice President and COO of the Company. He also served as President and CEO of Medivators Inc., a subsidiary of the Company from November 2012 to July 2015. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Hansen had global leadership positions with increasing responsibility within the healthcare and medical devices industry for over fifteen years. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Business Development, Science and Innovation for ConvaTec Corp. On August 1, 2016, the Company and Mr. Hansen entered into an Amended and Restated Executive Severance Agreement under which the amount of severance payable to Mr. Hansen in the event of a termination without cause in a non-change of control situation would increase from 18 months base salary to (a) 24 months base salary plus (b) two times Mr. Hansens annual bonus based on the rate in effect as of the relevant termination date (100% of his annual base salary for fiscal 2016). The amendments will also update certain other references to bonus amounts to reflect current percentages. Subject to the foregoing, the remainder of the terms of the Executive Severance Agreement will be as previously summarized in the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 19, 2014, which description is incorporated by reference herein. Item 9.01 Financial Statements, Pro-Forma Financial Information and Exhibits (d) Exhibits Exhibit 10.1 Amended and Restated Executive Severance Agreement dated as of August 1, 2016 between the Company and Jorgen B. Hansen. 2 SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized. CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. By: /s/ Jorgen B. Hansen Jorgen B. Hansen President and CEO Dated: August 1, 2016 3 Exhibit 10.1 AMENDED AND RESTATED EXECUTIVE SEVERANCE AGREEMENT This Amended and Restated Executive Severance Agreement (Agreement) is entered into, effective as of August 1, 2016, by and between Jorgen B. Hansen (Executive) and Cantel Medical Corp. (Company). Background A. The Company considers the establishment and maintenance of a sound and vital management to be essential to protecting and enhancing the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. The Company believes that, to attract and retain experienced and valuable key executive employees, it is important and prudent to provide such executives with fair compensation should their employment be terminated under certain circumstances, including but not limited to change in control situations. B. The Company wishes to encourage the Executive to devote his full time and attention to the performance of his management responsibilities and to assist the Board and other management employees in evaluating business options and pursuing the best interests of the Companys shareholders without being influenced by the uncertainty of his own employment situation. C. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Company and the Executive previously entered into an Executive Severance Agreement which, among other things, sets forth the compensation and benefits arrangements payable in connection with a termination of employment of the Executive. The Board has determined that it continues to be in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders that this Agreement and the Executive Severance Agreements of other executives of the Company be maintained in order to ensure that the Company will have the continued dedication of the executives throughout their tenure. The Company and the Executive desire to amend and restate the Agreement as more fully set forth herein. In consideration of the premises, the Executives employment by the Company on an at-will basis, and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Executive and the Company agree as follows: Agreement 1. Defined Terms. Throughout this Agreement, when the first letter of a word (or the first letter of each word in a phrase) is capitalized, the word or phrase shall have the meaning specified in Appendix A (beginning on page 15). 2. Term. This initial Term of this Agreement commenced as of November 15, 2012 and will continue through July 31, 2018; provided, however, that beginning on August 1, 2017, and on the first day of each following August, the Term of this Agreement shall automatically be extended by one year, unless either the Company or the Executive shall have provided notice to the other at least six (6) months before such date that the Term shall not be extended. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Section, (i) if a Change in Control occurs during the Term of this Agreement, such Term (other than with respect to the provisions of Section 4) shall not end before the second anniversary of the Change in Control; provided, however, this sentence shall apply only to the first Change of Control while this Agreement is in effect; and (ii) termination of this Agreement shall not affect the obligations of the Company hereunder on account of the Executives Termination of Employment during the Term. 3. Termination of Employment; Resignation of Officer and Director Positions. The Executive is an at-will employee. The Company may Terminate the Executives Employment at any time, for any reason whatsoever or for no reason, subject to its payment obligations under this Section and, if applicable, Section 4 or 5. The Executive may voluntarily Terminate his Employment at any time by providing at least twenty (20) days prior notice to the Company. Regardless of whether the Executives Termination of Employment is voluntary or involuntary, the Executive shall resign from any and all of his director positions and offices with the Company and each Related Employer, effective as of his Termination Date. Upon Termination of Employment, the Executive shall be entitled to the following, in addition to any benefits payable under Section 4 or 5: (a) Any earned but unpaid base salary through his Termination Date, plus any accrued and unused paid time off (PTO) due to the Executive under the Companys PTO program through his Termination Date, which amounts shall be paid to the Executive not later than the payment date for the payroll period next following his Termination Date. (b) Provided that the Executive applies for reimbursement in accordance with the Companys established reimbursement procedures (within the period required by such procedures but under no circumstances later than ninety (90) days after his Termination Date), the Company shall pay the Executive any reimbursements to which he is entitled under such procedures not later than the payment date for the payroll period next following the date on which the Executive applies for reimbursement. (c) Any benefits (other than severance) payable to the Executive under any of the Companys cash or equity incentive compensation plans, employee benefit plans or programs, the Companys 2006 Equity Incentive Plan and any successor thereto (the Equity Plan) and the agreements issued thereunder (collectively, Benefit Plans), to the extent not provided for herein, shall be payable in accordance with the provisions of those plans or programs. This Agreement and all such Benefit Plans that cover the Executive shall be construed in a consistent manner. In the event of conflict between the terms and conditions of this Agreement and any of the Benefit Plans as they relate to the Executive and any particular payment or award, the order of precedence shall be as follows: (i) this Agreement; (ii) any Benefit Plan that constitutes an employment agreement; (iii) any Benefit Plan that constitutes an annual or long term incentive plan; (iv) the Equity Plan; and (v) any agreement issued under the Equity Plan; provided, however, that no effect shall be given to any provision of this Agreement over any provision of the Equity Plan if and to the extent such provision could not have been approved by the Board as an amendment to the Equity Plan pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Companys 2006 Equity Incentive Plan (or any corresponding provision of any successor Equity Plan) without stockholder approval or the consent of the Executive, unless and until such approval or consent has been obtained. 2 4. Non-Change of Control Severance and Other Benefits. (a) Subject to (i) the Executives timely filing of a duly executed Release in accordance with Section 19, (ii) such Release becoming effective and irrevocable in accordance with its terms not later than sixty (60) days after the Executives Termination of Employment (the last day of such 60-day period being referred to as the Release Effectiveness Date), (iii) the provisions of this Section 4, and (iv) the limitations provided in Section 10, the Company shall provide the Executive with the payments and benefits set forth in this Section, if at any time during the Term other than during a Change in Control Coverage Period either (i) the Company Terminates the Executives Employment (other than a termination for Cause, Unacceptable Performance, Disability, or death pursuant to Section 7), or (ii) the Executive voluntarily Terminates his Employment for Adequate Reason pursuant to Section 9. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Subsection, the Executive shall not be entitled to benefits pursuant to this Section 4, if he is entitled to benefits pursuant to Section 5. (b) As soon as administratively feasible (and not more than ten (10) days) after the Companys receipt of the duly executed Release and the Release becoming effective and irrevocable, the Company shall pay to the Executive a single lump sum payment equal to the product of two (2) times the sum of (A) the Executives Annual Base Salary at the rate in effect as of the Termination Date plus (B) 100%(1) of the Executives Annual Base Salary at the rate in effect as of the Termination Date. For purposes of determining the Executives Annual Base Salary Rate pursuant to the preceding sentence, any reduction to the Executives salary during the six-month period preceding his Termination of Employment (other than in connection with an across-the-board reduction in salary of all senior executives of the Company with the approval of the Companys CEO) shall be disregarded. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Release Effectiveness Date falls in the calendar year next succeeding the calendar year of the Termination Date, the lump sum payment will be made no earlier than the first business day of such next succeeding calendar year. (c) If the Termination Date of the Executive occurs subsequent to the last day of a Fiscal Year for which the Executive has not been paid his Bonus, then the Executive shall be entitled to his full Bonus for such Fiscal Year to the extent otherwise earned under the terms of the Bonus Plan for such Fiscal Year (as if the Executives employment had not been Terminated prior to the next Bonus payment date). Such amount shall be paid to the Executive not later than seventy five (75) days following the close of such Fiscal Year. Amounts payable under this Subparagraph (c) will be deemed payments attributable to the Executives employment prior to or on the Termination Date and not as severance. (d) The Company shall pay to the Executive a pro-rated Bonus for the Fiscal Year in which the Termination Date occurs, determined by multiplying (i) the amount of the Executives full Bonus for such Fiscal Year that would have been earned under the terms of the Bonus Plan for such Fiscal Year (as in effect immediately prior to the Termination Date) if the (1) This percentage represents the Executives bonus percentage in effect as of the date of this Agreement. Such percentage shall increase automatically at any time the Executives bonus percentage is increased by the Companys Compensation Committee of the Board (or by the Board itself). Such increase shall be to the new approved bonus percentage as documented in resolutions of the Compensation Committee set forth in a written consent or minutes of proceedings of the Committee (or Board). 3 Executives employment had continued through the next Bonus payment date, by (ii) a fraction, (A) the numerator of which is the number of full or partial months since the end of the prior Fiscal Year in which the Executive was employed by the Company, and (B) the denominator of which is 12. Such amount shall be paid to the Executive not later than seventy five (75) days following the close of such Fiscal Year. To the extent that a Bonus is payable to the Executive under Subparagraph (c) or (d) of this Section 4 for any Fiscal Year, the Executive shall not also be entitled to any Bonus payment for such Fiscal Year under the terms of the applicable Bonus Plan. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if no Bonus Plan has been finalized (i.e., approved by the Compensation Committee and disseminated to the Executive) for the Fiscal Year in which such Termination Date occurs either prior to the commencement of such Fiscal Year or within three months following the commencement of such Fiscal Year, then the Bonus for such Fiscal Year payable under this Subparagraph (d) will be determined in accordance with the first sentence of Section 5(b)(2) (as if the pro rata Bonus payment under that Section was required). Amounts payable under this Subparagraph (d) will be deemed payments attributable to the Executives employment prior to or on the Termination Date and not as severance. (e) If the Executive is eligible for and properly elects Continuation Coverage for himself and/or one or more qualified beneficiaries (as defined in ERISA Section 607(3)) under the Companys medical plan, the Company shall pay the premiums for such coverage (or reimburse the Executive for such premiums) for the eighteen (18) month period following the Executives Termination of Employment (or such shorter period during which such person is eligible for Continuation Coverage). Such payments or reimbursements shall constitute taxable income of the Executive to the extent required by law. (f) The Company shall pay the cost of outplacement services incurred by the Executive during the twelve (12) month period following his Termination of Employment and provided by a firm of the Executives choice, up to a total of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000). Payment for outplacement expenses shall be made by the Company promptly following the Companys receipt of appropriate invoices documenting such expenses. (g) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions or any other provisions herein to the contrary, if the Executives Employment is Terminated during a Change in Control Coverage Period, either by the Executive for Good Reason or by the Company for any reason other than for Cause or death, then the Executive shall be entitled to the payments and benefits that would have been provided to him pursuant to Section 5 if the Company had Terminated his Employment without Cause during a Change in Control Coverage Period (reduced by any payments or benefits provided to him pursuant to this Section 4). In such a case, the Executive shall not be required to execute an additional Release, and any Release requirement specified in Section 5 shall be deemed satisfied on the Change in Control Date. (h) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Section, if the Executive is a specified employee within the meaning of Code Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i), the Company shall promptly deliver written notice to the Executive advising him of the application of such Code Section. Solely to the extent necessary to avoid adverse personal tax consequences to the Executive under Code Section 409A, payments otherwise required to be made to the Executive pursuant to this Section 4 shall be delayed to the earlier of (i) six months and one day after the Executives Termination Date, or (ii) the Executives death. For purposes of this Subparagraph, the Executives Date of Termination shall be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with the 4 term separation from service as defined in Code Section 409A and the Treasury Regulations thereunder. Interest shall accrue on unpaid amounts delayed under this subparagraph at the prime rate from time to time in effect at JP Morgan Chase Bank or any successor bank commencing from the date that such amounts would otherwise have been due under the applicable provision. 5. Change of Control Severance and Other Benefits. (a) Subject to (i) the Executives timely filing of a duly executed Release in accordance with Section 19, (ii) such Release becoming effective and irrevocable in accordance with its terms not later than the Release Effectiveness Date (i.e., the sixtieth day after the Executives Termination of Employment), (iii) the provisions of this Section 5, and (iv) the limitations provided in Section 10, the Company shall provide the Executive with the payments and benefits set forth in this Section, if during a Change in Control Coverage Period, (A) the Company Terminates the Executives Employment (other than a termination for Cause or death pursuant to Section 7), or (B) the Executive voluntarily Terminates his Employment for Good Reason pursuant to Section 9. Amounts payable pursuant to this Section shall be subject to the limitations and reimbursement expressly provided in this Agreement. (b) As soon as administratively feasible (and not more than five (5) business days) after the Companys receipt of the duly executed Release and the Release becoming effective and irrevocable in accordance with its terms, the Company shall pay to the Executive a single lump sum payment in an amount equal to the sum of the following: (1) the product of (i) two (2) times (ii) the sum of (A) the Executives Annual Base Salary, at the greater of the rate in effect on the Change in Control Date or the Termination Date (disregarding any reduction in the rate of the Executives salary during the six-month period immediately preceding his Termination of Employment), plus (B) the greater of (I) 100%(2) of the amount determined under clause (A) of this Subparagraph or (II) the average of the annual Bonuses paid to the Executive for the two Fiscal Years preceding the year in which the Executives Employment is Terminated. Amounts payable under this Subparagraph (b)(1) will be deemed severance; and (2) a pro-rata Bonus amount, determined by multiplying (i) the greater of (A) 100%(3) of the amount determined under clause (A) of the preceding Subparagraph (b)(1) or (B) the average of the annual Bonuses paid to the Executive for the two years Fiscal Years preceding the Fiscal Year in which the Executives Employment is Terminated, by (ii) a fraction, (A) the numerator of which is the number of full or partial months since the end of the prior Fiscal Year in which the Executive has been employed by the Company, and (B) the denominator of which is 12. However, if the Executive did not receive the annual Bonus he would have earned under the applicable Bonus Plan for the preceding Fiscal Year if his employment had continued through the Bonus payment date, then the numerator shall be the number of full or partial months since the beginning of the preceding Fiscal Year to the date of (1),(2) This percentage represents the Executives bonus percentage in effect as of the date of this Agreement. Such percentage shall increase automatically at any time the Executives bonus percentage is increased by the Companys Compensation Committee of the Board (or by the Board itself). Such increase shall be to the new approved bonus percentage as documented in resolutions of the Compensation Committee set forth in a written consent or minutes of proceedings of the Committee (or Board). 5 termination in which the Executive was employed by the Company. To the extent that a Bonus is payable to the Executive under this Subparagraph (b)(2) for the Fiscal Year in which the Termination Date occurs or such preceding Fiscal Year, the Executive shall not also be entitled to any Bonus payment for such Fiscal Year under the terms of the applicable Bonus Plan. Amounts payable under this Subparagraph (b)(2) will be deemed payments attributable to the Executives employment prior to or on the Termination Date and not as severance. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Release Effectiveness Date falls in the calendar year next succeeding the calendar year of the Termination Date, the lump sum payment will be made no earlier than the first business day of such next succeeding calendar year. (c) If the Executive is eligible for and properly elects Continuation Coverage for himself and/or one or more qualified beneficiaries (as defined in ERISA Section 607(3)) under the Companys medical plan, the Company shall pay the premiums for such coverage (or reimburse the Executive for such premiums) for the twenty-four (24) month period following the Executives Termination of Employment (or such shorter period during which such person is eligible for Continuation Coverage). Such payments or reimbursements shall constitute taxable income of the Executive to the extent required by law. (d) For the twenty-four (24) month period following the Executives Termination of Employment, the Company shall continue to provide term life insurance coverage substantially the same as that provided for the Executive immediately before his Termination Date (if any). (e) The Company shall pay the cost of outplacement services incurred by the Executive during the twelve (12) month period following his Termination of Employment and provided by a firm of the Executives choice, up to a total of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000). Payment for outplacement expenses shall be paid directly by the Company promptly following the Companys receipt of appropriate invoices documenting such expenses. (f) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Section, if the Executive is a specified employee within the meaning of Code Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i), the Company shall promptly deliver written notice to the Executive advising him of the application of such Code Section. Solely to the extent necessary to avoid adverse personal tax consequences to the Executive under Code Section 409A, payments otherwise required to be made to the Executive pursuant to this Section 5 shall be delayed to the earlier of (i) six months and one day after the Executives Termination Date, or (ii) the Executives death. For purposes of this Subparagraph, the Executives Termination Date shall be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with the term separation from service as defined in Code Section 409A and the Treasury Regulations thereunder. Interest shall accrue on unpaid amounts delayed under this subparagraph at the prime rate from time to time in effect at JP Morgan Chase Bank or any successor bank commencing from the date that such amounts would otherwise have been due under the applicable provision. 6. Provisions Relating to Parachute Payments. If payments and benefits to or for the benefit of the Executive, whether pursuant to this Agreement or otherwise, would result in total Parachute Payments to the Executive with a value equal to or greater than one hundred percent (100%) of the Parachute Payment Limit, the Executive may, in his sole discretion, elect to reduce the amount payable pursuant to Section 5(b) so that the value of all Parachute 6 Payments to the Executive, whether or not made pursuant to this Agreement, is equal to the Parachute Payment Limit minus One Dollar ($1.00). 7. Termination of Employment by the Company for Cause, Unacceptable Performance, Disability, or Death. (a) The Company may cause a Termination of the Executives Employment for Disability at any time. To do so, the Board must provide the Executive with a notice of termination specifying the Termination Date and the circumstances constituting Disability. (b) The Company may cause a Termination of the Executives Employment for Unacceptable Performance at any time during the Term other than during a Change in Control Coverage Period. To do so, the Executive must be provided with a notice of termination from either (i) the Board or (ii) the Chairman of the Board of the Company with approval of the Board, which in either case specifies the Termination Date and the specific act(s) or failure(s) constituting Unacceptable Performance. If the notice identifies an act or failure constituting Unacceptable Performance, it shall be accompanied by a resolution duly adopted by a majority of the entire membership of the Board and, if the act or failure is subject to correction under the definition of Unacceptable Performance and related definitions in this Agreement, the notice shall also specify the period during which the act or failure must be corrected, which in no event shall be less than thirty (30) days. If the Board reasonably determines that the Executive has not corrected the act or failure in all material respects within the required correction period, the Board or the Chairman of the Board must then provide a second notice of termination stating the reasons for the termination and the Termination Date, and the Executives Employment shall terminate on such Date. (c) The Company may cause a Termination of the Executives Employment for Cause at any time. To do so, the Executive must be provided with a notice of termination from either (i) the Board or (ii) the Chairman of the Board of the Company with approval of the Board, which in either case specifies the Termination Date and the specific act(s) or failure(s) constituting Cause. If the notice identifies an act or failure constituting Cause, it shall be accompanied by a resolution duly adopted by not less than a majority of the entire membership of the Board (after reasonable notice to the Executive and an opportunity for the Executive, together with legal counsel, to be heard by the Board), finding, in the reasonable opinion of the Board, that one or more of the events of Cause has occurred and specifying in reasonable detail the acts or omissions constituting Cause. If the act or failure constituting Cause is subject to correction under the definition of Cause and related definitions in this Agreement, the notice shall also specify the period during which the act or failure must be corrected, which in no event shall be less than thirty (30) days. If the Board acting in good faith determines that the Executive has not corrected the act or failure in all material respects within the required correction period, the Board or the Chairman of the Board must then provide a second notice of termination stating the reasons for the termination and the Termination Date, and the Executives Employment shall terminate on such Date. (d) If the Executive dies before a Termination of Employment, his Employment shall terminate automatically on the date of his death. 7 (e) In the case of a Termination of Employment for Cause or Unacceptable Performance pursuant to this Section, the Executive shall not be entitled to benefits or payments pursuant to Section 4 or 5; provided, however, if the Company causes a Termination of the Executives Employment for Unacceptable Performance and the Termination Date of such termination occurs during a Change in Control Coverage Period, then such termination shall be deemed a Termination of the Executives Employment other than a termination for Cause under Section 5(a) and thereby obligate the Company to provide the Executive with the payments and benefits set forth in Section 5. (f) In the case of a Termination of Employment due to Disability (at any time during the Term other than during a Change in Control Coverage Period) or death pursuant to this Section, the Company shall continue to pay to the Executive, if living, or other person or persons as the Executive may from time to time designate in writing as the beneficiary of such payments, the Annual Base Salary in effect at the time when such Disability or death occurred, during the three-month period following such Disability or death. The Company shall also pay a pro rated Bonus for the Fiscal Year in which the Termination Date occurs, determined by multiplying (i) the amount of the Executives full Bonus for such Fiscal Year that would have been earned under the terms of the Bonus Plan for such Fiscal Year (as in effect immediately prior to the Termination Date) if the Executives employment had continued through the next Bonus payment date, by (ii) a fraction, (A) the numerator of which is the number of full or partial months since the end of the prior Fiscal Year in which the Executive was employed by the Company, and (B) the denominator of which is 12. Such amount shall be paid to the Executive not later than seventy five (75) days following the close of such Fiscal Year. To the extent that a Bonus is payable to the Executive under this Section 7(f) for the Fiscal Year in which the Termination Date occurs, the Executive will not also be entitled to a Bonus payment for such Fiscal Year under the terms of the applicable Bonus Plan. Except for such Annual Base Salary and Bonus, the Company shall have no further obligation pursuant to this Section. 8. Accelerated Vesting of Equity Awards upon Certain Events. (a) In the event of any termination described in Section 4(a) or 5(a) or in the event that the Executive terminates his Employment for Adequate Reason or Good Reason pursuant to Section 9, in any such case prior to the full vesting of stock options or restricted stock then held by the Executive (i.e., the options becoming exercisable in their entirety and the restricted stock ceasing to have any risks of forfeiture), then, effective as of the Termination Date, all such options and restricted stock then held by the Executive will become automatically fully exercisable and all restrictions of such options and restricted stock awards will automatically lapse. In the event of any termination of the Executives Employment as a result of the Executives Retirement prior to the full vesting of stock options then held by the Executive, then effective as of the Termination Date, all such stock options will become automatically fully exercisable and all restrictions of such options will automatically lapse. (b) In the event of a termination of the Executives Employment pursuant to Section 7 due to death, in any such case prior to the full vesting of stock options and restricted stock then held by the Executive, all of the Executives stock options and restricted stock awards will automatically vest as of the Termination Date. In the event of a termination of the Executives Employment pursuant to Section 7 due to Disability, those tranches of the Executives stock option and restricted stock awards which would have vested within the twelve 8 (12) month period following the Termination Date but for the Executives termination of Employment will automatically vest as of the Termination Date. (c) The accelerated vesting provided for in this Agreement in connection with certain Terminations following a Change in Control shall not be deemed to limit any acceleration of vesting that the Executive is entitled to upon a Change in Control under the Companys Long Term Incentive Plan or any other benefit plan that the Executive is covered by as of the effective time of the Change in Control. (d) Nothing herein shall be deemed to cause the acceleration of the vesting of a Performance Award issued under the Equity Plan. (e) Notwithstanding anything set forth herein, the Company may in its discretion accelerate the vesting of any stock options or restricted stock held by the Executive in the event of a termination of the Executives Employment for any reason. 9. Resignation by Executive for Adequate Reason or Good Reason. If an event of Adequate Reason or Good Reason occurs during the Term, the Executive may, at any time within the ninety (90) day period following such event, provide the Company with a notice of termination under Section 4 (in the case of Adequate Reason) or Section 5, if applicable (in the case of Good Reason) specifying the event of Adequate Reason or Good Reason and notifying the Company of his intention to Terminate Employment upon the Companys failure to correct the event of Adequate Reason or Good Reason (as applicable) within thirty (30) days following receipt of the Executives notice of termination. If the Company fails to correct the event of Adequate Reason or Good Reason (as applicable) and provide the Executive with notice of such correction within such thirty (30) day period, the Executives Employment shall terminate as of the end of such period, and the Executive shall be entitled to benefits as provided in Section 3 and Section 4 or 5, as applicable. 10. Limitation on Payments and Benefits. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, payments pursuant to this Agreement shall be subject to the following limitations: (a) No payment (other than a payment pursuant to Section 3) shall be made pursuant to this Agreement until the Release has become effective according to its terms. (b) If the Executive intentionally and materially breaches any provision of the Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement, and fails to cure such breach (if curable) within thirty (30) days, he shall promptly repay to the Company any and all severance amounts previously paid to him pursuant to Section 4 and/or 5, and he shall have no further rights pursuant to this Agreement. (c) Payments hereunder shall be limited to the extent provided in Section 6. 11. No Obligation to Mitigate. The Executive shall not be required to mitigate the amount of any payment or benefits provided for under Section 4 or 5 by seeking other employment or otherwise, and the amount of any payment or benefits provided for under Section 4 or 5 shall not be reduced by any payments or benefits received by the Executive as the result of 9 employment by another employer after the Termination Date, or otherwise; provided, however, that the amount payable under Section 4 or 5 shall be reduced by the amount of any severance, termination, or notice pay (or any other similar amounts) required by law to be paid to the Executive by the Company or its subsidiaries and by any salary or other amounts paid to the Executive during any notice period that the Company or its subsidiaries is required by law to provide. 12. Withholding and Taxes. The Company may withhold from any payment made hereunder (i) any taxes that the Company reasonably determines are required to be withheld under federal, state, or local tax laws or regulations, and (ii) any other amounts that the Company is authorized to withhold. Except for employment taxes that are the obligation of the Company, the Executive shall pay all federal, state, local, and other taxes (including, without limitation, interest, fines, and penalties) imposed on him under applicable law by virtue of or relating to the payments and/or benefits contemplated by this Agreement, subject to any reimbursement provisions of this Agreement. 13. Indemnification. The Executive shall continue to be entitled to any rights to insurance and indemnification under the Companys or a Related Employers directors and officers liability insurance (D&O Insurance), Certificate of Incorporation, and Bylaws, as in effect before the earlier of the Executives Termination of Employment or a Change in Control (or rights to insurance and indemnification that are substantially the same thereto), with respect to any claims relating to the period before his Termination Date. Additionally, any and all D&O Insurance policies obtained by the Company or a Related Employer following the Termination Date that are claims made polices shall cover the Executive to the same extent as other former officers of the Company. 14. Default in Payment. Any payment not made within ten (10) days after it is due in accordance with this Agreement shall thereafter bear interest, compounded quarterly, at 5% above the prime rate from time to time in effect at JP Morgan Chase Bank or any successor bank. 15. Effect on Other Plans, Agreements, and Benefits. Except to the extent expressly set forth herein, any benefit or compensation to which the Executive is entitled under any agreement between the Executive and the Company or any of its subsidiaries or under any plan maintained by the Company or any of its subsidiaries in which the Executive participates or participated shall not be modified or lessened in any way, but shall be payable according to the terms of the applicable plan or agreement. The terms of this Agreement shall supersede and terminate any prior change in control and/or severance agreement, and (except as expressly provided herein and other than pursuant to the Equity Plan or any predecessor equity plan under which awards are granted to the Executive) the provisions of any other agreement or plan providing benefits following a change in control or termination of employment, entered into between the Executive and the Company or any subsidiary thereof. Notwithstanding the above, any severance benefits received by the Executive pursuant to this Agreement shall be in lieu of any severance benefits to which the Executive would otherwise be entitled under any general severance policy maintained by the Company or the relevant subsidiary for its management personnel or under any employment contract between the Executive and the Company or any subsidiary thereof provided that, for purposes of this sentence, the Long Term Incentive Plan and equity award plans shall not be deemed general severance policies of the Company. Any and all employment agreements between the Company and the Executive, inclusive of provisions that in 10 accordance with the terms of such agreements survive termination, are hereby terminated and void. 16. Unsecured Obligation. All rights of the Executive or any beneficiary of the Executive who succeeds to the Executives rights to payments or benefits under this Agreement shall at all times be entirely unfunded and no provision shall at any time be made with respect to segregating any assets of the Company or payment of any amounts due hereunder. Neither the Executive nor any such beneficiary shall have any interest in or rights against any specific assets of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, and the Executive and any such beneficiary shall have only the rights of a general unsecured creditor of the Company. 17. Prohibition Against Assignment. The Executive may not assign, pledge, anticipate, or transfer any benefit or amount payable hereunder (other than benefits payable upon or following his death), and any attempt to assign, pledge, anticipate, or transfer such and benefit or amount hereunder, whether voluntary or involuntary, shall be null and void. 18. Successors. (a) The Company shall require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business and/or assets of the Company, by agreement in form and substance satisfactory to the Executive, to expressly assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent that the Company would be required to perform it if no such succession had taken place. Failure of the Company to obtain such agreement before the effectiveness of any such succession shall be a material breach of this Agreement. As used in this Agreement, Company shall mean the Company as hereinbefore defined, and any successor to its business and/or assets as aforesaid that executes and delivers the agreement provided for in this Subparagraph or otherwise becomes bound by all the terms and provisions of this Agreement by operation of law. (b) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Executives personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees, devisees, and legatees. If the Executive should die while any amounts would still be payable to him hereunder, all such amounts, unless otherwise provided herein, shall be paid in accordance with the terms of this Agreement to the Executives devisee, legatee, or other designee or, if there be no such designee, to the Executives estate. 19. Release. In consideration of the Companys promises and covenants and the performance thereof, the Executive agrees that the Companys payment obligations under Sections 4 and 5 shall be conditioned on the Executives release of the Company and all other persons named in the Release from any and all causes of causes of action that the Executive has or may have against the Company or any such person before the effective date of the Release, other than a cause based on a breach hereof. The Release shall be substantially in the form attached hereto as Exhibit I. For the Release to be effective, the Executive (or his representative or agent) must have provided a signed version of the Release to the Company and such Release shall have become effective and irrevocable by its terms within sixty (60) days after the Executives Termination of Employment. 11 20. Disputes. (a) In any judicial or other proceedings in which the Executives right to, or the amount of, benefits hereunder is disputed, the ultimate burden of proof shall be on the Company. (b) Any dispute or controversy arising under or in connection with this Agreement shall be settled exclusively by arbitration in Little Falls, New Jersey by three arbitrators, one of whom shall be appointed by the Company, one of whom shall be appointed by the Executive, and the third of whom shall be appointed by the first two arbitrators. If either the Company or the Executive fails to appoint an arbitrator within 20 days of a request in writing by the other to do so, or if the first two arbitrators cannot agree on the appointment of a third arbitrator within 20 days after the second arbitrator is designated, then such arbitrator shall be appointed by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court located in the city of Newark, New Jersey, or upon his failure to act, by the American Arbitration Association so as to enable the arbitrators to render an award within 90 days after the three arbitrators have been appointed. Following the selection of arbitrators as set forth above, the arbitration shall be conducted promptly and expeditiously and in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. Judgment may be entered on the arbitrators award in any court having jurisdiction; provided, however, that the Executive shall be entitled to seek specific performance of his right to be paid during the pendency of any dispute or controversy arising under or in connection with this Agreement. (c) The Company shall pay all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, including reasonable legal fees and legal expenses, incurred by the Executive in connection with any judicial or other proceeding, including any arbitration proceeding, to enforce this Agreement or to construe, determine, or defend the validity of this Agreement. The Company shall pay (or reimburse the Executive) for any such expense as soon as administratively practicable after the Executive demonstrates evidence that such expense have been incurred and not later than thirty (30) days following the Executives submission of such expenses to the Company with a request for reimbursement. 21. Miscellaneous Provisions. (a) Entire Agreement. Except as expressly provided herein, this Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding of the parties regarding the transactions contemplated herein and supersedes all prior agreements, arrangements, or understandings, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter hereof, including, without limitation, any letters, agreements, or understandings between the Executive and the Company or any subsidiary thereof before the date hereof. By entering into this Severance Agreement, the Executive waives any right that he may otherwise have to participate in any generally applicable severance plan of the Company or any Related Employer. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing herein shall be deemed to limit any rights the Executive may have in connection with his equity awards under the Long Term Incentive Plan or the Companys Equity Plan and the equity award agreements issued thereunder. (b) Amendment. No provision of this Agreement may be amended or waived, except by written agreement signed by both the Company and the Executive. 12 (c) Governing Law. This Agreement is intended to comply with the requirements of Code Section 409A, and it shall be construed in accordance with such intent. Subject to the preceding sentence, this Agreement shall be construed in accordance with, and governed by, the internal laws of the State of New Jersey without regard to principles of conflict of laws. (d) Headings. The headings in this Agreement have been inserted solely for ease of reference and shall not be considered in the interpretation or enforcement of this Agreement. (e) Severability. If any provision of the Agreement is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby. If any provision of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to conflict with any federal, state, or local law, such provision is hereby declared to be of such force and effect as is permissible in such jurisdiction. (f) Rights and Waivers. All rights and remedies of the parties hereto are separate and cumulative, and no one of them, whether exercised or not, shall be deemed to exclude, limit, or prejudice any other right or remedy that either of the parties hereto may have. No party to this Agreement shall be deemed to waive any right or remedy under this Agreement, unless such waiver is in writing and signed by such party. No delay or omission on the part of either party in exercising any right or remedy shall operate as a waiver of such right or remedy or any other right or remedy. A waiver on any one occasion shall not be construed as a bar to or a waiver of any right or remedy on any future occasion. (g) Notices. All notices hereunder shall be in writing. A notice by the Company shall be deemed to have been given only when delivered in person to the Executive or mailed by first class United States Mail, Return Receipt Requested, or sent by overnight delivery (or the fastest delivery available, if overnight delivery is not available) by means of an internationally recognized delivery service, to the Executive at his most recent address on the records of the Company. A notice by the Executive to the Company shall be deemed to have been given only when delivered in person to the Companys General Counsel or mailed by first class United States Mail, Return Receipt Requested, or sent by overnight delivery (or the fastest delivery available, if overnight delivery is not available) by means of an internationally recognized delivery service, to the Companys General Counsel at the Companys headquarters. (h) Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original, but all of which together will constitute one and the same instrument, and may be delivered by facsimile or pdf. 22. No Reliance. The Executive represents and acknowledges that in executing this Agreement, the Executive does not rely and has not relied upon any representation or statement by the Company or its agents, other than statements contained in this Agreement. Signature page follows 13 The parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed on the day and year first above written. Jorgen B. Hansen CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. By: Eric W. Nodiff Senior Vice President and General Counsel 14 APPENDIX A DEFINED TERMS For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the meanings specified below: Adequate Reason means any of the following without the express written consent of the Executive: (i) a material reduction in the Executives authority, duties, or responsibilities or the assignment to the Executive of duties of a substantial nature and on a continuous or regular basis that are materially inconsistent with the duties of the Executive; (ii) a reduction in the Executives base compensation (other than in connection with an across-the-board reduction in base compensation of the senior executives of the Company approved in advance by the Companys CEO) or failure to include the Executive with other similarly situated employees in any incentive, bonus, or benefit plans as may be offered by the Company from time to time; (iii) a change in the primary location at which the Executive is required to perform the duties of his employment to a location that is more than thirty (30) miles from the location at which his office is located on the effective date of this Agreement; or (iv) the Companys material breach of this Agreement. Annual Base Salary means the annual base cash compensation payable to the Executive at the rate in effect as of the applicable date (excluding bonuses, incentive compensation, taxable fringe benefits, and any other type of special pay), before any reduction on account of salary reduction contributions pursuant to Code Section 125 or 401(k) or pursuant to a nonqualified deferred compensation plan. Board means the Companys Board of Directors. Bonus means an annual cash bonus payable under any Bonus Plan. Bonus Plan means any bonus plan, short term incentive compensation plan or other like benefit plan in which the Executive participates, whether or not awards thereunder are discretionary, including without limitation, the Annual Incentive Compensation Plan as in effect for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2017, as amended. Cause means the Executives: (i) act of fraud, embezzlement, theft, or other intentional material violation of the law in connection with or in the course of his employment; (ii) willful gross misconduct that is likely to materially injure the reputation, business, or a business relationship of the Company; or 15 (iii) willful material violation of the Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement. For purposes of the definition of Cause, no act, or failure to act, on the part of the Executive shall be deemed willful, if it was done or omitted by the Executive in good faith or with a reasonable belief that the act or omission was not opposed to the best interests of the Company. Change in Control means the occurrence of any of the following events: (i) at any time after the Effective Date at least a majority of the Board shall cease to consist of Continuing Directors (meaning directors of the Company who either were directors on the Effective Date or who subsequently became directors and whose election, or nomination for election by the Companys stockholders, was approved by a majority of the then Continuing Directors); or (ii) any person or group (as determined for purposes of Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act), except any majority-owned subsidiary of the Company or any employee benefit plan of the Company or any trust thereunder, shall have acquired beneficial ownership (as determined for purposes of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation 13d-3) of Shares having more than 50% of the voting power of all outstanding Shares; or (iii) a merger or consolidation occurs to which the Company is a party, in which outstanding Shares are converted into shares of another company (other than a conversion into shares of voting common stock of the successor corporation or a holding company thereof representing 80% of the voting power of all capital stock thereof outstanding immediately after the merger or consolidation) or other securities (of either the Company or another company) or cash or other property; or (iv) the sale of all, or substantially all, of the Companys assets occurs; or (v) the stockholders of the Company approve a plan of complete liquidation of the Company. Change in Control Date means the effective date of an event constituting a Change in Control. Change in Control Period means the period beginning on the date of a Change in Control and ending two years thereafter. Change in Control Coverage Period means the period (A) commencing on the earlier to occur of (i) the first day of a Potential Change Period or (ii) the first day of the six (6) month period ending on the Change in Control Date and (B) ending on the last day of a Change in Control Period. Code means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time. Company means Cantel Medical Corp. and any successor, to the extent provided in Section 18. Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement means the confidentiality and non-competition agreement between the Company and the Executive, as in effect from time to time. Continuation Coverage means continuation coverage within the meaning of ERISA Sections 601 through 607. 16 Disability means an illness or injury that qualifies the Executive for disability benefits under a long-term disability plan of the Company or a Related Employer in which the Executive is a participant; provided, however, that a Disability shall not be deemed to have occurred hereunder unless the Executive is absent from work or otherwise substantially unable to assume his normal duties for a period of ninety (90) successive days or an aggregate of one hundred twenty (120) days during any consecutive twelve-month period during the Term. Equity Plan means that Cantel Medical Corp. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and any successor equity plan thereto. ERISA means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended from time to time. Exchange Act means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as in effect on the date of this Agreement. Fiscal Year means the fiscal year of the Company. Good Reason means any of the following during a Change in Control Coverage Period without the Executives express written consent: (i) a material reduction in the Executives authority, duties, or responsibilities or the assignment to the Executive of duties of a substantial nature and on a continuous or regular basis that are materially inconsistent with the duties of the Executive; (ii) a reduction in the Executives base compensation or failure to include the Executive with other similarly situated employees in any incentive, bonus, or benefit plans as may be offered by the Company from time to time; (iii) a change in the primary location at which the Executive is required to perform the duties of his employment to a location that is more than thirty (30) miles from the location at which his office is located on the Change in Control Date; (iv) the Companys material breach of this Agreement; (v) a material reduction in the authority, duties, or responsibilities of the supervisor to whom the Executive is required to report; or (vi) a material reduction in the scope of the budget over which the Executive retains authority or responsibility. Long Term Incentive Plan means the Companys Long Term Incentive Plan as in effect for the Companys fiscal year ending July 31, 2011, as amended, and any successor plan thereto. Monthly Base Salary means Annual Base Salary, divided by twelve (12). Parachute Payment has the meaning given to such term in Code Section 280G(b)(2). 17 Parachute Payment Limit means three (3) times the base amount, as defined by Code Section 280G(b)(3). Potential Change in Control means that: (i) the Company has entered into an agreement with any person or persons, the consummation of which would constitute or result in a Change in Control; or (ii) any person has publicly announced its intention to take or consider taking actions that, if consummated, would constitute or result in a Change in Control; or (iii) any person has begun a solicitation (as defined in Rule 14a-1 of the Securities Exchange Act) of proxies or consents that has the purpose of effecting or would (if successful) result in a Change in Control; or (iv) any person has initiated a tender offer or exchange offer that would, if consummated, result in a Change in Control; or (v) the Board has adopted a resolution to the effect that any person has begun actions that, if consummated, would result a Change in Control. Potential Change Period means the period beginning on the first day of a Potential Change in Control and ending on the adoption by the Board of a resolution to the effect that the agreement, announced intention or actions, solicitation, tender offer, exchange offer, or other actions constituting a Potential Change in Control has been consummated. Related Employer means the Company and any other employer that is required to be aggregated with the Company pursuant to Code Section 414(b), (c), or (m). Release means a Release of All Claims, in substantially the same form as set out in Exhibit A hereto. Retirement means the Executives termination of his employment with the Company or its subsidiary (other than as a result of death or Disability) on or after (A) the Executives 65th birthday if the Executive has completed at least ten years of employment with the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or (B) the Executives 60th birthday if the Executive has completed at least 15 years of employment with the Company or any of its subsidiaries. Shares means shares of common stock of the Company. Term means the term of this Agreement, as determined pursuant to Section 2. Terminates Employment, Terminate(s) the Executives Employment, Termination of Employment, or any other variation of such term means a separation from service within the meaning of Code Section 409A(a)(2)(A). Termination Date means the effective date of the Executives Termination of Employment. 18 Unacceptable Performance means any of the following: (i) the Executives act or failure to act constituting willful misconduct or gross negligence that is materially injurious to the Company or its reputation; (ii) the Executives material failure to perform the duties of his employment (except in the case of a Termination of Employment for Good Reason or Adequate Reason or on account of the Executives physical or mental inability to perform such duties) and the failure to correct such failure within a reasonable period after receiving written notice from the Board describing such failure in detail; provided, however, that the quality of the Executives performance (determined by achievement of Company or personal targets or otherwise) shall not be a factor in determining whether Executive has performed his duties. (iii) the Executives violation of any code of ethics or business conduct or written harassment policies of the Company that continues after the Board has provided notice to the Executive that the continuation of such conduct will result in the Termination of the Executives Employment; (iv) willful material violation of the Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement; (v) the Executives arrest or indictment for (i) a felony or (ii) lesser criminal offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or moral turpitude; or (vi) the Executives breach of a material term, condition, or covenant of this Agreement and the failure to correct such breach promptly following receipt of written notice from the Board describing such breach in detail. 19 EXHIBIT I RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS This Release of All Claims (Release) has been signed by Jorgen B. Hansen (Executive) on the date indicated below. Background A. The Executive and Cantel Medical Corp. (Company) entered into an Amended and Restated Executive Severance Agreement, effective as of August 1, 2016 (Agreement), which provides for the payment of benefits to the Executive under certain circumstances following his Termination of Employment. B. The Executives Employment with the Company Terminated/will Terminate on , under circumstances that entitle him to payments under the Agreement, subject to the terms thereof. C. The Companys obligations under the Agreement are contingent on the Executive signing and providing this Release to the Company within 60 days after receiving it and allowing this Release to become effective as provided herein. D. As a condition of receiving benefits under the Agreement, the Executive wishes to sign this Release. In consideration of the premises and for other valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Executive agrees as follows: Release 1. If the Executive (i) signs and dates this Release and submits it to the Company not later than 60 days after it is provided to the Executive, (ii) complies with the other requirements of this Release and the Agreement, and (iii) and does not provide written revocation of this Agreement to the Company within the seven-day revocation period referred to in Paragraph 8, the Company shall make the payments and pay the benefits required by the Agreement. 2. In consideration of the Companys payment obligations under this Agreement, the Executive releases and discharges the Company, all of its past and/or present divisions, affiliates, officers, directors, shareholders, partners, trustees, employees, agents, representatives, administrators, attorneys, insurers, fiduciaries, successors, and assigns, in their individual and/or representative capacities (hereinafter collectively referred to as Released Persons), from any and all causes of action, suits, agreements, promises, damages, disputes, controversies, contentions, differences, judgments, claims, and demands of any kind whatsoever (Claims) that the Executive and/or his heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns ever had, now have, or may have against any Released Person by reason of his employment and/or cessation of employment with the Company or a Related Employer, or otherwise involving facts that occurred on or before the date on which the Executive signed this Release, other than (i) a Claim that the Company has failed to pay the Executive a payment described in or contemplated 20 by the Agreement or has otherwise breached the terms of the Agreement, or (ii) a Claim that the Company has failed to pay the Executive any vested benefits to which he is entitled under a plan or program of the Company or a Related Employer (collectively, Excluded Claims). Claims, other than Excluded Claims, are hereafter referred to a Released Claims. The Executive gives this Release regardless of whether the Released Claims are known or unknown. Such Released Claims include, without limitation, any and all Claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Civil Rights Act of 1871, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and any and all other federal, state or local laws, statutes, rules, and regulations pertaining to employment, as well as any and all claims under state contract or tort law including, but not limited, to those based on allegations of wrongful discharge, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress. 3. The Executive hereby covenants not to sue or commence or maintain any action or proceeding against any Released Person, none of whom admit any liability, as to any Released Claim. The Executive hereby agrees that if he hereafter institutes or maintains an action against any Released Person with respect to a Released Claim, and it is determined in such action that a claim or claims brought by the Executive in such action is barred by this Release, he will pay the Released Person for all costs and expenses, including attorneys fees, incurred in defending against such claims. The Executive understands that this Release is final and binding, except as expressly provided herein. Nothing herein shall (i) prevent the Executive from filing a charge or complaint, including a challenge to the validity of this Agreement, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), (ii) prevent the Executive from participating in any investigation or proceeding conducted by the EEOC, or (iii) establish a condition precedent or other barrier to exercising the aforesaid rights. While the Executive has a right to participate in any such investigation, he understands that he is waiving his right to any monetary recovery arising from any investigation or pursuit of a claim on his behalf. The Executive acknowledges that he has the right to file a charge alleging a violation of the ADEA with any administrative agency and/or to challenge the validity of the waiver and release of any claim that he may have under the ADEA without either (i) repaying the Company the amounts paid to him as a result of this Release or (ii) paying the Company any other monetary amounts (such as attorneys fees and damages). 4. The Executive agrees that if this Release is ever held to be invalid or unenforceable (in whole or in part) as to any particular type of claim or as to any particular circumstance, it shall remain fully valid and enforceable as to all other claims and circumstances. 5. Except as permitted by paragraph 3, the Executive represents that he has not filed, and will not hereafter file, any lawsuit against any Released Person relating to his employment and/or cessation of employment with the Company or any Related Employer, or otherwise involving facts that occurred on or before the date on which he signed this Release, other than with respect to any Excluded Claim. The Executive further understands and agrees that, other than as provided under paragraph 3, if he commences, continues, joins in, or in any other manner attempts to assert any lawsuit released herein against a Released Person with regard to a Released Claim, or otherwise violates the terms of this Release, he shall be required to return all severance payments paid to him by the Company pursuant to the Executive Severance 21 Artists reflect their shades of war By Kaveesha Fernando View(s): View(s): C/A/M/P, or Contemporary Artists Meeting Point, is an arts programme organised by the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts and the Neelan Thiruchelvam Trust. It connects artists with the aim of facilitating the healing process as they talk about and share their experiences during the war. Programme coordinator Shyama Jayawardhene feels that artists visiting other artists to gain insight into their lives is important because they can learn together and grow. We wanted people to learn things such as the way in which artists survived and kept their art going amidst the war whilst facing so many hardships such as the lack of supplies and even art teachers. This experience also helped them understand what different artists from different places went through, she said. Art workshops were held in different areas and an exchange programme through which the artists were able to live and experience the culture and environment of other participants all led up to the exhibition now on at the Lionel Wendt Gallery. The exhibition opened on Sunday, July 24 and ends today. Talking of what he learnt during the programme, Marrkkandu Manokar felt that it is great that Tamils and Sinhalese are working together and building a good understanding of their different languages and religions through this project. We are doing this because we need to bring understanding, he said, however I feel that art can help but not completely other things need to come together as well to reach reconciliation. This is an important exhibition and I feel that we can create a peaceful society through exhibitions like this, said Thavarasa Thajendran. Everyone has their own ideas and techniques which they use to create art. He also feels that art has a big role to play in reconciliation. Asanka Manjula May from Colombo calls his painting Paraviya (dove). His message is that everyone lost in the war. Dimuthu Wanniarachchi is from Matara and his painting is called Mathakayan(memories). It has been inspired by the literal writing on the wall which he saw in war-affected areas. Hanusha Somasundaram comes from Hatton and her art work is called Identity Card. She has drawn certain incidents related to the early tea estate workers on the Operating Record Card a card used by the workers to record the quantity of tea plucked. Her aim is to highlight the issues faced by the workers who migrated from Tamil Nadu to the estates of Sri Lanka and faced many hardships. The Chair by Hasini Sewwandi Abraham from Colombo seeks to examine if recollections or memories of recollections yield positive results or negative. From Matara Kalani Menaka Wilsons work Hide -deals with all the memories which the earth bears witness to. K.A. Malika Sanjeewani from Gampaha calls her painting Thujiba, A Tamil Woman. It addresses her friend Thujiba who she sees as the epitome of innocence and beauty which her culture demands of her. The artists from the North also had strong themes. Hailing from Jaffna, Krishnapriya Tharmakrishnars painting titled Memories of Houses, is a nostalgic recollection of homes destroyed in the war and the possibility of rebuilding them one day. Marrkandu Manokar from Jaffna lovingly calls his painting Father Memory. His father is one of the many people who disappeared during the war. Thavarasa Thajendran from Jaffna calls his paintings Concept Note to portray the differences in landscape of the areas he visited during the exchange programme. Thujiba Vijayalayan from Jaffna in her painting Social Dynamics explores the negative impact which society has on women. Maryathevathas Vijitharan who is from Killinochchi has titled his work Sharing Four Thosay Plates. He depicts the hardships faced by the people living in LTTE-controlled areas who would take their thosai plates and a few items of food to cook and flee to the jungles. My Hope by Sarmala Shandrathasan from Jaffna reflects the irrevocable fate and hope depicted by horoscopes. Artists from other parts of the country are also represented. Nalliah Savesan from Ampara calls his work The Dolls. His art deals with the issue of girls being given in marriage at a young age . In Dragonfly, Nirosha Wanigasooriya from Gampaha brings out her message of non-violence. Pakkiayarajah Pushpakanthan from Batticaloa calls his painting Burning Series. It deals with tragic experiences and discourses. From Galle, Pathum Nimeshs painting Destrot Railway Line depicts the railway lines affected by the war and now rebuilt. Susiman Nirmalavasan from Batticaloa captures post war development in war affected areas and the underlying trauma beneath it in her work Shiny Dress. What did the artists take away from this experience? Asanka Manjula May says they saw a lot of trauma and heard many tragic experiences but were able to exchange ideas which helped them grow stronger. C/A/M/P will be on today at the Lionel Wendt. He was truly a model constituency MP View(s): By Leelananda De Silva Mangala Moonesinghe, who passed away recently at the age of 85, was one of the finest persons in the public life of this country. He was affable, self effacing, and highly principled. Never confrontational, he was largely bipartisan in his approach to politics. Although a party political figure, he reached out to other political strands of opinion. This can be readily seen in his intensive engagement in developing bipartisan approaches to issues of ethnic reconciliation. A parliamentarian for 18 years between 1965 and 1994, he was not the kind of brash politician that we see in plenty nowadays. Giving up politics, he moved to be a high level Sri Lankan diplomat, serving as high commissioner in New Delhi, where he spent two spells for eight years, and as high commissioner in London for more than two years. Mangala was not ambitious, and he lacked the killer instinct that is required to move up the political ladder. Although he did not achieve high political office, he made an important contribution to public affairs in this country, whether as politician or as diplomat. Mangala was born in 1931 to affluent circumstances. He was a descendant of the Anagarika Dharmapala and had family links to the Hewavitarnes. He was educated at Royal College, and then proceeded to England to do his barristers exams. On his return, he practised in the criminal courts of this country. He entered politics in the 1960s and was elected Member of Parliament in 1965, winning the Bulathsinhala seat for the LSSP. Although a member of the LSSP, Mangala was never a Marxist, and he could be considered more a democratic socialist than anything else. He moved to the SLFP in 1975, when the LSSP broke with the SLFP-led coalition. He lost his seat in 1977, but came back to parliament in 1989 and lost his seat again in 1994, largely due to rifts within the SLFP itself in the Horana-Bulathsinhala area. Mangala was one of the most active constituency MPs of his time. He took a keen interest in improving the social and economic conditions in his electorate through many practical actions. He was instrumental in getting one of the bridges built over the Kalu Ganga in his constituency. When the bridge was completed, it was opened not by him or any other politician, but by the worker who had worked longest in constructing the bridge. He was instrumental in the expansion of passion fruit growing in his constituency which was considered an important cash crop at the time. One illustration of this was the establishment of the Ilimba passion fruit farm for girls in the 1960s. When land reforms were introduced in the 1970s, he was concerned with making these reforms beneficial to his constituents. Although he would have preferred more state-owned plantations to be transferred to peoples ownership, he was able to transfer at least a few to reduce landlessness in his electorate. He was one of those who believed that small scale farming could be as efficient or even more so as large scale plantations. As a criminal lawyer, apart from being the MP, he played an active role in his constituency during JVP times to save many young men from rampant brutality of the security forces. Mangala was a model constituency MP. In Parliament, Mangala will always be remembered for his role as Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee, appointed to Recommend Ways and Means of Achieving Peace and Political Stability in the Country. It was Mangala who proposed the appointment of this committee in August 1991 and he was then appointed its chairman. The committee had 45 members and had 49 sittings over two years. It was one of the major activities of parliament during that period. The committee did not resolve the problems it grappled with. Its main contribution could be seen as bringing the contending parties together to discuss the critical issues which faced the nation. Its report is a rich compendium of ideas and viewpoints on the feasible arrangements for devolution of government in the country. Mangala was always proud of his achievements in guiding this complex inter-ethnic committee. Mangalas appointment as high commissioner to India in 1995 was highly appropriate. He had the personal and diplomatic skills to manage a sensitive inter-county relationship after a period of great turbulence. He proved to be one of those Sri Lankan high commissioners who had direct access to the highest levels of Indian Government. Many Sri Lankan high commissioners in New Delhi are virtual onlookers to what is happening between the two countries, as substantive issues between the two countries are handled between the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo and top Sri Lankan political leaders. Mangala had a close relationship with I.K. Gujaral who was then Prime Minister of India. The relationship was indeed personal as much as official. Mangala and his wife Gnana had close high level political and social contacts in New Delhi, and they were one of the most sought after diplomatic couples in that city. Gnana was of great assistance to Mangala as she herself was very much at home in the cultural life of India. Unusually for a diplomats wife, she wrote a book on Buddhism in India, Thus Have I Heard about Buddhas visits to various places in India and of the discourses he delivered. Mangala will also be remembered for his initiative in establishing a pilgrims rest for Sri Lankans at Cannaught Place in the heart of New Delhi. He obtained Japanese funds for this purpose. When Mangala was appointed to New Delhi for a second time, it was done by a UNP government and that itself was a recognition of Mangalas bipartisan approach to politics and the cordiality of his relations with both government and opposition. He served as high commissioner in London for two years. During that period, his great strength was in establishing contacts with Sri Lankan diaspora groups. He reached out to Sri Lankans who lived outside London, especially in the North and West of England. Keeping close lines of communication with the Sri Lankan diaspora in places like the United Kingdom is now recognised as an important diplomatic and consular function for a high commissioner. Mangalas political skills were a great advantage in this regard. Once Mangala returned to Sri Lanka after his diplomatic sojourn of over a decade, he was deeply involved in the processes of ethnic reconciliation and chaired a project referred to as the One Text Initiative. He was the Chairman of Marga Institute and was involved with the private sector as a director of Carsons. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has famously avoided giving a press conference for 240 days now, also doesnt do a whole lot of sit-down interviews. So when she does, they are closely watched. And when one of those sit-downs is granted to Fox News, the scrutiny is even more pronounced. Fox, home to unapologetic conservative hosts like Bill OReilly and Sean Hannity, is widely regarded as the media proxy for the Republican Party. While the network employs plenty of talented journalists, the networks claim to be a balanced news source is generally regarded as questionable. Related: Clinton vs. Trump -- The Roller Coaster You Cant Get Off So it was surprising, on Sunday, to tune in and watch Clinton sail unscathed through a lengthy interview with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. Wallace is generally tough but fair when he takes on political figures, regardless of their party affiliation, but on Sunday he allowed Clinton to blow through a number of subjects vitally important to her political opponents without significant pushback or follow-up questioning. For example, Wallace asked Clinton about the report by FBI Director James Comey, in which he described her use of a personal email server for her official correspondence while serving as secretary of state as extremely careless. He allowed Clinton to get away with claiming that Comey had said she had been truthful in her statements about her email -- a gross mischaracterization of what Comey said that The Washington Post Fact Checker rated as a four Pinocchio lie. Related: As Clinton Accepts Historic Nomination, Democrats Move in on GOPs Turf He ran clips of testimony and public comment in which Clinton expressly said that she had neither sent nor received classified information on her private email server. Clinton responded by, in effect, throwing her State Department employees under the bus. I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked, she said. And so, in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, well, among those 300 people, they made the wrong call. At the time, there was no reason in my view to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country. Story continues Wallace, rather than pressing the point, moved on to a different topic. The Fox host gave similarly short shrift to what is probably Clintons biggest challenge with the electorate: the fact that people dont trust her. He allowed Clinton to address the fact that two-thirds of the American people do not believe she is honest and trustworthy with the claim that after 25 years in public life, they still dont know her well enough. Related: Trump Melts Down Spectacularly in ABC Interview The extent of the follow-up was this: You don't think that theres any legitimate reasons people would have doubts about your -- to use the phrase in the polls -- honesty and trustworthiness? And Clinton was allowed off the hook with an appeal to her record of public service. The conservative social media sphere lit up with criticism of the interview after it aired, slamming Wallace for serving up softball questions to Clinton, but the interview was in large part overshadowed by other events of the day -- specifically, Donald Trumps continued assault on the family of a US Army captain killed in Iraq. The soldiers father had criticized Trump for his proposed ban on Muslim immigration, which he said, would bar men like his son from entering the country. If there is an upside to the Wallace-Clinton encounter, it might be that it makes the Democratic nominee a little more comfortable putting herself in front of the camera for interviews with journalists. Because there are still a lot of questions that need asking. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The purchase contract securing the 350 tonne travel lift for the Tauranga Marine Precinct has been signed by Tauranga City Council CEO Garry Poole and Cimolai sales manager Claudio Carlon. The contract, signed on Friday, secures the deliver, assembly, commissioning and training on the vessel hoist before the precinct is operational in May/June 2017. New Zealand is in the midst of its largest building boom, says Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith, with figures showing Bay of Plenty is leading the way. Statistics New Zealand says while building consents for new dwellings are at a higher level than in 2015, there has been little growth in recent months. The cheers literally turned to tears in some cases when the 113 year old launch Psyche returned to the water on Saturday. The former Lyttelton tug slammed into the Aerodrome Bridge, where the old toll plaza used to be, immediately after her re-launch at the Bridge Marine, where the cream and green kauri hulled launch has become a fixture over recent years. Newly released figures again show overseas tax resident buyers and sellers are behind three percent of New Zealand property transfers, Land Information Minister Louise Upston says. Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has released its latest report on tax residency and property transfers covering April to June 2016. Over this time the proportion of transfers involving overseas tax resident buyers is three percent, and the proportion of transfers involving overseas tax resident sellers is also three percent. This is similar to the previous quarter, says Ms Upston. This data is not a register of foreign ownership it is collected as a result of government property tax measures in Budget 2015. However, over time it will give us some useful information on the property market. To help with this, LINZ is also gathering data on transfers involving a home on the land, and the citizenship or visa status of buyers. This shows that three percent of transfers which included a home involved buyers who were not New Zealand citizens or residents. The report on property transfer and tax residency statistics is available on the LINZ website. Source: Office of Louise Upston. DNA samples from a male orca calf have been rushed to a lab this afternoon for testing in an attempt to establish which orca family pod he belongs to. The hope is that the lone male, who has been in the Bay of Plenty area for more than a week, can be reunited with his family. Working towards this end Dr Ingrid Visser, founder of the Orca Research Trust, and Jeff Foster, an international orca expert on rehabilitation, today took a DNA sample from the orca. This was like collecting dandruff from a human. The skin flake will be used for DNA sampling to see if the calf belongs to the orca population living around New Zealand, says Ingrid. Ingrid and Jeff Foster also took a sample from the orcas breath by holding a plastic disk with an agar solution, above the animals blow hole. The agar captures particles in the orcas breath. The breath sample will be sent to a laboratory to test for bacteria, pathogens and fungi that maybe having a harmful effect on the orca. It will take several days to get the results of the breath sample and DNA sampling. The tactical team set up to respond to the plight of the orca are yet to receive reports of nearby orca pods to which the young calf might belong. Recreational and commercial boat operators are being asked via the coastguards marine radio to report sightings of orca pods in the Bay of Plenty region to the Orca Research Trust by phoning: O800 SEE ORCA / 0800 733 6722 The decision to enlist the coastguards support was made by the Orca Tactical Planning Group made up of members from a broad range of disciplines, backgrounds and cultures. They have diverse skills, and are working together to achieve the best possible result for the whale. Were really grateful to Tauranga Coastguard for helping the OTPG with one of our goals - seeing if we can find this lone orca calfs family pod, says DOC Orca Incident Controller John Lucas. This group is in agreement that reuniting the lone orca calf with its family pod is the key to its long term survival in the wild. The difficulty we all face is finding the young orcas family pod as there have been no indications where the calf has come from, says John. The OTPG includes DOC, Iwi representatives Reon Tuanau and Carlton Bidois, Orca Research Trust representatives and key community stakeholders. Its vital our people are involved in this situation. All of us have unique traditions and whakapapa connections to tohora. They are part of our identity. We havetikanga processes involving tohora that we want to ensure are respected and observed throughout the course of this kaupapa. We have our own whale experts. They have a lot to offer because while they are well versed in the sciences and those sorts of areas, they are also knowledge holders of ancient matauranga in relation to the tohora. We also know our local environmental conditions including knowledge about our inshore orca whanau units and when they typically visit the harbour and where they often hang out to feed, where the best orca food is in Tauranga Harbour and the likes, so our people bring huge value in that space as well. We have access to resources and facilities that will be critical to a successful intervention, says Carlton Bidois of Ngati Ranginui. A karakia ceremony led by Ngaiterangi Iwi liaison Reon Tuanau has been held on the shoreline near the orca calf. The karakia places a protective cloak over the orca calf and the work the Orca Tactical Planning Group is doing to support this taonga, says Reon Tuanau. Local residents are currently providing accommodation, transport and provisions for the Orca Research Trust team and expert personnel bought in to assist with this task. Community members have appreciated the opportunity to work proactively with the local iwi, the Orca Research Trust, DOC and United States orca specialists in what has been described as a once in a lifetime event, says local resident Sue Baker Wilson. The OTPG was formed to manage the key issues threatening the orcas long term survival in the wild. Its exploring measures that may enable the orca to survive on its own and looking at ways of locating the young orcas family pod. The health and emotional benefits of breastfeeding will be celebrated by Bay of Plenty mothers and thousands more from around New Zealand this Friday. Part of World Breastfeeding Week which runs from August 1-7, the Big Latch On is a global event where groups of mothers around the country and the world will simultaneously breastfeed their babies in public in a bid to normalise the practice as part of everyday life. The event, which will be taking place in Katikati, Rotorua, Whakatane and Opotiki this Friday, also aims to encourage the formation of support networks between breastfeeding women. Toi Te Ora Public Health Service recommends mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months and then continue to breastfeed along with the introduction of solid foods, says Medical Officer of Health Dr Neil de Wet. Breastfeeding provides many important health benefits for the mother and child, he explains. Breastfed babies have less chance of getting diarrhoea and vomiting illnesses and of developing chest and ear infections. Women who cannot make it down to an event this Friday but still want to take part can participate online by posting breastfeeding selfies with the hashtag #BigLatchOnNZ via the Big Latch On Facebook page. BAY OF PLENTY BIG LATCH ON EVENTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 5: Katikati: Katikati Midwives 14 Jocelyn Street, Katikati. Contact: Trudy Hart on 07-549-5644 or hartyhealth@live.com Times: Gather at 10am, latch on at 10.30am. Rotorua: The Arts Village 1240 Hinemaru Street, Rotorua Contact: Amy Wray on 027-405-8191 or amy.wray@lakesdhb.govt.nz Times: Gather at 10am for registrations, runs until 1.30pm. Whakatane: Whakatane District Library 49 Kakahoroa Drive, Whakatane. Contact: Eleanore McDonald on 021-421-616 or Eleanore.McDonald@ebpha.org.nz Times: Gather at 9:45am. Opotiki: Top of Form Bottom of Form Hot Bread Shop Cafe 43 St John Street, Opotiki Contact: Krystal Mokomoko on 027-930-2142 or krystal.mokomoko@whakatohea.co.nz Times: Gather from 9.30am, runs until 12pm. For more information about Big Latch On events and World Breastfeeding Week visit: www.ttophs.govt.nz/breastfeeding_week or www.womens-health.org.nz Bay of Plenty Registrars of Electors Lesley Christophers is working hard to make sure voters in the region get to have their say come voting time for local body elections. Every year tens of thousands of New Zealanders move house, and thousands get removed from the electoral roll because they have forgotten to enrol at their new address. Western Bay of Plenty Police are looking for a man who has a warrant for his arrest on a parole recall warrant. An appeal has been issued on the Bay of Plenty Police Facebook page asking for any information about the whereabouts of Mathew Lee. The Bay of Plenty Regional Councils wave buoy is back at sea ready to share its watery insights into wave heights passing its position 13km off Pukehina Beach. Wave heights, water temperature and wave frequency are measured by the buoy and the data transmitted to shore and shared live on the regional council website. New Zealand First is calling on the government to support local mayors and councils and back away from the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) which would thoroughly impede local decision making powers. New Zealand First believes in keeping the local in local government, says New Zealand First List MP based in Invercargill, Ria Bond. This bill is an assault on local democracy and New Zealand First stands in support of Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt and the many other local mayors and councils who oppose this government power grab. The lack of consultation offered by this government once again shows their contempt for local representation. Weve seen with the removal of elected members on the Southern DHB and Environment Canterbury that this government would like to shift more and more power to central government, away from the people it directly affects. Local communities should have the power to make local decisions," says Bond. Source: New Zealand First. Syracuse Orthopedic Special.JPG Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists plans to close its leased office at 8276 Willett Parkway in Lysander, above, and at the Clay Medical Center on Route 57 in Clay once it opens a new building in Clay. (Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com) Clay, N.Y. A request for more than $2 million in tax breaks for a proposed medical office building is running into opposition from the Clay town supervisor and his colleagues in 10 other towns. Town Supervisor Damian Ulatowski said he opposes the application by Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists and Family Practice Associates for $2.15 million in tax exemptions, including $1.2 million in property tax discounts over 10 years. Ulatowski said tax breaks for the project make no sense because it likely would be built without the breaks and will create few new jobs because both medical practices are planning to close offices they lease elsewhere in Clay and in Lysander once the new building is ready. Rendering shows a new medical office building planned by Syracuse Orthopedic Associates and Family Practice Associates at 8324 Oswego Road (Route 57) in Clay. Click on image for a larger view. "Why should the partnership of Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists and Family Practice Associates be entitled to a 10-year tax exemption to relocate their current practices from Lysander and Clay to a new Route 57 location also in Clay?" he said in a statement emailed to syracuse.com and backed by 10 other town supervisors. A partnership between the two medical practices has proposed building a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building on a vacant lot at 8324 Oswego St. (Route 57), next to the Clay Eye Center. The orthopedic practice would occupy most of the first floor, and the family medical practice would occupy most of the second floor. Crouse Hospital would lease a portion of the building for one or more medical practices or other services. The orthopedic and family medical practices said they would close their offices at the Clay Medical Center building on Route 57 in Clay and their offices on Willett Parkway in Lysander's Radisson community after opening the new building in Clay. They said the project will result in a net increase of 12 jobs because the new building will have the room to offer a greater number of services. The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency has scheduled a public hearing on the application for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at Clay Town Hall. Ulatowski and his colleagues on the Clay Town Council don't get to vote on the application. The development agency will make the decision, but town officials can express an opinion and are expected to attend the hearing. Ulatowski said other property owners would have to pay more to make up for the exemptions the medical practices would receive. "By allowing the IDA to grant an exemption, the medical partnership gets a 10-year tax break and the town of Clay and the school districts in the taxing district are forced to make up the shortfall," he said. Family Practice Associates and Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists plan to build a medical office building at 8324 Oswego Road (Route 57) in Clay. In a letter to syracuse.com in response to Ulatowski's statement, development agency Chairman Pat Hogan expressed support for the tax breaks, saying the project would increase tax revenues over what the site generates as vacant land and will create 12 new, permanent, high-paying jobs. "The owners approached the IDA some time ago with a proposal to construct a new facility that would house three local healthcare providers," Hogan said. "The new building will assist in the expansion of all three providers, creating at least 12 high paying jobs and offering a higher quality of care to residents in northern Onondaga County." Even with the $1.2 million in property tax discounts, taxes generated by the medical building over 10 years would total $1.3 million, compared with only $222,567 if the project was not built, he said. In a phone interview Monday, Hogan said the tax breaks are "not a done deal" and that he would decide which way to vote after the public hearing. He said he planned to ask representatives of the medical practices whether they would go forward with the project without the tax exemptions. "We'll certainly ask those folks that," he said. "It might be done without the tax breaks, but I wonder how fast it will be done without the tax breaks." Bruce Smith, an attorney who is representing the medical practices, said the tax exemptions would lower construction costs and the price that Crouse Hospital would have to pay to lease space in the building. He declined to comment further, saying it will be up to the development agency to decide whether the project is worthy of tax breaks. In addition to $1.2 million in property tax discounts over 10 years, the medical practices have applied for an exemption from sales taxes on construction materials and furnishings, worth $824,000, and an exemption from the state mortgage recording tax, worth $90,000. It's not uncommon for cash-squeezed municipalities and school districts to oppose tax breaks for development projects, especially those that do not create manufacturing or other industrial jobs. Several officials, including Ulatowski, expressed opposition to the industrial development agency's recent decision to continue granting tax breaks to suburban apartment projects under certain conditions. However, it is unusual for a large group of town supervisors to join in on opposing tax breaks for a single project. Ulatowski provided syracuse.com with copies of emails supporting his statement from the supervisors of the towns of Camillus, Skaneateles, Lysander, Elbridge, Geddes, Van Buren, Spafford, Salina, Manlius and Otisco. Ulatowski said the development agency, whose seven members are appointed by the chairman of the county legislature, should limit tax exemptions to projects that create significant numbers of new, permanent jobs. Apartment buildings and medical offices should not be on the list of projects eligible to receive the agency's incentives, he said. "Shouldn't their goal be to market, solicit and aggressively seek to bring industrial, manufacturing or technology companies that are likely to have a significant economic benefit (for) the residents of Onondaga County, with the carrot being the tax incentives that an IDA can offer?" he said in the statement. "Throughout much of New York State and Onondaga County, all we are seeing is a reshuffling of the jobs we already have while at the same time rewarding only those who know how to leverage the system to benefit from the exemption handout." He said the giving away of tax exemptions by the agency has become a sensitive issue since the county stopped sharing sales tax revenues with towns in 2013. Many towns had used those revenues to fund their municipal budgets and had to raise their town tax rates to make up for the loss. Hogan defended tax abatements as a tool for attracting and retaining a wide variety of businesses. "The benefits often make a difference to the timing, size and scope of a project," he said. Debate Over Tax Breaks for Medical Office Building in Clay Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump is nude on the cover of The New York Post's Sunday newspaper. Photos inside show her completely naked, with nipples blurred out or covered by stars. "You've never seen a potential First Lady like this," the front page promised, beneath the headline "The Ogle Office." Photos show Mrs. Trump's breasts, backside and more in a series of images, including lesbian-themed shots in bed with Scandinavian model Emma Eriksson embracing her from behind. She is credited as Melania K, short for her maiden name Melania Knauss. The racy pictures surfaced from the Slovenian-born model's 1996 shoot in New York, shortly after she arrived in America, taken for Max magazine when she was 25 years old. The French publication is now out of print, but the images -- including some that were never published -- were obtained by the Post from photographer Ale de Basseville. Donald Trump's campaign said the Republican presidential candidate was not mad at the photos' release. "In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common," Trump said in a statement. "They're a celebration of the human body as art." Trump spokesman Jason Miller told CNN Sunday that "There's nothing to be embarrassed about... She's a beautiful woman." He added that he doesn't expect the pictures, taken before the couple met, would hurt Trump's bid for the White House: "We're in an era where the Kardashians have thrown everything in our face. No one will be talking about this in a week." A semi-nude image of Melania Trump also circulated in March, from a British GQ photo shoot in 2000. A super PAC supporting Sen. Ted Cruz promoted it on social media in a meme that said "Meet Melania Trump. Your next First Lady. Or you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday." Trump responded by retweeting an unflattering photo of Cruz's wife Heidi. Cruz later bowed out, and drew boos at the Republican National Convention earlier this month when he refused to endorse Trump. ICON_Indictments (Thinkstock ) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Nedrow woman was sentenced to 10 months in prison today for stealing nearly $38,000 from the federal government by pretending to be her dead mother. U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin imposed the sentence on Lorraine Lorini, who pleaded guilty in January to theft of government money. Lorini, 56, admitted posing as her mother, Audrey Lorini, five months after Audrey's death and collecting $37,808 in pension benefits from August 2010 until July 2013. Lorini created a fake online pension benefit profile in her mother's name after Audrey Lorini's death in April 2009 at the age of 71. It wasn't the first time Lorraine Lorini defrauded someone, according to a federal prosecutor. In 2014, she created a fake eBay auction for a truck she didn't own and wasn't really selling, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Perry wrote in court papers. She defrauded an overseas soldier out of $6,100 in that case, Perry wrote. Lorini was charged in state court recently with forgery, identity theft and falsifying business records. She's accused of opening charge accounts in her nephew's name without his knowledge, according to court papers. Her lawyer, Thomas Ryan, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Lorini had been her disabled mother's caregiver. "She is a person who puts everyone and everything in her life above her own best interests," Ryan wrote of Lorrain Lorini. She has for years taken in rescue animals, including horses, dogs and cats, he said. Lorini lives in a home that her father built for her family, and she promised her mother she'd take care of it, Ryan wrote. "It is of paramount importance for her to keep the family home and maintain it as best as possible," Ryan wrote. "An inspection of her home reveals a dwelling in disrepair as she has devoted her life to the care of her animals and others to her own detriment." Scullin ordered Lorini to pay restitution and for her to be on supervised release for three years after she gets out of prison. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 John Mautner.online.jpg John Mautner, 44, of Sherrill, was charged Sunday with driving while intoxicated. (Provided photo) VERONA, N.Y. -- An Oneida County man was charged with driving while intoxicated Sunday morning after he crashed his pick-up truck into a utility pole, according to New York State Police. John A. Mautner, 44, of Sherrill, told police that several deer entered the road and he swerved his 2011 Ford F150 truck trying to avoid hitting the deer. Mautner struck a National Grid utility pole causing the pole to split in half. The crash caused a power outage in the immediate area, police said. The crash occurred at 10:23 a.m. on Patrick Road at the intersection of Snyder Road in the town of Verona. Mautner was charged with misdemeanor DWI, speeding and moving from a lane unsafely. He was issued an appearance ticket for Aug. 9 at Verona Town Court. PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Aug 1, 2016) - iovation, the provider of device intelligence for authentication and fraud prevention, today announced that representatives from Dell Software, Groupon, Western Union and former White House CIO Theresa Payton will be main stage presenters at iovation's Fraud Force Summit. The primary emphasis of headliners at iovation's 5th annual user conference will be ways businesses can provide their customers with seamless and positive authentication experiences, while protecting businesses from fraud. "Consumers are saddled with too many accounts on too many systems with too many passwords. How does one keep up? How does a consumer protect themselves against the never ending threat landscape out there? Fortunately, technology is changing fast and the password is on its way out," said Fraud Force speaker and Dell Software Senior Director of Product Management, Jackson Shaw. "New solutions are already hitting the market that help to make security and authentication both easier and less obtrusive. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to discuss this topic at Fraud Force." Fraud Force provides an in-person closed-door opportunity to exchange intelligence about the latest global cyberthreats and evasion techniques, and solutions to uncover and fight them. Attendees at the summit include Fortune 500 executives, and world-renowned anti-fraud and cybersecurity professionals in the finance, insurance, retail, social media, travel, ticketing, telecommunications and gaming industries. The Fraud Force Summit runs September 19-21 in Portland, Oregon. Fraud Force main sessions and corresponding speakers include: "Code Red: Protecting Your Enterprise and Securing Your Brand Online" by former White House CIO, Theresa Payton "Striking the Right Balance Between Usability and Security for Consumers" by Dell Software Senior Director of Product Management, Jackson Shaw "Staying Ahead in the Mobile World with Data Analytics and Machine Learning" by Groupon Global Program Manager, Bridgette Korney "Uncovering a Fraud Ring: Patterns, Anomalies & Red Flags" by Sprint Fraud Specialist Toby Ceselski "Managing and Maximizing Multiple Tools in Your Toolkit" by Western Union Product Manager of Fraud Strategy, Stephanie Gorostiza "Fireside Chat: How to Leverage Big Data, Machine Learning & Behavioral Analytics" by Western Union Leader of Product Strategy, Fraud and Risk, Bernard McManus Story continues Outside of the main sessions, iovation experts will host breakout sessions to delve into the latest technology innovations and programs rolled out for iovation clients. These educational topics include improving the customer experience with device-based authentication, staying secure in the mobile era and more. Additional breakout sessions will be presented by nTrust, RingCentral, bridge21, the AA, and also by Fraud Force sponsors including Equifax, Next Caller, Nexmo and WhitePages Pro. "While businesses can certainly 'plug and play' iovation's solutions, there are additional benefits that will help improve their bottom lines that not everyone may be aware of," said iovation CEO and Founder, Greg Pierson. "We're looking forward to this face-to-face opportunity with our clients to share insight about how to best leverage our solutions and to provide them a platform to network and learn from the foremost fraud fighters from around the world." Besides the sessions being held at the Portland Armory, Fraud Force also has networking events in and around the city. These include an afternoon on one of Oregon's most prominent landmarks of Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, a waterfront run along Portland's Willamette river and much more. More details about Fraud Force Summit 2016 can be found at fraudforcesummit.com. About iovation iovation protects online businesses and their end users against fraud and abuse, and identifies trustworthy customers through a combination of advanced device identification, shared device reputation, device-based authentication and real-time risk evaluation. More than 3,000 fraud managers representing global retail, financial services, insurance, social network, gaming and other companies leverage iovation's database of more than 2.5 billion Internet devices and the relationships between them to determine the level of risk associated with online transactions. The company's device reputation database is the world's largest, used to protect 16 million transactions and stop an average of 250,000 fraudulent activities every day. The world's foremost fraud experts share intelligence, cybercrime tips and online fraud prevention techniques in iovation's Fraud Force Community, an exclusive virtual crime-fighting network. For more information, visit iovation.com. St. Joseph's Hospital's new patient tower, exterior St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center (Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com) SYRACUSE, N.Y. - St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center has agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle claims that it presented false claims for mental health services given by unqualified staff. The state Attorney General's Office announced today that St. Joe's will pay that amount to resolve allegations that it violated federal and state false claims acts. The state and federal investigations were triggered by a whistleblower, who will get $560,000 of the settlement. The hospital knowingly presented false claims for payment to Medicaid for mobile-crisis outreach services from January 1, 2007, through February 29, 2016, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The services were performed by workers who did not meet the basic Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) staffing requirements, Schneiderman said in a news release. St. Joe's settled the case with prosecutors from the AG's office and the U.S. Attorney's Office. St. Joe's president and CEO, Kathy Ruscitto, said hospital officials were "pleased to bring this matter to a resolution." The hospital fully cooperated with state and federal prosecutors, Ruscitto said in an email. "We remain confident that St. Joseph's personnel, working in our State-certified Mobile Crisis Outreach program, acted appropriately and in the best interests of our patients," Ruscitto said. "We settled this matter to avoid the delay, uncertainty and the high expense of bringing this case to trial as well as the potential disruption to our mission of caring for our patients and communities." The hospital operates a mental health program that evaluates and treats people suffering from acute mental health crises. Its mobile crisis outreach unit provides services to people in Onondaga and Madison counties who are unable or unwilling to use hospital-based crisis intervention services in the emergency room, Schneiderman said. State regulations require at least two CPEP staff members, one of whom must be a member of the professional staff, be present whenever crisis intervention services are rendered outside of an emergency room, Schneiderman said. The settlement resolves allegations that St. Joe's submitted claims for payment to Medicaid without disclosing that its CPEP staff failed to meet the regulatory staffing requirements, the news release said. By accepting Medicaid payment for these claims, St. Joe's misrepresented its compliance with the mental health staffing requirements, Schneiderman said. As part of the settlement, St. Joe's admitted it was improper to have conducted mobile crisis outreach visits without a member of its CPEP professional staff present and then bill Medicaid for such services, the news release said. "Today's settlements reflect my office's commitment to protecting Central New York's most vulnerable citizens, including those in crisis," U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said. Joe Biden U.S. Vice President Joe Biden appears in Australia as part of a tour of the Pacific in July 2016. (Jessica Hromas | AP) Syracuse University alumnus Joe Biden is returning to scripted television this fall. The U.S. Vice President will make a cameo as himself in the second episode of "Law & Order: SVU" season 18, Entertainment Tonight reports. The show will air Wednesday, Sept. 28 on NBC. Biden is expected to commend Mariska Hargitay's character Lt. Olivia Benson and the rest of her "Special Victims Unit" team for addressing the backlog of untested rape kits, especially in Detroit. Biden and Hargitay spoke about the issue in real life at the United States of Women Summit at the White House in June. Rapper-actor Ice-T, who also stars on the long-running crime drama as Odafin Tutuola, shared a teaser photo on Twitter. Joe is in the Building.... SVU. pic.twitter.com/ZAd4CyWFb1 ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) July 29, 2016 According to IMDb, the appearance will be Biden's second acting role. He previously played himself on "Parks and Recreation" after the NBC sitcom revealed Amy Poehler's character Leslie Knope had a crush on him. Biden, however, also has another 70 film and television credits. Most are news programs, political talk shows and documentaries, but he also appeared on "Shark Tank," "Jeopardy!" and, in 1992, on the children's game show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Biden attended graduate school at SU's College of Law and married his first wife, Central New York native Neilia Hunter, in Skaneateles. "Law & Order: SVU" returns Wednesday, Sept. 21. SHARE MONDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS 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. MONDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ART Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Cedar Pointe Plaza, 2611 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. 772-287-7030; Alizarincrimsonstudio.net. Professional Teaching Staff: Georgia Abood, Kate Wood & Jennifer Pollack. Oil Painting with Carol: 9 a.m.-noon June 6-Dec. 1. Artist Nook, 45 Kindred St., Stuart. Adults. $30 per class. Register: 772-288-6371; keppca@bellsouth.net. 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. 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. Senior Fitness: 1-2 p.m. Class using weights, balls & stretch bands. Kane Senior Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 55+. $4-$6. 772-223-7807; www.kanecenter.org. Twilight Yoga at the Lighthouse: Experience the serenity of yoga on the Lighthouse Deck. 6 p.m. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter. 561-747-8380; www.jupiterlighthouse.org. Yogalates: Strengthen, Stretch and Tone the entire Body. 4-5 p.m. Bethel Creek House, 4405 North A1A, Vero Beach. $6 drop in fee. 772-216-3051; exerciselady@comcast.net. Zumba Gold: 9-10 a.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $4/$6. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. GAMES 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. OTHER Open Mic Night: Get your Rock Star on every Monday night. 7-11 p.m. Terra Fermata, 26 S.E. 6th Street, Stuart. Ages: 18+. 772-286-5252; www.terrafermata.com. MC Genealogical Society: Research assistance in Genealogy Room. Blake Library, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart. 5:45-7:45 p.m. Ages: 12+. 772-220-1638; mcgensociety.org. Piano Instruction: Beginners to concert level. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Shirley Heifetz, Jensen Beach. Ages: 8+. Registration: 772-934-6812. TUESDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ARTS/CRAFTS Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Cedar Pointe Plaza, 2611 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. 772-287-7030; Alizarincrimsonstudio.net. Professional Teaching Staff: Georgia Abood, Kate Wood & Jennifer Pollack. All Ages Oil Painting: Individually tailored oil painting classes with Kate Wood. Join anytime. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Alizarin Crimson Studio, 2611 E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. $25. Register: 772-287-0835; katewoodartist@comcast.net. Art Classes: Learning to paint for beginners or improve existing skills. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m./1-4:30 p.m. Kane Center, Salerno Road, Stuart. Adults. $25/$20 members. Register: 772-221-7640; brendaleigh737@gmail.com. Painting Class: For Beginner Students. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $20/$25. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Painting Class: For Experienced Students. 1-4:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $20/$25. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Peggy's Art Studio: Enjoy 3 hours of uninterrupted painting. Noon-3 p.m. MCP&R Log Cabin Senior Center, Langford Park, 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Multigenerational. $3. 772-334-2926; zcarter@martin.fl.us. Children/TEENS Family Story Time: 10 a.m. Ages: 0-12 months. Hoke Library, 1150 N.W. Jack Williams Way, Jensen Beach. 772-463-2870; library.martin.fl.us. Family Story Time: 11 a.m. Ages: 1-4 years-old. Hoke Library, 1150 N.W. Jack Williams Way, Jensen Beach. 772-463-2870; library.martin.fl.us. Family Story Time: Weekly story time designed for families. 10-10:30 a.m. Robert Morgade Library, 5851 S.E. Community Drive, Stuart. Ages: 0-3 years and up with parent. 772-463-3245; library.martin.fl.us. Lighthouse Story Time & Crafts for Kids: Story time & craft activity under the Lighthouse Seminole Chickee. 10:30-11:15 a.m, Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter. Ages: 8 and under. RSVP required: 561-747-8380; www.jupiterlighthouse.org. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 19-26 months. 9-10 a.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 27-60 months. 10:15-11:15 a.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 3-11 months. Noon-1 p.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 12-18 months. 1:15-2:15 p.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. Preschool FUNdamentals: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Peter and Julie Cummings Library, 2551 S.W. Matheson Ave., Palm City. Ages: 3-5 years. 772-288-2551; library.martin.fl.us. DANCE Adult Summer Dance Camp: Classes and Social Parties for Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country Dance. 4-10 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Ages: 18+. $100 to $300 per month per person. Register: 609-356-2973; gloriana@jensenbeachballroom.com. Ballroom Dance Class/New Season: 6:30 p.m. 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Ages: 16+. $9 pp. per class. Register: 772-529-3325; sdancer516@aol.com. Dance Classes: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country and Club group and private classes. 1-9 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Discounts available. Register: 609-356-2973; www.JensenBeachBallroom.com. Group Dance Lessons: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country. 6 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. $10 per person. 609-356-2973; jensenbeachballroom.com. EXERCISE/HEALTH Basic Yoga for Inner Peace: One hour basic yoga poses and half-hour of guided meditation. 10-11:30 a.m. Unity of Stuart, 211 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. Adults. $10. Register: 772-214-0892; www.unityofstuart.org. Gentle Chair Yoga: Gentle Chair Yoga. 11 a.m.-noon. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 55+. $8/$10. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Hip Pop Fitness: Dance your way to fitness. River Walk Center, 600 N. Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce. 6:30 p.m. Ages: 18+. 772-224-4506; chrystalismoments16@gmail.com. Zumba Gold: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $4/$6. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. OTHER Carpro Autospa Night Car Show: 6-8 p.m., weather permitting. Lowe's Stuart, 3620 S.E. U.S. 1, Stuart. 772-285-3320. Piano Instruction: Beginners to concert level. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Shirley Heifetz, Jensen Beach. Ages: 8+. Registration: 772-934-6812. Toastmasters: Join us for lunch and experience what Toastmasters is about. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Palm City Presbyterian Church, large room in back, 2700 Martin Highway, Palm City. Ages: 18+. palmcityorators@gmail.com. LOOKING AHEAD 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. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen in a mosquito cage Feb. 11 at a laboratory in Cucuta, Colombia. The second case of Zika was discovered in St. Lucie County, according to state health officials. (AP FILE PHOTO) By Elliott Jones of TCPalm St. Lucie County has its second travel-related case of Zika, raising to three the number on the Treasure Coast, state health officials confirmed. Martin County was the first on the Treasure Coast with a case discovered in early May. So far, no mosquitoes have been found with Zika. St. Lucie County Mosquito Control Director Glenn Henderson said his agency started working on the new case before it was confirmed. As soon as the agency heard of a possible case, a mosquito spray truck fogged the neighborhood where the person lives. The location and the name of the person isn't being disclosed. The agency also inspected the area and distributed educational materials. MORE | Zika: What you need to know The St. Lucie agency is working with the University of Florida's Medical Entomology Laboratory in Indian River County testing how well insecticides work on mosquito eggs. The neighborhood will be retreated, as needed, to stop the spread of potentially disease-carrying mosquitoes, Henderson said. That is the same approach used in the prior case in St. Lucie County and the one in Martin County. "St. Lucie Mosquito Control is maintaining a busy pace of inspection, surveillance and treatment throughout our district during the hot summer months," he said. Florida now has 388 Zika cases, including 55 pregnant women. Most of them are in Miami-Dade, Broward and Orange counties. Symptoms can include a fever, aching joins and rash. The main concern about Zika is that it can cause severe birth defects in unborn children, federal reports show. SHARE By Elliot Jones, elliot.jones@tcpalm.com A westward moving tropical wave got better organized overnight and is 275 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, headed west toward the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. None of the current forecasts foresee it moving toward Florida. The National Hurricane Center, Miami, now describes it as being strong, fast-moving and "significantly better organized overnight." It has maximum winds of 40 to 45 mph and could turn into a tropical storm on Monday as it moves into the central Caribbean and approaches Jamaica. An Air Force Reserves reconnaissance aircraft is en route to investigate the system late this afternoon. The storm is expected to produce heavy rains in Jamaica and Cuba. Currently there are no other tropical systems in the Caribbean or the Atlantic Ocean. SHARE RACE: Florida Senate District 17, Republican primary TERM: Four years CANDIDATES: Debbie Mayfield, Vero Beach Mike Thomas, Melbourne Ritch Workman, Melbourne WHO CAN VOTE: Republicans in state Senate District 17 KEY ISSUES: Legislative effectiveness, local knowledge, Indian River Lagoon RECOMMENDATION: There's only one candidate in this race who has an unblemished political record. Thomas is a physician assistant who has been politically active only as a Brevard and state GOP leader. Thomas is well-intentioned and mild-mannered. But one wonders whether the Florida Senate is an appropriate entry-level post for someone who has spent relatively little time getting to know his would-be constituents in Indian River County. Only Mayfield, who plans to move to Brevard County to live with her new husband, really understands Indian River County. She has lived in the county for more than two decades and succeeded her late husband, Stan, in the Florida House of Representatives in 2008. Like Workman, and Stan Mayfield in 2008, she cannot seek re-election to the House because of term limits. Mayfield has a base of support in Indian River County, though her legislative career is mediocre at best. She has failed to pass key initiatives to help Vero Beach sell its electric operation, abolish inadequate Common Core standards in schools and allow Floridians to vote for education commissioner. She blames her recent travails on GOP leadership, who did not like her Common Core efforts. Instead, she said, she fought for her constituents, trying to buck leaders. But if she can't find a way to persuade other lawmakers to support her constituents' wishes, how effective can she be? Workman has been effective leading on pension and ethics reform, supported by Mayfield if controversial. He takes too many risks logging onto a sketchy dating site, pushing a bill to allow dwarf tossing and to repeal other arcane laws, moonlighting as an Uber driver but has gotten things done. Sixty-eight percent of voters in this district are from Brevard County; Workman lives there and much of this race has been centered there. So we are skeptical that anyone can count on him to focus on Indian River County. Meanwhile, supporters of Mayfield and Workman are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars much of it from special interests to bash each other. This is an ugly race with no outstanding choice. It's a race that doesn't merit an endorsement. WE OPT NOT TO ENDORSE RACE: Indian River County School Board, District 3 TERM: Four years CANDIDATES: Douglas Wight, Vero Beach Laura Zorc, Vero Beach WHO CAN VOTE: All Indian River County voters are eligible to vote in this nonpartisan race KEY ISSUES: Accountability, literacy, finances, charter school funding, desegregation order RECOMMENDATION: This race features solid candidates with different perspectives. Wight retired from teaching in 2011 to take care of his mother after 27 years at Vero Beach Junior High and Oslo Middle schools. He said he opted not to become an administrator despite obtaining a master's degree in education. His top concern is dozens of county teachers retiring or leaving the district because of lack of support from administrators, too much testing and other issues. If elected, he'd like to be judged in four years on how well teacher morale improved. He has pledged to donate to schools his $33,417 school board salary, setting a stellar example for public service. His donations would target schools with special needs, such as Wabasso, where his child attended. Wight can forgo the salary because, he said, he built a seven-figure nest egg by watching expenses and investing in blue chip stocks. His financial acumen would benefit a school board with a history of questionable spending. The board is more than $100 million in debt from construction projects. Its health insurance fund is $7 million in the hole. And six years after local voters supported a temporary tax for emergency needs, the board is asking voters to reauthorize it. Zorc, who has three children in public school, is president of the Indian River County Council PTA and one of 10 governor-appointed members of the state's Keep Florida Learning Committee. She is concerned the district's debt keeps spending out of the classroom, away from children. A founder of Florida Parents Against Common Core, Zorc has enmeshed herself in education issues the past several years. She seems more up-to-date than Wight. She offers clear benchmarks to be achieved by 2020: Dramatically increasing rates of graduation and children reading at grade level to 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively. There are no bad choices in this race. Zorc gets the nod by a slim margin. WE ENDORSE: Laura Zorc The private railroad crossing at Amaryllis Avenue near Indiantown, seen July 12, has no railroad gates or warning lights. There have been three crashes at the crossing since 1980, one of them fatal. (XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) SHARE Algae seen at Outboards Only in Jensen Beach on July 9. (MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) WATCH FOR TRAINS, IF YOU CAN SEE THEM It's simple, really. You see and hear a train approaching. The lights at the crossing are flashing, the crossing gates down. So you stop, and you wait. But what if there are no crossing gates, no lights? That's the situation at 25 crossings in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties that are exempt from nearly all government regulation and oversight because they are on private property, even though some have public access, according to a Treasure Coast Newspapers investigation. But now, with the possibility of All Aboard Florida running dozens of trains up and down local tracks daily, the dangers at these poorly marked crossings, indeed, all crossings, is set to multiply. Federal law requires gates and flashing lights, or a gate prohibiting public access, if trains reach speeds of 80. But AAF trains won't exceed that in some locations; nor do some freight trains. And the feds have been slow to implement additional reforms due to pressure from the rail industry and jurisdictional disputes. Bottom line: Private rail crossings in particular are far more dangerous than they could be, should be. And if AAF comes through? Stop, look, listen, and pray. WATER WOES: HANDS OUT, FINGERS POINTED And speaking of the feds: They could help a little, you know. Martin County officials last week said they'd had "very little if any interaction with federal agencies" interested in probing and perhaps resolving our algae crisis in the St. Lucie River. While representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency came and took a look around, that's about it. Others have paid lip service. For example, Donna Myers, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's water quality office, said her agency is studying how to control salinity in the river to prevent algae blooms. But other USGS officials said the agency merely has a proposal to do the research, and no actual work has started yet. But is this wholly the fault of a sluggish federal government? An EPA official said the agency has an algae sampling team on standby if needed by the state, but hasn't gotten a request from the state for help. Likewise, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to come to the Treasure Coast to assess the health risks associated with algae. The CDC can do that, said agency spokeswoman Lauren Benet, but state and local authorities "have not requested official assistance." Pro tip for our state and local governments: If you want help, you gotta ask. Meanwhile, U.S. Sugar Corp. and the Rivers Coalition are duking it out via full-page ads in Treasure Coast Newspapers. The coalition accused "Big Sugar" of "blocking the truth," and blocking hopes for a flowway south of Lake Okeechobee. The company responded with an ad decrying the "name-calling," and asserting that a flowway wouldn't be effective. While Rivers Coalition officials said the group doesn't have the money for a follow-up, the U.S. Sugar ad was one of several the company has placed this year in an attempt to counter growing criticism. The company is feeling the heat, which is sure to encourage activists to turn it up. Gil Smart SHARE By Beverly Paris, Your Newsweekly Contributor A new partnership will focus on infant mental health in Indian River County. Healthy Families Florida will add a mental health component to the services already offered by Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition's (IRCHSC) Healthy Families program. Tykes & Teens, a 20-year-old mental health program serving Martin County, was established with the goal of strengthening local families by ensuring that all children had access to first-rate counseling and mental health services, regardless of financial status. Since the program's inception, more than 20,000 local children and adolescents have overcome a variety of challenges including depression, anxiety, behavioral issues, sexual abuse, domestic violence and substance abuse. This past spring, Tykes & Teens, launched a unique intervention for infants focusing on behavioral issues, traumatic experiences, abuse and stress. Now, that very program has expanded into Indian River County thanks to the newly formed partnership with the IRCHSC. "We are lucky enough to have Tykes & Teens expanding into Indian River County," said Andrea Berry, IRCHSC's interim executive director. "We are honored that they are partnering with us in bringing their pilot Infant Mental Health model to our Healthy Families program. "Adding a clinical mental health component to this program is going to make a big difference for many IRC families." Jeff Shearer is the executive director of the Martin County nonprofit Tykes & Teens, as well as the Infant Mental Health model. "We are honored to partner with Healthy Start to bring this innovative Infant Mental Health programming to the children and families of Indian River County," said Shearer. "Our program is a perfect complement to the important work that Healthy Start is already doing for families with children aged 0 to 3. "With the assistance of the Healthy Families program, we can target the most vulnerable trauma victims and create long-term change. "We look forward to combining our 20 years of mental health programming experience with the work of such a reputable agency to improve the health of Indian River County's children and families. IRCHSC assesses prenatal risk screenings that are given to expectant mothers at their initial obstetrician visit and again after the baby is born. Those families in need of support through the Infant Mental Health model are then visited by an infant mental health expert, with services provided in the home or childcare center. Medicaid and insurance are accepted. Healthy Start has set a goal to work with 100 families per year and to help remove the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment. Brieanna Fernandez, program manager for Healthy Families adds, "The Infant Mental Health piece is such a crucial part of our mission in promoting a healthy and positive parent-child interaction. With this pilot program we will be able to collaborate with clinicians to serve the families in our community on a much deeper level than ever before. "Infant Mental Health is a piece of the puzzle that has been missing in services we offer in Indian River County and we are truly grateful for the opportunity to begin integrating this into our network of agencies." The Healthy Start Coalition office is located at 333 17th St., Suite R, Vero Beach, just west of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge. For more information visit www.irchealthystart.org or call 772-563-9118. SHARE Alexandra Artiles PORT ST. LUCIE Hard work has paid off for Alexandra Artiles, a community-minded and academically involved graduate of Treasure Coast High School. Artiles has been named as one of 300 national semifinalists in the National Honor Society Scholarship program. She was selected from more than 25,000 applicants and will receive a $1,500 scholarship. This accomplished, high honors graduate received her St. Lucie Public Schools (SLPS) high school diploma in May. As a Treasure Coast Titan and dedicated member of the National Honor Society chapter, she participated in the Cambridge University Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) program. She earned her AICE diploma for passing six international education exams during her high school career, and she also earned her associates degree in political science from IRSC. Her leadership skills and interests also propelled her into roles of captain of the varsity swim and dive team, member of the varsity track and field team, and representative in TCHS student government. Driven by a passion to serve, Artiles is also active in her community. She has earned more than 230 community service hours in organizations including the Mustard Seed Food Bank, Sarah's Kitchen, Wounded Warriors, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, Ardalan Dentistry, Town Park Community Center and the Republican Party of Florida. She has served as Executive director of the Florida Federation of Teenage Republicans and chairman of the St. Lucie County Teenage Republicans. This fall, Artiles plans to attend Florida State University to pursue a double major in political science and international affairs. She is a focused and thankful student who is especially appreciative of the support she received from one of her high school teachers, Monica Mills. "My enrollment in her AICE history course is what changed my academic career, and I believe she is the best teacher TCHS will ever witness. Finally, I want to thank my parents for all of their sacrifice and dedication to my success," said Artiles. Microsoft officially ended their free Windows 10 upgrade program on July 29th last week, approximately a year after the operating system was released. Most people, including us, assumed that after this date users who wanted to upgrade would have to fork out at least $120 for a Windows 10 license, however this isn't actually the case. As it turns out, Microsoft is continuing to offer free Windows 10 upgrades to those who use assistive technologies, such as a screen narrator or magnifier. The best part? Microsoft isn't checking to see whether you are actually using these assistive tools, so basically anyone can still get a free upgrade. The process for upgrading in this way is simple. Head to Microsoft's accessibility website, download the program that's listed on their upgrade page, and then install your free Windows 10 update. Like with the previous upgrade program, you'll need to be running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1; older versions of Windows are ineligible. Currently there is no end date to the free Windows 10 upgrade program for assistive tool users, but Microsoft will make "a public announcement prior to ending the offer." One of the main reasons behind this upgrade offer is the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which launches tomorrow and includes new accessibility features. Microsoft wants to ensure that Windows users who require assistive technologies get the best experience, and the ideal way to do this is to run the latest version of Windows 10. Food manufacturers are now expected to specify whether their products are made with genetically modified ingredients after U.S. President Barack Obama signed the new GMO labeling law on July 29. Originally known as Senate Bill 764, the new legislation serves to provide federal standards for the manufacture of food products made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Those that contain GMO ingredients are required to have a symbol, a text label or electronic code that can be read by smartphone scanners to identify them as such. White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said the measure aims to give consumers new opportunities when it comes to accessing valuable information about the food they buy. With the signing of the new law last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has up to two years to formulate new rules regarding its implementation. Labeling GMO Food Products U.S. lawmakers were hard pressed to adopt S. 764 after a similar, albeit tougher legislation came into effect in Vermont earlier in July. The Vermont law requires that all GMO food products entering the state must include proper labels. Those that would violate the new policy would be fined a hefty $1,000 per day for each product. According to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, such legislation could severely threaten interstate commerce in the country, as even small family-owned food companies now face penalties. Despite the adoption of S. 764, several lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Bernie Sanders believe that the measure is not enough to properly address the situation, especially when compared with the tougher labeling policy in Vermont. While S. 764 allows companies to choose between three methods of labeling their products, the Vermont law requires them to specifically tag GMO products as "produced with genetic engineering." Supporters of GMO labeling and food companies have long sought a national solution to the problem in order to avoid states having to enact different labeling laws of their own. However, while food companies have expressed support for S. 764, many labeling advocates fear that consumers might not be able to read the electronic labels on the products and that the penalties might not be enough to force companies to comply. Any food product made using animals or plants that have genes copied from other organisms can be considered as genetically modified. In the United States, genetic engineering in agriculture is mostly used to grow soybean and corn crops, which are then fed to livestock. Some genetically modified crops are also used to produce processed food ingredients typically seen in supermarkets such as high-fructose corn syrup, soybean oil and cornstarch. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The alligator gar is one of the ugliest fish you'll ever lay your eyes on. With a head that looks like an alligator and a size that can rival that of a horse, it would no doubt be hard to think of a situation where several Midwestern states would want this "river monster" to swim through their waters once more. Yet, these states have found themselves in such a situation: the ever-looming threat of the Asian carp. "What else is going to be able to eat those monster carp?" said Allyse Ferrara, who studies alligator gar at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. "We haven't found any other way to control them." The Asian carp is an invasive species that was originally in the 1970s to help with catfish farms in Arkansas. However, nowadays, after swimming up north and infesting the waters of the Mississippi River, the fish has become something of a concern for anyone with any type of connection to the waters in the area. For biologists, the fear is that these rapidly-reproducing "garbage fish" will enter the Great Lakes and damage the ecosystem there beyond repair, while commercial fisherman fear the destruction of the $7 billion fishing industry their invasion will cause. For what its worth, there have been some efforts to contain the Asian carp outbreak. Despite President Obama's objections, Congress allotted $300 million to a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a fund started in 2010 over concerns about the Asian carp. This money contributes to catching and netting efforts, an electric fence in the Illinois River near Chicago and the ongoing building of a "lock and dam" system by the U.S. Army Corps. The latest of these efforts came back in May when a coalition of federal, state and local officials, companies and nonprofits completed a 7.5-foot earthen wall in Indiana that serves to separate rivers that Asian carp may use to swim into Lake Erie. Of course, simply trying to cut off their routes of travel is only a temporary fix. The end goal is to eliminate these carp entirely, and the key is the alligator gar the very species of fish that was mistakenly viewed as a "trash fish" that posed a threat to sport fish, and thus something worthy of complete eradication. To that end, several Midwestern states have launched reintroduction programs for the alligator gar, and Illinois lawmakers passed a resolution earlier in July promising to protect the gar species already present in the state. So, why the alligator gar? Unlike Asian carp, alligator gar pose no threat to humans (outside of their poisonous eyes and eggs) and they also have a taste for young carp which, coincidentally, is the focus of this reintroduction plan, as the gar will target the carp before they can spawn. However, having a plan is one thing, knowing it whether it will work is an entirely different matter; and unfortunately, not everyone is convinced this will be the solution people are looking for. "I don't think alligator gar are going to be the silver bullet that is going to control carp, by any stretch of the imagination," said Rob Hilsabeck, an Illinois biologist who says the best hope is that carp will sustain an alligator gar fishery to draw trophy hunters. This isn't the first time biologists have used an endangered animal in order to stem the growth of an invasive species. For example, the Lake Erie Water Snake, another species native to the Midwest, recovered and left the Endangered Species list after it was used to combat the invasive round goby fish. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Lake Tahoe has had a record-breaking year and not in a good way. A team of scientists from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has revealed in a new study that Lake Tahoe is getting warmer at a rate that is 15 times faster than its historic average. In a new State of the Lake report, researchers say Lake Tahoe's rising water temperatures are threatening the lake's iconic clarity by affecting many features of its ecology. Professor Geoffrey Schladow says the incidence of rising air temperatures at the lake has been known for many years now, as well as the warming waters. But what's different this time is that scientists are seeing more aspects of Lake Tahoe's internal physics changing. "[T]hat is bound to alter the ecology," says Schladow, who is the director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC). High Water Temperatures When researchers began keeping records of the lake's water temperature in the 1970s, the lake had an average of 50.3 degrees Fahrenheit (10.17 degrees Celsius) year round. In 2015, Lake Tahoe averaged 53.3 degrees Fahrenheit (11.83 degrees Celsius), the report says. Although the increase may appear statistically insignificant, scientists say much of the warming happened in the past decade and a half. This sign has left experts concerned. The increasing water temperatures may likely be linked to shifting air temperatures. Scientists have detected a daily air temperature increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit on the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe since 1916. Waters with different temperatures mix deep in the lake during the winter. This mixing often leads to a clearer view. However, Lake Tahoe did not mix at its maximum depth this year, which scientists blame on the warmer influx of water. Water clarity dropped to 73.1 feet in 2015 almost a 5-foot decrease in recent years. Furthermore, swimmers have observed algal blooms spread on the lake in previous years. Experts say longer algal blooms have been associated with climate change because algae likes warmer water. Effects Of Climate Change What is happening at Lake Tahoe is not only alarming for tourists who use the lake for recreation, but also for those concerned about the impacts of climate change to the beauty of natural resources, researchers say. Lake Tahoe is unique, but scientists explained that the forces and processes that affect it are the same as those that act in most natural ecosystems. Because of that, Lake Tahoe is a microcosm of other natural systems in the Western United States and around the world. Keep Lake Tahoe Healthy How can residents and tourists keep the iconic lake as healthy as possible? Experts say attention to the lake's natural filtration systems as well as stormwater collection may help prevent harmful substances that accelerate the growth of algae such as phosphates out of Lake Tahoe. Darcie Goodman Collins, director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, believes not much can be done to manipulate global warming. "But we can influence the lake's health," Goodman Collins added. Meanwhile, the UC Davis "Tahoe: State of the Lake" report can be read and downloaded (PDF) from the university's website. Photo: Chris Yunker | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. At least two people are confirmed dead and more than 100 others needed to be rescued as a result of heavy rains that caused massive flooding and damage in Maryland over the weekend. Nearly 6 inches of rain, or the equivalent of one month's normal rainfall, hammered Ellicott City between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, damaging buildings and sweeping cars. The heavy rain caused the Patapsco River that runs through the area to rise more than 13 feet, the National Weather Service said. The catastrophe killed at least two people. The bodies of 38-year-old Joseph Anthony Blevins and 35-year-old Jessica Watsula, who died in separate incidents after they were carried off by the strong water currents, were recovered later, Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said. "We talked to a lot of people who said they had very little time to get ready like ten minutes and all of the sudden it was there," Kittleman said. "So that just goes to show you the strength of this, and it also goes to show you that nature is awfully powerful, folks. We are not in control and we have to be ready." The rushing water was so strong it destroyed at least four buildings and caused substantial damage on 20 to 30 others. Damaged buildings were stripped of windows, and doors and photos revealed collapsed roadways in Ellicott City, an affluent community in Howard County with about 65,000 population. Joyce Healy, who was driving home on Saturday night, said she saw a car, a Mercedez-Benz, floating in the waters. "I've never seen anything like this, ever," Healy said. "The devastation down here I'm just really concerned about them being able to rebuild." Howard County government spokesperson Seth Hoffman said in an interview that gas leaks also occurred and crews are assessing the damage to determine the location of the leaks. Authorities said that the gas service has already been turned off in the downtown area but it remains unclear how long it will be restored. Kittleman said the damage caused by the flooding was the worst in the past 50 years. It may even be the worst over the entire course of the town's 244-year-old history. He added that the cost of the repairs may possibly reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Kittleman, however, said the incident would not defeat but rather strengthen the community. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In the earlier developer previews of the upcoming latest version of Google's mobile operating system, Android 7.0 Nougat, the Camera app gave users the ability to manually adjust exposure levels for the pictures they will take. The feature is not a particularly groundbreaking one, as there are many manufacturer skins and third-party camera apps for Android that offer manual exposure controls. However, having the option in the stock Camera app of Android 7.0 Nougat now makes the feature more accessible to users. Google, however, took out manual exposure controls in the later preview builds of Android 7.0 Nougat, which was a shame as it was a good update for the Camera app. Thankfully, Google decided that it will bring back the feature to the Camera app in an upcoming version, according to an exclusive report by Android Police. The report suggested that the updated Camera app, which will include the manual exposure controls, might be rolled out along with the public release of Android 7.0 Nougat. The controls will see some changes compared with what was previously seen in the developer preview builds though. Instead of activating the feature through a toggle, the controls will appear when the user taps the smartphone's screen to bring up the auto-focus feature. Also, instead of the -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 steps in the previous version of the controls, a marker will now be shown, which users can slide up and down to make the exposure adjustments to their liking. The manual exposure controls coming to Google's Camera app will give users more control over how the pictures they take turn out. With the new feature, some users may no longer need to install third-party apps and instead rely on the stock Camera app once Android 7.0 Nougat rolls out. According to Evan Blass, a reliable source and owner of the evleaks Twitter account, Google will release Android 7.0 Nougat within August. In addition, Blass said that the Nexus 5 will not receive an Android 7.0 Nougat update. An Android 7.0 Nougat release this month brings up the possibility that Google's next Nexus smartphones could be released sooner than the expected release date of September and October. Google has usually launched a major version of Android alongside new Nexus devices, and for this year, HTC is said to be the manufacturer that will produce both planned Nexus devices, including the 5.5-inch Nexus Marlin, which has had its renders leaked recently. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researchers have discovered new fossils in Namibia that support the idea that the first mass extinction in the world was caused by early animals or "ecosystem engineers," newly evolved biological organisms that changed the environment so drastically that older species were wiped out. Called the end-Ediacaran extinction, the event took place some 540 million years ago when single-celled organisms, the most successful of which were the Ediacarans, were pushed into extinction by newer species coming into the scene and evolving. These newer species were called metazoans, the first animals. They could move independently and spontaneously, at least at some point in their lives, and sustained themselves by consuming other organisms or eating what other organisms have produced. The moment they burst onto the scene is known as the Cambrian explosion, the 25-million-year period where most of the modern animals known today started living on the planet. According to Simon Darroch and colleagues, the fossils they discovered were some of the best-preserved examples of a community housing both Ediacarans and the early animals, providing evidence of close ecological interaction between the two. Before this, there was limited evidence showing an overlap between Ediacarans and metazoans. In an earlier study, the researchers reported on a fossil record showing stressed-looking communities of Ediacara associated with a number of animal burrows. The newly discovered ones come after that, offering a snapshot of an unusual transitional ecosystem that was in place before the Cambrian explosion, highlighting Ediacarans' last-ditch efforts to cling on to life. According to Darroch, their discovery has a relevant message. With people as the most powerful ecosystem engineers of today, the evolution of their new behaviors has repercussions for the whole planet. Published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, their study received funding support from the National Science Foundation, the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the National Geographic Society. Thomas Boag, Rachel Racicot, Douglas Erwin, Sarah Tweedt, Marc Laflamme and Sara Mason also contributed to the research. Another theory blames a mass extinction 2.59 million years ago on a supernova explosion that occurred hundreds of light-years away from Earth. According to researchers, the exploding star resulted in rapid-moving cosmic rays to be blasted out, which led to a die-off as the Pliocene era ended and the Pleistocene era began. "It's controversial. But maybe cosmic rays had something to do with it," said Adrian Melott, an expert from the University of Kansas and co-author of a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A few months back, Google sent out an update to its Android version of Google Maps, which allowed users to plan for multiple stops along a route. The company recently delivered the same multi-stop convenience to Apple fans, who can now plan for more complex road trips thanks to the latest update to the iOS version of Google Maps. What the feature does is it permits users to settle more than one destination alongside a route. To exemplify, those who go on road trips filled with scenic stops can use the Multiple Destinations function to make sure they do not miss a single important one. The feature works great for those who have a long list of urban locations to get to. In its blog post announcing the release of the feature for iOS, Google explains how it works. Users only need to open the app, input a destination, tap the corner menu and tap "Add stop." Should you want to prioritize a stop and change the initial order, tapping and holding the stop you want to prioritize then dragging it in the desired position should do it. After adding all your stops, simply tap "Done" and watch your multi-stop route unfold in the app. "When you enter navigation mode you'll have the same seamless driving experience you're used to, whether you're going from errand to errand or hitting scenic spots along Route 66," Google says. Keep in mind that the app allows users to set up top three different stops. At the bottom of the list, you can see an estimation of the duration of the trip. Multiple iOS users report that the update is already live, which is an incentive for Apple mobile device owners to update their Google Maps as soon as possible. They can do so easily by going to the official iTunes page. Google Maps for iOS comes in wake of multiple improvements that the app received during the last weeks. About a week ago, Google implemented the Wi-Fi-only mode, specially crafted to help users save on mobile data. Additionally, it upgraded the app with a feature that tells you when public transportation is delayed, so you can find alternative means of transportation or simply make it easier to estimate and announce your delay. The interface of the app received a revamping as well, and users commended the way in which Google Maps displays important information after the UI tweaks. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. It was only a matter of time, but the Zika virus is officially here in the United States. Although there have previously been reported cases of the virus in the continental U.S., these consisted of people being infected while traveling to places like the Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico. The state of Florida confirmed on Friday that it has experienced the spread of Zika virus via infected mosquitoes. There have been four cases of Zika believed to by caused by mosquito bites in the Miami neighborhoods of Miami-Dade and Broward countries. The local transmission of the virus that occurred in early July involves three men and one woman. "These are the first cases of locally transmitted Zika virus in the continental United States," CDC Director Tom Frieden said during a news briefing on Friday. "As we have anticipated, Zika is now here." It's important to note that the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (which can carry the virus) that were trapped in the area have not been proven positive for Zika just yet. However, the state's health department investigation so far all points to the fact that the virus was contracted by a bite and not sexual encounters. As a result of this news, British officials from Public Health England have warned travelers about visiting Florida, a popular tourist destination. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said it does not expect a widespread outbreak and has already taken measures to control the virus in the area. While many especially pregnant women in the U.S. worry about Zika, West Nile Virus season is in full effect. South Dakota's Department of Health warned residents that the peak transmission of the virus will last until the end of this month, with the state reporting 19 cases as of July 28, with more mosquitoes than usual being tested as positive. West Nile has also been detected in mosquitoes in Frisco, Texas and in several Monmouth County towns in New Jersey. Although Zika is far more concerning, with the virus giving people a fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and can cause microcephaly or the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome to the baby in cases where a woman is pregnant, it's important to also protect against West Nile. Symptoms of the virus include fever, body aches, rash, swollen lymph nodes, stiff neck, coma, numbness and paralysis. "The Aedes aegypti mosquito does not travel more than about 150 meters in its lifetime and often quite a bit less than that. In contrast, with West Nile, you have virus circulation within a bird, mosquito population that can cover a large area," Frieden said. "That's a totally different situation from what we have with Zika where it's a focal in areas like this where it's a focal problem that needs to be addressed focally." So, here's how to protect against both Zika and West Nile Virus. Use Effective Bug Spray Since summertime is peak mosquito season, it's important to make sure mosquito repellent is applied to any exposed skin and even clothes. Repellent that contains Deet, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR3535 are the most effective at warding off mosquitoes. Pregnant women especially should choose a repellent with Deet. Consumer Reports recommends options such as Sawyer Picaridin, Natrapel 8 Hour and Off! Deep Woods VIII as being the best at keeping the bugs at bay. Night Protection If you are going to be spending an evening outdoors, make sure to have adequate mosquito-repellent candles and torches. It's also important to make sure there is no standing water in the area, since that is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Make sure to change the dog's water bowl or bird bath water frequently and make sure access water isn't pooling up in flower pots. Try to also cover up with long pants or with a light sweater to protect the skin from getting bitten at night. Pregnant women should try to stay indoors or in a screened space as much as possible in the evenings. Culex mosquitoes, the primary carriers of West Nile in some locations, are the most active between dusk to midnight, so limit time outdoors. Avoid Travel This may seem like a no-brainer, but avoid making trips to places invested with Zika. This can be easier said than done, since many people already have August vacations booked to the Caribbean or plan to attend the Olympics in Brazil. Pregnant women should seriously consider cancelling such trips, but those who do travel should make sure to have enough repellent on hand and take all measures to avoid getting bitten, such as staying in the air conditioning at night and visit sites or the beach only during the day. Avoid Sex Since Zika is spread through sex, it's important to not have sexual relations with someone who may be infected with Zika. This includes oral sex and even sharing sex toys. It's important to use a condom, but pregnant women should first speak to their health care provider if their partner has recently traveled to an area known to be affected by Zika. Photo: John Tann | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Whether it's a sign of what's to come or something else entirely, clearly, Mother Nature had something to be happy about late last week, when deadly lava tore through the surface of an iconic Hawaiian volcano to form a pattern that resembled a crude smiley face. The volcano in question is Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, one of the world's most active, which formed a smiley face in its over-80-foot-deep crater during an ongoing eruption. While what is now referred to as the "Smiling Volcano" has become something of an internet sensation since footage of it surfaced online last week, there is another reason why this eruption is so noteworthy. The Kilauea volcano, whose name translates to "spewing" or "much spreading," formed about 300,000 to 600,000 years ago, and hasn't gone into a prolonged dormancy during all that time. In fact, it has been slowly leaking lava onto the surface around it for over three decades now, and things really hit full-steam on May 24, when that lava began to flow down two new lava flows that surfaced from the flanks of the Pu'u O'o cone. However during all that time, that lava rarely reached the Pacific Ocean the last time it did so was in 2013 typically leaving the lava's remains on the surface around it. This fact means that a small bit of history was made Tuesday when the lava successfully fell down the cliff on Hawaii's Big Island where the volcano resides and into the Pacific Ocean below, and leaving those lucky enough to view it with a memory that will last a lifetime. Beyond a smile and a memorable view, the eruption also left something behind: new landmass kinda. Since the lava flow appears to be nothing out of the ordinary and doesn't seem to pose a threat, officials at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are still allowing hikers to engage in their regular activities in the area. However, they have been advised to avoid trying to explore the "new land" near the cliff face that the cooled lava has created, as it has the potential to slide into the sea since it hasn't fully settled yet. In the meantime, people are able to get up close and personal to the lava flow, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) advises that they bring plenty of water and prepare for the extreme heat (some reports say 100-plus degrees) that the lava is sure to give off. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Snapdeal Delivers On Time, PotterHeads Express Gratitude | TechTree.com After all this time? Always! the iconic dialogue between Dumbledore and Snape is the best way to describe the emotions and excitement surrounding the launch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. An entire generation grew up with Harry Potter and the Pottermania refuses to die! Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is one of the most anticipated book releases of the year, and J.K Rowling has reportedly said that this book is the final instalment of the book series. With rain playing the spoil sport on the day of the launch in the country, with PotterHeads were skeptical of receiving their copy of the book on time. During these trying times, never forget what Dumbledore said, Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. Snapdeals fast deliveries were in full flow on a rainy Sunday across India, as it pulled out all stops to ensure that Harry Potter fans received their copies as soon as the global launch happened. The book was released at 11.30am in India on July 31 (midnight in the US) and within 2 hours Snapdeal customers in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Gurgaon had received the first copies in their hands. Delighted customers took to social media to express their happiness on getting their copies within hours of launch. Vidhi from Mumbai tweeted, Super excited! #HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild Thankyou @snapdeal @1kunalbahl @rohitkbansal ! #BackToSchool Vandita Taneja, a customer from Delhi tweeted, @snapdeal can't thank u enough for making my Sunday. Just received my copy of #HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild Wheeeeee Manvi Bajpai, a customer from Gurgaon tweeted, "After all these years? ALWAYS"...a Potterhead! Thanx @snapdeal 4 making my Sunday magical @1kunalbahl @rohitkbansal Nivrita from Mumbai expressed her delight with her comment, Thanks for the prompt delivery in the rain Delighted at the response from customers, Jayant Sood, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Snapdeal said, At Snapdeal, we take pride in creating special experiences for our customers. The release of a new Harry Potter book is a grand occasion for Harry Potter fans, with an unsaid race to get to the end of the book first. We wanted Snapdeal customers to be the ones who win this race, powered by our super-fast deliveries! The special Harry Potter deliveries were accompanied by a card which said- Here is one of the first few copies of the much awaited book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We thought, wed bring it across especially for you and add a little magic to your weekend. TAGS: Snapdeal, Press Release Xiaomi To Foray Into VR, May Soon Launch VR Headset | TechTree.com With all the major smartphone makers launching their VR headsets, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is all set to launch its VR headset if the reports are to be believed. According a report published by Firstpost Xiaomis general manager Tang Mu has confirmed that the company is keen on venturing into virtual reality and that they are working their VR headset. The VR headset is said to be Daydream compatible. If all the rumours surrounding the VR headset are true then the company will indeed be the first among the Android manufacturers to reveal such a device. Earlier Huawei was reported to soon launch a smartphone to be compatible with Google's Daydream. Xiaomi was in the news for its launch of Xiaomi Notebook Air, which received backlash for its design that tried to emulate Apple MacBook Air. Following the footsteps of Xiaomi, Lenovo announced its Air 13 Pro with striking similarities to the features of Xiaomi Notebook Air. Xiaomi recently launched Xiaomi Redmi Pro in China. The flagship phone is the first Xiaomi smartphone to feature a dual camera. The smartphone features a 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 sensor coupled with a 5 megapixel Samsung sensor. TAGS: Xiaomi, Xiaomi Notebook Air, VR Headset, virtual reality 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 and then we generated revenue in excess of $600,000 (per year), 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. A 40 anos de Malvinas "Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo. "The U.S. rulers and their terrorist policies violate human rights because they close job opportunities," Ortega pointed out. | Read More Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump essentially had his legion of Pennsylvania supporters at "I'm building a wall." An anti-immigration stance is a powerful thing in a state that's been inundated with new residents from across the border. The composition of Pennsylvania's population has been shifting, with foreign-born residents now making up double the percentage of Keystone State citizens in 2015 than they did 25 years prior. (Immigrants still only make up 6.4 percent of the population.) For some Pennsylvanians, the changes have been hard to bear. They complain of streets that aren't as safe as they used to be, and jobs that are harder to come by. They blame a perceived influx of immigrants, particularly Hispanics, for their woes. Pennsylvania's jobless rate was 5.6 percent in June, with only 13 other states being worse off in terms of unemployment. So with a sagging economy and a rising crime rate, they look for reasons why they've been left behind. Anti-immigration politicians are popular in Pennsylvania. One key congressional race saw a powerful Democrat unseated by an upstart Republican based almost solely on the issue. In the areas away from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, in towns like Shenandoah and Scranton and Pittston, immigration is a major fact of life and key political issue, approaching the importance of jobs and terrorism. Enter Donald Trump . The New York developer and reality show star's first significant campaign promise was to build a wall on the country's southern border and make Mexico pay for it . Despite the rather obvious difficulties in bringing such a project to fruition, especially with someone else footing the bill, people bought in. They think Trump will build a wall, that it will keep out illegal immigrants, and that Mexico will, inexplicably, pony up for a project that could cost up to $25 billion. Immigration helped Trump win the Republican primary, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and it's helping to keep him competitive in the battleground state against his Democratic opponent. Story continues No doubt, it won't be enough to win a general election. He's going to need to convince voters there that he'll bring back the jobs they've lost, make them safe from terrorism, and rein in a runaway government. The most recent polls say Trump is losing Pennsylvania. Separate measures by Suffolk University and NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist put Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton up by 9 percentage points. But I think the polls are wrong. How do I know? Because I live in Pennsylvania have for all my life, even though I work in the New York/New Jersey metro area. I spent the first 18 years of my journalism career covering Pennsylvania politics. I know what lots of Pennsylvanians want. They want Trump, and not even so much because of who he is personally but rather what he represents that elusive "other" who will be more responsive to their wants, needs and, yes, fears. ""I had to start over at 49 years old because, basically, there was nothing (here). Everything left," Lackawanna County reisdent Tony Catanzaro said at a Trump rally Wednesday in Scranton, according to an account in the Scranton Times-Tribune. Catanzaro lost his job at Cinram, a local manufacturing plant that produced compact and digital discs that closed after sales declined and it lost a contract with Warner Brothers. "Donald Trump says a lot of things ... but jobs are key. With Trump I think we have a chance," he said. With stories like this playing out across the state, Pennsylvania is definitely in play. Trump demonstrated the truth of that notion by campaigning in Scranton on Wednesday, and has an appearance scheduled for Monday. Clinton, meanwhile, received a high-profile boost from Pittsburgh native and billionaire investor Mark Cuban on Saturday. When it comes down to votes, Clinton's going to carry Philadelphia big, maybe enough so to give her the win. She'll probably lose Pittsburgh, but manage to keep it relatively close. But where Clinton's going to get crushed is in an area known by the state's political wags as "the T," or the central and northern tier areas where people are especially fed up. It's an area dominated by flyover country-types, Reagan Democrats, proud union members who only occasionally vote Republican but will this year. "He speaks for the people who don't have a voice. The people who have been forgotten throughout the years," William Malater, who was at the Scranton rally, told the Times-Tribune. A great case study of what Clinton is up against comes in my home area of northeastern Pennsylvania. Four years ago, the mayor of my hometown, Hazleton, won a stunning victory. Republican Lou Barletta, after a couple tries, finally knocked off Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, the influential Democrat and senior Financial Services Committee member who served in the House for 26 years. While mayor of a town where 1 in 3 residents is Hispanic, Barletta proposed and passed a law that would have punished landlords who rented to undocumented immigrants and businesses who hired them. The law was quickly overturned in the court system (feds enforce immigration policy, not local governments), but Barletta became a national hero for the anti-illegals crowd. He appeared regularly on conservative talk shows and, ultimately, catapulting himself to a congressional seat. Barletta has also been with Trump on the campaign trail. (Since Barletta's 2012 election win Harrisburg politicians gerrymandered the once heavily Democratic district into GOP hands, so he likely will be around for a while.) Immigration isn't the most important thing on state voters' minds most polls place it somewhere in the middle, behind economy and Obamacare and ahead of taxes ,but it could be a swing issue that changes the race. Luzerne County is a blue area beset by a burgeoning drug trade and diminishing economic opportunities. If it goes red, that would be huge. Thousands have turned out to Trump's rallies. If they show up at the polls, look out. G. Terry Madonna, who heads the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University, said the immigration issue hasn't polled particularly strong in areas he's surveyed. Madonna, the most influential political mind in the state, said voters are more concerned about who will create more jobs and stamp out radical Islamic terror. But he's also suspicious of some of the recent polling, saying that results probably have been skewed by momentum from respective conventions. In the end, he said, Pennsylvania is going to be tighter than the most recent surveys showed, citing specifically a Quinnipiac poll showing Trump leading by 2 points. "Do I think that Trump has a meaningful chance to win the state? Yeah. Do I think it's likely? No," Madonna said. "But I don't think you can rule out a reasonable chance [for Trump] to do that." I haven't taken any polls, which I don't trust generally. That said, I will be looking at the CPPA one closely. I can tell you I've talked to a lot of people from Pennsylvania, and the ratio of Trump to Clinton supporters is off the charts. Democrat and Republican alike, the man's got considerable support in the Keystone State. Call it a hunch, call it an educated guess, or call it bald-faced punditry in a year when we've had too much of it. But Trump can win Pennsylvania. And if Pennsylvania is in play, so is the election. More From CNBC A woman stands in front of the beer and wine shelves in a Vietnamese supermarket. Photo: Ng.Ng As Vietnam is opening up its US$4.56-billion beer market to non-state investors, many foreign companies, including major Japanese and US brewers, are looking for opportunities to either break in or expand their business here. More than 10 foreign and local investors have reportedly offered to buy into Sabeco, the country's biggest brewer, since the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced its plan to sell more state-owned shares in the company early this year. Among the suitors are three local companies, while the rest are giants such as Japan's Asahi and Kirin, London-based SABMiller, and Thai Beverage Pcl. According to the plan, pending the government's approval, Sabeco, which currently owns 46 percent of the market, will sell a stake of up to 53 percent. That means the state ownership will be reduced from 89 percent at the moment to as low as 36 percent. Officially known as Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage JSC, the Ho Chi Minh City-based company had its initial public offering in 2008 for a 10.02 percent stake. Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC, or Habeco, has also been ordered to reduce the state-owned stake from 81.79 percent to either 51 or 36 percent. A few months ago the country's second biggest brewer stalled Danish-owned Carlsberg's plan to buy a 13 percent stake to increase its ownership in Habeco to 30.23 percent. But a leader at the company assured with local media that the plan to sell more shares is still on. Commenting on the wave of foreign investment in Vietnam's beer market, Robert Tran, an executive at business advisory firm Robenny Corporation, said buying into local brewers can give foreign investors an immediate market entry and access to dozens of breweries. The fact that the government plans to pull its plug on the beer sector has made the market more appealing, he said. No waiting Many foreign investors have already made their own moves to cash in on the market, which expanded 8.1 percent to 3.4 billion liters of beer in 2014. The market is expected to grow around 40 percent over the next four years. Japanese-owned Sapporo Holdings last month took over its Vietnamese subsidiary, after buying out its local partner Vinataba. The state-owned tobacco company had to divest from the joint-venture under a government's order. Following the deal reportedly worth over one billion yen, or US$8.28 million, Sapporo Vietnam announced its plans to expand its distribution network to many other areas around the country, instead of focusing Ho Chi Minh City like now. Sapporo Vietnam CEO Mikio Masawaki told Thanh Nien that his company, which runs a brewery with an annual capacity of 150 million liters in the southern province of Long An for both local consumption and exports, will continue to launch new products here. Vietnam's beer market still has a lot of room for growth, considering local consumers are young and its middle class will expand in the next 10 years, Masawaki said. At the moment, Sapporo Vietnam supplies 20 million liters of beer to the local market every year, but the output will double in the near future, and will hit 120-150 million liters in 2019, he said. US-owned Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser, opened its brewery in the southern province of Binh Duong in May. The $30-million plus plant is able to churn out 50 million liters a year but its capacity is projected to double in the second phase. The company, which also eyes local mergers and acquisitions, reportedly targets a minimum of 10-15 percent of market share in the first three years. TPP drive Not only foreign investors are looking to enter Vietnam's beer market, many beer companies in Japan and the US have also expressed hopes to increase their exports, once the Trans-Pacific Partnership is signed and requires Vietnam to reduce its tariffs on alcoholic drinks. Vietnam, Japan and the US are among 12 nations which have recently completed their negotiations on the Pacific Rim trade pact. Japanese beer exports will increase significantly from the current 3.8 million yen ($31,900) a year, with Vietnam set to end its 47 percent duty on beer and 55 percent duty on whiskey in the 11th year of the pact, Asia Nikkei Review recently reported. The American Brewers Association's CEO Bob Pease was also quoted in news website Just-drinks last month as saying that Vietnam now maintains a 35 percent tariff on imported beer, but if it is phased out over time under the trade bloc, US producers will have a tariff advantage. Nguyen Van Thuan, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City-based University of Finance and Marketing, said even though foreign companies are obviously eager to join Vietnamese market, it is not easy to compete with local brands which have existed for a long time with strong distribution networks and a huge customer base. Vietnam Brewery Limited, which produces foreign beers such as Tiger and Heineken, now owns 17.3 percent of market share while local brewers, including Sabeco with the omnipresent Saigon Beer and Habeco with its popular light draft beer bia hoi, control the rest. Travel agencies, shops and restaurants are throwing their support behind a plan to turn the famous backpackers' area in downtown Ho Chi Minh City into a pedestrian-only precinct in the evening. District 1 officials met with some of these businesses last Friday to discuss the plan, which was penciled in several years ago but has never been finalized since. Le Tan Dat, chairman of Pham Ngu Lao Ward, said the plan is to turn De Tham, Bui Vien and Do Quang Dau, the main streets of the area, into walking streets. Bui Vien, lined with eateries, pubs and shops, will be the first pedestrian street in the initial one-year phase. Under the plan, vehicles will be banned from entering the streets from 7 p.m. until midnight. Nguyen Duc Minh Tri, director of South Asia Travel, the plan is quite feasible. Once the area is pedestrian-only, it will be an ideal place for tourists, he said. What concerns me the most is security and how to protect tourists, he said. He said authorities should also pay attention to zoning, food safety and price stability. Trinh Nguyen Hung Dung, director of TNK Travel, said the local government should call for private investment in the project, and send travel companies and service providers to some countries in Southeast Asia to learn from their tourist streets. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, deputy chairman of District 1 Peoples Committee, said District 1 and the Department of Tourism will meet again this week to discuss the plan in details. The backpackers' area attracts thousands of foreigners each day with its relatively exciting nightlife. Most of shops in the area open around the clock. Four suspected thieves targeting foreigners in a photo provided by the police Four men were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for allegedly stealing from foreigners in a park in the backpackers' area, police said. Pham Thanh Tai, 21, and Hoang Ngoc Phu, 23, were caught by the Dist. 1 police of at 1.30 a.m. when they were riding near the 23/9 Park. They were keeping a backpack which was found to belong to a 69-year-old Australian national. They told the police they had stolen the backpack, which contained VND3.9 million and some personal belongings, an hour earlier. Phu's wife, identified only as Nhu, had made friends with the victim and lured him to the park, they said. Nhu is still at large. The suspects are accused of stealing a backpack of a 69-year-old Australian national The police later arrested two other accomplices, Dang Lam Phi and Pham Duy Quang, both 30. The duo confessed to snatching a smartphone from an unidentified foreign tourist on Sunday, also in the 23/9 Park. They also admitted to helping Tai escape a few days before by attacking a pursuing victim in the same park. The police said they are investigating further. A Vietnamese man has claimed he is the real father of a woman whose plight gripped Cambodia after she apparently spent 18 years living in the jungle, her adoptive family said Monday. The paternity claim, which the woman's adoptive family now believe is genuine, adds a new twist to a saga which began in 2007 when a naked and filthy woman was discovered trying to steal food from a farmer. The woman -- soon dubbed "jungle woman" by Cambodians -- was found hunched over like a monkey, scavenging on the ground for pieces of dried rice. She was taken in by a Cambodian family who identified her as Rochom P'ngieng, a girl who went missing in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakiri province, around 600 kilometres (400 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh and home to some of the country's wildest jungle. Now a 70-year-old Vietnamese man, named Peo, claims the woman is in fact his daughter who went missing in 2006 and has a history of mental health issues. Rochom Khamphy, a member of the adoptive family, said Peo recognised her after seeing recent photos on Facebook. "He claimed she is his long-lost daughter," he told AFP by telephone. "He recognises her by a spot on her lip, ear conditions and a scar on her left wrist." The Vietnamese man has since made two visits, the latest on Saturday, and has agreed to pay the woman's adoptive family $1,500 for taking care of her. Khamphy said his family were inclined to believe the man is her father and were awaiting approval from the Cambodian authorities to give her back. "If she was not his daughter, he would not want her back because she is mentally ill. He said he feels pity for her, that is why he wants her back," he said. In a letter given to her Cambodian adopted family and seen by AFP on Monday, Peo said his daughter was called Tak. "Recently some young villagers suddenly found her information and pictures online. They showed me and I discovered she is now in Cambodia, raised by Cambodians," Peo said. Chhay Thi, provincial coordinator for local rights group ADHOC, told AFP he was monitoring the transfer process for any signs of human trafficking, but added he was inclined to believe Peo. "Their faces are similar. If she is not his daughter, he would not take her back because she is mentally-ill," he said. Officials in Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam are investigating after a man was caught smuggling in three kilograms of narcotics from China. Border officials caught Nguyen Van Van, 24, Friday afternoon with nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine and one kilogram of the anaesthetic ketamine in bags. Van said he was paid nearly VND10 million (US$450) by a person to carry the drugs from China to Hai Phong. Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. Though the laws have been strictly enforced with capital punishment handed down regularly, drug crimes are not falling. There was a 33 percent increase in the number of arrests made in the first half of this year compared to a year ago. Police said transnational drug operations are rife along the borders with China and Laos. A woman has been detained for a criminal investigation into the death of her husband, which was caused allegedly by her crushing his testicles in a domestic fight, Vietnamese police said Monday. Phan Thi Kim Chuong, 55, will be in police custody for four month pending the investigation, Sen Lt Col Dang Nam Hung of Tien Giang police told Tuoi Tre newspaper. Chuong's husban Le Kim Khai died of suffocation on Jul. 10 after she grabbed his testicles for five minutes in a domestic argument. Chuong and Khai, 53, had been married and had two daughters before they separated recently. According to a police report, the incident started when Khai returned home and found himself locked out, with Chuong and the daughters refusing to let him in. A violent fight erupted between Chuong and Khai after he cut the lock with a hacksaw. Khai attacked Chuong and even hit the daughters when they tried to stop him. During the fight, Chuong grabbed Khai's testicles and "pulled hard", and the man collapsed on the ground out of the pain, the report said. Chuong then sat on his stomach, still grasping him. It took more than five minutes for neighbors to finally succeed in persuading her to release him. But by then Khai, whose face had turned purple, was unconscious and died while being rushed to hospital. An autopsy found that Khai had choked to death when food that he vomited became stuck in his windpipe, causing suffocation. Chuong told the police she only wanted to "warn" Khai when she grabbed him. Even as the number of Vietnamese air passengers jumped by 29 percent year-on-year to nearly 19 million in the first six months, the number of delayed flights too increased, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said. CAAV's figures released at a meeting last week showed more than 20,000 flights, or 15.8 percent of the total number, were delayed. That represented a 0.8 percentage point rise from a year ago. The number of canceled flights too increased slightly to 772. Low-cost Jetstar Pacific recorded the highest rate of flight delays and cancellations at 20.7 percent. It was followed by another budget carrier, VietJet Air, and Vietnam Airlines with 16.4 percent and 15.3 percent. The carriers blamed weather conditions, technical faults and airports' insufficient infrastructure among other reasons for the delays and cancellations. CAAV chief Lai Xuan Thanh was quoted as saying that passengers complained mostly about delays or cancellations caused by airlines moving them around to fill up flights, especially at night. CAAV has ordered relevant agencies to step up oversight of night flights to limit the practice, he said. Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air, which dominate the domestic market, promised to reduce their delay and cancellation rates to 10 per cent and 12 percent by the end of this year. At a military parade in September 2015, China showed off 'carrier-killer' missiles, including the land-based DF-21D intermediate-range type which is thought to be equipped with onboard terminal guidance systems China has unveiled changes to the structure of its military, adding three new units, described by President Xi Jinping as "a major policy decision to realise the Chinese dream of a strong army", state media reported. The formation of the new units, which follows Beijing's announcement that it was building a second aircraft carrier, comes with China acting more aggressively in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, drawing the ire of its neighbours and the United States. Beijing in November said it planned sweeping changes in a move intended to enhance the ruling Communist Party's control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The latest reforms announced late Friday will see a new army unit set up to oversee China's arsenal of strategic missiles. Besides the "Rocket Force", the PLA also unveiled an army general command to serve as the headquarters for land forces and a support unit to assist combat troops, the official Xinhua news agency said. Xi, who is chief of the Communist Party and also serves as head of the military, has previously announced plans to slash China's number of troops by 300,000 to roughly two million to craft a more efficient fighting force. China's Central Military Commission, which Xi chairs, on Friday also released guidelines to help build the country's vision of a modern military before 2020 by cutting troops and improving the quality of combat personnel, Xinhua said. China's President Xi Jinping attends a meeting during the second Understanding China Conference, in Beijing, in November 2015. The announcements come with China also expanding its naval capacity by building a second aircraft carrier. The nation's first such vessel, the Liaoning, is a secondhand Soviet ship built more than 25 years ago that was commissioned by China in 2012 after extensive refits. 'Influential and persuasive' The Global Times newspaper, known for its nationalistic editorial stance, said new conditions required a strong army and cited the United States as a reason. "If China has a big gap with the US in terms of military prowess, this will affect its international position and other countries' attitude toward China," it said in an editorial posted on its website Saturday. "With a strong army, China can be more politically appealing, influential and persuasive." Beijing's forces have been involved in sometimes tense confrontations with Japanese and Philippine units over maritime disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea respectively, prompting fears that the disputes could result in armed clashes. The new PLA Rocket Force, meanwhile, is tasked with maintaining conventional and nuclear weaponry with the ability to both deter and strike, Xi told a ceremony for the founding of the three new organisations, according to Xinhua. People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers march past Tiananmen Gate during a military parade in Beijing, in September 2015. But a spokesman for China's Ministry of Defence denied any shift in the country's nuclear weapons policy. "China's nuclear policy and nuclear strategy are consistent, there has been no change whatsoever," spokesman Yang Yujun said Friday, according to a transcript posted on the ministry's website. The new unit would take over from the Second Artillery Force, he said. At a military parade in September, China showed off "carrier-killer" missiles, including the land-based DF-21D intermediate-range type which is thought to be equipped with onboard terminal guidance systems that give it the unprecedented ability to attack a moving target. A Chinese analyst said the latest moves were aimed at modernising the military. "For a long time, China had no overseas interests, the navy, air force and guided missile units were relatively weak compared with the army," Ni Lexiong, a professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told AFP. "To catch up with European and American powers... China must raise the modernisation level and combat strength of the army." Soldiers of the PLA Marine Corps are seen in training at a military training base in Xinjiang Days after China passed a new law that for the first time permits its military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations, its marines began exercises in the western deserts of Xinjiang, more than 2,000 kilometers from the nearest ocean. The continuing drills are an indication, analysts say, that the marines, who have traditionally trained for amphibious assault missions, are being honed into an elite force capable of deploying on land far from mainland China. China's limited means to respond to threats abroad were highlighted by two incidents in November: when Islamic State executed a Chinese hostage, and the killing of three executives by Islamist militants who attacked a hotel in Mali. China's new counter-terrorism law, passed in late December, is aimed at protecting its expanding global commercial and diplomatic interests. But China's military commanders are also trying to create a military in the likeness of the world's most dominant power projection force, analysts say. "They study what the Americans have done very carefully and it's the mirror image effect," said Leszek Buszynski, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. The cold weather training will improve the marines' ability to conduct "long-distance mobilization in unfamiliar regions", the deputy chief of staff of the Navy's South Sea fleet Li Xiaoyan said in a Ministry of Defense statement earlier this month. During the drills, the marines will travel 5,900 kilometers via air, truck and rail beginning in the southern province of Guangdong, the longest range maneuvers ever conducted by the force, state media said. Expeditionary force The exercises are the latest in recent years that show the efforts China is making to boost its expeditionary force capabilities. Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corps are seen in training at a military training base in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, January 11, 2016. In 2014, the marines conducted their first training in the grasslands of the northern landlocked Inner Mongolia region. At the time, the exercise was seen as unusual for the south China-based force more proficient in beach landings. Since those drills, the roughly 15,000-strong marine corps, which operates under the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's South Sea fleet, appears to be settling into a new niche. "They never really had a major strategic role, as force projection wasn't something the PLA was willing, or able, to think about even ten years ago," said Gary Li, an independent security analyst in Beijing. With amphibious divisions in the PLA Army also capable of extending China's reach into the South China Sea and Taiwan, Li said the marines are a good fit for a budding Chinese expeditionary force. "The main advantage of playing around with the marines is that they have a higher concentration of specialists, act well as light infantry, have good esprit de corps, and are nimble enough to be deployed over long distances if needed," he said. Rising global profile Along with President Xi Jinping's vows to build a more modern military, the global profile of China's armed forces is on the rise. Already, the South Sea fleet, which is based on the mainland coast near the island of Hainan, has been used on operations far from the South China Sea. The fleet's vessels have ventured to the Middle East and Mediterranean after deployments on international anti-piracy patrols around the Horn of Africa. Chinese officials announced in November they were in talks with Djibouti to build permanent "support facilities" to further boost Chinese naval operations, in what would be China's first such off-shore military base. The African port, sitting on the edge of the Red and Arabian seas, is home to several foreign military bases, including U.S., French and Japanese naval facilities. China is also expanding its peacekeeping role, with Xi pledging in September to contribute 8,000 troops for a U.N. stand-by force that could provide logistical and operational experience the PLA would need to operate farther abroad. While China has been getting more involved diplomatically in trouble spots like the Middle East, it is adamant that it does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, and is the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council which has not taken military action in Syria. The Defense Ministry said in a fax that the drills were part of "annual planned" exercises. For now, China's marines are advancing only through the snow fields of Xinjiang, as depicted in state media photographs, still wearing their speckled blue fatigues designed for operations at sea. But that could shift in time. "China's global security posture is becoming more active," said Zhang Baohui, a mainland security expert at Hong Kong's Lingnan University. "And this seems to fit that policy." Erdogan says Turkey will shut down military academies and put armed forces under the command of the defense minister, in a move designed to bring the military under tighter government control. Syrian army soldiers patrol the area around the entrance of Bani Zeid after taking control of the previously rebel-held district of Leramun, on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, on July 28, 2016 Jihadist forces allied to rebels attacked regime forces south and southwest of Aleppo Sunday in a bid to ease the siege of Syria's second city, rebels and a monitor said. Since July 17, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have surrounded rebel-held districts of Aleppo city, one of the main front lines in the conflict ravaging the country since 2011. Loyalists forces cut the Castello Road, the main supply line into rebel-held neighbourhoods in the north of the city. Now insurgents have attacked from the south, a region divided between loyalists backed by Iranian fighters and Hezbollah on the one hand, and Syrian and foreign jihadists allied with rebel groups on the other. On Sunday, Islamist groups such as the influential Ahrar al-Sham and jihadists including from the former Al-Nusra Front -- rebranded Jabhat Fateh al-Sham after breaking from Al-Qaeda -- said they had begun a battle to try to reopen a new supply route. Fateh al-Sham launched two car bomb attacks against regime positions in suburban Rashidin in southwestern Aleppo and fighting also raged in the early evening, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said. Three children were among 11 civilians killed in rebel rocket attacks launched from Rashidin on the government-controlled district of Hamdaniyeh in western Aleppo, the Observatory said. Other attacks focused on southern parts of the city towards the regime-controlled suburb of Ramussa, the Britain-based monitor reported. "It will be a long and difficult battle," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman. In Aleppo city itself, regime forces bombarded rebel-held districts Sunday despite the announcement by Damascus and Moscow of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians and rebels ready to surrender to leave. "The army is supported by a large number of Iranians and fighters from Hezbollah, not to mention the Russian planes," he said. Forces from Lebanon's Shiite group have been fighting alongside Assad's men in Syria for years, and Russia at the end of September last year began a campaign of air strikes in support of loyalist fighters. In Aleppo city itself, regime forces bombarded rebel-held districts Sunday despite the announcement by Damascus and Moscow of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians and rebels ready to surrender to leave. On Saturday, government media reported that dozens of civilians and rebels had left besieged eastern Aleppo through humanitarian corridors, but residents there and rebels dismissed the claims as "lies". Elsewhere, at least nine civilians were killed Sunday in an air strike that hit a makeshift hospital at Jassem in the southern province of Daraa. The International Rescue Committee, which supported the facility, called on the UN Security Council "to act in defence of the most basic principles of the UN". "The bombing of hospitals is never justified. All those involved must be held to account," said IRC chief David Miliband in a statement. Turkish gendarmeries escort fugitive commandos who were involved in a bid to seize President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup attempt last month, as they leave from a gendarmerie station in Mugla province, Turkey, early August 1, 2016. Turkish special forces captured a group of rebel commandos who tried to seize or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, and a government minister said plotters would "never see God's sun as long as they breathe". Drones and helicopters pinpointed the location of the 11 fugitive commandos in forested hills around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris after a two-week manhunt, an official said on Monday. They were part of a group that attacked a hotel where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the July 15 coup bid. The operation took place overnight, after the government tightened its control over the military by dismissing over 1,000 more soldiers, widening the post-coup purges of state institutions that have targeted tens of thousands of people. The coup attempt and resulting purges have shocked Turkey, which last saw a violent military power grab in 1980, and have shaken confidence in the stability of a NATO member key to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State and to stopping illegal migration to Europe. Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said coup plotters would bitterly regret trying to overthrow Turkey's democracy, in words reflecting the depth of anger among the thousands of Turks who have attended rallies to condemn the coup night after night. "We will make them beg. We will stuff them into holes, they will suffer such punishment in those holes that they will never see God's sun as long as they breathe," Zeybekci was quoted by the Dogan news agency as telling an anti-coup protest in the western town of Usak over the weekend. "They will not hear a human voice again. 'Kill us' they will beg," he said. Erdogan blames followers of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for the coup bid and has vowed to rid state institutions of his influence. But the extent of the purges, and suggestions that the death penalty could be reintroduced, have sparked concern in Western capitals and among rights groups. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied involvement. Erdogan and his government have been angered by the response of Western allies to the abortive coup and its aftermath, accusing them of being more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat Turkey has faced. The United States' top military official, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, was due to meet Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara on Monday after visiting the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by the U.S.-led coalition for bombing raids in Syria. Soldiers dismissed More than 230 people were killed in the attempted coup, many of them civilians, and more than 2,000 injured. Erdogan was almost killed or captured, officials close to him have said, an outcome which could have tipped Turkey into conflict. People shout slogans and wave Turkish national flags as they gather in solidarity night after night since the July 15 coup attempt in central Ankara, Turkey, July 27, 2016. Since the coup bid, more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation, leading to concern among NATO allies about the scale of the purges. Around 40 percent of Turkey's generals and admirals have been dismissed. Nearly 1,400 more members of the armed forces were dismissed and the top military council was stacked with government ministers on Sunday, moves designed by Erdogan to tighten civilian control over the military. "Our aim is that we set up such a system that nobody within the armed forces would ever consider a coup again," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference in Ankara, explaining the latest reforms. He said a restructuring of Turkey's intelligence structures may follow. Similar "democracy demonstrations" to the one attended by Zeybekci, rallies called for by Erdogan, have been held in squares night after night across the country of nearly 80 million since the coup. The foreign ministry summoned the charge d'affaires at the German embassy on Monday after German authorities prevented Erdogan from addressing such a rally by Turks in Cologne on Sunday by video link, a senior official in Ankara said. The top German court ruled against the live link amid concerns that political tensions in Turkey could spill over into Germany, home to Europe's largest Turkish diaspora. "It would be absolutely unacceptable for Germany to even mention democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms to Turkey after this point," Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag wrote in a furious response on Twitter. Turkey's crackdown after the failed coup has made European leaders even more uneasy about their dependence on the country to help stem illegal migration, in return for which Turks have been promised visa-free travel to the European Union. Turkey will have to back out of the agreement if the EU does not deliver visa liberalisation as promised, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Commandos seized Having been tipped off that he was in danger on the night of the coup bid, Erdogan had fled the hotel in Marmaris by the time the rogue commandos arrived in an attempt to capture him. After a manhunt involving around 1,000 members of the security forces, the 11 were captured - dressed in camouflage and trying to cross a stream - after a tip-off from a man who spotted them as he was hunting wild boar, the Dogan agency said. Turkish gendarmeries escort one of the 11 fugitive commandos who were involved in a bid to seize President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup attempt last month, as he arrives at the police headquarters in Mugla, Turkey, August 1, 2016. Video footage showed a dozen or so anti-coup demonstrators jeering the 11 detained soldiers, some of whom had swollen faces and bruises. The demonstrators waved Turkish flags and chanted "Traitors! We want the death penalty!" More than 1,700 military personnel were dishonourably discharged last week for their role in the putsch, which saw a faction of the military commandeer tanks, helicopters and warplanes in an attempt to topple the government. The new wave of army expulsions and the overhaul of the Supreme Military Council (YAS), announced in the official state gazette on Sunday, came hours after Erdogan said he also planned to shut down existing military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the Defence Ministry. According to the gazette, the 1,389 military personnel targeted on Sunday were dismissed for suspected links to the Islamic preacher Gulen. 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 cleric has however condemned the coup. "If there is anything I told anyone about this verbally, if there is any phone conversation, if one-tenth of this accusation is correct ... I would bend my neck and would say, 'They are telling the truth. Let them take me away. Let them hang me,'" Gulen said in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday. Xi Jinping meets with delegates during an inspection of the armys headquarters on July 27. Photographer: Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying soldiers to leave the worlds largest army, and to do so quietly. Military personnel have been getting generous buyouts to retire early, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a move that shows both the Peoples Liberation Armys importance to the ruling Communist Party and the hurdles facing Xi as he seeks to overhaul it. Packages include severance payments worth tens of thousands of dollars and promises to keep paying some soldiers as much as 80 percent of their pre-retirement wages, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan hasnt been publicly announced. The buyouts are meant to speed Xis push to shed 300,000 troops from the 2.3 million-member military, the centerpiece of Chinas biggest shake-up of the PLA since the early days of the Cold War. They also reduce the risk that demobilized troops end up disgruntled and on the streets, creating a new source of unrest at a time of slowing growth. Authorities have already ordered state-owned enterprises to hire former soldiers, in part to ensure social harmony and stability. Soldiers have a deterrent and destructive power once they unite to do something together, and they could cause some social stability issues easily, said Yue Gang, a retired colonel who served in the PLAs General Staff Department. Soldiers are less adapted to society because they may not have the skills that the job market wants and not be familiar with workplace culture. And thats why they need more support from the government. Chinas defense ministry in Beijing didnt respond to a faxed request on Friday for comment. Breakdown of changes to the People's Liberation Army How much the military buyouts will cost and what portion of the 300,000 demobilized troops are expected to qualify is unclear. The government plans to set aside as much as 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) to help resettle about 1.3 million coal workers and half a million steel workers. Under the military plan, a senior colonel who agrees to do his own job-searching could be eligible for a one-time payment of about 1 million yuan, in addition to as much as 80 percent of his salary, according to the people with knowledge of the matter. Chinese media have reported that PLA officers earn between 4,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan a month. While soldiers would have to serve at least 18 years to qualify for the four-fifths salary, the plan allows officers to factor in time spent at university, the people said. It also provides compensation for relocation. Ex-soldiers would be exempt from business and income taxes if theyre self-employed. The buyouts generosity underscores the special status of the PLA, which has been the ultimate guarantor of party rule since the countrys founding, crushing pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Those bonds make demonstrations or grievances involving former soldiers particularly sensitive to the government, and such issues are rarely discussed in public. Xue Gangling, Dean of the China University of Political Science and Law, told a May 2013 seminar on military justice that protests involving ex-soldiers were among the countrys biggest potential risks to stability, Caixin magazine reported at the time. Xue said bureaucratic mismanagement contributed to an almost five-fold increase in such demonstrations annually between 2002 and 2004, rising to 140. Mounting pressures The troop cut is one of several pressures on the military as Xi transforms the PLAs Soviet-inspired command structure and tries to make it a fighting force capable of projecting power further from Chinas borders. Hes purged dozens of senior officers for corruption, securing a life sentence last month for former top general Guo Boxiong for accepting bribes. Homeowners in East Baton Rouge can expect to soon start paying slightly higher property taxes as nearly 10 agencies including fire districts, the mosquito abatement department, and parks and recreation are planning to collect more tax money after recent reassessments. When voters approve property taxes at the polls, the amount of money they later pay depends on the property values of their homes. As property values are reassessed, typically growing every four years, property taxes "roll back" automatically to adjust for the increased valuations. But public agencies can decide to "roll forward," setting the millage allowed by voters and collecting the additional revenue provided by the increased property values. This year, most agencies in Baton Rouge are looking to "roll forward" their taxes. For many agencies, rolling forward brings in millions of extra dollars a year while generally costing taxpayers only a few extra dollars per property tax. Those who live within city limits and have $200,000 homes with homestead exemptions will now pay $2.25 extra for fire salaries and benefits, an additional $1.30 for emergency medical services and not even a full dollar more for mosquito abatement if taxes are rolled forward. At least ten tax votes could go on the East Baton Rouge Parish December ballot Ten East Baton Rouge Parish taxes including two new millage proposals inched closer to a The BREC Board of Commissioners joined many others in rolling forward property taxes when the board voted last week to keep its 14.463-mill tax rather than letting it shrink. It will cost taxpayers who own $200,000 homes and have a homestead exemption close to $6 more annually. BREC's finance department said the agency will gain $1.96 million from rolling forward its tax. "It takes continued investment to keep these great amenities for all of our citizens to enjoy," said Jim McIlwain, the president of Friends of the Baton Rouge Zoo, when he asked the BREC commission to roll forward its tax. The Metro Council also recently approved rolling forward 11 taxes for seven agencies that are already in place. The council also set the rates for nine other taxes that are either being rolled back or that voters approved in 2015. City-parish Assessor Brian Wilson has finished his survey of parish property, and property owners should receive letters sometime over the summer that break down how the government has assessed their homes, land and commercial properties. Wilson said properties in the city-parish have increased in value by $135 million since the last assessment in 2012. The agencies that Metro Council allowed to roll forward are: EMS, Baton Rouge Municipal Fire salaries and benefits, Alsen Fire Protection District, Brownsfield Fire Protection District, Pride Fire Protection District, Chaneyville Fire Protection District and East Baton Rouge Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control. Other tax rates that the Metro Council either rolled back or approved setting include the parish operating tax, the city operating tax, the city's three platoon police tax, the consolidated road lighting district tax, the Downtown Development District tax, the East Baton Rouge Parish Library tax, and other taxes for the Alsen Fire Protection District, the East Baton Rouge Parish Fire Protection District 1 and the Brownsfield Fire Protection District. Those who live in the parish will pay $41.50 in parish operating taxes and those who live in the city will pay $75.38 in city operating taxes. The three platoon police tax will cost $10.88, the consolidated road lighting district tax will cost $25. Taxes for those living downtown will cost $121.38, and taxes for the expansive library system will cost $138.75. One resident, Phillip Lillard, spoke against rolling forward the taxes, as well as proposals from Mayor-President Kip Holden's administration for new taxes for roads, mental health and hotels that could end up on December ballots. "We're adding a state sales tax already in Louisiana, which is going to hurt a lot of people," Lillard said. "And I believe new tax assessments take place this year, which could add the taxes, property taxes, along with the roll forwards of the taxes .... For example, all that together is already probably going to increase property taxes." More rolling forward of property taxes could be on the way. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office has a public hearing on that agency's property tax set for 1 p.m.Aug. 9 at the headquarters building, 8900 Jimmy Wedell Drive. The Sheriff's Office expects to collect around $2 million more from rolling forward taxes, which sheriff's officials have said would go toward stabilizing the general fund. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission When Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter announced he wouldnt seek re-election after his failed bid for governor, it quickly became clear a large number of people had eyes on the seat. But no one predicted the list of contenders would balloon to two dozen. As many as half of them could be viable candidates because of name recognition, fundraising prowess or ability to self-finance a campaign. And with 24 names on the Nov. 8 ballot for the race, support from a small slice of voters could be all that it takes to leapfrog into the Dec. 10 runoff. But how do you distinguish yourself to voters with 23 opponents, particularly when all candidates regardless of party run against each other on one ballot? Among the Republican contenders are U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, former U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, white supremacist David Duke, U.S. Rep. John Fleming, state Treasurer John Kennedy, retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness and New Orleans economic development official Abhay Patel. Democrats include New Orleans lawyer Caroline Fayard, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and Lafayette oil and gas businessman Josh Pellerin. Former state Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Troy Hebert is running without a party affiliation. As they jockey for support, candidates are trying to tap into trends they think will work to draw voters. But with so many people in the race, theyve found themselves competing with similar messages. Outsider status has become a sort of cachet, with many Senate contenders trying to don the label even long-time politicians who have spent years, in some instances decades, in office. As he signed up for the race, Fleming described himself as having battled against leaders in the Republican Party and having a track record similar to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Washington needs a change, said the congressman whos been in office since 2009. Fayard declared herself very tired of career politicians and the status quo, saying she believes many voters are, too. Maness, the third-place finisher in the 2014 Senate race, touted his 32-year military career, saying Washington politicians have shown no leadership on national security. Kennedy, a statewide elected official for 16 years, said hes not part of the political club, highlighting his very public feuds with governors over the years. Pellerin said Louisiana needs to stop electing the same people if voters want different results in Washington. Like Pellerin, Patel noted he was one of the few Senate candidates who hadnt previously run for or held elected office. We need someone with a fresh perspective, Patel said. Duke is the epitome of a political outsider these days. The former Ku Klux Klan leader served one term as a state lawmaker more than two decades ago and was spurned in all other efforts to win elected office. But he said the country has moved in my direction, suggesting Trump supporters are embracing Dukes vision for America. Hebert, a former state lawmaker, positioned himself as the only truly independent candidate because he wont take campaign contributions. But he also talked of his long career in politics, saying that shows his qualifications to be a senator. Campbell, who has the high-profile backing of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, also sought to have it both ways. A state senator for more than 25 years before his election to the PSC, Campbell touted his long record on issues while also eschewing the establishment by railing against special interests and declaring himself not in anybodys shirt pocket. Boustany, in his sixth term in Congress, was the only major GOP contender to welcome his political tenure without caveat. He talked of legislation he passed as a congressman. People are tired of the empty rhetoric and words. They want results, he said. While both Republicans and Democrats are seeking to brand themselves as outsiders, a theme among Democratic candidates is the downplaying of party classification an obvious recognition that Louisiana has only elected one Democrat to statewide office since 2008. One point of near unanimity for candidates running for the Senate seat: Theyre all distancing themselves from David Duke. Melinda Deslatte covers Louisiana politics for The Associated Press. The driver heading to Baton Rouge who bumps along the badly deteriorated stretch of Interstate 10 between Lafayette and the Atchafalaya Basin then can look forward to the often-standstill traffic at the Washington Street exit in the capital city. Those are two of Louisianas worst highway problems that, with initiative from state and federal leaders and some judicious shifting of money, will one day be dramatically improved for drivers. Louisiana will receive $60 million in federal grant money to fast-track a few major road projects in south Louisiana, including the relocation of the Washington Street exit off Interstate 10 near the Mississippi River bridge. The grant money will directly fund the Lafayette-area project on Interstate 10, already on track for construction. Pavement replacement and added lanes will be huge benefits for the traffic on the highway. By supplanting those state dollars with federal dollars, state money is freed up to speed up a handful of other projects like the Washington Street exit that were slogging along. Shawn Wilson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, said that thanks to the grant, Louisiana will have funds to complete the relocation of the Washington Street exit. This project is expected to be opened up for construction bid by early 2018, maybe sooner. Whether its morning or afternoon, its a very, very dangerous intersection, and its created ungodly bottlenecking for years and years and years, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden said. We agree and it is a national problem that Louisiana officials pointed out to President Barack Obama when he visited in January. As with most major public works projects, this victory has many fathers. DOTD sought $100 million under a competitive grant program in the new highway bill, including a key provision authored by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge. Its a big win for the freshman member, but of course he had a lot of help from the Louisiana delegations senior members, who also applauded the grant. Gov. John Bel Edwards and DOTD can now free dollars for designing a reconstructed interchange at Loyola Avenue for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, improving railroad crossings on the freight-rail corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and advancing the design plans of the Interstate 20/220 interchange into Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City. Louisianas drivers will be better off for this initiative, and we congratulate all those making it possible. But for all the benefits it provides, they would not exist were the state not investing its own resources into roads, bridges and rails. Edwards has set up a task force looking at ways to finance the big projects such as a new bridge over the Mississippi, or completing Interstate 49 to New Orleans that require a lot more than $60 million. Adam Knapp, president of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, pointed that out: Traffic congestion isnt fixed by one project but by many mega-projects on many transportation modes over many years. Thats our future challenge. New Orleans gets $800K to house and give mental health services to homeless veterans, families With huge bill due, Louisiana to ask feds to forgive debt for new levees With huge bill due, Louisiana to ask feds to forgive debt for new levees Cops have always relied on stoolpigeons, sometimes slipping them a few bucks for a good tip, but now they have found an ingenious way to cut t You expect some suspense at a Grand Final of anything but the suspense at Monday's grand final of the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) Construction and Engineering Bridge Challenge had a special, pulse-quickening quality about it. "One hundred and nine [kilos]! One hundred and ten! One hundred and eleven!" children and teachers of the Namadgi School marvelled as the CIT's Douglas Lang tantalised by adding weights to the load dangling beneath one of the school's bridges. Namadgi School year 8 students Brianna Cather, Kiran Watkins-Molan and Shaun Payne with the remains of their 560-gram bridge, which took 112 kilograms of weight before snapping. Credit:Graham Tidy According to the rules every bridge made by teams from the four finalists Canberra High School, Kingsford Smith School, Namadgi School and Caroline Chisholm School, had to be "tested to destruction". And so at the Namadgi bridge's 112th kilo there was a sharp, dramatic "Kerrrack!" (imagine the loudest whipcrack you have ever heard) as the plucky little bridge at last surrendered. Everyone in the CIT's barn-like Renewable Energy Skills Centre of Excellence jumped. No one jumped further than Douglas Lang, who had to get out of the way of what was happening. Wood and weights went everywhere. "All of my money was going to my lawyer, and Pip & Lou was born out of that situation. It was a means of providing for myself and my daughter just for the basic everyday needs," she said. "So for it to have turned into something really enormous at the moment it's really nice - just something that was born out of something so awful has turned into something really positive." Through her business, Young is now also trying to give back to those who helped her out. "I think this year it'll be 11 charities that Pip & Lou has sponsored. So it's nice to be able to finally give back a bit. "I received help from the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and friends and stuff like that and for such a long time I wasn't in the position to do anything really to return the favour to anyone. But now that I am, it's a nice feeling to be able to do that." Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Directed by Gowrie Varma. Musical direction by Katrina Tang. ANU Interhall Productions and the ANU School of Music. ANU Arts Centre. August 5-7, 10-13. Tickets $25. sweeneytodd.getqpay.com. Gowrie Varma saw the Tim Burton-directed movie version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with her father when she was 16. Their initial reactions, she says, were very different. Spencer Cliff, front, as Sweeney Todd and Georgie Juszczyk as Mrs Lovett in The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Credit:Archie Chew "He said, 'There was a lot of blood' and I said, 'I wish I could direct that - it would be awesome.' " Now, at 24 and a final-year finance/laws student at the Australian National University, she's finally getting her wish. ANU Interhall Productions has teamed up with the ANU School of Music to produce the award-winning 1979 Stephen Sondheim musical. She's been heavily involved in theatre as both a director and actor during her degree, working a lot with National University Theatre Society, but this is her first time directing a musical. A Canberra man, who was arrested by federal police at Sydney Airport, is set to fight allegations he planned to sexually abuse children overseas. Nathan Sertori, 35, pleaded not guilty to two counts of planning to have sex with a child outside Australia and one count of accessing child pornography when he faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday. Sertori's defence lawyer Peter Woodhouse, of Ben Aulich and Associates, said his client had been arrested at the airport and had been facing identical charges in NSW. Those charges were expected to be withdrawn in a Sydney court later this week given the matter had been transferred to the ACT. Commonwealth prosecutor Edward Chen asked for an extended 14-week adjournment to allow time for digital forensics analysis of material found on numerous devices so the prosecution could prepare its brief of evidence. More than 300 hectares of trees will have to be harvested early after a freak combination of hail and fungal damage wiped out about 6 per cent of the ACT's largest commercial pine plantation in Kowen Forest , due in part to a "one-in-35-year" storm. 9.35am: We're told the Yamba Drive crash was a minor, low speed affair with thankfully no injuries. It is causing a bit of traffic on Launceston St and Yamba Drive though. Bryan Geoghegan surveys the damage as more than 300 hectares of dead pine trees at Kowen Forest are being chopped down. Credit:Jamila Toderas 9.22am: It looks as though that Fyshwick traffic on Canberra Ave and has cleared, but there is a report of a crash on Yamba Drive in Hughes now. Also looks like the car fire on Parkes Way is out, but traffic still looks heavy. 8:40am: We are hearing reports of a three-car crash on Canberra Avenue near Fyshwick. There looks to be some traffic congestion, according to the Waze map. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Canberra still experience vastly higher rates of smoking, homelessness and chronic illness than the non-Indigenous population, and remain greatly over represented in the ACT's child protection, youth justice, criminal justice systems. The 2015 ACT Closing the Gap report, released on Monday, demonstrated that serious disadvantage remains entrenched for the ACT's Indigenous community. Dr Chris Bourke acknowledged the Closing the Gap report showed there was still considerable work to be done. Credit:Jay Cronan Progress to cut the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in the ACT remains slow, despite comparing favourably to national averages in many areas. Roughly one-quarter of all kids in care were Indigenous, a huge over representation that the ACT government is trying to address through a five-year strategy named A Step Up for Our Kids. Watered down laws allowing prosecutors to prevent a magistrate from releasing detainees look set to pass, after the Canberra Liberals offered their support to the ACT government. On Tuesday, the ACT Legislative Assembly will enter its last two-week sitting period before October's election, and is expected to sit long hours as a large volume of legislation is pushed through at the eleventh hour. Attorney-General Simon Corbell will be able to give new powers to prosecutors, after the Liberals pledged their support for the bill. Credit:Jamila Toderas One of the more contentious bills before the parliament would give ACT prosecutors the power to keep a detainee locked up even after they have been released by a magistrate. The powers are intended to allow prosecutors to review a bail decision where they think a family violence or serious offender still poses a significant risk to the community. Hard on the heels of Independence Group's decision to tap into the surge in the price of nickel by raising funds via a sharemarket placement, minnow Axiom Mining has followed suit as it prepares to launch production at the end of the year. Axiom has its foot on ready to mine acreage in the Solomon Islands which it hopes can take advantage of the supply interruption for laterite nickel shipped to China. Similar to the Ramu nickel mine in PNG, Axiom Mining is planning an open-cut nickel mine in the Solomon Islands Following the recent Philippine presidential elections, there has been a halt to production at several nickel mines there due to environmental concerns which has pushed the nickel price higher. The supply disruption in the Philippines follows the move a couple of years ago by Indonesia to halt all exports of nickel ore, as New Caledonia, too, has had a long-standing ban on exporting to China. Each of these three countries are large producers of laterite nickel which is sought after by Chinese processors, and between them they control an estimated 80 per cent of the lateritic nickel ore globally, and virtually all of the material available in Asia. Japan's home builders are continuing to push into the Australian market, this time with Sumitomo Forestry Co acquiring a controlling 51 per cent stake in Wisdom Properties Group, which builds home and land packages. Wisdom Homes builds about 400 houses annually, with more than 150 employees and 500 construction contractors. Japanese home builders continue to expand into the Australian market. Credit:Glenn Hunt Sumitomo Forestry joins a spread of Japanese home builders active in the Australian market, from Sekisui House and Daiwa House through to specialists such as Ichijo Homes, a project home builder. Sumitomo Forestry was earlier the Henley Property group. Getty Images. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak extended his policing powers with a tough new security law that took effect Monday, spurring concerns over civil liberties. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak extended his policing powers with a tough new security law that took effect Monday, spurring concerns over civil liberties. The law, which Najib said was needed to combat terrorism, was pushed through on the final day of the parliamentary session in December, creating a National Security Council with broad powers to create "security areas" where police can conduct searches without warrants and impose curfews. It also eliminated the need to conduct public inquests into shootings by police in the security zones and gave the new security council the ability to declare emergency rule. The security council, which will include the prime minister and be majority controlled by members of his political party, won't be required to provide explanations or justifications for its decisions. That represented a major expansion of powers for Najib, who has been embroiled in a scandal over funds allegedly funneled away from Malaysian state wealth investment fund 1MDB. Ei Sun Oh, who was political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister's office from 2009-2011, during Najib's tenure, told CNBC in an email interview that it wasn't clear how far the government's new discretionary powers could be pushed. "Under the current oppressive political climate, there is legitimate fear that the law may be abused to stifle dissents, such as expressed in peaceful street protests which should have been a fundamental right to assemble," said Oh, who is currently an adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Others were more specifically concerned about the fresh powers that the law gave to Najib, who has been prime minister since 2009. "A lot of people in Malaysia don't trust Najib. It gives him too much power," noted James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania. "This gives the prime minister the powers of the king. Previously only the king had [this] authority." Story continues Not only does the law not allow for judicial review of the security council's rulings, politicians on the council would be selected solely from the country's ruling party and would outnumber administrators such as police chiefs, Chin noted. "There's no way anyone can overrule the prime minister. Effectively, he will get what he wants," Chin said. "It sends a strong signal to the population of Malaysia and also the opposition that he's all-powerful." Chin noted that the law didn't define what constituted a national security threat, which could enable the prime minister to use small incidents to impose emergency rule. Chin was particularly concerned about whether areas currently under opposition party rule, such as Penang, might be targeted. Oh said, meanwhile, that not only was it unclear whether a security zone could be declared retroactively to avoid an inquest into a police shooting, it also wasn't clear whether a retroactive declaration could be challenged in court. Chin cited an additional concern: "The act gives the military a civilian role ... The army can come in to take over the role of the police." In a statement last week, Najib's office said critics had "fear-mongered for political reasons" and "deliberately misinterpreted" the law. The Prime Minister's office said the country's terrorist threat was "real and growing." In mid-July, Malaysia detained more than 200 people, 27 of them foreigners, as part of investigations into ties to terror groups, Singapore media reported. In late June, there was a grenade attack at a bar, injuring eight, which Malaysian authorities tied to terror group Islamic State, according to reports. Malaysian police subsequently arrested 14 people under suspicion for ties to Islamic State, and seized an explosive device, reportedly amid a plot for a bomb attack on top police officials, media reports said. Malaysia has also long suffered incursions by Philippine terror group Abu Sayyaf into the Sabah region, with attacks generally including kidnaping for ransom. Because of that modus operandi, Abu Sayyaf has often been referred to as bandits, but the group has recently been in focus amid reported attempts to formalize some sort of pro-Islamic State coalition in Southeast Asia. "My government will never apologize for placing the safety and security of the Malaysian people first," the statement from Najib's office said on Friday. "These laws were necessary, and other countries have since followed our lead." The statement didn't disclose which other countries had followed Malaysia's lead. Analysts did note concerns over terrorism in the country. "Terrorism risks in Malaysia, particularly in the capital Kuala Lumpur, have clearly risen in the past year," with arrests including some members of security forces and civil servants, noted Harrison Cheng, senior analyst for global risk analysis at consultancy Control Risks. "While counter-terrorism laws and capabilities remain fairly robust, authorities are also concerned about the possibility of lone-wolf attacks,which are far harder to foil. This plausibly has also given impetus for stronger enforcement powers to mitigate the windows of opportunity for such attacks to occur," he said via email. But Cheng added that concerns Najib would use the law to silence dissenters were also "credible," noting that it applied not only to security threats, but also to "loosely defined" threats to the economy and, according to the law's section 18, "any other interest of Malaysia." Najib had already stepped up use of the existing Sedition Act, with arrests and investigations up as much as five-fold in 2015 from 2014, Cheng noted. Public outcry over the law was likely to be muted. Oh, the former political secretary to the prime minister's office, noted that the public was "weary" of violent thugs and soon would be tired of terrorist threats as well. "The public has no problem if the new security law were to be applied solely to deal with the kinds of calamity that the government described when seeking to pass the law, namely terrorist attacks or mass disturbances, such as armed attacks," he said. But the new law appeared likely to deepen existing concerns outside Malaysia about civil liberties in the country. The Malaysian government already has inordinate control over the media within the country, with much of it either state-owned or subject to strict regulation. The website Malaysian Insider, owned by The Edge Media Group, was shut down earlier this year after the government blocked access to it over its reporting on 1MDB. Two of The Edge's other publications were suspended for several months last year. Najib's administration was able to push through the new security law despite his ties to a multi-country investigation over state fund 1MDB. In July, U.S. prosecutors said they were seeking to seize more than $1 billion of assets tied to an international conspiracy to launder funds funneled away from 1MDB, marking the biggest action ever taken under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. The U.S. Department of Justice said officials at 1MDB, their relatives and other associates diverted more than $3.5 billion in total from the state fund and laundered it through complex transactions and shell companies with bank accounts in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S. Media reports citing unnamed sources said the complaints' 32 references to "Malaysian Official 1," who allegedly received hundreds of millions from 1MDB, were to Najib. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. In January, Malaysia's Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali said that no criminal offense had been committed in the government's handling of 1MDB. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 More From CNBC At the heart of the debate over the growing number of university graduates in Australia is a core bone of contention: what is the reason for sending people to university in the first place? Australia's "Group of Eight" tertiary institutions, a body that includes the University of Melbourne and Monash University, rekindled the debate on Monday. In a provocative speech, Go8 executive director Vicki Thomson declared that allowing universities to enrol as many students as they wanted was harming the economy, by diminishing the value of higher education and creating a lost generation of graduates with "broken dreams and large student debts" thanks to their near useless qualifications on the jobs market. Demand-driven funding has resulted in a boom in undergraduate numbers and a corresponding glut in graduates. Credit:Louie Douvis "Why are we so reticent in stating the obvious, that university isn't for everyone," declared the spokeswoman for the nation's eight most prestigious universities. It is one side of the debate on the role of universities in society the argument that their primary purpose is to provide the requisite number of graduates to meet the demands of employers and business in the wider economy. Winter's grip is likely to tighten again this week as another east coast low looks set to snap the run of relatively mild conditions that brought Sydney its third-warmest July in more than 150 years of records. Models are settling on the prospect of the low forming on Wednesday but close enough to the Queensland border to spare the Harbour City from most of the expected wild conditions, Brett Dutschke, senior meteorologist with Weatherzone, said. "At this stage, [the east coast low] is not likely to head down the coast," Mr Dutschke said. "The most extreme weather will be north of Sydney, probably in the Hunter-Mid North Coast but also in the Central Coast, the Northern Rivers and the Northern Tablelands." Some areas can expect as much as 150mm of rain, damaging winds reaching 90km/h and powerful surf, he said. Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has officially won its second Senate seat, claiming one of two final Senate spots in Western Australia. The other seat was won by incumbent Greens senator Rachel Siewert. The result leaves farmer Rod Culleton poised to join Ms Hanson in the upper house although a conviction in NSW and a separate charge in his home state threaten to render him ineligible to serve. It comes as the Australian Electoral Commission prepares to complete Senate preference counting in the four remaining states, with the final batch of results expected to be announced on Wednesday. A crossbench of at least 10 senators now appears likely, including three One Nation representatives, Derryn Hinch in Victoria, Jacqui Lambie in Tasmania and possibly two Liberal Democrats one each from NSW and Queensland. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has launched a stinging attack on Kevin Rudd, accusing the former PM of verballing him and plotting in advance to leak private correspondence to the media. Mr Turnbull denied he supported Mr Rudd's tilt to lead the United Nations during a key December meeting, but refused to be drawn on Mr Rudd's central claim that he had previously expressed his support for the bid. Asked specifically about that claim on Monday afternoon, Mr Turnbull equivocated. "I'm not going to be getting into this debating Mr Rudd ... he and I have had discussions that have touched on this over a long period of time," he told ABC radio. The Minister for Northern Australia says the Royal Commission into youth detention will deliver "real outcomes" for those in detention, amid criticism that it will fail to bring change to the justice system in the state. On the ABC's Q&A on Monday night, Matt Canavan, a senator who is also the Minister for Resources, said he was "shocked" at "horrific conduct that was meted out" to boys at the Don Dale detention centre in the Northern Territory. He said holding a royal commission into how it happened would have value, rather than resurrecting other recommendations from past inquiries which were never implemented. "I understand that many inquiries don't always lead to the outcomes that people want," he said. "I have confidence, though, that this inquiry is targeted enough and focused enough to deliver real outcomes and real results. That most likely won't please everybody but I'm confident we'll deliver action and results." Just days after being appointed to head the royal commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory, Brian Ross Martin is reportedly "considering his position". On Monday morning Mr Martin announced a press conference in Canberra at midday, where it is widely speculated he will stand down from the role. Since the appointment, there has been disquiet among some NT groups regarding Mr Martin's perceived conflicts of interest, stemming from his time as chief justice of the NT Supreme Court, a history with the Country Liberal Party government, and his daughter's previous job with the NT's former Labor attorney-general. Sky News has reported that Mr Martin is unhappy with the reporting of his daughter Joanna's employment from late 2009 to early 2011, a position that did not cover corrections or juvenile detention but falls into the period of time that will be examined by the royal commission. Model and social media crusader Chrissy Teigen has weighed in on the case that saw a Sydney man sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond for making sexually explicit threats to a woman on Facebook. "Interesting case out of Australia. Our jails are full enough here but perhaps we can create a troll farm," she tweeted. Model Chrissy Teigen is known for taking a stand on issues via social media. Credit:Frazer Harrison Zane Alchin, a Sydney labourer, was charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace, threaten or offend after he directed misogynistic threats to 24-year-old Paloma Brierley Newton. She then took photos of his comments and submitted them to police. "It's people like you who make it clear women should never have been given rights," he wrote. More than 20 people were assessed and two transported after a multi-vehicle crash in Brisbane's north. A bus and seven vehicles collided at the corner of Samsonvale Road and Old North Road intersection at Warner at 8.30am. Police understand a bus had gone around the corner onto Samsonvale Road and rear-ended a vehicle, causing a domino effect. Paramedics assessed 26 patients, 13 adults and 13 children, at the scene. Court proceedings against accused murderer Lionel Patea have been put off three weeks as prosecutors organise a medical officer to examine the inmate he allegedly assaulted. The 24-year-old, who is in custody charged with murdering former partner Tara Brown, is accused of pouring boiling water over a convicted paedophile inmate. Former Bandidos member Lionel Patea. Credit:Facebook Prosecutors had reviewed a statement from the victim, medical notes and CCTV footage, a court heard on Monday. The former bikie remained behind bars as his charge of causing grievous bodily harm was briefly mentioned in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. A Queensland jury has retired to consider its verdict for a man accused of the stabbing murder of his stepdaughter. Raymond John Mead has pleaded not guilty to murdering Sherelle Locke while she was watching TV with her mother in Boronia Heights in February 2014. Raymond John Mead has denied murdering Sherelle Locke south of Brisbane in 2014. The jury in his trial retired shortly before noon on Monday, having heard allegations Mead pinned down the 23-year-old and plunged the knife into her chest. AAP About 380 light years away in the constellation Scorpius lies a star that has puzzled astronomers for more than 40 years. Called AR Scorpii, the star flashes brightly and fades again every couple of minutes, like a lightbulb on a dimmer switch. Now, astronomers have identified the cause of the flickering, and it's a reminder that the cosmos is still rife with terrifying secrets. AR Scorpii, previously identified as a single, variable star, is actually two, a compact white dwarf the size of the Earth but 200,000 times more massive, and a cool red dwarf a third the size of the sun. An artists impression of the exotic binary system AR Scorpii, with a compact white dwarf star (right) flogging its red dwarf companion with high energy electrons every two minutes. Credit:M. Garlick / University of Warwick / ESO By examining the system with the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and others, astronomers have now learnt that the white dwarf is spinning incredibly fast, charging up electrons to almost the speed of light. As the white dwarf twirls about, these energised particles whip through space, lashing the cooler companion and releasing a powerful pulse of electromagnetic radiation every 1.97 minutes. Homicide detectives are urging a man to hand himself in after a body was found in a St Kilda rooming house on Monday morning. Police would like to speak with Earl Jones over the death of Stephen Lowry, whose body was found inside his ground floor unit in the Regal rooming house, Little Grey Street, about 5am. Detectives are investigating after body was been found on Monday morning. Credit:Josh Robenstone It is believed a man savagely attacked Mr Lowry with a knife after confronting him about an ongoing dispute. Mr Lowry, 45, was well-known among residents of the other rooming houses in the street. Heavy rain that pummelled Melbourne during the peak-hour commute has eased, but the reprieve will be brief. The wet and windy weather is expected to continue on Tuesday. Showers worsened just in time for the evening commute on Monday. Credit:Chris Hopkins Patchy rain fell across Melbourne on Monday afternoon, before a downpour hit the inner-city shortly after 5.30pm. Melbourne's eastern suburbs were hardest hit, with up to 8.2 millimetres of rain falling in some areas. About half an hour before she was left for dead in the middle of a Melbourne road by a speeding hit-run driver, Tanami Nayler sent her mother a text. "Have arrived safely in Melbourne," she wrote, adding that she was about to leave a nightclub in the city and head back to her friend's home. She ended the message as she always did: "Love you." It is a text Vivien Nayler has read over and over since learning that her only child, the girl she named after a desert in the Northern Territory 24 years ago, had been killed crossing King Street in West Melbourne about 2.15am on Saturday morning. Many towns have a claim to fame, but Tallangatta's is a ripper. Sixty years ago, the entire town was moved eight kilometres to the west because of the expansion of the Hume Weir. Old Tallangatta, was razed and drowned, including the 52-bedroom Tallangatta Hotel, built in 1888, banks, hairdressers, grocers, the shire hall, the cinema and dress shops. The old Tallangatta Hotel. More than 100 houses were moved to new Tallangatta, while 37 new brick houses and most business and civic buildings were rebuilt in a neat, geometric 1950s style. These included the two pubs, court house, police station, Memorial Hall and three churches. This "frozen in time" factor has led the National Trust of Victoria to name Tallangatta as its second "notable town". Two rare ringneck parrots were among an Ali Baba-like hoard of loot uncovered by police after an alleged burglary spree in the state's north-east. A man and a woman were arrested last Monday after a police sting at a home in the town of Piries, south of Mansfield. Two parrots were among a cache of allegedly stolen goods found at a home near Mansfield. They found a cache of safes, cash and jewellery, as well as the two parrots that have since been reunited with their owners. The arrested pair, a 50-year-old man and 38-year-old woman, began their alleged theft binge in June last year, hitting dozens of businesses across the Mansfield area. Almost half of Western Australians are terrified of losing their jobs, a report released on Monday has suggested. ME's biannual Household Financial Comfort report to June 2016, showed WA recorded the highest "job insecurity" of any Australian state - up 14 points to 41 per cent. The ME survey suggest a high level of job insecurity among West Australians. During that period there was a four per cent rise in job security across Australia. The report which surveyed 151 West Australians out of 1500 nationally, also revealed WA's financial confidence had dropped to 5.02/10 the lowest level since the survey began in 2011 and the worst result for any state in Australia. "They've had eight years of this issue running out of control, and they finally discovered it just before the election," he said. He stopped short of supporting the state government's recent proposal to allow families to apply to a court to force meth-addicted relatives into rehabilitation. "The biggest issue, as anyone who is involved in this or has a family member who suffers from addiction issues will tell you, is those people who want services, those people who are desperate for services often can't get them," he said. "We've got to make sure those people who are keen to access services, who are ready for treatment, who have hit rock bottom, are able to get treatment when they need it, that's the first priority. "The second priority is making sure there is an opportunity, in the right circumstances, for people who need it, to get involuntary treatment." Rome. Pope Francis said on Sunday that he will wait until Australian justice takes its course before taking a position on Cardinal George Pell, who is under investigation over sexual abuse allegations. But the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Rome after a papal visit to Poland, said Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican's powerful economy minister, should not undergo a trial by the media or by rumour. Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said on radio 3AW on Thursday that police had been investigating allegations against Cardinal Pell for more than a year. "It's in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system," the Pope said in answer to a question. Cologne: Thousands of demonstrators from Germany's Turkish community turned out in Cologne on Sunday to show their support for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at a rally that ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Ankara and Berlin. Waving the Turkish national flag, demonstrators held aloft pictures of Mr Erdogan and placards reading "For Democracy, Against Putsch" after a failed military coup earlier this month. Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rally in Cologne, Germany. Credit:Getty Images "We are here because our compatriots in Germany advocate democracy and are against the attempted military coup," Turkey's sport and youth minister, Akif Cagatay Kilic, who attended the rally, told reporters. The demonstration became the focus of increasingly strained ties between Germany and Turkey after a decision by Germany's top court on its eve prevented Mr Erdogan from addressing the meeting via videoconference. Washington, DC: Not only is Donald Trump callous in his treatment of those who have fought in America's wars, he's also ignorant of the wars and the ways of a world in which as a US president he'd be, as it were, calling the shots. The weekend just gone has had millions of Americans cringing in disbelief - first because of Trump's inhumane disregard for a Muslim American family whose son died fighting as a US soldier in Iraq; and then because the man who didn't know what Brexit was also didn't seem to know that in 2014, Russia had snatched the Crimean peninsula from neighbouring Ukraine - where Moscow continues to stoke a brutal separatist war. Despite being overshadowed in the mainstream media by Hillary Clinton's speech on Thursday evening, the appearance of Khizr and Ghazala Khan on the Philadelphia convention stage last week electrified social media. Their dignified and powerful questioning of Trump's treatment of Muslims amounted to a stunning put-down of Trump's charge that many American Muslims are terrorist sympathisers who turn a blind eye to terrorism, for which reason he proposed a ban on all Muslims entering the US. HOUSTON, TX AND SAN ANTONIO, TX--(Marketwired - Aug 1, 2016) - MicroSeismic, Inc. (MicroSeismic), the inventor and leader of surface microseismic monitoring, today announced plans to install the first permanent BuriedArray for a major operator in Argentina. The BuriedArray will be utilized for microseismic monitoring for four lateral wells within the Neuquen Basin. The BuriedArray system consists of near-surface stations that will initially be used to monitor two pads and is scheduled to install in early 2016 by UGA SEISMIC S.A. (UGA), a PanAmerican Geophysical Company. UGA will also provide the microseismic data acquisition system, while MicroSeismic will deliver both hydrofracturing visualization and analysis of the wells' completions and life-of-field imaging of the reservoir from the BuriedArray. When calibrated by the 3D seismic, the BuriedArray will become a life-of-field asset for 4D reservoir monitoring and refracture imaging. "Microseismic monitoring will help enhance completions and field development, and the BuriedArray is the most effective solution for monitoring multiple wells and full-field development of shale reservoirs from a cost and operational standpoint. Analysis provided by the BuriedArray system will be used to evaluate fracture geometry, map each well's reservoir drainage pattern, evaluate stimulation plans to enhance development and reservoir modeling throughout the life of the field and provide essential information on the economics of each well," said Dave Pratt, Chairman of The PanAmerican Geophysical Group. "We are extremely pleased that MicroSeismic's BuriedArray technology has been chosen to kick off a lateral drilling campaign in South America. The BuriedArray continues to be the most economical and operationally effective solution available for long-term full-field microseismic monitoring, typically half the cost of installing equivalent monitoring capabilities in single-deployment arrays," said Peter Duncan, CEO and President, MicroSeismic. "We are also grateful to have UGA as our local partner, who will help provide our client with seamless project management and excellent customer service." To date, MicroSeismic has installed over 50 BuriedArray systems, monitoring more than 15,000 stages for 230 wells on three continents. When used to monitor multiple wells and pads, the BuriedArray reduces the cost of microseismic monitoring to just a few thousand dollars per stage, realizing an excellent return on investment over the life of the asset. About MicroSeismic, Inc. MicroSeismic, Inc. is an oilfield services company providing microseismic-based Completions Evaluation Services in 18 countries. Founded in 2003, MicroSeismic is the leading provider of microseismic monitoring activity utilizing surface, near-surface, and downhole arrays. MicroSeismic's services allow oil and gas companies to gauge the quality of completions, improve production, and reduce costs in unconventional reservoirs. For more information about MicroSeismic, please visit www.microseismic.com. MicroSeismic, Inc. trademarks are registered marks in the USA, Canada and other countries. About UGA SEISMIC UGA SEISMIC, a PanAmerican Geophysical Group company, is the leading seismic acquisition contractor in Argentina, providing comprehensive services in 3D and 2D land seismic data acquisition and the monitoring of hydraulic fracture treatments. With 23 years of accumulated experience and 25,000 square kilometers of data acquired, UGA SEISMIC's team of professionals have worked on a wide variety of terrains in Argentina and neighboring South American countries. UGA SEISMIC's clients depend on the quality and reliability of its services, its modern fleets of vibrators and recording system, and its ability to provide each client with data acquisition solutions customized to their particular needs. For more information about UGA SEISMIC, please visit www.ugaseismic.com The first time we see Amara Karans character in episode three of HBOs The Night Of she is sitting at her desk in her New York law firm when her boss pulls her aside to ask a seemingly innocuous question. Where are you from? Glenne Headlys Alison Crowe asks. Baltimore, Karans character Chandra Kapoor says, nervously. Your parents? Alison clarifies. Mumbai, Chandra says. Good enough. It is that short conversation that brings Chandra into the life of Nasir Khan, a young Pakistani-American man played by Riz Ahmed, who has been charged with the rape and murder of a white Upper West Side girl. Alison brings Chandra with her to the home of Nazs parents as little more than a prop in an effort to convince them to hire her firm and fire John Turturros one-man operation John Stone. She literally walks to the floor of her office and sees someone whos brown, Karan tells The Daily Beast by phone from London, where she is currently working on a new season of the British television series Stan Lees Lucky Man. It is an indignity that Chandra will struggle to overcome for the rest of the miniseries, which aired its fourth episode this Sunday. Born near Wimbledon to Sri Lankan parents, the 32-year-old British actress is best known to American audiences for playing the mysterious Indian woman on the train in 2007s The Darjeeling Limited. I really lucked out. That was my first role upon leaving drama school, she says. Are you kidding me? Im in a Wes Anderson film. But while she has been doing both Shakespeare and television in the U.K. for years, The Night Of marks her major American breakthrough role. But so far, at least, HBO hasnt even let her watch the whole series. The network is holding back the eighth and final episode of the show, not only from press but also from actors like Karan, who has only been able to view the show through episode seven. When I get off the phone with you Im going to demand to see episode eight, she half-jokes at one point. Im dying to see it. Below is an edited and condensed version of our conversation. What do you think Chandras first impressions are of the murder case at the center of the show? And how do those change as she starts to learn more? I think there are two things happening. On the one hand, she, like Glenne Headlys character, is really interested, from a legal perspective, in this particular case. Because it is drugs, sex and rape. Its the sexiest case. And it will also represent what is wrong with the criminal justice system. I think Chandra, as we go through, starts to realize how important this case is in terms of justice overall. In terms of looking at the criminal justice system and looking at how fair it is, how individuals like detectives can swing around the evidence to go against the person accused of murder. How juries can be very biased. And that it is a rigged system. And [the suspect] is a Pakistani guy, so racial profiling is going to come into it. She then realizes that this is a much bigger story. I also think that she empathizes a lot with the parents generally, in that this case is going to become a racially profiled case from a legal standpoint, but also for the community of Muslims in New York. I think Chandra is aware that theres an opportunity to unify, to bring people together, to make people relate to this small community that feels very divorced and very isolated from everyone else. But even if it turns out that her client, this character Naz, is guilty or even if it turns out that they lose the case, I think she appreciates that those people in the community need a voice, need a representative that is encapsulated in herself as a woman of color. Its to represent an idea of what is brilliant about that community. Even just by her presence in the trial, she is representing on so many different levels. She becomes a poster girl, both for the Muslim community of people who feel isolated or alienated in Western culture, but also for the Western media and New Yorkers to not feel that everyone of Indian subcontinent backgroundthat theres a relatability to her. And do you think that means she is able to relate to Naz in a way that others on the show cant? I think initially yes. Glennes character is very smart because she sees how Naz feels listened to by Chandra and his parents feel calmed by her. She very cleverly again uses Chandra at the critical moment when she needs Naz to accept the plea bargain deal. Obviously detrimentally, but she doesnt realize that. Thats the kind of influence that Chandra has on these characters who are feeling very vulnerable, very scared, very confused. Chandra can make you feel like youve been listened to and she can make you feel like youre a normal person. Its a power of hers. She definitely does that for Naz when she goes into his cell and tries to get him to take the deal. Chandra tells Naz not to take the deal unless he is guilty of the murder. And as we see, he decides to go to trial. How does that decision he makes change the way your character views him? Well, that is a very interesting turning point. That is a really big twist. I think there are so many things happening in that moment, because I think she has known that she has a huge influence on him. I think shes trying to win his trust. And what shes doing is very devious against her boss. She goes in trying to persuade him to accept the deal and then she ends up saying, if youre guilty, then take the deal, but if youre not, then dont. And then he doesnt. So theres an unspoken communication between them, which speaks volumes. Is he doing that to prove to her that hes not guilty? Is he doing that to prove to the world that hes not guilty? Is he guilty, but using that logic to show people around him that he is not guilty? Theres a lot that is happening in that moment, which makes it such a great scene. I think that Chandra knows her power. She knows she can persuade Naz, she knows she can win his confidence. She knows he likes her. She knows his parents like her. So she can advise him from a personal point of view, not a lawyer point of view. You could even argue shes a bit manipulative in that sense, because she knows that she has this power over him and we see her doing that, whether its for his good in the end or to help him in the end, shes not just a prop or a puppet. Weve also seen John Turturros character before that scene say to her, are you just going to be a prop for your boss? You know why your boss took you in, dont you? She took you in because you fit a profile. Chandra might be like, yeah, hes right. Im not just going to be a prop. That woman just drags me into the case when she needs me and leaves me out when it doesnt suit her. Theres a scene, which I love, which is Glennes character working on the case with other lawyers. And Chandra is looking in from the outside. I loved that scene, too. And theres no dialogue needed. Yes! Im just looking. And its a great moment, because shes in one moment, shes out the next. She is being treated like a prop and this wont do. And then ultimately Nazs refusal to plead guilty causes Alison Crowe to quit the case, but you stay on as his primary attorney. Do you think thats meant as a reward or a punishment from your boss? Well, at that point in time, the evidence is so stacked against Naz, but its not that hes definitely going to lose. My character is a junior lawyer, not an experienced one. And Alison is punishing [Naz] for taking this very high-risk strategy and saying, If you want to plead not guilty, you see it through, but I wont be the lawyer. Well give it to my junior counterpart, whos the cheapest biller in the firm and well see how you do and if you come crawling back. I dont think Alisons even thinking about Chandra at that moment. I think shes thinking about punishing Naz. But from Chandras point of view, I dont think she ever expected that she would get the case. That is a surprise. And its a big ticket, like, OK, I get to do one of the most high-profile cases in New York and I get to be the lead defense attorney in the case. Christmas has come early. To build up your name as a defense attorney, you need big, high-profile cases. Obviously, this is a really tricky case for her now that shes probably set to lose. But, you never know. With a bit of investigating, she might find a piece of evidence that gets him off. Either way, Chandra has very little to lose. I want to ask you about working with Riz Ahmed, because you are both British actors playing Americans in this series. Did you know each other before? We did! And it was amazing, weve known each other for a long time. We were at university together actually, so we knew each other in Oxford. We knew that we both always loved acting and then wed both seen each other work and do well, so it was amazing that we finally crossed paths. And we crossed paths in such an awesome show. And getting to play opposite each other was so, so cool. It was so joyous that I was like, why hasnt this happened before? Also we were talking to each other in American accents, which was quite bizarre. Riz kept his accent the whole time we were filming, so his was more consistent. I didnt. I only did the accent when we did the scenes and then I dropped out of it. When I first got on set and he was talking to me in the makeup trailer, I was like, OK, this is a bit weird, but whatever you have to do man, I get it. I know you cant give anything away about the end of the show, but what was your reaction when you first read that last script and found out how it ends? I read the whole thing in one go. I like binge-read the whole thing. I was like, are you joking? Is this really happening to me? This is one of the best things I have ever read and this will probably be one of the best shows made for television. It was so good. I couldnt believe it. I still cant believe it. And when I read it, it took me time to process it because it is written so well. Every single scene, youre like, no way, no way! And so when you read the whole thing and it comes to its conclusion, you just want to cry at the end of it. Its so overwhelming. Such a big story. And it comes full circle and youre like, wow. It comes full circle. I cant wait for you to see episode eight, because it just goes right round. And theres a bombshell after bombshell and it gets even more intense and even more wrapped up and goes even more crazy. ISTANBUL When Russia dropped its bombshell announcement of a plan to bring stabilization and assistance to rebel-held Aleppo by emptying it of its inhabitants and its defenders, the U.S., the UN, and any number of countries working to end the war in Syria were taken aback. Gen. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, announced that President Vladimir Putin had issued a decree ordering a large scale humanitarian operation in Aleppo, which has been under siege for three weeks. But there was no advance consultation on the decision to set up four corridorsthree for civilians and one for armed combatantsto leave the city. Western diplomats said it amounted to imposing a military solution on Syrias biggest metropolis as well as a violation of international law. A top official of the Syrian opposition said hes convinced Russias intent is use the methods it deployed to destroy Grozny. The capital of the Chechen Republic was the scene of bloody combat in 1994-95, and then again in 1999-2000, early in Putins first presidency. At that point leaflets were dropped offering people safe passage out of the city, and after a brief pause the real devastation began. In 2003, the United Nations reportedly called Grozny the most destroyed city on earth. The war was over, and on Putins terms. Even the Obama administration, long accused by its critics of fecklessness and of appeasing the Assad regimes two outside supporters, Iran and Russia, mustered a strong verbal response. A State Department spokesman said the Russian operation appeared to be a demand for the surrender of opposition groups in violation of joint U.S.-Russian understandings and a UN Security Council resolution. Secretary of State John Kerry has been involved in an intense diplomatic drive that involved major security concessions by Washington in hopes it would lead to an end to the fighting and the start of peace talksthen Russia sprang its plan last Thursday. In several days of phone conversations with Moscow, Kerry was unable to obtain clarifications of how the new decision was compatible with the talks hes been holding with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. European diplomats said Kerrys current initiative, which involved a highly controversial concession to share intelligence with Russia and to conduct joint and coordinated attacks on Jabhat al-Nusra, could collapse in short order. According to Assads political opponents, that is not the worst of it. Syrians were not at the table Thursday when Russia unveiled its plan to the U.S., the UN, and more than a dozen other countries in talks on the cessation of hostilities, but the president of the Syrian Coalition of opposition groups, Anas Abdah, said he had been briefed by diplomats attending the meeting. According to his information, Russia told the ISSG, the International Syria Support Group, that the Assad regime will spearhead a major offensive to take over the entire city. All combatants who choose not to leave will be dealt with as Jabhat al Nusra, the rebel force thatuntil it changed its name and ostensible affiliation a few days agowas the al Qaeda branch in Syria. By prior agreement between Russia and the U.S., any country can freely target the Islamic State extremists (ISIS) or Nusra on Syrian territory. In actual fact, Russia has repeatedly attacked U.S.-backed moderate rebels and civilians, claiming it was attacking Nusra. This means that Russia will feel free to target any location in rebel Aleppo and level it, Abdah said. The Russians want to apply the example of Grozny to Aleppo, he said. There will be no red lines. Every hospital, every school, every civilian area, everything is targeted. Based on the briefing, Abdah sent an urgent message to rebel forces and civil authorities to prepare immediately for the offensive and if at all possible to try to withstand the offensiveat least until the end of September, and more likely until March 2017. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Abdah said the timing of Russias new initiative almost certainly was geared to the U.S. election cycle, and that Russia wanted to present a fait accompli to the U.S. in the next two months. After September, the U.S. administration will not be able to be a party to any major political agreement, and then the Russians will have to wait until spring of next year, when the new administration takes office and formulates its policies, he said. The question is whether Aleppo residents, who are reported to have a maximum of six months of food supplies, can hold out that long. Aleppo has been under siege since July 10, when Syrian government forces, aided by Russian air support, Iranian regular forces, Lebanese Hezbollah, along with Iraqi and Afghan militias, closed the Kastello road, the last supply route into the eastern part of the city. There will be direct consequences for civilians, said Abdah. We will try to protect civilians in the best possible way. We expect armed fighters from outside Aleppo will try to coordinate their work to break the siege and bring in the required humanitarian supplies, he said. Abdah said even if Russia and the Syrian government open corridors to regime-held western Aleppo, he doubted that Aleppo residents will flee the city in big numbers for an uncertain future in displaced persons camps or as destitute refugees in another country. So far the people of Aleppo have not shown any sign of succumbing to these attempts by the Russians, he said. Of course its up to them to decide whether they want to stay or leave. But we have observed that people would like to stay for the moment to defend their families, their properties and their life in the city. Echoing the bitterness of many Syrians, Abdah said the United States is playing a role that no one can understand. I feel the international community has abandoned us at this critical stage, he said. What the Russians are demanding is very clearly a war crime. I believe the U.S. could stop this. Russia would not do this without the implicit feeling that there will be no consequences. Few people have been more effective than Khizr Khan in challenging Donald Trumps early campaign call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States as well as more recent statements that question the loyalty of Muslim Americans. On the final evening of the Democratic National Convention Khan evoked the memory of his son, Capt. Humayun Khan, whose death in Iraq in 2004 earned him the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. In addition to brandishing a copy of the Constitution from his breast pocket, as a means to lay claim to his and the rest of his familys loyalty and citizenship, Khan referenced his sons burial: Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending Americayou will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. For most Americans, a visit to Arlington is a solemn experience that reinforces a deep investment in the belief that on this hallowed ground, loyalty, honor, bravery, and claims to citizenship know no ethnic or racial boundaries. But as historian Micki McKelya argues in her new book, The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery, from its inception the cemetery has been the scene of pitched struggles about the larger meanings of freedom, sacrifice, citizenship, honor, state authority, and the nation itself and about which bodies, alive and dead, are most representative, most capable, and valuable Beginning with the first bodies buried on the ground of the former home of Mary Custis-Lee (great granddaughter of George and Martha Washington) and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, the cemetery at Arlington maintained strict segregation of the fallen. United States Colored Troops were buried in an area known as the Lower Cemetery apart from the white soldiers whose bodies were intentionally placed around the Custis-Lee mansion so as to ensure that the former tenants could never return to their home. Protests by Frederick Douglass and others proved unsuccessful. Failure to correct this practice and the removal of the sites Freedmens Village for former slaves, McKelya writes, further distanced Arlingtons memorial landscape from the emancipationist function of the war and ongoing struggles for the realization of black freedom and citizenship. The re-interment of 267 Confederate soldiers to a prominent location at Arlington and the dedication of a monument to these men in 1914 pushed the nation even further from the memory of emancipation and black military service. Along with the burial of men killed in action during the Spanish-American War, Arlingtons honored dead, according to McKelya, reinforced popular assertions that shared white valor and racially exclusive nationalism were the central legacies of the Civil War. That legacy came under sharp rebuke by African Americans following the death of Col. Charles Young in January 1922. Young was born a slave in Kentucky in 1864, but went on to graduate from West Point and served as a Buffalo Soldier in the Ninth Cavalry out West. Young later established a new Military Science Department at Wilberforce University before being assigned as military attache to Haiti and Liberia. In 1916 Young was posted with the Tenth Cavalry along the border with Mexico and became the first black officer to lead the regiment in battle. His distinguished service, however, did not prevent him from being medically retired on the eve of the Americas entry into World War I. Young fought his forced retirement with a highly publicized ride on horseback from his home in Ohio to Washington, D.C. In November 1922 he was returned to active-duty and returned to his post in Liberia, where he died the following month. Youngs highly publicized burial at Arlington was accompanied by heated commentary by some of the nations leading black leaders. Writing in the NAACCPs magazine the Crisis, W.E.B. DuBois accused the military of sending Young to Liberia to die: They sent him there because he was one of the very best officers in the service and if he had gone to Europe he could not have been denied the stars of a General. They could not stand a black American General. Youngs grave became a pilgrimage site for African Americans, but for DuBois and others it remained a reminder of the old and familiar phases of Caucasian propaganda in the United States. A year before Youngs death saw the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Thousands attended the ceremony, including President Warren G. Harding, former president and then Chief Justice of the United States Court William H. Taft, as well as an ailing former president Woodrow Wilson and Gen. John J. Pershing. While the identity of the tombs occupant was presumed to be unknown, Hardings use of the term citizen reassured the audience that he was white and Protestant. The Selective Service Act of 1917 opened up the army to a wave of recent immigrants, but literacy tests and immigration restrictions extending through much of Asia and todays Middle East restricted the community of those who were thought capable of embodying the soul of an American. Immigration restrictions and quotas continued to be tightened throughout the 1920s by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan in the name of 100% Americanism. Writers such as John Dos Passos used the governments official narrative of the Tombs significance to highlight the nations ethnic and racial fault lines. In one scene from his U.S.A. trilogy, Dos Passos brings the reader to the selection of the Unknown in France with the question, how can you tell a guys a hundredpercent when all youve gots a gunnysack full of bones, bronze buttons stamped with the screaming eagle and a pair of roll puttees? Another soldier responds: Make sure he aint a dinge boys, make sure he aint a guinea or a kike. In Saint Peter Relates an Incident of the Resurrection Day (1930), NAACP Executive Secretary and poet James Weldon Johnson imagines hereditary groups such as the Klan, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and veterans from other American wars rushing to the Tomb to escort its occupant to heaven only to realize: Great God Almighty! Look! they cried, he is a nigger! Victory in World War II, President Harry Trumans order to desegregate the military in 1948, and high-profile burials of Nisei Americans and other non-white service personnel, helped to recast Arlington, according to McKelya, as a terrain of inclusion and meritocracy distinct from other parts of the country, while exhibiting its true national values. Not surprisingly, this reinterpretation has not been without controversy. At the height of the Cold War, official publications and travel brochures tended to cast Arlingtons honored dead as white and heterosexual. Discrimination against gays and lesbians introduced during World War II led to new fights for inclusion among the dead at Arlington that persisted through the rest of the 20th century. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Arlington served as a rallying point to highlight the injustice of asking African Americans to fight for freedom overseas at a time when their own claims to full citizenship were being denied at home. Capt. Humayun Khan gave the last full measure of devotion to this country when he lost his life in uniform while serving in Iraq. His burial at Arlington National Cemetery and his fathers emotional appeal to remember his loyal service as a Muslim American adds another chapter to a landscape that reflects the continued challenges we face as a nation in realizing our founding ideals. The son of Muslim immigrants, it is his familys story and their unwavering loyalty that constitutes the bedrock of this nation. I strongly doubt that Donald Trump will take Khizr Khan up on his suggestion to visit Arlington, but perhaps the rest of us should the next time we find ourselves in the nations capital. Perhaps it will help us to determine whether Mr. Trump is fit to be president of the United States. Kevin M. Levin is a historian and educator based in Boston. He is the author of Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder (2012) and is at work on Searching For Black Confederate Soldiers: The Civil Wars Most Persistent Myth. You can find him online at Civil War Memory and Twitter @kevinlevin. Stocktons mayor cant keep his guns locked up, and at least one of them has been identified as the weapon used to kill a child. A firearm stolen from Anthony Silva was the weapon used to kill a 13-year-old boy last year, the Stockton Record reported on Saturday. It was lifted in one of two gun thefts from the mayors property in as many years. Rayshawn Harris, known as Ray Ray, was gunned down by the mayors .40 caliber Beretta pistol in South Stockton on Feb. 23, 2015. He was walking out of his house on his way to school. His father told the media that Rayshawn was a special needs student, and that hed done all he could to protect his son. A few moments ago I was notified by the media that one of my stolen guns were used in a murder, Silva wrote on Facebook. Words cannot describe my sorrow and heartbreak for the victim and his family. I feel terrible and I feel sick to my stomach. On Saturday night, he posted a seemingly related article about weapons missing from the Stockton police and other agencies. I hope everyone takes the time to watch this, he wrote. Silva did not report the theft of his firearm until a month after the child was killed, according to information obtained by the Record. He only called it in to police on March 22. But the gun was also used on Jan. 15 of that year, according to the public records request. If the mayors gun was indeed stolen, it underscores the importance of the responsibilities that come with 2nd amendment rights to secure weapons and to immediately report to authorities when [they are] missing to prevent tragedies like this from happening, Michael Tubbs, a city council member who is challenging Silva in the mayoral race, said in a statement. Mark Reichel, Silvas attorney, did not return a request for comment. Silva rents out the property where the thefts occurred. He also told the Stockton Record that a theft occurred on March 24, 2015just days after Silva reported the first gun missing. And in February, the mayor reported that yet another weapon had been stolen from the rental property. Silva told the Record in April, when news of his gun thefts first broke, that he had an idea of who stole the second gun. The gun used to kill Harris was recovered by police during a domestic disturbance call on June 9. The second gun has not been recovered. Silva, a Republican, has been mayor of Stockton since 2013. But his tenure has been marred by controversy. Hes trailing Tubbs, a relative newcomer, in his re-election bid. At a mayoral debate in April, Silvawho faces a black challenger in the racecalled himself the first African-American mayor of Stockton. I think I said, Im not African American, but Im pretty darn close. Quite frankly, I could be determined to be the first African-American mayor of Stockton. And the audience got a bit excited, Silva told a local CBS affiliate. His opponent Tubbs said he assumed the mayor was joking. A 19-year-old woman accused Silva of touching her inappropriately and giving her mixed drinks in 2011. Silva denied those allegations and was never charged. On his way home from a trip to China in September 2015, Silvas laptops and cellphone were seized by federal investigators at San Francisco International Airport. They were later returned, but his attorney said he didnt know why Silva was on the federal governments radar. And in December 2014, the mayor was aboard a limousine with a heavily-intoxicated crew when the driver had to call 911 over havoc in the back of his car. He estimated up to $10,000 in damage, including ripped seats and blood stains. One of Silvas entourage was charged for the mess, but Silva gave the cops an earful, the driver said. Silva did not comment on the incident at the time. He was just telling them that he was the mayor, and they told him you just need to sit down, we dont care who you are, you need to sit down and be quiet, the driver said. He was just pretty much being arrogant. Its hard to know where to begin with Donald Trump, the human bonfire otherwise known as the Republican nominee for president, a man so tactless that he unleashed a barrage of attacks on the parents of a fallen war hero. But what we know is this: Trump does not believe in America. Trump appears to hate the very things that define us, this that some would say make us exceptional. He does not believe in the strength of the republic itself, nor in the breadth of our innovation or pioneering spirits. Trump demands that we forget that this ever-perfecting union was built by a grand diversity of people from various walks of life. That it was built by men and women like Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who gave everything based on the collective ideal that the measure of this nation is not found in what it gives to us, but for what we give to it. As party leaders groused privately about the latest salvo in what has arguably become the most ethno-nationalistic campaign run by a major candidate in the modern era, Trump faced what was likely the most consequential test of his character andpredictablyhe failed. Detailing how their son died after a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad 12 years ago, Khizr and Ghazala Khan posited that if Trump had been president they never could have immigrated from Pakistan to the U.S. in the 1970s. Their son, one of three, would never have enlisted in the U.S. Army and would not have been there to take those 10 last steps to save his unit. Trump might have mustered some grace, thanked them for their sons sacrifice, and extended his prayers for their peace and healing. He either would not or could not do that. It became clear in the hours and days that followed, as Trump engaged in public warring with Capt. Khans parents people who dared question his draconian immigration policies, not to mention his familiarity with the U.S. Constitutionthat he has precious little appreciation for our history or our traditions. He is abundantly comfortable, it seems, with placing his fragile, outsized ego ahead of our nations values. He certainly had no problem comparing his business pursuits, conducted in the garish confines of a New York office tower festooned in gold leaf, to the sacrifices made by members of our nations military on the battlefield. Breathlessly posting insults to social mediausing the sort of brutish rhetoric most common among gun-toting, Third World warlords Trump revealed that he not only does not hold Gold Star families sacrosanct, but that he eschews the very nature of our highest ideals. Trump does not believe in us. He does not share our values. Trumps America is a decidedly bleak, dystopian wasteland thatwithout his leadershipwill be invaded and pillaged by marauders. He, alone, is equipped to save us, at least according to him. His most ardent and demonstrable displays of patriotism are not to this countrynot to our interest, both foreign and domesticbut to himself and his own interests. Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism, George Washington told us in his farewell address, published in a 1796 edition of the American Daily Advertiser. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections, Washington wrote. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. It is not a matter of where Trump stands on the ideological spectrum, as Washington made no mention of liberal or conservative principles. Besides, Trumps conservative bona fides have always been as thin and ephemeral as the morning dew against the heat of the rising sun. Thus, we can dispense with the notion that we were collectively outraged as he angrily hurled brickbats during televised interviews because some of us may not agree with him on the political questions of the day. If there is a line of decencya such thing as too far in this political environmentTrump catapulted over it and stuck a landing worthy of an Olympic bid. His rebuke for the Khans, which included accusations that the Clinton campaign wrote the blistering speech delivered on the floor of the DNC, that the Khans had no right to challenge his familiarity with the Constitution, and that the late soldiers mother was likely muzzled by culture and forbidden to address the crowd, was an assault on America. And we should take it personally. Without irony, Trump tweeted that Khizr Khan had 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. Not only had Trump provided prima facie evidence of Khans assertion, he did so with the ugliness of a dagger moth. He either hasnt read the Bill of Rights (or the full Constitution) or he doesnt understand the text. American philosopher and historian Noam Chomsky was clear in his warning that If we dont believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we dont believe in it at all. Those rights, those equal protections, are the very foundation of the American idealof our storied exceptionalism. Khizr Khan, an attorney, could not have been more right when he said Trump wants to have one set of rights for himself and he wants to have another set of rights for others. Make no mistake. As the son of immigrants, a practicing Muslim who became a highly decorated military officer and who died in service of this countryCapt. Khan was the very embodiment of that exceptionalism. His was the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the nation that demands so little from its citizenry in return. If American exceptional is real, Trump clearly has not seen it nor does he believe in it. To find it, he need only look at the lived life of Army Capt. Humayun Khan. The fallen hero would not have liked what Trump had to say about his parents, but he fought and died for his right to say it. Trump should say thank you and shut up. When Khizr Khan, the father of one of the few Muslim-American U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq, gave his blistering address at the Democratic National Convention last Thursday, Fox News Megyn Kelly was talking with commentator Brit Hume about Hillary Clintons emails. As Khan held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution and told Donald Trump, You have sacrificed nothing! Fox cut to a commercial break that, coincidentally, included an attack ad against Clinton followed by a trailer for the new Ben-Hur remake. More surprising, however, is the fact that Fox also failed to air an ostensibly similar speech at the previous weeks RNC. While Fox specifically may have just missed the boat on Khan, whose speech would soon become the biggest story of the DNC, the network can thank none other than Donald Trump for causing them to miss out on the remarks of Patricia Smith, whose son, Sean Smith, was one the four Americans to die during the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya. Smiths speech, which contained lines like, She deserves to be in stripes! as Republicans chanted Lock her up! from the audience, was not seen by Foxs audience because at that exact moment Trump decided to call into the network for a live phone interview with Bill OReilly, essentially interrupting one of his own conventions biggest moments. This past weekend, Trump proceeded to insist he has made sacrifices, pointing to his own business success as a prime example, and then attacked Khans wife Ghazala for standing silently, despite the fact that she had previously explained her grief over the loss of her son made it difficult for her to speak publicly. Meanwhile, on Fox News Sunday, Hillary Clinton disputed Smiths claims that she distorted the facts about what precipitated the Benghazi attack, telling Chris Wallace, I dont hold any ill feeling for someone who in that moment may not fully recall everything that was or wasnt said. All of this brings us to Monday mornings Fox & Friends, during which hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy attempted to deflect attention away from Khizr Khans escalating feud with Trump by accusing the mainstream media of employing a double standard when it comes to these two stories. Sean Smith lost his life in Benghazi and it was one week earlier at the Republican convention where Pat Smith directly and personally blamed Hillary Clinton for her son getting killed, Doocy said. And why isn't this getting coverage? I was on the floor for that, Kilmeade added. I did not know that no networks covered her. Nobody covered those remarks live but almost everybody covered Khans, Mr. Khans remarks live. In reality, CNN and MSNBC covered the speeches of both Smith and Khan live while Fox News was the sole cable-news network to show neither. So in that sense, there is no double standard. This is especially important because on that first night of the RNC during the 8 p.m. hour when Smith spoke, Fox News had more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined. During the 9 p.m. hour on the final day of the DNC, when Khan delivered his remarks, Fox News came in a distant third place in the ratings behind those two networks. That means that while upwards of 10 million people saw Khan speak on cable news alonenot including the millions more who have since watched onlineless than 5 million saw Smith. While some at Fox may want to pin that failure on the mainstream media, they apparently only have themselves to blame. The U.S. Air Force could declare its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet combat-ready as early as Monday. The so-called initial operational capability announcement means the F-35the Pentagons latest radar-evading warplane and the product of historys most expensive weapons programcan, in theory, deploy overseas to bomb ISIS or deter Russia or China. We have achieved all our milestones, Lt. Col. Steven Anderson, an officer with the Air Forces Utah-based 388th Wing, set to be the flying branchs first operational F-35 unittold Air Force magazine, a trade publication. Its up to Gen. Hawk Carlislethe head of Air Combat Command, which oversees most of the Air Forces frontline fighter squadronsto make the formal declaration. Many observers expect Carlisle to make the call no later than Wednesday. That will be an event 20 years and $100 billion in the making. But dont celebrate quite yet. It could take another 20 years and $300 billion for the Air Forcenot to mention the Navy and Marinesto get all 2,400 F-35s they plan on buying. And even though the JSF technically could deploy to a conflict zone as early as August, its likely the Pentagon will hold the plane back for a few more years as it continues to work out its many bugs. For while the F-35 might be officially war-ready, that doesnt mean the military and plane-maker Lockheed Martin have solved all the F-35s problems. Even with the Air Forces endorsement, the Joint Strike Fighter is still less maneuverable, more complex, less reliable, and more expensive than its developers promised. In many ways, the F-35 the Air Force will receive in 2016 is not the plane it thought it would be getting just a few years ago. Originally conceived in 1996 as an inexpensive, multi-purpose warplaneone that could replace almost all the other frontline jet types in Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps squadronsthe JSF proved devilishly complex. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines all wanted different things from the fighter. The only thing they really agreed on was stealththe ability to avoid detection by radars and other sensors by way of radar-scattering wing- and fuselage-shaping and special, energy-absorbing skin coatings. The Air Force wanted its F-35s to be simple, cheap, and maneuverable, with one engine, a small wing and a slim fuselage, all striking the best balance between speed, payload, and turning ability. The Navy preferred the redundancy of a twin-engine plane but, at the very least, needed its F-35s to be able to operate from aircraft carriers at seameaning a bigger wing generating more lift at the cost of speed. Most vexingly, the Marines demanded that their own F-35s have the ability to take off and land vertically so they can fly from the small, carrier-like Navy assault ships the Marines use to launch amphibious assaults. Vertical capability meant adding a downward blasting secondary engine behind the cockpit, which in turn meant a wider fuselage generating more drag than the Air Force was happy with. To satisfy all three main customers, Lockheed devised three versions of the JSFthe F-35A for the Air Force, the F-35B for the Marines, and the Navys F-35C. To keep the cost down, the military and Lockheed wanted the three versions to be as similar as possible. That meant compromiseslargely dictated by the F-35Bs extraordinary vertical takeoff and landing ability. The F-35A has a fatter fuselage than it really needs. The F-35C possesses just one main engine, even though most Navy fighters have two. But the compromises failed to keep the cost down. Indeed, the combination of competing requirements added complexity to the JSF that drove up the cost. In October 2001, when the Pentagon chose Lockheed to build the JSF, officials expected the design and production of about 3,000 F-35s to set back U.S. taxpayers around $200 billion. A few years later that figure had ballooned to $400 billion, plus another $600 billion for fuel, parts, and pilot-training over another 30 or 40 years of flying. And that was after the Pentagon cut hundreds of F-35s from the production plan as a cost-saving measure. Engineers struggled to accommodate all the competing demands on the F-35and ran into trouble. In 2004, the government and Lockheed admitted the JSF was simply too heavy and needed a costly redesign. What followed was a drumbeat of bad news lasting more than a decade, as the various versions of the F-35 slowly took shape and, starting in 2006, began a lengthy period of test-flying. The F-35s power system and engine frequently failed. Its pilots high-tech helmets were bulky and buggy. For a while, it couldnt fly near thunderstorms because it lacked the equipment for channeling lightning strikes. The new planes gun wouldnt be fully operational until 2019. Its software was taking too long to write. Its radar often had to be rebooted mid-flight. And sometimes the F-35 just caught on fire while on the ground. Perhaps most damning, in mid-2015 someone inside the JSF program leaked a test pilots official account of a mock dogfight pitting an F-35 against an Air Force F-16, one of the older planes the F-35 is supposed to replace. The F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage, the pilot wrote. In laymans terms, that means the F-35 couldnt match the F-16 maneuver for maneuver. The military and Lockheed claimed the media took the pilots report out of context and insisted that, in combat, the F-35 would never need to engage in a close-range dogfight, anyway, as it would either shoot down enemy planes at long range or merely avoid them. In the aftermath of the dogfight reports leaking, the F-35s boosters went on a public-relations counteroffensive, frequently highlighting the planes supposed superior performance during war games. And in July 2015, the Marines declared their first F-35B squadron to be combat-ready with 10 planesbut then scheduled the units first deployment for 2017, all but admitting that the combat-readiness declaration was a P.R. ploy. The Air Force had predicted it would designate its first dozen F-35s (out of 180 that Lockheed had delivered to the flying branch) operational between August and December 2016and was clearly determined not to miss that self-imposed deadline. Indeed, with the F-35s software development falling farther and farther behind schedule, in 2013 Gen. Mike Hostage, then the top officer in Air Combat Command, had to make a choiceeither give the developers an extra couple of years to work on the F-35 or water down the official definition of operational in order to suit the new planes condition. Hostage chose to water down the F-35s requirements, limiting the range of missions the plane would be capable of undertaking and reducing the variety of weapons it would be able to carry. The decision was politically motivated. The general began to realize the overall negative repercussions associated with waiting, according to an official Air Force account of the decision-making process. Feedback from lawmakers reinforced Hostages concerns. The read on Congresswas that there was more support overall for an early declaration, the Air Force recalled. These opinions came from the negative connotation with having over 180 F-35A aircraft parked on runways without [initial operational capability] and also being two years behind the Marines. So when Carlisle gives the 388th Wings first dozen F-35s the official thumbs-up, dont get too excited. Even if Carlisle expects you to do so. The minute I declare initial operational capability, if the combatant commander called me up and said, We need F-35s, I would send them, Carlisle told reporters in July. But in reality, it could be years before F-35s see combat. The Air Force wanted until 2018 to keep refining the JSFand it might just take that time despite the official war-readiness nod. Theres certainly precedent for a delay. The Air Force declared the F-22 stealth fighterthe F-35s bigger, slightly older cousinoperational in 2006, but waited eight years to finally send the jets into combat. From a young age, Humayun S.M. Khan loved America. He became thoroughly entangled in the life and work of Thomas Jefferson, and even spent his high school years teaching disabled children how to swim. Khan eventually enrolled in the Army to help him afford law school and proved to be a gifted soldier, ascending to captain. On June 8, 2004, while stationed in Iraq, Khan spotted a suspicious vehicle heading toward him and his men by a checkpoint. His fellow soldiers told The Washington Post that Khan yelled for everyone to hit the dirt. Then, as was his nature, he went running toward it. The vehicle was outfitted with an IED, and the explosives detonated before the car could ram the gates or the mess hall nearby, where several hundred soldiers were eating breakfast, claiming Khans life but saving the lives of countless U.S. troops. Capt. Khan was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery alongside fellow heroes on June 15 , a week after his death. He is also a Pakistani American, and a Muslim. This past week, Khans father, Khizr Khanflanked by his wife, Ghazaladelivered an impassioned speech at the Democratic National Convention railing against Republican nominee Donald Trumps proposed Muslim travel ban, which would have prevented a hero like Capt. Khanwhose family came to America from the UAEfrom sacrificing his life for his adopted country. Donald Trump, youre asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy, proclaimed Khizr Khan, waving his pocket copy of the Constitution in the air. During his HBO series Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver called Khans speech the emotional highlight of the DNC, and relished an American founding document being inspirationally used as a middle finger to Trump. He then cut to what he called the most devastating part of Khans speech, addressing Trump: Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots defending the United States of America. Youll see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one! Trump, whos denigrated Sen. John McCain for being caught as a POW during the Vietnam War, had to be publicly pressured by The Washington Post to donate the charitable funds hed promised to a veterans group, and himself used deferments to dodge the Vietnam draft, has said a lot of crazy things this campaign. Oliver likens it to the bed of nails principle: if you step on one nail, it hurts you; if you step on a thousand nails, no single one stands out, and youre fine. That is how Donald Trump has managed to say pretty much anything in this campaign, seemingly without consequences, said Oliver. And yet, even with that caveat, his response when asked about that speech from Khizr Khan stands out. Yes, Trump went on ABC News This Week with George Stephanopoulos and, when asked about Khans speech, said the following: I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wifeif you look at this wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say? You tell me. But plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet and looked like she had nothing to say. If you didnt get that, Trump implied that Ghazala Khan, the grieving mother of a U.S. soldier killed in action, was pressured not to speak by her husband because of their Muslim faith. OK. For a start, his wife has explained that she chose not to speak because she gets too upset when she sees images of her dead sons face, you FUCKING asshole, said Oliver. This presumably hit close to home for the comedian, who met his wife Kate Norley, an Iraq War veteran, at the 2008 Republican National Convention. When Stephanopoulos asked Trump, What sacrifice have you made for your country? the real estate heir and former reality show host responded: I think Ive made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very, hard; Ive created thousands and thousands of jobstens of thousands of jobs; built great structures; Ive had tremendous success Those, of course, are not sacrifices. They are self-serving half-truths from a self-serving half-man who has somehow convinced half the country that sacrifice is the same thing as success, said an enraged Oliver. Honestly, the main takeaway from these two [convention] weeks is that, incredibly, we may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may actually be beyond his capabilitiesand I genuinely did not think that was a part of the job that someone could be bad at. It would almost be heart-warming that one media-obsessed megalomaniac has finally found his equal were it not for the fact that one is now within 6 percentage points of the American presidency and the other is Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder and editor in chief took to CNN and NBCs Meet the Press this weekend to explain his reason for releasing the Democratic National Committees hacked emails and to answer questions about whether they were obtained through the Russian intelligence services. In an answer to the first question, Assange told Anderson Cooper on Friday evening that he felt an obligation to WikiLeaks readers and that the decision to publish the emails just hours before Hillary Clinton accepted her partys nomination was indeed opportunistic. If we published after, you can just imagine how outraged the Democratic voting population would have been, Assange said. It had to have been before. Very well, then. On the question of how his organization came into possession of this privileged correspondence, Assange told Cooper that he cant comment on anything that might reflect on sourcing to rule things in or rule things out. So he wont say if Vladimir Putins domestic and military intelligence agencies hacked the DNC, as a growing list of U.S. officials, independent cybersecurity analysts, and now Clinton herself believe, andas is farther from being provenhanded everything they found to a digital collective ostensibly committed to total transparency, for the purpose of influencing a foreign election. Assange has made his contempt for Clinton explicit. In a recent interview with British ITVs Robert Peston, he said he believed the former secretary of state was trying to have him indicted for publishing U.S. diplomatic cables and military documents five years ago. He also chided Clinton for her support of the Libya intervention and her record as a liberal war hawk. On the WikiLeaks website, he described her as the candidate for endless, stupid war, writing that Clinton shouldnt be let near a gun shop, let alone an army. And she certainly should not become president of the United States. When Peston asked about Trump, however, Assange was cagier, declining to say whether he prefers the Manhattan real estate developer as the next commander in chief. Trump, he merely submitted, is completely unpredictable against the known quantity that is Clinton. There has been a surfeit of discussion and debate in the press lately about Trumps financial and political closeness to the Putin regime, much of it centered on whether the GOP nominee is a Manchurian candidatea navel-gazing and pointless exercise, as Mikhail Zygar, one of Russias top Kremlinologists, more or less showed in Politico last week. Trump is the ideal candidate for Putin because he is, in the Kremlins opinion, extremely pragmatic, extremely unprincipled and extremely cynicalwhich makes him easier to reach an understanding with. Not to mention that Trump, unlike Clinton and just about the entire rest of the Washington foreign policy class, has explicitly expressed admiration and sympathy for Putin. Trump certainly campaigns increasingly as if he holds dearer Putins national security interests than he does Americas. Leave aside the now-ancient scandal about defending Article V of the Atlantic Charter in the event that Baltic NATO allies are invaded by Russia. Trump has schizophrenically characterized a prior invasion as both no cause for bilateral discomfort and ontologically void. At a press conference on July 27, following his own nominating convention, Trump claimed that he will be looking into whether the United States should end sanctions on the Russia over its invasion of a neighboring country and perhaps also recognize Crimea as Russian Federation territory, a position that not even Beijing has brought itself to espouse owing to its own fears of Russian meddling in the Far East. In a separate interview just days later with ABCs George Stephanopoulos, Trump actually denied that Russian soldiers are currently in Ukraine, against the logic of his prior statement and all evidence to the contraryincluding Putins own belated admission about the seizure of Crimea through force two years ago. Moreover, Trump vowed that Putin is not gonna go into Ukraine, all right. You can mark it down. Assanges curious relationship with the Russian government is both older and more fully ventilated, although its worth reviewing in light of his return to the prime-time spotlight and refusal to disclaim that Putins spooks gave him his latest scoop. Where WikiLeaks may have once advertised itself as a categorical enemy of state atrocities, hypocrisies, and liesand once did indeed do a public serviceit now behaves as if it honors this noble raison detre selectively. It had little regard for the massive Panama Papers disclosures of offshore asset-keeping, much of it belonging to Kremlin insiders. It tweeted, without evidence, that the disclosures were funded by the U.S. government through USAID as an attack story on Putin. (Assange is widely believed to personally man the organizations social media account.) Assange also had a short-lived talk show that was broadcast on the Kremlin-funded propaganda network RT, which has assiduously pushed Trumps candidacy. The first guest was Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, a U.S.-designated terrorist who many sympathetic TV presenters in Middle East have not been granted access to but RTs producers managed to reach in his hideaway bunker in Lebanon and beam his chubby visage into Norfolk, England, where Assange stayed prior to his arrival at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been holed up since 2012, evading extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Not that the Ecuadorian government is terribly indulgent of its guest. According to the journal Focus Ecuador, within months of Assanges asylum being issued by Quito, the countrys intelligence agency SENAIN started spying on him in the Knightsbridge embassy in an operation dubbed Hotel. According to Focus Ecuador, In some instances, [Assange] requested that he be able to choose his own Security Service inside the embassy, suggesting the use of Russians. For the SENAIN agents, such choice would have meant, among other problems, the loss of control of the Embassy itself, leaving the guest free access to control and manage the flow of information. The report even asserts that it would have been the equivalent of a coup in the embassy. (A full English translation of that article can be found here.) The periodical did not further speculate about why someone so concerned with being safe from the long reach of government spies and operatives was seeking the protection of a security service known for surveilling, kidnapping, and killing its own citizens, both at home and abroad. Assange has also said it was his idea for Edward Snowden to seek asylum not in Ecuador but in Russia. He preferred Latin America, the Australian said in August 2015, but my advice was that he should take asylum in Russia despite the negative PR consequences, because my assessment is that he had a significant risk he could be kidnapped from Latin America on CIA orders. Kidnapped or possibly killed. As proof that WikiLeaks played a role in orchestrating Snowdens asylum case, Assange dispatched one of the organizations representatives, the British journalist Sarah Harrison, to accompany the former NSA spy on his journey to Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. Harrison also turned up at a press conference with him there. It remains a mystery how Harrison was granted a visa to Moscow when her employer boasts of its mission of stealing state secrets for publication and when investigative journalists on foreign passports who do far less than that are denied entry to Russia or get expelled or, in extreme cases, murdered. We also have WikiLeakss one-time content aggregator in Putin-land, Israel Shamir, whose name was conspicuously absent on CNN until I mentioned it on Saturday. As the organizations former enlistee James Ball put in the Guardian, a self-styled Russian peace campaigner with a long history of antisemitic writing, Shamir was introduced to the team under the pseudonym Adam, and it was only several weeks after he had leftwith a huge cache of unredacted [U.S. State Department] cablesthat most of us started to find out who he was. This was a Google searchs worth of work, really. Shamirs views seem to both anticipate and underscore those of the alt-right Trump support wing on social media. Daily Beast columnist Michael Moynihan ably catalogued his fascism in Reason magazine. Shamir believes that Auschwitz was not a Nazi death camp but rather a Red Cross-overseen internment facility; that all Muslims and Christians are duty-bound to deny that the Shoah ever took place; that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is not a debunked tsarist fabrication but actually a Jewish manual for world domination; and that Jews themselves are a virus in human form. Shamirs son, the fabulist hack Johannes Wahlstrom, has also been identified as WikiLeaks spokesman in Sweden. Father and son appear to have found a boss who has himself floated perilously close into the same orbit of bigoted lunacy. According to Ian Hislop, the editor of Britains Private Eye, Assange accused that venerable satirical weekly of being part of a conspiracy led by the Guardian which included journalist David Leigh, [former] editor Alan Rusbridger and John Kampfner from Index on Censorshipall of whom are Jewish. (In fact, Rusbridger is not Jewish, but Assange explained that he nevertheless qualifies as a member of the tribe by being the brother-in-law of David Leigh, another Guardianista, who is.) Assange denied saying any such things, but the WikiLeaks Twitter account, widely believed to be personally manned by Assange, has now taken to trafficking in overt anti-Semitism of its own. It recently referring to its critics as "establishment climbers" with "3 (((brackets around their names)))" and "black-rim glasses." (The brackets symbol is used by the pro-Trump alt-right to denote suspected Jews online; it has been reclaimed proudly by Jewish Twitter users as a symbol of defiance, which WikiLeaks/Assange has labeled "tribalist.") The Guardian, meanwhile, long ago learned that its erstwhile media partner has a rather cavalier attitude about protecting innocents mentioned in classified texts he disseminates. Afghans who risked Taliban reprisals by working with U.S. and NATO forces were informants, Assange has said, according to Leigh and Luke Harding, a British reporter who was chucked out of Russia for writing truthfully about Putin. So, if they get killed, theyve got it coming to them. They deserve it. Which makes it rather adorable that Assange insisted to Brian Stelter that WikiLeaks had a 10-year record of presenting totally accurate information to the public. Some members of the public have even got advance copies. In December 2010, the odious Shamir went to Belarus with the bundle of unredacted cables Ball mentioned, all of which were drafted in Minsk. According to journalist Kapil Komireddi, Shamir then met with Vladimir Makei, the chief of staff of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, and turned over everything he had, featuring the names of prominent Belarusian dissidents and opposition figures who had met with U.S. diplomats over the years. Then Shamir hung around to monitor the countrys forthcoming presidential election, which was as free and fair as youd expect in a country whose secret police are still known as the KGB. Lukashenko of course won, with 80 percent of the vote, and imprisoned his closest rival, my friend Andrei Sannikov, who was subsequently tortured in jail. As Komireddi noted, Shamirs hand-delivery of cables to what was then an uncomplicated pro-Putin satellite regime was more to bolster a crackdown on political freedom after the fact rather than furnish an enemies list. Soviet Belarus, a state-run newspaper, Komireddi wrote, began serializing what it claimed to be extracts from the cables gifted to Lukashenko by Shamir. Among the figures exposed as recipients of foreign cash were Sannikov, the defeated opposition presidential candidate; Oleg Bebenin, Sannikovs press secretary, who was found dead in suspicious circumstances months before the elections; and Vladimir Neklyayev, the writer and former president of Belarus PEN, who also ran against Lukashenko and is now under house arrest. Shamir, unsurprisingly, has nothing but praise for Putin. Ukraines Euromaidan revolution he calls a Neocon-led conspiracy in Kiev led by Brown storm-troopers. He also joyously presents the sham referendum held in occupied Crimea as almost unanimously in favor of joining Russia. Since Russian occupation, Crimea has become a mafia statelet where activists are arrested and tortured, and Russias satrapy has banned the indigenous Tatar majlis (or legislature) and incarcerated several of that antique Muslim communitys most prominent figureson the eve of the anniversary of Stalins 1944 deportation and genocide of Crimean Tatars, no less. In our era of ideological insanity, I suppose we shouldnt be surprised that a bizarre mind-meld has taken place among such a troika of world-historical solipsists: one in charge of 11 time zones and many nuclear weapons; one confined to a Third World mission and still hungry for press clippings; and one who thinks that wars only exist depending on the time of day and his own particular mood. Now we find Trump surrogates on CNN denying that Russia ever seized Crimea in the first place, which exculpates the Kremlin from any unpleasantness visited upon the peninsula, while Paul Manafort smiles and says he knows nothing about Russian hackers or any money trail leading from the campaign he manages back to Moscow. And dont expect to find one, Manafort adds, as Trump wont be releasing his tax returns, after all. A terrible weekend is turning into an even worse Monday for Gawker Media founder Nick Denton. The 49-year-old Denton, who built his privately held company into a multi-million-dollar media enterprise and at one point was said to have an estimated personal net worth of over $100 million, is filing for personal bankruptcy in New York federal court to protect himself from instant penury. This, after a Florida judge ruled on Friday that Gawker and Denton must start paying celebrity wrestler Hulk Hogan the $140.1 million a Florida jury awarded Hogan (real name: Terry Bollea) in the sensational sex video trial last March. On this bitter day for me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaires vendetta, Denton tweeted on Monday morning. This was a reference to Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who had been secretly funding Bolleas lawsuit, among other anti-Gawker litigation, in retaliation for now-defunct Gawker property Valleywags report in 2007 that Thiel, like Denton, is gay. Denton added on Twitter: Gawker Media Groups resilient brands and people will thrive under new ownership, when the sale closes in the next few weeks. Hours later, in a memo to Gawker Media employees, Denton wrote: You may have seen the news that I have, as expected, had to join the company in bankruptcy. Peter Thiels legal campaign has targeted individual writers like Sam Biddle, editors such as John Cook, and me as publisher. It is a personal vendetta. And yes, its a disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didnt like the coverage. Still, Im in a positive frame of mind, because our influential brands will soon be free to thrive under new ownership, and our very existence as an independent entity has been a triumph. For once, the journalistic cliche is appropriate: Weve spoken truth to power. Sometimes uncomfortable truths. Sometimes gossipy truths. But truths. There is a price to pay for that, and I am paying it now. But we never gave up our souls in the pursuit of an easy life. Gawker Media has already filed for corporate bankruptcy protection, and is expected to put itself up for sale in a court-supervised auction later in August. While other buyers might enter the bidding, Ziff Davis has the inside track, having already agreed to pay $90 million to acquire Dentons company. As part of Fridays rulingwhich Denton and Gawker are appealing to Florida state appeals courtCircuit Judge Pamela A.M. Campbell accused Denton of purposely overstating to the court the value of his Gawker stock; when he offered to use the stock as a security for the $50 million bond required by Florida law, Denton valued his holdings at $81 million. But, the judge argued, he had already agreed in principle to the the Ziff Davis offer, which valued Dentons shares30 percent of the company--at less than half the figure he provided to the court. Mr. Dentonmisled this court in connection with [his] pledge of Gawker Media Group, Inc. stock by concealing material information about the value of that stock which a reasonable person, under the circumstances, should have disclosed, Campbell declared, according to a press report of Fridays ruling. I have to say that I think the Court really got this one wrong, Denton said Friday, responding to Campbells ruling. It was already widely reported that Gawker was putting in place a contingency plan to sell its websites. And the $81 million company valuation the court relied on was Hogans valuation. We told the Court they did not know what the companys shares would be worth, especially after it had been pummeled by Hogan and Thiel, but were willing to pledge all of them. There was no misrepresentation. After two weeks of testimony from the British-born Denton and Bollea, the St. Petersburg, Fla., jury ordered Denton to personally pay Bollea $10 milliona ruinous figure that, absent personal bankruptcy protection, could result in Denton and his husband, actor Derrence Washington, losing their home among other assets. Boleas attorney, David Houston, expressed zero sympathy for their plight on Monday. Following a lengthy trial, a jury verdict and much legal maneuvering, the time has come for Nick Denton to accept responsibility for the decisions he made and the rewards he reaped based on the suffering and humiliation of others, Houston said in a statement. Mr. Denton has spent vast amounts of time and money attempting to dodge his responsibility and a judge has subsequently determined that he misled the court in these efforts. The Appellate court, in which he has guaranteed victory over Mr. Bollea, is not the puppet he thought it would be. His bankruptcy has nothing to do with who paid Mr. Bolleas legal bills, and everything to do with Dentons own choices and accountability. If even one person has been spared the humiliation that Mr. Bollea suffered, this is a victory. The couple has already moved out of their pricey Soho loft to less expensive living quarters on the Upper West Side. Yet, like the Monty Python tune advises, Denton prefers to look on the bright side of life. GMGs media brands pass 100m global users in July, lifted by news, energy and talent, he wrote in a separate tweet Monday. So proud of our people. Here is Nick Dentons memo: You may have seen the news that I have, as expected, had to join the company in bankruptcy. Peter Thiels legal campaign has targeted individual writers like Sam Biddle, editors such as John Cook, and me as publisher. It is a personal vendetta. And yes, its a disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didnt like the coverage. Still, Im in a positive frame of mind, because our influential brands will soon be free to thrive under new ownership, and our very existence as an independent entity has been a triumph. For once, the journalistic cliche is appropriate: Weve spoken truth to power. Sometimes uncomfortable truths. Sometimes gossipy truths. But truths. There is a price to pay for that, and I am paying it now. But we never gave up our souls in the pursuit of an easy life. What really lifts my spirits is the way in which we have stood together and just kept on writing, coding, and selling. Our stories reached 12 million more people around the world in July (104m) than they did in April (92m), before the bankruptcy. We were all over the political conventions and Pokemon Go, among other stories. Eyal just sent round a note saying that last week brought in a million dollars in direct advertising bookings, positioning us well for a further rebound once the future direction of the business is clear. Amazon Prime Day was 63 percent up on last year, with $7m in sales for merchant partners, underlining the unique credibility that brands such as Gizmodo have with consumers. Every department has kept focus and momentum. The pace of product development is sure and rapid. Our writers are the most productive and effective in digital media. The sales materials are more coherent and professional than they have ever been. Our sites dominate news in categories like technology, cars, and video games. The brands and the business, which we have built together, are in amazingly robust shape. Well go into the final stage of the sale with confidence in our continued momentum, and the knowledge that weve all been witnesses to a media miracle. This is a company founded by a journalist, built around a journalistic mission, beholden only to readers. We can be proud that we survived and prospered as an independent company for more than a decade, and have a second act ahead of us, under the shelter finally of a larger media company. Gawker endures. Nick Following a successful convention for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, which included many members of the Democratic establishment celebrating the campaign of Bernie Sanders, youd be surprised to learn that Tim Kaineyes, that aw-shucks guy from Virginia with the bad Trump impressionhas become the new source of contention between Sanders supporters and the DNC. Leading up to the convention, most of the talk between Sanders people and the DNC revolved around their dislike of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the leaked DNC emails, but these issues essentially solved themselves via Wasserman Schultzs resignation, and the revelation that Russia most likely was responsible for the leak. Donald Trumps additional encouragement for Russia to hack into more Clinton emails showed that the likely alternative to a Hillary presidency would be an unstable, bigoted, and quasi-treasonous fear monger, and this only further solidified the importance of the #NeverTrump/#ImWithHer movement. Segments of Sanderss supporters have never warmed to the idea of Kaine being Clintons running mate. To them, Kaine is an establishment, moderate Democrat, and therefore his choice represents a rejection by Clinton of their progressive ideals and the revolution they intend to foment. Kaines support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and his unorthodox position on abortion (personally against abortion but supportive of law) has also drawn the ire of Sanders supporters. All that, one can kind of understand. But heres where it gets weird. Sanderss supporters appear totally uninterested in both Kaines celebrated civil rights record as a public servant and as an attorney, and his documented liberal track record. In 2014, Kaine scored a respectable 90 percent (PDF) on the liberal Americans for Democratic Action rating, which was not far behind Sanderss 95 percent. So he is far from a moderate in general terms. But its on race that Kaine has been a genuine leader and taken real chances. In the 1980s after graduating from Harvard Law, Kaine was at the forefront of combating discriminatory housing practices in Virginia, and hes been a staunch defender of the Voting Rights Act, which enfranchised African Americans in his state and across the South. In light of the discriminatory voting practices being implemented in many states, and in light of, well, Donald Trump, Kaines ideals are desperately needed, yet some Sanders supporters prefer to overlook these progressive credentials, while wondering why they lost the black vote to Clinton. Why do the Sanders people get to decide that taking on the big banks and opposing trade agreements count as more progressive than what Kaine has done on civil rights? There is also an irony in some Sanders supporters disregard for Kaines track record because earlier in the campaign, Sanderss camp became frustrated that Sanderss history of civil rights advocacy failed to resonate with African American voters. It was illogical for his long and documented track record to be ignored and derided, they argued then. Yet now they are doing what they once bemoaned. And the truth is that while Bernie did get arrested during a protest when he was a student at the University of Chicago, and has championed civil liberties from the safe, homogenous confines of Vermont, Kaine has chosen to place himself far more directly on the front lines of racial battles in the heavily African American, and racially confrontational capital of the old Confederacy. (Sanders inveighs against the banks, by the way, from the safety of a state that doesnt have any.) In the Bernie peoples eyes, some of Kaines recent positions could have been more progressive, and this equates to Clinton and the DNC thumbing their nose at Sanderss progressive revolution. Its a form of Hillary Clinton saying to the Bernie Sanders constituency, Screw you, because we think we have enough of you, said Norman Solomon, the Marin County, California-based leader of an informal group of Sanders delegates known as the Bernie Delegates Network, to Politico . Solomons criticism speaks to the central divide between the Clinton and Sanders camp: Clinton is trying to win an election and Sanders is trying to launch a revolution. And to a small segment of supporters the progress of the revolution is not necessarily contingent on a Clinton victory. The contempt some Sanders supporters display toward Kaine (and, of course, Clinton) reflects their overestimation of the impact of their revolutionand, importantly, a neglect of the other revolutions happening at the same time within the Democratic electorate, and this is a trait that has remained throughout his campaign. The Black Lives Matter movement has energized and mobilized African-American voters across the nation, and has made criminal justice, race relations, and inequality a vital issue in the eyes of black voters. The rapid growth of the Latino population has also changed the face of Democratic politics. Blacks and Latinos will make up over a quarter of the electorate in many swing states and could potentially decide this election. Additionally, Trumps demonization of minorities including blacks, Mexicans, and Muslims has further mobilized these communities and required that the Democrats demonstrate how they truly have evolved into an inclusive, equity-focused multicultural party that can adequately address the vital issues of these interconnected communities. Despite the importance of Sanderss revolution, it is only one within a sea of seismic revolutions/movements that are reshaping the Democratic Party and American politics. The hubris displayed by some Sanders supporters to feel untowardly aggrieved by the selection of Kaine not only shows how out of touch they are with the rapidly changing face of American politics, but also the necessity to defeat Trump. Kaines selection has caught many people off guard because most Americans do not know him. Kaine will have to prove that he is up to the task nationally. Hes going to have to prove his bona fides to many segments of the Democratic electorate. His fluency in Spanish may help with Clintons outreach to the Latino community, but that is far from guaranteed. However, choosing Kaine virtually guarantees winning Virginia, which voted twice for George W. Bush, and gives Trump a narrower path to victory. Experts speculate that Trump may need to sweep Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina to have a chance of winning, and Kaines moderate appeal and civil rights record will help win voters in Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. A progressive, Sanders-approved VP would not bring in voters that Sanders could not attract himself, and probably would not help much in these vital states. Remember that Clinton beat Sanders in all of them, and by double digits in all four. These disgruntled Sanders supporters need to recognize that their revolution is not more important than the other revolutions consuming the Democratic Party and it certainly is not more important than defeating Trump in November. Their revolution will be in much better shape under a Clinton presidency than a Trump one. Sparking division, and using Kaine as an outlet for their frustrations forged from unrealistic expectations, will help no one, and only undermine their credibility. Revolutions do not have deadlines or due dates, but elections do. If they care about their revolution they should devote their energy over the next 100 days to helping Clintonand Kaine, who is plenty progressive, just not in their preferred wayswin. The early returns suggest that Hillary Clinton is getting a convention bounce, converting a one- or two-point margin-of-error lead into something close to six (in a new post-convention CBS News poll, for example). Well see more polls today, and tomorrow, and the next day and the next day, but it looks for now like the Democrats version of Morning in America is working, especially against Mr. Midnight in America. There is one potential danger coming out of the convention, though, that Ross Douthat identified in his New York Times column Sunday: That while the Democrats offered up a lot of symbolism that undoubtedly appealed to Republicans and right-leaning independents, they put forward nothing of substance to give those voters a good hard reason to dump Trump and go with HRC. Douthat built his case on three points: abortion, immigration, and entitlement reform. On all three, he argued, the Democratic platform jumped leftward this year, leaving the voters hes concerned about with little or no plausible way to rationalize a Clinton vote. The program was just Great Society liberalism come round again, saner than Trumpism but ideologically similar at bottom. Its a fair argument to a point, but ideologically similar? Not adding rare to the rhetorical mantra about abortion is ideologically similar to proposing that thousands of federal agents be empowered to enter immigrant families homes, find out which ones of them came here without papers, and take those family members away? Not paying lip service to deficit reduction is equivalent to suggesting that members of a particular religious group be banned from entering the country? Now thats a three-dimensional game of false equivalence if Ive ever seen one! Douthat felt some of that good old Twitter heat on Sunday and took to the platform to re-explain himself in a series of 15 tweets that made a more interestingand to some extent persuasivecase than the original column. Here are a few of the tweets that sum up the gist: 2/ There is a growing sense among liberals now that its simply obvious that anti-Trump conservatives should and indeed must support HRC. 3/ There are plausible arguments that theyre right. BUT: I think liberals could profit from imagining how they themselves would react 4/ were the shoe on the other foot. That is, imagine a Trump of the left as the Democratic nominee. 6/ Okay. You dont want to support them. But the Republican nominee is Rick Santorum. Then there were a few in which he defended analogizing Clinton to Santorum, and then: 13/ And its that level of ideological horror that liberals need to recognize that many conservatives feel about idea of a Hillary vote. Okay, I kinda get that. Suppose the Democratic Party had nominated I dont know, whos the closest equivalent to Trump? Ive thought about this and the best answer I can conjure up is Sean Penn. Hes famous from another realm, and his views are generally outside the mainstream. But Penns no racist/neo-fascist, so its quite unfair to him in that respect, but as a loose analogy, it sort of works. I cant come up with anyone better. But Santorum is a bridge too far, because hes been such an intense culture warrior (Douthat acknowledged this in a subsequent tweet). No, a Republican analogue to Clinton would be someone who is somewhat centrist, who picks his conservative spots, and who, like Clinton, is dragging around some scandal baggage. Anyone come to mind? YesChris Christie! Thats the Clinton of the GOP, or as close as we can come. I mean the pre-groveling-to-Trump Christie. So lets imagine that this election were Democrat Sean Penn versus Republican Chris Christie. Could I support Christie? To be honest, I doubt it. Id probably skip voting on the presidency and take the George Will position, which I think is rather honorable under the circumstancesjust let the other side have it for four years, and well concentrate on Congress for now and regroup in 2020. But heres the answer to Douthats column, not his tweets. I dont think Christie making comparatively minor rhetorical adjustments would persuade me to vote for him, no. And more than that, I dont think Christie would need the likes of me to beat Penn. This calls into question the premise of Douthats 2/ tweet. I wouldnt say its simply obvious that anti-Trump conservatives should back Clinton. Its got to be very painful for committed conservatives to back Hillary Clinton. What they should do, though, is say that while they cant vote for Clinton, Donald Trump should never be president of the United States, ever. Thats the only principled position for conservatives to take in this election. It doesnt endorse Clinton. But it says what needs to be said about Trump. People may infer from those two statements what they wish. As for Clinton and the Democrats lefty platform, well, well see if the Democrats are going to pursue all those things. I would imagine that if we really research the matter, wed find that presidents dont especially follow platforms. Every Republican president since 1980 was supposed to end legal abortion, but none did. Presidents do what seems politically possible at the time. The platform, as Douthat surely knows, was an intra-party negotiation with Sanders people to get their support. It doesnt hold a Clinton administration to anything. If shes president and the best she can do on minimum wage is $11 instead of $15, thats what shell do. Her selection of Tim Kaineand her own historytell us more about what kind of president shell be than the platform. I find Kaine admirable: Its much harder to be pretty liberal in Virginia than it is to be a perfect lefty in, oh, Vermont, to choose a state name out of a hat. I find Clinton too cautious and have said so dozens of times, but for better or worse her history and nature are surer guides to how shell govern than the platform is. I would also expect that she and Kaine will make the overtures Douthat is asking formaybe not those exact ones, but one or two general-election audience signals that she wants some center-right votes. If Trump is going to cede that space by offending everyone in sight, shed be foolish not to try to take it. I feel for conservative pundits and thinkers to some extent, I really do. Ive wondered many times what I would do if the situation were reversed. But heres the thing: The situation is not reversed. And it would never be reversed. The idea that the Democrats would nominate Sean Penn or, I dont know, Alan Grayson (who probably isnt even going to win his primary) or Charlie Sheen or Susan Sarandon or whomever is totally insane. Democrats have cantered a bit to the left, but the Republicans have galloped to the right like Secretariat on crack. And over these past eight years of birther conspiracies and racially coded barbs at the moocher-class president, theyve led their voters to the point where those voters thought voting for Donald Trump was a sensible and defensible thing. If I were on the right, Id spend a lot more time examining why that happened than I would analyzing Hillarys imperfections. Andrew Lang kept to himself, so its almost fitting that the customers waiting in line for cronuts ignored his death. Lang made headlines last week when he died on a park bench next to Dominique Ansel Bakery in Manhattans SoHo; the Edward Hopper-like photo of his body, upright on the bench under a white police sheet, legs crossed in an almost jaunty, nonchalant stance, doesnt give off the customary whiff of tragedy usually associated with death. Since then its been speculated he was homelessor worse. Because of the publicity surrounding his death, his family has had to read everything from how he may not have had a family to him possibly being a local pervert. If he only knew everything that was being said about him, his mother said when reached by The Daily Beast. He would be horrified. No one was more private than Andy. He treasured anonymity. Lang, 47, grew up in Wisconsin as the son of a self-made multi-millionaire but moved to Manhattan long ago and worked occasionally as a film producer on movies like Loverboy and with directors like Michael Mailer and Eduardo Sanchez. He didnt kill himself and he wasnt leading a double life or any of those things, his sister Molly Lang Mattison told The Daily Beast, adding he died of natural causes. He was just a very private individual. He loved New York so much. He was a loner and loved the citys anonymity. He wasnt on social media. He hated questions about himself. You couldnt ask him questions. He was an enigma. Lang was single with no children and lived in a $3 million condo on Sullivan Street. A creature of habit who ate the same meal (with two martinis) at the same restaurant at the same table every night, Lang often also liked to sit on the bench nearest the tree at Vesuvio playground before returning home. On the night of July 21 he sat down for the last time. Police werent called until people began arriving at the nearby Dominique Ansel Bakery for its legendary cronuts at 5 a.m. the next morning and someone noticed he was dead. The combination of a few cronut lovers tweeting about how surreal it was that the other 30 customers in line appeared unfazed by the nearby corpse proved irresistible to the New York press. People in line for cronuts unfazed by Nearby Corpse, the Post reported. Mans Corpse Didnt Taint Customers Sweet Appetites, proclaimed the Daily News. Cronut Line Rerouted Due to Dead Body, said Gothamist. A tourist from Oregon told one paper that he was so struck by Langs peaceful expression that he assumed he was just sleeping so he sat next to him and snapped photos. Details about Lang himself were sparse compared to the descriptions of cronuts although one report shed doubt on his possible homelessness by quoting a neighbor who said he was nice but may not have had a family. What people wrote was so awful, said Susanne Lang, who traveled to New York from Wisconsin with her husband where they spent five days unraveling the paperwork surrounding their sons death. Lang tried to reach one newspaper to complain about their coverage but said she gave up when she had to create an account to log in to the site. They all were just poking fun of my sons death and sensationalizing it. What hurt me the most was how other papers kept picking up the story and running with it. Andy was such a gentle soul. He didnt deserve any of this. Langs husband Robert is a well-known entrepreneur and developer in the Milwaukee suburb of Delafield. He made his first fortune in calendars but eventually sold the $65 million Lang Companies, Inc. Lang later became obsessed with developing a 650-acre plot of land that became the Erin Hills golf club, site of the 2017 U.S. Open Championship. In 2001 he helped bankroll a movieRed Betsy, set in 1941 Delafieldthat his son Andrew produced. It was a very Midwestern story, the director Chris Boebel said. And the Langs are a very Midwestern family. The father is just as private as Andrew. I remember Andy being very excited by movies. At the time I met him he was just a nice guy on his way up and trying to make it in New York. Langs sister said the irony of her brother becoming so notorious, however briefly, in death, was such that she and her mother almost wished he were still alive so they could ask him why you of all people had to die by the cronut line. Mattison said Lang disliked his photo being taken so much that the only recent pictures she has of him are with his nieces and nephews. Like the rest of her family, she was torn between giving any details about her brother and wanting to let it be known he was someone with a family and someone worthy of respect. She agreed that the last image of him, splashed all over the media, looked a little like performance art, or an unspoken message. It was a message and we know what it meant, she said. She did not elaborate further. Part of fashions allure is its enduring mystery. Its something we continue to ponder and learn about, from the construction of garments to the importance of celebrities wearing designer brands on the red carpet. Part of the intrigue revolves around the people behind the scenes, people who are sometimes as colorful as the images appearing in fashion magazines and billboard ad campaigns. Patti Wilson is just such a figurejust seeing her requires a double take. The petite stylist is the epitome of cool, with her long black hair with blunt cut bangs framing her face under a wide brimmed hat. She is one of those people who you know are important even before you know what they do (although what those people do usually does turn out to be important, too). What Wilson doeswhat shes done for more than two decades, in countless magazines (Italian Vogue, V, German Vogue, I.D.) and books, such as the forthcoming volume by French make-up artist Francois Narsis roughly equivalent to what a movie director does: she makes all the component parts of a fashion featurethe models, the clothes, the photographycome together into one seamless fantasy on the page. When she does it right, you dont even know she was there. No wonder youve never heard of her. Even today, she says, the work is fulfilling: Such a profound sense of accomplishment, she says. What appears to the reader as an effortless image of beauty or glamour is the result of so much hard work, from the photographer to the hair and make-up, the set design to the stylingall the moving parts I love to see come together harmoniously. I can remember the first time I saw her, even though at the time I had no idea who she was. I was working at Bergdorf Goodman as a teenager, anxious to be in fashion, and although I cannot recall her exact outfit, I remember the dark glasses and long shearling coat (it was winter). But what I recall most vividly was the feeling I experienced: an excitement similar to seeing a major celebrity, what I imagined it must feel like to see Cher or Madonna. Women like Wilson were part of what lured me to New York, part of my fantasy of a glamorous life of working in fashion or media, being gay, having cool friends, and attending swanky parties. As my career progressed, I found out that Wilson was a major stylist whose workranging from iconic and glamourous to whimsical and outrageouswas always in demand and who collaborated with top names in the industry. I always wondered where she came from and what her inspirations were. Finally, the shy Native New Yorker sat with me and revealed a bit of her mystery and what path brought her to this career in fashion. I think it was a girl in my all-girls Catholic high school classshe was a model with Ford and she was beautiful, Wilson said. She was always in Seventeen magazine, and I couldnt get over how incredible she looked. She showed me her portfolio and told me how she wanted to move to Paris and introduced me to all the fashion magazines and showed me what clothing could be outside of the uniforms we were forced to wear. Music has also been a huge inspiration since childhood for Wilson, from the Beatles to Michael Jackson to Diana Ross to Prince (who she worked with professionally, along with other stars including Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, and Whitney Houston). Most stylists tend to start off assisting other stylists or working at fashion magazines, but a couple of decades ago, Wilson was discovered, like a movie star, and all thanks to her own personal style. I was a hostess at this fabulous jazz club, and a woman who turned out to be a photographer approached me one night because she loved my look. She said, If you can do that for yourself, can you do it for my shoots? Thats how it started. After that its all a blur of hustling and hard work. While her work has mostly been editorial, she has worked with celebrities as well as a season on TVs The Face. But the essential part of her core talent has never changed. Every project has its hiccups, she says. If everything went smoothly, that would be incredibly boring. Its key to keep a cool head and an open mind. Sometimes these obstacles force you to redefine your entire vision and you end up with something new you never expected. Whether she is dressing a model, a celebrity or a friend for a night out, the priority never changes. The question is always, How can they look their best? Because the hardest part about being a stylist is trusting your instincts. Its easy to second guess yourself, but nine out of ten times your first idea was the right one. Unlike many in fashion journalism who come from the world of print, she is optimistic about the advent of social media, calling it a great tool to expose more and more people to the editorial fashion. Not everyone has access to international magazines, but now they can experience this wonderful, artistic aspect of the fashion world anywhere. A look at Wilsons Instagram feed makes it clear she never stops working, moving, creating, on and on and on. When I asked what her perfect day looks like, she says, Id love to say its sitting on the beach with a drink in my hand, but to be honest Id rather be on set working on my next story. While we dont yet know which rebel group shot down a Russian military helicopter in Syria today, killing all five on board, photographic and video evidence of the wreckage reveals that what Russia is presenting as a pacific tool of humanitarian aid was in fact an assault craft rigged with rocket pods. According to General Sergei Rudskoy, the helicopter had been returning to the Russian-operated Hmeemeem Air Base, in the coastal province of Latakia, after delivering food and medical supplies to Aleppo when it was shot down by ground fire. He also claimed that the area where the copter crashed, near the city of Saraqeb, is controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra, the former name of al-Qaedas official franchise in Syria. Yet no rebel group has yet claimed credit for the downing. The bodies of two of the crew were abused on camera, being dragged around and stamped on by Syrians surveying the wreckage, according to a video uploaded to YouTube by the Thiqa Agency, which appears to be a Syrian news-gatherer that began covering the war four months ago. Photos of the passports and other documents belonging to the crew have appeared online, one of them identifying an Oleg Shelamov from Torzhok. This man has been tracked by the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of independent Russian investigative bloggers, to a military unit in Klin that operated the type of helicopter that was downed. He was the pilot. According to General Rudskoy, the two passengers on board were officers from the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria, a Potemkin peace-building initiative meant to lend a gloss of humanitarianism to the Kremlins war for Assad. However, the Russian Defense Ministrys insistence that this helicopter was not involved in a combat mission, particularly given the Russia Air Forces punishing campaign in Aleppo, is complicated by the identified make and model. The wreckage reveals a Mil Mi-8AMTSh, according to Joseph Dempsey of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the CIT. The Mil Mi8-AMTSh, nicknamed the Terminator, is an assault variant of the veteran transport helicopter, equipped with multiple hard points for carrying missiles and unguided rockets. In several videos of the wreckage we can see a B-8V20A rocket pod. Nic Jenzen-Jones of Armament Research Services (ARES), an Australia-based weapons monitoring group, told The Daily Beast: In this case, the Mi-8 AMTSh appears to have been fitted with two B-8V20A rocket pods, each capable of carrying 20 80 mm S-8 rockets. From the images available so far, it is not clear whether the rocket pods were loaded. The helicopter in question was also equipped with the Prezident-S electronic countermeasures suite, designed to warn and protect the aircraft against anti-aircraft threats emanating from the ground, as well as naval and aerial platforms. If the rocket pods were empty, then the helicopter either took off unarmedrather inadvisable in a war zoneor had fired all of its munitions before crash-landing. While its not uncommon for helicopter gunships to be repurposed for noncombat missions, such as medical evacuations, Moscow says this aircraft was delivering humanitarian cargo. Archival footage shows demonstrably cramped quarters inside the Terminator for the transport of crates of food and medicine, even absent two passengers. Christopher Harmer, a military analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War, told The Daily Beast, To a far greater extent than the United States, Russian transport helicopters are designed for dual use in an attack role. The Mi-8 was originally designed as medium-lift utility transport but the Russians use it extensively as an attack helicopter. This particular model may have been selected so that they could portray the mission as humanitarian in nature, but the overwhelming majority of Russian rotary-wing operations in Syria are attack missions. Regardless of whether the Russian claim that the helicopter was returning from a humanitarian mission is true, the fact that it was carrying rocket pods meant that it would have been perceived as a real threat from the ground, making it a legitimate target. As Jenzen-Jones noted, this is not the first of the type to be blown up in Syria. On November 24, a Mi-8AMTSh was destroyed on the ground by fighters from the First Coastal Division of the Free Syrian Army using a U.S.-made TOW missile, killing one Russian marine. The helicopter had been taking part in the search and rescue effort to recover the navigator from the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber that was shot down by Turkish fighters earlier that day. The Exceptional to be distributed in Europe Don Sutcliffe, managing director of Craft Distillers, and Willie Phillips, former managing director of The Macallan have joined forces to create a series of small batch Scotch whiskies, The Exceptional by Sutcliffe & Son. The bottlings are created from aged whiskies from several different Scotch distilleries, including rare casks from closed distilleries, which are then married over time and finished in first-fill oloroso casks. The first consignment of whiskies will be available in three expressions, The Exceptional Grain (3rd edition), The Exceptional Malt (2nd Edition) and the Exceptional Blend (1st edition). Due to the individual nature of the cask make-up, each edition of The Exceptional has distinctive characteristics. The Scotch grain and malt whiskies are all bottled at 43% ABV. The US based spirits specialist Sutcliffe & Son has teamed with Number One Drinks to supply The Exceptional to specialist whisky retailers in the UK and Europe. "We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with the Number One Drinks team to introduce The Exceptional in the UK, Don Sutcliffe comments, everyone to whom I spoke recommended we reach out to Marcin Miller for sound advice regarding the UK (and, in fact, the world) whisky market. Willie Phillips believes the timing perfect: European consumers are knowledgeable in the progression of Scotch whisky. Our whiskies are blended to be distinctive expressions, using exceptional casks of mature grain and malt whiskies, each bottling to express nuanced elegance and complexity. Don and Willie formed a lasting friendship when they met over 25 years ago. Sutcliffe, who was instrumental in the development of The Macallan in the US, being largely responsible for the success on the west coast and Phillips, the former managing director of the Macallan Distillery for 23 years had always envisioned a future project together. With unparalleled access to some of the finest casks of whisky in Scotland and enlisting the help of master blender, Bill Arthur, their early ambition has come to fruition with the development of The Exceptional. Marcin Miller, managing director of Number One Drinks said of the new partnership: Sutcliffe & Son are the perfect fit for our portfolio and we look forward to introducing these outstanding whiskies to enthusiasts across the UK and Europe. The first two batches were very well received in the US, meeting with critical acclaim and selling out swiftly. All expressions will retail at 86 per bottle. 1 August 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor Kingscote Estate launches first sparkling wine English wine producer Kingscote Estate has released its first sparkling wine, Cuvee Christen, in tribute to its recently deceased founder. "Kingscotes first estate sparkling wine has been produced using a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc grapes. This youthful, fresh and distinctive wine pays tribute to our inspirational founder Christen Monge and is named Cuvee Christen in his memory, says Owen Elias, Kingscote executive winemaker. "Even the design of the label is a tribute. The crown on the label is a nod to Christens fathers former antique shop, which used to display a crown symbol." Kingscote Cuvee Christen sparkling 12%ABV brut wine is available now and can be purchased online at www.kingscoteestate.com or at Kingscote Estates shop priced at 25.99. Kingscote Estate founder Christen Monge, who died in May 2015, was a former ad man and the creative brain behind the launch of Fosters in the UK and the iconic Guinness adverts. Christen wanted to bring his brand experience to English wine and build a sparkling wine premium brand as part of a tourism destination. The 150-acre Kingscote Estate is an English wine producer and a venue for events and parties. With vineyards, apple orchards and a winery, it produces Kingscote wines and cyder. The shop sells Kingscote products, as well as a wide range of English and Sussex sparkling wines. Vineyard tours with lunch or afternoon tea, clay pigeon shooting and fishing are just some of the activities on offer. The stunning 15th century Tithe Barn located in the Kingscote Valley, near East Grinstead, hosts the Kingscote cookery school and is also available for hire. 1 August 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor First 100% Canadian rye whisky launched Dillons Distillers in Ontario Canada, has created what is arguably the first 100% Canadian rye whisky made from 100% Ontario-grown rye grain and aged in Canadian oak. To be released this month, August, the limited edition whisky in packaging created by Insite Design in Ontario. A descriptive 'map' telling the brand story is wrapped around the 200ml bottles and tied at the neck with copper bands, which were used in Dillon's copper pot still during the distillation process to increase the copper's beneficial affect on the rye. This craft rye represents the long road to fulfilling a dream of creating an exceptional 100% Canadian rye, explains Geoff Dillon, Co-owner & Distiller. Its also the beginning of an exciting stage for Dillons as we explore all that Canada can do in the field of distilling; from the farmers, coopers, malters and distillers, this rye is their expression. The story of our rye is the story of people and this place we call Canada. You see, people of every growing region in the world harvest grains and trees that are distinct signatures of the soil. These people adapt to their land and craft, applying their own unique approaches and expressions. The result of this people in place affect for us is that we believe there was once a distinct Canadian identity to rye a Canadian rye that reflected the soul of this land and hearts of our people. We believed that to do this we would have to rebuild what was once the foundation of the Canadian rye tradition: To reconnect the dots on the map between the rye farmer, the malter, the miller, the cooper and the distiller. To reconstruct the relationship that led to the highly charactered Canadian rye being one of the most well regarded and distinct whiskies in the world. And so we did. To be called Canadian rye whisky means something. To be called 100% rye whisky made in Canada means something more. It means pride. It means at least three full years of aging in oak casks. It means made from nothing but pure rye grain no barley, wheat, and no corn. It means distilled one batch at a time in pot stills not continuously in columns. It means no flavourings and no colourings were ever added. It means what we put on the label is what is inside the bottle. It means liquid truth. After years of work, crafting and aging, we are proud to introduce you to our first Dillons 100% Rye Whisky. Cheers to a new tradition of revealing the distinct character of whisky from our region and to the charactered people who made this a reality. The People THE COOPER - Jim Hedges An epiphany while hiking in 1998 led Jim, a practicing surgeon, into working with the abundant Canadian oak that grew near Brantford. Combined winemaking and woodworking experience came together to follow his hunch that Canadian oak barrels should be proudly used in wine and spirit making, to add distinct Canadian character in the aging process. Years later Jims cooperage provides barrels to many of Canadas, and the worlds, finest wines ~ as well as Dillons rye whisky. THE MILLER - Volker Storjohann Growing up next to the family flour mill in Oakland Ontario, Volker went on to become a mechanical engineer, working in the assembly automation industry. His father, after 47 years in the milling industry retired and Volker decided to continue on at the flour mill. Today the mill still specialises in processing Ontario rye grains. Volker once again resides next to the flour mill raising three kids with the hope that they will continue the family milling tradition. THE MALTER - Mike Driscoll A passion for beer brewing and local ingredients led Mike down a path of years of research and planning to create Ontarios first micro-maltery. Mike began the building of a malting process with the first production batch of rye malt for Dillons. A man after our own heart, Mike shares our passion for local quality ingredients, buying only select Ontario grains to produce rye, wheat and barley malts. His operation was certified in 2015 to produce organic and non-organic malts. THE DISTILLER - Geoff Dillon From a young age Geoff dreamed of setting his own route toward crafting great spirits and especially, a true and remarkable rye whisky. With a passion for doing things honestly and differently, he hand picked a cast of characters to help reach his goals and with this release of Rye 1, the dream has become a reality. Dillons Canadian Rye 1, (10% malted rye, 90% unsalted rye) aged: 41 months in new Ontario oak, non-chill filtered, is bottled at 59% ABV in very limited 200ml bottles. 1 August 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor If the dam is built, it would mean the permanent relocation of Indigenous people, officially forbidden by the Brazilian Constitution outside of times of war or disease outbreaks. That may be why Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of the Energy Research Company - which is part of the Brazilian Ministry for Mines and Energy - has denied that the Munduruku have lived on the land for any longer than 30 years or so. A Munduruku boy is painted with natural stain paints made from fruit. An archaeologist from the Federal University of Para, Bruna Rocha, has found ceramics on the territory dating back 1,000 years, painted with similar patterns to the ones the Munduruku use for their symbolic body paint today. (See photo, above right.) "For us this land, this earth, is very important", says Chief Arnaldo Caetano Kaba Munduruku, the Chief-of-Chiefs of the Munduruku people. He wears traditional Munduruku beaded straps across his chest made from seeds, and a red feather cap - traditional for important occasions. "God gave it to us, to care for her and preserve her forever. We take care of our land. We always nourish her. She nourishes us every day, us and our children." State of war The Munduruku people - who number around 12,000 in total, all along the Tapajos River - say that they are living in a state of war. "The people in the village are always worried about this. We go to sleep worrying about this, we don't sleep well worrying about this business", says Chief Arnaldo. So they are 'self-demarcating' the Sawre Muybu land, with the hope of prompting official approval from the government. To do this they are putting up signs around the perimeter of a 700 square mile expanse of Amazon jungle. It is arduous and dangerous work, especially on the so-called 'dryline', the border deep within the forest where small-scale gold miners and illegal loggers lurk. The day before the attempt to demarcate the dryline, a military police officer was killed in an ambush close to the village. The officer was accompanying an illegal logging operation with the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA. Gold miners - already numerous in this part of the Amazon - use mercury in their prospecting, which runs into the river. Mercury is poisonous to humans. More roads, such as those used to transport machinery to dam construction sites, will mean more mining and logging. Another Belo Monte? The Munduruku have seen how Indigenous people have suffered from the building of the Belo Monte dam on a neighbouring Amazon tributary, the Xingu River. The Belo Monte is now the third-biggest by installed capacity in the world, after the Three Gorges dam in China and the Brazilian-Paraguayan Itaipu dam. Construction has just been completed. "We have been there and we saw it with our own eyes, what the dam has done to the fish. Everything is finished there. We went there and didn't see any nature there", says Chief Valto Datie Munduruku, the chief of a neighbouring village within the Sawre Muybu. Indigenous people impacted by Belo Monte - such as the Kayapo and the Juruna, among others living in the so-called Xingu Bend - were not consulted before its construction. This was because their land was not going to be directly flooded by the project. But in reality, Belo Monte has changed the lives of Indigenous and riparian communities completely. Those that once relied on fish from the river to eat are now dependent on government handouts for food provisions. The local town near Belo Monte, Altamira, swelled to nearly double its size during the construction of the dam. Violence, prostitution and murder rates have rocketed. Raw sewage flows into the Xingu due to lack of the infrastructure promised by the government. "There are still a lot of dead fish appearing every day on the river", says journalist Sue Branford, after visiting the area last year. "They are sending out boats every day collect dead fish. One biologist told me 'You can see the fish coming up for air; they can't breathe because water is so polluted'." Federal prosecutor Thais Santi considers the destruction of Indigenous people by the Belo Monte project so severe that she has called it "ethnocide". She is bringing a charge against the Brazilian government. Unique culture The Munduruku were among the most valiant in their efforts to protest against the construction of the Belo Monte. They are now determined to protect their own land. All along the Tapajos River are sacred places. The most prominent in the Munduruku belief system is the Atravessia dos Porcos, or Crossing of the Pigs, which is the site where the river itself was created by Karosakaybu, a revered Munduruku ancestor with supernatural powers. The fish are also important. At the Garganta do Diabo, or Devil's Throat, rapids form at the meeting of two rivers, where fish migration patterns deliver abundant food for the Munduruku once a year. Soon, it could be completely covered by the 7.6 kilometre-long, 53 metre-high Sao Luiz dam. "The government is trying to lie to our people. They have not come here to the village to have the consultation, the conversation, about what is going to happen", says Chief Arnaldo. "But our people only say one thing: We do not want the construction of this hydroelectric dam on our river, because it is sacred for us", says Chief Arnaldo. "We have lived here for all time. We are from here, we were created here. Because of this we will not give up." The whole community - apart from the children, who play with monkeys and parakeets, remaining blissfully unaware of the crisis - are locked in the struggle. And the women are among the most determined to ensure they can stay on their land: "Indigenous women are warrior women, we will fight to the death. And one day, we will win." Helle Abelvik-Lawson writes for the Greenpeace Energy Desk. Author's note: The women in this article cannot be named out of concerns for their safety. This article was originally published on Greenpeace Energydesk. SHARE MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Majority Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell speaks to a combined Rotary/Lions meeting at the Henderson Fine Arts Center Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Kentucky Press News Service Appearing on a Lexington TV news show, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said there's a good chance he will seek yet another term in office after his current one ends in four years. He's now 74 so another six-year term in office means he would be a U.S. senator well into his 80s. McConell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, has written a new book. He appeared on WKYT's Kentucky Newsmakers program. U.S. senator's serve six-year terms and another term would mark his seventh in office. McConnell is already Kentucky's longest serving U.S. senator. What to know about West Burlington's new 52-unit apartment complex A local developer has plans to build a 52-unit apartment complex across from Shottenkirk in West Burlington. Here's what we know. "It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country." Senator John McCain released a statement Monday, denouncing Donald Trumps comments about Khizr Khan and his wife, the parents of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq. The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me. In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldiers parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States--to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trumps statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. Make no mistake: I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family, and have my own record of service, and have stayed closely engaged with our armed forces throughout my public career. In the American system, the military has value only inasmuch as it protects and defends the liberties of the people. My father was a career naval officer, as was his father. For hundreds of years, every generation of McCains has served the United States in uniform. My sons serve today, and Im proud of them. My youngest served in the war that claimed Captain Khans life as well as in Afghanistan. I want them to be proud of me. I want to do the right thing by them and their comrades. Humayun Khan did exactly that--and he did it for all the right reasons. This accomplished young man was not driven to service as a United States Army officer because he was compelled to by any material need. He was inspired as a young man by his reading of Thomas Jefferson--and he wanted to give back to the country that had taken him and his parents in as immigrants when he was only two years old. Story continues Captain Khans death in Iraq, on June 8th, 2004, was a shining example of the valor and bravery inculcated into our military. When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger. Then he ran toward it. The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan--and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters. Scripture tells us that Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Captain Humayun Khan of the United States Army showed in his final moments that he was filled and motivated by this love. His name will live forever in American memory, as an example of true American greatness. In the end, I am morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance, and to which I have dedicated my lifes work: the Republican Party, and more importantly, the United States of America. I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree. I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent. Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. Lastly, Id like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. Were a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation--and he will never be forgotten. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK The 1993 murder of a 21-year-old woman who was shot and killed in the crossfire between two rival gangs attempting to gain control over Norwalks drug trafficking trade is the latest in a series of cold cases that are being brought to light by investigators. On Aug. 2, 1993 at 12:58 a.m., an officer out on foot in the area of West Avenue and Elm Street observed a large crowd on the sidewalk on West Avenue in front of Rumors Cafe. Moments later, the officer described hearing two to three firecrackers and then 15 to 20 gunshots in the area of 507 West Ave. He drove toward the area and observed numerous people running north. As the officer parked by Maple Street, he observed a male motorist who told the officer that there was a woman shot in the back seat of his car. The officer escorted the vehicle to Norwalk Hospital where the woman, Fathome Myrick, later died. Police said the investigation revealed that Myrick was the girlfriend of Cleveland Thompson, aka Jamaican Charlie, and had been at Rumors Cafe that night with her sister and Thompson. Myrick went out and waited in the rear seat of their vehicle that was parked on Orchard Street. There was a large number of Brotherhood Gang members from Bridgeport and Norwalk at Rumors that night and they had an ongoing turf war with Thompson over the South Main Street and Grove Street area for drug trafficking, police said. Thompson exited Rumors Cafe and was about to get in his vehicle with Sylmar Brimm, aka Vernon Brimm, when two males at the corner of Sonnys Pizza opened fire on Thompson as he entered the drivers seat. Police say evidence shows that Thompson fired several rounds back through the front windshield and attempted to drive off but crashed into a parked car across the street on West Avenue. The gunfire continued from several directions as Thompson and Brimm fled the car on foot, leaving Myrick behind. A male witness jumped in the car to drive Myrick to the hospital once the gunfire ended. According to police, a total of 37 cartridge casings from four different caliber firearms and five different 9mm firearms were collected at the scene. Very little information was received in regards to the homicide of Fathome Myrick, as Thompson did not cooperate with the investigation, police said. In 1998, Thompson was interviewed while incarcerated at the Brooklyn Correctional Center in Connecticut. He told investigators that he did not fire a weapon that night even though he had his 9mm with him. Thompson also stated that he knew the identity of the shooter, but would not reveal it to police due to attempts on his life, police said. Thompson stated that the boss of the Brotherhood Gang gave the order to kill Thompson to the leader of the Bridgeport Brotherhood Chapter, who in turn, forwarded the order to the Norwalk Brotherhood. Thompson also stated that he has tried to get the shooter three times since the homicide of Myrick, but he keeps getting away. Thompson was incarcerated from 1994 until his deportation to Jamaica in 2000. The homicide remains unsolved. Anybody with information is asked to contact Lt. Art Weisgerber at 203854-3028 or aweisgerber@norwalkct.org Anonymous internet tips can be sent through the Norwalk police website at: norwalkpd.com. Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing NPD into the text field, followed by the message and sending it to CRIMES (274637). llake@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1092 NORWALK As Norwalkers prepare for the return to academia, Norwalk Hospital and pediatricians across the state are reminding parents about the importance of immunizations prior to heading back to the classroom. Vicki Smetak, chairman of pediatrics at Norwalk Hospital and director of pediatric medicine for the Western Connecticut Health Network, said in addition to the standard vaccines like MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and the flu vaccine, there are two relatively new vaccines parents might not think about but should strongly consider for their children. The first is Menactra, a vaccine to prevent meningococcal meningitis, a fast moving and fatal disease if not caught early. Quite frankly, its deadly, Smetak said. Its treatable if caught early, but it progresses very, very quickly, and it affects individuals in close quarters. Ive seen many children die from this. Meningococcal disease spreads just like the flu, passing from person to person through everyday activities, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenagers and young adults are most at risk for meningitis. The second vaccine Smetak recommends is for HPV, the human papilloma virus which has been proven to cause cervical cancer. She said it is important for both boys and girls to receive HPV vaccines between ages 11 and 13. Its not a required vaccine, but I believe at some point it will be, Smetak said. Its a virus that many of us carry, though we dont know that we have it, and it could lead to cervical cancer. Boys are carriers of the virus and they can transmit it to girls. Its not one of the vaccines you think of when you think of sending your child to kindergarten, but frankly it shouldnt be a consideration, were lucky enough to have this vaccine that prevents cancer. Though there are many places to go for vaccinations, Smetak recommends families have their children vaccinated by their primary- care physician or pediatrician so the vaccinations are recorded with the rest of their medical history. For families new to the area who do not yet have a pediatrician, the Norwalk Health Department can provide immunizations through its Childhood Immunization Program. Information about the program is available at norwalkct.org. The importance obviously is to protect all children against all of the childhood illnesses that we can protect against, Smetak said. Its not only to protect the individual child, but it also protects children within school systems who may not be able to receive vaccines because theyre going through chemotherapy or have some other problem with their immune system. Its what we call herd immunity. Having others vaccinated around them, it makes it less likely that they could be infected, which for them, could be fatal. Smetak said with the rise of the anti-vaccination movement she has seen an increase in illnesses like measles, once thought irradiated from the U.S., and said vaccines are important for preventing a resurgence and protecting those whose immune systems truly cannot accept a vaccination. Theres been a lot of negative social-media press from the anti-vax community but I think we really have to make educated choices about how we take care of our family and our community, Smetak said. Theres no arguing with science. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt NORWALK A man was arrested Saturday night after behaving violently inside his parents' Glenwood Avenue home, police said. Officers took Alexander Zolton Domotor into custody after a 911 call was received from the home at 9:13 p.m. Domotor, 23, was charged with second-degree strangulation, second-degree assault, unlawful restraint, second-degree threatening, and disorderly conduct. He was held on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court Monday. Domotor also was arrested Thursday night, following a woman's complaint that he was following her. Police reported he texted her while she was on Stuart Avenue lodging her complaint with officers, and then drove past them. The officers stopped his car and charged him with second-degree harassment, second-degree stalking, third-degree criminal mischief, possession of drug paraphernalia, and a first offense of possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana. Domotor allegedly told the officers he "could not control his emotions" after the woman broke up with him. Following that arrest, Domotor was arraigned Friday in state Superior Court in Norwalk and given a new court date of Aug. 15. State judicial records show Domotor was found guilty of second-degree breach of peace following his arrest by Norwalk Police in November 2013. He paid a $250 find. More News Accused stalker arrested after woman makes harassment complaint Russell Kirk posed as one of the canons of conservatism the existence of orders in society. Critics have responded for decades that such a view shows that traditional conservatives are by nature aristocratic in their orientation, that they are in some sense un-American in their rejection of egalitarianism. The assumption appears to be that a people must choose between aristocratic class-consciousness and an ideological commitment to human equality. This false choice between aristocracy and ideological egalitarianism is rooted in a kind of class-consciousness that is itself foreign to the traditional American way of life. The view that orders must manifest themselves in iron class structures is a kind of aristocratic prejudice that never took root in America. And the confusion it spawns is made worse by later, Marxian notions of relations to the means of production. Worse than confusing, however, these latter ideological developments and the policies they have spawned are undermining the strain of genuine egalitarianism that helped build American culture and the American politics of ordered liberty. True, American egalitarianism is not inconsistent with the existence of real social orders. Rather, it fosters and is in turn fostered by an ethic of self-reliance that insists on the dignity of all honest work and the duty of those who have achieved material success to continue living with those who have not, fostering a common life of mutual respect and public service. The result is, or at least has been, no utopian fantasy, but rather a common response to the inevitable difficulties of life that demands virtue from everyone, with their place in the social order liable to change according to their performance. It has become common to disparage the cultural observations made by the great nineteenth century French philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville on his trip to America. But Tocquevilles recognition of differences among American, British, and French social orders remains instructive. In France, he noted, the people looked to the government to tend their needs and address even emergency situations. In Britain, it was to the local aristocrat or great man that people would look for guidance. In the United States, meanwhile, the people looked to themselves in their various local associations to address common problems. One might add to this that most Americans looked first and foremost to themselves in managing most aspects of their lives. Until quite recently one might say that Tocquevilles observation still held true in America, not just as a social generalization, but as a fact of individual conduct. Visitors from Europe and Latin America, at least, seem constantly surprised at the extent to which Americans prefer to take care of their own business rather than hire outside help. Reactions vary, of course. Taking my own experience, family friends from Argentina moved back to their home country in large part because they could not, on a middle-class income, afford servants in the United Statesand could not, or would not live without them. Meanwhile, many less well-off immigrants from other regions we have known are extremely happy to throw themselves into what they see as a kind of yeoman life of single-family home ownershipcomplete with landscaping and home repairopen only to the well-off in their home countries. The difference in custom and character-traits is more fundamental in terms of attitudes toward work. Europeans standard month-long holidays are well-known, as is their view that Americans work excessively long hours. In response, most Americans merely shrug, having forgotten the underlying attitudes that traditionally kept Americans working. The first attitude once was more common in general than it is today. Misidentified as a specifically Protestant work ethic by Max Weber, this attitude was a simple recognition of ones vocation as a service to God and community. By being a good craftsman, farmer, or professional, one was a good person, on this view, making contributions to ones community and showing gratitude to the God who granted one gifts and opportunities. The other central attitude, here, was shaped by Americas frontier past. The need to fend for oneself and ones family led to a valuation of all productive work, or perhaps more accurately a refusal to denigrate difficult, unglamorous work that is a necessary part of life. Today, sadly, we live in an era of welfare dependency and social dislocation, in which the rich have abandoned the mansions that once were built on main street for gated communities, and a new class of left-wing aristocrats seeks to exploit foreign workers in their homes and businesses. In such times it is easy to lose sight of the true egalitarianism of the American way of life. But that spirit is alive and well. It is overlooked because it does not exist in political rhetoric, let alone in government policy. True, American egalitarianism lives in the habits of a free, entrepreneurial people who recognize the dignity of all honest work and the virtue of self-reliance. I was reminded of this fact on a recent trip to Mecosta, Michigan, location of Piety Hill (Kirks ancestral home and the headquarters of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal). Here Annette Kirk reminded me of a mutual friend who cooks, cleans houses, runs a beekeeping business with her husband, helps tend a neighbors livestock, and is building a cosmetics business using her own honey as a key ingredient. She also works part-time as a waitress. The same people this entrepreneurial woman waits on one moment share their own meals with her, buy from her, and discuss ideas with her the next, as they should. This exceptional woman (I leave out her name so as not to cause embarrassment) is a model, but hardly unique. Sadly, however, this kind of life is becoming increasingly less common because it is less respected. Indeed, in writing this I can almost hear the dismissive response that such people are privileged in their upbringing and merely serve to further a destructive valuation of middle-class values. No response is possible to this assertion because no matter how many examples one provides of people who have made it on their own, rising from poverty to prominence through hard work and personal genius, naysayers will simply recur to the claim that these people are exceptions managing to succeed in our rotten system. But let us consider such examples from a different anglenot of whether one can get rich in this fashion, but whether it brings a good life. Many people hold down several jobs just to make ends meet. Leaving personalities aside, many of us know people who have to stitch together enough income to care for a relative, deal with an illness, or otherwise pay the bills. The issue is not one of wealth, but of pride. What used to make America stand out from the rest of the world was the Americans willingness to take and do necessary jobs to help him achieve his goals. Most of us who worked our way through college did so in jobs that lacked glamour (my own least favorite was washing dishes at a restaurant). And almost all Americans have had to get their start in a job they would gladly leave behind. Sadly, America today seems increasingly split between those who use their own success to save their children from such an ennobling experience and those who demand government action eliminating the very idea of a job as a stepping stone to something better. As with all such ideological divides, the greatest losers are the most vulnerablethe poor who are told increasingly that they should only accept work with dignity, as if work were not intrinsically dignified or that there is not a price paid to ones dignity in accepting public assistance. One of the many problems with our current social democratic ethos is that it teaches people to look down on some forms of work, which inescapably means looking down on those who do it. How else explain our current combination of high unemployment and dearth of employees for small businesses? I know a number of people who own small businesses who have trouble finding workers who will stick with them. These are hard jobs with low pay, so it is not surprising that people do not want to spend their lives working at them. But a key factor in long term poverty is the lack of so-called middle class values that tell you it is possible to move up in the world if you work hard and keep a good attitude. Todays destructive egalitarianism undermines upward mobility by telling people they should not lower themselves to a difficult, low-paying jobthat all jobs should pay a living wage or they do not have dignity. This is the stuff of resentment, welfare dependency, and a failing economy. It is an insult to hard working people in the name of an economic fantasy and an impoverished vision of human nature. It is a part of the Europeanization (and/or third-worldization) of America. For government subsidies and transfer payments in such countries substitute equality in terms of certain financial outcomes or security for equal dignity. Social orders in America historically were based in material successoften to an unseemly degree. But far more important in this country, until quite recently, was the status that went along with being able and willing to provide public service in ones local community. That service could be provided directly in voluntary works, as well as indirectly through productive work engaged in for its own sake and for the betterment of ones own and ones familys well-being. Racial and ethnic rivalries could produce ugliness and even a denial of human dignity, but the recognized norm was that people can and should respect all who work hard, to a purpose consistent with the public good. In losing this norm we are losing the chief means by which poor people can build decent lives. We also are losing a central part of what has made us specifically American. Books on the topic of this essay may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. At least some international experience is becoming commonplace for college students, from those that go to other countries just for a short trip in the summer to those who do their entire studies abroad and even stay in those countries after they graduate. Another important way that American college students gain international experience is through the presence on their campuses of students from abroad. Nowadays, because of demographic stagnation in many states as a consequence of flat and even negative high school graduation rates, more and more institutions of higher education are relying on enrollment of international students to make up for those U.S. students who are not enrolling. Additionally, because those international students pay higher rates of tuition, public colleges and universities find them as a good source of revenue. Yet, we oftentimes fail to examine the data needed to fully understand what is going on when it comes to the migration of college students from one country to another. One of the most compete sources of information about higher education at the international level is the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) annual World University Rankings report, which provides statistics and analyses about students moving from one country to another for postsecondary education. This years report shows that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of college students moving internationally for college. Between 2005 and 2012 there was a surge in the number of those students by 50 percent with a total of more than five million by 2015 deciding to study in a country other than their own. This reveals a swelling interest by college students to have an international experience. Despite this worldwide interest in getting such an experience, the interest is not as high among U.S. college students. In fact, ours is one of the few countries in the world that host significantly more international students than we send abroad, about 13 times more. On the other hand, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.S. remains the leading destination for international students, hosting around 19 percent of the worlds mobile students. Yet, despite the fact that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the U.S. is fourth (after Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Ireland) in disposable income and third (after China and India) in world population, it is only the seventh largest sender of international students worldwide. It is also very telling that the two major destinations for U.S. students are countries for which no special language skills are necessary: the U.K. and Canada. According to the report, the major considerations of U.S. students when going abroad are location, lifestyle, ability to travel, networking opportunities, cost and flexibility of the programs they attend. One of the reasons behind choosing universities in other countries is the cost of attending them. Because higher education is much more subsidized (in some cases even free) in many other countries, students feel they can get a lot from their money even counting for living expenses and transportation. This latest point is interesting given that students from most countries still choose the U.S. as their favorite destination despite the fact that their living standards are lower and that U.S. higher education is the most expensive in the world. Despite this, international students are more interested than their American counterparts in the quality of programs than the factors around convenience that seem to command U.S. students decisions. U.S. students also seem to be more concerned about an educational institutions ranking and more interested in data related to employability after graduation than their international counterparts. International students who come to the U.S., on the other hand, are mostly interested in the prestige that comes from graduating from a U.S. institution. I once had a student from France who told me that she came to the U.S. because she wanted to study business and if you have a business degree from the U.S., regardless of the school, you have better chances in getting a job in France. U.S. students also say that, in general, it is more important for them to get in a school with a more impressive reputation than in actually doing well there. For them it has to do with how they can impress others rather than how much they actually learn. Also, they feel that being at a well-known institution gives them a better opportunity for networking and getting a better chance to get a good job. This is sad because what students learn and the skills they develop are the ones that will determine their future success. Unfortunately, our educational system at the high school level seems to emphasize diplomas over gaining an education. And part of that education should include broadening their horizons and learning different languages. Europeans have an old joke about Americans. The say the easiest way to differentiate a European from an American is by counting the number of languages they speak, for the latter is usually only one. This is an issue that was famously addressed by the late Illinois politician Paul Simon in his 1980 book The Tongue-Tied American: Confronting the Foreign Language Crisis. Yet, we are not doing much to address it - particularly in higher education. It is time for U.S. colleges and universities not only to become savvier about attracting international students to make up for the decline in domestic enrollments, but also to improve international language skills while creating more opportunities for U.S. students to study abroad. And if they think such a goal is too expensive, they need to see it as a great opportunity for fundraising. No one knows better the benefits of an international experience than those alumni who have become successful in life because of it. Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education. He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.net. Come celebrate Mascoutahs 90th Annual Homecoming und Augustfest, one of the largest summer community events in Southern Illinois. The three day celebration will be held Friday through Sunday, August 5, 6 & 7 at Scheve Park in Mascoutah. Entry into historic Scheve Park is always free and open to the public. PARADES Nothing compares to the Mascoutah Homecoming parades held on Saturday and Sunday! Decorated floats, marching bands from area high schools and grade schools, class reunion attendees on flatbed trucks, clowns, and much, much more too numerous to list. Its not unusual for the parade to take over an hour to complete so dont forget your lawn chair and stake your space along the parade route. Youll love it as much as the kids do! This years theme is Service to the Community. Each parade begins at 5 p.m. and heads down Main Street from the center of town and then turns on 6th Street ending at the Scheve Park. MUSIC Dance the night away under the stars at Mascoutahs own train station. The musical lineup on the depot stage includes The Jorrells on Friday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.; The Rough Ryders on Saturday from 7:3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.; and F-150 from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. Music at Scheve Parks Pole Barn begins on Friday with Night Ryders from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., followed by Cactus Moon on Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. On Sunday, Mascoutahs own Tom & Kathy LaQuet will perform at the Car Show from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Turnpike Cruiser will be at the Pole Barn on Sunday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. MASCOUTAHS HOMECOMING QUEEN The highlight of Sundays celebration is the Miss Mascoutah Homecoming Queen coronation at 3:00 p.m. Throughout the weekend, queen candidates continue to sell raffle tickets for the big drawing on Sunday night. The young lady who sells the most raffle tickets will be crowned homecoming queen. Buy a ticket and take a chance to win $3,000, $1,500, and $500! The cost is only $1 each or seven for $5. The drawing will be held at 10 p.m. and you need not be present to win. 4-H JUDGING For the 13th year in a row, 4-H members from all over the area will be displaying their projects and livestock at the Agriculture Building located in the north part of Scheve Park. If you like animals, come and see some of the top cattle, horses, sheep, swine, poultry, and rabbits in the area. Cheer on your favorite 4-H member! On Friday, doors open at 10 a.m. to view the general projects. The Poultry Show will be held at 9:30 a.m., the Rabbit Show at 1 p.m., and the Swine Show at 6 p.m. Doors close a 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Beef Show will be held at 7:30 a.m. followed by the Dairy Show, Sheep Show, and Goat Show. There will be a livestock auction beginning at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, there will be a Super Showmanship Contest at 10:30 a.m. Individual 4-H members sign up to display their showmanship skills. Its an exciting ending to a spectacular 4-H weekend. FOOD, FOOD, AND MORE FOOD! Everything from lemon shakeups, hot dogs and hamburgers, funnel cakes and snow cones, and of course plates of delicious German food will be available. Food stands open on Friday at 5:00 p.m., and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. If you like potato pancakes, bratwurst and knockwurst with tangy sauerkraut, then youve come to the right place. Mascoutah is famous for their German food. You wont walk away hungry! Join us on Sunday morning for breakfast served from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. All other food stands open at 11 a.m. FAMILY FUN ENTERTAINMENT If you are a fan of truck and tractor pulls, then check out the Mascoutah Homecoming. The Plow & Weight Tractor Pull will be held Friday evening beginning a 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, check out the Diesel Smokers Tractor Pull also at 7:00 p.m. And to wrap up the weekend, a second Diesel Smoker Tractor Pull will be held at 7:00 p.m. Each event is held at Scheve Park arena. The tractor pulls are a Southern Illinois favorite at the Homecoming with participants from communities throughout the Metro-East area ready to compete. From carnival rides to horseshoe tournaments, the Mascoutah Homecoming has something for everyone. Take a step back in time, at the Berger-Kiel Log House to be open from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Berger-Kiel original house was built c.1863-1864 for a low-income rural family during the mid-nineteenth century, with two rooms - one up and one down. Registration begins at 12 noon for the Childrens Pedal Tractor Pull with the actual event beginning 1:00 p.m. Kids love the pedal tractors and the friendly competition. Find your dream come true at the Car Show scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Trophies will be awarded. To keep in touch with new details before the great event, follow the Mascoutah Homecoming und August Fest on Facebook or visit mascoutahhomecoming.org Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Intan Soeparna (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 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. Kretek can be traced back to the 19th century when Haji Jamhari, a native of Kudus in Central Java, sought relief from asthma and chest pain by adding cloves to his hand-rolled cigarettes. Since then, kretek have become a cultural symbol that deserve to be safeguarded. The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage defines intangible cultural heritage as knowledge and skill which is transmitted from generation to generation. It is constantly recreated by communities and groups. The practice of hand-rolling kretek, though modernized with machine-rolling today, still persists today as a skill passed down from generation to generation. It can be found in small cities around Java in small-scale industries, as well as factories that employ thousands of workers. The knowledge of local tobacco farming also forms part of this cultural heritage. For example, the Srintil tobacco brand, recognized by connoisseurs in Bremen, Germany, as the best tobacco, only exists in Temanggung in Central Java. Local tobacco farmers in Temanggung have been cultivating Srintil for centuries. Indonesia produces over 175,000 tons of cloves, according to this years Ernst & Youngs tobacco study, and most of the output is used for the manufacture of kretek. The report estimates that the livelihoods of 1.7 million people depend on tobacco and clove farming. Being labor intensive, 600 businesses are estimated to operate in the sector, which employs 6 million people, comprising 4.28 million workers in the manufacturing and distribution of tobacco, and 1.7 million farmers. Singapore is the first Asian country to consider banning flavored cigarettes, in a bid to reduce youth smoking. The big question is, why do countries such as Singapore not consider other measures that would not harm its trade with Indonesia? Any state has the right to regulate tobacco as it wishes. However, prohibition should not be assumed to be an effective approach to public health protection. In fact, there is no evidence that banning traditional flavors would reduce smoking rates or that flavored cigarettes impede a governments effort to reduce youth smoking. In Singapore itself, smoking rates are at their lowest levels even though the kretek market share remains stable at 3 to 4 percent, while menthol cigarettes make up for almost 50 percent of its cigarette market. Moreover, the ban on flavored cigarettes could send a misleading message that non-flavored cigarettes are a safer alternative. In short, a ban on traditional flavors could be detrimental to Indonesias culture and economy without having any positive impact on the rate of smoking in Singapore. Efforts to reduce smoking are important. However, it needs to be questioned whether outright prohibition would be implemented from the perspective of market access regulation under the WTO, as seen in the Indonesia vs. US case. The question here is whether countries such as Singapore should violate their international trade obligations by banning kretek for tobacco control when they could employ other measures such as tax, price measures or education to reduce tobacco consumption. Researchers such as Frank J. Chalopka in his studies back in 2000 proved that tax measures could reduce tobacco use by individuals, and particularly initiation of smoking among young people. Such measures are effective and do not threaten Indonesias culture unnecessarily. Finally, at the last US-ASEAN leaders summit, President Jokowi stated common ASEAN goals such as: Mutual recognition of the importance of pursuing policies that lead to dynamic, open and competitive economies that foster economic growth, job creation, innovation, entrepreneurship and connectivity, and that support SMEs [small and medium enterprises] and narrow the development gap. A ban on flavored cigarettes, as suggested by Singapore, seems to contravene all of the above US-ASEAN summit points altogether; worse, Singapore is a regional regulatory benchmark, meaning such a ban could end up being copied by other countries. *** The writer is a senior lecturer in international law at the School of Law at Airlangga University, Surabaya. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Charles Beraf (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 German philosopher Immanuel Kant writes that judicial punishment can never be used as a means to promote some other good for civil society since a human being can never be instrumentalized merely as a means to anothers end. That means that to punish someone for the purpose of deterrence is to use the person punished as a mere tool and thus to do him or her an injustice. This is the main humanitarian reason why many countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. Once the death penalty was considered a tool to deter future crimes. But because humanity was regarded as the most essential thing in the constitutions, capital punishment was removed. As Kant points out, humanity has to be inherent in judicial punishment. It implies that lex talionis (an eye for an eye) is invulnerable to deterrence. Judicial punishment, therefore, should be a chance for offenders to be humanized or civilized. Unfortunately, in the case of the death penalty, Indonesia strictly disregards this moral facet by manipulating and criminalizing offenders as tools of deterrence. The Constitutional Court rejected in January last year yet another attempt to abolish the death penalty in the country, especially in drug and murder cases. A judicial review of the capital punishment article in the Criminal Code was filed, among others by members of the Bali Nine, a group of Australian citizens sentenced to prison and death for smuggling drugs into Bali in 2005. Over the last two years, Indonesia has executed 30 convicts, mostly foreigners, for drug-related crimes, defying international calls for an end to the death penalty. Through the decision the government insisted that the death penalty is the only way to uphold humanity and sovereignty. Such arguments seem very precarious. One could argue that capital punishment is a shock therapy. Consequently, executions result in shock and or fear of committing a crime and later on a decline in the number of certain crimes. Execution is a form of murder, which is a crime and contradicts the logic of justice, but for the purpose of honoring the law it is made an exception. It is because of this exception that the death penalty is legally and morally weak. On the moral side, capital punishment contravenes the values of justice, dehumanizes people and disrupts peace. On the legal side, the death penalty is a reckless way to justify or institutionalize state crime or murder. Put simply, we may understand why President Joko Jokowi Widodo rejected clemency petitions from many quarters. His refusal appears to have something to do with the constitution, which legalizes the death penalty. There is nothing wrong with it constitutionally, because as the President, Jokowi has to uphold the constitution and national law. However, if we accept humanity as the essence of the law, the biggest problem that we should address does not concern Jokowis decision, but how to reform the Indonesian legal system in order to transmit humanity. There are three aspects that need to be reformed: the structure of law, the culture of law and the substance of law. Reforming the structure of law pertains to the orientation and attitude of professionals involved in protection of public rights and justice. Judges, prosecutors, the police and defense lawyers are not subordinate to each other. Although formally there is a division of labor among them, they share a common responsibility for ensuring that justice is served. When it comes to the culture of law, we know that the death penalty was repressively inherited during Dutch colonization. But in the postcolonial era, Indonesian continues to employ the death penalty, as if it was born from its own culture. Reforming the culture of law is about how to change the publics mindset about either the impotence or insignificance of the death penalty in Indonesian culture. In revamping the substance of law, the House of Representatives needs to respond to public aspirations that condemn the death penalty through amendments to law. Capacity building and empowerment of lawmakers is imperative to help them realize the sense of justice. The three-pronged efforts are all that we need to strengthen both moral and legal grounds of Indonesian law. We cannot perpetrate a crime to wipe out a crime. Otherwise, we are criminals. *** The writer is a social researcher who obtained his Masters in rural sociology from the University of the Philippines Los Banos. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. By John Vandermosten, CFA TSXV:RVX Resverlogix Reports Fiscal Year 2016 Results On July 28, 2016, Resverlogix Corp. (RVX.TO) filed financial results for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2016 with the Alberta Securities Commission. The company reported no revenues and a net loss of ($19.7) million or ($0.20) per share. This compares to our estimates also of zero revenues and a net loss of ($16.6) million or ($0.16) per share. Total operational expenses for FY:16 were $20.0 million, increasing from the $8.5 million spent in the prior year. Full-year research & development expenses rose substantially, while general & administrative remained flat, with costs related to the BETonMACE clinical trial driving the majority of the increase. Clinical costs totaled approximately $8.8 million with $7.5 million of the total allocated to the BETonMACE clinical trial and $0.7 million on biomarker studies. Regulatory costs comprised $0.2 million of the total and $0.4 million was spent on other clinical costs including sample analysis, consultants and insurance. Research and development expenses increased throughout 2016, culminating in expenses of $6.3 million in 4Q:16 as the BETonMACE trial successfully launched in October. Chemistry costs saw a material increase, rising to $2.3 million in FY:16 compared to $0.3 million in FY:15. Costs related to the development of the drug product manufacturing process and shipment of clinical supplies for the BETonMACE trial contributed to the $2 million change. General and administrative costs of $4.3 million were essentially the same in both FY:16 and FY:15. This was a result of higher share based payments, business development and regulatory costs offset by lower corporate costs and professional fees. As of April 30, 2016, cash was $28.1 million and long-term debt was $47.7 million. A transaction with Zenith related to the cancellation of a royalty agreement resulted in a $5.7 million cash payment by Zenith to Resverlogix following the end of FY:16 reporting period. Operating cash burn was $19.3 million for the year and approximately $1.6 million per month. Expanded Renal and Orphan Programs In 1Q:16, the company formed an International Renal Clinical Advisory Board (RCAB) for the future development of apabetalone into expanded renal indications. The RCAB is composed of six MDs and PhDs that will guide the development process. Shortly after, on July 21, 2016, Resverlogix announced that it had begun a Phase 1 pharmacokinetic (PK) trial in patients with severe renal impairment with apabetalone. The company is targeting this renal population to address a serious unmet need in an orphan population and may see accelerated development, approval and ultimately market adoption in pursuing this pathway. The studys primary goal is to confirm the favorable pharmacokinetic traits that have been observed in other apabetalone trials. The study is being conducted in New Zealand and expects to post results in the second half of 2016, after which additional renal impairment and dialysis trials will proceed based on favorable data. We hope to see a Phase 2 trial begin shortly after the completion of the data analysis and Resverlogix could potentially obtain approval in a renal indication under an orphan designation prior to an approval for high-risk cardiovascular disease. The study will examine acute changes in Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal (BET) inhibition biomarkers for subjects with severe renal impairment. The company stated in its press release that Two cohorts, each comprised of eight subjects, will be evaluated in the study. Cohort one will include subjects with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) not on dialysis, with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of less than 30 mL/min/1.73m2 while cohort two will include healthy individuals whose age, weight and gender will be matched to the renal impaired subjects. All subjects will receive a single oral administration of 100mg of apabetalone. While we do not currently include a valuation component for an orphan renal indication, we recognize the attractiveness of this pathway, find it to be an unqualified positive and will adjust our model accordingly as development details becomes more certain. Publication of Study In June 2016, the company announced that a pre-diabetes mellitus study performed by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute was published in the journal Metabolism under the title Effects of the BET-inhibitor, RVX-208 on the HDL lipidome and glucose metabolism in individuals with prediabetes: A randomized controlled trial. The study concluded that apabetalone treatment impacted glucose metabolism and both the reduction in glucose absorption and its production are expected to be of benefit in patients with prediabetes mellitus. Our Estimates Resverlogix has increased the pace of investment into its portfolio of indications for apabetalone in recent months, launching a Phase 1 PK study with patients suffering from severe renal impairment. We anticipate that the company will continue to launch studies in other neighboring indications. Due to this acceleration in research and clinical activity, we have increased our estimates of research and development costs by $2 million in FY:17 and by $1 million in FY:18. This revision increases the loss per share by 2c in each of FY:17 and FY:18 shifting our loss per share to ($0.27) and ($0.28) respectively. We maintain our target price of CAD$5.00. Resverlogixs Epigenetics Platform Technology The basis of Resverlogixs epigenetics drug development platform involves targeting Bromodomain and Extra Terminal Domain (BET) proteins with the potential to impact cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. Acetylated lysine, a modified amino acid that is found in histones, binds to the two small bromodomain regions of BET proteins. Resverlogix has discovered BET protein inhibitors that specifically bind to BET bromodomains, thereby preventing them from binding to histones. This leads to modifications in certain gene activity involved in disease processes. Resverlogix is focusing the majority of its research efforts on the BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, and BRDT proteins. The small molecule compounds identified by Resverlogix function via selective inhibition of BET proteins. They alter the activity of genes that play a key role in disease in relevant cell models, demonstrate oral bio-availability allowing for oral administration in the form of a pill, and demonstrate activity in animal models of human disease. Resverlogix is in the process of identifying and developing compounds for additional clinical indications with proprietary platform activities continuing to add to its growing portfolio of intellectual property needed to support the development of these assets. Clinical Trials Resverlogix has completed many clinical trials to date. Apabetalone has been tested in over 1,000 patients in 12 countries, and clinical experience with apabetalone has demonstrated that BET inhibitors can be both safe and effective. Over the years, Resverlogix has gathered information from these studies and shifted focus to target patients with low HDL and diabetes with co-treatment of RVX-208 and rosuvastatin (Crestor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor) in its BETonMACE trial. Prior to the BETonMACE trial, apabetalone has completed two Phase 2b trials named SUSTAIN and ASSURE in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic. Furthermore, Resverlogix has performed thorough analysis of MACE in the Phase 2b clinical program; 35 MACE events were reported in both the SUSTAIN and ASSURE trials. This analysis demonstrated that treatment with apabetalone was associated with a 55% reduction in MACE. Apabetalone treated patients had a lower level of cumulative events of 6.7% vs. 15.1% (p=0.02) in the placebo treated group. Furthermore, a beneficial effect of apabetalone on patients with diabetes mellitus was accentuated with a reduction in MACE that was lowered by 77% (p=0.01). BETonMACE will continue to focus on MACE reduction as the primary endpoint for the registration study. Story continues Phase 3 BETonMACE In October 2015, Resverlogix launched its Phase 3 Effect of RVX-208 on Time to Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in High-Risk Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Subjects with Coronary Artery Disease (BETonMACE) trial with lead drug apabetalone in high-risk patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The study is a large international multi-center, double-blind, randomized, parallel group, placebo-controlled clinical trial to determine whether treatment with apabetalone in combination with rosuvastatin or atorvastatin increases the time to MACE compared to treatment with rosuvastatin or atorvastatin alone. The primary endpoint of the BETonMACE trial is designed to show a relative risk reduction of MACE, narrowly defined as a single composite endpoint of CV death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. The study is an event-based trial and will continue until at least 250 MACE events have occurred. MACE will be adjudicated by an independent committee and the study will be monitored by a data safety monitoring board. Management is seeking a 30% reduction in MACE as compared to the placebo arm. Secondary endpoints include time to first occurrence of the composite broad MACE which includes the addition of hospitalization for CVD events (unstable angina and revascularization procedures), changes in lipoprotein concentrations (HDL and apolipoprotein A-1, changes in diabetes mellitus variables (glucose and glycated hemoglobin), change in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), changes in kidney function and additional safety and tolerability of apabetalone. In order to be eligible to participate in the study, patients must have documented history of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, experienced a recent (defined as 7-90 days prior to randomization) coronary artery disease (CAD) event including unstable angina, revascularization procedure or MI and have low levels of HDL ( Resverlogix believes that a Phase 3 MACE trial could confirm health benefits in CVD, diabetes, and CKD. The main objective of the trial will be to confirm MACE reduction by apabetalone as observed in SUSTAIN and ASSURE pooled analysis and also expand safety assessment. The study will be in a larger prospective setting with high-risk patients that have diabetes mellitus and low HDL-C ( As part of the BETonMACE trial, the study will examine a subset of the patients to test for impact on neuro-degenerative diseases and test for cognition. The subset will include patients over the age of 70 and perform a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. The company anticipates that this could be from 200 to 300+ participants in the trial. This population group is the equivalent of a Phase 2 dementia trial built into BETonMACE. BETonMACE will initially be conducted in Argentina, Mexico and various European cities with potential expansion into Asia through the partnership with Hepalink. U.S. sites are also a consideration as Resverlogix looks towards FDA approval in this adaptive trial that will target a minimum of 2,400 patients. As of April 30, 2016, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, and Slovakia had received regulatory approval to open clinical investigator sites and were recruiting patients. Orphan Disease Program On September 24, 2015, Resverlogix announced the commencement of an Orphan Disease Program for Complement Mediated Diseases. New data suggests that apabetalone downregulates different components of the complement and coagulations pathways, which are important to cardiovascular disease as well several orphan diseases. Resverlogix would like to further explore the potential of apabetalone in humans with overactive complement pathways. There is potential for Resverlogix to study other complement mediated diseases, such as atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), and glomerulonephritis in conjunction with apabetalone as well as other pre-clinical BET inhibitors/follow-on compounds. Resverlogix does not currently have an orphan drug designation at this point, but the goal of the current Phase 1 PK study in renal intends to pursue this route. Management believes that orphan status will allow for the drug to reach the market before the pathway based on the BETonMACE trial. Summary Resverlogixs lead product candidate, apabetalone, is the first selective BET bromodomain inhibitor in clinical trials for high-risk vascular disease. In the current Phase 3 BETonMACE trial, Apabetalone is targeting a very specific patient population with low HDL, type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease with a high cardiovascular risk for increased MACE. The trial is progressing with patient recruitment and trial site activation in Phase 3 BETonMACE. Currently, all planned countries including Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, and Slovakia have received regulatory approval to open clinical investigator sites and are recruiting patients. As a reminder, our investment thesis for Resverlogix is based on a large and growing underserved market in cardiovascular disease. With a growing older population in the world, and in many cases a less healthy one than in previous generations, the addressable market for therapies that reduce cardiovascular risk is increasing. Apabetalone has shown an ability to positively impact major adverse cardiac events in early trials and we expect the current BETonMACE trial to confirm this hypothesis. There is also potential for the compound to address a number of other indications, including orphan diseases, PNH and aHUS. With a substantially large market and an anticipated high degree of efficacy, we forecast a rapid uptake of apabetalone following regulatory approval and forecast robust pricing ability given the anticipated pharmacoeconomics of the drug. We believe that durable patent position and the forecasted pricing of apabetalone, combined with a management skill set surrounding CVD and diabetes and a novel approach to addressing the residual risk in high need CVD patients, support our price target. The company has secured access to approximately $37 million USD in new capital through licensing and stock purchase agreements with Hepalink and Eastern Capital, which we believe should fully fund the Phase 3 BETonMACE program. We highlight that data from the BETonMACE trial will not likely be available until mid to late-2018, but we hope to see results from the interim futility analysis which will provide a first look after 125 MACE events. The recently announced complement-mediated orphan disease program could also provide further upside to our valuation, however at this time it is too early to include in our model. Additionally, apabetalones multimodal mechanism of action has led to the announcement of the current Phase 1 trial in renal disease, which may provide additional upside to our valuation. Currently, we believe the company is undervalued. We maintain our price target of CAD$5.00 per share. READ THE FULL RESEARCH REPORT HERE SUBSCRIBE TO ZACKS SMALL CAP RESEARCH to receive our articles and reports emailed directly to you each morning. Please visit our website for additional information on Zacks SCR and to view our disclaimer. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Chappy Hakim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The airspace of Indonesia is not covered by the Constitution of 1945, which has several times been amended, as air territory under the nations sovereignty. Since 2007, Indonesia still hasnt fulfilled civil aviation safety requirements specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This has caused the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to demote Indonesia to category 2 (unsafe) and the EU has banned most Indonesian airlines, with a few exceptions, from flying to Europe. There is also the Singapore flight information region issue and the major job of restoring Indonesias ICAO Council membership. Meanwhile, the problem of passenger and air traffic density at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng hasnt yet been properly handled. For instance, the opening of the additional Ultimate Terminal 3 has so far been delayed. Halim airport has since 2015 had to accommodate the excess of the airports air traffic. In April, two Batik Air and Trans Nusa planes grazed one anothers wings, but the cause of the accident hasnt been announced yet. The aviation authorities response was to provide higher frequency of civil commercial flights at Halim. As the situation further developed, through an erroneous analysis of the growing air traffic density and mistaken reports to decision makers, the idea was floated to open the southern air space of Java to civil commercial flights. The air traffic density arising lately is due to the management incapability of civil commercial flight operators to facilitate aircraft takeoff and landing activity at Soekarno-Hatta and some other airports, including Halim. Civil commercial flight operators overly and solely focus on the target of further increasing the number of routes amid booming air transportation. Nearly all military air bases are now being strained by the expanding civil commercial lines. The takeoff and landing queues at Cengkareng and Halim already last up to 45 minutes. This situation needs to be overcome. Opening flight lanes in southern Java wont solve the problem at all, and will in fact lead to a worse quandary. The air space in southern Java, especially around the zones of Central Java and East Java, has long been reserved for military aviation purposes with a profile of flights far different from that of civil airliners. The aircraft in the zones are mostly capable of exceeding the speed of sound, while frequently conducting aerobatic and formation maneuvers, as well as air-to-air firing, air-to-ground rocketing and bombing exercises. Such flight training requires a convenient and secure column of air space because of its goal of improving the combat-readiness of Air Force aircraft. If the plan to open the southern Java airspace to civil commercial flights were implemented, the national air defense system already painstakingly developed for decades would be ruined at a stroke. The combat structure for air defense as incorporated in the national air defense management system comprising the air bases of Halim, Atang Senjaya in Bogor, Husein Sastranegara in Bandung both in West Java Adi Sutjipto in Yogyakarta, Iswahyudi in Madiun and Abdurrahman Saleh in Malang both in East Java as well as the allocation and management of air space for national defense and the air-to-ground firing range location on the southern coast, would be sent flying into a true muddle. A national air transportation system relying merely on the development of flight routes will indeed inevitably lead uncontrolled expansion due to the absence of thorough planning. The development of commercial lines has penetrated military air bases and will also later encroach on the air space that has for decades been managed and developed in the interest of state defense and security. Any alteration of aviation lanes already so meticulously developed over such a long time in the interests of state defense and security deserves reconsideration. The shattering of air space already fostered for national security and prosperity will entail even worse consequences in the future. The time has come to manage the national air territory according to a pattern that refers to inter-ministerial management standards at the government level in an integrated way. Short-term measures that merely enable the acceleration of air transportation route expansion will certainly infringe and ruin the order of another sector currently seeing normal growth and in observance of prevailing laws. Ensuring the rapid development of commercial flight routes would unnecessarily mess up another sector, let alone that closely connected with state defense and security. Such a move would not only reduce the level of aviation safety as a whole because of mixed civil and military flights in the same air column, but would also devastate the national air defense system in general. At this point, the action would run counter to the governments attempts to be excluded from the FAAs category 2 countries and to meet the ICAOs civil aviation safety standards. Accelerating the growth of air transportation lines should not emulate the means of boosting city transportation routes, in which drivers seek full payment of minivan rental fees. Civil commercial flights should follow modern management principles under nationally integrated planning. In this way, national aviation as part of the development of national air power will not be seen as merely oriented to a rise in air transportation routes. *** The writer was chairman of the National Team for Transportation Safety and Security Evaluation in 2007. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Bali Mon, August 1, 2016 Beautiful people, check. Vows of eternal love, check. Kisses and tears, check. Taiwanese television stars Ruby Lin and Wallace Huo got married at Bulgari Resort Bali on Sunday and the wedding, by the account of Apple Daily, went according to script. As the couple exchanged vows in a ceremony overlooking the Indian Ocean, the groom said with a shy laugh: "I've known you for so long. Being friends with you was, to me, a very lucky thing. Becoming husband and wife is, to me, a more fortunate thing." "There will be a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of tests. I hope we can, hand in hand, work together to face the future together. I love you." (Read also: Nicky Wu sings at his own wedding, confesses his love for bride) The bride, who wore a Zuhair Murad wedding dress, thanked her husband for his "goodness" and "tolerance". "Starting today, we're a family," she said. Choking up, she assured him: "When you're out and you're tired, exhausted, don't forget, I'll always be at home waiting for you. Forever. I love you." Huo, 36, and Lin, 40, then held hands and kissed. They were said to have been friends for 10 years, before they got together at her birthday party in January this year. Actress Vicki Zhao made a surprise appearance at the ceremony, said the report. It was a rare reunion for Zhao, Lin and Fan Bingbing, who all acted in the 1990s hit My Fair Princess. Among the other stars who flew in for the wedding weekend were Shu Qi, Hu Ge, Zhou Xun, Nicky Wu and his wife, Liu Shishi. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rain Chudori (The Jakarta Post) Sat, July 30 2016 Are you afraid? Alek asks Sari, the young woman lying next to him. Sari of the billowing hair, of the coquettish eyes, of the light fingers. Sari who, somehow, tenderly, almost tragically, landed in his arms. It is difficult not to question Saris decision in a lover. Alek is, despite the curls that fall over his eyes and his unquestionably strong arms, a rogue. How could Sari settle for a man who works as a pirated DVD subtitle maker? What was it that united these lovers beyond their shared love for cinema and dancing in the dark? And then Sari shook her head no. She was not afraid. Far from it. And I finally understood. A Copy of My Mind follows Sari, a beautiful drifting figure in the heart of the polluted, corrupted city of Jakarta. Jakarta is not known for its mercy, yet she moves effortlessly, accepting anything the city might offer. She walks down sunlit streets filled with campaigning politicians, sits patiently in overflowing buses, passes through cramped back-alleys crammed with illegally set up stalls. Sari, the nomad, welcomes the heat, the noise, even the crowd, to become a part of her and she shows us that the most important thing is to move. Sari attempts to become what Braidotti calls a nomadic body, a materially present identity, that lasts, that goes on for a while by encountering other bodies. yet she is unable to experience these sensations internally. Sari fails to understand that to become the nomadic body, you must not only move, not only encounter, but also feel. Sari is merely one nomadic body in a city of 9 million nomadic bodies. We regularly inhabit public places that require a certain degree of mobility and patience. This practice, undoubtedly familiar to everyone who lives in the city, creates an instinctive reaction depending on our surroundings. We speak a certain way, sit a certain way, walk a certain way, we move a certain way, when we inhabit public spaces such as buses, trains, and sidewalks. We are constantly alert, yet we forget most of the sensations that we experience, and therefore, fail to internalize it, at the end of our day. Our sensations are assaulted on a daily basis, yet nothing truly touches us. 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 Galeries Lafayette touts Wonderful Indonesia Pacific Place shopping center, Central Jakarta Galeries Lafayette recently launched its Summer Break program, working with the Tourism Ministry to promote its Wonderful Indonesia program. On hand were I Gde Pitana, the Tourism Ministrys deputy for international marketing; as well as Galeries Lafayette President Director Agus Gozali, Chief Operating Officer Mathias Mamodbay and CRM Director Arnolda Ratnawati. The local outpost of the swanky French department store will be celebrating Indonesias cultural diversity through an Iconic Indonesian Designers Corner, an exclusive area with inspiring local designs. Also on display will be the fruits of Galeries Lafayettes ARTmosphere collaboration between Indonesian artists and fashion designers such as ROH Projects, A.R.T, and PER Jakarta. 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 Ika Krismantari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 Status: complicated. That is probably the best way to describe my relationship status with President Joko Jokowi Widodo. The verdict of the International Peoples Tribunal (IPT), which found Indonesia guilty of crimes against humanity in relation to the systematic killings of hundreds of thousands of people in 1965 has not made things any better between us. 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 Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 Indonesia has arrested 29 foreign-flagged boats for allegedly fishing illegally in domestic waters in July, a minister has said. Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said on Monday that the vessels were mostly apprehended when they were sailing in Natuna waters in Riau Islands and hailed from neighboring countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Apart from fishing without legal documents, the vessels were found to have used prohibited fishing equipment, she went on. "Customs and excise officers seized several pieces of evidence, such as 57 tons of fertilizer for fish bombing. The National Police also seized 2 tons [of fertilizer] in the Pangkajene Islands [Pangkep] and 1 ton on an uninhabited island around the islands," Susi said. The confiscated fertilizer was allegedly brought into the country by Malaysian fishermen, the minister said. Susi said at least four to five boats weighing about 50 gross tons (GT) were carrying fish bombs into the country's territorial waters every month, in which they sailed to Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Bawean Island in East Java, until Raja Ampat in West Papua. Susi said the National Police and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) were investigating further to determine whether the fishermen had intended to use the bombs for fishing activities or use them for terrorism-related purposes. Despite the government's efforts to ban fish bombs, the use of them has continued in domestic waters. Susi said officials would continue to spread awareness, especially among fishermen in fishing zones, on the need to stop destructive fishing activities. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 After declaring that he will run in next years gubernatorial election on a party ticket, Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has moved quickly to gain the support of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Like Ahok, Gerinda Party candidate, businessman Sandiaga Uno, is also hoping to gain the support of the PDI-P and win the heart of party chief Megawati Soekarnoputri. Syarif, the head of the Gerindra Jakarta campaign team, said his party would give the governor candidacy post to any candidate from the PDI-P should the PDI-P agree to form a coalition with them. Gerinda hopes that such a coalition will hand them victory in the gubernatorial race, just as they enjoyed in 2012. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 Thanks to his acceptance of party endorsement, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama will not need to dig deep into his pockets for his 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election campaign. The three political parties that have endorsed Ahok, namely the Golkar Party, Nasdem Party and Hanura Party will bear all the campaign costs, Ahok's campaign team leader Nusron Wahid said on Monday. "We will do it with the principle of mutual cooperation," he told thejakartapost.com adding that the team had not yet estimated how much would need to be spent to cover Ahoks run in next year's election. Separately, Ahok also said he trusted the political parties with handling funding matters. I have never spent money for any event conducted by political parties. Even when I eat together with political party members, they always pay for me, Ahok told journalists at City Hall. Ahok defied his supporters, who have already gathered 1 million vote pledges to satisfy independent candidacy requirements, by declaring last week that he would run as a political party candidate. Currently, the governors main support group, Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), and the political parties supporting Ahok have started coordinating their efforts regarding Ahok's reelection campaign. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Nusa Dua Mon, August 1, 2016 The governments widening budget deficit may have an adverse effect on the overall economy as public spending may have to be slashed as a result of declining revenues. The deficit problem has also led to calls by economists to raise the legal threshold for the state budget deficit currently at 3 percent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) so that the government can continue to work on many projects without having to cut spending when revenue collection is sluggish. Halfway through the year, the state budget deficit has reached Rp 230.7 trillion (US$17.6 billion), 1.83 percent of the countrys GDP, as a result of a tax revenue shortfall, according to government data as of June. The figure is almost triple the amount seen in the same period last year and is already three-quarters of the overall budget deficit predicted for the whole year at Rp 296.7 trillion, 2.35 percent of the GDP. Mandiri Sekuritas chief economist Leo Putra Rinaldy said with regard to the grim first-half figures that the government might not have the capacity to spend as much as it hoped for in order to boost growth in the persistently weak economy and would need to resort to private financing instead. Indonesias economy grew at a six-year low level of 4.79 percent last year although growth is forecast to recover to 5.2 percent this year. He especially expressed concern about a repeat of last years situation, which saw the state budget deficit reach 2.8 percent of GDP, very near the legal threshold and far greater than the 1.9 percent target in the revised 2015 state budget, after the tax collection shortfall. The deficit then narrowed to 2.6 percent by the end of the year. If it takes the same path this year, investors will be reluctant to put their funds in because the government will tax everything, Leo said during a media discussion held by Bank Indonesia (BI) in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Sunday. The government is relying on an estimated Rp 165 trillion of its projected Rp 1.53 quadrillion tax revenue to come from its tax amnesty program, which, it is hoped, will see billions of dollars currently parked by Indonesian taxpayers overseas, declared in exchange for pardons for past tax crimes and with low penalty rates of between 2 and 10 percent. International credit ratings agency Standard & Poors (S&P) has predicted a 2.7 percent budget deficit by the end of the year, raising concern over the nations fiscal health and leading the agency to refrain from giving Indonesias sovereign credit rating an investment grade earlier this year. If the government does not cut around Rp 80 to Rp 90 trillion of its spending amid the shortfall in revenue collection, the state budget deficit could exceed the 3 percent legal limit, Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede has warned. The government has to have an earlier warning system in case this years target has been missed as well, he said, forecasting that tax revenues would grow by 8 percent on last years achievement of Rp 1.06 quadrillion, this in comparison with the governments target of an increase of better than 20 percent. Several economists have resurrected the discourse about revising the State Finance Law, which stipulates the 3 percent deficit threshold. Maybank economist Juniman said as a country that was still developing its infrastructure, Indonesia needed wider deficit room. Bank Mandiri chief economist Anton Gunawan expressed a similar view, saying the 3 percent limit was too rigid. However, former finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro was quick to dismiss the possibility. I wouldnt want to widen it [the deficit]. Its already safe, he said recently. Newly installed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said her office was still thoroughly examining the state budget, which has an ambitious revenue target, to make it credible. _________________________________ 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 N.Adri (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan Mon, August 1, 2016 The East Kalimantan Police say they opened 1,635 drug cases in areas across east and north Kalimantan in the first six months of 2016. From the cases, 2,180 people have been named suspects, East Kalimantan Police chief Insp.Gen.Safarudin said in Balikpapan on Saturday. He further said that from the cases, the police confiscated 54,045 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine or sabu-sabu, 5,061 ecstasy pills, 472,634 LL or double L pills, and more than 19 kg of marijuana as evidence. Most of the evidence has been destroyed while half of the cases have already passed trial, he added. Safarudin said he had set a target of at least seven cases per week in three police precincts in two cities, namely Balikpapan and Samarinda, and Kutai Kartanegara regency. I set a target of only four cases per week for other police precincts, but for those three areas there should be a minimum of seven cases discovered per week. If they cannot reach the weekly target, they must make up for it in the following week, he said. Balikpapan Police chief Adj.Sr.Comr.Jeffri Dian Juniarta said his office had fulfilled the target set by the East Kalimantan Police. Early last week, for instance, we arrested two people with more than 29 grams of sabu-sabu as evidence in the former red-light district of Manggarsari, he said. One of the people, identified only as Darwis, is strongly suspected to be a drug dealer. (ebf) SIOUX CITY, IA / ACCESSWIRE / August 1, 2016 / Scooter's Coffee, the Midwest-based coffee franchise that has experienced tremendous growth over the past year, will increase their Iowa presence with the company's latest Grand Opening in Sioux City, IA (3136 Floyd Blvd) on Friday, August 12th. To celebrate the opening, the new location will offer $1 medium drinks all day. "We have enjoyed watching the Scooter's Coffee brand grow in the state of Iowa," said Don Eckles, CEO and co-founder of Scooter's Coffee. On August 12th, Grand Opening Day, customers can also expect to receive several fun giveaways; beginning at 9am, the first 100 customers will receive a t-shirt or coffee mug. For the afternoon crowd, there will be $5 gift cards given away for the first 50 customers beginning at 2pm. In celebration of this new store opening, the location will be treating customers to a Week of Specials, following the festive Grand Opening event on August 12th. The week of specials are as follows: Monday, August 15th - $1 Any Size Caramelicious Tuesday, August 16th - $1 Any Size Mocha or White Mocha Wednesday, August 17th - $1 Small Fruit Smoothies Thursday, August 18th -$1 Small Candy Bar Drinks Friday, August 19th - Half Off Any Drink Ali & Tim Dreher and David Samsula will own this location. "I have been drinking coffee since I was a little girl and have always loved the coffee shop atmosphere. My family and I wanted to be a part of something that we believed in and knew others would enjoy. The drinks, customers and service really are amazing at Scooter's," said Ali. The Sioux City grand opening marks the latest move in the company's extraordinary growth. With more than 135 stores in soon-to-be 15 states, Scooter's recently signed a large Area Representative Agreement in Phoenix, along with several other Multi-Unit Agreements in Florida, Oklahoma and Arkansas. In late 2015, the company opened its first location in Roswell, Georgia (Atlanta metro) and plans to build several more stores in the Atlanta area. At the same time, Scooter's will continue to build locations in the Midwest region, with several stores slated to be opened in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota and Missouri. Story continues The company also added depth to its product profile in 2015, with the release of its toasted gouda cheese ciabatta and bagel breakfast sandwiches, along with the Southwest Breakfast Burrito. Scooter's, which hand-crafts its pastries and roasts its own 100% shade-grown coffees (sourced through the Arbor Day Foundation), at their Omaha headquarters, will add several innovative items to the menu in 2016, including a comprehensive iced tea program and more breakfast options. About Scooter's Coffee Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooter's Coffee roasts only the finest coffee beans in the world at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Scooter's success over 18 years of history is simple: stay committed to the original business principles and company core values. The Scooter's mantra, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: "Amazing People, Amazing Drinks Amazingly Fast!" It represents the company's business origins from 1998 and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal customers. For more information, visit scooterscoffee.com or Facebook.com/ScootersCoffee. www.scooterscoffee.com - 6824 J Street, Omaha, NE 68117 - 402.614.1723 SOURCE: Scooter's Coffee Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The government needs to consolidate state banks, such as Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Mandiri, to initiate bank consolidations carried out by private lenders, a senior analyst said in Jakarta on Monday. Economist Faisal Basri said consolidating banks was a good move to increase loan disbursement to boost the countrys economic growth. Our economy moves at a snails pace because banks disburse small loans, Faisal added. He said the three-largest banks in terms of assets in Southeast Asia were Singapore lendersnamely DBS, OCBC and UOB. They managed to be huge because the initial 13 banks in Singapore had been consolidated into only three banks. Bank Mandiri is currently 11th on the list. If BNI and Bank Mandiri merged, it could be the seventh-largest bank in the region, Faisal told The Jakarta Post, he said. Bank Mandiri, which records US$66 billion in assets, is the largest in Indonesia but 11th in ASEAN according to Forbes this year. State-owned BRI followed in 12th position, BCA in 14th, and BNI in 15th. Calls to consolidate Indonesias banking sectors are increasing in anticipation of the ASEAN Economic Community. Indonesia records about 120 banks, while other countries in the region have fewer than 50. (vny) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Cologne, Germany Mon, August 1, 2016 Thousands rallied in the German city of Cologne on Sunday to denounce the failed July 15 coup in Turkey and show support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A heavy police presence protected demonstrators. The rally came amid tensions among Turks following the coup attempt and concern in Germany over the scale of the Turkish government's subsequent crackdown on those it says are linked to US-based cleric it blames for the coup attempt. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied the claims. Police estimated that between 30,000 to 40,000 people demonstrated peacefully at the riverside rally, across the Rhine from downtown Cologne. Many waved Turkish flags. Germany is home to roughly 3 million people with Turkish roots. Organizers at the rally played the Turkish and German national anthems and held a minute of silence for the people killed in the attempted coup. The slogan of the demonstration was "Yes to democracy. No to the coup." Police put 2,700 officers in place to prevent any trouble. Four much smaller counter-protests took place elsewhere in the city, including one by a far-right German group that was kept well away from the Turkish rally. Some demonstrators came from outside Germany, such as French-Turkish protester Aziz Sahin, who said he came from Paris "just to support democracy." A regional court imposed the condition that no messages from speakers elsewhere such as politicians in Turkey could be shown on a video screen at the rally. Germany's highest court rejected a complaint against that ban on Saturday night. Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said ruling prevented the president from giving a message to the rally, and called for a "satisfactory explanation" from German officials. Later Sunday, organizers read a message from Erdogan thanking people with Turkish roots in Germany for their moral support during the coup attempt, the German news agency dpa reported. He said "today Turkey is stronger than it ever was before July 15." Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of the rally that there is "no place in Germany" for anyone to "bring domestic political tensions from Turkey to us in Germany." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 Rofifah Juniandar is now ready to enter college to pursue her passion for fashion. The 19-year-old girl has been accepted at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), where she will study fashion design in September. She says she cannot wait to plunge into the new environment and is exhilarated by the thought of the college years ahead of her. 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 Mon, August 1, 2016 House of Representatives member Eva Kusuma Sundari has said the government must remain neutral in resolving violence that broke out in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on Friday evening. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said further that the North Sumatra Police should investigate parties suspected of spreading hatred and attacks on several Buddhist vihara (temples) and pagodas in Tanjung Balai. The state of Indonesia must take a neutral stance in every religion-related violence case. Whoever the victims, including minority ethnic Chinese who are mostly Buddhist and Confucianism followers, must be helped to rebuild their houses of worship and lives, said Eva as quoted by kompas.com. (Read also : Vihara, pagodas burned down, plundered in N. Sumatra) The deputy coordinator of a group of lawmakers calling themselves the Pancasila Caucus further said: Whoever the perpetrators of the violence done in the name of religion must be arrested and brought to justice. As reported earlier, a mob burned down and plundered several vihara and pagodas in Tanjung Balai on Friday evening. The violence broke out after a Chinese-Indonesian woman complained about the volume of a speaker at Al Maksum Mosque, located in her neighborhood. Eva said that in 2015, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in his capacity as chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), asked mosques across the country to turn down the volume of their loudspeakers. The council, she further said, had trained 700 technicians, supported by 100 technical vehicles, to help service mosque loudspeakers. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 Dozens of residents staged a protest over state-owned railway company PT KAIs plan to evict residents from their houses in Manggarai, South Jakarta, on Sunday. The residents, mostly retired railway company workers, grouped under the State Land and House Occupants Community (KPRTN), object to the companys plan to evict them from the houses they have occupied for more than 30 years. KPRTN spokesperson Puji Haryadi said the protestors repeatedly hit their kentongan (traditional drum) as a symbol of their objection. 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 Mon, August 1, 2016 The government says it will not pay a ransom but instead continue its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of 10 Indonesian hostages kidnapped by militant groups in the Philippines. We call it total diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry is even collaborating with the military and police to free the hostages, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the ministrys Indonesian citizen protection director, told journalists. On June 23, seven of 13 crewmen aboard an Indonesian vessel were taken hostage in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines, while the remaining six were let go. Another three Indonesian sailors were kidnapped in an earlier incident. Charles Honoris, a member of House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, said that the state principally could not pay a ransom and should not let any other party do so either. Paying a ransom will only trigger more abductions, he added. (wnd/bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 Indonesia plans to form a joint task force with the Philippines to take action against militant groups to prevent further hostage-taking incidents in the future, a top minister said on Monday. The possible plan will be brought up during a meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari, who are scheduled to visit Indonesia in the near future, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said. "The purpose is to prevent us from having to go back and forth every time there is a kidnapping incident," Wiranto told journalists at his office. However, the minister did not provide further details regarding the formation of the joint task force and the exact date when Duterte and Misuari would come to Jakarta to discuss bilateral efforts to free the 10 Indonesians currently held hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants. Ten Indonesian sailors have been abducted at sea in separate incidents over the past months by armed militants in Malaysian and southern Philippine waters. It is believed that the men are being held in Sulu province, the Philippines. There have been four recent kidnappings of Indonesian sailors in regional waters, with the government calling for tighter security measures to prevent further incidents from taking place. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has predicted capital inflows from asset repatriation during the tax amnesty programs implementation to peak in September. Citing data, the President said as of Aug. 1, Rp 3.7 trillion (US$283.53 million) worth of assets had been declared from 344 tax payers, which was still relatively small compared to the governments target of Rp 3.5 to Rp 4 quadrillion. "There will be huge inflows during the third week of August to the first week of September," he said during a tax amnesty campaign in Jakarta, Monday. For the amnesty program, the government has set redemption charges of between 2 to 5 percent for those declaring and bringing back their assets to Indonesia. Tax payers who opt to declare their wealth will only face a penalty rate of 4 to 10 percent, depending on the period. For those who declare their offshore funds in the first three months of the programs implementation to Sept. 30, a 4 percent tax tariff will apply. For those who declare their assets between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, a 6 percent tax tariff will apply. Lastly, a 10 percent tax tariff is offered for those who declare their assets between Jan. 1 to March 31. For small and medium-sized enterprises lower rates of between 0.5 to 2 percent will apply. Jokowi has been directly leading tax amnesty campaigns in several cities across the country, such as Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, to send the message of the government's seriousness about the program. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia reached 857,700 in June, down by 6.29 percent from the previous month and by 1.69 percent from the same period last year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) revealed on Monday. BPS head Suryamin said the decline in foreign visitors to Indonesia was due to the Ramadhan fasting month from June 6 to July 6, which caused a slowdown in tourism activities. "It was almost a full month of Ramadhan in June. Ramadhan has always occurred in the middle of the month. A full fasting month in June caused tourists to stop their visits," he said. Of Indonesias 19 main entry points, 805,650 tourists visited through regular entry points and 21,496 through special entry points. Meanwhile, 52,000 tourists came in via other entry points. "We will expand the main entrances. We have border crossings with 10 countries, which have the potential for tourism and trade activities." Tourists entering through Kuala Namu International Airport in North Sumatra decreased by 17.64 percent in June compared to the previous month (mtm), and 17.66 percent year-on-year (yoy) due to Mount Sinabung eruptions. Tourists visits via Batam also fell by 8.43 percent compared to May's visits. Meanwhile, tourists entering through Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and Husein Sastranegara in Bandung fell by 19.51 percent mtm and 47.82 percent mtm, respectively. Bali remains the most popular destination with the number of tourists arriving at Ngurah Rai Airport increasing by 2.85 percent mtm in June. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Veeramalla Anjaiah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 Relations between Morocco and Indonesia, especially in economic ties, have been expanding in recent years as more and more Indonesian products have been flowing into the North African country, an Indonesian minister has said. Our relations with Morocco are expanding and encouraging. The trade between the two countries reached US$214.32 million in 2015. But this figure doesnt reflect the real potential of both countries, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said at the Moroccan National Day reception in Jakarta on Saturday night. We have not yet tapped into the great potential for cooperation with Morocco. We will jointly explore opportunities to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries. 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 Milos Krivokapic and Raphael Satter (Associated Press) Rouen, France Mon, August 1, 2016 Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass on Sunday, a gesture of interfaith solidarity following a drumbeat of jihadi attacks that threatens to deepen religious divisions across Europe. From the towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few miles from where 85-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel was killed Tuesday by two Muslim fanatics, to Paris' iconic Notre Dame, where the rector of the Mosque of Paris invoked a papal benediction in Latin, many churchgoers were cheered by the Muslims in their midst. Interviewed outside the cathedral in Rouen, Jacqueline Prevot called it "a magnificent gesture." "Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass," she said. "I find this very heartwarming." Members of the Italian Muslim communities arrive to attend a Mass in Milan's Santa Maria in Caravaggio church, Italy, July 31.(Ansa via AP/Flavio Lo Scalzo) French television broadcast scenes of interfaith solidarity from all around France, with Muslim women in headscarves and Jewish men in kippot crowding the front rows of Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais or the Basilica of St. Denis, the traditional resting place of French royalty. There were similar scenes in Italy, where the head of Italy's Union of Islamic communities Izzedin Elzir called on his colleagues to "take this historic moment to transform tragedy into a moment of dialogue." The secretary general of the country's Islamic Confederation, Abdullah Cozzolino spoke at the Treasure of St. Gennaro chapel; three imams also attended Mass at the St. Maria Church in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood, donning their traditional dress as they entered the sanctuary and sat down in the front row. Ahmed El Balazi, the imam of the Vobarno mosque in Italy's Lombard province of Brescia, said he did not fear repercussions for speaking out. "These people are tainting our religion and it is terrible to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists. That is not the case," El Balazi said. "Religion is one thing. Another is the behavior of Muslims who don't represent us." Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni thanked Italian Muslims for their participation, saying they "are showing their communities the way of courage against fundamentalism." Among the parishioners in Rouen was a nun who survived Tuesday's siege in nearby Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, which began when two 19-year-old attackers stormed a stone church and killed Hamel as he celebrated morning Mass. She joined her fellow Catholics in turning to shake hands or embrace the Muslim churchgoers after the service. At Notre Dame cathedral in the French capital, Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Mosque of Paris, said repeatedly that Muslims want to live in peace. Boubakeur, in a fraternal nod to the Catholic Church, said he was addressing "Urbi et Orbi" a Latin blessing long identified with the pope and meaning "to the city and the world." France and Italy are both increasing their supervision of mosques after the spate of jihadi attacks, including Tuesday's attack in France and the July 14 atrocity in Nice in which a Muslim truck driver plowed through a crowd of revelers, killing 84 people. Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told the Senate this week that authorities were scrutinizing mosque financing and working with the Islamic community to ensure that imams study in Italy, preach in Italian and are aware of Italy's legal structuring. The Paris prosecutor's office, meanwhile, said a cousin of one of the two 19-year-olds who killed the priest faces preliminary charges of participating in "a terrorist association with the aim of harming others." The 30-year-old Frenchman, identified as Farid K., "knew very well, if not of the exact place or time, of his cousin's impending plans for violence," the office said in a statement. In a related development, the prosecutor's office said a man identified as Jean-Philippe Steven J. faces preliminary charges connected to an attempt to reach Syria last month with one of the two French priest's killers. ___ Satter reported from Paris. Colleen Barry contributed from Milan. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 President Joko Jokowi Widodo said on Saturday he had instructed the National Police to send a special team to investigate rampant human trafficking leading to organ trading in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The President gave the instruction to National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian after receiving reports of 27 people who had been trafficked to Malaysia and had had their organs taken from their bodies. One of the victims, Yufrida Selan, 14, was sent home dead with her internal organs cut out of her body and stitches along her spine, indicating that her body had been cut open for the procedure. Ive asked the National Police chief to pay special attention to this human trafficking case as it involves the organ trade and there were 27 victims, Jokowi said as quoted by tribunnews.com. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 The government said on Sunday the portion of women participating in legislative elections remained stagnant at 17 percent, lower than the 30 percent quota mandated by a law on elections. Elly Yuniarti, the ministrys subdivision head for democracy enhancement, said the low percentage remained at the same level for the 2009 and 2014 general elections. In the elections, the proportion of women in the legislature failed to meet the 30 percent quota, she 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 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The recent departure of Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi, a powerful man behind the top courts verdict administration, has shed light on real changes awaiting in the countrys highest judicial institution. Political pressures that have hammered him after being implicated in a graft case have driven the 59-year-old to tender early retirement, a year before his time. Nurhadi, who the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has slapped with a travel ban in connection to a bribery case surrounding the handling of a case review filed by a subsidiary of the Lippo Group in April, tendered his resignation to President Joko Jokowi Widodo days after the KPK confirmed it had opened a fresh investigation to further confirm Nurhadis alleged role in the case. University of Indonesias (UI) Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (MaPPI) called on the court to conduct open recruitment to seek Nurhadis successor instead of conducting internal selection, which is not transparent. Open recruitment will ensure that the selected successor to Nurhadi is not chosen according to subjective criteria imposed by the courts chief and will also let outsiders with integrity and a good track record have an opportunity to compete for the job. Law No. 5/2014 on the state apparatus allows [the court] to conduct open selection to fill the post of Supreme Court secretary. The selection will open doors for civil servants and non-civil servant candidates to compete for the job, MaPPI researcher Aulia Ali Reza said in a statement on Sunday. MaPPI said court officials could also join the open recruitment and that it did not matter whether the court secretary post was later filled by an internal official, as long as he or she passed the open recruitment process. We call on the Supreme Court to carry out transparent selection of Nurhadis successor to support efforts to reform the court, the NGO said. In April, the KPK found Rp 1.7 billion (US$129,200) in a search of his home. The money is believed to be related to the handling of several cases at the court, including the plea filed by Lippo. The KPK found difficulties in charging Nurhadi in the case because he had allegedly destroyed a number of documents related to the Lippo case, and the National Police have yet to allow the KPK to question his four adjutants, who are members of the police. The National Police chief said on Thursday that his side would allow the KPK to question the four police members in order for the KPK to step up its investigation. Supreme Court chief justice Hatta Ali, known to be close to Nurhadi, is preparing three candidates to replace his subordinate, and one of them will be proposed to Jokowi for approval. However, signs of reform resistance at the court emerged once again after spokesman Suhadi hinted that the court preferred to appoint an internal official as Nurhadis successor to continue his legacy as secretary and the head of an internal team to conduct reform at the court. Court spokesman Suhadi said conducting open recruitment to fill the post left vacant by Nurhadi was a good idea, but the final decision on whether to take that route laid in the hands of court chief Hatta. As of today, no decision has been made. An internal candidate to replace Pak Nurhadi would be ideal because he or she will already be familiar with internal affairs at the Supreme Court, Suhadi said. In February, the KPK also allegedly caught red-handed Andri Tristianto Sutrisna, chief of the subdirectorate of appeals and special civil case second reviews at the court, accepting a bribe from graft convict Ichsan Suadi. Nurhadi made headlines in early 2014 for holding a lavish wedding reception for his daughter, with iPods distributed as mementos to around 2,500 guests. ________________________________ 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 Linawati Sidarto (The Jakarta Post) The Hague Mon, August 1 2016 Book talk: Writers (from left) Eka Kurniawan, Joss Wibisono and Barney Agerbeek discuss The Image of the Nyai at the Tong Tong Fair in The Hague, the Netherlands, in June. Some half a million of the Netherlands 17 million people are of mixed Indonesian-Dutch origin. Many of these Indos, or mixed-race people, are descendants of nyai the indigenous concubines of European men in the then Dutch East Indies. Until recently, this fact was taboo for many Indo 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 Mark Lewis (Associated Press) Stavanger, Norway Mon, August 1, 2016 Norway wants to get rid of gasoline-fueled cars, plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and spends billions on helping poor countries reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, it's pushing ever farther into the Arctic Ocean in search of more oil and gas. "We know there is a paradox," admits Vidar Helgesen, Norway's climate and energy minister. "We have been living well from oil and gas. But there is no country in the world that has done more to undermine the oil and gas industry than Norway." The mountainous Scandinavian country of 5 million people is torn between its ambition to be a global leader on climate change and the awareness that its wealth is linked to the world's dependence on fossil fuels. This apparent contradiction is particularly striking in Stavanger, Norway's oil capital. The west coast town is the hub of an offshore industry that has made Norway the world's eighth biggest exporter of oil and third biggest exporter of natural gas. Norway's $875 billion oil kitty is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, and hydrocarbons account for 40 percent of Norwegian exports. But very little of those fossil fuels are used at home. Like the rest of the country, Stavanger gets almost all its electricity from hydropower. And the streams of Teslas driven by oil workers through the streets of Stavanger attest to the rich subsidies the government has poured into the electric car market. E-cars have zero import duty, sales tax is a quarter less than for conventional vehicles and most roads are free. Some 29 percent of new cars sold in Norway are electric or hybrid. The government in June introduced a target of 100 percent by 2025. Helgesen says Norway's example is spreading around the world, with once skeptical car manufacturers investing in green technology and speeding the transition away from hydrocarbons. In June, lawmakers forced through a commitment for Norway to become carbon neutral by 2030 some 20 years ahead of schedule. Norway is also one of the most generous donors to international initiatives to maintain rainforests, which help fight climate change by absorbing some of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels. It has already spent US$1 billion saving trees in Brazil and is committed to spend up to $350 million a year preserving trees in places like Indonesia and Guyana. But Norway is accused of environmental hypocrisy, grandstanding overseas with environmental projects while allowing its domestic oil and gas industry to pump ever larger quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. Plans for carbon neutrality involve buying credits for helping reduce emissions abroad. In fact, Norway was one of the few Western countries to see a rise in domestic carbon emissions in 2015. That was mainly due to the fact that its aging North Sea oil fields require ever more energy to tap depleting reservoirs. "The plan has always been to buy carbon credits to allow us to continue polluting as a country," says Lars Haltbrekken, chairman of the Norwegian chapter of Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group. "That is why we don't think carbon neutrality is the most important factor in combatting climate change," he says. "We can buy credits in developing countries. It doesn't require us to reduce emissions here in Norway." A tougher European Union scheme will set emissions reduction targets within the next two years. But Norway, which is not an EU member, will still be able to trade emissions credits with European neighbors to reach its reduction quota. Meanwhile, environmental activists bristle at exploration permits handed out to 13 oil companies in May to drill in a new area of the Norwegian Arctic. Critics say the technology to safely explore in such remote areas is not properly tested and claim plunging prices make Arctic oil unaffordable without hefty Norwegian subsidies. While companies pay 78 percent tax on hydrocarbons they produce in Norwegian waters, they can claim back the same amount on costs for exploration. "We absolutely regard this as a subsidy," says Ellen Viseth, a political advisor at the Bellona environmental group. Viseth says the Barents Sea north of Norway is already one of the most expensive places in the world to produce oil. "The price and the risk make it uneconomical," she says. "But the Norwegian government is heavily supporting the oil and gas industry. The oil companies don't take much of a risk but their upside is huge." Norway's state-owned energy company Statoil scooped up the largest share of exploration rights in the latest licensing round. Chevron and ConoccoPhillips also secured permits. In June, Norway became one of the first countries to ratify last year's Paris Agreement on climate change, which seeks to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) compared with pre-industrial times. Haltbrekken says that any Norwegian contribution to this target that does not involve a reduction in oil and gas is empty. Helgesen disagrees. "We are living in a time of tremendous energy transformation," he says. "We want to play a part whether it is in electrification, bio-energy, hydropower, or any other green energy. But Norway has the cleanest hydrocarbons anywhere in the world. And as long as the world needs oil and gas, we will provide it." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has hinted at entering a coalition with the Gerindra Party, which nominated Sandiaga Uno as its candidate for Jakartas gubernatorial election next year. The PKS is in discussions on the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate, senior PKS member Hidayat Nur Wahid said on Monday, adding that Sandiaga was one of the strong candidates being considered by the party. Hidayat stressed that the PKS needed to be careful in selecting its candidates for Jakarta governor and deputy governor to find the best pair before making any public announcement, because Jakarta was a political barometer for the country. The PKS has 11 seats in the City Council, while Gerindra has 15. If they join forces, the two parties will meet the threshold of 22 seats required to nominate candidates for Jakartas gubernatorial election. Gerindra officially nominated Sandiaga on Friday during the partys national meeting at the house of its chairman Prabowo Subianto in Bogor, West Java. Sandiaga said on Sunday that the PKS had agreed to discuss his nomination with Gerindra. "Thank God I received some good news today that the PKS decided to support me," Sandiaga said in Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta, on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The police have arrested 11 people suspected of burning down several Buddhist and Chinese temples in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra. Tanjung Balai Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Yani Sinulingga said the police had arrested four suspects on Sunday, in addition to seven who were already in police custody. The suspects are still undergoing intensive interrogation. We have also listed dozens of people on our most-wanted list [DPO] of fugitives, we will arrest more people soon, Yani said, as quoted by kompas.com. (Read also : False news spread on social media incited riot in N. Sumatra: Police chief) Hundreds of people burned down several Buddhist vihara, Chinese temples and pagodas in Tanjung Balai on Friday, triggered by a protest from a local ethnic Chinese resident, who had reprimanded Al Maksum Mosque and asked it to turn down its loudspeaker. The police had been criticized for their absence during the attacks that affected one vihara and three pagodas on Jl. Pantai Amor, one vihara on Jl. Imam Bonjol and one pagoda on Jl. Ade Irma. The mob also destroyed prayer equipment, Buddha statues, tables, chairs, lamps and several cars and motorbikes. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Frances DEmilio (Associated Press) Aboard the papal plane Mon, August 1, 2016 Pope Francis on Sunday said he won't label Islam as "terrorist" because that would be unfair and not true. Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him home after a pilgrimage to Poland, the day after extremists slit the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a French church, asked him why he never uses the world "Islam" to describe terrorism or other violence. While in Poland, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to implore God to protect people from the "devastating wave" of terrorism in many part of the world. When asked why he didn't describe the priest's murder and other attacks as Islamic terrorism, Francis replied he won't do that because "it's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true." "I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group." "I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law," Francis said, in apparent reference to crime news in predominantly Catholic Italy. "And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence." "In Islam, not all are violent, not all the Catholics are violent. It's like a fruit salad, everything's in there. Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: "I know how they think, they are looking for peace." As for ISIS, he said, the Islamic State group "presents itself with a violent identity card, but that's not Islam." Francis spoke on the day when Muslims in France and Italy flocked to Mass to Sunday Mass in a show of interfaith solidarity following a string of extremist attacks threatening to sharpen religious divides across Europe. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1, 2016 The rupiah may strengthen beyond 10,000 per US dollar, far from the current level of around 13,000, assuming that the tax amnesty program succeeds in repatriating the targeted Rp 1 quadrillion (US$76.5 billion) of Indonesians offshore assets, an analyst says. Reaching the target, which is equal to three-quarters of the central banks current foreign reserve assets, would clearly constitute a massive inflow because the repatriated dollar assets would have to be exchanged into rupiah, said NG Korindo Securities Head of Research Reza Priyambada. If all the multi-billion dollar repatriated assets are converted into rupiah, based on a general estimation of its value, the rupiah will significantly appreciate against the US dollar to below 10,000, he said in an economic discussion in Bali on Saturday. (Read also : Constitutional Court queries challenge to Tax Amnesty Law) Mandiri Sekuritas economist Leo Putera Rinaldy, however, worried that the steep appreciation in the rupiah exchange due to massive inflows of the repatriated assets might harm the economy. Indonesia needs a stable currency, as Bank Indonesia has previously highlighted. I believe the tax amnestys effect on rupiah appreciation will be limited as the central bank will prevent volatile movement in the currency, he said. Both Reza and Leo warned that the multi-billion inflows might lead to over-liquidity in financial markets, thus the government and Financial Service Authority must prepare instruments to absorb the assets and effectively disburse them into real sectors. (ags) (Adds more background on Tesla) By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis July 31 (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc and SolarCity Corp could announce they have agreed to merge as early as Monday, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a campaign to convince the two companies' shareholders to back the deal. Combining the clean energy car maker with the solar panel installer is a major part of billionaire Elon Musk's strategy, who earlier in July unveiled his master plan "part deux" that calls for the combined company to offer consumers a single source of hardware to power a low-carbon lifestyle. While Musk is chief executive of Tesla, chairman of SolarCity and the biggest shareholder in both companies, a merger agreement was not certain because SolarCity had formed a special committee to review Tesla's offer independent of the influence of Musk and other executives close to him. The merger agreement is likely to include a so-called go-shop provision that will allow SolarCity to continue to solicit offers from other potential buyers for a short period of time following its signing, the people said on Sunday. The exact terms of the deal could not be learned. Tesla had previously said it offered 0.122 to 0.131 of its shares for each SolarCity share. The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Tesla and SolarCity, which have market capitalizations of $34.6 billion and $2.6 billion respectively, declined to comment. Musk has argued that combining Tesla with SolarCity will allow the combined company to reach consumers more effectively, installing solar panels on their roofs, sending power to Tesla storage batteries in their homes, and Tesla cars in their garages. Batteries from Tesla's $5 billion Gigafactory outside Sparks, Nevada, will be central to the combined enterprises. Tesla shareholders have gradually warmed up to the deal with SolarCity following initial apprehension after Tesla announced its offer on June 21. After dropping to below $190 per share following the offer, Tesla shares have recovered and ended trading on Friday at $234.79. SolarCity shares closed at $26.70 Friday. Story continues Reuters first reported last week that Tesla and SolarCity were close to a merger agreement. Besides Musk, several Tesla and SolarCity executives, including Musk's cousins, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive and SolarCity board member Peter Rive, have recused themselves from voting their shares when the deal comes to a vote. Tesla is scheduled to release its second-quarter results on Aug. 3. The company said earlier this month that its deliveries for the quarter fell short of its forecasts. Analysts will be looking for signs that the company is containing its costs and slowing its cash burn. Tesla took a hit on June 30 when the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disclosed it was investigating a fatal accident that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while he was using the car's 'Autopilot' system, which takes partial control of steering and braking. Since then, Musk has both defended the Autopilot technology, and moved aggressively to change the subject. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Joseph White in Detroit; Editing by Sandra Maler) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agencies) Taipei Mon, August 1, 2016 Taiwan's president has apologized on behalf of the government to the island's aboriginal peoples for 400 years of conquest and colonization. Tsai Ing-wen said Monday it was necessary for the government to face up to past injustices in order for Taiwan to move ahead as a fair and equitable society. Taiwan was inhabited by a variety of tribes for thousands of years before Dutch colonizers began importing Chinese laborers in the 17th century. Tsai was elected by a landslide in January elections that have thrown a shadow over the island's relations with China, which claims Taiwan as a part of its territory from ancient times. Her view of Taiwan as a colonial society clashes with Beijing's claim that the island has always been an inherent part of China. On Sunday, hundreds of aboriginal activists gathered in Taipei's main thoroughfare Ketagalan Boulevard to voice their demands for concrete measures to redress the historical injustices the indigenous groups have suffered and to restore the aboriginal cultures. The peaceful protests took place in the boulevard, which was renamed 20 years ago in honor of the Ketagalan tribe, one of Taiwan's many tribes. Tsai, the first Taiwanese leader with aboriginal blood, will also outline Monday her policies concerning the country's indigenous people. Tsai's paternal grandmother was from the Paiwan indigenous tribe. Last month, her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) promised to pass the Aboriginal Basic Act which will, among other things, grant greater self-rule autonomy to the indigenous communities, protect their languages and safeguard their land and sea rights. Many are also calling for aborigines to be covered under the so-called transitional justice legislation that has been launched by the DPP to redress political persecution from 1949 to 1990. Under the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, aborigines were forced to adopt Chinese names. Aboriginal legislator Kao Chin Su-mei, one of six aboriginal lawmakers in Taiwan's 113-seat Parliament, told The Straits Times that it remains to be seen if Tsai will keep her promises, especially one on the return of ancestral lands. "We always hear a lot of talk about engaging the aboriginal community and helping us. But it seems to be political rhetoric because there has been little positive impact on our lives. Let's hope it's different this time round." Pan Chih-hua, one of 300 members of the Aboriginal Alliance for Transitional Justice, marched 450 km from Taiwan's south-western town of Hengchun to take part in the protest at Ketagalan Boulevard. He said: "Apologizing is just a start...We hope the government will follow up with real actions to restore our dignity and give us the respect we deserve." Chang Tien-ming, who heads the Indigenous People's Autonomy Alliance, said: "We want peace and are not seeking independence. We also want to be treated fairly rather than be seen as outcasts." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, August 1 2016 The third batch of executions during President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration early on Friday saw four of the scheduled 14 inmates executed before firing squads and this latest round of killings has sparked criticism of the government over its negligence in conforming to the law in conducting the controversial form of punishment. The Attorney Generals Office (AGO) executed four death-row convicts, all of whom were drug traffickers Indonesian Freddy Budiman and Nigerians Seck Osmane, Michael Titus and Humphrey Jefferson leaving the remaining 10 alive pending their ongoing legal processes. The execution of the four, however, is considered by some to have been against the law as many procedures were omitted by the government. Rina, a spiritual mentor from the Gita Eklesia foundation who accompanied Osmane before his execution, said there was no clear explanation from the AGO as to why only four convicts had been executed and why Osmane was one of them. We dont know why only four people were eventually killed. All spiritual mentors were asked to wait. Until 10 p.m., they finally said only [death-row convicts] numbers 6,7,9 and 11 [would be executed], she told a press conference at the office of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) in Central Jakarta. She added that the executions disregarded the convicts basic rights since the four were sent to their place of execution while seeing that the others had suddenly been spared. Muhammad Afif of the Community Legal Aid Institute, who accompanied Nigerian Humphrey Jefferson, said the government had violated the 1964 Law on Execution Procedures, which stipulates that death-row convicts have to be informed about the certainty of their execution 72 hours beforehand. Jefferson was given notification on July 26 at 3:40 p.m., while the execution was carried out on July 29 at 12:50 a.m., which is less than 60 hours, he said. The government is also guilty of another violation in the fact that three of the four convicts Freddy, Osmane and Jefferson were in the process of appealing for clemency when they were executed. Freddy filed an appeal a day before his execution, while Jefferson filed his on Monday and Osmane on Wednesday, Erasmus Napitupulu from the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) said. Under the 2010 Clemency Law, death row convicts cannot be executed if they or their relatives appeal for clemency and the President has not yet rejected it. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo argued it was too late for the convicts to apply for clemency. Legal activist and lawyer Julius Ibrani of the YLBHI also questioned the excessive budget used to carry out the executions, saying that Rp 7 billion (US$532.000) had been used up even though all the executions had yet finished. The budget for the death penalty was given to two institutions, the attorney and the police. Two budgets allocated for one activity can cause misuse of state budget, he said. Another criticism comes from human rights activist Haris Azhar, who highlighted his conversation with Freddy. Freddy said he had shelled out around Rp 450 billion to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and another Rp 90 billion to officials at the National Police to buy protection for his drug business. Haris said Freddy had pointed to the involvement of two-star generals from the Indonesian Military (TNI). According to Freddy, the generals had accommodated Freddys business by providing facilities for he and his associates to use while serving his sentence on the secluded prison island of Nusakambangan. (win) _______________________________ 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) Mon, August 1 2016 The recent success of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and related events in Vientiane has afforded the regional organization much relief from its critics, thanks in part to the hard work of the Indonesian delegation. The Jakarta Posts Tama Salim catches up with the ever-industrious Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to shed some light on the work behind the scenes in Laos. Here are some excerpts from the interview: Question: While the ASEAN ministerial-level meetings in Vientiane can be seen as a resounding victory for ASEAN unity against power projections in the region, detractors are saying the resulting joint communique and statements have failed to resolve any competing territorial claims the issue at the core of the South China Sea debate; barely giving mention to the international arbitration ruling or the demise of Chinas nine-dash line. What will ASEAN do to remedy the South China Sea conundrum? 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 Mon, August 1, 2016 The execution spree in Indonesia has moved respected Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to urge the government to end the death penalty for drug offenders as it does not reflect traditional or Islamic values. Ramadan, the professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, the UK, wrote a personal letter to President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Sunday, saying Islamic law calls for forgiveness and mercy. Above and beyond all of this, rahmah [compassion] is an absolute necessity, an essential principle, an imperative duty, even if there is no doubt and all the conditions are gathered. Indonesia executed four drug convicts last Thursday, despite strong criticism from civil society groups, which argued that the countrys judicial system still demonstrated rampant unfair treatment and the use of torture and abuse. Furthermore, drug-related offences also continued to rise, despite 14 executions last year. The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) noted that there had been an increase in drug users, from 4.2 million in June 2015, to 5.9 million people in November 2015. The authorities said there had been no decision yet as to when 10 other drug convicts would be put to death. Ramadan said that no punishment for drug-related offences was specified in the Sharia legal framework. The Quranic principle strictly prohibits the deprivation of the right to life of any human being and stipulates that life can only be taken as explicitly specified in the Sharia legal framework. As the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, he continued, Indonesia should lead the way in demonstrating that Islam and democracy can go hand in hand. In this context, I would like to set out some principles, based on Islamic understanding of the scriptural sources and the strict conditions required by the Islamic penal code [hudud], which stipulate that these executions must be stayed. Ramadan urged Jokowi to follow the guidance of the Prophet, who guides Muslims to pardon and forgive offenders, encourages repentance and mercy, and the suspension of the death penalty whenever possible. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, August 2, 2016 The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) established by Malaysia and Indonesiathe worlds two largest crude palm oil (CPO) producerswill soon conduct research to counter a black campaign against the product. CPO and palm oil products of both Indonesia and Malaysia have recently faced difficulties to enter some developed markets, such as the EU, because of tough requirements related to environmental issues. Indonesia and Malaysia had agreed to respond to the black campaign because CPO was an important export commodity for the two countries, said Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday. "We need to make a joint study, not only on marketing, but also to respond certain [environmental] issues so that palm oil products can be accepted all over the world," Najib said. Meanwhile, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita gave the example that currently CPO from Malaysia and Indonesia had difficulties entering France, citing a studys findings that said palm oil products consisted of a substance that caused cancer. "Soon, CPOPC will conduct research to counter this allegation," the minister said. The CPOPC, which was initiated by Indonesia and Malaysia in early October, is aimed at finding solutions for various problems facing the palm oil industry. The council is also set to expand its membership by including some other palm oil-producing countries. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Kuala Lumpur Mon, August 1, 2016 A Malaysian security law that gives embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak sweeping emergency powers came into force Monday, with Amnesty International warning it could be used to trample on human rights. Under the National Security Council Act, a council led by Najib, who faces pressure to resign over a financial scandal, can declare a state of emergency in areas deemed to be under a security threat. Security forces can impose curfews and have wide powers of arrest, search and seizure without a warrant. The law is aimed at countering terrorism threats, but critics fear Najib will use it as a tool to hold on to power. Amnesty said the law "empowers the Malaysian authorities to trample over human rights and act with impunity." "With this new law, the government now has spurned checks and assumed potentially abusive powers," Josef Benedict, Amnesty's deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement. The human rights group said Najib and his government were increasingly resorting to repressive laws in the name of protecting national security "but in practice, imperil human rights." The UN human rights regional office last week also said it was "gravely concerned" that the law may encourage human rights violations and lead to "unjust restrictions" on free speech and assembly. Najib has been dogged for months by embezzlement investigations involving state investment fund 1MDB, which he founded in 2009. It is being investigated in several countries including the US, Switzerland and Singapore. Last month, the US Justice Department initiated action to seize US$1.3 billion of assets that it said were part of a massive heist from 1MDB by people close to Najib. The fund was created to promote economic development projects. Instead, US prosecutors said fund officials diverted more than $3.5 billion through a web of shell companies and bank accounts abroad. The Justice Department complaint said more than $700 million of IMDB money was transferred into the bank account of Najib, who is referred to as Malaysian Official 1 in the document, contradicting his claim the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family. The money taken from 1MDB was used to pay for luxury properties in New York and California, a $35 million jet, art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet and helped finance the Hollywood film, "The Wolf of Wall Street," made by Red Granite Pictures headed by Najib's stepson, according to the DOJ complaint. The US forfeiture demand, the largest single action it's taken, are by far the biggest threat to Najib's credibility that could reinvigorate the opposition and ruling party members who are secretly opposed to him. He has pledged to cooperate in the investigations and denied any wrongdoing. He remains firmly in political control of the country, after replacing his critics in the ruling party and the government with men loyal to him. Najib has defended the new security law. He accused critics of fear-mongering and said last week that the terrorism threat was real and growing. Malaysian police have said a grenade blast at a bar last month that injured eight people was the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group. More than 160 people have been detained for suspected links to Islamic State over the past three years. "My government will never apologize for placing the safety and security of the Malaysian people first. These laws were necessary, and other countries have since followed our lead," Najib said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Canberra Mon, August 1, 2016 Australia's razor-close election could end up in court, with the re-elected government holding out hope of extending its single-seat majority. The candidate whom Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative government hoped would deliver it a 77th seat in the 150-seat House of Representatives, Ewen Jones, conceded defeat Monday, a month after the July 2 election. But Jones said the government should appeal the result. The Court of Disputed Returns could give the seat to Jones or order a new election in his electoral district. Jones lost his seat to center-left opposition Labor Party candidate Cathy O'Toole by 37 votes after 88,337 votes were counted, then recounted. Turnbull has confirmed that his government is considering appealing the result, but has declined to detail on what grounds. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jeremy Au Yong (The Straits Times/ANN) Mon, August 1, 2016 Singapore is an anchor for the US presence in Asia, said US President Barack Obama, outlining why the country is being given the rare honor this week of an official visit with a state dinner at the White House. He told The Straits Times such visits are an opportunity to "reaffirm our ties and friendship with our closest partners around the world". "This visit is an occasion to mark the 50th anniversary of our bilateral relationship with Singapore, which is one of our strongest and most reliable partners in South- east Asia," he said. "I look forward to hosting Prime Minister Lee, whose friendship and partnership I appreciate very much and with whom I've worked throughout my administration." Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Washington, DC on Sunday to begin his official visit. The state dinner will take place Tuesday. White House state dinners are grand affairs and regarded as one of the highest diplomatic honors the US government can give. Singapore is only the fifth Asian country and the first from South-east Asia to be honored with a state dinner during the Obama presidency. Obama added that the official visit reflects the important role Singapore plays in the US rebalance. "Singapore is an anchor for the US presence in the region, which is a foundation of stability and peace. "Both our nations are committed to building a regional order where all nations play by the same rules and disputes are resolved peacefully and this visit will be an opportunity to continue deepening our cooperation on behalf of regional stability and prosperity," he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Yoon Min-sik (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Mon, August 1, 2016 Elementary schools in North Korea devote 171 hours of their curriculum teaching students about leader Kim Jong-uns childhood, found a state-run institute. According to a report by the Korea Institute for Curriculum Evaluation on the 2013 revision of the North Korean curriculum, state criteria for the elementary schools stipulates that each student learn about the childhoods of Kim, his father Kim Jong-il, his grandfather Kim Il-sung and grandmother Kim Jong-suk for 684 hours during the five-year curriculum. Lessons about former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung are 171 hours each, while those for Kim Jung-suk come to 34 hours. Only classes for Korean language and math are given more time than lessons about Kim Jong-un, at 1,197 and 821 hours respectively. An educational doctrine for the North revealed earlier by local media shows that its goal of education is for students to acquire the concept of revolution and endless loyalty toward (North Koreas ruling) party and the supreme leader (Kim Il-sung), while constituting the spirit to safeguard dear leader Kim Jong-un. (Read also: Guide to visiting North Korea for Indonesians) As with other communist countries, North Koreas founding principal is based on the revolution of the working class. But the hermit kingdom claims that the public must receive guidance from its supreme leaders -- the Kim family -- and the ruling party for the ultimate victory, justifying its one-man rule. The report by KICE shows that such propaganda takes place at the earlier stages of the Norths 12-year mandatory education, starting at the second of two years of kindergarten and ending with three years in high school. Subjects related to the Kim family continue into later stages of education, with high schoolers learning about Kim Jong-uns history of revolution for 81 hours. This is significantly less that the time devoted to studying Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-un, probably due to the current leaders young age. Kim Jong-uns grandmother is taught for 42 hours. Subjects unrelated to Kim Jong-un have been added (in the 2013 curriculum) as a special subject, in a bid to strengthen his leadership. And the four subjects (of the Kim family members) are being taught consistently throughout elementary, middle and high school, Kim Jin-sook of KICE said in the report. Kim also added that the new curriculum shows that North Korean education is changing in accordance to global standards, such as by emphasizing English and information technology. English classes were taught more frequently than Korean language at the high school level. Despite the limitations (of education) as an ideological tool, we can see that new educational experiments are being tried in North Korea, said Kim. But the negative aspect is that North Koreas political system and its policies are being reflected in education to promote and sustain the regime, and peoples perceptions are being affected by it. ... The aftermath of the wayward education -- as a result of the politicizing of education -- is something that has to be overcome as we prepare for the future unification (of Korea), he added. Mayor de Blasio lies again about info kept from investigators in Rivington House probe, reads the Friday headline in the Daily News. After the mayor asserted on WNYC Radio that his administration had handed over a key memo, the newspaper publishes a version of that memo which was almost completely whited out. [Daily News] Editorial: The mayors excuses on Rivington House are ridiculous. [Daily News] A small-format Target store is coming to Extell Developments 14th Street mixed-use project. [Real Deal] Extell is finally closing on a $600 million construction loan for its 80-story One Manhattan Square project in the Two Bridges area. The firm has struggled to line up financing. [Real Deal] Transportation experts doubt that the citys new ferry service (which will include Lower East Side service) can be financially viable in the long term. [City Limits] Architects/developers make their pitch for the luxury condos replacing Streits Matzo Factory. Even though the old structure will be torn down, its history will survive in one formsort of, and mostly for those who can afford to buy in the new condo. The lobby will be adorned with photographs that will take you through a timeline of the factorys history, Charlie Kaplan, a principal at Gluck+, (said). That might not be the most satisfactory response for locals but Kaplan believes that the charm of the building lay not in the structure itself, but in the goings on inside, and the mechanics of it all. [Curbed] Happening Today: City Comptroller Scott Stringer releases his Rivington House report. Well have details this afternoon. Happening This Week: Two noteworthy openings this week on the Lower East Side. Gohan, a restaurant specializing in Japanese home cooking, debuts tonight at 14 Orchard St. Its brought to you by the teams behind Lovely Day and Ni Japanese Deli. Tomorrow, Top Hops to Go opens in the Essex Street Market. More to come on both of these new arrivals. Matt is a second year Chemistry student, who also happens to be Transgender. Discussing his experiences at university is enlightening. When chatting, I wanted to really understand how his identity affected his experiences, and particularly about how his first year of being openly Trans at university had gone. First off, its important to define what transgender means. Everyone who has had access to the internet since 2015 will have heard about Caitlyn Jenner, but it seems that not everyone is as clued up as we might think. Basically, sex and gender are two different things. Sex is what you're assigned at birth, whilst your gender is how you feel in your head. So people assigned male at birth might identify more with being female on the gender spectrum, and so on. Ive been close friends with Matt for almost nine years weve been to school, college and now university together and whilst it was exciting to think wed have each other around for the next three years, we often discussed his anxieties about acceptance. Many students take university as an opportunity to finally be free, and Matt did just that. He decided years beforehand that he wasnt going to hide who he was at university because he felt it was the perfect place to be open. Everyone is always worried about what their flatmates might be like and we discussed how he told the people in his flat that he was trans. He told them the day after moving in over Facebook, of all things about being trans and they were really accepting, they didnt really say much about it they just accepted it and that was that. Fortunately, Matt was lucky. His flatmates were understanding and after being accidentally misgendered a few times, he never had any problems. I asked him what the biggest challenge for a trans person is and he immediately replied with being misgendered, meaning using the incorrect pronouns to refer to someone. He told me that he had asked his University to put him in a flat with similar people because it would have made him more comfortable, but they couldnt provide this kind of service for him. Despite this initial setback he was made aware that the University would immediately move him to different halls if he felt at all uncomfortable. It also emerged that whilst the University recognised and respected his gender, he had to email staff himself to explain that he was transgender so that lecturers would stop misgendering him in class. It seems that being misgendered can be one of the most uncomfortable experiences when it comes to being trans. For many trans individuals, including Matt, it can remind them of suffering from dysphoria (feelings of distress surrounding a persons body). In order to deal with this, Matt told me that he doesnt bother confronting the person, especially if they are being rude. Often people dont realise and so a close friend will use the correct pronouns when talking about Matt in front of the person whos got it wrong. This way, there is no confrontation but the point is made subtly and everyone feels safe. From talking to Matt, I realised that the most important thing to him was being supported by his friends. He admitted to me that whenever he goes out clubbing he avoids going to the toilet unless hes with a friend he can trust, because drunk students are more confrontational and hes afraid that hell be questioned. Hes not alone in this. The trans Mental Health Review (2012) found that up to 81% of trans people avoid public situations out of fear and 50% of these people avoid public toilets. This is an alarming number of people and a simple thing that many cisgendered (a person whose gender aligns with their sex) people would never even think about. Matt told me that being safe was the most important thing when living as an openly trans person. His best advice for trans Freshers starting university this year is to try and be okay about being you and dont let others put you down [] and make sure its safe [to come out]. He also talked about finding one person you really connect with in a group, so that if you need, they can explain being transgendered to others. But Matt still has an instilled sense of fear and its hard to blame him when 80% of trans students feel unsafe because of their gender expression, according to Trans Student Educational Resources; but how can others help? Many people asked me questions when they realised that Matt was transgender. They explained that they didnt want to offend him by asking directly, and it turned out that a lot of them simply didnt know what transgender meant or had never met a person who doesnt conform to gender norms. Upon hearing this, Matt said its fine to ask about a trans persons experience, but not every trans person is the same. Make sure that theyre comfortable about talking about it before you ask questions. However asking anything about past identity, their bodies or previous names were highly offensive questions. Ultimately, whilst being trans might have made Matts experience slightly more challenging, he told me that University is the place hes found the most acceptance and hes loved every minute of it. Matts friends are currently fundraising to support his transition, a journey that they believe will dramatically improve Matts wellbeing. If youd like to support Matt too you can do so here. Pope Francis has refused to describe Islam as terrorist, because it is not fair and not true. On the papal plane returning to Rome from Poland, reporters asked Francis why he never used the word Islam when condemning killings by extremists like that of an elderly priest in France last week. Pope Francis addressed the issue on the papal plane (Filippo Monteforte/AP) The Pope said its not right to identify Islam with violence, adding that every religion had its little group of fundamentalists. He said that if he spoke of violent Islam, he would have to speak of violent Catholicism, since Catholics kill too. Referring to the Islamic State group, Francis, 79, said it presents itself with its violent identity card, but its not Islam. The Pope addressed a large crowd at a jamboree (Gregorio Borgia/AP) During his five-day pilgrimage in southern Poland he prayed privately in a church that God protect people from the devastating wave of terrorism in many parts of the world. Francis told young people who flocked by the hundreds of thousands that they needed to believe in a new humanity stronger than evil and warned against concluding that one religion was more violent than others. A huge thank you, dear young people! St John Paul II rejoiced in Heaven, and will help you bring the joy of the Gospel wherever you go. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 31, 2016 Organisers of the Catholic jamboree known as World Youth Day estimated 1.5 million youths attended his Mass at a meadow near Krakow, many having camped out in sleeping bags from a vigil service of prayer, singing and dance performances the previous evening. Extremist violence was on his mind when he set out last week, the day after terrorists rushed into a church in the French countryside and murdered the elderly priest there, slitting his throat, as he was celebrating Mass. Pope Francis has made a particular effort to engage young people (AP) The Pope used his several encounters with the young pilgrims from mega-gatherings to a private lunch with only a dozen people from five continents to encourage a new generation to work for peace, reconciliation and justice. God, said Francis in his final homily of the pilgrimage, demands of us real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies. People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centred or small-minded, Francis said. Earlier in his pilgrimage Francis expressed dismay that many people and places were not welcoming enough to refugees or those fleeing poverty in their homelands. This pilgrimage marked the first time the native Argentine pope sent foot in eastern Europe. Orlando, Nice, Munich, Bavaria, Ansbach, Sagamihara, Rouen There have been so many high-profile mass killings in the last couple of months you could be forgiven for not having been able to keep up with them all. Its an unfortunate fact of life that the occasional atrocity will dominate the news, to the point that were almost desensitised to it. But over the last couple of months there has been such a spate of them that everyone has been left shell-shocked, and wondering what on earth is going on. The possible reasons why there has been this increase is on everyones minds could the news coverage itself be encouraging killers to gain blood-stained infamy? the terrorist attacks in June alone Well, first of all, the numbers of attacks havent increased as exponentially as media may lead us to believe. When researching for a list of attacks to make sure I hadnt missed any, I realised that if I listed allmy opening paragraph would have made up half the article, and thats not even looking at the multiple, daily US shootings. There are a horrific number of terrorist or other attacks across the world all the time, its just more have been close to home and particularly bloody lately. With this in mind, we must also make a distinction between terror attacks and lone wolf massacres. Attacks by so-called ISIS have a different motivation and inspiration. Though there is no doubt that the huge coverage of their attacks is part of their plan to disrupt and divide people across the world, it is only a fortunate side-effect for them. No one would try to claim it is their sole or main purpose. The lone killers that are later claimed by ISIS have had their already disturbed minds twisted by the brain-washing of such groups. As Gen Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and NSA, explains, the perceived power of ISIS allows the truly troubled and the truly dangerous to reach for a broader cause that gives meaning to their alienation. So, with the existence of such groups, it is likely that these attacks would happen regardless of news coverage. The need for awareness of such issues outweighs the possible encouragement of the rare few. Of course, the difference between those directed by and those inspired by ISIS is an important distinction, but an almost impossible one to determine after an event, which often results in the killers suicide or death. When it comes to the killers who are not terror-orientated, many assume that they must be crazy. However, psychosis is not as common in serial or mass killers as popular crime media would lead us to believe. According to the FBIs 2008 report on serial killers, for example, the majority are not insane, and in fact evidence suggests that these crimes are often committed by individuals who although very different from the rest of us are completely rational, quoting Professor Peter Hepper. This may strike many as confusing, but it is key to understand that psychosis and psychopathy are different things. Psychopathy is lacking remorse, not accepting responsibility and being able to blend into normal society, and is an almost a defining characteristic of such rampaging killers. Having made this distinction, Reid Meloy, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, says that only 25% of mass murderers are psychotic when they kill a significant proportion, but not enough to declare it the sole or main cause. In the light of this, many turn to the desire for fame as a suggested motivation. Meloy explains that more often than psychosis, there is a sense of being humiliated by life in the killers, and therefore they have a desire to make [their] mark in history. He has identified two groups of mass shooters: vulnerable adolescents and angry and alienated older males. When they spill some blood, suddenly their names are splashed all over media, which many believe in turn inspires other alienated, wannabe killers. Buzzfeed creating a list of names, photos and life details of the victims This has moved some news outlets to drastically reduce the use of the name of the killer. For example, after the Oregon shooting last year, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin refused to use the murderers name throughout the investigation when speaking to media. There was a similar positive response from Orlando, with, taking all focus away from the killer. However, this absence of a name is not universal, and there is a strong suggestion that just the coverage itself is enough. Sherry Towers investigated the contagion effect of media on mass murders. She found that mass killings where four or more people died and school shootings were more likely to have national news coverage, and because of this the probability of a repeat event increased for the next thirteen days. By comparison, mass shootings where less than four people died but at least three were wounded were mostly restricted to local outlets and there was no evidence of contagion. Weve seen recent evidence of this with David Sonbolys attack in Munich. Reports show he had been researching mass killings and had been planning his attack for a year since he visited Winnenden, the site of a previous school shooting. With all of this research and evidence in mind, it still does not explain the recent spate of disasters why now? If theres some kind of domino effect, why isnt there an almost constant, growing stream of brutalities? One theory I had was that Orlando spurred it. Although there were the terrible attacks in Paris and Brussels earlier this year, Orlando seems to be the point it all began with the deluge of attacks in the last two months. The homophobic attack at the Pulse nightclub killing 49 and injuring 53 is cited as the worst mass shooting in US history. This declaration as the worst in history would seem like some kind of success he has won the worst killer. It creates a competition, and other disturbed individuals want to see if they can do worse; if they can be more famous, and break more records. That said, there does not seem to have been quite such a strict domino effect, and Orlandos fallout may be more delayed. Not only have many of the recent attacks been terrorist, the lone wolf killers show a much longer gestation period and have pre-Orlando sources of inspiration. The Sagamihara killer had been showing a change in behaviour since February, and the Munich killing shows strong evidence of being inspired by the fifth anniversary of Breiviks killing. So perhaps there is no answer to why now?; perhaps it is just bad luck. Perhaps what the world is coming to is something awful beyond comprehension. Perhaps it is the recent and growing political and racial tensions and subsequent violence with the likes of Trump, Brexit and other extreme right-wing politics. The fact is, no one knows. In a project I did a few years ago on serial killers (who are notably different but still similar to mass killers), I spent months trying to find the true nature of a killer, and failed. Despite extensive psychological and social research on the part of police organisations to try and pre-empt such tragedies, no one really knows what inspires these killers. Nor do we know of any common traits, other than that the vast majority are male. News coverage may be a factor, and it seems obvious to many, but if the gap between event and subsequent event can be five years, like in the Munich case, it seems there is little predictability. The question is then raised as to whether news outlets could or should do anything. Given the evidence, I would say all we can do is know that it is an impossible dilemma. These people have something wrong with them that runs much deeper than a violent need for fame. Even if there were no news coverage at all, unfortunately these people would probably have still broken and turned to killing at some point. All we can do is report the cases in order to honour and remember the victims of these terrible crimes. Postcard moments for miles on end, the Road is consistently on travellers Aussie bucket list but if youre still deciding for yourself whether to go; Ive outlined my experience with Wildlife Tours , where I did a Melbourne-Melbourne two day trip including the Grampians. With everything from wild kangaroos, koala spotting and a helicopter ride the Great Ocean Road isnt just staring into the sea; theres plenty for everyone to get the full Australian experience. The Trip The Great Ocean Road beginning, whilst a while before this point is marked by the Memorial Arch; a short little pit stop with a beach where you can see the Round the Twist lighthouse.Theres some information about the road and how it was constructed also for those interested in the history of the place as well as the scenic beaches which there is plenty of! Bells beach is a great example of this, as well as the home of the Rip Curl Pro; where you can watch experienced surfers thrash it out for fame and glory. Kennett River is another worthy stop point; seemingly a rather unexciting caravan park, it actually hides wild koalas and native birds in the many eucalyptus trees surrounding the ground. Of course, a beach is also close by, so you can easily grab an ice cream or a bite to eat from the local cafe and walk down to enjoy it on the white sands as the tide comes in. The Otways are also along the Road, meaning you can stop for a hike through dense greenery and even walk through the lush rainforest tree tops on the Otway Fly. We went through a guided tour around the giant swamp gums and waterfalls that line the ground rather than opting for the sky which was equally as rewarding if only for the dramatic change in viewpoint from coast to forest. Its really surreal once youre in there! Next on the route, Apollo Bay offers a great picnic spot and beach area and is a small town if theres any provisions you want to grab for the coming drive. We had lunch here to prepare for the famed rock formations coming up, which are the highlight of the Great Ocean Road. The 12 Apostles will be a name youve heard if you have had any information on this trip before; although there are only eight left, the varying remaining shapes and sizes cast an impressive landscape around the ocean they rise out of. Also near the beach walk where you can see these behemoths is an opportunity to take a helicopter ride for a birds eye view: and you wont regret paying the extra to do so. Only 15 minutes in the sky but some of the most amazing views youll get over the entirety of the Road, its definitely worth it for that wow factor! During the helicopter ride, youll also be able to see London bridge and Loch Ard Gorge both f On from here is Halls Gap, which has a multitude of varying hostels and hotels for whatever your budget or comfort level, as well as being a small but functional town for anything you need to grab on the route. Wild kangaroos can be spotted outside your dorms as well as across all the roads alongside a host of other unique Australian animals, if you know where to look for them (we managed to find an echidna sleeping in a pile of leaves, for example). This is a Student Travel Writer 2016 competition entry. antastic and impressive natural wonders. Be sure to walk up to these areas as well and explore the cove-like beaches and towering rocks from the ground, theres a multitude of signed walks available from top to bottom that give the best and more impressive view. If youre there in the evening, theres even a chance youll see the tiny penguins come in to nest for the night across the beaches. The Grampians National Park offers more breathtaking views, and the iconic Mackenzie falls. Host to a whole world of hiking, walks for all abilities, and a mix of mountainous landscape and forest you can craft your own adventure or relax by famous views and lookouts. Baroka Lookout offers a 180 degree view of Victoria and Halls Gap, where you can see the water reserve and is beautiful for a sunrise start. Reed Lookout and the Balconies are other excellent options for walking and viewpoints and a personal recommendation is to hop the fence and get the iconic picture looking out over the rolling hills and endless mountain scenery. Be careful walking across the Balcony but there is a smooth, easy path to get up and down by that shouldnt be a problem (I did it in flipflops). No-one needs to know! Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. 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Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. You've seen the mutual fund ads offering big returns to beat the competitors, the category average or the market as a whole. There's a lot of puffery in the investing industry, often supported by cherry-picked data for a period when a fund did especially well -- but is not necessarily representative of the long term. More important, though, is the message that you should swing for the fences to get the biggest return possible. That can lead an investor to take on too much risk. It can produce lots of disappointment when results fall short down the road. What's the alternative? How about investing for enough return instead of the most. [See: 10 Tips for Couples and Young Families to Build Wealth.] "Investors can't control the returns they receive or what the market provides," says advisor Ben Birken of Woodward Financial Advisors in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "But they can control how much they save and how much they spend. Rather than relying on the market to hopefully deliver something, investors would be better off focusing on the things they can control." The idea of aiming for just enough is the theme of the book "Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life" by John C. Bogle, legendary founder of the Vanguard Group, the mutual fund giant. But it's a core philosophy shared by many financial advisors. Key benefits are setting financial goals with a realistic chance of being attained. Investing for enough means aiming for a smaller nest egg, a more reasonable rate of return and a lifestyle before and in retirement that is focused on things that really matter like family and friends, rather than big spending. "Studies on happiness show that humans quickly adapt to their environment and you are better off spending money on experience than things," says Damon Gonzalez, a planner with Domestique Capital in Plano, Texas. In fact, planning carefully sometimes produces prospects of a better retirement than the client had thought possible, says Paul A. Ruedi, CEO Ruedi Wealth Management in Champaign, Illinois. Story continues "More often than not, I find that most people walking through my doors can achieve a much better retirement lifestyle than they ever thought possible," he says. "But then again, they were all frugal, budgeted and saved and invested." He adds that, "The only folks that end up with a decent or great return are the ones that had some form of budget, which leads to the savings fuel for investing," The cornerstone to the enough-not-most strategy is the fact that a nest egg can be built with a bigger savings rate instead of a world-beating investment return. A 30 year-old, for example, could accumulate $1 million by investing $158.13 per month for 40 years at a 10 percent average annual return, which is very hard to achieve. Or she could do it with $381 a month at a more realistic 7 percent. [See: 8 Easy Ways to Make Money.] More important, if she aimed for $750,000 instead of $1 million, she could get there with $286 a month at 7 percent. Though $1 million would be better than $750,000, the smaller target and bigger savings rate would probably produce fewer sleepless nights along the way. Granted, it would take some belt-tightening to save more each month, but many financial advisors find that clients can trim fat without much suffering. "The rate of return is only one variable in a plan, and oftentimes it's the variable that individuals have the least control over," says financial planner Derek Tharp of Conscious Capital, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Focusing on saving and spending rates often has a far greater impact on the success of a plan." Planning to live on less takes a clear vision of what matters, he says. "I like to ask people if they have thought about what they are retiring to rather than just what they are retiring from. Life satisfaction in retirement is often driven more by having a continued sense of purpose in life rather than going on a spending spree." Since raising the savings rate requires spending cuts, experts suggest combing through all expenses. Tools like Mint.com and Quicken software can categorize every expenditure and analyze patterns, but it can be just as effective to record everything for a month with a pad and pencil. That includes small expenses like lunches out at work, fancy morning coffees and pay-per-view movies, plus ongoing costs that should be reviewed every year, like insurance plans and cell phone contracts. There could be hundreds of dollars of savings a month from trimming spending that doesn't produce much lasting value. Then there are big-ticket items like your home and cars. Tharp says, "Most people could live in a smaller house or drive a less fancy car with almost no impact on their life satisfaction," he says. "In fact, rejecting materialistic goals and the desire to keep up with the Joneses can often enhance life satisfaction on it's own, with the added benefits of also increasing current saving and decreasing future expenses." "It's really not wise to buy a house in a neighborhood where everyone else makes a lot more money than you," adds financial planner Lauren Zangardi Haynes, with Evolution Advisers in Midlothian, Virginia. "It may sound cynical, but you will feel richer if you live in a neighborhood where people earn about the same amount as you or even slightly less." Not only will a more modest home require less down and a smaller monthly payment, but property taxes, insurance costs and maintenance are likely to be cheaper as well. There will be more money to set aside during the saving and investing years, and lower living expenses in retirement -- a financial double whammy. Many experts say there's a sweet spot in car ownership, too. A vehicle that is four or five years old may sell for half it's original price but have two-thirds to four-fifths of its life ahead of it. Buying used means the original owner, not you, takes the big hit from depreciation. And keeping a car for 10 years or more, instead of turning one in every three or four, can produce even more savings, even though you might spend a bit more on maintenance and savings. "Americans' obsession with cars is destroying their ability to retire earlier," Gonzalez says. "The median income is about $54,000 and it amazes me how many $40,000 to $50,000 SUVs I see on the freeway. Many of these drivers have very little margin in their budget after they make their $700 car payment." [See: 10 Out-of-the-Box Ways to Save Money.] As important as budgeting is to investment results, many people find it very difficult to create a plan and stick to it. As a result, their savings come from whatever is left at the end of the month -- nothing, much of the time. Tharp says it's better for the budgeting-averse to save at the start of the month, thus limiting spending to whatever is left. More From US News & World Report Exploring Phukets mosques Over the years I have written about many places of worship in Phuket including Buddhist temples, Chinese shrines and even a Sikh gurdwara. But Phuket also has a Hindu Shrine, and various Christian places of worship. By Jamie Monk Monday 1 August 2016, 01:01PM In addition, it also has a long history as a safe port where traders from Arabia, India, China and Europe did business with local Malays and Siamese. Phukets population has changed over the centuries, with different people and cultures being dominant, but in general Phuket and Siam (Thailand) has always stayed open to all religions. Thailand is a secular country, the laws of the country are not set by any religion and there is freedom of religious practice. The south of Thailand has a large Muslim population and this includes Phuket. I have never seen exact population figures, but everyone seems to agree that about 25 to 30 per cent of the local population in Phuket is Muslim. Some parts of the island such as Kamala, Rawai or large parts of the north of the island have a large Muslim population. Ive been here so long that the mix of people is normal, but I know it surprises some visitors who may be expecting Phuket to be all Buddhist. Some Muslims here dress in western clothes, though you may see people in more traditional Muslim clothes around the island. Despite the large Muslim population here, I have rarely mentioned Islam. I did once write about a Halal festival, and Muslim-run restaurants such as Abduls Roti Shop or the Bang Rong Floating Restaurant. You may find quite a few restaurants in Phuket that dont have pork on the menu as they are Muslim run. People do ask me sometimes to recommend Halal restaurants. I dont really know about this, but if you eat somewhere near a mosque in a Muslim area, you will probably be okay. This article is not meant to be a discussion about Halal food, Phuket history or Islam. I wanted to write about mosques in Phuket and have been out and about recently taking photos, although I realise that there are many mosques that I have not seen, especially north of the island. They are often a bit hard to find. I have enjoyed taking some little drives to find mosques and discovering hidden streets and different corners of Phuket. As there are many more mosques than those I photographed, I think some more exploration trips are needed. So where are the mosques in Phuket? Lets start with the south of the island. I drove past the entrance to one mosque in Rawai many times but never stopped. Its located down a side street, near the sea. I had never been down here before. There is one more mosque in the backroads between Rawai and Naiharn beaches, but otherwise the whole south of Phuket (Chalong, Kata, Karon, Naiharn) has no other mosques that I know of. Many years ago (around the year 2000) I lived in a now-demolished apartment at the north end of Patong with a Muslim restaurant over the street and a mosque just a couple of hundred metres away. Yes, Patong has a Muslim community too. A new mosque was built a few years ago, I think it in about 2011. If you head north from Patong, pass the Novotel and Diamond Cliff resorts, you reach Kalim, home to several hotels and fancy restaurants, and up a small side road which Id not explored until a few days ago is a mosque! The road from Patong, passing Kalim, winds up, down and round many bends on its way to Kamala beach, which is largely Muslim, or was ... I remember 15 years ago Kamala was quite non-touristy, no bars, hard to get a drink. However, the beach area is now quite busy, but you still have a Muslim graveyard taking up a huge area of beachfront land, and that is not going to change despite the price of property. The main Kamala mosque is inland towards the hills and theres a smaller mosque too which has a fancy new mosque being built next to it, also on the back roads. Moving away from the west coast, the area around Phuket Town is a real mixed bag of cultures and religions. Theres a street close to the old town which features a Chinese shrine, a mosque and a Catholic church within about 300 metres. The Yameay mosque is the only one near the centre of town, which does tend to have a much more Chinese-Thai population. To the south of town, the Cape Panwa area is largely Muslim and theres one big mosque (Issatul Islam Mosque) close to the deep sea port on the way to Phuket Aquarium. There is also a smaller mosque on a side street which we pass on the way to The Beach Bar (one of our favourite hangouts). On the east side of town close to the main port is a new mosque, the Al Madinah Mosque. Many of the Muslims in the Phuket area were (or still are) fishing folk, so its no surprise to find a mosque in this area. Looks like this mosque is almost complete. There was scaffolding around the golden dome when I passed recently. And a little north of town, another Muslim fishing community is found at Laem Hin home to Laem Hin Seafood, a favourite restaurant or ours, and you can also get a longtail boat over to several floating restaurants from here. To reach the restaurant and jetty you pass the mosque, which is another that has been recently rebuilt. Heading north from Laem Hin you pass Boat Lagoon and theres a Muslim school on the east side of the road which has a mosque in the grounds. I did stop here to take a photo, but the school gates were closed. Theres another (I found on Google Earth) not much further north. Actually, I found about 10 mosques on Google Earth which I have not seen or photographed. Reaching the Heroines Monument, if you turn left, the road heads back to the west coast via the Cherng Talay area, before reaching Surin and Bang Tao beaches. The mosque close to Bang Tao (Mukaram Mosque) is quite impressive. I hope this is useful and/or interesting for Muslim visitors to Phuket and for anyone (like me) with an interest in culture and history. Check out the original blog post for a map with locations for most mosques in Phuket. I may have missed a few small ones. For now, thank you, shukran and see you in Phuket! Jamie Monk works at liveaboard dive specialists Sunrise Divers. For more information call: 084 626 4646 or visit: sunrise-divers.com You can read more about Phuket on Jamies Phuket Blog or follow Jamie on , Twitter, Instagram or Flickr. Koh Pha Ngan land examined for forest encroachment SURAT THANI: A combined 100-member government task force yesterday (July 31) began examining areas in Koh Pha Ngan district designated as national forest reserve but reported to have been encroached on for agriculture and building of resorts. landconstruction By Bangkok Post Monday 1 August 2016, 12:43PM Officials inspect land believed to encroach on national forest on Koh Pha Ngan, yesterday (July 31). Photo: Supapong Chaolan Supachai Suksai, director of the southern encroachment prevention and suppression office, said Koh Pha Ngan district has a total of 50,450 rai of forest land, of which 24,450 rai was declared a national forest reserve in 1983 and 26,000 rai was part of the area declared as Than Sadet-Koh Pha Ngan National Park in 2010. Satellite photos taken in 2015 showed that 33,817 rai of the island (44 per cent) was still covered with fertile forests. Complaints filed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment by conservationist groups said some of the forest land had been encroached on for agriculture. The land was later sold to investors, both Thais and foreigners, to build resorts. Mr Supachai said the task force yesterday went to examine five blocks of land said to encroach of the national forest reserve. Police complaints were filed against two suspected encroachers, he said. A Nor Sor 3 Kor land ownership paper for a 7-rai area in Moo 3 villlage of tambon Koh Pha Ngan was being examined to see if it was actually inside the forest reserve. The land document for another 58-rai land at Hat Yao in Moo 7 village was also being verified. The occupant claimed he had a proper Nor Sor 3 Kor document for the land, but an initial check showed it was for only 27 rai, Mr Supachai said. The task force comprised police, soldiers and officials the Royal Forest Department, Marine and Coastal Resources Department, and National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department. It was led by Cholathis Surasawadee, director-general of the Royal Forest Department. Read original story here. Rewards to be offered for tip-offs on fugitives BANGKOK: The Court of Justice has drawn up a law to authorise cash rewards for citizens and law enforcers who provide information leading to the arrest of fugitives in an attempt to reduce the number of people skipping bail and bring offenders to justice. crimepolice By Bangkok Post Monday 1 August 2016, 08:53AM The Court of Justice Complex in Bangkok. Photo: Bangkok Post Its Act on Enhancing Efficiency in Enforcement of Court Orders in Criminal Cases has been approved in principle by the cabinet and will be soon forwarded to the National Legislative Assembly, Athikom Intuputi, secretary-general of the Office of the Judiciary, said yesterday (July 31). There were about 27,000 bail jumpers from 2012 until last year, or more than 5,000 a year. The bill, if approved by the NLA, would help in tracking down the fugitives and bring more of them to trial, Mr Athikom said. The bail money seized from bail jumpers would be used to fund the cash rewards for tip-givers and officials making arrests. The COJ will discuss the amounts with the Ministry of Finance. Mr Athikom said the COJ had also amended a law to reduce social inequality regarding chances of being granted bail between the rich and the poor via the use of electronic monitoring (EM) bracelets. It will be used for test runs in 3 courts in Bangkok and some under the Courts of First Instance Regions 1 to 9 later this year. With the EM bracelets, those who cannot afford to place money as bail surety could still be released on bail. It will also gave the judges confidence in making decisions related to bail requests, Mr Athikom explained. Read original story here. 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.